yt'
I
With
Best Wishes lor Christmas
and for
The New Year
/<^<
THE VYNE
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P^
A HISTORY
0
THE VYNE
in Hampjhire.
Una a fhorl account of the hu tiding ^
antiquities of that houfcMuatein the
pari[h if Sherborne S'JohnCo Hants
(ZTof verfons who have^
at fome time
lived there.
>J
CHALONER W. CHUTE
OF THE VYNE.
Jacob e. Johnson. Winchester.
Simplcm.MMrshallc-C? London.
1888.
*77z^ CcnlenU ofSiC^ "Be oh
y-T^
CHAP. I. " T/ie Rovian Vindomis." An account of
some ancient Roman roads and stations, in the South of England —
\'indomis (the Vyne) — Calleva (Reading)— \'enta Belgarum (Win-
chester)— A description of some Roman antiquities found near the
Vyne — The ring of Senicianus — Silchester
CHAP. H. " 77ie Chantry C/iapci:' William Fitz-
Adam— The families of De Port, St. John, Cowdray, and Sandys,
early owners of the Vyne — Their Chantry Chapel founded in the
twelfth century — Its re-endowment in the reign of Edward III.
— The present Chapel, built about 1509— Its painted windows, oak
carvings, and Italian tiles— Its vestments and plate . . . .
C H A P. H I. " The Lords Sandys." Rise of the Sandys
family — The Vyne given in marriage to the Brocas family during
the Wars of the Roses, and recovered again — Services of William,
hrst
SRLF
URL
5140200
vl THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK
I'AGE
first Lord Sandys of the \'yne, to Henry \'I!I. at home and abroad
— Lord Chamberlain and Captain of Guisnes — The Holy Ghost
Chapel — The great house of the Vyne — Visits of King Henry and
Queen Anne Boleyn — \'isits of Queen Elizabeth, Lord Burghley,
Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Duke de Biron — William fourth Lord
Sandys of the Vyne — Basing House — Mottisfont Abbey . . -29
CHAP. \\ . " Chaloner Chute the Speaker:' His
eminence at the Bar— His defence of the Bishops in 1641, and of
other great persons at the beginning of the civil war — His purchase
of the Vyne — Commemorated on the Great Seal of the Common-
wealth— Speaker, 1659 — His family assisted by his kinsman the
Lord Keeper North — Edward Chute's newsletters, 16S3-84, to Sir
Edward Bulstrode — The Basingstoke race cup won in 1688 . . 67
CHAP. V. "John C/iuh\ Gray, ana Horace JVai-
fiole." Unpublished letters from the poet Gray and Horace Walpole
to John Chute of the Vyne, 1741-62 — Fashions of men's dress
in London — Ranelagh Gardens — Francis Whithed and Margaret
Nichol — London Lions and Curiosities— Walpole's designs for altera-
tions at the Vyne S5
CHAP. VI. ''Mr. William Chide and the Vine
HonndsP The earliest packs of foxhounds — William Chute's manner
of hunting — Anecdotes of him and his neighbours — An election
squib, and its explanation — Subsequent history of the \'yne to the
present time . . . . . . . . . . .121
CHAP. VH. '"Description of the House." Present
state of the Vyne and its contents with many heraldic and other illus-
trations— Its arrangement and furniture in the sixteenth century,
from an old Inventory of 1541 . . . . . . . . 135
A
cA /i/tojdic
c7
f/
PLATES
Frontispiece : — Armorial Bearings of Chute : Gules three swords
extended barways, their points towards the dexter part of the
escutcheon argent, their hihs and pommels or. The crest, an
arm in armour gauntleted grasping a broken sword. The legend,
Fortune de Guerre. Beneath is a map showing the ground plan
of the house : i. Hall and Staircase. 2. Drawing Room. 3. West
Drawing Room. 4. Stone Gallery. 5. Dining Room. 6. Chapel
Parlour. 7. .-Xnte-Chapel. S. The Chapel, g. The Tomb Chamber.
Pl.\tk
viii A LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS
I. The Front Entrance of the Vyne with Roman Eagles lo face page i
II. The Chapel and North Side of the House
111. Interior of the Chapel .....
I\'. Canopied -Seats and Priest's Stall in the Chapel
V. South Front of the ^'yne, with the Shields of Sandys and
Bray within the Garter, and the Shield of Chute
\'I. Monument of Chaloner Chute the Speaker in the Tomb
Chamber .
VII. Silver Tankard with Inscription
\TIrt. Great Seal of the Commonwealth, 1652
\'III. Garden House or Summer House at the \'yne
I.\. The Staircase
X. The Kitchen Court and Entrance .
XI. Oak Mantelpiece in the Tapestry Room
Xl<?. Ground Plan and First Floor Plan of the House
XII. The Gallery
XIII. Fire-place in the Library ....
1 1
20
29
67
71
72
85
1 12
121
135
140
152
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT
Two angels supporting the royal shield and crown of King Henry VIII.,
and the shield and crest of Lord Sandys, from the Gallery . . v
Specimens of Italian tiles in the Chapel vii
Shield from the mantelpiece of the Tapestry Room . . . . x
A LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS ix
I'AI.K
A grotesque between two goblets, from carvings in the Oak Gallery . i
Map showing the Roman roads near the Vyne, with the Eagle brought
from Rome by Horace Walpole 3
Roman ring 7
Roman leaden tablet from a temple at Lydney 9
Bow and sheaf of arrows, a badge of Katharine of Arragon, from
carvings in the Oak Gallery '°
Mitre, with the arms of Tunstall, between the cyphers of Richard Fox
and Cardinal Wolsey, from carvings in the Oak Gallery . . . i ■
Seal of Sir Fulke dc Cowdray '^'
Head of King Edward III. in stone, from the first Chantry Chapel of
the Vyne ">
Portions of frieze, from the Chapel --
Poppy-heads, from the Chapel -i
Cardinal's hat and crozicr, from carvings in the Oak Gallery . . . 2.S
Cypher of William Lord Sandys, from the lock of the sacristy door in
the Chapel ; between a bray or hempbreaker, the device of Bray,
and a winged ibex, the crest of Sandys— from carvings in the Oak
Gallery -9
Demi-rose surmounted by rays of the Sun, the badge of Lord Sandys,
from carvings in the Oak Gallery ''^'''
Shield with the Speaker's mace and sword, from his monument in the
Tomb Chamber ^^
Cross swords and gauntlets, Irom carvings in the Oak Gallery . . 84
Ornaments from the Hall and Staircase S5
Cockle-shell, from carvings in the Oak Gallery 120
Grotesque, from carvings in the Oak Gallery : between the button of the
Vine Hunt, and the horn used by the first Master of the Vine hounds i J (
Weathercock
A LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS
TALK
Weathercock from the home farm 134
Royal crown between the Tudor portcullis and the castle, and pome-
granates of Katharine of Arragon, from carvings in the Oak Gallery 135
Drawing of the \'5'ne, as it was in 1641 137
Carved oak panel, from the Oak Gallery . . 153
Shields from the carved panels in the Oak Gallery . . . 154-159
Tudor rose, from the Oak Gallery 164
The best /hanks of /he wri/er of /his booh are due /o Mr. Lionel Mtiirliead,
who has contribti/ed all the Jllustra/iotis, except tlie copy of the Great Seal at
page 72, the drawing of the house ott page 137, and the plans at page 140.
.<-.^.t„».jA. im.AlCt,*A^^ 4r^-<^^,^; Life,/ i-,.^ ^-^.^ „ _
CHAP. I The'iBjjmatfS^dcmis.
THE Vyne is situated three miles north of Basing-
stoke, about four miles south of the boundary
between Hampshire and Berkshire, in the parish
of Sherborne St. John, where a sudden change
takes place from the open chalk hills of central Hampshire to
the deeply wooded vale of the Loddon.
It probably occupies the site of the ancient Roman Vindomis,
from which its name may be derived, a name which, having
been first contracted into " Vynnes," ' acquired its present form of ' Deed nf April
29. 1268, pre-
" Vyne" or "Vine" at least as early as the fourteenth century. se,-jedatthe
^ Vyne.
When Horace Walpole presented to John Chute the stone
eagles which stand on either side of the entrance to the house
(Plate I.), he, no doubt, intended to restore to it somewhat of the
Roman character to which it is entitled by its name and origin.
The source of our acquaintance with Vindomis is a guide
book of the ancient Roman roads, called the " Itinerary of . McHvaies
Antonine," compiled, according to the best authorities,'' by Anto- Romans under
T T 1 • II -L '^'^ Empire,
ninus Pius, the successor of the emperor Hadrian. It describes ch. ixvii.
the
S
A
THE VYNE
CHAP. 1.
1 Mcrivales
History of the
Romans under
the Empire,
ch. Ixvi. , note.
the military roads intersecting the whole of the Roman empire,
and the distances of every station through which they passed.
That part of it which relates to Britain was probably drawn up
about A.D. 120, in which year the emperor Hadrian made a
progress through that country, on his way to construct his famous
fortifications from the Tyne to Solway Firth.
According to this Itinerary, Vindomis (a name so closely
resembling vini douiits, " the house of wine," as to suggest a halt-
ing place for refreshment) was one of those stations just referred
to, intended for the defence of the Roman roads ; and as such,
it would have a permanent entrenched camp with mound and
fosse, constructed at some elevated point of the highway ; while
in the vicinity, occupying some less exposed position, would
probably be a villa,' for the pleasure and accommodation of
the officer in command.
Vindomis is described as situated upon the Roman road
between Venta Belgarum and Calleva Atrebatum, twenty-one
Roman (about nineteen English) miles from the former, and
fifteen Roman (about thirteen English) from the latter.
The Vyne also lies (as may be seen by the map) upon an im-
portant Roman road, directly between the towns of Winchester
and Reading, about nineteen miles from the former and thirteen
from the latter. Traces of a four-square entrenched camp may
be seen on this road, where it passes nearest to the Vyne, upon
high ground, while the position of the present house would
accord well with the probable situation of the officer's villa. It
therefore exactly coincides with the description of Vindomis
given in the Itinerary, if Venta Belgarum can be identified
with
CHAl'. I.
THE ROMAN VINDOMIS
with Winchester, and Calleva Atrebatum with Reading. Now
Winchester is by almost universal consent the ancient Vent a
Belgarum,' and the description of Calleva in the Itinerary
* Green' s
Making of
England,
p. 4.
(thirty-six Roman miles from Winchester, fifteen from Spinse
or Speen near Newbury, twenty-two from Pontes or Staines,
and forty-four from London), brings it with reasonable cer-
tainty to a point about two miles west of Reading.
A
THE VYNE
CHAP. I.
' Dt. Becke,
Arcliceo-
logia, vol. -w.
p. 186.
- Reynolds' s
Itinerary of
Antonine,
pp. 292, 368.
"• Observations
upon certain
Roman Roads
in tlie SoiitJi
of Britain,
1836.
A succession of writers have accordingly placed Calleva at
Reading, and Vindomis at the Vyne. " It is certain," says one,'
" that Calleva was in the direct road from London to Bath, and
consequently must have been in or near Reading, because the
nature of the country has caused that the straightest is at the
same time the most convenient line between those cities, and
that line passes through Reading."
Another says '^ of Calleva, that " it has four numbers to agree
with, and there is a town with which they agree much better than
with any of those that have been proposed, and this is Reading."
And of Vindomis the same writer says, that " at no greater dis-
tance than four or five miles south of Silchester, Vindomis was
seated. The place of it is now marked by a single house only ;
it is called the Vine ; and in Camden's time this name was so
ancient that he could not trace the original of it : there seems
much reason to think it derived from the ancient Vindomis, of
the name of which it retains the first syllable."
A third, Mr. H. L. Long, in a scholarly pamphlet upon the
Roman roads, says ' that " Calleva was the chief city of the Atre-
bates, who, in the earliest times of which we have any record,
occupied the county of Berks. The modern capital of Berkshire
is Reading, and as we find it almost invariably the case that
the town which was the original capital of the district still con-
tinues to hold its pre-eminence down to our times, it will be but
fair to examine the pretensions of Reading, and to observe
whether there is anything in its position inconsistent with what
we know of the ancient Calleva ; " then, after giving reasons for
concluding that the site of Calleva was at Reading, and that of
Vindomis
CHAP. I. THE ROMAN VINDOMIS 5
Vindomis near Basingstoke, he adds, "The ravages of the Danes,
who estabHshed themselves in Reading as headquarters in 870,
and the total destruction of the town by Henry II. for affording
shelter to King Stephen's soldiers, sufficiently account for the
disappearance of all remains of the ancient Calleva."
A fourth writer,' treating of the British portion of the Itine- ' Jeim Yonge
Akerman' s
rary of Antoiiine, comes to the conclusion that Calleva is repre- Arciicsoiogi-
cal Index of
sented by Reading, Vindomis by the Vyne, and Venta Belgarum English
Antiquities,
by Winchester. '^47-
Lord Carnarvon took the same view in a paper read to the
British Archaeological Association in i860, and said: "I am
inclined to think that the preponderance of argument leans
towards the identification of Calleva with Reading, and Vin-
domis with some point between Reading and Winchester."
Finally, an experienced member of the Society of Anti-
quaries has recently described ^ an exploration which he made of 'Mr. h. f.
Napper in tut)
the country about two miles west of Reading, where he discovered communica-
tions to the
evidences of ancient Roman fortifications, and found traces of Society, Jan.
25, 1883, and
the name of Calleva in Calvepit Farm, and Coley and Calcot ^'^^''' '3-
Parks.
There is indeed a theory which places Calleva Atrebatum
at Silchester, but the objections to this view, as a number of
writers have pointed out, are, first, that the distance from Win-
chester to Silchester, being twenty-five miles, does not fit the
thirty-six miles which, according to the Itinerary, lay between
Calleva and Venta Belgarum ; and secondly, that, while there
is some evidence that Silchester was called Caer Segont or
Segontium, there is none whatever to show that it ever was
known
6 THE VYNE
CHAP. I.
known as Calleva. Silchester rose, no doubt, into great im-
portance, but at a later date than that of Hadrian, when the
Itinerary of Antonine was compiled.
Such are the arguments which lead to the conclusion that
the Vyne, as Vindomis, was an ancient resort of the Roman
legions, and was probably visited by the emperor Hadrian, the
master of the world, when Britain was still regarded as a
scarcely civilised country, the most recently subjugated pro-
vince of his gigantic empire —
" Adjectis Britannis
Imperio, gravibusque Persis."
It may be added that no satisfactory site, other than the
Vyne, has ever been found for Vindomis : Farnham, Finkley
and St. Mary Bourne (see the map, p. 3) have in turn been sug-
gested, but it will be seen that none of these places agree with
the conditions required by the Itinerary of Antonine.
Another proposed derivation of the name Vyne, from vines
planted on the spot in Roman times, is mentioned as a tradition
' Britannia. by Camden,' who refers the planting of them here, " more for
A.n. 1586.
shade however than for fruit," to the reign of the Emperor
Probus, A.D. 276.
In connexion with these vines, a bold suggestion was made
-' I'outicai in the last century by Dr. John Campbell,' a writer of reputation :
o'reat^" " We havc had wines," he says, " in England in different places
Bri/ain, A.D.
1774, vol. i. and in large quantities. The reason of mentionmg them par-
p. 362.
ticularly in this place is the prevailing opinion that, when the
emperor Probus licensed the cultivation of vineyards, they were
first planted in this country, at a place which still bears the name
of
CHAP. I.
THE ROMAN VINDOMIS
of the Vine. I will venture to suggest what has occurred to me
upon this subject, though it should make the reader smile. If
our wines in Hampshire may not reach that perfection which is
requisite to please our palates, or become fashionable here, they
might possibly be exported with great profit to our plantations,
and derive from their passage into warmer climates that excel-
lence which cultivation could not give ; and this, perhaps, may
also make them worth sending home again ; nor would the
accumulation of freight render them dearer to the consumer
than the duties that are now laid on wines of foreign growth."
Several Roman remains have been discovered near the Vyne,
and, in the latter part of the last century, a gold Roman ring,
which has a singular history, was found in its immediate neigh-
^I^EIN m liAiKTEiVTrVA:^!]
■-.^m^
bourhood. It bears the head of Venus, and is inscribed with the
Latin words, Scniciane vivas Ilnde (i.e. seciinde) : " O Senicianus,
mayest thou live prosperously ! " Its form is shown in the accom-
panying woodcuts.
Being
8 THE VYNE
CHAP. I.
Being of gold, it can only have been worn by a senator or
knight, or some one whose rank entitled him to the privilege
calledy?/j annuli aurei.
Juvenal alludes to this privilege and to the weight of such a
ring as this being too great a burden in the heat of the summer
for degenerate equestrians, in the well-known lines : —
"Ventilet sestivum digitis sudantibus aurum,
Nee sufferre queat majoris pondera gammas."
By an extraordinary coincidence, in Mr. Bathurst's park at
Lydney in Gloucestershire, seventy miles from the Vyne, a
small leaden tablet of the fourth century has been found, which
apparently advertised the loss of this very ring, and imprecated
woe upon Senicianus until he should restore it. This fragile
tablet, the preservation of which is in itself a remarkable cir-
cumstance, was dug up among the ruins of a temple dedicated to
1 Scartiis Nodens ' (a British god of the sea adopted by the Romans), on
Britah,. the walls of which it was formerly fixed.
On the opposite page is a representation of the tablet, show-
ing its exact size and the inscription rudely scratched upon it.
The translation of the Latin is as follows : " To the god
Nodens : Silvianus has lost a ring : he has vowed the half to
Nodens (if he recovers it). Among those who bear the name of
Senicianus to none grant health until he bring the ring to the
temple of Nodens."
After the lapse of fifteen centuries, the grounds upon which
Silvianus claimed this ring can only be conjectured. Perhaps
he had given it to Senicianus in token of friendship, and after-
wards
P- i/S-
CHAP. I.
THE ROMAN VINDOMIS
wards had occasion to recall it, or Senicianus may have lost it in
a wager and unfairly kept it back. One thing only is clear, that
Senicianus, thinking that possession was nine points of the law,
declined to part with it ; and it has been suggested that he had
D eVo
NODENTI SLiyl/^NVS
dONAVlT N.OOEb(T( 'S^
nNTE^oyiBv^bioMEK
'SEHICI/XNINOULS .,
2XJA\LTTAS SANLTaI
WS QV E T E ^v 5 l^^A^\>f
his name engraved upon it, accompanied by the wish for his
own good health, as a kind of counter-charm to the inscription
on the tablet.
The ring, which was exhibited ' to the Society of Antiquaries ' Aniueo-
loi^ia, vol. viii.
in 1786, is preserved at the Vyne, and the tablet is included in p- 449-
Mr. Bathurst's collection of Roman antiquities at Lydney.
The Romans left Britain A.D. 426, and the civilisation which
they had introduced was speedily obliterated by the Saxons.
c The
lO
THE VYNE
CHAP.
1 Green i
Making of
Etigland,
p. ii6.
Memoirs on
excavations at
Silckester by
Rev. J. G.
Joyce :
ArchcEologia,,
vol. xlvi.
The town of Silchester, whose massive ruined walls enclose the
remains, among other buildings, of a stately forum and basilica,
with public and private baths, hypocausts, and a circular temple,
is only four miles distant from the Vyne, and the inhabitants of
Vindomis, lying defenceless on the border of the woodlands,
probably took refuge within its gates from the Saxon onset.
There is no more interesting relic in England than the
bronze eagle of a Roman standard, now at Stratfieldsaye, which
was found at Silchester, buried ' beneath the charred ruins of a
chamber in the forum. Under this standard it is thought that
the Romanised Britons rallied in their desperate struggle for
existence, and so for the last time, in the words of Cymbeline,
" The British and the Roman standards waved
Friendly together,"
and then gave way before the attack of the irresistible Saxon.
Thus Vindomis fell at the close of the sixth century, and
but for the one fact that the freeman Ulveva held its site at the
time of the Domesday survey, a veil is drawn over its history
for the period during which the Saxons held the land, not to be
lifted until they in their turn yielded to the Norman Conqueror.
CHA1-.
CHAP 11 The Chantry ChaJ^eJ,
A
T the Vine," wrote ' Horace Walpole, " is the most ■ /-<■//=•;• /u sii-
H. Mann,
heavenly Chapel in the world ; it only wants a July i6. i7ss-
few pictures to give it a true Catholic air." To
such a Catholic air it is well entitled, for seven
hundred years have elapsed since a Chantry Chapel was first
founded at the Vyne and dedicated to the Virgin Mary by
John de Port of Basing and his feudal tenant William Fitz-
Adam ; and in the present building (Plate II.), erected by the
first Lord Sandys, masses " for the faithful departed " were
celebrated four hundred years ago with a splendid ceremonial.
John de Port of Basing was born of brave and pious an-
cestors. His grandfather, Hugh de Port, one of the companions
of the Conqueror, received, as the reward of his services, no fewer
than seventy lordships, fifty-five of which were in Hampshire.
These included Amport, where his descendant the Marquis
of Winchester still lives ; Basing, the head of his barony ;
and Sherborne, in which the Vyne is situated ; while in the
neighbourhood
12
THE VYNE
CHAP. II
1 Rolls of
Parliament
quoted in
Lyte's History
of Eton
College,
P- 74-
neighbourhood of the Vyne, Bramley and Bramshill, Candover,
Chinham and Church Oakley, Dummer and Ewhurst, Herriard,
Hook and Kempshot, Kingsclere and Nately, Stratfieldsaye
and Tunworth, Upton Gray and Winslade, are marked as be-
longing to him in Domesday Book. In his old age he embraced
a cloister life, and became a monk at Winchester in the ninth
year of William Rufus, A.D. 1096.
Henry de Port, son of Hugh, a baron of the E.xchequer
under Henry Beauclerc, is known as the founder of the Bene-
dictine Priory of West Sherborne, two miles distant from the
Vyne, which was suppressed as an alien priory by Henry V.,
was afterwards given to Eton College, and now belongs to
Queen's College, Oxford. Complaints were made ' in the reign
of Edward IV. against the College, that they allowed " horses
and cartes dayly to goo uppon the sepultures of Cristen people
in gret nombre buried in the chirch there, whereof moo than
XXX sum tyme were worshipfull Barons Knyghtes and Squyers,"
and that they put a stop to the prayers for the founder and his
family. An Act of Parliament was accordingly passed in 1475,
compelling the College to maintain a priest at West Sherborne
for the due performance of the offices for the dead. An effigy,
curiously carved in wood, of one of the De Port family may still be
seen in the chancel, which, with the central Norman tower, is all
that remains of this Priory Church.
It was John, son of Henry, and grandson of Hugh de Port,
who, together with his tenant William FitzAdam, then inhabit-
ing the Vyne, founded and endowed the Chantry Chapel in the
twelfth century, during the reign of Henry II.
The
CHAP. II. THE CHANTRY CHAPEL 13
The deed of foundation ' was in the following terms : — > Winchester
DiikeSii/i
"ROBERTUS DfX.\NUS DE ShIREBURN WiLLELMO FiLIO Ad.^ ET JiamOrleio,,' s
h^redibus suis capellam concessit construere, infra parochiam ^'"'''' '°'- -^^•
ecclesi^ S"^' Andre.e Shireburn, ipsius Wili.elmi et uxoris su*
et famill'e usibus necessariis profuturam, et eosdem ad divinuji
officium audiendum recepturam, cui serviend* idem robertus
capellanum providebit, ad mensam willelmi assessurum, et de
MANU Robert: mercedem sui servitii accepturum ; salvo honore
ET DIGNITATE MATRIS ECCLESI.E SCHIREBURN IN DECIMIS OMNIUM
RERUM DECIMENDARUM ET OBLATIONIBUS ET BENEFICIIS ET CONSUE-
TUDINIBUS ANNUATI.M PERSOLVENDIS, IN PROPRIA MANU ET USU RE-
TiNENDis. Ipse vero Willelmus cum uxore eandem ecclesiam,
veneraturus et ibidem communionem recepturus, not.itis diebus
adibit; scilicet in die Natali Domini, in die Pasch.«, in die
PURIFICATIONIS, IN DIE PENTECOST.'E, IN DIE S" AnDRE.E. CuJUS
GRATIA CONCESSIONIS, PR^DICTUS WiLLELMUS, DoMINO ET PR^DICT^E
ECCLESI/E ScHIREBORN, QUADRAGINTA ACRAS TERR/E possidendas
perpetuo nutu Johannis DE Port et Matild/e uxoris su^e et
FILIORUM ET H.^EREDUM, IN ELEEMOSYNAM DEDIT ET CONCESSIT, VIDE-
LICET XXII ACRAS, QUAS HeRBERTUS DE BOSCO ET SeLIDUS TENUE-
RUNT, ET VII ACRAS IN FeRNINGHAM, ET XI IN CAMPIS SCHIREBURN."
The interpretation of this deed is as follows : — ■
" Robert the Dean of Sherborne hath permitted William FitzAdam
and his heirs to build a Chapel within the parish of the Church of St.
Andrew Sherborne, to serve for the use of himself and his wife and
household, and to receive them for hearing the divine service ; the
said Robert shall provide the Chaplain, who shall eat at William's table,
and receive a stipend for his services from Robert : Saving always the
honour and dignity of the mother Church of Sherborne, and all tithes
and oblations and benefits and yearly offerings to be paid and retained
in his own hand as heretofore ; And William FitzAdam with his wife
shall attend to worship and receive the Communion at the parish
Church
14 THE VYNE
CHAP. II.
Church on specified days, that is to say, Christmas, Easter, the Purifica-
tion, Whitsunday, and St. Andrew's Day. In consideration of which
permission the aforesaid AMlHam, with the consent of John de Port and
his wife Matilda and their heirs, hath granted in free ahiis for ever unto
the Lord and to the Church of Sherborne forty acres, viz. twenty-two
held by Herbert de Bosco and Selidus, and seven acres in Ferningham,
and eleven in the Field-land of Sherborne."
This deed was confirmed in 1202 by Godfrey de Lucy,
Bishop of Winchester, the builder of the Early English work at
the eastern end of the Cathedral, and by Herbert, who succeeded
Robert as " Dean and Parson of the Church of St. Andrew
Sherborne." The latter describes the Chantry Chapel as
"built in the demesne (/« atria') of William FitzAdam." The
traditional site is near an old yew tree, about two hundred
yards south of the present house.
The early use of the word " Decamts " or " Dean " in these
deeds, as applied to Robert and Herbert, successively parsons
of Sherborne, is remarkable, and has been variously explained.
Some have thought it an early example of a surname, but it
appears more probable that they were senior deans of the
neighbouring Benedictine Priory of Monk Sherborne, just as the
vicar of Battle, Sussex, bears the title of Dean derived from the
Benedictine Priory founded by William the Conqueror.
Such Chapels or Chantries as that at the Vyne were not un-
frequently sanctioned for private worship, in cases where regular
attendance at the parish Church might properly be excused,
either on account of the badness of the roads, or for other
sufficient reasons. Thus, if a College at Oxford or Cambridge
desired to have a private Chapel, instead of sending its scholars
to
CHAP. II. THE CHANTRY CHAPEL 15
to a Church outside its walls, it went through the same process
of obtaining an episcopal licence as did John de Port and
William FitzAdam for their Chapel at the Vyne. Such licences
always saved the rights of the parish Church, and directed
attendance there on the greater festivals, when oblations were
commonly offered.
The Chantry Chapel of the Vyne was not consecrated ;
but a consecrated Altar stone, or portable Altar {snpcraltarc con-
secratum), was given by the bishop to be laid upon the Altar
whenever Mass was said.
Adam de Port, son of the founder of the Chantry Chapel,
having married Mabel, an heiress of the St. John family, his
son William assumed the name St. John in place of De Port
early in the thirteenth century. His descendants the St. Johns
of Basing continued to be Lords of the Manor of the Vyne, and
that part of the parish of Sherborne in which the Vyne stands
took its name of Sherborne St. John from them, and not from
its Church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew.
Many of the St. Johns used the Vyne as a favourite hunting
resort. Thus Robert de St. John is recorded to have en-
closed a park for hunting in the parish of Sherborne in the
reign of Edward I., and to have given ' to the monks of Sher- • Warners
Hampshire,
borne Priory "the right shoulder of every deer that should be '''.:" P"
killed in his park," a gift which his grandson, John Lord
St. John, confirmed in 1309.
Morgueson Wood, which adjoins the Vyne on the north-
west, was also called- in ancient deeds John Lord St. John's ^ e.g. Deed of
yan. 26, 1325,
Park of Morgarston. Horace Walpole therefore made a mistake, presenedat
the Vyne.
thoujrh
1 6 THE VYNE
CHAP. H.
though not an unnatural one, when he derived the name of
this wood from a village near Boulogne, burnt in the wars of
Henry VIII. by William, first Lord Sandys of the Vyne. " The
■ MS. pre- wood," he says,' " beyond the water at the back of the house still
set-jed at the . , , . „ , • i
Vyite. retains the name of Morgesson, a village m r ranee, near which
was fought the battle of Spours, which has been ridiculously
called by historians the battle of Spurs, from the hasty flight,
as they suppose, of the French, as if every battle in which
one side retreated precipitately might not as justly have been
called so."
The Vyne passed in the fourteenth century to the dis-
tinguished family of Cowdray, whose memory is still preserved
in Sussex, where they were living at the date of the Domesday
Survey. The splendid mansion which bears their name in that
county is deservedly famous both for its stately beauty and its
tragic fate, having been ruined by fire at the same time as its
owner, the eighth Lord Montague, perished by water in the falls
of the Rhine near Schaffhauscn. The Cowdrays established
themselves at an early date in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and
Hampshire, in which last county they became the Lords of
Herriard as well as of the Vyne.
The seal of Sir Fulke de Cowdray, on
which the arms of the family (gules, lO billets
4, 3, 2, and i, or) are engraved, debruising a
two-headed eagle displayed, with the legend
" Sigillum Fulconis de Cowdray," is represented
in the accompanying drawing. This seal was attached to a
Norman-French deed by which Sir Fulke de Cowdray leased
the
CHAP. 11. THE CHANTRY CHAPEL t;
the manor of the Vyne (at that time commonly called Sherborne
Cowdray, after its owners) to Richard de Burton, Archdeacon of
Winchester, in the twenty-fourth j-car of Edward III.
Sir Thomas de Cowdray re-endowed the Chantry Chapel by
a Latin deed' of February 2, 1337, the effect of which was as ' WinchaUr
Diocesan
follows : Registry :
Book of Aifaw
1. After reciting the licence in mortmain of King Edward III., <>i-i^i-"'-
and the consent of Robert de Jay, rector, and Ralph, vicar of
Sherborne, he made the following grant : " I give to my brother
Richard de Cowdray, whilst he shall perform divine service
daily in the Chapel of Sherborne Cowdray, in honour of the
Blessed Virgin, and on behalf of my good estate while I shall
live, and of my soul when I shall depart this life, and on behalf
of Adam Orleton, Bishop of Winchester, and my father Sir
Peter de Cowdray, and my mother the Lady Agnes, and my
wife Juliana, and William Attehurst, and all the faithful de-
parted, one plot of land in Sherborne Cowdray, and one rent
coming to me from land held by Richard atte Ostre in the same
village, and one rent of six marks issuing from lands in Herriard
and Ellisfield, held by the Prioress of Hartley Wintney : To
have and to hold the same to the said Richard and his suc-
cessors the chaplains performing divine service in the said
chapel, without any recourse to the mother church of Sherborne
St. John."
2. It was provided that the patronage should belong first to
Sir Thomas and his heirs, as lords of the manor ; secondly, to
the Prior of the Cathedral Church of St. Swithun at Winchester ;
and thirdly, to the Bishop.
» 3-
i8 THE VYNE
3. Sir Thomas de Cowdray undertook that he and his heirs
would attend the parish Church on the greater festivals.
4. Sir Thomas de Cowdray gave to the " Chapel or Chantry "
(" capellae seu cantariae ") the following books and ornaments, viz.,
a missal, a gradual, a response-book ("troparium"), a lesson-book,
an antiphonal,a Psalter, two phials, a pair of vestments, a napkin
or towel, and two brass candlesticks.
5. It was provided that " the duty of replacing the ornaments
and finding bread and wine and lights should devolve on the
chaplain, but the repair of the nave and chancel and altar upon
Sir Robert de Cowdray and his heirs."
Among the witnesses to this deed were Sir John de Roches
of Steventon, Sir John de Tichbornc, Sir John Pccche, Sir Hugh
de Braybeof of Eastrop, Matthew de Haywood, Alexander de
Cowfold, John Turgis, and Peter de Watford. It was confirmed
by the Bishop at Farnham, February 7, 1337.
Thereupon Adam Orleton, Bishop of Winchester, admitted
Richard de Cowdray to the chaplaincy, after the full chapter of the
Deanery of Basingstoke had reported him to be " vitae laudabilis
et honestae conversationis." At the same time, a dispute having
arisen between Sir Thomas de Cowdray and Robert de Jay, the
rector of Sherborne, as to the stipend which the latter was bound
to pay to the chaplain, the bishop inspected the ancient deeds
relating to the Chantry, and " having sought the divine guidance
in the Chapel of his manor at Highclere," decided and awarded,
June 12, 1337, that, notwithstanding any alteration in the value
of land, the annual stipend payable to the chaplain by the rector
should be one mark, and no more.
A
CHAP. 11.
THE CHANTRY CHAPEL
19
A well-carved head of Edward III. was disinterred at the
beginning of this century, together with other stone work
belonging to the ancient
Chantry Chapel, having
probably been added as
an ornament at the time
of its restoration by Sir
Thomas de Covvdraj-. It
is a curious coincidence
that a similar head of
Edward III. still forms
a bracket at the foot of
the east window in the
interesting Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen at Kingston, which
was also restored in that king's reign.
Soon after the date of Sir Thomas de Cowdray's benefac-
tions, the Cowdray inheritance, including the Vyne, passed by
marriage to Sir William Fyffhide, whose principal seat was at
Fifield near Andover. This Sir William Fyffhide died in 1362,
and an inquisition taken at Basingstoke on his death men-
tions his property at Sherborne as including "a manor house
of no value beyond the outgoings, and the advowson of the
Chapel."
During the minority of his son, a second William Fyffhide,
a vacancy occurred in the chaplaincy, and King Edward III.,
as the infant's guardian, presented one Thomas Solle of Wych-
ford, January' 2, 1363.
On February 2, 1371, the second Sir William Fyffhide
leased
20 THE VYNE
CHAP. II.
' Deed leased ' the manor house of Sherborne Cowdray (i.e. the Vyne) to
preserved at
the Vyne. William Gi'egoiy of Basingstoke for certain considerations, in-
cluding " the payment of one rose at the feast of St. John the
Baptist ; " reserving however " the Park, and the right of pre-
sentation to the Chapel ;" while Gregory covenanted to keep in
repair " the hall, and the adjoining chambers, and the grange,
and the Chapel at the house."
In 13S6 the manor passed to the Sandys famil}- by marriage,
and thenceforth resumed the name of the Vyne.
It will be told in the next chapter how William Waynflete
(Headmaster of Winchester College, 1429; Fellow and first
Headmaster of Eton, 1442 ; Provost of Eton, 1443 ; Bishop ot
Winchester, 1447 ; Chancellor, 1456 ; Founder of Magdalen
College, Oxford, 1458) granted a licence in 1449 for marriages
to be celebrated in the Chantry Chapel of the Vyne.
In the early years of the sixteenth century, the old Chantry
Chapel was replaced by the present building (Plate III.), erected
by William first Lord Sandys of the Vyne. It still remains
almost unaltered and in perfect preservation.
Externally, like the rest of the house, it is built of diapered
red brick, with coigns and windows of stone, and has stone
battlements, sculptured with the coats of arms and devices of
Henry VIII., Katharine of Arragon, Lord Sandys, Sir Reginald
Bray, and the officers of the Order of the Garter. (Plate II.
p. II.) The eastern termination of the roof is not apsidal, like
the building, but gabled, with a pierced barge board.
From within the house it is entered through an antechapel
(described hereafter in Chap. VII.), by a richly carved oak door.
The
in
CHAP. II.
THE CHANTRY CHAPEL 21
The internal dimensions are 35 feet long, 19 feet wide, 25 feet
high.
The eastern end terminates in an apse pierced by three Per-
pendicular mullioned windows, filled with exceptionally perfect
and beautiful glass of the fifteenth century, of which the subjects
are as follows. The southernmost window contains, in the three
upper lights, Our Lord bearing the Cross and meeting St. Vero-
nica ; and, in the lower lights, the Princess Margaret, daughter
of Henry VII., kneeling, attended by her patroness Saint
Margaret. The centre window contains, in the upper lights,
the Crucifixion ; and, in the lower. King Henry VII., kneeling,
accompanied by his patron saint, Henry of Bavaria. The
northernmost window contains, in the upper lights, the Resur-
rection ; and, in the lower, Queen Elizabeth of York, kneeling,
attended by her patroness Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who
carries clothes for the dwarf leper by her side. The sacred
subjects are surmounted by the arms of Henry VII. and his
Queen, and by the Tudor rose.
At this end, in the time of the first Lord Sandys,' was ' P. 2^. post.
tapestry, and a picture of Our Lord. The Altar had a canopy
or baldacchino, and was covered, sometimes with an altar cloth
richly embroidered with gold, "with my Lord's arms at both
ends ; " at other times with a pair of altar cloths of crimson
velvet and cloth of gold. These were exchanged in Lent for one
of white damask or linen with red roses. On the Altar stood " a
cross of silver and gilt with the figures of St. Mary and St. John."
There was a font in the chapel, with a canopy of crimson
satin and yellow damask.
The
22
THE VYNE
CHAP, II.
The canopied oak seats (Plate IV.) are of peculiar beauty
and afford an excellent example of varied and intricate carving.
Two specimens of the rich work bordering the canopy on the
outside, described by Horace Walpole in his account of the
house as "capricious friezes," arc here given. The canopy is
decorated on the inside with \arious carvings, including the
Tudor Rose, the Portcullis, the Cross Ragulee (arms of Sandys),
the St. George's Cross of the Order of the Garter, the Saltire
(the arms of Neville), and the badge of Lord Sandys, a rose
1 See drawing, surmounted by rays of the sun.' Two of the admirable poppy
p. 66, post.
heads terminating the seats are represented in the accompanying
drawings.
In the south wall is the door leading into the priest's chamber.
The ornamental wrought-iron lock of the door, with the cypher
W. S., for William Lord Sandys, is sketched at the head of
Chapter III. East of this door is an open screen giving access
to
THE CHANTRY CHAPEL
23
to the Tomb Chamber, containing the fine marble monument, b)^
Banks (Plate VI., p. 67), of Chaloner Chute, recumbent, in his
Speaker's robes. This monument will be found described in
Chapter VII.
The floor was formerly of stone, in a black and white pattern ;
it is now of white marble, bordered with specimens of painted
encaustic tiles, said by tradition to have been brought from
Boulogne by Lord Sandys in the time of Henry VIII. They
are probably from the manufactories of Urbino. Several of the
scrolls are close imitations of Spanish or Moresque work.
Some of the designs are given at the head of the " List ot
Illustrations" (p. vii., ante).
An
24 THE VYNE
CHAP. II.
An iron alms box, of the time of Queen Elizabeth, bears the
arms of the City of London, and the words " FUr den Armen."
At the western end, above the antechapel, is a gallery with
an open screen, once the oratory of Lord Sandys, in whose day
it contained —
" V pieces of hangings of great flowers, with my Lordes
armes in the Garter ;
" ii small pieces of Imagery for the windows ;
" ii other small pieces or tapettes hanging beside the altar."
From this gallery a spectator might have beheld the Mass
celebrated with great splendour in the early days of the six-
teenth century. He would have seen the Chapel lit up with an
array of candles, some in massive silver standards, others in
lesser silver candlesticks ; the priest, deacon, and subdeacon
attired in vestments of satin and cloth of gold, adorned either
with " angels and clouds " or with " lions and eagles," or with
"my lord's arms in the garter" (for all these vestments were
I V. 2s-2T.post. among the Chapel furniture ' ) ; at other services with red copes,
with orphreys garnished with pearl. There were two silver
bells to be used at the consecration ; a set of organs to accom-
pany the music ; Mass books on vellum, graduals, prick-song
books, processionals, antiphonals, a silver Pyx for the Host ;
six silver chalices and patens ; a silver Pax for the kiss of peace,
engraved "with the crucifix, St. Mary and St. John ; " two silver
censers and a " ship," partly gilt, for incense ; silver cruets for the
water and wine ; silver basons for the alms ; a silver " stocke "
with a " sprinkell " for the holy water ; and a silver box for the
holy loaf or "singing bread," which the priest, after saying
private
CHAP. II. THE CHANTRY CHAPEL 25
private Mass, broke and distributed to the people who did not
communicate, as a symbol of brotherly love.
This Chapel has been selected for description and illustra-
tion by Dolman, in his " Ancient Domestic Architecture," ' as one ' \'oi. ii.
of three typical examples of ancient domestic chapels in England ;
the others being those of the two episcopal palaces of Lambeth
and Wells.
The following is a list^ of the ornaments, plate, and furniture - inveiiioiy
tfiited 1541.
used in the Chapel in the time of the first Lord Sandys : — -'<''■<•?• 50, poi/.
" In the Chapel.
ij pieces of Parke worke,* with fountaines, lyned ;
Another piece, underneath the windowes, uf the same worke ;
ij large tablettes of the picture of Our Lord ;
A great large pair of Latten candlestickes, called standardes ;
A pair of lesser candlestickes, of Latten ;
A small pair of altar candlestickes, latten ;
ij pieces of old hanginges, sore worne, hanging beside the altar ;
An altar cloth for the upper part of the altar, richly embroidered with
gold, with my lordes armes at both endes :
A pair of altar cloths, for above & beneath, of crimson velvet, & cloth
of gold, paned,+ with a lose valaunce of the same ;
A canopy of coarse bawdekyn ; t
A fronte of bawdekyn, with a pageant of our Lady, embroidered ;
An altar cloth & a fronte, white Damaske, with red loses, for Lent ;
vij lynen altar cloths, with redd roses, for Lent ;
* Perhaps tapestry -vith garden or park scenery, as distinguished from " imagery,"
or tapestry containing figures. Gibbon, ch. Ixi., describing a carpet of silk belonging
to Chosroes, the Persian monarch, says, '' A paradise or garden was depictured on the
ground." t Striped.
X Rich brocade from Baldeck, or Bagdad, whence the canopy was called a baldacchino.
E A
26 THE VYNE
CHAP. II.
A pair of vestmentes of clothe of gold, embroidered richly, with my
lordes armes in the garter, all new ;
A pair of vestmentes, crymson velvif, with an orpharus,* & cloth of
gold ;
A suit of vestmentes for priest deacon and subdeacon, of green velvit,
embroidered with angelles & cloudes, with the apparell & a cope of
the same [valued at xiij/. v\s. viij(/.] ;
A suit of vestementes with priest deacon & subdeacon, of redd silke, em-
broidered with lyons & eagles of gold, of the old making, and a cope
to the same [valued at vj/.] ;
A suit with priest deacon & subdeacon, of crimson velvit, garnished
with flowers & angelles of gold, with an orphrey of blacke & clothe
of gold ;
ij copes of red tissue, with an orphrey garnyshed with peerle ;
A vestment of redd satin, figury, with an orphrey of blue clothe of
gold;
A cope of redd Damaske, with an orphrey of blue velvit ;
A pair of vestmentes of cloth tissue ;
A canopy for the fonte, of crymson satin and yellow Damaske ;
A pair f of organs.
In the Vestry.
X processionalles ;
A fair masse booke in vellum, printed ;
iiij grayles ; %
viij antiphonals, printed in paper ;
iij prick song bookes ;
ij corporas § cases of black velvet perled, with JHUS embroidered ;
ij other corporas cases, one of metal work, another of gold plain ;
vj pair of altar curteyns of sarcenet, of dyvers colours.
* Orphrey or band. f Set. . % Graiiuals or service hooks.
§ The linen cloth spread over the consecrated bread.
Chapel
CHAP. II. THE CHANTRY CHAPEL
Chapel Plate.
A crosse of sylver & gilt, with Mary & John, with a foot gilt : clwj oz. ;
vj chalices gilte, with their pattens : cxiv oz. ;
A gilt Pyx of silver, chased : xx oz. ;
A gilt box for singing bread : * iij oz. ;
A large Pax, with the Crucifix, and Mary & John : xxij oz. ;
A pair of altar basones, small, parcel gilt : xlij oz. ;
ij censers, parcel gilt, with a shipp & a spone, parcel gilt : Ixxx oz. ;
A holy water stocke, with a sprinkell, parcel gilt : xx oz. ;
A bell of sylver, parcel gilt, with the clapper : x oz. ;
A box for singing bread,* with a cover, parcel gilt : iij oz. ;
ij pair of cruettes : xviij oz. ;
A pair of altar candlesticks : xlj oz. ;
Another pair of altar candlesticks, parcel gilt : xlvj oz. ;
Another pair of greate & large altar candlesticks, all white, with roses :
cxl oz. ;
A little bell of silver : ij oz.
In the Wardrobe.
ij altar cloths of Bruges satin, red & yellow, paned ;
A canopy of the same stuff fringed & curtains to the same ;
A corporas case of needle work ;
A super altare." f
The Chapel did not escape the disendowmcnt which befell
all Chantries in the reign of Edward VI. It was described in
the certificates of the revenues of Chantries, made in March and
April 1 548, with a view to their dissolution, as follows.
* Paiti h'liii, or holy loaf, hamkd to the congregation after hi^h Mass as a syiiihol
of brotherly love. " Singing bread " seems to have been a term used to denote wafers in
general. \ See p. 15.
" One
28
THE VYNE
CHAP. 11
1 Cer/if fates
of Chantries,
51 (i3)-
'■ IHd. 52 (9).
" One Chantry of the Vyne : ' founded by Sir Thomas
Cowdray, knt, to the intent to have a priest, to do, exercise, and
use, divine service for ever in the s"* chappel, to pray for the souls
of the said Sir Thomas & Juiyan his wife and all Christian
souls ; and the said priest to have for his Salary cvj' viij"*. the
said Chantry is situate one mile from the parish church. Orna-
ments plate jewels goods & chattels, merely appertaning to the
said Chantry, not priced, but as appeareth by the Indenture."
And again : —
" The Chantry in the Vine,^ founded to have continuance
for ever, of whose foundation they know not, and that there
is belonging to the same Chantry a house & garden &
orchard, valued at iij'' iiij* ; item in lands & tenements, to the
yearly value of v' vj'* viij'' ; ornaments & goods there by in-
ventory indented to the incumbent delivered b}- the commis-
sioners valued at ij^"
The Chapel, though disendowed by the sale of its lands, and
deprived of its independent emoluments, was preserved undese-
crated, and still retains its original beauty, affording a memorial
of the munificent piety of successive owners of the V^yne.
Chap.
^'
'^^'"0^ 1^^^^
>
CHAP. Ill '7J:i€ I^orclsSanch/s.
FOR nearly three hundred years, from the reign of
Richard II. until the days of the Commonwealth,
the Vyne belonged to the family of Sandys, the
greatest of whom, the first Lord Sandys, was the
builder of the present house (Plate V.) about 1509. He and
his successors were associated with many of the principal
persons and events of the Tudor period, and his " poor house,"
as he calls it in many of his letters, abounds in historic
memories.
Here King Henry VIII. and Anne Bolcyn were guests at
a momentous crisis of the Reformation ; here Queen Elizabeth,
with Lord Burleigh at her side, penned one of her earliest
and most important despatches with reference to the keeping
of Mary Queen of Scots ; and here the Duke de Biron, with
a retinue of four hundred persons, was for several days royally
entertained.
The original seat of the Hampshire family of Sandys was
at Choldcrton near Andover, where in Leland's time ' yet ' Leiand. iim.
iv. pt. i. fol.
remained 1°. n-
THE VYNE CHAP. III.
remained " a fair manor place builded for the most part of flint."
They bore different arms from the family of the same name of
Latymers in Buckinghamshire, and Ombersley in Worcester-
shire, to which the archbishop, and many persons distinguished
in literature and politics, belonged.
It was Sir John Sandys, a knight of the shire for the county
of Hants, and governor of Winchester Castle, who acquired the
V)'ne in 1386, by his marriage with Joanna, heiress of the Fyff-
hides ; and his son Sir W^altcr, not foreseeing that it was about
to become the principal residence of his family, " gave it out "
^ Ubi sup. (says Leland ') to his daughter Joanna, upon her marriage to
William Brocas, about 1420.
Few families were at that time more distinguished than that
of Brocas. Sir John Brocas had migrated in the fourteenth
century to England from Aquitaine, then part of the English
-History of king's dominions;^ and Sir Bernard Brocas, the friend and
tke Brocas
Family, by companion-in-arms of Edward the Black Prince, by whose side
Professor ' •'
Biirrcnvs, 1886. he fought at Poitiers, had become the lord of Beaurepaire, in
the immediate neighbourhood of the Vyne, in the year of that
battle, 1356. He died in 1395, and was honoured with a
splendid monument in Westminster Abbey, which tells how,
" being sent against the Moors, he overcame the King of Morocco
in battle, and was allowed to bear for his crest a Moor's head
= No. 329. crowned with an Eastern crown." Readers of the " Spectator " ^
may remember that Sir Roger de Coverley, visiting West-
minster Abbey, " paid particular attention to the account of the
lord who had cut off the King of Morocco's head."
His son, a second Sir Bernard, was faithful to Richard \\.
in
CHAP. HI. THE LORDS SANDYS 31
in his da}- of adversit}-, and was put to death February 4, 1400,
by Henry IV. Shakespeare' speaks of his execution, with Sir ^ mdiard 11.
act V. sc. 6.
Benedict Shelley, and the chroniclers tell of his last speech at
Tyburn before he was beheaded : " Blessed be God that I was
born, for I shall die this night in the service of the noble King
Richard."
It was his son, William Brocas, who married Joanna Sandys
as his second wife, and received the V}-ne as her dowry. He
served Henry V. and Henry VI. as sheriff of Hampshire in
1416, 1429, and 1436, sat for the same county in four Parlia-
ments at least of the former king, and obtained such favour
with the new d}'nasty that he recovered most of the property
which his father had forfeited by his attainder ; the estate of
Denton in Wharfedale, and the well-known Brocas meadow on
the banks of the Thames at Eton, being included among his
possessions. He also held the distinguished position of Master
of the Royal Buckhounds, an office which, being at that time
hereditary, had been acquired^ by his grandfather Sir Bernard '^ History of
the Brocas
upon his marriage with Mary, daughter and heiress of Sir John Pamiiy, p. 97.
de Roches, and widow of Sir John de Borhunte, in 1363.
Rockingham Castle in Northamptonshire, a favourite resort
of the Plantagenet kings, was then the centre of this royal
hunt ; and one of the meets of the Woodland Pytchley hounds
at the present day is the " Bocase stone," possibly a corruption
of " Brocas stone," •* in Rockingham Forest. = ind. p. 250.
William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, granted William
Brocas a licence,' January 20, 1449, to have marriages "between * Winchester
Diocesan
his children and other persons" solemnised in " the Chapel or Kegiitiy.
Oratory
THE VYNE CHAP. .11.
Oratory within his manor of the Vine, after banns duly pro-
claimed in the proper places."
An incidental notice of medieval rustic life is contained in
a record of the Court Leet of Basingstoke Hundred, July 28,
1408, which tells how Roger atte Lane complained that "John
Benfelde trod down his hay in le Vyne to the damage of three
shillings and four pence, and the Court awarded him threepence
for the trespass."
William Brocas died April 29, 1456, having by his will
directed that he should be buried " in the Chapel of the Holy
Apostle in the Church at Sherborne." There is reason to
^History of believe' that the Brocas Chantry attached to the Church of
the Brocas
Fiimiiy. pp. St. Andrew, Sherborne St. John, which contains several fine
129, 390.
monumental brasses, was completed in his lifetime, with money
left for the purpose by his grandfather Sir Bernard.
Joanna, the widow of William Brocas, occupied the Vyne
for the remainder of her life, and was succeeded by her son
Bernard, the second son of his father, who saw his grandfather's
fate avenged by the overthrow of the Lancastrian dynasty, and by
the triumph of the White Rose. The memory of Bernard Brocas
of the Vyne is preserved by an elaborate monumental brass,
placed by his wife Philippa in the Brocas chantry at Sherborne
St. John, where he was buried. He is represented in armour,
kneeling before a large cross, under which is a skeleton and
shroud, and the rhyming verse : — •
Me pie Christe Jesu
Serves atr.e necis esu.
He bears a shield with the Brocas and Roches arms quartering
those
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS
those of Sandys, and holds a helmet and mantling with the
Moor's head crest. The Latin inscription round the cross is
curious and enigmatical : —
" pondere marmoreo tenebroso subtus in antro
Bernardus Brocas jacet, armiger arma relinquens :
humanus multum fuerat ; reddunt decoratum
Mores dapsilitas ileum amplectendaque honestas.
OccuBuiT Maii dena ternaque luce
Anno sed Domini cf.ntenis multiplicatis
Bis septenario septenarius duodeno,
Quatuor his addo numerum tibi perficiendo."
This epitaph may be translated as follows : —
" Here in the darkness of the vaulted gloom,
Beneath the weight of ponderous marble tomb,
Lies Bernard Brocas, an esquire, bereft
Of arms that once he bore, but now has left.
His heart was kind, all honoured with delight
His manners liberal, pleasing, and upright.
On the thirteenth of May it was he died
In the year of our Lord one hundred multiplied
By seven twice told ; thereto I must intact
Add seven times twelve and four to make the date exact."
The date of his death, thus curiously expressed, was May 13,
1488. The words " arma relinquens " possibly allude to the wars
of the Roses, which lasted through his life.
Upon his death the Vyne was " recovered " ' by Sir William 1 Leiayid, itin.
iv. pt. i. fol.
Sandys, grandson of Sir Walter, who had "given it out" in 10,11.
F marriaee
34 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
marriage. Sir William has the distinction of being mentioned
^ Henry VIII. by Shakespeare,' who says that he was
act i. so. 4.
" exceeding mad in love,
But he would bite none."
He married Edith, daughter of Sir John Cheney of Sherland in
the Isle of Sheppey, and was Sheriff of Hampshire in 1497, in
which year he died, having charged his debts by will " on his
personal property at Andover and the Vyne."
Thereupon his son William, who became the first Lord
Sandys, the friend of Kings Henry VH, and VHL, and Lord
Chamberlain in the court of the latter, succeeded him, and
- Leiand, itiii. finding the Vyne ^ " no very great or sumptuous manor place,
iv. pt. i.
folio, II. only contained within the moat" (perhaps that of which part
still remains, south of the present house ), he " so translated and
augmented it, and beside builded a fair Base Court, that it
became one of the principal houses in goodly building in all
Hamptonshire."
In this undertaking he was greatly aided by his marriage
with Margery Bray, niece and heiress of Sir Reginald Bray,
Knight of the Garter, who, by his skill in the arts of diplomacy
and architecture, earned wealth and distinction, and held many
great civil employments. It was Sir Reginald Bray who de-
signed the chapel of Henry VII. at W^estminster, and was
the architect of a great part of St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
In the middle of the south aisle of the latter he was allowed to
build the Chapel, called by his name, in which he was buried ;
and his device, a Bray or Hempbreaker (shown in the design at
the
CHAP. in. THE LORDS SANDYS 35
the head of this chapter), appears in many parts of that building.
As he Hved till 1503, it is possible that the Vyne Chapel may
owe something to his genius as an architect.
The first visit of Henry VIII. to the Vyne was in July 15 10.
It appears from the book of his payments for that month ' that ' Letters and
Papers of
he went from Windsor (where he paid 66j. 8^. to "the school- Henry vin.
vol. ii. p. 1447.
master and children at Eton ") to his hunting lodge at Eastham-
stead, thence to the Vyne, and thence to Reading. He paid 2s.
for " a messenger from Master Sandys' place to Mr. Mewtas,"
and 4^. lod. for "carriage of guard jackets from Windsor to
Esthamstede, thence to the Vine, and thence to Reading."
In 1 5 12 the King was persuaded to send an expedition to
Fontarabia in Spain, partly to help his father-in-law Ferdinand
of Arragon, then in league with the Pope against France,
partly in hopes of recovering for England the lost province of
Guienne. In this expedition Sir William Sandys served as
" keeper of the ordnance at Fontarabia," and " in consideration
of his services in the wars in Spain, Guienne, Flanders, and
Picardy,"'^ he was appointed Treasurer of Calais, July 28, 1517, '- iitid.
vol. ii. p. 1120.
with an allowance of 56/. per annum out of the issues of that
town.
In the next year, November 13, 15 18, we find "Master
Sandys " complained of at a view of frankpledge in the Court
Leet of Basingstoke, " that he keeps many more sheep upon the
common of the town than he should do, and moreover that his
servants misorder their cattle, whereby many poor men of the
town take great damage."
He was made a Knight of the Garter, May 16, 15 18, and
two
36 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
two years later was one of the Commissioners appointed to
arrange the famous interview of Henry with Francis I. at
Guisnes, known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, June 4,
^ Henry VI II. 1520; where, as Shakespeare says,'
act i. sc. I.
" Each following day
Became the next day's master, till the last
Made former wonders its. To-day the French,
All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods,
Shone down the English ; and to-morrow, they
Made Britain India ; every man that stood
Showed like a mine."
Shakespeare tells us how Sir William Sandys (whom he calls
Lord Sandys by anticipation) was amongst those to whom all
this display was distasteful, and who lamented that the " spells
of France should juggle even into such strange mysteries."
-Ibid. sc. 3. " New customs," he says,^ addressing Charles Earl of Worcester,
his predecessor in the office of Lord Chamberlain,
" Though they be never so ridiculous.
Nay, let 'em be unmanly, yet are followed."
He goes on to express a hope that the English ladies will
now attend to their own fellow-countrymen once more, instead
of being engrossed by the foreigners.
" An honest country lord, as I am, beaten
A long time out of play, may bring his plain-song
And have an hour of hearing."
He was ready, however, to take part in the King's amuse-
ments upon English soil ; and Shakespeare represents that,
shortly after this conversation, he attended Cardinal Wolsey's
great
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS 37
great supper at York Place, now Whitehall, and was there in-
troduced to Anne Boleyn,' whom in later years he received as i Henry vili.
act i. sc. 4.
his royal guest at the Vyne ; and seating himself by her, said : —
" If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me ;
I had it from my father."
Then there follows one of those entertainments in which
Henry, like his daughter Queen Elizabeth, appears to have
taken so much delight. A drum and trumpets are heard, and
the King himself and twelve others enter, habited like shep-
herds, with sixteen torchbearers, and, ushered by the Lord
Chamberlain,
" Crave leave to view these ladies, and entreat
An hour of revels with 'em."
And so the masquerade began and continued until morning.
And in all this Sir William Sandys joined with hearty good will.
He was, however, much more than a mere companion of the
King's pleasures, and showed such diligence and skill in affairs
of statesmanship, that on July 24, 1521,^ Richard Pace, Secre- - siau
Papers
tary of State, wrote to Cardinal Wolsey as follows : — {Henry Vli/.).
vol. i. p. 20.
" The King signifieth unto your Grace that, whereas old men
do now decay greatly within this realm, his mind is to acquaint
other young men with his great affairs, and therefore he desireth
your Grace to make Sir William Sandys and Sir Thomas More
privy to all such matters as your Grace shall treat at Calais."
The result of Wolsey's embassy to Calais, here referred
to, was that King Henry again went to war with France,
and entered into alliance with the Emperor Charles V., who
thereupon
38 THE VYNE chap. m.
thereupon visited England in May 1522, and on June 22 was
entertained at Winchester, where King Arthur's round table in
the great hall of the Castle was painted, as it now appears,
in his honour. Sir William Sandys was unable to take any
part in these festivities, for, as became a good soldier, he was
already at his post at Calais, defending the marches against
the French.
The King hoped that Sandys would by his influence raise
two hundred men for this service ; but he wrote, May 8, 1522,
' Letters and that,' " as hc was on the French side of the water, he could not
Ftipen of
Henry VIII. raisc morc than ten men, unless aided by my Lord of Winches-
vol. iii. p, 951.
ter, who had iifty able men in readiness ; and, as the Abbot
of Hyde and the Prior of St. Swithun's had forty, and the town
of Winchester twenty men, it would further the King's purpose
if they might be parcel of the two hundred required."
He was created Baron Sandys of the Vyne, April 27, 1523,
while serving under the famous Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, against the French ; and his new dignity appears to
- HoiinsheaJ. havc Stimulated him to greater exertions, for Holinshead - tells
vol.
679.
689.
679, 681, 687, us that in a skirmish with three hundred French horse near
Calais, July 3, 1523, he and Sir Edward Guilford were "whips
unto the Frenchmen," and were " two that did them most dis-
pleasure : " and in the same month he and other captains " entered
into the confines of their enemies before Boulogne, where they
had a great skirmish and put their enemies to the worse ; and,
after marching into the country, took divers churches and other
places which the Frenchmen had fortified ; and so, after they
had been within the enemy's country almost two nights and
two
CHAP. 111. THE LORDS SANDYS 39
two days, they came back to Calais, having not lost past a
dozen of their men."
Again, October 20, a breach having been made in the walls
of Bray, near Amiens, " by the good comfort of the Lord
Sandys and other captains " the English " got the ditches and
entered upon the walls ; " and in the same month " Lord Sandys
and Sir Maurice Berkeley and others, with 3,000 men, burned
Marqueson with many villages." A print of this burning, with
the English tents in a hurricane, taken from a picture at Cow-
dray, is at the Vyne.
The troops, however, were ill supplied for war, and found
Rhenish wine a poor substitute for the national beverage. Lord
Sandys wrote August 16, 1522,' to ask for " 1000, or at least ^ LettenanJ
P.ifers of
700, tuns of beer." The consequence of the general want of food Hi-nry i'lii.
vol. iii. p. 1029.
was that the Duke of Suffolk, though he led his army within
two miles of Paris, was obliged to retreat precipitately to Calais
to save his men from dying of hunger. He sent Lord Sandys
home to report the evil plight of the army, and before his envoy
could return the troops were disbanded.
This was that Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who married
the King's sister, Mary, after the death of her first husband,
Louis XII. of France. There is a portrait of him at the Vyne
by Holbein, with the following inscription on the panel : —
" Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk Lord Grand Alaister to
K. Henry VIII. Tlie fayrest man at arms in his tyme, lieutenant
to the Kyngin his greatest warres, voyd of despyte, moste fortunate
to the end, never in displeasure zcith his Kyng."
Amongst the intimate friends of Lord Sandys at this time
was
40 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
was Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester ( i 501-1528), in con-
junction with whom he obtained from the King a charter dated
November 1 6, 1 5 24, for the estabHshment of the Fraternity of the
Holy Ghost in Basingstoke, his country town. This, which had
previously been a voluntary association for the maintenance of
a chaplain to say masses in the Chapel of the Holy Ghost
for the health of the inhabitants of Basingstoke, was recon-
stituted and endowed by Lord Sandys and Bishop Fox, with
the additional object of providing education and instruction
for j'oung men and boys of the town.
Besides re-establishing the Fraternity, Lord Sandys made
an important addition to the Chapel of the Holy Ghost. The
graceful tower and picturesque ruins which cannot fail to arrest
the attention of travellers passing by railway through Basing-
stoke, belong to a Chapel which he added to the original fabric,
as a burial-place for himself and his family. It well deserves a
close inspection. The angles of the tower display canopied
niches and brackets for images, on which were carved, and are
still visible, the Sandys arms and badges. Camden speaks of
this Chapel as " very beautiful," and mentions rich paintings with
which the roof was adorned, " representing the history of the
prophets, apostles, and disciples of Christ." Its windows were
1 Cyprianti! placed by Peter Heylyn ' in the same category with those of
introdviction, the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, and the parish Church of
p. 10.
Fairford, Gloucestershire. They suffered in the civil wars, and
portions of the glass, after many vicissitudes, have found resting-
places in the Churches of St. Michael, Basingstoke, and All Saints,
Woolbeding, and in the Antechapel at the Vyne.
On
CHAP. III.
THE LORDS SANDYS 41
On June 2, 1525, Lord Sandys received as his guest at the
Vyne the famous Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon, who ' " broke \c,ibih>ii
•' •' ^ Roman h/n-
a lance against the French monarch at the Camp of Cloth of /'■'■<?. di. ixi.
Gold," was created Marquis of Exeter by his cousin Henry VHI.,
and afterwards executed by him. An offering which he made
"at the Holy Ghost" {i.e. at Basingstoke), when he was at the
Vyne, is mentioned in his household accounts.'- = i^ners ,;«,/
In 11526, on the death of Charles Somerset, first Earl of Hnnvliii.
vol. iv.
Worcester, Lord Sandys was made Lord Chamberlain. In the pp 794. 795-
same year he resigned the office of Treasurer of Calais, and
was appointed Captain of Guisnes. The original deed, dated
October 25, 1526, whereby Sir Robert Wingfield, his successor,
" late lieutenant of the castel of Caleys," acknowledged the
receipt from him of the keys of Calais, " as well of the foure
principall gates as of the posterns," is preserved at the Vyne.
When Wolsey went on his embassy to Francis I. in 1527, to .
concert measures for the Pope's release after the sack of Rome,
Lord Sandys accompanied him. He had little acquaintance with
the French except as a combatant, and thought perhaps that
too much intercourse with them would change the English into
" travelled gallants,
That fill the court with quarrels, talk, and tailors."^ 3 Shakespeare.
Henry Vlll.
act i. sc. 3.
It was not without reason that the Cardinal instructed the
members of his suite to be ready to talk to any Frenchman
who might address them, and, " speaking merrily to one of the
gentlemen,^ being a Welshman, ' Price,' quoth he, 'speak thou 'p^^^'l-'/of'"
Welsh to him ; I am well assured that thy Welsh shall be more introciuctioM,
.^ vol. iv.
G diffuse p. cclxhi.
42 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
diffuse {i.e. difficult) to him than his French shall be to thee.'
And so he urged them in all their behaviour to study gentleness
and humanity."
In 1528, the clothiers about Westbury, Wilts, being thrown
out of work, assembled with the intention of repairing to the
King, who wrote to Lord Sandys for information as to their
^ Leilas ,tiid designs. He replied' in a letter dated "The Vyne, March 9,
Papers of
Henry VIII. 1538," that hc "had not heard of it till he received the King's
vol. iv. p. 1796.
letter ; for Westbury, he is told, is near Bristol, si.xty miles from
here," and added that he would go with a few persons, as if
hunting, towards Sir John Seymour and Sir William Essex, and,
" if there is any such movement, he will do his best to pacify
it ; if not, he will follow the King's instructions, and, though he
has sent all his harness to Guisnes, he will not spare his own
body among them."
= /i/V. p. 1951. In a letter- to Wolsey, July i, 1528, he asked for some
offices that Sir \\'illiam Compton, lately deceased, had held
in connexion with certain religious houses. He excused him-
self from visiting the King or Wolsey, as he had had " the
Sweat in his house ; " and he defended his importunity with
an " old sa}'ing, ' Where a man best loveth there he dare be
boldest.' "
At the date of this letter the Sweating Sickness, which first
came to England with the foreign troops of Henry VH. in
1485, was invading England for the fourth time, with such vio-
lence, that the King left London, and shut himself up in his
hunting-lodge at Tittenhanger Park, near St. Albans, within a
circle of bonfires.
In
cHAiMii. THE LORDS SANDYS 43
In 1530, Lord Sandys was appointed by Wolsey keeper of
Farnham Castle, with an annuit}- of a hundred marks.
In August 1531, the King again visited the Vyne, and his
household accounts for that month contain the following
entries ' : — • ' Lata-s a,t.d
Papers of
"To one who brought a screen to the Vyne from Pexhallcs Henry r//f.
vol. V, p. 755.
house, 40J. ;
" To the keeper of Baroper (Bcaurcpaire) Park, 6s. Sif. ;
" To the keeper of Mr. Pawlets and Lord Sandj-s parks,
I T,s. 4./. ;
"To the servant of the Lord Chamberlain (Lord Sandys)
for bringing a stag to the \'ine, which the King had stricken
before in Wolmer forest, los."
Lord Sandys made use of his connexion with France for
the benefit of his cellar and larder at the Vyne, as we ma\-
gather from his correspondence with Lord Lisle, the deputy at
Calais, who wrote - to him September 13, 1533, to say that he -■//•/</. vol vi.
n. 467.
had sent him two hogsheads of wine, "one of claret, Gaskoyn,
the other white, better than Gaskoyn ; " adding, " if \-ou wish to
have herring and wine this winter, let me know ;" and in 1534
Lord Sandys asked ^ Lord Lisle to send him some plovers. " I '• j/m/. vol. vii.
pp. 223, 310,
beg," he says, " that I may continue to participate in your Lord- 550-
ships Pewettes. I also desire license to ship such French wines
as my friend Mr. Vice-Treasurer has bought for me at Calais ; "
shortly after which he wrote to thank Lord Lisle for giving
command to his servant for the" Pewettes," and again in anotlicr
letter he asked Cromwell for a licence to disembark " twenty
tuns of wine for the provision of his house."
In
44 THE VYNE chap. m.
In May 1533, Lord Sandys took his part as Lord Chamber-
lain in the public reception of Queen Anne Boleyn, after her
secret marriage, when she made her splendid entry by water into
' Letters and London, with " Streamers ' of cognizances and devices ventyl)-ng
Henry vni. with the wynd, trumpets blowing and shallmes and mistrelles
vol. vi. p. 250.
playing." The divorce, however, of Queen Katharine which
shortly followed, and the irreconcilable schism which thence
arose between England and the Holy See, caused him much
distress, and it was little consolation to him that Pope Cle-
2 «/,/. vol. vi. ment VIL granted him a special indulgence,^ August 20, 1533
(together with the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Win-
chester, and the Marquis of Exeter), allowing him "to have
mass celebrated three times during his life, though his country
should be under an apostolic interdict." He retired from Court
in 1534, on the plea of sickness, and was even ready to welcome
an invasion of England by the Emperor Charles V., as prefer-
able to the tyranny of his own king in matters ecclesiastical.
The following remarkable letter upon this subject, written in
cypher, and dated January 14, 1534, from Chapuys, the Ambas-
sador of Charles V. in London, to his Imperial master, has been
'-Jtid. vol. viii. recently found in the Vienna Archives' : —
" Lord Sandys, the King's Chamberlain, and one of the best
men of war in the kingdom, sent to tell me he was very sorry
the times were such that he could not invite me to his house "
{i.e. the Vyne) ; "but your Majesty might be sure you had the
hearts of all this kingdom, and that, if you knew the great dis-
order that exists here, and the little hope of making good re-
sistance, now that the people are so alienated from the King,
you
pp. 14, 15, 74.
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS .45
you would not delay to apply a remedy ; at the least disturb-
ance your Majesty could make, this kingdom would be found in
inestimable confusion. The said Lord Sandys is at his house
pretending to be ill, he is so disgusted with the Court, and has
sent this message to me by his physician, whom I know."
Chapuys wrote again to the Emperor, February 9, that " the
King has sent for le Seigneur Xaynel " {i.e. Sandys), " but he
says he is ill."
The Emperor was hindered from taking advantage of these
proposals, by his expedition against the corsair Barbarossa ; a
happy circumstance, no doubt, for England, as the cruelty with
which the Catholics on the Continent persecuted the Protes-
tants far exceeded the severest measures of the English King
against those who resisted his authority.
Whilst thus in retirement from public affairs. Lord Sandys
did not fail to watch over the King's deer, and hearing that
there had been poaching by night in the Queen's Park (now
Great Park Farm) at Mortimer, near the Vyne, in which parish
he himself had a breeding establishment, he wrote to Cromwell,' ' Letters anj
^ ' Paffl-s 0/
January 22, 1535 : " I willed my brother this day to go and see ^"{"^^^/^'^^z
the manner thereof; on coming thither he found hounds and
hunters, among whom were young Trapnell, Mr. Inglefield's
son-in-law, and six of his servants, who immediately attacked
him and hurt him sore. I write to you for redress, for if it
were not more for dread of the King than of God, I would have
been revenged. Young Trapnell has killed twenty of the
King's deer on the borders of Windsor Forest. Two }-ears
ago he slew a great hart, and carried him away in a cart ;
unless
46 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
unless some remedy be devised, the King's deer cannot be
defended."
Charges having been brought against Lord Sandys that he
was not keeping the castle of Guisnes as he ought, and that
'■Letters ami thc woods Were wastcd, he repHed,' March 14, 153S, that he
Papers of
Henry fill. would go there before Easter, if the King desired it : " It is fur-
vol. viii. 11. 154. ^
nishcd with soldiers," he adds, " according to my duty ; I know
of no waste of the wood except such as has been taken for
burning of brick, necessary for repairs at Calais and Guisnes."
Once more, on June 25, 1535, Lord Sandys wrote to Crom-
well from the Forest of Wolmer, near Alton, Hants, to excuse his
'- Ibid. p. 363. absence from Court : ^ " I and my poor house have been pun-
ished by the hand of God ; three of my tallest men have died,
and most of my other servants have been sick : I am con-
strained to repose in a poor lodge in the Forest of Wolmer, and
my wife in another, so that I cannot wait upon the King, to
whom I beg you will excuse me."
■■' Ibid. p. 379. Whilst he was in this retreat, the King granted ^ him the
materials of the neighbouring manor house of W^ardelham (now
Worldham), which had fallen to the Crown on the attainder of
Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, who having been left in the
Tower by Henry VH., was executed by Henry VHI. 15 13.
On October 13, 1535, the King, accompanied by Queen
Anne Boleyn, went to the \^ne on a visit to Lord Sandys, who
•> Ibid. vol. i.v. wrote a few days later to Cromwell as follows ^ : — ■
p. 224.
" Pleaseth it you to be advertised that the Kings highness
and the Queens grace came hither to vay poor house on Friday
last
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS 47
last past, the 13th day of this month, and here continued until
Tuesday then next ensuing ; where my very especial trust and
hearty desire was also to have seen you ; and right so I suppose
verily it might have pleased you, according to your promise, to
have taken the pains, but that I remember your great business,
and especially at this time : assuring you that you should have
been and at all seasons shall be as heartily welcome unto mc as
to any friend you have, and a great comfort it should have been
to me and my poor wife to have seen you."
He then asks Cromwell to help his friend John Awdelett, of
Abingdon, in a dispute with the Abbot, and ends thus : " I be-
seech the Holy Ghost to preserve you with as long continuance
in as good health as I would have myself.
" At the Y)-ne the xxij"'^ day of October anno rcgni regis
Henrici VHI. xxvij™'.
" Yours assured to his power,
" WVLLM SaNDY.S."
The "great business" of Cromwell, referred to in this letter,
included that visitation of the monasteries which, as Vicar-
General (a new office created for the purpose}, he carried out
with extreme severity. Among those who were in danger of
deprivation was the Prior of Worcester, a friend of Margery
Lady Sandys, who took up his cause with energ>% and wrote ' ' Letters „„d
Papers of
to Cromwell, immediately after the departure of her ro\-al -^""7 '^'ff-
vol. ix. p. 220.
guests, the following letter, dated October 21, 1535 : —
" I write to you of the Prior of Worcester, Uan Wm. More,
who remains in Gloucester at the Kings pleasure and yours.
I
48 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
I beg that the matter may be examined into, for he is a true
monk to God and the King : he was elected to his room by
the whole convent, and the gift of the Bishop of Winchester,
without giving a penny for his promotion." And, knowing
the character of those with whom she was pleading, she adds :
"He" (the Prior) "will be glad to give you in ready money as
much as any other man will give, and therefore my trust is
you will be good to him."
Cromwell was also occupied with that severe persecution of
those who refused to acknowledge the King's supremacy, which
has well been called the English Reign of Terror, and culminated
in the execution of the brethren of the Charterhouse, Bishop
Fisher, and Sir Thomas More. Hence arose a romantic inci-
dent ; for among those who were in the greatest danger was
Marie, niece of Cardinal Pole, grand-daughter of Margaret
Countess of Salisbury, and one of the nearest relations of King
Edward IV. ; and she found shelter in Hampshire, probably by
the intervention of Lord Sandys, and married William Cufaude,
whose moated grange adjoined the manor of the Vyne. An
illuminated pedigree of the Cufaude family commemorates
this alliance with the last of the Plantagenets. It displays the
crown of Edward IV., the insignia of many nobles of royal
blood, and the scarlet hat of Cardinal Pole. This pedigree is
1 See p. 163. at the Vyne,' as is also a picture of Marie Pole's fair descendant
post.
Winifred the Nun of Cufaude.
- Letien ,ni,i ' Oucc morc, at Christmas, 1535,^ Lord Sandys declined to
Papers of
Henry VIII. attend the Court, on the plea of ill-health, and yet when the
vol. ix. p. 293.
great rebellion of the North endangered the realm in 1536, he
took
CHAP. in. THE LORDS SANDYS 49
took his place, as of old, by the side of the King in Council, who,
writing an "Answer to the demands of the Rebels in Yorkshire,"
mentions' "the Lord Sandys our chamberlain," among the ^ state Papers
(Henry VIll).
trusty advisers in whom they might well put confidence. And vol. i. pp. 506.
he is again mentioned as present at a Privy Council on August
10, 1540, a few weeks before his death.
Lord Sandys " departed to God's mercy," - much lamented -' Letter from
^ '■ ■' Lord Mal-
by all those who were associated with him, at Calais, December travers to tin-
■^ ' ' K,>ig: State
4, 1540, after a long life spent in the service of his country. ^'■'//Jl^^"'^-''
A valiant soldier abroad, and an "honest country lord" at. ^'"'' p- '*'-''•
home, he was averse to change, and a devoted supporter of
the ancient faith. And if we hesitate to approve the design
imputed to him of sacrificing his allegiance to his religion, we
must remember that he did not carry into effect what he is
said to have contemplated, and lived and died the loyal servant
of a tyrannical and exacting master.
In accordance with his will, of which he made his son
Thomas and his daughter-in-law Elizabeth executor and ex-
ecutrix. Lord Sandys was buried in the Holy Ghost Chapel
at Basingstoke, beneath a richly carved tomb, of which some
portions still remain, displaying his arms and badge.^ A con- '■ Seedra-ming,
p. 66.
tract dated March i, 1536, has recently been discovered* at * Le Beffroi
(Bruges), tome
Antwerp, by which "Arnoult Hermassonc, natif d'Amster- iv. (1872-73),
damme en Hollande, a present dem.eurant a Aire en Artois,"
agreed with Lord Sandys that he would make this tomb
"de pierre d'Antoing," and that it should bear "one croix
de cuivre la quelle croix aura ces noms, Willem Sans at Margere
Sans."
H The
202-4.
50 THE VYNE
CHAP. 111.
The names of his children and their marriages were as
• Hark, ail followS : '
MSS. 5865, f.
^ah\ Kiir'kei \. Thomas, m. Elizabeth, daughter of George Manners, first
Exlinct Peci-
".«■''■>"■ Baron Roos.
2. Edith, m. Ralph, Lord Neville, eldest son of Ralph
sixth Baron Neville of Raby and third Earl of West-
moreland.
3. John, deputy of Guisnes.
4. Reginald, a priest.
5. Elizabeth, m. Sir Humphry Foster of Aldermaston.
6. Margaret, m. Thomas, son of Sir William Essex.
7. Mary, m. (i) Sir William Peckham ; (2) Sir John Palmer
of Angmering, Sheriff of Sussex 25 Henry VHI.
8. Alice, m. Walter, Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury.
In consequence of these marriages the arms and devices of
Roos, Neville, Foster, Essex, and Hungerford are carved on
- p. 155-8,/w/. the wainscoting of the oak gallery ^ at the Vyne.
An extremely curious and interesting inventory of " all and
singular the Goodes Catalles Dcbtes Plate Jewelles and Redy
Monye " of Lord Sandys, taken in February 1541, after his
decease, was left by Elizabeth his daughter-in-law and execu-
trix with her father Lord Roos, ancestor of the present Duke of
Rutland, among whose papers at Bel voir Castle it has recently
been found. It affords a curious insight into the domestic
arrangements of the household of a great nobleman in the
reign of Henry VHI.
The principal reception rooms were at that time used as
sleeping-chambers for important guests, and contained magni-
ficent
CHAP. III.
THE LORDS SANDYS
51
ficent bedsteads. There was throughout the house an abundance
of fine tapestry, and a remarkable scarcit}- of furniture. In the
great dininfj-chamber itself there was but one chair, and the
table consisted of fir boards laid on trestles, while the guests sat
upon cushions, stuffed with feathers and covered with leather or
tapestry-work, lying upon forms or stools.'
Some account of the furniture then in the house is given
in Chapter VII. The horses, linen, plate, armour, and apparel
were as follows : —
I'. 146. post.
Horses in the St.\ble.
The Flaunders mare; Fetiplace;* Rone Smyth ; Rone Chalcot ; The
yong Baye ; The greate Donne ; The White Marke ; Parsonne ;
Grayberd VVestmerland ; The balde Donne ; White Sandes ; White
Combes ; Grayberd Burfeld ; A bay Hoby ; Benbroke ; Bowyer ;
The Male Horse ; The greate Graye Nage ; The Lytle Graye
Nagge ; Bayerd \\'estmerland.
M.\RE?, COLTES, & StALENS & NaGGES AT GrASSE.
V mares in the Vyne Park ; one stallion ; iiij foals ; vj nags ; one
gelding. At Mortimer, ix mares : vj foales ; ij stallions.
In the Naperv.
A table clothe Damaske wourk of roses & crowns, viij yds. x iij yds. ;
A diaper Table clothe of coarse Diamonds, \ ij yds. x ij yds. ;
Another Table cloth of scalloii shellys & damaske worke, vij yds. x
ij yds. ;
* TJie name of a , great Berkshire family, nmv extinel.
Another
52 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
Another Table clothe of Damaske worke of the splayed eagle crowned,
vij yds. X iij yds. ;
Another Table cloth of Damaske of the lily pot and the holy Ghost
vj yds. X iij yds. ;
A cubbord cloth of Damaske wourke of smalle flowers, iv yds. X ij yds. ;
Another cubbord cloth Damaske wourke braunche & flowers ;
A Towell of greate Damaske flowers ;
iij playne Table clothes for the Hall, xviij yds. x i yd. ;
xij carving clothes, old ;
viij dozen of Napkyns Damaske worke & Dyaper ;
ij fyne cover panes of Damaske wourke ;
iij neck towelles.
In my Ladyes Warderobe.
vij peces of new clothe ;
iij pairs of pallet shetes ;
iiij pairs of fyne shetes of Holland ;
vij necke towelles playne clothe ;
xxxij surplesses ;
A chest full of old lynnen & broken ;
ij Flaunders chestes, with ij lockes ;
A chest of waynscote ;
A ship's chest ;
xxvij peces of riche embroidery, whereof some be unfynished, for an
aulter clothe ;
xxxij payr of course shetes ;
A brasen morter with a pestell.
Plate Gilte.
iij playne bowls gilt with a cover, cxxxvi oz. ;
Goblettes gilt with a cover costed,* Ix oz. ;
* Richly ornamented.
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS 53
A standing bowl with a cover, chased without enamel ;
A standing cupp gilt with a cover having a woman in the top, xxxix oz. ;
Another standing cup gilt with a cover of antique havyng a man on the
top of the cover, xxxv oz. ;
Another standing cupp large Antique worke with a cover without
enamell, xliv oz. ;
Another standing cup chaced, with a cover having a blewe flower on the
topp, xxiv oz. ;
A little lowe standing cup with a cover, having a cronell * on the cover
and graven, without a pomegarnet, xxvij oz. ;
Another standing cup graven with Maltravers knottes,t with a cover
having a Round Knoppe chaced, xxvij oz. ;
A gilt goblet with a cover lacking his amel,i: chaced & graven, xx oz. ;
A payre of pottes gilt playn pear fashion with covers, lacking their amel,
Ixvj oz. ;
iij gilt cruses with iij covers ;
A payr of stocke saltes square with one cover, all gilt with an Angell on
the Topp holding my Lordes Armes in a garter, Ix oz. ;
Another paier of stocke saltes gilt, without a cover, xxxiij oz. ;
Another stocke salt gilted with a cover costed, xj oz. ;
Another salt with a cover with antique leaves chased, xvj oz. ;
A payre of costed saltes with roses, with one cover, with my Lordes
Armes on the topp, xxxix oz. ;
A payre of square saltes gilt, with one cover graven with fleure de luces,
x.xxiv oz. ;
xxii gilt spones of sundry sortes, xlij oz.
Plate parcell gilt.
A payr of large pottes parcell gilt with leopards' heddes, with my
lordes armes in the garter on the cover, cclxxxij oz. ;
* Coronal or garland. t The Maltravers family bore a fret or knot sable.
\ Enamel, Fr. email.
A
54 THE VYNE
CHAP. 111.
A large payre of jjottes chased parcell gilt, clxi oz. ;
A payr of flagons chaced, with my lordes badge & garter, cxcv oz. ;
A payre of plnyne pottes, l.xxx oz. ;
A beere pott without a cover, xxiij oz. ;
vj bowls chaced, without cover, having my lordes badge in the garter in
the topp of the cover, cxxvij oz. ;
ix bowls pounced * with martelettes with iij covers, with my lords badge
in the garter in the topps, cccxxiij oz. ;
iij playn bowls with a cover, with my lordes amies in the garter, in the
topp of the cover, clxiv oz. :
iij small bowls with a cover, xc oz. ;
ij basonnes and ij ewers, with my lordes amies, clxxxv oz. ;
ij other basonnes with their ewers, with my lordes amies, cxcv oz. ;
ij other basonnes with their ewers, with my lordes badge in the garter,
ccj oz. ;
ij stocke saltes square without covers, xxv oz. ;
ij dozen of Trencheis, with gilt swages,t vvith my lordes badge,
ccclxxiv oz. ;
One stocke of carving knyves, with x smale knyves and a forke of sylver,
with a case of sylver, & the knyves being garnished with sylver,
Ixvj oz. ;
Another stocke of smale knyves, havyng a cap, xx oz. ;
A porrenger with ij ears and a cover with my lordes badge, and the
brake,t xx oz. ;
A spice box with a spone, xxiij oz.
White Pl.\te.
A payr of flagons with amies on the side, clxxviij oz. ;
Another payr of flagons, clxij oz. ;
iij lowe water ewers without covers, xliv oz. ;
* Punchid or impressed. t Ornaments of beaten metal.
\ Hfinphreaker. Sic p. 34.
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS 55
iij chased goblettes, with one cover, with my lordes badge in the garter
on the topp, Ixij oz. ;
A beer pot, with a cover, playne, Hx oz. ;
A shaving bason and a pott, plaine, Ixxxix oz. ;
X table candlestickes, chased, ccclxxxiij oz. ;
ij payr of snofers, iv oz. ;
xxvii spones, xliv oz.
The Chapel Plate.
\This has been described in Chapte,- 11.^
Jewelles.
A smale George, hanging on a black lace ;
A smale chayne of gold.
Redy Money Jewell and others.
In Redy money at the tyme of my Lordes decease, Ix '' ;
A coller of the Garter, empledged for Ix '' :
In the handes of Richard Gifford ij nest of goblettes iS: a chayne of
gold empledged for 1''
In the Armory.
Ixix backes &: brestes Almayn Ryvettes :
Ivij payr of splyntes ;
x.xxvj salettes ;
ij payr of vambrases ;
c blacke bylles ;
xxxij chasing staves ;
ix payr of Arming sturoppes white ;
XX javelyns ;
xxxiiij shef of arrowes ;
Harnes for xj men of amies complete, lacking their collers ;
Item
56 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
Item a Pavilion containing iii chambers and a hall, new, with all their
appertenances esteemed and valued at xl '' ;
ij clothe sackes ;
A bare hide.*
In the Warderobe.
A gowne of blacke damaske with ij Burgonyon gardes of blacke velvit,
the fore quarters furred with sables & behynde furred with old
marteras ; f
A gowne of blake velvit embroidered with blacke sylke new lyned
thorough with blake saten ;
A coote of purple velvit furred with white lamb & faced round about
with lizerdes ;
A cote of blake velvit embroidered with blake sylke, lyned with Fryse,
and edged with sables, woven ;
A kirtell of crymsen velvit lyned thorough with white sarcenet, for the
order of the garter : item a robe of purple velvit for the same
kyrtill, with a grete Tassell of gold, with a hode of crymsen velvit
to the same lyned with white sarcenet, being all old & much
worne ;
A standard a gittorn & a banar of my lordes armes of sarcenet ;
iij grose of armyng poyntes threden ;
A goune of blake velvet faced with Lyzardes and furred behynde with
leopards, bequethed to Sir Humfrey Foster, knight ;
Another goun of blake velvet embroidered furred with boudge,t be-
quethed to Sir William Essex ;
A goune of Frenche blake garded with velvet & facied with damaske,
bequethed to Thomas Essex esquier ;
And a jacket of the same clothe lykewyse garded ;
A gowne of blake damaske & a jacket of the same, bequeathed to
W'alter Chalcot ;
A cote of blake velvit with viij buttons of gold, bequeathed to John
Sandes esquyer ;
* A yaw hide for a cart cover. -f Marten' s fur. % Lamb's fur.
A
CHAP. in. THE LORDS SANDYS
,1/
A cote of russet velvit to Humfrey Barkley Esqr. ;
A cote of russet velvit to Richard .Smythe ;
A cote of clothe gardyd with russet velvit to Marmaduke Bake ;
A goune of Taffata to John Cely."
The Inventory also contained a considerable quantity of
"stuf being at Malshanger * that came from the Vyne," including
A pece of hanginges having Saynt George upon it ;
A pece of Imagery of fishing and birding ;
A counterpoynt of smale verdour with ij Vnicornes
Thomas, second Lord Sandys of the Vyne, succeeded in
I 540. He saw the endowment which John de Port of Basing
and Sir Thomas de Cowdray had bestowed upon the Chai:)el
taken away in 1548 under the Chantry Acts of Edward VI.,
and died in 1556, having had four children, Henry, William,
Mary, and Anne. Henry, his eldest son (who married Eliza-
beth, daughter of William Lord Windsor), died before him,
leaving a son William, who succeeded to the Vyne on the
death of his grandfather, and owned it for no less than sixty-
seven years.
This William, third Lord Sandys, entertained Queen
Elizabeth at the Vyne in 1569, who during her visit wrote
the following letter ' to the Earl of Huntingdon, desiring him 1 LuJgei
to take charge of Mary Queen of Scots, then with the Earl of British
'^ History.
of Shrewsbury at Wingfield House, Derbyshire : —
* Malshanger, situated Jive miles from the Vyne [vide map, p. 3), was the seat of
the Warham family and birthplace oj William Warham, Archbishop of Canterlntry,
who died 1532. Of the ancient house a lofty octagonal to-tuer is still standing.
Malshanger is now the residence of Wyndkam Portal, Esq.
I " Right
58 THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
" Right trusty and well-beloved Cousin, we greet you well :
Whereas we understand that our cousin of Shrewsbury is much
troubled with sickness, and like to fall further into the same, in
such sort as he neither presently is able, nor shall be, to con-
tinue in the charge, which he has, to keep the Queen of Scots,
we have, for a present remedy, and to avoid the danger which
might ensue, made choice of you to take the charge of the
custody of her, until we shall otherwise order : and therefore we
earnestly require you with all speed to repair to our cousin of
Scotland, with some of your own trusty servants, and there to
take charge of the said Queen, wherewith our said cousin will
be so well content, as we doubt not but you shall have all that
he can command to be serviceable unto you. . . . We will have
you also, after conference with our said cousin of Shrewsbury,
to devise how the number of the Queen of Scots train might be
diminished, and reduced only to thirty persons of all sorts, as
was ordered, but as we perceive too much enlarged of late
time : You shall also, jointly with the Earl of Shrewsbury, give
order that no such common resort be to the Queen as has been,
nor that she have liberty to send posts as she hath done, to the
great burden of our poor subjects ; and if she have any special
cause to send to us, then \-ou shall so permit her servant with
the warrant of your hand and none to come otherwise ; and if
you shall think of any meeter place to keep her we require you
to advertise us thereof, so as we may take order for the same.
" We have written to our cousin of Shrewsbury, whom we
have willed to impart to you the contents of our letter, and so
we will have you to do these : trusting that }'0U will so consider
hereof
cHAiMii. rUE LORDS SANDYS 59
hereof as the cause requircth, for our honour and quietness,
without respect of any person.
" Given under our signet at the manor of the Vine the 22nd
of September 1569, the eleventh year of our reign.
" Post script : After we had considered of some part of the
premises, we thought in this sort to alter some part thereof: we
will that no person be suffered to come from the Queen of Scots
with an)- message or letter, but if she will write to us, you shall
offer to send the same by one of yours ; and so we will }-ou to
do, for our meaning is, that for a season she shall neither send
nor receive any message or letters without our knowledge."
On the same day Sir William Cecil ( afterwards Lord
Burghley ), being also at the \'yne, wrote the following letter ' \fjl"^ffj/j^,„;
to the Earl of Shrewsbury :— "^f/^t^'
" M}- Lord, — My leisure serves me not to write much, but
sorry I am to hear of your lack of good health. The Queen's
Majesty is entered into no small offence, with the intention,
that she thinks hath been to devise, of a marriage with the
Scottish Queen. For my part I was not made privy thereof
but of late, and, so as it might have been allowed to the Queen's
Majesty, I had no particular respect to lead me one way or
other, for my only scope is to serve God and Her Majesty, and
so I take my leave.
" From the Vine 22nd of Sept. 1569.
" Your Lordships humbl}' at command,
"W. Cecil."
In
6o THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
1 Calendarof 111 15/4, Lord Sandys' assisted in making a survey of the
Sta-le Papers
(Domestic), forts of Hampshire. In 1587 he was one of the commissioners
1547-80,
v-48i- vvho sat upon the trial of Mary Queen of Scots; and in 15S8,
the year of the Spanish Armada, he wrote to the Council to
- ind. assure them that ^ though he was in embarrassed circumstances,
1581-90,
p- SOI- he would be ready to bring into the field, for the defence of her
Majesty, himself and his household servants, to the number of
ten soldiers, and geldings, furnished in armour of proof; and
with the help of his tenants he might furnish still more.
In 1595, as spokesman for the justices of Hampshire, he
3 Ibid. w rote to Lord Burghley ^ requesting the repair of the north aisle
1595-97,
P- 33- of the hall of Winchester Castle, "the only place in the count)'
for holding the assize and sessions, which was so decayed as to
be in danger of falling."
He took a prominent part in the insurrection of Essex,
1601, for which he was fined 5,000/. ; but after a temporary
sojourn in the Tower, and a subsequent confinement at Mr.
Edward Hungerford's house near Bath, he was pardoned on
payment of 1, 000/.
In the September of the same year, the Duke de Biron,
ambassador of the French king Henry IV., came to England
to meet Queen Elizabeth, and to consult with her upon the state
of Europe, and the designs of the House of Austria. When
he arrived, the Queen was staying with the Marquess of Win-
chester at Basing House, and the Duke and his suite were
sumptuously entertained at the Vyne for four or five days at
the Queen's charges. There were with him two other ambas-
sadors of rank, with twenty-seven noblemen of France, and a
great
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS 6i
great number of officers, pages, and lacqueys in attendance, the
entire retinue being nearly four hundred persons.
Sir Walter Raleigh was sent to London to meet the Duke
and his suite, and he wrote, September 7, 1 601, to Sir Robert
Cecil:' "We have carried them to Westminster to see the mo- ^ EJwunis'
Life of
numents, and this Monday we entertained them at the Bear RaUi^i,
vol. ii. p. 233.
Garden, which they had great pleasure to see. I sent to and
fro, and have laboured like a mule to fashion things so as on
Wednesday night they shall be at Bagshot, and Thursday at
the Vine." And on September 12 he wrote '-^ to Henry Burke, •'//.■,/. p. 234.
Lord Cobham : " The French wear all black, and no kind of
bravery at all, so as I have only made me a black Taffeta suit
to be in and leave all my other suits."
Stow says' that " the Vine, a fair and large house of the Lord ■> a„„.,/s,
p. 796.
Sandes, was furnished with hangings and plate from the Tower
and Hampton Court, and with seven score beds and furniture,
which the willing and obedient people of Hampshire upon two
days' warning had brought thither to lend to the Queen ; and
the Duke abode there four or five daj's all at the Queen's charges,
and for that time spent her more at the Vine than her own court
spent at Basing : and Her Majest}- affirmed that she had done
that in Hampshire that none of her ancestors ever did, neither
that any prince of Christendom could do, that was, she had
in her Progresse in her subjects' houses, entertained a royal
ambassador, and had royally entertained him."
The Duke having attended the Queen at Basing, she came
in her turn to visit him at the Vyne, and a curious scene occurred
in the park. " The sheriff, ' as the manner is, being bareheaded, ^ Shm.
^ A/J/ld/s,
and «*' ■>■"/■
62
THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
1 Tlic Court
of James I., I
Bis/lop Good-
man, vol. ii.
p. 20.
- Camden's
Life of
Elhabeth.
V- 634-
and riding next before her, stayed his horse, thinking the Queen
would thus have saluted the Duke, whereat the Queen, being
much offended, commanded the sheriff to go on. The Duke
followed her very humbly, bowing low towards her horse's
mane, with his cap off, about two hundred yards. Her Majesty
on the sudden took off her mask, looked back on him, and most
graciously and courteously saluted him ; as holding it not be-
coming so mighty a prince as she was, and who so well knew
all kingly majesty, to make her stay directly against a subject,
before he had showed his obedience in following after her."
On leaving Basing, the Queen made ten knights, among
whom were Sir William Kingsmill, Sir Benjamin Tichborne,
and Sir Edward Hungerford.
There is an amusing reference to this visit in a letter ' from
Thomas Tooke, clerk of the kitchen at Basing House, to his
" very assured good friend Mr. John Hubberd," dated Sept-
ember 19, 1601, in which he tells how " Her Majesty came with
Scarborough warning to Basing, where all things for so great
entertainment but elbow room and good will were wanting;" and
how, "on Saturday the 12th, Mons. de Biron, accompanied with
divers French lords and gentlemen, repaired from the Vine,
where they were nobly lodged, unto Basing, and on Sunday
they invited them to supper, where there was that night great
revellings ; and so likewise on Monday night and Tuesday's
dinner, when we were of them delivered."
Some French writers say ^ that Queen Elizabeth had with
her on this occasion the skull of Essex, and showed it to the
Duke de Biron, as a warning not to continue those treasonable
designs
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS 6
J
designs against his king, for which he was soon after executed
at the Bastille.
William third Lord Sandys was twice married, his second
wife being Catherine, daughter of Edmund Lord Chandos, the
beautiful lady who is celebrated by the poet Gascoigne in the
following song,' called " Praise of the Fair Brydges, afterwards ' Percy ^
'^ *= / t, ' Baltads,
Lady Sandcs, on her having a scar on her forehead." ^°'- "•
^ ' " p. 150.
" In Court who so demaundes
What dame doth much excell,
For my conceit I must needes say,
Faire Bridges beares the bel :
Upon whose lively cheeke,
To prove my judgment true.
The rose and lillie seeme to strive
For equal! change of hcwe :
And therwithall so well
Her graces all agree,
No frowning cheere dare once presume
In hir sweet face to bee.
Although some lavishe lippes,
'Which like some other best,
Will say the blemishe on her browe
Disgraceth all the rest."
The poet then tells how Cupid saw in her cradle —
"A peace
For perfect shape that passeth all
Apelles' worke in Greece."
And fearing that her beauty would "break him of his rest,"
His
64
THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
" His hot newe-chosen love
He chaunged into hate ;
And sodeynly with myghtie mace
Gan rap hir on the pate.
It greived Nature muche
To see the cruell deede,
Mee seemes I see her how she wept,
To see hir darling bleede.
' Wei yet,' quo' she, ' this hurt
Shal have some helpe, I trowe : '
And quick with skin she coverd it,
That whiter is than snowe ;
Wherewith Dan Cupide fled
For feare of further flame,
When angel like he saw hir shine
Whome he had smit with shame.
The skar still there remains ;
No force : let there it be ;
There is no cloude that can eclipse
So bright a sunne as she."
Lord Sandys died January 21, 1623, having by his will
directed that he should be buried in " his Chapel adjoining
the Chapel of the Holy Ghost at Basingstoke." He had two
children : William, who died before him without issue ; and
' Pcdis^recsof Elizabeth, who married Sir Edwyn Sandys of Latymers.'
(Sandys of Colonel Henry Sandys, son of Edwyn and Elizabeth (not to
Latymers),
voi.'v. be confounded with another Colonel Henry Sandys of Kent,
mentioned by Clarendon, a general of the Parliament, who bore
an indifferent character), succeeded to the Vyne as his grand-
father's
CHAP. III. THE LORDS SANDYS 65
father's heir in 1623. His name appears in the accounts of the
Holy Ghost Chapel for Midsummer 1636, as having given some
of his oak timber for the building of a new chapel and school.
He was an active loyalist, and, having been mortally wounded
while fighting for the King at Bramdene, near Alresford, March
29, 1644, died April 6 next ensuing.
In November 1643, during the siege'of Basing,' the Parlia- ^Godwins
^. ITT.,,. T-. T , Civil War in
mentary troops under bir William ualler were quartered at HampsMre.
p. 75.
the Vyne in order to resist a relieving force under Sir Ralph
Hopton, and it is difficult to understand how the glass of the
windows of the Chapel, in which the figures of saints are
represented, escaped the fanaticism of the Puritans, unless the
tradition- is true that it was buried in the water which flows - Warners
Hampshire,
through the grounds. ''''■ " ^'^"e-"
A lady of the Sandys family figures as the heroine of the
following romantic story of the Civil War. She was, it is said,
engaged to be married to Sir Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire,
who, in order to show that his love for her did not affect his
loyalty, vowed in the next engagement to capture a standard or
die. The next fight was the first battle of Newbury, September
20, 1643, and on the morning after the battle he was found dead
on the heath, grasping in his hand a standard, and the standard-
bearer lying dead by his side. The flag supposed to have been
thus captured hung for some time in the lobby of the Chapel
Royal, Whitehall,'' with an inscription beneath it.
Mary, sister of Colonel Sandys of the Vyne, married
Richard Atkj-ns of Tuffley, Gloucestershire, and erected a
handsome monument to his memory in the Church of St.
K Andrew
•' History itf
ttic Brocas
Family,
P- 234-
66
THE VYNE
CHAP. III.
" Sie 28
Henry VIII..
c. xviii,
(Private .Ul).
Andrew, Sherborne St. John ; the shield on it bears the arms of
Atkyns impahng those of her father, Sandys of Latymers.
WilHam, son of Colonel Sandys, succeeded to the Vyne
1644, and about five years later was compelled by reverses of
fortune to part with his ancestral mansion and estate, which had
been previously heavily mortgaged, and to retire to Mottisfont
Abbey, near Romsey, Hants. This place, formerly a Priory
of Canons of the order of St. Augustine, had been seized by
Henry VHI., and granted,' together with the advowsons of
Stock-bridge and Kings Somborne, to the first Lord Sandys of
the Vyne, in a somewhat unequal exchange for lands anciently
belonging to the Sandys family at Paddington and Chelsea,
including the present site of Chelsea Hospital.
William Sandys was summoned as a peer to Parliament after
the Restordtion. He died without issue, 1688, and his brothers
Henry and Edwyn also dying without issue, this distinguished
barony fell into abeyance.
Chap.
5^^-
^^^^
CHAP IV
afouer
^e Sfcaken
CHALONER CHUTE, Speaker of the House of
Commons, and the first of the Chutes of the Vyne,
was born about 1595. According to the inscrip-
tion upon his fine marble monument in the Tomb
Chamber next the Chapel (Plate VI.), his ancestors possessed the
manor of Taunton until the reign of Henry VHI. ; but if this
be so, they must have held it under the see of Winchester, to
which it belonged from Saxon times until the seventeenth cen-
tury. The family was, however, of ancient standing in Sussex,
Kent, and Somersetshire ; and can trace ' a direct male descent
from Alexander Chute of Taunton, who died 1268. -They are
I said
1 Berry s
Hampshire
Genealogies,
p. 117.
68 THE VYNE
CHAP. IV.
said to " carry the memorial of the third nation of the Germans
'^Mannings that conquercd the Britons, commonly called Jutes."'
Lives of the
Speakers, Thc arms of Chute (" Gules, three swords extended barrways,
p- 356-
their points towards the dexter part of the escutcheon, argent,
•Gtiiiiim, their hilts and pommels or"),^ and their crest (an arm in armour
4th ed. p. 335.
gauntleted grasping a broken sword, with the motto " Fortune
de guerre "), will be found in the frontispiece. An augmenta-
tion of arms was granted to Philip Chute, of Appledore, Kent,
standardbearer to King Henry VIII. in his French wars.
Chaloner Chute's father, Charles Chute, was a barrister of
the Middle Temple, and member of Parliament for Thetford in
^Calendar of Norfolk, and was appointed^ to conduct one of the earliest of
State Papers
[Domestic], those experiments for the registration of titles and sales of
J619-23, ^ ^
P- 537- land \\'hich have never ceased to exercise the ingenuity of law
reformers down to the present time. His mother was Ursula,
daughter of John Chaloner of Fulham, and cousin of Sir Thomas
Chaloner, who, having been tutor to Henry, Prince of Wales,
son of James I., for whom Bramshill, co. Hants, was built, is
commemorated by a fine monument in Chiswick Church.
Chaloner Chute's childhood was spent at Kensington, where
his younger brother Charles was born in 1600, and his sister
Dorothy in 1603, the entries of whose births in the register of
St. Mary Abbots, Kensington, were made in Latin, while those
of less dignified persons are in the vulgar tongue.
Chaloner was admitted a student of the Middle Temple,
November 11, 161 3, as "Fi/iiis ct Iicercs apparcns Caroli Chewte
dc Kehedon in coiiiitatit Essexicc" and was called to the Bar, May
23, 1623.
He
CHAP. IV. CHALONER CHUTE, SPEAKER 69
He married Ann, daughter of Sir John Skory, at St. Mil-
dred's Church in the Poultry, June 14, 1627, and had b}- her a
son, Chaloner, and two daughters, Scicilia and Ann ; the latter
married into the family of Henry Barker of Chiswick, of whom
there is a striking portrait (dated 1615, aetatis 79) at the Vyne.
Roger North describes ' Chaloner Chute as " a man of great ' i.ivcs of the
Norths, vol. i.
wit and stately carriage of himself," a description which the full- p- 13-
length portrait of him at the V'yne by Vandyck confirms. " I
shall mention here," he continues, "what I have been credibly
told as one instance of his loftiness, even while he practised in
Chancery. It was in short but this : if he had a fancy not to
have the fatigue of business, but to pass his time in pleasure
after his own humour, he would say to his clerk, ' Tell the
people, I will not practise this term,' and was as good as his
word, and then no one durst come nigh him with business.
But when his clerks signified he would take business, he was
in the same advanced post at the Bar, fully redintegrated as
before, and his practice nothing shrunk by the discontinuance.
I guess that no Chancery practiser ever did, or will do, the like ;
and it shows a transcendent genius, superior to the slavery of a
gainful profession."
He was a wise and far-seeing man, of singular moderation
and excellent judgment, who took a fearless and independent
part in the perplexing politics of his day, resisting the King
wlien his conduct became arbitrary, but using at the same
time all his influence and power of conciliation to restrain the
violence of the opposite faction.
In May 1641, "from which very time did God" (as Fuller
says
^o THE VYNE
CHAP. IV.
' Fuller i says),' "begin to gather the twigs of that rod — a civil war — where-
History of
the c/iuirh, vvith soon after he intended to whip a wanton nation," his coura-
book xi. ^
geous spirit was put to the proof by an attack made upon the
bi.shops of England, on which occasion he distinguished himself
as a champion of the Church and an opponent of revolutionary
excesses. The pretext for this attack was the issue b}- Convo-
cation of the Canons of 1641, at a time when Parliament was
not sitting. " No sooner," says Fuller, " came these canons abroad
into public view, but various were mens censures upon them.
Some were offended because bowing towards the communion
table (now called altar hy many) was not only left indifferent,
but care was taken that the observers or omitters thereof should
not mutually censure each other." The House of Commons
resolved to impeach the bishops before the House of Lords,
for making canons without the consent of Parliament, and
they were in danger of losing all their personal property under
the statute of Praemunire. John Warner, Bishop of Rochester,
retained the best counsel at the bar for the defence ; but none
of those retained had the courage to appear, with the exception
of Chaloner Chute, "who, being demanded of the lords whether
he would plead, ' Yea,' said he, ' so long as I have a tongue to
plead with;' and he drew up a demurrer, to show that what the
bishops had done could not amount to an offence within the
"- ibui. statute. This," continues Fuller,'-^ "being shown to John Williams,
the Bishop of Lincoln" (who was well acquainted with the law,
having been Keeper of the Seal 1621-25), "he protested that
he never saw a stronger demurrer in all the days of his life,
and the notice hereof to the Lords was probably the cau.se
that
if^^
fniquicvn^cm foriitiiOinem heroiCCLV.
\u J P-^ 17 • ' /C /^ 1
et fu-ace^ram tPdenn JlfiS-^/injlice \
Tni7*e n>e/riciita. tis ^1 n'^ ; ^ ] ■
\'n
CHAP. IV. CHALONER CHUTE, SPEAKER 71
that they waved anj- further prosecution of the charge, which
henceforward sunk into silence."
A fine silver tankard (Plate VII.) was presented to Chaloner
Chute in recognition of his distinguished services on this his-
torical occasion. It is still preserved at the Vyne ; it weighs
36 ounces, and its height is •/\ inches. The following is a trans-
lation of the inscription engraved upon it (see the Plate): —
" To the worshipful Chaloner Chute, Esquire, presented by
John, Bishop of Rochester, as a memorial of the singular wisdom,
heroic courage, and unswei-ving fidelity shown by him towards
the Bishops of England in their extreme peril in the year 1641."
Amongst the remarkable trials in which he was engaged
was that of Archbishop Laud, 1643, for whom he "and Master
Hearn were assigned to be of counsel, and were permitted to
have free access in and out to him." ' 1 cvprianm
He was elected a bencher of the Middle Temple, October '(UfeofLaud),
, lib. V. p. 41.
31,1645.
The House of Commons nominated him,- together with 2 whudock's
Sir John Bramston and Sir Thomas Bedingfield, to have the pp'.' 238, '244.
custody of the Great Seal of England, Januar}' 13, 1646 ; but
were reluctantly obliged to give way to the House of Lords,
who insisted on the appointment of Speaker Lenthall and the
Earl of Manchester to this great office.
In July 1647, he defended^ the eleven members whom -^ //-z,/. p. 261.
Cromwell charged with high treason, as enemies to the army
and evil counsellors to the Parliament ; and in the same year,
the city of Oxford having surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax,
and an ordinance having been passed for the "Visitation and
Reformation
THE VYNE CHAP. IV.
Reformation of the University," commonly known as the "Puri-
tan Visitation," he was selected by John Selden and the heads
of colleges to act as their counsel, together with the celebrated
Sir Matthew Hale. In February 1648, he was selected to be
1 Whiiehxk. counsel for the Duke of Cambridge;' and in February 1649,
^^' Mel'roh-^ of f°'' J^mes Dukc of Hamilton, on whose behalf, saj's Burnet,^
"Hamihcf. he "spoke learnedly and well, and Mr. Hale elaborately and
''■3''- ' at length."
= Ch. Kx.; and Lord Campbell relates, in his "Lives of the Chancellors,"^
p. 405. ' how Chute and some other public-spirited barristers spent the
Long Vacation of 1649 in making new rules for the conduct of
suits in Chancery, which have been greatly for the advantage
of the suitors in that court for succeeding generations.
He became the purchaser of the Vyne from William
fourth Lord Sandys about the time of the execution of King
Charles L, though the final conveyance was dated a few years
later, June 10, 1653. This purchase fulfilled almost to the letter
" Satire xiv. the prcccpt in Juvenal ^ : —
1. 191.
" Clamosus juvenem pater excitat ; accipe ceras,
Scribe puer, vigila, causas age, perlege rubras
Majorum leges, aut vitem posce libello ; "
for Chaloner Chute was a learned law}-er and an intrepid
advocate, and the Vyne was the prize of his successful pleading.
The eminent position to which he had at this time attained
is attested in a most remarkable manner by the Great Seal of
the Commonwealth of England, A.U. 165 I (see Plate opposite).
This seal is a great curiosity, and bears on its obverse a map
of
Thr Great --SEAL ofr/if
Com ni on -We a 1 1 h of ' Eng L A ND .
' Jone fy Tho Simon
m/iu'/i 'n'luf ifi '^//^ {h//r,//o/i tV y/z^-i^^' '/^/'//'^Jeaiu./'/ Oxford,
I ///?//■/ />? {-y^v^/^'^n ef^Ae'r//fnrr ^A^ Dutchess yf Portland .
CHAP. IV. CHALONER CHUTE, SPEAKER n
of England and Ireland, " so distinctly expressed and named
in such minute characters," ' says George Vertue (from whose ^Simons
Medals, p. s.
drawing of the seal the plate is copied ), " as to make it a work
truly admirable and beyond compare." More curious still is
the fact, that though there are six places only marked in
Hampshire, one of these is " The Vine ; " the other five being
Winchester, Hampton (Southampton), Portsmouth, Basingstoke,
and Andover. It can hardh- be doubted that the esteem
and respect entertained by the Parliament for the noble cha-
racter and influential position of Chaloner Chute led them to
pay him the remarkable compliment of causing his residence
to be inscribed on the Great Seal of the Commonwealth.
Chaloner Chute married, as his second wife, Dorothy, widow
of Richard Lennard thirteenth Baron Dacre of Hurstmonceaux,
and daughter of Dudley third Baron North. This marriage
was the occasion of four interesting portraits being brought
to the Vyne, two of the North and two of the Dacre family : —
(i) Dudley third Lord North, called the "old " Lord North,
father of Dorothy Lady Dacre, grandfather of the Lord Keeper
North : succ. 1600, d. 1666, aged 85.
(2) Sir John North, son of Roger second Baron North, father
of the " old " Lord North : d. 1 597.
(3) Chrysogona, daughter of Sir Richard Baker of Sissen-
hur.st, Kent, a little girl in a quaint dre.ss at the age of six
(a.d. 1579), who became the wife of Henry Lennard twelfth
Baron Dacre.
(4) Mary, wife of Thomas Fienes ninth Baron Dacre, who
was executed at the age of twenty-four in 1 540, as accessor)-
L to
74 THE VYNE chap. iv.
to the death of a keeper, when he and others had gone by
night in a froHc to hunt deer in Sir Nicholas Pelham's park
• See Waipoics at Crovvhurst, Kent. A similar picture ' is at Belhus, Essex, the
Anecdotes qf
Painting, seat of Sir Thomas Lennard.
voi. i. p. 144.
Chaloner Chute was elected Treasurer of the Middle Temple
in 1655 ; and while he was serving this office, his nephew, the
future Lord Keeper North, was brought by his father. Sir
Dudley, to be admitted as a student. Roger North tells how
Sir Dudley "treated hardly about the fine of admission, which is
in the Treasurer's power to tax, and he may use an}' one well
if he pleaseth. Mr. Treasurer asked Sir Dudley what he was
willing to give ; and, the common fine being 5/., he answered
3/. \Os, 'Well,' said the Treasurer, 'lay down the money,'
which being done he called for the young man's hat, and swept
it all in, and gave it him, and, marking the admission ' ;///,' or
nothing, ' let this,' said he, ' be a beginning of }-our getting
money here,' where his Lordship made good the omen."
He was elected Knight of the Shire for Middlesex in 1656,
■ ''■ and again in 1658. Whitelock ^ says that he was "an excellent
orator, a man of good parts and generosity, of whom many
doubted he would not join with the Protector's party, but he
did heartily."
Upon the assembling of Parliament under Richard Crom-
well, January 29, 1659, he was unanimously chosen Speaker
of the House of Commons. The French ambassador, M. de
Bordeaux, in a letter to Cardinal Mazarin dated February
^ r.uizof s Life ^_6 \6^Q, says ^ that "the Parliament proceeded to elect its
of R. Crom- -^ '
Tveti, pp. 46, Speaker, who is one of the most celebrated lawyers in the
nation
CHAP. IV. CHALONER CHUTE, SPEAKER 75
nation, and there appeared to be no diversity of opinion
regarding his election."
He made the follovving address on being led to the chair : ' ^Bm-fon's
'=> ° Diiirv, vol. III.
" As the form is, gentlemen, you called me to this place for pp- 4. '8.
directions, so that I must not give ill examples, by troubling
you with a long speech. I never knew much said in long
speeches. I never loved them. I desire that you would think
of me as the motto on the sundial is — ' Aspice me ut te aspiciaiit'. "
Two days after his election, Hazlerig addressed him (speak-
ing of his jurisdiction to send for certain records) : "Yourself is
now the greatest man in England. I look upon you so, e.xcept
what is to be excepted. I had almost forgot myself, but I am
pretty right yet. I say, I look upon you as the greatest man in
England."
He had at once to preside over late sittings and long debates
on two exciting questions : first, whether the Protectorate should
continue ; and secondly, whether there should be a House of
Lords, and, if so, who should be summoned to it. The dis-
cussion of the latter question occupied twenty-three sittings.
The republicans used violent language against the Peers, while
several members openly expressed their admiration of the
Barons of the realm, " who had fought for Magna Charta, and
were anciently the great bulwark and defence of the liberties of
the nation." The Speaker, being a man of moderate views, and
respected by all parties, "so much gained the affection of the
House," says Whitelock,- " that he swayed much with them." - P- 677.
The incessant fatigue of his office, however, was too great
a strain upon his health, and, after an ineffectual struggle to
continue
THE VYNE CHAP. IV.
continue his duties, he obtained leave of absence, and went to
Sutton Court, an estate belonging to him at Chiswick. Here,
as a special mark of honour, the Lord Fairfax and other
members visited him by order of the House of Commons.
His retirement was speedily followed by his death, April 14,
1659. He died, to use the words inscribed upon his monument
at the Vyne, "in the service of his arduous post, to the regret of
^Clarendon's all parties." Lord Clarendon himself wrote,' May 9, 1659, from
State Papers, . ,
vol. iii. pp. 453, Rome to his friend Mr. Mordaunt, "I am heartily sorry for the
464, 465.
death of the Speaker, whom I have known well, and am per-
suaded that he would never have subjected himself to that place
if he had not entertained some hope of being able to serve the
« James King." And a contemporary historian,' describing the military
Heatlis Brief
ciironicieofthe Cabal which ended in the resignation of Richard Cromwell, says
Late Intestine
Wars. that "in the heat of the business died Master Chaloner Chute
the Speaker, a man fit in every respect for the chair, and of a
judgment and resolution cross to the sway of the times, which
he was designed in this place to oppose."
His will, dated June 3, 1653, "written all with hisowne hand,"
and signed at Sutton Court, bears witness to the pious dignity
of his character. " It hath pleased Almighty God " (he begins)
" of His great good will since the making of some former wills
to alter my condition in several particulars, adding thereby
infinitely to my contentment & bounden duty to blesse His
holy name, and ever assuredly to trust in His mercy and
goodness towards me in His beloved Sonne Jesus Christ my
Savior." He then speaks of "the naturall infirmity of my
body, which dayly summons me to another life," and " the
violence
CHAP. IV. CH A LONER CHUTE, SPEAKER -jj
violence and distraction of these times, whicli He that can
bring Hght out of darkness will in the end dispose, I am sure,
to His Glory ; " and, after devising the Vyne and his lands
in Hampshire to his son Chaloner in fee, he concludes : " May
the Infinite Almighty and most Gratious God, who hath vouch-
safed me His goodness in abundant measure, goe along with
my Sonne in the whole course of his life, that, with an
humble mind and a generous carriage, he may make himself
acceptable to good men, continue to be beloved of all those
that relate to him, be an ornament to his family, and dye
the true servant of the God of his father."
It is also significant of a religious and contemplative mint!,
that in the copy of Kenelm Digby's "Treatise on the Immor-
tality of Reasonable Souls," which belonged to him, and is still
at the Vyne, are inscribed the words, " Sum e libris Chaloneri
Chute prascipuis."
He was, in accordance with his will, buried in the Church of
St. Nicholas, Chiswick. In the county hall at Winchester his
arms deservedly occupy a conspicuous position among those
of other Hampshire worthies. The beautiful recumbent figure
of him in his Speaker's robes, erected by his descendant John
Chute, has already been mentioned, and a full description of it
will be found in Chapter VII.
He removed the base court towards the water, and built the
Portico and Summer House (Plate VHI. p. 85) at the Vyne.
He left surviving him his widow Dorothy, Lady Dacre,
and his son, Chaloner Chute, who married Catherine Lennard,
daughter of the said Lady Dacre. Guillim,' in his " Display of ' 4"' <^^-
^ -^ (i6eo), p. 335.
Heraldry
78 THE VYNE
CHAP. IV.
Heraldry," speaks of him as " a worthy successor of his father's
virtues."
The second Chaloner Chute was elected Member for Devizes
1656, three years before his father's death, and was amongst
those whom Oliver Cromwell tried to exclude from the House
on September 22 of that year, as unfriendly to the Protectorate.
Thereupon he and the other excluded members drew up a Re-
1 WhiieiKk's monstrance, in which they protested' that "if our kings might
Memorials,
p. 640. have commanded away from the Parliament all such persons
of conscience, wisdom, and honour as could not be corrupted,
frighted, or cozened by them to betray their country, our ances-
tors could not have left us either liberties or estates to defend."
At a later period he was member for the city of Westminster.
He died in the year of the Great Fire of London, 1666,
aged thirty-six, and was buried by his father's side at Chiswick.
He left three sons, Chaloner, Edward, and Thomas ; and one
daughter, Elizabeth, who married Sir Charles Cotterell, of the
fine old manor house of Rousham, Oxfordshire.
The three younger children were maintained by a charge
on the Vyne estate, Dorothy, Lady Dacre, their grandmother,
acting as guardian ; and the Lord Keeper North devised for her
security a precaution which, though now a matter of every day
practice in Chancery, was then novel, viz., that she should her-
self bring an action to have the accounts taken. " And this,"
-Lii'eso/tiie says Roger North,- " preserved her, who kept no good account,
Norths, vol. i.
/. 87. from oral testimonies of imaginary values, which had pinched
her to the quick if she had not had that defence : it fell not
under every ones cap to give so gopd advice."
The
CHAP. IV. CH ALONE R CHUTE, SPEAKER 79
The Lord Keeper took especial care of Tliomas. the third
son,' who, being placed at the Middle Temple by Lady Dacre, ^ Lives of the
Niyrths, vol. i.
obtained by his influence a lucrative office in the law, and p. 16 ; vol. ii.
p. 221.
married, in 1687, Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Rivett of
Brandeston, Suffolk. The Vyne eventually came to his de-
scendants, on the failure of male issue of his elder brothers,
Chaloner and Edward.
A letter from Thomas Chute, March 8, 1697, to his cousin
Barrett Lennard, has been preserved,- in which he proposes to go ■>- ms. at
Belli Its, Jissex,
with Lord Lovelace and Mr. Hoskins to Belhus, " to destroy that
subtle species called foxes out of your country, in which we think
we shall not only divert ourselves but do the country service."
Chaloner the eldest brother was born 1656, succeeded 1666,
and died November 16, 1685. He wrote from the Vj'ne, July
18, 1682, to Mr. Herbert of Belvoir,' then living with John ninth ^ MS. at
Belvoir.
Earl and afterwards first Duke of Rutland, known ^ as a patron < j^^,„- cy-
r ■ ,, 1 t r 1 ■ • 1 1' chpedia. tit.
of music : "judge of everything concerning me by my readiness - Rutland,
to send you the tune and words you desired of me." And in
another letter of October 26, he sa\-s : " I find myselfe unable to
accknowledge those obliging marks of favour that my loid is
pleased almost every day to show me. ... I hope a barrell or
two of Colchester Oysters will be no less acceptible at Belvoir
than a Belvoir doe att London. If I am not mistaken, I remember
the time when he seemed as greate a lover of them as I of Belvoir
venison. I have sent the oysters b}' the Grantham carryer."
From other letters at Belvoir it appears that he sought in mar-
riage the Lady Bridget Noel, daughter of Viscount Campden, and
sister of the Countess of Rutland ; she died unmarried in 17 19.
Edward
Duke of,"
So THE VYNE
Edward Chute, who was born 1658, succeeded his brother
Chaloner, 1685 ; he was educated at Winchester College, and
New College, Oxford, of which society he became a fellow
August 12, 1678. The Lord Keeper North, his cousin, placed
'Lhnoft/ie him' "with Dr. Brevint, a French refugee, and Prebendary of
Norths, vol. ii.
p. 220. Westminster, where by the family conversation, as well as some
instruction, he might acquire a ready use of the French tongue ;
and finding him fit," he recommended him to a clerkship under
Sir Leoline Jenkins, Secretary of State to Charles II.
Some letters are preserved which he wrote in this capacity,
1683-84, to Sir Edward Bulstrode, who, having been adjutant to
the army of Charles I. after Naseby, became envoy at Brussels
after the Restoration, and died in exile with the Stuarts at the
age of 1 01. At the period when these letters were written, the
discovery of the Rye House Plot had given the King a pretext
for .severe measures against the Whigs ; while the corruption of
justice, as shown in the trials of Russell and Sidney, and the de-
spicable foreign policy adopted in subservience to Louis XIV.,
were already paving the way for the Revolution of 1688.
-MS. at the In the first letter,'-* dated Whitehall, July 9, 1683, he wrote :
' ' "There continue to be further discoveries of the late conspiracy
and designed insurrection. My Lord Howard was pleased
to be very ingenuous upon his examination this day before
his Majesty : since which my Lord Brandon Gerard and
Mr. Hambden have been committed to the Tower. Captain
Wallcott, whose name is in the first Proclamation, was taken
yesterday, and committed to Newgate. The trial of my Lord
Russell is certainly to be on Thursday next."
A
CHAP. IV. CHALONER CHUTE, SPEAKER 8i
A second letter is ' dated February 4, 1684 (at which time, ^ MS. ai lUc
I 'ync.
as we learn from Evelyn's Diary, the frost was so severe that
streets of booths were set up on tlie Thames, and the seas were
so locked up with ice that for eight weeks no ships could stir
in or out), and in it he mentions that "the frozen sea keeps us ■
in utter dearth of news, and the theme of almost everybody's
discourse is our own ice at home, which is like to bring a worse
dearth upon a great many poor people. My Lord Danby's plea
was heard at the King's Bench this morning."
A third letter,^ dated February 15, 1684, gives intelligence -//»/</.
that Sir Samuel Barnardiston, foreman of the grand jury which
ignored the bill of indictment against Lord Shaftesbury, " was
tried yesterday, and found guilty upon an information preferred
against him for spreading false and seditious news, and for
arraigning the Government by affirming that my Lord Russell
and Mr. Sidney died innocently. We are alarmed with a piece
of news from Holland, which says that the Prince of Orange has
attacked some of the Amsterdammers, whom he charged with
holding correspondence with France, after having disclosed the
matter to the States General with an oath of secresy from them,
and that the Deputys from the Hague went out of their houses
at midnight hereupon in great disgust."
In a fourth letter^ of March 10, 1684, he says, "My being at '^ /bhi.
the assizes at Winchester will excuse me, I hope, for acknow-
ledging myself to you no sooner : my business was to serve
Sir Wm. Kingsmill, of that country, who was tried for killing a
gentleman iiis near relation, upon a sudden quarrel between
them, and found guilty of manslaughter. The Duke of Ormond
M is
82 THE VYNE
CHAP. IV.
is like to recover of a fever which he has had, and been very
dangerously ill."
^ MS. at the A letter' of March \J, 1684, mentions the death of Mrs.
Vync.
Godolphin, whose memoir, written by John Evelyn, and edited
by Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, reveals her as the
purest of characters in the most dissolute of courts. " This after-
noon Mrs. Godolphin, Maid of Honour to the Queen, died of
the small-pox, after she had been almost past the danger, as was
thought. 'Tis believed that the Duke of Grafton will be made
Governor of the Isle of Wight in a little time, Sir Robert
Holmes being very infirm, and, as they say, very much inclined
to live a retired life, for which reason he resigns that charge.
We have nothing but complaints of the severity of the weather
from Newmarket, from whence the Prince is expected to-mor-
row, the Duke on Thursday, His Majesty on Saturday next.
Mrs. Temple, Maid of Honour to the Princess, is said to be
married bypro.xy to Sir Thomas Lynch, Governour of Jamaica."
2 Ibid. The last letter,- dated March 24, 16S4, tells that " His Majesty
and the rest of the Court that were at Newmarket returned
hither upon Saturday last, and are in most perfect health. . . .
There is a long memorial which the Dutch Ambassador presented
to His Majesty yesterday by way of reply to the answer of his
last memorial : I am not able to give you any account of it
here, having not had the opportunity to read it yet.
" I am, Sir, your most obed' humble serv^',
"E. Chute."
Edward Chute married Katharine, daughter of Sir Anthony
Keck
CHAP. IV. CH A LONER CHUTE, SPEAKER 8
o
Keck, widow of Ferdinand Tracy, in 1686. He kept race-
horses at the Vyne, and in the year of the Revolution won a
handsome silver punch-bowl at the Basingstoke races, then run
on the downs west of the town. This bowl, which is preserved
at the Vyne, is nine inches in height and twelve in diameter,
and is richly chased with quaint figures of Oriental character
engaged in various field sports ; it is surmounted with a crene-
lated rim, and bears the date " Oct : y" 2nd 1688."
Edward Chute was High Sheriff of Hampshire in 1699. He
lived through the shifting politics of Anne and George I., as a
staunch supporter of the House of Hanover. He died April 18,
1722, aged 65, was buried in the church of Sherborne St. John,
and was succeeded by his son Anthony.
Of Anthony Chute, who was born March 6, 1691, little is
recorded. He seems to have kept race-horses like his father, if
we may trust his portrait, which has a race-horse and jockey
in the background. He was elected member of Parliament for
Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight in 1734, having stood for the
county without success in the same year against Lord Harry
Powlett and Edward Lisle. On the occasion of the county
contest, Charles Powlett Duke of Bolton, of Hackwood, wrote
to " the Mayor, Aldermen, Burgesses, and other freeholders of
Basingstoke," the following remarkable letter.
"14 April, 1734.
"Gentlemen, — As it is with great Reluctancy that I am
obliged to oppose Mr. Chute's Election for the county, but
since he has put it out of my power to promote his Interest, I
desire
84 THE VYNE
CHAP. IV.
desire you will not give him your votes at the next Election. I
will say no more to you though I have provocation enough, but
the not voteing at all will equally oblige
" Y"' Humble Serv',
"B N."
Anthony Chute died 1754, unmarried and intestate. All his
brothers predeceased him, except John the youngest, who suc-
ceeded him as next heir. There is a monument in the church
of St. Lawrence, Rotterdam, to his brother Chaloner, who died
in that city May 5, 1705.
There are pictures at the Vyne of Chaloner Chute, the
Speaker, and of both his wives ; of his son and grandson, both
named Chaloner ; and of his younger grandsons Edward and
Thomas ; also of Anthony, son of Edward ; and of Thomas
Lennard and Elizabeth, children of Thomas.
Chap.
^•y^
vm
CHAP. -V
jchrt CJiiile^ ^CratJ 'xy*
^cx^fice M/alpoIe
JOHN CHUTE, who succeeded his brother Anthony at
the Vyne in 1754, was born December 30, 1701, the
tenth and youngest child of Edward Chute and his
wife Katharine. He was educated at Eton College,
then under the rule of Dr. Godolphin as Provost, who was
brother of the Minister, and set up the statue of Henry VI.
in the school-yard. Afterwards, at the Vyne, using the
Speaker's summer-house ( Plate VHI. ), then decorated within
and furnished with statuary, for his Temple of the Muses,
he applied himself further to literature and archaeological
studies, thus acquiring accomplishments which, together with
his social qualities, endeared him to Horace Walpole and the
poet Gray.
From the death of his father in 1722, until that of his
brother Anthony in 1754, he lived principally abroad, spending
much
86 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
much of his time in Florence at Casa Ambrosio, the house of
Horace Mann, the British Resident. Here, in 1740, he made
the acquaintance of Walpole and Gray, who had just completed
their studies at Eton and Cambridge, and were travelling together
upon the Continent.
Gray parted company with Walpole at Reggio, through
an unfortunate disagreement, in the spring of 1741, and con-
soled himself with the companionship of John Chute and his
young relative, Francis Thistlethwayte, of Southwick Park,
Hampshire, who had recently taken the name of Whithed
under his uncle's will. These three spent the festival of
Ascensiontide, 1741, in Venice together, after which Gray
returned to England, and having, soon after his arrival, visited
Galfridus, twin brother of Horace Mann, in London, wrote as
follows to John Chute, in reply to a letter from him, enclosing
one from Mann. The latter was at this time much tried by
illness, which he bore most patiently.
' MS. at the " My dear Sir,' — I complain no more, j-ou have not then
tifor'c frintcd. forgot me. Mrs. Dick, to whom I resorted for a dish of coffee,
instead thereof produced your kind letter, big with another, no
less kind, from our poor mangled friend ; to whom I now
address myself (you don't take it ill ?), and let him know that, as
soon as I got hither, I took wing for the Strand to see a certain
acquaintance of his (for I then knew not whether he were dead
or alive), and get some news of him. I was so struck with the
great resemblance between them, that it made me cry out. He
is
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 87
is a true eagle, but a little tamer and a little fatter than the
eagle resident : I told him so, but he did not seem to think it so
great a compliment as I did. His house was half pulled down,
but rising again more magnificent from its ruins. He received
me as became a bird of his race, and suffer'd himself to be
caressed without giving me one peck or scratch ; the only bad
thing I know of him is that he wears a frock and a bob-wig.
May I charge j'ou, my dear Mr. Chute ( I give you your great
name for want of a little tiny one), with my compliments to
Dr. Cocchi, Benevoli (tho' I hate him), and their patient, par-
ticularly to this last for recovering so soon, and so much to my
satisfaction. I think one may call him dear creature, and be
fond in security under the sanction of your cover. I carried
his Museum Florentinum to Commissioner Haddock, who is
Liddel's uncle. That gentleman had left Paris, having been
elected for some place in this Parliament, and (the' it is like to
be controverted ) took that opportunity to return to England
for a time, but is now gone, I think, to Spain. Adieu, Mr. M.
"■Nunc ad te totum ntc converto, suavissiuie Cliuti, whom I
wrote to from Dover. If this be London, Lord send me to
Constantinople : either I or it are extremely odd : the boys
laugh at the depth of my ruffles, the immensity of my bag, and
the length of my sword. I am as an alien in my native land,
yea I am as an owl among the small birds. It rains : every body
is discontented, and so am I. You can't imagine how mortifying
it is to fall into the hands of an English barber. Lord, how you
or Pclleri would storm in such a case ! Don't think of coming
hither
88 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
hither without Lavour or something equivalent to him (not an
elephant'). The natives are alive and flourishing: the fashion is a
grey frock with round sleeves, bob wig, or a spencer, plain hat
with enormous brims and shallow crown cocked as bluff as
possible, muslin neckcloth twisted round, rumpled, and tucked
into the breast : all this with a certain Sa-faring air, as if they
were just come back from Cartagena. If my pockets had any-
thing in them, I should be afraid of everj' body I met : look in
their face, they knock you down ; speak to them, they bite off
your nose. I am no longer ashamed in public, but extremely
afraid. If ever they catch me among 'em, I give them leave
to eat me. So much for Dress ; as for Politics, every body is
extremely angry with all that has been or shall be done. Even
a victory at this time would be looked upon as a wicked attempt
to please the nation. The theatres open not till to-morrow, so
you will excuse my giving no account of them to-night. Now
I have been at home and seen how things go there, would I
were with you again, that the remainder of my dream might at
least be agreeable. As it is, my prospect cannot well be more
unpleasing ; but why do I trouble your good nature with such
considerations ? Be assured, that when I am happy ( if that can
ever be), your esteem will greatly add to that happiness ; and
when most the contrary, will always alleviate what I suffer.
Many, many thanks for your kindness, for your travels, for
}'our news, for all the trouble I have given and must give you.
Omit nothing when you write, for things that were quite indif-
ferent to me at Florence, at this distance become interesting.
Humble service to Polleri : obliged for his harmonious saluta-
tion
CHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 89
tion. I hope to see some scratches with his black claw in your
next. Adieu !
" I am most sincerely and e\er yours,
" T. G.
" London, Sept. 7, O.S. [ 1741 ].
" P.S. — Nobody is come from Paris yet."
The expression " an equivalent, not an elephant," alludes to an
old and well-known story of an Anglo-Indian, who wrote to a
friend in England, promising him an " equivalent," for kindnesses
done, and his friend by mistake read " equivalent " as " elephant,"
and made preparations for the animal accordingly.
In this same year, 1741, Walpole, now in the House of
Commons, supported John Chute's brother Francis, a Chancer}-
barrister, as a candidate for Parliamentary honours. In a letter
to Mann, December 10, 1741, he wrote : ' "You can't conceive 1 Waipot^s
Letters, ed.
how I was pleased with the vast and deserved applause that Cunningham
vol. i. p. 99.
Mr. Chute's brother the lawyer got. I never heard a clearer or
a finer speech. When I went home, ' Dear Sir,' said I to Sir
Robert, ' I hope Mr. Chute will carry his election for Heydon :
he would be a great loss to you.' He replied, 'We will not lose
him.' I, who meddle with nothing, especially elections, and go
to no committees, interest myself extremely for Mr. Chute."
On January 22, 1742, Walpole describes in a letter^ to John - /tni^ p 122.
Chute his introduction to his brother Anthony, whom Sir Robert
had brought home to dinner, and adds, " Now, Mr. Chute, I know
both your brothers " ...
Gray wrote to him again from London on May 24, 1742: —
N " My
90 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
1 i/5_ ^jtthe " ^y ^^^'' Sir,' — Three days ago as I was in the Coffee house
very deep in advertisements, a servant came in and waked me
(as I thought), with the name of Mr. Chute ; for half a minute
I was not sure but that it was you, transported into England
by some strange chance, till he brought me to a coach that
seemed to have lost its way by looking for a needle in a bottle
of hay ; in it was a lady, who said she was not you but only a
near relation, and was so good to give me a letter, with which I
returned to my den in order to prey upon it. I had wrote to
you but a few days ago, and am glad of so good an excuse to
do it again, which I may the better do, as my last was all out,
and nothing to the purpose, being designed for a certain Mr.
Chute at Rome, and not him at Florence.
" I learn from it that I have been somewhat smarter than I
ought, but ( to shew you with how little malice ) I protest I have
not the least idea what it was : my memory would be better
did I read my own letters so often as I do yours. You must
attribute it to a sort of kittenish disposition that scratches when
it means to caress ; however, I don't repent neither, if 'tis that
has made you write. I know I need not ask pardon, for you
have forgiven me ; nay, I have a good mind to complain myself.
How could you say, that I designed to hurt you, because I
knew you could feel ? I hate the thoughts of it and would not
for the world wound anything that was sensible. 'Tis true, I
should be glad to scratch the careless or the foolish, but no
armour is so impenetrable as indifference and stupidity ; and so
I may keep my claws to myself. . . .
" Did I tell you about Mr. Garrick, that the Town are horn-
mad
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 91
mad after ? There are a dozen Dukes of a night at Goodmans-
fields sometimes, and yet I am stiff in the opposition. Our fifth
Opera was the Olympiade, in which they retain'd most of Pergo-
lesi's songs, and yet 'tis gone already, as if it had been a poor
thing of Galuppi's. Two nights did I enjoy it all alone, snug
in a nook of the gallery, but found no one in those regions had
ever heard of Pergolesi ; nay, I heard several affirm it was a
composition of Pescetti's ; now there is a sixth sprung up b)-
the name of Cefalo & Procri.
" My Lady of Oueensbury is come out against my Lady of
Marlborough ; and she has her spirit too and her originality,
but more of the woman I think than t'other ; as to the facts,
it don't signify two pence who's in the right, the manner of
fighting and character of the Combatants is all : 'tis hoped old
Sarah will at her again.
" The Invalides at Chelsea intend to present Ranelagh Gar-
dens as a nuisance for breaking their first sleep with the sound
of fiddles : it opens I think to-night. Messieurs the Commons
are to ballot for 7 persons to-morrow, commissioned to state the
public accounts, and they are to be such who have no places,
nor are any ways dependent on the King. The Committee have
petition'd for all papers relating to the Convention : a bill has
passed the lower House for indemnifying all who might subject
themselves to penalties by revealing any transaction with regard
to the conduct of my Lord Orford, and to-morrow the Lords
are summon'd about it. The Wit of the times consists in satiri-
cal prints. I believe there have been some hundreds within this
month ; if you have any hopeful young designer of caricaturas
that
92 THE VYNE chap. v.
tliat has a political turn, he may pick up a pretty subsistence
here ; let him pass thro' Holland to improve his taste. By the
way, we are all very sorry for poor Queen Hungary ; but we
know of a second battle (which perhaps you may never hear of
but from me), as how Prince Lobbycock came up in the nick of
time, and cut 120,000 of 'em all to pieces, and how the King of
Prussia narrowly escaped aboard a ship, and so got down the
Daunub to Wolf in Bottle, where Mr. Mallyboyce lay incamp'd,
and how the Hannoverians with Prince Hissy Castle at their
head fell upon the French Mounseers, and took him away with
all his Treasure, among which is Pitt's Diamond and the Great
Cistern. All this is firmly believed here and a vast deal more ;
upon the strength of which we intend to declare war with
France.
" You are so obliging as to put me in mind of our last year's
little expeditions ; alas. Sir, they are past, and how many years
will it be, at the rate you go on, before we can possibly renew
them in this country? In all probability I shall be gone first
on a long expedition in that undiscover'd country from whose
bourn no Traveller returns ; however (if I can) I will think of
you as I sail down the River of Eternity. I can't help thinking
that I should find no difference almost between this world
and t'other (for I converse with none but the dead here), only
indeed I should receive nor write no more letters. . . .
" My Dab of musick and prints you are very good to think
of sending with your own ; to which I will add a farther trouble
by desiring you to send me some of the roots of a certain flower
w'='' I have seen at Florence ; it is a huge white hyacinth tinged
with
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 93
with pink (Mr. M. knows what I mean, by the same token that
they grow sometimes in the fat Gerina's boosoni). I mean if they
bear a reasonable price, which you will judge of for me ; but
don't give yourself any pains about it, for if they are not easily-
had and at an easy rate I am not at all eager for them. Do
you talk oi strumming? Ohime ! who have not seen the face of
a harpical since I came home. No ; I have hanged up my harp
on the willows : however, I look at my music now and then,
that I may not forget it ; for when you return I intend to sing
a song of thanksgiving, and praise the Lord with a cheerful
noise of many stringed instruments. Adieu, dear Sir.
" I am sincerely yours,
" T. G.
"May (O.S.), London.
" Not forgetting my kiss hands to Mr. Whithed."
The date of this letter— May 24, 1742 — is determined by the
incidents referred to in it, viz., the proceedings taken against Sir
Robert Walpole, who had been Prime Minister for twenty-one
years, and was now reluctant to go to war for the sake of Maria
Theresa, which made him unpopular and caused his fall ; the
opening of the Rotunda at Ranelagh Gardens ; the debut of
Garrick at Goodman's Fields near the Minories; and the per-
formance of Pergolesi's music, which Gray had done much to
introduce into England.
The playful allusions to an imaginary victory of Maria
Theresa, Queen of Hungary, over Frederick of Prussia requires
some explanation. " Prince Lobbycock " is Lobkowitz, one of
her
94 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
her generals, and " Mallyboyce " is Maillebois, a French general
who was on Frederick's side. " Pitt's diamond," had once be-
longed to the grandfather of the great Pitt, and was at this
time a crown jewel of France ; and " the great cistern " may
be an allusion to the Basin of Apollo at Versailles, which Gray
describes in a letter to West, May 22, 1739.
Horace Walpole contrasts the excesses of his Norfolk neigh-
bours with John Chute's temperate way of living in a letter to
him from Houghton dated August 20, 1743.
^ tellers of "Indeed,' my dear Sir, you did not use to be stupid, and
Cunningham, until you givc me substantial proof that you are so, I shall not
believe it : as for your temperate diet and milk bringing about
such a metamorphosis, I hold it impossible : I have such lament-
able proofs every day before my eyes of the stupefying effects of
beef, ale and wine that I have contracted a most religious venera-
tion for your spiritual noiirritiire. Only imagine that I here every
day see men who are mountains of roast beef, and only seem
just roughly hewn out into the outlines of human form, like the
giant rock at Pratolino. I shudder when I see them brandish
their knives in act to carve, and look on them as savages that
devour one another. I should not stare at all more if yonder
Alderman at the lower end of the table were to stick his fork
into his jolly neighbour's cheek and cut a brave slice of brown
& fat. . . .
" Oh, my dear Sir, don't you find out that nine parts in ten
of the world are of no use but to make you wish yourself with
that tenth part } I am so far from growing used to mankind by
living amongst them, that my natural ferocity and wildness does
but
CHAP. V. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 95
but every day grow worse. They tire me, they fatigue me. I
don't know what to do with them. I don't know what to say to
them. I fling open the windows and fancy I want air ; and
when I get by myself I undress myself and seem to have had
people in my pockets, in my plaits, and on my shoulders."
Another letter to Chute from Gray is dated " Cambridge "
(where he went into residence in the winter of 1742), "October
25 "(1743)-
"My dear Sir,' — What do you chuse I should think of a MS. at the
Vyne,
whole year's silence? Have you absolutely forgot me, or do
you not reflect that it is from yourself alone I can have any
information concerning you ? I do not find myself inclined to
forget you : the same regard for your person, the same desire of
seeing you again I felt when we parted, still continues with me
as fresh as ever. Don't wonder then if, in spite of appearances,
I try to flatter myself with the hopes of finding sentiments
something of the same kind, however buried, in some dark corner
of your heart, perhaps more than half extinguished by long
absence and various cares of a different nature. I will not alarm
your indolence with a long letter ; my demands are only three,
»
and may be answer'd in as many words : how you do .' where
you are? when you return? If you chuse to add anything
further it will be a work of superer I will not write so long
a word entire lest I fatigue your delicacy, and you may think it
incumbent on you to answer it by another of equal dimensions.
You believe me, I hope, with great sincerity, yours
" T. G.
"P.S.
96
THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
" P.S. — For ought I know you may be in England. My very
true compliments (not such as people make to one another) wait
upon Mr. Whithed. He will be the most travel'd gentleman
in Hampshire."
' Doraii's
.Maim and
Manners in
Florence,
vol. i. p. 208,
Many of John Chute's own letters were preserved by his
friends. In one to Sir Horace Mann,' dated New Year's Day
1745, he writes: "I am resolved my letter shall begin with
something new, and therefore date it at this end. I dare say
this is the first 1745 you have ever seen in your life. If I were
to live till 1800, a new century ! Who will be Czar of Muscovy,
who King of England in those days ? " In a letter to Walpole
'//>/,/. pp. 216. from Rome, June 26, 1745,^ he deplored the recent death of his
217.
brother Francis. " I should never have believed " ( he adds ) " that
it was possible for me to look with such an eye of indifference
as I do upon Rome ; all statues appear like those at Hyde Park
Corner." By which, it should be explained, he means those in
the stonemasons' yards which then stood on the site of Apsley
House, and were afterwards removed to the New Road.
Francis Chute, whose death is here mentioned, was an
eminent lawyer, intimate with the most intellectual men of his
day, some of whose conversations with him were inserted by
Spence in his well-known " Book of Anecdotes." The most
interesting of these relates to Sir Isaac Newton, of whom Francis
Chute says : ' that " though he scarce ever spoke ill of any
man, he could hardly avoid showing his contempt for virtuoso
collectors and antiquarians; and speaking of Lord Pembroke"
(the eighth, who purchased many of the Arundel busts for
Wilton
5 spence s
Anecdotes,
2nd ed.
pp. 247. 248,
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 9;
Wilton House), " he said, ' Let him have but a stone doll and
he is satisfied. I can't imagine the utility of such studies ; all
their pursuits are below Nature.' "
In a letter' to Mann, July 26, 1745, Walpole mentions the ^ utters of
Walpole, etl.
eagle, mounted on an altar, found in the Baths of Caracalla at Cunningham,
vol. 1. p. 379.
Rome, which John Chute advised him to buy. " I don't know
what to say to Mr. Chute's eagle : I would fain have it. I can
depend on his taste ; but would it not be folly to be buying
curiosities now .'' How can I tell that I shall have anything in
the world to pay for it by the time it is bought? You may
present these reasons to Mr. Chute, and if he laughs at them,
why he will buy the eagle for me." The purchase was com-
pleted, and the eagle became one of the most valued curiosities
in the Strawberry Hill collection.
In July 1 745 Gray wrote John Chute a letter,'-^ in which he •> MS. at the
I 'vfic.
bids him, " ask Mr. Whithed if he does not expect that his
favourite hens, all his dear little pouts, untimely victims of the
pot and the spit, will in another world come pipping and gobbling
in a melodious voice about him ? I know he does : there's
nothing so natural. Poor Conti, is he going to be a cherub ? I
remember here (but he was not ripe then ) he had a very promis-
ing squeak with him, and that his mouth when open made an
exact square. I have never been at Ranelagh Gardens since
they were open'd (for what docs it signify to me ?), but they do
not succeed. People see it once or twice, and so they go to
Vauxhall. ... I think we are a reasonable, but by no means
a pleasurable people, and, to mend us, we must have a dash
of the French and Italian ; yet I don't know how, travelling
O does
98 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
does not produce its right effect. I find I am tallying ; but
you are to attribute it to my having at last found a pen that
writes.
" You are so good, 'tis a shame to scold at you, but you never
till now certified me that you were at Casa Ambrosio ; I did not
know in what light to consider you. I had an idea, but did not
know where to put it, for an idea must have a place per caiii-
peggiar bene. You were an intaglia unset, a picture without
a frame ; but now all is well, tho' I am not very sure yet
whether you are above stairs or on the ground floor, but by your
mentioning the Terrazzino it must be the latter. Do the frogs
of Arno sing as sVveetly as they did in my days .' Do you sup
al fresco ? Have you a mugherino tree and a Xanny ? I fear I
don't spell this last word right ; pray ask Mr. M . Oh dear!
I fear I am a blunderer about hyacynths, for, to be sure, they
can't be taken out of the ground till they have done blooming,
and they are perhaps just now in flower. That you may know
my place, I am just going into the country for one easy fort-
night, and then in earnest intend to go to Cambridge to Trinity
Hall."
He then mentions certain books that he is sending to
Mann, viz. " Etat de la France," and the Life of Mahomet,
by the Comte de Boulainvilliers ; Lord Burleigh's papers ; the
Life of Cicero, and a letter on Catholic religion by Dr. Middle-
ton ; Philip dc Comines ; Warburton on the Miracles, "a very
impudent fellow, his dedications will make you laugh ; " Lud-
low's Memoirs, " as unorthodox in politics as the other in
religion ; " "2 lyttel bookys tocheing Kyng James the fyrst,"
" very
CHAP. V. JOHN CHUTE, GRA V, WALPOLE 99
" very rare ; " " Le Sopha de Crebillon ; " " a collection of Plays,
10 vols. ; 3 parts of ' Marianne ' for Mr. Chute."
" And now let me congratulate you as no longer a Min. ;
but far del inondo ! veravientc iin Ministrone and King of the
Mediterranean. Pray your Majesty give order to your Men of
War if they touch at Naples to take care of the Parma Collec-
tion, and be sure don't let them bombard Genoa. If you can
bully the Pope out of the Apollo Belvedere, well and good, I m
not against it. I'm enchanted with your good Sister the Queen
of Hungary ; as old as I am, I could almost fight for her myself
See what it is to be happy ; everybody will fight for those that
have no occasion for them. Pray take care to continue so ; but,
whether you do or not, I am truly yours
T , r , " T. G.
" July, London.
" The Parliament's up, and all the world are made Lords and
Secretaries and Commissioners."
Bishop VVarburton's dedication of his book on Miracles to
Sir Robert Sutton, here alluded to, is a curiosity, occupying
twenty-two pages out of a thin small volume, and ending thus :
" Your great name can but lift me up to be the more exposed ;
while, like young Euryalus in the shining helmet of the divine
Messapus, my bright defence but makes me the more obnoxious
to danger : safe, had I been contented in my native obscurity."
The " Parma Collection " was a fine gallery of pictures
which had belonged to the Dukes of Parma, but which the King
of Naples had carried away, as Gray mentions in a letter ot
December 9, 1739, written to his mother from Bologna.
In
loo THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
In the autumn, 1746, John Chute and Francis Whithed came
1 MS. at the home, and Gray, impatient to see them, wrote ' from Cambridge
Vyne.
to the former, as follows : —
" I can find no where one line, one syllable, to tell me you are
arrived. I will venture to say there is nobody in England, how-
ever nearly connected with you, that has seen you with more
real joy and affection than I shall. You are, it seems, gone
into the country, whither ( had I any reason to think you wished
to see me ) I should immediately have foUow'd you ; as it is I
am returning to Cambridge ; but with intention to come back
to town again whenever you do, if you will let me know the
time and place.
" I readily set Mr. Whithed free from all imputation ; he is a
fine young personage in a coat all over spangles, just come over
from the tour of Europe to take possession and be married,
and consequently can't be supposed to think of anything or
remember any body : but you ! However, I don't altogether
clear him. He might have said something to one who re-
members him when he was but a pout. Nevertheless I desire
my hearty gratulations to him, and say I wish him more
spangles and more estates and more wives. Adieu ! my dear
Sir. " I am ever yours
" T. Gray."
" London : Oct. [1746]."
A portrait of Francis Whithed at the Vyne by Rosalba
shows him much as this letter describes him, " a fine young
personage
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE loi
personage in a coat all over spangles." The picture is matched
by a portrait, also by Rosalba, of Margaret, daughter and
heiress of John Nichol, of Southgate, Middlesex, the lady here
alluded to, to whom he was engaged to be married.
In the same month, Gray wrote another letter' to John ^ ms. „t iiic
I 'yiic.
Chute (addressed to " Mr. Whitheds at Southwick Park near
Fareham in Hampshire " ), which brings to memory his own
lines " To Adversity " : —
" What sorrow was, thou bad'st her know.
And from her own she learn'd to melt at others' woe."
" My dear Sir, — You have not then forgot me, and I shall see
you soon again ; it suffices, and there needed no other excuse.
I loved you too well not to forgive you without a reason, but I
could not but be sorry for myself
" You are lazy ( you say ) and listless and gouty and vex'd and
perplex'd. I am all that ( the gout excepted ), and many things
more that I hope you never will be : so that what you tell me
on that head est trop flateux pour moi: our imperfections may at
least excuse and perhaps recommend us to one another : me-
thinks I can readily pardon sickness and age and vexation for
all the depredations they make within and without, when I think
they make us better friends and better men ; which I am per-
suaded is often the case. I am very sure I have seen the best-
tempered generous tender young creatures in the world that
would have been very glad to be sorry for people they liked,
when under any pain, and could not, merely for want of knowing
rightly what it was themselves.
"I
I02 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
" I find Mr. Walpole then made some mention of me to you.
Yes, we are together again. It is about a year I beHeve since he
wrote to me to offer it, and there has been (particularly of late)
in appearance the same kindness and confidence almost as of
old. What were his motives I cannot yet guess ; what were
mine, you will imagine, and perhaps blame me. However as
yet I neither repent nor rejoice over much : but I am pleased.
He is full, I assure you, of your panegyric, never any body had
half so much wit as Mr. Chute (which is saying everything with
him, you know), and Mr. Whithed is the finest young man
that ever was imported. I hope to embrace this fine man ( if I
can ), and thank him heartily for being my advocate, tho' in vain ;
he is a good creature, and I am not sure but I shall be tempted to
eat a wing of him with sellery sauce. . . . Heaven keep you all !
" I am, my best Mr. Chute, very faithfully yours,
" T. G.
"Cambr?', Oct. 12 [1746], Sunday."
This letter was followed by another addressed to " Mr.
Whithed's house in New Bond St."
" Cambridge, Sunday.
' MS. at the " Lustrissimo,' — It is doubtless reasonable, that two young
/ 'vne, never . * . ^ i 1
before priuted. foreigners, come mto so distant a country to acquamt themselves
with strange things, should have some time allowed them to take
a view of the King (God bless him), and the Ministry, and the
Theatres, and Westminster Abbey, and the lions, and such other
curiosities of the capital city. You civilly call them dissipations ;
but to me they appear employments of a very serious nature, as
they
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, W A LP OLE 103
they enlarge the mind, give a great insight into the nature and
genius of a people, keep the spirits in an agreeable agitation, and
(like the true artificial spirit of lavender) amazingly fortify and
corroborate the whole nervous system. But as all things sooner or
later must pass away, and there is a certain period when ( by the
rules of proportion ) one is to grow weary of every thing ; I may
hope at length a season will arrive, when you will be tired of
forgetting me. 'Tis true you have a long journey to make first,
a vast series of sights to pass thro'. Let me see ! you are at
Lady Brown already. I have set a time, when I may say,
' Oh ! he is now got to the Waxwork in Fleet Street : there is
nothing more but Cupids Paradise, and the Hermaphrodite from
Guinea, and the original Basilisk Dragon, and the Buffalo from
Babylon, and the New Chimpanzee, and then I ' Have a
care, you had best, that I come in my turn : you know in whose
hands I have deposited my little interests. I shall infallibh-
appeal to my best invisible friend in the country.
"I am glad Castalio has justified himself and me to you. He
seemed to me more made for tenderness than horror, and ( I
have courage again to insist upon it ) might make a better player
than an\- now on the stage. I have not alone received ( thank
you ), but almost got through, Louis Onze. 'Tis very well, me-
thinks, but nothing particular. What occasioned his expur-
gation in Paris, I imagine, were certain strokes in defence of the
Galilean Church and its liberties. A little contempt cast upon
the Popes, and something here and there on the conduct ot great
princes. There are a few instances of malice against our nation
that are very foolish.
" My
I04 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
"My companion, whom you salute, is (much to my sorrow)
only so now and then. He liv^es 20 miles off at nurse, and is not
so meagre as when you first knew him, but of a reasonable
plumposity. He shall not fail being here to do the honours,
when you make your publick entry. Heigh ho ! when will that
be, clii sa ? but mi lusigna il dolce sogno ! I love Mr. Whithed
and wish him all happiness. Farewell, my dear Sir.
" I am, ever yours,
" T. G.
" Commend me kindly to Mr. Walpole."
Shortly after writing these letters, Gray joined his friends in
' Miifords London, and in a letter to Wharton of Dec. 1 1, 1746, says : ' " I
Grav, vol. ii- , . _ . i i- i • i
p. i'6s. have been m town flauntmg about at public places with mj- two
Italianized friends. The world has some attractions still in it
to a solitary of six years' standing, and agreeable well meaning
people are my peculiar magnet."
Walpole's letters of this period are full of references to John
Chute. Thus in a letter to Mann, October 2, 1747, he says : " If
I were to say all I think of Mr. Chute's immense honesty, his
sense, his wit, his knowledge, and his humanity, you would think I
-- Walpole s was writing a dedication." " I must tell you'"'' (he writes, De-
c uiiningham, ccmbcr 2, 1 748, to Mann) "an admirable bon mot oi Mr. Chute.
vol. ii. pp. 96,
13s. 183, 300, Passing by the door of Mrs. Edwards, who died of drams, he
444-
saw the motto which the undertakers had placed to her
escutcheon, ' Mors janua vitcr ; ' he said it ought to have been
'Mors aqua vths.'" And again to Mann, June 15, 1755 : "Mr.
Chute has found you a very pretty motto ; it alludes to the
goats
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, U'ALPOLE 105
goats in your arms, and not a little to you ; 'per ardua stabihs : '
all }'our friends approve it." Again, speaking of their common
antiquarian pursuits : " You know " ( he writes to Montagu,
September 28, 1749) "how out of humour Gray has been
about our diverting ourselves with pedigrees. I believe neither
Mr. Chute nor I ever contracted a moment's vanity from any
of our discoveries, or ever preferred them to anything but
brag and whist. Well, Gray has set himself to compute, and
has found that there must go a million of ancestors in 20 gene-
rations to every body's composition." And writing to Bentley,
August 5, 1752, of a visit to Hurstmonceaux, Sussex, he says :
" Over the great drawing-room chimney is the coat armour
of the first Leonard Lord Dacre, with all his alliances. Mr.
Chute was transported, and called cousin with ten thousand
quarterings." ' ' "'"//'"'^■^
^ " Lcllers. ed.
Another bond of sympathy between them was a taste for Cunningham,
^ ^ ^ vol. n. pp. 324,
architecture. Thus Walpole wrote to Mann, March 4, 1753 : •*'*^"
" Mr. Chute has come to Strawberry to inspect the progress of a
Gothic staircase, which is so pretty and so small that I am
inclined to wrap it up and send it }-ou in m\' letter ; " and to
Bentley, July 5, 1755, he speaks of the " prettiest house in the
world," which John Chute had designed for Lady Mary Churchill
( Walpole's sister ) at Chalfont, Bucks.
Writing to Mann, June 12, 1753,^ he speaks of a sleeping -'//-/</. p. 339.
room at Strawberry Hill, v/hich he constantly reserved for John
Chute, and his " college of arms " in the tower.
When John Chute succeeded to the Vyne as heir to his
brother Anthony in 1754, he was greeted by Horace Walpole in
P the
io6 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
the following letter. It must be mentioned in explanation of
some passages in it that Francis Whithed, already mentioned,
had died at the Vyne in March 175 1, and John Chute endea-
voured (thereby giving some offence to his brother Anthony) to
bring about a marriage between Margaret Nichol and Horace
Walpole's nephew Lord Orford. This, however, fell through,
and the lady eventually married James Brydges, Marquis of
Carnarvon, afterwards third Duke of Chandos.
" May 21, 1754.
';w H^rv "My dearest Sir,' — Don't be surprised if I write you a great
efoiefrtnic . ^^.^\ pf incoherent nonsense. The triumph of m\' joy is so great
that I cannot think with any consistence. Unless you could
know how absolutely persuaded I was that your brother would
• disinherit you, you cannot judge of my satisfaction. I am sure
the frame-maker could not. When Francesco brought me 3'our
letter and told me in Italian the good news, I started up and
embraced him and put myself in such an agitation that I believe
I shall not get over it without being blooded. I have hurried to
Mrs. [Francis] Chute to embrace her too, but was not so lucky
as to find her. I am overjoyed you will not come away without
leaving her there. I would not trust a cranny of the house into
which a will might be thrust in any other hands. Well, it was
so unexpected. How kind you were to conceal his illness. I
should have lived in agonies of apprehension for the conse-
quence. You are in the right to think I should be overjoyed.
Think of the obligations I have to you ; remember that in the
transports of your grief for Mr. Whithed your first thought was
for
cHAP.v. JOHX CHUTE, GRAY, W ALP OLE 107
for me and my family ; recollect the persecutions you suffered on
my account ; judge how great and continued my fears were that
you might be an essential sufferer from that a^ra, and then
imagine how unmixed my joy must be at deliverance from such
fears, how impatient I am to be quite secure that I may crowd
into the papers the most exaggerated paragraph of your good
fortune that I could desire. . . . My uncle shall read it in every
journal. How strange that I should live to be glad that he is
alive ; but it is comfortable that he is yet to have this mortifica-
tion. And Harrison — you don't tell me that you will discard
him. I expect an absolute promise of that. I distrust the
goodness of your heart, lest it should dispose you to forgiveness.
Do you know that I relent so little that I would give much to
hear Mr. and ]\Irs. Atkyns go down to-day with a will in their
pockets for your brother to sign, and find him dead and you in
possession. An de ma vie ! Am I in the right to take it for
my motto? Erasmus Shorter! Henry Pelham ! Anthony
Chute ! Where could I have chosen three such other hatch-
ments ? Nay, my dear Sir, even things apparently ill have their
good fortune. If }'ou had not been laid up with the gout, you
would have returned from the Vine and the Atkj-ns and Tracys
might have been there in your place. I can scarcely contain
from divulging my joy till I hear further. I have stifled
Mr. Mann with it, and nobody was ever more pleased than to be
so stifled. ... I am going to notify it to Gray and to our poor
cUquetee. It will make his bleak rocks and barren mountains
smile. I am going to write to G. Montagu. I am sure he will
be truly happy. My onh^ present anxiety after the desire of
certaint)-
To8 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
certainty is lest you should not come to town on Sunday night.
Sir George and Lady Lyttelton are engaged to be at Strawberry
on Monday and Tuesday, and I cannot bear to loose a minute
of seeing you. If it should happen so unluckily that you should
not come till Monday, I beg and insist that you will come the
next minute to Strawberry. I am really in a fever and you must
not wonder at any vehemence in a light-headed man in whose
greatest intermissions there is always vehemence enough. Take
care that I do not meet with the least drawback or disappoint-
ment in the plenitude of my satisfaction. The least that I
intend to call you is a fortune of five thousand pounds a year and
seventy thousand pounds in money. You shall at least exceed
Woolterton. This is for the public ; with regard to myself, I
don't know that I shall, but if I should grow to love you less
you will not be surprized. You know the partiality I have to
the afflicted, the disgraced, and the oppressed, and must recollect
how many titles to my esteem you will lose when you are rich
Chute of the Vine, when you are courted by Chancellors of
the Exchequer for your interest in Hampshire ; by a thousand
nephew Tracj-s for your estate, and by my Lady Brown for her
daughter. Oh you will grow to wear a slit gouty shoe and a
gold-headed cane with a spying glass ; you will, talk stocks and
actions with Sir R. Brown, and be obliged to go to the South
Sea House when one wants you to whisk in a comfortable way to
Strawberry. You will dine at Farley in a swagging coach with
fat mares of your own, and have strong port of a thousand years
old got on purpose for you at Hackwood because you will have
lent the Duke thirty thousand pounds. Oh you will be insup-
portable
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, W A LP OLE log
portable, shan't you? I find I shall detest you. En attendant
I do wish you joy ! =' Y" ever,
" H. W.
" P.S. — Pray mind how I direct to j-qu ! I would not be so
insolent as to frank to you for all the world. When the rich
citizens who get out of their coaches backwards used to dine
with my father, my mother called them ' rump days.' Take
notice I will never dine with you on rump days. I hope your
brother won't open this letter.
" 2nd P.S. — I always thought Sophy had a good heart, and
indeed had no notion that a cat could have a bad one, but I
must own that she is shocked to death with envy on my telling
her that the first thing you would certainly do would be to give
her sister Luna a diamond pompon and a bloodstone Torcy."
The pleasantry in the second postscript turns upon the
relationship of Colbert, Marquis de Torcy ( nephew of the great
Colbert ), whose Memoirs had been recently published, to
M. Pompon, minister of Louis XIV., with a play on the word
pompon, meaning an ornament in a cap.
Walpole became now a frequent visitor at the Vyne, and
mentions its summer beauty in his letters ; he complained, how-
ever, of the rough and indifferent roads by which it was then
approached. Thus he wrote ' to Montagu, August 29, 1754: 1 waipoUs
" In October you will find it a little difficult to persuade me Cunningham,
to accompany you there on stilts." And to Bentle\', January 6, 497; vui. lii.
p. 215.
1756
no THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
1756 : " No post but a dove can come from thence ; " and in a
letter to John Chute, March 13, 1759, he begs him to leave it
lest he should " die of mildew," and calls upon
"Mater, Cyrene mater, qu?e gurgitis hujus
Ima tenes,"
to send him away to London.
1 Waipoics In a letter to Bcntley, ' November 3, 17S4, Walpole wrote :
Cunnin'gimm, " I carried down incense and mass books, and we had most
vol. ii. pp. 401, ...
448- Catholic enjoyment of the Chapel. In the evenmgs, indeed, we
did touch a card a little to please George. So much that truly
I have scarce an idea left that is not spotted with hearts, spades
and diamonds. There is a vote of the Strawberry committee
for great embellishments of the Chapel." And again, in a letter
to Mann, July 16, 1755, he says: "At the Vine is the most
heavenly Chapel in the world ; it only wants a few pictures to
give it a true Catholic air — we are so conscious of the goodness
of our Protestantism that we do not care how things look. If
}-ou can pick us up a tolerable Last Supper, or can have one
copied tolerably and very cheap, we will say many a mass for
the repose of your headaches. . . . The colouring must be very
light, for it will hang directly under the window."
In accordance with this request Mann went with Dr. Cocchi
( a learned physician and author at Florence, some of whose
observations are to be found in Spence's Anecdotes ) to look at
5 Mann and Several pictures, and wrote to Walpole : - " I was greatly tempted
Florence, " to Steal a piccc of chapcl furniture from a private oratory, which
vol. i. p. 381.
would answer the end of giving a true Catholic air to our friend's
Chapel
CHAP. V. JOHN CHUTE, GRA F, WALPOLE 1 1 1
Chapel. It was a little tabernacle of about two feet, with folding-
doors, which always stand open to shew a small Madonna and
Child in her arms, surrounded by some angels and saints, all
composed, as the man assured me, of martyr's bones pulverised
and worked up into a paste." A picture by Ferretti was even-
tually sent, and is now in the antechapel.
In July 1755 ' Gray went to the Vyne on a visit, and thence ' GossesLi/eo/
Gray. p. 123.
for a Hampshire tour, in which he ov'ertaxed his powers, and
from this time to the end of his life, a period of sixteen years, he
was a constant sufferer from ill health. On August 14, he wrote - -' ms. at the
I'yiie.
to John Chute : " I was to have gone to Strawberry on Monday
last, but being ill was obliged to write the day before and excuse
myself. I have been ill ever since I came out of Hampshire.
I have had a<h'ia\ been bloodied, and taken draughts of salt of
wormwood, lemons, tincture of guiacum, magnesia, and the
devil."
Walpole wrote ' to Chute, September 29, 1755, when war had ^ iVa/poies
Letters, ed.
broken out with France : " A commission has passed the seals to Cunningham,
vol. ii. p. 472.
get you some swans ; and, as in this age one ought not to despair
of anything where robbery is concerned, I have some hopes of
succeeding. If you should want any French ships for j-our
water, there are great numbers to be had cheap and small
enough."
Walpole suggested numerous alterations at the Vyne, and
was impatient that they were not immediately taken in hand.
"Chute is so reasonable ( he wrote ' to Bentley, July 5, i/SS), ••//'/(/. p. 446.
and will think of d\"ing and of the gout and of twenty dis-
agreeable things that one must do, that he takes no pleasure
in
112 THE VYNE
in planting and future views." The following were some of
' MS. iiivcn- Horace Walpole's proposals.'
iionarv, by . . . . .
Waifoie,' pre- " The chapel to have 3 pictures under the windows — viz.
served at the
f->"- the Lord's Supper, Christ in the Garden, and Christ walking on
the Sea. The four Evangelists in the long panels on each side ;
a rich purple and silver altar cloth, with handsome old embossed
plate ; a brass eagle for a reading desk. The walls above to be
painted in a Gothic pattern ; and a closet with a screen in the
same pattern.
" Out of doors, a semicircular court with a gate like Caius
college : a sheep paddock of 30 acres. Two towers to be added.
The new walk to be continued across the meadow to Morguison.
Opposite to the house a Roman Theatre with an obelisk, two
urns, two Sphynxes, cypresses, and cedars. The old garden to
be an open grove, the hither wall of the garden to be pulled down
and the garden to be hid. A spire upon the barn, cypresses about
the summer-house, and the house. Two lanes of flowering shrubs
without the garden. The water to be done what one can do with it."
= Waipoics In a letter- to Montagu, August 25, 1757, he complains of
Letters, ed. . . . . . ,
Cunningham, his friend s hesitation in carrying out his suggestions, and says,
vol. iii. p. 100,
" When he could refrain from making the Gothic columbarium
for his family which I propose, and Mr, Bentley had drawn
so divinely, it is not probable he should do anything else."
John Chute, however, made considerable alterations in the
house, and in particular added the staircase (Plate IX.) and the
recumbent monument of Chaloner Chute the Speaker (Plate VI.,
p. 67).
^md.p.17. Walpole wrote' to John Chute, June 8, 1756 (alluding to
Byng's
CHAP. V. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 113
Byng's failure at Minorca) : " Pray have a thousand masses said in
\-our divine chapel,;? l' intention of \-our poor countr}-. I belie\'e
the occasion will disturb the founder of it, and make him shudder
in his shroud for the ignominy of his countrymen."
In 1757 Chute was High Sheriff of Hampshire ; and in\ited
Walpolc in the summer to visit him at the Vyne. He excused
himself, however, on the ground that the Strawberry Hill Printing
Press, which he calls " Officina Arbuteana," was about to begin
work with the printing of two of Gray's odes, the " Progress of
Poesy" and the "Bard." He wrote,' July I2, 1757: — • Waipuies
Letter i. ed.
"It would be very easy to persuade me to a Vine voyage if Cunningham,
vol. iii. p. 89.
it were possible. I shall represent mj- impediments, and then
you shall judge. I say nothing of the heat of this magnificent
weather ; with the glass j'esterday up to three quarters of
sultry . . . But hear : my Lady Ailesbury and Miss Rich came
hither on Thursday for two or three days, and on Monday next
the Officina Arbuteana opens in form. The Stationers Company
are summoned to meet here on Sunday night — and with what
do you think we open? ' Cedite Koniani iiiiprcssores' : — with
nothing under Graii Cannina. I found him. Gray, in town last
week ; he had brought his two odes to be printed. I snatched
them out of Dodsley's hands, and they are to be the first fruits
of my press. . . . Now, my dear sir, can I stir?
' Not ev'n thy virtues, tyrant, can avail ! '
. . . Seriously, you must come to us and shall be -witness
that the first holidays we have, I will return with you."
In 1759, Mrs. Grenville, wife of the Hon. Henry Grenville,
Q wished
114 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
wished to take John Chute's house in London, and Walpole
1 Waipoie's undertook to negotiate with her. He wrote,' however, February
Letters, ed.
Cunningham, j lycg "I ilon't quite like this commission : If you part with
vol. iii. p. 204. ' -^ '
your house in town you will never come hither : at least stow
your cellars with drams and gunpowder as full as Guy Fawkes.
You will be drowned if you don't blow yourself up. I don't
believe that the Vine is within the verge of the rainbow —
seriously, it is too damp for you."
^ MS. at the A few days later, February 6, Walpole wrote ^ from
Vy7ie, never
before printed. Arlington Street : —
" Mrs. H. Grenville is a foolish gentlewoman and don't know
her own mind. Before it was possible for me to receive your
answer she fixed herself in Clifford Street. I find, instead of a
physician, it would have been a shorter way to send you a
housekeeper, as all La Cour's prescriptions are at last addressed
to the confectioner, not to the apothecary.
" I don't approve your changing your arms for those of
Chelsea College ; nor do I understand what the chief means, I
mean the bearing in it. The crest I honour ; it was anciently a
coat. The late Lord Hervey said his arms should be a cat
scratchant, with this motto : ' For my friends where they itch ;
for my enemies where they are sore.' "
In 1762, Gray was persuaded to stand for the Professorship
5 MS. at the of Modem History at Cambridge, and he wrote ^ to John Chute
Vyne, nc'er
before printed, as follows in the autumn of that year : — -
"My dear Sir, — I was yesterday told that Turner (the Pro-
fessor of Modern History here) was dead in London. If it be
true
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 115
true, I conclude it is now too late to begin asking for it ; but
we had ( if you remember ) some conversation on that head at
Twickenham ; and as you have probably found some opportunity
to mention it to Mr. W. since, I would gladly know his thoughts
about it — what he can do, he only can tell us ; what he will do,
if he can, is with me no question — if he could find a proper
channel ; I certainly might ask it with as much or more pro-
priety than anyone in this place. If anything were done, it
should be as private as possible ; for if the people who have any
sway here could prevent it, I think they would most zealously.
" I am not sorry for writing you a little interested letter :
perhaps it is a stratagem, the only one I have left, to provoke
an answer from you, and revive our — correspondence, shall I call
it 1 There are many particulars relating to you that have long
interested me more than twenty matters of this sort, but you
have had no regard for my curiosity : and yet it is something
that deserves a better name ! I don't so much as know your
direction, or that of Mr. Whithed. Adieu.
" I am ever yours,
" T. Gray."
Though this attempt was not successful. Gray was appointed
to the professorship six years later.
The following letters of Horace Walpole exhibit him as an
advocate, and John Chute as an example, of total abstinence.
The first he wrote' to Mann, October 21, 1764, from Strawberr_\- ^ jionu-e
IV.il/'ok's
Hill : " I am writing to j'ou by Mr. Chute's bed-side, who is laid uth-n. ed.
Cunningham.
up here with the gout. It is not one of his bad fits, which his vol. iv. p. 281
vol. V. p. 159,
perseverance
ii6 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
perseverance in water does not suffer to come as often as they
wish. He desires me to say a thousand kind things to you.
As my gout cannot boast so ancient a descent, I easily keep
it in order by the same abstinence. If wc had minded good
advice from professors of gout, or bad advice from physicians, I
do not doubt but he would be in his grave and I half a cripple ;
but we defy wine and all its works. I believe in it no more
than in physic." The second is to Montagu, dated Arlington
Street, April 15, 1769: "For your other complaints I revert to
my old sermon, temperance. If you will live in a hermitage,
methinks it is no great addition to live like a hermit. Look
in Sadelers prints : they had beards down to their girdles ; and
with all their impatience to be in heaven, their roots and water
kept them for a century from their wishes. I ha\'e lived all my
life like an anchoret in London, and within ten milts; shed my
skin after the gout, and am as lively as an eel in a week after.
■ " Mr. Chute, who has drunk no more wine than a fish, grows
better every year. He has escaped this winter with only a little
pain in one hand. Consider that the physicians recommend
wine, and then can you doubt of its being poison .'' "
In October 1766, Horace Walpole was at Bath ill, and John
Chute went to keep him company. " Mr. Chute " ( he wrote,
1 Horace October 5, to Montagu ' ) " stays with me till Tuesday ; when he
[ I 'alpolc s
Letters, ed. jg gone I do not know what I shall do, for I cannot play at
Cunningham,
vol, V. p. 14. cribbage by myself ; and the alternative is to see my Lady Vane
open the ball and glimmer at fifty-four."
-' //w. p. 326. Gray died July 30, 1771 ; and Walpole wrote- to Chute
August 12, 177 1 : "I have, I own, been much shocked at reading
Gray's
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, W ALP OLE 117
Gray's death in the papers. Tis an hour that makes one forget
any subject of complaint, especially tovvards one with whom I
lived in friendship from thirteen years old. As self lies so rooted
in self, no doubt the nearness of our ages made the stroke recoil
to my own breast ; yet to you, who of all men living are the
most forgiving, I need not excuse the concern I feel. I fear
most men ought to apologise for their want of feeling, instead of
palliating the sensation when they have it. I thought that what
I had seen of the world had hardened my heart, but I find that
it had formed my language, not extinguished my tenderness.
In short I am really shocked, nay I am hurt at my own weak-
ness, as I perceive that when I love anybody it is for m\- life,
and I have too much reason to wish that such a disposition may
very seldom be put to the trial. You at least are the only per-
son to whom I would venture to make such a confession."
John Chute, who never married, died May 26, 1776, at the
Vyne, and was buried in the parish church of Sherborne .St.
John. How keenly Horace Walpole felt his loss, the following
touching letter, which he wrote to Mann,' May 27, 1776, will 1 //»;•«,,■
Walpole s
show. Letters, eel.
Cunningham,
" It is " ( he says ) " a heavy blow, but such strokes reconcile vol. vi. p. 340.
one to parting with this pretty vision, life ; what is it, when
one has no longer those to whom one speaks as confidentially
as to one's own soul ? Old friends are the great blessing of
one's latter years : half a word conveys one's meaning. They
have memory of the same events, and have the same mode of
thinking.
"Mr. Chute and I agreed in\"ariably in our principles; he
was
ii8 THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
was my counsel in my affairs, was my oracle in taste, the
standard to whom I submitted my trifles, and the genius that
presided over poor Strawberry. His sense decided me in
everything; his wit and quickness illuminated everything. I
saw him oftener than any man ; to him in any difficulty I had
recourse ; and him I loved to have here, as our friendship was
so entire, and we knew one another so entirely, that he alone
was never the least constraint to me. We passed many hours
together without saying a syllable to each other, for we were
both above ceremony. I left him without excusing myself,
read or wrote before him, as if he were not present. Alas !
alas ! and how self presides even in our grief. I am lamenting
myself, not him ! No, I am lamenting my other self Half is
gone, the other remains solitary. Age and sense will make me
bear my afflictions with submission and composure ; — but for
ever — that little for ever that remains, I shall miss him. My
first thought will always be, ' I will go talk to Mr. Chute on
this ; ' the second, ' Alas ! I cannot ; ' and therefore judge how
my life is poisoned ! I shall only seem to be staying behind
one who is set out a little before me." He then describes
his friend's last hours, and continues : " A charming death for
him, dearest friend 1 and why should I lament ? His eyes, alwa\-s
shortsighted, were grown dimmer ; his hearing was grown im-
perfect, his hands were all chalk stones and of little use, his feet
very lame. Yet how not lament ? The vigour of his mind was
as strong as ever ; his power of reasoning clear as demonstra-
tion ; his rapid wit astonishing as at forty, about which time
)-ou and I knew him first. Even the impetuosity of his temper
was
cHAP.v. JOHN CHUTE, GRAY, WALPOLE 119
was not abated, and all his humane virtues had but increased
with his age : he was grown sick of the world ; saw very very
few persons ; submitted with unparalleled patience to all his suf-
ferings ; and in five and thirty years, I never once saw or heard
him complain of them, nor, passionate as he was, knew him
fretful. His impatience seemed to proceed from his vast sense,
not from his temper : he saw everything so clearly and immedi-
ately that he could not bear a momentary contradiction from
folly or defective reasoning. Sudden contempt broke out, par-
ticularly on politics, which, having been fixed in him by a most
sensible father and nurtured by deep reflection, were rooted in
his inmost soul. His truth, integrity, honour, spirit, and abhor-
rence of all deceit confirmed his contempt ; and even I, who am
pretty warm and steady, was often forced to break off politics
with him, so impossible was it to be zealous enough to content
him when I most agreed with him. Nay, if I disputed with
him, I learnt something from him, and always saw truth in a
stronger and more summary light.
" His possession of the quintessence of argument reduced it
at once into axioms, and the clearness of his ideas struck out
flashes of the brightest wit. He saw so suddenly and so far,
that, as Mr. Bentley said of him long ago, his wit strikes the
more you analyse it, and more than at first hearing ; he jumps
over two or three intermediate ideas, and couples the first with
the third or fourth. Don't wonder I pour out my heart to you :
you know how faithful!)- true is all I say of him. My loss is
most irreparable. To me he was the most faithful and secure
of friends and a most delightful companion."
John
I20
THE VYNE
CHAP. V.
John Chute was the last surviving child of Edward Chute of
the Vyne, and with him the male line of the famil}- came to an
end. It will be remembered that Edward Chute had a younger
1 Ante. p. 79. brother, Thomas,' to whom great kindness was shown by his
relative the Lord Keeper North, and who married Elizabeth,
heiress of Nicholas Rivett, of Brandeston, Suffolk. His children
all died without issue excepting Elizabeth, who married Thomas
Lobb of Pickenham, Norfolk ; and to her son Thomas, who
was born September 19, 1 721, and took the name of Chute in
addition to that of Lobb, John Chute, his cousin, bequeathed
the Vyne estate by will dated November 4, 1774. Thomas
Lobb Chute married Ann Rachael, only daughter of William
Wiggett, Mayor of Norwich, May i, 1753, and owned the
V)'ne from 1776 until 1790, when he died, and was buried at
Pickenham.
There are portraits at the Vyne of Anthony, Francis, and
John Chute, and of Ann and Mary their sisters ; also of Thomas
Chute and Elizabeth his wife, and Thomas Lcnnard and
Elizabeth, their children ; also of Thomas Lobb, and his son
Thomas Lobb Chute.
Chap.
CHAP. VI '^~ IV^ Chtte \y^
iJie \me Hounds.
WILLIAM JOHN, eldest son of Thomas Lobb
Chute, and Ann Rachael his wife, was born
May 24, 1757. Having been educated at
Harrow and Clare Hall, Cambridge, he suc-
ceeded in 1790 to the Vyne, and in the same year entered
Parliament as member for Hampshire, and began to keep that
pack of foxhounds which he supported at his own expense
until his death in 1824. In his time they were commonly called
Mr. Chute's hounds, though the letters V.H., together with a
vine leaf and tendril engraved upon his hunt button, as shown
in the design at the head of this chapter, show that the name of
the Vine Hunt was already in use.
The kennels, now pulled down, were approached through
the picturesque kitchen or Chapel court (Plate X.). Over the
kennel door was the m.otto Multuin in parvo, in allusion to the
R character
122 THE VYNE
CHAP. VI.
character of the hounds, which were small though strong, as
Homer says,
"TuJeuc,- roi /iiKiJUi; /jei' trjr Cifia(_, aWa /.iii^iitih, '
and in further allusion to the establishment generally, which
was unpretentious but effective.
The country which he hunted extended from the chalk
downs near Winchester to the south, as far as the river Kennet
on the north, and all of this country, includijig Silchester,
Aldermaston, and Sulhamstead, still belongs to the Vine
Hunt.
The stables still exist in which the hunters, neither so
numerous nor so fast as a modern establishment would require,
were kept. During the summer months they were turned out
day and night in the pasture between the house and the water.
A picture of "New Forest Jasper," a fine hound belonging to
Lord Egremont, and one of the sires of the pack, used to hang
in the hounds' lodging room, and is still at the Vyne. William
'^Recollections Chute used to Say ' that, "as great families have the portrait of
of the V'itte
Hunt, by tile their distinguished ancestor, the judge or the general or the
Rev. James
Edward statesman, in their rooms, he did not see why the dogs should
Austen Leigh, ^ •j
^^%ublishcd] "°* )^3M& their family picture also." At the back of this picture
P' ^'^' are the lines written by himself,
•' Hie bene apud viemores veteris stat gloria gcntis,
Hinc piles qiiani solito robore vulpes eget."
Which may be turned thus : —
" Here see the glory of an ancient breed,
Which urges foxes to their utmost speed."
Ibid. p. 51. " The hounds - usually hunted five times in a fortnight, and
were
CHAP. VI. WAL CHUTE & VINE HOUNDS 123
were never advertised ; even those who hunted with them could
not always learn the next day's meet till late in the afternoon.
It depended upon the work done and the number of hounds
cut by flints, whether they would hunt twice or three times in
the week, and whether on the hills or in the vale."
" Half-crowns ' were collected for the men whenever a fox i Recollections
of the Vine
was killed after a fair run. The men wore round hats and long Hunt, p. 52.
scarlet coats, which would lap over and defend their knees
against wet or cold. The huntsman carried a small twisted
bugle" (as represented in the design at the head of this chapter)
"slung over his shoulder by a strap ; a more melodious instru-
ment, but less convenient than the straight horn usually carried
at the saddle bow."
Among those who hunted most regularly with the pack were
Thomas Chute, William Chute's brother ; Colonel Beach, father
of William Beach, of Oakley Hall, the present master of the
Vine hounds ; the brothers William and John Portal of Laver-
stoke and Freefolk, Thomas Luttley Sclater ot Hoddington,
Sir Richard Rycroft from Manydown, Lovelace Bigg Wither
of Tangier, Stephen Terry, Henry Pole of Wolverton, Edward
St. John from Ashe Park, and William Wickham of Bullington.
The first Duke of Wellington, after he purchased Stratfieldsaye
in 18 17, became an active member of the hunt. The following
letter from him to William Chute ^ will be of interest. ■' Presen-cd at
tlie Vyne.
"Stratfieldsaye: March 23, 1S20.
" My dear Sir, — I went out this morning to meet your hounds,
having ordered my horses to darken Green, as I had settled
with
124
THE VYNE . CHAP. VI
with your huntsman. I went on as far as Dean, but could not
find my groom, and I then returned to darken Green, thinking
it probable that he had gone to the covert side. From darken
Green I went to Ebbworth, and not finding or hearing anything
of you or my horses, I have returned home. I regret this ex-
ceedingly, particularly as I feel you will have waited for me.
I shall be much obliged if you will let me know on what days
and at what places you will go out next week.
" Ever yours most faithfully,
" Wellington."
A picture of a meet of the Vine hounds, in which the Duke
of Wellington appears as a principal figure, was painted in
1843, when Mr. Fellowes was master.
Of William Chute himself, his friend Mr. Austen Leigh, late
i Recoiled ions Vicar of Bray, gives' an animated description, which brings
of the Vine . . , ,, , . -. , .
Hiiiti. p. 70. him before our e)'es as m a picture. " I wish, he writes, 1 could
make others see him as I can fancy that I see him myself,
trotting up to the meet at Freefolk Wood or St. John's, sitting
rather loose on his horse, and his clothes rather loose upon
him, the scarlet coat flapping open, a little whitened at the
collar by the contact of his hair powder and the friction of his
pigtail ; tne frill of his shirt above, and his gold watch-chain
and seal below, both rather prominent ; the short knee-breeches
scarcely meeting the boot tops. See ! he rides up, probably
with some original amusing remark, at any rate with a cheerful
greeting to his friends, a nod and a kindly word to the
farmer, and some laughing notice of the schoolboy on his
pony
CHAP. VI. WM. CHUTE & VINE HOUNDS 125
pony. Or I could give quite a different picture of him in iiis
parish church, standing upright, tilting his heavy folio Prayer-
book on the edge of his high pew, so that he had to look up
rather than down on it. There he stands, like Sir Roger de
Coverley, giving out the responses in an audible voice, with
an occasional glance to see what tenants were at church and
what schoolboys are misbehaving ; and, I am sorry to add,
sometimes, when the rustic psalmody began its discord in the
gallery, with a humour, which even church could not restrain,
making some significant gesture to provoke a smile from me
and other young persons in the pew.
" He was' exceedingly temperate in his habits ; few men, who ' Recollections
of the I'ine
take such strong exercise, eat or drink so sparingly as he did. Hunt, p. 7:;.
A few slices of thin bread and butter, and sometimes a small
sausage roll, with a cup of green tea, was the breakfast on which
he usually set forth on his long day's work, but the little which
he took must be of the very best quality. He had more than a
woman's delicacy of taste, and was even fanciful in his eating
and drinking. He would send away his plate in disgust, if he
was told that the rabbit he was eating was a home-bred and not
a wild one. He disliked the idea of bread and butter spread by
a man ; the rule at the Vyne was that this operation should
be performed by one of the maid servants. His few glasses of
wine must be ot the best old port; for claret he had a great
contempt, and I have heard him declare that his butler old
Bush could make as good stuff as that out of the washings of
his port wine glasses.
" Some of his most characteristic oddities ^ came out In his -' ibi^t p 76.
manner
126 THE VYNE
CHAP. VI.
manner of quizzing his old bailiff Coxe, who managed the home
farm ; he took an actual pleasure in this man's failures, and was
most especially delighted whenever the hay intended for farm
purposes was injured, after he had secured all that he required
for his hunters in good condition. I once expressed to him "
(continues Mr. Austen Leigh in his " Recollections ") " my con-
cern at having seen his hay out in the rain. ' My hay ! ' said he ;
'what do you mean? I've no hay out; I got all mine up
famously last week.' I mentioned to him the name of the field
in which I had observed it. ' Oh pooh ! ' said he, ' that was not
my hay, that was Coxe's. Silly fellow, it serves him right, and
I am glad of it ; he might have got it all up a week ago if he
had had any sense.' ' '
1 Recollections " Sir John Cope of Bramshill,' who professed Radical politics,
of the Vine
Hunt. p. 74. once wrote to him that he had a litter of five dogs in that year's
entry, whose names all had pretty much the same meaning, for
they were Placeman, Parson, Pensioner, Pilferer, and Plunderer ;
but the Tory Squire with ready invention retorted that he could
show him a litter of which the five names were equally synony-
mous ; being Radical, Rebel, Regicide, Ruffian, and Rascal.
- Ibid. p. 75. " In a long run from St. John's to Chawton Park'^ he got into
trouble at the fence out of Bradley Wood. He slipped as he
was leading his horse, and the animal trod heavily on his thigh.
Those who were near were in great alarm, but he got up with
no other injury than a bruise. Mr. John Portal expressed his
delight that it was no worse, saying, ' I thought we were going
to lose our member.' 'Did you?' he replied, rubbing the injured
part. 'Well, I can tell you I thought I was going to lose mine.'"
He
CHAP. VI. JVM. CHUTE & VINE HOUNDS 127
He was first elected member for the county of Hants
together with Sir WilHam Heathcote of Hursley, in 1790, as a
supporter of the younger Pitt. Lord John Russell and Mr. Clarke
Jervoise of Idsworth were their opponents. On Pitt's death,
January 23, 1806, Fox formed the Coalition Ministry which was
nicknamed " All the Talents ; " and when he died, September 7
in the same year, there was a dissolution, and William Chute lost
his seat. The following extract from Lord Palmerston's journal ' ' Life of Lord
Palmcrston,
gives some curious incidents relating to this election : " With ''>' ''-'"■"'
^ '=' Dating, vol. i.
regard to the county of Hants, the old members were Sir Wil- p- 5^-
liam Heathcote and Mr. Chute, both for many years attached to
the policy of Pitt ; neither, however, had at any time taken a
violent part in public affairs. Sir William Heathcote, a quiet
country gentleman, lived like a recluse at Hursley ; and Chute,
an hospitable squire, preferred entertaining his friends at the
Vine to mixing with much zeal in Parliamentary disputes.
The latter, however, had in the course of last session voted
three times in opposition to ministers, on the American Inter-
course Bill, on the repeal of the Defences Bill, and on Wind-
ham's Plans" (the first involving the privileges of English
ships, and the two latter the reform of the army). "This was
an offence not easily to be forgiven, and it was determined
to turn him out. Accordingly, in the month of September,
Lord Temple rode to Hursley and said to Sir W. Heathcote
that, Mr. Chute having gone into systematic opposition to
ministers, it could not be expected that they should give him
their assistance ; but that, as Sir William had not attended
last session, if he would declare himself favourably disposed
towards
128 THE VYNE chap. vi.
towards Government, they would vote for him ; but that, if he
and his friends intended to make common cause with Mr. Chute,
Government must set up two candidates instead of one. This
communication Lord Temple gave to understand came from Lord
Grenville. Had Sir W. Heathcote acted with becoming spirit,
he would have immediately taken down what Lord Temple had
said, desired him to read it, and then ordered the servant to
show him the door. However, he answered that with regard to
himself he would never pledge himself to support any adminis-
tration, not even that of Pitt, were he alive; and as to his friends
he must consult them before he could give any answer with
regard to them. He then, when Lord Temple had gone, wrote
down the substance of what had passed, and laid it before the
County Club. The indignation excited by this attempt to dictate
to the county members was universal, and it was immediately
determined to support the sitting members, and in them the
freedom and independence of the county. Two candidates,
however, were now set up by ministers : one being Mr. Herbert,
a j'oung man, third son of Lord Carnarvon, and in no way
connected with the county." (Mr. Thomas Thistlethwayte, of
Southwick Park, was the other.) "Hereupon Sir W. Heathcote,
alarmed at the trouble and expense of a contest, declined
standing, upon pretence that his age and infirmities would not
allow him to attend Parliament any longer ; and though Sir
H. St. John Mildmay, after hesitating ten days, was prevailed
upon to stand in conjunction with Chute, the delay caused by
these arrangements gave the ministerial candidates a fortnight's
start in their canvass, and this, and the great mass of voters in
Portsmouth
CHAR VI. JFAf. CHUTE & VINE HOUNDS 129
Portsmouth at the command of the Government, decided the
fate of the contest."
The following squib was issued at this election, and it so
happens that all the allusions in it are explained by the extract
from Lord Palmerston's diary above quoted.
"Occurrences in Hampshire.
A Fable.
" In Hampshire once, some years ago.
Upon a pleasant Heath.,
Close by a Pit a Cot arose ;
A vine grew underneath.
A stately Temple that stood near
Envied their happy fate,
And from the cot with art essayed
To separate its mate.
The cot, alas ! was doomed to fall,
The vine had taken root ;
Full sixteen years it flourished fair
And bore the best of fruit.
An apple tree * then quick sprung up,
A thistle rose to boot ;
Their utmost strength united tried
To pluck it by the root.
And fruitless their attempts shall prove,
And all their efforts vain,
For if we but a Alild May have.
Our vine shall thrive again."
* A little Herbert, a tiind of apple tree -ivell known in Gloiicestenliire.
S Though
i;o
THE VYNE
CHAP. VI.
' Recollections
of the Vine
Hunt, p. 72.
Though defeated on this occa.sion, William Chute was elected
again si.x months later in 1807, when a dissolution took place on
the formation of the Portland Ministry, and he supported this
and the succeeding ministries of Mr. Perceval (with whom he
had been intimate at Harrow) and Lord Liverpool until the
death of George III. in 1820, when he retired from Parliament.
He married, in 1793, Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua Smith,
of Stoke Park, Wilts, member for Devizes ; " a lady ' of rare
excellence, whose good deeds were countless, though the only
one displayed to the world was the spire which she added to
the parish church of Sherborne St. John."
" Lord Incidental notices - of him and his brother Thomas may be
Brabourne.
Letters of Jane found in the earlier letters of ]\Iiss Austen, the novelist, who
Austen, 188.1 .
lived in the neighbourhood, at Steventon Rectory.
William Chute died without issue December 13, 1824, and
was buried in the Church of Sherborne St. John. He left
the Vyne estate to his brother, Thomas Vere Chute, who was
born ]\Iarch 2, 1772, and, dying unmarried, January- 22, 1827,
was buried at Pickenham, Norfolk.
William and Thomas Chute had but one brother and three
sisters who survived infancy, Chaloner, Elizabeth, Mary, and
Ann Rachael : of these Chaloner had died unmarried in 1790;
Elizabeth, who lived at the Manor House, Church Oakley,
had died in 1805, unmarried ; and Mar\', who married Mr.
Wither Bramston of Hall Place (now Oakley Hall) had also
died without issue in 1822. Ann Rachael, married to Sir
William Hicks, of Witcombe Park, Gloucestershire, was still
living ; and to her only child, Ann Rachael, her uncles would
have
CHAP. VI.
JVAf. CHUTE & VINE HO U AW S 131
have probably left the Vyne estate, had she not married Sir
Lambert Cromie, an Irish baronet, against their wishes.
Both William and Thomas Chute were on terms of great
intimacy at college and in later life with James Wiggett, rector
of Crudwell in Wiltshire, the first cousin of their mother, Ann
Rachael Wiggett, and having no nearer relation to whom they
wished to bequeath the Vyne, they determined to leave it to his
second son, William Lyde Wiggett, godson of William Chute.
This intention was accordingly carried out by Thomas V^ere
Chute, in his will, dated July 23, 1826.
The Wiggetts were a family long settled at Guist, co. Nor-
folk ; their descent has been traced ' from Wigot de St. Denis, a > The Norman
People, by
companion of the Conqueror, from whom the Bigods, the famous
William
Palmer: tit.
Earls of Norfolk, also traced their name and descent. One ''^y""".,
Biilicer.
branch of the family assumed the name and arms of ]5uhver,
from whom the present Buhvers of Heydon are descended.
William Lyde Wiggett was educated at Winchester and
at University College, Oxford (where he took his degree with
classical honours in 1821), and subsequently studied for the bar
at the Middle Temple. On succeeding to the Vyne estate in
1827, he assumed the name and arms of Chute, as directed by
Thomas Vere Chute's will. He became Member of Parliament
for West Norfolk in 1837, as owner of Pickenham Hall in that
county; and resigned his seat in 1847, having in the meantime
sold his Norfolk estate. He lived at the Vyne from the death
of Elizabeth, widow of William Chute, in 1842, until his own
death, July 6, 1879. He married, 1837, Martha, second daughter
of Theophilus Buckworth, of Cockley-Cley Hall, Norfolk.
William
THE VYNE CHAP. VI.
William Wiggett Chute enriched the Vyne with pictures,
statuary, and furniture, and added several bedrooms, the sleep-
ing accommodation, which was anciently provided by beds in
' p. 50. (inic. the present reception rooms,' being no longer in proportion to
the size of the house. He greatly improved the estate, the
woodland part of which had been previously divided by deep
oak or hazel rows into numerous small enclosures, while the
upper or field lands were also held in small plots of about
an acre apiece, divided by grassy banks or balks, and occupied
on a curious half-yearly tenure, the whole of the fields being
open to all the various occupiers in common immediately after
the crops were gathered in. There are some old maps in the
house dated 18 16-1", which show this intricate subdivision of
the land. The improvements which he effected are told in the
-'Vol. xiviii., Journals- of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The
farming in
Hampshire. roads had been little better than drift ways, impassable bejond
the Vyne except by carts and waggons, so that it was a common
saying that " the Vyne was the last place upon the earth, and
Beaurepaire was beyond it ; " and Horace Walpole humour-
■'P. 109. no. ouslysaid^ that "the \'yne must be approached upon stilts,"
ante.
and that " no post but a dove could come from it." All this
was altered for the better, and the Rev. James Edward Austen
Leigh, whose hunting reminiscences have been already quoted,
and who was intimately acquainted with the Vyne estate, wrote
a letter to William Wiggett Chute, August 26, 1874, in which
he spoke of his improvements, " the enclosure of the common
fields, the construction of roads, which opened up Bramlcy and
man}' other parts of the world, the draining and the letting in
air
CHAP. VI.
WM. CHUTE & VINE HOUNDS
air and sunshine to the dark places of the earth." " Of all the
improvements," he adds, " which I have witnessed in a long life,
during which improvement has been general, I know of none
to equal those which you have effected."
Chaloner William Chute, eldest son of William Wiggett
Chute, succeeded him in 1879. He was born August i, 1838,
and was educated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford ;
gained the Ireland University Scholarship in i860; took his
degree with first class classical honours in 1861 ; and subse-
quently became a fellow of Magdalen College. He was called
to the bar at the Middle Temple, June 1865.
He married, April 6, 1875, Eleanor, daughter of Wyndham
Portal, of Malshanger, Hants. The Portal family are of French
extraction, so that this alliance was in happy accordance with
the wish expressed by Gray in his letter ' to John Chute dated 1 p. 97, a>,te.
July 1745. The family originally^ settled in Languedoc, and '^ See Smiles s
Hu^ucuots,
during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, many 1867.
members of it held the highest office, ( that of Capitoul ), in the
cit)' of Toulouse. Their arms are thus described^ in French '- Euitprhent
tie la Noblesse
heraldr}' : " D Argent, au lion rampant de sable, fr
au chef d'azur charge de six etoiles d'or posees
3 et 3." They are frequently mentioned among
the most zealous of the Huguenot leaders of
their time, and they suffered much for their faith
in the seventeenth centurj'. The great-great-
grandfather of Wyndham Portal of Malshanger was Jean
Francois de Portal, who was one of the victims of the per-
secution which followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
1685
^ /-a //raise,
1873-'
134
THE VYNE
CHAP. VI.
1 Smiled s
Hiigucnols.
1685, and being obliged to fly from France, narrowly escaped
with his life. His children were concealed in an oven by a
faithful nurse, while the search in their father's house was
carried on. After the departure of the soldiers they were
conveyed to the sea coast, and, hidden in empty wine casks,
were placed on board a fishing vessel, in which they reached
the hospitable shores of England.' One of them, Henri, esta-
blished himself in Hampshire, and from him are descended the
Portal family in that county.
This concludes the varied story of the successive owners of
the Vyne. The next chapter will contain a description of the
house in its present state, and of the many memorials of past
ares which are treasured within its walls.
o
There are portraits at the Vyne of the brothers William
and Thomas Vere Chute ; also of William Lyde Wiggctt Chute
and his wife Martha, with their son Chaloner.
Chap.
CHAP."VII "Defer iMicn aftlie Houfe
HE words used by Professor Freeman ' of the ancient ' EngUih
Towns and
house of Cowdray in Sussex — built about 1520 — Districts,
pp. 367, 369.
may justly be applied to the Vyne, which is of the
same or of a somewhat earlier date. (The interior
of the room -^ occupied by Queen Anne Boleyn is shown in -P. 161./M/.
Plate XL) " It belonged," he says, "to that happy moment of
our national art when purely domestic architecture was at its
height, and the notion of the great house, as something distinct
from the castle, had been brought to perfection. The architec-
ture was still purely English : it did not yet Italianise. Both the
actual style and the arrangements of the building are exactly
at the point which is best suited for domestic work. There are
no breaks, no projections, no odd little bits put in — not because
they serve any practical end, but because the architect was
throughout haunted by the notion, ' I must make something
picturesque.' The whole house and every part of it is meant
to
136 THE VYNE chap. vn.
to serve its own purpose. Each part does serve its own purpose,
and the reward of building rationally and straightforwardly is
the creation of a magnificent and harmonious whole."
The building of the Vyne was begun by William first
Lord Sandys, in the later years of Henry VII., and completed
early in the reign of Henry VHI. The carved wainscoting of
the gallery was probably finished between 15 15, when Wolsey
was made Cardinal, and 1523, when Katharine of Arragon was
divorced, for the panels include the arms of the one as Cardinal
and of the other as Queen.
The house (Plate V. p. 29) is of red brick, with the well-
known Tudor diaper of a darker colour. The string-courses,
coigns, dressings, and battlements are of stone. The windows
were originally mullioned, and several still exist in that state,
the remainder having been altered to sashes in the seventeenth
century. Some of the walls are of remarkable solidity, the
central wall, dividing the rooms on the north from those on the
south, being six feet in thickness.
The dimensions of the house are 220 feet in length hy 50
feet in breadth, with a wing at each end extending southwards.
As originally built by Lord Sandys, it was considerably larger
1 Ldaiid. than at present, and had a " fair base court," ' or Basse Court,
Itin. \\\ i-t. i.
foi. 10, II. forming a north quadrangle extending as far as the water 250
feet distant. This was pulled down in 1654.
- P. 50, .7«A-. The Inventory^ of 1541 mentions among the rooms in
the " Base Court," two " Yeomans Chambers," each containing
twelve beds, a " Schoolmasters chamber," an " Armoury," and a
" Chamber at the bridge foot."
At
cHAf. VH. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 137
At Mottisfont Abbey, Hants, the home to which the Sand>-s
family retired after selling the Vyne, is a picture supposed to
represent Colonel Henry Sandys' (who died 1644), which shows ' Sce-p. 65
line.
in the background the Vyne as it existed in his time, with
buildings running from the chapel towards the water. Tiie
accompanying sketch is taken from this old picture.
The appearance of the house was much altered in 1654 b)'
Chaloner Chute the Speaker, who removed the Base Court, built
the Grecian Portico, and substituted sashes,^ (which were not - Topographer
(1780). vol. i.
generally introduced into England from Holland before i688j, P- 58.
for the mullions of the windows. He employed as his architect
John Webb,' a pupil and nephew-in-law of Inigo Jones. The ^ H'aifuies
Anecdotes of
agreement with the builder for these works, dated March 4, 1654, P>rint'>ig,
vol. iii. p. 93.
has been preserved, and includes the following items : —
T " For
138 THE VYNE
CHAP. VII
" For taking down the old windows and setting
up the new, cut into square heads, ^ o ids. od. each.
" For material, workmanship, and setting of the
pillar capitals of the portico in Burford stone, ^13 o^. od. each.
" For the pillar bases in Portland stone, £ 5 os. od. each.
" For the Pilaster bases, ^ 4 os. od. each.
" For the Frontispiece over the Portico, with
Chaloner Chute's arms, ^ 3 os. od."
C
The stack pipes marked jr j,^ (for Edward and Katharine
Chute), and an ornamental lead cistern marked E. K. now
standing near the front entrance, bear the date i6g6.
Among the outbuildings, the Brevvhousc and Stables are
interesting examples of ancient brickwork. The kitchen court
(Plate X., p. 121) is especially picturesque. The Summer-
house (Plate VIII., p. 85) in the garden, excellent alike in pro-
portion and colour, was designed by John Webb for Chaloner
Chute the Speaker. It has now for a long time been used as
a pigeon house.
The piece of water on the north-west — formerly divided into
four successive fish ponds, which were perhaps originally the
vivaria of the Roman villa — is fed by a stream which flows into
' Popes "The Loddon slow with verdant alders crowned." '
Windsor
ast c, . 342. -j-j^gj-g yyas a bowling green with a formal garden and yew
hedges on the opposite side of the water in the last century, as
is shown in a small picture, preserved in the house, of a little
dog, "Chalons," which belonged to Anthony Chute in 1748.
The main entrance is on the south, and is guarded by two
^ See-p. I, ante, cagles, presented by Horace Walpole about 1745.-
The
CHAP. VII. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 139
The beautiful classic STAIRCASE, with its Corinthian columns
(Plate IX., p. 112), was erected about 1765. Horace Walpole
speaks of it in his "Anecdotes of Painting"' (1770) as "the ' Vol. iv.
p. 151.
theatric staircase designed and just erected by John Chute ; " and
in a manuscript description- of the house (1793) he speaks of '^ MSpn-sei-<ed
at tilt: I'yne.
him as "an able geometrician and an exquisite architect, of the
purest taste, both in the Grecian and Gothic styles," and says
that he " erected from his own designs the beautiful scenery of
the staircase with its two vestibules."
The Hall contains four marble figures representing the
Seasons; also a portrait of Henry VHI. by Holbein, and one
of Charles Chute, father of the Speaker. Many fine engravings
by Albert Durer, Marc Antonio, and other masters, which were
collected by John Chute, are here and elsewhere in the house.
It appears from the Inventory of 1541 that there was origin-
ally a dining hall on the right of the front entrance for re-
tainers, the Dining Chamber being reserved for Lord Sandys
himself and his more distinguished guests.
On the left of the front hall is the PRINT RoOM, so called
from the prints upon its walls, which were placed there about
181 5 ; and this leads into a small oak-panelled room called the
Strawberry Parlour, from its having been reserved for the
use of Horace Walpole when he was a frequent guest at the
Vyne. There is an arched recess of stone in the south wall
which seems to have been originally a doorway. A good iron
fireback, representing a phoenix, with the initials I.M., bears the
date 1650. These two rooms were furnished with beds in 1541,
and were called " the Base Chambers."
Beyond
140
THE VYNE CHAP. VII.
Beyond these is the STONE GALLERY (82 feet long), originally
iLsed as a sleeping place for the retainers of visitors, and after-
wards as an orangery. Over the fireplace is a medallion bust of
1 p. 6. .uitc. the Roman Emperor Probus ( who introduced vines ' into Britain ),
with a rich arabesque border — similar to the well-known terra
cotta medallions of the Roman emperors at Hampton Court.
In this gallery are four full-length portraits: —
1. George Villiers, Dukeof Buckingham, favourite of James I.,
assassinated at Portsmouth August 23, 1628.
2. Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, only son of the
unfortunate favourite of Queen Elizabeth. He died, in the
service of the Parliament, September 14, 1646.
3. Elizabeth, Countess of Essex, daughter of Sir William
Paulet, of Eddington, Wilts. She married the second Earl
of Essex in 163 1, who first met her at Elvetham, then the
seat of the Earls of Hertford. Her story is told in Warner's
" Hampshire," vol. i. p. 232.
4. Francis Lord Bacon. On the canvas is the date "1620
anno cctat : 60." Macaulay, in his essay on Lord Bacon, tells
how "in January 1620 he celebrated his entrance into his six-
tieth year amidst a splendid circle of friends, having just then
exchanged the appellation of Keeper for the higher one of
Chancellor. Ben Jonson was one of the party, and wrote on
the occasion some of the happiest of his rugged lines : —
England's high Chancellor, the destined heir,
In his soft cradle, to his father's chair ;
Whose even thread the Fates spin round and full
Out of their choicest and their whitest wool' "
Here
u.
O
u
CHAP. vii. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 141
Here also hang two interesting maps.
1. A rare map of London, by Morden, {(Sj in. x 96 in.) on
the scale of 300 feet to the inch, published 1677. St. Paul's
Cathedral is drawn from the first of the designs which Wren
made after the Fire of London, and which he was subsequently
compelled to alter through the influence of the Duke of York,
who wished for a cathedral more adapted to the Roman
Catholic ritual. The names of the principal men of the reign of
Charles IL are printed on both sides of the map, but in this copy
they have been covered over with a continuation of the design.
2. A map of England (74 in. x 79 in.) by John Adam, of
the Inner Temple (author of the " Index Villaris," 1680), as it
was reproduced, with additions, in the reign of William III.
On the west wall arc eight Roman monumental marble
tablets, brought from columbaria near Rome about 1730, and
presented to John Chute by Edward, brother of Horace
Walpole, about 1 760. That numbered 4 was found on the
road leading from Rome to Praeneste {^Via Prcenestina) ; and
that numbered 6 in a colunibariuni at the spot where the
Appian and Latin roads parted within the wall of Aurelius.
The inscriptions on the marbles (which have been published
by Mommsen, Muratori, and Bockh in their collections of Latin
and Greek inscriptions) are as follows : —
I. "DMS Herenni.'e Nice. V. .\. in m. viii d. xvi anicetus
PATER FECIT.
"CoNDiTA SUM Nice qu.e jam dulcissima patri
DUCENS ^T.ATIS TENERyE JAM QUATTUOR ANNOS
1 See Alura-
AbREPTA A SUPERIS FLENTES JAM LIQUI PARENTES." ' tori's Ins, rip-
^ tions, vol. ii.
Sacred p. mcixxi.
142
THE VYNE
CHAP. VII.
* Sec Mnra-
tori, vol. iii.
p. mcclxxvji.
- Kftiraiori,
vol. ii.
p. mc.xlii.
Bikkli. vol. iii.
P- 95°-
■> Miiratori,
vol. iii.
p. mdc.x.xiv.
bbckh, \ol. i
P- 979-
^ Mommsen,
vol. vi. pt. ii.
P- 1597-
Sacred to the gods below : To Herennia Nike : she Hved three
years, eight months, sixteen days. Anicetus, her father, erected this.
I, Nike, father's darling child, here lie ;
While the fourth year of tender age went by,
I left my weeping parents, snatched by the gods on high.
2. " Diis M.\NiBus : Septimi.e I. F. Severn Septimius Severus
MATRI SANCTISSIM.E ET COMMODO CONJUGI EJUS FECIT SIBI LIB. LIBER-
TABUS POSTERISQUE OMNIBUS. In FRONT. P. IIIS. In AGR. P. HIS." '
Septimius Severus erected this for Septimia Severa, daughter of
Julia, his most pious mother, and for Commodus her husband, and for
himself and his freedmen and freedwomen and descendants. The
dimensions are, i\ feet along the road, and 35 feet into the field.
These Roman monumental inscriptions frequently mentioned
the extent of the family burial ground. Thus Horace writes
satirically of the public burial ground on the Esquiline Mount —
" Mille pedes in fronte, trecentos cippus in agrum
Hie dabat."— Sat. i. 8, 12.
3. "K. (i.e. KuraxOio'wu.) EHPTAAOS EZI12EN E I'll K.B. KAI
IIMEPAN II MIITIIP TON TOIION ElIOIIIi:EN." ^
To the Gods below. Beryllus lived twelve years and a day. His
mother put up the tomb.
4. "9. K. (Benlc K-aTaxdoyinic), AIAIfl i^IONY^m GEiiN 2YNTP0-
<l>02 EnErPA'I'E."^
To ^lius Dionysius Theon, his comrade, inscribed this.
5. "D. M. QuiNTUs AuRELius Proculus fecit sibi et suis
POSTERISQUE EORUM ET VALERIA COGNIT^ UXORI PIENTISSIM^
LIBERTIS LIBERTABUSQUE EORUM. Ne DE NOMINE EXEAT." ■•
Quintus Aurelius Proculus erected this for himself and his family
and their posterity, and for Valeria Cognita his wife, and their freed-
men and freedwomen. The land is not to go away from the name.
The
CHAP. VII. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 143
The final words mean that the gentile name was, if neces-
sary, to be taken by the liberti and libertce, who would thus
become liable to the sacra gcntilicia.
6. " D M S. AURELIUS ^PAFRODITUS AURELIO FELICISSIMO FILIO
DULCXSSIMO QUI VIXIT ANNIS XXIII M. VI DIEBUS XI HORIS XII BENE-
MERENTI FECIT."' '^ Mommmii ,
vol. vi. pi. ii.
Aurelius Epaphroditus to his son Aurelius, who lived twenty-three P- '588.
years, six months, eleven days, twelve hours.
7. " P. QUINTIUS L.^TUS FECIT SIBI ET Marci.c Liberali conjugi
SU/E BENEMERENTI ET MaRCI.E PrIMIGENI.E LIBER.E ejus." ^ -' Mnnlton.
vol iii.
P. Quintius LjeIus to himself, and Marcia Liberalis his wife, and v- mcccxcv.
Marcia Primigenia her daughter.
8. "Dis Manibus. Hilaritas Maturo a.mico beneiierenti
FECIT : LUCIL.'V." 3 ., ,^-a ,.„, ,ii
p. nicdl.wiii.
Hilaritas to Maturus her friend — Lucila.
Here are also several antique marbles and some well-
executed busts from Italy, purchased in 1753, viz. : Antinous,
Caracalla, Faustina ( the beautiful daughter of Antoninus Pius,
married to Marcus Aurelius ), Homer, Jupiter, Lucius AnnjEus
Verus ( the shortlived son of Faustina), Nero, and Sylla.
This gallery leads to the West Dr.\WIXG Roo.M, hung with
crimson and white silken damask, purchased in Italy about
1760. The oval portrait of John Chute by Muntz (a painter
often mentioned in Horace Walpole's letters ), and the view of
the Vyne by the same artist, were formerly at Strawberry Hill.
Two good landscapes by Poussin, and a fox and a pointer by
the French painter Oudry, may also be noticed. A marble
table
144 THE VYNE
CHAP. VII.
table, a present from one of the Walpole family, has the
Walpole arms inlaid.
In the inventory of 1541 this room was called "the chamber
within the New Parlour," and contained the following furniture:
"A bed with a counterpane of verder,* yellow and grene.
A Flanders chaire covered with lether.
An old joyned stole.
,A trussing bedd of waynscot with iiij pillars carved."
This room opens into a smaller Ante-ROOM, in the centre
of which stands a Florentine //tYra ditra casket, brought from
Italy about 1760. It is of remarkable beauty, set with a mosaic
of agates, amethysts, bloodstones, cornelians, lapis lazuli, and
other stones, representing fruits and flowers. Here are also
cabinets filled with Bow, Chelsea, Italian Majolica, and
Oriental blue china.
In 1 541 this room was "the Palet Chamber within the New
Parlour," and contained a bed with a counterpane of " outnalle." t
Beyond this is the DRAWING RoOM, 30 feet in length, which
is also hung with crimson and white damask. The furniture for
this room (six sofas and twelve chairs) was made about 1760,
and covered with similar damask.
The pictures include sacred subjects by Andrea del Sarto,
Correggio, and Francia ; "Sunrise" and "Moonlight" by S.
Pether ; "Rome" by Claude ; "The Hague" by Vander Heyden ;
and portraits of John Chute by Pompeio Battoni, and of Francis
' See pp. 100, Whithed and Margaret Nichol ' by Rosalba.
loi, artte. ^_^_
* Representing forest scenery.
t Perhaps intended for " wadmaal" a coarse wadded stuff of the period.
In
CHAP. vir.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 145
In 1 541 this room was called "The New Parlour." It was
hung wuth valuable tapestry, and contained the following furni-
ture : —
" A riche bedd of greene velvet and saten, garnished with roses and
pomegarnettes with this posy ' Help God ; '
A counterpoint of Parke worke * with beastes and fowles ;
A matterass of fustian stuffed with wolle ;
A bedstede with iiij greate pillers all gilt, with iiij pomelles all gilt ;
A cupboard carpet, Turkey making, iij yerdes ;
A Flanders cheire covered with lether ;
A myddell payr of andyeorns ;
A lyvery t cubbord ;
A table of fyrre iv yardes."
Hence a vestibule opens upon the Grecian Portico already
mentioned ' as having been added to the house in 1654. 1 p. 137, ante.
In 1541 there was here a room called "The Parlour," hung
with " Imagery Tapestry," and furnished with —
" A table and a pair of trestles of waynscott ;
ij joyned chairs, one with an antelope, another with a harte :
iiij joyned stoles ;
iij joyned formes ;
A skrene of wickers."
This vestibule contains busts of the Belvidere Apollo,
and of Achilles ; and there are sometimes standing in it two
large vases of repousse silver of fine manufacture, bearing the
English hall mark of 1650, measuring with their tops 2 feet in
* See note, p. 25.
t Livery, Fr. livree, denoted whatever zuas dispensed by the lord to his officials,
domestics, or guests : here it means an allowance of meat or drink.
U height
146 THE VYNE
CHAP. VII.
height, and weighing, one 169, the other 174 ounces. They
are said to have been taken by Lord Anson from a Spanisli
galleon in 1740.
Beyond this is the DiNiNG RoOM, 38 feet in length, panelled
with oak : it was at one time painted blue, and is studded with
small gilded bosses, which gave it the name of " The Starred
Parlour," In 1541 it was called " The great dyn)-ng chamber,"
i.'^rep. 51, a.nd contained the following furniture ' : —
ante.
" ix peces of hangings of Imagery with borders of Anticke and my
lordes arms ;
iiij wyndowe peces ;
V curteyns of Bridges satin ;
A large fyne carpet of Turkey making, v x iij yardes ;
Another Turkey carpet for a cubbord with a deyse ;
A cubbord of boardes with a deyse ;
A chayer of black vehit trymed or garnyshed with golde olde ;
A great payr of anndyerns of iron ;
A large table of ffyrre, with a payr of trestelles v yards long ;
V cusshins of redd tynsell lyned with damask of a yerd and iij nailes
apece ;
ij other cusshins of crymsen velvit and Redd tynsell lyned with
damask ;
ij cusshyns of Bawdekyn, one Redd, another Grene, lyned with
damaske ;
A cusshyn of blewe damaske a yard scant ;
ij cusshyns of redd and blew damaske square ;
iiij cusshynes of Tawny velvit old, of a yard long ;
A cusshyn of clothe of gold lyned with redd damaske ;
A dozen of cusshennes, very sore worne and old, of Roses and
Pomegarnerdes ;
A dozen of other cussh)ns of dyvers sortes, sore worne and old."
The
CHAP. VII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 147
The pictures include Dudley, third Lord North, and his father
Sir John North,' and Chrysoijona Lady Dacre as a child.- '■ -■'^'''■p- 73.
Beyond the dining-room is the ClIAPEL PARLOUR, panelled
with wainscot of a rich linen pattern. The Tudor fireplace of
Purbeck marble is surmounted by a carved oak mantelpiece
vvith the date 1691. There is a curious mirror between the
windows, having in the centre a sun with four rays. Li 1541
this room was the " Hall place between the great chamber and
the closet" (or oratory), and its onl\' furniture was — •
"One piece of hanging of green say," and a " clocke, large, with a chyme."
Over the fireplace is a copy of the Aurora, by Guido, in the
Rospigliosi Palace, Rome,
" Quadrijugis invectus equis Sol aureus exit,
Cui septem variis circumstant vestibus HorK."
The pictures include —
Charles Brandon,^ Duke of Suffolk, brother-in-law of Henry '^Seep. 39,
ante.
VHL, by Holbein.
Winifred, the Nun of Cufaude,'' by La Belle, dated 1707, in ^ .w p. .;8.
the dress of a canoness of the order of St. Augustine. She was
the daughter of Symeon Cufaude and niece of John Cufaude,
who are both named in the pedigree of the Cufaude family, which
hangs in the Librar\-. John died in i/Or, aged ninety, ha\ing
in 1697 settled' a sum of 50/. a year for four years — a nun's ■' Deed of May
17, 1697. pre-
portion — upon "his niece Winifred Cufaude, spinster." served at 1 he
Mary, daughter of George Nevill, Lord Abergavenny, m.
Thomas Fienes, ninth Baron Dacre,'' by Holbein, or Lucas » .St-c pp. 73-4.
ante.
de Heere.
Beyond
148 THE VYNE
CHAP. VII.
ante
ant,
Beyond the Chapel Parlour is the Antechapel. Here, in
I 541, was "My lady's Closet," or oratory, " next the Chapel,"
which contained, according to the inventory of that date —
"vj paces of hangings of greate flowers with my Lordes amies in the
garter ;
ij paces of small hangings of Imagery for the wyndowas in the
closet."
A carved stone head of Edward III., a relic of the first
15a' p. 19, Chantry Chapel of the V^ne,' and several sacred pictures, in-
cluding the " Last Supper," by Ferretti, presented by Horace
ifc'p. Ill, Walpole,- are in this antechapel.
The two mullioned windows, each of three lights, contain in
the upper panes heraldic glass, displaying the following arms
and badges, most of which belong to families who have been
already mentioned in connection with the Vyne.
1. The Royal Tudor Rose.
2. St. John, quartering seven other coats ( Herbert, Delamere,
Roos, Hussey, Walsh, Skelton, Irby), with Paulet of Basing on
an escutcheon of pretence.
3. Brocas quartering Roches.
4. Sandys impaling the coats of Foster of Aldermaston,
Popham (combined with Clarke), Delamere, and Achard.
5. Power of Worcestershire quartering Washbourne and
D'Abbitot of the same county. (This coat is tricked in fac-
simile in the Book of Heraldic Visitations of Worcestershire,
-" Harkian 1569.^)
^1/5. 1532,
foi. 32. 6. De Vere quartering Howard.
7. Bray quartering Bray.
8.
CHAP. vii. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 149
8. Long quartering the arms of France as an augmentation
for distinguished ser\-icc in the French wars, in which Sir Henry
Long was a comrade of WilHam, first Lord Sandys.
The lower part of these windows is filled with fragments of
the rich painted glass placed in the Chapel of the Holy Ghost
at Basingstoke by the first Lord Sandys, and of the same date,
therefore, as the glass in the Vyne Chapel.
Peter Heylyn, chaplain of Charles I. and biographer of
Laud, mentions this glass,' together with that of Fairford and '■5'-<'p-4o.
^ ' '^ ante.
Canterbury, as having survived the Reformation.
From this Antechapel doors of open woodwork give access
to The Chapel, which has been described in Chapter II.
Through the Chapel is the To>n5 Chamber built by John
Chute to receive the monument of his ancestor the Speaker,
one of the best works of Thomas Banks, R.A., who also
executed the recumbent figure of Reginald Brocas in the
neighbouring church of Bramley.
This monument is inscribed with a notice- of the Speaker, -5c^pp. 67, 76,
ante.
and the names of his descendants, with their coats of arms, as
follows : —
East side : The Arms of Chaloner Chute the Speaker, bear-
ing those of Ann Skory, his first wife, on an escutcheon of pre-
tence, and impaling those of Dorothy Lady Dacre, his second
wife; above which are the sword and mace,^ the emblems ^ See headpiece.
p. 67. ante,
of the Speaker's authority.
North side: The Arms of Chaloner, son of the Speaker, im-
paling those of Catherine Lennard his wife ; also the Arms of
Chaloner, eldest grandson of the Speaker.
South
I50 THE VYNE
CHAP. VII.
South side : The Arms of Edward, second grandson of the
Speaker, impahng those of Katharine Keck his wife ; on the left
of which are those of Anthony and John, sons of Edward ; also
the Arms of Thomas Chute, third grandson of the Speaker,
with those of his wife EHzabeth Rivett on an escutcheon of pre-
tence ; on the right of which are those of Thomas Lobb Chute,
grandson of Thomas Chute, with those of his wife Ann Rachacl
Wiggett on an escutcheon of pretence.
West side: A shield of 25 quarterings, viz. — (i*) Chute;
(2*) Say ; (3) Mandeville ; (4) Eudo ; (5*) Chaloner ; (6) Mor-
timer; (7 and 8*) Skory ; (9*) Lanyon ; (10*) De la Launde ;
(II) Harford; (12*) Hertford ; (13) Scrope ; (14) Tibetot ; (15)
Badlesmere ; (16) FitzBernard ; (17) Aguillon ; (18) Clare ; (19)
Gifford; (20) St. Hillary; (21) Fitzroy ; (22) FitzHamond ;
(23) FitzGerald ; (24*) Keck ; (25*) Thorne.
The nine coats marked * are also on a shield in the Tapestry
1 See p. t6i. Room.'
^"^'^ The windows were painted by John Rowell in 1770; he is
3 Grangers Said '^ to have " rediscovered the art of the beautiful red, so cnn-
Bio^raphiial . . ,,
///i/on'.voi. vi. spicuous in our old windows.
^' '■^ " On the west wall hangs a fine woodcut 8 feet 6 inches in length,
dated i 508, called " The Triumph of Faith," designed by Titian.
It represents our Saviour in a chariot drawn by the four Latin
doctors, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gre-
gory, preceded by the Old Testament saints, the Evangelists,
and the Holy Innocents, and followed by the Apostles, Martyrs,
and Fathers of the Church with their appropriate symbols, ending
with St. Christopher, St. Francis, and St. Benedict.
Returnin'T
CHAP. VII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE isi
Returning- hence to the GRAND STAIRCASE ; the north-west
vestibule on the first floor, ( in which arc pictures by Ghisolfi,
Muntz, Ryder, and others ), leads into two bedrooms, which
in 1 541 were together with the vestibule one chamber, known
as the Oueen'.s Lying Chamber, from its having been occu-
pied by Anne Boleyn on the occasion of her visit to the Vync,
October 13, 1535.' It was then furnished with — i5<;ep. 46,
ante.
" V pieces of hanginges of fyne Imagery with borders of anticke ;
A celer and tester of clothe of gold and Russett velvet, pirled wiih
gold, paned, and a valance of the same fringed with silke and gold, with
ij curtaynes of yellow and Russet and yellow saten paned and quylted,
containing xv yerdes ;
A counterpoynt * of water flowers ;
A bedd with a bolster of Downe of ix quarters, marke 16 ; t
A materys of fustian stuffed with woll ;
A trusse bedsted with iiij gilt pillers and pomelles gilt ;
A little cubbord carpet, Turkey making ;
A lyvery cubbord with ij almeres ;
A fiflanders chayer ;
A payr of myddell andeirons ;
ij wyndow curtaynes, chaungeable sarcenet lyned with buckeram
containing xiiij yerdes."
Beyond this are the ToWER CHAMBER, which leads into
My Lord's Closet over the Chatel.''' -'5a' p. 24,
ante.
* There was a diversity of cotoiterpaiies in the house : thus, in the '■*■ Inner Kose
Chamber" the coverlet of the bed %vas ' ' of Parke worke, with a fyon and agn'ffyn over
the same." In the " Ynner Chamber over the Bullry" was a '^counterpoynt of
Imagry." In the " Myddle Base Chamber" was a " counterpoynt of the Birth of our
lorde ;" and in the " Ynner Base Chamber" '■' an old counterpoynt of Arras, very
sore worne and broken. "
f It is significant of careful housekeeping thai all the bolsters and counterpanes
wei-e marked with separate numbers.
The
152 THE VYNE
CHAP. VII.
The south-east vestibule of the staircase opens into a room
formerly known as the PORTCULLIS CHAMBER, from the well-
known Tudor badge, as another in the house was called the
" Ro.SE Chamber " after the Tudor rose.
The Poitcullis Chamber leads into " The King'.s Chamber,"
furnished in 1541 with —
" V small peces of Imagery ;
A celer and tester of grene velvit upon velvit purled, paned with
clothe of gold, with a valaunce of the same fringed with silk and gold ;
V curtains of sarcenet yelow and grene."
Off this chamber a door opens into the Oak Gallery
(Plate XII.), which occupies the entire length (82 feet) of the
western wing of the house, and was originally, like the cloister
walks {tinibulacra) of older buildings, intended as a place for
I The "As- exercise. Thus Chaucer, describing a mansion, speaks ' of —
scmbly of
lat/ies.- iitima « -pi^g galeryes right well ywrought
For daunsing and other wyse disport."
In 1 541 it was furnished with —
" vj curtayns of sarcenet paned redd and grene ;
V dornex * carpetes ray ling in the wyndowes ;
ij Turkey carpettes ;
A Spanishe folding chaire ;
ij small tables of waynscot ;
Another small table or cubbord of waynscot with a bottom carved ;
ij small crepers of Iron."
Over the door in the eastern wall are the Royal Arms of
England, richly carved, supported by two angels, each of whom
* A coarse clot/t originally made at Tournay, called in Flemish " Dornick."
bears
CHAP, vr
,. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 15:
bears in his hand a circle ; one displaying the arms (the cross
ragulee), the other the crest (the winged ibex), of the Sand)-s
family.' ^ See hemipic-e
to Table of
The gallery is panelled throughout with oak wainscoting, Contents, p. v,
each panel containing an intricately carved linen scroll, above
and below which occurs some
ornamental or heraldic de-
vice. Of these panels there
are upwards of four hundred,
and the heraldic devices
displayed upon them are
those of King Henry VIII.
of Queen Katharine of
Arragon, of the first Lord
Sand3-s of the V\-nc, and of
his friends: —
(I.) HERALDIC DEVICES OF
KING HENRY VIII.
AND KATHARINE OK
ARRAGON.
The Royal Arms of
England.
The Crown of King
Henry the Seventh.
The Fleur de lys.
The Tudor Rose, being the roses of York and Lancaster
united one within the other.'-'
X
The
See headpiece,
>. 164, post.
^54
THE VYNE
CHAP. VII
' See headpiece,
p. 135, ante.
= Ibid.
5 See tailpiece,
p. 10, ante.
■• See headpiece,
p. 135, ante.
5 Oiiil/im,
4t]i ed. p. 382.
^ 5(?e A(?(Z Ipiece,
p. 29, ««/£.
^ Si'^ tailpiece,
p. 66, rt;//i:.
The Portcullis.'
The St. George's Cross, for the Order of the Garter.
The legend " King Harri."
The arms of Katharine of Arragon (b. Dec. 15, 1485, near
Toledo ; m. Prince Arthur, son of Henry VII., Nov. 14, 1501 ; m.
King Henry VIII., June 7, 1509 ;
divorced May 23, 1533 ; died at
Kimbolton Jan. 7, 1536) : being i
and 4 the arms of Castile and
Leon ; 2 and 3 those of Arragon,
with a pomegranate in the base
point of the escutcheon.
The bursting pomegranate,-
and the sheaf of arrows,' badges
of Katharine of Arragon.
The triple-crowned castle of Castile.''
II. THE HERALDIC DEVICES OF WILLIAM, FIRST LORD
SANDYS OF THE VYNE, AND HIS FRIENDS.
I. The arms of SANDYS: on a field /^'^r/
a cross ragulcd and trunkcd diaiiioiid^ with
those of Bray upon an escutcheon of pretence.
The crest of Sandys, the winged head of an
ibex.*'
The badge of Lord Sandys, a demi-rose sur-
mounted by rays of the sun.' The mottoes, "Aide Dieti,"
"Help God," "Good Hope." The cyphers, W. S. (William
Sandys) and T. S. (Thomas Sandys).
:hap.vii. description of the house 155
2. The shield of Bray ( as in the escutcheon of pretence on
No. I ) ; and the "Bray" or " Hempbreaker,"' for SIR REGINALD ■ Seehcadpkcc,
p. 29. ante.
Bray, Knight of the Garter, and Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster under Henry VII., d. 1503. Margery, his niece and
heiress, m. William, first Lord Sandys.
3. The arms of Brocas of Beaurepaire, for
William Brocas, Master of the Royal Buck-
hounds, owner of the Vyne, d. April 29, 1456 ;
and his son Bernard Brocas, owner of the
Vyne 1456-1488. Some account of them, and
of their descent from Sir Bernard Brocas, has
been already given.-
4. The arms of De Vere, quartering
Howard, for JOHN DE Vere, fifteenth Earl
of Oxford, Great Chamberlain, Knight of
the Garter, Privy Councillor to Henry VHI. ;
d. 1539. He was great-nephew of John de
Vere, twelfth Earl of Oxford, who brought the
estates and arms of Howard into the family by his marriage
with Elizabeth, only daughter and sole heiress of Sir John
Howard, uncle of John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk.
5. The arms of the family of Essex, county
Wilts, for Sir William Essex, of Easton
Percey in that county. Lord Treasurer and
Privy Councillor of Henry VHI. ; arrested in
1537 for complicity with the Yorkshire Re-
bellion of 1536. His son Thomas married
Margaret, daughter of William first Lord Sandys of the X'j-ne.
6.
- 5fpp. 30-33,
ante.
156
THE VYNE
CHAP. VII.
* See headpiece,
p. II, ante.
6. The arms of Foster, quartering Dela-
mere, Popham, and Achard, for SlR HUMPHRY
Foster, of Aldermaston, co. Berks, Esquire
of the Body to Henry VHI. at Boulogne 1520 ;
Steward of Stratfield Mortimer 1521 ; High
Sheriff of Berkshire 1533 ; keeper of Fremantle
Park 1542. He married Elizabeth, daughter of William, first
Lord Sandys of the Vyne.
7. The arms of Fox, a " pelican in her piety,"
for Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester ;
born, 1466, near Grantham, educated at Mag-
dalen College, Oxford, and Pembroke Hall,
Cambridge ; Bishop of Exeter and Master of
St. Cross, Winchester, 1487 ; Bishop of Bath and
Wells 1491, of Durham 1494, of Winchester 1501 ; arranged the
marriage of the Princess Margaret with James IV. of Scotland,
I 501 ; founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 15 16 (which
bears his arms); d. September 14, 1528, and buried under a
canopied tomb of great magnificence in the nave of Winchester
Cathedral.
Also the letters R. F. with a crozier.'
8. The device of Hungerford, "three sickles,"
for Sir Walter Hungerford, summoned
to Parliament as Baron Hungerford of Heytes-
bury, June 8, 1536; married Alice, daughter of
William, first Lord Sandj's ; charged, 1540,
with " retaining a chaplain who called the King
a heretic, and procuring certain persons to ascertain by con-
juration
CHAP. V
„. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 157
juration how long the King should live;" beheaded July 28,
1541.
9. The arms of Neville, " a silver saltire
upon martial red," for RALPH LORD NEVILLE,
only son of Ralph, sixth Baron Neville of
Rabyand third Earl of Westmoreland ; married
Edith, daughter of William, first Lord Sandys ;
d. 1522, in the lifetime of his father, leaving
two children, Ralph and Anne.
10. The arms of Paulet, for Willlvm
Paulet of Basing, lineal descendant of the
De Forts and St. Johns, anciently lords of the
manor of the \'}-ne ; Sheriff of the county of
Southampton 15 10; controller of the King's
household 153S; created Baron St. John of
Basing by Henry \TII. 1539; Knight of the Garter 1544;
entrusted with the Great Seal 1 547 ; created Marquis of
Winchester by Edward VI. 1551 ; retained the favour of
Queens Mary and Elizabeth "by being" (as he said) "a
willow and not an oak ; " d. at Basing 1572, aged ninety-six.
11. The badge of Paulet, a "falcon" with
the initials H. P., for SiR HUGH Paulet, son
of that Sir Amyas Paulet, of Hinton St. George,
Somersetshire, treasurer of the Middle Temple,
who put Wolsey in the stocks at Lymington,
Somersetshire, in the reign of Henry VH., and
in the next reign, hoping to appease his displeasure, rebuilt the
gate of the Middle Temple, beautifying it with the Cardinal's
arms
15^
THE VYNE
CHAP. VII.
arms and devices. Sir Hugh was knighted 1544 for services in
the French wars, was treasurer of Boulogne 1545, afterwards
governor of Guernsey and Jersey ; d. 1578.
12. The arms of POWER, county Worcester
already mentioned as occurring in the painted
glass of the Antechapel, where the arms of
Power quarter those of Washbourn and D'Ab-
bitot, on account of marriage alliances com-
pleted in the reign of Richard II.
13. The crest of Roos for John Manner.s,
first Baron Roos, whose third daughter Eliza-
beth m. Thomas, second Baron Sandys of the
Vyne ; d. 1 5 1 3, and was succeeded by his son
Thomas Manners, who was created Earl of
Rutland 1525.
14. The arms of the See of London im-
paling those of Tunstail, for CUTHBERT TuN-
STALL, Bishop of London ; born about 1474 in
Hertfordshire ; Master of the Rolls 1 5 16 ; Bishop
of London 1522 ; accompanied Wolsey's embassy
to France 1527; Bishop of Durham 1530; impri-
soned by Queen Elizabeth, and d. in prison 18 November, 1559.
1 5. The arms of the See of Canterbury
impaling those of Warham, for William War-
IIAM, Archbishop of Canterbury ; born at Mals-
hanger in the parish of Church Oakley, Hants,
about 1460 ; educated at Winchester and New
College, Oxford ; sent on an embassy to Philip
Duke
CHAP. VII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 159
Duke of Burgundy, to remonstrate against the assistance given
by the Duchess to Perkin Warbeck, 1493 ; Master of the Rolls
1494 ; Bishop of London and Lord Keeper, 1502 ; Archbishop
of Canterbury and Chancellor, 1 504 ; resigned the Great Seal in
favour of Wolsey, 1 5 1 5 ; d. at St. Stephens, near Canterbury, 1532.
He pleaded that his successor might not charge his executors
with dilapidations, because he had expended above 30,000/. in
building and repairing the edifices belonging to the archbishopric.
16. The arms of THOMAS WOLSEY ; b. at
Ipswich, 147 1 ; fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford, 1495; King's Almoner, 1509; Bishop
of Lincoln and Archbishop of York, 15 14;
'^^^^^^^ Cardinal and Lord Chancellor, 151 5; Bishop
of Durham, 1523; founded Cardinal's College,
afterwards Christchurch, Oxford, 1525 ; Bishop of Winchester,
1529 ; deprived of Great Seal, 1529 ; d. November 29, 1530.
Also the cypher T. W. with two crosses, and with the
Cardinal's hat and crozier.' ^Seedra-L'ings,
pp. II, 28,
The arms of Hungerford, (whose device has been already ante.
mentioned ), " salle two bars argent, and in chief three plates,"
also occur in the panels.
There are curious and grotesque devices on many of the
panels, e.g. — •
Goblets of various forms. ^ ^Seedrcmhig!.
pp. I, 84, 121,
Tivo swords in saltire with gauntlets.^ ante.
A head blowing two horns.^
A ram's head with tassels hanging from the horns.
A shield containing three escallops.
A
i6o THE VYNE
CHAT. VII.
A sword piercing a winged heart.
A winged helmet.
An animal emerging from a snail shell.
Curiously carved heads of men and women.
The motto " Coeur per cccur."
Over the fireplace is a gilt carving of St. George and the
Dragon, the jewel of the Order of the Garter.
The armour on the walls dates from the seventeenth century.
The two portraits at the north end of the gallery are —
1. Frances Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (with the
•^ See Lodges initials F. R. L. on her handkerchief).' She married first one
Portmits,
vol. V. Henry Prannell, 1597; secondly, the Marquess of Hertford,
(whereupon Sir George Rodney wrote her a long copy of verses,
answered by her in one of equal length, and then committed
suicide ) ; thirdly, Lodowick Stuart, Duke of Richmond and
Lennox ; and afterwards was ambitious of marr\-ing King
James L
2. A lady in a richly ornamented costume of the later j-ears
of Queen Elizabeth, entitled Mrs. Penobscot, a name not to be
traced in England. The State of Maine, in North America, was
formcrl}- inhabited by an Indian tribe called Penobscot, after
which a town, river, and bay are named.
At the south end of the gallery are some of the old and
curious washing stands on either side of a large tortoiseshell
and ebony cabinet.
Among the statuary should be noticed : —
Rameses IV., an ancient Eg}-ptian statue, in basalt.
The Laughing Faun.
Four
CHAP. VII. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 161
Four Caesars: (i) Caligula, A.D. 37; (2) Nero, .^.D. 54;
(3) Galba, A.D. 68; (4) Antoninus Caracalla A.D. 211-217
(inscribed in error with the name Antoninus Pius).
The Infant Hercules.
Seneca, Milton, Mary Queen of Scots, and Shakespeare.
Pitt and Fox.
A door at the north end of the gallery leads into the
Tapestry Room, so called from the fine tapestry with which it
is hung, representing imaginary scenes of Eastern life.
The elaborate mantelpiece in this room (Plate XL, p. I35)>
with the figures of "Justice" and "Mercy" on it, was formerly
in the Chapel Parlour.' It bears, in a richly carved shield, the ' Warners
Hampshife, tit.
arms of Chute, Say, Chaioner, Skory, De la Launde, Lan}-on, " The I'i/n-r
Hertford, Keck, and Thorne. The crests surmounting the shield
are those of Chute and Keck.- The fireback is a curious reprc- • See tailpiece
to Listof Illiis-
sentation of Neptune and his Trident. '!','!,'!""''' ''' ^'
In 1 541 this room was called the " Queen's Great Chamber,"
and contained the following furniture : —
" viij pieces of fine Imagery hangings with a border of antike and
my lordes amies with this posy ' Aides Dieu ; '
A celer and tester of grone and crymson velvet paned, embroidered
with my lordes armes, with his cognizance and the garter, with a valaunce
fringed with silk and gold, with v curtains of Damaske, red and grene
paned ;
A large quilt of red satin lined with green buckeram ;
A large counterpoynt of water flowers ;
A bed of downe and a bolster, mark 15 ;
A trussing bed with iiij gilt pillars and iiij pomelles gilt ;
An old chair of black velvit, sore worne, embroidered with gold ;
Y A
ante.
1 62 THE VYNE
CHAP. VII
A large pair of andirons with latten pomelles ;
A cubberd carpet of Turkey making, ij yards long ;
A lyvery cubbord ;
iiij curtains of satin of Bruges, paned red and yellow ;
A looking glass gilt."
Beyond the Tapestry Room is an Ante-ROOM known in
1541 as the Queen's Pallet Chamber, when it contained a "large
feather bed with a large counterpoynt, with St. George over
the same."
This room is now hung with curious tapestry of French
workmanship of the date of Louis XIII., the subject being Dido
receiving .^neas, and Troy burning in the distance.
Beyond this ante-room is the Library. In 1541 it was
called " The Great Chamber over the New Parlour," and con-
tained—
" Five pieces of hanging fyne Imagery with the History of Cupid ;
A celer and testour of yellow and white damask paned, with a
valaunce of the same, fringed with v curtains of the same stuff and
colour, and a counterpoynt of the same, likewise paned, lined with red
buckeram ;
A bed of downe with a ray French Tyck, marke 1 1 , and a bolster to
the same ;
A matteras of fustian stuffed with wool ;
A Flanders bedsted with iiij pomelles gilt ;
A pair of andirons ;
A Flanders chair covered with leather ;
A lyvery cubboard of oak."
The fine stone fireplace (Plate XIII.) has an overmantel
containing the portrait of Arthur Chute and his wife Eliza-
beth,
CHAP. Ml. DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE 163
beth, grandfather and grandmother of the Speaker. On the
canvas is written —
" Pura qui Domino fide orabit
Huic pacem et veniam dabit."
There is a tradition that thej' are represented receiving tlie
news of the death of their son. Their ages are written on
the canvas : his age as eiglity, and hers as seventy.
Here are two cabinets, fine examples of lacquer work — the
one of old Oriental, the other of French manufacture.
The crest of Lord Sandys, and the hempbreaker of Margery
Bray his wife, are in the oak panels over the windows.
In this library hangs the illuminated pedigree of the Cufaude
family, of which mention has been made.' It was found about ' i' 4S. ante.
i/60 in Basingstoke stopping up a cottage window ; was ex-
hibited to the Society of Antiquaries in 1882 ; and a paper read
on it June 22 in that year. The first arms quartered with those
of Cufaude are those of Helen, daughter of Richard Kingsmill,
temp. Henry VI.
On either side of the fireplace are the portraits of Chaloner
Chute the Speaker, by Vandyck; and Lady Dacre of Hurst-
monceaux, his second wife, by or after the same artist. She
is wearing the pearl necklace which she bequeathed to her
grandson, Thomas Chute, from whom it has descended as an
heirloom to successive owners of the Vyne. There is a similar
portrait of her at Belhus, Essex, attributed to Vandyck, a
copy of which is in the Queen's Lying Chamber.^ By a codicil - P- 15'. ■""'''■
to her will, dated March 1694, she bequeathed the "portrait of
herself, by Sir Anthony Vandyck," to her grandson Thomas
Chute
164
THE VYNE
CHAP. VU.
Chute. The portrait of Chaloner Chute the Speaker was in-
cluded in the Loan Collection of National Portraits in London,
1868.
Here this account of the Vyne may come to a fit conclusion,
leaving us before the portrait of one of its most illustrious owners.
May the courage and wisdom displayed by him in one great
crisis of our national history, and by the first Lord Sandys of the
Vyne in another, not be wanting, should occasion arise, to those
who shall hereafter possess this ancient and historic house.
" Eccjuid in antiquam virtutem animosque viriles,
Et pater .-Eneas, et avunculus excitet Hector?"
L\DEX
INDEX
BEN
Abergavenny, Lord, 147
Abingdon, Abbot of, 47
Achard arms, 148
Adam, John, 141
Aguillon anus, 1 50
Ailesbury, Lady, 1 1 3
Aldennaston, 122, 156
Alresford, 65
Alton, 46
Amport, II
Amsterdam, 49, Si
Andover, 19, 29, 34, 73
Angmering, Sussex, 50
Anson, Lord, 146
Antecliapel, 20, 148
Antonine, 161
— Itinerary of, 1-6
Antwerp, 49
Aquitaine, 30 {see Guienne)
Armoury, 55
Arragon, Katharine of, 136, 153 4
Arthur, King, Round Table, 38
Atkyns of Tuffley, 65
Attehurst, Atte Ostre, 17
Atte Lane, 32
Augustine, St., 150
order of, 66, 1 47
Austen, Miss, 130
Austen-Leigh, Rev. J. Edward
124, 126, 132
Awdelett, 47
B-VCON, Lord, 140
Badlesmere ar;;zj, 150
Bagshot, 61
Baker of Sissenhurst, 73
Banks, 23, 149
Barbarossa, 45
Barker of Chiswick, 6g
Base Court, 34, 136, 137
Basing, 1 1, 60, 62, 65
Basingstoke, 18, 20, 32, 35, -jt,
— church, 40 ; races, 83
Bath, 4, 60
Bathurst of Lydney, 8
Battle Abbey, 14
Beach, Col., and William, 123
Beaurepaire, 30, 43
Bedingfiekl, Sir T., 71
Beke, Marmadukc, 57
Belhus, Esse.x, 74, 79, 163
Belvoir Castle, 50, 79
Benedictine Priories, 12, 14
Benfelde, 32
Ben Jonson, 140
Bentlev
1 66
INDEX
BEN
Bentley, 105-1 12
Berkeley, 39 {see 57)
Biron, Duke de, 60-63
Bishop's cup, 7 1
Boleyn, Queen Anne, 37, 44-46,
•35! 151
Bolton, Duke of, 83
Bordeaux, M. de, 74
Borhunte, de, 31
Boulainvilliers, Count de, 98
Bramdene, 65
Bramley, 12, 132, 149
Bramshill, 12, 68
Bramston, 71, 130
Brandon, Duke of, 38, 39, 147
Bray, Sir R. and Margery, 34
— arms and badge, 20, 34, 54, 148,
155.163
Braybeof, 18
Brevint, Dr., 80
Brocas, 30,65, 149 ; anus, 148, 155
Brydges, 63, 106
Buckingham, Villiers Duke of, 140
Buckvvorth, 131
Bulstrode, Sir E., 80
Bulwer, 131
Burghley, Lord, 59, 60, 98
Burton, Richard de, 17
Byng, 113
Caer Segont, 5
Caius College, 112
Calais, 35, 38, 39 ; keys of, 41
Calcot Park, 5
Calleva, 2-5
Cambridge, Duke of (1648), 72
Candover, 12
Carnarvon, Lord, 5, 127, 128
— Brydges, Marquis of, 106
Cartagena, 88
COB
Castalio, 103
Cecil, Sir VV., 59
~~ Sir R., 61
Chalcot, Walter, 56
Chalfont, 105
Chaloner, 68 ; arms, 150, 161
Chandos, Duke of, 63, 106
Chapel, 1 1-28, 65
Chapuys, 44
Charles IL, 80-82
— V. (Emperor), 37, 44
Chawton, 126
Chelsea, 66, gi ; College, 114
Cheney of Sherland, 34
Chiswick, 68, 69, 76-78
Cholderton, 29
Church Oakley, 12, 130, 158
Churchill, Lady Mary, 105
Chute, 67-68 ; arms, 68, 150, 161
— Arthur and Elizabeth, 162
— Chaloner, the Speaker, 67-77,
'37> 138; monument, 149, 150
his son, ■]•], 78
grandson, 79
— Thomas (1687), 79, 120
— Edward (1685), 80-83, 120, 138
— Anthony (1722), 83-84
— John (1754), 85-117
— Francis, f 9, 96
— Thomas Lobb (1776), 120
— William John (1790), 121-30
— Thomas Vere (1824), 130
— William Lyde Wiggett (1827),
131-3
— Chaloner William (1879), 133
Clare arms, 150
Clarendon, Lord, 64, 76
Clarke arms, 148
Clement VIL, 44
Cley [or Cockley Cley), 131
Cobham, Lord, 61
Cocchi
INDEX
167
coc
Cocchi, 87, I ro
Colbert, 109
Colchester oysters, 79
Coley Park, 5
Compton, Sir William, 42
Cope, Sir John, 126
Cotterell, 78
Courtenay, Earl of Devon, 41
Cowdray family, 16-19
Cowdray, Sussex, 16, 135
Crebillon, 99
Cromwell, Oliver, 78
— Richard, 74
— Thomas, 43-48
Cufaude or Cuffold, 18, 48, 147, 163
D'Abbitot rtrwj-, 148, 158
Dacre of Hurstmonceaux, 73, 77,
79. loS, 147. 163
— Dorothy, Lady, 73, 77, 79, 147,
149. 163
Danby, 81
Dean (Decanus), 14
De Bosco, 14
De Coverley, Roger, 30
De la Launde arms, 150, 161
De la Mere anus, 148
De Lucy, Bishop, 14
Denton, Wharfedale, 31
De Port, 1 1-13
De Roches, 18, 31, 32 ; arms, 14S
De Vere arms, 148, 155
Devon, Courtenay Earl of, 41
{see Exeter)
Digby, Kenelm, 77
Dining CItamber, 1 39, 1 46
Dolman's " Architecture,' 25
Domesday Book, 10, 12, 16
Drawing Rooms, 144
Dummer, 12
FIT
Eagle {see Roman)
Easthamstede, 35
Eastrop, i8
Ebbvvorth, 124
Edward II L, 17 ; head of, 19, 14S
-IV., 12,48
— VI., 27, 57
Egremont, Lord, 122
Elizabeth of Hungary, 21
— of York, 2 1
— Queen, 57-62
Elvetham, 130
Essex, Sir W., 42, 50, 56 ; arms
155
— Earl of, 60, 62
— second Earl of, 140
— Countess of, 140
Eton College, 12, 20, 35, 85
Eudo artns, i 50
Evelyn, 81, 82
Ewhurst, 12
Exeter, Courtenay Marquis of, 41,
44 {see Devon)
Fairfax, 71, 76
Fairford windows, 40, 149
Farley, 108
Farnham, 6, 18
— Castle, 43
Ferdinand of Arragon, 35
Ferretti, in, 148
Fetiplace, 51, note
Field of Cloth of Gold, 36, 41
Finkley, 6
Fisher, Bishop, 48
FitzAdam, 1 1-13
FitzBernard arms, 1 50
FitzGerald arms, i 50
FitzHamond arms, 15c
FitzRoy
1 68
INDEX
FIT
FitzRoy arms, 1 50
Florence, 86-98
Florentine casket, 144
Fontarabia, 35
Foster, Sir Humphrey, 50, 56
— arms, 14S, 156
Fox, Bishop, 40
— arms, 156
France, arms, 149
Frederick the Great, 93
Fremantle Park, i 56 ■
Fuller, 69, 70
Fyfifhide, 19, 30
Gallery, Sioiie, 140
— oak, 152
Galuppi, 91
Garrick, 90, 93
Gascoigne, poet, 63
"Gaskoyn" claret, 43
Gerard, Lord Brandon, 80
Gifford, 55
• — arms, 150
Godolphin, Dr., 85
— Mrs., 82
Goodman's Fields Theatre, 91, 93
Grafton, Duke, 82
Grantham, 79, 156
Gray, T., 85-117
Great Seal of the Coininonwealth
(1651), 72
Gregory, St., 150
— William, 20
Grenville, 113, 128
Guernsey, 158
Guienne, 35 {sec Aquitaine)
Guilford, Sir E., 38
Guillim, 77
Guisnes, 36 ; captain of, 41- 46
Guist, 131
HOU
Hackwood, S3, 108
Haddock, Commissioner, 87
Hadrian,
2,6
Hague, Si, 144
Hale, Sir M., 72
Hambden, 80
Hamilton, James, Duke of, 72
Hampton Court, 61, 140
Harford arms, 150
Hartley Wintney, 17
Hazlcrig, 75
Heam, Master, 71
Heathcote, Sir W., 126-29
Hempbreakerh?iAgc, 34, 54
Henry I. (Beauclerc), 12
— n., 12
-IV., v., VI., 31
-VI., 85
— VII., 21, 34,42, 136
— VIII., 23, 34-49, 67,68, 136, 139,
153
— of Bavaria, 2 1
Herbert, 79 ; arms, 148
Hermassone, Arnoult, 49
Herriaid, 12, 16, 17
Hertford, Lord, 140, 160
— arms, 150, 161
Hervey, Lord, 1 14
Heydon, 89, 131
Heylyn, Peter, 40, 149
Heytesbuiy, 50, 156
Hicks, Sir William, 130
Highclere, 18
Hoddington, 123
Holbein, 39, 139, 147
Holinshead, 38
Holland, 81, 92
Holmes, Sir R., 82
Holy Ghost Chapel, 40, 64, 65, 149
Hopton, Sir R., 65
Houghton, 94
Hound.s
INDEX
169
HOU
Hounds, Mr. Chute's, 12 1-6
— Pytchley, 31
— Vine, 121, 123
Howard, Lord, 80
— arms, 148, 155
Hubberd, John, 62
Huguenots, 133
Hungerford, 50, 60, 62
— arms, 1 56
Huntingdon, Earl of, 57
Hursley, 126-2S
Hurstmonceaux, 73, 105 {see Dacre)
Hussey arms, 148
Hyde, Abbot of, 38
Inglefield, 45
Inventory, Ancient, 25, 50, 144-48,
151, 152
Irby arms, 148
Jamaica, 82
James I., 68, 160
— II., 82
— IV. of Scotland, 156
Jay, Robert de, 17, 18
Jenkins, Sir L., 80
Jerome, St., 150
Jervoise, 127
Jones, Inigo, 137
Jutes, 68
Juvenal, 8, 72
Katharine of Arragon, 20, .-14, 136,
153-54
Keck, Sir Anthony and Katharine,
82,83
— arms, 150, 16 1
Kelvedon, 68
Kempshot, 12
MAI
Kennet, River, 122
Kensington, 68
Kimbolton, 154
Kingsclere, 12
Kingsmill, 62, 81, 163
King's Somborne, 66
Kingston Chapel, 19
La Belle, 147
La Cour, 114
Lambeth Palace Chapel, 25
Languedoc, 133
Lanyon, arms, 150, 161
Laud, 71
Laverstoke, 123
Lavour, 88
Leland, 29, 30, 34
Lennard, 74, 77 ; arms, 149 [sec
Dacre)
Lenthal, Speaker, 71
Liddel, 87
Lincoln, Bishop of (1641), 70
Lisle, Mr. Edward, 83 ; Lord, 43
Liverpool, Lord, 130
Lobkowitz, 92, 93
London, city arms, 24
— map of, 141
Long arms, 149
Louis XII. of France, 39
— XIII. of France, 162
— XIV. of France, 80, 109
Lovelace, Lord, 79
Lydney (Gloucestershire), 8
Lynch, Sir T., 82
Lyttelton, Sir G., 108
Lyvery .Cupboard, 145
Macaulay, 140
Magdalen College, 20, 133, 159
Maillebois, 92, 94
Maine
170
INDEX
MAI
Maine, State of, 160
Malshanger, 57, 133, 15S
Maltravers, Lord, 49 ; knot, 53
Manchester, Earl of, 71
Mandeville arms, 1 50
Mann, Sir H., 86-117
Manners (see Roos)
Margaret, daughter of Henry VII.,
21, 156
Maria Theresa, 92, 93, 99
Marlborough, Duchess of, 91
Mary, sister of Henry VIII., 39
— Queen of Scots, 57-60, i6i
Mazarin, Cardinal, 74
Mewtas, Mr., 35
Middleton, Dr., 98
Mildmay, Sir H., 128-29
Minorca, 113
Montague, G., 105-112
— Lord, 16
Mordaunt, Mr., 76
Morden's maps, 141
More, Sir T., 37, 48
— Wm., Prior of Worcester, 47
Morgueson, 15, 16, 39, 112
Mortimer {see Stratfield Mortimer)
— arms of, 1 50
Mottisfont Abbey, 66, 137
Muntz, 143
Nantes, Edict of, 133
Naples, 99
Naseby, So
Neville, Lord, 50, 157
— arms, 22, 157
Newbury, 3, 65
Newmarket, 82
Newton, Sir I., 96
Nichol, Margaret, loi, 106
Nodens, temple of, 8, 9
PON
Noel, Lady Bridget, 79
North, Roger, 69, 74
— Lord, 73, 74, 78-80, 120, 147
Oakley [see Church Oakley)
Orford, Lord, 91, 106
Orleton, Bishop, 17, 18
Ormond, Duke of, 81
Oxford, visitation of, 71, 72
Pace, Richard, 37
Paddington, 66
Palmer, Sir John, 50
Palmerston, Lord, 127-29
Park work, Tapestry, 25, 145
Parma collection, 99
Paulet 43, 140, 157
— arms, 148, 157 {see Powlett)
Peckham, Sir W., 50
Peeche, Sir J., 18
Pelham, 74, 107
Pembroke, Lord, 96
Penobscot, 160
Perceval, Mr., 130
Pergolesi, 91, 93
Perkin Warbeck, 159
Pescetti, 91
Pexhalle, 43
Pickenham, 120, 130, 131
Pitt, 127-29, 161
Pitt's diamond, 92, 94
Poitiers, 30, 131
Pole, Cardinal, 48
— Earl of Suffolk, 46
— Marie, 48
— of Wolverton, 1 23
Pompeio Battoni, 144
Pompon, 109
Pontes, 3
Popham
INDEX
i/i
POP
Popham arms, 148
Portal, 57, 123, 133, 134
Portico, the, 137, 138
Portland, ministry, 130
Portsmouth, •]■;,, 129, 140
Poussin, 143
Power, CO. Worcester, arms, 148,
158
Powlett, 83 {see Bolton)
Pratolino, 94
Price, 41
Probus, Emperor, 6, 140
Pytchley hounds, 31
QUEENSBURY, Lady, gi
Queen's College, 12
Raby, Neville of, 50, 157
Raleigh, 61
Ranelagh Gardens, 91, 93, 97
Reading, 2-5, 35
Richard II., 30
Richmond, Duchess of, 160
Rivett of Brandeston, 79, 120,
150
• — arms, 1 50
Roches {see De Roches)
— arms, 148
Rochester, Bishop of (1641;, 70,
Rockingham Castle, 31
Rodney, Sir George, 160
Roman eagle, 10, 97
— monumental inscriptions, 141-43
— ring, 7-9
Roos, Baron, 50 ; anns, 148, 1 58
Rosalba, 100, 10 1
Rotterdam, 84
Rousham, 78
SID
Rowell, John, 1 50
Russell, Lord, 80, 81
— Lord John, 127
Rutland, Duke of, 50, 79, 1 58
Rycroft, Sir R., 123
Rye House Plot, 80
Sadei-.er'S prints, 116
St. Hillary arms, 150
St. John, 15 ; arms, 148
St. Mary Bourne, 6
Salisbury, Countess of, 48
Sandys, 20, 29-65
— arms, 33, 154 ; badge, 22, 49, 154
— motto Qx posy, 145, 154, 161
— of Latymers, ;^o, 64, 66
— first Lord, of the Vyne, 34-57,
136, 154, 163
— Margery, Lady, 34, 47, 163
— second Lord, of the Vyne, 57
— third Lord, of the Vyne, 57-65
— Catherine, Lady, 63
— Colonel Henry, 64, 66, 137
— fourth Lord, 66
Say arms, 150, 161
Sclater, 123
Scrope arms, 1 50
^fa/ of Cowdray, 16 {sec Great Seal)
Segontium, 5
Selden, John, 72
Senicianus, ring of, 7-9
Seymour, Sir John, 42
Shaftesbury, Lord, (1684), 81
Shelley, Sir Benedict, 31
Sherborne, I, 12, 14, 15, 17
— church, 13, 14, 32, 66, 117, 130
— Cowdray, 17, 20
— Priory, 12, 14
Shrewsbury, Earl of, 57-59
Sidney, 80, 81
Silchester
172
INDEX
SIL
Silchester, 4, 5, 10, 122
Singing Bread, 27
Sissenhurst, ll
Skelton arms, 148
Skory, 69 ; arms, 149, 150, 161
Smith, Joshua, 130
SoUe, Thomas, 19
Southampton, 73
Spanish Armada, 60
Speen, 3
Spence's "Anecdotes," 96, no
Spours or Spurs, battle of, 16
Staircase, 112, 139
Steventon, 18, 130
Stockbridge, 66
Stratfield Mortimer, 45, 51, 156
Stratfieldsaye, 10, 12, 123
Strawberry Hill, 97, 105, 113, 143
— Parlour, 1 39
Sulhamstead, 122
Summer House, 77, 85, 138
Superaltar, 15, 27
Sutton Court, 76
Sutton, Sir R., 99
Sweating sickness, 42
Swithun, St., Prior of, 17, 38
Taunton, 67
Temple, Lord, 127-29
— Mrs., 82
Terry, Stephen, 123
Thetford, 68
Thistlethwayte, of Southwick Park,
86, 128, 129
Thorne arms, 150, i6i
Tibetot arms, 1 50
Tichborne, 18, 62
Tiles, Italian, 23
Titian, 150
Tittenhanger, 42
WES
Torcy, 109
Toulouse, 133
Tracy, Ferdinand, 83
Trapnell, 45
Tunstall, Bishop, 158
Tun worth, 12
Turgis, 18
Turner, Professor, 114
Twickenham, 1 1 5
Ulveva, 10
Upton Gray, 12
Urbino tiles, 23
Vauxhall, 97
Venice, 86
Venta Belgarum, 2, 3
Versailles, Basin of, 94
Vindomis, 1-6
Vyne or Vine, origin of name, 1-6
(See Chapel, Gallery, Inventory)
Wallcott, Captain, 80
Waller, Sir William, 65
Walpole, Horace, i, 11, 15, 85-119,
138, 139, 148 ; Edward, 141
Walsh arms, 148
Warburton, Bisliop, 98, 99
Warham, Arclibishop, 57, 150;
arms, 15S
Warner, John, Bishop, 70
Washbourne arms, 148, 158
Waynflete, William, 20, 31
Webb, John, 137, 138
Wellington, Duke of, 123
Wells chapel, 25
Westbury, 42
Westmoreland, Earl of, 50, 157
Whitehall
INDEX
173
WHI
Whitehall, 37, 65, 80
Whitelock, 74, 75
Whithed, 86, 96, icx)-2, 106
Wickham of BulHngton, 123
Wiggett, 120, 131 ; arms, 150
William I. (Conqueror), 11, 131
— II. (Rufus), 12
— III. (of Orange), 81
Williams, John, Bishop, 70
Winchester, 2-5, 12, 38, -Ji, 81, 122
— Bishops, 14, 17,20,31, 44, 48,82
— Castle, 38, 60
— College, 20, So, 131, 158
— Marquis of, n, 60
Windows, nmllioned, 136 ; sashed,
137
Windsor, 35, 45
— Lord, 57
Wingfield, Sir R., 41
— House, 57
YOR
Winslade, 12
Witcombe Park, 130
Wither, Lovelace Bigg, 123
Wolmer Forest, 43, 46
Wolsey, 36, 41, 42, 136, 157-59
— arms of, 1 59
Wolverton, 123
Woolbeding, 40
Woolterton, 108
Worcester, Earl of, 36, 41
— Prior of, 47
Worldham, 46
Wren, Sir Christopher, 141
Wychford, 19
Y.\RMOUTH (Isle of Wight), 83
York, Archbishop of, 44
— Place, 37
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