John Pearson, D.D., was the son of a Clergyman in Norwich, where he was born in 1613. He received the first rudiments of learning at Eton, whence he was removed to King’s College, Cambridge, where he finished his studies, and took his degrees. His first ecclesiastical preferment was a Prebendary of Salisbury; and soon afterwards he was chosen Rector of St. Clements, East Cheap, where he remained till 1660, and where he wrote his learned explanation of the Creed. At the Restoration, he was appointed Archdeacon of Surrey, and afterwards he was promoted to the See of Chester, where he continued till his death, in 1686.
John Goslin, a native of Norwich, flourished in the 17th century. He was first Fellow and then Master of Caius College, in Cambridge, Proctor of that University, and thrice Vice Chancellor thereof, a general scholar, eloquent Latinist, and a rare physician, in which faculty he was Regius Professor. He was a great benefactor to Catherine’s Hall, but left his native city only the honour of his name. He died in 1625.
The Rev. John Carter was an eccentric character in the city during this century. He was born at Bramford, in Suffolk, in 1594, and became upper minister of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, which position he held from 1638 to 1653. He preached three extraordinary sermons before the corporation, preparatory to the guild day festival in 1644, 1647, and 1650. The title of the first is “The Nail Hit on the Head, and Driven into the City and Cathedral Wall of Norwich;” of the second, “The Wheel Turned by a Voice from the Throne of Glory;” and the third, “A Rare Sight; or, the Lyon Sent from a Far Country, and Presented to the City of Norwich in a Sermon upon the Solemne Guild Day, June 18th, 1650.” The third sermon fills 150 pages, is the length of several modern sermons, and must have occupied two hours and a half in the delivery; a terrible long grace to a guild day dinner. It is ornamented with many wood cuts, among which is the lion in various attitudes, couchant, guardant, rampant, passant, &c., giving the preacher opportunities of displaying his knowledge of, at least, the terms of heraldry, and sarcastically to apply them to the magistracy. He says:—