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he  Stately  Homes  of  Bngrland. 

The    "  nncestral    castles   and    halls, 
iirmories,  and  jcorgcous  saloons,"  in- 
''%nced  80  freoly  in   Disi-neli's  "'  Koth- 
^ "  are  looked    upon    by    some   critics 
i%\x  distruRt.     "  They   are   so  very  big 
Qtl   ovorpoveringly   sumptuous,"    says 
Pe  writer,  "  that  we  are  letl  half  uncon- 
iously  to  reckon   theia   as   exceptions 
Itlxer  than  as  types,"  and  attribute  them 
/to  the   author's   glowing   imagination 
ind  eastern  love  of  jwmp   an«l   glitter." 
The  castles,   and   palaces,   and   estates, 
that  BO  al>ound   in  "  Lothair,"  are   cer- 
tainly   very    gvan4,    but  th9  niimber  of 
large  ehsiAtea  in  Great  Britain  is  probab- 
ly much  greater  than  the  average  reader 
suspects.      Everybody     has     heard     of 
Chatsworth,  Blenheim,   and  a  few  other 
famous    show-places,    but  of  numerous 
others     almost    as    extensive    little   is 
known.      Mr.     Sargoant's      "    Skelton 
Tours,"  just  printed,  chance  to  give,  in 
compact  and  convenient   form,   a  refer- 
ence to  nearly  all  the  gre:it  houses  in  th« 
kingdom  ;  and  as  it   wmild,    no   doubt, 
entertain  the  reader  to  compare  ssx^^fc  of 

t these  desciiptions  with  Lothaic'^^'pitssUes 
and  halls,  we  will  collate^^"ui  siisaaK 
Thoresbv,  for  in.«t-nc^«   ,^^j^  i{ouaa5  W 

Lorn  OH^  l^Ai^ub  V  ^^;^"^-\„,^^^^^     ,sau  r 

\m   }o   KOM^s-^^o  |-^;'^xm9«opo<Ul^^t' 
youapyno-   axoq;  J^^^^      ^    puauj 
9inuiou   puT^     -'^'^^    ^    ifm   .^uniloK   I 

5doaa    yH+   ^    „„.3,j>noaiqwl 


Suiq^ou    P«^ 
aq,\.ov.oj   o,    auop 

.:;uauioui    aadoad    aq>    4 


;o   ptw    '-^^^  f  J 


/-^•mniD  ST  %[ 


uon«io8T 


r.ien  to  traverse 

!:f>!:rh^.     In  the 

^  over 

■  imo- 

-~    in  ono 

•  additions  wero 

"t  thf>   n''!'jirc- 


11.^.     The 


TiR,  with  tliicker 

'  !  iise. 

irlawe,  near  Alnwick,   u  ono  of  ttie  ^con 

--      •v'-i -     -   • -It...,,,,    ;-      .  _.. rand 

I,  is  an  ancient 
of  O^iorbfi'ime 


spov  nearer  lo 
of  coasidsi-ible 


inn  has  Seen  a 

'A   added  to  ir, 


i\C  •••v.'  '■ .{    ;    .;iK 


•id  with  green  and  oratige 

!  'n!l,  the  se- 


nt of 


ion  iti  aiioi'iivKl. 
wide  sweep  of , 

I    which    Gra<^» 

he  Fame,  thrij 


!  who  ministcrrtd 


ity,  are  .ikely  to 


ABBEYS,  CASTLES, 

AND 

ANCIENT     HALLS 

OF 

ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2009  witii  funding  from 

University  of  Toronto 


Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/abbeyscastlesan01timb 


;,OH';ON   iK 


ABBEYS,  CASTLES, 


//- 


AND 


ANCIENT     HALLS 


ENGLAND  AND  WALES; 


THEIR    LEGENDARY    LORE.    AND    POPULAR    HISTORY. 


By  JOHN  TIMBS. 

AL'THOR   OF    "  CI'RIOSITIES   OF   LONDON.' 


LONDON : 

FREDERICK     WARNE     AND     CO. 

BEDFORD    STREET,    COVENT   GARDEN. 
NKW  VdUIC       S(  kii:\(  k>     wi- !  FORD  AND  CO. 


V.I 


LONDON 

SAVILL,    EDWARDS  AND  CO.,   CHANDOS   STREET, 

COVENT  GAKDEN. 


INTRODUCTION. 


HE  design  of  the  present  work  is  to  present  to  the  reader  in  an 
easily  accessible  form,  descriptive  accounts  of  the  existing 
Abbeys  and  Castles  of  England  and  Wales.  These  are 
so  many  landmarks  in  the  History  of  our  country,  which 
they  narrate  in  many  a  picturesque  form  and  monumental  record,  the 
very  stones  of  which  prate  of  "  glorious  conquests  and  immortal 
deeds,"  and  read  more  solemn  lessons  in  the  religious  vestiges  which 
have  been  left  behind.  Supplemental^  to  these  memorials  are  the  His- 
toric Sites  endeared  to  us  by  a  host  of  associations  with  Eminent 
Persons,  who,  by  their  good  deeds,  have  shed  a  lustre  upon  their 
age,  as  "  long  trails  of  light  descending  down."  Such  are  the  Birth- 
places, the  Residences,  and  Last  Homes,  of  Men  of  Genius  and  Mark, 
which  it  is  the  pride  of  every  Englishman  to  cherish  as  memorials  of 
the  means  by  which  his  country  has  attained  true  greatness. 

"The  histories  of  Counties,"  it  has  been  well  observed,  "if  properly 
written,  become  works  of  entertainment,  of  importance,  and  univer- 
sality. They  may  be  made  vehicles  of  much  general  intelligence,  and 
of  such  as  is  interesting  to  every  reader  of  a  liberal  curiosity.  What 
is  local  is  often  national.  Books  of  this  kind,  in  the  hands  of  a  sensible 
and  judicious  examiner,  are  the  histories  of  ancient  manners,  arts,  and 
customs." 

To  seize  upon  the  most  salient  points  in  the  face  of  each  county,  its 
manorial  history,  its  topographical  history — buildings  and  their  inhabi- 
tants,— is  the  plan  of  the  work  now  submitted  to  the  reader.  Com- 
mencing with  the  objects  of  interest  which  group  within  twenty  miles 
around  London,  the  arrangement  is  then  topographical,  starting  from 
the  point  which  separates  the  southern  from  the  northern  portion  of 
Great  Britain. 

Although  the  complexion  of  the  work  is  mostly  antiquarian,  it  partakes 
only  of  that  character  in   its  most  popular  sense  ;  and  especially  it 


vi  Introduction. 

regards  as  of  paramount  interest  the  "  Legendary  Lore"  of  the  coun- 
try, so  abundantly  attractive  to  all  classes  of  i-eadeis ;  for  they  who  care 
nothing  for  their  ancestors,  will  care  little  for  their  posterity — indeed, 
little  for  anything  except  themselves.  In  this  delightful  region  of  the 
Past  may  be  garnered 

"Kind  thoughts,  contentment,  peace  of  mind, 
And  joy  for  weary  hours,  ' 

with  countless  evidences  that 

"  \ot  dull  nor  barren  are  the  winding  ways 
Of  hoar  Antiquity,  but  strewn  with  flowers." 

The  Study  of  Archeology  has,  within  the  present  century,  so  largely 
contributed  to  the  better  understanding  of  the  Records  of  Past  Ages, 
that  the  Author  has  not  neglected  to  avail  himself  of  such  valuable 
materials — from  the  Proceedings  of  Archx'ological  Associations,  whose 
gatherings  tend  to  cherish  that  spirit  of  inquiry  which  is  so  characte- 
ristic of  the  present  age.  In  such  instances  we  have  the  best  assurances 
for  accuracy — those  pencillings  on  the  spot  which  Gray  thought  worth 
a  cartload  of  recollections.  There  is  another  source  to  which  the 
Author  acknowledges  his  indebtedness — a  class  of  work?  almost 
peculiar  to  our  time,  and  in  which  we  have  the  essence  of  history  in  a 
small  compass,  in  place  of  the  cumbrous  folio  County  Histories  of 
the  last  century. 

In  these  volumes,  then,  the  aim  has  been  to  furnish  histories  in  little 
of  the  Abbeys,  Castles,  and  Anxient  Halls,  with  the  aid  of 
comparison,  in  order  to  insure  accuracy  of  detail,  and  contribute  to  the 
interest  and  attractiveness  of  these  Scenes  and  Stories  and  Episodes  of 
our  native  country. 


CONTENTS. 


LONDON  AND  ITS  ENVIRONS. 

I'AGE 

Wonders  of  Old  St.  Paul's i 

The  Building  of  Westminster  Abbey 7 

A  Legend  of  Kilbum  Priory 13 

The  Tower,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison,  and  its  Memories  .     .  i_t^ 

Legendary  Stories,  and  Ballads  of  Old  London  Bridge   ....  33 

Bermondsey  Abbey,  and  its  Memories 41 

Founding  the  Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great 47 

Romance  of  Baynard's  Castle 52 

The  Beggar's  Daughter  of  Bethnal  Green 56 

The  Lollards  at  Lambeth  Palace 58 

Stories  of  the  Savoy 63 

Siege  of  Essex  House. — Queen  Elizabeth's  Ring 70 

The  Strange  History  of  Lady  Hatton ;7 

Halljwell,  or  Holywell  Priory,  Shoreditch 83 

Stories  of  Old  Somerset  House 85 

Sir  Edmund  Beny  Godfrey,  his  Mysterious  Death 87 

Canonbury,  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Compton 90 

"The  Lady  Arabella's"  Fatal  Marriage 98 

Newcastle  House,  and  its  Eccentric  Duchess 103 

The  Field  of  Forty  Footsteps 106 

Stories  of  Temple  Bar 107 

The  Knights  Templars  in  London 112 

The  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem 117 

Queen   Elizabeth,   the    Manor   of  Pleazauncc,   and    Giccnwich 

Castle .120 


viii  Contents. 

PACK 

Kenniiigton  Palace,  and  the  Princes  of  Wales 1 28 

Eitham  Palace 129 

Shene,  or  Richmond  Palace 133 

Hampton  Court  Palace 139 

The  Palace  of  Nonsuch 144 

The  Palace  of  Oatlands 146 

St.  James's  Palace 148 

Kensington  Palace i.-;i 

Carlton  House ....  \-^2 

The  Archiepiscopal  Palace,  Croydon 153 

The  Minories 155 

Sion  House,  Isleworth 157 

Ham  House,  Petersham 159 

Holland  House,  and  its  Memories' 161 

Osterley  Park,  and  Sir  Thomas  Gresham 165 

Enfield  Palace 166 

The  Palace  of  Whitehall 168 


BERWICK  AND  NORTHUMBERLAND. 

Benvick-upon-Tweed,  its  Castle,  and  Sieges 1 73 

Wark  Castle 177 

Norham  Castle 178 

Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfame 179 

Bamborough  Castle 187 

Tynemouth  Priory  and  Castle 190 

The  Castle  and  Hermitage  of  Warkworth 194 

The  Castle  of  Newcastle 197 

Dunstanborough  Castle 199 

Alnwick  Castle,  and  the  House  of  Percy 20i 

CUMBERLAND  AND  WESTMORELAND. 

The  Castle  of  "  Merry  Carlisle" 208 

Scalcby  Castle 210 

The  Spectre  Horsemen  of  Southerfell 211 

Naworth  Castle,  Lanercost,  and  the  Lords  of  Gillesland     .    ,    ,  213 


Coil  t cuts.  ix 


PAGE 


Kendal  Castle  and  Queen  Catherine  Parr 224 

Brougham  Castle 226 

Li'geiid  of  Constantine's  Cells 231 


DURHAM. 


-.1- 


Durham  Cathedral.— Remains  of  St.  CuthbL-.t      .... 

Raby  Castle 236 

Barnard  Castle 240 

Neville's  Cross :  or  the  Battle  of  Red  Hills 242 

Streatham  and  Hilton  Castles 244 

A  Myth  of  Midridge 2^,1 


YORKSHIRE. 

Rokeby  and  its  Lords 249 

Murder  of  the  Monk  of  Whitby 250 

"Scarborough  Castle 253 

^  I  iddleham  Castle 25^ 

York  Castle 258 

The  Grey  Palmer :  a  Yorkshire  Legend 261 

Fountains  Abbey 263 

Bolton  Priory 267 

Bolton  Castle 269 

Kirkstall  Abbey 270 

Richmond  Castle 271 

Sandal  Castle,  and  the  Battle  of  Wakefield 27- 

Pontefract  Castle  and  Richard  n 274 

Sheflield  Manor  and  Castle,  and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots    ....  276 

Conisborough  Castle 280 

Lady  Anne  Clifford,  of  Skipton  Castle 282 

Knaresborough  Castle,  and  Eugene  Aram 285 

Cawood  Castle. —The  Fall  of  Wolsey 287 

Legend  of  Mother  Shipton  and  her  Prophecies 290 

'•  The  Old  Hall"  at  Waddington. — Capture  of  Henry  \'  I.     .     .  292 

The  Lords  of  Wensleydale 294 

"Nlanels  in  a  Chronicle  of  Meaux  Abbey 2<)- 


X  Contents, 

LANCASHIRE  AND  CHESHIRK. 

PACK 

Furness  Abbey 298 

Lancaster  Castle 300 

The  Abbey  of  Whalley 301 

Beeston  Castle 302 

Chester  Castle  and  \<d\\% 304 

The  Iron  Gates,  or  the  Cheshire  Enchanter 311 

DERBYSHIRE. 

Castleton,  High  Peak 313 

Wingfield  Manor  House 317 

Beauchief  Abbey 319 

A  Legend  of  Dale  Abbey 320 

Chatsworth,  Hardwicke,  and  Haddon 322 

Bolsover  Castle 329 

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE  AND  LEICESTERSHIRE. 

Nottingham  Castle 332 

Clare  Palace,  the  Holies  Family,  and  the  House  of  Clare    .     .     .  335 

Newark  Castle 337 

Ncwstead  Abbey,  and  Lord  Byron 339 

The  Story  of  Robin  Hood Xf> 

Bunny  Park,  and  Sir  Tiiomas  Parkyns 357 

Ashby-de-la-Zouch  Castle 3^° 

Belvoir  Castle 361 

Leicester  Castle 2f*^ 

Leicester  Abbey  and  Cardinal  Wolsey 368 

LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Holy  Sepulchres 37o 

Thornton  Abbey 373 

Somerton  Castle,  and  King  John  of  France 375 

Swineshead  Abbey,  and  King  John 37^ 


Contents.  xi 

PAGE 

Stamford  Castle,  and  Bull-running 380 

Lincoln  Castle 383 

Bolingbroke  Castle 385 

Croyland  Abbey 386 

RUTLANDSHIRE. 

Burleigh-on-the-Hill,  and  Jeffrey  Hudson  the  Dwarf    ....  391 

Oakham  Castle 393 


STAFFORDSHIRE  AND  SHROPSHIRE. 

Stafford  and  its  Castles 395 

"  Tamworth  Tower  and  Town" 396 

Tutbury  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures 399 

Chartley  Castle 406 

The  Legend  of  Dieulacres  Abbey  .     .     • 408 

Shrewsbury  Castle 409 

Ludlow  Castle,  and  its  Memories 412 

The  Priory  of  Austin  Friars  at  Ludlow 417 

HEREFORD  AND  WORCESTERSHIRE. 

The  Castle  of  Wigmore,  and  its  Lords 419 

Worcester  Castle,  and  its  Sieges 422 

Boscobel,  and  Charles  II 424 

The  Abbey  of  Evesham 425 

Hendlip  Hall,  and  the  Gunpowder  Plot 428 

Dudley  Castle 430 

The  Priory  of  Dudley 434 

Bransil  Castle  Tradition 435 

WARWICKSHIRE. 

Warwick  Castle  and  Guy's  Cliff 436 

Blacklow  Hill. — The  Fate  of  Gavestone 44a 

Coventry  Castle,  and  Lady  Godiva 445 


xii  Contents. 


PACK 


Comb  Abbey ^^q 

Stratford-on-Avon. — The  Birthplace  of  Shakspeare 450 

Kenilworth  Castle 4-- 

Priory  of  Kenilworth 463 

Maxstoke  Castle ;6.^ 

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

The  Castle  of  Northampton 467 

Queen  Eleanor's  Cross,  at  Northampton 470 

Burgliley  House  and  the  Lord  of  Burghley 477 

The  Castle  of  Fotheringhay 483 

The  Battle-field  of  Naseby 487 

Holmby  House:  Seizure  of  Charles  1 489 

Catesby  Hall  and  the  Gunpowder  Plot 493 

HUNTINGDON  AND  CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Kimbolton  Castle 406 

Ramsey  Abbey,  and  its  Learned  Monks 499 

The  Isle  of  Ely  :  its  Monastery  and  Cathedral 503 

SUFFOLK. 

Dunwich  Swallowed  up  by  the  Sea r-or 

St.  Edmund  King  and  xMartyr :  a  Suffolk  Legend 506 

Sacking  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Edmund,  Bury rp-j 

Framlingham  Castle no 

Wingfield  Castle n  -> 

Castles  of  Orford  and  Clare nij 

The  Roman  Castle  of  Burgh i-i^ 

HadleJgh— Martyrdom  of  Dr.  Taylor rao 

Origin  of  Lowestoft -2- 

Queen  Ehzabeth  in  Suffolk r2i 

NORFOLK. 

Norwich  Castle -28 

The  Burning  of  Norwich  Cathedral  Priory 530 


Contents.  xlii 

I'AGE 

Thetford  Priory 532 

Rising  Castle 5.34 

Castle  Acre  Castle,  and  Priory 538 

Bromholm  Priory.— The  Cross  of  Baldwin — The  Paston  Family  539 

The  Priory  of  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham 542 

Holkham  Hall,  and  its  Treasures 546 

Caistor  Castle 547 


ESSEX. 

Colchester  Castle 548 

The  Priory  of  St.  Osyth 553 

The  Prioiy  of  Little  Dunmow,  and  the  Flitch  of  Bacon  Custom  559 

Hedingham  Castle 5^<5 

Saffron  Walden  Castle  and  Audley  End 567 

Barking  Abbey.— Bow  Bridge 569 

Ingatestone  Hall.— Hiding-places  of  Priests 572 

Wanstead  House     ,,.,.,...•••••••  575 


ABBEYS,    CASTLES,    AND 
ANCIENT     HALLS 

OF 

inglaub  n^  Males. 


LONDON  AND  ITS  ENVIRONS. 
Wonders  of  Old  Saint  Paul's. 

HE  high  ground  upon  which  the  Cathedral  stands — the 
loftiest  in  the  metropolis — denotes  it  as  the  likeliest  to  be 
chosen,  in  any  age,  for  the  site  of  its  chief  edifice  devoted  to 
religious  worehip.  That  it  was  first  dedicated  to  heathenism 
is  soueht  to  be  proved  by  the  finding  of  a  stone  altar  sculptured  with 
the  image  of  Diana,  during  the  excavations  for  the  foundations  of  Gold- 
smiths' Hall,  in  1830.  Hence  the  idea  that  a  temple  to  Diana  first 
occupied  the  site.  Next  a  Roman  camp  was  fixed  here:  then  a  Saxon 
temple ;  and  then  an  episcopal  see  fixed  in  London  by  Mellitus,  the 
companion  of  St.  Augustine.  Next,  a  cathedral  was  built  here  by 
Ethelbert.  King  of  Kent,  among  whose  gifts  to  the  church  was  the 
estate  of  Tillingham,  Essex,  which  even  now  contributes  largely  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  fabric.  The  fourth  bishop  was  the  famous  St. 
Krkenwald,  whose  shrine  stood  at  the  back  of  the  high  altar. 

The  tower  and  spire  rose  520  feet,  or  higher  than  the  Monument 
i^laced  upon  the  cross  of  the  present  Cathedral.  I  i;  had  a  copper  gilt 
Ixjwl,  nine  feet  in  compass  (large  enough  to  hold  ten  bushels  of  com), 
supporting  a  cross  \-^  feet  high,  surmounted  by  an  eagle-cock  of 
copper  gilt,  4  feet  lo'^.g.  This  steeple  was  taken  down,  and  was  never 
rebuilt.  In  1 561,  the  Cathedral  was  severely  injured  in  a  fire  caused 
by  the  carelessivess  of  the  sexton  ;  and  it  happening  in  a  tempestuous 
day,  the  catastrophe  was  by  him  confidently  affirmed  to  be  causetl  by 
lightning,  and  was  generally  believed  to  the  hour  of  his  death  ;  but  he 
*  B 


2  Woit(fers  of  Old  Sairif  Pm/Ps. 

confessed  the  truth  of  it,  after  which  "  the  burning  of  St.  Paul's  hy 
lightning"  was  left  out  of  our  common  almanacks.  In  the  crypt  below 
the  choir,  was  the  parish  church  of  St.  Faith,  and  at  the  Ludgate  corner 
(towards  the  Thames)  the  parish  church  of  St.  Gregory.  "  St  Paul's,'' 
says  Fuller,  "  may  be  called  the  mother-church,  indeed,  having  one 
babe  in  her  body  (St.  Faith),  and  another  in  her  arms  {St.  Gregory)." 
Out  of  this  arose  the  popular  story  of  there  being  a  chuixh  under  St. 
Paul's,  and  service  in  it  once  a  year.  On  special  saints'  days  it  was 
customary  for  the  choristers  of  the  Cathedral  to  ascend  the  spire  to  a 
great  height,  and  there  to  chant  solemn  prayers  and  anthems :  the  last 
observance  of  this  custom  was  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  when,  "after 
evensong,  the  quire  of  Paul's  began  to  go  about  the  steeple  singing 
with  lightes,  after  the  old  custome."  A  similar  tenure  custom  is  observed 
to  this  day  at  Oxford,  on  Magdalen  College  tower. 

Many  and  memorable  were  the  scenes  which  occurred  within  the 
walls  of  the  old  Cathedral.  For  instance,  it  was  there  that  ^^'icklif^e 
appeared  at  the  summons  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the 
Bishop  of  London  to  make  answer  for  the  publication  of  his  new 
opinions;  Wickliffe  standing  before  that  clerical  tribunal  in  the  Lady 
Chapel,  accompanied  by  John  of  Gaunt  and  Lord  Percy,  and  a  host  of 
enthusiastic  and  excited  admirers. 

Dean  Milman  relates: — Henry  Bolingbroke,  not  as  yet  known  as 
King  Henry  IV.,  appeared  in  St.  Paul's  to  offer  his  prayers — prayers 
for  the  dethronement  of  his  ill-fated  cousin  ;  prayers  for  his  own 
successful  usurpation  of  the  Throne.  Here  he  paused  to  shed  teara 
over  the  grave  of  his  fathei- ;  for  early  in  that  year  "  old  John  of  Gaunt, 
time-honoured  Lancaster,"  had  been  carried  to  his  rest  in  the  Cathedral. 
Perhaps  the  last  time  that  John  of  Gaunt  had  appeared  in  St.  Paul's, 
was  in  his  armour,  and  in  all  his  pride,  to  confront  the  proud  Bishop 
Courtenay.  Some  years  elapsed ;  and,  after  the  silent  and  peaceful 
pomp  of  his  funeral,  he  had  been  laid  under  the  pavement  of  the  church. 

Hither  Richard  II.  was  brought;  but  not  to  worship  or  to  weep. 
His  dead  body,  after  the  murder  at  Pontefract  Castle,  was  exposed  for 
three  days  in  the  Cathedral  before  it  was  interred  in  ^^'estminster  Abbey. 
Here,  too,  the  first  martyr  of  Wickliffism,  William  Sawtrcc,  was  pub- 
licly degraded,  his  priestly  robes,  his  paten,  and  his  chasuble  being  taken 
from  him,  his  alb  and  maniple  torn  off,  his  tonsure  wiped  out,  and  a 
layman's  cap  put  upon  his  head. 

"  At  a  somewhat  later  period  (says  Dean  Milman),  appeared  before 
a  convocation  at  St.  Paul's  one  Richard  Walker,  chaplain  in  the  diocese 
of  Worcester,  charged  with  having  in  his  possession  two  books  of 


Wonders  of  Old  Saint  PaiiVs.  3 

•  images  with  conjunction  of  figures,'  and  of  having  himself  practised 
these  diabolical  arts.  Walker  pleaded  guilty  to  both  charges.  On 
another  day  the  said  Richard  Walker  appeared  at  Paul's-cross,  and, 
after  an  exhortation  from  the  Bishop  of  LlandafF,  solemnly  abjured  all 
magic.  The  two  books  were  hung,  wide  open,  one  on  his  head,  one 
on  his  back  ;  and  with  a  fool's  cap  on  his  head,  he  was  made  to  walk 
along  Cheapside.  On  his  return  his  books  were  burnt  before  his  face, 
and  ^Valker  was  released  from  his  imprisonment." 

The  Day  of  St.  Paul,  the  patron  saint  of  the  city,  was  formerly  ob- 
served here  with  picturesque  ceremonies.  "  There  was  a  general  pro- 
cession with  the  children  of  all  the  schools  in  London,  with  all  the 
clerks,  curates,  and  parsons,  and  vicars,  in  copes,  with  their  crosses ; 
also  the  choir  of  St.  Paul's ;  and  divers  bishops  in  their  habits,  and  the 
Bishop  of  London,  with  his  pontificals  and  cope,  bearing  the  sacrament 
under  a  canopy,  and  four  prebends  bearing  it  in  their  gray  amos  ;  and 
so  up  into  Leadenhall,  with  the  mayor  and  aldermen  in  scarlet,  with 
their  cloaks,  and  all  the  crafts  in  their  best  array ;  and  so  came  down 
again  on  the  other  side,  and  so  to  St.  Paul's  again.  And  then  the  King, 
with  my  Lord  Cardinal,  came  to  St.  Paul's,  and  heard  masse,  and  went 
home  again  ;  and  at  night  great  bonfires  were  made  through  all  London, 
for  the  joy  of  the  people  that  were  converted  likewise  as  St.  Paul  was 
converted." 

Down  to  about  this  time  there  was  observed,  in  connexion  with 
the  Cathedral,  a  custom  arising  from  an  obligation  incurred  by  Sir 
William  Baud  in  1375,  when  he  was  permitted  to  enclose  twenty  acres 

f  the  Dean's  land,  in  consideration  of  presenting  the  clergy  of  the 
Cathedral  with  a  fat  buck  and  doe  yearly  on  the  days  of  the  Conversion 
and  Commemoration  of  SL  PauL  "  On  these  days,  the  buck  and  the 
doe  were  brought  by  one  or  more  servants  at  the  hour  of  the  proces- 
sion, and  through  the  midst  thereof,  and  offered  at  the  high  altar  of 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral :  after  which  the  persons  that  brought  the  buck 
received  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  by  the  hands  of  their  Chamberlain, 
twelve  pence  sterling  for  their  entertainment ;  but  nothing  when  they 
brought  the  doe.  The  buck  being  brought  to  the  steps  of  the  altar, 
the  Dean  and  Chapterf  apparelled  in  copes  and  proper  vestments,  with 
garlands  of  rcses  on  their  heads,  sent  the  body  of  the  buck  to  be  baked. 

iiid  had  the  head  and  horns  fixed  on  a  pole  before  the  cross,  in  tli 
procession  rot:nd  about  the  church,  till  they  issued  at  the  west  dooi-, 
where  the  keeper  that  brought  it  blowed  the  death  of  the  buck,  and 
then  the  horns  that  were  about  the  city  answered  him  in   like  manner; 
for  which  they  had  each,  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  three  and  fonr- 

B  a 


4  IVoNdcrs  of  Old  Saint  Paul's. 

pence  in  money,  and  their  dinner:  and  the  keeper,  during  iiis  btay, 
meat,  drink,  and  lodging,  and  five  shillings  in  money  at  his  going  away; 
together  with  a  loaf  of  bread,  having  in  it  the  picture  of  St.  Paul." 

Paul's  Cross,  from  its  imposing  grandeur,  was  one  of  the  chief  oma- 
ments  of  London:  it  was  raised  on  stone  steps,  with  a  canopy,  on  which 
was  a  cross.  We  fii-st  read  of  it  in  1 259,  when  by  command  of  Henry 
III.,  striplings  were  here  sworn  to  be  loyal;  and  in  the  same  year  the 
folkmote  Common  Hall  assembled  here  by  the  tolling  of  St.  Paul's 
great  bell.  At  preaching,  the  commonalty  sat  in  the  open  air;  the 
king,  his  tr.-'in,  and  noblemen  in  covered  galleries.  All  preachers  coming 
from  a  distance  had  an  allowance  from  the  corporation,  and  were 
lodged  during  five  days,  "  in  sweete  and  convenient  lodgings,  with  fire, 
candle,  and  necessary  food."  One  of  the  Bishops  lent  small  sums  on 
pledge ;  and  if  at  the  year's  end  the  articles  were  not  redeemed  within 
fourteen  days,  the  preacher  at  Paul's  Cross  declared  that  they  would  be 
sold.  Ralph  Baldoc,  Dean  of  Paul's,  cursed  from  the  Cross  all  persons 
who  had  searched  in  the  church  of  St.  Martin's-le-Grand  for  a 
hoard  of  gold.  In  1483,  Jane  Shore,  with  a  taper  in  one  hand,  and 
arrayed  in  her  "  kirtle  onlye,"  did  open  penance  at  the  Cross ;  and  in 
the  same  year  Dr.  Shaw  and  Prior  Dinke  aided  the  traitorous  schemes 
of  Duke  Richard:  the  Doctor  so  repented  his  shameful  sermon,  that  it 
struck  him  to  the  heart,  and  within  a  few  days  he  "  withered  and  con- 
sumed away."  The  Friar  lost  his  voice  whilst  preaching,  and  was 
forced  to  leave  the  pulpit. 

The  interior  walls  of  the  church  were  sumptuously  adorned  with 
pictures,  shrines,  and  curiously  WTought  tabernacles ;  gold  and  silver, 
rubies,  emeralds,  and  pearls,  glittered  in  splendid  profusion  ;  and  upon 
the  high  altar  w-ere  heaped  countless  stores  of  gold  and  silver  plate,  and 
illuminated  missals.  The  shrine  of  St.  Erkenwald  had  among  its  jewels 
a  sapphire  belie\'ed  to  cure  diseases  of  the  eye.  The  mere  enumeration 
of  these  treasures  fills  twenty-eight  pages  of  Dugdale's  folio  History  of 
the  Cathedral.  King  John  of  France  offered  at  St.  Erkenwald's  shrine; 
King  Henry  III.,  on  the  feast  of  St.  Paul's  Conversion,  gave  1500  tapers 
to  the  church,  and  fed  15,000  poor  in  the  garth  or  close. 

Miracles  were  wrought  at  Paul's  at  "a  tablet,"  or  picture,  set  up  by 
Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  who,  after  his  execution  at  Pontefract,  was 
reckoned  a  martyr  by  the  populace.  At  the  base  of  one  of  the  pillars 
was  sculptured  the  foot  of  Algar  (the  first  prebendary  of  Islington),  as 
the  standard  measiire  for  legal  contracts  in  land ;  just  as  Henry  I., 
Richaid  I.,  and  John,  furnished  the  iron  ell  by  their  arms.  On  the 
north  side  of  the  choir  stood  the  stately  tomb  of  John  of  Gaunt,  and 


Wonders  of  Old  Saint  PanVs.  5 

Blanche  his  first  wife;  on  it  hung  his  proper  helmet  and  spear,  and  his 
target  covered  with  horn.  In  St.  Dunstan's  Chapel  was  the  fine  old 
tomb  of  Henry  Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln,  from  whom  Lincoln's  Inn  de- 
rives its  name.  In  the  middle  aisle  of  the  nave  stood  the  tomb  of  Sir 
John  Beauchamp,  constable  of  Dover  Castle.  Between  the  choir  and 
south  aisle  was  a  noble  monument  to  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  father  of 
Lord  Chancellor  Bacon;  "higher  than  the  post  and  altar,"  between 
two  columns  of  the  choir,  was  the  sumptuous  monument  of  Sir 
Christopher  Hatton;  and  near  it,  a  tablet  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and 
another  to  bis  father-in-law,  Sir  Francis  Walsingham:  hence  the 
epigram: — 

"  Philip  and  Francis  have  no  tomb, 
For  great  Sir  Christopher  takes  all  the  room." 

Amongst  the  monuments  preserved  fi-om  the  former  Cathedral  is  Dr. 
Donne,  the  poet  of  quaint  conceits,  standing  in  his  stony  shroud. 

The  floor  of  the  church  was  laid  out  in  walks:  "  the  south  alley  for 
usurye  and  poperye;  the  north  for  simony  and  the  horse-fair;  in  the 
midst  for  all  kinds  of  bargains,  meetings,  brawlings,  murthers,  conspira- 
cies, &c."  The  middle  aisle  was  called  Paul's  Walk,  and  was  a  lounge 
for  idlers  and  hunters  after  news,  wits  and  gallants,  cheats,  usurers,  and 
knights  of  the  post;  the_/b«/  itself  being  used  as  a  counter.  Ben  Jonson 
has  laid  a  scene  of  his  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour  in  "  the  middle 
aisle  of  Paule's;"  Captain  Bobadil  is  a  "Paul's  man;"  and  FalstafF 
bought  Bardolph  in  Paul's.  Bishop  Earle,  1629,  says:  "Paul's  Wallce  is 
the  Land's  Epitome,  or  you  may  cal  it  the  lesser  He  of  Great  Brittaine. 
*  *  *  The  noyse  in  it  is  like  that  of  Bees,  in  strange  hummings  or 
buzze,  mixt  of  walking,  tongues,  and  feet;  it  is  a  kind  ot  still  roare,  or 
loud  whisper."  It  was  a  common  thoroughfare  for  porters  and  carriers, 
for  ale,  beer,  bread,  fish,  flesh,  fardels  of  stuff,  and  mules,  horses,  and 
other  beasts;  dnuikaids  lay  sleeping  on  the  benches  at  the  choir-door; 
within,  dunghills  were  suffered  to  accumulate ;  and  in  the  choir  people 
walked  "  with  their  halts  on  their  heddes."  Dckkcr,  in  his  GulVi  Horn- 
book, tells  us  that  the  church  was  profaned  by  shops,  not  only  of  book- 
sellers, but  of  other  trades,  such  as  "  the  semsters'  shops,"  and  "  the  new 
tobacco  oflice."  He  also  mentions  "  Paul's  Jacks,"  automaton  figures 
which  stnick  the  quarters  on  the  clock.  The  first  recoi-ded  lottery  in 
England  was  drawn  at  the  west  door  of  the  church,  in  1569. 

The  desecration  of  the  exterior  of  the  church  was  more  abominable. 
The  chantry  and  other  chapels  were  us-d  for  stones  and  lumber,  as  a 
school  and  a  glazier's  workshop;  parts  of  the  vaults  were  occupied  by  a 
carpenter,  and  as  a  wine-cellar ;  and  the  cloisters  were  let  out  to  trunk- 


6  Wonders  of  Old  Saint  PanVs. 

makers,  whose  "  knocking  and  noyse"  greatly  disturbed  the  church- 
service.  Houses  were  built  against  the  outer  walls,  in  which  closets 
and  window-ways  were  made:  one  was  used  as  a  play-house,  and 
in  another  the  owner  baked  his  bread  and  pies  in  an  oven  ex- 
cavated within  a  buttress;  for  a  trifling  fee,  the  bell-ringers  allowed 
wights  to  ascend  the  tower,  halloo,  and  throw  stones  at  the  passengers 
beneath. 

AVe  read,  too,  of  rope-dancing  feats  from  the  battlements  of  St. 
Paul's  exhibited  before  Edward  VI.,  and  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary, 
who,  the  day  before  her  coronation,  witnessed  a  Dutchman  standing 
upon  the  weathercock  of  the  steeple,  waving  a  five-yard  streamer  ! 

Old  St.  Paul's  was  famous  (many  of  the  old  churches  on  the  Con- 
tinent were  the  same)  for  a  "  Dance  of  Death,"  executed  at  the  expense 
of  John  Carpenter,  town-clerk  of  London  in  the  reign  of  Henry  V.: 
it  was  appropriately  placed  in  a  cloister  adjoining  a  charnel-house. 
Stow  describes  it  as  "  a  monument  of  Death  leading  all  Estates,  curiously 
painted  upon  board,  with  the  speeches  of  Death  and  answer  of  every 
Estate;" — a  suggestive  picture  for  the  contemplation  of  mortals. 

There  is  an  incident  connected  with  old  St.  Paul's,  remaikable  in  it- 
self, but  made  still  more  so  by  the  many  celebrated  vsriters  who  allude 
to  it.  In  the  year  1600,  "a  middle-sized  bay  English  gelding,"  the 
property  of  Bankes,  a  servant  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  a  vintner  in 
Cheapside,  ascended  to  the  top  of  St.  Paul's,  to  the  delight,  it  is  said 
by  Dekker,  of  "  a  number  of  asses,"  who  brayed  below.  Bankes  had 
taught  his  horse,  which  went  by  the  name  of  Marocco,  to  count,  and 
perform  a  variety  of  feats.  "  Certainly,"  says  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in 
his  History,  "if  Bankes  had  lived  in  elder  times,  he  would  have 
shamed  all  the  enchanters  of  the  world ;  for  whosoever  was  most 
femous  among  them  could  never  master  or  instruct  any  beast  as  he  did 
his  horse."  When  the  novelty  had  somewhat  lessened  in  London, 
Bankes  took  his  wonderful  horse  first  to  Paris,  and  aftenvards  to  Rome. 
He  had  better  have  stayed  at  home,  for  both  he  and  his  horse  (which 
was  shod  with  silver),  were  burnt  for  witchcraft.  Shakspeare  alludes 
to  "the  dancing  horse;"  and  in  a  tract,  1595,  there  is  a  rude  woodcut 
of  the  unfortunate  juggler  and  his  famous  gelding. 

The  Cathedral  was  entirely  destroyed  in  the  Great  Fire.  The  lead 
over  the  altar  at  the  east  end  was  untouched,  and  among  the  monu- 
ments the  body  of  one  bishop  remained  entire.  This  was  the  corjjse  of 
Bishop  Braybrooke,  which  had  been  inhumed  260  years,  being  "so  dried 
up,  the  flesh,  sinews,  and  skin  cleaving  fast  to  the  bones,  that  being  set 
upon  the  feet  it  stood  as  still  as  a  plank,  the  skin  being  tough  like  lea- 


TJie  Building  of  Westminster  Abbey.  7 

ther,  and  not  at  all  inclined  to  putrefaction,  which  some  attributed  to 
the  sanctity  of  the  person  offering  much  money T 

Burnet  remarks  that  he  ne%er  heard  of  any  person  being  burnt  or 
trodden  to  death  at  the  Fire ;  but,  in  the  Diary  of  Taswell,  is  recorded 
this  singular  testimony  to  the  contrary : — 

"  •  I  forgot  to  mention  that  near  the  east  end  of  S.  Paul's  (he  must 
have  got  quite  round  the  church),  a  human  body  presented  itself  to  me, 
parched  up  as  it  were  with  the  flames,  white  as  to  skin,  meagre  as  to 
flesh,  yellow  as  to  colour.  This  was  an  old  decrepit  woman  who  fled 
here  for  safety,  imagining  the  flames  would  not  have  reached  her 
there;  her  clothes  were  burned,  and  every  limb  reduced  to  a  coal.  In 
my  way  home  I  saw  several  engines  which  were  bringing  up  to  its 
assistance,  all  on  fire,  and  those  engaged  with  them  escaping  with  all 
eagerness  from  the  flames,  which  spread  instantaneous  almost  like  a 
wildfire,  and  at  last,  accoutred  ivitb  my  sivord  and  helmet,  I  traversed 
the  torrid  zone  back  again-'  Taswell  relates  that  the  papers  from  the 
books  in  S.  Faith's  were  carried  with  the  wind  as  for  as  Eton.  The 
Oxonians  observed  the  rays  of  the  sun  tinged  with  an  unusual  kind  of 
redness,  a  black  darkness  seemed  to  cover  the  whole  hemisphere.  To 
impress  this  more  deeply  on  Taswell's  memory,  his  father's  house  was 
burned  and  plundered,  by  officious  persons  offering  to  aid,  of  40/." 


The  Building  of  Westminster  Abbey. 

Westminster  Monastery  and  Palace  were  foundations  of  great  antiquity 
and  interest,  scarcely  exceeded  by  that  of  the  Tower,  with  its  chronicle 
of  our  history  in  stone. 

^^'e8tminste^  was  originally  called  Thomey  Island,  from  its  having 
been  '*  overgrown  with  thorns,  and  environed  with  water,"  substantiated 
by  a  charter  granted  in  785,  by  Offa,  the  Mercian  king;  but  it  is  really  a 
peninsula  of  the  purest  sand  and  gravel,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  foundations 
of  the  Abbey.  This  edifice  has-not  a  basement  story,  like  St.  Paul's,  but 
is  built  upon  the  fine  close  sand,  secured  only  by  its  very  broad,  wide, 
and  spreading  foundations.  Sebert,  King  of  the  East  Saxons,  having  em- 
raced  Christianity,  and  being  baptized  by  Mellitus,  bishop  of  London, 
pulled  down  a  Pagan  temple  at  Thomey,  and  founded  upon  the  p'ace  a 
church  to  the  honour  of  St.  Peter,  sometime  preNiously  to  the  year  616. 
It  suffered  much  spoliation  by  the  Danes,  but  was  restored  by  King 
Kdgar,  at  the  intercession  of  Dunstan,  who  brought  hither  twelve  monks 
of  the  Benedictine  Order  (probably  from  Glastonbury),  to  whom  both 


8  The  Building  of  Westminster  Abbey. 

Dunstan  and  the  King  made  grants  of  landed  property,  as  well  as  rich 
presents  in  gold.  The  dedication  of  the  church  to  St.  Peter  (the  tutelar 
saint  of  fisheiTnen),  led  to  their  offerings  of  salmon  upon  the  high  altar; 
the  donor  on  such  occasions  having  the  privilege  of  sitting  at  the  convent 
table  to  dinner,  and  demanding  ale  and  bread  from  the  cellarer. 

Canute,  in  the  year  1017,  took  the  monastery  under  his  special  care, 
"  it  being  so  near  the  king's  palace,"  which  is  somewhat  corroborated 
by  Norden,  who  states  that  "  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  a 
palace  at  \N' estminster  was  destroyed  by  fire,  which  had  been  inhabited 
by  Canute,  about  the  year  1035;  and  there  occurs  in  King  Edward's 
tliird  charter  to  the  Abbey,  granted  in  1065: — "The  place  where  the 
said  church  and  monastery  were  built  was  anciently  the  seat  of  kings  ;" 
and  "  we  grant  that,  hereafter,  for  ever,  it  be  the  place  of  the  king's 
constitution  and  consecration,  the  repository  of  the  imperial  regalia,  and 
a  perpetual  habitation  of  monks,"  &c.  But  this  charter  is  of  dubious 
authority ;  and  it  is  otherwise  doubted  whether  there  was  a  royal  palace 
at  Westminster  before  the  reign  of  the  Confessor  himself.  Edric 
Streon,  through  whose  repeated  treachery  to  the  Saxon  cause  Canute 
was  alone  beholden  for  dominion  in  England,  was,  as  though  in  retribu- 
tion for  his  crimes,  beheaded,  by  command  of  the  monarch  he  had 
served,  within  the  royal  palace  in  London,  and  his  body  wns^flimg  out  of  a 
tivindoiv  into  the  Thames,  an  event  which  could  scarcely  have  occurred 
at  Westminster. 

The  earliest  document  from  which  the  existence  of  a  palace  at  this 
spot  may  be  inferred  is  a  charter  given  by  Edward  the  Confessor,  to 
the  Abbey  of  Ramsey,  in  1052.  King  Edward  was  now  proceeding 
with  his  reconstruction  of  St.  Peter's  Church  and  Monastery  at  West- 
minster; and  it  may  reasonably  be  surmised  that  he  himself  erected  a 
palace  there,  to  forward  the  splendid  work  by  his  own  presence,  as  well 
as  by  "  a  tenth  of  his  entire  substance  in  gold,  silver,  cattle,  and  all  other 
possessions."  Compared  with  the  former  edifice,  it  was  a  very  magni- 
ficent fabric.  King  Edward  gave  to  its  treasury  rich  vestments,  a  golden 
crown  and  sceptre,  a  dalmatic,  embroidered  pall,  spurs,  &c.,  to  be  used 
on  the  day  of  the  sovereign's  coronation :  here  our  kings  and  queens 
have  been  crowned  from  Edvvaid  the  Confessor  to  Queen  Victoria,  and 
here  very  many  of  them  are  buried,  some  with  and  others  without  monu- 
ments. The  Confessor  lived  just  long  enough  to  see  his  intention  ful- 
filled. On  the  Festival  of  the  Holy  Innocents,  Dec.  28,  1065,  the  new 
Abbey  was  dedicated ;  and  the  King,  who  died  eight  days  afterwards, 
was  buried  by  his  own  desire  in  front  of  the  high  altar  in  the  church  of 
which  he  bad  just  witnessed  the  completion, 


'Ihe  Building  of  Westminster  Abbey.  9 

Our  early  chroniclers  have  assigned  the  occurrence  of  several  of  King 
Edward's  recorded  visions  to  this  spot.  Those  of  the  drowning  of  a 
Danish  king  who  had  undertaken  to  invade  England;  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers  of  Ephesus ;  and  finally,  of  the  grievous  afflictions  which  his 
country  would  undergo  after  his  own  decease,  were  of  this  number; 
and  tradition  has  even  identified  the  chamber  where  he  died,  as  that 
which  after  generations  called  the  Pabited  Chamber.  The  monkish  his- 
torians attribute  numerous  miracles  to  his  sanctity.  He  was  so  m.uch 
in  love,  they  tell  us,  with  retirement  and  devotional  reflection,  that  being 
once  disturbed  at  a  country-seat  by  the  singing  of  nightingales,  he 
prayed  that  they  might  no  more  be  heard  in  that  place;  which  petition, 
continues  the  legend,  was  granted  accordingly.  Even  the  time  of  his 
death  was  made  known  to  him  by  the  delivery  of  a  ring  and  message 
from  St.  John  the  Evangelist;  and  within  six  years  after  his  decease,  the 
following  miracle  was  performed  at  his  tomb  : 

In  the  time  of  AViiliam  the  Conqueror,  when  all  English  prelates 
were  "  sifted  to  the  branne,"  a  synod  was  held  in  the  church  at  West- 
minster, by  Archbishop  Lanfranc  (anno  1074),  to  examine  avowedly 
into  the  qualifications  and  conduct  of  the  clergy,  "  yet  with  the  covert 
design  of  making  room  for  the  new-come  Normans,"  by  ejecting  such  of 
the  bishops  and  abbots  as  had  but  little  learning  and  influence.  At  this 
synod,  Wulstan,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  was  charged  with  being  "a 
most  illiterate  and  foolish  man,  and  unfit  for  the  station  he  held;  a  very 
idiot,  unacquainted  with  the  French  language,  and  incapable  either  to 
instruct  the  church,  or  counsel  the  king."  His  pastoral  staflT  and  ring 
were,  therefore,  demanded  of  him  by  Lanfranc,  in  the  King's  name;  but 
Wulstan,  gi-asping  his  staff  with  an  unmoved  countenance,  made  this 
reply:  "  I  know,  my  lord  archbishop,  that  I  am  entirely  unfit  for,  and 
unworthy  so  high  a  station,  being  undeserving  of  the  honour,  and  un- 
equal to  the  task;  however,  I  think  it  unreasonable  that  you  should 
demand  that  staff  which  I  never  received  from  you,  yet  in  some  measure 
I  submit  to  your  sentence,  and  will  resign  it ;  but  consider  it  just  to 
make  that  resignation  to  Kin^  Edward,  who  conferred  it  on  me." 
Then  ending,  he  left  the  synod,  and  crossing  the  church  to  Edward's 
tomb,  said,  whilst  standing  before  it,  "  Thou  knowest,  O  holy  king ! 
how  unwillingly  I  undertook  this  office,  and  even  by  force,  for  neither 
the  desire  of  the  prelates,  the  petition  of  the  monks,  nor  the  voice  of  the 
nobility  prevailed,  till  your  commands  obliged  me;  but  see,  a  new  king, 
new  laws ;  a  new  bishop  pronounces  a  new  sentence.  Thee  they  accuse 
of  a  fault  for  making  me  a  bishop,  and  me  of  assurance  for  accepting 
the  charge."    Then  raising  his  ann,  he  placed  the  staff  upon  the  tomb, 


10  TJie  Building  of  Westminster  Abbey. 

which  was  of  stone,  and  leaving  it,  went  arrayed  as  a  monk,  and  sat 
with  them  in  the  chapter-house.  When  this  became  known  in  the 
synod,  a  messenger  was  sent  for  the  staff,  but  he  found  it  adhere  so 
firmly  to  the  stone  that  it  could  by  no  means  be  removed ;  nor  could 
either  the  king  or  the  archbishop  himself  disengage  it  fi-om  the  tomb. 
Wulstan  was  then  sent  for,  and  the  staff  readily  submitted  to  his  touch ; 
which  being  considered  as  a  consummation  of  the  miracle,  he  was 
allowed  to  retain  his  episcopal  dignity.  Such  implicit  credence  was 
given  to  this  story,  that,  according  to  the  annals  of  Burton  Abbey, 
King  John  urged  it  to  Pandulph,  the  pope's  legate,  as  a  proof  of  the 
right  of  the  English  kings  to  nominate  a  bishop. 

To  return  to  the  obsequies  of  the  Confessor: — "Our  kings  in  the 
castle  of  Windsor  (says  Palgrave),  live  on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  which 
opens  to  receive  them.  The  throne  of  Edward  was  equally  by  the  side 
of  his  sepulchre,  for  he  dwelt  in  the  palace  of  Westminster ;  and  on  the 
festival  of  the  Epiphany,  the  day  after  his  decease,  his  obsequies  were 
solemnized  in  the  adjoining  abbey,  then  connected  with  the  royal  abode 
by  walls  and  towers,  the  foundations  whereof  are  still  existing. 
Beneath  the  lofty  windows  of  the  southern  transept  of  the  Abbey,  you 
may  see  the  deep  and  blackened  arches,  fragments  of  the  edifice  raised 
by  Edward,  supporting  the  chaste  and  florid  tracery  of  a  more  recent 
age.  Within  stands  the  shrine,  once  rich  in  gems  and  gold,  raised  to 
the  memory  of  the  Confessor  by  the  fond  devotion  of  his  successors, 
despoiled,  indeed,  of  all  its  ornaments,  neglected  and  crumbling  to  ruin, 
but  still  surmoimted  by  the  massive  iron-bound  oaken  coffin  which 
contains  the  ashes  of  the  last  legitimate  Anglo-Saxon  king." 

After  the  decisive  victory  at  Hastings  over  the  brave  but  unfortunate 
Harold,  William  the  Norman,  on  his  arrival  near  London,  made  it  one 
of  his  first  cares  to  give  thanks  for  his  success  at  King  Edward's  tomb 
at  Westminster ;  and  as  it  would  seem,  in  a  passage  in  William  of 
Malmesbury,  the  "  better  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  English,"  by 
displaying  a  veneration  for  the  Confessor's  memory,  he  fixed  on  the 
new  church  for  the  scene  of  his  own  coronation ;  accordingly,  on  the 
Christmas-day  following,  he  was  crowned  by  the  side  of  Edward's  tomb. 
At  a  subsequent  period  he  caused  the  remains  of  his  predecessor  to  be 
re-interred,  with  "  a  curious  and  more  costly  tomb  of  stone." 

The  Feast  of  Edward  the  Confessor  was  yearly  observed  with  great 
ceremony  in  the  Abbey.  Matthew  Paris  describes  that  of  the  year 
1247,  when  Heniy  III.  wal'iced  from  St.  Paul's  to  Westminster  Abbey, 
carrying  as  an  offering  a  little  vase,  containing  a  portion  of  the  alleged 
blood  of  Christ.     Matthew,  in  his  Chronicle,  gives  a  drawing  of  the 


The  Building  of  Westminster  Abbey.  1 1 

vessel.  The  Bishop  of  Norwich  preached  on  the  occasion,  when  some 
of  the  clergy  went  so  far  as  to  express  some  doubt  as  to  the  genuineness  of 
the  rclique ;  and  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  undertaking  to  convince  them, 
his  discourse  was  noted  down  at  the  time.  The  scene  in  the  abbey 
must  have  been  very  impressive :  the  King  was  seated  on  his  throne, 
attired  in  his  royal  robes,  and  recognising  Paris,  caused  him  to  sit  on 
the  middle  step,  between  the  throne  and  the  door,  and  expressly  directed 
him  to  write  an  account  of  the  proceedings.  This,  it  is  added,  Paris  did 
so  well  that  the  king  invited  him  to  dinner. 

The  Abbey.as  it  nowexists,  was  forthemost  part  rebuilt  by  Henry  III., 
in  veneration  of  the  memory  of  the  pious  Confessor.  "  The  Abbey 
Church,"  says  Mr.  Bardwell,  the  architect,  "  formerly  arose  a  mag- 
nificent apex  to  a  royal  palace,  surrounded  by  its  own  greater  and  lesser 
sanctuaries  and  almonries :  its  bell-towers  (the  principal  one  72  feet 
6  inches  square,  with  walls  20  feet  thick),  chapels,  prisons,  gatehouses, 
boundary-walls,  and  a  train  of  other  buildings,  of  which  we  can  at  the 
present  day  scarcely  form  an  idea.  In  addition  to  all  the  land  around 
it,  extending  fi-om  the  Thames  to  Oxford-street,  and  fiom  Vauxhall- 
bridge-road  to  the  church  of  St.  Mary-le-Strand,  the  Abbey  possessed 
97  towns  and  villages,  17  hamlets,  and  216  manors!  Its  officers  fed 
hundreds  of  persons  daily ;  and  one  of  its  priests  (not  the  Abbot)  enter- 
tained at  his  '  pavilion  in  Tothill'  the  King  and  Queen,  with  so  large  a 
party,  that  seven  hundred  dishes  did  not  suffice  for  the  first  table ;  the 
Abbey  butler,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  rebuilt  at  his  own  private 
expense  the  stately  gatehouse  which  gave  entrance  to  Tothill-strect." 

It  has  lately  been  brought  to  light  that  the  nave  of  the  Abbey  was  re^ 
built  in  1413  by  Richard  Whittington  and  Richard  Harrowden  (a  monk 
of  the  Abbey),  to  whom  Henr)'  V.  issued  a  commission  for  the  pui-pose. 
Now,  it  has  been  plausibly  argued  by  Lysons,  in  his  Memoir  of  Lord 
Mayor  Whittington,  that  this  personage  was  the  very  man  named  in 
the  Royal  Commission. 

As  the  place  of  sepulture  of  oqj  sovereigns,  the  Abbey  is  of  para- 
mount interest:—"  The  Chapel  of  the  Kings  (says  an  able  critic),  had 
been  nearly  filled  before  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Tudor. 
Henry  VII. — partly,  perhaps,  to  do  honour  to  the  holy  shade  of 
Henry  VI.,  partly  to  mark  the  beginning  of  a  new  Royal  line— deter- 
mined to  add  a  mausoleum  to  Westminster  not  unworthy  of  the 
Majesty  of  England.  The  beautiful  chapel  called  by  his  name  dates 
from  the  first  year  of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  and  dull,  indeed,  the  spirit 
must  be  which  the  scene  does  not  waken  to  keen  sympathy.  The 
tombs  and  monuments  within  its  precincts  not  only  tell  the  ordinary 


12  The  Building  of  West7ninstcr  Abbey. 

tale  of  the  instability  of  human  grandeur,  but  mark  strikingly  the 
strange  vicissitudes  and  revolutions  of  our  English  history.  The  devices 
on  Henry's  monument  record  the  day  of  Boswoith  and  his  right  ot 
conquest ;  but  they  are  prophetic  of  the  union  of  these  islands  under 
Princes  in  whom  the  Celtic  blood  flowed  mingled  with  that  of  Norman 
and  Saxon.  Henry  VUI.  rests  with  Jane  Seymour  at  Windsor,  far 
from  the  spot  where  he  wedded  Catherine,  in  nuptials  accursed,  as  he 
thought,  by  Heaven  ;  or  where  their  doomed  and  immature  fruit  lies 
unhonourcd  by  memorial  or  epitaph.  But  his  three  children  who 
attained  the  Crown  were  buried  in  their  grandfather's  chapel; 
Edward  VI.  without  a  royal  monument;  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  made 
foes  in  life  by  a  schism  that  rent  the  ties  of  kindred,  and  divided  Europe 
into  hostile  camps,  but  in  death  mingled  in  a  common  sepulchre.  Here, 
too,  borne  from  that  tragic  spot  where  a  tardy  justice  overtook  her 
crimes,  lies  the  siren  schemer  of  that  stirring  age,  Mary  Stuart,  in  the 
reconciliation  of  the  grave  placed  in  honour  among  the  chiefe  of  a 
nation  whose  high  destinies  she  would  have  frustrated  had  her  power 
equalled  her  will  and  ambition.  James  I.  and  Anne  of  Denmark  are 
near ;  and  here,  too,  for  a  brief  space — until  the  frenzy  of  the  Restora- 
tion did  cruel  and  idle  violence  to  the  dead — were  laid  several  of  the 
great  men  of  the  Commonwealth,  among  whom  Blake  and  Ireton  were 
conspicuous,  encircling  the  tomb  of  the  mijihty  Protector.  Charles  H. 
rests  unhonoured  in  the  chapel ;  his  brother  found  a  grave  in  his  place 
of  exile ;  but  Anne  and  Mary  rejoined  their  ancestors,  and  were  laid 
there,  by  William  HI.,  strange  to  say,  without  a  befitting  monument. 
The  first  King  of  the  Hoase  of  Hanover  sleeps  far  from  the  England  he 
never  loved  ;  George  U.,  however,  and  Queen  Caroline,  with  many  of 
their  progeny,  claiming  justly  a  burial-place  among  our  native  kings,  fill 
a  large  space  in  the  centre  of  the  chapel.  With  theirs  ends  the  line  of 
the  Royal  tombs,  George  III.  having  shown  a  preference  for  Windsor, 
since  followed  by  his  immediate  successors.  The  chapel,  however,  of 
Henry  VII.,  like  that  in  a  certain  degree  of  the  Kings,  covers  other  dust 
beside  that  of  royalty.  Passing  by  the  near  relations  of  the  Tudors,  of 
the  houses  of  Richmond,  Suffolk,  and  Lennox,  we  see  there  the  graves 
of  Stuart  favourites ;  of  the  great  chiefs  of  the  Restoration ;  of  statesmen 
of  Anne  and  George  I.,  among  whom  friendship  has  placed  Addison, 
as  if  to  show  that  even  in  that  place,  where  man  strives  to  prevent  the 
equality  of  death,  the  Monarchs  of  England  are  not  separated  by  any  im- 
passable line  from  their  subjects.  Thei'e,  too,  tossed  by  the  storm  of  a  re- 
volution that  should  teach  a  tremendous  lesson  to  kings,  rests  one  of  the 
Prmces  of  the  House  of  Orleans,  a  Roj'al  exile  in  his  last  English  asylum," 


i3 


A  Legend  of  Kilburn  Prioiy, 

•'A  little  lowly  Hermitage  it  was, 

Downe  in  a  dale,  hard  by  a  forest's  side; 
Far  from  resort  of  people  that  did  pass 

In  traveill  to  and  fro  ;  a  little  wyde 

There  was  an  holy  chapelle  edifyde, 
\Vherein  the  Hermite  dewly  wont  to  say 

His  holy  things,  each  mome  and  eventyde: 
Thereby  a  christall  streame  did  gently  play, 
Which  from  a  sacred  fountaine  welled  forth  alvvay." 

Spcnstr. 

Kilburn,  a  hamlet  of  Hampstead,  famed  for  its  fine  spring  of  mineral 
water,  lies  about  two  miles  from  London,  north-westward,  on  the 
Edgware-road.  It  derived  its  origin  fi-om  a  hermit,  named  Godwyn, 
who,  retiring  hither  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  for  the  purpose  of  seclusion, 
built  a  cell  near  a  little  rivulet,  called  Kilboume,  or  Kilburn,  on  a  site 
surrounded  with  wood.  Whether  Godwyn  grew  weary  of  his  solitude, 
or  fi-om  whatever  cause,  between  the  years  1128  and  1134  he  granted 
his  hermitage,  with  the  adjoining  lands,  to  the  conventual  church  of 
St.  Peter,  Westminster,  "  as  an  alms  for  the  redemption  of  the  whole 
convent  of  Brethren,"  under  the  same  conditions  and  privileges  which 
King  Ethelred  had  granted  Hanistede  to  the  same  church. 

Almost  immediately  after  this  grant  the  abbot,  with  the  prior,  and 
the  whole  convent  of  Westminster,  at  Godwyn's  request,  and  with  the 
consent  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  assigned  the  hermitage  and  its  lands 
to  three  Virgins,  by  name  Emma,  Griselda,  and  Christina,  who  were 
maids  of  honour  to  Matilda,  or  Maude,  the  queen  of  Henry  L  Queen 
Maude  was  herself  a  Benedictine  nun  ;  and  it  was,  probably,  to  obtain 
her  favour,  that  the  cell  of  the  anchorite  was  converted  into  a  nunnery. 
It  is  recorded  of  this  princess,  that  every  day  in  Lent  she  went  bare- 
footed and  bare-legged,  wearing  a  garment  of  hair,  to  pay  her  devotions 
in  Westminster  Abbey;  and  that  she  would,  during  that  season,  wash 
and  kiss  the  feet  of  the  poorest  of  her  subjects.  The  hermit,  Godwyn, 
was  appointed  master  of  the  Nunnery,  and  guardian  of  the  maidens,  as 
long  as  he  should  live ;  and  after  his  death  the  nuns  were  to  elect  liis 
successor.  Abbot  Herbert  granted  the  nuns  an  estate  held  of  the  manor 
of  Knightsbridge  (which  still  belongs  to  Westminster),  in  the  place 
called  Gara,  probably  Kensington  Gore.  In  return  for  vai-ious  gifts, 
the  vestals  were  enjoinrd  to  pray  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  St. 
Edward  the  Confessor,  and  the  souls  of  the  abbots  and  brethren  of  the 
church  at  Westminbtcr.     In  1536  the  Nunnery  was  surreudeied  to  the 


14  A  Legend  of  Kilbnrn  Priory. 

Commissioners  ;  the  inventory  corrects  some  erroneous  notions  respect- 
ing the  state  of  our  English  bedding  in  Henry  the  Eighth's  reign :  there 
was  not  such  a  difference  between  the  chamber  furniture  of  those  days 
and  our  own  time  as  is  generally  supposed.  The  site  of  the  dissolved 
Priory  was  then  assigned  to  the  Prior  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem,  in  exchange  for  Paris  Garden,  in  Surrey ;  which  proprietor- 
ship continued  until  the  year  1773.  The  Abbey  Farm  at  Kilbum, 
and  Priory  site  still  belong  to  the  March  family,  who  were  seated  at 
Hendon  in  the  reign  -of  Edward  IV.  The  conventual  buildings  have 
long  been  destroyed.  Several  relics,  including  pieces  of  pottery,  a  few 
coins,  and  a  bronze  vessel,  all  mediaeval,  were  found  on  the  Priory  site 
in  1852. 

There  is  a  curious  traditionary  legend  connected  with  Kilbum  Priory, 
which  states  that  at  Saint  John's-wood,  not  far  distant,  there  was  for- 
merly a  stone  of  a  dark -red  colour,  which  was  the  stain  of  the  blood  of 
Sir  Ger^ase  de  Mertoun,  which  flowed  upon  it  a  few  centuries  ago. 
Stephen  de  Mertoun,  being  enamoured  of  his  brother's  wife,  fi-e- 
quently  insulted  her  by  the  avowal  of  his  passion,  which  she,  at 
length,  threatened  to  make  known  to  Sir  Gervase ;  to  prevent  which, 
Stephen  resolved  to  waylay  his  brother,  and  slay  him.  This  he  effected 
by  seizing  him  in  a  narrow  lane,  and  stabbing  him  in  the  back, 
whereupon  he  fell  upon  a  projecting  rock,  which  became  dyed  with 
his  blood.  In  his  expiring  moments  Sir  Gervase,  recognising  his 
brother,  upbraided  him  with  his  cruelty,  adding,  "  This  stone  shall  be 
thy  death-bed." 

Stephen  returned  to  Kilbum,  and  his  brother's  lady  still  refusing  to 
listen  to  his  criminal  proposals,  he  confined  her  in  a  dungeon,  and  strove 
to  forget  his  many  crimes  by  a  dissolute  enjoyment  of  his  wealth  and 
power.  Oppressed,  however,  by  his  troubled  conscience,  he  determined 
upon  submitting  to  religious  penance;  and,  ordering  his  brother's 
remains  to  be  removed  to  Kilbum,  he  gave  directions  for  their  re-inter- 
ment in  a  handsome  mausoleum,  erected  with  stone  brought  from  the 
quarry  where  the  murder  was  committed.  The  identical  stone  on 
which  his  murdered  brother  had  expired  formed  a  part  of  the  tomb ; 
and  the  eye  of  the  murderer  resting  upon  it,  the  legend  adds,  blood  ivas 
seen  to  issue  from  it !  Struck  with  horror,  the  murderer  hastened  to 
the  Bishop  of  London,  and,  making  confession  of  his  guilt,  demised 
his  property  to  the  Priory  of  Kilbum.  Having  thus  acted  in  atone- 
ment for  his  misdeeds,  grief  and  remorse  quickly  consigned  him  to 
the  grave. 


15 


The  Tower,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison,  and  its 
Memories, 

It  has  long  been  customary  to  carry  the  antiquity  of  this  celebrated 
fortress,  by  tradition,  centuries  earlier  than  our  records,  and  ascribe  its 
origin  to  Julius  Caesar.  Shakspeare  has  adopted  this  version,  but  in 
Richard  III.  only  gives  us  Buckingham's  assiu-ance  that  it  is  founded 
*'  upon  record;"  and  Gray  has  embellished  the  idea  of  this  antiquity: 

"  Ye  towers  of  Julius,  London's  lasting  shame. 
With  many  a  foul  and  midnight  murder  fed." 

May  it  not  be  what  architects  term  a  "Julius  Tower." 
The  tradition  that  the  site  of  the  Tower  was  anciently  a  Roman  strong- 
hold is,  however,  capable  of  explanation.  We  find  a  similar  tradition  in 
connexion  with  the  keeps  of  Kenilworth  and  some  others  of  Norman 
date  ;  but  in  connexion  with  the  Tower  of  London  there  is  no  visible 
evidence  of  Roman  construction.  Near  the  basement,  where  some 
alterations  have  been  made,  there  seems  to  be  a  mixture  of  Roman 
tiles  and  bricks ;  and  the  same  may  be  seen  near  the  base  of  some  of 
the  other  towers  which  defend  the  inner  ward.  These,  however,  may 
have  been  brought  from  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  city,  which  stretched 
westward ;  for  we  are  not  aware  that  any  Roman  remains  exist  which 
indicate  that  buildings  of  importance  were  here  during  the  occupation 
of  London  by  the  Romans. 

The  oldest  portion  of  the  fortress  is  the  Keep,  or  White  To<wer,  so 
named  from  its  having  been  originally  luhitnuashed,  as  appears  from  a 
Latin  document  of  the  year  1241.  This  Tower  was  built  about  1078, 
for  William  the  Conqueror,  by  Gundulf,  bishop  of  Rochester,  who 
also  erected  Rochester  Castle ;  and  the  two  fortresses  have  points  of 
resemblance.  William  Rufus  greatly  added  to  the  Keep  ;*  Henry  I. 
strengthened  the  fortress;  and  Stephen,  in  1140,  kept  his  court  here, 
with  all  the  rude  splendour  of  the  period.    Fitzstephen  describes  it  as 


•  Gundulf  reached  the  age  of  eighty-four,  and  lived  till  1108,  that  is,  through 
ther'- ""-  '^f  'I  •  Conqueror,  and  Rufus,  and  to  the  ninth  of  Henry  L  Ralph 
M,.';  1  of  Durham,  the  rapacious  minister  of  Rufus,  greatly  assisted 

in  •  ■  Tower,  and,  strangely  enough,  was  the  first  person  known 

I  :e.     He  was  sent  1-  r  15th  August,  iioo, 

•  Tower.     Two  s;  >,  then  .a  large  sum, 

^  cc.     Making  his  k     ,  ;'ik,  and  obtaining  a 

fupt:  la  a  lUigon,  he  iei  liimself  down  from  the  window  of  the  south  gallery, 
February  4,  iioi,  taking  his  pastoral  staff  with  him.  Tlie  rope  broke,  and  he 
was  injured  in  falling,  but  he  managed  to  escape  to  Normandy.  He  lived  to 
recover  his  see,  and  was  the  architect  of  several  remarkable  buildings. 


1 6  The  Tozuer,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  PrisoH, 

"  the  Tower  Palatine,  very  large  and  very  strong,  whose  court  and 
walls  rise  up  from  a  deep  foundation.  The  mortar  is  tempered  ivitb 
the  blood  oj  beasts.  On  the  west  are  two  castles,  well  fenced."  The 
mortar  process  we  suspect  to  be  less  tenable  than  the  Roman  origin  ; 
but  writers  of  history  are  loth  to  part  with  such  attractive  mettle. 

its  greatest  antiquity  must  be  placed  at  eight  centuries;  and  all  that 
we  shall  attempt  is  a  chronological  record  of  the  Tower  in  the  several 
reigns.  Thus,  about  1190,  the  Regent  Bishop  Longchamp  surrounded 
the  fortress  with  an  embattled  stone  wall  and  "  a  broade  and  deepe 
ditch :"  for  breaking  down  part  of  the  city  wall  he  was  deposed,  and 
besieged  in  the  Tower,  but  suiTendered  after  one  night.  King  John 
held  his  court  here.  Henry  III.  strengthened  the  White  Tower,  and 
founded  the  Lion  Tower  and  other  western  bulwarks;  and  in  this 
reign  the  palace-fortress  was  alternately  held  by  the  king  and  the  insur- 
gent barons.  Edward  I.  enlarged  the  moat,  and  on  the  west  made  the 
last  additions  of  military  importance  prior  to  the  invention  of  cannon. 
Edward  II.  retired  here  against  his  subjects;  and  here  was  bom  his 
eldest  daughter,  Joan  of  the  Tower.  Edward  III.  imprisoned  here 
many  illustrious  persons,  including  David  king  of  Scotland,  and  John 
king  of  France  with  Philip  his  son.  During  the  insurrection  of  Wat 
Tyler,  King  Richard  II.  took  refuge  here,  with  his  court  and  nobles, 
six  hundred  persons :  Richard  was  deposed  whilst  imprisoned  here,  in 
1399.  Edward  IV.  kept  a  magnificent  court  here.  In  1460  Lord 
Scales  was  besieged  here  by  the  Yorkists,  and  was  taken  and  slain  in 
endeavouring  to  escape  by  water.  Henry  VI.,  twice  imprisoned  in  the 
fortress,  was  murdered  by  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  who  crossed 
the  Thames  for  that  purpose  in  a  small  boat,  at  two  in  the  afternoon  of 
Tuesday,  the  2  ist  of  May,  1471;  the  weapon  was  a  knife,  and  the  wound 
was  in  the  ribs.  The  beheading  of  Lord  Hastings,  in  1483,  by  order  of 
the  Protector  Gloucester;  the  seizure  of  the  crown  by  Richard;  and  the 
murder  of  his  nephews,  Edward  V.  and  the  Duke  of  York, — are  the 
next  events  in  the  annals  of  the  fortress.  Henry  VII.  frequently  resided 
in  the  Tower,  where  also  his  queen  sought  refuge  from  "  the  society  of 
her  sullen  and  cold-hearted  husband:"  the  king  held  a  splendid  tourna- 
ment here  in  1501  ;  his  queen  died  here  in  1503.  Henry  VIII.  often  held 
his  court  in  this  fortress:  here,  in  great  pomp,  Henry  received  all  his 
wives  previous  to  their  espousals;  here  were  beheaded  his  queens  Anne 
Boleyn  and  Catherine  Howard.  About  this  time  (1548),  an  old  chro- 
nicle tells  us  that  a  great  fire  was  caused  in  the  Tower  by  a  Frencliman 
setting  on  fire  a  barrel  of  gunpowder,  '•  and  so  was  burned  himself,  and 
no  more  persons." 


aftd  its  Memories.  17 

Edward  VI.  kept  his  court  in  the  Tower  prior  to  his  coronation : 
here  his  uncle,  the  Protector  Somerset,  was  twice  imprisoned  before  his 
decapitation  on  Tower  Hill,  in  1552.  Lady  Jane  Grey  entered  the 
fortress  as  queen  of  England,  but  in  three  wetks  became  here  a  captive 
with  her  youthful  husband :  both  were  here  beheaded.  Queen  Mary, 
at  her  court  in  the  Tower,  first  showed  her  Romish  resolves: 
her  sister,  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  was  imprisoned  here  on  suspicion 
of  favouring  Sir  Thomas  VVyat's  design  ;  she  was  compelled  to  enter 
at  the  Traitors'  Gate.  Queen  Elizabeth  did  not  keep  her  court  in 
the  Tower,  but  at  no  period  was  the  state  prison  more  "  constantly 
thronged  with  delinquents."  James  I.  resided  here,  and  delighted  in 
combats  of  the  wild  beasts  kept  here.  In  Charles  I.'s  reign  many 
leading  partisans  were  imprisoned  here ;  and  under  the  Government  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  in  the  reigns  of  Charles  II.  and  James  II.,  the 
Tower  was  filled  with  prisoners,  the  victims  of  state  policy,  intrigue, 
tyranny,  or  crime.  Almost  from  the  Conquest,  our  sovereigns,  at 
their  coronations,  went  in  great  state  and  procession  from  the  Tower, 
through  the  city,  to  Westminster ;  the  last  observance  being  at  the 
coronation  of  Charles  II.  All  the  domestic  apartments  of  the  ancient 
palace  within  the  Tower  were  taken  down  during  the  reigns  of 
James  II.  and  William  and  Mary.  In  1792  the  garrison  was  increased. 
Several  hundred  men  were  employed  in  repairing  the  fortifications, 
opening  the  embrasures,  and  mounting  cannon  ;  and  on  the  western 
-ide  of  the  fortress  a  strong  barrier  was  formed  with  old  casks   filled 

.ith  earth  and  rubble  ;  the  gates  were  closed  at  an  early  hour,  and  no 
one  but  the  military  allowed  to  go  on  the  ramparts. 

The  Tonver  Palace  occupied  the  south-easteiTi  portion  of  the  inner 

ward,  as  shown  in  a  plan  of  the  fortress  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 

within  a  century  from  which  period   much  of  its  ancient  character 

was  obliterated. 

The  in.'ite  Toivt-r  is  a  rare  example  of  Norman  architecture,  hut 

\temally  it  has  been  much  disfigured  by  casing  and  restorations  in 
the  architectural  style  of  the  reign  of  James  I.  The  interior  has  been 
little  interfered  with.  The  council-chamber  and  chapel  are  at  a  con- 
siderable height  above  the  ground  of  Tower-green,  and  are  reached 
by  two  circular  staircases  of  curious  construction ;  one  of  these  is  on 
the  north  and  the  other  on  the  west  side  of  the  White  Tower:  these 
are  formed  in  the  thickness  of  the  masonry.  Here  and  there  are 
loopholes,  in  which  may  be  seen  the  great  strength  of  the  main 
wails  of  the  Keep.  The  council-chamber  is  a  large  apartment,  now 
stripped  of  its  tapestry  hangings  and  other  fittings.  It  was  in  this 
*  c 


1 8  The  Toiuer,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison, 

chamber  that  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  rose  from  the  council-table  and 
admitted  a  body  of  armed  men,  who,  by  the  Duke's  orders,  arrested 
Lord  Hastings  and  other  partisans  of  his  nephew.  Lord  Hastings  was 
immediately  taken  down  the  stairs  and  beheaded  on  some  beams  of 
timber  which  had  been  brought  into  the  Tower-green  for  the  purpose 
of  making  some  repairs  in  the  adjoining  buildings ;  others  were  com- 
mitted to  close  prisons,  where  they  endured  much  suffering. 

From  some  of  the  deeply-recessed  windows  of  the  White  Tower  we 
have  glimpses  of  the  little  Chapel  of  St.  Peter,  in  which  two  headless 
Queens  and  a  large  number  of  persons  of  note  who  have  suffered 
execution,  lie  buried.  Beyond  the  outer  walls  and  across  the  moat, 
northward,  is  the  site  of  the  scaffold  which  was  often  raised  on 
Tower-hill.  The  last  who  were  beheaded  heie  were  Lords  Balmerino, 
Kilmarnock,  and  Lovat,  for  their  share  in  the  northern  rebellion,  in 
174-.  Looking  westward,  within  the  walls  of  the  fortress  may  still 
be  seen  at  a  short  distance  from  the  Chapel  of  St.  Peter,  the  square 
space  on  which  the  scaffold  was  placed  whereon  were  put  to  death 
two  Queens  of  Henry  VUL,  Lady  Jane  Grey,  and  others. 

The  Jrms  and  Armour  in  this  tower  have  been  re-arranged  by  Mr. 
Planchc,  Somerset  Herald,  chronologically,  in  the  several  compartments 
appropriated  to  the  successive  periods  of  English  history.  The 
wall  above  the  arches  is  painted  with  the  livery  colours  of  the  royal 
families  of  England,  from  the  Plantagenets  to  the  Stuarts,  and 
bearing  the  names  and  dates  of  the  sovereigns,  in  gold,  from  Henry  U. 
to  James  U. 

In  the  Bloody  Tower,  in  a  dark  windowless  room,  in  which  one 
of  the  portcullises  was  worked,  George  Duke  of  Clarence  is  said  to 
have  been  drowned  in  malmsey ;  in  the  adjoining  chamber,  the  two 
Princes  are  said  to  have  been  "  smothered ;"  whence  the  name  of  Bloody 
Tower.  This  has  been  much  disputed ;  but  in  a  tract  temp.  James  L 
we  read  that  the  above  "  turret  our  eldei-s  termed  the  Bloody  Tower; 
for  the  bloodshed,  as  they  say,  of  those  infant  princes  of  Edward  IV., 
whom  Richard  III.,  of  cursed  memory  (I  shudder  to  mention  it), 
savagely  killed,  two  together  at  one  time."  In  the  latter  chamber  was 
imprisoned  Colonel  Hutchinson,  whose  wife,  daughter  of  Sir  Allen 
Apsley,  lieutenant  of  the  tower,  where  she  was  born,  relates  the  above 
traditions.  This  portion  was  formerly  called  the  Garden  Tower ;  it  was 
built  temp.  Edward  III.,  and  is  the  only  ancient  place  of  security,  as  a 
state  prison,  in  the  Tower:  it  is  entered  through  a  small  concealed  door 
in  the  inner  ballium  ;  it  consists  of  a  day-room  and  a  bedroom,  and 
the  leads  on  which  the  prisoner  was  sometimes  allowed  to  breathe  the  air. 


and  its  Memories.  19 

By  this  concealed  door  tradition  says,  the  murderers  of  the  two  Princes 
brought  out  the  dead  bodies  of  their  royal  victims.  It  will  be  re- 
collected that,  in  the  commonly-received  history  of  this  transaction,  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  at  the  bottom  of  the  staircase  on  the  west  side 
of  the  White  Tower,  was  found  a  wooden  box,  in  which  were  a 
quantity  of  bones,  supposed  to  have  been  those  of  the  youthful  Princes ; 
by  direction  of  King  Charles,  they  were  inclosed  and  buried  in  the  north 
aisle  of  the  chapel  of  Henry  VII.  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Bailey,  the 
historian  of  the  Tower,  however,  believed  the  murder  to  have  been  com- 
mitted in  the  White  Tower,  from  the  bones  having  been  found  there, 
near  a  door  on  the  south  side.  Still,  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  wrote  a 
century  and  a  half  before  these  bones  were  found,  says  the  bodies  had 
been  removed  by  a  priest  from  the  spot  where  they  were  first  laid  by 
Tyrrel,  on  the  night  of  the  murder,  to  a  less  dishonourable  grave.  This 
priest  had  removed  them  at  the  king's  request ;  and  as  priest  and 
king  died  suddenly,  the  secret  of  their  new  resting-place  would  account 
for  Henry  the  Seventh  being  unable  to  find  them,  when  it  was  of 
supreme  importance  for  him  to  show  that  the  Princes  were  dead.  The 
discovery  of  bones  (every  way  answering  to  those  of  Edward  and 
Richard)  under  the  old  staircase  leading  into  the  Chapel  of  St.  John 
the  Evangelist,  in  the  White  Tower,  agrees  exactly  with  the  narrative 
in  More,  Richard  might  well  object  to  the  burial  of  his  nephews  in  a 
place  so  public  as  the  gateway  under  the  Bloody  Tower.  The  stair- 
case of  St.  John's  Chapel  would  offer  him  a  spot  which  he  might  con- 
sider as  at  once  secret  and  sacred. 

Some  further  light  was  thrown  upon  this  question  in  1868.  Adjoining 
the  Bloody  Tower  is  the  Wakefield  Tower.  An  opinion  had  long  been 
entertained  that  a  staircase  existed  in  the  wall  between  these  two  towers, 
but  investigation  had  hitherto  failed  in  detecting  it.  Between  or  in  the 
thickness  of  the  walls  connecting  the  Bloody  Tower  with  the  Wake- 
field, was  discovered  a  small  passage  which  leads  past  the  chamber  con- 
taining the  windlass  for  raising  the  portcullis,  and  ascends  in  a  spiral 
course  to  the  top  of  the  ballium-wall ;  thence  it  leads  into  a  passage 
which  connected  the  Bloody  Tower  with  the  Lieutenant's  lodgings,  an  J 
communicated  immediately  with  the  room  in  which  the  princes  are  tradi- 
tionally said  to  have  been  murdered.  At  the  bottom  of  the  staircase, 
the  stones  of  which  were  sharp  and  clean,  was  a  small  cell,  with  a 
chimney-flue,  which  (both  cell  and  flue)  were  crammed  with  bones  and 
earth.  The  bones  were  at  first  said  to  be  butnan,  as  might  be  expected; 
but  upon  careful  examination,  they  were  found  to  be  entirely  the  bones 
of  animals,  principally  deer  and  oxen.     It  has  been  conjectured  that  the 

c  2 


20  The  Tower,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison, 

staircise  may  have  been  closed  immediately  after  the  murder ;  that  the 
bodies  wltc  concealed  in  the  flue,  so  closely  adjoining,  in  order  to 
escape  the  notice  tliat  their  removal  and  burial  elsewhere  would  occa- 
son ;  and  that  both  flue  and  stairs  may  have  been  at  once  closed  up  by 
Richard's  own  orders.  The  work  is  carefully  executed,  the  openings 
being  closed  with  stone,  built  up  so  as  exactly  to  match  the  walls,  and 
thus  escape  obsei-vation.  At  all  events,  it  is  very  singular  that  a  con- 
venient staircase  already  made  should  be  closed,  thereby  necessitating 
the  formation  of  another,  on  the  further  side  of  the  tower,  to  reach  the 
chambers  above.  Here  is  fresh  subject  for  surmise,  especially  as  to  the 
animal  bones.  In  front  of  the  foot  of  the  stairs  is  an  arched  opening, 
which  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  doorway ;  but  there  is  nothing  left  to 
show  how  it  communicated  with  any  other  building,  as  it  is  at  a  con- 
siderable height  from  the  ground.  The  chamber  in  the  basement  of  the 
Bloody  Tower,  entered  by  a  small  door  immediately  behind  the  gate  on 
the  east  side,  was  evidently  intended  for  the  use  of  the  guard. 

"  In  a  chamber  of  the  Bloody  Tower,"  says  Mr.  Dixon,  "  occurred  that 
strange  scene  when  Sir  Thomas  Wyat,  on  his  way  to  Tower  Hill  for  execu- 
tion, was  carried  into  Courtney's  room,  by  Mary's  command,  in  the  hope 
that,  on  a  chance  of  his  owti  life  being  spared,  he  would  implicate  Eliza- 
beth and  Courtney  in  the  Kentish  plot.  The  room  was  full  of  men  ; 
many  lords  of  the  council,  the  lord  mayor  and  sheriffs,  gentlemen  of  the 
guard,  officers  of  the  tower, — all  eager  for  the  words  on  which  Eliza- 
beth's life  as  well  as  Courtney's  life  then  hung.  But  the  undaunted 
poet— a  man  worthy  to  die  for  such  a  woman — would  not  win  his 
pardon  by  a  lie.  Lord  Chandos,  his  bitter  enemy,  says  he  implored 
Lord  Courtney  to  confess  the  truth  ;  the  sheriffs  of  London  declared 
that  he  asked  Courtney  to  forgive  him  for  having  spoken  of  him  and  the 
Lady  Elizabeth  in  connexion  with  his  plot.  A  few  minutes  later,  with 
the  axe  gleaming  close  beside  him,  he  told  the  people  on  Tower  Hill 
•hat  he  had  never  accused  either  Elizabeth  or  Courtney ;  that  he  could 
yot  truly  do  it,  as  neither  had  known  of  his  rising  until  the  commotion 
yiad  begun.     In  another  moment  his  head  was  in  the  dust." 

The  Bloody  Tower  gateway,  built  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.  opposite 
Traitor's  Gate  is  the  main  entrance  to  the  inner  ward  :  it  has  massive 
gates  and  portcullis  complete,  at  the  southern  end  ;  the  gates  are  genuine, 
and  the  portcullis  is  said  to  be  the  only  one  remaining  in  England  fit  for 
use.  The  late  Duke  of  Wellington  described  this  tower  as  the  best,  if 
not  the  only  good  place  of  security  at  the  disposition  of  the  officers  of 
the  Tower,  in  which  state  prisoners  can  be  placed. 

Traitors'  Qate  was  a  small  postern,  with  a  drawbridge,  fronting  the 


and  its  Memories.  2 1 

Thames,  as  Stow  tells  us,  "  seldom  let  down  but  fof  the  receipt  of  eome 
great  persons,  prisoners."  "  Perhaps,"  says  Mr.  Feney,  the  architect, 
"  no  part  of  this  fortified  enclosure  has  suffered  more  from  improper  use 
than  the  Traitors'  Gate.  Few  people  can  be  aware  of  the  solemn 
grandeur  which  this  water-gate  must  have  presented  in  bygone  times, 
when  its  architectural  features  were  unmutilated.  Gateways  and  barbi- 
cans to  castles  are  usually  bold  and  striking  in  their  design ;  but  a 
water-gate  of  this  kind,  in  its  perfect  state,  must  have  been  quite  unique. 
The  structure  consists  in  plan  of  an  oblong  block,  each  corner  having 
an  attached  round  turret  of  large  dimensions.  The  south  archway, 
which  formed  the  water  approach  from  the  Thames,  guarded  by  a 
portcullis,  is  now  effectually  closed  by  a  wharf  occupying  the  entire 
length  of  the  tower.  The  water  originally  flowed  through  the  base  of 
the  gate-house,  and  extended,  probably,  beyond  the  north  side  of  it,  to 
the  traitors'  steps,  as  they  were  called.  Here  the  superincumbent  mass 
of  the  gateway  is  supported  by  an  archway,  spanning  the  entire  width 
of  the  front,  from  turret  to  turret,  a  distance  of  more  than  sixty  feet. 
Such  an  arch,  I  think,  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  other  gateway,  and  is  a 
piece  of  masterly  construction,  A  staircase  in  the  north-west  turret 
conducts  to  the  galleries,  or  wall-passages,  formed  on  a  level  with  the 
top  of  the  archway.  These  passages  are  lighted  by  loopholes  through 
the  outer  walls  ;  and  have  a  breastwork  on  the  inner  faces,  pierced  and 
crenellated,  so  that  each  side  of  the  gateway  could  be  guarded  by 
soldiers,  commanding  the  space  below  as  well  as  on  the  outside.  The 
four  angular  turrets  are  approached  by  the  wall  passages ;  each  turret 
has  two  tiers  of  chambers.  They  are  beautifully  groined,  having  elegant 
vaulting  shafts,  with  capitals  and  bases.  A  lancet  window  on  each 
side  (for  the  rooms  are  octangular  within),  lights  the  apartment.  No 
stranger  on  looking  at  the  Traitors'  Gate  as  it  is  now  encumbered, 
could  possibly  form  an  idea  of  its  ancient  dignity.  The  whole  of  the 
upper  part  is  crammed  with  offices,  and  disfigured  in  every  possible 
manner;  and  the  gloom  of  the  Traitors'  Gate  is  now  broken  up  by  the 
blatant  noise  of  steam  machinery  for  hoisting  and  packing  war-weapons." 
As  this  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  prisons  in  England,  so  it  is  the 
most  honourable  (says  Hatton,  1 708),  few  criminals  having  the  favour 
of  being  here  imprisoned  but  the  nobility,  or  Members  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  who  are  for  high  misdemeanour  kept  in  safe  custody,  by 
order  of  their  own  house,  and  the  governor  or  lieutenant  have  their  fees, 
viz,,  for  a  duke,  200/.,  an  inferior  peer,  100/.,  and  a  commoner,  50/. 
The  gentleman -porter  hath  for  his  fee  such  prisoners'  upper  garment, 
or  compounds  for  it,  which  is  commonly  30/.  for  a  peer,  and  5/.  each 


22  The  Tozver,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison, 

for  others.  The  yeomen-warders  attend  prisoners  whose  crimes  or 
misdemeanours  are  something  against  the  Queen  (or  government)  who 
allow  the  prisoners,  viz.  to  a  duke,  4/.,  other  lords,  2/.  4J.  5^.,  and  to 
knights  and  gentlemen,  13J.  4^.  [ler  week  while  they  are  under  con- 
finement. Notwithstanding  the  numerous  landmarks  of  our  history, 
which  have  been  swept  away  within  the  Tower  walls,  here  and  there 
ancient  features  remain  to  keep  in  memory  the  many  innocent  victims 
murdered  here  in  times  of  despotism  and  tyranny,  and  which  "  pass  like 
dark  phantoms  before  the  wind." 

"  On  through  that  gate,  through  which  before 
Went  Sidney,  Russell,  Raleigh,  Cranmer,  More." 

Rogers's  Human  Life. 

The  prisonere  were  conveyed  to  Westminster  for  trial,  and  through 
the  gate  they  were  brought  back  accompanied  by  the  headsman  and  the 
axe.  "  It  would  seem,"  says  Mr.  Ferrey,  "  that  the  enormous  size  of 
the  north  archway  must  have  been  for  the  admission  of  several  barges 
or  vessels  to  pass  within  the  present  boundary  of  the  gateway-walls 
when  the  outer  portcullis  was  closed,  and  that  the  Thames  once  pene- 
trated further  to  the  north." 

Mr.  Dixon  reminds  us  that — "When  it  was  found  necessary,  from  any 
cause,  to  carry  a  prisoner  through  the  streets,  the  sheriffs  received  him 
fi'om  the  king's  lieutenants  at  the  entrance  to  the  City,  gave  a  receipt 
for  him,  and  took  another  on  delivering  him  up  at  the  gates  of  the 
tower.  The  receipt  of  the  governor  for  the  body  of  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
mouth— his  living  body — is  still  extant." 

The  Bel/Toiver,  containing  the  alarm-bell  of  the  garrison,  is  next  in  order. 
The  Rev.  Thomas  Hugo,  F.S.A.,  thus  picturesquely  introduces  two  of 
the  illustrious  tenants  of  this  historical  prison  house — this  gloomy  dun- 
geon,  and  the  scarcely  less  gloomy  chamber  immediately  above  it.  Of 
course,  the  identification  of  particulai-  prisoners  with  particular  spots 
is  legendary,  and  we  can  rarely  adduce  precise  historical  proof  of 
the  correctness  of  such  views.  Assuming  as  a  fact  what  tradition 
asserts, — these  walls  once  looked  upon  two  feces,  among,  doubtless, 
many  others,  whose  owners  possess  considerable  attractions  for  the 
minds  of  Englishmen.  The  first  of  these  two  was  the  venerable  Fisher, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  who  fell  under  the  headsman's  axe  for  denying  the 
spiritual  supremacy  of  Henry  VIII. 

The  Bishop  of  Rochester  was  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  his  age,  and 
was  for  many  years  confessor  to  the  king's  grandmother,  the  Countess 
of  Richmond ;  and  it  is  supposed  that  her  munificence  towards  our  two 
universities — by  founding  St.  John's  and  Christ's  Colleges  at  Cambridge, 


and  its  Memories.  23 

and  the  professorships  of  divinity  in  both  Oxford  and  Cambridge — was 
mainly  owing  to  his  pious  advice  and  direction.  He  sided,  as  was 
likely,  against  the  King  in  the  matter  of  Queen  Katharine,  whose  cause 
he  warmly  advocated,  and,  as  also  was  likely,  drew  down  upon  himself 
the  displeasure  of  his  unscrupulous  sovereign.  At  length,  when  called 
before  the  Lambeth  council,  and  commanded  to  acknowledge  the  King's 
supremacy,  he  resolutely  refused  to  do  so,  and  was  forthwith  committed 
to  the  Tower. 

"  He  had  now  reached  his  eightieth  year,  and  the  cold  damp  dungeon 
into  which  he  was  thrust  was  not  calculated  to  prolong  his  days.  Per- 
haps his  enemies  desired  that  death  should  naturally  remove  him,  and 
remove  from  them  also  the  odium  which  could  not  fail  to  attach  to  all 
who  should  be  instrumental  in  his  more  direct  and  manifest  destruction. 
His  constitution,  however,  was  proof  against  his  position,  and  for  many 
months  he  bore  his  privations  as  became  a  good  soldier  in  a  cause  on 
which  his  heart  and  soul  were  set.  Out  of  his  painful  dungeon  he 
vsTote  to  Mr.  Secretary  Cromwell  in  these  words: — '  Furthermore,  I 
beseech  you,  to  be  good  master  to  me  in  my  necessity,  for  I  have  neither 
suit  nor  yet  other  clothes  that  are  necessary  for  me  to  wear  but  that  be 
ragged  and  rent  shamefully.  My  diet  also,  God  knoweth  how  slender 
it  is  at  many  times ;  and  now  in  mine  age  my  stomack  may  not 
away  with  but  a  few  kinds  of  meat,  which,  if  I  want,  I  decay  forth- 
with, and  fall  into  coughs  and  diseases  of  my  body,  and  cannot  keep 
myself  in  health.  And  as  our  Lord  knoweth,  I  have  notJiing  left  unto 
me  to  provide  any  better,  but  as  my  brother  of  his  own  purse  layeth 
out  for  me  to  his  great  hindrance.  Thercfore,  good  Master  Secretary, 
I  beseech  you  to  have  some  pity  upon  me,  and  let  me  have  such  things  as 
are  necessary  for  me  in  mine  age,  and  especially  for  my  health.  »  ♦  *  • 
Then  shall  you  bind  me  for  ever  to  be  your  poor  beadsman  unto 
Almighty  God,  who  ever  have  you  in  his  protection  and  custody.' 

"  This  was  written  in  the  depth  of  a  bitter  winter,  for  the  aged  writer 
concludes: — 'This,  I  beseech  you,  to  grant  me  of  your  charity.  And 
thus  our  Lord  send  you  a  merry  Christmas,  and  a  comfortable,  to  your 
heart's  desire. — At  the  Tower,  the  22  day  of  December.* " 

Condemned  by  his  peers,  and  brought  back  to  the  Water-gate,  he 
turned  round  and  dismissed  his  escort,  as  though  they  had  been  a  guard 
of  honour,  and  he  were  only  coming  in  from  a  feast,  saying,  that  as  he 
had  nothing  else  left  he  should  give  them  his  hearty  thanks. 

This  Bell  Tower,  one  of  the  safest  dungeons  in  the  stronghold,  was 
considered  as  next  in  rank  to  the  Blooily  Tower.  Elizabeth  is  said  to 
have  been  first  of  all  lodged  in  its  strong  room,  until  the  murmurs  of  all 


24  TJu  Tower f  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison, 

London  and  the  threats  of  Lord  Howard  and  the  fleet  persuaded  Mary 
to  treat  her  with  some  show  of  justice.  It  was  the  prison,  as  we  see,  of 
Courtney  and  Lady  Lennox,  both  of  the  royal  race,  of  the  blood  of 
Edward  IV. 

"  The  scene  again  changes,  and  this  time  a  very  different  prisoner  enters 
the  portals  of  the  Bell  tower.  It  is  now  the  fair  and  blooming  face  of 
a  young  and  noble  lady,  afterwards  the  Queen  of  this  great  country, 
then  known  by  the  name  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth.  Her  sister,  ever 
sullen  and  suspicious,  had  removed  her,  to  the  danger  of  her  life, 
fi'om  her  home  at  Ashridge,  in  Hertfordshire,  and  after  necessary  delay 
at  Redborne,  St.  Alban's,  South  Mimms,  and  Highgate,  she  at  length, 
some  days  after  the  beginning  of  her  journey,  arrived  at  Whitehall. 
Within  a  fortnight  she  was  lodged  in  her  prison  in  the  Tower.  Doubt- 
less you  know  the -story ;  but  her  entrance  into  the  fortress  descrv'es  a 
moment's  mention.  The  barge  was  directed  to  enter  by  Traitors' 
Gate,  much  to  the  annoyance  of  the  fair  prisoner.  It  rained  hard  (an 
old  chronicler  says),  and  a  certain  unnamed  lord  offered  her  his 
cloak ;  but  she  put  her  hand  back  with  a  good  dash,  and  then,  as 
she  set  her  foot  on  the  dreaded  stairs,  she  cried  out  aloud,  '  Here 
landeth  as  good  a  subject,  being  a  prisoner,  as  ever  landed  at  these 
stairs;  and  before  Thee,  O  God,  I  speak  it,  having  none  other  friend  but 
Thee.'  A  few  minutes  afterwards  found  her  a  fast  prisoner,  and  as  tradi- 
tion tells  us,  in  the  very  tuiTet  to  which  we  have  drawn  attention." 

Walter  Raleigh  was  thrice  imprisoned  in  the  Tower.  Beauchamp 
Tower  and  the  White  Tower  were  his  prison-houses;  but  his  twelve 
long  years  of  imprisonment  were  passed  in  the  Bloody  Tower.  "  It 
was  hither  that  Prince  Henry  came  to  spend  his  hours  with  the  great 
prisoner ;  and  where  he  one  day  sa:d  to  his  attendants,  as  he  rode  away, 
that  no  king  save  his  father  would  keep  such  a  bird  in  such  a  cage.  It 
was  to  these  narrow  chambers  that  Lady  Raleigh,  the  bright  Bessie 
Throgmorton  of  his  youth,  leaving  all  the  splendours  of  Sherborne 
Castle,  came  to  reside  with  her  hero.  Here  her  son  Carew  was  born."* 
Here  Raleigh  devoted  much  time  to  chemistry  and  pharmaceutical  pre- 
parations. "  He  has  converted,"  says  Sir  William  Wade,  Lieutenant 
of  the  Tower,  "  a  little  hen-house  in  the  garden  into  a  still-house,  and 
here  he  doth  spend  his  time  all  the  day  in  distillations ;  ....  he  doth 
show  himself  upon  the  wall  in  his  garden  to  the  view  of  the  people:" 
here  Raleigh  prepared  his  "  Rare  Cordiai,"f  wrote  his  political  discourses, 


*  Dixon, 
t  Raleigh's  "Rare  Cordial,"  with  other  ingredients  introduced  by  Sir  Kcnelm 
Digby  and  Sir  A.  Frazer,  is  the  Confectio  aromatica  of  the  present  day. 


and  its  Memories.  25 

and  commenced  his  famous  "  History  of  the  World."  He  was  at 
length  liberated,  but  again  committed  to  the  Tower,  about  two  months 
before  his  execution  at  Westminster. 

Raleigh's  shifting  imprisonments  must  have  been  very  irksome.  Thus, 
in  1603,  in  the  course  of  a  few  months,  Raleigh  was  first  confined  in  his 
own  house,  then  conveyed  to  the  Tower,  next  sent  to  Winchester  gaol, 
returned  from  thence  to  the  Tower,  imprisoned  for  between  two  and 
three  months  in  the  Fleet,  and  again  removed  to  the  Tower,  where  he 
remained  until  released  thirteen  years  afterwards,  to  undertake  his  new 
expedition  to  Guiana.  Mr.  Payne  Collier  possesses  a  copy  of  that 
rare  tract,  "A  Good  Speed  to  Virginia,"  4to,  1609,  with  the  auto- 
graph on  the  title-page,  "W.  Ralegh,  Turr.  Lond. ;"  showing  that  at 
the  time  this  tract  was  published  and  read  by  Raleigh,  he  recorded  him- 
self a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London.* 

Raleigh's  constant  study  was  in  the  pages  of  that  Divine  Book,  by 
which,  as  he  told  the  clergyman  who  rebuked  him  for  his  seeming  light- 
ness, on  the  eve  of  his  beheadal,  he  had  prepared  himself  to  look  fear- 
lessly on  death.  His  last  hours  were  each  an  episode,  and  his  acts  and 
words  have  been  carefully  recorded.  On  the  morning  of  his  execution, 
his  keeper  brought  a  cup  of  sack  to  him,  and  inquired  how  he  was 
pleased  with  it?  "  As  well  as  he  who  drank  of  St.  Giles's  bowl  as  he 
rode  to  Tybume,"  answered  the  knight,  "  and  said,  '  it  was  a  good  drink, 
if  a  man  might  but  tarry  by  it.' "  "Prithee,  never  fear,  Beeston,"  cried 
he  to  his  old  friend  Sir  Hugh,  who  was  repulsed  from  the  scaflbld  by  the 
sheriff,  "  I  shall  have  a  place !"  A  bald  man,  fixim  extreme  age,  pressed 
for\vard  "to  see  him,"  he  said,  "and  pray  God  for  him."  Raleigh 
took  a  richly-embroidered  cap  from  his  own  head,  and  placing  it  on  that 
of  the  old  man,  said,  "  Take  this,  good  friend,  to  remember  me, 
for  you  have  more  need  of  it  than  I."  "  Farewell,  my  lords,"  was 
his  cheerful  parting  to  a  courtly  group,  who  affectionately  took  their 
sad  leave  of  him,  "  I  have  a  long  journey  before  me,  and  I  must  e'en 
say  good-bye."  "  Now,  I  am  going  to  God,"  said  that  heroic  spirit,  as 
he  trod  the  scaffold ;  and,  gently  touching  the  axe,  added,  "  This 
is  a  sharp  medicine,  but  it  will  cure  all  diseases."  The  very  heads- 
man shrank  from  beheading  one  so  illustrious  and  brave,  until  the  un- 


"  Sir  Richard  Baker,   in  his  "Chronicle,"  oddly  s^  -     <-  -^  >      '      r    ,  :,j^^ 
prisonmcnt  for  treason,  that  "  he  was  kept  in  the '1  -.it 

honour,  he  sf>ent  his  lime  in  writing,  and  had  been  a  i.  er 

btnt  released.  But  such  is  our  state,  that  no  man  s  fortune  is  uiidorsiood, 
wlifiher  it  be  good  or  bad,  until  it  be  discovered  by  the  event."  )3aker 
had  iad  experiences  of  loss  of  liberty,  many  of  which  arc  shown  in  his 
"Chronicle.  ■ 


26  TJie  Toiver,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison, 

quailing  soldier  addressed  him,  "  What,  dost  thou  fear?  Strike,  man !" 
In  another  moment,  the  mighty  soul  had  fled  from  its  mangled  tenement 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  pcnshed  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age — a  mourn- 
ful monument  of  the  proverbial  mutability  of  fortune,  and  a  testimony 
that  the  most  brilliant  capacities,  unless  accompanied  by  moral  recti- 
tude, are  insufficient  and  unstable.  However  much  we  may  be  inclined 
to  dissent  from  that  sweeping  sentence  of  Dr.  Lingard,  that,  in  this 
catastrophe,  "  the  provocation  was  great,  and  the  punishment  not  under- 
stood," we  can,  nevertheless,  coincide  with  that  eminent  historian  in 
looking  with  admiration  upon  the  magnanimous  self-possession  of 
Raleigh.  We  can  peruse  with  joy  that  splendid  panegyric  uttered  by 
the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  who  attended  Sir  Walter  on  the  scaffold,  and 
who  declared  that  "  his  was  the  most  fearless  of  deaths  that  ever  was 
known,  and  the  most  resolute  and  confident,  yet  with  reverence  and 
conscience ! "  We  can  rejoice  that  the  contemporary  population  were 
sufficiently  dispassionate  to  regard  that  execution,  according  to  Hume, 
as  a  deed  of  "  cruelty  and  injustice,  meanness  and  indiscretion  !"  We 
can  rejoice  to  hear  Macaulay  asserting  that  that  decollation,  "under  all 
the  circumstances,  must  be  considered  as  a  dastardly  murder  !"  We 
can  almost  rejoice  at  that  dramatic  incident  at  Whitehall,  where,  several 
years  after  this  imperial  assassination,  James  was  startled  by  the  intro- 
duction of  Raleigh's  only  surviving  son,  Carew,  at  court,  and  turned 
from  him  with  loathing,  muttering  that  he  resembled  his  father's  ghost ! 
An  anecdote  which  proves,  as  Miss  Aikin  keenly  remarks,  '  how  loudly 
the  conscience  of  the  King  upbraided  him  with  the  sacrifice  of  Sir 
Walter.'  We  can  rejoice  in  these  considerations,  painful  and  lament- 
able as  they  are,  because,  in  the  indignation  which  they  aroused  against 
the  murderer  of  Raleigh,  we  recognise  the  safeguard  of  the  future 
illustrious.  Because  Sovereigns  must  tremble  in  their  palaces,  and 
Ambassadors  swallow  vengeance  in  their  cabinets,  before  another  sub- 
ject, however  exalted  or  however  base,  shall  suffer  wrongfully  for  their 
satisfaction ;  before  another  Raleigh  can  perish  by  an  ignominious 
punishment,  deriving  an  additional  glory  to  his  memory  out  of  the  very 
abjectncss  and  degradation  of  his  antagonists.* 

The  Beauchamp  Toiuer  has  a  most  minute  individual  history  written 
upon  its  sides.  It  has  been  fancifully  said  that  "  walls  have  ears."  The 
walls  of  the  prison-lodgings  in  the  Tower,  however,  bear  more  direct 
testimony  of  their  former  occupants;  for  here  the  thoughts,  sorrows, 
and  sufferings  of  many  a  noble  soul,  crushed  spirit,  are  literally  cut 


Dolman's  Alagazine, 


and  its  Memories.  27 

in  stone.  The  Beauchamp  Tower  has  many  records  preserved  of 
note%vorthy  persons  confined  upon  its  walls;  but  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  several  of  these  records  have  been  removed  from  the  rooms  where 
they  were  incised,  so  that  the  interest  of  the  locality  Is  marred.  This 
tower  originally  derived  its  name  from  Thomas  de  Beauchamp,  Earl 
of  Warwick,  who  was  imprisoned  here  in  1397.  It  consists  of  three 
apartments,  one  above  the  other,  besides  a  few  small  passages  and  cells; 
and  in  the  ground-floor  chamber  have  been  discovered  in  the  stonework 
secret  passages  for  listening  spies.  This  room  is  partly  below  the 
groimd,  and  must  have  been  a  dismal  place  of  imprisonment.  A  cir- 
cular staircase  leads  to  the  other  apartments,  in  which  have  been  con- 
fined so  many  eminent  persons.  Many  of  these  have  here  endeavoured 
to  shorten  the  tedious  hours  by  records  on  the  stone  walls,  of  their 
names  and  sentiments;  and  hard  must  be  the  heart  which  could  look 
unmoved  at  many  of  the  memorials :  they  have  been  cleansed  by  an  in- 
genious chemical  process  from  dirt  and  paint.  During  this  operation 
many  new  names  have  been  brought  to  light  which  have  been  for  long 
hidden  from  plaster,  &c.  Amongst  these  is  a  sculptured  rebus — a  bell 
inscribed  TA.  and  Thomas  above,  the  memorial  of  Dr.  Abel,  chaplain 
to  Queen  Catherine  of  Arragon.  Thomas  Abel  was  a  man  of  learning, 
a  great  master  of  instrumental  music,  and  well  skilled  in  modern  lan- 
guages. He  was  introduced  at  Court,  and  he  became  domestic  chaplain 
to  Queen  Catherine  of  Arragon,  wife  of  Henry  VIII.  When  the 
validity  of  their  marriage  became  a  question,  the  affection  which  Dr, 
Abel  bore  towards  his  mistress,  led  him  into  the  controversy  to  which 
it  gave  rise,  and  he  opposed  the  divorce  both  by  words  and  writings. 
By  giving  in  to  the  delusion  of  the  "  Holy  Maid  of  Kent"  he  incunvd 
a  misprision,  and  was  aftenvards  condemned  and  executed  in  Smithfield, 
together  with  others,  for  denying  the  King's  supremacy,  and  affirming 
his  marriage  with  Queen  Catherine  to  be  valid.  Couplets,  maxims, 
allegories,  and  spiritual  truths  are  sometimes  added. 

Another  sculpture,  a  kneeling  figure,  portrays  Robert  Bainbridge, 
who  was  imprisoned  for  writing  a  letter  offensive  to  Queen  Elizabeth. 
"Thomas  Talbot,  I462,"  is  the  oldest  inscription  which  has  been  found 
in  the  prison:  Talbot  was  here  in  1464;  he  had  kept  Henry  VI  pri- 
soner at  Waddington  Hall,  in  Lancashire. 

In  the  State  Prison  room  is  lANE.  lANE,  cut  in  letters  of  Eliza- 
bethan character,  which  attract  more  attention  from  visitors  than 
memorials  of  more  elaborate  design  and  execution.  These  letters 
are  supposed  to  have  been  cut  by  Lord  Guildford  Dudley,  as  a 
solace,  when  he  was  confined  in  a  separate  prison  from  his  unhappy 


28  TJie  Tower,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison, 

wife.  This  is  the  only  memorial  preserved  of  Lady  Jane  Grey  in  the 
Tower. 

One  of  the  most  elaborate  devices  is  that  of  John  Dvdle,  Earl  of 
\Vanvick,  tried  and  condemned  in  1553  for  endeavouring  to  deprive 
Mary  of  the  crown ;  but  being  reprieved,  he  died  in  his  prison-room, 
where  he  had  wrought  upon  the  wall  his  family's  cognizance,  the  lion, 
and  bear  and  ragged  staff,  underneath  which  is  his  name ;  the  whole 
surrounded  by  oak-sprigs,  roses,  geraniums,  honeysuckles,  emblematic 
of  the  Christian  names  of  his  four  brothers,  as  appears  from  this  un- 
finished inscription: — 

"  Yow  that  these  beasts  do  wel  behold  and  se, 
May  deme  with  ease  wherefore  here  made  they  be 
Withe  borders  eke  wherein  (there  may  be  found) 
4  brothers'  names,  who  list  to  serche  the  grovnd." 

The  names  of  the  four  brothers  were  Ambrose,  Robert,  Guildford,  and 
Henry:  thus.  A,  acorn;  R,  rose;  G,  geranium;  H,  honeysuckle:  others 
think  the  rose  indicates  Ambrose,  and  the  oak  Robert  {robur).  In 
another  part  is  carved  an  oak-tree  bearing  acorns,  signed  R.D. ;  the 
work  of  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester. 

The  following  apophthegms  are  curious  :  "  I  hs  1571,  die  10  Aprilis. 
Wise  men  ought  circumspectly  to  see  what  they  do,  to  examine  before 
they  speake,  to  prove  before  thsy  take  in  hand,  to  beware  whose  com- 
pany they  use,  and  above  all  things,  to  whom  they  truste.  Charles 
Bailly."  Another  of  Bailly's  apophthegms  is :  "  The  most  vnhapy  man 
in  the  world  is  he  that  is  not  pacient  in  adversities ;  for  men  are  not  killed 
with  the  adversities  they  have,  but  with  ye  impacience  which  they  svffer." 

Here  are  several  devices  of  the  Peverils,  on  a  crucifix  bearing  a 
heart,  wheatsheaves,  a  portrait,  initials,  &c.  A  reference  to  Sir  Walter 
Scott's  novels  of  the  Fortunes  of  Nigel  and  Pe-veril  of  the  Peak, 
shows  that  their  distinguished  author  had  made  himself  acquainted  with 
the  various  portions  of  the  Tower.  The  lower  right-hand  inscription 
is  one  of  several  bearing  the  name  of  Peveril.  The  wheatsheaves  are 
the  armorial  bearings  of  the  Peverils  of  Derbyshire.  Scott  doubtless 
found  these  stones  very  suggestive.  The  room,  above  the  entrance  of 
the  Bloody  Tower,  in  which  the  young  Princes  are  said  to  have  been 
murdered  by  Richard  I  IK,  agrees  with  the  account  of  the  place 
of  m.eeting  between  George  Heriot,  his  god- daughter,  and  Nigel. 
There  is  here  a  secret  closet  near  the  roof,  of  no  seeming  use,  except  to 
conceal  an  observer  fiom  the  prisoners,  which  may  have  afforded  the 
idea  of  the  "  lug"  in  which  James  I.  ensconced  himself 

These  inscriptions  tell  their  own  sad  stories : — 


and  its  Memories.  29 

"  O  .  Lord  .  whic  .  art  .  of.  heavn  .  King  .  Graunt  .  gras  .  and  .  lyfe . 
cverlastig  .  to  .  Miagh  .  thy  .  servant  .  in  .  prison  .  alon  .  with  ♦  *  *  « 
Tomas  Miagh."     Again: — 

"Thomas  Miagh,  whiche  lietli  here  alon, 
That  fayne  wovld  from  hens  be  gon, 
By  tortyre  straunge  mi  troth  was 
trjed,  yet  oi'  my  Ubertie  denied.     1581,  Thomas  Myagh." 

He  was  a  prisoner  tor  treason,  tortured  with  Skevington's  irons  and  the 

rack.* 

"  Thomas  Willyngar,  goldsmithe.     My  hart  is  yours  tel  dethe."     By 

the  side  is  a  figure  of  a  bleeding  "  hart,"  and  another  of  "  dethe ;"  and 

"  T.  W."  and  "  P.  A." 

' '  Thomas  Rose, 
Within  this  Tower  strong 
Kept  close 
By  those  to  whom  he  did  no  wrong.     May  8th,  1666." 

"J.  C.  1538."  "  Leame  to  feare  God."  "  Reprens  .  le  .  sage  et . 
il  .  te  .  armera. — Take  wisdom,  and  he  shall  arm  you." 

The  memorial  of  Thomas  Salmon,  1622,  now  let  into  the  wall  of  the 
middle  room,  was  formerly  in  the  upper  prison-lodging :  it  records  a 
long  captivity,  and  consists  of  a  shield  surrounded  by  a  circle ;  above 
the  circle  the  name  "  T.  Salmon;"  a  crest  formed  of  three  salmons,  and 
the  date  1622  ;  underneath  the  circle  the  motto  Nee  temere,  nee  timore 
— "  Neither  rashly,  nor  with  fear."    Also  a  star  containing  the  abbrevia- 


*  Torture  was  never  allowed  by  the  laws  of  England,  but  it  was  inflicted  in 
England  from  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  to  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  both  inclusive, 
by  virtue  of  what  was  then  considered  the  royal  prerogative,  which  at  that  period 
was  also  considered  to  be  above  the  law.  No  earlier  torture  warrants  have  been 
discovered  than  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  Mr.  Jardine,  the  Recorder  of  Bath, 
has  shown  fifty  instances  of  the  infliction  of  torture.  In  Scotland,  torture  was 
allowed  by  law  until  its  abolition  at  the  Union  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  ;  and 
the  last  torture  warrant,  stated  to  be  signed  with  the  sign  manual  of  King 
Wilhiim  III.,  is  dated  at  Kensington  Palace,  and  is  for  the  torturing  of  Norvill 
Pain.  With  the  fonn  of  that  terrible  instrument  of  torture — the  Hack — we  axe 
familiar  from  the  plates  to  the  early  editions  of  P'oxe's  "  Book  of  Martyrs." 

Dr.  Lingard,  in  his  account  of  the  diflferent  kinds  of  torture  used  in  the  Tower 
in  the  times  of  the  Tudors,  says: — "A  fourth  kind  of  torture  was  a  cell  called 
'  Little  Ease. '  It  was  of  so  small  dimensions  and  so  constructed  tnat  the  prisoner 
could  neither  stand,  sit,  nor  lie  in  it  at  full  length.  He  was  compelled  to  draw 
liini-'lf  up  in  a  squatting  posture,  and  so  remained  during  .several  days.'  Randle 
H'hiic  tells  us  tliere  was  a  similar  place  at  Chester,  wliere  it  was  used  for  the 
punishment  of  petty  offences.  In  the  House  of  Correction  is  a  place  cut  into  a 
rock,  with  a  grate-door  before  it ;  into  this  place  are  put  renegadoes,  appren- 
tices, &.C.,  that  disobey  their  parents  and  msisters,  robbers  of  orcharls,  and  such 
like  rebellious  youths  ;  in  which  they  can  neither  stand,  sit,  kneel,  nor  lie  down, 
but  be  all  in  a  ruck,  or  knit  together,  so  and  in  such  a  laincntabhr  condition, 
that  half  an  hour  will  tame  the  stoutest  and  stubbornest  stomach,  and  will  make 
him  have  a  desire  to  be  freed  from  the  place.'  " 


30  The  Tower,  Fortress,  Palace,  and  Prison, 

tion  of  Christ  in  Greek,  surrounded  by  the  sentence,  Sic  vvve  vt  vivas — 
"  So  live  that  thou  mayst  live."  In  the  opposite  comer  are  the  words, 
Et  morire  ne  morieris — "  And  die  that  thou  mayst  die  not."  Surround- 
ing a  representation  of  Death's  head,  above  the  device,  is  the  enumera- 
tion of  Salmon's  confinement :  "  Close  prisoner  8  moneths,  32  wekes — 
224  dayes,  5376  hourcs." 

On  the  gi-ound-floor  is  "  Robart  Dudley."  He  was  the  third  son  of 
John  Dudley  Duke  of  Northumberland,  who  was  beheaded  on  Tower 
Hill  in  1553,  for  high  treason.  At  his  death  his  sons  were  still  left  in 
confinement ;  Robert  was,  in  1554,  arraigned  in  Guildhall  for  high 
treason,  and  condemned  to  be  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered.  He  lay 
imder  this  sentence  till  the  following  year,  when  he  and  his  brothers  were 
liberated  by  command  of  Queen  Mary,  and  afterwards  rose  in  high 
fevour  at  Court.     On  the  ground-floor,  also,  is  this  significant  couplet: 

"  The  man  whom  this  house  cannot  mend, 
Hath  evil  becom,  and  worse  will  end." 

Sir  ^V alter  Raleigh's  prison  was  the  two  upper  chambers. 

One  of  the  most  striking  personages  amongst  the  foreign  prisoners  was 
Charles  of  Orleans,  the  brave  soldier  and  poet -prince,  who  was  captured 
at  Agincourt,  and  remained  prisoner  in  the  Tower  five-and-twenty 
years.  Mr.  Dixon,  availing  himself  of  a  copy  of  the  Prince's  French 
Poems,  nobly  illuminated,  in  the  MS.  department  of  the  British  Museum, 
states  that  one  of  the  drawings  in  this  MS.  is  of  peculiar  interest:  in  the 
first  place,  as  being  the  oldest  vieiv  of  the  Toiuer  extant ;  in  the  second 
place,  as  fixing  the  exact  chamber  in  the  \A  hite  Tower  in  which  the 
poet  was  confined,  and  displaying  dramatically  the  life  which  he  led. 
First,  we  see  the  Prince  at  his  desk,  composing  his  poems,  with  his  gen- 
tlemen in  attendance,  and  his  guards  on  duty.  Next,  we  observe  him 
on  a  window-sill,  looking  outwards  into  space.  Then  we  have  him  at 
the  foot  of  the  White  Tower,  embracing  the  messenger  who  brings  him 
the  ransom.  Again,  we  see  him  mounting  his  horse.  Then  we  have 
him  and  his  friendly  messenger  riding  away  from  the  Tower.  Lastly, 
he  is  seated  in  a  barge,  which  lusty  rowers  are  pulling  down  the  stream 
for  the  boat  which  is  to  carry  him  to  France. 

It  is  commonly  stated  that  the  Beauchamp  Tb-xyer  was  formerly  the 
place  of  confinement  for  state  prisoners,  and  that  Sir  William  Wallace 
and  Queen  Anne  Boleyn  were  amongst  its  inmates.  Mr.  Sidney  Gibson, 
however,  maintains  there  to  be  "  no  historical  authority  for  saying  that 
the  Scottish  hero  was  ever  confined  in  the  Tower  of  London  ;  and  it 
seems  certain  that  the  unfortunate  Queen  was  a  prisoner  in  the  royal 
apartments,  which  were  in  a  different  part  of  the    fortress."    Mr 


and  its  Memories,  3 1 

Gibson  proceeds  to  show  that  when  Wallace  was  taken,  and  conducted 
to  London,  he  was  lodged  in  the  house  of  a  citizen  in  Fenchurch- 
street,  and  next  brought  on  horseback  to  Westminster,  and  in  tlie  Great 
Hall  was  impeached ;  and  Holinshed  says,  '  condemed  and  thereupon 
hanged'  at  Smithfield  ;  so  that  '  he  ne\er  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower.' 
Queen  Anne  Boleyn  occupied  the  royal  apartments  while  she  was 
prisoner  here ;  Speed  states  that  she  continued  to  occupy  the  same 
apartments  after  she  was  condemned  to  death ;  and  was  beheaded  on 
"the  Green  by  the  White  Tower." 

The  economy  of  the  Tower  as  a  state  prison  presents  a  strange  con- 
trast with  its  magnificence  as  a  royal  palace.  "  The  case  of  Sir  Henry 
Wyat,"  says  Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon,  in  a  paper  read  by  him  to  the 
Archaeological  Institute,  "  father  of  the  wit,  poet,  and  courtier.  Sir 
Thomas  Wyat,  takes  us  back  to  the  latter  days  of  the  Red  and  White 
Roses.  Wyat  was  a  Lancastrian  in  politics,  and  under  the  reign  of 
Richard  the  Third  he  s{>ent  not  a  little  of  his  time  in  the  Tower."  The 
Wyat  Pajjers  say — "  He  was  imprisoned  often ;  once  in  a  cold  and 
narrow  tower,  where  he  had  neither  bed  to  lie  on,  nor  clothes  sufficient 
to  warm  him,  nor  meat  for  his  mouth.  He  had  starved  there  had  not 
God,  who  sent  a  crow  to  feal  his  prophet,  sent  this  and  his  country's 
martyr  a  cat  both  to  feed  and  to  warm  him.  It  was  his  own  relation 
unto  them  firom  whom  I  had  it.  A  cat  came  one  day  down  into  the 
dungtx)n  unto  him,  and  as  it  were  offered  herself  unto  him.  He  was 
glad  of  her,  laid  her  in  his  bosom  to  warm  him,  and,  by  making  much 
of  her  won  her  love.  After  this  she  would  come  every  day  unto  him 
divers  times,  and,  when  she  could  get  one,  bring  him  a  pigeon.  He 
complained  to  his  keeper  of  his  cold  and  short  fare.  The  answer  was, 
'  he  durst  not  better  it.' — '  But,'  said  Sir  Henry,  '  if  I  can  provide  any, 
will  you  promise  to  dress  it  for  me  ?' — '  I  may  well  enough,*  said  he, 
the  keeper, '  you  are  safe  for  that  matter ;  and  being  urged  again,  pro- 
mised him,  and  kept  his  promise,  dressed  for  him,  from  time  to  time, 
such  pigeons  as  his  accator  the  cat  provided  for  him.  Sir  Henry  Wyat 
in  his  prosperity  for  this  would  ever  make  much  of  cats,  as  other  men 
will  of  their  spaniels  or  hounds ;  and  perhaps  you  shall  not  find  his 
picture  anywhere  but,  like  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  with  his  dog,  with  a 

it  beside  him.'  The  prisoner  had  this  faithful  cat  painted,  with 
I  pigeon  in  his  paws,  offering  it  through  the  grated  window  of  his 
dungeon." 

By  way  of  relief  to  our  gloomy  chronicle,  we  conclude  with  a  nar- 

itive  of  a  strange  incident,  which  Samuel  Pepys  has  recorded  in  his 
Diarj:    "October  30,   1662.     To  my  Lord   Sandwich,  who  was    in 


32  The  Tower,  Fortress ,  Palace,  and  Prison. 

his  chamber  all  alone,  and  did  inform  me  that  oiir  old  acquaintance, 
Mr.  Wade,  hath  discovered  to  him  7000/.  hid  in  the  Tower,  of  which 
he  was  to  have  two  for  the  discovery,  my  Lord  two,  and  the  King  the 
other  three,  when  it  was  found  ;  and  that  the  King's  warrant  to  search, 
runs  for  me  and  one  Mr.  Lee.  So  we  went,  and  the  guard  at  the 
Tower  gate  making  me  leave  my  sword.  I  was  forced  to  stay  so  long  at 
the  alehouse  c'ose  by,  till  my  boy  run  home  for  my  cloak.  Then 
walked  to  Minchen  Lane,  and  got  from  Sir  H.  Bennet,  the  King's 
warrant,  for  the  paying  of  20C0/,  to  my  Lord,  and  other  two  of  the 
discoverers.  (This  does  not  agree  with  the  first  statement  as  to  sharing 
the  money.)  After  dinner  we  broke  the  matter  to  the  Lord  Mayor, 
who  did  not,  and  durst  not,  appear  the  least  averse  to  it.  So  Lee  and  I 
and  Mr.  Wade  were  joined  by  Evett,  the  guide,  W.  Griffin,  and  a 
porter  with  pickaxes.  Coming  to  the  Tower,  our  guide  demands  a 
candle,  and  down  into  the  cellars  he  goes.  He  went  into  several  little 
cellars  and  then  out  of  doors  to  view,  but  none  did  answer  so  well  to 
the  marks  as  one  arched  vault,  where,  after  much  talk,  to  digging  we 
went,  till  almost  eight  o'clock  at  night,  but  could  find  nothing ;  yet  the 
guides  were  not  discouraged.  Locking  the  door,  we  left  for  the  night, 
and  up  to  the  Deputy-Goveinor,  and  he  do  undertake  to  keep  the  key, 
that  none  shall  go  down  without  his  privity.  November  ist.  To  the 
Tower  to  make  one  triall  more,  where  we  staid  several  hours,  and  dug 
a  great  deal  under  the  arches,  but  we  missed  of  all,  and  so  went  away 
the  second  time  like  fools.  To  the  Dolphin  Tavern.  Met  Wade  and 
Evett,  who  do  say  that  they  had  it  from  Barkestead's  own  mouth.  He 
did  much  to  convince  me  that  there  is  good  ground  for  what  he  goes 
about.  November  4th.  Mr.  Lee  and  I  to  the  Tower  to  make  our  third 
attempt  upon  the  cellar.  A  woman,  Barkestead's  confidante,  was  pri- 
vately brought,  who  do  positively  say  that  this  is  the  place  where  the  said 
money  was  hid,  and  where  he  and  she  did  put  up  the  700c/.  in  butter 
firkins.  We,  full  of  hope,  did  resolve  to  dig  all  over  the  cellar,  which, 
by  seven  o'clock  at  night  we  performed.  At  noon  we  sent  for  a  dinner, 
dined  merrily  on  the  head  of  a  barrel,  and  to  work  again.  But,  at  last, 
having  dug  the  cellar  quite  through,  removing  the  barrels  from  one  side 
to  the  other,  we  were  forced  to  pay  our  porters,  and  give  over  our  ex- 
pectations, though,  I  do  believe,  there  must  be  money  hid  somewhere." 
Under  December  1 7th,  we  read : — "  This  morning  come  Lee,  A\'ade, 
and  Evett,  intending  to  have  gone  upon  our  new  design  upon  the 
Tower,  but  it  raining,  and  the  work  being  to  be  done  in  the  open 
garden,  we  put  it  off  to  Friday  next."  Such  is  the  last  we  hear  of  this 
odd  affair. 


33 


Legendary  Stories  and  Ballads  of  Old  London  Bridge. 

In  a  singularly  curious,  although  probably  fabulous  tract,  the  building 
of  St.  Mary  Overie's  Church,  in  Southwark,  and  of  the  first  London 
Bridge,  is  attributed  to  the  daughter  of  John  Overs,  who  rented  of  the 
City  a  ferry  across  the  Thames  at  this  spot,  and  thus  grew  rich,  by 
which  means  his  daughter  was  enabled  to  construct  the  church  and  the 
bridge,  whilst  Overs  lost  his  life  by  his  own  covetousness.  Though  he 
kept  several  servants  and  apprentices,  he  was  of  so  parsimonious  a  soul, 
that  notwithstanding  he  possessed  an  estate  equal  to  that  of  the  best 
Alderman  of  London,  acquired  by  unceasing  labour,  frugality,  and  in- 
dustr)',  yet  his  habit  and  dwelling  were  both  strangely  expressive  of  the 
most  miserable  poverty.  He  had  an  only  daughter,  "of  a  beautiful 
aspect,"  says  the  tract,  "  and  a  pious  disposition ;  whom  he  had  care  to 
see  well  and  liberally  educated,  though  at  the  cheapest  rate  ;  and  yet  so, 
that  when  she  grew  ripe  and  mature  for  marriage,  he  would  suffer  no 
man  of  what  condition  or  quality  soever,  by  his  goodwill,  to  have  any 
sight  of  her,  much  less  access  to  her."  A  young  gallant,  however,  who 
seems  to  have  thought  more  of  being  the  Ferryman's  heir  than  his  son- 
in-law,  took  the  opportunity,  while  he  was  engaged  at  the  ferry,  to  be 
admitted  into  her  company.  "  The  first  interview,"  says  the  story, 
"  pleased  well ;  the  second  better ;  the  third  concluded  the  match 
between  them." 

"  In  all  this  long  interim,  the  poor  silly  rich  old  Ferryman,  not 
dreaming  of  any  such  passages,  but  thinking  all  things  to  be  as  secure 
by  land  as  he  knew  they  were  by  water,"  continued  his  former  wTetched 
and  penurious  course  of  life.  To  save  the  expense  of  one  day's  food  in 
his  family,  he  formed  a  scheme  to  feign  himself  dead  for  twenty-four 
hours,  in  the  vain  expectation  that  'p.is  servants  would,  out  of  propriety, 
fast  until  after  his  funeral.  Having  procured  his  daughter  to  consent  to 
this  plot,  even  against  her  better  nature,  he  was  put  into  a  sheet,  and 
stretched  out  in  his  chamber,  having  one  taper  burning  at  his  head  and 
another  at  his  fjet,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time  When, 
howe\'er,  his  servants  were  informed  of  his  decease,  instead  <j{  lamenting 
they  were  overjoyed,  and,  having  danced  round  the  body,  they  broke 
open  his  larder,  and  fell  to  banqueting.  The  Ferryman  bore  all  this  as 
long,  and  as  much  like  a  dead  man,  as  he  was  able ;  "  but  when  he 
could  endure  it  no  longer,"  says  the  tract,  "  stirring  and  struggling  in 
his  sheet,  like  a  ghost  with  a  candle  in  each  hand,  he  purposed  to  rise 
up,  and  rate  'em  for  their  sauciness  and  boldness ;  when  one  of  them 
♦  9 


34  Legendary  Stories  and  Ballads  of 

thinking  that  the  Devil  was  about  to  rise  in  his  likeness, being  in  a  gicat 
amaze,  catched  hold  of  the  butt-end  of  a  broken  oar,  which  was  in  the 
chamber,  and  being  a  sturdy  knave,  thinking  to  kill  the  Devil  at  the  first 
blow,  actually  struck  out  his  brains."  It  is  added  that  the  servant  was 
acquitted,  and  the  ferryman  made  accessary  and  cause  of  his  own  death. 

The  estate  of  Overs  then  fell  to  his  daughter,  and  her  lover  hearing 
of  it,  hastened  up  from  the  country ;  but,  in  riding  post,  his  horse 
stumbled,  and  he  broke  his  neck  on  the  highway.  The  young  heiress 
was  almost  distracted  at  these  events,  and  was  recalled  to  her  faculties 
only  by  having  to  provide  for  her  father's  interment ;  for  he  was  not 
permitted  to  have  Christian  burial,  being  considered  as  an  excommuni- 
cated man,  on  account  of  his  extortions,  usury,  and  truly  miserable  life. 
The  Friars  of  Bermondsey  Abbey  were,  however,  prevailed  upon,  by 
money,  their  Abbot  being  then  away,  to  give  a  little  earth  to  the  remains 
of  the  wretched  Ferryman.  But,  upon  the  Abbot's  return,  observing  a 
grave  which  had  been  recently  covered  in,  and  learning  who  lay  there, 
he  was  not  only  angry  with  his  monks  for  having  done  such  an  injury 
to  the  Church  for  the  sake  of  gain,  but  he  also  had  the  body  taken  up 
again,  laid  on  the  back  of  his  own  ass,  and  turning  the  animal  out  of 
the  Abbey  gates,  desired  of  God  that  he  might  carry  him  to  some  place 
where  he  best  deserved  to  be  buried.  The  ass  proceeded  with  a  gentle 
and  solemn  pace  through  Kent-street,  and  along  the  highway,  to  the 
small  pond  once  called  St.  Thomas-a- Waterings,  then  the  common 
place  of  e>:ecution,  and  shook  off  the  Ferryman's  body  directly  under 
the  gibbet,  where  it  was  put  into  the  ground  without  any  kind  of 
ceremony.  Mary  Overs,  extremely  distressed  by  such  a  host  of  troubles, 
and  desirous  to  be  free  from  the  numerous  suitors  for  her  hand  and 
fortune,  resolved  to  retire  into  a  cloister,  which  she  shortly  aftenvards 
did,  having  first  provided  for  the  building  of  the  church  of  Saint  Mary 
Overies,  which  commemorates  her  name. 

Stow  attributes  the  building  of  the  first  Wooden  Bridge  over  the 
Thames  to  the  pious  brothers  of  the  Priory,  and  this  on  the  authority 
of  Linsted,  the  last  Prior  of  St.  Marie  Overies,  who,  on  surrendering  his 
Priory,  at  the  Dissolution,  had  a  pension  assigned  him  of  loo/.  per 
annum,  which  he  enjoyed  until  1553.  Stow's  words  are: — "  A  Feiry 
being  kept  in  the  place  where  a  Bridge  is  built,  the  Ferryman  and  his 
wife  deceasing,  left  the  said  Ferry  to  their  only  Daughter,  a  maiden 
named  Mary ;  which,  with  the  goods  left  her  by  her  Parents,  as  also 
with  the  profits  rising  out  of  the  said  Ferry,  built  a  House  of  Sisters  in 
the  place  where  now  standeth  the  east  part  of  St.  Mary  Overie's  church, 
above  the  Choir,  where  she  was  buried.     Unto  which  house  she  gave 


Old  Lmidoti  Bridge,  35 

the  oversight  and  profits  of  the  Ferry.  But  afterwards,  the  said 
House  of  Sisters  being  converted  into  a  College  of  Priests,  the  Priests 
built  the  Bridge  of  Timber;  but  this  story  is  much  opposed  by 
antiquaries." 

The  nurse's  ballad,  with  which  we  are  all  familiar,  tells  of  the  con- 
nexion of  the  River  Lee  and  London  Bridge.  It  is  thought  to  be  of 
some  very  ancient  date,  when  London  Bridge,  lying  in  ruins,  the  office 
of  Bridge-master  was  vacant ;  and  his  power  over  the  River  Lee — for 
it  is,  doubtless,  that  river  which  is  celebrated  in  the  chorus  to  this  song — 
was  for  a  while  at  an  end. 

"  London  Bridge  is  broken  down, 
Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lee  ; 
London  Bridge  is  broken  down. 
With  a  gay  lady. 

How  shall  we  build  it  up  again? 

Dance  o"er  my  Lady  Lee ; 
How  shall  we  build  it  up  again? 

With  a  gay  lady. 

Silver  and  gold  will  be  stolen  away. 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lee ; 
Silver  and  gold  will  be  stolen  away. 

With  a  gay  lady. 

Build  it  up  with  iron  and  steel. 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lee ; 
Build  it  up  with  iron  and  steel. 

With  a  gay  lady. 

Iron  and  steel  will  bend  and  bow. 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lee ; 
Iron  and  steel  will  bend  and  bow. 

With  a  gay  lady. 

Build  it  up  with  wood  and  clay, 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lee ; 
Build  it  up  with  wood  and  clay. 

With  a  gay  lady. 

Wood  and  clay  will  wash  away, 

D  ly  Lady  Lee; 

W'l)  will  wash  away, 

\\  ^   .   ..uly. 

Build  it  up  with  stone  so  strong; 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lee ; 
Huzza  I  'twill  last  for  ages  long. 

With  a  gay  lady." 

Another  copy  of  this  ballad  contains  the  following  stan/as,  coming  in 
immediately  after  the  third  verse,  "Silver  and  gold  will  be  stolen 
away  ;"  though  the  propositions  for  building  this  bridge  with  iron  and 

D  2 


36  Legendary  Stories  and  Ballads  of 

steel,  and  wood  and  stone,  have,  in  this  copy  also,  already  been  made 
and  objected  to. 

"Then  we  must  set  a  man  to  watch, 
Dance  o'er  my  Lady  I>!a; 
Then  we  must  set  a  man  to  watch, 
With  a  gay  La-dee. 

Suppose  the  man  should  fall  asleep, 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lea ; 
Suppose  the  man  should  fall  asleep, 

With  a  gay  La-dee. 

Then  we  must  put  a  pipe  in  his  mouth. 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  I^a ; 
Then  we  must  put  a  pipe  in  his  mouth, 

With  a  gay  La-dee. 

Suppose  the  pipe  should  fall  and  break. 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lea ; 
Suppose  the  pipe  should  fall  and  break, 

■With  a  gay  La-dee. 

Then  we  must  set  a  dog  to  watch, 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  I>ea ; 
Then  we  must  set  a  dog  to  watch 

With  a  gay  La-dee. 

Suppose  the  dog  should  run  away. 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lea ; 
Suppose  the  dog  should  run  away, 

With  a  gay  La-dee. 

Then  we  must  chain  him  to  a  post. 

Dance  o'er  my  Lady  Lea ; 
Then  we  must  chain  him  to  a  post, 

With  a  gay  La-dee." 

The  Bridge  of  wood  was  succeeded  by  one  of  stone,  begun  about 
1 1 76,  by  Peter  of  Colecharch.  This  worthy  ecclesiastic  and  architect 
was  priest  and  chaplain  of  St.  Mary  Colechurch,  in  the  Poultry,  and 
London  Bridge  seems  to  have  been  the  favourite  object  of  his  care ;  for 
he  is  said  to  have  built  the  new  bridge  of  elm -timber,  which  was  erected 
in  1 1 63,  and  to  have  begun,  a  little  to  the  west  of  that  structure,  in 
1 1 76,  the  stone  bridge  above  named  ;  but  he  dying  in  1 205,  the  bridge 
was  completed  five  years  after.  King  John  was  anxious  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Bridge,  and  in  1201,  recommended  to  the  Mayor  and 
citizens  for  that  purpose,  Isenbert,  master  of  the  schools  of  Saintes, 
who  had  built  the  bridges  of  Saintes  and  Rochelle.  The  sovereign  granted 
that  the  profits  of  the  edifices  which  Isenbert  intended  to  erect  on  the 
bridge  should  be  for  ever  applied  to  its  repair  ;  and  the  King  exhorted 
the  Mayor  and  citizens  to  receive  Isenbert  and  his  assistants  courteously. 
Mr.  Sidney  Gibson  remarks  that  "  King  John's  desire  for  the  comple- 


Old  London  Bridge.  37 

tion  of  London  Bridge,  and  his  recommendation  of  Isenbert  for  that 
purpose  during  the  lifetime  of  Peter  of  Colechurch,  are  facts  little  known 
to  general  readers."  We  should  add  that  the  remains  of  Peter  of  Cole- 
church  were  buried  in  the  crypt  of  the  chapel  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canter- 
bury, within  a  pier  of  the  stone  bridge,  which  lasted  till  our  time ;  and 
in  1 832,  when  the  last  of  the  bridge  was  removed,  the  bones  of  the 
architect  Peter  were  found  beneath  the  masonry  of  the  chapel,  as  if  to 
complete  the  eventful  history  of  the  ancient  structure.  A  portion  of  the 
stone  was  purchased  by  Alderman  Humphery,  and  by  him  sold  to 
AldeiTnan  Harmer,  who  employed  it  in  building  his  seat,  Ingress  Abbey, 
at  Greenhithe,  in  Kent. 

The  old  Bridge  was  the  scene  of  many  penances.  In  the  year 
1 440,  the  Bridge-street,  by  which  is  meant  as  well  the  passage  over 
the  Thames  as  the  main  street  beyond  it  on  each  side,  was  one 
scene  of  the  public  penances  of  Eleanor  Cobham,  Duchess  of  Glou- 
cester, on  the  very  grave  charge  of  having  practised  necromantic  rites, 
in  conjunction  with  other  persons,  in  order  to  procure  the  death 
of  the  King.  Being  convicted,  she  was  sentenced  to  a  severe  public 
penance,  and  banishment  for  life  to  the  Isle  of  Man  ;  but  was  afterwards 
imprisoned  in  the  castles  of  Chester  and  Kenilworth.  One  of  the 
alleged  accomplices  of  the  Duchess  was  Thomas  Southwell,  a  priest  and 
canon  of  St.  Stephen's,  who  died  in  the  Tower  on  the  night  before 
his  proposed  arraignment.  Roger  Bolynbroke,  "a  priest  and  great 
astronomer,"  and  Margery  Jourdemaine,  or  Gardemaine,  whom  Stow 
calls  "  a  witch  of  Eye,  besides  Westminster,"  was  implicated  with  the 
Duchess  in  the  charge  of  necromancy,  and  suffered  death,  the  former 
being  hanged  and  quartered  at  Tyburn,  and.  the  latter  burnt  in  Smithfield.* 

On  November  9,  the  Duchess  was  sentenced  to  perform  penance  at 
three  open  places  in  London.  On  Monday,  the  13th,  therefore,  she 
came  by  water  from  W^estminster,  and,  landing  at  tlie  Temple  Bridge, 
Talked,  at  noon-day,  through  Fleet-street,  bearing  a  waxen  taper  of 


*  Shakspeare,  in  Henry  IV.,  Part  II.,  introduces  the  Duchess  and  Boliug- 
broke  at  their  diabolical  work : — 

•'  Duchess.  Well  said,  my  masters ;  and  welcome  all 
To  this  geer ;  the  sooner  the  better. 

Dolin.  Patience,  good  lady;  wizards  know  their  tim«s: 
Deep  night,  dark  night,  the  silent  of  the  night. 
The  time  of  night  when  Troy  was  set  on  fire ; 
The  time  when  screech-owls  crv,  and  ban-dogs  howl, 
Ai'-  "  '     '      ■    '       '    '     "      "■::  raves, — 

T. 

Ma.:,  ..^e, 

We  will  make  l«ul  wiiiuu  a  hoiluw  d  vcr^c. 


^8  Legendary  Stories  and  Ballads  of 

two  pounds'  weight  to  St.  Paul's,  where  she  offered  at  the  hicrh  altar. 
On  the  Wednesday  following  she  landed  at  the  Old  Swan,  and  passed 
through  Bridge-street  and  Gracechurch-street  to  Leadenhall,  and  at 
Cree-church,  near  Aldgate,  made  her  second  offering ;  and  on  the 
ensuing  Friday,  she  was  put  on  shore  at  Queen  Hythe,  whence  she  pro- 
ceeded to  St.  Michael's  Church,  Cornhill,  and  so  completed  her  penance. 
In  each  of  these  processions  her  head  was  covered  only  by  a  kerchief; 
her  feet  were  bare ;  scrolls  containing  a  narrative  of  her  crime  were 
affixed  to  her  white  dress ;  and  she  was  received  and  attended  by  the 
Mayor,  Sheriffs,  and  Companies  of  London. 

Among  the  numerous  ballads  which  sprung  out  of  the  history  of  the 
Bridge  is  the  following  jesting  rhyme  on  a  hurricane,  in  1615-6,  which 
blew  away  the  pales ;  we  quote  this  to  show  how  much  has  lv'<>n 
Dorrowed  from  it  by  later  writers: — 

"  Come,  Christian  people,  all  give  ear, 
Unto  the  grief  of  us, 
Caused  by  the  death  of  three  children  dear. 
The  which  it  happen'd  thus : 

And  eke  there  befcl  an  accident, 

By  fault  of  a  carpenter's  son, 
Who  to  saw  chips  his  ax-o-lent. 

Woe  worth  the  time  may  Lon 

May  London  say — woe  worth  the  carpenter ! 

And  all  such  blockhead  fools; 
Would  he  were  hanged  up  like  a  serpwnt  here, 

For  meddling  with  edge-tools. 

For  into  the  chips  there  fell  a  spark. 

Which  put  out  in  such  flames, 
That  it  was  known  into  South-wark, 

Which  lies  beyond  the  Thames. 

For  loe  the  bridge  was  wondrous  high. 

With  water  underneath, 
O'er  which  as  many  fishes  fly 

As  birds  therein  do  breathe. 

And  yet  the  fire  consumed  the  brigg, 

Not  far  from  place  of  landing  ; 
And  though  the  building  was  full  big, 

It  fell  down — not  with  standing. 

And  eke  into  the  water  fell 

So  many  pewter  dishes, 
That  a  man  might  have  taken  up  very  well 

Both  boil'd  and  roasted  fishes  1 

And  thus  the  bridge  of  London  town. 

For  building  that  was  sumptuous. 
Was  all  by  fire  half  burnt  down, 

For  being  too  contemptious  1 


Old  London  Bridge,  39 

Thus  you  have  all  but  half  my  song — 

Pray  list  to  what  comes  ater ; 
For  now  I  have  cooled  you  with  the  firCt 

111  warm  you  with  the  water  1 

ni  tell  you  what  the  river's  nam'd 

While  these  children  did  slide-a : 
It  was  fair  London's  swiftest  Thames, 

Which  keeps  both  time  and  tide-a. 

All  on  the  tenth  of  January, 

To  the  wonder  of  much  jDeople, 
'Twas  frozen  o'er  that  well  would  bear 

Almost  a  country  steeple ! 

Three  children  sliding  there  about 

Upon  a  place  too  thin, 
That  so,  at  last,  it  did  fltll  out, 

That  they  did  all  fall  in. 

A  great  lord  there  was,  that  laid  with  the  King, 

And  with  the  King  great  wager  makes ; 
But  when  he  saw  that  he  could  not  win, 

He  siglid,  and  would  have  drawn  stakes. 

He  said  it  would  bear  a  man  for  to  slide, 

And  laid  a  hundred  pound ; 
Tlie  King  said  it  would  break,  and  so  it  did, 

For  three  children  there  were  drowned ; 

Of  which  one's  head  was  from  his  should- 
ers stricken,  whose  name  was  John ; 

Who  then  cried  out  as  loud  as  he  could, 
Oh,  Lon-a,  Lon-a,  London. 

•Oh,  tut — tut — turn  from  my  sinful  race!' 

Thus  did  his  speech  decay ; 
I  wonder  that,  in  such  a  case. 

He  had  no  more  to  say. 

And  thus  being  drowned,  alack,  alack ! 

The  water  ran  down  their  throats. 
And  stopped  their  breath  three  hours  by  the  clock. 

Before  they  could  get  any  boats ! 

Ye  parents  all  that  children  have. 

And  ye  that  have  none  yet, 
Presenc  your  children  from  the  grave. 

And  teach  them  at  home  to  sit. 

For  1  l)een, 

Wlu  .  ^.  ...ue  been  seen, 

U  that  they  had  not  been  drowned  1 

Even  as  a  huntsman  ti  ■    "-■"  -'—-;, 

J  III  fi-.ir  they  slioul'!  ; 

So  tyi-  your  children  v.  \  s  clogs, 

Untie  'em — and  you'll  undo  -cm. 


40  Old  London  Bridge. 


God  bless  our  noble  parliament, 

And  rid  them  from  all  fears  ; 
God  bless  all  the  commons  of  this  land, 

And  God  bless some  of  the  peers  !" 

An  old  poet  sings: — 

•'  Let  the  whole  earth  now  all  her  wonders  count, 
This  bridge  of  wonders  is  the  paramount !" 

Again,  he  calls  it  "  the  Bridge  of  the  World,"  but  makes  us  acquainted 
with  what  may  be  considered  as  an  ancient  satire  upon  it,  since  he  says, 
"  If  London  Bridge  had  fewer  eyes,  it  would  see  far  better."  The 
arches  of  this  edifice,  and  the  dangerous  passage  through  them,  have 
also  given  rise  to  another  quaint  saying — "  London  Bridge  was  made  for 
wise  men  to  go  over,  and  fools  to  go  under." 

The  Bridge  shops  had  signs,  and  were  "  furnished  with  all  manner  of 
trades."  Holbein  is  said  to  have  lived  here ;  as  did  also  Herbert,  the 
printseller,  at  the  time  the  houses  were  taken  down.  On  the  first  night 
Herbert  spent  here,  a  dreadful  fire  took  place  on  the  banks  of  the 
Thames,  which  suggested  to  him  the  plan  of  a  floating  fire-engine,  soon 
after  adopted.  "  As  fine  as  London  Bridge"  was  formerly  a  proverb  in 
the  City ;  and  many  a  serious,  sensible  tradesman  used  to  believe  that 
heap  of  enormities  to  be  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world,  and, 
next  to  Solomon's  temple,  the  finest  thing  that  ever  art  produced. 

The  street  was  also  the  abode  of  many  artists:  here  lived  Peter 
Monamy,  the  marine  painter,  who  was  taught  drawing  by  a  sign  and 
house  painter  on  London  Bridge.  Dominic  Serres  once  kept  shop 
here ;  and  Hogarth  lived  here  when  he  engraved  for  old  John  Bowles, 
in  Cornhill.  Swift  and  Pope  have  left  accounts  of  their  visits  to  Crispin 
Tucker,  a  waggish  bookseller  and  aulhor-of-all-work,  who  lived  under 
the  southern  gate.  One  Mr.  Baldwin,  haberdasher,  born  in  the  house 
over  the  Chapel,  at  seventy-one  could  not  sleep  in  the  country  for  want 
of  the  noise  of  the  roaring  and  rushing  of  the  tide  beneath,  which  "  he 
had  always  been  used  to  hear." 

A  most  terrific  historic  garniture  of  the  Bridge  was  the  setting  up  of 
heads  on  its  gate-houses:  among  these  ghastly  spectacles  was  the  head 
of  Sir  AVilliam  Wallace,  1305;  Simon  Frisel,  1306;  four  traitor 
knights,  1397;  Lord  Bardolf,  1408;  Bolingbroke,  1440;  Jack  Cade 
and  his  rebels,  1451;  the  Cornish  traitors  of  1497;  and  of  Fisher, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  1535,  displaced  in  fourteen  days  by  the  head  of 
Sir  Thomas  More.  In  1577,  the  several  heads  were  removed  from  the 
north  end  of  the  Drawbridge  to  the  Southwark  entrance,  thence  called 
Traitors'  Gate.    In  1578,  the  head  of  a  recusant  priest  was  added  to 


Bermondsey  Abbey  and  its  Memories.  41 

the  sickening  sight ;  and  in  1605,  that  of  Garnet  the  Jesuit,  as  well  as 
those  of  the  Romish  priests  executed  in  the  re'gns  of  Elizabeth  and 
James  I.  Hentzner  counted  above  thirty  heads  on  the  Bridge  in  1598. 
The  display  was  transferred  to  Temple  Bar  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 

The  narrowness  of  the  Bridge  arches  so  contracted  the  channel  of  the 
river  as  to  cause  a  rapid ;  and  to  pass  through  them  was  termed  to 
"  shoot  the  bridge,"  a  peril  taken  advantage  of  by  suicides.  Thus,  in 
1689,  Sir  William  Temple's  only  son,  lately  made  Secretary  at  War, 
lcap>ed  into  the  river  fiom  a  boat  as  it  darted  through  an  arch :  he  had 
filled  his  pockets  with  stones,  and  was  drowned,  leaving  in  the  boat  this 
note:  "  My  folly  in  undertaking  what  I  could  not  perfonn,  whereby 
some  misfortunes  have  befallen  the  King's  service,  is  the  cause  of  my 
putting  myself  to  this  sudden  end;  I  wish  him  success  in  all  his  under- 
takings, and  a  better  servant."  In  1737,  Eustace  Budgell,  a  sol-disant 
cousin  of  Addison,  and  who  \vrote  in  the  Spectator  and  Guardian,  when 
broken  down  in  character  and  reduced  to  poverty,  took  a  boat  at 
Somerset  Stairs ;  and  ordering  the  waterman  to  row  down  the  river, 
Budgell  threw  himself  into  the  stream  as  they  shot  London  Bridge.  He 
too  had  filled  his  pockets  with  stones,  and  rose  no  more:  he  left  in  his 
secretary  a  slip  of  paper,  on  which  was   written  a  broken  distich: 

What  Cato  did,  and  Addison  approved,  cannot  be  wrong."     This  is 

wicked  sophism  ;  there  being  as  little  resemblance  between  the  cases 
of  Budgell  and  Cato  as  there  is  reason  for  considering  Addison's  "  Cato" 
written  in  defence  of  suicide. 

Of  a  healthier  complexion  is  the  anecdote  of  Edward  Osborne,  in 
1  r^2l^,  leaping  into  the  Thames  from  the  window  of  one  of  the  Bridge- 
houses,  and  saving  his  master's  infant  daughter,  dropped  by  a  nursemaid 
into  the  stream.  The  father.  Sir  William  Hewet,  was  Lord  Mayor  in 
1559,  and  gave  this  daughter  in  marriage  to  Osborne,  whose  great- 
grandson  became  the  first  Duke  of  Leeds. 


Bermondsey  Abbey  and  its  Memories. 

The  Cluniac  Abbey  of  Bermondsey,  in  the  low-lying  parish  adjoining 
Southwark,  had  at  different  times  two  visitors,  to  whom  we  may  be  sure 
every  possible  honour  was  done.  The  first  of  these  was  Katherine,  the 
wife  of  Henry  V.,  the  French  Princess  whom  Shakspcare  has  made  so 
familiar  to  us  in  connexion  with  the  blunt  wooing  of  her  gallant  lover, 
and  who  alone  perhaps,  of  all  her  country's  children,  could  have  so 
uickly  reconquered  France  from  the  conqueror  as  she  now  did  by 


42  Bcmiotidscy  Abbey  and  its  AL ; .. ;  :.s. 

throwing  around  him  the  nuptial  tie.  Few  marriages,  promiang  so 
much  of  State  convenience,  have  ended  in  giving  so  much  individual 
happiness  as  Henr)'  enjoyed  with  his  young  and  beautiful  bride.  His 
early  death  was  grie\*ed  by  all ;  his  courtiers  and  his  nobles  wept  and 
sobbed  round  his  death-bed :  what,  then,  must  have  been  ber  feelings  at 
his  loss  ?  Fortunately,  perhaps,  Katherine  was  not  present  at  the  last 
moment,  nor  did  she  learn  the  dreadful  tidings  for  some  days  afterwards. 
It  was  to  receive  this  distinguished  visitor  that,  some  years  later,  the 
monks  of  Bcrmondsey  were  suddenly  summoned  from  all  p;uts  of  the 
monaster)-  by  the  stroke  on  one  of  the  great  bells,  twice  repeated,  who, 
suddenly  hurr)'ing  into  the  church,  robed  themselves,  and  prepared  for 
the  reception  of  the  ne^vcomer.  Upon  the  Queen's  near  approach,  two 
of  the  great  bells  would  ring  out  a  peal  of  welcome,  and  then  the  Abbot 
would  advance  to  meet  her,  saluting  her  with  his  blessing,  and  sprinkling 
holy  water  over  her.  The  procession  entered  the  church  and  made  a 
stand  before  the  crucifix,  where  the  visitor  prayed.  Service  in  honour 
of  the  Saviour,  as  the  patron  Saint,  followed ;  the  singing-boys  in  tl;>. 
choir  sang,  the  organ  played,  and  at  the  termination  the  Queen  found 
the  best  accommodation  the  Abbey  could  fiimish  provided  for  her  use. 
She  appears  to  have  found  all  she  desired,  for  she  remained  at  Ber- 
mondsey  till  her  death.  One  little  incident  has  been  recorded  on  the 
subject  of  her  residence  here,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  caused  in 
some  way  by  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Court  at  her  second  marriage, 
with  Owen  Tudor,  a  gentleman  of  Wales,  and,  through  this  match,  the 
founder  of  the  Tudor  dynasty.  On  the  ist  of  Januar)',  1437,  her  son, 
the  young  Henry  VI.,  sent  to  her  at  Bermondsey  a  token  of  his  affec- 
tionate remembrance,  in  the  shape  of  a  tablet  of  gold,  weighing  thirteen 
ounces,  on  which  was  a  crucifix,  set  with  sapphires  and  pearls.  She  was, 
no  doubt,  then  verj-  ill,  for  two  days  later  she  died. 

There  is  a  striking  connexion  between  this  and  the  next  distinguished 
visitor,  Elizabeth  of  \'ork,  a  lady  who,  if  not  one  of  the  most  interesting 
of  ftmale  characters  herself,  is  unquestionably  so  fixjm  the  circum- 
stances of  her  strange  and  eventful  histor)-.  She  came  to  Bermondsey 
quite  as  much  a  prisoner  as  a  visitor,  and  she  owed  that  imprisonment 
to  the  man  whom  she  herself  had  been  to  a  considerable  extent  the 
means  of  placing  on  the  throne,  Henrj-  VII.,  the  grandson  of  the  widow 
of  Henry  V.,  and  of  her  second  husband,  Owen  Tudor.  That  two 
such  women  should  meet  in  the  same  pbce  to  spend  the  last  years  of 
their  lives,  forms  no  ordinar)'  coincidence.  The  history  of  Elizabeth  of 
York,  though  but  an  episode  of  that  of  Bermondsey,  is  so  full  of 
romance,  and  so  closely  connected  with  it,  by  her  imprisonment  and 


Bermondsey  Abbty  and  its  Memories.  43 

death  within  its  walls,  that  the  ancient  pnory  may  not  improbably  be 
nnembeicdthrou^thcKcircamstances,  when  aU  others  might  else  have 
ikd  to  piiaei'ie  more  than  the  barest  and  driest  lecoOectiQos  of  the 
-eat  houaeaf  the  Cluniacs.    It  was  oo  a  visit  to  Jaqueoetta,  Duchess 
:'  Bedford,  then  married  to  a  second  husband.  Sir  RJchaid  'WooddDe, 
At  Edward  IV^  the  handsomest,   voaA   accomplished,    and  most 
jentioas  man  of  his  time,  fintbehdd  the  Duchess' dmghter,  Elizabeth 
i:ay,  the  widow  of  Sir  John  Gray,  a  Lancastrian,  dain  at  the  second 
battle  of  St.  Attnn's.  The  knights  estates  had  been  foddted  to  Edward, 
and  tbe  young  widow,  who  is  said  to  hare  been  as  doipient  as  she  was 
<:3uitifiil,  avaiQing  herxlf  of  the  opportunity,  threw  herself  at  the  king's 
et,  and  imploicd  him,  for  the  sake  of  her  innooent  and  h^iless  children, 
reverse  the  attainder.    Tbe  irrraistihle  petitioner  rose  with  more  than 
Lii.-  grant  of  what  she  had  asked — the  kiqg's  heart  was  her«.    Edward, 
perhaps  for  the  first  time;  was  seriously  touched;  and  to  the  asbnish- 
•reot  of  the  nation  generally,  and  to  the  rage  d  vo  small  portion  of  the 
st^%  partisans,  tbe  Yorkists,  the  king,  socne  months  after,  at  a  solenon 
<sembly  of  prelates  and  nohki  in  the  ancient  abbey  of  Reading,  an- 
.^unoed  his  maniage  with  the  widow  of  die&Ikn  Lancastrian  knjght; 
and  amidst  the  surprise  which  prevailed  throu^ioat  tbe  assemblage;  the 
kmg's  brother,  the  Duke  of  Clarence;  and  the  Earl  of  Warwid^  led 
.e  Qmem  into  the  hall,  and  caused  her  in  that  character  to  be  wdcomed 
;  all  pcesenL    Thus  ends  one  phase  of  her  history. 
In  the  next  we  behold  her  again  asawidow;  but  this  time  ho- widow- 
/.>x>d  has  brought  her  new  and  more  anxious  public  duties:  she  is  not 
merdy  a  mother,  but  tbe  mother  of  the  youiig  King  Edward  V.  and 
of  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York.    Into  tbe  particulars  of  this  mo- 
mentous period,  wUch  includes  the  death  of  the  young  Princes  in  the 
Tower,  of  course,  we  are  not  about  to  enter ;  but  it  nuy  be  permitted 
.  .>  us  to  obserre  that  &w  parents  ever  hare  endured  keener  agonies  for 
their  dddren  than  this  unfortunate  lady.    The  wild  rumour  that  so 
quickly  Boated  about  s  to  the  tntentionsof  the  Duke  of  GkMicester,the 
nxkknsheddiogcf  the  blood  of  her  son  and  brother  at  Pomfiet  (Lonit 
Gray  and  Riicrs),  the  messages  and  deputations  to  and  &o  between  the 
Protector  and  the  Sanctuary  at  Westminster,  vriiere  she  had  taken 
-efuge  with  her  youngest  son,  distracting  her  with  conflicting  thoughts — 
ne  moment  giving    the  young  Prmce  up  to  destructioo,  the  next 
aring  to  hm%  that  destruction  oo  him  by  indiscreet  jealousy,  or  by 
warting  GkNicester's  views — all  this  nuist  hare  been  terriUe  to  the 
:ely  made  widow,  had  nothing  remained  behind.    But  when  at  last, 
..ilfit^  for  her  child,  she  delivered  him  up  to  the  Cardinal  Archbisfaop; 


44  Bcnnondsey  Abbey  and  its  Memories. 

and  as  soon  as  she  had  done  so,  burst  into  an  uncontrollable  fit  of 
anguish,  she  but  too  rightly  felt  she  had  lost  both  her  children. 

In  the  interval,  between  the  death  of  the  Princes  and  that  of  the 
murderer,  Richard,  occurs  the  most  unroniantic  part  of  the  history  of 
one  whose  misfortunes  are  unexampled  for  their  severity.  While  at 
one  period  we  find  her  eagerly  engaging  in  the  scheme  proposed  of 
man-ying  the  Earl  of  Richmond  to  her  daughter  Elizabeth ;  at  the 
other,  when  the  prospect  appeared  less  bright,  she  appeal's  to  have 
listened  to  Richard's  overtures,  first  of  marrying  her  daughter  Elizabeth 
to  his  son,  and  when  that  son  died,  of  giving  her  to  himself.  Whatever 
her  conduct  at  this  period,  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  her  subsequent  mis- 
fortunes. The  king,  Henry  VII.,  certainly  did  redeem  the  promise  as  to 
the  marriage  made  by  the  Earl  of  Richmond,  but  it  was  done  so  tardily 
and  so  ungraciously,  that  the  veiy  people  were  disgusted  at  his  conduct ; 
and  by  their  sentiments  we  may  judge  of  the  mother's.  But  this  was 
not  all.  In  the  month  of  November,  i486,  an  extensive  insurrection 
broke  out  in  Ireland,  at  the  head  of  which  was,  nominally,  a  youth  who 
it  was  pretended  was  the  Earl  of  Warwick  (then  in  reality  confined  in 
the  Tower),  the  son  of  the  late  Duke  of  Clarence,  brother  to  Edward  IV. 
A  great  council  was  immediately  held  at  the  Charter  House,  at  Shene, 
where  firet  a  general  pardon  was  resolved  on,  free  from  all  excep- 
tions, and  the  second  resolution  was  (a  curious  commentary  on  the 
first)  to  arrest  Elizabeth  Woodville,  the  Queen  Dowager.  The  Queen 
was  immediately  arrested,  deprived  of  all  her  property,  and  placed  a 
close  prisoner  in  the  monastery  at  Bennondsey.  Henry's  historian, 
Bacon,  may  well  observe,  "  whereat  there  was  much  wondering  that  a 
weak  woman,  for  the  yielding  to  the  menaces  and  promises  of  a  tyrant 
[he is  alluding  to  her  transactions  with  Richard  III.],  after  such  a  dis- 
tance of  time  wherein  the  king  had  shown  no  displeasure  or  alteration, 
but  much  more  after  so  happy  a  maniage  between  the  king  and  her 
daughter,  blest  with  issue  male  [only  two  or  three  weeks  before],  should, 
upon  a  sudden  mutability  or  disclosure  of  the  king's  mind,  be  so  severely 
handled,"  for  such  it  appears  was  the  motive  for  this  arrest  set  forth  by 
the  king.  No  one,  however,  believed  in  the  truth  of  the  allegation  ;  and 
Bacon,  following  the  chronicler  Hall,  gives  a  remarkable  explanation  of 
the  affair.  Having  observed  that  the  prompter  of  the  young  counter- 
feit of  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  a  priest,  had  never  seen  the  latter,  he  con- 
tinues, "  So  it  cannot  be,  but  that  some  great  person,  that  knew  par- 
ticularly and  familiarly,  Edward  Plantagenet,  had  a  hand  in  the  business, 
from  whom  the  priest  mi^'ht  take  aim.  That  which  is  most  probable, 
out  of  the  precedent  and  subsequent  acts,  is,  that  it  was  the  Queen 


Bermondsey  Abbey  atid  t/s  Metnories.  45 

Dowager  from  whom  this  action  principally  originated.     For,  certain  it 
is  that  she  was  a  busy,  negotiating  woman,  and  in  ber  zuitbdraqving 
'•amber  bad  the  fortunate  conspiracy  for  the  king  against  King  Richard  III. 
en  batched,   tivhich  tfx  king  kne^v,  and  remembered  per/japs  but  too 
:«•//,  and  was  at  this  time  extremely  discontent  with  the  king,  think- 
:^  her  daughter,  as  the  king  handled  the  matter,  not  advanced,  but 
pressed ;  and  none  could  hold  the  book  so  well  to  prompt  and  in- 
ruct  this  stage-play  as  she  could."     Misfortunes  never  came  singly  to 
'le  unhappy  queen ;  the  Marquis  of  Dorset,  her  son  by  her  first  hus- 
band, was  arrested  soon  after  and  thrown  into  the  Tower.     At  the 
coronation  of  the  queen,  his  half-sister,  in  the  following  year,  he  was, 
however,  released,  and  was,  we  believe,  present  at  the  ceremony.    The 
mother  appears  to  have  been  still  left  to  pine  away  in  her  enforced 
solitude  at  Bermondsey,  where  she  lingered  till  1492,  when  a  fatal  illness 
seized  her. 

On  her  death-bed  she  dictated  the  following  pathetic  will,  which  is  of 
itself  a  decisive  ans\ver  as  to  the  doubts  that  have  been  raised  concerning 
the  penury  of  her  latest  days.  It  is  dated  Bermondsey,  April  10, 
!  492  : — '*  I,  Elizabeth,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Queen  of  England,  late 
ire  to  the  most  victorious  prince  of  blessed  memory,  Edward  the 
ourth,  being  of  whole  mind,  seeing  the  world  so  transitory,  and  no 
;  cature  certain  when  they  shall  depart  from  hence,  having  Almighty 
God  fresh  in  mind,  in  whom  is  all  mercy  and  grace,  bequeath  my 
soul  into  his  hands,  beseeching  him  of  the  same  mercy  to  accept  it 
.iciously,  and  Our  Blessed  Lady  Queen  of  Comfort,  and  all  the  holy 
company  of  heaven,  to  be  good  means  (or  mediators)  for  me.  Item :  I 
bequeath  my  body  to  be  buried  with  the  body  of  my  lord  at  Windsor, 
according  to  the  will  of  my  said  lord  and  mine,  without  pomps  entering 
or  costly  expenses  done  thereabout.  Item :  tVTxreas  I  have  no  <worldly 
goods  to  do  the  Queen  s  Grace,  my  dearest  daughter,  a  pleasure  luith,  neither 
to  re<ward  any  of  my  children  according  to  my  heart  and  mind,  I  beseech 
Almighty  God  to  bless  her  Grace,  with  all  her  noble  issue;  and  with  as 
good  heart  and  mind  as  is  to  me  possible,  I  give  her  Grace  my  blessing, 
and  all  the  aforesaid  my  children.  Item  :  I  will  that  such  small  stujf 
and  goods  that  I  have  be  disposed  truly  in  the  contentation  of  my  debts, 
and  for  the  health  of  my  soul,  as  far  as  they  will  extend.  Item :  If  any 
of  my  blood  will  any  of  the  said  stuff  or  goods  to  me  pertaining,  I  will 
that  they  have  the  preferment  before  any  other.  And  of  this  my  present 
testament  I  make  and  ordain  mine  executors,  that  is  to  say,  John 
Ingleby,  Prior  of  the  Charter  House  at  Shene;  William  Sutton  and 
Thomas   Brente,   Doctors;  and  I  beseech  my  dearest  daughter,  the 


46  Bcrmondsey  Abbey  and  its  Memories, 

Queen's  Grace,  and  my  son,  Thomas,  Marquis  of  Dorset,  to  put  their 
good  wills  and  help  for  the  performance  of  this  my  testament." 

And  tlms  closes  the  eventful  life  of  Elizabeth  of  York.  Some  thirty 
years  ago,  when  the  workmen  were  busy  in  the  vaults  of  Windsor, 
preparing  a  place  of  sepulture  for  the  family  of  George  III.,  they  lighted 
upon  a  stone  coffin  buried  fifteen  feet  below  the  surface.  It  containeti 
the  remains  of  Queen  Elizabeth  Woodville. 

Bcrmondsey  has  yet  another  memory  in  connexion  with  this  unfor- 
tunate queen's  persecutor,  Henry  VII.,  and  one  that  illustrates  another 
remarkable  trait  of  his  character — his  superstitious  piety.  His  masterly 
policy  was  not  often  a  veiy  upright  and  honourable  policy;  so,  this 
stroke  was  followed  by  the  erection  of  a  chapel,  that,  by  founding 
masses  to  be  said  evermore  for  his  soul,  he  might  keep  a  tolerably  fair 
reckoning  in  the  great  account-book  of  his  conscience.  He  is  not  the 
only  monarch  who  has  endeavoured  to  keep  an  "even  mind"  by  the 
adoption  of  a  similar  kind  of  offset  It  appears  that  an  indenture  was 
executed  between  the  king,  the  City  of  London,  and  the  Abbots  of 
"Westminster  and  Bcrmondsey,  sometime  after  the  death  of  his 
queen,  the  daughter  of  Queen  Elizabeth  \Voodville,  by  which  the 
Abbot  and  monks  of  Westminster  were  to  pay  3/.  6j.  %d.  annually  to 
those  of  Bcrmondsey,  for  the  holding  of  an  anniversary  in  the  church 
on  the  6th  of  February  in  every  year,  to  pray  for  the  good  and  pros- 
perous estate  of  the  king  during  his  life,  and  the  prosperity  of  his  kingdom, 
also  for  the  souls  of  his  late  queen  and  of  their  children,  of  his  father, 
the  Earl  of  Richmond,  and  his  progenitors,  and  of  his  mother,  the 
Countess  of  Richmond,  after  her  decease.  Full  directions  are  contained 
in  the  indenture  as  to  the  mode  of  performing  the  ceremony. 

As  a  glimpse  of  what  was  sometimes  doing  in  the  old  church,  as  well 
as  of  the  old  custom  itself,  is  the  following : — "The  Abbot  and  Convent 
of  St.  Saviour  of  Bcrmondsey  shall  provide  at  every  such  anniversary  a 
hearse,  to  be  set  in  the  midst  of  the  high  chancel  of  the  said  monastery, 
before  the  high  altar,  covered  and  appareled  with  the  best  and  most 
honourable  stuff  in  the  same  monastery  convenient  for  the  same.  And 
also  four  tapers  of  wax,  each  of  them  weighing  eight  pounds,  to  be 
set  upon  the  same  hearse,  that  is  to  say,  on  either  side  thereof  one 
taper,  and  at  either  end  of  the  same  hearse  another  taper,  and  all  the 
same  four  tapers  to  be  lighted  and  burning  continually  during  all  the 
time  of  every  such  Placebo,  Dirige,  with  nine  lessons,  lauds,  and  mass 
of  Requiem,  with  the  prayers  and  obeisances  above  rehearsed." 

At  the  Dissolution,  the  Abbot  of  Bcrmondsey  had  no  tender  scruples 
about  conscience  or  principle,  like  so  many  of  his  brethren,  but  arranged 


Founding  the  Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great.    47 

everything  in  the  pleasantest  possible  manner  for  the  King ;  and  he  had 
his  reward.  The  monastery  itself,  with  the  manor,  demesne,  &c.,  the 
''court  leet,  the  view  of  frank-pledge,  and  the  free-warren"  were 
granted  by  Henry  VIII.,  to  Sir  Robert  Southwell,  Master  of  the  Rolls, 
who  sold  them  to  Sir  Thomas  Hope,  the  founder  of  Trinity  College, 
Oxford,  who  was  the  destroyer  of  the  fine  old  Abbey  of  Bcnnondsey. 
He  pulled  down  the  conventual  church  and  most  of  the  other  buildings, 
md  erected  a  mansion  on  the  site;  and  then,  as  if  satisfied  with  what  he 
iiad  done,  reconveyed  the  mansion,  with  the  orchards,  &c.,  to  Sir  Robert. 
The  manor  he  subsequently  sold  to  a  citizen  and  goldsmith  of  London. 
Bermondsey  Priory  (converted  into  an  Abbey  late  in  the  fourteenth 
century),  was  founded  in  1082,  by  Alwin  Child,  a  citizen  of  London, 
for  Cluniac  monks,  from  the  monastery  of  La  Charite  de  Dieu,  on  the 
Loire,  which  continued  to  supply  its  priors  until  1372.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  between  1082  and  1372,  the  number  of  these  priors  was 
sixty-eight,  nine  of  whom  were  promoted,  and  six  resigned,  leaving 
fifty-three  to  die  while  holding  the  office ;  at  times  two  or  three  within 
a  single  year.  The  average  life  in  office  of  the  priors  of  Bermondsey, 
during  290  years,  was  but  four  years,  three  months,  and  five  days. 


Founding  the  Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great. 

Upon  the  south-eastern  side  of  Smithfield  stands  a  portion  of  the  fine 
old  church,  which  formed  without  doubt,  part  of  the  ancient  Priory  of 
St.  Bartholomew  the  Great,  supposed  to  have  been  founded  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  twelfth  century,  by  Rahere,  or  Raherius,  who  became 
the  first  prior  of  the  ebtablishment.  According  to  a  manuscript  in 
the  British  Museum,  written,  probably,  soon  after  the  death  of  Rahere, 
by  a  monk  who  inhabited  the  Priory,  Rahere  was  a  "man  sprung 
!iid  bom  from  low  kynage,  but  haunted  the  palace  of  the  King  Henry  I., 
was  a  pleasant-witted  gentleman,  and  called  the  kings  mimtrel ;"  though 
he  has  been  identified  with  one  of  the  companions  of  the  "  hardy  outlaw," 
Hcrcward,  "  the  last  of  the  Saxons,"  who,  at  the  bridge  of  Wrokesham, 
rescued  four  innocent  persons  from  Norman  executioners;  and  they, 
owing  to  his  ingenious  disguise,  mistook  him  for  a  heron,  an  honourable 
nickname  which  continued  to  cling  to  him  through  life.  Disgusted, 
however,  with  his  manner  of  living,  and  repenting  him  of  his  sins,  he 
undertook  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  "  There,  at  the  shrine  of  the  blessed 
ipostlcs,  Peter  and  Paul,  he  weeping  his  deeds,  prayed  to  our  Lord  for 
the  remission  of  them,  and  avowed  that  if  health  God  would  him  grant, 
that  he  might  return  to  his  country,  he    would  make  an  hospital 


48    Founding  the  Priory  of  Si.  Bariholomnv  tJie  Great. 

in  recreation  of  poor  men,  and  to  them  so  there  gathered,  necessaries 
minister  after  his  power.  And  not  long  after,  the  benign  and  merciful 
Lord  beheld  this  weeping  man,  gave  him  his  health,  and  approved  his  vow. 
"  When  he  would  perfect  his  way  that  he  had  begun,  in  a  certain 
night  he  saw  a  vision  full  of  dread  and  sweetness.  It  seemed  him  to  be 
borne  up  on  high  of  a  certain  beast,  having  four  feet  and  two  wings,  and 
set  him  in  an  high  place.  And  when  he,  from  so  great  a  height,  would 
inflect  and  bend  his  eye  to  the  lower  part  downward,  he  beheld  a  hor- 
rible pit,  whose  beholding  him  impressed  with  great  dread:  for  the 
deepness  of  the  same  pit  was  deeper  than  any  man  might  attain  to  see ; 
therefore,  he  (secret  knower  of  his  defaults)  deemed  himself  to  slide  into 
that  cruel  a  downcast.  And  therefore  (as  seemed  him  inwardly)  he 
fremshid  (quaked),  and  for  dread  trembled,  and  great  cries  of  his  mouth 
proceeded.  To  whom  appeared  a  certain  man,  pretending  in  cheer  the 
majesty  of  a  king,  of  great  beauty  and  imperial  authority,  and  his  eye  on 
him  fastened.  '  O  man,'  he  said, '  what  and  how  much  service  shouldest 
thou  give  to  him  that  in  so  great  a  peril  hath  brought  help  to  thee  ?* 
And  he  answered  to  this  saint,  '  Whatsoever  might  be  of  heart  and  of 
might,  diligently  should  I  given  in  recompense  to  my  deliverer.'  '  And 
then,'  said  he,  '  I  am  Bartholomew,  the  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  that 
come  to  succour  thee  in  thine  anguish,  and  to  open  to  thee  the  secret 
mysteries  of  Heaven.  Know  me  truly,  by  the  will  and  commandment 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  the  common  favour  of  the  celestial  court  and 
council,  to  have  chosen  a  place  in  the  suburbs  of  London,  at  Smithfield, 
where,  in  mine  name  thou  shalt  found  a  church.  This  spiritual 
house  Almighty  God  shall  inhabit,  and  hallow  it  and  glorify  it.  Where- 
fore, doubt  thee  nought ;  only  give  thy  diligence,  and  my  part  shall  be 
to  provide  necessaries,  direct,  build,  and  end  this  work.'  Rahere  now 
came  to  London,  and  of  his  knowledge  and  friends  with  great  joy  was 
received  ;  with  which  also,  with  the  barons  of  London  he  spake  fami- 
liarly of  these  things  that  were  turned  and  stirred  in  his  heart,  and  of 
that  was  done  about  him  in  the  way  he  told  it  out;  and  what  should 
be  done  of  this  he  counselled  of  them.  He  took  this  answer,  that  none 
of  these  might  be  perfected,  but  the  King  were  first  counselled;  namely, 
since  the  place  godly  to  him  showed  was  contained  within  the  King's 
market.  In  opportune  time  Rahere  addressed  him  to  the  King;  and 
nigh  him  was  He  in  whose  hands  it  was  to  what  he  would  the  King's 
heart  incline :  and  ineffectual  these  prayers  might  not  be  whose  author  is 
the  apostle,  whose  gracious  hearer  is  God.  Rahere's  word  therefore 
was  pleasant  and  acceptable,  and  when  the  King  had  praised  the  good 
wit  of  the  man  (prudently,  as  he  waj  witty),  granted  to  the  petitioner 
his  kingly  favour. 


Founding  the  Priory  of  St.  Bart/iohmew  the  Great.    49 

"  Then  Rahere  omitting  nothing  of  care  and  diligence,  two  works  of 

;  iety  began  to  make— one  for  the  vow  he  had  made,  another  as  to  him 

by  precept  was  enjoined."     The  place  where  these  great  works  were  to 

be  erected  had  been  previously  shown  to  King  Edward  the  Confessor, 

in  a  re\eIation : — '•  the  which,  in  a  certain  night,  when  he  was  bodily 

/.•eping,  his  heart  to  God  waking,  he  was  warned  of  this  place  with  an 

•javenly  dream  made  to  him,  that  God  this  place  had  chosen :  there- 

pon,  this  holy  King,  early  arising,  came  to  this  place  that  God  had 

iiowed  him  ;  and  to  them  that  about  him  stood,  expressed  the  vision 

that  night  made  to  him,  and  prophesied  this  place  to  be  great  before 

^(iod."     It  was  also  said  that  three  men  of  Greece,  who  came  to  Lon- 

I^^Bn,  went  to  this  place  and  worshipped  God ;  "  and  before  them  that 

■^^ere  present  (and  beheld  them  as  simple  idiots),  they  began  wonderful 

things  to  say  and  prophesy  of  this  place,  saying,  '  Wonder  not ;  see  us 

here  to  worship  God,  where  a  full  and  acceptable  temple  to  him  shall 

be  builded ;  and  the  fame  of  this  place  shall  attain  from  the  spring  of 

the  sun  to  the  going  down.' " 

The  spot  selected  for  the  site  of  the  church  was  a  mere  mar^h,  for 
the  most  part  covered  with  water ;  while  on  that  portion  which  was 
not  so,  stood  the  common  gallows.     Rahere's  power  of  rendering  him- 
f  agreeable,  it  appears,   had  not  left  him  ;  for  it  seems  by  assuming 
:::e  manners  of  an  idiot  and  consorting  with  the  lower  order  of  persons, 
he  procured  so  much  help,  that  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  inter- 
posed by  the  badness  of  the  situation,  the  gi-cat  work   was  speedily 
finished.    The  church  he  made  of  comely  stonework  table-wise ;  and  an 
hosp"tal-house,  a  little  longer  off  from  the  church  by  himself  he  began 
to  edify.     The  completion  of  the  work  evidently  excited  a  large  amount 
of  wonder  and  admiration,  not  unmixed  with  a  kind  of  supei-stitious 
awe.    People  "  were  greatly  astonied  both  of  the  novelty  of  the  raised 
ime,  and  of  the  founder,  who  would  trow  this  place  with  so  sudden 
dreaming  could  be  purged,  and  there  to  be  set  up  the  token  of  the 
loss  ?      And  God  there  to  be  worshipped,  where  sometime  stood  the 
rrible  hanging  of  thieves  ?"     Three  Byzantine  princes,  whether  mer- 
ints  or  monks  does  not  appear,  attended  the  consecration  of  the 
oir.  by  Beauvais,  Bishop  of  London,  and  prophesied  the  prosperity  of 
e  Hospital.     On  the  conventual  seal  of  the  1 2th  century,  the  original 
lU^igii  of  the  church  is  shown  with  a  low  central  tower,  and  two  pair 
of  towers,  one  at  each  of  the  angles  of  the  church,  all  crowned  with 
'iiical  spires. 

When  the  Priory  began  to  flourish  and  its  fame  spread,   Rahere 
,  joined  to  him  a  certain  old  man,  Alfun  by  name,  who  had  not  long  be- 
♦  E 


50    Founding  tJie  Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great. 

fore  built  the  church  of  St.  Giles,  at  Cripplegate.  Rahere,  from  his 
counsel  and  help  derived  much  encouragement.  Aifun,  with  ministers 
of  the  church,  sought  and  provided  necessaries  for  the  poor  men  that 
lay  in  the  hospital,  and  for  them  that  were  hired  in  building  their  church. 
To  help  Alfun,  St.  Bartholomew  was  believed  to  have  wrought  miracles, 
such  as  the  following.  Alfun  having  applied  to  a  widow,  she  told  him 
she  had  but  seven  measures  of  malt,  and  that  indeed,  it  was  no  more 
than  but  absolutely  necessary  for  her  family's  use.  She  was,  however,  pre- 
vailed on  to  give  one  measure.  Alfun  was  no  sooner  gone  than,  casting 
her  eyes  on  the  remaining  measures,  she  counted  seven  still.  Thinking 
herself  mistaken,  she  tried  again,  and  found  eiglit,  and  so  on  ad  infi- 
nitum. No  sooner  was  the  receptacle  ready  than  many  "  yearly  with 
lights  and  oblations,  peaceful  vows,  and  prayers,  visited  this  holy 
church  ;"  and  the  fame  of  cures  performed  was  supported  by  magnifi- 
cent festivals  ;  "  the  year  1 148,  after  the  obit  of  Harry  the  First,  King 
of  England,  the  twelfth  year,  when  the  golden  path  of  the  sun  reduced 
to  us  the  desired  joys  of  feastful  celebrity,  then,  with  a  new  solemnity  of 
the  blessed  Apostle,  was  illumined  with  new  miracles  this  holy  place. 
Languishing  jnen,  grieved  with  varying  sorrows,  softly  lay  in  the 
church ;  prostrate  beseeching  the  mercy  of  God,  and  the  presence  of 
St.  Bartholomew." 

But,  new  troubles  arose,  and  disturbed  the  last  hours  of  Rahere.  The 
reputation  he  had  gained,  created  for  him  many  enemies,  who  scrupled 
not  to  accuse  him  of  hypocrisy,  and  sought  all  means  to  injure  him  : 
some  even  went  so  far  as  to  conspire  his  death ;  but  being  apprised  of 
the  plot,  he  contrived  to  elude  them,  and  ultimately  obtained  the  in- 
terference of  Henry  I.  in  his  behalf:  the  King  also  granted  to  the 
priory,  by  charter,  many  immunities  and  privileges.  According  to  the 
MS.  referred  to,  numerous  miracles  were  wrought  in  the  Monastery 
during  the  life  of  Rahere ;  and  even  after  his  death,  the  blind  were  re- 
stored to  their  sight,  and  the  sick  were  made  well  by  a  visit  to  the  sp<it. 
After  the  service  of  his  prelacy,  twenty-two  years  and  six  months, 
Rahere  "the  clay-house  of  this  world  forsook,  and  the  house  ever- 
lasting he  entered."  His  memory  was  held  in  great  veneration :  and  his 
remains  rest  beneath  a  sumptuous  tomb  in  the  church.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Thomas,  one  of  the  canons  of  the  church  of  St.  Os)lh, 
who  was  prelate  about  thirty  years.  "  In  age,"  says  the  MS.,  "  an 
hundred  winters,  almost  with  whole  wits,  with  all  Christian  solemnity, 
he  deceased  in  1 1 74.  In  this  man's  time  grew  the  plant  of  the  apostolic 
branch  in  glory  and  in  grace  before  God  and  man.  And  with  more 
ample  buildings  were  the  skins  of  our  tabernacle  dilated." 


Founding  the  Priory  of  St.  Bartholonieiv  the  Great.    5 1 

In  1410,  the  Priory  was  rebuilt.  It  was  entirely  enclosed  within 
walls :  at  first  there  were  no  houses  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood ; 
but  the  establishment  of  the  Monastery,  and  the  fair  granted  to  it, 
speedily  caused  a  considerable  population  to  spring  up  all  around  and 
ultimately  within.  The  fair,  held  annually  at  Bartholomew-tide,  for 
three  days,  was  granted  to  the  Prior  and  canons,  before  the  reign  of 
Henry  I.;  for  a  charter  fi-om  this  monarch  conveys  certain  immunities 
to  the  Priory,  and  by  which  "  free  place  is  granted"  to  all  persons  fre- 
quenting the  fair  of  St.  Bartholomew.  To  this  mart  originally  resorted 
clothiers  and  drapers,  not  merely  of  England,  but  of  all  countries,  who 
there  exposed  their  goods  for  sale.  The  stalls  or  booths  were  within 
the  walls  of  the  Priory  churchyard,  the  gates  of  which  were  locked  each 
night,  and  a  watch  was  set  in  order  to  protect  the  various  wares; 
the  street  on  the  north  side  of  the  church  is  still  called  Cloth  Fair. 
During  the  fair  a  "  Court  of  Pie-powder  "  was  held,  to  do  justice  ex- 
peditiously among  the  numerous  persons  who  resorted  there.  The  fair 
was  proclaimed ybr  the  last  time  in  18,55:  the  sole  existing  vestige  of  it 
is  the  old  fee  of  three-and-sixpence  still  paid  by  the  City  to  the  Rector 
of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great,  for  a  proclamation  in  his  parish.  Of 
Rahere's  church  nothing  remains  but  the  chcir,  with  a  procession  path 
surrounding  its  east  end.  The  modem  tower  of  brick  was  built  in 
1628.  Still,  the  church  is,  beyond  all  question,  the  oldest  in  the  City  of 
London,  having  been  erected  nearly  750  years ;  and  its  restoration  has 
been  commenced,  and  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  completed. 

"  We  have  fi?w  monuments  of  mediaeval  art  in  London,  (says  the  Rev. 
Mackenzie  Walcott,)  and  with  the  exception  of  the  unrivalled  Church 
of  Westminster,  and  the  surviving  portion  of  St.  Mary  Overye,  there 
is  not  one  among  them  to  compete  in  size,  importance,  or  archaeological 
interest,  with  the  old  minster  of  St.  Bartholomew,  Smithfield.  It  is  to 
be  hopetl  that  the  wealthy  citizens  of  London  and  other  churchmen  will 
not  withhold  their  contributions,  which  might  be  made  a  memorial  for 
the  martyrs  who  suffered  the  baptism  of  fire  on  the  adjoining  ground 
for  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  but  will  aid  in  the  spirit  of 
an  ancient  worthy :  '  Revere  founders,  revere  their  names,  revere  that 
ancient  glory  and  honourable  age,  which  venerable  in  man,  in  cities  arc 
sacred.'  "* 

Stow  records  having  seen  in  his  youth,  on  the  eve  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
the  scholars  of  divers  grammar-schools  repair  to  the  churchyard,  and 
upon  a  bank  under  a  tree,  dispute  with  one  another :  on  the  Suppre»- 


*  Plin.  ad  Max.,  Ep.  viii.  34. 
E  a 


52  Romance  of  Bay nard's  Castle. 

sion,  these  opponences  were  removed  for  a  few  years  to  the  cloisters  of 
Christ's  Hospital,  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI. ;  and  the  conquerors  in 
the  wordy  war  were  rewarded  with  bows  and  arrows  of  silver.* 


Romance  of  Baynard's  Castle. 

On  the  north  bank  of  the  Thames,  immediately  below  St.  Paul's,  and 
in  the  line  of  Upper  Thames-street,  stood  two  Castles — all  traces  of  which 
have  long  since  disappeared,  with  the  exception  of  thename  of  oneof  them, 
which  is  still  preserved  to  the  Waxd  of  Castle  Baynard,  wherein  it  was 
situated.  Of  this  fortress,  especially,  many  are  the  romantic  tales  which 
might  be  told.  It  was  so  called  of  its  founder,  William  Baynard,  a 
nobleman,  lord  of  Dunmow,  who  came  in  with  William  the  Conqueror. 
Fitzstephcn,  who  wrote  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  describes  it  as  a 
considerable  building  in  his  time;  and  Gervasius  of  Tilbury,  a  contem- 
porary writer,  speaks  of  two  castles,  built  with  walls  and  ramparts, 
whereof  one  is  in  right  of  possession  Baynard's,  the  other  is  the  Baron 
Montfichet's.  Baynard,  the  founder  of  the  former,  dying  in  the  reign 
of  William  Rufus,  left  it  to  his  son  Geoffrey,  from  whom  it  came  to 
William  Baynard  ;  who,  having  forfeited  his  barony  of  Little  Dunmow, 
and  "  honor  of  Baynard's  Castle,"  both  were  conferred  by  Henry  I.  on 
Robert  Fitzwalter,  the  son  of  Gilbert,  Earl  of  Clare,  in  whose  family  it 
remained  for  three  centuries. 

A  love  story  is  told  of  this  family  in  the  reign  of  King  John. 
Robert,  baron  Fitzwalter,  lord  of  Castle  Baynard,  had  a  lovely  daugh- 
ter, Matilda  the  Fair.  The  "  Chronicle  of  Dunmow"  saith  that  discord 
arose  between  the  King  and  his  barons,  because  of  the  above  Matilda, 
whom  the  king  loved  ;  but  her  father  would  not  consent,  and  thereupon 
war  ensued  throughout  England.  •'  The  King  spoiled  especially  the 
castle  of  Baynard,  in  London,  and  other  holds  and  houses  of  the  barons. 
Fitzwalter,  Fitzrobert,  and  Mountfichet  passed  over  into  France;  some 
also  went  into  Wales,  and  some  into  Scotland,  and  did  great  damage  to 
the  King.  Whilst  Maude  the  Fair  remained  at  Dunmow,  there  came  a 
messenger  unto  her  from  King  John,  about  his  suit  in  love ;  but  because 
she  would  not  agree,  the  messenger  poisoned  a  boiled  or  poached  egg, 
against  she  was  hungrie,  whereof  she  died,  and  was  buried  in  the  choii 
at  Dunmow."  The  name  of  Robert  Fitzwalter,  the  father  of  this  un- 
happy maid,  is  placed  by  Matthew  Paris  at  the  head  of  the  Barons  who 


•  Abridged  from  Knights  London,  vol.  ii.,  wheru  the  valuable  manm^cript is 
more  fully  quoted. 


Romance  of  Bayuard's  Castle.  53 

came  armed  to  King  John  in  the  Temple,  and  made  those  demands 
which  finally  resulted  in  the  signing  of  Magna  Charta. 

Another  romantic  story  is  related  of  his  reconciliation  with  the  King, 
which  we  would  fain  hope  is  not  true ;  and  there  is  difficulty  in  believ- 
ing it,  from  the  confusion  of  dates.  If  King  John  really  poisoned  his 
daughter,  and  acted  throughout  towards  her  as  he  is  represented  to 
have  done,  no  true  man,  as  Fitzwalter  appears  to  have  been,  would  have 
ever  condescendetl  to  be  tiken  into  his  favour.  The  following  is  the 
story : — King  John  being  in  France,  after  the  flight  of  Fitzwalter  from 
England,  concluded  a  truce  with  the  French  king  for  five  years.  Whe\ 
the  truce  was  proclaimed,  an  English  knight  invited  any  knight  from 
the  French  to  cross  the  stream  that  divided  the  two  armies,  and  take  a 
joust  or  two  with  him.  The  invitation  or  challenge  was  accepted,  and 
a  knight  of  the  French  plunged  his  horse  into  the  river  and  swam  across, 
and  defeated  the  English  knight  in  so  masterly  a  manner,  that  King 
John,  struck  with  admiration,  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  "  Happy  is  the 
king  who  has  such  a  knight  as  this  !"  The  words  were  reported  to  the 
victor,  who  was  no  other  than  Fitzwalter,  who  had  joined  the  French 
aimy ;  and  he  was  so  flattered  with  the  praise  that  he  came  the  next  day, 
threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  John,  and  was  pardoned  for  his  defection. 
He  then  returned  to  England,  rebuilt  Castle  Baynard,  which  John  had 
thrown  down,  and  resided  in  it  with  great  magnificence  until  his  death. 

In  1428,  being  then,  probably,  by  another  forfeiture  a  part  of  the 
Royal  possessions,  the  Castle  was  almost  entirely  destroyed  by  fire,  but 
was  soon  after  granted  to  and  rebuilt  by  Humphrey,  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter, for  his  own  residence.  In  this  castle  the  Council  assembled  which 
proclaimed  the  Earl  of  March  King,  under  the  title  of  Edward  IV.; 
and  here  also  his  luckless  boy  was  proclaimed  Edward  V. 

But  the  castle  acquired  its  greatest  celebrity  in  con:iexion  with 
Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  afterwards  Richard  III.,  who  here 
assumed  the  regal  dignity.  Here  Stafford,  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
offered  the  crown  to  Richard,  in  the  court  of  the  castle ;  and  here 
Shakspearc  has  laid  a  scene  of  inimitable  excellence.  Buckingham,  in 
veritable  history,  will  be  remembered  as  the  seconder  of  Dr.  Shaw's 
sermon  at  Paul's  Cross,  to  establish  the  illegitimacy  of  the  children  of 
Edwai-d  IV.,  and  thus  clear  the  way  to  the  throne  for  the  wily  Richard, 
Duke  of  Gloucester.  Two  days  afterwards,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
harangued  the  citizens  in  the  same  strain  with  Shaw ;  and  on  the  25tli 
of  June  that  nobleman  presented  to  Richard,  in  his  mother's  liouse  at 
Baynard's  Castle,  a  parchment  purporting  to  be  a  declaration  of  the 
Three  Estates  in  favour  of  Richard,  as  the  only  legitimate  prince  of  the 


54  Romance  of  Baynard's  Castle. 

House  of  York.  Buckingham  had  been  sent  by  Richard  to  Guildhall, 
to  see  his  suit  well  urged,  and  bring  the  Lord  Mayor  and  aldermen  to 
him,  saying,  "  If  you  thrive  well,  bring  them  to  Baynard's  Castle,  where 
you  shall  find  "me  well  accompanied  wuth  reverend  fathers,  and  well 
learned  bishops ;"  then,  with  seeming  reluctance,  Richard  repels  the  offer 
of  the  glittering  crown,  but  at  length  accepts.  Buckingham  then  salutes 
Gloucester  as  "  England's  worthy  king  ;"  the  day  of  coronation  is  fixed ; 
Gloucester  says  to  the  two  bishops, 

"  Come,  let  us  to  our  holy  work  again  ;" 
and  thus  ends  this  usually  well-acted  scene  of  royal  hypocrisy  and 
blood-stained  guilt.  By  the  way,  this  was  the  incident  which  so  de- 
lighted  George  II.,  that  when  Garrick  asked  his  Majesty,  on  leaving 
the  box,  how  he  liked  the  play,  the  King  replied  seriously,  "  Fine  lor 
mayor,  capital  lor  mayor;  where  you  get  such  lor  mayor?" 

Baynard's  Castle  was  the  scene  of  many  other  historical  events,  prior 
to  its  destruction  in  the  Great  Fire.  Henry  VII.  changed  the  castle 
from  a  fortress  to  a  palace.  He  lodged  in  it  occasionally,  and  from 
hence  made  several  of  his  solemn  processions.  Here,  in  1505,  he  lodged 
Philip  of  Austria,  the  matrimonial  King  of  Castile,  when  he  was  driven 
to  England  by  a  tempest. 

The  Castle  was  the  residence  of  Sir  William  Sydney,  who  died 
chamberlain  and  steward  to  Edward  VI.  It  next  became  the  resi- 
dence of  the  Earls  of  Pembroke;  and  in  1553,  on  the  9th  of  July,  about 
a  fortnight  after  the  death  of  Edward  VI.,  William  Herbert,  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  assembled  there  the  council  of  the  nobility  and  clergy,  at 
which  the  determination  was  taken,  on  the  motion  of  Lord  Arundel,  to 
abandon  the  cause  of  Lady  Jane  Grey,  and  to  proclaim  Queen  Mary, 
which  accordingly  was  instantly  done  in  different  parts  of  the  city. 
It  is  recorded  of  this  Earl,  that  "  he  rode  on  the  1 7th  of  February, 
1553,  to  his  mansion  of  Baynard  Castle,  with  300  horse  in  his  retinue, 
of  which  100  of  them  were  gentlemen  in  plain  blue  cloth,  with  chains 
of  gold,  and  badges  of  a  dragon  on  their  sleeves."  He  died  on  the  i  yth 
of  March,  1569-70,  and  was  buried  in  the  cathedral  of  SL  Paul's  with 
such  magnificence,  that  the  mourning  given  at  his  funeral,  according  to 
Stow,  cost  the  very  large  sum,  at  that  period,  of  2000/. 

Queen  Elizabeth  visited  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  at  Baynard's  Castle, 
and  took  supper  with  his  lordship ;  after  which  the  Queen  showed  her- 
self from  a  balcony  to  the  people  assembled  in  boats  and  barges  upon 
the  river  ;  and  then  entered  her  own  barge  amid  a  brilliant  display  of 
fireworks,  and  the  acclamations  of  the  people. 

Here  Philip,  Earl  of  Pembroke  and  Montgomery,  was  (July  9,  1641) 


Romance  of  Baynard' s  Castle.  55 

installed  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford ;  and  here  his  second 
Countess,  the  still  more  celebrated  "  Anne  Pembroke,  Dorset,  and 
Montgomery,"  took  up  her  abode,  while  her  husband  resided  at  the 
Cockpit,  at  Whitehall.  She  describes  Baynard  Castle  in  her  Me- 
moirs, as  "  a  house  full  of  riches,  and  more  seciured  by  my  lying 
there."  On  the  19th  of  June,  1660,  King  Charles  II.  went  to  supper 
here,  as  Pepys  records :  "  My  Lord  \i.e..  Lord  Sandwich]  went  at 
night  with  the  King  to  Baynard's  Castle  to  supper."  1 

The  Earls  of  Shrewsbury  were  the  last  proprietors  of  this  famous 
castle,  and  resided  in  it  until  its  destruction  by  the  Great  Fire.  It  is 
represented  in  an  old  print  as  a  square  pile,  surrounding  two  courts,  and 
surmounted  with  numerous  towers.  A  large  gateway  in  the  middle  of 
the  south  side,  led  to  the  river  by  a  bridge  of  two  arches  and  stairs.  In 
Hollar's  View  of  London  afier  the  Great  Fire,  we  see  the  river  front 
standing,  with  its  numerous  towers;  but  to  the  right  and  lefl  of  the 
Castle  the  ruins  of  the  fire  are  very  extensive,  and  we  miss  or  see 
in  niins  many  a  noble  mansion. 

The  principal  front  of  the  castle  was  in  Thames-street.  Two  of  the 
towers,  incorporated  with  other  buildings,  remained  till  the  present 
century,  when  they  were  pulled  down  to  make  way  for  the  Carron  Iron 
Company's  premises.  The  ward  in  which  stood  the  fortress-palace  is 
named  Castle  Baynard,  as  is  also  a  wharf  upon  the  site ;  and  a  public-house 
in  the  neighbourhood  long  bore  the  sign  of  "  Duke  Humphrey's  Head." 

In  Notes  and  Queries,  No.  ii,  it  is  shown  that  Bainiardus,  who  gave 
his  name  to  Baynard's  Castle,  held  land  here  of  the  Abbot  of  West- 
minster; and  in  a  grant  as  late  as  1653  is  described  "the  common  field 
at  Paddington"  (now  Bayswater  Field),  as  being,  "  near  to  a  place  com- 
monly called  Baynard's  Watering"  Hence  it  is  concluded  "  that  this 
portion  of  ground,  always  remarkable  for  its  springs  of  excellent  water, 
once  supplied  water  to  Baynard,  his  household,  or  his  castle ;  that  the 
memory  of  his  name  was  preserved  in  the  neighbourhood  for  six  cen- 
turies;" and  that  this  watering-place  is  now  Bayswater. 

There  is  a  curious  record  of  the  failure  of  Lord  Fitzwalter  to  place 
delinquents  in  the  stocks,  which  he  had  set  up  at  Castle  Baynard  at  his 
own  will.  The  citizens  were  in  an  uproar  at  this  abuse ;  and  Fitz- 
walter  being  no  longer  in  possession  at  Castle  Baynard,  he  had  to  take 
down  the  stocks.  The  Fitzwaltcrs  had,  however,  a  stranger  privilege  than 
even  this :  they  had  the  privilege  of  drowning  traitors  in  the  Thames. 
The  "  patient"  was  made  fast  to  a  pillar  at  Wood  Wharf,  and  left 
there  for  the  tide  to  How  twice  over,  and  ebb  twice  from  him,  while 
the  crowd  looked  on,  and  enjoyed  the  barbarous  spectacle ! 


$6  The  Beggar's  Daughter  of  Bethnal  Green. 

Adjoining  Baynard's  Castle  was  another  tower,  built  by  Edward  II., 
which  his  son  gave  to  William  de  Ross,  of  Hamlake,  in  Yorkshire,  he 
having  done  service  in  the  wars  against  Scotland  and  France ;  for  this 
tower  he  paid  yearly  a  rose. 

The  other  castle,  of  which  mention  is  made  by  Fitzstephen  in  his 
account  of  London,  was  called  the  Castle  of  Montfichet,  and  stood  to 
the  west  of  Castle  Baynard.  It  was  founded  by  Gilbert  de  Monfichet, 
a  native  of  Rouen,  and  related  to  the  Conqueror.  He  brought  with 
him  a  great  foice,  and  fought  gallantly  in  his  cause  at  the  Battle  of 
Hastings.  This  tower  was  demolished  by  King  John  in  121,3,  after 
banishing  Richard,  successor  to  Gilbert,  the  actual  owner:  the  materials 
were  applied,  in  1276,  towards  -building  the  monastery  of  Blackfriara. 


The  Beggar's  Daughter  of  Bethnal  Green. 

The  low-lying  district,  formerly  a  "  Green,"  but  now  covered  with 
masses  of  small  houses,  was  once  a  hamlet  of  Stepney,  but  was  made  a 
parish  in  174.3.  It  is  of  long  celebrity  from  the  old  English  ballad  of 
"  The  Beggar's  Daughter  of  Bednal-Green,"  written  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth.  It  is  founded,  though  without  the  least  appearance  of 
truth,  or  even  probability,  on  a  legend  of  the  time  of  Henry  1 1 1.  Henry 
de  Montfort,  son  of  the  ambitious  Earl  of  Leicester,  who  was  slain  with 
his  father  at  the  memorable  battle  of  Evesham,  is  the  hero  of  the  tale. 
He  is  supposed  (according  to  the  legend),  to  have  been  discovered 
among  the  bodies  of  the  slain  by  a  young  lady,  in  an  almost  lifeless 
state,  and  deprived  of  sight  by  a  wound  which  he  had  received  in  the 
battle.  Under  the  fostering  hand  of  this  "  faire  damosel,"  he  soon  re- 
covered, and  afterwards  marrying  her,  she  became  the  mother  of  "  the 
comelye  and  prettyc  Bcssce."  Fearing  lest  his  rank  and  person  should 
be  discovered  by  his  enemies,  he  disguised  himself  in  the  habit  of  a 
beggar,  and  took  up  his  abode  at  Bethnal  Green.  The  beauty  of  his 
daughter  attracted  many  suitors,  and  she  was  at  length  married  to  a 
noble  knight,  who  regardless  of  her  supposed  meanness  and  poverty, 
had  the  courage  to  make  her  his  wife,  her  other  lovers  having  deserted 
ner,  on  account  of  her  low  origin.  In  the  ballad,  the  "  Song  of  the 
Beggar"  contains  the  whole  of  the  legend  concerning  de  Montfort,  as 

follows : 

' '  A  poore  beggar's  daughter  did  dwell  on  a  greene, 
Wtio  for  her  fairnesse  might  well  be  a  queene ; 
A  b'.iihe  bonny  lasse,  and  a  daintye  was  sliee, 
And  many  a  one  called  her  pretty  Bessee. 


Tlie  Beggar  s  Daughter  of  Bet  final  Green.  57 

Her  father  hee  had  noe  goods  nor  noe  land, 
But  begg'd  for  a  penny  all  day  with  his  hand  ; 
And  yett  to  her  marriage  he  gave  thousands  three. 
And  still  he  hath  somewhat  for  pretty  Bessee. 

And  if  any  one  her  birth  doe  disdaine, 
Her  father  is  ready,  with  might  and  with  roaine. 
To  prove  shee  is  come  of  noble  degree — 
Therefore  never  flout  att  the  prettye  Bessee. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Then  give  me  leave,  nobles  and  gentles,  each  one, 
One  song  more  to  sing,  and  then  1  have  done  ; 
And  if  that  itt  may  not  winn  good  report. 
Then  doe  not  give  me  a  groat  for  my  sport. 

Sir  Simon  de  Montfort  my  subject  shall  bee. 
Once  chiefe  of  all  the  great  barons  was  hee — 
Yet  fortune  so  cruelle  this  iorde  did  abase, 
Now  lost  and  forgotten  are  hee  and  his  race. 

WTien  the  barons  in  armes  did  King  Henrye  oppose. 
Sir  Simon  de  Montfort  their  leader  they  chose — 
A  leader  of  courage  undaunted  was  hee. 
And  oft-times  he  made  their  enemyes  flee. 

At  length  in  the  battle  on  Evesham's  plaine 

The  barons  were  routed,  and  Montfort  was  slaine ; 

Moste  fatall  that  battel  did  prove  unto  thee, 

Thoughe  thou  wast  not  borne  then,  my  prettye  Bessee  I 

Along  with  the  nobles  that  fell  at  thy  tyde. 
His  eldest  son  Henr>'e,  who  fought  by  his  side, 
Was  f,"llde  by  a  blowe  he  receivd  in  the  fighte  1 
A  blowo  that  deorivd  him  for  ever  of  sight. 

Among  the  dead  bodyes  all  lifeles5«  he  laye. 
Till  evening  drewe  on  of  the  followinj/  daye. 
When  by  a  young  ladye  discover'd  was  hee — 
And  this  was  thy  mother,  my  pretty  Bessee: 

A  baron's  faire  daughter  slept  forth  in  the  nighte, 
To  search  for  her  father,  who  fell  in  the  fight. 
And  seeing  young  Montfort,  where  gasping  he  laye, 
Was  moved  with  pityc,  and  broughte  him  awayc. 

In  secrette  she  nurst  him,  and  swaged  his  painc. 
While  he  throughe  the  realme  was  beleev'd  to  be  slaine: 
At  lengthe  his  (aire  bride  she  consented  to  bee, 
And  made  him  glad  father  of  prettye  Bessee. 

And  nowe,  lest  oure  foes  our  lives  shoulde  betraye, 
We  clothed  ourselves  in  beggar's  arraye ; 
Her  Jewells  she  solde,  and  hither  came  wee — 
All  our  comfort  and  care  was  our  pretty  Bessee. 

And  here  liave  wee  lived  in  fortune's  despite, 
Th(jUf;lio  poure.  yet  contented  with  humble  delightc, 
Full  tuny  winters  thus  have  I  bcene 
A  silly  blind  bq^gar  of  Bedoall  Greene. 


58  The  Lollards  at  Lambeth  Palace. 

And  here,  noble  lords,  is  ended  tlie  song 
Of  one  that  once  to  your  owne  ranke  did  belong ; 
And  thus  have  you  learned  a  secrettc  from  mee, 
That  ne'er  had  beene  knowne  but  for  prettye  Bessee." 

Here  is  a  portrait  of  the  Blind  Beggar: — 

"  My  father,  shee  said,  is  soone  to  be  scene, 
The  sicly  blind  beggar  of  nednall-green, 
That  daylye  sits  begging  for  charitie, 
He  is  the  good  father  of  prettye  Bessee. 

His  markes  and  his  tokens  are  known  very  well; 
He  always  is  led  with  a  dogg  and  a  bell. 
A  seely  old  man,  God  knoweth,  is  hce, 
Yet  he  is  the  father  of  prettye  Bessee." 

Lysons  tells  us  that  "  the  story  of  the  Blind  Beggar  seems  to  have 
gained  much  credit  in  the  village,  v^'here  it  decorates  not  only  the  sign- 
posts of  the  publicans,  but  the  staff  of  the  parish- beadle." 

In  1570,  there  was  a  house  at  Bethnal  Green,  built  by  John  Thorpe, 
the  architect  of  Holland  House,  for  John  Kirby,  of  whom  nothing  is 
known;  but  the  house  was  distinguished  in  rhyme  as  "  Kirby's  Castle," 
and  associated  with  other  memorable  follies  in  brick  and  mortar: 

"  Kirkeby's  Castell  and  Fisher's  Follie, 
Spinila's  pleasure  and  Megse's  glorie." 

This  house  was  inhabited  in  1663  by  Sir  William  Rider,  to  whom 
Pepys  records  a  pleasant  visit:  "  26  June,  1663.  By  coach  to  Bednall- 
green  to  Sir  W.  Rider's  to  dinner.  A  fine  merry  walk  with  the  ladies 
alone  after  dinner  in  the  garden  :  the  greatest  quantities  of  strawberries 
I  ever  saw,  and  good."  Pepys  speaks  with  less  authority  of  the  man- 
sion: "This  very  house,"  he  says,  "was  built  by  the  Blind  Beggar  of 
Bednall-grecn,  so  much  talked  of  and  sung  in  ballads ;  but  they  say  it 
was  only  some  of  the  outhouses  of  it." 


The  Lollards  at  Lambeth  Palace. 

Few  of  the  venerable  edifices  of  this  kingdom  are  more  richly 
stored  with  historical  associations  than  the  archiepiscopal  palace  of 
Lambeth.  Its  origin,  as  stated  by  Matthew  Paris,  in  the  words  of  his 
translator  Stow,  is  curious.  "  Boniface,"  saith  Matthew  Paris,  "  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  in  his  visitation  came  to  this  Priory  [of  St. 
Bartholqmew,  in  Smithfield],  where  being  received  in  procession  in  the 
most  solemn  wise,  he  said  that  he  passed  not  upon  the  honour,  but  came 
to  visit  them.    To  whom  the  canons  answered,  that  they,  having  a 


The  Lollards  at  Lambeth  Palace.  59 

learned  bishop,  ought  not,  in  contempt  of  him  to  be  visited  by  any  other. 
Which  answer  so  much  offended  the  Archbishop,  that  he  forthwith 
fell  on  the  Sub-Prior,  and  smote  him  on  the  face,  saying  '  Indeed ! 
Indeed  !  doth  it  become  you  English  traitors  so  to  answer  me  ?*  Thus 
raging,  with  oaths  not  to  be  recited,  he  rent  in  pieces  the  rich  cope  of 
the  Sub-Prior,  and  trod  it  under  his  foot,  and  thrust  him  against  a 
pillar  of  the  chancel  with  such  violence  that  he  had  almost  killed  him. 
But  the  canons  seeing  their  Sub-Prior  thus  almost  slain,  came  and 
plucked  off  the  Archbishop  with  such  force  that  they  overthrew  him 
backwards,  whereby  they  might  see  be  <was  armed  and  prepared  tofgbt. 
The  Archbishop's  men,  seeing  their  master  down,  being  all  strangers, 
and  their  master's  countrymen,  bom  at  Provence,  fell  upon  the  canons, 
beat  them,  tore  them,  and  trod  them  under  foot.  At  length,  the  canons, 
getting  away  as  well  as  they  could,  ran,  bloody  and  miry,  rent  and 
torn,  to  the  Bishop  of  London  to  complain,  who  bade  them  go  to  the 
King  at  Westminster,  and  tell  him  thereof.  Whereupon  four  of  them 
went  thither ;  the  rest  were  not  able,  they  were  so  sore  hurt.  But 
when  they  came  to  Westminster,  the  King  would  neither  hear  nor  see 
them,  8o  they  returned,  without  redress.  In  the  mean  season,  the 
whole  city  was  in  an  uproar,  and  ready  to  have  rung  the  common  bell, 
and  to  have  hewed  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  into  small  pieces ; 
who  was  secretly  kept  to  Lambeth,  where  they  sought  him,  and  not 
knowing  him  by  sight,  said  to  themselves,  Where  is  that  ruffian,  that 
cruel  smiter  ?  He  is  no  winner  of  souls,  but  an  exactor  of  money, 
whom  neither  God  nor  any  lawful  or  free  election  did  bring  to  this  pro- 
nTotion  ;  but  the  King  did  unlawfully  intrude  him  ;  being  unlearned,  a 
stranger  bom,  having  a  wife,  &c.  But  the  Archbishop  conveyed  him- 
self over  [to  Westminster,]  and  went  to  the  king,  with  a  great  com- 
plaint against  the  canons,  whereas  himself  was  guilty."  So  the  Arch- 
bishop from  Lambeth  boldly  issued  a  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  his  opposers,  satisfied  that  the  king  would  support  him  in  his 
violent  tyranny.  Another  tribunal,  however,  was  appealed  to,  which 
had  no  particular  prepossession  for  the  Archbishop — the  Pope;  who 
commanded  him,  by  way  of  expiation,  to  build  a  splendid  mansion  at 
Lambeth  for  the  occupant  of  the  see,  in  the  room  of  the  humble 
manor-house  that  is  supposetl  to  have  existed  previously. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  first  building  erected  at  Lambeth  as 
the  archiepiscopal  scat.  That  portion  of  the  paL^ce  known  as  the 
LoUardj'  Toii-er  is  more  directly  associated  with  history  than  any  other 
part  of  the  present  edifice.  The  Lollards,  named  from  their  low 
tone  of  anging,  (in  German  Mien,)  at  interments,  will  be  remembered 


6o  The  Lollards  at  Lambeth  Palace. 

in  our  history  as  a  numerous  sect,  whose  powerful  preaching  produced 
an  extensive  reformation  in  religious  opinion  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
They  endured  severe  persecutions  with  sincerity  and  firmness ;  but  in 
general  we  find  an  extravagant  fanaticism  among  them.  In  their  un- 
social qualities,  as  well  as  in  their  superior  abilities,  the  Lollards  bear 
a  very  close  resemblance  to  the  Puritans  of  Elizabeth's  reign.  The 
Lollards  numbered  among  them  many  eminent  followers  of  Wickliffe. 
Fostered  by  the  general  ill-will  towards  the  Church,  his  principles  made 
vast  progress  in  England,  and  unlike  those  of  earlier  sectaries,  were 
embraced  by  men  of  rank  and  civil  influence.  Notwithstanding  the 
check  they  sustained  by  the  sanguinary  law  of  Henry  IV.,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  multitudes  secretly  cherished  them  down  to  the  Refor- 
mation. As  the  virulence  of  the  Lollards  was  thus  directed  against  the 
Church,  we  might  expect  to  find  its  high  seat  the  prime  scene  of 
defence.  Accordingly,  the  Registers  of  Lambeth  Palace,  or  rather  the 
See  of  Canterbury,  record  several  proceedings  against  this  sect.  Wick- 
liffe himself  appeared  here  to  defend  his  tenets.  He  had  been  previously 
cited  to  St.  Paul's,  whither  he  went,  attended  by  the  all-powerful  John 
of  Gaunt.  A  new  and  what  was  intended  to  be  a  more  private  council 
was  held  in  the  Archbishop's  Chapel,  at  Lambeth,  before  which  Wick- 
lifle  appeared,  "  when  not  only  the  London  citizens,  but  the  mob, 
presume.l  to  force  themselves  into  the  chapel,  and  to  speak  in  Dr. 
Wickliffe's  behalf,  to  the  great  terror  of  the  delegates ;  and  that  the 
Queen's  mother  sent  Sir  Lewis  Clifford  to  them  to  forbid  them  to 
proceed  to  any  definitive  sentence  ;"  with  which  message  the  delegates 
are  said  to  have  been  much  confounded  "As  the  reed  of  a  wind 
shaken,"  says  Walsingham,  "  their  speech  became  as  soft  as  oil,  to  the 
public  loss  of  their  own  dignity,  and  the  damage  of  the  whole  church. 
They  were  struck  with  such  dread  that  you  would  think  them  to  be  as 
a  man  that  heareth  not,  and  in  whose  mouth  are  no  reproofs."  On 
this  occasion,  Wickliffe  delivered  in  writing  an  elaborate  statement  of 
his  views,  but  the  delegates  commanded  him  to  repeat  no  more  such 
propositions  either  in  his  schools  or  his  sermons. 

Foremost  among  the  defenders  of  the  Church  was  Archbishop 
Arundel,  in  the  reigns  of  Richard  II.,  Henry  IV.,  and  Henry  V.  j  and 
it  is  presumed  that  his  influence  much  contributed  to  pass  the  horrible 
law  referred  to  above ;  while  he  has  the  bad  reputation  of  being  the  first 
head  of  the  Church  of  England  who  brought  in  the  argument  of  the 
fiery  stake  to  convince  heretics  of  their  heresy.  The  statute  condemned 
to  be  burnt  all  who  were  convicted  before  the  diocesan  of  obstinate  or 
relapsed  heresy,  and  commanded  the  sheriff  or  other  loc^l  magistrate  to 


The  Lollards  at  Lambeth  PalaCe.  6i 

commit  the  offender  against  the  Divine  Majesty  to  the  flames.  In  the 
reigns  of  both  the  Henries  considerable  numbei-s  thus  suffered  death. 
The  first  sufferer,  WiUiam  Saw-tre,  was  executed  in  1410.  But  Sir 
John  Oldcastle,  Lord  Cobham,  was  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  first 
heretics ;  or  in  other  words,  of  the  first  who  preferred  death  to  insin- 
cerity, under  the  new  law  for  burning  heretics.  His  rank  and  military 
reputation  enhanced,  in  some  respects,  his  merit,  and  gave  more  efficacy 
to  the  example  of  his  martyrdom.  Henry  V.  laboured  to  soften  Cob- 
ham's  determination  ;  and  it  was  only  after  his  courageous  refusal  that 
he  was  abandoned  to  Archbishop  Arundel.  Cobham  was  tried,  con- 
victed, and  condemned,  but  escaped  from  his  prison  ;  he  was  retaken, 
and  in  14 17,  executed  under  the  avowed  authority  of  the  Archbishop 
and  his  judicial  synod,  condemning  Oldcastle  as  an  incoirlgible  heretic. 
Soon  after  passing  the  sentence,  an  inflammation  of  the  throat  speedily 
put  an  end  to  Arundel's  life.  This  incident,  with  a  pardonable  degree 
of  superstition,  considering  the  times,  the  Lollards  transformed  into  a 
special  judgment. 

If  Arundel  merits  the  stigma  of  "  the  fiercest  persecutor  of  the  Lol- 
lards," his  successor.  Archbishop  Chicheley,  has  left  a  more  substantial 
memorial  of  his  conduct  towards  this  sect,  in  the  Lollards'  loiver  at 
Lambeth,  which  he  built  in  the  years  1434  and  1435.  It  is  a  large 
stone  building,  and  derives  its  name  from  the  Lollards'  prison  which  it 
contains,  the  ascent  to  which  is  by  a  narrow  newel  stone  staircase ; 
the  steps  are  much  worn,  and  fill  the  mind  with  gloomy  retrospections 
of  the  many  victims  that  must  have  contributed  to  this  decay.  It 
is  entered  by  a  small,  pointed  stone  doorway,  barely  sufl:cient  for  one 
person  to  pass  at  a  time ;  which  doorway  has  an  inner  and  outer  door 
of  strong  oak,  thickly  studded  with  iron,  and  fastenings  to  correspond. 
Secured  to  the  wainscot  which  lines  the  walls  are  eight  large  iron 
rings.  The  wainscot,  the  ceiling,  and  every  part  of  this  chamber  is 
entirely  lined  with  oak,  nearly  an  inch  and  a  half  in  thickness.  It  has 
two  very  small  windows,  narrowing  outwards.  A  small  chimney  is  on 
the  north  part ;  and  upon  the  sides  are  various  scratches,  ha  If- sentences, 
initials,  and  in  one  or  two  places  a  crucifix,  cut  out  with  a  knife,  or 
some  other  sharp  instrument,  by  the  prisoners  who  are  supposed  to  have 
been  confined  here. 

Not  only  was  Lambeth  Palace  thus  employed  for  the  punishment  of 
ecclesiastical  offenders,  for  Queen  Elizabeth  appropriated  it  as  a  state- 
prison  :  besides  committing  the  two  Popish  prelates,  Tunstail  andThirlby, 
to  the  custody  of  the  Aichbishop,  her  Majesty  committed  here 
other  persons  of  rank.    The  Earl  of  Essex  was  confined  here  before  he 


62  The  Lollards  at  Lambeth  Palace. 

was  sent  to  the  Tower.  It  was  usual  for  the  prisoners  to  be  kept  in 
separate  apartments,  and  to  cat  at  the  Archbishop's  table.  The  tower 
appears  to  have  cost  building  only  278/.  2j.  \\\d,:  the  ironwork  about 
the  windows  and  doors  amounted  to  132211b.  in  weight.  There  is  a 
minute  account  of  the  cost  of  each  item :  a  bricklayer  and  a  tiler's  wages 
were  tiien,  by  the  day,  with  victuals,  4//. ;  a  labourer's,  with  victuals, 
3</.,  without  victuals,  ^^d.  On  the  exterior  is  a  niche,  in  which  was 
the  image  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket,  which  image  cost  13J.  4^.  There 
is  also  a  small  apartment  adjoining  tiic  porter's  lodge,  and  supposed  to 
have  been  anciently  used  as  a  second  prison  for  confining  the  overflowing 
of  the  Lollards'  Tower.  This  room  has  three  iron  rings  fastened  in  the 
wall;  it  has  a  double  door;  the  windows  are  high  and  narrow,  and  the 
walls,  which  are  lined  with  stone,  are  of  prodigious  thickness.  An 
additional  proof  of  the  ancient  appropriation  of  this  room  is,  that  here 
is  the  same  description  of  writing  as  in  the  Lollards*  Tower,  cut  in  the 
wall.  The  name  of  Grafton,  in  the  Old  English  character,  is  perfectly 
legible ;  and  near  it  are  a  cross  and  other  figures  rudely  delineated. 

At  the  Great  Gate  of  the  Palace,  built  by  Cardinal  Morton,  about 
1490,  the  Dole,  immemorialiy  given  by  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury 
to  the  indigent  parishioners  of  Lambeth,  is  constantly  distributed.  Its 
recipients  are  30  poor  widows,  from  sixty  to  seventy  years  of  age,  each 
of  whom,  three  days  a  week,  has  a  loaf,  meat,  and  2\d.  Soup  is  also 
given  to  them,  and  many  other  poor  persons.  The  word  dole  signifies 
a  share  or  portion,  and  is  still  used  in  that  sense;  but  in  former  times  it 
was  more  particularly  applied  to  the  alms  (broken  victuals,  &c.),  cus- 
tomarily distributed  at  the  gates  of  great  men.  Stow,  in  his  examples 
of  housekeeping,  laments  the  decline  of  this  laudable  custom  in  his  day, 
"  which  before  had  been  so  general  that  almes-dishes  (into  which  certain 
portions  of  meat  for  the  needy  were  carved),  were  to  be  seen  at  every 
nobleman  and  prelate's  table."  As  the  first  in  place  and  dignity  under 
the  sovereign,  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  appear  to  have  exercised 
this  ancient  virtue  of  hospitality  in  a  supercminent  degree;  and  in 
Archbishop  Parker's  Regulations  for  the  officers  of  his  household  at 
Lambeth,  it  was  ordered  that  there  should  be  "  no  purloining  of  meat 
left  upon  the  tables,  but  that  it  be  putt  into  the  almes-tubb,  and  the 
tubbe  to  be  kept  sweete  and  cleane  before  it  be  used  from  time  to  time." 
The  desuetude  of  which  Stow  complains  may  possibly  be  ascribed  to 
the  institution  of  the  Poor-Laws  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign. 


63 


Stories  of  the  Savoy. 

The  site  in  the  Strand  which  bears  this  name,  but  is  now  partly 
occupied  by  the  northern  approach  to  Waterloo  Bridge,  and  the  build- 
ings of  Lancaster  Place,  is  suggestive  of  a  long  train  of  historical 
memories.  More  than  six  centuries  ago,  the  site  was  granted  to  Peter, 
Earl  of  Savoy  and  Richmond,  uncle  unto  Eleanor,  wife  to  King 
Henry  III.,  and  who,  being  on  a  visit  to  his  niece,  in  the  year  1245, 
obtained  by  means  of  her  influence  over  the  King,  not  only  titles  but 
possessions  in  England.  Here  he  erected  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
buildings  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames.  There  were  houses  standing 
upon  the  site  at  the  time,  which  must  have  been  pulled  down  when  he 
built  his  palace.  "In  30  Henry  III.  the  king  granted  to  Peter  de 
Savoy  the  inheritance  of  those  houses  in  the  street  called  the  Strand,  in 
the  suburbs  of  London,  and  adjoining  to  the  river  of  Thames,  formerly 
belonging  to  Brian  de  Lisle,  paying  yearly  to  the  king's  exchequer,  at 
the  Feast  of  St.  Michael,  three  barbed  aiTows  for  all  services."  Peter 
de  Savoy,  not  choosing  to  end  his  days  in  England,  bestowed  his 
palace  on  the  fraternity  of  Mountjoy  (or  Priory  de  Cornuto  by  Haver- 
ing-at-the-Bowcr,  in  Essex),  of  whom  it  was  bought  by  Queen  Eleanor, 
for  Edmund,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  second  son  of  King  Henry  III.  His 
son,  Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  was  beheaded  during  the  reign  of 
Edward  II.;  and  the  Savoy  then  became  the  property  of  his  brother, 
Henry,  who  enlarged  it,  and  made  it  so  magnificent  in  1328,  at  an 
expense  of  52,000  marks  ("  which  money,"  says  Stow,  "  he  had  ga- 
thered together  at  the  town  of  Bridgcrike"),  that  there  was,  according 
to  Knighton,  no  mansion  in  the  realm  to  be  compared  with  it  in  beauty 
and  stateliness.  After  the  decease  of  the  Earl's  son,  the  first  Duke  of 
Lancaster,  in  135 1,  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  latter  married  the 
famous  John  of  Gaunt,  who  became,  in  consequence,  the  possessor  of 
the  Savoy.  Six  years  later  occurred  an  event  which  has  bequeathed 
to  the  locality  one  of  its  most  interesting  memories, — the  residence  of 
the  captive  King  John  of  France.  The  battle  of  Poictiers  took  place  on 
the  Kjih  of  September,  1356,  and  on  the  24th  of  April  following,  the 
King,  with  his  illustrious  conqueror,  the  Black  Prince,  the  darling  of 
our  old  historians,  entered  London,  by  Kent-street,  Southwark,  then 
the  only  public  road  into  London  from  the  south.  It  was  an  obscure 
route.  Yet,  what  long  lines  of  conquest  and  devotion,  of  turmoil  and 
rebellion,  of  victory,  gorgeous  pageantry,  and  grim  death,  have  poured 
through  this  narrow  inlet  of  old  London !     The  Roman  invader  came 


64  Stories  of  the  Savoy. 

along  the  rich  marshy  ground  now  supporting  "  Kentish-street ;"  thou- 
sands of  pious  and  ueary  pilgrims  have  passed  along  this  causeway  to 
St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury ;  and  here  the  Black  Prince  rode  with  his  royal 
captive  from  Poicticrs,  and  the  victor  of  Agincourt  was  carried  in  kingly 
state  to  his  last  earthly  bounie.  By  this  route,  Cade  advanced  with  his 
20,000  insurgents  from  Blackheath  to  Southwark ;  and  the  ill-fated 
Wyat  marched  to  discomfiture  and  death.  The  Black  Prince  was  re- 
ceived with  excessive  joy,  but  constantly  refused  all  honours  that  were 
offered  to  him,  being  satisfied  with  those  paid  to  the  captive  king.  Lin- 
gard  says:  "  His  father  had  given  the  necessary  directions  for  his  entry 
into  the  capital,  under  pretence  of  doing  honour  to  the  King  of  France; 
an  unwelcome  honour,  which  served  to  remind  that  monarch  of  his 
captivity,  and  to  make  him  the  principal  ornament  in  the  triumph  of  his 
conqueror."  He  was  received  by  Henry  Picard,  the  Mayor,  and 
the  Aldennen,  in  all  their  formalities,  with  the  City  pageants ;  and 
in  the  streets,  as  he  passed  to  Westminster,  the  citizens  hung  out  all 
their  plate,  tapestry,  and  armour,  so  that  the  like  had  never  been  seen 
before  in  the  memory  of  man. 

"\\  ith  the  same  touching  delicacy  of  feeling  which  characterized  all 
the  proceedings  of  the  Prince  towards  his  prisoner,  from  the  first  supper 
after  the  battle,  (when  he  served  the  French  monarch  kneeling,  and  re- 
fused to  sit  at  table  with  him,)  John  was  now  mounted  on  a  richly 
caparisoned  cream-coloured  charger,  while  the  Prince  rode  by  his  side 
on  a  little  black  palfrey.  The  accompanying  procession  was  most  mag- 
nificent. The  Savoy  was  appropriated  to  King  John  during  the  period  of 
his  stay;  and  "thither,"  says  Froissai't,  "  came  to  see  him  the  King  and 
Queen  oftentimes,  and  made  him  great  feast  and  cheer.  The  ne- 
gotiations as  to  John's  ransom  were  long  protracted,  and  it  was  not  till 
October,  1360,  that  the  terms  were  settled;  when  all  the  parties  being 
at  Calais,  the  French  king  and  twenty-four  of  his  barons  on  the  one 
side,  and  Edward,  with  twenty-seven  of  his  barons  on  the  other,  swore 
to  observe  the  conditions,  and  John  was  liberated  on  the  following  day. 
He  returned  to  France,  but  was  unable  to  fulfil  his  portion  of  the 
treaty ;  and  to  add  to  his  mortification,  his  son,  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
entered  Paris  from  Calais,  where  he  had  been  pentiitted  by  the  English, 
whose  prisoner  he  was,  to  reside,  and  which  he  had  only  been  able  to 
leave  by  breaking  his  parole.  These,  and  it  is  said,  various  other  and 
more  doubtful  circumstances,  made  him  resolve  upon  a  line  of  conduct 
which  his  courtiers  vainly  strove  to  drive  him  from  by  ridicule  ;  and  to 
the  astonishment  of  all  parties,  he  suddenly  returned  to  London,  where 
he  was  received  with  open  arms  by  Edward,  and  took  up  his  final  resi- 


Stories  of  the  Savoy.  65 

deuce  at  the  Savoy.  Under  the  date  1364,  we  find  in  Stow's  Chronicle 
the  following  passage:  "The  9th  day  of  April,  died  John,  King  of 
France,  at  the  Savoy,  beside  Westminster ;  his  corpse  was  honourably 
conveyed  to  St.  Denis,  in  France." 

John  of  Gaunt  lived  at  the  Savoy  in  almost  regal  state,  and  here, 
which  is  a  fact  more  interesting  than  his  magnificence,  Geoffrey 
Chaucer  was  his  frequent  guest.  Here,  under  the  protection  of  the 
Duke  of  Lancaster  and  his  amiable  Duchess  Blanche,  Chaucer  passed 
the  happiest  hours  of  his  life ;  and  here  also  he  found  a  wife  in  the 
person  of  Philippa,  a  lady  of  the  Duchess'  household,  and  sister  to  the 
Lady  Catherine  Swynford.  The  date  of  Chaucer's  poem,  the  Assembly 
of  Foivls,  or  the  Parliament  of  Birds,  may  be  refeired  to  the  year  135S, 
upon  the  supposition,  which  appears  to  be  generally  admitted,  that  it 
was  composed  with  reference  to  the  intended  marriage  between  John 
of  Gaunt  and  Blanche  of  Lancaster,  which  took  place  in  1359,  and 
which  the  lady  is  represented  in  the  poem  as  deferring  for  a  twelve- 
month. From  this  circumstance,'  also,  we  gather  the  not  unimportant 
fact,  that  at  this  time  Chaucer  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  John  of 
Gaunt.  The  poem  called  The  Dream  is  supposed  to  have  been  wiitten 
on  the  occasion  of  the  nuptials.  Chaucer's  own  marriage  with  Philippa, 
the  maid  of  honour  in  the  royal  household,  subsequently  brought  him 
into  the  most  intimate  relations  with  John  of  Gaunt,  and  the  Duke's 
regard  for  Chaucer  and  his  wife  was  evinced  by  many  substantial  gifts. 
Some  of  Chaucer's  finest  poems  were  composed  in  the  Savoy,  and  were 
on  the  subject  of  its  inmates  ;  among  which  must  be  especially  noticed 
the  one  entitled  Chaucer  s  Dream,  which  is  an  allegorical  history  of  the 
loves  of  John  of  Gaunt  and  Blanche  of  Lancaster,  and  of  his  own  mar- 
riage with  the  Lady  Philippa.  Whether  the  poet  was  married  in  the 
Savoy,  or  in  the  neighbouring  church,  does  not  appear. 

During  John  of  Gaunt's  occupancy,  the  Savoy  was  twice  pillaged  by 
a  mob.  The  first  occasion  was  in  the  year  1376,  when  the  Duke  had 
made  himself  unpopular  by  his  bold  speech  to  the  Bishop  of  London  in 
St.  Paul's  church,  at  the  citation  of  Wickliffe.  Lord  Percy,  the  friend 
of  John  of  Gaunt,  had  requested  that  Wickliffe  might  be  allowed  to 
sit ;  but  the  Bishop  of  London  replied  that  he  must  stand  up  and  re- 
main uncovered,  for  he  appeared  there  as  a  criminal,  and  no  criminal 
could  be  allowed  to  sit  in  the  presence  of  his  judges.  John  of  Gaunt, 
in  great  anger,  turned  to  the  Bishop,  and  exclaimed,  loud  enough  to  lie 
heard  by  the  whole  assembly,  that  "  he  would  humble  his  pride,  and 
the  pride  of  every  arrogant  bishop  in  the  kingdom."  The  prelate  made 
8ome  reply,  which  increased  the  anger  of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  so 
*  F 


66  Stories  of  tlie  Savoy. 

much,  that  he  turned  pale  in  the  face,  and  whispered  in  the  car  of  the 
Bishop,  that  rath«-  than  sit  there  and  be  insulted  by  a  priest,  he  would 
drag  him  out  of  the  church  by  the  hair  of  his  head.  The  threat  was 
heard  by  the  nearest  bystander,  and  was  soon  whispered  from  one  to 
another  till  e\'erybody  in  the  church  was  aware  of  it.  It  then  became 
rumoured  among  the  populace,  who,  anxious  for  the  condemnation  of 
Wickliffe,  had  assembled  in  great  numbers  in  the  churchyard.  A  cry 
immediately  arose  among  them,  and  it  was  proposed  to  break  into  the 
church,  and  pull  John  of  Gaunt  from  his  judgment-seat.  At  his  de- 
parture he  was  received  with  yells  by  the  mob,  who  ran  after  him  and 
pelted  him  with  dirt.  He  was  so  exasperated  against  them,  that  he  pro- 
ceeded immediately  to  Westminster,  where  the  Parliament  was  sitting^ 
and  in  his  place  as  President,  introduced  a  motion  that  from  that  day 
forth  all  the  privileges  of  the  citizens  of  London  should  be  annulled ; 
and  that  theie  should  be  no  longer  a  lord  mayor,  sheriff,  or  other 
popular  magistrates,  and  that  the  entire  jurisdiction  within  the  City 
should  be  vested  in  Lord  Percy,  the  Chief  Marshal  of  England.  When 
news  of  this  proposal  reached  the  citizens  on  the  following  day.  they 
assembled  in  great  numbers,  swearing  to  have  the  life  of  the  Duke. 
After  pillaging  the  Marshalsea,  where  Lord  Percy  resided,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Savoy,  and  killed  a  priest  whom  they  found  in  the  house, 
and  thought  to  be  Lord  Percy  in  disguise.  They  then  broke  all  the 
valuable  ftirniture,  threw  the  fragments  into  the  Thames,  and  left 
little  more  standing  than  the  bare  walls  of  the  palace.  John  of  Gaunt 
and  Lord  Percy  were  dining  at  the  house  of  a  wealthy  merchant  in  the 
City,  when  this  news  reached  them  ;  and  from  thence  they  escaped  in 
disguise  by  rowing  up  the  river  in  an  open  boat,  passing  the  Savoy  at 
the  very  moment  while  the  mob  were  throwing  the  magnificent  ftirni- 
ture from  the  windows.  But  for  the  Bishop  of  London,  who,  hearing 
of  the  riot,  had  hurried  to  the  Savoy,  the  palace  would  no  doubt  have 
been  destroyed,  as  it  was  a  little  later,  under  very  similar  circumstances. 
The  people,  to  show  their  opinion  of  the  Duke,  reversed  his  arms,  traitor- 
fashion.  The  civic  authorities  were  obliged  to  exhibit  a  very  different 
demeanour:  one  of  the  last  audiences  given  by  Edward  II L  was  that 
to  the  lord  mayor  and  aldermen,  at  Shene  (Richmond),  who  came  to 
crave  pardon  of  the  Duke,  in  his  presence,  for  their  grievous  offence. 
Not  the  less,  however,  were  they  all  ousted  from  office  by  the  powerful 
Duke,  and  creatures  of  his  own  substituted. 

Five  years  afterwards,  a  still  more  serious  attack  was  made  upon  the 
Savoy.  John  of  Gaunt  being  particuLirly  obnoxious  to  the  rebels  under 
Wat  Tyler,  the  whole  body  of  the  insurgents,  under  the  guidance  of 


Stories  of  tJie  Savoy.  6y 

that  chief,  marched  to  the  Savoy  with  the  intention  of  burning  it  to  the 
ground.  Proclamation  was  previously  made  by  the  leaders  that,  as 
their  object  was  not  plunder,  all  the  rich  jewels,  furniture,  pictures, 
plate,  and  other  articles,  should  be  bunied,  or  thrown  into  the  Thames ; 
and  that  any  one  appropriating  the  property  to  his  own  uses,  should 
sufter  death.  The  Duke  of  Lancaster  was  then  absent  pursuing  the  war 
in  Scotland,  and  the  attack  being  sudden,  no  means  of  defence  were 
taken  by^  those  in  possession  of  the  palace.  It  is  not  true,  as  stated  in 
Hardy ng's  Chronicle,  that  the  Duke  was  in  the  palace  at  the  time,  and 
fled  into  Scotland  in  consequence.  John  of  Gaunt  was  no  such  craven ; 
and  if  he  had  been  in  London,  and  had  fled,  he  would  not  have  fled  to 
such  a  distance.  No  palace  in  Christendom,  at  that  time,  contained 
greater  wealth  than  the  palace  of  the  Savoy ;  and  the  greater  portion  of 
it  was  destroyed.  The  rebels  broke  the  vessels  of  gold  and  silver  into 
small  pieces,  and  threw  them  into  the  Thames  ;  they  tore  the  rich  hang- 
ings of  velvet,  silk,  and  embroidered  drapery,  together  with  an  immense 
quantity  of  linen  and  wearing  apparel  into  shreds,  or  burned  it ;  and 
the  rings  or  jewels  were  broken  in  mortars,  and  the  fragments  thrown 
into  the  flames,  or  into  the  river.  It  is  said  that  one  of  the  mob  being 
seen  to  hide  a  valuable  piece  of  plate  in  his  bosom,  he  was  thrust  into 
the  fire  with  his  booty,  and  burned  to  death,  amidst  the  shouts  of  his 
fellows,  who  exclaimed  that  they  were  freemen  and  lovers  of  justice, 
not  thieves  or  robbers.  They  were  less  ficrupulous  as  regards  wine : 
the  rich  citizens  had  set  open  their  cellars,  and  they  had  drunk  of  the 
wines  to  such  excess  that  they  were  maddened.  Thirty-two  of  the 
rebels  broke  into  a  cellar  of  the  Savoy,  where  they  drank  so  much  wine 
that  they  were  prevented  getting  out  in  time,  by  masses  of  falling  stones 
and  rubbish  from  the  burning  palace,  and  they  died  of  suflbcation ;  or, 
as  Stow  says,  the  door  being  walled-up,  they  were  heard  crying  and 
calling  seven  days  after,  but  none  came  to  help  them  out  till  they 
were  dead.  Some  of  the  rioters  found  a  number  of  barrels,  which  they 
thought  to  contain  gold  and  silver,  and  flung  them  into  the  flames. 
They  contained  gunpowder ;  an  awful  explosion  was  the  consequence, 
which  blew  up  the  great  hall,  and  destroyed  several  houses. 

One  of  the  scenes  in  Shakespeare's  Richard  II.  is  supposed  to  pass  in 
a  room  of  the  Savoy,  though  at  the  date  it  was  a  heap  of  ruins. 
Thus  it  lay  until  1505,  when  Henry  VII.  had  the  site  cleared,  and  com- 
menced building  thereon  a  Hospital  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  "  to  receive 
antl  lodge  nightly  one  hundred  poor  folks."  The  master  and  brethren 
were  to  stand  alternately  by  day  and  night  at  the  gate,  and  if  they  saw 
any  poor  distressed  jiersons  they  were  to  ask  them  in  and  feed  them.    If 

F   2 


6S  S fortes  of  the  Savoy. 

such  persons  were  travellers,  they  were  to  be  lodged  for  the  night,  and 
dismissed  on  the  following  morning,  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  to 
the  next  Hospital,  and  as  much  money  as  would  defray  their  expenses 
on  the  road.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  part  of  the  revenues  of  the 
Savoy  Hospital  was  bestowed  on  Bridewell  and  Christchurch,  on 
account  of  the  abuses,  for  instead  of  the  Savoy  being  a  lodging  for 
pilgrims  and  strangers,  it  became  a  noisome  refuge  for  loiterers,  vagabonds, 
and  disreputable  women ;  they  lay  all  day  in  the  field,  and  were 
harboured  there  at  night,  so  that  the  hospital  was  rather  a  maintenance 
of  beggary,  than  any  relief  to  the  poor.  It  was  re-endowed  and  re- 
furnished by  Queen  Mary,  and  maintained  by  Elizabeth  ;  but  the 
buildings  and  revenues  were  shamefully  perverted,  and  Fleetwood, 
the  Recorder  of  London,  describes  the  Savoy  to  Lord  Burghley,  as  a 
nurseiy  of  rogues  and  masterless  men  :  "  the  chief  nurserie  of  all  the 
evell  people  in  the  Savoy  and  the  brick-kilnes  near  Islington."  This 
state  of  things  continued  until  the  commencement  of  Queen  Anne's 
reign,  when  the  hospital  was  finally  dissolved.  Here,  in  1658,  the 
Independents  met,  and  agreed  upon  their  well-known  Declaration  of 
Faith;  three  years  later  was  held  here  the  "  Savoy  Conference"  for  the 
revision  of  the  Liturgy;  and  Charles  II.  established  here  "the  French 
Church  in  the  Savoy." 

The  Masterehip  of  the  Savoy  was  promised  to  the  poet  Cowley  by 
Charles  I.,  and  afterwards  by  Charles  II.  The  latter  gave  the  office  to 
Dr.  Killigrew,  "through  certain  persons,  enemies  of  the  Muses." 
Cowley's  disappointment  was  great ;  and  to  add  to  his  chagrin,  his  play 
of  the  Cutter  qfColman  Street,  was  unsuccessful  at  the  same  time.  In 
his  despondency,  he  wrote  his  poem  of  Tbe  Complaint ;  and  in  an 
anonymous  satire,  published  at  the  time,  he  is  represented  as  "  Savoy- 
missing  Cowley  making  apologies  for  his  bad  play."  In  this  reign  also, 
during  the  Dutch  war,  the  sick  and  wounded  were  lodged  in  the 
Hospital;  and  great  part  of  it  was  dilapidated  by  fire.  On  the  demo- 
lition of  the  old  church  of  St.  Mary-le-Strand,  by  the  Protector  Somer- 
set, the  Hospital  Chapel  was  allotted  to  that  parish.  There  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  when  the  Liturgy  in  the  vernacular  tongue  was  restored  by 
Queen  Elizabeth,  the  chapel  of  the  Savoy  was  the  first  place  in  which 
the  service  was  performed.  Several  persons  of  note  are  buried  here, 
with  figure  monuments;  among  them  was  a  memorial,  rather  sumptuous, 
erected  about  17 15,  in  honour  of  a  merchant :  the  sole  statement  of  ttie 
epitaph  was,  that  he  had  bequeathed  5/.  to  the  poor  of  the  Savoy 
Precinct,  and  a  like  sum  to  the  poor  of  St.  Mary-le-Strand ;  while  at 
the  eide,  and  occupying  about  half  the  breadth  of  the  marble,  the 


Stories  of  the  Savoy.  69 

money  was  expressed  in  figures,  just  as  in  a  page  of  a  ledger,  with 
lines  single  and  double,  perpendicular,  and,  at  the  bottom,  hori- 
zontal ;  the  whole  being  summed  up,  and  in  each  line  two  ciphers  for 
shillings  and  one  for  pence.  The  epitaph  concluded  with  "  which  sum 
was  duly  paid  by  his  executors."  A  strange  custom  prevails  here  to 
this  day :  on  the  Sunday  following  Christmas  Day,  a  chair  is  placed 
near  the  chaf>el-door,  covered  with  a  cloth ;  on  the  chair  is,  in  a  plate, 
an  orange.     The  object  of  this  custom  is  not  recorded. 

Contemporary  with  the  Fleet  and  Mayfair  marriages,  the  priest  at 
the  Savoy  Chapel  carried  on  a  like  traffic  ;  and  in  the  Public  Ad-vertiser, 
Jan.  2,  1 754,  marriages  are  advertised  by  authority,  to  be  perfonned 
here  *'  with  the  utmost  privacy,  decency,  and  regularity  ;'*  also,  registers 
from  the  time  of  the  Reformation  were  kept  here.  While  the  Dutch, 
German,  and  French  congregations  met  quietly  within  the  pre- 
cinct,—  a  favour  which  was  originally  owing  to  Charles  II.,  —  all 
sorts  of  unseemly  marriages  were  celebrated  by  the  "  Savoy  parsons," 
there  being  five  private  ways  by  land  to  this  chapel,  and  two  by  water. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Wilkinson,  the  father  of  Tate  Wilkinson,  the  actor, 
for  performing  the  illicit  ceremony,  was  informed  against  by  Garrick, 
and  the  disreputable  functionary  was  transported.  The  chapel 
also  possessed  the  privilege  of  sanctuary;  and  in  July,  1696,  a 
creditor  going  into  the  Savoy  to  demand  a  debt  of  a  person  who 
had  taken  sanctuary  there,  was  seized  by  the  mob,  according  to 
their  usual  custom  (says  the  Poitman,  No,  180),  and  was  tarred 
and  feathered,  and  carried  in  a  wheelbarrow  to  the  Strand,  there 
bound  fast  to  the  Maypole,  and  so  he  remained  until  he  was  rescued 
by  constables. 

The  Savoy  was  last  used  as  barracks  and  a  prison  for  deserters,  im- 
pressed men,  convict  soldiers  and  ofltndcrs  from  the  Guards:  at  one 
period  their  allowance  was  only  fourpence  a  day.  In  18 r(),  the  pre- 
mises were  taken  down  to  form  the  road  to  Waterloo  Bridge.  The 
approach  to  the  bridge  from  the  Strand,  or  Wellington-street  and 
Lancaster-place,  covers  the  entire  site  of  the  old  Duchy-lane  and  great 
part  of  the  Hospital.  We  see  the  river  front  of  the  Savoy  in  Hollar's 
prints  and  Cinaletti's  pictures;  and  Vertue's  ground-plan  shows  the 
Middle  Savoy  Gate,  where  Savoy-street  now  is  ;  and  the  Little  Savoy 
Gate,  where  now  are  Savoy-steps.  It  was  a  massive  brick,  stone,  and 
flint,  fortress-like  building,  embattled  throughout ;  the  outer  walls 
abutted  upon  the  Thames,  where  was  a  flight  of  steps  to  the  water ;  the 
principal  or  Strand  front  had  large  jwinted  windows,  and  parapets 
'ozenged  with  flints.  Over  the  Great  Gate  were  the  arms  of  Henry  VII., 


70  Siege  of  Essex  House. 

and  the  badges  of  the  rose,  fleur-de-lis,  and  portcullis;  and  this 
inscription  {JVcever)'. — 

' '  Hospitium  hoc  inopi  turba  Savoia  vocatum 
Septimus  Henricus  fundavit  ab  imo  Solo." 

The  pulling  Ao\vn  of  the  last  of  the  ruins  in  t8i6,  when  the  chapel  was 
left  isolated,  was  a  work  of  immense  labour,  so  massive  was  the 
masonry.  Not  the  least  amusing  incident  was  that  of  the  gamins  pick- 
ing out  the  softest  parts  of  the  Royal  palace  and  cutting  them  into 
hearthstones  to  clean  hearths  and  the  steps  before  doors ! 


Siege  of  Essex  House. — Queen  Elizabeth's  Ring, 

The  first  of  the  magnificent  mansions  situatetl  upon  Thames  bank, 
from  Temple  Bar,  was  Exeter  House,  an  inn  belonging  to  the  Bishop  of 
Exeter,  afterwards  called  Paget  House,  Norfolk  House,  and  Leicester 
House,  bequeathed  by  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester,  to  his  son-in-law, 
the  unhappy  Robert  Devcreux,  Earl  of  Essex,  the  last  favourite  of 
Elizabeth.  It  was  then  called  Essex  House,  and  become  more  cele- 
brated than  it  ever  was  before.  While  still  in  the  occupation  of  the 
Earl  of  Leicester,  we  should  not  forget  to  mention  that  the  author  of 
"  The  Fairy  Queen,"  was  a  frequent  visitor  there,  and  that  his  visits  did 
not  altogether  cease  when  the  house  came  into  new  hands.  Spenser  had 
received  assistance  from  Leicester,  and  thus  writes  in  his  Protbalamion ; 
he  has  been  speaking  of  the  Temple : — 

"  Next  whereunto  there  stands  a  stately  place 
Where  oft  I  gayned  giftcs  and  goodly  grace 

Of  that  great  lord,  which  therein  wont  to  dwell, 
Where  want  too  well  now  feels  my  friendless  case  ; 

But,  ah  !  here  fits  not  well 

Olde  woes,  but  joyes,  to  tell 
Against  the  bridalc  daye,  which  is  not  long : 

Sweet  Themmes !  runne  softly  till  I  end  my  song. 

"Yet  therein  doth  lodge  a  nohle  peer, 

Great  England's  glory,  and  the  world's  wide  wonder, 
Whose  dreadfull  name  late  through  all  Spain  did  thunder. 

And  Hercules'  two  pillars  standing  near 

Did  make  to  quake  and  feare. 

Faire  branch  of  honour,  flower  of  chevalric  ! 

Thou  fillest  England  with  thy  triumph's  fame, 

Joy  have  thou  of  thy  noble  victorie. " 

The  chief  memory  of  this  place  is,  of  course,  connected  with  Essex,  and 
the  rash  act  for  which  he  was  executed.  Elizabeth  and  he  had  quar- 
relled more  than  once  or  twice  before  the  last  irreconcileable  difference. 


Siege  of  Essex  House.  yi 

She  had  been  offended  by  his  conduct  in  joining  the  expedition  to  Cadiz 
without  her  permission  ;  by  his  mamage  with  the  daughter  of  Sir 
Francis  Walsingham ;  and  above  all,  by  a  dispute  concerning  the 
appointment  of  an  assistant  in  the  affairs  of  Ireland,  when  he  was  about 
to  visit  that  country  as  Lord  Deputy.  This  last  quarrel  terminated  in 
her  boxing  his  ears,  and  bidding  him  "go  and  be  hanged."  The  pro- 
vocation was,  it  is  said,  his  turning  his  back  upon  her.  The  indignant 
noble  clapped  his  hand  to  his  sword,  and  swore  he  would  not  have  put 
up  with  such  an  insult  from  Henry  VIII.  It  was  in  Essex  House  that 
the  high-spirited,  hot-blooded,  and  ambitious  Earl  shut  himself  up  after 
he  had  received  the  box  on  the  ear.  That  hasty  blow  and  its  results  led 
to  his  ruin.  He  might  have  curbed  his  pride  a  little  when  he  reflected 
that  it  was  but  a  woman's  hand  that  inflicted  it ;  and  instead  of  resent- 
ing it,  as  he  did,  he  might  have  affected  to  consider  it  as  a  proof  that  he 
was  not  altogether  indifferent  to  her.  In  fact,  it  showed  Elizabeth's 
tender  regard  for  the  man ;  but  Essex  did  not  feel  the  tenderness  for 
her  that  she  felt  for  him.  He  then  retired  hastily  from  Court  to  Essex 
House,  where  he  shut  himself  up  for  some  days,  refusing  to  see  any  but 
his  most  intimate  friends.  Sir  Thomas  Egerton,  the  Chancellor,  wrote 
to  him  to  make  proper  submission,  but  Essex  stoutly  refused.  "  If  the 
vilest  of  all  indignities  is  done  me,"  he  wrote  to  the  Chancellor,  in 
reply,  "  docs  religion  enforce  me  to  sue  for  pardon  ?  Doth  God  require 
it  ?  Is  it  not  impiety  to  do  it  ?  Why  ?  Cannot  princes  err  ?  Cannot 
subjects  receive  wrong  ?  Is  an  earthly  power  infinite  ?  Pardon  me,  my 
Lord,  I  never  can  subscribe  to  tiiese  principles.  Let  Solomon's  fool 
laugh  when  he  is  stricken  ;  let  those  that  mean  to  make  their  price  of 
princes  show  no  sense  of  princes'  injuries.  As  for  me,  I  have  received 
wrong — I  feel  it.  My  cause  is  good — I  know  it.  And  whatsoever 
happens,  all  the  pcm'crs  on  earth  can  never  exert  more  strength  and 
constancy  in  oppressing,  than  I  can  show  in  suffering  everything  that 
can  or  Bhall  be  imposed  upon  me." 

When  this  letter,  containing  so  many  noble  passages,  was  shown  to 
Elizabeth,  she  had  good  sense  enough  to  perceive  the  fine  manly  feeling 
that  pervaded  it,  and  perhaps  loved  Essex  all  the  more  for  his  in- 
dependence and  scorn  of  flattery.  He  was  soon  drawn  from  his  retire- 
ment in  the  Strand,  and  sent  as  Lord  Lieutenant  to  Ireland,  surrounded 
by  a  brilliant  staff,  and  was  followed  for  some  miles  by  crowds  of 
Londoners,  crying,  "  God  bless  your  Lordship — God  preserve  you  I" 
His  discontent  and  impatience,  while  in  Ireland,  are  well  known.  He 
neither  liked  the  service,  nor  the  absence  from  Court,  which  it  occa- 
sioned.   He  was  afraid  that  bis  enemies  at  home  were  endeavouring  to 


^2  Siege  of  Essex  House. 

supplant  him ;  and  in  all  his  letters  to  Elizabeth  at  this  time,  he  ex- 
pressed a  dissatisfaction  which  to  her  seemed  anything  but  loyal. 
Essex  -wished  he  could  live  like  a  hermit  "  in  some  unhaunted  desart 
most  obscure" — 

"  From  all  society,  from  love  and  hate 
Of  worldly  folk  ;  then  should  he  sleep  secure, 
Then  wake  again,  and  yield  God  every  praise, 

Content  with  kips  and  hawes,  and  bramble  berry; 
In  contemplation  parting  out  his  days, 

And  change  of  holy  thoughts  to  make  him  merry; 
Who,  when  he  dies,  his  tomb  may  be  a  bush. 
Where  harmless  robin  dwells  with  gentle  thrush. 
Your  Majesty's  exiled  servant, 

Robert  Essex," 

He  suddenly  returned  from  his  government,  and  without  stopping  at 
his  own  house,  hastened  to  the  palace  before  any  one  knew  of  his 
return,  and  besmeared  with  dirt  and  sweat,  from  hard  riding,  forced  his 
way  into  Her  Majesty's  bedchamber.  The  Queen  had  just  risen,  and 
was  sitting  with  her  hair  about  her  face.  Essex  fell  on  his  knees,  kissed 
her  hand,  and  was  so  well  received  that  he  flattered  himself  he  had  made 
a  masterstroke  of  policy:  he  left  her,  thanking  God  that,  though  he  had 
suffered  much  trouble  and  storms  abroad,  be  found  a  sweet  calm  at 
home.  The  calm  was  but  of  short  continuance;  the  Cecils  and  others 
were  at  work,  and  that  very  evening  he  was  ordered  to  consider  himself 
a  prisoner  in  his  room.  After  eight  months  of  restraint  he  wrote  a 
touching  appeal  to  the  Queen,  which  was  not  answered  for  three  months 
more,  when  he  was  released,  but  ordered  not  to  appear  at  Court,  or 
approach  Her  Majesty's  person. 

But  the  patience  of  Essex  could  not  endure  for  ever.  In  a  few  days 
a  valuable  patent  he  held  for  the  monopoly  of  sweet  wines  expired,  and 
he  petitioned  for  a  renewal  to  aid  his  shattered  fortunes.  It  was  re- 
fused; and  in  a  most  mortifying  manner.  "In  order  to  manage  an 
ungovernable  beast,  he  must  be  stinted  in  his  provender,"  was  the 
Queen's  reply.  Essex  now  became  desperate.  He  was  advised  to 
remove  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  Raleigh,  and  others  forcibly  from  Court, 
and  so  make  the  way  clear  for  the  recovery  of  his  ascendancy.  Other 
men  joined  in  this  advice,  and  Essex,  relying  upon  his  popularity  with 
the  Londoners,  determined  to  adopt  it.  A  strong  party  of  officers  who 
had  served  under  him,  took  lodging  about  Essex  House,  and  formed 
themselves  into  a  coimcil.  The  gates  of  Essex  House  were  thrown  open 
to  (locks  of  Catholic  priests,  Puritan  preachers,  soldiers,  sailors,  young 
citizens,  and  needy  adventurers.  These  proceedings,  of  course,  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  the  Government,  and  Essex  was  summoned  to 


Siege  of  Essex  House.  73 

appear  before  the  Privy  Council.  A  note  fi'om  an  unknown  writer, 
warning  him  to  provide  for  his  safety,  was  at  the  same  moment  put  into 
his  hand,  and  he  was  informed  that  the  guard  at  the  palace  had  been 
doubled.  On  the  following  Sunday  morning,  Feb.  8,  1 600-1,  he 
marched  into  the  City,  during  sermon-time  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  and 
called  upon  the  people  to  join  him,  and  force  his  way  to  the  Q^een. 
His  dear  friend,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  with  the  Earl  of  Rutland, 
Lords  Sandys  and  Mounteagle,  and  about  300  gentlemen,  were  ready 
to  accompany  him,  when  the  Lord  Keeper  Egerton,  Sir  William 
Knollys,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Popham,  and  the  Earl  of  Worcester 
arrived,  and  demanded  the  cause  of  the  disturbance.  They  were 
admitted  without  their  attendants ;  when  Egerton  and  Popham  asked 
what  all  this  meant.  "  There  is  a  plot  laid  against  my  life,"  was  the 
reply,  uttered  in  a  loud  and  impassioned  tone:  "letters  have  been  forged 
in  my  name — men  have  been  hired  to  murder  me  in  my  bed — mine 
enemies  cannot  be  satisfied  unless  they  suck  my  blood !"  The  Lord 
Chief  Justice  said  he  ought  to  explain  his  case  to  the  Queen,  who 
would  do  impartial  justice.  Some  voices  now  cried  out,  "  They  abuse 
you,  my  lord — they  betray  you — you  are  losing  time!"  The  Lord 
Keeper,  then  putting  on  his  hat,  commanded  the  assembly,  in  the 
Queen's  name,  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  depart.  Louder  cries  now 
iMoke  out,  "  Kill  them  !  kill  them  ! — keep  them  for  hostages  ! — away 

ith  the  Great  Seal !"  Essex  immediately  conducted  them  to  an  inner 
apartment,  bolted  the  door,  and  placed  a  guard  of  musqueteers  to  watch 
it  Drawing  his  sword,  he  rushed  out,  followed  by  most  of  the  as- 
sembly. At  St.  Paul's  Cross,  to  their  surprise,  they  found  no  preach- 
ing—no congregation — the  Queen  having  sent  orders  to  that  effect  to 
the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen.  The  Earl,  addressing  the  citizens  he 
met  with,  cried,  "  For  the  Queen,  my  mistress  ! — a  plot  is  laid  for  my 
life  !"  and  entreated  them  to  ann.  But  they  contented  themselves  wkh 
crying,  "  God  bless  your  Honour !"  and  left  him  to  his  fate. 

Uncertain  what  to  do,  Essex  went  to  the  house  of  one  of  the  sheriffs, 
and  remained  for  some  time.  About  two  in  the  afternoon,  he  again 
went  forth,  and  passed  to  and  fro  though  many  streets,  till,  seeing  that 
his  followers  were  fast  disappearing,  he  directed  his  footsteps  to  E^sscx 
House.  Barricades  had  been  formed  in  the  meantime,  and  at  Ludgate 
he  was  attacked  by  a  large  body  of  armed  men  whom  the  Bishop  of 
London  had  placed  there.  Several  persons  were  wounded  in  the  affray. 
Essex  was  twice  shot  through  the  hat,  and  his  stepfather,  Sir  Christo- 
pher Blount,  was  scveix-ly  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.     The  Earl  re- 

calcd  into  Friday-street,  where,  being  faint,  drink  was  given  him  by 


74  Siege  of  Essex  House. 

the  citizens.  At  Quecnhithe  he  obtained  a  boat,  and  so  got  back  to 
Essex  House,  where  he  found  that  his  last  hope,  the  hostages,  were 
gone.  He  now  determined  to  retreat.  He  turned  back  for  that  pur- 
pose, but  found  that  the  streets  had  been  barricaded  against  him  by  the 
citizens  and  a  strong  company  under  the  command  of  Sir  John  Lcvison. 
He  attempted,  however,  to  force  his  way ;  and  in  the  skirmish  which 
ensued,  Tracy,  a  young  man  to  whom  he  bore  great  friendship,  was 
killed.  The  Earl  then  struck  suddenly  down  into  one  of  the  narrow 
passages  leading  firom  Fleet-street  to  the  river,  at  the  bottom  of  which 
he  and  several  of  his  company  procured  boats  and  rowed  themselves  to 
Essex  House,  the  garden  of  which  abutted  on  the  Thames.  Essex,  re- 
duced to  despair,  now  deteiTnined  to  fortify  his  house ;  but  a  great 
force  hemmed  him  in  on  all  sides  ;  and  several  pieces  of  artillery  wero 
planted  against  the  house,  among  the  rest  one  on  the  tower  of  thi 
church  of  St.  Clement  Danes.  He  stood  a  siege  of  four  hours :  about 
ten  at  night  he  demanded  a  parley,  and  sun-enderai  to  the  Lord  Ad- 
miral upon  a  promise  of  a  hearing,  and  a  speedy  trial.  It  being  very 
dark,  and  the  tide  not  serving  to  pass  the  cumbrous  and  dangerous 
London  Bridge  to  the  Tower,  Essex  and  Lord  Southampton  were  con- 
veyed up  the  river  in  a  boat  to  Lambeth  Palace,  where  they  passed  the 
night.  On  the  following  morning  they  were  conducted  to  the  Tower, 
together  with  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  Lords  Sandys,  Cromwell,  and 
Mounteagle,  Sir  John  Danvers,  and  Sir  Henry  Bromlty.  Others,  pri- 
soners of  inferior  note,  were  conveyed  to  Newgate. 

Ten  days  afterwards,  Essex  and  Southampton  were  brought  to  trial, 
and  found  guilty  of  high  treason.  Essex  was  executed  on  Ash 
Wednesday,  the  25th  of  February,  about  eight  in  the  morning,  in  an 
inner  court  of  the  Tower — Sir  Walter  Raleigh  looking  on  from  the 
Armoury.  It  was  said  the  execution  was  made  thus  private  from  the 
Queen's  fear  of  what  Essex  might  say  touching  her  own  virtue.  He  was 
only  in  his  thirty-fourth  year  when  he  thus  perished,  universally  regretted. 
So  popular  was  he  during  his  bright,  brief,  troubled  career,  that  he 
scarcely  ever  quitted  England,  or  even  the  metropolis,  without  a  pas- 
toral or  other  song  in  his  praise,  which  was  sold  and  sung  in  the  streets: 
but  his  rivals,  enemies,  and  judges  were  insulted  and  hooted  whenever 
they  appeared  ;  even  ihe  Queen  herself  was  looked  on  coldly.  Several 
of  Essex's  principal  followers,  including  the  instigator,  Cuffe,  were 
executed.  Southampton  was  saved  from  the  block  and  retained  a  close 
prisoner  in  the  Tower  during  the  Queen's  life,  which  was  fearfully  em- 
bittered by  these  melancholy  transactions. 

The  affecting  story  of  the  Ring  sent  to  the  Queen  by  Essex  after  his 


Quern  Elizabeth's  Rmg.  75 

condemnation,  is  one  of  the  memories  of  Essex  House.  When  Catlie- 
rine  Countess  of  Nottingham  was  dying  (about  a  fortnight  before  Queen 
Elizabeth),  she  sent  to  Her  Majesty  to  desire  that  she  might  see  her, 
in  order  to  reveal  to  her  something,  without  the  discovery  of  which  she 
could  not  die  in  peace.  Upon  the  Queen's  coming,  Lady  Nottingham 
told  her  that,  while  the  Earl  of  Essex  lay  under  sentence  of  death,  he 
was  desirous  of  asking  Her  Majesty's  mercy  in  the  manner  prescribed 
by  herself  during  the  height  of  his  favour ;  the  Queen  having  given  him 
a  ring,  which  being  sent  to  her  as  a  token  of  his  distress  might  entitle 
him  to  her  protection,  but  the  Earl,  jealous  of  those  about  him,  and 
not  caring  to  trust  any  of  them  with  it,  as  he  was  looking  out  of  his 
window  one  morning,  saw  a  boy  with  whose  appearance  he  wms 
pleased ;  and,  engaging  him  by  money  and  promises,  directed  him  to 
carry  the  ring,  which  he  took  from  his  finger  and  threw  down,  to  Lady 
Scroope,  a  sister  of  the  Countess  of  Nottingham,  and  a  friend  of  his 
Lordship,  who  attended  upon  the  Queen  ;  and  to  beg  of  her  that  she 
would  present  it  to  Her  Majesty.  The  boy,  by  mistake,  carried  it  to 
Lady  Nottingham,  who  showed  it  to  her  husband,  the  admiral,  an 
enemy  of  Lord  Essex,  in  order  to  take  his  advice.  The  admiral  forbid 
her  to  carry  it,  or  return  any  answer  to  the  message ;  but  insisted  upon 
her  keeping  the  ring.  The  Countess  of  Nottingham,  having  made  this 
discovery,  begged  the  Queen's  forgiveness;  but  Her  Majesty  answered, 
"  God  may  forgive  you,  but  I  never  can;'  and  left  the  room  with  great 
emotion.  Her  mind  was  so  struck  with  the  story  that  she  never  went 
to  bed,  nor  took  any  sustenance  from  that  instant ;  for  Camden  is  of 
opinion  that  her  chief  reason  for  suffering  the  Earl  to  be  executed  was 
his  supposed  obstinacy  in  not  applying  to  her  for  mercy.  In  confirma- 
tion of  the  time  of  the  Countess'  death,  it  now  appears  from  the  parish 
register  of  Chelsea,  that  shs  died  at  Arundel  House,  London,  February 
25th,  and  was  buried  the  28th,  1603.  Her  funeral  was  kept  at  Chelsea, 
March  21,  and  Queen  EHzabeth  died  three  days  afterwards  !  An  addi- 
tional conlirmalion  is  given  by  the  recorded  incidents  of  Elizabeth's 
conduct  during  her  last  illness.  For  ten  days  and  nights  togetiier  prior 
to  her  decease,  she  refused  to  go  to  bed,  but  lay  upon  the  carpet,  with 
cushions  around  her,  buried  in  the  profoundest  melancholy. 

There  are  other  versions  of  this  anecdote  ;  the  principal  facts  arc  the 
same  in  each.  The  whole  of  the  evidence  in  suppt)rt  of  the  above  is 
in  Osbom's  Memoirs  of  Queen  Elixabeth,  published  fifty-five  years 
after  her  death.  Lord  Clarendon  mentionetl  it  as  a  loose  report  wliich 
had  crept  into  discourse.  Again,  "  there  is  no  contemporaneous  account 
'  >t  the  kind  in  either  of  the  accounts  of  the  Queen'H  last  illness ;  and  that 


76     Siege  of  Essex  House— Queen  Elizabeth's  Ring. 

by  the  Earl  of  Monmouth,  an  eye-witness,  shows  that  so  far  from  any- 
thing having  occurred  to  disturb  the  Queen's  friendly  relations  with 
Lord  Nottingham,  he  was  actually  sent  for  as  the  only  person  whose 
influence  would  be  sufliciently  powerful  to  induce  her  to  obey  her 
physicians. 

"  Now,  whatever  might  be  the  supposed  indignation  of  Elizabeth 
against  her  dying  cousin,  Lady  Nottingham,  it  is  clear  that  as  the  real 
offender  was  Lord  Nottingham,  he  would  naturally  have  more  than 
shared  in  her  displeasure ;  and  it  is  very  improbable  that  a  fortnight 
after  the  Queen  had  shaken  the  helpless  wife  on  her  deathbed,  the  hus- 
band, by  whose  authority  the  offence  was  committed,  should  have  con- 
tinued in  undiminished  favour.  The  existence  of  the  ring  would  do 
but  little  to  establish  the  truth  of  the  story,  even  if  but  one  had  been 
presei^ved  and  cherished  as  the  identical  ring  ;  but  as  there  are  two,  if 
not  three,  which  lay  claim  to  that  distinction,  th«y  invalidate  each 
other's  claims.  One  is  preserved  at  Hawnes  in  Bedfordshire,  the  seat 
of  the  Rev.  Lord  John  Thynne;  another  is  the  property  of  C.  W. 
Warren,  Esq.;  and  we  believe  the  third  is  deposited  for  safety  at  Messrs. 
Drummonds'  bank.  The  ring  at  Hawnes  is  said  to  have  descended  in 
unbroken  succession  from  Lady  Frances  Devereux  (aftenvards  Duchess 
of  Somerset)  to  the  present  owner.  The  stone  in  this  ring  is  a  sardonyx, 
on  which  is  cut  in  relief  a  head  of  Elizabeth,  the  execution  of  which  is 
of  a  high  order.  That  the  ring  has  descended  from  Lady  Frances  Deve- 
reux affords  the  strongest  presumptive  evidence  that  it  was  not  the  ring. 
According  to  the  tradition,  it  had  passed  from  her  father  into  Lady 
Nottingham's  hands.  According  to  Lady  Elizabeth  Spelman,  Lord 
Nottingham  insisted  upon  her  keeping  it.  In  her  interview  with  the 
Queen,  the  Countess  might  be  supposed  to  have  presented  to  her  the 
token  she  had  so  fatally  withheld ;  or  it  might  have  remained  in  her 
family,  or  have  been  destroyed ;  but  the  most  improbable  circumstance 
would  have  been  its  restoration  to  the  widow  or  daughter  of  the  much 
injured  Essex  by  the  offending  Earl  of  Nottingham.  The  Duchess  of 
Somerset  left  '  a  long,  curious,  and  minute  will,  and  in  it  there  is  no 
mention  of  any  such  ring.'  If  there  is  good  evidence  for  believing  that 
the  curious  ring  at  Hawnes  was  ever  in  the  possession  of  the  E^rl  of 
Essex,  one  might  be  tempted  to  suppose  that  it  was  the  likeness  of  the 
Queen,  to  which  he  alludes  in  his  letters  as  his  'fair  angel,'  written  from 
Portland  road,  and  at  the  time  of  his  disgrace,  after  the  proceedings  in 
the  Star  Chamber,  and  when  still  under  restraint  at  Essex  House.  Had 
Essex  at  this  time  possessed  any  ring,  a  token  by  presenting  which  he 
would  have  been  entitled  to  restoration  to  favour,  it  seems  most  im- 


The  Strange  History  of  Lady  Hat  ton.  yy 

probable  that  he  should  have  kept  it  back,  and  yet  regarded  this  like- 
ness of  the  Queen,  whose  gracious  eyes  encouraged  him  to  be  a  petitioner 
for  himself.  The  whole  tone  of  the  letter  is  in  fact  almost  conclusive 
against  the  possibility  of  his  having  in  his  possession  any  gift  of  hers 
endowed  with  such  rights  as  that  of  the  ring  which  the  Countess  of 
Nottingham  is  supposed  to  have  withheld."  We  have  abridged  this 
investigation  of  the  whole  story  from  a  paper  in  the  Edinburgh  Revieiv, 
No.  200. 


The  Strange  History  of  Lady  Hatton, 

This  "strange  lady,"  the  widow  of  Sir  Christopher  Hatton's  nephew, 
who  had  inherited  his  estates  and  title,  resided  in  Ely  Place,  or  rather 
in  that  portion  of  it  called  Hatton  House,  upon  Holbom  Hill.  At  the 
decease  of  her  first  husband,  Sir  William  Newport,  who,  on  the  death  of 
his  uncle,  took  the  name  of  Hatton,  she  was  young,  very  beautiful,  of 
eccentric  manner,  and  a  most  vixenish  temper.  She  was  rich  withal, 
and  wooers  were  numerous.  Among  them  came  two  remarkable  men, 
already  rivals  in  their  profession,  and  now  to  be  rivals  in  a  tenderer 
pursuit :  these  were  Coke  and  Bacon.     And  some  noticeable  scenes 

ust,  no  doubt,  have  taken  place  in  Hatton  House  during  the  progress 
<j(  this  remarkable  courtship.  How  Lady  Hatton's  two  distinguished 
lovers  hated  each  other  we  know,  before  th^s  new  fuel  was  added  to 
the  flame.  Both  were  powerfully  supported.  Coke  had  already  been 
appointed  Attorney-General  by  the  Queen,  in  spite  of  the  most  powerful 
efforts  of  the  ill-fated  Earl  of  Essex  to  obtain  the  appointment  for 
Bacon,  so  that  he  was  already  on  the  high  road  to  fortune;  on  the 
other  hand.  Bacon's  e\'er-faithful  friend — alas !  that  it  should  have  to 
be  remembered  how  ungratefully  he  was  rewarded ! — Essex  pleaded 
personally  his  cause  with  the  beautiful  widow  and  with  her  mother. 

Sir  Edward  Coke,  or  Cook,  as  now  pronounced,  was  the  "  oracle 
t"  law,"  but,  like  too  many  great  lawyers,  he  was  so  completely  one, 
.IS  to  have  been  nothing  else.  Coke,  already  enriched  by  his  first 
marriage,  combined  power  with  added  wealth,  in  his  union  with  the 
relict  of  Sir  William  Hatton,  the  sister  of  Thomas  Lord  Burghley.  It 
was  the  greater  titles  that  most  probably  at  last  decided  Lady  Hatton 
to  accept  Coke ;  and,  like  many  other  clever  people,  she  lived  no  doubt 
to  repent  of  a  choice  formed  on  such  considerations,  when  she  found  she 
had  rejected  a  Chancellor  ! 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  connected  with  the  character  of  Coke,  that 
this  great  lawyer  suffered  his  second  marriage  to  take  place  in  an  illegal 


78  TJit  Strange  History  of  Lady  Hatton. 

manner,  and  condescended  to  plead  ignorance  of  the  laws!  He  had 
been  married  in  a  private  house,  without  banns  or  licence,  at  a  moment 
when  the  Archbishop  was  vigilantly  prosecuting  informal  and  irregular 
marriages. 

In  1616,  Coke,  by  his  unbending  judicial  integrity,  lost  the  favour 
of  James,  and  with  it  the  Chief  Justiceship,  which  he  then  held :  liis 
mode  of  obtaining  a  restoration  of  the  first,  and  an  equivalent  for  the 
second,  stands  in  strange  contrast.  This  was  the  marriage  of  his 
daughter  to  Sir  John  Villiers,  afterwards  Viscount  Purbeck,  brother  to 
the  haughty  favourite,  then  supreme  at  Court.  It  is  to  Lady  Hatton's 
credit  that  she  determinedly  refused,  as  long  as  she  could  with  any 
prospect  of  utility,  to  consent  to  this  bargain  and  sale  of  her  child,  then 
only  in  her  seventeenth  year,  and  who  had  a  great  aversion  to  the 
match.  There  were,  however,  other  personages  than  his  Majesty, 
and  his  favourite,  more  deeply  concerned  in  the  business,  and  who 
had  not  hitherto  been  once  consulted — the  mother  and  the  daughter ! 
Coke,  who,  in  everyday  concerns,  issued  his  commands  as  he  would 
his  law-writs,  and  at  times,  boldly  asserted  the  rights  of  the  subject, 
had  no  other  paternal  notion  of  the  duties  of  a  wife  and  child  than 
their  obedience ! 

At  first,  the  mother  and  daughter  ran  away,  and  secreted  themselves 
at  Oatlands,  where  Coke,  having  discovered  their  retreat,  came  armed  with 
a  warrant,  and  broke  open  door  after  door  until  he  found  the  fugitives. 
The  Privy  Council  were  now  inundated  with  appeals  and  counter- 
appeals,  and  disturbed  with  brawls  when  the  parties  were  before  them. 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  writing  to  Carleton  (May  24,  161 6),  says,  "The 
Lord  Coke  and  his  lady  had  great  wars  at  the  Council-table.  The 
first  time  she  came  accompanied  with  the  Lord  Burghley  and  his  lady, 
the  Lord  Danvers,  the  Lord  Denny,  Sir  Thomas  Howard  and  his  lady, 
with  I  know  not  how  many  more,  and  declaimed  so  bitterly  against 
him,  and  so  carried  herself,  that  divers  said  Burbage  (the  player)  could 
not  have  acted  better." 

Lady  Hatton,  haughty  to  insolence,  had  been  often  forbidden  both 
the  courts  of  their  Majesties,  where  Lady  Compton,  the  mother  of 
Buckingham,  was  the  object  of  her  ladyship's  persevering  contempt. 
She  retained  her  personal  influence  by  the  numerous  estates  which  she 
enjoyed  in  right  of  her  former  husband.  When  Coke  fell  into  disgrace, 
his  lady  abandoned  him,  and  to  avoid  her  husband,  frequently  moved 
her  residence  in  town  and  country,  ^^'c  trace  her  with  malicious 
activity  disfumishing  his  house  in  Holbom,  and  at  Stoke  Pogeis,  in 
Buckinghamshire;  seizing  on  all  the  plate  and  moveables,  and  in  fact, 


Tfie  Strange  History  of  Lady  Hatton.  79 

iving  the  fallen  statesman,  and  the  late  Lord  Chief  Justice,  empty 

■uses  and  no  comforter ! 

It  is  extraordinary  that  Coke,  able  to  defend  any  cause,  bore  himself 

so  simply.     It  is  supposed  that  he  had  laid  his  domestic  concerns  too 

^en  to  animadversion  in  the  neglect  of  his  daughter  ;  or  that  he  was 

.\  are  that  he  was  standing  before  no  friendly  bar,  at  that  moment  being 
out  of  favour;  whatever  was  the  cause,  our  noble  virago  obtained  a 
signal  triumph,  and  the  "  oracle  of  law,"  with  all  his  gravity,  stood 
before  the  council-table  henpecked.  In  June,  i6i6,  Sir  Edward  appears 
to  have  yielded  at  discretion  to  his  lady ;  for  in  an  unpublished  letter 
we  find  that  "  his  curst  heart  hath  been  forced  to  yield  to  more  than  he 
ever  meant ;  but  upon  this  agreement  he  flatters  himself  that  she  will 
prove  a  very  good  wife." 

In  the  following  year,  161 7,  these  domestic  affairs  totally  changed. 
The  political  marriage  of  his  daughter  with  Villiers  being  now  resolved 
on,  the  business  was  to  clip  the  wings  of  so  fierce  a  bird  as  Coke  had 
found  in  Lady  Hatton,  which  led  to  an  extraordinary  contest.  The 
mother  and  daughter  hated  the  upstart  Villiers,  and  Sir  John,  indeed, 
promised  to  be  but  a  sickly  bridegroom.  They  had  contrived  to  make 
up  a  written  contract  of  marriage  with  Lord  Oxford,  which  they  opposed 
against  the  proposal,  or  rather  the  order,  of  Coke. 

The  violence  to  which  the  towering  spirits  of  the  conflicting  parties 
proceeded  is  a  piece  of  secret  history,  of  which  accident  has  preserved 
an  able  memorial.  Coke,  armed  with  law,  and  what  was  equally  potent, 
with  the  King's  favour,  entered  by  force  the  barricaded  houses  of  his 
lady,  took  possession  of  his  daughter,  on  whom  he  appears  never  to  have 
cast  a  thought  till  she  became  an  instrument  for  his  political  purposes, 
confined  her  from  her  mother,  and  at  length  got  the  haughty  mother 
imprisoned,  and  brought  her  to  account  for  all  her  past  misdoings. 
Quick  was  the  change  of  scene,  and  the  contrast  was  wonderful.  Coke, 
who  in  the  preceding  year,  to  the  world's  surprise,  proved  so  simple  an 
advocate  of  his  own  cause  in  the  presence  of  his  wife,  now,  to  employ 
his  own  words,  "  got  upon  his  wings  again,"  and  went  on,  as  Lady 
Hatton,  when  safely  lodgetl  in  prison,  describes,  with  "  his  high-handed 
tyrannical  courses,"  till  the  furious  lawyer  occasioned  a  fit  of  sickness  to 
the  proud,  crestfallen  lady.  "  Law  !  law  !  law  !"  thundered  from  the 
lips  of  its  "oraL-le!"  and  Bacon,  in  his  apologetical  letter  to  the  King 
for  having  opposed  his  "riot  or  violence,"  says,  "  I  disliked  it  the  more, 
lxx:ause  he  justified  it  to  be  Law,  which  was  his  old  song." 

The  memorial  alluded  to  appears  to  have  been  confidentially  com- 
j'oscd  by  the  legal  friend  of  Lady  Hatton,  to  furnish  her  ladyship  with 


8o  The  Strange  History  of  Lady  I  I  at  ion. 

answers  when  brought  before  the  council-table.  It  opens  several  do- 
mestic scenes  in  the  house  of  that  great  Lord  Chief  Justice ;  the  forcible 
simplicity  of  the  style  in  domestic  details  shows  that  our  language  has 
not  advanced  in  expression  since  the  age  of  James  I.  The  memorial 
opens  as  follows: 

"To  Lady  Hatton.  „      t  i      c 

"  10  July,  1617. 
"  Madam, — Seeing  these  people  speak  no  language  but  thunder  and 
lightning,  accounting  this  their  cheapest  and  best  way  to  work  upon 
you,  I  would  with  patience  prepare  myself  to  their  extremities,  and 
study  to  defend  the  breaches  by  which  to  their  advantage  they  suppose 
to  come  in  upon  me,  and  henceforth  quit  the  ways  of  pacification  and 
composition  heretofore,  and  unseasonably  endeavoured,  which,  in  my 
opinion,  lie  most  open  to  trouble,  scandal,  and  danger ;  wherefore  I  will 
briefly  set  down  their  objections,  and  send  answei-s  to  them  as  I  con- 
ceive proper."     [The  details  are  too  lengthy  for  us  to  quote.] 

Among  other  matters,  it  appears  that  Coke  accused  his  lady  of  having 
"embezzled  all  his  gilt  and  silver  plate  and  vesscll  (he  having  little  in 
any  house  of  mine  but  that  his  marriage  with  me  brought  him),  and 
instead  thereof  foisted  in  alkumy  of  the  same  sorte,  fashion,  and  use, 
with  the  illusion  to  have  cheated  him  of  the  other."  Coke  insists  on  the 
inventory  by  the  schedule !  Her  ladyship  says :  "  I  made  such  plate  for 
matter  and  form  for  my  own  use  at  Purbeck,  that  serving  well  enough 
in  the  country ;  and  I  was  loth  to  tmst  such  a  substance  in  a  place  so 
remote,  and  in  the  guard  of  few ;  but  for  the  plate  and  vessel!  he  saith 
it  is  wanting,  they  are  every  ounce  within  one  of  my  three  houses."  She 
complains  that  Sir  Edward  Coke  and  his  son  Clement  had  threatened 
her  servants  so  grievously,  that  the  poor  men  ran  away  to  hide  them- 
selves from  his  fury,  and  dare  not  appear  abroad. 

"  Sir  Edward  broke  into  Hatton  House,  secured  my  coach  and  coach- 
horses,  nay,  my  apparel,  which  he  detains ;  thrusts  all  my  servants  out 
of  doors  without  wages ;  sent  down  his  men  to  Corfe  to  inventory, 
seize,  ship,  and  carry  away  all  the  goods,  which  being  refused  him  by 
the  castle-keeper,  he  threats  to  bring  your  lordship's  warrant  for  the 
performance  thereof.  But  your  lordship  established  that  he  should 
have  the  use  of  the  goods  only  during  his  life,  in  such  houses  as  the  same 
appertained,  without  meaning,  I  hope,  of  depriving  me  of  such  use, 
being  goods  I  brought  at  my  marriage,  or  bought  with  the  money  I 
spared  from  my  allowances.  Stop,  then,  his  high  tyrannical  courses ; 
for  I  have  suflcred  beyond  the  measure  of  any  wife,  mother,  nay  of 


TJie  Strange  History  of  Lady  Hatton.  8 1 

any  ordiimr)-  woman  in  this  kingdom,  without  respect  to  my  father,  my 
birth,  my  fortunes,  with  which  /  have  so  highly  raised  him.'' 

However,  she  at  last  consented  to  the  match,  which  was  the  principal 
cause  of  these  unseemly  proceedings,  although  she  continued  to  Hve  at 
Hatton  House,  separated  from  her  husband ;  and  this  unpleasant  busi- 
ness settled,  she  returned,  with  as  great  zest  as  ever,  to  the  amusements 
she  chiefly  delighted  in.  Some  years  before,  she  had  played  a  conspicu- 
ous part  in  the  performance  of  Ben  Jonson's  Masque  of  Beauty,  when 
tifteen  of  the  choicest  Court  Beauties  had  been  selected  as  actors 
for  the  solace  of  Royalty;  and  now  again,  in  1621,  we  find  her  at  the 
same  vocation,  in  the  representation  of  the  Metamorphosed  Gipsies,  at 
Burley-on-the-Hill,  James  again  being  the  chief  spectator.  In  this 
piece,  the  fifth  gipsy  is  made  thus  to  address  her : 

"  Mistress  of  a  fairer  table 
Hath  no  history,  no  fable ; 
Otliers'  fortunes  may  be  shown — 
You  are  builder  of  your  own  ; 
And  whatever  Heaven  hath  given  you. 
You  preserve  the  state  still  in  you. 
That  which  time  would  have  dejiart, 
Youth  without  the  help  of  art. 
You  do  keep  still,  and  the  glory 
Of  your  sex  is  but  your  storj-." 

Asa  specimen  of  the  vixenish  temper  of  Lady  Hatton,  we  may  relate 
that  she  had,  for  a  considerable  period,  Gondomar,  the  noted  Spanish 
Ambassador,  for  her  next-door  neighbour — he  occupying,  we  presume, 
the  palatial  portion  of  the  building.  Howell,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  James 
Crofts,  March  24, 1622,  says:  "  Gondomar  has  ingratiated  himself  with 
divers  persons  of  quality,  ladies  especially ;  yet  he  could  do  no  good 
upon  the  Lady  Hatton,  whom  he  desired  lately,  that  in  regard  he  was 
her  next-door  neighbour  (at  Ely  House),  he  might  have  the  benefit  of 
the  back-gate  to  go  abroad  into  the  fields,  but  she  put  him  off  with  a 
compliment;  whereupon,  in  a  private  audience  lately  with  the  King, 
among  other  passages  of  merriment  he  told  him,  that  my  Lady  Hatton 
was  a  strange  lady,  for  she  would  not  suffer  her  husband.  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  to  come  in  at  her  fore-door,  nor  him  to  go  out  at  her  back-door, 
and  so  related  the  whole  business."  The  last  "Mystery"  represented 
in  England  was  that  of  Christ's  Passion,  in  the  reign  of  James  L,  which 
Prynne  tells  us,  was  "  performed  at  Elie  House,  in  Holborne,  when 
Gundomar  lay  there,  on  Good  Friday,  at  night,  at  which  there  were 
thousands  present." 

\N'hat  availed  the  vexation  of  this  sick,  mortified,  and  proud  woman, 
or  the  more  tender  feelings  of  the  daughter,  in  this  forced  marriage  to 


82  TJie  Strange  History  of  Lady  Hatton. 

satisfy  the  political  ambition  of  the  father  ?  When  Bacon  wrote  to  the 
King  respecting  the  strange  behaviour  of  Coke,  the  King  vindicated  it, 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  his  daughter,  blaming  Bacon  for  some  ex- 
pressions he  had  used ;  and  Bacon,  with  the  servility  of  the  courtier, 
when  he  found  the  wind  in  his  teeth,  tacked  round,  and  promised 
Buckingham  to  promote  the  match  he  had  abhorred.  Villiers  was 
married  to  the  daughter  of  Coke,  at  Hampton  Court,  on  Michaelmas- 
day,  1 617;  Coke  was  readmitted  to  the  council-table.  Lady  Hatton 
was  then  reconciled  to  Lady  Compton,  and  the  Queen  gave  a  grand 
entertainment  on  the  occasion,  to  which,  however,  "  the  good  man  of 
the  house  was  neither  invited  nor  spoken  of.  He  dined  that  day  at  the 
Temple;  she  is  still  bent  to  pull  down  her  husband." 

The  moral  of  the  close  remains  to  be  told.  Lady  Villiers  looked  on 
her  husband  as  the  hateful  object  of  a  forced  union,  and  nearly  drove 
him  mad ;  while  she,  it  is  believed,  at  length  obtained  a  divorce. 

Thus,  a  marriage  promoted  by  ambition,  and  prosecuted  by  violent 
means,  closed  with  that  utter  misery  to  the  parties  by  which  it  had 
been  commenced  ;  and  served  to  show  that  when  a  lawyer,  like  Coke, 
holds  his  "  high-handed  tyrannical  courses,"  the  law  of  Nature,  as  well 
as  the  law  of  which  he  is  "the  oracle,"  will  be  alike  violated  under  his 
roof.  Wife  and  daughter  were  plaintiffs  or  defendants,  on  whom  this 
Lord  Chief  Justice  closed  his  ear;  he  had  blocked  up  the  avenues  to 
his  heart  with  "  Law  !  law  !  law  !"  his  old  song. 

No  reconciliation  took  place  between  the  parties.  In  June,  1634,  we 
find  in  the  Earl  of  Strafford's  Letter,  that  on  a  strong  report  of  his  death, 
Lady  Coke,  accompanied  by  her  brother.  Lord  Wimbledon,  posted 
down  to  Stoke  Pogeis,  to  take  possession  of  his  mansion ;  but  beyond 
Colnbrook  they  met  with  one  of  his  physicians  coming  from  him,  who 
informed  them  of  Sir  Edward's  amendment,  which  made  them  return. 
On  the  following  September  the  venerable  sage  was  no  more.  Beyond 
his  eightieth  year,  in  the  last  Parliament  of  Charles  L,  the  extraordinary 
vigour  of  his  intellect  flamed  clear  under  the  snows  of  age. 

Lady  Hatton  was  still  flourishing  at  the  period  of  the  sitting  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  when  Hatton  House  was  decided  to  be  her  own 
Her  daughter's  marriage  turned  out  as  might  have  been  expected. 
Viscount  Purbcck  went  abroad  only  three  years  after,  and  she  led  a 
life  of  profligacy  that  had  once  narrowly  brought  her  to  the  chapel  of 
the  Savoy,  to  do  penance  in  a  white  sheet. 

This  "  strange  lady,"  as  Howell  calls  her,  "dyed  in  London  on  the 
3rd  of  January,  1646,  at  her  house  in  Holboume,"  having  effectually 
repelled  the  entrance  of  her  husband,  and  all  the  exertions  of  successive 


Holywell  Priory,  Shoreditch,  83 

Bishops  of  Ely  to  recover  Ely  House,  in  Holbom,  to  the  see  of  Ely; 
and  the  Bishops  removed  to  a  house  built  for  them  in  Dover-street, 
Piccadilly.  Upon  the  site  was  built  Ely-place, — a  cul-de-sac — part  of 
which  has  been  taken  down  in  the  works  for  the  Holbom  Viaduct.* 


Halliwell,  or  Holywell  Priory,  Shoreditch. 

At  a  period  long  before  the  parish  of  Shoreditch  contained  scarcely 
an  habitation,  and  while  it  consisted  of  fields  chiefly  devoted  to  sports 
and  recreations,  there  stood  upon  the  present  site  of  New  Inn-yard 
and  Holywell-lane  a  Priory  dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Baptist.  It  was 
founded  about  1 100,  and  by  aid  of  several  benefactors  the  extent  of  its 
buildings  and  the  area  of  its  grounds  were  considerably  enlarged.  It 
became,  in  fact,  a  resort  of  prelates  and  great  people  of  the  land,  and  even 
the  sovereigns  of  England  were  proud  to  be  reckoned  among  its  patrons. 
It  continued  to  flourish  until  it  was  suppressed  in  1539,  and  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  Crown.  Its  ecclesiastical  edifices  were  then  pulled 
down,  and  houses  for  the  nobles  and  gentry  were  built  upon  its  site.  It 
was  bounded  on  the  one  side  by  the  present  High-street,  Shoreditch, 
but  the  extent  of  it  in  other  directions  it  is  not  possible  to  trace.  Tliere 
exists  upon  the  spot  a  very  old  wall,  nearly  100  feet  long,  which  is  con- 
sidered to  be  the  remains  of  the  Priory  Church. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  lived  Sir  Thomas  Lovel,  a  nobleman  of 
wealth  and  renown,  a  Knight  of  the  Garter,  and  a  great  benefactor  to 
the  City  of  London.  He  was  knighted  at  the  battle  of  Stoke,  made 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  for  life,  one  of  the  executors  of  Henry  VI  I.'s 
will,  Constable  of  the  Tower,  and  afterwards  Steward  and  Marshal  to 
the  House  of  Henry  VIII.  He  was  a  great  benefactor  to  the  Priory  of 
■^lalliwell,  and  built  there  "  a  beautiful  chapel,  wherein  his  body  was 
jitcrred."  This  he  endowed  with  fair  lands,  and  he  also  built  him- 
self a  large  and  handsome  mansion.  He  married  the  daughter  of 
Thomas  Lord  Ros  of  Hamlake,  and  in  1508,  succeeded  to  the  Manor 
of  "Worcester,  in  the  parish  of  Enfield.  In  the  mansion  of  that  manor 
he  was  honoured  with  a  visit  from  Maigaret,  Queen  Dowager  of  Scot- 
land. He  di<;d  there  in  1524,  but  was  buried  in  the  chapel  which  he 
himself  had  tounded  within  the  Priory  of  Halliwell,  and  it  may  be 
presumed  that  his  lady  was  buried  at  Halliwell  with  him.  A  monu- 
ment representing  a  knight  in  a  recumbent  position  was  erected  soon 


*  Lady  Hatton  left  a  charitable  benefaction  to  the  poor  of  the  parish  Of 
St.  Andrew,  Holbom. 

O  3 


S4  Holywell  Priory,  Shoreditch. 

after  his  death,  and  on  the  death  of  his  lady  a  figure  in  marble  was  placed 
at  its  side.  In  the  windows  of  the  chapel,  which  were  of  the  richest 
stained  glass,  the  following  words,  indicative  of  the  high  respect  in 
which  the  memory  of  Sir  Thomas  was  held,  were  afterwards  inscribed : 

"  Al  the  nunnes  in  Holywel 
Pray  for  the  soul  of  Sir  Thomas  Lovel." 

They  ai-e  also  stated  to  be  as  follows,  inscribed  on  a  wall  of  the  Priory : 

"  Al  the  nuns  of  Hatiwell, 

Pray  ye  both  day  and  night 
For  the  soul  of  Sir  Thomas  I^vel, 
Whom  Harry  the  Seventh  made  knight." 

In  the  year  1513,  Lord  Ros,  pursuant  to  his  will,  was  burial  nigh 
the  altar  in  the  chapel  of  this  priory ;  but  other  historians  consider  it 
probable  that  at  the  death  of  his  lady,  the  body  was  removed  to  Wind- 
sor, as  both  figures  lie  upon  one  tomb  in  St.  George's  Chapel ;  and 
i^pon  the  tomb  is  an  inscription  recording  the  fact  that  this  nobleman, 
who  died  1,^13,  and  his  lady,  Anne,  who  died  1526,  were  there  buried. 
There  are  no  records  of  any  other  persons  of  note  whatever  having  been 
buried  within  this  chapel,  or  within  the  precincts  of  the  priory. 

It  is  not,  however,  improbable  that  within  the  grounds  of  the  priory 
was  a  burial-ground,  in  which  the  deceased  inmates,  and  possibly  other 
persons  in  favour  with,  or  benefactors  to,  the  establishment  were  buried, 
as  many  loose  bones  have  been  turned  up.  Sir  Thomas  and  his  lady 
died  only  a  few  years  before  the  suppression  of  the  convent  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.,  and  were  therefore  probably  the  last  persons  of  note  who 
were  interred  within  it ;  and  in  the  course  of  excavations  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  New  Inn-yard,  have  been  found  two  leaden  coffins  believed  to  have 
contained  the  remains  of  Sir  Thomas  Lovel  and  his  lady.  The  shape  of 
these  coffins  is  peculiar,  distinguished  by  having  a  head  and  shoulders, 
— a  form  in  stone  not  uncommon  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  V.  and  VI, 
From  the  material  of  these  coffins,  it  may  be  reasonably  assumed  that 
the  persons  interred  within  them  were  persons  of  station  or  quality. 
They  were  found  resting  upon  the  clay,  enclosed  in  a  grave  formed  of 
chalk,  which  fell  in  as  the  workmen  disturbed  it.  Both  of  the  leaden 
shells,  when  discovered,  were  somewhat  decayed  by  time;  especially 
round  the  joints  securing  the  lids,  which  were  easily  taken  off  in 
several  pieces.  On  removing  the  coffins  from  the  ground,  two  skele- 
tons in  perfect  form  were  discovered,  the  heads  occupying  the  upper 
circular  cavity.  There  was  neither  sign  of  any  flesh  nor  clothing,  nor 
any  reiics  whatever,  which  it  might  be  supposed  would  be  placed 
within  the  coffins  of  people  of   note,  and  who  were  buried  in  the 


Stories  of  Old  Somerset  House.  85 

Catholic  feith.  The  only  other  remnants  of  decay,  besides  the  bones, 
visible,  were — a  sort  of  brownish  yellow  dust  which  lay  beneath  the 
bones,  and  a  sort  of  chalky  deposit  at  the  bottom  of  the  shells.  This 
deposit  is  common,  and  has  frequently  been  found  to  consist  of  lime  put 
into  the  coffin,  most  probably  to  hasten  the  destruction  of  the  body. 

No  inscription  is  discoverable  on  the  leaden  shells  now  found.  If 
there  ever  were  any,  the  corrosion  of  the  metal  has  quite  obliterated  it ; 
but  it  is  just  possible  that,  after  the  demolition  of  the  Priory,  the  tomb 
may  have  been  opened,  and  the  outer  shells,  with  their  ornaments, 
removed ;  and  if  so,  the  leaden  shells  themselves  may  have  been  opened, 
and  any  valuables  that  may  have  been  inclosed  also  removed,  and  that  at 
a  period  when  decay  had  not  sufficiently  set  in  to  allow  the  distiu-bance 
of  the  bones. 

The  following  are  additional  records  of  the  interment  here:  Sir 
Thomas  Lovel  was  buried  there  June  8,  1525,  "in  a  tombe  of  whyte 
marbell,  on  the  southe  syde  of  the  quyre  of  the  saide  churche."  At  his 
funeral  there  were  present  the  Bishop  of  London,  Lord  St.  John,  Sir 
Richard  Wyng field,  and  many  others,  nobles  and  gentlemen.  The  Abbot 
ofWaltham,  the  Prior  of  St.  .Mary  Spital,  four  orders  of  friars,  the 
Mayor  and  all  the  aldermen  of  London,  gentlemen  of  the  Inns  of  Court, 
the  Lord  Steward,  and  all  the  clerks  of  London  attended.  Part  of  the 
Chapel  remains  under  the  floor  of  the  Old  King  John  public-house, 
and  the  stone  doorway  into  the  porter's  lodge  of  the  Priory  still  exists. 


Stories  of  Old  Somerset  House. 

This  celebrated  palace,  situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  Strand,  with 
gardens  and  water-gate  reaching  to  the  Thames,  was  commenced  build- 
ing about  1547,  by  the  Protector  Somerset,  maternal  uncle  of 
Edward  VI.  To  obtiin  space  and  building  materials,  he  demolisheti 
Strand  or  Chester's  Inn,  and  the  episcopal  houses  of  Lichfield,  Coventry, 
Worcester,  and  Llandaff,  besides  the  church  and  tower  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem :  for  the  stone,  also,  he  pulled  down  the  great  north  cloister 
of  St.  Paul's ;  St.  Mary's  church  was  also  taken  down,  and  the  site 
became  part  of  the  garden.  Stow  describes  it,  in  1 603,  as  "  a  large  and 
beautiful  house,  but  yet  unfinished."  The  Protector  did  not  inhabit 
the  palace ;  for  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  in  1549,  and  beheaded 
in  is.'ja.  Somerset-place  then  devolvetl  to  the  Crown,  and  was  assigned 
by  Edward  V I.  to  his  sister  the  Princess  Elizalx-th.  Lord  Burghley 
note* : — "  Feb.  i.-,66-7,  Conielius  de  la  Noye,  an  alchyniist,  wrought  in 


86  Stories  of  Old  Somerset  House. 

Somerset  House,  and  abused  many  in  promising  to  convert  any  metall 
into  gold." 

In  1570,  Queen  Elizabeth  went  to  open  the  Royal  Exchange,  "from 
her  house  at  the  Strand,  called  Somerset  House."  The  Queen  lent  the 
mansion  to  her  kinsman.  Lord  Hunsdon,  whose  guest  she  occasionally 
became.  At  her  death,  the  palace  was  settled  as  a  jointure-house 
of  the  queen-consort ;  and  passed  to  Anne  of  Denmark,  queen  of 
James  I.,  by  whose  command  it  was  called  Denmark  House.  Inigo 
Jones  erected  new  buildings  and  enlargements.  Here  the  remains  of 
Anne  and  James  I.  lay  in  state.  For  Henrietta  Maria,  queen  of  Charles  I., 
Inigo  Jones  built  a  chaf)el,  with  a  rustic  arcade  and  Corinthian  columns, 
facing  the  Thames  ;  and  here  the  Queen  established  a  convent  of 
Capuchin  friars.  In  the  passage  leading  from  east  to  west,  under  the 
quadrangle  of  the  present  Somerset  House,  are  five  tombstones  of  the 
Queen's  attendants. 

Inigo  Jones  died  here  in  1652.  During  the  Protectorate,  the  altar 
and  chapel  were  ordered  to  be  burnt ;  and  in  j6^()  the  palace  was  about 
to  be  sold  for  10,000/.;  but  after  the  Restoration,  the  Queen-mother 
Henrietta,  returned  to  Somerset  House,  which  she  repaired :  hence  she 
exclaims,  in  Cowley's  courtly  verse: — 

"  Before  my  gate  a  street's  broad  channel  goes, 
Which  still  with  waves  of  crowding  people  flows; 
And  every  day  there  passes  by  my  side, 
Up  to  its  western  reach,  the  London  tide, 
The  spring-tides  of  the  term.     My  front  looks  down 
On  all  the  pride  and  business  of  the  town.' 

Waller's  adulatory  incense  rises  still  higher : — 

"  But  what  new  mine  this  work  supplies? 
Can  such  a  pile  from  ruin  rise  ? 
This  like  the  first  creation  shows. 
As  if  at  your  command  it  rose." 

Pepys  gossips  of  "  the  Queen-mother's  court  at  Soinerset  House, 
above  our  own  Queen's ;  the  mass  in  the  chapel ;  the  garden  ;  and  the 
new  buildings,  mighty  magnificent  and  costly,"  *'  stately  and  nobly 
furnished ;"  and  "  the  great  stone  stairs  in  the  garden,  with  the  brave 
echo."  The  Queen-mother  died  abroad  in  1669.  In  1669-70,  the 
remains  of  Monk,  Duke  of  Albemarle,  "  lay  for  many  weeks  in  royal 
state"  at  Somerset  House  ;  and  thence  he  was  buried  with  every  honour 
short  of  regality.  Thither  the  remains  of  Oliver  Cromwell  were  re- 
moved from  Whitehall,  in  1658,  and  were  laid  in  state  in  the  great  hall 
of  Someiset  House,  "and  represented  in  effigie,  standing  on  a  bed  of 
crimson  velvet."     He  was  buried  from  hence  with  great  pomp  and 


Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey,  87 

pageantry,  which  provoked  the  people  to  throw  dirt,  in  the  night,  on  his 
escutcheon  that  was  placed  over  the  great  gate  of  Somerset  House :  his 
pompous  funeral  cost  28,000/.  On  the  death  of  Charles  II.  in  1685, 
the  palace  became  the  sole  residence  of  the  Queen  Dowager,  Catherine 
of  Braganza;  and  in  1678,  three  of  her  household  were  charged  with 
the  murder  of  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey,  by  decoying  him  into  Somerset 
House,  and  there  strangling  him. 

Strype  describes  the  palace  about  1720:  its  front  with  stone  pillars, 
its  spacious  square  court,  great  hall  or  guard-room,  large  staircase,  and 
rooms  of  state,  larger  courts,  and  "  most  pleasant  garden ;"  the  water- 
gate,  with  figures  of  Thames  and  I  sis;  and  the  water-garden,  with 
fountain  and  statues.  Early  in  the  last  century,  court  masquerades  were 
j,'iven  here.  Addison,  in  the  Freeholder,  mentions  one  in  17 16;  and  in 
1 763,  a  splendid  fete  was  given  here  by  Government  to  the  Venetian 
Ambassadors.  In  1771,  the  Royal  Academy  had  apartments  in  the 
palace,  granted  them  by  George  III.  In  1775,  Parliament  settled  upon 
Queen  Ciiarlotte  Buckingham  House,  in  which  she  then  resided,  in  lieu  of 
Old  Somerset  House,  which  was  given  up  to  be  demolished,  for  the  erec- 
tion upon  the  site  of  certain  public  oflices,  the  present  Somerset  House ; 
the  produce  of  tlie  sale  of  Ely  House  being  applied  towards  the  ex- 
jjenses.  The  chapel,  which  had  been  opened  for  the  Protestant  service 
by  order  of  Queen  Anne,  in  1711,  was  not  closed  until  1777.  The 
venerable  court-way  from  the  Strand,  and  the  dark  and  winding  steps 
which  led  down  to  the  garden  beneath  the  shade  of  ancient  and  lofty 
trees,  were  the  last  lingering  features  of  Somerset  Place,  and  were  cha- 
racteristic of  the  gloomy  lives  and  fortunes  of  its  royal  and  noble  inmates. 


Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey,  his  Mysterious  Death. 

This  tragical  event  originated  in  Titus  Gates'  Popish  Plot  in  1678 ;  of 
this  Gates  drew  up  a  narrative,  to  the  truth  of  which  he  solemnly 
deposed  before  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey,  who  was  an  eminent  Justice 
of  the  Peace.  This  seemed  to  be  done  in  distrust  of  the  Privy  Council, 
as  if  they  might  stifle  his  evidence ;  which  to  prevent  he  put  into  safe 
hands.  Upon  that  Godfrey  was  chid  for  his  presuming  to  meddle  in 
so  tender  a  matter,  and,  as  appeared  from  subsequent  events,  a  plan  was 
immediately  laid  to  murder  him ;  and  this,  within  a  few  weeks,  was 
but  too  fatilly  executed.  In  the  meantime,  various  arrests  of  Jesuits  and 
Papists  were  made. 

About  a  fortnight  afteru'ards,  on  Saturday,  Gctobcr  1 2,  Godfrey  was 
missing  from  his  house  in  Green's-lanc,  in  the  Strand,  near  Hungerford- 


88  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey. 

mai-ket,  wliere  he  was  a  wood-merchant,  his  wood  wharf  being  at  the 
end  of  what  is  now  Northumberland-street.  Nor  could  the  most  sedu- 
lous search  obtain  any  other  tidings  of  Godfrey  for  some  days,  but  that 
he  was  seen  near  St.  Clement's  Church,  in  the  Strand,  on  the  day  above 
mentioned ;  he  left  home  at  nine  in  the  morning.  Shortly  after  this,  he 
was  seen  in  Marylebone,  and  at  noon  of  the  same  day,  had  an  interview 
on  business  with  one  of  the  churchwardens  of  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields. 
From  this  time  Godfrey  was  never  seen  again  alive  ;  nor  was  any  mes- 
sage received  by  his  servants  at  home.  Sunday  cflme,  and  no  tidings  of 
him;  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday,  and  Thui-sday  followed  with  the 
like  result.  At  six  o'clock,  on  the  evening  of  the  last-mentioned  day, 
the  17th,  as  two  men  were  crossing  a  field  on  the  south  side  of  Prim- 
rose-hill, they  observed  a  sword-belt,  stick,  and  a  pair  of  gloves,  lying 
on  the  side  of  the  hedge:  they  paid  no  attention  to  them  at  the  time, 
and  walked  on  to  Chalk  Farm,  then  called  at  the  White  House,  where 
they  mentioned  to  the  master  what  they  had  seen,  and  he  accompanied 
them  to  the  spot  where  the  articles  lay ;  one  of  the  men,  stooping  down, 
looked  into  the  adjoining  ditch,  and  there  saw  the  body  of  a  man  lying 
on  his  face.  It  was  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey:  "his  sword  was 
thrust  through  him,  but  no  blood  was  on  his  clothes,  or  about  him  ;  his 
shoes  were  clean  ;  his  money  was  in  his  pocket,  but  nothing  was  about 
his  neck  [although  when  he  went  from  home,  he  had  a  large  lace  band 
on],  and  a  mark  was  all  around  it,  an  inch  broad,  which  showed  he 
had  been  strangled.  His  breast  was  likewise  all  over  marked  with 
bruises,  and  his  neck  was  broken ;  and  it  was  visible  he  was  first 
strangled,  then  carried  to  that  place,  where  his  sword  was  run  through 
his  dead  body."  It  was  conveyed  to  the  White  House,  then  the  farm- 
house ot  the  estate  of  Chalcott's,  abbreviated  to  Chalc's,  and  then  cor- 
rupted to  Chalk  Farm,  in  our  day  a  noted  tavern.  A  jury  was  im- 
panelled, and  the  evidence  of  two  surgeons  showed  that  Godfrey's 
death  must  have  been  occasioned  by  strangulation.  The  ditch  was  dry, 
and  there  were  no  marks  of  blood  in  it,  and  his  shoes  were  perfectly 
clean,  as  if,  after  being  assassinated,  he  had  been  carried  and  deposited 
in  the  place  where  he  was  found.  A  large  sum  ot  money  and  a  diamond 
ring  were  found  in  his  pockets  ;  but  his  pocket-book,  in  which,  as  a 
magistrate,  he  used  to  take  notes  of  examinations,  was  missing.  Spots 
of  white  wax,  an  article  which  he  never  used  himself,  and  which  was 
only  employed  by  persons  of  distinction,  and  by  priests,  were  scattered 
over  his  clothes ;  and  from  this  circumstance  persons  were  led  to  con- 
clude that  the  Roman  Cathohcs  were  concerned  in  his  death.  Still, 
there  appeared  no  proof  of  his  being  murdered ;  but  it  was  regarded  as 


Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey,  89 

lirect  testimony  of  the  existence  of  the  Popish  Plot;  warrants  were 
.  ;,iied  for  twenty-six  persons  who  had  been  implicated  by  Gates,  and 
who  were  committed  to  the  Tower. 

From  the  ^^^hite  House,  the  corpse  of  Godfrey  was  conveyed  home, 
and  embalmed,  and  after  lying  in  state  for  two  days  at  Bridewell  Hos- 
pital, was  borne  from  thence,  with  great  solemnity,  to  St.  Martin's 
Church,  to  be  interred.  The  pall  was  supported  by  eight  knights — all 
justices  of  the  peace  ;  and  in  the  procession  were  all  the  City  aldermen, 
together  with  seventy-two  clergymen,  in  full  canonicals,  who  walked 
in  couples  before  the  body,  and  a  great  multitude  followed  after.  The 
clerg)-man  who  preached  a  sermon  on  the  occasion,  was  supported  on 
each  side  by  a  brother  divine.  The  body  was  interred  in  the  church- 
yard ;  and  a  tablet  to  the  memory  of  Sir  Edmund  Berry  was  erected  in 
Westminster  Abbey. 

As  yet,  however,  the  perpetrators  of  this  murder  had  not  been  dis- 
covered, though  a  reward  of  500/.  and  the  King's  protection  had  been 
offered  to  any  person  making  the  disclosure ;  but,  within  a  few  days 
afterwards,  one  William  Bedloe,  who  had  been  a  servant,  was  brought 
to  London  from  Bristol,  where  he  had  been  arrested  by  his  own  desire, 
on  affirming  that  he  was  acquainted  with  some  circumstances  relating 
to  Godfrey's  death.  He  stated  that  he  had  seen  the  murdered  body  in 
Somerset  House  (then  the  Queen's  residence),  and  had  been  offered  a 
large  sum  of  money  to  assist  in  removing  it.  It  was  remembered  that 
at  that  time  the  Queen  was  for  some  days  in  so  close  confinement  that 
no  person  was  admitted.  Prince  Rupert  came  there  to  wait  on  her, 
but  was  denied  access.  This  raised  a  strong  suspicion  of  her ;  but  the 
King  would  not  suffer  that  matter  to  go  any  further.  Coleman,  the 
Duke  of  York's  secretary,  who  was  soon  afterwards  convicted  of  high 
treason,  when  he  lay  in  Newgate,  confessed  that  he  had  spoken  of  the 
duke's  designs  to  Godfrey  ;  "  upon  which  the  duke  gave  orders  to  kill 
him." 

Soon  after.  Miles  Prance,  a  goldsmith,  who  had  some  time  wrought 
in  the  Queen's  Chapel,  was  taken  up  on  suspicion  of  having  been  con- 
cerned in  the  death  of  Godfrey  ;  and  on  his  subsecjuent  confession  and 
testimony,  confirmed  by  Bedloe  and  others.  Green,  Hill,  and  Berry,  all 
in  subordinate  situations  at  Somerset  House,  were  convicted  of  the 
murder,  which  they  had  effected  in  conjunction  with  two  Irish  Jesuits, 
who  had  absconded.  It  appeared  that  the  unfortunate  magistrate  had 
been  inveigled  into  Somerset  House,  at  the  water-gate,  under  the  pre- 
tence of  his  assistance  being  wanted  to  allay  a  quarrel ;  and  that  he  was 
immediately  strangled  with  a  twisted  handkerchief,  after  which  Green, 


90  Canonbury,  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Compton. 

"  with  all  his  force,  wrung  his  neck  almost  round."  On  the  fourth 
night  after,  the  assassins  conveyed  his  body,  first  in  a  sedan  chair,  to 
Soho,  and  then  on  a  horse  to  the  place  where  it  was  afterwards  dis- 
covered, near  Primrose-hill ;  where  one  of  the  Jesuits  ran  his  swojtl 
through  the  corpse,  in  the  manner  it  was  found.  Green,  Berry,  and 
Hill  were  executed  ;  each  of  them  affirming  his  innocence  to  the  vci  y 
last. 

This  horrible  event  is  commemorated  in  a  contemporary  medal  of 
Sir  Edmund  Berry,  representing  him,  on  the  obverse,  walking  with  a 
broken  neck  and  a  sword  in  his  body ;  and  on  the  reverse,  St.  Denis, 
bearing  his  head  in  his  hand,  with  this  inscription : 

"Godfrey  walks  up-hill  after  he  was  dead, 
Denis  walks  down-hill  carrjing  his  head." 

There  is  also  a  medal  with  the  head  of  Godfrey  being  strangled  ;  and 
the  body  being  carried  on  horseback,  with  Piimrose-hill  in  the  dis- 
tance :  likewise  a  large  medallion,  with  the  Pope  and  the  devil ;  the 
strangulation  by  two  Jesuits ;  Sir  Godfrey  borne  in  a  sedan  ;  and  the 
body,  with  the  sword  through  it. 


Canonbury,  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Compton. 

Few  of  our  suburban  parishes  possess  such  antiquarian  and  historic 
interest  as  large  and  populous  Islington,  where,  whatever  may  be  the 
boast,  the  present  has  not  effaced  the  glory  of  the  past.  The  original 
hamlet  of  Iseldon  was,  in  all  probability,  of  British  origin,  lying  within 
the  forest  of  Middlesex,  whither  the  conquering  Roman  came  with 
camp,  and  station,  and  Ermine-street — all  to  be  traced  to  the  present 
hour.  The  village  of  huts,  the  Iseldon  of  the  Britons,  became  a  Saxon 
parish  before  the  coming  of  the  Normans ;  and  its  winding  ways  are 
identified  in  the  irregular  features  of  the  old  village.  Among  its  early 
landowners  was  the  family  of  Berners,  who,  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
granted  to  the  Priors  of  the  canons  of  St.  Bartholomew,  in  West  Smith- 
field,  for  a  bury,  or  retiring-place,  the  manor,  which  took  the  name  of 
Canonbury.  The  year  of  the  gift  is  unknown,  but  the  estate  is  enu- 
merated among  the  possessions  of  the  priory,  in  a  confirmation  granted 
by  Henry  III.,  bearing  date  1253.  A  silly  notion  once  prevailed  that 
there  was  formerly  a  subten-anean  communication  between  the  Priory 
of  St.  Bartholomew  and  Canonbury  House.  We  have  contemporary 
evidence  of  the  general  productiveness  of  the  estate ;  its  meadow  for 
pasture;  its  fields  of  com,  and  the  excellent  produce  of  its  dairies;  so 


Canonbiiry,  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Compton.  91 

it  from  the  thirteenth  century  till  the  Reformation,  Canonbury,  and 
uuier  large  estates  in  Islington,  were  cultivated  under  the  monks. 
Those  of  Canonbury  even  supplied  the  distant  priory  with  water,  much 
esteemed  for  its  clearness  and  purity,  from  "  the  condyte  hede  of  Saynt 
Barthilmewes,  within  the  manor  of  Canbury,"  or  Canonbury.  To  it  a 
small  piece  of  land  called  le  Coteliers,  or  the  Cutlers,  was  added,  to 
benefit  the  soul  of  one  John  of  Kentish  Town,  deceased.  The  manor 
retains  its  old  boundaries  to  the  present  day — »>.,  from  the  Cock  at 
Highbiu-y,  along  the  Upper-street,  to  the  statue  of  Sir  Hugh  Myddelton, 
on  Islington-green ;  thence  via  Lower-road  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  Ball's 
Pond ;  and  so  by  St.  Paul's-road  back  to  the  starting-point.  The 
waste  of  the  manor  exists  in  the  triangular  plot  of  land  called 
I  lington-green. 

At  the  Dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  under  Henry  VIII.,  the  Priory 
of  St.  Bartholomew  surrendered  itself  into  the  King's  hands,  and  the 
manor  of  Canonbury,   with    other  lands,   was   granted   to  Thomas 
Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex.     In  his  hands  it  remained  but  one  year;  for 
in  1540,  having  assisted  in  palming  off  Anne  of  Cleves  on  Henry,  as  a 
irriageable  beauty,  he  suffered  attainder  ;  the  manor  again  reverted  to 
J  King,  who  charged  it  with  an  annuity  of  twenty  pounds,  payable  to 
I'.ne  of  Cleves,  the  innocent  cause  of  Cromwell's  disgrace  and  niin, 
and  she  received  this  annuity  until  her  decease  in  1557.     The  manor 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  crown  till  Edward  VI.,  in  the  first  year  of 
his  reign,  gianteti  it  to  John  Dudley,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  father- 
in-law  of  Lady  Jane  Grey ;  and  he  held  possession  till  his  attainder,  in 
-53,  put  the  place  into  the  hands  of  Queen  Mary,  who,  in  1557,  granted 
'•  manor  to  Thomas  Lord  Wentworth;  and  he,  in  1570,  alienated 
it  to  the  celebrated  and  affluent  Sir  John  Sj^encer,  Knight  and  Bart., 
commonly  called  "  Rich  Spencer,"  who  so  greatly  distinguished   him- 
self by  his  public  spirit  during  his  mayoralty  in  London  in  1595,  which 
'•  •   kept  at  Crosby-place,   purchased  by  him    in  the  previous   year, 
monbury  was  his  country  house  ;  and  in  one  of  his  journeys  hither 
•  had  well  nigh  been  carried  off  by  a  pirate,  in  the  expectation  of  a 
■avy  ransonu     The  pirate  came  over  from  Dunkirk  with  twelve 
tL-ers,  in  a  shallop;  he  reached  Barking  Creek  in  the  night,  and 
,  his  shallop  in  the  custody  of  six  of  his  men,  with  the  other  six 
I-  came  as  far  as  Islington,  where  they  hid  themselves  in  ditches,  near 
he  path  by  which  Sir  John  usually  came  to  Canonbury ;  but  by  an 
ccident  he  was  detained  in  London,  and  thus  escaped — the  pirate  and 
3  mates  returning  to  their  shallop,  and  safe  to  Dunkirk  again. 
Tea  years  before  his  deatli  "  Rich  Spencer"  had  his  soul  crossed  by 


92  Canonbury,  and  Lady  Elisabeth  Compton. 

a  daughter,  ^^  ho  insisted  upon  giving  her  hand  to  a  slenderly  endowed 
young  nobleman,  the  Lord  Compton.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  rather 
perilous  thing  for  a  citizen  in  those  times  to  thwart  the  matrimonial 
designs  of  a  nobleman,  even  towards  a  member  of  his  own  family.  On 
the  15th  of  March,  1598-9,  John  Chamberlain  adverted,  in  one  of  his 
Letters,  to  the  troubles  connected  with  the  love  affairs  of  Eliza  Spencer. 
"  Our  Sir  John  Spencer,"  says  he,  "  was  the  last  week  committed  to 
the  Fleet  for  a  contempt,  and  hiding  away  his  daughter,  who,  they  say, 
is  contracted  to  the  Lord  Compton  ;  but  now  he  is  out  again,  and  by  all 
means  seeks  to  hinder  the  match,  alleging  a  pre-contract  to  Sir  Arthur 
Henningham's  son.  But  upon  his  beating  and  misusing  her,  she  was 
sequestered  to  one  Barker's,  a  proctor,  and  from  thence  to  Sir  Henry 
Billingsley's,  where  she  yet  remains  till  the  matter  be  tried.  If  the 
obstinate  and  self-willed  fellow  should  persist  in  his  doggedness  (as  he 
protests  he  will),  and  give  her  nothing,  the  poor  lord  should  have  a 
warm  catch." 

Sir  John  having  persisted  in  his  self-willed  course  of  desiring  to  have 
something  to  say  in  the  disposition  of  his  daughter  in  marriage,  the 
young  couple  became  united  against  his  will.  The  lady  is  traditionally 
said  to  have  contrived  her  elopement  fi-om  her  father's  house  at  Canon- 
bury  in  a  baker  i  basket  I  Sir  John,  for  some  time  steadily  refused  to 
take  Lady  Compton  back  into  his  good  graces.  At  length  a  recon- 
ciliation was  effected  by  a  pleasant  stratagem  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 
When  Lady  Compton  had  her  first  child,  the  Queen  requested  that 
Sir  John  would  join  her  in  standing  as  sponsor  for  the  first  offspring  of 
a  young  couple  happy  in  their  love,  but  discarded  by  their  father.  The 
knight  readily  complied,  and  her  Majesty  dictated  her  own  surname 
for  the  Christian  name  of  the  child.  The  ceremony  being  performed, 
Sir  John  assured  the  Queen  that,  having  discarded  his  own  daughter,  he 
should  adopt  the  boy  as  his  son.  The  parents  of  the  child  being  in- 
troduced, the  knight,  to  his  great  surprise,  discovered  that  he  had 
adopted  his  own  grandson ;  who,  in  reality,  became  the  ultimate  in- 
heritor of  his  wealth. 

There  is  extant  the  following  curious  characteristic  letter  of  Lady 
Compton  to  her  husband,  appaiently  written  on  the  paternal  wealth 
coming  into  their  hands : — 

"  My  sweete  Life, — Now  I  have  declared  to  you  my  mind  for  the 
settling  of  your  state,  I  suppose  that  it  were  best  for  me  to  bethink,  or 
consider  with  myself,  what  allowance  were  meetest  for  me.  For  consi- 
dering what  care  I  ever  had  of  your  estate,  and  how  respectfully  I  dealt 


Canonbury,  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Compton.  93 

with  those,  which,  by  the  laws  of  God,  of  nature,  and  civil  polity,  wit, 
religion,  government,  and  honesty,  you,  my  dear,  are  bound  to,  I  pray 
and  beseech  you  to  grant  to  me,  your  most  kind  and  loving  wife,  the 
sum  of  1600/.  per  annum,  quarterly  to  be  paid. 

"Also  for  laundresses,  when  I  travel,  I  will  have  them  sent  away 
with  the  carriages,  to  see  all  safe  ;  and  the  chambermaids  I  will  have  go 
before  with  the  grooms,  that  the  chambers  may  be  ready,  sweet,  and 
clean. 

"  Also,  that  it  is  indecent  for  me  to  crowd  up  myself  with  my  gentle- 
man usher  in  my  coach,  I  will  have  him  to  have  a  convenient  horse  to 
attend  me  either  in  city  or  country,  and  I  must  have  two  footmen ;  and 
my  desire  is  that  you  defray  all  the  charges  for  me. 

"  And  for  myself  (besides  my  yearly  allowance),  I  would  have  twenty 
gowns  of  apparel,  six  of  them  excellent  good  ones,  eight  of  them  for  the 
country,  and  six  others  of  them  very  excellent  good  ones. 

"  Also,  I  would  have  put  into  my  purse  2000/.,  and  200/.,  and  so 
you  to  pay  my  debts. 

"  Also,  I  would  have  6000/.  to  buy  me  jewels,  and  4000/.  to  buy  me 
a  pearl  chain. 

"  Now,  seeing  I  have  been  and  am  so  reasonable  unto  you,  I  pray 
<)U  do  find  my  children  apparel,  and  their  schooling;  and  all  my 
servants,  men  and  women,  their  wages. 

"  Also,  I  will  have  all  my  house  furnished,  and  all  my  lodging- 
chambers  to  be  suited  with  all  such  furniture  as  is  fit ;  as  beds,  stools, 
chairs,  suitable  cushions,  carpets,  silver  wanning-pans,  cupboards  of 
plate,  fair  hangings,  and  such  like.  So,  for  my  drawing-chamber,  in  all 
houses  I  will  have  them  delicately  furnished,  both  with  hangings,  couch, 
canopy,  glass,  chairs,  cushions,  and  all  things  thereto  belonging. 

"  I  would  also  (besides  the  allowance  for  my  apparel)  have  600/. 
added  yearly  (quarterly  to  be  paid),  for  the  performance  of  charitable 
works,  and  those  things  I  would  not,  neither  will,  be  accountable  for. 

"  Also,  I  will  have  three  hoi^ses  for  my  own  saddle,  that  none  shall 
dare  to  lend  or  borrow ;  none  lend  but  I  ;  none  borrow  but  you. 

"  Also,  I  would  have  two  gentlewomen,  lest  one  should  be  sick,  or 
liave  some  other  lett.  Also  believe  that  it  is  an  indecent  thing  for  a 
gentlewoman  to  stand  mumping  alone,  when  God  hath  blessed  their 

rd  and  lady  with  a  great  estate. 

"  Also,  when  1  ride  a  hunting,  or  hawking,  or  travel  from  one  home 
>  another,  I  will  have  them  attending ;  so,  for  either  of  these  said 
\s  omen  I  must  and  will  have  a  horse. 

"Also,  I  will  have  six  or  eight  gentlemen  ;  and  I  will  have  my  two 


94  Canonbury,  and  Lady  Elisabeth  Compton. 

coaches — one  lined  with  velvet,  to  myself,  with  four  very  feir  horses, 
and  a  coach  for  my  women,  lined  with  cloth ;  one  laced  with  gold, 
the  other  with  scarlet,  and  laced  with  watch-lace  and  silver,  with  four 
good  horses. 

"  Also,  I  will  have  two  coachmen :  one  for  my  own  coach,  the  other 
for  my  women's. 

"  Also,  at  any  time  when  I  travel,  I  will  be  allowed  not  only  carriages 
and  spare  horses  for  me  and  my  women,  but  I  will  have  such  cairiages 
as  shall  be  fitting  for  all,  orderly ;  not  pestering  my  things  with  my 
women's,  nor  theirs  with  chambermaids,  or  theirs  with  washmaids. 

"  Also,  my  c'csire  is,  that  you  would  pay  your  debts,  build  Ashby 
House,  and  purchase  lands,  and  lend  no  money  (as  you  love  God)  to 
the  Lord  Chamberlain,*  which  would  have  all,  perhaps  your  life,  fi-om 
you.  Remember  his  son,  my  Lord  Waldon,  what  entertainment  he 
gave  me  when  you  were  at  Tilt-yard.  If  you  were  dead,  he  said  he 
would  marry  me.  I  protest  I  grieve  to  see  the  poor  man  have  so  little 
wit  and  honesty  to  use  his  friends  so  vilely.  Also,  he  fed  me  with 
untruths  concerning  the  Charter-house ;  but  that  is  the  least :  he  wished 
me  much  harm ;  you  know  him.  God  keep  you  and  me  from  him, 
and  such  as  he  is. 

"  So,  now  that  I  have  declared  to  you  what  I  would  have,  and  what 
that  is  I  would  not  have,  I  pray,  when  you  be  an  earl,  to  allow  me 
looo/.  more  than  now  desired,  and  double  attendance. 

"  Your  loving  wife, 

"Eliza  Compton." 

The  above  letter,  it  is  thought,  was  written  about  1617.  It  is  con- 
cluded from  a  lease,  dated  1603,  that  Sir  John  Spencer  was  then 
resident  at  Canonbury ;  and  from  his  granddaughter  being  baptized  at 
Islington,  it  is  probable  that  Lord  and  Lady  Compton  were  resident  at 
the  mansion  in  1605.  In  161 8,  the  year  after  Lady  Compton  made  the 
above  stipulation  for  increase  of  income.  Lord  Compton  was  created 
Earl  of  Northampton  ;  whether  the  addition  was  made  we  are  not  in- 
formed. His  Lordship  died  in  1630,  in  this  strange  manner,  as  described 
in  a  letter  dated  July  2 :  "  Yesterday  senight,  the  Earl  of  Northampton, 
lord-president  of  Wales  (after  he  had  vv'aited  on  the  King  at  supper, 
and  had  also  supped),  went  into  a  boat,  with  others,  to  wash  himself  in 
the  Thames ;  and  so  soon  as  his  legs  were  in  the  water  but  to  the  knees, 
he  had  the  colic,  and  cried  out,  '  Have  me  into  the  boat  again,  for  I  am 


•  Thomas  Howard,  Earl  of  Suffolk,  made  Lord  Treasurer  in  1613. 


Canonbury,  and  its  Tenants.  95 

a  dead  man !' "     From   the   Earl    is   lineally  descended   the  present 
(Twner  of  Canonbury,  who  is  the  eleventh  Earl  and  third  Marquis  of 
orthampton. 

Canonbury  has  had  many  tenants  of  distinction.     Soon  after  1605, 
Thomas  Egcrton,  both  when  Lord  Keeper  Ellesmere,  and  when  Lord 
Chancellor,  resided  here;  as  did  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  when  Attorney- 
General,  from  February,  1616  ;  as  also,  at  the  time  of  his  receiving  the 
Great  Seal,  Jan.  7,  1618,  and  for  some  time  aftenvards.    From  1627  to 
163:3,  Canonbury  was  rented  by  Lord  Keeper  Coventry.     In  the  Straf- 
id  Papers  is  a  letter  from  the  Earl  of  Derby,  dated  Jan.  29,  1635, 
>:n  Canbury  Park  (as  the  place  was  then  called),  where  he  was  staid 
)m  St.  James's  by  the  greatest  snow  he  ever  saw  in  England.    In  1641, 
inmenced  the  Great  Rebellion,  in  which  James,  Earl  of  Northampton, 
IS  slain  at  Hopton  Heath,  near  Stafford,  in  1642.    The  young  Earl, 
■ether  with  his  brother,  were  actively  engaged  on  the  King's  side ; 
d  its  noble  and  loyal  owner,  in  1650  and  1651,  was  comf)elled  to 
ortgage  Canonbury,  to  enable  him  to  incur  debts  in  the  service  of  his 
ereign.     From  this  time  Canonbury  House  was  occupied  separately; 
lor  it  is  apparent  from  the  mortgage  of  1661,  that  the  mansioH-house 
was  then  on  lease  to  Arthur  Dove,  and  the  Tower  to  Edward  Ellis. 
The  last  nobleman  who  resided  at  Canonbury  was  William,  Viscount 
Fielding,  Earl  of  Denbigh,  who  died  here  the  23rd  of  August,  1685. 

To  return  to  the  mansion.  The  year  1362  has  been  assigned  as 
tlie  date  of  the  original  building,  though  two  Arabic  figures,  or 
merals  found  therein,  imply  a  much  later  date.  Previous  to  the  Dis- 
solution, the  last  head  was  Prior  Bolton,  and  in  his  days,  which  extended 
from  1509  to  1532,  the  old  manor-house  was  rebuilt,  and  the  adjacent 
lands,  to  the  extent  of  alx)ut  sixteen  acres,  enclosed.  The  central  object 
is  the  red-brick  Tower,  seventeen  feet  square  by  fifty-eight  high.  In  a 
wall,  let  into  the  brickwork,  were  several  stone  carN'ings,  about  sixteen 
inches  square,  of  the  Prior's  rebus — a  bird-bolt  through  a  tun — 

"  Old  Prior  Bolton  with  his  bolt  and  tun  ;" 

of  these  sculptures  is  still  perfect.    This  rebus  is  also  said  to  be  still 

'.ant  in  three  other  parts  of  the  building. 

Sir  John  Spencer,  after  his  purchase  of  the  manor,  did  not  probably 
reside  here  till  1603.  It  must  have  been  about  this  time,  if  at  all,  that 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  resided  here.  It  is  true  that  he  livetl  on  the  manor, 
in  a  house  believed  to  oe  near  the  site  of  Islington  Chapel. 

During  the  last  century,  Canonbury  was  occupied,  saysTomlins,  "by 
transitory  visitants,  who  went  thither  for  fresh  air,  or  to  pursue  their 


96  Canonhiry,  and  its  Tenants. 

literary  labours  in  retirement ;  indeed,  a  list  of  its  occupants  would 
comprise  jaded  statesmen,  wearied  encyclopaedists,  busy  citizens,  and 
controversial  nonconformists,  who  all  seemed  to  regard  Canonbury  as  a 
place  of  repose."  It  was  let  in  separate  apartments  or  suites,  each 
door  having  a  knocker  on  the  outside,  which  puzzles  occasional  visitors 
at  the  present  day.  Prior  Bolton's  Tower,  though  its  oak  staircase  is 
far  from  fine,  is  the  most  interesting  portion  of  the  whole  place.  It  is, 
indeed,  the  staircase  to  the  four-and-twenty  rooms  of  the  Spencer  man- 
sion, which  has  been  unsparingly  modernized.  Only  two  of  the  rooms 
contain  the  original  oak  panelling  of  Spencer's  time.  These  chambers 
are  large  and  lofty :  in  one  the  fireplace  is  surmounted  with  figures  of 
Faith  and  Hope,  and  above  are  the  Spencer  arms. 

Ephraim  Chambers,  the  dictionary-maker,  was  one  of  the  literary 
lodgers  at  Canonbury,  where  he  died  May  15,  1740;  he  was  buried 
from  thence  in  the  cloisters  of  Westminster  Abbey.  Oliver  Goldsmith 
came  to  lodge  at  the  Tower  at  the  close  of  1 762.  Sir  John  Hawkins 
tells  us  that  Newbery  had  apartments  in  the  Tower,  and  induced  Gold- 
smith to  remove  there,  the  publisher  being  Oliver's  responsible  pay- 
master, at  50/.  a  year — equal  to  twice  the  amount  now.  The  landlady, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fleming,  stout  and  elderly,  was,  it  is  said,  painted  by 
Hogarth,  one  of  Goldsmith's  visitors.  There  were  still  green  fields  and 
lanes  in  Islington.  Glimpses  were  discernible  yet  even  of  the  old  time, 
and  the  country  all  about  was  woodland.  There  were  walks  where 
houses  were  not,  nor  tcnaces,  nor  taverns ;  and  where  stolen  houi's 
might  be  given  to  precious  thoughts  in  the  inten^als  of  toilsome  labour. 
AVhile  here,  Goldsmith  wrote  his  History  of  England,  "  in  a  Scries 
of  Letters  from  a  Nobleman  to  his  Son."  Oliver  had  several  visitors 
here,  as  testified  in  Mrs.  Fleming's  incidental  expenses :  "  four  gentlemen 
have  tea  for  eighteenpence;"  wines  and  cakes  are  supplied  for  the  same 
sum  ;  bottles  of  port  are  charged  two  shillings  each  ;  rent  for  the  reten- 
tion of  Goldsmith's  room  in  his  absence,  is  charged  at  the  rate  of  about 
three  shillings  a  week.  At  Islington,  Oliver  continued  a  resident  till 
towards  the  end  of  1764.  Sir  John  Hawkins  has  recorded  Goldsmith's 
abode  here  as  "concealment  from  his  creditors,"  though  the  reverse  may 
have  been  the  case,  his  removal  thence  being  occasioned  by  his  an-est ; 
his  landlady  latterly  narrowed  the  credit  to  such  items  as  sixpence  for 
"  sassafras-tea,"  twopence  for  a  pint  of  ale,  and  twopence  for  "  opodel- 
dock."  A  number  of  literary  acquaintances  Goldsmith  had  for  fel- 
low-occupants of  the  Castle  (as  Canonbury  Tower  was  called) ;  they 
formed  a  temporary  club,  which  held  its  meetings  at  the  Crown 
tavern,  on  the  Islington  Lower  Road,  and  here  Oliver  presided  in  his 


Canonbury,  and  its  Taiaiits.  97 

own  genial  style,  and  was  the  life  and  delight  of  the  company.    Here 
ends  the  literary  tenancy : 

"  See  on  the  distant  slope,  majestic  shows 
Old  Canonbury's  tower,  an  ancient  pile 
To  various  fates  assigned  ;  and  where  by  turns 
Meanness  and  grandeur  have  alternate  reigned ; 
Thither  in  later  days  hath  genius  fled 
From  yonder  city  to  repine  and  die. 
There  the  sweet  bard  of  Auburn  sat  and  tuned 
The  plaintive  murmurings  of  his  village  dirge  ; 
There  learned  Chambers  treasured  lore  for  men, 
And  Newbery  there  his  A,  B,  C's  for  babes." 

Canonbury,  after  this  occupancy,  was  leased  in  1770  to  Mr.  John 
Dawes,  for  sixty-one  years,  who  converted  the  ancient  mansion  into 
three  dwelling-houses ;  Mr.  Dawes  also  built  other  houses  on  the  old 
site.  Viewed  from  the  Alwyne-road,  that  occupies  the  space  between 
the  New  River  and  the  old  garden-wall,  Canonbury  House  presents  to 
the  eye  a  lofty  range  of  well-tiled  buildings,  with  some  gardens,  that 
still  present  an  air  of  seclusion.  Nelson,  in  181 1,  described  the  pleasing 
appearance  of  these  gardens,  when  the  New  River  formed  their  boundary, 
and  the  neighbouring  fields  were  unenclosed.  From  the  leads  of  the 
Tower  may  be  enjoyed,  in  fine  clear  weather,  a  delightful  view  of 
London.  In  18 17,  it  was  described  as  including  "a  vast  extent  of 
country,  teeming  with  towns  and  villages,  and  finely  diversified  by  hill 
and  dale ;  that  over  London  is  uncommonly  grand ;  on  a  clear  day  the 
whole  course  of  the  river  Thames  may  be  traced  as  far  as  Gravesend, 
with  the  hills  of  Kent  rising  beyond,  and  all  the  intervening  tract  spotted 
by  buildings,  and  enriched  by  cultivation."  This  may  have  been  correct 
fifty  years  ago,  when  it  was  written ;  but  the  increase  of  cities  is  apt  to 
8jx)il  the  prospect  of  them. 

Here,  in  the  last  century,  rose  from  a  small  alehouse,  Canonbury 

Tavern,  started  by  a  landlord  who  had  been  a  private  soldier ;   but  its 

r  lebrity  was  chiefly  owing  to  the  fame  of  an  attractive  widow,  who 

sided  here  ft-om  1785  to  1808;  she  added  several  new  rooms,  and 

i.iid  out  the  bowling-green  and  tea-gardens ;  and  the  ancient  fish-pond 

was  included  in  the  premises,  which  occupied  about  four  acres,  within 

he  old  park  wall  of  the  priory  of  St.  Bartholomew.     Next  were  added 

Assembly-rooms,  and  the  gay  Assembly  in  1810.     But  manners  change 

with  times,  and  the  crowds  who  enjoyed  themselves  on  the  green,  and 

were  at  home  among  the  grotesquely  costumed  figures  providetl  for 

'leir  amusement,  could  not  be  expected  to  reach  the  higher  delights 

t  the  ball-room.     The  costly  rooms  were  swept  away,  and  upon  part 

of  the  site  has  been  erected  a  well-appointed  taveni,  nearly  opposite  to 

*  H 


98  "  The  Lady  Arabella's"  Fatal  Marriage. 

the  ivy-clad  Tower.  The  old  glass-coach  no  longer  brings  its  gay 
freight  to  Canonbury  Tavern  ;  but  there  may  be  treasured  up  a  few 
of  the  quaint  artistic  conceits — the  grotesque  tenants  of  the  old  grounds 
— for  the  gratification  of  the  curious,  and  such  as  can  "  suck  melancholy 
from  a  song," 


"The  Lady  Arabella's"  Fatal  Marriage. 

"Where  London's  towre  its  turrets  show, 
So  stately  by  the  Thames's  side, 
Faire  Arabella,  child  of  woe ! 
For  many  a  day  had  sat  and  sighed. 

And  as  shee  heard  the  waves  arise, 

And  as  shee  heard  the  bleake  windes  roare. 

As  fast  did  heave  her  heartfelte  sighes. 
And  still  so  fast  her  teares  did  poure!" 

Ballad,  probably  written  by  Mickle. 

Although  the  name  of  Arabella  Stuart  is  scarcely  mentioned  in 
history, — for  her  whole  life  seems  to  consist  of  secret  history — how  its 
slight  domestic  incidents  could  produce  results  so  greatly  disproportioncd 
to  their  apparent  cause,  may  always  excite  our  curiosity.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Charles  Stuart,  Earl  of  Lennox,  younger  brother  of  Lord 
Darnley,  and  was  by  her  affinity  with  James  L  and  our  Elizabeth, 
placed  near  the  throne;  too  near,  it  seems,  for  her  happiness  and  quiet. 
Her  double  relation  to  royalty  was  equally  obnoxious  to  the  jealousy 
of  Elizabeth  and  the  timidity  of  James,  and  they  secretly  dreaded  the 
supposed  danger  of  her  having  a  legitimate  offspring.  The  first  thing 
we  hear  of  "  the  Lady  Arabella"  concerns  a  maniage  :  marriages  are  the 
incidents  of  her  life,  and  the  fatal  event  which  terminated  it  was  marriage. 
Such  was  the  secret  spring  on  which  her  character  and  her  misfortunes 
revolved. 

James  proposed  for  the  husband  of  the  Lady  Arabella  one  of  her 
cousins,  Lord  Esme  Stuart,  and  designed  her  for  his  heir  ;  but  Eliza- 
beth interposed  to  prevent  the  match  ;  she  imprisoned  the  Lady  Ara- 
bella, on  hearing  of  her  intention  to  marry  a  son  of  the  Earl  of  North- 
umberland, and  Elizabeth  would  not  deliver  her  up  to  the  King.  Mean- 
time, the  Pope,  intending  to  put  aside  James  on  account  of  his 
religion,  formed  a  chimerical  scheme  of  uniting  Arabella  with  a  prince 
of  the  House  of  Savoy,  and  setting  her  upon  the  English  throne ;  but 
this  project  failed.  Shortly  after  the  accession  of  James  a  clumsy 
conspiracy,  in  which  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  is  said  to  have  been  concerned. 


"  The  Lady  Arabella's''  Fatal  Marriage.  99 

\vas  formed  of  raising  her  to  the  throne,   but  it  does  not   seem  to 
have  been  shared  in  by  Arabella  herself. 

We  now  approach  that  event  of  the  Lady  Arabella's  life,  which  reads 
like  a  romantic  fiction  ;   and  the  misery,  pathos,  and  terror  of  the  cata- 
strophe, even  romantic  fiction  has  not  exceeded.  The  revels  of  Christmas, 
1608,  had  hardly  closed,  when  she  renewed  a  connexion,  which  had  com- 
menced in  childhood,  with  Mr.  William  Seymour,  the  second  son  of 
Earl  Beauchamp,  and  a  private  marriage  took  place.    The  treaty  of 
niairiage  was  detected  in  February,  1609,  •^"'^  ^^  parties  were  sum- 
:aoned  before  the  Privy  Council.     Seymour  was  strongly  censured  for 
daring  to  ally  himself  with  the  royal  blood,  although  that  blood  was 
running  in  his  own  veins.     The  secret  marriage  was  discovered  about 
July,  in  the  following  year.     They  were  then  separately  confined,  the 
Lady  at  the  house  of  Sir  Thomas  Parry,  at  Lambeth,  and  Seymour  in 
the  Tower,  for  "  his  contempt  in  marrying  a  lady  of  the  royal  family 
without  the  King's  leave."     The  mansion  of  Sir  Thomas  Parry,  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  was  named  Copt  Hall,  and  was  de- 
i  ribed  as  bounded  by  the  Thames,  being  a  fair  dwelling-house,  strongly 
uilt,  of  three  stories  high,  and  a  fair  staircase  breaking  out  from  it  of 
I  net een  feet  square.  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  in  1675,  carried  on  his  mechani- 
>  al  and  philosophical  experiments  in  this  house.     Copt  Hall  stood  at 
V'auxhall,  adjoining  the  premises  of  Burnett  and  Co.,  distillers.     This, 
their  first  confinement,  was  not  rigorous :  the  lady  walked  in  her  garden, 
nd  the  husband  was  a  prisoner  at  large  in  the  Tower.     Some  inter- 
ourse  they  had  by  letters,  which  after  a  time  was  discovered.     This 
.\  as  followetl  by  a  sad  scene.     The  King  had  now  resolved  to  con- 
ign  this  unhappy  lady  to  the  stricter  care  of  the  Bishop  of  Durham. 
Lady  Arabella  was  so  subdued  at  this  distant  separation,  that  she  gave 
way  to  all  the  wildness  of  despair;  she  fell  suddenly  ill,  and  could 
not  travel  but  in  a  litter,  and  with  a  physician.     In  her  way  to  Durham, 
'e  was  so  greatly  disquieted  in  the  first  few  miles  of  her  uneasy  and 
I oublesome   journey,    that  they   could    proceed  no  further  than  to 
fighgate.    The  physician  returned  to  town,  and  reported  her  in  no 
case  fit  for  travel.     The  King's  resolution,  however,  was,  that  "  she 
should  proceed  to  Durham,  if  he  were  King !  "     "  We  answered,"  re- 
plied the  Doctor,  "  that  we  made  no  doubt  of  her  obedience."  "  Obedi- 
ence is  that  rccjuired,"  replied  the  King ;  "  which  being  performetl,  I 
will  do  more  for  her  than  she  expected."    The  King,  however,  consente<l 
that  Lady  Arabella  should  remain  for  a  month  at  Highgate,  in  confine- 
ment, till  she  had  siifTiciently  recovered  to  proceed  to  Durham.     A 
second  month's  delay  was  granted. 

H  2 


100         "  The  Lady  Arabella's"  Fatal  Marriage.  • 

But  the  day  of  her  departure  hastened.  She  and  Seymour  had  con- 
certed a  flight,  as  bold  in  its  plot,  and  as  beautifully  wild  as  any  recorded 
in  romantic  story.  The  day  preceding  her  departure,  Arabella  per- 
suaded a  female  attendant  to  consent  to  her  paying  a  last  visit  to  her 
husband,  and  to  wait  for  her  return  at  an  appointed  hour.  She  then 
assisted  the  Lady  Arabella  in  disguising  herself:  "  She  drew  a  pair  of  large 
French-fashioned  hose  or  trousers  over  her  petticoats  ;  put  on  a  man's 
doublet  or  coat :  a  peruke,  whose  long  locks  covered  her  own  ringlets ; 
a  black  hat,  a  black  cloak,  russet  boots  with  red  tops,  and  a  rapier  by 
her  side.  Thus  accoutred,  the  Lady  Arabella  stole  out  with  a  gentle- 
man about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  They  had  proceeded  a  mile 
and  a  half,  when  they  stopped  at  a  poor  inn,  where  one  of  her  con- 
federates was  waiting  with  horses ;  yet  she  was  so  sick  and  faint  that  the 
ostler  observed,  "  the  gentleman  could  hardly  hold  out  to  London." 
But  at  six  o'clock  she  reached  Biackwall,  where  a  boat  and  sei-vants 
were  waiting.  Mr.  Seymour,  who  was  to  have  joined  her  here,  had  not 
yet  arrived  :  and  in  opposition  to  her  earnest  entreaties,  her  attendants 
insisted  on  pushing  oft',  saying  he  would  be  sure  to  follow  them.  The 
watermen  were  at  first  ordered  to  Woolwich ;  there  they  were  de- 
sired to  push  on  to  Gravesend;  then  to  Tilbury,  where,  complaining  of 
fatigue,  they  landed  to  refresh ;  but  tempted  by  their  freight,  reached  Lee. 

At  the  break  of  mom,  a  French  vessel  was  descried,  lying  at 
anchor  for  them,  about  a  mile  beyond ;  but  as  Seymour  had  not  yet 
arrived,  Arabella  was  desirous  to  lie  at  anchor  for  her  lord,  conscious 
that  he  would  not  fail  to  his  appointment.  If  he,  indeed,  had  been 
pre%'ented  in  his  escape,  she  herself  cared  not  for  the  freedom  she  now 
possessed ;  but  her  attendants,  being  aware  of  the  danger  of  being  over- 
taken by  a  king's  ship,  overruled  her  wishes,  and  hoisted  sail,  which 
occasioned  so  fatal  a  termination  to  this  romantic  adventure.  Seymour, 
indeed,  had  escaped  fiom  the  Tower.  He  is  said  to  have  left  his  servant 
watching  at  his  door  to  warn  all  visitors  not  to  disturb  his  master,  who 
lay  ill  with  a  raging  toothache.  "  In  the  meanwhile,  Mr.  Seymour, 
with  a  Penuque  and  a  Beard  of  blacke  Hair,  and  in  a  tauny  cloth  suit, 
walked  alone  without  suspition  from  his  lodging,  out  at  the  great 
Weste  Doore  of  the  Tower,  following  a  cart  that  had  brought  him 
billets  (of  firewood).  From  thence  he  walked  along  by  the  Tower 
Wharf,  by  the  Warders  of  the  South  Gate,  and  so  to  the  Iron  Gate, 
where  Rodney  was  ready,  with  oares  for  to  receive  him."  (iV/r.  John 
More  to  Sir  Ralph  IVinivood,  June  8th,  1611).  He  arrived  at  Lee. 
Time  pressed,  Arabella  was  not  there ;  but  in  the  distance  he  descried  a 
vessel.     Hiring  a  fisherman  for  twenty  shillings  to  take  him  on  board, 


"  The  Lady  A  rabellds  "  Fatal  Marriage.         i  o  i 

to  his  grief,  on  hailing  it,  he  discovered  that  it  was  not  the  French  vessel 
charged  with  his  Arabella  ;  but  he  found  another  ship  from  Newcastle, 
which  for  a  good  sum,  altered  its  course,  and  landed  him  in  Flanders. 
In  the  meanwhile,  the  escape  of  Arabella  became  known  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  hot  alarm  which  spread  may  seem  ludicrous  to  us.  The  poli- 
tical consequence  attached  to  the  union  and  flight  of  Arabella  and  Sey- 
mour shook  the  cabinet  with  consternation  ;  more  particularly  the  Scotch 
party,  who,  in  their  terror,  paralleled  it  with  the  Gunpowder  Treason,    i 

Confusion  and  alarm  prevailed  at  court.  Couriers  were  despatched 
to  the  sea-ports.  They  sent  to  the  Tower  to  warn  the  lieutenant  to 
be  doubly  vigilant  over  Seymour,  who,  to  his  surprise  had  escaped. 
The  family  of  the  Seymours  were  in  a  state  of  distraction  ;  and  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Francis  Seymour  to  his  grandfather,  the  Earl  of  Hertford, 
residing  then  at  his  seat  far  remote  from  the  capital,  acquainting  him  of 
the  escape  of  his  brother  and  the  lady,  still  bears  to  posterity  a  remark- 
able e\idence  of  the  trepidations  and  consternation  of  the  old  Earl :  it 
arrived  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  accompanied  by  a  summons  to  attend 
the  Privy  Council.  In  the  perusal  of  a  letter  written  in  a  small  hand, 
iid  filling  more  than  two  folio  pages,  such  was  his  agitation,  that  in 
holding  the  taper,  he  must  have  burnt  what  he  probably  had  not  read  ; 
the  letter  is  scorched,  and  the  flame  has  perforated  it  in  so  critical  a 
part,  that  the  poor  old  Earl  journeyed  to  town  in  a  state  of  uncertainty 
and  confusion. 

But  we  have  left  the  Lady  Arabella  alone  and  mournful  on  the  sea, 
not  praying  for  favourable  gales  to  convey  her  away,  but  still  imploring 
her  attendants  to  linger  for  her  Seymour ;  still  straining  her  sight  to  the 
point  of  the  horizon  for  some  speck  which  might  give  a  hope  of  the 
.pproach  of  the  boat  freighted  with  all  her  love.  Alas !  never  more  was 
Arabella  to  cast  a  single  look  on  her  lover  and  her  husband!  She  was 
overtaken  by  a  pink  in  the  King's  service  in  Calais  roads ;  and  then  she 
declared  that  she  cared  not  to  be  brought  back  again  to  her  imprison- 
ment should  Seymour  escape,  whose  safety  was  dearest  to  her. 

The  life  of  the  unhappy,  the  melancholy,  and  the  distracted  Arabella 
Stuart  is  now  to  close  in  an  imprisonment,  which  lasted  only  four  years ; 
for  her  constitutional  delicacy,  her  rooted  sorrow,  and  the  violence  of 
her  feelings,  sunk  beneath  the  hopelessness  of  her  situation,  and  a  secret 
resolution  in  her  mind  to  refuse  the  aid  of  her  physicians,  and  to  wear 
away  the  fester  if  she  could,  the  feeble  remains  of  life.  What  passed 
in  that  dreadful  imprisonment  cannot,  perhaps,  be  rccovereil  for  authentic 
history ;  but  enough  is  known,  that  her  mind  grew  impaired,  and  tliat 
she  finally  lost  her  reason.    That  she  had  frequently  meditated  on 


102         "  The  Lady  Arabella's"  Fatal  Marriage. 

suicide  appears  in  her  letters ;  and  we  find  the  following  evidence  of  her 
utter  wretchedness  in  a  memorial  to  the  King:  "  In  all  humility,  the 
most  wretched  and  unfortunate  creature  that  ever  lived,  prostrates 
itselfe  at  the  feet  of  the  most  merciful  King  that  ever  was,  desiring  no- 
thing but  mercy  and  favour,  not  being  more  afflicted  for  anything  than 
for  the  losse  of  that  which  hath  binne  this  long  time  the  onely  comfort 
it  had  in  the  world,  and  which,  if  it  weare  to  do  again,  I  would  not 
adventure  the  losse  of  for  any  other  worldly  comfort ;  mercy  it  is  I 
desire,  and  that  for  God's  sake  ! " 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  Lady  Arabella,  who,  from  some  circum- 
stances not  sufficiently  opened  to  us,  was  an  important  personage,  de- 
signed by  others,  at  least,  to  play  a  high  character  in  the  political  drama  ; 
thrice  selected  as  a  queen  ;  but  the  consciousness  of  royalty  was  only 
felt  in  her  veins,  while  she  lived  in  the  poverty  of  dependence.  Many 
gallant  spirits  aspired  after  her  hand,  but  when  her  heart  secretly  selected 
one  beloved,  it  was  for  ever  deprived  of  domestic  happiness.  She  is 
said  not  to  have  been  beautiful,  and  to  have  been  beautiful ;  and  her 
very  portrait,  ambiguous  as  her  life,  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 
She  is  said  to  have  been  a  poetess,  and  not  a  single  verse  substantiates 
her  claim  to  the  laurel.  She  is  said  not  to  have  been  remarkable  for  her 
intellectual  accomplishments,  yet  a  Latin  letter  of  her  composition  has 
been  found  in  her  handwriting.  Acquainted  rather  with  her  conduct 
tlian  with  her  character,  for  us  the  Lady  Arabella  has  no  palpable  his- 
torical existence  ;  and  we  perceive  rather  her  shadow  than  herself.  A 
writer  of  romance  might  render  her  one  of  those  interesting  personages 
whose  griefs  have  been  deepened  by  their  royalty,  and  whose  adventures, 
touched  with  the  warm  hues  of  love  and  distraction,  closed  at  the  bars 
of  her  prison-grate — a  sad  example  of  a  female  victim  to  the  State. 

"Through  one  dim  lattice,  fring'd  with  ivy  round, 
Successive  suns  a  languid  radiance  threw, 
To  paint  how  fierce  her  angry  guardian  frown'd, 
To  mark  how  fast  her  waning  beauty  flew." 

The  Lady  Arabella  died  in  1615,  and  was  buried  in  the  north  aisle 
of  the  Chapel  of  Henry  VII.,  in  Westminster  Abbey.  The  position  is 
thus  described  by  Cunningham  :  "  Alabaster  cradle,  with  the  effigy  of 
Sophia,  daughter  of  James  I.,  who  died  when  only  three  days  old ; 
King  James  I.  and  Anne  of  Denmark,  Henry  Prince  of  Wales,  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia,  and  Arabella  Stuart  are  buried  beneath." 

Seymour,  who  was  afterwards  permitted  to  return,  distinguished 
himself  by  his  loyalty  through  three  successive  reigns,  and  retained  his 
romantic  passion  for  the  lady  of  his  first  affections ;  for  he  called  the 


Newcastle  House,  and  its  Eccentric  DucJiess.       103 

lughter  he  had  by  his  second  lady  by  the  ever-beloved  name  ot 
rabella  Stuart.* 


Newcastle  House,  and  its  Eccentric  Duchess. 

In  Clerkenwell  Close,  upon  the  ruins  of  the  once  magnificent  nunnery 
of  St.  Mary,  which,  at  the  Dissolution,  became  the  property  of  the 

ivendish  family,  was  built  the  suburban  residence  of  the  Duke  of 
;,ewcastle.  Clerkenwell  was  then  a  sort  of  Court  quarter  of  the  town, 
and  the  most  distinguished  residents  in  this  mansion  were  William 
Cavendish,  Duke  of  Newcastle,  and  his  wife,  Margaret  Lucas,  both  of 
whom  are  remembered  by  their  literary  eccentricities.    The  Duke,  who 

is  a  devoted  Royalist,  after  the  defeat  at  Marston  Moor,  which  was 

light  against  the  Duke's  consent,  through  the  precipitancy  of  Prince 
Rupert,  quitted  the  King's  service  in  disgust,  and  retired  with  his  wife 
to  the  Continent ;  and  with  many  privations,  owing  to  pecuniary  em- 
barrassments, suffered  an  exile  of  eighteen  years,  chiefly  in  Antwerp,  in 
n  house  which  belonged  to  the  widow  of  Rubens.     Such  was  their  ex- 

omity  that  the  Duke  and  Duchess  were  both  forced  at  one  time  to 
ji.ivvn  their  clothes  to  purchase  a  dinner.  The  Duke  beguiled  his  time 
by  writing  an  eccentric  book  upon  Horsemanship.  During  his  absence 
from  England,  Cromwell's  parliament  levied  upon  his  estate  neai'ly 
three-quarters  of  a  million  of  money.  Upon  the  Restoration  he  re- 
lumed to  England,  and  was  created  Duke  of  Newcastle  ;  he  then  retired 
to  his  mansion  in  Clerkenwell ;  he  died  there  in  1676,  aged  eighty-four. 

The  Duchess  was  a  pedantic  and  voluminous  writer,  her  collected 
works  filling  ten  printed  folios,  for  she  wrote  prose  and  verse  in  all  their 

irieties.  "  The  whole  story,"  writes  Pepys,  "  of  this  lady  is  a  romance, 
and  all  she  does  is  romantic.  April  26th,  1667. — Met  my  Lady  New- 
castle, with  her  coach  and  footmen  all  in  velvet,  herself,  whom  I  never 
saw  before,  as  I  have  heard  her  often  described,  for  all  the  town  talk  is 
now-a-days  of  her  extravagances,  with  her  velvet  cap,  her  hair  about 
her  ears,  many  black  patches  because  of  pimples  about  her  mouth, 
naked-necked  without  anything  about  it,  and  a  black  just-au-corps. 
May  1st,  1667. — She  was  in  a  black  coach,  adorned  with  silver  instead 
of  gold,  and  snow-white  curtains,  and  everything  black  and  white. 
Stayed  at  home  reading  the  ridiculous  history  of  my  Lord  Newcastle, 
wrote  by  his  wife,  which  shows  her  to  be  a  mad,  conceited,  ridiculous 
woman,  and  he  an  asse  to  suffer  her  to  write  what  she  writes  to  him  and 
of  him."     On  the  loth  of  April,  1667,  King  Charles  and  his  Queen 

•  Abridged  from  D' Israeli's  Curiosities  of  Literature ;  with  interpolations. 


104      Newcastle  House,  and  its  Eccentric  Duchess. 

came  to  Clerkenweil,  on  a  visit  to  the  duchess.  On  the  i8th  John 
Evelyn  went  to  make  court  to  the  noble  pair,  who  received  him  with 
great  kindness.  Another  time,  he  dined  at  Newcastle  House,  and  was 
privileged  to  sit  discoursing  with  her  Grace  in  her  bedchamber. 
The  Duchess  thus  describes  to  a  friend  her  literary  employments:^ 
"  You  will  find  my  works  like  infinite  nature,  that  hath  neither  begin- 
ning nor  end,  and  as  confused  as  the  chaos,  wherein  is  neither  method 
nor  order,  but  all  mixed  together,  without  separation,  like  light  and 
darkness."  "  But  what  gives  one,"  says  Walpole,  "  the  best  idea  of  her 
passion  for  scribbling,  was  her  seldom  revising  the  copies  of  her  works, 
lest  it  should  disturb  her  following  conceptions.  Her  servant  John  was 
ordered  to  lie  on  a  truckle-bed  in  a  closet  within  her  grace's  bed- 
chamber ;  and  whenever,  at  any  time,  she  gave  the  summons,  by  calling 
OTit  '  John,'  I  conceive  poor  John  was  to  get  up,  and  commit  to  writing 
the  offspring  of  his  mistress'  thoughts.  Her  grace's  folios  were  usually 
enriched  with  gold,  and  had  her  coat-of-arms  upon  them." 

In  her  Poems  and  Fancies,  1653,  the  copy  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  on  the  margin  of  one  page  is  the  following  note  in  the 
Duchess'  own  handwriting: — "  Reader,  let  me  intreat  you  to  consider 
only  the  fancyes  in  this  my  book  of  poems,  and  not  the  language  of  the 
numbers,  nor  rimes,  nor  fals  printing,  for  if  you  doe,  you  will  be  my 
condeming  judg,  which  will  grive  me  much."     Of  this  book  she  says: 

"  When  I  did  write  this  book  I  took  great  paines, 
For  I  did  walk,  and  thinke,  and  break  my  braines ; 
My  thoughts  run  out  of  breath,  then  down  would  lye, 
And  panting  with  short  wind  like  those  that  dye ; 
When  time  had  given  ease,  and  lent  them  strength, 
Then  up  would  get  and  run  another  length  ; 
Sometimes  I  kept  my  thought  with  strict  dyet. 
And  made  them  fast  with  ease,  rest,  and  quiet, 
That  they  might  run  with  swifter  speed, 
And  by  this  course  new  fancies  they  could  breed ; 
But  I  doe  feare  they  are  no  so  good  to  please, 
But  now  tiiey're  out  my  brain  is  more  at  ease." 

Among  the  epigrammatic  oddities  of  this  work  is  the  following;-- 

"The  lirain  is  hke  an  oven,  hot  and  dry, 
Which  bakes  all  sorts  of  fancies,  low  and  high ; 
Tiic  thoughts  are  wood,  which  motion  sets  on  fire; 
Tiic  tongue  a  peel,  which  draws  forth  the  desire; 
But  thinking  much,  the  brain  too  hot  will  grow, 
And  burns  it  up ;  if  cold,  the  thoughts  are  dough." 

There  is  a  story  current  that  the  Duke  being  once,  when  in  a  peevish 
humour,  complimented  by  a  friend  on  the  great  wisdom  of  his  wife, 
made  answer,  "  Sir,  a  very  wise  woman  is  a  very  foolish  thing."  She 
died  in  1676,  and  lies  buried  with  her  husband  in  Westminster  Abbey, 


Neivcastle  House,  and  its  Eccentric  Duchess.      105 

beneath  a  handsome  monumental  tomb,  having  upon  it  their  recumbent 
efligies. 

Another  eccentric  inhabitant  of  Newcastle  House  was  the  eldest 
daughter  of  William,  Duke  of  Newcastle, — Elizabeth,  Duchess  of 
Albemarle,  "the  mad  Duchess,"  who  was  married  in  the  year  1669, 
to  Christopher  Monk,  Duke  of  Albemarle  (son  of  the  famous  General 
Monk),  then  only  a  youth  of  sixteen,  whom  the  Duchess'  excessive 

"ide  drove  to  the  bottle,  which  brought  his  life  prematurely  to  an  end. 

Vt  his  decease,  this  capricious  woman,  whose  vast  estates  so  inflated  her 
vanity  as  to  produce  mental  abeiration,  resolved  never  again  to  give  her 
hand  to  any  but  a  sovereign  prince.  She  had  many  suitors,  but  she 
firmly  rejected  them  all  until  Ralph,  first  Duke  of  Montague,  achieved 
a  conquest  by  courting  her  as  the  Emperor  of  China  •  and  the  anecdote 
has  been  dramatized  by  Colley  Gibber,  in  his  comedy  of  The  Double 
Gallant,  or  Sick  Ladjs  Cure.  Lord  Montague  married  the  lady  as 
l^mperor,  and  shared  her  wealth,  but  not  her  affections;  for  he  after- 
wards kept  her  in  strict  confinement  at  Montague  House,  and  only  by 
compulsion  of  the  law  did  he  produce  her  in  open  court  to  satisfy  her 
relatives  that  she  was  alive ;  she  was,  at  length,  found  to  be  a  lunatic. 
Richard  Lord  Ros,  one  of  her  rejected  suitors,  addressed  to  Lord 
Montague  these  lines  on  his  match : — 

"  Insulting  rival,  never  boast 
Thy  conquest  lately  won  : 
No  wonder  that  her  heart  was  lost, — 
Her  senses  first  were  gone. 

From  one  that's  under  Bedlam's  laws 

What  glory  can  be  had  ? 
For  love  of  thee  was  not  the  cause : 

It  proves  that  she  was  mad.  " 

The  Duchess  survived  her  second  husband  nearly  thirty  years,  and  at 
last  "died  of  mere  old  age,"  at  Newcastle  House,  August  28th,  1738, 
aged  ninety-six  years.  Until  her  decease,  she  is  said  to  have  been  con- 
stantly served  on  the  knee  as  a  sovereign.  Lord  Montague's  wooing  of 
her  is  thought  to  have  been  dramatized  by  another  author  besides 
Cibber.  "  In  Bumaby's  comedy  of  The  Lady's  Visiting  Day,  are  the 
characters  of  Courtine,  a  gallant  lover,  and  Lady  Lovetoy,  who  would 
marry  only  a  prince.  Courtine  wins  her  as  Prince  Alexander  of  Muscovy. 
At  the  first  performance  of  the  piece  the  audience  laughed  as  they  re- 
cognised therein  the  incident  of  the  merry  Lord  Montague  wooing  the 
mad  Duchess  Dowager  of  Albemarle."* 


Doran's  Their  Majesties'  Servants,  vol.  i.  p.  258. 


io6 


The  Field  of  Forty  Footsteps. 

Long  Fields,  in  the  rear  of  Montague  House,  appear  to  have  been  a 
place  of  superstitious  haunt.  Aubrey  tells  us  that  on  St.  John 
Baptist's  Day,  he  saw,  "  at  midnight,  twenty-three  young  women  in 
the  partene  behind  jMontague  House,  looking  for  a  coal  under  the 
root  of  a  plantain,  to  put  under  their  heads  that  night,  and  they  should 
dream  who  would  be  their  husbands."  But  there  is  a  more  tenible 
story  of  the  place.  A  legendary  tale  of  the  period  of  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth's  Rebellion  relates  a  mortal  conflict  here  between  two 
brothers,  on  account  of  a  lady,  who  sat  by ;  the  combatants  fought  so 
ferociously  as  to  destroy  each  other ;  after  which,  their  footsteps,  im- 
printed on  the  ground  in  the  vengeful  struggle,  were  said  to  remain, 
with  the  indentations  produced  by  their  advancing  and  receding;  nor 
would  any  grass  or  vegetation  ever  grow  over  these  forty  footsteps. 
Miss  Porter  and  her  sister,  upon  this  fiction,  founded  their  ingenious 
j'omance.  Coming  Out,  or  the  Field  of  Forty  Footsteps  ;  but  they  entirely 
depart  from  the  local  tradition.  At  the  Tottenham-street  Theatre  was 
produced,  many  years  since,  an  effective  melodrama,  founded  upon  the 
same  incident. 

Southey  relates  the  same  story,  in  his  Commonplace  Book,  (Second 
Series,  p.  21.)  After  quoting  a  letter  from  a  friend,  recommending  him 
to  "take  a  view  of  those  wonderful  marks  of  the  Lord's  hatred  to 
duelling,  called  The  Brothers'  Steps,"  and  describing  the  locality,  Southey 
thus  narrates  his  own  visit  to  the  spot :  "  We  sought  for  near  half  an 
hour  in  vain.  We  could  find  no  steps  at  all  within  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  no,  nor  half  a  mile,  of  Montague  House.  We  were  almost  out 
of  hope,  when  an  honest  man,  who  was  at  work,  directed  us  to  the 
next  ground,  adjoining  to  a  pond.  There  we  found  what  we  sought, 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  north  of  Montague  House,  and  500 
yards  east  of  Tottenham  Court  Road.  The  steps  are  of  the  size  of  a 
large  human  foot,  about  three  inches  deep,  and  lie  nearly  from  north- 
cast  to  south-west.  We  counted  only  seventy-six  ;  but  we  were  not 
exact  in  counting.  The  place  where  one  or  both  the  brothers  are  sup- 
posed to  have  fallen,  is  still  bare  of  grass.  The  labourer  also  showed 
us  tiie  bank  where  (the  tradition  is)  the  wretched  woman  sat  to  see  the 
combat."  Southey  adds  his  full  confidence  in  the  tradition  of  the  in- 
dcttructibility  of  the  steps,  even  after  ploughing  up,  and  of  the  conclu- 
sions to  be  drawn  from  the  circumstance. 

Joseph  Moser,  in  one  of  his  Commonplace  Books,  gives  this  account  of 


Stories  of  Temple  Bar.  107 

\.\\c  footsteps,  ya^  previous  to  their  being  built  over: — "June  16,  1800. 
\N  cnt  into  the  fields  at  the  back  of  Montague  House,  and  there  saw, 

r  the  last  time,  tlie  forty  footsteps ;  the  building  materials  are  there, 
ready  to  cover  them  from  the  sight  of  man.  I  counted  more  than 
forty,  but  they  might  be  the  footprints  of  the  workmen." 

We  agree  with  Dr.  Rimbault  that  this  evidence  establishes  the  period 
of  the  final  demolition  of  the  footsteps,  and  also  confirms  the  legend  that 
forty  was  the  original  number. 

In  the  third  edition  of  A  Book  for  a  Rainy  Day  we  find  this  note  upon 
*  .e  above  mysterious  spot : — "  Of  these  steps  there  are  many  traditionary 
i)ries :  the  one  generally  believed  is,  that  two  brothers  were  in  love 
with  a  lady,  who  would  not  declare  a  preference  for  either,  but  coolly 
sat  down  upon  a  bank  to  witness  the  termination  of  a  duel,  which 
proved  fatal  to  both.  The  bank,  it  is  said,  on  which  she  sat,  and  the 
footmarks  of  the  brothers  when  passing  the  ground,  never  produced 
grass  again.  The  fact  is,  that  these  steps  were  so  often  trodden  that 
it  was  impossible  for  the  grass  to  grow.  I  have  frequently  passed  over 
them :  they  were  in  a  field  on  the  site  of  St.  Martin's  Chapel,  or  very 
n.  irly  so,  and  not  on  the  spot  as  communicated  to  Miss  Porter,  who  has 
wiitlcii  an  entertaining  novel  on  the  subject." 


Stories  of  Temple  Bar. 

We  find  the  earliest  mention  of  a  Bar  in  this  locality  in  Stow's 
account  of  the  pageant  prepared  to  welcome  Anne  Boleyn,  in  her  pro- 
cession from  the  Tower  to  Westminster,  on  Saturday,  May  31,  1534. 
On  the  following  day  (Sunday),  her  coronation  took  place.  Temple 
Bar  had  been  newly  painted  and  repaired  for  the  occasion,  and  there 
stood  singing  men  and  children.  Next,  at  the  coronation  of  the  youthful 
Edward  VI.,  February  19,  1546-7,  the  gate  was  painted  and  fashioned 
with  battlements  and  buttresses  of  various  colours,  richly  hung  with 
cloth  of  arras,  and  garnished  with  fourteen  standard  of  flags ;  there 
^  ere  also  eight  French  trumpeters,  blowing  their  trumpets,  after  the 
i.ishion  of  the  country,  and  a  pair  of  rcgals  with  children  singing  to  the 
same.  Mary  Tudor,  Edward's  half-sister,  succeeded  him  ;  and  in  accor- 
witli  ancient  custom,  on  September  27,  1553,  the  day  prior  to  her 
ition,  she  rode  through  the  city,  not  as  her  predecessor  had  done, 
w\  horseback,  but  in  a  chariot  of  cloth  of  tissue,  drawn  by  horses  trapped 
with  the  same ;  and  Temple  Bar  was  then  "  newly  painted  and  hangrd." 

This  separation  of  Westminster  from  the  liberty  or  freedom  of  the 


io8  Stories  of  Tanple  Bar. 

City  was  anciently  only  posts,  rails,  and  a  chain,  such  as  were  at  Hol- 
bom,  Smithfield,  and  Whitechapel  Bars.  Afterwards  a  house  of  timber 
was  erected  across  the  street,  with  a  narrow  gateway,  and  an  entry,  on 
the  south  side  of  it,  under  the  house.  This  timber  gateway  is  shown  in 
Hollar's  seven-sheet  Map  of  London  ;  and  it  is  also  shown  in  a  bird's- 
eye  View  of  London  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  1601. 

The  first  entry  in  the  City  records  of  any  matter  connected  with  the 
Bar  is  as  follows:  "  1554,  i  and  2  Phil,  and  Mary.  Mr.  Chamberlain 
shall  commit  the  custody  of  the  new  gates  at  Temple  Bar  to  the  Cittie's 
tenants,  dwelling  nigh  unto  the  said  gates ;  taking,  nevertheless,  especial 
order  with  them  for  the  shutting  and  opening  the  same  gates  at  con- 
venient hours."  Sir  Thomas  Wyat  and  his  followers  had,  probably,  a 
few  months  previously,  in  his  ill-contrived  rebellion,  destroyed,  or  so 
damaged  the  old  gates  in  forcing  his  way  into  the  City,  that  the  civic 
authorities  were  compelled  to  erect  new  ones,  the  care  of  which  devolved 
on  such  of  the  City's  tenants  as  were  living  adjacent  to  them. 

The  City  had  often  been  pressed  to  rebuild  the  Bar,  and  had  been 
offered  by  the  Commissioners  of  Sewers  1005/.  towards  the  cost,  which, 
however,  they  considered  inadequate.  Thereupon,  the  King  sent  for  the 
Lord  Mayor,  when  "  the  Citty's  weak  state  of  inability,"  on  account  of 
the  great  expense  of  the  rebuilding  public  works  consumed  in  the  Great 
Fire,  was  pleaded  ;  but  the  King  insisted  on  the  Bar  being  Liken  down, 
and  he  promised,  if  the  loof,/.  proved  insufficient,  to  supply  other  funds 
to  complete  the  work.  The  destruction  was  accordingly  commenced 
in  1670,  and  the  present  Bar,  after  the  designs  of  Wren,  was  erected; 
but  the  royal  promise  was  not  performed.  The  Bar  is  of  Portland 
stone,  with  statues  of  Charles  \.  and  II.,  and  James  I.  and  his  queea, 
Anne  of  Denmark,  by  John  Bushnell ;  the  interior  is  an  apartment,  held 
by  Messrs.  Child,  the  bankers,  as  a  depository  for  their  account  books. 

We  now  come  to  the  criminal  records  of  the  Bar.  Upon  the  centre 
of  the  pediment,  on  iron  spikes,  were  formerly  placed  the  head  and 
limbs  of  persons  executed  for  treason.  The  first  of  these  revolting  dis- 
plays was  one  of  the  quarters  of  Sir  Thomas  Armstrong,  implicated  in 
the  Rye  House  Plot.  He  was  arrested  at  Leyden,  and  for  a  present  of 
about  500/.  was  delivered  to  the  King's  minister,  who  placed  him  on 
board  a  royal  yacht,  and  sent  him  to  England.  He  neglected,  probably 
owing  to  his  confusion,  to  plead  being  a  native  of  Holland ;  which,  had 
he  done,  would  probably  have  insured  his  safety.  He  was  sentenced 
without  trial,  but  upon  an  award  of  execution  on  the  outlawry,  by 
Chief  Justice  Jeffreys,  when  Sir  Thomas  Armstrong  urged  that 
he  should  have  the  benefit  of  the  law,  "  That  you  shall  have,"  jeeringly 


Stories  of  Temple  Bar.  109 

exclaimed  the  Chief  Justice,  "  by  the  grace  of  God  ;  see  that  execution 
be  done  on  Friday  next,  according  to  law ;  you  shall  have  the  full 
benefit  of  tfx  la=w"  He  was  executed  at  Tyburn  ;  and  after  hanging 
half-an-hour,  he  was  cut  down,  and  pursuant  to  his  sentence,  his  heart 
and  bowels  were  taken  out,  and  committed  to  the  flames ;  his  body 
divided  into  four  parts,  which,  with  his  head,  were  conveyed  back  to 
Newgate,  and  then  set  up  on  Westminster  Hall,  between  those  of 
Cromwell  and  Bradshaw;  one  of  the  quarters  upon  Temple  Bar,  two 
others  on  Aldersgate  and  Aldgate;  the  fourth  was  sent  to  Stafford, 
which  borough  he  had  represented  in  Parliament.  Shortly  after  this 
event,  when  Jeffreys  had  an  interview  with  the  King  at  Windsor, 
Charles  took  from  his  finger  a  diamond  ring  of  great  value,  and  gave 
it  to  him ;  this  ring  was  ever  after  called  "  the  blood- stone." 

Next,  the  quarters  of  Sir  William  Perkins  and  Sir  John  Friend,  to- 
gether with  the  head  of  the  former,  were  placed  on  the  Bar.  They  had 
conspired  to  assassinate  William  III. 

"The  head  of  Sir  John  Friend  was  set  up  on  Aldgate,  on  account, 
it  is  presumed,  of  that  gate  being  in  the  proximity  of  his  brewery, 
which,  after  the  death  of  Friend,  was  taken  by  the  notorious  swindler 
Joseph  Crook,  alias  Sir  Peter  Stranger,  Bart.  He  was  the  last  person 
tried  and  convicted  under  the  statute  of  the  5th  Elizabeth,  c.  14, 
entitled  '  An  Act  against  Forgers  of  false  Deeds  and  Writings.'  The 
instrument  he  had  forged  was  the  will  of  a  Mr.  Thomas  Hawkins, 
and  having  been  found  guilty,  the  sentence  provided  by  the  stitute 
was  carried  into  effect.  On  June  10,  1731,  he  stood  in  the  pilloiy  at 
Charing  Cross,  and  the  common  hangman  cut  off  his  ears,  and  slit  up 
his  nostrils  and  seared  them  ;  he  was  then  in  his  seventieth  year. 
The  and  George  H.  c  25,  recently  passed,  made  this  offence  felony; 
and  Richard  Cooper,  a  victualler  at  Stepney,  was  the  first  person  in 
London  to  suffer  the  new  penalty,  for  the  forgery  of  a  bond  of  25/.  in 
the  name  of  Holme,  a  grocer  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hanovcr-stiuare. 
This  execution  took  place  at  Tyburn,  on  Wednesday,  June  16,  1731." 
(From  Temple  Bar,  tlx  City  Golgotha,  by  a  Member  of  the  Inner 
Temple,  1853 ;  an  authentic  and  very  interesting  brochure.) 

Next,  Colonel  Henry  Oxburgh,  in  the  Pretender's  army,  was,  on 
May  9th,  1 7 15,  found  guilty  of  high  treason,  and  on  the  14th  of  the 
same  month  executed  at  Tyburn  ;  his  body  was  buried  in  the  church- 
yard of  St.  Gilcs's-in-the-Fields,  and  his  Ijcad  placed  upon  Temple 
Bar ;  "  which,"  says  a  writer  oj  the  day,  "  we  choose  to  mention,  that 
the  rebels  may  place  it  among  their  other  saints'  days." 

Counaellor  Layer,  who  had  conspired  to  assassinate  King  William  on 


1 10  Stories  of  Temple  Bar. 

his  return  from  Kensington,  was  the  next  victim ;  after  sixteen  hours,  he 
was  found  guilty.  Seven  months  after,  he  was  conducted  from  the 
Tower  to  Tyburn,  seated  in  a  sledge,  habited  in  a  full-dress  suit  and 
a  tie-wig.  The  streets  were  never  more  crowded  than  on  this  occasion, 
and  many  fatal  accidents  occurred  from  the  breaking  down  of  the  stands 
erected  to  accommodate  the  spectators.  The  day  subsequent  to  Layer's 
execution,  his  head  was  placed  on  Temple  Bar ;  there  it  remained, 
blackened  and  weather-beaten  with  the  storms  of  many  successive 
years,  until  it  became  its  oldest  occupant ;  it  repulsively  looked  down 
fi-om  the  summit  of  the  arch  ;  it  seemed  part  of  the  arch  itself.  For 
upwards  of  thirty  years  the  head  remained,  when  one  stormy  night  it  was 
blown  from  its  long  resting-place  into  the  Strand.  It  was  picked  up  by 
a  gentleman  in  the  neighbourhood,  Mr.  John  Pearce,  an  attorney,  who 
showed  it  to  some  persons  at  a  public-house,  under  the  floor  of  which 
it  was  buried.  Dr.  Rawlinson,  the  antiquary,  having  made  inquiries 
after  the  head,  wishing  to  purchase  it,  was  imposed  upon  with  another 
instead  of  Layer's,  which  he  preserved  as  a  relic,  and  directed  to  be 
buried  in  his  right  hand,  and  this  request  was  complied  with. 

The  heads  last  set  up  here  were  those  of  Townley  and  Fletcher,  the 
rebels,  in  1746.  Walpole  writes,  August  16,  1746:  "  I  have  l>een  this 
morning  at  the  Tower,  and  passed  under  the  new  heads  at  Temple  Bar, 
where  people  make  a  trade  of  letting  spying-glasses  at  a  halfpenny  a 
look;"  and,  in  1825,  a  person,  aged  eighty-seven,  remembered  the  above 
heads  being  seen  with  a  telescope  from  Leicester-fields,  the  ground  l>e- 
tween  which  and  Temple  Bar  being  then  thinly  built  over.  These  two 
grim  tenants  of  the  Bar  remained  until  the  31st  of  March,  1772,  when 
one  of  them  fell  down ;  and  very  shortly  afterwards,  during  a  high 
wind,  the  remaining  head  was  swept  away  from  its  position,  and  Temple 
Bar  was  left  untenanted  ;  but  the  last  of  the  iron  poles  was  not  re- 
moved from  the  Bar  until  the  commencement  of  the  present  century. 
Mrs.  Black,  the  wife  of  the  learned  editor  of  the  Morning  Chronicle 
newspaper,  had  seen,  when  a  girl,  human  heads  fixed  on  spikes  on 
Temple  Bar.  Mr.  Peter  Cunningham  used  to  relate  her  account  of 
this  strange  sight,  as  told  to  him  and  his  brother.  "  She  took  us  aside, 
and  said,  '  Don't  ask  me,  boys.  Why  do  you  ask  me  ?'  We  then  told 
her,  and  told  her  all.  (Mrs.  Black  could  not  bear  being  thought  old.) 
She  said,  collectedly,  and  as  usual  with  her,  without  any  parade  of  tell- 
ing the  siory  she  had  to  relate,  •  Boys,  I  remember  the  scene  well !  I 
have  seen  on  that  Temple  Bar,  about  which  you  ask,  two  human  heads 
— ^men's  heads — traitors'  heads — spiked  on  iron  poles.  There  were  two. 
I  saw  one  falL   Women  shrieked  as  it  fell :  men,  I  have  heard,  shrieked  j 


Stories  of  Temple  Bar.  1 1 1 

one  woman  near  me,  fainted.  Yes,  I  recollect  seeing  human  heads  on 
Temple  Bar.'"  Another  person  who  remembered  to  have  seen  the 
spiked  heads  was  Samuel  Rogers,  the  banker  poet,  who  died  in  Decem- 
ber, 1855,  at  the  age  of  ninety-three.  "  I  remember  well,"  (he  said,)  "  one 
of  the  heads  of  the  rebels  upon  a  pole  at  Temple  Bar — a  black  shape- 
less lump.     Another  pole  was  bare,  the  head  having  dropped  from  it." 

We  find  in  the  Anniuxl  Register  for  1766,  the  following  strange  anec- 
dote connected  with  the  heads.  "This  morning  (Jan.  20th),  between 
two  and  three  o'clock,  a  person  was  observed  to  watch  his  opportunity 
of  discharging  musket-balls,  from  a  steel  cross-bow,  at  the  two  remain- 
ing heads  upon  Temple  Bar.  On  his  examination  he  affected  a  disorder 
of  his  senses,  and  said  his  reason  for  so  doing  was  his  strong  attachment 
to  the  present  Government,  and  that  he  thought  it  was  not  sufficient 
that  a  traitor  should  only  suffer  death,  and  that  this  provoked  his  indig- 
nation ;  and  that  it  had  been  his  constant  practice,  for  three  nights  past, 
to  amuse  himself  in  the  same  manner ;  but  it  is  much  to  be  feared  that 
he  is  a  near  relation  to  one  of  the  unhappy  sufferers."  The  account 
given  in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine  further  states,  "  Upon  searching  him, 
above  fifty  musket-balls  were  found  wrapped  in  paper,  with  this  motto, 
Eripuit  tile  'vitam," 

The  gate  was  originally  shut  at  night  and  guarded  by  watchmen ; 
and,  in  our  time,  it  has  been  closed  in  cases  of  apprehended  tumult. 
Upon  the  visit  of  the  Sovereign  to  the  City,  or  upon  the  proclamation 
of  a  new  Sovereign,  or  of  Peace,  it  was  formerly  customary  to  keep  the 
gate  closed  until  admission  was  formally  demanded ;  the  gate  was  then 
opened ;  and  upon  the  royal  visit  the  Lord  Mayor  surrendered  the  city 
sword  to  the  Sovereign,  who  re-delivered  it  to  the  Mayor. 

At  the  old  Bar,  when  Queen  Elizabeth  went  to  St.  Paul's  to  return 
thanks  for  the  defeat  of  the  Armada,  the  Lord  Mayor  delivered  to  her 
hands  the  sceptre  (sword),  which  her  highness  re-delivered  to  the 
Mayor;  and  he,  again  taking  his  horse,  bore  the  same  before  her. 
When  Cromwell  and  the  Parliament  dined  in  the  City  in  state  on 
June  7,  1649,  the  same  ceremony  was  observed;  the  Mayor  (saya 
W'hitelock)  delivering  up  the  sword  to  the  Speaker,  "  as  he  used  to  do 
to  the  King." 

The  gate  has  been  opened  to  receive  Charles  II.,  James  II., 
William  III.,  and  every  English  monarch  ance. 

In  Baker's  Chronicle  is  thus  described  the  ceremony  on  the  Proclama- 
tion of  Charles  II.:  "At  Temple  Bar,  the  gates  being  shut,  the  King- 
at-Arms,  with  trumpets  before  him,  knocked  and  demamlcd  entrance. 
The  Lord  Mayor  appointed  some  [one]  to  ask  luho  it  was  that  knocked. 


1 1 2  The  Knights  Templars  in  London. 

The  King-at-Arms  replied,  that  if  they  luould  open  the  luicket,  and  let 
the  Lord  Mayor  come  thither,  he  would  to  him  deliver  his  message.  The 
Lord  Mayor  came  then  on  horseback,  richly  habited  in  a  crimson-velvet 
gown,  to  the  gate ;  and  then  the  trumpets  sounded,  and,  after  silence 
being  made,  Alderman  Batcman,  by  order  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  de- 
manded of  the  herald  (who  he  ivas,  and  ivhat  ivas  his  message.  To 
which  he  answered,  with  his  hat  on,  fVe  are  the  Herald-at-Arms,  ap- 
pointed and  commanded  by  the  Lords  and  Commons  assembled  in  Parlia- 
ment to  demand  entrance  into  the  famous  City  of  London,  to  proclaim 
Charles  the  Second  King  of  England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Ireland ;  and 
we  expect  your  speedy  answer  to  this  demand.  To  which,  after  a  little 
consultation  among  themselves.  Alderman  Bateman  answered.  This  mes- 
sage ivas  accepted,  and  the  gates  slxuld  be  opened  immediately ;  which 
was  done  accordingly."  Sir  Richard  Baker,  it  will  be  recollected,  died 
in  1644-5,  leaving  his  Chronicle  only  brought  down  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  reign  of  Charles  L  ;  and  the  above  extract  is  from  the  con- 
tinuation by  Edward  Phillips,  nephew  of  Milton,  who  brought  down  the 
Chronicle  to  the  coronation  of  Charles  H. ;  so  that  the  above  may  be 
the  description  of  an  eye-witness,  whereas  Baker  wrote  his  Chronicle 
in  the  Fleet  Prison.  This  was  the  last  ceremony  of  the  kind  at  the 
old  Bar. 


The  Knights  Templars  in  London. 

The  origin  and  history  of  the  celebrated  Order  of  Templars  are  too 
well  known  to  need  recapitulation  in  connexion  with  some  account  of 
their  chief  establishment  in  England,  of  which  the  famous  Round 
Church  in  the  Temple  marks  the  culminating  period  of  the  Knight 
Templars  in  England.  In  the  year  1128,  the  head  of  this  new  and 
strange  society,  which  had  excited  much  notice  among  the  pious  and 
warlike  of  England,  arrived  in  London  to  explain  its  objects.  He  nar- 
rated to  King  Henry  \.  and  his  Court  the  origin  and  progress  of  the 
Order, — how  he  himself  and  eight  other  Knights,  calling  themselves 
"  poor  fellow-soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,"  entered  into  a  solemn  compact 
to  devote  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  the  Christian  pilgiims  to  Jerusalem, 
by  the  defence  of  the  highway  from  the  inroads  of  th«  Mussulmans,  and 
the  ravages  of  the  numerous  robbers  who  infested  it.  They  enlarged 
their  object  to  the  defence  of  the  Christian  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem  it- 
self. Hugh  de  Payens  was  made  Master,  and  set  out  from  Jerusalem 
with  four  brethren ;  he  returned  after  his  visit  to  England,  with 
300,     chosen    principally   from  the  noblest  families    of    France  and 


The  Knights  Templars  in  London.  113 

England.  But  Matthew  Paris  tells  us  that  they  at  first  lived  upon  alms, 
and  were  so  poor  that  one  horse  served  ttuo  of  them  (Hugh  de  Payens 
uid  a  companion),  as  we  see  in  their  seal ;  yet  they  suddenly  waxed  so 
insolent,  that  they  disdained  other  orders,  and  sorted  themselves  with 
noblemen.  Before  Hugh  de  Payens  left  England,  he  placed  a  Knight 
Templar,  called  the  Prior  of  the  Temple,  at  the  head  of  the  Society  in 
this  country,  to  manage  the  estates  and  affairs  of  the  Order.  Numerous 
Templar  establishments  now  sprang  up,  the  chief  of  which  was  in 
Holbom,  where  Southampton  House  was  afterwards  erected,  and  a  hall 
of  which  existed  to  our  day,  with  traces  of  an  ancient  circular  chapel. 
As  the  English  Knights  increased  in  number  and  wealth,  they  purchased 
the  site  of  the  present  Temple,  in  the  rear  of  the  south  side  of  Fleet- 
street,  and  set  about  erecting  their  magnificent  round  church,  after  the 
model  of  that  at  Jerusalem.  Meanwnile,  the  misfortunes  of  the  Tem- 
plars in  Palestine  brought  to  Europe  for  assistance  Heraclius,  the 
Patriarch,  the  Master  of  the  Temple,  and  the  Master  of  St.  John's. 
Now,  Henry  U.  promised  them  assistance,  on  receiving  absolution  for 
the  murder  of  Becket.  The  Master  of  the  Temple  died  on  the  way, 
the  other  two  reached  England  in  11 85.  King  Henry  met  them  at 
Reading ;  in  tears  he  heard  their  supplications  for  assistance,  and  pro- 
mised to  grant  it. 

The  English  Templars  brought  Heraclius  to  their  church,  and  re- 
quested him  to  consecrate  it.  To  this  he  consented,  as  recorded  in  an 
inscription ;  and  at  the  same  time  consecrated  the  church  of  the  rival 
Society  of  Hospitallers,  or  Knights  of  St.  John,  at  Clerkenwell.  Hera- 
clius's  demands  for  succour  were,  however,  evaded  by  the  King  and 
his  Parliament,  and  the  Patriarch's  mission  altogether  failed. 

The  Temple  church  is  one  of  the  four  circular  churches  in  England;  the 
other  three  existing  at  Cambridge,  Northampton,  and  Maplestead  in  Essex. 
The  architecture  is  midway  between  Romanesque  and  Early  English 
Gothic ;  the  western  entrance,  semicircular  arches  and  capitals,  are  richly 
sculptiyed  and  deeply  recessed ;  within,  Purbcck  marble  columns,  with 
boldly-sculptured  capitals,  support  a  gallery  or  triforium  of  interlaced 
Norman  arches ;  and  the  clerestory  has  six  Romanesque  windows,  one 
filled  with  stained  glass,  bright  ruby  ground,  with  a  rcpi-esentation  of 
Christ,  and  emblems  of  the  F\angelists  ;  and  the  ceiling,  of  Saracenic 
character,  is  coloured.  On  the  gallery  well-staircase  is  a  "  penitential 
cell."  Upon  the  pavement  are  figures  of  Crusaders,  "in  cross-legged 
efligy  devoutly  stretched,"  but  originally  placed  upon  altar-tombs  and 
pedestals.  These  efligics  of  feudal  warriors  are  sculptured  out  of  free- 
stone.   The  attitudes  of  all  arc  different,  but  they  arc  all  recumbent 


1 14  TJie  Knights  Templars  in  London. 

with  the  legs  crossed.  They  are  in  complete  mail  with  surcoats ;  one 
only  is  bare-headed,  and  has  the  cowl  of  a  monk.  The  shields  are  of 
the  heater  or  Norman  shape,  but  tlie  size  is  not  the  same  in  all ;  one  of 
them  is  very  long,  and  readies  fi-om  the  shoulder  to  the  middle  of  the 
leg.  Their  heads,  with  one  exception,  repose  on  cusliions,  and  have 
hoods  of  mail.  Tliree  of  them  have  flattish  helmets  over  the  armour, 
and  one  has  a  sort  of  casque.  The  best  authorities  assign  five  of  them 
as  follow :  to  Geoffry  de  Magnaviile,  Earl  of  Essex,  a.d.  1144,  (rightami 
on  his  breast  and  large  sword  at  his  right) — he  is  not  mentioned  by 
Weever ;  William  Mareschall,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  A.u.  1219  (sculptured 
in  Sussex  marble,  with  his  sword  through  a  lion's  head)  ;  Robert  Lord 
de  Ros,  A.D.  1245  (head  uncovered,  with  long  flowing  hair),  whose 
cfiigy  is  said  to  have  been  brought  from  Helmsley  Church,  Yorkshire ; 
William  Mareschall,  jun.,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  1231  (with  lion  ram- 
pant on  shield,  and  sheathing  his  sword).  Gilbert  Mareschall,  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  12S1  (drawing  his  sword,  winged  dragon  at  feet).  In  184T 
were  discovered  the  ancient  lead  coffins  containing  the  bodies  of  these 
knights,  who  did  not  appear  to  have  been  buried  in  their  annour ;  and 
none  of  the  coffin  ornaments  were  of  earlier  date  than  the  beginning  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  ancient  hostels  existed  until  1346  (20th 
Edward  III),  when  the  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem 
(to  whom  the  forfeited  estates  of  the  rival  brothei'hood  of  the  Templars 
had  been  granted  by  the  Pope)  demised  the  magnificent  buildings, 
church,  gardens,  "and  all  the  appurtenances  that  belonged  to  the 
Templars  in  London,"  to  certain  students  said  to  have  removed  thither 
from  Holboni,  in  which  part  of  the  town  the  Knights  Templars  them- 
selves had  resided  before  the  erection  of  their  palace  on  the  Thames. 

In  this  New  Temple,  "out  of  the  City  and  the  noise  thereof,  and 
in  the  suburbs,"  between  the  King's  Court  at  Westminster  and  the 
City  of  London,  the  studious  lawyers  lived  in  quiet,  increasing  in 
number  and  importance ;  so  that  although  the  mob  of  Wat  Tyler's 
rebellion  plundered  the  students,  and  destroyed  almost  all  their  books 
and  records  ("  To  the  Inns  of  Court  !  down  with  them  all !" — Jack 
Cade),  it  became  necessary  to  divide  the  Inn  into  two  separate  bodies, 
the  Hon.  Societies  of  the  Inner  and  Middle  Temple;  having  separate 
halls,  but  using  the  same  church,  and  holding  their  houses  as  tenants  of 
the  Knights  Hospitallers  until  the  dissolution  by  Henry  VIII.,  and 
thenceforth  of  the  Crown  by  lease.  This  was  done  in  the  sixth  year  of 
James  I. ;  and  the  two  Temples  were  granted  as  the  Inner  and  Middle. 
Thus,  for  nearly  five  centuries,  some  of  the  leading  practisers  of  the 
law   have  been  settled  upon  the  spot  where  the    lawless  Knights 


The  Knights  Templars  in  London.  115 

Templars  long  held  sway.  The  circular  church  and  its  appurte- 
nances, were  then  leased  for  an  annual  fee-ferm  rent  of  10/.  to  the 
udents.  The  preacher  is  styled  Master  of  the  Temple,  as  was 
the  lord  paramount  of  the  Templars:  the  early  lawyers  had  their 
pillars  in  the  church  and  cloisters — a  felling  off  from  their  spiritual  pre- 
decessors ;  and  the  Middle  Temple  still  bears  the  arms  of  the  Knights 
Templars — Arg.  on  a  cross  gu.,  a  paschal  lamb  or,  carrying  a  banner 
of  the  first,  charged  with  a  cross  of  the  second,  such  as  we  see  in 
university  towns  lowered  to  the  Lamb  and  Flag  public-house  sign ; 
whilst  Pegasus  salient  of  the  Inner  Temple  long  enjoyed  a  similar  dis- 
tinction in  becoming  a  popular  London  sign.  This  winged  horse,  with 
the  motto  "  Volat  ad  aethera  virtus,"  was  substituted  by  the  Inner 
Temple  for  the  Holy  Lamb  early  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  There 
has  been  much  amusing  speculation  upon  the  cause  of  the  change :  it 
:  -  thought  to  have  been  intended  to  signify— in  allusion  to  the  fable  of 
i'egasus  forming  the  fountain  of  Hippocreneby  striking  the  rock — that 
n;  lawyers  aspired  to  become  poets.  In  the  Temple  Round,  lawyers 
:  -ceived  clients  as  merchants  on  'Change : — 

"  Retain  all  sorts  of  witnesses, 
That  ply  i'  the  Temple  under  trees ; 
Or  walk  the  Round  with  Knights  o'  the  Posts, 
About  the  cross-lcgg'd  knights,  their  hosts." 

Hudibras,  pt.  iii.  c.  3, 

'  ile  says :  "  Item,  they  (the  lawyers)  have  no  place  to  walk  in  and 
their  learnings  but  ^!\^Q^  church ;  which  place  all  the  term-times 
;lli  in  it  no  more  quietness  than  the  Pervise  of  Paules,  by  occasion  of 
e  confluence  and  concourse  of  such  as  are  suitors  in  the  law."     "  The 
vound"  is  the  nave  or  vestibule  to  the  oblong  portion  of  the  church, 
le  Choir,  in  pure  Lancet  style,  and  almost  rebuilt  in  oiu-  time.     It  is 
divided  into  three  aisles,   by  clustered  marble  columns,  the  groined 
I'xjf  being  richly  coloured  in  arabesque,  and  ornamented  with  holy 
nblems:  while  triple  lancet-headed  windows  let  in  floods  of  light. 
It  is  mentioned  in  Dugdale's  Monast'icon  that  both  King  Henry  II. 
.:id  his  Queen  Eleanor  directed  that  their  bodies  should  be  interred 
uthin  the  walls  of  the  Temple  Church,  and  that  the  above  monarch  by 
is  Will  left  500  marks  for  that  purpose.    The  walls  are  inscribed  with 
lire  texts  in  Latin;    and  between  the  top  of  the  stalls  and  the 
-course  lx:ncath  the  windows,  is  the  Hymn  of  St.  Ambrose.     The 
AS,  by  Willemcnt,  are  among  the  finest  six-cimcns  of  modern 
i  glass:  the  altar  subjects  are  from  the  life  of  Christ,  tJie  inter- 
faces being    deep-blue   and  ruby  mosaic,  with  glittering    borders. 

I  a 


li6  The  Knights  Templars  in  London. 

Knights  Templar  fill  the  aisle  windows ;  but  that  opposite  the  organ 
has  figures  of  angels  playing  musical  instruments. 

'  A  brief  history  of  the  Templars  in  England  and  of  this  church  may 
be  read  in  the  rude  effigies  of  the  successive  kings  during  whose  reigns 
they  flourished,  now  painted  on  the  west  end  of  the  chancel.  At  the 
south  comer  sits  Henry  I.,  holding  the  first  banner  of  the  Crusaders, 
half  black,  half  white,  entitled  "Beauseant;"  white  typifying  fairness 
towards  friends ;  black,  terror  to  foes.  This  banner  was  changed 
during  the  reign  of  Stephen  for  the  red  cross : 

"  And  on  his  brest  a  bloodie  crosse  he  bore, 
The  deare  remembrance  of  his  dying  Lord." 

Heniy  II.  and  the  Round  Church  are  represented  by  the  third  figure. 
Richard  I.  with  the  sword  which  he  wielded  as  Crusader,  and  John,  his 
brother,  are  the  next  kings;  and  in  the  north  aisle  is  portrayed 
Henry  III.,  holding  the  two  churches;  the  chancel,  or  square  part, 
having  been  added  in  his  reign,  and  consecrated  on  Ascension-day, 
1240. 

Among  the  rules  for  the  government  of  the  Order  of  Templars  was 
that  of  obedience,  for  breach  of  which  was  the  penitential  cell,  already 
mentioned ;  it  was  formed  in  the  wall  of  the  church,  and  measured  only 
four  and  a  half  feet  in  length,  and  two  and  a  half  in  breadth,  so  that  the 
unhappy  prisoner  could  not  lie  down,  except  by  drawing  his  limbs  to- 
gether. Others  were  fettered  by  order  of  the  Master,  and  left  till  they 
died  by  severity  of  the  punishment.  Besides  imprisonment,  they  were 
scourged  on  the  bare  shoulders  by  the  Master's  hands  in  the  hall,  or 
whipped  in  the  church  on  Sundays  before  the  congregation.  The  Order 
became  highly  popular  for  their  piety,  bravery,  and  humility,  and  great 
men  desired  to  be  buried  among  them.  This  was  insured  by  lands, 
manors,  and  privileges,  and  sometimes  money.  King  John  deposited 
himself  in  the  community,  and  numerous  documents  of  this  King's  are 
dated  from  the  Temple.  Martin,  the  Pope's  nuncio,  made  unheard-of 
extortions  of  money  and  valuables.  The  abbots  and  priors  were  told 
that  they  must  send  him  rich  presents,  desirable  palfreys,  sumptuous 
services  for  the  table,  and  rich  clothing.  The  treasure  deposited  in  the 
Temple  must  often  have  been  immense,  and  here  were  brought  all  the 
moneys  collected  for  the  Christian  service  in  Palestine.  The  great  Earl 
of  Kent,  Hubert  dc  Burgh,  on  his  disgrace  and  committal  to  the  Tower, 
was  suspected  by  the  King  to  have  no  small  amount  of  treasure  de- 
posited in  the  Temple;  the  King  demanded  of  the  Master  of  the  Temple, 
if  it  was  so ;  when  he  confessed  that  he  had  money  of  the  said  Hubert, 


TJie  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John.  1 17 

adding  that  he  could  not  give  it  up  without  the  consent  of  the  owner. 
Then  the  King  sent  the  Treasurer  of  his  court,  with  his  Justices  of  the 
Exchequer,  to  Hubert,  who  was  in  fetters  in  the  Tower,  that  they  might 
xact  from  him  an  assignment  of  the  entire  sum  to  the  King.  Hubert 
submitted,  and  sent  to  the  King  the  keys  of  his  treasure  in  the  Temple, 
which  the  King  ordered  to  be  counted,  and  placed  in  his  treasury,  and 
the  amount  reduced  into  writing  and  exhibited  to  him.  And  there 
re  "  found  deposited  in  the  Temple  gold  and  silver  vases  of  inestimable 
price,  and  money,  and  many  precious  gems,  an  enumeration  whereof 
would,  in  truth,  astonish  the  hearers." — Addison's  Historj  of  Knights 
Templars. 


The  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St  John  of  Jerusalem. 

This  renowned  military  and  religious  Order,  for  upwards  of  foui* 
hundred  years,  had  its  chef  lieu  in  Clerkenwell.  Its  origin  has  been 
referred  to  in  a  previous  page  (113).  Their  magnificent  Priory  was 
founded  in  the  year  1 100,  by  Jordan  Briset,  a  baron  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  Muriel,  his  wife,  near  unto  "  Clarke's  Well,"  (now  Clerkenwell,) 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  This  was  the  period  of  the  first  Crusade. 
Forty  years  later,  the  servants  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem 
became  "  a  military  order  of  monks,  the  first  body  of  men  united  by 
religious  vows,  who  wielded  the  temporal  sword  against  the  enemies  of 
the  faith."  They  triumphed  over  the  great  rival  Order  of  the  Templars, 
Their  greatest  conquest  was  the  island  of  Rhodes,  whence  they  became 
the  Knights  of  Rhodes,  which  island,  in  two  centuries,  they  gendered 
one  of  the  strongest  places  in  the  world  ;  and,  during  its  six  months' 
■ege  by  the  Turks,  they  are  said  to  have  lost  upwards  of  one  hundred 
thousand  men.  After  this  conquest,  the  Knights  of  St.  John  dwelt 
within  their  Priory  at  Clerkenwell,  which  was  of  almost  palatial  extent, 
employing  their  great  possessions  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor. 
But,  before  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  they  incurred  the  hatred 
of  the  common  people  by  their  tyranny  and  licentiousness. 

The  year  1381  was  one  of  dire  calamity  to  the  Knights  Hospitallers, 
who  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  populace.  The  rebels  under 
Wat  Tyler  directed  their  fury  against  the  houses  and  possessions  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  John,  their  rancour  having  been  greatly  excited  by  the 
haughty  conduct  of  Sir  Robert  Hales,  the  Prior,  and  Lord  Treasurer 
of  England,  who,  when  the  mob,  led  by  Wat  Tyler,  sought  a  con- 
ference with  the  King  (Richard  II.),  counselled  their  punishment. 
On  their  demands  being  told  to  the  King,  Simon  de  Sudbury,  the 


1 1 8  The  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John. 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Sir  Robert  Hales,  "spake  earnestly 
ajrainst  their  advice,  and  would  not,  by  any  means,  that  the  King 
should  go  to  such  sort  of  bare-leggrcd  ribalds,  but  rather  he  wished  that 
they  should  take  some  order  to  abate  the  pride  of  such  vile  rascals."  The 
rebels  of  Essex  had  previously  displayed  their  animosity  to  this  Prior, 
who,  "  having  a  goodly  and  delectable  manor  in  Essex,  wherein  was 
ordained  victuals  and  other  necessaries  for  the  use  of  a  chapter  general 
and  a  great  abundance  of  fair  stuifs — of  wines,  arras  cloths,  and  other 
provisions  for  the  Knights  Brethren, — the  commons  entered  this  manor, 
ate  up  all  the  victuals,  and  spoiled  the  manor  and  ground  with  great 
damage." 

This  riotous  mob,  emboldened  by  their  successes,  on  Thursday,  the 
t3th  of  June,  the  feast  of  Corpus  Christi,  divided  themselves  into  three 
bodies;  those  that  were  in  the  City,  the  "  commons  of  Kent,"  broke 
open  the  Fleet,  and  let  the  prisoners  go  where  they  would.  From 
thence  they  went  to  the  Temple,  to  destroy  it,  and  pulled  down  the 
houses,  took  off  the  tiles  from  the  other  buildings  left,  went  to  the 
church,  took  out  all  the  books  and  remembrances  that  were  in  the 
hutches  of  the  prentices  of  the  law,  carried  them  into  the  high  street, 
and  there  burnt  them.  "  This  house,"  says  Stow,  "  they  spoiled  for 
wrath  they  bare  the  Lord  Prior  of  St.  John's,  to  whom  it  belonged." 
Their  vengeance  was  not  satisfied,  for  after  "  the  destruction  of  the 
Savoy,  the  rebels,"  says  Froissart,  "  went  straight  to  the  fairc  hos- 
pitalle  of  the  Rodes,  called  saynte  Johans,  and  there  they  brent  (bunit) 
house,  hospitalle,  mynster,  and  all ;  then  they  went  fiom  streete  to 
streete,  and  slew  all  the  flemmynges  that  they  could  fyndc  in  churche 
or  in  any  other  place ;  there  was  none  rcspyted  fro  death."  The  fire, 
the  account  says,  burnt  for  the  space  of  seven  days  after,  and  none  was 
suffered  to  quench  it.  These  conflagrations  filled  the  minds  of  the 
peaceful  citizens  with  terror;  and  the  King  was  dismayed  when  he  saw 
fhjm  a  distance  the  city  illumined  by  the  flames.  Stow  tells  us  that  "  the 
King,  being  in  a  turret  of  the  Tower  [of  London],  and  seeing  the 
mansion  of  Savoy,  the  Priory  of  St.  John's  Hospital,  and  other  houses 
on  fire,  demanded  of  his  counsell  what  was  best  to  be  done  in  that 
extremitie  ;  but  none  could  counseille  in  that  case." 

"Whilst  the  rebels  of  Kent  were  making  this  havoc  in  the  metropolis, 
so  that,  in  this  disorder,  "  London  looked  like  a  city  taken  by  storm," 
the  commons  of  Essex,  twenty  thousand  strong,  led  on  by  one  Jack 
Straw,  "  took  in  hand  to  ruinate"  the  Lord  Prior's  country-seat  at  his 
manor  of  Highbury,  which  they  did  effectually,  pulling  down  by  main 
force  all  those  main  paits  of  the  building  which  the  fire  could  not  con- 


m 


The  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John.  1 19 

Slime.  The  Tower  was  successfiilly  assaulted  by  another  body  of  the 
rioters ;  and  several  of  the  nobility,  who  had  fled  hither  for  refuge, 
came  to  an  untimely  end.  Sir  Robert  Hales,  the  Prior,  was  beheaded 
in  the  courtyard  of  the  Priory,  the  site  of  St.  John's-square.  Sudbury, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  others,  were  dragged  out  and  beheaded 
on  Tower-hill.     Such  a  strong  repugnance  had  the  riotous  commons  to 

e  Hospitallers,  that  Jack  Straw,  in  a  subsequent  confession,  speaking 
the   intentions  of  his   partisans,   declared,   with   bitter  emphasis, 

specially  we  would  have  destroyed  the  Knights  of  St.  John." 

Thus  was  the  magnificent  Priory  swept  away.  During  the  next 
centur>'  it  was  restored.  The  conventual  church  was  rebuilt,  the  old 
site  again  covered  with  buildings.  Prior  Docwra  completed  the  church 
and  rebuilt  St.  JohnVgate,  originally  erected  at  the  foundation  of  the 
Priory  in  11 00.  Docwra  was  the  immediate  predecessor  of  the  last 
superior  of  the  house,  who  died  of  grief  on  Ascension  day,  1540,  when 
the  Priory  was  suppressed.  Five  years  subsequently,  the  site  and  pre- 
cincts were  granted  to  Lord  John  Lisle,  for  his  service  as  high  admiral  ; 
the  church  becoming  a  kind  of  storehouse  "  for  the  King's  toyles  and 
tents  for  hunting,  and  for  the  warres."  At  the  Suppression,  yearly 
pvnsions  were  granted  to  the  knights  by  the  King,  and  to  the  Lord  Prior 
during  his  life,  loco/.;  but  he  never  received  a  penny:  the  King  took 
into  his  hands  all  the  lands  that  belonged  to  the  House  and  the  Order 
in  England  and  Ireland,  "  for  the  augmentation  of  his  Crown."  In  the 
reign  of  King  Edward  VI.,  the  church,  with  the  great  bell-tower  (a 
most  curious  piece  of  workmanship,  graven,  gilt,  and  enamelled,  to  the 
great  beautifying  of  the  city)  was  undermined  and  blown  up  with  gun- 
powder, and  the  materials  were  employed  by  the  Lord  Protector  to 
King  Edward  VI.  in  building  Somerset  Place;  the  Gate  would,  pro- 
bably, have  been  destroyed,  but  from  its  serving  to  define  the  property. 
The  Priory  was  partly  restored  upon  the  accession  of  Mary,  but  again 
suppressed  by  Elizabeth. 

Hollar's  etchings  show  the  castellated  Hospital,  with  the  old  front,  about 
1640  ;  and  the  Gate-house,  the  southern  entrance,  and  the  church,  both 
in  St.  John's-square,  which  was  the  Priory  court.  The  church  is  built  upon 
the  chancel  and  side  aisles  of  the  old  Priory  church,  and  upon  its  crypt. 
The  Gate-hou?e,  which  in  1604,  was  granted  to  Sir  Roger  Wilbraham 
for  his  life,  subsetjuently  became  the  printing-office  of  Edward  Cave, 
who.  in  1731,  published  here  the  first  number  of  the  Gentleman  s 
Miii^i.zinir.  Dr.  Johnson  was  first  engaged  here  by  Cave,  in  1737: 
here  Johnson  first  met  Savage ;  Garrick  frequently  called  upon  Johnson, 
as  did  Goldsmith  ;  and  when  Cave  grew  rich,  he  bad  St.  Jolin's  Gate 


120       Quccfi  Elizabeth,  the  Manor  of  Plcazaunce, 

painted,  instead  of  his  arms,  on  his  carriage,  and  engraved  on  his  plate. 
The  Gate,  a  good  specimen  of  the  groining  of  the  15th  century,  onia- 
mented  with  shields  of  the  amis  of  France  and  England,  and  those  of 
the  Priory  and  Docwra,  has  been  saved  from  removal,  and  restored. 


Queen  Elizabeth,  the  Manor  of  Pleazaunce,  and 
Greenwich  Castle. 

Greenwich  was  called  by  the  Romans  Greno'vicum,  and  in  Saxon 
Grenaivic,  or  the  Green  Town.  Lambarde  gives  this  curious  account 
of  its  early  history:  "  In  ancient  evidences,  East  Greenwiche  for  dif- 
ference sake  from  Deptford,  which  in  olde  instruments  is  called  West- 
greenewichc.  In  the  time  of  the  turmoiled  King  Ethelred,  the  whole 
fleete  of  the  Danish  army  lay  at  roade  two  or  three  yeres  together  be- 
fore Greenwich  :  and  the  souldours  for  the  most  part  were  encamped 
upon  the  hill  above  the  towne  now  called  Blackheath.  During  this 
time  (loi  I )  they  pierced  the  whole  countrie,  sacked  and  spoiled  the 
citie  of  Canterburie,  and  brought  from  thence  in  to  their  ships,  Alepheg 
[Alphege]  the  Archbishop.  And  here  a  Dane  (called  Thrum)  whome 
the  Archbishop  had  confirmed  in  Christianitie  the  day  before,  strake 
him  on  the  head  behinde,  and  slew  him,  because  he  would  not  con- 
descend to  redeeme  his  life  with  three  thousand  pounds,  which  the 
people  of  the  citie  and  diocesse  were  contented  to  have  given  for  his 
ransome ;  neither  would  the  rest  of  the  souldiors  suffer  his  body  to  be 
committed  to  the  earth,  after  the  manner  of  Christian  dccencie,  till 
such  time,  (said  William  of  Malmcsbury,)  as  they  perceived  that  a  dead 
sticke,  being  anointed  with  his  bloud,  waxed  suddenly  grcene  againe, 
and  began  the  next  day  to  blossome.  Which  by  all  likelihood  was 
gathered  in  the  wood  of  Dia  Feronia ;  for  she  was  a  goddcsse,  whom 
the  Poets  do  phantasie  to  have  caused  a  whole  woode  (that  was  on  fire) 
to  wax  greene  again."  The  present  church  of  St.  Alphege,  in  Green- 
wich, stands  on  the  spot  where  he  suffered  martyrdom. 

A  royal  residence  is  noticed  at  Greenwich  as  early  as  the  reign  of 
King  Edward  the  First,  when  that  Monarch  made  an  offering  of  seven 
shillings  at  each  of  the  holy  crosses  in  the  chapel  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  the  Prince  an  offering  of  half  that  sum:  though  by  whom  the 
Palace  was  erected  is  not  known. 

King  Henry  IV.  dates  his  will  from  his  Manor  of  Greenwich,  Jan, 
32,  1408  ;  which  appears  to  have  been  his  favourite  residence. 


( 


and  Greenwich  Castle.  121 

King  Henry  V.  (in  whose  time  Greenwich  was  still  a  small  fishing- 
town),  granted  the  Manor  for  life  to  his  kinsman,  Thomas  Beaufort, 
Duke  of  Exeter;  soon  after  whose  decease  in  141 7,  it  passed  to  Hum- 
phrey, Duke  of  Gloucester,  who,  in  1433,  obtained  a  grant  of  200  acres 
of  land  in  Greenwich,  for  thepui"pose  of  enclosing  it  as  a  Park.  In  1437 
he  obtained  a  similar  grant,  and  in  it  license  was  given  to  the  Duke,  and 
Eleanor  his  wife,  "  their  Manor  of  Greenwich  to  embattle  and  build 
ith  stone,  and  to  enclose  and  make  a  tower  and  ditch  within  the  same, 

d  a  certain  tower  within  his  park  to  build  and  edify."  Accordingly, 
K)n  after  this,  he  commenced  building  the  Tower  within  the  park,  now 
•.;:e  site  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  which  was  then  called  Green-julch 
Castle;  and  likewise  newly  ei-ected  the  Palace  on  the  spot  where  the 
West  wing  of  the  Royal  Hospital  now  stands,  which  palace  he  named, 
from  its  agreeable  situation,  L'  Pleazaunce,  or  Placentia;  this  name, 
howe\er,  was  not  commonly  made  use  of  until  the  reign  of  Henry  VHI. 

Duke  Humphrey  was  Regent  of  England  during  the  minority  of 
King  Henry  VI,,  and  for  his  many  virtues  was  styled  the  "  Father  of 
his  Country."  He  excited  the  envy  of  Queen  Margaret  fi-om  his  strong 
opposition  to  her  marriage  with  Henry,  which  induced  her  to  enter  into 
a  confederacy  with  the  Cardinal  of  \\'^inchester  and  the  Earl  of  Suffolk ; 
who,  strengthened  by  her  assistance,  and  incited  by  their  common  hatred 
■'f  the  patriotic  Duke,  basely  assassinated  him  at  St.  Edmondsbury, 
Suffolk,  Feb.  28th,  1447.  He  was  a  generous  patron  of  men  of  science, 
and  the  most  leanied  person  of  his  age:  he  founded  at  Oxford  one  of 
the  first  public  libraries  in  England.  Leland,  in  his  Laboryeuse 
Journey,  says,  "  Humfrey,  the  good  Duke  of  Glocestre,  from  the  faver 
he  bare  to  good  letters,  purchased  a  wondcrfull  nombre  of  bokes  in  all 
scycnces,  whereof  he  fi-ely  gave  to  a  lybrarf  in  Oxforde  a  hondred  and 
xxix  tayre  volumes."  He  was  buried  in  the  Abbey  church  of  St. 
Alban,  where  a  handsome  monument  was  erected  to  his  memory. 

At  Duke  Humphrey's  death,  in  1447,  the  Manor  reverted  to  the 
Crown.  King  Edward  IV.  expended  considerable  sums  in  enlarging 
and  beautifying  the  Palace,  which  he  granted,  with  the  Manor  and 
iown  of  Greenwich  and  the  Park  there,  to  Elizabeth  his  Queen.  In 
this  reign,  a  royal  joust  was  performed  at  Greenwich,  on  the  marriage 
of  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  with  Anne  Mowbray.  In  1482,  Mary,  the 
King's  daughter,  died  here ;  she  was  betrothed  to  the  King  of  Denmark, 
but  died  before  the  solemnization  of  the  marriage. 

The  Manor  with  the  appurtenances  came  into  the  possession  of 
Henry  VII.  by  the  imprisonment  of  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Edwaai  IV. 
Henry  on  some  frivolous  pretence,  committed  her  in  close  confinement 


122  Queen  Elizabeth,  Pleazaunce, 

to  the  nunnery  of  Bermondsey,  where,  some  years  after,  she  ended  her 
life  in  poverty  and  solitude.  Henry  enlarged  the  Palace,  and  added  a 
brick  front  towards  the  water-side ;  finished  the  Tower  in  the  Park 
begun  by  Duke  Humphrey ;  and  built  a  convent  adjoining  the  Palace 
for  the  Observant  or  Grey  Friars,  who  came  to  Greenwich  about  the 
latter  end  of  the  reign  of  Edward  IV,  This  convent,  after  its  dissolu- 
tion in  the  reign  of  Henry  VHI.,  was  re-founded  by  Queen  Mary,  but 
finally  suppressed  by  Elizabeth  in  1 559. 

In  1487,  on  the  second  day  preceding  the  coronation  of  Henry  VII., 
the  Queen  came  from  Greenwich  by  water,  royally  attended ;  and 
among  the  barges  of  the  City  Companies  wliich  accompanied  the  pro- 
cession was  "  in  especial,  a  barge  called  the  Bachelors'  barge,  garnished 
and  apparelled  passing  all  others ;  wherein  was  ordeyned  a  great  redde 
dragon,  spouting  flames  of  fyer  into  the  Thames,  and  many  gentlemanlie 
pagiaunts,  well  and  curiously  devised  to  do  her  highnesse  sporte  and  plea- 
soure  with." 

King  Henry  VIII.  was  born  at  Greenwich,  June  28,  1491,  and  bap- 
tized in  the  parish  church,  by  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  Lord  Privy  Seal. 
This  monarch  exceeded  all  his  predecessors  in  the  grandeur  of  his  build- 
ings, and  rendered  the  Palace  magnificent ;  and,  perhaps,  from  par- 
tiality for  the  place  of  his  birth,  resided  chiefly  at  Greenwich,  neglecting 
the  Palace  of  Eltham,  which  had  been  the  favourite  residence  of  his  an- 
cestors. Many  sumptuous  banquets,  revels,  and  solemn  jousts,  for 
which  his  reign  was  celebrated,  were  held  at  his  Manor  of  Pleazaunce. 
In  1509,  June  3,  Henry's  marriage  with  Catherine  of  Aragon,  was 
solemnized  here.  In  ij^rr,on  May-day,  "  The  King  lying  at  Green- 
wich, rode  to  the  wodde  to  fetch  May ;  and  after,  on  the  same  day, 
and  two  days  next  ensuing,  the  King,  Sir  Edward  Howard,  Charles 
Brandon,  and  Sir  Edward  Nevill,  as  challengers,  held  justes  againut  all 
comers.  On  the  other  part,  the  Marquis  Dorset,  the  Earls  of  Essex 
and  Devonshire,  with  others,  as  defendauntes,  rann«  againste  them,  so 
that  many  a  sore  stripe  was  given,  and  many  a  stafFe  broken." 

In  1513,  the  King  gave  a  festival  "with  great  solemnity,  dancing, 
disguisings,  and  mummeries,  in  a  most  princely  manner."  At  this  en- 
tertainment was  introduced  the  first  Masquerade  ever  seen  in  England : 
the  following  account  of  it  and  the  other  festivities  of  this  Christmas  may 
not  prove  uninteresting,  as  it  is  very  characteristic  of  the  splendours 
of  that  period : — "  The  Kyng  this  yere  kept  the  feast  of  Christ- 
mas at  Grenewich,  wher  was  such  abundance  of  viandes  served  to  all 
comers  of  any  honest  behaviours,  as  hath  been  few  times  seen  ;  and 
against  New-yere's  night  was  made,  in  the  hall,  a  castle,  gates,  towers, 


Ik 


and  Greenwich  Cos  tie.  123 

and  dungeon,  garnished  with  artilerie  and  weapon,  after  the  most  war- 
like fashion ;  and  on  the  frount  of  the  castle  was  written,  Le  Fortresse 
dangerus  ;  and  within  the  castle  wer  six  ladies  clothed  in  russet  satin  laide 
all  over  with  leves  of  gokie,  and  every  owde  knit  with  laces  of  blewe  silke 
and  goldc;  on  ther  heddes  coyfes  and  cappes  all  of  gold.  After  this 
stle  had  been  caried  about  the  hal,  and  the  Quene  had  behelde  it,  in 
«;«une  the  Kyng  with  five  other  appareled  in  coatee,  the  one  halfe  of 
set  satyn  spangled  with  spangels  of  fine  gold,  the  other  halfe  rich 
clothe  of  gold ;  on  ther  heddes  caps  of  russet  satin,  embroudered  with 
workes  of  fine  gold  bullion.  These  six  assaulted  the  castle,  tlie  ladies 
seyng  them  so  lustie  and  coragious  wer  content  to  solace  with  them, 
and  upon  ftirther  communicacion  to  yeld  the  castle,  and  so  thci  came 
down  and  daunced  a  long  space.  And  after  the  ladies  led  the  knightes 
into  the  castle,  and  then  the  castle  sodainly  vanished  out  of  ther  sightes. 
'II  the  daie  of  the  Epiphanie  at  night,  the  Kyng  with  xi  othei-  wer  dis- 
f,uised  after  the  manner  of  Italie,  called  a  maske,  a  thing  not  seen  afore 
in  Englande ;  thei  wer  appareled  in  garmentes  long  and  brode,  wrought 
all  with  gold,  with  visers  and  cappes  of  gold ;  and  after  the  banket  doen, 
these  maskers  came  in  with  six  gentlemen  disguised  in  silke,  bearing 
iffe  torches,  and  desired  the  ladies  to  daunce  ;  some  were  content,  and 
ine  that  knewe  the  fashion  of  it  refused,  because  it  was  not  a  thing 
commonly  seen.  And  after  thei  daunced  and  commoned  together,  as 
the  fashion  of  the  maske  is,  thei  tooke  their  leave  and  departed,  and  so 
did  the  Quene  and  all  the  ladies." — Ha/Is  Chronicle. 

Other  joustes  were  held,  as  also  in  1516,  151 7,  and  1526.     In  1512, 

'  King  kept  his  Christmas  at  Greenwich  "  with  great  and  plentiful 

-•er,"  in  a  most  princely  manner ;   also  in   11521,  1^2^^,  1527,   1533, 

-37,   and    1543.      On    Feb.   8th,    1515,   Princess  Mary,   afterwards 

Queen,  was  born  here;    and  on   May  13th,  the  marriage   of  Mary, 

Queen  Dowager  of  France  (Henry's  sister),  with   Charles  Brandon, 

Duke  of  Suffolk,  was  publicly  solemnized  in  the  parish  church.     In 

1-27,  the  embassy  fi-om  the  French  King  to  Henry  VIII.  was  received 

here.     This  embassy,  that  it  might  correspond  with  the  English  Court 

in  magnificence,  consisteti  of  eight  persons  of  high  quality,  attended  by 

:    hundred   horse ;    they  were    received  with  the  greatest  honours, 

and  entevtained  after  a  more  sumptuous  manner  than  had  ever  been 

seen  before."     In  1533,  Sept.  7th,  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  afterwards 

Queen,  was  born  here.     In  1536,  on  May-day,  after  a  tournament, 

Anne  Bolcyn,  the  mother  of  the  Princess  Klizalwth,  was  arrested  here 

by  the  King's  order.     She  was  beheaded  on  the  19th  of  the  same  month 

in  the  Tower  of  London.    In  1540,  Jan.  6,  Henry's  marriage  with 


124  Queen  Elizabeth,  Pleazaunce, 

Anne  of  Cleves  was  solemnized  here ;  "  and  aboute  her  marying  ring 
was  written,  '  God  send  me  wel  to  kepe.'  "  This  was  a  most  iin- 
propitious  alliance,  for  Henry  took  a  dislike  to  Anne  of  Cleves  imme- 
diately after  their  marriage.  Cromwell  Earl  of  Essex,  the  wise  and 
faithful  minister  of  this  ungrateful  king,  was  beheaded  in  the  Tower,  in 
1540.  because  he  had  been  the  principal  promoter  of  this  marriage. 

A  procession  from  Greenwich  to  Westminster,  immediately  after  the 
nuptials  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Anne  of  Cleves,  is  thus  chronicled  by 
Holinshed: — "The  fourth  of  Feburarie  (1540),  the  King  and  she  rc- 
moued  to  Westminster  by  water,  on  whom  the  Lord  Maior  and  his 
brethren,  with  twclue  of  the  cheefe  companies  of  the  citie,  all  in  barges 
gorgeously  garnished  with  baners,  penons,  and  targets,  richlie  coucred, 
and  furnished  with  instruments  sweetly  sounding,  gaue  their  attendance: 
and  by  their  waie,  all  the  ships  shot  oft";  and  likewise  from  the  tower,  a 
great  peal  of  ordnance  went  oflFlustilie."  "  The  King,  after  Parliament  was 
ended,  kept  a  solempe  Christmas  at  Grenewiche  to  chere  his  nobles,  and  on 
the  twelfe  day  at  night,  came  in  the  hall  a  mount,  called  the  riche  mount. 
The  mount  was  set  full  of  riche  flowers  of  silke ;  the  braunches  wer 
grene  sattin,  and  the  flowers  flat  gold  of  damaske,  which  signified  Plan- 
tagenet.  On  the  top  stode  a  godly  bekon  gevyng  light ;  rounde  about 
the  bekon  sat  the  Kyng  and  five  other,  al  in  coates  and  cappes  of  right 
crimosin  velvet,  enbroudered  with  flat  golde  of  damaske ;  the  coates  set 
full  of  spangelles  of  gold.  And  four  woodhouses  drewe  the  mount  till 
it  came  before  the  Quene,  and  then  the  Kyng  and  his  compaignie  dis- 
cended  and  daunced ;  then  sodainly  the  mount  opened  and  out  came 
sixe  ladies,  all  in  crimosin  satin  and  plunket  enbroudered  with  gold  and 
perle,  and  French  hoddes  on  their  heddes,  and  thei  daunced  alone. 
Then  the  lordes  of  the  mount  took  the  ladies  and  daunced  together; 
and  the  ladies  re-entred,  and  the  mount  closed,  and  so  was  conveighed 
out  of  the  hall.  Then  the  Kyng  shifted  hym  and  came  to  the  Queue, 
and  sat  at  the  banqute  whiche  was  very  sumpteous." — Hall. 

The  fortunes  of  Duke  Humphrey's  Tower  were  very  changeful.  It 
w^as  sometimes  the  habitation  of  the  younger  branches  of  the  royal 
family ;  sometimes  the  residence  of  a  favourite  mistress  ;  sometimes  a 
prison,  and  sometimes  a  place  of  defence.  Mary  of  York,  fifth 
daughter  of  Edward  IV.,  died  at  the  Tower  in  Greenwich  Park,  in  1482. 
In  1543,  the  King  entertained  twenty-one  of  the  Scottish  nobility  here, 
whom  he  had  taken  prisoners  at  Salem  Moss,  and  gave  them  liberty 
without  ransom. 

King  Edward  VI.  resided  at  this  Manor,  where  he  kept  his 
Christinas  in  1552  ;  he  died  here  July  6th,  1553. 


and  Greenwich  Castle.  125 

Queen  Elizabeth  made  several  additions  to  the  Palace,  where  she 
kept  a  regular  Court.  In  1559,  July  2,  she  was  entertained  by  the 
citizens  of  London  with  a  muster  of  1400  men,  and  a  mock  fight  in 
Greenwich  Park ;  and  on  the  loth  of  the  same  month  she  gave  a  joust, 
mask,  and  sumptuous  banquet  in  the  Park,  to  several  Ambassadors, 
Lords,  and  Ladies.  At  a  Council  held  at  Greenwich  the  same  year,  it 
..as  determined  to  be  contrary  to  law  for  any  Nuncio  from  the  Pope  to 

liter  this  realm. 

In  1585,  June  29th,  she  received  here  the  Deputies  of  the  United 
Provinces,  who  offered  her  the  sovereignty  of  the  Low  Countries, 
Ahich,  from  motives  of  state  policy,  she  declined  to  accept.     In  1586, 

he  received  the  Danish  Ambassador  at  Greenwich;  and  in  1597, 
July  25th,  the  Ambassador  from  the  King  of  Poland. 

A   curious  picture  of  the   Queen   and   her    Court   at  Greenwich 

ppears  in  Paul  Hentzner's  "Journey  into  England,  in  1598,  and  the  ac- 
>.ount  of  his  reception  by  Elizabeth  is  minute  and  characteristic.  "  It 
v.as  here,"  says  Hentzner,  "  Elizabeth,  the  present  queen,  was  born,  and 
here  she  generally  resides,  particularly  in  summer,  for  the  delightfulness 
of  its  situation.  We  were  admitted  by  an  order  Mr.  Rogers  had  pro- 
cured for  us  from  the  Lord  Chamberlain  into  the  presence-chamber, 
hung  with  rich  tapestry,  and  the  floor,  after  the  English  fashion,  covered 
with  hay  (rushes),  through  which  the  Queen  passes  in  her  way  to 
chapel.     At  the  door  stood  a  gentleman  dressed  in  velvet,  with  a  gold 

Iiain,  whose  ofl[ice  was  to  introduce  to  the  Queen  any  persons  of  dis- 
i;nction  that  came  to  wait  on  her.  It  was  Sunday,  when  there  is 
usually  the  greatest  attendance  of  nobility.     In  the  same  hall  were  the 

\rchbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Bishop  of  London,  a  great  number  of 

ounsellors  of  state,  officers  of  the  crown,  and  gentlemen,  who  waited 
the  Queen's  coming  out,  which  she  did  from  her  own  apartment,  when 
it  was  time  to  go  to  prayers,  attended  in  the  following  manner: 

"  First  went  gentlemen,  barons,  earls,  knights  of  the  garter,  all  richly 
dressed,  and  bare-headed;  next  came  the  Chancellor,  bearing  the  seals 
in  a  Rxl  silk  purse,  between  two,  one  of  which  carried  the  royal  sceptre, 
the  other  the  sword  of  state,  in  a  red  scabbard,  studded  with  golden 
fleun-df-lis,  the  points  upwards. 

"  Next  came  the  Queen,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  her  age,  as  we  are 
told,  very  majestic  ;  her  face  oblong,  fair,  but  wrinkled  ;  her  eyes  small, 
yet  black  and  pleasant ;  a  nose  a  little  hooked  ;  her  lips  narrow,  and  her 
teeth  black  (a  defect  the  English  seem  subject  to,  from  their  too  great 
use  of  sugar);  she  had  in  the  ears  two  pearls  with  very  rich  drops; 
she  wore  fiilse  hair,  and  that  red ;  upon  her  head  she  bad  a  small  cruwa. 


1 26  Queen  Elizabeth,  Pleazaunce, 

reputed  to  be  made  of  some  of  the  gold  of  the  celebrated  Luneburg 
table.  Her  bosom  was  uncovered,  as  all  English  ladies  have  it  till 
they  marry;  and  she  had  on  a  necklace  of  exceeding  fine  jewels;  her 
hands  were  small,  her  fingers  long,  and  her  stature  neither  tall  nor  low  ; 
her  air  was  stately,  her  manner  of  speaking  mild  and  obliging.  Tluii 
day  she  was  dressed  in  white  silk,  bordered  with  pearls  of  the  size  of 
beans,  and  over  it  a  mantle  of  black  silk,  shot  with  silver  threads  \  her 
train  was  veiy  long,  the  end  of  it  borne  by  a  marchioness ;  instcid  of 
a  chain,  she  had  an  oblong  collar  of  gold  and  jewels. 

"  As  she  went  along  in  all  this  state  and  magnificence,  she  spoke 
very  graciously,  first  to  one,  then  to  another,  whether  foreign  ministers, 
or  those  who  attended  for  different  reasons,  in  English,  French,  or 
Italian ;  for,  besides  being  well  skilled  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  the  languages 
I  have  mentioned,  she  is  a  mistress  of  Spanish,  Scotch,  and  Dutch. 
W.  Slawata,  a  Bohemian  baron,  had  letters  to  present  to  her;  and  she, 
after  pulling  off  her  glove,  gave  him  her  right  hand  to  kiss,  sparkling 
with  rings  and  jewels,  a  mark  of  particular  favour.  Whenever  she 
turned  her  face,  as  she  was  going  along,  everybody  fell  down  on  their 
knees.  The  ladies  of  the  Court  followed  next  to  her,  very  handsome  and 
well-shaped,  and  for  the  most  part,  dressed  in  white.  She  was  guarded 
on  each  side  by  the  gentlemen  pensioners,  fifty  m  number,  with  gilt 
battle-axes.  In  the  ante-chapel,  where  we  were,  petitions  were  pre- 
sented to  her,  and  she  received  them  most  graciously,  which  occasioned 
the  acclamation  of.  Long  live  Queen  Elizabeth.  She  answered  it  with, 
/  thank  you,  my  good  people.  In  the  chapel  was  excellent  music ;  as 
soon  as  it  and  the  service  were  over,  which  scarce  exceeded  half- an- 
hour,  the  Queen  returned  in  the  same  state  and  order,  and  prepared  to 
go  to  dinner.  But  while  she  was  still  at  prayers,  we  saw  her  table  set 
out  with  the  following  solemnity : — 

"  A  gentleman  entered  the  room,  bearing  a  rod,  and  along  with  him 
another,  who  had  a  table-cloth,  which,  after  they  had  both  kneeled 
three  times,  with  the  utmost  veneration,  he  spread  upon  the  table ;  and 
after  kneeling  again  they  both  retired.  Then  came  two  others,  one  with 
the  rod  again,  the  other  with  a  salt-seller,  a  plate,  and  bread ;  when 
they  had  kneeled,  as  the  others  had  done,  and  placed  what  was  brought 
upon  the  table,  they  too  retired  with  the  same  ceremonies  perfonned 
by  the  first.  At  last  came  an  unmanied  lady  (we  were  told  she  was  a 
countess),  and  along  with  her  a  married  one,  bearing  a  tasting-knife ; 
the  fonner  was  dressed  in  white  silk,  who,  when  she  had  prepared  her- 
self three  times,  in  the  most  graceful  manner,  approached  the  table, 
rubbed  the  plates  with  bread  and  salt,  with  as  much  awe  as  if  the 


and  Greenwich  Castle.  127 

Queen  had  been  present  When  they  had  waited  there  a  little  while, 
tlie  yeoman  of  the  guard  entered,  bare-headed,  clothed  in  scarlet,  with 
u'olden  rose  upon  their  backs,  bringing  in  at  each  turn  a  course  of 
iwenty-four  dishes,  ser\'cd  in  plates,  most  of  them  gilt;  these  dishes 
were  received  by  gentlemen  in  the  same  order  they  were  brought,  and 
placed  upon  the  table,  while  the  lady-taster  gave  to  each  of  the  guard 
a  mouthfiil  to  eat,  of  the  particular  dish  he  had  brought,  for  feai-  of 
any  poison. 

■"  During  the  time  that  this  guard,  which  consists  of  the  tallest  and 
stoutest  men  that  can  be  found  in  all  England,  being  carefully  selected 
for  this  service,  were  bringing  dinner,  twelve  trumpets  and  two  kettle 
drums  made  the  hall  ring  for  halt-an-hour  together. 

"  At  the  end  of  all  this  ceremonial,  a  number  of  unmarried  ladies 
appeared,  wlio,  with  particular  selemnity,  lifted  the  meat  off  the  table, 
and  conveyed  it  into  the  Qiieen's  inner  and  more  private  chamber, 
where,  after  she  had  chosen  for  herself,  the  rest  goes  to  the  ladies  of 
the  Court.  The  Queen  diiies  and  sups  alone,  with  very  few  attendants ; 
and  it  is  very  seldom  that  anybody,  foreigner  or  native,  is  admitted  at 
that  time,  and  then  only  at  the  intercession  of  somebody  in  power." 

To  return  to  the  history  of  the  royal  abode.     King  James  I.  erected  a 

new  brick  front  to  the  Palace  towards  the  gardens ;   and  his  Queen, 

\  inie  of  Denmark,  laid  the  foundation  of  the  "  House  of  Delight," 

ar  the  Pai-k  ;  in  this  house  the  Governor  of  Greenwich  Hospital  after- 

irds  resided,  and  it  is  now  the  centre  building  of  the  Naval  Asylum. 

1  1606,  the  Princess  Mary,  daughter  of  James  I.,  was  christened  at 

(Ja'enwich  with  great  solemnity. 

King  Charles  I.  resided  much  at  the  Palace  previous  to  the  breaking 

lit  of  the    Parliamentary   War;    and  Henrietta  Maria,    his  Queen, 

lished  the  House  near  the  Park  begun  by  Anne  of  Denmark.     Inigo 

I'ines  was  employed  as  the  architect,  and  it  was  completed  in  r635,  as 

jipears  by  a  date  still  to  be  seen  on  the  front  of  the  building;  it  was 

imished  so  magnificently  that  it  far  surpassed  all  other  houses  of  the 

ind  in   England.     King  Charles  left  the  Palace  with  the  fiital  reso- 

ition  of  taking  his  joumey  northward,  and  the  turbulent  state  of  the 

limes  prevented  him  from  again  visiting  it.    Greenwich  Castle  was  con- 

wdered  a  place  of  some  strength  and  consequence  by  the  Parliament, 

in    the  time  of  the    Commonwealtii.      On  the  restoration    of   King 

Charles  II.,  in  1660,  this  Manor,  with  the   Park,  and    other  royal 

demesnes,  again  reverted  to  the  crown.     The  King,  finding  the  old 

palace  greatly    decayed  by  time,  and  the   want  of  necess<iry  repairs 

during  the  Commonwealth,  ordered  it  to  be  taken  down,  and  com- 


12S  Kennington  Palace. 

mcnccd  the  erection  of  a  most  magnificent  palace  of  freestone,  one  wing 
of  which  was  completed  (now  forming,  with  additions,  the  west  wing 
of  the  Royal  Hospital),  where  he  occasionally  resided,  but  made  no 
further  progress  in  the  work.  The  Architect  he  employed  was  Webb, 
son-in-law  of  Inigo  Jones,  from  whose  papers  the  designs  were  made. 

In  1685  it  was  made  part  of  the  jointure  of  Queen  Mary,  consort  of 
King  James  II.,  but  remained  in  the  same  state  till  the  reign  of  William 
and  Mary,  whence  its  history  merges  in  that  of  the  Royal  Hospital.* 

At  the  entrance  to  Queen  Elizabeth's  Armoury  in  the  Tower  of 
London,  are  two  grotesque  figures,  of  the  time  of  Edward  VI.,  called 
"  Gin"  and  *'  Beer,"  which  Meyrick  supposes  to  have  been  originally 
placed  in  the  great  Hall  of  the  Palace  at  Greenwich,  over  the  doors 
which  led  to  tlie  buttery  and  larder. 


Kennington  Palace,  and  the  Princes  of  Wales. 

Upon  the  triangular  plot  of  ground  near  Kennington  Cross,  may  be 
traced  to  this  day  fragments  of  a  royal  palace,  the  retreat  of  our  ancient 
Kings,  dating  from  Noiman  times.  The  site  or  manor  belonged  to  the 
Crown  in  the  Saxon  times,  its  name  Chenitune,  in  Domesday,  signifying 
the  place  or  toivn  of  the  King.  King  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  in  1189, 
granted  to  Sir  Robert  Percy  the  custody  of  this  manor  ;  and  appointed 
him  steward,  with  wages  of  fourpence  a  day.  At  Christmas,  1231, 
Henry  III.  held  his  court  here,  when  Hubert  de  Burgh,  justiciary  of 
England,  provided  everything  requisite  for  the  regal  festival.  Next  year 
Hubert  was  removed  from  his  office,  having  been  charged  with  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanours,  but  refused  to  attend  the  summons  of  the 
court.  The  custody  of  the  manor  was  granted  to  various  persons  by 
Henry  III.,  Edward  II.,  and  Edward  III.  The  latter  was  at  Kenning- 
ton in  1340,  attended  by  his  eldest  son,  the  Black  Prince,  then  only 
ten  years  of  age.  He  died  in  1376,  soon  after  which  his  son  Richard 
was  created  Prince  of  Wales;  and  in  the  same  year  the  citizens 
of  London  made  a  Show,  or  Mummery,  "for  the  disport  of  the 
young  Prince,"  who  remained  at  Kennington,  with  his  mother,  his  uncle 
the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  the  Earls  of  Cambridge,  Hertford,  W^arwick, 
and  Suffolk.  This  Show  took  place  in  the  night,  when  130  citizens, 
disguised  and  well  horsed,  in  a  Mummery,  with  sound  of  trumpets, 
sackbuts,  comets,  shalmes,  and  other  minstrels,  and  innumerable  torch- 
lights of  wax,  rode  from  Newgate,  through   Cheap  over  the  Bridge, 


*  See  Greenwich :  its  History,  Antiquities,  b'c    By  H.  S.  Richardson.     1834. 


Elthani  Palace.  129 

through  Southwark>  to  Kennington.  First  rode  48  Esquires,  in  red 
coats,  and  gowns  of  Say  or  Sendall,  with  vi/ors  on  their  faces.  Then 
came  48  Knights,  in  the  same  Hvery.  Then  one,  richly  arrayed  Hke  an 
Emperor ;  then  one  like  a  Pope,  and  24  Cardinals.  These  Maskers 
were  received  at  the  palace  by  the  Prince,  his  Mother,  and  the  Lords. 
The  Mummers  played  with  a  pair  of  dice  with  the  Prince,  who  always 
won  the  stakes,  among  which  was  a  Boule,  Cup,  and  Ring  of  Gold. 
The  Mummers  were  feasted,  the  Music  sounded,  and  the  Prince  and 
Lords  and  Mummers  danced  ;  and  the  jollity  ended  with  their  drinking 
and  departure.  Hither  came  a  deputation  of  the  chiefest  citizens  to 
Richard  IL,  "before  the  old  king  was  departed,"  "to  accept  him  for 
their  true  and  lawfull  king  and  gouemor."  Kennington  was  the  occa- 
sional residence  of  Henry  IV.  and  VL  Henry  VIL  was  here  on 
the  Eve  of  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude,  when  he  went  to  dine  with  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbur)',  at  Lambeth  Palace ;  after  dinner,  with  a 
goodly  company  of  lords,  he  went  by  land  towards  London,  his  nobles 
riding  after  the  guise  of  France  upon  small  hackenies,  tivo  and  tivo  upon 
a  horse ;  and  at  London  Bridge,  the  Mayor  and  his  brethren,  and  the 
crafts,  received  the  King,  who  proceeded  to  Grace-Church  comer,  and 
so  to  the  Tower. 

Katherine  of  Aragon  was  here  for  a  few  days.  James  L  settled  the 
manor  on  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  his  eldest  son,  and  next  on  Prince 
Charles  (afterwards  Charles  L),  and  it  has  ever  since  been  held  as  part 
of  the  estate  of  the  Princes  of  Wales.  In  161 7,  Prince  Charles  leased 
the  manor  of  Kennington,  but  retained  the  site  of  the  palace  and  its 
garden,  until  he  came  to  the  crown  in  1625;  after  which  the  palace 
was  taken  down,  and  there  was  built  on  the  site  a  manor-house,  de- 
scribed in  1656  as  an  old,  low,  timber  building  ;  but  of  the  palace  oflices 
there  remained  the  stable,  a  long  building  of  flint  and  stone,  used  as  a 
bam:  this  was  taken  down  in  1795. 


Eltham  Palace. 

Eight  miles  south  of  London,  on  the  Maidstone  road,  lies  the  town 
of  Eltham  ;  and  hard  by,  are  the  remains  of  a  royal  palace,  which  was, 
for  centuries,  a  favourite  abode  of  English  monarchs.  The  approach  is 
through  an  avenue  of  noble  forest  trees.  East  of  the  palace,  and  extend- 
ing over  five  acres,  are  the  original  garden,  massive  walls,  and  a  lofty 
archway ;  and  the  entrance  to  the  palace  on  the  north  is  across  an  ivy- 
mantleil  bridge  of  four  groined  arches,  of  massive  yet  beautiful  design, 
♦  K 


130  EUham  Palace. 

which  probably  replaced  the  drawbridge  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV. 
The  manor  was  held  by  the  soldier-bishop,  Odo  of  Baycux,  by  De 
Vescis,  and  de  Mandevilles,  and  de  Scropes ;  but  the  Crown  long  pre- 
served a  moiety,  and  now  holds  its  entire  extent.  The  manor  was 
granted,  in  1663,  to  Sir  John  Shaw,  Knight,  whose  family  derive  them- 
selves from  the  county  palatine  of  Chester.  Hugo  de  Shaw,  of  that 
county,  having  distinguished  himself,  under  the  Earl  of  Chester,  in  an 
enterprise  against  Llewellyn,  Prince  of  Wales,  in  the  Castle  of  Ruthin, 
had  several  manors,  and  the  daughter  of  the  Earl  given  him  in  marriage. 
One  of  the  titles  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  is  Earl  of  Eltham. 

The  palace  was  built,  most  probably,  on  part  of  those  premises  which 
were  granted  by  King  Edward  I.,  in  his  ninth  year  (1281),  to  John  de 
Vesci,  and  perhaps  on  the  very  site  of  the  house  where  Henry  HI.,  in 
his  fifty-fifth  year  (1279),  kept  his  Christmas  publicly,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  old  time  ;  being  accompanied  by  the  Queen  and  all  the 
gi-eat  men  of  the  realm.  Speaking  of  these  festivities,  Lambarde  remarks, 
"  And  this  (belike)  was  the  first  (warming  of  the  bouse  (as  I  may  call 
it),  after  that  Bishop  Beke  had  finished  his  work.  For  I  do  not  hereby 
gather  that  hithei-to  the  King  had  any  property  in  it,  forasmuch  as  the 
princes  in  those  daies  used  commonly  both  to  sojourn  for  their  plea- 
sures, and  to  pass  their  set  solemnities  in  abbaies  and  bishops'  houses." 
Edward  II.  resided  at  Eltham  Palace,  where  in  1315,  his  queen  (Isabel), 
was  delivered  of  a  son,  who,  at  twelve  years  of  age,  was  created  Earl  of 
Cornwall,  but  was  commonly  called  John  of  Eltham,  from  the  place  of 
his  birth ;  fiom  hence  the  hall  probably  derives  its  local  name,  "  King 
John's  Barn." 

The  Statutes  of  Eltham,  containing  precedents  for  the  government 
of  the  King's  house,  were  made  at  this  palace.  King  Edward  III.,  in 
the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  held  a  parliament  here ;  and  thirty-four 
years  afterwards,  gave  a  princely  reception  to  John,  King  of  France 
(who  had  formeily  been  his  prisoner),  entertaining  him  with  great  mag- 
nificence. The  same  monarch  held  another  parliament  here  in  1375; 
when  the  Lords  and  Commons  attended  with  a  petition,  praying  him 
to  create  his  grandson,  Richard  of  Bordeaux  (son  of  the  Black  Prince 
and  heir  apparent  to  the  realm),  Prince  of  Wales.  Lionel,  his  third  son 
(guardian  of  the  realm),  kept  his  Christmas  here  when  the  King  was  in 
France  in  1347.  Richard  II.,  who  "  resided  much  at  Eltham,  and  took 
great  delight  in  the  pleasantness  of  the  place,"  entertained  Leo,  King  of 
Armenia,  a  fugitive  from  the  Turks,  at  Christmas,  1386.  Froissart, 
here  a  frequent  guest,  records  how  on  a  Sunday  afternoon,  in  1364, 
Edward  and  Philippa  waited  at  the  gates,  to  receive  the  fallen  monarch ; 


Eltham  Palace.  Ijr 

and  how,  between  that  time  and  supper,  in  his  honour  were  many 
grand  dances  and  carols,  at  which  the  young  Lord  de  Courcy  distin- 
guished himself  by  singing  and  dancing.  This  fascinating  young  noble- 
man contrived  to  win  and  wed  the  Princess  Royal  of  England. 
Froissart  mentions  a  secret  parliament,  or  rather  council,  which  was 
held  during  his  stay  at  the  palace.  It  was  while  wasting  his  time  at 
Eltham,  that  the  Parliament  sent  Richard  II.  a  bold  message  and  re- 
monstrance on  his  arbitrary  conduct.  Parliament  met  here  to  arrange 
the  King's  second  marriage  with  Isabella  of  Valois,  who  was  brought 
here  after  her  bridal,  and  set  out  from  the  gates  to  her  coronation 
Henry  IV.  kept  his  last  Christmas  here  in  141 2,  when  he  feasted  in  fear, 
for  the  Duke  of  York,  so  report  ran,  designed  to  scale  the  walls,  and 
rob  him  of  life  and  crown  together ;  and  here  he  actually  sickened  in 
death-like  trances  of  his  mortal  disease.  Two  years  afterwards, 
Henry  V.  made  great  preparations  for  feasting  at  Christmas,  but  sud- 
denly left  the  palace  in  consequence  of  an  idle  report  of  a  conspiracy  to 
assassinate  him,  in  which  Sir  John  Oldham  was  said  to  be  implicated. 
Henry  VI.  made  Eltham  his  principal  residence,  keeping  his  Christmas 
here  with  splendour  and  feasting  in  1429.  Yet,  in  this  palace  un- 
happy Henry,  unconscious  of  his  critical  position,  forsook  his  studies  to 
hunt  and  follow  field  sports,  under  the  watchful  eye  of  his  keeper,  the 
Earl  of  March,  while  his  wife  and  son,  for  whom  he  had  restored  the 
palace,  were  sheltered  in  Harlech  Castle.  Edward  IV.,  to  his  great 
cost,  repaired  his  house  at  Eltham,  and  in  1482  kept  a  splendid 
Christmas  here,  with  great  feastings,  two  thousand  guests  feeding  at  his 
expense  every  day.  His  fourth  daughter,  the  Princess  Bridget  Planta- 
genet,  was  bom  at  this  palace,  in  14.S0:  she  was  consigned,  when  Httle 
more  than  eight  years  of  age,  to  the  care  of  the  Abbess  of  Dart  ford 
Nunnery,  of  which  she  afterwards  became  the  Superior.  Edward  IV. 
18  the  first  Sovereign  on  record  who  built  any  part  of  Eltham  Palace, 
and  the  Hall  is  attributed  to  him.  Henry  VII.  built  a  handsome  front 
to  the  palace  towards  the  moat,  and  was  usually  resident  here  ;  and,  as 
appears  by  a  record  in  the  Office  of  Arms,  most  commonly  dined  in  the 
great  hall,  and  all  his  officers  kept  their  tables  in  it. 

Henry  VIII.,  in  151  -  and  1537,  kept  his  Whitsuntide  and  Christmas 
•  Kltham ;  where,  in  the  former  year,  he  created  Sir  Edward  Stanley, 
banneret,  Lord  Monteagle,  for  his  services  against  the  Scots  at  Flodden 
Field.  Some  contagious  disorder  raging  at  that  time  in  London,  none 
were  permitted  to  dine  in  the  King's  hall  but  the  officers  of  arms,  who 
at  the  serving  of  the  King's  second  course  of  meat,  according  to  custom, 
came  and  proclaimed  the  King's  style  and  title,  and  also  tlut  of  the  new 

K  2 


132  Eltham  Palace. 

lord.  His  residence,  however,  was  only  occasional,  Greenwich  being 
preferred,  where  "  the  empnrkcd  groundes"  could  as  well  be  enjoyed  as 
at  Eltham.  The  bricks  which  had  been  provided  for  the  repair  of 
Eltham  Palace  were  taken  from  the  kilns  there,  and  used  in  the  im- 
provement and  extension  of  the  royal  residence  of  Placentia,  at  Green- 
wich. Queen  Elizabeth,  who  was  born  at  Greenwich,  was  frequently 
carried  thence  to  Eltham,  when  an  infant,  for  the  benefit  of  the  air ; 
and  she  visited  this  palace,  in  a  summer  excursion  round  the  country,  in 
1559.  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  was  Keeper  of  Eltham  palace  in  her 
reign  ;  and  after  him  Lord  Cobham,  who  had  a  grant  of  that  office  in 
1592.  The  palace  was  then  long  neglected,  but  it  was  not  finally  de- 
serted by  royalty  until  the  seventeenth  century,  James  I.  having  re- 
mained a  short  time  at  Eltham,  in  161 2,  which  is  the  last  authentic 
record  of  his  having  visited  it.  At  the  commencement  of  the  Civil 
War,  the  palace  was  in  the  occupation  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  the 
Parliamentary  General,  who  died  there,  September  13,  1646,  but  was 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  In  1649,  after  the  death  of  Charles  I., 
Eltham,  being  much  out  of  repair,  was  sold  for  the  materials,  valued  at 
2753/.;  and  the  manor  and  entire  property  sold  to  different  persons,  the 
whole  of  which  reverted  to  the  Crown,  at  the  Restoration  in  1660. 

Eltham  Palace  was  quadrangular  in  plan,  and  surrounded  by  a  moat, 
and  external  wall.  The  entrance  was  on  the  north,  but  there  was  a 
drawbridge  on  the  south  side,  where  is  now  a  bank  of  earth.  The 
hall,  its  principal  feature,  rose  above  the  other  edifices;  it  is  a  perfect 
specimen  of  the  great  Banqueting  Halls  of  the  1,13th  century,  and  was 
at  once  an  audience  chamber  and  refectory  of  grand  dimensions,  100 
feet  in  length,  55  feet  in  height,  and  36  feet  broad.  The  high-pitched 
roof  is  of  oak,  with  hammer-beams,  carved  pendants  and  braces,  sup- 
ported on  corbels  of  hewn  stone ;  the  hearth  and  louvre  have  disappeared, 
but  there  are  still  remains  of  the  minstrels'  gallery,  and  the  oak  screen 
below  it,  with  doorways  leading  to  the  kitchen,  butteries,  and  cellars. 
More  than  a  century  ago,  the  hall  was  converted  into  a  barn.  Through 
the  influence  of  the  Princess  Sophia  of  Gloucester,  who  frequently  visited 
the  palace,  some  substantial  repairs  were  effected  at  a  cost  of  700/. 
Over  the  chief  entrances,  are  the  falcon,  the  fetterlock,  and  the  rose-en- 
sok'il,  the  badges  of  the  royal  builder,  Edward  IV.,  who  is  represented 
by  Skelton,  as  saying : 

"  I  made  Nottingham  a  palace  royal, 
Windsor,  Eltham,  and  many  other  mo'." 

The  elegant  pointed  windows  have  been  much  injured  from  being 
bricked  up,  to  exclude  the  weather ;  delicate  tracery  is  mutilated,  and 


Shetie,  or  Richmond  Palace.  133 

the  parapets  and  enrichments  have  disappeared.  The  framework  which 
supported  the  louvre  has  long  been  destroyed  ;  but,  as  the  hearth  was 
not  substituted  by  a  recessed  fire-place  in  the  side  wall,  it  is  probable  that 
the  old  method  of  warming  the  room  was  adhered  to  till  its  desecration, 
and  that  afterwards  the  louvre  was  removed  as  useless. 

The  situation  of  Eltham  Palace  upon  an  elevated  site,  in  some 
measure  protected  it  from  any  sudden  attack,  whilst  a  series  of  subter- 
ranean passages  evinces  the  care  that  was  bestowed  in  providing 
means  for  the  security  of  the  royal  inmates,  in  case  of  treason  or 
other  emergency.  The  existence  of  a  series  of  underground  pas- 
sages running  in  the  direction  of  Blackheath  to  Greenwich  had  long  been 
popularly  believed ;  but  nothing  certain  was  known  on  the  subject 
until  1834,  since  which  Messrs.  Clayton  and  King  have  explored  these 
military  stratagems  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  have  cleared  about  700 
feet  of  the  passages,  which  were  partially  filled  with  rubbish.  They 
descended  a  ladder  below  a  trap-door  in  the  yard  on  the  south  front  of 
the  hall,  and  entered  a  subterranean  room,  whence  a  narrow-arched  pas- 
sage, about  10  feet  in  length,  conducted  them  to  "  a  series  of  passages, 
with  decoys,  stairs,  and  shafts,  some  vertical,  and  others  on  an  in- 
clined plane,  which  were  once  used  for  admitting  air,  and  for  hurling 
down  missiles  or  pitch-balls,"  with  deadly  effect  in  case  of  attack,  ac- 
cording to  the  mode  of  defence  practised  in  the  old  time.  The  remains 
of  two  iron  gates,  completely  carbonized,  were  found  in  the  passage 
under  the  moat.  There  is  a  tradition  that  at  Middle  Park,  through 
which  the  passages  are  believed  to  nm,  there  are  underground  apartments 
of  sufficient  extent  to  accommodate  sixty  horses.  The  date  of  these 
passages  is  assigned  to  that  of  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  fourteenth  century. 


Shene,  or  Richmond  Palace. 

This  celebrated  palace  was  anciently  named  Suene  or  Sheen  (Saxon 
.^oplcndent),  from  its  delightful  situation.  It  was  subsequently  styled 
Richmond,  by  command  of  King  Henry  VII.,  who  inherited  the  earl- 
dom of  Richmond  in  Yorkshire  from  his  father,  Edmund  Tudor,  on 
whom  it  was  bestowed  by  his  half-brother,  Henry  VI.  The  manor 
was  given  by  Henry  I.  to  one  of  the  family  of  Belet,  to  hold  by  the 
service,  or  serjeantry,  of  officiating  as  chief  butler  to  the  King.  A 
palace  is  said  to  have  been  erected  on  his  manor  at  Shene  by 
Edward  III.,  where  death  terminated  his  long  and  victorious  ivig^  on 


1 34  Shene,  or  Richmojid  Palace. 

the  2ist  of  June,  1377.  His  grandson  and  successor,  Richard  II., 
passed  most  of  his  time  at  this  place  during  the  life  of  his  first  Queen, 
Anne  of  Bohemia ;  and,  on  her  death,  which  happened  at  Shene,  in 
1394'  ^^^  ^'^^  ^°  violently  afflicted  "  that  he  beside  cursing  the  place  where 
she  died,  did  also  for  anger  throwe  downe  the  buildings,  unto  which 
the  former  kings  being  wearied  of  the  citie  were  wont  for  pleasure  to 
resort."  The  palace  remained  in  ruins  during  the  reign  of  Henry  IV. ; 
but  Henry  V.,  soon  after  he  ascended  the  throne,  restored  the  edifice  to 
its  former  magnificence.  Thomas  Elmham  says  it  was  '•  a  delightful 
mansion,  of  curious  and  costly  workmanship,  and  befitting  the  cha- 
racter and  condition  of  a  king."  In  the  sixth  year  ot  Edward  IV.,  his 
Queen,  Elizabeth  Woodville,  had  a  grant  of  the  manor  for  her  life.  In 
1492,  Henry  VII.  held  a  grand  tournament  at  this  place,  when  in  a 
combat  between  Sir  James  Parker,  Knight,  and  Hugh  Vaughan,  Gentle- 
man Usher,  Sir  James  was  slain  at  the  first  course,  by  a  false  helmet 
being  stricken  into  his  mouth. 

On  the  2 1  St  of  December,  1498,  the  King  being  at  Shene,  a  fire  broke 
out  in  his  lodging  in  the  palace,  and  burnt  from  nine  o'clock  till  mid- 
night, destroying  a  great  part  of  the  old  buildings,  together  with  hang- 
ings, beds,  apparel,  plate,  and  many  jewels.  The  restoration  of  the 
palace  was  forthwith  commenced.  Another  fire  occurred  in  the  King's 
chamber  in  January,  1506-7,  when  much  rich  furniture  was  consumed; 
and  in  July  following,  a  new  gallery,  in  which  the  King  and  his  son. 
Prince  Arthur,  had  been  walking  a  short  time  previously,  fell  down,  but 
without  injuring  any  person.  In  the  same  year,  Philip  I.  of  Spain,  who 
had  been  driven  on  the  coast  of  England  by  a  storm,  was  entertained  by 
King  Henry  at  Richmond,  "  where  many  notable  feates  of  armes  were 
proved,  of  tylte,  tourney,  and  baniers."  Henry  VII.  probably  had  a 
picture  gallery  and  library  at  Richmond.  A  painting  of  Henry  V.  and 
his  family ;  the  Marriage  of  Henry  VI.,  and  that  of  Henry  VII. ;  which 
were  at  Strawberry  Hill,  are  supposed  to  have  been  painted  at  this  time, 
as  decorations  for  the  palace.  Henry  VII.  died  here,  21st  of  April, 
T509.  Henry  VIII.  celebrated  his  Christmas  at  Richmond  in  the  year 
of  his  accession  to  the  throne ;  and  on  January  19  following,  a  tourna- 
ment was  held  here,  when  the  King,  for  the  first  time,  pubUcly  engaged 
in  chivalrous  exercises.  On  New  Year's  day,  151 1,  Queen  Katherinc, 
at  Richmond  was  delivered  of  a  son,  who  was  baptized  Henry,  after  his 
father ;  but  on  February  23  he  died  at  his  birth-place,  and  was  interred 
at  Westminster.  Hall,  in  his  Chronicle,  says  that  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.,  who  visited  England  in  1522,  was  lodged  at  Richmond. 
In  a  curious  account  of  this  visit,  provision  was  made  at  "  Rychemount" 


SJteiie^  or  Richmottd  Palace.  135 

for  "  X  mealys,"  "  with  Gascon  wyne  and  Rhenyssh  wyne,  plentye." 
In  1526,  the  King  having  received  fiom  Cardinal  Wolsey  the  magnifi- 
cent present  of  his  newly-erected  palace  oi'  Hampton  Court,  he  obtained 
in  return  permission  to  reside  at  Richmond.  This  excited  the  spleen  of 
Wolsey's  enemies ;  when  the  common  people,  and  especially  such  as 
had  been  servants  to  Henry  VH.,  saw  the  Cardinal  keep  house  in  the 
manor  royal  of  Richmond,  which  that  monarch  so  highly  esteemed,  it 
was  a  marvel  to  hear  how  they  grudged,  saying — "  So,  a  butcher's  dogge 
doth  lie  in  the  manor  of  Richmond."  In  1541,  the  royal  demesnes  here 
were  granted  to  Anne  of  Cleves  (after  her  voluntary  divorce  from  King 
Henry),  so  long  as  she  should  reside  in  this  country.  In  August,  1554, 
Queen  Mary,  with  her  newly-wedded  consort,  Philip  oi  Spain,  removed 
from  Windsor  (where  he  had  been  installed  a  Knight  of  the  Garter),  to 
this  palace  ;  and  some  of  the  State  Papers  show  that  she  was  here  at 
other  times.  Richmond  was  also  a  favourite  place  of  residence  with  her 
successor  Elizabeth,  who  here  entertained  Eric  the  Fourth,  King  of 
Sweden,  when  he  visited  England  to  make  her  a  proposal  of  marriage. 
It  was  in  this  palace  that,  in  1596,  Anthony  Rudd,  Bishop  of  St. 
David's,  incurred  Elizabeth's  displeasure,  by  preaching  before  the  Court 
on  the  infirmities  of  old  age ;  and  at  the  same  time  applying  his  re- 
marks personally  to  her  Majesty,  and  showing  how  time  had  "  furrowed 
her  face,  and  besprinkled  her  hair  with  the  meal."  But  a  few  years 
before,  being  then  at  Richmond,  she  was  so  fond  of  youthful  amuse- 
ments that  "  six  or  seven  gallyards  of  a  mominge,  besides  musycke  and 
synginge,  were  her  ordinary  exercise." 

Of  the  last  hours  of  Elizabeth,  who  died  here,  we  find  these  very  inte- 
resting records  in  the  Diary  of  John  Manningham,  laiv-student,  1602-3: 
— On  the  23rd  March,  the  rumours  respecting  her  Majesty's  health 
\vere  most  alarming.  The  public  were  even  doubtful  whether  she  was 
actually  alive.  In  satisfaction  of  his  curiosity  our  Diarist  proceeded  to 
the  palace  at  Richmond,  where  the  great  business  was  in  progress.  He 
found  assembled  there  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Lord  Keeper, 
and  others  of  the  higlRst  official  dignitaries.  "  The  Queen  still  lived,  and 
the  ordinary  daily  religious  services  were  still  kept  up  within  the  sombre 
palace.  Dr.  Parry  preached  before  the  assembled  visitors,  and  our 
Diarist  was  permitted  to  be  one  of  the  audience.  The  sermon  was  as 
Httle  connected  as  could  be  with  the  urgent  circumstances  which  must 
have  drawn  off  the  thoughts  of  his  congregation,  but  in  the  preacher's 
prayers  both  before  and  after  his  discourse  he  interceded  for  her  Majesty 
so  fciTently  and  pathetically,  that  few  eyes  were  dry." 

Service  over,  Mauningham  dined   in  the  privy  chamber  with  Dii 


1 36  S/iciic,  or  Richmond  Palace. 

Parry  and  a  select  clerical  company,  who  recounted  to  him  the  particu- 
lars of  the  Queen's  illness ;  how  for  a  fortnight  she  had  been  over- 
whelmed with  melancholy,  sitting  for  hours  with  eyes  fixed  upon  one 
object,  unable  to  sleep,  refusing  food  and  medicine,  and  until  within  the 
last  two  or  three  days  declining  even  to  go  to  bed.  It  was  the  opinion 
of  her  physicians  that  if  at  an  early  period  she  could  have  been  per- 
suaded to  use  means  she  would  unquestionably  have  recovered  ;  but  she 
would  not,  " and  princes,"  our  Diarist  remarks,  " must  not  be  forced.' 
Her  fatal  obstinacy  brought  her  at  length  into  a  condition  which  was 
irremediable.  For  two  days  she  had  lain  "  in  a  manner  speechless,  very 
pensive  and  silent," — dying  of  her  own  perverseness.  When  roused,  she 
showed  by  signs  that  she  still  retained  her  faculties  and  memory,  but  the 
inevitable  hour  was  fast  approaching.  The  day  before,  at  the  instance 
of  Dr.  Parry,  she  had  testified  by  gestures  her  constancy  in  the  Protes- 
tantism "  which  she  had  caused  to  be  professed,"  and  had  hugged  the 
hand  of  the  archbishop  when  he  urged  upon  her  a  hopeful  consideration 
of  the  joys  of  a  future  life.  In  these  particulars  our  Diarist  takes  us 
nearer  to  the  dying  bed  of  the  illustrious  Queen  than  any  other  writer 
with  whom  we  are  acquainted.  Dr.  Parry  remained  with  the  Queen  to 
the  last.  It  was  amidst  his  prayers  that  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning 
which  followed  Manningham's  visit  to  the  palace  she  ceased  to  breathe. 

Not  an  instant  was  lost ;  at  the  very  earliest  moment,  in  less  than 
four  hours  after  the  Queen  had  expired  at  Richmond,  a  meeting  of  the 
Council  was  held  at  Whitehall.  A  proclamation  already  prepared  by 
Cecil,  and  settled  by  the  anxious  King  of  Scotland,  was  produced  and 
signed.  At  ten  o'clock  the  gates  of  Whitehall  were  thrown  open. 
Cecil,  with  a  roll  of  paper  in  his  hand,  issued  forth  at  the  head  of  a 
throng  of  gentlemen,  and  with  the  customary  formalities  proclaimed  the 
accession  of  King  James. 

The  Plague  raged  greatly  in  London  at  the  time  of  the  accession  of 
James  I.;  in  consequence  of  which  the  Exchequer  and  other  Courts  of 
Law  were  removed  to  Richmond ;  as  they  were  again,  on  the  same 
account  in  1625.  In  1610,  the  manor,  with  the  palace  and  park  was 
settled  on  Heniy,  Prince  of  Wales,  his  heirs  and  successoi-s,  Kings  of 
England,  for  ever.  The  Prince  resided  at  Richmond  in  1605,  and  he 
kept  house  here  in  161 2,  in  which  year  his  death  took  place.  In  the 
accounts  of  his  expenses  are  payments  to  De  Caus,  the  French  engi- 
neer, who  appears  to  have  been  employed  by  the  Prince  upon  works 
at  Richmond  House  and  Shene. 

In  16 1 7,  the  royal  estate  at  Richmond  was  granted  to  Charles,  Prince 
of  Wales,  who  often  resided  here  after  he  became  King  ;  and  had  here 


Skene,  or  Richmond  Palace.  1 37 

a  large  collection  of  pictures.  In  1627,  the  estate  was  settled  on  the 
Queen,  Heniietta  Maria,  as  part  of  her  dower.  In  1636,  a  masque 
was  performed  before  the  King  and  Queen  at  Richmond,  by  Lord 
Buckhurst,  and  Edward  Sackville,  afterwards  Earl  of  Dorset.  After 
the  execution  of  the  King  in  1649,  a  survey  of  the  palace  was  taken, 
and  showed  there  to  be  a  spacious  hall,  with  clock-turret ;  privy  lodg- 
ings, three  storeys  high,  ornamented  with  fourteen  turrets  ;  a  chapel, 
with  cathedral  seats  and  pews ;  the  privy  garden,  with  open  and  covered 
galleries,  &c.  The  palace  was  sold  to  Sir  Gregory  Norton,  a  member 
of  the  High  Court  of  Justice,  who  signed  the  warrant  for  the  execution 
of  Charles  I. ;  and  who,  probably,  resided  in  some  part  of  the  palace 
buildings.  Shortly  after  the  Restoration,  several  boats,  laden  with 
rich  and  curious  effigies,  formerly  belonging  to  Charles  I.,  were  brought 
from  Richmond  to  Whitehall.  On  the  restoration  of  the  Richmond 
estate  to  the  Queen-mother,  Sir  Edward  Villiers,  father  of  the  first 
Earl  of  Jersey,  had  a  grant  of  the  royal  house  and  manor,  which  he 
afterwards  re-leased  to  King  James  II.;  whose  son,  known  in  history 
as  the  Pretender,  was  (according  to  Burnet),  nursed  at  Richmond. 

Next,  in  the  year  1770,  the  manor  was  granted  to  Queen  Charlotte, 
Gc-orge  III.'s  consort ;  from  which  grant  was  excepted  the  site  of  the 
palace,  then  held  under  lease  fiom  the  Crown  ;  nor  did  it  include  the 
royal  park,  inclosed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  Wolsey  occasionally  re- 
sided in  the  lodge,  described  as  "  a  pleasant  residence  for  a  private  gentle- 
man." In  1 707,  Queen  Anne  demised  it  to  James,  Duke  of  Ormond,  who 
rebuilt  the  lodge,  and  resided  there  until  1 7 15,  when  having  been  impeached 
as  an  adherent  of  the  Pretender,  he  privately  withdrew  from  his  hous 
at  Richmond,  and  went  to  Paris.  In  1 721,  the  property  was  sold  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  George  II.,  who  frequently  retired  to  Rich- 
mond ;  and  his  Queen,  Caroline,  built  here  a  menagerie,  a  hermitage, 
and  a  mystic  "  Merlin's  Cave."  George  III.  occasionally  resided  here. 
Some  time  after\vard8,  the  Lodge  was  taken  down,  and  the  foundations 
were  bid  for  a  new  palace;  but  the  building  was  not  proceeded  with. 
In  the  grounds  of  one  of  the  Lodges  in  the  Park  is  a  small  Mount, 
whereon  Henry  VI 11.  is  reported  to  have  stood,  when  watching  the 
ascent  of  a  r(x:ket  from  the  Tower,  to  announce  the  execution  of  Anne 
Boleyn  ;  on  the  day  after  which,  Henry  was  wedded  to  Jane  Seymour. 
In  1834,  some  labourers,  when  digging  near  Oliver's  Mound  (where 
Cromwell  is  said  to  have  had  a  camp),  discovered  the  skeletons  of  three 
pa-sons,  buried  about  three  tect  from  the  surface.  There  is  no  lack  of  deer 
at  Richmond;  the  venison  is  stated  to  be  the  finest  belonging  tothc  Crown; 
and  about  sixty  brace  of  bucks  are  annually  supplied  from  tiiis  park. 


138  Slicne,  or  Richmond  Palace. 

Different  relijjious  communities  were  founded  at  Shene ;  as  a  Convent 
of  Carmelite  Friars,  by  Edward  II.;  a  Priory  of  Carthusian  Monks,  by 
Henry  V.;  and  a  Convent  of  Observant  Friars,  by  Henry  VII. 
Within  the  walls  of  the  Carthusian  convent,  Perkin  Warbeck  sought 
an  asylum,  entreating  the  prior  to  beg  his  life  of  the  King :  he  was  after- 
wards executed  for  attempting  to  break  out  of  the  Tower. 

On  Richmond  green  remains  the  entrance  gateway  to  the  Wardrobe 
Court  of  the  old  palace;  near  which  long  grew  a  noble  elm,  said  to  have 
been  planted  by  Queen  Elizabeth.  In  the  upper  chamber  of  the  gateway, 
it  is  absurdly  stated,  the  Countess  of  Nottingham,  when  on  her  deathbed, 
revealed  to  her  royal  mistress  the  treachery  of  which  she  had  been 
guilty  in  respect  of  the  Earl  of  Essex's  ring.  Whether  there  be  or  be 
not  any  ti'uth  in  the  main  incident  (of  which  Hume  has  made  such 
pathetic  use,  in  his  account  of  the  last  days  of  Elizal)eth),  this  was  cer- 
tainly not  the  place  of  the  Countess  of  Nottingham's  decease.  That 
event  took  place  at  Arundel  House,  London,  February  20,  1603;  as 
appears  from  the  register  of  Chelsea  parish,  where  she  was  buried  three 
days  afterwards. 

Elizabeth  was  deeply  lamented  by  her  people ;  indeed,  some  of  their 
expressions  of  regret  were  strangely  exaggerated.  A  poet  of  that  day 
asserts  even  that,  at  the  funeral  procession,  when  the  royal  corpse  was 
rowed  fi-om  Richmond,  to  lie  in  state  at  Whitehall, 


"  Fish  wept  their  eyes  oi pearl  quite  out, 
And  swam  bUnd  after  ;" 


doubtlessly  intending,  most  loyally,  to  provide  the  departed  sovereign 
with  a  fresh  and  posthumous  supply  of  her  favourite  gems  !  Elizabeth 
seems  to  have  been  particularly  fond  of  pearls,  from  youth  even  to  her 
death.  The  now  faded  waxwork  effigy  preserved  in  Westminster 
Abbey  (and  which  lay  on  her  coffin,  arrayed  in  royal  robes,  at  her 
funeral,  and  caused,  as  Stow  relates,  "  such  a  general  sighing,  groaning, 
and  weeping  as  the  like  hath  not  been  seen  or  known  in  the  memory  of 
man,")  exhibits  large  round  Roman  pearls  in  the  stomacher;  a  carcanet 
of  large  round  pearls,  &c.,  about  the  throat ;  her  neck  ornamented  with 
long  strings  of  pearls ;  her  high-heeled  shoe-bows  having  in  the  centre 
large  pearl  medallions.  Her  ear-rings  are  circular  pearl  and  ruby  me- 
dallions, with  large  pear-  shaped  pearl  pendants.  This,  of  course,  repre- 
sents her  as  she  was  dressed  towards  the  close  of  her  life.  At  Ham 
House  is  a  miniature  of  her,  however,  when  about  twenty,  which  sliovvs 
the  same  taste  as  existing  at  that  age.  She  is  there  portrayed  in  a 
black  dress,  trimmed  with  a  double  row  of  pearls ;  her  point-lace  ruffles 


Hampton  Court  Palace.  139 

are  looped  with  pearls,  &c.  Her  head-dress  is  decorated  in  front  with 
a  jewel  set  with  pearls,  from  which  three  pear-shaped  pearls  depend. 
And  finally,  she  has  large  pearl-tasselled  ear-rings.  In  the  Henham- 
hall  portrait,  the  ruff  is  confined  by  a  collar  of  pearls,  rubies,  &c.,  set  in 
a  gold  filigree  pattern,  with  large  pear-shaped  pearls  depending  from 
each  lozenge.  The  sleeves  are  wreathed  with  pearls  and  bullion.  The 
;  ippets  of  her  head-dress  also  are  adorned  at  every  crossing  wilh  a  large 
round  white  pearl.  Her  gloves,  moreover,  were  always  of  white  kid, 
richly  embroidered  with  pearls,  &c.,  on  the  backs  of  the  hands. 

To  conclude,  a  view  of  the  Thames  front  of  Richmond  Palace  repre- 
sents a  long  line  of  irregular  buildings,  with  projecting  towers,  octagonal 
nd   circular,  crowned  by  ill-shaped   turrets,    intermixed  with  small 
chimneys,  having  somewhat  the  shape  of  inverted  pears. 


Hampton  Court  Palace. 

The  Manor  of  Hampton  was,  about  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  vested  in  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem;  and  early  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  Cardinal  Wolsey  became  lessee  of  the  manor, 
i  iider  the  Prior  of  that  foundation.  The  lease  is  followed  by  an  inven- 
ujry  of  the  furniture  left  in  the  ancient  mansion  on  tlie  estate  when 
W  olsey  took  possession :  his  name  is  spelt  IVulcy  in  the  lease,  which  is 
dated  Jan.  nth,  1514.  The  manorial  chase  was  of  vast  extent;  and 
here,  in  the  height  of  his  greatness,  Wolsey  built  his  sumptuous  palace, 
consisting  of  five  courts,  two  of  which  only  remain.  The  apartments 
v.hich  were  left  were  principally  domestic  offices;  so  that  we  can 
have  but  an  inadetjuate  conception  of  the  former  splendour  of  Hamp- 
ton Court,  except  from  prints.  The  Cardinal  employed  the  Warden 
and  certain  members  of  the  Freemasons  as  his  architects  in  building  his 
palace ;  and  the  accounts  of  the  expenses  are  preserved  in  our  public 
records.  In  removing,  in  1838,  one  of  the  old  towers  built  by  Wolsey, 
a  number  of  glass  bottles  were  dug  out  of  the  foundation :  they  were, 
probably,  buried  to  denote  the  date  of  the  building;  and  bottles,  simi- 
larly placed,  have  been  found  in  comers  of  old  buildings,  botli  at 
Windsor  and  Kingston-upon-Thames. 

The  grandeur  of  the  edifice,  or  some  other  cause,  of  which  we  have  no 
certain  account,  induced  Wolsey  to  resign  his  palace  to  Henry  Vlil,, 
in  the  year  \r^\(^,  although  he  occasionally  resided  in  it  afterwards.  Tiiis 
was  the  last  instance,  in  this  country,  of  the  magnificence  of  the  house- 
hold establishment  of  a  priest,  who  held  the  highest  offices  in  chui-ch  and 


140  Hampton  Court  Palace. 

state.  Here  ^^''olsey  lived  in  more  than  regal  splendour,  and  had  nearly 
one  thousand  persons  in  his  suite.  Henry  proceeded  with  the  building 
for  several  years,  and  it  subsequently  became  a  favourite  royal  residence. 

The  best  idea  that  can  be  formed  of  the  extent  of  the  old  palace  is  by 
passing  along  the  Tennis-court  lane,  and  inepccting  the  north  front,  from 
the  gateway  to  the  Tennis-court.  This  is  all  IVoIieyan,  except  the  mo- 
dem windows.  The  chimneys — windpipes  of  hospitality — are  charac- 
teristic of  the  Cardinal's  housekeeping.  Each  of  the  fireplaces  is  large 
enough  to  roast  an  ox  whole.  The  attendants  were  not  allowed  to  enter 
the  kitchens,  as  each  of  them  has  a  large  square  opening,  communicating 
with  the  several  passages,  which  were  closed  until  the  dinners  were 
dressed,  when  a  large  wooden  flat  was  let  down  and  upon  it  were  placed 
the  dishes,  which  were  then  removed  by  servants  on  the  outside.  When 
we  consider  that  Wolsey's  palace  is  stated  to  have  contained  1500 
rooms,  we  shall  find  that  these  enormous  kitchens  and  fireplaces  were 
not  out  of  proportion  to  the  number  of  his  attendants  and  guests. 

The  springs,  locally  termed  the  Coombe  Water,  three  miles  distant 
from  Hampton  Court,  were  first  collected  into  a  conduit,  or  reservoir, 
and  then  conveyed  in  double  pipes  for  the  supply  of  the  palace,  by 
Wolsey;  and,  as  the  top  of  that  building  is  considerably  be'.ow  the 
level  of  Coombe  Hill,  whence  the  springs  issue,  the  entire  palace  is 
amply  supplied  with  the  most  salubrious  water  by  little  aid  from  arti- 
ficial hydraulic  agency.  It  is  entirely  free  from  all  calcareous  admix- 
ture; and. for  its  efficiency  in  cases  of  stone  (under  which  painful  disease 
Wblsey  himself  is  well  known  to  have  suffered),  by  preventing  the 
formation  of  lithic  acid,  we  have  the  authority  of  Dr.  William  Roots, 
under  whose  house  at  Surbiton  the  spring  passes  just  prior  to  its  transit 
beneath  the  Thames. 

In  ^527,  when  some  French  ambassadors  were  in  England,  the  King 
sent  thern  to  be  entertained  by  Wolsey  at  Hampton  Court.  Cavendish 
tells  us  of  the  preparations :  '.'  expert  cookes,  and  connyng  persons  in 
the  art  of  cookerie ;  the  cookes  wrought  both  by  day  and  night  with 
subtleties  and  many  crafty  devices,  where  lacked  neither  gold,  silver,  nor 
other  costly  things;"  and  "  280  beds  furnished  with  all  manner  of  ur- 
niture."  Wolsey's  arrival  is  described  thus  quaintly :  "  Before  the 
second  course,  my  lord  Cardinal  came  in  all  booted  and  spurred ;  at 
whose  coming  there  was  great  joy,  with  rising  every  man  from  his 
place,  whom  my  lord  caused  to  sit  still,  and  keep  their  roomcs,  and 
being  in  his  apparel  as  he  rode,  called  for  a  chayre,  and  sat  down  in  the 
middle  of  the  high  paradise,  laughing  and  being  as  merry  as  ever  Caven- 
dish sSiVf  him  in  all  his  life."    The  whole  party  drank  long  and  strong, 


Hampton  Court  Palace.  141 

and  some  of  the  Frenchmen  were  led  off  to  bed,  and  in  the  chambers  of 
all  was  placed  "  abundance  of  wine  and  beere." 

Edward  VI.  was  bom  at  Hampton  Court,  and  his  mother.  Queen 
Tine  Seymour,  died  in  two  days  after ;*  her  corpse  was  conveyed  by 

Iter  to  Windsor  for  burial.  Edward  VI.  resided  here,  but  in  such 
icar  of  his  person  being  seized,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Hampton  armed 
themselves  for  the  protection  of  the  young  King.  Catherine  Howard 
was  openly  shown  as  Queen  at  Hampton  Court.  Catherine  Parr  was 
here  married  to  Henr)'.  Philip  and  Mary  kept  Christmas  here,  1557, 
when  the  large  hall  was  illuminated  with  1000  lamps.  It  was  from  this 
place  that  passports,  signed  by  Queen  Mary,  but  not  filled  up,  were  in 
readiness  to  be  sent  off  to  announce  the  birth  of  a  son  or  daughter,  as 
the  case  might  be,  when  she  fancied  herself  with  child ;  some  of  these 
passports  are  preserved  in  the  State  Paper  Office.  Queen  Elizabeth  fre- 
quently resided  here,  and  gave  many  splendid  entertainments.  The 
celebrated  Conference  between  Presbyterians  and  the  Established 
Church  was  held  here  before  James  I.  as  moderator,  in  a  withdra wing- 
room  within  the  privy  chamber,  on  the  subject  of  Conformity :  all  the 
Lords  of  the  Council  were  present,  and  the  Conference  lasted  three 
days ;  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  was  ordered,  and  alterations  were 
made  in  the  Liturgy.  Charles  I.  retired  here  on  account  of  the  Plague, 
1625,  when  all  communication  between  London,  Southwaik,  or  Lam- 
beth was  prohibited  by  proclamation. 

Charles  passed  his  hone\Tiioon  here;  and  here  he  displayed  some  of 
the  latest  external  appearances  of  being  a  king.  The  latter  period  is 
thus  described :  "  The  King  was  now  come  to  Hampton  Court,  with 
the  Parliament  Commissioners,  at  this  time  attending  upon  him,  and 
some  of  the  army  for  his  guard.  He  dines  abroad  in  the  presence- 
chamber,  with  the  same  duty  and  ceremonies  as  heretofore,  where  any 
of  the  gentry  are  admitted  to  kiss  his  hand.  After  dinner  he  retires  to  his 
chamber,  then  he  walks  into  the  park,  or  plays  at  Tennis.  Yesterday  he 
killed  a  stag,  or  a  buck,  and  dined  with  his  children  at  Sion,  where  they 
remain  as  yet ;  and  he  rcturncd."  Charles  was  fond  of  Tennis :  he  played 
t.  Hampton  Court  the  day  before  he  made  his  escape  to  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

There  is  a  singular  anecdote  of  the  King,  traditional  at  Hampton 
Court.  He  was  one  day  standing  at  a  window  of  the  palace,  sur- 
rounded by  his  children,  when  a  gipsy  came  up  and  asked  for  charity. 
1  Icr  appearance  excited  ridicule,  and  probably  threats,  which  so  enraged 
the  gipsy,  that  she  took  out  of  her  basket  a  looking-glass,  and  presented 


*  Hentzner,  in  159S,  was  shown  the  bed  in  which  Queen  Jane  died. 


142  Hampton  Court  Palace. 

it  to  the  King:  he  saw  in  it  his  own  head  decollated.  Probably,  with  a 
natural  wish  to  propitiate  so  prophetical  a  beggar,  or  for  some  other 
reason,  money  was  given  her.  She  then  said  that  the  death  of  a  dog,  in 
the  room  the  King  was  then  in,  would  precede  the  restoration  of  the  king- 
dom to  his  family ;  which  the  King  was  about  to  lose.  It  is  supposed 
that  Oliver  Cromwell  afterwards  slept  in  the  room  referred  to.  He  was 
constantly  attended  by  a  faithful  dog,  who  guarded  his  bedchamber  door. 
On  awakening  one  morning  he  found  thedog  dead,  on  which  he  exclaimed, 
in  allusion  to  the  gipsy's  prophecy,  which  he  had  previously  heard,  "The 
kingdom  is  departed  from  me."     Cromwell  died  soon  afterwards. 

In  1 65 1,  the  Honour  and  Palace  of  Hampton  Court  were  sold  to  the 
State  creditors ;  but  previously  to  1657  it  came  into  the  possession  of 
Cromwell,  who  made  it  one  of  his  chief  residences :  he  used  frequently 
to  hunt  in  the  neighbourhoodj  and  a  part  of  Bushy  Park  was  formed  by 
him  into  a  prescne  for  hares.  Cromwell  is  said  to  have  built  the  old 
Toy  inn,  as  a  dormitory  for  his  roundhead  soldiers,  not  liking  to  admit 
them  into  the  palace.  Elizabeth,  his  daughter,  was  here  publicly 
married  to  the  Lord  Falconberg ;  and  the  Protector's  favourite  child, 
Mrs.  Claypole,  died  here,  and  was  conveyed  with  great  pomp  to  West- 
minster Abbey,  for  burial.  On  the  Restoration  of  Charles  II,,  the 
palace  was  given  to  George  Monk,  Duke  of  Albemarle,  who  had 
brought  about  that  event  without  bloodshed  or  confusion.  He  accepted 
a  sum  of  money  in  lieu  of  the  grant,  and  Charles  afterwards  occupied 
the  palace.  James  II.  occasionally  resided  here,  and  the  canopy  is  still 
to  be  seen  there,  under  which  he  received  the  Pope's  nuncio.  King 
William  lived  much  at  Hampton  Court:  he  had  it  enlarged  and  the 
pleasure-gardens  laid  out  in  the  Dutch  style.  In  July,  1689,  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  son  of  the  Princess,  afterwards  Queen  Anne,  was 
born  here.  The  Queen  sojourned  at  Hampton  Court  occasionally ;  as 
did  her  successors,  George  I.,  and  II.,  and  occasionally,  Frederick  Prince 
of  Wales;  but  George  III.  never  resided  here.  When  William  V., 
Stadtholder  of  the  United  Provinces,  was  condemned  to  quit  his  country 
by  the  French,  this  palace  was  appropriated  to  his  use,  and  he  resided 
here  several  years. 

In  the  bird's-eye  view,  by  Kipp,  the  palace  and  its  several  courts  are 
shown,  in  the  time  of  Qiieen  Anne,  with  its  gardens  laid  out  in  the  geo- 
metrical style  and  decorated  with  fountains  and  statues,  its  kitchen- 
gardens.  Tennis-court,  &c. ;  the  chief  front  of  the  palace  feeing  the 
Thames ;  the  formal  avenues,  radiating  from  the  centre,  with  the  canal 
formed  by  Wolsey  through  the  middle  avenue.  King  William  pulled 
down  much  of  the  old  palace,  and  employed  Wren  to  build  the  Foun- 


Hampton  Court  Palace.  1 43 

tain  Court,  which  contains  on  the  south  the  State  Apartments,  and  the 
King's  Staircase,  painted  by  Venio ;    and  on  the  north  the   King's 
Gallery,  originally  fitted  up  for  the  cartoons  of  Raphael.     On  the  east 
ffe  the  room  in  which  George  I.  and  George  II.  fi-equently  dined  in 
irpublic.     Northwestward  of  the  Fountain  Court  is  the  Chapel,  part  of 
ry  VI  ll.'s  building,  but  fitted  up  in  its  present  state  by  Queen  Anne, 
.  can'ing  by  Gibbons. 
Hampton  Court  in  its  present  state  consists  of  three  principal  courts, 
and  exceeds  in  plan  any  of  the  royal  palaces.     The  first  court   is 
Wolsey's,  and  is  occupied  by  persons  who  have  grants  for  life  from  the 
Crown.     In  the  Middle  or  Clock  Court  is  an  astronomical  clock  put 
up  in  1540.     On  the  north  is  the  Great  Hall,  with  a  rich  timber- 
framed  roof,  screen,  and  part  of  the  gallery.     As  this  hall  is  not  men- 
tioned by  Cavendish,  it  was  probably  part  of   Henry's  building;    it 
certainly  was  not  finished  till  1536  or  1537,  as  appears  from  the  initials 
of  Henry  and  Jane  Se)-mour,  joined  in  a  true  lover's  knot,  among  the 
decorations.     Queen  Caroline  had  a  theatre  erected  here,  but  only  eight 
plays  were  performed  in  it.     The  walls  are  hung  with  tapestry,  and  the 
windows  have  armorial  painted  glass.     Adjoining  the  hall,  at  the  east 
end,  is  '•  Wolsey's  Withdrawing-room,"  also  hung  with  tapestry  ;  and 
the  round  Kitchen  Court  is  of  Wolsey's  time.     An  unusually  large 
spider  is  found  in  the  palace,  and  called  "  the  Cardinal  Spider,"  from 
the  superstitious  notion  that  the  spirits  of  Wo'.sey  and  his  retinue  still 
haunt  the  palace  in  the  shape  of  spiders ! 

On  the  south  side  of  the  palace  is  the  Privy  Garden,  which  was  sunk 
ten  feet  to  open  a  view  from  the  apartments  to  the  Thames.  On  the 
northern  side  is  the  Tennis-court,  and  beyond  this  the  Wilderness  or 
Maze.  In  the  Privy  Garden  is  a  grape-house,  seventy  feet  in  length 
a.ul  fourteen  in  breadth ;  the  interior  is  wholly  occupied  by  one  vine  of 
hlack  Hamburgh  kind ;  it  was  planted  in  the  year  1769,  and  has  in 
..  -liigle  year  pro<luced  2200  bunches  of  grapes,  averaging  one  pound 
each.  Here  too  is  the  orange-myrtle,  said  to  have  been  brought  to  this 
country  by  King  William  III. 

The  large  bay  window  in  the  Hall  has  a  strarge  history.  It  was  upon 
a  pane  of  this  window  that,  during  one  of  the  festivals  given  there  by 
Henry  VIII.,  the  ill-fated  Earl  of  Surrey  wrote  with  a  diamond  the 
name  of  "fair  Geraldinc,"  and  in  quaint  verse  commemorated  her 
beauty ;  a  license  which  is  said  to  have  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  King, 
and  to  have  been  one  among  many  other  causes  of  Surrey's  end  on  the 
sc  iffold.  So  runs  the  romantic  episode  in  his  unfortunate  life ;  but 
c  is  better  evidence  to  show  that  Surrey's  attachment  or  rather  ad- 


144  1^li£  Palace  of  Notts iicJi. 

miration,  was  only  encouraged  for  the  sake  of  rhyming — that  it  was, 
indeed,  a  poetical  conceit,  and  that  other  circumstances  lessened  the 
soldier-poet  in  his  sovereign's  opinion,  although  the  real  cause  of  his 
condemnation  and  death  has  not  been  very  clearly  ascertained. 
Surrey,  describing  Geraldine,  says: 

"  Foster''^  she  was  with  milk  of  Irish  breast, 
Her  sire  an  earl,  her  dame  of  prince's  blood, 

From  tender  years  in  Britain  doth  slie  rest 
With  kynge's  child,  where  tasteth  costly  food. 

Hundsdon  did  first  present  her  to  my  eyes  ; 
Bright  is  her  hue,  and  Geraldine  she  hight  ; 

Hampton  me  taught  to  wish  her  first  for  mine." 

Walpole  considers  Geraldine  to  have  been  the  Lady  Elizabeth  Fitz- 
gerald, daughter  of  that  Earl  of  Kildare  who  died  a  prisoner  in  the 
Tower  in  tlie  year  1535,  and  one  of  the  maids  of  honour  to  the  Princess 
Mary.  When  Surrey  first  saw  her  he  was  married,  living  affectionately 
with  his  wife,  and  the  fair  Geraldine  was  a  mere  child,  thirteen  years 
of  age  ;  Surrey  himself  was  in  his  twenty-fourth  year.  The  lady  was 
married  in  her  fifteenth  year  to  Sir  Anthony  Browne  ;  but  Sun-ey  con- 
tinued to  rhyme,  without  offending  either  his  own  wife  or  the  lady's 
husband,  a  circumstance  which  seizes  to  show  that  the  persons  most 
concerned  were  fully  aware  of  the  real  state  of  the  case. 


The  Palace  of  Nonsuch. 

This  royal  house,  which  Henry  VIII.  began  building  in  a  village 
called  Codintone,  that  no  longer  exists,  obtained  its  name  from  its  un- 
paralleled beauty ;  Leland  sings,  in  Latin,  thus  translated : 

"  This,  because  it  has  no  equal,  Britons  are  accustomed  to 
praise,  and  call  by  name  the  Matchless,  or  Nonsuch." 

The  works  were  not  completed  at  the  death  of  Henry  VIII.,  in 
January,  1547,  and  they  remained  unfinished  during  the  reign  of  Philiji 
and  Mary.  Henry,  Earl  of  Arundel,  "  for  the  love  and  honour  he  bare 
to  his  olde  maister,"  purchased  the  estate  of  Queen  Mary.  Queen 
Elizabeth,  in  the  second  year  of  her  reign,  gave  Nonsuch  Great  Park  to 
the  Earl  of  Arundel  in  exchange  for  other  estates,  and  he  completed  the 
buildings.  Nonsuch  was  in  the  Earl's  time  frequently  visited  by  Eliza- 
beth, and  subsequent  to  his  death.  Her  Majesty  purchased  the  palace  and 
Little  Park ;  and  in  the  latter  part  of  her  reign  she  passed  much  of  her 
time  there.    It  was  at  Nonsuch  that  the  Earl  of  Essex,  the  Queen's  an- 


The  Palace  of  Nonstick.  1 4  5 

fortunate  favourite,  had  the  remarkable  interview  with  Her  Majesty  on 
his  return  from  Ireland  in  September,  1599,  as  already  referred  to  at 
page  72. 

Camden  describes  Nonsuch  as  "  built  with  so  much  splendour  and 
■gance  that  it  stands  a  monument  of  art,  and  you  would  think  the 
whole  science  of  architecture  exhausted  on  this  building.     It  has  such  a 
profusion  of  animated  statues  and  finished  pieces  of  art,  rivalling  the 
monuments  of  ancient  Rome  itself,  that  it  justly  receives  and  maintains 
its  name  from  them.     The  house  is  so  surrounded  by  parks  so  full  of 
deer,  delicious  gardens,  artificial  arbours,  parterres,  and  shady  walks, 
that  it  seems  to  be  the  spot  where  Pleasure  chose  to  dwell  with  Health." 
Hentzner,  who  visited  England  in  1598,  adds:  "in  the  pleasure  and 
artificial  gardens  are  many  columns  and  pyramids  of  marble,  with  two 
fountains  that  spout  water  one  round  the  other  like  a  p)Tamid,  upon 
which  are  perched  small  birds  that  stream  water  out  of  their  bills.     In 
the  Grove  of  Diana  is  a  fountain  with  Actxon  turned  into  a  Stag,  as 
he  was  sprinkled  by  the  Goddess  and  her  Nymphs,  with  inscriptions. 
There  is  besides  another  pyramid  of  marble  full  of  concealed  pipes, 
which  spirt  upon  all  who  come  within  their  reach."     In  1650,  Nonsuch 
was  described   as  a  large  freestone  building,  two   stories  high,  em- 
battled and  slated,  and  surrounding  a  paved  court,  with  a  gatehouse, 
liattled  and  turreted  at  CNery  comer;  also  a  curious  structure,  two 
ories  high,  richly  adorned  and  garnished  v/ith  statues,  pictures,  and 
other  antick  forms."     On  the  east  and  west  comers  were  two  large 
turrets  of  five  storeys  high,  with  lanthoms,  commanding  prospects  of 
'■\i<i  parks  of  Nonsuch,  and  most  of  the  country  round.  The  decorations 
.  the  gardens  and  fountains,  banqueting-house,  &c.,  are  likewise  de- 
iibed  in  this  sun-ey. 

James  I.  settled  Nonsuch  Palace  and  Parks  on  Anne  of  Denmark, 
cxt  they  were  held  by  the  consort  of  Charles  I.  After  the  execution 
!  the  King,  in  1649,  a  lease  of  Nonsuch  was  granted  to  Algernou 
dney.  At  the  Restoration,  the  Queen  Dowager,  Henrietta  Maria,  re- 
ivered  possession.  In  the  Plague  year,  1665,  the  Exchequer  was 
moved  to  the  "Queen's  Htmse"  at  Nonsuch;  and  next  year  it  was 
iitcd  by  Evelyn,  who  describes  the  plaster  statues  and  bas-relicvos 
;  icrtcd  t  wixt  the  timbere  and  punchions  of  the  outside  walls  of  the  court ; 
liich  were  the  work  of  some  celebrated  Italian,  and  had  lasted  well  and 
itire  since  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.:  some  were  as  big  as  the  life;  the 
ory  of  the  Heathen  Gods,  emblems,  &c.  The  palace  consists  of  two 
lurts — one  stone,  castle-like;  the  other  timber,  Gothic,  covered  with 
^alcs  of  slate  fastened  on  the  limber  in  pretty  figures*    There  stand  in 


1^.0  Int.   1   uu{(.c  I'/    i^'uiiciiiuS. 

the  garden  two  handsome  stone  pyramids,  and  avenues  of  feir  elms ; 
but  the  rest  of  the  tices  were  felled  "  by  those  destructive  and  avaricious 
rebells  in  the  late  warr,  w<=''  defac'd  one  of  the  stateliest  Seates  his  Ma'y 
had." 

Pepys  says  of  Nonsuch :  "  A  fine  place  it  hath  heretofore  been,  all 
the  house  on  the  outside  being  filled  with  figures  of  stories,  and  good 
paintings  of  Rubens'  or  Holbein's  doing.  (?)  And  most  of  the  house 
is  covered,  I  mean  between  the  post  and  quai-ters  in  the  walls,  with  lead 
and  gilded." 

On  the  death  of  the  Queen  Dowager,  Aug.  lo,  1669,  this  estate 
reverted  to  the  Crown  ;  and  in  1670,  Charles  II.  demised  it  to  Sir  Robert 
Long,  who  had  been  Secretary  to  the  King  during  his  exile.  The  King 
conveyed  it  in  trust  to  his  mistress,  Barbara,  Countess  of  Castlemaine, 
now  created  Baroness  of  Nonsuch,  Countess  of  Southampton,  and 
Duchess  of  Cleveland,  who  pulled  down  the  palace,  sold  the  materials, 
with  which  the  Earl  of  Berkshire  built  Durdans,  and  dispai-kcd  the 
land.  Among  the  noble  trees  of  the  domain  is  "Queen  Elizabeth's 
Elm,"  beneath  whose  shade  she  is  said  to  have  taken  her  stand  when 
shooting  with  the  cross-bow  at  the  deer  in  the  park :  the  height  is 
eighty  feet.  Upon  part  of  the  estate  is  built  a  large  castellated  edifice, 
in  the  Elizabethan  style,  which  bears  the  name  of  Nonsuch. 


The  Palace  of  Oatlands. 

This  "royal  pleasure-house,"  built  by  Henry  VIII.,  lay  but  a  short 
distance  from  Cowey  Stakes,  the  point  at  which,  about  eighteen  centuries 
previously,  Cassar  crossed  the  Thames  to  the  territories  of  Cassibelaunus. 
King  Henry  had  obtaineJ  possession  of  Hampton  Court,  and  obtained 
in  exchange  Oatlands  to  annex  to  the  chace.  A  drawing  made  in  the 
time  of  Elizabeth  shows  Oatlands  palace  to  have  comprised  two  quad- 
rangular courts,  and  three  enclosures,  with  a  garden  beyond.  The 
second  or  principal  quadrangle  has  at  each  end  a  machicolated  gate- 
house, with  angle  turrets  and  fine  bay-windows.  Queen  Elizabeth  was 
here  in  1599  and  1602,  when  she  is  said  to  have  shot  with  a  cross-bow 
in  the  paddock.  Anne  of  Denmark,  consort  of  James  I.,  was  also 
sometime  resident  at  Oatlands,  and  built  here  "  the  Silkworm  Room," 
which  may  have  been  designed  by  Inigo  Jones.  Charles  I.  granted 
the  estate  for  life,  to  the  Queen  (Henrietta  Maria) ;  their  youngest 
son,  Henry,  created  Duke  of  Gloucester,  was  born  here  in  1640,  and 
was  hence  styled  Henry  of  Oatlands.     Most  of  the  palace  buildings  were 


■^1 


The  Palace  of  Oat  lands.  147 

destroyed  (the  foundations  and  vaults  may  yet  be  traced),  and  the  land 
was  disparked,  during  the  interregnum ;  but,  after  the  Restoration  of 
Charles  II.,  the  Queen  Dowager  regained  possession  of  Oatlands,  in  the 
dilapidated  state  to  which  it  had  been  reduced.  In  166 1,  it  was  leased 
to  Henry  Jcrmyn,  Earl  of  St.  Alban's,  the  favourite,  and  afterwards  the 

ccond  husband  of  the  said  Queen  (see  Diary  of  Samuel  Pepys,  2nd 
lit.)  In  1 7 16,  it  became  the  property  of  Henry,  Earl  of  Lincoln, 
hose  son  and  heir  formed  the  gardens,  about  1725  ;  and  he  most  pro- 
bly  erected  the  house  on  the  terrace.  On  the  side  of  the  park  next 
Walton-on-Thames  is  an  arched  gateway,  which  was  built  by  Inigo 
Jones.  The  estate  next  became  the  property  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
who  had  constructed  here  a  grotto,  at  a  considerable  expense,  by  three 
jvjrsons,  a  father  and  two  sons,  who  are  reported  to  have  been  employed 

r.\  the  work  several  years ;  the  sides  and  roof  of  the  apartments  are 
incrusted  with  satin-spar,  sparkling  ores,  shells,  crystals,  and  stalactites. 
Oatlands  was  next  sold  to  the  Duke  of  York;  in  1793,  the  house 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  while  the  Duke  was  in  Flanders  ;  when  the 
Duchess  and  her  servants  escaped  with  difficulty.  A  new  house  was 
built,  and  the  estate  enlarged :  after  the  Duke's  death,  the  estate  was 
sold,  and  eventually  disparked. 

In  the  upper  chamber  of  the  grotto  the  Duchess  of  York  passed 
much  of  her  time  when  the  Duke  was  in  Flanders.  Her  Royal  High- 
ness had  an  eccentric  taste  for  keeping  pel-dogs,  and  near  the  grotto 
there  were  between  sixty  and  seventy  small  upright  stones,  inscribed 
with  the  names  of  an  equal  number  of  dogs,  which  were  buried  here  by 
direction  of  the  Duchess:  she  extended  her  kindness  even  to  the  rooks, 
which,  when  driven  from  the  neighbouring  fields,  experienced  a  marked 
protection  on  this  demesne,  where,  finding  themselves  in  security,  they 
soon  established  a  flourishing  rookery.  This  humane  trait  in  the  cha- 
racter of  the  Duchess  was  thus  commemorated  by  Lord  Erskine: 

"At  Oatlands,  where  the  buoyant  air 
Vast  crowds  of  Rooks  can  scarcely  bear; 
What  verdure  jiaints  returning  spring! 
What  crops  surrounding  harvests  bring  I 
Yet  swarms  on  every  tree  are  found, 
Nor  hear  the  Fowler's  dreaded  sound. 
And  when  the  Kite's  resistless  blow 
Dashes  their  scattered  nests  below, 
Alarmed,  they  quit  the  distant  field, 
To  seek  the  Park's  inrltilp^fnt  shield; 
Whore  close  in  ti:      '  wood 

They  build  new  >  .ad, 

Secure,  their  fair  1  „   . 

Whose  bosom  swelb  with  sympathy." 

L  a 


148  Sf.  James's  Palace. 

Henry  of  Oatlands,  so  Fuller  had  heard  him  called  in  his  cradle, 
has  been  described  as  a  prince  of  promising  hopes,  who,  at  the  last 
interview  which  the  ill-fated  King  (Charles  I.)  had  with  his  children, 
"displayed  an  understanding  and  sensibility  far  beyond  his  years." 
Fuller  quaintly  remarks,  that  "  he  had  a  great  appetite  for  learning,  and 
a  quick  digestion,  able  to  take  as  much  as  his  tutors  could  teach  him. 
He  fluently  could  speak  maiiy,  understand  more  modern  tongues ; 
and  was  able  to  express  himself  in  matters  of  importance  presently, 
Properly,  solidly,  to  the  admiration  of  such  who  trebled  his  age."  Dr. 
South  relates  that  "  a  certain  Lawyer,  a  great  confidant  of  the  rebels 
in  the  time  of  their  reign,  upon  a  consult  held  amongst  them,  how  to 
dispose  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  then  in  their  hands,  with  great 
gravity  (forsooth)  declared  it  for  his  opinion,  '  that  they  should  bind 
him  out  to  some  good  Trade,  so  that  he  might  eat  his  bread  honestly.'  " 
He  was,  however,  "  permitted  to  depart  the  land,  with  scarce  tolerable 
accommodations,  and  the  promise  of  a  (never-performed)  Pension  for 
his  future  support."  South  adds:  "Those  were  his  words,  and  very 
extraordinary  they  were  indeed.  Nevertheless  they  could  not  hinder  him 
fi-om  being  made  a  Judge  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II. — A  Practice 
not  unusual  in  the  Courts  of  some  Princes,  to  encourage  and  prefer  their 
mortal  enemies  before  their  honest  Friends."  On  the  Restoration,  in 
1660,  Henry  returned  to  England  with  his  brothers;  but  he  died  at 
Whitehall  on  September  13th,  following,  of  the  small-pox,  "by  the 
great  negligence  of  the  doctors."  Pepys  saw  the  King  in  Whitehall 
gardens,  in  purple  mourning  for  his  brother."  He  was  inteired  in 
Henry  VI I. 's  Chapel  at  ^^' estminster,  whither  his  remains  were  con- 
veyed by  water  from  Somerset  House. 


St.  James's  Palace. 

This  Palace,  more  remarkable  for  its  historical  associations  than  for  its 
architectural  character,  is  situate  on  the  north  side  St.  James's  Park,  and 
occupies  the  site  of  a  hospital,  founded  prior  to  the  Norman  Conquest, 
for  leprous  females,  and  dedicated  to  St.  James ;  it  was  endowed  by 
the  citizens  with  lands,  and  Edward  I.  granted  to  the  foundation  the 
privilege  of  an  annual  Fair,  to  be  held  on  the  eve  of  St.  James  and  siA 
following  days.  The  house  was  rebuilt  by  Berkynge,  abbot  of  West- 
minster, in  Henry  III.'s  reign:  and  its  perpetual  custody  was  granted 
by  Henry  VI.  to  Eton  College.  Henry  VIII.  obtained  the  hospital  in 
exchange  for  Chattisham  and  other  lands  in  Sufiblk :  he  then  dismissed 


St.  James's  Palace.  149 

the  inmates,  pensioned  the  sisterhood ;  and  having  pulled  down  the 

ancient  structun?,  "  purchased  all  the  meadows  about  St.  James's,  for  a 

Tnrke."    "The  Manor  House,"  as  it  was  then  called,  is  believed  to  have 

•en  planned  by  Holbein,  and  built  under  the  direction  of  Cromwell, 

i^arl  of  Essex.     Henr)-'s  gatehouse  and  turrets  face  St.  James's- street. 

It  was  occasionally  occupied  by  Henry  as  a  semi-rural  residence,  down 

)  the  period  when  Wolsey  surrendered   Whitehall  to  the  Crown. 

dward  and  Elizabeth  rarely  resided  at  St.  James's :  but  Mary  made  it 

L-  place  of  her  gloomy  retirement  during  the  absence  of  her  husband, 

iiilip  of  Spain :  here  she  expired.    The  Manor  House,  with  all  its 

^purtenances,  except  the  park  and  the  mews,  were  granted  by  James  I. 

-J  his  son  Henry  in  1610;  at  whose  death,  in  1612,  they  reverted  to 

the  Crown.     Charles  I.  enlarged  the  palace,  and  most  of  his  children 

'including  Charles  H.)  were  bom  in  it.     In  the  chapel  of  the  hospital, 

iiarles  I.  attended  divine  service  on  the  morning  of  his  execution, 

id  "  from  hence  the  king  walked  through  the  Park,  guarded  with 

regiment  of  foot  and  partisans,  to  Whitehall."     The  Queen  s  Ckapel 

as  built  for  Catherine  of  Braganza,  who  first  heard  mass  there  on 

inday,  September  21st,  1662,  when  Lady  Castlemaine,  though  a  Pro- 

stant,  and  the  King's  avowed  mistress,  attended  her  as  one  of  her 

lids  of  honour.    Pepys  describes  "  the  fine  altar  ornaments,  the  fibers 

;  their  habits,  and  the  priests  with  their  fine  crosses." 

At  "  St.  James's  House"  Monk  resided  while  planning  the  Restora- 

)n.     In  the  old  bedchamber,  now  the  ante-chamber  to  the  levee- 

om,  was  bom  James  (the  old  Pretender),  the  son  of  James  II.  by 

I.iry  of  Modena:  the  bed  stood  close  to  the  back  stairs,  and  favoured 

r  scandal  of  the  chil  1  being  conveyed  in  a  warming-pan  to  the  Queen's 

d.     During  the  Civil  Wars,  St.  James's  became  the  prison-house,  for 

irly  three  years,  of  the  Duke  of  York  and  Duke  of  Gloucester  and 

■  Princess  Elizal)eth :  on  April  20,  164S,  the  Duke  of  York  escaped 

im  the  palace-garden  in  the  Park,  through  the  Spring  Garden,  to  a 

ckney-coach  in  waiting  for  him;  and  in  female  disguise,  he  reached  a 

Hitch  vessel  below   Gravesend.      After  the  Restoration,   the   Duke 

cupied  St.  James's  ;  here  the  Duke  slept  the  night  before  his  coro- 

!tion,  and    next   morning   proceeded   to  Whitehall.     On  December 

^.  1688,  William   Prince  of  Orange  came   to  St.  James's,  where, 

lee   days   afterwards,  the  peers  assembled,  and  the  houseiiold  and 

other  oflRccrs  of  the  abdicated  sovereign  laid  down  their  badges.    I.velyn 

says:  "All  the  world  goes  to  see  the  Prince  at  St.  James's,  where 

there  is  a  greate  court.     There  I  saw  him :  he  is  very  stately,  serious, 

and  reserved."     King  William  t>ccasionaIly  held  councils  here:  but  it 


150  St.  James's  Palace. 

was  not  until  after  the  burning  of  Whitehall,  in  1697,  that  this  Palace 
became  used  for  state  ceremonies,  whence  dates  the  Court  of  St.  fames  s. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  apartments  is  the  Tapestry  Room,  hung 
with  gorgeous  tapestry  made  for  Charles  II.,  and  representing  the 
amours  of  Venus  and  Mars.  The  stone  Tudor  arch  of  the  fire- 
place is  sculptured  with  the  letters  H.  A.  (Henry  and  Anne  Boleyn), 
united  by  a  true  lover's  knot,  surmounted  by  a  regal  crown  ;  also  the 
lily  of  France,  the  Tudor  portcullis,  and  the  rose  of  Lancaster. 

Scandalous  stories  are  related  of  the  conduct  of  the  mistresses  of 
George  I.  and  II.  in  St.  James's  Palace.  The  Duchess  of  Kendal,  the 
German  mistress  of  King  George  I.,  and  Miss  Brett,  the  English 
mistress  of  the  same  King,  had  apartments  there;  the  Duchess  of 
Kendal's  rooms  were  on  the  ground-floor  towards  the  garden.  Three 
of  the  King's  grand-daughters  were  lodged  in  the  palace  at  the  same 
time;  and  Anne,  the  eldest,  a  woman  of  most  imperious  and  ambitious 
nature,  soon  came  to  words  with  the  English  mistress  of  her  grand- 
father. When  the  King  set  out  for  Hanover,  Miss  Brett,  it  appears, 
ordered  a  door  to  be  broken  out  of  her  apartment  into  the  palace 
garden.  The  Princess  Anne,  offended  at  her  freedom,  and  not  choos- 
ing such  a  companion  in  her  walks,  ordered  the  door  to  be  walled  up 
again.  Miss  Brett  as  promptly  reversed  that  command;  and  while 
bricks  and  words  were  bandied  about,  the  King  died  suddenly,  and 
the  empire  of  the  imperious  mistresses  was  at  an  end. 

Mrs.  Howard  (afterwards  Countess  of  Suffolk),  the  mistress  of 
George  II.,  had  apartments  here,  the  same  formerly  occupied  by  the 
Duchess  of  Kendal.  The  King  was  not  allowed  to  retain  undisturbed 
possession  of  his  mistress.  Mr.  Howard  went  one  night  into  the  quad- 
rangle of  St.  James's,  and  before  the  Guards  and  other  audience  voci- 
ferously demanded  his  wife  to  be  restored  to  him.  He  was,  however, 
soon  thrust  out,  and  just  as  soon  soothed — selling  (as  Walpole  had 
heard)  his  noisy  honour  and  the  possession  of  his  w  ife  for  a  pension  of 
1 20c/.  a  yeai". 

Sometimes  these  strange  doings  were  checked.  The  Queen  had  an 
obscure  window  at  St.  James's,  that  looked  into  a  dark  passage,  lighted 
only  by  a  single  lamp  at  night,  which  looked  upon  Mrs.  Howard's 
apartment.  Lord  Chesterfield,  one  Twelfth  Night  at  Court,  had  won 
so  large  a  sum  of  money,  that  he  thought  it  imprudent  to  caixy  it 
home  in  the  dark,  and  deposited  it  with  the  mistress.  Thence  the 
Queen  inferred  great  intimacy ;  and  afterwards,  Lord  Chesterfield 
could  obtain  no  favour  at  Court ;  and  finding  himself  desperate,  went 
into  opposition. 


151 


Kensington  Palace, 

Though  named  from  the  adjoining  town,  is  situated  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Margaiet,  Westminster.  The  original  mansion  was  purchased  (with  the 
;jrounds,  six  acres)  by  King  William  III.,  in  1691,  of  Daniel  Finch, 
bc-cond  Earl  of  Nottingham.  In  the  following  November  the  house  was 
nearly  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  King  narrowly  escaped  being  burned 
in  his  bed.  After  Sir  Heneage  Finch's  advancement  to  the  peerage,  the 
mansion  was  called  "  Nottingham  House,"  of  which  the  north  wing  is 
part.  King  William  held  councils  in  this  palace ;  its  decoration  was  the 
favourite  amusement  of  Queen  Mary;  and  it  was  next  fitted  up  for 
Quctn  Anne,  for  whom  was  built  the  Banqueting  House,  in  the  gar- 
dens- George  II.  and  Queen  Caroline  passed  most  of  their  time  here. 
In  the  palace  died  Queen  Mary  and  King  William;  Queen  Anne  and 
Prince  George;  and  George  II.  Some  of  the  State  Apartments  are 
hung  with  tapestry,  and  have  painted  ceilings,  and  carvings  by  Gibbons. 
The  closet  of  William  III.  contained  his  writing-table  and  escritoire; 
and  the  Patchwork  Closet  had  its  walls  and  chairs  covered  with  ta- 
pestry, worked  by  Queen  Mary.  During  the  reign  of  George  III.  the 
palace  was  forsaken  by  the  Soveieign.  The  Princess  of  Wales  and  her 
aged  mother  resided  here.  Queen  Victoria  was  bom  here,  and  held 
here  her  first  Council. 

At  Kensington  Palace  the  Princess  Victoria  received  the  intelligence 
of  the  death  of  William  IV.,  as  described  in  the  Diaries  of  a  Lady  oj 
Quality:  "June,  1837.  On  the  20th,  at  2  A.M.,  the  scene  closed,  and 
in  a  very  short  time  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Lord  Conyng- 
ham,  the  Chamberlain,  set  out  to  announce  the  event  to  their  young 
SovcRMgn.  They  reached  Kensington  Palace  at  about  five ;  they  knocked, 
they  rang,  they  thumped  for  a  considerable  time  before  they  could  rouse 
the  porter  at  the  gates;  they  were  again  kept  waiting  in  the  courtyard, 
then  turned  into  one  of  the  lower  rooms,  where  they  seemed  forgotten 
by  everybody.  They  rang  the  bell,  desired  that  the  attendant  of  the 
Princess  Victoria  might  be  sent  to  inform  H.R.H.  that  they  requested 
an  audience  on  business  of  im}K)rtance.  After  another  delay,  and 
another  ringing  to  inquire  the  cause,  the  attendant  was  summoned,  who 
stated  that  the  Princess  was  in  such  a  sweet  sleep  she  could  not  venture 
to  disturb  her.  Then  they  said,  '  We  are  come  to  the  Queen  on  business 
of  State,  and  even  her  sleep  must  give  way  to  that.'  It  did :  and  to 
prove  that  she  did  not  keep  them  waiting,  in  a  few  minutes  she  came 
into  the  room  in  a  loose  white  nightgown  and  shawl,  her  nightcap 


152  Carlton  House. 

thrown  off,  and  her  hair  falling  upon  her  shoulders — her  feet  in  slippers, 
tears  in  her  eyes,  but  perfectly  collected  and  dignified. 

"  The  first  act  of  the  reign  was  of  course  the  summoning  of  the 
Council,  and  most  of  the  summonses  were  not  received  till  after  the 
early  hour  fixed  for  its  meeting.  The  Queen  was,  upon  the  opening  of 
the  doors,  found  sitting  at  the  head  of  the  table.  She  received  first  the 
homage  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who,  I  suppose,  was  not  King  of 
Hanover  when  he  knelt  to  her ;  the  Duke  of  Sussex  rose  to  perform  the 
same  ceremony,  but  the  Queen,  with  admirable  gi-ace,  stood  up,  and, 
preventing  him  from  kneeling,  kissed  him  on  the  forehead.  The  crowd 
was  so  great,  the  arrangements  were  so  ill-made,  that  my  brothers  told 
me  the  scene  of  swearing  allegiance  to  their  young  Sovereign  was  more 
like  that  of  the  bidding  at  an  auction  than  anything  else." 

Kensington  Gardens,  "not  exhilarating,  yet  alive  and  pleasant," 
contain  some  interesting  memorials:  the  old  sun-dial,  attributed  to 
Gibbons,  was  stolen  in  1855. 

» 

Carlton  House, 

This  royal  mansion,  which  existed  little  more  than  a  century,  occupied 
that  portion  of  Waterloo-place  which  is  south  of  Pall  Mall.  It  was 
originally  built  for  Lord  Carlton,  in  1709:  bequeathed  by  him  to  his 
nephew.  Lord  Burlington,  the  architect,  and  purchased,  in  1732,  by 
Frederic  Prince  of  Wales,  father  of  George  IIL:  here  the  Princess  of 
Wales  died  in  1772.  Kent  laid  out  the  grounds  for  Lord  Burlington  : 
they  extended  along  the  south  side  of  Pall  Mall,  and  are  said  to  have 
been  in  imitation  of  Pope's  garden  at  Twickenham,  with  numerous 
bowers,  grottoes,  and  terminal  busts.  The  property  was  assigned  as 
the  residence  of  the  Prince— afterwards  George  IV. — in  17S3,  when 
great  alterations  were  made  under  Holland. 

Horace  Walpole  writes,  Sept.  1 7,  1 785 :  "  We  went  to  see  the 
Prince's  new  palace  in  Pall  Mall,  and  were  charmed.  It  will  be  the 
most  perfjct  in  Europe.  There  is  an  august  simplicity  that  astonished 
me.  You  cannot  call  it  magnificent ;  it  is  the  taste  and  propriety  that 
strike.  Every  ornament  is  at  a  proper  distance,  and  not  one  too  large, 
but  all  delicate  rnd  new,  with  more  freedom  and  variety  than  Greek 
ornaments  [designed  by  Gobert]  .  .  .  and  there  are  three  most  spacious 
apartments,  all  looking  on  the  lovely  garden,  a  terreno,  a  state  apart- 
ment, and  an  attic.  The  portico,  vestibule,  hall,  and  staircase  will 
be  superb,  and,  to  my  taste,  full  of  perspectives :  the  jewel  of  all  is  a 
small  music-room,  that  opens  into  a  green  recess,  and  winding  walk  of 


Archicpiscopal  Palace,  Croydon.  153 

the  gardens.  In  all  the  fairy  tales  you  have  seen,  you  never  was  in 
^(1  pretty  a  scene,  Madam  [Countess  of  Ossory].     I  forgot  to  tell  you 

o\s  admirably  all  the  car\ing,  stucco,  and  ornaments  are  executed; 
but  whence  the  money  is  to  come  I  conceive  not,  all  the  tin  mines  in 
Cornwall  could  not  pay  a  quarter.  How  sick  one  shall  be  after  this 
chaste  palace  of  Mr.  Adam's  gingerbread  and  sippets  of  embroidery !" 

The  main  fi-ont  had  a  central  Corinthian  portico.  The  most  impor- 
'  nt  point  for  notice  as  to  the  interior  of  Carlton  House,  is  the  absence 

■f  the  Louis  Quinze  style.  The  Carlton  House  chair  and  table  are  re- 
membered. The  conservatory,  said  to  be  in  imitation  of  a  cathedral,  or 
I  Icnry  VII.'s  chapel,  was  equally  suggestive  of  Roslyn  Chapel :  the  ribs  of 
the  fan-tracery  filled  in  with  stained  glass. 

Here  was  a  remarkably  fine  collection  of  arms  and  costumes,  includ- 
ing two  swords  of  Charles  I. ;  swords  of  Columbus  and  Marlborough, 

nd  a  couteau-de-chas se  used  by  Charles  XH.  of  Sweden.  Carlton 
:  louse  was  sumptuously  furnished  for  the  Prince's  ill-starred  marriage: 

•re  was  bom  the  Princess  Charlotte.  The  ceremonial  of  conferring 
ihe  Regency  was  enacted  at  Carlton  House  with  great  pomp  in  1811, 
and  on  June  19  following,  the  Prince  Regent  gave  here  a  superb  supper 
to  2000  guests ;  a  stream  with  gold  and  silver  fish  flowing  through  a 
marble  canal  down  the  centre  table.     In  1827  the  palace  was  removed. 


The  Archicpiscopal  Palace,  Croydon. 

The  manor  of  Croydon  is  stated  to  have  been  given  by  William  the 
(Conqueror  to  Archbishop  Lanfranc,  who  is  supposed  to  have  founded 
tlie  archicpiscopal  palace;  though  Robert  Kilwardby  is  the  first  prelate 
who  is  certainly  known  to  have  resided  at  Croydon,  whence  he  dated, 
September  4th,  1 273,  a  mandate  for  holding  a  convocation  at  the  New 
Temple,  in  London.  Several  succeeding  prelates,  in  the  same  and  the 
fallowing  century,  were  occasionally  resident  here;  and  among  them 
Archbishop  Courtney,  who  received  the  pall  with  great  solemnity  in 
•  le  principal  chamber,  or  great  hall,  of  his  manor  of  Croydon,  May  14, 
1382.  Thomas  Ai-undel,  the  next  archbishop,  probably  built  the 
guatd-chambcr,  which  bears  his  arms:  in  his  custody  King  James  I.  of 
Scotland  was  detained  here.  Cardinal  Stafford,  who  obtained  the  see 
in  1443,  either  rebuilt  or  repaired  the  great  hall.  Archbishop  Cranmer 
also  repaired  the  palace.  During  his  prelacy,  Croydon  became  the 
scene  of  the  trial  or  judicial  examination  of  John  Frith,  accused  of 
heresy  before  Cromwell,  Cranmer,  and  others,  for  maintaining  certain 
doctrines  which  the  archbishop  himself,  secretly,  and  afterwards  openly, 


i54  Ardiiepiscopal  Palace,  Croydon. 

professed.  Frith,  refusing  to  recant,  was  burnt  in  Smithficld,  July  22, 
1534.  Cranmer  is  said  to  have  had  no  hand  in  the  Bill  of  Attainder 
against  the  Duke  of  Norfolk ;  but  recent  historians  prove  that  Cranmer, 
after  being  present  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  three  several  days  on 
which  the  iniquitous  Bill  against  the  Duke  was  read,  had  retreated  for 
quiet  to  Croydon,  where  he  was  when  he  received  a  summons  to  attend 
his  royal  master  in  his  last  agonies. 

Archbishop  Parker  entertained  Queen  Elizabeth  at  his  palace  of 
Croydon  for  seven  days  in  July,  1573.  In  April  1587,  Sir  Christopher 
Hatton  was  appointed  Lord  Chancellor,  through  the  recommendation 
of  Archbishop  Whitgift,  and  the  Great  Seal  was  delivered  to  him  in 
the  gallery  of  the  palace  at  Croydon.  During  the  inten-egnum,  the 
palace  and  lands  were  let,  for  forty  pounds  a  year,  to  Charles,  Earl  of 
Nottingham.  In  1652,  the  estate  was  granted  to  Sir  William  Brereton, 
Bart.,  who  died  1661 :  while  he  held  the  palace,  it  was  said  that  he  was 
"a  notable  man  at  a  thanksgiving-dinner,  having  terrible  long  teeth, 
and  a  prodigious  stomach,  to  turn  the  Archbishop's  chapel  into  a  kit- 
chen, and  to  swallow  up  that  palace  and  lands  at  a  morsel." 

After  the  Restoration,  Archbishop  Juxon  repaired  and  restored  the 
palace.  Archbishop  Herring  vastly  improved  and  adorned  it :  he  was 
the  last  prelate  who  resided  at  Croydon ;  and  the  palace  having  been 
deserted  for  more  than  twenty  years,  became  greatly  dilapidated,  was 
sold  in  1 780,  and  the  mansion  and  estate  of  Addington  Park  were  pur- 
chased in  lieu  of  it. 

Croydon  Park  was  held  by  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury:  among 
the  Keepers  was  William  Walworth,  Mayor  of  London,  who  contri- 
buted greatly  to  the  extinction  of  the  rebellion  of  Wat  Tyler,  in  the 
reign  of  Richard  II.  Walworth  was  appointed  to  the  Keepership  by 
Archbishop  Courtney  in  1382.  In  Croydon  church,  founded  in  the 
Saxon  era,  are  monuments  to  several  Archbishops  of  Canterbury.  The 
present  church  was  commenced  by  Archbishop  Courtney,  and  com- 
pleted by  Archbishop  Chicheley.  It  had  originally  very  fine  painted 
windows,  which,  in  the  time  of  the  Rebellion,  one  Blepe  was  hired  for 
half-a-crown  per  day  to  break  !  I  n  the  church  are  the  effigies  of  these 
archbishops:  Grindal,  in  his  scarlet  robes;  Sheldon,  in  his  robes  and 
mitre,  designed  and  executed  by  the  City  mason  and  his  English  work- 
men: the  tombs  of  Wake,  Potter,  and  Herring;  and  Whitgift,  in  the 
act  of  prayer.  Here  lies  Dr.  Richard  Phillips,  the  vicar,  who,  preaching 
at  St.  Paul's,  against  printing,  exclaimed :  "  We  [the  Roman  Catholics] 
must  root  out  Printing,  or  Printing  will  root  out  us !"  Dr.  Clewer, 
collated  in  1680,  by  Charles  II.,  was  of  criminal  character,  and  had 


! 


The  Miiiories.  155 

been  tiiecl  once,  and  burnt  in  the  hand  at  the  Old  Bailey,  for  stealing  a 
■silver  cup :  he  was  robbed  on  the  Acton  road,  when  the  Doctor,  not 
iving  a  farthing  about  him,  lost  his  gown  at  a  game  of  all-fours  with 
the  footpad,  and  had  to  go  home  without  his  canonicals.  Barkley,  who 
wrote  the  Ship  of  Fools,  and  was  successively  a  Benedictine  monk  at 
1  !y,  and  a  Franciscan  at  Canterbury,  was  buried  in  the  churchyard, 
,.liere  lay  one  William  Burnet,  with  this  inscription: 

"What  is  Man? 
To-day  he's  drest  in  Gold  and  Silver  bright ; 
Wrapt  in  a  Shroud  before  to-morrow  night : 
To-day  he's  feasting  on  delicious  food ; 
To-morrow,  nothing  cat  can  do  him  good; 
To-day  he's  nice,  and  scorns  to  feed  on  crumbs, 
In  a  few  days  himself  a  dish  for  worms : 
To-day  he's  honour'd,  and  in  great  esteem  ; 
To-morrow  not  a  beggar  values  him  : 
To-day  he  rises  irom  a  velvet  bed ; 
To-morrow  lies  in  one  that's  made  of  lead : 
To-day  his  house,  tho'  large,  he  thinks  too  small ; 
To-morrow  can  command  no  house  at  all : 
To-day  he's  twenty  servants  at  his  gate ; 
To-morrow  scarcely  one  will  deign  to  wait : 
To-fiay  i^erfumed,  and  sweet  as  is  the  rose; 
To-m   rro-.v  stinks  in  everybody's  nose: 
T(.  majestic,  all  delight ; 

Gl.  jre  to-morrow  night. 

Nu .„...„  .. rote  and  said  whate'er  you  can, 

'I  his  is  the  best  that  you  can  say  of  Man." 


The  Minories. 

The  street  which  extends  from  Aldgate  to  the  Tower  has  the  name  of 
Minories,  derived  from  Sorores  Minores  (Minoresses),  a  convent  of 
nuns,  denominated  Clares,  from  their  foundress,  St.  Clara.  It  was 
founded  by  Blanche,  widow  of  Henry  le  Gros,  King  of  Navarre,  married 
to  Edmund,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  Leicester,  and  Derby,  brother  to  King 
Edward  L  In  the  year  i.^i.'j,  we  are  informed  by  Stow,  that  a  pesti- 
lence being*  in  the  city  and  suburbs,  there  died  in  this  convent  twenty- 
seven  nuns,  besides  lay  sisters  and  servants  of  the  monastery.  There 
were  interred  in  its  church  the  Queen  Dowager  Isabella,  wife  of 
Edward  II.;  as  also  Bishop  Clcrke,  who  in  152 1,  presented  that  re- 
markable copy  of  the  King's  book  against  Luther  to  the  Poj>e,  which 
obtained  for  Henry  VIII.  the  name  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith."  This 
embassy,  it  is  supposed,  paved  the  way  to  a  bishopric,  as  another  seems 
to  have  occasioned  his  death.     For  when,  in  1533,  it  was  debated  in 


156  y  he  Alinorics. 

convocation  whether  a  marriage  with  a  brother's  widow  was  contrary 
to  the  divine  law,  and  indispensable  by  the  Pope,  supposing  no  issue, 
and,  again,  whether  the  marriage  between  Prince  Arthur  and  Katharine 
had  been  properly  consummated ;  he  was  one  of  the  few  of  the  council 
who,  on  the  first  question,  refused  to  vote  against  the  Queen,  and  the 
only  one  who,  on  the  second  point,  actually  voted  in  her  behalf.  Not- 
withstanding his  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  Henry  VIII.,  this  King 
gave  him  the  monastery  in  the  "  Minories,"  then  recently  become  vested 
in  the  Crown.  This  prelate  was  supposed  to  have  been  poisoned  in 
Germany,  as  he  was  journeying  towards  Cleves,  and  having  returned 
with  great  difficulty  to  London,  died  the  following  year,  1544,  and  was 
buried  in  the  abbey  of  the  "Sorores  Minores,"  before  its  actual  suppres- 
sion and  surrender.  The  land  belonging  to  the  abbey  reverted  to  the 
Crown  ;  and  in  the  following  reign,  Edward  VI.,  it  was  again  given  to 
Henry  Grey,  the  father  of  Lady  Jane  Grey,  who  was  created  Duke  of 
Suffolk  in  1551,  and  beheaded  in  1553.  "In  place  of  this  house  of 
nuns,"  says  Stow,  "is  now  built  divers  fair  and  large  storehouses  for 
armour  and  habiliments  of  war,  with  divers  workhouses  working  for  the 
same  purpose."  There  was  built  also  on  the  site  of  the  monastery  the 
parish  church  of  Holy  Trinity,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Minories :  the 
parish,  which  was  formerly  the  close  of  a  religious  house,  is  without  the 
walls  of  London,  although  in  the  Liberty  of  the  Tower  of  London.  It 
contains  a  handsome  monument,  supposed  of  alabaster,  with  the  figures 
of  Sir  John  Pelham  and  his  wife,  together  with  their  son,  all  kneeling ; 
it  bears  the  following  inscription : 

"  Deatlie  first  did  strike  Sir  John,  here  tombd  in  claye, 
And  then  enforst  his  Sonne  to  follow  faste ; 
Of  Pelham's  line,  this  Knyghte  was  chiefe  and  stay, 
By  this,  behold  !  all  fleshe  must  dye  at  laste. 
But  Bletsowe's  lord,  thy  sister  most  may  moane 
Both  mate  and  sonne  hathe  left  her  here  alone. 
Sir  John  Pelham,  dyed  Oct.  13,  1580. 
Oliver  Pelham,  his  sonne,  dyed  Jan.  19,  1584." 

There  is  a  supposition  that  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  who  was  Warden  of 
the  Mint  in  1704,  and  aftenvards  Master  Worker  of  the  same  place, 
lived  for  a  short  period  in  Haydon-square,  which  is  in  the  parish  ;  and 
there  is  also  in  this  square  a  spring  of  pure  water  of  the  most  admirable 
purity  and  brilliancy,  which  was  the  convent  fountain.  Some  bones, 
taken  from  the  plains  of  Culloden,  are  deposited  in  the  churchyard, 
bearing  the  date  1 745 ;  and  in  the  church  is  placed  a  head,  taken 
from  a  body  which  evidently  had  suffered  decapitation,  although  it  is 
impossible  to  discover  now  the  name  of  its  possessor. 


Sion  House,  Isleworth.  157 

In  1853,  during  excavations  in  the  square,  was  found  a  stone  sarco- 
phagus of  the  late  Roman  period,  sculptured  with  fruit,  a  medallic  bust, 
and  foliage,  and  containing  a  leaden  coffin  with  the  remains  of  a  child: 
the  sarcophagus  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 

Francis  Osborne  records  (1701),  that  he  heard  William,  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  relate,  with  much  regret,  that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Lord 
Cobham,  died  in  a  room  ascended  by  a  ladder,  at  a  poor  woman's  house 
in  the  Minories,  formerly  his  laundress,  rather  of  hunger  than  any  more 
natural  disease. 

The  Minories  weapons  do  not  appear  to  have  ranked  very  high,  to 
judge  by  the  following  comparison,  in  one  of  Dryden's  prefaces:  "  He 
who  works  dully  on  a  story,  without  moving  laughter  in  a  comedy,  or 
raising  concernments  in  a  serious  play,  is  no  more  to  be  counted  a  good 
poet,  than  a  gunsmith  of  the  Minories  is  to  be  compared  with  the  best 
workmen  of  the  town  ;"  so  that,  when  the  Spa  Fields  rioters,  in  18 16, 
plundered  the  shops  of  the  gunsmiths  on  their  way  to  "  summon  the 
Tower,"  tliey  reckoned  without  their  host. 


Sion  House,  Isleworth. 

Upon  the  north  bank  of  the  Thames,  opposite  Richmond  Gardens,  is 
the  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  called  Sion,  from  a  nunnery 
of  Bridgetines,  of  the  same  name,  originally  founded  at  Twickenham  by 
Henry  V.,  in  1414,  and  removed  to  this  spot  in  1432.  The  conventual 
association  consisted  of  sixty  nuns,  exclusive  of  the  abbess,  thirteen 
priests,  four  deacons,  and  eight  lay-brethren ;  the  whole  thus  corre- 
ponding,  in  point  of  number,  with  the  apostles  and  seventy-two  dis- 
^  I  pies  of  Christ.  Many  irregularities  existed  in  this  foundation;  on 
u  hich  account  it  was  among  the  earliest  of  the  larger  monastic  institu- 
tions that  was  suppressed  in  the  time  of  Henry  VI H. 

After  the  Dissolution  of  the  convent,  in  1532,  it  continued  in  the 
Crown  during  the  remainder  of  Henry's  reign  ;  and  the  King  confined 
here  his  unfortunate  Queen,  Catherine  Howard,  from  Nov.  14,  1541, 
to  Ik  r  hoiiis'  examined  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  confessing 
tl.  •  !  ,0  ;  less  of  her  life:  she  was  executed  with  Lady  Rochford, 
!  cb.  12,  1542.  Edward  VL  granteti  the  estate  to  his  uncle,  the  Duke 
1)1  Somerset,  who,  in  1547,  began  to  build  this  magnificent  structure, 
and  finished  the  shell  of  it  nearly  as  it  now  remains.  It  is  of  white 
stone,  quadrangular  form,  with  a  square  turret  at  each  angle,  the  roof 
■  xX.  and  embattled.   In  the  centre  is  an  inclosed  area,  eighty  fcet  square. 


158  Sion  House,  IslewortJi. 

now  laid  out  as  a  flower-garden.  The  gardens  were  inclosed  by  high 
walls  before  the  east  and  west  fronts,  and  were  laid  out  in  a  grand 
mannci",  but  so  as  to  insure  stately  privacy,  thus  depriving  the  house  of 
all  prospect.  To  remedy  this  inconvenience,  the  Protector  built  a  high 
triangular  terrace  in  the  angle  between  the  walls  of  the  two  gardens : 
this,  by  his  enemies,  was  afterwards  called  a  fortification,  and  adduced 
as  one  proof  among  others,  of  his  having  formed  a  design  dangerous  to 
the  liberties  of  the  King  and  people.  The  Duke  was  executed,  Jan.  22, 
1552.  The  King  gives,  in  his  Journal,  several  particulars  of  the  charges 
against  his  uncle,  but  dismisses  his  death  in  the  most  heartless  manner : 
"The  Duke  of  Somerset  had  his  head  cut  off  upon  Tower  Hill,  be- 
tween 8  and  9  o'clock  in  the  morning." 

Sion  was  now  forfeited,  and  the  house,  which  was  given  to  John, 
Duke  of  Northumberland,  then  became  the  residence  of  his  son,  Lord 
Guildford  Dudley,  and  of  his  daughter-in-law,  the  unfortunate  Lady 
Jane  Grey:  she  resided  at  Sion  when  the  Dukes  of  Northumberland 
and  Suffolk,  and  her  husband,  came  to  prevail  upon  her  to  accept  the 
fatal  present  of  the  Crown ;  and  hence  she  was  conducted,  as  then  usual 
on  the  accession  of  the  Sovereign,  to  reside  some  time  in  the  Tower. 

The  Duke  being  beheaded  in  1553,  Sion  House  reverted  to  the 
Crown.  Queen  >Lary  restored  it  to  the  Bridgetines,  who  possessed  it 
till  they  were  finally  expelled  by  Elizabeth.  In  1604,  Sion  House  was 
granted  to  Henry  Percy,  ninth  Earl  of  Northumberland,  in  considera- 
tion of  his  eminent  services.  His  son,  Algernon,  employed  Inigo  Jones 
to  new  face  the  inner  court  and  finish  the  Great  Hall.  In  1682, 
Charles,  Duke  of  Somerset,  having  married  the  only  child  of  Joccline, 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  Sion  House  became  his  property.  He  lent 
the  house  to  the  Princess  Anne,  who  resided  here  during  her  misunder- 
standing with  Queen  Mary.  Upon  the  Duke's  death,  in  1 748,  his  son, 
Algernon,  gave  Sion  House  to  Sir  Hugh  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Smithson, 
his  son-in-law  and  daughter,  afterwards  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Northum- 
berland. 

The  house  has  a  magnificent  interior,  with  treasures  of  ancient 
and  modern  sculpture ;  and  a  fine  collection  of  royal  and  noble  por- 
traits. Those  of  the  Stuart  family  are  placed  in  the  ai>artments 
in  which  the  ill-fated  Charles  had  so  many  tender  interviews  with 
his  children,  after  the  latter  were  committed  to  the  charge  of 
Lord  Algernon  Percy,  and  removed  to  Sion  House  in  August,  1646. 
The  Earl  treated  them  with  parental  attention,  and  obtained  a  grant  of 
Parliament  for  the  King  to  be  allowed  to  see  them;  and  in  consequence 
of  the  indulgence,  Chailes,  who  was  then  under  restraint  at  Hampton 


Ham  House,  Petersham.  159 

Court,  often  dined  with  his  family  at  Sion  House.  The  Duke  of  York 
was,  at  that  period,  about  fourteen  years  of  age;  the  Princess  Elizabeth, 
twelve;  and  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  seven.  The  portrait  of  the 
Princess,  in  the  Sion  collection,  is  believed  to  be  the  only  picture  extant 

of  this  lady. 

» 

Ham  House,  Petersham. 

One  of  the  finest  historic  bouses  in  the  environs  of  London  is  Ham 
House,  in  the  possession  of  the  Dysart  femily,  situated  upon  low  ground, 
near  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  and  opposite  to  the  classic  shore  of  Tcd- 
dington.  This  mansion  is  a  very  curious  specimen  of  the  domestic 
architecture  of  the  time  of  James  I.  It  was  erected  by  Sir  Thomas 
Vavasor,  Knt.,  who,  in  i6ii,  was  appointed  judge  of  the  then  newly- 
constituted  Marshal's  court,  conjointly  with  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  the 
solicitor-general,  and  aftervs'ards  lord  chancellor.  The  date  of  the 
house,  1610,  and  vivat  rex,  are  carved  on  the  principal  entrance- 
door.  The  hoiise  is  surrounded  with  majestic  elms  and  groves  of 
Scotch  firs.  The  mansion  is  built  of  red  brick,  with  stone  finishings. 
The  gardens  have  been  but  little  altered  since  they  were  originally 
fonned ;  terrace  above  teirace  slope  towards  the  river ;  and  Ham  Walks 
have  been  celebrated  by  several  of  our  poets.  On  the  principal  feijade 
of  the  house,  and  the  garden  walls,  is  a  series  of  well-sculptured  busts 
in  niches.  In  the  centre  is  a  large  hall,  surrounded  by  an  open  gallery; 
the  balustrades  of  the  grand  staircase  are  of  walnut  tree,  ornamented  with 
military  troiili'es.  The  great  statesman  and  general,  John,  Duke  of 
Aivyll  a;.d  (j;\jnwich,  was  born  here.  James  II.  was  ordered  to  retire 
to  Ham  House,  on  the  arrival  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  London,  but 
thinking  himself  too  near  the  metropolis,  he  retired  precipitately  into 
France.  Some  of  the  apartments  are  lined  with  tapestry  and  rich 
hangings ;  and  are  left  nearly  in  the  same  state  as  when  they  were  in- 
habited by  the  Countess  of  Dysart,  who  refurnished  the  house  at  a 
great  expense  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second.  Many  things,  indeed, 
remind  us  of  those  times;  the  Stuart  arms  form  the  back  of  several  of 
the  fireplaces ;  the  paintings  are  mostly  of  that  era,  and  the  inlaid  floors 
and  tables  still  bear  the  cypher  of  the  countess.  Adjoining  the  entrance 
hall  is  a  small  chapel,  in  which  is  a  folio  prayer-book,  with  the  royal 
ai-ms.  presented  by  Charles  H.  \Vithin  a  small  picture-closet,  the 
c:  •.  d  ceiling  painted  by  Verrio,  are  miniatures,  cabinet  pictures,  and 
utu  ics  of  'v'trtu.  Here  arc  two  miniatures  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  one 
with  astonishing  elaborateness  of  dress,  embroidery,  and  pearls.     In  a 


i6o  Ham  11  o use,  Petersham. 

little  glazed  cabinet  are  miniatures  of  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden;  Mary 
d'Este,  second  wife  of  James  II. ;  Louis  XIV.  when  a  child,  on  enamel, 
by  Petitot ;  together  with  a  small  lock  of  hair  from  the  decapitated  Earl 
of  Essex,  which  is  attached  to  one  ear-ring  that  was  originally  worn 
by  the  Duchess  of  Somerset,  the  Earl's  daughter. 

The  hangings  of  the  Tapestry-room  comprise  four  copies  of  Raphael's 
Cartoons,  possibly  wrought  at  Mortlake,  where  Sir  Francis  Crane 
established  a  tapestry  manufacture,  under  the  patronage  of  James  I. 
The  Queen's  Audience  Chamber  is  likewise  hung  with  tapestr)'  resem- 
bling the  Gobelin  manufacture — the  subjects  from  Watteau.  This 
room  is  called  the  Cabal  Chamber,  from  the  meetings  held  there  by  the 
despotic  ministers  of  Charles  II.,  whose  initials  form  "  Cabal."  In  the 
China  closet  is  an  original  picture  of  King  James  I.,  seated  in  an  arm- 
chair. The  prayer-book  of  the  celebrated  Lady  Rachel  Russell  is  kept 
in  one  of  the  drawing-rooms. 

In  the  Duchess  of  Lauderdale's  Apailments  almost  everything  re- 
mains in  the  same  order  as  when  tenanted  by  that  lady.  Besides  the 
choice  portraits,  in  the  adjoining  room  is  the  arm-chair  (beneath  a  silken 
canopy,  now  pendent  in  tatters),  in  which  she  was  accustomed  to  sit ; 
her  writing-desk,  tall  cane,  and  shorter  walking-stick  are  preserved  here. 
The  Picture  Gallery  is  hung  with  portraits,  mostly  by  Sir  Peter  Lely 
and  Vandyck.  The  curious  old  Library,  called  by  Dibdin  a  "  wonderful 
book  paradise,"  contains  fourteen  of  Caxton's  works.  Here  are  many 
documents  and  original  letters  of  the  reigns  of  Charles  II.  and  James  II. ; 
also,  the  first  known  edition  of  the  Pastime  of  Pleasure,  by  Stephen 
Hawes,  printed  by  De  Worde,  in  1509;  and  from  the  same  press  is 
another  amatory  poem,  entitled  The  Comfort  of  Lo-vers,  by  Hawes,  of 
which  no  other  copy  is  known  to  be  extant. 

The  Countess  of  Dysart,  of  whom  here  is  a  most  lovely  portrait  by 
Vandyck,  came  to  have  so  much  power  over  the  Lord  Lauderdale, 
that  it  lessened  him  much  in  the  esteem  of  the  world  ;  for  he  delivered 
himself  up  to  all  her  humours  and  passions.  She  sold  all  places,  and  was 
wanting  in  no  methods  that  could  bring  her  money,  which  she  lavished 
out  in  a  most  profused  vanity.  She  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
mistress  of  the  Protector :  she  made  a  boast  to  her  husband,  that  when 
he  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Worcester,  she  saved  him  from 
the  block  by  submitting  to  the  familiarities  of  Cromwell.  Buniet  says 
that  "  he  was  certainly  fond  of  her,  and  she  took  good  care  to  entertain 
him  in  it,"  and  that  "  his  intrigues  with  her  were  not  a  little  taken  notice 
of."  This  intimacy  subsequently  gave  so  much  offence  to  the  Puritans, 
that  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  his  visits. 


i6r 


Holland  House  and  its  Memories. 

This  celebrated  mansion  is  chai  mingly  placed  upon  high  ground,  about 
*vo  miles  west  of  the  town,  in  a  beautiful  park,  between  the  Kensing- 
:i  and  Uxbridge  roads.     The  upper  apartments  are  on  a  level  with  the 
)ne  gallery  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.   It  was  the  manor-house  of  Abbots 
jnsington,  built  in  1607,  for  Sir  Walter  Cope,  from  whom  it  de- 
eded to  his  son-in-law,  Henry  Rich,  first  Earl  of  Holland,  whence 
was  named  Holla?id  House.  The  Earl  was  twice  made  prisoner  here — 
•  Charles  I.,  in  1633,  for  his  challenging  Lord  Weston — and  by  the 
nnmand  of  the  Parliament,  after  his  attempt  to  restore  the  King,  for 
which  he  was  beheaded  in  1649.     Holland  House  was  next  occupied 
1  y  Fairfax,  as  his  head-quarters.     The  mansion  was,  however,  soon  re- 
)red  to  the  Countess  of  Holland.      During  the  Protectorate,   "in 
liver's  time,"  the  players  used  to  act  privately  here.     In  1716,  the 
'ate  passed  to  Addison,  the  Essayist,  by  his  marriage  with  Charlotte, 
Dowager  Countess  of  Holland  and  Warwick  ;  here  Addison  died,  Ju5";e 
17,  1719:  having,  as  stated  by  Dr.  Edward  Young,  addressed  to  the 
dissolute  Earl  of  Warwick  these  solemn  words:  "  I  have  sent  for  you 
that  you  may  see  how  a  Christian  can  die !"  he  shortly  after  expired : 

"There  taught  us  how  to  live,  and — oh,  too  high 
The  price  of  knowledge ! — taught  us  how  to  die." 

The  young  Earl  himself  died  in  1721.  Lord  Holland  died  here  July  i, 
1774  :  during  his  last  illness,  George  Selwyn  called  and  left  his  card; 
Selwyn  had  a  fondness  for  seeing  dead  bodies,  and  the  dying  lord,  fully 
comprehending  his  feeling,  is  said  to  have  remarked,  "  If  Mr.  Selwyn 
calls  again,  show  him  up  ;  if  I  am  alive,  I  shall  be  delighted  to  see  him, 
and  if  I  am  dead,  he  would  like  to  see  me."  Lord  Holland  (the 
famous  Whig),  called  on  Lord  Lansdowne  a  little  before  his  death,  and 
showed  him  his  epitaph  of  his  own  composition.  "  Here  lies  Henry 
Vassall  Fox,  Lord  Holland,  &c..  who  was  drowned  while  sitting  in 
his  elbow-chair:"  he  died  in  Plolland  House,  in  his  elbow-chair,  of 
water  in  the  chest. — Cunningham. 

About  the  year  1 762,  the  estate  was  sold  to  Henry  Fox,  the  first 
Bacon  Holland  of  that  name,  whose  second  son,  Charles  James  Fox, 
passed  his  early  years  at  Holland  House ;  and  here  lived  his  nephew, 
the  accomplished  peer,  at  whose  death,  in  1840,  the  estate  descended 
to  his  only  son,  by  whom  the  olden  character  of  the  mansion  and 
its  appurtenances  was  studiously  maintained. 
*  If 


i62  Holland  House  and  its  Memories. 

It  has  been  commonly  stated  and  believed  that  Addison's  marriage 
with  the  Coimtess  of  Warwick  was  a  most  unhappy  match ;  and  that, 
to  drown  his  sorrow  and  escape  from  his  termagant  wife,  he  would 
often  slip  away  from  Holland  House  to  the  ^^'hite  Horse  Inn,  which 
stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  Holland  Arms  Inn.  Here  Addison 
would  enjoy  his  favourite  dish  of  fillet  of  veal,  his  bottle,  and  perhaps 
a  friend.  Moreover,  Addison  is  accused  of  having  taught  Dryden  to 
drink,  so  as  to  hasten  his  end.  Pope  also  states  that  Addison  kept  such 
late  hours  that  he  was  compelled  to  quit  his  company.  But  both  these 
anecdotes  are  fi-om  Spence's  medley  volume,  and  are  doubted  ;  and 
they  have  done  much  injuiy  to  Addison's  character.  Miss  Aikin  (in 
her  Life  of  Addison),  endeavours  to  invalidate  these  imputations,  by 
reference  to  the  sobriety  of  Addison's  early  life.  He  had  a  remark- 
ably sound  constitution,  and  could,  probably,  sit  out  his  companions, 
and  stop  short  of  actual  intoxication  ;  indeed,  it  was  said  that  he  was 
only  wanned  into  the  utmost  brillancy  of  table  conversation  by  the 
time  that  Steele  had  rendered  himself  nearly  unfit  for  it.  The  idea  that 
domestic  unhappiness  led  him  to  contract  intoxication,  is  then  repu- 
diated ;  and  the  opposite  conclusion  supported  by  the  bequest  of  his 
whole  property  to  his  lady.  "  Is  it  conceivable,"  asks  Miss  Aikin, 
"  that  any  man  would  thus  '  give  and  hazard  all  he  had,'  even  to  his 
precious  only  child,  in  compliment  to  a  woman  who  should  have  rendered 
his  last  years  miserable  by  her  pride  and  petulance,  and  have  driven  him 
out  from  his  home,  to  pass  his  comfortless  evenings  in  the  gross  indul- 
gence of  a  tavern  ?" 

There  is  a  story  told  of  Sheridan,  which  has  more  tlie  semblance  of 
truth.  Nearly  opposite,  in  the  Kensington  road,  was  the  Adam  and 
Eve  public  house,  where  Sheridan,  on  his  way  to  and  from  Holland 
House,  regularly  stopped  for  a  dram ;  and  there  he  ran  up  a  long  bill, 
which  Lord  Holland  had  to  pay. 

The  House,  designed  by  Thorpe,  is  in  plan  half  the  letter  H,  of  deep 
red  brick,  with  stone  finishings,  and  Elizabethan  character,  but  it  has  lost 
many  of  its  original  features.  The  Great  Staircase  and  the  Gilt  Room,  are 
of  the  time  of  James  I.;  the  latter  is  mostly  by  Francis  Cleyn,  who  was 
much  employed  by  James  I.  and  Charles  I. :  the  ceiling  "  in  grotesque," 
by  Cleyn,  fell  down  during  the  minority  of  the  late  Lord  Holland;  the 
wainscot-panels  have  alternately  gold  fleurs-de-lis  on  blue,  within  palm 
branches ;  and  gold  crosslets on  red,  encircled  with  laiuel ;  with  the anns 
of  the  Rich  and  Cope  families,  and  the  punning  motto,  Dlt'ior  est  qui 
se  ? — who  more  rich  than  he  ?  The  entablature  has  a  painted  leaf  en- 
richment, with  gilt  acorns  between  ;  the  compartments  of  the  two  fire- 


Holland  House  and  its  Memories.  163 

-^aces  are  painted  with  female  figures  and  bas-reliefs  from  the  antique 
;esco  of  the  Aldobrandini  Marriage,  executed  by  Cleyn,  and  not  un- 
worthy of  Parmegiano :  among  the  furniture  are  can-ed  and  gilt  shell- 
back chairs,  also  by  Cleyn,  and  a  table  from  the  Charter-house  hall. 
The  Library,  or  Long  Gallery,  forms  the  eastern  wing  of  the  mansion : 
the  collection  exceeds  18,000,  besides  MSS.  and  autographs,  including 
three  plays  of  Lope  de  Vega.  In  the  other  apartments  are  valuable 
pictures,  miniatures,  drawings,  sculptures;  with  enriched  cabinets, 
vases,  carvings  in  ivor)',  china,  filigree-work,  time-pieces,  &c.  In  the 
Ante-room  is  the  celebrated  collection  of  miniatures. 

Aubrey  relates  t^ivo  supernatural  appearances  at  Holland  House;  the 
first  to  "the  beautiful  Lady  Diana  Rich,  daughter  to  the  Earl  of 
Holland,  as  she  was  walking  in  her  father's  garden  at  Kensington,' 
when  she  "  met  with  her  own  apparition,  habit  and  everything,  as  in  a 
looking-glass  About  a  month  after,  she  died  of  the  small-pox." 
Aubrey's  second  story  is  that  the  third  daughter  of  Lord  Holland,  not 
!ong  after  her  marriage  with  the  first  Earl  of  Breadalbane,  "  had  some 
-  uch  warning  of  approaching  dissolution." 

Holland  House  has  been  for  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half  the  favourite 
resort  of  wits  and  beauties,  of  painters  and  poets,  of  scholars,  philo- 
soph.ers,  and  statesmen.  In  the  lifetime  of  Vassall  Lord  Holland  it  was 
tiK'  meeting-place  of  "  the  Whig  Party  ;"  and  his  liberal  hospitality  made 
it  "  the  resort  not  only  of  the  most  interesting  persons  composing 
Knglish  society,  literary,  philosophical,  and  political,  but  also  to  all  be- 
lonjiing  to  those  classes  who  ever  visited  this  country'  from  abroad." 
{Lord  Brougham.^  "  Holland  House"  (says  Macaulay)  "  can  boast 
of  a  greater  number  of  inmates  distinguished  in  political  and  literary 
history  than  any  other  private  dwelling  in  England." 

TickcU  has  thus  elegantly  apostrophised  the  brave  old  house: — 

"  Thou  hill,  whose  brow  the  antique  structures  grace, 
Reared  bv  tK>M  chiefs  of  Warwick's  noble  race; 

Wliv,       ■         '        ■      ■        ■      •'     '  -oars. 

Oc.  ? 

H(..,  '-.lir. 

'IJn 

Hu 

Th. 

Hi^; 

1  hy 

No  more  ilic  iUiiuncr  j;i  thy  ;;luuiu  :>  allay  d, 

Thine  evening  breezes,  and  thy  noonday  shade." 

Mr.  John  Fisher  Murray,  in  his  Eni'trons  of  London,  quotes  the  fol- 
lowing pleasing  tribute,  at  once  considerate  and  just,  to  the  memory 
of  the  social  and  convei-sational  excellences  of  Lord  Holland :  it  is  from 

M  2 


164  Holland  House  and  its  Memories. 

the  pen  of  one  well  calculated  to  do  justice  to  his  memory;  while  it  is 
an  agreeable  picture  of  manners  in  high  literary  life,  especially  that 
portion  of  it  more  particularly  associated  with  Holland  House : — 

"  Speaking  of  the  mansion,  the  writer  eloquently,  and  we  fear  pro- 
plxtlcally,  says :  '  Yet  a  few  years,  and  the  shades  and  structures  may 
follow  their  illustrious  masters.  The  wonderful  city  which,  ancient 
and  gigantic  as  it  is,  still  continues  to  grow  as  a  young  towTi  of  log- 
wood by  a  water  privilege  in  Michigan,  may  soon  displace  those  turrets 
and  gardens,  which  are  associated  with  so  much  that  is  interesting  and 
noble;  with  the  courtly  magnificence  of  Rich,  with  the  loves  of 
Ormond,  with  the  counsels  of  Cromwell,  with  the  death  of  Addison. 
The  time  is  coming  when  perhaps  a  few  old  men,  the  last  survivors  of 
our  generation,  will  in  vain  seek,  amid  new  streets,  and  squares,  and 
railway  stations,  for  the  site  of  that  dwelling,  which  in  their  youth  was 
the  favourite  resort  of  wits  and  beauties,  of  painters  and  poets,  of 
scholars,  philosophers,  and  statesmen  ;  they  will  then  remember  with 
strange  tenderness  many  objects  familiar  to  them — the  avenue  and  ter- 
race, the  busts  and  the  paintings,  the  caning,  the  grotesque  gilding,  and 
the  enigmatical  mottoes.  With  peculiar  tenderness  they  will  recall  that 
venerable  chamber,  in  which  all  the  antique  gravity  of  a  college  library 
was  so  singularly  blended  with  all  that  female  grace  and  wit  could  de- 
vise to  embellish  a  drawing-room.  They  will  recollect,  not  unmoved, 
those  shelves  loaded  with  the  varied  learning  of  many  lands  and  many 
ages ;  those  portraits,  in  which  were  preserved  the  features  of  the  best 
and  wisest  Englishmen  of  two  generations :  they  will  recollect  how 
many  men,  who  have  guided  the  politics  of  Europe,  who  have  moved 
great  assemblies  by  reason  and  eloquence,  who  have  put  life  into  bronze 
or  canvas,  or  who  have  left  to  posterity  things  so  written  that  it  will 
not  willingly  let  them  die,  were  there  mixed  with  all  that  is  loveliest  and 
gayest  in  the  society  of  the  most  splendid  of  capitals.  They  will  re- 
member the  singular  character  which  belonged  to  that  circle,  in  which 
every  talent  and  accomplishment,  every  art  and  science,  had  its  place. 
They  will  remember  how  the  last  debate  was  discussed  in  one  corner, 
and  the  last  comedy  of  Scribe  in  anothei-;  while  Wilkie  gazed  with 
modest  admiration  on  Reynolds'  Baretti ;  while  Mackintosh  turned 
over  Thomas  Aquinas  to  verify  a  quotation;  while  Talleyrand  related 
his  conversations  with  Barras  at  the  Luxembourg,  or  his  ride  with 
Lannes  over  the  field  of  Austerlitz.  They  will  remember,  above  all, 
the  grace,  and  the  kindness  far  more  admirable  than  grace,  with  which 
the  princely  hospitality  of  that  ancient  mansion  was  dispensed ;  they 
will  remember  the  venerable  and  benignant  countenance  and  the  cordial 


d 


Ostertey  Park  and  Sir  Thomas  Gresham.  165 

voice  of  him  who  bade  them  welcome ;  they  will  remember  that  temper, 
which  years  of  sickness,  of  lameness,  of  confinement,  seemed  only  to 
make  sweeter  and  sweeter ;  and  that  frank  politeness,  which  at  once 
relieved  all  the  embarrassment  of  the  youngest  and  most  timid  writer  or 
artist  who  foimd  himself  for  the  first  time  among  ambassadors  and  earls. 
They  will  remember  that,  in  the  last  lines  which  he  traced,  he  expressed 
his  joy  that  he  had  done  nothing  unworthy  of  the  friend  of  Fox  and 
Grey ;  and  they  will  have  reason  to  feel  similar  joy,  if,  in  looking  back 
on  many  troubled  years,  they  cannot  accuse  themselves  of  having  done 
anything  unworthy  of  men  who  were  distinguished  by  the  friendship  of 
Lord  Holland.'  " 

We  regard  this  as  a  very  graceful  as  well  as  truthful  piece  of  writing, 
such  as  we  rarely  find  in  the  journals  of  home  tourists. 


Osterley  Park  and  Sir  Thomas  Gresham. 

Osterley,  the  noble  seat  of  the  Jersey  family,  near  Hounslo.v,  belonged 
to  the  Convent  of  Sion,  on  the  suppression  of  which  it  was  granted  to 
Henry,  Marquis  of  Exeter;  and  reverting  to  the  Crown  on  his  attainder, 
Kdward  VI.  granted  it  to  the  Duke  of  Somerset.  Being  again  forfeited 
by  his  attainder,  it  was  granted,  in  1557,  to  Augustine  Thaier.  Be- 
tween this  period  and  1570,  it  came  into  the  possession  of  Sir  Thomas 
Gresham,  by  whom  a  noble  edifice  was  erected.  Here  the  great  mer- 
chant magnificently  entertained  Queen  Elizabeth,  before  whom  the 
Drv'ues  of  IVarre,  and  a  play,  were  performed.  On  this  visit  her 
Majesty  found  fault  with  the  court  of  Gresham's  house,  affirming  it 
Aould  appear  more  handsome,  if  divided  with  a  court  in  the  middle. 
What  docs  Sir  Thomas,  but  in  the  nighttime  sends  for  workmen  to 
London,  who  so  speedily  and  silently  apply  their  business,  that  the  next 
morning  discovered  the  court  double,  which  the  night  had  left  single 
iK-forc.  It  is  questionable  whether  the  Queen  next  day,  was  more  con- 
tented with  the  conformity  to  her  fancy,  or  more  pleased  with  the  sur- 
prise and  sudden  performance  thereof.  Her  courtiers,  some  avowed  it 
was  no  wonder  he  could  so  soon  change  a  building,  who  could  build  a 
"change;"  others,  reflecting  on  some  known  difference  in  the  knight's 
family,  affirmed  that  a  house  is  easier  divided  than  united. 

In  1596,  Osterley  was  in  the  possession  of  the  "  Ladic  Gresham  ;"  it 
was  a  fair  and  stately  building  of  brick,  standing  in  a  park,  well  wooded, 
and  garnished  with  many  fair  ponds,  which  afforded  not  only  fish  and 
fowl,  as  swans  and  other  waterfowl,  but  also  great  use  for  mills,  as 


1 66  Enfield  Palace. 

paper-mills,  oil-mills,  and  cCin-mills,  all  which  were  then  decayed  except 
a  corn-mill.  In  the  park,  too,  was  a  heronry,  for  the  increase  and  pre- 
servation of  which  "  sundrie  allurements  were  devised  and  set  up,"  now 
fallen  all  to  ruin.  The  mansion  afterwards  was  the  seat  of  Sir  William 
Waller,  the  celebrated  Parliamentary  General.  It  then  passed  by  mort- 
gage, to  Sir  Francis  Child,  who  commenced  the  present  mansion,  on 
the  site  of  the  more  ancient  structure,  about  the  year  ly^r^o.  "  It  had  a 
magnificent  interior,"  Walpole  describes,  "  and  a  drawing-room  worthy 
of  Eve  before  the  fall.  Mrs.  Child's  dressing-room  is  fiill  of  pictures, 
gold,  filigree,  China,  and  Japan.  So  is  all  the  house ;  the  chairs  are 
taken  from  antique  lyres,  and  make  charming  harmony.  There  are 
Salvators,  Caspar  Poussins,  a  beautiful  staircase,  a  ceiling  by  Rubens, 
not  to  mention  a  kitchen  garden  that  costs  1400/.  a  year;  a  menagerie 
full  of  birds  which  came  from  a  thousand  islands  which  Mr.  Banks  has 
not  discovered ;  and  there  in  the  drawing-room  which  I  mentioned ; 
there  are  door-cases  and  a  crimson  and  gold  frieze,  that  I  believe  were 
bonowed  from  the  Palace  of  the  Sun ;  and  then  the  park  is  the  richest 
spot  of  ground  in  the  universe." 


Enfield  Palace. 

Enfield,  ten  miles  east  of  London,  was  anciently  famed  for  its 
Chace,  a  large  tract  of  Woodland,  filled  with  deer ;  granted  by  the 
Conqueror  to  an  ancestor  of  the  Mandevilles,  Earls  of  Essex,  from 
whom  it  came  to  the  Bohuns,  Earls  of  Hereford ;  but  it  has  belonged 
to  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  ever  since  King  Henry  IV.  married  a 
daughter  and  co-heir  of  the  last  Humphrey  Bohun.  When  King 
James  resided  at  Theobalds,  this  Chace  was  well  stocked  with  deer ; 
but  in  the  Civil  Wars,  it  was  stripped  of  game  and  timber,  and  let 
out  in  farms.  At  the  Restoration,  it  was  again  laid  open,  and  stocked 
with  deer ;  but  in  1 779,  it  was  disafforested.  Almost  in  the  middle  of  the 
Chace  are  still  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  house,  which  tradition  affirms  to 
have  belonged  to  the  Mandevilles,  Earls  of  Essex, 

In  tlie  town  of  Enfield  is  a  small  part  of  an  ancient  royal  palace, 
which  was  the  manor-house  of  Enfield ;  and  either  in  this,  or  another 
ancient  house,  called  Elsynge  Hall,  (now  demolished,)  Edward  VI.  on 
his  succession  to  the  throne,  kept  his  court  for  five  months,  before  he 
removed  to  London.  Mrs.  Boscawen,  writing  to  Mrs.  Delany,  thus 
describes  the  palace : — "  I  had  a  mind  to  explore  an  old  house,  which  is 
called  here  Queen  Elizabeth's  House.    I  went  in,  and  doubtless  airived 


Enfield  Palace.  167 

in  Her  Majesty's  eating  parlour — a  large  room,  fretwork,  mosaic  ceiling  of 

d  form.  A  chimney-piece,  ditto  E.  R.,  carved  and  corniced,  portcullises, 

)ses  and  other  marks  of  Plantagenets ;  also  a  Latin  distich  over  the 

iimney-piece,  which  I  believe  was  her  Majesty's  own  composing."     A 

Iter  of  Queen  Elizabetli's,  dated  from  Enfield,  is  yet  extant;  and  there 

in  the  Bodleian  Library  a  sermon  which  her  Royal  Highness  translated 

•-  Enfield  and  presented,  as  a  new  year's  present  to  her  brother.  King 

.  dward.     Elizabeth  kept  her  court  here  early  in  her  re'gn  ;  but  the 

ilace  was  alienated  from  the  Crown  by  Charles  L     Dr.  Uvedale,  who 

'.ed  here,  planted  in  the  garden  a  cedar  of  Libanus,  which  in  1793,  was 

A-elve  feet  in  girth.    Tradition  says  that  the  tree,  when  a  plant,  was 

: ought  from  Mount  Libanus  in  a  portmanteau.     In  one  of  the  rooms 

I  the  palace  were  two  chimney-pieces,  with  architectural  and  heraldic 

I  nrichments.     The  building  was  taken  down  in  1792. 

We  read  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  in  i5.-,7,  being  escorted  from 

Hatfield  to  Enfield  Chace,  attended  by  twelve  ladies  in  white  satin, 

on  ambling  palfreys,  twenty  yeomen  in  green,  all  on  hoi-seback,  that 

her  grace  might  hunt  the  hart.     She  was  met  on  the  Chace  by  fifty 

archers,  armed  with  gilded  bows,  each  of  whom   presented  her  with 

I  silver-headed  arrow  winged  with  peacocks'  feathers.     At  the  conclu- 

jp.  of  the  hunt,  the  Princess  cut  the  throat  of  the  buck. 

Over  Enfield  Wash  a  mysterious  tradition  yet  lives.     It  appears  that 

Klizabeth  Canning,  a  servant  girl,  having  been  to  visit  a  relation  on  New 

Vear's-day,  1753,  did  not  return  to  her  master's  house  that  night,  nor 

•  as  she  heard  of  for  a  month  afterwards,  when  she  came  to  her  mother 

1  a  very  emaciated  and  deplorable  condition,  and  affirmed  that  on  the 

:.ight  she  disappeared  she  had  been  attacked  in  Moorfields  by  two  men, 

who  robbed  her,  and  carried  her  by  force  to  the  house  of  one  Mother 

Wells,  at  Enfield  Wash.     Another  person  who  ill-treated  her  at  the 

time,  she  said,  was  Mary  Squires,  a  gipsy.     In  consequence  of  these 

'  s,  both  Squires  and  \\'clls  were  apprehended  and  tried  at  the  Old 

The  former  was  condemned  to  be  hanged,  and  the  latter  to  be 

1  in  the  hand  and  imprisoned.   Subsequent  inquiry  established  the 

)od  of  the  whole  story.     The  gipsy  and  Wells  were  set  free,  and 

c:anning,  in  her  tuni,  was  sentenced  to  seven    years'  transportation. 

I.lii:abeth  Canning  was  the  popular  heroine  of  the  day.    The  mob 

■  armly  took  up  her  side.     They  proceeded  to  the  most  violent  out- 

!  iges,  breaking  tlic  coach-windows  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  even  threat- 

i  uing  his  life. 


i68 


The  Palace  of  Whitehall. 

That  part  of  Westminster  which  extends  from  near  Charing  Cross 
to  Canon-row,  and  from  the  Thames  to  St.  James's  Park,  was  the  site 
of  the  royal  Palace  of  Whitehall,  from  1530  to  1697.  Its  historical 
associations  are  very  interesting.  It  was  formerly  called  York  Place, 
from  having  been  the  town  residence  of  the  Archbishops  of  York : 
Wolsey  being  the  last  by  whom  it  was  inhabited.  It  was  taken  from 
him  by  Henry  VIII,,  and  the  broken-hearted  prelate  left  in  his  barge  on 
the  Thames  for  Esher.  The  name  of  the  palace  was  then  changed  to 
White  Hall,  possibly  from  some  new  buildings  having  been  constructed  of 
white  stone.  Here  Henry  and  Anne  Boleyn  were  married;  and  here  her 
coronation  was  kept.  Henry  built  a  noble  stone  gallery,  from  which, 
in  1539,  he  reviewed  15,000  armed  citizens :  and  the  Court  and  nobility 
witnessed  the  jousts  and  tournaments  in  the  Tilt-yard,  now  the  parade- 
ground  of  the  Horse  Guards.  Holbein  built,  opposite  the  entrance  to 
the  Tilt-yard,  a  magnificent  Gate-house,  of  small  squared  stones  and 
flint  boulders,  glazed  and  tessellated  :  on  each  front  were  four  terra-cotta 
busts,  naturally  coloured,  and  gilt.  The  gate  was  removed  in  1 750. 
Three  of  the  busts,  Henry  VII.  and  VIII.  and  Bishop  Fisher,  are  now 
at  Hatfield  Priory,  Essex.  The  Gate-house  was  used  as  a  State-paper 
Office  many  years  before  its  removal,  and  was  known  as  the  Cockpit 
Gate.  Bishop  Latimer  preached  before  the  Court  in  the  Privy  Garden, 
the  King  sitting  at  one  of  the  palace  windows.  Queen  Mary  went  from 
Whitehall  by  water  to  her  coronation  at  Westminster,  Elizabeth  bear- 
ing the  crown  before  her.  Whitehall  Palace  was  attacked  by  Sir 
Thomas  Wyat's  rebels,  who  "  shotte  divers  aiTOwes  into  the  courte, 
the  gate  beying  open  ;"  and  looking  out  over  the  gate,  the  Queen  par- 
doned the  Kent  men,  with  halters  about  their  necks.  From  the  palace 
the  Princess  Elizabeth  was  taken  captive  to  the  Tower  on  Palm  Sunday, 
1554.  Bishop  Gardiner  died  here  at  midnight,  exclaiming:  "I  have 
sinned  ;  I  have  not  wept  with  Peter." 

Elizabeth  revived  the  pageants  at  Whitehall,  and  built  "  the  Fortress  or 
Castell  of  perfect  Beautie,"  a  large  wooden  banqueting-house.  Late  in  life 
she  enjoyed  other  recreations :  in  her  sixty-fifth  year  we  find  her  appoint- 
ing a  Frenchman  to  do  feats  upon  a  rope  in  the  conduit-court  ;  com- 
manding the  bear,  the  bull,  and  the  ape,  to  be  baited  in  the  Tilt-yard ; 
and  solemn  dancing  next  day.  In  the  Orchard  of  Whitehall,  the  Lords 
in  Council  met ;  and  in  the  Garden  James  I.  knighted  300  or  400  judges, 
Serjeants,  doctors-at-law,  &c.    Here  the  Lord  Monteagle  imparted  to 


i 


The  Palace  of  WkiieJiall.  169 

the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  the  warning  letter  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot ;  Guy 
Fawkes  was  examined  in  the  King's  bedchamber,  and  earned  hence  to 
the  Tower.  In  this  reign  were  produced  many  "  most  glorious  masques" 
by  Inigo  Jones  anJ  Ben  Jonson.  Inigo  designed  a  new  palace,  which 
would  have  exceeded  that  of  the  palace  of  Diocletian,  and  would  have 
covered  nearly  twenty-four  acres :  there  are  engraved  views. 

Of  Jones's  magnificent  design,  only  the  Banqueting-bouse  was  com- 
pleted. Charles  I.  commissioned  Rubens  to  paint  the  ceiling,  and  by 
his  agency  obtained  the  Cartoons  of  Raphael.  In  the  Cabinet-room  of 
the  palace,  built  also  by  Inigo  Jones,  Charles  assembled  pictures  of 
almost  incalculable  value.  Upon  the  Civil  War  breaking  out,  White- 
hall was  seized  by  the  Parliament,  who,  in  1645,  had  the  masque-house 
:iulled  down,  sold  great  part  of  the  paintings  and  statues,  and  burnt  the 
superstitious  pictures."  Here,  Jan.  29,  1649,  in  the  Cabinet-room 
Charles  last  prayed;  in  the  Horn-chamber  he  was  delivered  to  the 
officers,  and  thence  led  out  to  execution  upon  a  scaffold  in  front  of  the 
Banqueting-house. 

The  King  was  taken  on  the  first  morning  of  his  trial,  Jan.  20,  1649, 
in  a  sedan-chair,  from  Whitehall  to  Cotton  House,  where  he  slept 
pending  his  trial  in  Westminster  Hall;  after  which  the  King  returned 
to  Whitehall;  but  on  the  night  before  his  execution  he  slept  at  St. 
James's.  On  Jan.  30  he  was  "  most  barbarously  murthered  at  his  own 
door,  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon."  Lord  Leicester  and  Dug- 
dale  state  that  Charles  was  beheaded  at  Whitehall  gate.  The  scaffold 
was  erected  in  front  of  the  Banqueting-house,  in  the  street  now  White- 
hall ;  and  Herbert  states  that  the  King  was  led  out  by  a  "  passage 
broken  throui,'h  the  wall,"  on  to  the  scaffold ;  but  Ludlow  states  that 
it  was  out  of  a  window,  according  to  Vertue,  of  a  small  building  north 
of  the  Banqueting-house,  whence  the  King  stepped  upon  the  scafl'old. 
A  picture  of  the  sad  scene,  painted  by  \\'eesop  in  the  manner  of  Van- 
dyke, shows  the  platform,  extending  only  in  length,  before  two  of  the 
indows,  to  the  commencement  of  the  third  casement.  Weesop  visited 
iigland  from  Holland  in  1641,  and  quitted  England  in  1649,  saying, 
he  would  never  reside  in  a  country  where  they  cut  off  their  king's 
iicad,  and  were  not  ashamed  of  the  action." 

To  Whitehall,  in  16.5.3,  April  20th,  Cromwell  returned  from  the 
House  of  Commons,  with  the  keys  in  his  pocket,  after  dissolving  the 
l.ong  Parliament,  which  he  subsequently  explained  to  the  Little  or 
BartlK)nc8  Parliament.  Here  the  Parliament  desiretl  Cromwell  to 
"magnify  himself  with  the  title  of  King."  Milton  was  Cromwell's 
I^tin  Secretary,  Andrew  Marvell  his  frequent  guest,  with  Waller  hi« 


170  The  Palace  of  WJiiiehall. 

friend  and  kinsman,  and  sometimes  the  youthful  Dryden.  Cromwell 
expired  here  Sept.  3,  \(^■rfi,  "the  double  day  of  victory  and  death." 
Richard  Cromwell  resided  here.  Charles  II.,  at  the  Restoration, 
came  in  grand  procession  of  seven  hours'  duration  from  the  City  to 
Whitehall.  To  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Treasury  Charles 
assigned  the  Cockpit ;  and  in  this  locality  their  chambers  have  ever 
since  remained.  Hence  the  phrase  at  the  foot  of  proclamations — 
"  Given  at  the  Cockpit  at  Westminster."  Charles  collected  by  pro- 
clamation the  plate,  hangings,  and  paintings,  which  had  been  pillaged 
from  the  palace.  Evelyn  describes  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth's  apart- 
ment, "  twice  or  thrice  pulled  down  and  rebuilt  to  satisfy  her  prodigal 
and  expensive  pleasures  ;"  its  French  tapestry,  "  Japan  cabinets,  screens, 
pendule  clocks,  great  vases  of  wrought  plate,  table-stands,  chimney- 
furniture,  sconces,  branches,  brasenas,  &c.,  all  of  massive  silver,  and  out 
of  number."  Evelyn  also  sketches  a  Sunday  evening  in  the  palace: — 
"The  King  sitting  and  toying  with  his  concubines,  Portsmouth,  Cleve- 
land, and  Mazarine,  &c. ;  a  French  boy  singing  love-songs  in  those 
glorious  galleries ;  whilst  about  twenty  of  the  great  courtiers  and  other 
dissolute  persons  were  at  Basset  round  a  large  table,  a  bank  of  at  least 
2000/.  in  gold  before  them.     Six  days  after  was  all  in  dust." 

Charles  II.  died  at  Whitehall;  his  last  hours  have  been  thus  gra- 
phically narrated : — During  the  night  Charles  earnestly  recommended 
the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth  and  her  boy  to  the  care  of  James.  "  And 
do  not,"  he  good-naturedly  added,  "  let  poor  Nelly  starve."  The  Queen 
sent  excuses  for  her  absence  by  Halifax ;  she  said  she  was  too  much 
disordered  to  resume  her  post  by  the  couch,  and  implored  pardon  for 
any  offence  which  she  might  unwittingly  have  given.  "  She  ask  my 
pardon,  poor  woman !"  cried  the  repentant  King ;  •'  I  ask  hers  with  all 
my  heart." 

The  morning  light  began  to  peep  through  the  windows  of  White- 
hall, and  Charles  desired  the  attendants  to  pull  aside  the  curtains,  that 
he  might  once  more  look  at  the  day.  He  remarked  that  it  was  time  to 
wind  up  a  clock  which  stood  near  his  bed.  These  little  circumstances 
were  long  remembered,  because  they  proved  beyond  dispute  that,  when 
he  declared  himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  he  was  in  full  possession  of  his 
faculties.  He  apologised  to  those  who  stood  round  him  all  night  for 
the  trouble  which  he  had  caused.  He  had  been,  he  said,  a  most  un- 
conscionable time  dying,  but  he  hoped  they  would  excuse  it.  This  was 
the  last  glimpse  of  that  exquisite  urbanity  so  often  found  potent  to 
charm  away  the  resentment  of  a  justly  incensed  nation.  Soon  after 
dawn  the  speech  of  the  dying  man  failed.     Before  ten  his  senses  wei« 


The  Palace  of  Whitehall.  17k 

Great  numbers  had  repaired  to  the  churches  at  the  hour  of 
inoi ulng  scnice.  When  the  prayer  for  the  King  was  read,  loud  groans 
and  sobs  showed  how  deeply  his  people  felt  for  h'm.     At  noon,  on 

Jay,  the  6th  February,  1685,  he  passed  away  without  a  struggle. — 
caulay. 

The  palace  was  twice  greatly  damaged  by  fite:  April  10,  1691,  when, 

to  save  the  trouble  of  cutting  a  candle  from  a  pound,  a  kitchenmaid  burnt 

it  off,  and  threw  the  rest  aside  before  the  flame  was  out.   The  fire  began 

•  the  fine  lodgings  of  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth,  and  burnt  the  long 

lery,  &c. ;  150  houses  were  burnt,  and  20  blown  up  with  gunpowder. 
luit  the  great  fire,  which  finally  destroyed  Whitehall,  broke  out  on 
Tuesday,  Jan.  4,  1697-8,  about  four  in  the  afternoon,  through  the 
neglect  of  a  Dutchwoman  who  had  left  some  linen  to  dry  before  the 
fire  in  Colonel  Stanley's  lodgings.  This  fire  lasted  seventeen  hours ; 
Ive  persons  perished. 

( )  wing  to  its  low  level,  Whitehall  was  liable  to  floods  from  the  Thames. 

pys  tells  a  story  of  the  Countess  of  Castlemaine,  when  the  King  was 

vo  sup  with  her  soon  after  the  birth  of  her  son,  the  Duke  of  Grafton. 

The  cook  came  and  told  the  imperious  countess  that  the  water  had 

flooded  the  kitchen,  and  the  chine  of  beef  for  the  supper  could  not  be 

roasted.      "  Zounds  !"  was  her  reply,  "  she  must  set  the  house  on  fire 

but  it  should  be  roasted."     So  it  was  carried,  adds  Pepys,  to  Mrs. 

Sarah's  husband,  and  there  roasted.     Another  picture  of  the  water 

rising  at  Whitehall  is  contained  in  a  Speech  of  Charles  II.  to  the  House 

of  Commons,  in  the  Banqueting  Hall,  March  i,  1661  [2],  in  which  he 

desires  them  so  to  amend  the  ways,  "  that  siie  (my  wife)  may  not  find 

Whitehall  surrounded  with  water."     Lord   Dorect  alludes  to  these 

periodical  inundations  in  his  well-known  song,  "  To  all  you  ladies  now 

at  land" : — 

"  The  King,  with  wonder  and  surprize, 
Will  swear  the  seas  grow  bold ; 
Because  the  tides  still  hifjlier  rise 

Than  e'er  they  did  of  old ; 
But  let  them  know  it  is  our  tears 
Bring  floods  of  grief  to  Whitehall  Stairs. 

With  a  fa  la.  la,  la.  la." 

-iiarles's  successor  was  immediately  proclaimed  at  the  palace-gate. 
James  II.  resided  here:  he  washed  the  feet  of  the  poor  with  his  own 
hands  on  Maundy  Thui*8day  in  the  Chapel  Royal :  here  he  admitted 
Penn,  the  Quaker,  to  his  private  closet ;  and  he  rebuilt  the  chapel  for 
Romish  worship,  with  marble  statues  by  Gibbons,  and  a  fresco  by 
Verrio.    The  King  also  erected  upon  the  Banqueting-house  a  large 


1/2  The  Palace  of  Whitehall. 

weathercock,  that  he  might  calculate  by  the  wind  the  probable  arrival  of 
the  Dutch  fleet.  On  Dec.  i8,  1688,  King  James  left  Whitehall  in  the 
state-barge,  never  to  return. 

Remains  of  ancient  Whitehall  have  been  from  time  to  time  dis- 
covered. In  1831,  Mr.  Sydney  Smirke,  F.S.A.,  in  the  basement  of 
'  Cromwell  House,"  Whitehall-yard,  found  a  stone-built  and  gioined 
Tudor  apartment — undoubtedly  a  relic  of  Wolsey's  palace.  Mr.  Smirke 
also  found  a  Tudor  arched  doorway,  with  remains  of  the  arms  of 
Wolsey  and  the  see  of  York  in  the  spandrels;  and  in  1847  were  re- 
moved the  last  remains  of  York  House,  a  Tudor  embattled  doorway, 
which  had  been  built  into  a  later  fa9ade  of  the  Treasury.  The  Ban- 
queting Hall  is  now  a  chapel ;  but  it  has  never  been  consecrated. 

Among  the  relics,  comparatively  but  little  known,  is  a  range  of  cham- 
bers, with  groined  roofings  of  stone,  at  the  Rolls  Offices  in  Whitehall 
Gardens ;  which,  probably,  are  a  portion  of  the  ancient  Palace  of  White- 
hall. Part  of  the  external  wall  of  these  remains  is  still  visible  opposite 
the  statue  of  James  II.  In  Privy  Garden  was  a  dial  set  up  by  Edward 
Gunter,  by  command  of  James  I.,  in  1624.  A  large  stone  pedestal  bore 
four  dials  at  the  four  comers,  and  "the  great  horizontal  concave"  in 
the  centre ;  besides  four  others  at  the  sides.  In  the  reign  of  Chailes  II. 
this  dial  was  defaced  by  an  intoxicated  nobleman  of  the  Court : 

"  This  place  for  a  dial  was  too  unsecure, 

Since  a  guard  and  a  garden  could  not  defend  ; 
For  so  near  to  the  Court  they  will  never  endure 
Any  witness  to  show  how  their  time  they  misspend." 

Marvtll. 

In  the  court -yard  facing  the  Banqueting-house  was  another  curious 
dial,  set  up  in  1669  by  order  of  Charles  II.,  by  one  Francis  Hall,  alias 
Lyne,  a  Jesuit.  It  consisted  of  five  stages  rising  in  a  pyramidal  form, 
and  bearing  several  vertical  and  reclining  dials,  globes  cut  into  planes, 
and  glass  bowls ;  showing  "  besides  the  houres  of  all  kinds,"  "  many 
things  also  belonging  to  geography,  astrology,  and  astronomy,  by  the 
sun's  shadow."  Among  the  pictures  were  portraits  of  the  King,  the 
two  Queens,  the  Duke  of  York,  and  Prince  Rupert.  Father  Lyne 
published  a  long  description  of  this  dial,  which  consisted  of  seventy- 
three  parts. 

A  curious  instance  of  the  punishmenV  generally  inflicted  for  striking  in 
the  Kings  Court  was  the  Earl  of  Devonshire  being  fined  in  1687  in  the 
sum  of  30,000/.  for  striking  Culpepper  with  liis  cane  in  the  Vane  Chamber 
at  Whitehall. 


^71 


BERWICK    AND    NORTHUMBERLAND. 

Berwick-upon-Tweed,  its  Castle,  and  Sieges. 

Berwick  first  appears  authentically  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth 
century,  during  the  reign  of  King  Alexander  I.,  when  it  was  part  of  the 
realm  of  Scotland,  and  the  capital  of  the  district  Lothian.  About  this 
time  it  became  populous  and  wealthy,  contained  a  magnificent  Castle,  was 
the  chief  sea-port  of  Scotland,  and  abounded  with  churches,  hospitals, 
and  monastic  buildings,  and  was  one  of  the  four  royal  burghs  (boroughs) 
of  Scotland.  There  is  an  interesting  story  preserved  of  Cnute,  a  mer- 
chant of  Berwick,  who,  early  in  the  reign  of  King  Malcolm  IV.,  had 
acquired  from  his  riches  the  name  of  "  the  Opulent."  Upon  the  treaty 
entered  into  with  England  for  the  ransom  of  William  the  Lion,  who 
was  taken  prisoner  near  Alnwick,  in  1 1 74,  the  Castle  of  Berwick,  with 
the  fortresses  in  Scotland,  was  surrendered  to  the  English  king,  but  it 
was  restored  by  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  in  i  iS8.  In  1214  King  John 
led  an  army  to  the  North  to  chastise  his  disaffected  barons,  and  also  the 
king  of  Scotland,  when  the  town  and  castle  of  Berwick  were  taken  by 
storm,  and  the  most  horrible  cruelties  inflicted  on  the  inhabitants  by  the 
I  !] -lish  soldiers;  they  then  committed  the  town  to  the  flames,  the 
I- jlish  king  commencing  by  setting  fire  to  the  house  in  which  he  had 
lodired  !  During  the  competition  between  Baliol  and  Bruce  for  the 
Scottish  throne,  the  English  parliament  sat  in  Berwick  ;  and  Edward  I. 
gave  judgment  in  favour  of  Baliol,  in  the  hall  of  the  Castle. 

In  1 296,  Edward  besieged  the  town  of  Berwick  both  by  sea  and  land, 
and  took  both  town  and  castle,  put  the  garrison  to  the  sword,  and 
butchered  the  inhabitants  without  distinction  of  sex  or  age. 

In  September,  1297,  the  Scots,  under  Wallace,  gained  a  signal  victory 
over  their  invaders  at  Stirling  bridge.  The  English  army  retreated  to 
Berwick,  though  soon  deserted  it,  but  the  garrison  retained  posses- 
sion of  the  Cistle.  In  the  following  spring,  on  the  approach  of  a 
powerful  army  from  England,  the  Scots  evacuated  the  town,  after  which 
Berwick  remained  in  the  possession  of  England  for  twenty  years ; 
during  that  period  large  sums  of  money  were  expendeti  in  fortifying 
the  town  and  the  Castle,  and  a  numerous  garrison  was  employed  in  its 
defence. 

In  1318  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Scots,  through  the  treachery  of 


174      Berwick-npon-Tweed,  its  Castle,  mid  Sieges. 

Peter  de  Spalding,  an  English  soldier,  who  enabled  a  body  of  troops, 
cautiously  assembled,  to  scale  the  walls  secretly  by  night,  and  to  become 
masters  of  the  town.  The  details  of  the  next  siege  are  very  interesting. 
The  son-in-law  of  Bruce  had  been  selected  as  the  governor  of  the  town, 
and  the  whole  army  of  England,  headed  by  King  Edward,  and  under 
the  command  of  the  flower  of  the  nobility,  invested  the  place.  After 
their  earthen  mounds  had  been  completed,  the  English,  on  St.  Mary's 
Eve,  made  a  simultaneous  assault  by  land  and  by  sea.  Whilst  their 
force,  led  by  the  bravest  captains,  and  carrying  with  them,  besides 
their  usual  arms,  the  ladders,  crows,  pickaxes,  and  other  assistance  for 
an  escalade,  rushed  onward  to  the  walls,  with  the  sound  of  trumpets, 
and  the  display  of  innumerable  banners,  a  large  vessel,  prepared  for  the 
purpose,  was  towed  towards  the  town  from  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
She  was  filled  with  armed  soldiers,  a  party  of  whom  were  filaced  in  her 
boat,  drawn  up  mid-mast  high  ;  whilst  to  the  bow  of  the  boat  was  fixed 
a  species  of  drawbridge,  which  it  was  intended  to  drop  upon  the  wall, 
and  thus  afford  a  passage  fi-om  the  vessel  into  the  town.  Yet  these 
complicated  preparations  failed  of  success,  although  seconded  by  the 
greatest  gallantry ;  and  the  English,  after  being  baffled  in  every  attempt 
to  fix  their  ladders  and  maintain  themselves  upon  the  walls,  were  com- 
pelled to  retire,  leaving  their  vessel  to  be  burnt  by  the  Scots,  who  slew 
many  of  her  crew,  and  made  prisoner  the  engineer  who  suiierintcnded 
and  directed  the  attack. 

This  imsuccessful  stratagem  was,  after  five  days'  active  preparation, 
followed  by  another  still  more  desperate,  in  which  the  besiegers  made 
use  of  a  huge  machine  moving  upon  wheels;  this  contained  several 
platforms  or  stages,  which  held  parties  of  armed  soldiers,  who  were 
defended  by  a  strong  roofing  of  boards  and  hides,  beneath  which  they 
could  work  their  battering-rams  with  impunity.  To  co-operate  with 
this  unwieldy  and  bulky  instrument,  which,  from  its  shape  and  covering, 
they  called  a  "  sow,"  moveable  scaffolds  had  been  constructed,  of  such 
a  height  as  to  overtop  the  walls,  from  which  they  proposed  to  storm  the 
town ;  and  instead  of  a  single  vessel,  as  on  the  former  occasion,  a 
squadron  of  ships,  with  their  top- castles  manned  by  picked  bodies  of 
archers,  and  their  armed  boats  slung  mast-high,  were  ready  to  sail  with 
the  tide,  and  anchor  beneath  the  walls.  But  the  Scots  were  well  pre- 
pared for  them.  By  Crab,  the  Flemish  engineer,  machines  similar  to 
the  Roman  catapult,  moving  on  wheels,  and  of  enormous  strength  and 
dimensions,  were  constmcted  and  placed  on  the  walls  at  the  spot  where 
it  was  expected  "the  sow"  would  make  its  approach.  In  addition  to 
this  they  fixed  a  crane  upon  the  rampart,  armed  with  iron  chains  and 


Berwick-upon-Tweed^  its  Castle,  and  Sieges.       175 

grappling:  hooks;  and  large  masses  of  combustibles  and  fire-fagots, 
shaped  like  tuns,  and  composed  of  pitch  and  flax,  bound  strongly  to- 
gether with  tar-ropes,  were  piled  up  in  readiness  for  the  attack.  At 
different  intervals  on  the  walls  were  fixed  the  springalds  for  the  dis- 
charge of  their  heavy  darts,  which  carried  on  their  barbed  points  little 
bundles  of  flaming  tar  dipped  in  oil  or  sulphur ;  the  ramparts  were  lined 
by  the  archers,  spearmen,  and  cross-bows,  and  to  each  leader  was 
assigned  a  certain  station,  to  which  he  could  repair  on  a  moment's 
warning. 

The  Scots  cheerfully  and  confidently  awaited  the  attack  ;  to  which 
the  English  moved  forward  in  great  strength,  and  led  by  the  King  in 
person,  on  the  13th  of  September.  The  different  squadrons  rushed  for- 
ward, so  that  the  ladders  were  fixed,  the  ditch  filled  up  by  fascines,  and 
the  ramparts  attacked  with  an  impetuous  valour  which  promised  to 
carry  all  before  it.  The  Scots,  after  a  short  interval  advanced  with 
levelled  spears  in  close  array,  and  with  a  weight  and  resolution  which 
effectually  checked  the  enemy.  Considerable  ground  had,  however, 
been  gained  in  the  first  assault ;  and  the  battle  was  maintained  from 
sunrise  till  noon,  with  excessive  obstinacy  on  both  sides ;  but  it  at  last 
concluded  in  favour  of  the  resolution  and  endurance  of  the  Scots,  who 
repulsed  the  enemy  on  every  quarter,  and  cleared  their  ramparts  of  their 
assailants.  At  this  moment,  by  Edward's  orders,  the  sow  began  its 
advance  towards  the  walls ;  and  the  cran,  or  catapult,  armed  with  a 
mass  of  rock,  was  seen  straining  its  timbers,  and  taking  its  aim  against 
the  approaching  monster.  On  the  first  discharge  the  stone  flew  far  be- 
yond ;  and  as  the  conductors  hurried  forward  the  immense  machine, 
the  second  missile  fell  short  of  it.  A  third  block  of  granite  was  now 
got  ready,  and  an  English  engineer  who  had  been  taken  prisoner,  was 
commanded  on  pain  of  death  to  direct  the  aim  ;  whilst  the  sow  was 
moving  forward  with  a  rapidity  which  must,  in  a  few  seconds,  have 
brought  it  to  the  foot  of  the  walls.  All  ga/.cd  on  for  an  instant  in 
breathless  suspense — but  only  for  an  insUint.  The  catapult  was  dis- 
charged—a loud  booming  noise  in  the  air  accompanied  the  progress  of 
its  deadly  projectile, — and  in  a  moment  aftcrwanls,  a  tremendous  crash, 
mingled  with  the  shrieks  of  the  victims  and  the  shouts  of  the  soldiers 
from  the  walls,  declu-ed  the  destruction  of  the  huge  machine.  It  had 
been  hit  so  truly,  that  the  stone  passed  through  the  roof,  shivering  its 
timlier  into  a  thousand  pieces  ;  and  crushing  and  mangling  in  a  frightful 
matiiicr  tlie  unhappy  soldiers  who  manned  its  dilVcrent  platforms.  As 
those  who  escaped  rushed  out  from  its  broken  fragments,  the  Scottish 
soldiers  shouted  out  that  the  English  sow  had  farrowed.     Crab  now 


176      Berivick-upon-Tweed,  its  Castle,  and  Sieges. 

cast  his  chains  and  grappling-hooks  over  the  ruins  of  the  machine,  ami 
dragging  it  nearer  the  walls,  poured  down  his  combustibles  in  such 
quantity,  that  it  was  soon  consumed  to  ashes.  It  was  near  night-fall ; 
when  foiled  on  every  side,  the  Englsh  entirely  withdrew  from  the  assault. 

Benvick  then  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Scots  until  the  fatal 
battle  of  Halidon  Hill,  an  eminence  almost  close  to  the  Scottish  border. 
After  this  battle,  which  was  fought  in  July,  1333,  Berwick  again  fell 
under  the  dominion  of  the  English,  and  so  continued  until  November, 
1355,  when  it  was  surprised  in  the  night  by  the  Scots.  The  inhabi- 
tants fled  to  the  Castle,  leaving  the  town  to  pillage ;  and  Fordun,  the 
Scottish  historian,  refers  with  more  than  ordinary  exultation  to  "the 
gold  and  silver  and  infinite  riches  "  which  became  the  prey  of  his 
countrymen.  In  the  following  January,  Edward  1 1 1,  invested  the  town 
with  a  powerful  army,  when  the  Scots  being  unable  to  retain  it,  agreed  to 
capitulate,  and  were  suffered  to  depart  with  all  their  effects,  almost 
every  individual  soldier  being  made  wealthy  with  the  booty  he  thus 
obtained. 

In  1378  the  Castle  of  Berwick  was  taken  by  a  small  band  of  Scottish 
adventurers,  who  slew  the  constable.  Sir  Robert  de  Boynton,  and  kept 
possession  of  the  fortress  upwards  of  a  week :  it  was  then  retaken  by  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  at  the  head  of  10,000  men,  and  here  his 
eldest  son,  the  celebrated  Hotspur,  afterwards  governor  of  the  place, 
commenced  his  military  career. 

In  1384,  during  a  truce,  the  Scots  repossessed  themselves  by  night  of 
the  Castle,  and  burnt  the  town  ;  but  the  offer  of  a  sum  of  money  soon 
induced  the  enemy  to  abandon  the  conquest.  After  the  accession  of 
Henry  IV.,  the  Earl,  believing  that  Richard  11.  was  still  alive,  adhered 
to  his  fortunes,  and  in  1405  surrendered  Berwick  to  the  Scots,  who 
pillaged  and  once  more  burnt  it.  The  English  King,  with  an  army  of 
37,000  fighting  men  (according  to  Walsingham),  besieged  the  Castle, 
the  Earl  and  his  adherents  having  previously  deserted  the  town,  and 
fled  to  Scotland.  The  garrison  hesitated  to  surrender  on  being  sum- 
moned, but  a  single  shot  from  a  large  piece  of  ordnance  threw  down 
one  of  the  towers,  which  so  terrified  the  defenders,  that  they  instantly 
gave  up  the  fortress,  and  all  of  them  were  either  beheaded  or  committed 
to  prison.  In  1416  the  Scots  attempted  the  recovery  of  Berwick,  but 
without  success.  Henry  VI.,  after  his  defeat  by  Edward  IV.,  at 
Towton  in  1461,  fled  to  Scotland,  and  surrendered  Berwick  to  the 
Scots,  who  continued  masters  of  it  and  the  Castle  for  twenty-one  years. 
In  July,  1482,  the  town  again  suirendered  to  the  English,  but  the  Castle 
held  out  until  the  24th  of  August  following,  when  through  the  in- 


IVark  Castle.  \yy 

trigues  of  the  Duke  of  Albany,  the  brother  of  James  III.,  both  town 
and  castle  were  finally  surrendered  to  Edward  IV.,  and  were  never 
afterwards  recovered  by  the  sister  kingdom. 

Berwick  still  remains  a  walled  town,  but  the  fortifications  do  not  in- 
ose  so  large  a  space  as  they  did  in  ancient  jtimes.  The  modern  ram- 
parts are  generally  m  good  repair,  some  ruins  of  the  old  wall  yet  re- 
main, and  the  Bell  Tower  is  still  almost  entire:  it  formerly  contained  a 
bell  to  give  warning  of  the  approach  of  enemies.  The  present  walls 
were  built  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  There  are  five  gates.  The 
castle,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  was  in  complete  repair,  but  in  th?.t  of 
Charles  I.  it  was  in  ruins.  An  eye-witness  at  the  latter  period  describes  it 
as  "  in  manner  circular,  but  dilapidated,  as  having  had  mounts,  rampiers 
and  flankers,  well  replenished  with  great  ordnance,  and  tair  houses  therein, 
the  walls  and  gates  made  beautiful  with  pictures  of  stone  (statues),  the 
work  curious  and  delicate." 


Wark  Castle. 

On  the  south  bank  of  the  Tweed,  where  it  forms  the  boundary  be- 
tween England  and  Scotland,  are  the  remains  of  Wark  Castle,  cele- 
brated in  Border  histor)*.  In  1137,  David  of  Scotland  attempted  for 
•'ree  weeks  to  take  this  fortress,  but  failed  with  disgrace.     Stephen 

.!)sequently  advanced  to  Wark,  forcing  David  out  of  the  country, 
who,  however,  on  the  retirement  of  the  former,  destroyed  Norham,  and 
made  a  second  unsuccessful  attempt  on  Wark.  Alter  his  defeat  at  the 
battle  of  the  Standard,  David  resumed  the  siege,  and  after  a  defence  of 
unequalled  bravery,  hardships,  and  privations,  the  garrison  capitulated, 
and  the  Castle  was  demolished.  It  was  restored,  and  in  1341,  the 
Governor  of  the  fortress.  Sir  Edward  Montagu,  made  a  sally  on  the  rear 
of  the  Scotch  army,  under  King  David,  returning  from  the  sack  of 
Durham,  when  200  Scots  were  slain,  and  twelve  horses  laden  with 
spoil  taken  by  Sir  Edward.  To  revenge  this  attack,  David  investetl 
Wark,  but  was  repulsed  In  two  desperate  assaults,  the  defenders  being 
animatnl  by  the  presence  of  the  celebrated  Countess  of  Salisbur)-,  to 
whom  Edward  III.  personally  returned  his  thanks  in  this  fortress.  In 
I419,  Wark  Castle  was  taken,  and  the  garrison  butcheitxl  by  the  Scots; 
but  was  shortly  afterwards  retaken  by  the  English,  who  crept  up  a 
server  from  the  Tweed  into  the  kitchen,  and  retaliated.  In  1460, 
the  fortres?  was  again  taken  and  demolished.  In  152,3,  it  was  suc- 
cessfully defended  against  the  Scots  and  their  French  auxiliaries,  com- 
nuinded  by  the  Duke  of  Albany,  Regent  of  Scotland.    At  this  siege 


178  Nor  ham  Castle. 

Buchanan  the  historian  and  poet  was  present,  and  had  to  endure  many 
hardships. 


Norham  Castle, 

Nothing  can  be  more  strikingly  picturesque  than  Sir  Walter  Scott's 

description  of  this  famous  feudal  fortress,  in  the  two  opening  stanzas  of 

his  Mannion : 

"  Day  set  on  Norham's  castled  steep, 
And  Tweed's  fair  river  broad  and  deep. 

And  Cheviot's  mountains  lone  ; 
The  battled  towers,  the  donjon  keep, 
The  loophole  grates  where  captives  weei\ 
The  flanking  walls  that  round  it  sweep, 

In  yellow  lustre  shone. 
The  warriors  on  the  turrets  high, 
Moving  athwart  the  evening  sky, 

Seemed  forms  of  giant  height ; 
Their  armour,  as  it  caught  the  rays, 
Flashed  back  again  the  western  blaze, 

In  lines  of  dazzling  light. 

Saint  George's  banner,  broad  and  gay. 
Now  faded,  as  the  fading  ray. 

Less  bright,  and  less,  was  flung  ; 
The  evening  gale  had  scarce  the  power 
To  wave  it  on  the  donjon  tower. 

So  heavily  it  hung. 
The  scouts  had  parted  on  their  search. 

The  castle  gates  were  barred  ; 
Above  the  gloomy  portal  arch, 
Timmg  his  footsteps  to  a  march, 

The  warder  kept  his  guard. 
Low  humming,  as  he  paced  along. 
Some  ancient  Border  gathering  song." 

Norham  Castle  has  withstood  many  a  siege.  In  1139,  it  was  nearly 
destroyed  by  David,  King  of  Scots,  and  the  town  reduced  to  ashes.  He 
had  previously,  in  1136,  taken  possession  of  the  Castle,  in  the  cause  of 
the  Empress  Matilda,  but  it  was  soon  restored  by  treaty.  In  1209, 
King  John  was  for  a  few  days  at  the  fortress ;  and  here  he  met 
William  the  Lion,  and  agreed  to  a  treaty,  which  was  confirmed  by  them 
here  in  121 1 ;  and  in  12 13,  King  John  was  again  at  the  fortress.  In 
1 2 15,  Norham  Castle  was  unsuccessfully  besieged  for  forty  days  by 
Alexander,  King  of  Scotland,  who,  in  12 19,  with  Stephen  de  Segrave, 
procurator  on  behalf  of  England  and  the  Pope's  legate,  met  at  the 
Castle  to  settle  the  disputes  between  the  two  kingdoms.  In  1291, 
Edward  summoned  his  nobles  to  meet  him  at  Norham,  where  he  de- 
cided the  claim  for  the  Grown  of  Scotland  in  favour  of  the  Baliols.    By 


Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfarne,  179 

others  the  dispute  is  said  to  have  been  settled  in  a  field  called  HolyAvell 
Haujxh,  adjacent  to  the  ford  by  which  the  English  and  Scottish  armies 
made  their  mutual  invasions  before  the  bridge  of  Berwick  was  erected. 
In  1313,  Norliam  was  besieged  by  the  Scots,  but  preserved  by  the 
bravery  of  the  Governor,  Sir  Thomas  Grey,  and  the  timely  aid  of  the 
Lords  Percy  and  Nevill.  The  eastern  district  of  the  country  was  laid 
in  ashes  by  the  Scots.  In  1322,  Norham  was  retaken  by  Edward  III.; 
but  five  years  afterwards  it  was  regained  by  the  Scots.  In  1497,  '"  *^^ 
invasion  of  England  by  James  IV.  of  Scotland,  who  favoured  the  cause 
of  Perkin  Warbeck,  Norham  Castle  was  besieged  by  the  King ;  but 
when  reduced  to  the  last  extremity,  was  relieved  by  the  approach  of  the 
gallant  Earl  of  Surrey  with  an  army,  and  James  was  compelled  to 
retreat. 


Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfarne. 

Holy  Island  is  so  named  from  its  having  in  former  times  been  in- 
habited by  the  monks  of  Lindisfarne,  a  monastery  situated  on  the  coast 
of  Northumberland,  nearly  opposite  to  the  Castle.  To  this  fortress,  it  is 
supposed,  the  inmates  of  Lindisfarne  were  in  the  habit  of  repairing  for 
security,  in  case  they  were  threatened  by  the  approach  of  an  enemy. 
The  island  is  separated  from  the  mainland  by  a  naiTOw  neck  of  sand, 
which  can  be  crossed  by  foot-passengers  at  low-water : 

"  For  with  its  flow  and  ebb,  its  style 
Varies  from  continent  to  isle  ; 
Dry-shod,  o'er  sands,  twice  every  day, 
The  pilgrims  to  the  shrine  find  way; 
Twice  every  day  the  waves  efface 
Of  slaves  and  sandall'd  feet  the  trace." 

The  Castle  is  of  unknown  antiquity.  From  its  summit  may  be  seen, 
at  seven  miles*  distance  northward,  the  town  of  Berwick ;  and  at  the 
same  distance  southward,  the  romantic  rocks  on  which  is  built  Bam- 
borough  Castle. 

In  1647,  during  the  Interregnum,  Holy  Island  Castle  fell  into  the 
.lids  of  the  Parliamentary  forces  ;  and  it  appears  even  for  some  time 
ailcr  the  Restoration,  to  have  either  neglected  or  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  King's  authority.  During  the  rebellion  in  favour  of  the  Pretender, 
a  most  daring,  and  to  a  certain  extent  successful,  attempt  was  made  by 
two  men  to  get  possession  of  this  stronghold  for  Charles  Stuart.  The 
garrison  at  the  time  consisted  of  a  sergeant,  a  corporal,  and  ten  or 
twelve  men.    The  man  who  had  undertaken  the  task  (his  name  was 

M  2 


l8o  Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfame, 

Launcelot  Errington,  of  an  ancient  Northumbrian  family)  being  well 
known  in  that  country,  went  to  the  Castle,  and  after  some  parley  with 
the  sergeant,  invited  him  and  the  men  not  on  duty  to  partake  of  a 
treat  on  board  the  ship  of  which  he  was  master,  then  lying  in  the  har- 
bour. This  invitation  was  accepted,  and  he  so  plied  his  guests  with 
brandy,  that  they  were  soon  incapable  of  any  opposition.  The  men 
being  thus  secured,  he  went  on  shore,  and  with  Mark  Errington,  his 
nephew,  returned  to  the  Castle,  knocked  down  the  sentinel,  and  turned 
out  an  old  gunner,  the  corporal,  and  two  other  soldiers,  being  the  re- 
mainder of  the  garrison  ;  and  shutting  the  gates,  hoisted  the  Pretender's 
colours,  anxiously  expecting  the  promised  succour.  No  reinforcement 
coming,  but  on  the  contrary,  a  party  of  the  King's  troops  arriving  fiom 
Berwick,  they  were  obliged  to  retreat  over  the  walls  of  the  Castle, 
among  the  rocks,  hoping  to  conceal  themselves  under  the  sea-weeds 
until  it  was  dark,  and  then  by  swimming  to  the  mainland,  to  make 
their  escape ;  but  the  tide  rising,  they  were  obliged  to  swim,  when  the 
soldiers  firing  at  Launcelot,  as  he  was  climbing  a  rock,  wounded  him  in 
the  thigh.  Thus  disabled,  he  and  his  nephew  were  taken,  and  conveyed 
to  Berwick  jail,  where  he  continued  until  his  wound  was  cured.  During 
this  time  he  dug  a  burrow  under  the  foundation  of  the  prison,  depositing 
the  excavated  earth  in  an  old  oven  ;  through  this  burrow  he  and  his  ne- 
phew escaped,  and  made  their  way  to  the  Tweed-side,  where,  finding 
the  custom-house  boat,  they  rowed  themselves  over,  and  pursued  their 
journey  to  Bamborough  Castle,  near  which  they  were  concealed  nine 
days  in  a  pea-stack,  a  relation  who  resided  in  the  Castle  supplying  them 
with  provisions.  At  length,  travelling  in  the  night  by  secret  paths,  they 
reached  Gateshead,  near  Newcastle,  where  they  were  secreted  until 
they  secured  a  passage  from  Sunderland  to  France.  After  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  Rebellion,  when  everything  was  quiet,  they  took  the  benefit 
of  the  general  pardon. 

The  Abbey  or  Cathedral  of  Lindisfarne,  whose  history  is  connected 
with  that  of  the  Castle,  stands  on  the  mainland  of  Northumberland,  at 
the  extremity  of  the  sandy  tract  that  leads  to  Holy  Island.  At  the 
present  day  Lindisfaine  is  an  extensive,  but  still  splendid  ruin ;  its  ori- 
ginal appearance  is  thus  described  by  Sir  Walter  Scott : 

"In  Saxon  strength  that  Abbey  frown 'd, 
With  massive  arches  broad  and  round, 
That  rose  aiternate,  row  and  row, 
On  [wnderoiis  columns,  short  and  low. 

Built  ere  the  art  was  known, 
By  pointed  aisle,  and  shafted  stalk, 
The  arcades  of  an  alley'd  walk, 
To  emulate  in  stone. 


Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfarne.  i8i 

On  the  deep  walls  the  heathen  Dane 
Had  poured  his  impious  rage  in  vain  ; 
And  needful  was  such  strength  to  these. 
Exposed  to  the  tempestuous  seas, 
Scourged  by  the  winds'  eternal  sway, 
Ofjcn  to  rovers  fierce  as  they. 
Which  could  twelve  hundred  years  withstand 
Winds,  waves,  and  northern  pirates"  band ; 
Not  but  that  portion  of  the  pile 
Rebuilded  in  a  later  style. 
Showed  where  the  spoiler's  hand  had  been  ; 
Not  but  the  wasting  sea-breeze  keen 
Had  worn  the  pillars'  carving  quaint. 
And  mouldered  in  his  niche  the  saint, 
And  rounded,  with  consuming  power, 
The  pointed  angles  of  each  tower  ; 
Yet  still  entire  the  Abbey  stood, 
Like  veteran  worn,  but  unsubdued." 

The  name  of  St.  Cuthbert,  who  was  at  one  time  Bishop  ot  Lindis- 
me,  is  remembered  and  coupled  with  the  relics  of  an  ancient  super- 
nation.  There  is  a  Northumbrian  legend,  to  the  effect  that,  on  dark 
nights,  when  the  sea  was  running  high,  and  the  winds  roaring  fitfiilly, 
the  spirit  of  St.  Cuthbert  was  heard,  in  the  recurring  lulls,  forging 
beads  for  the  faithful.  He  used  to  sit  in  the  storm-mist,  among  the 
pray  and  sea-weeds,  on  a  fragment  of  rock,  on  the  shore  of  the  island  of 
Lindisfarne,  and  solemnly  hammer  away,  using  another  fi-agment  of  rock 
as  his  anvil.  A  remarkable  circumstance  connected  with  the  legend  is, 
that  after  a  storm,  the  shore  was  found  strewed  with  the  beads  St. 
f  :uthbert  was  said  to  have  so  forged.  They  are,  in  fact,  certain  portions 
'  li  the  fossilized  remains  of  animals,  called  crino'ids,  which  once  inhabited 
the  deep  in  myriads : 

"  On  a  rock  by  Lindisfarne, 
St.  Cuthljert  sits,  and  toils  to  frame 
The  sea-born  beads  that  hear  his  name  ; 
Such  talcs  had  W'   ■'    '    ''  'icrs  told. 
And  said  they  n  ;)e  behold, 

And  hear  liis  a-  ; 

A  deadend  clang— a  huge  dim  form 
Seen  but,  and  heard,  when  gathering  storm 
And  night  were  closing  round.  " 

Lindisfarne  has  a  tangled  history.  It  was  the  mother  of  the  northern 
churches  of  the  district  of  Bemicia.  Oswald,  King  of  Northiimbria, 
gave  to  Bishop  Aidan,  a  monk  of  lona,  the  island  of  Lindisfarne.  On 
Oswald's  death,  in  642,  his  head  was  taken  to  the  church  of  this  monas- 
ter)-. Aidan  died  6-,  t ,  and  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  his  brethren. 
When  a  larger  church  was  built  there,  sometime  after,  and  dedicated  to 
St.  Peter,  his  bones  were  translated  into  it.  His  successor,  Finan, 
another  Scot,  built  a  church  in  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne }  nevertheless, 


1 82  Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfarne. 

after  the  manner  of  the  Scots,  he  made  it  not  of  stone,  but  of  hewn 
oak,  and  covered  it  with  reeds.  About  650,  Theodore,  Archbisliop  of 
Canterbury,  visiting  the  north,  dedicated  the  church  built  by  Finan  to 
St.  Peter ;  and  Eadbert,  who  came  to  the  see  in  688,  took  off  the 
thatch,  and  covered  it,  both  roof  and  walls,  with  plates  of  lead.  Cuth- 
bert  became  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne  in  685 ;  he  died  two  years  after- 
wards, and  was  buried  in  the  church.  Eleven  years  after,  the  monks 
took  up  the  body,  dressed  it  in  new  garments,  laid  it  in  a  new  coffin, 
and  placed  it  on  a  pavement  in  the  sanctuary  in  a  tomb. 

On  Fame  Island,  nine  miles  from  Lindisfarne,  where  Bishop  Aidan 
had  dwelt,  Cuthbert  built  himself  a  small  dwelling,  with  a  trench  about 
it,  and  the  requisite  cell,  and  an  oratory,  the  mound  which  encompassed 
his  habitation  being  so  high  that  he  could  thence  see  nothing  but  the 
heaven.  Two  miles  distant  from  Fame  Island,  on  the  mainland,  was 
the  royal  city  of  Bebban  Burgh  (Bamborough),  as  we  shall  presently 
describe.  On  the  death  of  St.  Oswald,  his  hands  and  arms,  which  had 
been  cut  off  by  his  enemies,  were  carried  by  his  brother  in  643  and 
buried  in  this  city.  In  Bede's  time,  the  hand  and  arm  of  St.  Oswald 
remained  entire  and  uncorrupted,  being  kept  in  a  silver  case  as  revered 
relics  in  St.  Peter's  church.  Not  far  from  the  city,  the  King  had  a 
country-house,  where  St.  Aidan  had  a  church  and  chamber.  St.  Aidan 
died  here,  in  a  tent  set  up  against  the  west  wall,  so  that  he  expired  lean- 
ing against  a  post  that  was  on  the  outside  to  strengthen  the  wall.  Bcde 
relates  that  the  church  being  twice  burned  down  by  invaders,  the  post 
each  time  escaped  untouched:  on  the  third  rebuilding  of  the  church, 
the  post  was  removed  to  the  inside,  and  preserved  as  a  memorial  of  the 
miracle.* 

Bede  calls  the  storied  spot  a  semi-island,  it  being  twice  an  island  and 
twice  a  continent  in  one  day ;  for  at  the  flowing  of  the  tide  it  is  encom- 
passed by  water,  and  at  the  ebb  there  is  an  almost  dry  passage  for  horses 
and  carriages  to  and  from  the  mainland,  as  we  have  already  described. 
Scott  refers  to  this  in  his  Marmion  : 

"  The  tide  did  now  the  flood-mark  gain, 
And  girted  in  the  saint's  domain. 


As  to  the  port  the  galley  flew, 
Higher  and  higher  rose  to  view 
The  Castle  with  its  batter'd  walls, 
The  ancient  monasteiy's  halls." 


*  Mr.  Gordon  Hills :  Journal  of  the  lirilish  Archceological  Association,  1868. 


Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfarne.  183 

To  the  south-east  of  Holy  Island  lie  the  Feme  Islands.  The  largest 
.^  Home  Island,  and  is  the  sequestered  spot  where  St.  Cuthbert  passed 
the  last  two  years  of  his  life.  The  coast  here  is  very  dangerous,  and 
lighthouses  are  placed  on  some  of  the  islands.  One  of  these,  Longstone 
Island,  is  rendered  memorable  through  the  intrepidity  of  Grace  Darling, 
who  here  perilled  her  life  during  the  storm  in  September,  1838,  to  rescue 
the  passengers  and  crew  of  the  Forfarshire  steamer.  In  St.  Cuthbert  a 
'  b.apel,  on  the  Island,  a  monument,  by  Mr.  Davies,  the  sculptor,  of 
Newcastle,  has  been  placed  to  Grace's  memory:  it  consists  of  a  cippus 
of  stone,  six  feet  in  height,  sculptured  with  the  cross  of  St.  Cuthbert, 
and  bearing  the  following  inscription : 

To  the  Memory  of 

GRACE  HORSLEY  DARLING. 

A  Native  of  Bamburgh, 

And  an  inhabitant 

Of  these  Islands : 

Who  Died  Oct.  20th,  A.D.  1842, 

Aged  26  Years. 


Pious  and  pure,  modest  and  yet  so  brave. 
Though  young  so  wise,  though  meek  so  resolute. 

Oh  !  that  \vinds  and  waves  could  speak 
Of  things  which  their  united  power  cr  ll'd  forth 
From  the  pure  depths  of  her  humanity  ! 
A  maiden  gentle,  yet,  at  duty's  call. 
Firm  and  unflinching  as  the  lighthouse  rcar'd 
On  th-     '      '        k,  her  lonely  dwelling  place ; 
Or  li:  :)le  rock  itself  that  braves, 

Agc.i:  ,         •■  hostile  elements, 

As  when  11  guarded  holy  Cuthbert's  cell. 

A'1  r^itjht  the  storm  had  raged,  nor  ceased,  nor  paused, 

..as  day  broke,  the  maid,  through  misty  air, 
J  far  off  a  wreck,  amid  the  surf, 

i .       ng  oil  one  of  those  disastrous  isles — 
1 1.1  ;  oi  a  vessel,  half — no  more ;  the  rest  * 

[1    i  xui.ord!" 

Wm.  Wordsworth. 

Another  memon.ii  to  Grace  Darling,  and  of  the  intrepidity  of  woman 
in  extreme  peril,  has  licen  raised  in  the  churchyard  of  Bamborough,  on 
the  coast  of  Northumberland,  where  lie  the  Remains  of  Grace,  whose 
great  exertions  at  the  WTeck  of  the  Forfarshire  will  long  be  remembered, 
among  many  other  instances  of  her  heroic  humanity.  Poor  Grace  died 
of  consumption  at  an  early  age.  She  was  a  native  of  the  ancient  town 
f  Bamborough,  and  was  lodged,  clothed,  and  educated  at  the  school 
.11  Bamborough  Castle,  The  trustees  of  this  property  subscribcti  libe- 
rally towards  the  expense  of  this  monument,  which  is  an  altar-tomb, 


1 84  Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfarne. 

whereon  is  the  recumbent  figure  of  Grace  Darling,  sculptured  in  fine 
Portland  stone,  and  surmounted  by  a  Gothic  canopy.  The  figure  is 
represented  lying  on  a  plaited  straw  mattress,  bearing  an  oar,  such  as  is 
peculiar  to  the  Northumberland  coast. 

The  coast  is  beset  with  perils  at,  and  near,  this  point ;  and  here,  on 
July  19,  184.3,  °"  Goldstone  Rock,  two  miles  and  a  half  east  or  sea- 
ward from  Holy  Island,  and  between  the  Fcnie  group  and  the  mainland, 
the  Pegasus  steamer,  on  her  passage  from  Leith  to  Hull,  was  wrecked, 
and  forty-nine  persons  drowned.  Among  them  Avas  Mr.  Elton,  the 
tragedian,  a  man  of  spotless  reputation  and  amiable  nature,  and  in  behalf 
of  whose  orphan  family  of  seven  children  the  sympathy  of  the  public 
was  very  powerfully  excited.  Soon  after  the  catastrophe,  a  performance 
for  their  benefit  was  given  at  the  Haymarket  Theatre,  upon  which  melan- 
choly occasion  the  following  touching  address  (written  for  the  occasion 
by  Thomas  Hood,  the  humorist,)  was  spoken  by  Mrs.  Warner: 

"  Hush  !  not  a  sound  !  no  whisper  !  no  demur  : 
No  restless  motion  !  no  intrusive  stir  ! 
But  with  staid  presence,  and  a  quiet  breath, 
One  solemn  moment  dedicate  to  death  ! 

(A  pause.) 
For  now  no  fancied  miseries  bespeak 
The  panting  bosom  and  the  wetted  cheek  ; 
No  fabled  tempest,  or  dramatic  wreck, 
Nor  royal  sire  wash'd  from  the  mimic  deck, 
And  dirged  by  sea  nymphs  in  his  briny  grave  : 
Alas !  deep,  deep,  beneath  the  sullen  wave — 
His  heart,  once  warm  and  tlirobbing  as  your  own, 
Now  cold  and  senseless  as  the  shingle-stone  ! 
His  lips — so  eloquent  ! — choked  up  with  sand  ! 
The  bright  eye  glazed,  and  the  impressive  hand 
Idly  entangled  in  the  ocean  weed — 
Full  fathom  five  a  father  lies,  indeed  ! 
Yes,  where  the  roaming  billows  roam  the  while, 
Around  the  rocky  Ferns  and  Holy  Isle, 
Deaf  to  their  roar,  as  to  the  dear  applause 
That  greets  deserving  in  the  drama's  cause, — 
Blind  to  the  horrors  that  appal  the  bold, — 
To  all  the  hoped  or  fear'd  or  prized  of  old, — 
To  love — and  love's  deep  agony — a-cold  ! 
He  who  could  move  the  passions — moved  by  none, 
Drifts  an  unconscious  corse  ! — poor  Elton's  race  is  run. 

Sigh  for  the  dead  !    Yet  not  alone  for  him, 
O'er  whom  the  cormorant  and  gannet  swim  I 
Weep  for  the  dead  !  yet  do  not  merely  weep 
For  him  who  slumbers  in  the  oozy  deep  ! 
But  like  Grace  Darling,  in  her  little  boat. 
Stretch  forth  a  saving  hand  to  those  that  float — 
The  orphan  seven  !  so  prematurely  hurl'd 
Amidst  the  surges  of  this  stormy  world, 
And  struggling — save  your  pity  take  their  part — 
With  breakers  huge  enough  to  break  the  heart," 


Holy  Island  Castle  and  L  indisfarne.  185 

The  following  poetic  episode,  "  The  Nun  of  Lindisfarne,"  appeared 
in  Fraters  Magazine,  July,  1834 : 

Young  Linda  sprang  from  a  lofty  line  ; 

But  though  come  of  such  high  degree, 
The  meanest  that  knelt  at  St.  Cuthbert's  shrine 

Was  not  so  humble  of  heart  as  she — 

Her  soul  was  meek  exceedingly, 
She  told  her  beads  by  the  midnight  lamp  ; 
Forlorn  she  sat  in  the  cloister  damp, 
For  the  veil  and  the  vows  of  a  nun  she  had  taken. 
Soft  were  the  visions  from  on  high 
That  passed  before  her  saintly  eye  ; 
Sweetly  on  her  ravished  ear 
Fell  the  soul  of  music  near — 
Music  more  lovely  than  vesper  hymn. 
Or  the  strains  of  starry  cherubim, 
Or  the  witching  tones  of  melody  sent 
From  sweetest  earthly  instrument. 
Her  thoughts  were  radiant  and  sublime, 
And  ever  arose  to  the  heavenly  clime 
Her  aspirations  sought  the  sky 
Upon  the  wings  of  piety. 
For  more  divinely  pure  were  they 
Than  morning  of  a  summer  day. 
Or  the  snow-white  cloud  that  sleeps  upon 
The  pasture-crowTied  top  of  Lebanon. 

To  visit  this  maiden  of  mortal  birtii. 
An  angel  of  heaven  came  down  to  earth. 
He  left  the  bright  celestial  dome. 
His  sweet  and  everlasting  home. 
Where  choral  cherubs  on  the  wing 
Of  Love  are  ever  wandering  ; 
But  the  glorious  regions  of  the  sky 
He  floated  all  unheeded  by  ; 
Their  splendours — what  were  they  to  him 
Who  shone  above  the  seraphim. 
And  saw  the  throne  of  God  arise 
Unveiled  before  his  mystic  eyes  1 

He  sought  the  spot  where  the  holy  maid 

In  vestal  snow-white  was  arrayed — 

Twas  in  the  chapel  dim  and  cold 

Of  Lindisfarne's  black  convent  old. 

Meek  and  solemn  and  demure 

W.TS  her  saintly  look — and  pure 

As  the  fountains  of  eternity, 

The  glance  of  heaven  in  her  eye. 

At  the  sacred  altar  kneeling, 

Her  aspect  turned  up  to  the  ceiling'. 

She  seemed  so  pallid  and  so  lone 

A  form  of  monumental  stone. 

Each  nun  hath  heard  the  convent  bell — 
Each  nun  hath  hied  her  to  her  cell ; 
And  the  Ladye  Ablxss  hath  fors.iken 
Heavenly  thoughts  till  she  awaken ; 


1 86  Holy  Island  Castle  and  Lindisfarne. 

Linda  alone,  with  her  glimmering  lamp, 
Will  not  forsake  the  chapel  damp. 
Rapt  in  delicious  ecstasy, 
Visions  come  athwart  her  eye ; 
Music  on  her  ear  doth  fall 
"With  a  tone  celestial ; 
And  a  thousand  forms  by  fancy  bred. 
Like  halos  hover  round  her  head. 
But  what  doth  Linda  now  behold 
From  that  chapel  damp  and  cold? 
She  sees  -  she  sees  the  angel  bright 
Descending  through  the  fields  of  light ; 
For,  althougli  dark  before,  the  sky 
Was  now  lit  up  with  a  golden  dye. 
And  wore  a  hue  right  heavenlye. 

'  Do  I  slumber?'  quoth  the  maid, 
Of  this  vision  half  afraid — 
'  Do  I  slumber,  do  I  dream  ? 
Or  art  thou  what  thou  dost  seem — 
One  of  that  glorious  choir  who  dwell 
Round  the  throne  of  the  Invisible, 
Listening  with  heart-stricken  awe 
To  the  thunders  of  His  law — 
And  now  in  the  light  of  loveliness 
Comest  down  the  sons  of  men  to  bless?* 

•Daughter  of  earth,'  the  angel  said, 

•  I  am  a  spirit— thou  a  maid. 

I  dwell  within  a  land  divine  ; 

But  my  thoughts  are  not  more  pure  than  thine. 

Whilome,  by  the  command  of  Heaven, 

To  me  thy  guardianship  was  given  ; 

And  if  on  earth  thou  couldst  remain 

Twice  nine  years  without  a  stain. 

Free  from  sin  or  sinful  thought. 

With  a  saint-like  fervour  fraught, 

Thy  inheritance  should  be 

In  the  bowers  of  sanctitie. 

Side  by  side  for  ever  with  me. 

Thou  hast  been  pure  as  the  morning  air. 

Pure  as  the  downy  gossamer — 

Sinful  thought  had  never  part 

In  the  chambers  of  thy  heart — 

Then  thy  mansion-house  of  clay, 

Linda,  quit,  and  come  away !' 

Morning  heard  the  convent  bell, 
And  each  nun  hath  left  her  cell ; 
And  to  chapel  all  repair 
To  say  the  holy  matins  there. 
At  the  marble  altar  kneeling, 
Eyes  upraised  unto  the  ceiling, 
With  the  cross  her  hands  between. 
Saintly  Linda's  form  was  seen. 
Death  had  left  his  pallkl  trace 
On  the  fair  lines  of  her  face ; 
And  her  eye  that  wont  to  shine, 
With  a  ray  of  hght  divine, 


^ 


Bamhorough  Castle,  187 


At  the  chant  of  matin  hjinn, 
Now  was  curtained  o"er  and  dim. 
Pale  as  alabaster  stone — 
"  Where  hath  Sister  Linda  gone  ?' 

Quoth  the  Lady  Abbess,  in  solemn  mood, 

'  She  hath  passed  away  to  the  land  of  the  good  ; 

For  though  a  child  of  mortal  birth, 

She  was  too  holy,  far,  for  earth.' 


Bamborough  Castle. 

About  five  miles  eastward  of  Belford,  in  the  county  of  Northumber- 
land, upon  an  almost  perpendicular  rock,  looking  over  the  sea,  and 
about  150  feet  above  its  level,  stands  the  Castle  of  Bamborough,  in 
past  ages  a  fortress  of  might,  and  in  our  own,  a  house  of  charit)'.  A 
stately  tower,  the  only  original  part  of  this  once  famous  stronghold 
that  now  exists,  appears  to  have  been  built  on  the  remains  of  some 
ancient  edifice  which  once,  perhaps,  formed  one  of  a  chain  of  fortresses 
raised  by  the  Romans  to  protect  this  part  of  the  coast,  when  they  were 
in  the  possession  of  the  northern  portion  of  the  island. 

Bamborough  Castle  is  stated  to  have  formerly  possessed  great  strength, 
in  many  instances  becoming  the  place  of  refuge  for  the  kings,  earls,  and 
eovemors  of  Northumberland,  in  troublous  times.  Its  origin  is  thus 
narrated.  In  the  year  547,  the  English  Ida  landed  at  the  promontory 
called  Flamborough  Head,  with  forty  vessels,  all  manned  with  chosen 
warriors.  Urien,  the  hero  of  the  Bards,  opposed  a  strenuous  resistance, 
but  the  Angles  had  strengthened  themselves  on  the  coast.  Fresh 
reinforcements  poured  in  ;  and  Ida,  the  "  Bearer  of  Flame,"  as  he  was 
termed  by  the  Britons,  became  the  master  and  sovereign  of  the  land 
which  he  had  assailed.  Ida  erected  a  tower  or  fortress,  which  was  at  once 
his  castle  and  his  palace;  and  so  deeply  were  the  Britons  humiliated  by 
this  token  of  his  power,  that  they  gave  the  name  of  the  Shame  of  Bernicia 
to  the  structure  which  he  had  raised.  Ida  afterwards  bestowed  this 
building  upon  his  Queen,  Bcbba,  from  whom  it  was,  or  rather  is,  de- 
nominated Bebban  Burgh,  the  Burgh  or  fortress  of  Bebba,  commonly 
abbreviated  into  Bamborough.  The  massive  keep  yet  stands ;  and  tht 
voyager  following  ths  course  of  the  Abbess  of  St.  Hilda,  may  yet  see — 

"  King  Ida's  castle,  huge  and  square. 
From  its  tall  rock,  look  grimly  down. 
And  on  the  swelling  ocean  frown."* 


•  Palgrave's  History  0/ England :  Anglo-S.axon  Period,  vol.  I.  chnp.  a. 


1 88  Bamborougk  Castle. 

In  the  year  642,  it  was  besieged  by  Penda,  the  pagan  King  ot 
Mercia,  who,  not  satisfied  with  tlie  victories  lie  had  already  gained, 
endeavoured  to  destroy  the  Castle  itself  by  fire.  He  laid  vast  quanti- 
ties ot  wood  under  the  walls,  to  which  he  set  fire,  as  soon  as  the  wind 
was  favourable ;  but  no  sooner  was  it  in  flames,  than  the  wind  changed 
and  carrying  it  into  his  own  camp,  forced  him  to  raise  the  siege. 

In  705,  Osred,  son  of  Alfred  the  Great,  shut  himself  up  within  its 
walls  when  pursued  (after  his  father's  dcatli),  by  the  rebel  Edulph. 
The  Castle  suffered  greatly  by  the  fury  of  the  Danes  in  933 ;  but  was 
afterwards  repaired,  and  esteemed  the  strongest  fortress  in  the  county. 
William  the  Second  besieged  this  place  in  person,  when  Robert  Mow- 
bray, Earl  of  Northumberland,  took  refuge  there  after  his  treasonable 
acts.  At  the  appearance  of  the  King,  the  Earl  made  his  escape,  but 
was  afterwards  taken  prisoner;  still,  however.  Morel,  his  steward  and 
kinsman,  defended  it  against  the  King's  forces.  "  The  King  had  turned 
the  siege  into  a  blockade,  and  raised  a  fortress  near  it  called  Mal'voh'm 
(bad  Neighbour),  some  time  before  the  Earl  fled.  Morel  still  held  out 
with  such  great  resolution,  that  the  King  had  recourse  to  policy,  to 
effect  that  which  he  had  failed  to  accomplish  by  force.  He  ordered  the 
Earl  to  be  led  up  to  the  walls,  and  a  declaration  to  be  made,  that  if  the 
Castle  was  not  surrendered,  his  eyes  should  be  instantly  put  out.  This 
threat  succeeded  ;  Morel  no  sooner  beheld  his  kinsman  in  this  imminent 
danger,  than  he  consented  to  yield  up  the  Castle  to  the  King.  For  the 
servant's  sake,  probably,  the  incensed  sovereign  spared  the  life  of  the 
master,  but  kept  him  a  prisoner  in  Windsor  Castle,  where  he  remained 
for  thirty  years." 

In  1463,  Bamborough  Castle  was  taken  and  retaken  several  times 
by  the  Generals  of  Edward  IV.,  and  Henry  VI. ;  and  a  little  before  the 
battle  of  Hexham,  Sir  Ralph  Grey,  the  Governor,  surrendered  te  the 
Earl  of  Warwick ;  during  these  conflicts,  the  damage  done  to  the 
building  was  very  extensive.  Since  this  time,  it  has  been  in  several 
instances  used  as  a  state  prison.  The  castle  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the 
kingdom:  within  the  keep  is  an  ancient  draw-well  145  feet  deep,  and 
cut  through  the  solid  basaltic  rock  into  the  sandstone  below :  it  was 
first  known  to  modem  times  in  1770,  when  the  sand  and  iiibbish  were 
cleared  out  of  its  vaulted  cellar  or  dungeon. 

In  the  reign  of  Qnccn  Elizabeth,  after  the  memorable  battle  of 
Musselburgh,  Sir  John  Foster,  Warden  of  the  Marches,  was  made 
Governor  of  Hamburgh  Castle.  Sir  John's  grandson  obtained  a  grant 
of  it,  and  also  of  the  manor,  from  James  I.  His  descendant,  Thomas, 
fortified  both  in  17 15  :  but  his  relative,  Nathaniel,  Lord  Crewe,  Bishop 


BambofoiigJi  Castle.  189 

ot  Durham,  purchased,    and  by  his  will,  dated  June  24,  1720,  be- 
queathed them  for  charitable  purposes :  here 

"  Charity  hath  fixed  her  chosen  seat  ; 

And  Pity  at  the  dark  and  stormy  hour 
Of  midnight,  when  the  moon  is  hid  on  high, 

Keeps  her  lone  watch  upon  the  topmost  tower, 
And  turns  her  ear  to  eacli  expiring  cry, 

Blest  if  her  aid  some  fainting  wretch  might  save. 
And  snatch  him,  cold  and  speechless,  from  the  grave." 

Bowles. 
In  1757,  the  trustees  for  Bishop  Crewe's  Charity  commenced  the 
work  of  repair,  which  was  wanted,  on  the  keep  or  great  tower  of  the 
Castle.  Dr.  Sharpe,  one  of  the  trustees,  converted  the  upper  parts  of 
the  building  into  granaries,  whence,  in  times  of  scarcity,  com  might 
be  sold  to  the  poor  at  a  cheap  rate.  He  also  reserved  to  himself 
certain  apartments  for  occasional  residence,  that  he  might  see  his  chari- 
table objects  carried  into  effect ;  and  the  tnistees  still  continue  to  reside 
here  in  turn.  Dr.  Sliarpe  contributed  to  the  repair  of  the  tower,  and 
gave  property  for  other  good  work ;  and  he  bequeathed  his  library,  valued 
at  more  than  80c/. 

Much  has  been  done  since  his  time,  in  reclaiming  the  venerable  for- 
tress from  ruin,  and  converting  it  into  apartments  for  the  most  wise  and 
benevolent  purposes.  A  large  room  is  fitted  up  for  educating  boys  on 
the  Madras  System  ;  and  a  suite  of  rooms  is  allotted  for  the  mistresses 
and  twenty  poor  girls,  who  are  lodged,  clothed,  and  educated.  Various 
signals  are  made  use  of  to  warn  vessels  in  thick  and  stormy  weather 
from  that  most  dangerous  cluster  of  rocks,  the  Fern  Islands.  A  life- 
boat, and  implements  useful  in  saving  crews,  and  vessels  in  distress,  are 
lUvays  in  readiness.  A  constant  watch  is  kept  at  the  top  of  the  tower, 
whence  signals  are  made  to  the  fishermen  of  Holy  Island,  as  soon  as 
any  vessel  is  discovered  to  be  in  distress.  Owing  to  the  size  and  fury 
of  the  breakers,  it  is  generally  impossible  for  boats  to  put  off  from  the 
mainland  in  a  severe  storm ;  but  such  difficulty  occurs  rarely  in  put- 
ting off  from  Holy  Island.  By  these  and  other  means  many  lives  are 
saved,  and  an  asylum  is  offered  to  shipwrecked  persons  in  the  Castle  for 
a  week,  or  longer.  There  are  likewise  provided  instruments  and  tackle 
for  raising  sunken  vessels,  and  the  goods  saved  are  deposited  in  the 
Castle.  In  the  infirmary  here  loco  persons  are  received  during  the 
;  car.  The  fimds  amount  to  8000/.  a  year.  Thirty  beds  are  kept  for 
hlpwreckcd  sailors.  To  sailors  on  that  perilous  coast  Bamborough 
Castle  is  what  the  Convent  of  St.  Bernard  is  to  the  traveller  in  the 
Alps. 


190 


Tynemouth  Priory  and  Castle. 

Twelve  hundred  years  have  rolled  away  since  an  Abbey  was  first 
founded  on  the  lofty  promontory  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Tyne — since 
first  at  Tynemouth  (in  the  picturesque  language  of  Ruskin)  "  amid  the 
murmur  of  the  waves  and  the  beating  of  the  wings  of  the  sea-birds 
against  the  rock  that  was  strange  to  them,  rose  the  ancient  hymn — 

"  The  sea  is  His  and  He  made  it, 
And  His  hands  prepared  the  dry  land." 

It  has  been  inferred  from  inscribed  stones  and  an  altar  found  at 
Tynemouth,  that  it  was  anciently  a  military  station  of  the  Romans.  A 
wooden  chapel  was  built  there,  A.D.,  625,  by  Edwin,  King  of  Noith- 
umbria.  This  simple  structure  gave  place  to  an  edifice  built  of  stone 
by  Edwin's  successor,  St.  Oswald,  and  a  colony  of  monks  was  estab- 
lished adjacent  to  it,  for  the  senice  of  religion.  No  place,  perhaps,  in 
the  island  was  more  exposed  to  the  devastations  of  the  Danish  pirates. 
On  the  invasion  in  865  the  monastery  was  burned,  and  the  nuns  of  St. 
Hilda,  who  had  fled  from  Hartlepool  to  Tynemouth  for  refuge,  were 
'■'  translated  by  martyrdom  to  Heaven."  In  870,  the  monastery  had 
been  partially  rebuilt ;  in  876,  it  was  again  the  scene  of  devastation  ; 
but  it  was  not  until  the  early  part  of  the  eleventh  century  that  a 
monastic  community  was  driven  by  the  Danes  for  any  long  period  from 
Tynemoutii.  The  church  was  sheltered  by  the  Saxon  Earls  of  North- 
umberland, within  their  castle  upon  this  promontory.  But  the  site 
was  soon  to  know  again  the  daily  footsteps  of  a  monastic  fraternity  ; 
and  the  event  which  hastened  its  restoration  was  the  discovery  of  the 
body  of  the  holy  king  and  martyr,  Oswin.  More  than  four  hundred 
years  had  elapsed  from  the  time  of  the  sepulture  of  St.  Oswin,  when 
(according  to  the  legend  of  the  twelfth  century)  the  sceptred  shade 
appeared  one  evening,  after  the  nocturaal  office,  to  Edmund,  the  sacrist 
of  the  church,  in  a  radiant  human  fonn,  of  mild  and  pleasing  aspect 
and  noble  presence ;  and  the  sacrist  declared  that  the  apparition  of  the 
holy  king  had  directed  him  to  search  for  his  grave,  and  restore  him  to 
memory  in  the  place  where  he  had  once  held  sway.  The  vision  was 
readily  believed.  The  Lady  Judith,  wife  of  Tosti,  at  that  time  Earl 
of  Northumberland,  came  with  the  Bishop  of  Durham  to  search  for 
St.  Oswin's  place  of  sepulture.  The  relics  of  the  saint  were  brought  to 
light,  and  in  the  presence  of  a  devout  company,  were  raised  joyfully 
to  a  place  of  honour ;  and  the  Eail  commenced  the  foundation  of  a 


Tynemouth  Priory  and  Castle.  191 

monastery  to  be  attached  to  the  church  that  held  remains  so  precious. 
Robert  de  Mowbray,  a  noble  Norman,  had  now  succeeded  to  the  great 
earldom  of  Northumberland,  and  the  custody  of  this  castle  of  its  Saxon 
earls.  He  destined  the  church  of  Tynemouth  and  its  possessions  for 
the  Norman  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Alban,  and  determined  that  a 
colony  of  monks  of  St.  Alban's  should  restore  the  church  of  St.  Oswin. 
Thither  they  came,  bearing  their  staves  and  sen'ice-books,  but  no 
riches  of  the  world  ;  unarmed,  and  barely  attended,  but  eager  and  re- 
solved. Their  founder  had  enriched  them  with  churches,  manors,  mills, 
and  fisheries,  and  had  bestowed  upon  the  parent  house  of  St.  Alban 
the  church  of  Tynemouth,  and  under  his  auspices  the  buildings  of 
his  predecessor  were  completed.  In  11 10,  the  relics  of  St.  Oswin 
wax;  translated  with  great  honour  and  solemnity  to  the  new  monastic 
church. 

But,  four  years  previously  Robert  de  Mowbray  had  died,  after  great 
vicissitudes.  The  Castle  of  Tynemouth  was  not  long  after  his  donation 
to  St.  Alban's  the  scene  of  a  memorable  incident  of  his  eventful  life. 
He  there  sustained  the  siege  of  King  William  Rufus,  to  whom  his 
power  had  become  dangerous ;  and  when  he  could  no  longer  defend 
Tynemouth,  he  withdrew  to  Bamburgh,  and  was  proceeding  from 
thence  as  a  fugitive  to  join  his  allies  in  the  then  recently  built  fortress 
( )f  Newcastle,  when  being  pursued  by  the  forces  of  his  enraged  sovereign, 
lie  fled  to  the  sanctuary  in  the  church  of  Tynemouth ;  but  he  was 
violently  dragged  from  thence,  and  remained  in  captivity  until  the  coro- 
nation of  Henry  I.  At  this  period,  he  had  become  aged,  sightless,  and 
tired  of  wars;  he  then  entered  his  beloved  monastery  of  St.  Alban,  to 
pass  there  the  remainder  of  his  days.  And  so,  the  noble  Norman, 
once  the  martial  representative  of  his  sovereign  and  the  lord  of  terri- 
torial wealth,  assumed  the  monastic  habit,  and  devoted  to  religion  the 
serene  evening  of  a  life  whose  noon  had  been  passed  in  feudal  strife. 
So  died,  in  1 106,  Robert  de  Mowbray,  earl  and  monk,  the  refounder  of 
Tynemouth  Priory,  and  he  was  interred  in  the  final  sanctuary  of  St. 
Alban's  Abbey  Church. 

In  the  reign  ot  Hcniy  II.  the  liberties  of  the  monastery  were  extended 
by  many  royal  grants.  Although  their  rule  forbade  them  to  enjoy  the 
chase  in  person,  they  knew  how  to  appreciate  venison.  The  Abbot  of 
St.  Alban's  and  his  retinue  seemed  to  have  stiyed  a  most  unreasonable 
time  on  his  visitations,  and  to  have  eaten  up  not  only  their  venison,  but 
all  the  live  stock  and  provisions  that  the  monks  possessed ;  sul^secjuently, 
the  stay  and  number  of  followers  of  the  abbots  on  their  pastoral  visit* 
to  this  distant  cell  was  limited. 


192  Tyiicmouth  Priory  and  Castte. 

The  changeful  fortunes  in  the  history  of  the  priory,  its  priors  and  monks, 
the  Scottish  incursions,  and  its  sufferings  in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  would 
detain  us  beyond  our  limits.  The  condition  of  the  priory  was  prosperous 
in  theearly  years  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  But  a  fatal  change  was 
approaching.  In  1534,  the  lesser  monasteries  had  been  suppressed ;  and 
the  unhappy  monks  of  Tynemouth  beheld  the  approaching  dissolution 
of  their  ancient  home.  To  conceal  the  rapacity  of  the  King  and  his 
favourites,  expectant  of  abbey  lands,  the  monks  were  everywhere  accused, 
by  visitors  appointed  by  the  Crown,  of  unheard-of  enormities.  Charges 
of  immorality  or  of  treason  were  sustained  by  means  which  outraged  all 
legal  procedure,  and  disgraced  the  name  of  justice.  The  reforming 
zealots  hungered  for  the  fair  lordships  and  the  dedicated  riches  of  the 
Church.  Refractory  abbots  and  monks  were  hung  under  their  own 
gateways ;  or  when  very  mercifully  treated,  were  only  turned  forth 
destitute  and  pensionless ;  while  obsequious  monks  were  tempted  by 
grants  from  the  revenues  they  had  lately  called  their  own.  At  length  the 
brethren  of  Tynemouth  assembled  in  their  chapter -house  to  execute 
the  deed  of  suirender  of  the  noble  priory.  On  January  12,  1539,  the 
monastery  was  given  up  to  the  Crown  by  Robert  Blakeney,  last  prior 
of  Tynemouth,  and  eighteen  monks.  A  life  pension  of  80/.  was  granted 
to  the  prior,  and  pensions  of  smaller  amount  were  allowed  to  the  monks. 
The  common  seal,  a  beautiful  work  of  ancient  art,  was  broken ;  the 
plate  and  jewels  were  taken  for  the  King  ;  the  moveable  property  of  the 
monastery  was  sold ;  the  monastic  buildings  were  dismantled ;  the 
church  and  the  prior's  house  only  were  preserved,  the  former  as  a 
parochial  church,  and  the  latter  as  a  residence  for  the  farmer  or  pur- 
chaser of  the  demesne.  The  six  bells  that  had  sounded  far  over  land 
and  ocean,  were  taken  down,  and  shipped  for  London.  The  lead  was 
torn  from  all  the  roofs.  The  chuich-plate  in  gold,  seized  by  the 
King's  visitore,  weighed  62  ounces;  in  silver,  1827  ounces: 

"  Before  them  lay  a  glittering  store — 
The  abbey's  plundered  wealth : 
The  garment  of  cost,  and  the  bowl  emboss'd, 
And  the  wassail  cup  of  health." 

The  manuscripts  that  were  in  the  library  seem  to  have  been  gradually 
dispersed.  Some  few  relics  of  its  once  treasured  contents  have,  how- 
ever, come  down  to  us ;  one  of  them,  a  Latin  psalter,  that  was  known 
as  "The  Book  of  St.  Oswin,"  and  is  in  a  hand^vriting  old  enough  to 
have  been  looked  upon  by  the  holy  King,  was  obtained  by  Sir  Robert 
Cotton,  when  he  visited  the  North  in  the  following  century,  and  after 
naiTowly  escaping  destruction  in  the  fire  of  his  bouse  at  Westminster, 


Tynemouth  Priory  and  Castle,  193 

is  now  in  the  British  Museum.*  All  that  remains  of  this  ouce  magni- 
ficent Priory  are  some  fragments  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  cliff; 
they  are  of  great  elevation,  and  form  a  very  conspicuous  sea-mark ; 
adjoining  them  is  an  excellent  lighthouse.  About  a  hundred  yards  west 
of  the  monastic  ruins  stands  the  Castle,  now  shorn  of  its  olden  features, 
and  fitted  up  as  a  barrack. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  has  left  us  a  poetical  sketch  of  this  line  of  coast,  as 
viewed  by  the  nuns  of  Whitby,  in  their  fancied  voyage  northward,  one 
of  the  interesting  incidents  of  his  Marmion : — 

"  And  now  the  vessel  skirts  the  strand 
Of  mountainous  Xorthumberland  : 
Towns,  towers,  and  halls,  successive  rise. 
And  catch  the  nuns'  delighted  eyes. 
Monkwearmouth  soon  behind  them  lay, 
And  Tynemouth's  Priory  and  bay  ; 
They  marked  amid  her  trees,  the  hall 
Of  lofty  Seaton-Delaval ; 
They  saw  the  Blythe  and  Wansbeck  floods 
Rush  to  the  sea  through  sounding  woods  ; 
They  passed  the  tower  of  Widdrington, 
Mother  of  many  a  valiant  son  ; 
At  Coquet  Isle  their  beads  they  tell, 
To  the  good  saint  who  owned  the  cell ; 
Then  did  the  Alne  attention  claiin. 
And  Warkworth,  proud  of  Percy's  name  ; 
And  next  they  crossed  themselves  to  hear 
The  whitening  breakers  sound  so  near, 
Where  boiling  through  the  rocks  they  roar 
On  Dunstanboroughs  cavemed  shore  ; 
Thy  tower,  proud  Bamborough,  marked  they  here, 
King  Ida's  castle,  rude  and  square. 
From  its  tall  rock  look  grimly  down. 
And  on  the  swelling  ocean  frown  ; 
Then  from  the  coast  they  bore  away, 
And  reached  the  Holy  Island's  bay." 

Tynemouth  Castle  took  its  rise  as  follows.  In  the  time  of  the 
'^)nqueror  the  peninsula  on  which  the  Priory  stood  was  inclosed  on  the 

ad  side  by  a  wall  and  a  ditch  ;  the  place  was  afterwards  more  com- 
pletely fortified,  the  walls  being  carried  round  the  site  towards  the  sea, 
where  there  are  cliffs  which  rise  to  the  height  of  nearly  60  feet,  as  well 
as  towards  the  land,  and  was  known  as  Tynemouth  Cattle.  In  1095,  the 
elastic,  under  Robert  de  Mowbray,  Earl  of  Northumberland  (who  had 

volted  in  consctiuence  of  receiving  no  reward  for  his  victory  at 
\  nwick,  two  years  previously)  was,  after  a  siege  of  two  months,  taken 


by  permission,  from  Sketches  o/ Northumbrian  Castles,  Churches, 
es.    Third  Series.     By  W.  Sidney  Gibson,  Esc^.,  F.S.A. 
O 


194        The  Castle  and  Hermitage  of  Warkworth. 

by  WilJiam  Rufus ;  but  the  Earl  escaped  to  Bamboroiigh  Castle,  which 
Ruftis  immediately  invested,  but  being  unable  to  take  the  place  by  siege, 
he  commenced  a  blockade  by  building  a  castle  called  malvoisin  (or  bad 
neighbour),  to  intercept  supplies  from  the  surrounding  country;  when 
the  Earl  endeavouring  to  escape,  was  taken  prisoner  at  Tynemouth,  and 
his  wife  surrendered  Bamborough  Castle  to  the  King,  on  his  threaten- 
ing to  put  out  Mowbray's  eyes  if  she  refused.  The  Earl  was  carried  to 
Windsor  Castle,  where  he  was  imprisoned  for  thirty  years.  Tynemouth 
was  garrisoned  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  and  in  the  great  Civil  War  was 
taken  by  the  Scotch  from  the  Royalists,  who  had  occupied  it.  It  was 
then  restored  and  garrisoned  by  the  Parliament,  but  the  garrison  having 
revolted,  the  place  was  stormed  by  a  Parliamentary  force  from  New- 
castle, under  Sir  Arthur  Hazelrigge ;  when  the  governor  of  the  castle. 
Colonel  Henry  Lilbuni,  declaring  for  the  King,  he  was  beheaded. 
Considerable  remains  exist  of  the  fortress:  the  gateway  tower  on  the 
west,  or  land  side,  is  in  good  condition,  and  the  circuit  of  the  walls 

appears  to  be  entire. 

» 

The  Castle  and  Hermitage  of  Warkworth. 

Among  the  most  beautiful  of  the  rivers  in  the  north  of  England  is  th6 
Coquet,  which  rises  in  the  north-west  part  of  Northumberland,  and 
after  leaving  the  lofty  naked  hills,  passes  eastward  with  a  clear  and 
rapid  stream  through  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  picturesque  districts 
of  the  country.  About  a  mile  from  the  mouth  of  the  river,  on  the 
crown  of  a  rock  of  lofty  eminence,  stands  the  Castle  of  Warkworth. 
Through  the  village  on  the  northern  inclination  of  this  hill  lies  a  pleasing, 
though  steep  approach  to  the  Castle,  than  which  nothing  can  be  so 
magnificent  and  picturesque  from  what  part  soever  it  is  viewed ;  and 
though,  when  entire,  it  was  far  from  being  destitute  of  strength,  yet  its 
appearance  does  not  excite  the  idea  of  one  of  those  rugged  fortresses 
destined  solely  for  war,  whose  gloomy  towers  suggest  to  the  imagina- 
tion only  dungeons,  chains,  and  executions ;  but  rather  that  of  such  an 
ancient  hospitable  mansion  as  is  alluded  to  by  Milton — 

"  Where  throngs  of  knights  and  barons  bold, 
In  weeds  of  peace  high  triumphs  bold." 

The  Castle  and  moat  occupied  upwards  of  five  acres  of  ground.  The 
keep,  or  donjon,  containing  a  chapel  and  a  variety  of  spacious  apart- 
ments, stands  on  the  north  side,  and  is  elevated  on  an  artificial  mount, 
from  the  centre  of  which  rises  a  lofty  observatory.     The  area  is 


The  Castle  and  Hermitage  of  Warkworth.        195 

inclose<l  by  walls  garnished  with  towers.  The  principal  gateway  has 
been  a  stately  edifice,  but  only  a  few  of  its  apartments  now  remain. 
The  Castle  and  barony  of  ^Varkworth  belonged  to  Roger  Fitz-Richard, 
who  held  them  by  the  senice  of  one  knight's  fee  of  the  grant  of 
Henry  II.  They  were  at  length,  by  John  of  Clavering,  settled  upon 
Edward  I.  They  were  bestowed  upon  Henry  Percy  (the  ancestor  of 
the  Earls  of  Northumberland)  by  Edward  III.  After  being  several 
times  forfeited  and  recovered,  they  were  finally  restored,  in  the  twelfth 
year  of  Henry  V.,  to  Henry,  fourth  Earl  of  Northumberland,  and  have 
since  continued  in  the  possession  of  the  House  of  Percy.  This  Castle 
was  the  favourite  residence  of  the  Percy  family,  and  in  Leland's  time 
was  ivell  menteyned ;  but  in  1672  its  timber  and  lead  were  granted  to 
one  of  their  agents,  and  the  principal  part  of  it  was  unroofed.  It  is 
not  certainly  kno\\-n  when  it  was  built ;  the  gateway  and  outer  walls  are 
the  work  of  a  very  remote  age,  but  the  keep  is  more  recent,  and  was 
probably  built  by  the  Percies. 

On  the  north  bank  of  the  Coquet,  about  half  a  mile  west  of  the 
Lastle,  is  Warkworth  Hermitage,  which  has  obtained  great  celebrity  by 
the  beautiful  poem,  Tlx  Hermit  of  Warknvortb,  WTitten  by  Dr.  Percy, 
Bishop  of  Dromore,  in  1777.  The  approach  is  by  a  narrow  walk  on  the 
bank  of  the  river,  confined  by  lofty  perpendicular  rocks  to  about  tiie 
width  of  four  feet,  which  leads  to  the  door  of  this  holy  retreat.  From  the 
summit  of  these  rocks  a  grove  of  oaks  is  suspended,  and  fiom  their  base 

lies  a  spring  of  pure  water,  which  formerly  supplied  the  recluse  :— 

"  Till"  sweet  scquestr: 
'1  ';«'se  rocks  aivl 
For  u(t  beside  the  II  :n 

My  love  was  wont  to  rove, " 

■  steps,  vestibule,  and  chiefapartmentsof  the  Hermitage  are  hewni  out 
ilie  l)Osom  of  a  urcstone  rock,  whose  face  is  about  20  feet  high, 
cmlxjwered  with  stately  trees.  One  tower  and  outward  apartment  arc  of 
ashlar  masonry,  built  up  against  the  side  of  the  rock,  and  appear  to 
have  been  used  as  a  kitchen.  From  this  building  you  ascend,  by  seven- 
teen steps,  to  a  little  vestibule.  Above  the  inner  doorway  appear  the 
remains  of  an  inscription  from  the  Latin  version  of  the  Psalms,  which 
is,  in  our  translation,  "  My  tears  have  been  my  food  day  and  night." 
Adjoining  is  a  chapel,  and  at  the  cast  end  an  altar,  with  a  niche  for 
a  cnicifix,  an:l  the  remains  of  a  glory.  On  the  right  hand,  near  the 
altar,  in  another  niche,  is  a  table  monument,  with  a  recumbent  female 
figure ;  and  at  the  foot  of  this  monument,  and  cut  in  the  wall,  is  the 
figure  of  a  hermit  on  his  kn^es,  resting  his  head  on  his  right  hand, 

o  3 


196        The  Castle  and  Hermitage  of  Warkworth. 

his  left  placctl  on  his  bosom.  The  whole  is  beautifully  designed  and 
executed  in  the  solid  rock.  From  the  chapel  is  an  entrance  into  an 
inner  apartment,  over  the  door  of  which  is  sculptured  a  shield  witli 
the  Crucifixion,  and  several  instruments  of  torture ;  here  is  another 
altar,  like  that  in  the  chapel,  and  a  recess  in  the  wall  for  the  recep- 
tion of  a  bed.  In  this  chamber  is  a  small  closet,  cut  in  the  wall, 
and  leading  to  an  open  gallery,  which  commands  a  splendid  prospect 
up  the  river.  From  these  cells  there  are  winding  stairs  cut  in  the 
rock,  leading  to  its  summit,  where,  it  is  supposed,  the  hemiit  had  his 
garden. 

It  is  the  universal  tradition,  that  the  first  hermit  was  one  of  the 
Bertram  family,  who  had  once  considerable  possessions  in  Northum- 
berland, and  imposed  this  penance  upon  himself  to  expiate  the  murder 
of  his  brother,  to  which  he  had  been  goaded  by  motives  arising  from 
jealousy: 

"  '  Vile  traitor,  yield  that  lady  up  !' 
And  quick  his  sword  he  drew  ; 
The  stranger  turn'd  in  sudden  rage, 

And  at  Sir  Bertram  flew. 
With  mortal  hate  their  vigorous  arms 

Gave  many  a  vengeful  blow  ; 
But  Bertram's  stronger  hand  prcvaU'd, 
And  laid  the  stranger  low." 

In  the  postscript  to  this  poem,  Dr.  Percy  asserts  that  the  memory  of 
the  first  hermit  was  held  in  such  regard  and  veneration  by  the  Percy 
family,  that  they  afterwards  maintained  a  chantry  priest,  to  reside  in  the 
hermitage,  and  celebrate  mass  in  the  chapel,  whose  allowance,  uncom- 
monly liberal  and  munificent,  was  continued  down  to  the  dissolution  of 
the  monasteries ;  and  then  the  whole  salary,  together  with  the  hermi- 
tage and  all  its  dependencies,  reverted  to  the  family,  liaving  never  been 
endowed  in  mortmain.  On  this  account  we  have  no  record  which  fixes 
the  date  of  the  foundation,  or  gives  any  particular  account  of  the  first 
hermit. 

The  only  document  extant  relating  to  Warkworth  Hermitage  is  ad- 
dressed to  the  hermit.  Sir  George  Lancastre.  This  has  been  frequently 
printed.  It  sets  forth  that  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  in  return  for 
the  prayers  and  daily  recommendation  of  the  lives  and  souls  of  certain 
persons,  including  his  own,  by  the  hermit,  grants  him  his  hermitage  in 
AVarkworth  Park,  a  yearly  stipend  of  twenty  marks,  the  occupation  of 
one  little  grass  gi^ound  called  Conygarth,  the  garden  and  orteyarde  of 
the  said  armitage,  the  gate  and  pastm-e  of  twelve  kye  and  a  bull,  with 
their  calves  suking,  two  horses  "  goying  and  being"  within  his  park,  one 
draught  of  fish  every  Sunday,  and  twenty  loads  of  firewood  from  the 


The  Castle  of  Newcastle.  197 

wcxlds  called  Shibotcll  Wodd, — a  snug  provision,  showing  how  com- 
pletely, by  the  date  of  the  document,  1531,  the  primitive  fare  and  mode 
of  life  of  the  eai'ly  hermits  were  abandoned. 


The  Castle  of  Newcastle. 

The  date  of  the  first  building  of  this  massive  Norman  fortress  is  vari- 
ously stated,  which  occasioned  its  historian,  Brand,  to  lament  that  no 
one  has  written  a  work  entitled  "  The  Harmony  of  English  Historians ;" 
to  which  he  adds  from  Grose,  the  antiquary,  this  very  significant  note : 
"  When  the  Normans  found  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  building  on  the  site 
of  their  intended  structure,  they  either  endeavoured  to  incorporate  it 
into  their  work,  or  made  use  of  the  materials  ;  as  may  be  seen  by  many 
buildings  of  known  Norman  construction,  wherein  are  fragments  of 
Saxon  architecture,  or  large  quantities  of  Roman  bricks ;  which  has 
caused  them  often  to  be  mistaken  for  Roman  or  Saxon  edifices."  This, 
in  all  probability,  explains  the  attributing  of  Roman  origin  to  the  keep 
of  the  Tower  of  London,  as  we  have  already  explained  at  page  \r^. 

The  site  of  the  Newcastle  fortress  is  of  historic  interest.  It  was,  pro- 
bably, a  fortification  of  the  Brigantes  against  the  Romans,  and  ere  long 
came  to  be  occupied  by  the  military  works  of  that  gieat  people,  to 
whom  it  was  of  considerable  value,  as  commanding  the  bridge  of 
Hadrian,  which  gave  the  name  of  Pons  Ccclii  to  the  now  busy  mercan- 
tile town  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  The  stations  then  of  Agricola  and 
of  Hadrian  occupied  the  precincts  to  which  the  fortress  of  the  Norman 
Conqueror  afterwards  gave  new  importance  and  celebrity ;  and  from 
the  Roman  castra  was  probably  derivetl  the  ancient  name  of  the  town 
(Monkchester),  when  peaceful  monks  succeeded  to  military  legions; 
and  probably,  they  continued  to  occupy  the  place  down  to  the  time  of 
the  Norman  Concjuest. 

The  fortress  was  built  by  Robert,  eldest  son  of  William  the  Con- 
queror  (A.D.  1079- 10'" 9),  on  his  return  from  an  expedition  into  Scot- 
land; and  in  contrast  to  some  more  ancient  edifice,  it  was  called  Nmu 
Castle,  whence  the  town  itself  came  to  be  named.  Like  other  Norman 
castles,  it  is  quadrangular  in  plan.  It  is  nearly  100  feet  in  height.  The 
walU  arc  seventeen  feet  in  thickness  in  the  lower  part.  It  contains  three 
floors,  on  each  of  which  is  a  principal  chamber,  the  surrounding  walls 
being  hollowed  out  at  different  levels  into  staircases,  galleries,  mural 
chambers  for  rest,  and  openings  for  various  purposes.  A  gallery  in  the 
thickness  of  the  wall  surrounds  each  of  the  upper  chambers ;  and  the 


1 98  The  Castle  of  Newcastle. 

walls  are  pierced  occasionally  with  arrow  slits.  The  Great  Hall,  the 
largest  apartment  in  the  Castle,  is  in  the  third  story,  and  is  approached 
by  an  inner  and  outer  staircase :  from  the  latter  it  is  entered  under  a 
magnificently  enriched  doorway.  The  floors  of  the  building  possess 
amazing  solidity,  and  are  laid  in  a  foundation  of  rough  masonry,  pro- 
bably fiom  a  depth  of  twelve  feet.  The  King's  Chamber,  adjoining  the 
Great  Hall,  contains  a  Norman  fireplace,  ornamented  with  the  billet 
moulding.  Another  apartment  is  called  the  Well-room,  as  to  it  water 
was  raised  within  the  Keep,  fi-om  a  depth  of  ninety  feet.  The  most 
curious  part  is  the  chamber  which  has  been  re-opened,  leading  from  the 
Guard-room  on  the  ground-floor  to  a  sally-port  on  the  western  side  of 
the  Castle.  The  tortuous  windings  of  this  passage  from  the  sally-port, 
placed  several  feet  above  the  ground  till  it  enters  the  Guard-room  near 
one  of  the  windows,  shows  how  zealously  and  yet  how  skilfully  our 
KoiTnan  ancestors  protected  the  approaches  to  their  stronghold. 

If,  however,  we  believe  our  metrical  annalist,  Hardyng,  the  Castle 
was  not  erected  till  the  reign  of  William  Rufus.  In  his  Chronicle,  1542, 
sings  Hardyng : 

"  William  Rufus  buildcd 

The  Newcastle  upon  Tyne 

The  Scottes  to  gaynstande  and  to  defende 

he  made  them  Westminster  Hall 

And  the  Castell  of  Newcastell  withall 

That  standeth  on  Tyne,  therein  to  dwell  in  warre 

Against  the  Scottes  the  countree  to  defend." 

Scarcely  had  the  Castle  been  completed,  before  it  was  converted  to  a 
purpose  very  different  from  the  intention  of  building  it,  having  Ix'en 
secured  to  protect  the  rebellion  of  Earl  Mowbray  against  William 
Rufus,  who,  in  1095,  marched  with  a  great  army,  and  took  it  after  a 
short  siege,  together  with  several  of  the  partisans  of  the  noble  traitor. 
William,  having  missed  the  great  object  of  his  northern  journey  in  this 
Castle,  sat  down  before  that  of  Tynemouth,  in  the  taking  of  which  also 
he  was  a  second  time  disappointed,  for  Earl  Mowbray  was  found  to 
have  taken  refuge  in  the  fortress  of  Bamborough.  After  a  tedious  and 
fioiitless  siege  of  that  castle,  rendered  by  its  natural  situation  almost  im- 
pregnable, the  King  returned  southward,  but  not  till  he  had  erected  a 
castle  before  it  to  cut  off  all  hopes  of  throwing  in  succoui^s,  and  filled  it 
with  his  army,  whom  he  directed  to  continue  the  blockade.  Driven, 
perhaps,  to  great  straits  through  want  of  provisions,  Mowbray  closed 
with  an  offer  of  some  of  his  faithful  adherents,  of  whose  loyalty  the 
King  had  however  entertained  no  suspicion,  as  he  had  appointed  them 
guards  of  this  Newcastle-upon-Tyne.   These  had  traitorously,  and  with 


Dunstanborough  Castle.  199 

secrecy,  inNntcd  the  Earl  to  take  shelter  in  it.  The  unfortunate  noble- 
man escaped  from  Bamborough,  but  was  discovered  during  his  flight  to 
this  Castle,  on  which  he  suddenly  changed  his  route,  and  took  sanctuary 
in  the  church  of  St.  Oswin,  at  Tynemouth.  The  holy  asylum  could 
not  protect  so  formidable  an  enemy  to  the  King,  for  after  being 
wounded,  he  was  dragged  out  by  violence  from  the  altar,  and  made  a 
prisoner. 

The  Castle,  or  more  strictly  speaking,  Keep  of  the  original  Norman 
edifice,  which  was  the  stronghold  of  the  Conqueror's  representative — 
the  fortress  and  often  the  abode  of  the  Anglo-Norman  kings — the 
palace  of  David,  King  of  Scots,  upon  one  of  his  invasions — the 
hall  of  state  in  which  the  mightiest  sovereigns  held  their  courts,  sat  in 
judgment,  and  maintained  regal  hospitality — in  which  King  John  con- 
ferred with  William  the  Lion,  king  of  Scotland,  and  Henry  III.  with 
King  Alexander — in  which  Edward  I.  and  Edward  III.  held  high  fes- 
tival and  warlike  council-:— fell  into  a  state  of  dilapidation  before  the 
reign  of  James  I.  of  England ;  its  upper  chamber  became  roofless, 
and  its  walls  dilapidated  before  the  time  of  the  Great  Rebellion. 
Thenceforth,  for  many  years,  the  vaulted  apartment  on  the  ground- 
floor  served  as  the  County  Prison.  The  property  was  held  on  lease 
from  the  Crown  by  private  individuals;  but  in  1809  it  became  the 
property  of  the  Corporation.  It  was  then  in  a  deplorable  state. 
Wretched  tenements  and  accumulated  rubbish  obscured  its  majestic 
features;  the  beautiful  apartment  above  the  Chapel  was  used  as  a 
currier's  workshop,  and  the  Chapel  itself  as  the  beer-cellar  of  a  neigh- 
lK>uring  hostelry.  The  Corporation,  on  coming  into  possession,  re- 
paired the  ancient  edifice ;  and  next  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of 
Newcastle  took  measures  for  the  restoration  of  the  Keep  and  of  its 
c!iaix.-l  more  especially,  believed  to  be  rarely  equalled  for  architectural 
richness  and  beauty. 

Dunstanborough  Castle. 

The  Castle  of  Dunstanborough,  in  the  county  of  Northumberland, 
stood  on  an  eminence  of  several  square  acres,  sloping  gently  to  the  sea, 
and  edged  to  the  north  and  north-west  with  precipices,  in  the  form  of  a 
crescent.  The  Castle  and  Manor  was  the  seat  of  Edmund,  Earl  of 
Lancaster,  a  younger  son  of  Henry  III.  From  him  it  devolved  to  his 
son  and  heir,  Thomas,  who  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  II.  obtained  a  license  from  the  King  to  fortify  his  manor- 
house,  and  accordingly  about  the  same  time  built  this  Castle.    The  Earl, 


200  Diinstanhorough  Casile. 

soon  after,  associated  with  divers  of  the  chief  nobility  of  the  kingdom 
for  the  expulsion  of  Piers  Gavestone,  who  had  grossly  insulted  him  by 
giving  the  Earl  the  nickname  of  "  the  Stage  Player."  He  headed  the 
confederated  Barons  in  order  to  remove  the  Spencers,  and  having 
assembled  a  considerable  force  at  St.  Albans,  he  sent  the  Bishops  of 
Hereford,  Ely,  and  Chichester  to  the  King,  who  was  then  in  London, 
requiring  him  to  banish  the  Spencere,  and  to  give  him  and  his  associates 
letters  of  indemnity.  The  King  not  only  refused  his  demands,  but 
raised  a  powerful  army,  giving  his  generals,  Edmund  Earl  of  Kent, 
and  John  Earl  of  Sun-ey,  orders  to  pursue  and  arrest  the  Earl  and  his 
followers. 

Lancaster,  who  had  retired  to  his  castle  at  Pontefract,  was  advised  by 
several  of  the  Barons  of  his  party  to  march  to  Dunstanborough  Castle; 
but  he,  fearing  he  should  be  forbidden  to  hold  intelligence  with  the  Scots, 
refused ;  however,  on  Sir  Robert  Clifford  threatening  to  slay  him  with 
his  own  hand,  he  joined  them  ;  but,  near  Boroughbridge,  in  Yorkshire, 
being  met  and  defeated  by  William,  Lord  Latimer,  and  Sir  Andrew 
Hercla,  of  Carlisle,  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  the  country  people,  he  and 
divers  of  his  followers  were  taken  prisoners,  and  conducted  to  his  castle 
at  Pontefract,  where  the  King,  with  the  two  Spencers,  then  lay.  When 
the  Earl  was  brought  to  this  place,  he  was  in  derision  called  King 
Arthur.  Several  circumstances  attending  his  apprehension,  trial,  and 
execution,  are  thus  recorded  in  an  ancient  chronicle,  written  in  French, 
by  William  de  Packington,  which  strongly  marks  the  ferocity  of  the 
times: — 

"  And  then  (that  is,  after  the  defeat)  went  Thomas  Lancaster  into  a 
chapel,  denying  to  render  himself  to  Harkley,  and  said,  looking  on  the 
crucifix,  Good  Lord,  I  render  myself  to  thee,  and  put  me  into  thy 
mercy !  They  then  took  off  his  coat  of  mail,  and  put  on  him  araycoat, 
or  a  gown  of  his  servants'  liveries,  and  carried  him  back  to  York, 
•where  they  threw  balls  of  dirt  at  him.  And  of  the  residue  of  the 
Barons,  part  were  pursued  from  place  to  place;  to  the  church,  though 
the  usual  place  of  refiigc,  no  reverence  was  given  ;  and  the  father  pur- 
sued the  son,  and  the  son  the  father.  The  King,  hearing  of  this 
defeat,  came  with  the  two  Spencers,  and  other  nobles  of  his  adherents, 
to  Pontefract ;  upon  which  Thomas  of  Lancaster  was  brought  to 
Pontefract  to  the  King,  and  there  he  was  put  in  a  tower  that  he  had 
newly  built  towards  the  Abbey,  and  afterwards  tried  in  the  hall,  and 
judgment  pronounced  on  Lancaster,  who  then  said,  '  Shall  I  die 
without  answer,  or  permission  to  make  my  defence  ?'  Then  a  certain 
Gascoyne  (or  Bravo),  took  him  away,  and  put  a  broken  hat,  or  hood, 


Alnwick  Castle,  and  tJie  House  of  Percy.         20l 

on  his  head,  and  set  him  on  a  lean  white  jade,  without  a  bridle ; 
whereupon  he  cried  out,  '  King  of  Heaven,  have  mercy  upon  me, 
for  the  King  of  earth  has  abandoned  me.*  Thus  he  was  carried, 
having  a  preaching  friar  for  his  confessor  with  him  (while  some  threw 
dirt  at  him),  to  a  hill  without  the  town,  where  he  kneeled  down 
towards  the  east,  till  one  Hughin  de  Muston  obliged  him  to  turn  his 
lace  towards  Scotland ;  where  kneeling,  a  villayne  (a  menial  servant, 
or  wicked  wretch)  of  London,  cut  off  his  head  on  the  i  ith  of  April, 
A.D.  1321." 

When  the  execution  was  over,  the  Prior  and  the  monks  required  the 
Ixxly  of  the  Earl,  which  having  obtained  of  the  King,  they  placed  it  on 
the  right  hand  of  the  altar.  On  the  same  day,  five  Barons,  and  a  gen- 
tleman, were  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  at  Pontefi"act.  The  sen- 
tence of  the  Earl  of  Lancaster  was,  that  he  should  be  drawn,  hanged, 
and  beheaded ;  but  in  regard  to  his  birth,  the  ignominious  part  of  it 
was  remitted.  In  the  reign  of  Richard  H.  he  was  canonized,  his  picture 
set  up  in  St.  Paul's  church,  and  the  hill  whereon  he  suffered  was  named 
St.  Thomas's  Hill. 

The  Castle  continued  in  the  Lancastrian  family  till  the  reign  of 
Henry  VI.,  when,  after  the  battle  of  Hexham,  Sir  Peter  de  Bressey  and 
-jOO  Frenchmen,  taking  shelter  therein,  were  besieged  by  certain  parti- 
sans of  the  House  of  York.  After  a  vigorous  defence,  all  the  garrison, 
except  Sir  Peter,  were  made  prisoners  ;  and  the  Castle,  which  had  been 
much  damaged  by  the  siege,  was  totally  dismantled.  From  authentic 
records  it  appears  to  have  belonged  to  the  Crown,  in  the  loth  of 
Elizabeth  ;  but  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  it  was  granted  to  Sir  William 
Grey,  baron  of  Wark,  and  confirmed  by  William  III 


Alnwick  Castle,  and  the  House  of  Percy. 

This  famous  Castle  stands  to  the  north-west  of  the  town  of  Aln- 
wick, from  which  it  was  originally  cut  off  by  a  deep  ravii.e,  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  river  Alne,  which  was  formerly  its  defence  against  the  Scot. 
Roman  remains  have  been  found  on  the  site,  it  is  at  least  certain 
that  Alnwick  was  inhabited  by  the  Saxons,  and  that  the  Castle,  at  the 
time  of  the  Conquest,  was  the  property  of  Gilbert  Tysen,  one  of  the 
most  jwwerful  chiefs  of  Northumberland.  Tysen  is  thought  to  have  con- 
tented himself,  in  these  wild  regions,  with  some  primitive  kind  of  timber 
fortress ;  for  the  earliest  traces  of  masoiuy  that  have  been  found,  are 


202         Alnwick  Castle,  and  the  House  of  Percy. 

late  Norman,  and  are  attributable  to  Eustace  Fitzjohn,  who  married 
the  daughter  and  heir  of  Ivo  de  Vesci,  who  is  thought  to  have  married 
Tysen's  daughter.  The  Castle  consists  of  a  cluster  of  semi-circular 
and  angular  bastions,  surrounded  by  lofty  walls,  defended  at  inter- 
vals by  towers,  altogether  occupying  a  space  of  about  five  acres  of 
ground.  It  is  divided  into  three  courts  or  wards,  each  of  which  was 
formerly  defended  by  a  massive  gate,  with  a  portcullis,  porter's  lodge, 
and  a  guard-house,  beneath  which  was  a  dungeon.  This  last  re- 
mains ;  the  only  entrance  to  it  was  by  a  trap-door,  or  iron-grate, 
through  which  prisoners  were  lowered  by  means  of  ropes.  The 
entrance  from  the  town  to  the  Castle  is  through  the  outer  gate, 
or  barbican,  the  massive  grandeur  and  gigantic  strength  of  which  is 
veiy  striking,  and  thence  a  splendid  view  of  the  Castle  is  obtained. 
It  has  been  a  place  of  great  strength  and  importance  in  earlier  times, 
and  the  scene  of  many  a  brave  encounter.  The  Postern  Tower,  or 
Sally  Port,  is  one  of  the  sixteen  towers  flanking  the  Castle  wall,  and 
is  adjacent  to  "  Hotspur's  Chair,"  and  the  "  Bloody  Gap."  Its 
upper  part  is  now  used  as  a  museum  for  ancient  arms ;  its  lower 
part  is  a  laboratory.  One  of  the  most  memorable  sieges  sustained 
by  Alnwick  Castle  was  in  the  reign  of  William  Rufus,  when  it  was 
gallantly  defended  by  Mowbray,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  from  the 
assault  of  the  Scots,  under  the  command  of  Malcolm  III.  The  gar- 
rison were  on  the  point  of  surrendering,  when  a  private  soldier  imder- 
took  their  deliverance.  He  rode  forth,  armed,  carrying  the  keys  of  the 
Castle  dangling  ft-om  his  lance,  and  presented  himself  in  suppliant 
posture  before  the  King,  as  if  to  deliver  up  the  keys ;  Malcolm  advanced 
to  receive  them,  and  the  trooper  speared  him  through  the  heart.  The 
monarch  fell  dead  instantly,  and  in  the  confusion  which  ensued,  the 
soldier  sprung  upon  his  horse,  dashed  through  the  swollen  river,  and 
reached  a  place  of  safety.  Prince  Edward,  the  king's  eldest  son,  advan- 
cing rashly  to  avenge  his  father's  death,  fell  mortally  wounded  by  the 
enemy.  The  generally  received  name  of  the  soldier  who  performed  the 
above  daring  exploit  is  Hammond,  and  the  spot  where  he  swam  the 
river  is  called  "  Hammond's  Ford." 

A  chapel  and  hospital,  dedicated  to  St.  Leonard,  were  built  by  Eustace 
de  Vesci,  to  the  memory  of  Malcolm,  and  a  certain  spring  hard  by  is 
called  "  Malcolm's  Well ;"  the  latter  and  the  hospital  were  discovered 
in  1845.  Two  or  three  hundred  yards  north  of  the  chapel  is  a  cross, 
(supposed  on  the  very  spot  where  Malcolm  was  slain),  which  mms  re- 
stored in  1774,  by  the  Duchess  of  Northumberland:  the  cross  bears 
these  inscriptions : — 


Alnwick  Castle,  and  tlte  House  of  Percy.  203 

Malcolm  III.,  K.  Malcolm's  Cross, 

King  of  Scotland,  Decayed  by  time, 

besieging  was  restored  by 

Alnwick  Castle,  His  descendant, 

was  slain  here,  Elizabeth, 

Nov.  XIII.     An.  Mxciir.  Duchess  of  Northumberland, 

MDCCLXXIV. 

Eustace,  called  De  Vcsci,  flourished  under  Henry  I.  and  Stephen, 
and  died  in  1157.  He  was  a  likely  man  to  have  constructed  a  great 
castle,  being  a  baron  of  considerable  power,  sheriff  of  Northumberland, 
and  founder  of  the  Abbeys  of  Alnwick,  and,  in  Yorkshire,  of  Malton. 
Also,  he  must  have  felt  the  want  of  a  strong  place ;  for,  in  his  days,  in 
1 135,  Alnwick  Castle  was  taken  by  David  I.,  King  of  Scotland,  in  the 
interest  of  the  Empress  Maud.  Beyond  question,  De  Vesci  constructed 
a  castle  in  keeping  with  his  wealth,  and  worthy  of  the  chief  baron  of 
the  Border ;  and  traces  of  his  walls  have  been  found. 

In  July,  1174,  William  the  Lion,  on  his  way  back  from  an  invasion 
of  Cumberland,  found  himself,  to  his  surprise,  before  Alnwick.  William, 
son  of  Eustace  De  Vesci,  attacked  him.  He  was  unhorsed,  captured, 
and  sent  into  England,  and  beyond  sea,  to  prison.  Eustace,  son  of 
William,  succeeded  in  1190,  and  was  visited  by  King  John,  in  1201 
and  1209,  when  the  King  received  at  the  Castle  the  homage  of  Alex- 
ander, King  of  Scotland.  Four  years  later,  John,  the  King,  ordered 
Philip  de  Ulecote  to  demolish  the  Castle  of  Alnwick — a  mandate  which 
scarcely  could  have  been  obeyed,  seeing  the  King  himself  was  there 
Jan.  28,  1213,  and  Jan.  ir,  1316,  no  doubt  unwelcome  visits,  for 
Eustace  was  a  Magna  Charta  baron.  He  met  his  death  from  an  arrow 
before  Barnard  Castle,  in  the  last  year  of  King  John.  Henry  HI. 
visited  Alnwick  in  1 256 ;  and  Edward  I.  was  the  guest  of  John  de 
Vesci  in  1291,  1292,  and  1296. 

The  Barons  de  Vesci  became  extinct  in  1297,  by  the  death  of 
William,  seventh  Baron,  when  the  Castle  and  barony  were  acquired,  it 
is  said,  by  the  fraudulent  exclusion  of  the  natural  son  of  Antony  Bee, 
the  warlike  Bishop  of  Durham,  by  whom,  in  1309,  3  Edward  II.,  they 
were  sold  to  Henry  de  Percy,  the  representative  of  a  warlike  fiunily, 
vfhose  advent  forms  an  imjwrtant  era  in  the  history  of  the  Border. 
Percy,  as  the  leader  of  the  Northern  barons,  made  Alnwick  his  resi- 
dence, and  although  in  possession  only  five  years,  seems  to  have  rebuilt 
much  of  the  Castle,  the  rest  being  completed  by  his  son  of  the  same 
name,  laid  out  nearly  upon  the  Norman  lines.  The  Percies  maintained 
the  fortress  during  nearly  four  centuries.  They  received  here  Edward  I. 
and  Edward  III.     Henry  Algernon,  the  fifth  earl,  is  well  known  for  his 


204         Alnwick  Casilc,  and  the  House  of  Percy. 

systematic  magnificence  and  economy.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  earl 
was  the  first  who  having  borne  the  title,  died  in  his  bed.  Henry 
Algernon,  sixth  Earl,  having  married  unhappily,  died  of  a  broken  heart, 
in  the  same  month  that  his  brother  was  executed  for  his  being  involved 
in  Aske's  rebellion,  1536.  The  hereditary  honours  became  extinct  with 
him ;  but  Queen  Mary  created  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Percy, 
who  had  been  attainted.  Baron  Percy,  and  next  day  Earl  of  Northum- 
berland, who,  as  a  zealous  Catholic,  conspired  with  the  Earl  of  West- 
moreland against  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  was  beheaded  at  York.  His 
brother  Henry,  succeeded  as  eighth  earl :  he  was  discovered  in  the 
Tower,  (where  he  had  been  imprisoned  under  suspicion  of  favouring 
the  liberty  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots),  shot  through  the  heart,  the  pistol 
in  the  chamber,  the  door  being  barred  inside.  Henry,  ninth  earl,  his 
son  and  heir,  succeeded.  A  misunderstanding  arising  Iwtvveen  him  and 
James  I.,  in  consequence  of  his  being  implicated  in  the  Gunpowder 
Plot,  he  was  sentenced  by  the  Star  Chamber  to  pay  a  fine  of  50,000/., 
and  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London  during  the  remainder  of 
his  lifetime.  The  Earl  delayed  for  some  years  the  payment  of  this 
enormous  fine,  but  at  length  his  estates  were  seized,  and  20,000/.  having 
been  levied,  he  was  released.  This  venerable  nobleman,  whose  attach- 
ment to  literature  and  science,  and  fondness  for  philosophic  society, 
which  he  cultivated  as  far  as  he  was  able  during  his  long  imprisonment, 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  dignified  retirement  at  Petworth,  "the 
home  of  the  Percies,  Scymoure,  and  Wyndhams,  with  its  Hotspur's 
sword  and  its  magnificent  park,  '  Percy  to  the  backbone,'  in  Horace 
Walpole's  words." 

From  this  date  the  family  ceased  to  reside  at  Alnwick,  and  the  Castle 
was  neglected.  The  Percy  line  ended  in  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Jocelyn, 
the  eleventh  Earl,  who,  in  1682,  mairied  Charles,  Duke  of  Somerset. 
Of  their  children,  two  had  issue,  Algernon  and  Catherine,  who  married 
Sir  William  Wyndham,  and  eventually  conveyed  to  that  family  the 
Percy  estates  at  Petworth,  Egremont,  and  Lecon field.  Algernon  Sey- 
mour, Duke  of  Somerset,  and  by  creation  Earl  of  Northumberland,  left 
one  child,  Elizabeth  Seymour,  who  inhabited  Alnwick,  and  married  Sir 
Hugh  Smithson,  created  Duke  of  Northumberland,  and  ancestor  of  the 
present  family. 

A  Survey  in  1567*  shows  Alnwick  to  have  become  almost  a  niin,  from 
which  it  was  redeemed  by  the  first  Duke,  who  restored,  and  in  part  re- 


*  An  entry  in  the  minutes  of  this  Survey  informs  us  that  the  glass  casements 
were  taken  down  during  the  absence  of  the  family,  to  preserve  them  from  a  ccident. 


Alnwick  Castle,  and  the  House  of  Percy.  205 

built  the  keep,  and  made  the  exterior  of  the  Castle  sound  and  good,  and  in 
keeping  with  what  remained  of  the  ancient  buildings.  Thus  Alnwick 
remainetl  until  the  accession  of  Duke  Algernon,  better  known  as  Lord 
Prudhoe,  who,  under  the  sound  advice  of  Mr.  Salvin,  the  architect,  has 
almost  rebuilt  the  Castle,  in  which  he  has  preserved  all  that  admitted  of 
preser\'ation,  and  adapted  hii  new  work  to  the  period  of  the  first  and 
second  Percy,  the  founders  of  the  later  Castle.  The  towers  now 
afford  a  complete  set  of  offices  to  the  castle,  and  many  of  them  re- 
tain their  original  names,  use,  and  destination.  The  Constable's  Tower 
remains  chiefly  in  its  ancient  state,  as  a  specimen  how  the  castle  was 
ince  fitted  up.  In  the  upper  apartment  of  the  tower  there  are  arms  for 
X500  men,  formerly  the  Percy  tenantry:  in  the  under  apartment  is  de- 
posited the  ancient  armour. 

Alnwick  Castle  is  storied  with  recollections  of  its  eventfiil  history, 
and  the  great  men  associated  with  it.  For  example,  "  Hotspur's 
Chair"  is  the  name  given  to  the  seated  recess  of  the  Ravine  Tower,  to 
which  tradition  points  as  the  favourite  resort  of  "  the  gallant  Hotspur, 
young  Harry  Percy."  Here,  it  is  said,  he  was  accustomed  to  sit  while 
his  troops  exercisetl  in  the  castle-yard  beneath  ;  and  from  hence  he 
could  view  an  approaching  enemy,  and  take  timely  measures  for  their 
due  reception.  The  fortress  stands  on  a  commanding  situation ;  and 
through  the  loopholes  on  either  side  of  the  stone  seat,  Hotspur  could 
have  a  very  extensive  prospect  over  the  valley  of  the  Alne,  and  to  the 
distant  sea-coast. 

"  The  Bloody  Gap  "  is  another  noted  site,  and  is  between  the  Ravine 
and  Record  or  Round  Tower.  Its  extent  is  plainly  to  be  distinguished 
at  the  present  day  by  the  variations  in  the  masonry.  "  The  Bloody 
Gap  "  was  the  terrible  name  given  to  a  breach  in  the  wall  made  by  the 
Scots  during  the  Border  Wars.  The  date  and  exact  event  are  un- 
known ;  but  according  to  tradition,  three  hundred  of  the  Scots  fell 
within  the  breach  vainly  endeavouring  to  make  gocKl  their  entrance. 
Many  arrows  have  been  found  in  the  adjacent  walls  so  placed  as  to  lead 
to  the  supposition  that  they  were  shot  from  the  opposite  battlements 
and  windows  of  the  keep,  when  the  assailants  were  making  "the  Bloody 
Gap."  A  broad  walk  runs  along  the  walls  and  within  the  battlements 
of  this  second  courtyard. 

A  complete  account  of  the  Castle,  as  it  now  stands,  with  Mr.  Salvin's 
restoration  of  this  great  fortress  of  the  Border,  with  strict  regard  to  the 
rules  of  military  architecture,  appeared  in  the  Builiicr,  Oct.  2,  1869, 
whence  the  following  is  condensed : 

Entering  the  court,  in  the  wall  is  the  very  curious  welL     Within  a 


2o6  Alnwick  Castle,  and  the  House  of  Percy. 

pointed  panel  are  three  deep  recesses,  of  which  the  centre  contains  the 
jnouth  of  the  well,  the  shaft  of  which  descends  in  the  thickness  of  the 
wall.  A  wooden  axle  crosses  above  it,  and  is  fitted,  in  the  lateral 
niches,  with  two  wheels,  set  round  with  pegs,  for  winding  up  the  water- 
buckets  by  hand.  Above,  within  the  panel,  in  a  small  niche,  is  a  figure 
of  St.  James  blessing  the  source.  This  curious  and  probably  singular 
well  was  the  work  of  the  first  Henry  de  Percy,  in  13 12- 15;  but  the 
figure  of  the  saint  is  thought  to  be  an  insertion  of  the  last  centuiy. 
'1  here  is  a  similar  arrangement  over  the  great  gate  of  Goderich  Castle, 
for  working  the  portcullis. 

Alnwick  Castle  is  probably  the  finest  extant  example  of  a  Norman 
castle,  having  an  open  keep  and  a  complete  enceinte]  for,  although  most 
of  the  present  buildings  are  either  of  the  fourteenth  or  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  plan  is  certainly  Norman.  It  seems  also  that  the  keep  was 
never  a  mere  shell,  like  Cardiff"  or  Arundel,  but  was  always  set  about 
with  towers  and  provided  with  a  handsome  gatehouse.  Stone  statues  of 
warriors,  placed  upon  the  parapets,  were  remarkable  for  their  absurdity 
in  the  repairs  of  the  last  century.  They  are  seen  at  Bothal,  and  in  Ed- 
\\ardian  works,  both  at  Caernarvon  and  Chepstow,  but  by  no  means  so 
freely  distributed  as  here.  They  were  obviously  intended  for  ornament 
only,  and  of  all  the  figures  that  of  the  eagle  at  Caernarvon  is  the  most 
appropriate.  No  archer  would  or  could  have  stood  on  the  crest  of  the 
parapet.  Most  of  the  later  figures  have  been  very  properly  removed 
by  Mr.  Salvin. 

Upon  the  battlements  of  both  walls  and  towers,  in  various  parts  of 
the  Castle,  is  a  convenient  arrangement  for  slinging  a  moveable  wooden 
shutter  in  the  embrasures,  so  as  to  defend  the  warders  from  a  Scottish 
shaft,  and  fi-om  the  scarcely  less  keen  edge  of  the  bleak  winds  of  the 
Border.  The  shutter  hung  horizontally,  like  a  port-lid,  and  could  be 
lifted  in  and  out  if  necessary.  The  arrangement  is  precisely  that 
applied  to  the  roller  of  a  round  towel ;  a  perfect  example  is  seen 
on  the  barbican.  Another  may  be  seen  on  the  east  wall  of 
Goderich. 

The  officers  forming  the  staff  of  Alnwick  Castle,  as  a  civil  residence,  in 
1567,  were  the  constable  or  governor;  the  porter  of  the  outer  gate;  the 
grieve,  or  executive  officer,  or  bailiff;  the  receiver  or  auditor;  the 
feodary,  who  looked  up  the  senices  and  tenures;  the  steward,  learned 
in  the  law,  who  administered  j  ustice  ;  the  clerk  of  the  courts,  who  en- 
grossed the  rolls  and  kept  the  records ;  and  the  foreign  or  outer  bailiff", 
who  collected  the  castle-guard  and  cornage  money,  and  summoned  the 
tenants  and  suitors.    The  annual  payment  to  the  whole  was  58/.  i8j. 


Alnwick  Castle,  and  the  House  of  Percy.  207 

Sir  Bernard  Burke  quotes  the  following-brief /rmj  of  the  nobility  of 
the  Percies :  "  Not  more  famous  in  arms  than  distinguished  for  its 
illiances,  the  House  of  Percy  stands  pre-eminent  for  the  number  and 
rank  of  the  families  which  are  represented  by  the  present  Duke  of 
Northumberland ;  whose  banner,  consequently,  exhibits  an  assemblage  of 
nearly  nine  hundred  armorial  ensigns  ;  among  which  are  those  of  King 
Henry  VII.,  of  several  younger  branches  of  the  Blood  Royal  of  the 
Sovereign  Houses  of  Frgmce,  Castile,  Leon,  and  Scotland,  and  of  the 
l^ucal  Houses  of  Normandy  and  Brittany,  forming  a  galaxy  of  heraldic 
lionours  altogether  unparalleled." 

The  Ducal  seats  include  four  castles — Alnwick,  Warkworth,  Kellder, 
and  Prudhoe,  in  Northumberland ;  Stanwick  and  Warrington  Parks ; 
Sion  House,  and  Northumberland  House. 

Duke  Algernon,  a  naval  officer,  and  a  good  man  of  business,  had 
travelled  much,  possessed  a  cultivated  taste,  and  was  of  a  truly  noble 
and  magnificent  disposition.  Having  restored  Alnwick,  this  great 
:  ss  of  the  Border,  with  strict  regard  to  the  rules  of  militaiy  archi- 
lire,  he  proceeded,  under  the  advice  of  Canina,  to  fit  up  the  interior 
in  the  style  of  an  Italian  palace.  The  adaptation  of  the  fittings  to  the 
iiTcgular  plan  of  the  rooms  is  so  well  conceived,  the  materials  employed 
ire  so  rich,  and  the  execution  of  the  details  is  so  skilful,  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  regard  even  so  great  an  incongruity  as  other  than  a  distinguished 
success. 

The  Duke  of  Northumberland  nominates  the  Bailiff  of  Alnwick  as 
Constable  of  the  Castle;  and  deputies  from  the  adjacent  townships 
!  him  during  the  ceremony  of  proclaiming  the  July  Fair,  and  keep 
.1  and  ward  during  the  remainder  of  the  night.  Upon  taking  up 
the  freedom  of  the  town,  the  candidates  pass  through  "  Freeman's 
\\'ell,"  a  miry  pool,  said  to  be  20  feet  across,  and  in  many  places  from 
4  to  5  feet  deep.  On  St.  Mark's  day  (24th  April)  the  candidates,  clad 
in  white,  with  white  nightcaps,  mounted,  and  with  swords  by  their 
-ides,  accompanied  by  the  bailiffs  and  chamberlains,  similarly  mounted 
iiid  armed,  and  preceded  by  music,  proceed  to  this  pool.  They  then 
dismount,  scramble  through  the  pool,  several,  perhaps,  being  tumbled 
over  in  the  bustle ;  and  after  changing  their  garments,  ride  round  the 
Ixnmdaries  of  the  town.  The  tradition  is,  that  the  observance  of  this 
1  custom  was  enjoinetl  by  King  John,  as  a  penalty  for  their  care- 
ts in  neglecting  to  keep  up  the  roads  near  the  town,  owing  to 
A-hich  be  was  bemircd  in  a  bog  in  the  neighbourhood. 


208 


CUMBERLAND  AND  WESTMORELAND. 

The  Castle  of  "  Merry  Carlisle." 

This  fortress,  on  account  of  its  short  distance  from  the  Scottish 
Border,  has  naturally  been  the  scene  of  many  a  deadly  feud — the  theatre 
of  the  alternate  defeats  of  the  Scots  and  the  English.  During  the 
period  of  Border  warfare,  on  account  of  its  situation,  the  Governor  of 
the  Castle  was  always  a  tried  and  faithful  soldier,  and  held  the  office  of 
"Warden  of  the  Marches,  directing  the  whole  of  the  operations  against 
the  marauding  Scots. 

The  Castle,  which  is  built  of  red  stone,  was  founded  by  William  Rufus, 
who  restored  the  city  of  Carlisle,  after  it  had  lain  for  two  hundred  years 
in  ruins,  in  consecjuence  of  the  incursions  of  the  Danes.  Richard  III. 
made  some  additions  to  it,  and  Henry  VIII.  built  the  citadel.  In  the 
inner  gate  of  this  castle  the  old  portcullis  remains ;  and  the  apartments 
where  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  was  lodged,  soon  after  her  landing  at 
Workington,  are  still  shown. 

During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  castle  fell  into  a  ruinous  con- 
dition :  three  sides  of  the  strongest  tower  were  in  a  state  of  decay ;  the 
walls  were  sadly  dismantled ;  the  artillery  dismounted ;  the  bows  and 
arrows,  and  the  battle-axes  and  other  weapons,  old  and  useless ;  the 
powder  reduced  to  two  half  bairels,  and  nearly  all  the  stores  valueless. 
This  state  of  affairs,  although  it  exhibited  a  great  want  of  caution  on 
the  part  of  the  English,  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  proof  of  the  success  of 
Elizabeth  in  repressing  the  disorders  of  the  district. 

Robert  Gary,  Earl  of  Monmouth,  who  went  to  Carlisle  as  the  deputy 
to  Lord  Scroop,  the  Warden  of  the  West  Marches,  gives  this  viviil  de- 
scription of  the  state  of  the  country  in  his  time.  Speaking  of  his  success 
in  restoring  order :  "  God  blessed  me  in  all  my  actions,  and  I  cannot 
remember  that  I  undertook  anything,  while  I  was  there,  but  it  took 
good  effect.  One  memorable  thing  of  God's  mercy  showed  unto  me 
was  such  as  I  have  good  cause  to  remember.  I  had  private  intelligence 
given  me  that  there  were  two  Scottish  men  that  had  killed  a  churchman 
in  Scotland,  and  were  by  one  of  the  Greenes  relieved.  This  Greene 
dwelt  within  five  miles  of  Carlisle  ;  he  had  a  pretty  house,  and  close  by 
it  a  strong  tower  for  his  own  defence  in  case  of  need .  I  thought  to 
surprise  the  Scots  on  a  sudden,  and  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  I 


The  Cixstlc  of  " Merry  Carlisle''  209 

took  horse  in  Carlisle,  and  not  above  twenty-five  in  my  company,  thinking 
to  surprise  the  house  on  a  sudden.  Before  I  could  surround  the  house,  the 
two  Scots  had  gotten  into  the  strong  tower,  and  I  might  see  a  boy  riding 
from  the  house  as  fast  as  his  horse  could  carry  him,  I  little  suspecting 
what  it  meant ;  but  Thomas  Carleton  came  to  me  presently,  and  told 
me  that  if  I  did  not  suddenly  prevent,  both  myself  and  all  my  company 
would  be  either  slain  or  taken  prisoners.    It  was  strange  to  me  to  hear  this 
language.     He  then  said  to  me,  '  Do  you  see  that  boy  that  rideth  away 
so  fast  ?     He  will  be  in  Scotland  within  this  half-hour,  and  he  is  gone 
to  let  them  know  that  you  are  here,  and  to  what  end  you  are  come,  and 
the  small  number  you  have  with  you,  and  that  if  they  will  make  haste, 
on  a  sudden  they  may  suiprise  us,  and  do  with  us  what  they  please.' 
"  Hereupon  we  took  advice  what  was  best  to  be  done.     We  sent 
notice  presently  to  all  parts  to  raise  the  country,  and  to  come  to  us  wth 
all  the  speed  they  could ;  and  withal  we  sent  to  Carlisle  to  raise  the 
townsmen,  for  without  food  wc  could  do  no  good  against  the  tower. 
There  we  staid  some  hours,  expecting  more  company,  and  within  a 
short  time  after,  the  country  came  in  on  all  sides,  so  that  we  were 
quickly  between  three  and  four  hundred  horse ;  and  after  some  little 
longer  stay,  the  foot  of  Carlisle  came  to  us,  to  the  number  of  three  or 
four  hundred  men,  whom  we  presently  set  at  work  to  get  up  to  the  top 
f  the  tower,  and  to  uncover  the  roof,  and  then  some  twenty  of  them  to 
ill  down  together,  and  so  win  the  tower.    The  Scots,  perceiving  their 
present  danger,  offered  to  parley,  and  yielded  themselves  to  my  mercy, 
rhey  had  no  sooner  opened  the  iron  gate,  and  yielded  themselves  my 
prisoners,  but  we  might  see  four  hundred  horse  within  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  coming  to  their  rescue,  and  to  surprise  me  and  my  small  company; 
but  on  a  sudden  they  staid,  and  stood  at  gaze.    Then  I  had  more  to  do 
than  ever,  for  all  our  borderers  came  crying  with  full  mouths:  'Sir, 
-ive  us  leave  to  set  upon  them,  for  these  are  they  that  have  killed  our 
t.ithers,  our  brothers,  our  uncles,  our  cousins,  and  they  are  come  think- 
ing to  surprise  you,  upon  weak  grass  nags,  such  as  they  could  not  get 
upon  a  sudden,  and  God  hath  put  them  into  your  hands,  that  we  may 
take  revenge  of  them  for  much  blood  which  they  have  spilt  of  ours.' 
I  desired  they  would  be  patient  awhile;  and  bethought  myself,  if  I 
should  give  them  their  wills,  there  would  be  few  or  none  of  them  (the 
Scots)  that  would  escape  unkilled  (there  were  so  many  deadly  feuds 
among  them),  and  therefore  I   resolved  with  myself  to  give  them  a  fair 
answer,  but  not  to  give  them  their  desire.   So  I  told  them  that  if  I  were 
not  there  myself,  they  might  do  what  pleased  themselves ;  but  being  pre- 
sent, if  I  should  give  them  leave,  the  blood  which  should  be  spilt  that  dajr, 
•  P 


210  Scale  by  Castle. 

would  lie  very  heavy  on  my  conscience,  and  therefore  I  desired  them, 
for  my  sake,  to  forbear ;  and  if  the  Scots  did  not  presently  make  away 
with  all  the  speed  they  could  upon  my  sending  to  them,  they  should 
then  have  their  wills  to  do  what  they  pleased.  These  were  ill-satistied 
with  their  answer,  but  durst  not  disobey.  I  sent  with  speed  to  the 
Scots,  and  bade  them  pack  away  with  all  the  speed  they  could,  for  if 
they  staid  the  messenger's  return,  they  should  few  of  them  retum  to 
their  own  home.  They  made  no  stay,  but  they  returned  homewards 
before  the  messenger  had  made  an  end  of  his  message.  Thus,  by  God's 
mercy,  I  escaped  a  great  danger,  and  by  my  means  there  were  a  great 
many  men's  lives  saved  that  day." 

The  annexed  verses,  supposed  to  be  sung  by  a  Scottish  female,  whose 
lover  had  lost  his  life  in  some  Border  fray,  is  a  furtlicr  illustration  of  the 
state  of  the  Borders,  before  equal  laws  and  improved  institutions  had 
guaranteed  to  the  people  the  safety  of  their  property  and  the  security  of 
their  firesides: 

"When  I  first  came  to  merry  Carlisle, 

Ne'er  was  a  town  sae  sweetly  seeming: 
The  white  rose  flaunted  o'er  the  wall, 

The  thistled  banners  far  were  streaming. 
When  I  came  next  by  merry  Carlisle, 

O  sad,  sad,  seemed  the  town,  an'  eerie ! 
The  auld,  auld  men  came  out  and  wept, — 

'  O  maiden,  come  ye  to  seek  yere  dearie  Y 

There's  a  drap  of  blood  upon  my  breast. 

An'  twa  in  my  links  o'  hair  so  yellow ; 
The  ane  I'll  ne'er  wash,  an'  the  titlier  ne'er  kame^ 

But  I  '11  sit  and  pray  aneath  the  willow. 
Wae,  wae  upon  that  cruel  heart, 

Wae,  w.ac  upon  that  liand  sae  bluidie. 
Which  feasts  in  our  richest  Scottish  bluid, 

An'  makes  sae  many  a  doleful  widow  1" 


Scalcby  Castle. 

North  of  Carlisle  are  the  ruins  of  Scalcby  Castle,  once  a  fortress  of 
great  strength,  though  in  a  flat  situation.  Its  form  was  perfect  til!  the 
time  of  the  Civil  Wars,  when  its  resistance  to  Cromwell  brought  it  to  a 
state  of  partial  demolition.  Mr.  Gilpin,  the  celebrated  writer  on  pic- 
tures(]ue  scenery,  who  was  bom  and  brought  up  in  it,  has  thus  strikingly 
described  its  condition  :  "  The  walls  of  this  Castle  are  uncommonly  mag- 
nificent :  they  are  not  only  of  great  height  and  thickness,  and  defended 
by  a  large  bastion ;  the  greatest  of  them  is  chambered  within,  and 
wrought  into  several  recesses.     A  massive  portcullis-gate  leads  to  the 


The  Spectre  Horsemen  of  Soiitherfell.  211 

niins  of  what  was  once  the  habitable  part  of  the  Castle,  in  which  a  large 
vaulted  hall  is  the  most  remarkable  apartment ;  and  under  it  are  dark 
and  capacious  dungeons.  The  area  within  the  moat,  which  consists  of 
several  acres,  was  originally  intended  to  support  the  cattle  which  should 
be  driven  thither  in  times  of  alarm.  When  the  house  was  inhabited, 
this  area  was  the  garden ;  and  all  around,  outside  the  moat,  stood  noble 
trees,  irregularly  planted  round,  the  growth  of  a  century.  Beneath  the 
trees  ran  a  walk  round  the  moat,  which  on  one  hand  commanded  the  Castle 
in  every  point  of  view,  and  on  the  other  looked  over  a  country  consist- 
ing of  extensive  meadows,  bounded  by  lofty  mountains."  The  highly 
ingenious  writer  proceeds  to  draw  a  view  of  this  venerable  pile,  since 
it  has  undergone  a  second  ruin,  the  trees  being  all  felled,  and  the  cham- 
bers unwindowed  and  nearly  unroofed. 


The  Spectre  Horsemen  of  Southerfell 

On  this  mountain,  believed  to  be  in  the  barony  of  Greystoke,  Cum- 
berland, a  remarkable  phenomenon  is  said  to  have  been  witnessed  more 

in  a  century  ago,  under  these  circumstances: — In  1743,  one  Daniel 

ricket,  then  servant  to  John  Wren,  of  Wilton  Hill,  a  shepherd,  was 
fcitting  one  evening  after  supper  at  the  door,  with  his  master,  when  they 
saw  a  man  with  a  dog  pursuing  some  horses  on  Southerfell-side,  a  place 
so  steep  that  a  horse  can  scarcely  travel  on  it  at  all ;  and  they  seemed 
to  run  at  an  amazing  pace,  and  to  disappear  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
fell.  Master  and  man  resolved  to  go  next  morning  to  the  steep  side  of 
the  mountain,  on  which  they  expected  to  find  that  the  horses  had  lost 
their  shoes,  from  the  rate  at  which  they  galloped,  and  the  man  his  life. 
They  went,  but  to  their  surprise  they  found  no  vestige  of  horses  having 

sed  that  way.  They  said  nothing  about  their  vision  for  some  time, 
fearing  the  ridicule  of  their  neighlxjurs ;  and  this  they  did  not  fail  to 
receive  when  they  at  length  ventured  to  relate  their  story. 

(3n  the  23rd  of  June  (on  the  e\'c  of  St.  John's  Day),  in  the  following 
,-ir(i744),  Stricket,  who  was  then  servant  to  a  Mr.  Lancaster,  of 
Blakehills,  the  next  house  to  Wilton  Hill,  was  walking  a  little  above 
the  house  in  the  evening,  about  half-past  seven,  when  on  looking  to- 
wards Southerfell,  he  saw  a  troop  of  men  on  horseback  riding  on  tiie 
mountain-side  in  pretty  close  ranks,  and  at  the  speed  of  a  brisk  walk. 
He  looked  earnestly  at  this  appearance  for  some  time  before  he  ventured 
to  actjuaint  any  one  with  what  he  saw,  remembering  the  ridicule  he  had 
brought  on  himself  by  relating  his  former  visioiu     At  length,  satisfied 

P  3 


2 1 2  The  Spectre  Horsemen  of  SouthcrfcU. 

of  its  reality,  he  went  into  the  house,  and  told  his  master  he  had  some- 
thing curious  to  show  him.  The  master  said  he  supposed  Stricket 
wanted  him  to  look  at  a  bonfire  (it  being  the  custom  for  the  shepherds, 
on  the  eve  of  St.  John,  to  vie  with  each  other  for  the  largest  bonfire)  ; 
however,  they  went  out  together,  and  before  Stricket  spoke  of  or 
pointed  to  the  phenomenon,  Mr.  Lancaster  himself  observed  it,  and 
when  they  found  they  both  saw  alike,  they  summoned  the  rest  of  the 
family,  who  all  came,  and  all  saw  the  visionary  horsemen.  There  were 
many  troops,  and  they  seemed  to  come  from  the  lower  part  of  the 
fell,  becoming  first  visible  at  a  place  called  Knott;  they  then  moved  in 
regular  order  in  a  cui-vilinear  path  along  the  side  of  the  fell  until  they 
came  opposite  to  Blakehills,  when  they  went  over  the  mountain  and 
disappeared.  The  last,  or  last  but  one  in  every  troop,  galloped  to  the 
front,  and  then  took  the  swift  walking  pace  of  the  rest.  The  spectators 
saw  all  alike  these  changes  in  relative  position,  and  at  the  same  time, 
as  they  found  on  questioning  each  other  when  any  change  took  place. 
The  phenomenon  was  also  seen  by  every  person  at  every  cottage  within 
a  mile ;  and  from  the  time  that  Stricket  first  observed  it,  the  appearance 
lasted  two  hours  and  a  half — namely,  from  half-past  seven  until  night 
prevented  any  further  view.  Blakehills  lay  only  half  a  mile  from  the 
place  of  this  extraordinary  appearance.  Such  are  the  circumstances  as 
related  in  Clarke's  Sur^'ey  of  the  Lakes,  1789 ;  and  he  professes  to  give 
his  account  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Lancaster,  by  whom  it  was  related 
to  him,  and  on  whose  testimony  he  fully  relied ;  he  subjoins  a  decla- 
ration of  its  truth,  signed  by  the  eye-witnesses,  William  Lancaster  and 
Daniel  Stricket.  Mr.  Clarke  remarks  that  the  country  abounds  in 
fiiblcs  of  apparitions,  but  that  they  are  never  said  to  have  been  seen  by 
more  than  one  or  two  persons  at  a  time,  and  then  only  for  a  moment ; 
and  remembering  that  Speed  mentions  some  similar  appearance  to  have 
preceded  a  civil  war,  he  hazards  the  supposition,  that  the  vision  might 
prefigure  the  tumults  of  the  rebellion  of  the  following  year. 

Mr.  Sidney  Gibson,  F.S.A.,  who  has  communicated  the  above  to 
Notes  and  Queries,  remarks,  "  One  is  reminded  of  the  apparition  said  to 
have  been  witnessed  above  Vallombrosa,  early  in  the  fourth  century. 
Rogers,  after  mentioning  in  the  canto  on  '  Florence  and  Pisa,'  in  his 
Italy,  that  Petrarch,  when  an  infant  of  seven  months  old,  narrowly 
escaped  drowning  in  a  flood  of  the  Amo,  on  the  way  from  Florence  to 
Ancisa,  whither  his  mother  was  retiring  with  him,  says,  '  A  most  ex- 
traordinary deluge,  accompanied  by  signs  and  prodigies,  happened  a 
few  years  afterwards.  On  that  night,  says  Giovanni  Villani,  a  hermit 
being  at  prayer  in  his  hermitage  above  Vallombrosa,  heard  a  furious 


Naworth  Castle,  Lanercost,  &c.  213 

trampling  as  of  many  horses ;  and  crossing  himself,  and  hurrying  to  the 
wicket,  saw  a  multitude  of  infernal  horsemen,  all  black  and  terrible, 
riding  by  at  full  speed.  "When,  in  the  name  of  God,  he  demanded  their 
pui-pose,  one  replied,  '  We  arc  going,  if  it  be  His  pleasure,  to  drown  the 
city  of  Florence  for  its  wickedness.'  This  account,  he  adds,  was  given 
me  by  the  Abbot  of  Vallombrosa,  who  had  questioned  the  holy  man 
himself." 


Naworth  Castle,  Lanercost,  and  the  Lords  of  Gillesland. 

Naworth  Castle  is  situated  amidst  very  picturesque  scenery,  about 
twelve  miles  north-east  of  Carlisle,  in  what  was  almost  a  roadless 
country,  when  ^^^^rdcns  of  the  Marches  lived  at  Naworth,  but  is  now 
within  sight  from  the  railway  between  Newcastle  and  Carlisle.  Stand- 
ing on  an  old  bridge  between  Naworth  and  Lanercost,  the  spectator 
surveys  a  country  that  has  many  historic  memories.  On  the  north-east 
are  the  footsteps  of  the  Romans ;  for  on  the  high  moorland  wastes 
towards  Bewcastle  are  remains  of  the  paved  Roman  road,  twelve  feet 
broad,  laid  with  stone;  the  country  on  the  south,  within  a  short 
distance  from  Naworth,  was  traversed  by  the  Roman  wall ;  and  lower 
down  the  river  is  the  site  of  a  Ro.nan  station,  within  the  fortifications 
of  which  the  Norman  lords  of  Gillesland  afterwards  held  their  place  of 
strength.  Yonder,  on  the  green  holms  of  St.  Mary,  the  grey  pile  and 
cloister  of  Lanercost  is  a  venerable  monument  of  the  power  that  civi- 
lized a  turbulent  and  warlike  age ;  and  beneath  the  antique  gateway 
the  early  benefactors  of  Lanercost,  and  many  lords  of  the  adjacent  hills, 
passed  to  a  holy  peace,  which  the  world  could  not  bestow.  Under  that 
gateway,  and  on  the  bridge  that  now  spans  the  broad  stream  of  Irthing, 
Edward  I.  was  frequently  seen  when  his  Scottish  campaigns  brought 
him  to  reside  at  Lanercost ;  and  the  martial  followers  arrayed  in  his  train 
mingled  on  this  road  with  the  white-robed  monks,  for  their  seclusion  was 
invaded  during  months  together  by  the  rude  sounds  of  military  array — 

' '  When  on  steep  and  on  cmg 
Streamed  banner  and  flag, 
And  the  jx'nnons  and  plumage  of  war." 

Cumberland  is  not  peculiar  in  regarding  Naworth  Castle  as  one  of  the 
most  interesting  monuments  of  the  feudal  age  that  can  be  found  in 
England ;  and  although  considerable  portions  of  the  fortress  have  been 
rebuilt,  it  presents  a  characteristic  specimen  of  the  stronghold  of  a  great 
Border  Warden  in  days 

"  Wbea  £D|;lish  lords  and  Scottish  chiefs  were  foe*.'* 


214  Nawof'th  Castle,  Lancrcost,  and  the 

This  fortress  of  a  martial  race  passed  to  the  great  historical  house  of 
Howard  by  the  marriage  of  the  famous  "Belted  Will"  of  Border 
story,  to  Lady  Elizabeth  Uacre,  the  heiress  of  Naworth  and  Gillesland, 
in  the  reign  t)f  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  became  the  inheritance  of  "  the 
Carlisle  branch"  of  that  illustrious  house. 

At  Naworth  Castle  we  see  in  the  outer  walls,  and  the  massive 
towers  that  rise  at  the  angles  of  its  southern  front,  the  stronghold  of 
the  Dacres  of  Gillesland.  It  was  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Third 
that  the  inheritor  of  the  ancient  barony  of  Gillesland,  forsaking  the  old 
Castle  of  its  former  lords,  determined  on  building  a  stronger  and  more 
stately  fortress,  and  came  to  Naworth  to  raise  its  "wood-environed 
tower." 

In  the  days  of  the  Norman  lords  of  Gillesland  no  walls  of  stone  were 
seen  amidst  the  forest  slopes  or  the  rocky  dells  of  Naworth.  Soon  after 
the  Norman  Conquest,  Naworth  and  the  rest  of  the  hills  and  vales  of 
Gillesland,  were  the  inheritance  of  a  Thane,  whose  stronghold  was  in 
the  Roman  station  already  mentioned,  and  known  in  modern  times  as 
Castle  Steads.  It  looked  over  the  vale  of  Irthing,  at  that  time  a  wild, 
uncultivated,  and  very  thinly-peopled  tract  of  country.  In  the  reigns 
of  the  Anglo-NoiTnan  Kings,  and  for  a  long  period  after,  a  great  part  of 
Cumberland  was  still  covered  by  the  primaeval  forest.  From  the  lonely 
towers  on  Irthing  the  howl  of  the  wolf  was  no  doubt  fi-equently  heard  ; 
the  eagle  had  not  forsaken  the  crags  that  were  still  crested  by  the 
Roman  watch-towers ;  through  the  unfrequented  thickets  of  the  neigh- 
bouring country  the  wild  boar  and  the  red  deer  roamed  undisturbed  by 
man ;  and  the  wild  cattle  might  be  seen  in  the  pathless  woods,  and  on 
the  adjacent  wastes. 

Cumberland,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland,  when  William  the  Conqueror  made  it  subject  to  the  Norman 
arms.  It  was  then  bestowed  on  Ranulph  de  Meschines,  a  valiant  fol- 
lower of  the  King,  who  dispossessed  the  native  owner  of  Gillesland,  and 
conferred  his  lands  on  Hubert,  a  companion  in  arms,  who  took  the 
name  of  De  Vaux — in  history,  de  Vallibus — from  the  possessions  of  his 
family  in  NoiTnandy.  This  was  a  time  of  turbulence  and  warfare,  and 
the  Norman  grantee  could  with  difficulty  hold  what  the  sword  had 
won.  The  country  was  invaded  and  wasted  by  Malcolm,  King  of 
Scotland,  in  1070;  and  a  p)eriod  of  eighty  yeai-s  from  that  time  elapsed 
before  Cumberland  was  finally  wrested  from  the  Scottish  power.  The 
English,  meantime,  endeavoured  to  make  good  their  conquests  by  for- 
tifying the  possessions  they  had  gained. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Henry  II.,  on  regaining  Cumberland,  was  to 


Lords  of  Gillesland.  215 

confirm  to  Hubert  de  Vaux  "all  the  lands  which  Gilbert,  son  ot 
Bucth,  had  held  on  the  day  of  his  death:"  this  comprised  the  lordship 
of  Gillesland. 

In  the  II  Henry  II.,  Hubert  de  Vallibus  was  suceeeded  by  Robert, 
his  son  ;  and  this  new  "  lord  of  the  hills"  was  a  person  of  no  small  power 
and  eminence  in  that  reign.  He  bore  the  sword  of  justice  as  a  judge- 
itinerant,  and  also  sened  the  state  in  martial  capacities.  As  govemor 
of  Carlisle,  he  defended  the  Castle  against  the  long  siege  of  William  the 
Lion  of  Scotland,  in  11 74.  He  rendered  a  more  lasting  service  to 
posterity  by  founding  the  Priory  Church  of  Lanercost. 

Of  the  circumstance  that  led  him  to  this  good  act  a  story  has  been 
told  by  county  historians,  which  stains  the  character  of  De  Vallibus, 
but  seems  to  have  no  sufficient  foundation.  Pro'bably,  it  was  he  who, 
before  that  event,  built  at  Irthington  the  Castle  which  became  the  strong- 
hold of  the  lords  of  Gillesland,  the  old  tower  at  Castle  Steads  having,  as 
it  would  seem,  become  unfit  for  the  residence  of  a  powerful  baron,  in  a 
country  so  frequently  invaded  by  the  Scots. 

But  a  dark  tale  of  murder  has  been  connected  with  the  desertion  ot 
Castle  Steads,  and  the  foundation  of  Lanercost.  It  is  said  that  Robert 
de  Vallibus  treacherously  invited  the  rival  lord  of  Gillesland  to  Castle 
Steads,  and  there  slew  him  ;  and  that  by  way  of  expiation  he  founded  the 
Priory  of  Lanercost,  and  endowed  it  in  part  with  the  very  patrimony 
which  had  been  the  occasion  of  the  murder.  It  is  further  alleged  that, 
after  committing  outrage  on  the  laws,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  ot 
them,  and  forsook  the  sword.  Now,  it  is  unquestionable  that  the 
tower  of  Castle  Steads  was  conferred  on  the  monks  of  Lanercost,  and 
the  tradition  is  that  the  walls  were  rased  to  the  ground,  and  the  site 
(which  was  not  to  be  again  built  upon)  sown  with  salt,  according  to 
the  old  ecclesiastical  usage  in  cases  of  blood-shedding.  But  although 
the  rival  claimant's  blood  may  have  been  shed  at  Castle  Steads,  the  Nor- 
man judge  seems  guiltless  of  it.  The  Priory  of  Lanercost  was  founded 
not  later  than  i  i6y ;  but  for  years  after  as  well  as  before  that  event  he 
occurs  in  offices  of  trust  and  dignity,  and  in  11 74  had  not  for&iken 
anns,  for  the  city  of  Carlisle  in  that  year  witnessed  his  military  prowess, 
as  already  mentioned. 

In  II 76,  when  justices  itinerant  were  for  the  first  time  appointed  to 
go  through  England,  he  was  appointed  with  the  office  of  judge  for  the 
northern  counties,  with  the  great  Ranulph  de  Glanville,  Henry's  Chief 
Justiciary,  but  in  his  case  arms  never  yielded  to  the  gown.  His  wealth 
and  possessions  were  great,  and  he  made  a  noble  use  of  them  in  founding 
Lanercost  Priory,  and  rearing  the  cross  in  his  native  vale  of  Gillesland, 


2i6  Naivorth  Castle ^  Lanercost,  and  the 

amidst  a  turbulent  population  who  lived  in  the  dark  shadows  of 
papan  superstition.  The  monastery  has  shared  the  fate  of  other 
monasteries  in  England ;  but  Christian  rites  have  been  maintained  in 
the  vale  of  Gillesland  from  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  to  the  present  time. 
The  founder's  brief  charters  of  donation,  given  under  his  seal  to  a  little 
colony  of  Augustine  monks,  transplaced  fi'om  Hexham  to  Lanercost, 
have  maintained  the  church  he  founded  for  a  period  of  nearly  seven 
hundred  years.  As  the  church  of  the  parish  of  Abbey  Lanercost,  it 
happily  still  exists;  but  its  once  glorious  choir  is  roofless  and  shattered, 
the  high  tombs  of  its  benefactors  are  swept  by  the  winter's  storms,  and 
the  edifice  presents  a  dull  and  mournful  contrast  in  the  closed  doors  of 
its  spacious  nave — the  only  portion  of  the  church  preserved— and  the 
ruined  architecture  of  its  choir,  to  the  animated  and  solemn  scene 
that  was  witnessed  at  Lanercost  when  it  saw  the  daily  worship  of  a 
large  monastic  fraternity — when  sovereign  and  nobles  bowed  before  its 
altars. 

About  the  period  of  King  John's  accession,  Robert  de  Vallibus,  after 
a  life  passed  in  the  turbulent  scenes  of  three  warlike  reigns,  was  laid 
for  his  final  rest  before  the  altar  he  had  "  gifted  for  his  soul's  repose." 
His  brother  Ranulph  succeeded  to  the  barony  of  Gillesland,  and  died  in 
the  first  of  John's  reign,  leaving  Robert  his  son  and  heir,  who  joined 
a  crusade  in  the  6th  of  Henry  III.:  he  lived  to  return  fi-om  the 
spirit-stirring  scenes  of  the  Holy  Land  to  the  sequestered  valleys  of  his 
native  countiy,  and  to  marry  Margaret,  daughter  of  William  de  Grey- 
stoke  by  Mary  de  Merlay,  heiress  of  Morpeth.  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  son,  Hubert,  who  died  leaving  only  a  daughter,  Maud,  by  whose 
marriage  to  Thomas  de  Multon,  lord  of  Burgh  on  Solway,  the  barony 
of  Gillesland  became  vested  in  that  family.  Thomas  de  Multon,  who 
thus  became  lord  of  Gillesland,  was  eldest  son  of  Thomas  de  Multon, 
justiciary  of  Henry  III.,  and  through  his  mother,  the  daughter  and  co- 
heiress of  Hugh  de  Morville,  inherited  the  great  possessions  of  the  De 
Mor\'ille  family,  whose  chief  seat  was  Kirk  Oswald  Castle.  Thomas 
de  Multon,  husband  of  the  heiress  of  De  Vaux,  died  in  1270,  and  his 
great  grandson,  also  a  Thomas  de  Multon,  succeeded;  in  whose  time 
occurred  those  ravages  by  the  Scots,  in  which  after  burning  Hexham 
Abbey  in  1296,  they  returned  through  Gillesland,  and  destroyed  a  great 
portion  of  Lanercost  Priory.  This  Thomas  de  Multon  died  in  13 13, 
and  Margaret,  his  only  child,  inherited  his  gieat  possessions.  It  was 
by  an  alliance  with  this  heiress  that  the  noble  family  of  Dacre  acquired 
the  barony  of  Gillesland,  and  the  alliance  was  effected  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  that  chivab-ous  race.    Margaret  dc  Multon  was  only  thirteen 


Lords  of  Gillesland.  2 1 7 

years  of  age,  when  she  became  his  heiress.  She  had  been  betrothed  by 
him  to  Ralph  de  Dacre,  by  a  contract  made  between  her  father  and 
William  de  Dacre,  the  father  of  Ralph.  The  wardship  of  the  young 
lady  was  prudently  claimed  by  Edward  II.,  and  she  was  entrustetl  to 
the  care  of  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick.  We  are  not  told  whether 
the  Flower  of  Gillesland  preferred  her  suitor  and  her  native  mountains 
to  the  alliance  destined  for  her  by  the  King ;  but  certain  it  is,  when  she 
was  in  her  seventeenth  year,  the  young  heiress  was  carried  off  in  the 
night-time  from  Warwick  Castle  by  her  adventurous  suitor,  Ralph  de 
Dacre,  who  was  rewarded  for  his  chivalrous  exploit  by  marrying  her, 
and  acquiring  her  great  possessions.     This  was  in  the  year  1317. 

Until  some  time  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  the  old  Castle  of 
Irthington  was  maintained  as  chief  mansion  of  the  barony  of  Gilles- 
land. In  the  summer  of  1335,  the  youthful  Edward  III.  was  in 
these  parts  with  a  great  army  collected  against  the  Scots ;  and  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  the  guest  of  Ralph  de  Dacre,  at  Irth- 
ington, when  the  King  granted  him  a  license  to  fortify  and  castellate 
his  mansion  of  Naward,  as  it  is  described  in  the  patent.  Irthington 
Castle  was  then  abandoned,  and  Naworth  erected ;  and  the  mound  on 
which,  in  Norman  fashion  the  keep  was  built,  is  all  that  has  remained 
of  Irthington  Castle  in  the  memory  of  man.  And  so  the  new  strong- 
hold at  Naworth  was  built  to  receive  a  garrison : 

" Stem  on  the  angry  confines  Naworth  rose; 
In  dark  woods  islanded,  its  towers  looked  forth, 
And  frown'd  defiance  on  the  angry  North." 

The  interior  arrangements  of  Naworth  all  proclaimed  the  feudal  age 
and  their  adaptation  to  the  martial  manners  and  rude  chivalry  of  the 
Border  five  hundred  years  ago,  when  Lords  of  Marches  there  held 
sway,  and  surrounded  by  armed  retainers,  were  wont  to  issue  forth 
for  the  chastisement  of  some  lawless  foray,  or  the  defence  of  the 
neighbouring  country.  From  the  time  of  the  Plantagenets  down  to  the 
dynasty  of  the  Stuarts  the  inhabitants  were  exposed  to  an  almost  con- 
stant defensive  warfare  against  the  predatory  Scots,  and  against  the 
robbers  who  inhabited  the  Border  lands,  and  were  continually  organized 
into  a  sort  of  militia  for  defence,  originally  against  the  Scots,  and  subse- 
quently against  the  moss-troopers.  When  Naworth  Castle  was  ouilt,and 
for  centuries  afterwards,  the  country  round  was  cultivated  with  difficulty, 
and  lawlessness  of  manners  prevailed.  Even  on  the  English  side,  there 
were  clans  and  familiL's  whose  occupation  it  was  to  plunder  their 
neighbours;  and  the  native  peasantry  of  Tynedale,  and  of  the  more 
remote  wild  dales  of  the  Border,  were  a  race  almost  as  barbarous  in 


2 1 8  Natvorth  Castle,  Lancrcost,  and  tJte 

manners.  Two  centuries  after  Naworth  Castle  was  rebuilt,  ordinances 
were  enacted  for  public  safety,  which  required  that  many  hundreds  of 
persons  should  be  continually  employed  in  the  night-watches,  and  form 
a  sort  of  cordon  of  defensive  militia.  The  rest  of  the  neighbours  were 
obliged  to  sally  forth  at  any  hour  upon  occasion,  and  follow  the  fray, 
on  pain  of  death.  Such  was  the  state  of  things  from  before  the  reign 
of  Edward  I.  down  to  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century;  and  at 
no  pericxl  were  the  inhabitants  of  the  Marches  in  a  worse  state  of  in- 
security and  lawlessness  than  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century — 
the  time  when  Naworth  became  the  property  of  Lord  William 
Howard — ^that  politic  and  martial  chieftain,  both  scholar  and  soldier, 
whose  name  has  given  an  undying  celebrity  to  Naworth  Castle,  and 
who  has  justly  received  the  honourable  distinction  of  "the  Civilizer  of 
the  English  Borders." 

The  great  lords  resided  chiefly  in  their  castles,  leaving  them  only 
when  required  (which,  in  former  times,  was  very  frequent),  to  attend 
the  King  in  his  wars,  or  his  Parliaments.  The  feudal  tenures  and 
services  were  maintained  around  the  ancient  lords  of  Naworth  :  upon 
their  walls — 

"  Was  frequent  heard  the  changing  guard, 
And  watchword  from  the  sleepless  ward." 

They  handled  the  sword  constantly — the  pen,  we  may  believe,  but 
seldom  if  ever  in  their  lives ;  their  leisure  was  much  occupied  in  the 
sports  of  wood  and  field ;  and  they  were  liberal  in  all  that  j)ertained 
to  hawks  and  hounds.  Their  tastes  in  this  respect  seem  to  have  been 
shared  by  not  only  the  dignified  secular  clergy  of  their  day,  but  also, 
by  the  abbots  and  priors  of  some  of  the  monasteries. 

Lord  William  Howard  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Howard,  fourth 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  "the  most  powerful  and  most  popular  man  in 
England ;"  but,  allured  by  ambition,  and  animated  by  a  chivalrous  feel- 
ing towards  the  accomplished  and  ill-fated  Queen  6f  Scots,  the  Duke,  in 
1568,  when  a  year  had  not  elapsed  from  his  becoming  for  the  third 
time  a  widower,  formed  or  assented  to  a  project  for  a  marriage  with 
that  Princess,  then  the  captive  of  the  implacable  Elizabeth.  The  story 
of  this  perilous  intrigue  fonns  a  romantic  and  memorable  feature  in 
the  sad  history  of  the  time,  and  it  speedily  conducted  him  to  the  fatal 
end  of  his  father.  He  was  sacrificed  to  the  animosity  of  the  jealous 
and  artful  Elizabeth,  on  the  2nd  of  June,  1572,  being  the  first  of  her 
victims  who  suffered  death  on  Tower  Hill.  By  this  tragical  event 
Lord  William  Howard  was  made  an  orphan,  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  age. 

The  iniquitous  sacrifice  of  the  Duke  deprived  Lord  William  of  title, 


Lords  of  Gillesland.  219 

dignity,  and  estate.  The  Duke,  after  his  alliance  to  the  Dacre  family, 
had,  however,  very  wisely  and  prudently  destined  his  three  sons  for  his 
three  youthful  wards,  the  heiresses  of  the  great  baronies  and  esLites  of 
Tiiomas  Lord  Dacre ;  and  his  design  was  fulfilled  as  to  the  two  heiresses 
who  survived,  but  not  in  his  own  lifetime.  The  youthful  Lady  Eliza- 
beth Dacre  was  in  ward  to  the  Queen  after  the  execution  of  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk;  and  it  was  well  for  Lord  William  Howard  that  her  hand 
was  not  disposed  of  to  some  minion  of  the  Court.  Lord  William  and 
his  youthful  bride  were  bom  in  the  same  year ;  she  had  been  left  an 
orphan  in  her  seventh  year,  Lord  ^^^illiam  in  his  ninth.  Brought  up 
together,  and  destined  for  each  other  from  childhood,  it  is  a  remarkable 
circumstance  that,  after  a  union  of  more  than  sixty  years,  he  died  in 
little  more  than  twelve  months  from  her  death.  "  Their  long  union  ap- 
pears," says  Mr.  Henry  Howard  of  Corby,  in  his  Memorials  of  the 
Howard  Family,  "  to  have  been  one  of  the  truest  affection,  and  his 
regard  for  her  seems  not  ever  to  have  suffered  variation  or  abatement," 

They  were  married  on  the  28th  of  October,  1577,  at  Audley  End, 
near  SafTiron  Walden,  Essex  (the  maternal  estate  of  Thomas  Howard, 
elder  brother  of  Lord  William),  when  he  was  about  fourteen  years  of 
age,  the  Lady  Elizabeth  being  some  months  younger ;  and  they  resided 
for  some  time  on  an  estate  called  Mount  Pleasant,  in  Enfield  Chase. 
But  they  were  destined  ere  long  to  experience  the  rancour  of  persecu- 
tion for  religion's  sake.  The  Earl  of  Arundel  (Lord  William's  eldest 
brother),  about  1583,  decided  on  joining  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
as  did  Lord  William,  which  rendered  it  necessary  that  they  should  leave 
England.  In  1582,  the  Earl  of  Arundel  attempted  to  escape  to  the 
continent,  and  prepared  a  letter  for  the  Queen,  in  which  he  explained 
his  reasons  for  that  resolution,  and  declared  his  undiminished  allegiance 
to  her  as  his  sovereign ;  but  being  jealously  watched  in  all  his  move- 
ments, he  was  intercepted  when  about  to  embark  from  the  Sussex  coast, 
and  was  brought  a  close  prisoner  to  the  Tower  of  London.  Lord 
\V"illiam,  who  had  now  three  children  to  engage  his  solicitude,  was  made 
to  share  his  brother's  captivity.    This  was  about  Easier,  1585. 

The  Lady  Elizabeth,  on  attaining  full  age,  had  received  restitution  of 
her  paternal  lands  of  Naworth  and  Gillesland,  which  she  enjoyed  dowm 
to  the  time  of  the  imprisonment  of  Lord  William  and  his  brother ;  but 
they  were  no  sooner  disabled  from  defending  their  lands  than,  at  the 
suit  of  Francis  Dacre,  the  estates  were  sequestered  from  the  heiresses, 
and  they  were  involved  in  a  costly  litigation.  "  Mr.  Francis  Dacre,  not 
omitting  his  advantage  of  time,  prosecuted  his  cause  with  great  vio- 
lence, when  both  his  adversaries  were  close  prisoners,  in  danger  of 


220  Naworth  Castle,  Lanercost,  and  the 

their  lives,  and  in  so  deep  disgrace  of  the  time,  that  scarce  any 
friend  or  servant  durst  adventure  to  show  themselves  in  their  cause ; 
nay,  the  counsellors  refused  to  plead  their  title  when  they  had  been 
formally  retained." 

The  estates  of  the  heiress  of  Naworth  and  Gillesland  were  still  with- 
held ;  and  finally  Lord  William  Howard,  and  the  widow  of  his  brother 
(who  died  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower),  were  comjK'lled,  in  the  year  1601, 
to  purchase  their  own  lands  of  the  Queen  for  the  sum  of  10,000/.  In 
the  Memorials  of  the  Hoivard  Family  it  is  remarked  that  it  does  not 
appear  how  the  widow  and  Lord  William  managed  to  subsist,  and  meet 
the  high  charges  and  exactions  to  which  they  were  subjected ;  ac- 
counts from  1619  to  1628  inclusive,  show  that  he  was  still  in  debt,  and 
paid  ten  per  cent,  interest  for  borrowed  money.  The  accession  of  King 
James  opened  fairer  prospects  to  the  house  of  Howard,  which  had  suf- 
fered so  much,  and  lain  so  long  under  spoliation  and  forfeiture  for 
the  attachment  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to  the  ill-fated  mother  of  that 
monarch.  On  the  accession  of  James,  Lord  William  was  restored  in 
blood  ;  and  in  company  with  his  uncle,  Henry  Howard,  afterwards 
Earl  of  Northampton,  went  into  Cumberland  in  1603,  and  met  James 
on  his  entry  into  the  kingdom.  Probably  Lord  VA'illiam  was  first  in- 
vested by  the  new  monarch  with  the  office  of  King's  Lieutenant  and 
\^'^arden  of  the  Marches  in  1605. 

It  seems  that  while  he  was  deprived  of  his  wife's  patrimony,  most  of 
the  timber  in  the  parks  was  cut  down  ;  and  by  an  inquisition  taken  in 
1 580,  it  was  reported  that  "  the  faire  Castle  is  in  very  great  decay  in  all 
parts."  Lord  William  was  no  sooner  reinstated  in  his  property  than 
he  began  the  repair  of  the  old  baronial  stronghold,  which  during  the  long 
years  of  persecution  had  been  neglected  and  deserted.  This  was  some 
time  before  1607,  at  which  time,  Camden,  the  great  antiquary,  visited 
Naworth,  where  he  found  its  noble  owner  living  the  life  of  a  scholar,  as 
well  as  a  soldier.  Camden  speaks  of  him  as  "  an  attentive  and  learned 
searcher  into  venerable  antiquity;"  and  in  another  passage  s.iys,  "he 
copied  for  me  with  his  own  hand  the  inscriptions  found  at  Castle 
Steads;"  alluding  to  the  inscriptions  on  Roman  altars  and  tablets  col- 
lected from  the  neighbourhood  by  Lord  William,  in  the  gardens  of 
Naworth  Castle.  While  the  repairs  were  in  progress  he  resided,  with  his 
family,  chiefly  at  his  favourite  hunting-seat  of  Thornthwaite,  in  West- 
moreland. Of  his  income  about  this  time  we  find  some  interesting 
particulars  in  an  account-book,  in  his  own  handwriting,  preserved  at 
Naworth  Castle.  His  yearly  income  averaged  io,ooc/.  money  of  the 
present  day.    Lord  William  himself  declared,  twenty  years  later,  that 


Lords  of  Gillesland.  221 

his  "  parks,  liberties,  and  forests,  in  the  compass  of  his  owm  territories, 
were  as  great  a  quantity  in  one  place  as  any  nobleman  in  England  pos- 
sessed." But  considerable  as  was  his  income  from  his  broad  lands  in 
so  many  parts  of  the  country,  his  extensive  alterations  and  repairs  at 
Naworth,  which  were  in  progress  during  a  period  of  twenty  years, 
must  have  absorbed  a  great  part  of  it.  They  greatly  changed  the  as- 
pect of  the  Castle  in  the  inner  court,  and  in  its  interior  arrangements. 
He  heightened  the  great  hall,  and  enlarged  its  windows.  He  adopted 
for  his  own  habitation  the  very  remarkable  chambers  in  the  tower  of 
the  south-west  angle  of  the  fortress,  which  is  still  called  "  Lord  Wil- 
liam's Tower." 

Shortly  before  the  time  when  he  began  these  repairs,  the  dismantling 
and  destruction  of  the  Castle  of  Kirk  Oswald  gave  Lord  William  the 
opportunity  of  acquiring  for  his  Castle  the  oak  ceilings  and  wainscot- 
work  of  the  ancient  hall  and  chapel  of  Kirk  Oswald,  and  which  he 
applied  to  the  same  uses  at  Naworth.  These  roofs  were  divided  into 
panels,  each  painted  with  an  historical  portrait.  In  the  Castle  chapel  at 
Naworth,  as  well  as  in  the  hall,  there  was  a  curious  oak  ceiling ;  and 
the  altar  end  was  fitted  up  with  wainscot  in  panels  filled  with  portraits 
of  patriarchs  and  ecclesiastics.  All  this  ancient  work  perished  in  a  fire 
in  1844;  but  in  the  chamber  which  Lord  William  used  as  his  library, 
there  is  still  the  fine  oak  roof,  in  panels,  elaborately  carved,  with  bold 
heraldic  bosses,  enriched  formerly  by  gold  and  colours,  said  to  have 
been  brought  from  Kirk  Oswald ;  as  were  four  heraldic  figures,  the  size 
of  life,  to  bear  banners.  Lord  William  enriched  his  oratory  with 
sculptured  figures  in  alabaster,  brought  from  Kirk  Oswald,  and  paint- 
ings on  panel,  thought  to  have  been  taken  from  Lanercost  Priory 
Church.  The  original  wainscot  of  Lord  William's  bedroom  below 
has  been  preserved.  The  bedstead  and  fijmiture  are  new,  having  been 
made  of  those  preserved  in  this  chamber  from  Lord  William's  time. 
To  these  chambers,  when  he  inhabited  them,  the  only  approach  was 
through  the  warder's  gallciy,  and  this  seems  to  have  been  reached  only 
by  the  ancient  winding  stairs  in  the  principal  tower. 

In  the  Castle,  thus  altered  and  furnished  for  habitation,  Lord  William 
was  residing  in  1620.  A  few  years  later,  when  all  his  family,  sons  and 
daughters,  surrounded  their  noble  parents  at  Naworth,  they  are  said  to 
have  numbered  fifty-two  in  family.  Lord  William  necessarily  main- 
tained a  large  number  of  followers  and  domestics,  and  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  move  about  with  many  retainers. 

In  1 61 7,  he  met  King  James  I.  at  Carlisle  with  a  large  body  of  hia 
armed  servants ;  and  when  he  came  from  Naworth  to  visit  Lord  Scrope, 


222  Naworth  Castle,  Lanercost,  and  the 

Governor  of  Carlisle,  he  marched  into  the  castle  at  the  head  of  a  body 
of  armed  followers : 

"When,  from  beneath  the  greenwood  tree, 
Rode  forth  Lord  Howard's  chivahy  ; 
And  meii-at-arnis  with  glaive  and  spear, 
Brouglit  up  the  chieftain's  gUtt'ring  rear." 

In  1624,  mention  occurs  of  a  house  in  St.  Martin's-lane,  Charing 
Cross,  to  which  Lord  William  frequently  repaired.  The  cost  of  each 
of  his  journeys  to  London,  with  from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  attendants 
and  twelve  horses,  going  and  rctiu-ning,  varied  from  15/.  to  21/.,  but  was 
sometimes  more.  Of  his  pecuniary  circumstances  his  accounts  afford 
somd  curious  traces.  In  1619  he  was  still  so  straitened,  from  the  plun- 
der he  had  suffered  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  from  the  cost  of  the  Castle 
repairs,  that  he  allowed  himself  for  pocket-money  only  20J.  a  month, 
which  scanty  sum  he  had  increased  in  1627  to  36/.  a  year.  From  that 
period,  however,  he  bought  more  costly  furniture  and  books,  planted 
his  estates,  and  was  paying  marriage-portions  for  his  daughters,  but  still 
by  instalments  only. 

In  the  steward's  accounts,  there  are  several  payments  of  5/.  to  the 
barber  for  cutting  hair  and  trimming  my  lord's  beard.  A  pair  of  silk 
hose  cost  35J. :  this  was  in  1619.  A  pair  of  gloves  for  my  lord,  5J. ;  a 
pair  of  boots,  loj. ;  and  a  pair  of  spurs,  2s. ;  a  silk  belt  for  the  sword, 
2J. ;  every  year,  at  least,  two  pairs  of  spectacles — one  pair  being  set 
down  at  eighteenpence. 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  "  Lord  William's  Tower  " — the 
walls  of  which  are  enormously  thick — was  in  his  time  only  accessible 
through  the  long  gallery  paced  by  his  armed  warriors ;  and  his  chambers 
were  guarded  by  two  doors  of  great  strength  at  and  near  the  entrance 
from  the  gallery.  The  tower  chamber  was  his  bedroom  ;  above  it  was 
his  library,  and  beside  the  place  of  study  was  his  private  oratory.  A 
secret  chamber  had  been  contrived  between  the  level  of  the  oratory  and 
the  floor  below.  The  descent  to  it  was  behind  the  altar,  and  in  the 
dark  days  of  persecution,  it  probably  more  than  once  formed  a  hiding- 
place  for  priests.  All  the  apartments,  the  very  furniture  he  used,  the 
books  he  read,  the  trusty  blade  he  wielded  for  his  sovereign,  and  the 
altar  at  which  he  knelt  before  the  King  of  kings,  were  preserved  so 
completely  in  their  original  sttte  down  to  the  fire,  that,  as  Sir  Walter 
Scott  remarked,  tliey  carried  back  the  visitor  to  the  hour  when  the 
Warden  in  person  might  be  heard  ascending  his  turret-staii*,  and  almost 
led  you  to  expect  his  amval. 

Lord  A\'^illiam  Howard  was  diligent  and  successful  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duties,  and  he  maintained  at  Naworth  a  garrison  of  1 40  men  :  his 


I 


Lords  of  Gillesland.  223 

nnme  was  a  name  of  terror  to  the  lawless  and  disobedient,  "  who,"  says 
Fuller,  "  had  two  enemies— the  laws  of  the  land  and  Lord  William  of 
Naworth."  The  dark  and  gloomy  prison-vault  at  the  basement  of  the 
"outh-western  or  principal  tower  of  the  castle,  is  a  terrible  monument  of 
:;e  severity  experienced  by  prisoners, 

"  Doom'd  in  sad  durance  pining  to  abide 
The  long  delay  of  hope  from  Solway's  further  side." 

Some  rings  remain  on  the  walls  of  this  dungeon. 

By  the  epithet  "  Belted  Will,"  Lord  Howard  is  commonly  known. 
A  belt  said  to  have  been  worn  by  him  used  to  be  shown  at  Naworth, 
and  "a  broad  and  studded  belt"  it  was,  being  of  leather,  three  or  four 
inches  broad,  and  covered  with  a  couplet  in  German,  the  letters  on 
metil  studs,  from  which  circumstance  it  has  been  imagined  that  some 
charm  was  attributed  to  this  belt.  The  baldric  k  was,  however,  in 
former  times  worn  as  a  distinguishing  badge  by  persons  in  high  station, 
and,  therefore,  does  not  seem  likely  to  have  furnished  a  distinguishing 
epithet :  moreover,  in  his  portraits.  Lord  William's  belt  is  not  promi- 
nent, but  is  remarkably  narrow.  In  Cumberland,  the  characteristic 
r;i:  t  attached  to  his  name  was,  "  Bauld  Willie,"  meaning  "Bold 
W  iiiiam," — a  description,  certainly,  of  the  noble 

' '  Howard,  than  whom  knight 
Was  never  dubb'd  more  bold  in  fight ; 
Nor,  when  from  war  and  armour  free. 
More  fam'd  for  stately  courtesy." 

Sir  Walter  Scott  has  added  a  chivalric  portrait  of  the  noble  chieftain's 
apptNirance  in  the  well-known  lines : 

"Costly  his  garb, — his  Flemish  ruff 
Fell  o'er  his  doublet  shaped  of  buff, 

With  satin  slashed  and  lined  ; 
Tawny  his  hoot,  and  gold  his  spur, 
Hi--  '  Ul  of  I'oland  fur, 

I  i  1  silver  twined  ; 

Hi.>  '. „ Je,  by  March-men  felt, 

Hung  in  a  broad  and  studded  belt." 

W  f  ii.i\L-  .iiuidged  and  condensed  (by  permission  of  the  author)  these 
very  interesting  historiettes  from  a  volume  of  Descriptive  and  Historical 
Notices  of  Northumbrian  Castles,  Churches,  and  Antiquities.  Third  series. 
By  W.  Sidney  Gibson,  Es(j.,  F.S.A.  Few  antiquarian  and  topogra- 
phical works  liear  a  stronger  impa-ss  of  reality  than  the  series,  of  which 
the  above  volume  forms  part :  they  have  the  advantage  of  being  written 
amidst  the  scenes  which  they  so  truthfully  and  ehKiiiently  describe ; 
there  is,  too,  a  graceful  and  jjoetic  feeling  shown  in  the  appreciation  of 
the  scenes,  characters,  and  incidents  by  which  the  narratives  are  cha- 
racterized. 


224 


Kendal  Castle  and  Queen  Catherine  Parr. 

A  small  portion  of  the  town  of  Kendal,  in  Westmoreland,  lies  on 
the  east  or  left  bank  of  the  river  Kent,  and  on  the  same  side  are  ruins  of 
the  old  Castle  of  the  Barons  of  Kendal,  with  two  round  and  two  square 
towers.  This  was  anciently  a  strong  fortress,  defendetl  by  lofty  towers 
and  battlements,  erected  soon  after  the  Norman  Conquest,  but  now  gone 
to  decay  ;  insomuch,  that  while  in  the  front  of  the  building  the  remains 
of  turrets  and  bastions  were  seen,  there  was  little  more  than  a  heap 
of  ruins  behind.  In  its  original  state  the  Castle  formed  a  square,  en- 
compassed by  a  moat. 

It  is  related,  that  many  years  since  an  eccentric  person,  who  travelled 
the  country  with  hardware,  took  up  his  abiding-place  in  a  part  of  the 
Castle  ruins,  which  barely  afforded  shelter  from  the  weather.  These  he 
patched  up  as  well  as  he  could,  and  got  a  door  and  a  few  seats  made. 
Numbci-8  of  persons  flocked  to  see  him  in  his  abode.  He  made  a  claim 
to  the  remains  of  the  Castle  by  pretending  that  he  was  a  descendant  of 
Catherine  Parr,  the  widow  of  Lord  Latimer,  the  last  consort  of  King 
Henry  VIH.,  who  was  born  in  this  Castle.  Barons  and  earls  have 
taken  their  title  from  hence.  Camden  says,  the  barons  were  of  the 
family  of  Taleboys,  one  of  whose  posterity,  called  William,  by  consent 
of  King  Henry  II.,  took  upon  him  the  title  of  AVilliam  of  Lancaster. 

The  pedigree  of  the  once  eminent  family  of  Parr,  though  not 
complete  or  satisfactory,  boasts  high  distinction.  Dugdale,  in  his 
Baronage,  commences  with  Sir  William  Parr,  who  married  Elizabeth 
de  Ros,  1383  ;  but  he  states  the  family  to  have  been  previously  of 
Knightly  degree;  and  a  MS,  pedigree  in  the  Herald's  College,  also 
mentions  Sir  William  as  descended  from  a  race  of  Knights.  Sir  Thomas 
Parr,  father  of  Queen  Catherine,  died  1518;  he  held  manors,  mes- 
suages, lands,  woods,  and  rents,  in  Parr,  Wigan,  and  Sutton. 

Sir  Richard  Baker,  in  his  Chronicle,  relates  the  following  details  of 
"How  the  Lady  Catherine  Parr  escaped  being  burned  for  Heresy. 
She,  being  an  earnest  Protestant,  had  many  great  adversaries,  by  whom 
she  was  accused  to  the  King  of  having  heretical  books  found  in  hei- 
closet ;  and  this  was  so  much  aggravated  against  her,  that  her  enemies 
prevailed  with  the  King  to  sign  a  warrant  to  commit  her  to  the  Tower, 
with  a  purpose  to  have  her  burnt  for  heresy.  This  warrant  was  delivered 
to  Wriothesley,  Lord  Chancellor,  and  he  by  chance,  or  rather,  indeed, 
by  God's  providence,  letting  it  fall  from  him,  it  was  taken  up,  and  car- 
ried to  the  Queen,  who,  having  read  it,  went  soon  after  to  visit  the 


Kendal  Castle  and  Qicecn  Catherine  Parr.        225 

King,  at  that  time  keeping  his  chamber,  by  reason  of  a  sore  leg.  Being 
come  to  the  King,  he  presently  fell  to  talk  with  her  about  some  points 
of  religion,  demanding  her  resolution  thereon.  But  she  knowing  that 
his  nature  was  not  to  be  crossed,  especially  considering  the  case  she  was 
in,  made  him  answer  that  she  was  a  woman  accompanied  with  many 
imperfections,  but  his  Majesty  was  wise  and  judicious,  of  whom  she 
must  learn,  as  her  lord  and  head.  '  Not  so,  by  St.  Mary,  (said  the 
King,)  for  you  are  a  doctor,  Kate,  to  instruct  us,  and  not  to  be  in- 
structed by  us,  as  often  we  have  seen  heretofore.'  '  Indeed,  sir,'  said  she, 
'  if  your  Majesty  have  so  conceived,  I  have  been  mistaken  ;  for  if  here- 
tofore I  have  held  talk  with  you  touching  religion,  it  hath  been  to  learn 
of  your  Majesty  some  point  whereof  I  stood  in  doubt,  and  sometimes 
that  ivith  my  talk  I  might  make  you  forget  your  present  infirmity.' 
'  And  is  it  even  so,  sweetheart  ?  (quoth  the  King),  then  we  are  friends ;' 
and  so,  kissing  her,  gave  her  leave  to  depart. 

"  But  soon  after  was  the  day  appointed  by  the  King's  wan-ant  for  ap- 
prehending her,  on  which  day  the  King,  disposed  to  walk  in  th?  garden 
had  the  Queen  with  him  ;  when  suddenly,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  with 
forty  of  the  guard,  came  into  the  garden  with  a  purpose  to  apprehend 
her,  whom  as  soon  as  the  King  saw,  he  stept  to  him,  and  calling  him 
knave  and  fool,  bid  him  avaunt  out  of  his  presence.  The  Queen,  seeing 
the  King  so  angry  with  the  Chancellor,  began  to  entreat  for  him,  to 
whom  the  King  said :  '  Ah,  poor  soul,  thou  little  knowest  what  he 
came  about ;  of  my  word,  sweetheart,  he  has  been  to  thee  a  very  knave.' 
And  thus,  by  God's  providence,  was  this  Queen  preserved,  who  else  had 
tasted  of  as  bitter  a  cup  as  any  of  his  former  wives  had  done." 

To  return  to  Kendal.  Opposite  the  Castle  ruins  is  the  Castle  How, 
or  Castle  Law  Hill,  an  ancient  earthwork.  It  consists  of  a  circular 
mound,  having  a  ditch  and  rampart  round  its  base,  and  a  shallow  ditch 
and  a  breastwork  surrounding  its  flat  top,  on  which  is  an  obelisk  erected 
in  commemoration  of  the  Revolution  of  1688. 

Castle  Dairy,  a  quaint  old  house,  situated  in  Wildman-street,  was  an 
appendage  to  the  Castle.  On  a  stone  outside,  within  a  sunk  panel,  are 
incised  the  letters  "  A.  G.,"  a  cord  with  sundry  knots  being  intertwined, 
and  the  date: — for  Anthony  Garnett  then  proprietor.  On  the  upper 
bevelled  stonework  of  a  window,  are  incised  qui  vadit  plane — 
VADIT  SANE,  and  A.  G.  in  cypher.  In  the  portion  of  an  apartment,  the 
mantelshelf  extends  the  whole  breadth  of  the  house,  and  is  of  oak 
panels.  In  one  window  is  a  quarrel,  with  1567 — omnia  vanitas — 
A.  G. ;  with  interlaced  cord  viesdra  le  jour,  a  skull.  In  another 
window  a  fleur-de-lis,  within  a  tasteful  border,  in  cinque-cento  style, 
♦  Q 


226  Brougham  Castle. 

surmounted  by  a  crown.  In  a  bed-room  upstairs  is  a  massive  carved 
oak  bedstead,  the  head-board  of  which  has  carved  upon  it,— dexter, 
a  mask  with  horns,  after  the  Roman  antique ;  middle,  a  scroll,  with 
OMNIA  VAMTAS,  a  shield  with  '•  A.  G.,"  a  scroll,  with  "  viendra 
le  jour,"  and  skull :  sinister,  mask  in  cinque-cento  style ;  lower  row 
three  lions'  masks  in  as  many  panels.  On  a  buffet  carved  1562,  Window, 
dated  1565 ;  two  oak-trees ;  an  eagle  and  child,  or,  the  face  proper. 
On  oak  bosses  on  the  ceiling  heraldic  shields.  Some  years  ago,  in  a 
chest  was  found  a  Missal,  and  a  dozen  beechen  roundles,  gilded  and 
painted,  each  with  an  animal,  and  beneath  a  quatrain.  These  roundles 
are  said  to  be  of  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 

Kendal  was  made  a  market-town  by  license  from  Richard  I.,  and  be- 
came, by  the  settlement  of  the  Flemings,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 
the  seat  of  a  considerable  manufacture  of  woollen  cloths,  (which  took 
from  the  town  the  name  of  Kendals),  and  continued  to  be  so  down  to 
quite  modern  times.    They  were  a  sort  of  forester's  green  cloth : — 

"  Three  misbegotten  knaves  in  Kendal-green." 

Shakspeare,  i  Hen,  IV. 

It  was  the  uniform  of  Robin  Hood's  followers: — 

"AH  the  woods 
Are  full  of  outlaws,  that  in  Kendal-green 
Follow'd  the  outlaw'd  Earl  of  Huntingdon." 

Robert,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  1601. 

Fuller  in  his  Worthies,  being  a  Cambridge  man,  out  of  sympathy 
wishes  well  to  the  clothier  of  Kendal,  "  as  the  first  founder  of  Kendal 
Green." 


Brougham  Castle. 

At  the  northern  extremity  of  Westmoreland,  in  a  district  abounding 
with  relics  of  Roman  times,  and  on  the  military  way  to  Carlisle,  arc  the 
venerable  niins  of  Brougham  Castle,  a  famous  building  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Lcland  describes  it,  in  his  time,  as  an  old  castle  on  the  Eden 
water,  "  that  the  common  people  there  say  doth  sink."  The  ploughmen 
there  find  in  the  field  many  square  stones,  tokens  of  old  buildings,  and 
some  coins  and  urns.  An  inquisition  records  that  the  Prior  of  (Carlisle, 
during  the  minority  of  John  de  Veteripont,  suffered  the  walls  and  house 
of  Brougham  to  go  to  decay,  for  want  of  repairing  the  gutters  thereof. 
The  expression  house  seems  to  infer  that  license  had  not  at  that  time 
been  procured  to  embattle  it.  Roger  Lord  Clifford,  son  of  Isabella  de 
Veteripont,  built  the  greatest  part  of  the  Castle,  and  placed  over  its  inner 
door   this   inscription — S^ftis  J^ntie  Bogcr.     His   grandson,   Robert, 


BrougJiam  Castle.  227 

built  the  eastern  parts  of  the  Castle,  where  his  arms,  with  those  of  his 
wife,  were  cut  iu  stone.  In  1403,  however,  Brougham  and  its  demesne 
were  declared  worth  nothing,  "  because  it  lieth  altogether  waste  by- 
reason  of  the  destruction  of  the  country  by  the  Scots."  It  was  sub- 
stantially repaired ;  for  Francis,  Earl  of  Cumlierland,  magnificently  en- 
tertained King  James  at  Brougham  Castle  three  days  in  August,  161 7, 
on  his  retiuTi  from  his  last  journey  out  of  Scotland.  About  thirty  years 
later,  as  recorded  by  an  inscription,  "  This  Brougham  Castle  was  re- 
paired by  the  Ladie  Anne  Clifford,  Countess  Dowager  of  Pembroke, 
Dorset,  and  Montgomery,  Baronesse  Clifford,  Wcstmcrland,  and 
V'escic,  Ladie  of  the  honour  of  Skipton-in-Craven,  and  High-Sheriffesse 
by  inheritance  of  the  county  of  Westmerland,  in  the  year  1651  and 
1652,  after  it  had  layen  ruinous  c\-er  since  about  August  1617,  when 
King  James  lay  in  it  for  a  time,  in  his  joumie  out  of  Scotland,  towards 
London,  until  this  time,  Isa.  c  LViii.  v.  12,  God's  name  be  praised." 

The  Countess  Anne  also  tells  us  that  after  she  had  been  there  to 
direct  the  building,  she  caused  her  old  decayed  Castle  of  Brougham  to 
be  repaired,  and  also  the  Roman  Tower,  in  the  said  old  Castle ;  and  the 
court-house  for  keeping  her  courts  in,  with  some  dozen  or  fourteen 
rooms  to  be  built  in  it  upon  the  old  foundation.  The  Tower  of 
Leagues,  and  the  Pagan  Tower,  and  a  state-room  called  Greystoke 
Chamber,  are  mentioned  in  her  Memoirs;  but  the  room  in  which  her 
father  was  bom,  her  "  blessed  mother"  died,  and  King  James  lodged  in 
161 7,  she  never  fails  to  mention,  as  being  that  in  which  she  lay,  in  all 
her  visits  to  this  place.  A  garrison  of  foot  soldiers  was  placed  in  it  for  a 
short  time  in  August,  1659.  After  the  death  of  the  Countess  the 
Castle  appears  to  have  been  much  neglected.  Its  stone,  timber,  and  lead 
were  sold  for  100/.  to  two  attorneys  of  Penrith,  who  disposed  of  them 
by  public  sale,  the  first  of  which  was  on  the  coronation  of  George  I., 
1 714.  The  wainscoting  was  purchased  by  the  villagers  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, among  whom  specimens  of  it  were  long  preserved. 

The  Castle  was  described  in  1776,  as  being  guarded  by  an  outward 
vaulted  gateway,  and  tower  with  a  portcullis ;  and  at  the  distance  of 
about  twenty  paces  an  inroad  vaulted  gateway  of  ribbed  arches,  with  a 
portcullis,  through  which  you  entered  a  spacious  area,  defended  by  lofty 
towers. 

"  The  side  next  the  river  is  divided  by  three  square  towers ;  from 

thence,  on  either  hand,  a  little  wing  falls  back,  the  one  leading  to  the 

iteway ;  the  other  connected  with  the  outworks,  which  extend  to  a 

considerable  distance  along  a  grassy  plain  of  pasture  ground,  terminated 

by  a  turret,  one  of  the  outposts  of  the  castle.    The  centre  of  the  build- 

Q  a 


228  Brougham  Castle. 

ing  is  a  lofty  square  tower;  the  shattered  turrets  which  form  the 
angles,  and  the  hanging  galleries,  are  overgrown  with  shrubs.  The 
lower  apartment  in  the  principal  tower  still  remains  entire,  being  a 
square  of  twenty  feet,  covered  with  a  vaulted  roof  of  stone,  consisting 
of  eight  arches,  of  light  and  excellent  workmanship.  The  groins  are 
ornamented  with  various  grotesque  heads,  and  supported  in  the  centre 
by  an  octagon  pillar,  about  four  feet  in  circumference,  with  a  capital 
and  base  of  Norman  architecture.  In  the  centre  of  each  arch  rings  are 
fixed,  as  if  designed  for  lamps  to  illuminate  the  vault.  From  the  con- 
struction of  this  cell,  and  its  situation  in  the  chief  tower  of  the  fortress, 
it  is  not  probable  it  was  formed  for  a  prison,  but  rather  was  used  at  the 
time  of  siege  and  assault,  as  the  retreat  of  the  chief  persons  of  the 
household.  All  the  other  apartments  are  destroyed.  The  outer  gate- 
way is  machicolated,  and  has  the  arms  of  Vaux  on  its  tower." 

The  connexion  of  the  late  Lord  Brougham  with  this  famous  old  place 
is  of  great  antiquity.  The  family  ot  Brougham  is  of  Saxon  descent, 
and  derives  its  surname  from  liurgham,  afterwards  Brougham,  the 
ancient  Brocavum  of  the  Romans.  "  The  estate  of  Burgham  or 
Brougham  belonged  to  the  Brougham  family  before  the  Conquest. 
This  is  proved  from  the  fact,  that  the  earliest  possessors  had  Brougham 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  and  continued  to  hold  it  afterwards  by  the 
tenure  of  drengage  ;  a  tenure  by  military  service,  but  distinguished  at 
that  time  from  Knight's  service,  inasmuch  as  those  only  held  their  lands 
by  drengage  who  had  possessed  them  before  the  Conquest,  and  were 
continued  to  them  after  submitting  to  the  Conqueror." — (Sir  Bernard 
Burke's  Peerage,  1865.)  After  the  Conquest,  William  the  Norman 
granted  to  Robert  de  Veteripont,  or  Vipont,  extensive  rights  and  terri- 
tories in  Westmoreland ;  and  among  others,  some  oppressive  rights  of 
seigniory  over  the  manor  of  Brougham,  then  held  by  Walter  de 
Burgham.  To  relieve  the  estate  of  such  services,  Gilbert  de  Burgham, 
in  the  reign  of  King  John,  agreed  to  give  up  absolutely  one-third  part 
of  the  estate  to  Robert  de  Veteripont,  and  also  the  advowson  to  the 
rectory  of  Brougham.  This  third  comprises  the  land  upon  ivhich  the 
castle  is  built,  and  the  estate  afterwards  given  by  Anne  Countess  of 
Pembroke  (heiress  of  Veteripont),  to  the  Hospital  of  Poor  Widows  at 
Appleby.  Brougham  Castle,  if  not  built,  was  much  extended  by 
Veteripont  ;  and  afterwards  still  more  enlarged  by  Roger  Clifford,  who 
succeeded,  by  marriage,  to  the  Veteripont  possessions.  The  manor- 
house,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  Castle,  continued  in  the 
Brougham  family ;  and  part  of  it,  especially  the  gateway,  is  supposed  to 
be  Saxon  architecture;  at  all  events,  it  is  the  earliest  Norman.     In  the 


Brougham  Castle.  229 

year  1607,  Thomas  Brougham,  then  lord  of  the  manor  of  Brougham, 
died  without  issue  male,  and  the  estate  was  sold  to  one  Bird,  who  was 
steward  of  the  Clifford  family  ;  the  heir  male  of  the  Brougham  family, 
then  residing  at  Scales  Hall,  in  Cumberland.  About  1680,  John 
Brougham  of  Scales,  re-purchased  the  estate  and  manor  of  Brougham 
from  Bird's  grandson,  and  entailed  it  for  his  nephew,  from  whom  it 
passed  by  succession  to  the  late  Lord  Brougham ;  Brougham  Castle 
descending  from  the  Veteriponts  to  the  Cliffords ;  and  from  them  to 
the  Thanet  family.  The  manor-house,  now  called  Brougham  Hall,  is 
sometimes  styled  Birdnest,  from  its  having  belonged  to  the  family  of 
Bird.  It  stands  upon  a  woody  eminence  upon  the  east  side  of  the 
Lowther ;  and  from  the  richness,  variety,  and  extent  of  the  prospect 
from  its  fine  terraces,  is  often  called  "  the  Windsor  of  the  North."  Its 
hall  is  lofty,  and  lighted  by  fine  Gothic  windows,  filled  with  painted 
glass,  some  of  which  is  of  the  old  stain.  Nearly  adjoining  it  is  the 
Chapel  of  Brougham,  dedicated  to  St.  Wilfrid,  as  appears  by  the  Rector 
of  Brougham  agreeing  in  1393,  to  find  in  it  "  two  seargies  afore  St. 
Wilfry,  at  his  own  proper  costs;"  at  which  time  it  was  endowed  with 
lands  adjoining  it ;  but  those  have  since  been  exchanged  for  othei-s  con- 
tiguous to  the  glebe  of  the  church.  In  1638  and  1659,  the  Countess 
of  Pembroke  rebuilt  it ;  and  the  rector  of  the  parish  performs  evening 
service  in  it  when  the  family  are  resident. 

The  late  Lord  I^rougham  was  much  attached  to  his  seat  at 
Brougham.  He  diet!  at  Cannes,  in  the  south  of  France,  in  1868,  and 
his  remains  rest  there ;  but  Brougham  Hall  is  to  tliis  day  visited  by 
tourists,  eager  to  behold  the  chateau  of  this  most  remarkable  man, 
who,  with  the  possession  of  encyclopaedic  knowledge,  combined  the 
gift  of  rare  eloquence,  political  integrity,  and  unceasing  labours  for  the 
benefit  of  his  species.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  remains  of  a  man  of 
such  exemplary  patriotism  do  not  rest  in  the  country  of  his  birth.* 


•  An  English  traveller,  in  passing  through  Cannes,  visited  the  cemetery  where 
rest  the  remains  of  this  great  man  ;  when  he  was  much  slnick  with  the  severe 
magnificence  of  the  monument  placed  over  the  grave  of  Ix)rd  Brougham  by  the 
prcs-nt  lord.  It  is  a  simple  but  gigantic  cross  of  granite,  between  20  and  30 
feet  in  height,  with  no  ornament,  and  no  inscription,  only  the  name,  birth,  and 
death,  thus  ; — 

"  iiENRicvs  nkovniiAM, 

NATVS   MDCCLXXVIII., 
DECtSSIT   MDCCCLXVIII.'* 

Our  trnvf  Her  could  not  leave  the  spot  without  asking  this  question  : — Has  Eng- 
l.ir.l  so  ttitircly  forgotten  the  memory  of  one  of  licr  n)ost  illustrious  sons?  Is 
no  iiiciDorial  to  be  placed,  either  in  Westminster  Abbey  or  elscwiiere,  to  record 
bow  much,  not  Englan  i  alone,  but  the  human  race,  owe  to  him  ? 


230  Brougham  Castle. 

In  January,  1861,  appeared  Lord  Brougham's  comprehensive  work 
on  the  British  Constitution,  with  the  following  admirable  Dedication  to 
Her  Majesty  the  Queen,  in  which  allusion  is  'gracefully  made  to  the 
course  adopted  with  respect  to  the  second  patent  of  the  Brougham 
Peerage,  giving  the  same  title,  but  with  limitation,  in  default  of  heirs 
male,  to  his  brother,  William  Brougham,  Esq.,  and  his  heirs  male: — 

"To  THE  Queen. 

"  Madame, — I  presume  to  lay  at  your  Majesty's  feet  a  work,  the 
result  of  many  years'  diligent  study,  much  calm  reflection,  and  a  long 
life's  experience.  It  professes  to  record  facts,  institute  comparisons, 
draw  conclusions,  and  expound  principles,  often  too  little  considered  in 
this  country  by  those  who  enjoy  the  inestimable  blessings  of  our  politi- 
cal system ;  and  little  understood  in  other  countries  by  those  who  are 
endeavouring  to  naturalize  it  among  themselves,  and  for  whose  success 
the  wishes  of  all  must  be  more  hearty  than  their  hopes  can  be  sanguine. 

"  The  subject  of  the  book.  The  British  Constitution,  has  a  natural 
connexion  with  your  Majesty's  auspicious  reign,  which  is  not  more 
adorned  by  the  domestic  virtues  of  the  Sovereign  than  by  the  strictly 
constitutional  exercise  of  her  high  office,  redounding  to  the  security  of 
the  Crown,  the  true  glory  of  the  monarch,  and  the  happiness  of  the 
people.  Entirely  joining  with  all  my  fellow-citizens  in  feelings  of  gra- 
titude towards  such  a  ruler,  I  have  individually  a  deep  sense  of  the 
kindness  with  which  your  Majesty  has  graciously  extended  the  honours 
formerly  bestowed,  the  reasons  assigned  for  that  favour,  and  the  prece- 
dents followed  in  granting  it. 

"  With  these  sentiments  of  humble  attachment  and  respect,  I  am, 

your  Majesty's  most  faithful  and  most  dutiful  servant, 

"  Brougham. 
"Brougham  Hall,  nth  December,  i860." 

We  have  already  pointed  out  that  Brougham  has  been  identified  as 
the  Roman  Station,  Brocavum.  This  station  is  in  close  proximity  to 
the  Castle,  and  has  retained  its  outline,  clearly  defined.  It  is  of  large- 
size,  measuring  1060  feet  by  720  feet  within  the  inner  fosse.  Its  de- 
fences have,  probably,  furnished  some  of  the  materials  for  the  mediasval 
Castle.  The  Station  is  believed  to  have  been  founded  by  Agricola,  in 
the  second  year  of  his  northern  expedition,  a.d.  79  ;  here  he  fixed  one 
of  his  camps ;  various  roads  lead  from  it,  the  most  remarkable  of  which 
from  its  position  being  that  to  Ambleside,  which  passed  along  the  ridge 
of  the  mountains  still  called  High-street. 


Legend  of  Constantine^ s  Cells.  231 

Of  the  inscribed  stones  discovered  at  Brougham,  five  are  preserved  at 
Brougham  Hall,  four  of  which  were  found  outside  the  Station.  Two 
are  sepulchral  memorials  ;  the  third  is  illegible ;  the  fourth  an  inscrip- 
tion in  honour  of  Constantine  the  Great.  The  fifth  is  a  votive  altar  j 
another  is  built  into  one  of  the  dark  passages  of  Brougham  Castle. 


Legend  of  Constantine's  Cells. 

Corby  Castle  crowns  a  noble  eminence  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river  Eden,  and  is  situated  about  five  miles  to  the  south-east  of  Carlisle. 
The  lofty  banks  of  the  river  on  which  the  south  front  of  the  Castle 
looks  down,  recede  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  their  declivities  thickly 
overgrown  with  wood.  On  the  opposite  (the  Wetheral)  side  of  the 
river  the  dark  red  cliffs  rise  to  a  great  height ;  and  midway  between 
the  rapid  river  that  chafes  their  rocky  base,  and  the  woods  that  wave 
upon  their  lofty  crest,  are  the  famous  caverns,  known  as  Constantine's 
Cells,  or  the  Wetheral  Safeguards,  the  nanow  windows  of  which  are 
seen  from  the  opposite  side  in  the  face  of  the  cliff,  but  were  probably, 
in  former  times,  concealed  by  trees. 

The  Caves  are  at  a  height  of  40  feet  above  the  river,  about  midway 
in  the  face  of  the  cliff.  There  are  three  chambers ;  they  are  in  a  row, 
and  are  about  8  feet  wide,  and  12  in  depth.  Under  the  name  of  the 
Chambers  of  Constantine,  these  cells  were  granted,  with  lands  belonging 
to  them,  by  Ranulph  de  Meschines,  not  long  after  the  Conquest,  to  the 
Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Mary,  at  York.  The  legend  is,  that  Con- 
stantine inhabite<l  the  Wetheral  Cells  after  his  defeat  by  Athelstan, 
and  became  ultimately  a  monk  at  Melrose.  Cumberland  was  then  held 
by  the  King  of  Scotland  as  a  fief  of  the  English  Crown.  The  cells 
were  maintained  by  the  prior  and  monks  of  Wetheral,  to  whom  they 
may  have  afforded  a  place  of  refuge  and  security  in  the  days  of  Border 
warfare ;  for  these  curious  caves  were  not  likely  to  be  discovered,  or  if 
known,  to  be  accessible  by  an  enemy.  The  memory  of  Constantine, 
King  and  Monk,  is  presenrd  in  the  dedication  of  the  parish  church  at 
Wetheral  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  conjointly  with  St.  Constantine.  The 
Priory  at  Wetheral  was  built  by  a  colony  from  St.  Mary's.  The 
Ablwy  lands  became  the  property  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Carlisle, 
who  found  the  masonry  of  the  abbey  buildings  convenient  for  erecting 
prebendary  houses  at  Carlisle;  all  that  remains,  therefore,  is  the 
massive  gate  and  tower,  which  present  a  noble  archway.  A  safe 
access  to  the  Caves  has  been  formed. 


232 


DURHAM. 

Durham  Cathedral. — Remains  of  St.  Cuthbert. 

The  preservation  of  the  body  of  St.  Cuthbert,  the  patron  Saint  of 
Durham  Cathedral,*  is  a  fact  which  has  been  much  doubted.  Upon 
his  death,  in  688,  the  body  was  at  once  wrapped  in  cerecloth,  envelop- 
ing evidently  the  whole  head ;  arrayed  then  in  priestly  garments,  it  was 
placed  in  a  stone  coffin,  and  buried  on  the  right  side  of  the  altar  in  the 
church  of  Lindisfarne  ;  eleven  years  afterwards,  the  monks  seeking  his 
bones  as  relics,  found  the  body  entire,  swathed  it  in  a  new  gaitnent,  and 
kept  it  above  ground.  In  87,:^  the  ecclesiastics  fled  from  Lindisfarne, 
taking  with  them  the  body  in  a  wooden  coffin,  and  in  the  same  coffin 
the  head  of  St.  Oswald  and  bones  of  Aidan,  and  Bishops  Eata,  Elfrid, 
and  Ethelwold  ;  their  migrations  ended  at  Chester-le-Street  with  their 
charge  in  883.  About  a.d.  980,  Ethelwold,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
raised  the  lid  of  the  coffin,  and  deposited  on  the  body  a  pledge  of  his 
devotion.  In  995,  the  body  of  St.  Cuthbert  was  again  removed,  and 
migrated  to  various  places,  till,  after  a  few  months,  it  arrived  at 
Durham,  and  rested  for  a  time  in  a  wooden  church.  In  999,  it  was 
transferred  to  the  White  Church.  Within  the  next  thirty  years  it  is 
that  Elfred,  a  canon  of  the  church,  was  accustomed  to  handle  the 
Saint,  even  to  ivrap  him  in  such  robes  as  he  thought  Jit,  to  adjust  his  hair 
ivith  an  it'ory  comb,  to  cut  the  nails  of  his  fingers  with  scissors  he  had 
made  for  the  purpose.  In  1069,  in  dread  of  William  the  Conqueror's 
army,  the  body  was  again  carried  to  Lindisfarne,  but  in  the  following 
year  restored- to  Durham.    Doubts  as  to  the  identity  and  incoiTupti- 


*  "There  is  a  legend,  familiar  as  a  household  word  to  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Palatinate,  which  tells  us  how  the  monks  were  enabled  to  find  Dunholm, 
which  had  been  revealed  to  one  of  their  number  as  the  place  where  the  body  of 
St.  Cuthbert  should  finally  meet  with  repose  after  the  long  and  protracted 
wanderings  it  had  sustained.  They  had  searched  in  vain  for  a  place  of  that 
name,  until  at  length  th';y  heard  a  woman  calling  loudly  to  a  companion,  to 
know  if  she  had  seen  her  dun  emu,  and  her  reply  was,  that  she  would  find 
lier  in  Dunholm.  It  was  a  sound  of  joy  to  the  weary  wanderers.  But  this 
legend  does  not  occur  in  any  of  the  early  historians.  Is  it  not  possible  that  the 
])lace  may  have  been  also  known  by  the  name  of  Dun-y-coed—i.e.,  the  wooded 
iiill?  And  is  it  a  supposition  altogether  improbable,  that  the  tradition  may 
have  only  an  existence  evolved  by  pxjpular  fancy  to  account  for  an  appellatioi; 
of  which  the  meaning  was  forgotten  ?" — Rev.  G,  Ornsby. 


DurJuim  Cathedral. — Remains  of  St.  Citthbcrt.     233 

bility  of  the  body  are  said  to  have  been  held  by  the  King,  and  some  of 
those  less  interested  in  its  presentation  than  the  monks  of  Durham.  If 
there  had  been  any  known  imposture,  the  secret  could  scarcely  have 
been  maintained  in  the  ousting  of  the  canons  and  substitution  of  the 
monks,  and  the  jealousy  engendered  by  this  event  in  1063  may  have 
had  something  to  do  with  the  unfavourable  rumours  just  then  current. 
When  the  White  Church  was  pulled  down  in  1093,  a  temporary  tomb 
of  stone  and  marble  seems  to  have  been  made  in  the  cloister  garth  for 
its  reception,  and  in  1104  it  was  translated  to  its  final  resting-place  in 
the  present  cathedral. 

To  clear  up  all  doubts  as  to  the  preservation  of  the  body,  an  exami- 
nation of  its  contents  was  made  at  this  time.  First,  an  outer  chest  was 
broken  open  with  the  aid  of  iron  tools,  disclosing  another  carefully 
covered  on  all  sides  with  hides  fastened  on  with  iron  nails  ;  the  prior 
and  his  attendant  monks  removed  some  iron  bands,  raised  the  lid  of 
this  second  chest,  and  found  a  wooden  coffin  cased  entirely  in  linen 
threefold,  which  those  present  believed  to  be  the  swathing  added  at 
Lindisfame  eleven  years  after  his  death.  They  now  carried  the  coffin 
from  behind  the  altar  into  the  middle  of  the  choir,  then  unwound  the 
linen,  raised  the  lid,  and  observed  an  inner  lid,  lower  down  in  the  coffin, 
resting  on  three  bars,  and  upon  the  lid  a  copy  of  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John  ;  this  they  did  not  replace,  but  it  was  preserved  in  the  church 
till  the  Reformation,  and  known  to  be  in  existence  at  Liege  so 
late  as  1 769.  The  inner  lid  had  a  ring  at  each  end  for  lifting  it,  and 
its  removal  exposed  a  linen  cloth  laid  over  the  contents.  Beneath  the 
cloth,  in  a  small  linen  sack,  they  found  bones  and  a  head,  which  by  old 
writers  they  knew  to  be  the  relics  of  St.  Oswald,  Bede,  Aidan, 
Eadbert,  Eadfrid,  and  Ethelwold,  with  other  relics,  and  the  body  of 
St.  Cuthbert  reclining  on  its  side.  After  removing  some  of  the  relics, 
the  monks  lifted  the  body  out,  and  laid  it  on  a  tapestry  on  the  pave- 
ment ;  and  when  the  coffin  had  been  cleaned  out,  they  replaced  the 
body  of  St.  Cuthbert  in  it,  and  carried  it  back  to  its  place  behind  the 
altar.  The  next  night  the  coffin  was  again  brought  out,  and  the  body 
laid  on  the  pavement,  as  before,  and  then  returned  to  its  place.  Again, 
within  a  few  days,  the  lid  was  taken  off",  to  afford  the  incredulous  Abbot 
a  proof  of  all  that  was  asserted.  It  is  clear  that  on  these  occasions  the 
ffesh  was  never  seen ;  but  the  investigators  were  satisfied  with  feeling 
through  the  coverings,  and  lifting  the  weight  of  the  body.  At  this 
time  a  new  bottom,  resting  on  four  blocks  of  wood,  was  put  inside  the 
coffin,  and  the  body  laid  upon  it.  Next  the  skin,  it  was  found  wrapped 
in  fine  linen,  entirely  over  the  face  and  head  ;  and  so  closely  adhering 


234     Durham  Cathedral. — Remains  of  St.  Cuthbcrt. 

that  the  finger-nail  could  nowhere  be  inserted  to  raise  it,  except  at  some 
part  of  the  neck.  A  purple  face-cloth  was  next  laid  upon  the  head  ; 
and  the  clothing  was  an  alb,  a  tunic,  and  a  dalmatic ;  beneath  which, 
at  the  feet,  the  ends  of  the  stole  were  visible ;  but  none  of  this  clothing 
did  they  disturb  or  explore.  Outside  the  clothing  were  two  wraps  of 
sheets,  and  then  the  inner  coffin  itself  in  a  wrap  saturated  with  wax. 
These  wraps  were  not  again  returned  to  it,  but  three  new  ones  used, — 
first,  one  of  silk,  then  one  of  purple  cloth,  and  then  one  of  fine  linen. 
There  was  in  the  coffin  a  small  silver  altar,  a  chalice  and  paten,  a  pair 
of  scissors,  and  a  nearly  square  ivory  comb,  with  a  hole  in  the  middle. 
From  this  date  to  the  suppression  of  the  monastery,  the  body  of  St. 
Cuthbert  was  not  again  disturbed,  except  when  the  coffin  may  have 
been  lifted  for  renovations  of  the  shrine,  such  as  occurred  in  1372. 

The  Commissioners  for  the  Suppression  at  length  made  their  appear- 
ance at  Durham.  In  November,  1541,  they  destroyed  the  shrine,  broke 
open  the  coffin,  and  broke  and  removed  the  body  into  the  revestiy ; 
but  within  a  few  days,  upon  orders  received  from  London,  or  else  by 
direction  of  Bishop  Tunstal,  they  buried  him  "  under  the  place  where 
his  shrine  was  exalted,"  behind  the  high  altar,  and  where  a  large  flag- 
stone marked  the  interment.  In  May,  1827,  Dr.  Raine,  with  three 
others  of  the  cathedral  clergy,  and  other  witnesses,  undertook  to  search 
for  the  botly  and  relics  at  this  spot.  After  the  rough  treatment  it  had 
received  in  154 1,  it  is  wonderful  how  successful  and  convincing  were 
the  results  of  their  search  ;  and  Dr.  Raine  relates  the  discovery  of  the 
coffins  and  the  bones  so  as  effectually  to  establish  their  identity  with  the 
objects  described  in  1 104. 

Some  of  these  objects  wei-e  removed  to  the  Cathedral  library,  where 
may  now  be  seen  the  stole,  the  altar,  and  the  comb  then  spoken  of. 
After  the  examination,  the  bones  of  St.  Cuthbert  were  placed  in  a  new 
coffin  ;  and  this,  resting  in  the  old  grave,  on  the  fragments  of  the  older 
coffins,  was  again  intened. 

The  miracle  of  the  preservation  of  the  incorruptible  body  of  St. 
Cuthbert,  therefore,  resolves  itself  into  the  fact  that  it  was  at  first  care- 
fully sealed  up  in  cerecloth,  carefully  clothed  and  swathed  ;  and  thus, 
in  the  soil  of  the  church  of  Lindisfarne,  protected  from  the  weather,  it 
lasted  eleven  years :  being  then  still  far  more  perfect  than  the  monks 
expected,  it  was  preserved  under  still  more  favourable  circumstances, 
Vept  dry,  and  protected  from  the  air,  down  to  the  Dissolution  of  the 
monasteiies ;  being  then  violently  broken  and  buried,  though  -in  a  pro- 
tected soil,  the  more  perishable  parts  decayed. 

The  exhumation  of  the  body  of  Charles  I.  in  1813,  besides  that  of 


Durham  Cathedral, — Remains  of  St,  Cuthbert.     235 

Thomas  Gray,  Marquis  of  Dorset,  who  died  in  1532  ;  that  of  Edward  I., 
described  by  Sir  J.  Ayloffe,  and  other  instances  which  can  be  quoted, 
show  how  feasible  is  such  case  of  preservation  ;  but  the  discovery  of  the 
body  of  Bishop  Lyndewoode  in  1852,  in  the  crypt  of  St.  Stephen's 
Chapel,  in  Westminster  Palace,  is  perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  one. 
No  coffin  was  used  for  him,  but  simply  a  swathing  of  cerecloth,  folded, 
in  some  places  to  ten  layers,  and  in  others  to  only  two.  Here  he  had 
lain  interred  since  1446,  within  the  building,  but  not  underground ;  and 
thus,  after  more  than  four  hundred  years,  and  with  the  simple  precau- 
tion of  a  cerecloth  wrapping,  the  body  was  discovered  in  a  condition  of 
flesh  and  bones,  which  in  old  times  would  certainly  have  been  deemed 
miraculous.  In  no  case,  and  certainly  not  in  S.  Cuthbert's,  do  the  facts 
bear  out  the  belief  that  the  presei-vation  was  so  life-like  as  his  devotees 
supposed  ;  but  it  was  quite  sufficiently  so  to  kindle  imaginations  far  less 
aroused  than  those  concerned  in  the  examination  of  1104.* 

The  "  Sanctuary  Knocker,"  affixed  to  the  exterior  of  the  north  door 
of  the  nave  of  the  Cathedral,  is  an  interesting  relic.  It  is  thus  described 
in  Sanderson's  Antiquities:  "  Near  to  the  altar  of  '  our  Lady  of  Pittic/ 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Galiley  Door,  was  a  greate,  whereon  tlie 
countrymen  lay,  when  they  fled  thither  for  refuge.  In  ancient  times, 
before  the  house  was  supprest,  the  Abbey  church,  the  churchyard,  and 
all  the  circuit  thereof,  was  a  sanctuary  for  all  manner  of  men  that  com- 
mitted any  great  offijnce :  as  killing  a  man  in  his  own  defence,  or  any 
prisoner  who  had  broken  out  of  prison  and  fled  to  the  church-door, 
knocking  to  have  it  opened ;  also,  certain  men  lay  in  two  chambers 
over  the  north  door  for  that  purpose,  that  when  any  such  offenders 
came  and  knocked  they  instantly  let  them  in  at  any  hour  of  the  night ; 
and  run  quickly  to  the  Galiley  Bell,  and  toll'd  it,  that  whomsoever 
heard  it  might  know  that  some  had  taken  sanctuary.  When  the  Prior 
had  notice  thereof,  he  sent  orders  to  keep  themselves  within  the  Sanc- 
tuary— that  is,  within  the  church  and  churchyard  ;  and  that  every  one 
should  have  a  gown  of  black  cloth,  with  a  yellow  cross,  called  St. 
Cuthbert's  Cross,  on  the  left  shoulder,  that  any  one  might  see  the  privi- 
lege granted  to  St  Cuthbert's  Shrine  for  ofTenders  to  fly  unto,  for 
succour  and  safeguard  of  their  lives,  until  they  could  obtain  their 
Prince's  pardon  ;  and  that  they  should  lie  within  the  church  or  sanc- 
tuary on  a  grate  made  only  for  that  purpose  adjoining  to  the  Galiley  south 
door.  They  had  likewise  meat,  drink,  bedding,  and  other  necessaries, 
at  the  cost  of  the  house,  for  thirty-seven  days,  until  the  Prior  and  Con- 


•  Mr.  Gordon  Hills :  Journal  of  the  DrilUh  Arckaological  Aisociation,  i866. 


236  Raby  Castle. 

vent  could  get  them  conveyed  out  ot  the  diocese.  This  privilege  wras 
confirmed  not  only  by  King  Guthrid,  but  by  King  Alured  likewise." 

A  list  of  those  who  claimed  Sanctuary  has  been  published  ;  the  last  date 
is  September  10,  1524.  The  grotesque  and  huge  knocker  is  a  very  fine 
specimen  of  Norman  metal-work,  and  is  in  excellent  preservation.  As 
the  head  is  hollow,  and  there  are  apertures  at  the  eyes  and  mouth,  it 
has  been  suggested  that  when  night  drew  on,  a  light  was  probably 
placed  within  the  head  to  guide  the  fugitive  to  his  haven  of  refuge. 

The  splendid  "  Galilee"  of  the  Cathedral  has  a  curious  history,  it 
appears  that  Bishop  Hugh  de  Puiset,  (how  soon  after  his  elevation  to 
the  See  we  are  not  told),  commenced  a  new  work  at  the  east  end  of  the 
Cathedral.  Marble  coliunns  and  bases  were  brought  from  beyond  the 
sea ;  but  the  walls  had  scarcely  begun  to  rise  when  ruinous  fissures 
appeared  in  them — "  a  manifest  sign  that  the  work  was  not  acceptable 
to  God  or  to  his  servant  Cuthbert."  The  cause  was,  no  doubt,  the 
same  defective  foundation  which  in  the  course  of  the  next  century,  pro- 
duced the  subsidence  of  the  choir  apse,  and  the  "  impending  ruin  "  of 
its  vault.  Abandoning  his  first  intention.  Bishop  Hugh,  (no  doubt, 
using  the  materials  collected  for  his  eastern  chapel)  began  another 
"  work  "  at  the  west  end,  "  into  which  women  might  lawfully  enter,'' 
so  that,  though  they  could  not  be  allowed  personally  to  approach  the 
more  holy  places,  they  might  derive  some  comfort  from  the  distant  con- 
templation of  them.  This  work  was  the  existing  Galilee,  so  called 
from  a  reference  to  the  "  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles."  This  was  appro- 
priated as  a  Lady  Chapel,  and  it  remained  as  Bishop  Puiset  had  left  it 
in  1 1 95,  until  Bishop  Langley,  by  will,  ordered  his  body  to  be  interred, 
1438,  in  the  Galilee,  then  fitted  up  and  repaired,  and  a  chantry  founded 

in  honour  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

♦ 

Raby  Castle. 

Close  to  the  town  of  Staindrop,  famed  for  its  church  of  Norman 
and  Early  English  architecture,  in  a  lovely  country,  is  placed  the 
stately  Castle  of  Raby,  the  grand  northern  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Cleve- 
land ;  and  dear  to  archaeologists  as  the  cradle,  the  old  ancestral  home 
and  heritage  of  the  mighty  house  of  Neville.  Its  history  was  ably 
illustrated  at  the  Congress  of  the  British  Archaeological  Association,  at 
Durham,  in  the  autumn  of  1865,  when  the  Rev,  S.  F.  Hodgson  read  a 
memoir,  full  of  industry,  learning,  and  enthusiasm,  and  complete 
acquaintance  with  the  subject ;  of  which  paper  we  avail  oiU"selves,  by 
permission  of  the  reverend  author. 


Raby  Castle*  237 

Raby,  pointing  by  its  name  to  a  Danish  origin,  is  first  mentioned  in 
connexion  with  King  Canute,  who,  after  making  his  celebrated  pilgri- 
mage to  the  shrine  of  St-  Cuthbeit,  there  offered  it,  with  Staindropshire, 
to  the  Saint.  Bishop  Flambard  wrested  the  rich  gift  from  the  monastery, 
but  restored  it  again  on  his  deathbed.  It  continued  in  the  peaceful 
possession  of  the  monks  until  1 131,  when  they  granted  it  for  an  annual 
rent  of  four  pounds  to  Dolphin,  son  of  Ughtred,  of  the  blood  royal  of 
Northumberland.  To  him,  most  probably,  the  first  foundation  of  the 
manor  may  be  attributed.  The  idea  that  Canute's  mansion  stood  upon 
the  spot  is  without  evidence,  but  it  is,  with  authority,  placed  at  Stain- 
drop.  Still,  whoever  the  original  founder  may  have  been.  Dolphin's 
descendant  was,  at  all  events,  Dominus  de  Raby,  when  early  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  he  married  Isabel  Nevill,  by  the  death  of  her  brother 
the  List  of  that  line,  and  sole  heiress  of  the  great  Saxon  house  of 
Bulmer,  lords  of  Brancepeth  and  Sheriff  Hutton.  From  their  son 
Geoffrey,  who  assumed  his  mother's  surname,  dates  the  history  of  the 
Nevilles.  To  his  descendant,  John  Lord  Neville,  we  owe  the  present 
Castle  of  Raby.  He  was  sometime  employed  against  the  Turks,  and 
being  Lieutenant  of  Aquitaine,  he  reduced  that  province  to  quiet,  which 
had  been  wasted  by  the  wars  with  the  Turks ;  and  in  his  service  in 
those  parts,  he  won  and  had  rendered  to  him  eighty-three  walled  towns, 
castles,  and  forts.  Late  in  lite,  he  proceeded  with  the  gradual  recon- 
struction of  Raby ;  and  Bishop  Hatfield's  license  to  him  to  fortify  is 
dated  1379.  It  may  fairly  be  concluded  that  while  some  portions  of 
the  older  fabric  were  incorporated  with  the  new,  Raby  presents  the 
work  and  ideas  of  one  period.  It  is  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the 
larger  castles,  such  as  Alnwick,  Warkworth,  Durham,  Prudhoe,  &c., 
by  this — that  whereas  they  consist  of  Norman  cores,  which  have,  as 
usual,  agglomerated  to  themselves  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  buildings  ot 
a  later  date,  following  more  or  less  the  lines  of  the  walls  of  enceinte,  we 
have,  or  rather  had,  in  Rahj  a  perfect  example  of  a  fourteenth  century 
cattle,  complete  in  all  its  parts,  without  any  appearance  of  earlier  work 
or  later  alteration  whatever. 

Nearly  every  one  who  mentions  Raby,  points  out  the  apparent 
weakness  of  its  site.  Leland  says  Raby  is  "  the  largest  castell  of 
Loggings  in  all  the  North  Cuntery,  and  is  of  a  strong  building,  but  not 
set  on  Hill  or  very  strong  ground."  But  though  certainly  not  set  on  a 
hill,  it  had  yet  originally  other  means  of  defence,  of  which  no  notice  is 
taken,  namely  water,  which,  making  the  place  damp,  was  drawn  off, 
perhaps  even  before  Lcland's  time.  A  careful  examination  shows  that 
it  must  not  only  have  completely  insulated  the  Castle,  but  towards  the 


238  Rahy  Castle. 

south  expanded  into  something  like  a  lake.  Rut  the  real  defence  of 
Raby  lay  beyond  the  mere  circuit  of  its  own  walls  and  waters.  It  was 
to  be  found  in  the  wairior  spirit  of  its  lords,  and  in  the  Border  Castles 
of  Roxburgh,  Wark,  Norham,  Berwick,  and  Bamborough,  which  they 
commanded  continuously  as  Wardens  and  Governors,  from  the  days  of 
Robert  Neville,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  to  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 

Apart  from  the  question  of  the  site,  the  Castle  itself  is  of  great 
strength,  and  skilfully  disposed.  The  general  arrangement  is  as 
follows: — First,  the  centre  nucleus,  or  castle  proper,  consisting  of  a 
compact  mass  of  towers  connected  by  short  curtains ;  next,  a  spacious 
platfoi-m,  entirely  surrounding  this  central  mass ;  then  a  low  em- 
battled wall,  strengthened  by  a  moat-house,  and  perhaps  a  barbican,  as 
well  as  by  numerous  small  square  bastions  rising  from  its  exterior  base, 
and  then  the  moat.  The  south  front  of  the  Castle  was,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  flanking  towers  at  either  end,  nearly  flat.  The  Duke's 
tower  is  very  large  and  square,  in  fact,  two  towers  laid  together.  The 
wedge-like  projection  of  Bulmer's  tower  flanked  the  whole  towards  the 
east.  This  tower,  which  commemorates  one  of  the  Saxon  ancestors  of 
the  Nevilles,  is  thought  to  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  an  ancient 
arrofw-head.  No  Norman  or  Saxon  towers  of  the  same  shape  are 
known.  Canute  was  connected  with  the  place.  Chester  was  a  Dane,  the 
Danes  used  arrows,  and  thence  it  has  been  infeiTcd  the  tower  is  Danish, 
and  its  builder  was  a  Danish  King.  But  the  whole  tower  belongs  to 
an  advanced  period  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Next  the  east,  or  north- 
east front,  is  a  very  fine  work,  set  thick  with  towers,  broken  into  im- 
mense masses,  and  thoroughly  fortress-like.  Mount  Raskell  is  the 
angle  tower  between  the  east  and  north  fronts,  and  joins  the  great  square 
of  the  Kitchen  Tower,  which  is  connected  by  a  strong  machicolated 
curtain  with  the  vast  Clifford's  Tower,  by  far  the  largest  in  the  castle, 
and  of  immense  strength.  We  next  gain  the  west  front,  which  has  a 
lofty  tower  of  slight  projection ;  and  then  we  reach  the  great  gate- 
house, and  the  courtyard,  with  lofty  walls ;  and  the  Great  Hall,  lying  to 
the  east.  A  central  tower  of  beautiful  proportions,  shuts  off  a  smaller 
courtyard  to  the  north. 

We  have  not  space  to  examine  the  many  interesting  points  of  the 
exterior.  The  Chapel,  which  is  unquestionably  the  earliest  part  of  the 
Castle,  and  thoroughly  fortress-like  in  character,  determines  by  its 
date  the  period  when  the  general  work  of  reconstruction  and  fortifica- 
tion began.  Taken  by  itself,  it  seems  to  be  about  1345.  John 
Neville's  license  to  fortify,  howevei-,  was  in  1379  '■>  while  the  great  gate 
tower  looks  at  least  of  1430;  but  Mr.  Hodgson  shows,  by  very  curious 


I 


Raby  Castle.  239 

heraldic  evidence,  both  chapel  and  gatehouse  to  be  of  one  man's  time. 
Another  noticeable  point  is  the  entire  absence  of  buttresses — every 
tower  and  curtain  stands  in  its  own  unaided  strength ;  then  the  diversity 
of  towers — of  ali  the  nine  in  the  central  group  there  are  no  two  bear  the 
ftiintest  resemblance  to  each  other  ;  the  variety  and  beauty  of  propor- 
tion in  its  parts,  and  the  admirable  way  in  which  they  are  combined, 
producing  as  they  did  once  a  sky-line  perhaps  unmatched  in  England, 
are  really  the  glories  of  the  Castle.  Modem  alterations  have  obscured 
and  destroyed  John  Neville's  work  in  the  interior.  The  Hall  was,  from 
the  very  first,  a  double  one — that  is,  two  halls  of  nearly  equal  height, 
one  above  the  other.  Mr.  Hodgson,  by  late  examination,  at  about  ten 
fi?et  below  the  present  floor,  came  upon  the  line  of  the  old  one,  which 
had  been  of  wood,  carried  on  pillars ;  the  mutilated  remains  of  the  great 
fireplace,  and  three  doorways.  The  upper,  or  Barons'  Hall,  was  a 
noble  room,  lighted  on  each  side  by  long,  narrow,  transomed  windows, 
and  two  large  traceried  ones,  north  and  south.  The  roof  of  oak,  and 
very  fine,  was  carried  on  cambered  beams,  each  displaying  the  saltire 
on  its  centre.  At  the  north  end  was  a  lofty  stone  music  gallery,  with  a 
rich  cornice ;  in  advance  of  it  the  screens,  behind  which,  and  leading  to 
the  kitchen,  pantry,  and  buttery,  were  once,  most  likely,  three  door- 
ways. At  either  end  of  the  passage  was  a  large  arched  doorway,  one 
opening  upon  a  staircase  close  to  the  chapel  door  ;  the  other  upon  the 
r(V)f  of  a  sort  of  cloister  in  the  great  court,  which  must  have  formed  a 
promenade. 

The  Kitchen,  though  it  has  a  certain  air  of  rudeness,  and  has  lost  its 
ancient  fire-places,  is  still  a  very  interesting  relic,  and  one  of  the  most 
perfect  things  in  the  Castle.  It  occupies  the  whole  of  the  interior  of  a 
large,  strong,  square  tower ;  the  windows  are  set  high  up  in  the  walls, 
and  are  connected  by  a  perforated  passage  of  defence,  provided  with 
garderobes,  which  runs  all  round.  Two  pairs  of  very  strong  vaulting  ribs, 
intersecting  in  the  centre,  carry  the  Iountc,  which  is  of  stone,  and  of 
immense  size.  The  lower  part,  twelve  feet  square,  rises  upwards  of  the 
simc  height  above  the  leads,  and  is  surmounted  by  an  octigon  fifteen 
feet  liiglier  still;  externally  it  forms  a  very  striking  and  effective 
feature.  Below  the  Kitchen  is  a  cellar,  of  the  same  shape  and  size, 
with  a  well-groined  vaulted  roof,  carried  on  a  central  pillar.  Another 
to  the  east,  which  has  a  double  fireplace  at  one  end,  has  a  strongly 
ribbed  circular  segmental  vault.  The  lower  chamlxrr  of  Buhner's 
Tower  had,  till  lately,  a  richly-groined  vault  of  great  strength  and 
beauty.  The  Hall  Tower  has,  inside  and  out,  been  wonderfully  pre- 
served.   Vaults,  windows,  grilles,  doorways,  stairs,  garderobes,  are  all 


240  Barnard  Castle. 

nearly  intact;  it  is  really  the  most  perfect  thing  in  the  place.  The 
Chapel,  all  mutilated  as  it  is,  still  deserves  notice.  The  Sanctuary, 
which  forms  the  central  portion  of  a  tower,  has  a  boldly-ribbed  quadri- 
partite vault;  above  it  is  a'  guard-chamber;  its  exterior  window  is 
masked  by  a  very  remarkable  little  hanging  machicoulis.  Of  newel 
stairs  every  tower  has  had  one ;  and  there  are  other  stairs  within  and 
upon  the  walls,  and  gardcrobes,  and  their  passages,  with  which  the 
building  seems  literally  to  have  been  riddled. 

The  Castle,  as  completed  by  John  Lord  Neville,  has  received  no 
alterations  of  moment  from  any  of  his  descendants.  It  continued  their 
chief  residence  till  1570,  the  year  of  the  rising  of  the  North,  when  from 
his  prominent  share  in  that  unhappy  enterprise,  it  was  forfeited,  with  all 
the  rest  of  their  estates,  by  Charles,  the  sixth  and  last  Earl  of  West- 
moreland, of  the  house  of  Neville.  Raby  is  simply  without  a  history: 
a  sudden  surprise,  without  bloodshed,  in  1645,  after  its  purchase  by  Sir 
Harry  Vane,  and  a  sort  of  attack  in  1649,  when  some  lives  were  lost, 
but  of  which  there  is  no  account,  sum  up  all  its  claims  on  that  head. 
The  only  serious  assaults  it  has  undergone  have  been  in  modem  times 
by  architects.  Several  of  the  smaller  apartments  have  been  hollowed 
out  in  the  walls,  which  are  of  great  solidity  and  strength.  In  the  last 
century  was  made  a  carriage  drive  below  the  great  Hall  and  Chapel, 
when  nearly  ten  feet  were  cut  off  from  the  height  of  the  great  hall 
above;  and  the  Chapel  was  cut  in  two  from  the  bottom;  all  its 
window  tracing  has  been  torn  away,  its  fine  oak  roof  destroyed,  the 
carved  piscina  bowl  pulled  out,  the  richly  panelled  work  and  sedilia 
obscured  or  destroyed,  and  other  ancient  portions  swept  away,  making 
havoc  which  it  is  painful  to  describe.  But  these  changes  have  not 
affected  the  outward  form  of  Raby,  the  general  effect  of  which,  from 
its  extent,  grandeur,  and  preservation,  is  very  imposing. 


Barnard  Castle. 

On  an  eminence  which  rises  with  a  steep  ascent  from  the  left;  or 
northciTi  bank  of  the  Tees,  lies  the  town  of  Barnard  Castle,  which  de- 
rived its  name  and  origin  from  a  Castle  which  was  erected  on  a  rock, 
west  of  the  town,  by  Bernard  Baliol,  son  of  Guy  Baliol,  one  of  the 
followers  of  William  the  Conqueror.  One  of  the  descendants  of  Guy 
was  John  Baliol,  King  of  Scotland,  who  was  born  at  Castle  Barnard, 
and  founded  a  Hospital  there.  In  his  time  the  lordship  passed  from 
his  family  by  forfeiture,  and  was  claimed  by  Beke,  Bishop  of  Durham, 


Barnard  Castle.  241 

as  belonging  to  his  palatinate ;  but  the  King  (Edward  I.),  to  humble 
this  proud  prelate,  ultimately  took  the  palatinate  from  him,  and  when 
it  was  restored  to  the  See  of  Durham,  it  was  without  the  important 
additions  which  it  had  gained  by  the  forfeitures  of  Baliol  and  Bruce. 
The  King  gave  the  Castle  and  its  liberties  to  Beauchamp,  Earl  of 
Warwick,  from  whose  heirs  it  passed  to  the  Nevilles,  and  ultimately 
came  into  the  hands  of  Richard  III.,  by  right  of  his  wife,  Anne  Neville, 
the  daughter  of  the  king-making  Lord  Warwick.  Richard  appears 
to  have  done  much  for  the  improvement  of  the  place :  the  boar,  his 
cognizance,  still  exists  in  seNeral  parts  of  the  town  and  fortress  ;  and  in 
many  cases  figures  in  relief  of  a  boar  passant  taken  from  the  Castle,  are 
fixed  in  the  houses.  It  thus  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Crown, 
from  which  the  Castle,  houses,  lands,  and  privileges,  were  ultinutely 
purchased  by  an  ancestor  of  the  Duke  of  Cleveland,  who  is  the  present 
proprietor. 

In  the  Rebellion  of  1569,  when  the  Earls  of  Northumberland  and 
Westmoreland  took  up  arms,  and  proclaimed  their  design  of  restoring 
the  old  religion,  they  called  to  their  aid  Richard  Norton,  of  Rylstone, 
an  ancient  and  powerful  gentleman,  with  nine  sons.  On  their  banners 
were  painted  the  five  wounds  of  Christ,  or  a  chalice,  and  Norton,  "  an 
old  gentleman,  with  a  reverend  grey  beard,"  bore  a  cross  with  a 
streamer  before  them :  he  was  supported  by  his  family  and  retainers, 
and  thus  surrounded,  he  proceeded  to  the  head  quarters  of  the  insur- 
gents, who,  reinforced,  marched  to  Barnard  Castle,  defended  by  Sir 
George  Bowes,  which  they  attacked  and  starved  into  a  surrender.  The 
rebellion  being  crushed.  Sir  George  Bowes  carried  out  martial  law 
against  the  insurgents.  An  alderman  and  a  priest,  and  above  sixty 
others,  were  hanged  by  him  in  Durham  alone ;  and  according  to 
Bowes's  own  boast,  many  others  suffered  in  every  market -town  between 
Newcastle  and  \\'etherby.  Norton  and  his  sons  were  amongst  the 
sufferers.  The  existing  remains  of  the  Castle  cover  six  acres  and  three 
quarters.  The  parts  of  chief  strength  stand  on  the  brink  of  a  steep 
rock,  commanding  a  most  beautiful  prospect  up  the  river.  The  walls 
seem  to  have  been  erected  at  different  epochs,  and  with  their  apertures, 
bastions,  and  buttresses,  together  with  a  large  circular  tower,  which 
stands  on  a  cliff  one  hundred  feet  perpendicular  above  the  river,  are  in 
parts  mantled  with  ivy,  and  as  contrastetl  with  the  brown  rocks, 
figured  with  brushwood,  and  the  river  at  the  base,  form  an  object  of 
great  picturcscjue  effect.  Indeed,  the  environs  of  the  castle  are  remark- 
ably beautiful,  the  vale  of  the  Tecs  abounding  with  romantic  land- 
•  R 


242       Nevillds  Cross :  or  the  Battle  of  Red  Hills. 

scapes.  The  outer  area  of  Barnard  Castle  is  now  used  as  a  pasture  for 
sheep,  and  the  other  parts  inclosed  by  the  walls,  have  long  been  con- 
verted into  orchard-grounds. 


Neville's  Cross  :  or  the  Battle  of  Red  Hills. 

At  Beaurepaire  (or  Bear  Park,  as  it  is  now  called),  about  two  miles 
west  of  Durham,  on  hilly  ground,  in  some  parts  very  steep,  David  II., 
King  of  Scots,  encamped  with  his  army  before  the  celebrated  battle  of 
Red  Hills — or  Neville's  Cross,  as  it  was  afterwards  called,  from  an 
elegant  stone  cross,  erected  to  record  the  victory  of  Ralph,  Lord 
Neville.  The  English  sovereign,  Edward  III.,  had  just  achieved  the 
glorious  conquest  of  Crecy ;  and  the  Scottish  King  judged  this  a  fit 
opportunity  for  his  invasion.  However,  the  gieat  northern  Barons  of 
England,  Percy  and  Neville,  Musgrave,  Scrope,  and  Hastings,  assembled 
their  forces  in  numbers  sufficient  to  show  that  though  the  conqueror 
of  Crecy,  with  his  victorious  army,  was  absent  in  France,  there  were 
Englishmen  enough  at  home  to  protect  the  frontiers  of  the  kingdom 
from  violation.  The  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York,  the  prelates 
of  Durham,  Carlisle,  and  Lincoln,  sent  their  retainers,  and  attended  the 
rendezvous  in  person,  to  add  religious  enthusiasm  to  the  patriotic  zeal  of 
the  barons.  Two  thousand  soldiers,  who  had  been  sent  over  to  Calais 
to  reinforce  Edward  II I. 's  army,  were  countermanded  in  tliis  exigency, 
and  added  to  the  northern  ajtny. 

The  battle,  which  was  fought  October  17,  1346,  lasted  only  three 
houi-s,  but  was  uncommonly  destructive.  The  English  archers,  who 
were  in  front,  were  at  first  thrown  into  confusion,  and  driven  back ;  but 
being  reinforced  by  a  body  of  horse,  repulsed  their  opponents,  and  the 
engagement  soon  became  general.  The  Scottish  amiy  were  entirely 
defeated,  and  the  King  himself  made  prisoner  ;  though,  previous  to  the 
figlit,  he  is  said  to  have  regarded  the  English  with  contempt,  and  as  a 
raw  and  undisciplined  host,  by  no  means  competent  to  resist  the  power 
of  his  more  hardy  veterans. 

Amid  repeated  charges,  and  the  most  dispiriting  slaughter  by  the 
continuous  discharge  of  the  English  arrows,  David  showed  that  he  had 
the  courage,  though  not  the  talents  of  his  father  (Robert  liruce). 
He  was  twice  severely  wounded  with  anows,  but  continued  to  en- 
courage to  the  last  the  few  of  his  peers  and  officers  who  were  still 
fighting  around  him.  He  scorned  to  ask  quartei*,  and  was  taken  alive 
with  difficulty.  Rymer  says:  "The  Scotch  King,  though  he  had  two 
spears  hanging  in  his  body,  his  leg  desperately  wounded,  and  being 


Neville's  Cross:  or  the  Battle  of  Red  Hills.       243 

disarmed  (his  sword  having  been  beaten  out  of  his  hand),  disdained 
captivity,  and  provoked  the  English  by  opprobrious  language  to  kill 
him.  When  John  Copeland,  governor  of  Roxborough  Castle,  advised 
him  to  yield,  he  struck  him  on  the  face  with  his  gauntlet  so  fiercely, 
that  he  knocked  out  two  of  his  teeth.  Copeland  conveyed  him  out  of 
the  field  as  his  prisoner.  Upon  Copeland's  refusing  to  deliver  up  his 
royal  captive  to  the  Queen  (Philippa),  who  stayed  at  Newcastle  during 
the  battle,  the  King  sent  for  him  to  Calais,  where  he  excused  his  re- 
fusal so  handsomely,  that  the  King  sent  him  back  with  a  reward  ot 
500/.  a-year  in  lands  where  he  himsdf  should  choose  it,  near  his  own 
dwelling,  and  made  him  a  knight-banntret." 

Hume  states  Philippa  to  have  assembled  a  body  of  little  more  than 
12,000  men,  and  to  have  rode  through  the  ranks  of  her  army,  exhortingi 
every  man  to  do  his  duty,  and  to  take  revenge  on  these  barbarous 
savages.  Nor  could  she  be  persuaded  to  leave  the  field  till  the  armies 
wei-e  on  the  point  of  engaging.*  The  Scotch  have  often  been  defeated 
in  the  great  pitched  battles  which  they  have  fouglit  with  the  English, 
even  though  they  commonly  declined  such  engagements  when  the 
superior'ty  of  numbers  was  not  on  their  side ;  but  never  did  they  re- 
ceive a  more  fatal  blow  than  the  present.  They  were  broken  and 
chased  u.'F  the  field;  fifteen  thousand  of  them — some  historians  say 
twenty  thousand — were  slain  ;  among  whom  were  Edward  Keith,  Earl 
Marshal ;  and  Sir  Thomas  Charteris,  Chancellor  ;  and  the  King  him- 
self was  taken  prisoner,  with  the  Earls  of  Sutherland,  Fife,  Monteith, 
Carrick,  Lord  Douglas,  and  many  other  noblemen.  "  The  captive 
King  was  conveyed  to  London,  and  afterwards  in  solemn  procession  to 
the  Tower,  attended  by  a  guard  of  20,000  men,  and  all  the  City  com- 
panies in  complete  pageantry;  while  Philippa  crossed  the  sea  at  Dover, 
and  was  received  in  the  English  camp  before  Calais  with  all  the  triumph 
due  to  her  rank,  her  merit,  and  her  success."  These  were,  indeed, 
bright  days  of  chivalry  and  gallantry. 

Near  the  site  of  the  battle,  in  a  deep  valley,  is  a  small  mount,  or 
hillock,  calletl  the  Maidens  Bo<wer,  on  which  the  holy  corporas  cloth, 
wherewith  St.  Cuthbert  covered  the  chalice  when  he  used  to  say  mass, 
was  displayed  on  the  point  of  a  spear  by  the  monks  of  Durham,  who, 


*  This  statement  of  Queen  Philippa  being  on  the  field  is  incorrect.  "The 
ifle.i,"  says  till- .////<•//«-•«/«,  "  only  lives  with  the  romancers  who  rL-produced  it 
for  effect,  l.onj,'  is'^.  the  accurate  Lord  Hailcs  overthrew  I-Voissart  on  this 
qu'-vtic>n.  Had  i'hilipjKi  been  in  that  famous  onslaught,  certainly  so  gallant  a 
LI!   ;  H  •  I  as  Laurence  Minot  would  not  have  forgotten  it  in  his  song  celebrating 

tiic  U.uaipb." 

R   3 


244  Strcatham  and  Hilton  Castles. 

wlicn  the  victory  was  obtained,  gave  notice  by  signal  to  their  brethren 
stationed  on  the  great  tower  of  the  Cathedral,  who  immediately  pro- 
claimed it  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  by  singing  the  Te  Detim.  From 
that  period  the  victory  was  annually  commemorated  in  a  similar 
manner  by  the  choristers  till  the  occurrence  of  the  Civil  Wars,  when 
the  custom  was  discontinued;  but  again  revived  on  the  Restoration, 
and  obsen'ed  till  nearly  the  close  of  the  last  century. 

The  site  of  the  Cross  is  by  the  roadside ;  it  was  defaced  and  broken 
dovATi  in  the  year  1589.  The  shaft  was  placed  upon  seven  steps,  and 
its  height  was  3I  yards  to  the  boss.  It  had  eight  sides;  in  every 
second  side  was  the  Neville's  cross,  a  saltire  in  a  scutcheon,  being  Lord 
Neville's  arms;  and  on  the  socket  were  sculptures  of  the  four  Evan- 
gelists. On  the  boss  were  sculptures  of  our  Saviour  Christ  crucified, 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  St.  John  the  Evangelist. 


Streatham  and  Hilton  Castles. 

In  the  county  of  Durham  are  two  stately  seats,  of  great  historical 
interest,  and  both  belonging  to  the  Bowes  family.  The  first  is  Streat- 
ham Castle,  about  four  miles  from  Barnard  Castle,  originally  built  by 
the  Baliols,  and  the  residence  of  the  ancient  family  of  Trayne,  from 
whom  it  devolved  to  the  Boweses  by  the  man-iage  of  Sir  Adam  Bowes 
with  the  heiress  of  Trayne.  Sir  William,  his  lineal  descendant,  rebuilt 
the  castle  after  a  Norman  model  about  the  year  1450,  portions  of  the 
former  castle  being  built  upon  or  enclosed  within  the  present  structure. 
The  Castle  was  prominent  in  the  Rebellion  of  1569,  when  the  insurgents 
gaining  possession,  within  twelve  days,  wrought  sad  destruction — tear- 
ing out  t  he  glass  windows  and  iron  stanchions,  and  canying  away  every- 
thing that  could  possibly  be  removed,  the  loss  by  their  depredations 
being  1200/.  Of  the  early  Castle  many  stem  features  are  recorded; 
as,  rings  fixed  in  the  wall  with  chains  attached,  in  the  dungeon,  sepa- 
rated by  an  iron  grille,  from  the  more  habitable  parts.  There  are  be- 
sides named  in  an  inventory  of  the  year  i  ffiG,  the  "  Great  Vaults ;"  and 
"  Haddon  Hole,"  a  lower  dungeon,  beneath  the  Great  Hall,  which  was 
below  the  Chapel.  There  existed  to  our  time  a  gateway,  a  moat,  and 
a  drawbridge ;  and  a  sort  of  well  or  deep  tank,  in  which  articles  of 
value  were  secreted  in  times  of  danger  and  alarm. 

Hilton  Castle,  the  second  Durham  fortress,  is  situated  near  Sunderland, 
and  a  five-storied  edifice  of  massive  grandeur,  its  turrets  decorated  with 
corbel  heads,  and  figures  on  the  top,  some  in  combatant  attitudes,  and 


Streatham  and  Hilton  Castles.  245 

machicolations  for  the  protection  of  arches.  The  first  on  actual  record 
of  the  noble  race  who  gave  name  to  this  Castle,  is  "  Romanus,  the  Knight 
of  Hilton,"  in  11 60;  and  the  exterior  bears  sumptuous  heraldic 
evidences. 

Surtees,  the  historian  of  Durham,  relates  a  story  of  a  certain  Brownie, 
said  to  have  haunted  the  Castle,  and  called  the  Cauld  Lad  of  Hilton, 
belonging  to  a  very  common  and  numerous  class  of  domestic  spirits, 
and  seeming  to  possess  no  very  distinctive  attributes.  "  He  was 
seldom  seen,  but  was  heard  nightly  by  the  servants,  wAo  slept  in  the 
great  hall.  If  the  kitchen  had  been  in  perfect  order,  they  heard  him 
amusing  himself  by  breaking  plates  and  dishes,  hurling  the  pewter  in 
all  directions,  and  throwing  everything  into  confusion.  If  on  the  con- 
trary the  apartment  had  been  left  in  disarray — a  practice  which  the 
servants  found  it  most  prudent  to  adopt — the  indefatigable  goblin 
arranged  everything  with  the  greatest  precision.  This  poor  esprit  follet, 
whose  pranks  were  at  all  times  perfectly  harmless,  was  at  length 
banished  from  his  haunts  by  the  usual  expedient  of  presenting  him  with 
a  suit  of  clothes.  A  green  cloak  and  hood  were  laid  before  the  kitchen 
fire,  and  the  domestics  sat  up  watching  at  a  prudent  distance.  At 
twelve  o'clock,  the  sprite  glided  gently  in,  stood  by  the  glowing  embers, 
and  surveyed  the  garments  provided  for  him,  very  attentively  tried  ihim 
on,  and  seemed  delighted  with  his  appearance,  frisking  about  for  some 
lime,  and  cutting  several  summersets  and  gambadoes,  till,  on  hearing 
the  first  cock,  he  twitches  his  mantle  tight  about  him,  and  disappeared 
with  the  usual  valediction : 

"  Here's  a  cloak,  and  here's  a  hood, 
The  Cauld  Lad  of  Hilton  will  do  no  more  good." 

"  The  genuine  Brownie,  however,  is  supposed  to  be,  ab  origine,  an  un- 
cinbodied  spirit ;  but  the  Boy  of  Hilton  has,  with  an  admixture  of 
English  superstition,  lieen  identified  with  the  apparition  of  an  unfortunate 
domestic,  whom  one  of  the  old  chiefs  of  Hilton  slew  at  some  very  distant 
peri(jd  in  a  moment  of  wrath  or  intemperance.  The  Baron  had, 
it  seems,  on  an  imjwirtant  occasion,  ordered  his  horse,  which  was  not 
brought  out  so  soon  as  he  expectetl ;  he  went  to  the  stable,  found  the 
boy  lolteiing,  and  seizing  a  hay-fork,  struck  him,  though  not  inten- 
tionally, a  mortal  blow.  The  story  adds  that  he  covered  his  victim 
with  straw  till  night,  and  then  threw  him  into  the  pond,  where  the 
skeleton  of  a  boy  was  (in  confirmation  of  the  tale)  discoveretl  in  the 
last  Baron's  time." 

Surtees  also  gives  the  following  lines  descriptive  of  a  popular  tra- 
dition relative  to  the  family  of  Hilton ; 


246  Streatham  and  Hilton  Castles. 

"  His  fetters  of  ice  the  broad  Baltic  is  breaking ; 

In  the  deep  glens  of  Denmark  sweet  summer  is  wakingf, 

And  blushing  amidst  her  pavilion  of  snows, 

Discloses  her  chalice,  the  bright  Lapland  rose. 

The  winds  in  the  caverns  of  winter  are  bound. 

Yet  the  leaves  that  the  tempest  has  strew  d  on  the  ground 

Are  whirling  in  magical  eddies  around, 

For  deep  in  the  forest,  where  wild  flowers  are  blushing. 

Where  the  stream  from  the  cistern  of  rock-spar  is  gushing, 

The  magic  of  Lapland  the  wild  wind  is  hushing. 

Why  slumbers  tlie  storm  in  the  caves  of  the  north? 

When,  when  shall  the  carrier  of  Odin  go  forth? 

Loud,  loud  laugh'd  the  hags  as  the  dark  raven  flew : 

They  had  sprinkled  his  wings  with  the  mirk  midnight  dew. 

That  was  brush'd  in  Blockula  from  cypress  and  yew. 
That  raven  in  its  charmed  breast 
Bears  a  sprite  that  knows  no  rest — 
(When  Odin's  darts  in  darkness  hurl'd, 
Scatter'd  lightnings  through  the  world, 
Then  beneath  the  withering  spell, 
Harold,  son  of  Eric,  fell) — 
Till  lady,  unlikely  thing,  I  trow, 
Print  three  kisses  on  his  brow — 
Herald  of  ruin,  death,  and  flight. 
Where  will  the  carrier  of  Odin  light? 

What  Syrian  maid  in  her  date-cover 'd  bower. 

Lists  to  the  lay  of  a  gay  Troubadour  ? 

His  song  is  of  war,  and  he  scarcely  conceab 

The  tumult  of  pride  that  his  dark  bosom  feels ; 

From  Antioch  beleaguer'd  the  recreant  has  stray'd. 

To  kneel  at  the  foot  of  an  infidel  maid  ; 

His  mail  laid  aside  in  a  minstrel's  disguise, 

He  basks  in  the  beams  of  a  Nourjahad  s  eyes. 
Yet  a  brighter  flower  in  greener  bower, 

He  left  in  the  dewy  west. 
Heir  of  his  name  and  his  Saxon  tower ; 
And  Edith's  childish  vest 

Was  chang'd  for  lovelier  woman's  zone ; 

And  days,  and  months,  and  years  have  flown 

Since  her  parting  sire  her  red  lips  prest. 

And  she  is  left  an  orphan  child 

In  her  gloomy  hall  by  the  woodland  wild ; 

To  guard  her  lower,  to  tend  her  state, 
Unletter'd  hinds  and  rude. 

Unseen  the  tear-drop  dims  her  eye. 

Her  heart  unheeded  heaves  the  sigh, 

And  youth's  fresh  roses  fade  and  die 
In  wan,  unjoyous  solitude. 

Edith  in  her  saddest  mood 
Has  climb'd  the  bartizan  stair ; 

No  sound  comes  from  the  stream  or  wood. 
No  breath  disturbs  the  air, 

The  summer  clouds  are  motionless. 
And  she  so  sad,  so  fair. 

Seems  like  a  lily  rooted  there. 
In  lost  forgotten  loneliness. 

A  gentle  breeze  comes  from  the  vale. 

And  a  sound  of  life  is  on  the  gale, 


A  Myth  of  Midridge.  247 


And  see  a  raven  on  the  wing, 
Circling  round  in  airy  ring, 
Hovering  about  in  doleful  tright — 
Where  will  the  carrier  of  Odin  alight  ? 
The  raven  has  lit  on  the  flagstaff  high, 

That  top)s  the  dungeon  tower, 
But  he  has  caught  fair  Edith's  eye. 
And  gently,  coyly,  venturing  nigh. 

He  flutters  round  her  bower  ; 
For  he  trusted  the  soft  and  maiden  grace 
TTiat  shone  in  that  sweet  young  Saxon  face. 
And  now  he  has  perch 'd  on  her  willow  wand. 
And  tries  to  smooth  his  raven  note. 
And  sleek  his  glossy  raven  coat 

To  court  the  maidens  hand. 
And  now,  caressing  and  caress 'd. 
The  raven  is  lodg'd  in  Edith's  breast. 
"  "Tis  innocence  and  youth  that  makes 
In  Ekiith's  fancy  such  mistakes." 
But  that  maiden  kiss  hath  holy  jxjwer 
O'er  planet  and  sigiUary  hour ; 
The  elfish  spell  hath  lost  its  charms. 
And  a  Danish  knight  is  in  Edith's  arms. 
And  Harold  at  his  bride's  request 
His  barbarous  gods  forswore: 
Freyn,  and  Woden,  and  Balder,  and  Thor: 
And  Jarrow  with  tapers  blazing  bright, 
HaiI'd  her  gallant  proselyte." 


A  Myth  of  Midridge. 

Midridge,  near  Auckland,  was  a  great  place  for  fairies  in  olden  times. 
Occasionally,  a  visitor  used  to  visit  the  vscene  of  their  gambols,  if 
it  were  but  to  catch  a  parting  glance  of  the  tiny  folks,  dressed  in 
their  vestments  of  green,  as  delicate  as  the  thread  of  the  gossamer ; 
for  well  knew  the  lass  so  favoured,  that  ere  the  current  year  had  dis- 
appeared, she  would  have  become  the  happy  wife  of  the  object  of  her 
only  love ;  and  also  as  well  ken'd  the  lucky  lad  that  he  too  would  get 
a  weel  tochered  lassie,  long  afore  his  brow  became  wrinkled  with  age, 
or  the  snow-white  blossoms  had  begun  to  bud  forth  on  his  pate. 
Woe  to  those,  however,  who  dared  to  come  by  twos  or  by  threes,  with 
inquisitive  and  curious  eye,  within  the  bounds  of  their  domain  ;  for  if 
caught,  or  only  the  eye  of  a  fairy  fell  upon  them,  ill  was  sure  to  betide 
them  through  life.  Still  more  awfiil,  however,  was  the  result  if  any 
were  so  rash  as  to  address  them,  either  in  plain  prose  or  rustic  rhyme. 
The  last  instance  of  their  being  spoken  to,  is  thus  still  handed  down. 

Twas  on  a  lieautifully  clear  evening  in  August,  when  after  calling 
the  harvest-home,  the  daytale  men  and  household  servants  were  enjoying 


248  A  Myth  of  Midridge. 

themselves  over  strong  beer,  that  the  evening's  conversation  at  last 
turned  upon  the  fairies  of  the  neighbouring  hill,  and  each  related  his 
oft-told  tale.  At  last,  the  senior  of  the  mirthful  party  proposed  to  a 
youthful  mate  of  his,  who  had  dared  to  doubt  even  the  existence  ot 
such  creatures,  that  he  durst  not  go  to  the  hill,  mounted  on  his 
master's  best  palfrey,  and  call  aloud  the  following  lines : 

"  Rise,  little  lads, 
Wi'  your  iron  gads, 
And  set  the  Lord  o'  Midridge  home." 

Off  went  the  lad  to  the  fairy  hill,  and  there  uttered  loudly  the  above 
invitatory  verses.  Scarcely  had  the  last  words  escaped  his  lips  ere  he 
was  nearly  surrounded  by  many  hundreds  of  the  little  folks.  The 
most  robust  of  the  fairies,  Oberon,  their  king,  wielding  an  enormous 
javelin,  thus  addressed  the  witless  wight : — 

' '  Sillie  Willy,  mount  thy  filly ; 
And  if  it  isn't  weel  corii'd  and  fed, 
I'll  ha"  thee  afore  thou  gets  hame  to  thy  Midridge  bed." 

Well  was  it  for  Willy  that  his  home  was  not  far  distant,  and  that 
part  light  was  still  remaining  in  the  sky.  Horrified  beyond  measure,  he 
struck  his  spurs  into  the  sides  of  his  beast,  who,  equally  alarmed, 
darted  off  as  quick  as  lightning  towards  the  mansion  of  its  owner. 
Luckily  it  was  one  of  those  houses  of  olden  time,  which  would  admit 
a  horse  and  his  rider  without  danger ;  lucky  also  was  it  that  at  the 
moment  they  arrived,  the  door  was  standing  wide  open ;  so  considering 
the  house  a  safer  sanctuary  from  the  belligerent  fairies  than  the  stable, 
he  galloped  direct  into  the  hall,  to  the  no  small  amazement  of  all  be- 
holders, when  the  door  was  instantly  closed  upon  his  pursuing  foes ! 
As  soon  as  Willy  was  able  to  draw  his  breath,  and  had  in  part  over- 
come the  effects  of  his  fear,  he  related  to  his  comrades  a  full  and 
particular  account  of  his  adventure  with  the  fairies ;  but  from  that  time 
forward,  never  more  could  any  one,  cither  for  love  or  money,  prevail 
upon  Willy  to  give  the  fairies  of  the  hill  an  invitation  to  take  an  evening 
walk  with  him  as  far  as  the  village  of  Midridge ! 

To  conclude,  when  the  fairies  had  departed,  and  it  was  considered 
safe  to  unbar  the  door,  to  give  egress  to  Will  and  his  filly,  it  was  found, 
to  the  amazement  of  all  beholders,  that  the  identical  iron  javelin  of  the 
fairy  king  had  pierced  through  the  thick  oaken  door,  which  for  service 
as  well  as  safety,  was  strongly  plated  with  iron,  where  it  still  stuck,  and 
actually  required  the  stoutest  fellow  in  the  company,  with  the  aid  of 
a  smith's  great  fore-hanuner  to  drive  it  out. — Notes  and  Queries, 
No.  (i2> 


249 


YORKSHIRE. 

Rokeby  and  its  Lords. 

This  celebrated  estate,  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  rivers  Tees  and 
Greta  in  a  picturesque  part  of  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  is  of 
ancient  as  well  as  modern  renown.  In  this  d'strict  may  be  traced  the 
works  of  our  Roman  conquerors,  and  the  remains  of  an  ancient  priory. 
The  lords  of  Rokeby  were  famous  as  soldiers  and  statesmen,  from  the 
Conquest  to  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  when  the  family  suffered  grievously 
in  the  cause  of  that  monarch.  In  Rokeby,  with  its  enchanting  views 
and  its  wild  traditions.  Sir  Walter  Scott  found — 

"A  stem,  and  lone,  yet  lovely  road, 
As  e'er  the  foot  of  Minstrel  trode;" 

And  the  readers  of  that  poem,  who  have  visited  the  spot  fi'om  which 
it  takes  its  name,  must  be  struck  with  the  skill  with  which  Scott  has  in- 
troduced the  most  interesting  objects  in  the  neighbourhood  (Barnard 
Castle),  "  Eglestone's  gray  ruins,"  "  Mortham  Tower,"  and  the  "  Roman 
Legion."  In  passing  from  Yorkshire  to  Durham,  over  the  modern 
arch,  called  "  Abbey  Bridge,"  we  look  down  on  a  rocky  ravine,  through 
which  the  Tees  forces  its  passage  amidst  inegular  masses  of  rock,  in 
the  crevices  of  which  trees  and  shrubs  have  taken  root.  Through  the 
arch  of  the  Abbey  Bridge,  on  the  left  are  seen  the  ruins  of  the  Praemon- 
stratensian  Priory  of  Eglestone.*  The  founder  is  unknown.  It  is,  how- 
ever, supposed  to  have  been  Ralph  de  Multon,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  Richard  I.  The  church  v/as  the  place  of  the  interment  of  the 
Rokebys,  and  formerly  contained  the  tombs  of  members  of  that  family, 
as  well  as  those  of  Bowes  and  Fitzhugh.  Scott  alludes  to  the  present 
state  of  the  ancient  fabric,  and  the  injuries  it  sustained  fi-om  republican 
fury,  with  the  feelings  of  a  poet  and  an  antiquary : 


•  T!     ."  diin  canons  were  those  wiio  followed  certain  rules  laid 

ddwii  a  II20.     They  declared  that  their  founder  received  his 

rules  1'    '     ■       „  ■'!  the  hands  of  St.  Augustine,  wliose  apjxirition  ciimc  to 

him  in  the  nigiit  !  AUcr  this  distinguished  visit,  it  was  alletjed  that  St.  Norbert 
received  another  from  an  angel,  wlio  showed  him  the  meadow  in  which  he  was 
to  build  his  first  monastery  ;  from  which  circumstance  it  was  called  Fnrmon- 
stratus  (or  Premoiistrc),  meaning  roreshown. 


250  Mtirder  of  the  Monk  of  Whitby. 

"  The  reverend  pile  lay  wild  and  waste, 
Profaned,  dishonoured,  and  defaced : 
Through  storied  lattices  no  more 
In  softened  light  the  sunbeams  pour, 
Gilding  the  Gothic  sculpture  rich, 
Of  shrine,  and  monument,  and  niche. 
The  civil  fury  of  the  time 
Made  sport  of  sacrilegious  crime ; 
For  dark  fanaticism  rent 
Altar,  and  screen,  and  ornament ; 
And  peasant  hands  the  tombs  o'erthrew, 
Of  Bowes,  of  Rokcby,  and  Fitz  Hugh." 

The  ancient  castle  of  Rokeby,  says  Scott,  stood  exactly  upon  the  site 
of  the  present  mansion,  by  which  a  part  of  its  walls  is  enclosed.  It  is 
surrounded  by  a  profusion  of  fine  wood.  Dr.  Whitaker  renders  the 
word  Rokeby,  as  the  dwelling  vear  the  Rock. 

A  curious  record  of  the  Rokeby  family  has  reached  the  public  eye, 
by  means  of  the  practice  now  popular  of  printing  old  family  Diaries. — 
In  the  diary  of  Sir  Thomas  Rokeby,  Justice  in  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  in  the  reign  of  William  III.,  occurs  the  worthy  valetudinarian's 
doctor's  bill  for  only  two  months,  October  and  November,  1697: — 
"  Purging  pills,  2s. ;  leeches,  6d. ;  aperitive  ingredients,  u.  6ei. ;  hystc- 
rike  water,  2j.  ;  a  purging  bolus,  is.Cd.;  purging  pills,  u. ;  Gascan 
powder,  41.;  vermifuge  pills,  a  box,  3J.  4^.;  a  purging  bolus,  u.  6d.; 
purging  pills,  u. ;  cephalick  drops,  2s.  6d. ;  an  hysterick  julep,  y.^d.; 
hystcrick  pills  (eighty-five),  6s.  8d. ;  a  vomitive  potion,  2s.  6d, ;  a  sto- 
machick  cordial,  2j.  ;  a  cordial  potion,  u.  8d. ;  vomitive  salts  (three 
doses,)  IS.  6d. ;  the  hysterick  julep,  y.  6d. ;  mithridate,  is. ;  the  vomitive 
potion,  2s.  6d. ;  vomitive  salts,  is.  6d. ;  the  hysterick  pills,  6s.  8d.;  the 
hysterick  julep,  3J.  6d.;  sal  ammoniac,  6s.:  2/.  17J.  lod."  Spite  of 
this  drenching  to  which  Sir  Thomas  had  to  subject  himself,  he  lived  to 
the  age  of  sixty-seven. 


Murder  of  the  Monk  of  Whitby. 

Whitby,  a  seaport  of  great  antiquity,  in  the  North  Riding  of  York- 
shire, seems  to  have  arisen  originally  fi-om  the  neighbourhood  of  an 
abbey,  founded  by  Oswy,  King  of  Northumberland,  in  867  ;  but  both 
abbey  and  town  were  utterly  destroyed  by  the  Danes,  and  lay  in  ruins 
until  after  the  Norman  Conquest,  when  the  restoration  of  the  edifice 
was  l^egun  by  a  humble  individual  named  Reinfrid,  in  the  year  1074. 
This  man  was  one  of  three  monks  who,  in  the  year  preceding,  set 
out  from  Evesham  Abbey  on  a  kind  of  pilgrimage  to  the  north  to 
restore  monastic  institutions  in  Northumbria.    They  travelled  on  foot. 


Murder  of  the  Monk  of  Whitby.  251 

with  a  little  ass  to  cany  their  books  and  priestly  garments.  Having 
collected  a  goodly  number  of  followers,  Reinfrid,  with  his  share,  tra- 
velletl  southward  to  Whitby,  to  revive  the  ancient  monasteiy  of  St. 
Hilda.  Reinfrid,  we  are  told,  had  formerly  been  a  soldier  in  the  army 
of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  as  such  had  been  known  to  William  de 
Percy,  Lord  of  Whitby,  who  readily  granted  him  and  his  fraternity  the 
site  of  the  ancient  abbey.  The  monastery  obtained  its  principal  endow- 
ments from  the  Percy  family,  ancestors  of  the  Dukes  of  Northumber- 
land, and  other  branches  of  the  noble  family  of  Percy.  The  son  of 
William  de  Percy,  Alan,  endowed  it  with  the  whole  of  that  extensive 
teiTitory  now  denominated  \\  hitby  Strand.  The  present  ruins  over- 
look the  sea  at  the  height  of  240  feet.  The  beautiful  central  tower  fell 
in  1830;  the  existing  ruins  consist  of  the  choir,  the  north  tiansept, 
nearly  entire,  and  part  of  the  west  front. 

In  the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  H.  (i  159),  the  Lord  of  Ugle- 
bamby,  then  called  William  de  Bi-uce,  the  Lord  of  Sneaton,  called 
Ralph  de  Percy,  with  a  gentleman  and  freeholder,  called  Allatson,  on 
the  1 6th  day  of  October,  appointed  to  meet  and  hunt  the  wild  boar,  in 
a  certain  wood  or  desert  place  named  Eskdale-side,  belonging  to  the 
Abbot  of  Whitby,  whose  name  was  Sedman.  These  three  gentlemen 
:net  as  above,  with  their  hounds  and  boar-staves,  and  there  found  a  great 
wild  boar;  the  hounds  ran  him  well  near  about  the  chapel  and  hermi- 
tage of  Eskdale-side,  where  lived  a  monk  of  Whitby,  who  was  a  hermit. 
The  boar  being  very  sorely  pursued,  and  dead  run,  fell  down  at  the 
chapel-door,  and  presently  died.  The  hermit  succeeded  in  shutting  the 
hounds  out  of  the  chapel,  and  kept  himself  within  at  his  meditations 
and  prayers,  the  hounds  standing  at  bay  without.  The  gentlemen  in 
the  thick  of  the  wood,  being  just  behind  their  game,  followed  the  cry  of 
their  hounds,  and  so  came  to  the  hermitage,  calling  on  the  hermit,  who 
opened  the  door  and  came  forth,  and  within  they  found  the  boar  lying 
dead  ;  for  which  the  gentlemen  in  great  fury,  because  their  hounds  were 
put  from  their  game,  most  violently  and  cruelly  ran  at  the  hermit  with 
their  boar-staves,  whereby  he  soon  after  died.  Thereupon  the  gentle- 
men, perceiving  and  knowing  that  they  were  in  peril  of  death,  took 
sanctuary  at  Scarborough.  But  at  that  time  the  abbot  being  in  very 
great  favour  with  the  King,  removed  them  out  of  the  sanctuary,  whereby 
they  came  in  danger  of  the  law,  and  not  to  be  privileged ;  but  likely  to 
have  the  severity  of  the  law,  which  was  death  for  death.  Still,  the  hermit 
being  a  holy  and  devout  man,  and  at  the  point  of  death,  sent  for  the 
abbot,  and  desired  him  to  send  for  the  gentlemen  who  had  wounded 
hira.    They  accordingly  came,  when  the  hermit  being  very  sick  and 


252  Murder  of  the  Monk  of  Whithy. 

weak,  said  to  them,  "  I  am  sure  to  die  of  those  wounds  you  have  given 
me."  The  ablxjt  answered,  "  They  shall  surely  die  lor  the  same."  But 
the  hermit  answered,  "  Not  so,  for  1  will  fi-eely  forgive  them  my  death, 
if  they  be  content  to  be  enjoined  the  penance  I  shall  lay  on  them  for  the 
safeguard  of  tlieir  souls."  The  gentlemen  being  present,  bid  him  save 
their  lives. 

"Then,"  said  the  hennit,  "you  and  yours  shall  hold  your  lands  of  the 
Abbot  of  Whitby  and  his  successors  in  this  manner :  that  upon  Ascen- 
sion Day,  you  or  some  of  you  shall  come  to  the  wood  of  the  Stray 
Heads,  which  is  in  Eskdale-side,  the  same  day  at  simrising,  and  there 
shall  the  abbot's  officer  blow  his  horn,  to  the  intent  that  you  may  know 
how  to  find  him  ;  and  he  shall  deliver  unto  you,  AVilliam  de  Ikuce,  ten 
stakes,  eleven  stout  stowers,  and  eleven  yethers,  to  be  cut  by  you,  or 
some  of  you,  with  a  krife  of  one  penny  price.  And  you,  Allatson,  shall 
take  nine  of  each  sort  to  be  cut  as  aforesaid,  and  to  be  taken  on  your 
backs  and  earned  to  the  town  of  Whitby,  and  to  be  there  before  nine 
of  the  clock,  if  it  be  full  sea,  your  labour  and  service  shall  cease ;  and 
if  low  water,  each  of  you  shall  set  your  stakes  to  the  brim,  each  stake 
one  yard  fi-om  the  other,  and  so  yether  them  on  each  side  with  your 
yethers,  and  so  stake  on  each  side  with  your  stout  stowers,  that  they 
may  stand  three  tides  without  removing  by  the  force  thereof;  each 
of  you  shall  do,  make,  and  execute  the  said  service  and  at  that  very 
hour,  every  year  except  it  be  full  sea  at  that  hour;  but  when  it  shall  so 
fall  out,  this  service  shall  cease.  You  shall  faithfully  do  this,  in  rcmem- 
brance  that  you  did  most  cruelly  slay  me,  and  that  you  may  the  better 
call  to  God  for  mercy,  repent  unfeignedly  of  your  sins,  and  do  good 
works.  The  officer  of  Eskdale-side  shall  blow — Out  on  you,  out  on 
you,  out  on  you,  for  this  heinous  crime.  If  you  or  your  successors  shall 
refuse  this  service,  so  long  as  it  shall  not  be  full  sea  at  the  aforesaid  hour, 
you  or  yours  shall  forfeit  your  lands  to  the  Abbot  of  Whitby,  or  his 
successors.  This  I  entreat  and  earnestly  beg,  that  you  may  have  your  lives 
and  goods  preserved  for  this  service :  and  I  request  of  you  to  promise  by 
your  parts  in  heaven,  that  it  shall  be  done  by  you  and  your  successors  as  is 
aforesaid  requested,  and  I  will  confirm  it  by  the  faith  of  an  honest  man." 

Then  the  hermit  said,  "  My  soul  longeth  for  the  Lord  ;  and  I  do  as 
freely  forgive  these  men  my  death,  as  Christ  forgave  the  thieves  on  the 
cross."  And  in  the  presence  of  the  abbot  and  the  rest,  he  said  more- 
over these  words  [in  Latin]  "  O  Lord,  into  thy  hands  do  I  commit 
my  soul,  for  from  the  chains  of  death  hast  thou  redeemed  me,  O 
Lord  of  truth.  Amen."  So  he  yielded  up  the  ghost,  the  eighth  day  of 
December,  Anno  Domini  1 1 59,whose  soul  God  have  mercy  upon.  Amen, 


Scarborough  Castle.  253 

In  the  year  11 29,  a  priory  was  founded  here  by  Robert  de  Brus,  for 
canons  of  the  order  of  St.  Austin,  the  importance  of  which,  in  the  days 
of  its  prosperity,  may  be  conceived  from  the  assertion  of  a  manuscript  in 
the  Cottonian  Librar)',  that  the  prior  kept  a  most  pompous  house,  "  in- 
somuch that  the  towne,  consystinge  of  500  householders,  had  no  lande, 
but  lived  all  in  the  Abbey."  Of  this  building  a  very  small  portion  re- 
mains, near  the  east  end  of  the  town. 

At  Guisborough,  near  Whitby,  alum  was  first  made  in  England.  It 
appears  that  towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Thomas  Chalo- 
ner  (aftenvards  Sir  Thomas),  while  travelling  in  Italy,  examined  some 
alum-works  of  the  Pope's,  and  finding  that  it  was  only  want  of  expe- 
rienced workmen  which  prevented  his  working  the  alum  on  his  estate 
near  Guisborough,  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  some  of  the  Pope's 
workmen  to  accompany  him  to  England.  He  succeeded  ;  and  in  order 
to  smuggle  them  away,  he  put  two  or  three  of  them  into  casks,  and  in 
this  manner  conveyed  to  a  ship  which  was  ready  to  sail.  The  enraged 
Pope  then  thundered  a  curse  against  him,  which  curse  is  to  be  found  in 
Charlton's  History  of  Whitby,  word  for  word  the  same  as  that  read  by 
Dr.  Slop.  Sterne  also  used  continually  to  stay  with  his  friend,  John 
Hall  Stevenson  (the  liegeman  of  his  story),  at  Skelton  Castle,  near 
Guisborough,  and  there,  of  course,  became  well  acquainted  with  the 
curse  in  question,  which  is  familiarly  known  to  everjj  man  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. Chaloner's  works  have  long  been  discontinued,  and  the 
manufacture  has  been  transferred  to  Whitby. 


Scarborough  Castle. 

The  peculiarities  of  the  locality  of  Scarborough  attracted  to  it  inhabi- 
tants at  a  very  early  period  :  its  name,  implying  a  tortified  rock,  is  of 
Saxon  derivation,  and  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  it  was  previously  a 
Roman  settlement.  It  is  situated  in  the  recess  of  a  bay,  whence  it 
rises  in  an  amphitheatrical  form  to  the  summit  of  a  cliff,  or  scar,  from 
which  it  derives  its  name.  The  harbour  is  made  by  a  pier  forming  the 
sweep  of  a  large  circle : 

"Shooting  through  the  deep. 
The  Mole  immense  expands  its  massy  arms, 
And  forms  a  spacious  haven.     Loud  the  winds 
Murmur  around,  impatient  o(  control, 
A    ■       ■  1,  and  thunder — vain  their  rage; 

t  ijjencss,  every  stone 

\S .  ss  rests." 


254  Scarborough  Castle. 

The  bay  is  protected  on  the  north  and  north-east  by  the  high  and  steep 
promontory,  with  an  ancient  Castle  on  its  summit.  Scarborough  has, 
step  by  step,  and  street  by  stieet,  crept  up  the  acclivity,  the  oldest 
streets  having  been  formerly  a  part  of  the  sands.  The  town  itself  was  in 
ancient  times  defended  by  strong  walls,  a  moat,  and  earthen  mounds  ; 
and  the  Castle  must,  l)efore  the  application  of  artillery,  have  been  abso- 
lutely impregnable  to  all  attacks  of  open  violence.  The  ruins  of  this 
fortress  are  elevated  more  than  300  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
having  at  the  summit  an  area  of  nineteen  good  green  acres,  termi- 
nating on  three  sides  in  a  perpendicular  rock,  and  the  fourth  side  to- 
wards the  town  and  bay,  being  a  steep  rocky  slope. 

The  Castle  was  built  in  the  reign  of  King  Stephen,  by  William  le 
Gros,  E^rl  of  Albemarle  and  Holdemess,  and  has  been  the  scene  of 
many  events  remarkable  in  our  history.  In  1272,  Edward  I.  kept 
a  splendid  Court  at  Scarborough.  Piers  Gaveston,  the  favourite  of 
Edward  II.,  sought  in  the  Castle  refuge  fiom  the  exasperated  barons 
in  13 1 2.  The  Earl  of  Pembroke  besieged  Gaveston  here,  but  several  of 
his  assaults  were  repulsed  with  great  bravery  ;  and  it  was  the  want  of 
provisions  only  which  compelled  him,  after  a  noble  defence,  to  surrender 
himself,  and  he  was  beheaded.  In  1318,  Robert  Bruce  reduced  Scar- 
borough to  ashes.  In  1377,  a  daring  Scottish  fieebooter,  named  Meicer, 
being  committed  prisoner  to  Scarborough  Castle,  his  son  entered  tlie 
harbour,  and  carried  away  a  number  of  merchant-vessels  in  triumph. 
In  1484,  a  battle  off  Scarborough  was  fought  between  the  French 
and  English  fleets,  when  several  ships  were  taken  by  the  former. 
Richard  III.  twice  visited  Scarborough  Castle,  and  made  the  town  a 
county  of  itself,  a  privilege  discontinued  very  soon  afterwards.  In  1536, 
Robert  Aske,  with  his  fanatical  army,  in  their  "  Pilgrimage  of  Grace," 
made  an  attack  upon  Scarborough  Castle,  but  was  obliged  to  abandon 
the  enterprise  with  confusion  and  disgrace.  During  Wyat's  rebellion, 
Thomas,  second  son  of  Lord  Stafford,  surprised  and  took  the  Castle  by 
the  stratagem  of  introducing  a  number  of  soldiers  disguised  as  peasants ; 
but  three  da)'S  afterwards  it  was  retaken  by  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland, 
and  Stafford  anil  three  other  of  the  leaders  were  executed  for  treason : 
hence  the  origin  of  the  phrase,  "  a  Scarborough  warning— a  word  and  a 
blow,  and  the  blow  comes  first."  During  the  Civil  Wars  the  Castle 
under^vent  two  sieges  by  the  Parliamentary  forces,  the  first  of  which 
lasted  twelve  months.  It  was  then,  like  many  other  fortresses,  dis- 
mantled by  order  of  the  Parliament. 

In  the  neighbourhood  are  Castle  Howard,  built  by  Vanbrugh ;  and 
the  ruins  of  Rivaulx  Abbey,  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  Cistercian 


Middleltam  Castle.  255 

monastery  founded  in   Yorkshire,  its  remains  being  of  considerable 
extent  and  unusually  perfect. 

In  Scarborough  Castle  was  imprisoned  above  twelve  months,  for  his 
religious  opinions,  George  Fox,  the  first  of  the  people  called  Quakers: 
his  sufferings  here  were  very  great;  he  was  released  September  i,  1646. 


Middleliam  Castle. 

The  most  interesting  feature  of  the  town  of  Middleham,  in  the  North 
Riding  of  Yorkshire,  is  its  ancient  Castle,  built  by  Robert  Fitz-Ranulph, 
younger  brother  of  Allan,  Earl  of  Bretagne,  to  whom  the  whole  of 
\\  ensleydale  was  given  by  Conan,  Earl  of  Bretagne  and  Richmond. 
It  is  remarkable  that,  in  1469,  each  of  the  rival  kings  was  under  durance 
at  once — Edward  IV.  at  Middleham,  and  Henry  VI.  in  the  Tower, 
whilst  the  Nevilles  were  wavering  between  the  two.  Both  places  of  the 
royal  captivity  are  scenes  in  Shakspeare's  Third  Part  of  King  Henry  VI.: 
Scene  v.,  a  Park  near  Middleham  Castle;  and  Scene  VI,,  A  Room 
in  the  Tower.  Edward  IV.  was  confined  for  a  time  at  Middleham  by 
Warwick,  after  he  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  Wolvey :  he  was — 

"  Committed  to  the  Bishop  of  York, 
Fell  War^vick's  brother." 

"  Edward,"  says  Rapin,  "  behaved  so  obligingly  to  that  prelate,  that 
he  had  leave,  with  a  small  guard,  to  hunt  now  and  then  in  the  park. 
This  first  step  being  taken,  he  prevailed  with  one  of  his  guards  to  deliver  a 
klter  to  two  gentlemen  of  the  neighbourhood,  wherein  he  pointed  out 
to  them  what  course  they  should  take  to  free  him.  The  gentlemen, 
overjoyed  at  the  opportunity  to  do  the  King  so  great  a  service,  privately 
asambktl  their  friends,  and  lying  in  ambush  near  the  park,  easily  carried 
him  away."  The  planning  of  this  escape  occupies  Scene  V.  in  Shak- 
speare's play.  Edward  gave  Middleham  Castle  to  his  brotlier  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  afterwards  Richard  III.  Here  the  eldest  of  the 
monarch's  natural  children,  Richard  Plantagenet,  was  bom :  and  of  him 
the  following  traditional  story  is  related : — When  Sir  Thomas  Moyle 
was  building  his  house  at  Eastwell,  in  Kent,  he  observed  his  principal 
bricklayer,  whenever  he  left  off  work,  to  retire  with  a  book.  This  cir- 
cumstance raised  the  curiosity  of  Sir  Thomas  to  know  what  book  the 
man  was  reading,  and  at  length  found  it  was  Latin.  Upon  entering  into 
further  conversation  with  his  workman.  Sir  Thomas  learnt  from  him 


256  Midd /chain  Castle. 

that  he  had  been  tolerably  educated  by  a  schoolmaster  with  whom  he 
boarded  in  his  youth  ;  and  that  he  did  not  know  who  his  parents  were 
till  he  was  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  old,  when  he  was  taken  to  Bosworth 
Field,  and  introduced  to  King  Richard;  that  the  King  embraced  him, 
and  told  him  he  was  his  son,  and  moreover  promised  to  acknowledge 
him  in  case  of  the  fortunate  event  of  the  battle;  that  after  the  battle  was 
lost  he  hastened  to  London,  and  that  he  might  have  means  to  live  by 
his  honest  labour,  put  himself  apprentice  to  a  bricklayer.  Upon  learn- 
ing this  story.  Sir  Thomas  is  said  to  have  allowed  him  to  build  a  small 
house  for  himself  upon  his  estate,  and  there  he  continued  till  his  dealh, 
which,  according  to  the  register  of  the  parish  of  Eastwell,  took  place  in 
the  year  1550,  when  he  must  have  been  eighty  or  eighty-one  years  of 
age.  King  Richard  is  said  to  have  knighted  his  natural  son  at 
York ;  but  Mr.  Riley  thinks  that  this  alludes  to  the  fact  that 
at  York,  in  1483,  Ricliard  elevated  his  legitimate  son  Edward  to  the 
rank  of  Piince  of  ^^^'lle8,  with  the  insignia  of  the  wreath  and  golden 
wand. 

Here,  also,  according  to  Stow,  the  Bastard  of  Falconbridge  was  be- 
headed :  he  was  admiral  of  the  navy  of  Warwick,  the  King-maker,* 
when  Henry  VI.  was  restored.  He,  in  May,  1471,  attempted  to  seize 
the  Tower,  where  Edward's  Queen  and  young  family  resided ;  being 
repulsed  from  London,  he  lived  awhile  by  piracy,  having  at  one  time  a 
fleet  of  near  fifty  ships  at  Sandwich,  but  was  at  last  captured  and  exe- 
cuted at  Middleham. 

Richard  is  believed  to  have  passed  his  early  years  at  Middleham 
Castle,  associated  with  the  flower  of  English  chivalry,  practising  exer- 
cises, bold  and  athletic,  or  sportive,  with  "  hawk  and  hound,  seasoned 
with  lady's  smiles,"  and  forming  early  friendships,  which  lasted  through 
life.  One  of  Richard's  most  devoted  associates  at  Middleham  was  the 
young  Lord  Lovell,  whose  attachment  to  Gloucester  in  after  times  led  him 
into  many  tragical  vicissitudes :  he  accompanied  the  Prince  in  most  of 
his  military  campaigns ;  during  the  Protectorate  he  held  the  lucrative 
office  of  Chief  Butler  of  England;  bore  one  of  his  swords  of  justice, 
and  walked  on  the  King's  left  hand,  at  his  coronation.  After  attend- 
ing him  to  the  battle  of  Bosworth,  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  starved 
to  death  at  his  own  seat,  Minster  Lovell,  in  Oxfordshire;  the  skeleton 
of  a  man  seated  in  a  chair,  with  his  head  reclining  upon  a  table,  being 


*  Warwick  feasted  daily  thirty  thousand  persons  in  liis  castle  halls:  he  could 
rally  thirty  thousand  men  under  his  banner,  and  carry  them,  like  a  troop  of 
household  servants,  from  camp  to  camp,  as  passion,  interest,  or  caprice  dictated. 


Middlehavi  Castle.  257 

1  cidcntally  discovered  there  in  a  chamber  underground,  towards  the 

!()sc  of  the  seventeenth  century.     The  Lord  Lovell  probably  took  re- 

iuge  in  this  place  of  concealment  after  his  defeat  at  the  battle  of  Stoke,  a 

l.irge  re>vard  being  offered  for  his  apprehension ;  and  his  melancholy  end 

supposed  to  have  occurred  from  neglect  on  the  part  of  those  who 

ore  entrusted  with  his  secret. — Lingard. 

Hardly  anything  else  is  known  of  the  history  of  Middlcham  Castle, 
cepting  that  it  was  inhabited  in  1609  by  Sir  Henry  Linley.  Tradition 
;.  s  that  it  was  reduced  to  ruins  by  Cromwell,  but  there  is  no  historical 
.  idence  to  prove  it.  The  remains  stand  on  a  rocky  eminence  near  the 
'\vn.  The  Castle  was  formerly  moated  round,  by  help  of  a  spring  in 
e  higher  ground,  from  which  the  water  was  conveyed. 

An  interesting  memorial  of  Richard  III.  may  be  described  here.  This 
a  pyramidal  structure  over  "  King  Richard's  Well,"  in  a  meadow  on 
•J  southern  slope  of  Bosworth  Field,  about  two  miles  and  a  half  south 
/  south-west  of  the  town  of  Market  Bosworth.     It  is  twelve  feet 
,uare,  and  about  ten  feet  high,  and  is  built  of  rough-hewn  dark  stone 
;th  wide  mortar  joints.   It  permanently  marks  a  spot  of  deep  historical 
terest,  being  associated  with  an  event  of  memorable  and  great  national 
imjwrtance ;  for  it  covers  a  little  pool  of  water,  of  which,  according  to 
tradition  and  the  Latin  inscription  contained  on  a  stone  slab  (two  feet 
two  inches  long  by  one  foot  one  inch  deep,  built  in  the  recess),  both  the 
unfortunate  Monarch  and  his  charger  (and  doubtless  many  other  com- 
batants)  partook   \\\    the    fight    before    making    his    last    infuriated 
personal  attack  upon  Henry,  in  which  last  dash  of  desperate  bravery 
Richard  III.  fell,  overpowered  by  numbers.    This  was  doubtless  his 
1 1  St  draught. 

The  water,  which  tastes  brackish,  is  only  about  a  foot  deep,  reached 
i>/  two  steps,  and  does  not  appear  to  be  a  "  well,''  either  in  the  popular 
or  scriptural  sense,  but  may  be  simply  a  reservoir  of  rain-water.  If  it 
is  a  spring,  however,  it  never  seems  to  overflow  and  run  away,  although 
near  is  certainly  some  indication  of  a  former  channel.  The  stone  oppo- 
site the  entrance  may  be  ancient,  and  was  probably  used  to  put  vessels 
to  contain  the  water  on,  and  as  a  seat. 

On  the  ridge  above  the  hedge  fine  views  may  be  obtained  of  the 

:  AVer  and  spia*  of  Bosworth  Church  and  Bosworth  Hall,  the  scat  of 

Sir  Alex.  B.  C.  Dixie,  Bart.,  with  its  park  of  deer  and  magnificent  forest 

of  oak.   At  the  hall,  and  in  Leicester  Museum,  are  still  seen  memorials 

;  the  celebrated  struggle  of  which  this  somewhat  eccentric  structure 

B 


258  York  Castle. 

acts  as  an  humble  and  lonely  memorial.  The  Latin  inscription, 
which  is  said  to  be  the  production  of  the  pen  of  Dr.  P.ur,  runs 
thus: — 

AQVA.  EX.  HOC.  I'VTKO.  H  AVSTA 

SITIM.SKDAVIT 

RICHAFDVS.TERTIVS.RKX.ANGLIAE 

CVM.HENRICO.COMITE.  UK. RICHMOND 

ACERRIME.ATQUE.INFENSISSIME.PK.KLIANS 

ET.VITA.PARITER.AC.SCEI'TRO 

ANTE.NOCTEM.CARITVRVS 
XI.KAL.SEP.A.U.MCCCCI.XXXV. 

which  may  be  thus  translated : — "  With  water  drawn  from  this  well 
Richard  III.,  King  of  England,  assuaged  his  thirst  (when)  fighting  in 
the  most  desperate  and  hostile  manner  with  Henry,  Earl  of  Ricluni)nd, 
and   about  to  lose  before  night  his   lite,  together  with   his   sceptre, 

August  22,  A.D.  1485." 

♦ 

York  Castle, 

As  a  proof  of  the  Roman  origin  of  the  city  of  York,  we  may  mention 
that  one  of  the  angle  towers,  and  a  portion  of  the  old  wall  oi  Eboracum 
are  preserved  to  this  day.  About  five-and-twenty  years  ago,  a  portion  of 
the  Roman  wall,  (comprising  the  remains  of  two  towers,  and  the  founda- 
tion of  one  of  the  gates  of  the  station,)  was  found  buried  within  the  ram- 
parts; and  numerous  remains  of  monuments,  coffms,  urns,  baths, 
temples,  and  villas,  have  from  time  to  time  been  brouglit  to  light. 
Numberless  tiles  bearing  the  impress  of  the  Sixth  and  Ninth  Legions  ; 
fragments  of  Samian  ware ;  inscriptions,  and  coins,  trom  the  age  of 
Cssarto  that  ofConstantine,  render  indisputable  the  tuct  of  the  Roman 
origin  of  the  renowned  city  of  York,  which  contains  more  ancient 
relics  than  any  other  city  in  the  kingdom. 

The  famous  Multangular  Tower,  situated  in  the  gardens  of  St. 
Mary's  Abbey,  is  of  very  peculiar  construction.  The  outside  to  the 
river  is  faced  with  a  very  small  stone  of  about  four  inches  thick,  and 
laid  in  levels,  like  our  modern  brickwork  j  the  length  of  the  stones  is  not 
observed,  but  as  they  fell  out  in  hewing.  From  the  foundation,  twenty 
courses  of  these  small  stones  are  laid,  and  over  them  five  coui'ses  of 
Roman  bricks,  some  laid  lengthwise  and  some  endwise  in  the  wall. 
After  these  five  courses  of  bricks,  other  twenty-three  courses  of  small 
square  stones  are  laid,  and  then  five  more  courses  of  bricks ;  beyond 
which  the  wall  is  imperfect,  and  capped  with  modern  building.  In  all 
this  height  there  is  no  casement  or  loophole,  but  one  entire  and  unifonn 
wall.    Since  this  description  was  written,  a  considerable  portion  of  tlie 


York  Castle.  259 

old  Roman  wall,  connected  with  this  tower,  has  been  discovered  in 
wonderful  preservation  ;  as,  also,  a  monumental  stone,  2 1  feet  long  and 
[  I  feet  wide,  bearing  the  legible  inscription,  "  Genio  loci  feliciter." 

Of  the  four  Bars  or  Gates  of  York,  Micklegate  is  the  finest:  it  has  a 
well-pi-eserved  Roman  arch,  and  supports  a  massive  pile  of  Gothic  tur- 
rets, &c.  This  gate  was,  in  all  probability,  erected  full  1600  years  ago. 
In  the  vicinity  of  Micklegate  Bar  is  another  very  curious  relic,  "  the 
greatest  and  most  remarkable,"  says  Drake — namely,  the  Sepulchral 
Monument  of  the  Standard-bearer  of  the  Ninth  Legion.  A  Castle  at 
York  is  said  to  have  been  erected  by  Athelstan,  but  it  is  very  doubtful. 

Of  St.  Leonard's  Hospital,  founded  by  King  Athelstan,  about  936, 
there  remain  the  ambulatory,  the  chapel,  and  entrance-passage.  The 
beautiful  ruins  of  St,  Mary's  Abbey  include  the  Hospitium,  belonging 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon,  the  Anglo-Norman,  and  other  periods.  Here  are 
preserNcd  Roman  tessellated  pavements :  the  largest  was  removed  in 
1857,  from  the  estate  of  Sir  George  \Vombwell,  Bart.,  at  Oulston :  it 
had  evidently  been  the  floor  of  a  corridor  in  a  Roman  villa  of  consider- 
able extent. 

York,  from  its  foundation,  has  never  ceased  to  have  the  appearance 
of  a  fortified  city.  The  walls  of  the  Roman  station,  Eboracum,  were 
wholly  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Ouse.  "\\^hat  changes  they  under- 
went in  the  succeeding  British,  Saxon,  and  Danish  times,  cannot  now 
be  ascertained.  In  the  time  of  the  Conqueror,  they  enclosed  two 
Castles ;  one,  as  is  thought,  on  each  side  of  the  river ;  but  this  is  very 
doubtful.  The  walls  are  not  characteristic  of  any  particular  age ;  but 
the  archway  of  the  gates  appears  to  belong  to  the  Norman  period. 
The  barbicans,  which  were,  probably,  added  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III., 
have  been  removed  from  three  of  the  gates.  The  Castle  has  long 
since  been  converted  into  the  county  prison,  and  the  courts  of  justice 
for  the  county.  The  keep,  known  by  the  name  of  Clifford's  Tower, 
the  Cliffords  having  been  the  ancient  wardens  of  the  castle,  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  built  by  the  Conqueror,  but  the  architecture  in- 
dicates a  somewhat  later  age.  It  occupies  a  high  artificial  mount,  thrown 
up  with  prodigious  labour,  and  surrounded  with  a  massive  stone  wall. 
It  corresponds  with  the  Old  Baile,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Ouse; 
and  it  is  generally  thought  to  be  of  Roman  or  Saxon  origin.  The 
tower  was  formerly  defended  by  a  deep  moat,  drawbridge,  and  pali- 
sades ;  the  former  is  circular ;  it  terminates  in  machicolations,  and  has 
its  outer  walls  strengthened  with  circular  turrets.  The  Lords  Cliftbrd 
were,  in  ancient  times,  called  castelyns  or  keepers  of  this  tower  ;  and  it  is 
certain  that,  cither  on  this  or  some  other  title,  the  family  claimed  the 

s  a 


26o  York  Castle. 

right  of  carrying  the  city  sword  before  the  King  whenever  he  visited 
York.  Richard  II.  is  recorded  to  have  taken  his  sword  from  his  side, 
and  given  it  to  be  borne  before  the  mayor  of  York,  on  whom  he  con- 
ferred the  additional  title  of  "  lord,"  which  that  ofliccr  still  assumes. 
York  was  governed  by  a  mayor  as  early  as  the  time  of  Stephen.  The 
neighbourhood  of  York  was  the  scene  of  some  of  the  bloody  conflicts 
in  the  War  of  the  Roses  ;  and  tlie  lofty  gates  of  the  city  exhibited  tin 
barbarous  spectacle  of  the  heads  of  Lancastrians  and  Yorkists  alternatch  . 
as  either  party  was  victorious.  The  citizens  were  favourable  to  tin 
cause  of  Edward,  who  was  honourably  received  by  them  on  his  way  to 
the  north,  whither  Henry  VI.  and  his  queen  had  retired  after  the  sangui- 
nary battle  of  Towton :  and  on  his  return,  after  the  battle  of  Hexham, 
he  was  crowned  again  with  great  solemnity,  with  the  royal  cap  called 
"  Abacot,"  which  had  been  found  in  the  spoils  of  his  rival. 

Clifford's  Tower  in  time  fell  to  decay;  and  Leland  found  it  in  a 
ruinous  state  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  But  on  the  commencement 
of  the  civil  wars  between  Charles  I.  and  his  Parliament,  this  tower  was 
completely  repaired  and  fortified.  The  royal  arms  and  those  of  the 
Clilfords  were  placed  over  the  entrance.  On  the  top  was  made  a 
platform,  on  which  several  pieces  were  mounted ;  a  garrison  was  ap- 
pointed for  its  defence,  and  Colonel  Sir  Francis  Cobb  was  its  governor 
during  the  siege  of  the  city.  Among  the  batteries  then  opened  was  one 
of  Lamel  Mill  Hill,  from  whence  four  pieces  of  cannon  played  inces- 
santly on  Clifford's  Tower  and  the  castle.  After  the  surrender  of  the 
city  in  1644,  it  was  dismantled  of  its  garrison,  except  this  tower,  01 
which  Thomas  Dickenson,  the  Lord  Mayor,  a  man  strongly  attached 
to  the  Parliamentarian  interest,  was  constituted  governor.  In  1683 
Sir  John  Rercsby  was  appointed  governor  of  the  Castle  by  Charles  II. 
In  the  following  year,  on  the  Festival  of  St.  George,  April  23,  about 
ten  in  the  evening,  the  magazine  took  fire,  and  blew  up,  when  the 
tower  was  reduced  to  a  shell,  as  it  remains  to  this  day.  Whether 
this  explosion  took  place  accidentally  or  by  design  is  unknown; 
but  the  demolition  of  the  "Minced  Pie"  was  at  that  time  a  common 
toast  in  the  city ;  and  it  was  observed  that  the  officei's  and  soldiers  of  the 
garrison  had  previously  removed  their  effects,  and  that  not  a  single  man 
perished  by  the  explosion.  Within  the  tower  is  a  well  of  excellent 
water ;  and  in  its  crumbled  remains  may  be  traced  a  dungeon  which 
was  so  dark  as  not  to  admit  the  least  ray  of  light.  The  outer  walls,  or 
shell  of  the  fortress,  remains,  and  the  woody  mantling  of  the  mound  re- 
minds us  of  peaceful  nature,  however  the  frowning  tower  may  call  up 
recollections  of  its  importance  in  a  long  succession  of  warlike  ages.    Few 


The  Grey  Palmer :  a  Yorkshire  Legend.         261 

scenes  are,  however,  more  impressive  than  such  a  contrast  as  the 
crumbling  walls  of  Clifford's  Tower  and  the  flourishing  verdure  of  the 
mound  suggest  to  the  reflective  mind. 


The  Grey  Palmer  :  a  Yorkshire  Legend. 

Eight  miles  from  the  city  of  York,  amidst  picturesque  scenery,  on 
the  banks  of  the  River  Wharfe,  was  anciently  the  site  of  a  Convent 
of  Nuns  of  the  Cistercian  order.  There  was  a  contemporary  monastery 
of  monks  at  Acaster  Malhis ;  and  tradition  relates,  that  a  subterranean 
passage  afforded  the  inmates  of  these  establishments  access  to  each 
other.  In  the  year  1281,  the  Lady  Abbess  of  Nun  Appleton  called 
upon  the  Archbishop  from  Cawood,  and  the  nuns  of  St.  Mary's 
Abbey,  to  chant  high  mass  on  the  Eve  of  St.  Mark,  to  lay  at  rest 
the  wandering  spirit  of  Sister  Hylda,  which  had  haunted  the  convent, 
the  monastery,  and  adjacent  country,  during  seven  long  years.  The 
peasants,  adds  the  narrative,  fled  from  that  district,  for  the  spirit  ap- 
peared to  them  in  their  houses,  or  floated  over  their  heads  in  passing 
the  Wharfe. 

A  tempest,  with  loud,  dismal,  and  portentous  bowlings,  shook  the 
high,  craggy  cliffs  above  Otlcy  :  fierce  and  more  fierce  it  whirled  along 
tlic  river,  and  sent  levin  bolts  and  red  meteors  over  the  cloisters  of  Nun 
\ppleton;  showers  descended  like  rolling  sheets  of  water;  and  the 
Wharfe,  swelling  over  its  banks,  washed  rocks  from  their  base,  and  lofty 
trees  from  their  far-spreading  roots.  The  holy  Archbishop  stood,  in  sacred 
stole,  before  the  altar — the  veiled  sisters  of  St.  Mary's  stood  by  the  choir, 
md  the  monks  of  Acaster  Malhis  waited  the  solemn  call  of  the  bell  to  raise 
tiveif  voices  in  hymns  of  supplication — the  walls  resounded  with  knocking 
at  the  convent  gate — the  portcress  told  her  beads,  and  crossed  her 
breast  as  she  said  to  herself,  while  advancing  to  the  portal,  "  Here 
come  other  pilgrims  of  Palestine,  foretold  by  the  dreary  ghost  of  Sister 
Hylda." 

She  turned  the  lock  with  difficulty :  it  seemed  to  deny  admission 
to  the  stranger,  but  gave  way  to  the  arm  of  the  porteress,  and  a 
Palmer,  clad  in  grey  weeds  of  penitence,  strode  within  the  threshold, 
'ihe  thunder  burst  over  his  head,  the  lightnings  flashed  around  his 
gigantic  figure,  and  in  a  hoarse  sepulchral  voice,  he  thanked  the  porteress 
for  her  gentle  courtesy. 

"  By  land,  by  sea,"  said  tiie  Palmer,  "  I  have  proved  all  that  is  tcirible 
in  danger,  or  awful  in  the  strife  of  war.    My  arm  wielded  the  truncheon 


262         TJie  Grey  Palmer :  a  Yorkshire  Legend. 

with  gallant  Richard,  the  chiefest  knight  of  the  Holy  Rood ;  and  the 
Paynims  of  Acre,  with  their  mighty  Soldan,  have  quaked  in  the  tumult 
of  our  crusaders.  The  storm  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the  rage  of  open 
ocean  have  rattled  in  mine  ear.  I  have  crossed  burning  sands,  and 
met  the  wild  lords  of  the  desert  in  hamess  of  steel ;  but  never  was  my 
soul  so  appalled  as  by  the  rage  of  elements  this  horrible  night.  To  the 
sinner  naught  is  so  fearful  as  the  workings  of  Almighty  wrath  in  our 
lower  world.  I  have  visited  every  shrine  of  penitence  and  prayer  to 
purge  the  stains  of  crime  from  this  bosom  :  I  have  trodden  each  weary 
step  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in  Palestine ;  I  have  knelt  to  the  Saints  of 
Spain,  of  Italy,  and  of  France ;  I  have  mourned  before  the  shrine  of 
St.  Patrick,  and  every  saint  of  Ireland ;  in  Scotland  I  have  drunk  of 
every  miraculous  foimt,  and  holy  well ;  and  but  for  the  swollen  waters 
of  Wharfe,  I  had  sought  the  grey  towers  of  Cawood,  or  the  fair 
Abbey  of  Selby,  to  crave  prayers  from  the  pure  in  heart  for  the  worst 
of  transgressors.  At  holy  St.  Thomas's  tomb,  my  pilgrimage  ends. 
But  for  the  wicked  there  can  be  no  rest.  The  pelting  hailstorm,  the 
dark  red  flashes  of  lightning  and  the  flooded  Wharfe,  opposed  my 
course.  I  wandered  through  the  dark  wood — the  tlmnder  roared 
among  the  groaning  oaks — the  ravenous  wolf  rushed  from  his  den  across 
my  path,  with  open  jaws,  ready  to  devour  me.  A  spectre,  more  fell 
than  the  savage  beast,  drove  him  away ;  the  croaking  raven  and 
hooting  owl  sung  a  death-warning ;  and  the  spectre  shrieked  in 
mine  ear,  "  Grey  Palmer,  thy  bed  of  dark,  chill,  deep  earth,  and  thy 
pillow  of  worms,  are  prepared.  Thy  childless  bride  waits  to  embrace 
thee!'" 

Deeply  sounded  the  bell.  "  Haste  thee,  haste  thee,  holy  Palmer," 
said  the  porteress;  "  the  specti-e  ot  Sister  Hylda  bade  the  Lady  Abbess 
expect  thee.  Haste  thee  to  join  the  choral  swell.  W  hy  quakes  thy 
stately  form  ?     Haste  thee,  the  bell  hath  ceased  its  solemn  invocation." 

Scarcely  had  the  Palmer  entered  the  chapel,  when  the  seven  hallowed 
tapers,  which  burned  pei-petually  before  the  altar,  expired  in  blue  hiss- 
ing flashes — the  swelling  choir  sunk  to  awful  silence — a  gloomy  light 
circled  round  the  vaulted  roof — and  Sister  Hylda,  with  her  veil  thrown 
back,  revealed  her  well-known  features  ;  but  pale,  grim,  and  ghastly  as 
she  stood  by  the  Palmer,  who  was  recognised  as  Friar  John. 

The  Archbishop  raised  his  expressive  eyes  in  prayer ;  the  cold  dew  of 
horror  dropped  from  his  cheeks ;  but  in  aspirations  of  prayer,  his 
courage  returned,  and  in  adjurations  by  the  name  of  the  Most  High, 
he  demanded  of  the  spectre  why  she  broke  the  peace  of  the  faithful. 
With  feaiful  agitation  she  replied:  "  In  me  behold  Sister  Hylda,  dis- 


Fountains  A  bbey.  263 

honoured,  ruined,  murdei-ed  by  Friar  John,  in  the  deep  penance  vault- 
He  stands  by  my  side,  and  bends  his  head  lower  and  lower  in  confession 
of  his  guilt.  I  died  unconfessed,  and  for  seven  years  has  my  troubled, 
my  suffering  spirit  walked  the  earth,  when  all  were  hushed  in  peaceful 
sleep  but  such  as  the  lost  Hylda.  Your  masses  have  earned  grace  for 
me.  Seek  the  middle  pavement-stone  of  the  vault  for  the  mortal  relics 
of  a  soul  purified  and  pardoned  by  the  blood  of  the  Redeemer.  Laud 
and  blessing  to  his  gracious  name  for  ever  !" 


Fountains  Abbey. 

••  Yet  still  thy  turrets  drink  the  light 
Of  summer  evening's  softest  ray, 
And  ivy  garlands,  green  and  bright. 

Still  mantle  thy  decay ; 
And  calm  and  beauteous,  as  of  old, 
Thy  wandering  river  glides  in  gold." 

Alaric  Watts. 

Among  the  most  attractive  scenery  of  Yorkshire  is  Studley  Park,  the 
seat  of  Earl  de  Grey  and  Ripon,  in  the  giounds  of  which  stand  the 
magnificent  remains  of  Fountains  Abbey,  originally  founded  for  monks 
of  the  Cistercian  order,  a  branch  of  the  Benedictine,  which  was  the 
most  ancient  of  all  the  monastic  orders. 

The  history  of  the  foundation  of  Fountains  Abbey  is  curious.  It 
appears  that  the  Cistercian  abbey  of  Rieval,  in  Yorkshire,  attracted 
great  attention  from  the  sanctity  of  its  inmates,  when  some  monks  of 
the  Benedictine  monastery  of  St.  Mary's,  at  York,  became  desirous 
of  adopting  the  same  rules,  and  of  withdrawing  from  their  convent ; 
which  was  strongly  opposed  by  Galfridus,  their  abbot,  as  implying  a 
ri.nection  on  his  government.  After  appealing  to  Thurstan,  Archbishop 
of  York,  and  experiencing  considerable  annoyance  from  the  Abbot,  who 
laid  his  complaint  before  the  King,  the  monks  at  length,  in  the  year 
1 132,  had  certain  lands  assigned  to  them  by  the  Archbishop,  about 
three  miles  west  of  Ripon,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  monastery  on  a 
site  called  Skell  Dale,  from  a  rivulet  of  that  name  which  runs  through 
it.  Having  chosen  Richard,  the  prior  of  St.  Mary's,  for  their  Abbot, 
they  retired  to  this  wilderness  in  the  depth  of  winter,  without  any  house 
to  cover  them,  or  certainty  of  provisions  to  subsist  on.  In  the  midst  of 
the  vale  stood  a  large  elm,  on  which  they  placed  a  thatch  of  straw: 
under  this  they  are  said  to  have  "  slept,  ate,  and  prayed,  the  Archbishop 
for  some  time  supplying  them  with  bread,  and  the  stream  with  drink." 
Some  cleared  a  small  spot  for  a  garden;   others  formed  a  humble 


264  Fountains  A  bbcy. 

shed,  to  serve  as  a  chapel ;  but  it  is  supposed  that  they  shortly  quitted 
the  shelter  of  the  elm  for  that  of  seven  yew-trees,  growing  on  the  south 
side  of  the  spot  where  the  Abbey  now  stands.  They  were  of  extra- 
ordinary size,  the  trunk  of  one  being  upwards  of  26  feet  in  circum- 
ference at  the  height  of  three  feet  fi'om  the  ground ;  we  may  hence 
infer  their  great  age,  and  the  probability,  according  to  the  common 
tradition,  of  their  having  served  the  purpose  of  a  shelter  for  the  monks. 
At  the  close  of  the  first  winter  the  Cistercians  found  their  number  in- 
crease, and  with  it  their  privations,  they  being  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  eating  the  leaves  of  trees  and  wild  herbs,  boiled  with  a  little  salt ;  yet 
they  neither  despaired  nor  withheld  their  charity.  It  is  recorded  that 
one  day,  when  the  store  for  all  the  monks  was  only  two  loaves  and 
a-half,  a  stranger  begged  a  morsel  of  bread ;  and  the  Abbot  ordered 
one  of  the  loaves  to  be  given  to  him,  saying,  "  God  wou!d  provide  for 
them" — a  hope  soon  realized  by  the  unexpected  arrival  of  a  cartload  of 
bread,  sent  them  by  Eustace  Fitz-John,  owner  of  the  neighbouring  Castle 
of  Knaresborough.  For  a  few  years  they  suffered  severe  hardships,  and 
were  on  the  point  of  leaving  the  place,  when  Hugh,  Dean  of  York, 
desired  that  after  his  death  his  body  and  all  his  wealth  should  be  car- 
ried to  the  Abbey  of  Fountains.  This  important  addition  to  their 
resources  was  soon  followed  by  the  assignment  of  the  whole  property 
of  Serlo  and  Tosti,  two  canons  of  York.  Benefactions  then  poured  in 
from  other  quarters  ;  the  Abbey  was  endowed  with  various  privileges 
by  Kings  and  Poj^s,  and  greatly  increased  both  in  the  extent  of  its  pos- 
sessions and  the  number  of  its  monks.  Another  account  states,  that 
the  Abbey  was  originally  built  in  the  time  of  Henry  Murdac,  during 
whose  rule  it  was  destroyed  by  an  invasion  ot  soldiers  from  York ;  but 
it  was  afterwaids  restored. 

In  1 140,  it  was  consumed  by  fire;  but  its  restoration  was  commenced 
in  1 204,  when  the  foundations  of  the  church  were  laid ;  and  in  less  than 
forty  years  from  that  time  the  fabric,  of  which  the  present  arc  the  re- 
mains, was  completed,  John  de  Casacia  (of  Kent)  being  Abbot.  The 
Abbey  frequently  received  large  donations  from  the  great  northern 
barons,  among  whom  were  the  ancient  and  noble  family  of  Percy  ;  par- 
ticularly Lord  Richard  de  Percy,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the 
barons'  wars  in  the  reign  of  King  John.  He  was  buried  in  Fountains 
Abbey,  as  well  as  his  great-nephew.  Lord  Henry  de  Percy,  one  of  the 
principal  commanders  under  King  Edward  the  First,  in  his  wars  in 
Scotland.  The  Percy  family  were  considered  the  hereditary  patrons  and 
benefactors  of  the  Abbey.  From  the  small  beginning  described  above 
this  establishment  became  extremely  rich  in  land,  plate,  and  cattle ;  and 


Fountains  A  bbey.  265 

when  visited  in  1537,  previously  to  the  dissolution  of  the  religious 
houses,  was  found  to  be  one  of  the  most  opulent  in  the  country.  At 
that  time  great  complaint  was  made  against  Thirske,  the  37  th 
Abbot,  for  misconduct ;  and  he  was  afterwards  executed  at  Tyburn, 
in  company  with  some  other  persons  concerned  in  an  insurrection  in 
Yorkshire.  Marmaduke  Brodelay,  or  Bradley,  the  last  Abbot,  surren- 
dei-ed  the  Abbey  in  the  year  1540,  and  had  a  pension  of  looA  allowed  him. 

The  Abbey,  with  its  appendages,  when  complete,  covered  twelve 
icres  of  ground,  two  of  which  are  occupied  by  the  present  ruins, 
perhaps  the  largest  of  the  class  in  the  kingdom.  At  the  Dissolution,  the 
site,  with  a  large  portion  of  its  estates,  was  sold  by  Henry  the  Eighth 
to  Sir  Richard  Gresham ;  after  which  they  passed  through  various 
hands,  till  purchased  by  \\'illiam  Aislabie,  Esq.,  of  Studley  Royal,  who 
annexed  the  ruins  to  his  pleasure-grounds.  The  Studley  estate,  in- 
cluding Fountains  Abbey,  devolved  in  1808  to  his  descendant.  Miss 
Laurence. 

No  depredation  apjiears  to  have  been  wantonly  committed  on  this 
venerable  pile ;  and  time  has  spared  many  traces  of  its  fonner  beauty 
and  extent.  The  length  of  the  church  is  358  feet ;  the  great  tower  at 
the  north  end  of  the  transept  is  166  feet  high.  There  has  been  a 
central  tower,  which  has  long  since  fallen  into  decay.  In  addition  to 
the  church  are  the  chapter-house,  over  which  was  formerly  the  library 
and  scriptorium,  or  writing-room,  the  refectory,  on  one  side  of  which 
is  the  reading-gallery,  where  the  Scriptures  were  road  to  the  monks 
during  meals ;  the  cloisters,  300  feet  long,  and  the  dormitory  over  them  • 
the  kitchen,  with  its  two  fireplaces,  each  15  feet  wide  ;  and  the  cloister- 
garden,  120  feet  square,  planted  with  shrubs  and  evergreens.  The 
cloisters,  divided  by  columns  and  arches,  extend  across  the  rivulet, 
which  is  arched  over  to  support  them ;  and  near  to  the  south  end  is  a 
circular  stone  basin,  6  feet  in  diameter.  This  almost  subterranean 
solitude  is  dimly  lighted  by  lancet  windows,  which  are  obscured  by 
oaks,  beeches,  and  firs ;  and  the  gloom  is  heightened  by  the  brook 
beneath,  which  may  be  seen  wending  its  way  through  the  broken 
arches.  Besides  these  large  ruins,  there  are  found  among  the  trees  and 
shrubs  many  fragments  of  the  appendages  to  this  celebrated  monastery. 

It  is  not  known  with  certainty  why  this  Abbey  received  the  name  of 
Fountains.  Two  reasons  have  been  assigned :  first,  that  the  celebrated 
founder  of  the  Cistercian  order,  St.  Bernard,  having  been  born  at 
Kountaines,  in  Burgundy,  it  was  so  called  in  honour  of  him.  But  Dr. 
Whitaker,  an  excellent  authority,  derives  the  name  from  Skell,  the 
rivulet  which  flows  near  it,  which  signifies  a  Fountain ;  and  he  adds 


266  Fountains  Abbey. 

that  the  first  name  by  which  the  house  was  known  was  the  Abliey  of 
Skeldale.  The  monks  who  wrote  in  Latin  termed  it  De  FonUbus,  or 
Of fountaine ;  and  the  latter  title  was  preserved. 

Of  late  years  a  discovery  has  been  made  at  Fountains  Abbey,  which 
is  not  so  satisfactorily  explained  as  its  name.  Several  earthenware 
vessels  have  been  found  in  removing  the  earth  and  stones  from  the  floor: 
one  was  a  brown  jug,  buried  in  the  stone  basement  of  the  now  destroyed 
choir-screen  ;  it  contained  a  considerable  quantity  of  a  dark  substince 
like  burned  wood.  These  jars  were  laid  in  mortar  on  their  sides,  and 
then  surrounded  with  the  solid  stonework,  the  necks  extending  from 
the  wall  like  cannon  from  the  side  of  a  ship.  One  conjecture  is,  that 
these  jars  were  used  to  bum  incense;  but  their  mouths  must  have  been 
hidden  when  the  stalls  were  standing.  Another  conjecture  is,  that  they 
were  intended  to  rcx:eive  the  ashes  of  the  heart,  or  some  other  por- 
tion of  the  body,  in  case  a  canon  attached  to  the  church  should  will 
that  any  part  of  his  remains  should  be  so  deposited.  Another  suppo- 
sition is,  that  the  vessels  were  acoustic  instruments,  to  assist  the  sound ; 
and  such  have  been  found  in  the  walls  of  the  Coliseum,  and  other 
ancient  buildings.  The  more  probable  explanation  is,  that  the  jars  were 
used  as  depositories  for  human  remains,  and  were  closed  round  with 
masonry  and  concealed. 

Henry  Jenkins,  that  remarkable  instance  of  longevity,  was  often  at 
Fountains  Abbey  during  the  residence  of  the  last  Abbot ;  and  (accord- 
ing to  a  paper  copied  from  an  old  household  book  of  Sir  Richard 
Graham,  Bart.,  of  Norton  Conyers)  Jenkins,  upon  going  to  live  at 
Bolton,  was  said  to  be  about  150  years  old ;  and  the  writer  of  the  above 
paper  had  often  examined  him  in  his  sister's  kitchen,  when  he  came  for 
alms,  and  found  facts  in  chronicles  agree  with  his  account ;  he  was  then 
162  or  163.  He  said  he  was  sent  to  North  Allerton  with  a  horse-load 
of  arrows  for  the  battle  of  Flodden  Field,  with  which  a  bigger 
boy  went  forward  to  the  army,  under  the  Earl  of  Surrey,  King 
Henry  VIII.  being  at  Tournay;  and  he  (the  boy)bclieved  himself  to  be 
then  eleven  or  twelve  years  old.  This  was  in  1513,  and  four  or  five 
persons  of  the  same  parish,  each  said  to  be  100,  or  near  it,  declared 
Jenkins  to  have  been  an  old  man  ever  since  they  knew  him.  He  gave 
evidence  in  court  to  six  score  years  in  a  tithe  cause,  1 667,  between  the 
Vicar  of  Catterick  and  William  and  Peter  Mawbank,  wherein  he  de- 
posed that  the  tythes  of  wool,  lambs,  &c.,  mentioned  in  the  interro- 
gatories, were  the  Vicar's,  and  had  been  paid,  to  his  knowledge,  120 
years,  or  more.  The  writer  was  present  at  another  cause,  when 
Jenkins  gave  evidence  to  120  years.    The  judge  asked  him  how  he 


Bolton  Priory.  267 

lived.  He  said,  by  thatching  and  salmon-fishing ;  that  he  was  thatch- 
ing a  house  when  served  with  a  subpccna  in  the  cause,  and  would 
dub  a  hook  with  any  man  in  Yorkshire.  The  writer  went  to  see  him 
at  Ellerton-upon-Swale,  and  met  him  carrying  a  pitcher  of  water  upon 
his  head.  He  told  him  he  remembered  the  Dissolution,  and  that  great 
lamentation  was  made ;  that  he  had  been  butler  to  Lord  Conyers,  of 
Hornby  Castle;  and  that  Marmaduke  Brodelay,  Lord  Abbot  of 
Fountains,  did  frequently  visit  his  lord,  and  drink  a  hearty  glass  with 
him  ;  and  that  his  lord  often  sent  him  to  inquire  how  the  Abbot  did, 
who  always  sent  for  him  to  his  lodgings  ;  and  after  ceremonies,  as  he 
called  it,  passed,  ordered  him,  besides  wassel,  a  quarter  of  a  yard  of 
roast  beef  for  his  dinner  (for  that  the  monasteries  did  deliver  their 
guests  meat  by  measure)  and  a  great  black  jack  of  strong  drink. 
Jenkins  was  the  only  one  who,  in  the  time  of  Charles  II.,  survived  to 
tell  the  tale  of  the  Dissolution  of  Monasteries. 


Bolton  Priory. 

The  picturesque  remains  of  this  once  magnificent  monastic  establish- 
ment are  situated  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Wharfe,  about  six  miles  from  Skipton.  The  melancholy  event  that 
led  to  the  foundation  of  the  monastery  is  related  by  Dr.  Whitaker,  in  his 
History  of  the  Deanery  o/Cra-ven,  and  is  likewise  the  subject  of  a  beau- 
tiful poem  by  Wordsworth. 

A  priory  was  founded  at  Embassy,  about  two  miles  from  Bolton,  by 
William  de  Meschines  and  Cecilia,  his  wife,  in  the  year  1 121,  for  canons 
regular  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustine.  On  the  founders'  death,  they  left  a 
daughter,  who  adopted  her  mother's  name,  Romille,  and  was  married  to 
^^'illiam  Fitz  Duncan,  nephew  of  David,  King  of  Scotland.  They  had 
two  sons ;  the  eldest  died  young ;  the  youngest,  called  from  the  place 
of  his  birth,  the  Boy  of  Egremond,  became  the  last  hope  of  his  widowed 
mother.  In  the  deep  solitude  of  the  woods  between  Bolton  and 
Barden,  four  miles  up  the  river,  the  Wharfe  suddenly  contracts  itself 
into  a  rocky  channel  little  more  than  four  feet  wide,  and  pours  through 
the  fissure  with  a  rapidity  proportioned  to  its  confinement.  The  place 
was  then,  as  it  is  now,  called  the  Strid,  from  a  feat  often  exercised  by 
persons  of  more  agility  than  prudence,  who  strode  from  brink  to  brink, 
regardless  of  the  destruction  that  awaited  a  faltering  step.  Such  was  the 
fate  of  young  Romille,  the  Boy  of  Egremond,  who  inconsiderately 
bounding  over  the  chasm,  with  a  greyhound  in  his  Icash,  the  animal 


268  Bolton  Priory. 

hung  back,  and  drew  his  unfortunate  master  into  the  foaming  torrent. 
\\  hen  this  melancholy  event  was  communicated  to  his  mother,  she  be- 
came overwhelmed  with  grief,  which  only  yielded  to  her  devotional 
feeling: 

"And  the  lady  prayed  in  heaviness 
That  looked  not  for  relief; 
But  slowly  did  her  succour  come, 
And  a  patience  to  her  grief." 

To  perpetuate  the  memory  of  this  event,  she  determined  to  remove  the 
priory  fiom  Embassy  to  the  nearest  convenient  spot,  and  accordingly, 
erected  a  magnificent  priory  at  Bolton.  This  establishment  was  dissolved 
June  1 1,  1540.  Part  of  the  nave  of  Bolton  priory  is  now  used  as  the 
parish  chinch  ;  the  transept  and  choir  are  in  ruins  ;  the  tower  and  line 
east  Pei^pendicular  window  are  of  later  date  than  any  other  part  of  the 
edifice,  and  may  be  said  to  be  the  expiring  eflx)rt  of  this  species  of 
architecture  previous  to  the  Reformation.  It  was  in  the  course  of 
erection  at  the  dissolution  of  the  priory  ;  the  last  prior  having  intended 
to  erect  a  splendid  westera  entrance,  and  he  had  proceeded  to  the  height 
of  the  ancient  buildings,  when  the  Reformation  divested  him  of  his  office. 
The  remains  of  the  church  of  the  priory,  being  sun-ounded  by  bold  and 
majestic  high  grounds,  are  scarcely  seen  until  the  tourist  airives  at  the 
spot.  They  stand  on  a  bend  of  the  Wharfe,  on  a  level  sufliciently 
elevated  to  protect  it  from  inundation.  Opposite  to  the  east  window  of 
the  priory  church  the  river  washes  the  foot  of  a  rock  nearly  perpendi- 
cular, from  the  top  of  which  flows  a  stream  forming  a  beautiful 
waterfall. 

Dr.  Whitaker  relates  that  it  was  long  a  tradition  among  the  aged 
people  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bolton  Priory,  that  not  long  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  a  white  doe  continued  to  make  a  pilgiim- 
age  from  Rylstone  over  the  fells  of  Bolton,  and  was  constantly  found 
in  the  priory  churchyard,  near  the  grave  of  its  former  owner,  during 
divine  service ;  after  the  close  of  which  the  doe  returned  home  as  re- 
gularly as  the  rest  of  the  congregation. 

The  grave  was  the  burial-place  of  Emily,  the  only  daughter  of 
Richard  Norton,  of  Rylstone,  who  fell  in  the  Roman  Catholic  insun-cc- 
tion  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  When  yet  a  child,  the  young  doe  had 
been  given  to  Emily  by  her  brothers,  and  it  had  grown  up  under  her 
cndeaiTnent,  making  a  return  for  her  affection  in  its  own  mute  grati- 
tude. Her  father  and  eight  brothers  being  taken,  were  all  executed,  and 
their  fate  being  told  to  the  broken-hearted  Emily,  she  assumed  the 
garb  of  a  pilgrim,  and  long  wandered  far  from  the  scenes  of  her  child- 


Bolton  Castle.  269 

hood,  till  tired  with  the  blank  of  things  abroad,  she  returned  home,  and 
was  immediately  recognisal  by  the  grateful  doe.  Upon  this  strange 
story,  Wordsworth  has  founded  his  romantic  poem  of  "The  White 
Doe  of  Rylstone." 

Bolton  Castle. 

In  Wensleydale,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Leyboum,  are  the  ruins  ot 
Bolton  Castle,  famous  as  the  possession  of  the  family  of  Scropc ;  the 
last  who  resided  here  was  Emanuel,  thirteenth  Lord  of  that  name,  and 
Earl  of  Sunderland,  who  died  in  1630.  In  the  great  Civil  War  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  this  Castle  was  a  garrison  for  the  King  ;  and  was 
long  and  gallantly  defended  against  the  arms  of  the  Parliament,  by  a 
party  of  Richmondshire  cavaliers,  who  held  it  until  reduced  to  cat 
horseflesh,  when  it  capitulated,  November  5,  164-,  and  the  garrison 
marched  to  Pontefract.  The  Committee  at  York  ordered  this  fortress 
to  be  made  untenable  in  1647,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  the  order  was 
carried  into  effect ;  yet  from  that  period  it  has  been  neglected,  and 
falling  into  greater  dilapidation.  The  north-eastern  tower,  which  had 
been  most  damaged  by  the  fire  of  the  besiegers,  fell  suddenly  to  the 
ground  in  1649.  Four  or  five  families  now  reside  in  the  Castle:  the 
south-west  tower  is  occupied  from  turret  to  basement.  Close  to  this 
tower  is  the  room  in  which,  tradition  says,  "  the  beauteous  hapless 
Mary  of  Scotland  "  was  confined.  It  has  two  narrow  windows  through 
the  thick  wall :  it  was  through  the  west  window  that  she  made  her 
escape,  being  lowered  from  it  by  an  attendant,  to  the  ground  beneath. 
The  room  has  a  mortar-floor,  now  partly  broken  up.  The  chimneys 
not  in  use  are  covered  up,  to  keep  out  the  jackdaws.  One  or  two  of 
the  turrets  are  occupied  by  farmers.  No  one  who  has  ever  witnessed 
it  can  forget  the  magnificent  prospect  of  hill  and  dale  seen  from  the  roof 
of  Bolton  Castle. 

In  the  Diary  of  Bishop  Cartwrlght,  printed  for  the  Camden  Society, 
in  1843,  is  this  entry:  "  I  was  received  by  the  Noble  Marquess  (i.e.,  of 
Winchester)  with  ail  kindness  imaginable  at  dinner,  from  one  at  noon 
till  one  in  the  morning ;  Sir  Richard  Shuttleworth,  Mr.  Dean  of  Ripon, 
Mr.  Darcy,  and  others  there."  This  sitting  at  tible  for  twelve  hours, 
says  the  Editor,  is  to  a  certain  extent  a  confirmation  of  the  account 
which  Granger  gives  from  some  contemporary  memoirs  of  the  singular 
style  in  which  this  nobleman  lived  at  his  castle  of  Bolton,  during  the 
reign  of  James  the  Second :  "  He  went  to  dinner  at  six  or  seven  in  the 
evening,  and  his  meal  lasted  till  six  or  se\cn  the  next  morning,  during 


2/0  Kirkstall  Abbey. 

which  time  he  eat,  drank,  smoked,  talked,  or  listened  to  the  music.  The 
company  that  dined  with  him  were  at  liberty  to  use  or  amuse  them- 
selves, or  take  a  nap  whenever  they  were  so  disposed ;  but  the  dishes 
and  bottles  were  all  the  while  standing  upon  the  table.  A  contempo- 
rary, Abraham  de  la  Prymc,  in  his  manuscript  Ephemeris,  says  that  he 
"  pretended  to  be  distracted,  and  would  make  all  his  men  rise  up  at 
midnight,  and  would  go  a-hunting  with  torchlight."  This  mode  of 
living  is  said  to  have  been  affected  by  him  in  order  that  he  might  be 
thought  unfit  for  public  affairs  at  a  time  when  things  were  going  in 
a  manner  of  which  he  did  not  approve.  The  Marquis  put  off  his 
folly,  and  appeared  in  his  true  character  of  a  man  of  some  spirit 
when  there  was  a  prospect  of  saving  the  country  from  the  effects  of 
James's  policy. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  know  that  a  chest  of  ancient  documents  re- 
lating to  Bolton  Castle,  dating  from  the  period  of  its  foundation,  is  pre- 
served at  Bolton  Hall,  tlie  Yorkshire  residence  of  the  present  Lord 
Bolton. 


Kirkstall  Abbey. 

At  a  short  distance  from  Leeds,  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire, 
and  in  a  beautiful  vale,  watered  by  the  river  Aire,  are  the  picturesque 
remains  of  Kirkstall — a  fragment  of  the  monastic  splendour  of  the 
twelfth  century.  It  was  of  the  Cistercian  order,  founded  by  Henry  de 
Lacy,  in  1157.  It  is  now  in  sad  decay.  The  gateway  has  been 
walled  up,  and  converted  into  a  farm-house ;  the  roof  of  the  aisle  is 
entirely  gone ;  places  for  six  altars  appear  by  distinct  chajiels ;  the 
length  of  the  church  was  224  feet ;  the  tower,  built  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.,  remained  entire  till  January  27,  1779,  when  three  sides  of 
it  were  blown  down,  and  only  the  fourth  remains,  with  part  of  an 
arched  chamber,  leading  to  the  cemetery,  and  part  of  the  dormitory.  The 
former  garden  of  the  monastery  is  still  cultivated,  but  cells  and  cavities  are 
covered  with  underwood ;  and  there  is  a  staircase  to  one  of  the  turrets, 
from  which  the  monks  of  Kirkstall  feasted  their  eyes  with  the  charming 
scenery  of  the  district.  The  site  of  the  monastery,  together  with  some  of 
the  circumjacent  estates,  were  granted  by  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI., 
in  exchange,  to  Archbishop  Cranmer  and  his  heirs ;  and  were  by  that 
prelate  settled  upon  a  person  named  Peter  Hammond,  in  trust  for 
his  grace's  younger  son.  It  is  not  supposed  that  the  Archbishop 
himself  ever  visited  this  part  of  his  acquisitions ;  nor  is  it  recorded 
how  the  whole,  so  soon  afterwards,  passed  out  of  his  family.    That 


Rickfnond  Castle.  27 1 

this  did  happen,  however,  is  certain ;  for  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of 
Elizabeth  we  find  the  property  granted  by  the  Queen  to  Edward 
Downynge  and  Peter  Ashcton,  and  their  heirs  for  ever.  At  a  later 
period,  but  at  what  precise  time  neither  Dr.  Whitaker  nor  others  have 
ascertained,  the  site  and  demesnes  of  Kirkstall,  together  with  tlie  adjoin- 
ing manor  of  Bramley,  were  purchased  by  the  Savilles  of  Howley  ;  and 
since  then  they  have  passed,  by  marriage,  with  the  other  estates  of  that 
family,  through  the  Duke  of  Montague,  to  the  Brudcnells,  Earls  of 
Cardigan ;  in  whose  possession  the  ruins,  and  part  of  the  annexed 
grounds,  now  continue. 


Richmond  Castle. 

To  Alan  Rufus,  son  of  Hoel,  Count  of  Bretagne,  a  kinsman  of 
"William  the  Conqueror,  who  accompanied  him  in  his  expedition  to 
England,  is  generally  attributed  the  foundation  of  both  the  Castle  and 
town  of  Richmond ;  though  by  some  authorities  the  town  is  said  to 
have  been  in  existence  prior  to  the  Conquest,  ^^'illiam  conferred  on 
Alan  the  title  of  Earl  of  Richmond,  and  the  estates  of  the  Saxon  earl 
Edwin,  embracing  nearly  ?oo  manors  and  townships,  and  a  jurisdiction 
over  all  Richmondshire,  about  a  third  of  the  North  Riding.  In  the 
situation  of  his  Castle,  Earl  Alan  selected  not  only  an  eligible  residence, 
but  also  a  place  of  defence :  its  foundation  was  laid  upon  an  almost  per- 
pendicular rock,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Swale,  about  100  feet  above  the 
bed  of  the  river.  To  the  original  buildings  of  the  fortress  additional  walls, 
towers,  and  outworks  were  erected  by  the  successors  of  the  founder.  The 
Earls  of  Richmond  enjoyed  these  possessions  till  they  fell  to  the  Crown, 
on  Henry,  Elarl  of  Richmond,  becoming  King  of  England  by  the  title 
of  Henry  VII.  Charles  II.  bestowed  the  title  of  Duke  of  Richmond 
on  his  son,  Charles  Lenox,  in  whose  descendants  the  dignity  con- 
tinues. The  walks  round  the  Castle  present  a  succession  of  varied  and 
romantic  scenery.  Swaledale  is  in  many  parts  skirted  with  bold  rocks, 
almost  covered  with  trees  and  shrubs.  From  the  hills  north-west  of  the 
town,  the  Castle  and  town  seem  to  be  situatetl  in  a  valley:  the  ruins  are 
still  majestic ;  the  bold  Norman  keep  is  almost  entire;  the  walls  are 
nearly  100  feet  high  and  eleven  feet  thick.  The  dilapidations  seem  to 
be  solely  owing  to  the  neglect  of  repairs. 


2/2 


Sandal  Castle,  and  the  Battle  of  Wakefield. 

About  two  miles  from  the  town  of  Wakefield,  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Caldcr,  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  in  the  large  village  of 
Sandal  {Magna),  there  are  the  ruins  of  a  Castle,  built  by  the  last  Earl 
Warren,  about  1320.  A  few  years  after  (1333),  Edward  Baliol  re- 
sided here,  while  an  army  was  raising  to  establish  him  on  the  Scottish 
throne. 

The  Castle  afterwards  became  the  property  of  Richard  Plantagenet, 
Duke  of  York,  who,  aspiring  to  the  Crown  during  the  feeble  reign  of 
Henry  VI.,  fell  in  battle  before  its  walls.  Queen  Margaret,  who  had 
none  of  the  timidity  of  her  husband,  and  not  much  of  the  gentleness  of 
her  sex,  seeing  her  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  dispossessed  of  his  inheri- 
tance, proceeded  to  the  north  of  England  with  the  Prince,  and  rallied 
round  her  the  finends  of  the  House  of  Lancaster.  In  order  more  effec- 
tually to  raise  an  army,  she  proclaimed  that  all  who  joined  her  standard 
should  have  leave  to  plunder  the  country  to  the  south  of  the  Trent. 
By  this  means  she  assembled  an  army  of  1 8,000  men.  The  Duke  of 
York,  on  the  other  hand,  left  London  with  only  four  or  five  thousand 
men.  As  he  advanced  to  the  north,  he  received  the  mortifying  news  of 
the  Queen's  success,  and  on  reaching  ^Vakefield,  he  retired  to  Sandal 
Castle,  there  to  await  the  arrival  of  his  son,  the  Earl  of  March,  with 
another  anny  from  Wales.  The  Queen  advanced  with  her  troops,  but 
did  not  succeed  in  forcing  the  Castle.  She  then  placed  troops  in 
ambush,  on  each  side  of  Wakefield  Green,  under  the  command  of 
Lord  Clifford  and  the  Earl  of  Wiltshire.  She  next  appeared  before  the 
walls  of  Sandal  with  the  main  body  of  her  army,  led  by  the  Dukes  of 
Somerset  and  Exeter,  provoking  her  enemy  to  battle,  sometimes  by 
menaces,  at  others  by  defiances  and  insults,  observing,  that  it  was  dis- 
graceful to  a  man  who  aspired  to  the  Crown  to  suffer  himself  to  be  thus 
shut  up  by  a  woman  !  The  Duke  of  York,  stung  by  the  taunts  of  the 
Queen,  resolved  to  march  out  of  the  Castle,  and  drew  up  his  men  on 
^Vakefield  Green,  ti"usting  that  his  own  courage  and  experience  would 
compensate  for  his  deficiency  of  numbers.  He  had  no  sooner  arranged 
his  small  army  than  he  was  attacked  by  the  Queen's  troops,  who  had 
greatly  the  advantage.  While  he  was  pressed  in  front  by  the  main 
body  of  the  enemy,  he  was  surprised  by  the  ambuscade,  in  which  he  and 
1 800  of  his  men  fell  victims ;  within  half-an-hour  they  were  routed, 
and  the  Duke  himself  slain,  valiantly  fighting  hand  to  hand  with  his 
enemies.    The  spot  where  he  fell  was  afterwards  enclosed  by  a  wall, 


Sandal  Castle,  and  the  Battle  of  Wakefield,      273 

and  on  it  was  erected  a  cross  of  stone ;  this  was  demolished  in  the  Civil 
Wars  between  Charles  I.  and  his  Parliament. 

The  Duke's  second  son,  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  who  was  only  Sixteen 
or  seventeen  years  of  age,  in  flying  fiom  the  field  of  battle,  was  over- 
taken by  Lord  Clifford,  who,  with  more  than  Savage  ferocity,  plunged 
a  dagger  into  the  youth's  breast,  notwithstanding  the  earnest  entreaties 
of  his  governor  to  spare  the  young  Earl's  life.  Lord  Clifford,  after- 
wards, finding  the  body  of  the  Duke,  cut  off  his  head,  and  setting  upon 
it  a  paper  crown,  fixed  it  on  the  top  of  a  lance,  and  presented  it  to  the 
Queen,  who  ordered  it  to  be  placed  on  the  wall  of  York.  It  was 
removed  in  February,  1461,  and  buried  with  his  wife  at  Bisham,  in 
Berkshire,  where  he  had  prepared  a  place  of  sepulture  before  the  battle 
of  Bloreheath.  Diayton,  in  his  Queen  Margaret,  speaks  of  Sandal  as 
the  place 

' '  Where  York  himself,  before  his  castle  gate, 

Mangled  with  wounds,  on  his  own  earth  lay  dead ; 

Upon  whose  body  Clifford  down  him  sate, 
Stabbing  the  corpse,  and  cutting  off  the  head, 

Crown 'd  it  with  paper,  and  to  wreake  his  teene, 

Presents  it  so  to  his  victorious  queene." 

The  circumstances  of  this  event  are  very  closely  narrated  in  the  Third 
Part  of  Shakspeare's  play  of  Henry  VI.  The  disparity  of  the  forces — 
the  malignity  and  cruelty  of  Chfford  in  murdering  the  youth — and  the 
insult  to  the  Duke  by  placing  a  paper  crown  on  his  head — are  severally 
noticed.    The  battle  is  powerfully  described  in  the  fourth  scene: 

"  York.  The  army  of  the  Queen  hath  got  the  field : 
My  uncles  both  are  slain  in  rescuing  me  ; 
And  all  my  followers  to  the  eager  foe 
Turn  back,  and  fly,  like  ships  before  the  wind, 
Or  lambs  pursued  by  hunger-starvM  wolves. 
My  sons — God  knows  what  hath  bechanced  them  ; 
But  this  I  know— they  have  demeand  themselves 
I-ikc  men  bom  to  renown,  by  life  or  death, 
did  Richard  make  a  lane  to  mc, 
icd — '  Courage,  father  !  fij^ht  it  outf 

-'-    -ft  came  Edward  to  my  side. 

With  purple  faulchion,  painted  to  the  hilt 
In  l>!o<xi  of  those  that  had  <-ncountered  him  ; 

1-  *"  s^roundt 

A:;  .       .  /  .  .  ,,       .bl 

A  ^cpirc  or  an  cartiily  sepuiclire  ?  ' 

Lord  Clifford,  whose  father  was  slain  at  the  b.ittlc  of  St.  Aibans  by 
the  Duke  of  York,  had  sworn  that  he  would  not  leave  one  branch  of 
the  York  line  standing  ;  and  he  killed  so  many  men  in  the  battle  of 
Wakefield,  that  he  was  ever  afterwards  called  the  Butcher, 
*  T 


274  Pontefract  Castle  and  Richard  II. 

Richard  III.  is  said  to  have  resided  at  Sandal  Castle  some  time  pre- 
vious to  his  ascending  the  throne.  In  the  time  of  the  Civil  Wars,  the 
King  had  a  garrison  here,  which  surrendered  after  three  weeks'  siege,  to 
Colonel  Overton,  in  October,  1645;  and  in  the  following  year  the 
fortress  was  demolished  by  Pai-liament. 


Pontefract  Castle  and  Richard  II. 

Pontefract,  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  is  a  town  of  great 
antiquity  and  historical  importance ;  and  for  600  years  the  Castle  of 
Pontefract  was  the  ornament  and  terror  of  the  surrounding  country. 
After  the  Conquest,  llbert  de  Lacy  received  a  grant  of  the  place. 
Soon  after  he  began  to  build  his  Castle,  which  partook  of  the  features  of 
castle,  fortress,  and  palace.  He  is  said  to  have  named  the  town 
Pomfrete,  from  some  fancied  resemblance  to  a  place  so  called  in  Nor- 
mandy, where  he  was  bora.  The  Castle  was  built  on  a  rock :  it  was 
not  commanded  by  any  contiguous  hill,  and  could  only  be  taken  by 
blockade.  The  wall  of  the  castle-yard  was  high,  and  flanked  by  seven 
towers.  A  deep  moat  was  cut  on  the  western  side,  where  were  also 
the  barbican  and  drawbridge  ;  there  were  other  gates,  which  might  be 
used  as  watch-towei"S,  and  some  of  them  were  protected  by  drawbridges. 
The  dungeons  were  of  a  frightful  nature :  we  read  of  one,  a  room 
25  feet  square,  without  any  other  entrance  than  a  hole  or  trap-door  in 
the  floor  of  the  turret ;  so  that  the  prisoner  must  have  been  let  down 
into  this  abode  of  darkness,  from  whence  there  could  have  been  no 
possible  mode  of  escape.  The  area  covered  and  enclosed  by  this  im- 
mense Castle  was  about  seven  acres. 

llbert  de  Lacy's  vast  possessions  were  confirmed  to  his  son,  Robert 
de  Pontefract,  by  William  Rufus  ;  in  13 10,  they  passed  by  marriage  to 
Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  who,  in  the  quarrels  between  Edward  II, 
and  his  nobles,  was  taken  prisoner  with  many  other  barons,  and  brought 
to  Pontefract  Castle,  which  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  royal  army. 
Here  he  was  imprisoned  for  some  time,  tried  and  convicted  by  his 
peers,  and  hurried  away  to  execution.  He  obtained  the  favour  of 
dying  on  the  block,  whilst  the  barons,  his  adherents,  were  hanged. 

Pontefract  Castle  was  afterwards  the  scene  of  Richard  the  Second's 
imprisonment  and  death.  The  old  account  of  the  manner  of  his  death 
adopted  by  our  historians  in  the  eighteenth  century,  has  for  some  time 
been  exploded.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  King  Richard  was  murdered 
by  Sir  Piers  Exton,  and  his  assistants,  with  battle-axes ;  who  pursued 


Pontefract  Castle  and  Richard  II.  275 

him  about  his  prison,  striking  at  him  till  they  had  despatched  him,  in 
spite  of  the  heroic  resistance  of  the  King,  who  snatched  a  battle-axe 
from  one  of  his  assailants,  and  with  it  killed  no  less  than  four  of  them. 
!:i  the  year  1634,  a  pillar  was  still  shown  in  the  room  which  was  sup- 
,  )sed  to  have  been  the  prison  of  Richard,  in  Pomfret  Castle,  which  was 
hacked  with  the  blows  of  the  murderers,  as  the  King  fled  round  it. 

M.  Amyot  has,  however,  satisfactorily  shown  that  the  above  story 
is  without  foimdation  ;  and  the  contemporary  historians  of  the  death 
of  Richard  II.  give  a  totally  different  account  of  that  event.  Of 
these  Thomas  of  Walsingham,  the  Monk  of  Evesham,  who  wTote 
the  Life  of  Richard,  and  the  Continuator  of  the  Chronicle  of  Croy- 
land,  all  relate  that  Richard  voluntarily  stai-ved  himself  to  death,  in  his 
prison  at  Pomfret.  To  these  must  be  added  the  testimony  of  Gower 
the  poet,  to  the  same  effect,  who  was  not  only  a  contemporary,  but  had 
been  himself  patronized  by  Richard.  Another  version  of  this  tragedy 
relates  that  his  starvation  was  not  voluntary.  The  Percys  accuse 
ilcnry  IV.  of  having  caused  Richard  to  perish  "from  hunger,  thirst, 
and  cold,  after  fifteen  days  and  nights  of  sufferings  unheard  among 
Christians."  Archbishop  Scroop  repeats  the  same  charge  ;  but  the  pro- 
babilities of  the  case  appear  to  be  strongly  in  favour  of  Richard's  volun- 
tary stan'ation.  The  stor)'  of  Sir  Piers  Exton  is  disproved  by  there 
being  no  mark  of  violence  visible  on  the  skull  of  the  body  found  in  the 
tomb  of  King  Richard  in  Westminster  Abbey ;  but  this  testimony  is  of 
no  avail,  if,  according  to  Mr.  Tytler,  the  body  buried  first  at  Langley, 
and  then  in  Westminster  Abbey,  is  not  that  of  King  Richard ;  who,  as 
he  affirms,  is  interred  in  the  Church  of  the  Preaching  Friars,  at  Stirling, 
in  Scotland.  This  latter  hypothesis,  however,  equally  disproves  the 
Exton  fable.  Mr.  Tytler's  relation  is — That  Richard  escaped  from 
T'omfret  Castle,  though  the  mode  in  which  he  did  this  is  nowhere 

ited.  That  he  travelled  in  disguise  to  the  Scottish  Isles,  where  he  was 
discovered,  in  the  kitchen  of  Donald,  Lord  of  the  Isles,  by  a  jester,  who 
had  been  bred  up  at  his  court.  That  Donald  sent  him  to  Robert  III., 
King  of  Scotland,  by  whom  he  was  supported  as  became  his  rank,  so 
long  as  that  monarch  lived ;  that  afterwards  Richard  was  delivered  to 
the  Duke  of  Albany,  by  whom  he  was  honourably  treated;  and  that 
he  finally  died  in  the  castle  of  Stirling,  in  the  year  1419.  This  account 
is  given  by  the  continuator  of  Fordun's  Chronicle,  and  a  contemporary 
historian.  But  the  strongest  evidence  in  its  favour  is  the  entries  in  the 
accounts  of  the  Chamberlain  of  Scotland,  during  the  period  in  question, 
^  ir  the  sums  expended  for  the  maintenance  of  the  King  for  eleven  years. 

ill,  the  story  of  Ricliard's  escape  from  Pomfret,  and  subsequent  dctcn- 

x  a 


2/6  Sheffield  Manor  and  Castle,  and 

tion  in  Scotland  (for  nineteen  yeare),  is  disbelieved  by  the  English  his- 
torians, from  Hall,  Stow,  and  Holinshed,  down  to  Rapin,  Carte,  and 
Lingard. 

In  1478,  Ed\vai-d  IV.  was  at  Pontcfract  for  a  week.  Hei'e  theDukc 
of  Gloucester,  afterwards  Rich.ird  111.,  shed  the  blood,  without  any 
legal  trial,  of  Earl  Rivers  and  his  companions  to  clear  his  way  to  the 
throne.  AVhile  at  Pontefiact,  news  was  brought  to  Richard  of  his 
nephew's  death.  In  i486,  Henry  VII.  stayed  a  few  days  at  Pontefract. 
In  1.536,  the  fortress  surrendered  to  Robert  Askc,  the  rebel  captain- 
general  of  the  Pilgrims  of  Grace;  he  forced  the  Archbishop  of  York 
and  otheis  at  Pontefract  Castle,  to  take  the  oath  ;  received  the  herald 
of  the  King  in  state;  obliged  all  the  northern  nobility  to  join  his  stan- 
dard ;  obtained  a  general  pardon ;  was  invited  to  court,  but  finally 
hung  in  chains  at  York.  In  1540  Plenry  VIII.  was  at  Pontcfract  for 
several  days.  In  1617,  James  I.  was  entertained  here;  and  in  1625 
and  1633,  Charles  I.  In  the  Civil  Wars,  the  Castle  was  frequently 
besieged  and  defended  by  Royalists  and  Parliamentarians  :  the  garrison, 
after  having  been  reduced  fi'om  600  men  to  100,  suirendered,  in  1649, 
to  General  Lambert,  having  first  proclaimed  Charles  II.  successor  to 
the  throne  of  his  father,  and  done  all  to  defend  it  that  a  garrison  of  brave 
men  could  do.  In  this  Castle,  Colonel  Morris  struck  the  first  silver 
coin  of  Charles  II.,  who  was  proclaimed  here  directly  after  the  death 
of  his  father.  Shortly  after,  the  fortress  was  dismantled  by  order  of 
Parliament,  and  all  the  valuable  materials  were  sold.  Little  of  its  ruins 
remain,  and  the  area  is  now  chiefly  gardens  and  liquorice  grounds; 
and  the  cakes  bear  the  impression  of  the  once  famous  Castle. 


Sheffield  Manor  and  Castle,  and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 

Sheffield,  within  the  bounds  of  Yorkshire,  but  on  the  verge  of  Derby- 
shire, was  originally  founded  at  the  junction  of  two  rivers,  the  Sheaf 
and  the  Don  ;  in  the  angle  formed  by  which  once  stood  the  castle  built 
by  the  Barons  Fumival,  Lords  of  Hallamshire.  Three  or  four  miles  iVom 
this  Castle,  on  the  western  hill,  stood  the  town  of  Hallam,  part  of  a  dis- 
trict, the  origin  and  history  of  which  may  be  traced  back  to  Sa.\on, 
Roman,  and  even  British  times,  whilst  the  importance  of  the  town  of 
Sheffield  is  of  comparatively  recent  date.  The  town  was  originally 
a  mere  village  dependent  on  the  Castle  ;  but  its  mineral  wealth  led  the 
early  inhabitants  to  become  manufacturers  of  edged  tools,  of  which 
arrow-heads,  spear-heads,  &c.,  are  presumed  to  have  been  a  considerable 


Mary  Quern  of  Scots.  2'j'j 

part ;  a  bundle  of  arrows  being  at  this  day  in  the  town  arms,  and  cross 
arrows  the  badge  of  the  ancient  Cutlers'  Company,  in  Sheffield.  Hal- 
lam,  when  in  possession  of  the  Saxons,  is  said  to  have  been  destroyed  by 
the  Norman  invaders,  on  account  of  their  gallant  resistance.  The  manor 
of  Sheffield,  however,  appears  in  Domesday  Book  as  the  land  of  Roger 
de  Bueli ;  but  the  greater  part  of  it  was  held  by  him  of  the  Countess 
Judith,  widow  of  Walthcof  the  Saxon.  Early  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 
it  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Lovetot  family,  whose  last  male  left  an 
infant  daughter,  ward  of  Henry  H.  His  successor,  Richard,  gave  her 
in  marriage  to  Gerard  de  Fumival,  a  young  Norman  knight,  who,  by 
that  alliance,  acquired  the  lordship  of  Sheffield.  There  is  a  tradition 
that  King  John,  when  in  arms  against  his  barons,  visited  Gerard  de 
Fumival,  who  espoused  his  cause,  and  remained  with  him  for  some  time 
at  his  Castle  in  Sheffield.  Another  only  daughter,  and  another  Maud, 
caused  by  her  marriage  the  transfer  of  the  lordship  of  Sheffield  to  the  more 
noble  family  of  Talbot,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury.  William,  Lord  Fumival, 
died  i2ih  April,  1383,  at  his  house  in  Holbom,  where  now  stands  Fur- 
nival's  Inn,  leaving  an  only  daughter,  who  married  Sir  Thomas  Neville; 
and  he,  in  1406,  died,  leaving  an  only  daughter,  Maud,  who  married 
John  Talbot,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  a  soldier  and  a  statesman  of  consi- 
derable reputation.  The  vicinity  of  Sheffield  was  formerly  covered  with 
wotxls,  and  the  park  of  the  Earls  of  Shrewsbury  extended  from  the 
Castle  eastward  four  miles  to  the  present  village  of  Handsworth ;  while 
on  the  nearest  eminence,  George,  the  fourth  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  built 
the  lodge  called  Sheffield  Manor,  and  he  there  received  Cardinal  Wol- 
sey  into  his  custody  soon  after  his  apprehension.  In  this  lodge.  Caven- 
dish tells  us,  Wolsey  passed  a  day  and  night,  in  his  hopeless  journey 
from  Cawood  to  Leicester ;  that  here  his  illness  increased,  and  that 
medicine  was  taken,  which  was  supposed  to  have  accelerated  his  death 
at  Leicester  Abbey. 

The  same  place  acquired  a  greater  celebrity  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
by  the  imprisonment  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  who  was  committetl  by 
the  Queen  to  the  custody  of  George,  sixth  Earl  of  Shrewsbury.  After 
being  for  some  time  confined  in  his  castle  of  Tutbury,  in  Staffordshire, 
she  was,  in  r.-J'o,  removed  to  Sheffield  Castle,  and  shortly  after  to 
the  Sheffield  Manor  House,  or  Manor  Castle.  She  quitted  Sheffield 
in  1584,  after  fourteen  years  of  imprisonment  in  this  neighbourhood. 
It  was  for  the  alleged  intention  of  removing  her  hence,  that  Thomas, 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  suffered  on  the  scaffold;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the 
grandson  of  this  Duke  of  Norfolk,  at  whose  trial  and  condemnation  the 
Earl  of  Shrewsbury  presided  as  high  steward,  afterwards  married  the 


2/8  Sheffield  Manor  and  Castle,  and 

granddaughter  of  the  Earl,  and  thereby  became  possessed  of  the  Castle 
and  estate. 

Forty  years  ago  little  remained  of  Sheffield  Manor  House,  besides  a 
fragment  of  its  northern  end,  consisting  of  two  stories,  the  mere  skele- 
tons of  their  fomier  state.  The  upper  aperture  was  called  Queen  Mary's 
window ;  and  it  probably  was  so,  from  its  commanding  a  fine  view  over 
the  valley.  The  foundations  to  some  extent  were  also  to  be  traced :  it 
appears  to  have  been  an  extensive  building,  with  a  quadrangular  area  in 
the  centre.  Within  memory,  one  of  the  towers  at  the  entrance  was 
standing,  covered  with  ivy.  One  is,  by  this  locality,  brought  into  con- 
tact with  the  evcntfiil  history  of  two  remarkable  personages,  and  espe- 
cially with  that  of  Mary.  In  this  fine  country,  and  in  such  a  domain, 
Mary  was  probably  more  at  ease  than  she  could  have  been  among  her 
semi-barbarous  and  turbulent  subjects;  and  if  religious  bigotry  had  not 
stimulated  a  large  party  in  this  country  to  plot  in  her  favour  against  the 
Protestant  government,  she  might  probably  have  died  in  peace  at  this 
place.  Her  barbarous  death  rendered  her  a  martyr,  and  conferretl  an 
interest  on  her  story  which  it  could  not  otherwise  have  acquired.  As 
the  manor-house  seems  to  have  had  no  moat,  and  she  passed  much  of 
her  time  there,  it  may  be  presumed  that  her  detention  was  an  affair  of 
personal  surveillance,  rather  than  of  coercive  abstraction  from  the  world. 
It  is  reported  on  the  spot  that  the  attractions  of  Mary  raised  a  persecu- 
tor in  the  wife  of  her  keeper  (the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury),  and  that  the 
jealousy  of  the  Countess  exposed  Mary  to  many  inconveniences.  This 
charge  was  so  public,  that  the  Earl,  before  his  death,  affixed  his  own 
monumental  inscription  in  Sheffield  Church,  in  which  he  exculpated 
himself  in  express  terms  from  the  accusation  :  the  tablet  remains,  but  is 
much  obliterated.  These  details  were  obtained  by  Sir  Richard  Phillips 
when  at  Sheffield  on  his  Personal  Tour,  published  in  the  year  1828. 

In  the  contest  between  Charles  I.  and  his  Parliament,  Sheffield  be- 
came on  more  than  one  occasion  the  theatre  of  war,  and  consequently 
experienced  its  casualties.  Sir  John  Gell,  with  troops  from  Derby- 
shire, took  military  possession  of  the  town  and  Castle  ;  but  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle,  at  the  head  of  the  royal  army,  having  taken  Rotherham  by 
storm,  and  marching  forward  to  Sheffield,  the  Parliamentarians  fled  into 
Derbyshire.  The  people  of  Sheffield  submitted  to  the  royal  army,  and 
a  garrison  was  left  in  the  fortress  under  the  command  of  Major  Thomas 
Beaumont,  who  held  the  town  and  Castle  till,  on  the  ist  August,  after 
the  battle  of  Marston  Moor,  in  1644,  the  Earl  of  Manchester  despatched 
12,000  Parliamentary  infantry  to  attack  the  Castle  of  Sheffield.  After 
a  strong  siege  of  some  days,  it  was  obliged  to  capitulate  on  the  loth 


Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  279 

August.  It  was  then  demolished  by  order  of  Parliament,  and  though 
some  attempts  were  aftei-wards  made  to  restore  it,  there  are  no 
vestiges  of  it  remaining  above  ground  ;  but  names  of  Castle  Hill,  Castle 
Green,  and  Castle  Folds,  still  denote  the  site.  The  manor  did  not 
suffer  from  these  hostilities,  but  continued  to  be  the  occasional  residence 
of  its  noble  owner,  and  afterwards  of  his  agent,  till  in  1706,  Thomas, 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  ordered  it  to  be  dismantled  :  the  park  ceased  to  be 
such  except  in  name,  its  splendid  and  even  far-famed  timber  was  felled, 
and  its  wide  range  of  undulating  hill  and  dale  divided  into  farms.  The 
district,  however,  still  retains  its  ancient  names,  and  even  a  populous 
portion  of  the  town  itself  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  Sheaf  is  yet  called 
"  the  Park."  Of  this  historic  ground  and  its  associations,  Mr.  Holland, 
in  his  poem,  Sheffield  Park,  has  left  this  life-like  picture : — 

RUINS   OF   THE   MANOR   LODGE. 

"  This  ruin  may,  great  Talbot !  to  thy  fame, 
Outlast  the  marble's  perishable  claim  : 
Though  worn  by  centuries,  or  by  tempests  rent, 
Remain  till  Time's  last  wreck,  thy  monument  : 
But  ne'er  can  pity,  lingering  near  this  scene. 
Forget  the  wrongs  of  Scotia's  beauteous  Queen  ; 
Nor  truth  erase  from  her  historic  scroll. 
How  haughty  Wolsey  drain'd  the  poison'd  bowl. 
— No  longer  here  her  regal  spectre  glides  ; 
Nor  his  sad  ghost  in  sullen  terror  strides  : 
Tall,  rampant  nettles  skirt  the  rampart's  base. 
And  swains  at  nightfall  hasten  past  the  place. 

Lone  wreck  of  ancient  splendour !  where  are  they, 

■Whose  perish'd  forms  outstripp'd  the  slow  decay? 

No  longer  heard  in  this  once  princely  haunt, 

The  festal  merriment,  or  bridal  chant ; 

Through  roofless  chambers,  and  slow  crumbling  walls, 

■Viol  and  song  unheard,  and  midnight  balls  ; 

Now  the  patched  cottage  in  the  pile  is  seen, 

And  poverty  resides  where  wealth  has  been  ; 

So  with  Palmyra's  prostrate  marble  wrecks. 

The  wretched  Arab  his  mean  dwelling  decks  ; 

Rich  p>olish'd  stones  construct  the  mean  abodes, 

And  caitiffs  haunt  the  residence  of  gods. 

There  was — remembrance  dimly  paints  its  form, 
A  lofty  tower,  defying  long  the  storm  ; 
Wrapt  in  a  vest  of  ivy,  proud  it  stood, 
As  some  grey  wreck  that  had  survived  the  flood ; 
There,  angry  winds  in  furious  skirmish  met, 
Swept  its  green  cloak  and  mouldering  parapet ; 
Seem'd  as  with  fingers  rude  to  mock  at  crime, 
And  pluck'd  the  wizard  beard  of  hoary  Time  ; 
The  bat  here  claim'd  hereditary  right. 
The  owl,  its  tenant,  scream'd  unscared  at  night. 
At  Ixst,  like  age,  wcigh'd  down  with  years,  It  fell, 
Nor  left  a  vestige  of  its  fate  to  tell." 


28o 


Conisborough  Castle. 

This  majestic  fortress  is,  by  some  writers,  considered  an  early  Britisli 
work  ;  and  by  others  the  most  important  of  the  few  remaining  strong- 
holds of  our  Saxon  ancestors  yet  to  be  found  in  this  country.  In  our 
time,  Conisborough  has  acquired  a  new  interest  from  its  having  been 
chosen  by  Sir  W^altcr  Scott  for  one  of  the  principal  scenes  of  his 
romance  of  Ivanhoe. 

The  origin  of  the  Castle,  which  is  situated  in  the  West  Riding  of 
Yorkshire,  is  unknown.  Tradition  assigns  it  to  Early  British  times ; 
whilst  modem  antiquaries  attribute  the  foundation  of  the  present  struc- 
ture to  "William,  the  first  Earl  Warren,  to  whom  the  surrounding 
estate  was  granted  by  William  the  Conqueror.  It  is,  however,  indis- 
putable that  a  stronghold  of  some  sort  existed  here  during  the  times  of 
the  Saxons.  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  and  some  of  our  old  historians, 
indeed,  have  carried  back  its  origin  to  a  period  preceding  the  Saxon 
invasion  of  Britain.  According  to  these  writers,  "  Hengist,  the  first 
Saxon  invader,  being  defeated  in  this  neighbourhood,  by  the  British 
commander,  Aurelius  Ambrosius,  in  the  year  467,  was  obliged  to  take 
refijge  in  this  castle,  and  hazarding  a  second  engagement,  was  killed 
below  its  walls."  Near  the  entrance  to  the  Castle  is  a  tumulus,  which 
is  said  to  cover  the  body  of  this  chief;  but  Mr.  Sharon  Turner, 
the  eminent  historian  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  well  as  other  writers  of 
authority,  are  of  opinion  that  he  never,  at  any  time,  penetrated  into  the 
northern  counties  at  all. 

The  Conisborough  estate  subsequently  passed  from  the  family  of 
Warren  to  Richard  Earl  of  Cambridge,  who  assumed  the  name  of 
Richaid  of  Conisborough,  in  consequence,  it  is  said,  of  the  Castle 
having  been  his  birth-place.  After  his  death,  it  passed  into  the  hands 
of  his  giandson.  King  Edward  the  Fourth,  and  remained  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Crown  for  more  than  two  centuries,  when  it  was  given  by 
James  II.  to  Lord  Dover.  It  afterwards  became  the  property  of  the 
family  of  its  present  possessor,  the  Duke  of  Leeds. 

The  plan  of  the  Castle,  which  must  have  been  of  considerable  extent 
and  importance,  is  irregular,  though  inclining  in  form  to  an  oval.  The 
entire  stronghold,  which  crowns  the  summit  of  an  elevation,  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  fosse,  or  ditch,  still  in  many  places  forty  feet  deep,  but 
now  destitute  of  water,  and  full  of  lofty  oaks  and  elms.  Before  the  in- 
vention of  artillery,  this  fortress  must  have  been  almost  impregnable; 
but  in  later  times,  in  consequence  of  the  superior  height  of  the  neigh- 


Conishorough  Castle.  281 

bouring  eminence  on  which  the  village  of  Conishorough  is  situated,  it 
must  have  been  greatly  reduced  in  consequence,  to  which  we  may 
attribute  its  ultimate  desertion.  The  remains,  as  for  as  they  can  be 
traced,  extend  about  700  feet  in  circumference ;  but  the  chief  object  of 
interest  is  the  magnificent  keep,  or  round  tower,  which  is  thus  described 
in  Gough's  edition  of  Camden's  Britannia : — 

"  At  the  comer  of  the  area,  which  is  of  an  irregular  form,  stands  the 
great  tower  or  keep,  placed  on  a  small  hill  of  its  own  dimensions,  on 
which  lie  six  vast  projecting  buttresses,  ascending  in  a  steep  direction, 
to  prop  and  support  the  building,  and  continued  upwards  up  the  side 
as  turrets.  The  tower  within  forms  a  complete  circle,  2 1  feet  in  dia- 
meter, the  walls  14  feet  thick.  The  ascent  into  the  tower  is  by  an 
exceedingly  deep  flight  of  steep  steps,  4^-  feet  wide,  on  the  south  side, 
leading  to  a  door\vay,  over  which  is  a  circular  arch  crossed  by  a  great 
transom  stone.  Within  this  door  is  the  staircase,  which  ascends 
straight  through  the  thickness  of  the  wall,  not  communicating  with  the 
room  on  the  first  floor,  in  whose  centre  is  the  opening  to  the  dungeon. 
Neither  of  these  lower  rooms  is  lighted  except  from  a  hole  in  the  floor 
of  the  third  story ;  the  room  in  which,  as  well  as  in  that  above  it,  is 
finished  with  compact  smooth  stonework,  both  having  chimney-pieces, 
with  an  arch  resting  on  triple-clustered  pillars.  In  the  third  story,  or 
guard-chamber,  is  a  small  recess  with  a  loop-hole,  probably  a  bed- 
chamber, and  in  that  floor  above  a  niche  for  a  saint  or  holy-water  pot." 

Thence  there  is  a  flight  of  twenty-five  stone  stairs  to  the  summit  of 
the  tower,  which  commands  a  very  fine  prospect.  The  buttresses  rise 
higher  than  the  walls ;  three  contiin  an  alcove,  and  in  another  is  a  broad 
place  resembling  an  oven,  on  a  level  with  a  passage,  which  seems  to 
have  run  round  the  tower.  The  wall  is  here  xo^  feet  thick,  so  that  it 
diminishes  18  inches  at  every  floor.  The  total  height  of  the  buttresses 
is  86  feet. 

The  village  of  Conishorough  is  of  very  high  antiquity :  by  the 
Britons  it  was  callal  Caer  Conan,  and  by  the  Saxons  Cyning,  or  Conon 
Bur^h,  both  signifying  a  royal  town.  It  must  have  once  been  a  place 
of  importance,  as  it  is  handed  down  that  it  was  of  a  civil  jurisdiction 
which  comprised  twenty-eight  towns.  This  picturesque  village  lies 
about  six  miles  south-west  of  Doncaster,  in  a  rich  and  wooded  country, 
watered  by  the  river  Don.  The  Castle  was  of  old  reported  to  have  in 
its  neighbourhood  six  large  market -towns,  i^r  villages,  three  stone 
bridges.  40  water-mills,  6  noblemen's  seats,  60  seats  of  gentlemen,  50 
parks,  and  two  navigable  rivers. 


282 


Lady  Anne  Cliflford,  of  Skipton  Castle. 

"  Courteous  as  monarch  the  mom  he  is  crown 'd, 
Generous  as  spring-dews  that  bless  the  glad  ground, 
Noble  her  blood  as  the  currents  that  met 
In  the  veins  of  the  noblest  Plantagenet." 

Sir  Waller  Scolt. 

This  pious,  accomplished,  and  munificent  heiress  of  the  Cliffords  was 
born  at  Skipton  Castle,  on  the  30th  of  January,  1589.  She  was  the 
daughter  and  only  surviving  child  of  Henry,  fifth  Earl  of  Cumberland, 
and  nearly  related  to  the  royal  family  of  England,  by  the  marriage  of 
her  grandfather  with  the  niece  of  Henry  VIH. 

Under  the  eye  of  her  good  and  amiable  mother,  Margaret,  Countess 
of  Cumberland,  she  enjoyed  every  advantage  which  precept  and  ex- 
ample could  afford,  and  no  daughter  was  ever  more  sensible  of  the 
obligations  which  she  owed  to  her  maternal  care.  She  never,  indeed, 
throughout  her  long  life  spoke  of  this  parent  but  in  terms  of  veneration 
for  her  virtues  and  talents,  and  usually  with  the  epithet  of  My  blessed 
mother.  So  much  did  she  revere  the  memory  of  this  excellent  parent, 
that  after  her  death,  which  took  place  in  1616  (when  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  had  become,  by  her  marriage.  Countess  of  Pembroke),  she 
erected  a  pillar  on  the  road  between  Penrith  and  Appleby,  with  a 
suitable  inscription  to  commemorate  their  last  interview,  and  left 
an  annuity  of  four  pounds  to  be  distributed  to  the  poor  on  that 
spot  annually  for  ever.  Rogers  thus  alludes  to  this  bequest  in  his 
Pleasures  of  Memory  : — 

•'  Most  then  through  Eden's  wild-wood  vales  pursued 
Each  mountain  scene  majestically  rude  ; 
^  Nor  there  awhile,  with  lifted  eye,  revered 

That  modest  stone  which  pious  Pembroke  rear'd ; 
Which  still  records  beyond  the  pencil's  power, 
The  silent  sorrow  of  a  parting  hour  ; 
Still  to  the  musing  pilgrim  points  the  place, 
Her  sainted  spirit  most  delights  to  trace." 

She  married,  first,  Richard,  Earl  of  Dorset,  to  whom  she  was  much 
attached;  and  some  years  after  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1624, 
she  united  herself  to  Philip,  Earl  of  Pembroke  and  Montgomery,  an 
union  which  caused  her  much  sorrow  and  anxiety,  as  he  was  a  noble- 
man profligate  in  his  private  habits,  and  unprincipled  in  public  life. 

Lady  Anne  was  in  her  second  widowhood,  which  commenced  in  1649, 
when  she  began  that  career  of  munificence,  hospitality,  and  utility,  which 
has  thrown  such  splendour  and  veneration  round  her  memory.    She 


Lady  Anne  Clifford,  of  Skipton  Castle.  283 

had  now  the  means  of  cairying  her  plans  into  execution  ;  and  taking  up 
her  abode  in  the  north,  she  set  about  the  work  of  repairing  the  Castles 
of  her  ancestors  with  an  enthusiasm  which  nothing  could  repress.  The 
Castles  of  Skipton,  Brougham,  Appleby,  and  Pendragon,  again  reared 
their  dismantled  heads,  and  upon  each  of  these  buildings  she  placed  a 
suitable  inscription,  ending  with  a  quotation  from  Isaiah  Iviii.  12 — 
"  Thou  shalt  raise  up  the  foundations  of  many  generations,  and  thou  shalt 
be  called  the  repairer  of  the  breach,  the  restorer  of  paths  to  dwell  in." 

The  liberal  and  munificent  spirit  of  the  Countess,  however,  was  not 
confined  to  the  restoration  of  her  Castles ;  she  had  frequently  declaied 
that  she  would  not  "  dwell  in  ceiled  houses  whilst  the  house  of  God 
laid  waste,"  was  as  diligent  in  repairing  the  churches,  as  the  fortified 
mansions  of  her  ancestors.  It  is  said  that  no  less  than  seven  of  these 
ecclesiastical  structures  rose  from  their  ruins  under  her  care  and  direc- 
tion. She  also  endowed  two  hospitals,  and  might  be  considered,  indeed, 
as  through  life,  the  constant  friend  and  benefactress  of  the  industrious 
jxxjr. 

With  these  pleasing  features  of  charity,  philanthropy,  and  beneficence 
was  mingled  an  uncommon  share  of  dignity  and  firmness  of  spirit ;  for 
whilst  she  conversed  with  her  almswomen  as  her  sisters,  and  with  her 
servants  as  her  humble  friends,  no  one  knew  better  how,  in  the  circle 
of  a  Court,  or  the  splendour  of  a  drawing-room,  to  support  due  con- 
sequence, and  with  dauntless  independence  of  mind  she  could  repel  the 
encroachments  of  corrupt  power. 

She  died  on  the  22nd  of  March,  1676,  in  the  eighty-eighth  year  of 
her  age,  and  was  buried,  by  her  express  desire,  by  the  side  of  her  be- 
lovetl  mother,  in  the  church  of  Appleby.  Dr.  Rainbow,  Bishop  of 
Carlisle,  preached  her  funeral  sermon  from  that  very  appropriate  text 
in  the  Provei-bs  of  Solomon,  "  Every  wise  woman  buildeth  her  house." 
He  tells  us  that  she  could  discourse  with  virtuosos,  travellers,  scholars, 
merchants,  divines,  statesmen,  and  with  good  housewives  in  any  kind  ; 
insomuch  that  a  prime  and  elegant  wit,  Dr.  Donne,  is  reported  to  have 
said  of  this  lady,  that  •  she  knew  well  how  to  discourse  of  all  things, 
from  predestination  to  shea-silk !' —  meaning  that,  although  she  was 
skilful  in  housewifery,  and  in  such  things  in  which  women  are  conver- 
sant, yet  her  penetrating  wit  soaretl  up  to  pry  into  the  highest  mysteries. 
Although  she  knew  wool  and  flax,  fine  linen  and  silk,  things  appertain- 
ing to  the  spindle  and  the  distaff,  yet  '  she  could  open  her  mouth  with 
wisdom,'  and  had  knowledge  of  the  best  and  highest  things,  such  as 
'  make  wise  unto  salvation.'  If  she  had  sought  fame  rather  than  wis- 
dom, possibly  she  might  have  ranked  amongst  those  wits  and  learned 


284  Lady  Anne  Clifford,  of  Skipton  Castle. 

of  that  sex  of  whom  Pythagoras,  or  Plutarch,  or  any  of  the  ancients 
have  made  such  honourable  mention.  But  she  affected  rather  to  study 
with  those  noble  Bercans,  and  those  honourable  women  who  searched 
the  Scriptures  daily  ;  with  Mary,  she  chose  the  better  part,  of  learning 
the  doctrine  of  Christ." 

Skipton  Castle,  Camden  states,  was  originally  built  by  Robert  di- 
Romille,  one  of  the  followers  of  the  Norman  Conqueror.  "  Of  tlu; 
original  building,"  says  Whitaker,  "  little,  I  think,  remains  besides  the 
western  door  of  the  inner  castle ;  but  as  that  consists  of  a  treble  semi- 
circular arch  supported  upon  square  piers,  it  can  scarcely  be  assigned 
to  a  later  period.  The  rest  of  Romillc's  work,  besides  a  bailey  and 
lodgings  about  it,  must  have  consisted,  according  to  the  uniform  style 
of  castles  in  that  period,  of  a  square  tower  with  perpendicular  but- 
tresses, of  little  projection  at  the  angles,  and  of  single  round-headed 
lights  in  the  walls.  Every  vestige,  however,  of  such  an  edifice  has 
perished,  with  the  single  exception  mentioned  above ;  aad  the  oldest 
part  of  Skipton  Castle,  now  remaining,  consists  of  seven  round  towei-s, 
partly  in  the  sides,  and  partly  in  the  angles  of  the  building,  connected 
by  rectilinear  apartments,  which  form  an  irregular  quadrangular  court 
within.  The  walls  are  fiom  twelve  to  nine  feet  thick ;  yet  when  the 
Castle  was  slighted  by  ordinance  of  Parliament  in  the  last  century,  they 
were  demolished  in  some  places,  as  appears,  half-way ;  and  in  others, 
almost  wholly  to  the  foundation.  This  part  was  the  work  of  Robert 
de  Clifford,  in  the  beginning  of  Edward  the  Second's  time;  for, 
according  to  his  descendant.  Lady  Pembroke,  '  he  was  the  chief  builder 
of  the  most  strong  parts  of  Skipton  Castle,  which  had  been  out  of  re- 
pair, and  ruinous  from  the  Earl  of  Albemarle's  time.  But  the  eastern  part, 
a  single  range  of  buildings,  at  least  sixty  yards  long,  terminated  by  an 
octagon  tower,  is  known  to  have  been  built  by  the  first  Earl  of  Cum- 
berland, in  the  short  space  of  four  or  five  months,  for  the  reception  of 
the  Lady  Eleanor  Brandon's  grace,'  who  married  his  son  in  the 
twenty-seventh  year  of  that  reign.  This  part,  which  was  meant  for 
State  rather  than  defence,  was  not  slighted  (demolished),  with  the  main 
part  of  the  Castle,  and  remains  nearly  in  its  original  condition,  as  the 
wainscot,  cai-ved  with  fluted  panels,  and  even  some  of  the  original 
furniture,  serve  to  prove.  The  upper  windows,  only,  appear  to  have 
been  altered  by  the  Countess  of  Pembroke.  The  '  Lady  Eleanor's 
grace'  appears  to  have  been  received  by  the  family — who  no  doubt 
were  proud  of  such  an  alliance — with  the  honours  of  royalty ;  and  a 
long  gallery  was  then  considered  as  a  necessary  appendage  to  every 
princely  residence." 


285 


Knaresborough  Castle,  and  Eugene  Aram. 

Knorcsborough,  eighteen  miles  west  of  York,  is  noted  for  its  fortresa, 
occupying  a  very  elevated  situation,  and,  on  the  accessible  side  formerly 
defended  by  a  Vast  fosse,  with  strong  works  on  the  outside ;  the 
scattered  ruins  still  showing  it  to  have  been  of  great  extent.  The  Castle 
was  founded  by  Serlo  de  Burgh,  one  of  the  followers  of  the  Conqueror; 
and  he  was  succeeded  in  his  possession  by  Eustace  Fitz  John,  the  great 
favourite  of  Henry  I.  It  afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of  the 
Crown,  for  King  John  granted  it  to  William  de  Estoteville,  for  the 
service  of  three  knights'  fees.  In  the  succeeding  reign  it  was  bestowed  on 
the  Great  Justiciary  Hubert  de  Burgh  on  payment  of  loc/.  per  annum 
into  the  Exchequer.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  IL,  it  was  in  the  family  of 
the  Vaux,  or  de  Vallibus,  but  bestowed  by  that  Prince  on  his  favourite, 
Piers  Gaveston,  whom  he  created  Earl  of  Cornwall.  On  his  death  it 
reverted  to  the  Crown,  and  continued  attached  thereto  till  1571,  when 
the  Castle,  manor,  and  honour  of  Knaresborough,  were  granted  by 
Edward  III.  to  his  fourth  son,  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster. 

Lord  L)lton  has  conferred  fresh  notoriety  upon  the  place  by  making 
it  the  scene  of  his  ingenious  romance,  Eugene  Aram.  "You  would  be 
at  a  loss  (says  he)  to  recognise  now  the  truth  of  old  Leland's  descrip- 
tion of  that  once  stout  and  gallant  bulwark  of  the  north,  when  '  he 
numbrid  11  or  12  toures  in  the  walles  of  the  Cast  el,  and  one  very 
fayre  beside  in  the  second  area.'  In  that  Castle,  the  four  knightly 
murderers  of  the  haughty  Becket  (the  Wolsey  of  his  age)  remained 
for  a  whole  year,  defying  the  weak  justice  of  the  times.  There,  too, 
the  unfortunate  Richard  II. — the  Stuart  of  the  Plantagenets — passed 
some  portion  of  his  bitter  imprisonment.  And  there,  after  the  battle 
of  Marston  Moor,  waved  the  banner  of  the  loyalists  against  the  soldiers 
of  Lilbuni.  It  was  made  yet  more  touchingly  memorable  at  that  time, 
as  you  may  have  heard,  by  an  instance  of  filial  piety.  The  town  was 
straitened  for  want  of  provisions ;  a  youth,  whose  father  was  in  the 
garrison,  was  accustomed  nightly  to  get  into  the  deep  dry  moat,  climb 
up  the  glacis,  and  put  provisions  through  a  hole,  where  the  father  stood 
ready  to  receive  them.  He  was  perceived  at  length  ;  the  soldiers  fired 
on  him.  He  was  taken  prisoner,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged  in  sight  of 
the  besieged,  in  order  to  strike  teiior  into  those  who  might  be  similarly 
di8jK)sed  to  render  assistance  to  the  garrison.  Fortunately,  however, 
the  disgrace  was  spared  the  memory  of  Lilbuni  and  the  republican 
anns.     With  great  difliculty,  a  certain  lady  obtained  his  respite  j  and 


286        Knaresboroiigh  Castle^  and  Eugene  Aram. 

after  the  conquest  of  the  place,  and  departure  of  the  troops,  the  ad- 
venturous son  was  released. 

"The  Castle  then,  once  the  residence  of  Piers  Gaveston,  of 
Henry  III.,  and  of  John  of  Gaunt,  was  dismantled  and  destroyed. 
It  is  singular,  by  the  way,  that  it  was  twice  captured  by  men  of  the 
name  of  Lilbum,  or  Lilleburne,  once  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  once 
as  I  have  related.  On  looking  over  historical  records,  we  are  surprised 
to  find  how  often  certain  great  names  have  been  fatal  to  certain  spots  ; 
and  this  reminiscence  that  we  boast  (at  Knaresbro')  the  origin  of  the 
English  Sibyl,  the  venerable  Mother  Shipton.  The  wild  rock  at  whose 
foot  she  is  said  to  have  been  born,  is  worthy  of  the  tradition." 

At  the  time  Eugene  Aram  gave  an  all-absorbing  interest  to  Knares- 
borough.  Dr.  Granville  wTote  these  interesting  remarks  on  St.  Robert's 
Cave,  hard  by,  "  where  chance  had  lately  brought  to  light  an  excavation 
two  feet  deep,  and  in  shape  like  the  inside  of  a  stone  coffin,  made  in  the 
solid  rock,  with  hollows  at  the  bottom,  to  receive  certain  projecting 
parts  of  a  human  body — such  a  one  having  been  found  in  a  state  of 
decay  at  the  time  of  the  discovery.  In  tossing  up  the  earth,  by  which 
the  tomb  was  encumbered,  a  small  silver  coin  was  brought  to  light, 
which  none  of  our  party  could  decipher,  as  the  inscription  was  not 
very  legible.  The  coin  would  probably  have  informed  us  respecting 
the  age  of  this  sepulture.  Had  such  mortal  remains  been  discovered 
at  the  period  when  Eugene  stood  arraigned  for  murder,  no  doubt  he 
would  have  made  good  use  of  the  circumstance  in  his  extraordinary 
and  very  clear  defence,  in  practically  exemplifying  his  line  of  argument, 
that  the  bones  found  in  St.  Robert's  Cave  need  not  have  been  those  of 
the  murdered  Clark,  but  rather  might  have  been  those  of  some  recluse 
anchoret,  who  there  perished  in  due  course.  But  •  blood  will  have 
blood  ;'  and  Proxndence  willed  it  that  the  discoveiy  which  would  have 
supplied  an  argument  to  the  arraigned  schoolmaster,  too  strong  even 
for  the  law  to  withstand  (when  circumstantial  evidence  alone  directed 
the  jury),  and  which  would  have  snatched  guilt  from  condign  punish- 
ment, should  not  have  taken  place  until  long  after  that  punishment 
had  been  inflicted  ;  and,  it  is  hoped,  after  it  had  had  time  to  operate 
salutarily  by  its  example. 

'*  The  most  successful  effort  made  to  excite  sympathy  in  behalf  of  the 
culprit's  memory  is  that  of  Norrison  Scatcherd,  Esq.,  who,  in  two  well- 
written  works,  endeavoured  to  place  the  history  of  Aram  in  its  proper 
light.  The  author's  remarks  on  that  interesting  girl,  'Sally  Aram,' 
the  favourite  and  only  affectionate  child  of  Eugene,  who  followed 
him  to  Lynn,  and  clung  to  him  in  York  Castle,  whither,  with  a  devo- 


Cawood  Castle.— The  Fall  of  Wolsey.  287 

tion  and  fidelity,  characteristic  of  her  sex  where  a  beloved  object  is  con- 
ccmetl,  Sally  had  attended  her  father,  are  pathetic  indeed.  The  author 
concludes  with  a  moral,  deduced  fi-om  the  sad  lesson  he  has  composed, 
and  does  not,  like  a  ceitain  leamed  physician  at  one  of  the  meetings  of 
the  Medical  Section  of  the  British  Association,  exclaim  against  the  in- 
justice of  a  sentence  contended  by  the  latter  to  have  been  little  short  of 
a  legal  murder.  And  why  ?  because  upon  a  skull  deemed  to  be  that  of 
Eugene  Aram,  upon  no  direct  evidence  whatever, — upon  evidence,  in- 
deed, which  Dr.  Fife,  of  Newcastle,  said  to  be  an  able  supporter  of 
phrenology,  considered  to  be  neither  moral  nor  loyal — certain  particular 
manifestations  were  found  present,  and  others  wanting.  The  latter  rea- 
sons, which,"  says  Dr.  Granville,  "  I  perfectly  well  recollect,  but  being 
adduced  sympathetically  at  the  time,  it  is  but  justice  to  add,  the  leamed 
author  has  disclaimed.  But  assuming  even  that  the  skull  is  genuine, 
and  taking  its  phrenological  developments  to  be  as  there  stated,  no 
ruffian  was  ever  more  deservedly  hung  than  Eugene  Aram." 

The  Dropping  Well,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Harrogate,  rises  at  the 
foot  of  a  limestone  rock,  on  the  river  Nid.  After  running  about 
twenty  yards  towards  the  river,  it  spreads  itself  over  the  top  of  a  crag 
about  thirty  feet  high,  from  whence  it  falls  in  a  shower,  dropping  per- 
pendicularly very  fast,  and  making  a  pleasing  sound.  The  water  is 
very  cold,  and  has  a  petrifying  quality,  being  impregnated  with  spar  and 
other  earthy  matter.  It  soon  incrusts  ever)'thing  on  which  it  falls  ;  and 
visitors  maybe  supplied  with  petrified  wood,  eggs, birds'-nests,  and  even 
wigs.  Leland,  who  travelled  in  England  in  15-^6,  describes  this  "  well  of 
a  wonderful  nature  called  the  Dropping  Well,  for  out  of  the  great 
rocks  by  it,  distilleth  water  continually  into  it.  This  water  is  cold,  and 
of  such  a  nature  that  what  thing  soever  falleth  out  of  the  rocks  into  this 
pit,  or  is  cast  in,  or  groweth  about  the  rocks,  and  is  touched  of  this 
water,  groweth  into  stone ;  or  else  some  sand  or  other  fine  ground  that 
is  about  the  rocks  cometh  down  with  the  continual  dropping  of  the 
things  in  the  rocks,  and  cleavcth  on  such  things  as  it  takcth,  and 
giveth  it  by  continuance  the  shape  of  a  stone." 


Cawood  Castle. — The  Fall  of  Wolsey. 

At  Cawood,  a  small  town  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  the 
Archbishops  of  York  had  a  palace,  or  rather  Castle,  as  early  as  the 
tenth  century.  Wulstanus,  sixteenth  Archbishop,  comprehended 
Cawood  in  his  diocese,  A.D.  94 1.    The  first  prelate  who  resided  here 


288  Caivood  Castle. — The  Fall  of  Wolsey, 

waa  William  de  Grenfeld,  Lord  High  Chancellor,  1305  (3'  Edw.  I.), 
who  died  at  Cawood,  and  was  buried  in  the  Chapel  of  St^  Nicholas,  in 
York  Minster,  where  his  monument  yet  remains,  with  his  effigies  on 
brass  upon  it.  He  built  the  west  end  of  the  Castle  about  the  yeai* 
1306.  The  Hall  was  erected  by  Archbishop  Benuet ;  <nnd  the  Gate- 
house, which  is  tiie  only  part  remaining,  was  built  by  Cardinal  John 
Kempe,  Lord  High  Chancellor,  about  the  year  1426.  He  endorsed  it 
with  his  arms :  i.  three  wheat-sheaves  without  a  border ;  2.  three, 
with  a  border  nubile ;  3.  three  without  a  border,  ingrailed,  indented  ; 
4.  cross  keys  and  mitre ;  5.  English  and  French  arms,  supported  by 
two  stags,  a  lion  on  the  crest ;  6.  arms,  as  the  third  article ;  7.  arms  of 
Canterbury;  8.  the  first  article;  9.  wheat-sheaves  ingrailed  as  the 
third. 

The  Castle  of  Cawood  was  situate  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Ouse, 
and  about  ten  miles  distant  fi"om  York.  Wolsey  had  been  residing  at 
Cawood  for  some  months,  when  he  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  treason 
by  Percy,  Earl  of  Northumberland.  After  all  his  pomp  and  prosperity 
— his  vast  accumulations  of  wealth — his  piles  of  plate,  and  heaps  of 
cloth-of-gold  and  costly  apparel,  Wolsey,  in  Maich,  1530  (judging 
from  a  State  manuscript  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VHL),  was  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  obtaining  a  loan  of  1000  marks  ;  this,  too,  to  carry  him 
to  his  exile  in  Yorkshire,  whither  his  enemies  had,  by  this  date,  induced 
the  fickle,  selfish,  and  luxurious  King  to  banish  his  former  favourite. 

Of  Wolsey's  residence  at  Cawood,  we  find  the  following  in  the  MS. 
already  referred  to :  it  is  in  the  possession  of  Sir  AValter  le  Trevelyan, 
Bart.,  F.S.A.,  a  junior  member  of  whose  family  was  one  of  the  chap- 
lains to  King  Henry.  Through  him  it  may  have  found  its  way  to  the 
venerable  seat  at  Nettlecombe,  in  the  county  of  Somerset,  where  this 
MS.,  relating  to  domestic  expenses  and  payments,  has,  for  some  centu- 
ries, been  deposited.  The  entry  is  as  follows : — "  Item  to  David  Vincent, 
by  the  King's  wairant,  for  his  charge,  l;>eing  sent  to  Cawood,  in  the 
north  contrie,  at  suche  time  as  the  cardenall  was  sicke."  As  the  sum 
charged  was  considerable — namely,  35/.  6j.  8^.  (more  than  20c/. 
present  money),  we  may  infer,  perhaps,  that  the  messenger,  wliom 
Cavendish  styles  his  "  fellow  Vincent,"  made  some  stay  there,  watching 
the  progress  of  Wolsey's  illness,  and  sending  intelligence  to  the  King, 
who  was  more  anxious  for  the  death  than  the  life  of  his  victim,  in  order 
that  he  might  seize  upon  the  remains  of  his  moveables.  It  is  quite 
evident  that  the  Cardinal  was  not,  at  this  period,  so  destitute  as  many 
have  supposed,  and  that  he  had  carried  with  him  a  very  large  quantity 
of  plate,  of  which  the  King  possessed  himself  the  moment  the  breath 


Cazvood  Castle.—  The  Fall  of  Wolsey.  2S9 

was  out  of  the  body  of  its  owner.  Among  the  payments  for  January, 
22  Henry  VIII.,  we  read,  intheTrevelyan  MS.,  that  "  tivo  persons  --were 
employed  three  entire  days  in  London,  iveigbing  tJx  plate  from  Ca^uood, 
late  the  Cardmalles."  Such  are  the  unceremonious  terms  used  in  the 
original  memorandum,  communicating  a  striking  fact,  of  which  we  now 
hear  for  the  first  time. 

Thescene  of  the  arrest  is  thus  described  by  Cavendish : — "  The  Cardinal 
was  at  dinner  when  Northumberland  arrived ;  the  bustle  occasioned  by 
his  admittance  reached  Wolsey 's  ears,  who  came  out  of  the  dining- 
room  on  to  the  grand  staircase  to  inquire  the  cause.  He  was  there  met 
by  the  Eai-1,  who  drew  him  aside  to  a  window,  and  showed  his  com- 
mission, exclaiming,  '  My  Lord  Cardinal,  I  an-est  you  in  the  name  of 
King  Henry.'  The  Cardinal  assumed  a  lofty  air  and  tone,  appealing 
to  the  Court  of  Rome,  whose  servant  he  declared  himself  to  be,  and 
consequently  not  amenable  to  temporal  arrest.  In  reply,  quoth  the  Earl, 
'My  Lord,  when  you  presented  me  with  this  staff  (showing  his  staff  of 
office),  you  then  said  that  with  it  I  might  airest  any  person  beneath  the 
dignity  of  a  sovereign.'  Wolsey's  countenance  immediately  fell,  while 
he  soberly  subjoined,  '  My  Lord,  I  submit,  and  surrender  myself  your 
prisoner.'  " 

Although  prevented  by  Percy  from  taking  leave  of  his  domestics, 
Wolsey  was  followed  by  expressions  of  sorrow  and  attachment  fi"om 
many  of  liis  household,  who  forced  their  way  into  the  apartment  where 
the  Cardinal  was,  and  fell  on  their  knees  before  him.  Throughout  the 
town  of  Cawood  he  was  also  hailed  with  cries  of  commiseration,  and 
of  vengeance  upon  his  enemies. 

From  Cawood,  as  is  well  known,  Wolsey  was  brought  to  the  Earl 
of  Shrewsbury's  seat,  at  Sheffield  Park  ;  and  thither  messengers  were 
unexpectedly  sent  to  convey  the  Cardinal  to  the  Tower  of  London. 
The  above  State  MS,  shows  that  Sir  William  Kingston,  Captain  of  the 
Guaid,  was  sent  to  arrest  the  Cardinal,  and  tiiat  forty  pounds  were  paid 
to  Kingston  in  November,  1530,  for  the  expense  of  the  journey,  as 
follows: — "  Item,  to  Sir  William  Kingston,  Knight-captain  of  the 
Kings  garde,  sent  to  Merle  of  Shrewsbury  with  divers  of  the  King's 
garde,  for  the  conveyance  of  the  Cardinal  of  Yorke  to  the  Tower  of 
London,  in  prest  for  their  charges — xl/."  The  Cardinal  was  taken  ill 
on  the  road.  The  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  encouraged  him  to  hope  for 
recovery,  but  Wolsey  replied,  that  lie  could  not  live,  and  discoursed 
learnedly  about  his  ailment,  dysentery,  which  he  said,  within  eight  days, 
if  there  were  no  change,  would  necessarily  produce  "  excoriation  of  the 
entrails,  or  delirium,  or  death."  This  was  on  the  eighth  day,  when  he 
♦  U 


290  Legend  of  Mother  Shipton. 

confidently  expected  his  death ;  and  he  expired  after  the  clock  had 
struck  eight,  according  to  his  own  prediction  ;  "  the  very  hour,"  says 
Shakspeaic,  "  himself  had  foretold  would  be  his  last."  He  had  reached 
Leicester  three  days  previously — as  we  shall  describe  in  our  account 
of  Leicester  Abbey. 

Wolsey's  misfortunes,  and  the  conversation  of  some  devout  and  mor- 
tified Carthusians,  appear  to  have  av?akened  the  first  sense  of  pure 
religion  in  his  mind.  During  his  retreat  at  Cawood,  while  the  King 
was  persecuting  him  with  one  refinement  of  ingenious  cruelty  after 
another,  he  was  calm  and  composed ;  and  here,  for  the  first  time,  he 
seems  to  have  exercised,  or  even  comprehended,  the  character  of  a 
Christian  bishop.  He  reconciled  enemies,  he  preached,  he  visited — 
nay,  he  was  humble.  But  this  character  he  was  not  long  permitted  to 
sustain.  He  was  preparing  to  be  enthroned  at  York  with  a  degree  of 
magnificence  which,  though  far  inferior  to  his  predecessors,  was  yet 
sufficient  to  awaken  the  jealousy  of  Henry.  The  fiml  an-cst  at 
Cawood  ensued. 


Legend  of  Mother  Shipton  and  her  Prophecies. 

One  of  the  recent  editions  of  the  Prophecies  of  Mother  Shipton,  printed 
in  1662,  contains  a  woodcut  referring  to  the  well-known  alleged  story, 
found  in  all  the  chap-book  copies  of  Mother  Shipton,  of  Wolsey  being 
shown  York  Minster  from  the  top  of  a  tower,  and  his  vow  of  vengeance 
against  the  witch  who  had  prophesied  that  he  should  never  get  there. 
The  earliest  piece  on  the  subject  that  we  are  acquainted  with  appeared 
in  the  year  1641,  under  the  title  of  "The  Prophesie  of  Mother  Shipton 
fortelling  the  Death  of  Cardinall  Wolsey  and  others,  as  also  what 
should  happen  in  insuing  Times." 

It  is  well  known  that  prophecies  in  the  Middle  Ages  were  used 
as  political  instruments,  and  that  they  became  abundant  in  times 
of  great  political  excitement.  Thus  they  were  very  numerous  in  the 
reign  of  Richard  IL,  in  that  of  Henry  VL,  and  again  in  that  of 
Henry  VI H.,  and  especially  in  the  latter;  while  at  most  of  these  periods 
laws  were  made  against  them.  They  were  published  under  feigned  names, 
generally  those  of  some  celebrated  magicians  or  witches,  and  Mother 
Shipton  was  one  of  these ;  and  the  older  prophecies  which  go  under 
her  name  appear  to  have  been  published  about  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII., 
when,  according  to  the  popular  legend,  she  is  said  to  have  lived.  This 
legend  appears  to  have  been  published  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

In  a  rude  woodcut.  Mother  Shipton  appears  holding  in  her  left  hand  a 
staff  terminating  in  the  head  of  a  bird,  bringing  to  mind  the  gom  of  the 


L  egcnd  of  Motlier  Shipton.  291 

ancient  Egj-ptians,  the  implement  in  both  instances  having  a  mystic 
signification.  The  wand  seems  to  have  been  regarded  as  essential  to  the 
craft  of  the  magician  from  the  era  of  the  Pharaohs  to  long  subsequent 
to  the  time  when  Shakspcare  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  Prospero.  But 
turning  from  the  sceptre  of  augury  to  the  habit  of  the  witch,  we  have 
to  notice  her  long  loose  gown,  narrow  white  neckband  or  collar,  and 
strange  head-gear  like  a  turban,  with  high  comuted  crown,  bending 
forward  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  como  ducale  of  the  Venetian 
Doge  and  bonnet  worn  by  Punchinello.  But,  though  this  cap  be 
pointed,  it  differs  essentially  from  that  generally  seen  on  the  head  of  the 
British  prophetess,  which  has  a  regular  steeple  crown  and  broad  brim, 
as  she  has  been  depicted  in  old  tavern  signs.  In  the  Gentleman  s  Maga- 
zine, November,  1 831,  is  a  remarkable  ivory  carving,  which  was  pro- 
bably set  in  the  cover  of  a  conjuring  box,  and  on  which  is  displayed 
Friar  Bacon  and  his  brazen  head.  Dr.  Faustus  (?),  and  Mother  Shipton ; 
the  latter  wearing  a  conical  hat,  somewhat  less  elevated  than  usual,  but 
still  of  orthodox  fashion.  And  so  closely  has  the  copatain,  or  peaked 
hat,  become  connected  with  the  fame  of  the  Yorkshire  seer,  that  it  is 
looked  upon  almost  as  an  attribute  of  the  black  art,  and  may  be  seen  on 
the  head  of  a  sister  riding  through  the  air  on  her  besom,  in  a  curious 
print  in  a  tract  entitled,  The  Witch  of  the  JVoodlands,  or  the  Cobler's  Neiu 
Translation. 

Mother  Shipton,  as  already  stited,  is  generally  believed  to  have  been 
bom  at  Knaresborough.  Though  during  her  lifetime  she  was  looked 
upon  as  a  witch,  she  yet  escaped  the  witch's  fate,  and  died  peaceably  in 
her  bed  at  an  extreme  old  age,  near  Clifton,  in  Yorkshire.  A  stone  is 
siiid  to  have  been  erected  to  her  memory  in  the  chui"chyard  of  that 
place,  with  the  following  epitaph : 

"  Here  lies  she  who  never  lied, 
>Vhose  skill  often  has  been  tried  : 
Her  prophecies  shall  still  survive, 
And  ever  keep  her  name  alive." 

Among  those  who  consulted  her  was  the  Abbot  of  Beverley,  to 
whom  she  foretold  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  by  Henry  VIII.; 
his  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn ;  the  burning  of  heretics  in  Smithfield ; 
and  the  execution  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  She  also  foretold  the  acces- 
sion of  James  I.,  adding  that,  with  him, 

"  P'rom  the  cold  North 
Every  evil  should  come  forth." 

Although  other  places  claim  to  have  been  Shipton's  birthplace,  her 
residence  is  asserted,  by  oral  tradition,  to  have  been  for  many  years  a 
cottage  at  Winslow-cum-Shipton,  in  Buckinghamshire.    One  of  her 


292  "  The  Old  Hair  at  Waddington,  &c. 

most  popular  books  is  entitled — "  The  Strange  and  Wonderful  Histoiy 
and  Prophecies  of  Mother  Shipton,  plainly  setting  forth  her  Birth,  Life, 
Death,  and  Burial.  Chapter  I.  Of  her  birth  and  parentage.  II. 
How  Mother  Shipton's  mother  proved  with  child,  how  she  fitted 
the  Justice,  and  what  happened  at  her  delivery.  III.  By  what 
name  Mother  Shipton  was  christa^ed,  and  how  her  mother  went  into  a 
monastery.  IV.  Several  pranks  played  by  Mother  Shipton  in  revenge 
of  such  as  abused  her.  V.  How  Ursula  manied  a  young  man  named 
Tobias  Shipton,  and  how  strangely  she  discovered  a  thief.  VI.  Her 
prophecy  against  Cardinal  Wolsey.  VII.  Some  other  prophecies  ot 
Mother  Shipton  relating  to  those  times.  VIII.  Her  prophecies  in 
verse  to  the  Abbot  of  Beverley.  IX.  Mother  Shipton's  life,  death,  and 
burial." — (Partly  from  a  paper,  by  Mr.  Halliwell,  F.S.A.) 


"The  Old  Hall"  at  Waddington.— Capture  of 
Henry  VI. 

At  Waddington,  in  Mytton,  West  Yorkshire,  stands  a  pile  of  build- 
ings known  as  "  the  Old  Hall,"  once  stately,  but  now  much  indeed 
despoiled  of  its  beauty,  where  for  some  time  the  unfortunate  King 
Henry  VI.  was  concealed  after  the  fatal  battle  of  Hexham,  in  Northum- 
berland. Quietly  seated  one  day  at  dinner,  in  company  with  Dr.  Man- 
ning, Dean  of  Windsor,  the  King's  enemies  came  upon  him  by  surprise ; 
but  he  privately  escaped  by  a  back  door,  and  fled  to  Bungerley  Stepping- 
stones  (still  partially  visible  in  a  wooden  frame),  whei-e  he  was  taken 
prisoner,  his  legs  tied  together  under  the  horse's  belly,  and  thus  disgrace- 
fully conveyed  to  the  Tower  of  London.  He  was  betrayed  by  a  monk 
of  Abingdon.  The  ancient  house  or  hall  is  still  in  existence,  but  now 
converted  into  a  building  for  farming  purposes.  Near  the  village  of 
Waddington  there  is  a  meadow  still  known  by  the  name  of  "  King 
Henry's  Meadow." 

The  particulars  of  the  King's  capture  are  thus  related  in  Wark- 
worth's  Chronicle:  "  Also,  the  same  yere  Kynge  Henry  was  takcne 
bysyde  a  howse  of  religione  [/>.  Whalley],  in  Lancashire,  by  the  mene 
of  a  blacke  monke  of  Abyngtone  [Abingdon],  in  a  wode  called  Clether- 
wode  [the  wood  of  Clitheroe],  besyde  Bunger-hyppyngstones,  by 
Thomas  Talbot,  sonne  and  heyre  to  Edmund  Talbot  of  Basshallcs,  and 
lohn  Talbot,  his  cosyne,  of  Colebry  [i.e.  Salebury,  in  Blackburn],  withe 
other  moo ;  which  discryvide  [him]  beynge  at  his  dynere  at  Wadynton 
halle :  and  [he  was]  carryed  to  London  on  horsebacke,  and  his  leges 


"  The  Old  Hair  at  Waddingtoji,  &c.  293 

bownde  to  the  stjTopcr."  It  is  also  stated  that  the  Talbots  and  some 
other  parties  in  the  neighbourhootl,  formed  plans  for  his  apprehension, 
and  arrested  him  on  the  first  convenient  opportunity,  as  he  was  crossing 
the  ford  across  the  river  Ribble  formed  by  the  hyppyngstones  at  Bun- 
gerley.  Waddington  belonged  to  Sir  John  Tempest,  of  Bracewell,  who 
was  the  father-in-law  of  Thomas  Talrot.  Both  Sir  John  Tempest  and 
Sir  James  Harrington,  of  Brierley,  near  Bamsley,  were  concerned  in  the 
King's  capture,  and  each  received  one  hundred  marks  reward ;  but  the 
fact  of  Sir  Thomas  Talbot  being  the  chief  actor  is  shown  by  his  having 
received  the  larger  reward  of  100/.  The  chief  residence  of  the  unhappy 
monarch  during  his  retreat  was  at  Bolton  Hall,  where  his  boots,  his 
gloves,  and  a  spoon,  are  still  preserved.  Sir  Ralph  Pudsey,  of  Bolton, 
had  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Tunstal,  who  attended 
the  King  as  esquire  of  the  body. 

A  grant  of  lands  was  also  made  by  King  Edward  IV.  to  Sir  James 
Harrington  "  for  his  services  in  taking  prisoner,  and  with  holding  as 
such  in  diligence  and  valour  his  enemy  Henry,  lately  called  King 
Henry  VI."  This  grant,  which  was  confirmed  in  Parliament,  em- 
braced the  castle,  manor,  and  domain  of  Thurland;  a  park  called 
FayTet  Whayte  Park,  with  lands,  &c.,  in  six  townships  of  the  county  of 
Lancaster;  lands  at  Burton  in  Lonsdale,  co.  York ;  and  Holme,  in 
Kendal,  co.  Westmoreland,  the  forfeited  lands  of  Sir  Richard  Tunstell, 
and  other  "  rebels."  Mr.  Henry  Harrington  states  that  the  lands  were 
afterwards  lost  to  his  family  by  the  misfortune  of  Sir  James  and  his 
brother  being  on  the  wrong  side  at  Bosworth  Field  ;  after  which  they 
were  both  attainted  for  serving  Richard  III.  and  Edward  IV.,  "and 
commanding  the  party  which  seized  Henry  VI.,  and  conducted  him  to 
the  Tower."  After  "  the  meek  usurper"  was  deprived  of  his  throne, 
he  saw  his  friends  cut  off  in  the  field,  or  on  the  scaffold ;  he  suflx'red 
exile  and  a  tedious  imprisonment  himself,  and  he  died  at  last  in  con- 
finement in  the  Tower  about  the  month  of  May,  1471.  His  death  has 
usually  been  ascribed  to  violence,  but  it  was  more  probably  owing  to 
grief  at  the  capture  of  his  wife  and  slaughter  of  his  son  at  Tewkesbury 
shortly  before.  But  though  Edward  might  silence  the  tongues,  he 
could  not  control  the  thoughts  or  the  pens  of  his  subjects ;  and  the 
writers  who  lived  under  the  next  dynasty  not  only  proclaim  the  mur- 
der, but  attribute  the  black  deed  to  the  advice,  if  not  the  dagger,  of 
the  youngest  of  the  royal  brothers,  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester.  "  It 
is  a  curious  fact,"  obser\c8  Miss  Strickland,  "  that  the  weapon  said  to 
have  been  employed  in  the  perpetration  of  this  disputed  murder  was  pre- 
served, and  long  regarded  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Reading  as  a  rclic" 


294  T^^^  Lords  of  Wcnsleydale. 

"  The  warden  of  Caversham,"  wrote  John  London,  "  was  accustomed 
to  show  many  pretty  relics,  among  which  was  the  holy  dagger  that 
killed  King  Henry."  His  body  was  exposed  in  St  Paul's,  and  then 
buried  with  little  ceremony  at  Chertsey  Abbey,  but  by  Henry  VU. 
was  removed  to  Windsor,  and  interred  in  St.  George's  Chapel,  where 
he  was  worshipped  by  the  name  of  "  Holy  King  Henry,"  whose  red  hat  of 
velvet  was  thought  to  heal  the  headache  of  such  as  put  it  on  their  heads. 


The  Lords  of  Wensleydale. 

In  the  reigns  of  the  second  and  third  Edward,  Henry  Scroop,  a 
lawyer,  founded  a  family  of  Peers,  and  built  a  home  in  Wensleydale, 
which,  with  a  Castle  built  by  his  successor,  were  transmitted  to  a  noble 
posterity  in  a  direct  line  for  300  years ;  afterwards,  through  marriage, 
to  the  Paulcts,  Marquises  of  Winchester,  and  Dukes  of  Bolton  Castle, 
and  Wensleydale.  Henry  Scroop,  in  the  second  year  of  Edward  II., 
was  one  of  the  Justices  of  Common  Pleas ;  and  in  the  tenth  year  of 
the  said  reign  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench.  In  the 
first  year  of  Edward  III.  he  was  degraded  for  political  reasons;  but, 
says  the  chronicler,  "  paid  his  court  so  well  to  the  new  sovereign,  that 
in  three  years  he  was  re-instated  in  the  highest  office,  and  in  seven 
years  after,  when  he  died,  so  well  had  he  employed  his  oppor- 
tunities, that  he  was  possessed  of  many  manors.  His  successor  was 
Lord  Scroop,  Chancellor  and  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  builder  ol 
Bolton  Castle.  His  son  was  Richard  Scroop,  Archbishop  of  York, 
beheaded  in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses;  when  the  executioner  was  so 
appalled  by  the  dread  of  decapitating  an  Archbishop,  that  he  did  not 
sever  the  head  until  after  five  strokes  of  the  axe. 

The  Scroops  were  now  married  into  the  family  of  the  Nevilles,  the 
King-makers.  Sir  John  Neville,  of  Wensleydale,  kinsman  of  the  Earl 
of  Warwick,  had  Edward  IV.  in  keeping  at  Middleham  in  the  Dale, 
when,  on  pretence  of  hunting,  Edward  escaped  by  the  help  of  his 
brother  Gloucester.  When  Edward  IV.  was  in  the  ascendant,  and 
Henry  VI.  a  fugitive,  the  latter  wandered  on  the  moors  between 
Wensleydale  and  Bowland,  finding  shelter  with  the  family  of  the 
Lindseys,  and  longing  in  his  soHloquies  that  he  were  a  shepherd: 

•'  Oh  God  !  methinks  it  were  a  happy  life 
To  be  no  better  than  a  homely  swain, 
To  sit  upon  a  hill  as  I  do  now — 
To  carve  out  dials  quaintly  point  by  point, 
Thereby  to  see  the  minutes  how  they  run." 

On  the  same  moors,  and  on  the  fells  of  Cumberland,  the  second  gene- 


Marvels  in  a  Chronicle  of  Meatix  Abbey.         295 

ration  following,  the  successor  to  "  the  bloody  Cliffords"  of  the  York 
and  Lancaster  wars,  was  secreted  as  a  shepherd,  and  only  emerged 
from  obscurity  after  twenty-five  years  of  pastoral  life.  When  he  was 
aged  sixty,  the  Scotch  invaded  England,  to  be  overthrown  on  Flodden 
Field.  An  old  metrical  history  tells  of  the  gathering  of  his  forces  by 
this  Henry  Clifford,  the  shepherd,  thus : — 

"  From  Pennighent  to  Rendle  Hill, 

From  Linto  to  Long  Andinghame, 
And  all  that  Craven  coasts  did  till, 

They  with  the  lusty  Clifford  came  ; 
All  Slainforth  hundred  went  with  him, 

With  striplings  strong  from  Wensleydale, 
And  milk-bed  fellows,  fleshy  bred, 

From  Longstratts  eke  and  Littondale," 

In  the  next  generation  Wensleydale  held  within  the  grim  \valls  of 
Bolton  Castle  a  fair  captive,  marvellous  in  beauty,  marvellous  in  her 
misfortunes,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  She  was  allowed  to  join  the 
chase ;  but  at  the  cataracts  far  up  the  dale,  met  a  disguised  stranger 
more  than  once — the  chivalric  Duke  of  Norfolk — who  fain  would 
carry  her  out  of  captivity  and  Wensleydale.  But  the  royal  hawk 
of  England  heard  of  this,  and  ordered  her  prisoner  to  be  removed  to 
safer  custody  in  Staffordshire. 


Marvels  in  a  Chronicle  of  Meaux  Abbey, 

In  the  East  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  about  six  miles  north  of  Hull,  was 
founded  in  the  year  1 150,  the  Cistercian  abbey  of  Melsa,  or  Meaux,  by 
William  le  Gros,  third  Earl  of  Albemarle  and  Lord  of  Holdemess.  In 
the  British  Museum  is  a  folio  volume,  on  vellum,  written  in  Latin,  at 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  which  contains  annals  of  the  monas- 
ter)' and  a  chronicle  of  events  connected  with  it,  ft-om  its  establishment 
to  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  In  this  MS.  are  recorded  certain  marvellous 
events,  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  Sir  Richard  Baker,  in  his  Chronicle. 

Thus,  in  the  reign  of  Stephen,  who  died  four  years  after  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Abbey,  "  a  certain  soldier,  by  name  Oswey,  chanced  to  have 
obtained  admission  into  St.  Patrick's  purgatory ;  and  upon  his  return 
he  gave  an  account  of  the  joys  and  pains  which  he  had  witnessed  there." 

In  the  tenth  year  of  Henry  II.  we  learn  that  at  "  about  the  first  hour 
there  appeared  in  the  sky  three  circles  and  two  suns ;  and  a  dragon  of 
immense  size  was  seen  in  St.  Osyth  (Osey  Island,  co.  Essex),  Killing 
the  air  so  close  to  the  earth,  that  divers  houses  were  burnt  by  the  heat 
which  proceeded  from  him." 

In  the  twenty-third  year  of  King  Henry,  "  the  bodies  of  Arthur, 


296         Marvels  in  a  Chronicle  of  Memix  Abbey. 

some  time  king  of  the  Britons,  and  of  Wenevcre  his  wife,  were  found 
at  Glastonbury,  between  two  stone  pyramids  formerly  erected  in  the 
sacred  cemetery.  They  were  hidden  by  a  hollow  oak,  lay  about  fifteen 
feet  deep  in  the  ground,  and  were  distinguished  by  the  most  un- 
mistakeable  marks ;  for  Arthur's  thigh-bone,  when  examined,  ex- 
ceeded by  three  fingers  in  length  the  tallest  man's  thigh-bone  that  had 
ever  been  found,  when  measured  down  to  the  knee.  Moreover,  the 
space  between  his  eyebrows  was  of  the  breadth  of  the  palm  of  a  man's 
hand." 

Of  a  London  fog,  which  occurred  circa  1224,  the  chronicler  says: — 
"  While  the  Bishop  of  London  (Eustace  de  Fauconberg,  Lord  Trea- 
surer) was  officiating  in  St.  Paul's,  there  came  on  suddenly  such  a 
thickness  of  the  clouds  and  darkness  of  the  sun,  accompanied  by  thunder 
and  lightning  and  a  most  foul  stench,  that  the  people  departed,  leaving 
only  the  bishop  there  with  one  attendant." 

Circa  1250: — "While  Ottoboni,  the  Pope's  legate,  was  passing 
through  Oxford,  the  scholars  did  attack  certain  of  his  attendants  to  such 
purpose  that  Ottolwni  was  perforce  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  the 
church  tower  of  Osney  until  evening,  when  he  was  released  by  some  of 
the  king's  servants  who  were  despatched  from  Abingdon.  Hence 
followed  excommunication  and  suspension  of  the  University,  until  the 
abbot  and  monks  of  Osney,  accompanied  by  the  regent  masters  of 
Oxford,  appeared  before  the  legate  in  London  barefooted  and  meanly 
clad ;  and  even  then  with  difficulty  obtained  pardon  for  their  offence." 

The  following  astronomical  notice  may  be  interesting  as  making 
mention  of  what  is  probably  the  comet  which  is  said  to  return  periodi- 
cally at  intervals  of  three  hundred  years  : — "  A.D.  1264  so  remarkable  a 
comet  appeared  as  no  man  then  living  had  ever  seen  before.  Rising 
fiom  the  east  with  great  brilliancy,  it  dragged  its  glittering  tail  to  the 
midst  of  the  heaven,  towards  the  west."  With  this  phenomenon  the 
writer  connects  the  death  of  Pope  Urban  IV.,  which  happened  in  the 
same  year. 

The  following  will  be  read  with  interest,  as  forcibly  illustrating 
the  superstitious  prejudices  of  the  period : — "  A  certain  Jew  at  Tewkes- 
bury fell  into  a  cesspool  on  his  Sabbath  day,  and  would  not  allow 
himself  to  be  taken  out,  from  honour  to  the  Sabbath.  For  a  similar 
reason  Richard  de  Clare,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  would  not  permit  him  to 
be  dragged  forth  on  the  following  day,  being  Sunday,  out  of  reverence 
to  his  Sabbath,  and  so  the  Jew  died  there." 

Again  : — "  A.D.  1307,"  says  the  author,  "  the  Templars  in  France 
were  dispersed  on  account  of  their  crimes  and  heresies ;"  one  charge 


Mangels  in  a  Chronicle  of  Mcaux  Abbey.         297 

being  that  they  invoked  bodily  and  worshipped  the  devil  and  evil 
spirits ;  and  another,  that  "  they  have  in  their  possession  the  head  of  a 
certain  Saracen,  who  was,  as  they  believe,  formerly  the  Master  of  their 
order,  and  the  introducer  of  their  impious  ceremonies.  Now  this  head, 
on  the  first  day  of  their  general  chapter,  is  placed  before  midnight  in 
fiont  of  an  altar  in  a  certain  chapel,  and  adorned  with  very  costly  robes. 
It  is  then  worshipped,  first  by  the  Master,  then  by  the  brethren.  These 
latter  being  then  solemnly  asked  by  the  Master  if  they  believe  it  to  be 
their  Saviour,  they  answer  that  they  do.  Then  the  mass  is  sung,  and 
terminated  before  morning." 

In  the  year  1349  occurred  one  of  those  three  destructive  epidemics 

which  visited  this  country  and  many  other  parts  of  Europe  during  the 

reign  of  Edward  III.     The  community  at  Meaux  Abbey  suffered  so 

jverely  upon  the  above  occasion,  that,  as  we  are  informed  by  the 

hronicler,  the  Abbot  (Hugh  Leven),  thirty-two  monks,  and  seven 

.wversi  died,  the  majority  being  carried   off  during  the  month  of 

August ;  and  there  were  only  ten  monks  left. 

"  At  the  commencement  of  1349,  during  Lent,  six  days  before  Easter 
Sunday,  there  occurred  an  earthquake  throughout  the  whole  of  Eng- 
land, so  great  that  our  monks  of  Melsa,  while  at  vespers,  on  arriving 
'.  the  verse  '  He  hath  put  down  the  mighty,'  in  the  gospel  hj-mn,  were 
y  this  same  earthquake  thrown  so  violently  from  their  stalls  that  they 
ii  lay  prostrate  on  the  ground." 
It  appears  that  the  monastery  was  not  always  free  from  the  intrigues 
of  ambition  and  party  feeling  any  more  than  were  secular  communities 
outside  its  walls ;  for  we  read  that  in  the  year  1353,  William  de 
Drynghowe,  the  Abbot,  was  deposed  under  the  following  circumstances. 
John  de  Ryslay,  the  cellarer,  having  conceived  a  jealousy  against  his 
superior,  and  having  determined,  if  possible,  to  supplant  him,  adopted 
the  following  device.  He  preferred  a  charge  against  the  Abbot  of  mal- 
administration, and  also  of  receiving  a  horse  that  had  been  stolen  ;  and 
he  succeeded  so  effectually  in  fixing  the  crime  upon  him  that  he  induced 
the  judges,  who  were  the  Abbots  of  Fountains  and  Louth  Park,  and  one 
Hugh  de  Sancto  Lupo,  a  monk  of  Citeaux,  to  pronounce  him  guilty 
and  degrade  him  from  his  office.  The  cellarer  was  then  appointed 
Abbot  in  his  stead ;  but  the  injustice  of  the  case  was  so  evident  that  he 
found  it  more  convenient  to  resign.  William  de  Drynghowe  was 
afterwards  reinstalled  under  the  title  of  the  seventeenth  Abbot. 

About  the  year  1360,  the  monastery  lost  considerable  tracts  of  land, 
owing  to  inundations  of  the  Humber  and  encroachments  of  the  sea.  A 
whole  town,  which  then  stood  in  the  parish  of  EaSington,  and  was  called 
•' Ravenscr-Odd,"  was  utterly  dcstro)cd. 


298 


LANCASHIRE  AND  CHESHIRE. 

Furness  Abbey. 

Fumcss  is  the  name  given  to  that  irregularly-shaped  district  of  Lan- 
cashire which  is  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  county  by  an  arm  of  the 
Irish  Sea.  The  scenery  partakes  of  the  romantic  character  of  the 
adjoining  northern  counties.  It  is  a  wild  and  rugged  region,  stored 
with  iron  ore  and  slate,  and  covered  with  a  growth  of  underwood,  which 
is  cut  down  in  succession,  and  made  into  charcoal  for  the  use  of  the 
iron  furnaces.  Near  the  sea,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  above  ruins,  the 
land  is  moderately  fertile.  The  estuary  which  separates  this  portion 
from  the  rest  of  Lancashire  is  continually  crossed  by  horses  and  car- 
riages at  low  water.  In  this  detached  district,  about  seven  centuries 
since,  was  built  the  Abbey  of  Furness  ;  in  subsequent  ages  it  rose  high 
in  rank  and  power,  and  the  ruins  of  its  architectural  splendour  are  to 
this  day  entitled  to  the  first  place  among  the  relics  of  antiquity  in  the 
county.  The  Abbey  lies  near  Dalton-in-Fumess,  on  the  banks  of 
a  rivulet,  in  a  narrow  and  fertile  vale.  It  was  foimdcd  a.d.  i  127,  by 
Stephen,  then  Earl  of  Morton  (Mortain)  and  Bulloin  (Boulogne), 
afterwards  King  of  England,  for  Cistercian  monks,  removed  here  from 
Tulket,  in  Amounderness,  but  originally  from  Savigny,  in  Normandy. 
It  was  endowed  with  rich  domains,  the  foundation  being  afterwards 
confirmed  and  jecured  by  the  charters  of  twelve  successive  monarchs, 
and  the  bulls  of  divers  popes.  The  Abbot  of  Furness  was  invested 
with  extraordinary  privileges,  and  exercised  jurisdiction  over  the  whole 
district ;  even  the  military  were  in  some  degree  dependent  on  him.  A 
singular  custom  prevailed  in  this  Abbey,  distinct  from  every  other  of 
the  same  order — which  was  that  of  registering  the  names  of  such  of 
their  Abbots  only  as,  after  presiding  ten  years,  continued  and  died 
Abbots  there  ;  this  Register  was  called  the  Abbot's  Mortuary.  Such  of 
the  Abbots  as  died  before  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  ten  years,  or 
were  after  it  translated  or  deposed,  were  not  entered  in  the  book. 
Thus,  in  the  space  of  277  years,  the  names  of  only  ten  abbots  were 
recorded,  though,  according  to  some  authors,  the  real  number  was  32 
or  more ;  but  though  many  of  them,  for  the  reasons  above-named,  were 
omitted  in  the  Register,  they"  received  in  other  respects  the  honour  due 
to  their  rank. 


Furness  Abbey.  299 

The  situation  of  the  Abbey  being  formidable  by  nature,  gave  some- 
thing of  a  warlike  consequence  to  the  monks ;  they  erected  a  watch- 
tower  on  the  summit  of  a  commanding  hill,  which  commences  its  rise 
near  the  walls  of  the  monastery,  looking  over  all  Low  Furness,  and  the 
arm  of  the  sea  immediately  beneath  it ;  thus  they  were  enabled  to 
prevent  surprise  by  alarming  the  adjacent  coast  with  signals  on  the 
approach  of  an  enemy.  The  Abbey  was  dedicated  to  St.  Mary,  and  its 
monks  for  some  time  conformed  to  the  regulations  of  their  ordei, 
wearing  the  habit  of  grey ;  but  embracing  St.  Bernard's  rigid  rules, 
they  changed  their  habit,  and  became  Cistercians. 

The  entrance  to  these  romantic  ruins  is  through  a  light  pointed  arch  ; 
they  are  of  Norman  and  Early  English  character.  The  church  is 
^87  feet  in  length,  and  the  walls  are  in  some  places  54  feet  high,  and 
5  feet  thick.  The  windows  and  arches  are  upon  a  scale  of  unusual 
loftiness.  The  east  window  was  filled  with  painted  glass,  which  has 
been  removed,  and  preserved  in  the  east  window  at  Bowness  Church,  in 
Westmoreland.  The  design  represents  the  Crucifixion,  with  St.  George 
and  the  Virgin  Mary;  beneath  are  figures  of  a  knight  and  his  lady, 
surrounded  by  monks  ;  at  the  top  are  the  arms  of  England  quartered 
with  those  of  France.  In  the  south  wall  of  the  chancel  are  four 
canopied  stalls,  for  the  use  of  the  clergy  during  the  service  of  mass.  In 
the  middle  space  were  interred  the  first  barons  of  Kendal.  Towards 
the  west  end  of  the  church  are  two  prodigious  masses  of  stone- 
work— these  were  the  sides  of  the  vast  tower,  which,  by  its  fall, 
choked  up  the  intermediate  space  with  an  immense  heap  ot  rubbish. 
Along  the  nave  of  the  church  are  the  bases  of  circular  columns,  which 
were  of  ponderous  size ;  in  other  parts  are  seen  the  remains  of  clustered 
columns.  The  church  and  cloisters  were  encompassed  with  a  wall ; 
and  a  space  of  ground  containing  85  acres  was  surrounded  by  another 
wall,  which  inclosed  the  abbey  mills,  together  with  the  kilns  and  ovens, 
and  stews  for  receiving  fish.  The  ruins  are  of  a  pale  red  stone,  dug  in 
the  neighbourhood,  changed  by  time  and  weather  to  a  dusky  brown ; 
they  are  everywhere  covered  by  climbing  or  parasitic  plants  and  richly- 
tinted  foliage ;  while  the  sounds  of  a  gurgling  brook  hard  by  lull  the 
mind  into  solemn  contemplation : 

"  Amid  yon  leafy  elm  no  turtle  wails  ; 
No  early  minstrels  wake  the  winding  vales ; 
No  choral  anthem  floats  the  lawn  along, 
For  sunk  in  slumber  is  the  hermit  throng. 
There  each  alike,  the  long,  the  lately  dead, 
The  monk,  the  swain,  the  minstrel,  make  their  bed; 
While  o'er  the  graves,  and  from  the  rifts  on  high, 
The  chattering  daw,  the  hoarser  raven  cry," 


300  Lancaster  Castle. 

The  Abbey  was  suiTendered  by  Roger  Pykc,  the  then  Abbot,  28 
Henry  VIII.,  who,  for  his  compliance,  received  the  rectory  of  Dalton  ; 
and  the  monks,  to  the  number  of  twenty-nine,  had  among  them  a 
grant  equal  to  300/.  per  annum.  The  dissolution  of  the  Abbey  greatly 
afiected  both  the  civil  and  domestic  state  of  Low  Furness.  The  large 
demand  for  provisions  of  all  kinds,  occasioned  by  abundant  hospitality 
and  the  frequent  concourse  of  company  resorting  to  the  Abbey,  dropped 
at  once ;  the  boons  and  rents  were  no  longer  paid  in  kind,  and  agri- 
culture became  proportionally  depressed. 

The  Abbey  of  Furness  must,  in  its  pristine  perfection,  have  been  one 
of  the  most  extensive  and  important  monastic  establishments  in  the 
kingdom ;  although  much  of  this  completeness  must  be  referred  to  a 
period  subsequently  to  the  foundation  of  the  building,  and  to  the  accu- 
mulating wealth  and  power  of  successive  abbots.  Altogether,  it 
accords  with  the  received  definition  of  the  Abbey,  which  "  properly 
means  a  series  of  buildings  adapted  for  the  accommodation  and  reli- 
gious ceremonies  of  a  fraternity  of  persons  subject  to  the  government  of 
an  Abbot  or  Abbess." 


Lancaster  Castle. 

Lancaster  is  considered,  from  the  Roman  antiquities  discovered,  and 
from  the  termination  of  the  name,  "caster,"  to  have  been  a  Roman  station. 
It  is  supposed  to  has'e  been  dismantled  by  the  Picts  after  the  departure 
of  the  Romans,  but  restored  by  the  Anglo-Saxons  of  Northumbria, 
under  whom  it  first  gave  name  to  the  shire.  The  Castle  was  enlarged, 
and  the  town,  which  had  previously  received  a  charter  from  King  John, 
was  favoured  with  additional  privileges  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III., 
when  the  fortress  was  in  great  part  rebuilt ;  and  Edward  conferred  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster  on  his  son,  John  of  Ghent,  or  Gaunt,  in  whose 
favour  the  county  was  made  a  County  Palatine.  Henceforth  the 
Castle  is  intimately  connected  with  the  farrous  name  and  history  of  its 
Governor,  John  of  Gaunt,  "time-honoured  Lancaster."*  We 
read  of  Hubert,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  besieging  this  Castle  in 
1 199  ;  but  it  appears  to  have  been  maintained  more  for  State  purposes 
than  war.  In  an  account  of  a  Topographical  Excursion  in  the  year 
1634,  the  Castle  is  described  as  "the  honour  and  grace  of  the  whole 


•  In  the  Liberty  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Strand,  London,  is  the  Precinct 
of  the  Sa\oy,  wherein  was  formerly  the  magnificent  Town-house,  or  Castle  of 
John  of  Gaunt,     (bee  Stories  0/  the  Savoy. ) 


The  Abbey  of  Whallcy.  301 

town.  The  stately,  spacious,  and  Princely  strong  Roomes,  where  the 
Dukes  of  Lancaster  lodged.  It  is  of  that  ample  receit,  and  in  so  good 
rcpayre,  that  it  lodgeth  both  the  Judges  and  many  of  the  Justices  every 
Assize.  It  is  a  strong  and  stately  Castle,  and  commands  into  the 
Sea." 

The  town  stands  on  the  slope  of  an  eminence  rising  from  the  river 
Lune.  The  summit  of  the  eminence  is  crowned  by  the  towers  of  the 
Castle,  very  spacious  in  plan,  comprehending  a  large  courtyard,  some 
smaller  courts,  and  several  differently-shaped  towers ;  it  is  now  fitted 
up  as  a  county  gaol  and  court-house.  The  large  square  keep  is  pro- 
d'giously  strong ;  the  gateway,  defended  by  two  semi-octangular 
towers,  is  refeired  to  the  time  of  Edward  III.,  the  best  age  of  castle- 
building.  This  keep,  which  is  called  yohti  of  Gatmt's  Chair,  commands 
a  charming  prospect  over  the  sun-ounding  country,  and  especially  to- 
wards the  sea,  where  the  view  extends  to  the  Isle  of  Man. 


The  Abbey  of  Whallcy. 

Whalley,  in  Lancashire,  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  parishes  in 
England.  It  is  chiefly  in  Blackburn  hundred,  but  extends  into  the 
West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  and  has  a  detached  portion  in  the  county 
of  Chester.  Before  the  Dissolution,  this  large  parish  was  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  ancient  monastery  of  Whalley.  This  Abbey  was  built 
in  1296  for  the  White  or  Cistercian  monks  of  Scanlan,  in  the  Wirral  of 
Cheshire,  by  Henry  Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln.  The  Abbey  fiourishal  till 
the  Dissolution.  Encouraged  by  Aske's  rebellion,  the  monks  resumed 
possession  of  Whallcy,  for  which  act  the  Abbot  and  one  of  his  monks 
were  executed  for  treason.  Of  the  Abbey  there  are  considerable  re- 
mains, including  two  stately  gateways,  a  building  conjectured  to  have 
been  the  Abbot's  private  oratory,  or  chapel,  and  other  parts  less  perfect. 
Some  portions  of  the  ruins  are  very  good  specimens  of  Decorated  and 
Perpendicular  English  architecture.  In  the  parish  church  of  Whalley, 
which  is  mostly  of  Early  English  architecture,  are  three  plain  stalls,  and 
some  good  wood  screen  work,  supposed  to  have  been  brought  from  the 
Abbey.  In  Aske's  Rebellion,  above  mentioned,  the  people  of  York- 
shire took  up  arms  on  account  of  the  Suppression  of  Monasteries. 
They  styled  their  expedition  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  carried  banners 
on  which  were  depicted  the  five  wounds  of  Christ ;  they  demanded  the 
driving  away  of  base-born  councillors,  the  suppression  of  heresy,  and 
the  restitution  of  the  goods  of  the  Church.    They  were  headed  by 


302  Bceston  Castle, 

Robert  Aske,  a  gentleman  of  Doncaster,  but  were  soon  joined  by  tlie 
Archbishop  of  York,  Lords  Darcy,  Latimer,  Scroop,  Sir  Thomas 
Percy,  and  others,  who  seized  York  and  Hull.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk 
was  despatched  against  them,  but  finding  them  too  strong,  he  negotiated, 
and  induced  them  to  disperse,  by  the  offer  of  a  general  pardon  and  the 
redressing  of  their  grievances.  Early  in  1537  a  fresh  insurrection 
broke  out  in  the  North,  and  another  in  Somersetshire,  and  many  execu- 
tions followed.  Aske  and  others  were  seized,  tried,  and  executed,  as 
were  the  Abbots  of  Barlings,  Fountains,'aiid  Jervaux,  Wballey,  Wobum, 
and  Sawley,  and  the  Prior  of  Bridlington. 

The  King  wrote  thus  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  Feb.  12,  1537: — 
"  We  do  right  well  approve  and  allow  your  proceedings  in  the  dis- 
playing of  our  banner.  And  forasmuch  as  the  same  is  now  spread  and 
displayed,  by  reason  whereof,  till  the  same  shall  be  closed  again,  the 
course  of  our  laws  must  give  place  to  the  ordinances  and  statutes 
martial,  our  pleasure  is,  that  before  you  close  up  our  said  banner  again, 
you  shall  in  anywise  cause  such  dreadful  execution  to  be  done  upon ! 
a  good  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  every  town,  village,  and  hamlet 
that  have  offended  in  this  rebellion,  as  well  as  the  hanging  of  them  up  in 
trees,  and  by  the  quartering  of  them,  and  the  setting  of  their  heads  and 
quarters  in  every  town,  great  and  small,  and  in  all  such  other  places,  as 
they  may  be  a  fearful  spectacle  to  all  other  hereafter  that  would  practise 
any  like  matter  ;  which  we  require  you  to  do  without  pity  or  respect." 
The  rebellion  is  imputed  to  the  "  solicitation  and  traitorous  conspiracy 
of  the  monks  and  canons ;"  and  the  Duke  is  directed  to  visit 
Hexham,  Sawley,  Newminster,  Lanercost,  and  other  abbeys  and 
priories,  and  to  "  cause  all  the  monks  and  canons  that  be  in  any  wise 
faulty,  to  be  tied  up"  &c. 


Beeston  Castle, 

This  stately  fortress,  proverbial  for  its  great  strength,  is  situated  at 
Taporley,  nearly  in  the  centre  of  Cheshire,  on  an  insulated  sandstone 
rock,  on  one  side  precipitous,  on  the  other  gradually  sloping.  It  was 
built  in  1220,  by  Randal  Blundeville,  Earl  of  Chester,  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  site  of  Bceston  Hall,  which  was  burnt  by  Prince  Rupert 
during  the  Civil  Wars.  The  rock  rises  365  feet  from  the  flat  country, 
and  commands  an  extensive  prospect,  except  where  it  is  interrupted  by 
the  Peckforton  Hills.  The  Earl,  on  his  return  from  the  holy  wars, 
having  got  leave  of  the  lords  of  the  manor  of  Beeston,  raised  a  tax  on 


Beeston  Castle.  303 

all  his  estates,  in  order  the  better  to  enable  him  to  complete  this  building 
and  Chartley  Castle. 

Beeston  was  a  place  of  no  small  strength.  The  outer  court  is  in-e- 
gular  in  form,  inclosing  an  area  of  about  five  acres.  The  walls  are  pro- 
digiously thick.  A  deep  ditch,  sunk  in  the  solid  rock,  surrounds  the 
keep,  which  was  entered  by  a  drawbridge,  opposite  two  circular  watch- 
towers  still  remaining. 

The  fortress  was  thus  described  in  the  year  1593:  "  Beeston  Castle 
stands  very  loftily  and  proudly,  upon  an  exceeding  steep  and  high  rock, 
so  steep  on  all  sides  but  one,  that  it  suffers  no  access  to  it ;  so  that 
though  it  be  walled  about,  yet,  for  the  most  part,  the  wall  is  needless, 
the  rock  is  so  very  high ;  and  where  the  nature  of  the  thing  admitteth 
access,  there  is  first  a  fore-gate,  and  a  wall  furnished  with  turrets,  which 
inclose  four  or  five  acres,  somewhat  rising  until  it  comes  to  the  over- 
part  of  the  rock,  where  is  a  great  dyke  or  ditch,  hewn  out  of  the  main 
rock,  and  within  the  same  a  goodly  strong  gatehouse,  and  a  strong  wall, 
which,  when  they  flourished,  were  a  convenient  habitition  for  any  great 
personage ;  in  which  it  is  a  wonder  to  see  the  great  labour  that  hath 
been  used  to  have  [procure]  sufficient  water,  which  was  done,  no 
doubt,  with  great  difficulty,  by  a  marvellous  deep  well  cut  through 
that  huge  high  rock,  which  is  so  deep  as  that  it  equals  in  depth  the 
rivulet  which  runneth  not  far  from  the  said  castle,  through  Tiverton, 
Hockness,  and  so  on  to  Mersey." 

Thi3  place  has  been  rendered  remarkable  by  a  prediction  of  Leland's — 
*'  that  though  it  was  then  fallen  to  decay,  it  should  yet  rise  again  in  its 
former  splendour  ;  and  this  partly  came  to  pass  without  any  miracles, 
but  not  in  the  extent  wherein  he  would  have  it  taken,  nor  so  as,  accor- 
ding to  the  common  saying,  '  That  it  should  save  all  England  in  a 
day.' " 

In  effect,  Beeston  Castle  lay  in  ruins  till  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  It 
was  afterwards  rebuilt,  and  we  find  it  a  place  of  strength  at  the  period 
of  the  Civil  Wars.  The  Beestons,  who  long  possessed  this  Castle  and 
estate,  descended  fi-om  the  Bunburies.  The  site,  after  some  changes, 
came  into  the  possession  of  Sir  Roger  Mostyn,  of  Mostyn,  in  the  county 
of  Flint 

Among  the  more  noteworthy  events  in  the  history  of  Beeston  Castle, 
are — 1 264.  The  partisans  of  Simon  dc  Montfort  possessed  themselves  of 
the  Castle;  but  the  following  year  it  was  retaken  by  James  dc  Audley 
for  Prince  Edward.  In  1399  the  fortress,  which  was  garrisoned  by  King 
Richard  II.,  surrendered,  without  siege,  to  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  who 
four.d  in  it  treasures  valued  at  300,000  marks. 


304  Chester  Castle  and  Walls. 

This  important  place  was  seized  by  the  Parliament  in  the  beginning 
of  the  troubles,  but  was  wrested  from  them  by  Colonel  Sandford,  who 
scaled  the  rock,  and  surprised  the  Castle;  though  there  was  such  a 
jealousy  of  its  having  been  betrayed  by  the  Governor,  that  he  suflcred 
death  on  that  account. 

It  was  besieged  by  the  Parliament  forces  in  1644,  but  was  gallantly 
defended,  till  they  retired  on  the  approach  of  the  Royal  army.  Yet  it 
was  again  besieged,  and  taken  the  next  year ;  Colonel  Ballard,  who 
commanded  there  with  his  garrison,  being  obliged  to  surrender  for  want 
of  provisions.  On  September  27  the  fatal  battle  of  Rowton  Heath,  two 
miles  from  Chester,  took  place,  when  the  Royalist  forces  were  defeated ; 
and  the  unhappy  Charlts  beheld  the  defeat  from  the  leads  of  Phcenix 
Tower.  After  the  battle,  the  Parliamentarians  laid  siege  to  Beeston 
Castle,  which,  on  November  16,  1645,  surrendered  to  Sir  William 
Brereton,  having  bravely  resisted  for  eighteen  weeks:  it  was  then 
dismantled.  The  Castle  was  not  given  up  till  the  defenders  of  it  were 
reduced  to  such  straits  that  they  were  forced  to  subsist  on  the  flesh  of 
cats,  or  what  else  they  could  find  to  satisfy  the  calls  of  hunger.  Yet 
they  obtained  the  most  honourable  terms,  marched  out  with  drums 
beating,  colours  flying,  and  lighted  matches,  though  reduced  to  the 
number  of  sixty,  and,  according  to  articles,  had  a  convoy  to  Flint  Castle. 


Chester  Castle  and  Walls. 

Chester  is  situated  in  the  north-westem  part  of  England,  at  a  short 
distance  from  the  shores  of  the  Irish  Sea,  and  not  many  miles  south  of 
Liverpcx)l.  Its  position  gives  it  a  picturesque  appearance :  it  is  built  on 
a  dry  rock,  elevated  above  the  stream  of  the  Dee,  which  winds  round 
two  sides  of  it  in  an  iiTCgular  semicircle.  It  is  one  of  the  most  ancient 
cities  in  England  :*  according  to  legendary  story,  it  was  founded  by 


•  Many  ancient  customs  linger  in  Cheshire.  Rush-bearing  to  the  churches, 
and  then  throwing  the  rushes  on  the  floor,  is  observed.  In  many  churches  g;ar- 
lands  are  still  remaining.  Sand  is  strewed  in  front  of  a  house  where  a  wedding 
is  held,  various  devices  and  mottoes  being  figured  in  white  sand  upon  brown. 
Football  and  prison-bars  are  ancient  games  of  the  county.  The  wells  or  boines 
are  dressed  with  flowers  and  ribands,  like  the  well-dressing  in  Derby.  A  marl- 
pit  is  opened  with  great  ceremony.  At  Congleton,  the  good  burgesses  appear 
to  have  had  a  remarkable  predilection  forbear-baiting.  In  the  reign  of  James  I. 
their  menagerie  contained  at  least  one  bear,  and  a  bear-ward  was  r.ppoiiited  by 
the  Corporation  for  its  custody.  The  bear  having  died,  the  Corporation  sold 
their  Bible,  in  1601,  in  order  to  purchase  another,  which  was  done ;  and  the  town 
was  no  longer  without  a  bear.     How  the  town  replaced  the  Bible  is  not  told. 


C/tester  Castle  and  Walls.  305 

Leon  Gawer,  "  a  mightie  strong  giant,"  who  dug  caverns  in  the  rock 
to  be  used  for  habitations  ;  but  the  first  buildings  which  were  erected 
arc  to  be  attributed  to  King  Lcir.  It  was  a  place  of  great  importance 
during  the  Roman  dominion  in  Britain :  and  was  the  tennination  of 
IVatlhig-street,  the  great  military  road  which  the  conquerors  carried 
from  Dover  across  the  island. 

On  the  final  departure  of  the  Romans,  the  city  fell  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Britons ;  but  from  their  hands  it  passed  into  those  of  the 
Saxons,  in  the  year  607.  Prior  to  the  battle,  the  Saxon  troops  are  said 
to  have  massacred  the  monks  of  Bangor,  against  whom  St.  Augustine 
had  denounced  divine  vengeance  for  their  errors,  and  who  aided  the 
Britons  with  their  prayers.  Several  of  the  British  princes,  however, 
having  collected  an  army,  and  marched  to  Chester,  Ethelfrid,  the 
Saxon  King,  was  defeated  in  turn,  and  this  district  was  not  again  sub- 
jected to  the  Anglo-Saxon  power  until  about  the  year  828,  when  it  was 
taken  by  King  Egbert,  and  made  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Mercia. 
Ethelwolf  held  his  parliament  at  Chester,  after  the  death  of  Egbert, 
and  there  received  the  homage  of  the  tributary  kings  "  from  Berwick 
unto  Kent."     He  was  crowned  at  Chester  in  837. 

About  the  close  of  894,  an  army  of  Danes  advancing  from  Northum- 
berland, took  possession  of  Chester  and  seized  the  fortress,  which  was 
circular  in  form,  and  built  of  red  stone.  Alfred  pursued  them,  two 
days  besieged  them,  drove  away  all  the  cattle,  slew  every  enemy  who 
vcnturetl  beyond  the  encampment,  and  burnt  and  consumed  all  the  com 
of  the  district ;    and  eventually  the  enemy  were  driven  into  North 

Chester  continued  in  niiiis  till  it  was  restored  about  907,  by  Ethel- 
fleda,  "  the  undegenerate  daughter  of  the  Great  Alfred  ; "  this  restora- 
tion of  the  city,  and  its  erection  into  a  military  position,  fortified 
with  walls  and  turrets,  seeming  to  have  been  a  part  of  the  system  which 
Alfred  had  devised,  and  his  son  Edward  executed,  for  restraining  the 
incursions  of  the  Danes  beyond  the  limits  of  the  territory  which  they 
were  allowed  to  occupy  in  England.  In  the  reign  of  King  Edgar,  it 
bccime  a  station  for  the  Saxon  navy  ;  and  it  is  stated  in  the  annals  of 
tlie  time,  that  Edgar  sailed  with  a  great  fleet  to  Chester  on  the  Dee 
and  that  eight  kings,  or  sub-kings  as  they  are  called,  Kenneth,  King  of 
Scotland,  Malcolm  of  Cumbria,  Macchus  of  Anglesey  and  the  Isles, 
three  kings  of  Wales,  and  two  others,  repaired  thither  at  his  command 
to  do  him  homage.  But  "  his  puerile  vanity,"  says  Mr.  Sharon  Tumer, 
demanded  a  more  painful  sacrifice:  "he  ascended  a  large  vessel,  with 
his  nobles  and  ofliccrs,  and  he  stationed  hunsclf  at  the  helm,  while  the 


3o6  Chester  Castle  and  Walls. 

eight  kings,  who  had  come  to  do  him  hor.o'.ir,  were  compelled  to  take 
the  seats  of  the  watermen,  and  to  row  him  down  the  Dee ;  a  most 
arrogant  insult  on  the  feelings  of  others  whose  titular  dignity  was  equal 
to  his  own.  Edgar  crowned  the  scene,  and  consummated  his  disgrace, 
by  declaring  to  his  courtiers  that  his  successors  might  then  call  them- 
selves Kings  of  England,  when  they  could  compel  so  many  kings  to  give 
them  such  honour."     The  whole  story  is,  however,  disbelieved  by  some. 

Harold  is  said  to  have  escaped  from  the  battle  of  Hastings  to  Chester, 
where  he  lived  many  years,  as  an  anchorite,  near  St.  John's  Church. 

The  city  of  Chester  was  definitively  bestowed  at  the  time  of  the 
Noi-man  Conquest,  together  with  the  earldom,  upon  Hugh  Lupus,  one 
of  the  kinsmen  of  William :  to  him  the  Conqueror  delegated  a  very  full 
power,  making  his  a  County  Palatine,  in  which  the  ancient  earls  kept 
their  own  Parliaments,  and  had  their  own  Courts  of  Law,  in  which  any 
offence  against  the  dignity  of  "the  Sword  of  Chester"  (preserved  in  the 
British  Museum),  was  as  cognizable  there  as  the  like  offence  would  have 
been  at  Westminster  against  the  dignity  of  the  royal  crown.  The  last 
instance  of  the  exertion  of  this  privilege  occurred  in  1597,  when  the 
baron  of  Kinderton's  court  tried  and  executed  Hugh  3tringer  for 
murder.  The  value  set  upon  human  life  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the 
Confessor  may  be  estimated  by  the  amount  of  fines  imposed — namely, 
four  pounds  for  killing  a  man  upon  certain  holidays,  and  forty  shillings 
on  any  other  day ;  there  was  also  a  penalty  or  a  punishment  inflicted 
upon  persons  who  brewed  bad  ale. 

King  John  spent  several  days  at  Chester  in  the  year  1222.  Until 
the  final  subjugation  of  the  Welsh,  the  city  was  the  usual  place  of 
rendezvous  for  the  English  army.  In  1237,  on  the  death  of  the  seventh 
Earl  of  Chester  of  the  Norman  line,  without  male  issue,  Henry  HI.  gave 
the  daughters  of  the  late  Earl  other  lands  in  lieu  of  the  earldom,  being 
unwilling,  as  he  said,  to  parcel  out  so  great  an  inheritance  "among 
distaffs."  The  county  he  bestowed  on  his  son  Edward,  who  did  not 
assume  the  title,  but  conferred  it  on  his  son  Edward  of  Carnarvon, 
since  which  time  the  eldest  sons  of  the  sovereigns  of  England  have 
always  held  the  title  of  Earls  of  Chester.  In  1264,  Chester  City  and 
Castle  were  taken  by  the  forces  of  the  Barons,  under  the  Earl  of  Derby. 
To  the  Castle,  August  20,  1399,  King  Richard  II.  was  brought  a 
prisoner  from  Hurst  Castle,  by  Henry  Bolingbroke,  Duke  of  Lan- 
caster, afterwards  Henry  IV. 

The  inhabitants  of  Cheshire  took  a  part  in  the  rebellion  of  the  Percies, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  knights  and  esquires  of  the  whole  county,  to 
the  number  of  300,  with  many  of  their  retainers,  fell  in  the  battle  of 


Chester  Castle  and  Walls.  307 

Shrewsbury,  July  22,  1403.  In  1494  or  1495,  Henry  VII.,  his  Queen, 
and  a  great  retinue,  arrived  at  Chester,  and  proceeded  to  Hawarden, 
attended  by  the  Earl  of  Derby,  with  a  great  number  of  "  Chester 
gallants."  From  this  date  to  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  Cheshire  was  not 
the  scene  of  any  important  militaiy  transactions.  In  the  Civil  War, 
the  city  was  besieged  by  the  troops  of  the  Parliament,  but  was  stoutly 
defended  by  Lord  Byron,  the  nephew  of  the  Governor,  who  did  not 
surrender  till  the  garrison  had  suffered  privations  such  as  no  other  city 
had  experienced  in  those  days.  Cliester  Castle  was  the  scene  in  the 
close  of  the  career  of  "  the  Great  Stanley,"  as  the  seventh  Earl  of  Derby 
was  styled.  In  1651,  he  set  out  fiom  the  Isle  of  Man  to  join 
Charles  II.,  at  Worcester,  taking  with  him  300  Royalists.  Before  he 
arrived  in  Lancashire  the  King  had  quitted  the  county ;  and  Derby, 
having  gathered  300  more  followers  out  of  Lancashire  and  Chester, 
advanced  to  Wigan,  where  he  and  his  600  men  were  set  upon  in  a 
narrow  lane  by  1800  dragoons  under  Lilbume,  and  Cromwell's  foot 
militia.  In  the  encounter,  the  Great  Stanley  received  seven  shots  in  the 
breastplate,  many  cuts  and  wounds,  and  had  two  horses  killed  under  him. 
Twice  he  made  his  way  through  the  enemy ;  but  being  over^vhelmed 
with  numbers,  he  mounted  a  third  horse,  and  fought  his  way  to  the 
battle-field  of  Worcester  ;  after  which  he  conducted  the  King  to  the 
White-ladies  and  Boscol)el ;  and  thence  made  his  way,  with  40  others, 
into  Cheshire.  They  fell  in  the  way  of  a  regiment  of  foot  and  a  troop 
of  horse,  to  whom  they  surrendered  on  terms  disgracefully  violated. 
He  was  tried  by  court-martial  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  and  sen- 
tenced to  be  executed  within  four  days  at  Bolton.  As  he  lay  in 
Chester  Castle,  he  had  nearly  escaped  from  its  leads  by  means  of  a  long 
rope  thrown  up  to  him  from  outside  the  fortress ;  he  fastened  the  rope 
securely,  slid  down,  and  so  got  to  the  banks  of  the  river  Dee,  where  a 
boat  was  waiting  to  convey  him  away.  But  he  was  discovered,  seized, 
and  conveyed  back  to  Chester  Castle,  where  two  of  his  daughters  had 
their  last  interview  with  him  ;  and  next  day  he  was  executed  at  Bolton, 
his  own  town,  before  the  sorrowing  people.  Such  a  scene  of  religious 
fervour  and  heroic  death  is  rarely  recorded,  even  in  liberty-loving 
England.  About  a  century  afterwards  is  recorded  the  last  military 
event  of  importincc  in  the  annals  of  Chester :  it  was  fortified  in  1 745 
against  the  Pretender. 

From  the  time  of  Henry  III.  until  that  of  Henry  VIII.,  the  County 
Palatine  was  governed  as  independently  as  it  had  been  by  the  Norman 
earls.  Henr^*  VI 11.,  however,  made  it  subordinate  to  the  crown  of 
England.    It  should  here  be  mentioned  that  the  Castle  and  its  precincts 

X  3 


3o8  Chester  Castle  and  Walls. 

were  reserved  out  of  the  charter  of  King  Henry  VII.,  by  which  the  city 
was  made  a  county  of  itself ;  and  accordingly  the  Castle  has  ever  since  been 
used  for  the  King's  majesty's  service.  The  inhabitants  have,  however, 
erected  a  Town  Hall  for  the  transaction  of  the  public  business,  thence- 
forth removed  from  the  Castle.  The  new  edifice  was  opened  with 
great  eclat  by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  in  October,  1869. 

A  writer  of  the  last  century  observes  on  Chester  Castle:  "  It  being 
the  seat  of  many  great  princes,  doubtless  the  apartments  were  adequate  to 
their  magnificence.  But  here  let  the  reader  pause :  it  was  the  magnifi- 
cence of  foiTTier  times,  far  unlike  to  oms,  and  little  connected  with  con- 
venience. What  should  we  now  think  of  a  sovereign  prince  lying  on  a 
bed  of  straw,  and  his  ground- floor  legal  chamber,  though  supported  on 
elegant  pillars,  lofty  columns,  and  graced  with  carved  ceilings,  yet  wet, 
unwholesome  beneath,  and  strewed  with  green  rushes,  or  at  the  best 
(as  sometimes  were  the  nuptial  beds),  with  sweet  herbs  or  flowers,  in 
compliment  to  superior  dignity  ?  Go,  Yeoman  of  England,  now  free, 
though  once  a  slave  to  feudal  tenures !  Go  !  and  recline  your  head  on 
your  feather  bed  and  bolster,  view  your  boarded  and  varnished  cham- 
bei",  and  envy  not  the  repose  of  such  Barons,  or  such  Princes !  Let  us 
all  thank  Heaven,  which,  in  the  maturity  of  time,  has  taught  us  to  make 
show  subservient  to  use,  and  by  the  introduction  of  arts,  to  unite  ele- 
gance with  convenience." 

Chester  city  is  surrounded  by  a  wall,  first  built  by  Marcius,  King  of 
the  British,  which  now  serves  as  a  public  nvalk  for  the  inhabitants.  The 
form  of  the  city  and  its  an-angement  indicate  its  Roman  origin.  It  has 
the  figure  which  the  Romans  gave  to  their  camps — an  oblong  ;  it  has 
four  gates,  four  principal  streets,  diverging  at  right-angles  from  a  com- 
mon centre,  and  extending  towards  the  cardinal  points,  till  each  is  ter- 
minated by  a  gate. 

The  circuit  of  the  walls  is  about  two  miles.  At  the  north-east  comer 
is  Newton's,  now  Phoenix,  Tower,  whence  many  a  shot  was  fired  at  the 
Roundheads  by  the  sturdy  Royalist  defenders  of  the  city  between  Mid- 
summer, 1643,  when  its  siege  began,  and  its  surrender  in  February, 
1646,  when  the  gairison  was  feeding  on  the  flesh  of  cats  and  dogs. 
Here  stood  King  Charles,  with  the  Mayor  of  Chester,  and  the  Recorder, 
Sir  Francis  GamuU,  and  Alderman  Cowper,  upon  the  top  leads  of  the 
tower,  dolefully  looking  on  at  a  battle  two  miles  away  on  the  heath  of 
Rowton,  where  the  troops  of  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale  were  routed  by 
the  Commonwealth  men.  This  tower  has  latterly  been  named  Phoenix, 
from  a  sculptured  figure,  the  ensign  of  one  of  the  city  guilds,  which 
appears  over  its  door.    There  are  other  curious  towers  upon  the  walls. 


Chester  Castle  mid  Walls.  309 

The  fortress  has  been  partially  converted  into  a  range  of  edifices,  divided 
between  tlie  military  barracks,  the  assize  courts  or  session  courts,  and 
the  gaol.  Here  too  is  an  old  square  tower,  sometimes  called  Julius 
CjEsar's  and  sometimes  Agricola's  Tower,  cased  with  red  stone.  It  was 
once  a  chantry,  or  chapel,  of  St.  Mary ;  it  is  now  a  powder-magazine, 
which  the  Fenians  intended  to  capture  in  their  mad  conspiracy  for  the 
surprise  of  the  Chester  garrison  in  the  year  1867.  At  the  angle  of  the 
city  walls,  close  to  the  old  bridge,  is  the  large  pile  of  the  Dee  Mills, 
famous  in  song  and  story : 

"  There  was  a  jolly  miller  once  lived  on  the  river  Dee, 
He  worked  and  sang  from  morn  till  night,  none  was  so  blithe  as  he  ; 
And  srill  the  burden  of  his  song  for  ever  used  to  be, 
'  I  care  for  nobody,  no,  not  I,  and  nobody  cares  for  me !'  " 

Could  this  have  been  the  wicked  miller  of  whom  we  are  told  that  "the 
faces  of  the  poor  he  giound  all  in  his  watery  mill  ?"  The  Dee  Mills  of 
Chester  are  as  old  as  the  Norman  Conquest,  and  William  the  Con- 
queror's nephew,  the  Earl  Hugh  Lupus,  derived  a  revenue  from  the 
grist  that  came  to  them.  Edward  the  Black  Prince,  three  centuries 
later,  gave  them  to  Sir  Howel-y-Fwyal,  a  gallant  Welshman,  to  reward 
him  for  his  bravery  at  Poitiers.  But  the  most  curious  pictures  are  within 
tlie  city,  in  the  quaint  old-fashioned  Roiui  of  its  principal  streets.  They 
are  formed  by  laying  the  side  pavement  upon  the  top  of  the  lowest  apart- 
ments or  basement-rooms  of  the  houses,  at  a  height  of  six  feet  or  ten 
feet  above  the  roadway ;  so  that  the  shops  on  the  first  floor  are  recessed ; 
the  second  floor  and  upper  part  of  each  house  being  again  brought  for- 
ward, and  supported  on  pillars  of  masonry ;  affording  a  complete  shelter 
to  the  foot  passengers  in  the  gallery  below,  as  in  the  Covent-garden 
Piazza,  or  in  the  original  Quadrant  of  Regent-street,  London.  The 
projecting  house-fi-onts,  mostly  of  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  century  ar- 
chitecture, have  gabled  roofs,  lattice-windows,  and  crossed  beams, 
carved  and  painted. 

Chester  was,  in  the  days  of  Marian  persecution,  the  scene  of  an  event 
which  is  remembered  to  this  day.  In  the  year  I5f,8,  Dr.  Henry  Cole, 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  was  entrusted  with  the  commission  issued  by  Queen 
Mary,  to  institute  prosecutions  against  such  as  should  refuse  to  observe 
the  ceremonies  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  in  Ireland.  The  Doctor 
stopped  at  Chester  on  his  way,  and  at  the  Blue  Posts  Inn  was  visited 
by  the  Mayor,  to  whom,  in  the  course  of  conversation,  he  communi- 
cated the  business  upon  which  he  was  engaged  ;  opening  his  cloak-bag, 
he  took  out  a  leather  box,  observing  with  exultition,  "  he  had  that 
within  which  would  lash  the  heretics  of  Ireland."     The  hostess  acci- 


310  Chester  Castle  and  Walls. 

dentally  overheard  the  discourse,  and  having  a  brother  who  was  a  Pro- 
testant, she  became  alarmed  for  his  safety;  and  with  a  surprising 
quickness  of  thought,  she  took  the  opportunity,  whilst  the  Doctor  was 
complimenting  his  worship  down  the  stairs,  to  open  the  box,  take  out 
the  commission,  and  leave  instead  a  pack  of  cards,  with  the  knave  of 
clubs  uppermost.  Soon  afterwards  the  Dean  sailed  for  Ireland,  where 
he  arrived  on  the  7th  of  December,  1558.  Being  introduced  to  the 
Lord-Deputy  Fitzwalter  and  the  Privy  Council,  he  explained  the  nature 
of  his  embassy,  and  then  presented  the  box  containing,  as  he  thought, 
the  commission ;  his  lordship  took  it,  and  having  lifted  the  lid,  beheld 
with  considerable  surprise  the  pack  of  cards,  with  the  knave  on  the  top. 
The  Doctor  was  thunderstnack,  and  in  much  confusion  affirmed  that  a 
commission  he  certainly  had,  and  that  some  artful  person  must  have 
made  the  exchange.  "  Then,"  said  his  lordship,  "  you  have  nothing  to 
do  but  return  to  London  and  get  it  renewed  ;  meanwhile  we'll  shuffle 
the  cards."  This  unwelcome  advice  the  Doctor  was  constrained  to 
follow,  although  in  a  disagreeable  season  of  the  year ;  but  before  he  could 
reach  Ireland  a  second  time,  Queen  Mary  died,  and  her  sanguinary 
commission  became  useless.  The  woman  whose  dexterity  and  presence 
of  mind  had  thus  providentially  operated,  was  rewarded  by  Elizabeth 
with  a  pension  of  forty  pounds  a  year. 

A  teirible  catastrophe  occurred  at  Chester  in  1772,  when,  Novem- 
ber 5,  800  lb.  weight  of  gunpowder  exploded  in  a  room  where  a 
puppet-show  was  exhibiting,  and  twenty-three  persons  were  killed, 
and  eighty  others  much  burnt  and  bruised. 

Among  the  noticeable  antiquities  of  the  city  are  the  following. — In  a 
narrow  passage  from  Watergate-street  is  an  old  house,  called  Stanley 
House,  or  Stanley  Palace,  which  was  formerly  the  dwelling  of  the 
Stanleys  of  Alderley  and  Weever,  in  Cheshire,  an  offshoot,  in  the  time 
of  Henry  V.,  from  the  Stanleys  of  Lathom  and  Knowsley.  The  family 
obtained  a  peerage  in  1839.  The  mansion,  now  occupied  by  the 
Chester  Archaeological  Society,  is  a  three-gabled  edifice  of  timber, 
elaborately  car\'cd ;  the  inteiior,  with  its  massive  staircase,  oaken  floors, 
and  panelled  walls,  shows  the  magnificence  of  its  former  inmates.  It 
was  built  in  1591 — that  date  being  inscribed  on  its  front.  Bishop 
Lloyd's  House,  in  Watergate-row,  has  a  wooden  front,  sculptured  all 
over  with  groups  of  Bible  history,  from  the  Garden  of  Eden  to  the 
Crucifixion,  including  the  Conception  of  the  Virgin. 

"  God's  Providence  House,"  with  its  pious  motto,  "  God's  Providence 
is  mine  inheritance,"  carved  in  front,  is  a  memorial  of  the  Plague,  in  1662. 
The  back  pait  of  the  house  has  been  rebuilt ;  the  old  oak  front  remains. 


TJie  Iron  Gates,  or  tlie  Cheshire  Enchanter.       3 1 1 

The  Water  Tower,  at  the  north-west  angle  of  the  city  walls,  was 
built  in  1332,  by  a  mason  who  bore  the  significant  name  of  Helpstone, 
and  who  was  paid  100/.  for  his  job.  There  is  a  higher  tower  upon  the 
city  wall  above,  connected  by  a  steep  flight  of  steps,  and  an  embattled 
terrace,  with  the  lower  tower,  up  to  which  the  tidal  waters  of  the  Dee, 
used  to  flow,  so  that  ships  could  be  moored  to  tlie  tower  by  the  rings 
and  bolts  fixed  to  its  foundations.  The  upper  tower,  or  keep,  some- 
times called  Bonewaldcsthome's,  is  now  a  museum  of  curiosities ;  the 
lower  one  exhibits  a  flag-staff  and  sometimes  a  flag.  It  bore  the  bruntj 
of  battle  in  the  great  siege  of  Chester  by  the  army  of  the  Commonwealth,, 
in  1645,  ^'hen  towers  and  ramparts  were  severely  knocked  about. 

But,  to  more  peaceful  times.  The  historical  importance  of  the  town 
was  thus  rcfeiTed  to  in  the  Address  presented  to  the  Prince  of  Wales 
upon  the  opening  of  the  New  Town  Hall,  already  mentioned : — 

"  The  inauguration  of  this  hall  by  your  Royal  Highness  will  be  ever 
memorable  in  the  annals  of  Chester,  and  it  will  be  a  source  of  special 
gratification  to  us  that  the  ceremony  of  its  dedication  to  the  purposes  of 
municipal  government  has  been  performed  by  a  Prince  bearing  the  proud 
and  time-honoured  title  of  those  Earls  who  here  held  their  court  and 
exercised  regal  sway ;  and,  while  the  history  of  our  city  reminds  us  of 
the  origin  of  that  title  and  the  object  of  its  creation,  we  pray  that  the 
cordial  fellowship  and  goodwill  which  have  so  long  subsisted  between 
the  neighbouring  Principality  and  ourselves  may,  like  the  felicitous  union 
of  the  title  of  Prince  of  Wales  and  E^l  of  Chester,  ever  continue." 


The  Iron  Gates,  or  the  Cheshire  Enchanter. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Macclesfield,  on  Monk's  Heath,  is  a  small 
inn,  known  by  the  designation  of  the  Iron  Gates;  the  sign  representing 
a  pair  of  ponderous  gates  of  that  metal,  opening  at  the  bidding  of  a 
figure  enveloped  in  a  cowl,  before  whom  kneels  another,  more  resem- 
bling a  modem  yeoman  than  one  of  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century, 
to  which  period  this  legend  is  attributed.  Behind  this  i^erson  is  a  white 
horse  rearing,  and  in  the  background  a  view  of  Alderley  Edge.  The 
story  is  thus  told  of  the  tradition  to  which  the  sign  relates : 

"  A  farmer  from  Mobbcrley  was  riding  on  a  white  horse  over  the 
heath  which  skirts  Alderley  Edge.  Of  the  good  qualities  of  his  steed 
he  was  justly  proud  ;  and  while  stooping  down  to  adjust  its  mane,  pre- 
viously to  his  offering  it  for  sale  at  Macclesfield,  he  was  surprised  by 
the  sudden  starting  of  the  animaL    On  looking  up  he  perceived  a  figure 


312       TJte  Iron  Gates,  or  the  Cheshire  Enchanter. 

of  moi*e  than  common  lieight,  enveloped  in  a  cowl,  and  extending  a  staff 
of  black  wood  across  his  path.  The  figure  addressed  him  in  a  com- 
manding voice;  told  him  that  he  would  seek  in  vain  to  dispose  of  his 
steed,  for  whom  a  nobler  destiny  was  in  store,  and  bade  him  meet  him 
when  the  sun  had  set,  with  his  horse,  at  the  same  place.  He  then  dis- 
appeared. The  farmer,  resolving  to  put  the  truth  of  this  prediction  to 
the  test,  hastened  on  to  Macclesfield  fair,  but  no  purchaser  could  be 
obtained  for  his  horse.  In  vain  he  reduced  his  price  to  half;  many  ad- 
mired, but  no  one  was  willing  to  be  the  possessor  of  so  promising  a 
steed.  Summoning,  therefore,  all  his  courage,  he  determined  to  brave 
the  worst,  and  at  sunset  reached  the  appointed  place.  The  monk  was 
punctual  to  his  appointment.  '  Follow  me,'  said  he,  and  led  the  way  by 
the  Golden  Stone,  Stormy  Pohit,  to  Saddle  Bole.  On  their  arrival  at  this 
last-named  spot,  the  neigh  of  horses  seemed  to  arise  fi'om  beneath  their 
feet.  The  stranger  waved  his  wand,  the  earth  opened  and  disclosed  a 
pair  of  ponderous  iron  gates.  Terrified  at  this,  the  horse  plunged  and 
threw  his  rider,  who,  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  his  fearful  companion,  prayed 
earnestly  for  mercy.  The  monk  bade  him  fear  nothing,  but  enter  the 
caveiTi,  and  see  what  no  mortal  eye  ever  yet  beheld.  On  passing  the 
gates  he  found  himself  in  a  spacious  cavern,  on  each  side  of  which  were 
horses  resembling  his  own  in  size  and  colour.  Near  these  lay  soldiers 
accoutred  in  ancient  armour,  and  in  the  chasms  of  the  rock  were  arms, 
and  piles  of  gold  and  silver.  From  one  of  these  the  enchanter  took  the 
price  of  the  horse  in  ancient  coin,  and  on  the  farmer  asking  the  meaning 
of  these  subterranean  armies,  exclaimed :  '  These  are  caverned  warriors 
preserved  by  the  good  genius  of  England,  until  that  eventful  day  when, 
distracted  by  intestine  broils,  England  shall  be  thrice  won  and  lost  be- 
tween sunrise  and  sunset.  Then  we,  awakening  from  our  sleep,  shall 
rise  to  turn  the  fate  of  Britain.  This  shall  be  when  George,  the  son  of 
George,  shall  reign.  A\'^hen  the  forests  of  Delamaie  shall  wave  their 
arms  over  the  slaughtered  sons  of  Albion.  Then  shall  the  eagle  drink 
the  blood  of  princes  from  the  headless  cross  (cjuery  corse  ?).  Now  haste 
thee  home,  for  it  is  not  in  thy  time  these  things  shall  be.  A  Cestrian 
shall  speak  it,  and  be  believed.'  The  farmer  left  the  cavern,  the  iron 
gates  closed,  and  though  often  sought  for,  the  place  has  never  again  been 
found." 


313 


DERBYSHIRE. 
Castleton,  High  Peak. 

*•  This  castle  rose  in  Norman  William's  reign. 
And  for  it*,  master  own'd  a  royal  Thane : 
Then  oft  he  came  while  herald  trumpets  rang. 
And  echo'd  to  the  sword  and  buckler's  clang ; 
Then  doughty  knights  their  prowess  oft  assay 'd 
To  gain  a  smile  from  some  obdurate  maid ; 
Then  errant  champions  met  in  combat  fierce, 
Or  strove  the  high  suspended  ring  to  pierce : 
Then  high-born  dames  the  happy  victors  crown'd, 
While  with  applauding  shouts  the  hills  resound ; 
Then  blazoned  banners  deck'd  th'  embattled  walls 
And  midnight  revelry  ilium 'd  the  halls ! 
Where  are  they  now?    No  more  the  bending  lance 
Bears  off  the  gauntlet.     Now  the  warders  horn 
No  more  awaJies  the  hunters  with  the  morn  ; 
No  pennant  beats  the  air  in  scutcheon "d  state, 
No  gorgeous  pageant  crowds  the  massy  gate : 
The  p)ortal  now  admits  the  straggling  sheep. 
The  long  grass  waves  above  the  ruin'd  keep  ; 
The  playful  breezes  whistle  thro'  each  cell, 
Where  bats  and  moping  owls  sole  tenants  dweU. 

"  Sad  are  the  ruthless  ravages  of  time  ! 
The  bulwark'd  turret  frowning  once  sublime. 
Now  totters  to  its  basis,  and  displays 
A  venerable  wreck  of  other  days !" 

Wanderings  of  MeTnmy, 

Castleton  lies  at  the  edge  of  a  fine  luxuriant  valley  of  Derbyshire,  which 
is  sheltered  by  a  circular  range  of  mountains,  that  to  all  appearance  de- 
prives it  of  communication  with  the  outer  world ;  leaving  no  visible 
outlet  except  by  skirting  the  bases  of  the  hills  in  the  direction  of  the 
little  stream  that  flows  to  the  east,  or  by  climbing  the  almost  impass;ible 
fix)nts  of  the  mountains  to  the  south  and  to  the  west.  Immediately 
behind  the  village  to  the  south  is  a  very  high  and  steep  rock,  cut  off 
from  another  still  higher  by  a  very  deep  but  narrow  valley,  called  the 
Cave,  except  in  one  point,  where  an  extremely  narrow  ledge  connects 
both  hills  at  the  very  part  where  the  rock  forms  a  perpendicular  precipi- 
tous front  towards  the  west,  of  nearly  loo  yards  in  height.  In  this 
front  is  the  entrance  to  the  Peak  Cavern,  and  on  the  very  edge  of  the 
precipice  stand  the  ruins  of  the  Peak  Castle. 

Of  thc&e  ruins,  the  keep  and  pait  of  the  outer  walls  are  all  that  remain ; 


314  Castleton,  High  Peak. 

in  fact,  it  seems  as  if  the  whole  castle  had  originally  consisted  of  little 
more  than  the  keep  and  an  inclosed  area,  known  as  the  castle-yard. 
The  summit  of  the  hill,  which  is  not  exactly  level,  but  of  a  gentle  slope, 
is  almost  wholly  inclosed  by  the  Castle  walls.  There  has  been  a  small 
tower  on  the  northern  side,  and  a  larger  one  at  the  north-west  angle ; 
but  the  keep  itself  occupies  the  highest  and  most  inaccessible  pait  of 
the  area. 

Whether  this  Castle  was  built  before  the  Conquest,  or  immediately 
after  it,  will  not  be  easily  determined.  In  the  time  of  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor, the  manor  or  estate  belonged  to  two  proprietors,  Gundebcme 
and  Hundine ;  which  favours  the  opinion  of  the  Castle  being  erected 
before  the  Conquest.  But  we  are  still  at  a  loss  for  assigning  any  use  for 
an  edifice  of  this  kind.  Placed  on  such  a  commanding  eminence,  and 
nearly  inaccessible,  it  possessed  extraordinary  powers  of  defence;  but 
against  what  foe  was  such  a  defence  necessary  ?  Again,  its  size  would 
permit  it  only  to  shelter  a  very  small  army,  even  within  the  walls  of  the 
castle-yard,  while  the  keep  itself  would  contain  very  few  warriors ; 
and  those  few  would  soon  be  brought  to  capitulation  for  want  of  pro- 
visions. Some  antiquaries  have  considered  that  it  was  built  as  a  protec- 
tion to  the  lead-mines  ;  but  this  is  a  case  for  which  we  have  no  analogy 
or  precedent.  It  may  have  been  intended  for  an  occasional  summer 
residence,  or  when  the  chief  wished  to  take  the  recreation  of  hunting, 
and  in  pursuance  of  the  fashion  of  the  times,  he  chose  to  build  it  in  the 
manner  customary  for  larger  castles.  Or,  it  may  have  been  a  fortress 
of  Saxon  construction,  and  a  place  of  royal  residence  during  the  Hept- 
archy. It  is,  however,  most  probably  a  Norman  structure,  built  by 
William  Peverell,  who  was  a  natural  son  of  William  I.,  whom  he 
attended  to  the  battle  of  Hastings,  and  there  distinguished  himself;  and 
to  him  the  traditions  of  the  neighbourhood  ascribe  the  erection  of  the 
Castle.  Its  ancient  appellation,  "  Peverell's  Place  in  the  Peke,"  coun- 
tenances this  opinion.  W  hatever  be  the  truth,  it  is  certain  that  Peve- 
rell possessed  it  at  the  time  of  the  Domesday  Survey,  by  the  name  of 
the  Castle  of  the  Peke,  together  with  the  honour  and  forest,  and  thirteen 
other  lordships  in  this  county. 

Whilst  the  Peke  Castle  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Peverells,  and 
most  probably  during  the  time  of  the  second  William,  son  of  the  first 
William  Peverell,  it  became  the  scene  of  a  splendid  Tournament,  which 
lasted  three  or  four  days ;  though  how  the  knights  and  their  followers 
found  accommodation,  unless  some  temporary  buildings  were  attached 
to  the  Castle,  or  pavilions  erected,  seems  hardly  to  be  explained;  but  the 
fact  is  unquestionable. 


Castleton,  High  Peak.  315 

Pain  Peverell,  Lord  of  Whittington,  in  Shropshire,  had  two  daugh- 
ters, both  (as  usual)  very  beautiful  and  very  accomplished.  The  eldest, 
whose  name  was  Mellet,  inherited  the  martial  spirit  of  her  race,  and 
though  she  was  sought  after  by  many  of  the  young  nobility  of  the  land, 
she  declared  she  would  marry  no  one  but  a  knight  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  prowess  in  the  field.  Her  father,  admiring  her 
resolution,  took  the  accustomed  mode  of  procuring  her  a  husband  by 
proclaiming  a  Tournament  to  be  held  at  a  certain  time,  at  "  Peverell's 
Place  in  the  Peke,"  and  inviting  all  young  men  of  noble  birth  to  enter 
the  lists  and  make  trial  of  their  skill  and  valour.  He  promised  to  the 
victor  his  daughter  for  a  wife,  with  his  Castle  of  Whittington  as  a 
dowTy.  Many  were  the  knights  that  assembled,  and  severe  and  long- 
disputed  were  the  contests,  for  the  prize  was  a  rich  one,  and  the  honour 
desirable.  Among  the  competitors  was  a  knight  of  Lorraine,  with  a 
maiden  shield  of  silver,  and  a  peacock  for  his  crest.  This  unknown 
hero  performed  prodigies  of  valour,  unhorsing  and  overcoming  all  who 
opposed  him,  and  consequently  gaining  the  favour  of  the  fair  Mellet ; 
until,  as  a  last  effort,  having  vanquished  a  knight  of  Burgundy  and  a 
prince  of  Scotland,  he  was  hailed  victor,  and  received  the  glorious  prize, 
thus  carrying  the  Castle  of  Whittington  to  the  family  of  Fitzwarren. 

Where  the  Tournament  was  held  seems  not  to  be  ascertained. 
Within  the  walls  of  the  Castle  it  could  not  be,  for  independent  of 
want  of  room,  the  ground  was  too  sloping  to  give  fair  play  to  the  com- 
batants. Some  assert  that  it  was  in  the  valley  called  the  Cave  ;  but  it 
is  more  likely  to  have  taken  place  on  the  plain  near  the  Castle,  where 
there  would  be  space  sufficient  for  the  lists,  and  where  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country  round,  were  they  ever  so  numerous,  might  find  room  to 
witness  the  warlike  contention. 

This  Castle  did  not  remain  in  the  possession  of  the  Peverells  more 
than  fourscore  years,  it  being  forfeited  in  the  time  of  Henry  IL,  by  the 
then  William  Peverell,  for  his  having  poisoned  Ranulph,  Earl  of  Ches- 
ter; and  the  Castle  and  his  other  property  were  given  by  the  King  to 
his  son  John,  Earl  of  Mortaigne,  afterwards  King  John,  who,  in  1204, 
appointed  Hugh  Neville  its  governor. 

In  1315  the  Peak  Castle  was  in  the  custody  of  the  Barons  who  had 
taken  up  arms  against  John ;  but  it  did  not  long  remain  in  their  posses- 
sion, for  William  de  Ferrers,  the  seventh  Earl  of  Derby,  took  it  by 
assault  for  the  King,  and  as  a  reward,  was  made  governor,  which  office 
he  held  for  six  years  after  the  accession  of  Henry  IIL 

In  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  John,  Earl  Warren, 
obtained  a  free  grant  of  the  Castle  and  Honour  of  the  Peke,  together 


3i6  Castleioji,  High  Peak. 

with  the  whole  Forest  of  High  Pekc,  to  hold  during  his  life ;  and  yet  in 
the  time  of  Edward  III.  this  Castle  and  forest  appear  to  have  been  part  of 
the  fortune  given  with  Joan,  his  sister,  on  her  marriage  with  David,  son 
of  the  king  of  Scotland.  In  the  same  reign  it  reverted  to  the  Crown, 
for  in  the  forty-sixth  year  of  Edward  III.  it  was  granted  to  John  ot 
Gaunt,  and  it  now  forms  part  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.  At  present 
it  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  who,  as  lessee  from 
the  Crown,  has  the  nominal  appointment  of  the  Constable  of  the  Castle. 
It  was  used  for  keeping  the  records  of  the  Miners'  Courts,  till  they  were 
removed  to  Tutbury  Castle  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth ;  and  an  entrench- 
ment which  begins  at  the  lower  end  of  the  valley,  called  the  Cave,  in- 
closetl  the  town  (Gastleton),  ending  at  the  great  cavern,  and  forming 
a  semicircle :  this  is  now  called  the  Town  Ditch,  but  the  whole  of  it 
cannot  easily  be  traced,  many  parts  having  been  destroyed  by  buildings 
and  the  plough.* 

Under  the  hill  on  which  this  Castle  stands  is  the  celebrated  Cavern  of 
the  Peak,  the  entrance  to  which  is  very  magnificent,  being  in  a  dark  and 
gloomy  recess,  fonned  by  a  chasm  in  the  rocks,  which  range  perpendi- 
cularly on  each  side  to  a  considerable  height.  On  the  steep  side  of  the 
mountain  is  a  large  opening,  almost  in  the  form  of  a  Gothic  arch,  ex- 
tending in  width  1 20  feet  and  in  height  forty-two.  This  arch,  which 
is  formed  by  Nature  at  the  bottom  of  a  rock  whose  height  is  eighty- 
seven  yards,  is  checkered  with  a  diversity  of  coloured  stones,  from  which 
continually  drops  a  sparry  water  that  petrifies.  Immediately  within  this 
arch  is  a  cavern  nearly  of  the  same  height  and  width,  and  in  receding  depth 
about  ninety  feet ;  the  roof  of  this  place,  which  is  of  solid  rock,  is  flat, 
and  looks  dreadful  over  head,  having  nothing  but  the  side  walls  to  sup- 
port it.  Towards  the  farther  end  from  the  entrance,  the  roof  comes 
dowii  with  a  gradual  slope  to  about  two  feet  from  the  surface  of  water 
fourteen  yards  over,  the  rock  in  that  place  foiTning  a  kind  of  arch,  undtT 
which  the  visitor  is  conveyed  in  a  small  boat ;  beyond  this  stream  is  a 
spacious  vacuity,  opening  in  the  bosom  of  the  rocks ;  and  in  a  passage 
at  the  inner  extremity  of  this  vast  cavern,  the  stream  which  flows 
through  the  bottom  spreads  into  what  is  called  the  second  water ;  but 
this  can  generally  be  passed  on  foot,  though  at  other  times  the  assistance 
of  the  guide  is  requisite ;  at  a  short  distance  farther  is  a  third  water, 
where  the  rock  sloping,  as  it  were,  almost  down  to  the  surface  of  the 
water,  puts  an  end  to  the  traveller's  search. 


*  Abridged  from  a  contribution  to  the  Graphic  and  Historical  Illustrator,  by 
A.  Jewitt,  pp.  293-296. 


Wingfield  Manor  House.  3 1 7 

The  entire  length  of  this  vast  excavation  is  about  800  yards,  and  its 
depth  from  the  surface  of  the  mountain  between  200  and  300.  It  is 
wholly  formed  in  the  limestone  strata,  which  are  replete  with  marine 
exuvias.  Some  communications  with  other  fissures  open  from  different 
parts  of  the  Cavern.  A  singular  effect  is  produced  by  the  explosion  of 
a  small  quantity  of  gunpowder,  when  wedged  into  the  rock,  in  the 
inner  part  of  the  Cavera ;  the  sound  appearing  to  roll  along  the  roof 
and  sides  like  a  heavy  and  combined  peal  of  overwhelming  thunder. 


Wingfield  Manor  House. 

\\'ini;ficld,  situated  four  or  five  miles  eastward  of  the  centre  of 
Derbyshire,  is  one  of  the  richest  specimens  extant  of  the  highly  orna- 
mented embattled  mansions  of  the  time  of  Henry  VII.  and  Henry  V'lII. ; 
the  period  of  the  transition  from  the  Castle  to  the  Palace,  and  un- 
doubtedly the  best  era  of  English  architecture.  The  present  manor- 
house,  according  to  Camden,  was  built  about  the  year  1440,  by  Ralph, 
Lord  Cromwell,  who  was  Treasurer  of  England;  and  the  testimony 
of  Camden  that  he  was  the  founder,  is  strongly  corroborated  by  the 
bags  or  purses  of  stone  (alluding  to  the  ofhce  of  Treasurer  which  he 
filled)  carved  over  the  gateway  leading  to  the  quadrangle.  Bags  or 
purses  are  mentioned  to  have  been  carved  on  the  manor-house  of  Coly 
^Veston,  in  Northamptonshire,  augmented  by  this  Lord  Cromwell ;  and 
there  were  similar  ornaments  car\'ed  in  wood,  removed  about  one 
hundred  and  forty  years  ago  from  Wingfield  Manor. 

The  manor-house  originally  consisted  of  two  square  courts,  and  a 
noble  hall,  which  was  lighted  by  a  beautiful  octagon  window,  and  a 
range  of  Gothic  windows.  Part  of  the  chapel  remains,  with  the  great 
State  apartment  lighted  by  a  rich  Gothic  window.  In  the  thirty-third 
year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  it  appears  that  Wingfield  Manor  was 
in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  who,  in  the  time  of  Queen 
'  '  heth,  held  in  his  custody  here  the  unfortunate  Mary  Queen  of 
.  Her  suite  of  apartments  were  traditionally  on  the  west  side  of 
liie  north  court,  which  is  remembered  as  the  most  beautiful  part  of  the 
liiilding  ;  it  communicated  with  the  great  tower,  whence,  it  is  said,  the 
ill-starred  captive  had  sometimes  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  friends 
approach  with  whom  she  held  a  secret  correspondence.  It  is  inferred 
that  her  captivity  at  Wingfield  commenced  in  1569,  in  which  year  an 
attempt  was  made  by  Leonard  Dacre  to  rescue  her.  After  which, 
Elizabeth  becoming  suspicious  of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  under  pre- 


3 1 8  Wingfield  Manor  House. 

tcnce  of  his  Lordship  being  in  ill-health,  directed  the  Earl  of  Hunt- 
ingdon to  take  care  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  in  Shrewsbuiy's  house :  and 
her  train  was  reduced  to  tliirty  persons.  This  change  happened  the 
year  after  Mary  was  removed  from  Bolton  Castle,  in  Yorkshire,  to 
Tutbury  Castle,  in  Staffordshire,  and  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Earl 
of  Shrewsbury.  Her  captivity  at  Wingfield  is  stated  to  have  extended 
to  nine  years ;  but  it  is  improbable  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  the 
time  she  was  in  the  custody  of  this  nobleman  should  have  been  spent 
here ;  for  it  is  well  known  that  from  1568  to  1584,  she  was  at  Buxton, 
Sheffield,  Coventry,  Tutbury,  and  other  places ;  and  if  her  confine- 
ment here  continued  so  long,  it  must  have  been  with  many  intervals  of 
absence. 

Wingfield  continued  to  be  the  occasional  residence  of  the  Shrewsburys 
till  the  death  of  the  Earl  Gilbert,  in  the  year  161 6;  after  which  the 
property  was  sold  to  Mr.  Edward  Halton,  who,  in  1666,  was  resident 
at  the  manor-house;  and  in  181 7  it  was  still  in  the  possession  of 
one  of  the  Halton  family,  but  not  then  inhabited.  The  last  of  the 
family  who  resided  here  became  its  spoiler,  for  desiring  to  build  himself 
a  hou^e  at  the  foot  of  the  high  hill  upon  which  the  mansion  stands,  he 
pulled  do\vn  and  unroofed  part  of  the  fine  old  stnicture,  so  that  the 
hall,  with  its  proud  emblazonry  of  the  Shrewsbury  arms  and  quarter- 
ings,  became  exposed  to  the  decaying  influences  of  the  elements. 

The  mansion  had  been,  however,  previously  much  injured  during  the 
Civil  War  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I. ;  and  there  are  a  few  singular 
incidents  in  its  fate.  Wingfield,  being  possessed  by  the  royal  party, 
was  besieged  and  taken  by  Lord  Grey  of  Groby,  and  Sir  John  Gall,  of 
Hopton — brave  officers  in  the  service  of  the  Parliament ;  who,  according 
to  Whitelock,  voted  them  a  letter  of  thanks  for  this  and  other  services. 
The  assault  was  begun  on  the  east  side  with  cannon  placed  on 
Pentridge  Common,  and  a  half- moon  battery,  raised  for  its  defence,  was 
soon  can-ied  ;  but  a  breach  being  found  impracticable,  the  cannon  were 
removed  to  a  wood  on  the  opposite  side.  They  soon  opened  a  con- 
siderable breach  in  the  wall,  and  captured  the  place.  Colonel  Dalby, 
who  was  the  governor,  was  killed  in  the  siege.  He  had  disguised  him- 
self in  the  dress  of  a  common  soldier,  but  being  seen  and  known  by  a 
deserter,  he  was  shot  by  him  in  the  face  as  he  was  walking  in  one  of  the 
stables.  The  hole  through  which  the  assailant  introduced  his  mur- 
derous musket  was  long  shovpn  near  the  porter's  lodge. 


319 


Beauchief  Abbey. 

To  enjoy  the  picturesque  variety  of  the  dales  of  Derbyshire  we  must 
leave  the  cloud-capf)ed  peaks,  and  ramble  through  the  cultivated 
meadows,  luxuriant  foliage,  steep  heathy  hills,  and  craggy  rocks,  while 
the  eye  and  ear  are  enchanted  with  brilliant  streams.  Such,  indeed,  is 
the  character  of  the  dales,  especially  those  through  which  the  Derwent, 
the  Dove,  and  the  Wye  meander.  In  one  of  these  sheltered  valleys 
Beauchief  Abbey  gives  name  to  its  locality.  Abbey  Dale,  not  far  from 
'the  partition  line  that  separates  Derbyshire  from  Yorkshire,  at  Norton, 
near  Sheffield.  It  was  founded  in  1183,  for  Premonstratensian,  or 
White  Canons,  by  Robert  Fitz-Ranulph,  lord  of  Alfreton,  said  to  have 
been  one  of  the  murderers  of  Thomas  a  Becket,  in  expiation  of  whose 
murder  the  Abbey  was  built,  and  to  whom,  when  canonized,  it  was 
dedicated.  Dr.  Pegge,  the  antiquarian  wTiter,  discountenances  this  tra- 
dition. His  arguments,  however,  which  are  chiefly  founded  on  the 
circumstance  of  the  brother  of  Robert  Fitz-Ranulph  being  afterwards 
in  great  favour  with  Henry  II.,  do  not  appear  conclusive,  particularly 
when  opposed  to  the  authority  of  Dugdale,  Fuller,  Bishop  Tanner,  and 
others  who  have  written  on  the  subject.  Indeed,  Dr.  Pegge  denies 
that  Beauchief  Abbey  was  erected  in  expiation  of  Becket's  death,  or 
that  Fitz-Ranulph  had  any  connexion  with  that  deed.  Sir  James 
Mackintosh  names  the  "four  knights  of  distinguished  rank"  (apparently 
upon  the  authority  of  Hoveden)  to  have  been  William  de  Tracy,  Hugh 
de  Moreville,  Richard  Britto,  and  Reginald  Fitz-Urse;  and  adds,  "the 
conspirators,  despairing  of  pardon,  foimd  a  distant  refuge  in  the  Castle 
of  Knaresborough,  in  the  town  of  Hugh  de  Moreville,  and  were,  after 
some  time,  enjoined  by  the  Pope  to  do  penance  for  their  crime 
by  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  where  they  died,  and  were  interred 
before  the  gate  of  the  Temple."  Sir  James  describes  the  murder  of 
Becket  with  harrowing  minutaiess :  "  the  assassins  fell  on  him  with 
many  strokes ;  and  though  the  second  brought  him  to  the  ground,  they 
did  not  cease  till  his  brains  were  scattered  over  the  pavement." 

The  walls  of  Beauchief  Abbe)',  with  the  exception  of  the  west  end, 
have  long  since  either  been  removed,  or  have  mouldered  into  dust,  and 
the  whole  of  the  original  plan  of  the  once  extensive  pile  of  building 
cannot  now  be  traced.  The  architecture  is  plain,  but  the  situation 
among  woods  and  hills  is  delightful.  Though  once  a  considerable 
structure,  Beauchief  Abbey  was  never  proportionally  wealthy.  At 
the  time  of  the  Dissolution  its  revenues  were  estimated  but  at  157/. 


320  A  Legend  of  Dale  Abbey, 

With  the  materials  furnished  by  its  demolition  was  built  Beauchief 
House  upon  the  same  estate,  granted  by  Henry  VI H.  to  Sir  William 
Shelley. 


A  Legend  of  Dale  Abbey. 

Of  Dale  Abbey,  six  miles  and  a  half  east  of  Derby,  built  nearly  seven 
centuries  ago,  there  remains  but  a  single  fragment — the  arch  of  the 
great  east  window  of  the  Chapel  built  by  the  godmother  of  Serle  de 
Grendon,  and,  what  is  most  singular,  and  probably  without  a  parallel 
in  British  antiquities,  under  the  same  roof,  an  inn,  of  the  same  age  as 
the  Chapel  itself;  and  at  a  short  distance  is  a  hermitage,  probably  of  the 
same  period.  The  cave  originally  scooped  out  by  the  hermit  is  still 
entire.  It  is  cut  in  a  precipice  which  stands  pleasantly  elevated  above 
the  valley,  and  overhung  with  wood,  in  full  prospect  of  the  Abbey  ruin, 
which  was  a  religious  house  of  the  Premonstratensian  order,  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  Virgin  Mary.  We  find  a  fuller  account  of  this  Abbey 
than  of  any  other  in  Derbyshire ;  one  of  its  monks  having  left  in  manu- 
script a  history  of  its  foundation,  as  related  by  Maud  de  Salicesamara, 
who  built  the  Chapel  belonging  to  the  Abbey. 

We  are  told  that  there  lived  once  in  the  street  of  St,  Mary,  in  Derby, 
a  baker,  who  was  known  for  his  great  charity  and  devotion.  After 
having  spent  many  years  in  acts  of  benevolence  and  piety,  he  was,  in  a 
dixam,  called  to  give  a  trying  proof  of  his  fidelity.  He  was  required  by 
the  Virgin  Mary  to  relinquish  all  his  worldly  substance ;  to  go  to  Deep- 
dale,  and  lead  a  solitary  life,  in  the  service  of  her  Son  and  herself.  He 
accordingly  left  all  his  possessions  and  departed,  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
place  to  which  he  should  go.  However,  directing  his  course  towards 
the  east,  and  passing  through  the  village  of  Stanley,  he  heard  a  woman 
say  to  a  girl,  "  Take  with  thee  our  calves,  and  drive  them  to  Deepdale, 
and  return  immediately."  Regarding  this  as  a  special  interposition  of 
Providence,  the  baker  was  overwhelmed  with  astonishment,  and  said, 
"Tell  me,  good  woman,  where  is  Deepdale  ?"  when  she  replied,  "  Go 
with  the  girl,  and  she,  if  you  please,  will  show  you  the  place."  Upon 
his  arrival  he  found  it  very  marshy  ground,  and  distant  from  any  human 
habitation.  Proceeding  hence  to  the  east,  he  came  to  a  rising  ground, 
and  under  the  side  of  the  hill  cut  in  the  rock  a  small  dwelling  ;  he  built 
an  altar  towards  the  south,  and  there  spent  day  and  night  in  the  Divine 
service,  with  hunger  and  cold,  and  thiist  and  want. 

It  happened  one  day  that  a  person  of  great  consequence,  by  name 
Ralph  the  son  of  Geremund,  came  hunting  in  his  woods  at  Ockbrook, 


A  L egcnd  of  Date  Abbey.  3 2 1 

ind  when  he  approached  the  place  where  the  hermit  lived,  and  saw  the 
smoke  rising  from  his  cave,  he  was  filled  with  astonishment  that  any 
one  should  have  the  rashness  and  effiontery  to  build  for  himself  a 
dwelling  in  his  woods  without  his  permission.  Going  then  to  the 
place,  he  found  a  man  clothed  with  old  rags  and  skins,  and  inquiring 
into  the  cause  and  circumstances  of  his  case,  his  anger  gave  way  to  pity ; 
and  to  express  his  compassion,  he  granted  the  ground  where  his  hermi- 
tage was  situated,  and  the  tithe  of  his  mill  at  Burgh  for  his  support.  It 
is  related  that  the  old  enemy  of  the  human  race  then  endeavoured  to 
render  him  dissatisfied  with  his  condition,  but  that  he  resolutely  endured 
all  its  calamities.  One  of  the  greatest  evils  which  he  suffered  was  a 
want  of  water;  however,  from  this  he  was  relieved  by  discovering  a 
spring  in  the  valley ;  near  this  he  built  a  cottage  and  an  oratory  ini 
honour  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  ended  his  days  in  the  service  of  God., 
Serle  de  Grendon,  lord  of  Badeley,  a  knight  of  eminent  valour,  great 
wealth,  and  distinguished  birth,  who  married,  first,  Margery,  daughter 
of  the  above  Ralph,  and  afterwards  Maud,  lady  of  Celson,  gave  to  his 
godmother,  during  her  life,  the  place  of  Depedalc,  with  its  appur- 
tenances, and  other  lands  in  the  neighbourhood.  She  had  a  son  whom 
she  educated  for  holy  orders,  that  he  might  perform  divine  ser%'ice  in 
her  chapel  of  Depedalc,  and  herself  resided  at  a  short  distance  south  of 
this  situation.  Shortly  afterwards,  with  the  consent  and  approbation 
of  this  venerable  matron,  Serle  de  Grendon  invited  canons  from  Kalke, 
and  gave  them  the  place  of  Depedale.  The  canons  built  here,  with 
great  labour  and  expense,  a  church  and  other  offices :  their  Prior  jour- 
neyed to  the  Court  of  Rome,  and  obtained  several  important  privileges 
for  them ;  and  the  place  was  much  frequented  by  persons  of  all  ranks, 
some  of  whom  were  large  benefactors  to  the  religious  establishment. 

"  The  devil,  one  night,  as  he  chanced  to  sail 
In  a  wintry  wind,  by  the  Abbey  of  Dale, 
Suddenly  stopp'd,  and  lookd  with  surprise, 
That  a  structure  so  fair  in  that  valley  should  rise: 
When  last  he  was  there,  it  was  lonely  and  still ; 
And  the  hermitage  scoop'd  in  the  side  of  the  hill. 
With  its  wretched  old  inmate  his  beads  a  telling, 
Were  all  he  found  of  lifr.  dweller,  or  dwelling. 
The  hermit  was  s'-eii  iii  th--  rock  no  more  ; 
The  luttle  and  dutk  had  i  prung  up  at  the  door ; 
And  each  window  the  fern  and  the  hart's  tongue  hung  o'er. 
Wiihin  'twas  dampness  and  nakedness  all : 
r     V  •  ■  '    '    ,L  block 

■  of  a  rock, 
II  IS  broke  in  the  fall. 

The  huly  cell  s  ceiling,  ui  idle  hour, 
When  haymakers  sought  it  to  'scape  from  the  shower, 


322  Chatsworth,  Hardwickc,  and  H addon. 

Was  scored  by  their  forks  in  a  thousand  scars, 
Wheels  and  crackers,  ovals  and  stars. 
I^iit  liy  the  brook  in  the  valley  below, 
Saint  Mary  of  Dale  I  what  a  lordly  show  I 
The  Abbey's  proud  arches  and  windows  bright, 
Glitter "d  and  gleam  d  in  the  full  moonlight." 

Howitt's  Forest  Minstrel. 

However,  in  process  of  time,  when  the  canons  already  mentioned 
had  long  been  separated  from  the  social  conversation  of  men,  they 
became  corrupted  by  prosperity,  and 

"Forsook  missal  and  mass. 
To  chant  o'er  a  bottle,  or  shrive  a  lass  ; 
No  matin's  bell  call'd  them  up  in  the  mom, 
But  the  yell  of  the  hounds  and  sound  of  the  horn  : 
No  penance  the  monk  in  his  cell  could  stay. 
But  a  broken  leg  or  a  rainy  day: 
The  pilgrim  that  came  to  the  Abbey  door, 
With  the  feet  of  the  fallow  deer  found  it  nail'd  o'er ; 
The  pilgrim  that  into  the  kitchen  was  led. 
On  Sir  GilbcTt's  venison  there  was  fed. 
And  saw  skins  and  antlers  hang  over  his  head." 

Howitt's  Forest  Minstrel. 

The  King  hearing  of  their  insolent  conduct,  commanded  them  to 
resign  everything  into  the  hands  of  their  patron,  and  to  return  to  the 
place  from  whence  they  came.  Depedale  was  not  long  after  left  deso- 
late, for  there  soon  came  hither  from  Tapholme,  six  white  canons  of 
the  Premonstratensian  order. 

The  Abbey  was  surrendered  in  1539,  by  John  Staunton  and  sixteen 
monks  ;  and  eleven  years  after,  the  Abbey  clock  was  sold  for  6s. ;  the 
iron,  glass,  paving-stones,  and  grave-stones,  for  18/. ;  and  there  were  six 
bells,  47  cwt.  The  Abbot's  bed,  richly  adorned,  was  long  preserved. 
A  place  was  shown  to  visitors  where  the  partition  wall  betwixt  th  ■ 
chapel  and  inn  gave  way  to  the  thirsty  zeal  of  the  pious  monks :  foi 
tradition  honours  them  with  the  conceit  of  having  their  favourite  liquor 
handed  to  them  through  it  while  at  mass. 


Chatsworth,  Hardwicke,  and  Haddon. 

These  three  historic  houses  possess  an  undying  interest  even  in  com- 
parison with  the  attractions  of  the  sublime  scenery,  amidst  which  they 
are  placed. 

Chatsworth,  the  most  magnificent  private  mansion  in  England — one 
of  the  few  seats  in  the  country  that  deserves  the  name  of  a  palace — is 
popularly  called  one  of  the  Wonders  of  the  Peak ;  and  in  art  occupies 


Chatsworth,  Hardwicke^  and  H addon.  323 

a  similai-  position  to  that  claimed  by  the  other  curiosities  of  the  district 
in  the  kingdoms  of  nature.  How  thoughtfixlly  and  nobly  has  the  poet 
meditated  upon  these  characteristics — 

"  Chatsworth !  thy  stately  mansion,  and  the  pride 
Of  thy  domain,  strange  contrast  do  present 
To  house  and  home  in  many  a  craggy  rent 
Of  the  wild  Peak  :  where  new-born  waters  glide 
Through  fields  where  thrifty  occupants  abide 
As  in  a  dear  and  chosen  banishment, 
With  every  semblance  of  entire  content : 
So  kind  is  simple  Nature  fairly  tried  ! 
Yet  He,  whose  heart  in  childhood  gave  her  troth 
To  pastoral  dales,  thin  set  with  modest  farms. 
May  learn,  if  judgment  strengthen  with  his  growth. 
That  not  for  Fancy  only  jxsmp  hath  charms ; 
And  strenuous  to  protect  from  lawless  harms 
The  extremes  of  favoured  life,  may  honour  both." 

The  manor  of  Chatsworth,  at  the  Norman  Survey,  belonged  to  the 
Crown,  and  was  in  the  custody  of  William  of  Peverell,  who,  upon  the 
grant  of  property  received  from  the  Conqueror,  built  for  himself  the 
fortress  to  this  day  called  "  the  Castle  of  the  Peak."  Chatsworth  was, 
for  many  generations,  the  property  of  a  family  named  Leche,  or  Leech, 
— one  of  whom,  named  John,  was  chirurgeon  {ox  leech)  to  Edward  III. 
By  this  family,  the  estate  was  sold  in  the  sixteenth  century  to  the  family 
of  A  yard,  of  whom  it  was  purchased  by  Sir  William  Cavendish ;  since 
which  it  has  been  the  principal  country-seat  of  the  noble  family  of 
Cavendish, 

The  original  Chats\vorth  House,  built  by  Sir  William  Cavendish 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  a  quadrangular  building 
with  turrets.  Its  earliest  celebrity  has  a  melancholy  interest — it  being 
one  of  the  prisons  of  the  ill-fated  Mar)'  Queen  of  Scots,  who  resided 
here  for  some  months  in  1570,  and  was  here  in  1573,  1577,  i.'578,  and 
1581.  It  shared  the  fate  of  many  other  mansions  in  the  Civil  Wars  of 
the  Parliament  and  Charles  I.,  and  was  by  tunis  occupied  as  a  fortress 
by  both  parties.  In  1643  it  was  garrisoned  by  forces  under  Sir  John 
Gell,  on  the  part  of  the  Parliament ;  and  in  December  of  the  same 
year,  the  Earl  of  Ne\vcastle,  having  taken  Wingfield  Manor,  made 
himself  master  of  Chatsworth  House,  and  placed  a  garrison  in  it  for 
the  King,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Eyre.  In  September,  1645, 
it  was  held  for  the  Royal  party  by  Colonel  Shalcross,  with  a  fresh  gar- 
rison from  Welbeck,  and  a  skirmishing  force  of  three  himdrcd  horse. 
It  was  then  besieged  by  Major  MoUanus  with  four  hundred  foot ;  but 
the  siege  was  raised  by  the  command  of  Colonel  Gell,  who  ordered  the 
Major  and  his  party  to  return  to  Derby, 

V  a 


324  Chatsworth,  Hardivickc,  and  H addon. 

Cliarles  Cotton,  the  Poet  of  the  Peak,  who  resided  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, has  written  a  quaint  description  of  Chatsworth  in  the  time  of  the 
Stuarts :  he  concludes  thus,  after  describing  the  park  and  exterior  of 
the  mansion — 

"  Cross  the  court,  thro'  a  fine  portico, 
Into  the  body  of  the  house  you  go : 
But  here  I  may  not  dare  to  go  about, 
To  give  account  of  everything  throughout. 
The  lofty  hall,  staircases,  galleries, 
Lodgings,  apartments,  closets,  offices, 
And  rooms  of  state ;  for  should  I  undertake. 
To  show  what  'tis  doth  them  so  glorious  make, 
The  pictures,  sculptures,  carving,  graving,  gilding, 
"Twould  be  as  long  in  writing,  as  in  building." 

The  fourth  Earl  (afterwards  the  first  Duke  of  Devonshire),  on  his 
retirement  from  the  Court  of  James  II.,  planned  and  rebuilt  the  man- 
sion, upon  the  same  site,  as  it  in  part  remains.  It  was  designed  by 
Talman,  an  architect  of  some  celebrity,  and  completed  soon  after  1706. 
Among  the  artists  employed,  besides  Talman,  were  Sir  Christopher 
Wren  ;  Verrio,  Laguerre,  Ricard,  and  Sir  James  Thornhill,  painters  ; 
Cibber,  carver  in  stone ;  carving  in  wood,  the  Watsons,  natives  of 
Derbyshire,  though  they  are  thought  to  have  been  employed  under 
Gibbons,  who  furnished  the  designs. 

The  situation  is  extremely  beautiful.  The  mansion  is  in  the  Ionic 
style  of  architecture,  and  consists  of  an  immense  quadrangle,  with  two 
principal  fronts.  It  stands  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Derwent,  near  the 
bottom  of  a  high  hill,  which  is  richly  covered  with  wood.  The  main 
approach  to  the  mansion  is  by  an  elegant  bridge,  built  by  Paine,  and 
said  to  be  from  a  design  by  Michael  Angelo.  The  niches  between  the 
arches  have  four  marble  figures  by  Cibber.  Northward  of  this  bridge 
is  "  the  Bower  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots."  While  in  the  custody  of  the 
Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  she  was  sometimes  at  Sheffield,  then  transferred  to 
Tutbury,  then  suddenly  j-emoved  to  Wingfield,  and  immediately  after 
to  Chatsworth.  After  long  imprisonment  and  harsh  treatment  had 
ruined  her  health,  and  rendered  her  who  once  danced  so  gaily  and  so 
gracefully  a  cripple,  Elizabeth  was  moved  at  length,  by  repeated  appli- 
cations, to  permit  her  to  visit  the  baths  at  Buxton.  On  the  26th  of 
July,  15S0,  the  Earl  escorted  his  Royal  charge  from  Chatsworth  to  the 
famous  well  whose  waters  were  "  able  to  cure  all"  maladies—''  but 
despair;"  and  to  that  state  of  feeling  was  Mary  then  almost  reduced. 

In  the  magnificent  park  of  Chatsworth,  unrivalled  in  its  varied  beauty, 
not  far  from  the  splendid  buildings  which  form  the  present  house,  is  a 
email  clear  lake  in  a  stxluded  spot,  half-concealed  by  thick  foliage.     In 


Chatsworth,  Hardwicke,  and  H addon.  325 

the  centre  of  this  piece  of  water  is  a  tower,  and  on  the  platform  at  the 
top  is  a  grassy  garden,  where  wave  several  fine  trees,  in  particular  a  very 
large  and  spreading  yew,  perhaps  planted  by  the  Royal  captive's  own 
hand ;  for  this  is  the  spot  where  she  was  permitted  to  take  the  air — 
guards  on  the  steps  which  led  to  the  retreat ;  guards  beside  the  lake; 
guards  on  the  path  which  led  back  to  her  prison  ;  and  sentinels  on  each 
side  of  the  grated  door  which  had  admitted  her,  and  was  carefully  closed 
upon  her  and  her  attendants. 

There  is  a  pretty  fanciful  balustrade  all  round  the  platform,  and  the 
view  across  part  of  the  park,  where  deer  are  feeding,  cattle  grazing,  and 
the  river  flowing  merrily  along,  all  cheerful  and  pleasing — but  what 
must  it  have  been  then  to  Mary  Stuart?  Wherever  she  cast  her 
mournful  eyes  she  beheld  only  evidences  of  the  impossibility  of  her 
escape ;  the  mountains  of  the  Peak  hemmed  her  in,  the  barren  moors 
spread  desolate  around  her,  and  soldiers  were  pacing  up  and  down  be- 
neath the  tower  from  whence  she  gazed  despondmgly.  Tedious, 
indeed,  were  the  hours  of  Mary's  captivity  here :  "All  day  she  wTOught 
with  her  nyd'ill,  and  the  diversity  of  the  colours  made  the  work  seem 
less  tedious,  and  contynued  so  long  at  it  till  very  pyne  made  her  give  it 
over."  Mary's  captivity  in  the  old  house  of  Chatsworth  extended  to 
tliirtcen  years ;  from  here  she  wrote  her  second  letter  to  Pope  Pius, 
dated  October  15,  1570. 

We  have  space  but  to  mention  a  few  of  the  splendours  of  this  palatial 
on.  The  Grand  Entrance  Hall  is  painted  with  the  Life  and 
l-_  ii  of  Julius  Caesar.  The  Staircase  has  a  double  flight  of  steps, 
of  rock  amethyst  and  variegated  alabaster,  guarded  by  a  richly  gilt 
balustrade.  1  he  Chapel  is  wainscoted  with  cedar,  and  embellished  by 
Verrio  and  Laguerre.  The  altar,  of  the  fluors  and  marbles  of  Derby- 
shire, is  sculptured  by  Cibber.  The  Drawing-room  is  embellished  by 
Thornhill.  1  he  State  Apartments  are  lined  with  choice  woods,  costly 
cabinets,  carvings,  and  old  paintings,  and  hung  with  Gobelin  tapestries 
of  the  Cartoons  of  Raphael.  Over  the  door  of  the  Antechamber  is  a 
carved  pen,  as  Waipole  said,  "not  distinguishable  fiom  real  feather." 
The  Second  Drawing-room  is  hung  with  Gobelin  tapestry.  The  Scarlet 
Room  contains  the  bed  in  which  George  II,  expired;  and  the  chairs 
and  footstools  used  at  the  coronation  of  George  III.  The  Great  Nor- 
thern Staircase  is  of  oak,  richly  gilt.  The  modem  common  apartments 
are  generally  called  those  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  which  is  an  error; 
but  they  occupy  the  site  of  those  inhabited  by  the  Qiieen,  and  her  bed- 
hangings  and  tapestry  are  in  the  apartment  now  called  her  bed-room. 
In  the  Library  are  the  manuscripts  and  apparatus  of  the  celebrated 


326  Chatsivorih,  Hardwicke,  and  H addon. 

chemist,  Henry  Cavendish.  The  Sculpture  Gallery  is  lined  with 
Devonshire  marble ;  here  are  statues  and  busts  ;  and  two  Lions,  each 
weighing  four  tons,  carved  out  of  a  solid  block  of  marble,  nine  feet  long 
by  four  feet  high.  The  Orangery  has  marble  bas-reliefs  by  Thorwald- 
sen,  and  thirty  orange-trees  from  Malmaison.  In  the  Garden  is  a  vast 
tropical  conservatory,  occupying  above  an  acre  and  a  quarter  of  ground, 
with  a  carriage-drive  through  it ;  and  filled  with  stupendous  palms, 
talipots,  bananas,  and  (locks  of  tropical  birds  of  brilliant  plumage.  And 
here,  built  for  the  Victoria  Regia  lily,  is  the  hothouse  designed  and 
erected  by  Sir  Joseph  Paxton ;  whence  sprung  the  gigantic  Palace  of 
Glass  for  the  Great  Exhibition  in  Hyde  Park,  in  the  year  1851.  The 
pleasure-grounds  are  upwards  of  eighty  acres  in  extent,  including  lawns, 
shrubberies,  and  gardens.  The  great  cascade  and  natural  water-fall  is 
40  feet  over  precipitous  rock,  and  the  principal  fountain  throws  up 
water  nearly  to  the  height  of  100  feet.  The  walks  through  the  grounds 
are  some  miles  in  extent. 

The  enlargement  of  the  mansion,  and  other  improvements  at  Chats- 
worth,  were  completed  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  since,  previous  to 
the  State  visit  of  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  Consort,  whose  recep- 
tion by  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  was  one  of  the  most  magnificent  given 
in  modem  times. 

In  the  rear  of  the  mansion,  nearly  at  the  summit  of  a  steep,  rocky, 
and  thickly  wooded  hill,  stands  the  Hunting  Tower,  probably  as  old  as 
the  first  house,  and  giving  the  ladies  of  those  days  an  opportunity  of 
enjoying  the  sport  of  the  chase.  It  is  a  square  building,  having  at  each 
angle  a  round  turret,  which  rises  above  the  tower  itself,  and  is 
sunnounted  by  a  small  dome.  The  windows  are  mostly  blocked  up 
with  masonry.  Its  use,  at  present,  is  to  bear  the  flag  of  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire  as  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  county. 

There  are  yet  to  be  told  some  pleasant  memories  of  Chatsworth. 
Here  Thomas  Hobbes,  the  philosopher,  passed  a  great  portion  of  his 
life:  he  died  here,  whilst  residing  in  the  family  of  his  pupil,  the 
Earl  of  Devonshire.  His  daily  mode  of  life  at  Chatsworth  is  thus 
described  in  Dr.  Kennet's  Memoirs  of  the  Ca-vendhh  Family:  "His 
professed  rule  of  health  was  to  dedicate  the  morning  to  his  exer- 
cise, and  the  afternoon  to  his  studies.  At  his  rising,  therefore, 
he  walked  out,  and  climbed  any  hill  within  his  reach ;  or,  if  the 
weather  was  not  dry,  he  fatigued  himself  within  doors  by  some  ex- 
ercise or  other,  to  be  in  a  sweat.  After  this  he  took  a  comfortable 
breakfast ;  and  then  went  round  the  lodgings  to  wait  upon  the  Earl, 
the  Countess,  and  the  children,  and  any  considerable  strangers,  paying 


Chatsivorth^  Hardiuicke,  and  H addon.  327 

some  short  addresses  to  all  of  them.  He  kept  these  rounds  till  about 
twelve  o'clock,  when  he  had  a  little  dinner  provided  for  him,  which  he 
ate  always  by  himself,  without  ceremony.  Soon  after  dinner  he  retired 
to  his  study,  and  had  his  candle,  with  ten  or  twelve  pipes  of  tobacco 
laid  by  him  ;  then,  shutting  his  door,  he  fell  to  smoking,  thinking,  and 
writing  for  several  hours." 

Marshal  Tallard,  who  was  taken  prisoner  at  Blenheim  in  1704,  and 
remained  seven  years  in  England,  having  been  nobly  entertained  by  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire  at  Chatswoilh,  on  taking  his  leave,  said — "  My 
Lord  Duke,  when  I  come  hereafter  to  compute  the  time  of  my 
captivity  in  England,  I  shall  leave  out  the  days  of  my  visit  at 
Chatsworth." 

Hardwicke  Hall,  another  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  is 
situated  between  Chesterfield  and  Mansfield,  the  approach  to  the  man- 
sion being  by  a  noble  avenue,  and  the  park  has  some  very  fine  oaks. 
The  present  Hall  was  erected  for  the  Countess  of  Shrewsbury  about 
1 590.  She  was  the  celebrated  Elizabeth  Hardwicke,  and  man-ied  no 
less  than  four  times.  Her  first  husband  was  Mr.  Bailey,  through  whom 
she  acquired  property ;  her  second,  a  Cavendish  ;  she  then  married  Sir 
AVilliam  St.  Lowe,  and  afterwards,  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  the  keeper 
for  so  many  years  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  The  most  interesting  pile 
is  Old  Hardwicke  Hall,  or  "  Mr.  Hardwicke's  House,"  which  almost 
touches  the  more  modem  Hall.  Everything  in  it  and  about  it  bears  the 
impress  of  the  proud,  determined  woman,  who  considered  her  father's 
house  not  a  sufficient  mansion  for  a  Countess  of  Shrewsbury  to  receive 
royalty  in,  and  consequently  had  erected  the  present  edifice  almost  at 
its  gates,  W  herever  you  turn  you  are  reminded  of  her :  her  initials 
stand  in  bold  relief,  outside  the  edifice,  on  the  parapet,  at  every  comer, 
and  ft-om  canvas  in  the  different  rooms.  This  indefatigable  lady  built 
also  Chatsworth,  and  another  place  in  the  county  of  Derby.  The 
legend  runs — it  was  foretold  to  her,  that  as  long  as  she  kept  building, 
so  long  would  her  life  be — a  msc,  probably,  of  the  architect  of  the  day 
to  lead  her  on.  In  accordance  with  this,  she  kept  building  house  after 
house,  and  at  last  died  during  a  hard  frost,  when  the  masons  could  not 
work. 

On  entering  Hardwicke,  the  first  striking  object  is  a  statue  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  Hall,  bearing  the  following 
simple  but  touching  inscription : 

"  ^iaria,  S •  :542; 

As 
Ab  h 


328  Chatstvorth,  Hardzvicke,  and  H addon. 

Tradition  asserts  that  this  was  one  of  the  seats  in  Derbyshire  which 
she  visited,  and  her  bed  and  room  are  shown,  with  her  arms  as  Queen 
of  Scotland  and  Dowager  of  France  over  the  door,  and  her  initials 
worked  in  the  tapestry.  The  grand  room  in  the  building  is  the  im- 
mense picture  gallery,  which  extends  the  whole  length  of  the  house. 
Here  are  portraits  of  (he  Cavendishes ;  of  the  Kings  antl  Queens  of 
England,  from  Henry  IV.  downwards;  the  Court  of  Charles  H.,  and 
all  the  Beauties  immortalized  by  Sir  Peter  Lely  ;  portrait  of  Thomas 
Hobbes,  dated  1676;  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  the  elaborate  court-dress  of 
the  time,  with  the  high  standing  ruff,  the  waist  exactly  in  the  middle  of 
the  body,  the  wide  hoop,  and  embroidered  petticoats ;  and  here  is  an 
excellent  equestrian  portrait  of  the  first  Duke  of  Devonshire.  The 
Presence  Chamber  is,  in  the  lower  part,  hung  with  tapestry,  and  the 
upper  part  with  pargetting — that  is,  figures  in  relief  on  plaster,  coloured. 
At  the  upper  end  are  the  canopy  of  State,  and  some  very  curiously 
worked  velvet  chairs.  The  most  interesting  article  of  furniture  in  the 
apartment  is  an  old  music-table,  round  which  many  a  madrigal  and  glee 
must  have  been  sung.  It  is  covered  with  mosaic  work,  representations  of 
music  books  and  musical  instruments  ;  and  the  artist  has  chronicled  the 
notes  on  the  open  leaves  of  the  wooden  books.  The  tapestry  in  all  the 
rooms  is  very  fine ;  some  of  the  oldest  pieces  were  the  covers  of  the 
seats  and  pulpit  of  a  small  chapel. 

The  approach  to  Hardwicke  by  the  avenue  is  universally  lauded  by 
tourists.  The  park,  with  its  hundreds  of  deer  and  its  wide-spreading 
oaks,  the  silver  stream  with  its  wooded  margin,  and  tlie  fair  greensward 
with  the  Hall  itself  in  the  distance,  complete  a  landscape  such  as  can 
rarely  be  enjoyed  except  in  England. 

The  first  appearance  of  Hardwicke  is  very  imposing,  more  especially 
of  the  Old  Hall,  as  approached  from  the  west.  It  is  seen  in  contrast 
with  the  New  Hall,  on  the  very  crest  of  one  of  the  highest  and  boldest 
ridges  of  the  new  red  sandstone,  looking  over  a  beautiful  valley,  and 
commanding  an  extent  of  country  rarely  equalled.  From  the  Stale 
room  of  the  new  Hall,  and  fi-om  the  dilapidated  one  of  the  old,  can  be 
distinctly  traced  some  of  the  loftiest  eminences  of  the  High  and  Low 
Peak,  Barrel  Edge,  and  the  Black  Rocks,  near  Matlock,  Middleton  and 
Tansley  Moors,  Stubbing  Edge,  and  the  great  English  Apennines, 
stretching  far  north,  appear  in  view,  with  a  rich  and  beautiful  country 
intervening.  The  mansion  is  a  lofty,  oblong  structure  of  stone,  of 
Elizabeth's  time,  and  lias  a  tall  square  tower  at  each  of  its  corners. 
From  the  avenue,  the  front  of  the  mansion  appears  dull  and  cheerless  j 


Bolsover  Castle.  329 

but  when  the  Elizabethan  gateway  opening  upon  the  flower-garden  has 
been  passed,  this  portion  of  the  Hall  is  seen  to  perfection. 

Haddon  Hall  stands  about  two  miles  south  of  Bakcwell,  on  a  bold 
eminence  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  W'^ye,  and  looks  over  the  beautiful 
vale  of  Haddon.  The  Hall  is  described  as  the  most  complete  of 
the  old  castellated  mansions  of  this  country.  Though  not  now  inha- 
bited, it  is  in  a  state  of  excellent  repair,  and  is  the  property  of  the  Duke 
of  Rutland.  It  was  erected  at  different  periods.  The  most  ancient 
part  was  built  about  the  time  of  Edward  III.;  part  is  of  the  time  of 
Henry  VI.;  and  the  most  modern  part  was  erected  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabelh.  It  was  "originally  a  barton,  or  fanri,  appertaining  to 
the  lordship  of  Bakewell,  given  by  William  the  Conqueror  to  William 
Peverell.  It  became  forfeited  to  the  Crown,  and  passed  to  the  Avenell 
family.  In  the  reign  of  Richard  I.  it  came  into  the  possession  of  Sir 
George  Vernon  by  marriage  ;  thenceforth  becoming  the  chief  residence 
of  the  Venion  family,  until,  by  the  marriage  of  Dorothy  Vernon  with 
Sir  John  Manners,  second  son  of  Thomas,  first  Earl  of  Rutland,  which 
title  he  inherited,  it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Rutland  family, 
through  whom  it  has  descended  to  the  present  Duke  of  Rutland.  It 
has  some  fine  annorial  glass  in  tne  windows,  and  in  the  Chapel  is  a 
Roman  altar,  dug  up  at  Bakewell.  Most  of  the  rooms  weie  hung  with 
loose  arras,  which  still  remains,  concealing  the  ill-fashioned  carpentry  of 
the  doors,  wooden  bolts,  rude  bars,  &c.  Sir  George  Vernon,  by  his 
hospitality,  gained  the  title  of  King  of  the  Peak  ;  and  so  lately  as  the 
time  of  the  first  Duke  of  Rutland  (so  created  by  Queen  Anne),  seven 
score  servants  were  maintained,  and  during  twelve  days  after  Christmas 
the  house  was  kept  open.  Haddon  consists  of  two  courts,  of  irregular 
form,  approaching  to  squares,  surrounded  by  suites  of  apartments,  and 
was  evidently  designed  to  have  a  domestic,  not  a  military,  charactei-. 


Bolsover  Castle. 

Bolsover,  a  populous  village  on  the  eastern  verge  of  Derbyshire,  has 
been  for  ages  celebrated  for  its  Castle,  which  occupies  the  plain  of  a 
rocky  hill,  and  is  a  landmark  for  the  surrounding  country.  At  the  time 
of  the  Domesday,  the  manor  of  Bolsover  belonged  to  William  Peverell, 
who  is  supposed  to  have  built  the  first  Castle.  Not  lorig  after  the  for- 
feiture of  his  property  by  William  Peverell,  the  younger,  for  poisoning 
Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester,  in  115.3,  we  find  Bolsover  given  with  the 
manor  by  Richard  I.  in  1189,  to  his  brother  John,  on  his  niarriage.   In 


330  Bolsover  Castle. 

the  1 8th  year  of  his  reign,  John  issued  a  rmndate  to  Bryan  de  L'isle, 
then  Governor  of  Bolsover,  to  fortify  the  Castle,  and  hold  it  against  the 
rebellious  Barons ;  or,  if  he  could  not  make  it  tenable,  to  demolish  it. 
This,  no  doubt,  was  the  period  when  the  fortifications,  which  are  yet 
visible  about  Bolsover,  were  established.  The  Castle  was  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Barons  in  12 15,  but  was  taken  from  them  by  assault  for 
the  King  (John)  by  William  de  Ferrers,  Earl  of  Derby.  In  the  long 
and  tumultuous  reign  of  Henry  III.  this  Castle  still  maintained  its  con- 
sequence, though  it  had  eleven  different  governors  in  twice  that  term. 
The  Earl  of  Richmond  (father  of  Henry  VII.)  died  possessed  of  it  in 
1456,  together  with  the  Castle  of  Hareston,  both  of  which  were  granted, 
in  15 1 4,  to  Thomas  Howard,  Duke  of  Norfolk,  on  the  attainder  of 
whose  son  it  again  reverted  to  the  Crown.  Shortly  afterwards  it  was 
granted  to  Sir  John  Byran  for  fifty  years.  Edward  VI.  granted  it  to 
Talbot  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  in  whose  family  the  manor  of  Bolsover  re- 
mained until  the  time  of  James  I.,  when  Earl  Gilbert  sold  it  to  Sir 
Charles  Cavendish.  His  eldest  son  William,  was  the  first  Duke  of 
Newcastle,  who  was  appointed  General  of  all  his  Majesty's  forces  raised 
north  of  Trent :  he  possessed  little  of  the  skill  of  a  General,  though  he 
was  a  soldier  of  splendid  fortune.  He  was  sincerely  attached  to  his 
royal  master,  Charles  I.,  whom  he  entertained  at  Bolsover  Castle,  on 
three  different  occasions,  in  a  style  of  princely  magnificence.  On  the 
King's  second  visit  here,  when  he  was  accompanied  by  his  Queen,  up- 
wards of  15,000/.  were  expended.  The  eccentric  Duchess  of  Newcastle 
tells  us  that  Ben  Jonson  was  employed  in  fitting  up  such  scenes  and 
speeches  as  he  could  devise ;  and  sent  for  all  the  country  to  come  and 
wait  upon  their  Majesties. 

Leland  mentions  the  first  Castle  as  in  ruins  in  his  time,  and  no  vestige 
of  it  now  remains.  That  which  is  now  called  the  Castle  is  a  domestic 
residence,  with  somewhat  of  a  castellated  appearance.  It  was  begun 
about  the  year  1613,  immediately  after  the  purchase  was  made  by  Sir 
Charles  Cavendish,  who  then  removed  what  remained  of  the  old  Castle. 
It  is  a  square,  lofty,  and  embattled  structure  of  brown  stone,  with  a 
tower  at  each  angle,  the  northern  being  much  higher  than  the  others. 
The  interior  has  small  rooms,  wainscoted,  and  fancifully  inlaid  and 
painted ;  and  the  ceilings  of  the  best  apartments  are  carved  and  gilt. 
There  is  a  small  hall,  the  roof  of  which  is  supported  by  pillars ;  and 
there  is  a  large  room,  called  "the  star-chamber."  The  drawing-room 
was  formerly  "  the  pillar  parlour,"  from  its  having  in  the  centre  a  stone 
column,  from  which  springs  an  arched  ceiling,  while  round  the  lower 
part  of  the  shaft  is  placed  llic  dining  table  of  the  right  chivalric  fonn. 


Bolsover  Castle.  331 

Hitherto  we  have  spoken  but  of  that  part  of  Bolsover  Castle  which 
was  formerly  denominated  the  Little  House,  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
more  magnificent  structure  adjoining.  This  was,  probably,  the  resi- 
dence of  Cavendish,  a  range  of  apartments  now  roofless  and  rent  into 
fissures,  and  of  which  only  the  outside  walls  are  standing.  It  was  for- 
merly thought  that  these  buildings  were  erected  after  the  Restoration 
by  William  Cavendish,  Duke  of  Newcastle,  son  of  the  Sir  Charles,  who 
built  what  was  called  the  Castle.  Diepenbeck's  view  of  Bolsover 
(1652),  however,  decides  the  point  of  their  previous  existence;  and  that 
they  were  built  before  the  Civil  W^ars  is  more  than  probable,  as  other- 
wise there  would  have  been  no  room  at  Bolsover  for  the  splendid  enter- 
tainment which  the  Earl  of  Newcastle  (such  was  then  his  rank)  gave  to 
King  Charles,  the  Queen,  the  Court,  and  all  the  gentry  of  the  county. 
The  Earl  had  previously  entertained  the  King  at  Bolsover  in  1633, 
when  he  went  to  Scotland  to  be  crowned.  The  dinner  on  this  occasion 
cost  4000/. ;  and  Lord  Clarendon  speaks  of  it  as  "  such  an  excess  of 
feasting  as  had  scarce  ever  been  known  in  England  before." 

In  the  early  part  of  the  Civil  War  the  Castle  was  garrisoned  for  the 
King,  but  was  taken  in  1644,  by  Major-General  Crewe,  who  is  said  to 
Jiave  found  it  well  manned,  and  fortified  with  great  guns  and  stiong 
works.  During  the  sequestration  of  the  Marquis  of  Newcastle's  estates, 
Bolsover  Castle  suffered  much  both  in  its  buildings  and  furniture,  and 
was  to  have  been  demolished  for  the  sake  of  its  materials,  had  it  not  been 
purchased  for  the  Marquis  by  his  brother.  Sir  Charles  Cavendish.  The 
noble  owner  repaired  the  buildings  after  the  Restoration,  and  occasion- 
ally made  the  place  his  residence.  It  now  belongs  to  the  Duke  of  Port- 
land, whose  family  derived  it  in  the  female  line  fiom  the  Newcastle 
Cavendishes.  The  whole  pile  is  wearing  away.  Trees  grow  in  some 
of  the  deserted  apartments,  and  ivy  creeps  along  the  walls ;  though  the 
rcniams  have  little  of  the  pictuiesqueness  of  decay. 


332 


NOTTINGHAMSHIRE   AND   LEICESTER- 
SHIRE. 

Nottingham  Castle. 

The  modern  building,  erected  scarcely  two  centuries  ago,  upon  the 
summit  of  an  almost  perpendicular  rock,  133  feet  high,  at  the  south- 
western extremity  of  the  town  of  Nottingham,  has  few  claims  upon  our 
attention ;  but  the  former  Castle,  although  little  more  than  a  bastion 
and  the  main  gateway  remain,  is  of  considerable  historic  interest.  When 
the  Danes  came  to  Nottingham,  in  the  year  852,  they  possessed  them- 
selves of  a  tower  on  this  rock,  where  they  resisted  the  efforts  of  Ethelred, 
King  of  the  West  Saxons,  and  Alfred  his  brother,  to  dislodge  them; 
and  it  was  only  by  a  blockade  that  they  could  be  compelled  to  make 
terms,  and  retire.  The  present  mansion  occupies  little  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  site  of  the  old  castle,  which  extended  northward  to  the 
verge  of  the  moat,  yet  to  be  traced.  In  1068  Nottingham  was  visited 
by  William  I.,  who  ordered  the  Castle  to  be  built:  of  it  William  of 
Newborough  says :  "  This  castle,  when  in  its  glory,  was  made  so  strong 
by  nature  and  art,  that  it  was  esteemed  impregnable  except  by  famine." 
It  was  never  taken  by  stoiTn,  and  but  once  by  surprise.  It  was  not, 
however,  erected  all  at  one  period.  "  The  most  beautiful  and  gallant 
part  for  lodging,"  observes  Leland,  "  is  on  the  north  side,  where  Ed- 
ward I Y.  began  a  right  sumptuous  piece  of  stonework,  which  was  finished 
by  Richard  III."  After  the  Conquest,  the  greater  part  of  the  country, 
together  with  the  Castle,  was  bestowed  by  William  I.  on  his  natural 
son,  William  Pevercll.  In  1153,  Nottingham  was  taken  by  Henry,  son 
of  the  Empress  Maud,  but  the  garrison  retired  from  the  town  to  the 
Castle,  and  set  fire  to  the  place.  In  1194,  Nottingham  Castle,  after  a 
siege  of  several  days,  was  taken  by  Richard  I.  from  the  adherents  of  his 
rebellious  brother,  John  Earl  of  Mortaigne  (afterwards  King  of  Eng- 
land), when  Richard  assembled  a  parliament  here,  and  deprived  John  of 
his  earldom  ;  but  on  his  submission,  he  was  restored  to  his  rank.  In 
1212,  to  Nottingham  John  retired,  and  shut  himself  up  in  the  Castle, 
guarded  only  by  the  inhabitants  and  some  foreign  archers,  having  die- 
banded  his  army  from  distrust  of  the  fidelity  of  his  officers. 

The  old  Castle  must  have  frowned  with  unusual  gloominess  when 
Isabella,  Queen  of  Edward  II.,  and  her  unprincipled  paramour,  Mor- 


Nottingham  Castle.  333 

timer,  took  up  their  abode  in  it.  The  Queen  had  rebelled  against  and 
deposed  her  husband.  Mortimer  had  accomplished  his  death.  The 
frail  princess  had  recently  elevated  Mortimer  to  the  Earldom  of  March. 
His  encroaching  arrogance  was  awakening  in  the  minds  of  the  barons  a 
determination  to  curb  his  insolence  and  overgrown  power.  The  spirit 
of  revenge  was  still  further  excited  by  the  execution  of  the  King's  uncle, 
the  Earl  of  Kent,  who  appears  to  have  been  slain  merely  to  show  that 
there  were  none  too  high  to  be  smitten  down  if  he  dared  to  make  him- 
self obnoxious  to  the  profligate  rulers.  The  young  King,  now  in  his 
eighteenth  year,  was  growing  impatient  of  the  yoke  which  Mortimer,  as 
regent,  had  imposed  on  his  authority.  At  length  he  was  brought  to 
see  his  own  danger — to  look  upon  Moitimer  as  the  murderer  of  his 
father  and  uncle,  and  the  man  who  was  bringing  dishonour  to  himself 
and  the  nation  by  an  illicit  connexion  with  his  royal  mother.  A  parlia- 
ment was  summoned  to  meet  at  Nottingham  about  Midsummer,  1330. 
The  Castle  was  occupied  by  the  Dowager  Queen  and  the  Earl  of  March, 
attended  by  a  guard  of  one  hundred  and  eight  knights,  with  their  fol- 
lowers; while  the  King,  with  his  Queen,  Philippa,  and  a  small  retinue, 
took  up  their  abode  in  the  town.  The  number  of  their  attendants, 
and  the  jealous  care  with  which  the  Castle  was  guarded,  implied  sus- 
picion in  the  minds  of  the  guilty  pair.  Every  night,  the  gates  of  the 
fortress  were  locked  and  the  keys  delivered  to  the  Queen,  who  slept 
with  them  under  her  pillow.  But  with  all  their  precautions,  justice 
was  more  than  a  match  for  their  villany.  Sir  William  Montacute, 
under  the  sanction  of  his  sovereign,  summoned  to  his  aid  several  nobles, 
on  whose  loyalty  and  good  faith  he  could  depend,  and  obtained  the 
King's  waiTant  for  the  apprehension  of  the  Earl  of  March  and  others. 
The  plot  was  now  ripe  for  execution.  For  a  time,  however,  the  in- 
accessible nature  of  the  Castle  rock,  and  the  vigilance  with  which  the 
passes  were  guarded,  appeared  to  be  insuperable.  Could  Sir  William 
Eland,  the  Governor  of  the  Castle,  be  won  over,  and  induced  to  betray 
the  fortress  into  their  hands?  Sir  William  joyfully  fell  in  with  the 
experiment. 

Evcrj'thing  being  arranged,  on  the  night  of  Friday,  October  19th, 
1380,  Edward  and  his  loyal  associates  were  conducted  by  Sir  William 
Eland  through  a  secret  passage  in  the  rock  to  the  interior  of  the  Castle. 
Proceeding  at  once  to  a  Chamber  adjoining  the  Queen's  apartment, 
they  found  the  object  of  their  search  in  close  consultation  with  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  and  others  of  his  party.  The  Earl  of  March  was 
seized;  Sir  Hugh  Turp'inton  and  Sir  John  Monmouth,  two  of  his 
State  guards,  were  slain  in  attempting  to  rescue  him  from  tlie  King's 


334  Nottingham  Castle. 

associates;  and  the  Queen,  hearing  the  tumult,  and  suspecting  the 
cause,  rushed  into  the  room  in  an  agony  of  terror,  exclaiming,  "  Fair 
son,  fair  son,  have  pity  on  the  gentle  Mortimer  !"  Notwithstanding  the 
cries  and  entreaties  of  the  weeping  Isabella,  her  beloved  Earl  was  torn 
fi'om  her  presence,  and  hurried  down  the  secret  passage  by  which  his 
captors  entered,  and  which  has  ever  since  been  designated  Mortimer  s 
Hole.  It  still  exists  on  the  south-east  side  of  the  sandstone  rock  ;  it 
ascends  from  a  place  called  Brewhouse  Yard,  and  comes  out  above  in 
the  yard  of  the  Castle.  The  lower  part  is  now  blocked  up,  but 
visitors  may  descend  from  the  top. 

With  so  much  secrecy  and  despatch  was  this  stratagem  executed  that 
the  guai'ds  on  the  ramparts  of  the  castle  were  not  disturbed,  and  the 
people  of  Nottingham  knew  nothing  of  the  enterprise  till  the  following 
day,  when  the  arrest  of  Mortimer  and  several  of  his  adherents  by  the 
Royalists  indicated  that  the  luxurious  and  profligate  usurpation  of  the 
Earl  of  March  was  at  an  end. 

Mortimer  was  conveyed  by  a  strong  guard  to  the  Tower  of  London. 
Edward  repaired  to  Leicester,  where  he  issued  writs  for  the  assembling 
of  a  new  Parliament  at  Westminster,  at  which  Mortimer  was  im- 
peached, and  convicted  of  high  treason  and  other  crimes.  No  proof  in 
evidence  of  his  guilt  was  heard,  and  he  was  condemned  to  die  as  a 
traitor,  by  being  drawn  and  hanged  on  the  common  gallows — a  sentence 
which  was  executed  at  "  the  Elms,"  in  Smithfield,  on  November  29, 
1330.  By  some  he  is  stated  to  have  been  executed  at  Tyburn ;  but 
Howes  describes  it  as  "a  place  anciently  called  the  Elmes, of  elmes  that 
grew  there,  where  Mortimer  was  executed,  and  let  hang  two  days  and 
nights,  to  be  seene  of  the  people."  His  body  was  buried  in  the  castle 
of  Ludlow,  in  a  chapel  which  he  had  erected,  and  dedicated  to  St. 
Peter  ad  Vincula,  to  commemorate  his  own  escape  from  the  Tower  in 
the  time  of  Edw?rd  II.  A  Parliament  was  subsequently  held  at 
Nottingham,  which  deprived  the  Queen  of  her  dowry,  and  granted  her 
1000/.  a  year  for  life. 

The  Castle  of  Nottingham  was  given  by  James  I.  to  Francis,  Earl  of 
Rutland,  who  pulled  down  many  of  the  buildings,  and  sold  the  materials. 
But  at  the  commencement  of  the  Parliamentary  war  it  was  still  con- 
sidered a  place  of  strength.  Here  Charles  I.  set  up  his  standard  with 
great  ceremony.  Shortly  after  this,  Nottingham  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  Parliament,  and  continued  to  the  end  of  the  war ;  and  when 
Colonel  Hutchinson,  its  last  governor,  became  jealous  of  Cromwell's  in- 
tention to  make  himself  King,  he  employed  Captain  Paulton  to 
demolish  it ;  for  which,  it  is  said,  Cromwell  never  forgave  the  Colonel 


Clare  Palace,  tlie  Holies  Family,  &c.  335 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  existing  remains.  About  forty  years 
ago  a  stone  staircase  below  the  present  wall,  on  the  north  side, 
was  discovered,  to  which  the  name  of  "  King  Richard's  Steps"  has 
been  given. 

Nottingham  Castle  has  in  all  ages  been  the  strongest  place  in  the 
Midland  Counties,  and  it  was  the  bulwark  of  the  Crown  in  every  case 
of  emergency.  Here,  in  1386,  Richard  II.  assembled  the  sheriffs  and 
judges,  and  ordered  the  former  to  raise  troops  against  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester  and  the  associated  Barons,  and  to  permit  no  members  to  be 
chosen  for  the  ensuing  Parliament  but  such  as  were  contained  in  the 
list  which  he  would  deliver  to  them.  But  the  Sheriffs  declared  their 
inability  to  raise  men  against  the  Barons,  who  were  very  popular ;  and 
that  the  people  would  not  submit  to  dictation  in  tlie  choice  of  their  Re- 
presentatives. The  Judges,  however,  were  less  patriotic,  and  pro- 
nounced that  the  King  was  above  the  Law.  In  1460,  at  Nottingham, 
Edward  IV.  proclaimed  himself  King,  and  had  a  rendezvous  of  his 
troops.  In  1485,  from  Nottingham,  where  he  had  assembled  his  forces, 
Richard  III.  marched  to  the  fatal  battle  of  Bosworth  Field. 

The  present  "  Castle"  has  nothing  castellated  in  its  architecture ;  it  is 
a  large  building,  classically  embellished.  An  equestrian  statue  of  the 
founder,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  in  1680-88,  cut  out  of  one  block  of 
stone,  and  brought  from  Castle  Donington,  in  Leicestershire,  is  placed 
in  front  of  the  mansion.  In  1808  it  was  completely  repaiied  ;  but  it 
was  nearly  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  Reform  Bill  riots  of  183 1. 


Clare  Palace,  the  Holies  Family,  and  the 
House  of  Clare. 

Sir  William  Holies,  the  ancestor  of  the  E^rls  of  Clare,  was  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  in  the  31st  year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  two 
years  after  which  he  died.  He  married  Eli/^beth,  daughter  of  John 
Scopeham.  By  her  he  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter.  Thomas,  the 
eldest,  was  a  son  of  misfortune,  and  by  his  lavishncss  and  improvidence 
the  ruin  of  both  himself  and  his  posterity.  His  father  left  him  a  very 
fair  estate,  yet  he  lived  to  spend  it  all,  and  die  in  prison.  His  taking  a 
wife  from  Court  was  part  of  his  undoing  (slips  transplanted  from  that 
soil  for  tlie  most  part  make  but  ill  proof  in  the  country.)  Gcrvase 
Holies,  in  his  entertaining  Anecdotes  of  his  Family,  says:  "I  have 
heard  it    by  tradition,  that    he  was  present    at    the  coronation   of 


33^  Clare  Palace,  the  Holies  Family,  &c. 

Edward  VI.,  with  a  retinue  of  threescore  and  ten  followers.  This 
specious  port  he  kept  so  long  as  he  was  able,  and  like  a  well-spread 
oak,  carried  a  great  sh.ade  even  when  spent  to  the  heart."  His  son, 
W^illiam,  left  a  grandson,  Francis,  who  losing  both  father  and  mother 
when  a  boy,  was  exposed  to  the  most  wretched  condition  till  the  Earl 
of  Clare  took  notice  of  him.  "  We  shall  hardly  find  in  any  family  a 
greater  example  of  fortune's  mutability.  For  the  great-grandfather  of 
this  poor  boy  had  a  revenue  from  his  father  at  this  day  worth  at  the 
least  10,000/.  per  annum,  and  had  been  sometimes  followed  by  a  train 
of  threescore  and  ten  sei-vants  of  his  own. 

"  However,  Sir  William  Holies  (the  Lord  Mayor),  like  a  wise 
merchant,  did  not  adventure  all  his  stock  in  one  bottom,  nor  entrusted 
the  prosperity  of  his  posterity  to  the  management  of  an  eldest  son  only. 
He  left  to  his  son  A\'illiam  the  manor  of  Haughton,  with  other  large 
estates  in  the  counties  of  Nottingham,  Lincoln,  and  Middlesex.  This 
Sir  William  was  born  in  London  early  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VHL  He 
married  Anne,  eldest  daughter  and  coheir  of  John  Densell,  of  Densell, 
in  Cornwall. 

"  After  his  father's  decease  he  seated  himself  at  Haughton,  choosing 
that,  amongst  all  those  other  manors  of  that  opulent  inheritance  his 
father  left  him,  to  plant  his  habitation  in.  A  seat  both  pleasant  and 
commodious,  lying  between  the  Forest  and  the  Clay,  and  partaking 
both  of  the  sweet  and  wholesome  air  of  the  one,  and  of  the  fertility  of  the 
other,  having  the  river  Idle  running  through  it  by  several  cuts  in  several 
places. 

"  He  affected  to  be  honoured  and  loved  amongst  his  neighbours, 
which  he  attained  to  beyond  other  his  concuirents,  by  his  honesty, 
humanity,  and  hospitality.  It  was  even  to  a  wonder,  and  he  was  usually 
styled  the  good  Sir  William  Holies.  He  was  the  wonder  of  the 
country  for  a  settled  house  and  constant  hospitality.  The  proportion 
he  allowed  during  the  twelve  days  of  Christmas  was  a  fat  ox  everyday, 
with  sheep  and  other  provision  answerable.  Besides  it  was  certain  with 
him  never  to  sit  down  to  dinner  till  after  one  of  the  clock  ;  and  being 
asked  why  he  always  dined  so  late,  he  answered,  '  For  aught  he  knew, 
there  might  be  a  friend  come  twenty  miles  to  dine  with  him,  and  he 
would  be  loth  he  should  lose  his  labour.' "  He  died  at  Houghton,  in 
1590,  in  his  85th  year. 

"  He  was  of  low  stature,  but  of  a  strong  and  healthful  constitution, 
so  that  even  to  his  last  he  little  felt  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  but  usually 
every  day,  even  to  his  last  sickness,  walked  on  foot  for  his  exercise  round 
about  his  Park  at  Houghton,  which  was  between  two  and  three  miles. 


Newark  Castle.  337 

His  countenance  was  grave  and  comely,  and  his  complexion  ruddy  and 
pure. 

"  His  retinue  was  always  answerable  to  his  hospitality,  very  great,  and 
according  to  the  magnificence  of  those  days,  far  more  than  was  neces- 
ary.  At  the  coronation  of  Edward  VI.,  he  appeared  with  fifty  fol- 
lowers in  their  blue  coats  and  badges ;  and  I  have  heard  divers  affirm 
that  knew  him,  how  he  would  not  come  to  Retford  Sessions,  but  four 
miles  from  his  home,  without  thirty  proper  fellows  at  his  heels."  Of  his 
two  sons.  Sir  Gervase,  the  younger,  was  grandfather  of  the  writer  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  these  entertaining  anecdotes  of  his  family. 
His  eldest  son,  John  Holies,  was  created  Baron  Houghton,  of  Houghton, 
in  the  14th  year  of  James  I.,  and,  in  the  22nd  year,  Earl  of  Clare. 
"  For  his  peerage  he  paid  the  favourite  Duke  of  Buckingham  lo.coo/. 
sterling.  For  at  the  entrance  of  King  James,  the  sale  of  honours  was 
become  a  trade  at  court;  and  whilst  the  Duke  lived,  scarce  any  man 
acquired  any  honour  but  such  as  were  either  his  kindred,  or  had  the 
fortune  (or  misfortune)  to  marry  his  kindred  or  mistresses,  or  paid  a 
round  sum  of  money  for  it. 

"  He  was  not  a  favourite  at  court,  and  the  reason  being  asked,  some- 
body said  it  was  plain — '  for  two  sorts  of  men  King  James  had  never 
kindness,  those  whose  hawks  and  dogs  run  as  well  as  his  own,  and 
those  who  were  able  to  speak  as  much  reason  as  h'mself.' 

"  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  however,  expressed  a  great  love  for  him, 
and  once  took  a  progress  to  his  house  at  Houghton,  where  the  Prince 
continued  with  him  many  days,  and  found  an  entertainment  answerable 
to  his  greatness.  He  was  afterwards  under  a  cloud  at  court,  and  for  a 
long  time  estranged  himself  from  it,  and  lived  for  the  most  part  at 
Houghton,  and  at  his  home  at  Nottingham,  cherishing  more  quiet  and 
contented  thoughts  in  a  retired  life."  He  died  at  Clare  Palace,  Not- 
tingham, in  1637,  aged  73. 

Newark  Castle. 

The  town  of  Newark-upon -Trent  is  conjectured  by  some  antiquaries 
to  have  been  Roman,  by  others  Saxon ;  but  the  first  undoubted 
mention  of  it  is  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  It  had  a  noble 
Castle,  which  overlooked  the  river,  and  was  built  in  the  reign  of  King 
Stephen  by  Alexander,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  from  whom  it  was  taken  by 
the  King.  In  the  time  of  King  John  it  was  besieged  by  the  Barons  in 
the  interest  of  Louis  the  Dauphin.  John,  coming  to  its  relief,  died  at 
Newark,   a.d.   i2i6j  though  S!  akspeare  makes  the  the  scene  of  his 


338  Newark  Castle. 

death  in  "  the  Orchard  of  Swinstead  Abbey."  On  the  conclusion  of 
the  treaty  between  Henry  III.  (son  and  successor  of  John)  and  the 
Dauphin,  some  of  the  English  adherents  of  the  latter,  fearing  punish- 
ment, seized  the  Castle  of  Newark,  where  they  were  besieged  by  the 
King's  guardian,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  and  obliged  to  surrender.  The 
Castle  was  subsequently  restored  to  the  See  of  Lincoln,  and  with  the 
exception  of  a  short  interval  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  appears  to 
have  continued  in  its  possession  until  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  It  was 
at  East  Stoke,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Trent,  near  Newark,  that  in  the 
rebellion  of  Lambert  Simnel,  a.d.  1487,  the  forces  of  that  pretender, 
consisting  of  2000  German  veterans,  under  Martin  Swart,  an  ex- 
perienced officer,  and  about  6000  half-armed  Irishmen,  were  en- 
countered by  the  Royal  army  under  Henry  VII.  in  person.  The 
rebels  were  defeated ;  half  of  them  were  slain,  including  their  leader, 
the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  and  Swart.  Simnel  was  taken  prisoner ;  and  Lord 
Lovell,  another  leader,  escaped  from  the  fray,  but  was  either  drowned 
in  his  flight  across  the  Trent,  or  was  compelled  to  conceal  himself  for  the 
rest  of  his  days. 

Cardinal  Wolsey  lodged  at  the  Castle  with  a  great  retinue  on  his 
way  to  Southwell,  in  1530.  James  I.  arrived  here  on  his  way  to 
London,  in  1602 ;  and  on  his  midland  progress  always  stayed  a  night 
or  two  at  the  Castle.  Newark,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  was  one  of 
the  most  considerable  garrisons  the  King  had,  and  sustained  three  sieges ; 
the  garrison  was  from  4000  to  5000  foot,  and  above  500  horse,  and 
there  were  plenty  of  cannon  on  the  walls.  In  1642,  the  Newark  troops, 
600  in  number,  under  the  command  of  Sir  Richard  Byron,  effected  an 
entrance  into  Nottingham  (Parliamentaiians),  and  during  five  days  lived 
upon  free  quarters,  and  were  then  obliged  to  retreat.  Next  year,  the 
Newarkers  endeavoured  to  gain  possession  of  Nottingham  Castle,  but 
being  overwhelmed  by  numbers,  were  obliged  to  evacuate  the  town. 
After  Charles's  defeat  at  Naseby,  he  marched  from  Newark  to  Oxford, 
but  was  again  at  Newark  in  the  same  year ;  and  it  was  there  that  he 
was  deserted  by  his  nephews,  Rupert  and  Maurice,  and  by  several  of 
his  officers.  The  King  then  being  pressed  by  the  approach  of  the  Scots 
and  Parliamentarians,  again  withdrew  to  Oxford.  Newark  was  forthwith 
besieged  by  the  Scots ;  and  in  May,  1646,  the  King  surrendered  him- 
self at  Southwell  to  the  Scotch  Commissioners,  by  whom  he  was  con- 
ducted to  the  besiegers'  quarters.  The  day  after  his  arrival,  Newark 
was  delivered  up  by  his  orders ;  and  the  fortifications  were  next  de- 
molished by  the  Parliament.  There  are  but  few  vestiges  of  the  lines  and 
forts  now  observable,  although  they  were  two  miles  and  a  quarter  long. 


Newstcad  Ahbe}>,  and  Lord  Byron.  339 

The  ancient  Castle  of  Newark  stood  near  the  bank  of  the  river ; 
though  now  an  irreparable  ruin,  it  still  presents  a  noble  appear- 
ance. Within  the  exterior  walls  nothing  remains,  but  the  vestiges  of 
the  great  hall  show  that  it  was  built  in  later  times  than  that  assigned  to 
the  foundation  of  the  fortress.  Under  the  hall  is  a  crypt,  with  loop- 
holes towards  the  river ;  and  there  is  a  flight  of  winding  steps  from  the 
crypt  upwards.  The  south-western  angle  of  the  fortress,  the  western 
wall,  washed  by  the  river,  a  considerable  part  of  the  tower  at  the  north- 
western angle,  and  parts  of  the  north  side  of  the  building,  remain.  The 
westem  wall  exhibits  three  distinct  stories,  or  tiers  of  apartments.  The 
architecture  varies  with  the  period  of  erection  of  the  various  parts : 
some  of  it  is  Norman,  but  other  portions  were  probably  erected  just 
before  the  Civil  \^'ars  of  Charles  I.  Part  of  the  inner  area  of  the 
Castle  is  used  as  a  bowling-green,  and  the  remaining  portion  has  been 
converted  into  a  large  and  commodious  cattle-market. 

Newark  Church  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  elegant  in  the  kingdom ; 
it  was  in  great  part  rebuilt,  it  is  said,  by  Adam  Flemyng,  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VI.  and  Henry  VII.;  but  there  are  in  it  some  remains  of  a 
previous  edifice  of  NoiTnan  character.  The  height  to  the  summit  of 
the  steeple  is  240  feet.  There  are  likewise  in  Newark  some  walls  of  an 
ancient  Augustine  Priory,  and  a  Chapel  of  an  ancient  Hospital  of  the 
Knights  Templars.  In  the  town  of  Newark,  also,  is  "  Beaumont's 
Cross,"  so  called  from  tradition  assigning  to  it  the  tribute  of  a  Duchess 
of  Norfolk  to  the  memory  of  Lord  Beaumont,  who  died  northward  of 
Newark,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.,  and  was  can-icd  for  interment  to 
the  burial-place  of  his  family  in  Suffolk.  The  Cross  is  in  the  latest 
Gothic  style.  It  was  repaired,  says  the  inscription,  in  1778,  and  again 
in  1801. 


Nevvstead  Abbey,  and  Lord  Byron. 

Of  the  monastic  ruins  of  Nottinghamshire,  the  most  beautiful  is 
New  stead,  or  New  Place,  formerly  a  Priory  of  Black  or  Austin 
Canons,  foundt-d  about  A.D.  11 70,  by  Henry  II.,  who  endowed  it  with 
the  church  and  town  of  Papclwick,  together  with  large  wastes  about  the 
monastery,  within  the  forest  [of  Sherwood],  a  park  of  ten  acres,  &c., 
lying  at  a  sfiort  distance  from  the  town  of  Mansfield.*     At  the  Disso- 


i   >..is  the  freqii-'   -    •  ' -''  our  early  N\.iiii.i..  iv4..^-,    .Wio 

ch.isc  in  the  bi;  'f  Slicrwood.      '1  he  celebrated 

ic  King  and  the  .  id  is  tlic  bubjccl  of  at  least  two 

Z  2 


340  New  stead  A  bbey,  and  Lord  Byron. 

lution  Newstcad  came  into  the  possession  of  the  noble  family  of  the 
Byrons,  who  deduce  from  the  Conquest;  and  at  the  time  of  the 
Survey  held  divers  manors  in  Nottinghamshire  and  Derbyshire,  the 
cl.ief  seat  of  the  early  Byrons  being  Horistan  Castle,  in  the  latter 
county.  In  1540,  Sir  John  Byron,  Knt.,  had  a  grant  of  "the 
Priory  of  Newstade,  with  the  manor  of  Papelwick,  a  rectory  of  the 
same,  with  all  the  closes  about  the  Priory,  &c."  A  portion  of  the 
monastic  buildings  was  fitted  up  as  a  residence  by  Sir  John  Byron,  but 
the  church  was  allowed  to  go  to  decay.  Its  front  is  an  exceedingly 
beautiful  specimen  of  Early  English,  scarcely  equalled  by  any  othiv 
specimen  in  elegance  of  composition  and  delicacy  of  execution.  The 
south  aisle  of  the  church  was  incorporated  with  the  mansion  which  Sir 
John  built,  while  the  western  front  was  suffered  to  remain  a  picturesque 
ruin.  The  Abbey  is  said  to  have  been  preserved  till  our  time,  and 
several  conveniences  which  belonged  to  its  pious  owners,  continued  in 
their  original  situation,  and  were  yet  in  use.  The  illustrious  poet.  Lord 
Byron,  who  from  his  mother  claimed  descent  from  the  royal  House  of 
Stuart,  succeeded  to  Newstead  at  the  age  of  six  years.  Here  he  passed 
the  happiest  hours  of  his  life.  When  he  was  quite  a  child  he  was  an 
adept  at  swimming  and  rowing. 

In  some  lines,  "  On  leaving  Newstead  Abbey,"  written  in  1803,  the 
leading  events  in  the  lives  of  the  Poet's  ancestors  are  glanced  at : — 

"  Through  thy  battlements,  Newstead,  the  hollow  winds  whistle ; 
Thou,  the  hall  of  my  fathers,  art  gone  to  decay ; 
In  thy  once  smiling  garden,  the  hemlock  and  thistle 
Have  choked  up  the  rose  which  late  bloom'd  in  the  way. 

"  Of  the  mail-cover'd  Barons,  who  proudly  to  battle 
Led  their  vassals  from  Europe  to  Palestine's  plain, 
The  escutcheon  and  shield,  which  with  every  blast  rattle, 
Are  the  only  sad  vestiges  now  that  remain. 

••  No  more  doth  old  Robert,  with  harp-stringing  numbers, 
Raise  a  flame  in  the  breast  for  the  war-laurelled  wreath ; 
Near  Askalon's  towers,  John  of  Horistan  slumbers, 
Unnerved  is  the  hand  of  his  minstrel  by  death. 

"  Paul  and  Hubert,  too,  sleep  in  the  valley  of  Cressy ; 
For  the  safety  of  Edward  and  England  they  fell : 
My  fathers  !  the  tears  of  your  country  redress  ye  ; 
How  you  fought,  how  you  died,  still  her  annals  can  telL 


dramatic  entertainments.  It  is  said  to  refer  to  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  and  that 
Sir  John  Cockle  was  the  miller.  The  mill  is  five  or  six  miles  from  Mansfield, 
of  which  place  Dodsley,  the  bookseller,  who  emerged  from  the  servants'  hall, 
was  a  native. 


Newstead  A  bbey,  and  Lord  Byron.  341 

*•  On  ^farston,  with  Rupert,  'gainst  traitors  contending. 

Four  brothers  enriched  with  their  blood  the  bleak  field  ; 
For  the  rights  of  a  monarch  their  country  defending, 
Till  death  their  attachment  to  royalty  seal'd." 

In  "  An  Elegy  on  Newstead  Abbey,''  written  in  1806 : 

"  New-stead  !  fast  falling,  once  resplendent  domet 
Religion's  shrine !  repentant  Henry's  pride ! 
Of  warriors,  monks,  and  dames  the  cloisterd  tomb, 
Whose  pensive  shades  around  thy  ruins  glide. 

"  Hail  to  thy  pile,  more  honour'd  in  thy  fall 

Than  modem  mansions  in  their  pillar'd  state; 
Proudly  majestic  frowns  thy  vaulted  hall, 
Scowling  defiance  on  the  blasts  of  fate. 

"  No  mail-clad  serfs,  obedient  to  their  lord. 
In  grim  array  the  crimson  cross  demand ; 
Or  gay  assemble  round  the  festive  board 
Their  chief's  retainers,  an  immortal  band. 

"  H'   •  might  inspiring  Fancy's  magic  eye 

''   'race  their  progress  through  the  lapse  of  time, 
M,  iKing  each  ardent  youth,  ordained  to  die, 
A  votive  pilgrim  to  Judea's  clime. 

"  But  not  from  thee,  dark  pile  !  departs  the  chief ; 
His  feudal  realm  in  other  regions  lay  ; 
In  thee  the  wounded  conscience  courts  relief. 
Retiring  from  the  garish  blaze  of  day. 

"  Yes,  in  thy  gloomy  cells  and  shades  profound 
The  monk  abjur'd  a  world  he  ne'er  could  view ; 
Or  blood-stain'd  guilt  repenting  solace  found. 
Or  innocence  from  stem  oppression  flew. 

"  A  monarch  bade  thee  from  that  w^ild  arise 

\\'I.  'is  outlaws  once  were  wont  to  prowl ; 

Anil-  crimes  of  various  dyes, 

bou^ II  the  priest's  protecting  cowl. 


"  ^  ;  to  ages,  ages  yield  ; 

-,  in  a  line,  succei-d  : 

I: — .  ilieir  protecting  shield, 

'i  lii  royal  sacrilege  their  doom  decreed, 

«•  0--  '    '    " '  •  •'(".'• 

A:  .  , 

Aiid  b,d^  dcvutioii^  hiiiluw  d  cchucs  cease." 

The  interest  of  the  old  place  culminates  in  the  possession  of  Lord 
B)Ton,  and  Colonel  Wildman  to  whom  his  Lordship  sold  the  estate. 
The  embellishments  which  the  Abbey  had  received  from  the  pcx?t-lord 
had  more  of  the  brilliant  conception  of  the  poet  in  them  than  of  the 


342  Nccvstcad  A  bbcy,  and  Lord  Byron. 

sober  calculations  of  common  life.  In  many  rooms  which  he  bad 
superbly  furnished,  he  had  permitted  so  wretched  a  roof  to  remain, 
that  in  half  a  dozen  years  the  rain  had  visited  his  proudest  cham- 
bers, the  paper  had  rotted  on  the  walls,  and  fell  upon  glowing 
carpets  and  canopies,  upon  bedsteads  of  crimson  and  gold,  clogging 
the  wings  of  glittering  eagles,  and  dimming  gorgeous  coronets.  A 
tourist  who  visited  the  Abbey  soon  after  Lord  Byron  had  sold  it, 
thus  describes  the  interior : — 

"  The  long  and  gloomy  gallery,  which,  whoever  views,  will  be  strongly 
reminded  of  Lara,  as,  indeed,  a  survey  of  this  place  will  awaken  more 
than  one  scene  in  that  poem,  had  not  yet  relinquished  the  sombre  pic- 
tures 'of  its  ancient  race.'-  In  the  study,  which  is  a  small  chamber  over- 
looking the  garden,  the  books  were  packed  up,  but  there  remained  a 
sofa,  over  which  hung  a  sword  in  a  gilt  sheath ;  and  at  the  end  of  the 
room,  opposite  the  window,  stood  a  pair  of  light  fancy  stands,  each 
supporting  a  couple  of  the  most  perfect  and  finely  polished  skulls  I  ever 
saw,  most  probably  selected  along  with  the  far-famed  one  converted 
into  a  drinking-cup,  and  inscribed  with  some  well-known  lines,  from 
among  a  vast  number  taken  from  the  burial-ground  of  the  Abbey,  and 
piled  up  in  the  form  of  a  mausoleum,  but  re-committed  to  the  ground. 
Between  them  hinig  a  gilt  crucifix. 

"In  one  comer  of  the  servants'  hall  lay  a  stone  coffin,  on  which  were 
some  fencing-gloves  and  foils:  and  on  the  wall  of  the  ample  but  cheer- 
less kitchen,  was  painted  in  large  letters,  '  Waste  not,  want  not.' 


The  gardens  were  exactly  as  their  late  owner  described  them  in  his 
earliest  days.  With  the  exception  of  the  dog's  tomb — a  conspicuous 
and  elegant  object,  placed  on  an  ascent  of  several  steps,  crowned  with  a 
lambent  flame,  and  panelled  with  white  marble  tablets,  of  which  that 
containing  the  celebrated  epitaph  is  the  most  remarkable — I  do  not  recol- 
lect the  slightest  trace  of  culture  or  improvement.  The  late  Lord,  a 
stem  and  desperate  character,  who  is  never  mentioned  by  the  neighbour- 
ing peasants  without  a  significant  shake  of  the  head,  might  have  re- 
turned and  recognised  everything  about  him,  except  perhaps  an  addi- 
tional crop  of  weeds.  There  still  gloomily  slept  that  old  pond,  into 
which  he  is  said  to  have  hurled  his  lady  in  one  of  his  fits  of  fury,  whence 
she  was  rescued  by  the  gai-dencr,  a  courageous  blade,  who  was  the 
Lord's  master,  and  chastised  him  for  his  barbarity.  Here  still,  at  the 
end  of  the  garden,  in  a  grove  of  oak,  two  towering  satyrs,  he  with  his 
goat  and  club,  and  Mrs.  Satyr  with  her  chubby  cloven-footed  brat. 


Ncwstead  Abbey,  and  Lord  Byron,  343 

placed  on  pedestals  at  the  intersections  of  the  narrow  and  gloomy  path- 
ways, struck  for  a  moment,  with  their  grim  visages  and  shaggy  forms 
the  fear  into  your  bosom  which  is  felt  by  the  neighbouring  peasantry  at 
*  th'oud  laird's  devils.' 

"  In  the  lake  before  the  Abbey,  the  artificial  rock  which  he  constructed 
at  a  vast  expense,  still  reared  its  lofty  head ;  but  the  frigate  which  fulfilled 
old  Mother  Shipton's  prophecy,  by  sailing  over  dry  land  from  a  distant 
part  to  this  place,  had  long  vanished,  and  the  only  relics  of  his  naval 
whim  were  the  rock,  his  ship  buoys,  and  the  venerable  old  Murray,  who 
accompanied  me  round  the  premises.  The  dark,  haughty,  impetuous 
spirit  and  mad  deeds  of  this  Nobleman,  the  poet's  uncle,  I  feel  little 
doubt,  by  making  a  vivid  and  indelible  impression  on  his  youthful  fancy, 
furnished  some  of  the  principal  materials  for  the  formation  of  his  Lord- 
ship's favourite,  and  perpetually  recumng  practical  hero.  His  manners 
and  acts  are  the  theme  of  many  a  winter  evening  in  the  neighbourhood. 
In  a  quarrel  which  arose  out  of  a  dispute  between  their  gamekeepers,  he 
killed  his  neighbour,  Mr.  Chaworth,  the  lord  of  the  adjoining  manor. 
With  that  unhappy  deed,  however,  died  all  family  feud ;  and  if  we  are  to 
believe  our  noble  bard,  the  dearest  purpose  of  his  heart  would  have  been 
compassed  could  he  have  united  the  two  races  by  an  union  with  '  the 
sole  remnant  of  that  ancient  house,'  the  present  most  amiable  Mrs. 
Musters — the  Mary  of  his  poetry.  To  those  who  have  any  knowledge 
of  the  two  families,  nothing  is  more  perspicuous  in  his  lays  than  the  deep 
interest  with  which  he  has  again  and  again  turned  to  his  boyish,  his  first 
and  most  endearing  attachment.  '  The  Dream'  is  literally  their  mutual 
history,  and  the  scenery  of  Nevvstead  can  be  traced  in  the  poem.  The 
antique  oratorie,  where  stood — 

'  his  steed  caparisoned,  and  the  hill 
Crowned  with  a  peculiar  diadem 
Of  trees  in  circular  array,  so  fixed, 
Not  by  the  sport  of  nature,  but  of  man,' 

arc  pictures  too  well  known  to  those  who  have  seen  them  to  be  mis- 
taken for  a  moment." 

A  still  more  familiar  account  of  Newstead  appeared  in  the  autumn  of 
1828,  when  it  was  visited  by  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  in  his  Personal  Tour. 
"  Newstead,"  says  the  author,  "  like  most  ancient  erections,  is  situated 
in  a  valley,  and  was  screened  during  my  route,  by  some  fine  plantations. 
As  I  approached  it,  I  passed  the  fine  lake  of  thirty-six  acres,  on  which  Byron 
was  wont  to  sail ;  and  I  saw  on  it  three  pretty  pinnaces  at  anchor,  in  which 
the  present  proprietor  indulges  in  aquatic  excursions.  On  each  side  stand 
two  mock  forts,  castellated,  and  decorated  with  painted  guns,  the  fancy 


344  Newstead  Abbey,  and  Lord  Byron. 

of  the  former  lord,  the  great-uncle  of  the  poet.  I  had  seen  many  accu- 
rate views  of  Newstead,  but  my  approach  to  the  actual  building  brought 
before  me,  as  a  still  living  object,  Byron  and  his  eventful  history 

"  The  house,  as  it  now  exists,  proved  to  be  everything  that  could  de- 
light a  lover  of  Byron,  an  admirer  of  taste  and  elegance,  and  a  devotee 
of  antiquity,  in  close  association  with  our  national  history  and  ancient 
religion.  It  was  an  Abbey,  founded  by  Henry  II.,  as  one  of  many 
peace-ofFerings  to  the  enraged  church,  for  adding  a  martyr  to  its  calendar, 
by  the  sacrifice  of  the  imperious  and  wily  Beckct.  It  was  magnificently 
built  in  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  was  intended  in  its  structure  and  en- 
dowments to  prove  the  repentance  of  the  politic  king.  What  it  was, 
thanks  to  Colonel  Wildman,  it  still  is ;  and  in  Newstead  we  behold  a 
veritable  Abbey  of  the  twelfth  century,  nearly  as  it  was  600  years  ago. 

"  Colonel  Wildman  was  a  schoolfellow  on  the  same  form  as  Lord 
Byron,  at  Harrow  school.  In  adolescence  they  were  separated  at  col- 
lege, and  in  manhood  by  their  pursuits  ;  but  they  lived  in  friendship. 
If  Lord  Byron  was  constrained  by  circumstances  to  allow  Newstead  to 
be  sold,  the  fittest  person  living  to  become  its  proprietor  was  his  friend. 
Colonel  Wildman.  He  was  not  a  cold  and  formal  purchaser  of  New- 
stead, but,  animated  even  with  the  feelings  of  Byron,  he  took  possession 
of  it  as  a  place  consecrated  by  many  circumstances  of  times  and  persons, 
and  above  all,  by  the  attachment  of  his  friend,  Byron.  The  high-spirited 
poet,  however,  ill  brooked  the  necessity  of  selling  an  estate  entailed  in  his 
family  since  the  Reformation  (but  lost  to  him  and  the  family  by  the 
improvidence  of  a  predecessor),  and  retiring  into  Tuscany,  there  in- 
dulged in  those  splenetic  feelings  which  mark  his  later  writings.  His 
marriage  had  been  engaged  in  as  a  prudent  settlement  for  life  ;  but  the 
hauteur  of  his  own  principles,  and  the  scrupulosity  of  those  of  his  lady,  led 
to  difference  and  to  separation.  This  domestic  discord  being  grossly 
discussed  by  public  writers,  added  gloomy  feelings  to  his  natural  im- 
petuosity, and  conspired  to  render  his  own  country  disagreeable. 

"  The  domain  of  Newstead  is  nearly  4000  acres,  in  the  middle  of 
which  stands  the  house,  commanding  a  partial  view  of  the  whole.  It  is 
a  large  but  irregular  structure,  and  the  cloisters,  which  are  quite  per- 
fect, stand  nearly  in  the  middle.  No  part  is  destroyed  except  the  Abbey- 
church  ;  but  its  western  front  is  standing,  and  ranges  with  the  front  of 
the  house.  Over  the  cloisters  is  a  range  of  corridors  or  galleries,  which 
connect  all  the  rooms  of  the  house,  and  give  it  an  ancient  air.  The 
principal  front  is  southward,  and  the  upper  floor  consists  of  a  drawing- 
room  24  ^ards  long,  with  a  Gothic  roof,  and  plaster  compartments, 
finished  in  1633,  by  early  Italian  artists.     The  floor  beneath  is  a  mag- 


Nezustead  Abbey,  and  Lord  Byron.  345 

nificent  dining-hall,  furnished  in  the  olden  style;  the  pictures  are  chiefly 
portraits.  There  are  some  full  suits  of  armour  in  the  corridors,  and 
some  trophies  from  Waterloo  in  the  drawing-room.  In  one  of  the 
cloisters  is  a  chapel,  the  windows  of  stained  glass  from  other  parts 
of  the  building  ;  and  beneath  Colonel  Wildman  has  prepared  a  vault 
for  himself  and  his  lady. 

"  The  arrangements  of  the  gardens  are  complete.  There  are  pleasure- 
grounds  of  five  or  six  acres,  formally  arranged  in  terraces  and  straight 
walks,  by  Le  Notre,  in  the  style  of  Hampton  Court  and  Vers:iilles. 
There  are,  also,  of  kitchen  gardens  three  acres ;  and  a  wilderness,  lawn, 
and  shrubbery  of  ten  or  twelve  acres  more.  The  whole  has  been  accu- 
rately pictured  by  Byron  himself,  in  the  thirteenth  canto  oi Don  Juan: 

"  To  Norman  Abbey  whirl'd  the  noble  pair, 

An  old,  old  monastery  once,  and  now 
Still  older  mansion,  —of  a  rich  and  rare 

Mixd  Gothic,  such  as  artists  all  allow 
Few  specimens  yet  left  us  can  compare 

Withal ;  it  lies  perhaps  a  little  low, 
Because  the  monks  prelerr'd  a  hill  behind, 
To  shelter  their  devotion  from  the  wind. 

"  It  stood  embosom 'd  in  a  happy  valley, 

Crownd  by  high  woodlands,  where  the  Druid  oak 

Stood  like  Caractacus  in  act  to  rally 

His  host,  with  broad  arms  'gainst  the  thunder-stroke  ; 

And  from  beneath  his  boughs  were  seen  to  sally 
The  dappled  foresters ;  as  day  awoke. 

The  branching  stag  swept  down  with  all  his  herd, 

To  quaff  a  brook  which  murmur'd  like  a  bird. 

"  Before  the  mansion  lay  a  lucid  lake, 

Broad  as  transparent,  deep,  and  freshly  fed 
By  a  river,  which  its  soften'd  way  did  take 

In  currents  through  the  calmer  water  spread 
Around  :  the  wildfowl  nestled  in  the  brake 

And  sedges,  brooding  in  tlicir  liquid  bed  ; 
The  woods  slojjed  downwards  to  its  brink,  and  stood 
With  their  green  faces  fix'd  upon  the  flood. 

"  Its  outlet  dash'd  into  a  deep  cascade. 

Sparkling  with  foam,  until  again  subsiding 
Its  shriller  echoes — like  an  infant  made 

Quiet — sank  into  softer  ripples,  gliding 
Into  a  rivulet  ;  and  thus  allay  d, 

Pursued  its  course,  now  gleaming,  and  now  hidings 
Its  windings  thnjugii  tlic  woods  ;  now  clear,  now  blue, 
Accordmg  as  the  skies  tlieir  shadows  threw. 

"  A  glorious  remnant  of  the  Gothic  pile 

(While  yet  the  cluirch  was  Rome's!  stood  half  apart 
In  n  grand  arch,  which  once  screen'd  many  an  aisle ; 
Tiiese  last  had  disappear' d — a  loss  to  art ; 


34(5  New  stead  A  bbey,  and  Lord  Byron. 

The  first  j'et  frown'd  superbly  o'er  the  soil, 

And  kindled  feelings  in  the  roughest  heart, 
Which  moum'd  the  power  of  time's  or  tempest's  march, 
In  gazing  on  that  venerable  arch. 

"  Within  a  niche,  nigh  to  its  pinnacle. 

Twelve  saints  had  once  stood  sanctified  in  stone  ; 

But  these  had  fallen,  not  when  the  friars  fell, 

But  in  the  war  which  struck  Charles  from  his  throne, 

When  each  house  was  a  fortalice — as  tell 
The  annals  of  full  many  a  line  undone — 

Tiie  gallant  cavaliers  who  fought  in  vain 

For  those  who  knew  not  to  resign  or  reign. 

"  But  in  a  higher  niche,  alone,  but  crown 'd. 
The  Virgin-Mother  of  the  God-born  child, 

With  her  son  in  her  blessed  arms,  look'd  round  ; 
Spared  by  some  chance  when  all  beside  was  spoil'd ; 

She  made  the  earth  below  seem  holy  ground, 
This  may  be  superstition,  weak  or  wild. 

But  even  the  faintest  relics  of  a  shrine 

Of  any  worship  wake  some  thoughts  divine. 

"  A  mighty  window,  hollow  in  the  centre. 

Shorn  of  its  glass  of  thousand  colourings, 
Thrcjugh  which  the  deepen'd  glories  once  could  enter. 

Streaming  from  off  the  sun  like  seraph's  wings. 
Now  yawns  all  desolate  :  now  loud,  now  fainter, 

The  gale  sweeps  through  its  fretwork,  and  oft  sings 
The  owl  his  anthem,  where  the  silenced  quire 
Lie  with  their  hallelujah  quench 'd  like  fire. 
•  *  •  *  * 

"  Amidst  the  court,  a  Gothic  fountain  play'd. 

Symmetrical,  but  deck'd  with  carvings  quaint — 
Strange  faces  like  to  men  in  masquerade. 

And  here  perhaps  a  monster,  there  a  saint ; 
The  spring  rush'd  through  grim  mouths  of  granite  made, 

And  sparkled  into  basins,  where  it  spent 
Its  little  torrent  in  a  thousand  bubbles. 
Like  man  s  vain  glory,  and  his  vainer  troubles. 

"  The  mansion's  self  was  vast  and  venerable, 
With  more  of  the  monastic  than  has  been 

Elsewhere  preserved  :  the  cloisters  still  were  stably 
The  cells  too,  and  refectory,  I  ween  : 

An  exquisite  small  chapel  had  been  able. 
Still  unimpaird  to  decorate  the  scene  ; 

Tlie  rest  had  been  reform'd,  replaced,  or  sunk, 

And  spoke  more  of  the  baron  than  the  monk. 

"  Huge  halls,  long  galleries,  spacious  chambers,  join'd 
By  no  quite  lawful  marriage  of  the  arts. 

Might  shock  a  connoisseur  ;  but  when  combined, 
Form'd  a  whole,  which,  irregular  in  parts. 

Yet  left  a  grand  impression  on  the  mind. 
At  least  of  those  whose  eyes  are  in  their  hearts : 

We  gaze  upon  a  giant  for  his  stature. 

Nor  judge  at  first  if  all  be  true  to  nature." 


Ncwstcad  Abbey,  and  Lord  Byi'on.  347 

"  Than  this  description,"  writes  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  "  nothing  in 
plain  prose  can  be  more  precisely  detailed.  I  walked  through  and  around 
the  building,  luhb  tlx  poem  in  my  hand,  and  the  dullest  architect  or 
antiquary  could  not  be  more  correct,  whilst  the  spirit  of  the  lines  raised 
a  sort  of  halo  around  every  object.  Thanks  to  Colonel  Wildman,  he  is 
determined  that,  at  least  in  his  time,  the  description  of  the  poet  shall 
continue  to  accord  with  the  reality." 

"  Night  overtaking  me  at  Newstead,  the  splendid  hospitality  of 
Colonel  Wildman  was  kindly  exerted,  and  he  indulged  a  sentimental 
traveller  by  allowing  me  to  sleep  in  B\Ton*s  bed  and  Byron's  room. . . . 
The  bed  is  elegantly  surmounted  with  baronial  coronets,  but  it  was 

Byron's,  and  I  cared  nothing  for  the  coronets This  apartment  is 

remote  from  the  dormitories  of  the  femily,  and  the  ascent  to  it  is  by  a 
newel  stone  staircase.  A  stranger  to  personal  fear  and  superstition,  I 
enjoyed  my  berth,  neither  heard  nor  saw  anything,  nor  ever  slept  more 
soundly.  At  the  same  time  I  did  not  forget  the  following  lines  of  Byron, 
but  I  ascribed  his  phantasy  to  the  alliance  of  superstition  with  the  en- 
thusiasm which  directs  the  thoughts  and  faith  of  poets: — 

"  But  in  the  noontide  of  the  moon,  and  when 
The  wnd  is  winged  from  one  point  of  heaven 

There  moans  a  strange  unearthly  sound,  which  then 
Is  musical — a  dying  accent  driven 

Through  the  huge  arch,  which  soars  and  sinks  again; 
Some  deem  it  but  the  distant  echo  given 

Back  to  the  night-wind  by  the  waterfall. 

And  harmonized  by  the  old  choral  wall. 

"  Others,  that  some  original  shape  or  form. 

Shaped  by  decay  perchance,  hath  given  the  power 
(T'        '    '       tlian  that  of  Memnon's  statue,  warm 

rays,  to  harp  at  a  fix'd  hour) 
'1  .   ruin  with  a  voice  to  charm. 

S.id  but  bcrene,  it  sweeps  o'er  tree  or  tower  : 
The  cause  I  know  not,  nor  can  solve ;  but  such 
The  fact :  I've  heard  it — once  perhaps  too  much !" 

These  Nottinghamshire  woodlands  are  truly  charming.  But  the 
Abbey  itself  possesses  the  greatest  interest  for  the  visitor.  Every  piece 
of  furniture  in  what  was  Byron's  bedroom  remains  to  this  day  just  as 
the  poet  left  it.  There  is  the  bedstead,  with  gilded  coronets  ;  the  poet's 
well-loved  pictures  of  his  college  at  the  University,  the  portraits  of 
Murray,  his  valet,  and  the  noted  pugilist  "  Gentleman  Jackson  ;"  near 
an  oriel  window  are  his  writing-table,  inkstand,  and  other  relics,  all  en- 
chaining the  beholder  of  to-day  as  he  gazes  on  these  inanimate  memo- 
rials ot  the  past.  The  place  has  witnessed  stirring  events :  it  is  full  of 
old  memories.    You  can  imagine  the  cowled  monks  pacing  the  8had7 


34^  Newstead  Abbey,  and  Lord  Byron. 

walks  in  the  noonday  sun  ;  and  Byron  himself  must  have  strolled  about 
the  park  harflly  less  full  of  thought  than  his  monkish  predecessors. 

Lord  Byron  died  at  Missolonghi,  April  19th,  1824,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-seven  ;  and  his  body  was  brought  to  England  and  buried  in  the 
same  vault  as  his  daughter,  Lady  Lovelace,  in  Hucknall  village  church. 
A  slab  of  white  marble  on  the  south  wall  records  his  death,  and  there 
is  also  the  tom  and  faded  silken  escutcheon  which  bore  the  Byron 
arms. 

Among  the  traditional  memories  that  flit  about  Newstead,  it  used  to 
be  related  by  an  old  man,  long  resident  in  Hucknall,  that  the  Hon. 
William  Byron,  of  Badwell  Hall,  had  a  daughter,  who  clandestinely 
married  one  of  her  father's  dog-keepers ;  that  they  had  offspring  two 
sons,  and  a  daughter  named  Sophia.  The  family  being  obliged  to  quit 
the  neighbourhood  of  Badwell,  was  not  heard  of  for  many  years,  and 
the  singular  devotion  of  "the  White  Lady"  to  the  memory  of  Lord 
Byron  pretty  clearly  serves  to  solve  the  long  mystery.  She  left  an  im- 
pression in  the  romantic  neighbourhood  she  resided  in  ;  and  her  singu- 
larity will  not  soon  be  forgotten.  The  day  before  she  quitted  Hucknall 
she  copied  the  inscription  from  Lord  Byron's  tablet ;  took  off  her 
bonnet,  and  wiped  a  string  of  it  on  the  floor  of  the  vault ;  then  cut  a 
piece  away  carefully,  wrapped  it  in  pap)er,  and  put  it  into  her  pocket ; 
the  last  rhymes  she  wrote  strangely  foreboded,  in  their  closing  verse,  the 
melancholy  fate  which  was  shortly  to  befal  her : — 

"  But  'tis  past,  and  now  for  ever 
Fancy's  vision's  bliss  is  o'er  ; 
But  to  forget  thee,  Newstead— never, 
Though  I  shall  haunt  thy  shades  no  more." 

This  person,  Sophia  Hyatt,  was,  through  her  extreme  deafness,  run 
over  by  a  cart,  at  the  entrance  to  the  Maypole  Inn-yard,  Nottingham, 
on  the  28th  of  September,  1825,  and  unfortunately  killed.  She  had 
come  that  morning  in  a  chaise  from  Newstead,  Papplewick,  or  some- 
where in  that  neighbourhood.  She  had,  for  the  previous  thi-ee  or  four 
years,  lodged  in  one  of  the  farm-houses  belonging  to  Colonel  ^Vildman 
at  Newstead  Abbey.  No  one  knew  exactly  when  she  came,  or  what 
were  her  connexions.  Many  of  her  days  were  passed  in  rambling  about 
the  gardens  and  grounds  of  the  Abbey,  to  which,  by  the  kindness  of 
Colonel  Wildman,  she  had  free  access ;  her  dress  was  invariably  the 
same ;  and  she  was  known  by  the  servants  at  Newstead  as  "  the  AVhite 
Lady."  She  had  ingratiated  herself  by  regularly  feeding  the  Newfound- 
land dog,  which  was  brought  from  Greece  with  the  Lody  of  Lord 
Byron.    On  the  evening  before  the  accident  which  terminated  her  ex- 


Newstead  A bbey,  and  Lord  Byron.  3 49 

istence,  she  was  seen  to  cut  off  a  lock  of  the  dog's  hair,  which  she  care- 
fully placed  in  a  handkerchief.  On  that  same  evening  also,  she  delivered 
to  Mrs.  Wildnnan  a  sealed  packet,  with  a  request  that  it  might  not  be 
opened  till  the  following  morning.  The  contents  of  the  packet  were 
rhymes  in  manuscript,  written  during  her  solitary  walks,  and  all  of  them 
referring  to  the  poet  lord  of  Newstead.  A  letter  to  Mrs.  Wildman 
w^as  enclosed,  written  with  some  elegance  and  native  feeling :  it  described 
her  friendless  situation,  alluded  to  her  pecuniary  difficulties,  thanked 
the  family  for  their  kindness  to  her,  and  stated  the  necessity  she  was 
under  of  removing  for  a  short  period  from  Newstead.  It  appeared  from 
her  statement  that  she  had  connexions  in  America,  where  her  brother 
had  died,  leaving  a  widow  and  family ;  and  she  requested  Colonel 
Wildman  to  arrange  matters  in  which  she  was  concerned.  She  con- 
cluded with  declaring  that  her  only  happiness  in  the  world  consisted  in 
the  privilege  of  being  allowed  to  wander  through  the  domain  of  New- 
stead, and  to  identify  the  various  sites  commemorated  in  Lord  Byron's 
poetry.  A  most  kind  and  compassionate  note  was  conveyed  to  her 
immediately,  urging  her  either  to  give  up  her  journey,  or  to  return  to 
Newstead  as  quickly  as  possible.  We  have  stated  the  melancholy 
sequel.  Colonel  \Vildman  took  upon  himself  the  care  of  her  interment, 
in  the  churchyard  of  Hucknall,  as  near  as  possible  to  the  vault  which 
contains  the  body  of  Lord  Byron. 

The  neglect  and  decay  of  the  Newstead  Abbey  estate  has  been  visited 
with  severe  remarks  on  the  conduct  of  one  of  its  proprietors,  the 
great-uncle  and  predecessor  of  our  Poet.  Family  differences,  particu- 
larly during  the  time  of  the  fifth  Lord  Byron  (the  great-uncle),  of 
eccentric  and  unsocial  manners,  suffered  and  even  aided  the  dilapidations 
of  time.  The  castellated  stables  and  offices  were,  however,  spared. 
Mr.  Ashpitel  relates  that  "  The  state  of  Newstead  at  the  time  the  Poet 
succeeded  to  the  estate  is  not  generally  known  ;  the  wicked  Lord  had 
felled  all  the  noble  oaks,  destroyed  the  finest  herds  of  deer,  and,  in  short, 
had  denuded  the  estate  of  everything  he  could.  The  hirehngs  of  the 
attorney  did  the  rest ;  they  stripped  away  all  the  furniture,  and  every- 
thing the  law  would  permit  them  to  remove.  The  buildings  on  the 
east  side  were  unroofed ;  the  old  Xcnodochium,  and  the  grand  refec- 
tory, were  full  of  hay ;  and  the  entrance-hall  and  monks'  parlour  were 
stables  for  cattle.  In  the  only  habitable  part  of  the  building,  a  place 
then  used  as  a  sort  of  scullery,  under  the  only  roof  that  kept  out  the 
wet,  of  all  this  vast  pile,  the  fifth  Lord  Byron  breathed  his  last ;  and  to 
this  inheritance  the  Poet  succeeded."  A  Correspondent  of  Notes  and 
Queries,  No.  132,  howe%er,  relates  some  circumstances  tending  to  pal- 


350  The  Story  of  Robin  Hood. 

liate  the  above  apparently  reckless  proceedings  of  the  eccentric  fifth 
lord.  This  Correspondent,  who,  in  1796  and  1797,  had  a  seat  in  the 
chambers  of  an  eminent  conveyancer  of  Lincohi's  Inn,  relates  that 
thither  the  eccentric  Lord  came  to  consult  the  conveyancer  regarding 
his  property,  under  a  most  painful  and  pitiable  load  of  distress ;  but  his 
case  was  past  remedy ;  and,  after  some  daily  attendance,  pouring  forth 
his  lamentations,  he  appears  to  have  returned  home  to  subside  into  the 
reckless  operations  reported  of  him.  His  case  was  this : — "  Upon  the 
marriage  of  his  son,  he,  as  any  other  father  would  do,  granted  a  settle- 
ment of  his  property,  including  the  Ncwstead  Abbey  estate;  but  by 
some  unaccountable  inadvertence  or  negligence  of  the  lawyers  employed, 
the  ultimate  reversion  of  the  fee-simple  of  the  property,  instead  of  being 
left,  as  it  should  have  been,  in  the  father,  as  the  owner  of  the  estates, 
was  limited  to  the  heirs  of  the  son.  And  upon  his  death,  and  lailurc  of 
the  issue  of  the  marriage,  the  unfortunate  lather,  this  eccentric  Lord, 
found  himself  robbed  of  the  fee  simple  of  his  own  inheritance,  and  left 
merely  the  naked  tenant  for  hfe,  without  any  legal  power  of  raising 
money  upon  it,  or  even  of  cutting  down  a  tree.  It  would  seem,  that  if 
the  lawyers  were  aware  of  the  eftect  of  the  final  limitation,  neither  father 
nor  son  appear  to  have  been  mformed  of  it,  or  the  result  might  have 
been  corrected,  and  his  Lordship  would,  probably,  have  kept  up  the 
estate  in  its  proper  order.  As  the  law  now  stands,  the  estate  would 
revert  back  to  the  father  as  heir  of  his  son.  Now,  although  this  relation 
may  not  tuUy  justify  the  reckless  waste  that  appears  to  have  been  com- 
mitted, it  certainly  is  a  palliative." 


The  Story  of  Robin  Hood. 

Robin  Hood  is  so  distinguished  by  traditionary  memorials  in  every 
part  of  Nottinghamshire,  that  it  would  be  unpardonable  not  to 
mention  that  celebrated  outlaw.  The  following  account,  by  Ritson, 
seems  to  comprise  the  principal  features  in  his  romantic  career : — 

"Robin  Hood  was  born  at  Locksley,  in  the  county  of  Nottingham,  in 
the  reign  of  King  Henry  II.  and  about  the  year  ot  Christ,  1160.  His 
extraction  was  noble,  and  his  true  name  Robert  Fitzooth,  which  vulgar 
pronunciation  easily  corrupted  into  Robin  Hood:  he  is  frequently 
styled,  and  commonly  reputed  to  have  been.  Earl  of  Huntingdon ;  a 
title  to  which,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  lite,  at  least,  he  actually  appears 
to  have  had  some  sort  of  pretension.  In  his  youth  he  is  reported  to 
have  been  of  a  wild  and  extrava^jant  disposition,  insomuch  that, — his 


The  Story  of  Robin  Hood.  35 1 

inheritance  being  consumed  or  forfeited  by  his  excesses,  and  his  person 
outlawed  for  debt, — either  from  necessity  or  choice  besought  an  asylum 
in  the  woods  and  forests,  with  which  immense  tracts,  especially  in  the 
northern  parts  of  the  kingdom,  were  at  that  time  covered.  Of  these  he 
chiefly  affected  Shenvood,  in  Nottinghamshire ;  Bamsdale,  in  Yorkshire  ; 
and,  according  to  some,  Plumpton  Park,  in  Cumberland.  Here  he 
other  found,  or  was  afterwards  joined  by,  a  number  of  peisons  in 
similar  circumstances ; 

"  '  Such  as  the  fury  of  ungoverned  youth 
Thrust  from  the  company  of  lawful  men  ;' 

who  appeared  to  have  considered  and  obeyed  him  as  their  chief  or 
leader,  and  of  whom  his  principal  favourites,  or  those  in  whose  courage 
and  fidelity  he  most  confided,  were  Little  John,  whose  surname  is  said 
to  have  been  Nailor  ;  William  Scadlock,  Scathelock,  or  Scarlet ;  George 
a  Green,  pinder,  or  pound-keeper,  of  Wakefield ;  Much,  a  miller's  son ; 
and  a  certain  monk  or  firiar  named  Tuck.  He  is  likewise  said  to  have 
been  accompanied  in  his  retreat  by  a  female,  of  whom  he  was  enamoured, 
and  whose  real  or  adopted  name  was  Marian. 

"  His  company,  in  process  of  time,  consisted  of  a  hundred  archers ; 
men,  says  Major,  most  skilful  in  battle, whom  four  times  that  number  of 
the  boldest  fellows  durst  not  attack.  His  manner  of  recruiting  was 
somewhat  singular ;  for,  in  the  words  of  an  old  writer, '  wheresoever  he 
heard  of  any  that  were  of  unusual  strength  and  hardiness,  he  would 
desgyse  himself,  and,  rather  than  fayle,  go  lyke  a  bcgger  to  become 
acquaynted  with  them<  and,  after  he  had  tryed  them  with  fyghting, 
never  give  them  over  tyl  he  had  used  means  to  drawe  them  to  lyve  after 
his  fashion.'  Of  this  practice  numerous  instances  are  recorded  in 
the  more  common  and  popular  songs,  where,  indeed,  he  seldom  fails  to 
receive  a  sound  beating.  In  shooting  with  the  long  bow,  which  they 
chiefly  practised,  '  they  excelled  all  the  men  of  the  land ;  though,  as 
occasion  required,  they  had  also  other  weapons.' 

"In  these  forests,  and  with  this  company,  he  for  many  years  reigned 
like  an  independent  sovereign ;  at  perpetual  war,  indeed,  with  the 
King  of  England,  and  all  his  subjects,  with  an  exception,  however,  or 
the  poor  and  needy,  and  such  as  were  '  desolate  and  oppressed,'  or 
stood  in  need  of  his  protection.  When  molested  by  a  superior  force 
in  one  place,  he  retired  to  another,  still  defying  the  power  of  what 
was  called  law  and  government,  and  making  his  enemies  pay  dearly, 
as  well  for  their  open  attacks,  as  for  their  clandestine  treachery.  It  is 
pot,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  concluded,  that  be  must,  in  tliis  opposi* 


35-^  The  Story  of  Robin  Hood. 

tion,  have  been  guilty  of  manifest  treason  or  rebellion  ;  as  he  most 
certainly  can  be  justly  charged  with  neither.  An  outlaw,  in  those 
limes,  being  deprived  of  protection,  owed  no  allegiance;  '  his  hand  was 
against  every  man,  and  cn cry  man's  hand  against  him.'  These  forests, 
in  short,  were  his  territories  ;  those  who  accompanied  and  adhered  to 
him  his  subjects : 

"  '  The  world  was  not  his  friend,  nor  the  world's  law  :' 

and  what  better  title  King  Richard  could  pretend  to  the  territory  and 
people  of  England  than  Robin  Hood  had  to  the  dominion  of  Sherwood 
or  Barnsdale,  is  a  question  humbly  submitted  to  the  consideration  of 
the  political  philosopher. 

"  The  deer  with  which  the  royal  forests  then  abounded .  (every 
Norman  king  being,  like  Nimrod,  '  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord'), 
would  afibrd  our  hero  and  his  companions  an  ample  supply  of  food 
throughout  the  year ;  and  of  fuel  for  dressing  their  venison,  or  for  the 
other  purposes  of  life,  they  could  evidently  be  in  no  want.  The  rest 
of  their  necessaries  could  be  easily  procured,  partly  by  taking  what 
they  had  occasion  for  from  the  wealthy  passenger,  who  traversed  or 
approached  their  territories,  and  partly  by  commerce  with  the  neigh- 
bouring villages  or  great  towns. 

"  It  may  be  readily  imagined  that  such  a  life,  during  great  part  of 
the  year  at  least,  and  while  it  continued  free  from  the  alarms  or  appre- 
hensions to  v/hich  our  foresters,  one  would  suppose,  must  have  been 
too  frequently  subject,  might  be  sufiiciently  pleasant  and  desirable,  and 
even  deserve  the  compliment  which  is  paid  to  it  by  Shakspeare  in  his 
comedy  of  As  you  Like  it,  act  i.  scene  i,  where,  on  Oliver's  asking, 
'  Where  will  the  old  duke  live?'  Charles  answers,  'They  say  he  is 
already  in  the  forest  of  Arden,  and  a  many  merry  men  with  him  ;  and 
there  they  live  like  the  old  Robin  Hood  of  England ; — and  fleet  the 
time  carelessly  as  they  did  in  the  golden  world.' 

"  Their  mode  of  life,  in  short,  and  domestic  economy,  of  which  no 
authentic  particulars  have  been  even  traditionally  preserved,  are  more 
easily  to  be  guessed  at  than  described.  They  have,  nevertheless,  been 
elegantly  sketched  by  the  animating  pencil  of  an  excellent  though 
neglected  poet: — 

"  '  The  merry  pranks  he  play'd,  would  ask  an  age  to  tell. 
And  the  adventures  strange  that  Robin  Hood  befell, 
When  Mansfield  many  a  time  for  Robin  hath  been  laid, 
How  he  hath  cousen'd  them,  that  him  would  have  betray 'd  ; 
How  often  he  hath  come  to  T-'ottingham  disguis'd, 
And  cminingly  escaped,  being  set  to  be  surpriz'd. 


The  Story  of  Robin  Hood.  353 

In  this  our  spacious  isle,  I  think  there  is  not  one, 
But  he  hath  heard  some  talk  of  him  and  Little  Johp  ; 
And  to  the  end  of  time  the  tales  shall  ne'er  be  done. 
Of  Scarlok,  George  a  Green,  and  Much,  the  miller  s  son, 
Of  Tuck,  the  merry  friar,  which  many  a  sermon  made 
In  praise  of  Robin  Hood,  his  out-laws,  and  tiieir  trade." 

Drayton's  Polyolbion ,  Song  xxvi. 

"  That  our  hero  and  his  companions,  while  they  lived  in  the  woods, 
had  recourse  to  robbery  for  their  better  support  is  neither  to  be  con- 
cealed nor  to  be  denied.  Testimonies  to  this  purpose,  indeed,  would 
be  equally  endless  and  unnecessary.  Fordun,  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
calls  him,  ' tile famoiissimus  sicarius,'  that  most  celebrated  robber;  and 
Major  terms  him  and  Little  John,  'famosusimi  latrones :'  but  it  is  to 
be  remembered,  according  to  the  confession  of  the  last  historian,  that 
in  these  exertions  of  power,  he  took  away  the  goods  of  rich  men  only ; 
never  killing  any  person  unless  he  was  attacked  or  resisted :  that  he 
would  not  suffer  a  woman  to  be  maltreated ;  nor  e\'er  took  anything 
from  the  poor,  but  charitably  fed  them  with  the  wealth  he  drew  from 
the  abbots.  I  disapprove,  says  he,  of  the  rapine  of  the  man  ;  but  he 
was  the  most  humane,  and  the  prince  of  all  robbers.  In  allusion,  no 
doubt,  to  this  irregular  and  predatory  course  of  life,  he  has  had  the 
honour  to  be  compared  to  the  illustrious  \\'allace,  the  champion  and 
deliverer  of  his  country  ;  and  that,  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  in  the 
latter 's  own  time. 

"  Robin  Hood,  indeed,  seems  to  have  held  bishops,  abbots,  priests, 

and  monks, — in  a  word,  all  the  clergy,  regular  or  secular,  in  decided 

aveision. 

"  '  These  byshoppcs  and  thyse  archebyshoppes, 
Ye  shall  them  bete  and  bynde, " 

was  an  injunction  carefully  impressed  upon  his  followers :  and  in  this 
part  of  his  conduct,  perhaps,  the  pride,  avarice,  uncharitahlcness,  and 
hypocrisy  of  the  clergy  of  that  age,  will  afford  him  ample  justification. 
The  Abbot  of  St.  Mary's,  in  York,  from  some  unknown  cause, 
appears  to  have  been  distinguished  by  particular  animosity ;  and  the 
Sheriff  of  Nottinghamshire,  who  may  have  been  too  active  and  officious 
in  his  endeavours  to  apprehend  him,  was  the  unremitted  object  of  his 
■,  L-ngeance. 

"  Notwithstanding,  however,  the  aversion  in  which  he  appears  to  have 
held  the  clergy  of  every  denomination,  he  was  a  man  of  exemplary 
piety,  according  to  the  notions  of  that  age,  and  retained  a  domestic 
chaplain  (Friar  Tuck,  no  doubt)  for  the  diurnal  celebration  of  the 
divine  mysteries.  This  we  learn  from  an  anecdote  preserved  by  Fordun, 

A  A 


354  l^he  Story  of  Robin  Hood. 

as  an  instance  of  those  actions  which  the  historian  allows  to  deserve 
commendation.-  One  day,  as  he  heard  mass,  which  he  was  mcist  de- 
voutly accustomed  to  do  (nor  would  he,  in  whatever  necessity,  suRer 
the  office  to  be  interrupted),  he  was  espied  by  a  certain  sheriff  and 
officers  belonging  to  the  King,  who  had  frequently  before  molested  him, 
in  that  most  secret  recess  of  the  wood  where  he  was  at  mass.  Some  of 
his  people,  who  perceived  what  was  going  forward,  advised  him  to  fly 
with  all  speed,  which,  out  of  reverence  to  the  sacrament,  which  he  was 
then  most  devoutly  worshipping,  he  absolutely  refused  to  do.  But  the 
rest  of  his  men  having  fled  for  fear  of  death,  Robin,  confiding  solely  in 
Him  whom  he  reverently  worshipped,  with  a  very  few  who  by  chance 
were  present,  set  upon  his  enemies,  whom  he  easily  vanquished ;  and 
being  enriched  with  their  spoils  and  ransom,  he  always  held  the 
ministers  of  the  church  and  masses  in  greater  veneration  ever  after, 
mindful  of  what  is  vulgarly  said : 

"  'Him  God  does  surely  hear, 
Who  oft  to  th'  mass  gives  ear.' 

They  who  deride  the  miracles  of  Moses  or  Mahomet  are  at  full 
liberty,  no  doubt,  to  reject  those  wTought  in  f^ivour  of  Robin  Hood. 
But,  as  a  ceitain  admirable  author  expresses  himself,  •  an  honest  man 
and  a  good  judgment  believeth  still  what  is  told  him,  and  that  which 
he  finds  written.' 

"  Having  for  a  long  series  of  years  maintained  a  sort  of  independent 
sovereignty,  and  set  kings,  judges,  and  magistrates  at  defiance,  a  pro- 
clamation was  published,  offering  a  considerable  reward  for  bringing 
him  in  either  dead  or  alive ;  which,  however,  seems  to  have  been  pro- 
ductive of  no  greater  success  than  former  attempts  for  that  purpose. 
At  length,  the  infirmities  of  old  age  increasing  upon  him,  and  desirous 
to  be  relieved  in  a  fit  of  sickness  by  being  let  blood,  he  applied  for  that 
purjwse  to  the  Prioress  of  Kirklees  Nunnery  in  Yorkshire,  his  relation 
(women,  and  particularly  religious  women,  being  in  those  times  con- 
sidered better  skilled  in  surgery  than  the  sex  is  at  present),  by  whom  he 
was  treaciierously  suffered  to  bleed  to  death.  This  event  happened  on 
the  i8th  of  November,  1247,  being  the  thirty-first  year  of  King 
Henry  UI.,  and  (if  the  date  assigned  to  his  birth  be  correct)  about  the 
eighty-seventh  of  his  age.  He  was  interred  under  some  trees,  at  a 
short  distance  from  the  house ;  a  stone  being  placed  over  his  grave, 
with  an  inscription  to  his  memory. 

"  Such  was  the  end  of  Robin  Hood  :  a  man  who,  in  a  barbarous  age, 
and  under  a  complicated  tyranny,  displayed  a  spirit  of  freedom  and  in- 
dependence which  has  endeared  him  to  the  common  people,  whose  cause 


TJie  Story  of  Robin  Hood.  355 

he  maintained  (for  all  opposition  to  tyranny  is  the  cause  of  the  people), 
and,  in  spite  of  the  malicious  endeavours  of  pitiful  monks,  by  whom 
history  was  consecrated  to  the  crimes  and  follies  of  titled  mffians  and 
sainted  idiots,  to  suppress  all  record  of  his  patriotic  exertions  and 
virtuous  acts,  will  render  his  name  immortal. 

"  With  respect  to  his  personal  character :  it  is  suflRciently  evident 
that  he  was  active,  brave,  prudent,  patient ;  possessed  of  uncommon 
bodily  strength  and  considerable  military  skill ;  just,  generous,  bene\'o- 
lent,  faithful,  and  beloved  or  revered  by  his  followers  or  adherents  for 
his  excellent  and  amiable  qualities.  Fordun,  a  priest,  extols  his  piety; 
Major,  as  we  have  seen,  pronounces  him  the  most  humane  and  the 
prince  of  all  robbers  ;  and  Camden,  whose  testimony  is  of  some  weight, 
calls  him  the  gentlest  of  thieves.  As  proofs  of  hii  universal  and  singular 
popularity,  his  story  and  exploits  have  been  made  the  subject  as  well  of 
various  dramatic  exhibitions,  as  of  innumerable  poems,  rimes,  songs,  and 
ballads :  he  has  given  rise  to  divers  proverbs ;  and  to  swear  by  him,  or 
some  of  his  companions,  appears  to  have  been  a  usual  practice :  he  may 
be  regarded  as  the  patron  of  archery  :  and,  though  not  actually  cano- 
nized,— a  situation  to  which  the  miracles  wrought  in  his  favour,  as  well 
in  his  lifetime  as  after  his  death,  and  the  supernatural  powers  he  is,  in 
some  parts,  supposed  to  have  possessed,  gave  him  an  indisputable  claim, 
— he  obtained  the  principal  distinction  of  sainthood,  in  having  a  festival 
allotted  to  him,  and  solemn  games  instituted  in  honour  of  his  memory, 
which  were  celebrated  till  the  latter  end  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  not 
by  the  populace  only,  but  by  kings  or  princes  and  grave  magistrates ; 
and  that  as  well  in  Scotland  as  in  England  ;  being  considered  in  the 
former  country  of  the  highest  political  importance,  and  essential  to  the 
civil  and  religious  liberties  of  the  people,  the  efforts  of  government  to 
suppress  them  frequently  producing  tumult  and  insurrection.  His  bow, 
and  one  of  his  arrows,  his  chair,  his  cap,  and  one  of  his  slippers  were 
preserved  with  peculiar  veneration  till  within  the  present  century  ;  and 
not  only  places  which  afforded  him  security  or  amusement,  but  even  the 
well  at  which  he  quenched  his  thirst  still  retain  his  name,  a  name  which 
in  the  middle  of  the  present  century  was  conferred  as  an  honourable 
distinction  upon  the  prime  minister  to  the  king  of  Madagascar. 

"  After  his  death  his  company  was  dispersed.  History  is  silent  in 
particulars:  all  that  we  can  therefore  learn  is,  that  the  honour  of  Little 
John's  death  and  burial  is  contended  for  by  rival  nations,  that  his  grave 
continued  long  '  celebrous  for  the  yielding  of  excellent  whetstones  ;'and 
that  some  of  his  descendants,  of  the  name  of  Nnilor,  which  he  himself 
bore,  and  they  from  him,  were  in  being  so  late  as  the  last  century.'* 

A  A   3 


356  The  Story  of  Robin  Hood. 

Such  is  Ritson'a  version  of  Robin's  history,  which,  though  very  cir- 
cumstantial in  all  its  points,  is  open  to  much  dispute  and  discussion — 
whether  there  ever  did  exist  such  a  person  as  Robin  Hood.  His  pedi- 
gree, a  very  long  one,  has  been  found  in  the  handwriting  of  Dr.  Stuke- 
ley,  the  antiquary,  (but  a  very  credulous  author,)  in  which  his  descent 
is  traced  from  Rafl'  Raby,  Karl  of  Northumberland,  to  Waltheof,  the 
great  Earl  of  that  name,  who  married  Judith,  Countess  of  Huntingdon, 
the  Conqueror's  niece,  from  whom  the  pedigree  states  Robert  Fitzooth, 
commonly  called  Robin  Hood,  the  pretended  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  was 
descended,  and  that  he  died  in  1274.  Latimer,  in  his  sixth  sermon 
before  Edward  VI.,  tells  a  story  about  wishing  to  preach  at  a  country 
church,  when  he  found  the  door  locked,  and  the  people  gone  abroad  to 
gather  for  Robin  Hood.  He  then  adds :  "  Under  the  pretence  of 
gathering  for  Robin  Hood,  a  traitor  and  a  thief,  to  put  out  a 
preacher." 

"  Roberdesmen"  is  the  name  of  a  certain  class  of  malefactors  men- 
tioned in  a  law  of  Edward  HI.,  and  it  has  been  asked  whether  the 
term  may  have  any  allusion  to  "  Robin  Hood's  Men."  As  early  as  the 
time  of  Henry  HI.  "  comaro  Roberto"  was  applied  to  any  common 
thief  or  robber;  and  to  this  day  the  term  "  robber"  is  more  in  common 
use  in  Nottinghamshire  than  in  other  counties. 

Robin  Hood  has  also  been  traced  to  "  Robin  o'  th'  Wood,"  a  term 
equivalent  to  "  wild  man,"  generally  given  to  those  Saxons  who  fled  to 
the  woods  and  morasses,  and  long  held  them  against  their  Norman 
enemies.  The  grave  where  he  lies  has  still  its  pilgrims  ;  the  well  out 
of  which  he  drank  still  retains  his  name ;  and  his  bow,  and  some  of 
his  broad  aiTows  (already  mentioned)  were,  within  this  century,  to 
be  seen  in  Fountains  Abbey,  a  place  memorable  by  his  adventure  with 
the  curtail  friar.  The  choice  of  his  grave  is  thus  told  in  the  ballad : — 

"  '  Give  me  my  bent  bow  in  my  hand. 
And  a  broad  arrow  I'll  let  flee  ; 
And  where  this  arrow  is  taken  up, 
There  shall  my  grave  digg'd  be. 

' ' '  Lay  me  a  green  sod  under  my  head, 
And  another  at  my  feet, 
And  lay  my  bent  bow  by  my  side, 

Which  was  my  music  sweet, 
And  make  my  grave  of  gravel  and  green, 
Which  is  most  right  and  meet. 

*' '  Let  me  have  length  and  breadth  enough. 
With  a  green  sod  under  my  head, 
That  they  may  say,  when  I  am  dead, 
Jlerc  lies  boW  Robin  Hood,' 


Bunny  Park  and  Sir  Thomas  Parky ns.  357 

"  Tliese  words  they  readily  promised  him, 
Which  did  bold  Robin  please. 
And  there  they  buried  bold  Robin  Hood, 
Near  to  the  fair  Kirkleys." 

Little  John,  it  is  said,  survived  but  to  see  his  master  buried :  his 
grave  is  claimed  by  Scotland  as  well  as  England,  but  tradition  inclines 
to  the  grave  in  the  churchyard  of  Hathersage. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Hunter  has,  however,  discovered  documents  in  our 
national  archives,  by  which  he  proves  Robin  Hood  to  have  been  a 
yeoman  in  the  time  of  Edward  W. ;  that  he  fell  into  the  King's  power, 
when  he  was  freeing  his  forest  from  the  marauders  of  that  day ;  that 
the  King,  pursuing  a  more  lenient  policy  towards  his  refractory  sub- 
jects, took  Robin  Hood  into  his  service,  made  him  one  of  his  Varlets 
porteurs  de  la  cbambre,  in  his  household  ;  and  Mr.  Hunter  has  dis- 
covered the  exact  amount  of  wages  that  was  paid  him,  and  other  cir- 
cumstances, establishing  the  veritable  existence  of  this  hero  of  our 
childhood. 

There  is  still  a  later  testimony.  Mr.  Planche,  Somerset  Herald,  has 
avowed  himself  a  believer  in  Robin  Hood,  without  holding  "  each 
strange  tale"  of  that  famous  forester  to  be  "  devoutly  true,"  or  being 
fortunate  enough  to  discover  any  very  important  fact  in  support  of  his 
opinion.  He  has  satisfied  himself  that  the  objections  of  the  dissenters 
are  in  no  instance  fatal,  and  that  in  many  cases  they  are  met  by  very 
singular  circumstantial  evidence.  Mr.  Planche  adduces  the  remarkable 
fact  of  the  existence  of  a  Robert  Fitzoof  h,  or  Fitz  Odo,  of  Loxley,  in 
the  reign  of  the  second  Henry.  Indeed  there  was  indisputable  evidence, 
he  remarks,  of  two  Robert  Fitz  Odos  or  Fitzooths  living  in  the 
tweifth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  the  former  of  whom  certainly,  and 
the  latter  most  probably,  was  lord  of  the  manor  of  Loxley. 


Bunny  Park  and  Sir  Thomas  Parkyns. 

The  quiet  village  of  Bunny,  six  miles  south  of  Nottingham,  has  at- 
tained a  celebrity  in  local  history  from  its  association  with  a  noble  spe- 
cimen of  English  character,  which  is  entitled  to  our  special  admiration. 
Here,  at  Bunny  Park,  were  seated,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the 
family  of  Parkyns.  Thomas  Parkyns,  of  Bunny,  was  created  baronet 
1 8th  May,  1681  :  he  was  the  author  of  Tlx  Inn-Play  ;  or,  Cornish  Hugg 
fVrestler,  and  father  of  Sir  Thomas  Parkynj,  second  baronet.  Sir 
Thomas  Boothby  Parkyns,  the  fourth  baronet,  was  created  Lord 
Rancliffe  in  Oct.  1795. 


358  Binuiy  Park  and  Sir  Thomas  Parky ns. 

Sir  Thomas  Parkyns  came  to  his  title  early  in  life,  and  took  pos- 
session of  the  family  estate,  Bunny  Park.  He  was  made  a  justice  of 
the  peace  for  Nottinghamshire  and  Leicestershire,  and  endeavoured  by 
all  the  means  in  his  power  to  do  good  to  the  peasantry  and  indigent 
people  around  him.  To  this  end  he  studied  physic,  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  benefiting  the  poor  and  his  tenantry. 

Sir  Tiiomas  was  particularly  partial  to  Latin  sentences  and  quota- 
tions; but  not  satisfied  with  inlaying  his  writings  with  them,  this 
eccentric  baronet  took  every  slight  occasion  to  inscribe  them  on  way- 
side benches,  door-posts,  window-seats,  and  other  convenient  tablets,  of 
a  like  or  an  unlike  nature.  Upon  a  seat  which  stood  by  one  of  the 
Bunny  roads,  he  caused  to  be  engraved  this  truly  urbane  invitation  to  a 
strayer,  from  a  man  of  property — 

"  Hie  sedeas,  Viator,  si  tu  defessus  es  ambulando." 
Another  inscription  took  its  birth  from  one  of  the  judges,  while  on 
the  circuit,  having  ascended  his  pad  by  the  help  of  Sir  Thomas's  horse- 
block.    This  was  an  honour  not  to  be  let  slip ;  and  the  block — a  block 
no  longer — told  its  classic  story  thus: — 

"  Hinc  yusticiarius  Dormer  ^c^wm  ascendere  solebat !" 

.  Happy  and  long  was  the  life  which  Sir  Thomas  Parkyns  led  at  Bunny 
Park ;  and  "  a  bold  peasantry,  its  country's  pride,"  by  his  advice  and 
example  grew  up  gallantly  around  him.  He  gave  prizes,  of  small  value 
but  laige  honour,  to  be  wrestled  for  on  sweet  Midsummer  eves, 
upon  the  green  levels  of  Nottinghamshire  ;  and  he  never  felt  so  gratified 
with  the  scene  as  when  he  saw  one  of  his  manly  tenantry,  and  the 
evening  fun,  go  down  together.  He  liimsclf  was  no  idle  patron  of 
these  amusements— no  delicate  and  timid  superintendent  of  popular 
sports,  as  our  modern  wealthy  men  for  the  most  part  are ;  for  he  never 
objected  to  take  the  most  sinewy  man  by  the  loins,  and  try  a  fall  for 
the  gold-laced  hat  he  had  himself  contributed.  His  servants  were  all 
upright,  muscular,  fine  young  fellows — civil,  but  sinewy — respectful  at 
the  proper  hours,  but  yet  capable  also,  at  the  proper  hour,  of  wrestling 
with  Sir  Thomas  for  the  mastery ;  and  never  so  happy  or  so  well- 
approved  as  when  one  of  them  saw  his  master's  two  brawny  legs  going 
handsomely  over  his  head.  Sir  Thomas  prided  himself,  indeed,  in 
having  his  coachman  and  footman  (chosen,  like  Robin  Hood's  men, 
for  having  in  a  trial  triumphed  over  their  master),  lusty  young  fellows, 
that  had  brought  good  characters  for  sobriety  fiom  their  last  places, 
and  laid  him  on  his  spine ! 

One  of  our  amiable  baronet's  whims — and  Heaven  had  given  him  his 


Bunny  Park  and  Sir  Thomas  Parky ns.  3  59 

share — was  an  ardent  love  through  life  of  curious  stone  coffins;  of 
these  he  had  a  very  rare,  and  we  should  rather  imagine  an  unexampled 
collection,  which  he  kept  with  great  nicety  in  Bunny  church. 

The  mere  empty  passion,  howevei%  for  a  score  or  two  of  stone 
coffins  did  not  satisfy  the  capacious  soul  of  the  titled  champion  of 
Bunny.  He  loved  to  read  a  moral  in  everything;  to  find  "  tongues  in 
the  trees,  books  in  the  babbling  brooks,  sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in 
everything."  The  coffins  ranged  before  him  humbled  him  moderately; 
but  he,  fiill  of  life  as  he  was  out  of  doors,  required  strong  inducements 
to  humility  within.  In  the  field  he  was  mighty — he  wished  to  be 
tamed  in  the  house  of  prayer ;  and  he  therefore  caused  his  own  monu- 
ment, or  "  the  marble  effigies  of  Sir  Thomas  Parkyns,"  as  he  called  it,  to 
"  be  put  in  the  chancel  of  his  church,  that  he  might  look  upon  it  and 
say,  "  What  is  life  ?"  In  his  monument,  as  in  all  things  else,  wrestling 
was  not  neglected.  His  figure  was  caned  "  in  a  moralizing  posture,  in 
his  chancel  of  the  church  of  Bunny,  being  the  first  posture  of  wrestling ; 
an  emblem  of  the  divine  and  human  struggle  for  the  glorious  mastery." 
Such  is  the  description  of  this  remarkable  "  effigies,"  as  given  by  Master 
Francis  Hoffinan,  a  gentleman,  a  poet,  and  a  friend  of  Sir  Thomas,  who 
wrote  a  copy  of  heroic  vei^ses  in  defence  of  the  monument  and  its 
moral.  There  is  an  awkward  woodcut  of  this  singular  stone  in  one  of 
the  old  editions  of  Sir  Thomas's  Institutes,  which  is  worth  the  reader's 
looking  to.  Sir  Thomas  is  represented  standing  in  his  country  coat, 
potent,  and  postured  for  the  Cornish  hug.  On  one  side  is  a  well- 
limbed  figure,  lying  above  the  scythe  of  Time,  with  the  sun  rising 
gloriously  over  it,  showing  that  the  wrestler  is  in  his  pride  of  youth.  On 
the  other  side  is  the  same  figure,  stretched  in  its  coffin,  with  Time  stand- 
ing, scythe  in  hand,  triumphantly  over  it,  and  the  sun  gone  down, 
marking  the  decline  of  life,  and  the  fate  even  of  the  strong  man  !  Thus 
did  Sir  Thomas  Parkyns  moralize  in  marble,  and  decorate  with  solemn 
emblems  the  quiet  walls  of  Bunny's  simple  church. 

In  the  village  is  a  school-house  erected  in  1700,  for  the  children 
of  Bunny  and  Bradmore ;  and  a  hospital,  for  four  widows,  by  Dame 
Anne  Parkyns.  Bunny  House  was  rebuilt  by  the  last  Lord  Rancliffe, 
who  bequeathed  this  fine  estate  to  the  present  possessor,  Mrs,  Forteath, 
who  has  very  greatly  improved  the  proiwrty,  and  bettered  the  condition 
of  the  peasantry.  The  tower,  and  the  adjoining  portion  of  the  house 
stand  as  built  by  Sir  Thomas,  the  wrestler.  Bunny  Park  contains 
some  good  scenery ;  its  gentle  swells  arc  adorned  with  clumps  of  forest 
trees,  and  cover  for  game,  with  a  fine  sheet  of  water,  and  a  long  avenue 
of  lofty  trees. 


36o 


Ashby-dc-la-Zouch  Castle. 

The  town  of  Ashby,  situated  in  a  fertile  vale  of  Leicestershire,  re- 
ceived its  additional  appellation  from  Alan  de  la  Zouch,  who  possessed 
the  manor  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III. 

It  is  said  by  Leland  that  Sir  William,  afterwards  Lord,  Hastings, 
when  the  male  line  of  the  Zouches  was  extinct,  obtained  the  grant  of  the 
manor,  partly  by  title  and  partly  by  money ;  and  James  Butler,  Earl  of 
Ormond,  escheated  the  estate  to  Edward  IV.  by  forfeiture,  on  adherence 
to  his  real  liege  lord,  the  deposed  Henry  VI.  The  same  lord,  for  the 
repair  of  this  fortress,  took  off  the  lead  from  Belvoir  Castle,  which  had 
been  forfeited  by  Lord  Ros  to  the  tyrant,  for  the  same  imputed  crime  as 
that  of  the  Earl  of  Ormond.  Certainly,  when  two  Kings  were  pro- 
claimed, and  one  had  first  reigned  for  a  succession  of  years,  whoever 
had  the  claim  de  jure,  it  was  equally  absurd  as  it  was  wicked  to  punish 
those  who  had  conscientiously  adhered  to  their  oaths,  pledged  to  the 
governing  power ;  but  those  were  not  the  days  of  argument,  or  cool 
and  candid  investigation.  Hastings,  however,  who  had  likewise  plun- 
dered another  castle  of  Lord  Ros,  to  complete  his  own,  at  length  re- 
signed all  his  estates,  together  with  his  life,  on  an  accusation  of  high 
treason,  got  up  by  his  former  friend,  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  by 
whose  order  he  was  seized  at  the  council-board,  and  soon  after  be- 
headed. The  attainder  being  subsequently  taken  offby  King  Henry  VII., 
the  estates  were  restored  to  the  heirs,  and  have  since  descended  to  the 
Huntingdon  family. 

In  1474,  Lord  Hastings  built  the  Castle  of  Ashby  de  la  Zouch,  the 
ruins  of  which  now  fonn  a  principal  object  of  attraction  on  the  south 
side  of  Ashby,  having  been  remarkable  as  a  temporary  prison  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots. 

The  Castle  was  originally  environed  by  three  extensive  Parks,  all 
beautifully  wooded : — the  Great  Park,  which  was  ten  miles  in  circum- 
ference ;  Brostep  Park,  for  fallow  deer ;  and  the  Little  Park,  for  red 
deer.  The  magnificent  structure  continued  to  be,  for  two  hundred 
years,  the  residence  of  the  Hastings  family ;  it  was  partly  of  brick  and 
partly  of  stone,  and  contained  many  spacious  apartments,  and  a  chapel 
adjoining.  The  stately  towers  formed  the  grandest  ornaments:  one 
contained  the  hall,  chambers,  &c. ;  the  other  was  the  Kitchen  Tower. 
The  Queen  of  Scots  was  entrusted  to  the  custody  of  Henry,  third  Earl 
of  Huntingdon,  at  Ashby  Castle,  and  a  room  now  remaining  is  distin- 
guished as  "  Mary  Queen  of   Scots'   Room."      Anne,  the  Queen  of 


Belvoir  Castle.  361 

James  I.,  and  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  visited  the  Castle,  as  did  the 
King,  with  his  whole  Court :  they  were  entertained  here  for  several 
days  together,  when  thirty  Poor  Knights,  all  wearing  gold  chains  and 
velvet  gowns,  served  up  the  dinner.  The  castle  was  garrisoned  and 
ably  defended  for  King  Charles  I.,  but  was  at  last  evacuated  and  dis- 
mantled by  capitulation.    The  ruins  are  highly  interesting. 


Belvoir  Castle. 

Belvoir  (or  Bever)  Castle  in  situation  and  aspect  partly  resembles 
"majestic  Windsor."  It  has  a  similar  "  princely  brow,"  being  placed 
upon  an  abrupt  elevation  of  red  gritstone,  now  covered  with  vege- 
table mould,  and  varied  into  terraces.  It  has  been  the  seat  of  the  noble 
femily  of  Manners  for  several  generations,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
elegant  castellated  structures  in  the  kingdom.  The  fortress  is  described 
in  some  topographical  works  as  being  in  Lincolnshire.  Camden  says : 
"  in  the  west  part  of  Kesteven,  on  the  edge  of  Lincolnshire  and  Leices- 
tershire, there  stands  Belvoir  Castle,  so  called  (whatever  was  its  ancient 
name)  from  the  fine  prospect  on  a  steep  hill,  which  seems  the  work  of 
art."  But  Mr.  Nichols,  an  excellent  authority  on  Leicestershire,  states: 
"the  Castle  is  at  present  in  every  respect  considered  as  being  within  this 
county,  with  all  the  lands  of  the  extra-parochial  part  of  Belvoir  thereto 
belonging  (including  the  site  of  the  Priory),  consisting  in  the  whole  of 
600  acres  of  wood,  meadow,  and  pasture-land ;  upon  which  are  now  no 
buildings  but  the  Castle  with  its  offices,  and  the  inn." 

At  Belvoir  was  formerly  a  Priory  of  four  black  monks,  subordinate 
to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Alban  in  Hertfordshire,  to  which  it  was  annexed  by 
its  founder,  Robert  de  Todeni.  Dr.  Stukeley,  in  the  year  1726,  saw  the 
coffin  and  bones  of  the  founder,  who  died  in  10S8,  dug  up  in  the  Priory 
Chapel,  then  a  stable ;  and  on  a  stone  was  inscribed  in  large  letters,  with 
lead  cast  in  them,  Robert  i>e  todene  le  fudere.  Another  coffin 
and  lid  near  it  was  like\vise  discovered,  with  the  following  inscription : 
"  The  Vale  of  BcNcr,  barren  of  wood,  is  large  and  very  plentiful  of  good 
com  and  grass,  and  lieth  in  three  shires,  Leicester,  Lincoln,  and  much 
of  Nottinghamshire." 

That  Belvoir  has  been  the  site  of  a  Castle  since  the  Norman  Conquest 
appears  well  established.     Lcland  thinks  "  no  rather  than  ye  Todenciu 
was  the  first  inhabiter  after  the  Conquest.    Then  it  came  to  Albeneius,* 
and  from  Allx-ny  to  Ros."     By  a  general  survey,  taken  at  the  death  of 
Robert,  the  founder,  be  was  in  tlie  possession  of  fourscore  lordships; 


362  Bclvoir  Castle. 

many  of  which,  by  uu interrupted  succession,  continue  still  to  be  the 
property  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland.  In  Lincolnshire  his  domains  were 
still  more  numerous.  In  Northamptonshire  he  had  nine  lordships;  one 
of  which,  Stoke,  acquired  the  additional  name  of  Albini  when  it  came 
into  the  possession  of  his  son,  who  succeeded  to  these  lordships,  and, 
like  his  father,  was  a  celebrated  warrior.  According  to  Matthew  Paris, 
he  valorously  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of  Tinchebrai,  in  Nor- 
mandy, where  Henry  I.  encountered  Robert  Curthose,  his  brother. 
This  lord  obtained  from  Henry  the  grant  of  an  annual  fair  at  Belvoir,  to 
be  continued  for  eight  days. 

During  the  turbulent  reigns  of  Stephen  and  Henry  II.,  the  Castle  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Crown,  and  was  granted  to  Ranulph,  Earl  of 
Chester;  but  repossession  was  obtained  by  de  Albini,  who  died  here 
about  1 155.  William  de  Albini,  the  third  of  that  name,  accompanied 
Richard  I.,  during  his  crusading  reign,  into  Normandy  ;  he  was  also  one 
of  the  sureties  for  King  John  in  his  treaty  of  peace  with  Philip  of 
France.  He  was  also  engaged  in  the  Barons'  wars  in  the  latter  reign, 
and  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  King's  party  at  Rochester  Cabtle ;  when 
his  own  Castle  at  Belvoir  fell  into  the  royal  hands.  He  was  likewise 
one  of  the  twenty-five  Barons  whose  signatures  are  attached  to  Magna 
Chai-ta,  and  the  Charter  of  Forests,  at  Runnemede.  This  lord  richly 
endowed  the  Priory  at  Belvoir,  and  founded  and  endowed  a  Hospital 
at  Wassebridge,  between  Stamford  and  Lincoln,  where  he  was  buried 
in  1236.  Isabel,  of  the  house  of  Albini,  now  married  Robert  de  Ros, 
Baron  of  Hamlake,  and  thus  carried  the  estates  into  another  family.  He 
died  in  1285,  and  his  body  was  buried  at  Kirkham,  his  bowels  before 
the  high  altar  at  Belvoir,  and  his  heart  at  Croxton  Abbey;  it  being  the 
practice  of  that  age  for  the  corporeal  remains  of  eminent  persons  to  be 
thus  distributed  after  death.  The  next  owner,  William  de  Ros,  was, 
in  1.-^04,  allowed  to  impark  100  acres  under  the  name  of  Bever  Park, 
which  was  appropriated  solely  to  the  preservation  of  game. 

Sir  William  Ros,  Knight,  was  Lord  High  Treasurer  to  Henry  IV. 
he  died  at  the  Castle  in  1414,  and  bequeathed  400/.  "for  finding  ten 
honest  chaplains  to  pray  for  his  soul,  and  the  souls  of  his  father,  motlier, 
brethren,  sisters,  &c.,"  for  eight  years  within  his  Chapel  at  Belvoir 
Castle.  John  and  William  Ros,  the  next  owners,  were  distinguished  in 
the  wars  of  France:  the  fonner  was  slain  at  Anjou  ;  the  latter  died  in 
143 1,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Edmund,  an  infant,  who  on  coming 
of  age,  engaged  in  the  Wars  of  York  and  Lancaster:  he  was  attainted, 
and  his  noblt.  possessions  parcelled  out  by  Edvvai-d  IV.;  the  honour. 
Castle,  and  lordship  of  Belvoir,  with  the  park,  and  all  its  members,  and 


Behoir  Castle.  363 

the  rent  called  Castle  Guard  (then  an  appurtenance  to  Belvoir),  being 
granted,  in  1467,  to  Hastings,  the  Court  corruptionist.  Leland  thus 
describes  the  transaction :  "  The  Lord  Ros  took  Henry  the  VI.'s  part 
against  King  Edward,  whereupon .  his  lands  were  confiscated,  and 
Belever  Castle  given  in  keeping  to  Lord  Hastings,  who  coming  thither 
on  a  time  to  peruse  the  ground,  and  to  lie  in  the  Castle,  was  suddenly 
repelled  by  Mr.  HaiTington,  a  man  of  power  thereabouts,  and  friend  to  the 
Lord  Ros.  Whereupon  the  Lord  Hastings  came  thither  another  time 
with  a  strong  power,  and  upon  a  raging  will  spoiled  the  Castle,  defacing 
the  roofs,  and  taking  the  leads  off  them.  Then  fell  all  the  Castle  to 
ruins,  and  the  timber  of  the  rooft  uncovered,  rotted  away,  and  the  soil 
between  the  walls  of  the  last  grew  full  of  elders,  and  no  habitation  was 
there  till  that,  of  late  days,  the  Earl  of  Rutland  hath  made  it  fairer  than 
ever  it  was." 

The  above  attainder  was,  however,  repealed,  and  Edmund,  Lord  Ros, 
obtained  repossession  of  all  his  estates  in  \A,'^y-  he  died  at  the  manor- 
house  of  Elsinges,  Enfield,  Middlesex,  without  issue  in  1508 :  his  sisters 
became  heiresses  to  the  estates,  and  Belvoir  being  part  of  the  moiety  of 
Eleanor,  by  her  marriage  with  Sir  Robert  Manners,  of  Etall,  in  Nor- 
thumberland, the  Castle  passed  into  the  Manners  family,  who  have 
continued  to  possess  it  imtil  the  present  time.  George,  eldest  son  of 
the  above-named  Robert  Manners,  succeeded  to  his  fathei-'s  estates,  in- 
cluding Belvoir.  His  son  Thomas,  Lord  Ros,  succeeded  h'rni,  and  was 
created  by  Henry  VHL  a  Knight,  and  afterwards  Earl  of  Rutland, 
a  title  which  had  never  before  been  conferred  upon  any  person  but 
of  the  blood-royal;  and  to  him  is  attributed  the  restoration  of  the 
Castle,  which  had  been  partly  demolished  by  Hastings,  as  Leland  has 
described  it.  He  says  further:  "it  is  a  strange  sighte  to  se  be  how 
many  steppes  of  stone  the  way  goith  up  from  the  village  to  the  castel. 
In  the  castel  be  two  faire  gates;  and  the  dungeon  is  a  faire  round 
tower,  now  turned  to  pleasure,  as  a  place  to  walk  yn,  and  to  se  al  the 
counter)-e  aboute,  and  raylid  about  the  round  (wall),  and  a  garden 
(plotte)  in  the  middle.  There  is  also  a  welle  of  grcte  depth  in  the 
castclle,  and  the  spring  thereof  is  veiy  good." 

Heniy,  the  second  Earl  of  Rutland,  made  great  additions  to  the 
Castle,  and  it  became  a  noble  and  princely  residence.  In  1.-.56,  he  was 
appointed  Captain-General  of  all  the  forces  then  going  to  France,  and 
Commander  of  the  Fleet,  by  Philip  and  Mary.  Edmund,  the  third 
Earl,  Camden  calls  •'  a  profound  lawyer,  and  a  man  accomplished  with 
all  polite  learning."  The  sixth  Earl  married  two  wives ;  by  the  second 
he  had  two  sons,  who,  according  to  the  monument,  were  murdered  by 


364  Belvoir  Castle. 

wicked  practice  and  sorcery,  as  follows:  Joan  Flower,  and  her  two 
daughters,  who  were  servants  at  Belvoir  Castle,  having  been  dismissed 
the  family,  in  revenge  made  use  of  all  the  enchantments,  spells,  and 
charms  that  were  then  supposed  to  answer  their  malicious  purposes. 
Henry,  the  eldest  son,  died  soon  after  their  dismissal ;  but  no  suspicion 
of  witchcraft  arose  till  five  years  after,  when  the  three  women,  who 
were  said  to  have  entered  into  a  formal  contract  with  the  devil,  were 
accused  of  "  murdering  Henry  Lord  Ros  by  witchcraft,  and  torturing 
the  Lord  Francis,  his  brother,  and  Lady  Catherine,  his  sister."  After 
various  examinations  before  Francis,  Lord  Willoughby  of  Eresby, 
and  other  magistrates,  they  were  committed  to  Lincoln  gaol.  Joan 
died  at  Ancaster,  on  her  way  thither,  wishing  the  bread-and-butter 
she  ate  might  choke  her,  if  guilty.  The  two  daughters  were  tried, 
confessed  their  guilt,  and  were  executed  at  Lincoln,  March  ir, 
1618-19. 

George,  seventh  Earl,  was  honoui'ed  with  a  visit  from  Charles  L  at 
Belvoir  Castle,  in  1634.  The  eighth  Earl  was  John  Manners,  who 
attaching  himself  to  the  Parliamentarians,  the  Castle  was  attacked  by 
the  Royal  army,  and  lost  and  won  again  and  again  by  each  party,  till 
the  Earl  being  "  put  to  great  straights  for  the  maintenance  of  his  family," 
petitioned  the  House  of  Peers  for  relief;  and  Lord  Viscount  Campden 
having  been  the  principal  instrument  in  the  ruin  of  the  "  Castle,  lands, 
and  woods  about  Belvoyre,"  Parliament  agreed  that  1500/.  a  year  be 
paid  out  of  Lord  Campden's  estate,  until  5000/.  be  levied  to  the  Earl 
of  Rutland. 

In  the  Civil  Wars,  the  Castle  was  defended  for  the  King  by  the 
rector  of  AshwcU,  co.  Rutland.  In  1643,  about  140  men  of  Belvoir 
were  defeated  by  Colonel  Wayte,  with  60  men,  taking  46  prisoners 
and  60  horses ;  and  in  the  following  year  Colonel  Wayte  attacked 
another  party  at  Belvoir,  where  he  made  many  prisoners.  In  1644  the 
King  slept  two  nights  at  Belvoir.  In  1649  the  Parliament  ordered  the 
Castle  to  be  demolished  ;  satisfaction  was,  however,  made  to  the  Earl, 
whose  son  rebuilt  the  Castle  after  the  Restoration.  John,  the  ninth 
Earl,  prefeiTed  the  Baronial  retirement  and  rural  quiet  of  Belvoir,  to  the 
busy  Court,  though  he  was  created  Marquis  of  Granby  and  Duke  of 
Rutland.  He  resided  almost  entirely  at  Belvoir,  where  he  kept  up 
old  English  hospitality ;  and  for  many  years  liefore  his  death  never 
went  to  London.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  John,  whose  son  was 
"the  Great  Marquis  of  Granby,"  who,  during  tne  Rebellion,  raised  a 
regiment  of  foot,  became  Lieutenant-General,  and  eminently  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  Germany ;    yet  a  few  years  since  there  was  no 


Belvdir  Castle.  365 

monumental  record  of  his  name.  The  third  Duke  was  the  last  of  the 
family  who  resided  at  Haddon. 

Belvoir  Castle  was  greatly  altered,  and  the  interior  newly  arranged 
by  the  taste  of  the  Duchess  of  Rutland,  and  executed  under  the  direc- 
tion of  James  Wyatt,  architect.  It  consists  of  a  quadrangular  court, 
occupying  nearly  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  with  its  towers  and  walls 
is  of  regal  stateliness.  The  view  comprehends  the  whole  vale  of  Belvoir, 
and  the  adjoining  country  as  far  as  Lincoln,  including  twenty-two  of  the 
Duke  of  Rutland's  manors.  The  interior  is  sumptuously  furnished,  and 
contains  a  valuable  collection  of  paintings.  Here  is  a  massive  golden 
salver,  entirely  composed  of  tributary  tokens  of  royal  and  public  i-espect 
for  services  performed  by  the  noble  family  of  Manners,  and  inscribed 
with  the  causes  and  dates  of  these  honourable  ser>nces.  The  last  general 
repairs  cost  60,000/.  By  an  accidental  fire  in  1816,  a  large  portion  of 
the  ancient  part  of  the  Castle  was  destroyed. 

There  have  been  in  our  time  two  memorable  royal  visits  to  Belvoir 
Castle:  George  IV.,  then  Prince  Regent,  in  1814;  and  Queen  Victoria 
and  the  Prince  Consort  in  1843.  Upon  each  of  these  occasions  was 
observed  the  ceremony  of  presenting  the  Key  of  the  Staunton  Tower  to 
the  Sovereign.  The  Staunton  Tower  is  the  stronghold  of  the  Castle.  It 
was  succe  ssfully  defended  by  Sir  Mauger  Staunton,  Lord  of  Staunton, 
against  William  the  Norman,  who,  when  firmly  seated  on  the  throne 
he  had  won,  allowed  the  Lord  of  Staunton  to  keep  possession  of  the 
lands  he  had  so  nobly  defended ;  and  he  afterwards  held  the  lordship 
of  Staunton  by  tenure  of  Castle  Guard.  This  lordship  is  situated  seven 
miles  from  Newark,  and  five  from  Belvoir,  and  is  stated  to  have  been 
in  the  possession  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Staunton  for  more  than 
1300  years.  Upon  each  royal  visit  the  key  was  presented  to  the 
Sovereign  upon  a  velvet  cushion  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stanton,  to  whom  it 
was  most  graciously  returned. 

Of  the  scale  of  living  at  Belvoir,  we  extract  from  a  published 
account  the  following  particulars  of  the  consumption  of  wine  and  ale, 
wax-lights,  &c.,  at  Belvoir  Castle,  from  December,  1839,  to  April, 
1840,  or  about  thirteen  weeks  : — Wine,  200  dozen  ;  ale,  70  hogsheads; 
wax-lights,  2330 ;  sperm  oil,  630  gallons.  Dined  at  his  Grace's  table, 
1997  persons;  in  the  steward's  room,  2421;  in  the  servants'  hall, 
nursery,  and  kitchen  department,  including  comers  and  goers,  11,31a 
persons.  Of  loaves  of  bread  there  were  consumed  8333  ;  of  meat, 
22,963  lbs.  exclusive  of  game.  The  money  value  of  the  meat,  poultry, 
eggs,  and  every  kind  of  provision,  except  stores,  consumed  during  this 
period,  amounted  to   1323/.  7/.  11  ^</.    The  quantity  of  game  killed 


366  Leicester  Castle. 

during  the  season  over  all  his  Grace's  manoi-s,  ig  thus  stated : — 1 733 
haies,  987  pheasants,  2101  partridges,  28  wild  ducks,  108  woodcocks, 
138  snipes,  947  rabbits,  776  grouse,  23  black  game,  and  6  teal. 


Leicester  Castle. 

Leicester,  placed  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Soar,  was  known  to 
the  Romans  by  the  name  of  Ratae,  and  was  then  a  place  of  importance. 
It  is  of  Britisii  origin,  and  was  taken  possession  of  and  fortified  by  the 
Romans.  The  line  of  the  wall  has  been  traced  upon  the  north,  south, 
and  east  sides,  the  western  defence  being  formed  by  the  river.  If,  as  is 
supposed,  the  fragment  of  Roman  masonry  known  as  the  Jewry  wall 
was  really  a  part  of  the  town  wall,  it  follows  that  the  wall  was  present 
on  the  west  side,  and  there  was  a  space  between  that  defence  and  the 
river ;  and  that  the  Castle,  which  occupies  the  south-west  angle,  was 
outside  the  town. 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  ascribes  its  name  and  foundation  to  the  fabu- 
lous Leir,  the  son  of  Bladud,  the  Lear  of  Shakspeare.  It  was  also  a  town 
of  great  importance  among  the  Saxons,  and  was  nearly  central  in  the  king- 
dom of  Mercia.  It  is  mentioned  in  a  Saxon  charter  of  819,  and  is  said 
to  have  given  the  title  of  Earl  to  Leofric,  a.d.  716.  It  was  taken  and 
many  of  the  inhabitants  massacred  by  Ethelfrith,  King  of  Northumber- 
land. The  town,  during  the  Danish  interregnum,  was  one  of  the  five 
burghs;  and  the  Castle,  like  those  of  Tamworth  and  Tutbury,  is  said 
to  have  been  either  founded  or  restored  by  Etheifreda,  daughter  of 
Alfred  the  Great,  in  913-14,  though  for  this  solid  evidence  is  wanting. 
Nevertheless,  that  Saxon  Leicester  was  the  seat  of  a  very  important 
earldom  is  very  certain,  and  the  residence  of  the  lords  was  most  pro- 
bably the  Castle. 

After  the  Conquest,  the  property  was  added  to  the  Royal  demesne, 
and  the  Castle  was  erected,  or  rather  an  old  fortress  was  enlarged  and 
strengthened,  to  keep  the  townsmen  in  check.  On  the  Conqueror's 
death  this  Castle  was  seized  by  the  Grentmaisnells,  and  held  by  them 
for  Robert  Duke  of  Normandie ;  it  was,  therefore,  attacked  and  re- 
duced to  a  heap  of  ruins  by  William  Rufus.  The  actual  property  of 
the  Grentmaisnells  in  Leicester,  was  one-fourth  of  the  town ;  but  it  docs 
not  appear  how  this  and  much  of  the  other  parts  were  acquired  by 
Robert,  Earl  of  Mellent,  who  became  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  died  in 
1 1 1 8,  in  possession  of  the  Castle  and  honour.  Outside,  but  just  beneatii 
the  fortress  wall,  was  a  collegiate  church,  of  Saxon  foundation,  dedicated 


Leicester  Castle.  367 

to  St.  Mary.    This  Robert  Bellomont  rebuilt  and  enriched  very  consi- 
derably in  1 103,  and  he  is  thought  also  to  have  completed  the  Castle. 

Robert  Bossu,  the  second  Earl,  took  the  part  of  Henry  I.  He  also 
strengthened  and  enlarged  the  Castle.  He  was  the  founder  of  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Mary  de  Pratis,  outside  the  town  ;  and,  to  endow  this,  he 
diminished  the  ecclesiastical  staff,  and  diverted  some  of  the  lands  fi-om 
his  father's  foundation  by  the  Castle.     He  dietl  1 167. 

Robert  Blanchmains,  his  son,  is  reputed  to  have  enlarged  and 
strengthened  the  Castle,  and  his  constable,  Anketel  Mallory,  held  it 
against  Henry  H.  in  1175,  unsuccessfully.  Both  Castle  and  town 
were  taken,  the  town  wall  was  demolished,  and,  it  is  said,  between  the 
north  and  cast  gates  was  never  rebuilt. 

Robert  Fitzparnell,  the  fourth  Earl,  died  childless  in  1204,  when  Lei- 
cester Castle,  and  in  1206  the  earldom,  came  to  Simon  de  Montfort, 
who  had  married  Amicia,  his  sister  and  coheir.  Upon  the  death  at 
Evesham  of  their  son  Simon,  in  1 265,  and  his  attainder,  the  earldom  and 
Castle  were  granted  to  Edmond,  second  son  of  Henry  HI.,  Earl  of 
Leicester  and  Lancaster,  and  the  Castle  has  since  descended  with  the 
Lancaster  property,  and  is  still  a  part  of  the  duchy  of  that  name. 

Henry,  Earl  of  Lancaster  and  Leicester,  founded  the  Hospital  of  the 
Newark  contiguous  to  the  Castle  in  1322,  and  the  works  were  com- 
pleted by  Henry,  his  son,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  in  1354.  The  hospital 
contained  four  acres.  It  reached  the  river,  and  covered  the  Castle  on 
the  south  side,  and  at  this  time  one  approach  to  the  Castle  is  across  the 
Newark,  through  its  larger  and  smaller  gates. 

The  Earls  and  Dukes  of  Lancaster  must  have  restored  the  Castle,  as 
they  resided  here  very  frequently,  and  with  their  usual  display.  When 
John  of  Gaunt  granted  certain  privileges  to  the  city  in  1376,  he  reserved 
the  Castle  and  its  mill,  and  the  rents  and  services  of  the  Castle  court 
and  its  office  of  porter.  In  the  Castle  he  entertained  Richard  II.  and 
his  Queen  with  great  splendour  in  1390. 

in  1414,  when  Henry  V.  held  a  Parliament  in  the  Hall  of  the  Grey 
Friars,  he  resided  at  the  Castle,  and  it  was  in  the  great  hall  of  the 
Castle  that  was  held  the  Parliament  of  1425-6,  the  Commons  meeting 
in  an  apartment  below  it ;  this,  however,  could  scarcely  be  the  case  as 
regards  the  existing  hall,  which  is  on  the  ground  level. 

Homy  VI.  was  here  in  1426,  and  in  1444  the  Castle  and  honour  were 
includtd  in  his  marriage  settlement.  In  1450  a  third  Parliament  was 
held  at  Leicester.  Edward  IV.  was  here  in  1463  and  \a,(i^,  but  from 
this  period  the  Castle  seems  to  have  been  neglectcc!  "'<!  t"  hive  fallen 
into  great  decay. 


368  Leicester  Abbey  and  Cardinal  Wolsey. 

Leland,  who  visited  Leicester  about  151 2,  says :  "  The  castelle  stond- 
jng  nere  the  west  bridge  is  at  this  tyme  a  thing  of  small  estimation,  and 
there  is  no  apparaunce  other  [either]  of  high  waullcs  or  dykes.  So  that 
I  think  that  the  lodgiiiges  that  now  be  there  were  made  sins  the  tyme  of 
the  Barons'  war  in  Henry  III.  tyme,  and  great  likely  hood  there  is  that 
the  castelle  was  much  defaced  in  Henry  H.  tyme,  when  the  wauUes  of 
Liercester  were  dcfacid." — (^Abridged  from  a  communicaticn  to  the 
Buildre.) 

In  the  time  of  Charles  I.  the  materials  of  the  Castle  were  sold,  and 
there  are  now  few  remains  of  it,  except  the  mound,  or  earthwork  of  the 
keep,  which,  though  broad,  is  less  lofty  than  usual  in  the  more  impor- 
tant Saxon  castles.  It  is  about  thirty  feet  high,  and  100  feet  diameter 
upon  its  circular  top,  which  is  quite  flat. 


Leicester  Abbey  and  Cardinal  Wolsey. 

Leicester  Abbey  was  founded  in  the  year  1143,  in  the  reign  of  King 
Stephen,  by  Robert  Bossu,  Earl  of  Leicester,  for  black  canons  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Augustine,  and  was  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  It  is 
situated  in  a  pleasant  meadow  to  the  north  of  the  town,  watered  by  the 
river  Soar,  whence  it  acquired  the  name  of  5/.  Mary  de  Pratis,  or  de  la 
Pre.  This  monastery  was  richly  endowed  with  lands  in  thirty-six  of  the 
neighbouring  parishes,  besides  various  possessions  in  other  counties,  and 
enjoyed  considerable  privileges  and  immunities.  Bossu,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  Lady  Amicia,  his  wife,  became  a  canon  regular  in  his  own 
foundation,  in  expiation  of  his  rebellious  conduct  towards  his  sovereign, 
and  particularly  for  the  injuries  which  he  had  thereby  brought  upon 
the  "  goodly  town  of  Leycestre."  The  monastery  had  liberty  of  pro- 
curing fuel  and  keeping  cattle  in  divers  other  manors.  Amicia,  the  wife 
of  the  founder,  gave  two  bucks  annually.  Margaret  de  Quincey  also 
gave  a  buck  annually  out  of  Charnwood  Forest,  and  land  at  Sheepshead. 
Robert  de  Quincey,  her  husband,  confirmed  these  grants,  and  added  the 
tenth  of  all  hay  sold  in  Ade  and  Wyffeley,  and  the  right  shoulder  of  all 
the  deer  killed  in  the  park  of  Acle. 

Leicester  Abbey  was  rendered  famous  as  being  the  last  residence  of 
the  unhappy  A\'olsey :  within  its  walls  was  once  witnessed  a  scene  more 
humiliating  to  human  ambition,  and  more  instructive  to  human  gran- 
deur, than  almost  any  which  history  has  produced.  Here  the  fallen 
pride  of  Wolsey  retreated  from  the  insults  of  the  world,  all  his  visions 
of  ambition  were  now  gone;  his  pomp  and  pageantry  and  crowded 
levees.    On  this  spot  he  told  the  listening  monks,  the  sole  attendants  of 


Leicester  Abbey  and  Cardinal  Wolsey.  369 

his  dying  hour,  as  they  stood  around  his  pallet,  that  he  was  come  to  lay 
his  bones  among  them,  and  gave  them  a  pathetic  testimony  to  the  truth 
and  joys  of  religion. 

On  his  road  to  London,  whither  he  had  been  summoned  from  his 
Castle  at  Cawood,  by  Henry,  to  take  his  trial  for  high  treason,  he  was 
seized  with  a  disorder,  which  so  increased  as  to  oblige  his  resting  at 
Leicester,  where  he  was  met  at  the  Abbey-gate  by  the  Abbot  and  his 
whole  convent.  The  first  ejaculation  of  Wolsey  on  meeting  these  holy 
persons,  plainly  shows  that  he  was  aware  of  his  approaching  end: 
"Father  Abbot,"  said  he,  "  1  am  come  hither  to  lay  my  bones  among 
you ;"  and  with  much  difficulty  he  was  canied  upstairs,  which  it  was 
fated  he  was  never  again  to  descend  alive.  The  very  next  day  the 
Abbot  was  summoned  to  administer  the  fifth  sacrament  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  called  extreme  unction,  and  the  guard  were  desired  to 
witness  his  last  moments.  He  expired  as  the  clock  struck  eight, 
saying,  "  If  I  had  served  God  as  diligently  as  I  have  done  the  King,  he 
would  not  have  given  me  over  in  my  grey  hairs." 

The  remains  of  the  Cardinal  were  interred  in  the  Abbey  church  at 
Leicester,  after  having  been  viewed  by  the  mayor  and  corporation  (for 
the  prevention  of  false  rumours),  and  were  attended  to  the  grave  by  the 
Abbot  and  all  his  brethren.  This  last  ceremony  was  perfoi-metl  by 
torchlight,  the  canons  singing  dirges,  and  offering  orisons,  at  between 
four  and  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  cf  St.  Andrew's  Day,  Novem- 

l^r  30.  ^530- 

At  the  Dissolution,  the  site  of  the  Abbey  was  granted  to  William, 
Marquis  of  Northampton.  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  Earl  of 
Huntingdon  was  in  possession  of  it ;  but  in  the  succeeding  reign  it 
bL-longcd  to  the  Cavendish  family,  and  was  the  seat  of  the  Countess  of 
Devonshire,  till  the  period  of  the  Civil  War,  during  which  a  party  of 
Royalists  from  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  under  the  command  of  Henry 
Hastings,  afterwards  Lord  Loughborough,  came  and  burnt  the  Abbey, 
leaving  only  the  walls  standing.  In  1645,  the  town  of  Leicester,  under 
Colonel  Thomas  Grey,  on  the  31st  of  May,  was  stormed  by  Charles  I. 
and  Prince  Rui>ert,  with  great  slaughter,  but  it  was  recovered  on  the 
i8th  of  June,  in  the  same  year,  by  the  Parliamentarians  under  Fairfax. 

There  is  a  traditional  story  that  the  stone  coffin  in  which  Wolsey 's 
remains  were  placed,  was,  after  its  disinterment,  used  as  a  horse-trou^jh 
at  an  inn  in  or  near  Leicester. 


B  D 


370 


LINCOLNSHIRE. 

Holy  Sepulchres. 

"The  bniisef  of  the  serpent's  head,  the  woman's  promised  seed, 
The  second  in  the  Trinity,  the  food  our  souls  to  feed  ; 
The  vine,  the  hght,  the  door,  the  way,  the  shepherd  of  us  all, 
Whose  manhood  join'd  to  Deity,  did  ransom  us  from  thrall ; 
That  was  and  is,  and  evermore  will  be  the  same  to  his — 
That  sleeps  to  none  that  wakes  to  him,  that  turns  our  curse  to  bliss ; 
Whom  yet  unseen  the  patriarchs  saw,  the  prophets  had  foretold, 
The  apostles  preach'd,  the  saints  ador'd,  and  martyrs  do  behold. 
The  same  (Augustus  emp>eror)  in  Palestine  was  bom. 
Amongst  his  own, — and  yet  his  own  did  curse  their  bliss,  hira  scorn." 

Warner. 

In  some  of  our  ancient  churches,  as  at  Stanton  St.  John's,  Oxon, 
may  yet  be  seen  on  the  north  side  of  the  chancel,  near  the  altar,  a  low- 
arched  recess,  resembling  in  design  the  canopy  of  a  tomb ;  but  though 
this  recess  has  the  aspect  and  bears  the  title  of  sepulchre,  it  was  never 
constructed  to  cover  the  remains  of  mortal  man,  but  was  intended  to 
represent  the  sepulchrum  doniini,  wherein,  on  the  evening  of  Good 
Friday,  were  placed  the  crucifix  and  pyx,  and  at  times,  according  to 
Barnabe  Googe's  English  version  of  Naogeorgus,  an  effigy  of  the 
defunct  Saviour : 

"Another  image  doe  they  get,  like  one  but  newly  deade, 

With  legges  stretcht  out  at  length,  and  handes  upon  his  body  spreade ; 
And  him,  with  pompe  and  sacred  song,  they  beare  unto  his  grave, 
His  bodie  all  being  wrapt  in  lavvne,  and  silkes  and  sarcenet  brave." 

It  was  an  ancient  belief  that  the  second  advent  of  our  Lord  would 
take  place  on  Easter  Eve ;  hence  arose  the  practice  of  watching  the 
sepulchre  until  the  dawn  of  Easter  Sunday,  when  the  crucifix  and  pyx 
were  removed  with  devout  ceremony  to  the  altar,  and  the  sacred  roof 
re-echoed  the  joyous  declaration — Christus  resurgens. 

The  purport  of  these  Holy  Sepulchres  was  in  some  instances  rendered 
permanently  apparent  by  a  few  images  being  carved  on  the  front  of  the 
base  representing  the  Roman  guard  who  watched  the  shrine  at 
Jerusalem.  The  curious  sepulchre  in  Patrington  church,  Yorkshire, 
has  three  arches  at  its  base,  within  each  of  which  is  seated  a 
sleeping  soldier,  with  pointed  basinet  and  blazoned  shield.  This 
curious  example  is  of  the  Decorated  style  of  architecture,  and  has, 
about  halfway  up  its  height,  a  sort  of  shelf,  on  which  the  Saviour 


Holy  Sepulchres.  371 

appears  just  awakened  from  death ;  an  angel  with  censer  being  placed 
at  the  head  and  feet.  There  are  remains  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in 
the  churches  of  Gosberton,  Heckington,  Lincoln,  &c^  stately  and 
sumptuous.  That  of  Heckington  has  the  front  over  the  opening  di- 
vided into  six  compartments  in  two  stories.  Under  the  centre  pediment 
is  the  figure  of  Christ  rising  from  the  tomb,  and  at  his  feet,  on  the  sides 
of  the  pediment  below  him,  two  angels  looking  up  and  worshipping 
him.  Under  a  pediment  on  his  right  hand  is  a  woman,  perhaps  Mary 
Magdalen,  bringing  the  precious  spices  to  embalm  his  body;  and 
under  the  left-hand  pediment  another  woman.  With  her  is  an  angel ; 
and  two  more  angels,  crouching,  support  the  pediment  over  which  Our 
Lord  rises.  The  cornice  above  is  charged  with  grotesque  figures,  blow- 
ing single  and  double  flutes.  Upon  four  pediments  below  are  four 
soldiers,  the  guards  or  keepers  o  the  Sepulchre,  in  the  posture  alluded 
to  by  Scripture :  "  For  fear  of  him  the  keepers  did  shake  and  became 
as  dead  men."  The  Sepulchre  in  the  chapel  on  Wakefield  Bridge, 
Yorkshire,  has  a  figure  of  the  Saviour  rising  from  the  tomb,  with  an 
angel  kneeling  on  each  side,  their  hands  clasped  in  fervent  adoration, 
whilst  three  soldiers  beneath  are  gazing  upwaids  in  fearful  astonishment. 
The  beautiful  sepulchre  in  Northwold  church,  Norfolk,  in  the  Perpen- 
dicular style,  has  lost  its  image  of  the  Redeemer ;  but  on  its  base  are 
four  soldiers,  each  divided  from  the  other  by  a  tree.  The  three  seated 
soldiers  are  all  that  now  remain  of  the  Easter  Sepulchre  in  Lincoln 
Cathedral.  Antl  a  portion  of  the  guard  is  all  that  is  left  of  the  Sepulchre, 
which  is  noted  to  have  come  from  Glastonbury  Abbey,  and  described  in 
our  account  of  that  celebrated  foundation. 

Among  the  Sepulchres  in  churches  is  that  at  Hurstmonceaux,  where 
Thomas  Fienes,  Lord  Dacre,  by  will,  dated  Sept.  i,  1531,  bequeathed  his 
body  to  be  buried  on  the  north  side  of  the  high  altar,  appointing  that  a 
tomb  should  be  made  for  placing  there  the  Sepulchre  of  Our  Lord.  Sir 
Henry  Colet  wills  to  be  bur  ed  at  Stepney,  at  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
before  St.  Dunstan;  but  there  are  no  traces  of  it.  At  Holcombe 
Bumell,  Devonshire,  near  the  altar,  is  a  curious  piece  of  imageiy,  in 
alto  relievo,  representing  the  resurrection  of  Our  Saviour,  and  the 
terror  of  the  Roman  soldiers  who  guarded  the  Sepulchre.  Weever 
says,  the  Knights  Templars  had  a  representation  of  Christ's  Sepulchre 
in  their  chajwl  in  Holbom,  with  verses  brought  from  Jerusalem. 
This,  of  course,  must  have  been  a  portable  shrine ;  probably  like  thoee 
still  found  in  collections,  formed  of  wood  set  with  pearl  shell,  and  of 
which  two  examples  are  in  the  British  Museum.  In  1846,  Mr. 
CrofLon  Croker  cxliibited  to  the  British  Archsological  Association  the 

B  B  2 


372  Holy  Sepulchres. 

bust  of  a  knight  from  a  Holy  Sepulchre,  stated  to  have  been  found  in  the 
Temple  Church.  It  was  a  counterpart  to  the  heads  of  the  guard  in  the 
cliapel  on  Wakefield  Bridge. 

Among  the  corruptions  in  the  office  of  the  holy  communion,  and  the 
many  ridiculous  pieces  of  pageantry  used  in  it,  Bishop  Burnet  reckons 
"  the  laying  the  host  in  the  sepulchre  they  made  for  Christ  on  Good 
Friday."  Curious  accounts  exist  of  the  expenses  of  making  and  painting 
the  sepulchre,  for  watching  it,  bread  and  ale  for  those  who  watched  it, 
great  wax-tapers  for  burning  before  the  Sepulchre,  &c.  Fuller  says, 
charitably,  "  I  could  suspect  some  ceremony  on  Easter  Eve,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  soldiers  watching  Christ's  grave,  but  am  loth  to  charge  that 
age  with  more  superstition  than  it  was  clearly  guilty  of." 

Mr.  Syer  Cuming  obsenes,  that  "  in  reviewing  the  subject  of  Easter 
sepulchres,  we  cannot  help  remarking  on  the  paucity  of  early  repre- 
sentations of  the  tomb  and  resurrection  of  Our  Lord,  and  the  quaint 
way  in  which  they  were  set  forth  by  ancient  artists.  Among  the 
sculptures  in  Agincourt's  History  of  Art  by  its  Monuments  is  a  Latin 
carving  on  ivory  of  the  Greek  school  of  the  tenth  century,  on  which  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  appears  as  a  round  building  of  two  stories,  with  conical 
roof,  and  having  a  door  with  a  window  above  it ;  while  four  soldiers  in 
classic  habiliments,  armed  with  spears  and  shields,  are  seated  two  on 
each  side.  The  Saviour  is  not  shown  on  the  panel,  the  upper  part 
being  occupied  by  the  hanging  of  Judas.  This  curious  ivory  is  pre- 
served in  the  treasury  of  St.  Ambrose,  at  Milan. 

In  an  Anglo-Saxon  MS.  in  the  Harleian  collection,  is  an  illumination 
where  the  sleeping  guard  at  the  tomb  is  armed  with  a  long  spear  and 
huge  convex  buckler,  bossed  and  bound  with  metal,  and  really  repre- 
senting a  soldier  of  the  tenth  century.  A  remarkable  relic  of  gilt-brass, 
believed  to  be  the  panel  of  a  pyx,  or  receptacle  for  the  consecrated  host, 
was  discovered  several  years  since  during  the  repairs  of  the  Temple 
Church,  and  which  bears  in  high  relief  three  soldiers  standing  beneath 
round-topped  arches.  The  pyx,  no  doubt,  was  intended  to  represent 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  these  soldiers  a  portion  of  the  Roman  guard, 
tliough  the  costume  is  that  of  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century, 
each  wearing  a  conic  helmet  with  nasal,  hauberk  of  flat  ringlets  reach- 
ing below  the  knees,  under  tunics,  and  shoes  with  cuned  points.  They 
have  long,  decorated,  kite-shaped  shields,  with  prominent  bosses,  a 
sword  on  the  left  side,  and  one  holds  a  spear.  It  was  not  until  the  in- 
troduction of  the  Decorated  style  of  architecture  that  representations 
ot  the  Holy  Sepulchre  appear  to  have  become  a  common  feature  in  our 
cnurches,  and  evidence  exists  that  they  continued  to  be  built,  repaired, 


Thornton  Abbey.  373 

and  furnished  down  to  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
subject  of  the  Resurrection  of  Our  Lord  then  seems  to  have  become  far 
more  popular,  if  we  may  dare  to  employ  such  an  expression,  than  it 
had  ever  been  before,  and  both  painter  and  sculptor  imparted  to  it  a 
grandeur  and  variety  in  conception  unseen  in  designs  of  an  earlier  era. 
The  seventeenth  century  witnessed  a  melancholy  decadence  in  religious 
treatment  of  the  sacred  history.  The  image  of  the  resuscitated 
Redeemer  was  indeed  still  placed  erect  upon  the  canvas,  but  the  poetry 
and  spiritualism  of  art  lay  dead. 


Thornton  Abbey. 

The  peninsula  in  Yorkshire  denominated  Holdemess,  was  given  by 
AVilliam  the  Conqueror  to  Drugo  de  Buercr,  a  Fleming,  on  whom  he 
bestowed  his  niece  in  marriage ;  but  this  inhuman  lord  poisoned  his 
consort,  fled  from  his  possessions,  and  was  succeeded  in  his  estates  by 
Stephen  FitzOdo,  lord  of  Albemarle,  in  Normandy.  On  the  death  of 
Stephen,  his  son  William,  surnamed  le  Gros,  obtained  possession  of 
his  estates  and  titles,  established  or  enriched  several  religious  houses, 
and  among  the  rest  founded  Thornton  monastery,  in  Lincolnshire,  in 
the  year  1139,  as  a  priory  of  black  canons,  and  dedicated  it  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  He  died  in  1 180,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  buried 
here.  The  site  of  the  monastery  adjoins  the  parish  of  Thornton  Curtis, 
about  five  miles  from  Barton-on-Humber,  and  is  a  noble  object  seen 
from  the  Manchester,  Sheffield,  and  Lincolnshire  Railway. 

The  establishment  was  at  first  governed  by  one  Richard,  a  prior,  who, 
together  with  the  monks,  were  introduced  from  the  monastery  at 
Kirkham.  Asa  priory  it  continued  but  for  a  short  period,  for  having 
been  endowed  with  many  liberal  grants,  it  was  made  an  Abliey.  In 
1541,  Henry  VIII.,  on  his  return  from  a  joumey  into  the  North,  with 
his  queen  and  retinue,  crossed  the  Humber,  from  Hull  to  Barrow,  and 
honoured  the  Abbey  of  Thornton  with  a  ceremonious  visit ;  when  the 
whole  monastery  came  out  in  solemn  procession  to  meet  the  royal 
guests,  and  sumptuously  entertained  them  for  several  days.  This 
might  probably  be  a  skilful  manoeuvre  of  the  Abbot  to  evade  that 
impending  storm  which  threatened  destruction  to  his  own,  as  well  as 
every  other  monastic  institution  in  the  kingdom.  Nor  did  it  entirely 
lose  itsefTect:  Henry  remembered  the  hospitality  and  other  flattering 
attentions  here  paid  him ;  for  though  at  the  Pissolution  Thornton  was 


374  Thornton  Abbey. 

suppressed  with  the  rest,  the  greater  part  of  its  revenues  were  preserved 
for  the  endowment  of  a  College,  which  was  established  here.  In  the 
next  reign  it  was  suppressed,  but  some  of  its  members  were  allowed 
pensions. 

From  the  present  remains,  Thornton  Abbey  must  have  been  a  magni- 
ficent structure.  It  originally  consisted  of  an  extensive  quadrangle, 
suiTounded  by  a  deep  ditch,  and  an  exceedingly  high  rampart ;  thus 
being  defended  against  piratical  attacks,  to  which  its  contiguity  to  the 
Humber  and  the  German  Ocean  perhaps  often  exposed  it.  It  has  been 
affirmed  that  formidable  pirates  entered  the  Humber,  and  committed 
depredations  in  the  fifteenth  century.  The  architecture  presented  a 
curious  mixture  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  castellated  styles.  The  fine 
gatehouse,  which  is  late  Perpendicular,  forming  the  western  and  only 
entrance,  is  probably  entire  ;  it  is  truly  majestic,  and  admirably  calculated 
for  defensive  operations.  It  still  exhibits  a  barbican,  battlement,  loop- 
holes, embattled  parapets,  terminating  with  two  strong  round  towers, 
between  which  was  originally  a  drawbridge.  The  grand  entrance-arch 
has  over  it  a  parapet,  whence  a  small  doorway  leads  to  a  cell^  probably 
the  watchman's  lodge ;  in  the  entrance  are  the  grooves  of  the  decayed 
portcullis,  and  fragments  of  two  ponderous  doors.  The  western  face 
of  this  entrance  has  six  embattled  turrets  rising  to  the  summit.  Between 
the  two  middle  turrets  stand  three  statues  ;  the  centre  one  has  a  royal 
crown  above  his  head,  another  partly  in  armour,  and  the  third  mitred, 
with  a  pastoral  staff,  each  figure  under  an  enriched  canopy.  Above 
these  are  two  or  three  small  figures,  in  the  attitude  of  prayer ;  and 
other  niches  in  this  front  once  also  contained  statues.  The  cells, 
chambers,  and  passages  of  the  interior  are  very  numerous:  on  the  first 
floor  is  the  grand  banqueting-room,  its  bay  window  having  its  stone- 
work still  entire.  There,  we  may  suppose,  in  1541,  the  obsequious 
monks  entertained  King  Henry,  with  his  gentle  Queen,  Jane  Seymour. 
What  suit  and  service  were  paid  in  this  very  room  by  the  bare-headed 
lathers  to  their  royal  guest,  all  unconscious  that  the  destroyer  was  so 
near — he  who,  surrounded  by  stores  of  wealth,  was  even  then  planning 
its  appropriation. 

The  chapter-house  and  abbot's  lodgings  remain,  the  former  a  com- 
plete but  beautiful  ruin.  Eastward  of  the  entrance  have  been  ex- 
cavated the  remains  of  the  magnificent  church.  Among  the  tombs  un- 
earthed is  one  inscribed  "  Robert i  et  Julia,"  date  1443;  who  were 
they  who  in  the  days  of  the  meek  King  Henry  VI.  here  found  repose 
from  the  feverish  dream  of  life  ? 

In  taking  down  a  wall  in  the  ruins  of  the  Abbey,  a  human  skeleton 


Sotncrton  Castle  and  King  John  of  France.       375 

was  found,  with  a  table,  a  book,  and  a  candlestick.  It  is  supposed  to 
have  been  the  remains  of  the  fourteenth  Abbot,  who,  it  is  stated,  was 
for  some  crime  sentenced  to  be  immured  (that  is,  buried  alive  within 
the  wall),  a  mode  of  capital  punishment  not  uncommon  in  monasteries. 
Thornton  was  part  of  the  estate  of  Henry  Percy,  fourth  Lord 
Alnwick,  and  first  Earl  of  Northumberland,  who  was  slain  on 
Bramham  Moor,  February  29,  1407-8,  after  a  sharp  fight  with  the 
forces  of  Henry  IV.  His  head,  white  with  age,  was  cut  off  and  sent 
to  London,  with  that  of  Lord  Bardolf ;  it  was  there  set  upon  London 
Bridge,  upon  a  pole ;  his  body  being  divided  into  four  parts,  one  of 
which  was  placed  upon  a  gate  at  London,  another  at  Lincoln,  the 
third  at  Berwick-upon-Tweed,  and  the  fourth  at  Newcastle-upon 
Tyne;  but  in  May  following  they  were  all  taken  down  and  intened. 
Thornton  was  afterwards  possessed  by  Henry  the  second  Earl,  son 
of  Hotspur,  who,  in  the  civil  wars  of  York  and  Lancaster,  distinguished 
himself  in  the  latter  interest.  The  old  place  has  not  been  uni- 
foi-mly  venerated  by  its  possessors :  one  proprietor  has  cut  dovm  an 
avenue  of  trees,  which  extended  from  the  gateway  nearly  to  the  re- 
mains of  the  church.  But  another  owner  evinced  greater  respect  for 
Thornton  by  resen'ing  among  its  ruins  a  private  room  for  occasional 
retreat ;  he  also  took  great  interest  in  the  remains  of  the  venerable 

pile. 

♦ 

Somerton  Castle  and  King  John  of  France. 

Somerton  Castle,  about  eight  miles  from  Lincoln,  is  reputed  to  have 
been  built  about  1305,  by  Anthony  Bee,  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  was 
most  likely  seized  by  Edward  I.  Here  Sir  Saer  de  Rochford,  a  brave 
soldier  in  the  French  invasions  of  Edward  IIL,  engaged  to  keep  safely 
John,  King  of  France,  then  captive  in  England,  at  the  same  time  with 
David  Bruce,  the  Scottish  King.  The  remuneration  for  this  service  it 
was  stipulated  should  be  two  shillings  a  day.  The  castle  is  in  ruins, 
which  are  partly  occupied  as  a  farm-house.  The  extent  of  the  remains 
warrants  the  supposition  that  the  edifice  was  one  of  feudal  character- 
noble  and  extensive.  An  outer  and  an  inner  moat  inclosed  a  rectangular 
area ;  the  ramparts  have  long  since  disappeared,  but  there  are  the  re- 
mains of  the  circular  towers  at  the  four  angles.  Two  chimneys  upon 
the  only  remaining  tower  are  believed  to  be  coeval  with  the  castle,  and 
are  considered  to  be  very  curious.  A  tower,  supposed  to  have  been 
erected  near  one  of  the  drawbridges  of  the  outer  moat,  was  discovered 
about   1857,  and  was  partly  destroyed  for  the  purpose  of  repairing 


376       Somcrton  Castle  and  King  John  of  France. 

the  adjacent  roads  !  Two  miles  distant  is  Boothby  Graffoe,  the  curate 
of  which  was  once  daily  remunerated  by  John,  the  captive  French 
King. 

It  has,  however,  been  questioned  whether  this  King  was  confined  at 
Somerton,  though  the  published  Journal  of  his  Expenses  refers  to  the 
last  year  of  his  captivity ;  and  a  paper  upon  it  has  been  contributed  to 
the  Philobiblon  Society,  by  the  Duke  of  Aumale,  founded  upon 
documents  discovered  by  his  Royal  Highness  among  the  archives  of  the 
House  of  Conde,  and  translated  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for 
October,  1856.  Therein  the  original  passage,  referring  to  one  of  the 
localities  of  the  King's  captivity,  is  thus  translated: — "In  December, 
1358,  steps  were  taken  to  remove  the  King  of  France  to  the  Castle  of 
Somerton,  in  Lincolnshire."  That  John  was  confined  in  Lincolnshire 
is  further  proved  by  two  circumstances.  In  the  book  of  expenses  above 
referred  to  there  is  an  entry  for  the  hiring  of  a  house  at  Lincoln  for  the 
autumnal  quarter,  including  expenses  for  work  done,  i6j.  ;  and  more- 
over, when  the  King's  furniture,  &c.,  was  sold,  on  his  leaving 
"  Somerton,"  one  William  Spain,  of  Lincoln,  got  "  the  King's  bench" 
for  nothing.  Such  is  the  statement  of  Dr.  Doran,  in  Notes  and  Queries, 
2nd  S.,  wherein  another  Correspondent,  adds:  "There  is  no  contend- 
ing the  authority  of  Rymer's  Fcedera  (p.  131),  which  gives  the  very 
deed  between  Edward  III.  and  William,  Baron  D'Eyncourt,  by  which 
John  was  committed  to  the  custody  of  that  noble,  to  be  conveyed  to 
the  Castle  of  Somerton,  in  the  county  of  Lincoln ;  and  the  whole 
account  which  Dr.  Doran  has  given  of  the  French  monarch's  journey 
and  residence  at  Somerton,  from  the  Duke  of  Aumale's  work,  is  per- 
fectly confirmatory  of  the  above  deeds.  Still  it  has  been  stated  in 
various  publications  that  King  John  was  confined  at  Somerton,  in 
Somersetshire. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  captivity  John  resided  at  the  palace  of  the 
Savoy,  in  London,  whence  he  was  transferred  to  Somerton ;  previous 
to  which,  however,  in  accordance  with  an  edict  of  Edward  III.,  John 
had  been  forced  to  dismiss  forty-two  of  his  attendants,  but  he  still  re- 
tained about  the  same  number  around  his  person.  Among  these  were 
two  chaplains,  a  secretary,  a  clerk  of  the  chapel,  a  physician,  a  maitree 
if  hotel,  three  pages,  four  valets,  three  wardrobe-men,  three  furriers,  six 
grooms,  two  cooks,  a  fruiterer,  a  spice-man,  a  barber,  and  a  washer; 
besides  some  higher  oflRcers,  and  a  person  who  appears  to  have  been  a 
maker  of  musical  instruments  and  clocks,  as  well  as  a  minstrel ;  and 
last,  though  not  least,  "  Maitre  Jean  lefol."  The  Somerton  Castle  fur- 
niture being  insuflSgient  for  the  above  inmates,  the  captive  King  added 


Somcrton  Castle  and  King  John  of  France.       -i^yy 

a  number  of  tables,  chairs,  forms,  and  trestles,  besides  fittings  for  the 
stables,  and  stores  of  firewood  and  turf.  He  also  fitted  up  his  own 
chamber,  and  two  others,  besides  the  chapel,  with  hangings,  curtains, 
cushions,  ornamented  coffers,  sconces.  &c.,  the  furniture  of  each  of 
these  filling  a  separate  waggon  when  the  King  left  Somerton. 

Large  consignments  of  good  Bordeaux  wines  were  transmitted  from 
France  to  the  port  of  Boston  for  the  captive  King's  use;  as  much  as 
a  hundred  and  forty  tuns  being  sent  at  one  time  as  a  present,  intended 
partly  for  his  own  use,  and  partly  as  a  means  of  raising  money,  to  keep 
up  his  royal  state.  One  of  the  most  costly  items  in  the  King's  expendi- 
ture was  sugar,  together  with  spices,  bought  in  London,  Lincoln,  and 
Boston,  great  quantities  of  which,  we  may  infer,  were  used  in  confec- 
tionery ;  for  in  the  household  bocks  we  meet  constantly  with  such 
items  as  eggs  to  clarify  sugar,  roses  to  flavour  it  with,  and  cochineal  to 
colour  it.  These  bon-bons  appear  to  have  cost  about  three  shillings  the 
pound ;  and  especial  mention  is  made  of  a  large  silver-gilt  box,  for 
the  King  to  keep  these  sweats  in. 

In  the  article  of  dress  John  was  most  prodigal ;  and  so  large  were 
the  requirements  of  the  captive  King  in  this  particular,  that  a  regular 
tailoring  establishment  was  set  up  in  Lincoln  by  his  order,  over  which 
one  M.  Tapin  presided. 

The  King  passed  much  of  his  time  in  novel-reading,  music,  chess, 
and  backgammon.  He  paid  for  writing  materials  in  Lincolnshire  three 
shillings  for  one  dozen  of  parchments,  sixpence  to  ninepence  for  a  quire 
of  paper,  one  shilling  for  an  envelope,  with  its  silk  binder,  and  four- 
pence  for  a  bottle  of  ink.  He  had  dogs — probably  greyhounds — for 
coursing  on  the  heaths  adjoining  Somerton ;  besides  falcons  and  game- 
cocks— a  charge  appearing  in  the  royal  household  accounts  for  the 
purchase  of  one  of  the  latter  birds,  termed  in  language  characteristic 
of  the  period,  "  un  coc  a  faire  jouster." 

On  March  21,  1360,  King  John  was  removed  from  Somerton,  and 
lodged  in  the  Tower  of  London,  the  journey  occupying  seven  days. 
Two  months  after,  he  was  released  on  signing  an  agreement  to  pay 
to  England  3,000,000  of  gold  crowns  (or  1,500,000/.)  for  his  ransom, 
to  be  paid  at  certain  periods ;  and  that  th?  King's  son,  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  and  other  noble  personages  of  France,  should  be  sent  over  as 
hostages  for  the  same;  but  they  broke  their  parole.  John  felt  himself 
bound  in  honour  to  return  to  the  English  coast,  and  accordingly,  four 
days  afterwards  he  crossed  the  sea  once  more,  and  placed  himself  at  the 
disposal  of  Edward.  The  palace  of  the  Savoy  was  appointed  as  his 
residence,  where  he  died  after  a  short  illness  in  the  spring  of  1364. 


378  Swineshcad  Abbey,  and  King  John. 

In  the  locality  of  Somerton  are  several  other  places  of  historic 
interest.  Near  Lincoln  is  the  Malandry,  or  House  for  Lepers,  founded 
by  Remigius,  the  first  Norman  Bishop,  who  accompanied  the  Con- 
queror; and  next  is  the  site  of  the  Priory  of  St.  Katherine,  whence  all 
the  Bishops  had  to  walk  barefoot  on  the  morning  of  installation.  The 
Kings,  in  their  visits  to  Lincoln,  used  to  stop  at  St-  Katherine's.  James  \, 
was  the  last  who  lodged  there.  Near  the  toll-gate  stood  one  of  the 
Crosses  of  Queen  Eleanor,  who  died  at  Harby,  in  a  house  still  moated 
round.  Navenby  Early  English  Church  has  an  exquisitely  sculptured 
"  Easter  Sepulchre,"  the  founder's  tomb.  The  privileges  of  holding 
fairs  and  markets,  granted  to  Navenby  by  Edward  the  Confessor, 
were  in  1291  transferred  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter  (now  owners  of  the 
manor)  for  the  leave  given  to  Edward  L  to  deposit  the  head  of  Queen 
Eleanor  under  the  altar  of  the  Cathedral.  Edward  also  granted  from 
this  manor  ten  marks  annually,  for  a  chantry  priest  at  Harby,  where 
the  Queen  died.  The  market-cross,  erected  there  to  her  memory,  has 
been  foolishly  taken  down.  The  Templars  had  several  preceptories  in 
Lincolnshire,  the  chief  being  Temple  Bruer,  founded  about  '185.  The 
church  was  circular,  in  imitation  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
at  Jerusalem ;  and  at  some  distance  a  tower  remains.  The  buildings 
were  of  vast  extent.  At  Temple  Bruer  were  all  the  state  officers  of  a 
baronial  castle,  and  a  large  band  of  retainers.  The  place  was  always 
fortified  and  guarded  ;  embattled  towers  were  erected  at  the  entrance 
gate,  which  was  also  provided  with  a  portcullis.  Torksey  is  another 
place  of  interest.  When  Paulinus  first  preached  the  word  to  the  people 
of  Lindisse,  and  converted  Blecca,  the  Governor  of  Lincoln,  it  is  con- 
jectured that  Blecca  and  his  family  were  baptizetl  in  the  Trent,  at 
Torksey.  The  place  suffered  fi-om  the  ravages  of  the  Danes,  and  under 
Norman  feudalism,  which  was  antagonistic  to  commerce,  out  of  which 
Torksey  had  risen.  The  old  town,  according  to  Leland,  stood  south 
of  the  present  one.  On  the  Trent  bank  is  the  ruin  of  Torksey  Hall, 
the  west  front  and  four  turrets,  and  a  south-end  fragment ;  it  was 
never  fortified.  It  was  the  residence  of  the  Jermyn  family,  who  accom- 
panied the  Queen  of  Charles  I.  in  her  retreat  to  France.  The  Hall  was 
destroyed  by  the  Parliamentary  troops  in  the  Civil  War. 


Swineshcad  Abbey,  and  King  John. 

Seven  miles  from  the  seaport  of  Boston,  in  Lincolnshire,  lies  the  rural 
town  of  Swineshead,  once  itself  a  port,  the  sea  having  flowed  up  to 


Swincshcad  Abbc}\  and  King  John.  379 

the  market-place,  where  was  a  harbour.  It  has  a  large  church,  con- 
taining some  beautiful  examples  of  Decorated  and  Perpendicular  Gothic 
architecture.  The  chancel  was  rebuilt  about  twenty  years  since,  at  an 
expense  of  upwards  of  1500/.  The  church  has  a  lofty  stone  tower,  with 
buttresses  and  enriched  pinnacles  at  the  angles,  and  a  stone  spire  rising 
from  the  centre. 

At  Swin.-shead,  in  1 134,  Robert  de  Greslei  founded  an  Abbey  of  Cis- 
tercian monks,  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  Gilbert  de  Hol- 
land, Abbot  of  Swineshead,  was  contemporary  with,  and  the  particular 
friend  of,  St.  Bernard,  whose  life  he  wrote.     He  died  in  1 280. 

The  name  of  Swineshead  is  familiar  to  every  reader  of  English  his- 
tory, from  its  having  been  the  resting-place  of  King  John  in  the  autumn 
of  1216,  when,  in  his  contest  with  the  Dauphin  of  France,  it  might  have 
been  doubtful  what  the  issue  of  the  struggle  would  have  been  if  the  life 
of  John  had  been  prolonged.  But  on  the  14th  of  October,  as  he  was 
anempting  to  ford  the  Wash,  at  low  water,  from  Cross-keys  to  the  Foss- 
tlyke,  and  had  already  got  across  himself,  with  the  greater  part  of  his 
aiTTiy,  the  return  of  the  tide  suddenly  swept  away  the  carriages  and 
horses  that  conveyed  all  his  baggage  and  treasures:  the  precise  spot  is 
still  called  "  King's  Comer."  The  King,  in  an  agony  of  vexation,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Cistercian  convent  of  Swineshead,  and  was  that  same  night 
seized  with  a  violent  fever,  the  consequence,  probably,  of  imtation  and 
fatigue,  but  which  one  account  attributes  to  an  imprudent  indulgence 
at  supper  of  fruit  and  new  cider.  John  halted  at  the  Abbey,  close 
to  the  town  of  Swineshead,  which  place  he  left  on  horseback.  Although 
very  ill,  he  was  conveyed  next  day  in  a  litter  to  the  Castle  of  Sleaford, 
then  in  his  possession  ;  and  thence  on  the  i6th  to  the  Castle  of  Newark, 
where  he  expired  on  the  i8th,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  the 
seventeenth  of  his  reign.  The  King's  death  is,  by  Matthew  Paris,  at- 
tributed to  a  fever;  but  an  author  who  lived  about  a  century  after  the 
event,  reports  that  John  was  poisoned  by  a  monk  of  Swineshead. 

After  the  Dissolution,  the  site  of  the  Abbey  was  granted,  in  i.^^.^i,  to 
Edward,  Lord  Clinton.  There  are  no  remains  now  left  of  this  once 
elegant  and  magnificent  building.  It  was  demolished  by  Sir  John  Stock- 
ton, who  died  in  1610,  and  was  buried  beneath  an  enriched  monument 
in  the  chancel  of  Swineshead  church.  The  Abbey  was  situated  about 
half  a  mile  eastward  of  the  town  ;  the  moated  areas  cover  a  large  space 
of  ground,  which,  with  a  c.  nsiderable  quantity  of  land  adjoining,  forms 
the  Abbey  farm.  Near  the  site,  with  the  materials,  was  erected  a  man- 
f  stone,  known  as  Swineshead  Abbey,  in  the  garden  attached  to 
;i  is  preserved  a  large  slab  of  stone,  sculptured  with  the  whole- 


380  Stamford  Castle^  and  Bull-ninning. 

length  figure  of  a  monk.  The  estate  was  the  property  of  the  late  Mr. 
Herbert  Ingram,  the  popular  Member  of  Parliament  for  Boston,  where 
a  marble  statue  has  been  erected  to  his  memory  by  public  subscription. 

Swineshead  has  other  antiquarian  and  historical  associations.  Near 
the  town  is  a  circular  Danish  encampment,  sixty  yards  in  diameter,  sur- 
rounded by  a  double  fosse ;  all  remarkably  perfect  to  the  present  day. 
This  was,  doubtless,  a  post  of  importance  when  the  Danes,  or  North- 
men, carried  their  ravages  through  England,  in  the  time  of  Ethelred; 
and  the  whole  country  passed  permanently  into  the  Danish  hands,  about 
A.D.  877.  The  inner  fosse,  almost  encircled  with  willows,  and  the  whole 
work,  except  in  the  eye  of  the  antiquary,  is  scarcely  associated  with  the 
strategies  of  war  and  siege. 

King  John  was  very  partial  to  Lincoln.  Matthew  Paris  alludes  to  an 
old  prophecy  which  forbade  a  kmg's  wearing  his  crown  in  Lincoln,  or. 
as  some  think,  even  entering  the  city.  Although  he  makes  John  the  first 
to  break  through  the  superstition,  yet  the  same  is  attributed  to  his  pre- 
decessor, Stephen,  who  is  described  by  Henry  of  Huntingdon  as  entering 
the  city  fearlessly.  This  was  soon  after  the  great  disasters  of  Stephen's 
reign ;  but  as  the  succession  eventually  departed  from  this  line.  Lord 
Lyttleton  observes  that  the  citizens  might,  nevertheless,  be  strengthened 
in  their  credulity ;  and  Henry  IL  certainly  honoured  it  so  far  as  to  wear 
his  crown  only  in  the  suburb  of  Wigford. 


Stamford  Castle,  and  Bull-running. 

Stamford  is  a  town  of  Lincolnshire,  of  great  historic  interest.  It  was 
a  borough  before  the  Conquest.  In  the  commencement  of  the  Civil 
War  of  John,  a.d.  12 115,  the  Barons  assembled  here  to  oppose  the  King, 
and  John  was  himself  at  Stamford  a  little  before  his  death.  Several 
Parliaments  and  Councils  were  held  at  Stamford  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  town  was  at  this  time  fortified  with  walls  and  towers  ;  there  was 
also  a  Castle,  which  was  demolished  in  the  reign  of  Richard  III. 

Here  was  the  barbarous  sport  of  Bull-running  performed  six  weeks 
before  Christmas.  "  The  butchers  of  the  town,"  says  an  authority  of 
the  period,  "  at  their  own  charge,  against  the  time,  provide  the  wildest 
bull  they  can  get ;  this  bull  overnight  is  had  into  some  stable,  or  barn, 
belonging  to  the  aldennan ;  the  next  morning  proclamation  is  made  by 
the  common  bellman  of  the  town,  round  about  the  same,  that  each  one 
shut  up  their  shop  doors  and  gates,  and  that  none,  upon  pain  of  impri- 
sonment, offer  to  do  any  violence  to  strangers,  for  the  preventing  whereof 


Stamford  Castle,  and  Bull-nmning.  381 

(the  town  being  a  great  thoroughfare,  and  then  being  in  term  time)  a 
guard  is  appointed  for  the  passing  of  travellers  through  the  same  with- 
out hurt.  That  none  have  any  iron  upon  their  bull-clubs,  or  other  staft' 
which  they  pursue  the  bull  with.  Which  proclamation  made,  and  the 
gates  all  shut  up,  the  bull  is  turned  out  of  the  alderman's  house, 
and  then  hivie,  skivy,  tag  and  rag,  men,  women,  and  children,  of  all 
sorts  and  sizes,  with  all  the  doga  in  the  town,  promiscuously  running 
after  him,  with  their  bull-clubs  spattering  dirt  in  each  other's  faces,  that 
one  would  think  them  to  be  so  many  furies  started  out  of  hell  for  the 
punishment  of  Cerberus,  as  when  Theseus  and  Pirithous  conquered  the 
place,  as  Ovid  describes  it. 

"A  ragged  troop  of  boys  and  girls 
Do  pellow  him  with  stones  : 
With  clubs,  with  whips,  and  many  nips, 
They  part  his  skin  from  bones." 

"  And  (which  is  the  greater  shame)  I  have  seen  both  senatores  majo- 
Tum  gentium  et  matronx  de  eodem  gradu,  following  this  bulling  business. 

"  I  can  say  no  more  of  it  but  only  to  set  forth  the  antiquity  thereof 
(as  the  tradition  goes) :  William  Earl  Warren,  the  first  lord  of  this 
town,  in  the  time  of  King  John,  standing  upon  his  castle-walls  in  Stam- 
ford, viewing  the  fair  prospect  of  the  river  and  meadow,  under  the  same, 
saw  two  bulls  a-fighting  for  one  cow ;  a  butcher  of  the  town,  the  owner 
of  one  of  these  bulls,  with  a  great  mastiff  dog,  accidentally  coming  by, 
set  his  dog  upon  his  own  bull,  who  forced  the  same  bull  up  into  the 
town,  which  no  sooner  was  come  within  the  same,  but  all  the  butchers' 
dogs,  both  great  and  small,  followed  in  pursuit  of  the  bull,  which,  by 
this  time  made  stark  mad  with  the  noise  of  the  people  and  the  fierceness 
of  the  dogs,  ran  over  man,  woman,  and  child,  that  stood  in  his  way ; 
this  caused  all  the  butchers  and  others  in  the  town  to  rise  up,  as  it  were, 
in  a  tumult,  making  such  a  hideous  noise  that  the  sound  thereof  came 
into  the  Castle  unto  the  ears  of  Earl  Warren,  who  presently  thereupon 
mounted  on  horseback,  rid  into  the  town  to  see  the  business,  which  then 
appearing  (to  his  humour)  very  delightful,  he  gave  all  those  meadows  in 
which  the  two  bulls  were  first  found  fighting  (which  we  now  call  the 
Castle  Meadows)  perpetually  as  a  common  to  the  butchers  of  the  town 
(after  the  first  grass  is  eaten)  to  keep  their  cattle  in  till  the  time  of 
slaughter :  upon  this  condition,  that,  as  upon  that  day  on  which  the 
sport  first  began,  which  was  (as  I  said  before)  that  day  six  weeks  before 
Christmas,  the  butchers  of  the  town  should  from  time  to  time,  yearly 
for  ever,  find  a  mad  bull  for  the  continuance  of  that  spoit. " 

Another  opinion  is  somewhat  opposed  to  that  of  our  foregoing  author: 


382  Stamford  Castle,  and  Btill-ntnniug. 

"  Under  so  many  lords  which  the  Castle  at  Stamford  had  for  its  mas- 
ters, there  is  no  record  nor  tradition  of  a  single  thing,  good,  bad,  or  in- 
difTerent,  being  performed  in  it,  saving  this  meadow  view  of  William 
Earl  Warren  ;  but  this  makes  ample  amends  for  historic  silence,  since 
it  produced  our  plebeian  carnival,  which  is  of  so  singular  a  nature,  that 
if  we  should  except  that  at  Tutbury,  in  Staffordshire  (to  be  described 
hereafter),  there  is  nothing  similar  to  it  in  His  Majesty's  dominions, 
nor,  I  believe,  in  the  dominions  of  any  other  potentate  on  the  globe — 
no,  it  stands  without  a  rival. 

"  But  this,  like  other  good  old  customs,  has  lost  something  of  its  ori- 
ginal spirit ;  nearly  half  a  century  ago,  I  remember  that  the  greatest 
part  of  the  bullards  had  uncoutti  and  antic  dresses,  whicli  they  prepared 
with  secret  pride  against  the  grand  day ;  I  remember  that  for  a  week 
before  this  day,  their  imps,  as  soon  as  it  grew  dark,  began  to  extend 
their  jaws  and  bawl  out  hoy  bull  hoy,  with  great  fury,  seeing  him,  as 
Shakspeare  says,  in  their  '  mind's  eye.' 

"  I  remember,  it  appears,  from  another  account,  that  the  bull  was  put 
up  either  in  the  bam  or  in  the  stable  of  the  chief  magistrate,  whereas 
now  the  chief  magistrate  will  not  suffer  him  to  set  a  foot  neither  in  his 
barn,  nor  his  stable,  nor  in  anything  that  is  his. 

"  If  the  doctrine  of  transmigration  be  true,  nothing  can  be  more  cer- 
tain than  that  the  soul  of  the  above  Earl  animated  the  body  of  Mr. 
Robert  Ridlington,  once  a  tanner,  alderman,  and  mayor,  of  this  corjio- 
ration,  who,  to  perpetuate  this  gallant  diversion  as  much  as  in  him  lay, 
left  half  a  crown  to  be  paid  annually  to  each  of  the  five  parishes,  for  the 
trouble  of  stopping  the  gates  and  avenues  of  the  town,  which  is  received 
on  St.  Thomas's-day." 

The  piece  of  meadow  which  the  butchers  hold  by  this  tenure,  con- 
tains i.bout  six  acres  of  ground ;  but  from  January  13  to  July  5,  they 
cannot  eater  on  it,  for  as  four  parts  out  of  five  belong  to  King's  Mill,  it 
is  during  that  time  inclosed  by  the  tenant  of  that  mill,  and  even  in  the 
other  seven  months  every  freeman  has  an  equal  right  with  them  to  turn 
any  cattle  on  it,  sheep  alone  excepted. 

'•  At  a  regular  bull-baiting,  as  in  case  of  bull-running,  the  animal 
having  been  purchased  for  the  purpose,  is  brought  (generally  accom- 
panied by  a  female)  from  the  sequestered  fields,  where  he  has  long 
reigned  the  unmolested  monarch.  He  is  secured  in  a  stable  or  other 
building  overnight,  and  on  the  following  morning  he  is  fixed  to  the  stake 
by  means  of  a  leathern  collar,  to  which  is  annexed  a  combined  rope  and 
chain  of  about  fifteen  yards  in  length.  The  points  of  his  horns  are  pre- 
viously mulBed  with  an  adhesive  composition  of  tow,  tallow,  and  pitch. 


Lincoln  Castle.  383 

If  he  appear  tame  and  dull,  he  is  goaded  to  madness  by  sharp-pointed 
sticks,  twisting  of  the  tail,  &c.  This  being  accomplished,  the  first  dog 
is  then  let  loose  ;  and  to  a  professed  bull-baiter  this  is  the  most  ecstatic 
moment  of  the  scene.  If  the  bull  continues  too  formidable  for  his  foe, 
a  second  and  a  third  are  added,  till,  with  pitiful  roarings  and  bellowings, 
he  is  pinned  by  the  nose  to  the  ground.  Though  this  is  not  the  fashion 
of  the  present  day  at  Stamford,  yet  it  rarely  happens  that  a  13th  of 
November  passes  over  without  one  or  more  dogs  being  let  loose  upon 
the  devoted  animal.  This  is  usually  done,  however,  when  he  is  at  large 
in  the  meadows  or  fields  (he  being  now  generally  liberated  from  the 
town  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon),  and  without  the  horns  being  mada 
pointless  and  inoffensive." 

But  the  bull-runnings  of  Stamford  lost  much  of  their  spirit  by  the 
"uncouth  and  antic  dresses"  being  dispensed  with,  and  the  patronage 
of  the  magistrates  being  withheld.  The  expense  of  gates  to  be  placed 
at  the  entrance  of  every  principal  street  leading  into  the  town,  became 
unnecessary,  as  the  bull  in  later  times  was  confined  to  one  street  with 
wagons,  carts,  and  tubs. 

Lincoln  Castle. 

Lincoln,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Witham,  was  a  place  of  consi- 
derable importance  under  the  Romans,  before  which  time  it  was  a 
British  town.  It  has  to  this  day  a  gate,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
Roman  remains  in  the  kingdom,  adjacent  to  which  is  a  mass  of  the 
Roman  wall.  In  the  time  of  the  Saxons  it  was  also  a  flourishing 
place ;  but  it  suffered  in  the  struggles  of  the  Saxons  and  the  Danes. 
William  the  Conqueror  ordered  the  erection  of  a  strong  Castle  here, 
A.I).  1086  ;  when  were  demolished  for  the  site  240  houses,  one  quarter 
of  the  entire  number.  In  the  reign  of  King  Stephen,  the  Empress  Maud 
was  besieged  here  by  the  King,  who  took  the  city,  but  the  Empress 
escaped.  The  Castle  was  shortly  after  surprised  by  some  of  her  par- 
tisans, and  being  besieged  by  the  King,  who  had  the  townsmen  in  his 
intaest,  was  relieved  by  the  approach  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Gloucester, 
natural  brother  to  the  Empress.  Stephen,  upon  the  approach  of  the  re- 
lieving force,  gave  battle  to  it ;  but  through  the  desertion  of  Alan,  Earl 
of  Richmond,  he  was  defeated  and  taken,  after  fighting  with  the  greatest 
intrepidity. 

In  the  Civil  Wars  of  the  reign  of  John,  the  town  was  taken  by  Gil- 
bert de  Gaunt,  one  of  the  Barons  in  the  interest  of  Louis,  Dauphin  of 
France,  who  bad  created  him  Earl  of  Lincoln.    The  Castle,  however, 


384  Lincoln  Castle, 

held  out  for  the  King,  and  was  besieged  by  Gilbert,  who,  hearing  that 
Jolin  was  approaching  from  Norfolk,  ntrcated  from  the  place.  John, 
however,  having  lost  his  baggage  in  the  Wash,  and  died  of  grief,  Gilbcit 
retook  the  town,  and  reinvested  the  Castle.  The  Earl  of  Pembroke, 
regent  during  the  minority  of  Henry  III.,  advanced  to  relieve  it,  and 
Fulke  de  Brent,  a  chieftain  of  the  King's  party,  threw  himself  with  a  re- 
inforcement into  the  Castle.  The  besiegers,  who  were  supported  by  a 
body  of  French,  were  attacked  on  both  sides ;  and  the  town,  in  which 
they  attempted  to  defend  themselves,  was  stormed  by  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke. The  Coinit  of  Perche,  commander  of  the  French,  was  slain  ; 
many  of  the  insurgent  barons  and  other  prisoners  of  rank  were  taken, 
and  the  party  of  the  Dauphin  was  crushed.  This  battle  was  fought 
June  4,  12 18.  At  a  subsequent  period  the  Castle  was  in  the  hands  of 
John  of  Gaunt,  son  of  Edward  III.,  who  greatly  improved  it. 

In  the  Civil  War  of  Charles  I.,  the  inhabitants  promised  to  support 
the  King,  but  in  the  struggle  which  followed,  the  Royalists  retreated  to 
the  Cathedral  and  the  Castle,  which  were  stormed  in  spite  of  a  gallant 
resistance,  on  the  night  of  May  5th,  1643,  two  days  after  the  arrival  of 
the  Parliamentary  army,  under  the  Earl  of  Manchester. 

The  remains  of  the  Castle  stand  on  the  hill,  west  of  the  Cathedral. 
They  consist  of  little  more  than  the  outer  wall  of  an  extensive  range  of 
fine  Norman  buildings,  with  Perpendicular  windows.  The  gateway, 
with  the  billet  in  the  dripstone  over  the  archway,  and  two  good  win- 
dows, with  shafts  in  the  jambs,  are  of  the  time  of  the  Norman  fortifica- 
tions. In  one  of  the  towers  of  the  postern  is  the  remains  of  a  staircase, 
by  which  access  is  gained  to  the  top  of  the  ruins.  Under  the  pla"e  of 
the  hall  is  a  crypt,  of  Norman  work,  with  a  row  of  central  pillars  sup- 
porting the  vault.  At  the  south-west  angle  is  part  of  a  tower,  with 
some  rooms  perfect,  with  Norman  barrel  vaults,  a  window,  and  some 
closets  in  the  thickness  of  the  wall.  The  Castle  is  very  well  situated  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  Trent ;  and  the  windows  in  that  front  being  mostly 
Perpendicular  period,  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  building  of  that  date. 
The  greater  part  of  the  site  of  the  Castle  is  now  occupied  by  the  county 
gaol  and  court-house.  In  one  corner  of  the  area  is  a  small  building, 
"  Cob's  Hall,"  supposed  to  have  been  a  chapel ;  and  in  one  part  of  the 
outer  wall,  on  the  north  side,  are  the  remains  of  a  turret  in  the  line  of 
the  Roman  wall  of  Lindum,  in  which  is  a  gateway,  apparently  Roman, 
and  supposed  to  have  been  one  of  the  gates  of  that  station,  or  to  have 
belonged  to  a  building  more  ancient  than  the  Castle. 

Lincoln  abounds  in  monastic  and  other  remains  of  ancient  archi- 
tectui"e.    "  The  Jews  House"  is  a  late  Norman  residence.    This  house 


Bolingbrokc  CastU.  385 

was  once  possessed  by  a  Jewess,  who  was  hanged  for  clipping  coin  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  I.  The  building  called  "  John  of  Gaunt's 
Stables"  (really  the  Hall  of  St.  Mary's  Guild),  is  Norman,  mixed  with 
Early  English  details.  Lord  Hussey,  who  was  engaged  with  several 
noblemen  and  others  attached  to  the  old  form  of  worship  in  a  con- 
spiracy against  Henry  VIH,  and  the  Reformation,  was  executed  from 
a  window  of  this  Hall.  The  remains  of  "  John  of  Gaunt's  Palace"  are 
now  occupied  as  two  dwelling-houses.  The  original  house  was  nearly 
demolished  in  1 783 ;  but  there  remains  an  oriel  window,  of  Early  Per- 
pendicular character,  resting  on  a  richly  sculptured  corbel,  with  ogee  heads 
to  the  lights,  and  a  good  cornice,  with  the  Tudor  flowers.  The 
pinnacles  are  destroyed.  Abeda  House,  founded  by  William  Browne, 
merchant  of  the  Staple  in  1493,  is  still  standing,  and  is  a  very  curious 
edifice;  in  the  windows  of  the  chapel  is  some  ancient  painted  glass. 

At  Gainsborough  are  the  remains  of  a  remarkably  picturesque  old 
Hall,  built  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.,  where  is  some  decoration,  which 
was  prepare*!  for  the  reception  of  Henry  VUI.  and  Queen  Catherine 
Howard,  whose  imprudence  here  was  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  her 
sentence. 

The  Stone  Bow,  the  Temple  Bar  of  Lincoln,  is  a  good  gatehouse  of 
the  time  of  Henry  VHL,  in  a  tolerably  perfect  state.  It  consists  of  a 
large  pointed  arch  in  the  centre,  guarded  on  each  side  by  a  round 
tower.  On  the  outside  of  each  tower  is  a  lesser  gateway,  or  postern. 
On  the  south  front,  in  a  niche  on  the  east,  is  a  statue  of  the  angel 
Gabriel,  holding  a  scroll ;  in  the  western  one,  another  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  treading  on  a  serpent ;  some  arms,  much  defaced,  &c. 

The  cathedral,  on  the  summit  of  the  hill,  may  be  seen  for  many  miles 
across  the  flat  country,  its  three  towers  having  a  very  fine  effect. 


Bolingbroke  Castle. 

In  the  town  of  Bolingbroke,  in  Lincolnshire,  was  an  ancient  Castle, 
built  by  William  de  Romara,  Earl  of  Lincoln,  which  afterwards 
came  into  the  hands  of  the  Lacy  family,  and  subsequently  into  the 
possession  of  John  of  Gaunt.  Henry  IV.,  son  of  John,  was  bom  in 
this  Castle,  and  took  from  it  the  surname  of  Henry  of  Bolingbroke. 
There  are  a  few  remains,  consisting  chieffy  of  the  tower  at  the  south- 
western angle  of  the  Castle,  which  was  quadrangxilar.  In  the  Harleian 
MS.  6829,  is  the  following  curious  account  of  "  a  Spirit,"  which 
haunted  this  Castle : — "  One  thinge  is  not  to  be  passed  bv,  afTimicd  as  a 
*  c  c 


386  Croyland  A  bbey. 

certain  truth  by  many  of  of  y  Inhabitants  of  y"  Towne  upon  their 
owne  Knowledge,  which  is,  that  y«  Castle  is  Haunted  by  a  certain  spirit 
in  the  Likeness  of  a  Hare,  which,  at  y  meeting  of  y*  Auditors  doeth 
usually  ininne  between  their  legs,  and  somctymes  overthrows  them,  and 
so  passes  away.  They  have  pursued  it  downe  into  y'  Castle  yard,  and 
scene  it  take  in  at  a  grate  into  a  low  Cellar,  and  have  followed  it  thither 
with  a  light,  where  notwithstanding  that  they  did  most  narrowly 
observe  it  (and  that  there  was  noe  other  passage  out,  but  by  y*  doore, 
or  windowe,  y'  room  being  all  above  framed  of  stones  within,  not 
having  y  least  Chinke  or  Crevice),  yet  they  could  never  find  it.  And 
at  other  tymes  it  hath  beene  scene  run  in  at  the  Iron-Grates  below  into 
other  of  y«  Grottos  (as  thir  be  many  of  them),  and  they  have  watched 
the  place  and  sent  for  Houndes  and  put  in  after  it,  but  after  awhile 
they  have  come  crying  out." 


Croyland  Abbey. 

Crowland,  or  Croyland,  on  the  borders  of  Northamptonshire,  sixteen 
miles  from  Stamford,  and  thirteen  from  Peterborough,  on  the  river 
Welland,  was  once  a  town  of  great  celebrity,  and  the  seat  of  one  of  the 
most  rich  and  splendid  monasteries  in  England ;  and  though  the  present 
ruins  can  boast  no  greater  antiquity  than  some  part  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury— that  is,  from  the  reign  of  Stephen  to  that  of  John — they  present 
one  of  our  finest  specimens  of  the  semi-  or  mixed  Norman  architecture. 
Its  origin  and  history  are  as  follows: — Ethelbald,  KingofMercia,  about 
the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century,  founded  a  monastery  at  Repton, 
in  Derbyshire ;  thither  the  son  of  one  of  his  nobles,  weary,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-four,  of  the  turmoils  of  war,  and  the  troubles  of  life,  retired, 
renounced  the  world,  became  a  monk,  and  from  his  piety  had  afterwards 
conferred  upon  him  the  name  of  St.  Guthlac.  Wishing  to  give  an 
example  of  abstinence  and  devotion  to  divine  things,  he  determined  to 
withdraw  himself  from  all  society;  and,  leaving  his  monastery,  he 
rambled  he  knew  not  whither,  till  finally  committing  himself  in  a 
small  boat  to  the  guidance  of  Providence,  he  resolved  that  wherever 
the  boat  took  land  he  would  fix  his  abode.  He  was  wafted  to  Crow- 
land  Isle,  which,  like  the  Isle  of  Ely,  is  now  no  more.  Here  he  built 
a  hut,  and  here,  exposed  to  all  the  temptations  and  troubles  of  a  dis- 
ordered imagination,  he  remained  till  his  death,  which  happened  about 
the  year  817. 

Ethelbald,  anxious  to  honour  as  much  as  possible  a  saint  brought 
up,  as  it  were,  under  his  own  eye,  and  considering  his  landing  at 


Croyland  A  bbcy.  387 

Crowland  as  an  almost  miraculous  circumstance,  determined  to  found 
on  that  very  spot  a  monastery  to  his  memory.  This  he  immediately 
commenced,  and  endowed  it  with  the  island  of  Crowland,  and  the 
adjoining  marshes,  and  the  fishery  of  the  rivers  Nene  and  Welland.  He 
also  gave  three  hundred  pounds  in  silver  towards  the  fitting  up  the 
establishment,  and  one  hundred  pounds  a  year,  for  ten  years  to  come, 
with  authority  to  the  monks  to  build  a  town  for  their  own  use,  and  to 
have  a  right  of  common  for  themselves  and  for  all  that  belonged  to 
them. 

The  establishment  thus  begun  by  Ethelbald  was  encouraged  by  suc- 
ceeding Kings,  and  all  its  privileges  confirmed,  particularly  in  the  reign 
of  King  Egbert,  in  the  years  827  and  833.  In  the  former  year,  at 
Nettleton,  Egbert,  King  of  Wessex,  defeated  with  considerable  loss; 
Wiglaf,  King  of  Mercia,  who  fled  to  Croyland,  where  he  was  con- 
cealed three  months,  when,  by  the  mediation  of  its  Abbot,  Siward,  ho 
was  restored  to  his  kingdom,  on  paying  homage,  and  becoming  tri- 
butaiy  to  his  conqueror.  When  Wiglaf  was  King  of  Mercia,  the 
infant  colony  and  town  began  to  flourish,  and  the  state  of  Croyland 
became  a  prominent  topic  in  the  deliberations  of  the  great  council  of 
the  nation,  which  assembled  to  devise  means  for  resisting  the  invasions 
of  the  Danes.  In  870,  at  Humberstone,  the  Danes  destroyed  Bardney 
Abbey,  slew  about  300  monks,  and  devastated  the  country  round.  At 
Laundon  (fiom  the  event  of  the  battle  since  called  Threckingham),  in 
the  above  year,  the  Danes  were  defeated,  and  three  of  their  kings  were 
slain  by  the  men  of  Lincolnshire ;  but  next  day,  the  Danes  being  re- 
inforced, werc  victorious,  and  marching  to  Croyland,  burnt  the  Abbey, 
and  murdered  the  monks. 

This  once  flourishing  monastery,  and  its  dependent  town,  was  thus, 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  its  foundation,  destroyed 
by  the  Danes.  It  remained  in  ruins  till  the  year  908,  when  it  was  re- 
founded  by  King  Ethred,  but  was  again  destroyed  by  fire  in  1091. 
In  1 1 1 2  it  was  a  second  time  rebuilt  in  a  manner  which  gives  a  good 
idea  of  the  prevailing  practice  of  erecting  religious  houses.  Thus,  the 
report  of  lilesensis,  V ice-Chancellor  to  King  Henry  II.,  among  other 
things,  relates  concerning  the  first  building  of  the  monastery,  in  the 
year  1 1 1 2,  to  the  end  that,  by  one  single  precedent,  we  may  leani  by 
what  means  and  supplies  so  many  rich  and  stately  religious  houses  were 
built  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom. 

"  Joflrida,  the  abbot,"  says  Camden,  "obtained  of  the  archbishops 
and  bishops  of  England  an  indulgence  to  every  one  that  helped  forward 
80  religious  a  work,  for  the  third  part  of  the  penance  enjoined  for  the 


3  8  S  Croyland  A  hbey. 

sins  he  had  committed.  With  this  he  sent  out  monks  everywhere  to 
pick  up  money  ;  and  having  enough,  he  appointed  St.  Perpetua's  and 
Felicity's  day  to  be  that  on  which  he  would  lay  the  foundation,  to  the 
end  that  the  work,  from  some  fortunate  name,  might  be  auspiciously 
begun.  At  which  time  the  nobles  and  prelates,  with  the  common 
people,  met  in  great  numbers,  prayers  being  said  and  anthems  sung 
The  abbot  himself  laid  the  first  comer-stone  on  the  east  side ;  after 
him  every  nobleman,  according  to  his  degree,  laid  his  stone ;  some  laid 
money  ;  others  writings,  by  which  they  offered  their  lands,  advowsons 
of  churches,  tenths  of  sheep,  and  other  church  tithes,  certain  measures 
of  wheat,  a  certain  number  of  workmen,  or  masons.  On  the  other 
side,  the  common  people,  as  officious  with  emulation  and  great  devo- 
tion, offered  some  money,  some  one  day's  work  every  month  till  it 
should  be  finished ;  some  to  build  whole  pillars,  others  pedestals,  and 
others  certain  parts  of  the  walls-  The  abbot  afterwards  made  a  speech, 
commending  their  great  bounty  in  contributing  to  so  pious  a  work ; 
and  by  way  of  requital,  made  every  one  of  them  a  member  of  that 
monastery,  and  gave  them  a  right  to  partake  with  them  in  all  the 
spiritual  blessings  of  that  church.  At  last,  having  entertained  them 
with  a  plentiful  feast,  he  dismissed  them  in  great  joy." 

After  the  above  refounding  of  Crowland,  however,  this  ill-fated 
Abbey  was  again  doomed  to  destruction,  by  fire,  and  that  in  the  short 
space  of  about  thirty  years.  It  was  finally  rebuilt  about  t  i  70,  with  funds 
raised  by  the  sale  of  indulgences,  and  5000  persons  were  present  at  the 
laying  of  the  first  stone.  It  has  been  subjected  to  no  other  vicissitudes 
than  being  dissolved  by  King  Henry  VIII.,  when  its  revenues  were 
valued  at  1083/.;  and  in  the  time  of  the  Civil  Wars  of  Charles  I.  it 
l>ecame  a  garrison  for  one  or  other  of  the  contending  parties ;  the 
Abbey  was  taken  by  Oliver  Cromwell  in  1643. 

The  estate  was  granted  in  1550  to  Edward,  Lord  Clinton.  The 
only  remains  of  the  buildings  connected  with  the  monastery,  is  part  of 
the  Abbey  church,  which  is  highly  interesting  to  the  architect  and  an- 
tiquary. The  choir,  central  tower,  transept,  and  the  whole  of  the  east 
end  are  down  ;  but  there  are  fine  remains  of  the  nave,  west  front,  and 
the  north  aisle,  which  is  used  as  tlie  parish  church,  is  said  to  have  been 
built  by  Abbot  Bardney  in  1247.  The  great  western  entrance  has  a 
pointed  archway,  and  over  it  are  the  remains  of  the  large  western  win- 
dow. On  the  southern  side  of  this  front,  part  of  the  elevation  shows 
the  original  part  of  the  Abbey,  wlierem  the  Pointed  forms  are  mixed 
with  the  Anglo-Norman  character,  by  the  intersection  of  the  semicircu- 
lar arches,  and  in  the  upper  story  the  Pointed  arch  is  independent  of 


Croyland  A  bbey.  389 

the  semicircular.  The  nave  and  aisles  are  said  by  some  authors  to  have 
been  erected  by  William  de  Crowland,  master  of  the  works,  in  the  time 
of  Abbot  Upton,  between  1417  and  1427. 

The  history  of  this  edifice  fiimishes  a  striking  instance  of  the  uncer- 
tainty of  all  human  labours.  At  one  time  the  seat  of  devotion  and 
learning,  the  abode  of  luxury  and  ease,  possessing  riches  in  abundance, 
and  vessels  for  its  use  of  the  most  costly  description  ; — as  "  one  cup  of 
gold,  and  two  phials  of  gilt-silver,  modeled  in  the  forai  of  two  angels, 
with  enchased  work  upon  them,  and  two  basins  of  silver,  wonderful  in 
their  workmanship  and  size,  very  finely  enchased  with  soldiers  in  ar- 
mour ;  all  which  vessels  Henry,  Emperor  of  Germany,  had  formerly 
presented  to  him,  and,  up  to  the  time  of  presenting  to  this  Abbey,  had 
always  retained  in  his  chapel,"  with  all  other  things  perfectly  corre- 
sponding thereto  ; — now,  except  in  the  portion  fitted  up  as  a  church, 
scarcely  affording  shelter  to  a  rook  or  a  daw,  and  the  last  remains  of  its 
once  almost  unparalleled  magnificence  mouldering  silently,  and  mingling 
witli  the  soil  on  which  they  stand : 

"  Whilst  in  the  progress  of  the  long  decay, 
Thrones  sink  to  dust,  and  nations  pass  away." 

Such  is  the  history  of  this  famous  Abbey,  as  long  believed  to  have 
been  related  by  Ingulfus,  in  his  History,  which  is  in  some  degree  a 
history  of  the  kingdom  as  well  as  the  monastery  of  Croyland.  Scarcely 
.my  of  our  early  histories  contain  so  many  curious  incidents  and  notices 
as  are  found  in  this  work,  and  until  our  time  its  authenticity  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  decided.  In  the  year  J826,  however,  a  very  for- 
midable attack  was  made  by  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  in  the  Quarterly 
Review,  No.  67,  upon  its  claims  to  be  regarded  as  anything  better  than 
"  an  historical  novel,"  a  mere  monkish  invention  or  forgery  at  a  later 
age. 

•  Ingulf  of  Croyland's '  Chronicle  is  now  known  to  have  been  framed 
with  a  dishonest  object,  and  to  be  from  first  to  last  a  monkish  forgery ; 
its  charters  composed  in  the  scriptorium,  its  general  history  a  patch- 
work of  piracies,  and  its  special  anecdotes  mere  inventions. 

The  History  of  Ingultus  is  a  clever  but  undoubted  fiction  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  an  impudent  fabrication,  to  all 
ipixarance,  by  the  monks  of  Croyland,  for  patching  up  a  defective  title : 
the  genuineness  and  authenticity  were  first  questioned  more  than  a 
century  ago ;  and  in  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years  the  subject  has  received 
increased  attention.  In  the  j4rc/j^o/ogica/  Journal  for  March,  1863, 
both  the  history  aiul  charters  of  Ingulfus  have  been  disputed  at  con- 


390  Croy land  Abbey. 

siderable  length  ;  and  though  in  some  parts  it  is  an  interesting  com- 
pilation, the  book,  as  an  historical  authority,  is  almost  worthless. 
(^Athenitum,  No.  21 21.)  Camden,  it  will  be  seen  by  the  previous 
quotation,  evidently  had  faith  in  Ingulfs  Chronicle. 
I  The  curious  old  triangular  Bridge  at  Croyland  remains  to  be  de- 
scribed. Of  the  four  streams  which  formerly  inclosed  the  island,  the 
drainage  has  removed  all  trace  of  three,  changing  the  site  to  quiet  pas- 
tures and  rich  fanning  land  ;  and  the  Welland  itself  now  runs  wide  of 
the  village,  in  a  new  channel.  The  Bridge  stands  high  and  dry  in  the 
centre  of  the  village  square,  lorn  of  three  of  its  streams.  It  is  more 
ancient  than  any  bridge  in  Europe,  not  of  Roman  work.  It  is  supposed 
to  have  been  built  about  the  year  860  :  it  consists  of  three  semi-Pointed 
arches,  meeting  together  in  the  centre,  the  abutments  standing  on  the 
angles  of  an  equilateral  triangle.  It  is  placed  at  the  junction  of  three 
roads,  which  thus  terminate  at  the  crown  of  the  bridge.  From  its 
steep  ascent  it  is  not  used  by  carriages,  which  circumstance  arises  from 
the  situation  in  which  it  is  placed:  and  in  times  of  flood,  had  it  not 
been  considerably  raised  on  the  abutments,  it  would  have  been  swept 
away  by  the  torrent.  The  steep  ascents  are  made  into  steps,  paved  with 
small  stones,  set  edgewise :  at  the  foot  of  one  segment  sits  a  robed  figure 
in  stone  of  some  Saxon  monarch,  supposed  to  be  Ethelbert,  with  a  great 
stone  in  its  hand,  said  to  be,  amongst  other  things,  a  loaf.  The  bridge 
claims  the  qualities  of  boldness  of  design  and  singularity  of  construction 
as  much  as  any  bridge  in  Europe ;  and  its  curious  ir'nme  formation  has 
led  many  persons  to  imagine  that  the  architect  intended  thereby  to  sug- 
gest an  idea  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  As  the  lover  of  our  national  antiquities 
stands  upon  the  platform,  he  may  reflect  that  within  the  hallowed  con- 
vent walls  dwelt  some  of  the  earliest  promoters  of  monastic  education ; 
and  as  the  eye  ranges  from  these  picturesque  ruins  over  the  neiglibour- 
ing  fens,  it  may  rest  upon  some  nobly-built  churches,  yet  it  would  not 
willingly  exchange  the  view  of  the  Abbey  pile  for  many  an  uninjured 
abiding  home  of  the  Reformed  faith. 


391 


RUTLANDSHIRE. 

Burleigh-on-the-Hill,  and  Jeffrey  Hudson  the  Dwarf. 

This  celebrated  little  personage  was  born  at  Oakham,  in  the  year 
1619.  John  Hudson,  his  father,  who  "kept  and  ordered  the  baiting 
bulls  for  George,  Duke  of  Buckingham,"  the  then  possessor  of  Burleigh- 
on-the-Hill,  in  Rutlandshire,  "  was  a  proper  man,"  says  Fuller,  "  broad- 
shouldered  and  chested,  though  his  son  arrived  at  a  full  ell  in  stature." 
His  father  was  a  person  of  lusty  stature,  as  well  as  all  his  children,  except 
Jeffrey,  who,  when  seven  years  of  age,  was  scarcely  eighteen  inches  in 
height,  yet  without  any  deformity,  and  wholly  proportionable.  Between 
the  age  of  seven  and  nine  years,  he  was  taken  into  the  service  of  the 
Duchess  of  Buckingham,  at  Burleigh,  where,  says  Fuller,  "  he  was  in- 
stantly heightened  (not  in  stature,  but)  in  condition,  from  one  degree 
above  rags  into  silks  and  satins,  and  had  two  men  to  attend  him." 
Shortly  afterwards  he  was  served  up  in  a  cold  pye,  at  an  entertainment 
given  to  Charles  I.  and  his  consort  Henrietta  Maria,  in  their  progress 
through  Rutlandshire  ;  and  was  then,  most  probably,  presented  to  the 
Queen,  in  whose  service  he  continTied  many  years.  At  a  masque,  given 
at  Court,  the  King's  gigantic  porter  drew  him  out  of  his  pocket,  to  the 
surprise  of  all  the  spectators.  Thus  favoured  by  royalty,  the  humility 
incident  to  his  birth  forsook  him  ;  "  which  made  him  that  he  did  not 
ktionv  himself,  and  would  not  knoav  his  father;  and  which,  by  the  King's 
command,  caused  justly,  his  second  correction." 

In  1630,  Jeffrey  was  sent  into  France  to  fetch  a  midwife  for  the 
Queen ;  but  on  his  return  he  had  the  misfortune  to  be  taken  by  a 
Flemish  pirate,  who  carried  him  a  prisoner  to  Dunkirk:  on  this  occa- 
sion he  lost  property  to  the  value  of  2500/.  which  he  had  received  in 
presents  from  the  French  Court.  This  event  furnished  a  subject  for  a 
short  poem,  in  two  cantos,  to  Sir  William  D'Avenant,  who  entitled  it 
feffereidos,  and  has  described  our  diminutive  hero  as  engaged  in  a  battle 
with  a  turkey-cock,  from  whose  inflated  rage  he  was  preserved  by  the 
midwife !  In  this  whimsical  protluction  the  poet  has  described  our 
dwarf  as  close  hidden,  at  the  time  of  the  capture — 

"  Beneath  a  spick- 
And-almost-syjan-new  pewter  candlestick." 

At  Dunkirk  he  is  threatened  with  the  rack,  and  accused  of  being  a 


392         Burleigh-07t-the-Hill  and  Jeffrey  Hudson. 

spy.  He  is  next  despatched  to  Brussels,  mounted  upon  an  "  Iceland 
Shock,"  which,  falling  by  the  way,  leaves  him  exposed  to  the  attacks  ot 
the  turkey-cock.  Jeffrey  drew  his  sword,  and  bravely  repelled  his 
antagonist,  wlio 

"  In  his  look 
Express'd  how  much  ha  it  unkindly  took, 
That  wanting  food,  our  Jeffrey  would  not  let  him, 
Enjoy  awliiie  the  privilege  to  eat  him." 

At  length  Jeffrey  is  thrown,  and  whilst  lying  prostrate, 

"  Faint  and  weak. 
The  cruel  foe  assaults  him  with  his  beak  ;" 

but  in  this  extremity  the  midwife  interposes,  and  "  delivers  "  him — the 
pun  is  the  poet's  own — fiom  further  danger. 

After  the  commencement  of  tlie  Civil  War,  Jeffrey  became  a  Captain 
of  Horse  in  the  Royal  Army,  and  in  that  capacity  he  accompanied  the 
Queen  to  France.  Whilst  in  that  country  he  had  the  misfortune  to  fall 
into  a  dispute  with  a  brother  of  Lord  Crofts,  who  accounting  him  an 
object  '•  not  of  his  anger  but  contempt,"  accepted  his  challenge  to  fight 
a  duel ;  "  yet  coming,"  says  Walpole,  "  to  the  rendezvous  armed  only 
with  a  squirt,  the  little  creature  was  so  enraged  that  a  real  duel  ensued, 
and  the  appointment  being  on  horseback  with  pistols,  to  put  them  on  a 
level,  Jeffrey,  with  the  first  fire,  shot  his  antagonist  dead."  For  this 
Jeffrey  was  first  imprisoned,  and  afterwards  expelled  the  Court.  He 
was  then  only  thirty  years  old,  and,  according  to  his  own  affirmation, 
had  never  increased  anything  considerable  in  height  since  he  was  seven 
years  old.  New  misfortunes,  however,  awaited  him,  and  accelerated  his 
growth,  though  at  such  a  mature  age.  He  was  a  second  time  made 
captive  at  sea  by  a  Turkish  Rover ;  and,  having  been  conveyed  to  Bar- 
bary,  was  there  sold  as  a  slave,  in  which  condition  he  passed  many  years, 
exposed  to  numerous  hardships,  much  labour,  and  frequent  beating.  He 
now  shot  up  in  a  little  time  to  that  height  of  stature  which  he  remained 
at  in  his  old  age,  about  three  feet  and  nine  inches ;  the  cause  of  which 
he  ascribed  to  the  severity  he  experienced  during  his  captivity.  After  he 
had  been  redeemed  he  returned  to  England,  and  lived  for  some  time  in 
his  native  county  on  some  small  pension  allowed  him  by  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  and  other  persons  of  rank.  He  afterwards  removed  to 
London,  where,  during  the  excitement  occasioned  by  the  examination 
into  the  Popish  Plot,  discovered  or  invented  by  Titus  Gates,  he  was 
taken  up  as  a  Papist,  and  committed  to  the  Gatehouse  at  Westminster, 
where  he  lay  a  considerable  time.  He  died  in  1682,  shortly  after  his 
release,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age. 


Oakham  Castle.  393 

Sir  Walter  Scott  has  introduced  this  irascible  little  hero  into  his 
Pnrril  of  the  Peak,  the  denouement  of  which  romance  is  much  for- 
warded by  his  aid.  There  is  an  original  portrait  of  Jeffrey  in  the  col- 
lection of  Sir  Ralph  Woodford.  Over  the  entrance  of  Bull-head- 
court,  Newgate-street,  is  a  small  stone  exhibiting,  in  low  relief,  sculp- 
tures of  William  Evans,  the  gigantic  porter  of  Charles  I. ;  and  Jeffrey 
Hudson,  his  diminutive  fellow-servant.  On  the  stone  are  cut  these 
words:  "The  King's  Porter  and  the  Dwarf,"  with  the  date  i66o.  It 
appears  from  Fuller,  that  Evans  was  full  six  feet  and  a  half  in  height ; 
though  knock-kneed,  splay-footed,  and  halting,  "  yet  made  he  a  shift 
to  dance  in  an  anti-mask  at  Court,  where  he  drew  little  Jeffrey,  the 
Dwarf,  out  of  his  pocket,  first  to  the  wonder,  then  to  the  laughter,  of 
the  beholders." 

In  the  Ashmolean  Museum,  at  Oxford,  are  preserved  the  waistcoat, 
breeches,  and  stockings  (the  two  latter  in  one  piece),  of  Jeffrey  Hudson. 
They  are  of  blue  satin,  but  the  waistcoat  is  striped  and  purfled  with 
figured  white  silk.  There  is  a  rare  tract  extant,  entitled  "  The  New 
■^'ercs  Gift,  presented  at  Court  from  the  Lady  Pai-vula  to  the  Lord 
Minimus,  commonly  called  Little  Jefferie:  1686."  This  contains  a 
portrait  of  Hudson,  and  a  copy,  "  bound  in  a  piece  of  Charles  the  First's 
waistcoat,"  was  formerly  in  the  Townley  Collection,  and  was  sold  for 
eight  guineas  at  the  sale  of  Mr.  Perry's  library. 


Oakham  Castle. 

Oakham,  the  county  town  of  Rutland,  in  the  vale  of  Catmoss,  bears 
evidence  of  its  occupation  by  the  Romans.  Its  name  is  Saxon,  and  it 
had  a  Royal  Hall  when  King  Edward  the  Confessor  made  his  Survey. 
Upon  the  site  of  this  Hall  was  built  a  Castle,  probably  by  Walcheline 
de  Fcrreris,  a  younger  branch  of  the  ftimily  of  De  Ferrars,  to  whom 
Henry  II.  had  granted  the  manor,  and  created  him  Baron  of  Oakham. 
He  joined  King  Richard  I.  in  his  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  was 
last  heard  of  at  the  siege  of  Acre,  where  he  died.  The  manor  and 
Castle  repeatedly  reverted  to  tlie  Crown,  and  were  again  as  often 
granted.  Among  the  possessors  of  them  wtTe  Richard,  King  of  the 
Romans,  brother  of  Henry  HI. ;  De  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford  and  Duke 
of  Ireland,  favourite  of  Richard  II. ;  Thomas  of  Woodstock,  imcle  to 
the  same  King.  Of  the  Castle  the  Hall  alone  remains  ;  it  is  regarded 
as  the  finest  domestic  room  in  England,  and  in  all  probability  it  was 
the  best  portion  of  the  Castle,  which  was  not  fortified  with  a  keep  or 


394  Oakham  Castle. 

bastions,  as  in  the  neighbouring  Castle  of  Rockingham  ;  Oakham  Castle 
never  Iiad  any  defensive  works,  except  the  outer  wall.  At  the  end  of 
the  Hall  was  probably  the  King's  chamber.  In  the  time  of  Walcheline 
De  Fcn-eris  a  sort  of  rough  justice  was  administered  in  the  Hall  by 
the  Baron  ;  and  here  also  the  revelry  and  feasting  took  place ;  there 
were  oaken  benches  for  scats,  boards  placed  upon  tressels  for  tables,  and 
tapestry  hung  at  the  west  end,  where  the  lord  sat.  The  windows  were 
unglazed  ;  the  fire  was  placed  on  a  raised  platform  in  the  centre  of  the 
room,  and  the  smoke  found  its  way  through  the  windows ;  at  night 
wooden  shutters  were  put  to  the  windows.  The  hounds  crouched  by 
their  masters'  side,  the  hawks  perched  above  their  heads.  The  guests 
quaffed  wines  from  Greece  and  Cyprus,  and  feasted  upon  lamprey  and 
herring  pies.  It  was  the  height  of  refinement  for  two  guests  to  eat  off 
the  same  plate.  The  only  knife  used  was  the  clasp-knife,  which  the 
male  guest  took  unsheathed  from  his  girdle ;  table-napkins  were  used, 
and  the  company  were  divided  by  the  salt-cellar. 

The  architecture  of  the  Hall  is  late  Norman,  or  very  Early  English. 
The  interior  wall  and  the  gate  of  the  Castle-yard  are  covered  with 
horseshoes,  the  lord  of  the  manor  being  authorized  by  ancient  grant  or 
custom  to  demand  of  every  Peer  on  first  passing  through  the  lordship 
a  shoe  from  one  of  his  horses,  or  a  sum  of  money  to  purchase  one  in 
lieu  of  it.  Some  of  these  shoes  are  gilt,  and  stamped  with  the  donor's 
name.  Amongst  them  are  shoes  given  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  the  late 
Duke  of  York,  and  by  George  IV.  when  Prince  Regent ;  Queen  Vic- 
toria and  the  Duchess  of  Kent.  The  horseshoe  custom  is  traceable 
to  a  toll  payment,  but  the  evidence  is  confused. 

Four  possessors  of  Oakham  were  executed  for  high  treason.  These 
were  Edmund,  Earl  of  Kent,  brother  of  Edward  II. ;  Henry  Stafford, 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  tiie  supporter  and  victim  of  Richard  III.; 
Edward  Stafford,  Duke  of  Buckingham,  beheaded  1521 ;  and  Thomas 
Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex,  1540.  Another  fatality  remains  to  be 
mentioned.  Early  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II.,  Edward  Plantagenet, 
second  Duke  of  York,  on  being  created  Earl  of  Rutland,  had  granted 
to  him  the  Castle,  town,  and  lordship  of  Oaldiam,  and  the  whole  forest 
of  Rutland  ;  his  memory  is  deeply  stained  with  crime ;  he  was  tram- 
pled to  death  at  the  battle  of  Agincourt,  and  his  remains  were  brought 
to  England,  he  having  by  his  will  made  at  Harfleur  duiing  the  expedi- 
tion, directed  their  interment  in  the  College  of  Fotheringhay,  which  he 
bad  caused  to  be  built. 


395 


STAFFORDSHIRE  AND  SHROPSHIRE. 

Stafford  and  its  Castles. 

As  the  railway  traveller  passes  along  the  Grand  Junction  line,  run- 
ning from  Birmingham  to  Newton,  in  Lancashire,  he  will  not  fail  to 
notice  the  remains  of  the  Castle  of  the  celebrated  Barons  of  Stafford, 
placed  about  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  south-west  of  the  town  of 
Stafford,  on  the  summit  of  a  hill,  which  resembles  a  labour  of  art. 

The  history  of  Stafford  and  its  Castle  is  involved  in  much  obscurity.. 
The  earliest  notice  of  the  place  occurs  in  the  Saxon  Chronicles,  when, 
in  the  year  913,  Ethelfleda,  "lady  of  Mercia,"  built  here  "  a  mighty 
castle,"  to  keep  the  Danes  of  the  neighbourhood  in  check  ;  but  there 
are  no  vestiges  of  it,  and  its  precise  site  is  much  disputed.  Edward  the 
Elder  is  likewise  said  by  Camden  to  have  built  a  tower  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  river  Soar,  about  a  year  after  the  erection  of  that  which  his 
sister  had  founded.  The  next  remarkable  mention  of  Stafford  occurs 
in  Domesday,  wherein  it  is  stated  that  the  Conqueror  built  a  Castle 
here ;  this,  however,  was  soon  demolished,  but  was  restored  by  Ralph 
de  Stafford,  a  distinguished  warrior  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  At 
the  period  of  Domesday,  Stafford  was  a  place  of  importance,  but  it  was 
not  regularly  incorporated  until  the  7th  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Jbhn 
(anno  1206).  The  Charter  is  still  in  a  very  excellent  state  of  preserva- 
tion. According  to  the  very  erroneous  statements  of  several  \vTiters 
(each  following  in  the  other's  wake),  Stafford  was  incorporated  one 
year  prior  to  the  incorporation  of  the  City  of  London ;  but  Stow 
quotes  a  Charter  of  King  Edward  the  Confessor,  as  being  extant  in  the 
Book  of  St.  Albans,  which  is  directed  to  Alfward,  the  Bishop  of 
London,  the  Port-rrve,  and  the  Burgesses  of  London.  The  Stafford 
Charter  was  confirmed  by  different  sovereigns,  and  additional  privileges 
were  granted ;  but  at  length,  from  the  filling  up  improperly  of  the 
vacancies  in  the  body  corporate,  the  charters  became  forfeited  in  the 
year  1836  ;  and  from  a  singular  coincidence  the  Corporation  seal  was 
by  some  means  lost  about  the  same  time.  In  1827,  the  town  of  Stafford 
was  re-incorporated,  on  petition,  by  George  IV.,  and  a  new  Seal  was 
engraved  from  an  impression  of  the  old  one,  which  bears  the  elevation 
of  the  Castle.  In  the  Civil  War  of  Charles  I.  the  Royalists,  after  the 
capture  of  Lichfield  Close  by  the  Parliamentarians,  retired  to  Stafford; 


396  "  Tamworth  Tower  and  Town.** 

and  an  indecisive  battle  was  fought  at  Hopton  Heath,  two  or  tlirce 
miles  from  the  town,  March  12,  1643,  in  which  the  Earl  of  North- 
ampton, the  Royalist  commander,  was  killed.  The  town,  which  was 
walled,  was  subsequently  taken  by  the  Parliamentarians,  under  Sir 
William  Brereton,  and  the  walls  were  so  entirely  demolished,  that  no 
trace  of  them  remains.  The  Castle  was  subsequently  taken  and  de- 
molished, except  the  Keep. 


"  Tamworth  Tower  and  Town." 

Tamworth  is  finely  situated  at  the  confluence  of  the  rivers  Tame  anft 
Anker,  in  the  county  of  Stafford.  The  parish  is,  however,  divided  by 
the  Tame  into  two  parts,  one  in  this  county,  the  other  in  Warwick- 
shire, whence  it  is  accounted  to  belong  to  both.  The  early  history  of 
the  town  is  very  eventful.  In  the  time  of  the  Mercians  it  was  a  royal 
village,  and  the  favourite  residence  of  their  monarchs.  The  celebrated 
Offa  dates  a  charter  to  the  monks  of  Worcester  in  781,  from  his 
palace  at  Tamworth.  At  this  period  it  was  fortified  on  three  sides  by 
a  vast  ditch,  45  feet  in  breadth,  the  rivers  serving  as  a  defence  on  the 
fourth  side.  Upon  the  invasion  of  the  Danes,  Tamworth  was  totally 
destroyed.  Ethelfrida,  however,  the  daughter  of  the  illustrious  Alfred, 
rebuilt  the  town  in  the  year  913,  after  she  had,  by  her  foresight  and 
valour,  succeeded  in  freeing  her  brother's  dominions  from  the  grasp 
of  the  invaders.  This  heroic  lady  likewise  erected  a  tower  on  a  part 
of  the  artificial  mount  which  forms  the  site  of  the  present  Castle;  and 
here  she  generally  resided  until  the  period  of  her  death,  in  920.  About 
two  years  later,  Tamworth  witnessed  the  submission  of  all  the  Mercian 
tribes,  together  with  the  Princes  of  Wales,  to  the  sovereign  power  of 
Elfrida's  brother  Edward.  Leland  tells  us  that  at  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  "  the  toune  of  Tamworth  is  all  builded  of  tymber." 
Michael  Drayton,  the  fine  old  English  poet,  was  born  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood on  the  banks  of  the  Anker  ;  which  he  celebrated  in  his  most 
beautiful  sonnet.  Drayton  is  the  name  of  a  place  on  the  western  border 
of  Staffordshire,  near  which  is  Blore  heath,  where  the  party  of  York,  under 
the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  defeated  the  Lancastrians,  commanded  by  Lord 
Audley,  Queen  Margaret  beheld  the  battle  from  a  neighbouring 
steeple.  Drayton  Bassett  and  Drayton  Manor  are  the  names  of 
two  of  the  finest  seats  in  the  county.  The  church  at  Tamworth  is 
famous  for  its  Saxon  work,  "round  arches  with  zigzag  mouldings." 
The  monuments  are  many,  "  most  of  them  beautiful  altar-tombs,  with 
recumbent  figures  of  knights  in  armour,  and  their  wives," 


"  Tamworth  Tower  and  Town!'  397 

The  Castle  of  Tamworth,  an  eminent  baronial  residence,  was  foundetl 
by  Robert  de  Marmion — a  name  adopted  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  as  the 
title  of  one  of  his  soul-stirring  metrical  tales: — ' 

"They  hailed  Lord  Marmion, 

'I  hey  hailed  him  Lord  of  Fontenaye, 
Of  1  .uttenvard  and  Scrivelbaye, 
Of  Tamworth  tower  and  town." 

Marmion,  canto  i.  St.  11. 

The  poet,  however,  acknowledges  the  Lord  Marmion  of  his  romance 
to  be  entirely  a  fictitious  personage.  "  In  earlier  times,  indeed,"  continues 
he,  "  the  family  of  Marmion,  Lords  of  Fontenay,  in  Normandy,  was 
highly  distinguished.  Robert  de  Marmion,  Lord  of  Fontenay,  a  dis- 
tinguished follower  of  the  Conqueror,  obtained  a  grant  of  the  Castle 
and  town  of  Tamworth,  and  also  of  the  manor  of  Scrivelsby,  in 
Lincolnshire.  One  or  both  of  these  noble  possessions  was  held  by  the 
honourable  service  of  being  the  royal  champion,  as  the  ancestors  of 
Marmion  had  formerly  been  to  the  Dukes  of  Nonnandy.  This 
Robert  being  settled  at  Tamworth,  expelled  the  nims  he  found  here  to 
Oldbury,  about  four  miles  distant.  A  year  after  this,  he  gave  a 
costly  entertainment  at  Tamworth  Castle  to  a  party  of  fiiends,  among 
whom  was  Sir  Walter  de  Somerville,  Lord  of  Wichover,  his  sworn 
brother.  Now  it  happened  that  as  he  lay  in  his  bed,  St.  Edith  appeared 
to  him  in  the  habit  of  a  veiled  nun,  with  a  crosier  in  her  hand,  and 
advertised  him  that  if  he  did  not  restore  the  Abbey  of  Polesworth 
(which  lay  within  the  territories  of  his  Castle  at  Tamworth)  unto  her 
successors,  he  should  have  an  evil  death,  and  go  to  hell ;  and  that  he 
might  be  more  sensible  of  this  her  admonition,  she  smote  him  on  the 
side  with  the  p>oint  of  her  crosier,  and  so  vanished  away.  Moreover,  by 
this  stroke  being  much  wounded,  he  cried  out  so  loudly  that  his  friends 
in  the  house  arose;  and  finding  him  extremely  tormented  with  the  pain 
of  his  wound,  advised  him  to  confess  himself  to  a  priest,  and  vow  to 
restore  the  nuns  to  their  former  possession.  Furthermore,  having 
done  so,  his  pain  ceased,  and  in  accomplishment  of  his  vow  (accompanied 
by  Sir  Walter  de  Somerville  and  others),  he  forthwith  rode  to  Oldbury, 
and  craving  pardon  of  the  nuns  for  the  injury  done,  brought  them  back 
to  Polesworth,  desiring  that  himself  and  his  friend.  Sir  William  de 
Somerville,  might  be  regarded  their  patrons ;  and  hence  burial  for  them- 
selves and  their  heirs  in  this  Abbey — viz.,  the  Marmions  in  the  Chapter 
House,  and  the  Somcrvilles  in  the  Cloister.  However  some  circum- 
stances in  this  story  may  seem  fabulous,  the  substance  of  it  is  perfectly 
true,  for  it  appears  by  the  very  words  of  his  charter  that  he  gave  to 
Osanna,  the  Prioress." 


398  "  Tanvworth  Tower  and  Town** 

Robert,  the  son  and  heir  of  Robert  de  Marmion,  being  a  gi-eat  ad- 
versary to  the  Earls  of  Chester,  who  had  a  noble  seat  at  Coventry,  but 
a  little  distance  from  the  Earl's  Castle,  entered  the  Priory  there,  and 
expelling  the  monks,  fortified  it,  digging  in  the  fields  adjacent  divers 
deep  ditches,  lightly  covered  over  with  earth,  to  the  intent  that  such  as 
made  approaches  thereto,  might  be  entrapped.  Whereupon,  it  so  hap- 
pened, that  as  he  rode  out  himself  to  view  the  Earl  of  Chester's  forces, 
which  began  to  draw  near,  he  fell  into  one  of  the  ditches  and  broke 
his  thigh,  so  that  a  common  solder  presently  seizing  on  him,  cut  off 
his  head. 

After  the  Castle  and  demesne  of  Tamworth  had  passed  through  four 
successive  Barons  from  Robert,  the  family  became  extinct  in  the  person 
of  Philip  de  Marmion,  who  died  20th  Edward  I.,  without  male  issue. 
Baldwin  de  Freville,  fourth  lord  of  Tamworth  (Alexander's  descen- 
dant in  the  reign  of  Richard  I.),  by  the  supposed  tenure  of  his  Castle, 
claimed  the  office  of  royal  champion,  and  to  do  the  service  appertain- 
ing ;  namely,  on  the  day  of  the  coronation,  to  ride  completely  armed, 
upon  a  barbed  horse,  into  Westminster  Hall,  and  there  to  challenge  the 
combat  against  any  one  who  should  gainsay  the  King's  title.  But  this 
office  was  adjudged  to  Sir  John  Dimock,  to  whom  the  manor  of 
Scrivelby  had  descended  by  another  of  the  coheiresses  of  Robert  de 
Marmion ;  and  it  remains  in  that  family,  whose  representative  is  Here- 
ditary Champion  of  England  at  the  present  day.  The  family  and  pos- 
sessions of  Freville  have  merged  in  the  Earls  of  Ferrers ;  descended, 
says  Burton,  from  an  ancient  Saxon  line,  long  before  the  Conquest. 
It  has  subsequently  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Marquess  Towns- 
hend,  in  right  of  the  heiress  of  the  Comptons. 

The  architecture  of  the  present  Castle  is  of  various  periods ;  the  old 
Castle  stood  below  the  site  of  the  present  fortress,  which,  by  its  eleva- 
tion, throws  around  it  an  air  of  considerable  grandeur.  The  exterior  is 
kept  in  tolerable  repair.  The  hall  is  large  and  of  ancient  state,  but  ex- 
ceedingly rude  and  comfortless.  By  Leland's  account,  the  greater  part 
was  built  since  his  time :  his  words  are,  "  the  base  court  and  great  ward 
of  the  Castle  is  cleane  decayed,  and  the  wall  fallen  dovvnc,  and  therein 
be  now  but  houses  of  office  of  noe  notable  building.  The  dungeon 
hill  yet  standeth,  and  a  great  round  tower  of  stone,  wherein  Mr.  Ferrers 
dwelleth,  and  now  repaireth  it."  Such  was  its  state  in  the  time  of 
Henry  Vn I.  The  dining  and  drawing  rooms  have  fine  bay-windows, 
and  command  rich  views  over  the  river,  which  runs  at  the  foot  of  the 
Castle  mount  to  the  meadows  and  woodlands,  where  formerly  was  the 
park.   Around  the  dining-room  are  emblazoned  the  arms  of  the  Ferrers 


Tutbiiry  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures.         399 

familj'.  In  the  hall  was  formerly  a  rude  delineation  upon  the  wall  of 
the  last  battle  between  Sir  John  Launcelot  of  the  Lake,  a  knight  of 
King  Arthur's  Round  Table,  and  another  knight,  named  Sir  Tarquin. 
The  figures  were  of  gigantic  size,  and  tilting,  as  described  in  the  romance ; 
resting  their  spears,  and  pushing  their  horses  at  full  speed  against  each 
other. 

Tamworth  is  Shakspearean  ground ;  for,  on  a  plain  near  the  town, 
the  Earl  of  Richmond  halted,  on  his  march  to  Bosworth  Field,  thus  to 
inspire  his  forces  for  the  coming  fight : — 

"  This  foul  swine 
Lies  now  even  in  the  centre  of  this  isle, 
Near  to  the  town  of  Leicester,  for,  as  we  learn, 
From  Tamworth  thither  is  but  one  day's  march. 
In  God's  name  cheerly  on,  courageous  friends, 
To  reap  the  harvest  of  jjerpetual  peace. 
By  this  one  bloody  trial  of  sharp  war. " 

Richard  III.,  act  v.  scene  3. 

Tamworth  possesses  a  very  interesting  memorial  of  our  own  times, 
a  bronze  statue  of  the  late  Sir  Robert  Peel,  erected  in  the  market- 
place by  public  subscription,  in  the  summer  of  1852.  Tamworth,  for 
which  borough  Sir  Robert  sat  in  parliament  many  years,  owed  this 
debt  of  gratitude  to  the  fame  of  the  deceased  statesman,  and  it  has  been 
rendered  with  every  evidence  of  sincerity :  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
nearly  everybody  subscribed  for  the  statue.  It  is  placed  unth  its  back 
to  London  and  the  world,  with  its  face  directed  towards  the  place  of 
Sir  Robert's  birth  ;  on  the  right  is  the  church  in  which  he  worshipped, 
and  on  the  left  the  palace  (Drayton  Manor)  which  he  erected,  but  did 
not  live  long  to  inhabit.  The  sculptor  of  the  statue  is  Mr.  E.  M. 
Noble,  and  we  have  the  testimony  of  a  son  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  to  its 
excellence  as  a  work  of  art,  whether  in  the  general  outline,  the  correct- 
ness of  the  proportions,  in  the  resemblance  of  the  features,  or  in  the 
ease  and  gracefulness  of  the  posture. 


Tutbury  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures. 

The  Castle  of  Tutbury  presents  to  the  eye  of  the  visitor  little  more 
than  a  straggling  scene  of  shattered  ruins.  Yet,  its  appearance  is  ex- 
tremely picturcscjue,  and  its  site  is  worth  more  minute  description.  The 
high  ground  of  Ncedwood  Forest,  contained  between  the  Trent  and 
the  Dove,  is  brought  to  a  termination  eastward  by  the  imion  of  these 
streams  upon  the  confines  of  the  three  shires  of  Derby,  Stafford,  and 


400  Tutbury  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures. 

Leicester.  About  five  miles  above  this  confluence,  upon  the  right  or 
Staffordshire  bank  of  the  Dove,  stand  the  town  and  Castle  of  Tutbury, 
once,  according  to  Leland,  a  residence  of  the  Saxon  lords  of  Mercia ; 
and  named,  it  is  said,  from  the  god  Thoth,  who  presides  over  Tuesday, 
and  is  thought  here  to  have  been  worshipped.  The  etymology  is  supported 
by  Wednesbury ;  but,  however  this  may  be,  Tutbury  was  certainly  an 
ancient  stronghold,  and  the  site  possesses  in  that  respect  unusual  advan- 
tages. It  is  tutelar  to  the  little  town  of  Tutbury,  with  its  Iwautiful 
church  standing  on  the  rise  of  the  hill  which  ends  abruptly  on  the 
banks  of  the  Dove,  giving  an  expansive  prospect  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach,  over  Staffordshire  and  the  famous  Peak  Hills  of  Derbyshire.  The 
sharp,  broken  outline  of  tower  and  wall,  when  seen  from  this  point,  be- 
speaks the  ravages  of  time  and  war  which  have  reduced  this  once  cele- 
brated fortress  to  its  present  state  of  ruin. 

The  Castle  crowns  the  head  of  a  considerable  ridge  of  new  red  sand- 
stone rock,  which  projects  from  the  high  ground  of  Hanbury  and  Need- 
wood,  and  forms  an  abrupt  promontory  above  the  broad  and  level 
meadows  of  the  Dove.  On  the  south  or  landward  side,  the  hill  is 
partially  severed  from  its  parent  ridge  by  a  cross  valley,  within  and 
about  which  is  built  the  ancient  town  of  Tutbury.  The  natural  posi- 
tion of  the  Castle  is  strong  and  well  defined ;  it  has  been  turned  to 
account  from  a  very  remote  period,  and  materially  strengthened  by 
Norman  and  prc-Norman  art.  Three  of  its  sides  are  further  protected 
by  a  broad  and  deep  ditch  ;  towards  the  north,  where  the  hill  projects 
upon  the  meadows,  the  ditch  ceases,  and  this  front,  rising  steeply  about 
ICO  feet,  has  been  rendered  steeper  by  art.  Upon  the  south-west  and 
west  sides,  the  earth  has  been  employed  to  form  a  large  mound,  about  40 
feet  high,  and  70  feet  across,  which  renders  this  front  almost  impreg- 
nable. The  base-court  of  the  castle  covers  about  three  acres  ;  it  is  in 
plan  an  irregular  circle.  The  best  view  of  these  magnificent  earthworks 
is  from  the  summit  of  the  mound,  which  not  only  predominates  over 
the  court  of  the  Castle  to  its  east,  but  westward  rises  very  steeply  about 
140  feet  from  the  meadows. 

The  masonry  which  has  been  added  to  the  earlier  defences  is  com- 
posed of  a  group  of  buildings  on  the  south  front,  flanked  by  curtains, 
which  run  west  and  east  along  the  top  of  the  bank.  This  curtain, 
now  about  6  feet,  was  originally  20  feet  high,  with  a  rampart  accessible 
from  its  flanking  tower,  and  by  a  double  flight  of  open  steps  from  within, 
The  east  curtain  is  broken  by  a  lofty  rectangular  mural  tower,  which 
faced  the  turn  of  the  road  up  to  the  Castle,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
ditch:    the  interior  wall,  with  a   square  angle-turret,   only  remains. 


Tut  bury  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures.         401 

This  tower  is  Perpendicular  in  style,  and  has  evidently  been  blown  up 
by  gunpowder. 

At  the  north  end  of  this  curtain  is  the  great  gatehouse,  almost  entirely 
outside  the  wall ;  the  portal  has  side  lodges.  Only  its  south  and  east 
walls  remain.  From  two  solid  cheeks  of  wall,  the  drawbridge  fell 
across  the  moat ;  two  portcullis  grooves  remain.  The  masonry  has 
been  removed,  and  the  ditch  here  solidly  filled  up  with  earth. 

Upon  the  summit  of  the  mound  is  a  ruined  round  tower,  an  erection 
of  modern  times,  probably  as  a  summer-house.  There  is  said  to  have 
been  an  earlier  building  here,  destroyed  before  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
probably  by  John  of  Gaunt:  it  was  called  the  Julius  Tower,  a  not 
uncommon  name  for  such  structures.  The  beauty  of  the  view  from 
this,  the  highest  ruin  of  Tutbury,  amply  compensates  for  all  the  danger 
from  the  gaping  clefts  in  the  wall  by  uncertainty  of  foothold.  The 
Dove  is  seen  winding  its  silvery  stream  in  the  plain  beneath  ;  while,  be- 
yond it,  field  over  field  rise  to  view,  the  distance  bounded  by  the  high 
hills  of  Matlock,  which,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  are  tipped  with  snow. 

The  Castle  buildings  have  been  broken  down,  but  what  remains  is 
as  sharp  and  fresh  as  though  lately  executed.  The  outward  wall  and 
altered  windows  remain  of  the  great  hall ;  at  the  west  end  is  a  brick 
building,  probably  of  about  the  time  of  Queen  Anne,  or  George  I,  At 
the  east  end  is  a  group  of  state  apartments.  Here  are  two  very  fine 
crypts,  no  doubt  cellars,  entered  from  the  court  by  handsome  doorways, 
and  six  or  eight  descending  steps.  They  have  been  covered  with  barrel 
vaults,  ribbed  transversely  and  diagonally,  with  large  carved  bosses — 
fitting  receptacles  for  the  very  best  of  drinks.  Above  there  are  hand- 
some rooms,  with  chimney-places  with  mouldings  set  with  flowers  and 
the  "hart  lodged,"  and  what  may  be  a  conventional  pomegranate. 
These  buildings  are  in  the  best  and  purest  Perpendicular  style.  In  the 
court  is  a  deep  well,  still  in  use. 

So  far  as  can  be  observed,  the  Castle  exhibits  no  trace  of  Norman 
masonry.  All  the  structures,  walls,  tower,  gatehouse,  hall,  and  apart- 
ments are  nearly  or  quite  of  one  date  ;  and  are  probably  the  work  of 
John  of  Gaunt,  who  resided  here  very  frequently  in  regal  state.  This 
is  very  remarkable,  because  Tutbury  is  mentioned  in  Domesday;  was 
the  caput  of  a  very  important  Nonnan  honour,  and  the  principal  seal 
of  the  great  Norman  family  of  Ferrars,  earls  of  Derby,  from  the  Con- 
quest to  their  ruin  towards  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Henry  HI., 
since  which  time  it  has  been,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster. 

Tutbury,  as  mentioned  in  our  account  of  Chartley,  was  one  of  the 
*  l>  B 


402  Tutbury  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures, 

prison-houses  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  in  a  low  range  of  buildings  at 
the  south-east  angle  of  the  Castle.  It  originally  consisted  of  two  large 
rooms,  an  upper  and  a  lower  one :  the  former  has  disappeared ;  but  the 
square  holes  in  the  wall  are  visible,  in  which  the  beams  of  the  flooring 
were  inserted.  Of  the  lower  apartment,  the  walls  remain  ;  the  entrance 
is  by  a  descent  of  several  steps  ;  it  had  a  vaulted  ceiling,  and  the  pro- 
jecting ledges  or  supports  afford  by  their  accumulation  of  earth  suffi- 
cient nourishment  for  brambles.  The  room  is  lighted  by  two  small 
windows,  deeply  cut  in  the  thick  wall.  The  upper  room  had  two  large 
pointed  windows,  commanding  a  fine  view,  the  extent  of  which,  to  its 
luckless  prisoner,  Mary,  must  have  made  her  narrow  prison  more 
irksome  and  dreaiy.  She  was  removed  hither  from  Chartley  and  placed 
under  the  care  of  George,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  then  constable  of  Tut- 
bury Castle.  At  Chartley  the  Queen  had  been  placed  under  the  care  of 
Sir  Amias  Paulet,  when  Anthony  Babington,  of  Dethic,  and  his  accom- 
plices, attempted  to  rescue  her :  maintaining  a  correspondence  with  her 
by  means  of  a  hole  in  the  wall,  which  they  closed  with  a  loose  stone ; 
the  attempt,  however,  ended  in  their  own  destruction,  and  the  removal 
of  the  Queen  to  Tutbury.  "  Like  every  other  place  of  her  confine- 
ment," says  Mrs.  Howitt,  "  Chartley  is  a  ruin.  Crumbling  walls,  trees 
growing  where  rooms  once  were,  and  inscribed  with  the  names  or 
initials  of  hundreds  of  visitors;  tall  weeds  and  melancholy  yews, 
spreading  around  their  shade — mark  the  spot  as  one  fraught  with  many 
subjects  of  thought  on  the  past  and  the  present,  on  the  changes  of 
times,  and  of  national  character." 

Tutbury  was  held  for  the  King,  and  taken  by  the  Parliament, 
in  the  wars  of  Charles  I.  Subsequently,  by  order  of  the  House, 
it  was  reduced  very  nearly  to  the  condition  in  which  it  is  now 
seen. 

"  Although  the  temporal  evidence  of  the  splendour  of  the  House  of 
Ferrars  has  disappeared,  the  memory,  as  usual,  of  their  ecclesiastical 
beneficence  has  been  preserved.  The  parish  church  of  St.  Mary,  once 
the  church  of  the  Ferrars  abbey  of  Tutbury,  still  stands,  scarcely  a 
stone's  cast  from  the  Castle  wall,  and  seems  anciently  to  have  been  in- 
cluded within  the  outer  defences.  It  was  founded  by  Henry  de  Ferrars, 
in  the  reign  of  Rufus,  and  has  a  Norman  nave,  clerestoiy,  and  aisles ; 
and  its  west  end  is  one  of  the  richest  and  most  perfect  Norman  fronts 
in  existence.  This  edifice,  which  had  been  much  misused,  has  had  tlie 
Norman  portion  restored  by  Mr.  Street,  the  eminent  architect,  who  has 
also  added  a  large  polygonal  apse,  or  east  end,  to  the  chancel.  This 
is  probably   the   Chapel   of  St.  Mary  within    the  Castle,   in   which 


Tutbury  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures.         403 

(18  Edward  I.),  Edmund  Earl  of  Lancaster  founded  a  special 
mass,"* 

Tutbury  is  a  curious  old  place,  with  old  services  and  customs,  some 
of  which  are  entitled  to  be  called  "  Jocular  Tenures."  Thus,  when 
John  of  Gaunt  was  lord  of  this  castle,  Sir  Philip  Somer\-ile  held  of  him 
the  manor  of  Briddeshall  by  these  senices :  that  when  his  lord  keef>eth 
Christmas  at  his  castle  of  Tutbury,  Sir  Philip,  or  some  other  knight, 
his  deputy,  shall  come  to  Tutbury,  on  Christmas  Eve,  and  be  lodged  in 
the  tov\'n  by  the  Marshal  of  the  Earl's  house  ;  and  on  Christmas-day 
he  shall  go  to  the  dresser,  and  carrying  his  lord's  mess  to  his  table,  shall 
carve  the  meat  to  his  lord,  and  this  he  shall  do  as  well  at  supper  as  at 
dinner ;  and  when  his  lord  hath  eaten,  the  said  Sir  Philip  shall  sit  down 
in  the  same  place  where  his  lord  sat,  and  shall  be  served  at  the  table  by 
the  stewards  of  the  Earl's  house.  And  upon  St.  Stephen's  Day,  when 
he  hath  dined,  he  shall  take  his  leave  of  his  lord,  and  shall  kiss  him ; 
and  for  this  service  he  shall  nothing  take,  and  nothing  give.  These 
services  Sir  Philip  performed  to  the  Earls  of  Lancaster  forty-eight  years 
for  the  manor  of  Briddeshall. 

Sir  Philip  also  held  the  manors  of  Tatenhall  and  Drycot,  in  this 
county,  by  the  following  ser\ices :  that  he,  or  his  attorney,  should  go  to 
the  Castle  of  Tutbury,  upon  St.  Peter's  day,  in  August,  and  show  the 
steward  that  he  is  come  to  hunt,  and  take  his  lord's  greese,  or  wild 
swine,  at  the  cost  of  his  lord  ;  whereupon  the  steward  shall  cause  to  be 
delivered  to  Sir  Philip  an  horse  and  saddle,  worth  50  shillings,  or  that 
sum  to  provide  one,  and  one  hound  ;  and  shall  likewise  pay  to  Sir 
Philip,  for  every  day  to  Holyrood-day,  two  shillings  and  sixpence  for 
himself,  and  one  shilling  for  his  servant  and  hound.  And  the  wood- 
masters  of  the  forests  of  Need  wood  and  Duftield,  with  all  the  parkers 
and  foresters,  are  to  attend  upon  Sir  Philip,  while  their  lord's  greese  is 
taking  in  the  said  forest,  as  upon  their  master  during  that  time ;  and  at 
the  expiration  thereof.  Sir  Philip  shall  deliver  up  the  horse  and  barcelet 
(or  hound),  to  the  steward  with  whom  he  has  dined  on  Holyrood- 
day  at  the  Castle  of  Tutbury,  he  shall  kiss  the  porter  .and  depart.t 

But  the  most  extraordinary  custom  at  this  place  was  the  barbarous 
diversion  called  Tutbury  Bull-running,  the  origin  of  which  is  too  curious 
to  be  omitted.  During  the  time  that  the  ancient  Earls  and  Dukes  of 
Lancaster  had  their  abode,  and  kept  a  liberal  hospitality  at  their  honour 
of  Tutbury,  great  numbers  of  people  resorted  here  from  all  parts,  for 


•  From  an  able  contribution  to  the  Builder. 

t  Dugdalc's  Baronage,  vol.  ii.  ;  I'lot  s  Utaffordskire,  chap.  la 

D   D   3 


404         Tjitbury  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures. 

whose  diversion  musicians  were  permitted  to  come,  to  pay  their  services. 
At  length  quarrels  arose,  when  it  was  necessary  to  form  rules  for  a  proper 
regulation  of  these  services,  and  a  governor  was  appointed  by  the  name 
of  King,  who  had  oflficers  under  him  to  see  those  laws  executed ;  as 
appears  by  the  charter  granted  to  the  King  of  the  Minstrels,  by  John  of 
Gaunt,  dated  August  22,  4th  of  King  Richard  II.  In  the  reign  of 
Henry  VI.,  the  Prior  of  Tutbury — for  there  was  an  Abbey  founded 
here  by  Henry  de  Fcrrars,  for  Benedictine  monks,  which  Abbey  was 
richly  endowed,  and  remained  in  great  splendour  till  the  Reformation — 
gave  the  minstrels,  who  came  to  matins  there  on  the  feast  of  the 
Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  a  bull  to  be  taken  on  this  side  the 
river  Dove,  or  else  the  Prior  paid  them  forty  pence.  This  custom  con- 
tinued after  the  RetoiTnation,  with  alterations. 

On  the  1 6th  of  August,  the  minstrels  met  in  a  body  at  the  house  of 
the  bailiff,  where  they  were  joined  by  the  steward  of  the  manor,  from 
whence  they  marched,  in  couples,  to  church,  the  King  of  the  Minstrels 
walking  between  the  steward  and  the  bailiff,  with  music  playing,  each 
of  the  four  under-officcrs  carrying  a  white  wand  immediately  following, 
and  then  the  rest  of  the  company.  Being  seated  in  the  church,  prayers 
were  read,  and  a  sermon  preached,  for  which  each  of  the  minstrels  paid 
the  Vicar  a  penny.  From  hence  they  returned  in  procession  to  the 
large  Hall  in  the  Castle,  where  the  King,  sitting  between  the  bailiff  and 
steward,  made  a  report  of  such  minstrels  as  had  offended  against  the 
statutes,  when  the  guilty  were  fined  a  small  sum.  Moreover,  to  exhort 
them  better  to  mind  their  duty,  the  steward  gave  them  a  long  charge ; 
in  which  he  expatiated  largely  upon  the  origin  and  excellence  of  music ; 
its  power  upon  the  passions  ;  how  the  use  of  it  had  always  been  allowed 
in  praising  and  glorifying  God ;  and  although  it  might  sometimes  be 
demeaned  by  vagabonds  and  rogues,  he  maintained  that  such  societies 
as  theirs,  legally  founded  and  governed  by  strict  rules,  were  by  no 
means  included  in  that  statute.  This  charge  being  finished,  and  various 
forms  gone  through,  they  retired  to  the  great  hall,  where  an  excellent 
dinner  was  provided,  and  the  overplus  given  to  the  poor. 

The  next  object  was  the  taking  of  the  bull,  for  which  purpose  the 
minstrels  repaired  to  the  Abbey-gate  and  demanded  him  of  the  Prior  ; 
aften^•ards  they  went  to  a  barn  by  the  town-side,  where  the  bull  was 
turned  out  with  his  horns  cut  off,  his  ears  cropped,  and  his  tail  dimi- 
nished to  the  very  stump,  his  body  besmeared  with  soap ;  and  his  nostrils 
•filled  with  pepper,  to  increase  his  fury.  Being  then  let  loose,  the  stewai-d 
proclaimed  that  none  were  to  come  nearer  to  the  bull  than  forty  feet, 
nor  to  hinder  the  minstrels,  but  to  attend  to  their  own  safety.    The 


Ttithnry  Castle,  and  its  Curious  Tenures.        405 

minstrels  were  to  take  him  before  sunset,  on  this  side  the  river,  which  if 
they  failed  to  do,  and  he  escaped  into  Derbyshire,  he  still  remained  the 
lord's  property.  It  was  seldom  possible  to  take  him  fairly,  but  if  they 
held  him  long  enough  to  cut  off  some  of  his  hair,  he  was  then  brought 
to  the  market-cross,  or  bull-ring,  and  there  baited ;  after  which  the 
minstrels  were  entitled  to  the  bull. 

Hence  originated  the  rustic  sport  of  Bull-running,  which,  before  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  had  become  a  horrible  practice.  The  harmony 
of  the  minstrels  was  changed  to  discord  and  noise  ;  their  solemn  and 
harmless  festivity  into  rioting  and  drunkenness,  and  the  white  wands  of 
the  officers  into  clubs  and  destructive  weapons.  In  short,  the  sport  had 
got  to  such  a  pitch  of  madness  and  cruelty,  that  not  content  with  tor- 
turing the  poor  bull,  the  people  fell  in  the  most  savage  manner  upon 
each  other,  so  that  it  became  a  faction  fight  between  the  mobs  of  the 
two  counties ;  and  seldom  a  year  passed  without  great  outrages,  and 
frequently  loss  of  life.  Happily,  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  who  had  be- 
come owner  of  the  Castle  and  lord  of  the  manor,  abolished  the  inhuman 
custom. 

The  hivie-skivie  and  tag-rag  of  the  scene  are  thus  noticed  in  a  ballad 
of  the  early  part  of  the  last  century : 

"  Before  we  came  to  it,  we  heard  a  strange  shouting, 
And  all  that  were  in  it  lookd  madly  ; 
For  some  were  a  Hull-back,  some  dancing  a  Morrice, 
And  some  singing  Arthur  O  Bradley  I " 

In  an  old  play.  The  Faire  Maide  of  Clifion,  by  William  Sampson, 
1696,  this  practice  flourished  at  Tutbury;  for  in  Act  V.  we  read: 
"  He'll  keep  more  stir  with  the  Hobby  Horse,  than  he  did  with  the 
pipers  at  Tedbury  Bull-running."  Mundy,  in  his  elegantly-descriptive 
poem  of  "  Ncedwood  Forest"  (written  in  1770),  has  thus  glanced  at 
the  celebrities  of  Tutbury : 

"  With  awful  sorrow  I  behold 
Yon  cliff,  tliat  frowns  with  ruins  old  ; 
Stout  Ferrars*  there  kept  faithless  ward, 
And  Gaunt  performed  his  Ciistle-guard.f 
There  captive  Maryt  lookd  in  vain 
For  Norfolk  and  her  nuptial  train  ; 


•  Robert  de  Fcrrars  joining  a  rebellion  against  Henry  III.,  forfeited  the 
possession  of  Tutbury. 

t  A  service  imposed  upon  those  to  whom  castles  and  estates  adjoining  were 
granted. 

%  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  was  a  prisoner  in  Tutbury  Castle  at  the  time  of  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk's  intriijiics.  She  listened  to  his  projwsals  of  marriage  as  the 
only  means  of  obtaining  her  liberty,  declaring  herself  otherwise  averse  to 
further  matrimonial  connexions. 


4o6  Chartley  Castle. 

Enrich 'd  with  royal  tears  the  Dove, 
But  sigh'd  for  freedom,  not  for  love. 
'Twas  once  the  seat  of  festive  state, 
Where  high-born  dames  and  nobles  sat; 
While  minstrels,  each  in  order  heard, 
Their  venerable  songs  preferr'd. 
False  memory  of  its  state  remains 
In  the  rude  sport  of  brutal  swains. 
Now  serpents  hiss  and  foxes  dwell 
Amidst  the  mouldering  citadel : 
And  time  but  spares  those  broken  towers 
In  mockery  of  human  powers." 

The  steward  of  the  manor  held  at  Tutbury,  to  our  time,  a  court 
called  the  Minstiels'  Court. 


Chartley  Castle. 

Upon  an  eminence,  which  rises  from  a  wide  and  fertile  plain,  envi- 
roned by  some  of  the  finest  scenery  in  the  county  of  Stafford,  lies  the 
beautiful  estate  of  Chartley.  The  property  is  about  six  miles  south- 
east of  Stafford,  and  two  miles  east  of  the  direct  London  and  Liverpool 
road,  between  Rugby  and  Stone.  And,  upon  a  clear  day,  may  be  seen 
by  the  traveller  from  Stone  to  Colwich,  on  the  North  Staffordshire  Rail- 
way, the  remains  of  the  Castle  which  has  conferred  celebrity  upon 
Chartley  for  six  centuries  past. 

At  the  Domesday  survey,  Chartley  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Con- 
queror, whose  successor,  William  Rufus,  gave  it  to  Hugh,  Earl  of 
Chester.  In  his  family  the  estate  continued  for  several  successions ; 
and  Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester,  built  the  Castle  in  1220,  or  the  fourth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  HL,  and  its  defensive  strength  as  a  fortress 
was  severely  tested  in  those  turbulent  times.  After  the  death  of  Ra- 
nulph, the  founder,  the  Castle,  with  his  other  estates,  devolved  on 
William  de  Ferrers,  Earl  of  Derby,  and  was  then  attached  to  the  Royal 
forest  of  Needwood  and  the  honour  of  Tutbury.  But  the  Earl's  grand- 
son, having  joined  the  rebellious  Barons  against  Henry  UL,  and  been 
defeated  at  Burton  Bridge,  this  Earl's  immense  possessions,  now  fonning 
part  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  were  forfeited  to  the  Crown.  The 
Earl,  however,  again  possessed  himself  of  the  Castle  by  force ;  when,  by 
command  of  his  brother,  the  King,  he  was  besieged  by  the  Earl  of  Lan- 
caster, who  took  the  fortress  after  an  obstinate  resistance.  Ferrers  was 
subsequently  pardoned;  and  though  deprived  of  the  Earldom  of  Derby, 
was  allowed,  possession  of  his  Castle. 

The  Chartley  estate  remained    in  this  family  until  the    time  of 


CJiartlcy  Castle.  407 

Henry  VI.,  when  being  tied  in  dower,  Agrnes,  heiress  of  William, 
carried  it  by  marriage  to  Walter  Devereiix,  Earl  of  Essex  ;  and  it  re- 
mained in  this  line  until  the  death  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  the  Parlia- 
mentiry  general,  who  closed  his  life  at  the  palace  of  Eltham,  in  Kent, 
in  1C46.  Thus,  it  is  certain  that  C  hartley  was  in  the  possession  of 
the  Earl  of  Essex,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth ;  and  it  was  probably 
the  place  of  his  retirement  when  he  was  liberated  from  his  first  impri- 
sonment, at  the  end  of  August,  1600;  perhaps  here  he  planned  the 
plot  for  which  he  was  tried,  Feb.  19,  1601,  and  executed  on  the  25th  of 
the  same  month,  being  Ash  Wednesday.  In  1677,  Sir  Robert  Shirley 
(son  of  Dorothy,  sister  of  the  last  Earl  of  Essex)  was  declared  Lord 
Ferrers  of  Chartley.  This  nobleman  was  afterward  created  Viscount 
Tamworth  and  Earl  Ferrers,  from  whom  the  property  descended  to  the 
present  Earl. 

The  keep  of  Chartley  was  circular,  and  about  fifty  feet  in  diameter. 
The  present  remains  consist  chiefly  of  the  fragments  of  two  round 
towers,  and  part  of  a  wall  twelve  feet  in  thickness:  the  loopholes  are  so 
constructed  as  to  allow  arrows  to  be  shot  into  the  ditch  in  a  hori- 
zontal direction,  or  under  the  towers. 

The  Castle  appears  to  have  been  in  ruins  for  many  years.  It  is  re- 
corded that  Queen  Elizabeth  \nsited  her  favourite,  the  Earl  of  Essex, 
here  in  August,  \"^'^,  and  was  entertained  by  him  in  a  half-timbered 
house,  which  fonnerly  stood  near  the  Castle,  but  was  long  since  de- 
stroyed by  fire.  It  is  questionable  whether  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  was 
imprisoned  in  this  house,  or  in  a  portion  of  the  old  Castle.  Certain, 
however,  it  is  thiit  the  unfortunate  Queen  was  brought  to  Chartley  from 
Tutbury  on  Chiistmas-day,  rjS.:^.  On  the  8th  of  August,  1586,  she 
was  taken  from  Chartley  to  Tixhall,  distant  about  three  miles,  and 
brought  back  on  the  30th.  She  found,  on  her  return,  that  her  cabinet 
had  been  broken  open,  her  papers  carried  off  by  Commissioners ;  and 
her  two  secretaries,  Naue  and  Curie,  taken  into  custody.  The  exact 
date  at  which  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  left  Chartley  is  not  ceilain  ;  but  it 
appears  she  was  removed  thence  under  a  plea  of  taking  the  air  without 
the  bounds  of  the  Castle.  She  was  then  conducteti  by  daily  stages 
from  the  house  of  one  gentleman  to  another,  under  pretence  of  doing 
her  honour,  witliout  her  having  the  remotest  idea  of  her  destination, 
until  she  found  herself,  on  the  26th  of  September,  within  the  fatal  walls 
of  Fothtringhay  Castle.  A  bed,  wrought  by  the  Queen  of  Scots  during 
her  imprisonment,  is  shown  at  Chartley. 

A  strange  traditional  omen  clings  about  the  natural  history  of  the  in- 
digenous Staffordshire  cow  which  is  preserved  in  the  park  at  Chartley: 


4o8  The  Legend  of  Diculacres  A  bbey. 

this  cow  is  small  in  stature,  of  sand-white  colour,  with  the  ears,  muzzle, 
and  hoof  tipped  with  black.  The  tradition  is  said  to  have  originated  in 
a  black  calf  Ix-ing  bom  in  the  year  of  the  battle  of  Burton  Bridge,  at 
which  period  dates  the  downfall  of  the  House  of  Feirers ;  and  from 
this  time  the  birth  of  a  parti-coloured  Chartley  calf  has  been  believed 
to  foretell  the  death  of  a  member  of  the  Lord's  family. 


The  Legend  of  Dieulacres  Abbey. 

At  a  short  distance  from  the  town  of  Leek,  in  Staffordshire,  is  the 
interesting  site  of  the  Abbey  of  Dieulacres  or  Dieulcncres,  which  stood 
in  the  vale  of  the  river  Chumet ;  but  nothing  of  the  Abbey  remains 
standing  except  part  of  the  shafts  of  the  chapel  columns.  Randle 
Blundevill,  Earl  of  Chester,  in  1254,  translated  the  Cistercian  monks 
of  the  Abbey  of  Poulton,  near  Chester,  to  this  place,  and  endowed  it 
with  the  church  of  Leek.  The  following  legend  is  recorded  in  White's 
History  of  Staffordshire,  as  immediately  connected  with  the  name  and 
foundation  of  this  Abbey.  The  earl  dreamt  that  the  ghost  of  his  grand- 
father appeared  to  him,  and  bade  him  go  to  Cholpesdale,  near  Leek, 
and  found  an  abbey  of  white  monks,  near  to  a  chapel  there,  dedicated 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  "  for  by  it,"  said  the  ghost,  "  there  shall  be  joy 
to  thee  and  many  others  who  shall  be  saved  thereby ;  of  this  it  shall 
be  a  sign  when  the  Pope  doth  interdict  England.  But  do  thou,  in  the 
meantime,  go  to  the  monks  of  Poulton,  and  be  a  partaker  of  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  supper ;  and,  in  the  seventh  year  of  that  interdict, 
thou  shalt  translate  those  nuonks  to  the  place  I  have  appointed." 
Ranulph  having  had  this  vision,  related  it  to  his  wife,  who,  hearing  it, 
said,  in  French,  "Dieulacres!  God  increase!"  whereupon  the  earl, 
pleased  with  the  expression,  said  it  should  be  the  name  of  the  abbey, 
which  he  speedily  founded,  and  furnished  with  monks  of  the  Cistercian 
order  from  Poulton. 

About  50  years  ago  the  ruins  of  the  abbey,  which  had  been  so  com- 
pletely buried  in  the  earth  that  cattle  grazed  over  them,  were  dug  up, 
and  most  of  the  materials  used  in  erecting  barns  and  stables  for  the  use 
of  the  ancient  farmhouse  which  stands  near  the  spot ;  the  exterior 
walls  of  the  farm-buildings  were  decorated  with  many  fragments  of 
arches  and  capitals,  and  in  one  of  them  is  a  stone  coffin,  with  a  crosier 
and  sword  carved  upon  it. 

After  the  Dissolution  of  the  monasteries  in  England  by  Henry  VHI  ^ 
the  site  of  this  Abbey,  with  the  manor,  rectory,  and  advowson  of  the 


Shrewsbury  Castle.  409 

vicarage  of  Leek  and  the  annexed  chapels  of  Horton,  Chedleton,  and 
Ipstones,  and  all  the  tithes  of  those  places,  and  all  other  property  "to 
the  said  monastery  of  Delacres  formerly  belonging,"  were  granted  by 
letters  patent,  in  the  second  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  to  Sir 
Ralph  Bagenall,  Knight,  in  fee,  in  consideration  of  his  true,  faithful, 
and  acceptable  services  theretofore  done  "  to  us"  in  Ireland.  Most  of 
that  property  descended  from  him  to  Sir  Nicholas  Bagenall,  and  from 
him  to  his  son,  Sir  Henry  Bagenall,  who,  with  Dame  Eleanor  his  wife, 
by  indenture  dated  31st  March,  1597,  conveyed  it  to  Thomas  Rudyerde, 
of  Rudyerde,  Esq.,  under  whom  it  has  been  derived  or  come  to  the 
present  proprietors. 


Shrewsbury  Castle. 

The  ancient  town  of  Shrewsbury  was  probably  founded  by  the 
Britons  of  the  kingdom  of  Powis,  and  it  is  supposed  to  have  been 
established  by  them  as  a  stronghold  when  they  found  Wroxeter  (the 
Uriconium  of  the  Romans)  no  longer  tenable ;  the  Welsh  name  was 
Pengwcm.  According  to  Domesday  Book,  the  town  had,  in  Edward 
the  Confessor's  time,  250  houses,  with  a  resident  burgess  in  each 
house ;  also  it  had  five  churches.  It  was  included  in  the  earldom  of 
Shrewsbury,  granted  by  William  the  Conqueror  to  his  kinsman, 
Roger  de  Montgomery,  who  erected  a  Castle,  to  clear  or  enlarge  the 
site  of  which  fifty-one  houses  were  demolished ;  fifty  others  lay  waste 
at  the  time  of  the  Domesday  Survey,  and  forty-three  were  held  by  the 
Normans.  The  Castle  was  built  at  the  entrance  to  the  peninsula  on 
which  the  town  stands.  There  had  been  a  Castle  here  previously, 
which  was  besieged  a.d.  ic68,  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  insurgents,  and  the 
Welsh,  who  burnt  the  town.*  The  Castle  and  town  were  surrendered 
to  Henry  I.  by  Robert  de  Bclesmc,  the  third  Earl,  who  had  risen  in 
arms  in  favour  of  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  Henry's  brother. 
After  being  held  for  several  years  by  the  Crown,  the  Earldom  was  granted 
by  Henry,   in  1126,  to  his  second  wife.    Her  castellan  and  sheriff. 


•  In  1093,  Magnus  III.  of  Norway,  in  ravaging  Anglesey,  was  encountered 
by  Hugh  Montgomery,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  and  Hugh  de  Albrincis,  Earl  of 
Chester,  who  had  recaptured  the  island.  The  death  of  the  former  affords  an 
instance  of  clever  marksmanship.  "  Kinsr  Magnus  shot  with  the  bow;  but 
1'  '      '■  "  •  that  nothing  was  bare  about  him 

arrow  at  him,  as  also  fiid  a  man 

;  him  at  once ;  the  one  bliaft  hit 

the  nu->c-5crecn  of  ilic  liclmtt,  winch  w.ii  bont  by  it  on  one  side,  and  the  other 

hit  the  Earl's  eye,  and  went  through  his  head;  and  that  was  found  to  be  the 

King's." 


410  Shrcivsbury  Castle. 

Fitz-Alan,  held  the  Castle  for  the  Empress  Maud  against  Stephen,  who 
took  it  by  assault  in  1138,  and  treated  the  defenders  with  great  severity. 
It  was  retaken  by  Henry,  son  of  Maud,  afterwards  Henry  II.,  towards 
the  close  of  Stephen's  reign ;  and  the  custody  of  the  Castle  was  restored 
to  Fitz-Alan.  The  Seal  of  the  Corporation,  engraved  in  1425,  exhibits 
a  curious  representation  of  the  town.  Its  contests  with  the  Welsh,  and 
the  insurgent  Barons  under  Simon  de  Montfort,  and  its  Parliaments,  we 
have  not  space  to  detail.  In  1283,  a  Parliament  was  assembled  here  for 
the  trial  of  David,  the  last  Prince  of  Wales,  who  was  executed  as  a  traitor. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  that  King  assembled  an 
army  hereto  march  against  Owen  Glendower ;  and  the  year  after,  1403, 
fought  the  famous  battle  of  Shrewsbury  against  the  turbulent  Percies 
and  their  allies.  The  insurgents,  under  the  younger  Percy  (Hotspur), 
were  marching  from  Stafford  towards  Shrewsbury,  which  they  hoped 
to  occupy,  as  its  command  of  the  passage  over  the  Severn  would 
enable  them  to  communicate  with  their  ally,  Glendower  ;  but  the  King, 
who  came  from  Lichfield,  reached  Shrewsbury  a  few  hours  before 
them.  Henry  set  fire  to  the  suburb  adjacent  to  the  Castle,  and  marched 
out  to  offer  battle  ;  but  Hotspur,  whose  forces  were  weary  with  their 
march,  drew  off,  and  the  battle  was  fought  next  day  at  Hateley  Fidd, 
about  three  miles  from  the  town.  Hotspur  had  about  14,000  men, 
a  considerable  part  of  them  Cheshire  men,  who  were  famous  for  their 
skill  as  archers.  Henry's  force  was  nearly  twice  as  great.  The  en- 
gagement was  very  fierce,  but  the  death  of  Hotspur  decided  the  battle. 
The  insurgents  were  defeated  wth  great  slaughter:  the  Earls  of  Doug- 
las and  Worcester,  and  Sir  Richard  Venables  were  taken  ;  the  first  wa^ 
released,  and  the  last  two,  with  some  others,  were  beheaded  without  trial. 

In  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  Shrewsbury  supported  the  Yorkists,  and 
Edward  IV.  showed  much  favour  to  the  townsmen.  His  second  son, 
Richard,  the  younger  of  the  two  Princes  murdered  in  the  tower,  was 
bom  here.  The  Earl  of  Richmond  on  his  march,  previous  to  the  battle 
of  Bosworth,  was  received  into  Shrewsbury  with  some  reluctance  by 
the  magistrates,  but  with  acclamations  by  the  townsmen. 

In  the  Civil  Wars  of  Charles  I.  the  King  came  to  Shrewsbury,  where 
he  received  liberal  contributions  of  money  and  plate  from  the  neigh- 
bouring gentry,  and  largely  recruited  his  forces.  The  town  was  sur- 
prised and  taken  by  the  Parliamentarians  in  February  1644.  There  are 
some  remains  of  the  Castle,  especially  of  the  keep,  which  has  been 
modernized ;  also  of  the  walls  of  the  inner  court,  the  great  arch  of  the 
inner  gate,  a  lofty  mound  on  the  tank  of  the  river ;  and  a  fort  called 
Roushill,  built  by  Cromwell. 


Shreivsbiiry  Castle.  411 

Shrewsbury  has  been  for  ages  famed  for  its  pageants  and  festal  dis- 
plays. The  Shrewsbury  Show  originated  in  the  splendid  festival  ot 
Corpus  Christi,  in  the  Church  of  Rome :  the  procession,  so  far  back  as 
the  reign  of  Henry  VI.,  was  supported  by  several  of  the  Guilds.  After 
the  Refonnation,  the  religious  part  of  the  ceremony  was  set  aside,  and 
as  a  substitute,  the  second  Monday  after  Trinity  Sunday  adopted  as  a 
day  of  recreation  and  feasting,  on  Kingsland,  where  each  Company  had 
a  small  inclosure,  within  which  was  a  building  called  "  an  arbour,"  sur- 
rounded by  trees,  and  where  refreshment  was  liberally  provided  by  the 
respective  trades.  The  Show  is  continued,  but  the  Mayor  and  Corpo- 
ration no  longer  take  part,  and  the  cost  is  defrayed  by  the  junior  mem- 
bers of  the  various  trades. 

Shrewsbury  was  formerly  famous  for  its  painted  glass  works,  and  for 
its  making  of  excellent  brawn.  Nor  ought  to  be  forgotten  the  "  Shrews- 
bury Cakes,''  which  Shenstone  has  recorded  among  the  products  of  his 
natal  ground: 

"  And  here  each  season  do  those  cakes  abide, 

W'liosc  honoured  names  the  inventive  city  own. 
Rendering  through  Britain's  isle  Salopians  praises  known."* 


•  Another  celebrated  Cake  is  manufactured  at  Shrewsbury ;  this  is  the  Simnel, 
made  also  at  Coventry,  Devizes,  and  Bury  in  Lancashire.  At  Bury,  on 
Mothering,  or  Mid-lent  Sunday,  when  young  folks  go  to  pay  their  dutiful 
respects  to  their  parents,  they  go  provided  with  this  oftering.  At  Shrewsbury 
it  is  made  in  the  form  of  a  pie,  the  crust  being  coloured  with  saffron,  and  very 
thick.     At  T^  '.IS  no  crust,  is  star-shaped,  and  is  mixed  with  a  mass  of 

currants,  s;  ndied  lemon.     The  common  Shropshire  story  about  the 

meaning  oi  -Simnel  is  well  known.     A  happy  couple  had  a  domestic 

dispute  as  to  whether  they  should  have  for  their  day's  dinner  a  boiled  pudding 
or  a  baked  pie.  Words  be^n  to  run  high ;  but  meanwhile  the  dinner  lay 
T    ■   '-        I    -.  1 -1     ,        ',.     — 'tting  hungry.  So  they  came  to  a  compromise 

the  dish  that  was  prepared.     To  this  grand 

■  of  Simnel  was  given,  because  the  husband's 

..lies  was  NelL     The  real  history  of  this  famous 

llie  name  is  of  very  great  antiquity,  and  in  Latin 


i^  v.,                        .,  .  ......  ....a  from  •■  <"■■•■•••■' 

■  'vord  signifying  sifted  or  fine  flour 

otw                       ned  among  the  i 

c^f  bread  by  Galen,  the  physician, 

wl;o                         A.i>.  131.     Othi  ■■ 

have  words  very  like  it  for  fine 

1. 

no.     Originally,  therefore,  it  was 

1 1  now  is,  but  a  lighter  cake,  con- 

^.,.   .  _  . ^ 1    - 1  ■                           ■ 

...:icr  fare.     The  word  siminellus  is 

frcqueniiy  met  witii   ui  ini 

In  the  year  1044,  when  a  King  of 

Sc'>f!arid  wn^  vi=irm^  nt  the  !                     irt, 

an  onlff  was  !'i<;n»»d  for  12  siminels 

f      '              '  '                             ■  .ly.      1  he  ii 

•         •        ■     1  by 

nutritious  . 

nel 

imcncl.     Hi 

,.ife 

when  eaten  to  excess;  for  an  old  gentleman  of  liic  vc.ir  i5y5,  si^caking  nd 
doubt  from  melancholy  experience,  gives  this  warning  ujxjn  the  subject,  "Sod- 
den bread  which  bee  called  Simuels,  bee  veric  imwholesome  t" 


412 


Ludlow  Castle  and  its  Memories. 

This  celebrated  Castle,  about  whose  history  there  is  a  sort  of  cht- 
valric  and  poetic  romance,  is  placed  at  the  north-west  extremity  of  the 
town  of  Ludlow,  in  a  country  of  surpassing  beauty.  The  fortress  was 
built  by  Roger  de  Montgomery  shortly  after  the  Conquest ;  but  the  son 
of  this  nobleman  did  not  long  enjoy  it,  as  he  died  in  the  prime  of  life. 
The  grandson,  Robert  de  Belesme,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  forfeited  it  to 
Henry  I.,  having  joined  the  party  of  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy. 
Henry  presented  it  to  his  favourite,  Fulke  Fitz  Warine,  or  de  Dinan, 
whose  name  the  Castle  for  some  time  bore.  To  him  succeeded  Joccas, 
between  whom  and  Hugh  de  Mortimer,  Lord  of  Wigmore,  dissensions 
arose ;  and  the  latter  was  confined  in  one  of  the  towers,  still  called 
Mortimer's  Tower.  Edward  I V.  repaired  the  Castle,  as  the  palace  of 
the  Princes  of  AVales,  and  the  appointed  place  for  meeting  his  deputies, 
the  Lords  Presidents,  who  held  in  it  the  Court  of  the  Marches,  for 
transacting  the  business  of  the  Principality.  At  his  death,  in  1483,  his 
eldest  son  was  twelve  years  old,  keeping  a  mimic  Court  at  Ludlow 
Castle,  with  a  council.  Ordinances  for  the  regulation  of  the  Prince's 
daily  conduct  were  drawn  up  by  his  father  shortly  before  his  death, 
which  prescribe  his  morning  attendance  at  mass,  his  occupation  "at 
school,"  his  meals,  and  his  sports.  No  man  is  to  sit  at  his  board  but 
such  as  Earl  Rivei-s  shall  allow :  and  at  this  hour  of  meat  it  is  ordered 
"  that  there  be  read  before  him  noble  stories,  as  behoveth  a  prince  to 
understand  ;  and  that  the  communication  at  all  times,  in  his  presence, 
be  of  virtue,  honour,  cuning  (knowledge),  wisdom,  and  deeds  of  wor- 
ship, and  nothing  that  shall  move  him  to  vice." — (^MS.  in  British 
Museum.)  The  Bishop  of  Worcester,  John  Alcock,  the  President  of 
the  Council,  was  the  Prince's  preceptor.  Here  he  was  first  proclaimed 
King  by  the  title  of  Edward  V.,  but  after  a  mere  nominal  possession  of 
less  than  three  months,  he  and  his  brother,  Richard  Duke  of  York,  both 
disappeared,  and  nothing  is  known  as  to  their  fate ;  but  the  prophetic 
words  of  the  dying  Edward  IV.  were  fulfilled  :  "  If  you  among  your- 
selves in  a  child's  reign  fall  at  debate,  many  a  good  man  shall  perish,  and 
haply  he  too,  and  ye  too,  ere  this  land  shall  find  peace  again." 

Sir  Henry  Sidney,  as  Lord  President  of  the  Marches,  resided  at 
Ludlow  Castle,  then  the  principal  stronghold  between  England  and 
Wales.  An  extract  fi-om  a  letter  in  the  ninth  year  of  Elizabeth  (1566), 
written  to  his  son.  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  then  a  boy  twelve  years  of  age,  at 
school  at  Shrewsbury,  who  was  evidently  in  the  habit  of  writing  to  his 


Ludlow  Castle,  and  its  Mcviories.  413 

father  at  Ludlow,  serves  as  an  example  to  parents  generally  how  to 
encourage  and  advise  their  children  when  away  from  their  custody  or 
care: 

"  I  have  received  two  letters  from  you,  one  written  in  Latine,  the 
other  in  French,  which  I  take  in  good  part,  and  will  (wish)  you  to 
exercise  that  practice  of  learning  often  ;  for  that  will  stand  you  in  most 
stead  in  that  profession  of  life  you  are  boni  to  live  in.  And  since  this  is 
my  first  letter  I  ever  did  write  to  you,  I  will  not  that  it  be  all  empty  of 
some  advice,  which  my  natural  care  of  you  provoketh  me  to  wish  you 
to  follow,  as  documents  to  you  in  this  your  tender  age. 

"  Let  your  first  action  be  the  lifting  of  your  mind  to  Almighty  God 
by  hearty  prayer,  and  feelingly  digest  the  words  you  speak  in  prayer, 
with  continual  meditation  and  thinking  of  Him  to  whom  you  pray, 
and  of  the  matter  for  which  you  pray.  ...  Be  humble  and  obedient  to 
your  master,  for  unless  you  frame  yourself  to  obey  others,  yea,  and 
feel  in  yourself  what  that  obedience  is,  you  will  never  be  able  to  teach 
others  how  to  obey  you.  .  .  .  "Well  (my  little  Philippe),  this  is  enough 
for  me,  and  too  much,  I  fear,  for  you. 

"  Your  loving  father,  so  long  as  you  live  in  the  fear  of  God, 

"  H.  Sidney." 

This  charming  letter  was  probably,  though  undated,  written  from 
Ludlow  Castle.  Sir  Henry  died  herein  1586.  The  Queen  being  cer- 
tified thereof,  ordered  Garter  King-of-Arms  to  prepare  all  things  apjier- 
taining  to  his  office  for  his  funeral.  Accordingly,  Garter  and  the  other 
heralds  coming  to  W'orcester,  ordered  the  corpse,  robed  with  velvet,  to 
be  brought  from  Ludlow,  which  was  solemnly  conveyed  into  the 
cathedral  church  at  Worcester,  and  there  placed ;  and  after  a  sermon 
preached  by  one  of  Sir  Henry's  chaplains,  the  corpse  was  conveyed  into 
a  chariot  covered  with  velvet,  hung  with  escutcheons  of  his  arms,  &c. : 
and  being  accompanied  with  "  Mr.  Garter,"  and  the  other  heralds,  with 
the  principal  domestics  of  the  deceased,  and  officers  of  the  court  of 
Ludlow,  they  proceeded  on  their  journey  to  London ;  and  from  thence 
to  Penshurst,  where,  on  Tuesday,  21  June,  1586,  he  was  interred  in 
the  chancel  of  the  church  of  that  place,  attended  from  his  house  by  a 
noble  train  of  lords,  knights,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  something  like  six 
weeks  after  his  death  ;  giving  us  a  slight  idea  of  the  length  of  time  con- 
sumed in  those  days  in  jounieying  from  Ludlow  to  the  metropolis, 
albeit  this  was  a  solemn  and  grand  occasion. 

It  was  during  the  time  of  Sir  Henry's  presidency  that  many  im- 


414  Lndlow  Castle ^  and  its  Memories. 

portant  additions  were  made  to  the  Castle  of  Ludlow ;  and  here  he 
often  resided  in  great  pomp  and  splendour.  The  young  Philip  was, 
consequently,  a  frequent  indweller  of  the  Castle ;  and  the  woods  and 
hills  around  must  have  been  the  scene  of  many  a  hunting  or  hawking 
excursion,  in  which  he,  with  his  noble  brothers  and  sisters,  shared. 
Mr.  Thomas  Wright,  in  his  Liidloiu  Sketches,  says :  "  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
ihepreux  chevalier  of  his  age,  the  poet,  and  lover  of  letters  and  men  of 
letters,  was  no  doubt  a  frequept  resident  in  Ludlow  Castle,  and 
probably  there  collected  at  times  around  him  the  Spensers  and  the 
Raleighs,  and  the  other  literary  stars  of  the  day." 

The  stone  bridge  which  supplies  the  place  of  a  drawbridge  at  the 
Castle,  is  apparently  of  Sir  Henry  Sidney's  time,  and  the  great  portal  is 
of  the  same  date.  Over  the  archway  is  a  small  stone  tablet,  with  a 
Latin  inscription  alluding  to  the  ingratitude  of  man,  which  seems  veiy 
curious,  and  must  refer  to  some  great  disappointment  Sir  Henry  met 
with  at  this  time.  The  mere  fact  that  much  of  the  work  he  did  in  the 
Castle,  at  great  expense  to  himself,  and  which  the  govemment  ought  to 
have  paid  for,  but  did  not,  has  been  surmised  the  cause  of  this  complaint 
on  the  wall  over  the  archway. 

The  next  memorable  circumstance  in  the  history  of  Ludlow  Castle 
is  the  first  representation  of  Milton's  masque  of  Comus,  in  1634,  when 
the  Earl  of  Bridgevvater  was  Lord  President.  A  scene  in  the  Masque 
represented  the  Castle  and  town  of  Ludlow.  Mr.    Dillon    Croker, 

in  a  paper  read  to  the  British  Archaeological  Association,  in  1867,  has 
thus  ably  illustrated  this  exquisite  effusion  of  Milton's  genius: — 

"  There  are  passages  or  phrases  in  this  Masque,"  says  Mr.  Croker,  "in 
which  we  may  trace  a  similarity  to  the  writings  of  Chaucer,  Spenser 
(in  his  Fairy  Queen),  Shakspeare  (notably  in  the  Tempest),  and  other 
authors ;  the  plot  is  also  well  known  to  be  a  striking  resemblance  to  a 
scarce  old  play  by  George  Peele,  called  The  Old  Wi-ve's  Tale,  printed  at 
London,  1595,  in  which,  among  other  parallel  incidents,  are  exhibited 
two  brothers  ^vandering  in  quest  of  their  sister,  whom  an  enchanter  had 
imprisoned.  This  magician  had  leanied  his  art  from  his  mother  Merse, 
as  Comus  had  been  instructed  by  his  mother  Circe.  The  brothers  call 
out  on  the  lady's  name,  and  echo  replies.  The  enchanter  had  given  her 
a  potion,  which  suspends  the  power  of  reason  and  superinduces  oblivion 
of  herself.  The  brothers  afterwards  meet  with  an  old  man  who  is  also 
skilled  in  magic,  and  by  listening  to  his  soothsayings  they  recover  their 
lost  sister.  From  this  there  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  this  old 
drama  may  have  furnished  Milton  with  the  idea  and  plan  of  Comus, 
the  resemblance  traced  by  Warton  being  even  stronger  than  has  been 


Ludlow  Castley  and  its  Memories^  415 

asserted.  Again,  from  Fletcher's  Faithful  Shepherdess,  and  from  Browne's 
Inner  Temple  Masque,  it  is  asserted  that  Milton  may  have  taken  some 
hints ;  as  well  as  from  the  old  English  Apuleius,  and  it  has  been  con- 
jectured also  that  he  framed  Comus  very  much  upon  the  episode  of 
^irce  in  Homer's  Odyssey,  whilst  another  ingenious  annotator  contends 
that  it  is  rather  Liken  from  the  Comus  of  Erycius  Puteanus,  a  tract 
published  at  Oxford,  in  1634,  the  very  year  Milton's  Comus  was  written. 
"Sir  Egerton  Biydges,  in  his  life  of  Milton,  observes  that  '  Comus  is 
the  invention  of  a  beautiful  fable,  enriched  with  shadowy  beings  and 
visionary  delights ;  every  line  and  word  is  pure  poetry,  and  the  sentiments 
are  as  exquisite  as  the  images.  It  is  a  composition  which  no  pen  but 
Milton's  could  have  produced  ;  though  Shakspeare  could  have  written 
many  parts  of  it,  yet  with  less  regularity,  and  of  course  less  philoso- 
phical thought  and  learning,  less  profundity  and  solemnity,  but,  per- 
haps, with  more  buoyancy  and  transparent  flow.'  The  obligation  of 
Pope  to  Milton  has  been  examined,  and  Warton  calls  him  the  first 
writer  of  eminence  who  copied  Comus.  Having  alluded  to  the  various 
sources  from  which  Milton  (then  in  his  twenty-sixth  year)  is  said  to 
have  obtained  his  plot,  or  at  least  some  valuable  suggestions,  there  yet 
remains  the  story  for  which  Oldys  is  the  earliest  known  authority,  that 
Lord  Brackley,  then  aged  twelve  (who  performed  the  part  of  the  elder 
brother,  and  was  the  eldest  sur\iving  son  of  the  Earl  of  Bridgewater), 
accompanied  by  the  Hon.  Thomas  Egerton  (who  enacted  the  Second 
Brother),  with  their  sister,  the  Lady  Alice  (who  could  not  have  been 
at  that  time  more  than  thirteen,  and  who  acted  the  Lady),were  on  their 
way  to  Ludlow  from  the  house  of  some  relatives  in  Herefordshire,  when 
they  rested  on  their  journey,  and  were  benighted  in  Haywood  Forest, 
and  this  incident  (the  Lady  Alice  having  been  even  lost  for  a  short  time) 
fumislied,  it  is  thought,  the  subject  of  Comus  as  the  Michaelmas  fes- 
tivity, which  was  acted  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Castle,  the  occasion 
being  the  installation  ot  the  Earl  as  president  over  the  March  of  Wales, 
to  which  office  he  was  nominated  in  1631,  but  did  not  proceed  to  his 
official  duties  until  some  two  years  later.  The  early  edition,  a  small 
quarto  ot  thirty-five  pages,  was  simply  entitled  "  A  Masque,  presented 
at  Ludlow  Castle,  1634,  on  Michaelmasse  night,  before  the  Right  Hono- 
rable John,  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  Viscount  Brackley,  Lord  President 
of  Walts.  London,  i<^37."  The  names  of  the  principal  actors  appear 
at  the  end  ot  this  edition.  The  songs  were  set  to  music  by  Mr.  Henry 
Lawes,  gentleman  of  the  King's  Chapel,  and  one  of  His  Majesty's 
private  musicians,  who  taught  music  in  Lord  Bridgewater *8  family. 
The  Lady  Alice,  who  excelled  in  singing,  was  a  pupil  of  Lawes;  she 


4i6  Ludloiv  Castle,  and  its  Memories. 

was  allotted  the  song  of  "  Echo."  Lawes  performed  the  part  of  the 
attendant  Spirit,  and  undertook  the  general  management  of  the  Masque. 
It  is  not  known  who  were  the  original  representatives  of  the  parts  of 
Comus  and  Sabrina." 

Entertainments  of  this  kind  having  been  discouraged,  Comus  was  the 
delight  of  comparatively  few  until  i  -rfi,  when  it  was  produced  at  Drury 
Lane  Theatre,  with  new  music  by  Dr.  Ame.  It  was  subsequently  re- 
peatedly presented  on  the  stage,  and  was  revived  at  Drury  Lane  so 
recently  as  1864.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  in  1750  it  was  acted  and 
published  for  the  benefit  of  Milton's  grand-daughter,  who  kept  a 
chandler's  shop  at  Holloway  ;  an  occasional  prologue  was  written  for 
this  occasion  by  Dr.  Johnson,  and  spoken  by  Garrick. 

It  has  been  surmised  that  Milton  produced  Comus  under  his  father's 
roof  at  Horton,  near  Colnbrook,  in  Buckinghamshire,  where  the  pcK't 
went  to  reside  after  leaving  Cambridge :  here  his  father  had  retired 
from  practice  with  a  competent  fortune,  holding  his  home  under  the 
Earls  of  Bridgewater,  which  may  possibly  have  been  young  Milton's 
introduction  to  that  noble  family.  Buckinghamshire,  rather  than 
Shropshire,  may  therefore  have  been  his  residence  when  he  wrote  Comus ; 
and  there  is  evidence  to  prove  that  he  was  even  present  at  Ludlow  Castle 
during  the  representation  of  the  work. 

In  Ludlow  Castle  also  Butler  wrote  part  of  Hudibras.  During  the 
Civil  War  the  fortress  was  garrisoned  for  the  King,  but  was  delivered  up 
to  the  Parliament  in  1646.  Lord  Carbcry's  account  of  the  expenses 
incurred  in  making  the  Castle  habitable  after  the  Civil  War,  has  some 
entries  which  are  valuable,  as  specifying  the  period  of  Butler's  services 
as  Steward  of  Ludlow  Castle,  and  the  nature  of  the  services  performed 
by  the  great  wit.  Thus  we  find  payments  made  by  Butler  "  to  sundry 
Braziers,  Pewteiers,  and  Coopers,"  for  "  supplies  of  furniture  ;"  "bottles, 
corkes,  and  glasses ;"  "  saddles  and  furniture  for  the  caterer  and 
slaughterman,"  &c. 

The  exterior  of  the  Castle  denotes  in  some  degree  its  former  magnifi- 
cence. It  rises  from  the  point  of  a  headland,  and  the  foundations  are 
ingrafted  into  a  bare  grey  rock.  The  north  ft-ont  consists  of  square 
towers,  with  high  connected  walls,  embattled ;  the  old  fosse  and  part 
of  the  rock  were  planted  with  trees  in  1772.  The  principal  entrance 
is  by  a  gateway,  under  a  low  pointed  arch ;  the  enclosure  is  of  several 
acres.  The  body  of  the  Castle  on  the  north-west  is  guarded  by  a 
deep  and  wide  fosse.  The  arms  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  with  those  of  the 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  who  succeeded  Sir  Henry  Sidney  in  the  presidency, 
are  seen  on  the  walls.    The  Keep  is  a  vast  Early  Norman  square  tower. 


The  Priory  of  Austin  Friars  at  Ludlow.        417 

1 10  feet  high,  and  ivy-mantled  to  the  top.  The  ground-floor  contains 
the  dungeon  or  prison,  half  underground,  with  three  square  openings 
communicating  with  the  chamber  above ;  these  openings,  besides  being 
used  for  letting  down  the  prisoners,  are  supposed  to  have  been  intended 
for  supplies  of  ammunition,  implements,  and  provisions  during  a  siege. 
The  Great  Hall,  where  Comus  was  first  played,  is  roofless  and  has  no 
floor.  A  tower  at  the  west  end  is  still  called  Prince  Arthur's  Tower; 
and  there  are  the  remains  of  the  old  chapel.  The  Castle  has  altogether 
a  grand  and  imposing  aspect ;  and  in  some  points  of  view  the  towers 
are  richly  clustered,  with  the  keep  in  the  centre.  The  Earl  of  Powis, 
who,  pre^•ious  to  the  accession  of  George  I.  held  the  Castle  on  a  long 
lease,  acquired  the  reversion  in  fee  by  purchase  from  the  Crown  in  iSii. 
The  prospect,  we  have  said,  is  charming.  The  old  town  of  Ludlow 
— in  itself  an  object  of  considerable  interest — stands  upon  a  knoll,  and 
to  the  westward,  on  the  heights  of  a  steep  line  of  rocks,  rise  the  grey 
towers  of  Ludlow  Castle,  which  at  one  time  must  have  been  impregnable. 
From  this  point  the  view  is  perhaps  unsurpassed  in  all  England.  East- 
ward is  Titterstone  Clee  Hill ;  on  the  north  is  Corve  Dale,  and  a  series 
of  hills  which  stretch  as  fer  as  the  eye  can  see,  the  beautifiil  valley  of  the 
Teme  lying  immediately  before  you,  with  the  Stretton  Hills  as  a  back- 
ground ;  to  the  west  is  a  line  of  hill  and  forest ;  while,  looking  back, 
the  Teme,  prettiest  and  tiniest  (in  some  parts)  of  rivers,  disappears  in 
a  narrow  ravine,  "  formed  "  (says  a  contemporary  wTiter)  "  by  some 
convulsion  of  the  ancient  world,  which  cut  off  the  knoll  on  which  now 
stand  the  castle  and  town,  and  gave  it  its  picturesque  character."  So 
beautiful,  indeed,  is  the  surrounding  country,  that  Ludlow  has  been 
called  by  an  enthusiastic  admirer — probably  a  Salopian — the  queen  of 
our  inland  watering-places. 

The  Priory  of  Austin  Friars  at  Ludlow. 

How  the  remains  of  the  Priory  of  Austin  Friars  at  Ludlow  were 
discovered  about  seven  years  since,  is  thus  pleasantly  narrated  by  Mr. 
Beriah  Botficld,  F.S.A.,  in  the  /trcfxtologia : — 

"Tradition,  the  handmaid  of  history,  has  happily  furnished  some 
account  of  the  last  state  of  this  ancient  foundation.  A  lady,  now  ad- 
vanced in  years,  but  still  resident  at  Ludlow,  was  amused  by  the  interest 
created  by  digging  out  the  old  foundations,  while,  as  she  said,  no  one 
took  such  notice  ofthcbuildingswften  they  were  above  ground.  When  she 
was  quite  young,  and  used  to  go  to  school  from  Letwychc,  an  extensive 
range  of  stone  buildings,  which  looked  like  a  large  house,  stood  a  little 
*  K  £ 


41 8         The  Priory  of  Austin  Friars  at  Ludlow. 

below  the  road  in  an  open  space  full  of  stones  and  ruins.  Dividing  this 
space  from  the  road  was  a  massive  wall  with  an  archway  in  it,  and  gates, 
through  which,  and  between  some  of  the  ruins,  there  was  a  kind  of  road 
down  to  the  'ruined  building.'  The  little  stream  called  Whitcliall 
Brook,  rising  probably  from  St.  Julian's  Well,  on  Gravel  Hill,  flowed 
through  the  fish-ponds  below  the  Priory  inclosure  into  the  river  Teme. 
Its  course  having  lately  been  altered,  it  has  now  ceased  to  run  as  formerly. 
The  old  lady  described  a  road  leading  from  nearly  opposite  the  entrance 
archway  of  the  Priory  to  join  the  Cleobury  Mortimer-road,  near  where 
the  Gravel  Hill  turnpike-gate  now  stands.  The  existence  of  a  road  in 
that  direction  explains  the  ancient  road  which  was  cut  across  by  the 
Shrewsbury  and  Hereford  Railway  at  that  spot,  and  set  down,  in  spite 
of  all  reasons  to  the  contrary,  as  a  Roman  road,  at  the  time  it  was  dis- 
covered, nearly  seven  years  ago.  The  building  itself  was  used  as  a 
kennel  for  Captain  Waring's  hounds ;  and  the  old  lady  perfectly  re- 
members how  he  and  a  gay  party  of  gentlemen  and  ladies,  all  dressed  in 
scarlet,  rode  out  of  the  archway  on  days  when  the  meet  was  fixed  at 
Ludlow.  But,  she  added,  at  night  was  quite  another  scene.  The  old 
Priory  seemed  then  to  be  reoccupied  by  its  former  inhabitants — singing 
and  other  noises  were  heard,  as  though  many  people  lived  there ;  and 
on  fine  nights  the  Prior  and  his  brethren,  all  habited  in  white,  might  be 
seen  walking  along  the  road,  still  called  the  Friars-lane,  in  a  stately 
manner,  to  the  intense  alarm  of  any  young  folks  who  might  happen  to 
be  rambling  that  way  too  late  in  the  evening.  I  tell  this  tale  as  it  was 
told  to  me ;  but  I  am  happy  to  add  that  the  kennel  was  not  on  the  site 
of  the  Priory,  but  in  a  barn  immediately  adjoining  Old  Gates  Fee.  The 
harriers,  which  were  the  hounds  Captain  Waring  kept,  were  hunted  by 
a  man  of  the  name  of  Maiden,  who  lived  in  that  part  of  the  old  building 
which  was  still  habitable.  A  great  part  of  it  had  the  roof  off,  and  only 
holes  where  the  windows  were.  All  the  remains  of  the  old  buildings 
were  taken  down  by  Mr.  Gilley  Pritchett,  who  laid  down  the  land  as  a 
meadow,  the  turf  of  which  soon  covered  the  foundation  of  the  walls. 
This  happy  accident  enabled  Mr.  Curley,  the  engineer  employed  in 
levelling  the  ground  for  the  new  Cattle  market,  to  trace,  with  remarkable 
accuracy,  the  ground-plan  of  the  Priory  and  conventual  buildings.  In 
their  general  arrangement  they  correspond  with  other  houses  under  the 
same  rule." 


419 


HEREFORD  AND  WORCESTERSHIRE. 

The  Castle  of  Wigmore,  and  its  Lords. 

Of  this  famous  fortress,  a  place  of  great  historic  renown,  there  re- 
mains a  massive  ruin,  situated  on  a  rocky  eminence,  to  the  west  of  the 
town  of  Wigmore,  on  the  north  side  of  the  county  of  Hereford.  The 
Castle  was  surrounded  by  a  moat,  the  remains  of  which  are  now  visible, 
and  over  which  was  a  drawbridge.  The  fortress  was  built  by  Ethel- 
fleda,  or  Eldeda,  the  eldest  daughter  of  King  Alfi-ed.  At  the  time  of 
the  Norman  Conquest,  Edric,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  and  several  other 
nobles,  made  formal  submission  to  the  Conqueror,  but  aftenvards  re- 
belled. They  were  all  slain,  or  taken  prisoners,  in  an  engagement  with 
the  King,  except  Edric,  who  fled  to  his  castle  at  Wigmore,  where  he 
sustained  a  long  siege  against  the  forces  under  the  command  of  Ranulf 
Mortimer  and  Roger  de  Montgomery.  Edric  was  at  length  compelled 
to  surrender,  and  sent  prisoner  to  the  King ;  and  Mortimer  was  re- 
warded with  the  gift  of  Wigmore  Castle  and  its  appendages. 

Through  a  succession  of  ages  the  Mortimer  family  possessed  this 
fortress,  together  with  vast  estates,  and  became  great  and  powerful ; 
.ind  by  their  ambition  and  intrigues,  several  English  monarchs  were  made 
tremble  on  the  throne.  Roger,  the  sixth  Lord  of  Wigmore,  took  an 
active  part  in  favour  of  Henry  III.  against  his  rebellious  barons.  After 
the  fatal  battle  of  Lewes,  seeing  his  sovereign  in  great  distress,  and 
nothing  but  iiiin  and  misery  attending  himself  and  other  loyal  subjects 
of  the  King,  he  took  no  rest  till  he  had  contrived  some  way  for  their 
deliverance:  to  that  end  he  sent  a  swift  horse  to  the  Prince,  then 
prisoner  with  the  King  in  the  Castle  at  Hereford,  with  suggestion  that 
he  should  obtain  leave  to  ride  out  for  recreation  to  a  place  called  Wid- 
marsh  ;  and  that  upon  sight  of  a  person  mounted  upon  a  white  horse 
upon  the  foot  of  Tulington  Hill,  and  waving  his  bonnet,  he  should  hasten 
towards  him  with  all  possible  speed ;  which  being  accordingly  done 
(though  all  the  country  thereabout  were  hither  called  to  prevent  his 
escape),  setting  spurs  to  the  horse  they  escaped  through  them  all,  and 
arriving  at  the  Park  at  Tulington,  Roger  met  him  with  500  armed  men 
and  chased  them  back  to  the  gate  at  Hereford,  making  great  slaughter 
amongst  them.  Having  thus  brought  off  the  Prince  with  safety  to  his 
Castle  at  Wigmore,  he  was  the  chief  person  in  raising  a  powerful  army, 

E  E  3 


420  The  Castle  of  Wigmorc,  and  its  Lords. 

consisting  chiefly  of  the  Welsh,  by  which,  upon  August  4,  1365,  he  ob- 
tained a  glorious  victory  over  the  insolent  Montfort  and  his  party  near 
Evesham,  in  Worcestershire,  when  the  King  himself  was  happily  set  at 
liberty. 

By  others  this  story  is  related  with  a  difference,  viz., — that  Roger  sent 
the  Prince  a  swift  horse  for  the  purpose  before  mentioned,  and  that  the 
Prince  obtaining  leave  of  Montfort  to  try  if  the  horse  were  of  use  for 
the  great  saddle,  first  tired  out  other  Horses  and  then  got  on  this  (a  boy 
with  two  swords,  whom  Roger  had  sent,  being  near  with  another  horse); 
and  so  turning  himself  to  Roger  de  Ros,  then  his  keeper,  and  other  by- 
standers, said,  "  I  have  been  in  your  custody  for  a  time,  but  now  I  bid 
you  farewell,"  rode  away ;  and  Roger,  with  his  banner  displayed,  re- 
ceived him  at  a  little  hill  called  Dunmore,  and  so  conveyed  him  safe  to 
his  Castle  at  Wigmore.  He  was  rewarded  for  his  faithful  services  with 
considerable  grants  from  the  Crown. 

In  the  seventh  year  when  all  was  quiet,  Roger  having  procured  knight- 
hood for  his  three  sons,  he  at  his  own  cost  held  a  Tournament  at  Kenil- 
vvorth,  where  he  sumptuously  entertained  one  hundred  knights  and  as 
many  ladies  for  three  days — "  the  like  thereof  was  never  before  in 
England."  There,  it  is  said,  originated  the  Round  Table  (so  called  be- 
cause the  place  wherein  they  practised  these  feats  was  encircled  with  a 
wall)  ;  and  upon  the  fourth  day  the  Golden  Lion  in  sign  of  triumph 
being  yielded  to  him,  he  carried  it  v\ith  all  the  company  to  Warwick. 
His  fame  being  spread  into  foreign  countries,  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
sent  him  certain  wooden  bottles  bound  with  golden  bars  and  wax,  under 
the  pretence  of  wine,  but  which  were  filled  with  gold,  and  for  many 
ages  after  were  kept  in  the  Abbey  of  Wigmore.  For  the  love  of  the 
Queen  he  added  a  Carbuncle  to  his  Arms. 

Roger  de  Mortimer  was  created  Earl  of  March  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  II.  He  conducted  the  Queen  and  the  young  King,  Edward 
III.,  to  the  Marches  of  Wales,  where  he  welcomed  them  with  magni- 
ficent festivities,  accompanied  with  tournaments  and  other  princely  re- 
creations at  his  Castles  of  Wigmore  and  Ludlow  ;  "  so  likewise  in  his 
forests  and  his  paiks,  and  also  with  great  costs,  in  tilts  and  other 
pastimes;  which,  as  it  was  said,  the  King  did  not  duly  recompense." 
Roger  hereupon  grew  proud  beyond  measure.  His  own  son, 
Geoffrey,  called  him  "the  King  of  Folly;"  he  also  kept  the  Round 
Table  of  Knights,  in  Wales,  "  for  a  pride  in  imitation  of  King  Arthur." 
Roger  de  Mortimer  was  now  blinded  by  ambition,  and  set  no  bounds 
to  his  ostentation  ;  he  scarcely  took  pains  to  conceal  his  intimacy  with 
the  Queen ;  he  usurped  all  the  offices  of  Government,  and  offended 


Tlie  Castle  of  Wigviore,  and  its  Lords.  42 1 

many  nobles  by  his  haughty  and  defiant  conduct.  He  was  at  last 
seized  in  Nottingham  Castle,  as  already  described  in  our  account  of 
that  fortress. 

Edward  de  Mortimer,  Roger's  eldest  son,  survived  his  father  a  few 
years,  and  left  a  son  named  Roger,  who  in  1354  obtained  a  reversal  of 
the  attainder  of  his  grandfather ;  and  it  was  declared  in  full  parliament 
that  the  charges  on  which  Roger  had  been  condemned  were  false  and 
his  sentence  unjust.  He  died  in  Burgundy  in  1360  in  command  of  the 
English  forces  in  that  country,  and  left  a  son,  Edmund,  then  in  his 
minority,  who  early  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II.  was  made  Lord-Lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland.  He  married  the  Lady  Philippa  Plantagcnet,  daughter 
and  heir  of  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence,  by  which  union  he  gave  to  his 
descendants  their  title  to  the  English  Crown,  the  cause  of  so  much 
bloodshed  in  the  following  century. 

In  the  Parliament  held  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  Richard  II., 
13S5,  his  eldest  son,  Robert  de  Mortimer,  fourth  Earl  of  March,  was 
declared  heir  apparent  to  the  Crown,  from  his  descent  from  Lionel, 
Duke  of  Clarence.  His  eldest  daughter,  Anne,  was  married  to 
Richard  Plantagenet,  Duke  of  Cambridge,  younger  son  of  Edmund, 
Duke  of  York,  and  therefore  the  great-grandson  of  Edward  III. 

Edmund,  son  and  heir,  fifth  and  last  Earl  of  March,  was  bom  at 
the  New  Forest,  and  being  only  six  years  old  at  his  father's  death,  was 
committed  in  ward  to  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  son  of  Heniy  IV. 
Out  of  his  custody  he  was  shoitly  afterwards  stolen  away  by  the  Lady 
Despencer,  but  being  found  in  Chiltham  Woods,  he  was  kept  after- 
wards under  stricter  guard,  since  he  was  rightful  heir  to  the  Crown  of 
England.  After  having  distinguished  himself  in  the  French  wars,  he 
dictl  childless  in  1424,  and  the  male  line  of  this  branch  of  the  Mortimer 
family  became  extinct. 

The  baronies  of  Mortimer  and  the  other  dignities  and  estates  were 
inherited  by  his  nephew,  Richard  Plantagenet,  Duke  of  York,  who  was 
put  to  death  after  the  battle  of  Wakefield.  Edward  IV.,  when  Duke 
of  York,  resided  at  Wigmore  Castle.  During  the  Civil  Wars  it  was 
attacked  and  bumt  by  the  rebels,  and  has  remainetl  in  ruins  ever 
since. 

Gough,  in  his  additions  to  Camden,  has  this  touching  reflection  on 
Wigmore  and  its  Lords :  "  It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  the  massive 
niin  of  Wigmore  Castle,  situate  on  a  hill  in  an  amphitheatre  of  moun- 
tains, whence  its  owner  could  survey  his  vast  estate  from  his  square 
palace,  with  four  comer  towers  on  a  keep,  at  the  south-east  comer  of 
his  double-trenched  outworks,  without  reflecting  on  the  instability  of 


422  Worcester  Castle,  and  its  Sieges. 

the  grandeur  of  a  family  whose  ambition  and  intrigue  made  more  than 
one  English  monarch  uneasy  on  his  throne — yet  not  a  memorial  re- 
mains of  their  sepulture." 


Worcester  Castle,  and  its  Sieges. 

Lambai'de,  the  antiquary,  remaiks  that  he  never  met  with  a  place 
that  had  so  great  experience  in  the  calamities  of  the  intestine  broils  of 
the  kingdom,  and  other  casual  disasters,  as  the  city  of  Worcester.  An 
early  town  was  taken  by  Penda,  King  of  Mercia ;  was  destroyed  by  the 
Danes,  and  rebuilt  about  a.d.  894.  In  1041  it  was  plundered  and 
burnt  to  the  ground  by  King  Hardicanute.  In  1088  it  was  unsuccess- 
fully besieged  by  Bernard  Neumarck ;  and  about  this  year  was  built  the 
Castle,  by  Urso  d'Abitot.  In  11 13  the  city,  not  excepting  the  Castle 
and  the  Cathedral,  was  consumed  by  fire,  caused,  as  suspected,  by  the 
Welsh.  In  11 13  the  city  was  again  partially  burnt.  In  1139  the 
forces  of  the  Empress  Maud  fired  and  plundered  it.  In  1149  King 
Stephen  burnt  the  city,  but  the  Castle,  which  had  been  strongly  forti- 
fied, resisted  his  attempts ;  the  remains  of  one  of  the  forts  then  reared, 
may  be  seen  on  Red  Hill,  near  Digley;  another  stood  on  Henwick's 
Hill.  Eustace,  Stephen's  son,  afterwards  vigorously  besieged  the  Castle, 
but  was  repulsed  by  the  Count  de  Meulant ;  in  revenge  he  fired  the 
town.  In  1 1 51  Stephen  made  another  assault  on  the  Castle,  but  was 
obliged  to  raise  the  siege:  the  King  "  built  castles  "  before  it,  and  filled 
them  with  garrisons,  but  they  were  overthrown  by  Robert  Earl  of 
Leicester.  In  1 157  Worcester  was  fortified  against  Henry  II.  by  Hugh 
Mortimer,  but  afterwards  submitted.  In  1189  the  city  again  sufTcicd 
severely  from  fire.  In  1216  Worcester  declared  for  Lewis  the  Dauphin, 
but  was  taken  by  Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester.  In  1263  the  city  was  be- 
sieged and  taken  by  the  Barons;  and  in  the  following  year  Henry  III. 
was  conducted  here,  prisoner,  after  the  Battle  of  Lewes.  In  1265 
Prince  Edward,  afterwards  Edward  I.,  taken  prisoner  at  the  Battle  of 
Lewes,  escaped  to  Worcester,  where  he  assembled  an  army :  he  then 
defeated  young  De  Montfort,  at  Kenilworth,  and  next  on  the  heights 
above  Worcester,  defeated  Simon  de  Montfort  and  his  son,  being  both 
killed,  and  his  army  entirely  routed.  Worcester  was  visited  several 
times  by  Edward  I.,  who  in  1282  held  a  Parliament  here.  In  1401 
the  city  was  burnt  and  plundered  by  Owen  Glendower's  troops.  In 
1485  Worcester  was  taken  possession  of  by  Henry  VII.,  after  the 
battle  of  Bosworth  Field ;  500  marks  being  paid  as  a  ransom  for  the 
city.    In  1534  it  suffered  by  an  earthquake;  next  year  by  the  sweating 


Worcester  Casile,  and  its  Sieges.  423 

sickness;  and  in  1637  by  a  pestilence.  In  1642  Worcester  was  be- 
sieged and  taken  by  the  Parliamentary  forces.  In  1651  Charles  II., 
coming  from  Scotland,  possessed  himself  of  Worcester,  and  was  there 
first  proclaimed  King  in  England.  In  the  same  year,  Sept.  3,  Cromwell 
defeated  the  Royalists  at  Red  Hill,  about  a  mile  fi-om  the  city,  when 
20CO  were  killed,  and  Soco  taken  prisoners :  most  of  the  latter  were  sold 
as  slaves  to  the  American  Colonies.  Of  this  "crowning  mercy"  of 
Cromwell,  a  curious  memorial  exists  at  Worcester,  in  a  half-timbered 
house  at  the  north  end  of  New-street,  where,  preceding  the  battle.  King 
Charles  II.  resided ;  and  whither,  after  the  unfortunate  issue,  the  King 
retreated  with  Lord  Wilmot.  He  was  closely  pursued  by  Colonel 
Corbet,  but  effected  his  escape  at  the  back  door  of  the  house  just  as 
his  pursuer  entered  it.  The  pei-son  who  inhabited  the  house  at  the  time 
is  said  to  have  been  Mr.  R.  Durant.  The  room  in  which  the  King  slept 
was  in  the  front  of  the  house.  Over  the  entrance  the  following  inscrip- 
tion was  placed: — "Love  God.  [W.  B.  1577.  R.  D.]  Honor  the 
King."  The  date  over  the  door  most  probably  marks  the  year  of  the 
erection,  at  which  time  it  is  said  to  have  belonged  to  William  Berkeley. 
Judge  Berkeley  was  bom  in  it,  July  26,  1584.  R.  Durant  was  most 
probably  the  person  who  put  up  at  least  part  of  the  inscription,' 
"  Honour  the  King,"  in  allusion  to  the  entertainment  and  protection  he 
himself  had  afforded  to  his  Sovereign.  The  King  having  escaped  the 
dangers  of  the  field,  was  conducted  to  Boscobel,  and  soon  after  escaped 
to  F' ranee.  In  1687,  James  II.  visited  Worcester,  when  the  Mayor 
attended  his  Majesty  to  a  Roman  Catholic  chapel ;  and,  upon  being 
asked  by  the  King  if  the  Corporation  would  not  enter  with  him,  the 
Mayor  nobly  replied,  "  I  fear,  your  Majesty,  we  have  gone  too  far 
already." 

The  site  of  the  Castle  which,  from  time  to  time,  sustained  so  many 
sieges,  and  so  frequently  changed  governors,  is  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Cathedral :  there  are  no  architectural  remains  whatever ;  the  last  was 
Edgar  Tower.  A  small  part  of  an  old  ecclesiastical  house,  the  Nunnery 
of  W'hitstane,  now  called  "  The  White-ladies,"  still  remains ;  and  here 
were  long  preserved  the  bed  in  which  Queen  Elizabeth  slept,  the  cup 
she  drank  out  of,  &c.  at  her  visit  in  1.^815,  Friar-street  takes  its  name 
from  a  house  of  Franciscans  which  formerly  existetl  here ;  the  Domi- 
nicans, Penitents,  Black  Friars,  and  Friars  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  had  like- 
wise their  establishments  here. 


424 


Boscobcl,  and  Charles  II. 

Boscobel  is  celebrated  in  English  history  as  having  been  the  first 
place  of  refuge  in  which  King  Charles  II.  took  shelter  after  his  defeat 
at  the  Battle  of  Worcester,  as  described  in  the  preceding  page.  It  is 
situated  near  the  little  town  of  Madeley,  on  the  confines  of  Worces- 
tershire and  Shropshire,  and  was,  at  the  time  referred  to,  the  residence 
of  William  Penderell,  a  forester  or  servant  in  husbandry  to  Mr. 
Giffard,  the  owner  of  the  surrounding  domain.  To  the  fidelity  of 
this  man,  his  wife,  his  mother,  and  his  four  brothers,  Richard,  Hum- 
phrey, John,  and  George  Penderell,  was  the  fugitive  king  indebted  for 
some  days  of  concealment  and  safety,  when  even  the  noble  and  gentle 
who  parted  from  him  chose  to  remain  in  voluntary  ignorance  of  the 
exact  place  of  his  retreat ;  "  as  they  knew  not  what  they  might 
be  forced  to  confess."  The  King  fled  from  Worcester  field,  attended 
by  Lords  Derby  and  Wilmot  and  others,  and  arrived  early  next 
morning  at  AVhite-ladies,  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  Boscobel 
House.  At  this  place  Charles  secreted  himself  in  a  wood,  and  in  a 
tree  (from  the  King's  own  account,  a  pollard  oak),  since  termed  "  the 
Royal  Oak ;"  at  night  Boscobel  was  his  place  of  refuge ;  and  that 
part  of  the  house  which  rendered  him  such  service  is  still  shown.  The 
account  states  that  the  King  remained  among  the  branches  of  the  oak 
concealed,  while  his  pursuers  actually  passed  round  and  under  it.  But 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  day  of  his  flight  was  September  4, 
when  the  tree  could  scarcely  have  been  in  sufllicient  leaf  to  conceal 
him.  The  custom  of  wearing  oak  on  the  29th  of  May  was  on 
account  of  his  preser%'ation  in  the  oak  ;  this  was  the  King's  birthday, 
and  the  day  on  which  Charles  entered  London,  so  that  the  Royalists 
displayed  the  branch  of  oak,  from  the  tree  having  been  instrumental 
in  the  king's  restoration.  The  oak  at  Boscobel  was,  after  the 
Rest  oration,  speedily  destroyed  by  the  zeal  of  the  Royalists  to  possess  relics 
of  their  sovereign's  hiding-place:  but  another,  raised  from  one  of  its 
acorns,  is  still  flourishing.  Charles  is  related  to  have  planted  in  Hyde 
Park,  as  memorials  of  the  Restoration,  two  acorns  from  the  Boscotel 
oak,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Serpentine  ;  one  tree  only  now  remains. 


•  When  Charles  was  on  his  flight,  in  disguise,  from  Brighthelmstone  to 
Dieppe  (says  Baker,  in  his  Chronicle),  "the  king,  sitting  on  the  deck,  and 
directing  the  course,  or  as  they  call  it,  coursing  the  ship,  one  of  the  mariners, 
blowing  tobacco  in  his  face,  the  master  bid  him  go  further  off  the  gentleman, 
who,  murmuring,  unwittingly  replied,  that  a  cat  might  look  upon  a  king." 


TJie  A  bbey  of  Evesham.  42  5 

"  Few  palaces,"  says  a  sympathizing  writer,  "  awake  more  pleasing 
recollections  of  human  nature  in  our  minds  than  does  this  lowly 
cottage.  The  inhabitants  were  of  the  poorest  among  the  poor,  the 
humblest  among  the  humble;  death  on  the  one  hand  was  the  certain 
punishment  which  attended  their  fidelity,  if  discovered ;  while  on  the 
other  hand,  riches,  beyond  anything  they  could  have  contemplated, 
courted  their  acceptance,  and  might  have  been  secured  by  one  single 
treacherous  word  ;  yet  did  this  virtuous  band  of  brothers  retain  their 
fidelity  untempted  and  their  loyalty  unshaken."  Boscobel  is,  howe\-er, 
a  half-timbered  house  of  two  storeys. 

In  the  year  1869,  at  Bridgnorth,  which  is  only  a  few  miles  from 
Boscobel,  a  gentleman  came  into  the  possession  of  an  interesting 
memorial  of  the  history  of  the  latter  place — namely,  a  life-size  portrait 
of  an  old  lady,  which,  after  having  been  sold  at  an  auction  for  a  few 
pence,  was  used  as  a  fire-screen.  The  cleaning  of  the  picture  dis- 
covered the  inscription — "  Dame  Penderel,  Anno  Dom.  1662."  From 
the  proximity  of  Bridgnorth  and  Boscobel,  there  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  the  picture  is  an  authentic  portrait  of  the  woman  who,  with  her 
five  faithful  and  loyal  sons,  aided  the  fugitive  Charles  II.,  and  found 
him  a  hiding-place  from  his  pursuers  in  the  branches  of  an  oak.  The 
picture  represents  her  in  the  ordinary  costume  of  the  period,  and 
holding  to  her  heart  a  red  rose. 


The  Abbey  of  Evesham. 

Evesham,  fifteen  miles  south-east  from  \\'orcester,  was  formerly 
called  "  Eovesham,"  or  "  Eovesholmc,"  an  appellation  derived  from 
Eoves,  a  swineherd  of  Egwin,  Bishop  of  "Wiccii,  who  was  super- 
stitiously  supposed  to  have  had  an  interview  with  the  Virgin  Mary  on 
this  spot.  It  owes  its  importance  to  an  Abbey  that  was  founded  here 
in  709,  and  dedicated  to  the  Virgin.  William  of  Malmesbury  tells  us 
that  this  spot,  then  called  Hethome,  though  then  barren  and  overgrown 
with  brambles,  had  a  small  ancient  church,  probably  the  work  of  the 
Britons.  Egwin  procured  for  the  convent  several  royal  and  apostolical 
privileges,  with  a  grant  of  land,  large  donations,  and  twenty-two  towns 
for  its  support.  It  was  filletl  with  Benedictine  monks.  It  was  a 
stately  monastery  as  well  as  a  mitred  Abbey.  The  Abbots  were  power- 
ful; for  in  1074  the  conspiracy  against  William  I.  was  frustratal ;  the 
Abbot  of  Evesham,  Bishop  Wulstan,  and  Urso  d'Abito,  guarding  the 
passes  of  the  Severn,  stopped  the  Earl  of  Hereford,  and  thus  obtained 


426  The  A  bbey  of  Evesham. 

the  day.  One  of  the  Abbots,  13th  century,  was  styled  "the  Phoenix 
of  the  age."  In  the  British  Museum  is  a  charter  giving  manors  to  this 
Abbey  by  a  Norman  baron :  the  names  of  the  witnesses  are  written  by 
the  same  hand  as  the  body  of  the  charter,  their  signatures  being  crosses 
before  their  names.  The  Abbey  surrendered  in  1539  :  the  last  abbot 
but  one  was  Clement  Lichfield,  who  built  the  isolated  tower  now  almost 
the  only  relic  of  this  once  celebrated  edifice.  The  tower  called  the 
Abbot's  Tower,  is  a  beautiful  specimen  of  the  Pointed  architecture  of 
the  period  immediately  preceding  the  Reformation.  It  was  converted 
into  a  campanile  in  1745;  it  is  no  feet  high,  and  22  feet  square  at 
the  base.  It  contains  eight  fine  deep-toned  bells,  one  of  which  has 
this  inscription ; — 

' '  I  sound  the  sound  that  doleful  is, 

To  them  that  live  amiss  ; 
But  sweet  my  sound  is  unto  such 

As  live  in  joy  and  bliss. 
I  sweetly  tolling,  men  do  call 
To  taste  on  food  that  feeds  the  soul." 

In  the  memorable  battle  of  Evesham,  11  August,  1265,  between 
Prince  Edward  (afterwards  Edward  I.)  and  Simon  Montfort,  Earl  of 
Leicester,  the  latter  placed  King  Henry  III.,  whom  he  had  made 
prisoner,  in  the  van  of  his  army,  hoping  that  he  might  be  killed  by  his 
son's  troops,  who  were  fighting  for  his  release.  However,  the  King 
was  recognised  nearly  at  the  first  onset  by  the  Prince,  who  nishcd 
through  the  thickest  of  the  battle  to  the  assistance  of  his  father,  and 
soon  placed  him  in  safety.  Leicester's  defeat  was  complete,  and  he 
himself,  as  well  as  his  son,  fell  on  the  field  of  battle. 

Among  the  several  pei-sons  of  rank  buried  in  the  Abbey  church  by 
the  monks  before  the  high  altar  were  Simon  Montfort,  Henry  Montfort, 
and  Hugh  le  Dcspcnser. 

The  monks  of  the  Abbey  were  twice  displaced,  but  recovered  their 
possessions  and  kept  their  ground  till  the  Dissolution.  Their  house  had 
no  less  than  three  successive  churches ;  and  the  third,  with  the  cloisters 
and  offices,  was  so  demolished  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  as  to  pre- 
vent any  judgment  being  formed  of  their  extent.  Near  St.  Lawrence 
church  an  old  arch,  a  fragment  of  the  Abbey  buildings,  remained ;  it 
was  the  principal  entrance ;  the  mouldings  have  sitting  figures  of 
abbots  or  bishops  decapitated.  At  Evesham  the  learned  Saxonist,  Mrs. 
Elslob,  kept  a  small  day-school,  her  weekly  stipend  with  each  scholar 
being  at  first  only  a  groat ! 

The  Church  of  All  Saints,  at  Evesham,  is  said  to  have  formed  part  of 
the  Abbey.    The  Church  of  St.  Lawrence  is  now  in  ruins;    it  is  a 


Tlie  Abbey  of  Evesham.  427 

beautiful  specimen  of  the  ornamented  Gothic  In  the  south  aisle  is  the 
chapel  of  Clement  Lichfield;  it  is  only  18  feet  by  16,  but  "of  such 
elegance  and  delicacy  of  construction  as  a  verbal  description  would 
but  very  imperfectly  convey  to  the  reader's  imagination."  In  the  parish 
of  Bengworth  was  a  Castle  belonging  to  the  Beauchamp  family,  but  in 
1 1 56  it  was  razed  to  the  foundation  by  the  Abbot  of  Evesham. 

The  Corporation  claim  prescriptive  rights  and  privileges,  but  they 
were  all  confirmed  by  charter  in  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  James  I. 
They  had  the  power  of  trying  and  executing  for  all  capital  offences 
except  high  treason  ;  and  so  late  as  1 740  a  woman  was  burnt  here  lor 
petty  treason. 

There  is  in  the  British  Museum  an  unique  copy  of  a  rare  tract, 
printed  by  Machlinia  about  1491  a.d.  It  is  entitled  the  curious  Reve- 
lation to  the  Monk  of  Evesham  in  the  days  of  King  Richard  the  First, 
and  the  year  of  our  Lord  1 196,  describing  the  Monk's  visit  to  Purgatory 
and  Paradise,  under  the  guidance  of  St.  Nicholas,  showing  how  he  saw 
an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  an  abbess,  and  other  people  in  Purga- 
tory, what  they  all  suffered,  and  what  sins  they  suffered  for,  how  sinners 
are  punished,  and  well  doers  rewarded,  and  intended  "  for  the  comfort 
and  protetyng  of  all  cristyn  pepulle,"  and  supplying  evidence  as  to  the 
sins  of  English  jjeople  and  the  condition  of  the  country  in  the  twelfth 
centiuy.  This  curious  tract  is  one  of  Mr.  Arber's  series  of  English 
Reprints,  for  which  all  students  of  History  are  bound  to  be  grateful. 
"  We  have  in  the  above  Book,  a  Story  as  distinct  from  a  Revelation. 
The  Story  is  laid  in  the  monastic  circle  at  Evesham  Abbey.  The 
Revelation  tells  us  of  a  Journey  :  it  is  the  pilgrimage  of  the  Soul  from 
Death  through  Purgatory  and  Paradise  to  Heaven.  It  is  such  a  Book 
as  Jolm  Bunyan  might  have  written,  had  he  lived  five  centuries  earlier, 
and  been,  as  probably  he  would  have  become,  a  Monk.  Only  that  the 
Author  intended  no  such  pleasant  allegory,  setting  forth  the  progress  of 
Christian  life;  but  the  making  manifest  of  those  unfailing  realities,  of 
that  ine%itable  doom  that  was  coming  upon  all,  except  the  inevitably 
lost."  We  quote  this  passage  from  Mr.  Arber's  admirable  Introduc- 
tion to  this  unique  printed  book  and  its  contents ;  in  which  it  is  set 
down  that  "  beneath  an  uncouth  text  there  is  a  direct  diction  and  power 
both  of  Mind  and  Soul ;  that  there  is  much  that  is  true,  but  simply 
distorted ;  with  much  that  is  ludicrous  and  purely  false;  and  that  in  all, 
undeniably,  the  best  of  motives  and  aspirations."  The  mastex'ly  intro- 
duction extends  thiough  twelve  closely  printed  pages. 


428 

Hendlip  Hall  and  the  Gunpowder  Plot 

At  four  miles  from  Worcester  formerly  stood  a  spacious  mansion  with 
this  name,  supposed  to  have  been  built  late  in  Elizabeth's  reign  by  John 
Abingdon,  the  Queen's  cofferer,  a  zealous  partisan  of  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots.  It  is  believed  that  Thomas  Abingdon,  the  son  of  the  builder  of 
the  Hall,  was  the  person  who  took  the  chief  trouble  in  fitting  it  up. 
The  result  was  that  there  was  scarcely  an  apartment  which  had  not 
secret  ways  of  going  in  and  out:  some  had  staircases  concealed  in 
the  walls,  others  had  places  of  retreat  in  the  walls,  and  the  chimneys 
double  flues,  and  some  had  trap-doors,  descending  into,  hidden 
recesses. 

"  All,"  in  the  words  of  one  who  examined  the  house,  "  presented  a 
picture  of  gloom,  insecurity,  and  suspicion."  Standing  moreover  on 
elevated  ground,  the  house  afforded  a  means  of  keeping  a  watchful 
look-out  for  the  approach  of  the  emissaries  of  the  law,  or  searching 
after  evil-doers. 

Houses  provided  with  such  places  of  concealment  existed  at  this  period 
in  various  parts  of  England,  in  times  when  religion  and  politics  made  it 
prudent  for  meddling  persons  to  get  out  of  the  way.  But  Hendlip 
was  contrived  for  no  ordinary  purpose ;  and  in  some  of  its  secret  places, 
of  which  there  were  eleven,  were  discovered  several  of  the  Gunpowder 
conspirators.  Father  Ganiet,  who  suffered  for  his  guilty  knowledge  of 
the  plot,  was  concealed  in  Hendlip,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Abingdon,  for  several  weeks  in  the  winter  of  1 605-6.  A  hollow  in 
the  wall  of  Mrs.  Abingdon's  bedroom  was  covered  up,  and  there  was 
a  narrow  crevice  into  which  a  reed  was  laid,  so  that  soup  and  wine 
could  be  passed  by  her  into  the  recess,  without  the  fact  being  noticed 
from  any  other  room.  Suspicion  did  not  light  upon  Garnet's  name  at 
first,  but  the  confession  of  Catesby's  servant.  Bates,  at  length  made  the 
Government  aware  of  his  guilt.  He  was  by  this  time  living  at 
Hendlip  along  with  a  lady  named  Anne  Vaux,  who  devoted  herself  to 
him  through  a  purely  religious  feeling ;  and  with  him  was  another 
Jesuit,  named  Hall.  These  persons  spent  most  of  their  hours  in  the 
apartments  occupied  by  the  family,  only  resorting  to  places  of  strict 
concealment  when  strangers  visited  the  house.  W  hen  Father  Garnet  came 
to  be  inquired  after,  the  Government  suspecting  this  to  be  his  place  of 
retreat,  and  the  proclamation  against  the  Jesuits  being  issued,  sent  Sir 
Henry  Bromley,  of  Holt  Castle,  an  active  justice  of  the  peace,  with 
the  most  minute  orders.  "In  the  search,"  says  the  document,  "first 
observe  the  parlour  where  they  use  to  dine  and  sup ;  in  the  east  part  of 


Haidlip  Hall  and  t/ie  Gunpowder  Plot.         429 

that  parlour  it  is  conceived  there  is  some  vault,  which  to  discover  you 
must  take  care  to  draw  down  the  wainscot,  whereby  the  entry  into  the 
vault  may  be  discovered.  The  lower  parts  of  the  house  must  be  tried 
with  a  broach,  by  putting  the  same  into  the  ground  some  foot  or  two 
to  try  whether  there  may  be  perceived  some  timber,  which  if  there  be, 
there  must  be  some  vault  underneath  it.  For  the  upper  rooms  you 
must  obser%e  whether  they  be  more  in  breadth  than  the  lower  rooms, 
and  look  in  which  places  the  rooms  be  enlarged  ;  by  pulling  out  some 
boards  you  may  discover  some  vaults.  Also,  if  it  appear  that  there  be 
some  comers  to  the  chimneys,  and  the  same  boarded,  if  the  boards  be 
taken  away,  there  will  appear  some.  If  the  walls  seem  to  be  thick  and 
covered  with  wainscot,  being  tried  with  a  gimlet,  if  it  strike  not  the 
wall  but  go  through,  some  suspicion  is  to  be  had  thereof.  If  there  be 
any  double  loft,  some  two  or  three  feet,  one  above  another,  in  such 
places  any  may  be  harboured  privately.  Also,  if  there  be  a  loft  towards 
the  roof  of  the  house,  in  which  there  appears  no  entrance  out  of  any 
other  place  or  lodging,  it  must  of  necessity  be  opened  and  looked  into, 
for  these  be  ordinary  places  of  hovering  (hiding)."  Sir  Henry  was  to  sur- 
round the  Hall  with  his  men ;  to  set  a  guard  at  every  door ;  to  suffer 
no  one  to  come  in,  no  one  to  go  out,  until  the  priests  were  found.  The 
ser>-ants  were  to  be  watched  by  day  and  night,  to  see  that  they  carried 
no  food  into  strange  places.  The  dining-room  was  to  be  carefully 
examined,  and  the  wainscot  pulled  down  to  see  if  any  passage  lay 
beyond.     Even  the  chimney  stacks  were  to  be  pierced  and  proved. 

Sir  Henry  searched  the  house  from  garret  to  cellar  without  discover- 
ing anything  suspicious  but  some  books,  such  as  scholarly  men  might 
have  been  supposed  to  use.  Soldiers  were  placed  on  guard  in  every 
room  except  the  bedroom  of  Mrs.  Abingdon,  who  is  thought  to  have 
written  the  letter  to  Lord  Monteagle,  warning  him  of  the  plot.  She 
feigned  to  be  angry  with  the  searchers,  and  shut  herself  up  there  day 
and  night,  eating  and  drinking  there,  by  which  means,  through  the 
secret  tube,  she  fed  the  two  Jesuit  fathers,  squatting  in  their  hollow  in 
the  wall  upon  a  pile  of  books.  But  the  two  other  fugitives  were  hidden 
in  a  hurry  in  a  cupboard,  where  no  provision  was  made  for  their  food. 
The  soldiers  being  in  the  room,  nobody  could  go  to  this  cupboard,  and 
the  two  men  were  kept  without  food  for  four  days.  At  last  they  could 
endure  it  no  longer ;  a  panel  of  the  wainscot  slid  open,  and  the  famished 
persons  stepped  out  into  the  hall,  half  dead  with  hunger,  and  proved  to 
he  servants.  Mrs.  Abingdon  pretended  not  to  know  them  ;  but  that 
would  not  do.  Sir  Henry  Bromley  continued  to  occupy  the  house  for 
several  days,  almost  in  despair  of  further  discoveries,  when  the  conies- 


430  Dudley  Castle. 

sion  of  a  conspirator,  condemned  at  Worcester,  put  him  on  the  scent 
for  Father  Hall,  as  for  certain  lying  at  Hendlip.  It  was  only  after  a 
search  protracted  for  ten  days  in  all,  that  he  was  gratified  by  the  volun- 
tary surrender  of  both  Hall  and  Garnet.  They  came  forth  pressed 
for  the  need  of  air  rather  than  food,  for  marmalade  and  other  sweet- 
meats were  found  in  their  den  ;  and  they  had  warm  and  nutritive  drinks 
passed  to  them  by  the  reed  through  the  chimney,  as  already  described. 
They  had  suffered  extremely  by  the  smallness  of  their  hiding-place; 
but  Garnet  expressed  his  belief  that  if  they  could  have  had  relief  from 
the  blockade  but  for  half  a  day,  so  as  to  allow  of  their  sending  away 
books  and  furniture  by  which  the  place  was  hampered,  they  might  have 
baflled  inquiry  for  a  quarter  of  a  year.  They  were  conducted  to 
Worcester,  and  thence  to  London. 

In  this  house  was  preserved  a  small  enamelled  casket,  given  to 
Wolsey  by  the  King  of  France,  and  afterwards  in  the  possession  of 
Anne  Boleyn :  it  was  the  property  of  the  Abingdons.  The  old  Hall 
was  pulled  down  many  years  ago ;  it  has  been  handsomely  rebuilt  by 
Lord  Southwell,  a  Catholic  peer. 


Dudley  Castle. 

Dudley  is  an  island  of  Worcestershire,  being  entirely  surrounded  by 
Staftordshire.  Here,  at  the  Conquest,  one  of  William's  Nonrian  fol- 
lowers built  a  Castle,  and  obtained  upwards  of  forty-four  of  the  sur- 
rounding manors.  The  foundation  is  attributed  to  an  earlier  date. 
Camden  tells  us  that  Doddo,  or  Dodo,  a  Mercian  duke,  erected  a  Castle 
here  about  the  year  700;  and  another  fixes  the  foundation  about 
300  years  later;  but  neither  tradition  is  supported  by  authority. 
In  Domesday  it  is  stated  Edwin,  Earl  of  Mercia,  held  this  lordship  in 
Edward  the  Contessor's  reign.  He  was  allowed  to  retain  his  estates  and 
dignities  after  the  battle  of  Hastings ;  but  being  betrayed  and  slain, 
upon  ao  unsuccessful  rising  against  the  Conqueror  in  1071,  his  estates 
were' Astributed  amongst  the  Norman  followers  of  William ;  and 
Dudley  was  bestowed  on  William  Fitz-Ansculf,  of  whom  Domes- 
day says,  "the  said  William  holds  Dudley,  and  there  is  iiis  Castle."  He 
possessed  44  manors  within  eight  miles  of  the  Castle,  and  47  elsewhere ; 
yet  Dugdale  could  never  discover  what  became  of  him.  Fulke  Paganel 
possessed  some  of  his  lands,  and  with  part  of  them  founded  a  mon- 
astery near  Newport.  His  son  Ralph,  who  succeeded  him,  was  a  par- 
tisan of  the  Empress  Maud,  and  held  Dudley  Castle  for  her ;  when  in 


Dudley  Castle.  43 1 

1 138,  in  July  or  August,  Stephen  marched  to  it,  burnt  and  plundered 
the  neighbourhood.  Ralph  lefc  six  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom,  Gervase, 
founded  a  Priory  at  Dudley,  in  pursuance  ot  his  father's  intention, 
about  1 161.  In  the  rebellion  of  Prince  Henry  against  his  fathei-, 
Henry  U.,  in  1175,  he  supported  the  young  prince,  for  which  offence 
his  Castle  was  demolished,  and  all  his  lands  and  goods  forfeited  to  the 
Crown ;  but  next  year  the  King  received  500  marks,  as  a  peace-offering 
for  the  transgression. 

By  marriage  the  estate  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Somerys;  but,  in 
the  time  ot  Rogcr.de  Someri,  on  his  refusal  to  appear,  when  summoned, 
to  receive  the  honour  of  knighthood,  the  Castle  and  manor  were  seized  by 
Henry  HI.,  he  however  afterwards  obtained  leave  to  castellate  his  manor- 
house  at  Dudley.  One  of  his  family,  John  de  Someri,  who  was  knighted 
in  34  Edward  I.,  was  a  knight  ot  great  energy  and  consideration  in 
those  days,  having  been,  between  the  years  1300  and  1312,  seven  times 
in  the  Scottish  wai-s.  He  was,  too,  a  turbulent  neighbour ;  as  it  was 
reported  of  him  that  he  did  so  domineer  in  Staffordshire,  that  no  man 
coul<i  enjoy  the  benefit  of  law  or  reason,  taking  upon  him  more  autho- 
rity than  a  King :  that  it  was  no  abiding  for  any  man  thereabouts  un- 
less they  did  bribe  him  in  contributing  largely  towards  the  building  of 
his  Castle  at  Dudley.  And  that  he  did  use  to  beset  men's  houses,  in 
that  country,  threatening  to  murther  them,  except  they  gave  him  what 
be  would  demand. 

' '  In  proud  state 
Each  robber  chief  upheld  his  armed  halls, 
Doing  his  evil  will,  nor  less  elate 
Than  mightier  heroes  ol  a  longer  date," — Byron.* 

In  the  time  of  Edward  II.  the  Castle  and  manor  came  to  the  Buttons, 
one  of  whom  was  summoned  to  Parliament  as  Lord  Dudley  (on  account 
of  holding  this  Castle),  in  whose  line  it  continued  till  John  Lord  Dudley 
parted  with  it  to  John  Dudley,  Duke  of  Northumberland,  son  of  that 
Dudley  who  was  employed  with  Empson  in  acts  of  oppression  by  King 
Henry  VII.  The  Duke  wished  to  be  considered  as  a  descendant  of 
the  Suttons;  though  there  was  a  story  current  of  his  grandiather 
having  been  a  carpenter  born  at  Dudley.  It  was  said  this  carpenter 
was  employed  in  the  Abbey  of  Lewes,  in  Sussex,  and  his  son  Edmimd 
was  educated  by  the  Abbot,  placed  at  one  of  the  inns  of  court,  and  at 
length  pitched  on  as  a  proper  assistant  in  his  law  proceedings. 


•  Twamley's  History  of  Dudley  CaslU  and  Priory.  1867.  From  this  work, 
admirably  executed,  and  remarkable  for  its  precisioa  and  condensed  details,  the 
materials  of  this  sketch  are  maiuly  derived. 


432  Dudley  Castle. 

John  dc  Sutton  and  his  wife  were  destined  to  enjoy  these  estates  for 
a  short  time  only.  For  Hugh  le  Despenscr,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Win- 
chester, and  the  rapacious  and  insolent  minion  of  Edward  II.,  casting  a 
wistful  eye  upon  their  fair  domain,  accused  John  de  Sutton  of  aiding 
the  Earl  of  Lancaster  in  his  late  rebellion,  threw  him  into  prison,  and 
threatened  him  with  death.  To  extricate  himself  from  the  snares  of 
this  wily  favourite,  he  passed  away  to  him  all  his  right  and  title  to  the 
Castle,  manor,  and  township  of  Dudley,  and  other  manors,  lands,  and 
tenements.  When  Dcspencer  was  taken  prisoner,  and  summarily  exe- 
cuted, or  rather  murdered  by  the  rebellious  Barons,  the  custody  of 
Dudley  Castle  was  committed  to  William  de  Birmingham,  he  having 
to  answer  for  the  profits  thence  arising  unto  the  King's  exchequer. 

After  the  celebrated  entertainment  of  Queen  Elizabeth  by  the  Earl 
of  Leicester,  at  Kenilworth,  in  1575,  she  visited  Dudley  Castle;  and  in 
the  year  1585,  when  for  some  reason  Elizabeth  wished  to  remove  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  from  Tutbury,  Sir  Amyas  Pawlct,  in  whose  custody  she 
was,  inspected  the  Castle  to  ascertain  if  it  would  be  a  proper  place  for 
her  to  be  sent  to.  Sir  Amyas  writes  to  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  "  find- 
ing my  Lord  Dudley  absent,  I  was  forced  to  take  my  lodging  in  one  of 
the  poorest  towns  that  I  have  seen  in  my  life ;  and  the  next  day  took  a 
full  view  of  the  Castle,  with  the  assent  of  my  said  L.,  who  being  then 
at  Wai-wick,  sent  the  keys  with  all  expedition."  The  plan  was  aban- 
doned, and  Mary  was  taken  to  Chartlcy,  as  had  been  previously 
intended.  In  this  reign,  in  1592,  Oct.  12,  the  Lord  Dudley,  in  the  night- 
time, raised  above  140  persons,  all  weaponed  with  bows  and  arrows,  forest 
bills,  or  long  staves,  and  went  to  Prestwood  and  Ash  wood ;  and  from  the 
latter  took  341  sheep  of  the  executors  of  Sir  John  Lyttelton,  and  caused 
them  to  be  driven  towards  Dudley.  With  the  rest  of  the  company,  num- 
bering about  no,  he  entered  into  Mr.  Lyttelton's  enclosed  grounds  of 
Prestwood,  and  thence  with  great  violence  chased  1 4  kyne,  one  bull,  and 
eight  fat  oxen,  took  them  to  Dudley  Castle,  and  there  kept  them 
within  the  walls.  Mr.  Lyttelton  having  sued  replevyns,  three  or  four 
days  after,  his  lordship's  servants  threatening  to  cut  the  bailiffs  to  pieces, 
would  not  suffer  them  to  make  deliveiy  of  the  cattle,  according  to  their 
warrant.  Afterwards  Lord  Dudley  killed  and  ate  part  of  the  cattle,  and 
some  of  them  he  sent  towards  Coventry,  with  60  men,  strongly  armed 
with  calyvers,  or  bows  and  arrows,  some  on  horseback  with  chasing 
staves,  and  others  on  foot  with  forest  bills, — there  to  be  sold.  After 
they  had  gone  about  eight  miles,  suddenly  in  the  night  time,  he  raised 
the  inhabitants  of  Dudley,  Sedgley,  Kingsswingford,  Rowley,  &c., 
to   the   number  of  600  or  700,  and  all  weaponed,  went  after  these 


Dudley  Castle.  433 

cattle,   and  fetched  them  back  to  Dudley  Castle,  where  they  wasted 
them  all. 

The  declining  fortunes  of  Edward,  Lord  Dudley,  obliged  his  wife  to 
sell  her  jewels,  and  his  affairs  at  last  became  so  involved,  and  he  so 
clogged  his  estates  with  debts,  that  he  married  his  grand-daughter  and 
heir,  Frances,  to  Humble  Ward,  the  only  son  of  William  Ward, 
jeweller  to  the  Queen  of  Charles  I.,  descended  from  an  ancient  family 
of  that  name  in  Norfolk ;  by  which  means  the  estates  came  into  the 
possession  of  the  present  noble  family. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Civil  War,  Colonel  Leveson  held 
this  Castle  for  the  King,  who  wrote  to  the  Lord  Dudley,  and 
others,  and  upon  his  death,  to  Lady  Dudley,  desiring  them  to  assist  the 
Colonel  in  defending  it ;  and  the  warrants  issued  show  the  oppression  * 
and  extortion  exercised  upxjn  the  inhabitants  of  a  country  during  a  civil 
war.  The  Castle  was  quietly  suiTendered  to  the  Parliament;  and  in 
1646-7,  the  fortress  was  rendered  untenable,  and  reduced  to  the  de- 
fenceless state  in  which  Dr.  Plot  found  it  forty  years  afterwards. 

From  the  style  of  the  Castle  it  is  probable  that  all  the  most  ancient 
parts  were  built  by  John  de  Somen  early  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
except  the  vault  underneath  the  chapel.  They  consist  of  the  keep,  the 
south  gateway,  and  the  chapel  and  adjoining  rooms.  These,  with 
some  low  buildings  for  offices,  kitchens,  &c.,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
inner  baily,  or  court,  the  whole  surrounded  with  a  moat,  completed  the 
establishment.  The  Keep  is  oblong,  having  at  each  comer  a  semi-cir- 
cular tower,  with  winding  staircase,  all  of  limestone,  with  facings  of  a 
reddish  sandstone.  In  the  base  apartment  of  the  Keep,  instead  of 
windows  are  loopholes,  having  a  flight  of  steps  ascending  to  the  aper- 
tures, for  the  use  of  crossbow-men.  The  entrance  to  the  Keep  was 
through  a  low  pointed  gateway,  in  the  middle  of  the  curtain  con- 
necting the  two  towers  on  the  north  side.  It  was  defended  by  a  port- 
cullis from  above.  The  chapel  stood  over  a  vault,  commonly  but  erro- 
neously called  the  dungeon.  The  hall  was  75  feet  in  length, 
lighted  by  two  rows  of  square  muliioned  windows,  one  on  each 
side.  The  kitchen  had  two  fireplaces,  each  9  feet  wide,  large 
enough  to  roast  an  ox  whole.  In  the  great  hall  was  a  table  17 
yards  long  and  nearly  i  broad,  cut  from  an  oak  that  grew  in 
the  new  park.  '*  Certainly,"  says  Dr.  Plot,  "  it  must  be  a  tree  of  pro- 
digious height  and  magnitude,  out  of  which  a  table,  all  in  one  plank, 
could  be  cut,  25  yards  3  inches  long,  and  wanting  but  2  inches  of  a 
yard  in  breadth  for  the  whole  length;  from  which  they  were  forced  (it 
being  much  too  long  for  the  hall  at  Dudley)  to  cut  off  7  yards  9  inches, 
*  r  F 


434  The  Priory  of  Dudley. 

which  is  the  length  of  the  table  in  the  hall  at  Corbyns  hall,  hard  by,  the 
ancient  scat  of  the  Corbyns." 

Dudley  Castle  continued  habitable  until  the  year  17,1^0,  when  a  fire 
occurred  in  it,  July  24,  and  it  burnt  on  the  25th  and  26th.  The  people 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  go  near  the  fire  to  extinguish  it,  on  account 
of  gunpowder  said  to  be  in  the  place,  and  it  burnt  until  reduced  to  the 
present  state  of  desolation.  Tradition  ascribes  the  fire  to  a  set  of 
coiners,  to  whom  the  Castle  served  as  a  sort  of  retreat,  or  concealment. 

In  the  year  1799,  William,  the  third  Viscount  Dudley  and  Ward, 
employed  a  number  of  workmen  in  removing  the  vast  heap  of  limestone 
which  filled  up  the  area  of  the  old  Keep,  the  work  of  the  Parliamentary 
Commissioners,  and  exhibited  the  form  in  which  it  was  originally  built. 
At  the  same  time  he  raised  one  of  its  mutilated  towers  to  its  present 
height  and  appearance. 


The  Priory  of  Dudley. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  west  of  the  Castle  of  Dudley 
(says  Mr.  Twamley,  in  his  History),  are  the  ruins  of  the  Clugniac  Priory, 
founded,  as  before  described,  by  Gervase  Paganel,  in  pursuance  of  tlie 
intention  of  his  father,  Ralph,  to  found  a  convent  here.  Accordingly, 
in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  he  gave  in  perpetual  alms  to  God, 
and  St.  Jamco,  at  Dudley,  the  land  on  which  the  church  of  St.  James 
was  built,  and  also  the  churches  of  St.  Edmund  and  St.  Thomas  at 
Dudley,  and  the  churches  of  Northfield,  Segesle,  and  Iggepenne,  and 
other  property.  He  confirmed  all  gifts  made  to,  the  said  monks  of  St. 
James,  by  any  of  his  feudatory  tenants  (vassals).  He  also  granted  that 
their  cattle  should  feed  in  whatever  pastures  his  own  feed  in,  except  in 
his  parks  ;  and  pannage  (fruit  growing  on  forest  trees,  proper  food  for 
pigs),  throughout  his  forests ;  also  a  tenth  of  his  bread,  venison,  and 
fish,  whilst  he  resided  at  Dudley  and  Hcrdcn.  The  Prior  of  Wenlock  was 
likewise  empowered  to  settle  the  monks  in  a  convent  at  Dudley,  when 
it  could  support  one,  which  power  was  soon  after  exercised.  This 
gift  the  prior,  with  his  own  hand,  offered  upon  the  altar  of  St.  Mil- 
burga,  at  Wenlock,  before  the  convent ;  and  upon  the  altar  of  St. 
James,  at  Dudley,  before  the  monks  of  that  place.  In  1540  this 
Priory,  as  parcel  of  Wenlock,  was  granted  to  Sir  John  Dudley,  after- 
wards Duke  of  Northumberland.  Upon  his  attainder  and  forfeiture, 
it  was  granted  by  Queen  Mary  to  Sir  Edward  Sutton,  Lord  Dudley. 

About  thirty  yeais  after  the  date  of  the  last  grant,  in  the  church  of 
the  Priory  there  were  several  monuments  of  the  Somerys  and  Suttons, 


J 


Bransil  Castle  Tradition.  435 

and  especially  one,  being  cross-legged  and  a  very  old  one  of  goodly  work- 
manship ;  it  was  strange  for  the  stature  of  the  person  buried,  for  the 
picture  which  was  laid  over  him  was  eight  feet  long,  and  tlie  person  of 
the  same  stature,  as  was  the  stone  coffin  wherein  the  charnel  was 
placed.  Under  the  arch  of  the  monument,  the  gold  was  fi-esh,  and  in  it 
were  portions  of  two  blue  lions,  so  that  it  was  a  Somery,  and  it  is  pre- 
sumed the  first  founder  of  the  Priory.  Here  were  also  portions  of 
other  monuments  defaced.  The  subsequent  owners  of  the  prof>erty 
abandoned  it  still  further  to  decay  and  ruin,  and  regardless  of  all  respect 
for  these  venerable  remains,  permitted  different  manufactures  to  be 
carried  on  in  the  midst  of  them.  Grose,  in  1776,  describes  the  chief 
remains  to  be  those  of  the  conventual  church.  South  of  the  east 
window,  richly  ornamented,  was  a  niche  and  canopy  for  an  image.  The 
arches  all  appear  to  have  been  pointed.  East  and  west  of  the  ruins 
were  large  pools  of  water,  seemingly  the  remains  of  a  moat  which  once 
encompassed  the  whole  monastery.  The  pools  were  drained  when  the 
present  house  and  offices  were  built.  The  ruins  were  cleared  of  rubbish, 
and  ivy  planted,  which  has  grown  so  luxuriantly,  that  little  of  the 
buildings  can  be  seen. 

Bransil  Castle  Tradition. 

About  two  miles  from  the  Herefordshire  Beacon,  in  a  romantic 
situation,  are  the  shattered  remains  of  Bransil  Castle,  a  stronghold  of 
great  antiquity.  There  is  a  tradition  that  the  ghost  of  Lord  Beauchamp, 
who  died  in  Italy,  could  never  rest  until  his  bones  were  delivered  to  the 
right  heir  of  Bransil  Castle  ;  accordingly,  they  were  sent  from  Italy 
enclosed  in  a  small  box,  and  were  long  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Sheldon, 
of  Abberton.  The  tradition  further  states,  that  the  old  Castle  of 
Bransil  was  moated  round,  and  in  that  moat  a  black  crow,  presumed  to 
be  an  infernal  spirit,  sat  to  guard  a  chest  of  money,  till  discovered  by 
the  right  owner.  This  chest  could  never  be  moved  without  the  mover 
being  in  possession  of  the  bones  of  Lord  Beauchamp. 

In  the  same  neighbourhood,  in  1650,  one  Thomas  Tailer,  a  peasant, 
found  a  coronet  of  gold,  set  with  diamonds,  as  he  was  digging  a  ditch 
round  his  cottage,  near  Burstner's  Cross.  It  was  sold  to  JVIr.  Hill,  a 
goldsmith  in  Gloucester,  for  37/.  Hill  sold  it  to  a  jeweller  in  Lom- 
bard-street, London,  for  250/.,  and  the  jeweller  sold  the  stones,  which 
were  deeply  inlaid,  for  1500/.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  diadem 
of  a  British  prince,  who  had,  perhaps,  fallen  in  a  battle  near  here,  as, 
from  the  description,  it  corresponded  with  the  ancient  coronets  worn  by 
the  princes  or  chiefs  of  Wales. 

F  F  a 


WARWICKSHIRE. 

Warwick  Castle  and  Guy's  Cliflf. 

The  town  of  Warwick  is  deliglitfiilly  situated  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Avon,  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  county  to  which 
it  gives  name,  and  of  which  it  is  the  capital.  Its  foundation  is  con- 
sidered as  remote  as  the  earliest  period  of  the  Christian  era.  Dugdale 
attributes  its  erection  to  Gutheline  or  Kimbeline,  a  British  king,  whose 
son,  Guiderius,  greatly  extended  it ;  but  being  afterwards  almost  totally 
destroyed  by  the  Picts  and  Scots,  it  lay  in  a  ruinous  condition  until  it 
was  rebuilt  by  the  renowned  Caractacus.  It  greatly  suffered  from  the 
Danish  invaders,  but  was  repaired  by  the  Lady  Ethelflcda,  the  daughter 
of  King  Alfred.  Warwick  Castle  is  one  of  the  very  few  baronial 
residences  now  remaining  which  are  connected  with  our  early  history; 
and  rears  its  round  and  lofty  turrets  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
town.  It  stands  on  a  rocky  eminence,  40  feet  perpendicular  height, 
and  overhanging  the  river  which  washes  its  rocky  base.  The  first 
fortified  building  on  this  spot  was  erected  by  the  Lady  Ethelfleda,  who 
built  the  donjon  upon  an  artificial  mound  of  earth,  which  can  still  be 
traced  in  the  grounds.  The  most  ancient  part  of  the  present  Castle, 
according  to  Domesday  Book,  was  erected  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the 
Confessor  ;  which  document  informs  us  that  it  was  "  a  special  strong- 
hold for  the  midland  part  of  the  kingdom."  In  the  reign  of  William 
the  Norman  it  received  considerable  additions ;  when  Turchill,  then 
vicecomes  of  Warwickshire,  was  ordered  to  enlarge  and  repair  it.  The 
Conqueror,  however,  being  distrustful  of  Turchill,  committed  the 
custody  of  it  to  one  of  his  own  followers,  Henry  de  Newburgh,  whom 
he  created  Earl  of  Warwick,  the  first  of  that  title  of  the  Norman  line. 
The  second  earl  garrisoned  the  Castle  for  King  Stephen.  In  the 
reign  of  Henry  III.  this  fortress  was  considered  of  such  importance 
that  security  was  required  from  Margery,  the  sister  and  heiress  of 
Thomas  de  Newburgh,  the  sixth  earl  of  the  Norman  line,  that  she  would 
not  marry  with  any  person  in  whom  the  King  could  not  place  the 
greatest  confidence.  During  the  same  reign,  in  the  year  1265,  William 
Mauduit,  who  had  garrisoned  the  Castle  for  the  King  against  the  re- 
bellious barons,  v/as  surprised  by  the  governor  of  Kenilworth  Castle, 


Warwick  Castle  and  Guy's  Cliff.  437 

who,  having  destroyed  a  part  of  the  walls,  took  him,  with  the  Countess, 
his  wife,  prisoners;  and  a  ransom  of  1900  marks  was  paid  before  their 
release  could  be  obtained. 

To  the  Newburghs  succeeded  the  Beauchamps;  Anne,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Richard  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VI.,  married  Richard  Neville,  who  assumed  the  title  of  Earl  of 
Warwick  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.,  by  right  of  his  wife,  and  was 
called  the  King-maker. 

After  his  death,  at  the  battle  of  Bamet,  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  who 
had  married  his  daughter,  was  created  Earl  of  Warwick  by  King 
Exlward  I V.,  and  put  in  possession  of  the  Castle ;  to  which  he  made 
great  additions.  Upon  the  forfeiture  of  the  Duke's  estates,  a  grant  of 
the  Castle  was  made  to  the  family  of  Dudley ;  and  that  line  failing, 
the  title  of  Earl  of  Warwick  was  given  by  James  I.  to  Robert  Rich, 
whose  property  it  continued  till  1759.  The  Castle  was  granted  by  the 
same  King  to  Sir  Fulke  Greville,  Lord  Brook,  after  having  passed 
through  the  successive  lines  of  Beauchamp,  Neville,  Plantagenet,  and 
Dudley.  Sir  Fulke  Greville  found  the  Castle  in  a  ruinous  condition,  and 
expended  large  sums  in  its  restoration.  Under  his  successor  the  fortress 
was  garrisoned  for  the  Parliament ;  and  in  1642  it  was  besieged  by  the 
King's  forces.  Francis  Lord  Brook  was  created  Earl  Brook  of  \\'ar- 
wick  Castle  in  1 746  ;  and  in  1 759  Earl  of  Warwick.  The  gatehouse 
tower  of  the  Castle  is  flanked  by  embattled  walls,  covered  with  ivy, 
having  at  the  extremity  Cssar's  Tower  and  Guy's  Tower.  The  gate, 
between  machicolated  towers,  leads  to  the  great  court,  bounded  by  ram- 
parts and  turrets ;  on  one  side  of  the  area  is  an  artificial  mound,  skirted 
by  trees  and  shrubs,  and  surmounted  by  an  ancient  tower.  The  "  liv- 
ing rooms "  of  the  Castle  extend  en  juite  330  feet  in  length ;  every 
window  in  which  commands  extensive  and  diversified  views.  The  hall 
has  been  most  carefully  restored ;  and  all  the  armorial  decorations  have 
been  painted  by  Willement.  They  refer  entirely  to  the  genealogical 
connexions  of  the  present  noble  possessor  with  the  ancient  Earls  of 
Warwick.  Many  of  the  rooms  of  the  Castle  are  hung  with  tapestry, 
and  ancestral  portraits,  and  a  collection  of  ancient  and  modem 
armour. 

The  stately  building  at  the  north-west  angle,  called  Guy's  House, 
was  erected  in  1394  ;  it  is  128  feet  high,  and  the  walls,  of  solid  masonry, 
are  10  feet  in  thickness.  Cxsar's  Tower,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
most  ancient  part  of  the  Castle,  is  174  feet  high.  The  grounds  are  very 
extensive.  In  a  greenhouse,  built  for  its  reception,  is  the  celebrated 
and  magnificent  marble  vase,  found  in  the  ruins  of  Hadrian's  villa  at 


438  Warwick  Castle  and  Guy's  Cliff. 

TivoH,  and  brought  to  England  by  Sir  William  Hamilton,  who  pre- 
sented it  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick;  it  holds  163  gallons.  In  a  room 
attached  to  Caesar's  Tower  are  shown  the  sword,  shield,  and  helmet, 
which,  according  to  fabulous  tradition,  belonged  to  Guy  Earl  of  War- 
wick ;  but  it  is  of  a  medley  of  dates.  The  custody  of  this  sword  was, 
80  late  as  the  year  1542,  granted  to  Edward  Cressvvcll,  with  a  salary  of 
2d.  per  diem,  out  of  the  rents  and  profits  of  the  Castle ;  his  kettle,  of 
bellmetal,  26  feet  wide,  to  contain  120  gallons,  is  also  presei-ved ;  for 
which  purpose  a  pension  was  granted  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VHI.  The 
Dun  Cow  is  not  mentioned  till,  in  a  seventeenth  century  play,  in  1636, 
a  rib  of  the  cow  was  exhibited  at  Warwick. 

!i  A  curious  interest  attaches  to  the  story  of  the  Dun  Cow,  mythic 
though  it  be :  the  origin  is  thus  explained  by  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Harts- 
home.  On  the  north-western  edge  of  Shropshire  is  the  Staple  Hill,  a 
collection  of  upright  stones,  disposed  in  a  circle  90  feet  in  diameter, 
and  bearing  the  name  of  "  Michell's  Fold,"  a  title  signifying  the 
Middle  Fold,  or  inclosure ;  forming,  as  it  does,  the  central  one  between 
two  others.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  scene  of  burial  as  well  as 
sacrifice,  by  the  Druids ;  and  the  following  legend  still  lingers  among 
these  stones.  Here  the  voice  of  fiction  declares  there  fonnerly  dwelt 
a  giant,  who  guarded  his  cow  within  this  inclosure,  like  another  Apis 
among  the  ancient  Egyptians,  a  cow  who  yielded  her  milk  as 
miraculously  as  the  bear  (Edumla,  whom  we  read  of  in  Icelandic 
mythology,  filling  eveiy  vessel  that  could  be  brought  to  her,  until  at 
length  an  old  crone  attempted  to  catch  her  milk  in  a  sieve,  when,  furious 
at  the  insult,  she  broke  out  of  the  magical  inclosure  at  Michell's  Fold 
and  wandered  into  Warwickshire,  where  her  subsequent  history  and 
fate  are  well  known  under  that  of  the  Dun  Cow,  whose  death  added 
another  wreath  of  laurel  to  the  immortal  Guy,  Earl  of  Warwick. 

The  learned  Di*.  Caius,  of  Cambridge,  says  of  the  Cow :  "  I  met 
with  the  head  of  a  certain  huge  animal,  of  which  the  naked  bone,  with 
the  bones  supporting  the  horns,  were  of  enormous  weight,  and  as  much 
as  a  man  could  well  lift.  The  curvature  of  the  bones  of  the  horns  is 
of  such  a  projection  as  to  point  not  straight  downwards,  but  obliquely 
forwards.  ...  Of  this  kind  I  saw  another  head  at  "W^anvick 
Castle,  A.D.  1552,  in  the  place  where  the  arms  of  the  great  and  strong 

Guy,  formerly   Earl  of  Wanvick,  are  kept There  is   also  3 

vertebra  of  the  neck  of  the  same  animal,  of  such  great  size,  that  its 
circumference  is  not  less  than  three  Roman  feet,  seven  inches  and  a 
half.  I  think  also  that  the  blade-bone,  which  is  to  be  seen  hung  up  by 
chains  from  the  north  gate  of  Coventry,  belongs  to  the  same  animal 


Warwick  Castle  and  Guys  Cliff.  439 

The  tucumicrence  of  the  whole  bone  is  not  less  than  eleven  feet  four 
inches  and  a  half. 

"In  the  chapel  of  the  great  Guy,  Earl  of  Warwick,  which  is  situated 
rather  more  than  a  mile  from  the  town  of  Wanvick  (Guy's  Cliff), 
there  is  hung  up  a  rib  of  the  same  animal,  as  I  suppose,  the  girth  or 
which  in  the  smallest  part  is  nine  inches,  the  length  six  feet  and  a  half. 
It  weighs  nine  pounds  and  a  half.  Some  of  the  common  people  fancy 
it  to  be  a  rib  of  a  wild  boar,  killed  by  Guy ;  some  a  rib  of  a  cow  which 
haunted  a  ditch  (  ?  ravine)  near  Coventry,  and  injured  many  persons. 
This  last  opinion  I  judge  to  come  nearer  to  the  truth,  since  it  may 
perhaps  be  the  bone  of  a  bonasus  or  urus.  It  is  probable  that  many 
animals  of  this  kind  formerly  lived  in  our  England,  being  of  old  an 
island  full  of  woods  and  forests ;  because,  even  in  our  boyhood,  the 
horns  of  those  animals  were  in  common  use  at  the  table,  on  more 
solemn  feasts,  in  lieu  of  cups ;  as  those  of  the  urus  were  in  Germany 
in  ancient  times,  according  to  Cxsar.  They  were  supported  on 
three  silver  feet,  and  had,  as  in  Germany,  a  border  of  silver  round 
the  rim." 

To  the  reign  of  Athelstan,  a.d.  926,  some  of  our  early  chroniclers 
assign  the  existence  of  the  fabulous  Guy,  Earl  of  Warwick.  Accord- 
ing to  the  legend,  Athelstan  was  at  war  with  the  Danes,  who  had 
penetrated  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Winchester  ;  and  it  was  to  depend 
on  the  issue  of  a  single  combat  between  an  English  champion  to  be 
appointed,  and  Colbran,  who,  though  acting  as  champion  of  the  Danes, 
is  described  as  being  an  African  or  Saracen,  of  gigantic  size — whether 
the  crown  of  England  should  be  retained  by  Athelstan,  or  be  trans- 
ferred to  Anlaf,  King  of  Denmark,  and  Govelaph,  King  of  Norway. 
Earl  Guy,  whose  valour  had  obtained  for  him  great  renown,  had  at 
the  very  time  just  landed  at  Portsmouth  in  the  garb  of  a  palmer,  having 
returned  from  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land  ;  and  being  engaged  as  a 
champion  by  the  King,  who,  without  knowing  him,  had  been  directed 
by  a  vision  to  apply  to  him  to  undeitake  the  matter,  he  succeeded  in 
killing  the  Danish  champion.  He  then  privately  discovered  himself  to 
the  King,  on  whom  he  enjoined  secrecy,  retired  unknown  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  bis  own  Castle  at  Warwick,  and  lived  the  life  of  a  hermit 
till  his  death. 

What  is  the  origin  of  this  tradition,  which  cannot  be  traced  higher 
than  the  early  pait  of  the  twelfth  century,  it  is  difficult  to  determine. 
The  story,  as  given  by  our  early  historians,  and  in  Dugdale,  who,  with 
Leland,  Camden,  and  some  others,  has  received  it  as  a  true  history,  is 
inconsistent  with  the  known  circumstances  of  the  times.    And  it  may 


440  Warwick  Castle  and  Guy's  Cli^. 

be  observed,  that  the  name  of  the  champion,  Guy,  the  pilgrimage  to 
the  Holy  Land,  and  the  African  or  Saracenic  origin  of  Colbrand,  point 
to  a  period  subsequent  to  the  Norman  Conquest  as  that  in  which  the 
legend  received  its  present  form. 

Mr.  Thomas  Wright,  who  has  investigated  the  history  of  the 
romance  of  Guy  of  Warwick,  shows  how  the  original  myth  in  his- 
tories of  nations  has  been  gradually  transformed  in  each  tribe  into  a 
£ibulous  hiftory  of  individuals  (thus  constituting  what  we  call  the 
l^roic  history  of  nations),  and  laid  the  groundwork  of  mediaeval 
romances ;  and  many  of  these  have  been  at  last  taken  for  authentic 
history,  and  then  found  their  way  into  old  chronicles.  He  shows  how 
this  was  the  case  in  ancient  Greece,  as  well  as  in  mediaeval  Europe.  He 
then  traces  in  our  country  the  change  of  the  national  and  primaeval 
myths  of  the  Saxon  race  into  a  class  of  romances,  which  are  known  as 
Anglo-Danish,  because  the  new  plot  is  generally  laid  in  the  events 
connected  with  the  invasion  of  this  country  by  the  Danes.  The 
romance  of  "  Guy  of  Warwick"  belongs  to  this  class  ;  it  is  found  in 
dts  earliest  form  in  the  Anglo-Norman  poem  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  to  some  degree  it  illustrates  the  locality. 

Guy's  Cliff  is  charmingly  picturesque,  with  its  rock,  wood,  and 
water.  It  is  supposed  that  here  was  an  oratory  and  a  cell  for  the  hermit 
in  Saxon  times ;  and  it  is  certain  that  a  hermit  dwelt  here  in  the  reigns 
of  Edward  III.  and  Henry  IV.  Henry  V.  visited  the  Cliff;  and  here 
a  chantry  was  founded  by  Richard  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick.  In 
this  delightful  retreat  lived  John  Rous,  the  antiquary,  as  a  chantry 
priest.  Subsequently,  a  private  gentleman  built  a  handsome  mansion 
here.  The  founder  of  the  chapel  caused  a  rude  statue  of  the  famous 
Earl  Guy  to  be  carved  from  the  solid  rock  ;  it  is  about  eight  feet  in 
height,  and  was  well  preserved  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

Warwick  is  a  brave  old  place,  redolent  of  the  fame  of  the  Earls  of 
Warwick  at  every  turn ;  which  is  shown  in  St.  Mary's  Cross  Church 
and  the  Beauchamp  Chapel,  and  from  the  renowned 

"  Sir  Guy  of  Warwicke,  as  was  wreten 

In  palmer  wyse,  as  Colman  hath  it  wryten  ; 
The  battaill  toke  on  hym  for  England's  right, 
With  the  Colbrond  in  armcs  for  to  fight," — 

to  the  accomplished  Sir  Fulke  Greville. 

Lord  Lytton,  in  his  picturesque  romance,  the  Last  of  the  Barons, 
gives  the  following  elaborate  portrait  of  the  King-maker  in  his  regal 
state,  at  Warwick  House,  in  Newgate-street,  where  six  oxen  were 
eaten  at  a  breakfast,  and  any  acquaintance  might  have  as  much  roast 


Warzvick  Castle  and  Gttfs  Cliff.  441 

meat  as  he  could  prick  and  carry  on  a  long  datrcer.  This  portrait  is 
evidently  a  word-painting  from  the  period  : — "Tue  Earl  ot  Warwick 
was  seated  near  a  large  window  that  opened  upon  an  inner  court,  which 
gave  communication  to  the  river.  The  chamber  was  painted  in  the 
style  of  Henry  111.,  with  huge  figures  representing  the  Battle  of  Hast- 
ings, or  rather,  for  there  were  many  separate  pieces,  the  Conquest  of 
Saxon  England ;  the  ceiling  was  groined,  vaulted,  and  emblazoned  with 
tlie  richest  gilding  and  colours ;  the  chimney-piece  (a  modern  ornament) 
rose  to  the  roof,  and  represented  in  bold  reliefs,  gilt  and  decorated,  the 
signing  of  Magna  Charta ;  the  floor  was  stiewed  thick  with  dried 
rushes  and  odorous  herbs ;  the  furniture  was  scanty  but  rich,  the  low- 
backed  chaii^s,  of  which  there  were  but  four,  caned  in  ebony,  had 
cushions  of  velvet,  with  fringes  of  massive  gold  ;  a  small  cupboard,  or 
beaufet,  covered  with  carpetz  de  cu'ir  (carpets  of  gilt  and  painted 
leather)  of  gieat  price,  held  various  quaint  and  curious  ornaments  of 
plate,  inwrought  with  precious  stones;  and  beside  this  —  a  singular 
contrast — on  a  plain  Gothic  table  lay  the  helmet,  the  gauntlets,  and  the 
battle-axe  of  the  master.  The  Earl  was  in  the  lusty  vigour  of  his  age ; 
his  liair,  of  deepest  black,  was  worn  short,  as  in  disdain  of  the  eflemi- 
nate  fashions  of  the  day ;  and  fretted  bare  from  the  temples  by  the 
constant  and  early  friction  of  his  helmet,  gave  to  a  forehead  naturally 
lofty  a  yet  more  majestic  appearance  of  expanse  and  height ;  his  com- 
plexion, though  dark  and  sunburnt,  glowed  with  rich  health  ;  the  beard 
was  closely  shaven,  and  left,  in  all  its  remarkable  beauty,  the  contour  ot 
the  oval  face  and  strong  jaw — strong  as  if  clasped  in  iron  ;  the  features 
were  marked  and  aquiline,  as  was  common  to  those  of  Norman 
blood ;  the  form  spare,  but  of  prodigious  width  and  depth  of  chest, 
the  more  apparent  from  the  fashion  of  the  short  surcoat,  which  was 
thrown  back,  and  left  in  broad  expanse  a  placard,  not  of  holiday  velvet 
and  satins,  but  of  steel,  polished  as  a  mirror,  and  inlaid  with  gold. 
The  Earl's  great  stature,  from  the  length  of  his  limbs,  was  not  so  obser- 
vable when  he  sat,  with  his  high,  majestic,  smooth,  unwrinkled  forehead, 
like  some  paladin  of  the  rhyme  of  poet  or  romancer,  and  rare  and 
harmonious  combination  of  colossal  strength  with  lithe  and  graceful 
lightness.  The  faded  portrait  of  Richard  Neville,  Earl  of  Warwick, 
in  the  Rous  Roll,  preser^'ed  at  the  Heralds'  College,  does  justice  at 
least  to  the  height  and  majesty  of  his  stature.  The  portrait  of  Edward 
IV.  is  the  only  one  in  that  long  scries  which  at  all  rivals  the  stately 
proportions  of  the  king-maker>" 


442 


Blacklow  Hill. — The  Fate  of  Gaveston. 

Blacklow,  or  probably  Black-law,  Hill,  so  called  from  its  being  a 
place  of  execution,  is  situated  in  the  parish  of  Wotton,  within  a  mile 
and  a  half  of  Wanvick.  Thither  Piers  Gaveston,  the  corrupt  favourite 
of  a  weak  and  infatuated  King,  was  dragged  to  ignominious  execution, 
"without  judgment  of  his  peers  or  any  course  of  law,  by  the  Earls  of 
Lancaster  and  Warwick,  who  had  taken  him  by  surprise  at  Deddington, 
in  Oxfordshire."  This  disgraceful  minion,  whom  Edward  I.  had  caused 
to  be  educated  together  with  his  son,  afterwards  Edward  II.,  in 
consideration  of  the  great  service  his  father  had  done  the  Crown, 
is  described  by  an  old  historian,  as  "  filling  the  Court  with  buffoons, 
parasites,  minstrels,  players,  and  alle  kinde  of  dissolute  persons,  to 
cntertaine  and  dissolve  the  King  with  delights  and  pleasures." 

There  are  in  existence  two  letters  of  Edward,  First  Prince  of  Wales, 
dated  1304,  in  one  of  which  he  entreats  the  Queen,  and  iu  the  other 
the  Countess  of  Holland,  his  sister,  to  intercede  with  the  King  for  the 
admission  of  Perot  de  Gaveston  among  his  attendants.  Prince  Edward 
Avas  twenty  years  old  at  the  time,  and  this  is  perhaps  the  earliest  men- 
tion of  that  unhappy  intimacy  which  dishonoured  his  reign,  and  had 
such  fatal  consequences  to  himself  and  his  favourite.  There  is  also 
another  letter  of  the  same  year  from  the  Prince  to  Sir  Hugh 
Despencer,  acknowledging  a  present  of  grapes  which  reached  him  just 
as  he  was  going  to  breakfast,  and  assuring  the  sender  that  the  fruit 
could  not  have  arrived  at  a  more  opportune  moment. 

Among  the  many  enemies  which  Gaveston  made  by  his  arrogance 
and  wantonness,  the  most  inveterate  appear  to  have  been  Thomas,  Earl 
of  Lancaster;  Aymer  de  Valence,  Earl  of  Pembroke;  and  Guy,  Earl 
of  Warwick ;  whom  he  severally  stigmatized  with  such  contemptuous 
nicknames  as  "  the  Stage  Player,"  "Joseph  the  Jew,"  and  "the  Black 
Dogge  of  Ardem."  The  Player  may  be  said  to  have  been  too  cun- 
ning for  him  when  he  wiled  him  into  Warwickshire  ;  and  right  deadly 
was  the  grip  of  the  Black  Dogge,  when  the  miserable  parasite,  after 
being  hunted  like  a  fox  from  one  lurking-place  to  another,  succumbed 
at  length  to  his  unrelenting  fangs  on  Blacklow  Hill.  But  the  story  of 
the  sad  end  of  the  royal  favourite  is  worth  telling  more  fully : — "  Gave- 
stone  had,"  says  Speed,  "  a  sharp  wit  in  a  comely  shape,  and  briefly  was 
such  an  one  as  we  use  to  call  "very  fine-"  he  possessed  also  great 
courage  and  skill  in  arms,  as  he  had  proved  in  the  Scottish  war  and  in 


Blackloiv  Hill. — The  Fate  of  Gavestoii.  443 

the  tournaments,  where  he  had  overthrown  the  most  disti  nguished  of 
our  baronial  chivalry.  On  the  other  hand  he  was  luxurious  to  the  last 
degree,  proud  as  regards  himself,  insolent  to  others,  and  oppressive  and 
capricious  to  those  in  any  way  subjected  to  his  control.  Those  whom 
he  nicknamed  were  dangerous  men  to  jest  with,  even  if  there  had  been 
nothing  in  the  favourite's  public  conduct  to  lay  hold  of.  But  while 
they  thus  saw  themselves  treated  with  contempt,  they  also  saw  all  the 
great  enterprises  neglected.  They  saw  the  King's  court  given  up  to 
sensuality  and  riot ;  they  knew,  also,  that  the  riches  of  the  kingdom 
were  being  converted  to  Gavestone's  private  use ;  that  Edward,  besides 
conferring  on  him  the  earldom  of  Cornwall,  a  dignity  hitherto  reserved 
for  princes  of  the  blood,  and  maiTying  him  to  his  sister's  daughter,  gave 
liim  the  funds  collected  for  the  Scottish  war,  and  for  the  crusades 
(32,000/.  sterling  of  which,  by  his  father's  dying  command,  ought  to 
iuve  been  applied  to  the  restoration  and  maintenance  of  the  holy 
cpulchre),  as  well  as  his  ancestor's  jewels  and  treasures,  even  to  the 
very  crown  worn  by  his  tather,  which  the  barons  not  unnaturally  looked 
upon  as  a  symbol  of  the  result  that  Edward  possibly  dreamed  of,  the 
declaration  of  Piers  Gavestone  for  his  successor. 

The  young  Queen  added  her  voice  to  the  general  complaint ;  for 
through  Gavestone  the  King  had  been  drawn  on  to  injure  her.  Her 
appeal  to  her  father,  the  French  King,  was  followed  by  the  Gascon 
knight's  third  banishment,  in  June,  1309,  which,  however,  was  merely 
to  Ireland,  and  as  governor.  But  he  would  not  take  warning;  in 
October  he  returned  in  defiance  of  a  known  decree  "  that  if  at  any 
time  afterwards  he  were  taken  in  England,  he  should  suffer  death." 
Edward  evidently  would  rather  lose  crown,  kingdom,  queen,  and  all, 
than  Piers  Gavestone.  The  lords,  with  the  "  great  hog,"  Thomas,  Earl 
of  Lancaster,  at  their  head,  looking  upon  the  return  with  ditTerent  eyes, 
met,  and  agreed  to  send  respectfully  to  Edward,  to  desire  that  Gave- 
stone should  be  delivered  into  their  hands,  or  driven  out  of  England. 
The  King  vacillated,  knowing  peace  must  be  kept  with  the  lords,  yet 
unwilling  to  sacrifice  his  favourite.  Gavestone  endeavoured  to  defend 
himself  in  Scarborough  Castle,  while  the  King  went  to  York  to  seek  an 
army  for  his  relief.  But  before  any  force  could  be  collected  for  such  a 
purpose,  Piers  Gavestone,  on  the  19th  May,  13 12,  capitulated  to  the 
Earls  Pembroke  and  Percy,  who  pledged  their  faith,  it  is  said,  that  he 
should  be  kept  unharmed  in  the  Castle  of  Wallingford.  At  Dedding- 
ton,  a  village  between  Oxford  and  Warwick,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke, 
who  escorted  him,  left  him  for  a  night,  under  the  pretext  of  visiting  the 
Countess  of  Pembroke,  who  was  in  tlie  neighbourhood.    Gavettcone 


444         Blackloiv  Hill. —  The  Fate  of  Gaveston. 

seems  to  have  remained  fu'l  of  confidence,  as  usual,  until  he  was  roused 
from  his  sleep  by  the  startling  order  to  "  dress  himself  speedily."  He 
obeyed,  descended  to  the  court-yard,  and  found  himself  in  the  presence 
of  the  "  black  dog  of  Ardern."  He  must  then  have  repented  his 
wretched  wit,  for  he  knew  the  stern  Warwick  had  sworn  a  terrible  vow 
that  he  would  make  the  minion  feel  the  "  black  dog's  teeth."  A  deeper 
darkness  than  that  of  night  must  have  overshadowed  the  wretched 
Gavestone.  No  help  was  at  hand.  Amid  the  triumphant  shouts  of 
the  large  armed  force  that  attended  Warwick,  he  was  set  on  a  mule, 
and  hurried  thirty  miles  through  the  night  to  Warwick  Castle,  where 
his  entrance  was  announced  by  a  crash  of  martial  music.  He  stood 
trembling  and  dismayed  before  the  dais,  whereon  sate,  in  terrible  array, 
his  self-constituted  judges,  the  chief  barons.  During  their  hurried  con- 
sultation, a  proposal  was  made,  or  a  hint  offered,  that  no  blood  should 
be  shed ;  but  a  voice  rang  through  the  hall,  "  you  have  caught  the  fox ; 
if  you  let  him  go,  you  will  have  to  hunt  him  again."  Let  Gavestone's 
deserts  be  what  they  might,  the  faith  pledged  at  the  capitulation  at 
Scarborough  ought  to  have  been  adhered  to, — but  it  was  otherwise  deter- 
mined by  the  barons.  He  had  been  taken  once  more  on  English 
ground,  and  he  must  die.  The  unhappy  man  kneeled  and  prayed  for 
mercy,  but  found  none.  The  head  of  the  wretched  victim  is  said 
to  have  been  struck  off  where  a  hollow  in  the  crag  at  Blacklow  (now 
Gaversike),  about  two  miles  from  Warwick  Castle,  appeared  to  supply 
a  natural  block  for  such  a  purpose,  just  over  an  ancient  inscription, 
which  records  the  event  as  follows : — 

"  X311. 
P.  Gaveston, 
Earl  of  Cornwall, 
beheaded  here." 

A  cross  of  recent  date  is  erected  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  imme- 
diately adjacent,  with  a  tablet  thus  inscribed  : — 

"  In  the  hollow  of  this  Rock 

Was  Beheaded, 

On  the  1st  day  of  July,  1312, 

By   Barons   lawless   as  himself, 

Piers  Gaveston,  Earl  of  Cornwall, 

The  Minion  of  a  hateful  King  ; 

In  Life  and  Death 

A  memorable  Instance  of  Misrule." 

Of  the  Norman  Castle  of  Sutton  Valence,  in  Kent,  only  a  few  ruined 
walls  now  exist.  Ancient  records,  however,  show  that  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  H.  his  favourite,  Piers  Gaveston,  was  confined  in  Sutton  keep 


Coventry  Castle,  and  Lady  Go  diva.  445 

by  the  barons ;  and  thus  it  remained  to  remind  them  of  the  resistance 
which  Englishmen  made  against  those  foreign  and  worthless  favourites 
with  which  some  of  our  earlier  sovereigns  surrounded  themselves. 


Coventry  Castle,  and  Lady  Godiva. 

Coventry,  a  city  locally  in  Warwickshire,  but  made  a  separate  county, 
is  nearly  in  the  centre  of  England,  and  about  300  feet  above  the  sea- 
level.  It  is  a  place  of  great  antiquity,  by  some  stated  to  be  named  (as 
Covent  Garden  from  Convent  Garden),  from  a  spacious  convent  which 
was  founded,  says  Leland,  by  King  Canute,  and  was  destroyed  by  the 
traitor  Edric,  in  ioi6-  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  in  1044,  Earl  Leofric,  a  powerful  lord 
of  Mercia,  with  his  wife,  the  Lady  Godiva,  founded  at  Coventry  a 
magnificent  Benedictine  monastery,  and  richly  endowed  it.  The  capa- 
cious cellar  of  the  monks  still  exists,  measuring  seventy-five  yards  in 
length  by  five  in  breadth.  From  the  date  of  this  religious  establishment 
the  prosperity  of  the  town  took  its  rise. 

After  the  Conquest,  the  lordship  of  Coventry  came  to  the  Earls  of 
Chester,  to  one  of  whom,  Ranulph,  the  fortress  belonged.  In  the  Civil 
War  of  Stephen  and  the  Empress  Maud,  Ranulph  was  one  of  her  sup- 
porters when  the  Castle  was  taken  by  the  King's  troops.  In  the  reign 
of  Richard  II.  the  city  was  surrounded  with  walls  and  towers  for  de- 
fence during  the  wars,  though  it  did  not  experience  the  miseries  of 
■^iege  to  which  so  many  other  large  towns  were  subjected.  Leland, 
'.  riting  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  says  that  the  city  was  begun  to  be 
walled-in  in  the  time  of  Edward  II.,  and  that  it  had  six  gates,  many 
fair  towers,  and  streets  well  built  with  timber.  Other  writers  speak  of 
thirty-two  towers  and  twelve  gates.  The  walls  were  demolished  by 
Charles  II.,  in  consequence  of  the  active  part  taken  by  the  citizens  in 
favour  of  the  Parliamentary  army.  During  the  monastic  ages,  Coventry 
had  a  large  and  beautiful  cathedral,  which  at  the  Reformation  was 
levelled  to  the  ground,  and  only  a  fragment  or  two  now  remain.  Theie 
are  three  ancient  churches,  of  which  St.  Michael's  was  originally  built  in 
1 133,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  and  was  given  to  the  monks  of  Coventry 
by  Earl  Ranulph  in  the  reign  of  Stephen. 

One  of  the  richest  and  most  interesting  vestiges  of  the  domestic 
architecture  of  the  fifteenth  century  in  Coventry,  and  perhaps  in  Eng- 
land, is  St.  Mary's  Hall,  erected  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  It  has  a 
grotesquely  carved  roof  of  oak,  a  gallery  for  minstrels,  an  armoury,  and 


44^  Coventry  Castle,  and  Lady  Godiva. 

\ 

chair  of  state,  which,  with  the  great  painted  window  furnish  a  vivid  idea 
of  the  manners  of  the  age  in  which  Coventry  was  the  favourite  resort  of 
princes.  A  tapestry,  made  in  1450,  measuring  30  feet  by  10,  and  con- 
taining 80  figures,  is  a  curious  and  beautiful  specimen  of  the  drawing, 
dyeing,  and  embroidery  of  that  period.  In  the  market-place  was  for- 
merly a  richly  ornamented  Gothic  cross,  one  of  the  finest  in  the  country, 
erected  in  the  i6th  century:  it  was  hexagonal,  57  feet  high,  with  18 
niches  of  Saints  and  Kings :  it  was  built  by  a  Lord  Mayor  of  London, 
but  was  taken  down  in  1771,  to  gratify  the  bad  taste  of  the  inhabitants. 
When  the  Cathedral  was  standing,  Coventry  possessed  a  matchless  group 
of  churches,  all  within  one  cemetery. 

I  Coventry  has  always  been  renowned  for  its  exhibition  of  pageants  and 
processions ;  and  in  the  monastic  ages  it  was  remarkable  for  the  magni- 
ficent and  costly  performance  of  the  religious  dramas  called  Mysteries. 
Of  these  solemn  shows  accounts  are  extant  as  early  as  14 16.  They  were 
performed  on  moveable  street  stages,  chiefly  by  the  Grey  Friars,  on  the  day 
of  Corpus  Christi.  The  subjects  were  the  Nativity,  Cmcifixion,  Dooms- 
day, &c.,  and  the  splendour  of  the  exhibitions  was  such  that  the  King 
and  the  royal  family,  with  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  were 
usually  present  as  spectators. 

Of  the  performance  of  a  Coventry  play,  the  following  is  a  lively  pic- 
ture:— "The  morning  of  Corpus  Christi  comes,  and  soon  after  sunrise 
there  is  stir  in  the  streets  of  Coventry.  The  old  ordinances  for  this 
solemnity  require  that  the  Guilds  should  be  at  their  posts  at  five  o'clock 
There  is  to  be  a  solemn  procession — formerly,  indeed,  after  the  per- 
foi-mance  of  the  pageant — and  then,  with  hundreds  of  torches  burning 
around  the  figures  of  our  Lady  and  St.  John,  candlesticks  and  chalices 
of  silver,  bannei-s  of  velvet  and  canopies  of  silk,  and  the  members  of  the 
Trinity  Guild  and  the  Corpus  Christi  Guild  bearing  their  crucifixes 
and  candlesticks,  with  personations  of  the  angel  Gabriel  lifting  up  the 
lily,  the  twelve  apostles,  and  renowned  virgins,  especially  St.  Catherine 
ai]d  St.  Margaret.  The  Reformation  has,  of  course,  destroyed  much  of 
this  ceremonial ;  and,  indeed,  the  spirit  of  it  has  in  great  part  evapo- 
rated. But  now,  issuing  from  the  many  ways  that  lead  to  the  Cross, 
there  is  heard  the  melody  of  harpers  and  the  voice  of  minstrelsy  ;  trum- 
pets sound,  banners  wave,  riding  men  come  thick  fi-om  their  several 
halls ;  the  mayor  and  aldermen  in  their  robes,  the  city  servants  in  proper 
liveries,  St.  George  and  the  Dragon,  and  Herod  on  horseback.  The 
bells  ring,  boughs  are  strewed  in  the  streets,  tapestry  is  hung  out  of  the 
windows,  officers  in  scarlet  coats  struggle  in  the  crowd  while  the  pro- 
cession is  marshalling.    The  crafts  are  getting  into  their  ancient  order. 


Coventry  Castle,  and  Lady  Godiva.  447 

each  craft  with  its  streamer  and  its  men  in  harness.  There  are  Fys- 
shers  and  Cokes, — Baxters  and  Milners, — Bochers, — Whittawers  and 
Glovers, — Pynners,  Tylers,  and  Wrightes, — Skynners, — Barkers, — 
Cor^'ysers,  —  Smythes,  — Wevers,  — Wirdrawers,  —  Cardemakers,  Sa- 
delers,  Peyntours,  and  Masons, — Gurdelers, — Taylours,  Walkers,  and 
Sherman, — Deysters, — Drapers, — Mercers.  At  length  the  procession 
is  arranged.  It  parades  through  the  principal  lines  of  the  city,  from 
Bishopgate  on  the  north  to  the  Grey  Friars'  Gate  on  the  south,  and 
from  Broadgate  on  the  west  to  Gosford  Gate  on  the  east.  The  crowd 
is  thronging  to  the  wide  area  on  the  north  of  Trinity  Church  and  St. 
Michael's,  for  there  is  the  pageant  to  be  first  performed.  There  was  a 
high  house  or  carriage  which  stood  upon  six  wheels ;  it  was  divided 
into  two  rooms,  one  above  the  other.  In  the  lower  room  were  the 
performers;  the  upper  was  the  stage.  This  ponderous  vehicle  was 
painted  and  gilt,  surmounted  with  burnished  vanes  and  streamers,  and 
decorated  with  imagery ;  it  was  hung  round  with  curtains,  and  a 
painted  cloth  presented  a  picture  of  the  subject  that  was  to  be  per- 
formed. This  simple  stage  had  its  machinery,  too ;  it  was  fitted  for 
the  representation  of  an  earthquake  or  a  storm ;  and  the  pageant  in 
most  cases  was  concluded  in  the  noise  and  flame  of  fireworks.  It  is  the 
pageant  of  the  company  of  Shearmen  and  Tailors  which  is  now  to  be 
performed, — the  subject  the  Birth  of  Christ  and  Offering  of  the  Magi, 
with  the  Flight  into  Egypt  and  Murder  of  the  Innocents.  The  eager 
multitudes  are  permitted  to  crowd  within  a  reasonable  distance  of  the 
car.  There  is  a  moveable  scaffold  erected  for  the  more  distinguished 
spectators.  The  men  of  the  Guilds  sit  firm  on  their  horses.  Amidst  the 
sound  of  harp  and  trumpet  the  curtains  are  withdrawn,  and  Isaiah  ap- 
pears prophesying  the  blessing  which  is  to  come  upon  the  earth.  Gabriel 
announces  to  Mary  the  embassage  upon  which  he  is  sent  from  Heaven. 
Then  a  dialogue  between  Mary  and  Joseph,  and  the  scene  changes  to 
the  field  where  shepherds  are  abiding  in  the  darkness  of  the  night — a 
night  so  dark  that  they  know  not  where  their  sheep  may  be;  they  are 
cold  and  in  great  heaviness.  Then  the  star  shines,  and  they  hear  the 
song  of '  Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo.'  A  soft  melody  of  concealed  music 
hushes  even  the  whispers  of  the  Coventry  audience ;  and  three  songs  are 
sung,  such  as  may  abide  in  the  remembrance  of  the  people,  and  be 
repeated  by  them  at  their  Christmas  festivals." 

Coventry  was  the  favourite  residence  of  Edward  the  Black  Prmce. 
1  lere  also  Queen  Elizabeth  delighted  to  see  the  game  of  Hock  Tues- 
day, which  represented  the  massacre  of  the  Danes  by  the  English  in 
1002  ;  and  it  was  for  her  especial  amusement  that,  in  addition  to  a  ring 


44^  Coventry  Castle,  and  Lady  Godiva. 

for  baiting  bulls,  another  was  put  down  for  badger  batting,  both  which 
were  her  favourite  sports. 

To  this  day  the  people  of  Coventry  have  a  celebrated  processional 
show  at  the  great  Fair  on  the  Friday  in  Trinity  week,  though  this  is 
shorn  of  its  ancient  gorgeousness.  Such  is  the  legend  of  the  fair 
Godiva,  who  is  said  to  have  ridden  on  horseback  naked  through  the 
city  of  Coventry.  Many  circumstances  of  the  legend  are  obviously 
fabricated,  but  Leofric  and  Godiva  are  historical  not  fabulous  persons, 
and  belong  to  the  reign  of  Canute;  and  an  ancient  inscription  accom- 
panying a  picture  of  the  pair  on  a  window  in  Trinity  church,  Coventry, 
set  up  in  the  time  of  Richard  II.,  may  be  taken  as  evidence  that  the  city 
owed  some  immunities  to  the  lady's  intercession.    The  inscription  was : 

"  I  Luriche,  for  the  love  of  thee, 
Doe  make  Co  ventre  tol-free," 

The  legendary  origin  of  this  extraordinary  exhibition  is  as  follows : — 
Leofric,  Earl  of  Mercia  (in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor),  wedded 
Godiva,  a  most  beautiful  and  devout  lady,  sister  to  oneThorold,  Sheriff 
of  Lincolnshire  in  those  days,  and  founder  of  Spalding  Abbey  ;  as  also 
of  the  stock  and  lineage  of  Thorold,  Sheriff"  of  that  county,  in  the  time 
of  Kenulph,  King  of  Mercia.  Earl  Leofric  had  subjected  the  citizens 
of  Coventry  to  a  very  oppressive  taxation,  and  remaining  inflexible 
against  the  entreaties  of  his  lady  for  the  people's  relief,  he  declared  that 
her  request  should  be  granted  only  on  the  condition  that  she  should 
ride  perfectly  naked  through  the  streets  of  the  city ;  a  condition  which 
he  supposed  to  be  quite  impossible.  But  the  lady's  modesty  being 
overpowered  by  her  generosity,  and  the  inhabitants  having  been  en- 
joined to  close  all  their  shutters,  she  partially  veiled  herself  with  her 
flowing  hair,  made  the  circuit  of  the  city  on  her  palfrey,  and  thus 
obtained  for  it  the  exoneration  and  freedom  which  it  henceforth  en- 
joyed. The  story  is  embellished  with  the  incident  of  Peeping  Tom,  a 
prying,  inquisitive  tailor,  who  was  struck  blind  for  popping  out  his  head 
as  the  lady  passed  !  His  effigy  was  long  to  be  seen  protruded  from  an 
upper  window  in  High-street,  adjoining  the  King's  Head  Tavern.  The 
Coventry  procession,  as  exhibited  in  our  days,  began  only  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  II.,  in  1677  :  it  consists  principally  of  Sanit  George  of  Eng- 
land on  his  charger ;  Lady  Godiva,  a  female  who  rides  in  a  dress  of  flesh- 
coloured  silk,  with  flowing  hair,  on  a  grey  horse ;  then  followed  the 
Mayor  and  Corporation,  the  whole  of  the  city  Companies,  the  wool- 
combers.  Knights  in  armour,  Jason,  Bishop  Blaise,  &c.,  all  in  splendid 
dresses,  with  a  great  profusion  of  brilliant  ribbons,  plumes  of  feathers. 


Comb  Abbey.  449 

and  numerous  bands  of  music.  There  is  in  St.  Mary's  Hall  a  very 
curious  picture,  showing  the  Lady  Godiva  on  horseback,  enveloped  in 
her  luxuriant  tresses ;  and  O'Keefe  has  dramatized  the  incident  in  his 
farce  of  Peeping  Tom. 

From  Noakes's  Monastery  and  Cathedral  of  Worcester,  we  learn  that 
Lady  Godiva  of  Coventry  left  the  Worcester  monks  the  Bibliothcca, 
A.D.  1057  ;  ^"^  *h^  great  value  set  upon  the  bequest,  as  well  as  upon 
books  generally,  at  that  period,  is  shown  by  its  being  usual  to  draw  up 
a  deed  when  a  book  was  borrowed,  and  sometimes  a  deposit  of  money 
or  plate  was  made  as  surety  for  the  return  of  the  book.  Among  the 
lines  often  written  in  a  book  to  remind  borrowers  to  return  it,  are  the 
following : — 

"  Thys  boke  is  one  and  CODES  kors  ys  anoder: 
They  that  take  the  on,  GOD  gefe  them  the  toder." 

Matthew  of  W^estminster,  who  wrote  in  1307,  that  is,  250  years  after 
the  time  of  Leofric,  is  the  first  who  mentions  the  Coventry  legend.  Many 
preceding  writers,  who  speak  of  Leofiic  and  Godiva,  do  not  mention  it. 
A  similar  legend  is  said  to  be  related  of  Briavel's  Castle. 


Comb  Abbey. 

About  four  miles  east  of  Coventry  stands  Comb  Abbey,  the  seat  of 
the  Earl  of  Craven,  on  the  site  of  a  religious  house  founded  here  by 
Richard  de  Camville  in  the  year  1150,  for  monks  of  the  Cistercian 
order,  and  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  \Liry.  Here  were  thirteen 
or  fourteen  religious,  who  were  endowed  in  1-34  with  343/.  oj.  5//. ; 
the  site  was  granted  in  1547  to  John,  Earl  of  Warwick.  The  present 
mansion  was  chiefly  erected  by.  Lord  Harrington  in  the  reign  of 
James  L,  and  possesses  some  historical  interest,  through  its  having  been 
the  scene  of  some  of  the  earliest  and  latest  fortunes  of  the  Princess 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  L,  and  Queen  of  Bohemia. 

It  was  here  that  the  conspirators  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  endeavoured 
to  seize  and  carry  her  off  when  a  mere  girl ;  and  it  was  hither  that  she 
returned  after  all  the  troubles  of  her  disastrous  reign,  and  enjoyed  the 
only  peaceful  days  of  her  existence.  Elizabeth  was  a  Stuart,  and  like 
the  rest  of  her  family,  was  doomed  to  drink  deeply  of  misfortune ;  but 
strictly  virtuous  and  highly  amiable.  Providence  sevmed  to  concede  to 
her  what  so  few  of  her  family  were  permitted,  or  indeetl  dcserveil, — a 
quiet  termination  to  a  stormy  life.  If  ever  the  finger  of  an  ill  fate,  laid 
on  evil  deeds,  was,  however,  manifest,  it  was  not  merely  in  her  family, 
*  00 


450  Stratford-on-Avon ; 

but  in  the  families  of  those  who  were  concerned  in  the  attempt  to  carry 
her  off  from  this  place.  Such  were  the  singular  fortunes  connected 
with  that  circumstance,  and  its  cause,  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  that  perhaps 
no  other  spot  of  the  strangely  eventful  soil  of  England  can  show  more 
remarkable  ones.     Mr.  W.  Howitt,  the  writer  of  these  remaiks,  adds : 

"  Perhaps  so  many  portraits  of  the  Stuart  family  are  not  to  be  met 
with  in  any  one  place,  as  those  which  were  chiefly  collected  by  the 
affection  of  Elizabeth.  There  is  none,  indeed,  like  the  grand  equestrian 
Vandykes  of  Charles  I.  at  Warwick  Castle,  Windsor,  and  Hampton 
Court ;  but  there  are  many  of  a  high  character,  and  some  nowhere 
else  to  be  found.  These  render  a  visit  to  Comb  well  worth  making  ; 
but  besides  these,  the  Abbey  contains  many  admirable  subjects  by  first- 
rate  masters:  Vandyke,  Rubens,  Caravaggio,  Lely,  Kneller,  Brughcl, 
Teniers,  Mirevelt,  Paul  Veronese,  Rembi-andt,  Holbein,  and  Albert 
Diirer.  Among  them  are  fine  and  characteristic  portraits  of  Sir 
Kenelm  Digby,  Sir  Thomas  More,  General  Monk,  Lord  Strafford, 
Vandyke  by  himself,  Honthorst  by  himself;  and  heads  of  the  Saxony  Re- 
formers, by  a  Saxon  artist.  There  is  also  a  very  curious  old  picture  of 
a  lady  with  a  gold  drinking-horn  in  her  hand,  and  a  Latin  legend  of 
Count  Otto,  who  hunting  in  the  forest  and  seeing  this  lady,  asked  to 
drink  out  of  her  horn,  for  he  was  dreadfully  athirst ;  but  on  looking 
into  it  he  was  suspicious  of  the  liquor,  and  pouring  it  behind  him,  part 
of  it  fell  on  his  horse,  and  took  off  his  hair  like  fire. 

"  The  gallery  is  a  fine  old  wainscoted  room ;  the  cloisters  are  now 
adorned  with  projecting  antlers  of  stags,  and  black-jacks ;  there  are  old 
tapestry  and  old  cabinets,  one  made  of  ebony,  tortoiseshell,  and  gold ; 
and  the  house  altogether  has  the  air  and  vestiges  of  old  times,  which 
must,  independent  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  give  it  an  interest  in  the 
eyes  of  the  lovers  of  old  English  houses,  and  of  the  traces  of  past 
generations.  The  paintings  which  were  brought  from  Germany, 
were  bequeathed  by  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  William,  Lord 
Craven." 


Stratford-on-Avon. — The  Bitlhplace  of  Shakspeare. 

Stratford,  eight  miles  south-west  of  Warwick,  although  it  possesses 
neither  Castle  nor  Abbey  to  detain  us,  contains  an  historic  house  of 
surpassing  interest,  and  is  illustrious  in  British  topography  as  the  birth- 
place of  Shakspeare : 

"  Here  his  first  infant  lays  sweet  Shakspeare  sung, 
Here  the  last  accents  fahered  on  his  tongue." 


tJie  Birthplace  of  Shakspeare.  45 1 

The  place  is  hallowed  ground  to  ail  who  take  a  special  interest  in  the 
circumstinces  of  the  birth  and  death  of  our  national  poet.  The  several 
^hakspearean  localities  are  too  well  known  to  need  description  here, 
especially  the  natal  house  in  Henley-street.  The  Free  Grammar 
School,  founded  by  a  native  of  the  town  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.,  is 
celebrated  as  the  School  of  Shakspeare.  Immediately  over  the  Guild- 
hall is  the  school-room,  now  divided  into  two  chambers,  and  having  a 
low  flat  plaster  ceiling  in  place  of  the  arched  roof.  Thither,  it  is  held, 
Shakspeare,  bom  at  Stratford  in  1564,  went  about  the  year  1571,  his 
schoolmaster  being  the  ciuate  of  the  neighbouring  Nnllage  of  Ludding- 
ton,  Thomas  Hunt.  "  As  his  '  shining  morning  face'  first  passed  out 
of  the  main  street  into  that  old  court  through  which  the  upper  room 
of  learning  was  to  be  reached,  a  new  life  would  be  opening  upon  him. 
The  humble  minister  of  religion  who  was  his  first  instructor,  has  left 
no  memorial  of  his  talents  or  acquirements ;  and  in  a  few  years  another 
niaster  came  after  him,  Thomas  Jenkins,  also  unknown  to  feme.  All 
praise  and  honour  be  to  them  ;  for  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  the 
teachersof  William  Shakspeare  were  evil  instructors,  giving  the  boy  husky 
instead  of  wholesome  aliment." — (Mr.  Charles  Knight's  A/^woir.)  At 
Stratford,  then,  at  the  free  grammar-school  of  his  own  town,  Shakspeare 
is  assumed  to  have  received,  in  every  just  sense  of  the  word,  the  educa- 
tion of  a  sclx>lar.  This,  it  is  true,  is  described  by  Ben  Jonson  as  "  small 
Latin  and  less  Greek ;"  Fuller  states  that  "  his  learning  was  very  little;" 
uid  Aubrey  that  "  he  understood  Latin  pretty  well."  But  the  ques- 
*ion,  Mr.  Knight  argues,  is  set  at  rest  by  "the  indisputable  feet  that  the 
t  writings  of  Shakspeare  are  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  classical 
and  that  the  allwise  nature  of  the  learning  that  manifests 
i-  ii  iu  them,  whilst  it  offers  the  best  proof  of  his  familiarity  with  the 
ancient  writers,  is  a  circumstance  which  has  misled  those  who  never 
attempted  to  dispute  the  existence  of  the  learning  which  was  displayed 
in  the  direct  pedantry  of  his  contemporaries." 

Of  Shakspeare's  life,  immediately  after  his  quitting  Stratford,  little 
is  positively  known.  He  is  thought  to  have  been  employed  in  the  office 
of  an  attorney,  and  proofs  of  something  like  a  legal  education  are  to  be 
found  in  many  of  his  plays  containing  law  phrases,  such  as  do  not 
occur  anything  like  so  frequently  in  the  dramatic  productions  of  any  of 
his  contemporaries. 

"  In  those  days,  the  education  of  the  universities  commenced  much 
rarlier  than  at  present.  Boys  intended  for  the  learned  professions,  and 
more  especially  for  the  church,  commonly  went  to  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge at  eleven  or  twelve  years  of  age.     If  they  were  not  intended  for 

00a 


452  Stratford-on-A  von  ; 

those  professions,  they  probably  remained  at  the  grammar-school  till 
they  were  tliirtccn  or  fourteen  ;  and  then  they  were  fitted  for  being 
apprenticed  to  tradesmen,  or  articled  to  attorneys,  a  numerous  and 
thriving  body  in  those  days  of  cheap  litigation.  Many  also  went  early 
to  the  Inns  of  Court,  which  were  the  universities  of  the  law,  and 
where  there  was  real  study  and  discipline  in  direct  connexion  with  the 
several  societies." — (Mr.  Charles  Knight's  Memoir.) 

The  name  "  William  Shakspeare"  occurs  in  a  certificate  of  the  names 
and  arms  of  trained  soldiers — trained  militia  we  should  now  call  them — 
in  the  hundred  of  Barlichway,  in  the  county  of  \\'arwick,  under  the 
hand  of  Sir  FulkeGreville  ("  Friend  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney"),  Sir  Edward 
Greville,  and  Thomas  Spencer.  Was  our  William  Shakspeare  a 
soldier  ?  Why  not  ?  Jonson  was  a  soldier,  and  had  slain  his  man. 
Donne  had  served  in  the  Low  Countries.  Why  not  Shakspeare  in 
anns  ?  At  all  events,  here  is  a  field  for  inquiry  and  speculation.  The 
date  is  September  23,  1605,  the  year  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot ;  and  the 
lists  were  possibly  prepared  through  instructions  issued  by  Cecil  in 
consequence  of  secret  information  as  to  the  working  of  the  plot  in 
Warwickshire — the  proposed  head-quarters  of  the  insurrection. — 
{State  Papers,  edited  by  Mary  Anne  Everett  Green.) 

The  "  deer-stealing''  incident  of  Shakspeare's  early  life  (familiar  to 
every  reader  of  his  works),  is  thus  explained  by  one  of  the  learned 
editors  of  his  works,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Dyce: — Having  fallen,  we 
are  told,  into  the  company  of  some  wild  and  disorderly  young  men, 
he  was  induced  to  assist  them,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  in  stealing 
deer  fiom  the  park  of  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  of  Charlecote,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Stratford.  For  this  offence  (which  certainly,  in  those 
days,  used  to  be  regarded  as  a  venial  frolic)  he  was  treated,  he  thought, 
too  harshly  ;  and  he  repaid  the  severity  by  ridiculing  Sir  Thomas  in  a 
ballad.  So  bitter  was  its  satire,  that  the  prosecution  against  the  writer 
was  redoubled ;  and  forsaking  his  family  and  occupation,  he  took 
shelter  in  the  metropolis  from  his  powerful  enemy.  Such  is  the  story 
which  tradition  has  handed  down  ;  and  that  it  has  some  foundation  in 
truth,  cannot  surely  be  doubted,  notwithstanding  what  has  been  argued 
to  the  contrary  by  Malone,  whose  chief  object  in  writing  the  life  of  our 
poet  was,  to  shake  the  credibility  of  the  facts  brought  forward  by 
Rowe. 

Charlecote  House,  the  seat  of  the  Lucys,  is  a  noble  Elizabethan 
mansion,  situated  upon  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Avon,  which  winds 
gracefully  through  the  park.  In  the  hall  windows  is  a  series  of  ancient 
arms,  allusive  to  the  various  alliances  of  the  family,  and  those  of  the 


t)ie  Birthplace  of  Shakspeare.  453 

present  possessor.  At  Thelesford,  about  a  mile  southward  from 
Charlecote,  a  member  of  the  Lucy  family  founded  a  small  monastery 
lor  Trinitarian  monks  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  ivhich  at  the  Re- 
formation reverted  to  the  manor ;  no  traces  of  it  remain.  The  ancient 
church  of  Charlecote  was  taken  down  some  twenty  years  ago  and  re- 
built :  it  was  adorned  by  a  series  of  several  grand  monuments  to  the 
different  members  of  the  Lucy  family.  Shakspeareans  did  not  omit  to 
particularize  the  knightly  figure  of  the  Poet's  reputed  prosecutor  and 
his  lady,  which  were  here  well  preserved  in  alabaster.  These  monu- 
ments have  been  carefully  removed,  and  are  now  in  the  new  church. 

The  Tercentenary  Festival  at  Stratford-upon-Avon  in  1864  has  not 
been  without  its  fruits.  In  the  way  of  permanent  Shakspearean  monu- 
ments, there  is  much  more  to  be  seen  at  Stratford  than  formerly.  The 
site  of  New  Place,  the  house  which  was  purchased  by  Shakspeare  when 
he  returned  to  his  native  town  with  the  wealth  acquired  in  London, 
and  in  which  he  breathed  his  last,  has  been  converted  into  a  sort  of 
pleasure-ground,  for  the  use  of  such  of  the  public  as  are  willing  to  pay 
(id.  for  the  right  of  treading  on  hallowed  soil.  The  foundations,  which 
are  all  that  remain  of  the  house  so  ruthlessly  demolished  by  Mr. 
Gastrcll,  are  carefully  prcser\'ed  beneath  an  iron  grating,  and  a  scion  of 
the  mulberry-tree,  destroyed  by  the  same  hand,  stands  on  a  conspicuous 
spot.  The  ground-plan  of  the  house  and  the  two  gardens  attached  to 
it  may  thus  be  easily  traced.  A  board  is  raised  on  the  lawn,  inscribed 
with  a  list  of  donors,  headed  by  the  late  Prince  Consort,  by  whom  the 
amount  (upwards  of  300c/.)  for  purchasing  the  property  was  sub- 
scribed. The  land,  it  should  be  observed,  was  transferred  to  trustees 
by  Mr.  Halliwell,  who  bought  it  in  the  first  instance,  and  who  is  the 
presiding  genius  over  all  that  concerns  Shakspeare  in  Stratford.  As  for 
the  board,  it  is  but  a  temporary  record,  which  is  to  give  place  in  time 
to  a  more  substantial  memorial.  In  the  house  .idjoining  New  Place, 
and  occupied  by  a  very  intelligent  gentleman,  to  whom  the  care  of  the 
grounds  is  confided,  are  several  engraved  portraits  of  Shakspeare ;  and 
likewise  a  curious  painting  of  a  lady,  supposed  to  be  one  of  that 
Clopton  family  from  whom  Shakspeare  purchased  the  estate.  In  this 
house,  too,  are  several  curiosities  dug  up  when  the  foundations  of  New 
Place  were  discovered.  These  were  for  some  time  kept  in  the  house 
in  Henley-strcet,  which  is  not  only  visited  as  the  poet's  birthplace,  but  a 
portion  of  which  is  used  as  a  Shakspearean  Museum.  Persons  who  visit 
Stratford  should  be  aware  that  when  the  "  Museum"  is  mentioned  re- 
ference is  made  to  the  rooms  in  Henley-street.  The  removal  was 
ctfectcd  on  tlie  ground  that  the  curiosities  in  question  belonged  rather 


454  '  1^^^^  Birthplace  of  Shakspeare. 

to  the  place  of  Shakspeare's  death  than  to  that  of  his  birth ;  and  if,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  Museum  has  been  deprived  of  a  part  of  its  treasures, 
it  has,  on  the  other,  received  several  important  additions.  Among  these 
is  the  collection  bequeathed  to  Stratford  by  the  late  Mr.  Fairholt,  who 
died  in  iS6fi,  comprising  a  curious  set  of  "Longbeard  jugs"  used  in  the 
time  of  Shakspeare.  These  jugs  vindicate  their  name  by  the  semblance  of 
a  huge  beard  that  flows  from  a  face  forming  the  beak.  In  the  same  cabi- 
net with  these  is  a  singularly  beautiful  goblet  carved  from  Shakspeare's 
mulbeiry-tree,  and  presented  by  the  Corporation,  who  have  also  given 
two  ancient  maces  of  curious  workmanship.  This  goblet  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  companion  to  Mr.  Hunt's  gift,  the  drinking-jug,  which  is 
said  to  have  belonged  to  Shakspeare,  and  from  which  Gairick  sipped 
at  the  festival  of  1 769.  The  friendly  international  greeting  which  was 
sent  from  Germany  by  the  "  Deutsche  Hochstift  "  in  1864,  and  read  at 
the  banquet  by  which  the  birthday  was  celebrated,  is  now  hung  up  in  a 
frame  made  of  wood  taken  from  a  scion  of  the  famous  mulberry-tree, 
and  with  the  two  miniature  views  of  the  respective  birthplaces  of  Shak- 
speare and  Gathe,  is  a  very  remarkable  object.  A  set  of  fac-similes  of 
the  title-pages  to  the  first  edition  of  Shakspeare's  separate  plays  is  a 
comparatively  recent  contribution  by  Mr.  Halliwell.  The  library  of 
the  Museum  is  small  but  choice,  comprising  nearly  all  the  known 
editions,  old  and  new,  of  the  entire  works  of  the  poet.  All  the  faces 
too  that  have  been  supposed  to  belong  to  Shakspeare  are  to  be  found 
among  the  engravings,  to  say  nothing  of  the  original  portrait,  once  in 
the  possession  of  the  Clopton  family.  The  services  of  Mr.  Fairholt 
to  the  cause  of  Shakspeare  are  acknowledged  by  a  brass  tablet,  which 
has  been  set  up  in  the  church. — (^Abridged from  the  Times.') 

During  a  short  sojourn  at  Stratford,  some  twenty  years  ago,  we  were 
strongly  impressed  with  the  genius  loci,  such  is  the  paramount  in- 
fluence upon  all  thoughtful  visitors.  "  Hundreds  of  accounts  of  pil- 
grimages to  Stratford — the  home  of  Shakspeare — have  been  written  ; 
but  the  only  way  fully  to  appreciate  the  interest  of  the  place  is  to  "visit 
it  yourself.  The  town  has  parted  with  most  of  its  ancient  appearance : 
few  old  houses  remain,  and  the  modern  buildings  are  mostly  poor  and 
unpicturesque.  Still,  as  you  walk  through  the  streets,  and  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, Shakspeare  entirely  occupies  your  thoughts — whether  you 
visit  the  lowly  house  in  Henley-street,  wherein  he  is  reputed  to  have 
been  born ;  or  the  school-room,  whither,  to  use  his  own  imperishable 
words,  he  went — 

"  '  The  whining  schoolboy,  with  his  satchel, 
And  shining  morning  face  ;' 


Keiiikvortli  Castle.  455 

or  whether  you  stray  among  the  woods  and  glades  of  Charlecote,  the 
scenes  of  his  wild  youth ;  or  seek  the  humble  cottage  at  Shottery, 
where  he  first  told  his  love ;  or  the  retreat  of  New  Place,  where  the 
Poet  retired  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  intellectual  toil ;  or,  last  of  all, 
under  the  lime-tree  walk  to  the  fine  cruciform  church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  through  its  noble  aisles,  to  the  chancel  beneath  which  rests  the 
Bard's  hallowed  dust ;  or  to  pay  homage  to  his  sculptured  portrait  upon 
the  chancel-wall.  These  several  sites  are  so  many  tangible  memorials 
of  our  great  Poet's  life ;  but  there  is  an  ideal  enjoyment  of  it  in  the 
very  atmosphere  of  the  place ;  and  by  a  sort  of  poetical  licence, 
you  look  upon  the  very  ground  as  that  which  Shakspeare  trod,  and 
the  majestic  trees,  the  soft-flowing  river,  and  the  smiling  landscapes, — 
the  face  of  nature— the  very  scenes  which  he  so  loved  to  look  upon, — 
he  has  left,  reflected  in  the  natural  mirror  of  his  works,  an  immortal 
legacy  to  all  time  !" 


,  Kenilworth  Castle. 

"  Thy  walls  transferred  to  Leicester's  favourite  Earl, 
He  long,  beneath  thy  roof,  the  Maiden  Queen 
And  all  her  courtly  guests  with  rare  device 
Of  mask  and  emblema'ic  scenery, 
Tritons  and  sea-nymphs,  and  the  floating  isle, 
Detain'd.     Nor  feats  of  prowess,  joust  or  tilt 
Of  harness'd  knights,  or  rustic  revelry, 
Were  wanting  ;  nor  the  dance,  and  sprightly  mirth 
Beneath  the  festive  walls,  with  regal  state. 
And  choicest  luxury,  served.     But  regal  state 
And  sprightly  mirth,  beneath  the  festive  roof, 
Are  now  no  more." 

Kenilworth  lies  about  five  miles  from  Warwick,  and  the  same  distance 
from  Coventry.  The  manor  was  an  ancient  demesne  of  the  Crown,  and 
had  originally  a  Castle,  which  was  demolished  in  the  war  of  Edmund 
Ironside  and  Canute  the  Dane,  early  in  the  eleventh  century. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  1.,  the  manor  was  bestowed  by  the  King  on 
Geoffrey  de  Clinton,  who  built  a  strong  Castle,  and  founded  a  Monastery 
here.  On  the  death  of  Geoffrey,  the  fortress  descended  to  his  son,  from 
whom  it  was  transferred  to  the  Crown ;  and  was  garrisoned  by  Henry  1 1, 
duiing  the  rebellion  of  his  son.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  III.it  was 
used  as  a  prison  ;  and  in  1254  the  King  gave  to  Simon  de  Montfort, 
who  had  manied  Eleanor,  the  King's  sister,  the  Castle  in  trust  for  life. 
De  Montfort,  now  •'  in  all  but  name  a  king,"  kept  his  Cbribtmas  in 


456  Kcnilworth  Castle. 

regal  state  at  Kcnilworth.  Simon  soon  after  joined  the  rebellion  against 
the  King,  and  together  with  his  eldest  son,  was  killed  at  tlie  battle  of 
Evesham,  in  1265.  His  youngest  son,  Simon,  escaped,  and  with  other 
fugitives,  took  shelter  in  Kenilvvorth  Castle,  and  continued  to  defy  the 
power  of  both  the  King  and  the  legate.  Next  year,  1266,  the  Castle 
was  besieged  by  the  King  for  several  months.  Simon  fled,  and  escaped 
to  France ;  but  the  place  held  out  for  six  months.  Meanwhile,  an 
assembly  of  clergy  and  laity  was  held  at  Coventry,  which  drew  up  the 
terms  of  accommodation,  known  as  Dictum  de  Kenilworih.  It  provides 
that  the  liberties  of  the  Church  shall  be  preserved,  and  also  the  Great 
Charters,  "  which  the  king  is  bound  expressly  by  his  oath  to  keep."  It 
also  declares  that  there  shall  be  no  disherison,  but  instead,  fines  from 
seven  years  to  half  a  year's  rent ;  the  family  of  De  Montfort  is  ex- 
cluded from  this  benefit,  and  all  persons  arc  forbidden,  under  both  civil 
aud  spiritual  penalties,  to  circulate  "  vain  and  foolish  miracles  "  regard- 
ing Simon  de  Montfort,  who  was  currently  spoken  of  by  his  adherents 
as  a  saint  and  martyr.  At  length,  provisions  failed  at  Kcnilworth,  a 
pestilence  broke  out,  and  the  governor  surrendered  the  Castle  to  the 
King,  who  bestowed  it  upon  his  youngest  son,  Edward,  Earl  of  Lan- 
caster, afterwards  created  Earl  of  Leicester. 

In  1286,  a  grand  chivalric  meeting  of  one  hundred  knights  of  high 
distinction,  English  and  foreign,  and  the  same  number  of  ladies,  was  held 
at  Kcnilworth  ;  and  at  this  festival,  it  is  said,  silks  were  wom  for  the  first 
time  in  England.  The  Earl  of  March  was  the  promoter  of  the  festival, 
and  was  the  principal  challenger  of  the  tilt-yard. 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  the  Castle  again  came  into  the  hands  of 
the  Crown,  and  the  King  intended  to  make  it  a  place  of  retirement  for 
himself;  but  in  the  rebellion  which  soon  followed,  he  was  taken  pri- 
soner in  Wales,  and  brought  to  Kenilworth  ;  here  he  was  compelled  to 
sign  his  abdication,  and  was  soon  after  privately  removed  to  Berkeley 
Castle,  where  he  was  inhumanly  murdered  in  1327. 

Edward  III.  restored  the  Castle  to  the  Earl  of  Lancaster,  whose 
granddaughter  brought  it  in  marriage  to  the  celebrated  John  of  Gaunt, 
afterwards  Duke  of  Lancaster,  who  made  to  the  Castle  many  addi- 
tions which  still  retain  the  name  of  Lancaster's  Buildings.  On  his  death, 
it  descended  to  his  son,  afterwards  Henry  IV. 

During  the  Civil  Wars  between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster, 
the  Castle  was  alternately  taken  by  the  partisans  of  the  White  and 
Red  Roses.  In  1436,  King  Henry  VI.  kept  his  Christmas  here.  Very 
long  after  the  termination  of  the  Civil  Wars,  Queen  Elizabeth  be- 
stowed Kenilworth  upon  her  ambitious  favourite,   Dudley,   Earl    of 


Kaiihvorth  Castle.  457 

Leicester.  That  wealthy  nobleman  spared  no  expense  in  beautifying 
the  Castle,  and  in  making  many  splendid  additions,  called  after  him, 
Leicester  s  Buildings. 

The  most  memorable  event  in  the  history  of  Kenilworth  Castle, 
is  the  Royal  State  entertainment  given  by  Leicester  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 
who  came  attended  by  thirty-one  barons,  besides  her  ladies  of  the 
Court,  who,  with  four  hundred  servants,  were  all  lodged  in  the  fortress. 
The  festival  continued  for  seventeen  days,  at  an  expense  estimated  at 
one  thousand  pounds  a  day — a  very  large  sum  in  those  times.  The 
waiters  upon  the  Court,  as  well  as  the  gentlemen  of  the  Barons,  were 
all  clothed  in  velvet.  Ten  oxen  were  slaughtered  every  morning  ;  and 
the  consumption  of  wine  is  said  to  have  been  sixteen  hogsheads,  and  of 
beer  forty  hogsheads  daily.  An  account  of  this  singular  and  romantic 
entertainment,  published  at  the  time  by  an  eye-witness,  presents  a  cu- 
rious picture  of  the  luxury,  plenty,  and  gallantry  of  Elizabeth's  reign. 

After  her  journey  from  London,  which  the  Queen  performed  entirely 
on  horseback,  she  stopped  at  Long  Itchington,  where  she  dined,  and, 
hunting  on  the  way,  arrived  at  Kenilworth  Castle  on  Saturday,  July  9* 
1575.  Here,  says  the  above  account,  "she  was  received  by  a  person 
representing  one  of  the  ten  Sibylls,  comely  clad  in  a  pall  of  white  sylk, 
w  ho  pronounced  a  proper  poezie  in  English  rime  and  meeter,"  on  the 
happiness  her  presence  produced,  wherever  it  appeared ;  concluding 
with  a  prediction  of  her  future  eminence  and  success. 

"  On  her  entrance  to  the  tilt-yard,"  continues  the  eye-witness,  "  a 
porter,  tall  of  person  and  stem  of  countenance,  wrapt  also  in  sylk,  with  a 
club  and  keiz  of  quantitee  according,  in  a  rough  speech,  full  of  passions, 
in  meter  aptly  made  to  the  purpose,"  demanded  the  cause  of  all  this  "  din 
and  noise,  and  riding  about,  within  the  charge  of  h  s  office!"  but  upon 
seeing  the  Queen,  as  if  he  had  been  instantaneously  stricken,  he  falls 
clown  upon  his  knees,  humbly  begs  pardon  for  his  ignorance,  yields  up 
his  club  and  keys,  and  proclaims  open  gates  and  free  passage  to  all. 

After  this  pretty  device,  six  trumpeters,  "clad  in  long  garments  of 
sylk,  who  stood  upon  the  wall  of  the  gate,  with  their  silvery  tnimpcts 
of  fire  foot  long,  sounded  a  tunc  of  welcome."  Here  "harmonious 
blasters,  walking  upon  the  walls,  maintained  their  delectable  music, 
while  her  highness  all  along  the  tilt-yard  rode,  into  the  inner  gate," 
where  she  was  surprised  "  with  the  sight  of  a  floating  island  on  the 
large  pool,  on  which  was  a  beautiful  female  figure  representing  the 
Lady  of  the  Lake,  supported  by  two  nymphs,  surrounded  by  blazing 
torches,  and  many  ladies  clad  in  rich  silks  as  attendants ;  whilst  the 
genii  of  the  lake  greeted  her  Majesty  with  "  a  well-penned  mectcr"  oa 


45  S  Kenilworth  Castle. 

"the  auncientee  of  the  Castle,"  and  the  hereditary  dignity  of  the  Earls 
of  Leicester.  This  pageant  was  closed  with  a  burst  of  comets  and 
other  music,  and  a  new  scene  was  presented  to  view.  Within  the  base 
court,  and  over  a  dry  valley  leading  to  the  castle  gates,  "  waz  thcar 
framed  a  fayr  bridge,  twenty  feet  wide,  and  seventy  feet  long,  with 
seven  posts  that  stood  twelve  feet  asunder ;  and  thickened  between  with 
well-proportioned  turned  pillars  ;"  over  which,  as  her  Majesty  passed, 
she  was  presented,  by  persons  representing  several  of  the  heathen  gods 
and  goddesses,  with  various  appropriate  offerings,  which  were  piled  up, 
or  hung  in  excellent  order,  on  both  sides  the  entrance  and  upon  dif- 
ferent posts ;  from  Sylvanus,  god  of  the  woods,  "  live  bitterns,  curlews, 
godwitz,  and  such-like  dainty  byrds;"  from  Pomona,  "applez,  pearz, 
lemmons,"  &c. ;  from  Ceres,  "  sheaves  of  various  kinds  of  com  (all  in 
carz  green  and  gold)  ;  from  Bacchus,  grapes,  "  in  clusters  whyte  and 
red;"  various  specimens  of  fish  from  Neptune;  arms  from  Mars;  and 
musical  instruments  from  Apollo.  ' 

A  Latin  inscription  over  the  Castle  explained  the  whole :  this  was 
read  to  her  by  a  poet,  "  in  a  long  ceruleous  garment,  with  a  bay  garland 
on  his  head  and  a  skroll  in  his  hand.  So  passing  into  the  inner  court, 
her  Majesty  (that  never  rides  but  alone)  thear  set  down  from  her  pal- 
frey, was  conveyed  up  to  a  chamber,  when  after  did  folio  a  great  peal  of 
gunz  and  lightning  by  fyr-works."  Besides  these,  every  diversion  the 
romantic  and  gallant  imagination  of  that  period  could  devise,  was  pre- 
sented for  the  amusement  of  her  Majesty  and  the  court — tilts,  tourna- 
ments, deer-hunting  in  the  park,  savage  men,  satyrs,  bear  and  bull 
baitings,  Italian  tumblers  and  rope-dancers,  a  country  bridal  ceremony, 
prize-fighting,  running  at  the  quintain,  morris  dancing,  and  brilliant  fire- 
works in  the  grandest  style  and  perfection ;  during  all  this  time  the 
tables  were  loaded  with  the  most  sumptuous  cheer.  On  the  pool  was 
a  Triton  riding  on  a  mermaid  eighteen  feet  long,  and  an  Arion  on  a 
dolphin,  who  entertained  the  royal  visitor  with  an  excellent  piece  of 
music. 

The  old  Coventry  play  of  Hock  Tuesday,  founded  on  the  massacre  of 
the  Danes  in  1002,  was  also  performed  here,  "  by  certain  good-hearted 
men  of  Coventry."  In  this  was  represented  "  the  outrage  and  importable 
insolency  of  the  Danes,  the  grievous  complaint  of  Hunna,  King  Ethel- 
red's  chieftain  in  wars,  his  counselling  and  contriving  the  plot  to  dispatch 
them  ;  the  violent  encounters  of  the  Danish  and  English  knights  on 
horseback,  armed  with  spear  and  shield ;  and  afterwards  between  hosts 
of  footmen,  which  at  length  ended  in  the  Danes  being  beaten  down, 
overcome,  and  led  captive  by  our  English  women;  whereat  her  Majesty 


Kenilworth  Castle.  459 

hught,  and  rewarded  the  performers  with  two  bucks  and  five  marks  in 
money.  "  For  the  greater  honour  of  this  splendid  entertainment.  Sir 
Thomas  Cecil,  son  and  heir  to  Lord  Burghley,  and  four  other  gentlemen 
of  note,  were  knighted ;  and  in  compliment  to  the  Queen,  and  to  evince 
the  Earl's  hospitable  disposition,  the  historian  observes  "  that  the  clok 
bell  sank  not  a  note  all  the  while  her  highness  waz  thear :  the  clok  stood 
also  withal,  the  hands  of  both  the  tablz  stood  firm  and  fast,  always 
pointing  at  two  o'clock,  the  hour  of  banquet." 

We  gather  from  other  accounts  of  these  Revels,  that  the  bear- 
baits  were  much  enjoyed  by  the  Queen.  Laneham,  in  his  celebrated 
letter,  reprinted  in  Nichols's  Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  describing 
this  courtly  pastime: — "  It  was  a  sport  very  pleasant  of  those  beasts; 
to  see  the  bear,  with  his  pink  eyes  leering  after  his  enemies  approach, 
the  nimbleness  and  wait  of  the  dog  to  take  his  advantage,  and  the 
force  and  experience  of  the  bear  again  to  avoid  the  assault ;  if  he 
was  bitten  in  one  place  how  he  would  pinch  in  another  to  get  free ; 
that  if  he  was  taken  once,  then  what  shift  with  biting,  clawing,  with 
roaring,  tossing,  and  tumbling,  he  would  work  to  wind  himself  from 
them ;  and  when  he  was  loose,  to  shake  his  ears  twice  or  thrice,  with 
the  blood  and  the  slaver  about  his  visnomy,  was  a  matter  of  goodly 
relief." 

The  exhibition  of  a  Country  Bridal  is  chronicled  more  in  detail  by 
Laneham :  "  There  were  sixteen  wights,  riding  men,  and  well  beseen  ; 
the  bridegroom  in  his  father's  tawny  worsted  jacket,  a  straw  hat,  with 
a  capital  crown,  steeplewise  on  his  head,  a  pair  of  harvest  gloves  on  his 
hands,  as  a  sign  of  good  husbandry,  a  pen  and  inkhom  at  his  back,  for 
he  would  be  known  to  be  bookish,  lame  of  a  leg,  that  in  his  youth  was 
broken  at  foot-ball,  well  beloved  of  his  mother,  who  lent  him  a  muffler 
for  a  napkin,  that  was  tied  to  his  girdle  for  fear  of  losing  it.  It  was  no 
small  sport  to  mark  this  minion  in  his  full  appointment,  that,  through 
good  tuition,  became  as  formal  in  his  action  as  had  he  been  a  bridegroom 
indeed.  The  morris  dancers  followed,  with  Maid  Marian,  and  the  fool ; 
bridesmaids  as  bright  as  a  breast  of  bacon,  of  thirty  years  old  apiece ;  a 
freckled-faced  red-headed  lubber,  with  the  bride  cup ;  the  worshipful 
bride,  thirty-five  years  old,  of  colour  brown  bay,  not  very  beautiful  in- 
deed, but  ugly,  foul,  and  ill-favoured ;  and  lastly,  many  other  damsels 
for  bridesmaids,  that  for  favour,  attire,  for  fashion  and  cleanliness,  were 
as  meet  for  such  a  bride  as  a  tureen  ladle  for  a  porridge  pot." 

The  Festival  at  Kenilworth  Castle,  given  by  Leicester  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  doubtless  gathered  all  the  country  round  to  see  its  page- 
antry ;  and  one  of  our  editors  of  Slxakspcarc  has  asked,  why  not  the  boy 


460  Kcnilworth  Castle. 

Shakspeare  witli  the  rest  ?  "  Many  a  bridal  procession  had  gone  forth 
fi-om  the  happy  cottages  of  Kenihvorth  to  the  porch  of  the  old  parish 
church,  amidst  song  and  music,  with  garlands  of  rosemary  and  wheatears, 
parents  blessing,  sisters  smiling  in  tears ;  and  then  the  great  lord — the 
heartless  lord,  as  the  peasants  might  whisper,  whose  innocent  wilj 
perished  untimely— is  to  make  sport  of  their  homely  joys  before  the 
Queen.  There  was,  perhaps,  one  in  the  crowd  on  that  Sunday  after- 
noon who  was  to  see  the  very  heaven  of  poetry  in  such  simple  rites — 
who  was  to  picture  the  shepherd  thus  addressing  his  mistress  in  the 
solemnity  of  the  troth-plight :  — 

'  I  take  thy  hand  ;  this  hand 
As  soft  as  dove's  down,  and  as  wliite  as  it ; 
Or  Ethiopian's  tooth,  or  the  fann'd  snow 
Thai's  bolted  by  the  northern  blasts  twice  o'er.' 

**  He  would  agree  not  with  Master  Laneham — '  By  my  troth  'twas  a 
lively  pastime :  1  believe  it  would  have  moved  a  man  to  a  right  meiry 
mood,  though  it  had  been  told  him  that  his  wife  lay  dying.'  Leicester, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  procmxd  abundance  of  the  occasional  rhymes  of 
flattery  to  propitiate  Elizabeth.  This  was  enough.  Poor  Gascoigne 
had  prepared  an  elaborate  masque,  in  two  acts,  of  Diana  and  her 
Nymphs,  which  for  the  time  is  a  remarkable  production.  '  This  show,' 
says  the  account,  '  was  devised  and  penned  by  Master  Gascoigne,  and 
being  prepared  and  ready  (every  actor  in  his  garment)  two  or  three  days 
together,  yet  never  came  to  execution.  The  cause  whereof  I  cannot 
attribute  to  any  other  thing  than  to  lack  of  opportunity  and  seasonable 
weather.'  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  there  was  some  other  cause  of 
Gascoigne's  disappointment.  Leicester,  perhaps,  scarcely  dared  to  set 
the  puppets  moving  who  were  to  conclude  the  masque  with  these 

lines : — 

•  A  world  of  wealth  at  will 
You  henceforth  shall  enjoy 
In  wedded  state,  and  therewithal 

Hold  up  from  great  annoy 
The  staff  of  your  estate  : 

O  Queen,  O  worthy  Queen, 

Yet  never  wight  felt  perfect  bliss 

But  such  as  wedded  been." 

•'  But  when  the  Queen  laughed  at  the  word  marriage,  the  wily  courtier 
had  his  impromptu  device  of  the  mock  bridal.  The  marriages  of  the 
poor  were  the  marriages  to  be  made  fun  of.  But  there  was  a  device  of 
marriage  at  which  Diana  would  weep,  and  all  the  other  gods  rejoice, 
when  her  Majesty  should  give  the  word.  Alas!  for  that  crowning 
show  there  was  '  lack  of  opportunity  and  seasonable  weather.'  " 


Kaiihvorth  Castle.  461 

Upon  this  celebrated  place,  taking  these  courtly  entertainments  and 
the  tragic  fate  of  Amy  Robsart  as  the  groundwork  of  the  narrative,  Sir 
^^'^alter  Scott  founded  his  picturesque  romance  of  Kenilziorth,  in  which 
he  gives  the  following  animated  account  of  the  Castle: — 

"The  oiiter  wall  of  this  splendid  and  gigantic  structure,  upon  im- 
proving which,  and  the  domains  around,  the  Earl  of  Leicester  had,  it 
is  said,  expended  6o,coo  pounds  sterling,  a  sum  equal  to  half  a  million 
of  our  present  money,  including  seven  acres,  a  part  of  which  was 
occupied  by  extensive  stables,  and  by  a  pleasure  garden,  with  its  fine 
arbours  and  parterres,  and  the  rest  formed  the  large  base-court,  or  outer 
yard,  of  the  noble  Castle.  The  lordly  structure  itself,  which  rose  near 
the  centre  of  this  spacious  enclosement,  was  composed  of  a  huge  pile  of 
magnificent  castellated  buildings,  evidently  of  different  ages,  surround- 
ing the  inner  court,  and  bearing  in  the  names  attached  to  each  portion 
of  the  magnificent  mass,  and  in  the  armorial  bearings  which  were  there 
emblazoned,  the  emblems  of  mighty  chiefs  who  had  long  passed  away, 
and  whose  history,  could  ambition  have  lent  ear  to  it,  might  have  read 
a  lesson  to  the  haughty  favourite,  who  had  now  acquired  and  was  aug- 
menting the  fair  domain.  A  large  and  massive  keep,  which  formed  the 
citadel  of  the  Castle,  was  of  uncertain  though  great  antiquity — [of 
this  tower  three  sides  remain,  with  walls  in  some  parts  sixteen  feet 
thick.] — It  bore  the  name  of  Csesar,  peihaps  from  its  resemblance  to 
that  in  the  Tower  of  London  so  called.  Some  antiquaries  ascribe 
its  foundation  to  the  time  of  Kenelph,  from  whom  the  Castle  had  its 
name,  a  Saxon  king  of  Mercia,  and  others  to  an  early  aera  after  the 
Norman  conquest.  On  the  exterior  walls  frowned  the  scutcheon  ot  the 
Clintons,  by  whom  they  were  founded  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.,  and 
the  yet  more  redoubted  Simon  de  Montfort,  by  whom,  during  the 
Barons'  Wars,  Kenilworth  was  long  held  out  against  Henry  IIL 
Here  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March,  famous  alike  for  his  rise  and  fall,  had 
once  gaily  revelled,  while  his  dethroned  sovereign,  Edward  I L,  languished 
in  its  dungeons.  Old  John  of  Gaunt,  "  time-honoured  Lancaster," 
had  widely  extended  the  Castle,  erecting  that  noble  and  massive  pile, 
which  yet  beai-s  the  name  of  Lancaster  Buildings ;  and  Leicester  him- 
self had  outdone  the  former  possessors,  princely  and  powerful  as  they  were, 
by  erecting  another  immense  structure,  which  now  lies  crushed  under  its 
own  ruins,  the  monument  of  its  owner's  ambition.  The  external  wall 
of  this  royal  Castle  was,  on  the  south  and  west  sides,  adornetl  and  de- 
fended by  a  lake  partly  artificial,  across  which  Leicester  had  constructed 
a  stately  bridge,  that  Elizabeth  might  enter  the  Castle  by  a  path  hitherto 
untrodden,  instead  of  the  usual  entrance. 


462  Keuilworth  Castle. 

"  Beyond  the  lake  lay  an  extensive  chase,  full  of  red  deer,  fallow 
deer,  roes,  and  every  species  of  game,  and  abounding  with  lofty  trees, 
from  amongst  which  the  extended  front  and  massive  towers  of  the 
Castle  were  seen  to  rise  in  majesty  and  beauty.  Of  this  lordly  palace, 
where  princes  feasted,  and  heroes  fought,  now  in  the  bloody  earnest  of 
storm  and  siege,  and  now  in  the  games  of  chivalry,  where  beauty  dealt 
the  prize  which  valour  won,  all  is  now  desolate.  The  bed  of  the  lake  is 
but  a  rushy  swamp  ;  and  the  massive  ruins  of  the  Castle  only  show  what 
their  splendour  once  was,  and  impress  on  the  musing  visitor  the  tran- 
sitory value  of  human  possessions,  and  the  happiness  of  those  who  enjoy 
a  humble  lot  in  virtuous  contentment." 

On  the  departure  of  Elizabeth,  the  Earl  of  Leicester  made  Kenil- 
worth  his  occasional  residence,  till  his  death  in  1588,  when  he  be- 
queathed it  to  his  brother,  Ambrose,  Earl  of  Warwick,  and  after  his 
death  to  his  own  son,  Sir  Robert  Dudley ;  but  his  legitimacy  being 
questioned.  Sir  Robert  quitted  the  kingdom  in  disgust ;  his  castles  and 
estates  were  seized  by  a  decree  of  the  Court  of  Star-Chamber,  and 
given  to  Henry,  son  of  James  I. 

The  fortress  is  thus  described  in  the  account  of  "  a  Topographical 
Excursion  in  the  year  1634":  "  We  were  detayn'd  one  hour  at  that 
famous  Castle  of  Killingworth  [Kenilworth,]  where  we  were  vsher'd 
vp  a  fayre  ascent,  into  a  large  and  stately  Hall,  of  twenty  Paces  in 
length,  the  Roofe  whereof  is  all  of  Irish  wood,  neatly  and  handsomely 
fram'd  ;  In  it  is  [are]  five  spacious  Chimneys,  answerable  to  soe  great 
a  Roome :  we  next  view'd  the  Great  Chamber  for  the  Guard,  the 
Chamber  of  Presence,  the  Privy  Chamber,  fretted  above  richly  with 
Coats  of  Armes,  and  all  adorn 'd  with  fayre  and  rich  Chimney  Peeccs 
of  Alablaster,  blacke  Marble,  and  of  Joyners  worke  in  curious  earned 
wood  :  and  all  those  fayre  and  rich  Roomcs,  and  Lodgings  in  that  spa- 
cious Tower  not  long  since  built ;  and  repayr'd  at  a  gieat  cost  by  that 
great  fFauourite  of  late  dayes,  [Robert  Dudley  Earle  of  Leicester] :  the 
private,  plaine  retiring  Chamber  wherein  our  renowned  Queene  of 
ever  famous  memory,  alwayes  made  choise  to  repose  her  Selfe.  Also, 
the  famous  strong  old  Tower,  called  Julius  Caesars,  on  top  whereof 
wee  view'd  the  pleasant  large  Poole,  continually  sporting  and  playing  on 
the  Castle :  the  Parke,  and  the  fFon-est  contigious  thereunto.  But  one 
thing  more  remarkable  than  any  we  had  yet  seenc,  was,  the  sight  of  the 
massy,  heauy  Armour  of  that  famous  and  redoubted  warriour  [Guy, 
Earl  of  ^^^ar  wick] ,  whom  we  next  hastened  to."  There  is  a  well-known 
print  of  the  fortress  at  this  period,  engraved  from  an  original  diawing. 
The  Castle  on  Henry's  death,  went  into  the  possession  of  his  brother. 


Priory  of  Kenilworth.  463 

Charles  I.,  who  granted  it  to  Gary,  Earl  of  Monmouth ;  but  the  down- 
fall of  this  gigantic  structure  was  fast  approaching.  During  the  ware 
it  was  seized  by  Cromwell,  and  by  him  given  to  some  of  his  officers. 
The  rapacious  plunderers,  who  had  no  sort  of  feeling  for  the  beau- 
teous and  majestic,  soon  reduced  it  to  what  it  now  is,  a  pile  of  ruins. 
They  drained  the  lakes  which  once  flowed  over  so  many  hundred 
acres,  ravaged  the  woods,  beat  down  the  walls,  dismantled  the  towers, 
choked  up  the  fair  walks,  and  rooted  out  the  pleasant  gardens ;  de- 
stroyed the  park,  and  divided  and  appropriated  the  lands. 

On  the  Restoration  of  Charles  II.,  the  estate  and  ruins  of  the  Castle 
were  gi-anted  to  Lawrence,  Viscount  Hyde,  of  Kenilworth,  second  son 
of  the  celebrated  Lord  High  Chancellor,  created  Baron  of  Kenilworth 
and  Earl  of  Rochester ;  and  by  the  marriage  of  a  female  heiress  de- 
scended fi-om  him,  passed  in  1752,  into  the  possession  of  Thomas 
Villiers,  Baron  Hyde,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Jersey,  who  was  advanced,  in 
1776,  to  the  dignity  of  Earl  of  Clarendon,  in  the  possession  of  whose 
family  it  still  remains. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  ruins  of  this  once  magnificent  pile 
having  shown  signs  of  falling,  the  noble  owner.  Lord  Clarendon,  who 
has  the  good  taste  to  appreciate  the  interest  of  such  memorials  of  the 
country's  history,  has  caused  to  be  repaired  and  strengthened  the  great 
hall  of  the  Castle,  Leicester's  Buildings,  and  parts  of  the  external  walls 
on  either  side ;  some  of  the  doorways,  windows,  and  fireplaces.  In  the 
course  of  the  repairs  excavations  have  been  made,  and  underground 
apartments,  cells,  and  passages  revealed,  which  had  been  hid  for  centu- 
ries. The  great  hall,  90  ft.  by  45  ft.,  still  retains  several  of  its  Gothic 
windows,  and  some  of  the  towers  yet  rise  70  ft.  high. 

The  ruins  are  in  many  parts  mantled  with  ivy,  which  adds  to  their 
picturesque  character ;  and  are  on  an  elevated,  rocky  site,  commanding 
an  extensive  view  of  the  country  round.  Kenilworth  is  a  favourite 
resort  for  pic-nic  parties,  who,  by  permission  of  the  noble  owner  of  the 
estate,  are  enabled  to  appreciate  the  interest  of  this  famous  historic  site. 


Priory  of  Kenilworth. 

The  visitor  to  Kenilworth,  and  its  romantic  Castle  full  in  view, 
might  readily  overlook  the  ancient  edifice  lying  a  little  to  the  left  as  he 
issues ft-om  the  village,  some  time  occupied  as  an  ox-stall;  this,  together 
with  its  ruined  gatehouse,  is  all  that  remains  of  the  monastery  founded 
in   the  reign  of  King  Henry  I.,  by  Geoffrey  de  Clinton,  for  canons 


464  Maxstoke  Castle. 

regular  of  the  Augustine  order.  Judging  by  extensive  traces  of  founda- 
tions, the  buildings  composing  the  Monastery  must  have  covered  a 
wide  space,  and  must  have  been  a  magnificent  appurtenance  to  the 
Castle,  the  feudal  and  the  ecclesiastical  edifices  being  both  beholden  to 
the  same  founder.  An  interesting  portion  of  the  Monastery  was 
brought  to  light  by  the  sexton  while  digging  a  grave;  and,  being  wholly 
cleared,  it  was  found  to  be  the  base  of  the  Chapter  House,  its  form 
octagonal,  with  buttresses.  The  burialplace  of  the  Priors  was  dis- 
covered at  the  same  time,  containing  some  slabs,  which  exhibit  a  curious 
variety  of  sculptured  crosses  in  low  relief.  The  gatehouse  is  chiefiy 
n  the  Early  Pointed  style,  with  additions  of  two  centuries  later. 
Within  is  a  very  primitive  arch,  leading  to  a  chamber  adjoining  the 
chapel:  it  is  pointed,  and,  without  a  keystone,  most  unscientifically 
composed.  The  chapel  itself  has  a  Norman  basement,  probably  of  the 
original  foundation.  In  the  upper  part  are  two  windows,  of  a  rare 
sti-ucture.  Windows  of  a  similar  kind  were  visible  in  the  Monastery 
of  Black  Friars,  a  venerable  edifice  in  Newcastle-on-1'yne,  which  is 
said  to  have  witnessed  the  homage  rendered  by  Baliol  of  Scotland  to 
King  Edward  I. 

The  interior  of  the  chapel  was  utterly  ruined  by  its  desecration,  the 
walls  being  encumbered  by  rough  timber.  The  roof  is  richly  decorated 
with  bosses  and  sculptured  heads,  but  it  is  partly  demolished. 

The  Parish  Church,  adjacent  to  the  Priory,  contains  a  sweet  chime 
of  bells,  one  of  which  originally  belonged  to  the  Monastery.  The 
ancient  custom  of  duly  chiming  the  matins  and  curfew  is  still  observed 
here.    The  Church  has  lately  been  restored. 


Maxstoke  Castle. 

On  a  plain,  in  a  sequestered  spot  surrounded  by  trees,  above  a  mile 
north  of  the  village  of  Maxstoke,  and  three  miles  from  Coleshill,  stands 
this  Castle,  which  has  its  history,  chequered  with  the  fortunes  of  its 
owners.  This  ancient  structure  was  built  by  Sir  William  Clinton, 
eldest  son  of  John  Lord  Clinton,  in  1356,  and  is  one  of  the  very  few 
remaining  buildings  of  that  interesting  period.  The  Castle  came  into 
the  possession  of  Humphrey  Stafford,  Earl  of  Buckingham,  by  exchange 
with  John,  fifth  Lord  Clinton,  for  \\^histon,  in  Noi-thamptonshire,  and 
became  the  favourite  residence  of  the  Earl ;  but  upon  the  decapitation 
of  his  son,  Henry,  Duke  of  Buckingham,  for  his  attempt  to  dethrone 
Richard  HI.,  in  1483,  the  Castle  was  sei/.ed  by  the  King,  who  visited 
it  on  his  progress  to  Nottingham  Castle,  previously  to  the  battle  of 


Maxstoke  Castle.  465 

Bosworth,  when  he  ordered  all  the  inner  buildings  of  Kenilworth 
Castle  to  be  removed  here.  After  the  death  of  King  Richard  III., 
Edward,  the  son  of  the  last  Duke  of  Buckingham,  was  restored  to  his 
ty.her's  honours  and  estates.  He  fell  a  sacrifice  to  Cardinal  Wolscy, 
and  was  beheaded  in  1521  ;  upon  which  event  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
exclaimed,  "  A  butcher's  dog  has  worried  to  death  the  finest  buck  in 
England."  Then  sunk  for  ever  all  the  splendour  and  princely  honours 
of  the  renowned  family  of  Stafford. 

A  frightful  succession  of  calamities  befel  both  the  ancestors  and  de- 
scendants of  Humphrey,  Earl  of  Buckingham,  as  well  as  himself.  His 
grandfather  was  murdered  at  Calais,  his  father  killed  at  Shrewsbury, 
his  son  at  St.  Albans,  and  himself  at  Northampton ;  his  grandson,  and 
great-grandson  were  both  executed  as  traitors,  and  he  had  to  relinquish 
the  rank  of  Lord  Stafford,  to  which  he  had  become  entitled,  and  his 
sister  was  at  that  time  the  wife  of  a  carpenter. 

To  return  to  Maxstoke.  The  year  after  the  beheading  of  the  son  of 
the  last  Duke  of  Buckingham  in  1521,  the  estate,  again  forfeited,  was 
granted  to  Sir  William  Compton,  ancestor  of  William,  Lord  Compton, 
who,  in  1526,  disposed  of  it  to  the  Lord  Keeper  Egerton,  who,  two 
years  afterwards,  sold  it  to  Thomas  Dilke,  Esq.,  in  whose  family  the  pro- 
perty still  remains.  The  plan  of  the  Castle  is  a  parallelogram,  with  a 
hexagonal  tower  at  each  angle,  inclosing  an  area  containing  the  dwelling, 
which  was  partly  destroyed  by  an  accidental  fire  ;  but  a  great  portion 
of  the  ancient  edifice  yet  remains,  and  is  a  fine  example  of  the  archi- 
tectural style  of  the  age  in  which  it  was  erected.  The  gatehouse  in 
the  centre  of  the  front  is  approached  by  a  stone  bridge  over  a  moat, 
which  encompasses  the  Castle  walls ;  above  the  entrance  are  sculptured 
the  arms  of  Humphrey  Stafford,  Earl  of  Buckingham,  impaling  those 
;)f  his  Countess,  Anne  Neville,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland, 
which  are  supported  by  two  antelopes,  assumed  in  allusion  to  the 
Karl's  descent  from  royal  blood,  his  mother  being  the  daugiiter  of 
Thomas  of  W^oodstock,  Duke  of  Gloucester.  The  badges  of  the  burn- 
ing nave  and  the  Stafford  knot  are  also  sculptured  on  the  gatehouse, 
which  was  built  by  the  Earl  of  Buckingham  previously  to  his  being 
created  a  Duke  in  1446.  The  great  gates  put  up  by  this  nobleman 
are  still  in  their  original  state,  and  are  covered  with  plates  of  iron  ;  the 
gioove  for  the  massive  portcullis  is  also  to  be  seen. 

In  the  neighbourliood  of  the  Castle  are  the  remains  of  a  Priory, 

founded  by  William  Clinton,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  in  1.331,  for  canons 

regular  of  the  order  of  St.  Austin  ;  it   was   detlicated  to  the    Holy 

Trinity,  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  St.  Michael,  and  All  Saints.    The 

•  U  H 


466  Maxstoke  Castle. 

endowment  of  this  Priory  was  ample,  for  it  was  valued  in  1534  at 
129/.  IIS.  8d.  per  annum  :  it  was  granted  in  1538  to  Charles,  Duke  of 
Suffolk.  The  ruins  are  rendered  mournfully  picturesque  by  the  varieties 
of  evergreen  foliage  that  environ  them  in  every  direction. 

In  the  same  division  of  the  county,  on  the  bordei-s  of  Leicestershire,  is 
Caldecote,  the  church  of  which  contains  a  monument  of  Mr.  Abbot,  who 
defended  Caldecote  Hall,  and  who  died  there  in  1648.  On  the  28th  of 
August,  1642,  this  seat,  the  noble  mansion  of  the  Purefoys,  was  attacked 
by  Prince  Rupert  and  Prince  Maurice,  at  the  head  of  eighteen  troops  of 
horse,  when  Mr.  Abbot,  assisted  only  by  eight  men  besides  his  mother 
and  her  maids,  successfully  defended  Caldecote  Hall  against  the  assai- 
lants  ;  and  it  is  not  known  that  any  of  the  family  were  hurt. 

Nuneaton,  also  in  this  division,  is  named  from  a  Nunnery  founded  here 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  by  Robert  Bossu,  Earl  of  Leicester.  Here,  in 
1792,  as  some  labourers  were  digging  in  the  ruins  of  the  Nunnery,  they 
discovered  a  tessellated  pavement  arranged  in  circles,  containing  the 
signs  of  the  Zodiac,  and  about  two  feet  below  the  floor  were  several 
stone  coffins. 

At  Duddeston,  a  hamlet  adjoining  Birmingham,  was  the  ancient 
family  residence  of  the  Holts,  one  of  whom,  according  to  tradition, 
"  murdered  his  cook,  and  was  afterwards  compelled  to  adopt  the  red 
hand  in  his  arms."  This,  by  the  illiterate  termed  the  "  bloody  hand," 
and  by  them  reputed  as  an  abatement  of  honour,  is  nothing  more  than 
the  Ulster  badge  of  dignity.  The  tradition  adds  that  Sir  Thomas  Holt 
murdered  the  cook  in  a  cellar  at  the  old  family  mansion,  by  running 
him  through  with  a  "spit,"  and  afterwards  buried  him  beneath  the 
spot  where  the  tragedy  was  enacted.  In  the  year  1 850,  the  house  where 
the  murder  is  said  to  have  been  committed  was  levelled  with  the  ground  ; 
and  amongst  persons  who,  from  their  position  in  society  might  be  sup- 
posed to  be  better  informed,  considerable  anxiety  was  expressed  to 
ascertain  whether  any  portion  of  the  skeleton  of  the  murdered  cook  had 
been  discovered  beneath  the  flooring  of  the  cellar  which  tradition 
pointed  out  as  the  place  of  his  interment ! — Notes  and  Queries,  No.  61. 


46/ 


NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

The  Castle  of  Northampton. 

Northampton,  situated  upon  the  north  bank  of  the  River  Nene,  is 
considered  to  have  been,  in  the  peace  between  Alfred  and  the  Danes, 
included  in  the  Danish  territory,  and  to  have  submitted  in  918  to 
Edward  the  Elder.  In  the  reign  of  Ethelred  II.  Northampton  was 
nearly  ruined  by  the  Danes,  and  about  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Edward 
the  Confessor  it  suffered  from  the  Northumbrian  army  under  Morcar, 
or  from  the  King's  troops  under  Harold,  which,  in  consequence  of 
civil  dissensions,  met  here.  After  the  Conquest,  Simon  de  St.  Liz,  the 
first  Earl  of  Northampton  of  that  name,  built  a  castle  here,  and  in  the 
following  reigns  several  ecclesiastical  councils  and  parliaments  were 
held  in  the  town.  In  1144,  King  Stephen  held  his  Court  here,  when 
Ranulf,  Earl  of  Chester,  was  detained  in  prison  until  he  had  delivered 
up  the  Castle  of  Lincoln  to  the  King.  In  1 1 79  was  held  at  Northampton 
a  parliament,  to  which  Knights  and  Burgesses  were  summoned,  as  well 
as  nobles  and  prelates,  the  first  important  approximation  to  our  present 
Constitution.  At  this  parliament  Justices  Itinerant  were  appointed  to 
the  six  circuits  in  England.  In  1215  the  Barons,  with  their  army, 
rendezvoused  at  Brackley  the  week  after  Easter,  and  there  received 
the  nobles  from  the  King,  to  whom  they  delivered  their  demands  ;  on 
the  denial  of  which  they  elected  Robert  Fitzwalter  their  general,  styling 
him  the  Marshal  of  the  Army  of  God  and  of  Holy  Church,  and  then 
marched  to  the  siege  of  Northampton  Castle,  which  was  successfully 
defended  by  the  King's  forces  during  fifteen  days.  In  the  year  1264, 
a  treaty  made  at  Brackley  to  settle  the  differences  between  the  King 
and  his  Barons  entirely  failed.  The  King  and  Prince  Edward  then 
marched  to  Northampton  Castle,  which,  after  a  desperate  resistance, 
was  taken ;  Simon  de  Montfort,  William  de  Ferrers,  with  eleven 
other  Barons  and  sixty  Knights,  were  made  prisoners.  Towards  the 
close  of  this  King's  reign  the  Castle  was  given  to  Fulke  de  Brent,  and 
in  a  conflict  between  his  soldiers  and  the  townsmen,  a  considerable 
part  of  the  town  was  burnt.  In  1277,  at  Northampton,  where  was  a 
Royal  Mint,  thirty  Jews  were  hanged  for  clipping  the  King's  coin  ;  and 
in  the  following  year  50  were  hanged  for  having,  it  wa«  pretended, 

U  II  2 


468  The  Castle  of  Northatnpton. 

crucified  a  child  on  Good  Friday.  In  1316  a  Parliament  was  held 
here  by  Edwaid  II.,  at  which  John  Poydras,  the  son  of  a  tanner  at 
Exeter,  who  pretended  to  be  the  real  son  of  Edward  I.,  and  that  the 
reigning  monarch  had  been  substituted  at  nurse  in  his  stead,  was  tried 
and  executed.  In  1380,  at  a  Parliament  held  here,  3  Richard  II.,  was 
enacted  the  Poll  Tax,  the  levying  of  which  caused  the  insurrection 
under  Wat  Tyler. 

In  the  commencement  of  the  War  of  the  Roses,  a  great  battle  was 
fought  in  Hardingstone  Fields,  near  Northampton,  1459,  July  9,  in 
which  the  Lancastrians  were  defeated  by  the  Earl  of  March,  (afterwards 
Edward  IV.,)  and  the  "  King-making"  Earl  of  Warwick.  The  King, 
Henry  VI.,  was  taken  prisoner,  the  Queen  and  the  young  Prince  of 
Wales  escaped  with  difficulty;  and  Humphrey  Stafford,  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  John  Talbot,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  John  Beaumont,  the 
first  English  Viscount,  Thomas  Lord  Egremont,  Sir  Christopher  Talbot, 
and  10,000  men,  were  slain  by  the  Earl  of  \\'arwick.  The  King  was 
conducted  in  honourable  captivity  to  London. 

In  the  Civil  War  of  Charles  I.,  Northampton  was  taken  by  Lord 
Brook,  and  fortified  for  the  Parliament.  Of  the  Castle,  which  was 
near  the  West  Bridge,  there  are  only  the  earthworks ;  and  of  the  town 
walls  there  are  no  traces. 

There  is  an  episode  of  the  Civil  War  in  this  county  which  presents 
a  noble  example  of  attachment  to  the  Royal  Crown.  This  occurred 
at  Woodcroft  House,  at  Elton,  about  four  miles  from  Peterborough. 
The  building  is  an  early  and  perfect  specimen  of  English  domestic 
architecture.  The  date  of  its  erection  is  of  the  time  of  the  first  two 
Edwards.  Originally,  this  must  have  been  a  place  of  some  strength  :  it 
was  surrounded  by  water,  except  at  the  western  approach,  and  the 
walls  are  four  feet  in  thickness.  Though  nothing  remains  of  an  em- 
battled parapet,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  possessed  such  provision 
for  defence.  The  round  bastion  at  the  moat  end  was  the  scene  of  the 
historical  incident  we  are  about  to  relate. 

Mr.  Michael  Hudson,  "an  understanding  and  sober  person  of  great 
fidelity,"  was,  from  his  sincerity,  called  by  King  Charles  I.,  "  his 
plain-dealing  chaplain."  When  the  troubles  of  the  War  commenced, 
Hudson,  like  some  others  of  his  profession,  left  his  benefice,  under  an 
impression  that  his  monarch  demanded  his  personal  aid;  and  King 
Charles  having,  as  we  are  told,  "  an  especial  respect  for  his  signal  loyalty 
and  courage,"  entrusted  him  with  some  impo.tant  secrets  as  regarded  his 
own  proceedings.  Hudson  proved  himself  a  courageous  soldier,  but 
being  apprehended  by  the  Pai-liamentary  forces,  he  suffered  a  tedious 


The  Castle  of  Northampton.  469 

confinement.  Escaping  from  his  prison  in  London,  he  joined  a  body  of 
Royalists  who  had  fled  to  ^^'oodcroft  House.  When  attacked  there 
by  the  Parliamentary  forces,  Hudson,  with  some  of  his  bravest  soldiers, 
went  up  to  the  battlements,  where  they  defended  themselves  for  some 
time.  At  length  they  yielded  upon  being  promised  quarter ;  but  when 
the  rebels  were  admitted  they  broke  their  engagement.  Hudson  was 
forced  over  the  battlements,  and  clung  to  one  of  the  stone  spouts.  His 
hands  being  cither  cut  off  or  severely  hacked  and  bruised  by  the  swords 
of  the  soldiers,  he  quitted  his  hold  and  fell  into  the  moat  underneath  ; 
desiring  only  to  reach  the  land  and  die  there,  this  miserable  boon 
was  denied  him,  as,  in  attempting  to  reach  the  bank,  he  was  knocked 
on  the  head  with  the  butt-end  of  a  musket  and  drowned. 

In  a  Note  in  the  JSz^/V^tr  journal,  the  Editor  recapitulates,  in  a  very 
interesting  manner,  the  attractions  of  the  town  of  Northampton,  which 
is  "  about  two  h^urs  from  London  by  the  express  train,  and  a  centre 
whence  numerous  excursions  may  be  made,  instructive,  fruitful,  and 
delightful.  The  county,  as  every  one  probably  knows,  is  full  of  histo- 
rical associations,  dating  from  the  time  when  the  Romans  constructed  a 
chain  of  forts  along  the  banks  of  the  River  Nen  to  thd  Warwickshire 
Avon  and  further,  up  to  the  year  1675,  when  a  large  part  of 
Northampton  was  burnt  down.  Hamtune,  in  Saxon  times,  or  North 
Hamptune,  as  it  was  called  soon  after  the  Normans  came,  witnessed 
many  important  events.  The  Danes  burnt  it.  Great  councils  were 
held  here  by  Henry  L,  Stephen,  Henry  H.,  and  others.  Here  the 
Harons  swore  allegiance  to  John  in  the  year  1199;  and  afterwards, 
when  they  had  made  the  King  sign  Magna  Charta,  Northampton 
Castle,  amongst  other  castles,  was  given  up  to  them  as  security  for  the 
fulfilment  of  the  engagement.  The  last  Parliament  assembled  in 
Northampton  ordered  the  poll-tax  which  led  to  Wat  Tyler's  rebellion. 
One  of  the  great  battles  between  the  Roses  was  fought  in  the  fields 
close  to  the  town,  when  the  King,  Henry  VL,  was  taken  prisoner. 
13urghley  reminds  us  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  Fotheringhay  of  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots,  Tresham's  triangular  Lodge  at  Rushton,  of  the  Gunpowder 
Plot ;  and  Naseby,  of  the  irretrievable  defeat  of  Charles  L  by  Fairfax 
and  Cromwell.  Earthworks  are  not  wanting,  and  architectural  remains 
from  the  time  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  that  of  the  Tudors  are  plentiful. 
The  works  left  by  the  former  in  England,  indeed,  cannot  be  fully 
studied  without  taking  into  consideration  those  to  be  found  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Northampton.  The  churches  of  Brixworth,  Barton, 
Barnack,  and  Brigstock,— all  beginning  with  B,  by  the  way, — are  most 
important  items  in  the  group  of  works  which  remain  to  us,  unquestion- 


470  Queen  Eleanor's  Cross,  Northampton, 

ably  dating  from  before  the  Norman  Conquest.  Northampton  itself 
has  one  of  the  only  four  Round  Churches  in  England,  resulting 
from  the  Crusades,  St.  Sepulchre's ;  also  a  very  beautiful  specimen  of 
Anglo-Norman  work,  St.  Peter's  Church,  and  the  best  remaining 
Eleanor  Cross. 

"  The  Round  Church,  St.  Sepulchre's,  was  built  by  Simon  de  St.  Li/, 
the  second  Earl  of  Northampton,  when  he  returned  from  the  first 
Crusade,  and  is  very  rude  and  ugly.  Round  lofty  columns  form  the 
annular  aisle  within,  and  are  connected  by  pointed  arches,  which  may 
or  may  not  be  original.  At  present  the  building  is  in  a  miserable  con- 
dition, without  interest  of  any  sort  except  its  age  and  origin.  The  later 
church,  added  to  the  Round  in  the  thirteenth  century,  as  at  the  Temple 
Church,  London,  has  been  lately  restored,  and,  we  believe,  added  to. 
Stones  of  two  colours,  call  them  white  and  brown,  were  originally  used 
here  somewhat  indiscriminately.  In  the  restoration  and  rebuilding,  the 
colours  have  been  varied  with  more  regularity,  aiW  the  result  is  a 
specimen  of  what  has  been  wickedly  termed  the  Holy  Zebra  style,  at 
present  somewhat  wanting  in  repose.  Time,  however,  the  great  har- 
monizer,  will  gradually  lessen  its  garishness.  The  new  work  includes 
a  considerable  amount  of  carving,  some  of  it  very  well  executed.  The 
angular  buttresses  of  the  later  tower  here  project  so  considerably  at  the 
bottom,  and  decrease  so  regularly,  as  to  continue  the  lines  of  the  spire 
down  to  the  ground  with  agreeable  effect. 

"  It  is  worth  noting  that  the  calculations  of  the  probable  duration  of 
life  at  certain  ages  known  as  the  Northampton  Table,  and  on  which, 
though  it  is  now  thought  of  little  value,  the  present  system  of  Life 
Assurance  was  almost  founded,  were  made  by  Dr.  Price  fi-om  the 
account  of  burials  in  this  town  during  a  period  of  forty-five  years, — 
1735  to  1780." 

Queen  Eleanor's  Cross,  at  Northampton. 

The  origin  of  the  memorials,  popularly  kno\vn  as  the  Eleanor  Crosses, 
is  now  well  known.  Eleanor  was  the  half-sister  of  Alphonso,  King  of 
Castile,  and  the  sole  child  of  Ferdinand  the  Third  and  Joanna  of 
Ponthieu,  and  was  maiTied  in  12154,  when  ten  years  of  age,  to  Prince 
Edward  of  England,  he  being  in  his  fifteenth  year.  She  accompanied 
her  husband  to  the  Holy  Land,  where  she  is  said  to  have  saved  his  life  by 
sucking  the  wound  made  by  a  poisoned  weapon.  The  truth  of  this 
incident  has  been  questioned,  but,  whether  true  or  not,  the  belief  in  it 
bespeaks  the  character  of  Eleanor  for  affection  and  womanly  devotion. 


Queen  Eleanor's  Cross,  NortJmvipton.  47 1 

"  It  is  probable,"  says  a  writer  in  the  Athen<eum,  "  that  the  legend  of 
her  sucking  the  wound  is  an  invention  of  the  romantic  afTection  of 
a  later  day  than  hers  ;  but  if  so,  it  serves  to  show  what  was  the  popular 
impression  concerning  the  Princess.  She  was  with  her  husband  at 
Acre  on  that  day  when  an  assassin,  sent  by  the  Emir  of  Joppa  on  a 
pretence  to  treat,  got  access  to  the  tent  of  the  Prince,  and  while  he  was 
lying  without  his  armour  on  a  couch.  The  Prince  threw  out  his  arm 
to  ward  off  the  blow,  and  kicked  out  with  his  foot,  throwing  the  fellow 
down  on  the  floor ;  the  latter,  however,  rose  again,  and  wounded  Edward 
in  the  forehead.  The  wound  festered,  the  Master  of  the  Temple 
recommended  incision  ;  Edward  bade  him  cut,  and,  meanwhile,  ordered 
Edmund  his  brother  and  John  de  Vesci  to  remove  the  Princess  from 
the  tent.  This  they  did,  she  screaming  all  the  while,  and  struggling 
hard.  Edmund,  with  characteristic  acerbity,  remarked  that  it  was 
better  she  should  scream  than  England  should  mourn.  It  is  certain  she 
nursed  her  husbaad,  but  the  more  romantic  legend  does  not  appear 
until  long  after  the  event. 

"  Edward,  in  1291,  was  bent  on  going  to  Scotland  :  the  Queen  had 
followed  him,  and  was  resting  at  the  house  of  Robert  de  Weston,  at 
Hardby,  in  Nottinghamshire,  which  is  on  the  Lincolnshire  side  of  the 
Trent,  and  but  five  miles  from  Lincoln.  It  was  deep  in  autumn,  some 
time  about  the  second  week  in  November,  when  those  about  the  Queen 
found  they  must  send  for  the  King,  and  the  news  reached  him  that  the 
soldier's  wife  would  follow  him  no  more.  He  came  back  and  was  with 
the  Queen  from  the  20th  of  that  month  until  the  dark  and  moumfiil 
evening  of  the  28th  of  the  same  month  set  her  free  from  suffering." 

Crosses  were  erected  to  her  memory,  as  Walsingham  says,  in  "  every 
place  and  town  where  the  corpse  rested  (on  its  way  from  Hardby  to 
Westminster.)  The  King  commanded  a  cross  of  admirable  workman- 
ship to  be  erected  to  the  Queen's  memory,  that  prayers  might  be  offered 
for  her  soul  by  all  passengers,  in  which  Cross  he  caused  the  Queen's 
image  to  be  depicted."  Although  the  chronicler  so  distinctly  states  the 
crosses  to  have  been  erected  by  the  King's  command,  it  is  the  well- 
grounded  belief  of  recent  writers  that  the  Eleanor  Crosses  were  erected 
at  her  own  cost,  and  not  as  monuments  of  Edward's  conjugal  affection. 
The  fact  that  all  the  accounts  and  charges  for  their  ea-ction  were 
rendered  to  Eleanor's  executors  seems  conclusive  on  this  point ;  and  we 
have  no  evidence  in  favour  of  the  opinion  that  the  works  were  executed 
by  command  of  the  King.  Some  Expense  Rolls  y'hich  have  been  pre- 
served mention  one  cross  at  Lincoln,  at  Northampton,  Stoncy  Stratford, 
Wobum,  Dunstable,  and  St.  Albans,  all  mainly  the  work  of  John  dc 


472  Queen  Eleanors  Cross,  Northampton. 

Bcllo,  or  of  Battle.  There  were  others  at  Hardby,  Geddington, 
AValtham,  Chcapside,  and  Charing. 

The  Editor  of  the  Builder,  in  his  appreciative  account  of  a  recent  visit 
to  Northampton,  states:  "Of  the  fifteen  crosses  believed  to  have  been 
originally  erected,  only  three— those  at  Northampton,  Geddington,  and 
AValtham,— remain.  The  statues  of  Eleanor  for  the  Northampton 
Cross,  as  well  as  for  others,  were  by  William  de  Hibeniia,  or  Ireland, 
but  seem  to  have  been  copied  from  the  statue  executed  by  Master 
William  TorcU,  goldsmith,  for  the  tomb  in  Westminster  Abbey.  The 
four  statues  still  remaining  in  the  Northampton  Cross  (all  of  the  Queen) 
are  graceful  and  dignified. 

"  The  Northampton  Cross,  about  a  mile  from  the  town,  placed  on  a 
flight  of  steps  that  give  it  admirable  firmness  of  aspect,  is  beautifully 
situated  on  rising  ground  at  the  side  of  the  road,  backed  with  ti'ees,  and 
with  a  charming  view  of  the  town  in  the  distance  on  one  side,  it  forms 
a  picture  that  remains  on  the  memory.  The  structure  is  in  a  fair  state 
of  repair,  with  the  exception  of  the  terminal,  or  fourth  stage,  but  having 
been  restored  on  various  occasions,  once  at  a  period  when  less  care  was 
paid  to  the  retention  of  old  forms  than  is  now  the  case,  doubt  is  felt  as 
to  the  correctness  of  some  of  the  portions.  We  are  disposed  to  think, 
however,  that  no  considerable  departure  fiom  the  original  was  made. 

"  It  is  noticeable  that  under  each  statue,  on  four  of  the  eight  faces  of 
the  first  stage,  is  sculptured  a  small  projecting  desk  with  an  open  book 
on  it,  for  the  most  part  defaced,  but  still  obvious. 

"  It  is  sometimes  said  that  these  large  Crosses  form  a  class  of  structures 
wholly  peculiar  to  England  ;  but  this  is  not  correct.  The  Schone 
Brunnen  in  the  market-place  of  Nuremberg  is  a  remarkably  fine  work 
of  the  same  kind,  larger  and  more  elaborate  than  those  dedicated  to  the 
Chere  Reine,— the  beloved  of  all  England,  as  Walsingham  calls  her. 
If  we  remember  rightly,  however,  this  particular  example  is  of  somewhat 
later  date." 

Supplementary  to  these  details  we  quote  portions  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hartshorne's  very  interesting  account  of  the  Northampton  Cross: 
although,  to  pr-'sei-ve  continuity  of  the  nairative,  a  few  repetitions  of 
facts  and  circumstances  may  be  unavoidable: — 

"  During  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  the  English  possessions  in  Gascony 
were  much  disturbed,  and  the  king  found  it  necessary  to  support  him- 
self both  against  Simon  de  Montfort,  who  had  treacherously  given  up 
some  of  the  principal  fortresses,  and  also  against  Gaston  de  Beam,  the 
chief  person   who  opposed  him.     This  prince  had  indeed  gone  to 


Queen  Eleanors  Cross,  Northampton.  473 

implore  the  assistance  of  Alphonso,  King  of  Castile.  The  royal  debts 
were  heavy ;  there  were  difficulties  in  raising  supplies  for  a  war;  and 
with  the  prospect  of  the  King  of  Castile  also  being  in  arms  against  the 
Engl'sh,  Henry  thought  it  would  be  more  prudent  to  attempt  negotia- 
tion with  him,  to  propose  a  league,  and  to  secure  his  finendship  by  the 
mnniage  of  Prince  Edward,  his  eldest  son,  with  Eleanor,  the  half-sister 
of  the  King  of  Castile  He  accordingly  sent  ambassadors  10  the 
Spanish  court  to  request  her  in  marriage  for  his  son  Edward,  upon 
\\  horn  he  had  already  settled  the  sovereignty  of  Guiennc.  Alphonso 
complied  with  this  request  on  condition  that  the  prince  should  be  sent 
into  Spain  to  complete  it.  To  this  Henry,  after  some  hesitation, 
assented,  and  in  1254  Edward  proceeded  to  Burgos,  where  he  was 
graciously  received  by  Alphonso,  who  knighted  him,  and  celebrated  the 
mairiage  with  great  pomp.  The  prince  and  his  bride  returned  to 
Bordeaux,  bringing  with  them  a  charter  bearing  a  golden  seal,  by 
which  the  Spanish  sovereign  relinquished,  in  favour  of  them  and  their 
heirs,  all  claims  upon  the  province  of  Guienne. 

"The  English  did  not  regard  this  alliance  with  any  favour.  They 
said  the  King  knew  the  habits  and  religion  of  the  Spaniards,  who  were 
the  very  refuse  of  mankind,  hideous  in  their  persons,  contemptible  in 
thrir  dress,  and  detestable  in  their  manners.  According  to  the  state- 
ments of  Matthew  Paris  it  was  a  most  unpopular  match,  though  there 
can  be  no  doubt  it  was  a  source  of  the  greatest  domestic  happiness  to 
the  prince.  Henry  left  Guienne  in  1254.  The  prince  and  his  wife 
remained  till  the  following  year.  The  apprehensions  of  the  English 
with  regard  to  this  marriage  were  shortly  verified.  For  soon  after 
Eleanor's  brother  and  a  Spanish  nobleman  came  over  as  ambass.idors, 
as  it  was  currently  supposed,  under  the  expectation  of  receiving  valuable 
presents  from  the  King.  It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  they  were 
personally  any  great  gainers  by  their  mission. 

"Eleanor  landed  at  Dover  in  October  (39  Henry  HI.),  and  on  the 
17th  reached  London,  where  she  was  welcomed  by  Henry  with  much 
kindness.  He  presented  her  with  a  silver  alms-dish,  beside  pieces 
of  arras  and  gold  cloth,  the  latter  being  sent  to  her  on  her  arrival  at 
Dover.  These,  with  golden  fermails  and  brooches,  were  intended  fot 
the  princess  to  present  at  the  shrines  of  St.  Thomas  at  Canterbury  and 
St.  Edward  at  Westminster,  on  her  way  to  the  metropolis.  The 
preparations  that  had  been  made  for  her  reception  were  very  unpopular 
with  the  citizens,  who,  as  the  chronicler  says,  were  deeply  grieved  on 
a  careful  consideration  of  the  pleasure  manifested  by  the  King  at  the 
presence  of  any  foreigners. 


474  Queen  Eleanor's  Cross,  Northampton, 

"  From  the  year  1256  to  the  time  when  Eleanor  accompanied  Prince 
Edward  to  the  Holy  Land  but  little  is  known  of  her.  She  probably 
resided  at  Guildford,  or  one  of  the  royal  castles, — most  likely  at  Guild- 
ford, as  apartments  were  ordered  to  be  constructed  here  for  her  use  in 
1268.  In  1271  she  sailed  with  her  husband  for  the  Holy  Land.  It  is 
almost  superfluous  to  mention  the  affectionate  care  she  evinced  over 
her  husband  whilst  he  was  occupied  in  this  great  Crusade,  for  the  story 
of  her  endeavour  to  extract  the  poison  from  the  w^ound  he  had  received 
from  an  assassin  is  too  well  known  to  require  repetition.  It  may  how- 
ever be  stated,  as  this  circumstance  has  been  disputed  on  slight  grounds, 
that  its  truth  seems  fully  established  by  the  narratives  of  Vikes  and 
Heminford,  two  contemporary  historians.  It  was  in  consequence  of 
the  Crusade  preached  at  Northampton  by  Ottoboni  in  1268,  that 
Edward  took  up  the  cross  and  passed  over  to  the  Holy  Land,  with  one 
hundred  and  four  knights,  besides  eighteen  nobles,  who  assumed  it 
from  the  legate  at  the  same  time.  Edward  returned  to  England  on 
August  I,  1274,  and  a  fortnight  afterwards  was  crowned  in  West- 
minster. In  1286  the  affairs  of  Guienne  required  his  presence  in  that 
province.  He  remained  absent  three  years,  two  months,  and  fifteen 
days.  The  Chronicle  of  Lanercost  states,  that  whilst  he  was  abroad 
on  this  occasion,  he  and  his  queen  sitting  on  the  bedside  together,  and 
conversing,  they  narrowly  escaped  being  killed  by  lightning.  The 
electric  fluid,  passing  through  a  window,  struck  two  females  behind 
them,  and  caused  their  death. 

"  We  hear  very  little  of  Queen  Eleanor  from  this  time  until  her  death ; 
—a  circumstance  that  shows  how  entirely  she  devoted  herself  to  her 
husband  and  her  domestic  duties.  No  doubt  she  accompanied  him  in 
his  various  movements  during  the  protracted  wars  w^ith  the  Welsh  and 
the  Scotch.  Edward  had  arrived  in  England  in  August  1289.  In  the 
same  month,  in  I2qo,  we  find  him  in  Northamptonshire.  I  will  not  trace, 
from  the  Itinerary  of  his  reign  that  I  have  drawn  up,  his  residence  day 
by  day  at  Silveston,  Blisworth,  Yardley,  Northampton,  Geddington,  and 
Rockingham.  I  will  merely  state  that  he  was  at  Northampton,  no 
doubt  resident  in  the  Castle,  from  August  17th  to  August  29th,  when 
he  passed  northwards  to  Kings  Clipston,  Notts.  On  the  20th  Novem- 
ber we  find  him  at  Hardby,  where  he  remained  until  the  28th.  Queen 
Eleanor  died  on  the  evening  of  the  28th,  of  a  low  and  lingering  fever. 
The  latest  date  on  which  we  find  any  mention  of  the  king  and  queen 
as  being  together  is  when  they  were  here  in  the  month  of  August,  en 
which  occasion  a  messenger  was  paid  for  carrying  their  joint  letters  to 
Clare  Earl  of  Gloucester.     On  the  28th  of  October  there  is  a  payment 


Quecti  Eleanor's  Cross,  NortJtampton.  475 

of  one  mark  to  Henry  Montpellier  for  syrup  and  other  medicine, 
purchased  at  Lincoln  for  the  queen's  use.  During  her  illness  she  was 
attended  by  her  household  physician,  Master  Leopard,  to  whom  she 
bequeathed  a  legacy  of  twenty  marks.  For  three  days  after  her 
decease  no  public  business  was  transacted.  Her  body  was  immediately 
opened  and  embalmed.  I  well  remember  reading  in  her  Wardrobe 
Account,  sold  a  few  years  since  by  auction  in  London,  the  entries 
relating  to  this  process,  the  cost  of  the  myrrh  and  frankincense,  and, 
what  struck  me  as  more  remarkable,  a  charge  for  barley  for  filling  the 
body.  The  viscera  were  deposited  in  the  cathedral  of  Lincoln.  Her 
heart  was  conveyed  by  her  own  desire  for  sacred  interment  in  the 
church  of  the  Black  Friars  in  London.  The  Expense  Rolls  of  the 
executors  give  full  particulars  of  the  cost  of  executing  the  monuments 
erected  at  each  of  these  places. 

"  The  King  himself  was  at  Lincoln  on  the  and  and  3rd  of  December, 
at  Northampton  on  the  9th,  at  St.  Albans  on  the  13th,  at  London  the 
following  day.  The  account  left  us  by  the  annalist  of  Dunstable,  of 
tl'ic  circumstances  attending  the  arrival  of  the  funeral  train  at  this 
monastery,  represents  generally  what  occurred  at  every  place  where  the 
fimeral  procession  halted.  After  noting  the  death  of  the  queen,  he  says 
'  her  body  passed  through  our  town,  and  rested  one  night.  Two 
precious  cloths,  baudekyns,  were  given  unto  us.  Of  wax  we  had  eight 
pounds  and  more.  And  when  the  body  of  the  said  queen  was  departing 
from  Dunstable,  the  bier  rested  in  the  centre  of  the  Market-place  until 
the  king's  chancellor  and  the  great  men  then  and  there  present  had 
marked  a  fitting  place  where  they  might  after\vards  erect  a  cross  of 
wonderful  size ;  our  prior  being  present,  and  sprinkling  holy  water.' 

"The  Queen  was  buried  with  great  magnificence,  at  the  feet  of  her 
husband's  father,  in  Westminster  Abbey,  on  the  1 7th  of  December ; 
and  on  the  15th  her  heart  was  deposited  in  the  church  of  the  Black 
Friars,  where  a  chapel  was  afterwards  built  for  its  reception.  The  King 
remained  at  Westminster  for  a  week  afterwards,  and  then  went  to  Ash- 
ridge,  where  he  dwelt  in  melancholy  seclusion  for  a  month. 

"  According  to  the  usage  of  the  time,  splendid  and  perpetual  comme- 
morations of  her  death  was  enjoined  in  several  places.  Her  anniver- 
sary was  celebrated  also  at  Peterborough  and  other  abbeys  with  great 
liberality. 

"it  has  been  stated  by  Walsingham  that  Crosses  were  eircted  at  the 
sptits  where  her  body  rested  on  its  way  from  Hardby  to  London.  Thus 
wc  have  mention  made,  in  the  Expense  Rolls,  of  a  cross  at  Lincoln,  at 
Northampton,  Stoncy  Stratford,  Woburn,  Dunstable,  and  St.  Albans  j 


476  Queen  Eleanor  s  Cross,  Northampton. 

all  of  them  the  work  of  John  de  Bello.  These  were  all  erected  between 
1291  and  1294.  As  the  entries  of  payment  for  these  works  mingle 
them  together,  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  what  was  the  cost  of  any  one  ; 
but,  proceeding  by  way  of  equal  distribution,  John  de  Battle  would 
receive  134/.  for  the  cross  at  Northampton,  exclusive  of  the  payments 
for  statues,  which  were  the  work  of  William  de  Ireland,  who  received 
five  marks  for  each  of  them.  Robert,  the  son  of  Henry,  a  burgess  of 
Northampton,  received  40/.  and  sixty  marks,  for  laying  down  a  cause- 
way from  Northampton  to  the  cross, — as  it  is  said,  '  pro  anima  regina;,' 
tlie  construction  of  such  a  work  being  deemed  an  act  of  devotion.  There 
are  also  payments  of  25/.  and  seven  marks  made  to  Robert  de  Corfe 
and  to  William  de  Ireland  for  a  '  virga,'  a  head,  and  ring  ('pro  virgis, 
capitibus,  et  anulis'), — architectural  terms,  which  involve  some  difiiculty 
in  explanation. 

"  The  exquisite  representations  of  the  queen  were  sculptured  in  Lon- 
don by  William  de  Ireland,  '  imaginator,'  or  the  sculptor.  William  de 
BeiTiak,  mason,  received  73s.  4d.  for  their  caniage,  and  that  of  the  head 
and  lance  of  the  cross,  from  London. 

"  Doubts  have  often  been  raised  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  cross 
was  terminated  ;  but  an  entry  on  the  accounts  leads  me  to  suppose  it 
was  finished  by  a  figure, — most  likely  that  of  the  Virgin,  as  William  de 
Ireland  was  paid  6/.  3s.  4d.  on  one  occasion,  for  making  five  images  for 
the  cross  at  Northampton.  Therefore  it  is  evident  that  a  figure  of  some 
kind  was  imposed  above  the  four  of  the  queen  now  remaining.  A  desire 
has  been  often  expressed  to  see  the  summit  completed ;  but  as  long  as 
it  is  highly  uncertain  what  was  the  original  termination,  it  would  be  in- 
judicious to  attempt  what  must  necessarily  be  a  fanciful  and  unsanctioned 
restoration. 

"  In  conclusion,  it  may  be  desirable  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  the 
effigies  of  Queen  Eleanor  herself,  that  are  so  graceful  in  their  draperies, 
and  so  replete  with  dignity  and  classical  beauty.  Flaxman  said  that 
the  statues  of  Henry  III.  and  Eleanor,  in  Westminster  Abbey,  partook 
of  the  character  and  grace  particularly  cultivated  in  the  school  of 
Pisano :  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  these  statues  may  have  been  done 
by  some  of  his  numerous  scholars.  The  Executorial  Rolls  printed  by 
Mr.  Botfield  bear  out  this  conjecture,  as  they  state  that  the  designer  of 
the  effigies  of  Eleanor  at  Westminster  and  Lincoln  was  William  Torell, 
a  goldsmith.  Her  statue  was  modelled  in  wax ;  and  there  is  an  entry 
or  bringing  seven  hundred  and  twenty-six  pounds  from  the  house  of 
Torell.  This  enables  us  to  account  for  the  resemblance  that  exists 
betwixt  the  queen's  effigy  in  Westminster  Abbey  and  the  countenance 


Bitrghley  House  and  the  Lord  of  BurgJilcy,       477 

Rs  exhibited  in  this  cross  and  that  of  Northampton.  The  features  of 
all  these  figures  are  precisely  the  same.  They  bear  indisputable  marks 
of  coming  fiom  the  same  chisel.  This  remarkable  lesemblance  was 
evidently  the  result  of  all  of  them  being  sculptured  by  the  same  artist. 

"  Three  of  these  crosses  still  remain.  Those  at  Northampton  and 
^^'altham  are  included  in  the  Expense  Rolls.  The  one  at  Geddington 
is  not  mentioned:  this  is  still  in  excellent  presentation.  As  a  work  of 
ait  it  is,  however,  unequal  to  the  two  others,  though  in  itself  admi- 
rable in  design  and  workmanship.  It  was  evidently  the  work  of  a  diffe- 
rent artist.  The  diapered  pattern  running  up  the  shaft  is  singularly 
elegant.  We  must  accept  all  of  them,  however,  as  the  most  faithful 
copies  of  the  copper-gilt  effigies  at  Westminster  that  could  be  executed. 
The  placid  expression  that  is  stamped  on  the  queen's  countenance  could 
have  been  no  imaginary  creation  ;  and  in  looking  upon  it  we  may  believe 
we  have  before  us  as  faithful  a  resemblance  of  this  illustrious  lady  as  it 
was  possible  to  produce  at  the  period.  These  monuments  must  always 
be  regarded  as  the  most  beautiful  specimens  of  British  sculpture  we 
possess.  For  refinement  and  serenity,  for  the  feeling  of  majesty  and 
repose  they  exhibit,  they  can  scarcely  be  surpassed.  Unquestionably, 
they  are  the  faithful  reflections  of  Eleanor  herself. 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  more  suitable  memorials  than  these 
to  testify  the  feeling  of  regret  that  has  pervaded  all  England  under  the 
recent  loss  it  has  sustained  in  the  death  of  its  most  illustrious  Prince. 
Those  who  come  after  us  would  gaze  upon  them  as  we  do,  but  with 
still  higher  asscxriations  and  deeper  sentiments  of  admiration  ;  because, 
whilst  the  Crosses  of  Eleanor  call  merely  to  remembrance  her  domestic 
graces,  a  monument  to  Prince  Albert  would  be  a  memorial  to  declare 
to  posterity  how  cherished  has  he  ever  been  in  his  adopted  country,  and 
how  sincerely  beloved  for  his  spotless  character  and  his  public  virtue." 


Burgliley  House  and  the  Lord  of  Burghley. 

The  precise  locality  of  this  fine  old  manorial  domain  is  upon  the 
northern  or  Lincolnshire  Ixjrder  of  the  county  of  Northampton,  at 
about  a  mile  and  a-half  south-east  of  the  river  Welland,  which  here 
forms  the  boundary  between  the  two  counties. 

Northamptonshire  contains  nearly  150  seats,  many  of  them  in  pic- 
turesque parks  or  grounds,  and  interesting  for  their  architectural  beauty 
and  historical  associations.     But  the  most  important  "  proper  house 


47^       Burghley  House  and  the  Lord  of  Btirghley. 

and  home"  in  the  county,  either  as  regards  extent  or  architectural 
character,  is  Burghley  House,  either  built  or  greatly  improved  by  the 
Lord  High  Treasurer  Burghley,  the  manor  having  been  purchased  by 
his  father,  Richard  Cecil,  into  whose  possession,  however,  by  another 
statement,  it  came  through  his  wife,  Jane  Heckington ;  and  the  Lord 
Treasurer  writes  in  1585 :  "  My  house  of  Burghley  is  of  my  mothci-'s 
inheritance,  who  liveth,  and  is  the  owner  thereof,  and  I  but  a  fanner." 
A  vulgar  error  was  prevalent  at  one  time,  that  the  manor-house  was  erected 
wholly  or  in  part,  at  the  expense  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  On  the  death  of 
the  Lord  Treasurer,  in  1598,  the  manor  devolved  upon  his  eldest  son, 
Thomas,  the  second  Lord  Burghley,  who  was  made  a  Knight  of  the 
Garter  by  Elizabeth,  and  elevated  two  steps  in  the  peerage  by  James  L, 
with  the  title  of  Earl  of  Exeter.  James  L,  on  his  journey  from 
Scotland,  in  1603,  to  ascend  the  throne  of  England,  came  to  Burghley 
on  the  23rd  of  April,  and  passed  Easter  Sunday  there.  The 
youngest  son  of  the  Treasurer,  the  celebrated  Minister,  Sir  Robert 
Cecil,  was  created  Earl  of  Salisbury  by  James  the  same  day  that  his 
oldest  brother  was  made  Earl  of  Exeter;  but  he  being  created  in  the 
morning,  and  so  before  Lord  Exeter,  the  descendants  of  the  younger 
branch  of  the  family  had  right  of  precedence  over  the  elder. 

The  entrance-lodge  and  screen  to  this  noble  domain  were  built  in 
t8oi,  at  an  expense  of  5000/.  Thorpe  was  the  architect  of  Burghley. 
Cecil  took  upon  himself  to  obtain  some  of  the  materials  from  Flanders, 
in  which  he  was  assisted  by  Sir  Thomas  Gresham.  The  dates  on  the 
building  show  Cecil's  share.  Shortly  after  his  promotion  to  the  peer- 
age, he  wrote  to  a  friend :  "  My  stile  is  Lord  di Burghley,  if  you  mean 
to  know  it  for  wrytyng,  and  if  you  list  to  wryte  truly :  the  poorest  lord 
in  England  r  Burghley  is  a  magnificent  exemplar  of  the  architecture  of 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth  and  James  L  It  is  built  of  freestone,  in  the 
form  of  a  parallelogram  ;  the  chimneys  are  Doric  pillars,  connected  at 
top  by  a  frieze  and  cornice ;  surrounded  by  ugly  piles  of  buildings, 
from  which  on  the  east  side,  the  Doric,  the  Ionic,  and  the  Corinthian 
orders  rise  one  above  another,  with  large  niches  on  each  side.  Above 
the  Corinthian  order,  the  uppermost  of  the  three,  are  two  large  stone 
lions  rampant,  supporting  the  family  arms.  The  spire  of  the  Chapel 
rises  from  hence.  The  pillars  on  the  opposite,  or  western  end,  are 
plain  Doric ;  the  windows  on  the  north  and  south,  pure  modem  Gothic. 
On  each  side  is  a  gateway  with  an  elliptical  arch.  The  turrets,  cupolas, 
and  spires,  at  a  distance,  give  the  mansion  the  appearance  of  a  town 
Another  beautifiil  feature  is  the  fine  architectural  gardens.  We  de- 
light in  its  wide  and  level  terraces,  decorated  with  rich  stone  bah;*- 


Biirghley  House  and  the  Lord  of  Burghley,       479 

trades,  and  these  again  with  vases  and  statues,  and  connected  by  broad 
flights  of  stone  steps — its  clipped  evergreen  hedges — its  embowered 
alleys — its  formal,  yet  intricate  partenes,  full  of  curious  knots  of 
Rowers — its  lively  and  musical  fountains — its  steep  slopes  of  velvet  turf 
— its  trim  bowling-green— and  the  labyrinth  and  wilderness,  which 
form  an  appropriate  termination,  and  connect  it  with  the  ruder  scenery 
without. 

Burghley  has  a  magnificent  interior,  containing  145  rooms.  The 
lofty  Hall  has  an  open  oak  roof  and  carved  pendants.  At  the  south 
end,  beneath  a  very  fine  armorial  window,  is  a  buffet  of  gold  plate,  some 
of  which  was  presented  to  the  family  by  King  James,  Queen  Anne, 
and  George  I.  At  the  north  end  is  the  Music  Gallery,  for  50 
performers.  The  Chapel  has  some  splendid  carving  by  Gibbons,  and  a 
fretwork  ceiling ;  arranged  on  each  side  are  ten  antique  life-sized 
figures  in  bronze.  It  is  related  that  Queen  Elizabeth,  when  a  visitor  at 
Burghley,  regularly  attended  divine  service  in  this  chapel,  and  it  was  her 
custom  to  place  herself  on  the  left  side,  nearest  the  altar,  which  has  ever 
since  been  distinguished  as  "  Queen  Elizabeth's  Seat."  Queen  Victoria 
and  the  Prince  Consort,  when  they  visited  the  Marquis  of  Exeter,  in 
the  autumn  of  1844,  also  performed  their  morning  devotions  in  the 
Chapel.  The  Grand  Staircase,  with  its  vaulted  roof  and  decorated 
archways,  is  very  curious.  Burghley  is  sumptuously  fumished  with 
State  Beds:  one  of  the  most  superb  is  Queen  Elizabeth's,  which  has 
hangings  of  green  velvet  on  a  ground  of  gold  tissue,  and  a  set  of  chairs 
to  correspond.  The  room  is  hung  with  tapestry  of  Actaeon  and  Diana, 
Bacchus,  Ariadne,  and  Acis  and  Galatxa.  In  the  Black  Chamber  is 
an  old  bed  of  black  satin,  superbly  embroidered  with  flowers,  and  lined 
with  gold-colour.  The  room  is  hung  with  fine  old  tapestry,  has  a 
carved  chimney-piece  by  Gibbons,  and  a  window  of  armorial  glass. 
The  State  Dressing-room  has  a  coved  ceiling,  decorated  by  Verrio, 
and  is  hung  with  tapestry.  The  New  State  Bedchamber  has  a 
state  bed,  said  to  be  the  most  superb  in  Europe,  with  hangings  of 
250  yards  of  velvet  and  900  yards  of  satin ;  and  a  mythological  ceiling 
by  Verrio.  The  Jewel  Chamber  is  of  cedar,  oak,  and  walnut.  In  the 
Dining-room  are  two  silver  cisterns,  one  weighing  3400,  and  the  other 
656  ounces,  besides  some  superb  coronation  plate.  The  Kitchen  is  one 
of  the  cur'toi'iUes  of  the  mansion :  it  is  very  lofty,  and  has  a  groined 
ceiling,  of  earlier  style  even  than  the  mansion  built  by  the  great  Lord 
Burghley ;  at  one  end  is  a  large  painting  of  a  carcase  of  beef,  as  the  true 
ensign  ai-morial  of  English  hospitality.  Burghley  has  a  very  fine  collec- 
tion of  pa  iitings  bjr  old  masters.    Among  the  family  pictures  is  a 


480      Burgliley  House  and  the  Lord  of  BurgJiley. 

large  work  by  Lawrence,  and  known  in  the  collection  as  "  The 
Cottager's  Daughter,"  containing  three  portraits — the  Earl  of  Exeter,  the 
Countess  Sarah,  and  Lady  Sophia.  AVhen  tiie  Earl  was  a  minor,  Mr. 
Henry  Cecil,  he  married  the  beautiful  Emma  Vernon  ;  he  lost  his 
money  by  gambling  ;  and  he  got  rid  of  his  wife,  after  fifteen  years  of 
wedlock,  by  a  divorce,  in  1791.  After  the  separation,  the  Earl,  his 
uncle,  advised  him  to  retire  into  the  country  for  some  time,  and  pass  as 
a  private  gentleman.  Mr.  Cecil  accordingly  fixed  his  residence  at 
Bolas,  in  a  remote  part  of  Shropshire,  at  a  small  inn,  where  for  some 
months  he  assumed  the  name  of  Jones.  He  took  a  dislike  to  the  situa- 
tion, and  sought  out  a  farmhouse,  where  he  might  board  and  lodge- 
Some  families  refused  to  receive  him  ;  but  at  length,  by  the  liberality  of 
his  offers,  and  the  knowledge  of  his  possessing  money,  a  farmer  had 
rooms  fitted  up  for  his  accommodation.  Here  he  continued  to  reside 
for  two  years;  but  time  hanging  heavy  on  his  hands,  he  purchased 
some  land,  on  which  he  built  himself  a  house.  The  farmer  (Mr. 
Hoggins,)  at  whose  house  Mr.  Cecil  resided,  had  a  daughter,  about 
seventeen  years  of  age,  whose  rustic  beauty  threw  into  the  shade  all  that 
he  had  ever  beheld  in  the  circle  of  fashion.  Although  placed  in  a 
humble  sphere,  Mr.  Cecil  perceived  that  her  beauty  would  adorn  and 
her  virtue  shed  a  lustre  on  the  most  elevated  station.  He  therefore 
frankly  told  the  farmer  and  his  wife  that  he  was  desirous  of  marrying 
their  daughter ;  and  the  celebration  of  their  nuptials  was  accordingly 
consummated  in  October,  1791.  Already  two  children  were  bom,  it  is 
reported,  of  this  marriage  (but,  if  so,  they  must  have  died  early,)  when 
in  1793,  a  search  after  the  hidden  heir  of  the  then  dying  Earl  of  Exeter, 
resulted  in  the  discovery  at  Bolas.  The  Earl  died,  his  nephew  suc- 
ceeded, and  his  wife  accompanied  him  to  Burghley,  unconscious  of  her 
being  a  Countess.  Mr.  Cecil  (now  Earl  of  Exeter),  taking  his  wife 
with  him,  set  out  on  his  journey,  and  called  at  the  seats  of  several 
noblemen,  at  which  places,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  his  wife  (now, 
of  course,  a  Countess),  they  were  welcomed  in  the  most  friendly 
manner.  At  length  they  arrived  at  Burghley,  where  they  were  received 
with  acclamations.  As  soon  as  he  had  settled  his  affairs,  the  Earl  of 
Exeter  returned  into  Shropshire,  discovered  his  rank  to  his  wife's 
father  and  mother,  placed  them  in  the  house  he  had  built  there,  and 
settled  on  them  an  income  of  700/.  per  annum.  He  afterwards  took 
his  Countess  with  him  to  London,  and  introduced  her  to  his  family 
connexions,  by  whom  she  was  respected,  admired,  adored,  until  it 
pleased  the  great  Disposer  of  Events  to  call  the  spirit  to  a  hfe  of  more 
lasting  happiness. 


BurgJiIcy  House  and  the  Lord  of  BurgJdcy.       48 1 

Upon  the  above  most  interesting  subject  Mr.  Alfred  Tennyson, 
Poet-Laureate  (a  son  of  tlie  Rev.  Dr.  Tennyson,  rector  of  Somersby, 
Lincolnshire),  has  produced  the  following  beautiful  ballad-form  com- 
position:— 

THE  LORD  OF  BURGHLEY. 

"  In  her  ear  he  whispers  gaily 

'  If  my  heart  by  signs  can  tell, 
Maiden,  I  have  watched  tliec  daily. 

And  I  think  thou  know'st  me  welL' 
She  replies  in  accents  fainter, 

'  There  is  none  I  love  like  thee.' 
He  is  but  a  landscajje  painter,* 

And  a  village  maiden  she  : 
He  to  lips  that  fondly  falter. 

Presses  his  without  reproof; 
Leads  her  to  tlie  village  altar. 

And  they  leave  their  father's  roof, 
'  I  can  make  no  marriage  present. 

Little  can  I  give  my  wife, 
Love  will  make  our  cottage  pleasant, 

And  I  love  thee  more  than  hfe.' 
Then  by  park  and  lodges  going, 

See  the  lordly  castles  stand  ; 
Summer  woods  about  them  blowing, 

Made  a  murmur  in  the  land. 
From  deep  thought  himself  he  rouses. 

Says  to  her  that  loves  him  well, 
'  Let  us  see  these  handsome  houses. 

Where  the  wealthy  nobles  dwell." 
So  she  goes  by  him  attended. 

Hears  him  lovingly  converse. 
Sees  whatever  fair  and  splendid 

Lay  betwixt  his  home  and  hers  ; 
Parks  with  oak  and  chestnut  shady. 

Parks  and  order'd  gardens  great. 
Ancient  homes  of  lord  and  lady, 

Built  for  pleasure  and  for  state. 
All  he  shows  her  makes  him  dearer. 

Evermore  she  seems  to  gaze 
On  that  cottage  growing  nearer. 

Where  the  twain  will  spend  their  days. 
O  but  she  will  love  him  truly  ! 

He  shall  have  a  cheerful  home  ; 
She  will  order  all  things  duly. 

When  beneath  his  roof  they  come." 

They  came  to  a  majestic  mansion,  where  the  domestics  bowed  before 
the  young  lover,  whose  wife  then,  for  the  first  time,  discovered  his  rank. 

"  All  at  once  the  colour  flushes 

Her  sweet  face  from  brow  to  chin  ; 
As  it  were  with  shame  she  blushes, 

And  her  spirit  changed  within. 


*  This  is  poetical  Ucenaet 
I  I 


482        Bnrghlcy  House  and  the  Lord  of  Biirghky. 

Then  licr  countenance  all  over 

Pale  again  as  death  did  prove  ; 
But  he  clasped  her  like  a  lover, 

And  he  cheered  her  soul  with  love. 
So  she  strove  against  her  weakness, 

Though  at  times  her  spirit  sank, 
Shaped  her  heart  with  woipan's  meekness, 

To  all  duties  of  her  rank. 
And  a  gentle  consort  made  he, 

An  I  her  gentle  mind  was  such, 
That  she  grew  a  noble  lady. 

And  the  people  loved  her  much. 
But  a  trouble  weighed  upon  her, 

And  perplexed  her  night  and  mom, 
With  the  burden  of  an  honour 

Unto  which  she  was  not  bom. 
Faint  she  grew  and  ever  fainter. 

As  she  murmured,  '  Oh  that  he 
Were  once  more  that  landscape-painter, 

Which  did  win  my  heart  from  me  !' 
So  she  drooped,  and  drooped  before  him, 

Fading  slowly  from  his  side. 
Three  fair  children  first  she  bore  him. 

Then  before  her  time  she  died. 

Weeping,  weeping,  late  and  early. 

Walking  up  and  pacing  down, 
Deeply  mourned  the  Lord  of  Burghley, 

Burghley  House  by  Stamford  town. 
And  he  came  to  look  upon  her, 

And  he  look'd  at  her  and  said, 
•  Bring  the  dress  and  put  it  on  her. 

That  she  wore  when  she  was  wed.' 
Then  her  people,  softly  treading, 

Bore  to  earth  her  body,  drest 
In  the  dress  that  she  was  wed  in, 

That  her  spirit  might  have  rest." 

The  Countess  survived  for  four  years,  and  was  the  mother  of  three 
sons  and  a  daughter,  when  she  died  in  1797,  at  the  age  of  about  twenty- 
four,  and  of  something  hke  ennui,  and  a  consciousness,  it  is  said,  of  want 
of  quahfication  for  the  station  which  she  occupied.  Her  lord  was  not 
an  inconsolable  widower.  He  married,  for  the  third  time,  with  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Peter  BuiTell,  sister  of  the  first  Lord  Gwydyr,  and 
relict  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton.  The  Shropshire  farmer's  daughter  was 
a  most  estimable  lady.  Through  her  daughter,  who  married  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Pierrepont,  whose  only  daughter  became  the  wife  of  the  late  Lord 
Charles  Wellesley,  the  Shropshire  blood  of  the  stout  yeoman,  Hoggins, 
flows  in  the  veins  of  the  future  Duke  of  Wellington.  Reality,  after  all, 
is  as  wonderful  as  xoxaaxiQQ.—  Mhenaum,  No.  2181. 


483 


The  Castle  of  Fotheringhay. 

This  celebrated  seat  of  the  House  of  York,  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
river  Nen,  in  Northamptonshire,  was  formerly  built  by  Simon  de  St.  Liz, 
or  by  the  second  Earl  of  Northampton,  early  in  tlie  twelfth  century. 
Here  was  bom  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  Oct.  2,  1452. 

Edmund  of  Langley,  on  taking  possession,  found  Fotheringhay  so  much 
dilapidated  as  to  induce  him  to  rebuild  the  greater  part  of  it,  in  ground- 
plan  the  form  of  a  fetterlock.  The  fetterlock,  inclosing  a  falcon,  was 
afterwards  the  favourite  device  of  the  family.  Whilst  they  were  con- 
tending for  the  crown,  the  falcon  was  represented  as  endeavouring  to 
expand  its  wings,  and  force  open  the  lock.  When  the  family  had 
actually  ascended  the  throne,  the  falcon  was  represented  z&free,  and  the 
lock  open. 

The  Castle  is  most  memorable  as  the  last  of  the  prison-houses  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots ;  and  here  she  closed  her  life  of  bitter  suffering  and 
sorrow,  Februarys,  1587.  We  quote  the  sad  scene  from  Mignet's 
touching  History.  The  unfortunate  Queen  having  been  informed 
by  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  that  she  was  to  die  "  about  eight  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  the  morrow,"  on  the  Earl  retiring,  she  devoted  her  last 
hours  to  consoling  her  servant,  and  making  her  withdraw  at  nearly  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  when  she  had  finished  writing.  Feeling  some- 
what fatigued,  and  wishing  to  preserve  or  restore  her  strength  for  the 
final  moment,  she  went  to  bed.  Her  women  continued  praying ;  and, 
during  the  last  repose  of  her  body,  though  her  eyes  were  closed  it  was 
evident,  from  the  slight  motion  of  her  lips,  and  a  sort  of  rapture  spread 
over  her  countenance,  that  she  was  addressing  herself  to  Him  on  whom 
alone  her  hopes  now  rested.  At  daybreak,  she  arose,  saying  she  had 
only  two  hours  to  live.  She  picked  out  one  of  her  handkerchiefs  with  a 
fringe  of  gold,  as  a  bandage  for  her  eyes  on  the  scaffold,  and  dressed  her- 
self with  a  stem  magnificence.  Having  assembled  her  servants,  she 
made  Bourgoin,  her  physician,  read  over  to  them  her  will,  which  she 
then  signed  ;  and  afterwartls  gave  them  the  letters,  papers,  and  presents, 
of  which  they  were  to  be  the  bearers  to  the  princes  of  her  family  and 
her  friends  on  the  Continent.  She  had  already  distributed  to  them,  on 
the  previous  evening,  her  rings,  jewels,  furniture  and  dresses ;  and  she 
now  gave  them  the  purses  which  she  had  prepared  for  them,  and  in 
which  she  had  enclosed,  in  small  sums,  the  five  thousand  crowns  which 
remained  over  to  her.     With  finislied  grace,  and  with  aficcting  kind- 

II  a 


484  The  Castle  of  Fotheringhay. 

ness,  she  mingled  her  consolations  with  her  gifts,  and  strengthened  them 
for  the  aflliction  into  which  her  death  would  soon  throw  them.  "  You 
could  not  see,"  says  an  eye-witness,  "  any  change,  neither  in  her  face, 
nor  in  her  speech,  nor  in  her  general  appearance ;  she  seemed  to  be 
giving  orders  about  her  affairs  just  as  if  she  were  merely  going  to  change 
her  residence  from  one  house  to  another." 

She  now  retired  to  her  oratory,  where  she  was  for  some  time  engaged 
in  reading  the  prayers  for  the  dead.     A  loud  knocking  at  the  door 
interrupted  these  funeral  orisons;  she  bade  the  intruders  wait  a  few 
-  minutes. 

"  Shortly  afterwards,  eight  o'clock  having  struck,  there  was  a  fi-esh 
knocking  at  the  door,  which  this  time  was  opened.  The  sheriff 
entered,  with  a  white  wand  in  his  hand,  advanced  close  to  Mary,  who 
had  not  yet  moved  her  head,  and  pronounced  these  few  words: 
'Madam,  the  lords  await  you,  and  have  sent  me  to  you.'  '  Yes,'  re- 
plied Mary,  rising  from  her  knees,  '  let  us  go.'  Just  as  she  was  moving 
away,  Bourgoin  handed  to  her  the  ivory  crucifix  which  stood  on  the 
altar ;  she  kissed  it,  and  ordered  it  to  be  carried  before  her.  Not  being 
able  to  support  herself  alone,  on  account  of  the  weakness  of  her  limbs, 
she  walked,  leaning  on  two  of  her  own  servants,  to  the  extremity  of  her 
apartments.  Having  arrived  at  that  point,  they,  with  peculiar  delicacy, 
which  she  felt  and  approved,  desired  not  to  lead  her  themselves  to 
execution,  but  entrusted  her  to  the  support  of  two  of  Paulet's  servants, 
and  followed  her  in  tears.  On  reaching  the  staircase,  where  the  Earls 
of  Shrewsbury  and  Kent  awaited  Mary  Stuart,  and  by  which  she  had 
to  descend  into  the  lower  hall,  at  the  end  of  which  the  scaffold  had  been 
raised,  they  were  refused  the  consolation  of  accompanying  her  further. 
In  spite  of  their  supplications  and  lamentations  they  were  separated  from 
her  ;  not  without  difficulty,  for  they  threw  themselves  at  her  feet,  kissed 
her  hands,  clung  to  her  dress,  and  would  not  quit  her.  When  they  had 
succeeded  in  removing  them,  she  resumed  her  course  with  a  mild  and 
noble  air,  the  crucifix  in  one  hand  and  a  prayer-book  in  the  other, 
dressed  in  the  widow's  garb,  which  she  used  to  wear  on  days  of  great 
solemnity.  She  evinced  the  dignity  of  a  queen,  along  with  the  calm 
composure  of  a  Christian.  At  the  foot  of  the  staircase  she  met  her 
ma'ttre-d' hotel,  Andrew  Melvii,  who  had  been  permitted  to  take  leave 
of  her,  and  who,  seeing  her  thus  walking  to  her  execution,  fell  on  his 
knees,  and,  with  his  countenance  bathed  in  tears,  expressed  his  bitter 
affliction.  Mary  embraced  him,  thanked  him  for  his  constant  fidelity, 
and  enjoined  him  to  report  exactly  to  her  son  all  that  he  knew,  and  all 
that  he  was  about  to  witness.     •  It  will  be,'  said  Melvii,  '  the  most  sor- 


The  Castle  of  FotJicringJiay.  485 

rowful  message  I  ever  carried,  to  announce  that  the  queen,  my  sovereign 
and  dear  mistress,  is  dead.'  '  Thou  shouldst  rather  rejoice,  good 
Melvil,'  she  replied,  employing  for  the  first  time  this  familiar  mode  of 
address,  'that  Mary  Stuart  has  arrived  at  the  close  of  her  misfortunes. 
Thou  knowest  that  this  world  is  only  vanity,  and  full  of  troubles  and 
misery.  Bear  these  tidings,  that  1  die  firm  in  my  religion,  a  true  Ca- 
tholic, a  true  Scotchwoman,  a  true  Frenchwoman.  May  God  forgive 
those  who  have  sought  my  death.  The  Judge  of  the  secret  thoughts  and 
actions  of  men  knows  that  I  have  always  desired  the  union  of  Scot- 
land and  England.  Commend  me  to  my  son,  and  tell  him  that  I  have 
never  done  anything  that  could  prejudice  the  welftire  of  the  kingdom,  or 
his  quality  as  king,  nor  derogated  in  any  respect  from  our  sovereign  pre- 
rogative.' " 

The  sentence  was  then  read  to  her.  She  made  a  short  speech,  in 
which  she  repeated  the  words  so  frequently  in  her  mouth,  "  I  am  queen 
born,  not  subject  to  the  laws,"  and  declared  that  she  had  never  sought 
the  life  of  her  cousin  Elizabeth.  She  then  began  to  recite  in  Latin  the 
Psalms  of  penitence  and  mercy,  a  pious  exercise  rudely  interrupted  by 
the  Dean  of  Peterborough  and  the  Earl  of  Kent. 

"  Her  prayer  ended,  she  arose.  The  terrible  moment  had  anived, 
and  the  executioner  approached  to  assist  her  in  removing  a  portion  of 
her  dress,  but  she  motioned  him  away,  saying,  with  a  smile,  that  she  had 
nfcvcr  had  such  'valets-de-chambt e.  She  then  called  Jean  Kennedy  and 
Eliz-abeth  Curll,  who  had  remained  all  the  time  on  their  knees  at  the 
foot  of  the  scaffold,  and  she  began  to  undress  herself  with  their  assis- 
tance, remarking  that  she  was  not  accustomed  to  do  so  before  so  many 
people.  The  alllictcd  girls  performed  this  last  sad  office  in  tears.  To 
prevent  the  utterance  of  their  grief,  she  placed  her  finger  on  their  lips, 
and  reminded  them  that  she  hail  promisal  in  their  name  that  they  would 
show  more  firmness.  '  Instead  of  weeping,  rejoice,'  she  said ;  '  I  am 
very  happy  to  leave  this  world,  and  in  so  good  a  cause.'  She  then  laid 
down  her  cloak,  and  took  off  her  veil,  retaining  only  a  petticoat  of  red 
tafl'ety,  flowered  with  velvet.  Then  seating  herself  on  the  chair,  she  gave 
her  blessing  to  her  weeping  servants.  The  executioner  having  asked  her 
pardon  on  his  knees,  she  told  him  that  she  pardoned  everybody.  She 
embraced  Elizabeth  Curll  and  Jean  Kennedy,  and  gave  thetn  her  bless- 
ing, making  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  them  :  and  after  Jean  Kennedy 
had  bandaged  her  eyes,  she  desired  them  to  withdraw,  which  they  did 
weeping.  At  the  same  time  she  knelt  down  with  great  courage,  and 
still  holding  the  crucifix  in  her  hands,  stretched  out  her  neck  to  the 
executioner.    She  then  said  aloud,  and  with  the  most  ardent  feeling  of 


4^6  The  Castle  of  Fotheriughay. 

confidence,  •  My  God,  I  Iiave  hoped  in  you  ;  I  commit  myself  to  your 
hands."  She  imagined  that  she  would  have  been  struck  in  the  mode 
usual  in  France,  in  an  upright  posture,  and  with  the  sword.  The  two 
masters  of  the  works  perceiving  her  mistake,  infoiTned  her  of  it,  and 
assisted  her  to  lay  her  head  on  the  block,  which  she  did  without  ceasing 
to  pray.  There  was  a  universal  feeling  of  compassion  at  the  sight  of  this 
lamentable  misfortune,  this  heroic  courage,  this  admirable  sweetness. 
The  executioner  himself  was  moved,  and  aimed  with  an  unsteady  hand: 
the  axe,  instead  of  falling  on  the  neck,  struck  the  back  of  the  head,  and 
wounded  her,  yet  she  made  no  movement,  nor  uttered  a  complaint.  It 
was  only  on  repeating  the  blow  that  the  executioner  struck  off  her  head, 
which  he  held  up,  saying,  '  God  save  Queen  Elizabeth.'  « Thus ' 
added  Dr.  Fletcher,  'may  all  her  enemies  perish.'"  It  is  added,  that 
when  the  fatal  blow  was  struck,  "  her  face  was,  for  a  moment,  so  much 
altered  that  few  could  remember  her  by  her  dead  face,  and  her  lips 

stirred  up  and  down  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  her  head  was  cutoff." 

(Ellis's  Letters,  vol.  iii.  p.  1 1 7.) 

During  her  imprisonment  here.  Queen  Mary  wrote  on  a  sheet  of 
paper,  in  a  large  rambling  hand,  some  verses  in  French,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  literal  translation  : 

"  Alas  !  what  am  I,  and  in  what  estate? 

A  wretched  corse,  bereaved  of  its  heart, 
An  empty  shadow,  lost,  unfortunate  ; 

To  die  is  now  in  life  my  only  part. 
For,  to  my  greatness,  let  your  envy  rest, 

In  use  no  taste  for  grandeur  now  is  found  ; 
Consum'd  by  grief,  with  heavy  ills  oppress 'd. 

Your  wishes  and  desires  will  soon  be  crown'd. 
And  you,  my  friend,  who  still  have  held  me  dear, 

Bethink  you  that  when  health  and  heart  are  fled, 

And  every  hope  of  future  good  is  dead, 
'Tis  time  to  wish  our  sorrows  ended  Here  ; 

And  that  this  punishment  on  earth  is  given, 
That  my  pure  soul  may  rise  to  endless  bliss  in  heaven," 

Immediately  before  her  execution.  Queen  Mary  repeated  a  Latin 
prayer,  composed  by  herself,  and  which  has  been  set  to  a  beautiful 
plaintive  air,  by  Dr.  Harington,  of  Bath :  it  may  be  thus  paraphrased : 

"  In  this  last  solemn  and  tremendous  hour, 
My  Lord,  my  Saviour,  I  invoke  Thy  power! 
In  these  sad  pangs  of  anguish  and  of  death, 
Receive,  O  Lord,  Thy  suppliant's  parting  breath  ! 
Before  Thy  hallowed  cross,  she  prostrate  lies, 
O  hear  her  prayers,  commiserate  her  sighs  ! 
Extend  Thy  arms  of  mercy  and  of  love, 
.\nd  l)ear  her  to  Thy  peaceful  realms  r.bovo." 


The  Battle-field  of  Naseby.  487 

The  relics  of  the  ill-fated  Queen,  her  prison-houses,  and  memorials  of 
her  captivity,  are  very  numerous.  The  Lauder  family,  of  Grange  and 
Fountain  Hall,  possess  her  Memento  Mori  watch,  they  having  inherited 
it  from  their  ancestors,  the  Setoun  family.  It  was  given  by  Queen 
Mary  to  Mary  Setoun,  of  the  house  of  Wintoun,  one  of  the  four  Marys, 
maids  of  honour  to  the  Scottish  Queen.  This  very  curious  relic  must 
have  been  intended  to  be  placed  on  a  prie-dieu,  or  small  altar  in  a 
private  oratory ;  for  it  is  too  heavy  to  have  been  carried  in  any  way 
attached  to  the  person.  The  watch  is  of  the  form  of  a  skull :  on  the 
forehead  is  the  figure  of  Death,  standing  between  a  palace  and  a  cottage ; 
around  is  this  legend  from  Horace:  "Pallida  mors  aquo  fulsat  pede 
pattperum  tabernas  liegttmque  turres."  On  the  hind  part  of  the  skull  is 
a  figure  of  Time,  with  another  legend  from  Horace :  "  Tempus  edax 
renim  tuque  ini'id'tosa  'vetusias."  The  upper  part  of  the  skull  bears 
representations  ot  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  of  the 
Crucifixion,  each  with  Latin  legends ;  and  between  these  scenes  is  open- 
work, to  let  out  the  sound  when  the  watch  strikes  the  hours  upon  a 
small  silver  bell,  which  fills  the  hollow  of  the  skull,  and  receives  the 
works  within  it  when  the  watch  is  shut. 

The  Athol  family  possesses  another  interesting  memorial  of  the  un- 
fortunate Queen  in  the  Royal  Harp,  presented  by  her  to  the  daughter 
of  George  Gardyn,  after  a  magnificent  hunt  and  banquet  given  to  her 
Majesty  by  the  Earl  of  Athol,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Balmoral,  now 
also  honoured  as  the  abode  of  royalty.  This  harp  had  in  front  of  the 
upper  arm  the  Queen's  portrait,  and  the  arms  of  Scotland,  both  in  gold. 
On  the  right  side,  in  the  circular  space,  near  the  upper  end  of  the  fore- 
arm, was  placed  a  jewel  of  considerable  value;  and  on  the  opposite  side, 
in  a  similar  circular  space,  was  fixed  another  precious  stone ;  of  all 
which  it  was  despoiled  in  the  Rebellion,  1745. 


The  Battle-field  of  Naseby. 

The  village  of  Naseby,  in  the  north-western  portion  of  Northampton- 
shire, stands  upon  an  eminence,  supposed  to  be  t/x  highest  ground  in 
England ;  and  a  field  about  a  mile  northward  is  celebrated  in  history  as 
the  site  of  the  battle  which  determined  the  fate  of  the  Royal  cause,  on 
the  14th  of  June,  1645. 

King  Charles  \.  had,  a  fortnight  before,  taken  Leicester  by  storm, 
and  marching  southward  by  Harborough  to  Davcntry,  comix:lled 
Faii'fax  to  raise  the  siege  of  Oxford,  in  order  to  oppose  him.     On  the 


488  The  Battle-field  of  Nascby. 

approach  of  the  Parliamentarian  forces,  under  Fairfax  and  Cromwell,  to 
Northampton,  Charles  retreated  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Harborough, 
but  finding  his  enemies  close  in  pursuit,  he  determined  to  turn  upon 
them.  The  battle  was  fought  at  Naseby,  and  each  side  mustered  about 
8000  or  9000  men.  The  right  wing  of  each  army,  the  Royalists  under 
Rupert,  and  the  Parliamentarians  under  Cromwell,  was  victorious  ;  but 
while  Rupert  wasted  his  advantage  by  an  inconsiderate  pursuit,  Crom- 
well decided  the  day  by  charging  the  Royalist  centre  in  the  flank  and 
rear.  The  victory  was  decisive :  the  Royalists  had  800  killed  and 
wounded,  the  Parliamentarians  rather  more ;  but  they  took  4000 
prisoners  and  all  the  artillery,  besides  other  spoils  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance. 

Such  is  the  outline  of  this  decisive  and  memorable  conflict.  In  the 
autumn  of  1827,  Sir  Richard  'PhWWps  walked  over  t/.'e  Ifntt/e-^e/J,  ^nd 
his  observations  supplement  the  historical  details,  and  add  considerably 
to  their  interest.  "  The  Parliament  forces,"  says  Sir  Richard,  "  were  in 
possession  of  Nascby,  and  the  Royal  arnriy  advanced  up  the  rising 
ground  to  attack  and  dislodge  them.  The  heat  of  the  battle  was  in 
the  ascent  towards  the  trees.  Cromwell  practised  among  these  hills 
as  Wellington  did  at  Waterloo — he  concealed  his  masses  behind  the 
acclivities;  and  the  assailants  were  surprised,  and  easily  repulsed  with 
great  loss.  Charles  lied,  and  was  pursued  through  Harborough  even 
to  Leicester,  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles.  The  women  and  baggage 
of  his  army  were  captured  about  six  miles  from  the  field ;  and  in  re- 
taliation for  a  similar  slaughter  of  parliament  women  in  Cornwall,  these 
women  (the  officers'  wives,  and  even  some  ladies  of  rank),  were  in  a 
merciless  and  atrocious  manner  put  at  once  to  the  sword.  I  was  shown 
the  place  on  my  way  to  Harborough — and  we  may  hope  that  the  crime 
was  committed  without  the  knowledge  of  superiors  in  the  fury  of  the 
pursuit,  perhaps  by  men  who  had  lost  their  wives  in  the  Cornish  affair. 
It  was,  however,  a  cowardly  and  cruel  retaliation,  and  disgraceful  to 
the  great  cause  for  which  at  the  time  the  Parliament  forces  were  con- 
tending. 

"  At  Naseby,  they  still  show  the  table  at  which  the  council  of  the 
Parliament  ofliccrs  deliberated  before  the  battle ;  and  close  to  which 
rises  the  spring  that  originates  the  Welland.  On  the  same  hill  rises 
also  the  famous  Avon,  the  Ncn,  and  the  Swift,  all  following  in  different 
directions,  and  thereby  proving  that  Naseby  is  the  highest  land  in  several 
adjoining  counties.  I  distinguished  from  it  Mount  Sonel  at  thirty 
miles  distance,  and  all  the  high  lands  witiiin  forty  or  fifty  miles.  I 
collected  but  one  bullet  on  the  field ;  but  I  was  to'.d  that  tourists  and 


Holmby  House :  Seisure  of  CJuirles  I.  489 

antiquaries  have  made  every  relic  scarce.  The  lordship  had  recently 
been  divided  and  inclosed,  so  that  in  the  next  generation  hedges  and 
trees  will  disguise  the  site  of  the  lately  open  field  where  the  battle  was 
fought.  An  elegant  pillar  has  been  erected  on  the  field  with  the  follow- 
ing appropriate  inscription : — 

"To  COMMEMORATE  THE  GREAT  AND  DECISIVE  BATTLE  FOUGHT  ON  THIS 

:  i:i.D,  ON  THE  14  June,  1645,  between  the  Royalist  army,  commanded 
BV  HIS  majesty  King  Charles  I.,  and  the  Parliament  force,  headed 
BY  THE  Generals  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  ;  which  terminated 
fatally  for  the  royal  cause,  and  led  to  the  subversion  OF  the 

THRONE,  THE  ALTAR.  AND  THE  CONSTITUTION,  AND  FOR  YEARS  PLUNGED 
this  NATION  INTO  THE  HORUOKS  OF  ANARCHY  AND  CIVIL  WAR— LEAVING 
A  USEFUL  LESSON  TO  BRITISH  KINGS,  NEVER  TO  EXCEED  THE  BOUNDS  OF 
THEIR  JUST  PREROGATIVE — AND  TO  BRITISH  SUBJECTS,  NEVER  TO  SWERVE 
FROM  THE  ALLEGIANCE  DUE  TO  THEIR  LEGITIMATE  MONARCH. " 

After  Kirg  Charles  had  surrendered  himself  to  the  Scots,  at  Newark, 
and  been  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Parliamentary  Commissioners, 
he  was  brought  to  Holmby,  about  six  miles  north-west  of  Northamp- 
ton, as  described  in  the  next  page. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  bones  of  those  who  fell  at  Naseby  weie 

I'Iccted  some  years  after  the  battle,  and  transferred  to  the  church  of 
.Rothwell,  probably  soon  after  the  Revolution.  The  flower  of  England 
fell  at  Naseby ;  and  it  is  thought  that  the  bones  were  gathered  from  the 
trenches  in  which  the  bodies  were  probably  laid,  and  carried  to  the 
crypt,  where  they  were  piled  in  regular  order,  layers  of  skulls  alternating 
with  layers  of  bones.  Ail  are  the  bones  of  male  adults,  and  belong  to 
one  generation,  and  there  are  said  to  have  been  originally  3o,coo  skulls. 

1  addition  to  Naseby,  Bosworth  field,  in  the  adjoining  county,  might 
ii.ive  contributed  its  thousands.  The  suggestion  has  its  probabilities, 
but  the  identity  is  involved  in  much  doubt. 


Holmby  House  :  Seizure  of  Charles  I. 

Of  Holdenby,  or  Holmby  House,  on  a  rising  ground  about  six  miles 
north-west  of  Northampton,  there  exist  but  the  gates  and  some  out- 
buildings. Still  the  site  will  e^-er  be  memorable  as  almost  the  c!o:.iiig 
scene  in  the  unkingship  of  the  ill-fated  Charles  I.  The  mansion  was 
h\\\\l   by  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,   in  the  time  of  Queen  Kiizabeth, 

ith  much  magnificence,  in  contrast  with  which  the  eventful  scene  we 
arc  about  to  describe  pa'sents  a  saddening  effect. 

Alter  the  King  had  surrendered  himself  to  the  Scots  at  Newark, 


490  Hobnby  House :  Seizure  of  Charles  I. 

through  the  airangement  made  by  the  Scottish  Army  with  the  Englisli 
Parliament,  he  was  conducted  to  Holmby  House,  where  he  assumed, 
though  always  under  the  surveillance  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Parliament,  something  of  the  sovereign  state.  He  gave  receptions  to 
the  country  gentlemen  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  accepted  the  homage 
rendered  him  by  the  common  people ;  but  his  chief  time  appears  to 
have  been  divided  between  the  bowling-green  of  Althorpe,  the  corre- 
spondence or  conversation  with  his  adherents,  and  his  favourite  chess- 
board. It  was  not  long,  however,  that  he  was  permitted  to  enjoy  this 
calm.  Ere  a  few  months  had  passed,  his  confidential  friends  were 
dismissed,  and  his  chaplains  denied  admittance.  The  stniggle  pending 
between  the  Army  and  the  Parliament  to  decide  whose  captive  he  was 
to  be,  soon  approached  a  crisis.  The  Army,  conscious  of  its  increasing 
power,  determined  to  assert  its  authority.  By  means  of  a  petition 
conveyed  to  the  King,  in  which  the  army-leaders  hinted  at  restoring 
him  "  to  his  honour,  crown,  and  dignity,"  they  had  contrived  to  inspire 
liis  Majesty  with  some  confidence  in  their  intentions,  and  he  fell  with 
facility  into  the  plot  they  had  arranged  for  getting  him  into  their 
hands. 

It  happened  then,  one  afternoon,  when  the  King  was  playing  bowls 
on  the  green  at  Althorpe,  that  the  attention  of  the  Commissioners  who 
accompanied  him  was  directed  to  a  strange  soldier  in  the  uniform  of 
Fairfax's  regiment,  who  mingled  in  the  throng  of  spectators  and  evinced 
no  little  curiosity  as  to  what  was  passing.  At  length.  Colonel  Greaves, 
who  commanded  the  slender  garrison  of  Holmby,  accosted  the  man, 
and  inquired  what  was  going  on  in  the  Army  ?  and,  to  encourage  him, 
bade  him  not  be  afraid.  The  soldier  confidently  answered  that  he  was 
'*  not  afraid  of  him  or  of  any  man  in  the  kingdom,"  and  then  proceeded 
in  a  tone  of  authority  to  inveigh  against  the  Parliament.  There  had 
run  a  rumour  that  a  large  body  of  cavalry  was  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  the  Colonel  asked  the  stranger  whether  he  had  heard  of  them. 
"  I  have  done  more  than  hear  of  them,"  said  the  man,  "  for  I  saw  them 
yesterday  within  thirty  miles  of  Holmby."  At  this  a  whisper  circu- 
lated ;  the  mysterious  visitor  was  regarded  with  apprehension  ;  the 
King  left  his  recreation  ;  the  guards  at  Holmby  House  were  doubled ; 
and  the  Earl  of  Dumfcrmling,  who  was  present,  started  off  to  London  to 
apprise  the  Parliament  that  his  Majesty  was  carried  away  against  his  will. 

A  few  hours  later  a  squadron  of  fifty  horse,  led  by  the  suspicious 
stranger  just  spoken  of,  drew  up  before  the  house.  Upon  being  asked 
who  commanded  them,  they  answered  "  All  command  !"  Their  leader, 
who  proved  to  be  one  Joyce,  a  comet,  requested  to  speak  with  the 


Holmby  House:  Seizure  of  Charles  I.  491 

Commissioners,  to  whom  he  pretended  that,  hearing  there  was  an 
intention  to  steal  the  King  away,  the  Army  had  sent  this  body  ot 
cavalry  to  protect  him.  He  was  permitted  to  place  his  guards,  and 
the  Commissioners  promised  that  he  should  shortly  receive  their  com- 
mands. 

Late  at  night  Joyce  and  the  cavalry  again  appeared.  This  time  the 
Comet  demanded  to  speak  with  the  King.  The  Commissioners  appear 
to  have  held  him  for  some  time  in  parley,  as  he  afterwards  complained 
that  they  kept  him  in  discourse  till  the  King  was  asleep.  All  this  while 
the  soldiers  within  were  fraternizing  with  the  new-comers,  and  instead  of 
opposing  them,  flung  open  the  gates  for  their  admittance.  Joyce  then 
set  sentinels  at  the  chamber-doors  of  the  Commissioners,  and  made  his 
way  with  two  or  three  more  to  the  King's  sleeping-room,  knocked  at 
the  door,  and  demanded  admittance.  The  grooms  of  the  chamber 
inquired  if  the  Commissioners  approved  of  this  intrusion.  Joyce  rudely 
answered,  "  No,"  and  \\  ent  on  to  say  that  he  had  ordered  a  guard  to  be 
stationed  at  their  bedroom  doors,  and  that  his  instructions  were  from 
those  who  feared  them  not.  The  noise  of  this  conversation  awoke  the 
King,  who  rose  out  of  his  bed  and  caused  the  door  to  be  opened ; 
whereupon  Joyce  and  two  or  three  of  his  companions  came  into  the 
chamber  with  their  hats  off  and  pistols  in  their  hands.  The  Cornet 
commenced  his  business  by  an  apology  for  disturbing  his  Majesty's 
sleep,  but  said  he  had  imperative  commands  to  remove  him  to  the  Army 
without  delay.  The  King  demanded  that  the  Commissioners  should  be 
sent  for.  The  soldier  told  him  that  the  Commissioners  had  nothing 
now  to  do  but  to  return  back  to  the  Parliament.  The  King  then  asked 
for  a  sight  of  the  instructions  the  Comet  held  for  securing  his  person. 
Joyce  said  his  commission  came  from  "  the  soldiery  of  the  Army." 
The  King  objected,  "  that  is  no  lawful  authority,"  and  added,  "  I  pray, 
Mr.  Joyce,  deal  ingenuously  with  me,  and  tell  me  whence  are  your 
instructions."  The  Comet,  turning  round  and  pointing  to  his  ti-oopers, 
who  were  drawn  up  in  the  courtyard,  said,  "  There,  Sir,  there  are  my 
instructions."  Upon  which  the  King  observed,  with  a  smile,  "  Well,  I 
must  confess  they  are  written  in  very  fair  characters,  legible  enough 
without  spelling.  But  what  if  I  refuse  to  go  along  with  you  ?  I  trust 
you  would  not  compel  your  King.  You  must  satisfy  me  that  I  shall  be 
treated  with  honour  and  respect,  and  that  I  shall  not  be  forced  in  any- 
thing against  my  conscience  and  dignity,  though  I  hope  that  my 
resolution  is  so  constant  that  no  force  can  cause  me  to  do  a  base  thing." 
The  Comet  again  pressed  his  Majesty  to  accompany  him,  declaring 
that  no  prejudice  was  intended,  but,  on  the  contrary,  much  good. 


492  Holmhy  House :  Seizure  of  CJiarlcs  I. 

The  oflTicers  of  Holmby  and  the  Commissioners  now  protested  loudly 
against  the  removal  of  the  King,  and  called  upon  the  troopers  to  main- 
tain the  authority  of  Parliament,  putting:  it  to  them  whether  they  agreed 
with  what  Cornet  Joyce  had  said  and  done.  They  replied  with  one 
voice,  "  All!  All !"  Hearing  this,  Major-General  Brown,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  garrison  at  Holmby  with  Colonel  Greaves,  remarked 
that  he  did  not  think  there  were  two  of  the  company  who  knew  what 
had  passed.  "  Let  all,"  he  continued,  "  who  are  willing  the  King 
should  stay  with  the  Commissioners  of  Parliament  now  speak."  The 
whole  band  exclaimed  "  None !  none  !"  Then  said  the  Major-General, 
"I  have  done!"  and  the  men  replied,  "We  know  well  enough  what 
we  do." 

The  King,  after  breakfast,  got  into  his  coach,  and,  attended  by  a 
few  servants,  was  conducted  by  Cornet  Joyce  to  Hinchinbrook,  near 
Huntingdon,  the  house  of  Colonel  Edward  Montague,  where  he  was 
entertained  with  great  respect  and  satisfaction.  Immediately  upon  this 
astounding  abduction  of  the  sovereign  being  known,  Fairfax  despatched 
Colonel  A\  halley  with  two  rcg'mcnts  of  horse  to  escort  his  Majesty 
back  to  Holmby ;  but  the  King,  who  evic'cntly  was  not  without  hopes 
of  better  treatment  from  the  AiTny  than  he  had  of  late  experienced  from 
the  Commissioners,  positively  refused  to  go  back.  Whalley  assured 
him  that  he  had  an  express  command  to  see  all  things  well  settled  again 
about  his  Majesty,  which  could  not  be  effected  but  by  his  returning  to 
Holmby.  The  King  was  obdurate,  and  the  Colonel  desisted  from 
pressing  further.  On  the  following  day  Cromwell,  Fairfax,  Ireton,  and 
other  officers  had  an  interview  with  him  in  the  garden  of  Sir  John  Cutts, 
at  Childerly.  His  Majesty  put  the  question  to  Cromwell  and  Fairfax 
whether  it  v%'as  by  their  conjoint  or  single  authority  that  he  was  brought 
from  Holmby,  and  they  both  disowning  it,  he  remarked — "  Unless  you 
hang  up  Joyce,  I  will  not  believe  what  you  say."  It  was  soon  apparent 
that  Comet  Joyce  was  safe  fi^om  a  court  martial.  He  offered,  indeed, 
to  appeal  to  a  general  rendezvous  of  the  Army,  adding,  "  And,  if  three 
or  even  four  parts  of  the  Army  do  not  approve  of  my  proceedings,  I 
will  be  content  to  be  hanged  at  the  head  of  my  regiment."  "  Ay,"  ob- 
served the  King,  "  you  must  have  had  the  countenance  of  some  persons 
in  authority,  for  you  would  never  of  yourself  have  ventured  on  such  a 
treason." 

And  thus  ended  the  seizure  of  the  King  at  Holmby,  an  act  which 
was  a  mystery  to  his  contemporaries,  but  which  in  all  probability  was 
the  bold  invention  of  Cromwell  and  Ireton,  that  the  Army  might  become 
masters  of  the  Sovereign ;  and  which  they  had  cleverly  paved  the  way 


Catesby  Hall  and  the  Giuipoivdcr  Plot.        493 

for  by  leading  the  King  to  believe  the  Army  leaders  were  willing  to 
unite  with  him  against  the  Presbyterian  party.  Comet  Joyce  got  the 
whole  credit  of  the  daring  enterprise,  Cromwell  denying  it  was  with 
his  concurrence,  and  using  such  caution  that  the  King's  friends  ascribed 
to  him  the  sending  of  the  two  regiments  of  cavalry  under  Whalley  for 
the  immediate  protection  of  the  Monarch's  pei-son,  and  to  lead  him  back 
to  Holmby. 

These  very  interesting  details  of  the  circumstances,  evidently  drawn 
from  the  conflicting  statements  of  Clarendon,  Herbert,  "  The  True 
and  Impartial  Narrative,"  Holmes,  Whitelock,  and  the  Parliamentary 
History,  are  appended  to  a  clever  picture  of  the  seizure  at  Holmby, 
painted  by  John  Gilbert,  and  engraved  in  the  Illustrated  London  News, 
June  15,  1 86 1.  The  scene  is  the  royal  bedchamber:  the  King  having 
raised  himself  up  in  the  bed,  is  holding  the  colloquy  with  Joyce. 


Catesby  Hall  and  the  Gunpowder  Plot. 

At  Ashby  St.  Leger,  near  Daventry,  remains  to  this  day  the  gate- 
house of  the  ancient  manor  of  the  Catesby  family,  of  whom  Robert 
Catesby  was  the  contriver  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  and  is  stated  to  have 
nvcigled,  by  his  persuasive  eloquence,  several  of  the  other  twelve  con- 
pirators.  They  are  belie\ed  to  have  met  in  the  room  over  the  gateway, 
iiid  the  apartment  is  by  the  villagers  of  the  neighbourhood  called  the 
■  Plot  Room."  Of  the  thirteen  conspirators  five  only  were  engaged  in 
the  plot  at  its  commencement ;  four  (probably  six)  had  at  one  time 
been  Protestants ;  some  took  no  active  part,  but  furnished  part  of  the 
money ;  and  three  Jesuits,  who  were  privy  to  the  design,  counselled 
and  encouraged  the  conspirators.  Catesby  was  shot  with  Thomas  Percy, 
by  the  sheriffs'  oflTicers,  in  attempting  to  escape  at  Holbcach,  shortly 
after  the  discovery  of  the  treason. 

Guido  or  Guy  Fawkes  was  a  soldier  of  fortune  in  the  Spanish  service; 
he  was  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  and  a  schoolfellow  of  Bisliop  Morton  at 
York.  In  the  Ashmolean  Musi-'um,  at  Oxford,  are  preserved  the  rusty 
and  shattered  remains  of  the  lantern  which  Fawkes  carried  when  he 
was  seized.  It  is  of  iron,  and  a  dark  lantern  ;  the  movement  for  inclos- 
ing the  light  being  precisely  the  same  as  in  those  in  use  at  the  present 
day :  the  top,  squeezed  up  and  broken,  is  prescr^etl  with  it,  as  is 
also  the  socket  for  the  candle.  The  horn  or  glass  which  once  filled  the 
d(x>r  is  quite  gone.  On  a  brass  plate  affixed  to  one  side  of  the  lantern, 
the  following  Latin  inscription  is  engraved  in  script  band :— 


494  Cateshy  Hall  and  the  Gunpowder  Plot. 

"  Latcma  ilia  ipsa  qiix  usus  est  et  cum  qua  depiehcnsus  Guido  Faux 
in  Crypta  subterranca  ubi  domo  Parliamenti  difflanda  operam  debet. 
Ex  dono  Rob.  Heyvvood,  nuper  Acadcmia;  procuratoris,  Apr.  4°,  1641." 
And  the  following  is  written  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  deposited  in  the 
glass  case  with  the  lantera,  along  with  two  or  three  prints  and  papers 
relating  to  the  Powder  Plot : 

"  The  very  lantern  that  was  taken  from  Guy  Fawkes  when  he  was 
about  to  blow  up  the  Parliament  House.  It  was  given  to  the  Univer- 
sity in  1 64 1,  according  to  the  inscription  on  it,  by  Robert  Hey  wood, 
Proctor  of  the  University  " 

It  is  constantly  asserted  by  Roman  Catholic  writers  that  the  priests 
and  others  who  were  executed  in  the  reigns  of  James  I.  and  Elizabeth 
were  martyrs  to  tlie  faith  ;  and  the  inference  they  would  draw  is,  that 
the  Church  of  England  is  as  open  to  the  charge  of  persecution  as  the 
Church  of  Rome.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  Elizabeth's  advisers  did 
not  consider  that  they  were  putting  men  to  death  for  religion  ;  whilst,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  martyrs  under  Queen  Mary  were  committed  to  the 
flames  as  heretics,  not  as  traitors  or  offenders  against  the  laws  of  the 
land.  They  were  put  to  death  according  to  the  mode  prescribed  in 
cases  of  heresy ;  whereas  the  Papists  were  both  tried  and  executed  for 
treason,  which  is  an  offence  against  the  State.  The  only  way  in  which 
it  can  be  said  that  such  persons  suffered  for  religion  is  this,  viz.  that 
their  religion  led  them  into  treason.  From  the  year  1570  to  1600, 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  Protestant  religion  were  constantly  exposed  to 
the  machinations  of  the  active  partisans  of  the  Roman  See,  who  were 
encouraged  by  the  Pope  himself.  Every  Pontiff  pursued  the  same 
course.  There  was  a  settled  purpose  at  Rome,  and  indeed  throughout 
the  whole  Romish  confederacy,  to  dethrone  Elizabeth  and  overturn  the 
Anglican  Church.  Nor  is  it  a  libel  on  the  Church  of  Rome  to  say, 
that  in  all  these  proceedings  she  acted  on  recognised  principles— prin- 
ciples which  had  received  the  solemn  sanction  of  her  councils.  To  root 
out  heresy  by  any  means  within  their  i-each  was  deemed,  or,  at  all  events, 
was  asserted  to  be,  a  sacred  duty  incumbent  on  all  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  The  doctrhie  may  be  denied  in  the  present  day, 
when  circumstances,  we  hope,  do  not  admit  of  its  being  carried  into 
practice;  but,  unquestionably,  it  was  not  merely  believed  as  an  article 
of  faith  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  for  attempts  were  constantly  made  to 
enforce  the  infamous  bull  of  excommunication  of  Pius  V.,  from  which 
the  treasons  in  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  naturally  flowed. 
James  I.  succeeded  to  the  throne  at  a  period  when  the  eyes  of  Romanists 
were  fastened  on  England  as  their  prey.     A  conspiracy  was  in  agitation 


Catesby  Hall  and  the  Gnnpozvder  Plot.  495 

b.fbrc  the  death  of  Elizabeth  ;  and  the  confessions  and  examinations  of 
the  gunpowder  conspirators  show  that  a  plot  was  partly  contrived  before 
James's  accession. 

Catesby  Hall  is  otherwise  noted  than  for  its  association  with  the 

Gunpowder  Plot.  The  house  formerly  belonged  to  Sir  Richard  Catesby, 

;ie  of  the  three  favourites  who  ruled  the  kingdom  under  Richard  III., 

I  he  others  being  Sir  Richard  RatclifFe  and  Viscount  Lovell,  on  whom 

the  following  humorous  distich  was  made : — 

"  The  Rat,  the  Cat,  and  Lovell  our  Dog, 
Rule  all  England  under  the  Hog;" 

alluding  to  the  King's  adoption  of  a  boar  as  one  of  the  supporters  of  the 
Royal  arms.  After  the  Battle  of  Bosworth,  this  Sir  William  Catesby 
was  beheaded  at  Leicester,  and  his  lands  escheated ;  but  Henry  VU. 
(1496)  restored  them  to  Catesby's  son  George,  from  whom  they  de- 
scended, in  course  of  time,  to  Sir  William  Catesby,  who  was  convicted, 
during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  (1581),  of  harbouring  Jesuits  here,  and 
celebrating  mass.  His  son  and  successor  was  the  above  conspirator, 
Robert  Catesby,  who  had  severely  suffered  in  the  last  reign  for  recusancy, 
and  in  revenge  had  been  long  engaged  in  endeavouring  to  bring  about 
an  invasion  of  England  by  the  Spaniards.  Several  of  the  conspirators. 
were  recent  converts  to  Romanism.  Such  was  Catesby ;  he  had  been 
engaged  in  Essex's  insurrection,  as  had  some  of  the  others.  Fawkes  had 
but  recently  returned  from  abroad,  and  he  appears  to  have  been  a  mere 
soldier  of  fortune,  the  hired  servant  of  the  rest,  who  were  all  gentlemen 
of  property. 

*'  This  plot  is  usually  spoken  of  as  unprecedented  in  its  nature,  but 
such  is  not  the  case:  Swedish  history  furnishes  two  instances  of  gun- 
powder plots,  real  or  pretended.  Christian  II.  made  such  a  plot  the 
pretext  for  his  barbarous  executions  at  Stockholm  in  1520 ;  and  in 
1:533  the  regency  of  Lubeck  engaged  some  Germans  to  blow  up 
Gustavus  Vasa,  while  holding  the  diet,  but  the  plan  was  discovered  on 
the  very  eve  of  its  execution." — Annals  of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  341. 


496 


HUNTINGDON  AND  CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 
Kimbolton  Castle, 

This  famous  Castle,  though  i:i-naturedly  termed  by  Horace  Walpole 
an  ugly  place,  and  by  dull  topographers  an  "  antient  stone  building," 
has  fortunately  found  a  more  genial  and  appreciative  writer  to  chronicle 
the  chequered  history  of  the  personages  who  have  resided  here,  and 
illustrate  the  autographic  treasures  deposited  within  its  walls,  and  known 
as  the  Kimbolton  Papers.  At  the  commencement  of  the  year  i86r, 
Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon  visited  the  Duke  of  Manchester  at  Kimbolton 
Castle,  and,  under  peculiar  advantages,  drew  a  vivid  and  characteristic 
picture  of  the  place,  printed  in  the  Athenaum  for  January,  1861,  and 
of  which  we  have  taken  the  liberty  to  avail  ourselves  for  the  following 
descriptive  information : — 

"  Kimbolton  Castle,  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Manchester,  stands  at  the 
head  of  our  great  flat  or  fen  country,  and  is  the  centre  of  all  the 
histories  and  legends  of  the  shire  of  Huntingdon.  Though  pulled 
about  and  rebuilt  by  Sir  John  Vanbrugh,  the  Castle  has  still  a  grand . 
antique  and  feudal  air.  The  memories  which  hang  about  it  are  in  the 
last  degree  romantic  and  imposing.  There  Queen  Katherine  of  Arragon 
died.  There  the  Civil  Wars  took  shape.  Yet  Kimbolton  is  not  more 
rich  in  grand  traditions  than  in  historical  pictures  and  in  historical 
papers.  All  the  Montagus  hang  upon  its  walls, — Judges.  Ambassadors, 
Earls,  and  Dukes.  The  originals  of  very  many  of  Walpole's  Letters 
are  in  its  library.  In  the  same  presses  are  many  unpublished  letters  of 
Joseph  Addison — of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Marlborough — and  of 
Sir  John  Vanbrugh,  together  with  the  originals  of  a  great  mass  of  cor- 
respondence with  authors,  artists,  generals,  statesmen,  ministers,  and 
kings.  On  this  rich  mine  of  anecdote  and  gossip  (says  Mr.  Dixon)  I 
shall  draw — with  the  Duke's  permission  ;  but  my  first  concern  is  with 
the  more  poetical  legends  of  Queen  Katherine  and  Queen  Katherine's 
ghost. 

"  Kimbolton  is  perhaps  the  only  house  now  left  in  England  in  which 
you  still  live  and  move,  distinguished  as  the  scene  of  an  act  in  one  of 
Shakspeare's  plays.     Where  now  is  the  royal  palace  of  Northampton  ? 


Kim  bo  I  ton  Castle.  497 

— where  the  baronial  halls  of  Warkworth  ?  Time  has  trodden  under 
foot  the  pride  of  Langley  and  Ely  House.  The  Tower  has  become  a 
barrack.  Bridewell  a  jail.  Ivy  has  eaten  into  the  stone  of  Pomfret. 
Flint  has  fallen  into  the  Dee.  ^^"estminster  Abbey,  indeed,  remains 
much  as  when  Shakspeare  opened  the  Great  Contention  of  York  and 
Lancaster  with  the  dead  hero  of  Agincourt  lying  there  in  state  ;  and  the 
Temple  Gardens  have  much  the  same  shape  as  when  he  made  Plantagenct 
pluck  the  white  rose,  Somerset  the  red ;  but  for  a  genuine  Shakspeariau 
house,  in  which  men  still  live  and  love,  still  dress  and  dine,  to  which 
guests  come  and  go,  in  which  children  frisk  and  sport,  where  shall  wc 
look  beyond  the  walls  of  Kimbolton  Castle? 

"  Of  this  Shaksf>earian  pile  Queen  Katherine  is  the  glory  and  the  fear. 
The  room  in  which  she  died  remains.  The  chest  in  which  she  kept  her 
clothes  and  jewels,  her  own  cipher  on  the  lid,  still  lies  at  the  foot  of  the 
grand  staircase,  in  the  gallery  leading  to  the  seat  she  occupied  in  the 
private  chapel.  Her  spirit,  the  people  of  the  Castle  say,  still  haunts 
the  rooms  and  corridors  in  the  dull  gloaming  or  at  silent  midnight.  In 
the  Library,  among  a  mass  of  loose  notes  and  anecdotes  set  down  in  a 
handwriting  unknown  to  me,  but  of  the  last  century,  I  one  day  found  a 
story  of  her  in  her  early  happy  time,  which  is,  I  think,  singularly  pretty 
and  romantic.     Has  it  ever  been  in  print  ?  < 

"  The  legend  told  in  this  unknown  hand — whether  truth  or  fable — 
runs  in  this  wise : — In  the  bright  days  of  Katherine's  wedded  love,  long 
before  Hal  had  become  troubled  in  his  conscience  by 

'  The  gospel  light  that  shone  in  Boleyn's  eyes, ' 

Montagu,  her  Master  of  the  Horse,  fell  crazily  in  love  with  her.  Not 
daring  to  breathe  in  her  chaste  ear  one  word,  or  even  hint  this  passion 
for  her  by  a  glance  or  sigh,  the  young  gallant  stifled 

'  The  mighty  hunger  of  the  heart,' 

only  permitting  himself,  from  time  to  time,  the  sweet  reward  of  a  gentle, 
as  }-.e  thought  imperceptible,  pressure  of  the  Queen's  hand  as  she  vaulted 
to  her  mare  for  a  ride,  or  descended  after  her  sport  with  the  falcon. 
That  tender  touch,  as  light  as  love,  as  secret  as  an  unboni  hope,  sent  the 
warm  soft  blood  of  youth  careering  through  his  veins  ;  but  the  passionate 
and  poetic  joy  was  too  pure  to  last.  Katherine  felt  the  fire  that  touched 
her  fingers  ;  and  as  the  cold  Spanish  training,  which  allows  no  pressure 
of  hands  between  the  sexes,  or  indeed  any  of  those  exquisite  and  inno- 
cent familiarities  by  which  the  approach  of  love  is  signalled  from  heart 
to  heart  in  more  favoured  lands,  gave  her  no  clue  to  the  strange 

•  K   K 


498         Ramsey  Abbey i  and  its  Learned  Monks. 

behaviour  of  her  Gentleman  of  the  Horse,  she  ran  with  the  thoughtless 
gaiety  of  a  child  to  ask  counsel  of  the  King. 

"Tell  me,  sir,"  says  the  Queen,  "what  a  gentleman  in  this  country 
means  when  he  squeezes  a  lady's  hand  ?  " 

"Ha,  ha  !"  roars  the  King,  "  but  you  must  first  tell  me,  chick,  does 
any  gentleman  squeeze  your  hand  :" 

"  Yes,  sweetheart,"  says  the  innocent  Queen ;  "  my  Gentleman  of 
the  Horse." 

Montagu  went  away  to  the  wars.  An  attack  was  about  to  be  made 
on  the  enemy's  lines,  and  the  desperate  young  Englishman  begged  to 
have  the  privilege  of  fighting  in  the  front.  Gashed  with  pikes,  he  was 
carried  to  his  tent ;  and  in  the  blood  in  which  his  life  was  fast  oozing 
away  he  wrote  these  words  to  the  Queen — 

'  Madam,  I  die  of  your  love.' 

"  When  the  poor  Queen  herself,  many  years  after  the  date  of  this 
remarkable  incident,  came  to  Kimbolton  Castle  to  die,  it  was  the 
property  of  the  Wingfields,  not  of  the  Montagus.  The  present  family 
were  not  her  jailers,  nor  are  they  thought  to  be  in  any  way  obnoxious 
to  the  regal  shade.  To  them  the  legend  of  her  haunting  spirit  is 
a  beautiful  adornment  of  their  home. 

"  There  are,  in  popular  belief,  two  ghosts  at  the  Castle  and  the  sur- 
rounding Park :  one  of  the  unhappy  Qiieen  ;  one  of  the  stem  Judge, 
Sir  John  Popham,  whose  fine  old  portrait  hangs  in  the  great  hail. 
Katherine  of  Arragon  is  said  to  haunt  the  house,  to  float  through  and 
through  the  galleries,  and  to  people  the  dark  void  spaces  with  a 
mysterious  awe  ;  Sir  John  to  sit  astride  the  Park  wall  or  lie  in  wait  for 
rogues  and  poachers  under  the  great  elms.  The  poetical  interest  centres 
in  the  Queen." 

Mr.  Dixon  thus  describes  the  Queen's  Chamber,  the  room  in  which 
she  died,  where  a  panel  leads  to  what  is  called  her  hiding-places.  "  Mere 
dreams,  no  doubt,  but  people  here  believe  them.  They  say  the  ghost 
glides  about  after  dark,  robed  in  her  long  white  dress,  and  with  the 
royal  crown  upon  her  head,  through  the  great  hall,  and  along  the  cor- 
ridor to  the  private  chapel,  or  up  the  grand  staircase,  past  the  Pellegrini 
cartoons." 


Ramsey  Abbey,  and  its  Learned  Monks. 

Ramsey,  ten  miles  from  Huntingdon,  derives  its  origin  from  a 
Benedictine  Abbey,  founded  on  an  island  or  dry  spot  in  the  marshes, 
called  Ram's  ey — ix.  Ram's  Island,  in  the  reign  of  Edgar,  A.D.  969,  on 


Ramsey  Abbey,  and  its  Learned  Monks.         499 

land  given  by  Ail  wine,  duke  or  earl  of  the  East  Angles,  and  founded  at 
the  instigation  of  Oswald,  successively  Bishop  of  Worcester  and  Arch- 
bishop of  York.  The  Abbey  obtained  great  wealth  and  repute. 
Many  of  the  abbots  and  monks  were  men  of  considerable  learning.  A 
school,  almost  coeval  with  the  Abbey  itself,  was  established  within  its 
walls,  and  became  one  of  the  most  celebrated  seats  of  learning  in 
England  during  the  latter  part  of  the  tenth  century,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Abbo,  one  of  the  foreign  monks  whom  Oswald  had  brought 
hither  from  Fleury.  The  libraiy  was  celebrated  for  its  collection  of 
Hebrew  books,  previously  belonging  to  the  synagogues  at  Stamford  and 
Huntingdon,  and  purchased  at  the  confiscation  of  the  Jews'  property 
in  England,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  by  Gregory  Huntingdon,  a 
monk  of  the  Abbey :  Robert  Dodford,  another  monk,  was  also  eminent 
for  his  attainments  in  Hebrew ;  and  a  third,  Robert  Holbeach,  of  the 
time  of  Henry  IV.,  profiting  by  the  labour  of  his  predecessors,  com- 
piled a  Hebrew  Lexicon.  The  Reformation  broke  up  the  library,  and 
interrupted  the  studies  that  had  distinguished  this  secluded  spot  in  the 
dark  ages.  The  Abbots  of  Ramsey  were  mitred.  The  only  remains 
of  the  Abbey,  which  stood  not  far  from  the  church,  are  the  ruined 
gateway,  a  rich  specimen  of  Decorated  English  architecture,  but  in  a 
very  dilapidated  condition;  and  a  statue  of  Earl  Ailwine,  the  founder, 
supposed  to  be  one  of  the  most  ancient  pieces  of  sculpture  extant. 

St.  Ives,  six  miles  east  of  Huntingdon,  derives  its  name  from  Ivex 
or  St.  Ives,  a  Norman  ecclesiastic,  said  to  have  visited  England  as  a 
missionary  about  a.d.  600,  and  whose  supposed  remains  were  dis- 
covered here  some  centuries  afterwards.  On  the  spot  where  they  were 
found,  the  Abbots  of  Ramsey,  to  whom  the  manor  belonged,  first 
built  a  church,  and  then  a  Priory,  subordinate  to  Ramsey  Abbey,  which 
priory  remained  till  the  Dissolution.  The  dove-house  and  bam  of  the 
ancient  Priory  are  yet  standing.* 


•  An  ii  -of  the  age,  took  place  nt  Warboys,  in  this  county, 

near  the  I  ili  century.    The  chililrcn  of  Robert  Throckmorton, 

Esq.,  havi;„ l)y  fits  of  a  peculiar  kind,  and  the  lady  of  Sir  Henry 

Cromwell  having  died  after  experiencing  similar  fits,  a  family  named  Samwelf, 
consisting  of  an  old  man,  and  his  wife  and  daughter,  (Agnes,)  were  charged 
withbe«i    "  1;  and  haviii;   '         ■       (1  guilty  at  the  Lent  Assizes,  A.D. 

1593,  wf!  They  arc  •  known  as  "the  Witclios  of  War- 

boys."     ^  romwell,  to  V  111  of  the  manor   their  yoixls  were 

forfeited,  gave  tliciii  as  an  endowmeii'  for  ever  for  preaching  an  annual  sermon 
at  Huntingdon,  against  the  sin  of  witchcraft ;  and  the  sermon  continued  to  be 
preached  long  sifter  the  statutes  against  witchcraft  were  repealed. 

K  K  a 


500 

Castles  of  Cambridge  and  Ely. 

The  first  well  autliciiticatcd  feet  relating  to  the  histoiy  of  Cambridge 
is  the  bimiing  of  it,  together  with  the  monasteries  of  Ely,  Soham,  and 
Thorncy,  and  the  slaughtering  of  the  monks  by  the  Danes,  in  revenge 
for  the  death  of  Leofric.  In  S-j^^  Cambridge  was  the  head-quarters  of 
the  Danes,  under  Guthrum,  who  remained  there  a  twelvemonth.  In 
loio  Cambridge  was  again  destroyed  by  the  Danes.  Whilst  the  Isle 
of  Ely  was  held  against  William  the  Conqueror  by  the  English  nobility, 
that  monarch  built  a  Castle  at  Cambridge — Grose  says  in  the  first 
year  of  his  reign  :  Ordcricus  Vitalis  says  in  1068.  In  1088,  Cambridge 
shared  the  fate  of  the  county  in  being  laid  waste  with  fire  and  sword 
in  the  cause  of  Robert  Curthose.  King  John  was  at  Cambridge  on 
the  i6th  of  September,  12 16,  about  a  month  before  his  death.  On 
his  departure  he  entrusted  the  defence  of  the  Castle  to  Jules  de  Brent, 
but  it  was  soon  after  taken  by  the  Barons  ;  and  after  the  King's  death 
a  Council  was  held  at  Cambridge  between  the  Barons  and  Louis  the 
Dauphin.  In  1249  we  have  the  first  notice  of  great  discord  between 
the  townsmen  of  Cambridge  and  the  scholars  of  the  University.  Upon 
the  first  symptoms  of  an  approaching  war  between  King  Charles  and 
his  Parliament,  the  University  of  Cambridge  demonstrated  their 
loyalty ;  but  in  164;^,  Cromwell,  who  had  twice  represented  the  borough, 
took  possession  of  the  town  for  the  Parliament,  and  put  in  it  a  garrison 
of  1000  men.  In  August  1645,  the  King  appeared  with  his  Army  before 
it,  and  the  heads  of  the  University  voted  their  plate  to  be  melted  down 
for  the  King's  use  ; — but  we  have  no  account  of  any  siege  or  assault 
upon  the  town  ;  nor  does  anything  occur  which  connects  it  with  the 
civil  history  of  the  country  from  that  to  the  present  time.  The  Castle, 
Avhich  is  said  to  have  been  erected  on  the  site  of  a  Danish  fortress,  was 
sufltred  to  go  to  decay  at  least  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.; 
all  that  remains  of  the  ancient  buildings  is  the  gatehouse. 

Among  the  troubles  of  Ely,  we  find  that  in  1018  the  monks  who 
went  to  the  battle  of  Assendune  to  pray  for  their  countrymen,  were 
all  massacred  by  the  Danes.  And  in  1037,  at  Ely,  died  in  prison, 
Alfred,  the  eldest  son  of  Ethelred  II.,  whose  eyes  had  been  put  out  by 
order  of  Harold  I. 

When  William  the  Conqueror  invaded  England,  the  most  obstinate 
resistance  which  he  experienced  was  in  the  Isle  of  Ely.  William, 
designing  to  take  the  Isle,  built  a  Castle  at  Wisbeach  and  a  fortress  at 
Reche,  and  invested  the  Isle  by  land  and  water,  but  was  forced  to 
retire.    Hereward  le  Wake,  son  of  Leofric  lord  of  Brunne  (Bourne  ?) 


Castles  of  Cambridge  and  Ely.  501 

in  Lincolnshire,  had  been  banished  in  early  life  for  his  violent  temper ; 
and  having  signalized  his  valour  in  foreign  parts,  was  in  Flanders  when 
the  battle  of  Hastings  was  fought  in  io65.  Hearing  that  his  paternal 
inheritance  had  been  given  to  a  Norman  and  his  mother  ill-used,  he 
returned  to  England,  and  commenced  hostilities  against  the  usurper  of 
his  patrimony.  The  Isle  of  Ely  was  his  central  station,  and  he  built 
on  it  a  wooden  Castle,  which  long  retained  his  name.  William 
surrounded  the  island  with  his  fleet  and  arniy,  attempting  to  make  a 
passage  through  the  fens  by  solid  roads  in  some  parts  and  bridges  in 
others ;  and  either  awed  by  the  superstition  of  the  times,  or  wishing  to 
make  it  subser\ient  to  his  interests,  he  got  a  witch  to  march  at  the  head 
of  his  Army  and  try  the  effect  of  her  incantations  against  Hereward. 
The  Anglo-Saxon,  no  way  daunted,  set  fire  to  the  reeds  and  other 
vegetation  of  the  fens,  and  the  witch  and  the  troops  who  followed  her 
perished  in  the  flames.  The  actions  of  Hereward  became  the  theme 
of  popular  songs,  and  the  Conqueror's  own  Secretary,  stated  to  be 
Ingulphus,  has  penned  his  eulogium.  During  his  warfare  against  the 
Nonnans,  his  camp  was  the  refuge  of  the  friends  of  Saxon  indepen- 
dence. Morcar,  Earl  of  Northumbria,  Stigand,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, Ellgwin,  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  others  repaired  to  him.  The 
defence  of  the  Isle  lasted  till  1074,  and  the  Conqueror  penetrated  at  last 
only  by  virtue  of  a  compact  with  the  monks  of  Ely,  whose  land 
beyond  the  island  he  had  seized.  Hereward,  unsubdued,  contrived  to 
make  his  peace  with  the  King,  obtained  the  restoration  of  his  inheri- 
tance, and  died  quietly  in  his  bed. 

In  the  Civil  Wars  of  Stephen  and  the  Empress  Maud,  the  Bishop  of 
Ely,  who  supported  the  latter,  built  a  wootlen  Castle  at  Ely,  and 
fortified  the  Castle  of  Aldreth,  (in  Haddenham  parish,)  \vhich  appears 
to  have  commanded  one  of  the  approaches  to  the  Isle.  In  1140 
it  was  attacked  by  the  army  of  King  Stei>hen,  who  went  himself  with  a 
fleet  of  small  vessels  to  Aldreth,  entered  the  island,  and  marched  to  Ely ; 
but  it  was  retaken,  about  the  year  1 142,  by  the  Bishop;  and  two 
years  after  the  Earl  of  Essex,  having  gone  over  to  the  Empress  Maud, 
had  the  Castles  of  Aldreth  and  Ely  for  his  charge.  He  committal 
many  depredations  on  the  King's  demesnes,  and  lost  his  life  at  the  siege 
of  Burwell  Castle.  The  Isle  afterwards  sufflred  much  from  the  ravage 
of  war,  and  from  famine  and  pestilence,  the  consequence  of  these 
hostilities. 

In  the  Ci\-il  War  bc-tween  John  and  his  Karons,  the  Isle  was  twice 
ravaged  by  the  King's  troops :  first,  under  Walter  de  Baneck,  with  a 
party  of  Brabanters,  who  entered  the  Isle  opposite  Herebie,  and  plundered 


502     The  Isle  of  Ely :  its  Monastery  and  Cathedral. 

the  monastery.  Afterwards  it  was  attacked  by  Fulk  de  Brent,  the 
King's  favourite,  who  had  been  appointed  governor  of  Cambridge 
Castle,  and  his  confederates.  This  was  about  the  year  1216.  About 
the  same  time,  the  Barons  took  Cambridge  Castle,  and  the  King  march- 
ing into  Cambridgeshire,  did,  as  Holinshed  expresses  it,  "hurt  enough ;" 
but  on  the  King's  retreat,  the  Barons  recovered  the  Isle  of  Ely,  except 
one  Castle,  probably  that  at  Ely.  In  the  troubles  which  marked  the 
close  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  the  Isle  was  again  the  scene  of  contest. 
It  was  taken  and  fortified  by  the  Barons,  who  ravaged  the  county,  and 
took  and  plundered  Cambridge,  and  established  themselves  in  the  Isle  of 
Ely,  which  they  fortified.  In  1266-7,  the  King,  joined  at  Cambridge 
by  Prince  Edward,  with  a  Scottish  army  of  30,000  men,  marched  his 
forces  to  Windsor,  when  the  Barons  entered  the  town,  burnt  the  King's 
house,  and  threatened  Baniwell  Priory,  but  their  patrons  the  Peeches 
saved  it.  Prince  Edward  took  the  Isle  of  Ely  almost  without  oppo- 
sition. 


The  Isle  of  Ely:  its  Monastery  and  Cathedral. 

According  to  Bede,  the  word  Ely,  which  was  given  to  the  large 
district  of  fens  in  which  the  city  is  situated,  as  well  as  the  city  itself,  is 
derived  from  Elgee  or  Elig,  an  eel,  and  consequently  has  reference  to 
the  abundance  of  eels  in  the  neighbourhood.  But  most  antiquaries 
derive  the  appellatron  from  Helig,  a  British  name  for  the  willow,  which 
grows  in  great  numbers  in  the  Isle,  and  hence  it  was  called  Willoiv 
Island.  "Such  secluded  and  inaccessible  retreats  were  commonly 
chosen  by  the  Saxons  for  security  when  the  open  pai-ts  of  the  country 
were  overrun  with  armies.  The  '  hardy  outlaw,'  Hercward,  the  last  of 
the  Saxons  who  held  out  against  William  of  Normandy,  retreated  upon 
Ely  ;  and  a  party  of  the  Barons,  after  the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Evesham, 
here  made  their  last  resistance  to  Edward." — (Macke/izie  JValcott,  M.J.) 

Ely  is  a  city  and  county  of  itself,  and  the  seat  of  a  bishop's  see.  The 
foundation  of  its  magnificent  Cathedral  is  due  to  the  piety  of  St.  Ethel- 
dreda,  who  was  bom  at  a  small  village  called  Exning,  near  Newmarket, 
about  the  year  630.  The  early  part  of  her  life  she  devoted  to  the 
cloister.  About  the  year  652  she  married,  at  the  solicitation  of  her 
parents,  Toubert,  a  nobleman  of  East  Anglia.  By  this  marriage,  the 
Isle  of  Ely  fell  to  her  as  a  dowry ;  and  thither,  on  the  death  of 
Toubert,  which  occurred  about  three  years  after  their  espousal,  she 
retired  to  her  former  pious  meditations.  She  subsequently  married 
Egftide,  son  of  the  King  of  Northumberland,  and,  by  this  alliance, 


TJie  Isle  of  Ely :  its  Monastery  and  Cathedral.     503 

eventually  became  Queen.  She  then  withdrew  from  Court,  with  the 
sanction  of  the  King,  took  up  her  abode  in  the  Abbey  of  Goldington, 
took  the  veil,  and  at  length  retired  to  Ely,  and  laid  the  foundation  of 
her  church  and  monastery,  over  which  she  reigned  Abbess  about  six 
years.  Her  pious  life  and  gentle  sway  endeared  her  to  all  around  her ; 
and  she  died  universally  honoured,  a.d.  679,  leaving  the  Isle  of  Ely  as 
an  endowment  to  this  convent.  Her  sister  Sexberga  succeeded  her,  and 
lived  twenty  years  as  Abbess.  This  lady  was  followed  by  her  daughter 
Erminilda,  who  was  succeeded  by  her  daughter  Werberga.  Little  is 
known  after  this  of  the  heads  of  tlie  convent  for  a  number  of  yeare. 

During  the  repeated  incursions  of  the  Danes  the  monastery  was 
ruined ;  it  was  pillaged,  its  sacred  walls  were  destroyed,  and  its  inmates 
put  to  the  sword.  At  this  period  the  Danes  were  enabled  to  sail  their 
ships  close  up  to  the  v/alls  of  the  town,  the  river  being  much  deeper;  in 
lact,  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  an  arm  of  the  sea.  One  of  the  oldest 
songs  extant  is  a  war  lyric  of  these  Northmen,  which  relates  that  they 
heard  the  monks  ot  Ely  singing  their  hymns  as  they  were  sailing  round 
the  walls  at  night.  The  site  is  rendered  famous  by  the  old  ballad  of  King 
Canute: — 

"  Merrily  sang  the  monks  within  Ely 

When  Canute  the  King  rowed  thereby  ; 

(kow  mo,  Knights,  the  shore  along, 

And  listen  to  these  monks'  song.") 

About  the  year  970  it  was  rebuilt  by  Ethelwold,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, who  converted  it  into  a  monastery,  and  provided  it  with  monks, 
to  which  King  Edgar  and  many  succeeding  monarchs  gave  great  privi- 
leges and  grants  of  land,  so  that  the  Abbey,  in  process  of  time,  became 
one  of  the  richest  in  England.  The  charter  of  King  Edgar  was  con- 
firmed by  Canute  and  Edward  the  Confessor,  and  subsequently  by 
the  Pope.  The  Isle  was  gallantly  defended  against  William  the  Con- 
queror; but  after  repeated  attacks  the  inhabitants  were  obliged  to 
surrender.  Many  of  them  were  put  to  the  sword,  and  most  of  the 
valuable  furniture  and  jewels  of  the  monastery  were  seized ;  but  through 
the  firmness  of  Theodwin,  who  had  been  made  Abbot,  the  property  was 
restored.  The  monastery  was  successively  governed  by  nine  Abbots; 
the  ninth  being  Simeon,  the  founder  of  the  present  structure — that  is  to 
say,  of  the  choir,  transepts,  central  tower,  and  a  portion  of  the  nave. 
These  jwrtions  were  begun  A.D.  1083  ;  but  Simeon  did  not  live  to  see 
them  finished.  They  were  completed  by  his  successor.  Abbot  Richard. 
Of  this  work  it  is  ascertained  that  little  more  than  the  lowest  story  of 
the  transept  remains. 


504     The  Isle  of  Ely:   its  Monastery  and  Cathedral. 

Richard,  the  eleventh  Abbot,  wishing  to  free  himself  of  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  within  whose  diocese  his  monastery  was  situated,  and  not 
liking  so  powerful  a  superior,  made  great  interest  with  King  Henry  I. 
to  get  Ely  erected  into  a  bishopric,  and  spared  neither  purse  nor  prayers 
to  bring  this  about.  He  even  brought  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  to  consent 
to  it,  by  giving  him  and  his  successors  the  manore  of  Bugden,  Biggles- 
wade, and  Spalding,  which  belonged  to  the  Abbey,  in  lieu  of  his 
jurisdiction ;  but  he  lived  not  to  taste  the  fruits  of  his  industry  and 
ambition,  for  he  died  before  his  Abbey  was  erected  into  a  see;  his 
successor  was  the  first  Bishop  of  Ely.  The  lands  of  the  monastery 
were  divided  between  the  bishopric  and  the  monks,  and  the  monastciy 
was  governed  by  the  Lord  Prior.  But  the  great  privileges  the  Bishops 
enjoyed  daring  a  long  succession  of  years  were  almost  wholly  taken 
away  or  much  restricted  during  the  reign  of  Henry  VUL,  who  granted 
a  charter  to  convert  the  conventual  church  into  a  cathedMl.  The 
structure  is  the  workmanship  of  many  different  periods,  and  displays  a 
singular  mixture  of  various  styles  of  architecture,  but,  taken  as  a  whole, 
it  is  a  noble  work.  The  most  ancient  part,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the 
transept,  which  was  erected  in  the  reigns  of  William  Rufus  and 
Henry  L 

From  the  roof  of  King's  College  Chapel,  at  Cambridge,  the  distinctive 
west  tower  (270  feet  high)  and  central  lantern  of  the  present  cathedral 
are  plainly  discernible.  The  western  transept  forms  a  magnificent 
vestibule  to  the  church.  Unhappily,  the  northern  portion  has  cither 
fallen  or  been  demolished :  it  was  perfect  until  the  Reformation.  The 
interior  is  truly  magnificent,  with  its  perspective  of  a 

'•  Pile,  large  and  massy,  for  decoration  built ; 
With  pillars  crowded,  and  the  roof  upheld 
By  naked  rafters,  intricately  crossed, 
Like  leafless  underboiighs,  'mid  some  thick  grove, 
All  withered  by  the  depth  of  shade  above." 

Among  the  relics  is  one  of  the  latter  part  of  the  seventh  century, 
pait  of  the  sepulchral  cross  of  Ovin,  Steward  to  Queen  Etheldreda. 

At  a  short  distance  south  from  the  cathedral  are  the  buildings  of  the 
old  conventual  church,  in  a  wonderful  state  of  preservation,  having 
perfect  all  the  characteristics  of  the  age  in  which  it  is  recorded  to 
I'.ave  been  erected  by  St.  Etheldreda,  in  673. 


50$ 


SUFFOLK. 

Dunwich  Swallowed  up  by  the  Sea. 

Dunwich,  in  ancient  times  a  city  with  six  or  eight  churches,  but 
now  a  mere  village,  three  miles  and  a  half  from  Southwold,  stands  upon 
elevated  ground  on  the  Suffolk  coast,  washed  by  the  German  Ocean. 
It  was  once  an  important,  opulent,  and  commercial  city;  but  unlike 
the  ruined  cities  whose  fragments  attest  the'r  former  grandeur,  Dun- 
wich is  wasted,  desolated,  and  void.  Its  palaces  and  temples  are  no 
more,  and  its  environs  present  an  aspect  lonely,  stern,  and  wild.  From 
the  discovery  of  Roman  coins  here,  it  has  been  set  down  as  a  Roman 
station.  A\'ith  respect  to  its  ecclesiastical  history,  we  learn  that  Felix, 
the  Burgundian  Bishop,  whom  Sigebert,  King  of  the  East  Angles, 
brought  here  to  reconvert  his  subjects  to  Christianity,  fixed  his  episcopal 
see  at  Dunwich  in  the  year  636.  The  see  was,  however,  divide*.!,  and 
Dunwich  had  the  Suffolk  portion  only.  In  Domesday  Book,  Dunwich 
was  valued  as  paying  5c/.  a  year  to  the  King,  and  60:00o  herrings.  In 
King  Stephen's  time  the  ships  at  Orford  paid  toil  to  Dunwich,  which, 
in  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  is  !>aid  to  have  been  stored  with  riches  of  all 
sorts.  King  John  granted  it  a  charter,  and  the  wrecks  at  sea ;  and  to 
the  burgesses  the  liberty  of  marrying  their  sons  and  daughters  as  they 
would.  Here  were  certainly  six  if  not  eight  parish  churches,  besides 
tiirce  chantries,  the  Temple  Church,  which,  probably,  belonged  to  the 
Templars,  and  after%vards  to  the  Hospitallers ;  two  houses  of  Franciscan 
and  Dominican  friars,  each  with  churches.  The  Franciscan  walls 
remain  within  an  inclosurc  of  seven  acres,  with  the  arches  of  two 
Mlrance-gates,  the  group  of  ruins  covered  with  ivy. 

The  city  being  seated  upon  a  hill  of  loam  and  loose  sand,  on  a  coast 
destitute  of  rock,  the  buildings  successively  yieldeil  to  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  sea.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  Hi.  it  made  so  great  a  breach 
that  the  King  wrote  to  the  Barons  of  Suffolk  to  assist  the  inhabitants  in 
stopping  the  destruction.  The  church  of  St.  Felix  and  the  cell  of 
monks  were  lost  very  early,  and  before  the  23rd  year  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.,  upwards  of  400  houses,  with  certain  shops  and  wind- 
mills, were  dcvourctl  by  the  sea.     St.  Leonard's  church  was  r.ext  over- 


5o6  St.  Edmund  King  atid  Martyr:  a  Suffolk  Legend. 

thrown  ;  and  in  the  14th  century,  St.  Martin's  and  St.  Nicholas  were 
also  destroyed  by  the  waves.  In  the  i6th  century  two  chapels  were 
overthrown,  with  two  gates,  and  not  one  quarter  of  the  town  was  left 
standing.  In  1677  the  sea  reached  the  market-place.  In  1702  St. 
Peter's  church  was  divested  of  its  lead,  timber,  bells,  &c.,  and  the  walls 
tumbled  over  the  cliffs  as  the  waves  undermined  them.  In  1816  the 
encroachment  was  still  proceeding,  when  the  borough  consisted  of  only 
forty-two  houses,  and  half  a  church.  The  place  was  wholly  disfi-an- 
chised  by  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832. 


St.  Edmund  King  and  Martyr :  a  Sufi'olk  Legend. 

In  the  ninth  century  the  Danes  had  acquired  considerable  skill  in  the 
art  of  war,  and  during  their  invasion  of  England,  in  the  year  870,  they 
displayed  more  than  their  usual  ferocity.  Lincolnshire  was  attacked  by 
them  ;  and  here,  according  to  the  traditions  of  the  country,  they  were 
resisted  with  more  conduct  and  valour  than  in  other  parts  of  England. 
Three  Danish  Kings  were  slain  in  one  battle.  But  fresh  reinforcements 
of  the  invaders  more  than  supplied  the  loss ;  and  five  kings  and  the  like 
number  of  Jarls  or  Earls,  poured  their  barbarian  hordes  into  the 
country.  Great  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  were  slain ;  and  the  monas- 
teries of  Croyland,  Medhamstede  (afterwards  Peterborough),  Marney, 
Ramsey,  and  Ely,  were  laid  in  ruins.  Their  attacks  had  a  settled  plan 
of  strategy  and  operation,  which  was  to  post  their  forces  across  the 
island,  and  also  to  occupy  the  best  stations  on  the  seacoast;  thence  they 
now  attacked  East  Anglia.  At  this  period  the  East  Angles  were 
governed  by  Edmund,  a  King  of  singular  virtue  and  piety,  and 
who  defended  his  people  with  great  bravery.  But  the  King  was  over- 
powered by  numbers,  defeated,  and  mac'e  captive.  It  is  said  that  this 
event  took  place  at  Hoxne,  in  Suffolk,  on  the  banks  of  the  Waveney,  not 
far  from  Eye.  The  catastrophe  is  picturesquely  related  by  Sir  Francis 
Palgrave,  in  his  charming  Anglo-Saxon  History.  "  Being  hotly  pur- 
sued L.y  his  foes,  the  King  fled  to  Hoxne,  and  attempted  to  conceal 
himself  by  crouching  beneath  a  bridge,  now  called  GoldbriJge.  The 
glittering  of  his  golden  spurs  discovered  him  to  a  newly-married  couple, 
who  were  returning  home  by  moonlight,  and  they  betrayed  him  to  the 
Danes.  Edmund,  as  he  was  dragged  from  his  hiding-place,  pronounced 
a  malediction  upon  all  who  should  afterwards  pass  this  bridge  on  their 
way  to  be  married ;  and  so  much  regard  is  paid  to  this  tradition  by  the 


Sacking  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Edmund,  Bury.  507 

good  folks  of  Hoxne,  that  now,  (1831,)  or  at  least  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  no  bride  or  bridegroom  would  venture  along  the  forbidden 
path.  A  particular  account  of  Edmund's  death  was  given  by  his 
sword-bearer,  who,  having  attained  a  very  advanced  age,  was  wont  to 
repeat  the  sad  story  at  the  court  of  Athelstane.  Edmund  was  fettered 
and  manacled,  and  treated  with  every  species  of  ci-uelty  and  indignity. 
The  Danes  offered  him  his  life  on  condition  that  he  denied  his  laith  ; 
but,  firmly  refusing,  he  was  first  cruelly  scourged,  then  pierced  with 
arrows,  which  were  also  shot  at  him  as  a  mark  :  he  continued  steadfast 
amidst  his  sufferings,  until  his  head  was  struck  off  by  Inguair  and  Ubba, 
and  the  head  was  thrown  into  a  thicket. 

Hence  Edmund  was  reverenced  as  a  saint  and  martyr,  and  is  still 
retained  in  the  Church  Calendar.  The  ancient  service  contains  the 
following  legend  of  the  discovery  of  his  remains.  A  party  of  his  friends 
having  ventured  in  search  of  them,  "  they  went  seeking  all  together, 
and  consLintly  calling,  as  is  the  wont  of  those  who  oft  go  into  woods, 
'  Where  ait  thou,  comrade?*  and  to  them  answered  the  head,  '  Here, 
here,  here.'  They  all  were  answered  as  often  as  any  of  them  called, 
until  they  all  came  through  the  wood  calling  to  it.  There  lay  the  grey 
wolf  that  guarded  the  head,  and  with  his  two  feet  had  the  head  em- 
braced, greedy  and  hungry,  and  for  God  durst  not  taste  the  head,  and 
held  it  against  wild  beasts.  Then  were  they  astonished  at  the  wolfs 
guardianship,  and  carried  the  holy  head  with  them,  thanking  the 
Almighty  for  all  His  wonders.  But  the  wolf  followed  forth  with  the 
head  until  they  came  to  the  town,  as  if  he  were  tame,  and  after  that 
turned  into  the  woods  again."  The  remains  were  removed  to  a  town 
originally  called  Badrichesworth,  and  there  interred,  the  place  being  in 
consetiuence  called  Bury  St.  Edmund's  —  a  monastery  having  been 
founded  there  to  his  honour  by  King  Canute.  "  Of  this  building, 
once  the  most  sumptuous  in  England,  only  a  few  fragments  remain ;  but 
the  name  of  Edmund,  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation  in  the 
families  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  attests  the  respect  anciently  rendered 
in  East  Anglia  to  the  martyred  Sovereign." 


Sacking  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Edmund,  Bury. 

The  final  disasters  of  his  reign  were  thickly  gathering  about  the 
King,  Edward  II.  The  whole  kingdom  was  in  confusion;  and  whilst 
the  Queen  and  nobles  were  in  arms  against  the  king,  the  burgesses  and 
populace  exhibited  in  the  most  lawless  manner  their  dislike  of  some  of 


5o8    Sacking  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Edmund,  Bury. 

the  principal  ecclesiastical  corporations.  Tlie  monasteries  of  St.  Albans, 
Abingdon,  and  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  suffered  greatly. 

Queen  Isabella,  in  1326,  landed  in  Essex  on  the  24th  of  September, 
with  her  son  Prince  Edward.  She  came  to  Bury  St.  Edmunds  on 
Michaelmas  day,  and  thence  set  out  on  that  expedition  against  the 
King  which,  within  four  months,  deprived  him  of  his  crown.  His  son, 
Edward  III.,  was  declared  King  on  the  20th  January,  1327.  Eight 
days  before  this,  on  the  12th  of  January,  the  discontented  burgesses  of 
Bury  St.  Edmunds  assembled  at  the  Guildhall,  and  determined  on  ex- 
torting from  the  monastery  some  change  in  the  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  town  and  the  property  of  the  convent,  which  they  had 
long  wished  to  obtain. 

The  very  next  day  they  took  forcible  possession  of  the  monastery, 
committing  vast  destruction  in  it  on  that  and  the  two  following  days. 
They  continued  in  possession  no  less  than  ten  months,  keeping  the 
monks  in  constant  terror  by  frequent  ravages ;  but  the  chief  ravages 
after  the  first  three  days  were  early  in  February,  when  they  imprisoned 
the  Abbot ;  in  May,  when  the  secular  clergy  were  conspicuously  leading 
the  rioters ;  and  in  October,  when  the  complete  destruction  of  the 
monastery  seemed  resolved  upon,  and  for  several  days  it  was  given  up 
to  the  (lames,  the  people  carrying  off"  the  lead  from  the  roof  as  it  fell 
down  molten  into  the  gutters,  and  using  tortoises  and  other  appliances 
to  ascend  to  the  top,  to  remove  this  valuable  material.  At  length, 
the  presence  of  the  sheriflf  put  a  period  to  the  destruction,  which  had 
been  so  complete  that  they  found  no  shelter  for  their  horses  except  in 
the  parlour  of  the  monks.  The  King's  judges  soon  arrived,  and  made 
such  short  work  of  their  business  that  on  the  14th  of  December  nine- 
teen of  the  rioters  were  hanged.  For  several  years  the  convent  was 
engaged  in  lawsuits  for  the  recovery  of  damages,  of  which  very  full 
particulars  are  preserved,  till  finally  they  got  a  verdict  against  the 
townspeople  for  140,000/. ;  which  pi'oved  so  ruinous  to  them  that  the 
King  himself  aiTanged  with  the  convent  to  remit  it  altogi^ther. 

In  the  narrative  of  the  first  attack  on  the  monastery,  the  progress  of 
the  spoliators  is  very  clearly  described.  In  the  ravages  the  mob  were 
split  into  so  many  gangs,  all  operating  at  once,  and  the  destruction 
became  general.  In  the  first  attack  the  rioters,  about  three  thousand 
in  number,  having  fii-st  broken  the  great  gates  and  effected  an  entrance, 
destroyed  the  doors  and  part  of  the  sub-cellary,  drew  out  the  spigots 
from  the  casks,  and  let  the  I  e:r  run  out  to  the  ground.  Thence  entering 
the  cloister,  they  broke  the  lockers,  caiTols,  and  closets  in  it,  and  carried 
off"  the  books  and  muniments.    Afterwards  they  entered  the  chamber  of 


Sacking  of  tlic  Monastery  of  St.  Edmund,  Bnry.    509 

the  prior,  took  thence  vessels  of  silver  and  jewels,  and  broke  the 
chests  and  closets  of  the  sacristan,  which  they  emptied  of  their  valuable 
contents  and  muniments,  and  consumed  his  wine.  Thence  they  visited 
the  infirmary  and  chamberlain's  department,  carrying  off  everything  of 
value,  and  greatly  disturbing  the  infirm  monks.  Next  they  broke  into 
the  treasury  of  the  church,  and  spoiled  it  of  a  vast  amount  of  gold  and 
silver  vessels,  money,  jewels,  charters,  and  muniments.  At  a  second 
visit  to  the  vestr)'  they  carried  off  a  quantity  of  the  richest  tunics,  copes, 
chasubles,  and  dalmatics ;  thuribles,  festival  or  processional  crosses, 
golden  chalices  and  cups,  and  even  took  the  "  Corpus  Dei "  in  its 
golden  cup  from  the  altar  of  the  church.  Tliey  also  plundered  the 
refectory.  During  the  summer  they  took  away  all  the  anas  from  the 
wardrobe  of  the  Abbot,  carried  away  in  the  Abbot's  carts  the  victuals 
of  the  convent,  broke  the  conduit,  and  cut  off  the  water-supply, 
took  down  the  church  doors,  and  destroyed  the  glass  windows  of  the 
church. 

For  the  last  attack,  on  Sunday  the  1 8th  of  October,  they  entered  the 
presbytery  of  the  church  after  vespers,  but  were  driven  out  by  the 
monks.  They  then  rang  the  bell  in  the  Tolhouse  of  the  town,  and  the 
fire-bell  in  St.  James's  tower,  and  so  collecting  an  immense  multitude, 
they  burnt  the  great  gates  of  the  Abbey,  with  the  chamber  of  the 
janitor  and  master  of  the  horse,  the  common  stable,  the  chambers  of  the 
cellarer  and  sub-cellarer,  of  the  seneschal  and  his  clerk,  the  brewery, 
cattle-shed,  piggery,  mill,  bakery,  hay-hou.se,  bakery  of  the  Abbot; 
Priory  stable,  with  its  gates  and  all  the  appendages  ;  the  great  hall,  with 
the  kitchen,  and  with  the  chamber  of  the  master  of  the  guests,  and  the 
chapel  of  St.  Lawrence  ;  the  whole  department  of  the  chamberlain  and 
sub-chamberlain,  with  all  its  appendages  ;  the  great  edifice  formerly  of 
John  de  Soham,  with  many  appendages  ;  part  of  the  great  hall  of  the 
priory ;  the  great  hall  of  the  infirmary ;  a  certain  solemn  mansion, 
called  Bradfield,  with  the  hall,  chamber,  and  kitchen,  which  the  King 
occupied  so  fretjuently  ;  the  chamber  of  the  sacrist,  with  his  I'inarium, 
or  wine  store ;  the  tower  adjoining  the  Prior's  house ;  the  whole  home 
of  the  Convent  without  the  great  wall  of  the  great  court  ;  besides, 
within  the  great  court,  the  entire  almonry,  from  the  great  gates  of  the 
court,  with  a  penthouse  for  the  distribution  of  bread,  as  far  as  the  hall 
of  pleas,  which  they  also  burnt ;  the  chamber  of  the  queen,  with  the 
larder  of  the  Abbot  and  his  granary ;  the  granary  of  the  sub-cellarcr, 
with  his  gate  and  the  chapel  built  over  it :  the  chamber  of  the  cook 
in  the  larder  of  the  convent,  tlic  pitancery,  and  chamber  of  the  pre- 
centor. 


510  Framlingham  Castle. 

The  existing  records  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Edmund,  Bury,  are,  how- 
ever, so  numerous  that  vast  information  could  be  obtained  beyond  what 
has  been  attempted  to  arrange  in  this  very  interesting  paper,  in  the 
Journal  of  the  British  Archaeological  Association,  by  Mr.  Gordon 
Hills. 


Framlingham  Castle. 

"  Castle  of  ancient  daj's  !  in  times  long  gone 
Thy  lofty  halls  in  royal  splendour  shone  ! 
Thou  stood'st  a  monument  of  strength  sublime, 
A  giant  laughing  at  the  threats  of  time  ! 
Strange  scenes  have  pass'd  within  thy  walls,  and  strange 
Have  been  thy  fate  through  many  a  chance  and  change  ! 
Thy  towers  have  heard  the  war-cry,  and  the  shout 
Of  friends  within,  and  answering  foes  without, 
Have  rung  to  sounds  of  revelry,  while  mirth 
Held  her  carousal,  when  the  sons  of  earth, 
Sported  with  joy,  till  even  he  could  bring 
No  fresh  delight  upon  his  drooping  wing." 

James  Bird. 

This  noble  fortress  is  said  to  have  been  founded  by  Redwald,  or 
Redowold,  one  of  the  most  powerful  kings  of  the  East  Angles,  between 
A.D.  599  and  624.  It  belonged  to  St.  Edmund,  one  of  the  Saxon 
monarchs  of  East  Anglia,  who,  upon  the  invasion  of  the  Danes  in  S70, 
fled  from  Dunwich  or  Thetford  to  this  Castle,  from  which  being  driven, 
and  overtaken  at  Hegilsdon  (now  Hoxne,  a  distance  of  twelve  miles 
from  Framlingham),  where  he  yielded,  and  was  there  martyred,  because 
he  would  not  renounce  his  faith  in  Christ,  by  the  Danes  binding  him  to 
a  tree,  and  shooting  him  to  death  with  arrows.  His  body,  after  many 
years,  was  removed  to  a  place  called  Bederies-gueord,  now  St.  Edmunds- 
bury.  The  Castle  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Danes  fifty  years,  until 
they  were  subdued  by  the  Saxons. 

William  the  Conqueror  and  his  son  Rufus  retained  the  Castle  in  their 
possession:  the  third  son  of  William,  Henry  I.,  granted  it,  with  the 
manor  of  Framlingham,  to  Roger  Bigod,  in  whose  family  it  continued 
till  Roger  Bigod,  the  last  of  his  race,  a  man  more  turbulent  than  any  of 
his  predecessors,  but  who  was  compelled  to  resign  it  to  King  Edward 
I.  \\'hen  the  British  Archaeological  Association  inspected  the  fortress  in 
1865,  Mr.  R.  M.  Phipson  considered  it  probable  that  the  old  Saxon 
Castle  was  pulled  down  by  King  Henry  H. ;  and  he  quotes  various 
accounts  of  wages  paid  expressly  for  its  removal.  The  walls  them- 
selves are  equally  decisive  on  this  point,  since  nothing  appears  of  an 
older  date  than  the  Norman  architecture.     The  Rev.  Mr.  Hartshorne 


Framlingham  Castle.  511 

is  of  opinion  that  the  whole  of  the  upper  part  of  the  building  was 
erected  upon  old  foundations ;  and  entries  upon  the  Court  Rolls  of 
the  Exchequer  prove  that  the  Castle  was  built  about  1 170. 

Edward  II.  gave  it  to  his  half-brother,  Thomas  Plantagenet,  sumamed 
De  Brothcrton,  from  whom  it  descended  to  Thomas  de  Mowbray, 
twelfth  Baion  Mowbray,  created  Duke  of  Norfolk  29th  September, 
1.^97.  From  the  Movvbrays  it  descended  to  the  Howards,  Dukes  of 
Norfolk,  Sir  Robert  Howard  having  married  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Mowbray,  first  Duke  of  Norfolk.  His  son,  John  Howard,  was 
created  Earl  Marshal  and  Duke  of  Norfolk,  June  28,  1483.  He  was 
slain  at  Bosworth  Field,  1485;  and  his  son  Thomas,  Earl  of  Surrey, 
being  attainted,  the  Castle  fell  into  the  hands  of  King  Henry  VII.,  who 
granted  it  to  John  de  Vere,  thirteenth  Earl  of  Oxford,  from  whom  it 
again  returned  to  the  Howards.  Thornas  Howard,  third  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  being  attainted,  it  was  seized  by  the  King,  who,  dying  the  same 
year,  his  successor,  Edward  VI.,  granted  it  to  his  sister,  the  Princess, 
afterwards  Queen  Mary.  King  James  I.  granted  it  to  Thomas 
Howard,  first  Baron  Howard  de  Walden,  youngest  son  of  Thomas, 
fourth  Duke  of  Norfolk,  created  Earl  of  Suffolk  July  21,  1603  ;  but 
his  lordship  making  Audlcy  Inn  his  seat,  the  Castle  fell  into  decay,  and 
his  son  Theophilus,  second  Earl  of  Suffolk,  sold  it,  in  1635,  with  the 
domains,  to  Sir  Robert  Hitcham,  Knight,  Senior  Sergeant  to  James  I., 
who  bequeathed  it,  August  10,  1636,  to  the  master  and  scholars  of 
Pembroke  College,  in  trust  for  certain  charitable  uses;  since  which 
time  the  Castle  has  remained  in  a  dismantled  state. 

The  defences  consisted  of  an  outer  and  an  inner  moat ;  the  latter 
running  close  to  the  walls,  except  on  the  west  side,  where  the  broad 
expanse  of  the  mere  probably  afforded  sufficient  protection.  The  outer 
wall  is  all  that  remains  of  the  ancient  building.  The  greatest  changes 
were  probably  made  by  the  Dukes  of  Norfolk,  who  built  the  church  at 
Framlingham,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.;  and  it  was  probably  at 
that  period  that  nearly  all  the  walls  above  the  present  surface  were 
built.  Mr.  Hartshome  is  of  opinion  that  there  was  a  keep  to  the  Castle, 
and  that  it  stood  in  the  south-west  angle.  VV^ith  respect  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  space  inside  the  walls,  it  appears  that  the  sill  of  the  chapel 
was  on  the  right  of  a  person  entering  by  the  main  gateway,  and  that 
the  dining-hall  joined  it.  The  capacious  opening  in  the  fireplace  of  this 
apartment  is  still  visible,  and  the  circular  chimney-shaft  is  in  go<xi  pre- 
servation. By  examination  of  the  outside  walls,  it  is  thought  that  the 
barbican  was  erected  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  The  work  is 
dilapidated,  but  the  seats  for  the  warders  are  in  good  preservation. 


512  Frainlinghavi  Castle. 

Several  passages  in  the  walls  in  dift'ereat  directions  are  thought 
to  be  connected  with  the  ventilation  of  the  guard-rooms  in  the 
upper  part  c;f  the  towers,  and  others  were  made  by  the  bond-timber 
wrought  into  the  wall.  The  tasteful  brick  chimneys  upon  the  towere 
have  the  ornamental  bricks,  not  moulded,  but  cut  into  the  elaborate 
pattern  they  are  made  to  assume.  It  is  probable  that  the  bricks  were 
cut  before  they  were  built,  and  that  this  was  done  to  avoid  the  difliculty 
of  moulding.  Mr.  Green,  of  Framlingham,  possessed  a  carving  of  a 
coat  of  aims  upon  solid  oak  or  chestnut,  between  seven  and  eight  feet 
long,  supposed  to  have  been  heretofore  a  fixture  in  the  Castle,  and 
intended  to  commemorate  the  marriage  of  John  Mowbray,  fourth 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  with  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Talbot,  first  Earl 
of  Shrewsbury,  circa  1461. 

Mr.  Bird,  whose  poem  we  have  already  quoted,  has  told  in  fervid 
verse  tl;e  historic  renown  of  this  venerable  and  majestic  ruin  : — 

"  Heir  of  antiquity  ! — fair  castled  town, 
Rare  spot  of  beauty,  grandeur,  and  renown, 
Seat  of  East  Anglian  Kings  ! — proud  child  of  fame, 
Hallowed  by  time,  illustrious  Framlinghame  ! 
1  touch  my  lyre,  delighted  thus  to  bring 
To  thee  my  heart's  full  homage  while  I  sing. 
And  thou,  old  Castle — thy  bold  turrets  high, 
Have  shed  their  deep  enchantment  to  mine  eye, 
lliough  years  have  chang'd  thee,  I  have  gazed  intent 
In  silent  joy  on  tower  and  battlem.ent. 
Where  all  thy  time-worn  glories  met  my  sight  ; 
Then  have  I  felt  such  rapture,  such  delight, 
That,  had  the  splendour  of  thy  dales  of  yore 
I'ldsh'd  on  my  view  I  had  not  loved  thee  more. 
Scene  of  immortal  deeds,  thy  walls  have  rung 
To  pealing  shouts  from  many  a  warrior's  tongue  ; 
When  first  thy  founder,  Rcdwald  of  the  spear. 
Manned  thy  high  tower,  defied  his  foemen  near, 
■yV'hen,  girt  with  strength.  East  Anglia's  King  of  old. 
The  sainted  Edmund,  sought  thy  sheltering  hold. 
When  the  proud  Dane,  fierce  Hinguar,  in  his  ire, 
Besieged  the  King,  and  wrapped  thy  walls  in  fire. 
While  Edmund  fled,  but  left  thee  with  his  name 
Linked,  and  for  ever,  to  the  chain  of  fame  ; 
Thou  wast  then  great !  and  long,  in  other  years 
Thy  grandeur  shone — thy  portraiture  appears, 
From  history's  pencil  like  a  summer  night, 
■With  much  of  shadow,  but  with  more  of  light. 

Pile  of  departed  days  !  my  verse  records 
1  hy  time  of  glory,  thy  illustrious  lords. 
Thy  fearless  Bigods — Brotherton — De  Vere, 
And  kings  who  held  therein  their  pride,  or  fear. 
And  gallant  Howards,  'neath  whose  ducal  sway 
Proud  rose  thy  towers,  thy  rugged  heights  were  gay 


Wingfield  Castle.  513 

With  glittering  banners,  costly  trophies  rent 

From  men  in  war,  or  tilt,  or  tournament, 

With  all  the  pomp  and  splendour  that  could  grace 

The  name  and  honour  of  that  warlike  race. 

Howard  !  the  rich,  the  noble,  and  the  great, 

Most  brave,  unhappy,  most  unfortunate  ! 

Kings  were  thy  courtiers  —Queens  have  sued  to  share 

Thy  wealth,  thy  triumphs — een  thy  name  to  bear. 

Tyrants  have  bowed  thy  children  to  the  dust. 

Some  for  their  worth,  and  some  who  broke  their  trust ! 

And  there  was  one  among  thy  race  who  died. 

To  Henry's  shame,  his  countrj-'s  boast  and  pride  ; 

Immortal  Surrey  !  offspring  of  the  Muse  ! 

Bold  .OS  the  lions,  gentle  as  the  dews 

That  fall  on  flow'rs  to  wake  their  odorous  breath, 

And  shield  their  blossoms  from  the  tomb  of  death. 

Surrey  !  thy  fate  was  wept  by  countless  eyes, 

A  nation's  woe  assailed  the  pitving  skies. 

When  thy  pure  spirit  left  this  scene  of  strife. 

And  soard  to  Him  who  breath'd  it  into  life  ; 

Thy  funeral  knell  peal'd  o'er  the  world — thy  fall 

Was  muum'd  by  hearts  that  lov'd  thee — moum'd  by  all — 

All,  save  thy  murderers — thou  hast  won  thy  crown  ; 

And  thou,  fair  Framlingham  !  a  bright  renown. 

Yes,  thy  rich  temple  holds  the  stately  tomb, 

Where  sleeps  the  Poet  in  his  lasting  home. 

Immortal  Surrey  !  hero,  bard  divine. 

Pride,  grace,  and  glory  of  brave  Norfolk's  line. 

Departed  spirit  ! — oh,  I  love  to  hold 

Communion  sweet,  with  lofty  minds  of  old, 

To  catch  a  spark  of  that  celestial  fire 

Which  glows  and  kindles  in  thy  rapturous  lyre, 

Though  varying  themes  demand  my  future  lays, 

Yet  thus  my  soul  a  willing  homage  pays 

To  that  bright  glory  which  illumes  thy  name. 

Though  nought  can  raise  the  splendour  of  thy  fame  1" 


Wingfield  Castle. 

About  six  miles  north-east  of  Eye,  in  Suffolk,  is  the  village  of  Wing- 
field, the  seat  of  an  ancient  family,  who,  it  is  supposed,  took  their  name 
from  the  place.  There  are  pedigrees  of  the  Wingfields,  which  would 
give  them  possession  of  the  Castle  of  Wingfield  before  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, but  there  is  nothing  to  establish  the  fact.  Early  in  the  reign  of 
I'd  ward  III.  it  was  the  seat  of  Richard  de  Brew,  who  had  a  grant  for 
:  fair  to  be  held  there ;  and  it  probably  first  became  the  residence  of 
the  Wingfield  family  in  the  time  of  Sir  John  Wingfield,  a  soldier  of 
high  character  in  the  martial  reign  of  Edward  III.,  and  chief  counsellor 
of  the  Black  Prince. 

About    1363,  the  widowed  brother,  tlie  executor  of  this  valorous 

L  I. 


5 14  Wing  field  Castle. 

Knight,  agreeably  to  his  bequest,  built  a  college  here  for  a  provost  and 
several  priests,  dedicating  it  to  St.  Mary,  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and 
St.  Andrew.  By  the  mairiage  of  Catherine,  daughter  and  heiress  of 
the  said  Sir  John,  to  Michael  de  la  Pole,  Earl  of  Suffolk,  the  manor 
and  extensive  estate  attached  to  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  that  family, 
which  makes  such  a  striking  figure  in  the  page  of  English  history.  In 
the  collegiate  church  was  buried,  in  1450,  "the  Duke  of  Suffolk, 
William  de  la  Pole,"  to  whom,  in  conjunction  with  Beaufort,  Caidinal 
of  Winchester,  was  attributed  the  murder  of  the  good  Duke  fiumphrey 
of  Gloucester.  Shakspeare,  in  the  Second  Part  of  Henry  the  Sixth,  not 
only  describes  Suffolk  and  Beaufort 

"  As  guilty  of  Duke  Humphrey's  timeless  death," 

but  paints  in  vivid  colours  the  shocking  end  of  both  these  noblemen,  and 
particularly  the  terrors  of  a  guilty  conscience  in  the  case  of  Beaufort, 
who 

"  Dies  and  makes  no  sign." 

Close  upon  this  horrid  deed  followed  Suffolk's  tragical  and  untimely  fate. 
Having  been  accused  of  high  treason,  and  (that  charge  failing)  of  divers 
misdemeanours,  the  public  hatred  pressing  heavily  upon  him,  he  was 
sentenced  by  King  Henry  VI.  to  five  years'  banishment.  He  then 
quitted  his  Castle  at  Wingfield,  and  embarked  at  Ipswich,  intending  to 
sail  for  France;  but  he  was  intercepted  in  his  passage  by  the  hired 
captain  of  a  vessel,  seized  in  Dover  roads,  and  beheaded  "  on  the  long- 
boat's side."  His  head  and  body,  being  thrown  into  the  sea,  were 
cast  upon  the  sands,  where  they  were  found,  and  brought  to  Wingfield 
for  interment.  His  duchess  was  Alice,*  daughter  and  heiress  of  the 
poet,  Geoffrey  Chaucer.  His  son  and  successor,  John  de  la  Pole,  the 
restored  Duke  of  Suffolk,  who  married  Elizabeth,  sister  of  King  Edward 
IV.,  was  buried  at  Wingfield  in  1491. 

The  Castle  stands  low,  without  any  earthworks  for  its  defence.    The 
south  front,  which  is  the  principal  entrance,  is  still  entire  ;   the  gateway, 


•  This  lady  was  married,  first  to  John  Philip,  who  died  without  issue,  and 
afterwards  to  the  above  Duke  of  Suffolk,  by  whom  she  had  three  children. 
She  died  in  1475,  and  her  issue  having  failed,  the  descendants  of  Chaucer 
are  presumed  to  be  extinct.  The  eldest  son  of  the  Duchess  of  Suffolk  married 
the  rrincess  Elizabeth  Plantagenet,  sister  of  Edward  IV.,  whose  eldest  son, 
created  Earl  of  Lincoln,  was  declared  by  Richard  III.,  heir  apparent  to  the 
throne,  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  witliout  issue  ;  "so 
that,"  observes  Sir  Harris  Nicolas,  "  there  was  strong  possibility  of  the  great- 
grandson  of  the  Poet  succeeding  to  the  crown.  "  The  Earl  of  Lincoln  was 
slain  at  the  battle  of  Stoke  in  1487. — Note  to  Bell's  EnglUh  Poets. 


Castles  of  Orford  and  Clare.  515 

on  each  side  of  which  are  the  arms  of  De  la  Pole,  with  those  of  Wing- 
field,  cut  in  stone,  is  flanked  by  lofty  polygonal  towers,  which,  together 
with  the  walls,  are  machicolated.     The  west  side  is  a  farm-house. 

It  appears  that  the  Wingfields  branched  off,  and  removed  to 
Letheringham  and  Easton,  in  the  same  county.  Sir  Anthony  Wing- 
field,  who  flourished  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.,  was 
Captain  of  the  Guard,  Vice-Chamberlain,  Knight  of  the  Garter,  and  a 
Member  of  the  Privy  Council.  Under  Heniy,  it  is  said,  there  were 
eight  or  nine  Knights  of  the  Garter  of  this  family.  Camden  says  of 
the  Wingfields,  they  were  "  famous  for  their  knighthood  and  ancient 
nobility."  King  Edward  employed  Sir  Anthony  to  assist  in  the  execu- 
tion of  his  will,  for  which  he  bequeathed  him  a  legacy  of  200/.  His 
descendant  of  the  same  name  was  created  a  baronet  by  King  Charles  I. 
in  1627.  '^^^  estate  of  ^^  ingfield  was  for  many  years  in  the  Catlyn 
family ;  it  afterwards  devolved  to  the  heirs  of  Thomas  Leman,  Esq., 
and  thence  to  Sir  Edward  Kcrrison,  Bart.  There  may  be  little  in 
Wingfield  Castle,  as  a  structure,  to  interest  the  reader;  but  the 
chequered  fates  and  fortunes  of  its  early  noble  but  often  turbulent 
innutes  are  historical  evidences  of  the  troubles  that  beset  greatness. 


Castles  of  Orford  and  Clare. 

At  Orford,  twenty-one  miles  from  Ipswich,  there  was  a  royal  Castle 
in  the  time  of  Henry  III.,  who  granted  a  charter  to  the  town, 
which  was  previously  a  borough  by  prescription.  It  is  now,  like 
Dunwich,  a  mere  village.  Only  the  keep  of  the  Castle  remains ;  it  is  a 
polygon  of  eighteen  sides,  with  walls  90  feet  high,  and  has  square 
towers  in  its  circuit,  which  overtop  the  rest  of  the  building  ;  the  archi- 
tecture is  Norman,  and  it  was  erected  by  Glanville,  Earl  of  Suffolk. 

Clare,  eighteen  miles  south-west  from  Bury,  was  one  of  the  ninety- 
five  manors  in  the  county  of  Suffolk  bestowed  by  the  Concjueror 
upon  Richard  Fitzgerald.  His  grandson,  Richard,  the  first  Earl  of 
Hertford,  fixed  his  principal  seat  at  Clare,  and  thenceforth  the  family 
took  the  surname  of  De  Clare ;  and  in  the  Latin  d(Kuments  of  the 
time  the  several  members  were  styled  Clarens'tJ.  The  name  of  the 
lordship  thus  becoming  the  family  name,  it  is  easy  to  sec  how  in 
common  usage  the  formal  epithet  Clarcns'u  soon  became  Clarence,  and 
why  Lionel,  the  son  of  Edward  IIL,  upon  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth 
de  Burgh,  the  grand-niece  and  heiress  of  the  last  Gilbertus  Clarensis, 
should  choose  as  the  title  for  his  dukedom  the  surname  of  the  great 

L  L  3 


5 1 6  Castles  of  Or  ford  and  Clare. 

iamily  of  which  he  had  now  become  the  representative.  The  King  ot 
Aims,  called  Clarenceux — or,  in  Latin,  Clarent'tus — was,  as  it  is  very 
reasonably  conjectured,  originally  a  herald  retained  by  a  Duke  of 
Clarence. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  town  of  Clare  are  the  vestiges  of  the  old 
Castle  erected  by  the  Earls  of  Clare ;  the  site  may  be  traced,  and  it 
appears  to  have  comprehended  an  area  of  about  twenty  acres.  The 
mound  on  which  the  Keep  stood,  and  some  fragments  of  the  walls  of 
the  Keep,  yet  remain.  Near  the  ruins  of  the  Castle  are  the  remains  of 
a  Priory  of  regular  canons  of  St.  Augustine;  part  of  the  buildings  are 
occupied  as  a  dwelling,  and  the  chapel  is  converted  into  a  bam. 

Clarence  is  beyond  all  doubt  the  district  comprehending  and  lying 
around  the  town  and  castle  of  Clare,  in  Suffolk,  and  not  as  some  have 
fancifully  supposed,  the  town  of  Chiarenza,  in  the  Morea.  Some  of 
the  Crusaders  did,  indeed,  acquire  titles  of  honour  derived  from  places 
in  eastern  lands,  but  certainly  no  such  place  ever  gave  its  name  to  an 
honorary  feud  held  of  the  Crown  of  England,  nor,  indeed,  has  ever  any 
English  Sovereign  to  this  day  bestowed  a  territorial  title  derived  from  a 
place  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  nominal  dominions ;  the  latest  crea- 
tions of  the  kind  being  the  Earldoms  of  Albemarle  and  Tankerville, 
respectively  bestowed  by  William  III.  and  George  I.,  who  were  both 
nominally  Kings  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland.  In  ancient 
times  every  English  title  (with  the  exception  of  Aumerle  or  Albemarle, 
which  exception  is  only  an  apparent  one)  was  either  personal,  or  de- 
rived from  some  place  in  England.  The  ancient  Earls  of  Albemarle 
were  not  English  peers  by  virtue  of  that  earldom,  but  by  virtue  of  the 
tenure  of  land  in  England,  though  being  tbe  holders  of  a  Norman 
earldom,  they  were  known  in  England  by  a  hij^her  designation,  just  as 
some  of  the  Barons  of  Umfravill  were  styled  even  in  writs  of  summons, 
by  their  superior  Scottish  title  of  Earl  of  Angus.  If  these  Earls  had 
not  held  English  fees,  they  would  not  have  been  peers  of  England  any 
more  than  were  the  ancient  Earls  of  Tankerville  and  Eu.  In  later 
times,  the  strictness  of  the  feudal  law  was  so  far  relaxed  that  two  or 
three  English  peers  were  created  with  territorial  titles  derived  from 
places  in  the  Duchy  of  Normandy,"—  (Communication  to  Notes  and 
Queries,  No.  228).* 

*  The  following  is  the  passage  referred  to  above,  describing  the  ancient 
town  of  Clarentza, — "One  of  the  most  prominent  objects  was  Castle  Torncse, 
an  old  Venetian  fort,  now  a  ruin,  but  in  former  days  affording  protection  to 
the  town  of  Chiarenza  or  Clarentza,  which,  by  a  strange  decree  of  fortune, 
has  given  the  Ville  of  Clarence  to  our  Royal  Family.  It  would  appear  that  at 
the  time  when  the  Latin   Conquerors  of  Constantinople  divided  the  Western 


The  Roman  Castle  of  BiirgJu  5  ^  7 

At  the  Castle  were  found,  in  the  autunin  of  1866,  during  some  rail- 
way excavations,  an  elegant  pectoral  Cross  and  Chain  of  gold,  believed 
to  have  belonged  to  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence.  On  the  cross,  which 
has  been  enamelled,  is  car\'ed  a  crucifix ;  there  are  four  pearls  in  the 
angles  of  the  cross,  and  the  reverse  is  adorned  with  "  pounced"  work. 
The  Cross  and  Chain  are  now  the  property  of  her  Majesty  the  Queen. 

At  the  visit  of  the  Archaeological  Institute  to  Clare,  in  1869,  a 
curious  circumstance  was  noted  respecting  Clare  Church.  In  the 
Atheriitum  report  of  the  meeting  it  is  remarked  that  "  Dowsing,  who  is 
so  often  quoted  as  an  illustration  of  the  iconoclasm  of  Cromwell,  said 
'  the  thing  that  is  not.'  He  writes, '  in  the  church  of  Clare  I  destroyed 
one  thousand  images  in  niches.'  It  is  a  tall  Perpendicular  church, 
with  not  a  niche  in  it.  He  says  also,  I  destroyed  '  the  sun  and  the 
moon.'  I  do  not  know  how  many  suns  and  how  many  moons  the  good 
people  of  Clare  required  in  the  olden  time;  but  there  is  a  sun  and 
there  is  a  moon  still  in  the  east  window.  Mr.  Bloxam,  who,  1  believe, 
is  an  authority,  averred  that  the  yellow  glass  in  the  east  window  was  of 
the  reign  of  Elizalx^th.  If  Dowsing's  attack  on  Clare  church  was  so 
'  thorough,'  how  could  he  have  left  the  monogram  of  the  Virgin  that 
is  still  on  the  finely  carved  wooden  pew  or  chapel  that  remains  ?  The 
glass  that  remains  is  more  than  in  many  places  of  which  we  have  not 
such  a  detailed  account  of  the  destruction." 


The  Roman  Castle  of  Burgh. 

This  ancient  Roman  encampment  lies  on  the  borders  of  Suffolk,  and 
on  the  east  side  of  the  river  Waveney,  near  its  confluence  with  the  Yaie, 
Its  extent  is  642  feet  long  by  400  feet  broad  ;  the  walls  are  about  14 
feet  high,  and  9  feet  thick.    The  east  side  of  the  walls  is  furnished 

Empire  amonpst  their  lending  chieftains,  Clarcntza,  with  the  district  around  it, 

and  which  comprl--'  -' all  ancient  Elis,  was  formed  into  a  Duchy,   and 

fell   to  the  lot  oi  victorious  nobles,  who  transmitted  the  title  and 

dukedom  to  IjIs  I.  .,  until  the  male  line  failed,  and  the   hein-ss  of 

Clarence  married  into  the  llainault  family.  By  this  union,  I'hilippa,  the 
consort  of  Edward  III.,  became  the  representative  of  the  Dukes  of  Clarence  ; 
pi  ,1  ,,ti  ii.i^  account  was  Prince  Lionel  invested  with  the  title,  wliich  has  since 
our  Royal  Family.  It  is  certainly  singular  that  a  wretched  village 
Miild  havf  lv<iow»"d  its  namp  upon  the  British  Monarch."    Accorij- 

■  T  Clarcntza,  and  perhaps 
l'".d\vard  ;  but  as  to  "a 
•  the  British  Monarch,  the 
wilier  iuuat  be  awuru,  according  tu  liia  own  account,  that  in  ancient  times 
Claa-ntza  was  no  more  a  poor  village  than  Clare  is  wlrat  it  was  when  U19 
wa^sail-bowI  cheered  the  twonjal  hall  of  its  now  mouldering  castle. 


5 1 8  The  Roman  Castle  of  Burgh. 

with  circular  watch  towers,  and  is  almost  perfect ;  but  the  walls  on 
the  north  and  south  sides  are  partly  in  ruins ;  the  west  wall,  if  ever 
there  was  one,  has  entirely  disappeared.  The  site  of  the  encampment 
is  slightly  elevated  towards  the  west,  and  the  interior  is  irregular,  which 
may  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that  the  small  eminences  are 
occasioned  by  the  ruins  of  fonner  edifices.  The  whole  area  of  the  in- 
closiire  was  about  four  acres  and  three  quarters.  The  walls  are  of 
rubble  masonry,  faced  with  alternate  courses  of  bricks  and  (lints  ;  and 
on  the  tops  of  the  towers,  which  are  attached  to  the  walls,  are  holes  two 
feet  in  diameter  and  two  feet  deep,  supposed  to  have  been  intended  for 
the  insertion  of  temporary  watch  towers,  probably  of  wood. 

On  the  east  side  the  four  circular  towers  are  fourteen  feet  in  diameter. 
Two  of  them  are  placed  at  the  angles,  where  the  walls  are  rounded,  and 
two  at  equal  distances  from  the  angles.  An  opening  has  been  left  in  the 
centre  of  the  wall,  which  is  considered  by  Mr.  King  to  be  the  Porta 
Decuniana,  but  by  Mr.  Ives  the  Porta  Praetoria.  The  north  and  south 
sides  are  also  defended  by  towers  of  rubble  masonry.  The  foundation 
on  which  the  Romans  built  these  walls  was  a  thick  bed  of  chalk-lime, 
well  rammed  down,  and  the  whole  covered  with  a  layer  of  earth  and 
sand,  to  harden  the  mass,  and  exclude  the  water ;  this  was  covered  with 
two-inch  oak  plank,  placed  transversely  on  the  foundation,  and  over 
this  was  a  bed  of  coarse  moitar,  on  which  was  roughly  spread  the  first 
layer  of  stones.  The  mortar  appears  to  be  composed  of  lime  and  coarse 
sand,  unsifted,  mixed  with  gravel  and  small  pebbles,  or  shingles.  Hot 
grouting  is  supposed  to  have  been  used,  which  will  account  for  the 
tenacity  of  the  mortar.  The  bricks  at  Burgh  Castle  are  of  a  fine  red 
colour  and  very  close  texture.  They  are  one  foot  and  a  half  long,  one 
foot  broad,  and  one  inch  and  a  half  thick.  We  give  these  details 
minutely,  as  the  Castle  presents  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  this  kind 
of  constiniction  which  our  Roman  conquerors  have  left  us. 

The  west  side  of  this  station  was,  probably,  defended  in  ancient  times 
by  the  sea,  which  is  now,  however,  at  some  distance,  the  river  Waveney 
being  at  present  the  western  boundary.  The  fact  of  the  sea  having 
receded  is  proved  by  an  old  map,  supposed  to  have  appeared  in  tlie  year 
looo.  A  copy  of  this  map  was  made  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  and  is 
presened  in  the  archives  of  the  Corporation  of  Yarmouth.  In  confir- 
mation of  this  circumstance,  there  have  been  discovered  at  Burgh  Castle 
parts  of  anchors,  rings,  and  other  large  pieces  of  iron. 

This  station  may  have  been  founded  by  Ostorius  Scapula,  an  ofiicer 
of  the  Roman  amiy,  who,  on  bemg  appointed  Governor  of  Britain,  in 
the  year  50,  gained  a  decisive  victory  over  the  Icenians,  who  attempted 


The  Rojnan  Castle  of  Burgh.  519 

to  prevent  his  building  a  chain  of  forts  between  the  Severn  and  the 
Avon,  or  Nen.  His  success  against  the  natives  enabled  him  to  reduce 
jjart  of  the  island  into  the  form  of  a  province.  He  obtained  triumphal 
honours,  and  died  in  the  year  .^^i.  to  the  great  joy  of  the  Britons,  tirom 
great  fatigue,  before  he  had  held  the  command  for  a  single  year.  Such, 
it  is  believed,  was  the  foundei*  of  this  great  Roman  work  of  defence. 

The  Pr,etor'tum,  or  General's  Tent,  is  placed  by  some  at  the  south-west 
comer  of  the  station.  Others  consider  it  to  be  an  additional  work  by 
the  Saxors  or  Normans,  similar  to  the  Saxon  keep  at  the  south-east 
comer  of  the  Castrum  (or  camp)  at  Pevensey,  in  Sussex.  The  towers 
are  thought  to  have  been  added  after  the  walls.  There  are  some  re- 
mains of  a  fosse  on  the  south  side.  This  was  the  Roman  Garianonum, 
which,  in  its  perfect  state,  is  engraved  in  the  Pfiiuy  Cydopxdia,  voce 
Burgh  Castle. 

It  is  calculated  that  the  Castle  was  capable  of  containing  one  whole 
cohort  and  a  hall^  with  their  allies.  Several  Roman  coins  and  other 
antiquities  have  been  discovered  here.  The  oldest  is  a  copjier  coin  of 
Domitian.  A  coin  of  Gratian,  of  silver,  and  some  coins  of  Constantine 
have  also  been  found.  Some  silver  and  gold  coins  were  given  by  a 
former  possessor  of  the  place  to  Dr.  Moore,  Bishop  of  Norwich. 
Besides  these,  coins  were  found  both  in  the  inclosure  and  in  a  field  con- 
tiguous to  the  Castle.  There  have  been  found  coarse  urns,  a  silver 
spoon  with  a  pointed  handle,  bones  of  cattle,  coals,  burnt  wheat,  rings, 
keys,  fibulae  (buckles),  and  a  spear-head.  The  field  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  burial-place. 

The  earliest  modem  notice  of  Burgh  Castle  is  in  the  reign  of  Sigebert, 
636,  when  Furseus,  an  Irish  monk,  having  collected  a  company  of 
religious  persons,  settled  at  this  spot,  in  the  time  of  Edw.ird  the 
Confessor,  Bishop  Stigand  held  it  by  socage.  The  Castle  was  after- 
wards held  by  Hubert  de  Burgh,  from  whom  the  present  name  is 
probably  deiived.  He  was  formerly  seneschal  of  Poitou,  and  with  Peter 
de  Roches,  Bishop  of  Winchester  ("a  man  well  skilled  in  war"), 
shared  between  them  the  rule  of  the  kingdom  for  a  while.  He  was 
frequently  employed  in  foreign  embassies  by  King  J(»hn,  and  strenuously 
supported  his  cause  against  the  Barons.  He  was  the  chief  niler  of  the 
kingdom  during  the  early  years  of  Henry  III.,  held  a  number  of  the 
most  important  offices,  as  Constable  of  Dover  and  Burgh  Castles,  and 
sheriff  of  several  counties,  and  receivid  the  earldom  of  Kent.  But  at 
length  he  fell  into  disgrace,  was  tleprived  of  power,  and  obliged  to  sur- 
render several  strong  castles — among  which  was  that  of  Burgh,  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  HI.,  who  gave  it  to  the  moiustery  of  Bromholdc, 


5  20         Hadleigh — Martyrdom  of  Dr.  Taylor. 

in  the  county  of  Norfolk.  It  afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of 
laymen. 

The  massive  remains  of  Burgh  Castle  attest  to  this  day  the  strong 
fortresses  which  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago  were  erected  on  the 
Suffolk  coast.  Reculvcr  and  Richborough,  and  Lymne,  in  Kent,  and 
Pevensey,  in  Sussex,  are  especially  interesting,  as  evidently  built  to  guard 
a  tract  of  country  almost  coinciding  in  limits  with  those  of  the  famous 
incoi-poiation  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  and  thus  rendering  probable  the 
Roman  origin  of  that  peculiar  system  for  the  defence  of  the  seaboard. 

"  Castles  and  towers, — Burgi  as  they  were  called  by  the  Romans 
: — were  constantly  garrisoned  by  armed  men.  The  stations  were  so 
near  to  each  other,  that  if  a  beacon  was  lighted  on  any  one  of  the 
bulwarks,  the  warriors  who  gairisoned  the  next  station  were  able  to  see 
and  to  repeat  the  signal  almost  at  the  same  instant,  and  the  next  onwards 
did  the  same,  by  which  they  announced  that  some  danger  was  impend- 
ing, so  that  in  a  very  short  time  all  the  soldiers  who  guarded  the  line  of 
wall  could  be  assembled.  The  coast  was  protected  with  equal  care  against 
any  invading  enemy ;  and  the  ancient  maritime  stations,  Garianonum 
and  Portus  Rutupis  (Burgh  Castle,  in  Suffolk,  and  Richborough,  in 
Kent)  may  be  instanced  as  specimens  of  Roman  skill  and  industiy." — 
Sir  F.  Palgruies  Hhtorj/  of  England — Jlnglo-Saxon  Period, 


Hadleigh — Martyrdom  of  Dr.  Taylor. 

Hadleigh,  in  Suffolk,  nine  miles  west  of  Ipswich,  is  said  to  have 
been  the  burial-place  of  Guthrum  the  Dane,  to  whom  Alfred  ceded 
East  Anglia.  It  is  also  memorable  as  the  place  of  the  Martyrdom  of 
Dr.  Rowland  Taylor,  burned  in  the  persecution  under  Queen  Mary,  on 
what  was  commonly,  but  improperly,  called  Aldham  Common,  near  the 
town,  February  9th,  1555.  Dr.  Taylor  was  rector  of  Hadleigh  from 
the  year  rr;44  to  1554.  Of  his  great  and  pious  character  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  speak  in  terms  too  laudatory ;  he  was,  in  fact,  the  perfect 
model  of  a  parish  priest,  and  literally  went  about  doing  good.  Of  hi? 
sufferings  and  martyrdom.  Dr.  Drake,  in  his  fVinter  Nights,  has  left  this 
reiy  touching  account : — 

It  was  not  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  when  the  bigoted  Mary 
ascended  the  throne  of  these  realms,  a  man  so  gifted,  at  the  same  time 
so  popular  as  was  Dr.  Taylor,  should  long  escape  the  arm  of  persecu- 
tion.   Scarcely  had  this  sanguinary  woman  commenced  her  reign,  when 


Hadlcigh — Martyrdom  of  Dr.  Taylor.  521 

an  attempt  was  made  to  celebrate  Mass  by  force  in  the  parish  church  of 
Hadleigh  ;  and  in  endeavouring  to  resist  this  profanation,  which  was 
planned  and  conducted  by  two  of  his  parishioners,  named  Foster  and 
Cltrke,  assisted  by  one  Averth,  rector  of  Aldham,  whom  they  had 
hired  for  the  purpose.  Dr.  Taylor  became,  of  course,  obnoxious  to  the 
ruling  powers  ;  an  event  foreseen,  and  no  doubt  calculated  upon  by  the 
instigators  of  the  mischief. 

A  citation  to  apf>ear  before  Stephen  Gardiner,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, and  then  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  was,  on  the  information 
of  these  wretches,  the  immediate  result  of  the  transaction.  And  though 
the  iViendb  and  relatives  of  the  Doctor  earnestly  advised  his  non- 
compliance, and  recommended  him  instantly  to  fly,  he  resisted  their 
solicitations,  observing,  that  though  he  fully  expected  imprisonment, 
and  a  cruel  death,  he  was  determined,  in  a  cause  so  good  and 
righteous,  not  to  shrink  from  his  duty.  *'  Oh !  what  will  ye  have  me 
to  do  ?  (he  exclaimed),  I  am  old,  and  have  already  lived  too  long  to  see 
these  terrible  and  most  wicked  days.  Fly  you,  and  do  as  your  con- 
science Icadeth  you  ;  I  am  fully  determined,  with  God's  grace,  to  go  to 
the  Bishop,  and  to  his  beard  to  tell  him  that  he  doth  naught." 

Accordinjjly,  tearing  himself  from  his  weeping  friends  and  (lock,  and 
accompanied  by  one  faithful  servant,  he  hastened  to  l-ondon,  where, 
after  enduring  with  the  utmost  patience  and  magnanimity  the  virulence 
and  abuse  of  Gardiner,  and  replying  to  all  his  accusations  with  a  truth 
of  reasoning  which,  unfortunately,  served  but  to  increase  the  malice  of 
his  enemies,  he  was  committed  a  prisoner  to  the  King's  Bench,  and 
endured  a  confinement  there  of  nearly  two  years. 

During  this  long  period,  however,  which  was  chiefly  occupied  by 
Dr.  Taylor  in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  in  preaching  to 
and  exhorting  his  feliow  prisoners,  he  had  three  further  conferences 
with  his  persecutors.  The  second,  which  was  held  in  the  Arches  at 
Bow-church,  a  few  weeks  after  his  commitment,  terminated  in  his 
being  tleprived  of  his  benefice,  as  a  married  man.  The  third,  which 
dd  not  take  place  until  January  22nd,  1 5,35,  and  was  carried  on  not 
only  with  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  but  with  other  episcopal  commis- 
sioners, ended,  after  a  long  debate,  in  which  the  piety,  erudition,  sound 
sense,  and  christian  forbearance  of  the  sufferer  was  pre-eminently  con- 
spicuous, in  his  re-commitment  to  prison,  under  a  threat  of  having 
iudt;ment  passed  upon  him  within  a  week. 

This  judgment  was  accordingly  pronounced  at  a  fourth  conference 
on  the  2hth  of  the  same  month,  the  Bishops  of  Winchester,  Norwich, 
London,  Salisbury,  and  Durliaui,  bcinjj  present ;  when,  on  the  Doctor 


522  Hadlcigh — Martyrdom  of  Dr.  Taylor. 

again  declining  to  submit  himself  to  the  Roman  Pontiff,  he  was  con- 
demned to  death,  and  the  day  following  removed  to  the  Poultry 
Compter.  Here,  on  the  4th  of  February,  he  was  visited  by  Bonner, 
Bishop  of  London,  who,  attended  by  his  chaplain  and  the  necessary 
officers,  came  to  degrade  him.  Refusing,  however,  to  comply  with 
this  ceremony,  which  consisted  in  his  putting  on  the  vestures,  or  mass 
garments,  he  was  compelled  to  submit  by  force,  and  when  the  Bishop, 
as  usual,  closed  this  disgusting  mummery  with  his  curse,  Taylor 
nobly  replied — "  Though  you  do  curse  me,  yet  God  doth  bless  me.  I 
have  the  witness  of  my  conscience,  that  ye  have  done  me  wrong  and 
violence ;  and  yet  I  pray  God,  if  it  be  his  will,  forgive  you." 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  February,  1555,  at  the  early 
hour  of  two  o'clock,  that  the  sheriffof  London,  amvingat  the  Compter, 
demanded  the  person  of  Dr.  Taylor,  in  order  that  he  might  commence 
his  pilgrimage  towards  Hadlegh,  the  destined  place  of  his  martyrdom. 
It  was  very  dark,  and  they  led  him  without  lights,  though  not  un- 
obsen'ed,  to  an  inn  near  Aldgate.  His  wife  (and  I  shall  here  adopt 
the  language  of  John  Fox,  which  in  this  place,  as  in  many  others,  is 
remarkable  for  its  pathos  and  simplicity),  "  his  wife,  suspecting  that 
her  husband  should  that  night  be  carried  away,  watched  all  night  in 
St.  Botolph's  church  porch,  beside  Aldgate,  having  with  her  two 
children,  the  one  named  Elizabeth,  of  thirteen  years  of  age,  whom, 
being  left  without  father  or  mother,  Dr.  Taylor  had  brought  up  of 
alms,  from  three  years  old ;  the  other  named  Mary,  Dr.  Taylor's  own 
daughter." 

Now  when  the  Sheriff  and  his  company  came  against  St.  Botolph's 
church,  Elizabeth  cried, saying,  "  O  my  dear  father;  mother,  mother,  here 
is  my  father  led  away."  Then  cried  his  wife,  "Rowland,  Rowland,  where 
art  thou  ?"  for  it  was  a  very  dark  morning,  that  the  one  could  not  see 
the  other.  Dr.  Taylor  answered,  "  Dear  wife.  I  am  here,"  and  stayed.' 
The  sheriff's  men  would  have  led  him  forth  ;  but  the  sheriff  said,  "  Stay 
a  little,  masters,  I  pray  you,  and  let  him  speak  to  his  wife,"  and  so  they 
stayed. 

Then  came  she  to  him,  and  he  took  his  daughter  Mary  in  his 
arms;  and  he,  his  wife,  and  Elizabeth  kneeled  down,  and  said  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  At  which  sight  the  sheriff  wept  apace,  and  so  did 
divers  others  of  the  company.  After  they  had  prayed,  he  rose  up  and 
kissed  his  wife,  and  shook  her  by  the  hand,  and  said,  "  Farewell,  my 
dear  wife,  be  of  good  comfort,  for  I  am  quiet  in  conscience.  God 
shall  stir  up  a  father  for  my  children."  And  then  he  kissed  his 
daughter  Mary,  and  said,  "  God  bless  thee,  and  make  thee  his  servant ;" 


HadleigJi — Martyrdom  of  Dr.  Taylor.  523 

and  kissing  Elizabeth  he  said,  "  Gcxi  bless  thee.  I  pray  you  all  stand 
strong  and  steadfast  unto  Christ  and  his  word,  and  keep  you  from 
idolatry."  Then  said  his  wife,  "  God  be  with  thee,  dear  Rowland ;  I 
will,  with  God's  grace,  meet  thee  at  Hadlcigh." 

At  eleven  o'clock  the  same  morning  Dr.  Taylor  left  Aldgate,  ac- 
companied by  the  sheriff  of  Essex,  and  four  yeomen  of  the  guard,  and 
"ifter  once  more  taking  an  affectionate  leave  of  his  son  and  servant,  who 
met  him  at  the  gates  of  the  inn,  he  proceeded  to  Brentwood,  where,  in 
order  to  prevent  his  being  recognised,  they  compelled  him  to  wear  a 
mask,  or  close  hood,  having  apertures  for  the  eyes  and  mouth.  Nothing, 
however,  could  depress  the  spirits  or  abate  the  fortitude  of  this  intrepid 
sufferer  in  the  cause  of  truth ;  for  not  only  was  he  patient  and  re- 
signed, but,  at  the  same  time,  happy  and  cheerful,  as  if  a  banquet  or  a 
bridal,  and  not  a  stake,  were  to  be  the  termination  of  his  journey. 

When  within  two  miles  of  Hadleigh,  appearing  more  than  com- 
monly cheerful,  the  sheriff  was  induced  to  inquire  the  cause.  "  I  am 
now  (replied  the  Doctor)  almost  at  home.  I  lack  not  past  two  stiles 
to  go  over,  and  I  am  even  at  my  father's  house."  He  then  demanded 
if  they  should  go  through  Hadleigh ;  and  being  answered  in  the 
aflirmative,  he  returned  thanks  to  God,  exclaiming,  "  Then  shall  I  once 
more,  ere  I  die,  see  my  flock,  whom,  thou  Lord  knowest,  I  have  most 
dearly  loved,  and  truly  taught." 

At  the  foot  of  the  bridge  leading  into  the  town  there  waited  for 
him  a  poor  man  with  five  small  children,  who,  when  they  saw  the 
Doctor,  fell  down  upon  their  knees,  the  man  crying  with  a  loud  voice, 
"  O  dear  father  and  good  shepherd,  Dr.  Taylor,  God  help  and  succour 
thee,  as  thou  hast  many  a  time  succoured  me  and  my  ptxjr  children." 
The  whole  town,  indeed,  seemed  to  feel  and  deplore  its  loss  in  a 
similar  manner,  the  streets  being  lined  with  men,  women,  and  children, 
who,  when  they  beheld  their  beloved  pastor  led  to  death,  burst  into  a 
flood  of  tears,  calling  to  each  other,  and  saying,  *'  There  goeth  our  good 
shepherd  from  us,  that  so  faithfully  hath  taught  us,  so  fatherly  hath 
cared  for  us,  and  so  godly  hath  governed  us !  Oh !  merciful  God, 
strengthen  him  and  comfort  him ;"  whilst  ever  in  reply  the  blessed 
sufferer,  deeply  touched  by  the  sorrows  of  his  flock,  kept  exclaiming — "  I 
have  preached  to  you  God's  word  and  truth,  and  am  come  this  day  to 
seal  it  with  my  blood."  Such  in  fact  was  the  sympathy,  such  the 
lamentation  expressed  by  all  ranks  for  his  approaching  fate,  that  the  sheriff 
and  his  attendants  were,  as  W>\  declares,  *'  wonderfully  astonished," 
and  though  active  in  threatening  and  rebuking,  found  it  utterly  impos- 
sible to  suppress  the  emotions  of  the  people. 


524  Hadleigh — Martyrdom  of  Dr.  Taylor. 

The  Doctor  was  now  about  to  address  the  agitated  spectators, 
when  one  of  the  yeomen  of  the  guard  thrust  his  staff  into  his  mouth  \ 
and  the  sheriff,  on  being  appealed  to,  bade  him  remember  his  promise, 
alluding,  as  is  conjectured,  to  a  pledge  extorted  from  him  by  the 
council,  under  the  penalty  of  having  his  tongue  cut  out,  that  he  would 
not  address  the  people  at  his  death.  "  Well,"  said  the  Doctor,  with 
his  wonted  patience  and  resignation,  "the  promise  must  be  kept;"  and 
then,  sitting  down,  he  called  to  one  Soyce,  whom  he  had  seen  in  the 
crowd,  and  requested  him  to  pull  off  his  boots ;  adding,  with  an  air  of 
pleasantry,  "  thou  hast  long  looked  for  them,  and  thou  shalt  now  take 
them  for  thy  labour." 

He  then  rose  up,  stripped  off  his  clothes  unto  his  shirt,  and  gave 
them  to  the  poor ;  when  trusting  that  a  few  farewell  words  to  his 
flock  might  be  tolerated,  he  said  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Good  jwople,  I 
have  taught  you  nothing  but  God's  Holy  word,  and  those  lessons  that 
1  have  taken  out  of  God's  blessed  book,  the  Holy  liible ;  and  I  am  come 
hither  this  day  to  seal  it  with  my  blood." 

When  he  had  finished  his  devotions  he  went  to  the  stake,  kissed  it, 
and  placing,  himself  in  the  pitch  barrel  which  had  been  prepared  for 
him,  he  stood  upright  therein,  with  his  back  against  the  stake,  his 
hands  folded  together,  his  eyes  lifted  to  heaven,  and  his  mind  absorbed 
in  continual  prayer. 

They  now  bound  him  with  chains,  and  the  sheriff  calling  to  one 
Richard  Doiiingham,  a  butcher,  ordered  him  to  set  up  the  faggots;  but 
he  declined  it,  alleging  that  he  was  lame,  and  unable  to  lift  a  faggot ; 
and  though  threatened  with  imprisonment  if  he  continued  to  hesitate,  he 
steadily  and  fearlessly  refused  to  comply. 

The  sheriff  was  therefore  obliged  to  look  elsewhere,  and  at  length 
pitched  upon  four  men,  perhaps  better  calculated  than  any  other  for  the 
office  they  were  destined  to  perform — viz.,  one  Mullein,  of  Kersey,  a 
man,  sayr.  Fox,  fit  to  be  a  hangman ;  Soyce,  whom  we  have  formerly 
mentioned,  and  who  was  notorious  as  a  drunkard;  Warwick,  who  had 
been  deprived  of  one  of  his  ears  for  sedition  ;  and  Robert  King,  a  man 
of  loose  character-,  and  who  had  come  hither  with  a  quantity  of  gun- 
powder, which,  whether  it  wer-e  intended  to  shorten  or  increase  the 
torments  of  the  sufferer,  can  alone  be  known  to  Him  from  whom  no 
secrets  are  concealed. 

While  these  men  were  diligently,  and,  it  is  to  be  apprehended,  cheer- 
fully employed  in  piling  up  their  wood,  Wanvick  wantonly  and  cruelly 
thre^v  a  faggot  at  the  Doctor,  which  struck  him  on  the  head,  and  like- 
wise cut  his  face,  so  that  the  blood  ran  copiously  down — an  act  of  savage 


Origin  of  Lowestoft.  525 

ferocity  which  merely  drew  from  their  victim  this  mild  reproach  :  "  Oh, 
frimd,  I  have  harm  enough,  what  need  of  that?"  Nor  were  these 
diabolical  insults  confined  to  those  among  them  of  the  lowest  rank ;  for 
when  this  blessed  martyr  was  saying  the  psalm  "  Miserere  "  in  Englishf 
Sir  John  Shclton,  who  was  standing  by,  struck  him  on  the  lips,  exclaim- 
ing at  the  same  time,  "  Ye  knave,  speak  Latin,  or  I  will  make  thee.'' 

They  at  length  set  fire  to  the  faggots ;  when  Dr.  Taylor,  holding 
up  both  his  hands,  called  upon  his  God,  and  said,  "  Merciful  Father  of 
Heaven,  for  Jesus  Christ,  my  Saviour's  sake,  receive  my  soul  into  thy 
hands."  In  this  attitude  he  continued,  without  either  crying  or  moving, 
until  Soyce  striking  him  forcibly  on  the  head  with  his  halbert,  his  brains 
fell  out,  and  the  corse  droppetl  down  into  the  fire. 

Thus  perished  midway  in  the  race  of  piety  and  utility,  all  that  was 
mortal  of  one  of  the  best  and  most  strenuous  defenders  of  the  Protes- 
tant Church  of  England:  a  man  who,  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  and  in 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  most  turbulent  periods,  in  the  hour  of  adversity 
as  in  that  of  prosperity,  practised  what  he  preached. 

A  stone  with  this  inscription  was  set  up  to  mark  the  spot  whereon 

he  suffered  : 

"  1 555-     Dr.  Taylor,  in  derending  that  was  gode,  at  this 
plas  left  his  blode. " 

"  There  is  nothing,  (says  Bishop  Hcber)  more  beautiful  in  the  whole 
beautiful  '  Book  of  Martyrs'  than  the  account  which  Fox  has  given  of 
Rowland  Taylor,  whether  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as  a  parish  priest 
or  in  the  more  arduous  moments  when  he  was  called  on  to  bear  his 
cross  in  the  cause  of  religion.  His  warmth  of  heart,  his  simplicity 
of  manners,  the  total  absence  of  the  false  stimulants  of  enthusiasm  or 
pride,  and  the  abundant  overflow  of  bitter  and  holier  feelings,  are  de- 
lineated, no  less  than  his  courage  in  death  and  the  buoyant  cheerfulness 
with  which  he  encountered  it,  with  a  spirit  only  inferior  to  the  elo- 
quence and  dignity  of  the  Ph<rdon." 


Origin  of  Lowestoft. 

Lowestoft,  the  most  easterly  point  of  land  in  England,  is  a  town  of 
great  anticjuity,  which  it  contests  with  Yarmouth.  The  ancient 
Lowestoft,  however,  is  supposed  to  have  been  washed  away  at  an  early 
period  by  the  ocean  ;  for  there  was  to  be  seen,  till  the  2.-th  year  of 
Henry  VUI.,  the  remains  of  a  blockhouse  upon  an  insulated  spot,  left 


526  Origin  of  Lowestoft. 

dry  at  low  water,  about  four  furlongs  east  of  the  present  beach.  The 
origin  of  its  name,  too,  has  given  rise  to  various  conjectures :  but  the 
most  popular  opinion  is,  that  it  is  derived  from  Lodbrog,  a  Danish 
prince,  who  was  murdered  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yare ;  and  most  of 
our  ancient  annalists  ascribe  to  this  most  foul  deed  the  first  invasion  of 
England  by  the  Danes. 

Lodbrog,  King  of  Denmark,  was  very  fond  of  hawking  ;  and  one  day, 
while  enjoying  that  sport,  his  favourite  bird  happened  to  fall  into  the  sea. 
The  monarch,  anxious  to  save  the  hawk,  leaped  into  the  first  boat  thit 
presented  itself,  and  put  off  to  its  assistance.  A  storm  suddenly  arose, 
and  carried  him,  after  encountering  imminent  dangers,  up  the  mouth  of 
the  Yare,  as  far  as  Reedham  in  Suffolk.  The  inhabitants  of  the  country, 
having  discovered  the  stranger,  conducted  him  to  Edmund,  who  then 
kept  his  court  at  Caistor,  only  ten  miles  distant.  The  King  received 
him  with  great  kindness  and  respect,  entertained  him  in  a  manner  suit- 
able to  his  rank,  and  directed  Bern,  his  own  falconer,  to  accompany  his 
guest,  whenever  he  chose  to  take  his  favourite  diversion.  The  skill  and 
success  of  the  royal  visitor  in  hawking  excited  Edmund's  admiration, 
and  inflamed  Bern  with  such  jealousy,  that  one  day,  when  they  were 
sporting  together  in  the  woods,  he  seized  the  opportunity,  murdered 
him,  and  buried  the  body.  Lodbrog's  absence  for  three  days  occa- 
sioned considerable  alarm.  His  favourite  greyhound  was  observed  to 
come  home  for  food,  fawning  upon  Edmund  and  his  courtiers  whenever 
he  was  compelled  to  visit  them,  and  to  retire  as  soon  as  he  had  satisfied 
his  wants.  On  the  fourth  day  he  was  followed  by  some  of  them,  whom 
he  conducted  to  the  body  of  his  master.  Edmund  instituted  an  inquiry 
into  the  affair,  when,  from  the  ferocity  of  the  dog  to  Bern,  and  other 
circumstances,  the  murderer  was  discovered,  and  condemned  by  the 
King  to  be  turned  adrift  alone,  without  oars  or  sails,  in  the  same  boat 
which  brought  Lodbrog  to  East  Anglia.  The  skiff  was  wafted  in 
safety  to  the  Danish  coast,  where  it  was  known  to  be  the  one  in  which 
Lodbrog  left  the  country.  Bern  was  seized,  carried  to  Inguar  and 
Hubba,  the  sons  of  the  King,  and  questioned  by  them  concerning  their 
father.  The  villain  replied,  that  Lodbrog  had  been  cast  upon  the  shore 
of  England,  and  there  put  to  death  by  Edmund's  command.  Inflamed 
with  rage,  the  sons  resolved  on  revenge;  and  speedily  raising  an  army  of 
near  20,000  men  to  invade  his  dominions,  set  sail,  and  landed  safely  at 
Benvick-upon-Tweed,  when,  after  committing  the  greatest  devastations, 
they  marched  southwards  to  Thetford,  King  Edmund's  capital,  and 
after  a  sanguinary  battle,  obtained  possession  of  that  place. 
King  Edmund,  according  to  the  old  chronicles,  they  killed  and  be- 


Queeft  Elisabeth  in  Suffolk.  527 

headed — but,  by  a  miracle,  the  head,  which  had  been  thrown  into  a 
wood,  was  presened  by  a  wolf,  who  politely  handed  it  to  the  persons  in 
search  of  it,  and  the  moment  it  came  in  contact  with  the  body  it  united 
so  closely  that  the  juncture  was  not  visible,  except  when  closely  examined. 
The  wolf  remained  a  harmless  spectator  of  the  scene ;  and  as  we  are 
informed  by  all  the  ancient  historians,  after  gravely  attending  the  funeral 
at  Hoxne,  peaceably  retired  to  his  native  woods.  This  happened  about 
forty  days  after  the  death  of  the  saint.  Many  miracles  were  worked  by 
the  body,  which  at  length  was  removed  to  a  church  constructed  at 
Beodericworth,  which,  increasing  in  celebrity,  was  afterwards  called 
Bury  St  Edmunds. 


Queen  Elizabeth  in  Suffolk. 

Great  interest  attaches  to  Queen  Elizabeth's  royal  progress  through 
Suffolk  in  1561  and  1578.  Of  the  latter.  Churchyard  writes,  '•  Albeit 
they  had  small  warning  ....  of  the  coming  of  the  Queen's  Majesty 
into  both  those  shires  (Norfolk  and  Suffolk),  the  gentlemen  had  made 
such  ready  provision,  that  all  the  velvets  and  silks  that  might  be  laid 
hand  on  were  taken  up  and  bought  for  any  money,  and  soon  converted 
to  such  garments  and  suits  of  robes  that  the  shew  thereof  might  have 
beautified  the  greatest  triumphs  that  was  in  England  these  many  years. 
For,  as  I  heard,  there  were  200  young  gentlemen  clad  all  in  white  velvet, 
and  300  of  the  graver  sort  apparelled  in  black  velvet  coats  and  fair  chains, 
all  ready  at  one  instant  and  place,  with  1500  serving-men  more  on 
horseback,  well  and  bravely  mounted  in  good  order,  ready  to  receive 
the  Queen's  Highness  into  Suffolk,  which  surely  was  a  comely  troop, 
and  a  noble  sight  to  behold.  And  all  these  waited  on  the  Sheriff,  Sir 
William  Spring,  during  the  Queen's  Majesty's  abode  in  those  parts,  and 
to  the  very  confines  of  Suffolk.  But  before  her  Highness  passed  into 
Norfolk  there  was  in  Suffolk  such  sumptuous  feastings  and  banquets 
as  seldom  in  any  part  of  the  world  hath  been  seen  before."  In  her  first 
progress  (in  1561)  the  Queen  passed  five  days  at  Ipswich,  and  visited 
the  Waldegraves  at  Smalbridge,  in  Bury,  and  the  Tollemaches  at  Hel- 
mingham.  In  the  progress  of  1578  the  houses  she  visited  were 
Melford  Hall ;  Lawsliall  Hall  (where  she  dined) ;  Hawstead  Place, 
the  residence  of  Sir  William  Dniry;  Sir  William  Spring  (the  High 
Sheriff)  at  Lavenham  ;  Sir  Thomas  Kitson  at  Hengrave;  Sir  Arthur 
Higham  at  Barrow;  Mr.  Rookwcxxl  at  Euston,  and  others;  while 
Sir  Robert  Jcrmyn  feasted  the  French  ambassadors  at  Rushbrooke. 


528 


NORFOLK. 

Norwich  Castle. 

Norwich  is  built  on  an  eminence,  with  the  River  Wensum  flowing  at 
its  feet,  and  spreads  over  a  large  site,  with  openings  planted  with  trees, 
and  towers  of  churches  surmounting  each  block  of  building,  thus 
recalling  old  Fuller's  description  : — "  Norwich  (as  you  please)  either  a 
city  in  an  orchard,  or  an  orchard  in  a  city."  It  is  not  mentioned  in 
history  before  the  time  of  the  earlier  Danish  invasions.  It  appears  to 
have  risen  gradually  from  the  decay  of  Caistor  or  Castor  St.  Edmunds, 
now  a  small  village,  about  three  miles  south  of  Norvvich,  but  anciently 
a  British,  and  subsequently  a  Roman  town  under  the  name  of  Fenta 
Icenorum.     An  old  d-stich  records  that 

"  Castor  was  a  city  when  Norwich  was  none, 
And  No^^vich  was  built  of  Castor  stone." 

During  the  existence  of  the  separate  kingdom  of  the  East  Angles,  their 
kings  had  erected  upon  what  was  then  a  promontory  on  the  shore  of  the 
estuary  of  the  sea,  and  is  now  the  Castle  Hill,  a  royal  fortress.  The 
town  grew  around  the  Castle,  and,  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor, 
had  1320  burgesses  and  twenty-five  parish  churches;  and  it  may  be 
questioned  if  at  this  time  it  was  exceeded  in  wealth  and  population  by 
any  place  in  England  except  London,  and  perhaps  York. 

The  Castle,  which  stands  on  a  lofty  eminence  in  the  centre  of  the 
town,  bears  evidence  of  Norman  construction,  built  on  the  site  of  a 
strongly  fortified  place  which  existed  long  before  that  period,  and  is 
attributed  to  Uffa,  the  first  King  of  East  Anglia,  about  575;  and  the 
feet  of  lands  granted  in  677  to  the  monastery  of  Ely  being  charged  with 
castle  guard  to  Norwich  Castle  is  strong  in  support  of  the  above  con- 
clusion. Mr.  Harrod  has  examined  the  question  of  the  site  with  great 
care,  and  considers  the  earthworks  to  be  British.  The  fortress  was 
built  early  in  the  Conqueror's  reign.  The  hill  was  encircled  with  walls 
and  towers,  of  which  some  remained  in  1581. 

Its  history  is  interesting.  In  the  Conqueror's  time  it  was  entrusted  to 
Ralf  de  Gunder,  Earl  of  Norfolk  ;  but  he  rebelling  against  the  King,  in 
1075,  "^"^  being  defeated,  took  shipping  at  Norwich,  and  fled  into 


Norwich  CasLj.  529 

Bretagne.  His  wife,  who  valiantly  defended  the  Castle,  was  obliged  to 
capitulate.  The  constableship  of  the  Castle,  with  the  Earldom  of 
Norfolk,  was  then  confeiTed  on  Roger  Bigot,  or  Bigod,  to  whom,  on 
strong  presumptive  evidence,  the  erection  of  the  present  keep  has  been 
ascribed.  On  theaccession  of  William  Riifus,  the  city  was  damaged  by 
this  Earl  Roger  Bigod,  who  held  the  Castle  for  Robert  of  Normandy, 
William's  eldest  brother.  On  the  peace  of  1091,  Roger  was  pardoned, 
uid  retained  his  office.  In  his  time,  and  probably  by  his  encourage- 
ment, the  bishopric  of  the  East  Angles  was  removed  from  Thetford  lu 
Norwich,  and  the  foundations  of  the  Cathedral  were  laid.  The  Con- 
iiuestand  the  rebellion  of  Guader  had  materially  injured  the  town,  for  at 
the  Domesday  Sur\ey  the  number  of  burgesses  was  only  half  the 
number  of  those  in  the  Confessor's  time.  Henry  I.  granted  the  citi/ens 
a  charter,  and  soon  after  this  the  Flemings  began  to  settle  here,  and  in- 
troduced the  worsted  manufacture.  The  Castle  remained  (except  for 
a  short  interval  in  the  reign  of  Stephen)  in  the  hands  of  the  Bigod  family, 
until  the  reign  of  Henry  HI.  Hugh  Bigod,  being  in  the  interest  of 
young  Henry,  son  of  Henry  H.,  took  the  city  by  assault  in  11 74,  with 
the  aid  of  a  body  of  Flemish  troops.  Henry  H.,  to  reward  the  loyalty 
of  the  citizens,  who  had  resisted  this  attack,  restored  or  confirmed  their 
privileges  by  a  charter,  which  is  still  extant,  and  which  is  one  of  the 
oldest  in  the  kingdom. 

In  the  time  of  King  John,  Roger  Bigod  having  joined  the  insiugent 
Barons,  Norwich  Castle  was  seized  by  the  King.  Soon  after  John's 
death,  it  was  taken  by  the  Dauphin  Louis,  but  on  the  peace  which  fol- 
lowed his  departure,  it  was  restored  to  the  Bigod  family,  by  one  of 
whom,  about  1224,  it  was  surrendered  to  the  Crown.  It  was  subse- 
(lueiitly  committed  to  the  chai-ge  of  the  Sheriff  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk, 
and  made  the  common  prison.  The  area  originally  comprehended  2^ 
acres.  The  keep,  the  only  part  remaining,  is  no  feet  3  inches  trom 
east  to  west,  and  from  north  to  south  92  feet  10  inches;  height  to  tlie 
battlements  69  feet  10  inches  ;  it  has  been  recased,  but  in  barbarous 
taste.  When  the  Archaeological  Institute  visited  Norwich  in  1847,  the 
Castle  was  described  as  "  Norman  structure,  recently  re-cased  in  what 
was  calkd  twenty  years  ago,  good  old  Norman ;  but  now  we  know  a 
good  deal  better,  and  can  see  the  gross  defects  of  this  restoration.  S(>me 
good  old  genuine  Norman  work  remains  within,  sufficient  to  create  a 
wish  that  the  Castle  itself  had  been  let  alon^.  Norwich  Castle  was  of 
a  very  different  character." 


M  M 


530 


The  Burning  of  Norwich  Cathedral  Priory. 

In  the  Liber  de  Antiquis  Legibus  of  the  Corporation  of  London,  it  is 
related  that  in  August,  1272,  there  happened  at  Norwich  a  certain  most 
grievous  misfortune,  and  among  Christians  unheard  of  for  an  age  :  That 
the  Cathedral  Church  in  honour  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  there  anciently 
founded,  was  completely  destroyed  by  fire,  wilfully  placed,  with  all  the 
houses  of  the  monks  constructed  within  the  cloisters.  And  this  was 
occasioned  by  the  Prior  of  the  monastery  ;  for  with  his  assent  messen- 
gers and  servants  of  the  monks  often  entered  the  city,  abusing  and 
wounding  men  and  women  within  and  without  their  houses,  and  doing 
much  evil.  The  Prior  endeavoured  to  draw  away  men  of  the  commons 
from  the  city.  The  monks  had  every  year  a  fair,  and  it  happened  this 
year  that  about  the  Feast  of  the  Holy  Trinity  the  citizens  coming  with 
their  merchandize  had,  for  the  most  part,  returned  home  at  the  end  of 
the  fair,  when  the  servants  of  the  monks  wickedly  assaulted  those  who 
remained,  abusing,  wounding,  and  killing  certain  of  them  ;  and  for  this 
they  never  made  any  redress,  but  persevering  in  their  malice  and 
wickedness,  perpetrated  all  sorts  of  evil  against  the  citizens,  who,  not 
being  able  to  bear  it  any  longer,  assembled,  and  prepared  to  arm  them- 
selves to  repel  force  by  force.  When  the  most  detestable  Prior  understood 
this,  he  caused  to  come  fi-om  Yarmouth  who  in  the  time  of  trouble  in 
the  kingdom  had  been  robbers,  ravishers,  and  malefactors ;  all  these 
came  by  water  to  the  monastery,  ascending  the  belfrey  where  the  bells 
were  hung,  furnishing  it  with  arms  like  a  camp,  and  thence  they  fired 
with  bows  and  catapults,  so  that  no  one  was  able  to  pass  near  the 
monastery  without  being  wounded.  The  citizens,  seeing  their  violence, 
supposed  those  persons  were  manifestly  evil-doers  against  the  peace  of 
our  lord  the  King,  who  had  made  a  hostile  camp  in  their  city.  They, 
therefore,  gathered  together,  ordering  men  to  apprehend  and  lead  them 
to  the  King's  Justice,  furnished  themselves;  when  these  persons  ap- 
proached the  closed  gate  of  the  court,  not  being  able  to  enter  by  reason 
of  the  array  ol  men-at-arms  who  defended  it,  raised  a  fire,  and  fiercely 
burned  the  gate.  As  the  fire  waxed  stronger,  the  belfrey  was  burned, 
and  all  the  houses  of  the  monks,  and  also,  as  some  say,  the  Cathedral 
Church,  so  that  all  which  could  be  burned  was  reduced  to  ashes, 
except  a  certain  chapel  which  remains  uninjured.  The  monks,  how- 
ever, and  all  who  were  able,  taking  to  flight,  got  away,  but  certain  men 
were  killed. 

The  King  (Henry  111.),  when  he  heard  these  most  horrid  rumours, 


The  Burning  of  Nonvich  Cathedral  Priory.       5  3 1 

was  greatly  grieved ;  and  in  fury  and  vehement  wrath  proceeded  to  the 
city,  and  when  he  had  arrived,  he  caused  the  suspected  citizens  to  be 
apprehended  and  incarcerated  in  the  Castle.  And  he  caused  men  re- 
maining without  the  city  to  be  summoned,  desiring  on  their  oaths  tci 
know  the  truth  of  this  affair ;  and  when  they  presented  themselves 
before  the  King's  Justices  for  this  purpose,  the  Bishop  of  the  place, 
Roger  by  name,  came  forward,  not  falling  short  of  the  wickedness  and 
cruelty  of  his  Prior,  neither  considering  his  religious  vows  nor  his  own 
dignity,  but  lacking  all  religion  and  pity,  desiring  as  far  as  he  could  to 
condemn  the  citizens  to  death,  he  before  the  whole  people  excom- 
municated all  who  for  favour,  pay,  religion,  or  pity,  should  spare  any 
of  the  citizens  from  undergoing  trial ;  so  that,  after  his  opinion  had 
been  declared,  the  King  would  extend  favour  to  none,  although  he  was 
entreated  by  many  religious  men  within  and  without  the  city.  And  no 
allowance  was  then  made  to  the  citizens,  on  the  ground  that  the  Prior 
and  his  accomplices  were  the  origin  and  cause  of  all  that  misfortune, 
nor  by  reason  of  the  losses  or  evils  which  the  citizens  had  suffered  by 
means  of  the  Prior  and  his  men  ;  but  the  only  inquiry  made  was,  H'ho 
took  part  in  this  conflict  f  And  all  who  were  convicted  of  this  were  by 
the  jurors  condemned  to  death;  and  Laurence  de  Broke,  a  justice  at 
Newgate  for  a  gaol  delivery,  who  was  there  present  acting  as  Judge, 
condemned  about  thirty  young  men  belonging  to  the  city  to  a  most 
cruel  death — namely,  to  be  drawn,  hung,  and  their  bodies  bumt  after 
death.  A  certain  priest  also,  and  two  clerks,  were  clearly  convicted 
of  robbing  in  the  church,  and  they  were  sent  to  the  Bishop  to  be 
judged  according  to  the  custom  of  Holy  Church. 

Afterwards,  by  a  most  truthful  inquest  of  forty  knights,  who  re- 
mained near  the  city,  it  appears  that  the  church  was  burned  by  that 
accursed  Prior,  and  not  by  the  fire  of  the  citizens ;  for  he  had  secretly 
caused  smiths  to  go  up  into  the  tower  of  the  church,  who  made  there 
weapons  and  darts  to  be  cast  by  them  with  catapults  into  the  city ;  and 
when  these  smiths  saw  the  belfry  on  fire  they  fled,  and  did  not  ex- 
tinguish their  own  fire ;  and  as  this  fire  increased,  the  tower  caught 
fire  and  bumed  the  church. 

It  appeared  also  that  the  most  wicked  Prior  proposed  to  burn  the 
<wl}oU  city ;  for  which  purpose,  by  his  accomplices,  he  caused  fire  to  be 
raised  in  three  parts  of  the  place.  Certain  of  the  citizens,  however, 
wishing  to  avenge  that  evil,  increased  it  very  grievously,  f'>'  ''"'v 
burned  with  the  same  fire  the  gate  of  the  Priory. 

The  wicked  Prior  was  also  convicted  of  homicide,  of  robbt:),  ..ud 
innumerable  other  cruelties  and  iniquities,  perpetrated  by  iiim  per- 

M  M  :: 


532  Thetford  Priory. 

sonally,  or  by  his  iniquitous  accomplices.  Therefore,  the  King  caused 
him  to  be  apprehended,  and  gave  him  into  the  hands  of  his  Bishop,  who 
being  far  too  favourable  to  him,  purged  himself  after  the  ecclesiastical 
manner,  and  so  that  most  wicked  man  (with  shame  be  it  said)  re- 
mained unpunished  for  the  crime  laid  to  his  charge.  Subsequently, 
within  the  next  half-year,  divine  vengeance  overtaking  him,  as  the 
authority  believes,  he  miserably  died. 

This  circumstantial  account  of  the  fire  varies  considerably  from  that 
of  Cotton  as  to  its  actual  causes.  He  says,  on  the  Feast  of  St. 
Lawrence  the  citizens  encircled  and  besieged  the  monastery,  and  when 
by  assault  they  were  unable  to  obtain  ingress,  they  fired  the  great  gate* 
of  the  monastery,  and  beyond  it  a  parochial  church,  which,  with  all 
the  ornaments,  books,  and  images,  and  everything  contained  therein, 
they  burned.  They  also  fired  the  great  house  of  the  almonry,  and 
the  gates  of  the  church  ;  also  the  great  belfrey,  which,  together  with  the 
bells,  was  immediately  destroyed.  Certain  of  them  also,  without  the 
tower  of  St.  George,  with  catapults,  threw  fire  into  the  great  belfrey, 
which  was  above  the  choir,  and  by  this  fire  they  burned  the  whole 
church,  except  the  chapel  of  the  Blessed  Mary,  which  was  miraculously 
preserved.  The  dormitory,  refectory,  strangers'  hall,  infirmary,  with  the 
chapel,  and  almost  all  the  edifices  of  the  court,  were  consumed  by  fire. 

The  difference  between  this  account  and  the  London  narrative  is 
amusing  enough.  Cotton's  (says  Mr,  Harrod)  is,  of  course,  the 
monkish  history  of  it. 


Thetford  Priory, 

Thetford  was,  in  ancient  times,  the  metropolis  of  the  East  Angles: 
it  had  eight  monasteries,  twenty  churches,  and  other  religious  founda- 
tions. When  the  Danes  invaded  England  in  the  reign  of  Ethelred  L, 
they  fixed  their  head -quarters,  a.d.  870,  at  Thetford,  which  they 
sacked.  There  appears  to  have  been  an  Abbey  near  the  town  at  a  very 
early  period,  for  King  Edrcd,  the  grandson  of  Alfred  the  Great,  ordered 
a  gieat  slaughter  to  be  made  of  Thetforda  (as  it  was  then  called),  in 
revenge  of  the  Abbot  whom  they  had  formerly  slain.  The  town  was 
fired  by  the  Danes  a.d.  1004,  and  again  in  loio.  In  the  reign  of  William 
the  Conqueror  the  bishopric  of  East  Angles  was  transferred  to  it  from 
North  Elmham,  but  was  transferred  to  Norwich  in  1094.  After  this 
a  Cluniac  Priory  was  founded  here  by  Roger  Bigod ;  and  twelve 
Cluniac  monks,  with  Malgod  the  Prior  arrived  at  Thetford  in  1104, 
amidst  great  lejoicing,  and  for  three  years,  laboured  hard  at  the  build- 


T lief  ford  Priory.  533 

ings  of  the  monastery  adjacent  to  the  church  of  Saint  Mary  the  Great. 
Malgod  was  then  recalled,  and  Stephen,  sent  from  Lewes,  replaced  him; 
and  disapproving  of  the  site,  with  the  approbation  of  the  founder  and 
the  King,  the  establishment  was  removed  to  the  Norfolk  side  of  the 
Ousc,  the  site  on  which  it  now  stands.  The  founder  died  in  tioy, 
and  had  directed  his  body  to  be  buried  in  the  monastery ;  but  the  Bishop 
obtained  it  for  his  own  foundation  at  Norwich,  it  being  a  valuable 
source  of  revenue,  by  masses,  offerings,  and  commemorations  of  so 
great  .md  wealthy  a  man  as  the  founder.  In  1 1 14,  the  monks  removed 
to  their  new  monastery.  Matthew  Paris  tells  a  strange  story  of  the 
Prior  in  1248  ;  he  was  a  Savoyard  by  birth,  and  a  monk  of  Clugny,  and 
declared  himself  a  kinsman  of  the  Queen :  he  invited  his  brothers, 
Bernard,  a  Knight,  and  Guiscard,  a  clerk,  to  come  to  his  house  at  Thet- 
ford :  there  he  remained,  according  to  custom,  the  whole  night,  till 
cockcrow,  eating  and  drinking  with  them,  forgetting  his  matin  devotions  ; 
and  seldom  was  he  present  at  mass,  or  even  little  masses,  or  at  canonical 
hours.  These  gluttonous  persons  swallowed  up  all  the  food  of  the 
monks  in  the  Char^'bdis  of  the  belly,  and,  afterwards,  when  well  gorged, 
loaded  them  with  insults.  Meanwhile,  a  strife  arose  between  the  Prior 
and  one  of  his  monks,  whom  the  former  swore  should  proceed  on  a 
pilgrimage  with  the  scrip  and  wallet,  when  the  demoniac  monk  drew 
a  knife  and  plunged  it  into  the  Prior's  belly.  The  wounded  Pri:  r, 
with  the  death-rattle  in  his  throat,  endeavoured  to  rouse  the  monks, 
but  in  vain,  when  the  monk  again  rushed  upon  him,  and  buried  the 
knife  up  to  the  handle  in  his  lifeless  body.  The  assassin  was  secured, 
and  committed  to  prison.  AVhen  the  crime  came  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  King  (Henry  III.),  woirieil  by  the  continued  complaints  of  the 
Queen,  he  ordered  the  murderer  to  be  chained,  and,  after  being  deprived 
of  his  eyes,  to  be  thrown  into  the  lowest  dungeon  in  the  castle  of 
Nor\vich.  These  occurrences  were  talketl  of  by  an  enemy  of  the  monks 
as  an  opprobrium  to  religious  men,  one  of  whom  said,  in  reply, 
"  Amongst  the  angels  the  Lord  found  a  rebel ;  amongst  the  seven 
deacons  a  deviator  from  the  right  path;  and  amongst  the  Apostles  a 
traitor;  God  forbid  that  the  sin  of  one  man  or  of  a  few  should  redound 
to  the  disgrace  of  such  a  numerous  community." 

The  Convent  had  fallen  into  a  bad  state.  Still,  the  Bigods  and  the 
Mowbrays  were  buried  there  ;  and  then  the  Howards,  many  of  which 
noble  family  sleep  within  these  hallowed  walls.  Thomas,  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  strove  hard  to  save  the  Priory  from  suppression,  but  in  vain : 
the  Surrender  deetl  was  executcti  by  the  Prior  and  twelve  monks,  and 
the  site  and  possession  were  given  to  the  Duke,  who  removed  the  bones 


534  Rising  Castle. 

and  tombs  of  some  of  his  family  from  Thetford  to  Framlingham,  and 
the  building  was  then  abandoned  to  decay.  A  small  etching,  by  Hollar, 
shows  the  ruins  as  they  existed  in  his  time.  Gough  tells  us  how  the 
edifice  was  destroyed  by  rapacious  tenants.  Mr.  Harrod,  F.S.A.,  in 
1854,  was  enabled,  by  excavations  by  subscription,  to  verify  points,  to 
construct  a  large  plan  of  this  noble  Priory.  Among  other  noteworthy 
results  was  the  identification  in  the  choir  of  the  tomb  of  John  Mowbray, 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  died  in  1475  5  ^^'^  ^^^  ^^"  mistaken  for  the 
tomb  of  Thomas,  Duke  of  Norfolk  ("  Jockey  of  Norfolk"),  killed  on 
Bosworth  Field.  In  the  large  hall  was  the  famous  picture  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  purchased  for  this  Priory  by  the  Lady  Maude  de  Sax- 
mundham,  a  lay  sister  of  the  Convent.  In  the  Scriptorium,  the  erudite 
monk  Brame  may  have  toiled  in  recording  the  marvels  wrought  at  his 
favourite  shrine;  but  he  is  not  over -credulous  when  he  remarks: 
"There  were  many  of  saints  beside  those  named,  whose  names  and 
merits  God  knows,  but  we,  out  of  regard  for  truth,  should  not  presume 
to  mention  " 


Rising  Castle. 

Of  the  history  of  these  noble  ruins,  Mr.  Harrod  brought  together  a 
large  mass  of  materials  in  1850,  for  his  truthful  Gleanings  among  the 
Castles  and  Convents  of  Norfolk.*  The  village  above  which  the  Castle 
stands  lies  north-east  of  Lynn,  in  a  dreary  country.  The  Castle  is  in  the 
midst  of  stupendous  earthworks,  a  fine  specimen  of  Norman  castrame- 
tation.  Rising  was,  at  the  Conquest,  part  of  the  lordship  of  Snettisham, 
and,  w'ith  other  possessions,  was  forfeited  by  Stigand,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  The  Conqueror  bestowed  them  upon  his  half-brother, 
Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux  ;  and  on  his  rebellion  against  William  Rufus, 
they  were  granted  to  William  d'Albini,  from  whom  they  descended  to 
his  son,  who  married  Adeli/a,  the  widow  of  Henry  L,  and  to  whom 
the  erection  of  the  Castle  is  usually  attributed,  before  1176;  but 
the  edifice  appears  to  enclose  a  fragment  of  a  more  ancient  building. 
By  tenure  of  this  Castle  the  descendants  of  the  founder  enjoyed  a  third 
part  of  the  customs  of  the  port  of  Lynn  until  the  27th  Henry  III., 
when  the  people  of  Lynn  besieged  the  Earl  in  his  Castle,  and  com- 
pelled him  to  relieve  them  from  his  claim.  An  old  traditional  saying 
declares  that  *'  Rising  was  a  sea-port  town  when  Lynn  was  but  a 
marsh."     The  trade  was  considerable,  and  the  town  was  incorporated, 

•  To  this  work  of  patient  and  discriminative  research  we  are  largely  indebted 
for  the  details  of  our  Norfolk  Sketches. 


Rising  Castle.  535 

but  the  harbour  being  choked  up  with  sand,  was  deserted,  and  the 
place  fell  to  decay.  Rising  received  the  elective  franchise  in  the  time  of 
William  and  Mary ;  but  the  number  of  voters  having  diminished  to  two 
or  three,  the  franchise  was  taken  away  by  the  Reform  Act. 

The  descent  of  the  Castle  and  Manor  of  Rising  would  occupy  more 
space  than  is  at  our  command.  One  of  its  possessors  was  Robert  de 
Montalt,  a  man  of  note  as  a  warrior  and  statesman,  who  had  a  re- 
markable lawsuit  with  the  Corporation  of  Lynn,  arising  out  of  his 
claims  of  the  toUbooth  and  tolls.  It  was  commenced  6  Edward  II. 
An  assault  on  Robert  and  his  men  had  been  committed  or  permitted 
upon  his  being  in  Lynn,  when  Nicholas  de  Northampton,  with  others, 
with  banners  unfurled,  insulted  the  said  Robert  and  his  men,  pursuing 
him  to  his  dwelling-house,  which  they  besieged,  broke  down  the  doors, 
beat  him  and  his  men,  and  carried  away  certain  arms,  swords,  spurs,  a 
gilt  zone,  purses  with  money,  and  jewels  to  the  value  of  40/.  The 
defendants  led  away  and  imprisoned  his  men,  confined  him  for  two  days, 
and  then  compelled  him  by  fear  of  death  to  release  all  actions  against 
the  Mayor,  to  give  up  the  right  of  appointing  a  bailiff,  to  leave  the 
profits  for  twenty  years  to  them,  &c.  They  afterwards  carried  him  to 
the  market-place,  and  there  compelled  him,  in  the  presence  of  a  mul- 
titude of  persons,  to  enter  into  these  compacts.  The  damage  of  the 
said  Robert  de  Montalt  being  laid  at  loo.coo  marks.  Judgment  was 
given  in  his  favour,  and  damages  6000/.  awarded,  which,  or  a  composi- 
tion of  4000/.,  they  were  compelled  to  pay  by  instalments,  and  the  town 
was  heavily  taxed  to  raise  these  sums. 

But  the  fact  of  the  grcitest  interest  in  the  annals  of  Rising,  that 
which  casts  a  lurid  light  on  the  history  of  this  Castle,  was  its  posses- 
sion by  the  "  she-wolf  of  France,"  Isabella,  Queen  Dowager  of  England. 
Rising  has  been  usually  pointed  out  as  the  place  of  her  imprisonment 
and  death.  After  Mortimer's  execution,  on  29th  Novemlier,  in  the 
fourth  year  of  Edward  111.,  we  are  told  that  "the  Queen  Mother 
was  deprived  of  her  enormous  jointure,  and  shut  up  in  the  Castle  of 
Rising,  where  she  spent  the  remaining  twenty-seven  years  of  her  life  in 
obscurity."  Edward,  however,  paid  her  a  respectful  visit  at  least  once 
a  year,  and  allowed  her  300c/.,  and  afterwards  4000/.,  ior  her  annual 
expense.  It  is  remarkable  that  Blomefield,  who  repeats  the  story  of 
her  twenty-seven  years'  imprisonment,  and  death  at  this  place,  prints, 
but  a  few  pages  further  on,  Letters  Patent  under  her  hand,  dateti  from 
her  "Castle  of  Hertford,"  in  the  20th  year  of  Edward  III.  Miss 
Strickland  quotes  and  adopts  the  account  of  Froissart  much  to  the 
same  effect,  adding  that  "  Castle  Rising  was  the  place  where  Queen 


53^  Rising  Castle. 

Isabella  was  destined  to  spend  the  long  years  of  her  widowhood  ;"  that 
"during  the  first  two  years  her  seclusion  was  most  rigorous,  but  in 
1332  her  condition  was  ameliorated,"  and  quotes  a  notice  of  a  "Pil- 
grimage to  Walsingham"  from  the  Lynn  Records.  Miss  Strickland's 
account  concludes  thus:  "Isabella  died  at  Castle  Rising,  August  22, 
1358.  aged  sixty-three.  She  chose  the  Church  of  the  Grey  Friars, 
where  the  mangled  remains  of  her  paramour,  Mortimer,  had  been 
buried  eight-and-twenty  years  previously,  for  the  place  of  her  interment ; 
and  carrying  her  characteristic  hypocrisy  even  to  the  grave,  she  was 
buried  with  the  heart  of  her  murdered  husband  on  her  breast.  King 
Edward  issued  a  precept  to  the  Sheriffs  of  London  and  Middlesex, 
November  20,  to  cleanse  the  streets  from  dirt  and  all  impurities,  and 
to  gravel  Bishopsgate  Street,  Aldgate,  against  the  coming  of  the  body 
of  his  dearest  mother,  Queen  Isabella,  and  directs  the  officers  of 
Exchequer  to  disburse  9/.  for  that  purpose.  Isabella  was  interred  in  the 
choir  of  the  Grey  Friars  within  Newgate,  and  had  a  fine  alabaster  tomb 
erected  to  her  memory." — {Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England,  vol.  i.) 

Such  is  one  account  of  this  miserable  woman's  end;  but  Mr.  A.  H. 
Swatman,  in  1850,  expressed  his  belief  that  she  was  not  a  prisoner  at 
Rising,  for  that  he  found  she  occasionally  travelled  to  other  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  even  to  London ;  that  she  had  been  at  Northampton,  Wal- 
singham, and  Langley ;  and  that  the  King,  her  son,  visited  her  with  his 
Queen  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,  and  again  in  the  following  year, 
when  many  presents  of  pipes  of  wine,  barrels  of  sturgeon,  falcons,  and 
other  things  were  made  by  the  Commonalty  of  Lynn  for  the  King's  enter- 
tainment ;  and  that  the  absence  of  all  notice  on  the  Lynn  rolls  of  pre- 
parations for  her  funeral,  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that  she  did  not  die 
at  Rising. 

Mr.  Harrod  quotes  a  series  of  extracts  from  Patent  Rolls,  which  are 
new  materials  in  the  Queen's  life;  but  we  must  pass  on  to  1344,  when 
Queen  Isabella  was  with  the  King  and  Queen  at  the  Palace  of  Norwich, 
where  the  King  celebrated  his  birthday ;  as  were  the  Earls  of  Derby, 
Warwick,  Arundel,  Northampton,  Suffolk,  and  many  more  barons  and 
knights;  and  there  they  had  an  enormous  pie,  luondrously  large! 
[Chronicle  of  a  Norfolk  Priory,  (qu.  Langley  ?)  of  which  only  a  very 
modern  copy  exists,  in  the  Harleian  MSS.  2188.]  She  obtained  the 
next  year,  for  the  city  of  Norwich,  a  grant  of  the  fee  of  the  Castle  and 
other  privileges.  The  Charter  was  sealed  by  the  King  at  Hertford 
(one  of  her  own  castles).  Finally,  we  have  an  Inquisition  taken  at 
Salisbury,  after  her  death,  which  states  that  she  died  at  the  Castle  of 
Hertford,  the  23rd  of  August,  in  the  32nd  Edward  III. 


Rising  Castle.  537 

Mr.  Bond,  F.S.A.,of  the  British  Museum,  nextcommunicatedaddilional 
information  relating  to  Queen  Isabella  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries: 
this  being  the  Queen's  Household  Book,  from  October,  1357,  to  her 
death,  during  all  which  period  she  was  at  Hertford  Castle ;  the  entries 
are  continued  until  the  household  was  broken  up,  in  December,  1358. 

Rising  Castle  (which  in  general  style  is  Norman,  and  having  a  resem- 
blance to  that  of  Norwich  Castle)  is  erected  within  a  nearly  circular 
space,  enclosed  by  a  large  bank  and  ditch  ;  the  entrance  being  by  pass- 
ing over  a  bridge,  and  through  a  Norman  gatehouse.  Of  the  numerous 
buildings  that  once  filled  the  space  within  the  lofty  bank — towers,  chapels, 
halls,  galleries,  stables,  gianaries,  &c. — nothing  now  remains  but  the 
great  tower,  or  keep  (which  has  walls  three  yards  thick),  the  chapel, 
and  the  gatehouse;  and  part  of  the  Constable's  lodgings,  a  brick 
building  of  Henry  the  Seventh's  time:  the  walls  and  towers,  which 
formerly  crowned  the  bank,  are  gone.  The  great  hall,  gallery,  and 
chamber,  where  Queen  Isabeila  entertained  her  son  and  his  Court,  are 
nearly  gone.  The  Castle,  like  many  of  our  Norman  fortresses,  must  have 
been  suffered  to  fall  to  decay  at  a  very  early  period  ;  for,  about  the 
22nd  Edward  IV.,  it  was  reported  that  there  was  never  a  house  in  the 
Castle  able  to  keep  out  the  rain-water,  wind,  or  snow.  In  Elizabeth's 
reign  the  viewers  stated  that  for  spear  and  shield,  for  which  the  Castle 
was  originally  erected,  it  might  with  considerable  repairs,  be  maintained. 

The  Norman  windows  of  the  great  tower  do  not  appear  to  have  ever 
been  glazed,  but  furnishetl  with  shutters  within.  The  fireplace  was  a 
low  arch  with  no  flue,  and  the  smoke  must,  therefore,  have  made  its 
way  through  a  lantern  in  the  roof.  There  is  an  apartment  which  Mr. 
Han-od  considers  may  have  been  intended  for  the  private  room  of  the 
Lord  of  the  Castle,  if  he  were  driven  into  this  last  hold  of  the  great 
tower,  such  as  occurred  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.;  and  most  gloomy 
and  dismal  must  this  tower  have  been  when  roofs  and  floors  shut  out 
the  light  of  day  ;  the  effect  of  it  is  massive,  stem,  and  appropriate.  Mr. 
Harrod  concludes  his  learned  Essay  with  the  following  lines,  little 
doubting  that  many  generations  may  yet  appreciate  its  bea,utie8,  and 
study  amidst  its  walls  the  history  of  those  early  days  they  recall  and 
illustrate : 

"  Thou  frrcv  ni.TTiri.iTi,  with  thv  potent  wand, 
Evok 
The  i 
On( 

The  .xrs  I 

To  I;>  i.ncc; 

Drcanu  ol  the  j-u;,  how  vxujUiiitc  )c  Lc — 
Ofifspring  of  heavenly  faith  and  rare  antiquity !" 


53« 


Castle  Acre  Castle,  and  Priory. 

In  the  village  of  Castle  Acre,  about  four  miles  from  Swaftham,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river  Nar,  are  seen  the  earthworks  and  the  mouldering, 
ivy-clad  walls  of  this  ancient  fortress.  The  site  was  granted  by  the  Con- 
queror to  William  de  Warenne,  by  whom,  or  his  son,  the  Castle  was 
erected,  and  it  remained  in  this  family  till  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  But  it  had  fallen  to  ruin  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  when 
the  site  of  the  Castle  and  ditches  were  mere  feeding-grounds  for  cattle, 
valued,  with  the  herbage,  at  r^s.  per  annum.  William  de  Warenne  mar- 
ried Gundreda,  a  daughter  of  the  Conqueror :  it  is  stated  that  she  died 
at  this  Castle  in  1085,  but  this  is  not  at  all  certain  ;  she  was  buried  at 
Lewes.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  Castle  Acre  Castle  was  frequently 
the  residence  of  the  De  Warennes,  and  that  kingly  visits  were  paid  to 
them  there.  Edward  I.  visited  Acre  several  times;  the  last  time  in 
1297,  fifty  years  after  which  the  Castle  was  a  ruin.  The  present 
remains  are  two  earthworks,  horseshoe  and  circular.  Of  the  great  gate 
but  little  exists  ;  it  was  massive  and  unadorned.  A  few  foundations  of 
the  habitable  portions  of  the  Castle  are  but  just  discernible.  Mr. 
Harrod,  in  excavating,  reached,  at  a  considerable  depth,  the  walls  of  the 
great  tower;  it  was  very  small,  but  the  north  and  west  walls  were  thirteen 
feet  thick.  The  main  street  of  the  village  is  still  called  Bailey  Street : 
it  was  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Constable  of  the  Castle ;  and  here 
resided  the  numerous  dependents,  the  armourers,  and  other  traders 
whose  business  was  almost  exclusively  connected  with  the  Castle  ;  and 
similar  exempt  jurisdictions  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  town  having 
an  ancient  castle.  At  Durham,  the  houses  in  Bailey  Street  were  origi- 
nally held  by  military  tenants,  bound  by  their  tenure  to  defend  the  Castle. 

Bailey  Street,  at  Acre,  was  protected  at  its  north  and  south  extre- 
mities by  a  gateway,  with  tower.  The  northern  one  only  remains. 
Almost  every  house  in  the  neighbourhood  has  some  of  the  stone- work 
of-  tfie  Castle  or  the  Priory  in  its  walls. 

1  neie  is  no  doubt  of  the  fortress  having  been  erected  by  the  Warennes; 
but  did  they  construct  the  enormous  earthworks  ?  Mr.  HaiTod  con- 
siders they  are  not  Norman,  but  Roman,  the  occupation  of  the  site  by 
the  Romans  being  established,  and  Roman  pottery  and  coins  of  Vespa- 
sian, Constantine,  &c.,  have  been  found  here.  Evidence  is  then  quoted 
to  show  that  the  walls  and  earthworks  were  the  works  of  different 
people,  and  that  the  Normans  availed  themselves  of  these  sites  in  conse- 
quence of  their  strength.     "  And  here,"  says  Mr.  Harrod,  "we  see  the 


Bromliolm  Priory.  539 

variety  of  interest  afforded  by  the  study  of  archxology.  Here  is  a  castle, 
of  which  all  interesting  architectural  features  have  been  destroyed  ;  but 
probably  from  that  veiy  cause  our  attention  is  drawn  to  the  remarkable 
character  of  the  earthworks,  and  a  view  of  the  subject  is  presented  to 
our  notice,  which  may  hereafter  be  of  great  use  in  the  investigation  of 
other  remains  of  a  similar  kind." 

^^'e  must  now  glance  at  the  Priory.  Earl  Warenne  founded  a 
priory  of  Cluniac  monks  in  his  Castle  at  Acre,  and  made  it  a  cell  to 
Lewes  Priory.  He  died  in  1089.  The  second  Earl,  finding  the  site 
"  too  little  and  inconvenient,"  gave  the  monks  two  orchards,  all  the 
plough-land  from  the  same  to  his  Castle,  the  moor  under  it,  &c.,  and 
the  Priory  was  rebuilt  on  its  present  site-  One  curious  execution  of  a 
deed  oi'  gift  to  this  monastery  is  noted.  The  wax  was  put  to  the  grant, 
and  the  parties  bit  the  ^ivax,  instead  of  affixing  a  seal.  There  are  con- 
siderable remains  of  this  religious  house.  The  ruins  of  the  west  front 
of  the  church,  and  the  towers  at  the  angles,  are  of  enriched  Norman 
architecture.  The  central  doonvay  has  fine  zigzag  and  other  mould- 
ings. The  large  west  Perpendicular  window  has  been  much  mutilated. 
Some  large  columns  of  the  nave — only  one  perfect — the  walls  of  the 
transepts,  remnants  of  conventual  buildings,  of  the  Prior's  house,  and 
the  bam  of  the  monastery — remain.  The  site  within  the  walls  contains 
nearly  thirty  acres.     The  views  of  the  ruins  are  very  picturesque. 

Castle  Acre  has  many  objects  of  interest  for  the  archaeologist; 
among  which  is  the  Friary,  founded  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 
There  are  in  the  town  several  hostelries  which  belonged  to  the  Priory. 


Bromholm  Priory. — The  Cross  of  Baldwin. — The 
Paston  Family. 
This  Priory  was  founded  for  seven  or  eight  Cluniac  monks  at  Brom- 
holm, in  1 1 13.  It  was  considerably  enlarged  early  in  the  thirteenth 
ccntur)'.  The  handsome  chapter-house  and  dormitory  were  built  through 
t!ie  acquisition  of  a  valuable  relic,  of  which  Matthew  Paris  gives  a 
particular  account.  "  In  the  same  year  divine  miracles  became  of 
frequent  occurrence  at  Bromholm,  to  the  glory  and  honour  of  the  life- 
giving  Cross  on  which  the  Saviour  of  the  world  suficretl  for  the  re- 
demption of  the  human  race ;  and  since  Britain,  a  place  in  the  middle 
of  the  ocean,  was  thought  worthy  by  the  Divine  bounty  to  be  blessed 
with  such  a  treasure,  it  is  proper,  nay,  most  proper,  to  impress  on  the 
mind  of  descendants  by  what  series  of  events  that  Cross  was  brought 
from  distant  regions  into  Britain. 


54^  Bromholm  Priory. 

"Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders,  was  from  a  Count  made  Emperor  of 
Constantinople,  at  which  place  he  reigned  with  vigour  for  many  years. 
It  happened  at  one  time  that  he  was  dreadfully  harassed  by  the  infidel 
kings,  against  whom  he  marched  without  deliberation,  and  on  this 
occasion  neglected  to  take  with  him  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  and  other 
relics  which  always  used  to  be  carried  before  him  by  the  patriarch  and 
bishops  whenever  he  was  about  to  engage  in  battle  against  the  enemies 
of  the  Cross,  and  the  carelessness  he  found  out  on  that  day  by  dreadful 
experience;  for  when  he  rashly  rushed  on  the  enemy  with  his  small  army, 
paying  no  regard  to  the  multitude  of  his  enemies,  who  exceeded  his  own 
army  tenfold,  in  a  very  short  time  he  and  all  his  men  were  surrounded 
by  the  enemies  of  Christ,  and  were  all  slain  or  made  prisoners,  and  the 
few  who  escaped  out  of  the  whole  number  knew  nothing  of  what  had 
happened  to  the  Emperor,  or  whither  he  had  gone. 

"  There  was  at  that  time  a  certain  chaplain  of  English  extraction, 
who,  with  his  clerks,  performed  divine  service  in  the  Emperor's  chapel, 
and  he  was  one  of  those  who  had  the  charge  of  the  Emperor's  lelics, 
rings,  and  other  effects.  He,  therefore,  when  he  heard  of  the  death  (for 
all  told  him  he  was  killed)  of  his  lord  the  Emperor,  left  the  city  of  Con- 
stantinople privately,  with  the  aforesaid  relics,  rings,  and  many  other 
things,  and  came  to  England.  On  his  arrival  there,  he  went  to  St, 
Albans,  and  sold  to  a  certain  monk  there  a  Cross  set  with  silver  and 
gold,  besides  two  figures  of  St.  Margaret,  and  some  gold  rings  and 
jewels,  all  which  things  are  now  held  in  great  veneration  at  the  monastery 
of  St.  Albans.  The  said  chaplain  then  drew  from  his  mantle  a  wooden 
Cross,  and  showed  it  to  some  of  the  monks,  and  declared  on  his  oath 
that  it  was  undoubtedly  a  piece  of  the  Cross  on  which  the  Saviour  of 
the  world  was  suspended  for  the  redemption  of  the  human  race  ;  but 
as  his  assertions  luere  d'lsbelie'ved  at  that  place,  he  departed,  taking  with 
him  this  priceless  treasure,  although  it  was  not  known.  This  said 
chaplain  had  two  young  children,  about  whose  support,  and  for  the 
preservation  of  whom  he  was  most  anxiotis,  for  which  purpose  he  offered 
the  aforesaid  Cross  to  several  monasteries,  on  condition  that  he  and  his 
children  should  be  received  among  the  brethren  of  the  monastery  ;  and 
having  endured  repulse  from  the  rich  in  many  places,  he  at  length  came 
to  a  chapel  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  called  Bromholm,  very  poor,  and 
altogether  destitute  of  buildings.  There  he  sent  for  the  Prior  and  some 
of  the  brethren,  and  showed  them  the  above-mentioned  Cross,  which 
was  constructed  of  two  pieces  of  wood,  placed  across  one  another,  and 
almost  as  wide  as  the  hand  of  a  man  :  he  then  humbly  implored  them 
to  receive  him  into  their  order,  with  the  Cross,  and  the  other  relics 


Bromholm  Priory.  541 

which  he  had  with  him.  as  well  as  his  two  children.  The  Prior  and  his 
brethren  then  were  overjoyed  to  possess  such  a  treasure,  and  by  the  in- 
tei^vention  of  the  Lord,  who  always  protects  honourable  poverty,  put 
faith  in  the  words  of  the  monk  ;  then  they  witli  due  reverence,  received 
the  Cross  of  our  Lord,  and  carried  it  into  their  oratory,  and  with  all 
de\otion  preserved  it  in  the  most  honourable  place  there. 

"  In  the  year  (1223)  then,  as  has  been  before  stated,  divine  miracles 
began  to  be  wTought  in  that  monastery,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  the 
life-giving  Cross ;  for  there  the  dead  were  restored  to  life,  the  blind 
received  their  sight,  and  the  lame  their  power  of  walking,  the  skin  of 
the  lepers  was  made  clean,  and  those  possessed  of  devils  were  released 
from  them  ;  and  any  sick  person  who  approached  the  aforesaid  Cross 
with  faith,  went  away  safe  and  sound.  This  said  Cross  is  frequently 
worshipped,  not  only  by  the  English  people,  but  also  by  those  from 
distant  countries,  and  those  who  have  heard  of  the  divine  miracles  con- 
nected with  it." 

"Such,"  says  Mr.  Harrod,  "were  the  circumstances  of  this  acquisition, 
and  such  the  cause  of  the  prosperity  of  Bromholm."  The  extraordinary 
absence  of  anything  like  reasonable  identity,  even  with  the  Cross  of 
Baldwin,  will  be  immediately  apparent,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
believe  it  possible  that  monks  and  people  would  have  been  so  readily 
deluded,  but  that  in  our  own  times  we  have  winking  Virgins,  and  the 
extravagant  farce  of  "  Our  Lady  of  Salsette."  "  It  was,  moreover,  con- 
firmed," says  Capgrave,  "  by  remarkable  miracles,  no  less  than  thirty-nine 
persons  being  raised  from  the  dead.     Who  could  doubt  after  this  ?" 

The  Past  on  family  were  great  patrons  of  this  monastery.  In  1466, 
Sir  John  Paston  died  in  London,  in  the  midst  of  his  fruitless  efforts  to 
recover  Caistor  from  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  seized  it  in  a  most 
scandalous  manner.  His  body  was  brought  to  Bromholm  for  inter- 
ment, and  there  exists  an  admirable  sketch  of  the  information  contained 
in  a  Roll  of  Expenses :  "  For  three  continuous  days  one  man  was  engaged 
in  no  other  occupation  than  that  of  flaying  beasts,  and  provision  was 
made  of  13  barrels  of  beer,  27  barrels  of  ale,  one  barrel  of  beer  of  the 
greatest  assyze,  and  a  runlet  of  red  wine  of  15  gallons."  All  these,  how- 
ever, copious  as  they  seem,  proved  inadet]uate  to  the  demand ;  for  the 
account  goes  on  to  state  that  5  combs  of  malt  at  one  time  and  i  o  at 
another  were  brewed  up  expressly  for  the  occasion.  Meat,  too,  was  in 
proportion  to  the  liquor ;  the  country  round  about  must  have  been 
Bwept  of  geese,  chickens,  capons,  and  such  small  gear,  all  which,  with 
the  1300  eggs,  20  gallons  of  milk  and  8  of  cream,  and  the  41  pigs  and 
49  calves,  and  lo  "  nete,"  sUun  and  devoured,  give  a  fearful  picture  of 


542        The  Priory  of  Our  Lady  of  Wahiiigham. 

the  scene  of  festivity  the  Abbey  walls  at  that  time  beheld.  Amongst 
such  provisions  the  article  of  bread  bears  nearly  the  same  proportion  as 
in  Falstaft's  bill  ot  fare.  The  one  halfpenny-worth  of  the  staff  of  life  to 
the  inordinate  quantity  of  sack  was  acted  over  again  in  Bromholm 
Priory ;  but  then,  on  the  other  hand,  in  matter  of  consumption,  the 
torches,  the  many  pounds  weight  of  wax  to  burn  over  the  grave,  and 
the  separate  candle  of  enormous  stature  and  girth,  form  prodigious 
items."  No  less  than  20/.  was  changed  from  gold  into  smaller  coin 
that  it  might  be  showered  amongst  the  attendant  throng,  and  26  marks 
in  copper  had  been  used  for  the  same  object  in  London  before  the 
procession  began  to  move.  A  barber  was  occupied  five  days  in  smarten- 
ing up  the  monks  for  the  ceremony ;  and  "  the  reke  of  the  torches  at 
the  dirge "  was  so  great  that  the  glazier  had  to  remove  two  panes  to 
permit  the  fumes  to  escape.  The  prior  had  a  cope  called  a  "  frogge  of 
worstede  "  presented  to  him  on  the  occasion,  and  the  tomb  was  covered 
with  cloth  of  gold. 


The  Priory  of  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham, 

A  ballad  in  the  Pepysian  Collection,  at  Cambridge,  composed  about 

1460,  gives  a  tradition  of  the  foundation  of  this  celebrated  Priory — a 

chapel  built 

"  A  thousand  complete,  sixty  and  one, 
The  tyrae  of  Saint  Edwarde,  King  of  this  region." 

But  this  is  mere  tradition.  The  far-famed  Chapel  of  the  Virgin  was 
founded  by  the  widow  of  Richoldie,  the  mother  of  Geoffrey  de  Favraches. 
By  deed,  Geoffrey,  on  the  day  he  departed  on  pilgrimage  for  Jerusalem, 
granted  to  God  and  St.  Mary,  and  to  Edwy,  his  clerk,  the  chapel  wuhich 
his  mother,  Richeldis,  had  built  at  Walsingham,  together  with  other  pos- 
sessions, to  the  intent  that  Edwy  should  found  a  Priory  there.  It 
became  one  of  the  richest  in  the  world ;  and  Roger  Ascham,  when 
visiting  Cologne,  in  1550,  remarks:  "The  three  Kings  be  not  so  rich,  I 
believe,  as  was  the  Lady  at  Walsingham."  Almost  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Priory  there  was  one  unceasing  movement  of  pilgrims  to  and 
from  Walsingham.  The  Virgin's  milk,  and  other  attractions,  were 
from  time  to  time  added ;  but  the  image  of  the  Virgin,  in  the  small 
chapel,  "in  all  respects  like  to  the  Santa  Casa  at  Nazareth,  where  the 
Virgin  was  saluted  by  the  angel  Gabriel,"  was  the  original,  and  con- 
tinued to  the  dissolution  of  the  Priory,  object  of  the  pilgrims'  visits  to 
the  Chapel  or  shrine  of  "  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham,"  which  were  even 


The  Priory  of  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham,        543 

more  frequent  than  those  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket,  and 
the  possessions  of  the  Priory  were  augmented  by  large  endowments  or 
costly  presents.  Foreigners  of  all  nations  came  hither  on  pilgrimage ; 
and  several  Kings  and  Queens  of  England,  among  them  Henry  VIII., 
in  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  paid  their  devotions  here.  The 
King  is  said  bySpelman,  the  antiquary,  to  have  walked  to  Walsingham 
barefoot  from  Baseham,  a  distance  of  about  three  miles,  it  being  an  essen- 
tial condition  that  the  pilgrim  should  walk  his  journey  barefoot. 
Henry  presented  a  valuable  necklace  to  the  image.  Of  this  costly 
present,  as  well  as  the  other  valuable  appendages,  Cromwell,  doubtless, 
took  good  care,  when  he  seized  the  image,  and  burnt  it  at  Chelsea.  It 
is  supposed  that  Henry,  tempted  by  the  riches  and  splendour  of  the 
religious  house  at  Walsingham,  precipitated  their  fall.  Erasmus,  who 
visited  it  in  151 1,  has  derided  the  riches  of  the  chapel.  The  monks 
persuaded  the  people  that  the  Milky  Way  in  the  heavens  was  a  mira- 
culous indication  of  the  road  to  this  place,  whence  it  came  to  be  called 
by  some  "  the  Walsingham  way."  Erasmus  describes  the  church  and 
chapel  in  the  following  terms: — 

"  Ogygiui.  The  church  is  graceful  and  elegant ;  but  the  Virgin  does 
not  occupy  it ;  she  cedes  it  out  of  deference  to  her  Son.  She  has  her 
o^jjn  church,  that  she  may  be  at  her  Son's  right  hand. 

"  Mendemus.  On  his  right  hand  ?  To  which  point,  then,  looks  her 
Son? 

"  Og.  Well  thought  of.  When  he  looks  to  the  west,  he  has  his 
mother  on  his  right  hand.  When  he  turns  to  the  sun  rising,  she  is  on 
the  left.  Yet  she  does  not  evtn  occupy  this ;  for  the  building  is  un- 
finished, and  it  is  a  place  exposed  on  all  sides,  with  open  doors  and  open 
windows,  and  near  at  hand  is  the  Ocean,  the  Father  of  the  winds. 

"Me.  It  is  hard.     Where  then  docs  the  Virgin  dwell .' 

"  Og.  Within  the  church,  which  I  have  called  unfinished,  is  a  small 
chapel  made  of  wainscot,  and  admitting  the  devotees  on  each  side  by  a 
narrow  little  door.  The  liglit  is  small,  indeed,  scarcely  any  but  from 
the  wax-lights.     A  most  grateful  fragrance  meets  the  nostrils." 

The  pilgrims  who  arrived  at  Walsingham  entered  the  sacred  precinct 
by  a  low  narrow  wicket.  It  was  purposely  made  difficult  to  pass,  as  a 
precaution  against  the  robberies  which  were  fretjuently  committed  at 
the  shrine.  On  the  gate  in  which  the  wicket  o{K'ned  was  nailed  a 
copper  image  of  a  knight  on  horseback,  whose  miraculous  preservation 
on  the  spot  by  the  Virgin  formed  the  subject  of  one  of  the  numerous 
legendary  stories  with  which  the  place  abounded.  To  the  east  of  the 
gate,  within,  stood  a  small  chapel,  where  the  pilgrim  was  allowed,  for 


544        The  Priory  of  Our  Lady  of  Waisingham. 

money,  to  kiss  a  gigantic  bone,  said  to  have  been  the  finger-bone  of 
St.  Peter.  After  this  he  was  conducted  to  a  building  thatched  with 
reeds  and  straw,  inclosing  two  ivells,  in  high  repute  for  indigestion  and 
headaches ;  and  also  for  the  more  rare  virtue  of  insuring  to  the  votary, 
within  certain  limits,  whatever  he  might  wish  for  at  the  timeof  ^r/Vz/vV/^ 
their  waters.  The  building  itself  was  said  to  have  been  transported 
through  the  air  many  centuries  before,  in  a  deep  snow ;  and  as  a  proof 
of  it,  the  visitor's  attention  was  gravely  pointed  to  an  old  beai'-skin 
attached  to  one  of  the  beams.  These  "  tweyne  wells,"  called  also  "the 
Wishing  Wells,"  an  anonymous  ballad  speaks  of: — 

"  A  chappel  of  Saynt  Laurence  standeth  now  there 
Fast  by,  tweyne  wallys,  experience  do  thus  and  lore ; 
There  she  (the  widow)  thought  to  have  sette  this  chappel, 
Which  was  begun  by  our  Ladies  counsel. 
All  night  the  wedowe  permayning  in  this  prayer 
Our  blessed  Laydie  with  blessed  minystrys, 
Herself  being  her  chief  artificer, 
Arrered  thys  sayde  house  with  angells  handys, 
And  not  only  rercd  it  but  sette  it  there  it  is. 
That  is  tweyne  hundred  foot  more  in  distannce 
From  the  first  place  folks  make  remembraince." 

The  Chapel  of  the  Virgin  we  have  described.  The  celebrated  image 
of  Our  Lady  stood  within  it  on  the  right  of  the  altar.  The  interior 
was  kept  highly  perfumed,  and  illuminated  solely  by  tapers,  which 
dimly  revealed  the  sacred  image,  surrounded  by  the  gold  and  jewels  of 
the  shrine.  The  pilgrim  knelt  awhile  on  the  steps  of  the  altar  in 
prayer,  and  then  he  deposited  his  ofl'ering  upon  it,  and  passed  on.  What 
he  gave  was  instantly  taken  up  by  a  priest  who  stood  in  readiness,  to 
prevent  the  next  comer  from  stealing  it  while  depositing  his  own  offering. 
At  an  altar,  apparently  in  the  outer  chapel,  was  exhibited  the  celebrated 
relic  of  the  Virgin's  milk.  It  was  inclosed  in  crystal,  to  prevent  the 
contamination  of  lips, 

"  Whose  kiss 
Had  been  pollution,  aught  so  chaste ;" 

and  set  in  a  crucifix.  The  pilgrims  knelt  on  the  steps  of  the  altar  to 
kiss  it,  and,  after  the  ceremony,  the  priest  held  out  a  board  to  receive 
their  offerings,  like  that  with  which  tolls  were  collected  at  the  foot  of 
bridges.  The  sacred  relic  itself,  Erasmus  says,  was  occasionally  like 
chalk  mixed  with  the  whites  of  eggs,  and  was  quite  solid.  The  image 
of  the  Virgin  and  her  Son,  as  they  made  their  salute,  also  appeared  to 
Erasmus  and  his  friend  to  give  them  a  nod  of  approbation. 
An  incident  of  a  personal  kind  illustrates  the  bigotry  and  intolerance 


TJie  Priory  of  Our  Lady  of  Walsinghavt.        545 

which  prevailed  at  these  places.  After  the  ceremony  of  kissing  the 
sacred  milk,  Erasmus  requested  his  friend  to  inquire  for  him,  in  the 
mildest  manner,  what  was  the  evidence  that  it  was  indeed  the  true 
milk.  The  priest  appeared  at  first  not  to  notice  the  question,  but  on 
its  being  repeated,  his  countenance  assumed  an  expression  of  astonish- 
ment and  ferocity,  and  in  a  tone  of  thunder,  he  asked  if  they  had  not 
authentic  inscription  of  the  feet.  From  the  violence  of  his  manner,  they 
expected  every  instant  tc  have  been  thrust  out  as  heretics,  and  were  glad 
to  make  their  peace  by  a  present  of  money.  The  inscription  which  he 
referred  to  was  found,  after  much  search,  fixed  high  upon  a  wall,  where 
it  was  scarcely  legible.  They  contrived,  however,  to  read  it,  but 
found  it  to  contain  merely  a  history  of  this  precious  relic  from  the 
tenth  century,  when  it  was  purchased  by  an  old  woman  near  Constan- 
tinople, with  an  assurance,  from  which  arose  its  fame,  that  all  other 
portions  of  the  Virgin's  milk  had  fallen  on  the  ground  before  they  were 
collected,  while  this  was  taken  directly  from  her  breast. 

Mr.  Harrod  notes  that  the  relative  estimation  in  which  each  of  the 
attractions  was  held  by  pilgrims,  may  be  judged  from  the  offerings 
made  in  the  year  before  the  value  was  taken  by  order  of  Henry  VIII., 
in  1534.  In  the  Chapel  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  201/.  \s.  At  the 
sacred  Milk  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  2/.  2s.  ^d.  In  the  Chapel  of  St. 
Laurence,  8/.  ()s.  i\d. 

"  The  immense  value  of  the  treasures  gathered  about  the  altars  has 
been  already  alluded  to;  they  included  the  silver  st.itue,  on  horse- 
back, of  Bartholomew  Lord  Burghersh,  K.G.,  ordered  by  his  will,  in 
1369,  to  be  offered  to  our  Lady;  and  King  Henry  \  II.,  in  his  life- 
time, gave  a  kneeling  figure  of  himself  in  silver-gilt.  The  Visitors  of 
Henry  VIII.,  as  may  be  imagined,  took  especial  care  of  these  treasures." 

There  are  some  fine  remains  of  the  Convent :  a  richly  ornamented 
door,  supposed  to  have  formed  the  east  end  of  the  conventual  church  ; 
the  western  entrance  gateway  to  the  monastery ;  the  walls,  with 
windows  and  arches  of  the  refectory  ;  a  Norman  arch  with  zigzag 
mouldings ;  part  *)f  the  cloisters,  incorporated  with  the  mansion  of  the 
Rev.  D.  H.  Warner,  remain.  About  his  pleasure-grounds  are 
scattered  detached  portions  of  these  monastic  remains.  The  joint 
excavations  of  Mr.  H.  I.  L.  Warner  and  Mr.  Harrtxl  have  brought  to 
light  the  west  end  of  the  church,  of  the  Karly  Knglish  period,  or  Early 
Decorated.  The  refectory  and  dormitory  crypt  are  pure  Decorated, 
the  west  end  having  a  noble  window.  The  east  enil  is  early  Perpen- 
dicular. The  results  in  the  choir  are  its  red  and  yellow  glazed  tile 
pavement,  buttresses,  and  crypt. 

*  N  N 


546 


Holkham  Hall,  and  its  Treasures. 

Holkham,  situate  on  tlie  northern  coast  of  Norfolk,  although  of 
modern  construction,  is  famous  for  possessing  historic  collections  of  the 
highest  interest  and  importance.  Here  are  deposited  the  manuscripts  of 
the  great  Lord  Coke,  in  the  possession  of  his  descendant,  the  Earl  of 
Leicester,  his  representative  through  the  female  issue  of  Lord  Leicester, 
the  male  heir  of  the  Chief- Justice.  The  mansion  was  commenced  in 
1 734.  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  from  designs  taken  from  Palladio  and 
Inigo  Jones,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Earl  of  Burlington  and  Mr.  Kent. 
It  was  completed  by  the  Countess  Dowager  of  Leicester,  in  17C0,  and 
was  long  celebrated  for  its  magnificence  and  hospitality  as  the  residence 
of  the  patriotic  Thomas  William  Coke.  The  Grand  Hall  is  very 
beautiful  and  imposing.  The  chair-seats  in  the  Yellow  Dressing-room 
are  of  needlework,  by  the  hand  of  Lady  Leicester.  In  addition  to  the 
grandeur  of  its  exterior,  it  is  considered  as  superior  to  most  of  the 
superb  mansions  in  the  kingdom  in  its  commodious  arrangements  for  the 
purposes  of  state  and  comfort.  Here  are  pictures  by  Titian,  Leonardo 
da  Vinci,  and  Guido  ;  the  celebrated  portrait  of  the  Duke  d'Aremberg 
on  horseback,  by  Vandyke;  more  Claudes  than  in  any  other  col- 
lection, including  the  very  fine  one  of  Apollo  flaying  Marsyas;  and 
Domenichino's  Landscape,  with  Abraham  preparing  to  sacrifice  Isaac. 
Among  the  sculpture  is  a  Diana,  the  sending  of  which  out  of  Rome 
caused  the  Earl  of  Leicester  to  be  placed  under  arrest. 

In  the  Library,  which  is  equally  rich  in  printed  books  and  MSS.,  are 
some  of  the  earliest  specimens  of  typography.  Here  is  one  of  the 
finest  collections,  or,  indeed,  libraries,  of  manuscripts  anywhere  pre- 
served: certainly,  the  finest  in  any  private  individual's  possession.  It 
partly  consists  of  the  Chief-Justice's  papers ;  the  rest,  the  bulk  of  it, 
was  collected  by  the  accomplished  nobleman  who  built  the  mansion, 
the  last  male  heir  of  the  great  lawyer.  He  had  spent  many  years 
abroad,  where  he  collected  a  vast  number  of  valuable  manuscripts. 
Many  of  the  finest  codices  of  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  old  Italian  classics 
are  to  found  in  this  superb  collection.  Among  others  are  no  less  than 
thirteen  of  Livy,  a  favourite  author  of  Lord  Leicester,  whom  he  had 
made  some  progress  in  editing,  when  he  learned  that  Drachenborchius, 
the  German  critic,  had  proceeded  further  in  the  same  task,  and  to  him 
Lord  Leicester  generously  handed  the  treasures  of  his  library.  The  ex- 
cellent edition  of  that  commentator  makes  constant  reference  to  the 


Caistor  Castle.  547 

Holkham  manuscripts,  under  the  name  of  MSS.  Lcmelliona,  from  the 
title  of  Loveli ;  Lord  Leicester  not  having  then  been  promoted  to  the 
Earldom.  The  late  Mr.  Coke  had  the  whole  of  the  MSS.  unfolded, 
bound,  and  arranged,  after  they  had  lain  half  a  century  neglected,  and 
were  verging  on  decay.  This  labour  occupied  Mr.  Roscoc  ten  years, 
who  has  to  each  work  prefixed,  in  his  own  fair  handwriting,  a  short 
account  of  the  particular  MS.,  with  the  bibliography  appertaining  to  it. 
On  the  whole  it  may  be  affirmed,  that  no  creation  of  modern  taste  and 
opulence  in  this  part  of  the  island  surpasses  Holkham. 


Caistor  Castle. 

This  fortress  is  one  of  the  four  principal  castles  of  Norfolk.  It  is 
situated  about  two  miles  from  Yarmouth,  is  built  of  brick,  and  is  thought 
to  be  one  of  the  oldest  brick  edifices  in  the  kingdom.  Others  ascribe 
its  erection  to  Sir  John  Fastolfe.  an  officer  who  served  with  great  dis- 
tinction in  the  French  wars  of  Henry  V.  and  VI.  It  afterwards  came 
into  the  possession  of  Sir  John  Paston,*  and  was  twice  besieged  in  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses.  An  embattled  tower  at  the  north-west  corner, 
one  hundred  feet  high,  and  the  north  and  west  walls,  remain :  but  the 
south  end  and  east  sides  are  levelled  with  the  ground.  Caistor  was  a 
place  of  importance,  thought  to  be  a  Roman  cavalry  station,  and  the 
abode  of  the  Kings  of  East  Anglia,  probably  in  a  castle  of  much  earlier 
date  than  the  above,  where  Edmund  kept  his  court,  as  already  men- 
tioned in  our  account  of  Lowestoft. 


•  Ono  of  the  writers  of  the  celebrated  Paston  Letters,  the  authenticity  of 
\.y\  \  ts  !.<-i'n  estabUbbed  a*  "a  faithful  gtmiv  through  the  dork  period  to 

...cii  tLc>  iclatc" 


548 


ESSEX. 

Colchester  Castle. 

Colchester,  the  county  town  of  Essex,  there  is  strong  evidence  to 
show,  was  originally  both  a  British  and  Roman  city,  being  most 
probably  on  the  site  of  the  Camalodunum  of  the  Romans,  which  was 
burnt  in  the  insurrection  under  Boadicea.  There  are  few  places  in 
England  where  more  Roman  antiquities  have  been  found.  Morant,  in 
his  History  of  Essex,  mentions  "  bushels "  of  coins  of  Claudius, 
Vespasian,  Titus,  Domitian,  and  their  several  successors.  The  town 
walls,  the  Castle,  and  many  of  the  churches  and  other  ancient  buildings, 
are  chiefly  built  of  the  Roman  brick  ;  and  vases,  urns,  lamps,  rings, 
bracelets,  and  tessellated  pavements  have  been  found  here  in  great 
numbers. 

There  is  a  tradition  to  the  effect  that  Coel,  the  second  of  that  name, 
a  British  prince,  who  was  invested  by  the  Romans  with  the  government 
cf  the  district  of  which  Camalodunum  was  the  chief  station,  taking 
advantage  of  the  distracted  state  of  the  Roman  empire,  assumed  inde- 
pendence, and  gave  to  his  capital  the  name  of  Caer-Coel ;  and  he  is 
supposed  to  have  become  tributary  to  Carausius  and  other  usurpers  of 
the  Imperial  dominion,  to  which  they  threw  off  their  allegiance  in 
Britain.  Constantius  Chlorus,  afterwards  Emperor,  who  had  been 
associated  in  the  purple,  under  Diocletian  and  Maximian,  then  embarked 
at  Boulogne,  to  chastise  the  rebels  and  reduce  Britain  to  its  former 
state  of  dependence.  Having  landed,  he  commenced  the  siege  of  Caer- 
Coel,  as  being  the  focus  of  the  insurrection.  The  resistance  opposed  to 
his  arms  was  so  determined  that  the  siege  was  protracted  to  the  unusual 
period  of  three  yeai-s,  and  even  then  seemed  very  distant  from  a  success- 
ful termination.  In  this  state  of  affairs  Constantius  beheld  Helena, 
Coel's  daughter,  who  was  born  in  Caer-Coel,  and  who  possessed  the  most 
fascinating  charms,  as  well  as  uncommon  endowments  of  mind.  Struck 
with  her  beauty,  and  interested  by  her  acquirements,  Constantius 
became  enamoured  of  the  British  Princess,  and  hesitated  not  to  make 
peace  with  Coel,  on  condition  of  receiving  the  accomplished  Helena  as 
his  bride.  At  this  point,  the  tradition  branches  off  in  different  direc- 
tions;   one  account   asserting    that    the    marriage  was  immediately. 


Colchester  Castle.  549 

celebrated  with  becoming  splendour;  another,  that  Helena  was  the 
mistress  of  Constantius  before  she  became  his  wife.  Both,  however, 
affirm  that  Constantine,  sumamed  the  Great,  was  the  issue  of  this  in- 
tercourse, whom  Henry  of  Huntingdon  styles  King  of  Colecestre  ;  and 
that  he  also  was  bom  at  Caer-Coel,  about  275.  Gibbon  denies  that 
a  British  king  was  the  father  of  Helena,  and  gives  that  honour  to  an 
innkeeper;  and  William  of  Malmesbury,  on  what  ground  is  not 
known,  asserts  that  Helena  was  a  "  tender  of  cattle."  At  the  same  time 
the  historian  observes,  the  legality  of  her  marriage  may  be  defended 
against  those  who  have  represented  her  as  the  concubine  of  Constantius. 
The  real  birthplace  of  Constantine,  the  first  Roman  emperor  that 
openly  avowed  Christianity,  is  supposed  to  have  been  at  Naissus,  in 
Dacia.  After  her  departure  from  Britain,  Helena  made  a  journey  to 
Jerusalem,  where  she  is  said  to  have  discovered  the  Cross  on  which  the 
Saviour  was  crucified  :  and  to  this  circumstance  the  arms  of  Colchester, 
which  display  a  cross  between  three  coronets,  are  attributed. 

The  history  of  the  Castle  was  very  ably  illustrated  by  the  Rev. 
C.  H.  Hartshome,  at  the  Congress  of  the  British  Archaeological  Asso- 
ciation, held  at  Colchester  in  the  year  1865,  from  which  we  quote  the 
most  interesting  points  of  the  construction  ot  the  Castle  and  its  history. 
A  Ithough  its  position  "  presents  nothing  remarkable  in  a  defensive  view, 
yet  it  has  some  peculiarities  of  an  architectural  nature  that  entitle  it  to  a 
careful  examination.  The  keep,  and  there  remains  nothing  besides,  was 
formerly  surrounded  by  a  fosse  and  palisade,  the  usual  method  of  for- 
tification at  the  time  these  military  buildings  were  erected.  The  tosse 
may  have  either  been  the  work  of  the  Romans  or  of  a  very  much  later 
period,  as  it  would  equally  suit  their  system  of  castrametation,  or  the 
practice  of  the  Normans.  Viewed  by  itself  it  has  very  little  evidence  in 
the  inquiry  as  to  when  the  Castle  itself  was  built.  If  traditionary 
accounts  are  of  any  value,  what  has  been  written  about  the  extent  of 
the  fosse  would  make  it  appear  more  probable  that  it  was  executed  by 
the  Romans  than  their  successors. 

"  The  admixture  of  Roman  bi  ick  with  flints  and  cement  stone  imparts 
to  the  Castle  a  rugged  effect.  The  keep,  which  is  rectangular,  is  1 7 1  feet 
8  inches  from  north  to  south,  and  128  feet  8  inches  from  east  to  west 
in  its  widest  dimensions,  thus  exhibiting  a  greater  size  and  larger  area 
within  its  extreme  outward  walls  than  the  White  Tower  of  London, 
Castle  Rising,  Bamborough,  Rochester,  or  any  other  castle  in  England. 
Its  altitude  is  below  all  of  them,  and  was  never  much  more  than  is  seen 
at  present. 

"  The  angles  of  the  buttresses  throughout  are  built  with  Roman  brick. 


550  ColcJiestcr  Castle. 

or  an  imitation  of  it,  nearly  half  their  height.  They  are  generally  used 
horizontally,  but  sometimes  endwise  and  herring-bone  fashion.  This 
irregularity  of  construction,  together  with  the  disfigurements  made  by 
an  ignorant  owner,  who  purchased  the  Castle  in  1 683,  for  the  sake  of 
pulling  it  down  and  selling  the  materials,  give  the  whole  building  a 
rough  and  dilapidated  appearance.  The  best  material  employed 
throughout  the  entire  district,  when  bricks  are  not  used,  consists  of 
flint  and  Harwich  cement  stone.  In  this  Castle  they  are  used  with 
some  of  the  dressings  of  Caen  stone,  or  of  the  shelly  oolite  from 
Barnack,  near  Stamford. 

"It  is  clear  that  the  Castle  was  erected  before  1130,  since  in  this 
year  there  is  a  payment  entered  on  the  Great  Roll  of  the  Pipe,  of  one 
marc  of  silver  being  paid  to  Eraddus  the  mason.  There  being  no  other 
building  in  Colchester  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Crown,  this  outlay  must 
consequently  have  been  expended  upon  the  (ilastle.  No  further  mention 
of  it  occurs  until  1 1 70 ;  when  there  appears  an  entry  on  the  same 
records  for  works  which  cost  forty-seven  shillings.  Again  in  1180 
the  turris,  as  it  is  termed,  being  the  keep,  was  repaired  at  an  outlay  of 
upwards  of  ten  pounds.  These  entries  upon  the  accounts  of  the 
sheriff  of  the  county  make  it  conclusive  that  the  whole  building  had,  by 
this  time,  been  finished,  but  began  to  require  reparation. 

"  The  gateway  of  the  keep,  ornamented  with  roll  mouldings  and  their 
nebulc  ornament,  has  a  portcullis.  It  is  the  principal  feature  of  archi- 
tecture in  the  building,  and  is  of  the  period  at  which  we  have  arrived. 
A  large  gateway  at  St.  Osyth  Priory  is  very  like  it  in  mouldings  and 
proportions,  though  the  one  at  Colchester  is  earlier. 

"  There  does  not  appear  any  entry  of  importance  during  the  reign 
of  King  John  cither  on  the  Pipe  or  Close  Rolls.  However,  in  12 19, 
the  Bishop  of  London,  who  was  then  farmer  of  the  town,  received  a 
precept  from  Henry  III.  to  select  two  legal  and  discreet  men,  who  should 
erect  a  palisade  round  the  Castle  in  lieu  of  the  one  recently  blown  down. 

"  This  building  is  historically  memorable  for  two  assaults  that  it  un- 
derwent in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  first  was  made  by  Saher  de 
Quincy,  Earl  of  Winchester,  in  12x5,  by  whom  it  was  captured.  After 
a  few  days'  siege,  it  was,  however,  retaken  by  King  John.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Louis,  son  of  Philip  II.  of  France. 
At  this  time  the  Dauphin,  partly  on  the  invitation  of  the  English 
nobility,  in  consequence  of  their  hatred  of  John,  landed  at  Dover,  and 
ultimately  succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  of  Rochester,  Guildford, 
Heveningham,  and  Colchester.  His  tenure  was,  however,  but  brief. 
The  barons  gained  their  liberties  without  foreign  assistance,  and  the 


Colchester  Castle.  5  5 1 

Dauphin  was  driven  out  of  the  Castles  he  had  taken  with  so  little 
difficulty. 

"  Colchester  Castle  was  never  of  the  same  altitude  as  other  Norman 
fortresses  met  with  in  England  and  elsewhere.  This  is  another  feature 
of  its  peculiarity.  Though  the  keep  is  the  largest,  it  is  also  the  lowest 
that  now  exists.  Its  vaulting,  too,  is  more  extensive  than  is  met  with 
in  other  castles.  This  gives  it  internally  a  degree  of  apparent  spacious- 
ness and  of  real  solidity  that  is  not  of  frequent  occurrence.  In  fact, 
this  species  of  waggon  vaulting  is  rarely  seen,  except  in  the  basements 
of  military  buildings.     The  wails  average  1 2  feet  in  thickness. 

"  In  a  document  printed  by  Dugdale,  in  his  Monasticon,  there  occurja 
passage  which  must  for  ever  set  a  controverted  question  at  rest.  The 
writer  of  the  Genealogy  of  Tintern  Abbey  speaks  of  Rohesia,  the 
daughter  of  Hasoul  de  Harcourt.  She  married  for  her  first  husband, 
Richard,  the  son  of  Earl  Gilbert,  who  was  amongst  the  most 
leading  of  the  Conqueror's  followers.  Her  second  husband  was 
Eudo  le  Dapifer,  who  is  here  spoken  of  as  the  builder  of  the  Castle  di 
Colchester  and  the  founder  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  John.  Between  the 
accession  of  Hcrry  I.  in  1 100,  and  the  death  of  Eudo  Dapifer  in  11 20, 
there  was  ample  time  for  him  to  construct  the  Castle.  Still  more  time 
if  the  reign  of  William  Rufus  is  included,  which  would  widen  the  con- 
jectural period  of  its  erec^tion  nearly  thirteen  years  more,  and  extend 
the  inter\al  during  which  the  building  must  be  confined  between  1087 
and  1 120.     It  is  not  improbable  that  it  was  built  in  his  reign. 

"  It  is  recorded  in  the  history  of  the  foundation  of  St.  John's  Abbey, 
that  it  was  set  out  in  the  presence  of  Maurice  Bishop  of  London  in 
1096,  or  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  William  II.;  that  the  first  stone 
was  laid  by  Eudo  Dapifer  after  Easter  the  following  year,  the  second 
by  Rohesia  his  wife,  and  the  third  by  Earl  Gilbert  her  brother.  The 
same  account  that  furnishes  these  particulars  also  states  how  Eudo 
became  investetl  with  the  honour  of  dapifer  or  seneschal,  or,  as  the 
office  may  perhaps  now  be  termed,  royal  chamberlain.  \\illiam  Fitz 
Osbom,  who  had  previously  held  it,  placed  before  the  king  on  a  parti- 
cular feast  day,  in  vit  tue  of  his  duty,  a  goose  which  was  so  badly  roasted 
that  the  blootl  came  out  when  it  was  pressed.  Being  very  deservedly 
reprobated  by  the  King  for  such  an  act  of  negligence,  with  difficulty 
stomaching  the  royal  abuse,  and  unwillingly  shedding  tears,  he  stretched 
forth  his  hand  for  punishment,  when  immediately  Eudo  thrust  out  his 
own,  and  in  his  stead  received  the  monarch's  angry  blow.  Fitz  Osbom, 
exasperated,  retired  from  office  ;  but  he,  however,  asked  that  he  should 
be  succeeded  by  Eudo;  and  thus,  it  is  said,  in  consequence  of  his 


552  Colchester  Castle. 

father's  deserts  as  well  as  his  own,  with  the  request  of  Fitz  Osbom, 
Eudo  received  the  appointment. 

"  When  the  Conqueror  was  lying  under  his  last  sickness  at  Caen, 
Eudo,  though  promoted,  was  not  unmindful  that  upon  William's  decease 
another  person  might  succeed  as  dapifer  ;  therefore,  he  passed  over 
into  Noi-mandy,  and  applied  to  the  future  king  to  be  confirmed  in  his 
office  at  his  father's  death.  He  really  deserved  it  from  his  hands  ;  for 
he  promptly  supported  him,  when  the  event  happened,  by  preparing 
the  English  nobility  for  his  succession  to  the  throne.  Nor  in  his  eleva- 
tion did  he  forget  the  people  of  Colchester.  After  his  visit  to  Nor- 
mandy he  returned  to  the  town  at  the  earliest  moment,  and  devoted 
himself  to  their  service.  He  both  fully  inquired  into  and  relieved  their 
grievances.  They,  in  turn,  confessed  their  obligation,  and  solicited  the 
King  that  they  might  be  placed  under  the  protection  of  such  a  bene- 
factor. Had  William  II.  granted  a  charter  during  his  reign,  undoubt- 
edly Kudo's  influence  would  have  obtained  the  fullest  privileges  for  thi? 
men  of  Colchester.  His  name  ought  for  ever  to  be  enshrined  in  the 
grateful  memories  of  the  inhabitants,  since  it  is  associated  with  the 
brightest  period  of  the  town." 

His  remains  were  carried,  after  his  decease,  from  the  Castle  of  Preux, 
in  Normandy,  and  honourably  interred,  1 120,  in  the  Abbey  founded  by 
his  piety.  Of  that  monument  of  his  devotion,  little  belonging  to  his 
time  exists;  but  the  Castle  he  built  testifies  his  former  power,  and  a 
most  interesting  building  must  always  appeal,  not  more  forcibly  for 
presenation  to  the  people  of  Colchester  than  to  England  itself,  as  an 
ancient  landmark  of  history. 

A  recent  writer  has  made  the  startling  assertion  that  Colchester 
Castle  was  once  a  temple  of  Claudius,  that  the  vaulted  room,  commonly 
called  a  Chapel,  was  the  podium  in  front  of  the  adytum  of  the  temple, 
whilst  the  building  itself  is  the  oldest  and  the  noblest  monument  of  the 
Romans  in  Great  Britain.  Mr.  Hartshorne  does  not,  however,  assent 
to  these  ideas.  There  is  abundant  evidence  to  show  the  Roman  occu- 
pation in  the  reign  of  Claudius ;  but  there  is  none  to  prove  its 
antiquity  as  a  settlement  earlier  than  the  nation  made  on  the  southern 
coast  at  Pevensey,  Lymne,  Dover,  and  Richborough.  Roman  settlement 
in  Colchester  is  shown  not  by  its  name  alone.  It  is  visible  in  some  of  the 
materials  of  which  the  Castle  is  built ;  but  no  portion  whatever  of  the 
present  structure  can  be  attributed  to  a  period  before  the  Conquest, 
nor  can  it  be  assigned  to  any  other  than  the  Norman  period,  or  con- 
sidered other\vise  than  a  Norman  castle. 

When  the  Catholic  religion  regained  a  temporary  predominance  over 


TJie  Priory  of  St.  Osyth.  553 

the  Reformation  under  Mary  I.,  the  persecution  was  very  severe  in 
Essex,  twenty-one  persons  (five  of  them  women)  were  burnt  at 
Colchester,  and  one  died  in  prison ;  and  two  persons  (one  a  woman) 
were  burnt  at  Stratford. 


The  Prior>'  of  St.  Osyth. 

The  county  of  Essex,  at  the  Reformation,  possessed  several  religious 
houses,  of  which  there  are  some  remains.  At  the  time  of  the 
Suppression  there  were  se\en  of  the  greatest  monasteries,  of  which  that 
at  Chich,  ten  miles  south-east  of  Colchester,  was  the  third  in 
rank.  It  was  a  noble  foundation  for  Augustine  Canons,  and  lay 
near  the  sea-coast,  opposite  to  Mersey  Island,  the  parish  being  anciently 
part  of  the  royal  domains.  Canute  granted  it  to  Godwin,  and  the 
great  Earl  gave  it  to  Christ  Church,  in  Canterbury,  with  the  licence  of 
Edward  the  Confessor.  It  must  have  been  taken  from  that  Church  at 
or  soon  after  the  Conquest,  for,  at  the  time  of  the  Domesday  survey, 
the  Manor  belonged  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  formed  part  of  the 
endowment  of  the  monastery. 

St.  Osyth  was  very  celebrated  in  Essex.  There  are  many  histories 
of  her  life,  but  the  most  voluminous  is  that  in  Latin,  by  Capgrave, 
printetl  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde,  in  1516.  St.  Os^-th,  according  to 
this  life,  was  the  daughter  of  Frithwald  or  Redwald,  the  first  Christian 
King  of  the  East  Angles,  and  of  Wilburga,  his  wife,  daughter  of  Penda, 
King  of  the  Mercians.  She  was,  when  very  young,  entrusted  to  the 
care  of  St.  Modwen.  at  PoUesworth,  in  Warwickshire.  While  there 
she  was  sent  with  a  book  from  St.  Edith,  sister  of  King  Alfred,  to  St. 
Modwen,  and  fell  off  a  bridge  into  a  river  and  was  drowned.  She 
remained  in  the  river  three  days,  and  was  restored  to  life  by  the  prayers 
of  St.  Modwen. 

St.  Osyth  having  returned  to  her  parents,  was  betrothed  by  them  to 
Sighere,  King  of  Essex  ;  but  before  the  marriage  was  consummated 
she  took  the  veil,  and  Sighere  gave  her  his  village  of  Chich,  and  built  a 
nunnery  there,  of  which  she  was  abbess.  The  house  was  of  th<:  order 
of  Maturines.  In  the  month  of  October,  653,  a  band  of  Danes  landed 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Chich,  and  ravaged  the  country.  St.  Osyth 
refused  to  worship  their  gotls,  and  the  leader  of  the  Danes  ordered 
her  head  to  be  cut  off.  The  saint  took  up  her  head  in  her  hands,  and 
proceeded  to  the  Church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  alx)ut  one-third  ot 
a  mile,  stopping  at  the  door  of  the  Church,  which  was  closed.    She 


5  54  1^^^^  Priory  of  St.  Osyth. 

struck  it  with  her  blood-stained  hand,  and  fell  prostrate.  On  the  spot 
where  the  saint  suffered,  a  fountain  of  clear  water  gushed  forth,  said  to 
be  a  cure  for  many  diseases.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  legend, — 
which  is  confirmed  by  Essex  tradition — that  the  scene  of  St.  Osyth's 
martyrdom  was  in  the  Nun's  Wood,  and  that  the  old  fountain  which 
still  remains  there,  and  tikes  its  name  from  the  murdered  nun,  is  the 
stream  which  ran  in  the  days  of  the  Heptarchy,  and  is  probably 
destined  to  flow  on  to  the  end  of  time. 

The  body  of  St.  Osyth  was  at  first  buried  in  the  Church  of  Chich, 
which  \\'as  founded  by  her,  but  soon  removed  by  her  father  and  mother 
to  Aylesbury.  Many  miracles  were  performed  at  her  shrine,  and  after 
forty-six  years,  by  miraculous  interposition,  the  body  was  translated  to 
Chich,  and  deposited  in  the  Church  there  with  great  solemnity.  A  long 
account  of  the  miracles  performed  at  the  shrine  of  the  saint,  or  through 
her  interposition,  is  given  in  the  life  in  the  Legenda. 

The  Nunnery  founded  by  St.  Osyth  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
most  ancient  monastic  establishment  in  Essex.  It  was  no  doubt 
destroyed  by  the  Danes  at  the  time  of  St.  Osyth's  death,  for  no  trace 
of  it  appears  in  the  records  extant  before  the  Conquest  or  in  Domesday 
Book.  The  Church  founded  at  Chich  by  St.  Osyth  in  honour  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  was  on  the  site  of  the  Church  now  standing. 

St.  Osyth  was  held  in  great  veneration.  Matthew  Paris  has  a  story 
how  a  certain  husbandman,  named  Thurcillus,  who  lived  at  Tidstude, 
a  village  in  Essex,  was  taken  into  purgatory,  hell,  and  paradise,  by  St. 
Janies  and  other  saints  ;  and  when  he  had  come  to  the  most  holy  and 
pleasant  place  in  all  paradise,  he  saw  St.  Catherine,  St.  Margaret,  and 
St.  Osyth.     This  is  said  to  have  happened  in  the  reign  of  King  John, 

A.t).  I206. 

In  those  days  (says  Aubrey),  when  they  went  to  bed,  they  did 
rake  up  the  fire  and  make  a  x  in  the  ashes,  and  pray  to  God  and 
St.  Sythe  to  deliver  them  from  fire  and  from  water,  and  from  all 
misadventure. 

According  to  a  local  tradition,  on  one  night  in  every  year  St.  Osyth 
revisits  the  scene  of  her  martyrdom,  walking  with  her  head  in  her 
hands.  This  legend  probably  gave  rise  to  the  sign  of  the  Good 
Woman  at  Widford,  of  whom  it  used  to  be  said  that  she  was  the 
only  good  woman  in  Essex. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  the  Bishop  of  London,  Richard  de  Beimels, 
or  Bcauvays,  built  a  religious  house  of  regular  canons  of  St.  Augustine 
at  Chich,  in  honour  of  the  two  great  Apostles  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  and  of  St.  Osyth,  Virgin  and  Martyr;  and  in  the  year  1120   ob- 


The  Priory  of  St.  Osyth.  5  5  5 

tained  the  Manor  of  Chich,  which  then  belonged  to  the  see  of  London, 
from  the  Church  of  St.  Paul,  giving  in  exchange  for  it  fourteen  pounds 
of  land  in  Lodeswoodc,  and  six  pounds  of  land  in  Southminster.  By 
this  charter  the  Bishop  granted  to  the  canons  several  extraordinary  pri- 
vileges and  immunities. 

Bishop  Belmeis  caused  the  arm  of  St.  Osyth  to  be  translated  to  the 
church  with  great  solemnity  in  the  presence  of  ^^  iliiam  de  Corbill, 
the  first  Prior  of  the  house,  who  was  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, and  other  Bishops,  remitting  twenty  days'  penance  to  all  that 
;'me  to  worship  it ;  and  relaxing  every  year  seven  days'  penance  to  all 
who  should  devoutly  come  thither  to  celebrate  her  festival,  which  was 
hdd  on  the  7th  August. 

It  is  said  by  William  of  Malmesbury  that  it  was  the  wish  and  in- 
tention of  the  Bishop  to  have  thrown  aside  the  dignity  and  splendour 
of  the  episcopal  see,  and  to  have  retired  as  a  brother  into  the  Priory. 
He  died,  however,  before  carrying  his  intention  into  effect,  and  the 
monks  or  canons  of  St.  Osyth  buried  his  body  within  the  walls  of  the 
monastery,  under  a  marble  monument. 

The  first  Abbot  of  St.  Osyth  was  William  de  Corbill  or  Corboise, 
who  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the  year  1123,  and 
soon  after  buiit  Christ  Church,  Canterbury.  At  tlie  death  of 
Henry  I.,  he  esjxjuscd  the  cause  of  Stephen,  Earl  of  Blois,  and 
crowned  him  King. 

Among  the  benefactions.  King  Henry  H.'s  charter,  in  addition  to 
confirming  previous  charters,  confirmed  the  right  of  the  canons  to 
ect  their  own  Abbot,  and  gave  them  free  warren  in  the  lands  of 
'  hich,  Birchc,  and  Stowmarkct,  with  the  liberty  to  keep  two  harriers 
id  four  foxhoimds,  for  hunting  the  hare  and  fox.  He  also  granted  to 
llicm  a  free  market  at  Chich,  which  was  held  down  to  the  year  1317  ; 
for  in  that  year  a  presentment  was  made  at  Colchester  that  the  Abbot 
of  St.  Osyth  held  a  market  in  the  village  of  St.  Osyth,  every  Sunday, 
to  the  great  injury  of  the  town  of  Colchester. 

The  Church  of  St.  Osyth  having  been  given  to  the  canons  by 
Bishop  Belmeis,  and  the  tithes  having  been  appropriated  to  them,  tiiey 
8er\-ed  the  cure  by  one  of  themselves.  On  9th  February,  1401,  tcoip. 
Henry  IV.,  Sir  William  Sawtrc,  priest  of  St.  Osyth,  was  burnt  alive 
for  heresy. 

The  Priory  was  surrendered  to  the  King  in  irj^p  by  Prior  Col- 
chester and  sixteen  monks.  It  was  granted  to  Thomas  Cromwell, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  statesmen  under  Henry  VIII.  The  King  re- 
warded the  zeal  of  his  minister  by  the  gifl  of  about  thirty  monastic 


55^  The  Priory  of  St.  Osyth. 

manors  and  valuable  estates  in  Essex  and  other  counties  ;  and  among 
others  by  patent  of  the  31st  Henry  VIII.  he  obtained  the  grant  of  the 
dissolved  Monastery  of  St.  Osyth,  and  all  the  houses,  buildings,  church, 
and  other  appurtenances  thereunto  belonging,  and  also  the  manors  or 
lordships.  On  the  attainder  of  Cromwell,  however,  his  possessions 
again  reverted  to  the  Crown. 

\\''iliiam  Barlow,  who  was  very  active  in  promoting  the  destruc- 
tion of  monasteries,  was  originally  a  canon  of  St.  Osyth.  He  fled 
from  England  on  the  accession  of  Mary;  but  when  Elizabeth  came 
to  the  throne  he  was  promoted  to  the  see  of  Chichester.  The 
Priory  with  other  considerable  estates  was,  in  the  5th  Edward  VI., 
granted  to  Sir  Thomas  Darcy,  who  was  in  the  same  year  created  Baron 
Darcy  of  Chich,  and  made  K.G.  He  paid  to  the  King  for  the  grant 
3974/.  pj.  iXd.  Lord  Darcy  is  said  to  have  been  descended  from  the 
ancient  family  of  the  same  name. 

John,  his  son  and  successor,  entertained  Queen  Elizabeth  at  St. 
Osyth,  when  the  royal  festivity  was  inteiTupted  by  "  as  great  thunder 
and  lightning  as  any  man  had  ever  heard,  from  about  eight  or  nine 
till  past  ten,  then  great  rain  till  midnight,  insomuch  that  the  people 
thought  that  the  world  was  at  an  end  and  the  day  of  doom  come,  it 
was  so  terrible." 

From  the  Dissolution  until  the  death  of  Darcy  Earl  Rivers,  the 
Priory  was  the  principal  seat  and  residence  of  the  Darcy  family.  The 
Priory  estates  passed  by  the  Earl's  death  into  the  Savage  family ;  but 
the  house  was  not  inhabited  until  the  time  of  the  Earl  of  Rochford, 
about  eighty  years  after  this  period.  It  is  from  this  time  probably  that 
the  Priory  began  to  fall  into  decay.  The  third  Earl  is  supposed  to  have 
pulled  down  part  of  the  ruins  of  the  Priory,  and  to  have  built  with 
the  materials  the  modem  mansion,  part  of  which  is  still  standing.  The 
third  and  fourth  Earls  made  the  Priory  their  ordinary  residence. 

Lord  Rochford  is  said  to  have  brought,  in  1768,  from  Lombardy, 
some  Lombardy  poplar-trees,  of  which  four  or  five  are  still  standing  in 
the  park.  They  are  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  planted  in  England. 

George  III.,  on  two  occasions,  when  he  went  to  inspect  the  camp  at 
Colchester,  stayed  at  St.  Osyth  as  the  guest  of  the  fourth  Earl.  The 
King  presented  two  fine  portraits  of  himself  and  Queen  Charlotte  to 
Lord  Rochford  in  their  coronation  robes,  by  Allan  Ramsay.  Lord 
Rochford  was  one  of  the  only  men  of  note  mentioned  by  Junius  in  his 
letters  with  commendation.  If  we  may  believe  the  statements  of  an 
anonymous  writer  in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  he  was  privy  to  the 
authorship  of  those  letters.    The  writer  says  that  an  intimate  friend  of 


The  Priory  of  St  Osyth.  557 

his  lordship  was  kept  waiting  outside  by  him  one  evening,  and  that 
when  Lord  Rochford  came  in  he  apologized  for  his  absence,  saying  that 
it  had  been  caused  by  an  affair  of  the  utmost  importance,  adding  that 
he  would  hear  no  more  of  Junius.  The  writer  gives  no  date,  but  says 
that  after  that  time  no  letters  were  published. 

This  Earl  was  a  personal  friend  of  George  II.  and  III.,  and  was  for 
many  years  in  their  service.  In  1 738  he  was  appointed  Lord  of  the  Bed- 
chamber to  George  II.;  in  1748,  Vice- Admiral  of  the  Coast  of  Essex; 
in  1756,  Lord- Lieutenant  and  Gustos  Rotulorum  of  the  County;  and 
at  George  II. 's  death  he  was  Groom  of  the  Stole,  and  as  such  was 
entitled  to  the  furniture  of  the  room  in  which  the  King  died.  Some 
pictures  of  which  the  Earl  became  thus  possessed  are  still  at  the  Priory, 
and  the  bed-quilt  until  recently  did  duty  as  an  altar-cloth  in  the  parish 
church. 

The  estate  some  years  ago  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  present  owner, 
Mr.  Johnson.  The  ancient  buildings  covered  a  great  extent.  The  ruins 
are  scattered  in  rich  profusion  in  all  directions  round  the  modem  dwell- 
ing-house— arches,  towers,  and  picturesque  remains  meet  the  eye  in 
every  direction.  During  the  last  hundred  years  the  ruins  are  said  to 
have  furnished  materials  for  repairing  houses  in  the  village,  and  even  for 
mending  the  roads.  Fortunately,  the  noble  gate  tower  and  the  Abbot's 
Tower  are  still  in  very  good  preservation. 

The  greater  part  of  the  existing  remains  were  built  by  Abbot  John 
Vyntoner,  the  last  Abbot  but  one,  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth 
centur)'.  From  the  fact  that  Cromwell  chose  it  for  himself  out  of  all 
the  spoils  of  the  monasteries,  which  he  had  at  his  entire  disposal,  it  is 
evident  that  the  Priory  must  have  been  a  magnificent  building  at  the 
time  of  its  dissolution.  There  is  very  little  of  an  earlier  date.  The 
Norman  archway  on  the  Bury,  part  of  another  Norman  arch  at  the 
back  of  the  existing  house,  some  old  walls,  and  the  crypt  or  chapel,  are 
the  only  remains  of  the  first  building.  There  is  no  trace  of  an  abbey 
church,  so  that  probably  the  monks  used  the  parish  church.  The  gate- 
house, the  abbot's  tower,  the  clock  tower,  and  the  beautiful  oriel  window 
in  front  of  the  house,  were  evidently  erected  at  the  commencement  ot 
the  sixteenth  century. 

The  window  is  filled  with  heraldic  and  other  devices,  and  at  the  top 
are  two  dates — a.d.  mcccccxxvii.,  and  a.d.  1527.  The  initials  and 
rebus  of  Abbot  Vyntoner  are  many  times  repeated  in  the  window.  The 
two  shields  before  the  dates  are  curious  examples  of  the  monograms  of 
that  early  date.  A  vine  growing  out  of  a  tun  is  on  several  shields,  but 
th(^  most  curious  rebus  of  the  Abbot  is  on  the  east  side  of  the  window. 


5  5  8  The  Priory  of  St.  Osyth. 

A  vine  surrounds  a  shield,  on  which  is  a  crosier  passed  through  a  mitre, 
and  issuing  out  of  a  tun,  with  the  initials  I.V.  on  either  side  of  the 
crosier.  The  portcullis,  the  royal  arms,  the  three  crowns,  the  arms  of 
the  Priory — in  one  instance  with  a  sword — the  head  of  St.  Osyth,  the 
cross  keys  and  sword,  to  designate  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  the  Papal 
arms,  the  five  wounds  of  our  Saviour,  and  the  monogram  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  occur  frequently,  while  other  shields,  such  as  those  charged  with  a 
white  heart,  with  three  combs,  with  four  water  bougets  for  Bourchier, 
with  a  mullet  for  De  Vere,  may  represent  the  arms  of  benefactors  to 
the  Abbey.  Some  very  handsome  old  oak  panels,  which  evidently  came 
from  the  old  Priory,  are  of  the  same  time  and  the  work  of  the  same 
abbot.  His  rebus,  more  elaborate,  a  grape  vine  growing  from  a  tun,  is 
very  often  repeated,  and  the  vine  is  carved  on  nearly  every  panel. 

We  have  condensed  the  foregoing  details  of  this  important  religious 
house  from  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  Watney  to  the  Essex  Archaeological 
Society,  at  their  meeting  at  Colchester,  in  July,  1869.  The  materials 
fqr  this  paper  have  evidently  been  assembled  with  great  discrimination 
and  appreciative  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  the  Priory  and  its 
locality. 

Mr.  C.  F.  Haywood,  at  the  above-named  meeting  of  the  Essex 
Archaeological  Society,  made  these  supplemental  descriptive  notes : — 

Among  the  remains  there  are  none  of  the  Saxon  period,  but  some  of 
the  Norman  date,  and  some  beautiful  Early  English  near  the  large  tower. 
The  tower  gateway,  which  is  the  principal  entrance  to  the  Priory,  is  a 
noble  structure,  covered  with  rich  tracery,  niches,  and  ornaments,  and  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  portions  of  the  remaining  ancient  buildings. 
To  the  east  of  the  gateway  are  three  lofty  towers,  commanding  ex- 
tensive views  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  quadrangle  of  the 
Priory  is  almost  entire,  but  some  of  the  buildings  arc  of  modern  date. 
On  one  side  of  the  quadrangle  is  a  range  of  old  buildings  in  the  Tudor 
style,  and  having  several  sharp  pointed  gables  and  an  octagonal  obser- 
vatory rising  from  the  centre.  Among  the  ruins  in  the  garden,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  present  mansion,  is  a  pier — evidently  a  portion  of  the 
ancient  buildings — with  a  Latin  inscription  upon  it,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  the  translation : — 

"  This  ancient  wall  which  you  see,  is  preserved  to  declare  the  bounds 
of  this  reverend  monastery ;  and  you  may  rejoice  at  the  happiness  of 
your  time  between  the  mirth  and  pleasantness  of  this  place,  now  that 
superstition  has  been  banished  from  this  stately  mansion,  which  was 
consecrated  to  barrenness  and  sloth.     1 760." 

The  parish  church  is  situate  near  the  Priory,  on  the  south  side,  and 


The  Priory  of  Little  Dutunoxv.  559 

is  dedicated  to  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  It  is  a  large  and  stately  building, 
having  a  nave  and  lofty  north  and  south  aisles  and  chancel,  with  a  north 
aisle  or  chapel,  and  a  large  square  tower  containing  six  bells.  The 
principal  objects  of  interest  in  the  building  are  several  defaced  monu- 
ments belonging  to  the  Darcy  family. 


The  Priory  of  Little  Dunmow,  and  the  Flitch  of  Bacon 
Custom. 

In  a  corn-field,  about  four  miles  distant  from  the  town  of  Dunmow, 
are  the  venerable  remains  of  the  Priory  Church  of  Little  Dunmow.  It 
was  formerly  the  eastern  end  of  the  south  aisle  of  a  magnificent 
collegiate  church,  erected  for  the  joint  use  of  the  parish,  and  of 
a  religious  house,  founded  a.d.  1104,  ^Y  Jug'*,  sister  of  Ralph  Bayard, 
for  a  Prior  of  eleven  canons  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustine,  and  con- 
secrated by  .Maurice,  Bishop  of  London.  At  the  Suppression,  this 
monastery  was  given  to  Robert,  Earl  of  Sussex,  by  Henry  VIII.;  but 
it  was  subsequently  in  the  possession  of  several  different  families.  Here 
the  fair  Matilda  lies  buried,  who,  better  known  as  Maid  Marian,  shared 
the  fortunes  of  Robin  Hood.  According  to  Mr.  Steevens,  Bishop  Percy, 
and  Drayton,  the  name  of  Marian  was  originally  assumed  by  "a  lady 
of  high  degree,"  who  was  murdered  at  Dunmow  Priory. 

In  this  Priory  was  a  custom  which  is  believed  to  have  originated  with 
Robert  Kit/.- Walter,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  that  "  he  which  repenteth 
him  not  of  his  marriage,  sleeping  or  waking,  in  a  yeere  and  a  day,  might 
lawfully  fetch  a  gammon  of  bacon."  To  this  custom  we  shall  presently 
return. 

In  the  chancel,  upon  an  altar-tomb,  is  the  fair  alabaster  effigies  of  the 
celebrated  Matilda.     On  the  head,  which  reposes  upon  a  cushion,  is  a 
covering  like  a  woollen  nightcap.     She  has  a  collar  of  SS ;  a  necklace 
A  pendants  falling  from  a  richly-embroidered  neckerchief,  a  rich  girdle 
!id  long  robe's,  the  sleeves  close  to  the  wrists,  and  slit  there.     Her 
iiigers  are  loaded  with  rings.     At  the  head  were  two  angels,  now  mu- 
tilated, and  a  dog  on  each  side  of  her  feet.    According  to  the  Chix>nic!e 
of  Dugdale,  in  the  Monasticou,  she  was  buried  across  two  columns,  in 
the  south  part  of  the  choir;  but  her  effigy,  with  its  slab,  is  now  placed 
upon  a  grey  altar-tomb,  decorated  with  shields  with  c|uatrefoils. 

The  lady's  history  has  Ikxmi  already  related  at  pages  ^i  and  53; 
but  the  following  account  of  her  death  ditlers   from  that   given  in 


56o  The  Priory  of  Little  Dimmow. 

the  foiiner  of  these  pages.  When  her  husband  was  again  outlawed 
by  King  John,  she  shared  his  misfortune,  and  at  his  death  took  refuge 
in  Dunmovv  Priory  (which  appears  to  have  been  enriched  by  some 
member  of  her  family),  trusting  to  spend  the  residue  of  her  days  in  peace. 

The  tyrant,  however,  who  had  never  forgotten  her  bravery  in  Sher- 
wood Forest,  despatched  a  gallant  knight,  one  Robert  de  Medewe  (the 
common  ancestor  of  the  present  Earl  Manvers),  with  a  token  to  the 
fair  recluse — a  poisoned  bracelet.  Ignorant  of  the  accursed  deed  he 
went  to  perform,  Sir  Robert  arrived  at  the  Priory,  and  was  respectfully 
and  cordially  received.  Matilda  had  lost  the  bloom  and  vivacity  of 
youth,  but  her  mien  was  stately,  and  her  person  still  imposing.  The 
rough  warrior  felt  the  flame  of  love  kindling  in  his  bosom,  but  he 
strove  to  stifle  it,  and  bidding  the  lady  a  hasty  adieu,  speedily 
departed.  Whilst  on  the  road  to  London,  his  fond  feelings  waxed 
stronger  and  stronger  the  farther  he  proceeded  from  the  object  of  them  ; 
and  at  length,  being  unable  any  longer  to  curb  his  passion,  he  turned 
his  horse's  head,  and  retraced  his  way.  It  was  night  when  he  reached 
the  Priory,  but  the  light  of  many  tapers  streamed  through  the  windows 
of  the  adjoining  church  on  the  weary  soldier,  and  the  solemn  dirge  of 
death  awoke  the  slumbering  echoes.  With  fearful  forebodings,  he 
entered  the  house  of  prayer,  and  there,  in  the  chancel,  on  a  bier  and 
covered  with  flowers,  was  stretched  the  lifeless  body  of  the  unfortunate 
Matilda.  The  bracelet  was  on  her  wrist,  it  had  eaten  its  way  to 
the  bone,  and  the  fiery  poison  had  dried  her  life-blood.  The  flesh 
was  very  pale,  but  a  heavenly  smile  irradiated  her  countenance:  the 
priests  were  standing  around,  weeping,  and  the  "  Dies  irae  "  died  away 
on  their  quivering  lips  when  the  warrior  entered.  He  flung  himself  on 
the  lady's  corpse,  invoking  a  thousand  maledictions  upon  his  own 
head.  No  persuasions  could  induce  him  to  return  to  the  camp  and 
Court,  but,  resigning  his  mail  for  the  cowl  and  gown,  he  became  a  faith- 
ful brother  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustine. 

Facing  the  monument  of  this  hapless  lady,  is  another  erected  to  the 
memory  of  Walter,  first  of  the  name,  who  died  a.d.  1198,  and  was 
buried  with  Matilda  Bohun,  his  second  wife,  in  the  choir.  Sir  Walter 
is  clad  in  plate  aiTnour,  l>eneath  which  is  a  leathern  shirt ;  the  legs  are 
broken  oti"  at  the  knees ;  the  lady  wears  a  tiara  decorated  with  lace, 
earrings,  and  a  necklace;  their  heads  repose  on  cushions,  and  their 
hands  are  raised  in  the  supplicatory  attitude.  On  the  north  side  of  the 
chancel  is  a  mural  monument  to  the  memory  of  Sir  James  Hallet, 
Knight ;  and  near  it  stands  the  Chair,  in  which  the  happy  couple  who 
obtained  the  flitch  of  bacon,  were  carried  on  men's  shoulders  round 


The  Priory  of  L  ittle  Dun  mow.  561 

the  site  of  the  Prior)'.  Probably,  it  was  the  usual  seat  of  the  old 
Abbots:  it  is  in  good  condition,  considering  that  several  centuries  have 
glided  away  since  it  assumed  its  present  form.* 

The  last  Prior  of  Dunmow,  Geoffrey  Shether,  was  confirmed  in 
1518.  A  memorial  of  him  is  preser\-ed  in  the  British  Museum,  in  his 
book  of  household  expenses,  from  the  23rd  to  26th  of  Henry  VIII. 
That  he  was  a  thrifty  farmer  is  evident  from  many  payments  for  the 
"  sowing  of  Lente  come,"  "  thresshyng  of  whete,"  "  mendyng  of  the 
plowys,"  "  spreddyng  of  dung,"  "  mowynge,"  &c.  Nor  did  Geoffrey 
forget  the  conventual  beer;  he  pays  twelve  pence  to  "  ij  men  for  kepyng 
of  rok)  s  fro  my  barley,"  and  three  shillings  to  "  a  woman  for  dr)-ying 
of  malt."  At  harvest-time  he  employed  a  large  number  of  the  labour- 
ing poor,  both  men  and  women.  The  Priory  land  yielded  a  goodly 
crop ;  and  Prior  Geoffrey  expended  in  harvest  wages  seven  pounds 
eight  shillings  and  fourpence,  which  seems  to  have  so  rejoiced  his  heart 
that  he  bought  new  "  harvest  bowlys,"  and  expended  fourteenpence 
for  "  harvest  dysshes,"  for  the  merry  feast.  Perhaps,  to  do  honour  to 
his  higher  guests,  he  also  purchased  "  iiij  botteles  of  wyn  xvid."  He 
delighted  in  the  songs  and  music  of  the  minstrels,  and  found  pleasure 
in  the  disport  and  jests  of  fools  and  players.  Sometimes  they  came 
singly,  but  often  in  little  companies,  to  the  Prior's  hall,  where  they 
were  well  rcceivetl  and  always  dismissed  with  "  a  rewarde."  Nor 
must  we  overlook  the  payments  to  "  the  Lorde  of  Mysrulle  of 
Dunmow." 

If  Prior  Geoffrey  loved  mirth,  he  was  not  neglectful  of  the  poor: 
he  gave  constantly  "  almes,"  "  maundy  money,"  &c.  What  became  of 
the  Prior  after  the  Dissolution  is  doubtful ;  perhajis,  like  many  others, 
he  sank  into  obscurity  and  indigence,  and  instead  of  his  "  venyson,"  his 
"botelle  of  red  wyn,"  and  his  "creemand  strawberries,"  which  his 
household  book  tells  us  he  sometimes  enjoyed,  he  had  to  learn  the 
rigour  of  a  more  monastic  but  less  agreeable  regimen. — Notes  and 
Queries,  1855. 

The  history  of  the  Bacon  Custom  is  thus  briefly  told:- -The  Flitch 
of  Bacon  is  one  of  those  numerous  old  local  customs  of  which  the  origin 
seems  to  be  entirely  forgotten.  All  we  really  know  is,  that  at  an  early 
period  the  custom  existed,  in  the  Priory  of  Little  Dunmow,  of  deli- 
vering a  Flitch  or  a  Gammon  of  Bacon  to  any  couple  who  claimed  it, 
and  could  swear,  a  year  and  a  day  after  their  marriage,  that  during  that 
time  they  had  never  offended  each  other  in  deed  or  word,  or  ever  wished 

*  Contribution  to  the  Graphic  Illustrator,  1834. 
*  00 


562  TJie  Priory  of  Little  Diinmdw. 

themselves  unmarried  again.  It  was  probably  a  custom  attached  to  the 
tenure  of  the  manor,  and  it  was  continued  after  the  Priory  was  dis- 
solved, and  the  land  had  passed  into  secular  hands.  Three  cases  of  the 
gift  of  the  flitch  are  recorded  as  having  occurred  before  the  Dissolution 
of  the  Priory ;  but  we  probably  owe  the  knowledge  of  these  to  mere 
accident  or  caprice,  and  they  do  not  prove,  as  some  seem  to  think,  that 
it  was  not  given  much  more  fi-equently.  On  the  contrary,  we  can  only 
account  for  the  great  celebrity  wh'ch  the  custom  at  this  place  enjoyed 
throughout  England  at  a  very  early  period,  by  assuming  that  the  prize 
was  frequently  claimed  and  adjudicated.  So  early,  indeed,  as  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  author  of  the  celebrated  satirical 
poem  of  Piers  Ploughman,  who  lived  on  the  borders  of  Wales,  mentions 
the  custom  in  a  manner  that  implies  a  general  knowledge  of  it  among 
his  readers ;  and  most  readers  of  the  present  time  will  remember  how, 
about  half  a  century  later,  Chaucer  put  an  allusion  to  it  in  the  mouth 
of  his  "  Wife  of  Bath,"  implying  that  it  was  then  a  matter  of  common 
notoriety  in  the  West  of  England.  About  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century — that  is,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI. — we  have  another  curious 
allusion  to  this  custom  in  an  English  theological  poem.  The  writer, 
speaking  of  the  general  corruptions  of  the  time,  which  affected  even 
domestic  life,  says  quaintly : 

"  1  can  fynd  no  man  now  that  wille  enquire 
The  psufyte  wais  unto  Dunmow  ; 
For  they  repent  hem  within  a  yere, 
And  many  within  a  weke,  and  sooner,  men  trow ; 
That  cawsith  the  wais  to  be  rough  and  over-grow. 
That  no  man  may  fynd  eitiier  path  or  gap; 
The  world  is  tumyd  to  another  shape. 

"  Beef  and  moton  wylle  serve  welle  enow  ; 
And  for  to  fetch  so  ferre  a  lytil  bacon  flyk, 
Which  hath  long  hangj^id,  ruaty,  and  tow ; 
And  the  way,  I  telle  you,  is  combrous  and  thyk; 
And  thou  might  stonible,  and  take  the  crjke.* 
Therefore  bide  at  home,  whatsoever  hap, 
Tylle  the  world  be  turnyd  into  another  shape." 

It  was  about  the  date  of  this  poem,  in  the  23rd  Henry  VI.  (144-,), 
that  the  first  recorded  award  of  the  Flitch  of  Bacon  took  place : 
it  was  then  deHvered  to  Richard  \\'^right,  yeoman,  of  Bradbourghe, 
in  Norfolk.  In  the  7th  Edward  IV.  (1467),  Stephen  Samuel,  a 
husbandman,  of  Little  Easton,  in  Essex,  received  a  gammon  of  bacon ; 
and  a  gammon  was  similarly  given,  in  1510,  to  Thomas  Fuller,  of 
Coggcshall. 

•  Break  thy  neck. 


The  Priory  of  Little  Dunmoiv.  563 

According  to  the  old  ceremonial  at  Diinmow,  the  party  claiming 
the  bacon — wiio  was  styled  the  Pilgi  im — was  to  take  the  oath  in  rhyme, 
kneehng  on  two  sharp  stones  in  the  churchyard,  the  Convent  attending, 
and  using  a  variety  of  ceremonies.     The  oath  is  as  follows: — 

"  We  do  swear  by  custom  of  confession 
That  we  ne'er  made  nuptial  transgression ; 
Nor  since  we  were  married  man  and  wife, 
By  household  brawls  or  contentious  strife. 
Or  otherwise — bed  or  at  board, 
Offended  each  other  in  deed  or  word ; 
Or  since  the  parish  clerk  said  amen, 
Wished  ourselves  immarried  again  ; 
Or  in  a  twelvemonth  and  a  day 
Repented  in  thought  or  any  way, 
But  continued  true  and  in  desire, 
As  when  we  joined  in  holy  quire." 

When  this  oath  was  taken  by  each  couple,  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
officer  who  administered  it  to  reply : — 

"  Since  to  these  conditions,  without  any  fear. 
Of  your  own  accord  you  do  freely  swear, 
A  whole  flitch  of  bacon  you  shall  receive, 
And  Ix'ar  it  hence  with  love  and  good  leave; 
For  this  our  custom  at  Dunmow  well  known. 
Though  the  pleasure  be  ours,  the  bacon's  your  own." 

Then  the  Pilgrim  was  taken  on  men's  shoulders,  and  carried,  first, 
about  the  Priory  churchyard,  and  afterwards  through  the  village,  at.3 
tended  by  the  monks  of  the  Convent,  the  bacon  being  borne  in  triumph 
before  them.  The  ceremonial  was  continued  with  little  alteration 
after  the  Dissolution  of  the  monastery,  but  the  adjudication  then  took 
place  in  the  court-baron  of  the  lord  of  the  manor.  A  case  occurred  in 
1701,  when  two  couples  obtained  each  a  gammon  of  bacon.  The  first 
claimants  on  this  occasion  were  William  Parsley,  butcher,  of  Much 
Easton,  in  Essex,  and  his  wife ;  and  the  second,  John  Reynolds, 
steward  to  Sir  Charles  Barrington,  of  Hatfield  Broad  Oak,  and  his 
wife.  They  took  the  usual  oath,  kneeling  on  two  stones,  in  the 
churchyard ;  but  the  jury  consisted  only  of  five  maidens,  without  any  of 
the  other  sex,  and  four  of  the  maidens  appear  by  their  names  to  have 
been  sisters.  In  1761,  the  bacon  was  claimed  by  Thomas  Shakeshaft, 
weaver,  of  Weathersfield,  in  Essex,  and  his  wife.  A  special  court- 
baron  was  held  for  the  investigation  of  the  case,  a  widow  being  the 
lady  of  the  manor  ;  and  six  maidens  and  six  bachelors  were  duly  enrolled 
as  the  jury.  The  claimants  had  been  married  seven  years,  and  no  ob- 
jection having  been  found  to  their  claims,  they  went  through  the  usual 

002 


564  Tlie  Priory  of  Little  Diinmoiv. 

foiinalitics,  and  received  a  gammon  of  bacon.  This  case  appears  to 
have  made  great  noise  in  the  country,  and  no  less  than  five  thousand 
l>eisons  are  said  to  have  been  present,  the  road  being  literally  blocked 
up  by  the  various  vehicles  from  the  town  of  Great  Dunmow  to  the 
Priory.  It  is  said  that  on  this  occasion  the  successful  candidates  rea- 
lized a  considerable  sum  of  money  by  selling  slices  of  the  bacon  to  those 
who  had  come  to  witness  the  celebration.  This  procession  was  repre- 
sented in  a  large  print,  engraved  by  C.  Mosley,  after  a  painting  taken  on 
the  spot  by  David  Osbome:  this  print — a  Hogarthian  scene — is  now 
scarce,  and  fetches  a  high  price. 

From  this  time  the  custom  appears  to  have  become  obsolete ;  even 
the  stones  on  which  the  claimants  knelt  on  taking  the  oath,  were canied 
away  ;  and  the  old  Chair,  of  carved  oak,  in  which  the  successful  couple 
were  borne,  alone  remains  in  the  Prior)'  church.  The  'John  Bull  news- 
paper, Oct.  8,  1837,  speaks  of  the  renewal  of  the  observance  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Saffron  Walden  and  Dunmow  Agricultural  Society.  It  is 
reported  in  the  neighbourhood  that  when  our  excellent  Queen  had  been 
married  a  year  and  a  day,  the  then  lord  of  the  manor  privately  offered 
the  flitch  of  bacon  to  her  Majesty,  who  declined  the  compliment ;  but 
be  this  true  or  not,  the  same  generosity  was  not  extended  to  the  less 
elevated  claimants.  In  18,55,  on  July  15th,  the  custom  was  observed  at 
the  instigation  of  Mr.  Harrison  Ainsworth,  the  novelist,  who  subscrilied 
handsomely  towards  the  expenses,  besides  providing  the  flitch,  and 
eventually  gave  a  second.  The  honour  fell  upon  Mr.  Barlow,  a  builder, 
of  Chipping  Ongar  ;  and  the  second  flitch  was  adjudged  to  a  couple  from 
London — the  Chevalier  de  Chatelain  and  his  wife.  As  the  lord  of  the 
manor  of  Little  Dunmow  refused  to  allow  the  revival  of  the  custom 
there,  it  was  held  at  Great  Dunmow.  But  it  met  with  great  opposition 
even  there,  headed  by  the  clergy  of  the  neighbourhood  ;  though  it  was 
very  popular  generally.  The  weather  proved  wet ;  but  the  adjudication 
took  place  in  the  Town-hall.  The  jury  consisted  of  six  maidens  and  six 
bachelors;  Mr.  Ainsworth  presided  ;  there  were  two  sets  of  claimants 
and  their  witnesses,  and  counsel  for  claimants  and  opposition  ;  but  they 
were  declared  worthy  of  the  prize.  In  1861,  just  a  century  after  the  last 
gift  of  the  bacon  at  the  Manorial  Court,  a  claim  was  made  by  a  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hurrell,  owners  and  occupiers  of  a  farm  at  Felsted,  adjoining  Little 
Dunmow ;  but  the  lord  of  the  manor  refused  to  revive  the  custom. 
This  caused  much  discontent  in  the  parish,  which  was  only  appeased  by 
an  intimation  that  if  the  claimants  would  drive  over  to  Easton  Park,  on 
the  1 6th  of  July,  where  a  rural  fete  was  to  take  place,  they  would  there 
receive  a  gammon  of  bacon,  on  going  through  the  old  ceremonial.     On 


The  Priory  of  L  ittle  Dunniow.  565 

the  day  appointed,  a  multitude  of  persons  assembled  before  the  Town 
Hall  in  Great  Dunmow,  with  music,  and  when  the  two  claimants 
appeared,  they  were  escorttd  in  triumph  to  the  Park,  and  the  gammon 
of  bacon  was  carried  before  them.  About  three  thousand  persons  wit- 
nessed the  proceeding,  which  consisted  in  taking  the  old  Oath  and  re- 
ceiving the  bacon,  without  the  jury  or  trial.  The  opposition  of  the 
lord  of  the  manor  to  any  revival  of  the  old  custom  in  Little  Dunmow 
continued  until  the  year  1869,  when  it  was  revived  on  Aug.  16,  the 
court  being  held  in  a  marquee ;  but  this  was  not  strictly  a  revival  of  an 
ancient  and  interesting  usage. 

Such  is  an  outline  of  the  general  history  of  this  "jocular  tenure," 
the  course  of  which  has  not  always  run  smoothly.  Thus,  it  appears 
that  in  1772,  June  12,  an  Essex  couple  made  their  public  entry  into 
Dunmow,  escorted  by  a  great  concourse  of  persons,  and  demanded 
the  gammon  of  bacon,  declaring  themselves  ready  to  take  the  usual 
oath  ;  but  the  Priory  gates  were  found  fast  nailed,  and  all  admittance 
reftised,  by  order  of  the  lord  of  the  manor ;  and  Gough,  writing  in 
i8og,  mentioned  the  custom  as  abolished,  "  on  account  of  the  abuse 
of  it  in  these  loose  principled  times." 

The  Oath  was  sometimes  in  prose,  and  less  strict  than  that  at 
Dunmow:  this  was  certainly  done  as  early  as  the  loth  year  of  King 
Edward  III.,  when  the  manor  was  held  by  Sir  Philip  de  Somerville. 
The  Oath  was  taken  on  a  book  laid  above  the  bacon,  and  was  as 
follows:  "  Here  ye,  Sir  Philippe  de  Somervile,  Lord  of  WhichenovTC, 
maynteyner  and  gyvcr  of  this  Baconne,  that  I,  A,  sithe  I  wedded  B,  my 
wife,  and  sythe  1  hadd  hyr  in  my  kepyng,  and  at  my  wylle,  by  a  yere 
and  a  day,  after  our  marriage,  I  would  not  have  chaungcd  for  none 
other,  farer  ne  fowler,  rychcr  ne  pourer,  ne  for  none  descended  of 
greater  lynage,  slepyng  ne  waking,  .it  noo  tyme.  And  yf  the  seyd 
B  wer  sole,  and  I  sole,  I  would  take  her  to  be  my  wyfe,  before  all 
the  wymcn  of  the  worlde  of  what  condiciones  soever  they  be,  good 
or  evylle,  as  heipe  me  God  and  his  Seyntys,  and  the  flesh  and  all 
fleshes." 

It  is  observable  that  this  Whichenovre  Flitch  was  to  be  hanging  in  the 
hall  of  the  manor,  "  redy  arrayed  all  times  of  the  yere,  butt  in  Lent." 
It  was  to  be  given  to  escry  man  or  woman  married,  "after  the  day  and 
the  yere  of  their  marriage  Ix'  past :  and  to  be  given  to  e\-eryche  mane  of 
religion,  archbishop,  bishop,  prior,  or  other  religious,  and  to  ever^xhe 
preest,  after  the  year  and  day  of  their  profession  finished,  or  of  their 
dignity  reseyvcd." 

This  observance  was  not,  however,  confined  entirely  to  Dunmo«vand 


566  Hedingham  Castle. 

N^'hichenoure,  for  it  prevailed  in  Bretagne,  at  the  Abbey  of  St.  Melaine, 
near  Rennes,  where,  for  six  hundred  years,  a  flitch  of  bacon  was  given 
to  the  first  couple  who  had  been  married  a  year  and  a  day  without 
having  quarrelled  or  grumbled  at  each  other,  or  repented  of  their 
union. 


Hedingham  Castle. 

This  Anglo-Norman  fortress,  which  gives  name  to  the  parish  in  which 
it  stands,  was  built  by  the  De  Veres,  to  which  family  the  lordship  of 
Hedingham  was  given  by  the  Conqueror.  The  architecture,  which  is 
very  similar  to  that  of  Rochester  Castle,  leads  to  the  supposition  that 
it  was  erected  about  the  same  time  as  that  fortress — viz.,  towards  the 
close  of  the  eleventh,  or  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century.  Maud, 
wife  of  King  Stephen,  is  said  to  have  died  here.  In  the  Civil  Wars  of 
the  reign  of  King  John,  the  Castle  was  held  by  Robert  de  Vere,  Earl  of 
Oxford,  for  the  Barons,  but  was  taken  a.d.  1216  by  the  King.  It  was 
retaken  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  by  Louis,  Dauphin 
of  France,  but  recovered  by  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  for  the  young  King. 
In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  that  prince  was  sumptuously  entertained 
here  by  John  de  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford,  who  had  suffeied  severely  for  his 
attachment  to  the  Lancastrian  cause,  and  had  been  one  of  the  chief 
instruments  in  placing  the  crown  on  Henry's  head.  As  the  King  was 
departing,  he  observed  that  the  Earl,  to  do  him  honour,  had  put 
liveries  on  his  retainers ;  and  in  return  for  his  hospitality,  the  King  com- 
pelled him  to  compound  by  a  fine  of  15,000  marks  for  breaking  a 
statute  recently  passed,  forbidding  such  a  practice. 

The  De  Veres  retained  the  Castle  until  a.d.  1625.  It  has  since 
passed  through  various  hands.  The  Keep  is  the  only  part  remaining  ; 
it  is  one  of  the  finest  and  best  preserved  Norman  Keeps  in  the  king- 
dom. The  walls  are  above  100  feet  high,  from  11^  to  12^  feet 
thick  at  the  bottom,  and  from  9^  to  10  feet  thick  at  the  top ;  the 
eastern  wall  is  at  least  a  foot  thicker  than  the  others,  having  been  so 
built,  it  is  conjectured,  to  withstand  the  violent  easterly  winds.  The 
building  is  a  parallelogram  of  55  feet  on  the  east  and  west  sides,  and 
62  feet  on  the  north  and  south.  At  each  angle,  on  the  top,  there  was 
formerly  an  embattled  turret ;  two  of  the  turrets  remain  ;  the  parapet, 
now  destroyed,  was  also  embattled.  The  Castle  is  built  with  irregular 
flints,  or  stones,  embedded  in  grouting  or  fluid  mortar,  and  is  cased  on 
the  outside  with  squared  stone,  very  neatly  and  regularly  put  together. 


Saffron  Walden  Castle  and  Audlcy  End.  567 

It  has  five  storeys,  including  the  ground-floor  and  platform.  The  prin- 
cipal entrance  is  on  the  first  storey,  and  on  the  west  side,  with  a  flight 
of  stairs  leading  up  to  it.  Entrances  to  the  ground-floor  were  made 
with  great  labour  in  1720.  The  whole  building  is  worthy  of  inspection ; 
it  has  some  fine  Norman  enrichments  in  the  interior. 


Saffron  Walden  Castle  and  Audley  End, 

Walden,  or  Saffron  Walden,  lies  near  the  north-eastern  extremity  of 
I"  ex.  and  is  named  fi-om  Weald,  a  wood  and  den,  or  valley ;  its  prefix 
S.ijJ'ron  is  derived  from  the  great  quantity  of  that  plant  formerly  cul- 
tivated in  the  neighbourhood ;  but  this  culture  has  been  long  aban- 
doned. At  the  period  of  the  Domesday  Survey,  the  lordship  of 
Walden  was  possessed  by  a  Norman,  Geoffrey  de  Magnaville,  one  of 
the  companions  of  the  Conqueror.  This  nobleman  erected  at  Walden 
a  Castle,  which,  judging  from  the  remains  of  it,  must  have  been  of  great 
strength.  These  remains  occupy  the  highest  part  of  the  town,  and  con- 
sist of  some  parts  of  the  walls  and  towers,  built  with  flint  bound  to- 
gether by  a  very  hard  cement.  Geoffrey,  the  grandson  of  the  founder 
of  the  Castle,  having  deserted  the  party  of  Stephen  for  that  of  the 
Empress  Maud,  obtained  of  her  perniission  to  remove  the  market  from 
the  neighbouring  town  of  Newport  (now  a  village)  to  Walden. 
Having  been,  however,  seized  by  Stephen,  he  could  only  obtain  his 
freedom  by  the  delivery  of  his  castles,  \\'aldcn  being  one  of  them,  to 
the  King. 

The  same  nobleman  founded  here  in  1 136  a  Benedictine  Priory, 
which  was,  some  ycai-s  later,  raised  to  the  rank  of  an  Abbey,  and 
obtained  several  valuable  benefactions.  At  the  Dissolution,  the  site  was 
granted  to  Sir  Thomas  Audley,  Lord  Chancellor,  and  the  title  of  Lord 
Audley  of  \\  aldcn  was  conferred  upon  him.  On  the  site  and  grounda 
of  the  monastery,  enlarged  by  a  subsequent  addition  of  200  acres, 
stand  the  present  mansion  and  park  of  Audley  Knd. 

"Lord  Audley  is  a  singular  instance,"  says  Lord  Campbell,  in  his 
Lives  of  the  Keepers  of  the  Great  Seal,  "  of  a  statesman,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VHL,  remaining  long  in  favour  and  in  office,  and  dying  a 
natural  death.  Reckoning  from  the  time  \\'hen  he  was  made  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  he  had  been  employed  by  Henry  constantly 
since  the  fall  of  Wolsey— under  six  Queens — avoiding  the  peril  of 
acknowledging  the  Pope  on  the  one  hand,  or  ufl'ending  against  the  Six 


568         Saffron  Waldm  Castle  and  Audley  End. 

Articles  on  the  other.  He  enjoyed  great  power,  amassed  immense 
wealth,  was  raised  to  the  highest  honours  and  dignities,  and  reaped 
what  he  considered  a  full  recompence.  According  to  a  desire  ex- 
pressed in  his  will,  he  was  buried  in  a  chapel  he  had  erected  at  Saffi-on 
Walden,  where  a  splendid  monument  was  raised  to  him,  with  a  poetical 
epitaph,  which  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that,  in  imitation  of  his 
immediate  predecessor,  he  had  himself  composed.  He  was  highly  con- 
nected by  marriage,  having  for  his  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Grey,  Marquis  of  Dorset ;  and  his  daughter  and  heiress,  after  having 
been  mairied  to  a  younger  son  of  Dudley,  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
becoming  the  second  wife  of  Thomas  Duke  of  Norfolk ;  their  son 
being  the  ancestor  of  the  Howards,  Earls  of  Suffolk  and  Berkshire ; 
'  famous  in  his  day,'  says  Dugdale,  '  for  building  on  the  ruins  of  the 
Abbey  of  AValden  that  stately  fabric,  now  known  by  the  name  of 
Audley  End  (in  memory  of  this  Lord  Audley),  not  to  be  equalled 
excepting  Hampton  Court,  by  any  in  this  realm.'  " 

Audley  End  is  the  seat  of  Lord  Braybrooke,  whose  father,  3rd 
Baron  of  Braybrooke,  edited  the  Diary  of  Samuel  Pepys,  F.R.S.,  Secre- 
tary to  the  Admiralty  in  the  reign  of  Charles  H.,  and  the  Private  Cor- 
respondence of  Jane  Lady  CornivaUis,  1613  to  1644.  The  mansion, 
originally  more  extensive  than  at  present,  is  still  one  of  the  finest  in  the 
county;  it  is  said  to  have  cost  at  its  erection  190,000/.  The  house 
contains  some  interesting  historical  portraits,  and  other  pictures. 

On  a  green,  near  the  town,  is  a  singular  relic  of  other  times,  called 
the  Maze ;  it  consists  of  concentric  circles,  with  four  outworks  cut  in 
chalk,  which  here  rises  to  the  surface;  its  origin  and  use  are  unknown. 
Dr.  Stukeley  conjectures  it  to  have  been  a  British  cursus  or  place  of 
exercise  for  the  soldiery.  A  short  distance  from  the  town  are  the  re- 
mains of  an  ancient  encampment,  of  an  oblong  form,  called  Pell  Ditches, 
or  Rope  Ditches. 

We  have  referred  to  the  extensive  culture  of  Saffron  at  Walden,  in 
former  times.  Hakluyt,  when  he  visited  the  place,  was  told  that  a 
pilgrim  brought  Saffron  from  the  Levant  into  England  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  l\\.  The  first  root  of  Saffron  he  had  found  means  to 
conceal  in  his  staff,  made  hollow  for  that  purpose ;  and  so,  continues 
Hakluyt,  "  he  brought  the  root  into  this  realm  with  venture  of  life ;  for 
if  he  had  been  taken,  by  the  law  of  the  country  fiom  whence  it  came, 
he  had  died  for  the  fact."  It  was  a  costly  plant  at  \Valden,  for  we  find 
the  Corporation  paying  five  guineas  for  a  pound  of  Saffron  to  present  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  upon  her  visit  to  the  town.  It  is  a  curious  old  place, 
which  Stukeley  thus  describes ;  "  A  narrow  tongue  of  land  shook  itself 


Barking  Abbey. — Bow  Bridge.  569 

out  like  a  promontory,  encompassed  with  a  valley  in  the  form  of  a 
horse-shoe,  enclosed  by  distant  and  most  delightful  hills.  On  the 
bottom  of  the  tongue  stand  the  ruins  of  a  Castle,  and  on  the  top  or 
extremity  the  church,  round  which,  and  on  the  side  of  the  hill  and  in 
the  valley,  is  the  town  built,  so  that  the  bottom  of  the  church  is  as 
high  as  the  town,  and  seen  above  the  tops  of  the  houses."  Many  of 
these  are  of  quaint  forms,  with  gabled  fronts,  and  old  customs  linger 
here.  May  Day  is  kept  with  garlands  of  flowers,  in  the  centre  of 
which  is  placed  a  doll,  dressed  in  white,  according  to  certain  traditional 
regulations.     The  doll  represents  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  is  a  relic  of  the 

ages  of  Romanism. 

* 

Barking  Abbey. — Bow  Bridge. 

Barking,  seven  miles  east  of  London,  on  the  river  Roding,  running 
into  the  Thames,  had  a  magnificent  Abbey,  one  of  the  earliest  of  our 
monastic  institutions;  but  it  is  erroneously  said  to  have  been  the  first 
convent  for  females  established  in  the  kingdom.  It  was  founded  about 
675,  by  St.  Erkenwold,  Bishop  of  London,  in  honour  of  Christ  and  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  his  mother,  for  Benedictine  nuns.  St.  Ethelburgh,  the 
founder's  sister,  and  first  Abbess,  afterwards  became  the  patron  saint  of 
the  convent.  The  day  dedicated  to  her  service  was  October  11,  and  in 
the  Abbey  accounts  mention  occurs  of  the  annual  store  of  provision 
of  "wheat  and  milk  for  Frimitc  upon  St.  Albui-g's  Day."  The  site  of 
the  conventual  buildings,  with  the  demesne  lands  of  the  Abbey,  were 
granted  by  King  Edward  VL  in  1551,  to  Edward  Fynes,  Lord  Clinton. 
Scarcely  any  remains  of  the  Abbey  exist,  except  fragments  of  walls.  At 
the  entrance  of  Harking  Churchyard  is  an  embattled  gatehouse,  called 
Fire-Bell  Gate,  from  its  having  once  contained  a  bell,  which  Mr. 
Lysons  imagines  to  have  been  used  as  a  curfew-bell. 

St.  Erkenwold  dieti  at  the  Abbey  of  Barking,  and  upon  the  removal 
of  his  body  to  London  for  interment,  the  procession  was  stopped  at 
Ilford  and  Stratford  ferry  by  the  river  flood  there;  but  the  Chronicles 
record  the  intervention  of  a  miracle,  by  which  a  safe  and  easy  passage 
was  procured  for  the  corpse  of  the  holy  man  and  its  attendants. 

The  passage,  however,  became  dangerous  and  difficult  to  other  per- 
sons, many  losing  their  lives,  or  being  thoroughly  wetted,  which  hap- 
pened to  be  the  case  of  Qiiecn  >L'iud,  who  turned  the  road,  and  caused 
the  bridge  and  causeway  to  be  built  at  her  own  charge.  Such  was  the 
origin  of  the  first  "  Bow  Bridge: '  it  is  described  as  a  "rare  piece  of 
worke,  for  before  the  time  the  like  had  never  beene  scene  in  England." 


5  70  Barking  A  bbey. — Bow  Bridge. 

Matilda  gave  manors  and  a  mill  to  the  Abbess  of  Barking  for  the 
repair  of  this  bridge  and  highway:  the  bridge  had  originally  on  it  a 
chapel  erected  by  order  of  the  pious  Matilda. 

After  Gilbert  de  Montfichet  built  the  Abbey  of  Stratford-in-the- 
Marshes,  the  Abbot  bought  the  "  manors  and  mil,"  and  covenanted  for 
the  repairs,  which  he  entrusted  to  one  Godfrey  Pratt  for  "  certaine 
loaves  of  bread  daily ;"  but  at  length  he  neglected  his  charge,  and  the 
bridges  fell  into  decay.  Lysons,  however,  states  that  Hugh,  not 
Godfrey  Pratt,  in  the  reign  of  King  John,  by  aid  of  passengers,  kept 
the  bridge  in  repair;  and  at  his  death  his  son  did  the  same,  and  ob- 
tained a  toll,  stated  by  Morant  to  have  been  "  for  every  cart  carrying 
corn,  wood,  coal,  &c.,  one  penny ;  of  one  cairying  tasel,  twopence ; 
and  of  one  carrying  a  dead  Jew,  eightpence."  But  our  law  records 
show  that  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  the  Abbot  of  Stratford,  the 
Master  of  London  Bridge,  and  the  Master  of  St.  Thomas  of  Acre,  arc 
chai-ged  with  the  repair  of  the  Bridges  {I.e.,  Bow-bridge,  and  the 
Chanelse-bridge),  as  holding  the  mills  and  other  property  originally 
given  by  Queen  Matilda  to  the  Abbess  of  Barking,  for  their  support 
and  maintenance.  It  was  finally  agreed  between  the  Abbess  of 
Barking  and  the  Abbot  of  West  Ham,  that  the  latter  should  repair  the 
Bridges  ever  after,  upon  receiving  a  sum  of  money  from  the  former. 
Pratt's  claim  for  toll  was  rigidly  enforced ;  for  "  he  put  staples  and 
bars  upon  the  bridges,  &c.,  and  refused  to  permit  carts  or  horse  even  to 
pass,  unless  they  were  nobility,  whom,  through  fear,  he  quietly  per- 
mitted to  pass."  The  remainder  of  these  proceedings  was  occasioned 
by  the  refusal  of  the  Abbot  of  Stratford  to  repair  this  great  work  of 
the  pious  Queen ;  and  he  did  not  acknowledge  his  liability  till  8th 
Edward  II.  The  question  was  finally  settled  in  1690,  from  which 
period  the  landowners  "  continued  the  charge  of  the  bridge  and  cause- 
way at  Stratford  for  the  free  and  uninterrupted  use  of  the  public,  as 
was  originally  intended  by  the  royal  founder."  [The  old  bridge  has 
been  removed,  and  a  new  one  erected  in  its  place  in  1835-9.] 

The  adjoining  village  of  Stratford,  on  the  London  side  of  the  bridge, 
appears  to  have  received  the  addition  of  the  word  atte-Boghe,  or  atte- 
Bowe,  to  its  name,  in  consequence  of  the  erection  of  this  bridge ;  and 
to  distinguish  it  from  a  place  of  the  same  name  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river.  Chaucer,  in  his  description  of  Dame  Eglantine,  the 
Prioress,  has : 

"  Frenche  she  spake  full  Hiyre  and  fetisly, 
After  the  scole  of  Stratford-atte-Bowe, 
For  Frenche  of  Paris  was  to  her  luiknow," 


Barking  A  bbey. — Boiv  Bridge.  571 

Among  the  many  miracles  wrought  in  Barking  monastery,  Bede  relates 
the  following  during  a  plague : — "  When  the  mortality,  ravaging  all 
around,  had  also  seized  on  that  part  of  this  monastery  where  the  men 
resided,  and  they  were  daily  hurried  away  to  meet  their  God,  the 
careful  mother  of  the  Society  often  inquired  in  the  convent  of  the 
sisters,  where  they  would  have  their  bodies  buried,  and  where  a  church- 
yard should  be  made  when  the  same  pestilence  should  fall  upon  that 
part  of  the  monastery  in  which  God's  female  servants  were  divided 
from  the  men,  and  they  should  be  snatched  away  out  of  the  world  by 
the  same  destruction.  Receiving  no  certain  reply,  though  she  often 
put  the  question  to  the  sisters,  she  and  all  of  them  received  a  most 
certain  answer  from  heaven.  For  one  night,  when  the  morning  psalm 
was  ended,  and  those  ser\Mnts  of  Christ  were  gone  out  of  the  oratory  to 
the  tombs  of  the  brothers  who  had  departed  this  life  before  them,  and 
were  singing  the  usual  praises  to  the  Lord,  on  a  sudden  a  light  from 
heaven,  like  a  great  sheet,  came  down  upon  them  all,  and  struck  them 
with  so  much  terror  that  they,  in  consternation,  left  off  singing.  But 
that  resplendent  light,  which  seemed  to  exceed  the  sun  at  noon-day,  soon 
after  risingfrom  that  place,  removed  to  the  south  side  of  the  monastery — 
that  is,  to  the  westward  of  the  oratory — and  having  continued  there 
some  time,  and  scattered  those  parts  in  the  sight  of  them  all,  withdrew 
itself  again  up  to  heaven,  leaving  conviction  in  the  minds  of  all  that  the 
same  light,  which  was  to  lead  or  to  receive  the  souls  of  those  serv-ants  of 
God  into  heaven,  was  intended  to  show  the  place  in  which  their  bodies 
were  to  rest,  and  await  the  d?.y  of  the  resurrection.  This  light  was  so 
great,  that  one  of  the  eldest  of  the  brothers,  who  at  the  same  time  was 
in  their  oratory  with  another  younger  than  himself,  related  in  the  morn- 
ing, that  the  rays  of  light  which  came  in  at  the  crannies  of  the  doors  and 
windows  seemed  to  exceed  the  utmost  brightness  of  daylight  itself. 

"  There  was  in  the  same  monastery  a  boy,  not  above  three  yep.rs  old, 
called  Esion,  who,  by  reason  of  his  infant  years,  was  bred  up  among 
the  virgins  deilicatetl  to  God,  and  there  to  pui-sue  his  studies.  The 
child  being  seized  by  the  pestilence,  when  he  was  at  the  last  gasp,  callctl 
three  times  upon  one  of  the  virgins  consecrated  to  God,  directing  his 
words  to  her  by  her  own  name,  as  if  she  had  been  present — "  Eadgith ! 
Eadgith  !  Eadgith  !"  and  thus  ending  his  temporal  lifi.%  entered  into 
that  which  is  eternal.  The  virgin  whom  he  called  was  immediately 
seized,  where  she  was,  with  the  same  distemper,  and  departing  this  life 
the  same  day  on  which  she  had  been  called,  followed  him  that  called  her 
into  the  heavenly  country. 

'•  J-iktwise,  one  of  those  same  servants  of  God,  being  ill  of  the  same 


572       Iiiga  test  one  Hall. — Hiding-places  of  Priests. 

disease,  and  reduced  to  extremity,  began  on  a  sudden,  about  midnight, 
to  cry  out  to  them  that  attended  her,  desiring  that  they  would  put  out 
the  candle  that  was  lighted  there  ;  which,  when  she  had  often  repeated, 
and  yet  no  one  did  it,  at  last  she  said :  '  I  know  you  think  I  speak  this 
in  a  raving  fit,  but  let  me  inform  you  that  it  is  not  so ;  for  I  tell  you  that 
I  see  this  house  filled  with  so  much  light,  that  your  candle  there  seems 
to  me  to  be  dark.'  And  when  still  no  one  regarded  what  she  said,  or 
returned  any  answer,  she  added :  '  Let  the  candle  bum  as  long  as  you 
will,  but  take  notice  that  it  is  not  my  light,  for  my  light  will  come  to 
me  at  the  dawn  of  the  day.'  Then  she  began  to  tell  that  a  certain  man 
of  God,  who  had  died  that  same  year,  had  appeared  to  her,  telling  her 
that  at  the  break  of  day  she  should  depart  to  the  heavenly  light.  The 
truth  of  which  was  made  out  by  the  virgin's  dying  as  soon  as  the  day 
appeared." 

About  two  miles  from  Barking,  on  the  road  to  Dagenham,  is  East- 
bury  House,  built  about  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.:  it  is  a  very  fine 
specimen  of  the  Tudor  style  of  domestic  architecture ;  the  whole  is  of 
brick,  unmixed  with  stone,  and  the  chimney-stacks  and  pinnacles  at 
the  comers  of  the  gables  are  fine  examples  of  moulded  brickwork.  It 
is  supposed  to  have  been  built  by  Sir  W.  Denham,  to  whom  Edward  VI. 
granted  the  estate.  An  unfounded  tradition  formerly  prevailed  in  the 
neighbourhood,  that  the  discovery  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  was  owing 
to  a  mistake  in  delivering  a  letter  which  was  designed  for  Lord  Mont' 
eagle  to  an  inhabitant  of  Eastbury  House,  named  Montague. 


Ingatestone  Hall. — Hiding-places  of  Priests. 

This  curious  old  place,  with  a  strange  history,  is  twenty-four  miles 
from  London,  and  was  anciently  a  grange  or  summer  residence  belonging 
to  the  Abbey  of  Barking.  It  came  with  the  estate  into  possession  of  the 
noble  family  of  Petre,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI If.,  and  continued  to  be 
occupied  as  their  family  seat  from  that  period  until  the  middle  of  the 
last  century.  The  Hall,  originally  built  on  the  plan  of  a  double  square, 
had  outer  and  inner  courts,  with  a  stately  towered  entrance  to  the  main 
building.  This  gateway  and  the  entire  outer  court  have  been  destroyed, 
leaving  only  three  sides  of  the  inner  court :  yet  this  fragment  of  the 
original  mansion  aflx)rds  ample  residence  for  seveml  families.  It  is  in 
plan  the  form  of  the  lower  half  of  the  letter  H,  and  formed  a  portion 
of  the  principal  part  of  the  house  ;  the  family  and  domestics  occupying 
the  right  or  south  wing,  and  the  guests  and  visitors  the  left  or  north 


Ingatestone  Hall. — Hiding-places  of  Priests.        573 

wing;  the  great  hall  being  the  centre.  The  south  front  is  broken  up 
by  picturesque  gables,  and  the  north  presents  a  nearly  unbroken  front, 
and  opens  to  a  spacious  lawn  and  garden,  with  gravel-walks  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  in  length. 

Few  persons  may  be  aware  of  the  existence  of  "  secret  chambers  "  in 
any  of  the  old  mansions  of  this  country,  particularly  in  those  erected  or 
occupied  by  the  followers  of  the  old  faith,  which  were  intended  for  priests' 
hiding-places,  which  the  state  of  the  law  formerly  rendered  necessary. 
It  appears  that  late  in  the  sixteenth  and  early  in  the  seventeenth  centuries, 
the  celebration  of  mass  in  this  country  was  strictly  forbidden  ;  indeed, 
on  the  discovery  of  an  offender  the  penalty  was  death.  The  Rev.  E. 
Genings  was  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  on  the  loth  December,  1591, 
before  the  door  of  Mr.  Wells's  house,  in  Gray's  Inn  Fields,  for  having 
said  mass  in  a  chamber  of  the  said  house  on  the  previous  8th  of  Novem- 
ber. Hence  the  necessity  for  great  privacy.  It  was  illegal  to  use  the 
chapel;  the  priest,  therefore,  celebrated  mass  secretly  "in  a  chamber" 
opening  from  which  was  a  hiding-place  to  which  he  could  retreat,  and 
where,  in  a  trunk,  the  vestments,  altar-fumiturc,  missal,  crucifix,  and 
sacred  vessels  were  kept-  In  Challoner's  Memoirs  of  Missionary 
Priests,  it  is  said  that  "  Father  S.  J.  was  forced  to  be  concealed  all  day 
under  so  close  a  confinement  that  he  scarce  durst  for  months  together 
walk  out  so  much  as  into  the  garden  of  the  house  where  he  was  har- 
boured." 

The  "  secret  chamber  "  at  Ingatestone  Hall  was  entered  from  a  small 
room  in  the  middle  floor  over  one  of  the  projections  of  the  south  front. 
It  is  a  small  room  attached  to  what  was  probably  the  host's  bedroom ; 
or,  at  all  events,  to'this  day,  the  apartment,  hung  with  some  fine 
tapestry,  is  in  good  preservation.  In  the  south-east  comer  of  this  small 
room,  on  taking  up  a  carpet,  the  floor-boards  were  found  to  be  decayed, 
and  under  them  was  found  a  second  layer  of  boards,  about  a  foot  lower 
down.  When  these  boards  were  removed,  a  hole,  or  trap-door,  about 
two  feet  stjuare,  and  a  twelve-step  ladder  to  descend  into  a  room  be- 
neath, was  disclosed.  The  ladder  can  scarcely  be  original :  the  con- 
struction does  not  carry  one  back  more  than  a  century  ;  the  age  of  the 
chamber  itself  goes  back  to  the  reign  of  James  I.  By  comparistju  with 
ladders  of  the  sixteenth  and  even  the  seventeenth  centuries,  this  ladder 
is  slightly  made ;  the  sides  only  arc  of  oak,  notched  to  receive  the  steps, 
which  are  nailed.  The  steps  are  more  worn  than  the  use  of  the  chamber 
at  the  assumed  period  would  warrant.  The  existence  of  this  retreat 
must  have  been  familiar  to  the  heads  of  the  family  for  several  genera- 
tions :  indeed,  evidence  of  this  was  afforded  by  a  packing-case  directed 


574      Tngatestone  Hall. — Hiding-places  of  Priests. 

"  For  the  Right  Honble.  the  Lady  Petre,  at  Ingatestone  Hall,  in  Essex :" 
the  wood  was  very  much  decayed,  and  the  writing  was  in  a  fonnal  and 
antiquated  style.  The  Petre  family  left  Ingatestone  Hall  between  the 
years  1770  and  1780. 

The  "  hiding-place  "  measures  fourteen  feet  in  length,  two  feet  one 
Inch  in  width,  and  ten  feet  in  height.  Its  floor-level  is  the  natural 
ground  line :  the  floor  is  composed  of  nine  inches  of  remarkably  diy 
sand,  so  as  to  exclude  damp  or  moisture.  The  Hall  itself  is  of  the  age 
of  Henry  VII, ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  the  chamber  is 
coeval  therewith,  or  the  work  of  the  next  century.  The  style  of  the 
brickwork  of  the  party-wall  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  main  walls, 
with  this  difference,  that  the  bricks  in  the  latter,  with  few  exceptions, 
are  two  and  a  quarter  inches  in  thickness  ;  while  those  in  the  former 
agree  only  in  this  respect  to  the  height  of  four  feet,  above  which  the 
majority  of  them  are  two  and  a  half  inches  in  thickness.  The  top  of 
the  party- wall  gathered  over  in  six  courses,  receives  a  "double-floor" 
sixteen  inches  thick  over  the  "  hiding-place ;"  while  the  rest  of  the  room 
above  is  a  single  floor  measui-ing  only  seven  inches— a  circumstance 
affording  strong  evidence  that  the  "  secret  chamber  "  is  an  addition  to 
the  original  structure.  A  cursory  examination  of  the  sand  composing 
the  floor  brought  to  light  a  few  bones,  small  enough  to  be  those  of  a 
bird,  and  in  all  probability  the  remains  of  food  supplied  to  some  un- 
fortunate occupant  during  confinement. 

The  most  interesting  relic  is  the  chest,  in  which  no  doubt  were  de- 
posited the  vestments,  crucifix,  altar-furniture,  and  sacred  vessels.  Care 
was  taken  that  the  apartment  should  be  perfectly  dry ;  the  chest  was, 
moreover,  kept  off  the  floor  by  two  pieces  of  oak  for  bearers.  The 
wood  of  the  chest  appears  to  be  yew,  and  is  only  three  quarters  of  an 
inch  in  thickness,  very  carefully  put  together,  and  entirely  covered  with 
leather,  turned  over  the  edge  inside  and  glued  down.  The  chest  was 
further  lined  with  strong  linen,  securely  nailed,  and  the  outside  edges 
ironbound  ;  five  iron  bands  pass  round  the  skirt-way,  two  others  length- 
wise, and  two  girt  it  horizontally.  The  metal  is  thin,  hard  hammered, 
one  and  one  eighth  and  one  and  quarter  inches  in  breadth,  and,  as  it 
were,  woven  alternately  under  and  over,  and  thickly  nailed.  The  nails 
are  clenched  at  the  back,  and  each  of  the  cross-bands  is  made  into  a 
hinge,  so  that  the  lid  hangs  upon  five  hinges.  There  are  two  hasped 
locks,  each  riveted  on  by  three  long  staples,  made  ornamental  by 
chisel-cuts  on  the  face;  a  projecting  rib,  formed  like  the  letter  S, 
encircles  the  keyholes  ;  and  there  is  a  third  means  of  fastening  adapted 
for  a  padlock  in  the  centie.     At  the  ends  are  long  thin  handles  of  quaint 


Wanstcad  House.  575 

character,  like  the  rest.     Against  the  end  wail  is  firmly  stuck  a  small, 
rudely  modelled  clay  candle-holder. 

We  have  abridged  these  details  from  a  communication  to  Notes  and 
Queries,  No.  293,  by  Mr.  Henry  Tuck,  who  some  time  resided  at  the 
Hall,  and  took  especial  interest  in  its  history  and  contents.  At  Ingate- 
stone,  too,  is  The  Hyde,  late  the  seat  of  Mr.  John  Disney,  who  here 
assembled  a  most  interesting  collection  of  aHtiquities,  principally 
mediaeval,  known  as  the  Museum  Disneianum,  an  illustrated  account  of 
which,  in  folio,  has  been  published. 


Wanstead  House. 

The  ancient  manor  of  Wanstead,  granted  by  Edward  VI.  to  Robert, 
Lord  Rich,  was  sold  by  him  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  who,  in  1568, 
entertained  Queen  Elizabeth  at  the  manor-house  for  several  days ;  and 
also  solemnized  his  mannage  here  with  the  Countess  of  Essex.  The 
estate  reverting  to  the  Crown,  King  James  gave  it  to  Sir  Henry  Mild- 
may,  who,  having  been  one  of  the  judges  of  King  Charles  L,  the 
property  was  again  forfeited.  King  Charles  H.  gave  it  to  the  Duke  of 
York,  who  sold  it  to  Sir  Robert  Brooke.  Of  his  representatives  it  was 
purchased  by  Sir  Jcslah  Child,  whose  son  Richard,  Earl  of  Tylney,  built 
here  a  magnificent  mansion  about  1715,  from  designs  by  Colin 
Campbell.*  It  was  cased  with  Portland  stone,  was  260  feet  in  length, 
and  70  feet  in  depth,  and  was  one  of  the  noblest  houses  in  all  Europe. 
It  had  a  noble  portico  of  six  Corinthian  columns,  with  a  double  llight 
of  steps.  The  great  Hall  was  fifty-three  feet  by  forty-five,  the  ceiling 
painted  by  Kent  with  representations  of  Morning,  Noon,  Evening,  and 
Night.  In  this  Hall  were  antique  statues  of  .Agrippina  and  Domitian  ; 
and  four  statues  of  Poetry,  Painting,  .Music,  and  Architecture.  The 
principal  apartments  were  right  and  left  of  the  Hall ;  the  back  room, 
extending  the  whole  length  of  the  house,  was  hung  with  tapestry  of 
Telemachus  and  Calypso,  and  the  Battles  of  Alexander.  The  back 
front  contained  some  noble  apartments,  including  a  saloon  thirty  feet 
square,  in  which  were  antique  statues  of  Apollo  and  Bacchus,  and  a 


St: 


St' 


About  this  time  (1717)  the  "tall  Maypolf."  which  "once  o'erlooked  the 


Mr.  louiid  Uiciijii,  ii  wAi  placed  la  ihc  I'Avk,  (or  liio  cicctioit  ol  a  large 
telescope,  tlie  largest  then  in  the  world,  preseDted  by  a  French  gentlemaa  to 
the  Royal  Society. — Notes  and  Queria,  No.  9. 


576  Wanstead  House. 

statue  of  Flora  by  Wilton.  The  principal  apartments  were  hung 
with  pictures ;  and  a  breakfast-room  contained  fine  prints  pasted  on 
a  straw-coloured  paper,  with  engraved  borders. 

The  gardens  and  grounds  were  ornamented  with  fine  sculptures;  a 
circular  piece  of  water,  seemingly  ecjual  to  the  length  of  the  house  ;  the 
river  Roding,  formed  into  canals ;  walks  and  wildeniesscs,  and  a  curious 
grotto.     In  the  Park  were  abundance  of  deer,  and  some  fine  timber. 

\V'^anstead  House  was  for  several  years,  during  the  minority  of  Miss 
Long,  occupied  by  the  emigrants  of  the  Royal  House  of  Bourbon.  It 
was  afterwards  repaired,  and  became  the  residence  of  its  rich  heiress, 
Miss  Long,  who  in  1812  was  married  to  William  Tylney  Pole  Long 
AVellesley,  Esq.  Within  ten  years  the  magnificent  mansion  was  dis- 
mantled, and  the  sale  of  its  splendid  furniture  was  commenced  June  10, 
1822  ;  and  the  house  was  taken  down  and  the  materials  sold. 

Mrs.  Long  Wellesley  died  in  1825,  and  Mr.  Pole  Wellesley  (who 
succeeded  his  father  as  Earl  of  Mornington  in  1845)  married  secondly, 
in  1825,  the  third  daughter  of  Colonel  Thomas  Paterson.  The  death 
of  this  lady  in  the  year  1869  was  thus  commented  on  in  the  Athenaum 
journal : — 

"  The  Countess  of  Mornington,  widow  of  the  notorious  William 
Pole  Tylney  Long  Wellesley,  Earl  of  Mornington,  who  died  recently 
in  her  76th  year,  adds  an  incident  to  the  Romance  of  the  Peerage. 
After  the  ruin  into  which  the  reckless  Earl's  affairs  fell,  some  forty 
years  ago,  this  lady  was  for  a  brief  time  an  inmate  of  St.  George's 
Workhouse,  and  more  than  once  had  to  apply  at  police  courts  for  tem- 
porary relief.  Yet  she  might  have  called  monarchs  "  couibu."  She  was 
descended  from  the  grandest  and  greatest  of  all  the  Plantagenets.  Her 
mother  (wife  of  Col.  Paterson),  Ann  Porterfield  of  that  ilk,  came 
through  Boyd,  Cunningham,  Glencairn,  and  Hamilton,  from  Mary 
Stuart,  daughter  of  King  James  the  Second  of  Scotland,  and  seventh  in 
descent  from  Edward  the  First  of  England.  The  earldom  of  Morn- 
ington, extinct  in  the  elder  line  of  the  Wellesleys,  has  lapsed  to  the 
Duke  of  Wellington." 


577 


Havering  Bovver,  or  Havering-atte-Bower. 

Thrs  small  Essex  village,  three  miles  north  of  Romford,  is  famous  in 
royal  records  from  a  remote  period.  It  was  a  seat  of  some  of  our  Saxon 
kings,  and  a  favourite  one  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  who  took  great 
delight  in  the  place,  as  being  woody,  solitary,  and  fit  for  devotion. 
"It  so  abounded,"  says  the  old  legend,  " with  warbling  nightingales, 
that  they  disturbed  him  in  his  devotions.  He,  therefore,  earnestly 
prayed  for  their  absence ;  since  which  time  never  nightingale  was  heard 
to  sing  in  the  Park,  but  many  without  the  pales,  as  in  other  places." 
The  little  parish,  though  near  London,  has  abundance  of  parks  and 
woodlands,  and  is  as  quiet  and  peaceful  as  any  in  Old  England ;  and 
the  sweet  notes  of  the  nightingale  are  still  heard  at  Havering, 
chattering  their  Maker's  praise  amid  the  shady  groves  of  this  pretty 
village.  Some  portion  of  the  walls  of  the  Confessor's  palace  was 
standing  in  our  time.  The  Park,  containing  about  looo  acres,  is  now 
let  on  lease  by  the  Crown. 

Havering  was  named  the  Bower,  from  some  fine  bower  or  shady 
place,  like  Rosamond's  Bower  at  Woodstock.  It  is  a  charming  spot, 
having  an  extensive  prospect  over  a  great  part  of  Essex,  Herts,  Kent, 
Middlesex,  and  Surrey,  and  of  the  river  Thames. 

Besides  the  Confessor's  Palace,  there  was  another  called  Pergo, 
that  seems  to  have  been  always  the  jointure-house  of  a  Queen-consort. 
Here  died  Joan,  Queen  of  Henry  IV.  It  was  certainly  one  of  the 
royal  seats  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  for  during  her  progress 
into  Suffolk  in  1570,  she  sojourned  here  some  days.  The  Palace  was 
some  time  the  seat  of  Lord  Archer,  and  was  pulled  down  in  1770. 

In  the  parish  register  of  Havering,  is  an  entry  which  exhibits  a 
,  urious  fact,  showing  the  common  and  ordinary  use  of  the  word 
Suck.  In  November  1717,  was  voted  by  vestry,  that  "a  pint  of  Sack 
be  allowed  to  y«  Minister  y'  officiates  y  Lord's  Day  y''  Winter 
Season."  Yet,  in  the  last  century,  the  editors  of  Shakspearc  were 
full  of  conjecture  as  to  what  this  word  sack  applied. 


P  P 


5;8 


Tilbury  Fort. 

Of  this  noted  place,  in  the  parish  of  West  Tilbury,  an  ancient  town 
In  Essex,  opposite  Gravesend,  we  hear  more  than  of  the  Roman  origin 
of  the  locality.  Here  the  four  Roman  proconsular  ways  crossed  each 
other ;  and  in  the  year  620,  this  was  the  see  of  Bishop  Ceadda,  or  St. 
Chad,  who  converted  the  East  Saxons. 

Tilbury  is  a  regular  fortification,  constructed  for  the  purpose  of 
commanding  the  navigation  of  the  river  Thames,  and  it  has  been  termed 
"the  Key  of  London."  It  was  originally  formed  as  a  mere  block-house 
in  the  time  of  Henry  VHI.;  but,  after  the  Dutch  fleet,  under  De 
Ruyter,  had  advanced  into  the  Thames  and  Medway  in  1667,  Charles  II. 
converted  it  into  a  regular  fortification,  to  which  considerable  addi- 
tions have  since  been  made.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  deep  and  wide  fosse, 
which  may  be  filled  with  water  when  necessary;  and  its  ramparts  pre- 
sent formidable  batteries  of  heavy  cannon  towards  the  river.  Its  chief 
strength  on  the  land  side  consists  in  its  being  able  to  lay  the  whole 
tract  under  water.  On  the  side  next  the  river  is  a  strong  curtain,  with 
a  noble  Water-gate  in  the  middle.  The  Fort  has  been  dismantled,  and 
some  parts  are  to  be  rebuilt. 

But  the  historic  renown  of  Tilbury  culminates  in  the  chivalrous  visit 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  the  Fort,  in  the  year  if^88,  when  the  Spaniards  were 
expected  to  attack  England  with  their  "Invincible  Armada;"  and  a 
camp  was  formed  here,  where  a  body  of  more  than  18,000  men  under 
the  Earl  of  Leicester,  was  posted ;  and  a  bridge  of  l)oats  was  established, 
both  as  a  means  of  communication,  and  also,  if  necessary,  to  block  up 
the  river. 

At  the  camp,  which  was  on  the  spot  where  a  windmill  subsequently 
stood,  Queen  Elizabeth  addressed  the  army  commanded  by  her  favourite 
Leicester,  in  the  following  celebrated  speech : — "  We  have  been  per- 
suaded by  some,  that  are  careful  of  our  safety,  to  take  heed  how  we 
commit  ourselves  to  armed  multitudes,  for  fear  of  treachery;  but  I 
assui'e  you,  I  do  not  live  to  distrust  my  faithful  and  loving  people.  Let 
tyrants  fear  1  I  have  always  so  behaved  myself  that,  under  God,  I  have 
placed  my  choicest  strength  and  safeguard  in  the  loyal  hearts  and  good 
will  of  my  subjects.  And  therefore  I  am  come  amongst  you,  as  you  see 
at  this  time,  not  for  any  recreation  and  disport,  but  being  resolved  in 
the  midst  and  heat  of  battaile,  to  live  or  die  amongst  you  all ;  to  lay 
down,  for  my  God,  and  for  my  Kingdom,  and  for  my  people,  my 
honour  and  my  blood  even  in  the  dust.  I  know  I  have  the  bodie  but 
of  a  weak  and  feeble  woman,  but  I  have  the  heart  and  stomach  of  a 


Tilbury  Fort.  579 

King — and  of  a  King  of  England,  too !  and  think  foul  scorn  that  Parma 
or  Spain,  or  any  prince  of  Europe,  should  dare  to  invade  the  borders  of 
my  realm,  to  which,  rather  than  any  dishonour  shall  grow  by  me,  I  my- 
self will  take  up  arms;  I  myself  will  be  your  general,  judge,  and  re- 
corder of  everie  of  your  virtues  in  the  field.  I  know,  alreadie,  for  your 
torwardness,  you  have  deserved  crowns  ;  and  we  do  assure  you,  on  the 
word  of  a  prince,  they  shall  be  duly  paid  you.  In  the  meantime,  my 
Lieutenant-General  (Leicester)  shall  be  in  my  stead,  than  whom  prince 
never  commanded  more  noble  or  worthie  subject ;  not  doubting,  but, 
by  your  obedience  to  my  General,  by  your  concord  in  the  camp,  and 
your  valour  in  the  field,  we  shall  shortly  have  a  famous  victory  over 
those  enemies  of  my  God,  of  my  Kingdoms,  and  my  people."  The 
loyalty  of  the  Roman  Catholic  party  in  England  at  this  period  has  been 
much  doubted ;  but  it  has  been  observed  that  "as  to  any  general  impu- 
tation of  disloyalty,  the  English  Catholic  nobles  cleared  themselves 
from  such  a  charge  in  the  day  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  when  Catholics 
and  Protestants  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  ranks  at  Tilbury;  and  a 
Catholic  commanded  the  fleet  which  sent  Philip's  galleys  to  the  bottom." 

We  may  readily  understand  how  such  speeches,  at  such  a  time,  from 
such  a  commander,  must  have  excited  the  enthusiasm  of  the  armed 
listeners ;  how  e%ery  man  must  have  felt  himself  a  citizen  of  a  country 
that  would  surely  prove  to  be  what  its  opponents  denominated  their 
Armada — invincible.  Altogether,  the  men  of  England  under  arms  at 
the  time  amounted  to  130,000,  exclusive  of  the  levies  of  the  city  of 
London,  which  sent  forth  a  body  of  picked  men  10,000  strong,  an  army 
in  themselves  of  the  first  order  for  courage,  skill,  and  equipments,  and 
who  were  honoured,  as  they  deserved,  by  the  care  of  the  Queen's  own  per- 
son. The  English  naval  force  amounted  to  181  ships,  with  17,472  sailors. 

Philip  had  a  pompous  account  of  his  "  most  unhappy  Armada" 
printed  in  Latin  and  other  languages;  and  Cardinal  Allen  wrote  in 
1  ;  ■  •  h,  an  "  Admonition  to  the  Nobility  and  People  of  England  and 
1  ;t  ;  il,"  cxhoiliiig  them  to  rise  in  aid  of  the  Spaniards,  and  denouncing 
the  Qiioen  as  the  most  infamous  of  human  beings.  On  the  failure  of 
tlie  Expedition,  every  eflxjrt  was  made  to  suppress  this  pamphlet. 

"  It  was  a  pleasant  sight,"  says  old  Stow,  ••  to  behold  the  soldiers  as 
they  marched  towards  Tilbury,  their  cheerful  countenances,  courageous 
words  and  gestures,  dancing  and  leaping  wheresoever  they  came ;  and  in 
the  camp  tlieir  utmost  felicity  was  hope  of  fight  with  the  enemy ;  where 
ofttimes  divers  rumours  rose  of  tlieir  foes'  appro.ich,  and  that  present 
battles  would  be  given  them  ;  then  were  they  joyful  at  such  news,  as  if 
lusty  giants  were  to  run  a  race." 

P  P  2 


INDEX 


TO 


THE    FIRST    VOLUME. 


''  A  CAT  may  look  at  a  King,"  424 
"^*-  Abbot  of  Meaux  and  the  Cel- 
larer, 297 

Abingdon,  Mrs.,  and  the  Gunpowder 
Conspirators,  428,  429 

Accession  of  Queen  Victoria,  at  Ken- 
sington Palace,  152 

Addison  and  the  Earl  of  Warwick  at 
Holland  House,  161 

Aikin,  Miss,  her  Life  of  Jlddison, 
162 

Alchemy  at  Old  Somerset  House,  85 

Alnwick  Castle  and  the  House  of 
Percy,  201 

Alnwick  Castle  repaired  by  Algernon, 
Duke  of  Northumberland,  204 

Amy  Robsart,  Story  of,  461 

Anne,  Countess  of  Pembroke,  repairs 
Brougham  Castle,  227 

Apparition  above  Vallombrosa,  212 

Apparitions  at  Holland  House.  163 

Arabella,   Lady,  her  Fatal  Marriage, 

98 
\rchiepiscopal  Palace  at  Croydon,  153 
\rchbishops  of  Canterbury  at  Croy- 
don Palace,  154 

Arms  and  Armour  at  Carlton  House, 

Arms  and  Armour  in  the  Tower,  18 
Arthur,  King,  Remains  of,  296 
Arundel,     Archbishop,   at   Lambeth 

Palace,  60 
Ashby-de-la-Zouch  Castle,  360 
Aske,    Robert,  and   the  Pilgrims   of 

Grace,  276,  301 


Aske  and   other   Rebels    hung    and 

quartered,  in  1537,  301 
Asylum  for   Shipwrecked  Persons  at 

Bamborough  Castle,  189 
Audley  End,  568 
Austin  Friars  Priory  at  Ludlow,  417 


"DALLAD  on  Old  London  Bridge, 

38 
Bamborough  Castle,  Sieges  of,   187, 

188 
Bankes's  Horse,  at  Old  St.  Paul's,  6 
Barking  Abbey,  569 
Barnard  Castle,  24O 
Bartholomew  Fair,  Origin  of,  5 1 
Bartholomew    the   Great,    Priory   of, 

Baynard's  Castle  and  Bayswater,  55 
Baynard's  Castle  in  the  Great  Fire, 

54 
Baynard's  Castle,  Romance  of,  52 
Bastard  of  Falconbridge  beheaded,  256 
Bear-baiting  at  Kenilworth,  459 
Beauchamp  Tower,  Memories  of,  26, 

30 
Beauchief  Abbey,  319 
Becket,  Thomas  a,  at  Lambeth  Palace, 

62 
Beeston  Castle,  302 
Beeston  Castle,  Sieges  of,  303,  304 
Beggar's  Daughter  of  Bethnal  Green, 

Ballad  of,  5O 
Bell-tower,   Tower  of   London,   12, 

33.  24 


Index. 


5S1 


"  belted  Will,"  at  Naworth,  113 

Belvoir  Castle,  361 

Bel  voir  Castle,  Royal  Visits  to,  364, 

365 
Bermondscy  Abbey  and  its  Memo- 
ries, 41 
Bermondsey  Prior}-,  47 
Berwick  Castle,  173,  176,  177 
Berwick,  early  Histor)-  of,  173 
Berwick  and   its    Sieges,    173,    174, 

175 
Bird's    Framlingham     Castle,    510, 

Blacklow  Hill  and  the  fiEite  of  Gavc- 

ston,  442 
Black  Prince  returning  from  Poicticrs, 

63 
Bloody  Tower  of  London,  1 8,  20 
Boleyn,  Anne,  in  the  Tower,  30 
Bolingbroke  Castle,  385 
Bolton  Abbey,  267 
Bolton  Castle,  769 
Bolsovcr  Castle,  329 
Border  Fray  in  Cumberland,  2 10 
Buscobcl  and  Charles  II.,  424 
H((wcs,  Sir  George,  and  Martial  Law, 

241 
Bow  Bridge,  History  of,  570 
Bransil  Castle  Tradition.  435 
Braybrooke,  Bishop,  at  Old  St.  Paul's, 

6 
Braybrooke,  Lord,  Editor  of  Pcpys's 

Diary,  568 
Bromholm  Priory,  539 
Brougham    Castle    built    by    Roger, 

Lord  Clifford,  226 
Broupham  I'amily,  The,  228,  229 
Broupham  Hall,  230,  231 
Br<Hit;ham,  Lord,  Death  and  Burial  of 

at  Cannes,  229 
Brougham,  Lord,  his  Letter  to  Queen 

Victoria,  230 
Buckii)t;liam,  Dukc  of,  at   Baynard's 

CastU-,  ^,^ 
Buckingham  Family,  Vicissitudes  of, 

464 
Building  a  Monastery  at  Skell  Dale, 

263 
Building  of  Westminster  Abbey,  7 
Bull-running  at  Tutbury,  403 
Bull-running     and     Bear-baiting     at 

Stamford,  380 


Bunny  Park  and  Sir  Thomas  Parkyns, 

357 
Burgh,  Roman  Castle  of,  517 
Burghley    House   and    the    Lord    of 

Burghley,  477—479 
Burleigh-on-the-Hili,  391 
Burning  of  Norwich  Cathedral  Priorj-, 

5  30 
Byion,  Lord,  Burial-place  of,  348 
Byrons,  the,  at  Newstead,  340 
Byron,  the  poet  Lord,  340 


CAISTOR  Castle,  547 
Caldecote  Hall,  466 
Camalodunum  of  the  Romans,  548 — 

552 
Cambridge  Castle,  500 
Camden  describes  Nonsuch,  145 
Canning,  Elizabeth,  Stoiy  of,  167 
Canonbury  House  and  its  tenants,  91, 

95 

Canonbury  and  Lady  Elizabeth 
Compton,  90 

Canonbury  Tower,  95 

Canute  and  the  Monastery  at  West- 
minster, 8 

Carlisle  Castle,  208 

Carlton  House  de!>cribed  by  Walpolc, 

Cary,  Robert,  Earl  of  Monmouth,  his 

Account  of  Carlisle,  208 
Castle  Acre  Castle  and  Priory,  538 
Castle  Dairy  at  Kendal,  225 
Castleton,  High  Peak,  313 
Catcsby    Hall   and    the    Gunjwwder 

Plot,  493 
Cafesby    Hall,    temp.    Richard    IIL, 

495 
Caxton's  Works  at  Ham  House,  160 
Caiild  Lad  of  Hilton,  the,  245 
Cavern  of  the  Peak.  316 
Cawood  Castle,  287.  290 
Chair  of  Dunmow  Priory,  563 
Charlecote  House  and  the  Lucy^  453 
Charles  I.  at  Greenwich  Palace,  127 
Charles  L  at  Hampton  Court  Palace, 

141 
Charles  L  at  Richmond   Palace.  130, 

".17 
Charles    L,    Seizure   of,  at   Holmby 
House,  490 


582 


Index. 


Charles  II.  born  at  St.  James's  Palace, 

149 
Charles  II.  at  Worcester,  423 
Chester  Castle,  305,  307,  308 
Chartley  Castle,  406 
Chartiey  Cow,  Tradition  of,  407 
Chatsworth  House  and  Park,  320 
Chaucer  at  the  Savoy.  65 
Chester  city,  Antiquities  of,  310 
Chester,  early  History  of,  305 
Chester,  Legendary  Story  of  304 
Chester,  new  Town  Hall,  3 1 1 
Chester,  Phoenix  Tower  at,  308 
Chester,  Sovereigns  at,  306 
Chester  Walks  and  Rows,  308,  309 
Chester  Water-Tower,  3 1 1 
Chicheley,    Archbishop,  at   Lambeth 

Palace,  61 
Child,  Sir   Francis,   builds  Osterley, 

166 
Clare  Castle,  515 
Clare  Palace  and  the  Holies  Family, 

335 
Clarence,  Origin  of,  516 
Clifford,  Lord,  "the  Butcher,"  273 
Clifford,     Lady    Anne,    of     Skipton 

Cistle,  272 
Cliflord's  Tower,  York,  259 
Cobham,  Lord,  Raleigh's,  Death  of, 

157 

CtKkpit  at  Westminster,  170 

Coke  and  Lady  Hatton,  77 

Colchester  Castle  a  Temple  of  Clau- 
dius, 552 

Colchester  Castle,  547 

Colechurch,  Peter  of,  builds  London 
Bridge  of  Stone,  36 

Comb  Abbey,  449 

Comet,  in  1264,  293 

Compton,  Lady  Elizabeth,  92 

Comus,  Milton's  Masque  of,  its 
History,  414-416 

Conisborough  Castle,  280 

Constantine's  Cells,  near  Carlisle, 
2.3  r 

"  Cottager's  Daughter,"  The,  and  Mr. 
Cecil,  4S0 

Country  Biidal  at  Kenilworth,  459 

Coventry    Castle   and    Lady    Godiva, 

443 
Coventry  Play  described,  446 
Cowley  and  the  Savoy,  69 


Crewe,  Bishop,  his  Charity  at  Bam- 

borough  Castle,  189 
Cromwell  dies  at  Whitehall,  170 
"  Cross  of  Baldwin,"  540 
Crosses,  Queen  Eleanor's,  471 
Croydon  Palace,  153 
Croydon  Park,  155 
Croyland  Abbey,  386 
Croyland  Abbey  refounded,  379 
Croyland,  Triangular  Bridge  at,  390 


"T^ACRE  Family,  the,  219 
^^      Dale  Abbey,  Legend  of,  320 
Dance  (-f  Death  at  Old  St.  Paul's,  6 
Danbury  House  and  Eastbury  House, 

572 
D'Avenant,   Sir   William,    his  Jejj'c- 

reidos,  391 
Dean  Cole  and  the  Marian  Persecution, 

309 
"Defender  of  the  Faith,"  Origin  of, 

'56 

Despencer  at  Dudley  Castle,  432 
De  Veres  of  Hedingham  Castle,  56 
De  Vesci,  Castle  built  by,  203 
Deerstealing  Tradition  and  Shakspcare, 

452 
Denmark  House  in  the  Strand,  86 
Dials,  Curious,  at  Whitehall,  172 
Dicliiin  de  Kenilworth,  456 
Dieulacres  Abbey,  Legend  of,  408 
Dimock  and  the   Coronation   Cham- 
pion Custom,  398 
Dixon,  Mr.   Hepworth,   his  Visit  to 

Kimbolton  Castle,  496 
Doctor's  Bill,  Remarkable,  250 
Dole  at  Lambeth  Palace-gate,  62 
Dowsing,  the  Iconoclast,  517 
Dudley  Castle,  430 
Dudley,  John,  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land, in  the  Tower,  30 
Dudley  Priory,  434 
Dun  Cow,  the  Legend  of,  438 
Dunmow  Priory  expenses,  561 
Dunmow  Priory,  Little,  559 
Dui.stanborough  Castle,  199 
Dunwich  swallowed   up  by  the  Sea, 

505 
Durham   Cathedral,    Remains  of  St. 

Cuthbert,  232 
Durham  Sanctuary  Knocker,  235 


Index. 


583 


■pARTHENWARE     Vessels     dis- 

"^  covered  at  Fountains  Abbey,  266 

Earthquake  in  1349,  297 

Easter  Sepulchres,  372 

Edgar,  the  Eight  Kings  on    the  Dee, 

Edward  the  Confessor,  Funeral  of,  10 
Edward    the    Confessor's     Palace    at 

Havering,  577 
Edward  t  e  Confessor's  Palace,  West- 
minster, 8 
Edward  II.   and  III.,  at    Kenilworth, 

456 
Edward  III.  and  the  Black   Prince  at 

Kennington,  128 
Edward  III.  at  Wark  Castle,  177 
Edward  IV.  at  Eltham  Palace,  131 
Edward  IV.  at  Middleham  Castle,  255 
Edward  VI.  born  at  Hampton  Court, 

141 
Eleanor's,    Queen,    Cross    at  North- 
ampton, 470,  472 
Elizaljeth  Woodvillc  on  Old  London 

Bridge,  44,  45 
K!:' ilxth  of  York  at  Bcrmnndsey,  43 
I.  i/  ihctb.  Queen,  at  Burghley  House, 

4  79 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  at  Chartley  Castle, 

407 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  at  Croydon  Palace, 

«.';4 

Eli/i!)cth,  Queen,  at   Dudley   Castle, 

Kli/:il)Cth,  Queen,  at  Eltham   Palace, 

«3a 
F1i7'il)cth,Qucen,at  Enfield  Chacc,  167 
i  ith.  Queen,  at  Greenwich,  115 

cth.     Queen,     at     Kenilworth 

^   -tie,  457 
Eli/iU-th,  Queen,  dies  at  Richmond 

Palace,  135 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  visits  Saffron  Wal- 

den.  568 
F!i/;iUtii.  tliKcii,  in  Suffolk,  527 
Kli/  ildtli.  UiKMi,  ;it  Tilbury  Fort,  578 
I     ■  Sitli,  Uuccii,  at  Whitehall,  168 
i         111  Palace,  its  Remains,  132,  133 
I    ■  iiiin  Palace,  129 
Klton,  the  Tragedian,  Loss  of,  184 
Ely,   Isle   of,  its    Monastery  and  Ca- 
thedral. 502,  503 
Etificld  Palace,  166 


Epitaph,  Eccentric,  155 
Essex,  Earl  of,  executed,  74 
Essex  House,  Siege  of,  70 
Ethelbald  at  Croyland  Abbey,  386 
Eugene  Aram,  Story  of,  285 
Evesham  Abbey,  425 
Evesham,  Battle  of,  426 


"PAIR  Geraldine,  Story  of,  143 

Fame  Island  in  Bede's  time,  182 

Falstaff,  Sir  John,  547 

Fatal      Marriage    of     "The      Lady 
Arabella,"  98 

Fees,  Prisoners',  at  the  Tower,  21 

Feme  islands  and  St.  Cuthbert,  183 

Field  of  Forty  Footsteps,  the,  107 

Flitch   of  Bacon    Custom   at    Little 
Dunmow,  559,  561 

Forfarshire,  Wreck  of  the,  183 

Fotheringhay  Castle.  483 

Fountains  Abbey,  263 

Fox,  C.  J.,  at  Holland  House,  161 

Fox,  the  Quaker,  imprisoned  in  Scar- 
borough Castle,  255 

Framlingham  Castle,  510 

Freeman's  Well  Custom  at  Alnwick, 
207 

Funeral  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  138 

Funeral     of      Sir     Edn'ind      Berry 
Godfrey,  89 

Furncss  Abbcj',  398 


GALILEE  in  Durham  Cathedral, 

Gavcston,   Piers,  Beheading   of,  442, 

443.  444 
Gaveston,      Piers,     at     Scarborough 

Castle,  254 
George  I.    and    II.   at    St.    James's 

Palace,  151 
Gibson,  Mr.  Sidney,  hit  Account  of 

Nawoith,  Limercost,  and  the  Lords 

of  Gillesland,  213-233 
Gillesland,  the  Lords  of,  314 
Gloucester,    Duke   of,   at    Baynard's 

Castle,  53 
Gloster,     Duke    of,    at     Middleham 

Castle,  25s 
Godfrey,  Sir   Edmund  Berry,  Myste* 

rious  Death  of,  87 


584 


Index. 


Godiva,  Lady,  at  Coventry,  447,  448 
Gold    Cross     and    Chain    found    at 

Clare,  517 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  at  Canonbury,  96 
Gondomar  and  Lady  lluttun,  81 
Good  Woman  Sign,  Origin  of,  534 
Granville,    Dr.,  on    Eugene    Aram's 

Skull,  287 
"  Great    Stanley,"    the,    in    Chester 

Castle,  307 
Grace  Darling,  Memorials  of,  183 
Greenwich  Castle,  127 
Greenwich,  Early  History  of,  120 
Gresham,    Sir  Thomas,  at    Osterley 

Park,  165 
Guy,  Earl  of  Warwick,  439,  440 
Grey,  Lady  Jane,  in  the  Tower,  27 
Grey    Palmer,  a    Yorkshire   Legend, 

261 
Grotto  at  Oatlands,  147 
Guido  Fawkes  and  his  Lantern,  493 
Gundulf,  Bishop,  15 
Gunpowder   Conspirators    at    Comb 

Abbey,  449 
Gunpowder    Conspirators    seized    at 

Uendlip,  428 
Guy's    House    and    Caesar's    Tower, 

Warwick,  437 
Gwynn,  Nell,  and  Charles  IL,  1 70 


T_T  ADDON  Hall,  329 

■*■-'■       Hadleigh,    Dr.  Taylor   burnt 

at,  520-525 
Hall,  Double,  of  Raby  Castle,  239 
Hall  of  Hampton  Court  Palace,  143 
Ham  House,  Pictures  and  Curiosities 

at,  159,  160 
Ham  House,  Petersham,  built,  159 
Ham  House  and  the  Dysart  Family, 

'59 

Hampton  Court  Palace,  139 

Hardwicke  Hall,  328 

Harold,  an  Anchorite  at  Chester,  306 

/larrod's  Gleanings  among  the  Castles 
and  Convents  of  Norfolk,  534 

Hartshorne,  Rev.  Mr.,  his  Account  of 
Queen  Eleanor's  Cross  at  North- 
ampton, 477 

Hartshorne,  Rev.  Mr.,  his  History  of 
Colchester  Castle,  549 

Hatton,  Sir  Christopher,  Tomb  of,  5 


Hatton  House,  Coke  and  I-.ady 
Hatton,  80 

Hatton,  Lady,  Strange  History  of,  77 

Havering-atte-Bower,  577 

Heckington  Sepulchre,  371 

Hedingham  Castle,  566 

Hendhp  Hall,  428 

Henry  of  Oatlands,  148 

Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  at  Richmond, 
136 

Henry  IV.,  V.,  and  VL  at  El;ham 
Palace,  131 

Henry  VL,  Capture  of,  at  Wadding- 
ton,  292 

Henry  VIL  at  Richmond  Palace,  134 

Henry  VIIL  and  Anne  Boleyn  mar- 
ried at  Whitehall,  168 

Henry  VIH.  at  Eltham  Palace,  131 

Henrj  VIH.  born  at  Greenwich,  i2i 

Henry  VIIL  and  Queen  Jane  Seymour 
at  Thornton  Abbey,  374 

Hentzner's  Portrait  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, 125 

Hermitage  of  Warkworth,  197 

Hilton  Castle,  244 

Hilton  Family,  Tradition  of,  by  Sut- 
tees, 245 

Hobbes  and  Tallard  at  Chatsworth, 
326 

Hock  Tuesday,  447,  458 

Hodgson,  Rev.  S.  A.,  his  Memoir  of 
Raby  Castle,  236 — 240 

Holbein's  Gatehouse  at  Whitehall, 
168 

I  lolkham  Hall  and  its  Treasures,  546 

Holland,  Lord,  dies  at  Holland  House, 
161 

Holland  House  designed  by  Thorpe, 
168 

Holies  Family,  The,  335 

Holies,  Sir  William,  the  Good,  336 

Holmby  !  louse,  and  Seizure  of  Charles 
L,  489 

Holt  Family,  Tradition  of,  466 

Holy  Island  Castle,  179,  180 

Holy  Sepulchres,  370 

Holywell  Prior}',  Shoieditch,  83 

\  lood,  Thomas,  Lines  by,  1 84 

Horseshoe  Custom  at  Oakham  Castle, 

.^94 
Hotspur's  Chair  and  the  Bloody  Gap 
at  Alnwick,  202,  205 


Index. 


585 


"  House  of  Delight"  at    Greenwich, 

137 
tJoward,    Lord     William,     "  Belted 

Will,"  218,  221 
Howard,  Queen   Catherine,  at  Sion, 

•57 

iludibras   partly  written    at   Ludlow 

Castle,  416 
Hudson,  Jeffrey,  the  Dwarf,  391 
Humphrey,  Duke,  at  Greenwich,  121 
Hurstmonceaux  Sepulchre,  371 

TNGATESTONE    Hall  —  Hiding- 
■*"   places  of  Priests,  572 — 575 
In^uUus's  History  a  Fiction,  389 
Inscriptions  in  the  Tower,  28,  29 
Irongatcs,  or  the  Cheshire  Enclianter, 

Irthington  Castle,  217 

Isabella,  Queen    Dowager,    at   Castle 

Rising,  t^ii,  536 
Isabella.   Queen  of   Edward    II.   and 

Mortimer,  at  Nottingham  Castle, 

Islington,  Old,  90 


JAMES  \.  at  Brougham  Castle,  237 
Jcnkms,  Henry,  Great  Age  of,  a66 

John  of  Fltham,  130 
I  unt  at  the  Savoy,  63,  65 

,  dies  at  Swinesheid,  379 
Jim,    r>.;iig,   scizc*  Norwich   Castle, 

.'iJ9 
John,  King  of  France,  at  the  Savoy, 

64.  .U6 
John,  King  of  France,  in  the  Tower 

of  London,  377 
John,  King,  and  Matilda  Fiuwaltcr, 

560 
Jones,  Inigo,  at  Old  Somerset  I  louse, 

87 
Joyce,    Cornet,    and    Charles    I.,    at 
Holmby,  49'— 49.? 


TT  A  !■'■'• '  V  K,  Princess,  and  Old 

-*-^  Ige.  4J 

Ken:  ml  Quern  Catherine 

Parr,  224 
Kendal  Green  Cloth.  3)6 


Kenil worth  Castle,  455 
Kenilworth  Priory,  463 
Kennington  Palace  and  the  Princes  of 

Wales,  128 
Kennington  and   its  Roj-al    Owners, 

129 
Kennington  Palace,  151 
Kilburn  Priory,  Legend  of,  13 
Kimbolton  Castle,  Legend  of,  496 
King  Richard's  Well,  Bosworth  Field, 

257 
Kirk  Oswald  Castle  described,  221 
Kirkstall  Abbey,  270 
Kitchen  of  Raby  Castle,  239 
Knaresborough  Castle,  285 
Knares borough.    Dropping    Well   at, 

287 
Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of 

Jerusalem,  117 
Knights  Templars  in  London,  113 


T   AM  BETH   and  "the  Lady  Ara- 

bella,"  99 
Lambeth  Palace,  58 
Lancaster  Castle  and  John  of  Gaunt, 

300 
I^ncaster,  Thomas,  Execution  of,  200 
Lanercost  Prior)-,  215 
Lanfranc  and  Wulstan  at  Westmin- 
ster, 9 
Legend  of  Constantinc's  Cells,  331 
Lct^end  of  Kilburn  Priory,  13 
Leicester  Abbey,  and  Cardinal  Wolsey, 

368 
Leicester  Castle,  366 
Leicester's  Festival  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 

at  Kenilworth,  459 
Letter,   curious,    of    Lady   Elizabeth 

Compton,  92 
Library  at  Holkham  Hall,  547 
Lincoln  Castle,  383 
Lincoln,  Jew's  House  at,  384 
Lincoln,  King  John  at.  380 
Lincoln  Stone  Bow.  385 
Lindisfarne  Monastery,  179 
Living  at  Belvoir  Castle,  365 
Lo<lbrog,   the  Dane,  and    Lowestoft, 

."526 
Lollards,  the,  at  Lambeth  Palace,  58 
"London  Bridge  is  broken  down," 

35 


586 


Index. 


London    Bridge,   Old,    Legends   and 

Ballads  of,  33 
"Lord  of  Burghley,"  by  Tennyson, 

481 
Lord  William's  Tower  at  Naworth, 

222 

Lovell,  Lord,  and  Richard,  Duke  of 

Gloucester,  256 
Lovell,    Sir    Thomas,    at     Halliwell 

Priory,  83.  84 
Lowestoft,  Origin  of,  525 
Ludlow  Castle,  and  its  Memories,  414 
Ludlow,  Scenery  of,  417 
Lyndewoode,  Bishop,  and  St.  Stephen's 

Chapel,  235 
Lytton,  Lord,  his  Last  of  the  Barons, 

440 


TV/TACAULAY  describes  the  Death 

■^^■^    of  Charles  IL.  170 

Magnus   111.  of   Norway  and   sharp 

shot,  409 
Maiden's  Bower,  the,  243 
Malcolm's  Well  at  Alnwick,  202 
Manners  Family,  Belvoir  Castle,  364 
Mansfield,  Miller  of,  339 
Margaret,    Queen,   at   the   Battle   of 

Wakefield,  272 
Marniion,  by  Scott,  178 
Marmion  and  Scrivelsby  Manor,  397 
Marriage  of  Henry  VIIL  and  Anne  of 

Cleves,  124 
Mary,    Queen   of  Scots,   at    Carlisle 

Castle,  208 
Marj',   Queen  of  Scots,  at  Chartley, 

407 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  at  Chatsworth, 

324 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  at  Fotheringhay, 

483.  484 
Mary,   Queen  of  Scots,  at  Tutbury, 

401,  405 
Mary,    Queen  of  Scots,  at  Sheffield 

Ma  or,  277,  278 
Masqi:  ra  1j,  first  in  England,  124 
Matilda  i'itzwalter.  Story  of,  52,  559 
Maxstoke  Castle  and  the  Dilke  Family, 

464.  465 
Meaux  Abbey,  Chronicle  of,  295 
Medal  of  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey's 

Murder,  90 


"  Merry  Carlisle"  Castle,  208 

Middleham  Castle,  255 

Miller  of  Dee,  Ballad  of,  309 

Minories,  Origin  of,  155 

Miracles  at  Barking  Abbey,  related  by 

Bede,  571 
Miracle  of  St.  Cuthbert,  234 
Monk,  Gen.,  plans  the  Restoration  at 

St.  James's  Palace,  149 
Monk  of  Whitby,  Murder  of,  250 
Montague  Fields  and  the  Forty  Foot- 
steps, 106 
Montague,     Lord,     and     the      mad 

Duchess  of  Newcastle,  1 05 
Montfichet  Castle,  56 
Mornington,  Countess  of,  576 
Mortimer,  Execution  of,  334 
Mortimer  Family  and  WigmoreCas  le, 

419 
Mortimer's  Hole,  Nottingham  Castle, 

334 
Mount  in  Richmond  Park,  137 
Mystery  performed  at  Ely  House,  85 
Myth  of  Midridge,  247 
Multangular  Tower  in  York,  258 
Murder    of    the   Monk   of  Whitby, 

250—253 


INJASEBY  Battle-field,  487,  488 
■*■         Naworth  Castle  described,  217, 

220 
Naworth  Castle  and  Lanercost,  213 
Newark  Castle,  337,  339 
Neville's  Cross,  Battle  of,  242,  244. 
Neville   Family  and     Rugby   Castle, 

236 
Newark  Church  and  Beaumont  Cross, 

^33<J 
Newcastle,    Duke  of,  at  Nottingham 

Castle,  335 
Newcastle,  the  Castle  of,  197 
Newcastle    House    and    its   eccentric 

Duchess,  103,  104 
Newstead  Abbey  described,  243,  350 
Newstead    Abbey,    from    Dun   Juan, 
J45 
Newstead  Abbey,  Elegy  on,  341 
Newstead  Abbey  and  Lord  Byron,  339 
Nonsuch  Palace,  described  by  Evclvn 

and  Pepys,  144 — 147 
Norham  Castle,  and  its  Siege,  178 


Index. 


587 


Norman  Castle  of  Newcastle,  198 
Northampton  Castle,  467 
Northampton  and  its  History,  469 
Northampton  Family  and  Canonbury, 

94 
Nort        '"    "^  — 1,  of  Rylstone,  and  the 

R  ^'^p,  24 1 

Norw ,  528 

Norwich   Cathedral  Priory,    Burning 

of.  530 
Nottingham  Castle,  332 
Nottingham,    Lady,   and    the    Essex 

Ring,  76 
'Sun  of  Lindisfarne,  The,  1S5 


OAKHAM  Castle,  391 
Oath,  Flitch  of  Bacon,  at  Dun> 
mow,  f,(^\.  565 
o  •'      '     ''        ,  146 
15 

' ;  of,  in  the  Tower,  30 

Osteriey  Fatk  and   Sir  Thomas  Gra- 
ham, 165 
Ottoboni,   the  Pope's  Lc^te,  at  Ox- 
ford, 296 
Our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  Priory  of. 

Overs,   John,  the  Ferryman,  and  his 
Daughter,  32,  a 


pAINTED  Chamber  at  Wcstmin- 

■*■       stcr,  9 

Parkyns,  Sir  Thomas,  the  Wrestler, 

357 
Parr  Family,  the,  224 
I'arr,    I-tIv  Catherine,    how   she   es- 

C'i  virnt  for  Heresy,  334 

Pa-  '"•,  544 

Part..i..  .-., ii,  547 

Paul's  Cfo>s,  4 

Paul's  Walk,  5 

Peak  Cast  If,  313 

Peel,  Sir  Hotvrt,  Sotuc  of,  at  Tam- 

V. 

Pcf;,  of  the,  184 

Pcn.iWv   - ....  ...vl  I^iidon  Bridge,  37 

Pcndcrclls,  and  the  Escape  of  Charles 

II.,  424.  425 
Pepys  and  the  Duchess  of  Newcastle, 

103 


Pepys   seeking   for  Treasure   in    the 

Tower,  31 
Percy  Family  and  Fountains  Abbey, 

204 
Percies,  The,  at  Alnwick,  203 
Peverells,  The,  of  the  Peak,  314 
Pillar  on  Naseby  Battle-field,  4S9 
Placentia  Palace  at  Greenwich,  1 2 1 
Plantagenet,  Richard,  born,  255 
Poisoned  Bracelet  and  Matilda  Fitz- 

Walter,  560 
Pontefract  Castle,  274 
Pietendcr,  the    Old,    at    St.   James's 

Palace,  149 
Priests'  Hiding-places,  572 — 575 
Primrose  Hill  and  Godfrey's  Murder, 

88,89 
Princes  in  the  Tower  of  London,  Mur- 
der of,  19 
Priory  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  118, 

119 
Prisoners  in  the  Tower  of  London,  23, 

23 


QUEEN  MARY  dies  at  St.  James's 
Palace,  149 


"D  ABY  Castle,  History  of,  236 
■*^     Rahere  founds  the  Priory  of  St. 

Bartholomew,  47 
Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  in   the  Tower, 

24.  25 
Ramsey  Abbey  and  its  learned  Monks, 

429 
Ravenser-Odd  swallowed  up   by  the 

Sea,  297 
Regency  of  George  FV.   at  Carlton 

House,  153 
Restoration  Oak*  ■"  •!..!.•  p.ri.    424 
Revelatinntnlhi    '  127 

Revolution  Mem  --5 

Richard  U.  improves  Barnatd  Castle, 

34  > 

Richard  II.  at  Fl  '         "^  '    c,  130 
Richard  II.  at  N  istle,  335 

Richard  II.  at  I'..; i^aitlc,  374 

Richmond  Castle,  271 
Richmond  Palace  built,  134,  135 
Ring   sent   by   Queen   Elizabeth    to 
Esscx,  71 


588 


Index. 


Rising  Castle,  534 

Robin  Hood's  Grave,  .^56 

Robin  Hood,  Story  of,  350 

Robin  Hood,  who  was  he?  357 

Rokeby  and  its  Lords,  249 

Roman  Bricks  in  Colchester  Castle, 

55° 
Roman  Castle  of  Burgh,  519 
Romille,  the  Boy  of  Egremont,  267 
Ros,  Lord,  and  Bel  voir  Castle,  362, 

363 
Round  Church,  Northampton,  470 
Round  Table,  Origin  of,  420 
Royal  Tombs  at  Westminster  Abbey, 

II 
Rush-bearing  in  Cheshire,  304 


C  AFFRON  Walden  Castle,  567 
*~-'     Saffron,  Culture  of,  at  Saffron 

Walden,  568 
St.  Albans  Abbey  Church,  191 
St.  Cuthbert  at  Lindisfarne,  181 
St.  Cuthbert,  Relics  of,  232 — 234 
St.    Edmund    King    and    Martyr,    a 

Suffolk  Legend,  506 
St.  Edmund's  Monastery,  Sacking  of, 

S07 
St.  James's  Palace  founded,  148 
St.  John's  Gate,  Clerkenwell,  119 
St.  Liz,  Earl  of  Northampton,  467 
St.  Oswin,  Lejcend  of,  190,  192 
St.  Osyth    Priory,    Ruins    of,    553, 

SS8 
St.    Paul's   Cathedral,  Old,    London, 

founded,  r 
St.  Paul's,  Old,  John  of  Gaunt  at,  2 
St.  Paul's,  Old,  Miracles  at,  4 
St.  Paul's,  Old,  Richard  IL  at,  2 
St.  Paul's,  Oil,  Tombs  in,  5 
St.    Paul,    the   Patron  Saint  of  Lon- 
don, 3 
St.  Peter's  Chapel,  in  the  Tower,  18 
Sandal  Castle,  272 
Savoy  Chapel  Marriages,  69 
Savoy  Gate  in  the  Strand,  70 
Savoy  Palace,  Pillage  of  the,  65 — 67 
Savoy,  Stories  of  the,  63 
Scaleby  Castle,  210 
Scarborough  Castle,  253 
Scots,  the,  besiege  Berwick,  173,  174, 

»7S 


Scott's    description     of     Kenilworth 

Castle,  462 
Shakspeare,  Birthplace  of,  450 
Shakspeare's  Birth,  Tercentenary  of, 

453 
Shakspearian  Relics  at  Stratford,  453, 

454 
Sheffield  Castle,  Siege  of,  278 
Sheffield  Manor  and  Castle,  276 
Sheffield  Park,  a  Poem,  279 
Shene,  or  Richmond  Palace,  133 
Sherwood  Forest  and  Robin  Hood,35i 
Shipton,  Mother,  Legend  of,  and  her 

Prophecies,  290 
Shops    and    Signs   on   Old    London 

Bridge,  40 
Shrewsbury,  Battle  of,  410 
Shrewsbury  Cakes,  411 
Shrewsbury  Castle,  409 
Shrewsbury  Show,  41 1 
Sidney,  Sir  Henry,  Letter  to  his  son 

Sir  Philip  Sidney,  413 
Siege  of  Essex  House,  70 
Simnel  Cakes,  History  of,  411 
Simon    de    Montfort  at  Kenilworth, 

455 
Sion  House,  Northumberland  family 

at,  158 
Sion  Nunnery,  157 
Skipton  Castle,  282,  284 
Somerset,  Duke  of,  builds  Sion  House, 

157 
Somerset  House,  Old,  Stories  of,  86 
Somerset,  Protector,  Execution  of,  158 
Somerton   Castle  and   King  John  ot 

France,  375 
"  Sorores  Minores,"  Abbey  of,  156 
Spectre  Horsemen  of  Southerfell,  21  r 
Spencer,  Rich,  at  Canonbury  House, 

9' 

Spenser  at  Essex  House,  70 

Stafford  and  its  Castles,  395 

Stamford  Castle  and  Bull-running,  380 

Statutes  of  Eltham,  130 

Stoke  Pogeis  and  Lady  Hatton,  82 

Stories  of  the  Savoy,  63 

Stories  of  Old  Somerset  House,  85 

Stories  of  Temple  Bar,  107 

Strand  Maypole,  The,  575 

Stratford-on-Avon,  460 

Streatham  Castle,  244 

Stuart  Family,  Portraits  of,  450 


Index. 


589 


Stuart  Familv,  Portraits  of,  at  Sion,   [ 

>S9 

Swincshead  Abbey  and    King  John, 

378 
"  Sword  of  Chester,"  the,  306 


•y  AM  WORTH  Tower  and  Town, 

"^      396. 397 
Taylor,  Dr.  Rowland,  Martyrdom  of, 

520—525 
Templars  in  England,  History  of,  1 16, 

"7 

Templars  in  France,  296 
Temple  Bar  rebuilt  by  Wren,  108 
Temple  Bar,  Ceremony  at,  ill 
Temple  Bar,  Stories  of,  107 
Temple  Bruer  and  Torksey,  378 
Temple  and  Budgell  at  Old  London 

Bridge,  41 
Temple  Church  in  London,  113 
Thetford  Priory,  533 
Thorney  Island,  V\estminster,  7 
Thornton  Abbey,  373 
Tilbury  Fort,  578,  579 
Torture  in  the  Tower  of  London,  29 
Tournament    at    Richmond    Palace, 

•34 
Tower,   Keep    or    White   Tower    of 

London,  15 
Tower,    Palace  and    Prison,  and   its 

Memories,  15 
Traitors'  Gate,  Tower  of  London,  20 
Traitors'  Heac's  on  Old  London  Bridge, 

40 
Traitors'  Heads  on  Temple  Bar,  108 
— Ill 

Treasures  at  Walsingham,  545 
Tutbury  Castle  and  its  Tenures,  399 
Tutbury,  St.  Mary's  Church  of,  40J 
Twamle)''s  UisUiry  of  Dudley  Castle 

and  Priory,  431 
Tynemouth  Castle,  Siege  of,  193 
Tynemouth  Priory  and  Castle,  190 


■yERSES   and    Prayer     by    Mary, 
*       Queen  of  Scots,  486 
Veteriponts  at  Brougham  Castle,  128, 

229 
Victoria,  Queen,  at  Burghlejr  House, 

479 


Victoria,  Queen,  born  at  Kensington 

Palace,  151 
"Virgin's  Milk,"  at  Walsingham,  544 


WADDINGTON,  Old  Hall  at,  292 
»*^       Wakefield,  Battle  of,  272 
Wakefield  Sepulchre,  371 
Wakefield  Tower  of  London,  19 
Walsingham,  Pilgrimages  to,  543 
Walworth,   Sir   William,    Keeper    of 

Croydon  Park,  154 
Wanstead  House,  575 
Wark  Castle,  177 
Warkworth  Castle,  194 
H'arkworth,  the  Hermit  of,  195 
Warren,  Earl,  at  Stamford  Castle,  381 
Warwick  Castle  and  Guy's  Cliff,  436, 

440 
Waiwick,  the  King-maker,  437,  440 
Warwick  V<ise,  The,  437 
Wat  Tyler's  Mob  plunders  the  Tem- 
ple, 115 
Watch  and  Harp  of  Mary,  Queen  of 

Scots,  487 
Watncy,  Mr.,  his  Account  of  St.Osyth's 

Priory,  553—558 
Wax  Effigy  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  138 
Wellesley  Pole,  Mr.,   and   Wanstead 

House,  578 
Wcnsleydale,  the  Lords  of,  194 
Westminster  Abbey  built,  7 
Westminster   Abbey  Church  rebuilt, 

II 
Whalley  Abbey,  301 
"  Whig  Party"  at  Holland  House,  163 
Whitby,  Nuns  of,  in  Marmion,  193 
H'hite   Doe  of  Rylstone,   by   Words- 
worth, Origin  of,  268 
Whitehall  attacked  by  Wyat's  Rebels, 

168 
Whitehall   Banqueting   Houses,    168, 

169 
Whitehall,  Charles  I.  executed  at,  169 
Whitehall,  Charles  M.  dies  at,  170 
Whitehall,  Cromwell  at,  169 
Whitehall,  Fires  and  Floo<ls  at,  171 
Whitehall,  James  II.  at,  171 
Whitehall,  Palace  of,  168 
White  Lady,  the,  at  Hucknall,  348 
White  Ladies  at  Worcester,  423 
White  Tower,  the,  17 


590 


Index. 


Wigmore  Castle,  and  its  Lords,  419 
■Wildman,  Colonel,  at  Newstead,  341, 

344 
William   III.  and    Queen    Anne    at 

Hampton  Court,  142 
William  111.  and   Queen  Caroline  at 

Kensington  Palace,  151 
William  HI.  at  St.  James's  Palace,  149 
Winchester,    Marquis  of,   at    Bolton 

Castle,  370 
Wmgfield  Castle,  513 
Wingfield  in  the  Civil  Wars,  318 
Wingtield  Manor  House,  317 
"  Wishing   Wells "   at   Walsingham, 

544 
Witches  of  Warboys,  the,  499 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  Arrest  of,  289 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  at  Cawood  Castle, 

288 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  Death  of,  290,  369 
Wolsey,    Cardinal,   founds   Hampton 

Court  Palace,  1 39 


Wolsey,  Cardinal,  at  Leicester  Abbe 

368 
WoLsev,  Cardinal,  at  Newark  Cast 

3.^8' 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  at  Sheffield  Man* 

276 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  at  Whitehall,  168 
Wonders  of  Old  St.  Paul's,  1—7 
Woodcroft  House  in  the  Civil  Wui 

468 
Worcester  Castle  and  its  Sieges,  422 
Wrestler,  Sir  Thomas   Parkyns,  ^5:;- 

358 
Wyat,    Sir  Thomas,  in  the  Tow. 

31 


"VTORK  Castle,  258 
•^      York,  Duchess  of,  at  Oatlan 

>47 

York,  Richard  Duke  of,  at  the  Bate 
of  Wakefield,  272,  273. 


END  OF   VOL.  I. 


DA 

660 

T55 

V.1 


Timbs,  John 

Abbeys,  castles  and 
ancient  halls  of  England 


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