banishment. Feilde was, according to Bancroft, the chief manager of ‘the discipline,’ ‘all the letters . . . from the brethren of other places ... to the London assemblies were for the most part directed vnto him’ (Svrvay, p. 369).
On his release Feilde was chosen preacher (or lecturer) and catechist by parishioners of St. Mary Aldermary ; this office he fulfilled ‘for the space of four years,’ when Aylmer inhibited him. The parishioners fruitlessly petitioned for his restoration, which they had hoped to gain through the mediation of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester [q. v.] Aylmer found Feilde an especially obstinate puritan, and complained that he ‘had entered into great houses and taught, as he said, God knows what.’ He thought, however, that ‘these men . . . might be profitably employed in Lancashire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, and such other like barbarous countries, to draw the people from papism and gross ignorance,’ and besought Burghley to take measures for raising a fund for the purpose (Strype, Aylmer, 1821, pp. 36-7). Hindered from preaching, Feilde began to produce translations of writings of foreign divines; the earliest of these, dedicated to Lady Tyrwhit, is dated ‘from my poore house in Grubstreat, this second of November, 1577.’ His most curious piece, the ‘Caveat’ (1581), shows a good deal of reading, and is valuable for the documents embodied. He edited the reports of conferences held by protestant divines with Edmund Campion [q. v.] on 18, 23, 27 Sept. 1581 (appended to ‘A True Report of the Disputation ... 31 Aug. 1581,’ by Deans Nowell and Daye, 1583). In this, as in his ‘Caveat,’ he calls himself ‘student in diuinitie.’ In his tract on the catastrophe at the bear-garden, Paris-garden (1583), his only work ‘published by authoritie,’ he describes himself as ‘minister of the word of God.’ It is possible that for a short time he was tolerated as a lecturer at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. He presented to the privy council (8 and 13 Dec. 1583) articles, and an abstract of his opinions, impugning the lawfulness of subscription to the prayerbook (Calendar of State Papers, Dom. 1581-90, pp. 135, 136); he is then described as ‘a preacher of London.’ On 4 March 1584 he was suspended from preaching, for holding in his house an assembly of ministers, including Scottish divines.
He died in March 1587-8, and was buried in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, on 26 March. His will (made 16 Feb. 1587-8, proved 1 June 1588) leaves all to his wife Joane. He left two sons, Theophilus Field [q. v.], bishop of Hereford, and Nathaniel Field [q. v.], actor and dramatist ; the divergence in two directions from their father's points of view is remarkable.
He published : 1. ‘A Caveat for Parsons Hovvlet . . . and all the rest of that darke broode,’ n. d. 8vo (dedication to Leicester, dated 30 Aug. 1581; it is in reply to ‘A Brief Discours,’ 1580, 8vo, anon., but by Robert Parsons or Persons [q. v.] and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth by J. H., i.e. John Howlet). 2. ‘A Godly Exhortation, by occasion of the late iudgement of God, shewed at Parris-garden, the thirteenth day of Ianvarie,’ 1583, 8vo (written 17 Jan. ; dedication to the Lord Mayor and others, 18 Jan.; mainly against Sabbath-breaking, but incidentally pleads for a total suppression of the stage).
His chief translations are : 1. L'Espine's ‘Treatise of Christian Righteousnes,’ 1578, 8vo. 2. Calvin's ‘Thirteene Sermons,’ 1579, 4to (dedicated to the Earl of Bedford). 3. Calvin's ‘Foure Sermons,’ 1579, 4to (dedicated to Henry, earl of Huntingdon). 4. De Mornay's ‘Treatise of the Church,’ 1579, 8vo (dedicated to Leicester; British Museum copy has Feilde's autograph presentation to the Countess of Sussex). 5. Beza's ‘Second Part of Questions . . . the Sacraments,’ 1580, 8vo. 6. Beza's ‘Iudgement ... concerning a threefold order of Bishops’ [1580], 8vo. 7. Olevian's ‘Exposition of the Symbole of the Apostles,’ 1581, 8vo (dedicated to Ambrose, earl of Warwick). 8. De Mornay and Pilesson's ‘Christian Meditations,’ 1581, 8vo. 9. Calvin's ‘Prayers used at ... readings upon . . . Hosea,’ 1583, 8vo.
He wrote a preface to Viret's ‘Exposition upon the Prayer of our Lorde,’ 1582, 4to, translated by John Brooke [q. v.], and a dedication to John Knox on Matthew iv., 1583, 8vo. His autograph letter (25 Nov. 1581) to Leicester (signed Jo. Feilde) is in Cotton MS. Titus B vii. fol. 22.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), i. 534 sq.; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500-1714; Brook's Lives of the Puritans, 1813, i. 318 sq.; Morris MSS. in Dr. Williams's Library; Feilde's will at Somerset House; information from the Rev. Watkin Davies, Edgcott; works cited above.]
FENNER, GEORGE (d. 1600?), naval commander, was apparently, like his relative Thomas Fenner [q. v. Suppl.], a native of Chichester. Early in Elizabeth's reign he appears to have made a voyage to the Gold Coast, and in October 1566 he was engaged in fitting out ships for another. The Spanish ambassador, hearing of the project, requested Elizabeth to prevent his sailing, and on the
