Edward Sparke

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} '''Edward Sparke''' (c. 1610/11<ref name=Crisp /> - 1692) was an orthodox Anglican English clergyman and devotional writer in prose and poetry, who despite being ejected from his living during the English Rebellion survived to see his work and teaching gain a wide currency during the Restoration period.<ref>C.L. Leachman, 'Sparke, Edward (died 1693), Church of England clergyman', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (OUP 2004).</ref> He is most remembered as the author of ''Scintilla Altaris'', first published in 1652. It was a major influence in re-establishing the Anglican liturgical calendar.

==Life== A native of Kent, he was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, graduating B.A. 1630, M.A. 1633, and B.D. 1640. He was incorporated at Oxford on 12 July 1653 and later obtained D.D.<ref>{{acad|SPRK626E|Sparke, Edward}}</ref>

At the removal or deprivation of the previous incumbent, he was presented to the rectory of St Martin, Ironmonger Lane (St Martin Pomeroy), London, 28 September 1639.<ref>T. Rymer (ed. R. Sanderson), ''Foedera, conventiones, literae et cujuscunque generis acta publica'', Vol. XX (J. Tonson, London 1735), [https://books.google.com/books?id=3l0_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA393 p. 393] (Google).</ref><ref name=Repnote>R. Newcourt, ''Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense'', 2 vols (London 1708, 1710), I, [https://books.google.com/books?id=o2VZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA412 pp. 410-13, especially p. 412 at note "v"] (Google).</ref> At about this time he took a wife Sarah, for on 16 September 1641 Sarah Sparkes daughter of Edward Sparkes, Minister or Rector, and his wife Sarah, was baptized at St Martin Pomeroy: Sarah the mother died in childbirth, and the baptism and burial took place on the same day.<ref name=Sarah /> The child Sarah survived and bore her father's only known posterity.<ref name=will />

Sparke was at the same time an assistant governor, under James Marsh as president, of Sion College on London Wall, when John Sedgwick of St Alphage London Wall sought to have them removed as Royalists and replaced with men of parliamentarian sympathy. This was achieved by an assembly of Deans, assistants and fellows which met on 21 October 1643 to elect their replacements.<ref>E.H. Pearce, ''Sion College and Library'' (Cambridge University Press, 1913), [https://archive.org/details/sioncollegelibra00pearrich/page/108/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 108-10] (Internet Archive).</ref> He was soon ejected from his living at St Martin's, and his church sequestered, about 1645,<ref name=Repnote /> making way for the appointment there of John Arrowmith, D.D. (1602-1659), a puritan sympathist, of the Sixth London Presbyterian Classis.<ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Arrowsmith, John (1602-1659) | volume= 02 |last= Gordon |first= Alexander |author-link= Alexander Gordon (Unitarian) |pages = 348-349 |short=1}}</ref> In 1650 he was vicar of Isle of Grain, Kent.<ref>'The Island of Graine', in E. Hasted, ''The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent'', Vol. 4 (W. Bristow, Canterbury 1798), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp250-258 pp. 250-58] (British History Online).</ref>

His association as preacher or minister with St James's, Clerkenwell,<ref name=Repnote /> appears to have begun by 1654, when he was approached to officiate while an election was arranged in the following year. The parishioners soon afterwards purchased the church. Sparke maintained this connection with Clerkenwell in 1660, as an Independent, sharing, or in rivalry, with the elected minister Dr Siddon.<ref>T. Cromwell, ''History and Description of the Parish of Clerkenwell'' (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, London 1828), [https://books.google.com/books?id=0xEHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA82 pp. 82-84] (Google).</ref> At the English Restoration of 1660 he regained his rectory of St Martin's, but resigned it before 5 June 1661.

In September 1661 he obtained a mortgage for £400 to Peter Calfe of Tottenham in respect of Calfe's mansion house (that built by Sir Richard Martin on the south side of Sir Julius Caesar's property) which Calfe had acquired in 1654.<ref>London Metropolitan Archives, Sperling family deeds, refs [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/d8d89b84-8cf9-4b6e-a5c0-da5cce79daa2 ACC/0564/018] and [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/2e09cfc1-a82b-4cb0-819b-38bd53d9b4d3 ACC/0564/019] (Discovery Catalogue).</ref> Indentures of Fine were prepared between them in 1662, and in March 1664 a year's lease, and release, were made by them jointly with Sir Theodore Devaux of Covent Garden.<ref>London Metropolitan Archives, Sperling family deeds, refs [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/1493fc3b-ddc0-4b93-9381-144cbac2c632 ACC/0564/020-021] and [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/73a4bbdc-c130-4f84-9c1e-d3ea017f8ee5 ACC/0564/022-023] (Discovery Catalogue).</ref> A bill and answer were exchanged between the parties in Chancery in 1667.<ref>The National Archives (UK), Chancery, ''Devaux v Sparke'' (1667), [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5197681 ref. C 6/28/21] (Discovery Catalogue).</ref> Sparke was also involved in a land transaction at Rolvenden in Kent in 1664.<ref>The National Archives (UK), Chancery, ''Sparke v Goldston'' (1664), [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3959665 ref. C 5/631/112] (Discovery Catalogue).</ref> During the same period he was vicar of Walthamstow, December 1662 to May 1666,<ref>R. Newcourt, ''Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense'', 2 vols (London 1708, 1710), II, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JyBaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA637 at p. 637] (Google).</ref> and became chaplain to King Charles II. He resigned from Clerkenwell in 1666, and on 23 January 1665/66 was instituted to the vicarage of Tottenham at All Hallows, Tottenham High Cross,<ref>R. Newcourt, ''Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense'', 2 vols (London 1708, 1710), I, [https://books.google.com/books?id=o2VZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA755 pp. 753-55] (Google).</ref> which he held until his death.<ref name=will />

==Works== In January 1637/38, Sparke published a sermon of 44 pages for the funeral of Henry Chitting, Chester Herald, entitled ''The Christian's Map of the World''.<ref>E. Sparke, ''The Christians Map of the World drawne at the solmne funerals of M. Henry Chitting Esquire, Chester-Herauld at Armes, interred Ianuary 11, Anno Domini 1637'', (I. Norton for Richard Thrale), full text at [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A12696.0001.001/1:3?rgn=div1;view=toc umich/eebo].</ref> At this time he was preacher of St Mary, Islington.

In 1649 he published his own edition, in nineteen sermons, from the manuscripts of Josias Shute (died 1643), of ''Sarah and Hagar, or, Genesis the sixteenth chapter opened in XIX sermons''. The portrait of Josias Shute which is prefixed to the edition was engraved by William Marshall, and the verses (both Latin and English) which are inscribed beneath it are subscribed "Ed. Sparke".<ref>The British Museum, Print, Museum Number [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_P-3-44 P,3.44] (British Museum Collections Online).</ref> He wrote the epistle dedicatory from his study in London on 11 November 1648, dedicating it to John Lord Viscount Brackley and to Thomas Vyner, then one of the sheriffs of London, signing himself "the least Spark on God's Altar."<ref>(E. Sparke, ed.), ''Sarah and Hagar, or, Genesis the sixteenth chapter opened in XIX sermons, being the first legitimate essay of Josias Shute; published according to his own original manuscripts, circumspectly examined, and faithfully transcribed by Edward Sparke'' (J.L. and Humphrey Moseley, London 1649), full text at [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eebo2;idno=A60175.0001.001 umich/eebo].</ref> The title-page describes him as Rector of St Martin's, Ironmonger Lane. A further edition appeared in 1669 (Peter Parker, London).

===''Scintilla Altaris''=== His very lasting work, which had its first edition in 1652, was ''Scintillula Altaris, or a Pious Reflection on Primitive Devotion: as to the Feasts and Fasts of the Christian Church orthodoxally Revived'' (T. Maxey for Richard Marriot, London). ("Scintilla" in Latin means "spark".) This consisted of a series of disquisitions or meditations on the principal feasts, together with original religious poetry in each section, and extensive prayers for each feast. It also featured a series of engraved illustrations derived (at some removes) from, or reinvented after, engravings by Collaert after Marten de Vos.

This fourfold method of exposition addressed a metaphysical principle in his teaching, as when, in his second disquisition (upon Advent Sunday), he described the four Sundays of Advent, as "may in some sense (like the Four Evangelists) be called our Saviour's four-wheel'd Chariot (''Quadriga Domini''), carrying the glad and sad tydings of his approach throughout the Church, as those do his ''Mercy'' and ''Justice'' throughout the world."<ref>E. Sparke, ''Thysiasterion, vel Scintilla Altaris. Primitive Devotion, in the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England'', Third edition (R. Wood for H. Brome, London 1663), [https://books.google.com/books?id=HEguwpjb7NIC&pg=PA17 p. 17] (Google).</ref> The four Sundays (he writes) correspond to the four ways in which Christ comes to us, that is, the Corporeal, Ministerial, Spiritual and Judicial ways. A brief extract from his poem on this feast illustrates his richly figurative style:<blockquote>"His ''Ministerial-Advent'' next attend, And in his ''Word'', each ''Grief'' shall finde a ''Friend''. The Motions of his ''Spirit'', are the ''Gales'', That, while we ''steer'' towards ''Heav'n'', will fill our ''Sails''; His blessed ''Sacraments'', the ''Churches'' Wings, Whereby each ''Lark'' of ''Heaven'' mounts, and ''sings'': A pair of cleansing ''Streams'', broach'd from the ''side'' Of our ''dear Lord'', when for us ''crucifi'd'', Our ''Brace'' of ''Spies'', that from blest ''Can'an'' brings News of her chearing ''Vines'', and fruitfull ''Springs''."<ref>''Scintilla Altaris'', 3rd edition, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HEguwpjb7NIC&pg=PA29 p. 29] (Google).</ref></blockquote>

Although the words "Primitive Devotion" suggested the paring away of ceremonial, Sparke's intention was really to reconstruct and to expound anew the Anglican Calendar of observances which had been thrown out by the revolutions of religious policy during the preceding decade.<ref>R. Wilcher, 'Henry Vaughan, Jeremy Taylor, Edward Sparke, and the Preservation of the Anglican Communion', ''Scintilla'' (The Vaughan Association), 12 (2008), pp. 141-159. ISSN 1368-5023.</ref> As an appeal to the former orthodoxy it was therefore a daring publication for 1652. His friend Isaac Walton wrote commendatory verses upon seeing the first leaf printed from the Marriots's press (John Donne's publisher at that time), expressing strong approval that the poems, prayers and expositions so long-awaited were now being made available in print, as if in payment of a debt.<ref>J. Eckhardt, ''Religion around John Donne'' (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019), [https://books.google.com/books?id=HpuRDwAAQBAJ&dq=Walton+poem+about+Sparke&pg=PT137 pt. 137] (Google).</ref><ref>R.H. Shepherd (ed.), ''Waltoniana: Inedited Remains in Prose and Verse of Izaak Walton'' (Pickering and Co., London 1878), [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t0ht35w2j&view=1up&seq=71&skin=2021 pp. 70-72] (HathiTrust).</ref> Walton's verse appeared only in the first edition.

The second edition, published in 1660, was entitled ''Θυσιαστήριον, vel Scintilla Altaris'' ("Thysiasterion, or, the Spark of the Altar"), and with a new dedication to King Charles II, and a collection of poems by notable persons approving the author's steadfastness to the old order in the face of the intervening chaos, was at once esteemed both for its orthodoxy and for the sinewy strength, depth and clarity of its expositions. Six further editions appeared between 1663 and 1700.<ref>See, e.g., E. Sparke, ''Thysiasterion, vel Scintilla Altaris. Primitive Devotion, in the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England'', Second edition (W.G. and R.W., London 1660), (with cycle of engraved illustrations or religious emblems); Third edition (R. Wood for H. Brome, London 1663), (page views) at [https://books.google.com/books?id=HEguwpjb7NIC Google]; Fourth edition (J. Flesher for Henry Brome, London 1666), [https://books.google.com/books?id=MhaT8bgfc2wC Google]; Fifth edition (Robert Clavel, London 1673), (page views) at [https://books.google.com/books?id=sXpnAAAAcAAJ Google]; Sixth edition (T. Hodgkin for T. Basset and H. Brome, London 1678); Seventh, revised edition (J. Redmayne junr. for T. Basset and J. Brome, London 1682), [https://books.google.com/books?id=3PdwmMuVWK0C Google]; Eighth edition (William Battersby and Charles Brome, London 1700).</ref> Thomas Fuller and Alexander Brome were among the authors of the prefatory verses.

In 1666 Sparke added a supplementary work providing materials for the three "Grand Solemnities" of 5 November (the deliverance of King James I and the three estates by the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, 1605), 30 January (The martyrdom of King Charles I, 1649), and 29 May (the restitution of the king and royal family after the Great Rebellion, 1660). This was usually incorporated into later editions of the ''Scintilla''.

==Family== Sparke's will, written on 2 May 1693, gives various details of his family. He had a brother Thomas Sparke who married and had an only daughter Martha Sparke, but Thomas died before Edward. He also had a niece named Elizabeth Blyth.<ref name=will />

It appears that he first married Sarah, by whom he had his daughter, at the same time losing his wife who died at the time of the birth: * Sarah Sparke (baptized St Martin Pomeroy, 16 September 1641).<ref name=Sarah>St Martin Pomeroy Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives ref. P69/MTN4/A/001/MS04392: film image no. 34 of 69. "Sarah Sparkes the daughter of Mr Edward Sparkes Minister [overwritten, "Rector"] and Sarah his deceased ''[wife]'' was baptized the 16th of Sept 1641"; "Sarah Sparkes the wife of Mr Edward Sparkes Minister [overwritten, "Rector"] was buried the 16th of September 1641".</ref> She married Mathew Lyster (Consul at Cyprus for the Levant Company, 1656–1667), who dwelt at Old Ford, Middlesex, and had four daughters, Sarah, Mary, Frances and Martha Lister.<ref>H.L.L. Denny, ''Memorials of an Ancient House: A History of the Family of Lister or Lyster'' (Author/Ballantyne, Hanson & Co., Edinburgh 1913), [https://archive.org/details/memorialsofancie00denn/page/184/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 184-85] (Internet Archive).</ref><ref>F.M.G. Wilson, ''A Strong Supporting Cast: The Shaw Lefevres 1789-1936'' (Bloomsbury Academic, London 2015 (orig. 1993)), [https://books.google.com/books?id=1X5qCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 pp. 25-26] (Google).</ref> Matthew and Sarah were the executors of Edward Sparke's will, which was proved on 25 September 1693.<ref name=will />

Sarah having died, there must then have been a second marriage, since in 1650 he had a son: * Edward Sparke (born 17 June 1650). Edward, of Kent, attended Merchant Taylor's School in the City of London under headmaster John Goad, and became Head Scholar in 1666.<ref>H.B. Wilson, ''The History of Merchant-Taylors' School'' (London 1814), [https://archive.org/details/cu31924030618734/page/814/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 814-15] and [https://archive.org/details/cu31924030618734/page/1198/mode/2up?view=theater p. 1199] (Internet Archive).</ref> He then matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, on 19 October 1666, aged 16, and with a B.C.L. and LL.B. became a fellow of the college in 1673 and S.T.P.,<ref>'Edward Sparke' (2 entries), in J. Foster (ed.), ''Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714'' (Oxford, 1891), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp1394-1422 pp. 1394-1422] (British History Online).</ref> but died on 30 November 1675 and was buried in the college chapel. According to Anthony à Wood, he "soon after had a comely mon[ument] set over his grave by his father."<ref>'1653. Edward Sparke', in A. à Wood, ed. P. Bliss, ''Athenae Oxonienses: An Exact History of All the Writers, etc., with the Fasti'': Vol. 5, ''Fasti Oxonienses'', 2 Parts (F.C. and J. Rivington, etc., London 1815, 1820), II, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZINPAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA177 pp. 178-79] (Google).</ref> The Latin and Greek inscriptions of the monument itself (in the ante-chapel) and on a marble slab set in the floor beneath it confirm that he was the son and "unica spes" (only hope) of Edward Sparke, D.D., "Maestissimus", and there is much play on the "Scintilla" theme. These can be read in John Le Neve's collection.<ref>J. Le Neve, ''Monumenta Anglicana: Being Inscriptions on the Monuments of Several Eminent Persons'', 5 volumes (Will. Bowyer for Henry Clements and John Le Neve, London 1717-1719), V (Supplement), [https://archive.org/details/b30530222_0005/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 113-14] (Internet Archive).</ref>

At the time of making his will, aged 87, his wife's name was Ruth Sparke, who survived him. Edward settled money for her in the hands of Trustees of her own choosing, and left her the annual rents from his houses in Wapping for her lifetime, unless she remarried, after which they should revert to Sarah and Matthew Lister. Bequests were made to his grandchildren. If his wife contested any aspect of his will, she was to have nothing but the household goods.<ref name=will /> Edward Sparke also made bequests of money out of three assignments of mortgage made to him under the hands and seals of Sir Robert Vyner, Bart., Edward Backwell, Esq., and Gilbert Whitehall, citizen and Goldsmith of London (moneylenders to the Crown).<ref>F.T. Melton, ''Sir Robert Clayton and the Origins of English Deposit Banking 1658-1685'' (Cambridge University Press, 2002), [https://books.google.com/books?id=0zLw0lnEIeEC&pg=PA211 p. 211] (Google).</ref><ref name=will /> A receipt on such an assignment between Vyner and Sparke, dated 1679, is illustrated in a modern Catalogue of Sale, and shows Sparke's signature.<ref>'287. [Exchequer]', in ''Summer List 2020'', Samuel Gedge Ltd. (Norwich 2020), [https://www.samuelgedge.com/SUMMER%20LIST%202020%20web1.pdf p. 218] (samuelgedge.com pdf).</ref>

Altogether Edward Sparke seems to have kept his financial and property affairs in good order, though the sums referred to are not especially large. The will also names his kinsman Gabriel Sparke, a brewer, as one of his overseers.<ref name=will />

==Portraits and heraldry== The 1662 edition of ''Scintilla Altaris'' contained an engraved portrait by Abraham Hertochs, set within a cartouche bearing the legend: "Edoardus Sparke S T D Regi a Sacris. Ano Domni 1662". Beneath is inscribed the following verse:<blockquote>"This but the Case; the Jewell further Looke The Sparke indeed the Di'mond's in his Booke Wherewith Adorne thy Soule, until it Shine With Grace and Glory like these Sparkes divine"<ref>'Edward Sparke', The National Portrait Gallery, London, [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw137243/Edward-Sparke ref. npg d29623].</ref></blockquote>The portrait was replaced by a more expressive one in the later editions, commencing 1666, the framing and inscription the same apart from the date.<ref>'Edward Sparke', The National Portrait Gallery, London, [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw137247/Edward-Sparke?set=143%3BFleming+Collection%3A+Fleming%27s+Granger+%28Vol+5%29&displayStyle=thumb&displayNo=60&wPage=1&search=ap&rNo=96 ref. npg d29625]</ref> Hertochs's name is removed, and the engraver of the second likeness is named by Granger as Robert White.<ref>J. Granger, ''A Biographical History of England, from Egbert the Great to the Revolution'', Fourth edition (W. Baynes, etc., London 1804), III, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8LlCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA288 pp. 288-89] (Google).</ref>

Both versions display a shield of arms and a crest for Sparke, which seem to correspond to Bernard Burke's blazon, ''Chequy or and vert, a bend ermine'', with crest ''Out of a ducal coronet or, a demi panther rampant guardant argent spotted with various colours, fire issuing from the ears and mouth proper''. Burke lists these arms with this crest for the Sparke families of Nantwich, Cheshire (including the Plympton, Devon descent); of London and Essex (1577); and of Gunthorpe Hall, Norfolk; and also for Sparkes of Pennyworlodd Hall, Brecon and for Sparks of Byfleet, Surrey, formerly of Wexford, Ireland.<ref>B. Burke, ''The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales'' (Harrison, London 1884), [https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk/page/950/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 951-52] (Internet Archive).</ref> The fire issuing from the demi-panther's ears, presumably alluding to 'Spark', is conspicuous in the engraved portrait.

==Monument== Both the churches of St Martin Iremonger Lane (St Martin Pomeroy) and St Olave Old Jewry (which were adjacent) were destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, after which St Olave's church (only) was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren's office, and the parish of St Martin was annexed to it. Sparke, in his will (dated 2 May 1693), stated his wish to be buried at St Olave's, but on the site of the former chancel of the lost church of St Martin. (Possibly he wished to be near the burial place of his first wife, and the place of his former rectorate.) The grave was to be bricked up on both sides, and a fair black marble stone was to be laid at the top over it.<ref name=will>The Will of Edward Sparke, Doctor in Divinity, Minister of Jesus Christ of All Hallows, Tottenham High Cross, Middlesex (P.C.C. 1693, Coker quire).</ref>

The parish register of St Martin's (which continued to be kept) records Sparke's burial as follows: "Dr Edward Spark Vicar of Totnham High Cross was buryed Sep: ye 21 1693." To this is added, in a later hand: "formerly vicar of St Martin I[ronmonger] L[ane] to whose memory a stone had been erected - which in [....] was found buried at some depth I replaced (with an inscription which I added) at the expence of the Parishes. R. Hamilton, Rector. See Walker's sufferings of the clergy. V[ide] some books written by Sparke in Sion Library."<ref>St Martin Pomeroy Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives ref. P69/MTN4/A/001/MS04392: film image no. 40 of 69.</ref>

The date of the rediscovery of the original stone is left blank in the register, but Robert Hamilton, D.D., FRS, FSA (c. 1751–1832) was inducted to St Olave's in 1797<ref>'Hamilton, Robert (1785)', in J.A. Venn (comp.), ''Alumni Cantabrigienses'' Part 2, volume 3: Gabb - Justamond (Cambridge University Press, 1947), [https://archive.org/details/p2alumnicantabri03univuoft/page/214/mode/2up?view=theater p. 215] (Internet Archive).</ref> and was elected President of Sion College, London Wall, in 1817. Memorial inscriptions at St Olave's were recorded and printed by F.A. Crisp in 1887. He saw the inscription positioned on the outside south wall of St Olave's church tower, and it read: <blockquote>"Hoc marmor sacrum est memoriae Edoardi Sparke S.T.P. tam doctrina quam ingenio celeberrimi olim rectoris huius parochiae qui obijt xiij die Sept. Ann Dom MDCLXXXXIII aetat suae LXXXVII."<ref name=Crisp>F.A. Crisp, ''Monumental Inscriptions in the Church of St. Olave's, Jewry, London'' (Private, 1887), [https://books.google.com/books?id=5BYVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA18 p. 18] (Google).</ref> (''This stone is dedicated to the memory of Edward Sparke, Doctor of Sacred Theology, formerly by teaching and genius the very famous rector of this parish, who died on 13 September 1693 aged 87.'')</blockquote>By 1910 the stone had been removed to St Margaret, Lothbury,<ref>P.C. Rushen, ''The Churchyard Inscriptions of the City of London'' (Phillimore and Co., Ltd., London 1910), [https://archive.org/details/churchyardinscri00rush/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater p. 68] (Internet Archive).</ref> where it is described as a flat stone "in the ground around the church".

==References== {{reflist}}

;Attribution {{DNB |wstitle= Sparke, Edward | volume= 53 |last= Shaw |first= William Arthur |author-link= William Arthur Shaw |pages = 311-312 |short=1}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparke, Edward}} Category:1610 births Category:1692 deaths Category:17th-century English Anglican priests Category:Early modern Christian devotional writers