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THE 


JOURNEY 


FROM 


CHESTER  TO  LONDON. 


Primed  by  S.  Hamilton,  Weypridje. 


:t..|lllillli!|l!iWl!lil|lliii-!i"ll'! 


IN 
S 


THti 


JOURNEY 


FROM 


CHESTER  TO   LONDON, 


BY 


THOMAS  PENNANT,  ESQ. 


WITH  NOTES. 


LONDON: 
PRINTED  FOR  WILKIE  AND  ROBINSON  J  J.  NUNN  J  WHITE  AND 
COCHRANE  ;  LONGMAN,  HURST,  REES,  ORME,  AND  BROWN ; 
VERNOR,  HOOD,  AND  SHARPE  ;  CADELL  AND  DAVIES ;  J. 
HARDING  J  J.  RICHARDSON  J  J.  BOOTH  J  J.  MAWMAN  ',  AND 
J.  JOHNSON  AND    CO. 

1811. 


Co  T^O 

\t\r- 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


X  HE  ground  which  is  described  in  the  following 
sheets,  has  been  for  some  centuries  passed  over 
by  the  incurious  Traveller ;  and  has  had  the  hard 
fortune  of  being  constantly  execrated  for  its  dul- 
ness.  To  retort  the  charge,  and  clear  it  from  the 
calumny,  is  my  present  business.  To  shew  that 
the  road  itself,  or  its  vicinity,  is  replete  with  either 
antient  historic  facts,  or  with  matter  worthy  of  pre- 
sent attention,  is  an  affair  of  no  great  difficulty. 
Possibly  my  readers  may  subscribe  to  the  opinion, 
that  the  tract  is  not  absolutely  devoid  of  entertain- 
ment, and  that  the  blame  rests  on  themselves,  not 
the  country. 


Whatsoever  entertainment  they  may  meet 
with,  let  them  join  with  me  in  thanks  to  the  fol- 
lowing contributors.     Firstly  and  chiefly,  to  the 


Vi  ADVERTISEMENT. 

Reverend  Mr.  Cole  of  Milton,  near  Cambridge  ; 
after  him,  to  the  Reverend  Doctor  Edwards,  of 
Nuneaton,  near  Coventry ;  to  Mr.  Greene,  Sur- 
geon, in  Lichfield;  and  to  the  Reverend  Arch- 
deacon Coxe,  of  Flitton,  Bedfordshire.     To  these 

Gentlemen  I  owe  great  obligations  for  their  assist- 
ance. 

Public  !  smile  on  what  is  right :  candidly  con- 
vey correction  of  what  is  wrong. 

THOMAS  PENNANT. 

Downing,  March  1782. 


. 


. 


ITINERARY. 


vU 


PART  I. 

Chester 
Christleton    . 
Tarvin       .     . 
Torporley 
Beeston  Castle 
Bunbury 
Acton       .     . 
Nantwich 
Wybunbury 
Doddington  Hall 
Wore   .     .    . 
Swinerton     . 
Darlaston 
Stone  .     .    . 
Sandon     .    . 
Chartley   .     . 
Stow  Church 
Heywood 
Shugborough 
Tixal        .     . 
Jngestre    .     . 
Stafford    .    . 


1 
2 
5 
9 
14 
19 
26 
32 
49 
53 
60 
65 
66 
77 
80 
84 
87 
89 
91 
94 
97 
99 


Page 

Colwich  .  .  '.  .  .  107 
Blithefield  .  .  .  .110 
Maveston  Ridvvare  .  118 
King's  Bromley  .  .  120 
Wichnor  .  .  .  .  .121 
Rudgley    .     .  *  .     .     .128 

Longdon 129 

Beaudesert  ....  130 
Lichfield        .     .     .    .136 

Ilford 159 

Croxal 162 

Tamworth     .    .     .    .164 

Lichfield 171 

Canwell 172 

Moxhull  .     .     .    .    .  173 

Coleshill 174 

Blithe  Hall  ...  .  179 
Maxstoke  Castle  .  .  182 
Packington  ....  184 

Mireden 185 

Coventry 188 

Combe  Abbey  .  .  .  237 
Knightlow    ....  250 


vm 


ITINERARY. 


Dunchurch  .  • 
Braunston  .  . 
Daventry  .  . 
Borough  Hill  . 
Wedon  .  .  . 
Stow  Nine  Churches 
Toucester  .  . 
Easton  Neston  . 
Stoney  Stratford 
Blecheley  .  . 
Fenny  Stratford 
Little  Brickhill  . 
Hockliffe  .  . 
Dunstable  .  , 
Market  Cell  .  . 
Redburn  .  .  . 
Gorhambury 
Verulamium 
St.Alban's  .  . 
Hadley  .  ;  , 
Barnet  .  .  , 
London    .    .    , 


PART  II. 


251 

253 

255 

258 

264 

267 

272 

275 

284 

ib. 

289 

290 

291 

292 

,  299 

301 

,  304 

339 

.  348 

,  386 

.  390 

,  392 


Daventry 
Badby      . 
Fawsley    . 


393 
393 
394 


Flore    .... 
Northampton     . 
Castle  Ashby 
Easton  Mauduit 
Northampton    . 
De  la  Pre  Abbey 
Eltavon     .     .     . 
Horton  Church 
Gothurst  .     .    . 
Tyringham    .     . 
Newport  Pagnel 
Woburn  Town  . 

Abbey 

Ampthill  .    .     . 
Houghton  Park 
Maulden  Church 
Wrest  .     .    . 
Flitton  Church 
Luton      .     . 

-Ho      . 

Hatfield  .  . 
Gobions  .  . 
Enfield  Palace 
Waltham 
Copthall  .  . 
Theobalds  . 
London    .    . 


Page 

400 

402 

418 

426 

432 

ib. 

434 

435 

437 

455 

458 

463 

464 

498 

505 

507 

.  503 

.  521 

.  524 

.  529 

.  533 

.  559 

.  560 

.  562 

.  566 

.  567 

.  568 


/>■  3W- 


./.  t},/,/K;i/l  *eu/jp? 

GEOIGE   CAJLTJEMT,  THE  F3BST  LOID  BAIL  TIM  ©ME, 
From  the  Original  Ftaturc  ,ii  Gorhambury. 

PiML-/ml  Mnv  idn.bv  ll'/iitr  H-  <}>r/ir<uu-,&v. 


>UK"TJESS    OF     SlTFOLK. 

From  tfw  Original  /'inure    ,it    doHuimbury. 


p.  ./!<>■ 


»H^    TAJLBOT,  JEAELL    OJF     §  HBJE  WSB  URT". 
From  die  Original  Fw/n/r  ,it  Gude  Ashby. 

Jhblit/url  Mm  ldn,  by  >f/u/F  X-  detnaM  Xr. 


f>-4#7 


riWIrTilf  m$? 

..MAHGAIET,  COUHTESS    OF     ClTMBEllAl"I). 
Trom  the  ('riai/i.iJ  /Vr/wr  ,//  /I','/'///-// . 

/'„/,/,.,■/„;/  ,11,, i     I, 'in   by  ll'/iilr  «■  tii,V,nmr ..<!;■ . 


JOURNEY 


LONDON. 

IN  March  1780,  I  began  my  annual  journey  to 
London.  At  Chester  some  improvements  had 
taken  place  since  my  last  account  of  the  city.  A 
very  commodious  building  has  been  erected  in  the 
Yatchfield,  near  the  Watergate  street,  for  the  sale 
of  Irish  linen  at  the  two  fairs.  It  surrounds 
a  large  square  area;  on  each  side  of  which  are 
piazzas,  with  numbers  of  shops  well  adapted  for 
the  purpose. 

In  digging  the  foundation  for  certain  houses 
near  the  street,  were  discovered  some  Roman 
buildings,  and  a  large  Hypocaust  with  its  several 
conveniences ;  and  some  other  antiquities,  parti- 
cularly a  beautiful  altar*,  dedicated  Fortiuue 
Rcduci  et  JEsculapio.     Much  of  its  inscription  is 

*  Engraven  in  Moses  Griffith's  Supplemental  Plates  to  the. 
Tours  in  Wales,  tab.  X. 

B 


4  CHRISTLETON. 

abbey.  In  the  Saxon  times,  every  man  was  allowed 
to  kill  game  on  his  own  estate,  but  on  the  Conquest 
the  king  vested  the  property  of  all  the  game  in  him- 
self, so  that  no  one  could  sport,  even  on  his  own 
land,  under  most  cruel  penalties,  without  permission 
from  the.  king,  by  grant  of  a  chase  or  free  warren. 
By  this,  the  grantee  had  an  exclusive  power  of 
killing  game  on  his  own  estate,  but  it  was  on  con- 
dition that  he  prevented  every  one  else ;  so  that, 
as  our  learned  commentator e  observes,  this  seem- 
ing favour  was  intended  for  the  preservation  of  the 
beasts  and  fowls  of  warren;  which  were  roes, 
hares,  and  rabbits,  partridge,  rails,  and  quails, 
woodcocks  and  pheasants,  mallards,  and  herons, 
for  the  sport  of  our  savage  monarchs.  This 
liberty,  which  they  allowed  to  a  few  individuals, 
being  designed  merely  to  prevent  a  general  de- 
struction. 

Christleton  passed  from  the  Birmingham*,  in 
Richard 'II.' 's  time,  to  Sir  Hugh  Brower :  Sir  Hugh 
lost  it  by  his  attachment  to  the  house  of  York; 
and  Henry  the  IVth,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his 
reign,  bestowed  it  on  John  Manxvaring,  of  Over 
Peover,  an  attendant  on  his  son,  afterwards 
Henry  Vf.  Manxvaring  having  no  lawful  issue, 
bestowed  this  place  on  Sir  Thomas  le  Grosvenor, 

e  Judge  Blackstone.  f  Leicester,  333. 


CHRISTLETON.    TARVIN. 

lord  of  Hulme;  but  it  passed  immediately  from 
him  to  John  de  Macclesfield,  in  the  10th  of  Henry 
V.  One  of  his  descendants  alienated  it,  in  1442, 
or  the  21st  of  Henry  VI.  to  Humphrey  (afterward 
Duke)  of  Buckingham.  Henry  Lord  Stafford, 
son  to  Edzvard  Duke  of  Buckingham,  sold  it  to 
Sir  William  Sneyde,  of  Keel;  and  Sir  Ralph  Sneyde, 
to  Sir  John  Harpur,  of  Swerston,  in  Derbyshire  ; 
one  of  whose  descendants  sold  it  to  Thomas  Brock5, 
Esquire,  the  present  lord  of  the  manor.  The 
living  is  a  rectory,  in  the  disposal  of  Sir  Roger 
Mostyn :  the  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  James. 

From  hence  I  took  the  horse-road  across 
Brownheath,  by  Hockenhall,  formerly  the  seat  of 
a  family  of  the  same  name.  The  rising  country 
to  the  left  of  this  road  appears  to  great  advantage, 
opposing  to  the  traveller  a  fair  front,  beautifully 
clumped  with  self-planted  groves. 

Passed  over  a  brook,  and  reached  the  small 
town  of  Tarvin,  which  still  retains  nearly  its 
British  name  Terfyn,  or  the  Boundary,  being  so 
to  the  forest  of  Delamere.  In  Doomsday  book  it 
is  stiled  Terve :  the  bishop  at  that  time  held  it. 
It  then  contained  six  taxable  hides  of  land.  The 
bishop  kept  on  it  six  cowmen,  three  radmen,  seven 

8  On  Mr.  Brock's  decease,  the  manor  devolved  on  his  nephew 
John  Brock  Wood,  Esq.     Ed. 


6  TARVIX. 

villeyns,  seven  boors,  and  six  ploughlands.  The 
first  were  to  keep  his  cattle;  the  second  to  attend 
his  person  in  his  travels,  or  to  go  wheresoever  he 
pleased  to  send  them ;  the  third,  by  their  tenure, 
to  cultivate  his  lands ;  and  the  fourth,  to  supply 
his  table  with  poultry,  eggs,  and  other  small 
matters.  The  plough  land,  or  caruca,  was  as  much 
as  one  plough  could  work  in  the  year.  This  shews 
the  establishment  of  a  manor  in  those  early  times ; 
which  I  mention  now  to  prevent  repetition. 

In  Hairy  VI.'s  time  the  village  and  manor  were 
estimated  at  23/.  a  year,  and  were  held  by  Regi- 
nald, bishop  of  Lichfield,  in  the  same  manner  as 
they  were  held  by  his  predecessors,  under  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  as  earl  of  Chester.  They  conti- 
nued possessed  by  them  till  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  when  they  were  alienated  to  Sir  John 
Savage,  who  procured  for  the  town  the  privilege 
of  a  market.  The  church  is  a  rectory,  and  still 
continues  part  of  the  see  of  Lichfield ;  being  a 
prebendary,  originally  founded  about  the  year 
1 226,  by  Alexander  de  Stavenby,  bishop  of  that 
diocese.  It  is  valued  at  26/.  1 3*.  Ad.  the  highest 
endowment  of  any  prebend  in  that  cathedral.  It 
is  called  the  prebend  of  Tarvin,  which  presents  to 
the  living. 

The  same  prelate  also  bestowed  this  church 


TARVIN.  7 

on  the  vice-prebendal  church  of  Burton,  in 
Wiral*;  and  formed  out  of  its  revenues  an  hos- 
pital for  shipwrecked  persons.  This  hospital  was 
probably  at  Burton,  Tarvin  being  too  remote  from 
the  sea  for  so  humane  a  design. 

Against  the  church-wall  is  a  monument,  in 
memory  of  Mr.  John  Thomasine,  thirty-six  jrears 
master  of  the  grammar-school.  The  epitaph  de- 
servedly celebrates  the  performances  of  this  ex- 
quisite penman,  as  "  highly  excelling  in  all  the 
"  varieties  of  writing,  and  wonderfully  so  in  the 
"  Greek  characters.  Specimens  of  his  ingenuity 
"  are  treasured  up,  not  only  in  the  cabinets  of 
"  the  curious,  but  in  public  libraries  throughout 
"  the  kingdom.  He  had  the  honour  to  tran- 
"  scribe,  for  her  Majesty  Queen  Anne,  the  Icon 
"  Basilike  of  her  royal  grandfather.  Invaluable 
"  copies  also  of  Pindar,  Anacreon,  Theocritus, 
"  Epictetus,  Hippocrates  s  Aphorisms,  and  that 
"  finished  piece  the  Shield  of  Achilles,  as  described 
"  by  Homer,  are  among  the  productions  of  his 
"  celebrated  pen. 

"  As  his  incomparable  performances  acquired 
"  him  the  esteem  and  patronage  of  the  great  and 
"  learned ;  so  his  affability  and  humanity  gained 
"  him  the  good-will  of  all  his  acquaintance ;  and 

h  Awlia  Sacra,  i.  4-46. 


STAPLEFORD.    UTKINTON. 

"  the  decease  of  so  much   private  -worth  is  re- 
"  gretted  as  a  public  loss." 

From  Tarvin  I  travel  on  the  great  road,  and  at 
about  two  miles  distance,  leave  on  the  right  Sta- 
pleford,  which  retains  the  name  it  had  at  the 
Conquest,  when  it  Mas  held  by  Radulpus  Venator 
from  Hugh  Lupus.  After  a  long  interval,  it  fell  to 
the  Breretons.  In  1378,  or  the  second  of  Richard 
II.  it  was  held  by  Sir  William  Brereton  of  the 
king,  as  earl  of  Chester.  From  that  family  it 
passed  to  the  Bruyns,  and  was  purchased  by  the 
late  Randle  JVilbraham,  Esquire. 

Two  miles  farther,  on  the  left,  stood  Utkinton 
Hall:  the  manor,  with  Kingsley,  and  the  bailey- 
wick  of  the  forest  of  Delamere,  was  given  by 
Randle  Meschincs,  earl  of  Chester,  to  Randle  de 
Kingsley ;  whose  great  grand-daughter  Joan, 
about  the  year  1233,  conveyed  it  to  the  Dories. 
Richard  Done  was  possessed  of  it  in  1311,  the 
sixth  of  Edward  II.  He  held  it  by  a  quarter 
part  of  a  knight's  fee,  and  the  master  forcstership 
of  Merc  {Delamere)  and  Mottram,  by  himself, 
and  a  horseman,  and  eight  footmen  under  him,  to 
keep  that  forest,  then  valued  at  10/.  106'.  3d. 

Upon  the  failure  of  issue  male  of  Sir  John 
Done,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
the  manor  of  Utkinton  came  to  his  daughters,  and 
has  been  since  held  by  them,  or  persons  claming 


THE  DONES.    TORPORLEY. 

under  them.  Mary,  the  second  daughter,  mar- 
ried, in  1636,  John,  second  son  of  Sir  Randle 
Crew,  of  Crew  j  and  Elinor,  the  younger,  Ralph 
Ardeme,  Esquire. 

The  Dones  of  Flaxy ard,  in  this  neighborhood, 
were  another  considerable  family,  at  constant  feud 
with  the  former,  till  the  houses  were  united  by  the 
nuptials  of  the  heir  of  Flaxy ard  with  the  heiress 
of  Utkinton.  But  at  this  time  both  those  antient 
seats  are  demolished,  or  turned  into  farm-houses. 

From  hence  I  soon  reached  Torpor  ley,  a  small 
town,  seated  on  a  gentle  descent.  It  had  once 
been  a  borough  town,  of  which  Richard  Francis 
was  mayor  in  the  twentieth  of  Edztard  I.  In  the 
tenth  of  the  same  reign,  Hugh  de  Tarpoley  had 
licence  to  hold  a  market  here  every  Tuesday,  and 
a  fair  on  the  vigil,  the  feast  day,  and  the  day  after 
the  exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross  ;  but  he  alienated 
this  privilege,  with  this  property,  to  Reginald  de 
Grey,  chief  justice  of  Chester. 

In  the  eighth  of  Richard  II.  this  manor  was 
divided  into  two  moieties ;  one  of  which  was  held 
by  John  Done,  the  other  by  Reginald  Grey,  of 
the  family  of  Lord  Grey,  of  Ruthin. 

The  manor  and  rectory  of  Torpor  ley  are  now 
divided  into  six  shares:  four  belong  to  the  Ar- 
dcns ;   one  to  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Chester  ; 


10  TORPORLEY. 

and  another  to  Philip  Egerton1,    Esquire,    of 
Oulton. 

The  living  is  a  rectory,  the  advowson  of  which 
is  divided  into  the  same  portions  as  the  manor. 
The  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Heien,  the  Empress 
of  Const  ant  his,  the  daughter  of  Coel,  a  British 
prince,  a  popular  saint  among  us,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  number  of  churches  under  her  protection. 
That  in  question  is  of  no  great  antiquity,  in  respect 
to  the  building ;  nor  has  it  any  beauty.  Within  is 
much  waste  of  good  marble,  in  monumental 
vanity. 

The  best  are  two  monuments  in  the  chancel, 
seemingly  copied  from  half-length  portraits.  Two 
figures  in  mezzo  relievo  are  included  in  carved 
borders  of  marble,  in  imitation  of  frames:  that 
of  Sir  John  Done,  Knight,  hereditary  forester  and 
keeper  of  the  forest  of  Delamere,  who  died  in 
1629,  is  picturesque.  He  is  represented  in  a 
laced  jacket,  and  with  a  horn  in  his  hand,  the 
badge  of  his  office :  which  horn  descended  to 
the  different  owners  of  the  estate,  and  is  now  in 
the  possession  of  John  Arden,  Esquire. 

When  that  Ninwod,  James  I.  made  a  progress 
in  1617,  he  was  entertained  by  this  gentleman  at 
Utkinton ;  "  Avho  ordered  so  wisely  and  content- 

1  His  son  John  Egerton,  Esquire,  is  the  present  proprietor. 
Ed. 


TORPORLEY.  U 

"fully"  says  King*,  "his  Highness's  sports,  that 
"  James  conferred  on  him  the  honor  of  knighthood." 
He  married  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Thomas  Wil- 
braham,  Esquire,  of  Woodhey  ;  who  left  behind 
her  so  admirable  a  character,  that,  to  this  day, 
when  a  Cheshire  man  would  express  some  excel- 
lency in  one  of  the  fair  sex,  he  would  say,  "There 
"  is  Lady  Done  for  you.'7 

The  other  figure  is  of  John  Crezv,  Esquire, 
second  son  of  Sir  Randle  Crew,  of  Crezv,  Knight, 
married  to  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Done. 
His  face  is  represented  in  profile,  with  long  hair. 
He  died  1670. 

His  lady,  and  her  elder  sister  Jane  Done,  an 
antient  virgin,  lie  at  full  length  in  the  Utkinton 
chapel,  with  long  and  excellent  characters.  One 
lies  recumbent;  the  other  reclined  and  strait  laced^ 
which  gives  little  grace  in  statuary.  Jane  died  in 
1662;  Mrs.  Crew,  in  1690,  aged  86. 

Sir  John  Crezv,  Knight,  son  of  Mr.  John  Crezv, 
lies  reclined  on  an  altar-tomb,  with  a  vast  perri- 
wig,  and  a  Roman  dress,  with  a  whimpering  ge- 
nius at  his  head  and  feet.  Sir  John  married,  firsts 
Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas  Wagstaff,  of  Tach- 
brook,  in  Warwickshire,  Esquire ;  and  secondly, 

k  Vale  Royal,  ji.  106. 


n  BEESTON   HALL. 

Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Willughby  Aston,  of  As- 
ton, Baronet.     He  died  in  1711,  aged  71. 

I  must  not  quit  this  place  without  letting  fall 
a  few  tears,  as  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  its  ho- 
nest rector  John  Allen  ;  whose  antiquarian  know- 
lege  and  hospitality,  I  have  often  experienced  on 
this  great  thoroughfare  to  the  capital.  From  the 
antient  rectorial  house,  at  the  bottom  of  the 
town,  is  an  aweful  view  of  the  great  rock  of  Bees- 
ton,  backed  by  the  Peckfreton  hills,  tempting  me 
to  take  a  nearer  survey. 

The  distance  is  about  two  miles.  In  my  way 
I  crossed  the  canal  at  Beeston  Bridge,  and  called 
at  the  poor  remains  of  Beeston  Hall,  the  manor- 
house,  inhabited  by  the  agent  for  the  estate. 
This  place  was  burnt  by  prince  Rupert,  during 
the  civil  wars.  There  is  a  tradition,  that  he  had 
dined  that  day  with  the  lady  of  the  house.  After 
dinner,  he  told  her,  that  he  was  sorry  that  he  was 
obliged  to  make  so  bad  a  return  for  her  hospita- 
lity; advised  her  to  secure  any  valuable  effects 
she  had,  for  he  must  order  the  house  to  be  burnt 
that  night,  lest  it  should  be  garrisoned  by  the 
enemy. 

This  manor  had  been  part  of  the  barony  of 
MalpaSj  and  was  held  under  the  lords,  by  the  fa- 
mily of  Dc  Bunbury ;  who  changed  their  Norman 


BEESTON  HALL.  13 

ftame,  St.  Pierre,   and  assumed  that  of  the  place 
where  they  first  settled. 

In  1271,  or  the  fifty-sixth  of  Henri/  III.  Henry 
de  Bunbury,  and  Margery  his  wife,  gave  it  to 
their  nephew  Richard,  who  made  the  place  his 
residence,  and  assumed  its  name.  It  continued 
in  his  family  for  many  generations.  Sir  George 
Beeston  possessed  it  in  the  forty-fourth  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  At  length,  by  the.  marriage  of  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Sir  Hugh  Beeston,  with  Wil- 
liam Whitemore,  of  Leighton,  it  was  conveyed 
into  that  house ;  and  as  suddenly  transferred,  by 
Bridget,  heiress  of  Mr.  Whitemore,  to  Darcie 
Savage,  second  son  to  Thomas  Viscount  Savage, 
of  Rock  Savage ;  whose  grand-daughter,  another 
Bridget,  brought  it  by  marriage  to  Sir  Thomas 
Mostyn,  Baronet,  with  the  lordships  of  Pcckf re- 
ton,  Leighton,  and  Thornton ;  in  whose  house 
they  still  remain.  This  lady  was  a  Roman  Ca- 
tholic. Tradition  is  warm  in  her  praise,  and  full 
of  her  domestic  virtues,  and  the  particular  atten- 
tion that  she  shewed  in  obliging  her  domestics,  of 
each  religion,  to  attend  their  respective  churches. 
Her  husband  and  she  '  were  lovely  and  pleasant 
in  their  lives,  and  in  their  death  they  were  not 
divided:'  they  died  within  a  day  or  two  of  each 
other,  at  Gloddaeth,  in  Caernarvonshire,  and  were 


14  BEESTON  ROCK,  AND  CASTLE. 

interred  in  the  neighboring   church   of   Eglwys 
Rhos. 

At  a  small  distance  from  the  hall,  is  the  great 
insulated  rock  of  Beeston,  composed  of  sand-stone, 
very  lofty  and  precipitous  at  one  end,  and  sloped 
down  into  the  flat  country  at  the  other.  Its 
height,  from  Beeston  Bridge  to  the  summit,  is 
three  hundred  and  sixty-six  feet.  From  the  sum- 
mit is  a  most  extensive  view  on  every  side,  ex- 
cept where  interrupted  by  the  Peckfreton  hills. 
The  land  appears  deeply  indented  by  the  estuaries 
of  the  Dee  and  Mersey,  and  the  canal  from  Ches- 
ter appears  a  continued  slender  line  of  water  from 
that  city  to  almost  the  base  of  this  eminence.  To 
this  place  its  utility  has  been  proved  to  all  the 
market-women  of  the  neighboring  farmers,  who 
have  the  benefit  of  Treek-schuyts  to  convey  their 
merchandize  to  their  capital :  a  few  coals  also 
come  up,  and  a  little  timber ;  and  these  form  the 
sum  of  their  present  commerce. 

This  rock  is  crowned  with  the  ruins  of  a  strong 
Beeston  fortress,  which  rose  in  the  year  1220;  founded  by 
Handle  Blondevil/e,  earl  of  Chester,  on  his  return 
out  of  the  Holy  Land  ;  for  which  purpose,  and  for 
the  building  of  Chartley  Castle,  he  raised  a  tax 
upon  all  his  estates  \     At  that  time  it  belonged 

1  Polychronicon,  cccvi. 


BEESTON  CASTLE.  15 

to  the  lords  of  the  manor  of  Beeston  ;  from  whom 
he  obtained  leave  to  erect  his  castle.  It  devolved 
afterwards  to  the  crown;  for,  according  to  Er~ 
deszvick™,  Sir  Hugh  Beeston  purchased  it  from 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  restored  it  to  his  lordship. 

It  had  been  a  place  of  very  great  strength.  The 
access,  about  midway  of  the  slope,  was  defended 
by  a  great  gateway,  and  a  strong  wall  fortified 
with  round  towers,  which  ran  from  one  edge  of 
the  precipice  to  the  other,  across  the  slope ;  but 
never  surrounded  the  hill,  as  is  most  erroneously 
represented  in  the  old  print.  Some  of  the  walls, 
and  about  six  or  seven  rounders,  still  exist.  A 
square  tower,  part  of  the  gateway,  is  also  stand- 
ing. Within  this  cincture  is  a  large  area,  per- 
haps four  or  five  acres  in  extent.  Near  the  top 
is  the  castle,  defended,  on  this  side,  by  an  ama- 
zing ditch,  cut  out  of  the  live  rock ;  on  the  other, 
by  the  abrupt  precipice  that  hangs  over  the  vale 
of  Cheshire. 

The  entrance  is  through  a  noble  gateway, 
guarded  on  each  side  by  a  great  rounder,  whose 
walls  are  of  a  prodigious  thickness.  Within  the 
yard  is  a  rectangular  building,  the  chapel  of  the 
place.  The  draw-well  was  of  a  most  surprising 
depth ;  being  sunk  through  the  higher  part  of  the 

m  Potychronicon,  cccvi. 


16  BEESTON  CASTEE. 

rock,  to  the  level  of  Bceston  brook,  that  runs  be- 
neath !  In  the  area  just  mentioned,  was  another 
well :  both  at  this  time  are  filled  up ;  but  King 
remembered  the  first  to  have  been  eighty,  the 
other  ninety-one,  yards  deep,  although  the  last  is 
said  to  have  been  half  filled  with  stones  and  rub- 
bish". 

We  are  quite  unacquainted  with  the  events 
that  befel  this  strong  hold,  for  several  centuries 
after  its  foundation.  Stozv°  says,  that  Richard II. 
lodged  here  his  great  treasures  during  his  expedi- 
tion into  Ireland,  and  garrisoned  it  with  an  hun- 
dred men  of  arms,  chosen  and  able ;  who,  on  the 
approach  of  Henry  duke  of  Lancaster,  yielded 
it  to  the  usurper.  But  other  historians  assert, 
that  his  treasures  were  placed  in  the  castle  of 
Holt. 

The  fortress  certainly  fell  into  decay  soon  after 
this  reign ;  for  Leland,  in  his  poem  on  the  birth 
of  Edward  VI.  speaks  of  it  as  in  ruin,  when  he 
makes  Fame  to  alight  on  its  summit,  and  foretell 
its  restoration. — 

Explicuit  dehinc  Fama  suas  perniciter  alas, 
Altaque  fulminei  petiit  Jovis  atria  victrix, 
Circuiens  liquidi  spatiosa  volumina  cceli. 
Turn  quoque  despexit  terram,  sublimis,  ocellos 
Sidereos  figens  Bisdimi  in  moenia  castri,  &c. 

n  Vale  Royal,  iii.  °  Annals,  321. 


BEESTON  CASTLE.  17 

Thence  to  Jove's  palace  she  prepar'd  to  fly 

With  out-stretch'd  pinions  through  the  yielding  sky ; 

Wide  o'er  the  circuit  of  the  ample  space, 

Survey'd  the  subject  earth  and  human  race." 

Sublime  in  air  she  cast  her  radiant  eyes, 

Where  far-fam'd  Beeston's  airy  turrets  rise : 

High  on  a  rock  it  stood,  whence  all  around 

Each  fruitful  valley,  and  each  rising  ground, 

In  beauteous  prospect  lay;  these  scenes  to  view, 

Descending  swift,  the  wondering  goddess  flew. 

Perch'd  on  the  topmost  pinnacle,  she  shook 

Her  sounding  plumes,  and  thus  in  rapture  spoke : 

"  From  Syrian  climes  the  conquering  Randolph  came, 

"  Whose  well-fought  fields  bear  record  of  his  name. 

"  To  guard  his  country,  and  to  check  his  foes, 

"  By  Randolph's  hands  this  glorious  fabric  rose : 

"  Though  now  in  ruin'd  heaps  thy  bulwarks  lie, 

"  Revolving  time  shall  raise  those  bulwarks  high, 

"  If  faith  to  antient  prophecies  be  due  ; 

"  Then  Edward  shall  thy  pristine  state  renew."      R.  W. 


The  castle  was  restored  to  its  former  strength, 
between  the  days  of  Leland  and  the  sad  conten- 
tions betwixt  the  king  and  parlement,  in  the  time 
of  Charles  I.  It  was  first  possessed  by  the  par- 
lement; but  on  the  1 3th  of  September  1643,  was  Sieges. 
taken  by  the  royalists,  under  the  famous  partizan 
Captain  Sandford ;  who  scaled  the  steep  sides  of 
the  rock,  and  took  it  by  surprize p.     Steel,  the 

*  Genethliacon  Eaduardi  Pr.  Wallix,  L.  749. 

C 


19  BEESTON  CASTLE. 

governor,  was  suspected  of  treachery,  tried,  and 
shot  to  death. 

The  parlement  made  a  vigorous  attempt  to 
recover  a  place  of  such  importance,  and  besieged 
it  for  seventeen  weeks  :  during  which  time  it  was 
gallantly  defended  by  Captain  Valet.  At  length, 
on  the  approach  of  prince  Rupert,  the  enemy 
abandoned  the  attack,  on  the  18th  of  March 
I644q. 

In  the  following  year  it  was  taken,  after  a  most 
vigorous  defence  of  eighteen  weeks.  The  defend- 
ants were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  eating  cats, 
8$c.  when  the  brave  Colonel  Ballard,  out  of  mere 
compassion  to  the  poor  remains  of  his  garrison, 
consented  to  beat  a  parley,  and  obtained  the  most 
honorable  conditions,  for  beyond  what  would  be 
expected  in  such  extremity ;  viz.  to  march  out, 
the  governor  and  officers  with  their  horses  and 
arms,  and  their  own  proper  goods  (which  loaded 
two  waggons);  the  common  soldiers  with  colors 
flying,  drums  beating,  matches  alight,  a  propor- 
tion of  cannon  and  ball,  and  a  convoy  to  guard 
them  to  Flint  Castle.  On  Sunday,  the  16th  of 
March,  he  surrendered  the  castle  to  Sir  William 
Brereton,  and,  according  to  articles,  marched  out 

*  MS.  account.     Mr.  Grose,  article  Beeston. 


BUNBURY.  1ST 

with  his  men,  now  reduced  to  about  sixty1.  The 
fortress  soon  after  underwent  the  fate  of  the  other 
seats  of  loyalty. 

From  Beeston  Castle  I  continued  my  journey 
about  two  miles  to  Bunbury ;  a  village,  and  the  Bunbury. 
seat  of  the  parish  church.  This  was  the  Boliberie 
of  Doomsday  Book;  which,  with  several  neigh- 
boring places  in  the  antient  hundred  of  Riseton, 
now  comprehended  in  that  of  Ledesbury,  were 
possessed  by  Robert  Fitzhugh.  The  family  who 
assumed  the  name  of  the  place,  held  it  under  him 
and  his  successors,  till,  Humphrey  dying  without 
issue,  his  sisters,  Ameria  and  Joan,  became  co- 
heiresses. Amerids  share  came  to  the  Patricks, 
and  from  them  to  the  St.  Piers.  At  length, 
Isabel,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Uriam  St.  Pier, 
brought  it  by  marriage  to  Sir  Walter  Cokesey ; 
who  sold  his  share  of  the  advowson  of  the  church 
to  the  famous  Sir  Hugh  de  Calvely.  Joans  moiety 
came  to  her  son  Alexander,  who  still  continued  the 
name  De  Bunbury.  Sir  Hugh  de  Calvely  ob-»- 
taining  likewise  the  other  share  of  the  church, 
erected  here  a  college  for  a  master  and  six  chap- 
lains ;  for  which  purpose  he  obtained  licence, 
dated  March  12th,  1386,  from  Richard  II.  on 
paying  to  the  king  the  sum  of  forty  pounds.     It 

1  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  part  4.  p.  136. 
c2 


30  feUNBURY. 

was  instituted  for  the  good  state  of  the  King  and 
of  Sir  Hugh,  as  long  as  they  lived ;  and  on  their 
death,  for  the  souls  of  them  and  their  progenitors, 
and  those  of  all  the  faithful '.  Its  revenue  was  an 
hundred  marks,  but  at  the  dissolution,  was  48/.  Qs< 
Sd.  when  the  foundation  consisted  of  a  dean,  five 
vicars,  and  two  choristers. 

In  the  fourteenth  of  Queen  Elizabeth  it  was 
purchased  of  the  crown  by  Thomas  Alder sey,  of 
London,  merchant-taylor,  a  second  son  of  the 
house  of  Spurstoxv,  in  this  parish.  Here  he 
founded  a  preacher's  place,  of  100  marks  a  year, 
Avith  a  good  house  and  glebe;  an  assistant  or 
curate,  with  20/.  a  year ;  the  other  for  an  usher ', 
with  10/.;  ten  pounds  a  year  to  the  poor;  and 
several  other  charitable  gifts.  The  disposal  of 
the  places  here  are  in  the  haberdashers'  company, 
London ". 

In  respect  to  the  succession  of  the  manor,  Sir 
Thomas  Cokesey,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII.  having  no  issue,  alienated  his  share  to 
the  Bunburies.  In  the  thirty-second  of  Henry 
VIII.  Richard  Bunbury  was  lord  of  the  manor ; 
from  whom  the  family  of  the  Bunburies  of  Stanny, 


*  Dugdale  Monast.  iii.  part  2,  p.  107. 

*  A  schoolmaster,  with  201.  a  year. 
■  King's  Vale  Rayal,  ii.  104,  105. 


BUNBURY  CHURCH. 

in  TVirral,  and  the  present  Sir  Charles,  is  lineally 
descended. 

The  church  is  a  handsome  building,  embattled,  Church. 
and  the  tower  ornamented  with  pinnacles.  The 
architecture  seems  of  the  time  of  Henry  VII.  It 
is  dedicated  to  St.  Boniface  ;  from  whom  the  place 
takes  its  name.  Whether  the  patron  was  Boniface, 
an  Englishman,  first  archbishop  of  Mentz,  who 
died  in  754,  or  Pope  Boniface  the  First,  who  died 
in  423,  I  cannot  determine;  for  both  received 
their  apotheosis. 

The  church  is  distinguished  by  the  magnificent  Tomb. 
tomb  of  Sir  Hugh  cle  Calvely,  whose  effigies  in 
white  marble  lies  on  it  recumbent.  He  is  armed 
in  the  fashion  of  the  times ;  and,  to  give  an  idea 
of  his  vast  prowess,  his  figure  is  represented  seven 
feet  and  a  half  long.  He  was  the  Arthur  of 
Cheshire;  the  glory  of  the  county:  accordingly 
the  most  prodigious  feats  are  recorded  of  him. 
Whether,  like  Milo,  he  could  kill  a  bull  with  a 
blow  of  his  fist,  is  not  said ;  but  our  ballads  give 
Sir  Hugh  no  more  than  the  honor  of  devouring  a 
calf  at  a  meal.  His  head  rests  on  a  helmet,  with 
a  calf's  head  for  the  crest,  allusive  to  his  name; 
yet  probably  gave  rise  to  the  fable. 

Sir  Hugh  sprung  from  a  neighboring  hamlet  (of 
which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak)  from  whence 
be  took  his  surname.     According  to  the  cast  of 


2a  SIR  HUGH  DE  CALVELY. 

the  times,  he  sought  adventures  in  the  military 
line ;  and,  like  a  soldier  of  fortune,  first  appeared 
a  principal  commander  of  the  Grandes  Compagnies, 
Tarcl  venus,  or  Malandrins,  a  species  of  banditti, 
formed  out  of  the  disbanded  soldiery  of  different 
nations.  On  the  captivity  of  king  John,  at  the 
battle  of  Poitiers,  they  amounted  at  least  to  above 
forty  thousand  veteran  troops.  They  lived  upon 
plunder;  yet  were  ready  to  join  the  side  most 
adverse  to  France.  At  the  battle  of  Anray,  in 
1 364,  Sir  Hugh x  served  with  a  considerable  body 
of  them,  under  the  English  general,  Lord  Chandos  ; 
and  had  the  honor  of  turning  the  fortune  of  the 
day,  in  which  was  taken  the  great  De  Gueselin. 

In  1366,  Sir  Hugh  was  won  over  by  that  illus- 
trious general  (again  at  the  head  of  the  armies  of 
Finance),  to  join  him  in  an  expedition  into  Spain,  to 
dethrone  Peter  the  Cruel,  king  of  Castile.  The 
enterprize  was  successful;  but,  on  the  express 
command  of  Edward  III.  to  Lord  Chandos,  Sir 
Hugh  de  Cafoely,  and  others  of  his  subjects, 
leaders  of  the  companies,  to  forbear  hostilities7 
against  Peter,  they  deserted  the  quarrel  they  had 
espoused;  and,  on  the  appearance  of  the  Black 
Prince  in  Spain,  who,  to  his  disgrace,  took  part 
with  the  tyrant,  Sir  Hugh,  and  a  great  body  of 

x  Froissart,  i.  ch.  ccxxvi.  *  Bymer,  vi.  480. 


SIR  HUGH  DE  CALVELY.  «3 

the  companies,  joined  him.  The  prince  reinstated 
Peter  on  the  throne,  after  the  great  victory  of 
Najara  over  his  rival  Henry  of  Trastamare;  to 
which  the  bravery  of  Sir  Hugh  and  his  troops 
highly  contributed.  On  the  recall  of  the  Black 
Prince,  by  his  father,  in  1 367,  Sir  Hugh  was  left 
commander  of  the  companies.  History  gives  him 
a  royal  consort,  in  reward  of  his  valour,  and 
marries  him  to  the  queen  of  Arragon.  If  at  this 
period,  he  took  a  most  antiquated  piece  of  royalty ; 
for  I  can  find  no  other  dowager  of  that  kingdom, 
unless  Leonora,  relict  of  Alonso  IV.  who  became 
a  widow  in  1335,  was  then  alive.  There  was  no 
issue  by  this  match2;  but  by  his  second  wife*, 
heiress  to  Mot  tram  Lord  of  Mottram,  his  line  was 
continued. 

In  1376,  the  last  year  of  Edzvard  III.  he  was 
appointed  to  the  important  government  of  Calais\ 
In  1378,  he  plundered  and  burnt  Boulogne,  with 
several  vessels  which  lay  in  the  harbour :  he  also 
retook  the  castle  of  Mark,  lost  before  by  neglect. 
In   1379,   he  resigned  the  place  to  the  earl  of 

z  Salusbury  Pedigrees,  72. 

a  Messrs  Lysons,  in  their  account  of  Cheshire,  p.  544,  produce 
arguments  to  shew  that  Sir  Hugh  Calvely  was  never  married, 
and  that  the  line  was  continued  from  his  brother  David,  who 
espoused  the  heiress  of  Mottram.    Ed.  . 

b  Hist.  Calais,  ii.  55. 


24  BUNBURY  CHURCH. 

Salusbury,    and  was  appointed  by  Richard  II. 
admiral  of  his  fleet c. 

In  1382,  we  find  him  governor  of  Guernsey, 
and  the  adjacent  isles.  The  last  mention  we  find 
of  him,  is  in  a  cause  that  was  to  be  determined  in 
1388d;  after  which,  history  is  silent  in  respect  to 
this  hero.  Fuller  remarks,  "  It  was  as  impossible 
"  for  such  a  spirit  not  to  be,  as  not  to  be  active." 
Probably  old-age  might  subdue  his  enterprizing 
soul;  for  I  find  that  he  lived  to  the  reign  of  Henry 
IV e ;  but  mention  is  made  of  the  weak  state  of 
his  body  in  Rymers  record  of  the  cause f. 

This  tomb  is  kept  always  very  neat ;  which  is 
owing  to  the  piety  of  Dame  Mary  Calvely,  of 
Lea,  who,  in  1705,  left  the  interest  of  an  hundred 
pounds,  to  be  distributed  annually  among  certain 
poor  of  this  parish,  on  condition  they  attended 
divine  service  while  they  were  able,  and  swept  the 
chancel,  and  cleaned  the  monument. 

The  Ridley  chapel,  founded  in  1527,  belonging 
to  the  Egertons  of  Ridley,  is  separated  from  the 

e  Rymer,  vii.  223.  A  Rymer,  vii.  576. 

e  Two  visitations  of  Cheshire,  &c.  MSS.  in  my  possession  : 
one  in  1566;  the  other  in  1580. 

f  This  satisfies  me  that  his  royal  consort  was  not  Sybilla 
Fortia,  relict  of  Pedro,  fourth  king  of  Arragon,  who  lost  her 
6pouse  in  1388 ;  as  was  suggested  to  me  by  a  most  ingenious 
friend. 


CALVELY.  25 

church  by  a  wood-work  skreen,  painted.  This  had 
been  their  place  of  interment;  but  nothing  monu- 
mental remains,  except  the  impression  of  a  plate 
of  a  kneeling  man,  against  one  of  the  walls. 

In  the  chancel  is  a  recumbent  figure  of  Sir 
George  Beeston,  who  died  in  1600.  This  monu- 
ment was  erected  by  his  son  Sir  Hugh,  the  last 
male  of  this  antient  line ;  who  for  some  time  sur- 
vived his  only  son  George*. 

At  a  small  distance  from  Bwibury,  I  fell  into 
the  great  road,  opposite  to  Alpram,  a  hamlet, 
whose  name  is  corrupted  from  the  Savon  Alburg- 
ham,  in  the  Doomsday  Book.  In  after-times  it  was 
the  seat  of  the  Pages,  now  extinct. 

A  little  farther  lies  Calvely,  long  the  property 
of  that  illustrious  family,  now  likewise  lost.  The 
place  was  bestowed  on  a  Hugh,  by  Richard 
Vernon,  Baron  of  Shipbrbok,  about  the  time  of 
Richard  I.  In  Edward  the  III.'s  time,  it  came  to 
the  Davenports,  by  the  marriage  of  Arthur  to 
Catharine,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Robert  de 
Calvely:  in  which  family  it  has  continued  till  the 
present  time\ 

My  road  lay  along  the  low  unpleasant  lane  that 

«  He  died  in  1640. 

h  Calvely  is  now  vested  in  John  Hromley,  Esq.  who  married 
the  eldest  daughter,  and  co-heiress,  of  Richard  Davenport, 
Esq.  deceased  in  1771.     Ed. 


m  ACTON. 

led  towards  Nantwich  ;  the  prospect  frequently 
deformed  by  the  great  fosses  of  the  unfortunate 
canal  \  falling  in  on  each  side  of  the  road ;  for  it 
crosses  at  Barbridge,  and  is  finished  from  thence 
to  Nanftcich.  This  was  only  a  secondary  consi- 
deration, executed  on  the  hopes  of  considerable 
profit  in  the  carriage  of  salt  and  cheese.  The 
original  and  principal  object  was,  to  continue  the 
main  trunk  by  Church  Minshul  to  the  great  Staf- 
fordshire canal,  near  Middlexvich,  and  by  that 
means  share  in  the  freight  of  the  goods  of  the 
opposite  side  of  the  kingdom  :  but  various  causes 
have  frustrated  all  hopes  of  that  benefit ;  and  this 
part  of  the  plan  remains  unattempted. 
Acton.  At  Acton  the  prospect  mends  a  little.  That 
village,  with  its  handsome  new  church,  stand  on  a 
small  rising,  and  commands  another  great  extent 
Earl  M  or-  °f  A3^  beyond  Nantwich.  This  place,  before  the 
car  s.  Conquest,  was  possessed  by  Morcar,  the  gallant 
brother  of  the  gallant  earl  Edzvin,  last  earl  of 
Mercia.  At  that  time,  the  hundred  it  lay  in  was 
called  JVarmundestrcu,  at  present  Nantzcich. 
Actune,  as  it  is  stiled  in  Doomsday  Book,  was  a 
-very  considerable  place.  There  were  eight  hides 
of  land  taxable  :  there  were  thirty  plough-lands  ; 

1  A  branch  of  the  EUcsmere  canal,  which  unites  the  Severn 
and  the  Dec,  now  falls  into  it  between  Tarporley  and  Niml- 
xaich,  and  occasions  some  commercial  intercourse.     Lb. 


ACTON.  27 

in  the  lord's  demesn  three  :  two  servants,  thirteen 
villeyns,  and  fifteen  boors,  with  seven  plough- 
lands,  a  mill  for  the  use  of  the  court  (curia),  and 
ten  acres  of  meadow :  a  wood  six  leagues  long, 
and  one  broad :  an  aery  of  hawks  :  two  presbyters, 
who  had  a*  plough-land  :  two  aliens,  having  a 
plough-land  and  a  half:  a  servant:  six  villeyns  : 
seven  boors,  with  four  plough-lands. 

This  not  only  shews  the  greatness  of  this  Saxon 
manor,  but  that  it  was  the  seat  of  Morcar,  by  the 
provision  made  for  his  support.  The  tenants  had 
likewise  the  right  of  pleas  in  the  hall  of  their  lord, 
and  one  house  in  JVich  (Nantxvich),  where  they 
might  make  salt  without  interruption.  In  the 
time  of  the  Confessor,  the  manor  was  valued  at 
ten  pounds  a  year ;  at  the  Conquest,  at  only  six. 
It  may  be  observed,  once  for  all,  that  the  troubles 
occasioned  by  that  event,  and  the  ravages  com- 
mitted, instantly  sunk  the  value  of  the  land. 

The  manor  of  Acton,  which  had  been  antiently 
a  portion  of  the  Barony  of  Wich  Malbang,  passed 
to  the  Vernons,  and  by  a  co-heiress  of  Warren  de 
Vernon  to  the  Littleburies,  who  sold  their  share 
to  John  de  Wetenhall.  At  a  subsequent  period  it 
became,  by  marriage,  the  property  of  the  Ar- 
dernes  ;  yet  about  the  year  1464  it  was  conveyed 
by  the  heirs  male  of  the  IVetcnhalls  to  feoffees  in 
trust,  for  the  use  of  Sir  John  Bromley,  in  whose 


C8  SIR  \Y.  MANWARING'S  TOMB. 

heirs  it  remained  till  about  the  year  1600,  when  it 
was  purchased  from  them  by  Sir  Roger  Wil- 
braham,  master  of  the  requests,  and  conveyed  by 
him  to  his  younger  brother  Ralph,  of  whose 
descendants  it  was  bought,  in  1752,  by  the  father 
of  Henry  Tomkinson,  Esq.  the  present  possessor  k. 
Church.  About  twenty  years  ago,  the  steeple  and  roof 
of  the  church  were  destroyed;  but  the  whole  has 
since  been  restored,  in  a  very  handsome  manner. 
One  monument  is  in  good  preservation,  notwith- 
standing this  church  was  a  temporary  prison  after 
the  battle  of  Nantwich,  in  the  civil  wars  of 
Charles  I.;  but  the  prisoners  were  of  the  party 
which  respected  these  memorials  of  the  dead. 

The  most  antient  is  one  in  St.  Marys  chapel, 
in  memory  of  Sir  William  Marrwaring,  of  Over 
Pexer,  and  of  Badcly,  in  this  neighborhood. 
-This  knight,  before  his  departure  on  an  expedition 
to  Guienne,  in  1393,  settled  his  estate,  and  next 
year  made  his  will ;  by  which  he  bequeathed  his 
body  to  this  church,  and  ordered  a  picture  in 
alabaster,  to  cover  his  tomb.  He  also  left  to  the 
same  church  part  of  Christ's  cross,  which  the  wife 
of  his  half-brother  had  shut  up  in  wax,  and  a  suf- 
ficient salary  for  a  chaplain  to  say  a  competent 
number  of  masses,  in  St.  Mary's  chapel,  for  the 

k  hyson*,  Mag.  Brit.  art.  Cheshire,  p.  469. 


TOMBS  IN  ACTON.  W 

sake  of  his  soul,  for  seven  years,  when  it  might 
be  supposed  to  have  been  redeemed  from  Purga-. 
tvry,  and 

"  The  foul  crimes  done  in  his  days  of  nature 
**  Were  burnt  and  purg'd  away." 

After  his  death,  which  happened  in  1399,  a  mag- 
nificent tomb  was  erected  beneath  a  Gothic  arch, 
with  a  large  embattled  superstructure.  Under  the 
arch  lies  Sir  William  in  full  armour,  with  suppliant 
hands.  His  head  is  cased  in  a  conic  helm,  bound 
with  a  fillet  entwined  with  foliage.  From  his 
helmet  is  a  guard  of  mail,  which  covers  his  neck, 
and  rises  to  his  lips ;  over  which  flow  two  great 
whiskers.  His  head  rests  on  a  casque,  with  an 
ass's  head  for  a  crest.  Above,  within  the  arch,  is 
a  row  of  half-lengths,  with  a  book  opposite  to 
each;  probably  religious,  chaunting  his  requiem. 
The  whole  is  painted.  On  the  edge  of  the  tomb 
was  this  inscription,  now  much  defaced  by  time : 
Hie  jacet  William  Manwaring  quondam  dominus 
de  Badeleye,  qui  obiit  die  Veneris  ##"  ante  f est  um 
Pentecostce,  anno  Dni.  mnccc°  nonogessimo  nono. 

The  tomb  of  Sir  Thomas  Wilbraham,  Baronet, 
and  his  lady  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Roger 
Wilbraham,  Knight,  and  one  of  the  masters  of 
request  to  James  I.  is  very  handsome.  Their 
figures  are  placed  on  an   altar-tomb,    in  white 


30  TOMBS  IN  ACTON. 

marble,  recumbent:  he  in  armour,  long  curled 
hair,  and  a  turn-over,  with  one  hand  in  his  breast, 
the  other  by  his  side.  Beneath  him  is  spread 
a  large  cloak.  The  lady  has  a  book  in  one  hand ; 
the  other,  like  his,  reclines  on  her  breast.  He  died 
in  1660. 

This  tomb  is  a  specimen  of  the  first  deviation 
from  the  old  form :  a  greater  ease  of  attitude 
began  to  prevail.  The  hands,  which  used  to  be 
erect,  close,  and  suppliant,  here  vary  in  the  atti- 
tude, and  shew  a  dawning  of  the  grace  that 
reigned  on  the  revival  of  sculpture.  In  England, 
monumental  beauty  was  soon  ruined  by  servilely 
copying  the  dress  of  the  times ;  by  having  night- 
gowns and  flowing  perriwigs  cut  out  of  the  Parian 
blocks ;  or  adding  the  great  wig  to  the  absurdity 
of  the  Roman  habit. 

The  church  had  been  long  the  place  of  sepul- 
ture of  the  houses  of  JVoodhey  and  Badeley.  The 
vain  attention  of  our  forefathers  to  posthumous 
honors  and  superstitious  rites,  is  well  exemplified 
in  the  will  of  William  WilbraJunn,  of  JVoodhey, 
who  died  in  1536;  by  which  "  he  bequeaths  his 
"  body  to  be  buried  before  the  image  of  our  Lady, 
"  in  the  chancel  of  the  church  of  Act  on,  and  f> 
"  bestows  x\  to  be  laid  out  on  a  tenor  bell,  if  the 
"  parish  will  provide  the  rest;  but  if  not,  then  the 
"  money  to  be  laid  out  on  a  pax  and  two  cruytt* 


TOMBS  IN  ACTON.  31 

9  of  silver,  to  serve  at  the  high  altar  on  good 
"  days.  He  further  wills,  that  12  white  gowns 
"  be  given  to  12  poor  men;  as  also,  that  12 
"  torches  be  mdde,  to  hold  about  his  body  the  day 
"  of  his  burial;  and  that  a  light  be  over  him,  with 
"  viii  tapers,  in  the  middle  whereof  a  bigger  taper 
"  should  spring  out;  also,  that  penny-dole  should 
"  be  given  at  his  burial,  to  every  person  that 
"  would  take  it. 

"  He,  moreover,  requires  his  executors  to  buy 
"  a  stone  of  marble  to  lie  on  him,  in  the  said 
"  chancel  of  Acton,  with  pictures  of  himself  and 
"  his  wife,  and  their  arms ;  also,  that  they  put 
"  out  xi^.  under  sure  keeping,  to  pay  xis.  yearly  to 
"  a  well-disposed  priest,  to  sing  (during  twenty 
"  years)  for  him  and  his  wife,  children,  father, 
"  and  mother,  and  all  that  God  would  be  prayed 
"  for;  and  the  said  service  to  be  performed  in  his 
"  chapel  of  Woodhey  ;  which  priest  should  likewise 
"  have  \w£.  more  yearly  for  his  salary,  if  so  be  his 
"  heir  is  not  pleased  to  give  him  his  board  and 
"  chamber-room  V 

The  monument  alluded  to,  either  never  was 
executed,  or  was  destroyed  by  the  fall  of  the 
steeple. 

From  Acton,  I  went  down  a  gentle  descent 

J  Collins**  Baronets,  ed.  1725,  vol.  ii.  291. 


32  NANTVVICH. 

to  Xantwich,  about  a  mile  distant.  Antiently  this 
place  was  known  only  by  the  name  of  Wich  m,  an 
Anglo-Saxon  word  for  district  or  habitation  ;  and 
a  very  common  termination  of  a  multitude  of 
places.  Here  the  British  Nant  is  added,  to  shew 
its  low  situation. 

Immediately  before  the  Conquest  its  reve- 
nues were  divided  between  the  king  and  earl 
Edwin.  After  that  event  it  was  bestowed  by  the 
great  proprietor  of  Cheshire,  Hugh  Lupus,  on 
William  de  Malbedeng,  or  de  Malbang,  a  Norman 
chieftain ;  from  whom  it  was  called  JVich  Malbang. 
Hugh  erected  it  into  a  barony,  in  favour  of 
Malbedeng,  and  honored  him  with  a  seat  in  his 
parlement. 

William  de  Malbank,  the  third  baron,  died  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  I.  without  issue  male,  leaving 
three  daughters,  Philippa,  Aude,  and  Eleanor. 
Philippa  married  Thomas  Lord  Basset  of  Heding- 
ton ;  Aude,  Warren  de  Vernon,  baron  of  Ship- 
broke  ;  Eleanor,  who  died  unmarried,  conveyed 
her  share  to  Henry  Audleij  and  his  heirs n. 

m  See  Skinner's  Etymologicon:  Notwithstanding  the  word 
does  not  appear  to  have  any  thing  to  do  with  salt,  yet  wich, 
or  wych,  is  always  applied,  with  us,  to  places  where  salt  is 
found ;  as  Droitwich,  Nantwich,  &c.  and  the  houses  in  which 
it  is  made,  are  called  wych  houses. 

n  Lysons,  Mag.  Brit.  art.  Cheshire,  p.  705. 


NANTWICH.  S3 

By  these  means  the  barony  became  divided  into 
four,  reckoning  the  part  which  had  been  given  by 
Hugh  Malbang  to  the  abbey  of  Cumbermere  ; 
and  soon  after,  by  different  alliances,  became  split 
into  multitudes  of  other  shares. 

When  entire,  it  was  under  the  government  of 
the  lord,  or  his  steward ;  who  were  vested  with  the 
usual  baronial  powers.  This  town  had  been 
governed  by  a  bailiff;  but  the  election  of  that 
officer  being  dropt,  it  is  at  present  under  the 
government  of  the  constables.  It  has  likewise 
several  other  officers,  such  as  the  rulers  of  walling, 
who  were  guardians  of  the  salt-springs,  and  regu- 
lated all  matters  respecting  that  important  staple 
of  the  place  °. 

After  them  came  the  ale-tasters ;  whose  office 
related  to  the  assize  of  bread  and  drink. 

The  next  were  the  heath-keepers  ;  who  attended 
to  the  right  of  the  beam-heath,  antiently  called 
the  creach;  and  took  care  to  preserve  it  from  all 
incroachments,  or  trespassers. 

The  leave-lookers  superintended  the  markets, 
inspected  the  weights,  and  destroyed  unwholesome 
meat  of  every  kind.  These  corresponded  a  good 
deal  with  the  Mdiles  cereales  of  the  Romans ;  as 
the  next  officers,  the  f  re-lookers,  did  to  the  triam- 

•  History  of  Nantwich,  1774. 
D 


34  NANTWICH, 

viri  nocturni.  They  had  the  care  of  the  chimnies, 
and  were  to  guard  against  all  accidents  that  might 
arise  from  fire. 

The  town  is  large,  but  consists  chiefly  of  old 
houses.  The  JVeever,  which  divides  it  in  unequal 
parts,  is  here  a  small  stream,  and  not  navigable 
higher  than  JVinsford  Bridge.  The  inhabitants  of 
Nantzvkh  had,  many  years  ago,  an  act  for  making 
this  river  navigable  from  that  place  to  their  town ; 
but  they  never  earned  the  power  into  execution. 
The  Chester  canal  is  now  completed  from  that 
city,  and  finishes  in  a  handsome  broad  bason,  near 
the  road  between  Acton  and  the  town ;  but  at  this 
time,  it  remains  an  almost  useless  ornament  to 
the  country :  nor  has  it,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, given  the  least  increase  to  the  salt-trade, 
for  which  this  antient  town  was  once  so  distin- 
guished. Unfortunately  for  it,  the  other  salt- 
towns  lie  more  conveniently  for  commerce,  and 
abound  almost  to  excess  with  that  useful  article. 

The  chief  trade  of  the  place  is  in  shoes,  which 
are  sent  to  London.  Here  is  a  small  manufacture 
of  gloves ;  but  those  of  bone-lace  and  stockings, 
once  considerable,  are  now  lost.  In  the  reigns  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  James  I.  the  tanning  busi- 
ness brought  much  wealth  into  the  town. 

The  salt  made  from  the  adjacent  brine-springs 
formed  once  a  very  important  business.     In  the 


SALT-WORKS.  35 

reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  here  were  two  hundred 
and  sixteen  salt-works,  of  six  leads-walling  each : 
in  1774,  only  two  works,  of  fivep  large  pans  of 
wrought  iron.  The  duty  produced  from  them 
amounts  annually  to  near  five  thousand  pounds : 
from  the  whole  district,  including  the  works  at 
Lazvton,  and  a  small  one  at  Durtwich,  from 
eighteen  to  twenty  thousand  pounds.  The  tax  on 
this  useful  article  is  very  considerable,  which  it 
bears,  as  being  of  most  cheap  fabrick,  and  most 
universal  use.  It  seems,  for  that  reason,  to  have 
been  one  of  the  earliest  taxes  of  the  Romans  ;  for 
Ancus  Martins,  near  640  years  before  Christ, 
salinarum  vectigal  instituitq.  This  tribute  was 
continued  on  the  Britons  when  the  Romans  pos- 
sessed our  isle. 

The  latter  also  made  salt  part  of  the  pay 
of  their  soldiers,  which  was  called  solarium  ;  and 
from  which  is  derived  our  word  salary. 

The  art  of  making  salt  was  known  in  very  early 
times,  to  the  Gauls  and  Germans :  it  is  not,  there- 
fore, likely  that  the  Britons,  who  had,  in  several 
places,  plenty  of  salt-springs,  should  be  ignorant 

p  In  August  IS  10  only  one  pan  was  employed  at  Nantwich, 
the  monthly  duty  on  which  amounts  to  sixty  pounds.  The 
works  near  Lazvion,  belonging  to  the  reverend  Sir  Thomas 
Broughton,  Bl.  have  increased  to  a  great  degree.     Ed. 

*  Aurdius  Victor,  c.  v. 

J>  % 


SG  SALT-WORKS. 

of  it.  The  way  of  making  it  was  very  simple,  but 
very  dirty;  for  they  did  no  more  than  fling  the 
water  on  burning  wood ;  the  water  evaporated  by 
the  heat,  and  left  the  salt  adhering  to  the  ashes,  or 
charcoal r. 

It  is  very  probable  that  the  Britons  used  the 
spring  of  Nantxoich  for  this  purpose ;  numbers  of 
pieces  of  half-burnt  wood  being  frequently  dug  up 
in  this  neighborhood.  Salinis  was  a  place  not 
far  from  hence,  one  of  the  wiches;  but  I  am 
uncertain  which.  The  Romans  made  use  of  the 
springs,  and  made  salt  by  much  the  same  process 
as  we  do  at  present.  The  salt  produced  was 
white.  "  It  struck  the  natives,  who  stiled  this 
place,  perhaps  the  first  where  they  saw  salt 
of  this  kind,  Heledd-Wen,  or  the  white  brine-pits, 
to  distinguish  them  from  the  springs  which  they 
used  in  so  slovenly  a  fashion. 

The  Romans  were  acquainted  with  rock-salt, 
but  had  not  discovered  it  within  the  limits  of 
Italy.  There  were  mountains  of  salt  in  India. 
Spain  afforded  the  transparent  colorless  rock-salt, 
and  Cappadocia  the  deep  yellow  \     The  Romans 

T  PlinU  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  xxxi.  c.  7.  Gallia  Germanicequt 
ardentibus  lignis  aquam  salsam  infundunt. 

s  Pliny,  lib.  xxxi.  c.  7.  Strabo,  lib.  xx.  1057.  But  the 
rock-salt  of  our  island  remained  undiscovered  till  past  the 
middle  of  the  last  century. 


SALT-WORKS.  37 

were  conversant  in  the  methods  of  producing  this 
useful  article  from  the  brine  f,  which  they  prac- 
tised in  our  island,  and  communicated  their  in- 
structions to  the  natives.  Salt  was  an  early  import 
into  Britain,  but  it  was  only  to  the  Cassiterides u, 
and  the  neighboring  parts  which  were  remote  from 
the  salt-springs. 

These  advantages  are  but  sparingly  scattered 
over  Great  Britain:  Scotland  and  Ireland  are 
totally  destitute  of  them.  In  England  there  are 
several,  but  few  that  contain  salt  sufficient  to  be 
worked.  Thus,  there  are  some  which  rise  out  of 
the  middle  of  the  Were,  in  the  bishoprick  of 
Durham  ;  others  in  Yorkshire,  Cumberland,  Lan- 
cashire, and  Oxfordshire  x ;  all  those  are  neglected, 
either  on  account  of  their  weakness,  or,  in  some 
places,  by  reason  of  the  dearness  of  fuel.  These 
in  Cheshire,  and  those  at  Droitwich,  in  Worces- 
tershire, with  the  small  works  at  Weston  in 
Staffordshire,  are  the  only  places  where  any  busi- 
ness is  done.  Droitwich,  and  those  in  Cheshire, 
were  worked  by  the  Romans,  and  had  the  common 
name  of  Salince. 

From  that  period  to  the  present,  they  have  been 
successively  in  use.  The  Saxons,  according  to 
their  idea  of  liberty,    divided  them  between  the 

*  Fit  et  e  puteis  in  salinas  ingestis.    Plin.  xxxi.  7. 

>•  Strabo,  265.  *  See.  CampbeVs  Politic.  Survey,  i.  76. 


38  SALT-WORKS. 

king,  the  great  people,  and  the  freemen.  Thus, 
at  Nantwich  was  one  brine-pit,  which  gave  employ 
to  numbers  of  salin<e,  or  works.  Eight  of  them 
were  between  the  king  and  earl  Edwin,  of  which 
the  king  had  two  shares  of  the  profits,  the  earl 
one.  Edwin  had  likewise  a  work  near  his  manor 
of  Aghton,  out  of  which  was  made  salt  sufficient 
for  the  annual  consumption  of  his  houshold ;  but 
if  any  was  sold,  the  king  had  a  tax  of  two  pence, 
and  the  earl  of  one  penny. 

In  this  place  were  likewise  numbers  of  works 
belonging  to  the  people  of  the  neighborhood; 
which  had  this  usage :  From  Ascension-day  to  the 
feast  of  St.  Martin,  they  might  carry  home  what 
salt  they  pleased ;  but  if  they  sold  any  on  the  spot, 
or  any-where  in  the  county,  they  were  to  pay  a 
tax  to  the  king  and  the  earl :  but  after  the  feast  of 
St.  Martin,  whosoever  took  the  salt  home,  whether 
his  own,  or  purchased  from  other  works,  was  to 
pay  toll,  except  the  before-mentioned  work  of  the 
earl;  which  enjoyed  exemption,  according  to  an- 
tient  usage. 

It  appears,  that  the  king  and  earl  farmed  out 
their  eight  works ;  for  they  were  obliged  to  give, 
on  the  Friday  of  the  weeks  in  which  they  were 
worked,  xvi.  boilings;  of  which  xv.  made  one 
sum  of  salt.  This  is  a  measure,  which,  according 
to  Spelman,  amounts  to  a  horse-load,    or  eight 


SALT-WORKS.  39 

bushels.  The  pans  of  other  people,  from  Ascen- 
sion-day to  that  of  St.  Martin,  were  not  subject 
to  this  farm  on  the  Friday ;  but  from  St.  Martins- 
day  to  Ascension  they  were  liable  to  those  cus- 
toms, in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  the  king  and 
the  earl. 

The  Welsh  used  to  supply  themselves  from 
these  pits,  before  the  union  of  their  country  with 
England.  Henry  III.  in  order  to  distress  them, 
during  the  wars  he  had  with  them,  took  care 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  works,  and  deprive  them  of 
this  necessary  article. 

All  these  salt-works  were  confined  between  the 
river  and  a  certain  ditch.  If  any  person  was 
guilty  of  a  crime,  within  these  limits,  he  was  at 
liberty  to  make  atonement  by  a  mulct  of  two 
shillings,  or  xxx.  boilings  of  salt ;  except  in  the 
case  of  murder  or  theft,  for  which  he  was  to 
suffer  death.  If  crimes  of  that  nature  were  com- 
mitted without  the  precinct,  the  common  usage  of 
the  county  was  to  be  observed. 

In  the  time  of  the  Confessor,  this  place  yielded 
a  rent  of  xx.  pounds,  with  all  the  pleas  of  the 
hundred ;  but  when  earl  Hugh  received  it,  it  was 
a  waste. 

The  Germans  had  an  idea  of  a  peculiar  sanctity 
attendant  on  salt-springs;  that  they  were  nearer 
to  heaven  than  other  places  ;  that  the  prayers  of 


40  SALT-WORKS. 

mortals  were  nowhere  sooner  heard ;  and  that,  by 
the  peculiar  favor  of  the  gods,  the  rivers  and  the 
woods  were  productive  of  salt,  not,  as  in  other 
places,  by  the  virtue  of  the  sea,  but  by  the 
water  being  poured  on  a  burning  pile  of  wood  y. 

Whether  this  notion  might  not  have  been  de- 
livered  from  the  Germans  to  their  Savon  progeny, 
and  whether  they  might  not,  in  after-times,  deliver 
their  grateful  thanks  for  these  advantages,  I  will 
not  determine :  but  certain  it  is,  that  on  Ascension- 
day  the  old  inhabitants  of  Nantzvich  piously  sang 
a  hymn  of  thansgiving,  for  the  blessing  of  the 
brine.  A  very  antient  pit,  called  the  Old  Brine, 
was  also  held  in  great  veneration,  and,  till  within 
these  few  years,  was  annually,  on  that  festival, 
bedecked  with  boughs,  flowers,  and  garlands,  and 
was  encircled  by  a  jovial  band  of  young  people, 
celebrating  the  day  with  song  and  dance z. 
.  This  festival  was  probably  one  of  the  reliques 
of  Saxon  paganism,  which  Mellitus  might  permit 
his  proselytes  to  retain,  according  to  the  politieal 
instructions  he  received  from  Gregory  the  Great a, 
on  his  mission,  least,  by  too  rigid  an  adherence  to 
the  purity  of  the  Christian  religion,  he  should 
deter  the  English  from  accepting  his  doctrine.  In 
fact,    salt  was,    from  the  earliest  times,    in   the 

y  Tacit i  Annul,  xiii.  c.  57.  x  Hist.  Nanlivich,  60. 

•  Bede,  lib.  i.  c.  31. 


SALT-WORKS.  41 

highest  esteem,  and  admitted  into  religious  cere- 
monies :  it  was  considered  as  a  mark  of  league 
and  friendship.  "  Neither  shalt  thou,"  says  the 
Jewish  Legislator b,  "  suffer  the  salt  of  the  cove- 
"  nant  of  thy  God  to  be  lacking  from  thy  meat- 
"  offering.  With  all  thy  offerings  thou  shalt 
"  offer  salt."  Homer  gives  to  salt  the  epithet 
of  divine.  Both  Greeks  and  Romans  mixed  salt 
with  their  sacrificial  cakes.  In  their  lustrations 
they  made  use  of  salt  and  water,  which  gave  rise, 
in  after-times,  to  the  superstition  of  holy  water; 
only  the  Greeks  made  use  of  an  olive  branch  in-  • 
stead  of  a  brush,  to  sprinkle  it  on  the  objects  of 
purification. 

"  Next,  with  pure  sulphur  purge  the  house,  and  bring 
"  The  purest  water  from  the  freshest  spring; 
"  This,  mix'd  with  salt,  and  with  green  olive  crown' d, 
"  Will  cleanse  the  late  contaminated  ground." 

Theocritus,  Idyl.  24. 

Stackiits  tells  us,  that  the  Muscovites  thought  that 
a  prince  could  not  shew  a  guest  a  greater  mark 
of  affection,  than  by  sending  to  him  salt  from  his 
own  table c.  The  dread  of  spilling  salt,  is  a 
known  superstition  among  us  and  the  Germans, 
being  reckoned  a  presage  of  some  future  calamity, 

b  La-it.  ch.  ii.  v.  13. 

c  Pane  ipso  princeps  suam  erga  aliquem  gratiam  ;   Sale  vero 
amorem  ostendit.  Antiq.  Conviviales,  171. 


42  NANTWICH. 

and  particularly,  that  it  foreboded  domestic  feuds  ; 
to  avert  which,  it  is  customary  to  fling  some  salt 
over  the  shoulder  into  the  fire,  in  a  manner  truly 
classical d : 

Mollibit  aversos  penates 
Farre  pio,  et  saliente  mica. 

In  this  town  was  an  antient  hospital  dedicated 
to  St.  Nicholas,  endowed  with  a  portion  of  tythes, 
which  wTere  granted  to  W.  Grys  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth e.  The  historian  of  this  place  also  mentions 
.  a  priory,  dependent  on  Cumbermere,  and  a  domus 
leprosornm,  or  lazar-house,  called  St.  Laurence's 
Hospital;  both  which  stood  in  the  Welsh  Rota, 
the  street  next  to  Acton;  but  at  present,  even 
their  scite  is  hardly  known.  Here  was,  besides, 
a  chapel  called  St.  Anne's,  near  to  the  bridge; 
but  that,  likewise,  has  been  totally  destroyed. 

Near  the  end  of  the  Welsh  Row  stands  a  large 
house,  called  Town's  End,  formerly  the  residence 
of  the  very  worthy  family  of  the  IVilbrahams. 
That  honest  and  distinguished  lawyer,  Randle 
Wilbraham,  was  a  younger  brother  of  the  late 
owner,  and,  with  unblemished  reputation,  raised 
a  vast  fortune  by  his  profession.  For  several 
years  before  his  death,  he  retired  from  business, 

d  Horace,  lib.  iii.  ode  23.  e  Tanner,  65. 


NANTWICH.  43 

and  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  his  labors  in  an  hospita- 
ble retirement. 

The  church  is  a  very  handsome  pile,  in  the 
form  of  a  cross,  with  an  octagonal  tower  in  the 
centre.  The  east  and  west  windows  are  filled 
with  elegant  tracery.  The  roof  of  the  chancel  is 
of  stone,  adorned  with  pretty  sculpture.  The 
stalls  are  neat.  Tradition  says,  that  they  were 
brought,  at  the  dissolution,  from  the  abbey  of 
Vale  Royal. 

The  only  remarkable  tombs  are,  a  mutilated 
one  of  Sir  David  Cradoc  in  armor,  with  three 
gerbes  on  his  breast  for  his  coat  of  arms ;  and  an- 
other of  John  Maisterson  and  his  wife,  engraven 
on  a  large  slab,  and  dated  1586.  The  following 
quaint  epitaph  records  the  good  intentions  of  the 
husband : 

"  Within  this  fading  tomb,  vaulted,  lies 

"  John  Maisterson,  and  Margaret  his  wife ; 

"  Whose  soules  do  dwell  above  the  moving  skies, 

**  In  paradise  with  God,  the  Lorde  of  lyfle. 

••  This  John  wrought  means  to  build  this  Namptxvich  town, 

"  When  fyer  hir  face  had  fret  &  burnde  hir  downe." 

Among  some  lumber  in  this  church  I  found  the 
fragments  of  a  white  smooth  monument,  with  the 
following  inscription : 

Johannes  Crew 

Ex  antiqua  familia  de  Crew  oriundus 

Vir  Pius. 


44  NANTWICH. 

Susceptum  ex  Alicia  Manwaring. 

Uxore  reliquit  sobolem 

Ranulphum,  Thomam,  Lucretiam,  Prudentiam. 

Vixit  annos  74.    Obiit 

An0  Do  1598. 

The  two  sons  were  brought  up  to  the  law.  Ran- 
die  became  chief  justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  and 
was  the  founder  of  the  respectable  house  of  Crew, 
near  this  town :  Thomas  was  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons  in  the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of 
James  I.  and  in  the  first  parlement  of  Charles  I. 
The  father  of  John  Crew  was  a  wealthy  tanner  of 
this  town,  whom  tradition  still  records  by  the 
name  of  Golden  Roger,  who  had  a  small  monu- 
ment in  the  church,  with  the  figure  of  himself  and 
wife ;  which  an  aged  lady  born  in  the  parish  re- 
membered standing.  I  shall  have  occasion  when 
I  reach  Wrest  to  give  a  further  account  of  his 
illustrious  posterity. 

This  town  was  the  only  one  in  the  county 
which  continued  firm  to  the  parlement  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  civil  wars.  It  under- 
went a  severe  siege  in  January  1643,  by  Lord 
Biron  ;  who,  after  the  signal  defeat  he  here  expe- 
rienced from  the  army  commanded  by  Sir  Thomas 
Fairfax  r,  on  the  25th  of  that  month  retired  with 
his  shattered  forces  to  Chester.     The  place  was 

f  Rushworth  II.  part  iii.  302. 


CAPT-  SANDFORD'S  LETTER.  45 

defended  only  by  mud-walls  and  ditches,  formed 
in  a  hasty  manner  by  the  inhabitants  and  coun- 
try people;  who  were  highly  incensed  at  some 
cruel  and  impolitic  treatment  they  had  met 
with  from  the  royalists.  The  garrison  defended 
themselves  with  great  obstinacy.  The  most  re- 
markable attack  was  on  the  1 8th  of  January, 
when  the  besiegers  were  repulsed  with  great  loss. 
Among  the  slain  on  their  side,  was  the  famous 
Captain  Sandford ;  who  again  employed  the  elo- 
quence of  his  pen,  but  to  as  little  purpose  as  he 
did  before  at  Hqzvarden.  On  each  occasion s  he 
maintains  the  same  stile. 

"  To  the  Officers,  Soldiers,  and  Gentlemen 
"  in  Namptwyche,  these. 

"  Your  drum  can  inform  you,  Acton  church  is 
"  no  more  a  prison,  but  now  free  for  honest  men 
"  to  do  their  devotions  therein ;  wherefore  be  per- 
"  suaded  from  your  incredulity,  and  resolve  God 
"  will  not  forsake  his  anointed.  Let  not  your 
"  zeal  in  a  bad  cause  dazzle  your  eyes  any 
"  longer ;  but  wipe  away  your  vain  conceits,  that 
"  have  too  long  let  you  into  blind  errors.  Loth 
"  I  am  to  undertake  the  trouble  of  persuading 
"  you  into  obedience,  because  your  erroneous 
"  opinions    do    most    violently    oppose     reason 

s  Tour  in  Wales,  vol.  i.  133. 


40  CAPr   SANDFORD'S  LETTER. 

"  amongst  you ;  but,  however,  if  you  love  youf 
"town,   accept  of  quarter;    and   if  you  regard 
"  your  lives,  work  your  safeties  by  yielding  your 
"  town  to  Lord  Byron,  for  his   Majesty's  use. 
"  You  see  now  my  battery  is  fixed  ;  from  whence 
"  fire  shall  eternally  visit  you,  to  the  terror  of 
"  the  old,  and  females,  and  consumption  of  your 
"  thatched   houses.      Believe  me,    gentlemen,   I 
"  have  laid  by  my  former  delays,  and  am  now 
"  resolved  to  batter,  burn,   storm,    and  destroy 
"  you.     Do  not  wonder  that  I  write  unto  you, 
"  having  officers  in  chief  above  me :  'tis  only  to 
"  advise    you,    because    I    have    some    friends 
"  amongst  you,  for  whose  safety  I  wish  you  to 
"  accept  of  my  Lord  Byron's  conditions ;  he  is 
"  gracious,  and  will  charitably  consider  of  you. 
"  Accept  of  this  as  a  summons,  that  you  forth- 
"  with  surrender  the  town  ;  and  by  that  testimony 
"  of  your  fealty  to  his  Majesty,  you  may  obtain 
"  favour.     My  firelocks,  you  know,  have  done 
"  strange   feats,    both  by  day   and   night ;    and 
"  hourly  we  will  not  fail  in  our  private  visits  of 
"  you.      You   have   not   as   yet  received   mine 
"  alarms ;    wherefore    expect    suddenly   to   hear 
"  from  my  battery  and  approaches  before  your 
"  Welsh  Row. 

"This  1 5th  of  January,         Tho.  Sandford, 

"  1643.  Captain  of  Firelocks." 


GENERAL  MONK.  4? 

"  Gentlemen, 
"  Let  these  resolve  your  jealousies  concerning 
V  our  religion :  I  vow  by  the  faith  of  a  Christian, 
"  I  know  not  one  Papist  in  our  army ;  and,  as  I 
"  am  a  gentleman,  we  are  no  Irish,  but  true- 
"  born  English,  and  real  Protestants  also,  born 
"  and  bred.  Pray  mistake  us  not,  but  receive 
"  us  into  your  fair  esteem.  I  know  we  intend 
"  loyalty  to  his  Majesty,  and  will  be  no  other 
M  but  faithful  in  his  service.  This,  Gentlemen, 
"  believe,  from 

CI    IT  ' 

"  Yours, 
"  January  15.  Tho.  Samlford" 

Among  many  other  prisoners  of  distinction 
taken  by  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  was  Colonel 
George  Monk,  in  after-times  the  famous  instru- 
ment of  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  Fairfax 
was  so  well  acquainted  with  his  merit,  that  he 
^vas  determined  that  he  never  should  have  an 
opportunity  of  exerting  his  courage  again  in  the 
royal  cause.  He  sent  him  up  to  London,  where 
he  was  committed  prisoner  to  the  Tower,  and 
confined  near  four  years.  On  his  release  he 
joined  the  parlement;  but,  through  a  sense  of 
honor,  declined  acting  against  his  old  master; 
and  employed  his  sword  against  the  Irish  rebels, 
in  which  service  he  was  engaged  till  after  the 
death  of  the  King. 

Nantxvich  was  the  residence  of  the  widow  of 


48  MILTON'S  WIDOW. 

the  great  Milton,  during  the  latter  part  of  hef 
life.  h  She  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Minshul;  of 
Stoke,  in  this  neighborhood.  The  poet  married 
her  in  the  fifty-third  or  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age, 
wanting,  in  the  season  of  his  infirmities,  assist- 
ance from  a  dearer  relation  than  that  of  domes- 
tics. I  fear  that  he  was  disappointed ;  for  she  is 
said  to  have  been  a  lady  of  most  violent  spirit. 
Yet  she  maintained  a  great  respect  for  his  me- 
mory ;  and  could  not  bear  to  hear  the  least  im- 
putation of  plagiarism  ascribed  to  him.  She  used 
to  say,  that  he  stole  from  nobody  but  the  muse 
who  inspired  him,  and  that  muse  was  God's  grace, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  xchich  visited  him  nightly. 
She  probably  had  heard  him  say  as  much,  in  the 
composition  of  his  invocation  to  Urania,  in  his  7th 
book: 

. upled  by  Thee, 

Into  the  heav'n  of  heav'ns  I  have  presum'd, 
An  earthly  guest,  and  drawn  empyreal  air, 
Thy  temp'ring. 

And  again,  with  greater  force, 

More  safe  I  sing  with  mortal  voice,  unchang'd 
To  hoarse  or  mute,  though  fall'n  on  evil  days, 
On  evil  days  though  fall'n,  and  evil  tongues; 
In  darkness  and  with  dangers  compass'd  round, 
And  solitude;  yet  not  alone,  while  Thou 
Visit'st  my  slumbers  nightly. 

b  Life  of  Milton  by  Bishop  Newton.     She  died  in  a  very 
advanced  age,  in  March  1726. 


GERARD,  THE  BOTANIST.  49 

In  this  town,  in  1545,  was  born  the  good  old 
botanist  John  Gerard.  He  was  bred  an  apothe- 
cary ;  and  removing  to  London  was  patronized  by 
Lord  Burghley,  and  during  twenty  years  was  su- 
perintendant  of  his  lordship's  fine  garden.  He 
often  speaks  of  his  own  poor  garden  in  Holborn, 
which  probably  was  a  very  respectable  one.  Doc- 
tor Bulky n  says  it  contained  1100  plants.  It  is 
said  to  have  been  the  first  physic-garden  we  ever 
had.  The  catalogue  was  given  in  print  by  him- 
self in  1596  and  1599-  There  were  two  editions 
of  his  Herbal:  the  first  in  1597.  The  second 
published  in  1633  and  1636  by  the  ingenious  and 
brave  Thomas  Johnson,  also  an  apothecary ;  but 
who  afterwards  was  honored  with  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Physic  conferred  on  him  in  1643  by  the 
university  of  Oxford.  He  had  entered  into  the 
royal  army,  and  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel;  behaved  with  distinguished  gaU 
lantry,  and  at  length  (in  1644)  fell,  greatly  la- 
mented, at  the  siege  of  Basinghouse,  which  was 
soon  after  relieved  by  the  loyal  Colonel  Gage. 
Gerard  died  in  the  year  1607. 

I  continued  my  journey  along  the  London 
road,  flat,  tedious,  and  heavy.  At  the  fourth 
stone  lieth,  a  little  out  of  the  way,  JVybunbury, 
a  small  village,  supposed  to  have  taken  its  name 
from  IVibba,  second  king  of  the  Mercians,  who^ 

£ 


dO  WYBUNBURY. 

died  in  615.  The  manor  was  antiently  in  the 
great  family  of  the  Praers.  Sir  Robert  de  Praer 
gave  it  to  his  son  Richard,  about  the  reign  of 
King  John,  upon  condition  of  rendering  to  the 
heirs  of  his  elder  brother  two  barbed  arrows 
yearly,  on  the  feast  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  in 
lieu  of  all  other  services.  But  the  Praers  re- 
mitted all  their  right  in  this  manor,  and  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  church,  to  the  bishop  of  Lichfield 
and  Coventry,  in  1276,  the  fifth  of  Edward  I. 
and  the  bishops  continued  to  be  lords  of  the  ma- 
nor till  the  second  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  about 
which  time  it  was  alienated  :  but  the  bishops  still 
continue  patrons  of  the  church. 

There  had  been,  in  much  earlier  times,  a  fa- 
mily in  this  place  which  took  their  name  from  it ; 
for  Richard  de  Wibbunbury  was  sheriff  of  Cheshire 
in  1233.  Whether  the  Praers  ever  assumed  that 
name,  is  uncertain.  It  is  probable,  that  the  Ri- 
chard abovementioned  was  the  same  with  the  she- 
riff, and  took  the  addition  on  receiving  the  place 
from  his  father. 

This  village  was  formerly  surrounded  with  gen- 
tlemen's seats.  Among  those  was  Lee,  the  resi- 
dence of  a  family  of  the  same  name ;  from  which 
were  descended-  the  Lees,  earls  of  Lichfield,  de- 
rived from  Benedict,  a  son  of  this  house,  who 
made  a  settlement  at  Quarendon,  in  Bucking- 


WYBUNBURY  CHURCH.  51 

liamshire,  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward IV. 

The  church  is  a  very  handsome  building,  em- 
battled and  pinnacled :  the  tower  lofty ;  the  roof 
is  timbered  on  the  inside,  and  carved  with  the 
arms  of  the  various  benefactors.  Part  of  the 
church  was  taken  down  in  1591 ;  at  which  time 
many  of  the  monuments  were  destroyed :  of  those 
remaining,  are  several  in  memory  of  the  Delves  of 
Doddington.  The  most  antient  is  a  large  altar- 
tomb  of  alabaster,  with  the  figures  of  a  father,  and 
son,  and  lady,  engraven  on  the  stone  :  at  the  feet 
of  each  is  a  dog,  and  beneath,  a  dolphin :  on  the 
front  of  the  tomb,  several  figures,  their  progeny. 
The  persons  represented  are  Sir  John  Delves,  his 
son  John,  and  his  wife  Ellen,  daughter  of  Ralph 
Egerton,  of  TVrinehill,  in  the  county  of  Stafford; 
for  his  marriage  with  whom,  probably  on  account 
of  consanguinity,  a  dispensation  was  granted  in 
14391. 

Sir  John  was  in  high  favor  with  Henry  VI. 
and  enjoyed  several  lucrative  posts  under  him. 
This  he  repaid  by  the  most  faithful  adherence, 
raised  forces  in  his  support,  and  lost  his  life  va- 
liantly fighting,  in  the  fatal  field  at  Texvhesbury, 
on  Saturday,  May  the.  4th,  1471.     His  son,  with 

1  Collins' s  Baronet,  ed.  1720.  p.  300. 
E  2 


52  WYBUNBURY.    TOMBS. 

numbers  of  persons  of  distinction,  took  refuge  in 
the  abbey.  The  furious  Edward  pursued  them, 
with  his  drawn  sword,  into  the  church  k ;  but  was 
opposed  by  a  resolute  priest,  who  for  the  present 
diverted  his  vengeance  by  lifting  up  the  host,  in- 
terposing the  sacred  mystery,  and  denied  him  ad- 
mittance till  he  obtained  a  promise  of  pardon ; 
depending  on  the  king's  word,  they  neglected 
making  their  escape,  and  continued  in  the  sanc- 
tuary till  the  Monday,  when  the  relentless  monarch 
caused  them  to  be  drawn  out  and  beheaded,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  times,  without  any 
process.  The  bodies  of  this  unfortunate  pair  were 
at  first  buried  at  Tewkesbury*,  but  afterwards 
translated  to  this  place ;  where  their  remains  lie, 
with  the  following  inscription : 

Hie  jacet  Johannes  Delves,  miles,  et  Elena  uxor 

ejus,  nee  non  Johannes  Delves,  armiger,  Alius 

et  heres  predicti  Johis.  qui  quidem  Johannes 

miles    obiit   quarto    die   Mail,    anno   Dnl 

MCCCCLXXI.   quorum   animabus   propi- 

tietur  Deus.  Amen. 

Ralph,  the  second  son  of  Sir  John,   and  his 

wife  Catharine,    are  represented  on  a  tomb  by 

two  brass  plates.     The  inscription  imports,  that 

he  died  the  11th  March,  1513. 

k  Stoiv's  Annafs,  424-.  '  Leland  Itin.  y\.  88. 


DODDINGTON  HALL,  &c.  53 

The  tomb  of  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  of  the  Hough, 
in  this  parish,  and  his  lady,  is  magnificent  in  its 
kind.  Sir  Thomas  lies  beneath  a  canopy,  sup- 
ported by  four  pillars  of  the  Ionic  order,  of  white 
marble,  gilt  and  painted.  He  is  represented  re- 
cumbent and  armed,  with  his  gauntlets  lying  at 
his  feet:  his  hair  long,  curled,  and  flowing:  his 
visage  bearded  and  whiskered.  His  lady  (Anne, 
daughter  of  Sir  William  Brereton)  has  a  fashion- 
able fore-top,  a  great  ruff,  and  extended  hood. 
Sir  Thomas  died  on  the  21st  of  December  16 14; 
and  his  relict  erected  this  monumental  compli- 
ment. 

On  getting  into  the  great  road,  I  passed  on  the 
left  the  scite  of  the  antient  seat  of  Lee,  and  an 
iron  forge. 

A  little  farther  stood  the  antient  seat  of 
Doddington,  originally  belonging  to  a  family  of 
the  same  name ;  but  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II. 
it  passed  to  the  Praers :  in  1352,  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  Edward  III.  to  the  Brescies,  by  marriage 
with  the  heiress  of  the  house :  but  in  the  thirtieth 
of  the  same  reign,  John  Brescie,  with  Margaret 
his  wife,  alienated  it  to  John  Delves,  of  Delves- 
hall  in  Staffordshire,  one  of  the  four  renowned 
'squires  who  distinguished  themselves  under  the 
Lord  Audley,  at  the  battle  of  Poitiers.  Sir  John 
Berniers,  Lord  Bourchier,  the  noble  translator 


54  LORD  AUDLEY  AND  HIS   SQUIRES. 

of  Froissart,  relates  the  deed  with  all  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  original.  "  But  when  Lord  James 
"  Audeley  sawe  that  shoulde  nedes  fyght  (he  sayde 
"  to  the  Pry  nee)  I  have  alwaies  served  truly  my 
"  lorde  your  father,  and  you  also,  and  shall  do  as 
"  long  as  I  live.  I  say  this,  because  I  made  ones 
"  a  vow,  that  the  first  batayle  that  other  the 
"  Kynge  your  father,  or  anie  of  his  chyldren, 
"  shoulde  be  at,  ho  we  that  I  wulde  be  one  of  the 
"  fyrst  setters  on,  or  else  to  dye  in  the  fayle. 
"  Therefore  I  requyre  your  Grace,  as  in  rewarde 
"  for  any  servyce  that  ever  I  dyde  to  the  Kynge 
"  your  father,  or  to  you,  that  you  will  gyve  me 
"  licence  to  departe  fro'  you,  and  to  set  up  my 
"  self  there,  as  I  maye  accomplyshe  my  vowe.  The 
"  Prince,  according  to  his  desyre  (and  sayde)  Sir 
"  James,  God  gyve  you  this  daye  that  grace  to  be 
"  the  best  Knyght  of  all  others,  and  to  take  hym 
"  by  the  hande.  Than  the  Knyght  departed  fro 
"  the  Prince,  and  went  to  the  foremost  front  of 
"  all  the  batayles  all,  onely  accompanyed  with 
"  four  Squyers,  who  promysed  nat  to  fayle  him. 
"  This  Lorde  James  was  a  ryghte  sage  and  a  va- 
"  liant  knyght,  and  by  hym  was  muche  of  the 
"  hooste  ordeyned  and  governed  the  day  before. — 
"  The  Lord  James  Audeley,  with  his  foure  Squyers, 
"  was  in  the  front  of  that  battel,  and  these  dyd 
"  marvels  in  armes ;  and  by  great  prowes,  he 


LORD  AUDLEY  AND  HIS  'SQUIRES.  55 

"  came  and  fought  with  Sir  Arnolde  Dandrchen, 
"  under  his  own  banner ;  and  there  they  fought 
"  longe  togyder,  and  Sir  Arnolde  was  there  sore 
"  handled. — And  there  was  Sir  Arnolde  Dan- 
"  drchen  taken  prysoner  by  other  men  than  by 
"  Syr  James  Audeley  or  his  foure  Squyers ;  for 
"  yl  daye  he  never  toke  prisoner,  but  always 
"  foughte  and  wente  on  his  enemyes. — On  the 
"  Englyshe  parte,  the  Lord  James  Audeley,  with 
"  the  ayde  of  his  foure  Squyers,  foughte  alwayes 
"  in  the  chyefe  of  the  batayle  :  he  was  sore  hurte 
"  in  the  bodye,  and  in  the  vysage.  As  longe  as 
"  his  breth  served  him  he  fought :  at  last,  at  the 
"  end  of  the  batayle  hys  foure  Squyers  toke  and 
"  brought  hym  out  of  the  felde,  and  layed  hym 
u  under  a  hedge  syde,  for  to  refreshe  hym.  And 
"  they  unarmed  hym,  and  bounde  up  his  woundes 
"  as  well  as  they  coude. — After  the  battle,  the 
"  Prince  demanded  of  the  Knyghtes  that  were 
"  aboute  him,  for  the  Lord  Audley,  if  any  knewe 
"  any  thing  of  him.  Some  Knights  y*  were  there 
"  answered  and  sayde,  Sir,  he  is  sore  hurt,  and 
"  lieth  in  a  litter  here  beside ;  by  my  faith,  said 
"  the  Prince,  of  his  hurts  I  am  right  sorye,  go 
"  and  knowe  if  he  maye  be  broughte  hider,  or  els 
"  I  will  go,  and  se  him  there,  as  he  is.  Than 
"  twoo  Knights  came  to  the  Lord  Audeley  (and 
"  sayde)  Sir,  the  Prince  desireth  greatly  to  see 


56  LORD  AUDLEY  AND  HIS  'SQUIRES. 

"  you :  outher  ye  must  go  to  him,  or  els  he  will 
"  come  to  you.      A,  Sir,  sayde  the  Knighte,  I 
"  thanke  the  Prince  when  he  thinketh  on  so  pore 
"  a  knight  as  I  am ;  then  he  called  eyght  of  his 
"  servanntes,  and  caused  them  to  bere  hym  in  hys 
"  lytter  to  the  place  where  was  the  Prince.    Than 
"  the  Prince  toke  hym  in  his  armes  and  kyst  hym, 
"  and  made  him  great  chear,  and  sayd,  Sir  James, 
ff  I  ought  gretly  to  honour  you,  for  by  your  va- 
"  liance  ye  have  this  day  achyved  ye  grace  and 
"  renowne  of  us  al,  and  ye  are  reputed  for  the 
"  most  valyant  of  al  others.    I  retain  you  for  ever 
"to  be  my  knight,  with  five  hundred  markes  of 
"  yearly  revenues.    When  Syr  James  Audeley  was 
"  broughte  to  his  lodgynge,  thenne  he  send  for  Syr 
"Peter  Audeley,  his  brother,  and  for  the  Lorde 
"  Bartylemawe  of  Brennes,  the  Lorde  Stephanne 
"  of  Goutenton,    the  Lorde   of  Wylly,    and  the 
"  Lorde  Raffe  Ferres :  all  these  were  of  his  ly- 
"  nage :  and  than  he  called  before  them  hys  foure 
"  Squyers,  that  hadde  served  hym  that  daye  well 
"  and  trewlye :  than  he  sayde  to  the  sayde  Lordes, 
"  Syrs,  it  hath  pleased  my  Lorde  the  Prynce  to 
"  gyve  me  five  hundred  markes  of  revenues  by 
"  yere;  for  the  which  gyft  I  have  done  him  but 
"  small  servyce  with  my  bodye.      Sirs,  beholde 
"  here  these   foure  Squyers,   who  hath  alwayes 
"  served  me  truely,  and  especyally  thys  day :  that 


LORD  AUDLEY  AND  HIS  'SQUIRES.  57 

"  honour  that  I  have  is  by  their  valyantnesse, 
"  wherefore  I  woll  reward  them :  I  gyve  and  re- 
"  signe  into  their  handes  the  gyft  that  my  Lorde 
"  ye  Prynce  hath  gyv'n  me  of  five  hundred  markes 
"  of  yerely  revenues,  to  them  and  their  heyres  for 
"  ever.  I  clearly  disheryte  me  thereofF,  and  in- 
"  heryte  them  wythout  any  rebell  or  condy- 
u  tyon  m." 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  this  account  of  the 
Lord  Audley,  not  only  as  his  history  is  so  mingled 
with  that  of  his  four  'squires,  Delves,  Dutton, 
Foulhurst,  and  Hawkeston ;  but  because  all  five 
were  Cheshire  men ;  the  'squires,  by  attachment, 
following  their  neighbor  to  the  scene  of  military 
glory.  I  must  add,  that  their  gallant  leader  en- 
joined them,  as  a  further  proof  of  his  esteem,  to 
bear  in  some  parts  of  their  coats  of  arms,  his  own 
proper  atchievement  gules,  a  fret  d'or" ;  which 
the  families  constantly  retained. 

The  statues  of  Lord  Audley  and  his  four 
'squires,  cut  in  stone,  are  still  preserved  at  Dod- 
dington  Hall.  Doctor  Gozver  supposes  that  of 
Lord  Audley  to  have  been  original ;  the  others  to 
have  been  made  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
when  the  late  mansion  was  built. 

Sir  John  (for  he  was  knighted  by  Edrvard  III.) 

m  Ch.  clxii.  clxv.  clxvii.         "  Dr.  Gotvcr's  Material*  fyc.  47. 


58  AUDLEY  CHURCH. 

was  distinguished  by  several  marks  of  royal  favor : 
had  the  wardship  of  the  Dutchess  of  Bretagne : 
was  constituted  one  of  the  justices  of  the  King's 
Bench  ;  and  had  licence  to  embattle  his  house  at 
Doddington.  He  bequeathed  his  body  to  be  bu- 
ried in  the  church  of  St.  James,  at  Audelcy,  in 
Staffordshire,  and,  dying  on  the  16th  of  August 
1369,  was  interred  there,  according  to  his  desire. 
Near  him,  in  the  same  church,  were  deposited  the 
remains  of  his  illustrious  patron. 

Audley  lies  a  very  few  miles  to  the  north-east 
of  Doddington,  seated  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  on  the 
road  between  Nantxvich  and  Newcastle.  A  reve- 
rential curiosity  once  led  me  to  visit  the  reliques 
of  these  heroes.  Those  of  the  Lord  Audley  lie 
beneath  a  plain  altar-tomb,  formerly  having  his 
figure  on  the  slab,  engraven  on  a  small  brass 
plate. 

His  'squire  is  perpetuated  in  a  more  ostenta- 
tious manner,  and  represented  in  alabaster,  at  full 
length,  with  his  coat  of  arms  on  his  breast.  The 
inscription  is  lost. 

One  of  the  residences  of  the  Audley s  was  at 
this  village ;  from  which  they  took  their  name.  A 
farm  occupies  the  scite  of  their  house ;  but  in 
latter  times  they  inhabited  Heleigh  Castle,  about 
three  miles  distant. 

The  Lords  had  many  privileges  here;  such  as 


HARDINGVVOOD.    DODDINGTON.  59 

court-leet,  tumbrel,  and  gallows  :  nor  could  any 
one  arrest  a  person  here,  except  an  officer  of  the 
manor.  These  estates  passed,  by  marriage  of  Sir 
John  Touchet,  to  Joan,  daughter  of  the  great  Lord 
Audley,  and  sister  and  co-heir  of  his  son  Nicholas. 
George  Touchet,  Lord  Audley,  sold  it,  in  1577, 
to  Sir  Gilbert  Gerrard ;  from  whose  family  it 
descended  to  the  Fleetwoods ;  and  in  this  °  cen- 
tury was  lost  in  a  single  night  by  the  cast  of  a  die. 

There  is  a  particularity  in  the  situation  of  the 
house  of  Hardingxvood,  adjacent  to  this  parish, 
which  I  cannot  forbear  mentioning.  Whenever 
the  family  go  to  church  (which  is  that  of  Lawton) 
they  go  out  of  the  province  of  Canterbury  into 
that  of  York ;  pass  through  two  counties,  viz. 
Staffordshire  and  Cheshire  ;  three  parishes,  JVool- 
stanton,  Audley,  and  Lazvton;  three  constableries, 
Tunstall,  Chell,  and  Lawton;  two  hundreds,  Pir- 
chill  and  Nantwich ;  and  two  dioceses,  Lichfield 
and  Chester. 

Doddington  continued  in  the  family  of  the 
Delves  till  the  present  °  century,  when,  by  the 
failure  of  issue  male,  it  descended  to  the  Brough- 
tons,  of  Broughton  in  the  county  of  Stafford,  by 
virtue  of  the  marriage  of  Sir  Bryan  Broughton, 
in  the  year  1700,  with  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  • 

Thomas  Delves,  Baronet.     The  house  is  seated  in 

•  The  last.    Ed. 


60  WORE.    MUCCLESTON. 

a  park,  watered  on  one  side  by  a  large  mere ;  with 
a  small  island,  ornamented  with  an  elegant  ro- 
tundo.  The  present  owner,  Sir  Thomas  Brough- 
ton,  is  now  building  a  new  house,  in  a  magnifi- 
cent stile,  and  in  a  far  more  agreeable  situation, 
at  the  head  of  the  lake,  at  some  distance  from  the 
old  mansion.  The  antient  house  was  fortified, 
and  garrisoned  during  the  civil  wars ;  and  taken 
and  retaken  in  the  course  of  the  contest. 
■  After  travelling  about  three  miles  further,  in 
the  same  tedious  lane,  a  portion  of  Shropshire 
presents  a  hilly  front,  and  intersects  the  road.  On 
Woke.  the  top  of  the  ascent  lies  Wore,  or  Oare,  a  hamlet 
of  a  few  houses,  with  a  small  chapel,  dependent 
on  the  rectory  of  Muccleston,  in  the  county  of 
Stafford.  Old  Stczv  informs  us,  that  Randolph 
Woolley,  of  London,  merchant-taylor,  left  to  the 
reader  of  the  place  £.5  for  freely  instructing  the 
children  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  parish. 

From  Wore  I  quitted,  for  the  sake  of  a  small 
digression,  the  London  road,  and  at  about  two 
miles  distance  enter,  at  Bearston-mill,  the  county 

of 

STAFFORD p. 

Mucci.es-  A  little  farther  stands  Muccleston,  a  small 

TOS.  , 

P  This  county,  as  well  as  Cheshire,  was  the  seat  of  the  Cor- 
navii,  and  was  in  Saxon  times  part  of  the  Mercian  kingdom ; 
and  its  inhabitants  what  Bedc  called  the  Middle  Englishmen. 


BATTLE  OF  BLOREHEATH.  61 

village,  seated  on  a  rising  ground.  The  church, 
dedicated  to  St.  Mary,  is  a  rectory,  in  the  gift  of 
John  Crewq,  Esquire,  of  Crexv,  lord  of  the  manor. 
In  1085,  the  twentieth  of  the  Conqueror,  it  was 
held  by  Kenning,  one  of  the  Taynes :  it  afterwards 
was  possessed  by  the  Morgans,  of  the  west  coun- 
try, till  about  the  first  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  when 
it  was  sold  by  Robert  Morgan,  Esquire,  to  Sir 
Thomas  Offley,  Knight,  Lord  Mayor  of  London 
in  1 556 ;  whom  Fuller  calls  the  Zaccheus  of 
that  city,  not  for  his  low  stature,  but  high  charity. 

From  the  tower  of  the  church,  Margaret  of  Battle  of 
Anjou,  the  faithful  and  spirited  consort  of  Hen-  heath. 
ry  VI.  saw  the  fierce  battle  of  Bloreheath,  fatal 
to  the  cause  of  her  meek  husband,  then  at  Coles- 
hill.  Richard  Nevil,  Earl  of  Salusbury,  com- 
manded the  Yorkists:  he  was  at  that  time  on  his 
march  from  Middleham  Castle,  with  four  or  five 
thousand  men,  under  pretence  of  settling  with  the 
King  the  disputes  of  the  two  houses.  Margaret, 
fearing  for  her  husband's  safety,  directed  Lord 
Andley  to  intercept  him  on  the  way.  He  posted 
himself  on  Bloreheath,  with  ten  thousand  troops, 
collected  out  of  Cheshire  and  Shropshire,  whose 
chieftains  were  distinguished  by  silver  swans,  the 
badges  of  their  young  prince.     Salusbury,  *not- 

i  Created  a  peer  of  Great  Britain  in  1806.     E». 


C2  CHESHIRE  HEROES. 

withstanding  the  disparity  of  numbers,  determined 
to  stand  the  fortune  of  the  day ;  but  wisely  had 
recourse  to  stratagem.  He  encamped  at  night  on 
the  banks  of  a  rivulet,  not  broad,  but  deep  ;  and 
in  the  morning  pretended  a  retreat ;  Audley  fol- 
lowing him  with  the  impetuous  valor  natural  to 
himself  and  the  times,  Salusbury  made  an  instant 
attack  on  the  divided  forces  of  the  Lancastria?is. 
The  field  was  long  disputed,  with  the  animosity 
usual  in  civil  feuds.  Audley  fell,  with  two  thou- 
sand four  hundred  of  his  troops,  chiefly  the  flower 
of  the  Cheshire  gentry ;  whose  courage  led  them 
to  the  front  of  the  battle.  A  great  stone  still 
marks  the  spot  of  their  leader's  death.  The 
Queen  fled  to  Ecclushal  Castle.  Salusbury  joined 
the  Duke  of  York  at  Ludlow.  Michael  Drayton 
commemorates  the  slaughter  of  the  day,  and  pre- 
serves the  names  of  the  Cheshire  heroes ;  for  the 
county  listed  under  both  banners. 


-The  earl, 


As  hungry  in  revenge,  there  made  a  ravenous  spoil. 
There  Dutton,  Duiton  kills;  a  Done  doth  kill  a  Done; 
A  Booth,  a  Booth  ;  and  Leigh  by  Leigh  is  overthrown : 
A  Venables  against  a  Venables  doth  stand  ; 
A  Trouibeck  fighteth  with  a  Troutbeck  hand  to  hand : 
T,here  Molineux  doth  make  a  Molineux  to  die ; 
And  Egerton  the  strength  of  Egerton  doth  try. 

I  returned  into  the  great  road  by  Winning- 


WELLS.    MERE.    THE  BRUFF.  63 

ton  forge  and  JVillozvbridge  wells.  The  last  were 
once  in  high  esteem  for  their  sanative  waters, 
strongly  impregnated  with  sulphur.  They  were 
formerly  much  frequented,  on  account  of  bathing 
and  drinking.  A  house  for  the  reception  of  pa- 
tients was  built,  and  a  bath  inclosed ;  but  at  pre- 
sent the  waters  (which  to  look  and  taste  differ  not 
from  common)  are  entirely  deserted. 

I  re-entered  the  London  road  on  Meter  Mere. 
Heath,  in  the  parish  of  Maer,  or  Mere  ;  so  stiled 
from  a  large  piece  of  water,  the  head  of  the  river 
Tern,  which  flowing  through  Shropshire,  falls  into 
the  Severn  three  miles  below  Shrewsbury.  Meter 
and  Aston,  an  adjacent  manor,  were  on  the  Con- 
quest divided  between  William  de  Maer  and  Ro- 
bert  Stafford.  Some  centuries  afterwards,  a  Staf- 
ford exchanged  his  part  of  Maer,  with  Ralph,  the 
son  of  John  Macclesfield ;  by  which  it  came  into 
that  family,  who  sold  it  to  John  Lord  Chetwynd. 

This  parish  is  remarkable  for  Savon  antiqui-  Bruff. 
ties.  On  a  hill  is  an  antient  fortress,  or  strong 
hold,  composed  of  two  deep  ditches  and  a  ram- 
part, formed  chiefly  of  stone ;  the  precinct  is  not 
of  any  regular  shape,  for  the  fosses  conform  to 
the  shape  of  the  hill ;  as  was  usual  with  the  Bri- 
tons  and  the  earlier  Saxons.  Two  of  the  corriers 
project  naturally,  and  form  a  species  of  bastions. 
The  entrance  was  on  ^he  side  next  the  present 


64  THE  BRUFF.    BARROWS. 

road.  The  approach  is  very  visible  :  it  crept  up 
the  steep  sides ;  divided  about  midway,  one  branch 
took  to  the  left  and  the  other  to  the  right.  Near 
this  place  finished  his  course  Osred,  the  licentious 
king  of  the  Northumbrians ;  a  despiser  of  monks 
and  corrupter  'of  nuns  :  slain  in  battle  in  716,  at 
Mear,  in  the  bloom  of  youth.  This  fortress  is 
called  the  Bri/ff,  corruptly  from  Burgh.  It  seems 
to  have  been  cast  up  by  Kinred,  king  of  Mercia, 
against  the  invasion  of  Osred.  Kinred  probably 
gave  his  antagonist  the  usual  funeral  honors,  and 
interred  him,  and  his  officers,  with  the  respect  due 
Barrows,  to  their  rank.  Tumuli,  or  barrows,  some  round, 
others  oblong,  are  scattered  over  the  neighboring 
hills  and  heath.  Under  the  large  conical  hill, 
called  Coplozv,  might  be  deposited  the  corpse  of 
Osred ;  beneath  the  others,  those  of  his  unfortu- 
nate followers.  I  must  not  pass  over  in  silence 
the  Camp-hills,  notwithstanding  the  name  has  out- 
lived the  vestiges  of  entrenchments  ;  nor  does  any 
tradition  of  the  possessor  remain.  Shall  we  sup- 
pose it  to  be  Osred,  who  might  have  been  there 
before  his  defeat  ? 

This  country  is  gravelly,  full  of  commons  and 
low  hills r,  entirely  covered  with  heath ;  which  still 
give  shelter  to  a  few  black  grous,  and  red.     The 

r  A  considerable  portion  of  this  dreary  tract  is  now  enclosed 
and  cultivated.     Ed. 


SWINERTON.  65 


mention  of  the  heath  reminds  me,  that  about  a  Heath  usbd 
century  ago  it  was  sometimes  made  use  of  instead 
of  hops :  a  practice  continued  to  this  day  in  some 
of  the  Hebrides.  .  . 

Cross  Hatton  and  Swinerton  heaths.  The  last  Swinertojt. 
lies  in  a  parish  and  manor  of  the  same  name, 
which  was  owned,  from  the  Conquest  to  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII.  by  the  Swinertons.  Their  an- 
cestor was  called  Aslam,  who  held  the  estate  from 
Robert  de  Stafford,  and  at  the  time  of  the  general 
survey,  possessed  in  this  county  alone  eighty-one 
manors.  This  family  produced  numbers  of  knights ; 
and,  among  them,  Roger  de  Swinerton  had  the 
honor  of  being  summoned  to  parlement  in  the 
reign  of  Edxvard  III.  He  seems  to  have  been 
favored  in  those  reigns.  In  that  of  the  first  Ed- 
ward, he  obtained  free  warren  for  his  manor,  and 
got  the  privilege  of  a  market  and  a  fair  to  be  held 
there.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  he  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Stafford;  afterwards,  of  the 
important  castle  of  Harlech,  in  Meireonethshire ; 
and  was  made  constable  of  the  Tower  of  London. 
In  that  of  his  successor,  besides  the  honor  above 
recited,  he  was  made  a  banneret ;  and  had  for  his 
several  services  an  assignation  out  of  the  exchequer, 
of  an  hundred  and  forty-five  pounds  thirteen  shil- 
lings and  eight-pence.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
this  manor  of  Swinerton  passed  into  the  family  of 

F 


QQ  CHURCH.    SCHOOL.    DARLASTON. 

the  Fitzherberts,  by  the  marriage  of  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Humphry,  last  male  heir  of  the  line, 
to  William  Fitzherbert  of  Norbury,  in  which 
name  it  still  continues. 

The  church,  and  seat  of  Mr.  Fitzherbert,  com- 
mand a  vast  view  into  Worcestershire  and  Shrop- 
shire. In  the  first  is  a  tomb  of  a  cross-legged 
knight ;  and  a  plain  altar-tomb,  inscribed  Dominus 
de  Sivinnerton  8$  Ellen  uxor  ejus. 

In  the  school -house  is  placed  the  colossal  figure 
of  our  Saviour,  sitting.  He  is  represented  as  if 
after  the  resurrection,  shewing  the  wound  in  his 
side  to  the  incredulous  disciple.  It  was  found 
under  ground,  near  the  place  it  now  occupies; 
and  seems  to  have  been  buried  in  the  reforming 
times,  to  preserve  it  from  the  rage  of  the  image- 
breakers. 

In  the  house  is  a  very  fine  full-length  portrait 
of  Sir  John  Fitzherbert,  Knight. 
Darlaston.  On  descending  a  hill,  I  reached  Darlaston, 
a  village  on  the  Trent.  Near  this  place,  on  the 
summit  of  a  hill,  called  Bury  Bank,  is  an  area 
of  an  oval  form,  about  250  yards  in  diameter,  en- 
vironed by  a  deep  trench  and  ramparts  :  the  en- 
trance is  on  the  north-west.  On  the  south  part 
is  a  tumulus,  surrounded  with  a  ditch.  This  I 
imagine  to  have  been  formed  out  of  the  ruins  of 
some  buildings,  and  to  have  been  a  sort  of  prce- 


THE  TRENT.  67 

torium  to  the  occupier  of  this  post.  It  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  residence  of  Wulpherus, 
who  reigned  over  Mercia  from  656  to  675.  The 
old  name  of  JVlferecester  in  a  manner  confirms  the 
opinion.  Whether  the  neighboring  Cop,  or  Low, 
was  the  place  of  his  interment,  as  Plot  thinks,  is 
doubtful. 

Here  I  first  meet  with  the  Trent.  This  river 
rises  in  the  Morelands,  near  Biddulph,  out  of 
Newpool,  and  two  springs  near  Molecop.  At  this 
place  it  is  an  inconsiderable  stream,  becomes  na- 
vigable at  Burton  on  Trent,  and,  after  flowing 
through  this  county  (which  it  almost  equally  di- 
vides), that  of  Derby,  Nottingham,  and  Lincoln, 
it  loses  its  name  in  the  Humber,  the  great  recep- 
tacle of  the  northern  rivers.  Poets  have  taken 
most  beautiful  liberties  in  their  etymologies  of  the 
name  of  this  river ;  for  it  neither  derives  it  from 
its  thirty  kinds  of  fish,  nor  yet  from  its  thirty 
rivers  that  swell  its  waters. 

The  bounteous  Trent,  that  in  himself  enseams 
Both  thirty  sorts  of  fish,  and  thirty  sundry  streams. 

After  quoting  the  sublime  description  of  Mil- 
ton, we  shall  give  its  simple  derivation. 

Rivers,  arise !  whether  thou  be  the  son 
Of  utmost  Tiveed,  or  Ooze,  or  gulphy  Dun, 
Or  Trent,  which,  like  some  earth-born  giant,  spreads 
His  thirty  arms  along  the  indented  meads. 

F  2 


M  STONEFIELD.    CAxVAL. 

In  fact,  the  name  is  Saxon  ;  Trenta,  Treonta,  and 
formed  from  the  word  drie  (three),  on  account  of 
its  rising  from  three  heads. 

Stonefikld.  After  crossing  the  river,  and  ascending  a  small 
bank,  I  find  myself  in  a  vast  open  tract  rising  to 
the  left,  called  Stonefield.  Here,  in  1745,.  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  drew  up  his  army  to  give 
battle  to  the  rebels,  who  were  supposed  to  have 
been  on  their  march  this  way.  His  intelligence 
failed  him,  and  the  Scotch  insurgents  possessed 
themselves  of  Derby.  In  future  times,  posterity 
will  almost  doubt  the  fact,  when  they  read  that 
an  inconsiderable  band  of  mountaineers,  undisci- 
plined, unomcered,  and  half-armed,  penetrated  into 
the  center  of  an  unfriendly  country,  with  one 
army  behind  them,  and  another  in  their  front ;  that 
they  rested  there  a  few  days ;  and  that  they  re- 
treated above  three  hundred  miles,  with  scarcely 
any  loss,  continually  pressed  by  a  foe  supplied 
with  every  advantage  that  loyalty  could  afford. 

The  Canal.  Parallel  to  my  road  runs  that  magnificent 
enterprize  the  Grand  Trunk  Canal,  for  the  junc- 
tion of  the  eastern  and  the  western  oceans ;  de- 
signed to  give  to  each  side  of  the  kingdom  an  easy 
share  in  the  commodities  of  both.  In  other  coun- 
tries, the  nature  of  the  land  permits  a  ready  ex- 
ecution of  these  designs.  Egypt  and  Holland  are 
levelled  to  the  workmen's  hands.     Our  aspiring 


THE  CANAL.  eg 

genius  scoffs  at  obstructions,  and  difficulties  serve 
but  to  whet  our  ardor :  our  aqueducts  pass  over 
our  once-admired  rivers,  now  despised  for  the 
purposes  of  navigation :  we  fill  vallies,  we  pene- 
trate mountains.  How  would  the  prophet  have 
been  treated,  who,  forty  years  ago,  should  have 
predicted,  that  a  vessel  of  twenty-five  tons  would 
be  seen  sailing  over  Stonefield?  Yet  such  is  the 
case  at  present. 

Figitur  in  viridi  (si  fors  tulit)  anchora  prato. 

This  great  enterprize  was  begun  on  July  17th, 
1766,  near  the  south  end  of  Hare-castle  Hill,  in 
this  county.  Its  entire  length  is  ninety-three 
miles,  viz.  sixty-one  miles  two  furlongs  from  the 
south  side  of  that  hill  to  Wildon  ferry,  in  the 
county  of  Derby ;  and  thirty-one  miles  six  fur- 
longs on  the  north  side,  to  its  junction  with  the 
Duke  of  Bridgewaters  canal  at  Preston  on  the 
Hill,  in  Cheshire. 

To  effect  this  work,  there  are  forty  locks  on  the 
south  side ;  having  in  all  three  hundred  and  six- 
teen feet  fall ;  and  on  the  north  side  thirty-five, 
with  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  fall.  Six 
of  the  most  southern  locks  are  fourteen  feet  wide, 
adapted  for  the  navigation  of  large  vessels,  from 
opposite  to  Burton  to  Gainsborough.     At  Mid- 


70  THE  CANAL. 

dlewich,  on  the  north  side,  is  another,  of  the  same 
width. 

The  common  dimensions  of  the  canal  are 
twenty-nine  feet  breadth  at  top;  at  bottom  six- 
teen; and  the  depth  four  and  a  half,  except  in 
the  part  from  Wilden  to  Burton,  which  is  thirty- 
one  feet  broad  at  top,  eighteen  at  bottom,  and 
five  and  a  half  deep.  The  same  is  observed  from 
Middlexcich  to  Preston  on  the  Hill ;  upon  which 
vessels,  capable  of  navigating  in  the  estuary  of 
the  Severn,  may  pass  to  the  port  of  Liverpool. 

The  canal  is  carried  over  the  river  Dove,  in  an 
aqueduct  of  twenty-three  arches,  and  the  ground 
raised  one  mile  and  two  furlongs  in  length,  and 
to  a  very  considerable  height.  It  is  also  carried 
over  the  river  Trent,  on  an  aqueduct  of  six  arches, 
of  twenty-one  feet  span  each :  and  again,  over  the 
river  Dane,  in  Cheshire,  in  the  same  manner,  on 
three  arches  of  twenty  feet  diameter. 

Besides  these,  there  are  near  a  hundred  and 
sixty  less  aqueducts  and  culverts,  for  the  convey- 
ance of  brooks  and  streams  under  the  canal ;  many 
of  which  are  in  span  from  twelve  to  eighteen  feet. 

The  undertakers,  for  the  conveniency  of  the 
several  persons  whose  lands  they  have  cut  through, 
or  when  the  canal  intersects  any  public  road,  have 
built  an  hundred  and  eighty-nine  cart-bridges,  and 


THE  CANAL.  71 

eleven  foot-bridges ;  and  frequently,  when  the  ca- 
nal passed  in  sight  of  any  gentleman's  seat,  have 
politely  given  it  a  breadth,  or  curvature,  to  im- 
prove the  beauty  of  the  prospect. 

The  mountains,  hills,  or  rocks,  that  obstructed 
the  canal,  are  pierced  through  in  the  following 
places. 

The  most  southern  tunnel,  as  it  is  called,  is  at 
Hermitage  ;  where  a  work  is  carried  under  ground 
for  the  space  of  an  hundred  and  thirty  yards,  with 
a  haling-way  for  horses  on  one  side. 

The  tunnel  through  the  mountain  at  Hare 
Castle,  is  cut  through  a  variety  of  strata,  and  was 
a  work  of  stupendous  difficulty  and  expence,  and 
executed  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  courage  and 
skill  of  the  great  undertaker,  Mr.  Brindley.  It 
passes  under  ground  for  the  length  of  two  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  eighty  yards ;  is  nine  feet 
wide  and  twelve  high,  lined  and  arched  with  brick. 
This  traverses  a  country  full  of  coals. 

In  Cheshire,  at  Burnt  on,  in  the  parish  of  Great 
Budzvorth,  is  another  tunnel,  five  hundred  and 
sixty  yards  long ;  at  Saltenford,  in  the  same  pa- 
rish, is  another,  three  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
long ;  and  finally,  at  Preston  on  the  Hill  is  an- 
other, which  passes  under  ground  twelve  hun- 
dred and  forty-one  yards ;  each  of  them  are  seven- 
teen feet  four  inches  high,  and  thirteen  feet  six 


72  MR.  JAMES  BRINDLEY. 

inches  wide :  at  Preston  on  the  Hill  the  canal 
emerges,  and  soon  concludes  its  course,  by  falling 
into  the  canal  formed  by  an  useful  Peer,  the  Duke 
of  Bridgexvater  * ;  the  latter  drops  into  the  Mersey 
at  Runcorn,  with  a  fall  of  eighty-two  feet,  eased 
by  ten  magnificent  locks. 

From  Middlewich  to  Manchester  is  a  dead 
level,  which  does  not  require  a  lock. 

The  proprietors  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Canal 

have  employed  on  it  about  fifty  boats,  exclusive 

of  those  belonging  to  other  persons,  which  amount 

at  least  to  the  same  number.    They  are  calculated 

to  carry  twenty-five  tons  each,  and  are  drawn  by 

one  horse,  for  which  the  proprietors  receive  per 

mile  three  halfpence  a  ton. 

Of  James        It  would  be  ungrateful  not  to  pay  some  respect 
Brikdley.  .  . 

to  the  memory  of  the  great  architect  and  contriver 

of  these  works,  Mr.  James  Brindley.  That 
rare  genius  was  born  at  Tunsted,  in  the  parish  of 
JVormhill,  Derbyshire,  in  the  year  1716".  His 
father  was  a  small  freeholder,  who  ruined  himself 
by  following  the  sports  of  the  field,  and  disabled 
himself  from  giving  his  children  any  sort  of  edu- 
cation. 

Young  James  shewed  very  early  the  goodness 
of  his  heart,   by  maintaining  the  orphan  family 

•  Deceased  in  1803.    Ed. 


MR.  JAMES  BRINDLEY.  73 

by  such  labor  as  he  was  capable  of.  At  the  ag6 
of  seventeen  he  bound  himself  apprentice  to  a 
millwright  near  Macclesfield,  when  his  amazing 
abilities  were  soon  discovered.  He  speedily  be- 
came a  great  proficient,  and  performed  a  number 
of  things  of  which  his  master  was  totally  ignorant. 
His  gratitude  was  equal  to  his  genius ;  for  he  over- 
paid any  instructions  which  he  received  from  his 
master,  by  maintaining  him  in  a  comfortable  man- 
ner when  he  grew  past  working,  and  fell  into  di- 
stress. 

The  first  service  the  public  received  from  him, 
was  a  very  considerable  improvement  in  the  paper- 
press.  He  got  great  credit  by  a  water-engine  at 
Clifton,  in  Lancashire;  and  still  more  by  the  ma- 
chinery of  a  new  silk-mill  at  Congleton,  to  which 
he  gave  many  most  important  movements.  He 
highly  facilitated  the  grinding  of  flints  for  the  pot- 
teries; and  in  1756,  erected  a  steam-engine,  on  a 
new  plan,  by  which  he  reduced  the  consumption 
of  coal  to  one  half. 

It  was  a  peculiar  felicity  to  the  Duke  of 
Bridgewater,  to  find  a  genius  such  as  Brind- 
ley,  cotemporary  to  the  great  designs  formed  by 
his  Grace.  That  wonderful  mechanic  naturally 
fell  under  the  Dukes  patronage,  and  was  the 
grand  contriver  of  all  the  works  which  his  noble 
friend  carried  on.     Many  of  his  projects  were  of 


74  MR.  JAMES  BRINDLEY. 

so  stupendous  a  kind,  and  so  incomprehensible 
to  vulgar  minds,  as  to  subject  him  to  great  ridi- 
cule, till  the  scoffers  were  put  to  confusion  by  the 
successful  execution. 

Wherever  any  great  difficulty  arose,  he  con- 
stantly took  to  his  bed,  excluded  all  light,  and  lay 
in  meditation  for  two  or  three  days,  till  he  had  in 
idea  completed  the  whole  of  his  plan.  A  poet 
would  have  said,  he  was  visited  by  his  muse  in 
those  hours  of  seclusion.  Brindlcy  certainly  was 
illuminated,  amidst  the  darkness,  by  his  attendant 
genius.  He  reminds  me  of  the  younger  Pliny, 
who  adopted  almost  a  similar  method  :  "  Clause? 
"fenestra  manent.  Mirk  enim  Silent  io  et  tent- 
t(  bris  animus  alitur.  ab  Us.  qua  axocant  abduc- 
"  tus,  et  liber,  et  mihi  relictus,  non  oculos  animo 
"  sed  animum  oculis  sequor,  qui  eadem  qua  mens 
"  vident  quoties  non  vident  alia  \" 

When  he  found  his  health  and  faculties  to  de- 
cline, he  virtuously  determined  to  extend  as  far 
as  possible  his  services,  even  beyond  the  grave. 
He  communicated  all  his  plans  and  designs  to 
Mr.  Hugh  Henshall,  his  wife's  brother,  who  had 
been  employed  by  the  proprietors,  from  the  be- 
ginning, as  clerk  of  the  works.  His  assiduity  and 
abilities  seem  to  have  compensated  for  the  loss  of 

*  Epist.  lib.  ix.  ep.  3G. 


ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  CANAL.  75 

his  great  ally ;  for  the  most  difficult  parts  in  the 
undertaking  have  been  successfully  executed,  since 
Mr.  Brindleys  death",  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Henshall. 

Notwithstanding  the  clamors  which  were 
raised  against  this  undertaking,  in  the  places 
through  which  it  was  intended  to  pass,  when  it 
was  first  projected,  we  have  the  pleasure  now  to 
see  content  reign  universally  on  its  banks,  and 
plenty  attend  its  progress.  The  cottage,  instead 
of  being  half-covered  with  miserable  thatch,  is 
now  secured  with  a  substantial  covering  of  tiles 
or  slates,  brought  from  the  distant  hills  of  Wales 
or  Cumberland.  The  fields,  which  before  were 
barren,  are  now  drained,  and,  by  the  assistance 
of  manure,  conveyed  on  the  canal  toll-free,  are 
cloathed  with  a  beautiful  verdure.  Places  which 
rarely  knew  the  use  of  coal,  are  plentifully  sup- 
plied with  that  essential  article  upon  reasonable 
terms :  and,  what  is  of  still  greater  public  utility, 
the  monopolizers  of  corn  are  prevented  from  ex- 
ercising their  infamous  trade ;  for,  by  the  commu- 
nication being  opened  between  Liverpool,  Bristol, 
and  Hull,  and  the  line  of  the  canal  being  through 
countries  abundant  in  grain,  it  affords  a  convey- 
ance for  corn  unknown  to  past  ages.     At  present, 

°  He  died  at  Tumhurst,  in  the  parish  of  Wolstanton,  Staf- 
fordshire, September  27 lb,  1772. 


76  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  CANAL. 

nothing  but  a  general  dearth  can  create  a  scarcity 
in  any  part  adjacent  to  this  extensive  work. 

These,  and  many  other  advantages,  are  de- 
rived, both  to  individuals  and  the  public,  from 
this  internal  navigation,  and  when  it  happens  that 
the  kingdom  is  engaged  in  a  foreign  war,  with 
what  security  is  the  trade  between  those  three 
great  ports  carried  on ;  and  with  how  much  less 
expence  has  the  trader  his  goods  conveyed  to  any 
part  of  the  kingdom,  than  he  had  formerly  been 
subject  to,  when  they  were  obliged  to  be  carried 
coastways,  and  to  pay  insurance? 

I  believe  it  may  be  asserted,  that  no  under- 
taking, equally  expensive  and  arduous,  was  ever 
attempted  by  private  people  in  any  kingdom ;  and, 
in  justice  to  the  adventurers,  it  must  be  allowed, 
that,  considering  the  difficulties  they  met  with, 
owing  to  the  nature  of  the  works,  or  the  caprice 
of  persons  whose  lands  were  taken  to  make  the 
canal,  that  ten  years  and  a  half  was  but  a  short 
time  to  perform  it  in;  and  that  satisfaction  has 
been  made  to  every  individual  who  suffered  any 
injury  by  the  execution  of  the  undertaking.  The 
profits  arising  from  tonnage  are  already  very  con- 
siderable ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  they  will  in- 
crease annually ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  enor- 
mous sum  of  money  it  has  cost  in  the  execution, 
the  proprietors  will  be  amply  repaid,  and  have 


STONE.    COLLEGE.  77 

the  comfort  to  reflect,  that  by  the  completion  of 
this  project,  they  have  contributed  to  the  good  of 
their  country,  and  acquired  wealth  for  themselves 
and  posterity. 

Immediately  after  leaving  Stonejield,  reached  Stone. 
the  little  town  of  Stone,  a  place  remarkable  for 
religious  antiquity.  Legend  tells  us,  that  the  be- 
fore-mentioned Wulferus,  then  a  Pagan,  put  to 
death  his  two  sons,  JVulfad  and  Riifin,  on  sus- 
picion of  favoring  the  Christian  faith ;  JVulfad  at 
this  place,  Rufin  at  Burston,  about  three  miles 
distant.  Over  each,  stones  were  erected,  as  usual, 
in  memory  of  the  dead ;  whence  the  names  of  these 
places  are  derived.  Wulfere,  after  this  unnatural 
deed,  was  struck  with  the  utmost  remorse,  and, 
by  the  influence  of  his  queen  and  St.  Cedda,  or 
Chad,  who  lived  in  a  neighboring  hermitage,  was 
converted  to  the  religion  he  had  so  lately  perse- 
cuted ;  and,  by  way  of  expiating  his  guilt,  among 
other  works  of  piety,  founded  at  Stone  a  college 
of  canons  regular,  about  the  year  670.  His 
queen  Ermenilda  is  said  to  have  also  founded  a 
nunnery  here.  On  the  invasion  of  the  Danes,  the  College. 
religious  were  dispersed ;  but  on  the  abatement  of 
the  cruelty  of  those  barbarians,  it  is  probable  they 
returned,  or  at  lest  a  new  establishment  was  form- 
ed. This  is  certain,  that  religious  were  found  here 
after  the  Conquest ;  for  there  is  an  idle  tale  of  two 


78  STONE  PRIORY. 

nuns  and  a  priest  being  slain  there,  by  Enysan,  a 
Norman.  This  Enysan,  of  Walton,  was  the  true 
re-founder.  Caution  must  be  used  in  reading  the 
histories  of  these  times,  which  are  filled  with  pious 
romance.  Little  credit  should  also  be  given  to 
the  murder  of  the  sons  of  Wulfere.  The  Saxon 
Chronicle  is  silent  about  the  deed.  That  prince 
was  a  convert  to  Christianity,  and  seems  to  have 
founded  the  house  through  the  common  motives 
of  zeal. 

Enysan,  on  his  re-establishment  of  this  house, 
filled  it  with  canons  from  Kenelworth,  and  made 
Priory,  ft  a  cell  to  that  place.  The  Staffords,  who  were 
his  superiors,  assumed  the  honor  of  this  new  foun- 
dation ;  and  a  second  Robert  de  Stafford,  about 
the  year  1260,  rendered  it  independent  of  Kenel- 
worth, excepting  the  right  of  patronage,  and  a 
yearly  pension.  The  church  of  this  priory  was 
the  place  of  interment  of  several  of  this  great  fa- 
mily; and  numbers  of  magnificent  tombs,  with- 
their  figures  in  alabaster,  lay  there  till  the  disso- 
lution; when  they  were  removed  to  the  Augus- 
tines,  on  Stafford  Green.  On  the  road-side  is  a 
fragment  of  a  thick  wall,  perhaps  a  remnant  of 
the  priory.  The  church  is  quite  new,  and  is  a 
very  elegant  building,  dedicated  to  St.  IVulfad, 
one  of  the  supposed  martyrs.  At  the  time  of  the 
suppression,  a  tablet,  giving  the  whole  history  of 


ASTON  HALL.    BURSTON. 


79 


the  house,  was  hung  up  in  the  priory :  it  is  related 
in  old  English  metre;  but  is  so  tedious,  that  I 
must  refer  the  readers,  who  desire  to  peruse  it,  to 
the  cited  author*. 

As  soon  as  I  left  Stone,  I  saw  on  the  right  a  Ast<w. 
large  house  called  Aston,  originally  the  property 
of  a  branch  of  the  He-ceninghams  of  Suffolk. 
Walter,  the  last  of  the  line,  left  two  daughters ; 
the  second  (who  only  had  children)  conveyed  by 
marriage  the  estate  to  Sir  James  Simeon,  who  re- 
built the  hall.  He  also  built  in  the  garden  a  mau- 
soleum; in  which,  I  think,  he  is  interred.  The 
place  is  at  present  the  property  of  Edward  Weld, 
Esq.  of  Lulworth  castle,  in  Dorsetshire,  and  de- 
scended to  him  of  late  years,  by  virtue  of  a  mar- 
riage of  an  ancestor  with  a  daughter  of  this  house, 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 

The  road  from  this  place,  for  several  miles, 
passes  along  a  pretty  vale,  watered  by  the  Trent> 
bounded  by  two  hills,  and  much  enlivened  by  the 
course  of  the  canal.  About  the  third  mile  from 
Stone,  I  went  by  Burston,  a  small  hamlet,  noted  Burs-tost, 
formerly  for  a  chapel  erected  over  the  spot  where 
Rujin,  second  son  of  Wulfere,  was  supposed  to 
have  been  martyred ;  and  on  that  account,  in  old 
times,  greatly  frequented  by  the  devout. 

x  Duzdak  Mon.  ii.  126. 


SO  SANDON. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  hence,  on  the 
Sandok.  top  of  a  hill,  stands  the  church  of  Sandon.  This 
manor,  in  the  twentieth  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  king ;  who  bestowed  it  on 
Hugh  Lupus  ;  and  he  again  gave  it  to  William  de 
Malbang,  or  Nantwich.  It  passed  from  this  fa- 
mily (by  the  gift  of  Adena,  second  daughter  of 
William,  grandson  to  the  former)  to  Warren  de 
Vcrdon  ;  and  by  his  daughter  Alditha,  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Stafford ;  and  by  the  marriage  of  Margaret, 
daughter  of  one  of  his  descendants,  in  the  twelfth 
of  Edward  III.  to  Thomas  of  Erdesxvik.  It  con- 
tinued in  possession  of  that  family  till  the  reign 
of  James  I.  In  his  time  it  was  sold  to  George 
Digby,  groom  of  the  stole  to  that  monarch,  by 
his  half-brother  Richard  Erdesxvik.  Charles  Lord 
Gerard,  of  Bromley,  became  master  of  it,  by  mar- 
riage with  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Digby  ;  whose  grand- 
daughter, by  matching  with  William  Duke  of  Ha- 
inilton,  conveyed  it  to  Lord  Archibald  Hamilton ; 
who,  in  1776,  disposed  of  it  to  Lord  Harrowby. 
A  law-suit  concerning  this  place  gave  rise  to  the 
fatal  duel,  in  November  1712,  between  James 
Duke  of  Hamilton  and  Lord  Mohun ;  in  which 
both  combatants  lost  their  lives. 

The  antient  mansion  stood  near  the  church, 
within  a  moat;   but  is  now  demolished,  and  a 


MONUMENTS  OF  THE  ERDESWIKS.  81 

beautiful  house  y,  commanding  a  fine  view,  was 
built  by  Lord  Archibald  Hamilton,  on  an  eminence 
impending  over  the  Chester  road.  The  steep  slope 
is  beautiful,  cloathed  with  plantations  of  recent 
date,  but  extremely  flourishing. 

The  church  is  in  the  gift  of  Lord  Harrow  by. 
Before  the  dissolution,  it  belonged  to  the  abbey  of 
Cumber  mere;  being  bestowed  on  it  by  the  founder, 
Hugh  de  Malbang. 

The  monuments  are  curious.  The  finest  is  in 
memory  of  the  celebrated  Sampson  Erdeswik,  the 
learned  antiquary  of  the  county;  a  faithful  guide 
of  all  that  concerned  the  families,  till  his  death, 
which  happened  in  1603.  He  might  have  spared 
himself  the  expence  of  a  monument;  his  work 
would  have  perpetuated  his  name.  He  erected 
one  in  his  life-time;  and  is  represented  recum- 
bent, a  colossal  figure  in  a  jacket  with  short  skirts, 
and  spurs  on  his  legs.  Above,  in  two  niches,  are 
his  two  wives,  kneeling:  the  one  was  Elizabeth 
Dikeswel;  the  other  Maria  Neale,  widow  to  Sir 
Everard  Digby,  and  mother  to  the  unfortunate 
victim  to  the  gunpowder  plot.  Besides  inscrip- 
tions to  these  ladies,  is  a  pedigree  of  the  house ; 
for  which,  as  well  as  several  other  epitaphs  of  the 
Erdeszciks,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Appendix x. 

y  Now  the  residence  of  Lord  Harroivby.  Ed.         2  No.  I. 

G 


m  MONUMENT  OF  GEORGE  DIGBY. 

I  shall  only  mention,  that  the  tombs  are  of  the 
altar-form,  and  have  the  figures  of  the  persons 
commemorated  engraved  on  the  stone. 

The  inscription  on  a  plain  marble  tomb,  in 

Of  George  memory  of  Mr.  Digby,  once  owner  of  the  place, 

is  very  worthy  of  preservation :   as  it  records  a 

remarkable  piece  of  history,  I  shall  give  it  here 

at  length,  and  add  notes  to  the. obscure  parts. 

Si  quis  hie  jaceat,  roges,  viator, 

Georgius  Digbceus, 

Armiger. 

Vir  (si  quis  alius)  celebrati  nominis. 

Nobili  clarus  prosapia,  sed  vita  nobiliori : 

Quippe  qui 

Ipsum  nobilitatis  fontein  caeno  turbatum 

Demum  limpidum  reddidit : 

Hoc  est 

Ut  memet  explicem, 

Qui  regis  Jacobi  purpuram 

Maledicti  Schopii a  dicterici  foedatam 

a  Gaspar  Scioppiud  was  a  German  of  great  erudition,  but  of 
a  most  turbulent  disposition ;  he  became  a  convert  to  Popery 
in  1599,  and  naturally  distinguished  himself  by  a  blind  and 
furious  zeal  against  his  former  religion ;  and  went  so  far  as 
even  to  recommend  the  utter  extirpation  of  its  professors.  He 
was  a  fierce  antagonist  to  Scaliger,  Causabon,  and  other  Pro- 
testant writers ;  and  in  his  book  stiled  Ecclesiasticus,  1611,  he 
attacked  James  I.  in  a  very  indecent  manner. 


MONUMENT  OF  GEORGE  DIGBY.  $3 

Obtrectatoris  sanguine  b 

Retinxit. 

Nee  tamen  homuncionem  penitus  sustulit 

Sed  gravius  stigma  fronti  incussit 

Quam  Henricus  magnus 

Libelloc, 

Quo  scilicet  toto  vitse  curriculo 

(Utpote  omnium  contemptui  expositus) 

Sensit  se  mori. 

Hujus  egregii  facinoris  intuitu 

A  Jacobo  honoribus  auctus  est 

Digbceus 
Meritis  tandem  annisque  plenus 
Vivere  desiit,  semper  victurus. 

Ipsis  Idibus  Decembris  a  .  fo^  ^  Lxxxyj 

Tanti  herois  laudes 

b  The  affront  offered  to  our  monarch,  induced  Mr.  Digby, 
and  some  other  followers  of  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  then  ambas- 
sador to  Spain,  to  attack  Scioppius  in  the  streets  of  Madrid, 
in  1614;  where  they  left  him  for  dead.  As  soon  as  he  reco- 
vered, he  removed  to  Padua,  dreading  another  attack.  He 
lived  afterwards  in  continual  apprehensions,  and  shut  himself 
up  in  his  room  for  the  last  fourteen  years  of  his  life.  He 
died  in  164-9,  at  enmity  with  all  mankind. 

c  He  was  as  profuse  of  his  abuse  of  Henry  IV.  in  the  book 
above  mentioned,  as  he  was  of  the  English  monarch.  The  re- 
gency of  France,  in  honor  to  the  memory  of  that  great  prince, 
directed  it  to  be  burnt  by  the  hands  of  the  common  hangman. 

G  2 


81  CHARTLEY. 

Licet  non  taceant  historic  i 

Haec  saxa  loqui  curavit 

Lectissima  heroina  Jana  Baronissa  Gerrard 

De  Bromley , 

Clarissimi  Digbcei  filia 

Superstes  unica. 

From  Sandon  the  hills  recede  to  the  north.     I 
Chartley.  directed  my  course  to  Chartley,  about  four  miles 
and  a  half  distant,  and  about  three  north  from  the 
great  road.     This  venerable  pile  is  built  round  a 
court,  and  great  part  of  it  is  curiously  made  of 
wood,  embattled  at  top,  and  the  sides  carved.    In 
many  places  are  the  arms  of  the  Devereux;  the 
devices  of  the  Ferrars  and  Garnishes ;  and,  in 
Saxon  characters,    the  initials   of   the   founder, 
W.  D.  (Walter  Devereux)  with  the  motto  Loial 
suisje.    Over  the  door  of  the  gateway  is  carved  a 
head  in  profile,  with  a  crown  above.     In  the  mid- 
dle of  the  court  stands  a  fountain :  and  the  whole 
building  is  surrounded  with  a  moat.     The  view 
within  the  court  is  faithfully  shewn  in  Plot,  tab.  v. 
In  several  of  the  windows  are  painted  glass. 
In  the  great  bow- window  of  the  hall  are  the  horse- 
shoes, the  antient  device  of  the  Ferrars;  in  others, 
the  arms  of  that  family,  of  the  Devereux,  Gar- 
nishes, and  Shir  lies,  A  bed  is  still  preserved  here, 
the  work  of  Mary  Stuart,  who  was  for  some  time 


CHARTLEY  CASTLE.  85 

imprisoned  in  this  house :  besides  this,  at  present 
there  are  no  vestiges  of  its  former  grandeur.  With- 
in and  without  is  a  mortifying  appearance  of  ne- 
glect and  approaching  decay d. 

At  a  small  distance  from  the  house,  on  a  knowl, 
are  the  poor  remains  of  the  castle ;  consisting  of  Castle. 
the  fragments  of  two  rounders,  and  a  bit  of  a  wall, 
almost  hid  in  wood.  This  fortress  was  very  soon 
permitted  to  fall  in  decay.  Leland  speaks  of  it  as 
a  ruin  in  his  days.  When  the  power  of  the  no- 
bility was  broken,  by  the  policy  of  Henry  VII. 
numbers  of  the  barons,  finding  their  castle  no 
longer  a  protection  to  their  insolence,  were  glad  to 
quit  so  incommodious  a  kind  of  habitation.  We 
often  see,  as  in  the  present  instance,  an  antient 
mansion  near  the  remains,  or  on  the  scite  of  a 
more  antient  castle :  the  times  were  so  much  bet- 
tered, and  monarchy  had  recovered  so  much  right- 
ful strength,  that  the  former  became  useless  against 
their  prince,  or  their  rival  reguli,  who  then  began 
to  acknowledge  the  power  of  law.  Yet  still 
some  species  of  castellated  mansion,  against  po- 
pular commotions,  or  the  attacks  of  bands  of  rob- 
bers, was  requisite.  Conveniency,  and  a  sort  of 
elegance,  was  affected  in  their  houses ;  but  a  ne- 
cessary suspicion  still  remained,  and  safety  pro- 

4  A  fire  in  July  1781,  completed  its  destruction. 


86  CHARTLEY  CASTLE. 

vided  for  by  the  deep  surrounding  moat,  by  the 
gateway,  and  the  strong  door. 

Chartley  castle  was  built  by  Handle  Blunde- 
ville,  Earl  of  Chester,  in  1220,  on  his  return  from 
the  Holy  Land;  and  to  defray  the  expence  of  this, 
as  also  of  Beeston,  which  he  also  founded,  a  tax 
was  levied  on  all  his  vassals.  By  his  death,  this 
part  of  his  estate  devolved  on  William  Ferrars 
Earl  of  Derby,  in  right  of  his  wife  Agnes,  third 
sister  of  Handle. 

.  His  son  Robert,  entering  into  the  factious  views 
of  the  barons,  received  a  defeat  at  Chesterfield  in 
1 266.  His  estates  were  confiscated,  and  the  castle 
and  manor  bestowed  by  Henry  III.  on  Hamon 
Le  Strange;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  he  pos- 
sessed himself  of  it  by  force,  and  the  king  was 
obliged  to  order  his  brother,  Edmund  Earl  of 
Lancaster,  to  besiege  the  place;  which  he  took, 
but  not  till  after  much  loss  on  both  sides.  Ed- 
mund, and  the  nobility  who  assisted  in  the  siege, 
thought  proper  to  obtain  his  Majesty's  pardon  for 
the  lives  lost  on  the  occasion.  Ferrars  himself 
received  his  pardon,  was  divested  of  the  earldom 
of  Derby,  but  was  suffered  to  retain  this  castle ; 
possibly,  being  reduced  so  low  as  to  be  incapable 
of  giving  farther  disturbance.  It  continued  in  his 
line  till  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  when,  in  1447, 
by  the  marriage  of  Anne,  or  Agnes,  sole  heiress 


STOW  CHURCH*  *1 

to  William  Lord  Ferrars,  to  Walter  Devereux, 
sheriff  of  Herefordshire,  it  passed  into  another 
great  race  of  peers.  The  lady  was  at  that  time 
only  eleven  years  and  eight  months  old ;  but  by 
the  king's  special  favor,  in  1452,  she  had  livery  of 
her  lands,  without  further  proof  of  her  age.  This 
estate  continued  in  his  posterity  (the  Lords  Fer- 
rars, Viscounts  Hereford,  and  Earls  of  Essex) 
till  the  year  1646,  when  it  fell  to  Sir  Robert  Shir- 
ley, by  his  marriage  with  Dorothy,  youngest  sister 
to  Robert  Earl  of  Essex,  the  noted  parlement- 
general ;  and  is  at  present  possessed  by  their  de- 
scendant Earl  Ferrers. 

In  hopes  of  finding,  in  the  neighboring  parish-  rST°wu 
church  of  Stow,  the  monumental  honors  usually 
attendant  on  great  families,  I  visited  it,  at  the 
small  trouble  of  a  mile's  ride.  I  was  disappointed, 
for  I  found  only  one  of  this  great  line  deposited 
in  the  place.  This  is  very  frequent  with  a  race  of 
heroes,  whose  active  spirits  carry  them  into  scenes- 
remote  from  their  natal  soil,  or  bring  them  to  fates 
that  prevent  possession  of  their  parental  sepul- 
chres. Walter  Devereux,  the  first  Lord  Ferrars, 
fell  in  the  field  of  Boszvorth,  fighting  valiantly  in 
behalf  of  Richard,  and  was  buried  among  the  un- 
distinguished slain.  Walter,  his  descendant,  first 
Earl  of  Essex,  died  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
September  22d,    1576,   as  supposed   by   poison, 


Church. 


88  STOW  CHURCH. 

and  was  interred  at  Caermarthen.  His  son,  the 
favorite  of  Elizabeth,  fell  a  victim  to  his  indiscre- 
tion and  ambition ;  perished  by  the  ax,  and  was 
flung  among  the  attainted  herd.  His  son,  for  a 
series  of  victories  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  received 
from  his  grateful  party  the  magnificent  honors  of 
a  public  funeral  in  the  capital,  which  his  arms  had 
defended. 

I  found  here  only  the  tomb  of  J  Falter,  first 
Viscount  Hereford,  grandson  of  the  first  Lord 
Ferrers,  and  founder  of  the  house  of  Chart  ley. 
He  served  with  honor  in  the  Flinch  wars,  under 
Henry  VIII ;  and  in  the  naval  attack  of  Conquet, 
in  1512,  he  was  honored  with  the  garter  by  his 
royal  master,  and  with  the  title  of  Hereford  by 
his  successor.  His  death  happened  in  1558.  He 
lies  here  under  a  fine  monument,  erected  in  his 
life-time;  his  figure  is  represented  in  robes,  with 
the  collar  of  the  garter  round  his  neck  :  his  head 
reposed  on  a  plume  of  feathers,  wreathed  round  a 
helmet.  On  one  side  of  him  is  placed  his  first 
lady,  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas  Marquis  of 
Dorset;  on  the  other,  his  second,  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Robert  Garnyche,  Esquire,  of  Kynge- 
ton,  in  Suffolk.  Around  the  side  is  represented, 
I  suppose  as  mourners,  six  female  and  six  male 
figures ;  the  last  begirt  with  swords. 

Near  this  is  another  tomb  of  alabaster,  with 


WYCH  WESTON.    HEYWOOD.  89 

the  figures  of  two  persons  engraven  on  it;  but  so 
cankered  with  age,  that  neither  inscription  nor  dis- 
tinction of  sex,  can  be  made  out. 

On  the  chancel  floor  a  brass  plate  preserves 
the  memory  of  Thomas  Newport,  steward  of  the 
houshold  to  Walter,  first  earl  of  Essex,  and  deli- 
vers his  character  in  these  terms : 

Qui  charus  charis  fuerat  qui  firmus  amicis ; 
Era !   Tiiomas  Newport  conditur  hoc  tumulo. 
Qui  felix  ortu  fuit  et  morte  beatus ; 
Quem  Deus  et  coelum,  quern  pia  vota  habent. 

From  Stow  I  hastened  to  the  Chester  road,      Wtch 

Weston-. 
which  I  reached  at  the  hamlet  of  IVych,  in  the 

parish  of  Weston  on  the  Trent,  whose  spire  steeple 
appears  at  a  small  distance  on  the  other  side  of 
the  road.  This  place  is  productive  of  salt,  and 
has  been  long  noted  for  its  brine-pits,  the  property 
of  Earl  Ferrers. 

After  going  about  two  miles  farther,  I  passed  Heywood. 
through  Great  Heywood,  a  village  bestowed  by 
Roger  de  Melend,  alias  Long  Epee,  a  worthless 
prelate,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  on  his  valet 
Roger  de  Aston  ;  whose  family  made  it  their  resi- 
dence, till  the  marriage  of  a  descendant  with  the 
heiress  of  Tival,  occasioned  it  to  remove  to  the 
new  acquisition.  In  my  memory  the  old  seat  was 
in  possession  of  the  Whitbies.  It  has  since  been 
re-united  to  the  house  of  Tival,  by  purchase.   The 


90  VALE  OF  SHUGBOROUGH. 

barn  belonging  to  the  manor-house  of  Heywood, 
was  of  a  most  magnificent  size ;  but  of  late  has 
been  greatly  reduced. 
Its  long        The  horse-bridge  over  the  Trent,  adjoining  to 

Bridge.  &  '        J  & 

Heyzvood,  was  not  less  remarkable,  for  I  remem- 
ber it  to  have  consisted  of  two-and-forty  arches ; 
but  the  number  at  present  is  much  lessened. 
There  is  a  tradition,  that  it  was  built  by  the  coun- 
ty, in  compliment  to  the  last  Devereux  Earl  of 
Essex,  who  resided  much  at  Chartley  ;  and,  being 
a  keen  sportsman,  was  often  deprived  of  his  di- 
version for  want  of  a  bridge.  I  am  not  clear  about 
the  truth  of  this  report.  There  certainly  had  been 
a  bridge  here  long  before,  so  that,  if  tliere  was  any 
foundation  for  such  a  mark  of  respect,  it  could 
only  have  been  rebuilt  after  falling  to  decay. 
Vale  of         From  the  middle  is  a  view,  of  very  uncommon 

SHUGBO-  11  i  'l'li 

rough.  beauty,  of  a  small  vale,  varied  with  almost  every 
thing  that  nature  or  art  could  give  to  render  it 
delicious;  rich  meadows,  watered  by  the  Trent 
and  Sow.  The  first,  animated  with  milk-white 
cattle,  emulating  those  of  Tinian;  the  last  with 
numerous  swans.  The  boundary  on  one  side,  is 
a  cultivated  slope ;  on  the  other,  the  lofty  front  of 
Cannock  Wood,  clothed  with  heath,  or  shaded 
with  old  oaks,  scattered  over  its  glowing  bloom 
by  the  free  hand  of  nature. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  enumerate  the  works  of  art 


SHUGBOROUGH.  91 

dispersed  over  this  Elysium  ;  they  epitomize  those 
of  so  many  places.  The  old  church  of  Cohvich  ; 
the  mansion  of  the  antient  English  baron,  at 
JFolsely  Hall;  the  great-windowed  mode  of  build- 
ing in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  the  house 
of  Ingestre ;  the  modern  seat  in  Oak-edge ;  and 
the  lively  improved  front  of  Shugborough;  are 
embellishments  proper  to  our  own  country. 
Amidst  these  arise  the  genuine  architecture  of 
China,  in  all  its  extravagance;  the  dawning  of 
the  Grecian,  in  the  mixed  gothic  gateway  at  Tival; 
and  the  chaste  buildings  of  Athens,  exemplified 
by  Mr.  Stuart,  in  the  counterparts  of  the  Chora- 
gic  monument  of  Lysicrates%  and  the  octagon 
tower  of  Andronicus  Cyrrhestes f.  From  the 
same  hand  arose,  by  command  of  a  grateful  bro- 
ther, the  arch  of  Adrian  of  Athens,  embellished 
with  naval  trophies,  in  honor  of  Lord  Anson,  a 
glory  to  the  British  fleet ;  and  who  still  survives 
in  the  gallant  train  of  officers  who  remember  and 
emulate  his  actions.  My  much-respected  friend, 
the  late  Thomas  Anson,  Esquire,  preferred  the 
still  paths  of  private  life,  and  was  the  best  quali- 
fied for  its  enjoyment  of  any  man  I  ever  knew ; 
for  with  the  most  humane  and  the  most  sedate 
disposition,  he  possessed  a  mind   most  uncom- 

c  Antiquities  of  Athens,  ch.  iv.  tab.  1.  3. 
The  same,  ch.  Hi.  tab.  1.  3. 


9S  SHUGBOROUGH. 

monly  cultivated.  He  was  the  example  of  true 
taste  in  this  country ;  and  at  the  time  that  he  made 
his  own  place  a  paradise,  made  every  neighbor 
partaker  of  its  elegancies.  He  was  happy  in  his 
life,  and  happy  in  his  end.  I  saw  him  about  thirty 
hours  before  his  death,  listening  calmly  to  the  me- 
lody of  the  harp,  preparing  for  the  momentary 
transit  from  an  earthly  concert  to  an  union  with 
the  angelic  harmonies.  The  unfinished  improve- 
ments are  carried  on  with  great  judgment,  by  his 
worthy  nephew  and  successor  George  Anson, 
Esquire5. 

Among  the  great  number  of  statues  which  em- 
bellish the  place,  an  Adonis  and  Thalia  are  the 
most  capital.  There  is  also  a  very  fine  figure  of 
Trajan,  in  the  attitude  of  haranguing  his  army. 
The  number  of  rude  Etruscan  figures  in  the  gar- 
den, shew  the  extravagance  of  the  earliest  ages, 
and  the  great  antiquity  of  the  art  of  sculpture  in 
Italy,  long  before  the  Romans  became  a  people. 
The  beautiful  monument  in  the  lower  end  of  the 
garden,  does  honor  to  the  present  age.  It  was 
the  work  of  Mr.  Schemecher,  under  the  direction 

s  Father  to  the  present  proprietor,  who  was  created  a  peer 
of  Great  Britain  in  1806.  The  house  has  been  recently- 
enlarged,  and  a  handsome  portico  added  to  it.  The  highly 
cultivated  state  of  the  demesne  marks  the  laudable  agricultural 
taste  of  the  noble  owner.    Ed. 


SHUGBOROUGH.  93 

of  the  late  Mr.  Anson.  The  scene  is  laid  in  Ar- 
cadia. Two  lovers,  expressed  in  elegant  pastoral 
figures,  appear  attentive  to  an  antient  shepherd, 
who  reads  to  them  an  inscription  on  a  tomb, 

Et  in  Arcadia  ego ! 

The  moral  resulting  from  this  seems  to  be,  that 
there  are  no  situations  of  life  so  delicious,  but 
which  death  must  at  length  snatch  us  from.  It 
was  placed  here  by  the  amiable  owner,  as  a  me- 
mento of  the  certainty  of  that  event.  Perhaps, 
also,  as  a  secret  memorial  of  some  loss  of  a  tender 
nature  in  his  early  days ;  for  he  was  wont  often  to 
hang  over  it  in  affectionate  and  firm  meditation. 
The  Chinese  house,  a  little  farther  on,  is  a  true 
pattern  of  the  architecture  of  that  nation,  taken  in 
the  country  by  the  skilful  pencil  of  Sir  Percy 
Brett:  not  a  mongrel  invention  of  British  car- 
penters. 

Opposite  to  the  back-front  of  the  house,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Sow,  stand  the  small  remains  of 
the  antient  mansion,  which,  according  to  Leland, 
originally  belonged  to  Sackborrozv  with  a  long 
beard,  and  who,  as  some  say,  gave  it  to  the  mitre 
of  Lichfield.  It  must  have  been  in  very  early 
times ;  for  the  manor  of  Haywood  (in  which  this 
is  included)  belonged  to  the  see  in  1085,  the  twen- 
tieth of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  so  continued 


94  SHUGBOROUGH.   TIXAL. 

till  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  who  bestowed  it  on 
Lord  Paget.  The  house  was  till  that  time  one  of 
the  palaces  of  the  bishops.  The  reliques,  at  pre- 
sent, serve  to  give  the  appearance  of  reality  of 
ruin  to  some  beautiful  Grecian  columns,  and  other 
fragments  of  antient  architecture;  which  were 
tacked  to  the  front  by  the  late  Mr.  Anson. 

Shug borough  was  frequently  the  house  I  had 
the  happiness  of  making  my  head-quarters  :  from 
whence  I  made  many  an  excursion  to  the  neigh- 
boring places.  I  beg  the  reader's  pardon  for  in- 
dulging myself  with  a  recollection  of  what  for- 
merly gave  me  so  much  pleasure  in  the  survey, 
and  for  detaining  him  with  the  account  of  a  short 
circuit,  rich  in  objects. 
Tixal.  I  shall  cross  the  Sow,  and  begin  with  Tival, 

distinguished  at  present  only  by  its  magnificent 
gateway,  a  motley  pile  of  Gothic  and  Grecian 
architecture,  embellished  in  front  with  three  series 
of  columns,  Doric,  Ionic,  and  Corinthian.  I 
thought  it  might  have  been  one  of  the  early  works 
of  my  countryman  by  descent  Inigo  Jones  ;  but  I 
find  it  was  built  by  Sir  [Falter  Aston,  Knight,  who 
died  in  1589,  when  Inigo  was  too  young  for  any 
such  undertaking.  The  antient  house  stood  be- 
hind this  gateway,  and  was  a  most  venerable  pile, 
built  as  far  as  the  first  floor  with  stone,  the  rest 
« ith  wood  and  plaister,  by  Sir  Edward  Aston,  in 


TIXAL.  95 

the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  A  brick  building  is 
substituted  in  the  place.  The  memory  of  the  an- 
tient  pile  is  preserved  in  the  xxxviiith  plate  of 
Doctor  Plot's  history.  This  manor,  immediately 
after  the  Conquest,  belonged  to  Roger  de  Mont- 
gomery, and  was  held  from  him  by  Henry  de  Fer- 
rers. It  passed  afterwards  into  the  house  of 
IVasteneys,  or  de  Gastenoys,  one  Paganus  de  Gas- 
tenoys being  lord  of  it  about  the  reign  of  Henry  II. 
It  continued  in  that  family  for  several  generations, 
till  Rose,  the  daughter  of  the  last,  and  widow  to 
Sir  John  Gastenoys,  Knight,  sold  it  to  the  Little- 
tons, but  not  without  consulting  the  learned,  whe- 
ther she  could  do  it  with  safety  to  her  soul.  By 
the  marriage  of  Joan  (daughter  to  Sir  William, 
Littleton,  who  died  in  1507,)  to  Sir  John  Aston, 
Knight  of  the  Bath,  it  passed  into  that  name,  and 
is  now  owned  by  the  Honorable  Thomas  Clifford, 
in  right  of  his  lady,  daughter  to  the  last  Lord 
Aston. 

I  must  not  omit,  that  the  poet  Michael  Dray- 
ton was  greatly  patronized  by  Sir  Walter  Aston, 
ambassador  to  Spain  in  the  time  of  James  I. ;  nor 
is  the  bavd  deficient  in  gratitude : 

"  The  Trent,  by  Tixal  grac'd,  the  Astons*  antient  seat, 

"  Which  oft  the  Muse  hath  found  her  safe  and  sweet  retreat ; 

"  The  noble  owners  now  of  which  beloved  place, 

"  Good  fortune  them  and  theirs  with  honor'd  titles  grace. 


96 


TIXAL  HEATH.    ASSASSINATION. 


"  May  Heaven  still  bless  that  house,  till  happy  floods  you  see ; 
"  Yourselves  more  grac'd  by  it  than  it  by  you  can  be  : 
"  Whose  bounty  still  my  Muse  so  freely  shall  confess, 
"  As  when  she  shall  want  words,  her  sighs  shall  it  express/' 

Polyolbion,  Song  xii. 


TlXAI. 

Heath. 


Assassin- 
ation 

THERE. 


Michael  Drayton  owed  much  to  this  gentleman ; 
and  was  one  of  his  esquires  when  Sir  Walter  was 
created  Knight  of  the  Bath.  He  again  acknow- 
ledges his  particular  bounty,  in  the  Preface  to  the 
Polyolbion  ;  and  it  is  even  said,  that  he  undertook 
that  work  at  his  patron's  persuasion. 

On  leaving  Tival,  I  went  through  the  park,  and 
part  of  a  common  of  the  same  name,  on  which  are 
two  tumuli;  one  called  the  king's,  the  other  the 
queen's  Law  ;  but  no  reason  is  assigned  for  the 
names.  In  1493,  an  infamous  assassination  was 
committed  on  this  heath ;  which  shews  how  little 
the  vindictive  spirit  of  the  feudal  times  was  sub- 
dued. A  family  emulation  had  subsisted  between 
the  Stanlies  of  Pipe,  in  this  county,  and  the  Chet- 
xvynds  of  Ingestre.  Sir  Humphrey  Stanley  was 
one  of  the  knights  of  the  body  to  Henry  VII ;  Sir 
William  Chetwynd  one  of  his  gentlemen-ushers. 
The  former,  as  is  said,  through  envy,  inveigled  Sir 
William  out  of  his  house,  by  means  of  a  counter- 
feit letter  from  a  neighbor ;  and  while  he  was  pass- 
ing over  this  common,  caused  him  to  be  attacked 
by  twenty  armed  men,  and  slain  on  the  spot ;  Sir 


INGESTRE.  97 

Humphrey  passing  with  a  train  at  the  instant, 
under  the  pretence  of  hunting,  but  in  fact  to  glut 
his  revenge  with  the  sight.  It  does  not  appear 
that  justice  overtook  the  assassin,  notwithstanding 
the  widow  of  Sir  William  invoked  it.  Probably 
Sir  Humphrey  had  no  fortune  worthy  of  confis- 
cation. 

At  a  very  little  distance  from  this  heath  lies  Ingestre. 
Ingestre,  or  Ingestrent,  a  respectable  old  house, 
seated  on  the  easy  slope  of  a  hill,  and  backed  by 
a  large  wood,  filled  with  antient  oaks  of  vast  size, 
which  makes  part  of  the  pleasure-ground.  The 
walks  are  partly  bounded  by  enormous  hedges  of 
forest-trees,  and  partly  wander  into  the  antient 
wood,  beneath  the  shade  of  the  venerable  trees. 

This  manor,  about  the  time  of  Henry  II.  was 
the  property  of  Eudo  de  Mutton  ;  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.  it  was  transferred  to  the  family  of 
the  Chetwynds,  by  the  marriage  of  Isabel,  daugh- 
ter of  Philip  de  Mutton,  with  Sir  John  de  Chet- 
wynd: in  which  line  it  continues,  being  at  present 
owned  by  John  Chetwynd  Talbot*,  Esquire,  grand- 
son of  John  Lord  Chetwynd. 

h  He  succeeded  his  uncle  William  in  the  barony  of  Talbot 
in  1782,  and  in  1784  was  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  an  earl- 
dom.— Ingestre  is  now  in  the  possession  of  his  son  Charles 
Chetwynd,  earl  Talbot. 

H 


9B 


INGESTRE.    HOPTON  HEATH  FIGHT. 


The  house  is  built  in  the  stile  of  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  with  great  windows'  in  the  center,  and 
a  bow  on  each  side  :  the  last  are  of  stone,  the  rest 
of  the  house  brick.  In  the  great  hall,  over  the 
fire-place,  is  a  very  good  picture  of  Walter  Chet- 
wynd,  Esquire,  in  a  great  wig,  and  crossed  by  a 
rich  sash.  This  gentleman  was  distinguished  by 
his  vast  knowledge  in  the  antiquities  of  his  coun- 
Church.  try,  and  more  so  by  his  piety.  The  present  church 
of  Ingestre  was  rebuilt  by  him,  and  was  conse- 
secrated  in  August  1677,  when  a  sermon  was 
preached,  prayers  read,  a  child  baptized,  a  woman 
churched,  a  couple  married,  a  corpse  buried,  the 
sacraments  administred,  and,  to  crown  all,  Mr. 
Chetzvynd  made  an  offering  on  the  altar  of  the 
tythes  of  Hopton,  worth  fifty  pounds  a  year,  to  be 
added  to  the  rectory  for  ever.  The  church  is 
very  neat,  and  is  prettily  stuccoed.  In  it  is  a 
mural  monument,  in  memory  of  its  great  benefac- 
tor, who  died  in  1692. 

Hopton  Heath  lies  on  the  side  of  Ingestre  Park, 
and  is  noted  for  a  skirmish  between  a  party  of  the 
King's  forces,  under  the  earl  of  Northampton,  and 
another  of  the  parlement's,  commanded  by  Sir 
William  Brereton  and  Sir  John  Gell.  Victory, 
notwithstanding  a  great  inequality  of  numbers, 
declared  itself  on  the  side  of  the  royalists ;  but  it 
was  purchased  at  so  dear  a  rate,  that,  as  Lord 


IIOPTON 

Heath 
Skirmish. 


STAFFORD.    INFIRMARY.    CHURCH.  99 

Clarendon  expresses,  a  great  victory  had  been  an 
unequal  recompence  for  the  loss  sustained  in  the 
General.  The  earl  fell  in  the  action,  neglected 
by  his  troops,  busied  in  the  pursuit ;  and  left  en- 
vironed by  enemies.  He  slew  his  first  assailants,, 
and  died  valiantly,  refusing  the  offered  quarter. 

After  riding  from  Ingestre  three  miles,  through 
very  bad  roads,  I  reached  Stafford,  a  good  town,  Stafford. 
containing  about  five  thousand  inhabitants,  seated 
on  a  plain,  bounded  by  rising  grounds  at  a  very 
small  distance.  The  streets  in  general  are  well 
built ;  the  market-place  large,  ornamented  with  a 
handsome  town-hall,  with  five  windows  in  front : 
it  is  built  upon  pillars,  and  presents  a  facade  with 
six  arches,  intercolumniated  with  Ionic  pilasters. 
This  is  the  county-town ;  and  here  the  assizes  are 
appointed  to  be  held,  by  a  statute  of  the  first  of 
Elizabeth. 

The  county  infirmary  lies  at  a  small  distance  Infirmary. 
from  the  town,  and  is  a  good  plain  building.     It 
was  finished  in   1772,  and  is  supported  by  an 
annual   subscription  of  between  eight  and  nine 
hundred  a  year. 

Stafford  consists  of  but  a  single  parish,  with 
two  churches.     That  of  St.  Mary  is  a  rectory,  in  Churches. 
the  gift  of  the  king;   a  large  building  with  an 
octagon  tower,  and  formerly  with  a  lofty  spire 
rising  from  it.     Here  is  to  be  seen  the  tomb  of  Sir 

h  2 


100  RELIGIOUS  HOUSES. 

Edrcard  Aston,  the  builder  of  Tixal,  who  died  in 
1567,  and  Joan  his  wife.  Their  figures  are  repre- 
sented in  alabaster,  under  a  large  canopy. 

The  font  is  a  singular  piece  of  antiquity :  very 
clumsy;  but  the  sides  and  base  most  singularly 
carved  into  rude  Gothic  figures. 

This  church  had  been  collegiate,  and  was  given, 
a  little  before  the  year  1 1 36,  by  King  Stephen,  to 
the  bishop  and  chapter  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry. 
The  patronage  was  granted,  in  1445,  by  Henry 
VI.  to  Humphrey  Duke  of  Buckingham.  It  was 
of  exempt  jurisdiction,  and  consisted,  in  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  Henry  VIII.  of  a  dean  and  thirteen  pre- 
bendaries'. The  dean's  house  stood  at  the  west 
end  of  the  church,  and  serves  at  present  for  the 
school. 

Religious       The  religious  houses  were  the  Grey  Friars,  or 
Houses.  . 

Franciscans,  at  the  north  end  of  the  walls,  found- 
ed, according  to  Erdeswik,  by  Sir  James  Stafford 
of  Sandon.  It  was  valued  at  £35.  1 3s.  1  Od.  per 
annum,  and  granted,  in  the  thirty-first  of  Henry 
VIII.  to  James  Leveson. 

The  Friers  Austins  had  a  piece  of  ground 
given  them  on  the  green,  at  the  south  end  of  the 
town,  by  Ralph  Lord  Stafford*,  in  order  to  found 
a  house,  about  the  year  1 344,  for  his  own  soul's 

■ 
1  Tanner,  4P5.  k  Dugdale's  Baron.  i.  161. 


• 


RELIGIOUS  HOUSES.    FORTIFICATIONS.  10i 

sake,  those  of  his  wives  {Katharine  and  Margaret), 
Sir  Humphrey  Hastings,  Knight,  and  that  of  Ed- 
ward  III.  The  tombs  of  his  great  line  were 
removed  to  this  church  from  Stone,  at  the  disso- 
lution, but  soon  suffered  to  perish.  It  was  granted, 
in  the  first  of  Queen  Mary,  to  Thomas  Neve  and 
Giles  Isam. 

A  priory  of  black  canons,  founded  by  Richard 
Peche,  bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  about 
the  year  1 1 80 ;  as  others  say,  by  Gerard  Stafford, 
on  land  which  he  held  from  the  bishop,  whom  he 
complimented  with  the  title  of  founder1.  The 
prelate  had  a  great  affection  for  this  house ;  for, 
on  resigning  his  see,  he  became  a  canon  of  it :  and 
here  ended  his  days"1.  It  maintained  only  seven 
religious,  whose  revenues  were  £198-  a  year.  On 
the  dissolution  it  was  granted  to  Rowland  Zee, 
bishop  of  Lichfield. 

Besides  these,  were  two  hospitals,  and  the  free 
chapel  of  Saint  Nicholas,  in  the  castle. 

The  town  was  defended  'partly  by  the  river    Fortifi 
Soxv,  which  bounds  one  half  of  it;  the  rest  was 
guarded  by  a  wall,  and  by  a  ditch,  supplied  by 
the  river  with  water.     It  had  formerly  four  gates ; 
of  these  two  are  yet  standing.     The  place  never 

1  Tanner,  499. 

m  Angl.  Sacra,  i.  435.  This  house  was  dedicated  to  St. 
Thomas  Becket,  exactly  ten  years  after  his  death. 


CATIONS. 


102  ORIGIN  OF  STAFFORD.    CASTLE. 

was  defencible ;  at  least  never  stood  a  siege.     Sir 

William  Brereton,  the  parlement  general,  took  it 

by  surprize,  in  May  1643,  with  the  loss  only  of  a 

single  man. 

Origin  of       The  origin  of  Stafford  is  very  uncertain :   the 
Stafford.  .    . 

first  name  of  it  is  said  to  be  Betheney,  and  that  it 

had  been  the  seat  of  an  hermit  called  Bert  elm,  in 
high  fame  for  his  sanctity.  The  earliest  authentic 
mention  of  the  place  is  in  the  year  913,  when 
Ethelfleda*  Countess  of  Mercia,  and  sister  of 
Edward  the  Elder,  built  a  castle  here.  This  lady 
had  one  child  by  her  lord  Ethelred;  when,  ba- 
lancing the  pangs  of  parturition  with  the  joys  of 
connubial  rites,  Amazon  like,  she  determined  to 
forbear  for  the  future  all  commerce  with  him. 
From  thenceforth  her  delight  was  in  arms,  in  con- 
quests, and  in  securing  her  dominions.  Such  was 
her  prowess,  that,  laying  aside  all  feminine  titles, 
she  received  that  of  King,  as  if  Countess  and 
Queen  were  inadequate  to  her  heroism0 . 

The  scite  of  this  fortress  is  not  precisely  known. 
Doctor  Plot  is  of  opinion,  that  it  lay  within  the 
entrenchments  at  Billington,  at  some  distance  from 
Stafford,  and  seems  to  found  his  conjecture  from 
the  lands  wherein  they  are  being  still  a  remaining 
part  of  the  demesne  land  of  the  barony  of  Staf- 

»  Saxon  Chr,  104.  °  Tour  in  Wales. 


STAFFORD  CASTLE.  103 

ford p.  Camden  attributes  a  tower  to  Edward  the 
Elder,  founded  in  the  year  after  that  which  was 
built  by  his  sister,  and  places  it  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river.  A  mount  still  remains  near  the  new 
bridge,  called  by  Speed,  Castle-hill;  at  present 
named  Bully  hill,  on  which  it  probably  stood. 

The  poor  remains  of  the  castle,  which  was  gar-  Castle.  . 
risoned  in  the  civil  wars,  stand  on  a  little  insulated 
hill,  a  mile  south  from  the  town.  The  keep  was 
on  an  artificial  mount :  the  whole  is  surrounded 
with  a  deep  foss,  which,  on  the  south  side,  has  be- 
sides the  additional  strength  of  a  high  rampart. 
This  was  founded  by  William  the  Conqueror,  and 
was  soon  after  demolished.  It  is  supposed,  that, 
during  the  time  it  stood,  the  custody  of  it  was 
committed  to  Robert  de  Tonei,  younger  son  of 
Roger,  standard-bearer  of  Normandy q,  a  follower 
of  the  Conqueror,  who  took  from  this  circumstance 
the  name  of  Stafford.  It  is  conjectured,  that  the 
king  at  that  time  reserved  this  manor  to  himself, 
and  that  it  was  not  included  in  the  vast  grant 
made  by  him  to  Robert,  of  eighty-one  manors  in 
this  county,  twenty-six  in  that  of  Warwick,  twenty 
in  Lincolnshire,  two  in  Suffolk,  and  one  in  each 
of  those  of  Worcester  and  Northampton.  It  ap- 
pears that  it  continued  in  the  crown  till  the  second 

«  Hist.  Staff.  416.  *  Dugdalc's  Baron.  I  156, 


104 


MANOR-HOUSE.    BILLINGTON  BURY. 


Manor- 
house. 


Billing- 
ton  Bury. 


of  Edward  II.  when  Edmund  Lord  Stafford  re- 
ceived the  grant,  and  held  it  in  capite  by  barony, 
together  with  that  of  Bradeley  and  Madeley,  by 
service,  of  finding  for  forty  days,  at  his  own 
charge,  three  armed  men,  with  three  equis  cooper- 
tis,  horses  harnessed  for  war,  as  often  as  there 
should  be  war  with  Wales  or  Scotland'.  I  know 
not  for  certain  who  was  the  restorer  of  this  castle. 
Mr.  Erdeszvic  says,  it  was  Ralph  de  Stafford, 
a  distinguished  warrior,  cotemporary  with  Ed- 
ward III.  It  was  garrisoned  by  the  king  in  the 
civil  wars ;  was  taken  by  the  parlement  forces,  and 
demolished  in  1644. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  the  castle, 
in  a  low  situation,  stood  the  manor-house  of  the 
family,  fortified  by  the  same  Ralph;  for  I  find 
from  Dugdale s,  that  he  had  permission,  in  1 348, 
to  make  castles  of  his  manor-houses  at  Stafford 
and  Madeley.  This  great  family  had  in  it  barons, 
earls,  and  dukes;  and  in  the  year  1637  became 
extinct :  at  that  time  humiliated  into  barons  again. 
The  moat  of  their  antient  residence  is  still  to  be 
seen,  surrounding  a  rectangular  piece  of  ground, 
the  scite  of  the  house. 

My  curiosity  led  me  about  two  miles  further, 
to  Billington,  to  examine  the  supposed  scite  of 


*  Bhmt's  Tenures,  25. 


9  Baron,  i.  160. 


BOROUGH.    BARONY.  105 

the  antient  Stafford  castle.  Near  the  extremity 
of  a  high  hill,  steeply  sloping  on  three  sides,  and 
commanding  a  most  extensive  and  beautiful  view, 
I  found  a  large  area,  surrounded  in  some  parts 
with  one,  in  others  with  two,  deep  fosses.  This 
had  been  a  British  post,  as  it  agrees  with  those 
we  find  in  many  parts  of  the  kingdom ;  but  as  it 
retains  the  name  of  Billington  Bury,  it  probably 
might  have  been  occupied  by  the  Saxons,  whose 
posts  are  distinguished  by  the  addition  of  Borough, 
Bury,  and  Berry. 

The  town  of  Stafford  is  governed  by  a  mayor, 
recorder,  ten  aldermen,  and  twenty  common-coun- 
cil-men; and  was  incorporated  in  the  third  of 
Edward  VI.  It  first  sent  burgesses  to  parlement 
in  1 294,  the  twenty-third  of  Edxvard  I.  They  are 
elected  by  inhabitants  paying  scot  and  lot,  and  are 
returned  by  the  mayor  I 

The  borough  still  retains  one  antient  custom,  Borough. 
the  privilege  of  borough  English,  or  the  descent 
of  lands,  within  its  liberty,  to  the  youngest  sons 
of  those  who  die  intestate  :  an  usage  which  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  originally  founded  on  the  pre- 
sumption, that  the  younger  child  was  the  lest  ca- 
pable of  providing  for  itself. 

The  barony  was,  even  at  the  Conquest,  one  of    Barony. 

*  Willis,  in.  50. 


10S  CANK  WOOD. 

the  greatest  in  England,  and  afterwards,  like  other 
great  seigniories,  stiled  the  Honor  of  Stafford. 
None  were  such  originally,  but  which  were  royal ; 
but  were  afterwards  bestowed  in  fee  on  some  no- 
bleman, as  proved  the  case  with  this,  as  mentioned 
in  page  104;  when  it  was  given  to  Edmund  Lord 
Stafford,  with  eighty-one  dependent  manors,  with 
sixty  knights  fees,  viz.  nine  in  his  demesne,  and 
fifty-one  in  service. 

After  leaving  the  town,  I  crossed  the  Wolver- 
hampton  Navigation*  at  Radford  Bridge.  This 
may  be  called  a  port  to  Stafford.  A  little  farther 
is  Weeping  Cross;  so  stiled  from  its  vicinity  to  the 
antient  place  of  execution.  A  little  farther  on, 
opens  the  rich  view  of  the  vale  of  Shugborough, 
varied  with  rivers  and  canals,  and  bordered  with 
the  several  seats  before  described. 
CakkWood;  qn  approaching  Cank  Wood,  I  find  on  its  con- 
H|Park°0  ^nes  Heywo°d  Park  ;  a  small  house,  the  property 
of  Lord  Paget,  remarkable  for  the  beautiful  woody 
dingles  that  wind  into  the  sides  of  the  forest.  When 
I  was  wandering  through  them,  I  imagined  myself 
engaged  in  those  of  my  native  country.  Here  I 
suppose  to  have  been  the  park  of  red  deer,  which 
Leland  says  the  bishop  of  Lichfield  had  in  his 

■  Distances.  Ha/wood,  to  its  junction  with  the  Birmingham 
canal,  near  Wolverhampton,  22.  4.  0;  rise  125  feet:  Stainport 
on  the  Severn,  24.  0.  0 ;  fall  301  feet. 


COLWICH.  i07 

manor  of  Shugborow.  I  skirted  part  of  the  wood, 
which  here  ends  boldly,  almost  driving  the  tra- 
veller into  the  -tore;.  This  front  has  received  from 
Mr.  Anson  a  wonderful  change. 

HIT-  .  t>  1 

Miraturque  novas  frondes. 

Pines  instead  of  oaks ;  which,  waving  over  the  head 
of  the  passenger,  would  recall  to  his  memory,  had 
he  been  abroad,  the  idea  of  many  an  alpine  scene. 

Returning  over  Heyzvood  bridge,  I  passed 
through  the  two  hamlets  of  that  name ;  and  within 
two  miles  of  the  first,  reached  the  church  and  vil- 
lage of  Cohvich.  I  must  imagine  the  traveller,  as  Colwich. 
well  as  myself,  blinded,  if  we  rode  this  space  in- 
sensible of  the  most  elegant  view  of  the  vale.  It 
is  perfectly  prodigal  in  its  beauties,  and  spreads 
at  once  every  charm  that  can  captivate  the  eye. 
It  shews  here  at  once,  all  that  I  before  mentioned 
en  detail. 

The  parsonage  and  church  of  Colwich  contri- 
bute to  the  variety  of  the  view,  from  another  sta- 
tion :  both  are  antient.  This  place  had  been  the 
property  of  a  family  of  the  same  name x,  at  lest 
from  Henry  III.'s  reign  to  about  the  beginning 
of  Elizabeth  ;  when  it  passed  into  that  of  Leicester 
of  Tabley,  in  Cheshire,  by  the  marriage  of  the 

x  Erdesivic. 


108 


COLWICH  CHURCH.     BISHTON. 


daughter  of  Edzvard  Cohvich y  to  Peter  Leicester, 
Esquire. 
Church.  The  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Michael,  and 
is  a  prebend  in  the  cathedral  of  Lichfield.  Within 
is  a  tomb,  with  the  recumbent  figure,  dressed  in  a 
gown,  of  Sir  William  Wolsely.  Here  is  also  the 
burial-place  of  the  Ansons,  made  a  V antique,  in 
form  of  a  catacomb.  I  must  not  forget  an  inscrip- 
tion, in  memory  of  another  Sir  William  Wolsely, 
which  does  not  commemorate  his  unlucky  and  sin- 
gular end ;  being  drowned  in  his  chariot,  on  the 
8th  of  July  1728,  owing  to  the  accidental  break- 
ing of  a  mill-dam,  in  the  village  of  Longdon,  by 
a  thunder-shower.  His  four  horses  perished.  The 
coachman  was  saved,  being  carried  by  the  torrent 
into  an  orchard,  where  he  stuck  till  the  water 
abated. 

At  a  little  distance  from  Cohvich  is  Bishton, 


BlSHTON. 


near  which  I  cross  the  navigation  a 


gain, 


and  in- 


Wolsley  stantly  after  the  Trent,  at  Wolsley  Bridge,  placed 
at  the  foot  of  the  hanging- woods  of  Wolsley  park ; 
an  inclosure  of  much  native  wild  beauty.  The 
antient  mansion  of  the  family  of  the  same  name, 
lies  low,  and  near  the  river.  This  manor  is  a 
member  of  Heyxcood.     In  the  twentieth  year  of 


r  Leicester's  Cheshire,  303. 


THE  BURBOT.  109 

the  Conqueror,  Nigellus,  the  paternal  ancestor  of 
Greski,  held  it  of  the  bishop.  About  the  reign  of 
Henry  II.  it  was  a  divided  manor,  between  Ri- 
chard Hints  and  Richard  JVolsley z.  Soon  after 
this,  they  seem  to  have  become  sole  proprietors. 

After  riding  a  little  way  along  the  Lichfield 
road,  I  turned  to  the  left,  and  crossing  the  vale, 
which  now  expands  and  grows  less  riante,  repass 
the  Trent  at  Cotton,  on  a  bridge  of  a  fine  single 
arch.  Near  this  place  is  sometimes  taken  the 
Burbot*,  a  fish  of  disgusting  appearance,  but  of TheBurbot. 
a  delicate  flavor,  and  very  firm.  It  is  not  common 
in  these  parts,  but  abounds  in  the  JVitham,  and 
in  the  fens  of  Lincolnshire ;  and  is  very  common 
in  the  lake  of  Geneva,  where  it  is  called  Lota. 
According  to  the  new  arrangement  of  fish,  it  is 
ranked  among  the  gadi,  or  cod  fish:  by  Mr.  Ray, 
among  the  eel-shaped  fish.  The  form  is  long; 
the  head  depressed ;  the  mouth  large,  armed  with 
small  teeth;  the  nose  furnished  with  two  beards, 
the  chin  with  one :  on  the  back  are  two  fins ;  the 
skin  smooth  and  slippery,  of  a  disagreeable  green 
color,  spotted  with  yellow.  It  is  very  voracious, 
and  very  prolific.  The  noted  old  fisherman  of  the 
Rhine,  Leonard  Baltner,  took  out  of  a  single  fish 
not  fewer  than  12.8,000  eggs. 

z  Erdeswicl         a  Plot,  241.  tab.xxii.  Br.  Zool,  1 11.  N° 


110 


COLTON.     BLITHEFIELD. 


COLTON. 


Blithe- 
field. 


Mr.  Erdeswik  informs  us,  that  at  the  time  of 
the  Conqueror,  one  Galfridus  was  lord  of  Colton. 
Soon  after,  Sir  Hardulph  de  Gastenoys  had  either 
all,  or  shared  it  with  another ;  for  in  the  year  1315, 
Sir  William  Gastenoys  and  Anselm  le  Marshal 
were  joint  lords  of  it.  After  many  generations,  a 
female  (Thomasine,  sole  heiress  and  daughter  of 
Sir  Thomas  Gastenoys,  last  male  heir  of  the  fa- 
mily, by  marriage  with  Sir  Nicholas  Greislei,  about 
1379)  transferred  it  to  the  house  of  Drakelow. 
The  old  hall,  which  was  large  enough  to  contain 
fourscore  lodging-rooms,  was  burnt  down  in  the 
time  of  Charles  I.  by  the  carelessness  of  a  ser- 
vant.   It  at  that  time  belonged  to  Lord  Aston*. 

The  country  now  alters  for  the  worse,  and  the 
soil  becomes  wet  and  miry.  About  two  miles 
distance  from  Colton  stands  Blithefield,  the  re- 
spectable old  seat  of  the  respectable  family  of  the 
Bagots  ;  a  most  antient  race.  At  the  time  of  the 
Conquest  they  were  found  possessed  of  Bagofs 
Bromley.  In  1193,  or  the  fifth  of  Richard  I. 
younger  branch  became  ennobled,  by  the  marriage 
of  Millisent,  heiress  of  Robert  Lord  Stafford0, 
with  Hervey  Bagot ;  from  which  match  sprung 
a  long  line  of  peers  of  every  rank.  The  elder 
branch  acquired  this  place  by  the  marriage  of  Sir 


*  Mr.  Alien* 9  MSS. 


c  Dugdalc,  i.  158. 


PORTRAITS  OF  LORD  BURLEIGH,  m 

Ralph  Bagot  (before  the   reign  of  Henry  IV.) 
with  Elizabeth,  sole  heiress  of  Richard  Blithe- 
Jield,  lineally  descended  from  a  Saxon  of  the  name 
of  Hereman,  or  the  warrior. 

The  house d  is  built  round  a  court,  and  still 
retains,  on  the  outside,  the  simplicity  of  appear- 
ance of  that  of  an  antient  baron ;  and  within,  the 
old  hospitality.  The  best  rooms  are,  the  hall,  the 
library,  and  a  large  drawing-room,  lately  added* 
The  first  is  a  noble  apartment,  unadorned,  except- 
ing over  the  chimney-piece,  where  is  a  representa- 
tion in  bold  and  good  sculpture,  in  free-stone,  of 
an  event  dear  as  life  to  every  true  Englishman ; 
that  of  King  John  granting  to  his  subjects  the 
great  charter  of  liberty. 

Among  the  portraits,  I  observed  on  a  board,  T°M80t 
in  a  flat  manner,  the  head  of  lord  treasurer  Bur-  Burleigh. 
leigh,  with  a  white  beard,  bonnet,  collar  of  the 
garter,  the  George,  and  a  white  wand.  His  abi- 
lities as  a  statesman  were  inimitable ;  his  private 
virtues,  his  honesty,  temperance,  moderation,  in- 
dustry, and  justice,  not  beyond  the  power  of  the 
great  to  copy ;  his  magnificence  was  attended  with 
hospitality ;  his  annual  deeds  of  alms  were  to  the 

d  Blithefield  has  within  these  few  years  received  considera- 
ble improvements,  with  an  attention,  to  comfort  and  propriety, 
not  always  observable  in  the  alteration  of  houses  of  so  antient 
a  date.     Ed. 


112  EARL  OF  HUNGTINGTON,  SIR  W.  ASTON, 

amount  of  five  hundred  pounds e.  As  his  life  was 
excellent,  so  his  death  was  happy ;  dying  in  the 
fulness  of  years  and  of  glory,  envied,  as  his  greatest 
enemy  declared,  only  because  his  sun  went  down 
"with  so  much  lustre ;  not  clouded,  as  generally  is 
the  fate  of  great  ministers. 
Henry         a  cotemporary  of  his  is  painted  in  the  same 

Earl  of 

Hunting-   manner,  with  the  collar  of  the  garter;  his  beard 


TON. 


forked:  the  date  1588,  set.  52.  This  preserves  a 
likeness  of  a  very  different  character,  Henry  Earl 
of  Huntington,  lord  president  of  the  north,  and  one 
of  the  peers  to  whom  the  custody  of  the  queen  of 
Scots  was  entrusted.  Burleigh  created  a  fortune 
by  his  prudence ;  Huntington  dissipated  his,  by 
being  the  dupe  to  the  ministers  of  the  rising  fana- 
ticism of  the  age,  which,  nurtured  by  such  wooers 
of  popularity  as  Leicester,  Essex,  and  this  noble 
peer,  in  the  next  age  attained  strength  sufficient 
to  subvert  the  church  it  pretended  to  purify. 

Sir  Walter^    a  neighboring  statesman,  Sir  Walter  Aston, 
Aston. 

of  Tival,  is  painted  on  board.     He  appears  with 

a  firm  countenance,  short  hair,  and  whiskers ;  in 
a  black  dress,  laced  with  gold  on  the  seams,  and 
graced  with  a  triple  gold  chain.  Sir  Walter  was 
ambassador  to  Spain  in  the  time  of  the  negotia- 
tions about  the  Spanish  match,  in  the  reign  of 

e  Camden's  Annals,  year  1598. 


WALTER  EARL  OF  ESSEX,  113 

James  I.  and  favored  the  designs  of  the  young 
prince,  and  his  favorite  Buckingham.  He  was 
resolute  and  prudent,  and  had  great  knowlege  of 
the  importance  of  the  English  trade  with  Spain f. 
He  might  serve  his  master,  but  he  hurt  his  own 
fortune ;  dissipating  great  part  of  £.  10,000  a  year 
in  supporting  the  dignity  of  his  character,  and  the 
honor  of  his  country.  His  reward  was  a  Scotch 
peerage ;  being  created  by  Charles  I.  in  the  third 
year  of  his  reign,  Lord  Forfar. 

An  half-length  of  Walter  Earl  of  Essex,  father  Walter 
to  the  unfortunate  Robert.  He  is  represented  in  Essex. 
rich  armor.  On  one  side  are  the  words  Virtutis 
comes  invidia  ;  allusive  to  the  constant  ill  usage 
he  met  with  from  the  worthless  favorite  of  Eliza- 
beth, the  Earl  of  Leicester.  He  was  a  nobleman 
of  great  merit  and  courage ;  was  sent  to  command 
in  Ireland,  in  1573,  and  performed  services  wor- 
thy of  his  character ;  but  at  length,  worn  out  by 
the  ill  usage  of  the  ministry,  who  with-held  from 
him  the  necessary  support,  he  came  over  to  Eng- 
land, to  lay  his  complaint  before  the  queen.  He 
was  artfully  received,  and  sent  back  with  the  pro- 
mises of  better  usage.  Grief,  or,  as  others  say, 
poison,  administered  by  the  instigation  of  Leices- 
ter, who  loved  his  wife,  cut  him  off  at  the  age  of 
'■'  .  - 

f  Lloyd's  Worries,  ii.  248. 
•  1 


114  COLONEL  BAGOT,    MRS.  SALUSBURY, 

thirty-five,  at  Dublin,  in  1576.  Perhaps  the  in- 
famy of  Dudleys  character,  and  the  speedy  and 
indecent  marriage  of  the  countess  with  that  fa- 
vorite, might  give  rise  to  the  scandal ;  for  an  in- 
quisition was  made  on  his  death,  and  the  report 
in  consequence  was,  that  he  died  of  the  flux ;  a 
disorder  very  frequent  in  Ireland  in  those  days. 
Here  are  several  portraits  of  different  persons, 
Colonel    of  this  worthy  house.     Among  them  is  Colonel 

Richard  7t»  r • i^  »j       t_      *  n  • 

Bagot.  Richard  Bagot,  governor  of  Lichfield,  who  fell  in 
the  cause  of  loyalty,  in  the  fatal  battle  of  Naseby. 
He  is  dressed  in  a  buff  coat,  and  represented  with 
long  hair. 

I  must  not  omit  a  curious  picture  of  a  country- 
Mrs.  woman  of  mine,  Mrs.  Salusbury,  of  Bachymbed, 
in  Denbighshire,  in  a  vast  high  sugar-loafed  hat 
and  kerchief,  bordered  with  ermine.  Near  her 
are  two  of  her  grandchildren,  Sir  Edzvard  Bagot, 
and  Elizabeth,  afterwards  Countess  of  Uxbridge, 
by  her  daughter  Jane,  who  married  Sir  J  Fa  Iter 
Bagot,  and  conveyed  the  Welsh  estate  into  the 
family.  A  head  of  her  son  Charles  Salusbury,  in 
long  hair,  and  flowered  night-gown,  is  also  pre- 
served here. 

Lady  Ma  ry  Countess  of  Ayksford,  painted  in  her 

Aylesford.  ...  ..        .r  . 

old-age,  by  Hudson,  sitting,   is  a  most  beautiful 

portrait.      She  is  dressed,  simplex  munditiis,  in 

pale    brown    sattin,    white   hood,    handkerchief, 


LADY  AYLESFORD,    AND  OF  MOLIERE.  115 

apron,  and  short  ruffles :  a  reproach  to  the  un- 
suitable fantastic  dress  of  these  times,  which  at- 
tempts to  disguise  respectful  years,  and  renders: 
that  inevitable  period  the  object  of  ridicule.  . 

Mary,  daughter  to  Hervey  Bagot,'  Esquire,  of 
Pipehall,  first  married  to  Sir  Charley  Berkeley 
Earl  of  Falmouth5 }  and  afterwards  to  Charles 
Earl  of  Dorset ;  a  brown  beauty  of  the  gay  court 
of  Charles  II.  and,  as  Grammont  says,  the  only 
one  that  had  the  appearance  of  beauty  and  wis- 
dom in  the  departments  of  maids  of  honor  to  the 
Dutchess  of  York. 

William  Legge,  first  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  and  his 
lady ;  parents  of  the  late  Lady  Barbara  Bagot. 

That  eccentric  statesman,  Henry  Earl  of  Bo- 
lingbroke,  when  young,  dressed  in  his  robes. 

A  head  of  that  great  actor,  and  dramatic  poet,  Moliere. 
Moliere.  He  lived  the  adoration  of  his  country- 
men ;  but,  dying  in  his  profession,  was,  according 
to  a  custom  of  the  church  of  his  nation,  refused 
Christian  burial  by  Harlai  de  Chanvalon,  a  de- 
bauched archbishop  of  Paris.  The  king  (Lewis 
XIV.)  at  length  prevailed  to  have  him  buried  in 

8  According  to  Lord  Clarendon's  account,  he  was  a  very 
worthless  young  favorite  of  Charles  II.  He  was  killed  in  the 
great  sea-fight  with  the  Dutch,  in  1-665.  Charles  wept  bitterly 
at  his  death.  The  loss  of  better  men  never  went  so  near  his 
heart.    Clarendon's  Continuation,  268,  -■  ■    . 

i  2 


ll£  BLITHEFIELD  PARK. 

a  church;  but  the  curate  would  net  undertake  the 
office.  The  populace  with  difficulty  could  be  per- 
suaded to  suffer  his  remains  to  be  carried  to  the 
grave.  Bouhours  marks  the  injustice  done  this 
great  man,  in  the  following  lines : 

Tu  reformas  et  la  ville  et  la  cour, 

Mais  quelle  en  fut  la  recompense  ? 

Les  Frangois  rougiront  un  jour 

De  leur  peu  de  reconnaissance. 

II  leur  falut  un  comedien 
Qui  mit  a  les  polir  sa  gloire  et  son  etude ; 
Mais  Moliere,  a  ta  gloire  il  ne  manquera  rien, 
Si  parmi  les  defauts  que  tu  peignis  si  bien, 
Tu  les  avais  repris  de  leur  ingratitude. 

I  quit  the  subject  of  paintings,  notwithstand- 
ing there  are  multitudes  of  pictures,  by  the  best 
masters,  in  this  house.  They  were  all  undergoing 
a  removal ;  therefore  I  avoid  further  mention  of 
them,  until  they  are  fixed  in  their  permanent  situ- 
ations \  But  I  must  not  be  silent  about  the  col- 
lection of  coins,  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  in- 
structive in  England,  the  bequest  of  his  beloved 
neighbor  and  friend  Thomas  Anson,  Esquire. 
Park.  The  park  is  at  some  distance  from  the  house. 

The  oaks  are  of  a  very  great  size :  a  twin-tree  was 
lately  sold  for  <£.120,  and  some  single  ones  for 

h  A  catalogue  of  the  pictures,  according  to  their  present 
arrangement,  will  be  given  in  the  Appendix.    Ed. 


CHURCH.    HERMITAGE.  117 

half  that  sum ;  and  I  am  told,  that  there  are  se- 
veral now  standing  equally  large. 

The  church  is  very  near  the  house,  in  the  gift  Church. 
of  Sir  William  Bagot,  dedicated  to  St.  Leonard. 
Within,  are  several  sculptured  tombs,  of  the  fif- 
teenth century ;  some  with  imaged  figures,  others 
engraven;  mostly  in  memorial  of  the  Bagot s:  one 
of  an  Aston  of  Broughton,  and  another  expressed 
by  a  little  skeleton  of  a  Broughton,  a  child  of 
three  months  old.  The  monument  of  Sir  Edward 
Bagot j  who  died  in  1673,  is  mural,  and  supersedes 
the  ten  commandments,  being  placed  over  the 
altar.  The  inscription  tells  us,  that  he  was  a  true 
assertor  of  episcopacy  in  the  church,  and  heredi- 
tary monarchy  in  the  state ;  which  probably  enti- 
tled him,  in  those  days,  to  this  sacred  place.  On 
the  outside  of  the  church,  two  modest  heaps  of 
turf,  parallel  to  each  other,  mark  the  spot  where 
the  remains  of  the  last  amiable  owners  of  the  place 
repose. 

I  found  myself  here  not  very  distant  from 
Whichenoure  Hall,  and  could  not  resist  the  desire 
of  visiting  the  seat  of  the  celebrated  Flitch,  the 
desperate  reward  of  conjugal  affection. 

In  my  road,  not  far  from  Blithefield,  I  again  Hermitage. 
met  with  the  Trent,  and  the  Canal:  the  last  a 
most  fortunate  embellishment  to  the  neat  seat  of 
Mr.  Lister  of  Hermitage.     The  proprietors  (with 


118 


MAVESTON  RIDVVARE. 


Church. 


Maveston 
Ridware. 


the  respect  they  usually  pay  to  gentlemen)  have 
before  this  house  given  it  an  elegant  form ;  and, 
to  add  to  the  scenery,  luckily  the  aweful  mouth  of 
a  considerable  subterraneous  course  of  the  naviga- 
tion opens  to  view,  and  affords  the  amazing  sight 
of  barges  losing  themselves  in  the  cavern,  or  sud- 
denly emerging  to  day  from  the  other  side. 

The  church  of  Hermitage,  seated  on  a  small 
eminence,  forms  another  beautiful  object.  This 
belongs  to  the  cathedral  of  Lichfield,  and  is  stiled 
the  prebendary  of  Hansacre,  a  hamlet  in  this  pa- 
rish, founded  by  Bishop  Clinton. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Trent  is  Maveston 
Ridware,  a  rectory,  whose  church  is  dedicated  to 
St.  Andrexv.  This  was  the  property  of  the  Mave- 
stons,  at  lest  from  the  time  of  Henry  I.  to  that 
of  Henry  IV.  Hugo  Mauvesin  was  in  this  reign 
Lord  of  Ridware,  and  founder  of  the  priory  of 
Blithburgh,  in  Suffolk.  He  v^as  son  of  Henry 
Mauvesin,  who  came  into  England  with  the  Con- 
queror. The  corpse  of  Hugo  was  discovered  in 
September  1785,  after  it  had  lain  there  six  hun- 
dred years.  That  of  Sir  Henri/,  his  great  great 
grandson,  was  discovered  at  the  same  time.  The 
tomb  of  Sir  Robert  Maveston,  or  Mauvesine,  in 
the  parish-church,  recals  to  memory  a  melancholy 
story.  In  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  the  usurp- 
ing Henry,  when  the  kingdom  was  divided  against 


MAVESTON  RIDWARE.  119 

itself,  two  neighboring  knights,  Sir  Robert  Ma- 
veston,  and  Sir  William  Handsacre,  of  Handsacre, 
took  arms  in  support  of  different  parties :  the 
first,  to  assert  the  cause  of  Boling broke  ;  the  last, 
that  of  the  deposed  Richard.  They  assembled 
their  vassals,  and  began  their  march  to  join  the 
armies,  then  about  to  join  battle,  near  Shrews- 
bury. The  two  neighbors,  with  their  respective 
followers,  unfortunately  met,  not  far  from  their 
seats.  Actuated  by  party  rage,  a  skirmish  en- 
sued :  Sir  William  was  slain  on  the  spot.  Sir 
Robert  proceeded  to  the  field,  and  met  his  fate 
with  the  gallant  Percy.  What  a  picture  is  this 
accident,  of  the  miseries  of  civil  dissension !  What 
a  tale  is  the  following,  of  the  sudden  vicissitude  of  . 
hatred  to  love,  between  contending  families  !  Mar- 
garet, one  of  the  daughters,  and  co-heiress  of  Sir 
Robert  Maveston,  gave  her  hand  to  Sir  William, 
son  of  the  knight  slain  by  her  father ;  and  with  her 
person  and  fortune  compensated  the  injury  done 
by  her  house  to  that  of  Handsacre l. 

The  other  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  Sir 
John  Cawardine,  whose  posterity  became  extinct 
in  the  male  line  by  the  death  of  Thomas  Cazvar- 
dine,  Esquire,  in  1592.    David  Cazvardine,  one  of 

this  antient  line,  had  served  under  Henry  V.  at  the 

...  •■  ■■• .  .  -' 

1  Erdesivik. 


120  SIR  ROBERT  MAVESTON'S  TOMB. 

battle  of  Agincourt,  and  William  was  knighted  at 
the  siege  of  Boulogne,  where  he  attended  Henri/ 
VIII. 

The  tomb  of  Sir  Robert  is  altar-shaped :  his 
figure  armed  and  helmed,  with  a  great  sword  on 
one  side,  and  a  dagger  on  the  other,  is  engraven 
on  the  incumbent  alabaster  slab,  with  the  follow- 
ing inscription : 

Hie  jacet  Dns.  Robertas  de  Mauvesine,  miles,  Dns.  de 
Mauvcsine  Ridware,  qui  occubu it  juxta  Salopiam,  1403, 
stans  cum  rege,  dimicansex  parte  sua  usque  ad  mortem, 
cujus  aninaae  propitietur  Deus. 

Here  is  a  tomb  of  two  Mawvesins,  one  cross- 
legged,  with  each  hand  on  his  sword ;  both  under 
arches  in  the  wall.  The  cross-legged  knight  is 
supposed  to  represent  the  Sir  Henry  before  men- 
tioned. 

Near  the  church  is  the  gateway,  part  of  the 
antient  mansion  of  the  family  of  Mauvesi?i;  and 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Trent,  beyond  High 
Bridge,  is  a  moated  fragment  of  the  rival  house  of 
Handsacre. 

At  the  distance  of  about  two  miles  from  Mcwe- 

King's     ston,  I  passed  by  Kings  Bromley.      Before  the 

Conquest,  this  manor  had  been  the  residence  of 

the  Earl  of  Mercia.     Here,  in   1057,  died  the 

pious  Leofric*,  husband  to  the  famous  Godiva. 

k  Dugdale's  Baron,  i.  1 0. 


KING'S  BROMLEY.    ORGRAVE. 


121 


At  that  time,  it  was  called  Brom-legge.  After 
the  Conqueror  took  it  into  his  own  hands,  the 
name  was  changed  to  that  of  King's  Bromley.  It 
continued  in  the  crown  till  the  year  1258,  or  the 
forty-third  of  Henry  III.  when  Roger  Corbet 
died,  holding  it  of  the  king  in  capite1.  It  con- 
tinued in  that  family  till  the  year  1451,  or  the 
thirtieth  of  Henry  VI.  when  it  came  by  descent  to 
Praiers  of  Baddeleigh,  in  Cheshire  ;  from  him  to 
one  Partridge,  who  sold  it  to  Francis  Agard,  of 
Ireland;  whose  descendants  possessed  it  for  some 
generations,  when  it  was  sold  to  John  Newton, 
Esquire,  of  Barbadoes  ;  in  whose  line  it  remains  m. 

From  hence  I  passed  by  Or  grave,  one  of  the  Orgrave. 
seats  of  George  Anson,  Esquire,  lately  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Turtons.  Afterwards,  through  the 
village  of  Alrewas.  The  manor  was  in  possession 
of  Algar  Earl  of  Mercia;  but  on  the  forfeiture  of 
his  son,  the  brave  Edwin,  was  bestowed  by  the 
Conqueror,  with  the  following,  on  Walter  de  So- 
mervil,  one  of  his  Norman  followers. 

From  hence  I  visited  Whichenoure,  or  Wichnor, 
where  I  crossed  a  bridge  of  the  same  name  over 
the  Trent,  not  far  from  the  place  where  it  receives 


Whiche- 
noure 
Manor. 


1  Erdemik. 

m  After  the  death  of  the  last  Mr.  Neivlon  it  became  the  pro- 
perty of  John  Lane,  Esq.     Ed. 


\-:i 


WHICHENOURE.    CHURCH. 


Chdrch." 


the  Tame.  The  Roman  road  passes  this  Way, 
and  on  this  marshy  spot  was  formed  upon  piles  of 
wood.  It  runs  from  the  east  side  of  Lich/ield, 
and  points  to  the  north-east.  Much  brass  money 
has  been  found,  and,  as  I  am  informed,  there  are 
Testiges  of  a  Roman  camp  in  IVhichenoure  park. 

The  church  stands  on  an  eminence,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river.  The  house  is  at  a  small  dis- 
tance, and  enjoys  a  most  beautiful  view.  I  believe 
this  to  have  been  on  the  site  of  a  very  antient  man- 
sion, which  Leland  observes  to  have  been  quite 
down  in  his  days :  and  that  the  seat  was  then 
below,  much  subject  to  the  risings  of  the  Trent. 
Singular    The  present  house  is  a  modern  building,   remark- 

lENURIi.  r  ° 

able  for  the  painted  wooden  bacon  flitch,  still  hung 
up  over  the  hall  chimney,  in  memory  of  the  sin- 
gular tenure  by  which  Sir  Philip  de  Somervile,  in 
the  time  of  Edward  III.  held  the  manors  of 
Whichenoure,  Sirescote,  Ridware,  Netherton,  and 
Cowlee,  of  the  Earl  of  Lancaster,  then  lord  of  the 
honor  of  Tutbury.  The  services  clamed  were 
these,  viz.  two  small'fees;  "  that  is  to  say,  when 
"  other  tenants  pay  for  releef  one  whole  knight's 
ft  fee,  one  hundred  shillings ;  he,  the  said  Sir 
"  Philip,  shall  pay  but  fifty  shillings;  and  when 
"  escuage  is  assessed  throghcout  the  land,  or  ayde 
"  for  to  make  the  eldest  son  of  the  lord  knyght,  or 


WHICHENOURE  TENURE.  123 

"  for  to  marry  the  eldest  doughter  of  the  lord,  the 
"  sayd  Sir  Philip  shal  pay  bot  the  moiety  of 
"  it  that  other  shal  paye. 

"  Nevertheless,  the  sayd  Sir  Philip  shal  fynde 
"  meyntienge  and  susteiyne  one  bacon  flyke  hang- 
"  ing  in  his  halle,  at  JVichenore,  ready  arrayed 
"  all  tymes  of  the  yere,  bott  in  Lent,  to  be  given 
"  to  everyche  mane  or  womane  married,  after  the 
"  dey  and  yere  of  their  manage  be  passed ;  and 
"to  be  given  to  everyche  mane  of  religion,  arch 
"  bishop,  prior,  or  other  religious ;  and  to  everyche 
"  preest,  after  the  year  and  day  of  their  profession 
"  finished,  or  of  their  dignity  reseyved,  in  forme 
"  following.  Whensoever  that  ony  such  before 
"  named  wylle  come  for  to  enquire  for  the  baconne 
"  in  their  owne  person,  or  by  any  other  for  them, 
"  they  shall  come  to  the  bayliff  or  porter  of  the 
"  lordship  of  Whichenour,  and  shall  say  to  them  in 
"  the  manere  as  ensewethe : 

"  Bay  life,  or  Porter,  I  doo  you  to  knowe, 

"  that  I  am  come  for  my  self  (or,  if  he 

"  come  for  any  other,  shewing  for  whome) 

"  one  bacon  flyke,  hanging  in  the  halle  of 

"  the  lord  of  IVhichenour,  after  the  forme 

"  thereunto  belonginge. 

w  After  which  relation  the  bailiffe,  or  porter,  shal 

"  assigne  a  daye  to  him,   upon  promise  by  his 

"  feythe  to  return,  and  with  him  to  bring  tweyne 


124  WHICHENOURE  TENURE. 

"  of  his  neighbours ;  and  in  the  meyn  time  the 
"  said  bailif  shal  take  with  him  tweyne  of  the  free- 
"  holders  of  the  lordship  of  JVhichenoure,  and  they 
"  three  shal  goe  to  the  mannour  ofRudlowe,  belong- 
"  ing  to  Robert  Knyghtley,  and  there  shall  somon 
"  the  foresaid  Knyghtley,  or  his  bayliffe,  com- 
"  manding  him  to  be  ready  at  Whichenour  the 
"  day  appoynted,  at  pry  me  of  the  day,  with 
"  his  carriage;  that  is  to  say,  a  horse  and  a  sadyle, 
"  a  sakke,  and  a  pryke,  for  to  convey  and  carry 
"  the  said  baconne  and  corne  a  journey  out 
"  of  the  county  of  Stafford,  at  his  costages ;  and 
"  then  the  sayd  bailiffe  shal,  with  the  said  free- 
"  holders,  somon  all  the  tenants  of  the  said  manoir 
"  to  be  ready  at  the  day  appoynted  at  Whichenour ', 
"  for  to  doe  and  performe  the  services  to  the 
"  baconne.  And  at  the  day  assigned,  all  such  as 
"  owe  services  to  the  baconne,  shal  be  ready  at 
"  the  gatte  of  the  manoir  of  Whichenour,  from  the 
"  sonne  risinge  to  none,  attendyng  and  a  way  ting 
"  for  the  comyng  of  hym  and  his  felowys  cha- 
"  paletts,  and  to  all  those  whiche  shal  be  there,  to 
"  doe  their  services  deue  to  the  baconne :  and 
"  they  shal  lede  the  said  demandant,  wythe  tromps 
"  and  tabours,  and  other  manner  of  mynstralseye, 
H  to  the  halle  dore,  where  he  shal  fynde  the  lord 
f*  of  Whichenour,  or  his  steward,  redy  to  deliver 
"  the  baconne  in  this  manere  : 


WHICHENOURE  TENURE.  l«5 

"  He  shal  enquere  of  hym  which  demandeth 
"  the  baconne,  if  he  hath  brought  tweyne  of  his 
"  neighbours ;  who  must  answere,  They  be  here 
"  redy;  and  then  the  steward  shal  cause  theis  two 
"  neighbours  to  swere  yf  the  said  demandant  be  a 
"  weddyt  man,  or  have  be  a  man  weddyt,  and  yf 
"  syth  his  marryage  one  yere  and  a  day  be  passed, 
"  and  yf  he  be  a  freeman  or  a  villeyn  :   and  yf  his 
"  seid  neghbours  make  othe  that  he  hath  for  hym 
"  all  theis  three  poynts  rehersed,  then  shal  the 
"  baconne  be  take  downe,    and  brought  to  the 
"  halle  dore,  and  shal  there  be  layd  upon  one 
"  half  a  quarter  of  wheatte,  and  upon  one  other  of 
"  rye :   and  he  that  demandeth  the  baconne  shal 
"  kneel  upon  his  knee,   and  shal  hold  his  right 
"  hande  upon  a  booke,  which  shal  be  layd  above 
"  the  baconne  and  the  corne,  and  shall  make  oath 
"  in  this  manere : 

"  Here  ye  Sir  Philip  de  Somervyle,  lord  of 
"  Whichenour,  mayntayner  and  giver  of  this  ba- 
"  conne,  that  I  A.,  syth  I  wedded  B.  my  wife, 
"  and  syth  I  had  her  in  my  kepyng  and  at  wylle, 
"by  a  yere  and  a  daye  after  our  marryage,  I 
"  would  not  have  changed  for  none  other,  farer  ne 
"  fowler,  richer  ne  powrer,  ne  for  none  other 
"  descended  of  gretter  lynage,  slepyng  ne  waking, 
11  at  noo  tyme;  and  if  the  seid  B.  were  sole,  and 
"  I  sole,  I  wolde  take  her  to  be  my  wife  before  all 


120  WHICHENOURE  TENURE. 

"  the  wymen  of  the  worlde,  of  what  condytions 
*  soevere  they  be,  good  or  evyle,  as  helpe  me 
"  God,  and  his  seyntys,  and  this  flesh,  and  all 
"  fleshes. 

"  And  his  neghbours  shal  make  oath,  that  they 
"  trust  verily  he  hath  said  truely.  And  yf  it  be 
"  founde  by  his  neghbours  before  named,  that  he 
"  be  a  villeyn,  there  shal  be  delyvered  to  him  half 
"  a  quarter  of  wheatte  and  a  cheese  ;  and  yf  he 
"  be  a  villein,  he  shal  have  half  a  quarter  of  rye, 
"  withoutte  cheese,  and  then  shal  Knyghtley,  the 
"  lord  of  Rudlotv,  be  called  for,  to  carry  all  their 
"  thyngs  to  fore  rehersed ;  and  the  say d  corne  shal 
"  be  layd  upon  one  horse,  and  the  baconne  apper- 
"  teyneth  shal  ascend  upon  his  horse,  and  shal  take 
"  the  chese  before  hym,  if  he  have  a  horse ;  and 
"  yf  he  have  none,  the  lord  of  Whichenour  shall 
"  cause  him  have  one  horse  arid  sadyl,  to  such 
"  tyme  as  he  passed  his  lordshippe;  and  soe  shal 
"  they  departe  the  manoyr  of  Whichenour  with  the 
"  corne  and  the  baconne  to  fore  him,  him  that 
"  hath  wonne  ytt,  with  trompets,  tabourets,  and 
"  other  manoir  of  mynstralsce.  And  all  the  free 
"  tenants  of  Whichenour  shal  conduct  him  to  be 
"  passed  the  lordship  of  Whichenour ;  and  then 
"  shall  they  retorne,  except  hym  to  whom  apper- 
"  teiyneth  to  make  the  carriage  and  journy  with- 
"  outt  the  countye  of  Stafford,  at  the  costys  of  his 


WHICHENOURE  TENURE.  127 

"  lord  of  Whichenour.  And  yf  the  seid  Robert 
"  Knyghtley  doe  not  cause  the  baconne  and  come 
"  to  be  conveyed  as  is  rehersed,  the  lord  of 
"  Whichenour  shal  do  it  to  be  carryed,  and  shall 
"  distreigne  the  said  Robert  Knyghtley  for  his 
"  default,  for  one  hundred  shillings  in  his  manoir 
"  of  Rudlowe,  and  shall  kepe  the  distresse  so 
"  takyn  irreplevisable"." 

Such  is  the  history  of  this  memorable  custom.-    Present 

t  c  •  State  ofthe 

I  wish,  for  the  honor  of  the  state  matrimonial,  Flitch. 
that  it  was  in  my  power  to  continue  the  register  of 
successful  clamants,  from  that  preserved  in  the 
60  8th  Spectator  ;  but,  from  the  strictest  enquiry, 
the  flitch  has  remained  untouched,  from  the  first 
century  of  its  institution  to  the  present :  and  we 
are  credibly  informed,  that  the  late  and  present 
worthy  owners  of  the  manor,  were  deterred  from 
entering  into  the  holy  state,  through  the  dread 
of  not  obtaining  a  single  rasher  from  their  own 
bacon. 

The  first  possessor  of  this  manor  was  Sir 
Walter  de  Somervile,  a  Norma?i,  on  whom  it  was 
bestowed  by  the  Conqueror.  It  rested  in  his. 
family  till  the  death  of  the  above-mentioned  Sir 
Philip  de  Somervile,  who  left  two  daughters,  Joan, 
wife  to  Sir  Rhys  ap  Gryffydd,  Knight ;  and  Maud, 

n  Blunt' s  Tenures,  95. 


128  RUDGLEY.    CHURCH. 

married  to  Edmund  Vernon.  This  estate  fell  to 
the  former,  and  remained  in  the  family  till  the 
year  1661,  when  it  was  sold  by  Sir  Francis 
Boynton  to  Mary,  widow  of  John  Offley,  Esquire, 
ancestor  to  the  late  owner ;  who,  within  these  few 
years,  alienated  it  to  the  present  owner,  John 
Levet°,  Esquire. 

In  pursuance  of  my  original  plan,  I  took  the 
same  way,  in  order  to  return  into  the  great  road. 
Soon  after,  repassing  the  Trent,  at  Colton  bridge, 

Rudgley.  J  reached  Rudgley,  a  small  town,  celebrated  for 
its  great  annual  fairs  for  horses  of  the  coach 
breed. 

Church.  The  church,  which  stands  a  little  north  of  the 
town,  is  dedicated  to  Saint  Augustin,  and  is 
a  vicarage  belonging  to  the  chapter  of  Lichjield. 
Opposite  to  it  is  a  very  antient  timber-house, 
which  once  belonged  to  the  Chetxvynds ;  and  is 
now  the  property  of  Mr.  Anson.  On  an  eminence 
above  the  town,  is  beautifully  situated  a  large 
house,  formerly  belonging  to  the  Westons,  greatly 
enlarged  and  improved  by  the  present  owner, 
Ashton  Curzon*,  Esquire. 

The  antient  owners  of  Rudgley  were  of  the 

°  From  whom  it  has  since  descended  to  a  nephew  of  the 
same  name.    Ed. 

p  Created  Baron  Curzon  of  Penn  in  Buckinghamshire  in  the 
year  1794-.    Ed.     • 


LONGDON.  129 

same  name  with  the  town :  some  of  the  family  had 
the  honor  of  being  sheriffs  of  the  county,  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  III :  another  was  knight  of  the 
shire,  at  the  same  period.  The  name  continued 
here  till  after  the  time  of  Henry  VI.  Erdeswik 
mentions  this  to  have  been  a  manor  belonging  to 
the  bishop  of  Lichfield;  which  I  find  was  alienated 
to  the  king  by  bishop  Sampson,  in  1547. 

The  parish  and  village  of  Longdon  succeed  Longdon. 
Rudgley.  The  church  lies  out  of  the  road,  on  the 
left;  it  is  a  vicarage,  dedicated  to  St.  James,  and 
belongs  to  a  prebendship  of  Lichfield.  The  village 
consists  of  scattered  houses,  extending  for  a  vast 
way  on  each  side  of  the  lane ;  from  whence 
the  name.  This  gave  rise  to  a  common  saying  in 
these  parts, 

The  stoutest  beggar  that  goes  by  the  way, 
Cannot  beg  through  Long'  in  a  summer's  day. 

This  village  antiently  was  full  of  gentlemen's 
seats ;  a  most  useful  species  of  population  to  the 
poor,  whose  distresses  seldom  fail  reaching  the 
ears  of  mediocrity,  but  whose  cries  rarely  attain 
the  height  of  greatness.  Sir  Edzvard  Littleton  had  a 
house  here,  called  Chistal;  Simon  Rudgley,  sheriffof 
the  county  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.  had  another; 
the  younger  brother  of  the  Astons  had  a  seat  here, 
from  the  reign  of  Edward  I ;  the  Brought ons  had 

K 


130  BEAUDESERT. 

Brought  on  Hall,  from  the  days  of  King  John; 
and  Adam  Arblaster  possessed  Liszvys  (now  Long- 
hall)  in  1351,  or  the  twenty-fifth  of  Edward  III., 
in  whose  name  it  continued  till  of  late,  when  it 
was  purchased  by  Francis  Cobq,  Esquire. 

This  manor  is  of  vast  extent.  Above  thirty 
other  manors,  lordships,  and  villages,  owe  suit 
and  service,  besides  Cank,  Heywood,  and 
Rudgley,  to  the  court-leet,  which  is  held  here 
every  three  weeks.  It  once  belonged  to  the 
bishop  of  Lichfield,  but  was  alienated  by  Bishop 
Sampson. 

After  winding  up  the  steep  of  a  high  hill,  an 
advanced  part  of  the  forest  of  Cank,  I  turned  out 
Beaudesert.  of  the  road  to  Beaudesert,  the  princely  seat  of 
Lord  Paget',  placed  on  the  side  of  a  lofty  sloping 
eminence,  sheltered  above,  and  on  each  side,  by 
beautiful  rising  grounds,  and  embosomed  in  trees, 
commanding  in  front,  over  the  tops  of  far  subja- 
cent woods,  a  most  extensive  and  agreeable  view; 
so  that  it  well  vindicates  the  propriety  of  its 
name. 

This  had  been  a  place  belonging  to  the  bishops 
of  Lichfield,  which,  with  the  manors  of  Longdon, 
Heywood,  Berkswick,  Cank,  Rudgley,  and  Shug- 

i  On  Mr.  Cob's  decease,  Longhall  became  the  property  of 
Miss  Tysons.     Ed. 

T  Earl  of  Uxbridge.     Ed. 


BEAUDESERT.  131 

borrow,  were  part  of  the  spoils  of  that  see,  wrested 
from  it  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI.  with  the  con- 
nivance of  Richard  Sampson,  then  bishop,  who 
accepted  in  their  stead  certain  impropriations  of 
the  value  of  an  hundred  and  eighty-three  pounds 
a  year.  These  livings  at  that  time  were  good  rec- 
tories ;  now  poor  vicarages,  or  mercenary  curacies, 
annexed  to  the  bishoprick. 

The  leviathan  who  swallowed  these  manors, 
was  Sir  William' Paget,  created  by  EdzvardVl. 
Baron  Beaudesert.  He  first  appeared  in  the  reign 
of  Henri/  VIII.  and  from  a  low  beginning,  meri- 
toriously rose  to  the  dignity  of  secretary  and  am- 
bassador to  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.  In  the 
next  reign,  he  was  made  chancellor  of  the  dutchy 
of  Lancaster,  and  comptroller  of  the  houshold ; 
and  obtained  a  peerage.  In  that  of  Mary  he 
became  lord  privy-seal,  and  was  restored  to  the 
order  of  the  Garter,  from  which  he  had  been  de- 
graded in  the  time  of  her  predecessor.  At  the 
accession  of  Elizabeth,  at  his  own  request,  he  was 
permitted  to  retire  from  the  service  of  the  state, 
being  zealously  attached  to  the  religion  of  his 
former  mistress*.  Yet  his  zeal  for  the  old  religion 
produced  in  him  no  scruples  about  sharing  in  the 
plunder  of  the  church.     The  reforming  Somerset, 

*  Fuller' t  Worthies,  210. 
K  2 


>s 


132  CASTLE-HILL. 

and  the  papal  Paget,  agreed  in  that  single  point. 
His  posterity  derive  from  him  an  uncommon  extent 
of  interest  and  command. 

Beaudesert  was  rebuilt  by  Thomas  Lord  Paget, 
in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  It  is  a  very 
handsome  stone  edifice,  in  form  of  an  half  H ;  of 
late  most  admirably  improved,  and  fitted  up  by 
the  noble  owner.  It  is  totally  disengaged  from 
the  gateway,  walls,  and  other  obstructions  that 
encumbered  it  in  the  days  of  Plot1;  and  the 
grounds  that  environ  it  are  disposed  with  the  sim- 
plicity which  forms  true  grandeur. 

Here  is  a  gothic  hall  of  eighty  feet  by  twenty- 
one  ;  a  dining  room  of  forty-two  by  twenty-seven  ; 
and  a  magnificent  gallery  of  ninety-seven  by  seven- 
teen. The  other  apartments  are  small. 
Portrait  of  ^n  tne  drawing-room  is  a  fine  portrait  of  the 
LordPaget- founder  of  the  family,  the  first  Lord  Paget,  a 
three-quarters  length;  in  a  bonnet,  black  gown 
furred,  with  a  great  forked  beard,  the  George,  a 
stick,  and  dagger.  A  fine  performance  of  Hol- 
bein's. 

From  the  house  I  ascended  to   the  summit 
of  the  hill,  on  the  verge  of  Cank  heath,  to  an  an- 
Castle-    tient  British  post  called  the  Castle- hill.     It  is 
encompassed  with  a  vast  rampart  and  two  ditches. 

*■  See  his  plate  viii.  p.  126. 


HILL. 


CANK  FOREST.  133 

The  two  entrances  are  opposite  to  each  other,  and 
before  the  eastern  are  several  advanced  works.  It 
commands  a  vast  view,  and  was  well  situated  for 
a  temporary  retreat.  I  refer  the  reader,  for  an 
account  of  the  uses  of  these  entrenchments,  to  my 
Welsh  Tour n ;  for  they  are  common  to  most  parts 
of  Britain.  Doctor  Plot  ascribes  this  work 
to  King  Canute;  but  I  suspect  it  to  be  of  earlier 
origin. 

From  hence  is  an  extensive  view  of  the  chace, 
or  forest,  of  Cank,  or  Cannock,  which  Plot  de-  Forest. 
rives  from  the  name  of  the  Danish  prince  Canuti 
Sylva.  This  vast  tract  was  once  covered  with 
oaks,  but  for  some  centuries  past,  has  been 
spoiled  of  its  honors ;  even  old  Drayton x  de- 
plores its  losses,  owing,  as  he  says,  to  the  avarice 
of  the  times. 

O  woeful  Cank  the  while, 
As  brave  a  wood-nymph  once  as  any  of  this  isle, 
Great  Ar den's  eldest  child  ! 
Now  by  vile  gain  devourM ! 

But  this  change  is  much  more  beautifully  de- 
scribed by  Mr.  Masters,  in  his  Itinerary y  of 
1675;  in  which  he  describes  his  journey  in  most 
elegant  Latin.     His  passage  over  Cank  wood, 

■*  - 

°  Vol.  i.  412.  x  Polyolbion,  song  12. 

i  Published  under  the  title  of  Iter  Boreale. 


X 


134  FAIRWELL  CHURCH. 

and  the  translation  by  my  ingenious  friend z,  can- 
not but  be  acceptable  to  every  reader  of  taste. 

Hinc  mihi  mox  ingens  ericetum  coraplet  ocellos, 
Sylva  olim  passim  nymphis  habitata  ferisque, 
Condensaj  quercus,  domibus  res  nata  struendis 
Ornandoque  foco,  et  validas  spes  unica  classis. 
Nunc  umbris  immissa  dies,  namque  sequore  vasto 
Ante,  retro,  dextra,  laeva,  quo  lumina  cunque, 
Verteris  una  humili  consurgit  vertice  planta, 
Purpureoque  erice  tellurem  vestit  amictu; 
Dum  floret  suaves  et  naribus  adflat  odores 
Hasc  ferimus  saltern  amissaj  solatia  sylvae. 

A  vast  and  naked  plain  confines  the  view, 

Where  trees  unnumber'd  in  past  ages  grew, 

The  green  retreat  of  wood-nymphs ;  once  the  boast, 

The  pride,  the  guardians  of  their  native  coast. 

Alas !  how  chang'd  !  each  venerable  oak 

Long  since  has  yielded  to  the  woodman's  stroke. 

Where'er  the  chearless  prospect  meets  the  eye, 

No  shrub,  no  plant,  except  the  heath,  is  nigh ; 

The  solitary  heath  alone  is  there, 

And  wafts  its  sweetness  in  the  desert  air. 

So  sweet  its  scent,  so  rich  its  purple  hue, 

We  half  forget  that  here  a  forest  grew.  R.  W. 

Fairwell        From  Castle-hill  I  descended  towards  the  great 
Church.  . 

road,  and  passed  by  Fairtvell  church a,  once  con- 
ventual, belonging  to  a  priory  of  Benedictine  nuns. 
It  originally  was  the  property  of  canons  regular, 

z  The  Rev.  Richard  Williams,  ot  Fron,  Flintshire. 
*  Called  Eccksia  Sanda  Maria,    Pugdale. 


FAIRWELL  CHURCH,  155 

or  hermits ;  but  at  the  request  of  Roger,  Jeffry, 
and  Robert,  brothers  of  Farewell*,  and  with  the 
consent  of  the  chapter  of  Lichfield,  was  bestowed 
on  the  priory,  about  1140,  by  Roger  de  Clinton, 
bishop  of  Lichfield ;  who  endowed  it  with  the  mill, 
and  all  the  lands  between  the  brooks,  then  called 
Chistals,  and  Blache  Siche,  with  other  emoluments 
mentioned  in  his  two  grants.  Henry  II.  was  also 
a  great  benefactor  to  these  nuns,  bestowing  on 
them  three  ploughlands  at  Fagereswell,  one  at 
Pipe,  and  one  at  Hamerwich,  and  forty  acres  of 
land  cleared  from  wood,  in  the  forest  of  Cank c, 
in  1527.  On  the  suppression  of  the  lesser  reli- 
gious houses,  it  was  given  to  Lichfield,  to  increase 
and  maintain  the  choristers,  in  recompense  of  a 
pension  which  should  have  been  given  by  Cardinal 
IVolsey,  out  of  his  college  at  Oxford d. 

After  a  short  ride,  I  reached  the  summit  of 
a  long  but  gentle  descent,  from  which  is  a  fine 
view  of  the  city  of  Lichfield,  lying  at  the  foot  of 
it.  The  situation  is  delightful,  in  a  fertile  and  dry 
soil,  with  small  risings  on  almost  every  side.  The 
cathedral,  with  its  three  spires,  is  a  most  striking 
object. 

b  Dugdale  Mon.  i.  441.  c  The  same,  443,  444. 

*  Leland  Itin.  iv.  119.  Rymer,  xiv.  193. — This  place  is 
called  in  different  places  Fainveld,  Faunveti,  Fagrowell,  and 
Fagereswell. 


136  LICHFIELD.    ST.  CHAD. 

Lichfield.  Lichfield  is  a  place  of  Saxon  origin,  and  owes 
its  rise  to  Ceadda,  or  Chad,  the  great  saint  of 
Mercia.  I  omit  the  legend  of  the  thousand  Chris- 
tians, disciples  of  St.  Amphibolus,  that  were  mar- 
tyred here  under  Diocksian ;  or  the  three  kings 
slain  at  this  place  in  battle,  as  sculptured  over  the 
town-hall.  I  take  up  its  history  about  the  year 
656,  when  Oszvy,  king  of  the  country,  established 
a  bishoprick  here,  and  made  Dwna,  or  D'mma, 
the  first  prelate.  To  him  succeeded  Cellach  and 
Trumberct ;  and  on  his  demise,  the  famous  Ce- 

St.  Chad.  adda.  This  pious  man  at  first  led  an  eremitical 
life,  in  a  cell,  at  the  place  on  which  now  stands 
the  church  of  his  name,  and  supported  himself  by 
the  milk  of  a  white  hind.  In  this  place  he  was 
discovered  by  Rufine,  the  son  of  Wolphere,  who 
was  privately  instructed  by  him  till  the  time  of 
his  martyrdom,  before-recited.  Remorse,  and  con- 
sequential conversion,  seized  the  Pagan  prince. 
As  some  species  of  expiation,  he  preferred  the 
apostle  to  the  vacant  see.  He  built  himself  a 
small  house  near  the  church,  and,  with  seven  or 
eight  of  his  brethren,  during  the  interval  of  preach- 
ing, read  and  prayed  in  private.  On  the  approach 
of  his  death,  flights  of  angels  sang  hymns  over  his 
cell.  Miracles  at  his  tomb  confirmed  the  holiness 
of  his  life.  A  lunatic,  who  by  accident  escaped 
from  his  keepers,  lay  a  night  on  it,  and  in  the 


LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL.  137 

morning  was  found  restored  to  his  senses.  The 
very  earth  taken  out  of  it,  was  an  infallible  remedy 
for  all  disorders  incident  to  man  or  beast.  Cead- 
dae  was  of  course  canonized;  a  shrine  was  erected 
in  honor  of  him ;  great  was  the  concourse  of  de- 
votees :  the  place  increased  and  flourished. 

The  history  of  our  cathedrals  is,  in  its  begin- 
ning, but  the  history  of  superstition,  mixed  with 
some  truth  and  abundance  of  legend :  humiliating 
proof  of  the  weakness  of  the  human  mind !  yet  all 
the  fine  arts  of  past  times,  and  all  the  magnificent 
works  we  now  so  justly  admire,  are  owing  to  a 
species  of  piety  that  every  lover  of  the  elegance 
of  architecture  must  rejoice  to  have  existed. 

We  are  told,  that  in  the  days  of  Jaruman,  Cathedral, 
about  the  year  666,  the  cathedral  was  founded.        founded. 

I  shall  not  trouble  the  reader  with  a  dry  list 
of  prelates,  but  only  mention  those  distinguished 
by  some  remarkable  event,  that  befel  the  see 
during  their  days. 

In  those  of  Winfrid,  successor  to  St.  Chad,  in 
674,  Theodore,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  thought 
fit  to  divide  the  bishoprick  into  two,  and  to  esta- 
blish the  other  at  Sidnacester,  in  Lincolnshire,  the 
present  Stow.  Winfrid  disapproving  this  defalca- 
tion, was  deprived  for  contumacy.     The  diocese 

e  Bede  Hist.  lib.  ir.  c.  3. 


138  LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL. 

might  well  bear  dividing ;  for  at  that  time  it  con- 
tained the  whole  kingdom  of  Mercia.  At  present, 
it  comprehends  all  Staffordshire,  except  Brome 
and  Clent,  which  belong  to  Worcester ;  all  Derby- 
shire; the  larger  part  oilVarwickshire ;  and  about 
half  Shropshire, 

In  786,  in  the  time  of  Bishop  Adulf,  Off  a, 
king  of  the  Mercians,  procured  liberty  from  the 
pope  to  erect  the  see  into  an  archbishoprick ;  and 
of  assigning  him  for  suffragans  Winchester,  Here- 
ford, Lagecester  (Leicester),  Helmham,  and  Dun- 
wick.     This  honor  died  with  Adulf. 

A  bishop  Peter,  in  1067,  the  year  succeeding 
the  Conquest,  removed  the  see  to  St.  John's,  in 
Chester;  where  he  died,  and  was  interred,  in  1085. 

His  successor,  Robert  de  Limesey,  smitten  with 

the  love  of  the  gold  and  silver f  with  which  the 

pious  Earl  Leofric  had  covered  the  walls  of  his 

new  convent  at  Coventry,  in  1095  removed  the 

see  to  that  city,  and  at  once  scraped  from  a  single 

beam,  that  supported  a  shrine,  500  marks  worth 

of  silver 6. 

Bishop         I  NOw  speak  of  a  prelate  of  a  different  temper; 
Clinton.  . 

to  whose  munificence  both  the  church  and  city 

were  highly  indebted.     Roger  de  Clinton,  conse- 

f  Wharton's  Angl  Sacr.  i.  433. 

*  William  of  Malmsbury,  as  quoted  by  Dugdale,  Hist.  War- 
wick, i.  157. 


LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL.  139 

crated  in  1129,  took  down  the  antient  Mercian 
cathedral.  We  are  not  informed  of  the  dimen- 
sions or  nature  of  that  building,  any  more  than 
we  are  of  the  one  erected  by  this  bishop.  It  must 
have  been,  according  to  the  reigning  mode  of  the 
times,  of  the  species  of  architecture  usually  called 
Saxon,  with  massy  pillars  and  round  arches.  There 
is  not  at  present  the  least  relique  of  this  stile.  But 
I  am  unacquainted  with  the  accident,  or  calamity, 
which  destroyed  the  labors  of  this  pious  prelate ; 
who  took  up  the  cross,  and  died  at  Antioch,  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  the  holy  sepulchre. 

After  a  succession  of  twelve  prelates,  Walter  Bishop 
de  Langton,  treasurer  of  England,  was  consecrated 
bishop  of  this  see,  in  1296.  He  was  highly  fa- 
vored by  Edward  I.  His  prosperity  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  resentment  of  the  prince,  who  meanly 
revenged  on  the  bishop  a  short  imprisonment  he 
had  suffered  in  the  time  of  his  father,  for  riotously 
destroying  his  deer.  After  a  persecution  and  con- 
finement of  above  two  years,  he  emerged  from  all 
his  difficulties,  and  resumed  his  pastoral  charge  in 
a  manner  that  did  him  great  honor.  He  may  be 
considered  as  the  third  of  this  cathedral :  to  him 
we  are  indebted  for  the  present  elegant  pile.  He 
laid  the  foundation  of  our  Lady's  chapel ;  an  edi- 
fice of  uncommon  beauty,  finished  after  his  death 
with  money  left  for  that  purpose.     He  built  the 


Langtonv 


140  LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL. 

cloysters,  and  expended  <£.  2,000  upon  a  shrine 
for  St.  Chad.  He  bestowed  on  the  choir  several 
rich  vestments,  a  chalice,  and  two  cups  of  beaten 
gold,  to  the  value  of  o£.200.  To  the  vicars  choral 
he  gave  a  standing  cup,  and  an  annual  pension  of 
of. 20,  and  procured  for  them  and  the  canons  great 
immunities  :  in  particular,  there  was  an  order  from 
the  king  to  the  justices  of  Staffordshire,  that,  with- 
out trial,  they  should  hang  upon  the  next  gallows 
divers  persons  that  by  force  kept  their  lands  from 
them.  This  prelate  also  surrounded  the  close  with 
a  wall  and  ditch,  made  the  great  gate h  at  the  west 
end,  and  the  postern  at  the  south.  He  gave  his 
own  palace,  at  the  west  end  of  the  close,  to  the 
vicars  choral,  and  built  a  new  one  for  himself  at 
the  east  end.  He  partly  built,  or  enlarged,  the 
castle  at  Eccleshal,  and  the  manors  of  Heyzvood 
and  Shugboroxv,  and  the  palace  in  the  Strand.  He 
finished  his  useful  life  in  November  1321,  and  was 
,        buried  in  the  chapel  of  his  own  founding. 

The  cathedral  continued  in  the  state  it  was  left 

k  In  the  west  entrance  into  the  close  is  a  handsome  range  of 
buildings  containing  apartments  for  sixteen  widows  of  clergy- 
men of  the  diocese  of  Lichfield,  each  of  whom  enjoys  an  an- 
nuity of  forty  pounds,  which  will  probably  be  soon  increased 
to  sixty.  This  munificent  establishment  was  founded  by  the 
late  Mr.  Newton.  The  antient  gate  which  stood  here  was 
taken  down  in  the  year  1 800.    Ed. 


LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL.  Ml 

by  Bishop  Langton,  till  the  time  of  the  dissolution, 
when  the  rich  shrine  of  St.  Chad,  and  other  ob- 
jects of  similar  devotion,  fell  a  prey  to  the  rapacity 
of  Henry  VIII.  The  building  continued  in  its 
pristine  beauty  till  the  unhappy  wars  of  the  last 
century,  when  it  suffered  greatly  by  three  sieges. 
The  situation  of  the  place  on  an  eminence,  sur-  Cathedral 

.        FORTIFIED. 

rounded  by  water  and  by  deep  ditches,  and  forti- 
fied with  walls  and  bastions,  rendered  it  unhap- 
pily a  proper  place  for  a  garrison. 

In  1643,  it  was  possessed  by  the  royalists  of 
the  county,  under  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield;  when 
it  underwent  the  attack  rendered  memorable  by 
the  death  of  Lord  Brook,  commander  of  the  par- 
lementary  forces.  His  lordship,  while  reconnoi- 
tring the  cathedral,  in  a  wooden  porch  in  Dams 
street,  was  shot  March  Q,  1643,  by  a  musket-ball 
which  penetrated  his  eye.  That  day  happened  to 
be  the  festival  of  St.  Chad,  the  patron  of  the 
church.  The  cavaliers  attributed  the  direction  of 
the  fatal  bullet  to  the  influence  of  the  Saint,  in 
resentment  of  the  sacrileges  this  nobleman  was 
committing;  on  his  cathedral.  What  share  the 
Saint  had  in  this  affair,  I  will  not  pretend  to  say ; 
but  the  musket  was  aimed,  and  the  trigger  drawn, 
by  a  neighboring  gentleman  posted  in  the  leads, 
known  by  the  name  of  diimb  Dyot.  The  death 
of  Lord  Brook  gave  very  short  respite  to  the  gar- 


142  LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL. 

rison ;  which  was  taken  almost  immediately  after, 
by  Sir  John  GelL 

In  April,  in  the  same  year,  it  was  attacked  by 
Prince  Rupert.  At  that  time  it  was  commanded 
by  Colonel  Rousxvel;  a  steady  governor  over  an 
enthusiastic  garrison.  He  defended  the  place  with 
vast  resolution.  A  breach  was  made  by  the  blow- 
ing up  of  a  mine.  The  attack  was  made  with  great 
bravery,  but  great  loss.  At  length  the  garrison 
surrendered,  on  the  most  honourable  conditions1. 
The  colonel  took  care  to  plunder  the  church  of  the 
communion-plate,  during  the  time  the  fanatics 
were  in  possession.  They  used  every  species  of 
profanation;  hunted  a  cat  in  it  with  hounds,  to 
enjoy  the  fine  echo  from  the  roof;  and  brought  a 
calf,  dressed  in  linen,  to  the  font,  and  sprinkled 
it  with  water,  in  derision  of  baptism  k. 

The  prince  appointed  Colonel  Hercey  Bagot  * 

1  Clarendon,  ii.  235.  k  Mr.  Greene's  MSS. 

1  During  the  time  this  gentleman  commanded  at  Lichfield, 
he  received  the  following  extraordinary  challenge  from  a  Cap- 
tain Hunt,  a  parlementary  commander  in  Tamworih.  Mercu- 
rius  Aullcus,  p.  1347. 

"  Bagot,  thou  sonne  of  an  Egiption  hore,  meete  mee  half  the 
"  way  to  morrow  morning,  the  half  way  betwixt  Tamworth 
"and  Litchfeald,  if  thou  darest;  if  not,  I  will  whippe  thee 
"  when  soever  I  meete  thee. 

"  Tamworth,  this  Tho.  Hunt." 

"  Decemb.  1044. 

Colonel  Bagot  met  him,  and,  after  a  brisk  action,  whipped 


LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL.  143 

the  governor ;  who  kept  possession  till  the  ruin  of 
the  king's  affairs,  in  1 646 ;  when  the  colonel,  and 
other  commanders,  being  satisfied  that  the  king 
had  not  an  hundred  men  in  any  one  place  in  the 
field,  nor  any  garrison  unbesieged,  surrendered  on 
very  honorable  terms,  on  the  10th  of  July,  to 
Adjutant  Louthian  m. 

The  state  of  this  church,  after  so  many  sieges, 
may  easily  be  conceived.  The  honor  of  restoring 
it  to  its  former  splendor,  was  reserved  for  John   Restored 

.  •       ^  r\       \  BY  Bishop 

Uacket,  presented  to  this  see  in  1 661 .  On  the  very  Hacket. 
next  day  after  his  arrival,  he  set  his  coach-horses, 
with  teams,  to  remove  the  rubbish ;  and  in  eight 
years  time  restored  the  cathedral  to  its  present 
beautiful  state,  at  the  expence  of  twenty  thousand 
pounds';  one  thousand  of  which  was  the  gift  of 
the  dean  and  chapter ;  the  rest  was  done  either  at 
his  own  charge,  or  by  benefactions  resulting  from 
his  own  solicitations.  He  died  in  1670.  A  very 
handsome  tomb  was  erected  in  the  choir  to  his 
memory,  with  his  effigies  laid  recumbent  on  it, 

the  fellow  himself  into  his  retreat,  and  narrowly  missed  taking 
him.  . 

m  Articles  qf  Surrender. 

n  Br.  Biogr.  W.  2457.  A  MS.  with  which  Mr.  Greene  fa- 
vored me,  makes  the  sum  much  less.    See  Appendix,  No.  III. 


H4  LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL. 

with  a  mitre  on  his  head,   and  in  his  episcopal 
dress. 

The  west  front  is  of  great  elegance,  adorned 
with  the  richest  sculpture,  and,  till  of  late,  with 
rows  of  statues  of  prophets,  kings  of  Judak,  &c. 
and,  above  all,  a  very  bad  one  of  Charles  II.  who 
had  contributed  to  the  repair  of  the  church,  by  a 
liberal  gift  of  timber.  This  statue  was  the  work 
of  a  Sir  William  Wilson,  originally  a  mason  from 
Sutton  Coldfield,  who,  after  marrying  a  rich  wife, 
arrived  at  the  dignity  of  knighthood. 

The  sculptures  round  the  doors  were  very  ele- 
gant ;  but  time,  or  violence,  hath  greatly  impaired 
their  beauty. 

James  II.  when  Duke  of  York,  bestowed  on  this 
church  the  magnificent  west  window.  The  fine 
painted  glass  was  given  of  late  years,  by  Dean 
Addenbrook. 
Rich  north  Th  e  northern  door  is  extremely  rich  in  sculp- 
tured moldings  ;  three  of  foliage,  and  three  of  small 
figures  in  ovals.  In  one  of  the  lowest  is  repre- 
sented a  monk  baptizing  a  person  kneeling  before 
him.  Probably  the  former  is  intended  for  St. 
Chad ;  the  latter  for  Wulferus.  It  is  a  misfor- 
tune, that  the  ornaments  of  this  cathedral  are  made 
of  such  friable  stone,  that  what  fanaticism  has 
spared,  the  weather  has  impaired. 


LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL. 


U5 


In  the  front  are  two  fine  spires,  and  a  third  in 
the  centre,  of  a  vast  height,  and  fine  proportion. 

The  roof  was  till  of  late  covered  with  lead,  but 
grew  so  greatly  out  of  repair,  that  the  dean  and 
chapter  were  obliged  to  substitute  slates  instead 
of  metal,  on  account  of  the  narrow  revenues  left 
to  maintain  this  venerable  pile;  and,  after  the 
strictest  ceconomy,  they  will  be  under  the  necessity 
of  contributing  from  their  own  income,  in  order  to 
complete  their  plan.  The  excellent  order  that  all 
the  cathedrals  I  have  visited  are  in,  does  great 
credit  to  their  members ;  who  spare  nothing  from 
their  own  incomes  to  render  them  not  only  decent, 
but  elegant. 

The  body  is  lofty,  supported  by  pillars  formed 
of  numbers  of  slender  columns,  with  neat  foliated 
capitals.  Along  the  walls  of  the  ailes  are  rows  of 
false  arches,  in  the  gothic  stile,  with  seats  beneath. 

The  upper  rows  of  windows,  in  the  body,  are 
of  an  uncommon  form,  being  triangular,  including 
three  circles  in  each. 

In  each  transept  are  two  places,  formerly  cha- 
pels ;  but  at  present  serve  as  consistory  courts 
and  the  vicar's  vestry-room. 

The  choir  merits  attention,  on  account  of  the 
elegant  sculpture  about  the.  windows,  and  the  em- 
battled gallery  that  runs  beneath  them.  On  each 
side  are  six  statues,  now  much  mutilated,  placed 

L 


Front. 


Body. 


Choir. 


146  ST-  MARY'S  CHAPEL. 

in  beautiful  gothic  niches,  and  richly  painted.  The 
first  on  the  left  is  St.  Peter;  the  next  is  the  Vir- 
gin ;  the  third  is  Mary  Magdalene,  with  one  leg 
bare,  to  denote  her  legendary  wantonness.  The 
other  three  are  St.  Philip,  St.  James,  and  St. 
Christopher,  with  Christ  on  his  shoulders. 

The  beauty  of  the  choir  was  much  impaired  by 
the  impropriety  of  a  rich  altar-piece  °,  of  Grecian 
architecture,  terminating  this  elegant  gothic  build- 
ing. 
St.  Marys       Behind  this  is  St.  Mar  if  s  chapel,  with  a  stone 

Chapel.  **  r 

skreen,  the  most  elegant  which  can  be  imagined, 
embattled  at  top,  and  adorned  with  several  rows 
of  gothic  niches,  of  most  exquisite  workmanship ; 
each  formerly  containing  a  small  statue.  Beneath 
them  are  thirteen  stalls,  with  gothic  work  over 
each.  In  this  chapel  are  nine  windows,  more 
narrow,  lofty,  and  of  more  elegant  construction, 
than  any  of  the  others ;  three  on  each  side,  and 
three  at  the  end. 


0  This  altar-piece  was  removed  in  1788,  and  St.  Mary's 
chapel  injudiciously  added  to  the  choir,  which  gives  it  a  most 
disproportionate  length.  The  slender  windows  at  the  east  end 
are  filled  with  painted  glass,  seven  of  which  were  brought  from 
the  great  abbey  of  Herkenrode  in  the  bishopric  of  Liege,  and 
are  of  extreme  beauty.  The  elegant  stone  skreen  now  forms 
the  western  enclosure  of  the  choir,  and  supports  the  organ. 
Ed. 


MENTS. 


SHRINE  OF  ST-  CHAD.    MONUMENTS.  147 

In  this  chapel  stood  the  shrine  of  St.  Chad..  Shrine  of 

1  ,  .St.  Chad. 

Here  was  interred  Ceolred?,  king  of  the  Mercians; 
and  in  later  times,  here  was  placed  the  magnifi-  ■ 

cent  tomb  (on  the  site  of  the  shrine)  of  the  first 
Lord  Paget,  adorned  with  columns,  with  two  Monu 
kneeling;  figures  of  a  man  and  woman  between 
the  front  and  back  pillars.  These  were  destroyed 
in  the  blind  fury  of  civil  war;  as  was  another  fine 
tomb  of  a  Lord  Basset  of  Drayton,  who  died  in 
1389.  Few  indeed  escaped.  Of  those  are  the 
effigies  of  the  great  Bishop  Langton,  with  his  pas- 
toral staff  in  one  hand,  and  the  other  hand  in  the 
action  of  benediction  :  another  of  Hugh  de  Pate- 
shut,  who  died  in  1241,  remarkable  for  having  the 
stigmata,  or  marks  of  our  Saviours  wounds  on  the 
hands  and  feet:  a- respectful  superstition  of  an- 
tient  times.  Dean  Heyzvood  is  represented  in  his 
habit,  and  again  naked,  with  the  emaciated  change 
which  death  occasions. 

Here  are  several  monuments  within  the  walls, 
of  a  most  frugal  nature,  having  no  appearance  of 
any  part  but  the  head  and  feet.  From  an  inter- 
mediate bracket,  it  is  probable  some  favorite  saint 
might  have  been  honored  with  a  rich  image. 

I  have  a  singular  drawing  of  a  tomb  now  lost, 
of  a  knight  naked  to  his  waist :  his  legs  and  thighs 

p  Saxon  Chr.  51. 

L  g' 


148  ABSURD  EPITAPHS. 

armed,  and  at  his  feet  and  head  a  stag's  horn ;  his 
hair  long  and  dishevelled ;  a  scroll  in  his  hands,  as 
if  he  was  reading  a  confession,  or  act  of  contri- 
tion :  across  his  middle,  on  his  baslet,  is  his  coat 
of  arms ;  which  shew  him  to  have  been  a  Stanley. 
He  is  called  Captain  Stanley,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  excommunicated,  but  to  have  received  fu- 
neral rites  in  holy  ground  (having  shewn  signs  of 
repentance)  on  condition  that  his  monument  should 
bear  those  marks  of  disgrace.     I  find  a  Sir  Hum- 
phry Stanley  of  Pipe,  who  died  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  Nil.  who  had  a  squabble  with  the  chapter, 
about  conveying  the  water  through  his  lands  to 
the  close.     He  also  defrauded  the  prebendary  of 
Stotford  of  his  tithes :  so  probably  this  might  be 
the  gentleman  who  incurred  the  censure  of  the 
church  for  his  impiety. 
Absurd         On  the  floor,  near  the  west  door,  are  two  droll 

Epitaphs* 

epitaphs.  "  William  Roberts  of  Overbury,  some 
"  time  malster  in  this  town  (tells  you)  for  the  love 
"  I  bore  to  choir  service,  I  chose  to  be  buried  in 
"  this  place.     He  died  Decr.  16th,  1748." 

The  other  gives  you  the  posthumous  grief  of  a 
deceased  wife,  and  the  classical  knowledge  of  the 
living  husband : 

K.         S.         E. 
Secunda  Horatii  Linea' 

*  O,  et  presidium  et  dulce  decus  meuna. 


■  CHAPTER  HOUSE.  149 

viz. 

Eiizabetka,  EZ :  Polsted 

msestissima  conjux  r 

Quae 

obiit  ultima  dies  Mortis,  1712. 

In  St.  Marys  chapel  is  a  fragment  of  singular 
sculpture,  of  two  gothic  arches  :  beneath  one  is  a 
king  sitting,  with  one  hand  on  a  young  prince; 
beneath  the  other  a  monarch  also  seated. 

Till  lately,  there  lay  near  the  north  door  a 
very  thick  and  clumsy  tomb-stone,  with  a  cross 
fleury  on  it,  and  a  great  knife,  resembling  those 
represented  in  Montfaucon  I.  part  II.  tab.  lxv. 
as  sacrificial.  I  know  of  no  rites  in  the  Christian 
church  which  required  such  an  instrument ;  there- 
fore presume  it  to  be  a  simple  chopping  knife,  and 
that  the  person  whom  the  stone  commemorates, 
was  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  butcher.  These 
modest  acknowlegements  are  not  unfrequent:  I 
have  seen  a  deceased  shearer  denoted  by  his 
shears,  and  a  taylor  by  his  goose. 

C/H  A  PTF  R 

On  the  part  of  the  south  choral  aile  is  the  chap-     House. 
ter-house,  which  is  approached  through  a  passage 
with  gothic  arched  seats  on  its  side.     The  room  is 
an  octagon,  consisting  of  two  long  and  six  shorter 

r  A  wag  translated  these  two  words  in  a  similar  epitaph  on 
a  lady  who  did  not  make  the  best  of  wives,  thus — a  most  sad 
wife  indeed! 


150  THE  CLOSE.    WATER. 

sides,  ornamented  with  arches,  like  the  approach ; 
but  the  lost  pillars,  instead  of  being  restored,  are 
now  supplied  with  an  uniform  plaister,  supported 
in  the  center  by  a  clustered  column.  Above  is  a 
library,  instituted  by  Dean  Heywood,  containing 
some  valuable  books  and  manuscripts. 
The  Close.  The  close,  or  surrounding  space,  is  built  on 
three  sides.  The  palace,  originally  founded  by 
Bishop  Langton,  was  rebuilt  in  a  very  handsome 
manner  by  Bishop  Hacket.  The  deanry,  destroyed 
in  the  civil  wars,  was  restored  after  the  restora- 
tion. 

In  the  hall  of  the  antient  palace  was  painted 
the  life  and  most  memorable  transactions  of  Ed- 
wa?'d  I.  and  his  officers ;  among  which  were  the 
valiant  deeds  of  Sir  Roger  de  Pulesdon  against  my 
countrymen  \ 

The  prebendal  houses  are  built  around  the 
close.  The  whole  property  of  which  is  in  the 
church,  except  two  houses  on  the  south  side, 
bordering  on  the  pool,  which,  before  the  present 
causeways  were  made,  were  granted  to  the  city, 
that  the  inhabitants  might  have  landing-places,  and 
access  to  the  cathedral ;  which  in  old  times  had  a 
.vast  concourse  of  devotees  to  the  shrine  of  St. 
Chad. 
Water.        This   precinct  is   supplied   with  water  from 

*  Efdeswik. 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  151 

Maple  Hay,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  north; 
two  fountains  having  been  bestowed  on  the  church' 
by  Thomas  Bromley,  for  ever,  on  the  annual  pay- 
ment of  15.?.  4td.  I  find  that  this  donation  was 
made  before  1293;  for  in  that  year  a  dispute 
arose  between  the  dean  and  chapter,  and  Thomas 
de  Abbenhale,  about  the  passage  of  the  water 
through  his  lands  r. 

The  whole  close  is  of  exempt  jurisdiction,  and  Members  of 
quite  independent  of  the  city,     Its  members  are, 
a  dean,  precentor,  chancellor,  and  treasurer,  who 
have  prebends  annexed  to  their  offices.     There 
are  twenty-seven  other  prebends,  of  which  that  of 
Eccleshal  is  annexed  to  the  bishoprick.     Out  of 
these  thirty-one,  the  dean  and  four  more  are  stiled 
canons  residentiary ;  which  four  are  chosen  out  of 
the  prebendaries  and  dignitaries.    Here  are  twelve 
minor  canons :   five  of  whom  are  called  priest- 
vicars  ;    the  other  seven,  lay-vicars,  or  singing- 
men.     Both  these  were  formerly  collegiated,  and 
had  their  hall  and  houses.     That  of  the  priest- 
vicars  is  a  handsome  room,  rebuilt,  and  usually 
lent  for  the  purposes  of  assemblies,  and  other 
amusements.     A  new  house  also  stands  on  the 
ground  once  occupied  by  the  house  of  the  cho- 
risters :  before  it  stood,  within  memory,  a  very 

*  Mr.  Greene's  MSS, 


1.52  ST-  MARY'S.     ST-  MICHAEL. 

pretty  gate,  which  formed  the  entrance ;  on  which 
was  inscribed  Domus  Choristes. 

Besides  these  members,  are  an  organist,  two 
vergers,  a  sacrist,  and  sub-sacrist.  It  is  remarka- 
ble, that  the  four  archdeacons  have  here  no  stalls, 
as  is  usual  in  all  other  cathedrals. 
St.  Mary's.  The  other  churches  are  that  of  St.  Mary,  re- 
built since  the  year  1716,  when,  the  body  being 
ruinous,  its  fine  spire  steeple  was  unnecessarily 
pulled  down.  In  the  time  of  Edxvard  III.  a  re- 
ligious guild  was  instituted,  and  after  that  much 
promoted  by  Dean  Heyxcood.  Five  priests  be- 
longed to  this  society,  who  officiated  in  the 
church u.  It  is  a  vicarage,  in  the  gift  of  the  dean. 
St.  Mi-         St.  Michael,  or  Greenhill,  is  on  an  eminence 

CHAEL.  •  . 

east  of  the  town ;  remarkable  for  its  extensive 
church-yard.  This,  and  that  of  Stow,  or  St. 
Chad's,  are  curacies  dependent  on  St.  Marys. 
St.  Chad  is  reckoned  the  oldest  of  the  churches  of 
this  city.  In  its  north  end  formerly  stood  the 
shrine  -  of  St.  Catherine,  whose  chauntry-priest 
had  his  stipend  from  the  vicars-choral  of  the  ca- 
thedral. Near  it  is  the  well  of  the  saint,  where 
he  had  his  first  oratory;  which  in  antient  times 
was  much  frequented  by  devotees. 

Grey  The  grey  friars  had  a  house   here,   founded 

Friers. 

0  Lefond  It  in.  iv.  117. 


GREY  FRIARS.    TOMB-STONE.  15S 

about  1229,  by  Bishop  Alexander,  who  gave 
certain  free  burgages,  on  which  it  was  erected. 
It  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1291,  but  rebuilt  in 
the  thirty-sixth  of  Henry  VIII.  It  was  granted 
to  Richard  Crumblethorn.  At  present,  both  house 
and  land  support  an  hospital  at  Seal,  in  Leicester- 
shire. The  water  which  now  supplies  the  city, 
was  granted  on  St.  James  s  day,  in  1301,  by 
Henry  Campanarius,  son  of  Michael  de  Lichfield, 
bell-founder.  Henry  gave  his  fountains  at  Foul- 
xvel,  near  Alreschaxo,  in  pure  and  perpetual  alms 
to  the  friars  of  this  house,  with  power  to  cover 
them  with  a  head  of  stones,  and  of  carrying  the 
pipes  through  his  land,  on  condition  that,  when- 
ever they  wanted  repair,  the  friars  were  to  indem- 
nify him  and  his  heirs  for  the  damage  done  to  the 
ground.  Several  parts  of  the  house  are  yet  stand- 
ing, and  form  a  pleasant  and  comfortable  habita- 
tion. In  digging  near  it,  was  found  a  large  tomb- 
stone, with  a  cross  fleury,  surrounded  by  a  sin- 
gular inscription,  to  the  following  purpose : 

Ricardus  mercator  victus  morte  noverca 
Qui  cessat  mercari  pausat  in  hac  ierarca. 
Extulit  ephebus  paucis  vivendo  diebus 
Ecclesiam  rebus  ditat  variis  speciebus, 
Vivat  ut  in  Ccelis  nunc  mercator  Michaelis. 

"  Richard  the  merchant  here  extended  lies, 

"  Death,  like  a  step-dame,  gladly  clos'd  his  eyes. 


154,  ST.  JOHN'S  HOSPITAL. 

**  No  more  he  trades  beyond  the  burning  zone, 

"  But  happy  rests  beneath  this  sacred  stone. 

"  His  benefactions  to  the  church  were  great  j 

*  Though  young,  he  hasten' d  from  his  mortal  state. 

"  May  he,  though  dead  in  trade,  successful  prove, 

"  Saint  Michael's  merchant  in  the  realms  above." 

The  stone  is  still  to  be  seen  there.  A  figure  of  it 
was  sent  to  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  by  Mr. 
Greene,  in  this  city.  The  inscription  and  transla- 
tion are  copied  from  the  same  magazine  :  the  latter 
appearing  to  me  to  be  equally  faithful  and  inge- 
nious. 
Hospital  of  'A  little  beyond,  stands  the  hospital  of  St. 
St.  John.  jonrif  consisting  of  a  master  and  twelve  poor  bre- 
thren. The  master  is  a  clergyman,  who  has  a  good 
house  and  stipend  for  superintending  the  charity, 
and  reading  daily  prayers  in  the  chapel  belonging 
to  it.  The  founder  is  uncertain.  We  only  know 
that  William  Smith,  while  bishop  of  Lichfield,  in 
the  time  of  Henry  VII.  formed  here  a  new  foun- 
dation for  a  master,  two  priests,  and  ten  poor 
men.  Henry  patronized  the  charity,  and  endowed 
it  with  the  old  hospital  of  Denhal,  and  the  lands 
and  impropriation  of  Burton  church,  both  in 
Wiral,  in  Cheshire.  Smith  also  founded  the 
grammar-school  in  this  city x. 

Among  other  things  worthy  of  attention  in  this 

x  Ldandltin.  iv.  117. 


LICHFIELD  CITY.  155 

city,  is  the  cabinet  of  curiosities,  antient,  natural, 
and  artificial,  in  .the  possession  of  Mr.  Green7 , 
surgeon.  It  contains  numbers  of  most  valuable 
and  instructive  pieces  in  each  class.  A  visit  to 
my  worthy  friend  is  the  more  agreeable,  as  he 
takes  great  pleasure  in  gratifying  the  curiosity  of 
all  that  favor  him  with  their  company. 

The  city  is  divided  from  the  close  by  a  large  ClTY- 
piece  of  water,  of  which  there  were  originally 
three;  at  present  remain  only  this  and  another, 
called  Stoicpool,  a  little  to  the  east.  Bishop 
Langton  made  the  causeway,  bridges,  and  dams, 
at  each  end  of  the  pool.  Before  that,  the  great 
road  went  round  Stozcpool,  near  Stoiv  church. 
The  city  is  neat  and  well  built;  contains  little 
more  than  three  thousand  souls2;  is  a  place  of 
great  passage,  has  a  considerable  manufacture  of 
sail  cloth,  and  a  small  manufacture  of  saddle- 
cloths and  tammies. 

It  was  originally  governed  by  a  guild  and  guild-    jj ow  G0- 
master;   which  were  the  origin  of  corporations, 
and  took  rise  before  the  time  of  the  Conquest; 
the  name  being   Saxon,    signifying  a  fraternity, 
which  unites  and  flings  its  effects  into  a  common 

y  Mr.  Green  died  in  1793.    His  cabinet  has  been  dispersed 
6ince  his  decease.     Ed. 

.    z  In  the  Census  of  1801  the  population  is  stated  at  4512. 
V.o. 


VliRNED. 


156  LICHFIELD  DISTRICT. 

stock,  and  is  derived  from  Gildan,  to  pay*.  A 
guild  was  a  public  feast,  to  commemorate  the 
time  of  the  institution;  and  the  guild-hall  the 
place  in  which  the  fraternity  assembled :  these  (at 
lest  after  the  Conquest)  paid  fines  to  the  crown, 
and  formed  part  of  its  revenue.  Richard  I. 
enabled  it  to  purchase  lands  to  the  value  of  ten 
pounds  ;  but  it  was  not  chartered  till  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.  who  formed  it  into  a  regular  corpora- 
tion by  its  first  charter.  This  was  confirmed  by 
Queen  Mary  and  Elizabeth;  and  Charles  II. 
granted  a  new  one,  confirming  all  the  others. 

This  city  is  governed  by  a  recorder,  high 
steward,  sheriff,  two  bailiffs,  a  town-clerk,  and 
coroner.  One  of  the  bailiffs  is  elected  by  the 
bishop ;  the  others  to  be  elected  annually  by  and 
out  of  the  brethren  which  form  the  corporation. 
The  city  has  the  power  of  life  and  death  within  its 
jurisdiction;  a  court  of  record,  and  a  pie-powder k 
court,  which  regulated  the  disputes  arising  in 
fairs. 
District.  The  district  of  the  city  and  county  of  Lichfield 
is  called  the  sheriff's  ride,  and  lies  at  unequal 

*  Spebnan,  260.     Rennet's  Gloss,  to  Paroch.  Antiq. 

b  So  called  from  pieds  poudreaux,  or  dusty  feet,  because 
country  people  usually  come  with  dusty  shoes  to  fairs.  See 
Doctor  Pettingal's  able  dissertation  on  the  word,  Archaol. 
i.  190» 


LICHFIELD  CASTLE.  157 

distances  around.    In  this  the  corporation  has  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction. 

This  city  sent  representatives  in  the  thirty-  Members. 
third  of  Edwardl. ;  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  seventh, 
and  twentieth  ofEdzvardll. ;  and  first,  fourteenth, 
and  twenty-seventh  of  Edward  III. ;  from  whose 
reign  they  were  discontinued,  till  that  of  Edzvard 
VI c.  The  members  are  returned  by  the  sheriff 
and  bailiffs.  The  right  of  electing  is  in  the  free- 
men by  servitude;  in  the  burgage-holders,  or  such 
who  live  in  the  town  and  pay  a  small  acknow- 
legement  to  the  corporation;  and  in  the  free- 
holders of  forty  shillings  a  year,  within  the  sheriff's 
ride. 

Lichfield  is  quite  an  open  town :  all  the  traces 
of  the  ditches  made  by  Bishop  Clinton  are  lost,  as 
well  as  of  the  tower,  on  which  he  is  said  to  have 
bestowed  such  great  expenced.  The  name  only  of 
Castle  Ditch,  in  the  east  part  of  the  town,  pre-  €astle. 
serves  its  memory.  Probably  in  this  fortress 
Richard  II.  kept  his  sumptuous  Christmas,  in 
1397,  when  he  consumed  two  hundred  tuns  of 
wine,  and  two  thousand  oxene;  but  with  more 
certainty  we  know  that  it  was  his  place  of  confine- 
ment, in  his  road  to  the  tower  of  London,  in  1 399, 

c  Willis's  Notitia  Parliam,  iii.  50. 

d  Goodwin,  367.  c  Stoiv's  Ckr.  318. 


158  WALL.    LOWS. 

a  captive  prince.     The  unhappy  Richard  here  at- 
tempted his  escape,  by  slipping  from  the  window 
of  the  high  tower  into  a  garden ;  but  being  seen, 
was  carried  back  to  his  imprisonment f. 
Etocet  °R       Wdlte,  the  antient  Etocetum,  lies  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  Lichfield,   on  the  Wat ling-street 
road,  on  a  rising  ground.     There  are  still  some 
remains  of  the  walls  to  be  seen,  mixed  with  roots 
of  some  very  old  ash-trees.     Coins  and  tiles  evince 
it  to  have  been  the  Roman  Etocetum,  as  well  as  its 
distance  from  Pennocrucium,  a  place  somewhere 
on  the  river  Penh,  not  far  from  Penkridge  ;  but 
the  site  not  well  ascertained.     The  Watling-street 
road  enters  the  county  near  Tamworth,  and  is  con- 
tinued into  Shropshire,  as  far  as  Wroxeter.    Near 
Wall,  another  Roman  road  crosses  it ;  and  at  the 
intersection    is    an    exploratory    mount,     about 
forty  feet  in  diameter,   called  Offlo,  in  sight  of 
Borough  Cop,  near  Lichfield,  on  which  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  the  thousand  Christians,  in  the  tenth 
persecution,  is  said  to  have  happened.     This  is 
asserted  by  John  Ross,  a  Warxvickshire  antiquary, 
who  died  in  1491,  near  twelve  hundred  years  after 
the  event ;  which  he  alone  relates. 
Lows.  These  lows,  which  have  the  same  signification 

as  laws  in   Scotland,    and   mean  a  mount,  and 

f  Stow's  Chr.  322. 


WHITTINGTON.    ELFORD.  159 

placed  here  in  sight  of  one  another,  were  usually 
designed  as  exploratory,  and  for  the  repetition  of 
signals ;  and  sometimes  were  sepulchral. 

I  made  one  day  an  excursion;  passed  through 
Whittington,  a  village  with  a  church  and  spire- 
steeple,  about  two  miles  N.  E.  of  Lichfield; 
thence  proceeded  through  Fisherwick  park g,  a  fine 
seat  of  the  Earl  of  Donegal,  built  from  a  design 
of  Mr.  Browns:  the  grounds  bounded  by  the 
Tame,  a  beautiful  river.  Elford  church,  village, 
and  house h,  the  seat  of  the  late  Earl  of  Suffolk, 
form  a  pretty  groupe  of  objects  on  the  opposite 
bank.  I  forded  the  river,  and  went  by  Elford 
Low,  a  verdant  mount,  which  Doctor  Plot  proved, 
from  examination,  to  have  been  sepulchral ;  but, 
from  its  situation  and  elevation,  I  suspect  it 
might  have  had  on  it  a  specula,  or  watch-tower. 

Elford,  before  the  Conquest,  was  possessed  by    Elford. 
Earl  Algar ;  after  which  the  Conqueror  himself 
seized  on  it  for  his  own  use.     About  Henry  the 
Third's  reign,  William  of  Arderne  was  lord  of  it, 

£  Fisherwick  has  recently  been  purchased  by  Richard  How- 
ard, Esq.  and  the  noble  mansion  is  now  (1810)  in  a  state  of 
demolition  for  the  value  of  the  materials.     Ed. 

h  On  the  death  of  Lady  Andover,  daughter-in-law  to  the 
Earl  of  Suffolk,  Elford  devolved  on  her  daughter  Frances,  wife 
to  Richard  Bagot,  Esq.  who  assumed  the  name  of  Howard. 
Ed. 


IfiO  ELFORD  CHURCH. 

and  his  posterity  was  seised  of  it  till  the  marriage 
of  Maud,  sole  heiress  of  Sir  John  Ardeme,  with 
Thomas,  second  son  of  Sir  John  Stanley,  of 
Latham,  Knight;  he  dying  in  1463,  the  6th  of 
Edward  IV.  Margaret,  his  daughter,  conveyed 
it  by  marriage  to  the  Stantons :  by  the  same  means 
it  passed  from  the  Stantons  to  the  Smiths  ;  from 
the  Smiths  to  the  Hudd lesions ;  and  from  the 
Huddlestons  to  the  Bowes.  So  very  rapid  was  the 
change  of  family  in  this  place  !  It  continued  with 
the  Borves  four  or  five  generations ;  but,  about  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  became  the  property 
of  the  Honorable  Craven  Howard,  by  marriage  with 
Mary,  daughter  of  George  Bozves,  Esquire :  and 
continued  in  his  posterity  (the  Earls  of  Suffolk)  till 
the  death  of  the  late  able  and  honest  peer ;  when 
it  devolved  to  his  sister,  the  Honorable  Frances 
Hoxcard. 
Church.  In  the  church  are  several  fine  monuments,  in 
the  antient  stile. 

In  the  north  wall  is  a  painted  figure,  with 
curled  hair,  gown  down  to  his  knees,  buskins  on 
his  legs,  sword,  gold  chain,  his  hands  closed,  and 
a  ring  on  his  thumb. 

An  alabaster  tomb  of  an  Ardeme,  in  a  conic 
helmet,  mail  round  his  neck,  chin,  and  shoulders, 
and  a  collar  of  S  S  :  one  of  his  hands  clasps  that 


ELFORD  CHURCH.  161 

of  his  wife,  who  has  on  a  rich  pearl  bonnet,  a 
cloak,  and  gown.  Around  the  tomb  are  various 
figures,  in  the  dress  of  the  times. 

Sir  William  Smith,  who  died  in  1500,  lies 
armed,  has  a  collar  of  SS,  and  is  represented 
beardless.  He  lies  between  his  two  wives :  Isabel, 
in  long  hair  and  a  coronet,  daughter  of  John 
Nevil  Marquis  of  Montacute,  brother  to  the  great 
Earl  of  Warwick  ;  and  Anne,  daughter  of  William 
Stanton,  by  whom  he  acquired  this  place.  Monks, 
and  coats  of  arms,  surround  the  tomb :  the  first,  to 
express  his  piety ;  the  last,  to  gratify  the  vanity  of 
survivors. 

Sir  John  Stanley,  son  of  Thomas  Stanley  and 
Maud  Arderne,  lies  under  an  arch,  with  both 
hands  supplicatory,  in  armor,  with  a  mail  muffler. 
His  head  rests  on  a  helm,  with  the  Eagle  and 
Child,  the  cognizance  of  the  Stanleys. 

Under  another  arch  is  his  eldest  son,  a  child 
with  curled  hair,  and  in  a  long  gown,  recumbent: 
one  hand  points  to  his  ear;  the  other  holds  a 
ball,  the  unfortunate  instrument  of  his  death ;  on 
which  was  inscribed  Ubi  dolor  ibi  digitus. 

About  two  miles  further,  in  a  place  called 
Ejford  Park  Farm,  I  observed  a  barrozo  which  is 
small,  and  evidently  sepulchral.  There  had  pro- 
bably been  a  battle  on  this  spot  during  the  hep- 

M 


162 


CROXAL  CHURCH.    CLIFTON. 


Croxal 
Church 


tarchy:  whether  between  Saxons  and  Danes,  or 
two  Saxon  princes,  is  uncertain. 

Croxal  church  stands  on  an  eminence.  Within 
are  two  tombs,  with  the  figures  of  an  armed  man 
and  his  wife,  curiously  engraven  on  each.  One 
commemorates  John  Horton,  of  Cat  on,  and  his 
spouse,  Anne,  daughter  of  John  Curzon,  of  this 
place.  He  died  in  the  year  1500.  His  name  is 
expressed  in  form  of  a  rebus ;  the  word  Hor  cut 
upon  a  tun. 

The  other  tomb  is  of  George  Curzon,  Esquire, 
and  his  wife  Catharine,  who  died  in  1605.  By 
the  marriage  of  their  only  daughter  Mary,  to  the 
famous  Sir  Edward  Sacboille  Earl  of  Dorset,  it 
was  conveyed  to  that  noble  family,  in  which  it 
still  remains.  The  Curzons  had  been  possessed 
of  it  ever  since  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 

Pass  by  Hazelar  hamlet  and  chapel.  The  last 
is  prebendal,  and  at  present  converted  into  a  pig- 
stye.  Ride  for  some  time  by  the  side  of  the  little 
river  Mease,  the  boundary,  in  this  part,  between 
Staffordshire  and  Derbyshire.  A  little  further  is 
Clifton,  the  village  and  church  of  Clifton,  usually  called 
Clifton  Camville,  from  a  family  of  that  name,  who 
possessed  it  from  the  year  1 200,  or  the  second  of 
King  John,  to  about  the  year  1315.  The  spire  of 
the  church  is  extremely  elegant,  joined  to  the 


THORP.  163 

tower  by  flying  buttresses.  In  the  church  is  a 
tomb,  with  the  effigies  of  Sir  John  Vernon  of  Har- 
leston,  in  this  neighborhood,  and  Dame  Allen,  his 
wife.  He  is  dressed  in  a  long  bonnet  and  gown, 
with  a  chain  from  his  neck,  as  usual  with  people 
of  worship;  for  he  had  been  one  of  the  king's 
counsel,  and  custos  rotulorim  of  the  county  of" 
Derby.  His  wife  is  dressed  in  a  square  hood,  with 
a  purse,  knife,  and  beads  by  her  side.  They  died 
in  1545. 

Visit  Thorp  Constantine,  a  small  church  close  Thorp. 
to  the  seat  of  my  matrimonial  relation  William 
Inge  \  Esquire,  who  deservedly  bears  the  respect- 
able and  useful  character  of  being  the  best  justice 
of  any  country  gentleman  in  England.  The  living 
is  in  his  gift,  and  the  whole  parish  his  property. 
The  manor  once  belonged  to  the  see  of  Ely  ;  for 
it  appears  that  Hotham,  bishop  of  that  diocese,  in 
1316,  obtained  for  it  a  charter  of  free  warren. 

Henry  Lord  Scrope,  favorite  of  Henry  V.  be- 
headed for  his  ungrateful  plot  against  his  master, 
left  to  this  church  a  vestment  worth  Q6s.  Sd. 
on  condition  that  the  priest  should  pray  for  his 
soul  on  Sundays,  and  in  all  his  masses.  His  will, 
made  before  his  treason  was  discovered,  was  a 
curious  piece  of  hypocrisy  \ 

1  William  Inge,  Esq.  died  in  1785.     En. 
k  Rymer's  Foedera,  ix.  275. 

M  2 


164  SEKINDON.    TAMWORTH. 

I  continued  this  little  ramble  to  Sekindon,  a 
mile  distant,  on  the  edge  of  Warwickshire,  re- 
markable for  a  lofty  artificial  mount,  the  keep  of 
a  Savon  castle,  with  a  flat  area  beneath ;  at  the 
bottom  are  the  remains  of  a  great  rampart,  and  the 
whole  surrounded  with  a  deep  ditch.  This  place 
is  celebrated  for  the  battle  between  Ethelbald, 
king  of  the  Mercians,  and  Cuthred,  king  of  the 
West  Saxons,  in  755  \  when  Ethelbald,  disdain- 
ing flight,  was  slain  by  Beonred™,  one  of  his  own 
officers,  who,  for  a  short  time,  usurped  the 
kingdom. 

Tamworth.  About  four  miles  farther  lies  Tamxvorth,  be- 
tween the  conflux  of  the  Tame  and  the  Ankor, 
which  formed  at  this  place  the  appearance  of  an 
island ;  its  Saxon  name  being  Tameneordige  and 
Tamanweorthe ;  ige  signifying  an  island.  It  had 
long  been  the  residence  of  the  Mercian  princes,  who 
preferred  it  on  account  of  its  pleasant  situation,  and 
the  quantity  of  woodland,  which  afforded  them 
in  plenty  the  pleasures  of  the  chase.  Off  a  dates 
a  grant,  in  781,  to  the  monks  of  Worcester,  from 

A  royal  re-  jjg  r0yai  palace  at  Tamworth.     Ceonulf.  Bern- 

SIDENCE.  J  r  ,j  > 

wulf,  and  Burthred,  date  other  charters,  in  the 
years  814,  841,  and  854,  from  the  same  place". 
The  precinct  of  their  residence  was  an  enormous 

1  Saxon  Chr.  59.         m  Brompton,  769.     Ingulphus,  853. 
n  Dugdalt's  Wancicksh.  ii.  1 130.    Plot's  Staffordsh.  410. 


TAMWORTH.  165 

ditch,  forty-five  feet  wide,  protecting  the  town  on 
the  north,  west,  and  east ;  the  rivers  serving  as  a 
defence  on  the  other  side.  The  ditch  is  filled  up 
in  many  places,  yet  still  there  are  vestiges  of  it, 
and  also  of  two  mounts,  on  which  probably  stood 
two  small  towers. 

Tamworth  was  totally  ruined  by  the  jncursions   Ruined  by 
of  the  Danes;  at  length  it  was  restored  by  the  ReSeTOredby 
celebrated  Ethelfleda,  who,  in  the  spring  of  913,  Ethelfleda. 
erected  a  tower0  on  the  artificial  mount  on  which 
the  present  castle  stands.      Here,    in  920,    she 
finished  her  glorious  life,  and  in  922  she  received, 
I  may  say,  posthumous  honors,  by  the  assemblage 
of  the  Mercian  tribes  she  had  conquered,  who, 
with  the  princes  of  North  Wales,  here  acknow- 
leged  the  sovereign  power  of  her   brother  Ed- 
ward*',    probably   obtained   by  her  valour    and 
prudence. 

The  town,  or  borough,  as  it  was  called  on  the 
Conquest,  continued  part  of  the  royal  demesne, 
but  was  afterwards  set  at  a  certain  rent  to  the 
lords  of  the  castle ;  the  first  of  whom,  after  that 
event,  was  Robert  Marmion,  one  of  the  followers  Marmions. 
of  the  Conqueror,  on  whom  it  was  bestowed. 
His  posterity  remained  masters  of  it  for  some 
generations,  holding  of  the  crown  in  capite}  by  the 

0  Saxon  Chr.  10*.  p  The  same,  110. 


166 


TAMWORTH. 


service  of  finding  three  knights  at  their  own  costs, 
for  forty  days,  in  the  wars  of  Wales. 

On  the  death  of  Philip  Marmion,  in  1291, 
the  twentieth  of  Edward  I.  this  fortress  descended 
to  his  eldest  daughter  Joan,  wife  of  William 
Mortein ;  who  dying  without  issue,  it  fell  three 
years  after,  by  agreement  among  the  co-heirs,  to 
Joan,  a  relation  of  Philip  Marmion,  and  wife  of 

Freviles.  Alexander  Frevile.  The  Freviles  by  this  means 
owned  it  till  the  year  1419,  or  seventh  of  Hen- 
ry V.,  when  Sir  Baldwyn  Frevile  dying  childless, 
Thomas  Ferrers,  second  son  of  William  Lord 
Ferrers,  of  Groby,  became  master  of  it,  in  right 
of  Elizabeth  his  wife,  eldest  of  the  three  sisters 

Ferrers,  of  Sir  Baldxvyn.  The  Ferrers  held  it  till  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century;  when  it  passed 
into  the  family  of  the  Comptons,  by  the  marriage 
of  James  Earl  of  Northampton  with  Elizabeth, 
sister  to  Robert  Lord  Tamworth,  grandson  and 
heir  apparent  to  Robert  Earl  Ferrers,  who  had 
obtained  it  by  his  marriage,  in  1688,  with  Anne, 
daughter  of  Sir  Humphrey  Ferrers,  of  this  place. 
Lady  Charlotte  Compion,  sole  surviving  daughter 
of  the  match,  Baroness  de  Ferrers,  in  right  of  her 
mother,  married  the  present  Lord  Townshend, 
whose  son,  now  Lord  Tie  Ferrers,  enjoys  the 
place.  I  must  not  forget  to  add,  that  Sir  John 
Baldwyn,  Knight,  on  the  coronation  of  Richard 


TAMWORTH  CASTLE.  167 

II.  clamed  the  honor  of  being  the  king's  champion, 
by  virtue  of  tenure  of  this  castle  (a  service  per- 
formed by  his  predecessors  the  Marmions) ;  but 
it  being  found  that  the  Marmions  held  their  right 
only  from  the  tenure  of  Scrivelsby  manor,  it  was 
challenged  by  Sir  John  Dymock,  the  then  owner, 
and  adjudged  to  him q. 

Till  the  present  century  the  castle  was  the  Castle. 
seat  of  its  lords.  The  rooms  are  numerous,  but 
inconvenient  and  irregular,  except  a  dining-room 
and  drawing-room ;  each  with  large  projecting 
windows.  Around  the  first  are  painted  great 
numbers  of  coats  of  arms  of  the  family  of  the 
Ferrers,  and  its  alliances.  The  chimney-piece  of 
the  drawing-room  is  richly  carved,  in  the  old 
taste,  and  beneath  the  arms  is  the  motto,  Only 
one. 

The  beauty  of  the  situation  of  Tamworth  is 
seen  from  the  castle  to  great  advantage,  varied 
with  rich  meadows,  two  bridges  over  the  Tame 
and  the  Ankor,  and  the  rivers  wandering  pictu- 
resquely along  the  country.  Michael  Drayton, 
born  on  the  banks  of  the  last,  most  elegantly  paints 
out  his  love-complaints,  and  celebrates  the  last  in 
the  sweetest  strain. 

*  Dugdak's  Warwicksh.  ii.  If 34% 


168  TAkWORTH  TOWN. 

Clear  Ankor,  on  whose  silver-sanded  shore 

My  soul-shrin'd  saint,  my  fair  idea  lies : 

A  blessed  brook,  whose  milk-white  swans  adore 

Thy  crystal  stream  refined  by  her  eyes; 

Where  sweet  myrrh-breathing  zephyr  in  the  spring 

Gently  distils  his  nectar-dropping  showers ; 

Where  nightingales  in  Arden  sit  and  sing 

Amongst  the  dainty  dew-impearled  flowers. 

Say  thus,  fair  brook,  when  thou  shalt  see  thy  queen : 

Lo,  here  thy  shepherd  spent  his  wand'ring  days, 

And  in  these  shades,  dear  nymph,  he  oft  has  been, 

And  here  to  thee  he  sacrific'd  his  tears. 

Fair  Arden,  thou  my  Tempe  art  alone ; 

And  thou,  sweet  Ankor,  art  my  Helicon. 

Town.  The   town   is   large   and    well-built;    part  is 

situated  in  Staffordshire,  and  part  in  Warwick- 
shire;  for  which  Teason  its  members  are  returned 
by  the  sheriffs  of  both  counties r.  It  first  sent  re- 
presentatives in  the  fifth  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth : 
and  was  made  a  corporation  two  years  before ; 
which  consists  of  two  bailiffs,  a  recorder,  and 
twenty-four  capital  burgesses.  The  right  of  voting 
is  in  the  inhabitants  paying  scot  and  lot. 

Church.  The  church  is  large,  built  at  different  times. 
Near  the  chancel  are  two  great  round  arches,  with 
zigzag  moldings,  which  were  prior  to  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.  when  this  species  of  arch  fell  into 


*  Willis  Notitia  Pari.  iii.  51. 


TAMWORTH  CHURCH.  169 

disuse.  Here  are  numbers  of  monuments,  some 
antient,  of  the  Freviles  and  Ferrers,  with  their 
figures,  and  those  of  their  wives.  Here  is  also  a 
handsome  monument  of  John  Ferrers,  Esquire, 
who  died  in  1680,  aged  59,;  and  of  his  son  Sir 
Humphry  Ferrers,  knight,  who  died  in  1678, 
aged  25.  Their  figures  are  represented  in  marble, 
as  large  as  life,  in  a  Roman  dress,  long  flowing 
hair,  and  half-kneeling.  Sir  Humphry  was  the 
last  male  heir  of  his  line. 

The  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Editha,  daugh- 
ter to  king  Edgar  ;  who,  preferring  the  cloistered 
life  to  the  troubles  of  a  throne,  received  after  death 
the  honor  of  saintship.  It  has  been  said,  that  she 
founded  here  a  nunnery,  and  that  Robert  Mar- 
mion,  lord  of  this  place,  received  from  her  very 
sensible  marks  of  resentment,  for  daring  to  remove 
the  holy  sisters.  St.  Editha  descended  from 
heaven,  and,  while  Marmion  was  lying  down, 
after  a  costly  feast,  in  Tamworth  castle,  she  ad- 
monished him  to  restore  them  to  their  rights,  and, 
by  way  of  memorandum,  gave  him  such  a  blow 
with  her  crosier  on  his  side,  that  he  rose  in  ex- 
treme torment ;  which  instantly  ceased  on  repent- 
ance and  restitution s.    It  is  probable  that  this  very 

*  Dugdak's  Baron,  i.  375. 


170  TAMVVORTH  HOSPITAL. 

Marmion  made  the  church  collegiate,  and  placed 
here  a  dean  and  six  prebendaries,  each  of  whom 
had  his  substitute,  or  vicar ;  for  it  is  the  opinion 
of  Leland,  this  foundation  arose  from  the  piety  of 
one  of  the  name*.  The  idle  legend  might  have 
been  formed  from  some  real  offence",  which  might 
have  been  expiated  in  the  manner  usual  in  old 
times. 

Saint  Editha  had  also  an  image  here.  After 
the  dissolution,  the  seven  incumbents  had  pen- 
sions, as  late  as  1553  x.  Queen  Elizabeth  granted 
the  college,  and  all  its  prebends,  to  Edward 
Dozoiing  and  Peter  Ashton.  At  present,  this 
great  church  is  only  a  curacy. 
Hospital.  In  1286,  the  fifteenth  of  Edward  I.  Philip 
Marmion  dedicated  here  an  hospital  to  St.  James, 
intending  to  found  a  house  of  Premonstrensians  ; 
but,  till  he  could  execute  his  design,  granted  it  to 
William  of  Combe?y-hall,  with  all  its  appurten- 
ances, and  pasture  in  Ashjield  for  four  oxen  and 

1  Itin.'w.  121. 

■  As  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  there  had  been  any 
nunnery  here,  the  offence  might  be  the  expulsion  of  the  nuns 
from  Polesworth  convent,  dedicated  to  Saint  Editha ;  which 
were  restored  by  Robert  Marmion  and  his  wife.  Stevens,  1 25 1 . 
Tanner,  566. 

*  Willis,  ii.  218. 


SWINFEN.  171 

two  horses,  on  condition  that  it  should  celebrate 
mass  for  his  souly.  There  is  now  an  hospital 
founded  for  more  useful  purposes,  by  Mr.  Guy. 

From  Tamworth  I  returned  to  Lichfield,  and 
resumed  my  journey  along  the  London  road. 

About  two  miles  from  the  city,  see  on  the  left  Swinfen. 
Swinfen,  the  seat  of  a  gentleman  of  the  same  name; 
happy  in  its  beautiful  demesne,  ornamented  with 
an  extent  of  water,  meads,  and  hanging- woods. 
This  place  was  once  the  property  of  the  Sper- 
mores  ;  but  in  the  time  of  Henry  VI.  by  marriage 
of  Joyce,  daughter  and  heiress  of  the  family,  with 
William  Sxvinfen,  it  came  into  that  name.  The 
executors  of  the  last  of  that  line,  a  Doctor  Sxvin- 
fen, sold  it,  in  the  present  century,  to  Mr.  Sxvinfen, 
of  London  ;  in  whose  family  it  continues. 

A  little  farther,  the  great  Wat ling-street 
crosses  the  road  near  Weford3  or  the  ford  on  the 
way.  This  is  seated  on  Blackbrook,  a  small 
stream,  now  furnished  with  a  bridge.  The  stream 
runs  through  a  beautiful  tract  of  narrow  but  rich 
meadows,  prettily  bounded  by  low  and  fertile 
risings.  This  spot  had  been  the  scene  of  much 
civil  rage.  A  Purefoy  was  here  slain  by  Sir 
Henry  Willoughby,  in  the  cause  of  Edward  IV. ; 
and  Sir  Henry  in  the  same  place  fought,  and  was 

y  Tamer,  502. 


m  CANWELL. 

desperately  Mounded  by,  Lord  Visit7'.  JVeford 
Common a,  a  black  heath,  succeeds ;  and  a  little 
Canwell.  beyond,  on  the  left,  stood  Camvell  priory,  founded 
about  the  year  1142,  by  Geva,  widow  of  Jeffry 
Riddel,  and  daughter  of  Hugh  Earl  of  Chester, 
for  Benedictine  monks.  It  had  ten  pounds  a  year 
in  spiritualities,  and  fifteen  pounds  ten  shillings 
and  three-pence  in  temporalities.  It  became  at 
length  a  cell  for  a  solitary  monk ;  was  suppressed, 
and  granted  by  Henry  VIII.  to  Cardinal  IVolsey, 
towards  the  endowment  of  his  two  colleges b. 
Near  this  place  I  entered 

WARWICKSHIRE, 

in  the  parish  of  Middleton  ;  from  which  the  JVil- 
loughbies  take  their  title.  The  road  is  over  part 
of  the  common  of  Sutton  Colfield,  which  is  finely 
bounded  on  the  left  by  a  long-continued  range  of 
woods.  "  There  is  a  common  report  (which  pass- 
"  eth  for  currant  amongst  the  vulgar)  that  the  great 
"  heape  of  stones,  which  lyeth  near  the  road  way 
"  from  Litchfeild  towards  Coleshill,  upon  Bassets 
"  heath,  called  the  Bishops  Stones,  and  those  other 

z  Leland  Itin.  iv.  120.  Probably  one  of  the  neighboring 
L'Isles  of  Moxhull. 

a  Now  inclosed,  and  in  a  state  of  excellent  cultivation,  as 
is  the  common  of  Sutton  Colfield,  mentioned  below.     Ed. 

b  Tanner,  497. 


MOXHULL.  173 

"  lesser  heapes,  which  lye  in  the  valley  below ;  were 
"  at  first  laid  there  in  memorie  of  a  bishop  and  his 
"  retinue,  who  were  long  since  rob'd  and  killed, 
"  as  they  were  travailing  upon  that  way :  but  this 
"  is  a  meere  fabulous  storye  :  for  upon  an  inquisi- 
"  tion  made  in  King  James  his  time,  concerning 
"  the  extent  of  common  upon  that  heath,  betwixt 
"  Weeford  and  Sutton ;  there  was  an  old  woman, 
"  called  old  Bess  of  Blackbrooke,  being  then  above 
"  an  hundred  yeares  of  age,  who  deposed  (inter 
"  alia)  that  the  Bishop  of  Exeter  (of  whom  men- 
"  tion  is  made  in  pag:  667.  of  this  booke)  living 
"  then  at  Moore  Hall :  taking  notice  how  trouble- 
"  some  such  a  number  of  pibble  stones  as  then 
"  lay  in  the  roade  thereabouts,  were  to  all  passen- 
"  gers,   caused  them  to  be  pickt  up,    and   thus 
"  layd  upon  heapes c." 

A  few  miles  farther,  I  passed  Moxhull  hall,  Moxhull. 
the  neat-dressed  seat  of  Mr.  Hacket,  a  descendant 
of  the  worthy  bishop  of  that  name ;  whose  son,  by 
marriage  with  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  John 
Ulsle,  became  owner  of  it,  after  it  had  been  in 
the  L'lsles,  or  tie  Insula,  for  some  hundreds 
of  years'1.      On  the  right  is  the  parish-church, 

c  The  note  above  written  is  in  Sir  William  Dugdale's  own 
hand,  in  a  copy  of  his  Warwickshire,  in  Lord  Stamford's  library 
at  Envil. 

d  Dugdale,  Warwichh.  ii.  936". 


174  CURDWORTH.    COLESHILL. 

Curdworth.  Wishaw,  and  a  little  farther,  that  of  Curdworth. 
That  manor  was  possessed,  in  the  time  of  the 
Conqueror,  by  Turchil  de  Wanoik,  son  of  Alwine, 
a  potent  Saxon  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor. Turchil  is  recorded  to  have  been  the  first 
in  England  who,  in  imitation  of  the  Normans,  took 
a  surname,  stiling  himself  Turchil  de  Ear  dine', 
or  Arden,  from  his  residence  in  that  part  of  the 
country  then  called  Arden,  or  the  forest ;  a  word, 
according  to  Camden f,  by  which  both  Britons  and 
Gauls  expressed  a  woodland  tract.  He  was  an- 
cestor to  the  antient  and  respectable  family  which 
flourished  under  the  same  name  till  the  year  1643, 
when  it  was  lost  in  the  male  line  by  the  death  of 
Robert  Arden. 

About  half  a  mile  from  Curdworth,  I  crossed 
the  Tame  at  Curdworth  Bridge  *,  and  a  mile  far- 
ther the  Cole.  The  view  from  hence,  of  the  stream 
watering  a  range  of  rich  meadows,  bounded  on  one 
side  by  hanging-woods,  is  extremely  agreeable ;  as 

Coleshill.  iSj  a  little  further,  the  town  of  Coleshill,  covering 
the  steep  ascent  of  a  lofty  brow,  on  whose  top  ap- 
pears the  handsome  church  and  elegant  spire. 
«     The  place  had  been  long  a  royal  demesne ;  was 
possessed  by  Edward  the  Confessor,  and  after- 

e  Dugdale  Wanvicksh.  ii.  925.  f  i.  606. 

s  Near  Curdworth  the  road  crosses  the  Birmingham  and 
Fazeley  canal.    Ed. 


COLESHILL.  175 

wards  by  the  Conqueror.  It  fell,  either  in  his 
reign  or  that  of  William  Ritfus,  into  the  hands  of 
the  Clintons,  in  whom  it  continued  till  the  year 
1353,  the  twenty-seventh  of  Edxvard  III ;  when  it 
passed  to  Sir  John  de  Mountfort,  by  virtue  of  his 
marriage  with  Joan,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Clin- 
ton*. The  Mountforts  held  it  till  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII.  when,  by  the  cruel  attainder  and  ex- 
ecution of  Sir  Simon  Mountfort,  for  sending  thirty 
pounds,  by  his  younger  son  Henry,  to  Perkin 
IVarbeck,  on  supposition  that  Perkin  Avas  the 
real  son  of  his  former  master  Edxvard  IV.,  this 
brought  ruin  on  himself  and  family.  He  was  tried 
at  Guildhall  in  1494,  and  condemned  to  be  drawn 
through  the  city,  and  hanged  and  quartered  at 
Tyburn  \  His  manor  of  Coleshill  was  immediately 
bestowed  on  Simon  Digby,  deputy-constable  of 
the  castle,  who  brought  the  unfortunate  gentleman 
to  the  bar.  He  was  a  younger  son  of  the  house 
of  Tilton,  of  Leicestershire,  ancestor  of  the  Lord 
Digby,  the  present  worthy  possessor. 

In  the  upper  part  of  the  town  is  a  small  place, 
neatly  built.  The  church-yard  commands  a  line 
view  of  a  rich  country.  The  vicarage  was  for- 
merly belonging  to  Markgate,  in  Bedfordshire, 
but  is  now  in  the  gift  of  its  lord.     The  spire,  lofty 

h  Dugdale  Warwicksh.  ii.  925. 

1  Dugdale  Warxvicksh.  ii.  1012.     Digby  Pedigree,  viii,  15. 


176  COLESHILL  CHURCH. 

as  it  is,  was  fifteen  feet  higher,  before  it  had  been 
struck  with  lightning  in  1550;  when  the  inhabit- 
ants sold  one  of  the  bells  towards  the  repairs. 
Church.         In  the  church  are  numbers  of  fine  tombs  of  the 
Digbies,  with  their  figures  recumbent.     Among 
others,  that  of  the  above-mentioned  Simon,  and 
his  spouse  Alice,  who  lie  under  a  tomb  erected 
by  himself.     He  died  in  1519 :  she  survived  him, 
and  left  by  her  will  a  silver  penny  to  every  child 
under  the  age  of  nine,  whose  parents  were  house- 
keepers in  this  parish  (beginning  with  those  next 
the  church)  on  condition  that,  every  day  in  the 
year,  after   the  sacring  of  the  high  mass,   they 
should  kneel  down  at  the  altar  and  say  five  pater- 
nosters, an  ave,  and  a  creed,  for  her  soul,  that  of 
her  husband,  and  all  Christian  souls ;  and  the  an- 
nual sum  of  six  shillings  and  eight  pence  to  the 
dean,  for  seeing  the  same  duly  performed,  and 
likewise  for  performing  the  same  himself.     At  the 
reformation  this  custom  was  changed.     The  inha- 
bitants purchased  from  the  crown  the  lands  charged 
with  this  money  :  part  maintains  a  school :  the  rest 
is  distributed  to  such  children  who  repair  to  the 
church  every  morning  at  ten  o'clock,  and  say  the 
Lord's  prayer ;  and  the  clerk  has  an  allowance  for 
seeing  the  performance,  and  for  ringing  the  bell  to 
summon  them k. 

k  Dugdale  Warwicksh.  ij.  1013,  1014. 


TOMBS  IN  COLESHILL  CHURCH.  177 

The  figure  of  Simon  Digby  is  in  armour,  with 
lank  hair,  and  bare-headed.  His  grandson  John, 
and  his  great  grandson  George,  knighted  at  the 
siege  of  Zutphen,  are  represented  in  the  same 
manner,  with  their  wives.  The  first  died  in  1558 ; 
the  last  in  1586.  These  are  of  alabaster,  and 
painted. 

The  tomb  of  Reginald,  son  of  Simon,  who  died 
in  1549,  diners.  His  figure,  and  that  of  his  wife, 
are  engraven  on  a  flat  slab  of  marble,  with  twelve 
of  their  children  at  their  feet. 

On  a  pedestal,  with  an  urn  at  the  top,  is  an 
inscription  to  Kildare  Lord  Digby,  of  Geashil,  in 
the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  who  died  in  1661 ;  and 
on  the  opposite  side  is  another,  in  memory  of  his 
lady,  who  died  in  1692,  drawn  up  by  Bishop 
Hough,  forming  a  character  uncommonly  amiable 
and  exemplary ;  the  integrity  of  that  worthy  pre- 
late giving  sanction  to  every  line. 

I  felt  great  pleasure  in  perusing  an  epitaph, 
by  a  grateful  mistress ',  to  the  memory  of  a  worthy 
domestic,  Mary  Wheely ;  whom  she  stiles  an  ex- 
cellent servant  and  good  friend;  for  what  is  a 
faithful  servant  but  an  humble  friend  ? 

Beneath  two  arches  are  two  antient  figures 
of  cross-legged  knights,  armed  in  mail,  with  short 

1  Mrs.  Charlotte  Bridgman,  with  whom  Mary  Wheely  lived 
thirty-eight  years :  she  died  in  1747.    Ed. 

N  • 


178  COLESHILL  HALL. 

surtouts ;  in  all  respects  alike,  only  one  has  a  dog, 
the  other  a  lion,  at  his  feet.  On  their  shields  are 
two  fleurs  de  lis,  which  denote  them  to  have  been 
some  of  the  earlier  Clintons ;  and  by  Dugdale1 
it  appears,  that  one  was  John  de  Clinton,  lord  of 
this  place,  a  strong  adherent  to  the  barons  against 
Henry  III.  who  suffered  a  temporary  forfeiture 
of  his  estate ;  but  was  restored  to  it  by  the  famous 
Dictum  de  Kenelworth.  He  became  a  favorite  of 
Edward  I.  and  clamed  for  his  manor  of  Coleshill 
by  prescription,  "assize  of  bread  and  beer,  gallows, 
"  piliorie,  tumbril,  a  court-leet,  infangthef,  outfang- 
"thef,  mercate,  faire,  and  free  warren."  He  died 
in  the  year  1291,  the  period  of  crusades,  and  is 
buried  cross-legged. 

I  observe,  that  the  piety  of  the  Catholics  has 
given  the  same  attitude  to  several  of  the  Sher- 
borns,  in  the  church  of  Mitton,  in  Yorkshire,  who 
were  interred  in  the  seventeenth  century ;  so  that 
I  suspect  it  to  have  sometimes  been  considered 
merely  as  a  reverential  sign  of  our  Saviour's 
suffering  m. 
Coleshill  The  deserted  seat  of  the  Digbies  lies  about  a 
mile  or  two  from  the  town,  in  a  fine  park.  The 
house  consists  but  of  one  story,  besides  garrets ; 

1  Dugdale,  &c.   1009. 

m  The  circular  font  in  Coleshill  church  merits  notice;  round 
it  are  rude  bas  reliefs,  representing  the  crucifixion,  saints, 
and  ornamental  mouldings.    Ed. 


Hall. 


BLITHE  HALL. 


179 


Blithe 
Hall. 


yet  the  apartments  are  numerous,  approachable 
by  ways  strange  and  unintelligible  to  all  that  are 
unacquainted  with  them,  according  to  the  stile  of 
old  buildings. 

From  Coleshill  I  descended  to  pay  a  respectful 
pilgrimage  to  Blithe  Hall,  the  seat  of  the  great 
antiquary  Sir  William  Dugdale;  from  whose  in- 
defatigable labors,  his  successors  in  the  science 
draw  such  endless  helps.  In  respect  to  this 
county,  he  has  fairly  extinguished  all  hope  of  dis- 
covering any  thing  which  has  escaped  his  pene- 
trating eye. 

The  house  lies  about  a  mile  below  Coleshill, 
on  the  river  Blithe ;  was  purchased  by  Sir  Wil- 
liam from  Sir  Walter  Aston,  and  made  his  place 
of  residence.     It  at  present  belongs  (by  female 
descent)  to  Richard  Guest,  Esquire ;  whose  po- 
liteness to  an  inquisitive  intruder  I  shall  ever  ac- 
knowlege.     He  was  so  obliging  as  to  show  me  an 
excellent  half-length  of  his  ancestor,  dressed  in    Portrait 
black,  with  a  bundle  of  manuscripts  in  his  hand,    William 
painted  at  the  age  of  sixty,  by  Peter  Bosscler11,    £)uGDALE- 
in  1665. 

Another  portrait  of  his  wife,  Margery,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Huntback,  Esquire,  of  Sewal,  in  Staf- 
fordshire;  a  head  of  Lord  Keeper  Bridgeman, 

"  I  imagine,  the  same  with  the  person  Mr.  Walpole  calls 
Bustler,  ii.  26. 

N  2 


180  PORTRAITS  IN  BLITHE  HALL. 

a  thin  primitive  face;  another  of  Lord  Clarendon; 
Keeper     anc*  a  third  °f  Lord  Keeper  Littleton,  with  a  jo- 

LiTTLE-roif.  y'm\  0pen  countenance.  As  a  judge  (for  he  had 
been  chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas)  he  was, 
as  Sir  Edzvard  Coke  said,  a  well-poised  and  weighed 
man0.  As  lord  keeper,  dispirited,  from  the  me- 
lancholy apprehensions  he  had  of  the  approaching 
calamities  of  the  times.  For  a  while  he  tempo- 
rized with  the  views  of  the  opposition.  At  length, 
finding  the  resolution  of  the  leaders  to  seize  on 
the  seals,  and  make  use  of  them  against  his  royal 
master,  he  gave  them  up,  to  a  messenger,  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose,  and  followed  them,  at 
the  hazard  of  his  life,  to  the  king  at  York* ;  where 
he  loyally  resumed  their  use,  till  his  death,  at  Ox- 
ford, in  1645;  when  he  at  once  performed  the 
functions  of  lord  keeper,  privy-counsellor,  and 
colonel  of  a  redment  of  foot. 

El!*1^sh"  A  half-length  of  the  famous  Elias  Ashmole, 
whom  Antony  Wood  stiles  "  the  greatest  virtuoso 
"  and  curioso  ever  known  or  read  of  in  England. 
"  Uxor  solis  took  up  its  habitation  in  his  breast, 
c;  and  in  his  bosom  the  great  God  did  abundantly 
"  store  up  the  treasures  of  all  sorts  of  wisdom  and 
"  knowlege  V  It  is  well  for  poor  Ashmole,  that 
the  peevish  historian,  never  read  the  wonderful 

0  Lloyd,  ii.  322.  f  Clarendon,  ii.  474. 

*  Athcn.  Oxon.  ii.  289. 


MOLE. 


PORTRAITS  IN  BLITHE  HALL.  181 

diary  of  his  life,  in  which  is  a  most  minute  and 
filthy  detail  of  all  his  ails  and  strange  mishaps r ; 
otherwise  Antony  never  would  have  been  so  pro- 
fuse of  his  praise.  Yet,  amidst  his  foibles,  he  was 
an  able  botanist ;  of  most  uncommon  knowlege  in 
the  study  of  antiquity  and  records ;  a  physician, 
herald,  chemist,  and  astrologer.  On  rectifying  his 
nativity,  he  found  his  birth  to  have  been  on  the 
23d  of  May  1617,  about  three  in  the  morning, 
or  "  3  hours  25  minutes  49  seconds  A.  M.  the 
"  quarter  8  of  n  ascending;  but,  upon  Mr.  Lil- 
"  lys  rectification  thereof,  anno  1667,  he  makes 
"  the  quarter  36  ascending '."  This  jargon  should 
not  deprive  him  of  his  real  merit.  To  him  we 
owe  a  most  elaborate  treatise  on  the  institution 
of  the  order  of  the  Garter,  he  having  been  Windsor 
herald ;  various  manuscripts  respecting  county  an- 
tiquities, still  extant ;  and,  above  all,  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Museum  at  Oxford,  which  bears  his 
name,  finished  in  1682,  on  purpose  to  receive  the 
vast  collection  of  curiosities  bestowed  by  him  on 
that  university,  which  he  had  defended  in  1646, 
as  comptroller  of  the  ordnance.  Mr.  Ashmok 
was  doubly  engaged  to  the  worthy  owner  of  this 
house :  first,  by  the  friendship  resulting  from  the 
congenial  turn  of  their  studies ;  and  again,  by  his 

r  Mr.  Ashmok' s  Life,  287.  '  Mr.  Ashmolcs  Life. 


182  MAXSTOKE  CASTLE. 

alliance  with  Sir  William,  in  his  marriage  with  his 
daughter  Elizabeth ;  which  proved  a  source  of 
great  generosity,  on  his  part,  towards  his  father- 
in-law  and  his  family.  By  his  portrait,  drawn  by 
Nave1,  in  1664,  in  his  herald's  coat,  he  appears 
to  have  been  a  good-looking  man,  with  long  hair ; 
there  is  a  view  of  Windsor  in  the  back-ground. 

Maxstokr       From  hence  I  visited  Maxstoke  castle,  three 

Castle. 

miles  south-east;  most  of  the  way  lies  through 
fields.  The  castle  is  very  entire,  and  stands  on 
a  plain,  in  a  most  sequestered  spot,  surrounded 
with  trees,  and  guarded  by  a  moat.  It  is  of  a 
square  form  :  at  each  corner  is  an  hexagonal 
tower,  and  at  the  entrance  a  fine  gateway,  with  a 
tower  of  the  same  form  with  the  rest  on  each  side. 
The  gates  are  in  their  original  state,  covered  with 
plates  of  iron.  Above,  are  the  holes  for  pouring 
hot  sand,  or  melted  lead,  on  assailants,  and  the 
cavity  which  once  held  the  portcullis.  These 
gates  were  made  in  the  time  of  Humphry  Stafford 
Earl  (afterwards  Duke)  of  Buckingham.  He  fixed 
on  them  his  arms  (still  remaining)  impaled  with 
.  those  o(  his  wife,  Anne  Nevil;  supported  by  two 
antelopesp  derived  from  his  mother,  as  one  of  the 
daughters  of  Thomas  Woodstock,  Duke  of  Glou- 
cester ;  and  added  the  burning  nave,  or  knot,  the 

*  Probably  Neve. 


MAXSTOKE  CASTLE.  183 

cognizance  of  his  own  ancestors.  Within  the  court 
the  walls  are  pierced  with  divers  cells,  the  antient 
casernes  of  the  garrison. 

Much  of  the  habitable  part  is  still  standing, 
but  part  was  burnt  by  accident ;  what  remains  is 
the  dwelling-house  of  Mr.  Dilkes,  in  whose  family 
it  has  been  for  several  generations.  The  great 
vault  ribbed  with  stone,  the  old  chapel,  and  kit- 
Ghen,  still  remain ;  the  noble  old  hall,  and  a  great 
dining-room  with  a  most  curious  carved  door  and 
chimney,  are  still  in  use. 

After  the  Conquest,  it  was  given  to  Turchil  Owners 
de  Warwick;  from  one  of  his  posterity  it  was 
granted  to  the  Limesies,  lords  of  Long  Ichinton 
and  Solihull ;  from  them  to  the  O din gf ells ;  and 
from  the  Odingfells,  by  Ida,  eldest  daughter  of 
the  last  of  the  name,  to  the  great  family  of  the 
Clintons  before  mentioned,  who  made  it  their  chief 
seat.  In  1437,  the  sixteenth  of  Henry  VI.  Sir 
William  de  Clinton  exchanged  it  with  Humphry 
Earl  of  Buckingham,  with  whom  it  became  a  fa- 
vorite residence.  On  the  execution  of  his  son 
Henry  Duke  of  Buckingham,  in  1483,  the  first 
of  Richard  III.  it  was  seized  by  the  king.  Ri- 
chard,  on  his  march  towards  Nottingham,  ordered 
all  the  inner  building's  of  Kcnelworth  castle  to  be 
removed  here".     After  his  defeat  and  death  in 

u  Dugdale,  ii.  P95. 


184  PACKINGTON. 

Botzcorth  field,  this  place  reverted  to  Edzvard, 
son  of  the  last  duke;  who  fell  a  victim,  in  1521, 
to  Henry  VIII.  a  tyrant  greater  and  more  inex- 
cusable, than  him  who  destroyed  the  father.  The 
estates,  again  forfeited,  were  granted  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Compton,  a  favorite,  and  gallant  tilter,  in  the 
reign  of  the  former,  and  ancestor  of  the  Earl  of 
Northampton.  In  1 596,  his  great  grandson,  Wil- 
liam Lord  Compton,  conveyed  it  to  Lord  Keeper 
F.gerton,  who,  in  two  years  after,  sold  it  to  Tho- 
mas Dilke,  Esquire,  in  whose  family  it  remains. 

I  did  not  visit  the  neighboring  priory  of  Max- 
stoke  ;  so  shall  say  no  more  of  it,  than  that  it 
was  founded  in  1336,  by  Sir  William  de  Clinton, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  and  peopled  with 
canons  regular  of  St.  Augustin  \ 

Returned  through  Coleshill,  and  at  a  small 
Packing-  distance,  on  the  left  of  the  road,  digressed  to  Pack- 
ington,  the  seat  of  the  Earl  of  Aylcsford.  The  ma- 
nor antiently  belonged  to  the  priory  of  Kenelworth, 
being  granted  to  it  by  Geo  fry  de  Clinton,  lord 
chamberlain  to  Henry  II.  At  the  dissolution  it 
was  sold  for  the  sum  of  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  pounds  and  one  penny,  to  John  Fisher,  Esquire, 
gentleman-pensioner  to  Henry  VIII.  and  four  suc- 
ceeding monarchs.  By  the  marriage  of  Mary, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Clement  Fisher,  Ba- 

x  Tanner,  583. 


TON. 


MIREDEN.  185 

ronet,  with  Heneage,  second  Earl  of  Aylesford, 
the  place  was  transferred  to  that  noble  family. 
The  situation  has  of  late  years  been  highly  im- 
proved by  the  change  of  the  road.  The  grounds 
are  prettily  sloped  by  nature,  are  well  wooded, 
and  the  bottom  filled  with  two  pleasing  pieces  of 
water.  The  house  has  also  undergone  many  al- 
terations ;  it  is  a  plain  convenient  building,  except 
on  one  side,  where  opens  a  loggio,  most  admirably 
adapted  (in  our  climate)  for  the  encouragement  of 
rheums  and  rheumatisms. 

Within  is  a  good  portrait  of  its  founder,  John 
Fisher  ;  a  half-length,  with  a  square  white  beard, 
close  black  cap,  upright  ruff,  and  black  jacket. 

A  beautiful  picture  of  Henrietta  Maria, 
consort  to  Charles  I.  She  is  represented  sitting, 
in  blue,  with  roses  in  her  hand,  and  her  thorny 
crown  by  her. 

Here  is  also  a  portrait  of  Charles  Duke  of 
Somerset,  in  his  robes,  father  to  the  Countess 
Dowager  of  Aylesford. 

The  country  here  begins  to  lose  the  comforts 
of  a  gravelly  soil,  and  changes  to  the  wet-retain- 
ing clay.  .  At  the  pleasant  village  of  Mireden  it  is  Miredeh. 
uncommonly  deep,  but  by  the  assistance  of  turn- 
pikes the  road  is  rendered  excellent.  The  pretty 
houses  on  each  side  of  the  way,  and  the  magnifi- 
cent inn,  famed  for  time  immemorial  for  its  excel- 


186  TOMBS  IN  MIREDEN  CHURCH. 

lent  malt-liquor,  with  the  various  embellishments 
(made  by  the  old  inn-keeper,  Reynolds)  of  gate- 
way, little  ponds,  statues,  and  other  whims,  enliven 
the  spot  greatly. 
Chdrch.  The  church  is  seated  a  little  higher  up,  on  an 
eminence.  Within  is  a  handsome  alabaster  tomb 
of  John  Wyard,  in  armour  and  mail,  with  sword 
and  dagger  by  his  side ;  his  arms  a  cinquefoil  on 
his  breast.  This  gentleman  had  been  'squire  (as 
the  inscription  relates)  to  Thomas  de  Beauchamp 
Earl  of  Warwick,  and  founder  of  a  chauntry  in  this 
church,  near  which  he  had  his  residence.  He 
was  also  knight  of  the  shire  for  this  county,  in  the 
second  year  of  Richard  II. 

Here  is  another  tomb,  with  a  figure  in  stone, 
supposed  to  have  been  that  of  one  of  the  Walshes, 
the  antient  lords  of  this  manor.  This  figure,  as 
well  as  the  former,  is  recumbent,  with  the  hands 
in  the  action  of  supplication  :  but  this  gentle- 
man has  a  short  skirt  over  the  lower  part  of  his 
armour. 

The  antient  name  of  this  place  was  Alspath, 
or  Ailespede,  even  till  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VI ;  about  which  time,  becoming  a  great 
thoroughfare,  it  got  the  name  of  Myreden ;  den 
signifying  a  bottom,  and  myre,  dirt:  and  I  can 
well  vouch  for  the  propriety  of  the  appellation, 
before  the  institution  of  turnpikes. 


LING. 


OLD  FASHION  OF  TRAVELLING.  ]  187 

In  March  1739-40,  I  changed  my  Welsh  school   _.    °LD 

G  J  Fashion  of 

for  one  nearer  to  the  capital,  and  travelled  in  the  Travel- 
Chester  stage ;  then  no  despicable  vehicle  for 
country  gentlemen.  The  first  day,  with  much 
labor,  we  got  from  Chester  to  Whitchurch,  twenty 
miles ;  the  second  day,  to  the  Welsh  Harp ;  the 
third,  to  Coventry ;  the  fourth,  to  Northampton ; 
the  fifth,  to  Dunstable  ;  and,  as  a  wondrous  effort, 
on  the  last,  to  London  before  the  commencement 
of  night.  The  strain  and  labor  of  six  good  horses, 
sometimes  eight,  drew  us  through  the  sloughs  of 
Mireden,  and  many  other  places.  We  were  con- 
stantly out  two  hours  before  day,  and  as  late  at 
night ;  and  in  the  depth  of  winter  proportionably 
later. 

Families  who  travelled  in  their  own  carriages, 
contracted  with  Benson  and  Co.  and  were  dragged 
up  in  the  same  number  of  days,  by  three  sets  of 
able  horses. 

The  single  gentlemen,  then  a  hardy  race, 
equipped  in  jack-boots  and  trowsers,  up  to  their 
middle,  rode  post  through  thick  and  thin,  and, 
guarded  against  the  mire,  defied  the  frequent 
stumble  and  fall ;  arose  and  pursued  their  jour- 
ney with  alacrity :  while  in  these  days  their  ener- 
vated posterity  sleep  away  their  rapid  journies  in 
easy  chaises,  fitted  for  the  conveyance  of  the  soft 
inhabitants  of  Sybaris. 


188  ALLESEY.     COVENTRY. 

Allesey.  I  continued  my  way  to  Coventry  through 
Allesey,  a  village  with  a  church  and  spire-steeple. 
The  place  was  originally  a  member  of  that  city, 
Bishop  Clinton  having  permitted  a  chapel  to  be 
built  here  for  the  use  of  the  poor,  reserving  the 
right  of  burial  to  the  mother  church  y.  In  a  place 
called  The  Parks,  stood  a  castle,  doubly  moated, 
probably  the  residence  of  the  Hastings,  who  pos- 
sessed this  place  in  the  time  of  Edward  I.     The 

present  handsome  seat  is  owned  by —  Neale, 

Esquire. 

After  a  ride  of  two  miles  from  hence,  I  en- 

Coventry.  tered  Coventry,  a  great  and  antient  city.  The 
time  of  its  foundation  is  unknown.  By  the  addi- 
tion of  tre,  a  town,  it  should  seem  as  if  it  had  been 
inhabited  by  the  Britons,  before  the  Saxons  added 
the  word  coven  to  it,  as  is  conjectured,  from  a 
nunnery  very  antiently  established  here.  The  site 
of  the  old  town  is  supposed  to  have  been  on  the 
north  side  of  the  present,  not  only  because  great 
foundations  are  discovered  about  the  spot  called 
St.  Nicholas  Church-yard,  but,  I  may  add,  from 
the  tumulus  near  it,  on  the  Atherston  road,  called 
Barrs  Hill,  on  which  might  have  been  a  castelet. 

Saxon  Ndn-      The  certainty  of  there  having  been  a  convent 
here  in  early  times,  depends  on  the  authority  of 

y  Dugdale,  i.  129. 


STORY  OF  GODEVA.  189 

John  Rous7';   who  says,   that  when   the  traitor 

Edric  ravaged  this  country,  in  1016,  he  burnt  the 

nunnery  in  this  city,  of  which  a  holy  virgin,  St. 

Osburg,  had  been  abbess. 

On  its  ruins,  Leofric,  fifth  Earl  of  Mercia,  and 

his  countess  Godeva,  founded  a  monastery.  At  that 

period  Coventry  must  have  been  a  considerable 

place,    and  its   inhabitants  numerous,  otherwise 

the  fair  Godeva  could  never  have  made  so  great    Story  °f 

°  Godeva. 

a  merit  of  riding  naked  through  the  town,  to  re- 
deem it  from  the  intolerable  taxes  and  grievances 
it  at  that  time  labored  under.  The  cause  must 
have  been  equal  to  the  deed.  Her  husband  long 
resisted  her  importunity  in  its  behalf,  on  account 
of  the  profits  that  accrued  to  him :  at  length  he 
thought  to  silence  her  by  the  strange  proposal; 
she  accepted  it,  and,  being  happy  in  fine  flowing 
locks,  rode,  decently  covered  to  her  very  feet  with 
her  lovely  tresses.  The  history  was  preserved  in 
a  picture,  about  the  time  of  Richard  II.  in  which 
were  pourtrayed  the  earl  and  countess.  He  holds 
a  charter  of  freedom  in  his  hand,  and  thus  ad- 
dresses his  lady : 

I  Luriche  (Leofric)  for  love  of  thee, 
Doe  make  Coventre  toll-free. 

Legend  says,  that  previous  to  her  ride,  all  the  in- 
*  Leland  (iv.  124.)  says  it  was  founded  by  king  Canute. 


>90  COVENTRY. 

habitants  were  ordered,  on  pain  of  death,  to  shut 
themselves  up  during  the  time ;  but,  the  curiosity 
of  a  certain  taylor  overcoming  his  fear,  he  took  a 
single  peep,  which  is  commemorated  even  at  pre- 
sent, by  a  figure  projecting  from  a  window  in 
Smithford  street.  To  this  day,  the  love  of  Godeva 
to  the  city  is  annually  remembered,  by  a  proces- 
sion :  and  a  valiant  fair  still  rides,  (not  literally 
like  the  good  countess,  but)  in  silk,  closely  fitted 
to  her  limbs,  and  of  color  emulating  their  com- 
plexion a. 
Norman  After  the  Conquest,  the  lordship  of  this  city 
fell,  by  the  marriage  of  Lucia  (daughter  to  Algar, 
successor  and  son  of  Edwin,  and  grandson  of 
Leofric)  with  her  third  husband  Handle  Meschine, 
to  the  Earls  of  Chester  \  Handle  bestowed  on  it 
the  same  privileges  that  Linsda  enjoyed,  and  be- 
stowed great  part  of  the  city  on  the  monks.  When 
Hemy  III.  took  the  earldom  of  Chester  into  his 
hands,  the  remainder  of  Coventry  fell  to  William 
de  Albany  Earl  of  Arundel,  in  right  of  his  wife 
Mabil,  daughter  of  Hugh  Ceveilioc.  On  the  death 
of  Hugh  Earl  of  Arundel,  in  1 243,  it  fell  to  Roger 
de  Montalto,  who  had  married  Cecilia,  his  young- 

a  This  custom  is  not  continued  with  its  former  regularity, 
and  the  representative  of  the  fair  Godeva  is  now  more  ceco- 
nomically  clad  in  white  linen.     Ed. 

b  Leicester,  127.     Camden,  i.  611. 


COVENTRY. 


1©U 


PO- 
RATED. 


est  sister.  After  that,  it  was  granted  by  his  grand- 
son Robert,  in  default  of  issue,  to  Isabel,  queen 
mother  of  Edward  III.  with  remainder  to  John  of 
Eltham,  afterwards  Earl  of  Cornwall;  and  then  to 
Edzvard  king  of  England.  It  thus  became  an- 
nexed to  the  earldom  of  Cornwall,  and  became 
more  immediately  the  object  of  royal  favor.  Ed- 
ward III.  in  the  eighteenth  of  his  reign,  by  letters  Incor 
dated  the  20th  of  January,  made  it  a  corporation, 
consisting  of  a  mayor  and  two  bailiffs,  whom  the 
inhabitants  were  to  select  from  among  themselves. 
The  first  mayor  was  John  Ward,  who  was  chosen 
in  the  year  1348. 

Henry  VI.  in  1451,  bestowed  on  this  city  a 
very  particular  mark  of  his  affection,  by  erecting 
it,  with  a  considerable  district  around,  into  a 
county c,  by  the  name  of  the  city  and  county  of  cou 
Coventry  ;  and  ordered  that  the  bailiffs  from  that 
time  should  be  sheriffs :  so  that  at  present,  it  is 
governed  by  a  mayor,  recorder,  two  sheriffs,  ten 
aldermen,  thirty-one  superior  and  twenty-five  infe- 
rior common-council-men.  Henry  came  expressly 
to  Coventry,  heard  mass  in  St.  Michael's  church, 
presented  the  church  with  a  gown  of  cloth  of  gold, 
and  then  created  the  first  sheriffs. 

The  representatives  are  returned  by  the  sheriffs    Right  of 

Election 

e  Accurately  laid  down  in  Mr.  Beighton's  map  of  Wanvick~ 

shire.  •      '  u 


Made  a 
nty. 


s 


194  COVENTRY. 

of  the  city,  after  being  chosen  by  the  freemen,  who 
are  all  enrolled,  and  are  freemen  from  having 
served  seven  years  as  apprentices  within  the  city 
or  suburbs.  To  be  qualified  to  vote,  a  man  must 
have  been  enrolled  a  full  year  before  the  time  of 
an  election.  He  must  produce  his  indentures  be- 
fore the  mayor  at  a  time  appointed,  and  take  an 
oath  that  he  hath  not  absented  himself  from  the 
service  of  his  master  during  the  term  of  his  ap- 
prenticeship. 

The  city  sent  members  in  the  four  first  parle- 
ments  of  Edzvard  I.  That  privilege  was  inter- 
rupted (except  in  the  eighth  of  Edzvard  II.  and 
twentieth  and  twenty-fifth  of  Edzvard  III.)  till  the 
thirty-first  of  Henri/  VI.  when  it  was  resumed. 

Among  all  its  privileges,  unfortunately  for  the 
magistrates,  it  has  that  of  life  and  death d. 

The  county  of  Coventry  extends  about  four 
miles  round  the  city,  but  the  service  of  an  ap- 
prenticeship in  this  extent  beyond  the  city  and 
suburbs  does  not  entitle  a  man  to  his  freedom,  or 
to  the  privilege  of  a  vote;  neither  can  a  man, 
though  possessed  of  land  to  the  amount  of  1 000/. 
per  annum,  that  lies  within  the  county  of  Coven- 
try, be  entitled  to  vote  at  an  election  for  the 

•  The  magistrates  never  avail  themselves  of  this  privilege, 
as  the  judges  in  the  Midland  circuit  regularly  preside  at  the 
assizet,  and  are  paid  by  the  sheriffs.    Ed. 


COVENTRY.  193 

county  of  IVarwick,  so  that  the  land-owners  of 
the  county  of  the  city  of  Coventry  may  truly, be 
said  not  to  be  represented  in  parlement. 

A  trial  of  this  particular  was  made  in  the  ge- 
neral election  of  1774,  and  claims  to  vote  for  the 
county  of  IVarwick  upon  freehold  in  two  parishes 
were  given  in,  which,  being  in  the  county  of  Co- 
ventry, were  not  admitted.  It  was  therefore  re- 
quired to  give  the  votes  upon  freehold  in  the 
county  of  Warwick.  The  freeholders  had  not 
been  called  upon  to  vote  for  seventy  years,  but 
they  had  it  upon  record,  that  lands  within  the 
county  of  Coventry  were  not  entitled  to  vote  at  an 
election  for  the  county  of  Warxcick. 

Two  parlements  have  been  held  in  this  city,  in  Parlements 
the  great  chamber  of  the  priory.  The  first,  in 
1404,  by  Henry  IV.  which  was  stiled  Parlia- 
mentum  indoctorum ;  not  that  it  consisted  of  a 
greater  number  of  blockheads  than  parlements  or- 
dinarily do,  but  from  its  inveteracy  against  the 
clergy,  whose  revenues  it  was  determined  not  to 
spare:  whence  it  was  also  called  the  Laymen's 
Parlement. 

The  other  was  held  in  the  chapter-house  of  the 
priory,  in  1459,  by  Henry  VI.  and  was  called 
Parliamentum  diabolicum,  by  reason  of  the  multi- 
tude of  attainders  passed  against  Richard  Duke 
of  York,  and  his  adherents. 

o 


HELD  HERE. 


194  COVENTRY. 

Trade,  The  trade  of  this  city  consisted  originally  in 
the  manufacture  of  cloth,  and  caps,  or  bonnets e, 
which  arose  to  a  great  degree  of  consequence,  as 
early  as  1436,  and  continued  till  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  it  was  changed  for  the  worsted  bu- 
siness ;  and,  for  a  long  time,  the  making  and  sale 
of  shags,  camblets,  lastings,  tammies,  8$c.  8$c. 
proved  very  extensive  and  profitable ;  but  this 
gradually  migrated  into  Leicestershire  and  North- 
amptonshire ;  and  at  present,  only  a  few  articles, 
such  as  camblets  and  lastings,  constitute  the  wool- 
len trade f. 

*  Anderson's  Diet.  i.  262. 

f  The  Editor  has  been  favored  by  Robert  Simson,  Esq.  with 
the  following  observations  on  the  present  state  of  the  manu- 
factures in  the  city  of  Coventry : 

"  The  manufactory  of  woollen  cloth  continued  till  1 696, 
"  about  which  period  it  was  nearly  lost  by  the  long  war  be- 
"  tween  England  and  France,  which  destroyed  the  Turkey 
"  trade ;  about  which  time  the  making  of  mixt  or  striped 
"  tammies  was  introduced.    The  worsted  manufactory  was  af- 

*  terwards  increased  by  the  making  of  lastings,  camblets,  calli- 

*  mancoes,   and  shalloons;   but  this  trade,  except  shags,  has 
w  wholly  emigrated  into  Northamptonshire  and  Yorkshire. 

"  Ribands  still  remain  the  staple  trade. 

"  The  trade  in  gauzes  speedily  declined,  and  has  been  for 
"  many  years  discontinued. 

"  The  manufactory  of  shags  is  still  important,  and  has  lately 
"  been  increased  by  the  making  of  silk  shag  for  the  covering 
"  of  men's  hats.     In  the  whole  about  two  hundred  looms  are 


COVENTRY. 


195 


Blub 
Thread. 


I  must  remark,  that  in  the  beginning,  or  mid- 
dle, of  the  sixteenth  century,  Coventry  had  a  vast 
manufacture  of  blue  thread ;  which  was  lost  before 
the  year  1581s.  So  famous  was  it  for  its  dye,  that 
true  as  Coventry  blue  became  proverbial. 

About  eighty  years  ago,  the  silk  manufacture  Ribands. 
of  ribands  was  introduced  here,  and,  for  the  first 
thirty  years,  remained  in  the  hands  of  a  few  peo- 
ple, who  acquired  vast  fortunes ;  since  which,  it 
has  extended  to  a  great  degree,  and  is  supposed 
to  employ  at  lest  ten  thousand  people ;  it  has  like- 
wise spread  into  the  neighboring  towns,  such  as 
Nuneaton,  and  other  places.  Such  real  good  re- 
sults from  our  little  vanities ! 

There  are  about  a  dozen  traders  in  Coventry, 
who  have  houses  in  London ;  to  which  they  send 


'  employed,  which  gives  a  further  employment  to  about  a 
thousand  persons. 

"  The  manufactory  of  watches  was  introduced  about  the 
year  1770 ;  within  the  last  twenty  years  it  has  increased 
rapidly,  and  is  yet  in  a  progressive. state;  it  employs  about 
seven  hundred  persons. 

"  About  the  year  1793  a  manufactory  of  calicoes  was  esta- 
blished, which  upon  an  average  makes  about  five  hundred 
pieces  per  week. 

"  A  fancy -net  trimming  manufacture  employs  a  considerable 
number  of  hands,  and  is  in  a  progressive  and  flourishing 
condition."    Ed. 


2  Anderson's  Diet.  i.  422. 


o  2 


196  COVENTRY. 

up  weekly  great  quantities  of  ribands ;  and,  before 
our  unhappy  breach  with  America,  a  very  exten- 
sive trade  was  carried  on  with  the  colonies :  but 
the  home-consumption  has  been  always  reckoned 
most  material.  A  few  ribands  are  exported  to 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  Russia;  but  the  French  un- 
dersell us  at  those  markets. 

Within  these  few  years,  four  or  five  houses 
have  begun  to  introduce  the  making  of  gauzes ; 
and  for  that  purpose  chiefly,  employ  hands  from 
Scotland.  This  branch  is  at  present  in  its  infancy. 
A  manufacture  of  broad  silks  was  likewise  set  up, 
which,  I  am  sorry  to  find,  does  not  go  on  with  the 
expected  success. 

The  military  transactions  of  this  city  are  very 
few.  It  was  an  open  town  for  many  centuries, 
and,  of  course,  incapable  of  sustaining  a  siege. 
Walls.  The  walls  were  not  begun  till  the  year  1355,  and 
then  by  virtue  of  a  licence  granted  by  Edward  III. 
twenty-seven  years  before ;  nor  were  they  finished 
in  less  than  forty.  They  were  built  with  money 
raised  by  taxes,  and  by  customs  on  the  wine, 
malt,  oxen,  hogs,  calves,  and  sheep,  consumed  in 
Coventry.  These  walls  were  of  great  strength 
and  grandeur,  furnished  with  thirty-two  towers 
and  twelve  gates ;  they  continued  till  the  22d  of 
July  1 66 1 ,  when  great  part  of  the  wall,  and  most 
of  the  towers,  and  many  of  the  gates,  were  pulled 


COVENTRY.  197 

down,  with  certain  circumstances  of  disgrace,  as 
a  punishment  for  the  disloyalty  of  the  inhabitants, 
for  refusing  admission  to  their  monarch  Charles  I. 
on  the  13th  of  August  1642.     His  majesty,  after 
setting  up  his  standard  at  Nottingham,  had  sent 
to  this  city,  to  acquaint  them  that  he  meant  to  re- 
side there  for  some  time,  and  desired  quarters  for 
his  forces  in  and  about  the  place.    The  mayor  and 
aldermen,  with  many  expressions  of  affection,  of- 
fered to  receive  the  king,  but  refused  admittance 
to  any  of  the  soldiery.     Incensed  at  this,  his  ma- 
jesty attacked  the  city,   and  with  his  ordnance    ClTY  AT- 

TACKED  BY 

forced  open  one  of  the  gates ;  but  was  repulsed  Charles  I. 
by  the  valour  of  the  citizens,  and  obliged  to  retire 
with  loss  \     In  the  following  month  Coventry  was 
regularly  garrisoned  by  the  parlement1,  and  re- 
mained in  its  possession  during  the  whole  war. 

I  should  have  mentioned  before,  that  in  the 
fifteenth  century  another  monarch  had  been  de- 
nied the  possession  of  this  city.  The  great  Earl 
of  Warwick  armed  it  against  Edward  IV.  in  1470, 
when  he  attempted  entering  on  the  side  of  Gosford 
Green.  The  king  amply  repaid  the  insult  on  the 
citizens,  who  perhaps  acted  by  constraint.  He 
deprived  them  of  their  privileges,  and  made  them 
pay  five  hundred  marks  for  their  recovery,  by  hav- 
ing the  sword  restored  to  them. 

h  Vicar's  Parliament.  Chron.  14-1.  !  Whitelock,  63. 


198 


COVENTRY  CASTLE. 


Castle.  Before  the  building  of  the  walls,  there  had 
been,  from  very  early  times,  a  castle  on  the  south 
side  of  the  town,  near  Chylesmore,  with  a  park 
belonging  to  it.  This  had  been  the  residence  of 
the  kings  and  earls  of  Mercia :  it  afterwards  fell 
to  the  earls  of  Chester,  and  at  length  was  vested 
in  the  royal  line.  No  vestige  of  it  is  now  to  be 
seen :  in  its  place  is  a  very  antient  wooden  build- 
ing, the  remains  of  the  manor-house  of  Chyles- 
more,  probably  built  after  the  demolition  of  the 
castle.  It  was  of  Saxon  origin,  and  was  bestowed 
by  the  Conqueror  on  Robert  de  Marmion,  the 
same  to  whom  he  had  granted  Tamxvorth  and  its 
dependencies. 

King  Stephen  forcibly  took  this  fortress  from 
Handle  de  Gernons  Earl  of  Chester.  The  earl,  in 
1146,  attempted  to  reduce  it,  not  by  siege,  but 
by  erecting  a  fort  near  it,  in  order  to  distress 
the  garrison,  by  cutting  off  supplies.  The  king 
twice  attempted  its  relief;  the  first  time  with- 
out success,  but  in  the  second  action  he  de- 
feated the  earl,  forced  him  to  fly,  covered  with 
wrounds,  and  then  demolished  the  castle  \  There 
was  a  great  enmity  between  Robert,  son  of  the 
first  Robert  Marmion,  and  Randle  de  Gernons, 
and  he  determined  to  dispossess  the  earl  of  his 
castle  in  the  year  1 142 ;  it  being  at  that  time  the 

k  Leicester's  Cheshire  ex  gestis  Stephani,  124. 


Demo- 
lished. 


COVENTRY. 

place  of  his  residence.  Marmion  seized  on  the 
priory  and  fortified  it,  after  expelling  the  monks. 
He  then  sunk  pit-falls  in  the  adjacent  fields, 
and  covered  them  lightly  with  earth,  in  order  to 
entrap  any  who  attempted  to  approach  him.  But 
seeing  the  earl's  forces  drawing  near,  he  went 
out  to  reconnoitre,  and  was  caught  in  his  own 
snares;  for  falling  into  one  he  broke  his  thigh, 
and  was  seized  by  a  common  soldier,  who  in- 
stantly cut  off  his  head  \ 

1  shall  take  notice  of  the  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory, churches,  remains  of  religious  houses,  and 
the  public  buildings,  in  the  course  of  my  walk 
through  the  city,  in  which  I  was  accompanied  by 
the  Reverend  Doctor  Edwards ;  whose  hospitality 
and  politeness  I  have  more  than  once  had  occasion 
to  experience. 

Coventry  is  seated  on  ground  gently  sloping  on       City 

.  ,  .'        ,  ,  ~  Tr.„  DESCRIBED. 

most  sides  :  its  length,  from  JtiiUstreet-gate  to 
Gosford-gate,  is  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile, 
exclusive  of  the  suburbs.  The  streets  in  general 
are  narrow,  and  composed  of  very  antient  build- 
ings, the  stories  of  which,  in  some,  impend  one 
over  the  other  in  such  a  manner,  as  nearly  to  meet 
at  top,  and  exclude  the  sight  of  the  sky.  By  the 
appearance  of  the  whole,  it  is  very  evident  that  it 

1  Dugdale's  Warwickshire,  ii.  p.  1 1 32. 


200  COVENTRY. 

never  underwent  the  calamity  of  fire ;  which,  de- 
precated as  it  pught  to  be,  is  usually  the  cause  of 
future  improvement. 
Numbers.  The  number  of  inhabitants,  taken  at  different 
periods,  in  the  last  two  hundred  years,  is  very  dif- 
ferent. Before  1549,  they  were  found  to  have 
been  15,000;  but  on  that  violent  convulsion,  the 
Dissolution,  trade  grew  so  low,  and  occasioned 
such  a  dispersion  of  people  from  this  city,  as  to 
reduce  them  to  3,000.  To  remedy  this  evil,  Ed- 
ward VI.  granted  the  city  a  charter  for  an  addi- 
tional fair.  To  this  cause  perhaps  was  owing 
the  increase,  by  the  year  1586,  to  6,502.  In 
1644,  when  the  inhabitants  were  numbered,  from 
the  apprehension  of  a  siege,  they  were  found  to 
amount  to  9,500 m.  By  Bradford's  Survey n  of' 
Coventry,  made  in  1748  and  1749,  there  appears 
to  have  been  2,065  houses,  and  12,1 17  people. 
The  accounts  of  the  present  population  vary  from 
20,000  to  30,000 ;  but,  from  my  enquiries,  the 
middle  sum  between  both  may  come  nearest  the 
truth0. 

m  Dugdale,  I  146,  150,  152. 

n  Published  by  Jefferys,  in  1750. 

0  On  a  survey  made  in  1694,  the  population  of  Coventry 
amounted  to  6,710  souls.  The  present  numbers  are  about 
25,000 ;  the  returns  made  to  government  under  the  recent  act, 
stating  them  at  16034,  are  glaringly  incorrect.    When  an  al- 


COVENTRY.  201 

The  city  is  watered  by  the  Radford  and  the 
Sherburn  brooks,  which,  from  N.  and  S.  meet 
within  the  walls,  and,  after  a  short  current,  bound 
the  north-eastern  parts  without  the  walls. 

We  began  our  progress  from  the  Chester  road,   ,  Sponne 

°  .   r     &  .  Hospital, 

on  the  western  side  of  the  city,  at  the  reliques  of  for  Lepers. 
Sponne  hospital,  consisting  of  the  chapel  and  gate- 
way. It  was  founded  for  the  lepers  which  hap- 
pened to  be  in  Coventry,  by  Hugh  Ceveilioc  Earl 
of  Chester,  out  of  affection  to  William  de  Auney,  a 
knight  of  his  houshold,  afflicted  with  the  leprosy. 
Here  was  also  a  priest,  to  pray  both  for  the  living 
and  the  dead ;  also  certain  brethren  and  sisters, 
to  pray,  with  the  lepers,  for  the  good  estate  of  all 
their  benefactors.  This  hospital  is  said  once  to 
have  belonged  to  the  abbey  of  Basingwerk,  in 
Flintshire  ;  but  at  length  was  appropriated  to  the 
monks  of  Coventry,  from  whom  it  passed  to  the 
crown,  in  the  time  of  Edward  IV ;  who  gave  it 
to  the  canons  of  Studley,  in  order  to  obtain  their 
prayers  for  him,  and  all  his  connections. 

That  loathsome  disorder,  which  gave  rise  tOLEPRosY,rrs 
this,   and  numbers  of  other  similar  foundations,  ^SJi^^f 

7  "  INXjNGLAND. 

was  introduced  into  England  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  I.  and  was  supposed  to  have  been  brought 

lowance  of  bread,  meat,  and  beer,  was  distributed  to  as  many 
of  the  inhabitants  as  chose  to  accept  it,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Jubilee  1809,  there  were  fourteen  thousand  applicants.    Ed. 


202  CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN. 

out  of  Egypt,  or  perhaps  the  east,  by  means  of 
the  crusades.  To  add  to  the  horror,  it  was  con- 
tagious ;  which  enhanced  the  charity  of  a  provision 
for  such  miserables,  who  were  not  only  naturally 
shunned,  but  even  chaced,  by  royal  edict,  from  the 
society  of  their  fellow-creatures  p.  All  the  lesser 
Lazar  houses  in  England  were  subject  to  the  rich 
house  at  Burton,  in  Leicestershire ;  which  again 
was  subject  to  that  in  Jerusalem q.  They  were 
usually  dedicated  to  St.  Lazarus,  from  whom  they 
derived  their  name. 
Sponne  j^  little  farther  is  the  entrance  into  the  city; 
within  my  memory  under  a  venerable  and  magni- 
ficent gate,  called  Sponne  Gate;  demolished  in 
1771,  in  order  to  give  admittance  to  the  enormous 
waggons,  loaden  beyond  the  height  of  arches  erect- 
ed when  war  was  our  chief  trade. 

Church  of       Immediately  within  the  walls,  on  the  left, 
St.  John. 

stands  the  church  of  St.  John,  a  very  handsome 

building,  with  a  neat  but  not  lofty  tower,  placed 
in  the  centre :  the  inside  is  in  form  of  a  cross,  in- 
tersected by  a  short  transept :  the  windows  high, 
and  forming  a  long  range,  with  very  narrow  divi- 
sions. This  church  was  originally  a  chapel  to  the 
merchants  gild,  the  most  antient  in  Coventry,  li- 

v  Edward  III.  drove  from  London  all  the  lepers,  except 
fourteen,  who  clamed  admittance  into  St.  Giles's  hospital. 
*  Tanner,  239. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN.  203 

censed  by  Edward  III.  in  1340,  for  a  fraternity 
of  brethren  and  sisters,  with  a  warden,  or  master, 
to  be  elected  out  of  the  body,  who  might  make 
chauntries,  bestow  alms,  and  do  other  works  of 
piety ;  constitute  ordinances,  and  purchase  lands 
to  the  value  of  £.20  a  year,  within  the  liberty  of 
the  city,  for  founding  a  chauntry  of  six  priests,  to 
sing  mass  every  day  in  the  churches  of  the  holy 
Trinity  and  St.  Michael,  for  the  soul  of  king  Ed- 
ward, queen  Philippa,  their  children,  and  for  the 
souls  of  the  gild,  and  others.  Soon  after,  Isabel, 
queen-mother,  assigned  the  land  on  this  spot, 
then  called  Bablake,  for  building  a  chapel,  in 
which  masses  were  to  be  sung  daily  for  the  same 
purposes,  which  was  finished  and  dedicated  in 
1 350.  At  length,  in  1 399,  licence  was  given  for 
celebrating  divine  service  here,  provided  it  might 
be  done  without  injury  to  the  mother-church r. 

On  the  dissolution,  its  revenues  were  found  to 
be  £.  1 1 1  1 3s.  8d.  which  supported  a  warden  and 
eight  priests,  who  had  chambers  in  the  precinct, 
a  master  of  a  grammar-school,  two  singing-clerks, 
and  two  singing-boys,  and  several  poor  men,  who 
had  been  brethren  of  the  gild.  The  church  has  of 
late  years  been  rebuilt ;  made  a  rectory  by  act  of 

r  Dugd.  W.  i.  188. 


Bablake 
Hospital. 


1204  COVENTRY:   BABLAKE  HOSPITAL. 

parlement,  in  1734,  and  settled  on  the  master  of 
the  free-school  of  Coventry  \ 

Behind  this  church  is  Bablake  hospital,  an  old 
building,  Avith  a  court  in  the  middle :  one  part  is 
occupied  by  Bond's  alms-houses,  founded  in  1506, 
by  Thomas  Bond,  mayor  of  Coventry  in  1497,  for 
ten  poor  men  and  one  poor  woman,  with  a  priest 
to  pray  for  the  soul  of  the  founder,  his  grandfa- 
ther, father,  and  all  Christian  souls.  At  that  time 
the  revenues  were  —.49.  11$.  Id.  In  the  first1  of 
Edward  Vlth's  time,  they  were  vested  in  the  city. 
The  revenues  being  improved,  they  maintain  at 
present  eighteen  old  men  and  a  nurse,  each  of 
whom  has  three  shillings  a  week,  a  black  gown, 
and  other  emoluments.  About  the  year  1619, 
an  infernal  ambition  of  becoming  chief  of  the 
house,  seized  one  of  the  alms-men ;  who,  to  attain 
his  end,  poisoned  eight  of  his  brethren;  five  of 
whom  instantly  died.  On  detection,  the  wretch 
effected  his  own  destruction  by  the  same  method, 
and  was  buried  with  the  usual  marks  of  infamv. 

J 

Had  his  fortune  flung  him  into  a  higher  station,  his 

deeds  would  have  paralleled  him  with  Cesar  Borgia, 

or  his  more  monstrous  father,  Pope  Alexander  VI. 

The  other  part  of  the  building  is  allotted  for 

*  Ecton,  93.  *  Dugd.  W.  i.  IPS. 


COVENTRY :  CANAL.  205 

the  blue  boys  :  a  foundation  owing  to  a  very  sin- 
gular accident.  Mr.  Thomas  Wheatly,  mayor  of 
Coventry  in  1556,  and  ironmonger  and  card-maker 
by  trade,  sent  his  servant,  Ought  on,  to  Spain,  to 
buy  some  barrels  of  steel  gads ;  which  he  thought 
he  did,  in  open  fair.  When  they  were  brought 
home  and  examined,  they  were  found  to  contain 
cochineal  and  ingots  of  silver.  Mr.  IVheatly 
kept  them  for  a  considerable  time,  in  hopes  of  dis- 
covering the  owner ;  for  his  servant  did  not  know 
from  whom  he  bought  them.  At  length  he  applied 
the  profits,  as  well  as  much  of  his  own  estate,  for 
the  support  of  poor  children. 

From  thence  my  walk  was  continued  along  the  Canal. 
west  side  of  the  city,  to  Bishopsgate-street.  A  little 
without  is  the  head  of  the  great  canal,  which,  pass- 
ing by  the  neighboring  collieries  at  Hawkesbury, 
is  to  extend  to  Brinklow,  Hill-Morton,  Braunston 
in  Northamptonshire,  return  into  Warwickshire, 
and,  after  passing  by  Banbury,  conclude  at  Ox- 
ford*. By  another  branch,  likewise  begun  near 
to  Coventry,  it  is  to  pass  by  Atherston  and  Tam- 
worth,  and  to  unite  with  the  great  Staffordshire 

0  Distances.     Coventry  to  Hill-Morton,  20  1  0 

Napton         Napton  Field,  17   15,  rise  88  f. 
Claydon,       -       8  5   1 

Oxford,        -  36  0  7,  fall  204. 


206  COVENTRY:  FREE-SCHOOL. 

canal  on  Fradley  heath,  three  miles  N.  E.  of  Licit- 
Jield%;  which,  by  means  of  the  Stour  Port  canal, 
would  have  become  the  uniting  spot  of  the  com- 
merce of  the  Thames,  the  Severn,  and  the  Trent, 
had  Britain  flourished  in  the  manner  it  did  when 
these  vast  designs  were  undertaken,  in  the  full  in- 
toxication of  its  prosperity.  At  present  it  is  only 
finished  as  far  as  Atherston  y. 
Free  At  the  lower  end  of  this  street  is  the  free- 

OCHOOL, 

once  St.  school,  dedicated  to  St.  John  Baptist :  it  sprung 
Hospital,  out  of  an  hospital,  founded  in  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  II.  by  Laurence,  prior  of  Coven- 
try, and  his  convent,  at  the  request  of  Edmund, 
archdeacon  of  Coventry,  for  the  reception  of  the 
sick  and  needy.  At  the  dissolution,  John  Hales, 
clerk  of  the  hanaper  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 
a  gentleman  who  had  a  large  share  in  the  plunder 
of  the  church,  and  having  neither  wife  nor  child, 

x  Distances.  Staffordshire  canal  to  Atherston,  21  0  0,  rise  95. 

Coventry,    14  4  0 
Branches  to  coal  mines,     14  0 

y  These  great  undertakings  are  now  completed  ;  the  former 
is  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  Oxford,  the  latter  by  that 
of  the  Coventry  canal.  Near  Braunston  the  Oxford  unites  with 
the  Grand  Junction  canal,  which  forms  a  more  ready  commu- 
nication with  the  Tliames,  and  serves  to  supply  the  metropolis 
with  coal  from  the  central  parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  shares 
in  the  Coventry  canal,  originally  of  one  handred  pounds,  now 
sell  for  eight  hundred  guineas.    Ed. 


COVENTRY:  FREE-SCHOOL.  207 

converted  this  foundation,  which  he  had  purchased 
at  a  very  cheap  rate,  into  a  free-school,  and  en- 
dowed it  with  CC  marks  a  year  in  land.  At  first, 
the  boys  were  instructed  in  the  church  of  the 
White  Friars ;  but  the  magistrates  finding  that 
Mr.  Hales  had  bought  the  lands  but  not  the 
church,  took  advantage  of  the  flaw,  removed  the 
scholars  to  the  present  place,  and  pulled  down 
the  church2.  The  chapel,  now  reduced  to  one 
aile,  is  the  present  school ;  and  the  master  resides 
in  the  house  belonging  to  the  antient  master  of  the 
hospital.  The  school  has  also  a  library  belonging 
to  it.  Mr.  Hales  died  in  1572 :  his  fortunes, 
which  chiefly  lay  in  Warwickshire,  devolved  to 
John,  son  of  his  eldest  brother  Christopher,  who 
made  his  residence  at  Hales  Place,  the  antient 
house  of  the  White  Friars  in  this  city,  and  in 
1660  was  dignified  by  Charles  II.  with  the  title 
of  Baronet. 

Pass  by  Cookstreet  Gate,  on  the  outside  of  the 
city,  and  a  little  further,  by  the  Three  Virgins,  or 
Priory  Gate,  between  which  there  is  a  complete 
part  of  the  wall.  On  the  outside  was  a  paved 
road,  in  imitation  of  the  military  way  from  turret 
to  turret  on  the  famed  wall  of  Severus  * :  and  be- 
sides, here  were  four  other  similar  roads,  which 
went  a  mile  each  way  from  the  city. 

*  Dugd.  W.  i.  170,  130.  a  Tour  Scot!,  vol.  iii.  288. 


208  COVENTRY:   PRIORY. 

At  a  small  distance  without  the  Priory  Gate, 
is  Stvanszvell  Pool,  which  works  the  wheel  that 
supplies  a  part  of  the  city  with  water.  This  did 
belong  to  the  priory,  but  was  at  the  dissolution 
purchased  by  the  corporation  from  the  crown b. 
Priort.  From  hence  I  returned  to  the  priory,  seated 
on  the  south  side  of  the  brook  Sherburn.  What 
bears  that  name  is  an  uninhabited  house c,  of  much 
later  date  than  that  monastery ;  but  built  on  some 
part  of  the  site  of  this  great  foundation. 

About  the  year  1043,  earl  Leojric  and  his  fair 
countess  more  than  repaired  the  loss  in  1016,  in 
the  destruction  of  the  famous  Sazo?i  nunnery,  by 
founding  in  its  stead  a  magnificent  monastery. 
They  placed  here  an  abbot  and  twenty-four  monks 
of  the  Benedictine  order ;  enriched  the  very  walls 
and  the  church  with  massy  gold  and  silver,  and 
endowed  it  with  half  the  town  and  twenty-four 
manors.  All  this  they  did  with  the  advice  of  king 
Edward  the  Confessor  and  the  reigning  pope,  and 
dedicated  the  church  to  the  honor  of  God  and  his 
blessed  mother,  St.  Peter,  St.  Osburg,  and  all 
saints.  The  pious  founders  were  buried,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  times,  in  the  porches ;  for 
the  distasteful  custom  of  church  interment  did  not 
prevale  till  long  after. 

b  Dugd.  W.  i.  14-6.  c  It  is  now  occupied.    En. 


COVENTRY:  PRIORY.  209 

The  first  abbot  was  Leofrin ;  but  that  dignity 
was  of  short  duration,  for,  on  the  removal  of  the 
see  of  Lichfield  to  this  place,  in  1095,  by  Robert 
de  Limisie,  the  office  was  suppressed,  the  bishop 
being  in  such  cases  always  esteemed  supreme  of 
the  house d  in  his  stead;  a  prior  was  appointed, 
but  without  derogating  from  the  honor  of  the 
house ;  for  the  priors  were  barons  in  parlement  as 
well  as  the  preceding  abbots,  and  the  place  a 
mitred  abbey.  This  first  prelate  was  more  at- 
tracted by  the  wealth  of  the  house  than  by  any 
spiritual  call ;  for  he  at  once  scraped  from  a  single 
beam  five  hundred  marks  worth  of  silver,  in  order 
to  carry  on  the  intrigue  at  Rome  against  the  poor 
monks.  He  reduced  them  to  such  short  com- 
mons, that  he  depressed  their  spirits,  discouraged 
all  sorts  of  knowlege  among  them,  and,  in  short, 
rendered  them  too  dejected  to  think  of  obtaining 
any  redress. 

This  was  a  prelude  to  greater  misfortunes.  In 
the  latter  end  of  the  following  century,  Hugh  No- 
vani,  a  Norman,  became  bishop.  He  soon  quar- 
relled with  the  monks ;  who,  in  a  synod  held  be- 
fore the  high  altar,  doubtless  on  some  high  pro- 
vocation, broke  his  head  with  the  holy  cross. 

Tantsene  animis  coelestibus  irae ! 

*  Willis's  Abbeys,  i.  70. 
P 


410  COVENTRY:  PRIORY. 

This  enraged  the  proud  prelate  (as  he  was  called 
by  those  meek  monks)  to  lay  his  complaint  against 
them  at  Rome.  The  pope  attended  to  it,  expelled 
the  antient  inhabitants,  and  placed  in  their  room 
a  set  of  secular  canons.  The  monks,  now  driven 
into  the  wild  world,  had  only  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  their  persecutor  struck  with  deep  remorse ; 
for,  in  1198,  lying  on  his  death-bed,  in  the  abbey 
of  Bee  in  Normandy,  he  was  seized  with  fierce 
horrors  at  his  conduct  towards  those  holy  men ; 
implored  forgiveness,  and  desired  their  interces- 
sion with  the  Almighty  in  his  behalf.  He  re- 
quested to  be  buried  in  the  habit  of  the  order, 
that  he  might  receive  the  benefit  of  its  protection 
in  the  other  world,  and  finally  consigned  himself 
to  purgatory,  ibi  in  diem  judicii  cruciandus. 

Luckily  at  the  time  of  this  event,  Thomas,  a 
monk  of  Coventry,  happened  to  be  at  Rome  soli- 
citing the  cause  of  his  brethren  :  but  Innocent  III. 
(then  pope)  was  so  enraged  by  his  importunities, 
as  to  order  him  to  withdraw.  The  poor  monk, 
with  tears,  replied,  ■  Another  pope  will  come,  to 

*  whom  I  shall  not  sue  in  vain.     I  therefore  will 

*  patiently  wait  your  death,  as  I  have  that  of  your 
'  two  predecessors.'  "  Here  is  a  devil  of  a  fel- 
"  low"  (says  his  Holiness,  in  high  wrath,  to  his 
attendants)  "by  St.  Peter!  he  shall  not  wait 
"  for  my  death ;  so  I  will  not  put  him  off  any 


COVENTRY:  PRIORY,  211 

**  longer,  but  make  out  the  purpose  of  his  petition 
"  before  I  put  a  morsel  more  into  my  mouth  V 

This  troublesome  affair  ended,  they  were  re- 
placed with  double  advantage;  their  privileges, 
as  if  by  way  of  atonement  for  their  short  suffer- 
ings, increased  beyond  all  reason  ;  for  in  the  time 
of  Edward  III.  they  obtained,  that  they  and  their 
tenants,  except  those  who  held  by  knight  service 
more  than  half  a  knight's  fee,  should  be  quit  of 
murder,  robbery,  suit  to  the  county  or  hundred 
courts,  aid  to  the  sheriffs,  view  of  frankpledge, 
and  repair  of  the  king's  castles  or  pools f.  Reign 
after  reign  they  received  fresh  emoluments;  so 
that  in  the  end  they  became  possessed  of  revenues 
to  the  amount  of  £,75\.  19s.  5d.,  or,  after  re- 
prises, £A99.  7s.  4</.g 

Among  the  sacred  furniture  was  an  image  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  adorned  with  a  chain  of  gold 
enriched  with  gems,  bestowed  by  the  Countesa 
Godeoa  on  her  death-bed :  to  which  the  devotees 
were  to  say  as  many  prayers  as  there  were  in  it 
precious  stones. 

And  besides  this,  an  arm  of  St.  Augustine  of 
Hippo,  which  Agelnethus,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, in  1020,  bought  at  Rome  from  the  pope,  for 

e  Dugdale,  W.  i.  161.  .    f  Dugdale,  i.  161. 

s  Tanner,  567. 

P  2 


212  COVENTRY:  PRIORY. 

the  small  sum  of  C  talents  of  silver,  and  one  of 
gold  \ 

But  even  this  arm  had  not  power  to  ward  off 
the  blow  given  by  the  more  irresistible  one  of 
Henry  VIII ;  who,  not  content  with  the  expul- 
sion of  its  inhabitants,  and  seizure  of  the  revenues, 
directed  this  noble  pile  to  be  levelled  with  the 
ground ;  which  he  did,  notwithstanding  the  earnest 
prayers  of  its  bishop,  Rowland  Lee,  one  of  his 
most  servile  tools.  A  deed  equally  wanton  and 
impious ! 

The  loss  is  the  more  to  be  regretted,  as  this 
cathedral  is  supposed  to  have  been  built  on  the 
model  of  that  of  Lichfield,  and  to  have  been  equally 
beautiful.  Nothing  remains  except  a  fragment, 
constituting  part  of  a  private  house,  to  be  seen 
with  difficulty,  and  after  some  search.  The  pa- 
lace stood  between  the  priory  and  St.  MichaeVs, 
and  was  sold  in  1 65 1 ,  for  its  materials,  to  Natha- 
niel Lacy  and  Obadiah  Chambers,  for  the  sum  of 
one  hundred  guineas.  The  last  prior,  Thomas 
Camsel,  in  1538,  was  prevaled  on  to  make  a  sur- 
render of  the  house,  either  through  fear  of  death 
for  withstanding  the  tyrant's  pleasure,  or  through 
lucre    of  'pension ;    for   he   had    not   less    than 

h  Dugdak  W.  i.  158.  Goodwin,  78. 


COVENTRY:  ST-  MICHAEL'S  CHURCH.        213 

-£.133.  6s.  Sd.  annuity,  besides  other  allowances 
to  the  monks  f.  The  site  was  then  granted  to 
John  Combes  and  Richard  Stansjield,  after  flou- 
rishing under  monastic  government  above  five 
hundred  years. 

When  the  cathedral  was  standing,  Coventry 
possessed  a  matchless  group  of  churches,  all  within 
one  ccemetery.  St.  Michael's  at  present  is  a  spe-  St.  Mr- 
cimen  of  the  most  beautiful  steeple  in  Europe :  a  Church. 
tower  enriched  with  saintly  figures  on  the  sides ; 
an  octagon  rising  out  of  it,  and  that  lengthened 
into  a  most  elegant  spire.  Every  part  is  so  finely 
proportioned,  that  it  is  no  wonder  Sir  Christopher 
Wren  spoke  of  it  as  a  masterpiece  of  architecture. 
The  outside  is  extremely  handsome;  the  inside 
light  and  lofty,  consisting  of  a  body  and  two  ailes, 
divided  by  four  rows  of  high  and  airy  pillars  and 
arches.  The  height  of  the  steeple  and  length  of 
the  church  are  the  same,  three  hundred  and  three 
feet ;  the  width  of  the  latter  a  hundred  and  four. 

In  king  Stephens  time,  this  church  was  a  chapel 
to  the  monks;  it  became  afterwards  a  vicarage, 
and  on  the  dissolution  fell  to  the  gift  of  the  crown. 
This,  Trinity,  and  St.  Johns,  form  the  parishes  of 
this  great  city ;  so  numerous  are  the  dissenters. 

Its  beautiful  steeple  was  begun  in  the  reign  of 

*  Stevens,  i.  223.     Willis's  Abbeys,  i.  72. 


214  COVENTRY:  TRINITY  CHURCH. 

Edward  III.  in  1372,  by  two  brothers,  Adam 
and  William  Botener,  at  their  own  charges,  which 
amounted  annually  to  one  hundred  pounds ;  nor 
was  it  finished  in  less  than  twenty  years.  By  the 
stile  of  architecture,  I  agree  with  Sir  William  Dug- 
dale,  that  the  present  body  was  built  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  VI.  Some  ornament  was  also  added 
to  the  steeple  at  the  same  time.  Coventry  seems 
to  have  been  particularly  favored  by  Henry,  or, 
to  speak  more  properly  of  that  meek  prince,  by 
the  heroine  Margaret ;  for  this  city  used  to  be 
stiled  the  secret  harbour  of  that  queen. 
Trinity  Trinity  church,  and  its  spire,  would  be  spoken 
of  as  a  most  beautiful  building,  was  it  not  eclipsed 
by  its  unfortunate  vicinity  to  St.  Michael's.  With- 
in are  two  epitaphs,  which  I  give  for  their  singu- 
larity. One  is  on  Philemon  Holland,  the  famous 
translator.  He  was  schoolmaster  and  physician 
in  the  city.  A  wag  made  this  distich  on  one  of 
his  labors : 

Philemon  with  translations  doth  so  fill  us, 
He  will  not  let  Suetonius  be  Tranquillus. 

He  was  called  translator-general  of  his  age; 
acquired  much  credit  by  his  fidelity,  but  none 
greater  than  by  his  translation  of  Camden,  in  that 
great  antiquarian's  life-time,  and  by  his  consent; 
to  whose  work  he  made  considerable  additions. 


COVENTRY:  CHURCHES.  215 

He  wrote  a  great  folio  with  one  pen,  and,  as 
he  tells  us,  did  not  wear  it  out : 

With  one  sole  pen  I  writ  this  book, 

Made  of  a  grey  goose  quill : 
A  pen  it  was  when  it  I  took ; 

A  pen  I  leave  it  still k. 

At  length  (if  I  may  be  allowed  to  pun  with 
Fuller)  death  translated  this  translator  to  the 
other  world,  in  1636,  at  the  good  old  age  of 
eighty-five ;  leaving  behind  this  epitaph  of  his  own 
composition : 

Nemo  habet  hie,  nemo'  ?  hospes  salveto,  Philemon 
Holland  hac  recubat  rite  repostus  lmrao  : 
Si  quairas  ratio  quasnam  sit  nominis,  haec  est, 
Totus  terra  fui,  terraque  totus  ero  : 
At  redivivus  morte  tua  servabor,  Iesu, 
Una  fides  votis,  haec  est  via  sola  salutis. 
Hac  spe  fretus  ego,  culpa  poenaque  solutus 
Jamque  renatus,  et  inde  novo  conspectus  amictu, 
Coetu  in  sanctorum  post  redimitus  ero. 
Claudicat  incessu  senior  mea  musa,  videsne  ? 
Claudatur  capulo  mecum  simul  ipsa,  valeto. 

Valedictio 
Ad  liberos  et  nepotes  superstites. 
Dantque  omnes  una.  dudum  de  stirpe  creati 
Henrice  ah  !  septem  de  fratribus  une  superstes 
Orphanici  patris  Oulielmi  nuper  adempti 
Et  mihi  (bis  puero)  nutricis  Anna,  Maria 
Cumque  tuis  angelis  Elizabeta ;  valete l. 

k  Fuller's  Worthies,  127,  128.  '  Copied  from  Dugdale. 


216  COVENTRY  CROSS. 

The  other,  which  is  in  St.  MichaeVs  church, 
commemorates  a  Captain  Gervas  Scrope,  written, 
as  the  proem  tells  you,  in  the  agony  and  dolorous 
pains  of  the  gout,  soon  before  his  death. 

Here  lies  an  old  tennis-ball, 
Was  racketted  from  spring  to  fall, 
With  so  much  heat  and  so  much  haste, 
Time's  arm  for  shame  grew  tir'd  at  last. 
Four  kings  in  camps  he  truly  serv'd, 
And  from  his  loyalty  ne'er  swerv'd. 
Father  ruin'd,  the  son  slighted, 
And  from  the  crown  ne'er  recruited. 
Loss  of  estate,  relations,  blood, 
Was  too  well  known,  but  did  no  good. 
With  long  campaigns,  and  pains  of  gout, 
He  could  no  longer  hold  it  out. 
Always  a  restless  life  he  led ; 
Never  at  quiet  till  quite  dead. 
He  married,  in  his  latter  days, 
One  who  exceeds  the  common  pAise ;  * 
But  wanting  breath  still  to  make  known 
Her  true  affection  and  his  own, 
Death  timely  came,  all  wants  supply'd, 
By  giving  rest,  which  life  deny'd. 

On  leaving  these  churches,  I  surveyed  with 
indignation,  such  as  antiquaries  experience,  the 
Cross,  site  of  the  elegant  and  antient  cross,  till  of  late 
years  such  an  ornament  to  the  city.  I  am  not 
furnished  with  an  apology  for  the  corporation  who 
destroyed  this  beautiful  building;  so  must  leave 


COVENTRY:  SAINT  MARY  HALL.  217 

it  doubtful,  whether  the  gothic  resolution  was  the 
result  of  want  of  money,  or  want  of  taste.  In 
169,9,  the  city  paid  it  such  respect,  as  to  expend 
t&3£3  4*.  6d.  in  its  repair1". 

It  was  built,  or  rather  begun,  in  1541,  to  re- 
place another  cross,  taken  down  some  years  be- 
fore. The  founder  was  Sir  William  Hollies,  lord 
mayor  of  London,  and  son  of  Thomas  Hollies,  of 
Stoke  near  this  city,  who  left  by  his  will  two  hun- 
dred pounds  towards  the  design.  The  base  was 
hexangular,  finely  ornamented  with  gothic  sculp- 
ture ;  above,  rose  three  stories  of  most  light  and 
elegant  tabernacle-work,  lessening  to  the  summit. 
In  the  niches  were  saints  and  English  monarchs, 
from  Henry  II.  to  Henry  V.  and  around  each 
story  a  variety  of  pretty  figures  with  flags,  with  the 
arms  of  England  or  the  rose  of  Lancaster  ex- 
pressed on  them :  and  on  the  summit  of  the  up- 
permost plate  Justice,  and  other  gracious  attri- 
butes. 

A  little  south  of  St.  Michaels,  stands  St.    St.  Mart 

Hall. 
Mary  Hall,  at  present  used  for  corporation-as- 
semblies. This  place  was  built  in  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Henry  VI :  a  venerable  pile,  whose 
entrance  is  beneath  a  large  gateway,  over  which 
are  the  figures  of  a  king  and  queen  sitting ;  pro- 

n  Dugdale  W.  i.  146. 


218  COVENTRY:  SAINT  MARY  HALL. 

bably  Henry  and  his  consort  Margaret.  Within 
this  building  is  a  fine  old  room  :  in  the  upper  end 
is  a  noble  semicircular  window,  divided  into  nine 
parts,  elegantly  painted  with  figures  of  several  of 
our  monarchs,  with  coats  of  arms  and  ornaments, 
but  now  very  imperfect :  those  in  the  windows  on 
the  one  side  are  lost ;  several  of  those  on  the  other 
are  entire,  and  were  designed  to  represent  some 
of  our  great  nobility,  who  had  honored  this  hall 
with  their  presence  as  brothers  and  sisters  of  the 
gild,  for  whose  use  this  hall  was  founded.  This 
had  been  the  gild  of  St.  Katherine,  established  by 
certain  citizens  of  Coventry,  in  1343,  by  licence 
of  Edward  III ;  after  which  it  was  united  to  those 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Our  Lady,  and  St.  John  the 
Baptist. 

The  illustrious  personages  represented  here, 
are  William  Beauchamp,  lord  of  Abergavenny, 
and  fourth  son  to  Thomas  Earl  of  Warwick  ;  and 
by  him  is  his  countess  Joan,  daughter  of  Richard 
Earl  of  Arundel. 

Richard  Beauchamp  Earl  of  Warwick,  and  his 
second  wife  Isabella,  daughter  of  Thomas  Lord 
D'Espencer ;  Humphry  Earl  of  Stafford,  with  a 
battle-ax  in  his  hand ;  and  one  of  the  John  Mow- 
brays  Dukes  of  Norfolk.  All  those  great  men 
are  dressed  with  the  magnificence  and  luxury  of 
the  east,  in  long  robes  lined  with  ermine,  and  with 


VERSES  IN  SAINT  MARY  HALL.  219 

large  and  singular  hoods.  These  were  the  gar- 
ments of  peace,  when  they  passed  the  festive  day 
in  honor  of  their  fraternity. 

Along  the  walls  are  ranged  a  number  of  Latin 
verses,  with  a  sort  of  Sternhold  translation  oppo- 
site. I  shall  only  give  the  latter,  as  Doctor 
Stukely  has  already  preserved  the  former  in  his 
Itinerary. 

Edward  the  floure  of  chivalre,  whilesome  the  Black  Prynce  hyghte, 
Who  prisoner  tooke  the  French  king  John,  in  claime  of  grandames 

right ; 
And  slew  the  kyng  of  Brame  in  field,  whereby  the  ostrich  penn 
He  won,  and  ware  on  crest  here  first;  which  poesie  bare  Ich  Dien. 
Amid  their  martial  feats  of  arms,  wherein  he  had  no  peere, 
His  countie  eke  to  shew  this  seate  he  chose  and  lov'd  full  deer. 
The  former  state  he  gat  confirmed,  and  freedom  did  encrease ; 
A  president  of  knyghthood  rare,  as  well  for  warre  as  peace. 

Since  time  that  first  this  antient  town  Earl  Leqfrike  feoffed  free, 
At  Godines  suite  and  merit  strange,  or  else  it  could  not  bee. 
In  princes  grace  by  long  descent,  as  old  recordes  do  date, 
It  stood  manteind,  until  at  length  it  grew  to  cities  state. 
Quene  Isabel,  sole  heire  of  Frannce,  great  favor  hither  caste, 
And  did  procure  large  fraunchises  by  charter  ay  to  last. 
We  owe,  therefore,  in  loialtie  our  selves,  and  all  wee  have, 
To  Elizabeth,  our  ladie  liege ;  whom  God  in  mercy  save. 

When  florishing  state  gan  once  to  fade,  and  commonwealth  decay, 
No  wonder  that  in  cities  great ;  for  what  endureth  aye  ? 
John,  late  Duke  of  Northumberland",  a  prince  of  high  degree, 
Did  graunt  faire  lands  for  commons  weale,  as  here  in  brass  you  see. 

n  John  Dudley,  beheaded  in  1553:  a  character  as  wicked 
as  that  of  his  son. 


220 


COVENTRY:  GREY  FRIARS. 


Drapiers 
Hall. 


Grey 
Friars. 


And  Leicester  mid  thos  great  affairs,  whereto  high  place  doth  call. 
His  father's  worthy  steps  hath  traced  to  prop,  that  his  might  fall 
On  forth  in  prince  and  countrie's  cause  hold  forth  this  course  your 

days: 
Such  deeds  do  noble  bloud  commend,  such  bring  mortal  praise. 

In  the  apartments  of  this  building  are  held  the 
balls  and  assemblies  of  the  city.  In  one  of  the 
drawing-rooms  is  to  be  seen,  in  high  preservation, 
a  piece  of  antiquity  equally  delicate  and  curious ; 
an  unique,  which  Coventry  alone  has  the  happi- 
ness of  possessing.  Here  it  is  known  by  the  name 
of  The  Lady's  Spoon,  but  is  doubtless  no  other 
than  the  Scaphium  of  the  antients,  described  by 
Ccelius  Rhodiginus  and  Pancirollus,  Rerum  me- 
morabil.  deperd." 

The  front  of  the  Drapiers  Hall  is  very  elegant, 
ornamented  with  Tuscan  pilasters,  and  does  much 
credit  to  the  city.  It  was  lately  rebuilt  on  the 
site  of  the  antient  hall,  founded  by  certain  dra- 
piers, whose  names  have  long  since  perished. 

From  hence  we  crossed  the  city  to  the  Grey 
Friars,  which  stood  on  the  south  side.  This  order 
arrived  in  Coventry  before  the  year  1234,  when  they 
had  only  an  oratory,  which  was  covered  with  shin- 


0  As  quoted  by  the  learned  author  of  The  Dialogue  on  De- 
cency, &c.  &c.  40,  41. — I  greatly  lament  that  the  citizens  of 
Coventry,  mistaking  my  panegyric  for  ridicule,  have  destroyed 
this  matchless  morsel. 


CORPUS  CHRISTI  PLAYS.  221 

gles  from  Kenelworth  wood,  by  an  order  of  Henry 
III.  to  the  sheriff  of  JVarzvickshire.  Both  the  house 
and  church,  of  an  order  devoted  to  poverty,  were 
built  by  pious  alms,  on  a  spot  of  ground  bestowed 
on  them  by  the  last  Randle  Earl  of  Chester,  out 
of  his  neighboring  manor  of  Cheylesmor.  The 
church  seems  not  to  have  been  built  till  the  time 
of  Edward  III.  when  the  Black  Prince  permitted 
the  friars  to  take  stone  out  of  his  park  of  Cheyles- 
mor for  that  purpose.  A  beautiful  steeple,  with 
a  spire  springing  from  an  octagon,  is  all  that  re- 
mains of  this  church.  Dugdale  supposes  the 
Hastings  to  have  been  great  benefactors ;  for 
numbers  of  them  were  interred  here,  in  a  chapel 
of  their  name,  and  many  in  the  habit  of  the  order, 
from  a  superstition  of  the  respect  the  Evil  Spirit 
would  pay  to  it  on  the  last  day. 

These  friars  were  celebrated  for  their  annual     Corpus 

.  .  '         ■  .'ii  r-ii     •      •       Christi 

exhibitions  of  the  mysteries  called  Corpus  Christi      Plays. 
plays,  which  they  performed  on  that  day,  to  their 
great  emolument,  before  crowds  of  spectators,  who 
resorted  hither  at  that  season  from  all  parts.    Like 
Thespis  of  old,  they  are  recorded 

Plaustris  vexisse  poemata, 

• 

and  to  have  gone  to  the  most  advantageous  parts 
of  the  city,  with  portable  theatres  drawn  on  wheeled 
carriages,  from  which  they  exhibited  their  page- 


222  CORPUS  CHRISTI  PLAYS. 

ants,  which  amounted  to  forty.  The  subjects  are 
announced  in  a  sort  of  prologue,  by  a  person 
called  Ve,viliator,  who  probably  carried  a  flag 
painted  with  the  subject  of  the  day,  and  at  the 
same  time  gave  out  to  the  crowd  the  history  it 
was  to  expect.  The  history  is  taken  up  at  the 
creation,  and  ends  with  the  last  day.  I  have  said 
much  of  these  religious  dramata  in  my  JVelsh 
Tour  p,  therefore  will  not  pester  the  reader  at  pre- 
sent with  more  than  Eve's  rhetoric,  after  being 
tempted  by  the  serpent,  to  persuade  poor  Adam 
to  taste  of  the  forbidden  fruit. 

My  semely  spouse  and  good  husbond, 

Lystenyth  to  me  ser,  I  zow  pray  ; 
Take  yis  fayr  appyl  all  in  zow  hond, 

Yerof  a  mursel  byte  &  asay 
To  ete  this  appyl  loke  that  ze  fond 

Goddys  felaw  to  be  alvvay ; 
All  his  wisdom  to  undyrstonde, 

And  Goddys  per  to  be  for  ay. 
All  thyng  for  to  make, 

Both  fysch  &  foule,  se  &  sond, 

Byrd  &  best,  watyr  &  lond, 

Yis  appyl  you  take  out  of  myn  hond 
A  bete  herof  you  take  % 

Henry  VIII.  put  an  end  to  the  performances 
of  these  poor  friars,  who  had  the  honor  of  falling 

f  Tour  1773,  p.  137.  8vo.  ed.  1810.  i.  p.  185. 
*  Stevens,  i.  145,  &c. 


COVENTRY:  GREY  FRIARS.  223 

with  the  greater  monasteries ;  having  escaped  the 
wreck  of  the  lesser,  because  they  had  nothing 
worth  seizing  to  gratify  his  rapacious  court.  But 
the  king,  not  content  with  their  ruin,  added  to  it 
the  mortifying  obligation  of  making  their  surrender 
on  the  5th  of  October  1538,  and  to  sign  it  with 
their  names  and  common  seal.  The  instrument 
is  curious,  and  worthy  perusal. 

"  For  as  moche  as  we  the  wardens  and  freers 
"  of  the  house  of  Saynt  Frances  in  Coventre, 
"  commonly  callyd  the  Grey  Freers  in  Coventre, 
"  in  the  county  of  Warwick,  doo  profoundly  con- 
"  sider,  that  the  perfection  of  Christian  livynge 
"  dothe  not  consist  in  dume  ceremonies,  werynge 
"  of  a  grey  coot,  disgeasinge  our  selfe  aftur 
"  straunge  fassions,  do  kynge,  noddynge,  and 
"  beckyng,  in  guyrdyng  our  selves  wythe  a  gurdle 
*'  fulle  of  knotts,  &  other  like  papisticall  ceremo- 
"  nies,  wherein  we  have  ben  mooste  principally 
"  practised  and  mislyd  in  tymes  paste ;  but  the 
"  very  true  waye  to  plese  God,  and  to  live  a  tru 
"  Christian  inon,  wytheout  all  ypocrisie  and  fayned 
"  diseimulation,  is  sinceerly  declared  unto  us  by 
"  our  Mr.  Christ  e,  his  evangelists  and  apostles  ; 
"  being  myndyd  hereafter  to  followe  the  same, 
w  conformynge  our  self  unto  the  will  and  plesure 


224        F  COVENTRY:  GREY  FRIARS. 

"  of  our  supreme  hedde  under  God  in  erthe,  the 
"  kynges  majestie,  and  not  to  folowe  henseforth 
"  the  superstitious  traditions  of  any  forinsecall 
"  potentate  or  peere ;  wythe  mutuall  assent  and 
H  consent  do  surrendre  and  yelde  up  into  the 
"  hondes  of  the  same,  all  our  seide  house  of  Saynt 
"  Frances,  in  the  cite  of  Coventre,  commonly 
"  callyd  the  Grey  Freers  in  Coventre,  wythe  also 
"  the  londs,  tenements,  gardens,  medows,  waters, 
"  pondiards,  fedings,  pastures,  comens,  rents,  re- 
"  versions,  &  alle  other  our  interest,  ryghtes,  or 
"  titles  appertaining  unto  the  same ;  mooste  hum- 
"  bly  beseechinge  his  mooste  noble  grace  to  dis- 
"  pose  of  us,  and  of  the  same,  as  beste  shall  stonde 
"  wythe  his  mooste  gracious  pleasure.  And  fur- 
"  ther,  frely  to  graunte  unto  every  on  of  us  his  li- 
"  cense  under  wretyng  &  seealle,  to  chaunge  our 
"  habits  into  secular  fashion,  and  to  receive  suche 
"  maner  of  livinges  as  other  secular  priests  com- 
"  monly  be  preferred  unto.  And  we  all  faithfully 
"  shall  pray  unto  Almighty  God  long  to  preserve 
"  his  mooste  noble  grace  wythe  increase  of  moche 
"  felicite  and  honour.  And  in  witnes  of  alle  and 
"  singular  the  premisses,  we  the  seide  warden  and 
"  covent  of  the  Grey  Freers  in  Coventre  to  thes 
"  presences  have  putte  our  covent  seealle,  the 
"  fivithe  day  of  October,  in  the  thertythe  yert  of 


COVENTRY :  GREY  FRIARS.  225 

"  the  raynge  of  our  mooste  soveraynge  lord  king 
"  Henry  the  eyghte. 

"  Per  me  Johannem  Stafford,  Guardian, 

"  Per  me  Thomas  Mailer, 

"  Per  me  Thomas  Sanderson, 

"  Per  me  Johannem  A  bell, 

"  Per  me  Johannem  Wood, 

"  Per  me  Rogerum  Lilly, 

"  Per  me  Thomam  Aukock, 

"  Per  me  Matheum  Walker, 

"  Per  me  Robartum  Walker, 

"  Per  me  Thomam  Bangsit, 

"  Per  me  Willielmum  Gosnelle." 

Which  said  house,  or  site,  was  in  the  thirty-fourth 
of  Henry  VIII.  granted  by  the  king  (inter  alia) 
to  the  mayor,  bailiffs,  and  commonalty  of  this 
city,  and  their  successors  for  ever. 

Not  far  from  the  friary  is  a  fine  gate,  called 
The  Grey  Friars  Gate,  the  most  beautiful  of  any 
left  standing r. 

A  little  further  to  the  east  is  Cheleysmor, 
where  is  still  to  be  seen  part  of  the  manor-house ; 
a  wooden  building,  with  a  gateway  beneath.  This, 
or  some  other  on  the  site  of  it,  had  been  the  resi- 
dence of  the  lords  of  the  place,  and  of  the  kings 

r  This  elegant  gate  was  taken  down  in  1781.    Ed. 


226  COVENTRY:  WHITE  FRIARS. 

and  earls  of  Mercia ;  after  that,  of  the  earls  of 
Chester ;  and  finally,  it  fell  to  the  crown,  when 
that  earldom  was  resumed :  which,  with  the  park, 
about  three  miles  in  circumference,  belongs  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales  as  Earl  of  Chester  *.  The  castle 
stood  not  remote  from  the  manor-house. 

From  hence  we  proceeded  to  the  Carmelites, 
or  White  Friars ;  whose  house  stands  at  the  east 
end  of  the  city :  another  order  devoted  to  poverty, 
who  lived  on  charity  both  from  the  living  and  the 
dead ;  for  they  often  received  legacies,  supposed 
expiations  for  sins.  Their  house  was  built  about 
the  year  1342,  by  Sir  John  Poultney,  four  times 
lord  mayor  of  London;  a  gentleman  deservedly 
celebrated  for  his  pious  munificence'.  At  the 
dissolution  it  was  granted  to  Sir  Ralph  Sadler. 
It  was  afterwards  sold  to  John  Hales,  who,  re- 
siding here,  occasioned  it  to  be  called  Hates' 
Place. 

Hebe  are  considerable  remains  of  the  building: 
part  of  the  arched  cloisters,  the  refectory  and  dor- 
mitory, and  vast  vaulted  rooms,  which  served  as 
magazines  for  provisions.  A  very  handsome  gate- 
way, with  three  niches  on  the  front,  is  still  stand- 
ing ;  and  on  an  inner  gate  are  three  arrows,  the 

s  The  Prince  of  Wales,  under  the  act  for  redeeming  the 
land-tax,  has  sold  the  manor-house  and  park  to  the  Marquis 
of  Hertford:  great  part  of  it  is  now  enclosed.     Ed. 

x   Burton's  Leicestershire,  191. 


COVENTRY:  COMBUSTIBLE  WOMAN.  227 

arms  of  the  Hales.  Sir  Christopher  Hales,  Ba- 
ronet, and  after  him  Lady  Hales,  resided  at  the 
White  Friars  many  years  in  the  memory  of  some 
who  were  lately  living :  during  which  time  the  pre- 
mises were  kept  in  good  repair.  The  mansion- 
house  was  afterwards  sold,  and  is  now  filled  with 
weavers  and  Jersey-combers". 

In  the  course  of  my  walk  a  chamber  was  shewn 
to  me,  in  Gosford-street,  noted  for  the  melancholy 
end  of  Mary  Clues,  in  February  1772;  who  was 
found  almost  consumed  by  fire,  occasioned  by  an 
accident  of  a  most  uncommon  nature.  She  had 
been  confined  to  her  bed  by  illness,  the  conse- 
quence of  intemperance.  The  room  was  floored 
with  brick ;  the  bed  furnished  with  only  one  cur- 
tain, and  that  was  next  to  the  window.  The  fire- 
place was  on  the  other  side.  She  was  left,  the 
evening  before  the  accident,  with  two  small  bits 
of  coal  put  quite  back  in  the  grate,  and  a  rush- 
light on  the  chair,  by  the  head  of  the  bed.  The 
next  morning  a  great  smoke  was  perceived  in  the 
room.  On  bursting  open  the  door  some  flames 
appeared,  which  were  easily  extinguished.  The 
remains  of  the  woman  lay  on  the  floor,  but  the 

"  White  Friars  has  been  purchased  by  the  city  of  Coventry 
for  a  house  of  industry:  the  exterior  of  tbe  antient  part  has 
been  preserved ;  the  cloisters  are  glazed,  and  fitted  up  as  a 
dining-room  for  the  poor  inhabitants.     Ed. 

Q  2 


228  REMARKABLE  PHiENOMENA. 

furniture  of  the  room  was  only  slightly  damaged ; 
the  bedstead  superficially  burnt,  but  neither  sheets, 
feather-bed,  or  blankets  destroyed. 

The  solution  of  this  phenomenon  is  rather  ri- 
diculous. Mrs.  Clues  was  excessively  addicted 
to  dram-drinking :  she  would  drink  a  quart  in  a 
day,  either  of  rum  or  anise-seed  water ;  and  by 
those  means,  filling  her  veins  with  pure  spirits,  be- 
came as  inflammable  as  a  lamp.  She  tumbled 
out  of  bed,  took  fire  by  the  candle,  and  in  about 
two  hours  was  fairly  burnt  out  to  her  thighs  and 
one  leg,  and  nothing  left  except  her  bones,  com- 
pletely calcined  \ 

This  is  not  the  only  instance. I  have  read  of 
persons  being  burnt  by  their  own  phlogiston , 
natural  or  acquired.  Two  Courland  noblemen, 
after  a  drinking-match  of  spirituous  liquors,  died 
scorched  and  suffocated  :  and  the  Countess  Cor- 
nelia Baudi,  of  Cesena  in  Italy  y,  was  found  in  the 
situation  of  Mary  Clues,  but  without  imputation 
of  the  guilty  origin.  Semele  was  certainly  one  of 
those  combustible  ladies;  but  the  gallant  Ovid 
has  ascribed  her  fatal  end  to  another  cause. 

Corpus  mortale  tumultus 
Non  tulit  iEthereos;  donisque  jugalibus  arsit. 

x  Philosoph.  Trans.  LXIV.  part  i.  p.  340. 
y  Annual  Register,   1763. 


GOSFORD  GREEN.  229 

In  Gosford-street  I  took  horse  to  visit  Combe 
abbey,  the  seat  of  Lord  Craven ;  passed  through 
Gosford-gate,  and  by  a  green  of  the  same  name,  green.° 
memorable  for  the  single  combat  which  was  to 
have  been  fought  there  in  September  1398,  be- 
tween the  Duke  of  Hereford2,  and  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  earl  marshal  \  The  former  had  basely 
betrayed  a  private  conversation,  in  which  he  said 
that  Mowbray  had  dropt  several  expressions  of  a 
treasonable  nature.  The  accusation  was  denied, 
and,  according  to  the  barbarous  usage  of  the  times, 
Moxvbray  demanded  the  privilege  of  acquitting 
himself  by  single  combat.  Each  of  the  dukes, 
agreeable  to  the  laws  of  chivalry,  flung  down  his 
glove,  which  was  taken  up  before  the  king  and 
sealed b  (I  suppose,  to  prevent  any  future  denial 
of  the  challenge).  The  king  appointed  Coventry 
for  the  place  of  combat,  and  caused  for  that  pur- 
pose a  vast  and  magnificent  theatre  to  be  erected 
on  this  green c.  The  rival  dukes  made  all  requi- 
site preparation,  and  particularly  about  the  essen- 
tial article  armour.  Froissart  relates  the  steps 
they  took ;  which  shews  the  preference  which  was 
given  to  foreign  armourers.  This  I  shall  deliver 
in  the  words  of  his  noble  translator d. 

2  Afterwards  Henry  IV.  a  Thomas  Mowbray. 

b  Polychronicon  cccxxiv.  c  Vita  Ricardi  II.  145. 

4  Sir  John  Bourchier,  Lord  Berners. 


230  GOSFORD  GREEN: 

"  These  two  lordes  made  provision  for  that  was 
"  necessarye  for  them  for  their  battayle.  The 
"  Earl  of  Derby e  sent  his  messangers  in  to  Lom- 
"  bardy,  to  the  Duke  of  My  Hay  n,  Sir  G  a  leas,  for 
"  to  have  armure  at  his  pleasure.  The  duke  agreed 
"  to  the  erles  desyre,  and  caused  the  knight  that 
"  the  erle  had  sent  thyder,  whose  name  was 
"  Fraunces,  to  se  all  the  dukes  armorye ;  and 
"  whan  the  knight  had  chosen  such  as  he  lyked, 
"  than  the  duke  furthermore,  for  love  of  the  erle 
"  of  Derby,  he  sent  four  of  the  best  armourers 
"  that  were  in  Lombardy  to  ye  erle  into  Englande 
"  with  the  knight,  to  thentent  yl  tliei  shuld  arme 
M  &  make  armure  accordyng  to  the  erles  en- 
"  tent.  The  Erie  Marshal,  on  his  part,  sent  in 
"  to  Almayn,  and  in  to  other  places,  to  provyde 
"  him  for  the  journey.  The  charge  of  these  two 
"  lords  was  greate.  But  the  Erie  of  Derby  was 
"  at  mooste  charge." 

The  armour  of  the  great  men  was  uncommonly 
splendid  and  expensive ;  usually  inlaid  with  gold 
and  silver,  with  most  elegant  devices  and  patterns. 
That  of  Francis  I.  in  possession  of  Mr.  JValpole, 
and  that  of  George  Earl  of  Cumberland,  at  Ap- 
pleby castle,  exist  as  specimens  of  the  great  atten- 
tion given  to  that  circumstance.     Besides  beauty, 

•  The  Duke  si  Hereford. 


INTENDED  COMBAT  THERE.  «31 

the  utmost  regard  was  paid  to  the  essential  requi- 
site of  its  being  proof.  This  was  to  be  the  result 
of  the  skill  of  the  armourer,  not  of  art-magic ;  for 
the  combatants  were  to  clear  themselves  by  oath, 
from  having  any  commerce  with  incantations,  or 
of  renderincr  their  armour  or  bodies  invulnerable 

o 

by  any  charm.  Let  their  cause  be  ever  so  bad, 
they  determined  to  die  like  good  Christians ;  dis- 
avowed all  dependence  on  the  power  of  Satan, 
and  supplicated  the  prayers  of  the  pious  specta- 
tors. 

Add  proof  unto  my  armour  with  thy  prayers, 
And  with  thy  blessings  steel  my  lance's  point f. 

I  shall  give  the  consequence  of  this  important 
affair  in  the  very  graphical  words  of  honest  Ho- 
Ibished,  who  minutely  describes  the  pomp  and  ce- 
remony preceding  the  resolution  taken  by  the  un- 
fortunate monarch,  which  in  the  end  cost  him  his 
crown  and  life. 

"  At  the  time  appointed,  the  king  came  to  Co- 
"  ventrie,  where  the  two  dukes  were  readie,  ac- 
"  cording  to  the  order  prescribed  therein ;  com- 
"  ming  thither  in  great  arraie,  accompanied  with 
"  the  lords  and  gentlemen  of  their  linages.  The 
"  king  caused  a  sumptuous  scaffold,  or  theater, 

f  Shakespeare.  Richard  II.  in  a  speech  of  Hereford  on  this 
occasion. 


232    •  GOSFORD  GREEN: 

and  roial  listes  there  to  be  erected  and  pre- 
pared. The  Sundaie  before  they  should  fight, 
after  dinner,  the  duke  of  Hereford  came  to  the 
king  (being  lodged  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
without  the  town,  in  a  tower  that  belonged  to 
Sir  William  Bagot)  to  take  his  leave  of  him. 
The  morrow  after,  being  the  daie  appointed  for 
the  combat,  about  the  spring  of  the  daie  came 
the  duke  of  Norfolke  to  the  court,  to  take  leave 
likewise  of  the  king.  The  duke  of  Hereford 
armed  him  in  his  tent,  that  was  set  up  neere  to 
the  lists ;  and  the  duke  of  Norfolke  put  on  his 
armor  betwixt  the  gate  and  the  barrier  of  the 
town,  in  a  beautiful  house,  having  a  fair  perclois 
of  wood  towards  the  gate,  that  none  might  see 
what  was  done  within  the  house. 
"  The  duke  of  Aumarle  that  daie  being  high 
constable  of  England,  and  the  duke  of  Surrie 
marshal,  placed  themselves  betwixt  them,  well 
armed  and  appointed.  And  when  they  saw  their 
time,  they  first  entered  into  the  lists  with  a  great 
company  of  men,  apparelled  in  silke  sendal,  im- 
brodered  with  silver  both  richlie  and  curiouslie; 
everie  man  having  a  tipped  staff,  to  keep  the 
field  in  order.  About  the  houre  of  prime  came 
to  the  barriers  of  the  lists  the  duke  of  Hereford, 
mounted  on  a  white  courser,  barded  with  green 
and  blew  velvet,  imbroidered  sumptuously  with 


INTENDED  COMBAT  THERE.  233 

"  swans  and  antelopes  of  goldsmiths  worke,  armed 
"'at  all  points.  The  constable  and  marshal  came 
"  to  the  barriers,  demanding  of  him  what  he  was? 
"  he  answered,  '  I  am  Henrie  of  Lancaster,  duke 
"  of  Hereford,  which  am  come  hither  to  do  mine 
"  indevor  against  Thomas  Moxvbraie  duke  of  Nor- 
"  folke,  as  a  traitor  untrue  to  God,  the  king,  his 
"  realme,  and  me.' — Then  incontinentlie  he  sware 
"  upon  the  holie  Evangelists,  that  his  quarrel  was 
"  true  &  just ;  and  upon  that  point  he  required 
"  to  enter  the  lists.  Then  he  puts  up  his  sword, 
"  which  before  he  held  up  naked  in  his  hand,  and, 
"  putting  down  his  visor,  made  a  cross  on  his 
"  horsse,  and  with  speare  in  hand  entered  into  the 
"  lists,  and  descended  from  his  horsse,  and  set 
"  him  down  in  a  chaire  of  green  velvet,  at  the  one 
"  end  of  the  lists,  and  there  reposed  himself, 
"  abiding  the  comming  of  his  adversarie. 

"  Soone  after  him  entered  into  the  field,  with 
"  great  triumph,  King  Richard,  accompanied  with 
"  all  the  peerses  of  the  realme ;  and  in  his  com- 
"  panie  was  the  earle  of  Saint  Paule,  which  was 
"  come  out  of  France,  in  post,  to  see  this  challenge 
"  performed.  The  king  had  there  above  ten  thou- 
"  sand  men  in  armour,  least  some  fraie  or  tumult 
"  might  rise  amongst  his  nobles,  by  quarrelling  or 
"  partaking.  When  the  king  was  set  in  his  seat, 
"  which  was  richly  hanged  and  adorned,  a  king 


234  GOSFORD  GREEN : 

"  at  arms  made  open  proclamation,  prohibiting  all 
"  men,  in  the  name  of  the  king,  and  of  the  high 
"  constable  and  marshal,  to  enterprise  or  attempt 
"  to  approach,  or  touch  any  part  of  the  lists,  upon 
"  pain  of  death,  except  such  as  were  appointed  to 
"  order  or  marshal  the  field.  The  proclamation 
"  ended,  another  herald  cried,  '  Behold  here  Hen- 
"  rie  of  Lancaster  duke  of  Hereford,  appelant, 
"  which  is  entered  into  the  lists  roiall,  to  do  his 
"  devoir  against  Thomas  Mozvbraie  duke  of  Nor- 
u  folke,  defendant,  upon  paine  to  be  found  false  & 
"  recreant.' 

""The  duke  of  Norfolke  hovered  on  horsseback 
"  at  the  entrie  of  the  lists,  his  horsse  being  barded 
"  with  crimson  velvet,  imbrodered  richlie  with 
"  lions  of  silver  and  mulberie  trees ;  and  when  he 
"  had  made  his  oth  before  the  constable  and  inar- 
"  shal,  that  his  quarrel  was  just  &  true,  he  en- 
"  tered  the  field  manfullie,  saieng  aloud,  '  God, 
"  and  him  that  hath  the  right ;'  and  then  he  de- 
"  parted  from  his  horsse,  &  sate  him  downe  in  his 
"  chaire,  which  was  of  crimson  velvet,  courtined 
"  about  with  white  and  red  damaske.  The  lord 
"  marshall  viewed  their  spears,  to  see  that  they 
"  were  of  equall  length,  and  delivered  the  one 
"  speare  himself  to  the  Duke  of  Hereford,  and 
"  sent  the  other  unto  the  Duke  of  Norfolke  by  a 
"  knight ;   then  the  herald  proclamed,  that  the 


INTENDED  COMBAT  THERE.  235 

traverses  &  chaires  of  the  champions  should  be 
removed,  commanding  them,  on  the  king's  be- 
half, to  mount  on  horssebacke,  and  address 
themselves  to  the  battel  and  combat g. 
"  The  duke  of  Hereford  was  quicklie  horssed, 
and  closed  his  bauier,  and  cast  his  speare  into 
the  rest;  and  when  the  trumpet  sounded,  set 
forward  couragiouslie  towards  his  enemie  six  or 
seven  pases.  The  duke  of  Norfolke  was  not 
fullie  set  forward,  when  the  king  cast  downe  his 
warder,  and  the  heralds  cried  c  Ho,  ho.'  Then 
the  king  caused  their  speares  to  be  taken  from 
them,  and  commanded  them  to  repaire  againe  to 
their  chaires;  where  they  remained  two  long 
houres,  while  the  king  and  his  councell  delibe- 
ratlie  consulted  what  order  was  best  to  be  had  in 
so  weightie  a  cause.  Finallie :  after  they  had  de- 
vised, and  fullie  determined  what  should  be  done 
therein,  the  heralds  cried  '  Silence ;'  and  Sir 
John  Bushie,  the  king's  secretarie,  read  the  sen- 
tence and  determination  of  the  king  and  his 
councell,  in  a  long  roll ;  the  effect  whereof  was, 
that  Henrie  duke  of  Hereford  should,  within 
fifteene  daies,  depart  out  of  the  realme,  and  not 
to  returne  before  the  terme  of  ten  yeares  were 
expired,  except  by  the  king  he  should  be  re- 

s  Holinshed's  Chr.  494. 


236  GOSFORD  GREEN. 

"  pealed  againe ;  and  this  upon  paine  of  death : 
"  and  that  Thomas  Mowbraie  duke  of  Norfolke, 
"  bicause  he  had  sowen  sedition  in  the  relme  by 
"  his  words,  should  likewise  avoid  the  realme, 
"  and  never  returne  againe  into  England,  nor  ap- 
"  proch  the  borders  or  confines  thereof,  upon  pain 
"  of  death  :  and  that  the  king  would  staie  the  pro- 
"  fits  of  his  lands,  till  he  had  levied  thereof  such 
"  summes  of  monie  as  the  duke  had  taken  up  of 
"  the  king's  treasuror,  for  the  wages  of  the  gar- 
"  rison  of  Calls  ;  which  were  still  unpaid. 

"  When  these  judgements  were  once  read,  the 
"  king  called  before  him  both  parties,  and  made 
"  them  to  sweare  that  the  one  should  never  come 
"  in  place  where  the  other  was,  willinglie,  nor 
"  keepe  any  companie  togither  in  any  forren  re- 
"  gion :  which  oth  they  both  received  humblie, 
"  and  so  went  their  waies.  The  duke  of  Norfolke 
"  departed  sorrowfullie  out  of  the  realme  into 
"  Almanie,  and  at  the  last  came  into  Venice ', 
"  where  he,  for  thought  and  melancholic,  de- 
"  ceassed;  for  he  was  in  hope  (as  writers  record) 
"  that  he  should  have  beene  borne  out  in  the 
"  matter  by  the  king;  which,  when  it  fell  out 
"  otherwise,  it  greeved  him  not  a  little.  The 
"  duke  of  Hereford  tooke  his  leave  of  the  king  at 
"  Eltham,  who  there  released  foure  yeares  of  his 
"  banishment;  so  he  tooke  his  jornie  over  into 


BINLY.    COMBE  ABBEY. 


237 


"  Calls,  and  from  thence  went  into  France,  where 
"  he  remained. 

"  A  woonder  it  was  to  see  what  number  of 
"  people  ran  after  him,  in  everie  towne  and  street 
"  where  he  came,  before  he  tooke  the  sea,  lament- 
"  ing  and  bewailing  his  departure ;  as  who  should 
"  saie,  that  when  he  departed,  the  onlie  shield, 
"  defense,  and  comfort  of  the  commonwealth  was 
"  vaded  and  gone." 

About  two  miles  from  Coventry,  I  crossed  the 
little  river  Sow  at  Binly  bridge,  a  little  beyond 
which  stands  the  beautiful  small  church  of  that 
name,  dedicated  to  St.  Bartholomew,  formerly 
belonging  to  the  monks  of  Coventry  ;  now  a  cu- 
racy in  the  gift  of  Lord  Craven,  who  rebuilt  the 
church  with  uncommon  elegance.  The  roof  is 
coved,  and  ornamented  with  scriptural  histories, 
in  form  of  medallions,  and  with  pious  ornaments 
of  crosses,  crowns,  and  thorns,  and  other  deco- 
rations adapted  to  the  place.  The  altar  is  in  a 
tribune,  with  marble  pillars;  and  its  window  con- 
sists of  glass  painted  with  a  fine  holy  family,  by 
Mr.  William  Pecket. 

Combe  Abbey,  or,  to  spell  it  with  propriety, 
Cwm,  from  its  low  situation,  lies  about  two  miles 
farther.  Notwithstanding  its  conversion  to  the 
seat  of  a  nobleman,  it  retains  in  part  the  form  of 
its  conventual  state.     The  cloisters  are  preserved 


Binly 

Church. 


Combe 
Abbey. 


238  COMBE  ABBEY. 

on  three  sides  of  the  antient  court,  glazed  as  when 
occupied  by  their  former  owners,  and  their  walls 
enriched  with  the  spoils  of  the  chace.  Methinks 
the  jovial  abbot  is  now  before  me,  formed  out  of 
the  monk  so  admirably  described  by  old  Chaucer. 

A  monk  ther  was,  a  fay  re  for  the  maistrie, 

An  out  rider  that  loved  venerie ; 

A  manly  man,  to  ben  an  abbot  able  ; 

Full  many  a  deinte  hors  hadde  he  in  stable. 

And  when  he  rode,  men  mighte  his  bridel  here, 

Gingeling  in  a  whistling  wind  as  clere 

And  eke  as  loude  as  doth  the  chapell  belle. 

Ther  as  this  lord  was  keper  of  the  celle, 

The  rule  of  Seint  Maure  and  of  Seint  Beneit, 

Because  that  it  was  olde  &  somedele  streit, 

This  ilke  monk  lette  olde  thinges  pace, 

And  held  after  the  newe  world  the  trace. 

He  yave  not  of  the  text  a  pulled  hen, 

That  saith  that  hunters  ben  not  holy  men ; 

Ne  that  a  monk,  when  he  is  rekkeles, 

Is  like  a  fish  that  is  waterles : 

This  is  to  say,  a  monk  out  of  his  cloistre, 

This  ilke  text  held  he  not  worth  an  oistre. 

And  I  say  his  opinion  was  good  : 

What  shulde  he  studie,  &  make  himselven  wood, 

Upon  a  book  in  cloistre  alway  to  pore, 

Or  swinken  with  his  hondes,  &  laboure 

As  Austin  bit  ?  How  shall  the  world  bs  served  ? 

Let  Austin  have  his  swink  to  him  reserved. 

Therefore  he  was  a  prickasoure  a  right ; 

Greihounds  he  hadde  as  swift  as  foul  of  flight : 


COMBE  ABBEY.  239 

Of  pricking,  &  of  hunting  for  the  hare, 
Was  all  his  lust;  for  no  cost  wolde  he  spare. 

The  abbot  is  now  represented  by  a  jovial 
English  baron h,  not  less  a  lover  of  the  generous 
exercise.  He  derives  his  right  to  the  place  from 
his  ancestor  Sir  William  Craven,  Knight,  great 
grandson  of  Henry  Craven,  elder  brother  to  Sir 
William,  lord  mayor  of  London  in  16 10;  one  of 
the  richest  men  of  his  time.  It  was  purchased 
from  that  squanderer  Lucy  countess  of  Bedford, 
who  inherited  it  from  her  brother  Lord  Harring- 
ton, who  derived  it  from  his  mother  Anne,  daugh- 
ter of  Robert  Kelway,  who  received  it  in  lease 
after  the  forfeiture  of  John  Dudley  Duke  of  North- 
umberland, to  whom  it  had  been  granted  by  Ed- 
ward VI.  It  had  been  founded  by  Richard  de  Founder. 
Camville,  in  1150,  and  peopled  with  Cistercian 
monks ;  who  were  at  the  dissolution  found  to  be 
endowed  with  upwards  of  three  hundred  pounds  a 
year1.  Robert  Bates,  alias  Kymmer,  was  the  last 
abbot ;  who,  for  his  surrender,  was  rewarded  with 
a  pension  of  eighty  pounds  a  yeark,  and  his  thir- 
teen or  fourteen  religious  with  small  pittances,  as 
the  merit  of  the  deed  rested  in  the  former. 

That  accomplished  nobleman  Lord  Harring- 

k  The  Lord  Craven  here  alluded  to  died  in  1791.     Ed. 
1  Tanner.  k  Willis,  ii.  241. 


240  COMBE  ABBEY: 

ton  was  the  refounder  of  this  house ;  which  Cam- 
den says  arose  from  the  ashes  of  the  antient  abbey. 
His  taste  is  evident,  in  his  preservation  of  the  ve- 
nerable cloisters.  It  is  indebted  to  the  owners  of 
the  present  name  for  its  instructive  furniture  of 
portraits,  probably  entirely  to  the  hero  William 
Craven,  a  most  distinguished  personage  of  this 
family. 
Portraits.       In  the  north  parlour  is  a  fine  full-length  of  his 

GUSTAVDS  . 

Adolphus.  great  master  in  the  art  of  war,  Gustavus  Aaolpnas ; 
under  whose  banners  he  defended  the  Protestant 
cause  in  Germany,  and,  when  very  young,  gained 
immortal  honor  at  the  desperate  storming  of  the 
fortress  of  Creutzenach,  in  the  palatinate. 
James  A  full-length  of  James  Stewart  Duke  of 

T~)titc f  of 

Richmond.  Richmond,  in  black,  with  long  flowing  flaxen  hair, 
and  a  dog  by  him.  This  illustrious  nobleman 
forms  one  of  the  most  amiable  characters  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  I.  His  attachment  and  affection 
to  his  royal  relation  was  unequalled  :  he  is  even 
said  to  have  offered  his  own  life,  to  save  that  of 
his  devoted  master1.  He  was  permitted  to  attend 
the  funeral  of  the  beloved  remains ;  then  lingered 
away  a  few  years,  and  died  a  victim  to  grief  on 
March  30,  1655. 

Frederick  V.  elector  palatine,  a  full-length,  in 

1  Pcrichef,  as  quoted  by  Mr.  Hume. 


PORTRAITS  THERE.  241 

robes,  and  with  the  unfortunate  crown  which  he     KlNG  0F 

Bohemia. 

wore,  as  short-lived  king  of  Bohemia,  elected  by 
the  revolted  state  in  16 19,  when  it  attempted  to 
shake  off  the  yoke  of  the  emperor  Ferdinand  II. 
The  battle  of  Prague,  in  the  following  year,  de- 
prived Frederick  of  his  new  kingdom  and  his  he- 
reditary dominions,  and,  from  a  potent  prince, 
reduced  him  to  a  fugitive  beggar  in  Holland.  He 
survived  his  own  misfortunes  twelve  years,  but 
died  with  grief,  on  the  death  of  his  great  friend 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  in  1632. 

Near  him  is  his  queen,  dressed  in  black,  and  Elizabeth 

1  Queen  of 

with  a  melancholy  look.  She  was  the  daughter  Bohemia. 
of  our  peaceful  monarch  James  I. ;  who,  either 
through  hatred  of  war,  or  disapprobation  of  his 
son-in-law's  ambition,  reluctantly  undertook  his 
defence,  and  made,  under  Mansfield,  an  unfortu- 
nate essay.  His  daughter  Elizabeth  supported 
her  unhappy  situation  with  uncommon  dignity, 
and  shewed,  amidst  the  most  distressful  poverty, 
an  illustrious  example  of  magnanimity.  She  vi- 
sited the  army  of  Gustavus,  which  had  in  view 
her  husband's  restoration,  as  well  as  the  giving 
liberty  to  the  German  Protestants.  The  English 
volunteers  seem  to  have  fought  her  battles,  inspired 
by  love.  She  was  the  admiration  of  the  camp, 
and  had  votaries  among  every  nation.    The  young 

R 


242  COMBE  ABBEY: 

Craven  was  among  her  warmest  devotees,  and 
continued  his  attachment  to  the  last  moment  of 
her  life ;  possessed  her  deserved  confidence,  di- 
rected all  her  affairs,  and  gave  a  most  distinguish- 
ing proof  of  his  esteem,  by  building  for  her  use, 
at  his  estate  in  Berkshire,  a  magnificent  palace. 
The  difference  of  rank  alone  prevented  the  publi- 
cation of  their  union,  which  is  generally  supposed 
to  have  taken  place.  Her  spotless  fame  was 
never  aspersed  with  improper  connection. 
William  I  must  step  to  another  room,  the  picture-gal- 
Crave».  lery,  for  the  portrait  of  her  admirer ;  a  fine  head, 
with  the  body  armed,  and  crossed  with  a  sash. 
Let  me  finish  his  history  with  saying,  that  after 
the  death  of  Gust  amis,  he  retired  from  the  Swedish 
army  into  the  service  of  the  Dutch,  and,  notwith- 
standing he  never  interfered  in  the  civil  wars  of 
his  own  country,  yet,  in  1650,  his  estates  were 
confiscated  by  the  parlement  (as  is  said)  through 
false  accusations  of  favors  done  to  the  exiled  king. 
On  the  restoration  he  came  over,  and  in  1670,  on 
the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Albemarle,  he  was  ap- 
pointed colonel  of  the  Coldstream  regiment  of 
guards.  His  gallant  spirit  never  forsook  him :  he 
braved  the  pestilence  in  its  greatest  fury,  and,  with 
a  few  other  worthies,  undertook  the  care  of  Lon- 
don in  1665,  during  the  desolation  of  the  plague; 


PORTRAITS  THERE.  243 

and  in  every  fire,  was  so  active  in  preventing  the 
devastation  of  that  other  scourge,  that  it  was  said, 
"  his  very  horse  smelt  it  out." 

1  must  return  to  the  parlour,  to  mention  a  fine  Conversa- 

•       •  T»    •  -n  TION- 

conversation-piece,  consisting  of  Prince  Rupert,  Piece. 
Prince  Maurice,  and  the  Duke  of  Richmond  at 
table,  in  the  manner  of  Dobson,  by  Hont hurst. 
Those  of  the  king  of  Bohe?nia  and  his  queen  are 
by  the  same  hand;  Honthurst  having  had  the 
honor  of  instructing  that  unfortunate  princess  and 
her  family. 

A  head  of  Raphael. 

The  brazen  serpent,  surrounded  by  the  terrified 
multitude :  a  fine  performance. 

Judith  and  Holqfernes.  Her  maid,  a  swarthy 
old  woman,  is  performing  the  operation  of  cutting 
off  the  head. 

On  the  stair-case  is  a  large  picture  of  Lord      T.ord 
Craven  on  horseback,  with  a  truncheon  in  his 
hand. 

In  the  breakfast-room  is  a  fine  scene  among 
the  Alps,  by  John  Loten,  a  Dutchman,  who,  re- 
siding much  in  Switzerland,  became  celebrated  for 
his  wild  romantic  views. 

In  the  picture-gallery  is  a  fine  half-length  of 
David,  with  the  head  of  Goliah,  by  Guercino. 
Frederick  Tromellus,  count  Lavella,  a  head.  John 
Ernest  duke  of  Savoy. 

r  2 


'244  COMBE  ABBEY: 

Gustavus        Gustavus  Adolphus,  a  half-length ;  and  the  heads 

Adolphus.  _  ... 

of  sixteen  of  his  illustrious  generals,  by  Mirevelt. 
These,  and  most  of  the  other  portraits  of  men  of 
eminence  in  Germany \  were  brought  over  by  the 
queen  of  Bohemia,  and  by  her  bequeathed  by  will 
to  Lord  Craven. 
Mirevelt       A  head  of  Mirevelt,  and  another  of  Honthurst, 

AND  .  > 

Honthurst.  painted  by  themselves.    The  former  resided  chiefly 

at  Delft,   and  was    prevented  visiting    England 

by  reason  of  the  plague.     The  latter  was  here 

some  time,  by  the  encouragement  of  Charles  I. 

Christian       Christian  Duke  of  Brunswick,  a  fierce  hero  in 

Duke  of 

Brunswick,  the  army  of  Gustavus,  subdued  by  the  charms  of 

our  royal   countrywoman.     It   is    said,    that   he 

snatched  a  glove  from  her,  put  it  in  his  cap,  and 

swore  he  would  never  part  with  it,  till  he  saw  her 

husband  in  possession  of  the  capital  of  Bohemia™. 

Lord  Sir  Edward  Cecil,   third  son  of  the  Earl  of 

Wimbledon.  .  . 

Lxeter,  a  celebrated  commander  during  thirty-five 

years  in  the  Netherlands.    He  died  in  1638,  after 

being  honored  with  the  title  of  Lord  Wimbledon". 

"'  Harte's  Gustavus  Adolphus,  i.  177. 

n  He  is  buried  in  a  chapel  erected  for  the  purpose,  opening 
to  the  chancel  of  Wimbledon  church,  under  a  very  handsome 
tomb,  with  the  following  inscription:  "  Sir  Edtvard  Cecil,  Knt. 
"  Lord  Cecil,  Baron  of  Putney,  and  Viscount  Wimbledon,  3 
"  son  of  Thomas  earl  of  Exeter,  and  Dorothea  Nevil,  one  of  the 
"  coheirs  of  Lord  Nevil,  and  grandchild  of  Lord  Treasurer 
"  Burlewh.     1638." 


PORTRAITS  THERE.  245 

His  picture  is  a  head,  with  short  grey  hair;  his 
body  in  rich  armour,  with  a  sash.  From  this  the 
print  by  Simon  Pass  was  taken. 

A    REMARKABLE    legend    of  OttO,    Or   Otho  I.    Legend  of 
&  .  Otho  I. 

earl  of  Oldenberg,  represented  as  wearied  with  the 

chace,  and  separated  from  his  companions,  on  a 
wild  mountain.  When  he  was  almost  fainting 
with  thirst,  a  beautiful  virgin,  in  white,  with  long 
flowing  hair,  and  a  garland  on  her  head,  burst  out 
of  the  side  of  the  hill,  and  offered  him  drink  out 
of  a  rich  horn,  which  she  put  into  his  hand,  assur- 
ing him,  that  if  he  drank,  prosperity  would  attend 
him  and  his  house.  He  disliked  the  proposal, 
suspecting  deceit.  Accordingly,  pouring  some  of 
the  liquor  on  the  hind  part  of  his  horse,  he  found  it 
so  noxious  as  to  take  off  the  hair.  He  instantly 
rode  off  with  the  horn  full  speed,  terrified  at  the 
adventure,  and  the  spectre  retired  into  the  bowels 
of  the  mountain.  The  horn,  which  gave  rise  to 
this  fable,  is  of  silver,  gilt,  and  of  most  exquisite 
workmanship,  and  is  still  preserved  in  the  mu- 
seum at  Copenhagen0.  Instead  of  being  of  the 
age  of  Otho  I.  or  about  the  year  918,  it  is  proved 
to  have  been  made  by  Christian  I.  in  honor  of 
the  three  kings  of  Cologne,  whose  names  are  in- 
scribed on  it;   for  it  seems  it  was   customary, 

°  Museum  Regium  Havnia,   &c.  pars  II.  sect.  iii.  par.  60. 
tab.  v. 


a*6  COMBE  ABBEY : 

among  the  northern  nations,  to  dedicate  their  cups 
or  horns  to  saints,  and  make  large  libations  out  of 
them,  invoking  the  saint  to  assist  the  mighty 
draught:  Help  Got  unde  Maria  dat  Iw  Gotp. 
What  gave  rise  to  the  particular  legend  relative  to 
the  horn,  is  the  figure  of  a  woman  on  the  recur- 
vated  tip,  with  a  label,  with  this  jovial  exhortation, 
Drinc  all  wt ;  and  round  the  lip,  O  mater  Dei 
memento  met. 

In  several  apartments,  whose  names  I  have  for- 

gotten,are  a  variety  of  other  paintings  and  portraits. 

Among  them  is  one  of  the  founder  of  the  fa- 

SiRWiLLiAMmjiy5  §jr  lVimam  Craven,  lord  mayor  of  London, 
by  Jansen ;  two  full-lengths  of  Earl  Craven,  in 
armour,  one  very  spirited ;  and  a  portrait  of  Sir 
William  Craven  of  this  place,  by  Sir  Peter  Lely ; 

Countess  of  Lucy  countess  of  Bedford,  by  Jansen,  in  the  same 
attitude  and  dress  in  which  she  is  painted  at  JVo- 
burn  and  at  Alloaq. 
Henry         An  elegant  figure  of  Henry  prince  of  JVales,  in 

Prince  of  .     °  &       .  J  *  ' 

Wales,  a  gay  silk  jacket,  crimson  hose,  roses  to  his  shoes, 
a  white  silk  hat  and  feather  before  him,  and  a 
glove  in  one  hand.  He  stands  in  a  room  with  a 
pretty  view  through  the  window.  Drawn  while 
that  amiable  prince  was  in  his  boyhood. 

P  Museum  llcgium  Havnia,  &c.  pars  II.  sect.  iii.  par.  62. 
«  Tour  Scotl.  1772,  part  ii.  p.  222. 


PORTRAITS  THERE.  «47 

Charles  II.  when  young;  his  body  armed  with  Charles  II. 
steel,  the  rest  with  buff. 

General  Monk,   cloathed   entirely   in   buff.    General 
This  species  of  defence  was  usually  made  of  the 
skin  of  the  elk,  and  oftentimes  of  the  stag,  and 
was  proof  against  a  ball. 

Duke  of  Ormond,  by  Sir  Pete?"  Lely.  *?UKE  0F 

J  J  Ormond. 

A  pretty  half-length  of  Lord  Herbert,  young,       Lord 

nFRBFRT 

in  armour,  laced  cravat,  and  his  helmet  before 
him. 

The  punishment  of  sloth:  a  man  whipping  a 
woman  out  of  bed. 

A  fine  decollation  of  St.  John,  by  Albert 
Durer.  The  executioner  sheathing  his  sword; 
Herodiass  daughter  receives  the  head  with  great 
satisfaction  of  countenance;  and  her  swelling  waist 
shews  the  price  of  the  Baptist's  destruction. 

Four  musicians :  two,  a  Flemish  gentleman 
and  a  lady ;  the  other,  peasants :  a  capital  per- 
formance, by  Frank  Hals. 

The  offering  of  the  wise  men  in  the  east,  by 
Paul  Veronese,  equally  fine. 

An  old  woman  and  boy,  heads,  by  candle-light, 
likewise  fine. 

Two  fine  paintings,  by  Rembrandt,  of  two  phi- 
losophers; each  with  a  noble  pupil:  one  in  a 
Turkish  dress ;  the  other  in  an  ermine  robe.  These 
young  figures  are  called  Prince  Rupert  and  Prince 


248  COVENTRY:  CHARTREUX. 

Maurice.  The  time  of  the  residence  of  their  mo- 
ther in  Holland,  agrees  entirely  with  that  of  Rem- 
brandt in  Amsterdam,  which  makes  the  conjecture 
probable r. 

I  returned  through  Coventry,  and,  passing 
over  the  site  of  the  New  gate,  soon  entered  on  a 
long  common.  At  about  a  mile's  distance  from 
the  city,  on  the  left  side  of  the  road,  stood  the 

Chartreux,  Chartreux,  now  inhabited  by Inge,  Esquire. 

Little  of  the  antient  building  remains.  The  wall 
of  the  precinct  is  still  standing,  and  in  a  wall  in 
the  garden  are  the  marks  of  many  small  doors,  the 
entrance  into  the  cells  of  the  austere  inhabitants. 

This  religious  house  arose  from  the  pious  in- 
tentions of  William  Lord  Zouch,  of  Harringxcorth, 
in  Northamptonshire,  who  obtaining,  in  1381,  four- 
teen acres  of  land  in  this  place  from  Sir  Baldzvyn 
Frevile  the  elder,  determined  on  that  to  erect  a 
monastery  of  Carthusians,  and  endow  it  with  am- 
ple revenues.     Death  prevented  the  execution; 

r  When  the  editor  visited  Combe  Abbey  in  1809,  the  house 
and  grounds  were  undergoing  considerable  alterations,  and 
most  of  the  pictures  were  taken  down.  Among  the  few  por- 
traits unnoticed  by  Mr.  Pennant,  he  remarked  six  heads  of  the 
children  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  all  handsome,  particularly 
the  princess  Sophia,  the  future  electress  of  Hanover.  Here 
are  also  shewn  five  portraits  of  Palatine  princesses,  said  to 
have  been  painted  by  the  hand  of  Sophia.    Ed. 


CHARTREUX.  £49 

but  in  his  last  illness  he  left  sixty  pounds  towards 
a  future  establishment. 

The  design  was  speedily  completed  by  various 
pious  persons.  Richard  Luff,  a  mayor  of  Co- 
ventry, and  Richard  Botoner,  a  fellow-citizen, 
bestowed  four  hundred  marks  on  the  church-choir, 
cloisters,  and  three  cells :  others  followed  their 
example.  Richard  II.  on  his  return  from  Scot- 
land, in  1385,  assumed  the  honor  of  being  the 
founder,  and,  at  the  instance  of  his  queen  Anne, 
laid  the  first  stone  of  the  church  with  his  own 
hands,  declaring,  in  the  presence  of  his  nobility, 
and  of  the  mayor  and  citizens  of  Coventry,  that 
he  would  bring  it  to  perfection.  After  this,  it 
received  considerable  endowments,  and  at  the  dis- 
solution was  found,  according  to  Dugdale,  to  be 
possessed  of  <£.131.  6s.  Sd.  above  all  reprizes. 
The  prior  seemed  to  want  the  resolution  of  this 
severe  and  conscientious  order ;  for  more  of  this 
than  of  any  other  resisted  the  will  of  their  cruel 
monarch,  and  underwent  martyrdom  in  support  of 
the  trusts  committed  to  them.  It  is  probable  that 
John  Bochard,  the  last  who  presided  over  the 
house,  was  prevaled  on  to  surrender  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  great  pension  of  forty  pounds  a 
year ;  after  which  it  was  granted  to  Richard  An- 
drews and  Leonard  Chamberlain. 

A  little  farther  I  crossed  the  Sher bourn, 


<2jO  WHITLEY.     KNIGHTLOW. 

Whitley,  leaving  on  the  right  Whitley,  a  large  old  house,  in 
which  Charles  I.  resided  during  the  attempt  upon 
Coventry'.     I  was  told,  that  the  history  of  many 
of  his  actions  had  been  painted  on  the  wainscot. 
About  a  mile  and  a  half  from  hence  I  passed  the 
Avon,  at  Ryton  bridge.     This  is  the  river  that 
runs  hy  Warwick  and  Stratford,  and  discharges 
itself  into  the  Severn,  near  Tewkesbury ;  still  re- 
taining the  British  name  Afon,  or  river,  as  is  the 
case  with  several  others  watering  English  ground. 
Ascend  an  extensive  brow,  commanding  a  rich 
and  vast  view  toward  the  north  and  west.     On 
the  summit  is  a  tumulus,  from  which  the  spot, 
Kuightlow.  which  gives  name  to  the  hundred,  is  called  Knight- 
low,  or  mount.     It  seems  to  have  been  sepulchral, 
and  to  have  covered  the  ashes  of  some  Roman 
eques,  or  knight,  from  which  it  was  denominated. 
It  lies  very  near  a  great  Roman  road,  as  is  cus- 
tomary with  similar  memorials.     On  it  in  after- 
times  stood  a  cross,  on  whose  base  the  inhabitants 
of  several  towns  in  this  hundred  still  attend,  and 
pay  the  dues  to  the  lord  on  Martinmass-d&y :  the 
sums  are  from  ]d.  to  Qs.  3d.  each.     These  rents 
are  called  Wroth-money,  and  Worth  or  Swarff 

•  Now  belonging  to,  and  the  residence  of,  the  right  honor- 
able Lord  Hood,  who  married  the  only  daughter  and  heiress 
of  its  late  owner,  Francis  Whder,  Esq.     Ed. 


ROMAN  ROAD.    WILLOUGHBY.  251 

penny,  and  are  supposed  by  Dugdale  to  be  the 
same  as  ward-penny :  Vicecomiti  aut  aliis  castel- 
lanis  persoluti  ob  castrorum  presidium  vel  excubias 
agendas.  They  must  be  paid  at  this  cross  before 
sun-rise,  and  the  party  paying  must  go  thrice 
round  the  cross,  say  wroth-money,  and  put  it  into 
the  hole  in  the  stone  before  good  witness,  or  on 
omission  to  forfeit  thirty  shillings  and  a  white 
bull1. 

A  small  distance  beyond,  the  Roman  foss-way  Roman 
crosses  the  road :  it  enters  this  county  at  High 
Cross,  on  the  verge  of  Leicestershire,  where  it  is 
intersected  by  the  great  Wat ling-street,  and  tra- 
verses direct  to  Stafford  upon  Foss,  near  the  edge 
oiGlocester shire. 

Go  over  Dunsmore  heath  (now  inclosed),  and, 
after  riding  in  a  tedious  avenue  of  elms  and  firs 
for  five  miles,  reach  Dunchurch,  or  the  church  on 
the  hill;  a  small  village,  whose  church  once  be- 
longed to  the  monks  of  Pipwell,  in  Northampton- 
shire. 

Descend  the  hill,  and  about  three  miles  further 
go  near  Willoughby,  or  the  place  of  willozvs;  a  WlLL0UG"~ 
little  village,  with  a  church  dedicated  to  St.  Ni- 
cholas, formerly  appropriated  to  the  hospital  of 
St.  John  without  East-gate,  Oxford;  now  in  the 

*  Dugdale,  i.  4. 


252  BEIGHTON,  THE  SURVEYOR. 

patronage  of  Magdalen  College.  This  bottom,  at 
present  enlivened  with  the  windings  of  the  canal, 
assumes  a  commercial  appearance,  by  the  number 
of  new  buildings  rising  on  its  banks,  and  the  ma- 
gazines of  coal  and  limestone  laid  up  for  sale. 
The  former  gives  a  most  comfortable  prospect  to 
the  half-starved  inhabitants  of  Northamptonshire, 
by  flattering  them  with  the  speedy  approximation 
of  the  means  of  warmth,  and  giving  to  their  poor 
good  fuel,  instead  of  the  wretched  substitute  of 
horse-dung,  which  they  collect  in  scanty  portions 
for  that  purpose. 

It  would  be  ungrateful  to  leave  Warwickshire, 
without  paying  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Henry  Beighton,  author  of  the  map  of  this  county". 
As  it  was  the  earliest,  so  it  was  the  best  perform- 
ance of  the  kind.  He  had  an  estate  of  about  a 
hundred  a  year,  in  the  parish  of  Coton,  in  this 
county.  He  assisted  his  income  by  surveying,  in 
which,  for  elegance,  accuracy,  and  expedition,  he 
had  few  equals.  He  left  behind  him,  in  his  neigh- 
borhood, numbers  of  excellent  surveyors,  who  own 
him  for  their  master.  His  account  of  London 
bridge,  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  shews 
his  skill  in  mechanics.  He  was  interred  at  Chil- 
lers Coton  ;  where  a  small  monument  barely  tells 

u  He  begun  his  survey  in  1725,  and  finished  it  in  1729. 


BRAUNSTON.  253 

that  he  lived  and  died,  without  mentioning  his 
merit :  neglected  by  his  countrymen  during  life, 
he  never  met  with  encouragement  to  publish  his 
admirable  map,  which  was  done  about  the  year 
1750,  by  subscription,  for  the  support  of  his 
widow. 

From  Willoughby  I  instantly  entered 

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, 

in  the  parish  of  Braunston.  The  village,  church  Braunstojt. 
with  spire  steeple,  and  a  number  of  narrow  in- 
closures,  appear  on  the  side  of  a  slope,  on  the  left 
of  the  road.  This  is  among  the  few  places  I  ne- 
glected to  visit.  I  must  therefore  speak  from  Mr. 
Bridges  of  its  cross,  twenty-four  feet  high;  of  the 
effigy  of  the  Knight  Templar  in  the  church ;  and 
of  the  instance  of  the  longevity  of  William  Bren, 
of  this  village,  who  attained  the  age  of  an  hundred 
and  twenty-one. 

After  the  Conquest,  the  D 'Aienconrts  and 
the  Peverels  held  land  here.  From  the  last  it 
fell,  by  marriage,  to  Albricius  de  Harcourt ;  by 
his  daughter,  to  William  de  Trussebot,  a  man 
raised  from  a  low  situation,  by  his  desperate  va- 
lour, to  great  estates.  In  the  reign  of  king  Ste- 
phen, being  attacked  in  Bonville,  of  which  he  was 
governor,  he  set  fire  to  his  own  house  in  four 


354  SINGULAR  TENURE. 

places;  which  so  terrified  the  enemy,  that  they 
instantly  evacuated  the  town. 

By  his  daughter  Roese,  it  fell  to  Everard  de 
Roos;  a  family  who  flourished  here  for  several 
centuries,  a  distinguished  race.  One  of  them, 
William,  was  clamant  to  the  crown  of  Scotland, 
under  the  arbitration  of  Edward  I. x  They  be- 
came extinct  in  the  male  line,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII.  when  Elinor,  eldest  sister  of  the  last 
lord  Roos,  conveyed  it  by  marriage  to  Sir  Robert 
Manners;  and  it  was  sold  by  his  descendant, 
Henry  Earl  of  Rutland  (who  died  in  1563)  to 
Gregory  Isham  of  London,  merchant,  a  younger 
son  of  the  respectable  and  antient  family  of  that 
name. 

The  present  lord  of  the  manor  is  Web, 

Esquire,  who  keeps  in  the  small  manor-house  a 
Singular    court-leet  and  baron.     The  tenure  of  a  consider- 

1  ENURE. 

able  portion  of  land  in  the  parish  is  very  singular. 
If  a  widow  appears  at  the  next  court  after  her 
husband's  death,  and  presents  a  leathern  purse 
with  a  groat  in  it,  she  can  keep  her  husband's 
copyhold  lands  for  life ;  but  she  must  attend  every 
court  after  she  has  done  this  service. 

Erom  Dunchurch  the  country  grows  hilly,  and 
till  of  late  was  uninclosed;  pleasant  during  the 

x  Sir  David  Dulrymplc's  Annals  Scot!,  i.  203. 


DAVENTRY.  255 

verdure  of  the  young,  and  the  rich  yellow  of  the 
ripened  corn.  About  three  miles  from  Braunston 
appears  Daventry,  on  the  side  and  top  of  a  hill.  Davektry. 
The  place  is  populous,  and  carries  on  a  consider- 
able manufacture  of  whips  :  it  is  an  incorporated 
town,  governed  by  a  bailiff,  twelve  burgesses,  and 
a  recorder ;  has  two  Serjeants  at  mace,  and  one 
town-clerk.  The  bailiff  for  the  time  is  justice  of 
the  peace,  and  also  the  year  following,  and  is  like- 
wise coroner  of  the  inquest.  The  Serjeants  may  ar- 
rest any  one  within  their  jurisdiction  for  a  sum  under 
one  hundred  pounds,  and  the  cause  is  to  be  de- 
cided here.  No  county  justice  hath  power  in  this 
place;  the  justices  of  the  borough  having  power 
of  commitment  to  the  county-jail  in  criminal 
cases.  The  inhabitants  also  enjoy  the  privilege 
of  exemption  from  serving  on  juries  at  the  county 
assizes.  Its  charter  is  said  to  have  been  first 
granted  by  king  John,  and  was  renewed  by  queen 
Elizabeth. 

Daventry  is  of  considerable  antiquity ;  espe- 
cially if  we  give  into  the  derivation  of  its  name, 
They  Afon  tre,  the  town  of  the  two  Avons,  or  ri- 
vers, from  its  situation  between  them.  Certainly 
it  was  a  place  of  note  at  the  Conquest ;  had  in  it 
sixteen  plough-lands;  in  the  manor  three,  with 
three  slaves,  twenty  villeyns,  a  presbyter,  and  ten 
boors,  and  twelve  acres  of  meadow.     It  had  been 


256  DAVENTRY  PRIORY. 

worth  three  pounds;  after  that  event  improved  to 
eight. 

This  was  a  part  of  the  great  possessions  of  the 
countess  Judith,  niece  to  the  Conqueror,  whom 
he  had  married  to  the  brave  IValtheof  Earl  of 
,  Northumberland;  and  farther  to  engage  his  fide- 
lity, he  gave  with  her  this  county,  and  that  of 
Huntingdon.  IValtheof  unfortunately  engaged  in 
a  conspiracy,  and,  notwithstanding  he  repented, 
and  flung  himself  at  the  king's  mercy,  was  be- 
headed in  1074,  at  the  instigation  of  his  wifey. 
It  seems  she  had  cast  a  favorable  eye  on  another 
person,  but  was  disappointed ;  for  the  king  offered 
to  her  Simon  de  Liz,  a  noble  Norman,  lame  of  one 
leg :  him  she  rejected ;  which  so  enraged  her  un- 
cle, that  he  deprived  her  of  the  two  earldoms,  and 
gave  them  to  De  Liz,  with  her  eldest  daughter ; 
which  obliged  Judith  to  a  state  of  penitentiary 
widowhood  during  life. 
Priory.  Here  are  some  remains  of  the  priory,  inhabited 
by  poor  families.  The  place  is  easily  discovered, 
by  several  gothic  windows,  and  a  door  accessible 
by  a  great  flight  of  steps.  Four  Cluniac  monks 
were  originally  placed  at  Preston  Capes,  in  this 
county,  by  Hugh  de  Leicester,  sheriff  of  the 
county,  and  steward  to  Maud,  sister  to  the  first 

r  Order:  Vital. 


DAVENTRY  PRIORY.  257 

S.  Liz  Earl  of  Huntingdon;  but  finding  the  situa- 
tion inconvenient,  for  want  of  water,  he  built  a 
priory,  and  removed  them  here,  about  the  year 
1090.  It  was  dedicated  to  St.  Augustine,  and 
was  subordinate  to  St.  Mary  de  Caritate2.  Its 
spiritualities  were  valued  at  ,£.115  17*.  4f/.  per 
annum;  its  temporalities  £.  120  10.?.  Qd.  Car- 
dinal Wolsey  directed  five  of  his  emissaries  to 
pick  a  quarrel  with  the  poor  monks,  about  certain 
lands  of  theirs ;  and,  causing  the  dispute  to  be 
referred  to  himself,  took  occasion  to  dissolve  the 
house,  and,  as  Stow  says,  to  be  given  to  his  own 
college.  "  But  of  this  irreligious  robbery,  done 
"  of  no  conscience,  but  to  patch  up  pride,  which 
"  private  wealth  could  not  furnish,  what  punish- 
"  ment  hath  since  ensued  by  God's  hand  (sayeth 
"  mine  author)  partly  ourselves  have  seen ;  for  of 
"  those  five  persons,  two  fell  at  discord  between 
"  themselves,  and  the  one  slew  the  other ;  for 
"  which  the  survivor  was  hanged :  the  third 
"  drowned  himself  in  a  well :  the  fourth,  being 
"  well  known,  and  valued  worth  two  hundred 
"  pounds,  became  in  three  years  so  poore,  that 
"  he  begged  till  his  dying-day  :  and  the  fift,  called 
"  Doctor  Allane,  being  cheefe  executor  of  these 
"  doings,  was  cruelly  maimed  in  b  eland,  even  at 

z  Tanner,  375. 

S 


258 


DAVENTRY  CHURCH.    BOROUGH-HILL. 


"  such  time  as  he  was  bishop  \" — The  pious  his- 
torian then  traces  the  judgment  to  the  cardinal, 
who  died  under  the  king's  displeasure  :  to  the  col- 
leges which  occasioned  the  sacrilege ;  that  of  Ips- 
wich being  pulled  down ;  that  of  Christ-church 
never  finished  under  Woheys  patronage :  and 
lastly  to  the  pope,  who  permitted  these  violences 
on  religious  houses ;  for  he  was  besieged  in  his 
holy  see,  and  suffered  a  long  imprisonment. 
Church.  The  parish-church  was  formerly  the  conventual : 
of  late  years  it  has  been  handsomely  rebuilt ;  but 
is  no  more  than  a  curacy  in  the  gift  of  Christ- 
church  college.  The  arms  of  the  college,  and  of 
the  Earl  of  Winchelsea,  lord  of  the  manor,  grace 
the  east  window. 

From  Daventry  I  visited  the  noted  camps  on 
Borough-hill,  or  Danes-hill,  about  a  mile  south- 
east of  the  town.  It  is  lofty  and  insulated.  The 
area  is  of  an  oblong  or  oval  form,  about  a  mea- 
sured mile  in  length,  and  near  two  in  circum- 
ference. The  whole  is  surrounded  by  two,  three, 
or  four  deep  trenches,  and  the  same  number  of 
great  ramparts,  or  banks ;  according  as  the  strength 
or  weakness  of  the  ground  required.  These  run 
on  the  margin  of  the  hill,  and  on  the  slope,  having 
the  entrance  on  the  eastern  and  western  sides  op- 
posite to  each  other. 


Borough 
hill. 


a  Annals,  522. 


BOROUGH-HILL.  2,39 

Within  the  area,  near  the  middle,  is  a  bank, 
which  passes  strait  from  the  western  side  towards 
the  eastern  :  the  remainder  is  destroyed.  Farther 
on  is  the  vestige  of  another,  running  parallel. 
These,  when  entire,  would  have  formed  a  rectan- 
gular camp,  by  the  assistance  of  part  of  the  ditches 
on  the  sides  of  the  hill. 

Near  this  camp  are  several  tumuli  of  the  se- 
pulchral kind ;  but  since  Mr.  Morton's  time,  their 
number  is  evidently  lessened ;  for  in  his  days,  he 
informs  us,  there  were  eighteen. 

The  northern  end  of  the  hill  is  formed  into  a 
third  camp,  of  a  circular  shape,  and  of  vast 
strength.  Two  ditches,  of  prodigious  depth,  with 
suitable  ramparts,  and  a  deep  entrance,  cross  the 
area,  and  fall  into  the  general  surrounding  ditches, 
which  have  been  deepened  to  add  to  the  strength 
of  the  third  part.  There  are  likewise  the  imper- 
fect remains  of  another  ditch  and  bank  on  the  out- 
side, a  little  south,  designed  to  add  to  the  security. 

On  the  north-west  part  of  the  great  rampart 
of  this  round  camp,  is  a  large  mount,  either  ex- 
ploratory, or  the  spot  where  the  chieftain  pitched 
his  tent. 

I  must  differ  with  Mr.  Morton  about  the 
makers  of  the  first  of  these. camps  or  posts,  which 
were  the  Britons  themselves.  It  has  every  agree- 
ment with  the  multitudes  of  others  scattered  over 

s  2 


260  BOROUGH-HILL. 

the  kingdom,  and  suits  exactly  with  the  descrip- 
tion left  by  Tacitus  of  the  method  of  defence  used 
by  our  ancestors,  Tunc  montibus  arduis,  et  <si  qua 
clementer  accedi  poterant  in  modum  valli  saxa  prce- 
struit.  I  shall  not  here  repeat  what  I  have  fully 
dwelt  on  in  my  Tours  in  JVales  and  Scotland*. 

This  post  was  in  all  probability  made  use  of 
when  the  victorious  Ostorius  was  traversing  this 
island,  to  quell  the  commotions  he  found  on  his 
arrival  in  Britain.  It  is  evident,  that  the  Britons 
at  this  period  made  use  of  the  same  species  of  de- 
fence which  is  proved  to  have  been  common  to 
the  whole  country.  The  Iceni  lodged  themselves 
within  a  post  of  this  kind,  against  this  very  ge- 
neral, f  Locum  pugnce  delcgere  septum  agresti  ag- 
gere  et  aditu  angusto  ne  pervius  equiti  foret c)  but 
it  did  not  avale.  The  Coritani  of  these  parts  had 
recourse  to  the  strong  hold  of  what  I  dare  say 
they  called  Ben  Afon,  or  the  head  over  the  river ; 
one  of  the  streams  which  form  the  Nen,  the  river 
Of  this  country,  passing  beneath. 

This  post  proved  no  obstacle  to  the  Conqueror; 
he  found  it  fit  for  a  station :  he  contracted  its  li- 
mits east  into  the  shape  of  the  camps  of  his  peo- 
ple, and  made  this  a  summer,  as  he  did  the  warm 

b  Tour  Scotl.  1772,  part  ii.  159.     Tour  Wales,  413.  8vo.  ed. 
ii.  62. 
c  Taciti  Annal.  lib.  xii.  c.  31. 


BOROUGH-HILL.  261 

bottom,  near  the  fort,  a  winter  station.  Numbers 
of  Roman  coins  found  on  the  spots,  confirm  this 
conjecture.  The  Romans,  as  was  usual  with  them, 
latinized  the  British  name,  and  formed  from  it 
their  Beiwenna  ;  which  I  beg  leave  to  place  here 
rather  than  at  TVedon,  a  place  destitute  of  all  clas- 
sical traces. 

I  must  add,  that  on  the  south-east  side  of 
Borough-hill,  about  two  or  three  hundred  yards 
below  the  ditches,  is  a  lesser  camp,  surrounded 
by  a  foss  and  bank.  Mr.  Morton  guesses  it  to 
have  been  the  receptacle  of  the  carriages  of  the 
greater  camp :  I  imagine  it  to  have  been  a  pro- 
cesttHa,  a  sort  of  free  post  attendant  often  on 
camps,  where  provisions  and  other  necessaries 
were  brought. 

As  to  the  third  division  of  the  area  of  this  hill, 
it  is  probably  Saxon  ;  the  words  borough,  burgh, 
berry,  and  bury,  being  the  constant  appellation 
given  by  the  Saxons  to  similar  places.  It  is  my 
belief,  that  every  post  of  this  nature,  occupied  by 
that  nation  in  our  island,  had  been  originally  Bri- 
tish ;  which  the  Saxons  altered  to  their  concep- 
tions of  strength  and  defence;  this  was  usually 
done  by  deepening  the  ditches,  raising  the  ram- 
parts, and  clearing  the  area,  and  often  by  exalting 
one  part  into  what  was  called  the  donjeon,  or  keep. 
These  places  were  stationary,  not  properly  camps; 


262  BOROUGH-HILL.     BURNT  WALLS. 

for  the  antient  Germans,  from  whom  these  inva- 
ders were  derived,  and  whose  customs  they  re- 
tained, made  use  of  no  other  defence  to  their 
camps  than  a  barrier  of  waggons,  with  which  they 
formed  the  precinct.  Omnes  Barbari,  says  Ve- 
getius,  carris  suis  in  orbem  connexis  ad  similitu- 
dinem  castrorum  securas  a  supervenient ibus  exi- 
gunt  noctesA.  Casar  twice*  mentions  this  custom 
among  the  German  nations ;  and  I  am  told,  that 
even  in  later  days,  this  mode  of  defence  has  been 
used,  and  called  Waggenburg,  or  the  camp  of 
waggons. 

Every  thing  on  this  hill  must  not  be  attributed 
to  remote  antiquity ;  for  Charles  I.  a  few  days  before 
the  fatal  battle  of  Naseby,  occupied  this  post,  and 
fortified  it :  so  possibly  some  of  the  entrenchments 
might  be  the  work  of  that  unfortunate  monarch f. 

I  must  not  quit  this  place  without  mentioning 

a  spot  which  I  overlooked.     This  is  what  Mr. 

Burnt      Morton  calls  the  Burnt  Walls;  where  many  loads 
Walls.  ,  J 

of  walls  and  foundations  have  been  dug  up.     The 

precinct  is  about  six  acres,  and  was  moated  round. 

The  water  that  filled  the  moat  was  conveyed  from 

pools  in  Diwentry  Park,  a  place  not   remote. 

Tradition  says,  that  within  the  area  stood  a  seat 

of  John  of  Gaunt ;  which  is  probable,  as  this  ma- 

*  Lib.  iii.  c.  10.  e  Bell.  Gal.  lib.  i.  k  lib.  iv. 

{  Whitelock,  150. 


DODFORD  CHURCH.  263 

nor  was  once  possessed  by  the  earls  and  dukes  of 
Lancaster,  in  Edivard  Ill's  time,  annexed  to  that 
dutchy,  and  assigned  to  that  great  duke g. 

Continue  my  journey:  turn  a  little  out  of 
my  road,  on  the  left,  to  Dodford  church,  and  rind  Church" 
there  a  tomb  of  a  cross-legged  knight,  armed  in 
mail,  with  both  hands  upon  his  sword,  as  if  in  the 
attitude  of  drawing  it.  On  his  shield  are,  ill-bla- 
zoned, vaire,  argent  and  azure;  two  bars  gules, 
which  denote  the  person  here  deposited  to  have 
been  a  Keynes,  one  of  the  antient  lords  of  the 
place ;  and,  from  the  attitude  of  his  legs,  to  have 
lived  during  the  fashionable  madness  of  crusades. 

Two  ladies,  in  hoods,  recumbent,  said  to  have 
been  two  sisters,  co-heiresses  of  the  manor,  and 
probably  Margaret  and  Maud  de  Ayote,  who 
were  possessed  of  it,  I  think,  in  the  time  of  Ri- 
chard II ;  which  manor  descended  to  their  father, 
Laurence,  from  his  mother  Lettice,  sister  to  Wil- 
liam de  Keynes. 

A  brass  plate  of  William  Wyde,  who  died 
owner  of  this  place  in  1422,  and  another  of  his 
wife. 

An  alabaster  figure,  armed,  of  John  Cressy,  a 
successor  of  the  former ;  who  distinguished  him- 
self in  the  French  wars,  under  the  duke  of  Eed- 

s  Hist.  Northampt.  44. 


164*  WEDON. 

ford,  was  captain  of  Lycieu.r,  Orbef,  and  Pon- 
tesque,  in  Normandy,  and  privy-counsellor  in 
France.     He  died  in  1443,  at  Tove,  in  Lorrainh. 

In  this  manor,  the  Wailing- street  crosses  the 
road  to  Wedon :  it  enters  the  county  at  Dgzv- 
bridge,  on  the  edge  of  Leicestershire,  passes  close 
by  Borough-hill,  and  proceeds  from  Wedon  to 
Toucester  and  Stoney  Stratford,  where  it  enters 
the  county  of  Bucks. 

Near  the  sixty-eighth  mile-stone  is  the  en- 
trance to  the  new  turnpike-road  to  Northampton, 
which  is  above  seven  miles  distant;  and  on  an 
eminence,  a  little  to  the  left,  is  pleasantly  seated 
the  church  and  village  of  Flore,  or  Flower. 

A  little  beyond,  on  the  right,  lies  the  village 
Wedon.  0f  Wedon  on  the  Street,  or  Weedon  Bee;  from 
which  I  chuse  to  transfer  the  old  Bennevenna  to 
Borough-hill,  on  account  of  deficiency  of  classical 
evidence  at  this  place,  and  the  little  difference  of 
distance  from  the  other  stations. 

Sufficient  honor  will  remain  to  Wedo?i\  in 

*  Hist.  Northampt.  51. 

1  Near  Wedon  the  bank  is  covered  with  immense  buildings 
for  the  reception  of  all  kinds  of  military  stores  ;  a  national 
depot  rendered  too  necessary  by  the  exigency  of  the  times. 
The  Grand  Junction  canal  passes  beneath,  and  forms  a  ready 
communication  by  other  canals  from  this  central  spot  with 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom.     Ed. 


WEDON.  265 

allowing  it  to  have  been  the  site  of  the  royal  palace 
of  JVulfere k,  the  Mercian  monarch ;  afterwards 
converted  into  a  nunnery,  at  the  instance  of  his 
daughter,  St.  Werburg,  who  presided  for  a  time 
over  it.  Here  she  performed  the  miracle  of  the 
wild  geese ;  who,  at  her  word,  forgot  their  nature, 
were  driven  by  her  steward  from  their  ravages 
among  the  corn,  into  the  grange,  and,  after  re- 
ceiving from  her  a  severe  check  for  their  depreda- 
tions, were  commanded  to  take  wing,  and  never 
appear  in  her  demesnes.  They  obeyed  in  part, 
but  kept  hovering  about,  till  one  of  their  compa- 
nions, which  had  been  stolen  (and  some  say  eaten) 
by  a  servant,  was  restored ;  on  which  they  bid  an 
eternal  adieu  to  the  fields  of  IVedon  \ 

This  nunnery  was  destroyed  by  the  Danes; 
but  the  memory  of  the  foundress  was  preserved 
in  Leland's  day,  by  a  fair  chapel  dedicated  to  that 
saint m. 

After  the  Conquest,  Roger  de  Thebovil  gave 
a  moiety  of  lands  in  this  monastery  to  the  abbey 
of  Bee  in  Normandy ;  which  was,  with  many  other 
grants  to  the  same  house,  confirmed  by  Henry  II. 
That  abbey  afterwards  became  possessed  of  the 
whole,  when  it  was  made  dependent  on  their  great 
cell  or  priory  at  Okeburn,  in  Wiltshire.     Vast 

k  Bridges,  93.  l  Cress/ s  Ch.  Hist.  427. 

m  Leland  Itin.  i.  11. 


266  CASTLE  DIKES. 

privileges  were  bestowed  in  favor  of  the  monks  of 
this  abbey ;  such  as  exemption  from  suit  and  ser- 
vice to  the  county  and  hundred  courts ;  from  toll 
passage  and  pontage ;  and  exemption  from  forest 
laws.  They  had  also  free  warren,  and  right  of 
determining  in  murder,  manslaughter,  8gc.  8$c.  all 
which  perished  at  the  dissolution  of  the  priories  ; 
and  this  manor,  as  part  of  the  possessions  of  Oke- 
burn,  was  vested  in  the  provost  and  fellows  of 
Eton  college,  by  Henri/  VI ;  in  which  it  still  con- 
tinues n. 

From  hence  I  was  led  by  my  curiosity  about 
Castle  two  miles  westward,  to  Castle  Dikes,  in  the  parish 
of  Farthingstone,  remarkable  for  some  antient 
works  attributed  to  the  Saxons.  They  are  placed 
on  the  brow  of  a  steep  hill,  commanding  a  vast 
view ;  but  at  present  so  overgrown  with  thick 
woods,  that  I  had  but  a  very  indistinct  sight  of 
them.  They  appeared  to  comprehend  near  thir- 
teen acres  of  ground,  and  to  consist  of  strong- 
holds, divided  from  each  other  by  a  ditch  of  stu- 
pendous breadth  and  depth.  A  plat,  called  the 
Castle-yard,  stands  to  the  south-west  of  these,  en- 
trenched on  all  sides  but  the  south-west,  compre- 

n  Hist.  Northampt.  93 ;  in  which  Mr.  Bridges  denies  that 
there  ever  was  a  priory  here,  as  Sir  W.  Dugdale  and  Bishop 
Tanner  imagine. 


Dikes 


STOW-NINE-CHURCHES.  267 

hending  about  seven  acres,  on  which,  tradition 
says,  a  town  was  situated. 

Mr.  Morton  informs  us,  that  a  vaulted  room, 
formed  of  squared  stones,  was  discovered  in  his 
time,  and  beneath  that  another,  which  falling  in 
accidentally,  a  smell,  resembling  that  of  putrid 
carcases,  issued  from  it.  Two  or  three  rude 
sculptures  were  also  discovered  among  the  rub- 
bish. 

It  is  conjectured  that  this  place  was  burnt  by 
the  Danes  ;  for  vast  masses  of  cinders,  mixed  with 
pebbles  and  clay,  have  been  found  in  different 
parts ;  and  many  of  the  stones  had  on  them  the 
marks  of  fire  °.  There  is  no  account  left  of  the 
particulars  of  their  ravages ;  so  this  rests  upon 
conjecture,  as  well  as  the  notion  of  Ethelfleda 
having  been  founder  of  this  place,  among  her 
other  great  works  performed  in  9 1 3. 

On  my  return  to  the  great  road,  about  two 
miles  from  the  place,  I  visited  the  church  of  Stow-  stow-nine- 
nine-Churches,  to  see  the  most  elegant  tomb  which  Churches- 
this  or  any  other  kingdom  can  boast  of;  that  of 
Elizabeth,  fourth  daughter  of  John  Lord  Latimer, 
wife,  first  to  Sir  John  Danvers,  of  Dantrey,  Wilt- 
shire, and  afterwards  to  Sir  Edmund  Cary,  third 
son  of  Henry  Lord  Hurisdon.     Her  figure  is  of 

0  Mr.  Morton,  543. 


268  STOW-NINE-CHURCHES : 

white  marble,  lying  recumbent  on  a  slab  of  black. 
The  attitude  is  the  most  easy  possible,  that  of  one 
asleep ;  her  head,  covered  with  a  loose  hood,  re- 
clines on  a  rich  cushion.  One  hand  is  placed  on 
her  breast,  the  other  lies  on  one  side.  Round  her 
neck  is  a  quilled  ruflf.  The  fashionable  stiffness 
of  her  embroidered  stays  is  a  disadvantage  to  this 
elegant  sculpture.  Her  gown  flows  to  her  feet  in 
easy  folds,  and  covers  them.  She  lies  on  a  long 
cloak,  lined  with  ermine,  fastened  at  her  neck  with 
rich  jewels.  At  her  feet  is  a  griffin  holding  a 
shield  of  the  family-arms.  The  whole  rests  on  a 
white  marble  altar-tomb,  with  inscriptions  and 
arms  on  the  sides.  After  informing  us  of  her  pa- 
rentage, marriages,  and  children,  are  these  lines : 

Sic  familia  prseclara  -\    /-iEtatis  84-, 
Praeclarior  prole  >  1      Anno 

Virtute  prasclarissima.)    (.Dni.  1G30. 
Comrautavit  Saecula ;  non  obiit. 

She  left  three  sons  and  seven  daughters  by  her 
first  husband.  Sir  Charles,  the  eldest,  lost  his 
head  through  his  unfortunate  attachment  to  the 
ill-fated  Earl  of  Essex ;  Henry,  an  able  warrior, 
died  Earl  of  Danby,  full  of  years  and  glory ;  Sir 
John  married  into  the  great  family  of  the  New- 
ports,  in  Shropshire. 

This  noble  monument  was  erected  by  the  lady 
in  her  life-time,  and  was  the  chef ' d 'autre  of  that 


TOMBS  IN  THE  CHURCH.  269 

great  statuary  Nicholas  Stone,  master-mason  to 
king  James  and  Charles  I.  statuary  and  stone- 
cutter ;  so  humbly  does  he  stile  himself.  It  ap- 
pears by  a  note  of  his,  that,  "  March  the  16.  1617. 
"  I  undertook  to  make  a  tomb  for  my  lady,  mo- 
"  ther  to  Lord  Davers;  which  was  all  of  whit  mar- 
"  bell  &  touch p;  and  I  set  it  up  at  Stoxv  of  the 
"  nine  Churches,  in  Northamptonshire,  som  2  yeare 
"  after.  One  altar  tombe :  for  the  which  I  had 
"  220  li. «" 

Opposite  to  this  is  a  very  handsome  cenotaph, 
in  memory  of  the  Reverend  Doctor  Thomas  Tur- 
ner, born  at  Bristol  in  1645,  and  buried  in  1714, 
at  Corpus  Christi  college,  Oxford,  of  which  he 
had  been  president. 

He  laid  out  his  great  income  in  acts  of  hospi- 
tality and  charity;   and  on  his  death,  after  be- 

*  Touch,  Pierre  de  Touche  was  a  name  applied  to  any  black 
stone  which  was  used  for  the  touching  or  trying  of  gold.  At 
length  the  statuaries  bestowed  it  on  all  the  black  marbles,  be- 
cause they  were  sometimes  used  for  that  purpose. 

*  Mr.  Walpole,  in  the  2d  vol.  of  his  Anecdotes  of  Painting, 
p.  23,  informs  us,  that  this  able  artist  was  born  at  Woodbury, 
near  Exeter,  in  1586,  and  died  in  London,  1647.  I  refer  the 
reader  to  that  elegant  performance  for  a  list  of  his  works.  Let 
me  add,  that  the  first  time  I  saw  this  beautiful  tomb,  it  was 
going  fast  to  decay ;  but,  since  that  time,  has  been  fully  re- 
stored, by  the  care  of  the  worthy  rector  and  (I  think)  patron 
of  this  church,  Doctor  Lloyd. 


270  STOW-NINE-CHURCHES : 

queathing  £A000  to  his  relations  and  friends,  left 
the  rest  of  his  wealth  to  pious  uses.  He  aug- 
mented the  stipends  of  the  poorer  members  of 
Ely  cathedral,  in  which  he  was  prebendary :  he 
left  of.  100  to  be  expended  in  apprenticing  poor 
children  of  that  city  :  he  left  £. 6000  for  improving 
the  buildings  of  the  college  he  presided  over :  and 
finally,  left  o£\20,000  to  be  laid  out  by  his  execu- 
tors in  estates  and  lands,  to  be  settled  by  them  on 
the  governors  of  the  charity  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor  widows  and  children  of  the  clergy.  Accord- 
ingly they  purchased  this  manor,  and  other  estates 
here,  and  at  West  Wratling  in  Cambridgeshire, 
to  the  amount  of  upwards  of  £.  \  000  a  year,  and 
settled  them,  in  1716,  agreeable  to  his  willr. 
This  manor  was  purchased  from  Edward  Hooley, 
Esquire,  for  £.  16,000;  which  occasioned  the  ho- 
norable mark  of  gratitude  in  this  church.  It  is 
singular,  that  Francis  Turner,  bishop  of  Ely,  lost 
his  preferments  in  1690,  for  refusing  the  oaths  to 
William  and  Mary,  when  this  gentleman,  his  bro- 
ther, had  the  good  fortune  to  preserve  his,  without 
injuring  his  conscience. 

In  1702,  the  last  year  allowed  for  undergoing 
the  test,  he  left  London  on  the  28th  of  July,  and 
went  to  Oxford  with  a  full  resolution  to  sacrifice 

r  Willis's  Cathedrals,  ii.  389. 


TOMBS  IN  THE  CHURCH.  £71 

all  his  preferments  on  the  first  of  August,  the  last 
day  allowed  by  the  act.  He  wisely  made  no  re- 
signation, well  knowing  that  his  refusal  would  be 
ample  deprivation.  Whether  he  was  forgotten,  or 
whether  the  omission  was  winked  at,  does  not  ap- 
pear ;  but  he  retained  all  his  benefices  to  his  dying 
day5. 

This  charitable  divine  is  placed  standing  in  a 
graceful  attitude,  in  his  master  of  arts  robes,  in 
his  own  hair,  under  a  canopy  supported  by  two 
fluted  pillars  of  the  Corinthian  order,  of  colored 
marble.  On  the  side  of  him  is  Religion,  repre- 
sented by  a  woman  on  a  celestial  globe,  with  a 
cross  in  one,  and  a  font  in  the  other  hand.  On 
the  last  is  inscribed  ©phskeia  kagapa  amiantos 
itapa  to  ©E£i.  The  doctor  stands  on  a  terres- 
trial globe,  with  a  book  in  his  hand,  in  which  is 
written  thn  iiapakata©hkhn  $taaeon.  The 
account  of  his  various  charities  is  placed  on  the 
pediment. 

To  the  corner  of  an  aile,  to  make  room  for  this 
sumptuous  monument,  was  removed  the  tomb  of 
a  cross-legged  [knight,  armed  in  mail,  and  partly 
covered  with  a  surtout.  One  hand  is  on  his  breast, 
the  other  on  his  sword.  On  an  enormous  shield, 
which  is  belted  to  his  body,  is  a  rude  figure  of  a 

*  Bentham's  Hist,  Ely,  263. 


272  TOUCESTER. 

lion  passant  guardant,  and  crowned.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  be  one  of  the  Gilbert  de  Gants,  the  an- 
tient  owners.  There  were  five  of  them.  The  first 
was  great  nephew  to  the  Conqueror ;  the  last  died 
in  1295. 

From  hence  I  descended  to  the  great  road  :  the 
country  hilly  and  clayey.     The  quarries  are  of  a 
coarse  grit  stone,  often  filled  with  shells,  but  of 
too  shattery  a  nature  to  be  used,  except  in  ordi- 
nary buildings.     A  few  miles  farther  is  an  emi- 
nence, caHed  Forsters  Booth,  so  named  from  a 
booth  erected  here  by  one  Forster,  a  poor  coun- 
tryman.    It  grew  at  length  into  a  scattered  street 
of  several  houses  and  carriers  inns,  through  which 
runs  the  Wat  ling-street  road  in  a  direct  line  to 
Toucester,  four  miles  distant. 
Toucester.      This  is  a  pretty  considerable  town,  seated  on  a 
plain,  on  a  small  stream  called  the  Tove,  from 
which  the  name  is  derived ;  Toucester,  or  the  castle 
on  the  Tove.     The  great  tumulus  on  the  east  side 
of  the  town,  points  out  the  site  of  the  speculum  or 
watch-tower.     The  Roman  coins  found  in  digging 
about,  prove  it  to  have  been  an  appendage  to  a 
Roman  station,  whose  name  has  never  reached  us. 
The  Saxons  took  advantage  of  this  little  fortress, 
and  added  the  foss  which  surrounded  it.     From 
them  it  received  its  present  title  of  the  Bury,  or 


TOUCESTER.  £73 

Borough,  to  which  has  been  since  added  the  dou- 
ble tautology  of  Berry  Mount  hill. 

The  Saxons  called  the  town  Tqfeceastrc.  In 
the  time  of  Edxvard  the  Elder  it  was  almost  ru- 
ined by  the  ravages  of  the  Danes  ;  but  in  92 1  the 
king  determined  to  restore  it,  and  for  that  purpose 
detached  part  of  his  forces ;  who,  soon  after  their 
arrival,  were  attacked  by  the  Danes  resident  in 
Northampton  and  Leicester l ;  but,  assisted  by  the 
townsmen,  they  repelled  the  barbarians ;  and  Ed- 
ward, in  order  to  prevent  future  insults,  fortified 
the  whole  place  with  a  stone  wall".  But  time 
hath  destroyed  every  vestige  of  it. 

This  manor,  after  various  changes,  became  the 
property  of  the  famous  Sir  Richard  Empson,  one 
of  the  instruments  of  the  avarice  and  oppression 
of  Henry  VII;  who,  in  1509,  lost  his  head,  with 
Edmund  Dudley,  on  Tower-hill ;  perhaps  more 
deservedly  than  legally.  Empson  was  the  son  of 
a  sieve-maker  in  this  town :  by  his  great  abilities 
in  the  profession  of  the  law,  he  was  promoted  to 
the  chancellorship  of  the  duchy  of  Lancaster  ;  but 
by  his  unbounded  submission  to  the  will  of  his  ra- 
pacious master,  fell  a  victim,  in  the  next  reign,  to 
the  demands  of  an  enraged  nation.  At  present, 
the  manor  belongs  to  the  Earl  of  Ponifret,  who 

«  Sax.  Chr.  107.  "  Ibid.  108. 

T 


274  TOUCESTER  CHURCH. 

derives  it  from  his  ancestor  Richard  Fermor,  a 
merchant  of  Calais,  and  a  younger  brother  of  the 
antient  house  of  the  Fewnors,  of  Oxfordshire. 
Church.  There  was  a  church  here  at  the  Conquest, 
which  was  given  by  the  Conqueror  to  the  abbey 
of  St.  Wandragasile,  in  Normandy.  In  the  pre- 
sent, is  nothing  remarkable,  excepting  the  tomb 
of  IVilliam  Sponne,  archdeacon  of  Norfolk,  and 
rector  of  this  parish  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI. 
who  founded  here  a  college  and  chantry  for  two 
priests  to  say  mass  for  his  soul,  and  the  souls 
of  his  friends.  At  the  dissolution,  it  was  worth 
°£.  19-  6s.  Sd.  a  yearx.  He  was  also  a  great  be- 
nefactor to  the  town,  and  his  charities  are  still  felt 
here,  governed  by  feoffees,  consisting  of  fifteen  of 
the  principal  inhabitants. 

His  figure  is  represented  recumbent,  dressed 
in  a  red  gown,  which  reaches  round  his  feet,  with 
ermine  hood  and  sleeves.  Beneath  is  another  re- 
presentation of  him  after  death,  with  a  sunk  nose 
and  emaciated  body,  and  all  the  changes  wrought 
by  that  fell  monster  on  the  human  frame. 

The  town  is  supported  by  the  great  concourse 
of  passengers,  and  by  a  manufacture  of  lace,  and 
a  small  one  of  silk  stockings.  The  first  was  im- 
ported  from  Flanders,  and  is  carried  on  with  much 

*  Tanner,  388. 


EASTON-NESTON.    MANOR. 


9,75 


Easton- 
Neston. 


success  in  this  place,  and '  with  still  more  in  the 
neighboring  county  of  Buckingham. 

I  took  a  walk  about  a  mile  east  of  the  town, 
to  see  Easton-Neston,  the  seat  of  the  Earl  of  Pom- 
fret.  The  wings  were  built  by  Sir  Christopher 
IVren,  in  1682  ;  the  centre  by  Hawkesmore,  about 
twenty  years  after,  who  is  said  to  have  departed 
greatly  from  the  original  design.  It  has  nine  win- 
dows in  front,  and  is  enriched  with  pilasters.  The 
inside  has  been  long  since  despoiled  of  its  curious 
portraits  and  valuable  statues :  the  latter  having 
been  presented  to  the  university  of  Oxford,  by  the 
late  Countess  of  Pomfret,  grandaughter  to  the  lord 
chancellor  Jeffries. 

This  manor  was  purchased  by  the  same  Richard  Manor. 
Termor,  in  1530,  from  Thomas,  son  of  Sir  Richard 
Empson.  The  antient  house  stood  below  the 
church,  in  a  park  inclosed  by  Sir  Richard,  by  li- 
cence from  Henry  VII,  at  the  time  it  came  into 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Termor.  He  lived  here 
with  boundless  hospitality,  till  the  year  1540, 
when,  for  sending  Sd.  and  a  couple  of  shirts,  to 
one  Nicholas  Thane,  his  confessor,  then  in  prison 
at  Buckingham  for  denying  the  king's  supremacy, 
he  incurred  the  tyrant's  displeasure.  He  fell  under 
a  praemunire,  and,  in  his  old-age,  being  stripped 
of  all  he  had,  was  forced  to  live  with  the  parson  of 
Wapenham  (whom  he  had  presented),  and  with 

t  2 


276  VVIL.  SOMMERS:  SINGULAR  ANECDOTE. 

whom  he  lived  for  several  years,  an  example  of 
consummate  piety  and  resignation y. 

The  recovery  of  part  of  his  fortune  was  owing 
to  a  singular  accident.  During  his  prosperous 
days  he  kept,  as  was  usual  in  those  times  with 
people  of  rank,  a  fool  or  jester :  his  was  the  noted 
Wil.  Som-  Wil.  Sommers,  who,  for  his  drollery,  was  promoted 
to  the  same  office  under  Henry  VIII.  I  have  a 
very  scarce  print  of  this  illustrious  personage,  by 
Delaram,  with  all  the  insignia  of  his  place  about 
him.  Wil.  with  a  gratitude  not  frequent  at  courts, 
remembered  his  old  master ;  and  in  the  latter  days 
of  Henry,  when  his  constitution  was  weakened 
by  infirmities,  took  occasion,  by  some  well-timed 
speech,  to  awaken  the  king's  conscience;  who, 
touched  with  a  compunction  rarely  known  to  him, 
ordered  restitution z ;  but  died  before  it  could  be 
effected.  His  pious  successor,  Eckvard  VI.  re- 
stored to  him  this  manor,  that  of  Toucester,  and 
some  others  of  his  estates,  and  added  many  grants, 
by  way  of  compensation  for  the  injury  done  him  ; 
but  all  fell  short  of  the  great  losses  he  had  sus- 
tained from  the  cruel  father.  He  returned  to  his 
house,  which  he  enjoyed  only  two  years,  dying  in 
January  1552-3.  He  seemed  to  have  a  presage  of 
his  end ;  for  on  the  day  of  his  death  he  had  in* 

y  Bridges,  290.  z  Collins's  Peerage,  v.  50, 


TOMBS  IN  EASTON-NESTON  CHURCH.  277 

vited  a  number  of  his  friends  and  neighbors;  took 
his  leave  of  them,  retired  to  his  closet,  and  was 
found  dead  in  an  attitude  of  devotion*.  His  tomb, 
with  his  figure  in  brass,  and  that  of  his  wife,  are 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  adjacent  church. 

There  are,  besides,  several  other  family-monu-  Chdrch. 
ments.  Sir  John  Termor  (son  of  Richard)  and 
Maud  his  wife,  are  represented  kneeling  at  a  desk, 
beneath  an  arch:  she  is  dressed  in  a  great  ruff 
and  lappets.  He,  perhaps  out  of  respect  to  his 
father's  sufferings  in  the  cause  of  the  see  of  Rome, 
received  the  honor  of  Knight  of  the  Bath  at  the 
coronation  of  queen  Mary.     He  died  in  1571. 

His  son  Sir  George  lies  in  alabaster,  recumbent 
and  armed,  with  peaked  beard  and  small  whiskers. 
His  wife,  Mary  daughter  of  Thomas  Curzon,  of 
Addington,  Bucks,  lies  by  him,  dressed  in  a  gown 
tied  neatly  with  ribands  from  top  to  bottom,  a 
quilled  ruff,  and  great  tete  a  caleche.  Beneath 
are  represented,  kneeling,  their  seven  sons  and 
eight  daughters.  Above  all,  is  a  vast  quantity  of 
ornaments,  arms,  fyc.  £$c.  This  gentleman  might, 
like  Sir  Fulk  Grevil,  have  boasted  of  being  the 
friend  of  Sir  Philip  Sydney,  having  contracted  an 
intimacy  with  him  in  the  wars  in  the  Netherlands, 
where  he  served  all  his .  youth,   under  William 

a  Collins's  Peerage,  v.  50. 


27S  TOMBS  IN  EASTON-NESTON  CHURCH. 

prince  of  Orange,  and  walked  at  the  funeral  of  the 
celebrated  English  hero.  He  also  improved  him- 
self by  foreign  travel;  lived  at  home  with  vast 
splendor  and  hospitality ;  and,  on  June  11,1 603, 
his  house  had  the  honor  of  being  the  place  of 
meeting  between  James  I.  and  his  queen,  on  her 
journey  from  Scotland,  to  receive  her  new  crown. 
Here  they  dined,  and  were  entertained,  with  all 
their  trains,  in  a  princely  manner b.  He  quitted 
this  life  in  1612. 

Sir  Nation  Termor,  who  with  nine  other  gen- 
tlemen were  knighted  at  the  above  interview,  is 
also  buried  here.  He  died  of  the  consequences 
of  a  broken  leg,  in  1620.  He  and  his  lady  are 
very  elegant  figures,  placed  standing ;  he  armed ; 
in  great  boots,  flapping  down ;  vast  whiskers ; 
peaked  beard ;  and,  what  was  not  in  use  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  a  cravat.  It  seems  the  monu- 
ment was  not  erected  till  1662,  when  his  widow 
Anna,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Cochain,  lord 
mayor  of  London,  gave  this  proof  of  her  affection. 
She  is  dressed  in  a  loose  gown,  and  with  long 
flowing  tresses  :  her  hand  is  on  an  hour-glass ;  his 
on  a  scroll :  between,  is  a  bust  of  a  man  in  long 
hair :  above,  are  three  most  aukward  figures  of 
kneeling  women.     I  must  not  quit  the  lady,  with- 

*  Collins,  52. 


Whittle- 
bury 


WHITTLEBURY  FOREST.  279 

out  saying  she  suffered,  with  exemplary  patience, 
a  long  imprisonment  and  great  confiscations,  on 
account  of  the  loyalty  of  her  family ;  which  were 
rewarded  with  a  peerage  in  the  person  of  her  son 
Sir  William  Fermor. 

From  hence  I  continued  my  journey  southward, 
and  much  of  the  way  near  the  borders  of  Whit  tie- 
wood,  or  Whittlebury  Forest,  which  still  continues 
wooded  for  several  miles  in  length,  and  of  different  Forest. 
extents  in  breadth,  in  a  most  deep  and  clayey 
country.  Much  of  the  timber  is  cut  in  rotation, 
but  in  parts  towards  the  edge  of  Buckinghamshire, 
are  considerable  quantities  of  good  oak.  This 
forest  remained  in  the  crown  till  the  year  1685, 
when  Henry  Fitz-roy,  first  duke  of  Grafton,  was 
appointed  hereditary  ranger.  The  present  duke 
hath  an  elegant  house,  called  Wakefield  Lodge", 
originally  built  by  Mr.  Claypole,  son-in-law  to 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  ranger  of  the  forest.  This 
was  one  of  the  five  •  tracts,  called  walks ;  viz. 
Wakefield,  Shelbrook,  Hazelbury,  Shrob,  and 
Hanger.  Fourteen  townships  are  allowed  the 
right  of  common  in  the  open  coppices  and  ridings, 
from  the  principle  of  justice,  that  some  reparation 
might  be  made  to  them  for  the  damages  sustained 
by  the  deer.     In  this  great  tract  are  two  lawns, 

c  Designed  by  W.  Kent. 


280  WHITTLEBURY  FOREST. 

i .  e.  spots  inclosed  with  pales,  for  pasture  for  the 
deer :  one  is  Wakefield  Lawn,  the  other  Sholbrook 
Lawn,  which  are  secluded  from  the  forest  cattle. 

That  fierce  animal  the  wild  cat,  is  still  met 
with  in  this  forest.  In  the  reign  of  Richard  I.  the 
abbot  and  convent  of  Peterborough  had  a  charter 
for  hunting  in  this  place  the  hare,  the  fox,  and  the 
wild  cat;  which  was  confirmed  to  them,  in  1253, 
by  Henry  IIId.  By  these  charters,  it  appears 
the  wild  cat  should  be  added  to  the  beasts  of 
forest,  or  of  venerie ;  which  the  book  of  St.  Albans, 
and  old  Sir  Tristram,  in  his  xvorthie  Treatise  of 
Hunting,  confined  to  the  hart,  the  hynde,  the  hare, 
the  boare,  and  the  wolfe :  the  hart  and  hind  being 
separated,  because  the  season  of  hunting  them  was 
different ;  yet  they  remain  in  species  still  the  same. 
Beasts  of  the  chace  (which  was  an  inferior  sort  of 
forest)  were  the  buck,  the  doe,  the  fox,  the  martin, 
and  the  roec. 

The  fondness  that  seized  the  regular  clergy  for 
the  pleasures  of  the  chace,  did  not  appear  till  after 
the  Conquest.  The  Saxon  clergy  were  expressly 
forbidden  the  amusement.  King  Edgar  directs 
the  priest  "  to  be  neither  a  hunter  nor  hawker, 
nor  yet  a  tippler ;  but  to  keep  close  to  his  books, 
as  becomes  a  man  of  his  order'. " 

A  Morton,  443.  e  Manwood's  Forest  Laws,  39. 

f  Leges  Saxon.  86. 


POTTERS  PERY.  281 

The  canon  law  still  preserved  its  severity,  and 
forbad  to  spiritual  persons  the  amusement  of  the 
chace.  This  probably  was  rather  designed  to 
check  what  might,  by  the  excess,  estrange  them 
from  their  sacred  function.  The  common  law, 
from  a  principle  of  good  sense  and  humanity,  per- 
mitted the  recreation,  because  nothing  could  con- 
tribute more  effectually  to  the  performance  of  their 
duty  than  good  health,  resulting  from  fit  exercise ; 
as  nothing  could  disqualify  them  so  greatly  as  the 
disorders  arising  from  a  sedentary  life.  This  in- 
dulgence probably  soon  ended  in  abuse.  In  the 
twelfth  century,  we  find  Abelard  unhappy  in  pre- 
siding over  a  monastery  of  huntsmen.  Chaucer, 
as  I  have  before  quoted,  flings  a  fine  ridicule  on 
the  sporting  monk.  Finally,  the  chace  became  so 
necessary  an  appendage  to  the  ecclesiastical  state, 
that  every  see  had  a  number  of  parks :  that  of 
Norivich,  thirteen ;  and  the  sixth  mortuary  which 
the  king  clamed  on  the  death  of  a  prelate,  was  his 
kennel  of  hounds. 

Pass  by  Potters  Pery,  a  village  which  takes  Potters 
its  name  from  the  manufacture  of  coarse  ware, 
such  as  flower-pots,  8$c.  which  has  been  long  car- 
ried on  here.  The  clay  is  yellowish,  pure,  and 
firm;  yet  the  pots  made  with  it  are  very  brittle, 
unless  glazed ;  when  they  endure  the  weather  as 
well  as  any. 


282  PASSENHAM.    OLD  STRATFORD. 

The  post-road  is  still  continued  the  whole  way 
on  or  near  the  Wat ling-street.  Near  Potters 
Pery  I  quitted  it,  through  the  curiosity  of  visiting 

Passenham.  Passenham,  about  a  mile  or  two  distant,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ouze,  near  this  village.  Edzvard  the 
Elder  encamped  here  to  cover  his  workmen,  who 
were  employed  in  building  the  walls  of  Toucester1, 
from  being  interrupted  by  the  Danes.  A  square 
entrenchment  is  supposed  to  have  been  cast  up  by 
him,  and  garrisoned  for  that  purpose. 
Church.  The  church  is  small,  and  without  ailes ;  dedi- 
cated to  Guthlaius,  the  saint  of  the  fens.  It  was 
rebuilt  in  1626,  at  the  sole  expence  of  Sir  Robert 
Banastre.  This  gentleman  was  lord  of  the  ma- 
nor; he  died  in  1649,  aged  about  eighty.  His 
figure  is  a  half-length,  with  a  book  in  his  hand, 
placed  against  the  wall.  His  epitaph  informs  us, 
that  he  was  born  at  Wem,  in  Shropshire  ;  that  he 
was  bred  at  court,  and  served  three  princes ;  that 
he  had  three  wives,  and  by  the  last  an  only  daugh- 
ter, who  conveyed  the  estate,  by  marriage  with 
William  lord  Maynard,  into  that  family ;  a  younger 
branch  of  which  possesses  it,  as  I  apprehend,  at 
present. 

I  regained  the  great  road,  and  passed  through 

Stratford,  the  hamlet  of  Old  Stratford,  seated  on  rich  mea- 

8  Saxon  Chron.  103. 


OLD  STRATFORD.  283 

dows,  watered  by  the  Ouzc,  which  rises  in  this 
county,  not  remote  from  Brackly.  This  place  is 
reasonably  supposed  to  have  been  the  Lactodorum, 
or  Lactorodum,  of  the  Itinerary,  as  the  distance 
suits  extremely  well,  and  Roman  coins  have  been 
found  in  the  neighboring  fields.  Antiquaries  de- 
rive it  from  Llech  dwr,  and  Llech  ryd :  one  signi- 
fying the  stone  on  the  water ;  the  other,  the  stone 
on  the  fordh:  a  name  bestowed  on  it  by  the  Bri- 
tons, probably  because  the  bank  of  the  river  was 
marked  by  a  miliary  stone  on  this  great  military 
way.     I  here  cross  the  river  into 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ; 

which,  with  Bedfordshire  and  Hertfordshire,  form- 
ed the  country  of  the  Catticuchlani.  The  present 
name  is,  according  to  Mr.  Camden,  taken  from 
the  quantity  of  beeches  found  in  parts  of  it;  a 
word  derived  from  the  Saxon  bucken.  Two  argu- 
ments serve  to  confirm  the  assertion  of  Caisar, 
that  this  tree  was  not  found  in  Britain  at  the  time 
of  his  invasion :  one  is,  that  the  woods  of  it  are 
merely  local,  and  confined  to  a  very  few  of  our 
southern  counties :  the  other  is,  that  the  Britons 
had  no  name  for  it,  but  what  they  derived  from 

h  See  Gale,  60,  and  Burton,  144. 


284  STONEY  STRATFORD. 

the  Latin  fagus  ;  for  they  stiled  it,  as  we  do  still, 

Ffawydden,  and  Prenffawydd. 

On  crossing  the  Ouze  I  entered  Stoney  Strat- 
Stoney  °  <  •* 

Stratford,  jm/,  a  town  built  on  each  side  of  the  1  Vat  ling- 
street.  It  suffered  greatly  by  fire  on  May  the 
19th,  1742,  which  almost  destroyed  the  whole 
place ;  but  it  was  soon  restored  by  the  vigour  of 
English  charity.  One  church  (that  of  St.  Giles) 
has  never  been  rebuilt ;  the  body  of  the  other  (St. 
Magdalene  s)  is  restored  in  a  very  handsome  man- 
ner, by  Mr.  Irons,  architect  in  Warwick,  and,  I 
suppose,  enlarged  sufficiently  to  supply  the  want 
of  the  other.  St.  Giles's  had  been  a  chantry,  va- 
lued at  £9,0.  2s.  6d.  a  year ;  and  was  at  the  time 
of  its  ruin  a  curacy  :  St.  Magdalene's  was  a  cha- 
pel belonging  to  Wolverton,  but  is  now  in  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  parishioners. 

My  journey  was  continued  along  the  Street 
road  to  the  47th  stone,  where,  tempted  by  the 
fame  of  certain  monuments  in  Blecheley  church,  I 

T5t  FCHFLFY 

Church,  digressed  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  to  the  right. 
I  found  there  a  very  fine  alabaster  tomb  of  Richard 

Tomb  op  k°rd  Grey  of  Wilton,  restored  by  the  celebrated 
Lord  Grey,  antiquarian  Brozvn  Willis,  Esquire,  who  added  an 
inscription,  and  in  the  front  the  arms.  From  the 
former  we  find,  that  besides  Richard,  his  son  Re- 
ginald, who  died  February  22,    1493;  and  his 


BLEdHELEY  CHURCH.    TOMBS.  285 

great  grandson  Edmund,  who  died  in  Water-hall 
on  May  6th,  161 1 ;  were  interred  here. 

This  Richard  Lord  Grey,  by  will,  dated  at 
Blecheley,  August  12,  1442,  bequeaths  his  body 
to  be  buried  in  the  church  of  the  B.  V.  Mary  of 
Blecheley ;  and  directs  his  executors  to  find  a 
priest,  for  four  years,  to  perform  divine  service  in 
the  said  church  for  his  soul ;  and  that  they  make 
a  tomb  of  alabaster  or  marble,  according  to  his 
state  and  degree.  He  bequeaths  to  the  lady  Mar- 
garet his  wife,  his  manor  of  Burry-hall,  in  Essex, 
for  life.  The  residue  of  his  lands  and  goods  he 
gives  to  his  executors,  to  dispose  of  for  the  health 
of  his  soul ;  viz.  the  lady  Margaret  Grey,  Robert 
Darcy,  Esquire,  John  Habethal,  Esquire,  Roger 
Eton  Clerc,  rector  of  Blecheley,  and  William 
Barker  \ 

The  tomb  is  of  alabaster:  his  figure  is  armed, 
his  hair  cropt,  his  face  without  a  beard ;  round  his 
neck  is  a  collar  of  SS,  and  round  the  lower  part 
of  his  armour  is  another  collar  of  jewels,  in  the 
midst  of  which  is  a  small  shield  with  the  cross  of 
St.  George;  for  he  was  made  Knight  of  the  Gar- 
ter by  Richard  II.  On  the  fingers  of  his  left 
hand  are  not  fewer  than  six  rings. 

Notwithstanding  it  may  be  thought  tedious 

1  His  will,  dated  Aug.  12,  1442.    Mr.  Cole's  MSS. 


286  TOMBS  IN  BLECHELEY  CHURCH. 

to  many,  yet  I  cannot  forbear  describing  two  mo- 
numents, full  of  the  fashionable  emblem,  pun,  and 
quibble  of  the  times.  The  first  is  in  memory  of 
Dr.Sparke.  Thomas  Sparke,  S.  Sce.  Theol.  Dr.  celeber.  hu- 
jus  eccle.  rector  vigilant issimus,  as  inscribed  round 
the  oval  that  contains  his  figure.  A  little  altar 
with  sparkling  flames  is  placed  near  his  name. 
The  monument  is  a  small  but  extremely  neat  one 
of  brass,  set  in  a  white  marble  frame  :  on  the  top 
is  the  crest,  a  demi  talbot  rampant,  studded  with 
torteauxes,  and  sparks  of  fire  issuing  from  his 
mouth :  on  the  brass  is  finely  engraven  an  altar- 
tomb,  on  the  table  of  which  is  an  urn,  with  sparks 
issuing  from  the  mouth;  and  on  the  belly  is 
written 

Non  extincta,  sepulta  licet ;  Scintilla  favilla  est. 

On  the  left  side  of  the  urn  stands  Death,  in  form 
of  a  skeleton,  holding  a  spade,  on  the  flat  part  of 
which,  going  to  cover  the  mouth  of  the  urn,  is 
wrote  Mors  tegit ;  and  an  angel  in  the  heavens 
sounding  a  trumpet,  from  the  end  of  which  issues 
these  words,  Reteget  nuntius  iste  tuba  ;  and  on  a 
scroll,  in  the  same  hand,  is  written,  Ista  caduca 
rosaest:  just  above  which,  in  the  other  hand  of 
the  angel,  is  a  fresh-blown  rose,  inscribed  Sed  re- 
novata  tamen  ;  about  the  angel's  head,  and  in  the 
clouds,  are  several  stars  :  and  quite  at  top  is  writ- 


TOMBS  IN  BLECHELEY  CHURCH.  287 

ten,  Qui  multos  ad  justitiam  adducunt,  ut  stellce 
semper  splendebunt. 

Fame,  with  her  usual  attributes  of  ears,  eyes, 
and  tongues,  blowing  a  trumpet,  stands  on  the 
other  side  of  the  urn.  On  each  side  of  her  are 
two  scrolls :  on  one  is, 

Vindex  fama  libros  fatali  tollit  ab  urna; 

on  the  other, 

Sic  Scintilla  micat  quern  tegit  atra  cinis. 

Fame  holds  in  one  hand  a  book,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  urn,  on  which  is  written  Funeral  Sermons. 
On  other  books,  scattered  about,  are  inscribed,  A 
Persuasive  to  Conformity  ;  A  confortable  Treatise 
for  a  troubled  Conscience ;  Motives  to  Qu.  Eliza- 
beth for  her  Successor  ;  A  Treatise  of  Catechising  ; 
A  Confutation  of  J.  Albin  ;  and  out  of  the  mouth 
of  the  trumpet,  The  high  way  to  Heaven.  These 
were  the  works  of  the  Doctor,  who  was  a  most 
famous  controversialist,  in  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth 
and  James  I.  He  is  engraven  in  front  of  the 
tomb,  a  half-length,  in  gown,  cassock,  scarf,  scull- 
cap,  ruff,  and  square  beard.  On  each  side  of  him 
is  a  shield  :  on  one  is  Scutum  Jidei :  on  the  other, 
Arma  nostra  sunt  spiritualia.  On  one  side  of  the 
figure  are  three  clergymen  in  their  habits,  kneel- 
ing, with  a  church  by  each ;  and  beyond  them  two 


288         TOMBS  IN  BLECHELEY  CHURCH. 

women  in  high-crowned  hats.  These  five  were 
his  children,  whom  he  admonishes,  Filioli  cavete 
vobis  ab  idolis ;  and  above  their  heads  are  these 
lines : 

Bis  geniti,  retinete,  fidem  zelumque  paternum : 
Hoeredes  vestri  sic  decet  esse  patris ; 

Sic  decet,  O  mea  tunc  quam  molliter  ossa  cubabunt 
Si  licet  in  natis  sic  superesse  meis : 

Scintillam  Scintilla  meam  si  vestra  sequetur 
Orba  sua  flamma  mors  erit  ara  Dei. 

On  the  other  side  of  his  picture  are  represented 
his  parishioners,  with  these  verses : 

2  Cor.  iii.  5.  Ut  sacra  in  populo  signatur  epistola  Pauli 
Sic  mea  in  hoc  sancto  lucet  imago  grege. 

Corporis  in  tabula  datur  imperfecta;  sed  ilia 
Cordibus  in  vestris  viva  figura  mei  est. 

Viva  mei,  dixi,  Christi  at  sit  vera  figura ; 
Sat  mihi  si  populus  vera  figura  Dei. 

The  Doctor  died  in  16 16;  his  wife  the  year 
before.  Luckily,  her  name  was  Rose;  which 
afforded  fresh  matter  of  allusions. 

Sixty-eight  yea  s  a  fragrant  Rose  she  lasted  : 
No  vile  reproach  her  virtues  ever  blasted. 
Her  autumn  past,  expects  a  glorious  spring, 
A  second  better  life,  more  flourishing. 

The  other  is  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Faith  Taylor, 
wife  of  Mr.  Edward  Taylor,  minister  of  the  parish, 


.      FENNY  STRATFORD:  CHAPEL.  289 

with  many  pretty  sportings  on  the  word  Faith; 

but  the  dulness  of  this  species  of  epitaph  has  so 

wearied  me,  as  I  fear  it  has  the  reader,  that  I  dare 

not  venture  on  the  transcript  of  what  was  probably 

much  admired  at  the  period  of  its  composition. 

From  hence  I  got  into  the  great  road  at  Fenmj  _  Fenny 

<=>  ■         o  ^   Stratford. 

Stratford,  so  called  from  its  situation.  The  cha- 
pel, which  is  in  the  parish  of  Blecheley,  was  re-  Chapel. 
built,  and  endowed  at  the  expence  of  Mr.  Brown 
TVillis  and  his  friends.  His  residence  was  near  the 
church  of  Blecheley  ;  but,  having  a  great  predilec- 
tion for  the  works  of  his  own  hands,  he  intrusted 
to  the  Reverend  William  Cole,  then  rector  of  the 
parish,  the  following  inscription ;  which  Mr.  Cole 
was  requested  to  cause  to  be  inscribed  on  a  white 
marble  stone  fineered  with  black,  to  be  laid  over 
him  in  this  chapel. 

Hie  situs  est 

Brown  Willis,  antiquarius 

Cujus  CI.  Avi  aeternee  memoriae 

TJio.  Willis,  archiatri  totius  Europe  celeberrimi, 

Defuncti  die  Sancti  Martini,  A.  D.  1675 

Haec  capella  exiguum  monumentum  est. 

Obiit  Feb.  5°  die,  Anno  Domini  1760. 

.SStatis  suae  78. 

O  Christe.  Soter  et  Judex, 
Huic  peccatorum  primo 
Miserecors  et  propitius  esto. 

V 


290  LITTLE  BRICKHILL.    HOCKLEY. 

On  the  cieling  are  the  arms  of  all  benefactors  of 
ten  pounds  and  upwards.  The  chapel  had  been 
originally  a  chantry  k.  The  new  building  was  de- 
dicated to  St.  Martin,  out  of  respect  to  his  grand- 
father, who  happened  to  die  on  that  day.  The 
same  great  physician  first  made  a  settlement  in 
this  parish,  by  the  purchase  of  the  manor  of 
Blecheley,  and  that  of  Fenny  Stratford,  from  the 
last  George  Villiers  Duke  of  Buckingham. 
.  From  hence  I  kept  a  gentle  ascent  to  Little 

Little  r  & 

Brickhill.  Brichhill,  seated  on  the  steep  of  a  long  range  of 
sand-hills,  divided  by  pleasant  woody  dingles, 
which  extend  for  a  considerable  way,  and  form  a 
lofty  frontier  at  this  end  of  the  county.  Very  soon 
after  my  passage  over  them,  I  entered  the  county 
of 

BEDFORD, 

and  proceeded  as  far  as  Dunstable  on  the  Wat- 
ling-street,  which  goes  directly  to  this  town.  In 
the  beginning  it  crosses  a  most  undulated  descent. 
On  the  left  are  the  woods  and  park  of  Battlesdon, 
a  seat  of  Mrs.  Page '.  In  the  bottom  go  through 
Hockley.  Hockley  in  the  Hole;  a  long  range  of  houses, 
mostly  inns,  built  on  each  side  of  the  road.     The 

k  Ecton,  217. 

1  Now  of  Sir  Gregory  Page,  Bart.    Eu. 


HOCKCLIFF.    CHALK-HILL.  291 

English  rage  of  novelty  is  strongly  tempted  by 
one  sagacious  publican,  who  informs  us  on  his 
sign,  of  news-papers  being  to  be  seen  at  his  house 
every  day  in  the  week. 

At  this  place,  whose  proper  name  is  Occleie,  Hockcliff, 
or  Hockcliff,  was  an  hospital,  with  a  master  and 
several  brethren,  dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Bap- 
tistm.  In  1283  here  was  a  feudal  quarrel,  be- 
tween the  people  of  the  priory  of  Dunstaple  and 
those  of  William  de  Muntcheny,  a  potent  baron, 
in  which  one  John  the  Smith  was  killed  on  the 
side  of  the  priory,  and  Thomas  Mustard,  a  fierce 
knave,  on  the  other n.  In  old  times,  such  contests 
Were  very  frequent,  and  very  fatal :  men  were  al- 
ways formed  into  parties,  and  ready  to  pursue  the 
most  bloody  measures  on  the  most  trivial  occa- 
sions. 

Two  miles  farther,  I  reached  the  foot  of  Chalk-     Chalk- 
Hill. 
hill,  formerly  of  a  tremendous  steepness,  and  the 

terror  of  country  passengers ;  at  present  formed 
into  an  easy  ascent.  This  is  the  first  specimen 
the  traveller  meets  with  of  the  great  chalky  stra- 
tum which  intersects  the  kingdom.  A  line  drawn 
from  Dorchester,  in  the  county  of  Dorset,  to  the 
county  of  Norfolk,  would  include  all  the  chalky 
beds  of  the  kingdom ;  for  none  are  found  in  any 

m  Tanner,  8.  n  Chron.  Dunstaple,  ii.  483. 

U  2 


292  IMAIDEN'S  BOWER.    DUNSTABLE. 

quantity  to  the  west  of  that  line.  This  earth  was 
in  great  estimation,  and  an  article  of  commerce  in 
the  time  of  the  Romans.  The  workers  in  it  had 
their  goddess  Nehelennia,  who  presided  over  it. 
To  her  we  find  this  votive  altar : 

DE^E    NEHELENNIA 

Ob  merces  rite  conservatas 

M.   Secundus   Silvanus 

Negotor  Cretarius 

Britannicianus 

V.S.L.M. 

After  ascending  the  hill,  I  turned  about  half 
Bower,     a  mile  out  of  the  road,  to  visit  Maiden's  Bower,  a 
very  large  Danish  camp,  of  a  circular  form,  sur- 
rounded with  a  great  rampart  and  a  ditch  on  its 
side :  it  lies  on  a  plain,  with  a  portion  verging  to- 
wards a  brow,  hanging  over  a  valley.     Its  history 
is  unknown ;  yet  it  merits  a  visit,  as  the  camps  of 
the  Danes  are  not  very  common  in  our  kingdom. 
Dunstable.      After  a  mile's  descent,  enter  Dunstable,  a 
long  town,  built  on  each  side  of  the  Watling- 
street,  and  intersected  in  the  middle  by  the  Ick- 
nield-street.     This  town  was  the  Magiovinum,  or 
Magioventum,  of  the  Itinerary ;   and  probably 
had  four  portce,  answerable  to  the  great  roads. 
The  Icknield-street  issues  out  on  the  north  side 
of  the  church.      Antiquarians  derive  the  name, 
very  properly,  from  Maes  Gwyn,  or  the  white 


DUNSTABLE.  293 

field,  from  the  color  of  the  chalky  soil.  Roman 
money  has  been  found  about  the  place,  which  the 
country  people  call  madning  money  ;  this,  as  Dr. 
Stukeley  observes,  can  have  no  reference  to  Maid 
en's  Bower,  which  belonged  to  another  people: 
but  on  a  hill,  called  Castle-hill,  about  half  a  mile 
west  of  it,  is  a  Roman  camp ;  within  which,  near 
one  end,  is  a  large  mount,  very  hollow  in  the  top; 
and  near  the  outside  of  one  of  the  ramparts  is  a 
deep  hole,  probably  the  place  of  the  draw-well. 
The  whole  stands  on  a  steep  promontory,  project- 
ing westward. 

The  place  was  certainly  occupied  by  the  Sax~ 
ons,  after  the  departure  of  the  Romans.  We  can 
indeed  only  argue  from  the  present  name,  Dun- 
Staple,  the  mart  near  the  hill.  We  cannot  allow 
the  monkish  legend,  that  it  was  called  Dun's  Sta- 
ble, or  the  stable  of  a  robber  of  that  name.  It 
probably  was  a  waste  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest, 
as  many  places  were,  and  might  become  a  harbour 
of  thieves,  by  reason  of  the  woods  with  which  the 
country  was  over-run.  This  determined  Henry  I. 
to  colonize  the  spot;  for  that  purpose,  he  en- 
couraged people  by  proclamation  to  settle  there, 
and,  in  order  to  destroy  the  shelter  which  the  fo- 
rest gave  to  robbers,  directed  the  woods  to  be 
grubbed  up.     He  also  built  a  royal  palace,  called 


294  DUNSTABLE:  PRIORY. 

Kingsbury0 1  which  stood  near  the  church,  and 
whose  site  is  now  occupied  by  a  farm-house.    Here 
he  kept  his  Christmas  in  1123,  with  his  whole 
court,  and  received  at  the  same  time  the  embassy 
from  the  Earl  of  Anjou p.     He  made  the  town  a 
borough,  bestowed  on  it  a  fair  and  a  market,  and 
various  other  privileges ;  particularly,  that  the  in- 
habitants should  not  be  liable  to  be  called  before 
the  itinerant  justices,  but  that  their  causes  should 
be  determined  by  the  justices  of  the  king,  and  a 
jury  of  twelve  of  the  burgesses9.     He  kept  the 
town  seventeen  years  in  his  own  hands,  and  then 
bestowed  it,  with  all  its  privileges  (reserving  only 
Priory,     his  royal  residence)  on  the  priory,  which  he  found- 
ed here  some  time  after  the  year  1131,  for  black 
canons,  in  honor  of  St.  Peter.     At  the  time  of 
the  dissolution,  here  were  a  prior  and  twelve  ca- 
nons, whose  revenues,  according  to  Dugdale,  were 
^.344.  13s.  3d.  a  year:  to  Speed,  £AOQ.  Us.  Id. 
The  last  prior  was  Gervase  Markham,  whOj 
with  his  canons,  subscribed  to  the  king's  supre- 
macy in  1534;  and  on  the  dissolution,  had  a  pen- 
sion of  sixty  pounds  a  year  for  life.     His  reward 
was  the  greater,  as  his  convent  was  the  residence 
of  the  commissioners  for  carrying  on  the  divorce 

0  Slow,  136.  Dugdale  Monast.  ii.  132.    »  Sax.  Chr.22t.Ma- 
dox  Aruiq.  Exch.  i.  1 2.  s  Dugdale  Mon.  ii.  1 33. 


DUNSTABLE  CHURCH. 


295 


between  Henry  VIII.  and  Catharine  of  Arragon; 
in  which  he  took  an  active  partr.  The  unfortu- 
nate princess  at  that  time  resided  at  Ampthill,  in 
this  neighborhood. 

The  church,  and  an  arch  in  the  wall  adjoining,  Church. 
are  the  only  remains  of  the  priory.  The  front  of 
the  church  is  singular,  having  a  gallery  divided  by 
carved  gothic  arches ;  a  great  door  with  a  round 
arch  richly  carved  with  scrolls  and  ovals,  including 
human  figures ;  and  the  capitals  of  the  pillars  cut 
into  grotesque  forms.  The  lesser  door  is  gothic, 
richly  ornamented  with  nail  heads.  Between  both 
doors  is  a  row  of  false  arches  interlaced ;  the  co- 
lumns consist  of  very  singular  greater  and  lesser 
joints,  placed  alternate,  not  unlike  one  species  of 
the  fossils  called  entrochi. 

The  steeple  is  attached  to  one  side  of  the  front,  Steeple. 
and  has  two  rows  of  niches,  now  deprived  of  their 
statues.  Formerly  another  tower  corresponded 
with  this:  both  fell  down  in  1221,  and  destroyed 
the  prior's  hall  and  part  of  the  church5.  The 
body  was  rebuilt  in  1273,  by  the  parishioners; 
but  one  Henry  Chedde  went  to  the  greatest  ex- 
pence*.  The  inside  of  the  church  is  supported 
by  six  round  arches,  all  plain  except  one:  the 


r  Willis's  Abbies,  ii.  2. 

8  Chron.  de  Dunstaple,  i.  12(5. 


*  The  same,  417. 


296  TOMBS  IN  DUNSTABLE  CHURCH. 

windows  above  are  also  round  at  the  top.  Either 
the  supposed  date  of  the  rebuilding  is  wrong,  or  the 
Saxon  or  round-arched  mode  must  have  continued 
later  than  is  generally  allowed. 

The  church  was  originally  in  form  of  a  cross, 
with  a  tower  in  the  center.  Two  of  the  vast  pil- 
lars which  supported  it  are  still  to  be  seen  at  the 
east  end. 

Above  the  altar  is  a  large  and  handsome  paint- 
ing of  the  Last  Supper  by  Sir  James  Thornhill ; 
which,  with  the  plate  and  rich  pulpit-cloth,  were 
the  gift  of  two  widows,  of  the  name  of  Cart  and 
Ashton. 

I  omitted  in  its  place  a  visit  made  to  the 
priory  by  Henry  III.  and  his  family;  when  the 
monks  presented  the  king  with  a  gilt  cup,  and  the 
queen  with  another,  and  gave  his  son  Edward  and 
daughter  Margaret  a  gold  clasp  apiece.  In  re- 
turn, the  royal  visitants  bestowed  on  the  church 
eight  pieces  of  silk ;  and  the  king  gave  C  shillings 
for  making  of  a  thuribule  and  a  piv u. 
Tombs.  I  MET  with  some  antient  tombs,  dated  between 
the  years  1400  and  1500 ;  but  none  of  dignity  suf- 
ficient to  be  particularised.  Sir  Ke?ielm  Digbys 
famous  pedigree-book  has  preserved  one,  in  me- 
mory of  William  Mulso  and  his  wife x.     Both  are 

B  Ckron.  de  Dunstaple,  i.  277.  x  The  same,  598, 


TOMBS  IN  DUNSTABLE  CHURCH.  297 

dressed  in  their  gowns,  with  their  hands  in  the  at- 
titude of  prayer.  At  his  feet  is  a  group  of  eleven 
sons ;  at  her's,  another  of  seven  daughters.  The 
attributes  of  the  four  evangelists  are  placed  at  the 
corners.     Between  their  feet  were  these  lines  : 


Hie  William  Mulso  sibi  quam  sociavit  et  Alice 
Marmore  sub  duro  conclusit  sors  generalis  : 
Ter  tres,  bis  quinos  hie  natos  fertur  habere 
Per  sponsos  binos,  Deus  hiis  clemens  miserere. 


This  gentleman  was  oiThingdon,  in  the  county  of 
Northampton.  The  name  of  the  lady,  Alice  Mar- 
more,  the  same  that  Fuller,  by  a  singular  mis- 
conception of  the  epitaph,  reports  to  have  had 
"  nineteen  children  at  five  births,  viz,  three  sever- 
"  al  times  three  children  at  a  birth,  and  five  at  a 
"  birth,  two  other  times7." 

Besides  the  religious  house,  was  one  of  friars 
preachers,  who  settled  here  about  125$.  It  was 
valued  at  only  4/.  1 8*.  4d ;  and  at  the  dissolution 
its  site  was  granted  to  Sir  William  Herbert.  These 
brethren,  as  the  Chronicle  says,  came  sorely 
against  the  will  of  the  monks,  per  summam  indu- 
striam  et  seductionem;  but  by  their  interest  with  the 
king,  queen,  and  courtiers,  got  leave  to  stay  here z. 

y  British  Worthies,  p;  1 19.  *  Chr.  Dunst.  i.  341. 


DUNSTABLE:    MANUFACTURE. 

It  seems  the  inhabitants  of  the  priory  did  not  like 
such  insinuating  interlopers  as  Chaucer  describes 
this  order  to  have  been,  who  were  sure  to  win  all 
the  penitent  males  and  females. 

Full  swetely  herde  he  confession, 
And  pleasant  was  his  absolution. 


Here  was  a  house  or  hospital  for  lepers. 
Whether  it  was  the  same  with  that  marked  at  the 
post-house,  a  mile  west  of  the  town  in  the  new  map, 
I  cannot  determine. 

The  schools  here  were  probably  considerable; 
for  I  find  the  quarrels  between  the  scholars  and 
the  townsmen  important  enough  to  be  mentioned 
in  the  Chronicle. 

This  town  is  now  supported  chiefly  by  the 
ture.  great  passage  of  travellers.  A  small  neat  manufac- 
ture of  straw-hats,  and  baskets,  and  toys,  main- 
tains many  of  the  poor.  In  old  time  the  breweries 
raised  many  of  the  inhabitants  to  great  wealth. 
We  are  told  by  Holinshed  of  one  William  Murlie, 
an  eminent  brewer  in  this  town,  who  sallied  out 
in  the  time  of  Henry  V.  to  join  the  foolish  insur- 
rection of  the  Lollards,  near  London,  followed 
by  two  led  horses  with  gilt  trappings.  He  also 
took  with  him  a  pair  of  gilt  spurs,  ready  to  wear 
on  his  receiving  from  Lord  Cobham  the  honour  of 


Manufac- 


MARKET  CELL.  299 

knighthood a,  but  had  the  hard  luck  to  be  taken, 
and  hung,  with  them  about  his  neck. 

About  four  miles  from  Dunstable  I  passed  by 
Market  Cell,  at  present  a  gentleman's  seat ;  for-  ^*"T 
merly  a  nunnery  of  Benedictines,  dedicated  to  the 
Holy  Trinity  of  the  Wood.  Legend  ascribes  its 
origin  to  Roger,  a  monk  of  Saint  Alban,  who,  on 
his  return  from  Jerusalem,  led  here  an  eremetical 
life ;  and,  taking  under  his  care  Christiana,  a  rich 
virgin  of  Huntingdon,  inspired  her  with  the  same 
contempt  of  the  world.  She  succeeded  to  his  cell, 
resisted  many  temptations,  was  visited  by  many  di- 
vine visions,  and  many  miracles  were  wrought  in 
her  favour  \  She  was  patronized  by  Geoffry,  elect- 
ed abbot  of  St.  Albans  in  1 1 19,  who  built  and  en- 
dowed a  house  and  constituted  Christiana  first  ab- 
bess. The  site  of  some  adjoining  lands  were  the 
gift  of  the  dean  and  chapter  of  St.  Paulc,  the 
rest  of  the  pious  work  resulted  solely  from  the  ab- 
bot, who  twice  rebuilt  the  same,  after  it  had  suf- 
fered by  fired :  but  Matthew  Paris  complains,  that 
all  this  was  done  at  the  expence  of  the  convent  of 
St.  Albans,  and  even  without  its  consent,  to  the 
great  injury  of  the  church.  In  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  Humphry  Boucher  %  "  base  sunne 

*  Hollinshed  p.  544.  fi  Dugdalc  Monast.  i.  350  &c.  &c. 

c  Ibid.  ii.  872.  d  Matthew  Paris,  1013. 

e  Leland  Itin.  i.  116. 


SOO  FLAMSTED. 

"  to  the  late  Berners,  did  much  cost  in  translating 
"  of  the  priory  into  a  maner  place ;"  i.  e.  convert- 
ing it  into  a  mansion  for  himself,  but  left  it  unfi- 
nished. It  probably  was  granted  to  him;  but  it 
afterwards  was  bestowed  by  Edward  VI.  on 
George  Ferrers.  At  the  dissolution  it  was  valued 
by  Dugdale  at  of  1 14  \6s.  Id.  a  year ;  by  Speed  dX 
o£l43  8s.  3d{. 

It  appears  that  these  religious  were  grievously 
oppressed  by  a  neighboring  knight;  of  whom  they 
complained  in  certain  lines  too  ludicrous  to  be 
inserted  8.  Whether  they  got  any  redress  does  not 
appear. 

After  passing  through  the  village  of  Market- 
Street,  built  on  each  side  of  the  Wat  ling-street 
road,  I  entered  the  county  of 

HERTFORD, 

and  near  the  twenty  eighth  mile  stone  leave  on  the 
right  Flamsted  where  stood  a  small  priory  of  Bene- 
Flamsted.  dictine  nuns,  founded  in  the  time  of  King  Stephen, 
by  Roger  de  Tonei.  The  manor  had  been  granted 
by  the  Conqueror  to  Ralph  de  Tonei.  His  predeces- 
sor was  a  Saxon  knight  called  Thurnoth,  who  in  the 
true  spirit  of  the  times,  engaged  with  thirteen  soldiers, 
JValdef,  and  Thurman,  to  protect  all  passengers  from 

f  Tanner,  4.  8  See  Weever,  585. 


REDBURN.  301 

the  thieves  and  wild  beasts  which  then  infested  the 
road,  and  in  time  of  war,  to  protect  the  church  of 
St.  Albans  with  all  their  might.  Leqfftan,  abbot 
of  that  convent  in  the  time  of  the  Confessor,  facili- 
tated the  undertaking,  by  cutting  down  the  great 
woods  on  the  side  of  the  IVat  ling-street  which 
gave  shelter  to  robbers.  He  bestowed  on  Thur- 
noth  this  manor  :  who,  in  return,  presentedXft^- 
tan  with  five  ounces  of  gold  and  a  fair  palfrey. 
Thurnoth  at  the  Conquest  resisted  the  power  of  the 
Norman  invader ;  who  bestowed  it  on  de  Tonei  and 
directed  that  the  same  services  should  be  strictly 
performed  to  the  abbey  \ 

About  three  miles  further,  go  through  Redburn,  Rboburk. 
a  small  town,  built  like  Market  Street  on  each 
side  of  the  antient  road.  At  this  place  were  dis- 
covered the  bones  of  Saint  Amphibalus,  the  noble 
Briton,  who  lodging  at  the  house  of  St.  Alban  at 
Verulam,  proved  the  means  of  his  conversion.  In 
the  Diocletian  persecution  he  was  diligently  sought 
after ;  but  St.  Alban  generously  determined  not  to 
give  up  his  guest,  promoted  his  escape  by  putting 
on  his  preceptor's  cloak,  and  suffering  himself  to  be 
seized  by  the  soldiers  in  his  stead1.     Amphibalus 

h  Chauncy  432,  who  by  mistake  calls  this  de  Tonei  Roger; 
but  in  page  565  gives  him  his  right  name. 
1  Bede  de  Br.  Eccl.  539. 


302  REDBURN:  CELL: 

for  a  time  evaded  their  fury,  but  was  at  length 
seized,  and  underwent  a  most  cruel  death k,  on  the 
spot  on  which  his  pious  convert  was  martyred. 
The  Christians  stole  the  body  and  gave  it  a  private 
interment  at  this  place.  In  1178,  the  reliques 
were  removed  to  St.  Albans,  enshrined  near  those 
of  his  fellow-sufferer,  and  a  prior  and  three 
monks,  with  QOs.  a  year,  were  appointed  guardians 
of  the  sacred  deposit.  I  am  sorry  to  find,  that,  af- 
ter all,  the  very  existence  of  this  saint  is  doubted  ; 
for  there  are  some  who  believe  that  the  saint  was 
no  more  than  an  amphibalus,  a  long  cloak,  which 
St.  Alban,  before  he  went  to  execution,  threw 
about  him;  which  being  at  length  personified,  was 
canonized,  and  received  into  the  Kalendar !. 

A  cell  consisting  of  a  prior  and  a  few  Bene- 
dictines from  St.  Albans,  was  placed  here.  It 
was  dedicated  to  St.  Amphibalus  and  his  compa- 
nions, and  was  inhabited  before  1 195.  After  the 
dissolution,  it  was,  with  the  manor,  granted  to 
John  Cork"1. 

The  present  great  road,  a  little  beyond  this 
place,  quits  the  Wat ling-street ,  which  runs  direct 
on  the  right  to  Verulam.  The  former  can  boast  of 
no  great  extent  of  view,  but  is  bounded  by  beauti- 

k  Weever's  Fun.  Mm.  585. 

1  Usher  de  Br.  Eccl.  539.  a  Tanner,  185. 


Chalk. 


SOIL.  305 

ful  risings  varied  with  woods,  and  inclosures  dress- 
ed with  a  garden-like  elegance.  The  common 
soil  is  almost  covered  with  flints :  the  stratum  be- 
neath is  chalk,  which  is  used  for  a  manure.  Pliny 
describes  this  British  earth  under  the  title  Creta 
argentaria,  and  addspe^Ywr  ex  alto,  in  centenos 
pedes,  actis  plerunque  puteis,  ore  angustatis  intus, 
ut  in  metallis  spatiante  vena.  Hac  maxime  Bri- 
tannia utitur B.  This  very  method  is  used  in  the 
county  at  present.  The  farmer  sinks  a  pit,  and 
(in  the  terms  of  a  miner)  drives  out  on  all  sides, 
leaving  a  sufficient  roof,  and  draws  up  the  chalk 
in  buckets,  through  a  narrow  mouth.  Pliny  in- 
forms us,  in  his  remarks  on  the  British  marls,  that 
they  will  last  eighty  years,  and  that  there  is  not 
an  example  of  any  person  being  obliged  to  marl 
his  land  twice  in  his  life0.  An  experienced  farmer, 
whom  I  met  with  in  Hertfordshire,  assured  me, 
that  he  had  about  thirty  years  before  made  use  of 
this  manure  on  a  field  of  his,  and  that,  should  he 
live  to  the  period  mentioned  by  the  Roman  natu- 
ralist, he  thought  he  should  not  have  occasion  for 
a  repetition. 

This  bottom  is  watered  by  the  small  stream  of 
the  Verlume,  Ver,  or  Mure  ;  which  rises  at  Row- 
beach,  beyond  Market-street  #  flows  by  Flamsted, 

■  Lib.  xr'ii.  c.  8.  *  The  same. 


304  GORHAMBURY. 

Redburn,  and  St.  Albans ;  and  loses  itself  and 
name  in  the  Coin,  a  little  N.  E.  of  Colney -street. 
About  a  mile  and  a  half  from  St.  Albans  I 
Gorham-  turned  out  of  the  road  to  the  right,  to  visit  Gor- 
BURY-  hambury,  the  venerable  seat  of  that  glory  of  our 
country  Sir  Francis  Bacon  Viscount  Verulam.  His 
matchless  talents,  his  deplorable  weaknesses,  and 
his  merited  fall,  have  been  the  subjects  of  so  many 
able  pens,  that  it  would  be  a  presumption  in  me 
to  enter  into  a  detail  either  of  his  life  or  works.  I 
shall  prefer  giving  an  account  of  the  place,  and 
perhaps  touch  incidentally  on  what  may  relate 
to  one  whom  Mr.  JValpole  justly  stiles  "  The 
"  Prophet  of  the  Arts,  which  Newton  was  sent 
afterwards  to  reveal." 

This  manor  was,  from  very  antient  times,  part 
•  of  the  lands  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Albans :  the  ori- 
ginal name  is  not  delivered  to  us ;  that  which  it 
has  at  present  was  derived  from  Robert  de  Gor- 
ham, erected  abbot  of  the  house  in  1151.  Mr. 
Salmon  conjectures,  that  he  might  have  built  here 
a  villa  p:  a  luxury  not  unfrequent  with  the  abbots 
of  the  richer  houses.  In  1540,  Henry  VIII.  made 
a  grant  of  it  to  Ralph,  afterwards  Sir  Ralph  Roxvlet, 
who  sold  it  to  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  the  worthy 
and  able  lord  keeper,  and  father  of  the  great  Lord 

*  Salmon  Hist,  Hertf.  83.    Chauncy,  464. 


GORHAMBURY.  305 

Verulam.  The  elegance  of  his  taste  was  apparent 
in  his  buildings,  which  confirm  the  observation  of 
Lloydq,  that  "  his  use  of  learned  artists  was  con- 
"  tinual."  To  him  we  are  indebted  for  Redgrave', 
in  Suffolk,  and  the  seat  in  question.  In  both  he 
adhered  to  his  rational  motto,  Mediocria  Fir  ma. 
He  is  said  to  have  departed  a  little  from  it  in  the 
instance  of  Redgrave,  but  not  till  after  his  royal 
mistress,  Avho  honored  him  with  a  visit  there,  told 
him,  "  You  have  made  your  house  too  little  for 
"  your  lordship."  '  No,  madam,'  replied  he ; 
'  but  your  highness  has  made  me  too  big  for  the 
'  house.'     But  after  this,  he  added  the  wings  \ 

The  building  consists  of  two  parts,  discordant 
in  their  manner,  yet  in  various  respects  of  a  clas- 
sical taste.  On  the  outside  of  the  portion  which 
forms  the  approach  is  the  piazza,  or  porticus,  with 
a  range  of  pillars  of  the  Tuscan  order  in  front, 
where  the  philosophic  inhabitants  walked  and  held 
their  learned  discourse ;  and  withinside  is  a  court 
with  another  piazza ;  the  one  being  intended  for 
enjoying  the  shade,  the  other  to  catch,  during  win- 
ter, the  comfortable  warmth  of  the  sun.  The  walls 
of  the  piazzas  are  painted  alfresco,  with  the  ad- 

«  i.  356. 

r  Redgrave  has  unfortunately  shared  the  fate  of  Gorhambury; 
a  modern  house  has  been  erected  on  its  ruins.     Ed. 

5  Collins' 's  Baronets,u  ■'■     .. 

X 


306  GORHAMBURY. 

ventures  of  Ulysses,  by  Van  Koepen.  In  one  is  a 
statue  of  Henry  VIII ;  in  the  other  a  bust  of  the 
founder,  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  and  another  of  his 
lady.  Over  the  entrance  from  the  court  into  the 
hall,  are  these  plain  verses ;  which  prove  the  date 
of  the  building  to  have  been  1571. 

Haec  cum  perfecit  Nicholaus  tecta  Baconua 
Elizabeth  regni  lustra  fuere  duo. 
Factus  eques  magni  custos  fuit  ipse  sigilli. 
Gloria  sit  soli  tota  tributa  Deo. 

MEDIOCRIA.    FlRMA. 

Somes  lines  over  the  statue  of  Orpheus,  that  once 
stood  on  the  entrance  into  the  orchard,  shew  what 
a  waste  the  place  was  before  it  was  possessed  by 
this  great  man. 

Horrida  nuper  eram  aspectu  latebra^que  ferarum ; 

Ruricolis  tantum  numinibusque  locus. 
Edoinitor  fausto  hie  dum  forte  supervenit  Orpheus, 

Ulterius  qui  me  non  sinit  esse  rudem : 
Gonvocat  avulsis  virgulta  virentia  truncis, 

Et  sedem  quae  vel  diis  placuisse  potest. 
Sicque  mei  cultor,  sic  est  mihi  cultus  et  Orpheus; 

Floreat  o  noster  cultus  amorque  diu. 

In  the  orchard  was  built  an  elegant  summer- 
house  (no  longer  existing)  not  dedicated  to  Baccha- 


GORHAMBURY.  307 

nalian  festivities1,  but  to  refined  converse  on  the 
liberal  arts ;  which  were  decyphered  on  the  walls, 
with  the  heads  of  Cicero,  Aristotle,  Donatus,  Co- 
pernicus, and  other  illustrious  antients  and  mo- 
derns, who  had  excelled  in  each".  This  room 
seemed  to  have  answered  to  the  Dia;ta,  or  favorite 
summer-room  of  the  younger  Pliny,  at  his  beloved 
Laurent  inum,  built  for  the  enjoyment  of  an  ele- 
gant privacy,  apart  from  the  noise  of  his  house x. 
Methinks  I  discover  many  similitudes  between  the 
villa  of  the  Roman  orator  and  that  of  our  great 
countryman.  This  building,  the  porticos  suited 
for  both  seasons  *  a  crypto  porticus,  or  noble  gal- 
lery, over z  the  other,  and  finally,  towers  placed  at 
different  parts  recall  to  mind  the  disposition  of  the 
villa,  so  fully  described  by  its  philosophic  owner*. 
The  hall   is  large   and   lofty,   with  a  gallery 

1  Welsh  Tour.  tt  Weever's  Fun.  Mon.  584. 

x  Lib.  ii.  epist.  17.  7  Lib.  v.  epist.  6. 

z  Lib.  ii.  epist.  17. 

aThis  venerable  edifice,  of  which  the  greatest  part  was 
slightly  built  with  framed  wood  and  plaister,  having  fallen  to 
decay,  a  new  and  handsome  mansion  was  erected  at  a  small 
distance  from  the  site  of  the  former  by  the  late  Viscount  Grim' 
slon. 

The  editor  has  preserved  the  description  of  the  old  hou»e. 
The  valuable  collection  of  portraits  is  described  according  to 
the  order  in  which  they  are  now  placed.     Ed. 

X2 


509  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

above ;  in  the  lower  part  are  various  full-length 
portraits. 

James  I.  Among  them  three  of  the  Stuart  line;  James  L 
Charles  II.  and  James  II.  The  first  is  dressed 
in  black,  barred  with  gold.  Typical  of  the 
Stuarts,  the  prerogative  is  before  his  eyes,  in  form 
of  the  crown  and  sceptre. 

William  William  III.  who  gave  us  the  power  of  hap- 
piness, makes  a  fifth  portrait  in  this  royal  succes- 
sion. 

George  I.       An   equestrian  portrait  of  George   I.   by  Sir 
Godfrey  Kneller. 
Maurice  of      Maurice  of  Nassau,  third   son  to  Frederic, 

.Nassau. 

the  unfortunate  Elector  Palatine. 
Sir  Samuel       Sir  Samuel  Grimston,  by  Lely,  in  a  Ions  wig 

Grimston.  \     •         if  i 

and  laced  cravat.  He  had  rendered  himself  so  ob- 
noxious to  James  II.  as  to  be  excepted  out  of  an 
act  of  grace,  when  that  prince  meditated  a  descent 
in  1692. 
His  two  His  two  wives,  by  Lely,  lady  Anne  Tufton,  and 
lady  Elizabeth  Finch,  the  last,  daughter  of  lord 
chancellor  the  Earl  of  Nottingham. 

Sir  Harbot-      Sir  Har bottle  Grimston,  Baronet,  in  black,  with 
tle  Grim- 
ston.       a  turn-over  and  black  coif,  leaning  on  a  slab.     On 

the  picture  is  this  motto, 

Nee  pudet  vivere,  nee  piget  me-ri. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  S09 

This  gentleman  was  one  of  those  worthy  persons 
who  set  out  with  a  view  of  reforming  the  abuses  of 
the  arbitrary  court  of  Charles  I.  but  whose  mode- 
ration and  good  sense  made  them  oppose  their  own 
party,  when  it  attempted  measures  subversive  of 
the  constitution :  in  consequence,  he,  with  several 
others,  were  excluded  the  House.  In  1 656,  he  was 
elected  one  of  Cromwell's  p&rlement;  but  not  being 
approved  of  by  the  slavish  council  of  the  usurper, 
was  laid  aside.  He  was  active  in  promoting  the 
Restoration;  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  parle- 
ment,  was  rewarded  with  the  mastership  of  the 
Rolls,  and  died  in  great  reputation,  at  the  age  of 
ninety,  in  1683. 

His  first  wife,  daughter  to  Sir  George  Croke:  His  Wives* 
the  second,  Anne  the  daughter  of  Sir  Nathaniel 
Bacon,  and  widow  to  Sir  Thomas  Meautys. 

Doctor    Burnet,   chaplain   to   Sir  Harbottle     Doctor 
Grimston,  and  afterwards  the  celebrated  Bishop 
of  Salisbury,  probably  painted  during  his  residence 
in  Sir  Harbottle  s  family. 

The  gallant  fickle  Earl  of  Holland,  in  a  striped     earl  of 

and  very  rich  dress  :  a  hat  with  red  feather  in  his   HoLLAND- 

hand,  the  blue  riband  across  his  breast. 

Sir  Edward  Sackville,  the  accomplished,  witty,     Earl  op 

.  Dorset. 

and  learned  Earl  of  Dorset ;  a  nobleman  of  quick 

passions  and  resentments,  violent  in  his  friendships 

and  enmities.     In  the  great  national  quarrel  be- 


S10  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

tween  the  English  and  Scots  at  Croydon  races, 
he  alone  left  his  countrymen  and  sided  with  the 
latter,  out  of  friendship  to  Lord  Bruce,  for  which, 
had  not  the  affray  been  prevented,  the  English 
had  fixed  on  Sir  Edward  as  the  first  victimb :  yet 
a  dispute  with  his  beloved  Scot  produced  the  fa- 
mous duel,  which  was  pursued  with  unheard  of 
animosity,  and  terminated  in  the  death  of 
Bruce c.  He  behaved  in  the  public  quarrel  of  his 
royal  master  with  equal  spirit,  and  survived  till 

1652. 

Sir  John  c         t  i      rr 

Howe.  ^ir  John  Howe. 

Lady  Howe.      Lady  Howe,  with  white  long  hair,  daughter  to 

Sir  Harbottle  Grimston.     Both  by  Lely. 

SirHarbot-      Sir   Harbottle  Luckyn.   Baronet,    by   Sir  G. 

TLE    LUC-  &     '  'J 

kyn.        Kneller,   in    a  blue  coat,   long  white  wig,    and 

breast-plate ;  a  castle  at  a  distance. 
Lady  Anna  Sophia  countess  of  Carnarvon,  a  copy 

from  Vandyck. 
SirGeorge      a   half-length  of  Sir  George  Croke,    one 

Croke.  ° 

of  the  judges  of  the  King's  Bench  in  the  time 
of  Charles  I.  in  his  robes;  distinguished  for  his 
knowledge  of  the  laws.  He  was  one  of  the 
judges  who  had  the  honor  of  deciding  against  the 
legality  of  ship-money  ;  yet  still,  on  account  of  his 

*  Osborris  reign  of  King  James,  paragraph  26. 
e  For  an  account  of  this  dreadful  affair  read  the  Guardian  > 
N°  129.  133. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  SU 

eminent  qualities,  preserved  the  favor  of  the  court. 
When  sunk  in  years,  and  petitioning  for  a  retreat, 
the  King  granted  his  request,  and  rewarded  his 
services  with  the  fees  and  honor  of  chief  justice 
during  life.  Mundum  vicit  et  deseruit,  says  his 
epitaph,  at.  82.  Anno  R.  C.  I.  17.  Anno  Do- 
mini 1641. 

His  lady  in  black,  with  a  lawn  ruff:  her  por-  His  Lady. 
trait  is  dated  1626.  Lady  Croke  should  by  no 
means  be  passed  unnoticed ;  especially  as  IVhite- 
lock*  gives  her  the  chief  merit  in  her  husband's  de- 
cision in  the  case  of  ship-money.  He  had  it  seems 
resolved  on  the  contrary  side,  but  appearing  wa- 
vering, was  told  by  his  wife,  "  that  she  hoped  he 
"  would  do  nothing  against  his  conscience,  for 
"  fear  of  any  danger  or  prejudice  to  him  or  his 
"  family;  and  that  she  would  be  contented  to  suffer 
"  want  or  any  misery  with  him,  rather  than  be  an 
"  occasion  for  him  to  do  or  say  any  thing  against 
"  his  judgment  or  conscience." 

Half-length  of  a  beautiful  woman  reading,  Melancho- 

°      ly  Cook. 
called  the  Melancholy  Cook6. 

Sir  Francis  Bacon,  a  three-quarter  length.  Bacon.0" 

Philip  Earl  of  Pembroke  an  half  length :   a     Philip 

complete  contrast  to  his  brother  William,   was  Pembroke. 

d  Lloyd  ii.  267.     Memorials  25. 

c  This  is  now  called  a  Sibyll,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
painted  by  John  Vandcr  Meer.     Ed. 


312  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

rude,  reprobate,  boisterous,  and  devoted  to  his 
dogs  and  horses  :  so  mean  as  to  receive  tamely  a 
horse- whipping  from  one  Ramsay,  a  Scotchman,  at 
a  public  horse-race,  and  for  his  civility  in  not  re- 
senting the  insult,  was  rewarded  by  the  peaceful 
James,  by  being  made .  a  knight,  baron,  viscount, 
and  earl,  on  the  same  day.     His  mother, 

Sydney's  sister,  Pembroke's  mother, 

• 

tore  her  hair  when  she  heard  of  her  son's  disgrace. 
He  was  likewise  lord  chamberlain  to  Charles  I. 
and,  as  Osborn  observes,  in  that  office  broke  with 
his  white  rod  many  wiser  heads  than  his  own ;  but 
his  fear  always  secured  him  by  a  quick  and  ample 
submission.  Notwithstanding  the  profundity  of 
his  ignorance  he  became,  on  the  king's  imprison- 
ment, chancellor  of  the  university  of  Oxford,  a  fit 
instrument  for  the  eradication  of  royalty.  A  noble 
statue  of  him  stands  in  the  picture-gallery.  On 
the  Usurpation,  he  had  the  meanness  to  sit  in 
Cromwell's  mock  parlement  as  knight  of  the  shire 
for  Berkshire ;  and  concluded  his  despicable  life 
on  January  the  23d,  1649-50. 
George  George  Carezv  Earl  of  Totness  in  a  white 
Totness.  flowered  jacket ;  hand  on  his  sword  ;  white  beard, 
and  short  hair  :  a  nobleman  celebrated  as  a  war- 
rior, scholar,  and  author.  He  was  son  of  a  dean 
of  Exeter  ;  received  his  education  at  Oxford.    His 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  313 

active  spirit  led  him  from  his  studies  into  the 
army;  but  in  1589,  he  was  created  master  of 
arts.  The  scene  of  his  military  exploits  was 
Ireland,  where,  in  the  year  1599,  he  was  presi- 
dent of  Munster.  With  a  small  force  he  reduced 
a  great  part  of  the  province  to  her  Majesty's  go- 
vernment, took  the  titular  Earl  of  Desmond  pri- 
soner, and  brought  numbers  of  the  rebellious  Septs 
to  obedience6.  The  queen  honored  him  with  a 
letter  of  thanks  under  her  own  handf.  He  left  his 
province  in  general  peace  in  1603,  and  arrived  in 
England  three  days  before  the  death  of  his  royal 
mistress.  Her  successor  rewarded  his  service,  by 
making  him  governor  of  Guernsey,  creating  him 
Lord  Carezv,  of  Clopton,  and  appointing  him  ma- 
ster of  the  ordnance  for  life.  '  Charles  I.  on  his  ac- 
cession, created  him  Earl  of  Totness*.  He  died  in 
March  1629,  aged  seventy-three,  and  was  in- 
terred beneath  a  magnificent  monument  at  Strat- 
ford  upon  Avon.  He  was  not  less  distinguished 
by  his  pen  than  his  sword.  In  his  book  Pacata 
Jiiberma,  he  wrote  his  own  commentaries;  of 
which  his  modesty  prevented  the  publication  dur- 
ing life.  He  collected  four  volumes  of  Antiquities 
relating  to  Ireland,   at  this  time  preserved  un- 

e  Prince's  Worthies  of  Devonshire,  197. 
f  The  same. 
5  Prince,  198. 


314  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

heeded  in  the  Bodleian  library :  he  collected  ma- 
terials for  the  life  of  Henry  V. h  digested  by  Speed, 
into  his  Chronicle.  To  conclude,  he  merited  en- 
tirely the  encomium  given  him  by  Wood,  of  being 
"  a  faithful  subject,  valiant  and  prudent  com- 
"  mander,  an  honest  counsellor,  a  gentle  scholar, 
"  a  lover  of  antiquities,  and  great  patron  of  learn- 
"  nig1." 
Margaret       A  beautiful  picture  of  Lady  Margaret  Bus- 

Countess  of 

Cumber-  sel,  daughter  to  Francis  Earl  of  Bedford,  and  wife 
to  George  Earl  of  Cumberland,  and  mother  to  the 
celebrated  Anne  Clifford:  a  lady  happier  in  the 
filial  affections  of  her  daughter  than  the  conjugal 
tenderness  of  her  husband ;  who,  taken  up  with 
military  glory,  and  the  pomps  of  tilts  and  tourna- 
ments, paid  little  attention  to  domestic  duties.  In 
her  diary,  which  is  preserved  in  manuscript,  I 
find  she  suffered  even  to  poverty,  and  complains 
of  her  ill  usage  in  a  most  suppliant  and  pathetic 
manner.  Her  lord  felt  heavy  compunction  on  his 
death-bed.  I  cannot  help  relating  two  of  the 
minuticB  of  her  journal.  She  relates  that  "  Anne 
"  Clifford  was  begot  on  her  the  first  of  May 
"  1589,  in  Channel-row  house,  hard  by  the  river 
u  Thames ;  and  in  Skipton  Castle  on  Bardon- 
"  torver,  she  felt  a  child  stir  in  her  belly."     She 

h  Athen.  Ox  on.  i.  529. 
1  Dugdale  Baron,  ii.  310. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  313 

survived  her  lord.  The  dress  of  the  portrait  is 
very  elegant.  Her  hair  is  turned  up  before,  and 
backed  with  chains  of  pearl.  Over  her  head  is  a 
black  feather  :  a  beautiful  ruff  and  pearl  necklace 
surround  her  neck.  Her  gown  is  black,  hung  with 
chains,  and  set  with  ornaments  of  pearl. 

In  the  gallery  over  the  hall  are  the  portraits  of 
Charles  Hoxvard  Earl  of  Nottingham,  lord    eakl^f 
high  admiral,   drest  in  robes,   with  a  view  of  a   Notting- 

°  HAM. 

fleet  and  storm;  the  conqueror  of  the  Spanish 
armada. 

Henry  Duke  of  Gloucester,  in  a  buff  coat,      Henry 

Duke  of 

breast-plate,  long  black  hair,  the  Garter,  and  a  Gloucester. 

truncheon.    A  prince  whose  eminent  virtues  made 

his  early  end  universally  deplored.     He  died  in 

1660,  in  his  twenty-first  year,  feelingly  lamented 

by  his  brother  Charles,  who  was  never  observed 

to  shew  a  sensibility  equal  to  what  he  did  on  this 

occasion. 

A  head  of  Mr.  Chiffinch.  finch!*** 

Sir  Capel  Lucky n,  who,  by  his  marriage  with  S'R  Capbi. 
Mary  the  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Harbottle  Grim- 
ston,  brought  the  Gorhambury  estate  into  the  fa- 
mily, which  exchanged  its  name  for  that  of  his 
lady. 

CHARLES  I.  r  Charles  I. 

Mary   Viscountess  Barrington,   daughter  of  vg^° l"™* 
Henry  Lovell,    Esq.     She  first  married  Samuel   T0N- 


316  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

the   eldest   son   of  IVilliam  Viscount  Grimston, 
and  secondly,  William  Viscount  Harrington. 
SirWilliam      §ir  iyunam   father  to  Sir  Capel  Luckyn. 

LUCKYN.  .  . 

The  first        The  first  Lord  Cornwallis,  with  long  hair,  in 
Cornwallis  °lack5  and  a  turn-over :  an  active  and  valiant  ad- 
herent to  Charles  I. ;  brought  up  from  his  youth 
in  his  service,  and  that  of  his  brother  Henri/.     So 
resolute,  that  he  knew  not  fear ;  so  chearful,  that 
sorrow  never  came  next  his  heart.     Death  would 
not  try  him  by  illness,  but  took  him  off  suddenly, 
on  January  31,    1611-2,  after  he  had  been  raised 
to  the  peerage  the  preceding  year. 
.  William        William  Earl  of  Pembroke,  in  black,   with 
Pembroke,  the   white   rod   and    key,    as   lord   chamberlain; 
George  pendent,  flat  ruff,  short  hair,  peaked  beard : 
a  great  and  amiable  character,  and  the  most  uni- 
versally esteemed  and  beloved  of  any  man  of  that 
age;  and,  having  a  great  office  in  the  court,  he 
made  the  court  itself  better  esteemed,  and  more 
reverenced  in  the  country  \     He  was  beloved  in 
court,  because  he  was  disinterested ;  in  the  coun- 
try, because  he  was  independent.     In  1630,  he 
died  universally  lamented  :  his  many  fine  qualities 
causing  his  abandoned  sensualities  to  be  forgotten. 
Viscount        William  first  Viscount  Grimston. 
R.I"S  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  richly  dressed  in  black. 

Mary  j 

Qdeen  of  with  a  large  ruff. 

'Scots. 

k  Clarendon,  i.  56. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  317 

Viscountess  Grimston.  gISE™ 

Sir  Harbottle  Grimston,  father  of  Sir  Harbottle    Sir  Har- 
Grimston,  Master  of  the  Rolls.  Grimston-. 

Anne  Crofts  Countess  of  Cleveland,  wife  of  Countess  of 
Thomas  Earl  of  Cleveland. 

In  the  library ; 

Heneage  Finch  Earl  of  Nottingham,  in  his  Chancellor 

°  NOTTING- 

robes,  with  the  seals  in  his  hands,  and  long  deep  ham. 
brown  hair,  by  Sir  Peter  Lely.  This  nobleman 
was  lord  chancellor  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  and 
in  those  dangerous  times  distinguished  himself  for 
his  integrity  and  prudence,  in  steering  clear  from 
a  criminal  compliance  with  the  views  of  the  court, 
or  humoring  the  unbounded  faction  of  the  popu- 
lar side*  He  brought  the  peerage  into  the  family, 
which  (rare  to  say)  has  never  been  sullied  by  those 
who  have  derived  the  honor  from  him.  He  re 
ceived  the  seals  in  ]673  ;  died  in  1682. 

Ludovic  Duke  of  Richmond  and  Lenox,  and    Ludovic 

Duke  of 

Earl  of  Newcastle,  by  Geldrop.  He  is  dressed  in  Richmond. 
his  robes,  a  bonnet  with  a  white  feather ;  the 
George  and  a  white  rod  are  other  appendages  : 
the  last  as  lord  high  steward  of  the  household.  He 
was  also  high  chamberlain  and  admiral  of  Scot- 
land, and  was  sent  ambassador  to  France1  before 
the  accession  of  his  royal  master  to  the  English 

1  Crawford's  Peerage.     Scot.  262. 


318  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

throne.  He  was  a  most  deserved  favourite,  and 
supported  himself  with  such  true  dignity,  that,  as 
Wilson  expresses  it,  "  the  king,  as  it  were,  want- 
"  ing  one  of  his  limbs  to  support  the  grandeur  of 
"  majesty  at  the  first  meeting  of  parliament,  in 
"  1623,  sent  for  him  with  great  earnestness;"  and 
received  by  the  return  of  the  messenger,  the  me- 
lancholy news  of  his  being  found  dead  in  his  bed, 
after  going  to  rest  in  the  fullest  health  m.  His  ma- 
jesty shewed  the  sincerest  respect  to  his  deceased 
servant  by  proroguing  the  parlement  for  several 
days,  unable  sooner  to  digest  his  loss. 
General  George  Monk  Duke  of  Albemarle,  the  well- 
known  instrument  of  the  Restoration ;  by  Kneller. 
He  is  drest  in  a  buff  coat,  with  an  anchor  by  him. 
He  entered  at  a  very  early  age  into  the  military  life, 
and  first  made  trial  of  his  sword  in  the  ill-conducted 
expedition  to  Cadiz,  in  1625  :  but  his  military  ex- 
perience was  attained  by  a  ten  years'  service  in  the 
Lozv  Countries.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
wars,  his  principles  led  him  to  embrace  the  royal 
party,  after  serving  for  some  time  against  the  rebels 
in  Ireland.  In  his  first  campaign  he  was  taken 
prisoner  at  Namptwich,  and  imprisoned  for  some 
years,  with  such  severity,  that  he  was  afc  last  in- 
duced, for  the  sake  of  obtaining  liberty,  to  engage 

m  Wilson  257,  258. 


PORTRAITS. AT  GORHAMBURY.  319 

with  the  parlement.  Perhaps  by  stipulation,  he 
never  served  the  remainder  of  the  war  in  England. 
Ireland  was  the  scene  of  his  exploits,  and  after- 
wards Scotland,  which  he  entirely  reduced.  He 
was  justly  loaded  with  honors  by  his  restored 
prince,  under  whom,  by  indulging  his  spirit  of  fru- 
gality, he  amassed  a  vast  fortune.  His  great  mi- 
litary abilities  fitted  him  equally  for  sea  or  land. 
He  commanded,  jointly  with  prince  Rupert,  the 
fleet  against  the  Dutch,  in  the  dreadful  engage- 
ment of  1560.  His  success  was  equal  to  his  va- 
lour. He  became  the  darling  of  the  sailors,  who 
called  him  by  the  familiar  appellation  of  Honest 
George  ;  for  he  was  a  plain  man,  of  few  words, 
but  inviolable  in  his  promises.  Worn  out  with 
fatigue,  he  died  in  1670,  and  received  a  funeral 
pomp,  which  his  eminent  services  so  well  me- 
rited. 

Sir  George  Calvert  Lord  Baltimore,  is  dressed      Lord 

•     ii,  i',i         i     •         it  Baltimore. 

in  black,  a  turn- over,  and  with  short  hair.    He  was 

born  at  Kipplin  in  Yorkshire,  was  educated  at 
Oxford,  and  received  his  first  preferment,  which 
was  in  the  law  line,  in  Ireland.  His  political  abi- 
lities occasioned  his  being  taken  notice  of  by  Sir 
Robert  Cecil.  Mr.  Calvert  was  first  his  clerk, 
and  after  knighthood  promoted  to  be  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  state,  and  was  in  great  confidence 
with  his  master  James  I,    He  thought  fit  to  change 


320  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY, 

his  religion,  which  he  ingenuously  avowed.  The 
king,  pleased  with  his  sincerity,  continued  him  of 
his  privy  council,  and  even  created  him  Lord  Bal- 
timore, of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  made  him 
large  grants  in  that  kingdom :  a  proof  that  the  per- 
version of  his  subjects  was  far  from  exciting  his 
displeasure.  He  also  obtained  a  grant  of  a  part 
of  Newfoundland,  which  he  called  Avalon,  after 
Old  Avalon,  the  site  of  Glastonbury  abbey,  where 
(as  is  said)  Christianity  was  first  planted  in  Bri- 
tain. He  was  constituted  absolute  lord  and  pro- 
prietor, with  the  royalties  of  a  county  palatine, 
except  the  sovereign  dominion  and  allegiance,  with 
a  fifth  part  of  the  gold  and  silver  reserved  to  the 
crown.  After  the  king's  death,  he  twice  visited 
the  place,  built  a  fair  house  there  ;  and  when  his 
settlement  was  molested  by  the  French,  he  fitted 
out  two  ships  at  his  own  expence,  and  drove  them 
away.  At  length,  on  a  repetition  of  their  insults, 
he  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  island.  Charles  I. 
to  make  him  amends,  gave  him  a  new  grant  of  the 
country  on  the  north  side  of  Chesapeak  Bay,  to 
hold  in  common  socage  as  of  the  manor  of  Wind- 
sor, delivering  annually  to  the  crown,  in  acknow- 
ledgement, two  Indian  arrows  on  Easter  Tuesday, 
at  Windsor  castle,  with  a  fifth  of  the  gold  and  sil- 
ver oren.    His  lordship  died  on  April  15th,  1632,' 

n  Fuller's  Worthies  of  Yorkshire,  201. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  321 

before  the  patent  was  made  out ;  but  his  son  Cecil 
took  it  in  his  own  name,  in  June  following,  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  a  flourishing  colony,  which 
was  named  by  the  King  himself  Maryland,  in  ho- 
nor of  Henrietta  Maria,  his  royal  consort. 

Thomas  IVentworth  Earl  of  Strafford,  in  ar-     Thomas 

t  -i        t»      j  •      t  •     •    *     i  i         Earl  of 

mour.  Like  Buckingham,  a  victim  also  to  the  Strafford. 
popular  fury ;  but  brought  to  his  end  by  all  the 
solemnity  of  trial  and  pomp  of  strained  justice. 
His  great  abilities  and  moving  eloquence,  his  for- 
titude and  great  deportment  on  the  scaffold,  make 
us  lose  sight  of  his  failings,  and  lament  that  so 
much  heroism  should  be  devoted  to  plans,  which 
made  his  life  incompatible  with  the  public  se- 
curity. 

Richard  Weston  Earl  of  Portland  drest  in  Richard 
black,  with  a  ruff,  blue  riband,  and  white  rod,  his  Portland. 
hair  and  beard  grey0.  This  nobleman  exhibited  a 
striking  proof  how  honors  change  manners.  He 
set  out  with  a  great  character  for  prudence,  spirit, 
and  abilities,  and  discharged  his  duty  as  ambassa- 
dor, and,  on  his  return,  as  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer, with  much  credit.     Under  the  ministry 

0  There  is  a  print  by  Hollar  after  this  portrait,  inscribed 
"  Hieronymus  Weston ius  Comes  Portlands,  &c. ;"  an  evi- 
dent misnomer.  Jerome  never  attained  the  dignity  of  the  or- 
der of  the  Garter,  which  is  worn  by  the  person  here  repre- 
sented.    Ed. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  he  was  appointed 
lord  treasurer :  on  which  he  suddenly  became  so 
elated,  that  he  lost  all  disposition  to  please ;  and, 
soon  after  the  duke's  death,  became  his  successor 
in  the  public  hatred,  without  succeeding  him  in 
his  credit  at  court p.  His  lust  after  power,  and 
his  rapacity  to  raise  a  great  fortune,  were  un- 
measurable ;  yet  the  jealousy  of  his  temper  frus- 
trated the  one,  and  the  greatness  of  his  expences 
the  other.  His  imperious  nature  led  him  to  give 
frequent  offence,  yet  his  timidity  obliged  him  to 
make  humiliating  concessions  to  the  very  people 
he  had  offended.  He  had  a  strange  curiosity  to 
learn  what  the  persons  injured  said  of  him ;  the 
knowledge  of  which  always  brought  on  fresh 
troubles ;  as  he  would  expostulate  with  them  for 
their  severe  sayings,  as  if  he  had  never  given 
cause  for  them ;  by  which  he  would  often  discover 
the  mean  informant  of  his  fruitless  intelligence. 
He  died  in  March  1634,  in  universal  disesteem  ; 
and  the  family  and  fortune,  for  which  he  la- 
bored so  greatly,  were  extinct  early  in  the  next 
reign. 
Thomas  Thomas  JVriothesley  Earl  of  Southampton,  by 
Southamp-  My  tens ;  a  nobleman,  firmly  attached  to  his  royal 
TON*      master,  and  who  offered  himself  a  victim  for  his 

*  Clarendon  i.  49. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  S23 

prince's  life.  The  earls  of  Hertford  and  Lindsay 
joined  in  the  generous  petition  to  the  commons, 
on  the  condemnation  of  the  king;  alleging,  that 
they  having  been  counsellors  to  his  majesty,  and 
concurring  in  the  advice  of  the  several  measures 
now  imputed  as  crimes,  they  alone  were  guilty  in 
the  eye  of  the  law,  and  ought  to  expiate  the  sup- 
posed offences  of  majesty.  He  survived  to  see 
the  restoration  of  the  royal  family ;  was  rewarded 
with  the  treasurer's  rod ;  and  died  a  friend  to  his 
country,  as  well  as  prince,  on  May  16th,  1667. 
His  death,  and  the  fall  of  Chancellor  Hyde,  re- 
moved from  the  abandoned  court  every  check 
upon  its  profligate  designs.  It  was  so  impatient 
to  remove  him,  as  to  wish  to  wrest  the  rod  from 
his  dying  hands,  had  not  Hyde  earnestly  entreated 
the  king  to  wait  four  or  five  days,  till  his  death 
must  happen.  He  died  of  the  stone.  So  little 
credit  had  our  surgeons  at  that  time,  that  he  sent 
to  Paris  for  one ;  but  his  end  prevented  the  ope- 
ration9. 

The  Chancellor  himself,  by  Lely,  in  his  robes.  Chancellor 
In  him  is  the  character  of  an  honest  great  man ; 
the  glorious  victim  to  a  prince  and  party,  that 
neither  could  nor  dared  to  attempt  the  slavery 
of  their  country,  while  he  remained  in  power  in  it. 

*  Continuation  of  Clarendon,  411. 

Y  2 


324  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

He  was  exiled  in  1667,  by  the  contrivances  of  an 
ungrateful  master,  and  lived  abroad,  venerated  by 
the  good,  till  this  ornament  to  human  nature  gave 
way  to  death,  on  December  9th,   1 674. 
Archbishop      Archbishop  Abbot,  by  Vandyck,  in  a  cap  and 

-Abbot 

episcopal  habit,  with  a  grey  square  beard.  This 
prelate  owed  his  preferment  under  James  I.  to  the 
Scottish  favorite,  the  able  and  worthy  Earl  of 
Dunbar ;  perhaps  from  the  Calvinistical  princi- 
ples with  which  he  was  strongly  imbued.  Fuller 
says,  "  he  honored  cloaks  above  cassocks  ;  lay, 
"  above  clergymen'."  He  was  upright  and  firm 
in  his  principles,  probably  too  favourable  to  the 
tenets,  which,  under  him,  acquired  strength,  in  the 
following  reign,  to  subvert  both  church  and  state, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  contrary  conduct  of  the 
indiscreet  and  furious  Laud.  How  difficult  is  the 
virtue  of  moderation  !  Abbot  gloriously  resisted  the 
licensing  of  a  slavish  sermon,  preached  by  Dr. 
Sibthorp,  and  fell  into  disgrace;  his  office  was 
suspended :  nor  was  the  suspension  taken  off,  till 
the  rising  strength  of  the  puritanical  party  made 
compliance  with  the  times  prudent.  His  man- 
ners had  in  them  an  uncourtly  stiffness  and  mo- 
roseness*.  He  found  he  was  restored  more 
through  policy  than  affection.     As  he  attained  to 

r  Fuller's  Worthies  of  Surry,  83, 
8  Clarendon,  i.  88. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  325 

the  age  of  seventy-one,  I  can  scarcely  think  that 
grief,  either  on  account  of  his  suspension,  or  un- 
conquerable sorrow  for  the  sad  accident  of  killing 
a  gamekeeper  with  a  cross-bow,  in  shooting  at  a 
deer  \  brought  him  to  his  end.  Nature  might  ef- 
fect his  dissolution,  without  having  recourse  to 
other  causes. 

Lord  Keeper  Coventry  in  his  robes,  and  a  ruff,       Lord 

,  t  JvEEPER 

with  his  hands  on  the  seals  :  his  look  remarkably  Coventry. 
pleasing ;  a  mark  of  the  internal  comfort  he  felt 
from  a  life  passed  with  integrity  in  the  discharge 
of  his  profession.  He  held  the  seals  for  fifteen 
years,  and  died  in  universal  esteem,  January  14, 
1639-40,  at  a  period  unhappy  for  his  country; 
when  the  respect  borne  to  his  counsels11  might 
have  prevented  the  dreadful  feuds  that  so  imme- 
diately followed  his  decease. 

A  half-length  of  Sir  Edward  Grimston,  ins^  Edward 

.  Grimston. 

black,  a  bonnet,  and  lawn  ruff,  by  Holbein.     Its 

date  is   1548,  aet.  20.     On  one  side  are  these 

verses  : 

The  life  that  nature  sends,  death  soon  destroyeth, 
And  momentarie  is  that  life's  resemblance  ; 
The  seeming  life  which  peaceful  art  supplieth 
Is  but  a  shadow,  though  life's  perfect  semblans  : 

1  Illust.  Heads,  i.  60. 
u  Clarendon,  i.  131. 


326  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

But  that  threvve  life  which  virtue  doth  restore, 
Is  life  indeed,  and  lasteth  evermore. 

This  gentleman  was  comptroller  at  Calais  at 
the  time  it  was  taken  by  the  Duke  de  Guise  in 
1 558.  He  had  frequently  written  to  the  ministry, 
to  inform  them  how  ill  provided  it  was  against  a 
siege.  His  remonstrance  was  neglected ;  and  when 
the  place  was  lost,  the  English  government  per- 
mitted him  to  remain  prisoner,  for  fear  of  his 
complaints.  The  French  demanded,  as  the  price 
of  his  ransom,  a  large  estate  he  had  purchased 
about  Calais ;  but  he  preferred  captivity  rather 
than  injure  his  family.  He  suffered  a  long  and 
rigorous  imprisonment  in  the  Bast He ;  at  length 
escaped  to  England,  and  was  honorably  acquitted 
of  any  thing  that  could  be  laid  to  his  charge*. 
He  lived  to  the  great  age  of  ninety-eight. 
His  Father.  A  portrait  of  his  father,  by  Holbein,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-one,  with  a  skull  in  his  hand,  and  a 
white  bushy  beard. 

A  portrait,  unknown,  by  the  same  master. 
Sir  H.  gIR  Harbottle  Grimston,  by  Lcly. 

Grimston.  '     J         J 

The  following  are  in  the  dining-room  : 
Edward         EpwARD    Earl   of  Worcester,    by   Zucchero, 

Earl  of  j 

Worcester,  master  of  the  horse  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  privy 
seal  to  James  I.     What  recommended  him  to  the 

x  Lodge's  Irish  Peerage,  iii.  267. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  327 

first,  was  his  being  of  royal  blood,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  finest  gentleman  and  the  best  horseman 
and  tilter  of  his  time  y.  He  is  represented  here  at 
the  period  at  which  he  had  outlived  the  athletic 
exercises,  with  a  bald  head  and  white  beard ;  in  a 
white  jacket  and  ruff,  and  George  pendent. 

A  fine  full-length  portrait,  by  Vandyck,  of  Thomas 
Thomas  IVentworth,  Earl  of  Cleveland,  made  Cleveland. 
knight  of  the  bath  at  the  creation  of  Hemy  Prince 
of  Wales.  He  is  drest  in  black,  with  a  red  riband, 
turn-over,  and  yellow  hair.  He  was  captain  of 
the  guard  to  Charles  I.,  and  a  distinguished  loyal- 
ist. Survived  the  Restoration,  and  enjoyed  his 
former  postz. 

William ViscountGrimston,  withhis daughters   Viscount 
Jane  and  Mary,  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 

A  FULL-LENGTH   of  Thomas  Duke  of  Norfolk,      Thomas 

by  Holbein,  in  a  bonnet,  furred  robe,  the  order  of  Norfolk. 
the  garter,  and  a  white  rod.  This  respectable 
peer,  who  had  distinguished  himself  on  various  oc- 
casions during  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  nearly 
fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  jealousy  of  that  tyrant ;  his 
execution  was  only  prevented  by  the  timely  death 
of  his  oppressor.  He  was  kept  in  custody  during 
the  next  short  reign,  but  was  released  on  the 
accession  of  Queen  Mary.    He  mounted  his  horse 

y  Collins's  Peerage,  i.  204. 
z  Dugdale  Baron,  ii.  310. 


528 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 


James 
Duke  of 
Richmond 


Villiers 
Duke  or 
Bucking- 
ham. 


in  1554,  at  the  age  of  fourscore,  to  assist  in  quell- 
ing the  insurrection  of  Sir  Thomas  JVyat,  and  died 
in  the  same  year. 

The  illustrious  and  faithful  servant  to  Charles  I. 
James  Duke  of  Richmond,  by  Vandyck,  in  long, 
flowing,  flaxen  hair ;  his  star  on  his  cloak ;  a  dog 
by  him. 

The  beautiful  George  Villiers  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham, by  Mytens,  in  white,  with  a  hat  and  feather 
on  a  table.  A  minion  of  fortune,  who  owed  his  rise 
to  a  handsome  face  and  elegant  person,  merits  irre- 
sistible with  James  I.  The  King,  by  the  insolence 
and  ingratitude  of  his  favorite,  received  sufficient 
punishment  for  his  folly.  Buckingham  was  pos- 
sessed of  abilities,  clouded  and  almost  rendered 
useless  by  the  violence  of  his  passions.  In  his  em- 
bassy to  France,  in  1625,  he  had  the  presumption  to 
make  his  addresses  to  the  Queen  Anne  of  Austria  \ 
On  receiving  the  treatment  which  his  vanity  me- 
rited, he  not  only,  in  revenge,  involved  his  country 
in  war,  but  endeavoured  to  alienate  the  affection 
of  his  master  Charles  from  his  spouse,  her  lovely 
sister-in-law,  Henrietta  Maria.  I  ought  to  have 
mentioned  the  common  report,  that  his  ill-success 
with  the  wife  of  Olivarez,  the  Spanish  minister, 
and  a  cruel  deception  in  consequence1,  was  the 

a  Clarendon,  i.  38. 

b  Granger,  i.  326,  note. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  329 

primary  cause  of  the  breach  of  the  Spanish  match, 
and  the  hazard  his  young  prince  ran  in  escaping 
from  an  incensed  court.  He  fell  at  length  by  the 
hands  of  the  melancholy  Felton,  who,  taught  by 
the  murmurs  of  the  people,  thought  he  did  an  ac- 
ceptable service,  by  freeing  his  country  from  so 
distasteful  a  minister. 

A  large  picture,  by  Vandyck,  containing  the  Algernon 
portraits  of  Algernon  Earl  of  Northumberland,  in  Northum- 
black,  standing:  his  lady  in  blue,  sitting,  and  a 
child  by  them.  This  generous  peer  stepped  for- 
ward in  the  cause  of  liberty,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  troubles  of  Charles  I.  while  he  held  the  post  of 
lord  high  admiral :  a  post  he  was  displaced  from 
by  the  popular  party,  by  reason  of  his  moderation, 
which  they  suspected  would  be  a  check  to  their 
unreasonable  views.  He  was  constantly  a  me- 
diating commissioner  in  all  treaties  on  the  side  of 
the  parlement,  in  which  he  behaved  to  them  with 
dignity,  spirit,  and  integrity.  He  was  appointed 
governor  of  the  kings  children  while  they  were  se- 
parated from  their  parents,  and  behaved  to  them 
with  respect  and  affection.  He  joined  in  oppos- 
ing the  ordinance  for  the  trial  of  his  master ;  after 
whose  death  he  retired  to  Tetworth,  and  took  no 
part  with  the  usurping  powers.  He  joined  heartily 
in  the  Restoration ;  but,  like  a  true  friend  to  his 
country,  wished  for  it  on  terms  of  security  to  the 


330  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

people,  and  advantage  to  the  nation.  He  re- 
ceived from  the  restored  king  honors  suited  to  his 
rank,  and  enjoyed  them  till  his  death  in  1668. 
Earl  op  The  favourite  Devereux, .  Earl  of  Essex,  by 
Hilliar 'd,  in  black  and  gold,  with  a  ruff :  a  chain 
round  his  waist,  and  a  sword  by  his  side ;  date 
1594. 
Elizabeth.  ^is  roval  mistress  in  a  dress  of  black  and  gold, 
and  of  materials  resembling  the  former;  with  a 
great  lawn  ruff,  and  three  long  chains  of  pearls 
round  her  neck.  This  was  also  painted  by  Hilliard, 
and  presented  by  her  Majesty  to  the  lord  keeper 
Bacon. 

CWolk°F  A  FINE  full-length  of  the  Countess  of  Suffolk, 
daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Knevit,  and  wife  to  the 
lord  treasurer.  A  lady,  who,  like  Lord  Verulam, 
fell  under  the  charge  of  corruption,  should  have 
been  placed  next  to  him.  She  is  dressed  in 
white,  and  in  a  great  ruff ;  her  breasts  much  ex- 
posed ;  her  waist  short  and  swelling ;  for  she  was 
extremely  prolific.  This  lady  had  unhappily  a 
great  ascendency  over  her  husband,  and  was  ex- 
tremely rapacious.  She  made  use  of  his  exalted 
situation  to  indulge  her  avarice,  and  took  bribes 
from  all  quarters.  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  in  his 
speech  in  the  star-chamber  against  her  husband, 
wittily  compares  her  to  an  exchange-woman,  who 
kept  her  shop,  while  Sir  John  Bingleg,  a  teller  of 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  331 

the  exchequer,  a  tool  of  hers,  cried,  What  d'ye 
lackc?  Her  beauty  was  remarkable,  and  I  fear 
she  made  a  bad  use  of  her  charms.  "  Lady 
"Suffolk"  says  the  famous  Ann  Clifford,  in  her 
diary  under  the  year  1619,  "  had  the  small-pox 
"  at  Northampton-house,  which  spoiled  that  good 
"  face  of  hers,  which  had  brought  to  others  much 
"  misery,  and  to  herself  greatness  which  ended  in 
"  much  unhappiness." 

Charles  I.  by  Mytens.  Charles  I. 

Next  appears  a  fine  full-length  portrait,  by  Sir  Francis 
Vansomer,  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon  Lord  Verulam, 
who  succeeded  his  brother  Anthony  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Gorhambury.  Much  is  said  of  his  depravity 
during  prosperity,  and  more  of  his  abject  fawning 
after  his  fall.  For  my  part,  I  look  on  the  latter 
part  of  his  life  as  the  period  in  which  he  shone 
with  greatest  dignity.  That  soul,  which  sunk,  dur- 
ing good  fortune,  beneath  the  temptation  of  cor- 
ruption, arose,  unbroken  by  disgrace,  and  superior 
to  obloquy.  He  passed  his  latter  days  in  labors 
which  have  made  him  the  admiration  of  succeed- 
ing times.  He  was  then  disengaged  from  business, 
which  fettered  his  genius,  and  was  supported  (not- 
withstanding assertions  to  the  contrary)  by  a  great 
pension  {£.  1800  a  year)  which  enabled  him  to 

c  Wilson,  97. 


332  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

pursue  his  studies  at  ease,  removed  from  every 
fear  of  the  embarrassments  of  poverty. 

SirNatha-  Near  him  is  his  accomplished  kinsman,  his 
half-brother  Sir  Nathaniel  Bacon,  knight  of  the 
bath,  leaning  back  in  his  chair,  in  a  green  jacket 
laced,  yellow  stockings,  a  dog  by  him,  and  sword 
and  pallet  hung  up.  "  In  the  art  of  painting, 
"  none,"  says  Peackam,  "  deserveth  more  respect 
"  and  admiration  than  master  Nathaniel  Bacon, 
"  of  Brome,  in  Suffolk ;  not  inferior,  inmyjudg- 
"  ment,  to  our  skilfullest  masters d."  He  im- 
proved his  talent  by  travelling  into  Italy ;  and 
left  in  this  house,  as  a  proof  of  the  excellency  of 
his  performances,  this  portrait,  and  a  most  beau- 
tiful one  of  a  cook,  a  perfect  Venus,  with  an  old 
game-keeper :  behind  is  a  variety  of  dead  game, 
in  particular  a  swan,  whose  plumage  is  expressed 
with  inimitable  softness  and  gloss. 

Sir  Thomas      a  REMARKABLE  picture  of  Sir  Thomas  Meau- 

Meautys.  l 

tyse,  secretary  to  Lord  Vcrulam,   by  Vansomer. 

A  Complete  Gentleman,  127.  Watpole's  Anecdotes  of  Painters, 
i.  163.  where  the  portrait  of  Sir  Nathaniel  is  engraven. 

c  Sir  Tliomas  Meautys  was  of  Norman  extraction*;  his  an- 
cestor John  Meautys  came  into  England  with  Henry  VII.  and 
was  his  secretary  for  the  French  tongue.  His  grandfather  Sir 
Peter  was  enriched  by  the  spoils  of  the  church  in  the  possession 
of  Stratford  abbey  in  Essex,  and  sent  ambassador  to  France 

*  Morant's  Essex,  i.  19. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  333 

His  dress  confirms  the  account  of  the  choice  he 
made  of  his  servants,  whom  he  selected  from  the 
young,  the  prodigal,  and  expensive f.  Sir  Thomas 
makes  a  most  finical  appearance :  his  habit  ele- 
gant :  he  has  on  a  sash,  a  hat  with  a  white  feather, 
laced  turn-over,  a  long  love-lock  extended  on  his 
left  arm,  an  ear-ring  in  one  ear,  a  spear  in  the 
other,  and  brown  boots.  He  was  clerk  of  the 
privy  council  to  two  kings  ;  and  got  possession  of 
Gorhambury  from  his  master,  who  conveyed  it  to 
him  on  foreseeing  his  fall.  Like  a  grateful  ser- 
vant, Meautys  erected  a  handsome  monument  to 
him  in  a  neighboring  church,  more  to  shew  his 
respect,  than  from  any  necessity  of  endeavouring 
to  preserve  the  memory  of  one  self-immortalized. 
In  Lady  Grimstorts  dressing-room, 

The  head  of  Sir  Nicholas  Baco?i,  his  dress  a  Sir  Nicho- 
las Bacon. 
furred  robe.  He  was  a  person  of  a  very  corpu- 
lent habit ;  for  which  reason  Queen  Elizabeth  used 
to  say,  "  that  her  lord  keeper's  soul  lodged  well." 
To  what  I  have  given  of  him  before,  I  shall  only 
add,  that  he  caught  his  death  by  sleeping  in  his 
chair  with  his  window  open.  He  awoke  dis- 
ordered, and,  reproving  his  servant  for  his  negli- 

by  Henry  VIII.  who  conferred  on  him  the  honor  of  knighthood. 
Sir  Thomas  Meautys  married  Anne  eldest  daughter  of  Sir 
Nathaniel  Bacon,  of  Culford.     Ed. 
f  Wilson,  159. 


334  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

gence,   was  told,   that  he  feared  to  awake  him. 
"  Then,"  replies  the  Keeper,  "  your  complaisance 
"  will  cost  me  my  life."     He  died  in  1579- 
His  second      A  head  of  his  second  wife  in  a  close  cap  and 

Wife* 

white  gown,  worked  with  oak-leaves  and  acorns. 
This  distinguished  lady  was  Anne  daughter  of  Sir 
Anthony  Cook,  of  Giddy  hall,  in  Essex.  She  had 
great  abilities,  natural  and  acquired,  was  emi- 
nently skilled  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  Italian,  and 
had  the  honor  of  being  appointed  governess  to 
Edward  VI.  To  her  instructions  was  probably 
owing  the  surprising  knowledge  of  that  excellent 
young  prince.  She  shared  his  education  with 
her  father,  Doctor  Cox,  and  Sir  John  Cheek1. 
Her  sons  Anthony  and  Francis  were  not  a  little 
indebted,  for  the  reputation  they  acquired,  to  the 
pains  taken  with  them  by  this  excellent  woman  in 
their  tender  years'1.  When  they  grew  up,  they 
found  in  her  a  severe  but  admirable  monitor.  She 
translated  from  the  Italian  the  sermons  of  Bar' 
nardine  Ochine  ;  and  from  the  Latin  JexveVs  Apo- 
logy for  the  church  of  England :  both  which  met 
with  the  highest  applause.  She  died  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  reign  of  James  I.  and  was  buried  in 
the  neighbouring  church  of  St.  Michael1. 

£    Chauncy's  Hertfordshire,  464. 
h  Complete  Hist.  England,  ii.  274. 
1  Ballard's  Br.  Ladies,  136. 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  335 

Mere  is  also  preserved  a  very  singular k  portrait  ?h1bIP 
in  wood,  called  Sylvester  de  Grimston,  a  no-  Duke  of 
ble  Norman,  standard-bearer  to  the  Conqueror  at 
the  battle  of  Hastings,  and  afterwards  his  cham- 
berlain. He  held  lands  in  Yorkshire  of  the  Lord 
Roos :  among  others  that  of  Grimston  in  Holder- 
ness ;  from  whence  he  took  the  name.  The  pic- 
ture is  antient  and  curious,  but  wants  four  centu- 
ries of  the  great  period  in  which  Sylvester  lived  ; 
neither  did  that  age  afford  any  artists  that  could 
give  even  a  tolerable  representation  of  the  human 
figure,  much  less  convey  down  a  likeness  of  the 
fierce  heroes  of  their  times.  I  premise  this,  to 
show  the  impossibility  of  this  portrait  having  been 
a  copy  of  some  original  of  this  great  ancestor. 
The  dress  is  singular :  a  large  bonnet,  with  a  very 
long  silken  appendage;  a  green  jacket,  hanging 
sleeves  :  a  collar  of  SS  held  in  one  hand  :  his  face 

k  This  portrait  is  now  supposed  by  the  noble  owner  to 
represent  Edward  Grimston,  who  was*  ambassador  to  the 
court  of  Burgundy  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI. ;  and  as  the 
family  arms  are  painted  on  the  back  and  front  of  the  pic- 
ture, the  conjecture  does  not  appear  improbable.  It  must 
however  be  remarked,  that  the  resemblance  to  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy  may  be  traced  in  other  prints,  exclusive  of  that 
referred  to  in  the  Monarchic  Francoise.    Ed. 

*  Rymer's  Fatdcra,  xi.  230. 


336  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

beardless.     On  the  back  of  the  picture  is  the  fol- 
lowing inscription : 


The  artist  is  unknown  to  me ;  but  the  habit  of 
the  person  is  that  of  the  date  :  for  I  find  in  Mont- 
Jaucons  Monarchie  Francoise  several  persons  of 
rank  in  the  dress,  particularly  Philip  Le  Bon 
Duke  of  Burgundy :  between  whom  and  this  por- 
trait there  is  so  strong  a  resemblance  of  feature, 
that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  imagine  that  the  Gorham- 
bury  portrait  is  no  other  than  one  of  this  illus- 
trious prince.  He  was  born  in  1396;  died  in 
1467:  so  that  he  was  a  youth  when  the  picture 
was  taken. 

Catherine.      The  beautiful  picture  of  Catherine  Queen  to 
Charles  II.  in  the  character  of  St.  Catherine,  in 
one  of  the  bed-chambers. 
Thomas  In    a    dressing-room    is    a   head  of  Thomas 

Arundel.  Howard,  the  virtuoso  Earl  of  Arundel;  who,  by 
much  residence  in  foreign  parts,  acquired  a  tho- 
rough  contempt  for   his  own   country.     Filled 


PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY.  337 

with  family-pride,  he  was  sent  to  the  Tower  for 
a  contempt  shewn  in  the  House  to  a  nobleman 
less  highly  born  than  himself;  yet  on  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  troubles  of  his  royal  master  Charles 
I.  he.  shewed  a  great  want  of  true  spirit,  con- 
sulting his  own  safety  and  ease  rather  than  risque 
them  by  siding  with  either  party.  He  quitted 
England,  for  which,  as  Lord  Clarendon  says, 
he  had  little  other  affection  than  as  he  -had  a 
great  share  in  it,  in  which,  like  a  great  leviathan, 
he  might  sport  himself.  He  was  a  man  of  a  no- 
ble presence,  and  affected  a  plain  garb.  He  ac- 
cordingly is  here  dressed  in  a  dark  habit  robed 
with  fur.  His  countenance  corresponds  to  the 
description  :  his  hair  short,  and  his  beard  bushy : 
his  turn-over  plain ;  and  the  only  ornament  is  the 
pendent  order  of  the  Garter. 

James  I1,  in  inconsistent  armour,  black  and    James  I. 
gold,  with  each  foot  on  a  rock.     Above  him, 

Jam  turn  tenditque  fovetque, 

1  These  royal  portraits,  and  a  few  others,  were  too  much 
injured  to  bear  removal  from  the  old  house,  or  were  thought 
unworthy  to  occupy  a  place  in  the  collection  of  the  modern 
Gorhambury.     Ed. 

In  the  house  are  several  valuable  paintings  by  foreign 
masters,  a  list  of  which  will  be  given  in  the  Appendix.    Ed. 

Z 


338  PORTRAITS  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

beneath, 

Jacobus  unitor  Britannia  plantator  Hibernice  conditor  im- 
perii Atlantici. 

The  last,  I  fear,  a  piece  of  the  characteristic  adu- 
lation of  the  chancellor. 

Near  him  are  two  monarchs,  not  in  fact  coeval 
with  Bacon,  but  placed  here  from  the  admiration 
he  had  of  their  abilities,  in  extending  their  domi- 
KhnTof  mons  to  tne  Indies.  By  Emanuel  king  of  Portu- 
Portugal.  ga^  ne  pointed  out  the  advantage  of  commerce,  re- 
ceived by  the  discovery  of  the  new  passage  to 
India  under  his  auspices,   by  Vasco  di  Gama  : 

Ferdinand  . 

of  Spain,  by  Ferdinand  V.  he  points  out  the  discovery  of 
America  by  Columbus.  The  first  monarch  he 
calls  Conditor  imperii  Europce  super  Indias  ori- 
entales  ;  the  other  Super  Indias  Occident  ales.  Both 
of  the  princes  are  represented  knee-deep  in  water : 
but  I  suppose,  by  the  situation  of  their  cautious 
master,  he  would  shew  he  had  too  much  prudence 
to  wet  his  feet. 

I  now  resume  my  journey,  and,  in  my  way  to 
St.  Albans,  about  a  mile  and  half  distant,  pass  by 
the  site  of  St.  Mary  de  la  Pre,  de  Pratis,  or  the 
Meadows ;  an  hospital  for  leprous  women,  found- 
ed about  11 90,  by  Warine,  abbot  of  St.  Albans. 


Verula- 

MIUM. 


VERULAMIUM.  339 

It  afterwards  rose  to  a  priory  of  Benedictine  nuns, 
but  fell  in  1528,  when  JVolsey,  commendatory  ab- 
bot, obtained  from  Clement  VIII.  a  bull  for  its 
suppression,  and  for  annexing  it  to  the  abbey ; 
after  which  he  got  a  grant  of  it  for  himself  from  the 
king,  who,  on  the  ruin  of  the  cardinal,  gave  it  to 
Sir  Ralph  Rowlet m. 

Immediately  after  quitting  this  place,  I  en- 
tered the  celebrated  Verulamium,  at  a  spot  distin- 
guished by  a  great  fragment  of  the  antient  wall, 
known  by  the  name  of  Gorhambury-block,  which 
probably  bounded  one  side  of  one  of  the  porter,  or 
entrances,  being  exactly  opposite  to  that  on  the 
eastern  part.  The  precinct  departs  from  the  rec- 
tangular form  of  the  Romans,  this  being  among 
those  which  were  laid  out,  Prout  loci  qualitas  aut 
necessitas  postulaveritn.  It  inclines  to  an  oval 
shape ;  is  placed  on  a  slope,  and  the  lower  side 
bounded  by  the  river  Ver,  which  in  former  times 
might  have  spread  into  a  lake,  and  given  greater 
security  to  the  town.  According  to  Humphry 
Lloyd  °,  it  gave  also  the  name  to  the  place,  Gwer- 
llan,  or  the  temple  on  the  Ver  ;  rightly  bestowing 
on  the  Britons  a  pre-occupancy  of  it  to  the  Ro- 
mans.    I  shall  not  dispute  the  notions  of  the  parti- 

m  Tanner,  185.  n  Vegetius,  lib.  i.  c.  23. 

9  Commentariol,  31. 

z  2 


340  VERULAMIUM. 

cular  ford  over  which  Ccesar  crossed  the  Thames, 
when  he  penetrated  into  our  island.  It  probably 
was  at  or  near  Coway  Stakes.  Ccesar  leaves  us  no 
room  to  depart  from  that  opinion,  as  he  expressly 
tells  us  that  he  led  his  army  to  the  river  Thames, 
towards  the  borders  of  the  territories  of  Cassive- 
launus9,  the  golden-locked  leader  of  the  country 
of  the  Cassi :  and  these  Cassi  are  reasonably  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  clan  of  the  Cattieuchlani, 
and  to  have  inhabited  the  hundred  of  this  county 
now  called  Cashio,  in  which  Verulamium  stood. 
But  I  must  contend,  that  the  distance  of  that  city 
is  far  too  remote  from  the  fordable  parts  of  the 
Thames,  to  admit  it  to  have  been  the  town  of  the 
British  leader  destroyed  by  the  invader.  It  lies, 
in  the  nearest  line,  thirty-seven  miles  from  those 
parts  of  the  river :  a  distance  too  great  for  the 
time  given  to  Ccesar  for  his  second  campaign  in 
Britain.  The  town,  or  rather  post,  which  was 
forced  by  him,  was  not  remote  from  the  camp  oc- 
cupied by  him  on  the  side  of  the  river ;  and  most 
likely  was  that  which  is  still  very  entire,  in  the 
park  of  her  Grace  the  Dutchess  dowager  of  Port- 


p  Caesar  cognito  consilio  eorum  ad  {lumen  Tamasin  in  fines 
Cassivelauni  exercitumduxit.     Bel.  Gal.  lib.  v. 

Preceding  this,  he  speaks  of  the  fines  Cassivelauni,  as  being 
a  mari  cireiter  millia  passuum  lxxx. 


VERULAMIUM.  341 

land,  at  Bulstrode,  about  fifteen  miles  distant  from 
the  Roman  camp :  whose  vestiges  are  still  to  be 
seen,  not  far  from  the  famous  ford  q.  Partly  by 
length  of  time,  partly  by  constant  cultivation,  this 
post  has  lost  some  of  the  characters  ascribed  by 
Ccesar  to  the  town  of  Cassivelaunus  ;  for  it  wants 
at  present  the  marshy  defence  it  had  in  his  days. 

The  town  alluded  to  was  within  the  territories 
of  the  British  chieftain,  and  one  of  the  strong-holds 
into  which  the  Britons  were  used  to  drive  their 
cattle  in  time  of  danger.  This,  by  Casars  ac- 
count, was  certainly  not  the  most  capital ;  for  his 
first  relation  informs  us,  it  only  contained  satis  nume- 
rus  pecorum,  a  pretty  considerable  number  of  cat- 
tle. Notwithstanding  his  vanity,  a  few  lines  lower, 
swells  his  booty  into  magnus  numerus,  a  vast  num- 
ber r.  At  Shepperton,  also,  near  Cozvay-Stakes, 
in  a  field  called  War  Close,  are  found  spurs, 
swords,  bones,  and  other  marks  of  a  battle.  See 
Camden,  i.  366 :  but  in  all  likelihood,  the  first  is 
the  nearest  to  the  truth. 

Verulamium  was  the  capital  of  this  country,  and 
the  residence  of  its  princes.  I  do  not  reckon 
Cassivelaunus  among  them ;  he  was  a  chieftain  of 
the  Cassi,  and,  for  his  great  abilities,  elected  general 
on  the  Roman  invasion,  if  our  British  history  is  to 

i  Syhis  paludibmque  munitum.  T  Lexvis  Hist.  Br.  73. 


342  VERULAMIUM. 

be  trusted.  He  was  guardian  to  his  nephews, 
Anarzvy  and  Tenafan s  (the  last)  father  to  Cunobo- 
line,  whose  coins  are  so  frequent.  Here  was  one 
of  the  British  mints;  for  we  find  the  word  Veron 
the  coins,  but  no  prince's  name  to  distinguish  the 
reign. 

After  the  Romans  had  effected  their  conquest, 
they  added  walls  to  the  ordinary  British  defence 
of  ramparts,  and  ditches.  Many  great  fragments 
of  the  former  still  remain,  proofs  of  the  strength 
and  manner  of  the  Roman  masonry.  On  one 
Walls,  side  is  a  vast  foss  ;  on  another,  two.  The  walls 
are  twelve  feet  thick,  where  entire,  formed  of  flints 
bedded  in  mortar,  now  grown  into  amazing  hard- 
ness. By  intervals  of  about  three  feet  distance, 
are  three,  and  in  some  places  four  rows  of  broad 
and  thin  bricks,  or  tiles,  which  were  continued  the 
whole  length  of  the  walls,  which  seem  designed  as 
foundations  to  sustain  the  layers  of  flints  and  lime, 
while  the  last  was  in  a  moist  state.  There  were, 
besides,  round  holes,  which  penetrated  quite 
through l;  but  these  are  either  filled  up,  or  escap- 
ed my  notice.  According  to  Doctor  Stukelys 
measurement,  the  area  is  five  thousand  two  hun- 
dred  feet  in   length,    and  the   greatest   breadth 


•  Stukely  Itin.  i.  1 17. 

*.  See  Doctor  Stukely's  admirable  plan  of  this  place. 


VERULAMIUM.  343 

about  three  thousand.  It  is  at  present  inclosed ; 
but  under  the  hedges,  in  many  places,  are  ves- 
tiges of  buildings,  and,  as  I  am  told,  when  it  is 
under  tillage,  the  sites  of  the  streets  appear,  by 
the  different  color  of  the  corn  above  them.  The 
Watling-street  comes  to  the  Porta  Decumana,  the 
gate  on  the  western  side,  and  passes  quite  through 
the  city.  There  is  another  road  goes  on  the  outside 
on  the  south  side ;  a  small  military  way,  like  that 
which  passed  from  turret  to  turret  on  Sewruss 
wall",  for  the  conveniency  of  external  passen- 
gers. 

This  place,  by  its  attachment  to  the  conquerors, 
acquired  the  privileges  of  a  free  borough,  a  muni-  A  munici_ 
cipium,  or  municipal  city,  whose  inhabitants  en-  PIUM* 
joyed  all  the  rights  of  the  Roman  citizens ;  for 
which  reason  such  towns  derive  their  name  a  mu- 
neribus  capiendis,  their  power  to  bear  public  offices. 
They  had  their  senators,  knights,  and  commons  ; 
magistrates  and  priests  ;  censors,  ediles,  questors, 
and  flamens. 

The  attachment  of  this  town  to  its  new  masters, 
proved  the  cause  of  a  heavy  misfortune,  which  be- 
fel  it  under  the  reign  of  Nero.     Boadicea,  widow  Sacked  bt 
of  Prasutagus,  king  of  the  Iceni,  enraged  at  the  Boadicea. 
cruel  indignity  offered  to  her  and  her  daughters, 

»  Tour  Scotl.  1772.  partii.p.  288. 


344  VERULAMIUM. 

raised  an  insurrection  against  the  Romans  and  their 
friends,  and  repaid  with  the  most  dreadful  cruelties 
the  injuries  they  had  received.  Camolodunum, 
Londinium,  and  Verolamium,  suffered  from  the 
fury  of  the  Britons,  and  seventy  thousand  citizens 
and  allies  fell  by  the  edge  of  the  sword.  This  city 
was  remarkable  for  its  wealth  x,  which  was  an- 
other incentive  for  the  Britons  to  attack  it,  add- 
ed to  a  particular  animosity  against  a  people  who 
had  forsaken  the  customs  and  religion  of  their  an- 
cestors. 

The  place  in  a  short  time  emerged  from  its 
Albanus.  misfortune;  and  had  the  honor  of  producing  Alba- 
nus,  the  proto-martyr  of  Britain,  a  wealthy  citizen 
of  Verulamium,  and,  by  privilege,  of  Rome  also. 
He  had  been  a  Pagan,  but  was  converted  by 
means  of  a  guest,  whom  he  had  sheltered  during 
the  great  persecution  of  Diocksian  as  I  have  be- 
fore related.  St.  Alban  suffered  in  the  year  302. 
Let  not  legend  destroy  the  credibility  of  the  mar- 
tyrdom, by  assigning  attendant  miracles,  long  after 
their  cessation.  We  are  told,  that  after  he  had  re- 
fused to  sacrifice  to  the  heathen  gods,  the  usual  test 
of  the  alleged  crime  of  Christianity,  he  was,  as 
customary,  whipped  with  rods,  and  then  led  to  ex- 
ecution, and   beheaded  on  Holmhurst,  where  the 

x  Taciii  Annal.  lib.  xiv.  c.  31.  fyc. 


VERULAMIUM.  345 

town  of  St.  Albaris  at  present  stands.  In  his  pas- 
sage, the  torrent,  which  then  divided  the  place 
from  Verulamium,  like  the  Red-sea,  divided  its 
waters,  and  gave  dry  passage  to  the  Saint  and  his 
followers :  a  fountain  sprung  up  where  the  martyr 
kneeled:  one  of  the  executioners  relenting,  was 
converted,  and  suffered  with  Albanus ;  another, 
who  performed  the  deed,  lost  his  eyes,  as  a  penal- 
ty for  his  cruelty ;  for  they  dropped  out  of  his  head 
at  the  moment  in  which  he  gave  the  blow  y.  St. 
Alban  was  interred  on  the  spot ;  and  his  remains 
were  miraculously  discovered  several  centuries 
after  their  interment. 

In  429,  this  place  was  honored  with  a  synod,      Synod 

J,  HELD    HERE. 

in  which  St.  Germanus  and  Lupus,  two  French 
prelates,  assisted.  A  chapel  was  erected,  about 
the  year  945,  by  abbot  Ulsin,  in  honor  of  the  for- 
mer, on  the  spot  in  which  he  preached;  whose 
ruins  were  to  be  seen  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century. 

After  the  Savon  invasion,  the  name  of  the 
town  was  changed  for  that  of  Verlamcester  and 
JVatlincester.  The  British  hero,  Uther  Pendra- 
gon,  after  a  long  siege,  wrested  it  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  Savons,  and  held  it  during  his  life ;  after 

y  Bede  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  i.  c.  7.  Father  Cressy,  in  his  Church 
History,  lib.  vi.  has  given  a  much  longer  detail. 


Vaults. 


346  VERULAMIUM. 

his  death  they  soon  recovered  it ;  but  by  reason  of 
the  cruel  wars  that  raged  during  the  contest  be- 
tween them  and  the  Britons,  the  place  became  to- 
tally desolated. 
Great  Like  the  antient  Devaz,  Verulamium  had  its 

great  vaults,  or  subterraneous  retreats,  strongly 
and  artfully  arched.  These  are  supposed,  by  Sir 
Henry  Ckauncy,  to  have  been  designed  as  places 
of  retreat  in  time  of  war  for  the  women  and  child- 
ren, and  for  the  concealment  of  the  most  valuable 
effects.  In  960,  they  were  found  to  give  shelter 
to  thieves  and  prostitutes,  which  caused  Eldred, 
the  eighth  abbot,  to  search  after  these  souterreins; 
he  discovered  several  ways  and  passages,  all  which 
he  caused  to  be  destroyed,  but  preserved  the  tiles 
and  stones  for  rebuilding  the  church,  then  in  ruins*. 
The  present  St.  Albaris  arose  from  the  ruins  of 
Verulamium.  Offa  king  of  the  Mercians,  direct- 
ed, says  legend,  by  a  vision  from  heaven,  discover- 
ed the  reliques  of  St.  Alban,  by  beams  of  glory 
springing  from  the  grave b.  In  793,  he  erected  on 
the  spot  the  magnificent  monastery,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  hundred  Benedictine  or  black  monks, 
and  in  a  parlementary  council,  which  he  held  in  the 
same  year,    bestowed  on  it  most  liberal  endow- 

2  Tour  in  Wales,  p.  108.  8th  ed.  1810.  1.  p.  149. 

*  Chauncy,  43 1 .  b  Crcssy,  lib.  xxv.  c.  6. 


ST.  MICHAEL'S  CHURCH.  347 

ments.  Verulamium  was  now  reduced  to  the  state 
elegantly  described  by  Spenser,  assuming  the  cha- 
racter of  the  Genius  of  the  place. 

I  was  that  city  which  the  garland  wore 
Of  Britain's  pride,  delivered  unto  me 
By  Roman  victors,  which  it  wore  of  yore, 
Though  nought  at  all  but  ruins  now  I  be, 
And  lie  in  mine  own  ashes,  as  ye  see. 
Verlame  I  was  :  what  boots  it  that  I  was, 
Sith  now  I  am  but  weeds  and  wasteful  grass  f 

Ruines  of  Time. 

Before  I  quit  these  antient  precincts,  I  must 
note  the  church  of  St.  Michael,  built  within  them 
by  the  same  pious  abbot  who  founded  the  chapel  f,CH"RCH  0F 

J  r  r      St.Michael. 

of  St.  German.  It  became  an  impropriation  of 
the  abbey,  and,  after  the  dissolution,  a  vicarage. 
The  church  is  small,  supported  within  by  round 
arches.  It  is  most  distinguished  by  the  monument 
of  the  great  Lord  Verulam.  His  figure  is  of  white 
marble,  sitting  in  a  chair,  and  reclining,  in  the 
easy  attitude  of  meditation.  He  is  dressed  in 
robes  lined  with  fur,  and  a  high-crowned  hat. 
Any  emblems  of  greatness  would  have  been  unne- 
cessary attendants  on  this  illustrious  character. 
The  spectator's  ideas  must  render  every  com- 
plimentai  sculpture   superfluous.      The  epitaph 


348  SAINT  ALBAN'S. 

conveys   high  honor  to  the  grateful  servant:  his 
master  could  receive  nothing  additional. 

H.    P. 

Francisc.  Bacon,  Baro  de  Verulam,  Sanct.  Albani  viceco' 

Seu  notioribus  titulis 

Scientiarum  lumen,  facundiae  lex, 

Sic  sedebat : 

Qui  postquam,  omnia  naturalis  sapientiae 

Et  civilis  arcana  evolvisset, 

Naturae  decretum  explevit. 

Composita  solvantur. 

Anno  Dom.  MDCXXVL 

JEt.  LXVI. 

Tanti  viri 

Mem. 

Tliomas  Meautys 

Superstitis  cultor, 

Defuncti  admirator. 


On  leaving  St.  Michael's,  I  passed  through  a 
St  ALBAN's.sort  of  suburbs  to  St.  Albans,  and  crossed  the 
Ver,  to  the  site  of  the  palace  of  Kingsbury.  It 
had  long  been  the  residence  of  the  Savon  princes, 
who,  by  their  frequent  visits  to  the  abbey  of  St. 
Albaris,  became  an  insupportable  burden  to  its 
revenues.  At  length  abbot  Alfric,  by  his  inter- 
est with  king  Ethelred  II.  prevaled  on  him  to 
dispose  of  it,  the  king  only  reserving  a  small  for- 


SAINT  ALBAN'S.  349 

tress  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  monastery5. 
This  also  continuing  to  give  offence  to  its  pious 
neighbors,  was  destroyed  by  king  Stephen,  at  the 
intercession  of  Robert,  the  seventh  abbot c. 

I  see  in  Doctor  Stukeleys  plan,  a  bury,  or 
mount,  called  Osterhill,  on  which  the  palace  might 
have  stood ;  and  a  ditch  called  Tomnan  Ditch, 
which  took  its  name  from  this  Tommin,  or  Tu- 
mulus. 

On  ascending  into  St.  Albans,  up  Fishpool  Fishpool. 
street,  the  bottom  on  the  right  reminded  me  of  the 
great  pool  which  once  occupied  that  tract.  This 
had  been  the  property  of  the  Saxon  monarchs,  and 
was  alienated  by  Edgar  to  the  all-grasping  monks. 
Those  princes  were  supposed  to  have  taken  great 
pleasure  in  navigating  on  this  piece  of  water. 
Anchors  have  been  found  on  the  spot ;  which  oc- 
casioned poets  to  fable  that  the  Thames  once  ran 
this  way.    One  of  them,  speaking  to  the  Ver,  says, 

Thou  saw'st  great  burden'd  ships  through  these  thy  vallies 

pass, 
Where  now  the  sharp-edg'd  scythe  shears  up  the  spiring 

grass; 
And  where  the  seal  and  porpoise  us'd  to  play, 
The  grasshopper  and  ant  now  lord  it  all  the  day  d. 

Chauncy,  431,  463.  c  The  same,  436. 

d  Drayton,  song  xvi.     Spenser  sings  in  the  same  strain,  see 
Ruins  of  Time. 


350  ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN. 

The  town  spreads  along  the  slopes  and  top  of 
the  hill.  The  magnificent  mitred  parlementary 
Abbey,  abbey  graced  the  verge  of  the  southern  side.  Of 
this  there  does  not  remain  the  lest  vestige,  except 
the  gateway,  a  large  square  building,  with  a  fine 
Spacious  pointed  arch  beneath :  so  that  all  the  la- 
bors of  Offa,  and  the  splendid  piety  of  a  long 
train  of  abbots,  and  a  numerous  list  of  benefactors, 
are  now  reduced  to  the  conventual  church;  and 
the  once-thronged  entrance  of  the  devout  pilgrims 
to  the  shrine  of  our  great  proto-martyr,  is  now  no 
more  than  an  empty  gateway. 

A  Murder.  A  barbarous  murder  was  the  true  spring  of 
Offds  munificence.  The  Mercian  monarch  cast  a 
longing  eye  on  the  dominions  of  Ethelbert,  prince 
of  the  East  Angles;  treacherously  invited  him  to 
court,  under  pretence  of  marrying  him  to  his 
daughter  Althrida;  seized  on  the  young  prince 
(who  is  represented  to  have  been  the  most  amiable 
of  his  time),  beheaded  him,  and  seized  on  his  do- 
Cadse  of  the  minions'.     Offa  had  recourse  to  the  usual  expia- 

ormiHt-  ti°n  °f  ms  crime,  that  of  founding  a  monastery ; 
bey.  when  the  grateful  monks,  to  conceal  the  infamy  of 
their  benefactor,  call  down  a  vision  from  heaven, 
as  a  motive  to  his  piety.  But  Offa  did  not  trust 
to  this  solely :  he  made  a  penitential  pilgrimage  to 
Rome,  and,  by  the  merit  of  his  monastic  institution 

e  Carte,  i.  272. 


ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN.  351 

at  St.  Albaris,  readily  obtained  absolution,  and  not 

only  procured  for  the  house  exemption  from  the    Its  great 
_  Privilege. 

tax  of  Peter-pence,  but  power  to  collect  the  same 
for  its  own  use,  through  the  whole  province  of 
Hertford;  a  privilege  which  no  person  in  the 
realm,  the  king  himself  not  excepted,  ever  enjoyed. 
By  the  same  bull,  his  holiness  granted,  that  the 
abbot,  or  monk,  whom  he  appointed  archdeacon, 
should  have  pontifical  jurisdiction  over  the  priests 
and  laymen  of  the  possessions  of  this  church ;  and 
that  no  person  whatsoever,  save  the  pope  himself, 
should  offer  to  interfere.  It  was,  by  the  charter 
of  the  king,  to  be  free  from  all  taxes,  repair  of 
bridges  and  castles,  and  from  making  entrench- 
ments against  an  enemy ;  to  be  exempt  from  epis- 
copal jurisdiction ;  and,  by  the  same  charter,  the 
fines  for  crimes,  which  belonged  to  the  king,  were 
given  for  ever  to  this  monastery.  Offa,  not  con- 
tent with  this,  inclosed  the  body  of  the  Saint  in  a 
shrine  of  beaten  gold  and  silver,  set  with  precious 
stones ;  and,  encircling  the  scull  with  a  golden 
diadem,  caused  to  be  inscribed  on  it,  Hoc  est 
caput  Sancti  Albani,  Anglorum  protomar- 
tytis*. 

Wiligord  was  the  first  abbot.     It  flourished  First  and 

°  last  Abbot. 

f  Mat.  Paris,  984> 


352  ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN. 

from  his  time  to  the  dissolution,  and  received  vast 
endowments  and  rich  gifts.  At  that  fatal  period 
it  was  surrendered,  on  the  5th  of  December  1538, 
by  Richard  Boreman1,  alias  Stevenache,  the  last 
abbot ;  who  got,  in  reward  for  his  ready  com- 
pliance, the  annual  pension  of  £.  266  1 3*.  4d. ; 
and  the  thirty-nine  monks,  then  of  the  house, 
lesser  sums ;  some  even  as  small  as  five  pounds  a 
yearh.  The  house,  and  the  greatest  part  of  the 
lands,  were  granted  to  Richard  Lee,  captain  of  the 
band  of  pensioners,  as  scandal  reports,  in  reward 
for  his  prudence  in  winking  at  the  king's  affection 
for  his  handsome  wife \  The  town,  or,  as  Willis 
says,  the  abbot,  purchased  the  church  from  the 
king  for  £A00,  and  by  that  means  preserved  it 
from  destruction ;  which  gave  him  so  much  merit 
with  Queen  Mary,  that  when  she  determined  to 
restore  the  abbey,  she  appointed  him  to  preside 
over  itk.  It  is  said  that  he  died  of  a  broken 
heart,  within  a  few  days  after  he  received  the  news 
of  her  death. 


5  The  reverend  Peter  Newcome,  in  his  elaborate  History  of 
the  Abbey,  p.  439,  says,  That  Boreman  was  put  in  the  place 
of  abbot  Catton,  who  died  in  1538,  with  no  other  view  than  to 
make  a  surrender  in  form;  an  artifice  practised  whenever 
there  was  a  vacancy.     Ed. 

h  Willis,  i.  27.      £  Stevens,  i.  265.       k  Willis,  i.  27. 


ST.  ALBAN'S  CHURCH.  353 

The  revenues  at  the  dissolution  were,  valued  by  Revenues. 
Dugdale  at  £. %  102.  7s.  \d.  per  annum;  by  Speed 
at  £.%5 1 0. 6s.  Id. '     Notwithstanding  the  purchase 
made  by  Boreman,  Edward  VI.  granted  the  mo-  Granted  to 

i  •  .«  iJf        ,  i  •    i     i  THE   TOWN. 

nastery  to  the  corporation  of  bt.  Albans,  which  he 
had  lately  instituted,  and  ordered  that  the  church 
should  be  reputed  the  parish  church  of  the  place, 
and  be  served  by  a  rector,  to  be  nominated  by  the 
mayor  and  burgesses  of  the  town. 

The  abbots  lived  in  splendor,  suitable  to  their 
rank  and  revenues.  They  dined  in  the  great  hall, 
at  a  table  to  which  there  was  a  flight  of  fifteen 
steps.  The  monks  served  up  the  dinner  on  plate, 
and  in  their  way  made  a  halt  at  every  fifth  step, 
where  there  was  a  landing,  and  sung  on  each  a  short 
hymn.  The  abbot  usually  sat  alone  in  the  middle 
of  the  table ;  and  when  any  persons  of  rank  came, 
he  sat  towards  the  end  of  the  table.  After  the 
monks  had  waited  some  time  on  the  abbot,  they 
sat  down  at  two  other  tables,  placed  on  the  sides 
of  the  hall,  and  had  their  services  brought  in  by 
the  novices;  who,  when  the  monks  had  dined, 
sat  down  to  their  own  dinners m. 

The  church,    in  its  present  state,    is  a  most    Church. 
venerable  and  great  pile :  its  form  that  of  a  cross, 
with  a  tower.     At  the  intersection  the  length  is 

1  Tanner,  180.  *  Antiquarian  Repertory,  Hi.  60. 

2  A 


354  ST.  ALBAN'S  CHURCH. 

six  hundred  feet;  that  of  the  transepts  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty.     The  height  of  the  tower  one 
hundred  and  forty-four  feet;    that  of   the  body 
sixty-five;  of  the  aiies  thirty;  the  breadth  of  the 
body  two  hundred  and  seventeen. 
Ruined j        By  neglect,  or  by  the  ravages  of  war,  the  ori- 
ginal church  fell  to  decay.     Abbot  Ealdred,  who 
lived  in  969,  designed  to  pull  down  and  rebuild  it; 
and  for  that  purpose  collected,  from  the  ruins  of 
Verulamium,    all    the   stone,    tiles,    and   timber, 
he  could  find.     Death  put  a  stop  to  his  intention. 
His  successor,  Eadmer,  resumed  the  task  of  get- 
ting together  the  materials ;  and  in  his  search, 
found  great  quantities  of  curious  antiquities ;  such 
as  altars,  urns,  fyc.  which  the  pious  man  broke  to 
pieces,  as  heathen  abominations.     He  also,  as  is 
said,  discovered  several  books,  some  in  British, 
others  in  Latin  ;  and  a  great  one  in  a  language 
and  character  unknown  to  any  but  an  old  priest. 
This  was  found  to  be  the  authentic  life  of  St.  Al- 
lan ;  which  was  carefully  treasured  up,   being  a 
confirmation  of  what  Btde  had  written  on   the 
same  subject.     The  other  books,  being  only  ac- 
counts of  heathen  mythology,  inventions  of  the  de- 
vil, were  instantly  condemned  to  the  flames n. 
A   famine  stopped  the   design  of  the  new 

n  Stevens,  i.  237. 


ST.  ALBAN'S  CHURCH.  355 

church,  under  the  abbot  Leofric.  The  troubles 
that  ensued,  under  the  remaining  Sa.von  monarchs, 
and  the  unsettled  state  of  the  kingdom  at  the  Con- 
quest, occasioned  the  plan  to  lie  dormant  till  the 
year  1077?  when  it  was  executed  by  abbot  Paul,  and  rebuilt. 
a  Norman  monk.  He  applied  to  that  purpose 
the  timber,  the  stones,  and  tiles,  collected  by  his 
predecessors0 :  accordingly  we  see  the  far  greater 
and  more  antient  part  of  the  walls  a  motley  com- 
position of  stones  and  Roman  tiles. 

Many  other  parts  afterwards  were  pulled  down,     Altera. 

r  r  '  TIONS. 

and  rebuilt  in  the  stile  of  the  times ;  and  I  suspect 
that,  in  general,  the  present  windows  are  long  pos- 
terior to  those  coeval  with  the  walls ;  being  point- 
ed, and  in  the  taste  of  another  age.  The  windows 
in  the  great  tower,  and  perhaps  the  range  along 
the  nave,  are  of  an  intervening  period ;  for  they 
differ  from  the  mode  of  each  of  the  others.  I  find 
this  confirmed  in  the  lives  of  the  abbots.  John 
(first  of  the  name)  who  died  in  1214,  pulled  down 
the  front- wall,  which  was  built  of  old  tiles,  so 
strongly  cemented  with  mortar,  that  it  proved  a 
work  of  great  labor.     Master  Hugh  Goldcliff]  a 

0  Ex  lapidibus  et  tegulis  veteris  civitatis  Verolamii  et  mate- 
rie  lignea  quam  invenit  a  praedecessoribus  suis  collectam  et 
reservatam.    Mat.  Paris.  1001. 

2  A  2 


356  ST.  ALBAN'S  CHURCH. 

most  excellent  workman,  was  employed ;  who, 
consulting  more  the  ornaments  of  sculpture,  of 
images  and  flowers,  neglected  the  security  of  his 
building ;  so  that  it  fell  down,  and  was  left  unfi- 
nished during  the  life  of  this  good  abbot p.  His 
successor,  William  of  Trompington,  had  the  honor 
of  completing  his  design.  He  not  only  rebuilt 
that  front,  but  made  new  windows,  and  put  glass 
into  them,  so  as  to  give  more  light  to  the  church. 
He  also  raised  the  steeple  much  higher,  covered  it 
with  lead,  and  died  full  of  good  works,  in  1235 q. 
In  the  abbacy  of  John  of  JVhethamstead,  this 
church  received  the  most  considerable  alterations. 
To  avoid  prolixity,  I  omit  the  numerous  works  of 
that  most  munificent  abbot:  I  shall  only  note  the 
change  he  made  in  the  exterior  part,  by  enlarging 
and  glazing  the  windows  on  the  north  side  of  the 
church,  which  was  before  dark,  and  by  causing  a 
large  window  to  be  made  at  the  west  end  of  the 
north  aile,  which  was  as  destitute  of  light  as  the  other 
partr.  John  died  in  1464;  before  which  time  the 
narrow  windows  had  been  changed  for  those  more 
expanded,  lightsome,  and  less  pointed. 

Part  qtit  t  ■* 

Saxon.         ^t  is  m  tne  inside  only  that  any  part  of  the  original 

p  Mat.  Paris,  1047.  «  The  same,  1054,  1063. 

r  Stevens,  i.  262. 


ST.  ALBAN'S  CHURCH.  357 

building,  or  the  genuine  Saxon  architecture,  is  pre- 
served ;  which  is  to  be  seen  in  the  round  arches  which 
support  the  tower,  and  some  of  the  enormous  pillars 
with  round  arches  in  the  body  of  the  church,  and  in 
the  stile  of  each  transept.  After  the  Conquest  the 
round  arch  was  continued,  but  the  pillars  were  also 
round  and  massy :  these  are  square,  and  not  less 
than  twenty-nine  feet  thick,  with  capitals  totally 
unadorned.  Their  composition,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  stair-cases,  is  of  brick  :  the  other  pillars  are 
light,  and  the  arches  pointed ;  evidently  of  a  far 
later  date  than  the  others.  Above,  are  two  gal- 
leries; the  lowest  is  very  elegant,  divided  with 
light  slender  pillars,  much  enriched ;  but  I  find  no 
authority  to  ascertain  the  time. 

Above  the  antient  arches  are  galleries,  with 
openings  round ;  of  a  stile  probably  coeval  with  the 
former. 

The  upper  part  of  the  choir  is  entirely  of  go-  Choir. 
thic  architecture,  and  is  divided  from  the  body  by 
a  stone  skreen,  ornamented  with  gothic  tabernacle 
work.  Before  this  stood  the  chapel  of  Saint  Cuth- 
bert :  a  work  owing  to  the  piety  of  abbot  Richard, 
who  happening  to  be  present  at  the  translation  of 
the  incorruptible  body  of  that  Saint  to  the  church 
of  Durham,  apprehending,  from  its  pliantness  then, 
jt  was  going  to  fall  to  pieces,  caught  it  in  his  arms  • 


55S  ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBANS. 

and  in  reward,  one  of  them,  which  was  withered, 
was  instantly  restored  \ 
High  Altar.  The  high  altar  fills  the  end  of  the  choir:  a 
most  rich  and  elegant  piece  of  got hie  sculpture, 
once  adorned  with  images  of  gold  and  silver,  placed 
in  beautiful  niches :  the  middle  part  is  not  of  a 
piece  with  the  rest,  being  modern  and  clumsy. 
This  altar  was  made  by  abbot  IVallingford,  either 
in  the  reign  of  Edward TV.  or  Richard  III.  at  the 
expence  of  eleven  hundred  marks. 
Chapel  of       The  hind  part  of  it,  which  stands  in  the  chapel 

t.  Alban.  q£  gt  Alban,  is  of  got  hie  work;  inferior  indeed  to 
the  other  side,  but  still  of  much  elegance.  The 
tops  of  both  are  nearly  similar ;  consisting  of  a 
light  open-work  battlement:  at  the  bottom  is  a 
large  arched  recess,  in  which  stood  the  superb 

Shrine,  shrine  which  contained  the  reliques  of  St.  Albany 
made  of  beaten  gold  and  silver,  and  enriched  with 
gems  and  sculpture.  The  gems  were  taken  from 
the  treasury,  one  excepted,  which,  being  of  singu- 
lar use  to  parturient  women,  was  left  out.  This 
was  no  other  than  the  famous  JEtites,  or  Eagle- 
stone,  in  most  superstitious  repute  from  the  days  of 
Pliny'  to  that  of  abbot  Geffry,  re-founder  of  the 
shrine ;  which  had  been  taken  down  and  concealed, 
during  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  to  pre 

s  M.  Paris,  1006.  *  Lib.  xxxvi.  c.  21. 


ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN'S.  359 

serve  it  from  the  ravages  of  the  Danes*.  To 
guard  the  invaluable  treasures,  a  careful  and  trusty 
monk  was  appointed,  who  was  called  Gustos  Fere- 
tri,  and  who  kept  watch  and  ward  in  a  small 
wooden  gallery,  still  standing,  near  the  site  of 
the  martyr's  shrine*. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  high  altar  stands  the  Ramridge 
magnificent  chapel  of  abbot  Ramridge,  who  was 
elected  in  the  year  1496.  The  fronts  are  of  most 
elegant  gothic  open-work ;  the  upper  part  supplied 
with  niches  for  statues  :  in  many  parts  are  carved, 
allusive  to  the  abbot's  name,  two  rams,  with  the 
word  Ridge  inscribed  on  their  collars,  supporting 
a  coronet  over  the  arms  of  the  abbey.  At  the 
foot  of  this  beautiful  structure  is  a  large  flag,  with 
the  figure  of  an  abbot,  with  figures  of  rams :  pro- 
bably the  spot  of  the  good  man's  interment. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  chapel  of  St.  Alban  is 
the  magnificent  tomb y  of  Humphry  Duke  of  Glo-    Tomb  of 

o  r     j  Humphry 

cester,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  The  Good.    Duke  op 

.         Glocester. 
He  was  uncle  to  Henry  VI.  and  regent  of  the  king- 
dom, under  his  weak  nephew,  during  twenty-five 
years.     His  many  eminent  qualities  gained  him  the 

u  Mat.  Paris,  996. 

x  Such  a  guardian  was  appointed  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Am- 
phibalus,  at  Redbourn.     M.  Paris,  1054. 
y  Finely  engraven  in  Sandford's  Genealogical  History,  p.  318. 


360  ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBANS. 

love  of  the  people ;  his  popularity,  the  hatred  of 
the  queen  and  her  favorites.     His  life  was  found 
to  be  incompatible  with  their  views.     They  first  ef- 
fected the  ruin  of  his  dutchess  by  a  ridiculous 
charge  of  witchcraft,  and  after  that,  brought  as 
groundless  a  charge  of  treason  against  the  duke. 
He  was  conveyed  to  St.  Edmonds  Bury,  where  a 
parlement  was  convened  in  1446,  before  which  the 
accusation  was  to  be  made.     His  enemies,  fearing 
the  public  execution  of  so  great  and  so  beloved  a 
character,  caused  him  to  be  stifled  in  his  bed,  and 
then  pretended  that  he  died  of  vexation  at  his  sud- 
den fall.     His  body  was  interred  in  this  church, 
the  scene  of  his  detection  of  the  pretended  mira- 
cle of  the  blind  restored  to  sight  at  the  virtuous 
shrine  of  St.  Alban.     Shakespeare  gives  us  the  re- 
lation admirably z.     Glocesler  had  a  predilection 
for  this  place:  he  had  bestowed  on  ;it  rich  vest- 
ments, to  the  value  of  three  thousand  marks,  and 
the  manor  of  Pembroke,  that  the  monks  should 
pray  for  his  soul :  and  he  also  directed  that  his 
body  should  be  deposited  within  these  holy  walls. 
The  fees  attendant  on  his  funeral,  were  not  of  the 
most  moderate  kind  ;  unless  we  may  suppose,  as 
probably  was  the  case,  that  the  house  was  at  the 
charge  of  erecting  the  monument  to  so  great  a  be- 

*  Henry  VI.  part  ii.  sc.  2.  taken  from  Grafton  p.  597,  598. 


BURIAL  CHARGES.  361 

nefactor.  Sir  Henry  Chauncy  expressly  says», 
that  abbot  IVhethamsted  adorned  Duke  Hum- 
phry's tomb;  which  shews,  that  part  at  lest  of 
the  expences  were  borne  by  the  convent.  The  ac- 
count is  curious. 

"  CHARGES  of  the  burial  of  Humphry  Duke    Funeral 
11  of  Gloucester,  and  observances  appointed  by 
"  him,  to  be  perpetually  born  by  the  convent  of 
"  the  monasterie  of  St.  Alban  b. 

"  First,  The  abbat  and 
"  convent  of  the  said  mo- 
"  nastarie  have  payd  for 
"  markynge  the  tumbe  & 
"  place  of  sepulture  of  the 
"  said  duke,  within  the  seid 
"  monasterie,     above     the  £.  s.     d. 

"  sume  of  ccccxxxiii.  2.  viii. 

"  Item.  To  two  monks 
"  prests,daylyseiyingmesse 
"  at  the  auter  of  sepulture 
"  of  the  seid  prince,  everich 
"  takyng  by  1  day  vid  sma. 
"  thereofF,  by  1  hole  yere  xviii.         v*. 

a448. 

b  Cotton  Library  Claudii,  A.  8.  fol.  195.     A  copy  of  this 
is  hung  up  in  the  church. 


362  BURIAL  CHARGES  OF 

"  Item.    To    the   abbat       £.  s.         d, 

"ther  yerely,  the  day  of 
"the  anniversary  of  the 
"  seid  prince,  attending  his 
"  exquys  ther         -  xls. 

"  Item.  To  the  priour 
"  yerly  ther,  the  same  day, 
"  in  likwyse  atteinding  xxj. 

"  Item.  To  xl  monks 
"  prests,  yerly,  to  everich 
"  of  them,  in  the  same  day, 
"  vw.  wild.  sm.  therofF        xir.  vi.     viii. 

"  Item.  To  viii  monks 
"  not  prests,  yerly,  in  the 
"  seid  day,  to  everich  of 
"  them  3*.  Aid.  sm.  thereof?  xxvls.  vind 

"  Item.  To  ii  ankeresses, 
"  i  at  St.  Peter  church,ano- 
"  ther  at  St.  Mich,  the  seid 
"  day,  yerly,  to  everich  sm.  nw.        4rf. 

"  Item.  In  money,  to  be 
"  distribut  to  pore  peple 
"  ther,  the  seid  day,  yerly  xls. 

11  Item.  To  xiii  pore 
"  men  beryng  torches,  the 
"seid  day,  about  the  seid 
"  sepulture  m.        nrf. 

"  Item.     For  wex  bren- 


THE  DUKE  OF  GLOCESTER.  S62 

"  nyng  dayly  at  the  messes,         £.  s.         d. 

"  and   his    anniversary    of 

*  torch,  yerly        -         -  vi.         xn.     in. 

"  Item.  The  kechin  of 
"  the  convent  ther  yerly,  in 
"  relief  of  the  great  decay  of 
"  the  hustode  of  the  seid 
"  monasteri  in  the  marches 
"  of  Scotland,  which  before 
"  tyme  shall  be  appointed 
"  to  the  kichyn  -  x. 

This  beautiful  tomb  was  once  insulated,  as  ap- 
pears by  one  of  these  items.  In  the  middle  is  a 
pervious  arch,  adorned  above  with  the  coat  of  arms 
of  the  deceased ;  and  others  again  along  a  freeze ; 
with  his  supporters,  two  antelopes  with  collars. 
From  the  freeze  arises  a  light  elegant  tabernacle- 
work,  with  niches  ;  containing  on  one  side  the  ef- 
figies of  our  princes ;  the  other  side  is  despoiled 
of  the  figures. 

In  1703,  the  vault  in  which  reposed  the  re- 
mains of  this  illustrious  personage  was  discovered. 
The  body  was  preserved  in  a  leaden  coffin,  in  a 
strong  pickle :  and  over  that  was  another  case  of 
wood,  now  perished.  Against  the  wall  is  painted 
a  Crucifixion,   with  four  chalices  receiving  the 


564  ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN'S. 

blood ;  a  hand  pointing  towards  it,  with  a  label, 
inscribed  Lord  have  mercy  upon  me. 

The  epitaph  has  long  since  been  defaced ;  but 
was  as  follows : 

Hie  jacet  Umphredus  dux  ille  Glocestrius,  olim 
Henrici  regis  protector,  fraudis  ineptae 
Detector  ;  dum  ficta  notat  miracula  caecic 
Lumen  erat  patriae,  columen  venerabile  regni : 
Pacis  amans  musisque  favens  melioribus  ;  unde 
Gratum  opus  Oxonio  A  quae  nunc  scola  sacra  refulget. 
Invida  sed  mulier  regno,  regi,  sibi,  nequara 
Abstulit  hunc,  humili  vix  hoc  dignata  sepulchre. 
Invidia  rumpente  tamen  post  funera  vivit. 

Abbot  IVhethamsted's  tomb  (or  Johannes  de 
Whetham-  loco  Jrumentario,  as  he  stiled  himself)  is  covered 
Chapel  ty  a  sma^  chapel,  erected  by  himself.  It  is  a 
plain  building,  on  the  south  side  of  the  choir. 
His  arms,  allusive  to  his  name,  are  three  ears  of 
wheat ;  and  the  motto,  allusive  to  the  nourishing 
state  of  the  monastery  under  his  government,  is 
Valles  abundabunt,  twice  repeated.  Weever,  from 
p.  562  to  5Q7,  enumerates  all  his  munificent 
works.  He  had  a  great  turn  towards  ornamental 
generosity  ;  and  caused  this  church,  the  Lady's 

•  Alluding  to  the  detection  of  the  impostor. 

'  He  founded  the  beautiful  divinity-school  at  Oxford, 


ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN'S.  365 

chapel,  and  several  parts  of  the  house,  to  be 
adorned  with  historical  paintings,  and  inscriptions 
of  his  own  composition  to  be  placed  under  them. 
He  also  was  a  great  composer  of  epitaphs.  The 
reader  will  accept,  as  a  specimen  of  the  first,  a 
distich  placed  in  our  Lady's  chapel : 

Dulce  pluit  manna,  partum  dum  protulit  Anna, 
Dulcius  ancilla  dum  Christus  crevit  in  ilia  e. 

Of  the  other,  a  curious  one  upon  one  Peter,  wh© 
was  interred  in  the  lower  choir: 

Petrum  petra  tegit ;  qui  post  obituna  sibi  legit 
Hie  in  fine  chori,  se  sub  tellure  reponi. 
Petra  fuit  Petrus,  petrae  quia  condicionis 
Substans  et  solidus,  quasi  postis  religionis 
Hie  sibi  sub  petra,  sit  pax  et  pausa  quieta  f. 

His  artist  was  Alan  Strayler.  painter,  who  is  Strayler, 

,      ■         ,  thePainter. 

said  to  have  been  so  well  paid  for  his  work,  that 

he  forgave  the  convents  three  shillings  and  four 
pence  of  an  old  debt,  for  colors ;  and  on  that  ac- 
count was  probably  complimented  with  the  follow- 
ing epitaph : 

Nomen  pictoris  Alanus  Strayler  habetur 
Qui  sine  fine  choris  eelestibus  associetur  ?. 

•  Werner,  562.  f  Idem,  577.  e  Idem,  578. 


S66  ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN'S. 

I  believe,  some  of  his  labors  are  yet  extant 
in  the  roof  of  the  choir ;  on  which  is  painted,  in 
compartments,  an  Eagle  and  a  Lamb.  Under 
others,  in  our  Lady's  chapel,  was  this  line : 

Inter  oves  Aries,  ut  sine  cornubus  Agnus. 

Under  the  other, 

Inter  aves  aquila  veluti  sine  felle  columba. 

In  the  middle  of  the  cieling  of  the  north  aile,  is 
a  painting  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Alban,  (as  is 
said)  over  the  very  spot  on  which  he  suffered. 
There  is,  besides,  a  rude  sculpture  of  his  death  in 
a  small  aile  on  the  back  of  his  chapel,  expressing 
the  manner  how  the  executioner  lost  his  eyes  for 
his  impiety. 

In  the  centre  of  another  cieling,  is  a  rude  paint- 
ing of  king  Offa  ;  and  this  inscription  beneath : 

Fundator  ecclesiae  circa  annum  793. 

Quem  mal£  depictum,  et  residentem  cernitis  alt& 

Sublimem  solio  Mercius  Offa  fuit. 

Mondments      ^N  tne  cn°ir  are  some  fine  brasses  of  mitred  ab- 
Abbot     bots.     That  of  Thomas  de  la  More,  a  most  muni- 
ficent and  pious  man,  who  died  in  1 396,  is  very 
richly  engraved.     His  figure  lies  in  the  center,  sur- 


ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN'S.  36/ 

rounded  by  the  twelve  Apostles  in  miniature :  a 
proof  that  this  art  was  arrived  at  great  perfection 
at  so  early  a  period. 

I  must  not  omit  the  modest  epitaph  of  an  an- 
tient  abbot. 

Hie  quidem  terra  tegitur, 
Peccato  solvens  debitum: 
Cujus  nomen  non  impositum, 
In  libro  vitse  sit  inscriptum. 

On  a  large  brass  plate  is  engraven  the  figure  of  Heir  of  Ed- 

t-,  r     .  mundEarl 

a  warrior,  fragments  ot  the  inscription  are  of  Kent. 
given  by  Mr.  Salmon;  which  inform  us,  that  it 
was  in  memory  of  the  son  and  heir  to  Edmonde 
erle  of  Kent.  The  date  1480.  The  historian 
says,  that  he  was  killed  in  the  second  battle  of  St. 
Albaris.  This  must  be  a  mistake  ;  for  none  of  the 
name  of  that  family  fell  on  that  day,  except  Sir 
John  Grey  of  Groby.  This  must  therefore  have 
been  a  cenotaph  in  honor  of  Anthony  Grey,  eldest 
son  of  Edmund  Earl  of  Kent,  buried  at  Luton, 
who  died  before  his  father h  :  the  earl  dying  in 
1489  :  which  might  bring  the  son's  death  to  the 
date  on  the  brass. 

Against  a  wall,  near  JVhethamsted's  chapel, 

h  Vincent's  Discoverie,  &c.  287. 


S68  ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN'S. 

is  painted,  kneeling,  in  a  cloak,  Ralph  Maynard, 
of  this  town,  of  the  family  of  the  ancestor  of  Lord 
Maynard. 

A  long  inscription1  against  a  column,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  body  of  the  church,  clames  the 
Sir  John  honor  of  having  the  body  of  the  celebrated  Sir 
ville.  John  Mandeville  interred  beneath.  We  admit 
that  this  place  gave  him  birth ;  but  he  found  a 
grave  at  Liege,  in  the  convent  of  the  Gulielmites, 
in  1371.  He  was  the  greatest  traveller  of  his  own 
or  any  other  age ;  having  been  out  thirty-four 
years;  and  in  the  character  of  pilgrim,  knight- 
errant,  and  man  of  observation,  visited  the  great- 
est parts  of  Africa  and  Asia  then  known.  It  is 
probable  that  he  penetrated  as  far  as  China.  He 
left  an  account  of  his  travels,  which  was  shame- 
fully falsified  by  the  monks  ;  who  destroyed  much 
of  its  credit,  by  mingling  with  it  legendary  tales, 
and  stories  out  of  Pliny :  but  still  truth  appears 
so  frequently,  that  the  authenticity  of  the  ground- 
work is  by  no  means  impaired.  He  was  called 
Johannes  de  Mandevile,  aliter  dictus  ad  Barbara, 
from  his  forked  beard.  He  is  engraven  on  his 
tomb  with  that  addition,  armed,  and  treading  on 
a  lion.     At  his  head,  the  hand  of  one  blessing 

1  This,  and  many  others,  are  nearly  defaced  with  white ; 
but  may  be  seen  in  Werner,  567. 


ABBEY  OF  ST.  ALBAN'S.  369 

him  ;  and  these  words  in  the  French  of  the  time, 
Vos  ki  paseis  sor  mi  pour  V amour  Deix  proies  por 
mi.  His  knives,  horse-furniture,  and  spurs,  were, 
in  the  time  of  Ortelius k,  preserved  at  Liege  by 
the  monks,  and  shewn  to  strangers. 

An  inscription  under  the  great  west  window  de- 
notes, that  the  courts  of  justice  were  adjourned 
from  London  to  this  town :  once,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  and  again  in  that  of  his  daughter 
Elizabeth,  on  account  of  the  pestilence  which  at 
those  times  raged  in  the  capital. 

The  magnificent  brazen  font,  brought  from  the  Font. 
plunder  of  Leith  by  Sir  Richard  Lee,  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII.  was  again  stolen  in  the  civil  wars. 
The  knight  commemorates  his  benefaction  in  these 
bombastic  terms  :  "  Cum  Lcethia  oppidum  apud 
"  Scot os  non  incelebre  et  Edinburgus  primoria 
"  apud  eos  ci vitas  incendio  conflagrarent,  Ri- 
fl  cardus  Leius  eques  auratus  me  flammis  ereptum 
<c  ad  Anglos  perduxit.  Hujus  ego  tanti  beneficii 
"  memor  non  nisi  regum  liberos  lavare  solitus, 
"  nunc  meam  operam  etiam  infimis  Anglorum  li- 
"  benter  condixi.  Leius  victor  sic  voluit. 
"  Vale.  A.  D.   1543." 

k  Life  of  Sir  J.  M.  prefixed  to  his  Travels.  The  tomb  was 
in  being  in  the  time  of  Weever,  who,  saw  both  that  and  the  in- 
scription. 

2  B 


370  ST.  MARY'S  CHAPEL. 

The  last  inscription  I  shall  mention,  is  that  in 
memory  of  two  hermits,  now  almost  defaced,  in- 
scribed near  a  benetoire,  by  the  door  in  the  south 
aile  leading  into  the  cloisters. 


Vir  domini  verus  jacet  hie  hermita  Rogems 
Et  sub  eo  clarus  meritis  hermita  Sigarus. 


The  door  adjacent  is  extremely  beautiful,  and 
rich  in  sculpture.  The  cloisters  lay  on  the  other 
side.  Nothing  but  the  marks  of  their  junction 
with  the  outside  of  the  church  now  remains ;  a  se- 
ries of  tripartite  arches  :  nor  is  there  the  lest  re- 
lique  of  the  vast  and  magnificent  buildings,  which 
once  covered  a  large  space  on  this  side. 
Chapel  of  Adjoining  to  the  east  end  of  the  church  is  the 
chapel  of  St.  Mary,  supported  by  light  and  ele- 
gant pillars.  The  roof  is  of  stone,  the  sides  of 
the  windows  ornamented  with  a  fine  running;  foli- 
age,  and  little  images  adorn  the  pillars  of  each 
window.  The  stair-case  from  hence  to  the  leads 
has  a  beautiful  imitation  of  cordage  cut  in  stone, 
following  the  spiral  windings.  All  the  arches  are 
of  the  sharp-pointed  gothic. 

I  cannot  trace  the  founder  of   this  elegant 
building.     It  was  prior  to  the  days  of  John  of 


SaijttMary. 


ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH.  SJi 

JVhethamsted  ;  for  he  caused1  "  our  Lady's  chapel 
"  to  be  new  trimmed,  and  curiously  depicted  with 
"  stories  out  of  the  Sacred  Word ;  and  caused 
"  some  verses  (before  quoted  by  me)  to  be  curi- 
"  ously  depensed  in  gold." 

Edmund  Beaufort  Duke  of  Somerset,  Henry 
Percy  Earl  oiNorthumberland,  John  Lord  Clifford, 
and  others  of  the  nobility  and  gentry,  to  the 
amount  of  forty-seven,  slain  in  the  first  battle  of 
St.  Alban's,  were  interred  in  this  chapel. 

Saint  Peter's,  the  third  church  in  St.  Alban's,  St.  Peter's. 
lies  at  the  upper  end  of  the  town  :  it  was  founded 
by  abbot  Uljm,  and  was  an  impropriation  of  the  ab- 
bey, now  a  vicarage  in  the  patronage  of  the  bishop 
of  Ely.  This  church  received  the  overflowings  of 
the  bodies  of  the  men  of  rank  slain  in  the  same 
battle.  There  is  still  a  perfect  brass  of  Sir  Bertin 
Entxvysle,  in  complete  armor.  He  was  born  in 
Lancashire,  and  was  viscount  and  baron  of  Brik- 
beke'm  Normandy.  He  died  on  May  28th,  1455, 
of  the  wounds  he  received  while  fighting  in  the 
cause  of  Henry. 

The  two  Ralph  Babthorps  of  Yorkshire,  father 
and  son  (the  one  sewer,  the  other  'squire  to  that 
unfortunate  prince)  found  then  graves  here ;  slain 
in  the  same  cause. 

1  We&ver,  562. 
2  U  2 


37«T  HOLYWELL  HOUSE. 

On  a  stone  is  this  inscription :  Edit  he  le  Vi- 
neter  gist :  ici:  Dieu:  de:  sa:  alme:  eie:  merci. 

A  large  marble  monument,  with  a  bust,  com- 
memorates the  reward  of  ingenuity  and  honest 
industry.  "  Beneath,  lie  the  remains  of  Edward 
"  Strong,  a  shepherd's  boy  near  this  town,  who 
"  took  to  masonry,  worked  at  St.  Paul's  cathe- 
"  dral,  and  laid  the  last  stone.  He  acquired  a 
"  good  fortune,  with  a  fair  character,  and  died 
"  aged  72,  in  1723." 

At  the  bottom  of  the  town  is  a  small  brick 

Holywell  house™,  called  Holywell ;   once  the  residence  of 
House 

Sarah  Dutchess  of  Marlborough.     Her  portrait, 

in  white,  exquisitely  handsome,  is  preserved  here ; 

as  is  that  of  her  aged  mother,  Mrs.  Jennings.     In 

the  first,  are  not  the  lest  vestiges  of  her  diabolical 

passions,  the  torments  of  her  queen,  her  husband, 

and  herself. 

Two  little  pictures  in  this  house  are  so  charm- 
ingly finished,  as  to  merit  a  visit.  One  is  of  a 
beautiful  woman,  with  red  hair  parted  in  the  mid- 
dle ;  a  close  cap,  placed  far  behind ;  with  a  long 
black  coif,  edged  with  pearl. 

She  is  dressed  in  a  scarlet  gown,  Avith  sleeves 
and  mantle  of  purple :  breasts  and  shoulders  naked. 
She  appears  a  deep  devotee,  reading  a  rich  illumi- 
nated missal,  seated  in  a  chair.     Her  middle  is 

m  Lord  Treasurer  Godolphin  died  in  that  house. 


TOWN  OF  ST.  ALBAN'S.  375 

surrounded  with  a  chain,  a  rosary  of  gold  and 
colored  beads  pendent  from  it.  On  a  table,  be- 
hind, is  a  chalice  of  gold,  set  with  pearls. 

The  other  is  a  head  of  an  old  man,  in  a  black 
gown  ;  his  beard  grey  and  square,  finely  finished. 

The  town  of  St.  Albans  is  large,  and,  in  gene-     Toww. 
ral,    filled  with  antient  buildings.     It  originally 
sprung  from  a  few  houses  built  by.  king  Offa,  for 
the  conveniency  of  the  officers  and  servants  of  the 
monastery.      About  the  year  950,  it  was  so  in- 
creased, that  king  Ethelred,  at  the  intercession  of 
abbot  Ulfin,  gave  it  a  grant  of  a  market,  and  the 
rank  of  a  borough.     In  the  Doomsday  Book,  it 
appears  at  the  Conquest  to  have  been  rated  for 
ten  hides.    The  "  arable  was  sixteen  ploughlands. 
'  In  demesne,  three  hides,  two  ploughlands,  and 
'  another  may  be  made.     There  were  four  aliens, 
'  sixteen  villeyns,  and  thirteen  boors,  having  thir- 
'  teen  ploughlands  :  forty-six  burgesses  :  the  toll, 
'  and  other  rents  of  the  town,  eleven  pounds  four- 
'  teen  shillings  a  year  :  three  mills,  forty  shillings 
'  a  year  :  meadow,  two  ploughlands  in  quantity : 
'  wood  to  feed  a  thousand  hogs  in  pannage-time  : 
'  and  seven    shillings  rent.      The  total  twenty 
'  pounds   at  that  time ;  in  that  of  Edward  the 
'  Confessor,  twenty-four.     There  are  now  twelve 
cottagers,  a  park  of  deer,  and  a  fish-pond." 


374  TOWN  OF  ST.  ALBANS. 

The  town  was  always  considered  as  a  part  of  the 
demesne  of  the  abbey  ;  and  at  the  Conquest  it  was 
part  of  its  possessions.  Richard  I.  by  charter, 
confirmed  it  to  the  abbey,  with  a  market,  and  all 
the  privileges  attending  a  borough  :  the  abbot  hold- 
ing, as  he  alleged,  of  the  king  in  capite,  and  hold- 
ing the  burgesses  as  demesned  men  of  the  abbey. 
This  tenure  the  burgesses  wished  to  force  from 
him  ;  which  they  attempted  by  the  following  stra- 
tagem— In  the  thirty-fifth  of  Edzvard  I.  they  had 
sent  representatives  to  parlement,  and  also  in  the 
first  and  second  of  Edward  II ;  but  in  the  fifth  of 
the  same  reign,  the  sheriff  of  Hertfordshire,  by  the 
contrivance  of  the  abbot,  to  save  the  expence,  had 
omitted  the  usual  summons.  This  the  burgesses 
complained  of,  asserting  that  they  held  of  the  king  ; 
hoping  thereby  to  get  released  of  the  services  they 
owed  their  lord  abbot :  or,  if  they  succeeded  in 
sending  members,  to  be  freed  of  those  which  they 
owed  the  king.  Both  of  which  expectations,  in 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  Mado.v,  were  ill-founded". 
Burgesses  were  returned  to  parlement  the  fifth  of 
Edzvard  II.  and  in  the  second,  fourth,  and  fifth  of 
Edzvard  III ;  after  which  the  load,  or  the  privilege, 
as  it  was  respectively  thought  by  the  disputants, 
ceased.     At  the  time  of  the  dissolution,  the  town, 

■  Antiquities  of  the  Exchequer,  i.  760. 


TROUBLES  AT  ST.  ALBAN'S.  375 

with  the  other  possessions  of  the  abbey,  fell  to  the 
king  (Henry  VIII.)  and  from  him  to  his  heir, 
Edward  VI ;  who,  by  letters  patent,  dated  May 
12th,  1553,  made  the  town  of  St.  Albans  a  body 
corporate,by  the  name  of  the  mayor  and  burgesses,  Incorpo- 
and  granted  to  the  said  mayor  and  burgesses,  and 
their  successors,  the  said  profits,  and  other  fran- 
chises ;  they  to  hold  the  premises  in  free  burgage, 
and  to  render  yearly  to  the  crown  X/.  as  a  fee- 
farm,  at  the  feast  of  St.  Michael0. 

These  were  changed,  by  Charles  II.  into  a 
mayor,  recorder,  twelve  aldermen,  and  twenty- 
four  assistants.  The  members  are  returned  by 
the  inhabitants  and  freemen  (about  a  thousand  in 
number)  and  the  returning-officer  is  the  mayor  p. 

The  remarkable  events,  which  befel  this  town 
in  earlier  times,  were,  as  usual,  of  the  sanguinary 
kind.  During  the  rage  of  the  barons  wars,  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  III.  the  burgesses  fortified  the 
place,  and  defended  it  with  strong  gates,  well  se- 
cured. They  were  particularly  jealous  of  horse- 
men ;  therefore  refused  passage  to  all  cavaliers. 
The  constable  of  Hertford,  displeased  at  this  pro- 
hibition, in  a  bravado,  boasted  that  he  would  enter 
the  town  with  three  youths  (knights)  and  four  of 
his  best  villeins.     He  did  so,    and,  walking  up 

Q  Madox,  i.  762.  p  Willis  Notit.  Pari.  iii.  26. 


376  TROUBLES  AT  ST.  ALBAN'S. 

and  down  with  great  insolence,  asked  his  com- 
panions which  way  the  wind  was.  The  towns- 
men, alarmed  at  the  question,  thought  he  designed 
to  fire  their  houses.  In  a  summary  way  they  ex- 
ecuted justice,  by  knocking  down  and  beheading 
him,  his  youths,  and  villeins  ;  placing  their  heads 
on  poles,  at  the  corners  of  their  streets.  The  king 
resented  this  invasion  of  his  prerogative,  and  fined 
the  town  in  a  hundred  marks ;  which  was  imme- 
diately paid9. 

In  the  reign  of  Richard!!,  it  underwent  a  mor- 
tification of  a  far  heavier  nature.  In  1381,  after 
the  bloody  insurrection  of  Wat  Tyler,  a  court  of 
justice  was  held  here,  by  the  famous  Sir  Robert 
Tresilian.  John  Ball,  a  priest  of  Coventry,  was 
tried  and  executed.  Several  of  the  inhabitants  had 
*  favored  the  rebels,  or,  taking  advantage  of  the 
turbulence  of  the  times,  had  demanded  from  the 
abbot  a  release  from  all  their  services.  Several 
of  them  were  condemned  and  put  to  death,  and 
orders  given,  that  their  bodies  should  remain  on 
the  gallows  in  terror  em.  The  burgesses,  in  con- 
tempt of  the  king,  took  them  down ;  but  when  a 
discovery  was  made,  Richard,  in  a  rage,  com- 
manded the  townsmen  to  make  chains,  and  hang 
the  putrid  carcases  on  the  same  places  they  took 

9  Chauncy,  442. 


FIRST  BATTLE  AT  ST.  ALBAN'S.  377 

them  from ;  which,  disgusting  and  horrible  as  the 
task  was,  they  were  obliged  to  perform1. 

In  the  civil  wars  between  the  houses  of  York  FlRS1"  BcJ" 

TLB  AT  bT. 

and  Lancaster,  this  town  was  the  scene  of  dread-    Alban's. 
ful  carnage.     Here  was  shed  the  first  blood  in 
that  fatal  quarrel.      As  soon  as  ever  the  weak 
Henry,  or  rather  his  queen  and  ministers,  found 
themselves  free  from  the  power  of  his  rival  the 
Duke  of  York,  they  armed  their  forces,  and  marched 
from  London  to  St.  Alban's  to  encounter  their 
enemy,  who  was  advancing  towards  them  with  a 
mighty  host.     They  met  on  the  22d  of  May,  1455. 
The  peaceful  prince  sent  out  a  herald  to  York, 
strictly  commanding  him  to  keep  the  peace  as  be- 
came a  dutiful  subject,   and  to  avoid  effusion  of 
blood.     York's  answer  was  humble,  yet  resolute  ; 
demanding  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  and  other  de- 
linquents, to  be  delivered  into  his  hands,  that  jus- 
tice might  be  executed  on  them,  for  the  miseries 
they  had  brought  on  the  realm.    Somerset,  who 
had  been  regent  of  France,  was  charged  in  parti- 
cular with  the  loss  of  Normandy.     The  king  de- 
termined to  stand  the  event  of  the  day,  rather  than 
give  up  his  friends.     His  banner  was  placed  in  St. 
Peters  street.      Orders  were  issued  by  Henry 
(but  most  probably  by  the,  bloody  Margaret)  that 
no  quarter  should  be  given  to  his  opponents.    The 

1  Hollinslted,  438. 


37S  FIRST  BATTLE  AT  ST.  ALBAN'S. 

Yorkists  began  the  attack  in  three  places.  The 
famous  John  Lord  Clifford  defended  the  barriers 
with  his  accustomed  valour.  The  king-making 
Warzvick,  who  at  this  time  espoused  the  cause  of 
York,  collected  his  force,  and  broke  in  through  the 
gardens  into  Holyxvell-streeV :  his  soldiers  shouted 
his  tremendous  name.  The  Duke  of  York  entered 
at  the  same  time,  and  a  dreadful  fight  ensued. 
Victory  declared  in  his  favor.  Numbers  of  the 
nobility  and  gentry,  with  about  eight  hundred 
common  men,  fell  on  the  side  of  Henry :  the  va- 
liant Clifford,  usually  called  The  Old,  though  only 
forty  years  of  age,  the  Earl  of  Northumberland, 
son  to  the  noted  Hotspur,  and  the  great  Duke  of 
Somerset,  were  slain.  The  last  lost  his  life  be- 
neath the  sign  of  the  Castle,  to  fulfil  the  prophecy 
thus  delivered  by  Shakespeare : 

Let  him  shun  castles. 
Safer  shall  he  be  on  the  sandy  plains. 
Than  where  castles  mounted  stand l. 

Numbers  of  the  nobility  were  wounded,  and  num- 
bers fled  till  the  fury  of  the  battle  was  over.  None 
were  executed  by  the  victor :  the  barbarity  of  civil 

8  Stow,  399. 

*  Henry  VI.  part  ii.  act  1.  Halk's  Qtronicle,  Ixxxvi. 


SECOND  BATTLE  AT  ST.  ALBAN'S.  379 

feuds  had  not  yet  taken  place,  provoked  by  the 
reciprocal  cruelties  which  speedily  followed. 

Henry,  wounded  in  the  neck  by  an  arrow,  which 
hurtled  in  showers  on  him,  retreated  to  a  poor  cot- 
tage, where  he  was  found  by  the  conquerors. 
They  asked  forgiveness  on  their  knees,  which  the 
humane  prince  readily  gave,  on  condition  they 
would  stop  the  carnage.  He  became  their  pri- 
soner, and  they  of  course  became  governors  of  the 
kingdom.  The  abbey  escaped  plunder ;  for  for- 
tunately the  king  did  not  make  it  his  head-quarters. 

The  king,  from  this  time  to  the  year  1461,  re- 
mained a  mere  shadow  of  royalty,  entirely  under 
the  direction  of  the  Yorkists.  His  queen  was 
driven  from  him,  under  the  terror  of  proscription. 
That  spirited  woman  did  not  employ  her  time  in 
prayers,  or  counting  her  beads,  like  her  weak  hus- 
band; but,  by  the  assistance  of  her  northern 
friends,  raised  a  potent  army,  fought  and  slew  the 
Duke  of  York  at  the  battle  of  Wakefield,  on  Z)e- 
cember  30th,  1460,  and,  marching  towards  Lon- 
don, gave  occasion  to  a  second  battle  at  St.  Albans. 

The  Earl  of  fVarzvic k,  now  in  possession  of  the 
king,  hastened  from  London  with  the  captive  mo-  Second  Bat- 

TT  P   AT  ^T 

narch,  and  took  post  in  St.  Albans.     Margaret,    alban's. 
attempting  to  pass  through  the  town,  was  repulsed 
by  a  storm  of  arrows,  directed  from  the  market- 


380  SECOND  BATTLE  AT  ST.  ALBAN'S. 

place ;  but  she  quickly  forced  her  way  through  a 
lane  into  St.  Peters-street.     The  conflict  became 
then  very  bloody ;  and,  after  great  slaughter,  both 
parties  quitted  the  town,  and  continued  the  battle, 
with  the  animosity  usual  in  civil  feuds,  on  Ber- 
nard Heath,  north  of  St.  Albans,  as  far  as  the 
village  of  Sauntbridge,  and  even  beyond  it,  to  a 
place  called  No  Mans  Landu.     There  a  corps  dt 
reserve  of  Warwick 's  army,  to  the  number  of  four 
or  five  thousand,  made  so  vigorous  an  onset  on  the 
Lancastrians,   as  to  render  the  victory  for  some 
time  doubtful.     At  length  the  treachery  or  cow- 
ardice of  a  captain  Lovelace,  who  commanded  the 
Kentishmen,  determined  the  day :  he  quitted  the 
field,   and  left  a  complete  victory  to  the  queen. 
The  confederated  lords  fled,  and  left  the  king  in 
company  of  Lord  Bonvil  and  Sir  Thomas  Kiriel, 
a  gallant  knight  of  Kent,  both  Yorkists.     These 
gentlemen  Henry  had  prevaled  on  to  stay  with 
him,  assuring  them  of  pardon  and  security ;   but 
his  barbarous  queen,  in  contempt  of  the  royal 
word,  and  in  defiance  of  all  good  faith,  caused 
them  to  be  beheaded  in  the  presence  of  her  son 
Edzvard*,  as  it  were  to  familiarize  the  young  prince 
with  blood,  and  train  him  to  cruelty. 

Three-and-twenty   hundred  men  perished 

■  Stow,  413.  *  Halle,  p.  c. 


SOPEWELL  NUNNERY.  581 

in  this  battle.  Only  one  man  of  rank  was  slain, 
Sir  John  Grey  of  Groby,  who  had  that  morning, 
with  twelve  others,  been  knighted  by  the  king  at 
Colney.  His  widow  became  queen  to  Edward  IV. 
and  occasioned  fresh  calamities  to  the  kingdom, 
and  proved  the  innocent  cause  of  the  destruction 
of  her  kindred. 

On  quitting  St.  Albaris,  I  passed  by  the  long 
wall  which  inclosed  the  nunnery  of  Sopewell,  made  Sopewell. 
of  stone  mixed  with  great  quantities  of  Roman 
tiles.  This  religious  house  took  its  rise  from  two 
pious  women,  who  on  the  site  built  a  hovel  with 
boughs  of  trees,  and  covered  it  with  bark,  in  order 
to  indulge  in  privacy  their  fondness  for  prayer  and 
fasting.  Abbot  Jeffry,  about  the  year  1140,  en- 
couraged their  virtue,  by  founding  a  nunnery  of 
Benedictines. 

In  this  house  Henry  VIII.  was  privately  mar- 
ried, by  Doctor  Rowland  Lee,  afterwards  bishop 
of  Lichfield,  to  Anna  Boleyne.  It  maintained  at 
that  time  thirteen  nuns :  on  the  dissolution,  only 
nine;  when  its  revenues,  according  to  Dugdale,  were 
£.45.  7s.  I0d.;  to  Speed,  £.68.  8s.  It  was 
first  granted  to  Sir  Richard  Lee;  but  finally  be- 
came the  property  of  Sir  Harbottle  Grimston,  and 
his  heirs  y. 

r 

y  Tanner,  183. 


S82  BATTLE  OF  BARNET. 

London        After  passing  through  the  village  of  London 

Colney.    Qolney,  seated  on  the   Colne,  at  about  a  mile's 

Ridgehill.  distance  I  ascended  Ridgekitl,  remarkable  for  a 

most  extensive  and  rich  view  northwards  of  the 

fine  country  about  St.  Alban's.     At  South  Mints, 

enter  the  county  of 


MIDDLESEX; 


Wrotham  and  soon  after  leave,  on  the  left,  IVrotham  Park  ; 
Park* 

a  beautiful  house,  built  by  admiral  Byng,  who  was 

put  to  death  in  1757  ! 

About  a  mile  farther,  reach  the  bloody  field  of 

Battle  of  Barnet,  marked  by  a  column,  that  shews  the  spot 

Barnet.  j  r 

where  the  decisive  battle  was  fought  between  the 
houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  which  fixed  the 
crown  on  the  head  of  Edzvard  IV. 

The  great  earl  of  Warwick,  resentful  of  the 
injuries  he  had  received  from  that  prince,  deposed 
him  from  the  throne  he  had  enabled  him  to  mount. 
So  popular  was  the  character  of  this  potent  baron, 
that  a  numerous  army  flew  to  his  standard  :  every 
one  was  proud  of  bearing  his  cognisance,  the  bear 
and  ragged  staff,  in  his  cap  :  some  of  gold,  ena- 
melled ;  others  of  silver  ;  and  those  who  could  not 
afford  the  precious  metals,  cut  them  out  of  white 


BATTLE  OF  BARNET.  S83 

silk,  or  cloth.  When  he  visited  London  in  peace- 
ful times,  he  came  attended  by  six  hundred  men, 
in  red  jackets,  embroidered  with  ragged  staves 
before  and  behind.  He  kept  house  at  his  palace 
in  Warwick- Lane.  Six  oxen  were  consumed  at 
every  breakfast ;  and  every  tavern  was  full  of  his 
meat ;  and  every  guest  was  allowed  to  carry  off 
as  much,  roast  or  boiled,  as  he  could  bear  upon  his 
long  dagger*. 

Edward,  on  his  return  to  England,  was  joy- 
fully received  in  London.  Hearing  that  Warwick 
was  on  his  march  towards  the  capital,  he  hastened 
to  meet  him,  and  posted  himself  at  Barnet.  So 
bad  was  the  intelligence  in  those  days,  that  Edward 
advanced  in  the  night  so  near  to  WarxvicKs  camp, 
that  the  earl,  unapprized  of  his  vicinity,  kept  firing 
his  ordnance  over  that  of  the  king  the  greatest  part 
of  the  night,  without  the  least  execution.  On 
the  morning,  being  that  of  Easter-day,  April  14th 
1471,  both  the  leaders  placed  their  armies  in  order. 
Warwick  wore  as  his  cognisance  an  ostrich's  fea- 
ther%  the  badge  of  Edxvard,  the  son  of  king  Henry : 
his  friend  Vere  Earl  of  Oxford,  a  star ;  the  fatal 
cause  of  the  loss  of  the  day.  Edward  wore  a  sun ; 
from  a  fancy,  that  before  the  battle  of  Mortimers 

z  Stow's  Hist.  London,  edit.  1G1 1,  p.  ISO. 
a  Ibid.  422. 


384  BATTLE  OF  BARNET. 

Cross,  he  saw  three  distinct  suns  at  last  unite  in 
oneb.  The  battle  began  at  four  in  the  morning, 
which  opened  in  a  thick  mist,  with  that  deadly 
hate  which  the  long  series  of  civil  wars  had  created. 
The  battle  raged  with  various  success,  as  might  be 
expected  from  the  undaunted  courage  and  ani- 
mosity of  the  leaders,  and  from  the  reflection  on 
the  certain  destruction  consequential  of  defeat. 
They  fought  obscured  in  fog  till  ten  o'clock; 
victory  seemed  to  incline  to  Warwick;  when 
his  people,  mistaking  the  stars  in  the  helms  of 
Oxford's  soldiers,  for  the  suns  of  Edward's  party, 
charged  their  own  friends ;  who,  crying  Treason  ! 
Treason  !  fled  with  eight  hundred  men.  The  mar- 
quis of  Montacute,  with  the  fickleness  usual  in 
those  times,  had  privily  agreed  with  Edxvard  to 
desert  his  brother  Warxvick,  and  had  changed  his 
livery.  This  was  discovered  by  some  of  the  earl's 
men,  who  instantly  put  him  to  death  :  a  fit  reward 
of  fraternal  perfidy  !  JVarzvick,  seeing  his  brother 
slain,  Oxford  fled,  and  the  fortune  of  the  day 
turned  against  him,  leaped  on  a  horse,  in  hopes  of 
escaping  ;  but  coming  to  an  impassable  Mood,  was 
there  killed,  and  stripped  naked,  and,  after  being 
exposed,  with  the  body  of  Montacute,  for  three  or 
four  days,  in  the  church  of  St.  PauCs,  was  interred 

b  Hollinshed,  660.     Shakespeare,  Henri/  VI.  part  iii.  act  2. 


BATTLE  OF  BARNET.  S83 

in  the  abbey  of  Bisham  in  Berkshire,  founded  by 
the  Montacutes,  his  maternal  ancestors.  About 
four  thousand  were  slain  on  both  sides ;  who  were 
interred  for  the  most  part  on  the  spot.  Edward 
built  here  a  chapel,  and,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  times,  appointed  a  priest  to  say  mass  for  the 
souls  of  the  deceased.  This  place,  in  the  days  of 
Stozvd,  was  converted  into  a  dwelling-house.  The 
following  conversation  relative  to  this  battle,  be- 
tween Civis  and  Roger,  extracted  from  Doctor 
Bulleiiis  Dialogues  both  pleasant e  8$pietifull,  &c. 
will  probably  be  acceptable  to  the  reader  : 

"  Civis.  How  like  you  this  heath  ?  Here  was 
"  foughten  a  fearful  field,  called  Palme  Sondaie. 
"  Battaile,  in  king  Edward  the  fowerthes  tyme. 
"  Many  thousands  were  slain  on  this  grounde, 
"  Here  was  slain  the  noble  erle  of  JVarwiche. 

"  Roger.  If  it  please  your  maistership,  my 
"  granndfather  was  also  here,  with  twenty  tall  men 
"  of  the  parishe  where  I  was  borne,  and  none  of 
"  them  escaped  but  my  granndfather  only.  I  had 
"  his  bo  we  in  my  hande  many  a  tyme :  no  man 
"  could  stir  the  string  when  it  was  bent.  Also  his 
"  harnes  was  worn  upon  our  S.  Georges  back,  in 
"  our  churche,  many  a  colde  winter  after ;  and  I 
"  hearde  my  grand-dame  tell  how  he  escaped. 

*  Annals,  423. 


HADLEY  CHURCH. 

"  Civis.  Tell  me,  Roger,  I  pray  thee,  ho  we  he 
'  did  escape  the  danger  ? 
"  Roger.  Sir,  when  the  battaile  was  pitched, 
and  appointed  to  bee  foughten  nere  unto  this 
windmill,  and  the  somons  given  by  the  harolts 
of  armies,  that  spere,  polax,  blackbille,  bowe  and 
arrowes,  should  be  sette  a  worke  the  daie  follow- 
ing, and  that  it  shoulde  be  tried  by  bloudie 
weapon,  a  sodaine  fear  fell  on  my  grandfather  ; 
and  the  same  night,  when  it  was  darke,  he  stale 
out  of  the  erle's  campe,  for  fear  of  the  king's 
displeasure,  and  hid  him  in  the  woode  ;  and  at 
lengthe  he  espied  a  greate  hollow  oke  tree, 
with  armes  somewhat  greene,  and  climbed  up, 
partly  through  climing,  for  he  was  a  thatcher ; 
but  feare  was  worthe  a  ladder  to  him  :  and  then, 
by  the  helpe  of  the  writhen  arm  of  the  tree,  he 
went  down,  and  there  remained  a  good  while ; 
and  was  fedde  there  by  the  space  of  a  monthe 
with  old  achorns  and  nuttes  which  squirrels  had 
brought  in ;  and  also  did  in  his  sallet  kepe  the 
raine  water  for  his  drinke,  and  at  length  escaped 
the  danger." 

Hadley         At  a  small  distance  stand  Haclley  church,  and 

Church.    jtg  pieasant  village,  on  the  edge  of  Enfield  Chace  ; 

where,  in  my  boyish  age,  I  passed  many  happy  days 

with  my  uncle,  the  Reverend  John  Pennant ,  who, 


HADLEY  CHURCH.  3S7 

during  forty  years,  was  the  worthy  minister.  The 
following  epitaph,  composed  by  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Oarrow,  schoolmaster  at  Hadley>  truely  describes 
his  well-spent  life : 

"  Here  lieth  the  body  of  the  Reverend  John  Pennant, 
"  youngest  son  of  Peter  Pennant,  of  Bychton,  in  the  county  of 
"  Flint;  and  Catharine,  daughter  of  Owen  Wynne,  Esq.  of 
"  Glynne,  in  Merionethshire.  He  was  rector  of  this  parish 
"  forty  years,  and  of  that  of  Compton  Martin,  in  Somersetshire  ; 
"  and  chaplain  to  her  Royal  Highness  the  Princess  dowager  of 
"  Wales.  He  resided  here  forty  years  ;  and  lived  much 
"  respected,  and  died  much  regretted  by  the  poor  and  his 
"  numerous  acquaintance.  He  departed  this  life  the  28th 
"  day  of  October,  1770,  in  his  seventy-first  year,  full  of  piety 
"  towards  his  God,  and  of  gratitude  to  his  friends." 
. 

Here  had  been,  in  early  times,  a  hermitage; 
which  Geffry  de  Magnaville,  about  the  year  1 1 36, 
bestowed  on  his  new-founded  abbey  of  JValden  in 
Essex*.  The  church  was  probably  a  chapel  to  the, 
hermitage,  and,  from  its  being  annexed  to  Walden%  . 
was  called  Hadley  Monachorum.  It  is  at  present 
a  donative  in  the  gift  of  the  lords  of  the  manor. 
The  present  church  is  built  with  flints.  Over  the 
west  door  is  the  date  1498,  and  the  sculpture  of  a 
rose  and  a  wing.  The  same  is  found  under  the 
upper  window  of  Erifield,  and  on  a  gateway  oppofr 

e  Newcourt's  Repertorium;  i.  621. 
2  c  2 


38S  HADLEY  CHURCH. 

site  to  the  Curtain  in  Shoreditch,  once  belonging 
to  the  Benedictine  nunnery  of  Halkvell.  Sir 
Thomas  Lovel,  who  lived  at  the  period  in  which 
this  church  was  built,  was  a  great  benefactor  to 
the  nunnery,  and  had  his  residence  at  Enfield. 
Whether  he  contributed  to  the  building  of  Hadley, 
does  not  appear ;  otherwise  it  would  seem  to  have 
been  a  badge  of  his  :  but  others  have  conjectured 
it  to  have  been  a  rebus,  expressive  of  the  name  of 
an  architect,  Rosewing. 

To  this  church,  on  the  demolition  of  that  of 
St.  Christopher  Le  Storks,  were  removed  the 
poor  remains  of  my  pious  mother,  who  died  of 
the  small  pox  in  London,  in  April  1744.  At 
the  same  time,  those  of  my  worthy  sister  Sarah, 
born  November  28th,  1730,  who  died  November 
11,  1780,  were  deposited  in  the  same  place. 
That  excellent  woman,  her  twin  sister  Catherine, 
survived  till  February  10,  1797,  and  on  the 
20th  was  interred  in  Hadley  church. 

On  the  top  of  the  steeple  there  remains  an  iron 
Beacon,  pitch-pot,  designed  as  a  beacon,  to  be  fired  oc- 
casionally, to  alarm  the  country  in  case  of  invasion. 
It  takes  its  name  from  the  Saxon  Becnian,  to  call 
by  signs.  Before  the  time  of  Edward  III.  the 
signals  were  given  by  firing  great  stacks  of  wood ; 
but  in  the  eleventh  of  his  reign,  it  was  first  ordered 


HADLEY.    ENFIELD  CHACE.  389 

that  this  species  of  alarm  should  be  made  with 
pitch-pots  placed  on  standards',  or  on  elevated 
buildings,  within  due  distances  of  one  another. 

Hadley  stands  at  the  edge  of  Enfield  Chacez,  a    ^^LD 
vast  tract  of  woodland,  filled  with  deer.    The  view 
of  the  county  of  Essex,  over  the  trees,  is  extremely 
beautiful.     This  great  extent  of  forest  was  first 
granted,  by  William  the  Conqueror,  to  Geffry  de 

f  Lambarde's  Kent,  66. 

s  This  Chace  was  inclosed  in  the  seventeenth  of  the  present 
reign,  and  was  found  to  contain  8349  acres;  which  were 
thus  allotted  : 

A.  R.  P. 

Enfield  parish 1732  2  6  including  200  to  be  in- 
closed and  let,  in  aid  of 
land-tax  and  poor's  rate. 

Old  Park  in  ditto  30  0  15 

Edmonton 1231  2       6 

Hadley 240  0       0 

South  Minis 1026  0       0 

Old/old  Farm  36  3  24 

The  Crown 3213  2  20 

Tythe  Owners     —     519  O  32 

Four  Lodges 313  0       3 

To  be  enfranchised         6  2       1 

The  200  acres  allowed  in  relief  of  Enfield  parish,  are  divided 
into  forty-one  lots,  and  let  at  £.  1 .  1 6s.  per  acre,  and  some  for 
two  guineas,  for  ninety-nine  years,  commencing  at  Michaelmas 
1778.  The  crown  makes  £.  1 300  a  year  of  twenty-four  lots, 
for  the  same  term,  and  at  various  and  higher  rents. 


390  ENFIELD  CHACE.     BARNET. 

Magnaville,  a  noble  Norman,  one  of  his  followers : 
the  name  afterwards  corrupted  to  Mandeville. 
His  posterity  were  Earls  of  Essex  till  the  death  of 
William  Fitzpier,  in  1227,  his  descendant  by  the 
female  line ;  when  this  chace,  and  the  title  of 
Essex,  fell  to  Humphry  de  Bohun  Earl  of  Hereford, 
in  right  of  his  mother,  sister  to  Fitzpier*.  It  con- 
tinued with  the  Bohuns  till  the  decease  of  the 
tenth  of  the  name ;  after  which,  the  property  of 
the  Chace  descended  to  Henry  Earl  of  Derby, 
afterwards  Henry  IV.  by  virtue  of  his  marriage 
with  Mary,  younger  sister  to  the  last  Bohun,  and 
became  annexed  to  the  dutchy  of  Lancaster1. 

Barnet.  From  Hadley  to  Barnetis  half  a  mile  :  a  small 
thoroughfare  town  on  the  top  of  a  hill ;  whence 
its  name,  corrupted  from  the  Saxon  Berg  net,  a 
little  hill.  It  has  also  the  title  of  Chipping  Bar- 
net,  on  account  of  its  market.  In  Saxon  times,  a 
vast  wood  filled  this  tract ;  which  was  granted  to 
the  abbey  of  St.  Albans.     An  inscription  in  the 

Church,    church  shews  it  was  founded  by  a   Beauchamp : 

Ora  pro  anima  Johannis  Beauchamp  hujus  operis  fundatoris. 

Here  is  a  fair  monument  to  a  countryman  of 
mine,  Thomas  Ravenscrqft,  Esquire,  born  at  Ha- 
warden,  of  an  antient  family  in  that  parish.     He 

h  Vincent's  Discoverie,  180.        l  Cambden,  i.  398. 


WHETSTONE.     HIGHGATE.  391 

lies  in  a  gown  and  ruff,  recumbent.  He  died  in 
1630.  He  and  his  son  James  were  considerable 
benefactors  to  this  place.  To  him  wets  owin  i  the 
vestry-room  ;  to  James,  an  alms-house  for  six  poor 
women,  which  he  amply  endowed. 

Near  Barnet  is  a  medicinal  well,  a  gentle  and 
safe  chalybeate  ;  in  former  times  in  great  repute. 

From  this  town  is  a  quick  descent.  Near  the 
village  of  Whetstone  I  again  enter  Middlesex ;  Whetstone. 
which  I  quitted  on  going  into  Barnet.  Just 
beyond  Whetstone,  the  road  passes  over  Finchley  Finchle* 
Common;  infamous  for  robberies,  and  often 
planted  with  gibbets,  the  penalty  of  murderers. 
The  resort  of  travellers  of  all  ranks,  and  the  mul- 
titudes of  heavy  carriages  which  crowd  this  road, 
compared  with  those  between  St.  Denys  and  Paris, 
give  a  melancholy  idea  of  the  overgrown  size  of 
our  capital,  which  makes  such  annual  havock  of 
the  lives  and  fortunes  of  the  distant  visitants. 

About  a  mile  beyond  this  common,  stands 
Highgate  ;  a  large  village,  seated  on  a  lofty  emi-  Highgatb. 
nence,  overlooking  the  smoky  extent  beneath. 
Here,  in  my  memory,  stood  a  large  gateway,  at 
which,  in  old  times,  a  toll  was  paid  to  the  bishop 
of  London.,  for  liberty  granted  (between  four  and 
five  hundred  years  ago)  by  one  of  his  predecessors, 
for  passing  from  Whetstone,  along  the  present  road, 
through  his  parks,  instead  of  the  old  miry  way 


392  HIGHGATE. 

by  Friarn  Barnet,  Colnie-hatch,  Muszvell-hill, 
Crouch-end,  and  (leaving  Highgate  to  the  west) 
by  the  church  of  Pancras.  In  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  it  was  farmed  from  the  bishop,  for  forty 
pounds  a  year1.  After  resting  for  a  small  space 
over  the  busy  prospect,  I  descended  into  the  plain, 
reached  the  metropolis,  and  disappeared  in  the 
crowd. 

1  Nor  den's  Speculum  Brit.  Middlesex,  1 5, 


393 


PART    II. 


NORTHAMPTON  TO  LONDON. 

lNa  preceding  year,  I  determined  to  vary  part 
of  my  journey  to  the  capital,  by  quitting  the  com- 
mon road  near  Daventry.  I  began  with  making 
a  digression  about  five  miles  to  the  south  of  that 
town,  as  far  as  Fawsley.  I  passed  through  the 
village,  and  by  the  church  of  Badby.  The  manor,  Badby. 
in  Saxon  times,  was  bestowed  on  the  abbey  of 
Crow  land,  by  one  Norman,  a  sheriff;  and  the 
grant  was  confirmed  by  Witlaf  and  Beored,  kings 
of  Mercia,  in  868.  That  great  convent  held  it 
for  no  very  long  period.  In  1017  it  devolved  to 
Leqfric  Earl  of  Leicester,  by  the  death  of  his  bro- 
ther, also  of  the  name  of  Norman,  to  whom  the 
house  of  Croxvland  had  granted  it  for  one  hundred 
years,  on  the  payment  of  a  pepper-corn :  but 
Leofric  severed  it  from  Croxvland,  and  bestowed 


394 


ARDBURY-HILL.    CATESBY. 


Ardbury- 

HILL. 


it  on  the  abbey  of  Evesham.  On  the  dissolution, 
Henry  VIII.  gave  it  to  Sir  Edmund  Knightly,  third 
son  of  Richard  Knightly  of  Faxcsley ;  and  it  now 
is  the  sole  property  of  Lucy  Knightly,  Esquire. 

In  this  parish,  and  at  a  small  distance  to  the 
west  of  the  village,  is  Ardbury-hill,  noted  for  the 
vast  ditch  and  rampart  which  surround  it.  It  is 
of  an  irregular  shape,  conforming  to  that  of  the 
hill ;  notwithstanding  which,  it  may  have  been 
Roman,  and  possessed  afterwards  by  the  Saxons  ; 
who  bestowed  on  it  the  present  name  of  Ard, 
which  signifies,  in  the  British,  high ;  and  Bury, 
which,  in  their  own  tongue,  denotes  an  eminence*. 

Catesby.  At  a  small  distance  from  hence  is  Catesby : 
long  the  property  of  a  family  of  the  same  name. 
Sir  William  Catesby,  one  of  the  three  favourites  of 
Ricliard  III.  was  lord  of  this  manor.  His  ances- 
tors possessed  the  place  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
III ;  and  it  continued  in  his  posterity  till  the  infa- 
mous conclusion  of  his  line,  in  Robert  Catesby, 
the  execrable15  contriver  of  the  Gun-powder  Plot. 
From  Badby,  I  rode  through  some  woods,  and 

Fawsley.  through  Fawslcy-park,  to  the  house  of  Fazvsley, 
the  seat  of  the  antient  family  of  the  Knight  leys  ; 
standing  in  an  improved  demesne,  above  some 
pretty  pieces  of  water,  which  wind  along  a  fine 
wooded  dell. 


*  Morton,  524. 


b  Dot's  Church  Hist.  ii.  i30. 


FAWSLEY-HOUSE.  39* 

The  present  owner  derives  it  from  a  very  long 
race  of  ancestors,  who  were  settled  here  from  the 
year  1415  :  at  which  time  it  was  purchased  by 
Richard  Knightly,  descended  from  a  Stafford- 
shire family :  taking  its  name  from  a  manor  in 
that  county,  which  they  had  possessed  from  the 
twentieth  year  of  William  the  Conqueror. 

The  present  house  is  a  motley  building ;  part  House. 
being  exceedingly  old,  part  middle-aged,  and  part 
new.  The  hall  is  a  magnificent  gothic  room,  of  a 
vast  height,  timbered  at  top,  and  fifty-two  feet 
long.  The  recess,  or  bow-window,  is  richly  orna- 
mented at  top  with  sculpture  in  stone.  All  the 
other  windows  are  very  large,  and  placed  at  a 
great  height  above  the  floor.  In  every  one  are  the 
arms  of  the  family,  and  their  alliances.  I  enume- 
rated above  sixty ;  for  it  has  been  greatly  allied^ 
from  very  early  times. 

The  chimney-piece  is  large,  grand,  and  well 
carved.  Above  it  is  a  great  window.  The  smoke 
is  conveyed  by  flues  passing  on  each  side  of  it ; 
so  that  the  chimney  does  not  in  the  lest  disturb 
the  uniformity  of  the  room :  at  the  lower  end  are 
two  arched  doors.  There  would  be  a  faultless 
propriety,  if  it  was  not  for  a  modern  wooden  skreen 
trespassing  on  the  lower  end. 

The  kitchen  is  most  hospitably  divided.     On   Kitchen. 
each  side  of  the  partition  is  an  enormous  fire-place, 


396  PORTRAITS  IN  FAWSLEY-HOUSE. 

fitted  for  a  hecatomb  of  beeves :  they  are  placed 
back  to  back,  so  as  not  to  interrupt  their  respec- 
tive operations. 
Portraits.  The  portraits  preserved  here  are  very  curious  : 
that  of  Sir  Valentine  Knightly  caught  my  eye  first, 
as  senior  of  the  company.  He  is  represented  half- 
length,  in  black,  with  short  brown  hair,  whiskers, 
and  a  small  beard ;  one  hand  on  his  sword,  the 
other  on  his  side.  I  find  nothing  more  remark- 
able of  him,  than  being  father  to  a  more  active 
spirit, 

Sir  Richard  Knightly :  who  is  painted  in 
two  periods  of  life;  once  in  advanced  years, 
sitting ;  his  head  kept  warm  by  a  coif;  his  dress 
black  ;  his  ruff  laced.  Near  him  are  his  specta- 
cles, a  Bible,  and  hour-glass.  Between  his  legs  is 
a  little  girl  playing  with  his  stick,  while  he,  laying 
one  hand  on  her  shoulder,  forms  a  true  picture  of 
aged  affection.  In  the  inscription  he  is  stiled  of 
Norton;  a  manor  belonging  to  the  family,  and 
possibly  the  residence  of  Sir  Richard  at  this 
time.  a 

The  other  portrait  represents  him  in  the  thirty- 
third  year  of  his  age,  A.  D.  ]  567.  On  his  head 
is  a  bonnet :  his  dress  is  yellow :  his  cloak  black : 
his  ruff  small.  He  is  painted  with  a  sword  and 
small  rod.  It  should  seem,  from  some  not  ill- 
wrote  lines,  that  he  had  passed  his  youth  licen- 


PORTRAITS  IN  FAWS  LEY-HOUSE.  3^7 

tiously ;  but  afterwards  made  a  most  rigid  reform. 
They  begin, 

In  vita  Fortuna. 
So  hitherto,  by  helpe  of  hevenlie  powers, 
My  doubtful  lifFe  hath  ronne  his  postinge  race; 
Whos  recklesse  youthe  hath  passed  such  stormie  showers 
As  might  have  cute  me  of  in  halfe  this  space. 
Yet  mightie  Jove,  by  his  celestial  grace, 
Hath  brought  my  barke  to  such  a  blissful  shore, 
As  daylie  doth  advaunce  me  more  and  more. 

In  vita  Fortuna, 

It  is  probable  he  had  an  enthusiastic  turn.  He 
took  part  with  the  puritans,  who  early  began  to 
give  disturbance  to  the  church  of  England.  Their 
spirits  were  so  greatly  embittered  by  the  unfavor- 
able conclusion  of  the  mock  conference  between 
their  ministers  and  the  royal  paedagogue,  in  1603C, 
that  they  gave  vent  to  their  rage  in  a  variety  of 
most  scurrilous  pamphlets  against  the  prelatical 
order.  These  were  the  productions  of  secret 
presses,  that  travelled  from  place  to  place.  The 
lord  of  Fazvsley  was  found  guilty  of  harboring 
them.  He  was  cited  before  the  Star-chamber, 
and  would  have  been  severely  treated,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  mild  Whitgif't,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, who  had  been  the  principal  object  of  their 

c  Rapin,  ii.  162. 


398  PORTRAITS  IN  FAWSLEY-HOUSE. 

abuse*.  The  agreement  of  Sir  Richard  with  Sir 
Francis  Hastings,  in  a  petition  to  the  house  for 
granting  a  toleration  to  the  Roman  catholics,  must 
not  be  thought  inconsistent  with  the  views  of  his 
party ;  for,  had  success  followed,  the  puritans 
might  have  clamed,  and  most  probably  obtained, 
the  same  indulgence.     He  died  in  1615. 

His  first  wife  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Mr. 
Richard  Termor,  of  Easton  Neston  ;  his  second, 
was  Lady  Elizabeth  Seymour,  sixth6  daughter  to 
the  protector  Duke  of  Somerset.  There  are  two 
portraits  of  this  lady:  one  dated  1590,  at.  40. 
Her  hands  and  face  are  small :  her  dress  a  quilled 
ruff;  black  gown  hung  and  beset  with  vast  strings 
and  rows  of  pearls.  The  other  is  also  in  black, 
with  a  high  ruff.  This  lady  brought  her  husband 
seven  sons  and  two  daughters  :  she  died  in  1 602, 
and  was  interred  in  the  church  at  Norton^. 

A  full-length  of  Thomas  Lord  Grey  of 
Groby,  in  armour,  long  hair,  a  turnover  and  boots  ; 
with  a  boy  in  red  giving  him  his  helmet.  This 
nobleman  was  eldest  son  to  the  first  Earl  of  Stam- 
ford, and  married  to  Anne,  second  daughter  of 
Edward  Bourchier  Earl  of  Bath.  He  is  repre- 
sented as  a  young  man  of  mean  abilities;  who 
took  a  determined  part  in  the  civil  wars  against 

*  Bridges,  66.         c  Vincent's  Discoverie,  483.       f  Bridges,  79. 


FAWSLEY  CHURCH.    TOMBS. 

his  sovereign,  was  active  against  him  in  the  field, 
and  submitted,  when  others,  equally  warm  in  the 
cause  of  liberty,  declined  the  dangerous  office,  to 
sit  among  the  judges  on  the  trial  of  the  king ;  and 
finally,  to  sign  his  name  to  the  warrant  which 
brought  him  to  the  block.  These  services  were 
fully  rewarded.  He  had  lands  to  the  amount  of  a 
thousand  a  year  bestowed  on  himg,  and  revelled  in 
the  plunder  of  the  royal  manor  of  Holdenby  ;  but 
before  the  Restoration,  death  luckily  rescued  him 
from  the  fate  of  his  brother-delinquents. 

I  must  close  this  list  with  mentioning  two  most 
beautiful  heads  of  women,  done  in  crayons ;  much 
to  the  honor  of  the  fair  performer,  a  lady  of  the 
present  generation. 

The  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  and  was  Church. 
bestowed  by  Henry  II.  on  the  monks  of  Daven- 
try.  On  the  dissolution,  it  was  given  to  the  col- 
lege of  St  Frideswide,  Oxford;  but  is  now  in  the 
gift  of  Mr.  Knightly.  Within,  are  numbers  of  Tombs. 
antient  tombs  of  the  family,  even  from  its  first 
settlement  in  this  country;  but  many  of  them 
much  mutilated.  That  of  Sir  Richard  Knightly, 
who  died  in  1534,  and  Jane  his  wife,  are  magni- 
ficently represented  in  alabaster,  recumbent,  on  an 

*  Drake's  Perl  Hist.  xx.  50. 


400  FLORE. 

altar-tomb :  he  in  armour,  with  a  herald's  mantle 
over  it,  and  a  defence  of  mail  over  his  thighs. 

Sir  Edmund  Knightly,  and  his  wife  Ursula, 
sister  to  John  Vere  Earl  of  Oxford,  are  figured  on 
a  brass  plate ;  he,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the 
times,  is  armed,  notwithstanding  he  was  a  serjeant 
at  law.     He  died  in  1542. 

A  vast  mural  monument  preserves  the  memory 
of  another  Sir  Valentine  and  his  spouse,  Anne, 
daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Ferrers  of  Badesly,  in 
Warwickshire.  He  died  in  \566.  This  memo- 
rial is  a  great  pile  of  marble,  with  a  great  black 
sarcophagus  in  the  middle,  and  finished  with  a 
pediment. 

The  seats  of  the  church  are  most  ridiculously 
carved  with  a  variety  of  droll  subjects  :  such  as  a 
cat  fiddling,  and  the  mice  dancing ;  an  animal 
riding  on  a  sow,  bridled  and  saddled  :  and  other 
figures  equally  calculated  to  spoil  the  gravity  of 
the  best-disposed  congregation. 

From  Fawsley  I  returned  into  the  London  road, 
near  the  eighth  stone  from  Toucester ;  and  cross- 
ing it,  reached  the  village  and  church  of  Flore,  or 
Flore.  Floxcer,  pleasantly  seated  on  rising  ground,  at  a 
small  distance  from  the  great  road.  In  Dooms- 
day-book it  is  called  Flora;  perhaps  from  its 
agreeable  situation.     I  left  the  church  unvisited. 


FLORE:  TOMBS  IN  THE  CHURCH. 


401 


I  must  speak  from  Mr.  Bridges*  of  the  most  re- 
markable particulars.  It  is  dedicated  to  All 
Saints.  It  was  bestowed  in  the  reign  of  king  Church. 
John,  by  a  Ralph  de  Kaines,  on  Merton  abbey,  in 
Surrey;  but  at  the  dissolution,  was  given  to 
Christ-church,  Oxford ;  under  the  patronage  of 
which  it  continues. 

On  a  grey  stone,  in  brass,  is  the  figure  of  the  Tombs. 
Virgin,  clasping  our  Saviour  in  her  arms. 
Beneath  them  are  Thomas  Knaresburght,  in  ar- 
mour, and  Agnes  his  wife;  both  with  suppliant 
hands,  addressing  themselves  to  the  object  of  the 
adoration  of  their  days.  She  in  these  words  :  O 
Blyssyd  Lady,  pray  to  IHU,  of  us  to  have  mercy. 
He  died  in  die  ramis  palmarum,  1450 ;  she,  on 
the  26th  of  March,  1488. 

The  following  curious  epitaph  informs  us  of  the 
end  of  Robert  Saunders,  and  Margaret  his  wife. 

"  Robert  Saunders,  the  seconde  sone  of  Thomas  Saunders 
"  of  Sybbertoft,  lyethe  here  buryed  : 

"  To  Margret  Staunton,  the  hey  re  of  Thomas  Staunton,  he 
•*  was  fyrste  marryed  ; 

"  Which  Margret  being  dead,  Joyse  Goodivyn 
"  he  tooke  to  wyfe. 

"  The  xiii  daye  of  November,  A°.  xcv°.  xlix. 
«'  he  departyd  thys  lyfe ; 

"  And  restethe  at  God's  pleasure,  tyll  the  daye  of  perfec- 
"  tion. 

"  God  sende  us  and  hyra  then  a  joyful  resurrection.  Amen." 

h  P.  506,  tfc. 

2D 


402 


UPTON.     NORTHAMPTON. 


Close  by  Flower  I  enter  on  the  new  turnpike- 
road,  which  forms  a  communication  between  Da- 
ventry  and  Northampton,  and  which  opens  into 
the  London  road  between  Dodford  and  JVeedon. 

About  two  miles  from  Northampton,  I  passed 
Upton,  through  the  village  of  Upton,  and  by  Upton-hall, 
the  seat  of  Sir  Thomas  Samwell,  Baronet,  and  pro- 
perty of  his  ancestors  since  the  year  1600;  when 
it  was  purchased  from  Sir  Richard  Knightley  by 
William  Samwell,  Esquire,  a  gentleman  of  antient 
Cornish  descent. 

After  a  short  space,  I  crossed  the  northern 
water,  or  Naesby-head,  a  river  that  rises  due  north, 
and  by  its  junction  a  little  below  with  another 
stream,  which  flows  from  Faw sley -pools,  forms  that 
which  receives  at  Northampton  the  name  of  Nen. 
Leland  calls  one  of  these  branches  the  Aron  ;  the 
other  the  JVeedon. 
Jorthamp-  I  entered  this  beautiful  town  at  the  west  gate, 
and  passed  beneath  the  site  of  the  castle.  No- 
thing, excepting  an  outer  wall  and  foss,  remains ; 
in  part  of  which  is  a  vast  stratum  of  ferruginous 
geodes. 
Castle.  Opposite  to  the  castle  is  a  great  mount,  once 
the  foundation  of  some  more  antient  fortress ;  per- 
haps one  of  the  line  of  forts  which  crossed  this  and 
the  neighboring  counties.  One  exists  at  Touces- 
ter,  and  another  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of, 


NORTHAMPTON.  403 

lying  about  three  miles  to  the  east.  I  cannot 
speak  with  certainty  of  the  period  in  which 
it  was  occupied  by  the  Saxons,  who  gave  it  the 
name  of  Hamtune.  Mr.  Bridges  supposes  it  to 
have  risen  from  the  ruins  of  Eltavon,  a  Roman 
station  on  the  side  of  the  town.  It  appears  that 
the  Danes  were  possessed  of  Northampton  in  9 1 7; 
and  from  thence  long  made  their  barbarous  ex- 
cursions \  Before  the  year  1010,  they  had  quitted 
the  place ;  but  in  their  inroads  in  that  year,  they 
burnt  the  town,  and  desolated  the  country. 

In  1064,  it  found  in  the  Northumbrians,  under 
Morcar,  who  had  advanced  as  far  as  Northamp- 
ton, a  cruel  set  of  banditti,  who  committed  most 
unprovoked  outrages.  They  murdered  the  inha- 
bitants, burnt  the  houses,  and  carried  off  thou- 
sands of  cattle,  and  multitudes  of  prisoners.  But 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  here  were 
LX  burgesses  in  the  king's  lordship,  and  LX 
houses.  At  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  fourteen 
were  waste ;  but  at  the  time  of  the  survey,  there 
were  forty  burgesses  in  the  new  borough k. 

Simon  de  Sancto  Licio,  or  Senliz,  a  noble  Nor- 
man,  founded  here  the  castle.     He  had  married 

*  Sax.  Chr.  104,  106. 

k  Doomsday -book t  in  Morion's  Northampt. 

2d2 


404  NORTHAMPTON. 

Maude,  daughter  of  JValtheof,  the  Saxon  earl  of 
Northampton,  and  succeeded  to  the  title. 

The  Conqueror  bestowed  this  town,  and  the 
whole  hundred  of  Fawsley,  then  worth  fort}'" 
pounds  a  year,  on  St.  Liz,  to  provide  shoes  for 
his  horses'.  From  that  period  it  became  consi- 
derable, and  frequently  was  the  seat  of  parlements, 
and  was  on  several  other  occasions  honored  with 
the  royal  presence. 

I  must  particularize  the  great  council  held  there 
in  1164,  in  which  the  contumacy  of  Thomas 
T$ecket  was  punished  by  a  heavy  fine.  At  this 
time,  the  whole  people  came,  as  one  man ;  and  yet 
all  were  unequal  to  the  pride  and  obstinacy  of  the 
single  prelate m.  The  other  great  council,  or  parle- 
ment,  was  summoned  in  1 1 76,  to  confirm  the 
statutes  of  Clarendon ;  in  which  the  rights  of  the 
crown  and  customs  of  the  realm,  especially  as  to 
judicial  proceedings,  had  been  established". 

During  the  civil  contests  in  which  England 
was  so  unhappily  involved,  Northampton  came  in 
for  its  share  of  the  calamities  incident  to  war.  In 
that  between  king  John  and  the  barons,  it  was 
stoutly  defended  on  the  part  of  the  king  against 

1  Blunt's  Antient  Tenures,  1 6. 

m  Lord  Lyttelton's  Henry  II.  41  to  56. 

n  The  same,  v.  20' 4,  octavo,  2d  edit. 


NORTHAMPTON.  403 

Robert  Fitzwalter,  fanatically  stiled  marshal  of  the 
army  of  God  and  the  holy  church0;  who,  for 
want  of  military  engines,  was  obliged  to  raise  the 
siege p.  This  post  was  of  such  importance,  that, 
after  the  charter  of  liberties  was  extorted  from 
John,  the  constable  for  the  time  being  was  sworn 
(by  the  twenty-five  barons  appointed  at  a  com- 
mittee to  enforce  its  execution)  to  govern  the 
castle  according  to  their  pleasure.  This  was  done 
in  the  fullness  of  their  power ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
perjured  prince  got  the  upper  hand,  he  appointed 
Fulk  de  Bream  (a  valiant  but  base-born  Norman) 
to  the  command,  as  one  in  whom  he  could  entirely 
confide9. 

In  the  year  1263,  the  younger  Mountfort  and 
his  barons  held  it  against  their  sovereign  Henry 
III.  The  king  marched  against  them  with  a 
strong  force ;  and  having  with  his  battering  rams 
formed  a  great  breach  in  that  part  of  the  town- 
walls  nearest  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Andrew,  en- 
tered the  place,  and,  after  a  short  but  vigorous  re- 
sistance, made  the  whole  garrison  prisoners r. 

In  1460,  Henry  VI.  made  Northampton  the 
place  of  rendezvous  of  his  forces.     The  strength 

0  Cambden,  i.  519.  p  Dugdale  Baron,  i.  219. 

1  Dugdale  Baron,  i.  743.  r  Carte,  ii.  141. 


406  NORTHAMPTON. 

of  his  army  encouraged  his  spirited  queen  to  offer 
battle  to  his  young  antagonist,  the  Earl  of  Marche, 
then  at  the  head  of  a  potent  army.  A  conference 
was  demanded  by  the  earl,  and  rejected  by  the 
royal  party;  who  marched  out  of  the  town, 
and  encamped  in  the  meadows  between  it  and 
Hardinston.  The  battle  was  fierce  and  bloody; 
but  by  the  treachery  of  Edmund  Lord  Grey  of  Ru- 
then,  who  deserted  his  unhappy  master,  victory 
declared  in  favor  of  the  house  of  York.  Thou- 
sands were  slain,  or  drowned  in  the  Nen :  among 
them  the  duke  of  Buckingham,  Earl  of  Shrews- 
bury, John  Viscount  Beaumont,  and  Lord  Egre- 
rnont.  The  duke  was  interred  in  the  church  of  the 
Grey  Friars ;  others  of  the  men  of  rank,  in  the 
adjacent  abbey  of  De  la  Pre ;  and  others,  in  the 
hospital  of  St.  John,  in  the  town. 

The  town  had  been  inclosed  with  a  strong  wall, 
probably  before  the  reign  of  King  John ;  for  men- 
tion is  made,  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  of  the 
east-gate,  one  of  the  four.  The  walls  were  of 
breadth  sufficient  for  six  men  to  walk  abreast. 
Both  walls  and  castle  were  early  neglected ;  for 
they  appear  to  have  been  in  1593  in  a  ruinous 
state*;  yet  the  latter  was  used  as  a  prison  before 

*  Nor  den,  as  quoted  by  Bridges,  +32. 


NORTHAMPTON.  407 

the  year  1675  :  and  within  had  been  a  royal  free- 
chapel,  dedicated  to  St.  George  ;  to  which  a  chap- 
lain was  presented  by  the  crown,  with  a  salary  of 
hs.  a  year. 

In  the  civil  wars,  Northampton  was  seized  by 
Lord  Brook,  for  the  use  of  the  parlement.  In  1642, 
he  fortified  it  with  a  foss  and  ramparts ;  converted 
the  bridges  into  draw-bridges ;  and  brought  seve- 
ral pieces  of  cannon  here  to  defend  it,  in  case  of 
attack.  Whether  it  distinguished  itself  by  any 
particular  acts  of  disloyalty  beyond  other  places, 
I  cannot  say;  but  in  \66%  pursuant  to  an  order 
of  council,  the  walls,  gates,  and  part  of  the  castle, 
were  demolished1. 

The  most  antient  of  the  religious  houses  in  this  houses?* 
town  was  the  priory  of  St.  Andrew,  founded  about  St.  An- 
the  year  1076,  by  Simon  de  St.  Liz,  (first  Earl  of 
Northampton  of  his  name)  and  Maude,  his  wife. 
He  peopled  it  with  Cluniacs,  and  in  1 084  made  it 
subject  to  the  abbey  of  St.  Mary  de  Caritate,  a 
monastery  upon  the  Loire.  This  occasioned  it  to 
undergo  the  common  fate  of  all  alien  priories,  that 
of  being  seized  into  the  king's  hands.  It  was  sur- 
rendered to  Henry  at  the  dissolution,  by  Francis 
Abree,  then  prior;  who,  in  reward  for  his  ready 

1  Bridges. 


408 


NORTHAMPTON. 


Grey 
Friars. 


White 
Friars. 


"Black 

Friars. 


compliance,  was  appointed  the  first  dean  of  Peter- 
borough*. 

Its  revenue,  according  to  Dugdale,  was 
<£.  263.  7s.  Id.;  to  Speed,  £.  344.  13*.  Id.  The 
house  stood  near  the  north  end  of  the  town,  and, 
with  the  demesne  lands,  was  granted  by  Edzvard 
VI.  to  Sir  Thomas  Smith1". 

The  Grey  Friars,  or  Franciscans,  had  a  house 
on  the  west  side  of  the  place.  They  originally 
hired  a  habitation  in  St.  Giles  s  parish,  but  after- 
wards built  one  on  ground  given  them  by  the  town, 
in  the  year  1 245.  John  Windloxve,  the  last  war- 
den, and  ten  of  his  brethren,  surrendered  their 
poor  revenues,  of  of.  6.  13s.  4d.  per  annum,  on 
October  28th,  \539y;  after  which  it  was  granted 
to  one  Richard  Taverner. 

Above  this  house  was  a  priory  of  Carmelites, 
or  White  Friars,  founded  in  1271,  by  Simon 
Mountfort  and  Thomas  Chetzeood.  It  was  valued 
at  £.  10.  10*.  and  granted  to  William  Ramesden7-, 
after  being  resigned  by  John  Howel,  the  last  prior, 
and  eight  brethren. 

The  Dominicans,  or  Black  Friars,  were  fixed 

n  Willis,  ii.  160.  The  recantation  which  he  and  his  poor 
monks  were  forced  to  make,  is  well  worth  perusal.  See  Ap- 
pendix. 

x  Tanner.  r  Willis,  ii.  160.  z  Tanner,  386, 


NORTHAMPTON. 


409 


Black 

Canons. 


here  before  1240.  John  Dalyngton  was  either 
founder,  or  a  considerable  benefactor.  Its  re- 
venues were  only  £.  5.  lis.  5d. *  It  was  resigned 
to  the  crown  by  its  prior  William  Dyckyns,  and 
seven  of  his  friars. 

William  Peverel,  natural  son  to  the  Conqueror, 
founded,  before  1112,  a  house  of  Black  Canons, 
in  honor  of  St.  James.  This  Peverel  had  no  less 
than  forty-four  manors  granted  to  him  in  this 
county.  The  revenues  of  this  house  amounted 
to  £.  175.  8*.  Id.  according  to  Dugdale;  or 
£.  213.  17*.  Qd.  according  to  Speed.  Henry 
VIII.  granted  it  to  Nicholas  Giffardb.  Its  last 
abbot  was  William  Brokden,  who,  with  five  monks, 
resigned  it  in  1 540. 

The  Austin  Friars,  or  Friars  Eremites,  had  a 
house  here  in  the  Bridge-street,  founded  in  1 322, 
by  Sir  John  Longueville  of  Woherton,  in  Buck- 
inghamshire;  and  several  of  his  name  were  in- 
terred there.  John  Goodwyn,  the  prior,  with  seven 
friars,  resigned  it  to  the  king  in  1539.  It  was 
soon  after  granted  to  Robert  Dighton.  Its  reve- 
nues are  unknown0. 

The  college  of  All  Saints  was  founded  in  1459,  All  Saints. 
with  licence  of  purchasing  to  the  value  of  twenty 
marks.     It   consisted  only  of  two   fellows.     In 


Austin 
Friars. 


*  Bridges,  455.  b  Tanner,  377.  c  Bridges,  456. 


410  NORTHAMPTON. 

1535,  it  was  found,  clear  of  all  reprizes,  to  be 
worth  xxxix*.  ivd.     College-lane,  in  this  town, 
takes  its  name  from  itd. 
Hospital  of     jhe  hospital  of  St.  John  is  an  antient  building, 

St.  John.  ...  . 

standing  in  Bridge-street.  It  consists  of  a  chapel, 
a  large  hall  with  apartments  for  the  brethren, 
and  two  rooms  above  for  the  co-brothers.  It  was 
founded  for  the  reception  of  infirm  poor,  probably 
by  William  St.  Clere,  archdeacon  of  Northampton  ; 
who  died  possessed  of  that  dignity  in  1168.  He 
is  supposed  to  have  been  brother  to  one  of  the 
Simon  St.  Cleres  ;  but  Leland  justly  insinuates, 
that  they  never  were  called  by  that  name,  but  by 
that  of  St.  Lize. 

At  the  dissolution,  its  clear  revenues  were 
£.  57.  19s.  6d.  Sir  Francis  Brian  was  then  high 
steward  of  the  house,  and  had  4(Xs.  yearly ;  and 
eight  poor  persons  were  maintained  at  %d.  a  day 
each :  a  charity  founded  by  John  Dallington, 
clerk,  and  confirmed  in  1340,  by  Henry  Burg- 
herst,  bishop  of  Lincoln.  It  is  at  present  govern- 
ed by  a  master,  and  two  co-brothers  or  chaplains, 
whose  salary  is  £.  v.  each,  with  xis.  each,  in  lieu 
of  firing,  and  x*.  on  renewing  of  leases.  The  eight 
poor  people  are  named  by  the  master,  and  main- 
tained in  lodging,  firing,  and  common  room,  and 
I*.  Id.  weekly. 
d  Bridges,  458.  e  Leland  bin.  i.  10.  and  Bridges,  459. 


NORTHAMPTON.  411 

St.  Thomas's  hospital  stands  a  little  more  to  the  St/Thome's. 
south  of  St.  Johns,  beyond  the  south  gate,  in  the 
suburbs  called  The  Quarters,  which  extend  to  the 
south  bridge.  This  owes  its  foundation,  in  1450, 
to  the  respect  the  citizens  had  for  St.  Thomas 
Becket.  Originally  it  maintained  twelve  poor 
people:  six  more  were  added  in  1654,  by  Sir 
John  Langham ;  and  one  more  of  later  years,  by 
Richard  Massingberd.  It  is  governed  by  a  war- 
den, who  is  one  of  the  aldermen ;  and  the  vicar  of 
All  Saints  is  the  chaplain,  with  an  annual  salary 
of  £.  III.  xvis.  vtudJ 

I  find,  besides,  an  hospital  on  the  south  side  of 
the  town,  in  the  parish  of  Hardingstone,  dedicated 
to  St.  Leonard,  for  a  master  and  leprous  brethren; 
founded  before  1 240.  The  mayor  and  burgesses 
were  patrons.  Dugdale  valued  it  at  ten  pounds  a 
year*. 

I  must  not  omit  mention  of  the  short-lived  uni- 
versity which  existed  in  this  town ;  and  which  arose  University. 
from  the  following  occasion: — In  1238,  Otho,  the 
pope's  legate,  happened  to  visit  the  university  of 
Oxford,  and  took  his  residence  at  the  neighboring 
convent  of  Osney.  He  was  one  day  respectfully 
waited  on  by  the  students ;  who  were  insolently 
refused  admittance  by  the  Italian  porter.     At 

f  Bridges,  457.  «  Tanner,  386". 


412  NORTHAMPTON. 

length,  after  intolerable  provocation  from  the  clerk 
of  the  kitchen,  a  Welsh  student  drew  his  bow,  and 
shot  him  deadh.  The  resentment  of  government, 
and  the  fear  of  punishment,  caused  the  first  seces- 
sion of  the  students  to  Northampton,  and  other 
places.  In  succeeding  years  fresh  riots  arose,  and 
occasioned  farther  migrations.  At  length,  these 
migrations  were  made  under  sanction  of  the  king; 
who  imagined  that  the  disturbances  arose  from  the 
too  great  concourse  of  scholars  to  one  place.  It 
is  said,  that  not  fewer  than  fifteen  thousand  stu- 
dents settled  in  this  town.  Whether  from  resent- 
ment of  former  proceedings  against  them,  or  from 
the  usual  dislike  youth  has  to  governing  powers, 
they  took  the  part  of  the  barons.  They  formed 
themselves  into  companies,  had  their  distinguish- 
ing banner,  and,  when  Henri/  III.  made  his  attack 
on  Northampton,  proved  by  far  his  most  vigorous 
opponents.  After  the  king  had  made  himself 
master  of  the  place,  he  determined  to  hang  every 
student;  but  being  at  length  appeased,  he  per- 
mitted them  to  return  to  Oxford,  under  the  con- 
duct of  Simon  Mountfort,  and  abolished  the  uni- 
versity of  Northampton1. 
Towk  The  town  is  finely  situated  on  an  eminence, 

DESCRIBED.  .  ,  .  .  .    .     ,  .      .  . 

gently  sloping  to  the  river,  which  bounds  it  on  the 

h  Wood's  Hist.  Ox.  i.  89.  l  Bridges,  426. 


NORTHAMPTON.  41S 

South,  as  it  also  does  on  the  west.  The  streets  are 
in  general  strait,  and  very  handsomely  built.  The 
great  market-place  is  an  ornament  to  the  town : 
few  can  boast  the  like.  Much  of  the  beauty  of 
Northampton  is  owing  to  the  calamity  it  sustained 
by  fire,  on  September  20th,  1675;  when  the  Fire. 
greatest  part  was  laid  in  ashes.  The  houses  were 
at  that  time  chiefly  wooden.  Twenty-five  thousand 
pounds  were  collected  by  briefs  and  private 
charity  towards  its  relief;  and  the  king  gave  a 
thousand  tons  of  timber,  out  of  JVhittlezvood 
forest,  and  remitted  the  duty  of  chimney-money  in 
this  town  for  seven  years  :  so  that  it  was  soon 
rebuilt ;  and  changed  its  wooden  edifices  for  more 
secure  and  ornamental  houses  of  stone. 

The  church  of  All  Saints  fell  a  victim  to  the  Churches. 
flames.  The  old  church  was  a  large  pile,  with  a 
tower  in  the  center.  It  was  rebuilt  with  great 
magnificence,  and  is  a  considerable  ornament  to 
this  pretty  town.  The  portico  is  very  elegant, 
supported  in  front  by  eight  columns  of  the  Ionic 
order.  The  body  stands  on  four  lofty  columns, 
and  has  a  neat  dome  in  the  middle.  The  roof  is 
beautifully  stuccoed.  This  church,  and  that  of 
St.  Peter,  were  bestowed  on  the  priory  of  St. 
Andrew,  by  Simon  de  St.  Liz,  the  founder.  All 
Saints  is  at  present  in  the  gift  of  the  members  of 
the  corporation,  who  are  inhabitants  of  the  parish. 


414  NORTHAMPTON. 

Holy  The  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  supposed 

Sepulchre  • 

'  to  have  been  built  by  the  Knights  Templars,  on 
the  model  of  that  at  Jerusalem.  The  imitative 
part  is  round,  with  a  nave  issuing  from  it.  In  the 
round  part  is  a  peristyle  of  eight  round  pillars, 
thirteen  feet  eight  inches  high,  and  twelve  feet 
three  in  circumference.  The  capitals  consist  of 
two  round  fillets  :  the  arches  sharp  and  plain. 
The  space  from  the  wall  to  the  pillars  is  eleven 
feet :  the  diameter,  from  the  inside  of  one  pillar 
to  that  of  the  opposite,  is  twenty-nine  feet  two 
inches.  In  the  center  of  the  area  stands,  in  the 
church  at  Jerusalem,  the  supposed  sepulchre k; 
and  it  is  probable  a  model  might  be  placed  in 
those  which  we  find  of  the  same  kind  in  our  island  j 
for,  besides  this,  the  Temple  church  in  London,  and 
St.  Sepulchre's  in  Cambridge,  are  built  on  the 
same  plan.  The  steeple,  and  some  other  parts  of 
that  in  question,  have  been  added  since  the  build- 
ing: of  the  circular  church. 
St.  Peter's  St.  Peters  church  is  a  singular  building;.  Two 
corners  of  the  tower  are  ornamented  with  three 
round  pillars  :  above  these  are  two,  and  above 
them  one ;  all  gradually  less  than  the  others. 
The  middle  of  the  tower  is  ornamented  with  small 
round  arches,  which  are  continued  along  the  out^ 
side  of  the  body  of  the  church,  and  have  a  good 

k  See  Sandys's  Travels. 


NORTHAMPTON.  415 

effect.  Within  are  two  rows  of  round  arches, 
carved  with  zigzag  work :  the  pillars  which  support 
these  are  alternately  single  and  quadruple.  A 
small  monument  commemorates  John  Smith,  that 
eminent  metzotinto  scraper  \  who  died  in  January 
1742,  aged  ninety. 

The  advowson  of  this  church  was  given  by 
Edward  III.  to  the  hospital  of  St.  Catherine,  near 
the  Tower,  in  London,  and  still  remains  under  its 
patronage. 

Whosoever  intended  to  clear  himself  of  any 
criminal  accusation  in  this  town,  was  obliged  to  do 
it  in  this  church  only ;  having  here  first  performed 
his  vigil  and  prayers  in  the  preceding  evening1".  St.  Giles. 
St.  Giles's  church  stands  in  the  east  skirts  of  the 
town  ;  but  contains  nothing  worthy  notice. 

In  old  times  Northampton  was  possessed  of 
three  other  churches,  which  are  now  destroyed. 
St.  Bartholomew's  stood  on  the  east  side  of  the 
road  going  to  Kingsthorp  ;  and  was  bestowed  by 
St.  Liz  on  his  convent  of  St.  Andrew.  St.  Ed- 
mund's stood  without  the  east  gate,  and  was  also 
under  the  patronage  of  St.  Andrezvs:  and  the 
church  of  St.  Gregory  was  the  third ;  also  the 
property  of  that  much-favored  house. 

Among  the  public  buildings,  I  first  speak  of 
the  county  hospital;  not  on  account  of  the  beauty  Hospital. 

1  Mr.  Walpole,  Engravers,  105.         m  Bridges,  445. 


416  NORTHAMPTON. 

or  magnificence  of  the  house,  for  it  is  laudably  de- 
stitute of  both ;  but  because  the  subscription  which 
supports  it  does  honor  to  the  province,  by  proving 
the  benevolence  of  its  inhabitants.  That  of  1779 
amounted  to  near  eight  hundred  pounds ;  and  the 
number  of  patients  perfectly  cured,  from  its  found- 
ation in  1744  to  the  former  year,  was  not  fewer 
than  thirteen  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  n. 
County  The  county  hall  is  a  very  handsome  building, 
and  ornamented  in  a  manner  which  gives  dignity 
to  courts  of  justice.  The  vulgar  are  affected  with 
external  shew,  and  never  pay  half  the  respect  to  a 
judge  scampering  in  boots  and  bob- wig  up  the 
stairs  of  a  barn-like  court,  as  they  would  to  the 
same  person,  who  adds  solemnity  to  his  merit,  and 
assumes  the  garb  suited  to  his  character. 
Jail.  ^he  jau  \s  a^  a  small  distance  from  the  sessions 

house,  and  was  originally  built  as  a  dwelling-house 
by  a  Sir  Thomas  Haselwood,  and  sold  by  him  to 
the  justices  of  the  peace. 
GuildHall.  The  town  or  guild  hall,  is  an  antient  building, 
in  which  the  corporation  transacts  its  business. 
Northampton   was    incorporated   by   Henry   II. 

n  In  lieu  of  this,  a  General  Infirmary  was  erected  and 
opened  in  1793  ;  the  annual  subscription  to  which,  for  the 
present  year,  amounted  to  £.  1933  16*.  6d. ;  the  number  of 
in-patients  admitted  in  1 809  was  825,  of  out-patients  who  re- 
ceived benefit  from  the  charity  1286.     Ed. 


NORTHAMPTON.  417 

Henry  III.  gave  it  the  power  of  chusing  annually 
a  mayor  and  two  bailiffs,  to  be  elected  by  all  the 
freemen ;  but  Henry  VII.  ordered  by  charter,  that  Charter. 
the  mayor  and  his  brethren,  late  mayors,  should 
name  forty-eight  persons  of  the  inhabitants,  with 
liberty  of  changing  them  as  often  as  was  found  ne- 
cessary; which  forty-eight,  with  the  mayor  and 
his  brethren,  and  such  as  had  been  mayors  and 
bailiffs,  were  annually  to  elect  all  future  mayors 
and  bailiffs.  There  are,  besides,  a  recorder, 
chamberlain,  and  town-clerk.  The  mayor,  late 
mayor,  and  one  other  member  of  the  corporation, 
nominated  by  the  mayor,  aldermen,  and  bailiffs, 
are  justices  of  the  peace  within  the  town  for  one 
year.  The  mayor,  recorder  or  his  deputy,  and 
one  justice,  are  necessary  to  form  a  sessions  :  they 
have  power  in  criminal  cases  to  try  all  offenders ; 
but  wisely  leave  all,  except  petty  larcenies,  to  the 
judges  of  assize0. 

Northampton  is  among  the  most  antient  bo- 
roughs. In  the  parlement  held  at  Acton  Burnel, 
in  the  time  of  Edward  I.  it  was  one  of  the  nineteen 
trading  towns  which  sent  two  members  each. 
Every  inhabitant,  resident  or  non-resident,  free  or 
not  free,  has  liberty  of  voting :  a  cruel  privilege 
for  such  who  have  of  late  years  been  ambitious  of 
recommending  their  representatives. 

0  Bridges,  433. 

2e 


418  CASTLE  ASHBY. 

Castle  From  Northampton  I  visited  Castle  Ashby,  the 
princely  seat  of  the  Comptons  Earls  of  North- 
ampton. It  lies  about  six  miles  south-east  of  the 
town,  in  a  wet  country,  and  without  any  advantage 
of  situation.  It  is  a  large  structure,  surrounding 
a  handsome  square  court,  with  a  beautiful  skreen, 
the  work  of  In'igo  Jones,  bounding  one  side.  More 
is  attributed  to  that  great  architect.  Some  is  more 
antient  than  his  time;  yet  he  probably  had  the 
restoring  of  the  old  house,  as  the  finishing  appears, 
by  a  date  on  the  stone  ballustrade,  to  be  1624, 
preceded  by  the  pious  text,  Nisi  Dominus  cedifica- 
verit  Domum,  in  vanum  laboraverunt  qui  cedijicant 
eum. 
Portraits.  One  front  is  taken  up  by  a  long  gallery,  and  at 
the  end  is  a  small  room,  the  chapel-closet.  In  it 
Compton,  is  a  full-length  of  Henry  Compton,  Bishop  of 
London.F  London,  He  was  youngest  son  of  the  famous 
loyalist  Earl  of  Northampton  ;  went  for  a  short 
time  into  the  army,  after  the  Restoration;  but 
soon  quitted  it  for  the  church.  In  1674  he  was 
promoted  to  the  bishoprick  of  Oxford,  and  in  the 
next  year  to  that  of  London.  His  abilities  were 
said  not  to  be  shining ;  but  his  discharge  of  his 
pastoral  office  gained  him  great  reputation.  He 
was  firmly  attached  to  the  constitution  and  religion 
of  his  country ;  and,  in  the  reign  of  the  bigotted 
James,  underwent  the  honor  of  suspension,  for  not 


CASTLE  ASHBY.  4  If 

complying  with  the  views  of  the  court.  He  ap- 
peared in  arms  at  Nottingham,  in  support  of  the 
Revolution  ;  and  lived  till  1713,  when  he  died,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-one. 

In  the  same  closet  is  a  good  head  of  the  Re-  MR-  Ly«* 
verend  Mr.  Lye,  who  began  the  Saxon  Dictionary *■ 
finished  and  published  by  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Manning,  1772.  He  also  published  Junius's 
Etymologicum  Anglicanum,  in  1743.  He  was 
born  at  Totness,  in  1694;  became  possessed  of 
benefices  in  this  county  ;  and  died  in  1767,  at  the 
rectory  of  Yardly  Hastings. 

The  drawing-room  is  remarkably  grand ;  it  is  Drawing- 
fifty  feet  five  inches  by  twenty-four  ;  and  eighteen 
feet  ten  inches  high.  It  is  hung  with  tapestry,  the 
meritorious  labor  of  two  aunts  of  the  present  lordp. 
The  chimney-piece  is  of  an  enormous  s'ze :  a  quarry 
of  stone  filled  with  shells  from  Raance. 

Mr.  Walpole  had  made  me  impatient  for  the 
sight  of  the  picture  of  the  hero  John  Talbot,   JohnTal- 
first  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  by  informing  me  that  b°shrews-°F 
such  a  portrait  existed  in  this  house.     I  was  at      BURY  * 
first  much  chagrined,  by  my  attendant  denying  all 
knowlege  of  it.     At  length,  after  much  search,  I 
discovered  it,  and  redeemed  the  earl  and  his  second 
countess  from  beneath  a  load  of  paltry  pictures 
flung  into  one  of  the  garrets. 

9  Spencer  Compton,  Earl  of  Northampton,  died  in  1796.  Ed. 

2e  2 


420  CASTLE  ASHBY. 

The  portraits  are  originals  ;  coarse,  and  rudely 
painted  on  board,  as  might  be  expected  from  the 
artists  of  the  period  in  which  they  flourished.  It 
has  on  it  this  later  inscription :  "  John  Talbote 
"  Lord  Talbote,  created  E.  of  Shrewsbury  by 
"  Henry  VI."  His  countenance  is  hard,  his  hair 
short  and  ill-combed,  his  hands  stretched  out  in 
the  attitude  of  prayer.  He  is  in  armour,  but 
mostly  covered  with  a  mantle  emblazoned  with  his 
arms.  His  sword,  sum  Talboti  pro  occidere 
inimicos  meos,  is  wanted.  He  was  the  terror  of 
France :  his  name  put  armies  to  flight.  He  had 
been  victorious  in  forty  several  and  dangerous 
skirmishes  :  at  length  was  slain,  in  1453,  aged 
eighty,  at  Chastillon ;  and  with  him  perished  the 
good  fortune  of  the  English  during  that  unhappy 
reign.  His  herald,  dressed  in  the  surtout  of  the 
hero's  arms,  found  his  body,  embraced  it,  took  off 
the  surtout  painted  with  his  master's  arms,  cloathed 
the  dead  corpse  with  it,  and  burst  into  these 
^passionate  expressions  :  "  Alas  !  is  it  you  ?  I  pray 
"  God  pardon  all  my  misdoings !  I  have  been 
"  your  officer  of  arms  forty  years  or  more ;  'tis 
"  time  I  should  surrender  them  to  youq." 
and  his  His  Countess  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  and 
co-heir  of  Richard  Beauchamp  Earl  of  Warxvick, 
is  represented  in  the  same  attitude,  and  with  a 

s  Collins,  iii.  12.  last  edit. 


CASTLE  ASHBY.  401 

herald's  surtout  properly  emblazoned.  Her  cap  is 
worked  with  lions  rampant,  the  arms  of  her  hus- 
band :  her  neck  ornamented  with  gold  chains. 
She  died  June  14th,  1468,  and  was  interred  in  St. 
Paul's  cathedral.  The  body  of  her  lord  was 
brought  over  and  buried  at  Whitchurch,  Shrop- 
shire. 

Here  is  a  portrait  of  Spencer  Earl  of  North-  Spencer 
ampton  (the  justly-boasted  character  and  hero  of  Northamp- 
the  house)  represented  in  armour.  His  genius 
was  so  extensive,  that  in  his  youth  he  at  once  kept 
four  different  tutors  in  employ,  who  daily  had  their 
respective  hours  for  instructing  him  in  the  different 
arts  they  professed.  In  the  civil  wars  he  was  the 
great  rival  of  Lord  Brooks,  whom  he  drove  out  of 
his  own  county  of  Warwick  ;  and  was  a  most 
successful  opponent  to  the  Earl  of  Essex.  He 
brought  two  thousand  of  the  best-disciplined  men 
in  the  army  to  the  royal  standard  at  Nottingham. 
At  length  fell  in  Staffordshire,  in  March  1643, 
desperately  fighting ;  forgetting,  as  is  too  frequently 
the  case  with  great  minds,  the  difference  between 
the  General  and  common  man. 

His  eldest  son,  James  Earl  of  Northampton,  is     his  Son 

i-i  i  i  •  tt         James. 

in  armour,  and  with  a  great  dog  near  him.  He 
inherited  his  father's  valour,  and  was  wounded  in 
the  battle  in  which  his  father  was  slain.  In  all 
the  following  actions  he  maintained  a  spirit  worthy 


422  CASTLE  ASHBY. 

of  his  name.  -  On  the  fall  of  monarchy  he  lived 
retired.     On  the  Restoration  he  was  loaden  with 
honors,  and  died  in  fullness  of  glory  at  this  place, 
in  December  1 68 1 . 
Sir  Spencer      A  portrait,  which  I  take  to  be  Sir  Spencer 

COMPTON?  (         * 

Compton r,  his  third  brother,  is  dressed  in  a  green 
silk  vest,  a  laced  turnover,  and  with  long  hair. 
This  youth  was  at  the  battle  of  Eilgehill,  at  a  time 
he  was  not  able  to  grasp  a  pistol ;  yet  cried  with 
vexation  that  he  was  not  permitted  to  share  in  the 
same  glory  and  danger  with  his  elder  brothers. 
Edw.  Sack-  .    xHE  celebrated  Edward  Sackvi/le  Earl  of  Dorset 

ville  Earl 

of  Dorset.  js  painted  in  armour.  His  well-known  spirit,  in 
the  duel  between  him  and  Lord  Bruce,  would 
make  one  imagine  that  he  would  have  appeared 
with  peculiar  lustre  in  the  field  of  action,  during 
the  civil  wars ;  but  fortune  flung  him  but  once 
into  the  bloody  scenes  of  that  period.  He  fought 
with  distinguished  bravery  at  Edgehili,  and  retook 
the  royal  standard,  after  its  bearer,  Sir  Edmund 
Verney,  was  slain.  Might  not  the  weight  of  the 
sanguinary  conflict  at  Tergose  rest  heavy  on  his 
mind,  and  make  him  shun  for  the  future  scenes  of 
destruction?  for  he  could  do  it  with  unimpeached 
reputation.  Certain  it  is,  that  his  lordship  acted 
chiefly  in  the  cabinet,  was  a  faithful  servant  to  his 
master,  and  a  true  friend  to  his  country ;    and 

*  In  the  house  he  is  called  Earl  of  Northampton. 


CASTLE  ASHBY.  425 

spent  the  rest  of  his  service  in  earnest  and  unre- 
mitting endeavours  to  qualify  affairs,  and  restore 
peace  to  his  country.  After  the  king's  death,  he 
never  stirred  out  of  his  house;  and  died  in  1652, 
at  his  house,  then  called  Dorset-house,  in  Salis- 
bury-court. 

Here  is  a  singular  head,  called  that  of  George   Geo.  Vil- 

.  .  liers  Duke 

Villiers  Duke  of  Buckingham;  bearded,  whiskered,  of  Buckino- 
and  represented  as  dead. 

The  heads  of  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  Protector, 
Francis  first  Earl  of  Bedford,  and  Sir  Thomas 
More,  and  another,  the  name  of  which  I  have 
forgotten,  are  beautifully  painted  in  small  size. 

That  favorite  of  fortune  Sir  Stephen  Fox,  is  Sir  Stephen 
represented  sitting,  in  a  long  wig  and  night-gown  : 
a  good-looking  man.  He  was  the  son  of  a  private 
family  in  Wiltshire,  but  raised  himself  by  the  most 
laudable  of  means,  that  of  merit.  After  the 
battle  of  Worcester,  in  which  his  elder  brother 
was  engaged,  he  fled  with  him  to  France,  and  was 
entertained  by  Henry  Lord  Percy,  then  lord  cham- 
berlain to  our  exiled  monarch.  To  young  Fox 
was  committed  the  whole  regulation  of  the  house- 
hold ;  "  who,"  as  Lord  Clarendon  observes,  u  was 
'-  well  qualified  with  the  languages,  and  all  parts  of 
"  clerkship,  honesty,  and  discretion,  as  was  neces- 
"  sary  for  such  a  trust ;  and  indeed  his  great  in* 
"  dustry,  modesty,  and  prudence,  did  very  much 


424  CASTLE  ASHBY. 

"  contribute  to  the  bringing  the  family,  which  for 
"  so  many  years  had  been  under  no  government, 
"  into  very  good  order."  On  the  Restoration  he 
was  made  Clerk  of  the  Green  Cloth ;  and  on  the 
raising  of  the  two  regiments,  the  first  of  the  kind 
ever  known,  he  was  appointed  paymaster,  and  soon 
after  paymaster-general  to  all  the  forces  in  Eng~ 
land.  In  1679,  he  was  made  one  of  the  lords  of 
the  Treasury;  and  in  the  same  year,  first  com- 
missioner in  the  office  of  master  of  the  horse ;  and 
in  1682,  had  interest  to  get  his  son  Charles,  then 
only  twenty-three  years  old,  to  be  appointed  sole 
paymaster  of  the^forces,  and  himself,  in  1684,  sole 
commissioner  for  master  of  the  horse.  James  II. 
continued  to  him  every  kind  of  favor;  yet  Sir 
Stephen  made  a  very  easy  transition  to  the  suc- 
ceeding prince,  and  enjoyed  the  same  degree  of 
courtly  emolument.  James  thought  he  might 
have  expected  another  return  from  this  creation 
of  the  StuaiHs:  accordingly  excepted  him  in  his 
act  of  grace,  on  the  intended  invasion  of  1 692. 

Sir  Stephen  made  a  noble  use  of  the  gifts  of 
fortune :  he  rebuilt  the  church  of  Farly,  his  na- 
tive place;  built  an  hospital  there  for  six  poor 
men,  and  as  many  poor  women  ;  erected  a  chapel, 
and  handsome  lodgings  for  the  chaplain,  and  en- 
dowed it  with  £.  188  a  year:  he  founded  in  the 
pame  place  a  charity-school ;  he  built  the  chancel 


CASTLE  ASHBY.  425 

of  a  church  in  the  north  of  Wiltshire,  which  the 
rector  was  unable  to  do.  He  also  built  the  church 
of  Culford  in  Suffolk,  and  pewed  the  cathedral  of 
Salisbury :  but  his  greatest  act  was  the  founding 
of  Chelsea  hospital,  which  he  first  projected,  and 
contributed  thirteen  thousand  pounds  towards  the 
carrying  on  ;  alleging,  that  he  could  not  bear  to 
see  the  common  soldiers,  zvho  had  spent  their 
strength  in  our  service,  beg  at  our  doors  \ 

He  married  his  second  wife  in  1703,  when  he 
was  seventy-six  years  of  age,  and  had  by  her  two 
sons  :  Stephen,  late  Earl  of  Ilchester  ;  and  Henry, 
late  Lord  Holland.  His  happiness  continued  to 
his  last  moment ;  for  he  died,  without  experiencing 
the  usual  infirmities  of  eighty-nine,  in  October 
1716. 

The  manor  of  Castle  Ashby  was  called  in  the  Manor  of 
Doomsday-book,  Asebi:  it  was  afterwards  called  ashby! 
Ashby  David,  from  David  de  Esseby,  who  was 
lord  of  it  in  the  time  of  Henry  III.  It  fell  after- 
wards to  Walter  de  Langton,  bishop  of  Lichfield ; 
who,  in  1 305,  got  leave  to  fortify  it1 ;  from  which 
it  got  the  name  of  Castle  Ashby.  It  afterwards 
passed  through  several  owners.  The  Greys,  Lords 
of  Ruthin  and  Earls  of  Kent,  possessed  it  for  a 
long  time,  till  Richard,  who  died  in  1503,  parted 

■  Collins,  v.  368.  *  Bridges,  341, 


426  EASTON  MAUDUIT. 

with  it  to  Lord  Hussey ;  who  alienated  it,  in  the 
time  of  Henry  VIII.,  to  Sir  William  Compton,  of 
Compton  Vinyate,  in  Warwickshire,  ancestor  of 
the  present  noblep  ossessor. 

The  grounds  have  been  laid  out  by  Mr.  Brawn  ; 
the  church,  dedicated  to  St.  Nicholas,  stands  in 
them,  at  a  small  distance  from  the  house.     I  took 
horse  and  rode  through  the  park,  and,  after  a  mile 
Easton     and  a  half,  reached  Easton  Mauduit u,  one  of  the 
seats  of  the  Earls  of  Sussex  ;  a  large  but  low  old 
house,   with  a  quadrangle  in  the    middle.     This 
place  probably  took  the  addition  of  Mauduit  from 
some  antient  owner.     Sir  Christopher  Yelverton, 
third  son  of  a  very  antient  family  in  Norfolk,  was 
the  first  of  the  name  who  settled  at  this  place. 
Portraits.       The  portraits  in  this  house  are  numerous.     In 
venthYEar"l  the  hal1  is  a  full-length  of  Henry,  seventh  Earl  of 
of  Kent.    Kent,  of  the  name  of  Grey,  dressed  in  black, 
with  a  turnover ;  and  another  of  his  lady,  Eliza- 
beth, second  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Gilbert,  se- 
venth Earl  of  Shrewsbury.     She  is  also  in  black, 
with  a  great  black  aigret,  light  hair,  bare  neck, 
and  ruff. 

Her  father,  in  white,  with  a  black  cloak,  ruff, 

u  Upon  the  death  of  the  late  Earl  of  Sussex,  Easton  Mau- 
duit estate  passed  by  purchase  to  Lord  Northampton,  who  pull- 
ed down  the  house,  and  disposed  of  the  pictures  by  public 
sale.     Ed. 


EASTON  MAUDUIT.  42/ 

and  George.  He  died  in  1616.  A  misnamed 
portrait,  called  his  great  ancestor,  the  first  Earl  of 
Shrexosbury,  is  shewn  here.  It  seems  to  be  of 
some  nobleman  of  the  time  of  Edward  VI.  dressed 
in  black,  with  a  sword,  the  George,  and  the  garter 
about  his  leg. 

On  the  stairs  is  an  excellent  painting  of  an  old 
poultry- woman. 

In  the  dining-room  is  a  half-length  of  Sir  Chris^  SlR  Chris- 

°  TOPHER   IEL- 

topher  Yelverton,  with  a  ruff,  and  in  robes,  as  one  verton. 
of  the  justices  of  the  King's  Bench.  He  distin- 
guished himself  in  the  profession  of  the  law  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  appointed  queen's 
Serjeant,  and  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1597.  His  speech  of  excuse  is  sin- 
gular, and  historical  of  himself  \  His  prayer  (for 
in  those  days  it  was  usual  for  the  speaker  to  com- 
pose one,  and  read  it  every  morning  during  the 
sessions)  ran  in  a  strong  vein  of  good  sense  and 
piety y.  He  was  the  purchaser  of  this  estate ; 
died  here  in  1607,  and  was  buried  in  the  adjacent 
church. 

His  son,  Sir  Henry,  appears  in  the  same  habit  Sir  Henry 

Yelvertov 

with  the  father.     The  date  is  1626,  cet.  60.     He 
proved  as  distinguished  a  lawyer  as  his  father, 

*  Drake's  Parliam.  Hist.  iv.  411.  *  The  same,  413. 


42S  EASTON  MAUDUIT. 

but  was  less  fortunate,  in  falling  on  more  dan- 
gerous times.  He  owed  his  rise  to  the  profligate 
favorite  Ker  Earl  of  Somerset.  On  the  disgrace 
of  his  patron,  Sir  Henry  had  gratitude  enough  to 
refuse  to  plead  against  him2,  notwithstanding  his 
office  as  solicitor- general  might  have  been  a  plea 
for  doing  it.  When  he  was  attorney-general,  he  fell 
under  the  displeasure  of  the  court :  he  was  charged 
by  the  Commons  with  making  out  the  patents  for 
the  monopolies,  sojustly  complained  of  in  thatreign. 
In  his  defence  he  suffered  to  escape  some  indiscreet 
truths,  which  were  interpreted  as  if  his  delin- 
quency was  not  disagreeable  to  the  king  and  the 
then  favorite  Buckingham.  The  rage  of  the  court 
was  directed  against  him  :  he  was  fined  in  ten 
thousand  marks  to  the  king,  and  five  thousand  to 
Buckingham ;  who  instantly  remitted  his  share3. 
Perhaps  the  favorite  might  fear  him;  it  having 
been  said,  that  one  cause  of  his  disgrace  was  the 
refusal  of  making  out  patents  to  the  degree  which 
the  duke  desired b,  whose  brother  was  deeply 
concerned  in  this  plunder  of  the  public.  A 
mean  letter  to  Buckingham,  and  a  submission 
in  the  star-chamber,  acknowleging  errors  of  ne- 
gligence, ignorance,  and  misprision,  restored  him 

*  Lloyd's  Worthies,  ii.  86.  a  Carte,  iv.  73, 

fc  Wilson. 


EASTON  MAUDUIT.  429 

to  favor c.  In  the  following  reign  he  was  made 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  Common  Pleas,  and  died 
in  January  1630. 

His  grandson,  Sir  Henry  Yelverton,  Baronet,  henrt^ 
is  dressed  in  a  brown  mantle  and  large  wig.  He 
was  a  worthy  character,  with  a  most  religious 
turn  :  a  strenuous  defender  of  Christianity  in  ge- 
neral, and  of  the  church  of  England  in  particular, 
as  appears  by  his  writings  in  behalf  of  both. 

His  lady  Susanna,  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of 
Charles  Longueville  Lord  Grey  of  Ruthin  ;  which 
title  devolved  to  her,  and  afterwards  to  her  son 
Charles.  She  is  very  beautiful,  and  represented 
by  Sir  Peter  Lely  with  her  head  reclining  on  her 
hand. 

Anne,  daughter  to  the  second  Sir  Christopher d, 
is  drawn  by  the  same  painter,  in  yellow,  leaning 
on  an  urn.  She  was  first  married  to  Robert  Earl 
of  Manchester,  and  afterwards  to  Charles  Earl  of 
Halifax. 

A  Lady  Bulkeley. 

A  head  of -France*  Viscountess  Hatton,  daugh- 
ter to  the  last  Sir  Henry  Yelverton. 

Barbara,   daughter  to  Sir  Thomas  Slingsby, 

c  Cabala,  409,  fyc. 

d  Son  to  Sir  Henry  Yelverton,  the  solicitor-general,  and  fa- 
ther to  the  second  Sir  Henry. 


430  EASTON  MAUDUIT. 

second  wife  to  Thomas  Earl    of  Pembroke,  by 
DahL 

Mrs.  Lawson,  a  celebrated  beauty  of  her  time, 
bare-necked,  in  a  loose  habit  clasped  before,  with 
a  sort  of  veil  flung  over  her  head. 

Sir  John  Talbot,  a  head,  with  a  big  wig  and 
armour. 
Church.         The   church  is  at  a  small  distance  from  the 
house  :  it  is  now  in  the  gift  of  Christ-church,  Ox- 
ford ;  but  formerly  belonged  to  the  abbey  of  La- 
tendon,  Buckinghamshire.     Within  are  very  ex- 
Tombs.     pensive  monuments.     The  first  is  in  memory  of 
Sir   Christopher  Yclverton,  who    died   in   \607 
aged    seventy-six ;    and   of  his   lady  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Catesby  of  Ecton  and  Whis- 
ton,  in  this  county.     Their  figures  are  placed  re- 
cumbent, and  painted  :  he  in  his  robes,  and  square 
cap,  and  an  artichoke  at  his  feet ;  she,  in  a  black 
jacket  and  petticoat,  and  great  distended  hood. 
At  her  feet  a  cat,  allusive  to  her  name. 

Over  them  are  two  arched  canopies  of  veined 
marble,  supported  by  six  square  pillars  of  luma- 
chella.  On  one  side  of  the  tomb  are  eight  fe- 
males ;  on  the  other,  two  male  figures,  and  a  little 
girl. 

The  other  monument  is  of  his  son  Sir  Henry. 
He  is  represented  in  his  robes  :  and  on  one  side 


LITTLE  BILLINGS.  431 

his  lady  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Twisden 
of  Rawdon-hall,  in  Kent,  lies  by  him,  wrapped  in 
a  black  cloak  from  head  to  feet.  Round  her  neck 
is  a  ruff :  in  one  hand  an  open  book.  Above  them 
is  a  vast  canopy,  with  various  statues  on  the  top. 
This  is  supported  on  each  side  by  two  full-length 
figures  of  almsmen,  in  black  gowns  and  hoods, 
with  great  white  beards  ;  the  arch  resting  on  their 
heads.  This  probably  alludes  to  some  charitable 
foundation  with  which  I  am  unacquainted.  In 
front,  beneath  Sir  Henry,  is  an  altar,  at  which 
kneel  two  men  in  armour,  and  two  in  cloaks,  and 
five  women.  It  does  not  appear  that  either  Sir 
Christopher  or  Sir  Henry  left  a  number  of  child- 
ren equal  to  those  expressed  on  their  respective 
tombs. 

In  my  return  I  saw  at  Little  Billings  the  poor  Little  Bil- 

.  .  LINGS. 

remains  of  the  mansion  of  the  great  family  of  the 
Longvilles.  John  de  Lungville  was  declared  lord 
of  the  place  in  1315.  This  was  he  who  founded 
the  Augustines  in  Northampton.  It  continued  in 
the  name  till  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  or 
James  I.  when  that  succession  expired  in  the  per- 
son of  Sir  Edzvard  Longeville. 

Not  far  from  hence  I  visited  Clifford's  Hill,  in 
the  parish  of  Houghton  Parva,  a  vast  artificial 
mount,  having  once  on  it  a  specula,  or  watch- 
tower.     The  coins  found  in  and  near  it^  prove  it 


432  ABBEY  DE  LA  PRE. 

to  have  been  the  work  of  the  Romans.  Before 
the  river  Nen  was  diverted,  by  the  building  of 
Billings  Bridge,  the  channel  ran  under  this  mount; 
which  it  is  supposed  to  have  guarded e. 

Reach  Northampton,  and,  after  a  short  stay, 
pass  over  the  river  into  the  suburbs,  called  the 
South  Quarters,  and  into  the  parish  of  Harding- 
stone.  On  each  side  is  a  fine  range  of  meadows ; 
those  on  the  left  are  greatly  enlivened  by  the 
beautiful  plantations  and  improvements  of  the 
Honorable  Edward  Bowverie,  whose  house  stands 
De  la  Pre  on  the  site  of  the  Abbey  de  Prat  is,  or  de  la  Pre  ; 
a  house  of  Cluniac  nuns,  founded  by  Simon  de  St. 
Liz  the  younger,  Earl  of  Northampton f.  It  had 
in  it  ten  nuns  at  the  time  of  the  dissolution.  The 
last  abbess,  Clementina  Stokes,  governed  it  thirty 
years ;  obtained  the  king's  charter  for  the  conti- 
nuance of  her  convent ;  but,  fearing  to  incur  the 
displeasure  of  the  tyrant,  resigned  it  into  the 
hands  of  Doctor  London,  the  king's  commissioner, 
and  got  from  him  the  character  of  a  gudde  agyd 
woman;  of  her  howse  being  in  a  gudde  state  ;  and, 
what  was  more  substantial,  a  pension  of  forty 
pounds  a  year. 

Between  this  place  and  the  town,  in   1460, 

e  Morton,  518. 

f  Dugdale,  i.  1011 ;  in  which  is  the  recital  of  the  old  char- 
ters. 


BATTLE  OF  NORTHAMPTON. 


433 


encamped  Henry  VI.  and  his  insolent  nobility, 
immediately  before  the  bloody  battle  of  North- 
ampton. The  king  (or  rather  queen)  depending 
on  the  strength  of  their  entrenchments  and  warlike 
engines,  returned  a  haughty  answer  to  the  humble 
proposals  sent  by  the  Earls  of  March  and  War- 
wick.  These  spirited  commanders  led  their 
troops  instantly  to  the  attack,  and  forced  the  camp,  Battle  op 

r  j  i  t-i  NORTHAMP- 

favored  by  the  treachery  of  Edmund  Lord  Grey  of  ton. 
Ruthen ;  who,  on  some  disgust,  changed  sides, 
and  assisted  the  enemy  in  forcing  their  way  into 
the  works.  "  Ten  thousand  talle  Englishmen 
"  and  their  king,"  says  Halle8,  "  were  taken, 
"  and  numbers  slain  or  drowned  in  the  river ;"  for 
the  fight  was  carried  on  with  the  obstinacy  usual 
in  civil  dissension.  Humphrey  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham, John  Earl  of  Shrervsbury,  John  Viscount 
Beaumont,  Thomas  Lord  Egremont,  and  Sir  Tho- 
mas Lucy,  were  among  those  who  fell.  Multi- 
tudes of  my  countrymen  also  perished  on  that 
day  \  The  slain  were  buried  either  in  the  church 
of  this  convent,  or  in  the  hospital  of  St.  John. 

On  the  road-side,  on  an  ascent  near  this  place, 
stands  one  of  the  pledges  of  affection  borne  by  Ed- 
ward I.  to  his  beloved  Eleanor;  who  caused  a 
cross  to  be  erected  on  the  spot  wheresoever  her 


Queen's 
Cross. 


*  xx  iv.  xxv. 


h  The  battle  was  fought  July  9th. 
2  F 


434  QUEEN'S  CROSS.    ELTAVON. 

body  rested,  in  its  way  from  Hareby  in  Lincoln-* 
shire,  where  she  died,  in  1290,  to  Westminster, 
the  place  of  her  interment.  It  is  kept  in  excel- 
lent repair  :  is  of  an  octagonal  form,  and  stands 
on  a  base  of  seven  steps.  Coats  of  arms  and  an 
open  book  adorn  the  lower  compartments.  Above, 
in  six  gothie  niches,  are  as  many  female  figures, 
crowned.  Above  them,  are  four  modern  dials, 
facing  the  four  cardinal  points ;  and  above  those 
is  the  cross. 

Around  this  spot  are  frequently  found  Roman 
coins  and  medals :  from  which  it  is  conjectured, 

Eltavon.  that  this  might  have  been  the  site  of  Eltavon,  or 
Eltabon  (from  the  British  Ael,  a  brow,  and  Afon, 
a  river) ;  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  Elta- 
nori,  or  Eltavori,  of  the  geographer  of  Ravenna f. 
The  dry  and  elevated  situation,  and  its  vicinity  to 
a  river,  makes  it  very  probable  that  this  was  a 
Roman  station,  at  least  a  summer  camp. 

Hcnsbo-  Near  this  place,  on  the  summit  of  the  hill  called 
Hunsborough,  are  some  antient  works,  of  a  circu- 
lar form  ;  i.  e.  conforming  to  the  shape  of  it ;  con- 
sisting of  a  foss  and  double  rampart,  with  a  single 
entrance.  .  Mr.  Morton*  attributes  this  to  the 
Danes,  and  imagines  it  to  have  been  a  summer- 

1  Morton  Northampton,  504.     Gale's  Iter  Br.  Com,  145. 
k  Morton,  533. 


ROUGH. 


HUNSBOROUGH.  HORTON  CHURCH.        435 

camp  of  one  of  the  plundering  parties  which  in- 
fested the  kingdom  of  Mercia  about  the  year  921. 
Another  was  raised,  about  the  same  time,  at  Terns- 
ford,  in  the  county  of  Bedford,  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. This  has  very  much  the  appearance  of  a 
British  post;  but  as  there  is  great  similitude  be- 
tween the  early  fortifications  of  the  northern  na- 
tions, I  will  not  controvert  the  opinion  of  that  in- 
genious author;  yet  I  have  probability  on  my 
side,  as  he  admits  that  the  Danes  had  possession 
of  Hamtune,  i.  e.  Northampton,  in  917.  I  think 
they  would  scarcely  trouble  themselves  with  rais- 
ing these  works  so  near  their  former  quarters, 
which,  for  any  thing  that  appears,  were  as  open  to 
them  in  92 1 ,  as  in  the  former  year. 

About  five  miles  from  Queens  Cross  I  turned    Hortow 

Church. 

a  little  out  of  my  road,  to  see  Horton  church,  re- 
markable for  a  fine  monument  of  William  Lord  William 
Parr,  uncle  to  Catherine,  the  last  queen  to  Henry 
VIII.  His  lordship  is  represented  in  alabaster, 
recumbent,  with  his  lady,  Mary  Salusbury,  by 
his  side ;  in  right  of  whom  he  became  master  of 
this  manor.  He  is  dressed  in  armour,  with  a  col- 
lar of  SS,  and  a  rose  at  the  end.  His  head  rests 
on  a  helmet,  whose  crest  is  a  hand  holding  a  stag's 
horn.  His  upper  lip  is  bare,  but  his  beard  is 
enormous,  regularly  curled  in  two  rows.  He  was 
called  to  the  House  of  Peers  on  this  second  mar- 

2  f  2 


Lord  Parr. 


436  HORTON. 

riage  of  his  niece,  was  appointed  her  chamberlain, 
and,  during  the  queen's  regency,  on  the  king's  ex- 
pedition to  France  in  1544,  had  the  respect  shewn 
him  to  be  named  as  a  counsel  to  her  majesty,  oc- 
casionally to  be  called  in1.  He  died  in  1548; 
left  four  daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom  conveyed, 
by  marriage  with  Sir  Ralph  Lane,  the  estate  into 
his  family. 

On  the  floor  are  the  figures  of  Roger  Salus- 
bury,  between  his  two  wives,  in  brass.  He  died 
in  1482,  first  owner,  of  his  name,  of  this  estate; 
whose  grandaughter  became  mistress  of  it  on  the 
death  of  her  father  William,. 

The  Lanes  kept  it  for  some  generations.  On 
the  death  of  Sir  William,  it  was  found  to  be  held 
of  Sir  Richard  Chetwood,  as  of  his  manor  of  Wood- 
hall,  by  the  service  of  one  knight's  fee,  suit  of 
court,  and  the  annual  payment  of  6s.  towards  the 
guard  of  Rockingham  castle.  The  estate  passed 
from  the  Lanes  (I  believe  by  purchase)  to  Sir 
Henry  Mountague,  first  Earl  of  Manchester,  and, 
by  descent,  fell  to  the  Earl  of  Halifax ;  and  is 
now  possessed  by  Lord  Hinchinbroke  m,  in  right  of 
his  lady,  daughter  and  heiress  of  the  last  Earl. 

1  Herbert's  Henry  VIII.  577. 

m  This  nobleman  succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  Sandwich 
on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1792.    Ed. 


THE  OUZE.    GOTHURST.  437 

The  house  is  in  a  very  unfinished  state;  part 
modern,  part  antient  and  embattled. 

From  the  Queens  Cross  to  this  place  the  coun- 
try is  uneven,  unwatered,  and  far  from  pleasant. 
It  is  now,  in  general,  inclosed ;  but  the  hedges  are 
young,  and,  till  within  these  few  years,  quite  a 
novelty. 

Near  the  fifty-eight  mile-stone  enter  the 
county  of 

BUCKINGHAM. 

Here  the  country  improves.     After  passing  Stoke   rST0KEc. 
Goldington,  a  small  village,  a  beautiful  vale  opens       ton. 
on  the  left,  watered  by  the  Ouze,  running  through  The  Ouze. 
rich  meadows,  and  embellished  with  the  spire  of 
Oulney  church.     This  river  rises  near  Sysam  in 
Northamptonshire,  and,  after  watering  this  coun- 
try, becomes  navigable  above  Bedford,  by  means 
of  locks ;  runs  by  Huntingdon  ;  and,  after  creep- 
ing almost  undistinguished  amidst  the  canals  of 
the  fenny  tracts,  falls  into  the  sea  at  Lynn  Regis. 
The  name  is  probably  derived  from  the  British, 
perhaps  signifying  a  river";  being,  in  common  with 
Avon,  the  name  of  numbers  of  British  streams. 

About  half  a  mile  from  its  banks,  on  a  rising 
ground  on  the  right,  stands  Gothurst,  antiently  Gothurst. 

"  Skinner. 


438  GOTHURST. 

Gaythurst ;  whose  venerable  form  has  not  been 
injured  by  inconsistent  alterations.  It  was  begun 
in  the  forty-third  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  was 
greatly  improved,  a  few  years  after,  by  William 
Mukho,  Esquire.  The  windows  are  glazed  with 
propriety :  only  part  of  the  back-front  is  mo- 
dernized. The  lands  are  very  finely  dressed,  and 
swell  into  extensive  lawns.  One  before  the  house 
consists  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-eight  acres ;  and 
on  the  sides  are  others  of  great  extent.  The  woods 
are  vast,  and  cut  into  walks  extensive  and  pleas- 
ing. Several  pretty  pieces  of  water,  the  view  of 
the  Ouze  and  its  verdant  meadows,  and  the  old 
respectable  house  of  Tyringham,  with  its  church, 
on  the  opposite  side,  are  no  small  embellishments 
to  the  place. 

This  manor,  at  the  time  of  the  compilation  of 
the  Doomsday-book,  was  held  by  Robert  cle  Noda- 
virs,  or  de  Nouers,  under  Odo  bishop  of  Baieu.r, 
Earl  of  Kent,  and  half-brother  to  the  Conqueror. 
Nouers  ^ne  ^e  N°uers  became  possessed  of  it  in  their 
own  right  in  the  time  of  Henry  II;  perhaps 
earlier  ° :  but  the  first  I  meet  with  is  lladulphus, 
and  his  son  Almaric,  who  lived  in  1252,  the 
thirty-seventh  of  Henry  III.  It  continued  in 
that  family  till  1408 p,  the  tenth  of  Henry  IV. 
when  it  became  the  property  of  Robert  Nevyll, 

0  Mr.  Cole.  r  Digly  Pedigree,  46  to  47. 


SIR  EVERARD  DIGBY. 


439 


descended  from  Hugo  de  Nevyll,  who  had  lands 
in  Essex  in  1363,  or  the  thirty-fifth  of  Edzvard 
III.  Robert  Nevyll  possessed  himself  of  Go- 
thurst,  by  marrying  Joanna,  sister  and  sole  heir  to 
the  last  Almaric  de  Nouers  ;  his  two  other  sisters, 
Agnes  and  Gracia,  having  preferred  a  monastic 
life". 

The  Nevylls  remained  owners  of  it  till  the  Nevylls. 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.  when  Maria,  only  daughter 
of  Michael  Nevyll,  on  the  death  of  her  two  bro- 
thers, became  possessed  of  it ;  and  she  bestowed 
it,  with  her  person,  on  Thomas  Mulsho  of  Thing-  Mulshos. 
don,  in  the  county  of  Northampton r,  a  respect- 
able family.  I  find  sheriffs  of  the  name,  as  early 
as  the  time  of  Richard  II ;  and  one  of  that  house 
governor  of  Calais  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  But 
the  first  mention  of  the  name  is  in  1370,  when 
lived  John  Mulsho  of  Goddington. 

Gothurst  continued  with  the  Mulshos  till  the 

beginning  of  the  reign  of  James  I ;  when  Maria, 

daughter  and  sole  heiress  to  William  (who  died  in 

1601)  resigned  herself  and  great  fortune  to  Sir 

Everard  Digby3,  one  of  the  handsomest  and  com-     dicbys. 

pletest  gentlemen  of  his  time :  but 

Eumenides  tenuere  faces  de  funere  raptas : 
Eumenides  stravere  torum. 


^  Digby  Pedigree,  44,  47. 
*  The  same,  x.  43. 


r  The  same,  4.5. 


440  SIR  EVERARD  DIGBY. 

She  had  not  been  married  three  years,  before  her 
husband  was  snatched  from  her  by  an  ignominious 
and  merited  death,  for  his  deep  concern  in  the 
plot,  which,  thanks  to  the  charity  of  the  times,  is 
execrated  by  each  religion.  It  is  very  probable, 
that  a  mind  so  tinctured  with  bigotry  as  his  was, 
soon  devoted  itself  to  the  most  desperate  resolu- 
tions, for  the  restoration  of  the  antient  church.  He 
foresaw  the  certain  consequences  of  ill  success, 
and,  preparing  against  the  event,  took  every 
method  to  preserve  his  infant  son  from  suffering 
from  the  fault  of  the  father.  Before  he  committed 
any  acts  of  treason,  he  secured  to  his  heirs  his 
estates,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  put  it  out  of  the 
power  of  the  crown  to  profit  by  their  confiscation1. 
This  illustrious  line  was  the  chief  of  the  Digby 
family ;  the  peers  of  that  name  springing  from 
younger  branches.  The  origin  is  Saxon.  The 
first,  of  whom  notice  is  taken,  is  JElmar,  who  had 
lands  at  Tilton  in  Leicestershire,  in  1086,  the 
twentieth  of  William  the  Conqueror.  They  after- 
wards took  the  name  of  Digby,  from  a  place  in 
Lincolnshire ;  and  became  owners  of  Stokedry  in 
Rutlandshire  (which,  till  the  acquisition  of  Cq- 
thurst,  was  their  usual  residence)  by  the  marriage 
of  Everard  Digby,  Esquire,  in  the  reign  of  King 
Henry  VI.   with   Agnes,    daughter  of  Francis 

%  Wright's  Antio.  Rutlandshire,  1 1  -t. 


DIGBY  PEDIGREE-BOOK.  441 

Clare  of  JVyssenden  and  Stokedry,  Esquire.  This 
gentleman,  with  three  of  his  sons,  fell  in  the  bloody 
field  at  Towton,  fighting  in  the  cause  of  the  house 
of  Lancaster". 

Most  of  the  particulars  relative  to  this  great 
family,  I  owe  to  the  friendship  of  my  worthy  pJjJJJ^ 
neighbor  JVatkin  Williams,  Esquire,  who  favored 
me  with  the  use  of  the  famous  genealogy  of  the 
Digbys  of  Tilton  ;  a  book  compiled  by  the  direc- 
tion of  Sir  Kenelm,  in  1634,  at  the  expence  of 
twelve  hundred  pounds.  This  tradition  is  very 
credible,  to  those  who  have  seen  the  book :  a  large 
folio,  consisting  of  five  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
vellum  leaves ;  the  first  hundred  and  sixty-five  orna- 
mented with  the  coats  of  arms  of  the  family  and 
its  allies,  and  with  all  the  tombs  of  the  Digbys 
then  extant,  illuminated  in  the  richest  and  most 
exquisite  manner.  The  rest  of  the  book  is  com- 
posed of  grants,  wills,  and  a  variety  of  other  pieces, 
serving  to  illustrate  the  history  of  the  family; 
drawn  from  the  most  authentic  records,  as  the 
title  sets  forth.  Several  of  the  wills  are  curious 
proofs  of  the  simplicity  of  the  manners  of  the 
times ;  and  one  of  the  magnificence,  superstition, 
and  vanity,  of  our  greater  ancestors.  A  specimen 
of  the  first  kind  I  shall  give  here ;  the  latter,  being 
of  great  length,  is  reserved  for  the  Appendix. 

»  Collins' '$  Peerage,  vii.  65  \ , 


442  SINGULAR  WILL. 

Curious  "  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  The  xvi  day 
"  ofthemoneth  of  January,  the  yere  of  our  Lord 
"  God  a  thousand  fyve  hundred  and  vinth,  I 
"  Ever  ode  Dygby  of  Stoke  dry,  in  the  countie  of 
"  Rutland,  of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  seke  in  body 
"  and  hole  in  mynde,  make  my  testament  and  last 
"  will  in  this  fourme  following.  Fyrst,  I  bequeth 
"  my  soul  to  God  Allmyghty,  our  blessed  lady 
"  seynt  Mary,  and  all  the  seynts  of  heven.  My 
"  body  to  be  buryed  in  the  parishe  churche  of 
"  Seynt  Petr  at  Tylton,  before  the  ymage  of  the 
"  blessed  Trinitie,  at  o'  lady  autther.  Itm.  I  be- 
"  queth  to  reparacon  of  the  said  church,  for  my 
"  buryall  ther,  vis.  viijd.  Item.  I  bequeth  to  the 
"  said  church  a  webe  of  land ;  whiche  the  churh- 
"  masters  of  the  said  churche  have  in  their  kepyng. 
"  Item.  I  bequeth  to  the  high  aiot.  of  the  parish 
"  church  of  Stokedry,  for  tythes  by  me  forgotten, 
"  ij*.  Itm.  I  bequeth  to  the  reparacons  of  the 
"  said  churche  of  Stokedry  vis.  viij*/.  Itm.  I  bi- 
"  queth  to  the  cathcdrall  churche  of  Line.  \]s. 
"  Itm.  I  biqueth  to  John  Dygby,  my  son,  all  my 
"  rents,  lands,  and  tenementes  whiche  I  have 
"  pr chased,  by  dede  or  by  copyhold,  in  the  townes 
"  and  fields  of  Vipinghm,  Preston,  Pysbroke,  and 
"  Elynden,  to  have  and  to  hold,  to  hym  and  his 
i(  assigneys,  duryng  the  terme  of  his  lyfF;  and 
"  aftr   his  decease,  I  Mill  that  the  said   rentes, 


SINGULAR  WILL.  443 

"  londes,  and  tenementes,  shall  remayne  to  Everod 
"  Dygby,  my  eldest  sonne,  and  to  his  hey  res  and 
"  assignes  for  ever.     Item.  I  biqueth  to  Alice) 
"  my  daughter,  all  my  rentes,  landes,  and  tene- 
"  mentes,  wth  all  proufetts  and  comoditiestothem 
"  belongyng,  whiche  I  have  prchased,  by  dede  or 
"  by  copy,  in  the  townes  and  feldes  of  Hareborow, 
"  Bow  den,  and   Foxton,  to  have  and  to  hold  to 
"  hyr,  hyr  heyres  and  assigneyes  for  ever.     Itm. 
"  I  biqueth  to  the  foresaid  John  Dygby,  my  son, 
"  ij  geldyngs,  iij  maires  for  his  ploughe,  with  all 
"  barnes  and  other  thynges  to  it  belongyng,  and 
"  also  a  pair  of  cart  wheles  unshode.     Itm.  I  bi- 
"  queth  to  my  forsaid  doughter  Alice,  a  fetherbed, 
"  a  matras,  a  bolster  of  fethures,  with  pillowes, 
"  blanketts,   shetys,  coverletts,  and  covyng.  with 
"  all  the  hangyng  of  rede  say  pertenyng  to  the 
"  bed  whiche  I  now  ly  in.     Itm.  I  biqueth  to 
"  Elyn,  my  dowght.  lxxx/.  of  gode  and  lawfull 
"  money,  to  be  payed  to  hir  by  my  sone  Everode, 
"  within  the  space  of  iij  yeres  next  following  aftr 
"  my  decease,  if  she  within  that  tyme  be  maryed; 
"  and  if  she  be  not  maried  within  iij  yeres  next 
"  after  my  decease,  then  I  will   that   my  sone 
"  Everad shall delyv.  hir  10/.  in  gode  money;  and 
"  the  residue  of  the  lxxx/.,  I  will  be  put  into  stock, 
"  and  be  occupyed  by  my  said  sonne  Everad  to 
u  hir  use  and  proufitt,  untill  the  tyme  that  she  be 


444  SINGULAR  WILL. 

"  maryed,  and  then  to  be  dely  vered  to  hir  :  and  if 
"  she  decease  before  that  she  be  maryed,  then  I 
H  will  that  the  said  residew  of  lxxx/.  besids  the 
"  xl.  paid  to  her,  be  gyven  and   payed  to  the 
"  fynding  of  a  preste  to  syng  for  my  soul,  as  long 
"  as  the  money  will  extend  to,  after  the  discrcion 
"  of  my  execute      Itm.  I  biqueth  to  my  said 
"  dought.  Elyn,  a  fetherbed,  a  matras,  a  spaiver 
"  w1  hangynge,  blankette,  shetis,  and  coverlitts, 
"  and  other  things  to  it  belongyng,  as  it  lies  in  the 
"  chamber  called  the  Norcery,  within  my  place  of 
"  Stoke  bifor  said.     Itm.  I  bequeth  to   Everad 
"  my  sone,  and  Alice  my  daughter,  iiij  pair  of  my 
"  best  and  finest  shetis,  to  be  devided  equallie 
"  bitwixt  them.      Itm.  I   biqueth    to    my  said 
"  daughter  Elyn,  the  next  best  pair  of  shetis  that 
"  I  have,  and  other  v  pair  of  fflexyn  shetys,  and 
"  ij  pair  of  hardyn  shetis.     Itm.  I  bequeth  to  my 
"  daughter  Alice  aforsaid,  x  other  pair  of  flexyn 
u  shetis,  and  ii  pair   of  harden  shetis.     Itm.  I 
"  bequeth  to  my  daughter  Kateryn,  nunne  at 
u  Sempinghm.  xxs.  in  money,  and  a  pair  of  flexyn 
"  shete,  and  a  white  sparnar.     Itm.  I  bequeth  to 
"  Darnegold,  my  daughter,  ij  kyne  and  1 2  ewes. 
"  Itm.  I  bequeth  to  my  sonne   Everad  Dygby, 
"  my  grettest  bras  pot,  to  be  kept  for  a  standard 
"  of  that  hows,  and  the  next  bras  pott  and  two 
i(  little  bras  pottes,  and  halfe  a  garnysh  of  pewter 


SINGULAR  WILL.  445 

vessell,  with  all  other  ledy  fattys,  tubby  s,  and 
bolles  w'in  my  hows,  and  my  grettest  bras  pane, 
w*  two  other  lesser  pannes :  and  all  other  my 
brass  pottes,  panes,  and  pewt.  vessel,  I  will  be 
devided  betwene  John  Dygby  my  sonne,  and 
Alice  and  Elyn  my  doughters.  Itm.  I  biqueth 
to  my  said  sonne  Everod,  a  plough,  w*  all  harnes 
pertenyng  to  it,  and  six  of  my  plough  horses, 
for  his  said  plough,  and  my  waynes,  and  viij  of 
my  best  oxen,  wl  all  thinges  pertenyng  to  the 
same  waynes,  and  six  of  my  best  keyn,  and  lx 
of  my  best  shepe.  It m.  I  will  that  the  residew 
of  all  my  shepe,  keyn,  calves,  and  oxen,  not  by 
me  biquested,  divided  bitwen  John  Dygby  my 
sonne,  and  Alice  and  Elyn  my  forsaid  dough- 
ters, equally.  Itm.  1  biqueth  to  Rowland  of 
Lee,  my  susters  sonne,  ij  keyn  and  a  young 
black  ster,  and  vj  ewes.  Itm.  I  bequeth  to 
Everard  Ashby,  my  godson,  iiij  of  my  best 
calves,  which  be  goyng  in  Tylton  feilds.  Itm. 
I  biqueth  to  Margaret  Kynton,  my  hunte,  a 
matras,  a  gode  coverlitt,  a  bras  pott,  a  pair  of 
flexyn  shete,  a  kow,  and  vj  ewes,  and  xiijV. 
iiij*/.  in  money,  for  hir  wages.  Itm.  I  biqueth 
to  Elyn  Hall,  my  hunte,  at  Tylton,  a  kow  and 
x\s.  in  money.  Itm.  I  biqueth  to  the  parishc 
church  of  Skevyngton  vjs.  v'ujd.  Itm.  To  the 
parishe  churche  of  Vpinghm.  us.     Itm.  To  the 


446  SINGULAR  WILL. 

"  parishe  churche  of  Lidington  \\]s.  iiijJ.     Itm* 
"  To  the  abbot  of  Wolston  \js.  \i\]d.  and  every 
"  chalon.   of  his  hous   v\\]d.   if  they  be  at  my 
"  buriall.     Itm.   I  gyve  to  the  couent  there,  to 
"  have  placebo  and  dirigc  song  in  their  church  for 
"  my  soul,  xs.     Itm.  I  biqueth  to  Sir  Robert 
lt  Kyrkby,  chalon.  ther,  to  py.  for  my  soul,  xxs. 
"  Itm.  I  will  that  my  executo.  doe  fynde  an  able 
"  prest,  to  syng  for  my  soull,  and  the  soulles  of 
"  my  father  and  mother,  and  all  Cristen  soules, 
"  by  the  space  of  iij  yere  next  following  after  my 
"  decease,  in  parishe  church  of  Tylton.     The  re- 
"  sidue  of  all  my  rentes,  londes,  and  tenementes, 
w  dettes,  and  all  other  my  godes,   moveable  and 
"  unmoveable,  I  give  and  biqueth  them  to  Ever  ad 
"  Dygby,  my  eldist  sonne  and  myn  hey  re,  whom 
"  I  ordeyne  and  make  my  sole  executor,  to  pay 
"  therwith  my  dette,  and   to  dispose  the  residew 
"  thereof  att  his  discretion,  for  the  helth  of  my 
"  soulle  and  my  friendes.    Thyes  beryng  witness, 
OfDalison.  "  Mr.    Thomas   Daly  son,    pson.    of  Stoke    dry, 
Of  Skeff-   <c  Wiliiam  Skevyngton,   Everod  Darby,  and  John 
Of  Darby.  "  Daluson,  gentilmen,  Sir  Robart  Kyrkby,  chalon. 

Of  Kirkby.  ttt  . 

Of  North-  "  of  Wolston,  and  Sir  Thomas  Northmpton, 
"  chalon.  of  Laund,  of  the  diocise  of  Lincoln  above 
"  rehersed.  E.  Watson. 

"  2Tenore  putm.  nos  JVillmus.  permissione  di- 


AMPTON. 


SINGULAR  WILL.  447 

"  vinas  Can?  Archiepus  totius  Anglie  primus  et 
"  Aplice  sedis  legtus  notum  facimus  universis 
"  quod  duodecimo  die  mensis  February  anno 
"  Dm.  millimo  quingentesimo  octavo,  apud  La- 
"  mehith  probatum  fuit  coram  nobis  ac  p.  nos  ap- 
"  probatur  et  insinuatur  testm.  Eoerardi  Dygby 
"  defuncti  putib.  annexu.  trents.  dum  vixit  & 
"  mortis  sue  tempore  bona  in  diversis  dioc  nre. 
"  Cant,  provinc.  cujus  pro  textu  ipsius  testamenti 
"  approbatio  et  insinuatio  ac  administrationis 
"  bonorum  &  debitorum  concessio  nee  non  com- 
"  poti  calculi  sive  rationarii  administrationis 
"  hinor.  auditio  finalisq.  liberatio  sive  dimissio 
"  ab  eadm.  nos  solum  et  insolidum  et  non  ad 
"  alium  nobis  inferiorem  cudicem  de  nre  preroga- 
"  tiva  et  consuetudine  nris  ac  ecclie.  pre  xpi.  tant 
"  hactenus  quiete  pacifice  et  inculle  in  hac  pte. 
"  usitat.  et  obsuat.  ltimeq.  prescript  dmonstrat. 
"  notorie  pertinere  comissaq.  fuit  admistratio  om. 
"  et  singulor.  bonor.  et  debitor:  dri.  defuncti 
"  Ever ar do  Dygbi  executori  in  timor.  testamento 
"  noiat.  de  bene  et  fidelit.  admistrando  eadm.  ac 
"  de  pleno  et  fideli  inuentario  omni.  &c.  singlor. 
"  bono,  et  debitoru.  timoi.  conficiend.  et  nobis 
"  citra  festid.  annunciationis  beate  Marie  Virgi- 
"  nis  px.  futur.  exhibendo,  nee  non  de  piano  et 
"  vero  compoto  calculo  sive  ratiotino  nobis  aut 
"  successoribus  nris.  in  ea  pte.  redend.  ad  fta.  dei 


448  SIR  KENELM  DIG  BY. 

"  eungelia.  in  rat  dat.  die  mensis,  anno  Dni.  et 
"  loco  predicto  et  nre.  trans  anno  sexto. 

"  Exam.  a.  concard.  recordia 
"  /.  Hen.  Lilly, 
"  Rouge  Rose. 
"  Everard  Digby 
"  made  his  will 
"  anno  1508. 


"Eva-ard     John  Alice.     Ellen.      Katharine,     Darnegold." 
Digby,     Digby.  a  nun  at 

eldest  son  Scmpringham. 

and  heir. 

I  now  return  to  the  period  when  the  family 

emerged  from  its  misfortune,  and  in  the  person  of 

Sir  Kenelm  gjr  Xenelm,  the  son  of  the  last  Sir  Everard,  was 

Digby.  ' 

restored  to  its  former  honor,  by  his  uncommon 
merit.  He  married  Venetia,  daughter  of  Sir 
Edxvard  Stanley  of  Tongue  Castle,  Shropshire, 
Knight  of  the  Bath.  His  eldest  son,  Kenelm, 
was  slain  in  1648,  in  the  civil  wars,  at  St. 
Neots:  his  second  son,  John,  succeeded  to  the 
estate,  and  survived  his  father  many  years.  He 
left  by  his  wife  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  Edward 
Longueville  of  Wolverton,  in  this  county,  Baronet, 
two  daughters ;  the  eldest,  Margaret  Maria, 
married  Sir  John  Conway  of  Bodryddan,  in  Flint- 
.   shire ;  the  younger,  Charlotta,  married  Richard 


GOTHURST:    PORTRAITS.  449 

Mostyn  of  Penbedzv,  in  the  same  county,  Esquire. 
These  two  gentlemen,  in  1 704,  sold  this  manor, 
with  Stoke  Goldington,  and  the  advowson  of  both 
the  churches,  to  George  Wright,  Esquire,  son  of 
the  lord  keeper,  Sir  Nathan  Wright ;  in  whose 
posterity  it  still  remains.  By  the  preceding  owners, 
the  reliques  of  Sir  Kenehns  collection  came  into 
my  country ;  but  the  leaving  behind  the  two  beau- 
tiful busts  of  lady  Venetia,  impresses  no  favorable 
idea  of  their  taste. 

Some  portraits,  belonging  to  the  former  pos-  Portraits. 
sessors,  still  keep  a  place  in  the  house.  In  the 
parlour  is  a  full-length  of  old  Mr.  Digby,  father  Old  Mr. 
to  the  unhappy  Sir  Everard.  He  is  represented 
in  a  close  black  dress,  a  laced  turnover  ruff,  and 
with  lace  at  his  wrist :  his  hair  black,  his  beard 
round,  with  one  hand  on  his  sword.   The  other,  of. 

His  lady,  Mary  daughter  of  Francis  Neile,  His  Lady. 
Esquire,  of  Prestzvold  and  Keythorp,  in  Leices- 
tershire, and  widow  to  the  Staffordshire  anti- 
quary, Sampson  Erdeswik.  Her  dress  is  black, 
pinked  with  red  ;  she  has  a  high  fore-top  adorned 
with  jewels,  a  thin  upright .  ruff,  round  kerchief,  a 
farthingale,  with  gloves  in  her  hand. 

Their  son,   the  victim  to  bigotry,  is  here  atSiREvERARD. 
full-length,  in  a  black  mantle  and  vest,  the  sleeves 
slashed,  and  pinked  with  white,  large  turnover, 
and  turn-ups  at  his  wrists  :  one  hand  holds  his 

2g 


450  GOTHURST  i 

gloves ;  the  other  is  gracefully  folded  in  his 
mantle. 
Sir  Kekelm.  a  remarkable  portrait,  of  a  young  man  of 
large  size,  in  a  quilled  ruff,  white  jacket,  black 
cloak,  purple  hose,  flowered  belt,  a  bonnet  with  at 
white  feather  in  it,  with  one  hand  on  his  sword. 
Above  him,  in  a  tablet,  is  represented  a  lady,  in 
a  most  supplicatory  attitude,  with  a  lute  in  one 
hand,  and  a  purse  in  the  other,  offering  it  to  him. 
He  stands  by  her,  with  averted  look,  one  hand  on 
his  breast,  and  with  an  air  which  shows  his  rejec- 
tion of  her  addresses,  and  horror  at  the  infamy  of 
mercenary  love  ;  and  as  if  uttering  to  her  the 
words  inscribed  near  to  him,  his  major  a  \ 

This  I  suspect  is  a  portrait  of  the  famous  Sir 
Kenelm,  in  his  youthful  days  ;  that  prodigy  of 
learning,  credulity,  valour,  and  romance,  whose 
merits,  although  mixed  with  many  foibles,  entirely 
obliterated  every  attention  to  the  memory  of  his 
father's  infamy.  The  circumstance  of  the  lady 
painted  along  with  him,  is  a  strong  confirmation 
of  the  truth  of  the  story  related  by  Lloyd,  that  an 
Italian  prince,  who  was  childless,  earnestly  wished 
that  his  princess  might  become  a  mother  by  Sir  Ke- 

1  This  portrait  is  inscribed  on  the  back  John  Digbt/ ;  but 
from  the  romantic  circumstance  attending  it,  the  dress,  and 
the  likeness  to  other  pictures  of  Sir  Kenelm,  I  cannot  help 
supposing  it  to  be  his. 


PORTRAITS.  451 

nelm,  whom  he  esteemed  as  a  just  model  of  perfec- 
tion. It  is  probable  that  the  princess  would  not  have 
disobeyed  the  commands  of  her  lord  :  bin  whether 
the  painting  alludes  to  our  knight's  cruelty  on  this 
occasion,  or  whether  it  might  not  describe  the  ad-^ 
venture  of  the  Spanish  lady,  recorded  in  an  ele- 
gant old  ballad ",  I  will  not  pretend  to  determine. 

In  the  long  room  above  stairs,  is  the  picture  of  vLad*a 
his  beloved  wife  Venetia  Anastatia  Stanley,  in  a 
Roman  habit,  with  curled  locks.  In  one  hand  is 
a  serpent ;  the  other  rests  on  a  pair  of  white 
doves.  She  is  painted  at  Windsor  in  the  same  em- 
blematic manner,  but  in  a  different  dress,  and  with 
accompaniments  explanatory  of  the  emblems. 
The  doves  shew  her  innocency  ;  the  serpent,  which 
she  handles  with  impunity,  shews  her  triumph 
over  the  envenomed  tongues  of  the  times.  We 
know  not  the  particulars  of  the  story.  Lord 
Clarendon  must  allude  to  her  exculpation  of  the 
charge,  whatsoever  it  was,  when  he  mentions  her 
as  "  a  lady  of  extraordinary  beauty,  of  as  extraor- 
"  dinary  fame  V  In  the  same  picture  is  a  genius* 
about  to  place  a  wreath  on  her  head.  Beneath 
her  is  a  Cupid  prostrate  :  and  behind  him  is  Ca- 
lumny, with  two  faces,  flung  down  and  bound ;  a 
beautiful  compliment  on  her  victory  over  Male- 

"  Antient  Songs  and  Ballads,  ii.  231. 
*  Lord  Clarendon's  Life,  34. 

2  G  2 


452  GOTHURST: 

volence.  Her  hair  in  this  picture  is  light,  and 
differs  in  color  from  that  in  the  other.  I  have 
heard.  from  a  descendant  of  her's,  that  she  affect- 
ed different  hair-dresses,  and  different-colored  eye- 
brows, to  see  which  best  became  her. 

Sir  Kenelm  was  so  enamoured  with  her  beauty, 
that  he  was  said  to  have  attempted  to  exalt  her 
charms,  and  preserve  her  health,  by  a  variety  of 
whimsical  experiments.  Among  others,  that  of 
feeding  her  with  capons  fed  with  the  flesh  of  vi- 
pers J ;  and  that,  to  improve  her  complexion,  he 
was  perpetually  inventing  new  cosmetics.  Pro- 
bably she  fell  a  victim  to  these  arts ;  for  she  was 
found  dead  in  bed,  May  1st,  1633,  in  the  thirty- 
third  year  of  her  age.  She  was  buried  in  Christ- 
church,  London,  under  a  large  insulated  tomb  of 
black  marble,  with  her  bust  on  the  top.  This 
perished  in  the  great  fire ;  but  the  form  is  repre- 
sented in  the  Pedigree-book,  and  from  that  en- 
graven in  the  Antiquaries  Repertory. 

Both  the  pictures  are  the  performances  of  Van- 
dyck.  In  this  at  Gothurst  are  two  of  her  sons,  of 
a  boyish  age,  and  in  the  dress  of  the  times. 

y  I  am  told,  that  the  great  snail,  or  Pomatia,  (Br.  Zool.  iy. 
N°.  128)  is  found  in  the  neighboring  woods,  which  is  its  most 
northern  residence  in  this  island.  It  is  of  exotic  origin.  Tra- 
dition says,  it  was  introduced  by  Sir  Kenelm,  as  a  medicine 
for  the  use  of  his  lady. 


PORTRAITS.  453 

Here  are,  besides,  two  most  beautiful  busts  of  Busts  or 
the  same  lady,  in  brass ;  whether  by  Le  Soeur  or  Venetia. 
Fanelli,  I  am  not  certain.  One  is  in  the  dress  of 
the  times  :  an  elegant  laced  handkerchief  falls  over 
her  shoulders,  leaving  her  neck  bare.  Her  hair  is 
curled,  braided,  twisted,  and  formed  on  the  hind 
part  of  her  head  into  a  circle ;  beneath  which  fall 
elegant  locks.     On  this  bust  is  inscribed, 

Uxor  em  vivam  amare  voluptas,  defunct  am,  religio. 

The  other  is  a  V antique.  The  head  is  dressed 
in  the  same  manner,  only  bound  in  a  fillet :  the 
drapery  covers  her  breast ;  but  so  artificially,  as 
not  to  destroy  the  elegancy  of  the  form. 

I  know  of  no  persons  who  are  painted  in 
greater  variety  of  forms  and  places,  than  this  il- 
lustrious pair :  possibly  because  they  were  the 
finest  subjects  of  the  times.  Mr.  TValpole  is  in 
possession  of  several  most  exquisite  miniatures  of 
the  lady,  by  Oliver,  bought  from  the  heirs  of  Bod- 
rhyddan  and  Pembedw,  at  a  very  high  price.  The 
most  valuable  one  is  in  a  gold  case,  where  she  is 
painted  in  company  with  her  husband.  There  is 
another,  said  to  be  painted  after  she  was  dead : 
and  four  others,  in  water-colors. 

The  same  gentleman  is  in  possession  of  a  beau- 
tiful miniature  of  her  mother,  Lady  Lucy  Percy, 


454  GOTHURST:    PORTRAITS. 

purchased  at  the  same  time.     She  is  dressed  like 
a  citizen's  wife,  and  with  dark  hair. 
LordKeeper     Among  other  portraits2,  is  a  full-length  of  the 

Wright.  *  \  c 

lord  keeper,  Sir  Nathan  I Fright,  in  his  robes,  and 
Sir  Joseph  a  head  of  Sir  Joseph  Jekyll,  in  a  long  wig  and 

Jekyll.  # 

robes.  The  first  received  his  appointment  in  the 
year  1700,  unfortunately  for  him,  as  successor  to 
Lord  Somers;  whose  precipitate  dismission,  in  fa- 
vor of  a  Tory,  hardly  allowed  time  for  reflection 
on  the  impropriety  of  the  choice.  Sir  Nathan 
kept  his  place  till  the  year  1703,  when  he  was 
dismissed,  not  without  disgrace ;  more  through 
defect  of  ability  than  want  of  integrity :  but  con- 
temned by  both  parties. 

Sir  Joseph  was  a  very  different  character:  a 
staunch  Whig,  and  a  man  of  great  abilities  and 
worth.  He  died  Master  of  the  Rolls,  in  1738. 
His  wig  was  probably  none  of  the  best,  if  we  are 
to  trust  these  complimentary  lines  of  Pope a : 

A  horse-laugh,  if  you  please,  on  honesty ; 
A  joke  oh  Jekyll,  cr  some  odd  old  Whig 
Who  never  chang'd  his  principle  or  wig. 

*  Here  is  also  preserved  a  good  portrait  of  Sir  Leoline  Jen- 
kins, plenipotentiary  at  Cologn  and  Nimegven,  and  secretary 
of  state  in  1680.     Ed. 

a  Epilogue  to  the  Satires. 


GOTHURST  CHURCH.  455 

The  church  lies  at  a  little  distance  from  the  Chorch. 
house ;  it  is  new,  and  very  neat,  having  been  re- 
built, in  pursuance  of  the  will  of  George  Wright, 
Esquire,  son  of  the  keeper,  The  figures  of  father 
and  son  face  you  as  you  enter  the  church  :  the  first 
in  his  robes :  the  other  in  a  plain  gown :  both 
furnished  with  enormous  Parian  perriwigs. 

In  the  old  church  was  a  grave-stone,  lying  in 
the  chancel,  supposed  to  have  been  laid  over  John 
de  Nouers,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Edward  III. 
The  inscription  was  in  French b. 

JO  :  DE  :  NOVERS  :  GIST  ICI 

DIEV  :  DE  :  S'ALME :  EIT  :  MERCI :  AMEN. 

From  Got  hurst  I  crossed  the  Ouze,  to  the  re 
spectable  old  house  of  Tyringham c,  (once  the  seat  Tyringham, 
of  a  family  of  the  same  name)  which  stands  very 
high  in  point  of  antiquity.     Giffard  de  Tyringham 
gave  the  church  of  Tyringham  to  the  priory  of 
Tickford,   near  Newport  Pagnel,  in  1187.     Sir 

b  Communicated  by  Mr.  Cole,  from  church-notes,  taken 
1634. 

e  Tyringham' is  now  in  the  possession  of  William  Praed, 
Esquire,  in  right  of  his  wife  Elizabeth,  sister  and  heiress  to  Ty- 
ringham Backwell,  Esquire.  The  old  mansion  was  pulled 
down  in  the  year  1 800,  at  the  time  an  elegant  modern  house, 
built  by  Mr.  Praed,  was  finished.     Ed. 


456  TYRINGHAM  HOUSE. 

Roger  de  Tyringham  was  cne  of  the  knights  who 
attended  Edward  I.  into  Scotland;  and  Roger, 
his  son,  was  sheriff  of  this  county  as  early  as  the 
fifteenth  of  Richard  II d.  A  Sir  John  Tyringham 
had  the  honor  of  losing  his  head  in  the  cause  of 
Henry  VI. ;  being,  with  several  others,  put  to 
death  unheard,  in  1461,  for  the  murder  of  the 
Duke  of  York ;  that  is,  for  being  present  at  the 
battle  of  Wakefield,  where  that  prince  fell  by  some 
unknown  hand.  It  continued  in  this  antient 
family,  till  1685,  when,  on  the  death  of  Sir  WiU 
Ham  Tyringham,  it  devolved  to  John,  son  of  Ed- 
ward Backwell,  alderman  of  London,  who  had 
married  his  only  daughter. 

The  house  has  been  neglected  for  some  time, 
but  not  wholly  unfurnished.  Several  family-por- 
traits still  continue  there  :  such  as  a  head  of  Lady 
Tyringham,  in  a  yellow  laced  cap  and  ruff;  of 
the  same  kind  with  that  in  which  the  famous  Mrs. 
Turner  went  to  be  hanged,  for  her  concern  in 
Over  bury  s  murder. 

A  very  curious  picture,  full-length,  of  an  aged 
lady,  in  a  great  quilled  ruff  and  gauze  cap,  dis- 
tended behind,  with  an  enormous  gauze  veil  fall- 

d  In  1322,  or  the  fifteenth  of  Edward  II.,  Roger  de  Tyring- 
ham was  appointed  to  superintend  the  estates  forfeited  in  this 
county,  on  the  Earl  of  Lancaster's  rebellion.     Rj/mer,  iii.  963. 


Portraits. 


TYRINGHAM  HOUSE.  457 

ing  to  the  ground;  a  black  gown  spotted  with 
white ;  jewels,  in  form  of  a  cross,  on  her  breast ; 
another  on  her  arm,  and  great  strings  of  pearl 
round  her  wrists.  She  stands  beneath  a  canopy, 
on  which  is  a  crown  and  coat  of  arms. 

Another,  of  a  young  lady  leaning  on  a  chair, 
in  a  gauze  cap,  falling  back;  yellow  petticoat 
flowered  with  red,  and  a  feather-fan. 

A  half-length  of  Colonel  Backwell,  in  blue, 
gold  sleeves  and  frogs,  a  sash ;  and  a  battle  in  view. 

A  small  portrait  of  Edward  Backwell,  Es-  Edw.  Back- 
quire.  He  is  represented  in  long  hair  and  a 
flowered  gown,  with  a  table  by  him.  I  have  a 
fine  print  of  him,  given  me  by  the  late  Mr.  Back- 
xvell,  one  of  his  descendants.  He  was,  says  Mr. 
Granger,  an  alderman  of  London  and  a  banker, 
of  great  ability,  industry,  and  integrity,  and  of 
most  extensive  credit ;  but  ruined  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.  by  the  infamous  project  of  shutting 
up  the  Exchequer.  He  retired  to  Holland,  where 
he  died,  and  was  brought  over  to  be  interred  in 
the  church  of  Tyringham ;  where  he  lies  em- 
balmed. A  glass  is  placed  over  his  face ;  so  his 
visage  may  possibly  be  seen  to  this  time. 

I  could  not  but  admire  a  spirited  picture  of  a 
Falcon  stooping  at  Bitterns. 

In  the  hall  is  a  curious  table,  of  an  ash-colore^ 


453  NEWPORT  PAGNEL. 

marble.  I  should  call  it  a  polynesious  marble, 
being  veined  like  a  chart  filled  with  little  islands, 
nicely  shaded  at  their  edges. 

As  my  curiosity  led  me  to  explore  the  kitchen, 
I  found  on  the  walls  the  rude  portraits  of  the  fol- 
lowing fish,  recorded  to  be  taken  in  the  adjacent 
river,  in  the  years  below-mentioned. 

A  carp,  in  1648,  2  feet  9  inches  long. 

A  pike,  in  1658,  3         7. 

A  bream,  2          3f; 

A  salmon,  3         1 0. 

A  perch,  2  0. 

A  shad,  in  1683,  1         11. 

These  are  the  records  of  rural  life  ;  important  to 
those  who  were  perhaps  happily  disengaged  from 
the  bustle  and  cares  attendant  on  politics  and  dis- 
sipation. 

The  adjacent  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Peter, 
and  united  with  Filgrave :  it  is  in  the  gift  of  Mr. 
Backwell.  The  village  of  Tyringham  is  quite  de- 
populated, and  the  church  of  Filgrave  dilapidated ; 
but  the  inhabitants  of  that  parish  make  use  of  the 
church  of  Tyringham. 

About  a  mile  farther,  go  through  the  village  of 

Lathburt.  Lathbury  ;  near  which  is  the  church,  and  a  large 
old  house. 

Newport       ^  little  farther  is  Nezvport  Pagnel :  in  former 

rAGK£L< 


NEWPORT  PAGNEL.  459 

times  of  dangerous  approach,  by  reason  of  the 
overflowing  of  the  Ouze.     This  small  town  stands 
between  that  river  and  the  Lovet,  near  their  junc- 
tion.    Soon  after  the  Conquest,  it  was  the  pro- 
perty of  William  Fitz-Ausculph6-,   from  him  it 
passed  in  the   reign   of  IVtlliam   Rufics  to  the 
Paganels,  or  Painels,  who  continued  possessed  of 
it  above  a  century.      Leland  mentions  them  as 
lords  of  the  castle  of  Nexvport  PagneV.     On  the 
death  of  Gervase  Pagnel,  in  the  reign  of  Richard 
I.  this  manor  became  the  property  of  John  de 
Somerie,  by  marriage  with  Hawise,  daughter  of 
Gervase*.  His  son  Ralph  gave  King  John  &  hundred 
pounds,  and  two  palfreys,  for  livery  of  this  lord- 
ship, and  did  homage  for  it.  In  the  reign  of  Henry 
III.  Roger  de  Somerie  forfeited  his  lands,  for  ne- 
glecting (on  summons)  to  receive  the  honour  of 
knighthood  \     The  king  then  granted  the  farm  of 
this  place  to  Walter  de  Kirkham  for  life,  quitting 
him  of  suits  to  county  and  hundred,  and  of  aid  to 
sheriffs  and  his  bailiffs ;  and  that,  when  the  king 
or  his  heirs  should  tallage  their  manors  and  de- 
mesnes, the  said  Walter  might  by  himself,  and  to 
his  own  use,  tallage  the  said  manor  in  like  form 
as  it  might  be  tallaged  if  it  were  in  the  king's 

e  Dugdale  Baron,  i.  43 1 .  •    f  Leland  Itin.  i.  26. 

s  Dugdale  Baron,  i.  612.  h  Dugdale,  p.  613. 


460 


NEWPORT  PAGNEL.     HOSPITALS. 


Lace  Manc 
facture. 


hand !.  But  I  find  that  it  afterwards  reverted  to 
the  Sorrier ies.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  it  was 
conveyed  to  Thomas  de  Botetourt,  by  his  marriage 
with  Joan,  one  of  the  sisters  of  John  de  Somerie, 
last  male  heirk.  I  now  lose  sight  of  the  succes- 
sion, and  can  only  say,  that  it  continued  a  place  of 
strength  till  the  civil  wars  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, when  its  strength  was  demolished,  or,  ac- 
cording to  the  phrase  of  the  time,  slighted,  by  order 
of  parlement,  in  16461. 

It  flourishes  greatly,  by  means  of  the  lace  ma- 
nufacture, which  we  stole  from  the  Flemings,  and 
introduced  with  great  success  into  this  county. 
There  is  scarcely  a  door  to  be  seen,  during  sum- 
mer, in  most  of  the  towns,  but  what  is  occupied  by 
some  industrious  pale-faced  lass ;  their  sedentary 
trade  forbidding  the  rose  to  bloom  in  their  sickly 
cheeks. 

The  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul;  was  an  impropriation  belonging  to  the 
neighboring  abbey  of  Tickford;  and  is  in  the  gift 
of  the  crown. 
Hospitals.  Here  were  three  hospitals,  founded  in  early 
times.  That  by  John  de  Somerie,  about  the  year 
1280,  still  survives,  for  three  poor  men,  and  the 


Church. 


1  Madox  Antiq.Exch.  i.  418. 
1  Whitelock,  167,  236. 


k  Duzdale  Baron,  ii.  46. 


WOBURN  SANDS. 

same  number  of  poor  women;  having  been  re- 
founded  by  Anne  of  Denmark^  and  from  her  is 
called  Queen  Anne's  Hospital  The  vicar  of 
Newport  for  the  time  being  is  appointed  master  m. 
About  eight  miles  from  Nezvport,  at  the  forty- 
four  mile-stone,  at  Hogsty-house,  enter  the  county 
of 


461 


BEDFORD, 

on  Woburn  Sands,  seated  on  the  extremity  of  the    Woburk 

Sands. 

range  of  hills  which  traverse  the  east  end  of  the 
former  county,  and  contain  the  parishes  of  the 
three  Brickhills.  Near  the  road  side  are  the 
noted  pits  of  fullers'  earth,  that  invaluable  sub-  Fullers' 
stance  which  is  supposed  to  give  the  great  supe- 
riority to  the  British  cloth  (honestly  worked)  over 
that  of  other  nations. 

The  beds  over  this  important  marie  are,  firstly, 
several  layers  of  reddish  sand,  to  the  thickness  of 
six  yards ;  then  succeeds  a  stratum  of  sand-stone, 
of  the  same  color ;  beneath  which,  for  seven  or 
eight  yards  more,  the  sand  is  again  continued  to 
the  fullers'  earth ;  the  upper  part  of  which,  being 
impure,  or  mixed  with  sand,  is  flung  aside,  the 
rest  taken  up  for  use.  The  earth  lies  in  layers ; 
under  which  is  a  bed  of  rough  white  free-stone, 


m  Tanner,  33. 


462  FULLERS'  EARTH. 

about  two  feet  thick,   and  under  that  sand  \  be- 
yond that  the  laborers  never  have  penetrated. 

The  great  use  of  this  earth  is  cleansing  the 
cloth,  or  imbibing  the  tar,  grease,  and  tallow,  which 
are  so  frequently  employed  by  the  shepherds,  in 
healing  the  external  diseases  which  sheep  are 
liable  to;  neither  can  the  wool  be  worked,  spun, 
or  woven,  unless  it  be  well  greased.  All  this 
grease  must  be  gotten  out,  before  the  cloths  are  fit 
to  wear.  Other  countries  either  want  this  species 
of  earth,  or  have  it  in  less  perfection.  The  British 
legislature  therefore  have,  from  the  days  of  Charles 
I.  guarded  against  the  exportation  of  it  under 
severe  penalties.  The  Romans  attended  to  the 
fulling  business  by  their  lex  Metella,  which  was 
made  expressly  to  regulate  the  manufacture*. 
They  used  various  kinds  of  earth  :  the  cimolia,  the 
tarda  (which  came  from  Sardinia),  and  the  urn* 
brica.  The  two  first  were  white ;  the  latter  might 
be  allied  to  ours  :  crescit  in  macerando ;  it  swells 

n  Neque  enim  pigebit  hanc  quoque  partem  attingere,  cum 
lex  Metella  extet  fullonibus  dicta,  quam  C.  Flaminius,  L. 
Mmilius,  censores  dedere  ad  populum  ferendam.  Adeo  omnia 
majoribus  curae  fuere.  Ergo  ordo  hie  est :  primum  abluitur 
vestis  Sardd,  dein  sulphure  suffitur :  mox  desquamatur  Cimolia 
quae  est  coloris  veri.  Plinii  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  xxxv.  c.  17. — The 
finest  foreign  earth  of  this  kind,  is  what  the  prince  of  Biscari 
sent  me  from  Sicily,  under  the  title  of  Terra  Chiamata  sapo- 
nara  della  quale  si  servono  quei  Paesani  per  lavare  i  pannilinL 


WOBURN  TOWN.    CHURCH.    TOMBS. 


463 


in  water0 ;  a  property  of  the  true  marles.  But  the 
application  of  earths  in  the  woollen  manufacture, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  cleansing,  was  of  very  early 
times : — But  who  may  abide  the  day  of  his  coming, 
and  who  shall  stand  when  He  appea7*eth  ?  for  He 
is  like  a  refiner  s  fire,  and  like  fullers'  sopep. 

At  a  small  distance  from  hence  lies  the  little 
town  of  TVoburn,  in  which  is  a  free-school,  found- 
ed by  Francis  I.  Earl  of  Bedford,  and  a  charity- 
school  for  thirty  boys,  by  Wriothesly  Duke  of 
Bedford.  The  church  was  built  by  the  last  abbot 
of  JVoburn q,  and  belonged  to  that  religious  house ; 
having  been  a  chapel  to  Birchmore,  a  church  long 
since  demolished.  This  place  is  of  exempt  juris- 
diction, under  the  patronage  of  the  adjacent  great 
family".  The  steeple  is  oddly  disjoined  from  the 
church.  The  chancel  has  been  very  elegantly 
fitted  up  with  stucco  by  the  late  duke.  The  pulpit 
is  a  pretty  piece  of  got  hie  carving,  probably  coeval 
with  the  abbey. 

A  neat  monument  of  Sir  Francis  Stanton,  is 
preserved  here  ;  who,  with  his  lady,  is  kneeling  at 
an  altar. 

In  the  south  aile  stood  a  grey  marble,  robbed 
of  the  figure  of  a  priest  under  a  large  canopy,  and 
four  coats  of  arms,  with  the  inscription  entire. 


WoBURtt 

Town- 


Church. 


Tomes. 


*  Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  xxxv.  c.  17. 
1  Willis,  ii.  4.  r  Ecton,  211. 


P  Malachi  iii.  2. 


464  WOBURN  ABBEY. 

Hie  peek  Job  Morton,  filius  quonda  Johes  Morton,  de  Ports-1 
grave,  domini  de  Lovelsbury,  qi  obiit  in  die  comemorcois  Sci 
Pauli,  anno  Dni  Millmo  C.  C.  C.  nonagesimo  quarto.  Quor 
aie  ppicietur  Deus*. 

In  the  east  window  were  the  arms  of  Robert 
Vere  Earl  of  Oxford,  impaling  Samford ;  the  last, 
in  right  of  his  wife  Alice,  daughter  and  heiress  to 
Gilbert  Lord  Samford,  chamberlain  to  Elinor, 
consort  to  Edward  I. s 
Abbey.  At  a  little  distance  from  the  town  was  situated 
the  abbey,  founded,  in  1 145,  by  Hugh  de  Bolebec, 
a  nobleman  of  great  property  in  this  neighbor- 
hood ;  who,  inspired  by  God,  made  a  visit  to  the 
abbot  of  Fountains,  to  advise  him  about  his  pious 
design1.  The  abbot  encouraged  him  to  proceed  ; 
and  Hugh  erected  the  buildings,  endowed  them, 
and  peopled  them  with  monks  of  the  Cistercian 
order,  and  placed  over  them,  as  first  abbot,  Alan, 
brought  from  the  monastery  of  Si.  Mary,  at 
York".  The  place  prospered,  by  several  benefac- 
tions ;  and  at  the  dissolution,  was  found,  accord- 
ing to  Dugdale,  to  be  possessed  of  revenues  to 
the  amount  of  £.  391.  18^.  %d.  a  year,  or  to 
£.  430.  13s.  1  Id.  according  to  Speed*. 

*  These  two  particulars  I  collect  from  Mr.  Cole's  papers. 

*  Dugdale  Monast.  i.  829.  °  Willis,  ii.  4. 

*  Tanner,  4. 


WOBURN  ABBEY.  465 

The  last  abbot,  Robert  Hobbs,  was  hanged  at 
JVoburn,  in  March,  1537,  for  not  acknowleging 
the  king's  supremacy.  The  monastery  and  its  re- 
venues, in  1547,  were  granted  by  Edzoard  VI.  to 
Lord  Russel,  soon  after  created  Earl  of  Bedford 
by  the  same  prince.  None  profited  so  greatly  by 
the  plunder  of  the  church  as  this  family :  whose 
fortune,  even  to  the  present  time,  principally 
originates  from  gifts  of  this  nature.  To  the  grant 
of  IVoburn  it  owes  much  of  its  property  in  this 
county,  and  in  Bucks  ;  to  that  of  the  rich  abbey 
of  Tavistock,  vast  fortunes  and  interest  in  Devon- 
shire ;  and,  to  render  them  more  extensive,  that 
of  Dunkeswell  was  added.  The  donation  of 
T homey  abbey  gave  him  an  amazing  tract  of  fens 
in  Cambridgeshire,  together  with  a  great  revenue. 
Melchburn  abbey  (I  should  have  before  said)  in- 
creased his  property  in  Bedfordshire ;  the  priory 
of  Castle  Hymel  gave  him  footing  in  Northamp- 
tonshire, and  he  came  in  for  parcels  of  the  apper- 
tenance  of  St.  Albaris,  and  Mountgrace  in  York- 
shire ;  not  to  mention  the  house  of  the  friars 
preachers  in  Exeter,  with  the  revenues  belonging 
to  the  foundation ;  and  finally,  the  estate  about 
Covent  Garden,  with  a  field  adjoining,  called  The 
Seven  Acres,  on  which  Long  Acre  is  built,  apper- 
tenances  to  the  convent  of  Westminster  ;  the  first, 
a  garden  belonging  to  the  abbot. 

2  H 


WOBURN-HOUSE.    PORTRAITS. 

The  superstitious  will  stand  amazed,  that  no 
signal  judgment  has  overtaken  these  children  of  sa- 
crilege ;  yet  no  house  in  Britain  has  thriven  more 
than  the  house  of  Russel. 
House.  The7  house  is  situated  in  a  very  pleasant  park, 
well  wooded,  but  defective  in  water;  the  several 
pieces  being  too  much  divided,  and  the  dams  too 
conspicuous.  The  present  house  was  built  by  the 
late  duke,  excepting  a  paltry  grotto,  by  Inigo 
Jones  (which  shews  that  his  taste  was  superior  to 
such  childish  performances),  and  the  great  stables, 
which  were  part  of  the  antient  cloisters,  and  still 
preserve  their  pillars  and  vaulted  roof.  The 
offices  are  also  the  work  of  the  late  duke,  and 
form  two  magnificent  but  plain  buildings,  at  a 
small  distance  from  the  mansion. 
Portrays.  This  house  is  a  treasure  of  paintings  ;  of  por- 
traits of  the  great,  now  illustrious  by  the  figure 
they  make  in  the  eyes  of  posterity,  undazzled  by 
the  wealth,   rank,  power,  or  qualifications,  men- 

*  Considerable  additions  were  made  to  Woburn  by  its  late 
noble  owner,  and  the  grounds  greatly  improved  ;  the  detached 
pieces  of  water  are  united  so  as  to  form  a  sufficient  expanse 
bounded  by  flourishing  plantations.  To  pass  unnoticed  the  laud- 
able attention  of  Francis  Duke  of  Bedford  to  agriculture,  would 
be  invidious,  but  to  particularise  the  perfection  to  which  he 
brought  it,  and  the  patriotic  endeavours  he  exerted  in  its  dif- 
fusion, requires  a  space  incompatible  with  the  tendency  of 
this  work.     Ed. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  467 

tal  or  corporeal,  which  concealed  their  failings,  and 
made  them  pass  at  lest  unnoticed  openly  by  their 
cotemporaries.  They  now  undergo  a  posthumous 
trial,  and,  like  the  Egyptians  of  old,  receive  cen- 
sure or  praise  according  to  their  respective  merits. 
The  greater  number  are  now  collected  in  the 
gallery,  a  room  unparalleled  for  its  valuable  and  in- 
structive series  of  portraits ;  their  history  would 
make  a  volume.  I  can  only  pretend  to  point  out 
some  principal  facts,  that  the  spectator,  who 
honors  me  with  his  company,  through  this  illus- 
trious assemblage,  may  not  have  to  reproach  me 
with  suffering  him  to  depart  wholly  uninformed. 
I  lament  they  are  not  placed  in  chronological 
order.  I  must  give  them  as  they  are  now z  arranged. 
Beginning  at  the  east  end,   the  first  I  shall  point 

out  is 

Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  in  a  black  dress,  furred ;  by  Sir  Nicho- 

_       7  las  Bacon. 

Zucchero. 

A   fine  portrait    by    Sir   Antonio  More  of  Edw.  Cour- 

TENEY    XLARI* 

Edward  Court eney,  last  Earl  of  Devonshire  of  his  of  Devon- 


shire. 


z  The  editor  here,  as  at  Gorhambury,  has  preserved  the 
description  of  the  whole  of  the  portraits  mentioned  in  the  first 
edition  of  this  work,  arranging  them  in  the  order  in  which 
they  are  placed  at  present.  The  late  Duke  of  Bedford  added 
several  valuable  paintings  of  the  Flemish  school,  and  the  very 
interesting  series  of  the  portraits  of  artists  which  adorn  the 
elegant  library.  A  general  catalogue  of  the  pictures  at  Woburn 
is  given  in  the  Appendix.    Ed. 

2  H  2 


463  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

name ;  who,  for  his  nearness  in  blood  to  the  crown, 
was  imprisoned  by  the  jealous  Henry,  from  the 
age  of  ten  till  about  that  of  twenty-eight.  His 
daughter  Mary  set  him  at  liberty,  and  wooed  him 
to  share  the  kingdom  with  her.  He  rejected  her 
offer,  from  preference  to  her  sister  Elizabeth  ;  for 
which,  and  some  false  suspicions  of  disaffection, 
he  suffered  another  imprisonment  with  Elizabeth. 
He  was  soon  released.  He  quitted  the  kingdom, 
as  prudence  directed,  and  died  at  the  age  of  thirty 
at  Padua. 

He  is  represented  as  a  handsome  man,  with 
short  brown  hair,  and  a  yellow  beard,  a  dark 
jacket,  with  white  sleeves,  and  breeches  ;  behind 
him  is  a  ruined  tower  ;  beneath  him  this  inscrip- 
tion, expressive  of  his  misfortunes ; 

En!  puer  et  insons  et  adhuc  jurenilibus  annis  : 
Annos  bis  septem  carcere  clusus  eram. 
Me  pater  his  tenuit  vinclis,  quae  filia  solvit : 
Sors  mea  sic  tandem  vertitur  a  superis. 

Fourteen  long  years  in  strict  captivity, 
Tyrant-condemn  d  I  passed  my  early  bloom, 
'Till  pity  bade  the  generous  daughter  free 
A  guiltless  captive,  and  reverse  my  doom.     R.  W. 

Sir  Philip       $ir  Philip  Sydney  is  painted  in  the  twenty  se- 
Sydney.     cond  vear  0f  his  age.  jn  a  quilled  ruff,  white 

slashed  jacket,  a  three-quarter  length.  He  was  a 
deserved  favourite  of  Queen  Elizabeth :  who  well 
might  think  the  court  deficient  without  him ;  for, 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 


469 


to  uncommon  knowledge,  valour,  and  virtuous 
gallantry,  was  joined  a  romantic  spirit,  congenial 
with  that  of  his  royal  mistress.  His  romance  of 
Arcadia  is  not  relished  at  present :  it  may  be 
tedious ;  but  the  morality,  I  fear,  renders  it  dis- 
gusting to  our  age.  It  is  too  replete  with  inno- 
cence to  be  relished.  Sir  Philip  was  to  the  Eng- 
lish, what  the  Chevalier  Bayard  was  to  the 
French,  Un  chevalier  sans  peur,  ct  sans  reproche. 
Both  were  strongly  tinctured  with  enthusiastic 
virtue :  both  died  in  the  field  with  the  highest  sen- 
timents of  piety. 

Queen  Mary  in  her  usual  deformity,  by  Sir 
Antonio  More. 

Th e  head  of  Frances  Countess  of  Somerset a.  She     Frances 
is  dressed  in  black,  striped  with  white,  and  her  ruff  Somerset. 
and  ruffles  starched  with  yellow.     This  fashion 
soon  expired;  for  her  bawd  and  creature,   Mrs. 
Turner,  went  to  Tyburn  in  a  yellow  ruff,  and  put 
the  wearers  out  of  conceit  with  it.     I  need  not  en- 


CjUEEN 

Mary. 


a  This  bears  so  little  resemblance  to  the  print  by  Passe, 
of  the  same  infamous  character,  that  the  editor  is  inclined 
to  doubt  its  being  the  portrait  of  the  person  it  is  said  to  re- 
present. The  inscription  formerly  called  it  Anne  Countess 
of  Somerset,  a  misnomer  which  has  been  corrected.  The 
head  of  her  sister  Catharine  Countess  of  Salisbury,  which  oc- 
cupies a  place  in  the  gallery,  is  admirably  painted,  and  in 
the  stile  of  dress  and  features,  though  much  embellished,  is 
a  striking  likeness  of  the  above  mentioned  engraving.     Ed. 


470  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

large  on  the  well-known  marriage  and  divorce  of 
this  lady  from  the  Earl  of  Essex.  They  are  too 
notorious  to  be  insisted  on ;  as  is  her  weakness,  in 
having  recourse  to  the  impostor  Forman  for 
philtres  to  debilitate  Essex,  and  impel  the  affec- 
tions of  Somerset  towards  her.  Her  wickedness, 
in  procuring  the  death  of  Overbury,  who  ob- 
structed this  union ;  her  sudden  fall,  and  confes- 
sion of  guilt  on  her  trial,  need  no  repetition.  Her 
Earl  avowed  his  innocency;  he  had  been  more 
covert  in  his  proceedings.  Her  passions  were 
more  violent,  her  resentments  greater,  and,  of 
course,  her  caution  less.  They  both  obtained  an 
unmerited  pardon,  or  rather  reprieve,  being  con- 
fined in  the  Tower  till  the  year  1622,  and  then 
confined,  by  way  of  indulgence,  in  the  house  of 
Lord  Wallingford.  The  little  delicacy  which 
people  of  rank  too  frequently  shew,  by  counte- 
nancing the  vices  of  their  equals,  was  too  conspi- 
cuous at  this  time.  The  Countess  felt  their  pity, 
and  was  visited  even  by  the  stern  Anne  Clifford. 
Somerset  lived  with  his  lady,  after  their  confine- 
ment, with  the  strongest  mutual  hatred  :  the  cer- 
tain consequence  of  vicious  associations.  He  died 
in  the  year  l645b;  she,  before  him.  In  her  end 
may  be  read  a  fine  lesson  on  the  vengeance  of 
Providence  on  the  complicated  wickedness  of  her 

b  Dugdalc  Baron,  ii.  420. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  471 

life.  It  may  be  held  up  as  a  mirror  to  posterity, 
persuasive  to  virtue,  and  teach  that  Heaven  in- 
flicted a  finite  punishment  on  the  criminal,  in 
mercy  to  her,  and  as  a  warning  to  future  genera- 
tions. I  give  the  relation  (filthy  as  it  is)  in  the 
Appendix ;  but  hope  the  utility  of  the  moral  will 
excuse  the  grossness  of  the  tale. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  gallery  Sir  Nicholas  Sir  Nicho- 

r7T7  LAS     THROG- 

1  nrogmorton.  morton. 

A  full  length  portrait  of  Robert  Earl  of  Essex,  RobertEarl 
by  Zucchero,  in  white.  Elizabeth's  passion  for 
Essex  certainly  was  not  founded  on  the  beauty  of 
his  person.  His  beard  was  red,  his  hair  black,  his 
person  strong,  but  without  elegance,  his  gait  un- 
graceful c.  But  the  queen  was  far  past  the  heyday 
of  her  blood  :  she  was  struck  with  his  romantic 
valour,  with  his  seeming  attachment  to  her  per- 
son, and  I  may  add,  with  the  violence  of  his  pas- 
sions ;  for  her  majesty,  like  the  rest  of  her  sex, 
probably 

StoopM  to  the  forward  and  the  b  old. 

At  length  his  presumption  increased  with  her 
favor  ;  her  fears  overcame  her  affection,  and,  after 
many  struggles,  she  consigned  him  to  the  scaffold ; 
having  thoroughly  worked  himself  out  of  her  gra- 
cious conceit d. 

c  Reliquicc  Wottoniance,  3d.  ed.  170.  d  Ibid.  165. 


472  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

ThomasEawl     Thom as  Earl  of  Exeter,  eldest  son  to  the  great 

OF  l^XKTER. 

Burleigh,  is  painted  a  full  length.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  nobleman  was  inferior  in  abilities  to  his 
younger  brother,  yet  was  he  a  man  of  spirit  and 
of  parts.  He  served  as  a  volunteer  at  the  siege 
of  Edinburgh  castle  in  1 573  ;  distinguished  him- 
self in  the  wars  in  the  Low  Countries  ;  and,  with 
his  brother,  served  on  board  the  fleet  which  had 
the  honor  of  defeating  the  Spanish  armada.  He 
entered  also  into  the  romantic  gallantries  of  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  was  a  knight-tflter 
in  the  tournaments  performed  for  the  amusement 
of  her  illustrious  lover,  the  Duke  oiAnjou,  in  1581. 
In  the  following  reign  he  was  employed  as  a  man 
of  business ;  was  created  Earl  of  Exeter ;  and 
finished  his  course,  aged  eighty,  in  February  1622. 
RobertEarl  His  younger  brother  is  placed  near  him,  stand- 
bury.  ing  :  a  mean,  little,  deformed  figure,  possessed  of 
his  father's  abilities,  but  mixed  with  deceit  and 
treachery.  His  services  to  his  master  and  his 
country,  will  give  him  rank  among  the  greatest 
ministers,  but  his  share  in  bringing  the  great 
Raleigh  to  the  scaffold,  and  the  dark  part  he 
acted,  in  secretly  precipitating  the  generous,  un- 
suspecting Essex  to  his  ruin,  will  ever  remain  in- 
delible blots  on  him  as  a  man.  His  dress  is  that 
of  the  Spanish  nation,  (though  he  was  averse  to 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  473 

its  politics)  a  black  jacket  and  cloak,  which  add 
no  grace  to  his  figure. 

Three  heads  of  Diana,  Margaret  and  Anne,      Ladies 

K.USSEL 

daughters  of  Francis,  fourth  Earl  of  Bedford. 

Lucy,  Countess  of  Bedford,  exactly  resembling      Lucy 

,  .  Countess  of 

that  at  Alloa.     '  Bedford. 

Diana  Russel,  wife  to  Francis,  Earl  of  New-      Lady 

.        ,  Newport. 

port,  a  head. 

Her  sister  Margaret,  wife  to  James  Earl  of  Countess  of 

sy      ,.  7  Carlisle. 

Carlisle. 

A  fine  full  length  of  a  nobleman,  in  a  black   A  Noble- 

•  MAN. 

and  gold  vest,  and  with  a  high-crowned  hat  in  his 
hand.  On  the  back  ground  is  a  curtain,  almost 
concealing  a  lady ;  of  whom  only  one  hand  and  a 
part  of  her  petticoat  are  seen.  By  this  is  JEtatis. 
1614.  Lcy  I. 
Edward  Earl  of  Manchester,  lord  chamber-    Edward 

i    •  m       7      tt        t  i     •  Earl  of 

lain  to  Charles  II.     Long  hair  and  robes.  Manches- 

Catherine,  eldest  daughter  of  Francis,  fourth 

Earl  of  Bedford,  and  widow  of  the  unfortunate  Lady  Brook. 

Robert  Lord  Brook,  who  was  killed  at  Lichfield, 

She  is  represented  in  mourning. 
Thomas,  Earl  of  Southampton,  in  black  with  a    Thomas 

Earl  of 

star  on  his  mantle.  Southamp- 

Hea  d  of  Anne  Countess  of  Bedford.  Anne 

Christiana,  daughter  to  Edward  Lord  Bruce,  C^^^f 

of  Kinloss,  and  wife  to  the  second  William  Earl  of  Christiana, 

Countess  of 
Devon- 
shire. 


474  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

Devonshire,  a  small  head6,  with  long  hair;  her 
dress  white.  This  lady,  who  is  less  talked  of  than 
others,  was  by  far  the  most  illustrious  character  of 
the  age  in  which  she.  lived.  Her  virtues,  domestic 
and  public,  were  of  the  most  exalted  kind.  Hos- 
pitality, charity,  and  piety,  were  in  her  pre-emi- 
nent. I  speak  not  of  her  great  maternal  cares ; 
nature  dictates  that,  more  or  less,  in  all  the  sex  : 
but  her  abilities  in  the  management  of  the  vast 
affairs  of  her  family,  perplexed  with  numberless 
litigations,  gave  her  a  distinguished  character.  She 
at  least  equalled  her  lord  in  loyalty,  and  was  in- 
defatigable in  inciting  the  nobility,  who  had  quitted 
the  cause  of  majesty,  to  expiate  their  error.  After 
the  battle  of  Worcester,  she  lived  three  years  in 
privacy  at  her  brother's  house  at  Ampthill,  and 
had  correspondence  with  several  great  personages, 
on  the  subject  of  restoring  the  exiled  king.  The 
reserved  Monk  had  such  an  opinion  of  her  pru- 
dence, as  to  communicate  to  her  the  signal  by 
which  she  might  know  his  intentions  on  that  sub- 
ject.  She  lived  in  high  esteem,  to  a  very  advanced 
age;  died  in  1674,  and  was  interred  by  her  be- 
loved lord,  at  Derby. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  so  illustrious  a  character 

e  This  and  eleven  other  heads  of  the  same  size,  are  copies 
by  a  painter  of  the  name  of  Russel. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  475 

should  attract  the  powers  of  the  poets.  She  had 
the  honor  of  being  celebrated  by  one  equal  in  rank 
to  her  own.  That  accomplished  nobleman  Wil- 
liam Earl  of  Pembroke,  wrote  several  poems  to 
her,  and  dedicated  a  collection  of  them  to  her. 
"  There  is  wit  and  ease  in  several ;  but  a  great 
"  want  of  correction ;  and  often  of  harmony." 
The  following  is  the  least  faulty f;  the  subject, 

That  he  would  not  be  beloved. 
Disdain  me  still,  that  I  may  ever  love; 
For  who  his  love  enjoys  can  love  no  more ; 
The  war  once  past,  with  peace  men  cowards  prove, 
And  ships  returned,  do  rot  upon  the  shore. 
Then  tho'  thou  frown,  I'll  say  thou  art  most  fair, 
And  still  I'll  love,  tho'  still  I  must  despair. 
As  heat  to  life,  so  is  desire  to  love ; 
For  these  once  quench'd,  both  life  and  love  are  done. 
Let  not  my  sighs  nor  tears  thy  virtue  move  j 
Like  basest  metals,  do  not  melt  too  soon. 
Laugh  at  my  woes,  although  I  ever  mourn : 
Love  surfeits  with  rewards,  his  nurse  is  scorn. 

A  portrait  formerly  called  Lucy  Countess  of      Lucy 

.  .  .      Countess  of 

Bedford,   in  a   white   satin  gown   worked   with   Bedford. 
colors,  a  laced  single  ruff,  and  a  long  scarlet  velvet 

f  Communicated  to  me  by  Mr.  Walpole ;  who  is  in  pos- 
session of  this  very  scarce  book :  a  thin  small  quarto,  published 
in  1 660.  It  consist^  of  the  Earl's  poems,  and  responses  by 
Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard;  and  other  poems,  by  both,  on  other 
subjects.  See  Royal  Authors,  i.  192,  for  a  farther  account  of 
this  noble  poet. 


476  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

cloak  hanging  gracefully  with  one  arm  folded  in  it. 
On  her  head  is  a  pearl  coronet,  and  pearls  on  her 
wrists.  In  the  back  ground,  she  appears  in  a 
garden,  in  the  true  attitude  of  stately  disdain,  bent 
half  back,  in  scorn  of  a  poor  gentleman  bowing  to 
the  very  ground.  Unfortunately  for  her  lover,  it 
is  probable  that  Donne  had  just  told  her, 

Out  from  your  chariot,  morning  breaks  at  night, 
And  falsifies  both  computations,  so; 
Since  a  new  world  doth  rise  here  from  your  light, 
We  your  new  creatures  by  new  recknings  go. 

This  shews  that  you  from  nature  lothly  stray, 

Thus  suffer  not  an  artificial  day. 
In  this  you  have  made  the  court  the  antipodes, 
And  will'd  your  delegate  the  vulgar  sunne. 
To  doe  profane  autumnal  offices, 
Whilst  here  to  you  wee  sacrificers  runne, 

In  all  religions  as  much  care  hath  bin 

Of  temples  frames  and  beauty,  as  rites  within. 

Henry  Earl  A  half  length  of  Henri/  Earl  of  Southampton, 
ampton.  by  Sol.mon  de  Causz,  with  short  grey  hair ;  in 
black,  with  points  round  his  waist,  a  flat  ruff, 
leaning  on  a  chair,  with  a  mantle  over  one  arm. 
This  nobleman  was  a  friend  to -the  Earl  of  Essex, 
and  through  friendship,  not  disaffection,  attended 
him  in  the  mad  and  desperate  insurrection  which 
brought  the  favorite  to  the  block.  The  plea  was 
admitted,  he  was  condemned,  but  reprieved  ;  and 

*  WalpoUs  painters,  i.  20. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 


477 


Countess 
of  Berk- 
shire. 


,  continued  in  the  Tower  till  the  accession  of  James  I. 
when  he  was  instantly  restored  to  his  honors  and 
estate.  By  reason  of.his  love  to  the  Earl  of  Essex, 
he  never  was  on  good  terms  with  the  minister,  the 
Earl  of  Salisbury.  He  was  one  that  attended 
Mansfield's  army  into  the  Netherlands,  and  died 
in  1624,  at  Bergen  op  Zoom,  of  a  fever,  contracted 
in  that  fatal  expedition. 

Head  of  Dorothy,  daughter  to  Thomas  Lord 
Viscount  Savage,  and  wife  to  Charles,  second 
Earl  of  Berkshire. 

Heads  of  Edward,  John,  Francis,  and  Cathe- 
rine, children  of  Francis,  fourth  Earl  of  Bed- 
ford. 

A  full  length  of  a  nobleman,  in  a  black  jacket, 
double  ruff,  brown  boots,  and  a  stick  in  his  hand ;  Northum 
armour  by  him ;  a  manly  figure,  with  short  black 
hair  and  square  beard,  miscalled  Car  Earl  of  So- 
merset\  I  forget  whether  the  print  among  the 
illustrious  heads  (Vol.  II.  19.)  was  not  copied1 
from  this.  But  Car  was  a  person  of  effeminate 
features  and  light  hair. 

A  full  length  of  Henry  Dangers,  created 
Baron   Dauntsey    by   James   I.,     and    Earl   of 


Henry 
Earl  op 


Earl  of 
Danby. 


h  It  is  now  considered  as  the  portrait  of  Henry  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  who  came  to  the  title  in  1585.     Ed. 
1  It  certainly  was.    Ed. 


478  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

Danby  by  Charles  I. ;  by  Vandyck.  His  beard 
square  and  yellow,  his  jacket  black ;  over  that 
a  red  mantle,  furred  and  laced  with  gold.  His 
rich  armour  lies  by  him.  Near  him  is  writ- 
ten, Omnia  prcecepi.  He  was  son  of  Sir  John 
Dancers  of  Dauntsey,  in  Wiltshire,  by  Elizabeth, 
daughter  and  co-heir  of  John  Nevil  Lord  Latimer*. 
His  elder  brother,  Sir  Charles  Danvers,  lost  his 
head  for  his  concern  in  Essex's  insurrection. 
James,  who  on  all  occasions  testified  his  respect  to 
that  unhappy  nobleman,  countenanced  every  family 
who  suffered  in  his  cause,  and  accordingly,  had 
Dangers  restored  in  blood.  Besides  a  peerage,  he 
made  him  governor  of  Guernsey,  and  created  him 
knight  of  the  Garter.  He  passed  his  life  as  a 
soldier,  under  Maurice  Prince  of  Orange,  in  the" 
Low  Countries;  under  Henry  IV.  in  France; 
and  under  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  Lord  Monjoy  in 
Ireland.  At  length,  in  1644,  died,  as  his  epi- 
taph says,  at  his  house  of  Cornbury  Park,  Ox- 
fordshire, full  of  honor,  wounds  (verified  in  the 
portrait,  by  a  great  patch  on  his  forehead),  and 
days,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  age.  Besides 
his  military  glory,  we  may  add  that  of  founding 
the  Physic  Garden  at  Oxford,  in  1639,,  pur- 
chasing for  that  use  the  ground  (once  the  Jews'  ce- 

k  Dugdale's  Baron,  ii.  410. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  479 

metery)  and  inclosing  it  with  a  wall  and  beautiful 
gate,  at  the  expence  of  five  thousand  pounds l. 

William  Duke  of  Bedford,  a  full  length,  in    William 
a  long  wig,  and  the  robes  of  the  Garter.  Bedford. 

The  head  of  Lady  Cook,  dated  1585,  set.  44.  Lady  Cook. 
She  has  on  a  quilled  ruff,  is  dressed  in  black, 
richly  ornamented  with  pearls.  I  apprehend  this 
lady  to  have  been  the  wife  of  the  son  of  Sir  An- 
thony Cook,  one  of  the  tutors  to  Edward  VI.,  and 
distinguished  by  being  father  to  five  daughters, 
the  wonders  of  their  age  for  intellectual  accom- 
plishments. 

At  the  west  end  of  the  Gallery 

General  Monk.  Monk. 

A  fine  three  quarters  of  Killegrew,  leaning  on  Killegrew. 
a  table,  a  medallion  with  the  portrait  of  Charles 
the  First  near  him. 

A  head  of  Lord  William  Russet,  the  sad  vie-  Lord  Wil- 
tim  to  his  virtuous  design  of  preserving  our  liber-  IAM  USSEL* 
ties  and  constitution  from  the  attempts  of  as  aban- 
doned a  set  of  men  as  ever  governed  these  king- 
doms. True  patriotism,  not  ambition  or  interest, 
directed  his  intentions.  Posterity  must  applaud 
his  unavailing  engagements,  with  due  censure  of 
the  Machiavelian  necessity  of  taking  off  so  dan- 
gerous an  opposer  of  the  machinations  of  his  ene- 
mies.    The  law  of  politics  gives  sanction  to  the 

1  Wo9&\  Hist.  Oxon.  lib.  ii.  45.  and  Dugdale  as  above. 


480  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

removal  of  every  obstacle  to  the  designs  of  states- 
men. At  the  same  time,  we  never  should  lessen 
our  admiration  and  pity  of  the  generous  charac- 
ters who  fell  sacrifices  to  their  hopes  of  delivering, 
purified  to  their  descendants,  the  corrupted  go- 
vernment of  their  own  days.  To  attempt  to  clear 
Lord  Rassel  from  the  share  in  so  glorious  a  de- 
sign, would  be  to  deprive  him  of  a  most  brilliant 
part  of  his  character.  His  integrity  and  ingenu- 
ousness would  not  suffer  even  himself  to  deny  that 
part  of  the  charge.  Let  that  remain  unimpeached, 
since  he  continues  so  perfectly  acquitted  of  the 
most  distant  design  of  making  assassination  a 
means ;  or  of  intriguing  with  a  foreign  monarch, 
the  most  repugnant  to  our  religion  and  freedom, 
to  bring  about  so  desired  an  end. 
Lady  Ra-  The  sad  relict  of  this  virtuous  nobleman,  the 
'  daughter  to  the  good  and  great  IVriothesley,  Earl 
of  Southampton,  is  placed  near  him  ;  a  small  full 
length,  in  widow's  weeds,  with  her  head  reclined 
on  one  hand,  and  a  book  by  her,  with  a  counte- 
nance full  of  deep  and  silent  sorrow.  I  imagine 
her  in  the  third  month  of  her  affliction,  filled  with 
the  following  meditation. 

"  Lord,  let  me  understand  the  reason  of  these 
"  dark  and  wounding  providences,  that  I  sink  not 
"  under  the  discouragement  of  my  own  thoughts. 
"  I  Joiow  I  have  deserved  my  punishment,  and 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN*.  481 

"  will  be  silent  under  it;  but  yet  secretly  my 
"  heart  mourns,  because  I  have  not  the  dear 
"  companion  and  sharer  of  my  joys  and  sorrows: 
"  I  want  him  to  talk  with,  to  eat  and  sleep  with. 
"  All  these  things  are  irksome  to  me  now :  the 
"  day  unwelcome,  and  the  night  so  too.  All 
"  company  and  meals  I  would  avoid,  if  it  might 
"  be,  yet  all  this  is,  that  I  enjoy  not  the  world  in 
"  my  own  way,  and  this  sure  hinders  my  com- 
"  fort.  When  I  see  my  children  before  me,  I 
"  remember  the  pleasure  he  took  in  them  !  This 
"  makes  my  heart  to  shrink.  Can  I  regret  his 
"  quitting  a  lesser  good  for  a  bigger  ?  O !  if  I 
"  did  stedfastly  believe,  I  could  not  be  dejected ! 
"  But  I  will  not  injure  myself,  to  say  I  offer  my 
"  mind  any  inferior  consolation  to  supply  this 
"  loss :  no,  I  most  willingly  forsake  this  world, 
"  this  vexatious,  troublesome  world,  in  which  I 
"  have  no  other  business  but  to  rid  my  soul  from 
"  sin,  secure  by  faith  and  a  good  conscience  my 
"  eternal  interest;  with  patience  and  courage 
"  bear  my  eminent  misfortunes,  and  ever  here- 
"  after  be  above  the  smiles  and  frowns  of  it;  and 
"  when  I  have  done  the  remnant  of  the  work  ap- 
"  pointed  me  on  earth,  then  joyfully  wait  for  the 
"  heavenly  perfection,  in  God's  good  time ;  when, 
"  by  his  infinite  mercy,  I  may  be  accounted 
"  worthy  to  enter  in  the  same  place  of  rest  and 

2  i 


482  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

u  repose,  where  he  is   gone  for   whom   only  I 
"  grieve." 
Dudley         The  series  of  portraits  on  the  south  side  com- 

Earl  of  r 

Warwick,  mences  with  Ambrose  Dudley,  Earl  of  Warwick,  a 
head  with  a  bonnet,  black  dress,  the  George  pen- 
dent. 
Dudley  His  unworthy  brother  the  Earl  of  Leicester. 
Leicester.  •  A  head  of  John  Russel  first  Earl  of  Bedford, 
IrBzmoli.  a  Pronle>  witn  a  l°ng  wnite  beard,  and  the  George 
hanging  from  his  neck;  this  gentleman  was  the 
founder  of  the  family,  and  owed  his  rise  to  his 
merit  and  accomplishment.  Philip  Archduke  of 
Austria,  being  in  1508  driven  by  a  storm  on  the 
coast  of  Dorsetshire,  was  entertained  by  Sir  Tho- 
mas Trenchard ;  who  sent  for  his  neighbor,  Mr. 
Russel,  who  was  skilled  in  the  languages,  to  wait 
on  his  highness.  The  Duke  was  so  pleased  with 
his  conversation,  as  to  insist  on  his  going  with 
him  to  the  King,  then  at  Windsor.  Henry,  at  the 
recommendation  of  the  Duke,  took  him  into  his 
service.  In  the  following  reign  he  advanced  in 
fortune  with  vast  rapidity.  He  fortunately  was 
cotemporary  with  the  fall  of  monastic  life,  and  ob- 
tained vast  grants  of  the  possessions  of  the  church. 
Edzvard  VI.  created  him  Earl  of  Bedford.  The 
last  act  of  his  life  was  a  voyage  to  Spain,  to  bring 
over  Philip  II.  (grandson  of  the  prince  to  whom 
he  owed  his  rise),  to  espouse  his  royal  mistress. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 


4S3 


Earl  of 
Rutland. 


He  died  in  March  1555,  and  lies  buried  at  Chey- 
neys  in  Buckinghamshire,  with  his  lady,  by  whom 
he  acquired  that  estate.  The  church  of  Cheyneys, 
from  that  time,  became  the  deterna  domiis  of  all 
this  great  family,  and  contains  a  most  superb  col- 
lection of  different  fashioned  monuments. 

An  Earl  of  Rutland,  a  full  length,  in  a  rich 
flowered  jacket,  red  full  skirts,  a  single  laced  ruff, 
short  hair  and  beard,  brown  boots ;  a  plumed 
helmet  near  him.  He  wears  the  honor  of  the 
George.  From  his  boots  (a  fashionable  part  of 
dress  in  the  time  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I.),  I 
suspect  him  to  be  Francis  Earl  of  Rutland,  who 
commanded  the  fleet  which  conveyed  Charles, 
when  Prince  of  Wales,  in  his  return  from  his  ro- 
mantic expedition  into  Spain.  This  nobleman 
died  in  1635. 

Next  is  the  portrait  of  Sir  William  Russel   William 
(afterwards  Duke  of  Bedford)  when  young.     He    Bedford. 
is  dressed  in  the  robes  of  the  order  of  the  Bath, 
leaning  on  his  sword ;  and  by  him  a  dwarf,  aged 
thirty-two.     On  the  picture  is  inscribed  Johannes 
Privezer  di  Hungaria,  fecit  1627;  a  painter  of 
merit,  but  whose  works  are  rare. 

Lai>y  Anne  Ayscough,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Lady  Anne 
first  Earl  of  Lincoln,  and  wife  to  William  Ays- 
cough,  son  to  Sir  Francis  Ayscough  of  Lincoln- 
shire. 

2  i  2 


484  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

Comptrol-       A  head  of  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Rogers, 

ler  Rogers.  *r  .  .  . 

Comptroller  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  I  imagine  him 
to  be  Sir  Edward  Rogers,  a  person  of  some  con- 
sideration at  the  time  of  her  accession ;  for  he 
was  one  of  the  few  who  waited  on  her  at  Hatfield, 
on  the  death  of  Queen  Mary,  and  formed  one  of 
the  privy-council  held  there  on  that  great  event. 

Prince  dk        j±  strange  figure  of  a  man,  in  black,  half- 
Nassau.  e 

length,  in  a  close  black  cap,  and  a  letter  in  his 

hand,  directed  to  Pr.  de  Nassau.    I  am  informed, 

by  a  very  able  herald,  that  from  the  arms  on  the 

picture,   the  personage  represented  is  the  Count 

de  Nabsau-Uranien  Nassau. 

Duke  of         Head  of  the  Duke  of  Monmouth. 

Monmouth.  ^  _  r  o      r\         >      •      c<       » 

Sir  Edw.  Sir  Edward  btradling,  01  St.  Donet  s,  in  South 
Wales.  A  head,  with  whiskers,  a  turn-over,  and 
black  dress.  I  imagine  him  to  be  the  gentleman 
who  had  a  regiment  under  Charles  I.,  who  was 
taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  and  who 
died  on  his  release  at  Oxford. 

James  Earl      James  Earl  of  Carlisle,  in  long  hair,  buff  coat, 

0FCARLISLE-and  red  sash". 

Anne  Coun-     Anne,  wife  of  Ambrose  Dudley,  Earl  of  War- 

Warwick    wick  and  daughter  to  Francis,  second  Earl  of 

n  This  is  probably  not  the  portrait  of  the  nobleman  of 
whom  so  full  an  account  is  given  in  the  Tour  of  Scotland,  but 
of  his  son  who  married  Catherine,  daughter  to  Francis  fourth 
Earl  of  Bedford. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  485 

Bedford,  in  black  and  white  sleeves,  and  a  black 
body. 

Lady  Wimbledon,  wife  of  Lord  Wimbledon.       ,ir  Lady 

'  t  Wimbledon. 

Lady  Bindloss,  wife  to  Sir  Francis  Bindloss, 

-r>         -  r  Lady 

of  Bewvick,  near  Lancaster,  and  daughter  to  Tho-  Bindloss. 
mas  third  Lord  Delawar. 

Edward  Earl  of  Bedford,  sitting.  He  is  dressed  edward 

in  black  and  gold,  with  a  high-crowned  hat :  his  £ARL  or 

to       '  °  '  Bedford. 

hand  in  a  sash,  being  gouty.  This  nobleman  was 
an  exception  to  the  good  understanding  this  family 
is  blest  with ;  and  unluckily  was  matched  with  a 
lady  whose  vanity  and  expences  were  boundless. 

Sir  William  Russel,  in  a  black  slashed  vest.  SirWilliam 
He  was  lord  deputy  of  Ireland  in  the  reign  of  USSEI- 
Queen  Elizabeth,  in  1 594  :  a  wise  and  most  gal- 
lant commander,  and  successful  in  various  expe- 
ditions against  the  rebels;  but  not  brooking  a 
divided  power  with  the  general,  Sir  John  Norris, 
he  was,  at  his  own  request,  recalled.  He  was 
created  by  James  I.  Baron  of  Thornhaugh,  and 
died  in  1613. 

Giles,  the  third  Lord  Chandos,  in  a  high-crowned  Giles  Lord 
hat,  white  jacket,  black  gown  laced  with  silver,      HAND0  ■ 
short  hair  and  beard.     iEt.  43,  1589-     He  died 
in  1594. 

The  first  Francis  Earl  of  Bedford,  with  a  long  first  Fran- 
white  beard  and  furred  robe,  and  George  pen-  CbEdford°F 
dent;  a  head.     Another  illustrious  personage  of 


436  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

this  house,  who  discharged  several  great  offices  in 
the  reigns  of  Mary  and  Elizabeth.  Such  was  his 
hospitality,  that  the  latter  used  to  say  of  him,  that 
he  made  all  the  beggars.  He  died,  aged  58,  on 
the  28th  of  July  1585,  the  day  after  his  third  son, 
Francis,  was  slain,  happily  unknowing  of  the  mis- 
fortune. 
Francis  and      This  youth,   and   his  elder   brother  Edward 

Edward  * 

Russel.  Lord  Russel,  are  represented  in  small,  in  two 
paintings,  and  so  alike,  as  scarcely  to  be  dis- 
tinguished :  both  dressed  in  white  close  jackets, 
and  black  and  gold  cloaks,  and  black  bonnets. 
The  date  by  Lord  Edward,  is  aet.  22,  1573.  He 
is  represented  grasping  in  one  hand  some  snakes, 
with  this  motto,  Fides  homini,  serpentibus  fraus  ; 
and  in  the  back  ground  he  is  placed  standing  in  a 
labyrinth,  and  above  is  inscribed,  Fata  viam  in- 
venient.  This  young  nobleman  also  died  before 
his  father. 

His  brother  Francis  has  his  accompaniments 
not  less  singular.  A  lady,  seemingly  in  distress, 
is  represented  sitting  in  the  back  ground,  sur- 
rounded with  snakes,  a  dragon,  crocodile,  and 
cock.  At  a  distance  is  the  sea,  with  a  ship  under 
full  sail.  The  story  is  not  well  known  ;  but  it  cer- 
tainly alludes  to  a  family  transaction,  similar  to 
that  in  Otways  Orphan,  and  gave  rise  to  it.  He, 
by  the  attendants,  was  perhaps  the  Polydore  of 


PORTRAITS  AT  VVOBURN.  487 

the  history.  Edxoard  seems  by  his  motto,  Fides 
homini,  serpent  ibusfraus,  to  have  been  the  Casta- 
Ho,  conscious  of  his  own  integrity,  and  indignant 
at  the  perfidy  of  his  brother.  The  ship  alludes 
to  the  desertion  of  the  lady.  If  it  conveyed  Sir 
Francis  to  Scotland,  it  was  to  his  punishment ;  for 
he  fell  there  on  July  27th,  1585,  in  a  border  fray. 

Francis  Russel,  third  son  to  the  fourth  Earl    Francis 
of  Bedford,  in  armour.  Russel. 

His  brother  Colonel  John  Russel.  John 

Russel. 

A  head  of  Catherine0,  youngest  daughter  to  Catherine 
the  Treasurer,  Earl  of  Suffolk,  and  wife  to  ^/.Countess  cf 

'  *"        '  Suffolk. 

Ham  Earl  of  Salisbury.  She  is  in  a  flowered 
dress ;  her  ruff  worked  with  gold,  and  her  breasts 
naked. 

Head  of  the  fair  Geraldine,  the  third  wife  of  The  fair 
Edward  Earl  of  Lincoln.     Her  hair  yellow ;  her 
face  a  proof  how  much  beauty  depends  on  fancy ; 
her  dress  far  from  elegant. 

Margaret  Countess  of  Cumberland)  she  was  Margaret 
youngest  daughter  to  the  first  Francis  Earl  of  Bed-  CoJ™8R.or 
ford,  and  wife  to  the  celebrated  George  Clifford      LAND- 
Earl  of  Cumberland p. 

Lord  Treasurer  Burleigh,  the  able  statesman      Lord 
of  Elizabeth  ;  a  favorite,  whom  she  chose,  as  she 

°  This  is  the  portrait  alluded  to  above,  in  the  note  relative 
to  the  Countess  of  Somerset.     Ed, 
p  For  an  account  of  both  see  Tour  in  Scotland,  vol.  ml i.  355. 


4S£ 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 


Edward 
Earl  of 
Lincoln. 


expressed  it,  not  for  his  bad  legs,  but  for  his  good 
head q.  His  maxims  did  not  quite  agree  with  those 
of  the  ministers  of  later  days ;  for  he  held,  That 
nothing  could  be  for  the  advantage  of  the  prince, 
which  makes  any  way  against  his  reputation ; 
wherefore  he  never  would  suffer  the  rents  of  lands 
to  be  raised,  nor  the  old  tenants  to  be  put  out r. 
This  great  statesman  is  represented  sitting.  His 
countenance  comely,  his  beard  grey,  his  gown 
black  and  furred,  and  adorned  with  a  gold  chain. 
His  mistress  lost  this  faithful  servant  in  1598, 
aged  77. 

Edzvard  Clinton,  first  Earl  of  Lincoln,  sitting : 
a  half-length  in  black,  a  short  ruff,  bonnet,  and 
with  his  George,  by  Cornelius  Ketel,  the  whimsi- 
cal artist,  who  took  it  into  his  head  to  lay  aside 
his  brushes,  and  paint  with  his  fingers  only ;  and 
at  length,  finding  those  tools  too  easy,  undertook 
to  paint  with  his  toes s.  This  nobleman  was  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  persons  of  his  age,  and 
shone  equally  as  a  soldier  and  a  sailor ;  for,  du- 
ring the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII.,  Edward  VI., 
Mary  and  Elizabeth,  there  were  scarely  any  ex- 
peditions in  which  he  did  not  signalize  himself. 
He  was  Lord  Great  Admiral  for  thirty  years, 
counsellor  to  three  princes,  and  of  unspotted  re- 

9  Lloyd's  Worthies,  i.  360.  *  Camden's  Elizabeth. 

*  JValpok's  Lives  of  Painters,  i.  138,  139. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  489 

putation.  In  an  advanced  age  he  married  for  his 
third  wife  the  fair  Geraldine,  the  subject  of  the 
gallant  Earl  of  Surry's  affection,  and  of  his  amo- 
rous muse.  Their  union  never  took  place.  It  is 
probable  that  she  deserted  him ;  for  soon  after 
his  sonnet,  descriptive  of  the  fair, 

From  Tuscane  came  my  ladies  worthy  race, 

follow  several  others,  complaining  of  his  hard  lot, 
in  experiencing  the  scorn  and  inconstancy  of  his 
mistress  ;  but  what  affects  him  most  is,  the  giving 
the  preference  to  a  lover  of  meaner  rank. 

I  know  (though  she  say  nay,  and  would  it  well  withstand) 
When  in  hir  grace  thou  yeldest  the  most,  she  bare  thee  but 

in  hand. 
I  see  her  pleasant  cheere  in  chiefest  of  thy  suite, 
When  to  art  gone  I  see  him  come  that  gathers  up  the  fruite ; 
And  eke  in  thy  respecte,  I  see  the  base  degree 
Of  him  to  whom  she  gave  the  heart  that  promised  was  to 

thee  *. 

Near  him  is  the  head  of  Charles  Brandon  Brandon 
Duke  of  Suffolk,  son  of  Sir  William  Brandon, 
standard-bearer  to  Henry  VII.,  slain  in  the  battle 
of  Bosworth.  His  dress  is  black,  with  red  sleeves, 
with  the  collar  of  the  Garter  and  the  George. 
His  beard  is  white,  his  countenance  bluff,  not  un- 

*  Fol.  ii.  edition  158,5. 


Duke  of 

Suffolk. 


490  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

like  that  of  his  master  Henry  VIII.    Their  quali- 
ties, happily  for  the  favorite,  were  different;  for 
the  inscription  with  truth  says,  that  he  was  "  gra- 
"  tiose  with    Henry  VIII. ;    void   of  despyte ; 
"  most  fortunate  to  the  end ;  never  in  displeasure 
"  with  his  kynge."     He  was  brought  up  with  his 
master,  and  justly  beloved  by  him  for  his  noble 
qualities,  for  his  goodly  person,  courage,  and  con- 
formity of  disposition  (I  suppose  only)  in  all  his 
exercises  and  pastimes  \      He  was  a  principal 
figure  in  every  tilt  and  tournament.  In  his  younger 
days  (1510)  he  appeared  at  Westminster  in  the 
solemn  justs,  held  in  honor  of  Catherine  of  Arra- 
gon,  in  the   dress  of  a  recluse,  begging  of  her 
highness  permission  to  run  in  her  presence ;  which 
obtained,  he  instantly  flung  off  his  weeds,  and 
came  out  all  armed.     He  signalized  himself  at  the 
justs  at  Tournay,  in  1511,  instituted  by  Margaret 
Princess  of  Castile,  in  compliment  to  his  royal 
master.    The  place  was  flagged  with  black  marble, 
and  the  horses  of  the  knights  were  shod  with  felt, 
to  prevent  them  from  slipping*.     He  here  won 
the  heart  of  the  fair  foundress  of  the  entertain- 
ment ;  but  fortune  reserved  him  for  another  prin- 
cess. 

In  1514  he  performed  amazing  deeds  of  arms 

■  Herbert's  Henry  VIII.  35.  *  lb.  41.    . 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  491 

at  Saint  Denys,  at  the  coronation  of  the  youthful 
Mary,  sister  to  Henry,  on  her  marriage  with  the 
aged  and  decrepid  Louis  XII.  The  good  king, 
says  Henault,  forgot  his  age,  and  met  with  death 
in  her  arms  in  less  than  three  months.  This  opened 
the  way  to  his  possession  of  the  beautiful  dowager. 
Her  heart  was  lost  to  him  at  the  preceding  tourna- 
ments, in  which  she  had  an  opportunity  of  com- 
paring the  feebleness  of  her  bridegroom  with  the 
dexterity,  the  grace,  and  strength  of  her  valiant 
knight,  who,  at  single  combat,  overthrew  man  and 
horse.  The  French,  envious  of  his  prowess,  in- 
troduced into  the  lists  a  gigantic  German,  in  hopes 
of  bringing  the  English  hero  into  disgrace.  He 
treated  the  Almain  so  roughly,  that  the  French  in- 
terfered ;  but  in  a  second  trial,  Suffolk  caught  him 
round  the  neck,  and  pummelled  him  so  severely 
about  the  head,  that  they  were  obliged  to  convey 
the  fellow  away  secretly ;  who  had  been  surrepti- 
tiously introduced  in  disguise,  merely  on  account 
his  great  strength*. 

Mary,  on  the  death  of  her  royal  consort,  pro- 
posed to  Suffolk,  and  gave  him  only  four  days  to 
consider  of  the  offer  y.  This  seems  to  have  been 
concerted,  to  save  her  lover  from  the  fury  of 
Henry,  for  daring  to  look  up  to  a  dowager  of 

*  Halle,  xlix.    Holinshed  833. 
y  Herbert's  Henry  VIII.  54. 


-192  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

France,  and,  what  was  more,  his  sister.  His 
master  fortunately  favored  the  match.  He  con- 
tinued beloved  by  the  king  to  the  end  of  his  life ; 
after  seeing  the  following  knights  and  attendants 
on  the  conjugal  festivities,  the  Earl  of  Devonshire, 
Lord  Leonard  Grey,  Sir  Nicholas  Carew,  and 
Anna  Boleyn,  sent  headless  to  their  graves.  But 
Charles  went  off  triumphant  with  his  royal  spouse; 
carried  with  him  her  jewels,  to  the  amount  of 
200,000  crowns ;  the  famous  diamond  le  mirroir 
de  Naples  ;  and  secured  her  jointure  of  sixty  thou- 
sand crowns2.  He  married  almost  as  many  wives 
as  Henry,  leaving  his  fourth  to  survive  him.  He 
died  universally  lamented,  in  1545,  and  was 
buried  magnificently  at  the  expenceof  his  master; 
his  loss  being  one  of  the  few  things  that  touched 
his  hardened  heart. 
Queen  Queen  Elizabeth,  full  length,  with  a  rich  gown, 

KjLijr  A  BETH* 

white,  embroidered  with  flowers,  and  a  fan  of  fea- 
thers in  her  hand.  I  find  that  her  majesty  would 
condescend  to  accept  of  the  smallest  present,  as  a 
mark  of  her  subjects'  love;  for,  in  passing  through 
a  Doctor  Puddins  house  in  her  way  to  the  cele- 
brated wedding  of  Mrs.  Anne  Russel  with  Lord 
Herbert,  she  did  the  Doctor  the  honor  of  accept- 
ing from  him  a  fan  en  passant. 
Sir  Richard      Head  of  Sir  Richard  Bingley. 

BlNGLEY. 

2  Herbert's  Henry  VIII.  5.5. 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  493 

Another  of  Sir  Edward  Gorges  ?  &S53S£D 

Sir  Joscelyn  Percy,  seventh  son  of  Henry  eighth  SirJoscelyn 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  closes  the  list.     He  and 
his  brother  Charles  were  concerned  in  the  Earl  of 
Essex's  insurrection.      Both  received  their  par- 
dons: and  Joscelyn  survived  till  1631. 

That  gloomy*  insipid  pair,  Philip  II.  and  his  Philip  and 
consort  Mary,  are  painted  in  small  full-lengths  by 
Sir  Antonio  More.  The  first  of  these  ungracious 
figures  is  dressed  in  a  black  jacket,  Avith  gold 
sleeves  and  hose ;  the  Queen  sitting  in  a  black  and 
gold  petticoat,  and  furred  sleeves.  Her  black 
conic  cap  is  faced  with  gold  and  jewels.  A  rich 
chain  of  great  pearls  and  small  vases,  red  and  gold, 
are  other  ornaments  to  our  bigotted  sovereign. 
The  date  is  1553.  Sir  Antonio  was  sent  from 
Spain  to  draw  her  picture ;  so  has  placed  her  and 
Philip  in  a  scene  of  auk  ward  courtship ;  for  they 
were  not  married  till  the  following  year. 

Isabella,  daughter  to  Henry  Bennet,  Earl  of   Isabella 

,        .  r  n      r         Dutchess  of 

Arlington,  and  wife  to  the  first  Duke  of  Grafton,    Grafton. 
is  represented  a  half  length  in  white,  with  long 
flowing  hair,  very  handsome. 

a  This  curious  picture,  and  some  of  the  portraits  mentioned 
below,  are  removed  to  a  room  destined  to  receive  the  over- 
flowings of  the  house;  others  have  gradually  disappeared  from 
Woburn,  are  placed  in  the  attics,  or  are  no  longer  shewn.     Ed. 


494  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

Elizabeth  A  large  family  picture,  by  Jervis,  of  Elizabeth 
DB^"ord.°F  Hoxvland,  Dutchess  to  the  first  IVriothesley  Duke 
of  Bedford,  in  her  weeds,  with  her  four  children- 
Above  her,  in  the  back  part  of  the  picture,  hangs 
the  portrait  of  her  lord;  the  same  who  built  Covent 
Garden  church,  and  was  called  the  good  Duke. 

Gertrude       In  another  apartment  is  a  large  picture,  repre- 

DuTCHESSOF  .  ~.  i        -r-v  i  r   -rt     i    r     1 

Bedford,  sentmg  Gertrude,  Dutchess  of  Bedjrd,  present- 
ing her  daughter  (the  Dutchess  of  Marlborough) 
to  Minerva,  the  sciences  and  graces  painted  by 
Hamilton,  an  artist  settled  I  believe  at  Rome. 

Nobleman  A  full  length  of  a  nobleman  in  a  hat  with  a 
red  crown  and  feather,  square  black  beard,  red  ear- 
rings and  stockings :  in  his  robes,  with  a  white  rod 
in  his  hand.  This  was  brought  from  Thornhaugh, 
a  seat  of  the  family  in  Northamptonshire. 
Lady  Portrait  of  a  lady  in  black,  a  red  and  white 

UNKNOWN.  c  - 

petticoat,  flat  run,   and  a  great  string  ot  pearls 
across  her  breast. 
Ladies  Two   children  in  one  piece,  Ladv  Diana  and 

KUSSEL. 

Lady  Anne  Russel,  daughters  of  William  first 
Duke  of  Bedford.  They  had  the  misfortune  of 
being  poisoned,  by  eating  some  noxious  berries 
which  they  met  with.  Lady  Anne  died ;  Lady 
Diana  survived,  and  is  again  painted,  in  more  ad- 
vanced life,  by  Sir  Deter  Lely. 

A  man  in  a  grey  jacket,  red  breeches,  short  hair, 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  495 

and  small  beard ;  a  stick  in  his  hand,  and  helmet 
by  him.     Date  1592,  aet.  28. 

Elizabeth   Bruges,   or    Bridges,  aged    14,  Elizabeth 

i    •  n  m        i         tt-  v     Bruges. 

1589,  painted  in  a  flat  stile,  by  Hieronymo  m 
Custodio,  of  Antwerp.  She  is  represented  in  black, 
flowered  with  white,  with  full  sleeves,  a  gold  chain, 
great  pearl  set  in  gold  on  one  shoulder,  and  a  gold 
ornament  on  the  other.  This  lady  was  eldest 
daughter  to  Giles,  Lord  Chandos,  and  wife  to  Sir 
John  Kenneda,  knight b:  she  dying  childless,  the 
whole  fortune  of  her  family  devolved  to  her  se- 
cond sister,  Catherine,  Countess  of  Bedford. 

A  full  length  of  that  fantastic  lady,  Lucy;      Lucy 

°  .  Countess  op 

Countess  of  Bedford,  in  a  dancing  attitude,  dressed    Bedford. 
in  a  fantastic  habit,  with  an  immense  transparent 
veil  distended  behind  her. 

Present  Dutchess  of  Marlborough.  Dutchess 

°  of  Marl- 

LoRD  Francis  Russel  in  a  black  dress,  a  minia-    borough. 

Lord  Fr. 
ture.  Russel. 

A  female,    dwarf  to  Catherine,   Queen  to  a  Dwarf. 
Charles  II. 

Catherine   Countess    of   Bedford,   wife   to  Catherine 
Francis  Earl  of  Bedford,  and  daughter  to  Giles    Bedford. 
Bruges,  third  Lord  Chandos.     Her  dress  a  pearl 
coronet,    and   hair  flowing    below   her  waist,    a 
worked  gown,  and  red  mantle :  a  fine  full  length; 

b  Dugdale's  Baronagt,  ii.  395. 


496  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN. 

Anne  Anne,  daughter  of  that  infamous  pair,  Robert 

Countess  of  °  .  . 

Bedford.  Car,  Earl  of  Somerset,  and  his  Countess,  is  paint- 
ed by  Vandyck,  in  blue,  drawing  on  a  glove :  a 
most  beautiful  half  length.  She  was  the  wife  of 
Sir  William  Russel,  above  mentioned,  married  to 
him  in  the  year  1637.  She  proved  worthy  of  the 
alliance  she  made.  It  is  said  that  she  was  igno- 
rant of  her  mother's  dishonor,  till  she  read  it  in  a 
pamphlet  she  found  accidentally  left  in  a  window. 
It  is  added,  that  she  was  so  struck  with  this  de- 
tection of  her  parent's  guilt,  that  she  fell  down  in 
a  fit,  and  was  found  senseless,  with  the  book  open 
before  her.  She  died  on  May  10,  1684.  The 
anecdote  is  omitted  in  the  histories  of  the  family, 
probably  to  avoid  the  revival  of  a  disgraceful  tale. 
Francis  Earl  of  Bedford,  was  so  averse  to  the 
alliance,  that  he  gave  his  son  leave  to  chuse  a  wife 
out  of  any  family  but  that.  Opposition  usually 
stimulates  desire :  the  young  couple's  affection 
were  only  increased.  At  length  the  king  inter- 
posed, and,  sending  the  Duke  of  Lenox  to  urge  the 
Earl  to  consent,  the  match  was  brought  about. 
Somerset,  now  reduced  to  poverty,  acted  a  gene- 
rous part;  selling  his  house  at  Chiswick,  plate, 
jewels,  and  furniture,  to  raise  a  fortune  for  his 
daughter  of  twelve  thousand  pounds,  which  the 
Earl  of  Bedford  demanded ;  saying,  that  seeing  her 


PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.  497 

affections  were  settled,  he  chose  rather  to  undo 
himself  than  make  her  unhappy d. 

Her  father  in  law,  the  second  Frcuicis  Earl  of T"?  SECOND 

7     -  FRANCIS 

Bedford,  by  Vandyck,  is  in  the  drawing  room.    A     Karl  of 

.  .  .  i'ii  Bedford. 

full  length  in  black,  with  light  hair  and  short 
peaked  beard;  painted  in  1636,  aged  forty-eight. 
He  died  in  1641,  and  left  behind  him  a  distin- 
guished character.  He  was  of  the  popular  party, 
but  of  such  an  excellent  understanding,  so  good  a 
heart,  and  of  such  great  moderation,  that  it  is  sup- 
posed, if  he  had  lived,  his  influence  with  his 
friends  would  have  been  exerted  to  have  com- 
posed the  unhappy  violence  of  the  times.  This  was 
the  nobleman  who  undertook  and  succeeded  in 
the  arduous  attempt  of  draining  the  vast  fen  in 
Cambridgeshire,  called  the  Great  Level,  contain- 
ing three  hundred  and  six  thousand  acres". 

Gertrude  late  Dutchess  of  Bedford.  Gertrude 

»  r  n    i  i         r    i  i        i       t         i    Dutchess  or 

.    A  fine  full  length   or  her  worthy  husband,    Bedford. 
John,  Duke  of  Bedford,  represented  sitting  in  his  j0HN  duke 
robes.  0F  Bedford- 

The  late  Lord  and  Lady  Tavistock.     His  lord-  Lord  and 
ship  in  a  red  gown,  furred.     He  is  again  repre-  Tavistock. 
sented  in  another  room,  in  the  uniform  of  the  Dun- 
stable hunt. 

Lady  Russel,  wife  of  Sir  William  Russely  lord      Lady 

•  RlJSSEL. 

d  British  Biogr.  v.  3534. 

*  Dugdale  on  embanking,  344. 

2  K 


493  PORTRAITS  AT  WOBURN.    AMPTHILL. 

deputy  of  Ireland,  is  painted  in  great  sleeves.  She 
was  daughter  to  Edzvard  Long,  Esquire,  of  Thin- 
gay,  in  Cambridgeshire,  and  died  two  years  before 
her  lord. 

Francis         Her  son  Francis,  afterwards  Earl  of  Bedford^ 

o^Bbd^rd!  *s  Panted  in  his  childhood,  in  white,  with  green 

hose ;  with  a  hawk  in  his  hand,  and  two  dogs  in 

couples  near  him. 

Catherine       A  full  length  of  Catherine,  wife  of  the  second 

Bedford? F  Francis  Earl  of  Bedford,  in  black,  with  roses  in 
her  hand. 
Lady  Frances  Lady  Chandos,  daughter  of  the  first 

Earl  of  Lincoln,  in  a  great  ruff,  a  black  dress  rich 
in  pearls,  aet.  37,  1589  :  lived  till  the  year  1623. 

From  TVoburn,  for  the  sake  of  variety,  I  left  the 
great  road,  and,  crossing  the  county,  went  through 
the  village  oiRidgemont,  and,  soon  after,  through 
that  of  Millbrook,  whose  church  is  pleasantly  seated 
on  the  bluff  point  of  a  hill.     About  two  miles  far- 

Ampthill.  ther,  reach  Ampthill,  a  small  market-town,  on  a 
rising  ground,  noted  in  old  times  for  the  magnifi- 
cent mansion  built  by  Sir  John  Cornwall,  Lord 
Fanhope,  as  Leland  says,  with  such  spoiles  that  he 
xcanne  in  Fraunce*.  lie  married  Elizabeth,  second 
daughter  to  John,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  commonly 
called  John  of  Gaunt,  and  widow  to  John  Earl  of 
Exeter:  for  her  he  is  supposed  to  have  built  the 

f  ltin.  i.  115. 


AMPTHILL. 

house,  which  was  worthy  of  so  illustrious  a  princess. 
It  had  four  or  five  fair  towers  of  stone  in  the  inner 
court,  beside  the  basse  court*.  This  hero  was  son 
of  Sir  John  Cornwall :  his  mother,  niece  to  the  Duke  ^  LoRD 
of  Brit  any r,  was  delivered  of  him  at  sea.  He  was 
usually  stiled  green  Cornwall,  from  the  color  of 
that  element.  He  rose  by  his  merit;  was  cele- 
brated for  deeds  of  arms  and  acts  of  chivalry,  and 
those  equally  in  the  field,  and  in  the  lists  of  arms. 
At  York  he  fought  and  vanquished,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Henry  IV.  two  valiant  knights ;  one  a 
Frenchman,  the  other  an  Italian.  In  reward  for 
his  prowess,  Henry  created  him  knight  of  the 
garter.  He  signalized  himself  at  the  battle  of 
Azincourt,  where  he  took  prisoner  Louis  de  Bour- 
bon Count  of  Vendome,  and  had  his  ransom  con- 
firmed to  him h,  with  which  he  might  have  built  the 
house ;  for  it  seems  to  be  the  spoils  alluded  to  by 
Leland.  In  reward  for  his  services,  he  was  created 
by  Henry  VI.  baron  of  Fanhope  and  Millbrooky 
and  died  in  1443.  He  had  no  lawful  issue ;  nei- 
ther were  the  large  grants  made  to  him  by  the 
crown,  for  more  than  the  term  of  life,  so  that  they 
reverted  on  his  decease. 

The  place  was  afterwards  bestowed  by  Edzoard 
IV.  on  Edmund  Lord  Grey.  The  gift  was  not  (as 
Leland  supposes)  founded  on  the  ruin  of  Lord 

s  Itm.l  115.  h  Sandford's  Genealog.  Hist.  258. 

2k2 


SOO  AMPTHILL. 

Fanhope,  after  ttie  battle  of  Northampton  ;  for  that 
event  did  not  take  place  till  seventeen  years  after 
Fanhope  died  peaceably  in  his  bed.  It  continued 
in  the  family  of  the  Greys  till  the  death  of  Richard 
Earl  of  Kent ,  who  made  it  over  to  Henry  VIII. 
That  prince  added  it  to  the  crown,  and  erected  it, 
with  the  great  estate  belonging  to  it,  into  the 
honour  of  Ampthill1.  Here  was  the  residence  of 
the  injured  princess  Catherine  of  Arragon,  during 
the  period  that  her  divorce  was  in  agitation  ;  and 
from  hence  she  was  cited  to  appear  before  the 
commissioners,  then  sitting  at  Dunstable k.  About 
the  year  1774,  John  Earl  of  Ossory,  on  the  site  of 
the  castle,  erected  a  gothic  column  (designed  by 
Mr.  Essex)  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  this  ill- 
fated  Queen,  with  the  following  elegant  inscription1 : 

In  days  of  old,  here  Ampthill's  towers  were  seen, 
The  mournful  refuge  of  an  injur'd  queen  ; 
Here  flow'd  her  pure,  but  unavailing  tears  ; 
Here  blinded  zeal  sustain'd  her  sinking  years : 
Vet  Freedom  hence  her  radiant  banner  wav'd, 
And  Love  aveng'd  a  realm  by  priests  enslav'd ; 
From  Catherine's  wrongs  a  nation's  bliss  was  spread, 
And  Luther's  light  from  Henry's  lawless  bed. 
Johannes  Fitz-Patrick, 

Comes  de  Ossory,  posuit,  1773. 

1  Camden,  i.  340. 

k  She  died  at  Kimbolton,  in  Huntingdonshire,  on  the  8th  of 
January,  1535-6. 

1  Written  by  the  late  Lord  Orford.     Ed. 


AMPTHILL  PARK.  501 

Th  e  only  remarkable  thing  I  observed  in  the 
church,  was  a  mural  monument  in  memory  of  Church. 
Richard  Nicoils,  governor  of  Long  Island  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  Dutch.  He  was  a  gentleman  of 
the  bed-chamber  to  the  Duke  of  York,  and  was 
slain  in  the  celebrated  engagement  of  May  28th, 
1672,  attending  his  royal  highness  on  board  of  his 
ship.  What  is  singular  in  this  monument  is,  the 
preservation  of  the  very  ball  with  .which  he  was 
killed,  a  five  or  six  pounder,  which  is  placed  within 
the  pediment,  inlaid  in  the  marble ;  and  on  the 
molding  of  the  pediment,  on  each  side  of  the  bullet, 
are  the  words, 

Instrumentum  mortis  et  immortalitatis. 

Mr.  Sandford™  has  given  a  plate  of  the  figures 
of  Sir  John  Cornwall  and  his  wife,  as  painted  in  a 
window  of  this  church.  They  are  either  lost,  or  I 
have  overlooked  them.  They  are  represented 
kneeling,  and  both  with  mantles  of  their  arms  over 
them :  she  in  her  ducal  coronet.  Between  them, 
at  top,  is  a  banner  with  her  arms  ;  at  bottom,  his 
arms  included  in  the  Garter. 

From  the  town  I  descended  to  Ampthill  Park,  Ampthill 
the  seat  of  the  Earl  of  Ossory  ;  a  modern  house, 
plain  and  neat,  with  eleven  windows  in  front,  and 
wings.     Within,  is  the  portrait  of  Richard  Lord      L°RD 

°  GOWRAW. 

Goxvran,  in  his  robes  :  he  was  ancestor  to  the  noble 
■  Geneal.  Hist.  259. 


502  AMPTHILL  PARK. 

owner,  and  married,  in   1718,  to  Anne,  younger 
Sir  John    daughter  of  Sir  John  Robinson  of  Faming  Wood, 

Robinson.  c  . 

in  Northamptonshire.  Another  Sir  John  Robin- 
sons portrait  is  preserved  here :  a  half-length,  in  a 
great  wig,  cravat,  sash,  and  buff  coat.  He  was 
an  eminent  loyalist ;  was  lord  mayor  of  London, 
in  1663,  and  lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  from  the 
Restoration  to  the  time  of  his  death.  His  double 
employ  is  expressed  by  a  distant  view  of  the  Tower, 
and  the  gold  chain  placed  by  him  on  a  table. 
Laud.  Th  e  indiscreet  prelate  Laud,  is  admirably  paint- 

ed by  Vandyck. 
Cai1*frine       Here  is  a  full  length  of  Catherine  Cornaro, 

CORNARO. 

Queen  of  Cyprus :  a  bulky  woman,  in  black,  with 
flaxen  hair,  much  curled.  This  distinguished  fe- 
male w  as  daughter  to  Mark  Cornaro,  the  most  il- 
lustrious of  the  Venetian  families.  James  Lusignan, 
or  James  the  Bastard,  king  of  Cyprus,  in  order  to 
strengthen  himself  on  his  throne,  demanded,  by  his 
ambassador,  a  w  ife  out  of  the  republic  of  Venice. 
The  senate  fixed  on  this  lady,  adopted  her  as  their 
own,  and  stiled  her,  from  its  tutelar  saint,  the 
daughter  of  St.  Mark.  She  reigned  long  in  that 
island,  and  governed  fifteen  years  after  the  death 
of  her  husband.  He  had  left  the  senate  of  Venice 
protectors  of  her,  and  of  the  child  with  which  she 
was  pregnant  at  the  time  of  that  event.  The  in- 
fant son  lived  only  ten  months  ;  and  the  Venetian 


AMPTHILL  PARK.  503 

state  considered  itself  as  heir  to  the  kingdom,  in 
right  of  its  daughter  Catherine,  Apprehensions 
arose,  that  the  Turkish  emperor  Bajazet,  and  the 
Christian  monarch  Fei^cHnand,  had  designs  on  it : 
they  determined  to  frustrate  both,  and  sent  George 
Cornaro,  brother  to  the  Queen,  to  assist  her  in  the 
government.  By  his  eloquence,  he  succeeded  in 
the  arduous  task  of  persuading  a  lady  out  of  her 
love  of  power.  He  promised  her  regal  state  in 
her  native  country.  She  accepted  the  terms, 
erected  the  Venetian  standard  in  her  capital,  and, 
on  her  arrival  at  Venice,  was  met  by  the  whole 
senate,  and  the  ladies  of  rank,  and  received,  dur- 
ing life,  every  mark  of  esteem  which  her  patriot- 
ism merited,  with  a  magnificent  establishment, 
equal  to  the  dignity  she  had  so  generously  quitted. 
This  event  happened  about  the  year  1489n. 

Albert  archduke  of  Austria,  commonly  called 

the  Cardinal  Infant,  in  black,  a  great  ruff,  and  Cardinal 
'    ■,       tt  ,.*,  /•    ,  Infant. 

with  a  sword.     He  was  fifth  son  of  the  emperor 

Maximilian  II.  and  was  originally  brought  up  in 
the  church ;  became  cardinal,  and  had  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Toledo  conferred  on  him  His  talents 
were  more  fitted  for  the  field  and  cabinet.  Ac- 
cordingly, we  find  him  in  universal  esteem,  for  his 
prudent  administration  as  regent  of  Portugal,  and 

■  Gratiani'&  Wars  of  Cyprus,  10,  11. 


504  AMPTHILL  PARK. 

as  a  brave  and  enterprizing  general  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, in  the  reign  of  Philip  II.  who  had  invested 
him  with  their  government.  In  the  year  1598, 
Philip  bestowed  on  him  his  daughter,  the  Infanta 
Isabella,  and  with  her  the  sovereignty  of  the  Ne- 
therlands. Under  him  was  undertaken  the  famous 
siege  of  Ostend,  which  cost  the  Spaniards  a  hun- 
dred thousand  men.  He  lived  till  the  year  1621, 
and  died  universally  lamented  by  his  subjects.  He 
was  a  patron  of  the  arts.  He  was  so  struck  with 
the  merit  of  Rubens,  that  he  detained  that  able 
painter  some  time  at  Antwerp;  and  to  him  we 
owe  the  portrait  of  this  illustrious  prince0. 

Here  is  a  fine  half-length  of  a  general,  by 
Baroccio ;  an  artist  who  died  at  a  great  age,  in 
1612.  The  person  is  represented  with  light  hair 
and  whiskers,  a  hat,  armour,  and  red  sash. 

A  conversation  ;  consisting  of  Edward  late 
Duke  of  York,  Lord  Ossory,  Lord  P aimer ston, 
Topham  Beauclerk,  Colonel  H.  St.  John,  and  Sir 
William  Booth  by:  done  when  they  were  at  Florence, 
by  Brompton. 

Ampth'ill  Park,  and  that  of  Houghton,  con- 
tiguous to  it,  were  granted  by  James  I.  to  Sir 
Fidxcard  Bruce  of  Kinloss  (a  favorite,  brought  by 
his  majesty  out  of  Scotland),  or  to  his  son  Thomas 

0  Anecdotes  of  Painting,  ii.  81. 


HOUGHTON  PARK.  505 

Earl  of  Elgin.  It  continued  for  some  time  in  his 
posterity,  the  Earls  of  Elgin  and  of  Aylesbury.  It 
became,  about  the  year  1690  (by  purchase)  the 
property  of  Lord  Ashburnham,  who  built  the 
house,  which  still  retains  nearly  the  original  form. 
It  was  alienated  by  John,  the  first  earl  of  that 
title,  between  the  years  1720  and  1730,  to  Lord 
Viscount  Fitz-William.  His  lordship  sold  it  in 
the  year  1736,  to  Lady  Gozvran,  grandmother  to 
the  present  Lord  Osso?y. 

From  hence  is  a  very  short  ride  to  Houghton  Houghton 
Park,  formerly  part  of  the  estate  of  Ampthill. 
The  house  is  seated  on  a  bold  eminence,  and  com- 
mands a  fine  view.  The  fronts  are  unequal ;  one 
being  a  hundred  and  twenty  two  feet  in  extent ; 
the  other,  only  seventy  three  feet  six  inches :  two 
of  these  are  very  beautiful;  each  has  an  elegant 
portico  and  loggio  above,  ornamented  with  co- 
lumns of  the  Doric  and  Ionic  orders  :  the  rest  of 
the  house  is  of  brick.  On  the  intervening  space 
are  a  variety  of  cyphers,  devices,  and  crests;  such 
as  bears  and  ragged  staves,  staves  and  palms, 
crowned  lions  and  crowns,  and  beards  of  arrows, 
or  hedge-hogs  and  porcupines p.  Some  of  these 
certainly  relate  to  the  Sydnies.     This  gave  rise  to 

*  In  an  old  edition  of  the  Arcadia,  date  1629,  is  a  hedge- 
hog, or  porcupine,  as  a  crest  to  the  top  of  a  frontispiece. 


506  HOUGHTON  PARK. 

the  assertion  of  the  editor  of  Camden,  that  it  was 
built  by  the  Countess  of  Pembroke, 

Sydney's  sister,  Pembroke's  mother ; 

and  that  the  model  was  contrived  by  her  brother, 
the  incomparable  Sir  Philip  Sydney,  in  his  Area- 
ta. Let  this  be  admitted,  we  are  not  to  wonder 
at  seeing  his  devices  employed  as  ornaments. 
From  the  letters  on  the  south  front,  I.  R.  with  a 
crown  over  them,  it  is  evident  that  the  house  was 
built  in  the  time  of  James  I ;  and,  there  is  great 
reason  to  suppose*5,  that  Inigo  Jones,  who  was 
warmly  patronized  by  her  son  William  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  and  from  whose  designs  the  Earl  built 
the  noble  front  of  his  seat  at.  Wilton,  was  the 
architect, 

1 1t  has  since  been  ascertained',  that  Houghton  house  was  built 
by  this  celebrated  countess.  In  1615,  Sir  Edward  Conquest, 
keeper  of  the  park,  made  over  his  interest  in  it  to  Matthew 
Lister  and  Leonard  Welstead,  as  her  trustees,  when  she  erected 
a  splendid  mansion.  After  her  decease,  it  was  in  1630  granted 
in  fee  to  Lord  Bruce,  and  was,  for  a  considerable  time,  the  re- 
sidence of  his  descendants,  the  Earls  of  Elgin  and  Aylesbury. 
In  17S8,  John  Duke  of  Bedford  purchased  Houghton.  The 
late  duke  took  down  the  venerable  remains,  and  applied  the 
materials  to  the  erection  of  the  Swan  Inn,  at  Bedford;  the 
estates  belonging  to  it  became  the  property  of  the  Earl  of 
Ossory,  by  exchange  in  1801.     Ed. 

r  Ly son's  Magna  Britannia,  i.  96. 


TOMBS  IN  MAULDEN  CHURCH.  50? 

This   place    must  not   be    confounded    with 
Houghton  Conquest :  a  very  antient  house,  at  the  Houghton 

°  .      *         .  J  Conquest. 

foot  of  the  hill.  This  had  been  the  property  of  the 
very  old  family  of  the  Conquests,  and  was  pur- 
chased, with  the  manor,  from  the  last  Mr.  Con- 
quest, by  the  late  Earl  of  Ossory. 

I  did  not  leave  the  neighborhood  without  visit-   Tombs  in 

0  .  Maulden 

ing  the  church  of  Maulden,  a  mile  or  two  to  the  Church. 
east  of  Ampthill.  This  is  noted  for  the  octagonal 
mausoleum  erected  by  Thomas  Bruce  Earl  of  Elgin, 
in  honor  of  his  second  wife  Diana,  daughter  of 
William  Lord  Burghly,  and  by  her  first  marriage 
Countess  of  Oxford.  Her  tomb,  of  white  marble, 
is  placed  in  the  center.  On  it  is  a  sarcophagus, 
or  at  lest  what  was  designed  to  represent  one ;  out 
of  which  rises  a  miserable  figure  of  the  countess 
in  her  shroud :  on  whom  the  country  people,  by  a 
very  apt  similitude,  have  bestowed  the  title  of  The 
lady  in  the  punch-bozvl.  In  a  niche  in  the  wall  of 
the  building  is  the  bust  of  her  husband,  with  long 
hair,  a  short  beard,  and  turnover ;  and  on  the  floor 
is  another  bust  (I  think)  of  her  son-in-law,  Robert 
Earl  of  Elgin,  placed  at  a  respectful  distance,  as 
well  as  the  other,  for  the  reason  given  in  the  in- 
scription, Eminus  stantes  venerabundi,  quasi  con- 
templabuntur1 . 

r  See  the  whole  epitaph  in  the  Appendix.     Thorium  Earl  of 
Elgin  died  in  1663 ;  the  countess  in  1654. 


508  WREST. 

In  the  church  are  the  brasses  of  Richard  Faldo 
and  his  family,  inlaid  on  a  tomb  of  shell-marble. 

After  a  short  ride,  I  reached  the  large  house 
of  Wrest,  seated  in  a  low  and  wet  park,  crossed 
with  formal  rows  of  trees.  The  pleasure-grounds 
have,  since  their  first  creation,  been  corrected  by 
Brown :  his  hand  appears  particularly  in  a  noble 
serpentine  river.  Several  parts  are  graced  with 
obelisks,  pavilions,  and  other  buildings,  the  taste  of 
the  age  before. 

From  his  melon-ground  the  peasant  slave 
Had  rudely  rush'd,  and  levell'd  Merlin's  cave. 

In  the  quarters  of  the  wilderness  are  to  be  seen 
two  cenotaphs,  for  the  late  duke  and  dutchess, 
erected  by  the  duke  himself:  and,  if  you  gain 
a  steep  ascent,  from  the  hill-house  is  a  most  ex- 
tensive view  of  the  country.  The  front  is  plain 
and  extensive.  Within,  is  a  great  court.  This 
place  is  the  property  of  the  Earl  of  Hardwicke'; 
in  right  of  his  Lady  Jemima,  marchioness  Grey, 
daughter  to  John  Earl  of  Breadalbane,  by  Amabel, 
daughter  to  Hem*y  Grey,  thirteenth  Earl  and  first 
Duke  of  Kent  of  the  name.     That  illustrious 


•  Philip  Earl  of  Hardwicke,  died  in  1790,  when  Wrest  came 
into  the  possession  of  his  eldest  daughter,  the  Baroness  Lucas- 
Ed. 


WREST.  509 

family  had  been  possessed  of  the  manor  of  Wrest, 
and  other  estates  in  this  county,  at  lest  from  the 
time  of  Roger  de  Grey,  who  died  owner  of  it  in 
the  year  1353. 

The  portraits  and  their  history  would  take  up 
a  volume.  I  must,  therefore,  be  excused  for  giving 
a  more  brief  account  than  their  merits  might  de- 
mand. 

In  the  hall  is  a  full  length  of  the  unfortunate  Portraits. 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  cet.  reg.  38, 1580,  in  black,  MaryQueen 
with  her  hand  on  a  table:  a  copy  from  one  at    OF  00TS' 
Hampton  Court. 

Another    of  her    grandmother,    Margaret,  Margaret 
daughter  of  Henry  VII.  and  Queen  of  James  IV.  Gotland. 
of  Scotland.     Another  full-length,  in  black  hair, 
naked  neck,  with  a  marmoset  in  her  hands. 

Three  very  fine  portraits  of  James  I.  in  his    James  I. 
robes.     Anne  of  Denmark,  in  white ;  dressed  in  a    Anne  of 
hoop,  with  a  feather  fan,  and  neck  exposed.  Their 
son  Henry,   in  rich  armour,  boots,  and  with  a     Henry 
truncheon.     His  military  turn  appears  in  the  dress 
of  most  of  his  portraits.     Had  he  lived,  England 
might  probably  have  transferred  the  miseries  of 
war  to  the  neighboring  kingdom.     His  mother  had 
inspired  him  with  ambitious  notions,  and  filled  his 
head  with  the  thoughts  of  the  conquest  of  France. 
She  fancied  him  like  Henry  V.  and  expected  him 


510 


WREST. 


Lord 

SOMERS. 


CoRNARO 

Family. 

Philip 

Baron 

Wharton. 


to -prove  as  victorious.  I  am  sorry  to  retract  the 
character  of  this  lady,  but  I  fear  that  my  former 
was  taken  from  a  parasite  of  the  court l.  She  was 
turbulent,  restless,  and  aspiring  to  government, 
incapable  of  the  management  of  aifairs,  yet  always 
intriguing  after  power.  This  her  wiser  husband 
denied  heru,  and  of  course  incurred  her  hatred. 
Every  engine  was  then  employed  to  hurt  his  pri- 
vate ease :  she  affected  amours,  of  which  she 
never  was  guilty,  and  permitted  familiarities, 
which  her  pride  would  probably  have  never  con- 
descended to.  James  was  armed  with  indifference. 
At  length,  in  1619,  he  saw  her  descend  to  the 
grave;  but  not  with  the  resignation  of  a  good 
Christian  monarch,  as  might  have  been  expected 
from  her  conduct. 

Lord  Somers,  in  a  long  wig  and  his  chancel- 
lor's robes,  -sitting. 

A  person  unknown ;  a  full  length,  in  a  black 
cloak  laced  with  gold,  laced  bonnet,  triple  gold 
chain. 

Over  the  chimney  is  a  copy  of  the  Cornaro 
family. 

In  the  eating-room  is  a  full-length  of  Philip 

1  Wilson. 

•  See  Carte,  iii.  746.  This  historian  is  far  from  being  sin- 
gular in  this  account. 


WREST.  5U 

Baron  of  Wharton,  with  long  hair,  breast-plate, 
and  truncheon,  and  boots;  at,  26,  1639-  This 
nobleman  took  part  with  the  parlement  in  the  civil 
wars.  Mr.  Granger*  relates  on  the  authority  of 
Walker,  that  at  the  battle  of  Edgehillhe  hid  himself 
in  a  saw-pit :  a  fact  incredible,  as  he  gave  a  very 
clear  account  of  the  battle,  in  a  long  speech  in 
Guildhall7.  He  survived  long,  and  in  1677  was 
sent  to  the  Tower  for  doubting  the  legality  of  one 
of  Charles's  parlements,  after  a  recess  of  fifteen 
months  z. 

Lady  Rich,  in  black.  This  is,  I  suspect,  the  Lady  Rich* 
lady  who  was  married  by  Laud  to  Charles  Blount 
Earl  of  Devonshire,  during  the  life  of  her  first 
husband,  Robert  Lord  Rich,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Warwick.  She  was  daughter  to  Walter  Devereux 
Earl  of  Essex,  and  had  been  addressed  by  Blount 
while  he  was  a  younger  brother,  and  she  favored 
his  passion.  Her  friends  broke  off  the  match,  and 
married  her  to  a  very  disagreeable  suitor,  her  first 
lord.  When  Blount,  after  some  years'  absence  in 
the  Irish  wars,  returned  laden  with  glory,  and, 
by  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  honored  with  the 
title  of  Mount] oy,  he  commenced  a  criminal  con- 
nection with  his  former  mistress.     She  was  fully 

x  Biog.  Hist.  ii.  1 42.  r  Brake,  xi.  474. 

"*  Macpherson,  i.  2f6. 


5\t 


WREST. 


Earls 
Hardwicke. 


Henry  Earl 
of  Kent. 


Anthony 

Earl  of 

Kent. 


and  legally  divorced  from  Lord  Rich.  Blount, 
now  Earl  of  Devonshire,  determined  to  make  her 
reparation,  and  persuaded  Mr.  Laud,  then  his 
chaplain,  to  marry  them.  In  those  days  this  was 
looked  on  as  so  high  a  crime,  that  King  James  was 
for  several  years  extremely  averse  to  the  bestow- 
ing any  perferment  on  him:  and  Laud  himself  had 
such  a  sense  of  his  fault,  as  to  keep  an  annual  fast 
on  the  unlucky  day  ever  after.  These  two  pic- 
tures were  painted  by  Vandyck,  and  formed  a  part 
of  the  Wharton  collection ;  they  were  bought  by 
Sir  Robert  Walpole,  and  sold  after  his  death. 

Lord  chancellor  Hardwicke,  in  his  robes, 
by  Hoare :  a  character  superior  to  my  pen. 

His  son,  the  present  Earl,  by  Gainsborough. 

On  the  stair-case  is  Henry  seventh  Earl  of 
Kent,  a  full  length,  in  black.  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Gilbert  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  is  painted  in  the 
same  color,  with  a  ruff,  flaxen  frizzled  hair,  and  a 
great  black  egret.     He  died  in  1639  ;  she  in  1651. 

His  successor  Anthony,  grandson  of  Anthony, 
third  son  of  George  Earl  of  Kent,  is  drawn  in 
black,  with  his  hand  on  a  book :  a  meagre  person- 
age. He  was  surprised  with  the  peerage  at  his 
parsonage  of  Bur  bach,  in  the  county  of  Leicester, 
where  he  lived  in  hospitality,  and  the  full  dis- 
charge of  that  great  character,  a  good  parish- 


WREST.  513 

priest.  He  was  summoned  to  parlement,  but  pre- 
ferred the  duty  to  which  he  was  first  called*;  never 
would  forsake  his  flock,  and  was  buried  among 
them  in  1643. 

His  wife,  Magdalene  Purefoy,  a  half-length,  is 
represented  sitting,  with  a  book  in  her  hand,  and 
a  long  motherly  black  peaked  coif  on  her  head. 

Amabella,  surnamed,  from  her  super-eminent  Amabella 

*  Countess  op 

virtues,  The  good  Countess  of  Kent,  is  drawn  in  Kent. 
black  and  ermine,  full  curled  hair,  and  a  kerchief 
over  her  neck;  at.  60,  1675  :  by  Lely.  She  was 
second  wife  to  Henry,  son  and  successor  to  the 
parson  of  Burbach,  and  daughter  to  Sir  Anthony 
Ben,  of  Surrey.    Her  epitaph  speaks  her  deserts  \ 

Her  husband  is  in  his  robes,  with  a  small  beard 
and  whiskers,  painted  by  Closterman ;  at.  53, 
1643.     He  died  in  1651. 

Their  son,  Anthony  Earl  of  Kent,  and  his  lady, 
Mary,  daughter  and  sole  heir  to  John  Lord  Lucas; 
both  in  their  robes,  by  Lely.  The  date  to  his  por- 
trait is  1681,  at.  36.  He  died  in  August  1702; 
she,  in  November,  in  the  same  year. 

The  old  dining-room  is  most  curiously  furnish- 
ed :  mock  pilasters  finished  with  stripes  of  velvet, 
and  worked  silk  festoons  between  each.  This  is 
said  to  have  been  done  for  the  reception  of  Anne  of 
Denmark. 

■  Fuller's  Worthies,  299.  ■>  See  Appendix. 

2l 


514  WREST. 

In  this  apartment  is  the  portrait  of  that  eminent 
statesman  and  honest  man  Sir  William  Temple :  a 
copy  from  one  by  Lely  ;  yet  a  most  beautiful  pic- 
ture. He  is  placed  sitting,  and  looking  towards 
you,  in  a  red  vest ;  his  hair  long,  black,  and  flow- 
ing ;  his  whiskers  small.  In  his  hand  is  the  triple 
alliance  :  the  greatest  act  of  his  patriotic  life  ;  but 
st)on  frustrated  by  the  profligate  ministry  of  the 
time. 

In  the  chapel-closet  is  the  glory  of  the  name", 

Lady  Jane  Lady  Jane  Gray,  the  sweet  accomplished  victim 
to  the  wickedness  of  her  father-in-law,  and  the 
folly  of  her  father.  Her  person  was  rather  plain  ; 
but  that  was  amply  recompensed  by  her  intellec- 
tual charms.  She  was  mistress  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  tongues ;  versed  in  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Ara- 
bic, French,  and  Italian ;  skilled  in  music ;  and 

'  excellent  at  her  needle.     I  have  seen  in  the  library 

at  Zurich  several  of  her  letters,  written  in  a  most 
beautiful  hand,  to  Bullinger,  on  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion ;  and  a  toilet,  worked  with  her  own  hand,  is 
preserved  there  with  great  reverence.  She  fell  at 
the  age  of  seventeen.  Could  there  be  wanting  any 
proof  of  her  amazing  fortitude,  it  was  supplied 
near  her  last  moments  with  the  most  invincible 
one  : — As  she  was  passing  to  the  scaffold  (whether 

c  This  interesting  portrait  has  been  removed  to  the  library. 
Ed. 


WREST.  515 

by  accident,  or  whether  by  the  most  cruel  inten- 
tion) she  met  the  headless  body  of  her  beloved 
husband.  A  line  in  Greek,  to  the  following  pur- 
pose, was  her  consolation :  "  That  if  his  lifeless 
"  body  should  give  testimony  against  her  before 
"  men,  his  most  blessed  soul  should  give  an  eter- 
"  nal  proof  of  her  innocence  in  the  presence  of 
"  God." 

The  dress  of  this  suffering  innocent  is,  a  plain 
white  cap,  a  handkerchief,  fastened  under  her 
arms,  and  a  black  gown  :  a  book  in  her  hand. 

In  the  same  room  is  the  picture  of  Banaster  Banaster 
Lord  Maynard,  who  married  a  daughter  of  this  Mayxard. 
house. 

A  portrait  of  the  valiant  Sir  Charles  Lucas, 
by  Dobson :  a  half-length,  in  armour,  fine  sash, 
long  hair.  He  was  barbarously  shot  to  death,  at 
Colchester,  after  quarter  given ;  and  for  a  reason 
that  should  have  endeared  him  to  a  soldier— the 
vigorous  defence  made  by  the  garrison. 

His  niece,  Mary  Lucas,  sole  heiress  to  his 
■elder  brother  Lord  Lucas,  married  to  Anthony 
Earl  of  Kent. 

Sir  Anthony  Ben,  m  hoary  short  hair,  quilled 
ruff,  red  dress  faced  with  black. 

His  lady,  in  black,  a  kerchief,  and  curled  hair. 
These  were  parents  to  the  good  countess. 

In  the  passage  is  a  most  curious  portrait  of  Lady 

2  l  2 


516  WREST. 

Lady  Susanna  Grey,  daughter  to  Charles  Earl  of  Kent, 
Grey.  and  wife  to  Sir  Michael  Longueoille.  She  was  a 
celebrated  workwoman ;  and  the  dress  in  which 
she  is  drawn  is  said  to  have  been  a  wedding-suit  of 
her  own  doing.  Her  gown  is  finely  flowered ;  her 
petticoat  white  and  striped ;  her  robe  lined  with 
ermine;  her  veil  vast  and  distended ;  her  wedding- 
ring  hanging  from  her  wrist  by  a  silken  string.  She 
is  fabled  to  have  died  of  the  prick  of  a  needle  in 
her  finger,  and  looks  as  pale  as  if  the  fact  was 
true.  The  same  idle  story  is  told  of  Lady  Eliza- 
beth Russel,  whose  monument  is  shewn  in  West- 
minster abbey,  as  that  of  the  lady  who  suffered  by 
so  uncommon  an  accident. 

Sir  Randle       In  another  room  is  the  portrait  of  Sir  Randle 
Crew.  ^ 

Crew,  in  a  bonnet,  run,  gold  chain,  and  robes,  as 

lord  chief  justice  of  the  King's  Bench:  a  dignity 
he  filled  with  credit  in  the  last  year  of  James  I. 
and  first  of  Charles  I.  He  had  the  honor  of  being 
displaced  in  1626,  for  his  disapprobation  of  the 
imprisonment  of  those  gentlemen  who  refused  the 
arbitrary  loan  proposed  by  the  court.  He  disco- 
vered, says  Fuller,  no  more  discontentment  at  his 
discharge,  than  a  weary  traveller  is  offended  at 
being  told  that  he  is  arrived  at  his  journey's  end  \ 

*  British  Worthies,  Cheshire,  178.  It  must  not  be  forgot 
that  Sir  Randle  had  been  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  in 
1614. 


WREST.  517 

He  lived  many  years,  in  great  hospitality,  in  West- 
minster :  he  purchased  the  estate  of  the  Falshursts 
of  Crew,  in  Cheshire ;  built  the  magnificent  seat 
of  Crew  Hall;  and  was  the  first  who  brought  the 
model  of  good  building  into  that  distant  county. 
He  died  in  1642.  He  was  the  son  of  John  Crew 
of  Nantwich,  and  the  ancestor  of  the  present 
flourishing  family. 

The  next  portrait  is  that  of  his  younger  brother  Sir  Thomas 

Crew. 

Sir  Thomas  Crew,  in  red  robes,  and  a  coif  as 
king's  serjeant.  He  was  among  the  most  active 
supporters  of  the  rights  of  the  Commons  in  the 
reign  of  James  I.  The  king,  under  pretence  of 
redressing  certain  matters  in  Ireland,  sent  him, 
and  several  of  the  most  obnoxious  members,  into 
that  kingdom,  with  proper  commissions d.  In 
1623  he  was  chosen  speaker,  and  made  a  speech, 
which  his  majesty  heard  with  no  more  patience 
than  approbation e ;  yet,  by  his  lord  keeper,  thank- 
ed him  for  several  parts  of  it.  He  was  again 
speaker  to  the  first  parlement  of  Charles  I.  and 
died  in  February  1633,  aged  68.  By  his  mar- 
riage with  Temperance,  fourth  daughter  of  Regi- 
nald Bray,  Esquire,  he  obtained  the  manor  of 
Stene,  in  Northamptonshire ;  which  became  the 
settlement  of  him  and  his  posterity,  till  it  devolved 
to  this  house,  by  the  marriage  of  Henry  Duke  of 

4  Drake,  v.  525.  e  Ibid.y'i.  10, 


318  WREST. 

Kent  with  Jemima,    eldest  daughter  of  Thomas 
Lord  Crew. 

J°Crew°RD       ^is  son'  J°hn  ^0T^  Crexv,  is  represented  in 
his  baronial  robes,  with  long  grey  hair,  and  a  small 
coif.  He  was  created  Lord  Crew  of  Stene,  in  1661, 
having  been  active  in  promoting  the  Restoration, 
and  freeing  his  country  from  the  confused  govern- 
ment it  had  long  laboured  under.     No  one  was 
more  active  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  his  coun- 
try, in  the  beginning  of  the  troubles  of  the  former 
reign,   than  himself.     He  had  been  member  for 
Northamptonshire  in  the  long    parlement;    was 
chairman  to  the  committee  of  religion ;  and  was 
committed  to  the  Tower,  for  refusing  to  deliver 
up  the  petitions  and  complaints  f.     He  was  nomi- 
nated one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  treaty  of 
Uxbridge:  he  was  one  of  those  entrusted  with  the 
receipt  of  the  king's  person  from  the  Scots,  and 
the  conveying  him  to  Holmby  House.     He  again 
acted  as  commissioner  in  the  treaty  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight ;  and  finally,  was  so  far  in  the  favor  of  the 
usurper,  as,  in  1657,  to  be  constituted  one  of  the 
sixty  which  formed  the  upper  house  of  his  mock 
parlement g.     The  game  being  soon  over,  he  con- 
ciliated himself  to  the  approaching  change,  and 
proved  so  active  an  instrument  in  the  Restoration, 
as  not  only  to  make  amends  for  his  past  demerits, 
f  Drake,  viii.  489.  *  Whitclock,  233,  334,  666. 


WREST.  519 

but  to  obtain,  in  1661,  the  honor  of  Baron  of 
Stene.  He  died  in  1 679,  after  attaining  the  good 
old  age  of  82. 

His  wife  Jemima,  daughter  of  Edward  Wal- 
grave  of  Lazvf'ord,  in  Essex,  is  sitting,  in  black, 
and  a  great  black  hood. 

A  very  fine  half-length  of  their  son  Thomas  Thomas 
Lord  Crexv,  in  black,  with  long  hair,  and  his  hand 
on  his  breast,  by  Lely.  In  the  old  dining-room 
is  another  portrait  of  him,  in  his  robes,  dated 
1680.  He  was  father  to  Jemima,  Dutchess  of 
Kent. 

Nathaniel  Crew,  Bishop  of  Durham,  fifth  bro-  CrewBishop 
ther  to  the  former.  I  Ie  is  in  red  robes  faced  with 
ermine,  a  turnover,  and  long  hair;  his  counte- 
nance good.  By  the  death  of  his  brother,  he  be- 
came Lord  Crew.  Never  was  any  person  of  his 
time  so  subservient  to  the  will  of  his  master,  as 
this  noble  prelate.  He  was  the  most  active  mem- 
ber of  the  inquisitorial  commission,  established  by 
James  II.  to  promote  his  wild  designs  in  religious 
matters.  Of  the  three  bishops  joined  in  it,  one 
declined  acting ;  a  third,  struck  with  his  own  im- 
prudence, resigned.  Crew  continued  obstinately 
servile,  and  suspended  thirty  of  his  clergy  for  re- 
fusing to  come  into  the  views  of  the  court.  Con- 
scious of  his  conduct,  he  fled  out  of  the  kingdom 
at  the  Revolution ;  but  at  length  made  his  peace, 


520  WREST. 

and  died  in  1721,  aged  88,  after  having  been 
bishop,  and  of  Durham,  47.  His  charity,  it  is  to 
be  hoped,  has  covered  his  multitude  of  political 
sins.  Oxford  participated  largely  of  his  bounty ; 
and  the  navigators  of  the  Northumberland  sea 
may  bless  his  well-planned  benevolence  as  long  as 
tempests  endure  \ 

Lady  A  strange  picture  of  Lady  Harold,  daughter 

to  Thomas  Earl  of  Thanet ;  first  married  to  Lord 
Harold,  the  late  Duke  of  Kent's  eldest  son,  and. 
afterwards  to  the  late  Earl  Gower.  She  is  dressed 
in  the  riding-habit  of  the  time,  a  blue-and-silver 
coat,  silver  tissue  waistcoat,  a  long  flowing  wig, 
and  great  hat  and  feather. 
Secretary       I  forgot  to  mention,  that  in  a  bedchamber  is 

AhamNG"  a  portrait  of  Secretary  Walsingham,  in  a  quilled 
ruff:  the  active,  penetrating,  able,  and  faithful 
servant  of  Queen  Elizabeth ;  the  security  of  the 
kingdom  as  well  as  of  her  own  person.  So  atten- 
tive to  the  interests  of  his  country,  so  negligent  of 
his  own,  as  to  die  (in  1590)  so  poor,  as  not  to 
leave  enough  to  defray  his  funeral  expences. 
SirNicholas      A  fine  portrait  of  Sir  Nicholas  Throgmorton : 

TOj,.     "  his  face  thin,  his  beard  black.     At  his  girdle  is  a 

large  ring  to  hold  his  handkerchief.     He  has  a 

sword  and  stilletto,  and  is  graced  with  a  gold  chain 

and  medal.     He  had  a  narrow  escape  in  the  time 

h  See  article  Bamborough,  Tour  Scotl.  1769. 


FLITTON  CHURCH. 


521 


Tombs. 


of  Queen  Mary ;  being  tried,  and  narrowly  ac- 
quitted, for  a  supposed  concern  in  Wyai's  insur- 
rection. Was  employed  by  Elizabeth  in  import- 
ant embassies  to  France  and  Scotland.  His  abi- 
lities were  great :  his  spirit  was  said  to  have  bor- 
dered on  turbulence :  his  death,  therefore,  was 
esteemed  rather  fortunate:  it  happened  in  1570, 
at  the  table  of  Cecil ;  not  without  suspicion  of 
poison ' :  an  end  in  those  days  more  frequently 
attributed  than  it  ought  to  be. 

The  mausoleum  of  the  Greys  adjoins  to  the    Flitton 

Church. 

church  of  Flitton,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
the  house.  It  consists  of  a  centre  and  four  wings. 
In  one  is  the  tomb  of  Henry  fifth  Earl  of  Kent, 
and  his  countess  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  George 
Cotton  of  Cumbermere,  Cheshire:  both  are  in 
robes,  and  painted ;  both  recumbent,  with  uplifted 
hands  :  his  beard  long  and  square,  his  ruff  quilled. 
This  was  the  fiery  zealot  who  sat  in  judgment  on 
Mary  Stuart,  and,  with  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury, 
was  deputed  to  see  execution  done  on  the  unhappy 
princess.  They,  with  true  bigotry,  refused  her 
the  consolation  of  her  almoner  in  her  last  mo- 
ments ;  and  Kent  had  the  brutality  to  give  a  most 
reluctant  assent  to  her  request  of  having  a  few  of 
her  domestics  to  perform  their  final  duties  to  their 
dying  mistress.  Kent  even  burst  into  the  excla- 
1  Complete  Hist.  ii.  430. 


522  FLITTON  CHURCH. 

mation  of  saying,  "  Your  life  will  be  the  death  of 
"  our  religion,  and  your  death  will  be  the  life  of 
"  it"  A  cause  of  triumph  to  Mary  Stuart.  He 
founded  this  building,  and  took  possession  of  it  in 
the  beginning  of  the  year  16 14.  The  tomb  of  the 
countess  is  a  mere  cenotaph ;  for  she  was  buried, 
in  1580,  at  Great  Gaddcsden. 

Henry  Earl  of  Kent,  and  his  second  lady,  the 
good  countess,  repose  in  another  wing,  with  Jus- 
tice, Temperance,  and  other  virtues,  on  each  side. 
Both  are  represented  in  white  marble,  recumbent, 
and  both  in  robes.  His  beard  is  small,  his  lip 
whiskered ;  one  hand  is  on  his  breast,  the  other 
on  his  sword.  She  is  dressed  in  an  ungraceful  pair 
of  stays ;  her  hands  before,  holding  her  robes ;  her 
neck  naked;  her  hair  curled,  and  enormously 
bushy.  He  died  in  1651 ;  she  finished  her  ex- 
cellent life  in  1698,  aged  92. 

At  one  end  is  an  inscription  of  Elizabeth  Tal- 
bot Countess-dowager  of  Kent,  who  died  in  1651 ; 
and  another  to  Lady  Jane  Hart,  relict  of  Sir 
Eustace  Hart.  Her  figure  is  in  white  marble,  in 
a  reclining  posture. 

On  the  floor  is  a  brass  of  Henry  Grey,  second 
son  of  Sir  Henry  Grey,  Knight,  in  armour. 

In  another  appears  Henry  late  Duke  of 
Kent,  reclined  on  a  sarcophagus,  in  a  Roman 
dress,  in   white  marble,   with  a  coronet  in  his 


FLITTON  CHURCH.  525 

hand.  His  grace  died  in  1740.  His  first  dutchess, 
Jemima  Crew,  is  represented  with  her  counte- 
nance looking  up,  and  leaning  on  one  side. 
Opposite  to  his  grace  is  a  most  amiable  character 
of  his  second  lady,  Sophia,  daughter  of  William 
Earl  of  Portland*. 

A  monument  of  his  son  Anthony  Earl  of 
Harold,  in  a  Roman  dress.  He  died  in  1723. 
And  near  him  is  another  son  and  a  daughter  of  his 
grace ;  but  not  one  of  the  figures  do  any  credit  tQ 
the  statuary. 

Near  the  altar,  on  the  floor,  is  an  admirable 

figure,  in  brass,  of  an  honest  steward ;   a  true 

Vellum  in  aspect :  in  a  laced  night-cap,  great  ruff, 

long  cloak,  trunk  breeches.  This  was  Thomas  Hill, 

receiver-general  to  three  Earls  of  Kent. 

Aske  how  he  lived,  and  you  shall  knowe  his  end : 
He  dyde  a  saint  to  God,  to  poore  a  friende. 
These  lines  men  knowe  doe  truely  of  him  story, 
Whom  God  hath  cal'd,  and  seated  now  in  glory. 

He  died  May  26th  1628,  aged  101. 

k  Beneath  is  an  inscription  in  memory  of  Lady  Anne', 
daughter  to  the  Duke  of  Kent,  and  wife  to  John  Egerton,  late 
Bishop  of  Durham;  she  died  in  1780.  In  a  fourth  recess  is  a 
monument  erected  by  the  Marchioness  De  Grey,  in  honor 
of  her  parents  the  Earl  and  Countess  of  Hardwicke.  The 
shoulder  of  a  mournful  figure  leaning  over  an  urn  appears  to 
be  dislocated  ;  neither  the  design  nor  execution  of  the  whole 
does  any  credit  to  the  sculptor.    Ed. 


524  LUTON  CHURCH. 

Gratitude  forbids  me  from  leaving  this  place 
without  my  acknowlegements  to  the  Reverend 
Archdeacon  Cove,  the  worthy  incumbent,  for  his 
great  hospitality,  and  the  various  information  he 
favored  me  with  respecting  these  parts. 

From  hence  I  went  southwards,  over  a  hilly 
and  open  country.  Ride  over  Luton  Downs,  and 
Ltjton.  reach  Luton,  a  small  dirty  town,  seated  on  the 
Lea  ;  remarkable  for  its  church  and  tower-steeple, 
prettily  chequered  with  flint  and  freestone.  With- 
Fine  Font,  in  is  a  most  remarkable  baptisterium  \  in  form  of 
an  octagon,  open  at  the  sides,  and  terminating  in 
elegant  tabernacle-work.  In  the  top  is  a  large 
bason,  in  which  the  consecrated  water  was  kept, 
and  let  down  by  the  priest  into  the  font,  by  means 
of  a  pipe.  On  the  top  of  the  inside  is  a  vine, 
guarded  by  a  lamb  from  the  assaults  of  a  dragon. 
The  vine  signifies  the  church,  protected  by  bap- 
tism from  the  assaults  of  the  devil. 

Adjoining  to  the  church  is  a  chapel,  founded, 
as  appears  by  the  following  lines,  by  John  Lord 
TVenlock : 

Jesu  Christ,  most  of  myght, 

Have  mercy  on  John  le  Wenlock,  knight, 

And  of  his  wyffe  Elizabeth, 

Wch  out  of  this  world  is  past  by  death  ; 

1  Engraven  in  Gent.  Mag.  1778.  * 


LUTON  CHURCH.  525 

Well  founded  this  chapel  here. 
Helpe  them  with  yr  harty  praer ; 
That  they  may  come  to  that  place 
Where  ever  is  joy  and  solace  m. 

This  Lord  IVenlock  rose  in  the  reign  of  Henry  „rLoRD 

#  O  .7      VVENLOCK. 

VI. ;  was  knighted,  made  constable  of  Bamburgh 
castle,  and  chamberlain  to  the  queen.  He  ac- 
quired great  wealth,  and  was  able  to  lend  his 
master  a  thousand  and  thirty-three  pounds  six 
shillings  and  eight-pence ;  for  which  he  received 
an  assignment  of  the  fifteenth  and  tenth,  granted 
by  parlement  in  1456;  and  soon  after  he  was  re- 
warded with  being  made  knight  of  the  Garter. 
He  valiantly  supported  the  royal  cause  at  the  first 
battle  of  St.  Albans,  and  was  carried  out  of  it 
dreadfully  wounded;  yet,  with  the  fickleness  of 
the  times,  he  joined  the  Duke  of  York  in  1459, 
and  was  of  course  attainted  by  the  Lancastrian 
parlement.  He  fought  valiantly  in  Towton  field, 
and  received,  as  recompence  for  his  former  loss, 
the  office  of  chief  butler  of  England,  and  the  stew- 
ardship of  the  castle  and  manor  of  Berkhamstead ; 
and  was  created  a  baron n.  He  was  employed  by 
the  Yorkists  in  several  important  embassies,  and 
advanced  to  the  great  post  of  Lieutenant  of  Calais. 

m  Br.  Mux.  H.  M.  11.  fo°  1531.  fo.  15. 
*  Dugdale's  Baron,  ii.  264.  . 


526  LUTON  CHURCH. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  favors,  he  again  revolt- 
ed, and  joined  the  Earl  of  Warwick  to  restore  the 
deposed  Henry.  He  raised  forces,  and  joined 
Margaret  of  Anjou,  before  the  battle  of  Tewkes- 
bury. He  was  appointed  by  the  general,  John 
Earl  of  Somerset,  to  the  command  of  what  was 
called  the  middle  ward  of  the  army.  When  So- 
merset,  who  led  the  van,  found  himself  unsup- 
ported in  the  fierce  attack  he  had  made  on  the 
enemy,  he  returned,  enraged,  to  see  the  cause.  He 
found  Lord  TVenlock,  with  his  troops,  standing  in 
the  market-place.  Whether  a  panic  had  seized 
him,  or  whether,  through  a  mutability  of  mind,  he 
was  meditating  a  new  revolt,  does  not  appear; 
but  the  earl,  unable  to  curb  his  fury,  rode  up,  and 
with  one  blow  of  his  battle-ax  clove  the  scull  of  the 
supposed  traitor0.  He  was  interred  at  Tewkes- 
bury ;  and  his  tomb  is  still  to  be  seen  in  that 
noble  church. 

In  this  chapel  are  several  tombs  :  one  very 
magnificent,  in  the  altar-form,  with  a  rich  canopy, 
open  beneath  on  each  side.  On  the  top  are  va- 
rious arms,  some  inclosed  in  a  garter.  On  a 
wreath  is  a  crest,  a  plume  of  feathers. 
William  On  the  tomb  lies  the  effigies  of  JVilliam  Wen- 
lock,  in  the  habit  of  a  shaven  priest :  his  hands 

Q  Halle's  Chr.  xxxii. 


LUTON  CHURCH.  S2? 

closed  as  if  in  prayer ;  beads  hang  from  them ; 
and  on  a  label  from  his  mouth  is  a  small  shield  of 
a  chevron,  between  three  croslet  gules,  and  these 
words  : 

Salve  Regina  Mater  miserecordie 
Jesu  fili  Dei  miserere  mei. 

On  the  side  which  opens  into  the  chapel  is  this 
inscription : 

In  Wenlok  brad  I,  in  this  toun  lordsehipes  had  I. 
Her  am  I  now  layed,  Christes  moder  helpe  me,  Lady. 
Under  thes  stones,  for  a  tyme,  schal  I  reste  my  bones. 
Deye  not  I  ned  ones  myghtful  God  graunt  me  thy  wones. 
Ave. 

On  the  other  side,  in  the  chancel, 

Wills  sic  tumulatus  de  Wenlok  natus 

In  ordine  presbyteratus. 
Alter  hujus  ville  :  dominus  Someris  fuit  ille 

Hie  licet  indignus :  anime  Deus  esto  benignus. 

This  William  was  prebendary  of  Brownswood,  in 
the  church  of  St.  Pauls',  London,  in  1 363 ;  be- 
fore which  he  had  been  rector  of  St.  Andrew's, 
Holborn.  In  1 379,  Richard  II.  made  him  custos 
of  the  hospital  of  Farle,  in  Bedfordshire p.  He 
died  in  1392,  and  was  buried  here,  in  pursuance 

p  Se*  Bromfield's  Collect,  article  Let©*. 


528  LUTON  CHURCH. 

of  his  will.  By  the  garter,  in  which  one  of  the 
coats  of  arms  is  included,  it  is  evident  that  the 
tomb  was  erected  by  the  founder  of  the  chapel. 
This  also  directs  us  to  the  origin  of  Lord  JVenlock. 
It  is  most  likely  that  his  father  was  related  to  this 
prebendary,  and  that  he  left  his  possessions  to 
him ;  and  that  Lord  JVenlock,  in  the  height  of  his 
prosperity,  paid  this  ostentatious  compliment  to 
the  memory  of  his  kinsman. 

In  the  middle  is  an  altar-tomb  of  shell-marble, 
with  the  brass  plate  of  a  woman. 

In  the  wall,  beneath  two  arches,  are  the  tombs, 
I  think,  of  the  Rotherhams,  owners  of  this  chapel 
after  the  JVenlocks.  On  one  had  been  an  inscrip- 
tion to  a  Rotherham,  who  had  married  Catherine, 
daughter  of  a  Lord  Grey  ;  and  was  himself  nephew 
to  Scot,  alias  Rotherham,  archbishop  of  York. 

The  following  odd  medley  of  English  and  La- 
tin, merits  transcribing.  It  is  on  the  tomb  of 
John  Ackworth,  Esquire,  who  died  in  1513 ;  and 
is  represented  here  with  his  two  wives,  eight  sons, 
and  nine  daughters. 

O  man,  who  eer  thow  be,  timor  mortis  shulde  trouble  the  j 

For  when  thow  beest  wenyst, 

Veniet  te 

Mors  superare. 

And  so--- grave  grevys 

Ergo  mortem  memorare 
Jesu  mercy  :  Lady  helpe :  Jesu  mercy. 


LUTON  CHURCH.  529 

Near  the  altar  is  a  large  mutilated  figure  m 
the  wall,  in  a  priestly  habit,  with  a  pastoral  staff, 
or  a  crosier,  lying  on  him.  He  was  an  abbot,  and 
probably  of  St.  Albans,  for  the  abbots  had  a  seat 
near  this  townr.  The  chancel  appears  to  have 
been  rebuilt  by  abbot  IVhethamsted ;  whose 
motto,  Val  les  ha  bun  da  bunt  val  les,  is 
to  be  seen  on  the  walls. 

Part  of  this  place  was  said  to  have  been  be- 
stowed by  king  Offa  on  the  monks  of  St.  Albans. 
Gilbert  de  Clare  Earl  of  Gloucester,  had  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  church;  which  they  bought  from 
him  in  1166,  for  eighty  marks,  and  kept  in  their 
own  hands,  till  they  were  compelled  to  appoint  a 
vicar.  The  purchase  was  in  the  time  of  abbot 
Robert*.  It  appears  that  this  place,  Houghton, 
and  Potesgrave,  had  been  bestowed  on  the  mo- 
nastery, for  the  support  of  the  kitchen  for  the 
guests.  This  is  seen  in  the  charter  of  confirma- 
tion, made  by  King  John,  in  the  first  year  of  his 
reign l. 

The  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Mary,  and  is  a 
vicarage  in  the  gift  of  the  Earl  of  Bute. 

Luton  Ho,  the  seat  of  that "  nobleman,  lies  near  Luton  Ho. 

r  Leland  Itin.  vi.  63.  *  Chauncy,  438. 

1  Dugdale  Mon.  i.  179.     Hatty  I.  had  confirmed  the  same. 
Iu  his  charter  the  nanus  are  mis-spelt.     See  Chauncy,  434. 
u  John  Earl  of  Bute,  who  died  in  1792.    Ed. 

2  M 


530  LUTON  HO. 

the  London  road;  about  three  miles  from  the 
town.  I  lament  my  inability  to  record  his  taste 
and  magnificence ;  but  alas !  the  useful  talent x, 
Principibus  placuisse  viris,  has  been  unfortunately 
denied  to  me.  I  must  therefore  relate  the  antient 
story  of  the  favored  spot.  In  the  twentieth  of 
Edzvard  I.  it  was  possessed  by  Robert y,  who  took 
the  addition  of  de  Hoo,  from  the  place ;  which  sig- 
nifies a  high  situation.  His  grandson,  Thomas, 
was  created  Lord  Hoo  and  Hastings,  by  Henry 
VI.  in  1447.  He,  if  no  mistake  is  made  in  the 
account,  settled  two  parts  of  the  tithes  on  the 

x  The  editor,  not  having  had  an  opportunity  of  visiting 
Luton  Ho,  takes  the  liberty  of  borrowing  the  following  ac- 
count of  it  from  Mr.  Lysons's  Magna  Britannia. 

"  The  principal  rooms,  particularly  the  library,  which  is 
"  one  hundred  and  forty-six  feet  in  length,  the  drawing-room, 
"  and  the  saloon  are  on  a  magnificent  scale.  The  collection 
"  of  pictures  is  very  large  and  valuable,  chiefly  of  the  Italian 
"  and  Flemish  schools.  Among  the  portraits  are,  Margaret 
"  Queen  of  Scots,  with  her  second  husband  Archibald  Douglas ; 
"  the  first  Earl  of  Pembroke;  the  Earl  of  Strafford;  General 
"  Ireton;  Mr.  Pym;  Mrs.  Lane,  who  assisted  Charles  II.  on 
"  his  escape  after  the  battle  of  Worcester ;  Lord  Chancellor 
"  Jefferys  ;  Ben  Jonson ;  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  Dr.  Armstrong, 
"  and  the  late  Earl  of  Bute,  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  The 
"  chapel  is  fitted  up  with  vefy  rich  gothic  carving  in  wood, 
"  said  to  have  been  originally  executed  for  Sir  Thomas  Pope 
"  at  Tettenhanger  in  1548,  but  brought  to  Luton  by  Sir  Robert 
"  Napier"     Ed. 

y  Chauncy,  352. 


SOMMERIS.  531 

abbey  of  St.  Albans,  for  the  use  of  strangers. 
Lord  Hoo  left  only  daughters.  From  one,  who 
married  Sir  Geqfry  Bullen,  was  descended  Queen 
Elizabeth.  I  do  not  discover  the  time  in  which 
the  tower  in  Luton  Park  was  built.  It  is  an  an- 
tient  structure,  of  flint  and  Tottenhoe  stone  inter- 
mixed. 

About  two  miles  to  the  north-east  of  Luton  Sommbrm. 
Hoo,  is  the  village  of  Sommeris,  where,  as  Leland 
informs  us,  Lord  TVenlock  had  begun  sumptuously 
a  house,  but  never  finished  it :  that  the  gatehouse 
of  brick  was  very  fair  and  large.  The  gateway 
and  part  of  a  tower  are  yet  to  be  seen.  In  the 
last  are  fourteen  or  fifteen  brick  steps ;  and  there 
was  originally  a  hole,  or  rather  pipe,  which  con- 
veyed the  lowest  whisper  from  bottom  to  top. 
Part  of  this,  and  of  the  other  building,  was  pulled 
down  by  Sir  John  Napier,  about  forty  years  ago. 
Leland  also  acquaints  us,  that  these  estates  of  Lord 
JVenlock  passed,  by  marriage  of  an  heir  general  * 
of  his,  to  a  relation  of  Thomas  Scot,  alias  Rother- 
ham,  archbishop  of  York  from  1480  to  1500  :  a 
prelate  remarkable  for  nepotism,  and  the  prefer- 
ment of  his  kindred  by  marriage,  and  other  ways a. 
This  family  assumed  the  name  of  Rotherham,  and 
flourished  here  for  some  centuries.  John  was 
sheriff  of  the  county  in  the  seventeenth  of  Edzvard 
z  Leland,  vi.  63.  a  Goodwin  Prces.  Angl.  70. 

2m2 


552  HATFIELD. 

IV.  and  others,  in  after-times,  enjoyed  the  same 
honor b.  Luton  Hoe  and  this  place  became  the 
property  of  the  Napiers ;  from  them  they  passed 
to  Mr.  Hearn,  who  sold  them  to  the  Earl  of 
Bute. 

From  Luton  I  pursued  my  journey  southward : 
entered 

HERTFORDSHIRE, 

and  near  the  twenty-sixth  mile-stone,  passed 
through  the  village  of  Hardin,  or  Harpedon,  and 
.  by  its  chapel,  dependent  on  JVhethamsted.  This 
manor  belonged,  in  1292,  to  Robert  Hoo,  and 
continued  in  his  line  till  the  death  of  Thomas  Lord 
Hoo  and  Hastings,  about  the  latter  end  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  VI. ;  when  it  devolved  to  his  three 
daughters c.  The  manor  was  sold  soon  after  their 
marriages  to  Matthew  Cressi/,  in  the  time  of  Ed- 
ward IV.  It  continued  in  his  line  till  the  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  when,  by  the  marriage  of  a 
female  descendant,  it  fell  to  the  Bardolfs.  Rich- 
ard Bardolf  sold  it  to  Sir  John  Witherong,  created 
baronet  in  1 662  ;  and  it  is  now  possessed  by  John 
Bennet,  Esquire. 

b  Fuller's  British  Worthies,  123,  124. 
c  Chauncy,  525. 


HATFIELD.  533 

About  four  miles  from  this  village,  passed 
through  St.  Peter's  street,  in  St.  Albans,  and 
turning  towards  the  east,  after  a  ride  of  about  five 
miles,  reach  the  small  town  of  Hatfield,  prettily  Hatfield. 
seated  on  a  gentle  ascent.  Its  Saxon  name  was 
Haethfeld,  from  its  situation  on  a  heath.  The 
important  synod,  held  during  the  heptarchy,  at  Synod. 
the  instance  of  Theodore,  consecrated  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  in  668,  in  which  the  most  interest- 
ing tenets  of  Christianity  were  declared  and  con- 
firmed d,  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  held 
at  a  place  of  the  same  name  in  Yorkshire.  Hat- 
field  was  part  of  the  revenues  of  the  Saxon  princes, 
till  it  was  bestowed  by  Edgar  on  the  monastery  of 
Ely.  At  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  it  was  found 
to  be  in  the  possession  of  that  great  house;  in 
which  it  continued,  till  that  abbey  was  converted 
into  a  bishopric,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  It  then 
became  one  of  the  residences  of  the  prelates ;  for 
they  had  not  fewer  than  ten  palaces  belonging  to 
the  see e ;  and  from  that  circumstance  was  called 
Bishop's  Hatfield,  to  distinguish  it  from  other 
places  of  the  same  name.  It  probably  fell  into 
decay  during  the  long  wars  between  the  houses  of 
York  and  Lancaster  ;  for  I  find  it  was  rebuilt  and 

d.Beda,  lib.  iv.  c.  17.  p.  160.     Beda  had  been  an  eleve  of 
this  venerable  archbishop. 
e  Bentham's  Ely,  163. 


534  HATFIELD. 

ornamented  by  Bishop  Morton,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII f.  Among  the  shameful  alienations 
made  from  the  bishopric  of  Ely,  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth (by  virtue  of  the  imprudent  statute,  which 
gave  her  power  of  exchanges  over  all)  must  be 
included  the  manor  of  Hatfield.  The  palace  had 
at  times  been  an  occasional  royal  residence,  not- 
withstanding it  was  the  property  of  the  church. 
William,  second  son  of  Edward  III.  was  born 
here  in  1335,  and  was  called,  from  that  circum- 
stance, William  of  Hatfield.  Queen  Elizabeth 
resided  here  many  years  before  she  came  to  the 
crown %;  and,  on  the  death  of  her  predecessor, 
removed  from  hence,  on  the  23d  of  November,  to 
take  possession  of  the  throne.  This  place  did  not 
continue  long  a  part  of  the  royal  demesne.  James  I. 
in  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign,  exchanged  it  for 
Theobalds,  with  his  minister,  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  af- 
terwards Earl  of  Salisbury ;  who  built,  on  the 
site  of  the  palace,  the  magnificent  house  now 
standing ;  and  inclosed  two  large  parks,  one  for 
red,  the  other  for  fallow  deer.  At  the  bottom  of 
the  first  was  a  vineyard,  in  being  when  Charles  I. 
was  conveyed  there  a  prisoner  to  the  army  h. 

r  Bentharris  Ely,  181. 

£  See  the  curious  account  of  the  practices  of  the  lord  ad- 
miral on  her  at  this  place,  in  1543,  in  Burghley's  State  Papers, 
99,  100. 

*  Herbert's  Memoirs,  30. 


HATFIELD 


535 


The  building  is  of  brick,  and  of  vast  extent,  in  House. 
form  of  an  half  H.  In  the  center  is  an  extensive 
portico  of  nine  arches  :  over  the  middlemost  rises 
a.  lofty  tower,  on  the  front  of  which  is  the  date 
1611,  and  three  ranges  of  columns  of  the  Tuscan^ 
Doric,  and  Composite  orders.  Between  the  se- 
cond are  the  arms  of  the  family,  in  stone  \ 

In  the  chapel  is  a  small  antient  organ;  a  fine    Chapel. 
window  of  stained  glass,  in  twelve  copartments ; 
and  a  gallery,  on  the  front  of  which  are  painted 
the  twelve  apostles. 

Since  the  publication  of  the  foregoing  sheets, 
the  grounds  have  been  improved  with  great  judg- 
ment, according  to  the  present  taste.  The  house 
has  undergone  a  complete  repair,  consistent  with 
the  original  style,  under  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Dono- 
well  the  architect.  The  pictures  have  been  re- 
paired by  Mr.  Tomkins,  and  disposed  from  the 
former  dispersed  state  into  the  several  apartments ; 
and  the  splendor  of  this  noble  family  is  reviving 
with  all  the  magnificence  of  the  Cecils. 

The  roof  of  the  hall  is  supported  from  the  sides      Hall. 
with  lions,  each  holding  a  shield  of  family  arms ; 
the  gallery  by  grotesque  figures  :  a  bad  taste  not 
having  been  quite  extinct  at  the  period  in  which 
this  house  was  built.     On  the  cieling  are  copart- 

1  Among  Kip's  Views  is  one  of  this  house,  engraven  from  a 
drawing  by  Thomas  Sadler,  Esquire.    - 


536  HATFIELD. 

ments  with  profiles  of  the  Ccesars.  Over  the  fire 
place  is  a  painting  of  a  great  clumsy  grey  horse, 
given  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil ;  a 
sign  that  our  breed  was  at  that  time  far  from  ex- 
cellent. 

On  the  posts  of  the  grand  stair-case  are  figures 
of  lions,    and    naked  boys  with  musical  instru- 
ments. 
Dudley         In  the  breakfast  room  is  a  portrait  of  Robert 

Leicester.  Dudley  Earl  of  Leicester,  the  unmerited  favorite 
of  Queen  Elizabeth.  His  hair  and  beard  are  re- 
presented grey,  his  gown  black,  his  vest  white  and 
gold  ;  on  his  head  a  bonnet,  and  by  him  his  white 
rod  as  steward  of  the  queen's  household. 

Sir  Simon  Sir  Simon  Bennet  of  Bechampton,  in  the  county 
of  Bucks,  knight.  His  dress  is  that  of  a  magi- 
strate in  a  robe  furred,  and  ornamented  with  a 
gold  chain  :  he  has  on  a  ruff,  and  high  hat.  He 
died  in  1631  ;  was  uncle  to  Simon  Bennet,  who 
was  his  heir,  and  whose  daughter  Frances  married 
James,  fourth  Earl  of  Salisbury.  The  date  on 
this  picture  is  aet.  70.  161 1. 

His  Lady.  His  lady  in  a  great  ruff,  red  dress  furred;  gold 
chain,  jewels  on  her  breast,  and  with  a  feathered 
fan  set  in  silver. 

Francis  de  A  head  of  Francis  de  Coligni,  Lord  of  Dande- 
lot.  Short  hair  and  short  divided  beard,  with  gilt 
armour.     He  was  youngest  son  of  the  first  Gas- 


COLIGNI. 


HATFIELD.  537 

par  de  Coligni,  Marshal  of  France,  by  Louise  de 
Montmorenci.  He  was  brother  to  the  famous 
admiral  who  perished  in  the  massacre  of  Paris. 
He  served  during  the  wars  of  Italy  and  Pi- 
cardie  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  and  was  made 
colonel-general  of  the  infantry  in  1555.  By 
,his  intercourse  with  the  protestants  in  Germany 
he  adopted  their  opinions.  He  acted  under  his 
brother  when  besieged  at  St.  Quintin  ;  and  after- 
wards assisted  at  the  taking  of  Calais.  In  1558, 
he  was  closely  questioned  by  the  king  respecting 
his  religion,  but  having  too  high  a  spirit  to  conceal 
his  sentiments,  he  was  committed  to  prison :  on 
his  release  he  joined  the  Huguenots,  and  died  in 
1569,  aged  48,  not  without  suspicion  of  being 
poisoned  ;  leaving  behind  the  character  of  a  great 
soldier,  of  great  genius,  activity  and  enterprize. 

The  subtle  Gondamar  appears  here  a  three  Gondamar. 
quarters  piece.  A  thin  figure  with  a  spirited  look  ; 
dressed  in  black,  with  a  high  hat.  The  most  ver- 
satile man  of  his  time ;  out-drank  a  king  of  Den- 
mark ;  was  gallant  among  the  ladies ;  a  speaker 
of  false  Latin  to  King  James,  that  the  princely 
pedagogue  might  have  the  pleasure  of  correcting 
him  ;  and  finally,  was  hardy  enough  to  assure  the 
Earl  of  Bristol,  our  ambassador  at  Madrid,  that 
he  was  an  Englishman  in  his  heart ;  adroitly  de- 
ceived all,  and  most  effectually  made  our  monarch 
his  dupe.     He  died  in  1625  at  Rommel  in  GueU 


533  HATFIELD. 

derland ;  sent,  as  was  supposed,   to  propose  the 
surrender  of  the  Palatinate,  and  conciliate  mat- 
ters ;  and  bring  on  a  peace  between  his  master 
and  our  pacific  court. 
Ambrose        Ambrose  Dudley  Earl  of  Wartvick,  eldest  sur- 

DlJDLEY.  J 

viving  son  of  Dudley  Duke  of  Northumberland. 
Condemned  with  his  father,  but  restored  in  blood  : 
took  to  a  military  life ;  was  appointed  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  Master  of  the  Ordnance,  Earl  of  War- 
wick, and  elected  Knight  of  the  Garter  ;  and  had 
the  more  substantial  favor  of  a  grant  of  the  castle, 
manor,  and  borough  of  Warwick,  forfeited  by  his 
father.  He  died  in  the  year  1589,  and  lies  be- 
neath an  elegant  tomb  in  Wanvick  church. 
Lord  Bur-       Lord  Burleigh  and  his  son  Robert,  afterwards 

LEIGH  AND  ° 

his  Son.  Earl  of  Salisbury,  are  in  one  piece,  half-lengths ; 
each  with  a  blue  ribbon  and  white  rod.  The  fa- 
ther in  a  bonnet ;  the  son  respectfully  bare-headed. 
This  picture  must  have  been  drawn  after  the  death 
of  Burleigh,  for  the  son  had  neither  the  ribbon  or 
the  white  rod  till  long  after  the  death  of  his  father. 
Here  is  besides  a  half-length  of  the  latter,  in  black, 
Avith  the  George  pendent  to  a  chain  ;  a  bonnet  and 
white  rod  :  also  a  third  in  his  robes  with  a  white 
beard,  and  the  motto,  Cor  unum,  via  una,  truly  ex- 
pressive of  the  integrity  of  his  character. 

J      eline       A  portrait  of  the  famous  Jaqueline  Dutchess 

Dutchess  of  0f  flamauit    only  daughter  of  JVilliam  Duke  of 
Hainault.  . 

Hainault,  in  her  advanced  life :  a  very  ugly  old 


HATFIELD.  539 

woman,  in  black  ermine,  and  a  cap  worked  with 
lions,  alluding  to  the  arms  of  her  country  of  Hai- 
nault,  which  are,  or,  a  lion  rampant  sable.  This 
lady  passed  through  a  variety  of  adventures  :  was 
first  married  to  John  of  France,  Dauphin  of  Vi- 
enne,  and  son  of  Charles  VI.  She  afterwards 
espoused  John  Duke  of  Brabant,  cousin-german 
to  Philip  the  good  Duke  of  Burgundy.  After 
living  ten  months  with  John,  she  eloped,  and  was 

conveyed  into  England  by  Sir Bobsart 

knight,  where  she  married  (her  husband  still 
alive),  the  good  Humphry  Duke  of  Glocester.  She 
after  that  raised  forces  to  maintain  her  dominions 
for  this  favoured  husband,  who  was  obliged  to 
desert  her  on  the  Pope,  Martin  V.  disannulling 
this  adulterous  connection.  She  then  gave  her 
hand  to  Francis  Lord  of  Borselle  and  Count  of 
Ostrevant,  Knight  of  the  Golden  Fleece;  on 
which  Philip  Duke  of  Burgundy  arrested  him, 
and  in  the  end  Jaqueline  was  obliged  to  ransom 
him  by  the  cession  of  her  estates  to  this  good 
duke,  her  cousin-german.  Soon  after  which  she 
died  of  grief,  in  1436.  On  the  portrait  is  this 
inscription : 

Vrow  Jacobea  tan  Beiren  gravana  van  Holland.    Star/.  1436. 

A  portrait  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  richly  dressed,  queen  Eli- 
On  the  table  is  a  great  sword,  as  if  she  was  sitting    ZABETH- 


MOND. 


540  HATFIELD. 

ready  to  confer  the  honor  of  knighthood  :  a  spot- 
ted ermine,  with  a  crown  on  its  head  and  collar 
round  its  neck,  is  represented  running  up  the  arm 
of  her  highness.  This  little  beast  is  an  emblem  k 
of  chastity,  and  placed  here  in  compliment  to  the 
virgin  queen. 
Margaret       The  next  portrait  is  on  wood,  of  a  princess  of 

Countess 

of  Rich-  high  rank,  celebrated  for  her  piety  and  great  au- 
sterity. The  love  of  her  people,  or  the  love  of 
power,  might  determine  the  spirited  Elizabeth  to 
shun  the  nuptial  bed.  Margaret  Countess  of 
Richmond,  with  equal  mental  purity,  did  not  pique 
herself  (virtuous  as  she  was)  on  any  such  romantic 
ideas.  The  pious  prelate  Fisher,  to  whom  she 
entrusted  her  conscience,  gravely  tells  us,  she  ac- 
cepted her  first  husband,  Edward  Earl  of  Rich- 
mond, at  the  instance  of  St.  Nicholas,  patron  of 
virgins,  who  appeared  to  her  in  a  dream.  We 
are  not  told  at  whose  recommendation  she  took 
Sir  Henry  Stafford,  and  Thomas  Earl  of  Derby ; 
for  she  liked  the  state  matrimonial  so  well,  as 
afterwards  to  accept  the  hands  of  both.  She  sig- 
nalized herself  during  life  by  her  piety,  charity, 
humility,  and  chastity.  The  first  appeared  in  her 
rigorous  attendance  on  the  duties  of  the  church, 
and  her  admittance  into  the  fraternity  of  five  reli- 
gious houses.     The  second,  in  her  noble  founda- 

k  Gxoilim's  Heraldry,  1 4-. 


HATFIELD.  *** 

tions  of  Christ  College,  and  that  of  St.  John's  in 
Cambridge,  besides  a  number  of  other  great  deeds 
of  charity.  The  third,  in  her  declaration,  that, 
"  if  the  princes  of  Christendom  would  undertake 
a  crusade,  she  would  chearfully  be  the  laundres8 
to  the  army:"  and  then  for  her  chastity!  In  her 
last  husband's  days  she  obtained  a  licence  from 
him  to  live  chaste,  and  after  his  death  made  the 
marvellous  self-denying  vow  in  the  presence  of 
Bishop  Fisher,  the  year  after  her  grand  climac- 
teric, in  words  and  form  below  given 1 ;  for  this 

1  "  In  the  presence  of  my  Lord  God  Jt.su  Christ,  and  his 
"  blessed  mother,  ye  glorious  Virgin  St.  Mary,  and  of  all  y* 
"  whole  company  of  heaven,  and  of  yu  also  my  ghostly  father. 
"  I  Margaret  of  Richmond,  with  full  purpose  and  good  deli- 
"  beration  for  ye  weale  of  my  sinfull  saul,  with  all  my  hearte 
"  promise  from  henceforth  ye  chastyty  of  my  bodye,  that  is, 
"  never  to  use  my  bodye  having  actual  knowledge  of  manne 
"  after  the  common  usage  in  matremony,  the  wch  thing  I  had 
"  before  purposed  in  my  lord  my  husband's  days,  then  being 
"  my  ghostly  father  ye  byshop  of  Rochester,  Mr.  Richard 
"  Fitzjames,  and  now  eft-sence  I  fully  confirm  it,  as  far  as  in 
"  me  lyeth  :  beseeching  my  Lord  God  that  he  will  this  poore 
•'  wylle  accept  to  ye  remedy  of  my  wretched  lyfe,  and  relief 
"  of  my  sinful  soule,  and  that  he  will  give  me  his  grace  to 
"  perform  the  same  ;  and  also  for  my  more  meryte,  and 
*.*  quyetness  of  my  soule  in  doubtful  things  perteyning  to  the 
"  same,  I  avovve  to  you,  my  Lord  of  Rochester,  to  whom  I  am, 
"  and  have  been  sense  yc  first  time  I  see  you  admitted,  ve- 
"  rely  determined  as  to  my  cheife  trusty  counsellour,  to  owne 
"  my  obedience  in  all  things,  concerning  the  weale  and  pro- 
"  fyte  of  my  soule." 


542  HATFIELD. 

reason  she  is  usually  painted  in  the  habit  of  a  nun, 
and  is  here  represented  veiled. 
Curious         1$   this  room  is  the  very  curious  picture  on 

Historical  . 

Piece,  board,  representing  some  of  the  amusements  of  the 
court  of  Henry  VIII.,  who  frequently  relaxed  his 
savage  disposition  in  little  progresses  about  the 
neighborhood  of  his  capital.  This  appears  to 
have  been  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1533;  for  Halle 
saysm,  that  "  this  seasone  the  kynge  kepte  his  pro- 
"  gresse  about  London,  because  of  the  quene ;" 
which  means  on  account  of  Queen  Anna  Bullens 
being  then  pregnant.  Accordingly  we  see  Henry, 
with  his  royal  consort",  in  the  condition  described, 
at  a  country  wedding,  fair,  or  wake,  at  some  place 
in  Surrey,  within  sight  of  the  Tower  of  London. 
In  the  back  ground  is  an  open  room,  in  a  tempo- 
rary building,  with  the  table  spread.  At  the  en- 
trance appears  a  man,  seemingly  Henry  s  favor- 
ite, Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk,  inviting 
them  in. 

There  are  great  numbers  of  other  figures; 
many  of  which  appear  to  have  been  portraits.  In 
one  group,  is  a  lady  with  a  gold  chain,  between 
two  men  with  white  beards.  The  utmost  festivity 
is  exhibited.  There  are  four  fidlers,  and  a  number 
of  dancers.     Behind  the  king,  is  his  'squire,  carry- 

m  P.  CCXVII. 

n  I  think  the  king  and  queen  are  masked. 


HATFIELD.  543 

ing  the  dagger  and  buckler ;  and  near  Henry  are  a 
boy  and  a  girl. 

Other  figures  are  a  man  on  foot,  with  a  buck- 
ler on  his  back :  a  yeoman  of  the  guard,  in  red, 
•with  a  rose  and  crown  on  his  breast :  a  person  very 
much  resembling  Cranmer,  who,  at  this  period, 
was  in  high  favor,  appears  with  another,  walking 
on  each  side  of  a  young  lady :  five  figures  on  horse- 
back ;  the  first  with  a  hawk  on  his  hand,  and  a 
portmanteau  before  him ;  the  second,  on  a  bay 
horse,  followed  by  a  lady  on  horseback ;  after  her, 
a  cavalier,  with  another  lady  behind  him. 

A  beautiful  painting  of a  Madonna  and  the  AMadonxa. 
Child  by  Rubens,  concludes  the  list  of  pictures  in 
this  room. 

In  the  drawing-room  are  heads  of  that  gloomy  Philip  and 
pair,  Queen  Mary  and  Philip  II. 

A  portrait  of  Charles  Gerard,  Baron  Gerard     Gerard 

.Larl  of 

of  Brandon,    created    Earl   of   Macclesfield    in    Maccles- 

FIELD. 

1679;  he  died  January  7th,  16.94.  He  is  dressed 
in  black,  in  a  sitting  attitude,  with  his  head  on  his 
breast;  a  close  coif  on  his  head,  a  turnover  on  his 
neck,  and  with  grey  hair  and  beard.  He  was  a 
brave  and  successful  commander  on  the  side  of 
Charles  in  the  civil  wars ;  yet,  notwithstanding  his 
zeal  for  the  royal  cause,  he  was  one  of  the  persons 
who  thought  it  his  duty  to  present  the  Duke  of 
York,  in  the  King's  Bench,  as  a  Popish  recusant : 


544  HATFIELD. 

in  which  he  thought  he  did  his  country  equal  ser- 
vice, as  when  he  bled  in  the  field  in  support  of  regal 
authority.  It  is  thus,  that  sometimes  Tories  are 
taken  for  Whigs,  or  Whigs  for  Tories,  when  they 
censure  the  deed  of  their  party  disgraceful  to  mo- 
rality, or  adopt  a  measure  urged  by  the  opposite, 
which  they  may  think  essential  to  the  interests  of 
the  community.  An  honest  man  cannot  be  a  par- 
tizan. 
Guise*5  ^he  ^uc  ^c  Giiise,  called  Lc  Balafre,  or  the 
slashed,  from  a  scar  on  his  left  cheek,  occasioned  by 
a  wound  he  received  in  the  battle  oiThierri  against 
the  Huguenots.  He  is  dressed  in  black  with  a 
blue  ribbon ;  his  beard  peaked.  He  was  a  prince 
of  great  military  talents ;  and  by  his  success,  the 
most  popular  leader  of  the  league ;  by  his  insolence 
and  his  turbulent  disposition,  he  became  dangerous 
to  the  state.  He  was  grown  too  potent  to  be 
taken  off  by  the  ordinary  means  of  justice.  It  was 
determined,  by  his  king  Henry  III.  that  he  should 
be  assassinated.  No  notice  from  his  friends  could 
prevent  him  from  rushing  on  his  fate.  The  beau- 
tiful Noirmoutier  went  to  him  at  Blois  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  passed  the  last  night  in  his  arms.  He 
fell  the  next  day  by  the  poinards  of  a  select  party 
of  the  guards,  on  December  23d,  1588,  at  the  age 
of  38.  His  brother  the  cardinal  was  killed  the 
next  day ;  and  both  their  bodies  reduced  to  ashes, 


HATFIELD.  545 

least  the  tragical  sight  should  excite  the  people, 
by  whom  Guise  was  idolized,  to  rise  into  open  re- 
bellion0. 
Jane,  the  mother  of  lord  treasurer  Burleigh,  Mother  of 

'  °    '   Treasurer 

and  daughter  and  heir  of  William  HeckingtoJi,  of  Burleigh. 

Bourn,  in  the  county  of  Lincoln.  She  died  March 

10th  1587,  far  advanced  in  years,  and  was  buried 

at  Stamford.    She  is  sitting,  dressed  in  black,  with 

a  stick  in  her  hand,  and  represented  blind  and  very 

decrepid.  This  portrait  has  hitherto  been  mistaken 

for  the  wife  of  the  treasurer9. 

Asa  contrast,  in  the  same  room,  is  a  head  by 
Lely,  of  the  profligate,  rapacious  Dutchess  of  Dutchess  of 
Cleveland,  the  well  known  mistress  of  Charles  II. 
To  stamp  the  utmost  infamy  on  her,  no  more  need 
be  added,  than  that  she  contributed  to  the  ruin  of 
the  virtuous  Clarendon,  who,  with  a  generous 
pride,  scorning  to  stoop  to  so  worthless  a  character, 
incurred  her  insatiable  revenge. 

A  beautiful  picture,  by  Kneller,  of  a  dowager  A  Countess 
countess  of  Salisbury,  sitting  in  her  weeds  in  an      bury. 
easy  attitude,  pensive,  with  her  arms  across.    This 
lady  was  Frances,  daughter  to  Simon  Bennet,  esq. 
and  relict  to  James  fourth  Earl  of  Salisbury.    She 
died  in  1713. 

°  See  in  Davila,  book  ix  a  full  and  curious  account  of  the; 
whole  transaction. 

*  This  mistake  was  corrected  by  T.  C.  Brooke,  Esquire. 

2  N 


54$  HATFIELD. 

AFarlN°N       A  most  charming  picture,  by  Vandyck,  of Al- 

Northum-  -grcmon  Earl  of  Northumberland,  of  Ann,  his  first 
wife,  daughter  of  William  second  Earl  of  Salisbury, 
and  of  one  of  their  daughters,  a  child  in  white. 
Both  Earl  and  Countess  are  in  black :  he  standing; 
lady  sitting.  His  abilities  as  a  seaman  are  well 
known.  He  took  the  side  of  liberty  at  the 
beginning  of  the  civil  wars,  but  soon  grew  weary 
of  counsels  which  he  foresaw  tended  to  the  sub- 
version of  the  state.  After  the  unsuccessful 
treaty  of  ILvbridge,  in  which  he  acted  as  first 
commissioner  for  the  parlement,  he  had  the 
charge  of  the  king's  children  till  they  effected 
their  escape.  After  the  murder  of  the  king,  he 
retired  to  Petworth,  till  the  Restoration,  which 
he  was  active  in  promoting;  he  received  several 
honorary  acknowledgements,  when  he  returned 
again  into  retirement,  and  died  in  1668,  aged 
66. 

Lord  Cran-  A  lord  Cranburn,  in  yellow  hair,  dressed  in 
burn.      black:  a  fine  three  quarters  piece. 

•Catherine       Catherine,  daughter  of  the  first  Earl  of  Salis- 

CoUNTESS  OF  '  °  ^  - 

Cumber-    bury,  and  wife  to  Henry  Earl  of  Cumberland; 

light  full  hair,  a  kerchief  over  her  neck ;  dressed  in 

black,  with  coloured  ribbons. 
T,ord  Loud  Burleigh,  by  Zucchero,  a  three  quarters. 

urleigh.   pje  jg  jn  ^s  roDes,  a  bonnet,   and  has  a  white 

beard. 


HATFIELD.  547 

A  full-length  on  board,  of  Mary  Queen  of  Queen  of 

J  Scots. 

Scots,  in  a  rich  close  cap,  a  long  black  mantle 

edged  with  white,  reaching  to  the  ground,  and 
greatly  distended,  body  black,  sleeves  striped,  a 
small  gold  crucifix,  a  cross  and  rosary ;  beads  of 
gold  richly  wrought,  and  set  in  rubies.  The  in- 
scription, 

Maria  D.  G.  Scotiae  piissima  regina  Franciae  dotaria.    Anno 

aetatis  regnique  36. 
Anglicse  captivitatis  JO.  S.  H.  1573. 

This  very  much  resembles  one  I  have  seen  in  Scot- 
land; the  inscriptions  the  same,  only  the  dates  on 
the  latter  are  36  and  1578,  which  is  right,  for  she 
was  born  in  1542. 

Her  cruel  rival,  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  Zucchero.  p^0"* 
A  portrait  extremely  worth  notice ;  not  only  be- 
cause it  is  the  handsomest  we  have  seen  of  her, 
but  as  it  points  out  her  turn  to  allegory  and  apt 
devices.  Her  gown  is  close  bodied ;  on  her  head 
is  a  coronet  and  rich  egret,  and  a  vast  distended 
gauze  veil :  her  face  is  young,  her  hair  yellow,  fall- 
ing in  two  long  tresses ;  on  her  neck,  a  pearl  neck- 
lace :  on  her  arms  bracelets.  The  lining  of  her 
robe  is  worked  with  eyes  and  ears,  and  on  her 
sleeve  a  serpent  is  embroidered  with  pearls  and 
rubies,  holding  a  great  ruby  in  its  mouth :  all  to 
imply  vigilance  and  wisdom.     In  one  hand  is  a 

2n2 


i4i>  HATFIELD. 

rainbow,  with  the  flattering  motto.     Non  sine  sole 

IRIS. 

Robert         Robert,  first  Earl  of  Salisbury,  in  his  robes, 

FIRST  .  J 

Earl  of     with  his  wand  as  Lord  High  Treasurer  :  short  grey 

Salisbury. 

hair. 
Henry  vni.  Henry  VIII.  painted  thinner  than  I  ever  saw, 
with  a  hooked  nose ;  in  a  bonnet  and  feather,  rich 
jacket,  black  cloak  furred:  the  George  pendent 
from  a  rich  chain;  his  hand  on  his  sword.  A  three 
quarters  piece. 
William        William,  second  Earl  of  Salisbury,  in  black, 

second  Earl  ■ 

of  Salis-  -with  long  hair,  a  star  on  his  cloak,  and  a  dog  by 
him.  He  was  captain  of  the  band  of  gentlemen 
pensioners  to  Charles  I.  privy-counsellor  and 
ambassador  extraordinary  to  the  court  of  France. 
He  was  one  of  those  characters  who  preferred  his 
own  safety,  to  all  other  considerations.  He  had 
been  in  two  reigns  so  supple  a  courtier,  as  to  over- 
act every  thing  he  was  required  to  do ;  no  stretch 
of  power  was  ever  proposed,  which  he  did  not  ad- 
vance and  execute  with  the  utmost  tyranny ;  but 
on  the  first  appearance  of  danger  he  deserted  his 
royal  master,  fled  to  the  parlement,  and  subscribed 
an  engagement  to  be  true  to  his  new  party,  to 
whom  he  passively  adhered  :  and  on  the  usurpa- 
tion, condescended  to  be  a  member  in  Croni- 
we/fs  parlement.  He  ended  his  inglorious  life  in 
1668,  aged  78.     This  portrait  and  that  of  his  sou 


HATFIELD.  «T49 

Charles,  Viscount  Cranbourn,  who  died  in  his  fa- 
ther's life-time,  are  both  by  Lclgq. 

Henry  VI.  on  board,  in  a  close  black  cap ;   Henry  vr. 
blue  body,  black  sleeves  ermine,   rich  chain:  a 
meagre,    meek,    devout    figure   with    his   hands 
clasped.     There  is  another  picture  of  this  prince 
at  Kensington,  from  which  Vertue  made  a  print. 

William  Herbert,  third  Earl  of  Pembroke,  in    William 
a  black  dress,  sitting :  has  a  blue  ribbon  and  piu>     or  pEM. 
pie  hose.  \     BR0KE- 

Richard  III.    represented  with  three  rings ;  Richard  hi. 
one  of  which  he  is  taking  off  or  putting  on  his 
little  finger.     His  countenance  discredits  the  re- 
lation of  his  having  been  a  handsome  man. 

James  I.  James  i. 

Henry  VIII.  in  a  gold  vest,  by  Mabuse.  Henry  vnf. 

Fair  Rosamond,  and  her  bowl:  fictitious  as  to  fair  Rosa- 
the  painting.  M0ND- 

The  head  of  Laura,  in  a  furred  robe  with  red  Laura. 
sleeves,  reading.  La  Belle  Laure,  the  celebrated 
object  of  love  with  the  virtuous  and  elegant 
Petrarch,  for  the  space  of  twenty  one  years  before, 
and  twenty  six  after  her  death ;  for  he  first  saw  her 
on  April  6th  1 39,7.  She  devoted  herself  to  religion, 
and  persuaded  him  to  do  the  same.    Laura  died  in 

*  Of  the  latter,  there  is  a  fine  whole  length,  in  a  Vandyck 
dress,  at  Petworth :  his  sister  Anne  married  Algernon  Percy,  Earl 
of  Northumberland,  the  owner  thereof. 


550  HATFIELD. 

the  convent  of  the  Cordeliers,  in  Avignon,  April 
6th,  1348  :  he  in  1374,  in  Italy,  his  native  coun- 
try, to  which  he  had  retired,  after  the  loss  of 
the  object  of  his  affection.  Her  age  was  probably 
about  40,  his  70 ;  both  of  them  became  the  sub- 
ject of  the  finest  pens  for  centuries  after  their 
death.  Francis  I.  celebrates  her  memory  in  a 
beautiful  epitaph.  The  tender  and  amorous  Earl 
of  Surrey  made  them  the  subjects  of  two  sonnets  : 
he  modestly  yields  the  palm  to  Petrarch,  but  der 
nies  the  superiority  of  beauty  in  Laura,  in  pre- 
ference to  his  mistress,  the  fair  Geraldine.  The 
inscription  on  this  picture  is, 

Laura  fui ;  viridem  Raphael  fecit,  atque  Petrarcha. 

Elizabeth       Elizabeth  of  York,  in  a  rich  crimson  gold 
of  York.  .         .  .    •  .  ,        ,    ' 

and  ermine  dress,  with  a  red  rose  in  her  hand. 

She     was    eldest    daughter    to     Edward    IV. 

born    at    Westminster,    February    11th,     1466, 

promised  in   marriage   to   the   Dauphin,  son  of 

Lewis  IX.  wooed  by  Richard  III.  red  with  the 

murder  of  her  two    innocent  brothers,   and,  at 

length,  married  to  that  ungracious  prince  Henry 

VII.      Happy  only  by    that  alliance,  in  giving 

peace  to   this    kingdom,    long    visited    with   the 

scourge  of  civil  war.     She  died  on  her  birth  day 

in   1502,  and  was  interred  with  great  pomp  in 

Westminster  abbey. 


HATFIELD.  •  (551 

In*  the  room  called  my  Lord's  apartment,  is  the 
head  of  a  Due  de  Guise,  with  short  brown  hair    Charles 

Due  DE 

and  turnover,  pale  brown  and  red  jacket;  black  Guise. 
cloak ;  a  narrow  blue  ribbon.  I  believe  him  to 
have  been  Charles,  son  of  Le  Balqfre.  After  the 
death  of  his  father,  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  castle 
of  Tours,  from  which  he  escaped,  and  made  se- 
veral fruitless  attempts  to  resist  the  power  of 
Henry  IV.  Struck  with  the  virtues  of  that  great 
prince,  he  returned,  by  the  mediation  of  Sully,  to 
his  allegiance,  and  served  the  king  with  distinguish- 
ed zeal,  courage,  and  success.  He  died  in  the 
year  1640,  aged  69. 

Here  is  the  head  of  another  Due  de  Guise.    A  Henry  Due 

de  Guise. 

thin,  pale,  long-faced  figure,  in  a  black  dress ;  a 

bonnet  with  jewels,  and  a  blue  ribbon.     Perhaps 

another  Henry,  second  son  to  the  former,  who 

succeeded  to  the  title r. 

A  head  of  the  enthusiastic  assassin  Ramillac,  Ravaillac. 

is  among  these  illustrious  personages.     His  dress 

is  black ;  on  his  head  is  a  bonnet ;   his  face  is 

deformed  by  several  stains  of  black,   and  other 

colours. 

Ahead  of  our  great  physician,  doctor  Syden-    Doctor 

Sydenham. 

*  The  portraits  of  foreigners,  in  the  houses  of  our  antient 

nobility,  are  well  worth  notice,  as  they  are  generally  originals, 

presented  on  embassies  and  other  negotiations.    I  am  told  the 

French  give  any  money  for  them  when  sold. 


552  HATFIELD. 

ham,  as  noted  for  his  charity  and  liberality,  as  his 
extraordinary  skill  in  his  profession.  Among  his 
other  great  merits,  was  his  introducing  the  cool  regi- 
men in  the  small  pox.  Thousands  have  fallen  a 
sacrifice  to  the  neglect  of  it  by  his  successors  *,  till 
in  our  days  it  has  been  happily  revived,  to  the  pre- 
servation of  thousands. 
First  Eari.  Thomas,  eldest  son  of  the  treasurer  Burleigh, 
created  Earl  of  Exeter  by  James  I.  in  1604.  He 
was  a  nobleman  of  great  merit,  and  shone  equally 
in  the  field  and  in  the  tilt  yard ;  distinguished  him- 
self in  the  wars  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  with 
his  brother,  Sir  Robert,  was  a  volunteer  on  board 
the  fleet  which  destroyed  the  Spaiiish  armada. 
His  pious  foundations  were  also  very  considerable. 
He  died  in  February  1622,  aged  80.  His  dress 
is  a  black  cloak  furred ;  a  bonnet.  In  his  hand  is 
a  glove.  He  has  a  white  rod,  and  by  his  white 
beard,  (which  is  divided)  appears  to  have  been 
advanced  in  life,  at  the  time  he  was  painted.  I  do 
not  know  his  pretensions  to  the  wand. 

*  I  had  the  small  pox  when  I  was  a  child,  it  was  in  the  heat 
of  summer.  I  lay  in  a  red  bed  in  a  room  exposed  to  the 
western  sun  ;  and  was  half  smothered  with  bed  cloaths.  My 
ferer  increased  by  a  great  fire,  and  by  the  exclusion  of  all 
air,  my  disorder,  which  was  an  excellent  kind,  had  a  good 
chance  of  becoming  putrid.  I  recollect  very  well,  that  the 
very  air  about  me  was  infected,  and  I  abhorred  my  own  at- 
mosphere. 


HATFIELD.  55$ 

«   Catherine  Cornaro  Queen  of  Cyprus.  I  have  Catherine 

.      .  .  -  •  CORNARO. 

given  an  account  of  this  illustrious  female  in  p.  502. 

•  James,  the  late  and  sixth  Earl  of  Salisbury,  a  Late  Earl 
head  in  crayons.    He  is  in  his  robes,  with  full  grey      bury. 
wig.      . 

A  very  fine  Madonna,  after  Corregio:  and 
another,  by  Guido. 

An  antique  of  Alexander's  head.  On  the  back  An  antique. 
of  the  helmet,  is  the  face  of  Socrates.  This  was 
found  in  the  park.  It  is  set,  and  has  round  it  a 
Saxon  inscription.  Possibly  it  might  have  been 
converted  into  an  amulet,  and  used  as  such  by  an 
ignorant  and  superstitious  people.  In  one  of  the 
apartments  is  a  statue,  in  brass,  of  James  I. 

In  the  coffee-room  is  a  painting  of  Hatfield,  be- 
fore it  underwent  any  alteration. 

In  King  James's  dining-room,  is  a  full-length  of 
that  lunatic  hero,  Charles  XII.  in  his  blue  cloaths  Charles  xn. 
and  boots. 
.   His  illustrious  rival,  Peter  the  Great ;  a  full-  Peter  the 

Great 

length,  in  armour,  with  a  rich  robe  over  it ;  at  a 
distance  a  view  of  a  fleet. 

.   Lady  Sondes  in  grey,  sitting;  by  old  Stone.      Lady 
She  was  wife  of  Sir  Gregory  Sondes,  of  Leescourt,      0NDES- 
in  the  county  of  Kent,  afterwards  created  Earl  of 
Fever  sham.  •<■  f 

*  Present  Earl  of  Salisbury  in  his  robes,  by    Present 

Earl  of 
Salisbury. 


554  HATFIELD. 

Romney,  and  his  lady  in  yellow  by  Reynolds,  the 
latter  is  engraved. 
Charles  i.       A  very  good  portrait  of  Charles  I.  in  a  grey 
jacket  and  boots,  with  the  blue  ribbon  tied  under 
his  arm,  instead  of  being  pendent,  a  mode  begun  in 
his  reign.     This  is  said  to  have  been  the  dress  in 
which  he  set  out  for  Spain,  on  his  romantic  court- 
ship. 
Margaret       Margaret   Countess   of  Salisbury,    wife  to 
Salisbury.  James  the  third  Earl.     A  half-length  in  blue,  with 
flowers  in  her  hand ;  by  Lely. 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  full-length. 

Count         Christopher  de  Harlay,    count  Beaumont, 
Beaumont. 

ambassador  from  Henry  IV.  to  Queen  Elizabeth 

in  her  last  year,  and  the  first  of  her  successor.  He 

was  a  nobleman  of  great  personal  merit,  and  an 

able  negotiator.     He  is  painted  as  a  tall  thin  man, 

in  a  dark  jacket  with  white  sleeves,  and  a  great 

ruff,  cet.  34,  1605,  the  year  in  which  he  concluded. 

his  embassy.      He  died  governor  of  Orleans  in 

1615. 

Gallery.  The  gallery  is  a  hundred  and  sixty-two  feet 
long,  with  two  great  wooden  chimney  pieces  on  the 
sides,  and  the  same  at  each  end.  Here  is  pre- 
served a  small  and  very  antient  organ. 

Library.  The  library  is  fifty-eight  feet  and  a  half  by 
twenty-six.     Over  a  vast  marble  chimney-piece  is 


HATFIELD.  555 

a  portrait,  in  mosaic,  of  the  first  Earl  of  Salisbury, 

with  grey  hair,  at.  48.     The  room  is  hung  with 

the  original  gilt  leather. 

,    In  the  winter  dining-room,  (for  this  vast  house 

hath  both  its  winter  and  summer  apartments),  is  a 

three  quarters  piece  of  Thomas,   sixth  Earl  of    Earl  of 

Thanet. 
Thanet,  in  his  robes,  and  a  great  full-bottom  black 

wig ;  and  another  portrait,  by  Lely,  of  his  lady,  in   His  Lady. 
blue  with  a  red  mantle,  and  dark  hair.   They  were 
connected  to  this  family  by  the  marriage  of  their 
daughter  Anne  with  James,  fifth  Earl  of  Salis- 
bury. 

James  third  Earl  of  Salisbury,  a  full-length,  in  James  third 
his  robes  of  the  garter;  a  full-bottom  wig,  with  hat  Salisbury. 
and  feather  on  a  table.  He  was  called  to  the 
council  board  in  1679,  elected  knight  of  the  garter 
in  1680 ;  measures  merely  of  policy  to  deceive  the 
people  into  a  notion  of  a  change  of  measures. 
Other  popular  leaders  received  marks  of  favor 
from  the  court,  but  to  no  sort  of  effect,  for  the 
earl  not  only  voted  for  the  exclusion  bill,  but 
even  seconded  the  violent  Shaftesbury  s  motion  for 
the  king's  divorcing  his  queen,  and  taking  another 
from  a  protestant  house.     He  died  in  1683. 

His  lady  Margaret   Manners,    daughter   of  His  Lady. 
John  Earl  of  Rutland  ;  a. full-length,  in  brown,  with 
a  blue  mantle. 

A  beautiful  picture  of  a  Lady  Latimer,  in    ¥  Lady 

r  J  Latimer, 


556  HATFIELD. 

brown,  with  a  blue  mantle :  with  her  hands  clasped, 
reading;  by  Lely.  She  was  daughter  and  co- 
heiress of  Simon  Bennet,  of  Bechampton  co.  Bucks, 
esquire ;  wife  of  Edward  Osborne,  Lord  Latimer, 
eldest  son  of  Thomas,  Earl  of  Danby,  and  sister 
of  Frances,  wife  of  James,  fourth  Earl  of  Salis- 
bury. 

Lady  A  lady  in  a  loose  dress  and  green  mantle :  a 

Ranelagh.  .° 

three-quarters  piece,  sitting.     This  I  believe  to  be 

the  beautiful  Lady  Ranelagh,  daughter  of  James, 

third    Earl    of   Salisbury,  and   second  wife   to 

Richard  Jones,  Earl  of  Ranelagh.     She  was  first 

c  married   to   the  elder  brother  of  the  last  Lord 

Stawel,  who  piqued  himself  on  having  the  finest 
woman,  horse,  and  house  in  England.  He  had 
begun  the  last,  but  died  before  it  was  half  finished. 
Lady  Ranelagh  is  among  the  beauties  at  Hampton 
Court.  In  the  decline  of  her  beauty,  she  never 
would  be  seen  but  by  candle  light. 

Frobenius.  I  missed  in  this  visit,  a  picture  very  worthy  of 
preservation,  a  head  of  John  Frobenius,  by  Hol- 
bein. He  is  dressed  in  a  black  gown,  lined  with 
fur.  Frobenius  was  a  native  of  Franconia  ;  but 
settled  at  Basil  in  Switzerland,  of  which  city  he 
became  a  citizen.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable 
learning,  and  the  finest  printer  of  his  time.  Eras- 
mus resided  a  long  time  with  him,  attracted 
by  his  personal  merit  and  his  admirable  skill  in  his 


HATFIELD  CHURCH.  557 

profession ;  for  to  him  we  are  indebted  for  the  most 
beautiful  edition  of  the  works  of  his  illustrious 
friend.  Frobenius  died  in  1527,  and  was  honored 
by  the  same  hand  with  two  epitaphs,  one  in  Greek, 
the  other  in  Latin. 

Neither  did  I  find  the  picture  inscribed 
Frederic  P.  lagra,  de  Dieu  comte  Palatyn  deRyk. 
Small,  and  in  an  ermined  cap,  in  his  hands  two 
covered  dishes,  with  a  napkin  over  them.  I  be 
lieve  this  prince  to  have  been  Frederic  IV.  father 
of  the  unfortunate  palatine,  king  of  Bohemia. 

I  forgot  to  mention  in  their  places,  in  the  Pa^J**s 
first  rooms  ;  a  holy  family,  by  Leonardi  di  Vinci ; 
a  naked  child  lying  at  full  length,  contemplating  a 
scull ;  and  a  Jupiter  and  Leda  ;  all  by  the  same 
great  master;  also  a  good  painting  of  .a  young 
woman,  with  a  melancholy  look,  sitting,  and 
leaning  on  one  hand,  behind  her  is  an  old  woman 
with  a  letter. 

A  flight  into  Egypt,  very  good ;  and  another 
painting,  both  by  Bassan. 

The  church  of  Hatfield  is  dedicated  to  St.  Church. 
Ethelreda,  the  virgin  wife;  first,  of  Tonbert, 
prince  of  the  South  Girvii,  and  afterwards  of 
prince  Egfrid,  son  of  Qswy,  king  of  Northumber* 
land,  as  I  might  prove  by  several  credible  wit- 
nesses '. 

•  • 

1  Bentham's  hist.  Ely,  49,  to  whom  I  refer  for  the  evidences. 


558  &ATFIELD  CHURCH. 

In  the  Salisbury  chancel,  built  by  the  first  earfr, 
is  the  monument  of  the  great  founder,  who  is  re- 
presented in  white  marble,  in  his  robes,  recum- 
bent on  a  black  slab,  beautifully  executed.  This 
is  supported  at  each  corner  by  a  cardinal  virtue, 
with  the  attributes  of  each,  poorly  done.  Beneath 
is  a  skeleton,  in  white  marble,  lying  on  a  mat  of  the 
same  colored  marble,  admirably  counterfeited.     I 

A  strange  figure,  sprawling  on  one  side  with 
a  great  bird,  naked  arms,  and  well-cut  drapery,  in 
stone,  commemorates  William  Gurle,  cur  wardo* 
rum  et  libaconum.  He  died  April  16th  1617, 
cet.  78. 

A  mural  monument  of  Sir  John  Brocket,  of 
Brocket  Hall,  in  this  parish,  who  died  in  1598.  By 
the  death  of  Sir  James  Brocket,  this  antient  and 
respectable  family  became  extinct  in  the  male  line. 

Here  is  a  large  monument  with  two  ladies  one 
over  the  other,  lying  on  their  sides.  One  is  dame 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  the  aforesaid  Sir  John  Brocket ; 
she  was  widow  to  Gabriel  Fowler,  esquire,  and 
daughter  of  Roger  Moore,  esquire,  by  Agnes 
Hussey,  relict  of  three  husbands,  Moore,  Curson, 
and  chief  baron  Saunders"1.  The  other  figure  is  of 
this  Agnes,  who  died  in  1588.  This  memorial  was 
erected  by  Richard  Fowler,  son  to  Lady  Brocket, 
by  her  first  husband.  . 

•  An  extraordinary  person,  see  Granger  III.  367  octavo.  • 


GOBIONS.  559 

A  monument  of  Sir  James  Read,  baronet,  of 
Brocket  Hall,  which  descended  to  him  by  the 
marriage  of  his  grandfather  Thomas  Read,  esquire, 
with  Maty,  fifth  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Brocket. 
This  is  mural,  with  a  bust  of  him  and  his  wife,  who 
left  daughters,  coheirs. 

From  hence  I  continued  my  journey  along  the  Gobions. 
great  road.  Passed  by  Gobions,  in  the  parish  of 
North  Mims,  which  took  its  name  from  the  old 
family  of  the  Gobions,  its  antient  lords,  as  early  as 
the  time  of  King  Stephen*.  The  Mores  afterwards 
possessed  it  for  some  generations.  Sir  John,  the 
father  of  the  celebrated  Sir  Thomas  More,  owned 
it  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  and  it  became  the 
residence  of  that  illustrious  character  till  the  time 
of  his  cruel  sacrifice;  when  the  son  was  stripped 
of  every  part  of  his  fortune  by  the  most  arbitrary 
attainders.  It  reverted  again  to  the  family,  but 
the  grandson  of  Sir  Thomas,  being  ruined  by  the 
civil,  wars,  sold  it  to  Sir  Edzvard  Desborevy.  It 
afterwards  came  by  sale  to  Mr.  Pitchford,  and  to  Sir 
Jeremiah  Sambroke.  From  his  sisters  it  devolved 
to  Mr.  Freeman,  of  Hammels,  and  was  afterwards 
sold  to  the  present  owner,  Mr.  Hunter. 

Not  far  from  a  place  called  Potters-bar,  (proba- 
bly from  some  pottery,  such  as  is  still  carried  on 

*  Salmon's  Herts,  46v  i 


560  ENFIELD  PALACE. 

at  Woodside,  about  two  miles  to  the  north,  on  the 
same  road)  I  entered  the  county  of 

MIDDLESEX : 

kept  along  the  edge  of  E?ijield  Chace'1  to  Hadley  ; 
passed  through  Cheping  Barnet,  and,  in  less  than 
a  mile  beyond,  quitted  the  great  road  at  Pricklers 
Hill;  again  skirted  the  Chace,  descended  Winch- 
more  Hill,  and  concluded  the  day's  journey  at  En- 
fold, the  object  of  this  little  digression. 
New  River.  The  New  River,  the  work  of  my  illustrious 
countryman  Sir  Hugh  Middleton  *  (which  on  the 
north  edge  of  this  parish,  for  some  yards,  as  till 
lately  at  Islington,  is  conveyed  in  a  trough  of  wood 
lined  with  lead,  called  The  Boarded  River,  over  a 
brick  arch  fifteen  feet  high)  was  the  first  object  of 
my  attention. 

I  next  visited  the  antient  brick  house  called 
Enfield  Palace,  built  by  Sir  Thomas  Lovel,  knight 

of  the  Garter,  and  privy  counsellor  to  Henry  VII; 

■ 

y  This  chace  was  inclosed  by  act  of  parliament  in  1779 ;  and 
of  the  8000  acres  whereof  it  consisted,  2584  were  appropriated 
to  the  use  of  the  Crown,  and  the  residue  divided  between  the 
four  adjoining  parishes  of  Enfield,  Edmonton,  Hadley,  and 
South  Mints. 

e  See  some  account  of  it  in  my  Welsh  Tour,  vol.  ii.  p.  29. 
ed.  1810.  vol.  ii.p.  152. 


ENFIELD  PALACE.  56l 

where  he  died  in  1524\  It  is  conjectured  that 
Henry  VIII.  bought  it  for  a  nursery  for  his  chil- 
drenb.  Here  Edward  VI.  received  the  first  news 
of  his  father's  death,  and  his  own  accession.  On 
the  chimney-piece  of  the  great  parlour  are  the  arms 
of  England  in  a  Garter,  supported  by  a  Lion  and  a  • 
Griffin ;  on  the  sides,  the  Rose  and  Portcullis 
crowned ;  with  E.  R.  beneath.  These  initials  are 
also  on  the  stucco  in  front  of  the  house. 

Queen  Elizabeth  used  sometimes  to  make  this 
place  a  visit.  Robert  Cary  Earl  of  Monmouth 
informs  us  he  once  waited  on  her  Highness  at  En- 
field, where  she  went  to  take  a  dinner,  and  had 
toiles  set  up  in  the  park,  to  shoot  at  bucks,  after 
she  had  dined0. 

In  the  time  of  the  great  plague,  in  1665,  a  very 
flourishing  school  was  kept  here  by  Mr.  Uvedale. 
That  gentleman  was  very  fond  of  gardening,  and, 
among  other  trees,  planted  a  cedar  of  Libanus;  Great 
which  is  still  in  being.  The  storm  of  1 703  broke 
off  eight  feet  from  the  top.  The  dimensions  of  it 
at  present  are : 


•  Camden,  i.  398. 

b  See  the  Antiquarian  Repertory,  ii.  23 1  j  where  a  print  of 
this  palace  is  given.     It  is  now  divided  into  several  dwellings. 

*  His  Memoirs,  2d  edit.  p.  136.   . 

2  o 


Cedar. 


36<2  WALTHAM  CROSS. 


Height            45  feet  9  inches. 

Girth  at  top       3 

7 

Second  girth     7 

9 

Third               10 

0 

Fourth             14 

6d 

Worcester       Not  far  from  hence,  on  the  north  side  of  Four- 

House. 

tree-hill,  stood  Worcester  House,  built  by  the  ac- 
complished John  Tibetot,  or  Tiptoft,  Earl  of  Wor- 
cester" f  who  was  beheaded  in  1470.  The  manor, 
which  still  retains  his  title,  descended  to  him  from 
his  father,  Sir  John  Tiptoft.  The  house  was  re- 
built on  higher  ground,  by  Sir  Nicholas  Raynton, 
knight,  lord  mayor  of  London  in  1640,  who  died 
in  1647,  and  has  a  splendid  monument  in  Enfield 
church.  The  place  is  now  owned  by  Eliab  Breton, 
Esquire,  who  married  a  co-heiress  of  the  Raynton 
and  JVolstenholme  families. 

I  made  a  visit  from  hence  to  TValtham  Abbey, 
seated  in  Essex,  about  three  miles  from  Enfield, 
Waltham  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  Lea.  I  past  by  Wal- 
tham  Cross,  one  of  the  affectionate  memorials  of 
Edward  I.  towards  his  beloved  queen  Eleanor. 
The  cross  is  in  excellent  preservation,   and  richly 

d  See  the  ingenious  account  of  cedars  planted  in  England, 
by  my  respected  friend  the  Reverend  Sir  John  Culhan,  bart. 
Gent.  Mag.  1779,  p.  138. 

c  Norden's  Middlesex,  19. 


WALTHAM  CHURCH.  5G3 

adorned  with  gothic  sculpture.  This  tract  is  a  rich 
flat  of  verdant  meadows,  watered  by  the  Lea,  and 
bounded  on  each  side  by  gentle  risings.  The 
meads  belonging  to  the  abbey  are  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  Halifield,  or  The  holy  field. 

The  present  church  oiWaltham  is  only  the  nave  Church. 
of  the  antient  structure,which  was  in  the  form  of  a 
cross, with  a  central  tower ;  the  latter  fell  down  after 
the  dissolution,  and  the  new  tower  was  built  at  one 
end  in  1555.  Within  are  six  massy  pillars ;  some 
carved  with  spiral,  others  with  zigzag  furrows,  like 
those  of  the  nave  of  Durham  cathedral.  The 
arches  are  round ;  above  them  are  two  rows  of  gal- 
leries, in  what  is  called  the  Saxon  stile.  At  the 
east  end  remains  one  vast  ronnd  arch  of  the  tower. 

The  only  monuments  of  any  note,  are  those  of 
the  Dennies.  That  of  Sir  Edzvard  Denny,  and 
Joan  his  wife,  has  on  it  their  figures,  in  a  reclined 
posture;  he  in  armour;  in  front  are  the  figures 
of  six  of  their  sons  and  four  of  their  daughters 
kneeling.  Sir  Edward  was  of  the  privy  chamber 
to  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  governor  of  Kerry  and  Des- 
monde,  and  colonel  of  some  Irish  forces.  He  died 
in  1599,  aged  about  fifty -two,  and,  I  hope,  merited 
this  eulogy  inscribed  on  the  tomb  : 

Learn,  curious  reader,  how  you  pass; 
Your  once  Sir  Edward  Damy  was 

2  o  2 


564  WALTHAM  ABBEY. 

A  courtier  of  the  chamber, 

A  soldier  of  the  field  ; 
Whose  tongue  could  never  flatter; 

Whose  heart  could  never  yealde. 

The  tombs  of  Earl  Harold,  founder  of  the 
abbey;  of  the  famous  Hugo  Nevill,  who  slew  a 
lion  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  of  several  others,  are 
now  lost,  having  perished  with  the  fall  of  the  tower 
on  the  eastern  part  of  the  church,  in  which  they 
were  placed f. 
Abbey.  The  abbey  stood  near  the  church.  Its  only 
remains  are  a  gate  and  postern,  with  the  arms  of 
England  in  the  time  of  Henry  III ;  part  of  a  clois- 
ter, and  an  elliptic  bridge  over  the  moat.  The 
edifice  was  pulled  down  after  the  dissolution,  and 
the  materials  applied  to  building  a  mansion  by  Sir 
Anthony  Denny  (father  of  Sir  Edward)  to  whom 
the  place  had  been  granted  by  Edward  VI.  His 
lady  afterwards  purchased  the  reversion  in  fee  of 
JValtham  manor,  from  the  same  prince,  for  be- 
tween three  and  four  thousand  pounds,  with  seve- 
ral large  privileges  in  the  adjoining  forest5.  This, 
and  the  great  estate  of  the  family,  passed  after- 
wards to  the  luxurious  Hay  Earl  of  Carlisle,  by 
his  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  Edward  Denny 
Earl  of  Norwich,  grandson  of  Sir  Anthony.  The 
f  Weevcr,  644.  «  Fuller's  Hist.  JValtham  Abbey,  13. 


WALTHAM  ABBEY.  565 

fortune  was  soon  dissipated ;  and  the  estate  sold  by 
their  heirs  to  Sir  Samuel  Jones  of  Northampton- 
shire, who  gave  it  to  the  Wakes ;  it  is  at  present 
owned  by  Sir  William  Wake,  baronet. 

The  abbey  was  founded  in  1062,  by  Earl 
Harold,  afterwards  king  of  England.  It  might 
more  properly  be  stiled  a  college,  having  a  dean 
and  eleven  secular  black  canons,  who  were  excel- 
lently provided  for;  six  manors  being  appropriated 
to  the  dean,  and  one  to  each  canon.  A  copy  of 
the  charter  of  confirmation  by  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor is  preserved  by  Sir  William  Dugdale*1. 

After  the  battle  of  Hastings,  Githa,  the  mo- 
ther of  Harold,  and  Osegod,  and  Ailric,  by  their 
prayers  and  tears  moved  the  Conqueror  to  deliver 
to  them  the  corpse  of  the  Sa,von  monarch,  and  of 
his  brethren  Girth  and  Leofwin,  to  be  interred 
here.  Harold's  tomb  was  of  rich  grey  marble, 
with  a  cross  fleury  on  it,  and  supported  by  four 
pedestals  K 

Henry  II.  in  1 177,  changed  the  foundation  into 
an  abbot  and  regulars,  of  the  order  of  St.  Austin  k. 
The  first  abbot  was  Walter  de  Gaunt,  who  ob- 
tained the  privileges  of  the  mitre,  and  of  being 
exempt  from  episcopal  jurisdiction1. 

Robert  Fuller  was  the  last  abbot,  who,  with 

h  Monast.  ii.  11.  i  Fuller's  Waltham,  7. 

*  Tanner,  119.  '  Willis,  i.  191. 


5GG  COPTHALL. 

seventeen  of  his  religious,  resigned  the  monastery 
to  the  king,  March  23d,  1540.  Their  whole  num- 
ber was  twenty-four.  Their  revenue,  according 
to  Dugdale,  was  £.  900.  4*.  3d. ;  to  Speed, 
£.  1079.  12*.  Id. 

The  largest  tulip-tree,  I  believe,  in  England, 
stands  within  the  abbey  precinct ;  being  fourteen 
feet  in  circumference  near  the  bottom. 
Copthaix.  From  hence,  at  a  distance,  on  a  rising  ground, 
I  saw  Copt  hall,  once  a  villa  and  park  belonging  to 
the  abbots.  Richard  I.  bestowed  the  lands  on 
Richard  Fit z- Anchor,  to  hold  them  in  fee,  and 
hereditarily  of  the  abbey.  He  fixed  himself  at 
this  seat.  At  length  the  abbot  became  possessed 
of  it,  and  retained  it  till  the  dissolution.  Queen 
Elizabeth  granted  it  to  Sir  Thomas  Heneage.  His 
daughter,  afterwards  Countess  of  JVinchelsea,  sold 
it  to  the  Earl  of  Middlesex,  in  the  reign  of  James 
I.  Charles  Earl  of  Dorset  sold  it,  in  1700,  to 
Thomas  TVcbster,  Esquire,  created  Baronet  in 
1703  :  and  he  sold  it  to  Edward  Cony ers,  Esquire, 
of  Walthamstmv,  whose  grandson,  John,  is  the 
present  possessor m. 

m  The  late  Mr.  Conyers  took  down  the  old  house  (of  which 
a  print  may  be  seen  in  Farmer  s  History  of  Waltham  Abbey) 
and  built  the  present  on  a  higher  site,  about  thirty  years  ago. 
The  beautiful  east  window  in  St.  Margaret's  church  at  West- 
minster, came  originally  from  the  chapel  of  this  old  mansion. 


THEOBALDS.  567 

Returning  the  same  way  over  the  Lea,  I 
could  not  but  reflect  on  the  different  appearance 
this  tract  now  makes,  to  what  it  did  in  the  days  of 
King  Alfred,  when  it  was  navigable  for  ships  to  e^"*/^  stN 
the  Thames,  and  by  which  the  piratical  Danish  896- 
navy  came  up  quite  to  Hertford.  Our  great 
monarch  instantly  set  about  frittering  this  vast 
water  into  various  small  streams;  and,  to  the  amaze- 
ment of  the  free-booters,  left  their  fleet  on  dry 
land".  At  present  a  useful  canal  passes  along  the 
country. 

Close  to  Cheshunt  stood  the  magnificent  palace  Theobalds. 
of  Theobalds,  built  by  lord  treasurer  Burleigh. 
When  James  I.  came  from  Scotland  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  English  throne,  on  May  3d,  1603, 
he  was  received  here  by  the  lords  of  the  privy 
council,  and  was  most  sumptuously  entertained  by 
the  owner,  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Salisbury.  James  fell  in  love  with  the  place,  ob- 
tained it  from  Cecil  in  exchange  for  Hatfield,  en- 
larged the  park,  and  inclosed  it  with  a  brick 
wall  ten  miles  in  circuit :  it  was  resigned  to  the 
king  and  queen,  on  the  22d  of  May  1607.  A 
poetical  entertainment  was  made  on  the  occasion, 
by  Ben  Jonson,  and  suitable  scenery  invented,  in 
all  probability  by  Inigo  Jones0.     The  Genius  of 

n  Saxon  Chr.  96.     Chr.  J.  Bromton,  SI 3. 
°  Tour  in  Wales,  ii.  142. 


568  THEOBALDS. 

the  place  is  at  first  very  anxious  about  her  lot;  at 
last  is  reconciled  to  it  by  Mercury  and  the  Fates, 
and  the  piece  concludes  with  a  most  flattering 
chorus p.  James  was  particularly  fond  of  this 
palace,  and  finished  his  days  here  in  1625.  In 
1651 ,  the  greatest  part  of  this  magnificent  place 
(so  particularly  described  by  Hentzner)  was 
pulled  down,  and  the  plunder  given  to  the  soldiers. 
The  small  remains  (such  as  the  room  in  which  the 
king  died,  and  a  portico  with  the  painting  of  the 
genealogical  tree  of  the  house  of  Cecil)  were  de- 
molished in  1765,  by  the  present  owner,  George 
Prescot,  Esquire,  who  leased  out  the  site  to  a 
builder,  and  erected  a  handsome  house  for  him- 
self a  mile  south  of  it ;  so  that  its  memory  is  only 
preserved  by  the  picture  in  the  possession  of  Earl 
Poulet,  at  Hinton  St.  George  ;  and  the  descrip- 
tion, from  Lord  Burleigh's  own  hand-writing,  pre- 
served in  Murderis  State  Papers q. 

I  returned  by  Enfield,  pursued  the  direct 
road  to  London,  passed  by  Tottenham  High  Cross 
(so  called  from  a  wooden  cross  formerly  placed  on 
a  little  mount)  and  in  a  short  time  joined  my  friends 
in  the  great  metropolis. 

P  Ben  Jonson's  Works,  v.  226. 

'  Mr.  Gough's  Br.  Topogr.  i.  426. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX.  I. 


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APPENDIX.  IT. 


N°  II. 


CATALOGUE  OF  THE  PICTURES  AT  BLITHEFIELD.    P.  ne. 


DRAWING  ROOM. 

The  Rape  of  Europa               - 

Albano 

A  Landscape ;  St.  John  baptising  Christ 

in  the  Wilderness 

Zuccarelli 

St.  Jerome  presenting  his  Works  to  the 

Infant  Jesus 

Corregio 

Rachel  at  the  Well 

C.  Lotti 

A  Landscape— the  Flight  into  Egypt 

Zuccarelli 

A  Bird  Piece 

Hondekccter 

A  Boy's  Head 

Fr.  Bartolomeo- 

The  Annunciation  of  the  Virgin 

Domenichino 

A  small  oval  Landscape ;  a  Storm 

G.  Poussin 

Portrait  of  a  Singer 

Murillo 

Nativity  of  St.  John 

Al.  Veronese 

Virgin  and  Child 

Raphael,  in  his 

'irst  manner 

Players  at  Minciati ;  Portraits 

Alb.  Durer 

Oval  Landscape ;  Rocks,  &c. 

G.  Poussin 

Oval  Portrait 

Vandyck 

Burning  the  Vatican  (from  the  Car- 

toons) 

Raphael 

A  Magdalen 

Guido 

Boors  drawing  Wine  from  a  Vat 

A  Concert            - 

Palamedesj 

A  Landscape,  with  Ruin 

N.  Poussin 

APPENDIX.  II. 


57S 


A  Supper,  with  Singers 
Virgin,  and  dead  Christ 
Head  of  St.  John 

Three  Manfs,  with  the  Body  of  Christ 

(a  copy  from) 
Moliere(p.  115.) 
Stoning  St.  Stephen 
Boors  drinking 

Altar-piece,  with  Virgin  and  Child 
Fruit  and  dead  Game  - 

Landscape,  with  a  Mill  Pool 
An  oval  Head  -  m 

A  Pass  of  the  Alps 


Palamedes 
Dan.  de  Volterra 
Guercino 

An.  Caracci 
Spanish  School 
Filippo  Laura 

Benv.  Garofolo 
Fyt 

Van  Goyen 

Tintoret 

Colomba 


VESTIBULE. 


Ruins  of  Roman  Buildings  -  P.  Panini 

The  Duke  of  Buckingham  a  -  Giorgione 

A  Landscape  -  P.  Brille 

Angel  appearing  to  the  Shepherds  And.  Sacchi 

A  Landscape  P.  Brille 

Jacob's  Journey  -  -  Castiglione 

A  Popish  Idea  ef  the  Trinity  b         -  Alb.  Durer 
Virtue  triumphing  over  Vice.  A  Sbozzo 
of  the  great  picture  in  the  Council 


a  Engraved  as  such,  under  the  title  of  Humphrey  Stafford, 
or  Bagot,  in  the  History  of  the  Royal  Tribes  of  Wales,  by 
Philip  Yorke,  Esq.  but  evidently  the  portrait  of  an  Italian 
nobleman,  of  a  much  later  period.     Ed. 

b  Christ  in  the  lap  of  the  Deity,  who  wears  the  Tiara ;  a 
Dove  above.     Painted  on  a  gold  ground.     Ed. 


574  APPENDIX.  II. 

Chamber  of  the  Palace  of  St.  Mark  at 
Venice  -  -  Paolo  Veronese 

l/)t  and  his  Daughters.     (Engraved  by 

Strange)  -  .  Guercino,  in  his 

light  manner 
The  Continence  of  Scipio  -  Seb.  Conca 

Judgment  of  Solomon  -  S.  Vouet 

The  Feast  of  Levi  (a  Sketch)         -  P.  Veronese 

Inside  of  a  Kitchen  -  Giac.  Bassan 

Women  preparing  Pot-herbs         -  Ostade 

Landscape  and  Figures  -  Holbein 

A  Sketch  -  C.  Cignani 

Two  Neapolitan  Officers  -  Valentino 

Boors  at  Cards  «  -  Teniers 

Head ;  a  Study  C.  Maratti 

A  Poor  Family  Le  Nain 

Portrait  of  a  young  Italian  Lady  Rosalba 

Petrarch's  Triumph  of  Time.  This  pic- 
ture contains  Portraits.  The  figure 
in  scarlet,  holding  a  bubble,  is  Pe- 
trarch himself.  The  man  in  black,  by 
him,  is  Giovanni  Villani,  the  Floren- 
tine historian.  The  figure  in  green, 
on  the  black  horse,  is  the  emperor. 
The  two,  on  white  horses  following 
the  car,  are  Roger  King  of  Sicily,  and 
the  Constable  Cohnna,  Petrarch's 
friends  and  favourites.  The  figure  on 
foot,  in  black,  with  a  long  beard,  pre- 
ceded by  two  boys,  in  short  students' 
cloaks,  is  Bmnetti  Latini         -  Old  Franks 


APPENDIX.  II. 


575 


St.  Peter's  at  Rome. 
Cupids  at  Play 
Virgin  and  Infant 
Landscape,  with  Goats,  &c. 
the  figures  by 


G.  Occhiati 
Rottenhammer 
Italian  School 
P.  Brille 
An.  Caracci 


BREAKFAST  ROOM. 

Waltei*  Chetwynde  of  Ingestrie        -       Sir  P.  Lely 
A  Battle  Piece  -  -  Bourgognone 

Portrait  of  a  Piper  -  -         Fr.  Hals 

Virgin  Mary  -  -  C.  Maratti 

Christ  bearing  the  Cross  -  Van  Eyck 

The  Nativity  -  -  Van  Eyck 

The  Scourging  of  Christ  -  Van  Eyck 

A  Flemish  Officer  and  Woman  on  horse- 
back -  Blekers 
An  Italian  Poet,  or  Improvisario,  with 

a  Guitar ;  supposed  to  be  Ariosto         Lanfranco 
A  Landscape  from  Both  -  De  Heusch 

Portrait  of  a  Friar  in  the  Character  of 

Diogenes  -  -  Lanfranco 

A  Man  driving  Cattle  -  Castiglione 

An  old  Man  reading  -  Mrs.  Anson 

Landscape  -  -  Van  Goyen 

Devereux  Earl  of  Essex.     (P.  113.) 
Sir  Walter  Aston.     (P.  112.) 
Villiers  Duke  of  Buckingham. 
Henry  Earl  of  Huntingdon.     (P.  112.) 
Lewis  Bagot. 

Portrait  unknown.     Date  1622,  at.  40. 
Lord  Burleigh,    (P.  111.) 


576  APPENDIX.  II. 

STAIRCASE. 

Hugo  Grotius         -  -  School  of  Rembrandt 

Landscape ;  Cattle  and  Figures         Paiel. 

A  Fish  Market        -  -  Batt.  Bassan 

LIBRARY. 

St.  Paul  shaking  off  the  Viper  Guercino,  in  his  dark 

manner. 


N°  III. 

EXPENCES  IN  THE  REPAIRS  OF  LICHFIELD  CATHEDRAL, 
AFTER  THE  RESTORATION.    P.  143. 


[From.  Mr.  Greene  of  Lichfield's  MSS.] 


£.      s.    d. 


By  the  accounts  of  the  late  Bishop  Hacket, 
Mr.  Glazier,  and  Mr.  Harrison,  the  sum 
of  money  received  by  them,  for  the  re- 
pairs of  the  cathedral  church  of  Lichfield, 
amounts  to  -  9092     1     7| 

Besides  two  fair  timber  trees,  which  his 
majesty  gave  out  of  Need-wood,  inserted 
but  not  valued,  in  the  book  of  the  said 
accounts  -  -  -  0     0    0$ 

As  also,  there  is  omitted  out  of  the  said  ac- 
counts, glazing  seven  of  the  south  win- 
dows, by  Mr.  Creswell;  wherein  his  arms, 
which  (saith  he)  cost  about  -  30     0     0 

Out  of  which  £.  9092  1*.  7fd.  the  late 
Bishop  Hacket  gave  out  of  his  own  purse, 
to  the  repairs  of  the  said  cathedral  1683  12    0 


PICTURES  AT  GORHAMBURY. 

<£.    s.     d. 
Bishop  Wood,  when  dean,  gave         -  50    0    0 

And  since  bishop  -  -  10    0     0 

And  promised  (saith  Dean  Smalhvood)  more    100     0     0 

In  St.  Peter's  chapel  (which  is  now  a  place  to  lay  lad- 
ders and  scaffolding)  was  painted  upon  the  wall  St.  Peter 
crucified  with  his  head  downwards  ;  and  two  other  apostles. 
And  in  this  place  is  the  noted  St.  Chad's  tomb  (though  de- 
faced) removed  from  the  Lady  Choir,  to  be  put  here, 
since  the  Restoration. 


577 


N°  IV. 

ADDITIONAL  LIST  OF 

PICTURES  AT  GORHAMBURY.    Page  337. 


DRAWING  ROOM. 

A  Sea  Piece            - 

S.  Ruysdael 

Landscape            - 

Zucarelli 

Landscape  and  Figures 

Mola 

Theseus  and  his  Mother 

S.  Rosa 

Boors  drinking 

Tenters 

Christ  healing  the  Sick 

Bassan 

Back  of  a  Woman 

Titian 

Landscape             - 

Zucarelli 

Landscape            -' 

Dean 

Landscape  and  Cattle 

Berchem 

View  of  a  Port 

Weeninx 

Inside  of  a  Church 

P.  Neeffs 

Mercury  and  Battus 

Domenichino 

A  portrait  and  figures 

Teniers 

Landscape  and  figures 

Brueghel    ' 

2p 


578 


APPENDIX.  IV. 

Small  Interior           - 

Stelnivyck 

Cook  Maid  and  Dead  Game 

Sir  N.  Bacon 

Landscape ;  Angel  and  Balaam 

Swanefeld 

Landscape            -            - 

S.  Rosa 

Companion 

S.  Rosa 

Men  securing  a  Bull 

P.  Potter 

St.  Tliomas            -            - 

S.  Rosa 

An  Encampment 

Wouvermarm 

Small  Landscape 

Brueghel 

Companion 

Bruegliel 

Landscape             - 

Bolognese 

Mary  Magdalen 

Caracci 

Our  Saviour  and  St.  Peter 

Baroccio 

Venus  and  Adonis 

Titian 

Holy  Family 

C.  Maratti 

St.  Augustin 

Ag.  Caracci 

Small  Head 

Schalken 

Head 

Vandyck 

Landscape             - 

N.  Poussin 

Companion                                       - 

JS.  Poussin 

DRESSING  ROOM. 

Col.  Taylor  -  Kneller 

Mr.  Grimston,  son  of  William  Viscount 

Grimston  -  Kneller 

Earl  of  Arundel. 
Our  Saviour ;  a  Sketch  -  Tintoretto 


BED-CHAMBER. 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  IValler  -  Sir  J.  Reynold* 

Flower  Piece  -  T.  Baptiste 

Snow  Piece  -  -  Van  Diest 


CONVENT  OF  ST.  ANDREWS.  579 

Flower  Piece  -  T.  Baptiste 

Inside  of  a  Church  -  -P.  Neeffs 

Entering  the  Ark  --«/".  Brueghel 

LADY  GRIMSTON's  DRESSING  ROOM. 

Sea-port  Moonlight  -          -           Tliom.  Wycke 

Cupid  »              m             Vandyck 

Student  Drawing  -             -             Schalken 

Landscape  J.  Brueghel 

A  Shipwreck  -              A  Van  Diest 

Landscape            -  -          Paul  Bril 


N°V. 

THE  RESIGNATION  OR  SURRENDER  OF  THE  PRIOR  AND  CON- 
VENT  OF  ST.  ANDREWS,  NORTHAMPTON :  WITH  A  RECOG- 
NITION OF  THEIR  MANIFOLD  ENORMITIES.    Page  408. 

Most  noble  and  vertuous  prince,  owr  most  rightuous  and 
gracyous  soueraign  lorde,  and  vndoubted  founder,  and  in 
erthe  next  vndre  God  supreme  heed  of  this  Englyshe 
churche.  We  yowr  gracys  pore  and  most  vnworthy  sub- 
iects,  Francys,  priour  of  yowr  graces  monastery  of  Saint 
Andrew  the  apostle,  within  yowr  graces  town  of  North- 
ampton, and  the  hoole  couent  of  the  same,  being  steryd  by 
the  gryffe  of  owr  conscience,  vnto  greate  contricion  for  the 
manifolde  negligence,  enormytes,  and  abuses,  of  long  tyme 
by  vs  and  other  owr  predecessours,  vndre  the  pretence  and 
shadow  of  perfyght  religion,  vsyd  and  commytted,  to  the 
greuous  displeasure  of  Almyghty  God,  the  craftye  decep- 
cion,  and  subtell  seduccion  of  the  pure  and  symple  myndys 

2  p  2 


580  APPENDIX.  V. 

of  the  good  Christian  people  of  this  yoWr  noble  realme, 
knovvlegen  owr  selffes  to  haue  greuously  offendyd  God,  and 
yowr  highnesse  owr  soueraign  lord  and  founder.  Aswell  in 
corrupting  the  conscience  of  yowr  good  Christian  subiects, 
with  vayne,  superstitious,  and  other  vnprofitable  ceremo- 
nyes,  the  very  means  and  playn  induccions  to  the  abomi- 
nable synne  of  idolatry ;  as  in  omyttyng  the  execucion  of 
suche  deuowte  and  due  observances,  and  charitable  acts  as 
we  were  bounden  to  do,  by  the  promises,  and  avovves  made 
by  vs  and  our  predecessors,  vnto  Almighty  God,  and  to 
yowr  graces  most  noble  progenitors,  orygynall  founders  of 
yowr  saide  monastery.  For  the  which  obseruances,  and 
dedys  of  charyte,  only,  yowre  saide  monastery  was  indowed 
with  sondry  possessions,  iewels,  ornaments,  and  other  goods, 
moueable  and  vnmoueable,  by  yowr  graces  said  noble  pro- 
genitors. The  revenues  of  which  possessions,  we  the  saide 
priour  and  couent,  voluntaryly  onely  by  owr  propre  con- 
science compellyd,  do  recognyce,  neither  by  vs,  nor  owr 
predecessors  to  haue  ben  imploied  accordyng  to  the  origy- 
nall  intent  of  the  founders  of  yowr  saide  monastery  :  that 
is  to  saie,  in  the  pure  observaunce  of  Chrysts  religion,  ac- 
cordyng to  the  deuowte  rule,  and  doctryne,  of  holy  Saint 
Benedict,  in  vertuose  exercyse,  and  study,  according  to 
owr  professyon  and  avowe  ;  ne  yett  in  the  charytable  sus- 
taining, comforting,  and  releiuing  of  the  pore  people,  by 
the  kepyng  of  good  and  necessary  hospitality.  But  aswell 
we  as  others  owr  predecessours,  callyd  religiouse  persones 
within  yowr  said  monastery,  taking  on  vs  the  habite  or 
owtewarde  vesture  of  the  saide  rule,  onely  to  the  intent  to 
lead  owr  liffes  in  an  ydell  quyetnes,  and  not  in  vertuose 
exercyse,  in  a  stately  estymacion,  and  not  in  obedient  hu- 
mylyte,  haue  vndre  the  shadowe,  or  color  of  the  saide  rule 


CONVENT  OF  ST.  ANDREWS.  581 

and  habite,  vaynly,  detestably,  and  also  vngodly,  employed, 
yea  rather  deuowred  the  yerely  reuenues  yssuing  and  co- 
myng  of  the  saide  possessions,  in  contynuall  ingurgitacions 
and  farcyngs  of  owr  carayne  bodyes,  and  of  others,  the 
supportares  of  owr  voluptuose  and  carnall  appetyte,  with 
other  wayne  and  ungodly  expensys  to  the  manyfest  svbuer- 
tion  of  deuocion,  and  clennes  of  lyuyng ;  and  to  the  most 
notable  slaunder  of  Chrysts  holy  euangely,  which  in  the 
forme  of  owr  professyon,  we  dyd  ostentate,  and  openly  ad- 
vaunte  to  kepe  most  exactely :  withdrawing  therby  from 
the  symple  and  pure  myndys  of  yowr  graces  subiects,  the 
only  truth  and  comfort,  which  they  oughte  to  haue  by  the 
true  fait]}  of  Christe.     And  also  the  devyne  honor  and 
glory;  onely  due  to  the  glorious  maiestye  of  God  Almighty, 
steryng  them  with  all  persuasions,  ingynes,  and  polyce,  to 
dedd  images,  and  counterefeit  reliques,  for  owr  dampnable 
lucre.     Which  our  most  horryble  abhominacions,  and  ex- 
ecrable persuacions  of  yowr  graces  people,  to  detestable  er- 
rours,  and  our  long  couered  ipocrysie  cloked  with  fayned 
sanctitie  ;  we  reuoluing  dayly  and  continually  ponderyng 
in  owr  sorrowfull  harts,  and  therby  perseyuing  the  bottom- 
les  gulf  of  euerlastyng  fyre  redy  to  deuowre  vs,  if  perseyst- 
ing  in  this  state  of  lyuynge,  we  shulde  departe  from  this  vn- 
certayn  and  transytory  liff;  constrayned,  by  the  intollerable 
anguysh  of  owr  conscience,  callyd  as  we  trust  by  the  grace 
of  God,  who  wolde  haue  no  man  to  perysh  in  synne :  with 
harts  most  contrite,  and  repentante,  prostrate  at  the  noble 
feet  of  yowr  most  roiall  maiesty,    most  lamentably  doo 
craue  of  yowr  highnes,  of  yowr  habundant  mercy,  to  grant 
vnto  us,  most  greuous  agaynst  God,  and  yowr  highnes, 
yowr  most  gracious  perdon,  for  owr  saide  sondry  offences, 
omyssyons,  and  negligences,  commytted  as  before  by  vs  is 
confessyd,  agaynst  yowr  hyhnes,  and  yowr  most  noble  pro- 


582  APPENDIX.  V. 

genitors.  And  where  yowr  highnes,  being  supreme  hedd, 
immediately  next  aftre  Christe,  of  bis  cburch,  in  this 
yowr  roialme  of  England,  so  consequently  generall  and 
only  reformatur  of  all  religious  personnes  there,  haue  full 
authority  to  correct  or  dyssolue  at  your  graces  pleasure  and 
libertye,  all  couents  and  religious  companyes  abusyng  the 
rewles  of  their  profession.  And  moreouer  to  yowr  high- 
nes, being  owr  soueraygn  lord  and  vndoubted  founder  of 
yowr  saide  monastery,  by  dissolucion  wherof  apperteyneth 
onely  the  oryginall  title,  and  propre  inherytance,  as  well  of 
all  other  goods  moueable  and  vnmouable,  to  the  saide  mo- 
nastery in  any  wise  apperteyning  or  belonging,  to  be  dis- 
possessed, and  imployed,  as  to  yowr  graces  most  excellent 
wysdome  shall  seme  expedyent  and  necessary.  All  which 
possessyons  and  goods,  yowr  highnes  for  owr  saide  offences, 
abuses,  omyssyons,  and  neglygences,  being  to  all  men  obe- 
dyent,  and  by  vs  playnly  confessed,  now  hath,  and  of  long 
tyme  past  hath  hadd,  iust  and  lafull  cawse,  to  resume  into 
yowr  graces  hands  and  possessyon  at  your  graces  pleasure. 
The  resumption  wherof,  yowr  highness  neverthelesse,  licke 
a  most  naturall  lovyng  prince,  and  clement  governour,  ouer 
vs  yowr  graces  pore,  and  for  owr  offences,  most  vnworthy 
subiects,  hath  of  long  season  differred,  and  yet  doth,  in 
hope  and  trust  of  owr  voluntary  reconciliation  and  amend- 
ment, by  yowr  graces  manyfolde,  louyng  and  gentyll  ad- 
monyshments,  shewyd  vnto  vs  by  dyuerse  and  sondry 
meanys.  We  therfor  consyderyng  with  owr  selffes  your 
graces  exceedyng  goodnes  and  mercy,  extended  at  all  tymes 
vnto  vs,  most  miserable  trespassers  against  God  and  yowr 
highnes ;  for  a  perfight  declaracion  of  owr  vnfeyned  con- 
tricion  and  repentance,  felyng  owr  selffes  uery  weeke,  and 
vnable  to  obserue  and  performe  owr  aforesaid  avowes  and 
promyses  made  by  vs  and  owr  predecessors,  to  God,  and 


CONVENT  OF  ST.  ANDREWS.  583 

yowr  graces  noble  progenitors ;  and  to  employ  the  posses- 
syons  of  yowr  saide  monastery,  accordyng  to  the  fyrst  will 
and  intent  of  the  oryginall  founders.  And  to  the  intent 
that  yowr  highnes,  yowr  noble  heires  and  successors  with 
the  true  Christian  people,  of  this  yowr  graces  roialme  of 
England,  be  not  from  hensforth  eftsones  abused  with  such 
feyned  deuocion,  and  deuilysh  persuasions,  vndre  the  pre- 
text and  habyte  of  relygion,  by  us  or  any  other,  which 
shulde  happen  to  bear  the  name  of  relygyous  within  yowr 
saide  monastery  :  And  moreouer,  that  the  said  possessyone 
and  goods  shulde  be  no  lenger  restreyned,  from  a  bettyr  or 
more  necessary  employment :  Most  humble  beseechen 
yowr  highnes,  owr  most  graycious  soueraign  lord  and 
founder,  that  it  might  licke  yowr  maiesty,  for  the  dis- 
charging and  exonerating  vs,  of  the  most  greuous  bourden 
of  owr  payned  consciens,  to  the  immynent  parell  and  dan- 
ger of  owr  dampnacion,  that  we  shulde  be  in,  if  by  persist- 
ing in  the  state  that  we  now  rest  in,  we  shulde  be  the  lett 
of  a  more  godly  and  necessarie  imployment :  graciouslie  to 
accept  owr  free  gifts  without  coercion,  persuasion,  or  pro 
curement,  of  any  creature  living  other  then  of  our  volun- 
tary free  will,  of  all  such  possessions,  right,  title,  or  interest, 
as  we  the  sayd  prior  and  couent  hath  or  euyr  hadd,  or  a  sup- 
posed to  have  hadd  in  or  to  our  sayd  monastery  of  North' 
ampton  aforsaide.  And  all  and  euery  parcell  of  the  lands, 
aduousons,  comodytes,  and  other  reuenues,  whatsoeuyr 
they  ben  belonging  to  the  same.  And  all  maner  of  goods, 
jewels,  ornaments,  with  all  other  manner  of  cattals,  moue- 
able  and  vnmoueable,  to  the  sayd  monastery  in  any  wise 
apperteyning  or  belonging,  into  whoes  handes  or  possession 
so  euyr  they  ben  come  into,  to  be  imployed,and  disposed,  as 
to  your  graces  most  excellent  wysedome  shall  seme  expedy- 
ent  and  necessary.  And  although,  most  gracious  soueraign 


584  APPENDIX.  V. 

lord,  that  the  thyng  by  vs  gyven  vnto  your  highnes,  is  pro- 
perly, and  of  right  ought  to  be  yowr  graces  owne,  as  well  by 
the  meryts  of  our  offences,  as  by  the  ordre  of  your  graces 
lawes ;  yet  notwythstandyng  we  eftsones  most  humble  be- 
seechen  yowr  highnes,  graciously,  and  benevolently  to  ac- 
cept owr  free  wyll,  with  the  gyft  therof,  nothing  requyring 
of  yowr  maiesty  therfor,  other  than  yowr  most  gracious  per- 
don,  with  some  pece  of  yowr  graces  almes,  and  habundant 
charyte  towards  the  mayntenance  of  owr  pore  lyving,  and 
lycence  hensforth  to  Hue  in  such  forme  in  correcting  the 
rest  of  our  liffes,  as  we  hope  to  make  satysfaccion  therby 
to  God,  and  yowr  highnes  :  for  owr  hypocrasie,  and  other 
owr  greuous  offences  by  vs  commytted,  as  well  againe  his 
Deite,  as  your  maiesty.  And  for  the  more  infallyble  proffe 
that  this  our  recognycion  vnto  yowr  highnes,  is  only  the 
mere  and  voluntary  acte  of  us  the  said  priour  and  couent 
aforesaid,  withought  any  compulcion,  or  inducement,  other 
then  of  owr  propre  consciens,  we  haue  not  only  publyshed 
the  same,  openly  in  the  presence  of  your  graces  true  and 
faithful  subiects,  and  seruants,  Sir  Wylliam  Aparre, 
knyghte,  Richard  Layton,  doitor  in  the  lawes,  arche- 
deacon  of  Buckingham,  and  Roberd  Southwell,  attur- 
nay  for  the  augmentacions  of  yowr  graces  most  noble 
crowne,  yowr  graces  commyssyoners  here,  with  diuerse 
other  that  wer  present  at  that  tyme.  And  vndre  this  owr 
present  recognicion  sealed  with  our  couent  seale,  subscrybed 
owr  owne  names;  but  also  haue  made  sealed  with  owr 
couent  seale,  and  delyuered  to  the  saide  Roberd  South- 
well, to  yowr  highnesse  vse,  a  sufficient  and  lawfull  deade, 
accordyng  to  the  form  of  yowr  graces  lawes,  for  the  posses- 
sing your  grace,  yowr  noble  heires,  and  successors  therof 
for  euyr,  to  be  presented  by  him  vnto  yowr  highnes,  toge- 
ther with  this  owr  free  recognicion  and  assent ;  offering 


CONVENT  OF  ST.  ANDREWS.  585 

owr  selffes  most  humbly  vnto  your  highnes,  to  be  at  all 
tymes  redy  to  do  from  tyme  to  tyme,  any  other  act  or  acts, 
as  by  yowr  highnes,  and  yowr  most  honorable  councell  shall 
be  of  vs  farther  requyred,  for  the  more  perfight  assurans  of 
this  owr  voluntary  surrendre  and  gift  vnto  yowr  highnes. 
And  fynally  we  most  humbly,  and  reuerently,with  habundant 
teares  proceedyng  from  our  harts,  having  before  owr  eyen 
owr  detestable  offences,  submytt  owr  selffes  totally  to  the 
ordre  of  God,  and  yowr  mercyfull  and  benygne  maiesty, 
most  hartely  beseching  Almyghty  God,  to  grant  your 
highnes,  with  the  noble  prince  Edward  your  graces  most 
noble  and  naturall  sonne,  next  vnto  yowr  grace  the  most 
precious  iuell,  and  chyfe  comforte  of  this  yowr  graces 
roialme,  long  to  lyue  among  vs,  yowr  graces  honorable  and 
deuoute  procedings,  which  hytherto  thorow  yowr  graces 
most  excellent  wysdome,  and  wonderfull  industry,  assidu- 
ally  solycyted  abought  the  confirming  and  stablyshying 
mens  consciens  contynually  vexed,  with  sondry  doubtfull 
opynions,  and  vaine  ceremonyes,  haue  taken  both  good 
and  lawdable  effecte ;  to  the  vndoubted  contentation  of  Al- 
mighty God,  the  great  renowne,  and  immortall  memorie 
of  your  graces  hye  wysedome  and  excellent  knowledge, 
and  to  the  spyrituall  weale  of  all  your  subiects.  Datyd 
and  subscrybyd  in  our  chaptre  the  first  day  of  March  in  the 
xxix  yeare  of  yowr  graces  reign.  By  the  hands  of  yowr 
graces  pore  and  vnworthy  subiects : 

Per  me  Franciscum  priorem.    Per  me  Iohannem  Petto. 

Per  me  Iohannem  snbpriorem.  Per  me  Io.  Harrold. 

Per  me  Tho.  Smyth.  Per  me  Tho.  Barly. 

Per  me  Tho.  Golston.  Per  me  Will.  Ward. 

Per  me  Rob.  Martin.  Per  me  Tho.  Atterbury. 

Per  me  Iacob.  Hopkins.  Per  me  Will.  Foivler% 

Per  me  Rich.  Bunbei'y. 


586  APPENDIX.  VI. 


N°  VI. 


THE  WILL  OF  SIR  EDMUND  MULSHO.    Page  442. 

In  the  name  of  the  highe  Trinitie,  Fader,  Sonne,  &  Holy 
Ghost.  Amen.     The  firste  daye  of  the  monethe  of  Maye, 
the  yeare  of  our  Lorde  Godd  m.cccclviij,  and  in  xxxvj'* 
yeare  of  the  raigne  of  my  soveraigne  lorde  kynge  Henry 
the  Syxte,  I  Edmunde  Mulso,  knight,  of  our  Lorde  Gods 
vysitation,  weake,  sycke,  and  feble  in  bodie;  neuerthe- 
lesse,  of  nolle,  sownde,  and  clere  mynde,  and  of  sensible 
witte,  beinge  honorid  &  thancked  my  Maker :  I  make  and 
ordeyne  this  my  prnte  testament  and  laste  will,  in  maner 
and  forme  that  suethe.     First,  I  bequethe  &  recomende 
my  soule  unto  Almightye  God,  my  Maker  and  Sauior,  and 
to  his  blessyd  moder  virgin  Marie,  and  all  the  companye  of 
heauen ;  and  my  bodye  to  be  buryed  in  the  chappell  of  o' 
ladye,  in  the  churche  of  St.  Mychaell,  called  Pater  Noster 
Churche,  in  the  Ryall  of  London,  besyde  the  tombe  where 
the  worshipfull  knight  Herre  Tancke  lyethe  buried.     And 
I  will  firste,  afore  all  thinges,  after  y*  my  bodie  ys  buryed, 
that  all  my  debtes,  in  wch  of  right  I  am  bownde,  be  fully 
contentid  and  payed,  in  discharge  of  my  soule.     Alsoe,  I 
wyll  &  ordayne,    that    myne  executors  under  wrytten 
make  and  ordayne,  or  do  to  be  made  and  ordayned,  in  all 
godly  and  honest  wise,  wthin  the  firste  yere  next  after  my 
deceasse,  a  tombe  of  allabaster,  in  the  place  whereas  my 
bodye  ys  buryed,  as  ys  aforesaid,  wthan  image  ouer  the 
same  tombe,  after  my  p.son  and  degree,  to  be  sett  with 
myne  armes  aboute  the  same,  in  all  places  therupon,  wher 
as  myne  executors  shall  seeme  moste  conuenient  and  ne- 
cessarye.     And  I  bequethe  for  the  same  tombe  so  to  be 


WILL  OF  SIR  EDMUND  MULSHO.  587 

made,  xll  sterlinge,  or  more,  as  yet  neadethe,  after  the 
discrection  of  myne  executors.  Allso,  I  bequethe  all  my 
goods,  Jewells,  and  ornaments,  in  any  wise  belonginge  to 
my  chappell,  for  to  serue  at  the  aulter  of  our  Ladie,  in  the 
chappell  abouesaid,  for  any  tow  prists  there,  for  to  synge  as 
hereafter  followethe,  as  longe  as  they  maye  endure.  Also,  I 
bequethe  my  ornaments  and  garments  of  clothe  of  golde 
and  veluit,  in  any  wise  belonginge  to  my  bodie,  to  be 
made  in  alter  clothes,  and  vestments  so  made,  I  bequethe 
to  be  distributed  and  disposed,  by  my  executors,  unto  the 
chappell  of  our  Ladie  abouesayd,  and  to  the  churches  of 
Miche  Newton  and  Lytell  Newton,  in  the  shier  of  NorthU 
after  there  beste  discrection.  Also,  I  will  that  mine  exe- 
cutors ordeyne  and  doe  make  an  aulter  clothe,  and  a 
frounte,  of  white  satin  or  damaske,  with  low  curtaynes  of 
the  same  sute,  wth  my  armes,  which  I  bequethe  unto  the 
auter  of  our  Ladye  at  Pewe,  Westmi7ir.  there  to  serve  as 
longe  as  they  maye  enduer.  Also,  I  bequethe,  to  be  dis- 
posed and  distributed  unto  the  sayd  churches  of  Miche 
Newton  and  Lyttell  Newton,  xx1  sterlinge  in  bookes,  Jew- 
ells, and  ornaments,  after  the  best  discrection  of  my  exe- 
cutors, Soo  :  alwayes  that  the  p.sons  and  p.ishons  of  bothe 
saide  churches  devoutly,  every  Sondaie,  pray  hartely  God 
for  the  goode  estate  and  prosperytie  of  the  noble  prynce 
Ric.  Duke  of  Yorke,  and  of  dame  Cecyley  his  wyffe,  and 
for  the  souls  of  me  and  my  fader  and  moder,  and  for  the 
soule  espially  of  John  JVashebourene,  all  Xtian  soules. 
Also,  1  bequethe  to  Wyllm.  Mulso,  my  brother,  XL1  ster- 
linge. Also,  I  bequethe  to  Margrett  Langley,  my  syster, 
xll  sterlinge,  and  a  standinge  cuppe  coverid  of  syluer. 
Also,  I  bequethe  to  John  Mulso,  my  nephew,  xx*  sterlinge, 
and  parte  of  my  rayment  and  vesture  longinge  to  my  body, 


588  APPENDIX.  VL 

after  the  discrection  of  my  chosen  Rychard  Whettehey  to 
be  dd  to  the  same  John.  Also,  I  bequethe  to  Alice  and 
Margrett,  daughters  to  the  said  Symon,  xxte  markes  ster- 
linge :  that  is  to  say,  to  every  of  them  tenne  markes  ster- 
linge. Also,  I  bequethe  to  Alyce  Chamber,  the  dowgh- 
der  of  Willm,  cytyzen  &  mercer,  whilst  he  lived,  tenne 
markes  sterlinge.  Also,  I  bequethe  to  Tluomas  Tanner, 
cytezen  and  scryvener  of  London,  xl\  sterlinge.  Also, 
I  bequethe  to  John  Purfoote,  late  seruant  to  my  saide 
lord  the  duke,  tenne  markes  sterlinge.  Also,  I  bequethe, 
to  be  disposed  emongste  my  servants  and  mene,  xxx1  ster- 
linge, after  the  discrection  of  my  executors,  as  I  have 
mencyoned  in  a  byll  of  pap.  under  my  signe  manuell.  I 
bequethe  to  him  or  hir,  now  on  lyve,  next  of  the  blood  of 
the  Candyshes,  that  laste  hadd  off  the  manor  off  Pentlow, 
in  possession  before  me  and  my  feoffees,  xl*  sterlinge. 
Also,  I  bequethe  a  C  markes  sterlinge,  to  be  disposed  and 
distrybuted  for  my  soule,  and  for  the  soules  abouesayd;  as 
in  massis  to  be  songe,  highe  waies  and  brydges  to  be 
amendid  and  holpen,  and  to  poore  people  most  needefull, 
and  in  other  wourkes  of  charytie  and  pyttie,  to  be  done  af- 
ter the  best  discrection  of  mine  executors.  Also,  I  will 
and  bequethe,  that  all  my  lands  and  tenements,  rents,  and 
seruices,  wtb  thappurtennes  in  Nassingtoii  and  Yarwell, 
in  the  county  of  North*,  shale  remayne  to  my  executors, 
by  them  to  be  solde ;  and  all  the  mony  of  that  same  sale 
comeinge,  I  bequethe  to  be  disposed  and  distributed  by  my 
sayde  executors  into  the  p.formeigne  of  my  bequests,  and 
for  my  soule,  and  for  the  soules  above  sayde,  and  in  espiall 
for  the  soule  of  my  son  Walt,  in  works  of  charitie  and 
pittie,  as  is  abouesaid.  Also,  I  will  and  ordaync,  that 
myne    executors,    imediately  after  my  decesse,    sell  my 


WILL  OF  SIR  EDMUND  MULSHO. 

manor  of  Ryckmonds,  in  Thackstedd,  in  the  shier  of  Essex, 
with  the  appurtennances,  in  the  best  wyse  and  the  most 
auailable  proffitt  that  they  can  or  maye ;  and  all  the  mo- 
ney of  that  sale  comeinge,  I  bequethe  to  p.forme  and  full- 
fill  the  bequests  in  this  my  testament  contayned  :  and  yf 
by  any  p.son  now  one  liue,  being  next  vnto  the  kyneredd 
of  the  Rychemonds  that  last  had  the  said  manor  of  Ryche- 
mond  in  possessyon  before  err  yt  came  into  the  hands  of 
me,  or  any  feoffees  that  woll  bye  the  sayd  manor  of  RycJie- 
monds ;  than  I  will  that  he  haue  it  better  cheap  then  any 
other  by  xl  markes  sterling.  Also,  I  will  &  ordeyne,  that 
myne  executors,  immediatlye  after  my  decesse,  sell  my 
manor  of  Greys,  in  the  shier  of  Suffolke,  wth  thappurte- 
nances,  in  the  best  wysse,  and  to  the  most  auaile  and  pro- 
fitt  that  they  can  or  maye ;  and  all  the  monney  of  that 
same  sale  comminge,  I  bequethe  to  fullfill  and  p.forme  the 
bequests  in  this  my  testament  conteyned  :  and  if  there  be 
any  p.rson  now  one  lyve,  beyinge  next  unto  the  kyndred  of 
the  Greys  that  laste  hadd  the  sayde  mannor  of  Greys  in 
possessyon  before  yt  came  to  the  hands  of  me  or  my  feof- 
fes,  that  will  bye  the  sayde  mannor  of  Greys,  with  the  ap- 
purtenances ;  than  I  will  that  he  have  the  sayde  mannor  of 
Greys  bett.  chepe  then  any  other,  by  a  C  markes  sterlynge. 
Also,  I  will  that  myne  executors,  imedyatelye  after  my  de- 
cesse, sell  th'advouson  of  the  church  of  Candyshe,  in  the 
saide  shier  of  Suff. ;  &  all  the  money  of  that  sale  comeinge, 
I  bequethe  to  fulfill  the  bequestes  in  this  my  present  testa- 
ment contayned.  Also,  I  will  &  inwardly  desire,  and  praye 
and  beseech  the  most  reverend  Fader  in  God,  and  my 
goode  lorde  Ttiomas  archebishopp  of  Cant'bury,  his  bro- 
ther my  lorde  Bourcher,  &  all  my  feoffees  I  straightly  re- 
quier  wch  of  great  trust  and  confidence  bene  feoffees  o  en* 


589, 


590  APPENDIX.  VI. 

feoffid  in  any  of  my  landes  and  tenements,  rents  &  seruices, 
mannors  &  advousons,  as  of  churches  or  chappells,  wth 
th'appurtenances,  wheresoever  they  be,  within  the  realme 
of  Englonde,  or  in  any  other  place,  that  they  make  such 
estates,  feoffments,  and  releases  thereof,  to  suche  p.sons,  & 
in  such  convenyent  and  lawfull  forme  as  myne  executors 
shall  desyer,  assoone  after  my  deceasse,  as  myne  executors 
them  thereto  shall  praye  &  requyer.  Also,  I  bequethe 
to  Dame  Elizabeth  Mutton  j  pewe  bason,  and  a  peue  ewre 
of  syluer,  or  a  pewe  pottes  of  hir  choyse.  Also,  I  bequethe 
unto  John  Neuell,  knyght,  my  black  horse.  Also,  I  be- 
quethe unto  John  Otter  fiue  markes  sterlinge.  Also,  I  be- 
quethe unto  Robert  Kolfey  flue  markes  sterlinge.  Also,  I 
bequethe  to  John  Groue,  scryuener,  xl8  sterlinge.  Also,  I 
bequethe  unto  ye  chappell  and  fraternitie  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, in  the  churche  of  St.  Nicholas,  of  the  towne  of  Calace, 
XLd  sterlinge.  Also,  I  bequethe  to  the  reparation  of  the 
same  churche  xxvj*.  viiijd.  sterlinge.  Also,  I  bequethe  to 
the  fraternytye  and  almes  table  in  the  same  churche  of  the 
Holye  Trinitye,  of  the  same  churche,  vj.  viij.  sterlinge. 
Also,  I  bequethe  fiue  markes  sterlinge  to  the  makeinge  of  a 
new  glasse  wyndow  to  my  memory,  to  be  made  in  our  La- 
dye  churche  of  Calace,  wth  three  images  of  the  Holye  Tri- 
nitye, our  Lady,  and  St.  George,  and  my  good  angel  pre- 
sentinge  my  persone  wth  my  armes.  Also,  I  bequethe  to 
the  hospitall  of  Callace,  called  the  May  son  dyne,  &  to  the 
poore  peoples  fyndinge  there,  &  to  the  relieuing  of  the 
lazar-house,  withoute  the  town  of  Callace,  to  be  disposed 
by  the  discrection  of  Richard  Whyttvcell,  xxvj*.  viijd.  ster- 
linge ;  also,  to  be  dealte  by  the  discrection  of  the  same 
Richard,  to  the  prysoners  in  Callace,  where  mooste  neede 
ys,  xxvj*  viij  sterlinge.     Also,  I  bequethe  to  fryer  James 


WILL  OF  SIR  EDMUND  MULSHO.  591 

Stope,  to  praye  especyallye  for  me  to  God  in  his  massys,  by 
a  yeare,  Lijs.  iiijd.  sterlinge.     Also,  I  bequethe  to  the  pryer 
and  couente  of  the  fryers  churche  in  Callace,  that  they  spi- 
ally  have  my  soule  recomendid  to  God,  xxvj\  viijd.  ster- 
linge.   Also,  I  bequethe  Liij*.  iiijd.  to  the  reparation  of  the 
churche  of  St.  Peter  wthoute  Callace,  and  to  the  makeinge 
of  an  auter  clothe,  and  a  frontell,  stayned  wth  an  image,  or 
the  storye  of  St.  Peter,  and  myne  armes,  &  name  of  them, 
to  be  made ;  there  to  serue  at  the  highe  alter,  in  the  honor 
of  God  and  St.  Peter,  as  longe  as  it  maye  enduer.  Also,  I 
bequethe  to  the  makeinge  of  a  challyce  to  the  parryshe  of 
Bockarde,  in  the  marche  of  Callace,  where  Doctor  Sal- 
mon  ys  parson,  xxs.  sterlinge.     Also,  I  giue  and  bequethe 
to  Johanat  of  Fanne,  at  Thakestedd,  xxtie  markes  starlinge. 
Also,  I  bequethe  to  the  chappell  of  ourLadye  in  the  Woule, 
in  Callace,  vj\  viijd.  sterlinge.     Also,  I  will  and  bequethe 
that  ccl.  markes  sterlinge  of  my  moveable  goodes,  Jewells, 
and  ly  velood,  shale  reraayne  in  the  hands  of  my  deare  sis- 
ter Margarett  Langley,  and  of  my  cosen  Rychard  Whyt 
well;  and  they  to  dispose  the  same  some  withoute  any 
mynyshing,defalcacon  or  abridgement  of  eny  parte  there  of 
in  suche  wyse  as  I  have  declared  unto  them  my  wryght- 
inge,  under  my  sygnett  and  sygne  manuell,  by  me  delyuerid 
afore  my  menyall  meny  to  the  sayde  Richard  WJiyttwell. 
Also,  I  will  that  my  householde  and  menye  shale  be  kepte 
wholle  and  togyder  fownden  of  my  goodes  by  xv.  dayes 
nexte  sueinge  after  my  decease.     Also,  by  this  my  present 
testamente  and  will,  I  adnull  &  defeate  my  former  testa- 
ment and  will  that  I  made  in  Englonde,  afore  that  I  came 
to  Callace,  and  all  the  bequestes  conteyned  in  the  same, 
bearynge  date  the  tenth  daye  of  the  moneth  of  September, 
in  the  yeare  of  dr  Lord  God  m.cccliii,  and  in  the  yeare  of 


592  APPENDIX.  VI. 

ye  raigne  of  kynge  Hem-y  the  Syxt,  after  the  Conqueste 
the  xxxijth,  and  all  other  testaments  and  vvilles  by  me  made. 
As  for  my  proper  goodes  and  lyue  lodde,  yf  eny  be  afore 
this  my  present  testament.  Also,  I  will  and  specially  re- 
quier,  that  all  the  parsons  that  have  any  moueable  goodes 
or  Jewells  of  myne,  by  wrytinge  or  other  wyse,  in  there  pos- 
sessyon  and  keepinge,  that  they,  and  euery  of  them,  make 
delyuerance  thereof  to  my  executors,  when  they  desyer 
them.  Also,  I  will  that  myne  executors  be  rewardid,  re- 
compensyd,  and  allowed,  for  all  manner  of  costes  and  ex- 
pensys  that  they  make,  or  shale  make  and  dafer  me  in  eny 
wyse,  in  any  of  the  matters  and  causys  conteyned  in  this 
my  testament,  and  by  the  ouersight  and  knowledge  of  my 
overseers  wnder  written.  Also,  I  bequethe  unto  the  Try- 
nitie  Table,  wthin  our  Ladye  churche  of  Callace  aforesayde, 
vj*.  viijd.  sterlinge.  The  resydue  of  all  my  goodes,  cattails, 
and  debtes,  whatsoeuer  they  be,  in  whose  hands  that  they 
be,  after  that  my  debts  be  payed,  my  body  brought  on 
earthe,  my  bequests  fullfilled  and  payed,  and  this  my  present 
testament  &  last  will  in  all  wyses  performed,  I  bequethe  to 
my  executors  underwrytten,  they  therwithe  for  to  do  dis- 
pose and  distribute  for  my  soule,  &  for  all  the  soules  above 
rehearsed  in  werkes  of  charytie  and  pittie,  in  maner  and 
forme  aboue  specyfyed,  as  they  maye  beste  please  God  and 
most  profitt  my  soule.  And  over  all  this,  as  to  the  dispo- 
sytion  of  my  maner  of  Pentlowe,  with  appurtenances,  in 
the  shier  of  Essex,  and  the  advouson  of  the  churche  of 
Pentlowe  there,  I  will,  requier,  and  hartelye  praye  all  my 
feoffees  in  the  saide  mannor  of  Pentlowe,  wth  th'appurte- 
nances  &  th'aduouson  of  the  same  churche,  and  myne  ex- 
ecutors vnder  wrytten,  that  they,  or  the  more  parte  of  them, 
with  th'aduise  of  learned  councell,  imediatly  after  my  de* 


WILL  OF  SIR  EDMUND  MULSHO.  593 

ceasse,  sue,  purchase,  and  gett  of  the  kynge,  our  soueraigne 
lorde,  his  lers  patents,  to  be  made  and  hadd  unto  them 
in  all  sufficyent  and  suer  wyse,  vnder  his  greate  seale, 
whereby  that  my  feoffees  or  executors,  or  on  or  moe  of 
them,  may  haue  power  and  auctoritye  sufficient,  after  the 
forme  of  lawe,  to  giue  and  graunt  vnto  Mr.  Thomas  Ebo- 
rall,  p.son  of  the  churche  of  Sl.  Michall,  abouesaide ;  and 
to  the  wardins  &  keep.s  of  the  goodes  and  ornaments  of 
the  same  church  of  Sr.  Michaell,  and  to  their  successors, 
p.sons  and  wardins  of  the  same  church,  wch  fpr  the  tyme 
shalbe,  for  euermore,  my  said  mannor  of  Pentlowe,  wth  th'- 
appurtenances  and  advouson  of  the  saide  churche  of  Pent- 
low  ;  and  so  therof  that  they  establish  mortise  and  fowunde 
a  chaunterie  in  the  saide  churche  of  S*.  Michaell,  and  to 
be  cauled  Mulso  Chaunterie,  for  tow  preists  there  perpe- 
tually for  to  singe  for  my  soule ;  to  have  and  to  hold  to  the 
said  parson  and  wardins,  and  to  their  successors  of  p.sons 
and  wardins  of  the  saide  church  of  Sl.  Michaell  for  the 
tyme  beinge  for  evermore,  vnder  the  maner  &  forme  and 
condition  that  followethe ;  that  ys  to  saye,  First,  I 
will  and  ordayne  the  sd.  p.son  and  wardins,  and  there 
successors,  parsons  &  wardins  of  the  saide  churche  of 
Saincte  Michaell  for  the  tyme  beinge,  of  the  reveneW 
and  profitts  cominge  of  the  saide  manor  of  Pentlowe,  and 
th'  advouson  of  the  churche  off  Pentlowe,  wth  appurtenan- 
ces, fynde  tow  seculer  priests  dailye  &  perpetually,  for  to 
singe  in  the  saide  churche  of  Sl.  Michaell's  for  my  soule, 
and  for  the  soules  of  my  fader  and  moder,  and  my  friendes 
&  kyneffolkes,  for  euermore.  And  I  will  &  ordeyne,  that 
the  sayde  towe  priests  be  alwayes  chosen,  receiued,  and  ad- 
mitted to  the  sayd  chaunterye  by  the  sayd  parson  and  war- 
dins, and  their  successors,  parsons  &  wardins  of  the  saide 

2q 


594  APPENDIX.  VL 

churche  of  Sabicte  Mickaell  for  the  tyme  beinge ;  and  the 
saide  towe  priests  to  be  honest  goode  men,  &  of  goode  name 
and  fame,  &  of  honest  conversation  and  condicon ;  and 
that  they  be  at  all  mattins  howers,  masseys,  and  even- 
songes,  and  at  all  other  divine  services  &  obsequies  there 
now  used  and  done,  and  to  be  used  and  done.  And  yf  the 
saide  towe  preistes,  or  eyther  of  them,  so  chosen,  receyued, 
and  admitted  to  y1  saide  chaunterie  at  eny  tyme  hereafter, 
be  unhoneste,  or  any  vngodly  or  outragyous  wyse  behaue  or 
beare  him,  then  I  will  and  ordeyne  that  the  saide  towe 
preists,  or  either  of  them,  lyueinge  unhonestly,  or  in  any 
ungodly  or  outragious  wyse  ruleinge,  behavinge,  or  beare- 
inge  himselfe,  be  removed  by  the  sayde  parson  and  wardins, 
and  theire  successors,  parsons  and  wardins  of  the  saide 
churche  of  St.  Michael's  for  the  time  beinge,  from  the 
saide  service ;  and  that  another  prieste  or  preistes,  in  his 
place  or  their  places,  by  the  saide  parsone  &  wardins  & 
their  successors,  parsons  &  wardins,  unto  the  said  chaun- 
terie be  chosen  and  putt  in,  in  the  maner  and  form  above- 
saide ;  and  so  from  tyme  to  tyme  to  be  done,  as  ofte  as  yt 
so  happethe  or  faullethe  vayde  by  the  death  of  them,  or 
that  they,  or  eyther  of  tbem,  be  promotid  to  any  benyfyce 
or  offyce.  Also,  I  will  and  ordeyne  the  revenewe  and  pro- 
fitts  cominge  of  the  saide  manor  of  Penthw,  and  advouson 
of  the  church  of  Pentlow,  wth  th'appurtenances,  duely  re- 
payere,  sustaine,  &  meynteine  the  said  manor,  w*  th'ap- 
purtenances, &  all  manner  rents  and  chargis  thereof  go- 
inge  out,  pay  and  supporte  yerely  for  ever  more.  And 
that  the  said  parson  and  wardins,  and  their  successors, 
parsons  and  wardins  of  the  saide  churche  of  Saincte  Mi- 
chall  for  the  time  beinge,  pay  yearely  for  evermore  unto 
the  sd,  towe  preistes  for  their  salarie,  xx.tie  markes  sterlinge, 


WILL  OF  SIR  EDMUND   MULSHO.  595 

att  the  feastes  of  Xmas,  Easter,  Midsomer,  and  Mychaell- 
mas,  by  euen  portions ;  that  is  to  saye,  to  each  of  them  x 
markes  sterlinge.  And  I  will  &  ordeyne  furthermore,  that 
the  saide  parson  and  wardins,  &  their  successors,  parsons 
and  wardins  of  the  saide  churche  of  St.  Michaell,  which 
for  the  tyme  shall  be,  withe  a  parcell  of  the  revenews  come- 
inge  of  the  saide  mannor  of  Pentlow,  wth  th'appurte* 
nances,  yerely  for  euermore,  in  the  churche  Saincte  My-* 
chaell  abouesaide,  holde  and  keepe  myne  anniversarie  the 
daye  of  my  deceasse ;  that  is  to  saye,  in  the  even,  dirige  by 
note,  &  one  the  morrow,  masse  of  requiem  by  note,  wth 
tow  tapers  at  my  saide  tombe,  eache  of  tow  pounde  of  waxe; 
and  that  the  parson  have  for  his  labour,  being  there  present 
in  there  obsequies,  xxd,  and  every  of  the  priests  xud,  and  of 
the  clarks  xud,  and  either  of  the  church  wardins  xxd;  and 
that  there  be  disposed  emongste  xxiiij  poore  men  and  the  wo- 
men, the  same  daie  of  my  anniversarrie,  iiijs  in  money  yerely, 
for  ever  more.  Also,  I  will  and  ordayne,  that  the  day  follow- 
ing myne  anniversarye,  an  account  be  had  and  made  be- 
tween the  parson  and  wardins,  and  their  successors  for  ever- 
more, yerely,  of  all  the  receiptes,  payments,  &  chargis,  by 
them  hadd  and  done  within  ye  yere ;  and  that  all  the  mo- 
ney that  upon  such  accounts,  from  yere  to  year,  over  and 
above  the  sustentacon  of  the  saide  towe  preists,  reparatyons 
of  the  saide  mannor  of  Pentlowe,  wth  th'appurtenances, 
fownden  &  done,  the  saide  anniversarie  kept  and  holden, 
and  all  other  chargis  aboue  saide  done  &  payde,  remayne 
the  cleare,  be  put  in  a  boxe,  or  in  a  chiste  with  tow  lockes 
and  keyes,  fast  locked,  for  the  reparacyon  and  new  edefica- 
tiones  and  sustenation  of  the  saide  manor  of  Pentlowe,  wth 
th'appurtenances  and  chargis  aforesaide,in  the  saide  churche 
safelye  to  be  kepte  j  and  that  the  &aide  parsone  have  and 

2q2 


596  x\PPEND1X.  VI. 

keepe  the  one  keye,  &  the  saide  wardins  the  other  keye. 
Furdermore,  I  will  and  ordeyne,  that  if  the  saide  person 
and  wardins,  and  their  successors,  parsons  and  wardins  of 
the  saide  churche  of  Saincte  Mxchcell  for  the  tyme  beinge, 
at  any  after,  by  neglygent  and  slothfull,  and  fynde  not  the 
towe  preistes,  nor  keepe  not  the  saide  anniversarye,  &  all 
other  chargis  abouesaide,  in  manner  and  forme  aboue  de- 
clared, and  haue  no  cause  reasonable  whereby  they  shoulde 
be  lettid  or  tarryed  :  tlien  I  will  that  the  state,  right,  and 
possession  of  the  said  parson  and  wardins,  &  their  succes- 
sors, parsons  and  wardins  of  the  saide  churche  of  Sat.  Mi- 
chaell  for  the  tyme  beinge,  be  voide  &  of  no  strengthe ; 
and  than  I  will  and  ordeyne,  that  the  saide  mannor  at 
Pentloive,  with  th'advouson  of  the  saide  churche  of  Pent- 
lowe,  and  all  th'appurtenances,  remayne  &  turne  unto  Mr. 
Tlio*.  Bucksall,  maister  of  the  colledge  of  Fodringhey,  in 
the  shier  of  Northampton,  to  have  and  to  holde  all  the  saide 
manor  of  Pentlowe,  and  all  th'appurtenances,  to  the  saide 
now  master  of  the  saide  colledge  of  Fodringhey,  and  to 
his  successors,  maisters  of  the  said  colledge,  forevermore ; 
so  alwaies  that  the  same  maister  &  his  successors  fynde  for 
evermore  towe  preistes  dayleye  for  to  singe  in  our  Ladye 
chappell  there,  for  the  soule  of  me  the  saide  Edmonde,  and 
the  soules  before  rehearsydd ;  &  also  hold  and  keep  my 
anniuersaiye  in  the  maner  and  forme  aboue  writtenn, 
and  all  other  chargis  and  things,  before  rehearsed,  do  ob- 
serue  and  fullfill  yerely  in  the  saide  colledge,  in  manner 
and  forme  as  ys  aboue  specifyed  and  declared  evermore. 
Also,  I  charge  and  requier,  and  will  that  none  of  myne 
executors,  in  absense  of  the  other,  in  the  execution  of  this 
my  testament  and  laste  will,  take  upon  them,  nor  presume 
to  doe  any  thinge  wthout  the  agreement,  will,  and  assent  of 


WILL  OF  SIR  EDMUND  MULSHO.  .  597 

them  all,  or  the  more  parte  of  them;  and  when  neede  be, 
they  to  take  thadvise  of  the  overseers  hereafter  named  of 
this  my  testament,  except  only  as  for  the  ccl  markes  be- 
quethed  and  assigned  to  my  saide  sister  Margarett  Lang- 
ley,  and  my  cosen  Richard  Whytti'ell,  in  forme  aforesaid; 
and  also  all  suche  thinges  as  of  right  and  very  nescessitye 
must  be  done  in  Callace  and  marches  of  the  same ;  the 
which  I  comytt  only,  by  this  my  testament,  to  my  saide 
cosen  Rychard  fVhytwell,  in  absence  of  his  fellowship  co- 
executors  with  hym,  wholly  to  execute  and  parforme.  Of 
this  my  present  testament  and  last  will,  I  make  &  ordayne 
myne  executors  ;  that  is  to  saye,  the  wor"  knight  William 
Oldehalle,  Mr.  Robert  Wyatt,  clerke,  the  saide  Willm. 
Mulso,  Symon  ReyJiam,  and  Rychard  Wliyttivell,  And  I 
bequethe  to  the  sd.  William  Oldhall,  knight,  for  his  labour 
in  this  behalfe  to  be  had,  xxL  sterlinge,  and  a  gowne  of 
fyne  French  blacke,  or  of  puewke,  and  a  furre  with  a  pursle 
of  browne  martirs  for  the  same.  Alsoe,  I  bequethe  to  the 
saide  Mr.  Robert,  Wm.  Mulso,  &  Symon  Reyham,  for  their 
labore  about  the  premyssys  trewly  to  be  done,  xxl  sterlinge 
eche  of  them  to  have.  iVnd  to  the  sd.  Rychard  Whytt- 
well,  for  hys  labor,  I  bequethe  fiftye  poundes  sterlinge. 
And  I  make  overseers  of  ys  my  present  testament  and  laste 
will;  that  is  to  say,  the  mooste  reverende  Father  in  God, 
and  my  right  goode  lorde,  Tliomas  archebishop  of  Canter- 
bury ;  the  high,  mightie,  and  my  full  good  lorde,  Rych- 
arde  earle  of  Warwicke ;  Henry  Bourchere,  knight,  lord 
Bourchire ;  &  th'aforesaid  Mr.  Thomas  Eborall,  And  I 
bequethe  to  the  saide  most  reverende  Fader  the  Arch- 
bishopp,  xxl  sterlinge;  to  the  saide  mightie  earle,  my 
double  harneys  complete,  that  I  had  of  the  gifte  of  the 
dolphin  of  France ;  to  my  saide  lorde  Bourchir,  x.il  ster- 


598  APPENDIX.  VI. 

linge;  and  to  the  saide  Mr.  Tnomas  Eborall,  xL  sterlinge. 
instantly  beseeching  &  desyreing  my  saide  goode  lordes? 
and  requireinge  all  other  of  my  overseers  and  executors  of 
this  my  testament  and  laste  will,  to  shew  and  doe  for  me 
in  th'execution  of  all  the  premisses,  as  they  would  I  did 
for  them  in  semblable  wise  one  God  his  behalfe.  Over 
this,  I  will  that  an  able  preiste  of  conversation  synge  and 
pray  for  my  soule,  and  the  soules  of  my  fader  &  moder,  and 
of  all  other  soules  that  I  am  in  deade  to  praye  for  at  Scala  : 
Cell,  in  Rome,  by  the  space  of  one  wholle  yeare  and  xxx 
daies;  and,  wthin  the  same  tyme,  I  will  that  the  same 
preiste  shale  synge  and  praye  for  my  soule,  and  the  soules 
afore  rehearsed,  a  trentall  in  certeyne  principall  churches 
at  Rome  aforesaide  in  suche  forme,  and  at  suche  tymes,  as 
Saincte  Gregoiy  did,  and  as  yt  is  there  used  and  accus- 
tomed ;  for  the  which  seruice  so  to  be  done  by  the  saide 
preiste,  I  will  that  my  saide  executors  giue  him  a  compe- 
tent sallary,  in  suche  forme  as  they  wth  hym  conveniently 
may  accorde.  Also,  I  will  that  my  saide  executors  ordeyne 
and  doe  prouide  a  gentill  and  a  well  doinge  horse,  wth 
an  harneys  to  the  same ;  and  that  the  saide  horse  and 
harneys,  and  also  my  chawferyn  wth  the  whyght  feather 
for  the  saide  horse,  by  my  executors,  for  and  in  my  name, 
be  giuen  to  righte  noble  lorde  the  earle  of  Marche,  as  for 
my  remembrance  to  his  goode  lordshipp.  Provydid  al- 
wayes,  that  if  any  goods  moueable,  as  well  here  as  CaU 
lace,  and  in  the  marches  of  the  same,  as  in  Englonde, 
and  my  londes  and  tenements  beinge  in  my  feoffees 
hands,  wheresoevere  they  byn,  will  not  suffice  ne  streche 
easely  to  the  performing  and  fulfillinge  of  these  my 
saide  bequestes  and  will  (as  I  trust  to  God  they  shalle),  than 
I  will  »nd  ordeyne  by  this  my  testament  and  laste  will,  that 


WILL  OF  SIR  EDMUND  MULSHO.  699 

my  saide  executors  abridge  and  make  defalcacou  of  parte 
of  all  and  every  of  my  saide  bequestes,  wills,  and  ordinan- 
ces, in  suche  forme  as  they  shall  eseeme  most  expedient  and 
behofefull  to  be  done  for  the  health  of  my  soule,  except  only 
the  ccl  markes  bequethed  and  assigned  to  my  saide  sister 
Margarett  Langley,  and  to  my  cosen  Ry  chard  Whyttwell, 
and  also  the  said  xxtie  markes  to  the  said  Johane  at  Fann; 
whiche  towe  somes  I  will  specially  to  be  performed,  and  my 
debtes  payed.  In  wyttness  whereof,  to  this  my  present 
testament  and  laste  will  I  have  putte  my  seale,  wrytten 

and  yearenthe  day  and  yeare  afore  rehearsed. 

■ 

TestamentQ  Edmundi  Mulso,  militis,  quo  ad  disposio- 
nem  tarn  omnm  et  singuloru.  manerioriu,  terrarti,  et  tene- 
mentorti  suorQ  quam  omniu  et  singuloru  bonorfl  suonl 
mobiliu ;  ultimam  suam  in  se  contineQ  volunt  ap.te  lect 
p.  dictti  Edmundu  sigillo  suo  ad  arma  sigillat.  in  p.sentia 
testitl  subscriptoru  specialiter  ad  hoc  vocatom. 


iErat. 


John  Groue  *\John  JVryght 

Robt.  Wynnington  iJohn  Deley 
John  Pycharde       I  Willm.  Toste 
Radi  Knyston         (Robti.  Leche 
Thome  Laverocke  I  Guuley  JValmesley. 
Thome  Vsher  J 


600 


APPENDIX.  VII. 


N°  VII. 

CATALOGUE  OF  PICTURES  AT  WOBURN  ABBEY,  NOT  MEN- 
TIONED IN  THE  BODY  OF  THE  WORK.   Sept.  1810.    P.  467. 


DINING  ROOM. 

Twenty-four  Views  in  Venice 

Canaleiti    . 

' 

LIBRARY. 

Portrait             - 

Rembrandt 

Daniel  Mytens  and  Wife 

Vandyck 

Rubens            - 

Himself 

Philip  Le  Roy             -             - 

Vandyck 

John  Kupetzky                -     , 

Himself 

Sir  Godfrey  Kneller 

Himself 

Michael  Merevelt 

Himself 

Rembrandt            - 

Himself 

Diogenes            * 

Salvator  Rosa 

Vesaleur                - 

Titian 

David  Teniers 

Himself 

Charles  de  Mallery 

Vandyck 

Franck  Halls 

Himself 

Bartoleme  Estevan  Morelli 

Himself 

Tintoret            - 

Himself 

Joannes  Spellinx 

Vandyck 

Paul  de  Jode  and  Family 

Vandyck 

Martin  Pepyn 

Himself 

John  Steen            - 

Himself 

"  Joan  Worevius  of  Antwerp" 

Vandyck 

Titian              - 

Himself 

Colbert                - 

Champagne! 

PICTURES  AT  WOBURN.  601 


ETRUSCAN  ROOM. 

Landscape  with  Cattle  -  Paul  Potter 

Sea  Piece  -  Vandevelde 

Landscape  with  Cattle         -  Both 

Landscape  -  -       -     -  Berghem 

Sea  Piece  -  -  -  Vangoyen 

Dutch  Merry-making  -         -  Teniers 

Sea  Piece  -  -  -  Van  dc  Capelle 

Fall  of  Hippolytus  -  -         -     -       Rubens 
Dutch  Feast                 -  -  Teniers 

Fishing  under  the  Ice  -         -  Cuyp 

INDIAN  SILK  ROOM.      NORTH  FRONT. 

Fruit  Piece  over  the  Chimney  -  Snydeis 

INDIAN  PAPER  ROOM. 

Game  Piece  over  the  Chimney 

FRENCH  BED  ROOM. 

Landscape  over  the  chimney 

Ditto  over  the  east  window 

- 

Ditto  over  the  west  door 

FRENCH  DRESSING  ROOM. 

Landscape  over  chimney  " 

Portrait  at  west  end.     Gertrude  Duchess 

of  Bedford  -  -  Sir  /.  Reynolds 

Landscape  over  west  door 
Do.  over  east  door 
Portrait  at  east  end.    Francis  Marquis  of 

Tavistock  -         '   -  -        Sir J.  Reynolds 


602 


APPENDIX.  VII 

:. 

BILLIARD  ROOM. 

Inside  of  a  Hall 

Van  Delcn 

Landscape 

Everdingen 

Landscape             -             -         - 

Fynaker 

Landscape  with  Bridge,  &c.  from  M, 

de  Calonne's  Collection 

Ruysdael 

Landscape,  Cattle,  &c. 

Isaac  Ostade 

Landscape 

Lingelbach 

Sea-coast,  Beacon,  &c. 

Woverman 

Dutch  Cottage,   &c.   (in  manner  of 

Browers) 

Teniers 

Portrait  of  Cuyp 

Himself 

Sea  Piece 

Backhuysen 

Landscape 

G.  Poussin 

Landscape 

Both 

Madonna  and  Child,  from  M.  de  Ca- 

Murtllo 

lonne's  Collection 

Landscape  with  Ruins,  &c. 

Ruysdael 

Virgin  teaching  Infant  Jesus  to  read 

Schedoni 

Portrait  of  Descartes 

P.  de  Champagne 

Flemish  Prize-Ox 

Cuyp 

Flemish  Merry-making 

Teniers 

Inside  of  a  Church 

Peter  Nief 

Landscape ;  the  original  in  Lord  Staf- 

r 

ford's  Collection.     Copy  from 

G.  Poussin, 

Lions            - 

Rubens 

Flemish  Twelfth-day  Feast 

Jan  Steen 

Horse  in  a  Stable 

Cuyp 

Portrait  of  Lady  Coventry 

Gavin  Hamilton 

PICTURES  AT  WOBURN. 


603 


INNER  DRAWING  ROOM. 


Landscape 

Claude,  copy 

View  of  a  Cavern 

Salvator  Rosa 

Gallery  of  Paintings  and  Sculpture 

Teniers 

View  of  a  Cavern 

Salvator  Rosa 

Landscape,  Mountains  and  Cattle 

Berghem 

Landscape.  Extensive  View  of  Fields, 

Water,  &c.  with  Cattle 

Cuyp 

Playing  at  Bowls 

Teniers 

Flemish  Girl 

Rembrandt 

Dogs             -             - 

Titian 

Boy  with  Pigeon 

Francisca  Mola 

Landscape;  Hawking 

Paul  Potter 

View ;  Sea-coast  with  Traders,  &c. 

Wouverman 

Sea  Piece 

Van  de  Capelle 

Landscape 

Claude 

Fish  Stall  and  Poultry 

Van  Staverow,  a 

Scholar  of  Gerard  Dow 

Landscape  ;  Ruinous  Bridge 

John  Ascleen 

Itinerant  Tooth-drawer            - 

Andrew  Both 

Old  Woman  and  Child         .  - 

Teniers 

Sea  Piece             - 

D.  Vlujer 

Four  Seasons 

CRotenhamer  and 
^Breugel 

Ballad  Singers 

Andrew  Both 

DRAWING  ROOM.       NORTH  OF  SALOON. 

Landscape               -               • 

Wynants 

View  of  Old  Rome 

Claude 

604 


PICTURES  AT  WOBURN. 


Landscape 

Wynants 

Landscape 

Poussin 

View  of  Houghton  House 

Wilson 

Landscape               -               I 

Poussin 

Landscape 

Wynants 

View  of  Nimegiien 

Cuyp 

Landscape               u              - 

Wynants 

. 

SALOON. 

Dccdalus  and  Icarus          ~    - 

Vandyck 

Elizabeth   (Keppel)    Marchioness  of 

Tavistock 

Sir  J.  Reynolds 

Portrait;  Adrian  Panlido  Parcja 

Velasquez 

Joseph     interpreting     the     Baker's 

Dream 

Rembrandt 

Sportive  Boy ;  Angels  flying,  &c. 

Murilh 

Abel  slain 

Rubens 

The  Israelites'  departure  from  Egypt 

Castaglione 

Landscape 

G.  Poussin 

Landscape 

G.  Poussin 

Christ  in  the  Garden 

Annibale  Caracci 

Portrait ;  Francis  Duke  of  Bedford 

Hoppner 

Christ's  Vision             -             - 

Luca  Giordano, 

Samson's  Parable              "  - 

Guercino 

DRAWING  ROOM.       SOUTH  OF  SALOON. 

Portrait ;    Francis  Earl  of  Bedford, 

eetatis  48.  Vandyck  1G36 

Anne  Countess  of  Bedford,  Wife  to 
William  fifth  Earl  of  Bedford,  and 
first  Duke  -  -  Vandyck 


LADY  JANE  SEYMOUR.  C05 

Earl  of  Haddington ;  from  the  Orleans  Collec- 
tion -  .  -  -  Vandyck 

The  Lady  Herbert ;  formerly  in  M.  de  Cahnne's 

Collection  -  Vandyck 

Albertus  Minus,  Dean  of  Antwerp  -  Vandyck 

Person  unknown,  formerly  in  M.  de  Cahnne's 

Collection  -  -  Vandyck 

Algernon  Percy,  Earl  of  Northumberland     -        Vandyck 

Dutchess  of  Orleans  -  -  Vandyck 

Person  unknown,    in  a  rich  dress,    from   the 

Orleans'  Collection  .      -  Vandyck 


WAITING  ROOM. 

Digby,  Earl  of  Bristol,  and  Sir  William  Russel    Vandyck 
Louis  Quinze,  from  -  -  Varho 


OMITTED  AT  PAGE  482,  1.  3. 

I  now  turn  my  eyes  to  a  lady  whose  felicity  consisted  in  Lady  Jane 
a  different  fate ;  in  being  early  cut  off  from  the  embraces  of  Seymour. 
a  capricious  tyrant,  whose  inconstancy  and  whose  lusts  would 
probably  have  involved  her  in  misery,  had  not  Heaven,  in 
its  mercy,  taken  her  to  itself.  Lady  Jane  Seymour,  the 
lady  in  question,  became  queen  to  Henry  VIII.  in  1536, 
and  was  released  from  him,  by  death,  in  1537.  The  por- 
trait expresses  the  elegance  of  her  person.  She  is  dressed 
in  red,  with  great  gold  net-work  sleeves,  and  rich  in  jew- 
els. Her  print,  among  the  illustrious  heads,  does  her  little 
justice. 


COG  APPENDIX.  VIIL 


N°  VIIL 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  COUNTESS  OF  SOMERSET.    P.  174. 

"  Her  death  was  Infamous :  and  though  she  died  (as  it 
"  were}  in  a  corner  (in  so  private  a  condition),  the  loath- 
"  someness  of  her  death  made  it  as  conspicuous  as  on  a 
"  house-top :  for  that  part  of  her  hody  which  had  been  the 
"  receptacle  of  most  of  her  sin,  grown  rotten  (though  she 
"  never  had  but  one  child)  the  ligaments  failing,  it  fell 
"  down,  and  was  cut  away  in  flakes,  with  a  most  nauseous 
"  and  putrid  savour ;  which  to  augment,  she  would  roll 
"  herself  in  her  own  ordure  in  her  bed ;  took  delight  in 
"  it.  Thus  her  affections  varied;  for  nothing  could  be 
"  found  sweet  enough  to  augment  her  beauties  at  first, 
"  and  nothing  stinking  enough  to  decypher  her  loath- 
"  someness  at  last.  Pardon  the  sharpness  of  these  ex- 
"  pressions ;  for  they  are  for  the  glory  of  God  ;  who  often 
"  makes  his  punishments  (in  the  balance  of  his  justice)  of 
"  equal  weight  with  our  sins." 

Wilson's  Life  of  King  James  I.  p.  S3. 


APPENDIX.  IX.  607 


N°  IX. 


EPITAPH  IN  AMPTHILL  CHURCH.    P.  501. 


M.  S. 

Optimis  parentibus  nunc  tumulo  conjunctus 

Pietate  semper  conjunctissimus 

Hie  jacet 

Richardus  Nicolls  Francis.  /«**•  ex  Margar.  Bruce 

Filius, 

Il.limo  Jacobo  Duci  Ebor.  a  cubiculis  intimus ; 

Anno  1663,  relictis  musarum  castris, 

Turmam  equestrem  contra  rebelles  duxit, 

Juvenis  strenuus,  atq;  impiger, 

Anno  1664,  aetate  jam  &  scientia  militari  maturua 

In  AMERICAM 

Septentrionalem  cum  imperio  missus 

Longam  I.s.lam  cseterasq;  insulas, 

Belgis  expulsis,  vero  Domino  restituit. 

Provinciam  arcesq;  munitissimas 

Heri  sui  titulis  insignivit, 

Et  Triennio  pro  preside  rexit. 

Academia  Literis 

Bello  Virtute 

Aula  Candore  Animi 

Magistratu  PrudentiS. 

Celebris : 

Ubiq;  bonis  carus,  sibi  &  negotiis  par, 

28°  Mail,  1672, 

Nave  praetoria  contra  eosd.  Belgas 


G08  APPENDIX.  IX. 

Fortiter  dimicans, 

Ictu  globi  majoris  transfossus  oceubuit. 

Fratres  habuit, 

Prseter  Gulielmum  praecoci  fato  defunctum, 

.;       Edvardum,  et  Franciscam. 
Utrumq;  copiarum  pedestrium  centurionem, 

Qui  faedse  et  servilis  tyrannidis 

Quffi  tunc  Angliam  oppresserat  impatientes 

Exilio  preelato  (si  modo  regem  extorrem  sequi  exit,  sit) 

Alter  Parisiis,  alter  Hagd  comitis, 

Ad  coelestem  patriam  migrarunt. 


APPENDIX.  X.  601) 


N°  X. 


EPITAPH  IN  MAULDEN  CHURCH.    P.  M7. 

Diana 

Oxonii  et  Eligini  Comitissa 

Quae 

Illustri  orta  sanguine,  sanguinem  illustravit,  Cecilio- 
rum  meritis  clara,  suis  clarissima,  ut  quae  nesciret  minor 
esse  maximis.  Vitam  ineuntem  honoravit,  et  prodeun- 
tem  ampla  virtutum  cohors,  et  exeuntem  mors  beatis- 
sima  decoravit,  volente  Numine  ut  nuspiam  deesset  aut 
virtus  aut  felicitas.  Duobus  conjuncta  maritis,  utriq ;  cha- 
rissima;  primum  (quem  ad  annum  habuit)  impense  di- 
lexit ;  secundum  (quem  ad  24)  tanta  pietate  et  amore  co- 
luit,  ut  cui  vivens  obsequium,  tanquam  patri  praestitit,  mo- 
riens  testimonium  filio  reliquit.  Noverca  quum  esset  ma- 
ternam  pietatem  facile  superavit ;  famulitium  adeo  mitem 
prudentemq;  curam  gessit  ut  non  tarn  domina  familiae  prae- 
esse  quam  anima  corpori  inesse  videreturj  deniq;  cum 
pudico,  humili,  forti,  sancto  animo,  virginibus,  conjugi- 
bus,  viduis  omnibus  exemplum  consecrasset  integerrimum, 
terris  anima  major  ad  similes  evolavit  superos 

Anno  salutis  1654,  April  27,  aetatisqj  58. 
Ita  gemuit  Dominus  Thomas  Bruce,  Comes  Eliginjsnsis 
et  Baro  Bruce  de  Whorlton,  qui  hoc  monumentum  aeque 
sacellum 

In  perpetuam  conjugis  optimae  memoriam 

Erigendum  curavit 

Anno  1656. 

2R 


610  APPENDIX.  X. 

The  following  inscription  appears  under  a  busto  : 

Thomas  Comes  de  Elgin 
Baro  Bruce  de  Whorlton 
In  comitatu  Eboracensi, 

Hanc  dilectissimi  patris  sui  effigiem  Robertus  Comes  de 
Ailesbury  et  Elgin,  &c.  filius  unigenitus  in  extimo  sacelli 
circulo  erigendam  curavit.  Medium  quippe  soli  Comitis- 
sae  de  Oxford  uxori  suae  carissimae  praedictus  Thomas  sa- 
crum voluit,  cujus  in  aeternam  memoriam  monumentum 
illud  centrale  extruxit,  quod  et  ipse  et  prosapia  sua,  fatis 
olim  cessura,  eminus  stantes  venerabundi  quasi  contempla- 
buntur. 

Obiit  Decemb.  anno  salutis  1663. 
JEtatis  suce  73. 

Edwardus  Bruce  Armiger,  Rob.  Bar15  Bruce,  filius  do- 
ma  Diana  Henrici  Grey  Com1*  de  Stamford,  filiae  nn.  m». 
quinetiam  Thomce  Comitis  de  Elgin  nepos  a  quo  hanc  Vi- 
vendi rationem  cum  didicisset,  gratus  scholaris  exemplo 
suo  docuit  avum  (ei  vix  paucis  mensibus  superstitem) 
mori.    Anno  salutis  1663.    jEtatis  suae  l7m\ 


EPITAPH  ON  LADY  KENT.  611 


N°XI. 

EPITAPH  IN  FLITTON  CHURCH,  ON  THE  GOOD  COUNTESS 
OF  KENT.     P.  522. 

Here  lyes  the  Right  Honble.  Amabella,  late  countess  dow- 
ager of  Kent,  entombed  by  her  dear  lord  Henry  Earl  of 
Kent,  to  signifie  her  resolution  to  dye  with  him  to  the  rest 
of  ye  world,  and  to  live  after  so  great  a  loss  only  to  God,  & 
the  interest  of  this  noble  family.  This  she  made  good,  by 
her  exemplary  piety  &  regular  devotion  in  her  chappel ; 
whereto  she  obliged  all  her  domesticks,  every  morning  & 
evening,  to  attend  her. 

And,  surviving  her  own  monument  45  years,  she  had 
time  to  raise  to  herself  a  more  lasting  one,  by  restoring  the 
fortune  of  this  illustrious  family,  which  she  found  under  an 
eclipse,  to  near  the  height  of  it's  ancient  splendour. 

This  she  effected  by  her  wise  conduct  &  large  acquisi- 
tions, &  by  the  advantageous  disposal  of  her  only  son  An- 
thony Earl  of  Kent,  in  marriage,  with  Mary,  sole  daughter 
and  heiress  of  the  R*,  Honble.  John  Lord  Lucas,  baron  of 
Shenjield,  in  Essex. 

To  the  concerns  of  her  children  &  grandchildren  she 
confined  her  thoughts ;  &  fixed  her  residence  at  Wrest, 
their  usual  seat;  which  she  wonderfully  improved  & 
imbellished ;  continually  adding  to  the  profit  or  orna- 
ment of  the  place,  until  death  gently  seiz'd  her,  Aug?*. 
17th,  1698,  in  the  92d  year  of  her  age;  &  was  here  in- 
terred by  the  R*.  Honble  Anthony  Earl  of  Kent,  her  most 
dutiful  son ;  who  would  have  caused  ys  to  be  engraven, 
had  not  a  sudden  death  prevented  him ;  but  it  was  after- 
wards performed,  in  due  acknowledgement  of  her  great  be- 

2r2 


612  APPENDIX.  XI. 

neficence,  &  to  perpetuate  her  precious  memory  to  all  his 
posterity,  by  her  grandson, 

Henry  Duke  of  Kent. 

Mary,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Sir  George  Cotton  of 
Combermere,  in  ye  county  of  Chester,  knight,  first  espowsed 
to  Edward  earle  of  Derty,  &  after,  to  this  Henry  earle  of 
Kent ;  who  deceased  the  1 6th  of  November,  in  the  yeare  of 
our  Lord  God  1580,  and  lieth  buried  at  Great  Gaddesden, 
in  the  covnty  of  Hertford.  In  tender  affection  &  good 
respect  of  wh.  lady,  the  said  earle  of  Kent,  her  husband, 
caused  this  remembrance  to  be  made  of  her. 

Here  lyeth  the  body  of  the  most  noble,  vertvous,  & 
worthy  peere,  Henry  Grey  earle  of  Kent,  lord  Hastings, 
Weisford,  &  Rvthyn,  lord  lievtenant  of  the  covnty  of  Bed-^ 
ford :  ever  loyall  to  his  prince,  assvred  to'his  covntry,  kinde 
to  his  friends,  loving  to  al  good  men,  &  charitable  to  the 
poore ;  the  first  erector  &  fovnder  of  this  chapell  j  who 
deceased  the  31st  of  Janvary,  1614. 


INDEX. 


\ 


613 


Abbot,  archbishop,  page  324 

Acton  church,  26 

Alban's,  St.     See  Saint  Al- 

ban's. 
Albert,  archduke  of  Austria, 

503 
Allesey  village,  188 
Altar,  Roman,  at  Chester,  1 
Amphibalus,  St.  301 
Ampthill,49H 

park,  501 

Ankor  river,  Drayton's  verses 

on,  168 
Anne,  dutchess  of  Bedford, 

daughter  to    Robert   Car 

earl  of  Somerset,  her  story, 

496 
Anson,  Thomas,  his  amiable 

life,  91.93 
Ardbury  hill,  394 
Armour,  great  attention  paid 

to,  230 


Arundel,  Thomas  earl  of, 
336 

Ashmole,  Elias,  1 80 

Assassination,  vindictive,  96 

Aston-hall,  79 

Aston,  Sir  Edward,  tomb  of, 
99 

Aston,  Sir  Walter,  lord  For- 
far, 112 

Audley  church,  58 

Audley,  lord,  and  his  E- 
squires,  53 

Avon  river,  250 

B 

BacJcwell,  Eduard,  457 
Bacon,  Sir  Francis,  33 1 

— ,  his  monument,  347 

,  Sir  Nuthaniel,  332 

,  Sir    Nicholas,      333. 

467 
,  lady,  second  wife  of 


Sir  Nicholas,  334 
Badby  manor,  393 


614 


INDEX. 


Bagot  family,  114 
Baltimore,  first  lord,  319 
Barnet  town,  390 
Barrows,  64 
Battle  of  Barnet,  382 

Bloreheath,  61  . 

Hopton  Heath,  98 

Northampton,  433 

St.    Alban's,    first, 


377 


St.     Alban's,     se- 


cond, 379 
Beaudesert,  130 
Bedford  family,  465 
I ,  Anne,  countess  of, 


496 


,  Edward,  earl  of,  485 

,  Francis,  second  earl 

of,  485 
, ,  fourth  earl 

of,  497 
,  Gertrude,     duchess 


of,  494.  497 

,  John,  earl  of,  482 

,  Lucy,  countess  of, 


475 


,  William,    duke    of, 

483 
Beeston-hall,  12 

family,  1 3 

castle,  1 4 

Beighton,  the  surveyor,  252 
Bertelin,  the  hermit,  102 
Bethenei,  now  Stafford,  102 


Billings,  Little,  43 1 
Billing  ton  Bury,  104 
Binley  church,  elegant,  237 
Bishton,  108 
Blecheley  church,  tombs  in, 

284 
Blithe-hall,  180 
Blithefield,  110 
Bloreheath,  battle  of,  6 1 
Boadicea  sacks  Verulamvum, 

343 
Bohemia,     Elizabeth    queen 

of,  241 
Borough-hill,    near   Daven- 

try,  258 
Bough  ton,  2 
Brandon,    Charles   duke   of 

Suffolk,  account  of,  489 
Braunslon  village,  253 
Brickhill,  290 
Brindley,  James,  72 
Brook,  lord,  141 
Broughton  family,  59 
Bruff,  the,  63 
Buckingham,  George  Villiers, 

first  duke  of,  328 
Bunbury  church,  19 
Burbot  fish,  109 
Burleigh,      lord      treasurer, 

111.  487.538 
Burnt  walls,  262 
Burston,  79 

Bury-bank,  near  Stone,  66 
, Stafford,  105 


I  N  D  E  X. 


6\5 


Calveley,  25 

• ,  Sir  Hugh,  his  tomb 

and  history,  21 
Camp  hills,  64 
Canal,  Cheshire,  14 
— — ,  Staffordshire,  68 
,    Oxford  or    Coventry, 

205 
Cank  wood,  106.  133 
Camvell,  172 
Castle  Ashhy,  418 

dikes,  266 

hill,  132 

Catesby,  394 
Cecil,  Sir  Edward,  2 14 
Chad,  St.  or  Ceadda,  136 
Chalk,  antiquity  of  its  use, 

292.  303 
Chalk-hill,  291 
Chartley  castle,  85 

house,  84 

Chartreux,  248 
Chester,  1 

Christleton  village,  2 
Clarendon,   Hyde,    earl    of, 

323 
Cleveland,  Barbara,  dutches? 

of,  545 

',  Thomas,  earl  of, 

327 


Clifford  hill,  431 
Clifton  church,  162 

village,  162  , 

Clinton,  Roger  de,  bishop  of 

Lichfield,  138 
Coleshill,  174 

hall,  178    . 

Colton,  1 10 

Colwich,  107 

Cowfee  abbey,  237 

Combustible  woman,  227 

Compton  family,  421 

Copthall,  566 

Cornara,    Catherine,    queen 

of  Cyprus,  502 
Cornwallis,  first  lord,  316 
Corpus  Christi  plays,  221 
Courtney,  earl  of  Devonshire, 

his  story,  467 
Coventry,  188 

castle,  1 98 

trade,  194 

,  its  churches,  202. 

213,214 

,  the  priory,  208 

,  lord  keeper,  325 


Craven,  Sir  William,  246 

,  William  lord,  242 

Crew,  bishop,  519 

lord  Crew,  5 1 8 

,  SWRandle,  516 

Croke,  Sir  George,  a  judge, 

310 
Cross,  queen  Eleanor's,  433 
Croxall  church,  162 


€16 


INDEX. 


Cumberland,  Margaret,  coun- 
tess of,  314.  487 
Curdworth,  174 


D 


Dauby,  Harry,  earl  of,  477 

Danes,  at  Toucester,  27 '3 

Danvers,  earl  of  Danby,  477 

■ ,  lady,  her  fine  tomb, 

267 

Darlastan,  66 

Davenlry,  255 

Delves,  Sir  John,  51 

Devonshire,  Christiana,  coun- 
tess of,-  473 

•- ,  Courteney,  earl  of, 

467 

Digby,  George,  his  singular 
epitaph,  82 

family,  439 

,  Sir  Everard,  439 

,  Sir  Kenelm,  448.  450 

— —  pedigree-book,  441 

,  Lady  Venetia,  451 

Doddington-hall,  53.  59 

Dodford  church,  263 

Dorset,  Edward,  earl  of,  309. 
422 

Duel,  great,  in  1398,  design- 
ed at  Coventry,  231 

Dugdale,  Sir  William,  179 


Dunchurch,  251 
Dunsmorc  heath,  ib. 
Dunstable,  292 
Dwina,  first  bishop  of  LicA- 
,/ieW,  136 


Easton  Mauduit  church,  430 

> house,  426 

Easton  Neston,  275 
Eleanor,  queen,  her  crosses, 

433 
Elford  church  and  village, 

159 
Elgin,   Diana,   countess  of, 

her  strange  tomb,  507 
Elizabeth,    queen,    portraits 

of,  330.  492.  539 
Eltavon,  434 

Empson,  Sir  Richard,  273 
Enfield  chace,  560 
Epitaphs,  absurd,  148 
Erdeswik,  Sampson,  SI 
Essex,  Robert,  earl  of,  330. 

471 

,  Walter,  earl  of,  113 

Ethelfleda,  countess  of  Mer- 

cia,  102 
Etocetum,  158 
Exeter,  Thomas,  earl  of,  472. 

552 


INDEX. 


617 


Fairwell  church,   1 34 

Fanhope,  lord,  499 

Fawsley  house,  394 

Fenny  Stratford,  289 

Fermor  family,  275 

Finchley  common,  391 

Fisherwick,  159 

Flamsted,  300 

Flitton  church,  521 

Flore  church,  401 

Font  at  Luton,  524 

Stafford,  100 

Fox,  Sir  Stephen,  423 

Free-warren,  3 

Frevils,  166 

Frobenius,  the  printer,  por- 
trait of,  556 

Froissart,  quotation  from, 
230 

Fuller' s-earth,  461 


G 

Geese  dropping  down  mira- 
culously, 265 

Geraldine,  the  fair,  437.  489 

Gerard  family,  49 

Gobions,  seat  of  Sir  Thomas 
More,  559 

Godiva,  189 


Goldington,  437 
Gondamar,  537 
Gorges,  Sir  Edward,  493 
Gorhambury,  304 
Gosford-green,    remarkable 

duel  designed  at,  229 
Gothurst,  437 
Gray,  lady  Jarac,  514 
Greene,  Mr.  of  Lichfield,  his 

cabinet,  155 
Gr<^  family,  508 
Grimston,  Sir  Edward,  325 

,  Sir  Harbottle,  308 

G««se,  due  tte,  544.  551 


H 

Hacket,  bishop,  143 
Hadley,  386 
Hardingwood,  59 
Hatfield  house,  535 

church,  557 

Heledd-Wen,  36 

Henry,  prince  of  Wales,  509 

VI.  549 

VIII.  548,  549 

Hermitage,  Mr.  Lyster's,  117 

Hey  wood,  89 

■  bridge,  90 

Highgate,  391 

Historical  piece,  curious,  at 

Hatfield,  542 
Hockley,  290 
Hockliffe,  291 


618 


INDEX. 


Ho  family,  530 
Hopton-heath  fight,  98 
Norton  church,  435 
Houghton  Conquest,  507 

park  house,  505 

Humphry,  duke  of  Glouces- 
ter, his  tomb,  S59 
Hunsborough,  434 
Huntington,  Henry,  earl  of, 
112 


Jekyll,  Sir  Joseph,  454 
Iknield- street,  292 
Ingest  re,  97 


K 

AT<7i/,  Amabella,  countess  of, 
513 

,  earls  of,  512 

King's  Bromley,  1 20 
Knightley  family,  395 
Knightlow,  250 

Langton,  bishop,  139 
Latimer,  lady,  555 
Laud,  archbishop,  his  por- 
trait, 502 


Laura,  portrait  of,  549 

Lazar  houses,  20 1 

Lea  river,  567 

Leicester,   Dudley,   earl    of, 

536 
Leofric,  earl  of  Mercia,  1 89 
Lqyers,  201 
Lichfield,  136 

cathedral,  137 

castle,  157 

Lincoln,  Clinton,  first  earl  of, 

488 
Littleton,  lord  keeper,  180 
Longdon  village,  129 
Lucas,  Sir  Cliarles,  515 
Lucy,  countess  of  Bedford, 

239.  473.  475 
Luton    town    and    church, 

524 
Ho,  529 


M 

Macclesfield,    Gerard,    earl 

of,  543 
Madning-money,  293 
Magiovinum,  292 
Maiden's  Bower,  ib. 
Maisterson,  his  epitaph,  43 
Mandeville,    Sir    JoAra,    his 

birth-place,  368 
Margaret,  queen   of  Henry 

VI.  61.  214.  379 
Market-street  cell,  299 


INDEX. 


619 


Market- street,  300 

Mary  queen  of  Scots,  547 

Maulden  church,  507 

Maveston,  Sir  Robert's  tomb 
and  singular  history,  118 

Maxstoke  castle,  182 

Maynard,  Banaster,  lord, 
515 

Meautys,  Sir  Thomas,  332 

Mere,  Staffordshire,  63 

Middleton,  172 

Milton's  widow,  account  of, 
47 

Mireden  village,  185 

Moliere,  115 

Monk,  General,  his  begin- 
ning, 47 

,  ,  —  charac- 
ter, 318 

Mostyn,  Sir  Thomas,  13. 

Mowbray,  duke  of  Norfolk, 
229 

,  his  designed  du- 
el, ib. 

Moxhull,  173 

Muccleston  church,  60 

Mulso  family,  296 

• ,  Sir  Edmund,  his  cu- 
rious will,  432 


N 

Nantwich,  32 
Nassau,  count  de,  484 


Nehelennia,  goddess,  292 

Nen  river,  402 

New  River,  560 

Newport  Pagnel,  458 

Nicolls,  governor,  his  epi- 
taph, 501.  607 

Norfolk,  Thomas,  duke  of, 
327 

Northampton,  402 

,  Comptons,  earls 

of,  421 

Northumberland,  Algernon, 
earl  of,  546 

Nottingham,  chancellor,  317 

Nouers  de,  family,  455 


O 

Offa,  king,  350 
Offley  family,  61.  128 
Orgrave  house,  121 
Orphan,  supposed  origin  of 

that  play,  486 
Otho  I.  legend  of,  245 
Ouse  river,  437 


Packington  house,  184 
Paget  family,  131 
Pagnel,  Newport,  458 


620 


INDEX. 


Parliamentum  diabolicum  et 
indoctum,  193 

Parr,  William,  lord,  435 

Passenham  church,  282 

Pembroke,  Philip,  earl  of, 
311 

,  William,  earl  of, 

316 

Pennocrucium,  158 

Philip  Le  Bon,  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, 335 

Portland,  Weston,  earl  of, 
321 

Potter's  Pery,  28 1 

Pre,  de  la,  abbey,  432 


R 

Ramridge,  abbot,  his  tomb, 

359 
Ranelagh,  lady,  556 
Redburn,  301 

Rich,  lady,  her  story,  5 1 1 
Richard  III„  549 
Richmond,  James,  duke  of, 

240.  328 
,  Ludovic,  duke  of, 

317 


>— ,  Margaret,  coun- 
tess of,  540 

Roger  and  Chris,  dialogue 
between,  on  the  battle  of 
Barnet,  385 

Rogers,  comptroller,  484 


Roman    roads,      158.    251. 

284.  292.  343. 
Roos  family,  254 
Rotheram  family,  528 
Rudgley  village,  128 
Rufin,  prince,  136 
Russel,  lady  Rachel,  480 

,  lord  William,  479 

,  lord  Edward  and  Sir 

Francis,  singular  portrait* 

of,  486 


Saint  Alban's  abbey,  350 

town,  373 

Salince,  37 

Salisbury,    Robert,    earl   of, 

472.  548 
*  ■■■,  William,  earl  of, 

548 
Salt,  its  antient  history,  35 
Salt-works,  34 
Sandon  church,  60 
Scioppius,  account  of,  82 
Sekindon  village  and  church, 

164 
Seymour,  lady  Jane,  623 
Shugborough,  90 
Someris  tower,  531 
Somerset,   countess   of,    her 

infamous  life,  469 
,  loathsome  death, 

606 


INDEX. 


621 


Somerville,  Sir  Philip,  122 
Sommers,  Will,  the  jester,  27  6 
Sopewell  nunnery,  381 
Southampton,  Henry,  earl  of, 

476 
< ,  Thomas*    earl 

of,  322 
Sow  river,  90 

Sparke,  reverend  Dr.,  quib- 
bling epitaph  on,  286 
Stafford  town,  99 

• castle,  103 

family,  104 

Stapleford,  & 

Stone,  11 

Stonefield,  68 

Stow  church,  near  Lichfield, 

152 
— — ,  near  Chartley, 

87 
Stow-nine- Churches,  267 
Strafford,  Wcntworth,  earl  of, 

321 
Stratford,  Fenny,  289 

,  old,  282 

,  Stoney,  284 

Strayler,  Alan,  an  old  painter 

at  St.  Alban's,  365 
Suffolk,  Brandon,  duke  of, 

489 

,  countess  of,  330 

Surrey,  earl  of,  his  passion 

for  the  fair  Geraldine,  489 
Swinerton  house,  65 
Swinfen,  171 


Sydenham,  doctor,  551 
Sydney,  Sir  Philip,  463 


Talbot,  John,  first  earl  of 
Shrewsbury,  curious  por- 
trait of,  419 

Tame  river,  164' 

Tamworth,  ib. 

Tarvin  village,  5 

Tenure,  singular,  122 

Tern  river,  63 

Testament,  singular,  442 

Theobalds,  567 

Thomasine,  John,  7 

Thornhaugh,  baron,  485 

Tlwrp,  Const ant ine,  163 

Throgmorton,  Sir  Nicholas, 
520 

Tixal,  94 

Torporley  village,  9 

Totness,  George  Carew,  earl 
of,  312 

Toucester,  272 

Tore  river,  ib. 

Trent  river,  67 

Tyringham  house,  455 


Ver,  or  Verlume  river,  339 


622 


INDEX. 


Verses  on  a  column  at  Amp- 
thill,  500 
Verulamium,  page  339 
Upton  village,  402 
Utkinton,  8 


W 

Wall,  the  antient  Etocetum, 

158 
Walsingham,  secretary,  520 
Waltham  abbey,  564 

■ cross,  562 

Watling-street,  17 1 .  284.  290 
Wedon,  264 
Wenlock,  lord,  525 
Wliarton,  Philip,  earl  of,  510 
Whethamsted,      abbot,      his 

tomb,  364 
Whichenoure  flitch,  122 
Whitley,  250 
Whittington,  159 


Whittlebury  forest,  279 
Willoughhy,  25 1 
Wills,  curious,  4 i2 
Wimbledon,  lord,  244 
Woburn  town,  463 

abbey,  464 

Wolseley  bridge,  108 

,  Edward,    earl    of, 

326 
Ware,  60 
Worcester  house,  562 

Edward,  earl  of,  326 

Wrest  house,  50S 
Wright,  Sir  Nathan,  454 
Wybunbury,  49 
JFycA  Weston,  89 


yefoerfon  family,  427 

—  tombs,  430 

York,  Elizabeth  of,  550 


THE    END. 


Printed  by  S.  Hamilton.  Weybridge. 


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