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diff --git a/old/67547-0.txt b/old/67547-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e9bbc51..0000000 --- a/old/67547-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12121 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memorials of Old Devonshire, by F. J. -Snell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Memorials of Old Devonshire - -Editor: F. J. Snell - -Release Date: March 9, 2022 [eBook #67547] - -Language: English - -Produced by: KD Weeks, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMORIALS OF OLD -DEVONSHIRE *** - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note: - -This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. -Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Superscripted -characters are indicated with a carat ‘^’ and if multiple characters are -so printed, they are delimited by ‘{ }’. - -Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are -referenced. - -Placeholders for full page illustrations have been moved to the nearest -paragraph break. - -Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding -the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. - - - - - - - - - MEMORIALS - - OF - - OLD DEVONSHIRE - -[Illustration - - _From a Drawing by J. M. W. Turner._] [_Engraved by T. Jeavons._ - EXETER. - -] - - - - - MEMORIALS - OF - OLD DEVONSHIRE - - - - - EDITED BY - F. J. SNELL, M.A. (OXON) - - AUTHOR OF - “_A Book of Exmoor_” - “_Early Associations of Archbishop Temple_” - _&c._ - - -- - - - - - - - - - WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS - - - - -[Illustration - - - - - LONDON - BEMROSE AND SONS, LIMITED, 4, SNOW HILL, E.C. - AND DERBY - 1904 - - -- - - [_All Rights Reserved_] - - - - - TO THE - RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT EBRINGTON, - LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY OF DEVON, - AND REPRESENTING ONE OF ITS OLDEST - AND MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FAMILIES, - THESE “MEMORIALS” ARE, - BY PERMISSION, - DEDICATED. - -[Illustration - - - - - PREFACE - - -The object of the present volume is to present what may be termed a -history of Devon in episode. A comprehensive and, at the same time, -detailed record of the county, dealing more or less fully with the -principal events of every town’s life, would require many volumes as -large as or larger than ours, and yet might fail to impress the reader -with the salient features of county life as a whole. In selecting the -subjects for the various articles comprised in this work, the Editor’s -aim has been to single out such as may be expected, for different -reasons, to appeal to all Devonians, and, perhaps, to some unconnected -with the beautiful shire. The majority of the articles have been written -expressly for the present work, but three have been reproduced, in -shortened form, from the _Transactions of the Devonshire Association_, -in which they were published many years ago, and so were in danger of -being forgotten. The Editor deems he has no need to apologize for thus -enriching the volume with the labours of departed Devonians, whom their -compatriots recall with deep reverence, and whom, were they living, the -Editor would hail as valued collaborators. Of the other articles, two -have already seen print in pamphlet form, in which, after many years, -they had naturally become exceedingly scarce. All the other -contributions are new, and most of the papers, both old and new, have -been embellished with illustrations, some of them curious and rare. - -The Editor takes this opportunity of rectifying two omissions in his -preliminary sketch. Owing to some accident, he failed to refer to the -defence of Dartmouth against the attack of Du Chastel in 1404. This -event was memorable on account of the active part taken by the women, -who, Amazon-like, hurled flints and pebbles on the French, and thus -expedited their retirement. The other omission concerns the abortive -Cavalier rising of 1655. Penruddock and Groves, the leaders in the -affair (for which they suffered death at Exeter), were both Wiltshire -men, but it is certainly interesting that an attempt which might have -antedated the Restoration by five years was initiated by the -proclamation of Charles II. at South Molton—a town of the county of -which George Monk, to whom the Merry Monarch owed his crown, was a -native. - -It only remains for the Editor to thank his many able contributors for -their generous assistance, and to express the hope that the plan and -execution of the work will prove satisfactory to those who desire a -fuller acquaintance with the families, persons, and places therein -mentioned. - - F. J. SNELL. - -_Tiverton, October 1st, 1904._ - - - - - CONTENTS - - PAGE - - Historic Devonshire By the EDITOR 1 - - The Myth of Brutus the Trojan By the late R. N. WORTH 20 - - The Royal Courtenays By H. M. IMBERT-TERRY, 34 - F.R.L.S. - - Old Inns and Taverns of Exeter By the late R. DYMOND, F.S.A. 63 - - The Affair of the Crediton By the Rev. Chancellor 77 - Barns—A.D. 1549 EDMONDS, B.D. - - Gallant Plymouth Hoe By W. H. K. WRIGHT 88 - - The Grenvilles: a Race of By the Rev. Prebendary 99 - Fighters GRANVILLE, M.A. - - The Author of _Britannia’s By the Rev. D. P. ALFORD, M.A. 116 - Pastorals_ and Tavistock - - The Blowing-up of Great By GEORGE M. DOE 132 - Torrington Church - - Herrick and Dean Prior By F. H. COLSON, M.A. 141 - - The Landing of the Prince of By the late T. W. WINDEATT 155 - Orange at Brixham, 1688 - - Reynolds’ Birthplace By JAS. HINE, F.R.I.B.A. 176 - - French Prisoners on Dartmoor By J. D. PRICKMAN 201 - - Ottery St. Mary and its By the Right Hon. LORD # 210# - Memories COLERIDGE, M.A., K.C. - - “Peter Pindar”: the Thersites By the Rev. W. T. ADEY 218 - of Kingsbridge - - Honiton Lace By Miss ALICE DRYDEN 238 - - The “Bloody Eleventh”; with By Lt.-Col. P. F. S. AMERY 250 - Notes on County Defence - - Jack Rattenbury, the Rob Roy By MAXWELL ADAMS 264 - of the West - - Barnstaple Fair By THOMAS WAINWRIGHT 276 - - Tiverton as a Pocket Borough By the EDITOR 284 - - Index 297 - -[Illustration - - - - - INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS - - Exeter _Frontispiece_ - - (_From a Drawing by J. M. W. Turner. Engraved by T. Jeavons_) - - _Facing Page_ - - Rougemont Castle, Exeter (_From a Photograph by Frith & Co._) 8 - - Okehampton Castle, 1734 (_From an Engraving by S. and N. 34 - Buck_) - - Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire 54 - - (_From the original portrait by Sir Antonio_ - - _More, at Woburn. Engraved by T. Chambars_) - - Doorway of King John’s Tavern, Exeter 62 - - (_From a Drawing by F. Wilkinson. Engraved by J. Mills, 1836_) - - High Street, Exeter (_From a Photograph by Frith & Co._) 76 - - Plymouth Hoe 88 - - (_From a Drawing by J. M. W. Turner. Engraved by W. J. Cooke_) - - Sir Bevill Grenville (_From an Oil Painting_) 104 - - West View of Tavistock Abbey, 1734 116 - - (_From an Engraving by S. and N. Buck_) - - Great Torrington Church (Old and New) 132 - - The Landing of William III. at Torbay 154 - - (_From a Painting by T. Stothard, R.A. Engraved by George Noble_) - - The Cloisters, Plympton Grammar School 176 - - (_From an Engraving by J. E. Wood_) - - Norman Doorway, Plympton Priory 176 - - (_From an Engraving by J. E. Wood_) - - The “War Prison” on Dartmoor, 1807 200 - - (_From a Drawing by S. Prout, Jun. Engraved by Neele_) - - Samuel Taylor Coleridge (_From the Portrait by Peter Vandyck_) 214 - - Dr. Wolcot (“Peter Pindar”) 218 - - (_From a Painting by Opie. Engraved by C. H. Hodges_) - - Honiton Lace (_From a Photograph by Miss Alice 238 - Dryden_) - - “Jack” Rattenbury (_From a Lithograph by W. Bevan_) 264 - - Queen Anne’s Walk and the Quay, Barnstaple 276 - - (_From a Lithograph by J. Powell_) - - St. Peter’s Church, (_From a Lithograph by W. Spreat, 284 - Tiverton Jun._) - - - - - HISTORIC DEVONSHIRE. - - BY THE EDITOR. - - -No county of England is richer in historic associations and romantic -memories than Devonshire, whose sons have proved themselves on many a -stubborn day as brave as its daughters are proverbially fair. We may go -further, and say that no English shire is richer, and only a few as -rich, in those pre-historic remains which will always exercise a weird -fascination over cultivated minds that would hold it sin to be incurious -as to the beginnings, or, rather, the age-long development, of man upon -the earth. The great mausoleum of these remains is Dartmoor, with its -menhirs, its logans, its cromlechs (or dolmens), its circles and -avenues, and its famous clapper-bridge; but all over the county are -specimens of the typical round barrow, encrusted with hoar legends, and -possessing, in addition, their strict scientific interest. The legends -attach themselves to the individual barrows; the scientific problem is -concerned with the almost unvarying form and type. Briefly, it may be -stated that the Devonshire round barrow is a late variety of the cairn; -the long barrow, which is numerously represented in the neighbouring -county of Dorset, being older and corresponding to the long-headed race -which preceded the round-headed Kelts in the occupation of Britain. The -difference is between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, to which the -round barrows belong and bear witness. To the Stone Age are assigned the -chambered round barrows, the so-called giants’ graves, and the stone -kists of Lundy Island. - -Roughly contemporary with the typical round barrows are those mysterious -remains in the great central waste, to which allusion has already been -made. Just as false systems of astrology were elaborated before the dawn -of clear scientific knowledge, so during the eighteenth century a -complete hagiology was constructed respecting these remains, which has -become untenable in view of more rigorous historical, philological, and -anthropological investigation. In other words, the accepted -interpretation of these moorland wonders connected them more or less -definitely with Druidism. The prism of imagination presented those -hierarchs in crimson hues. If their functions included inhuman -sacrifices, they themselves were far from being deficient in dignity. -What says Southey in _Caradoc_? - - Within the stones of federation there - On the green turf, and under the blue sky, - A noble band—the bards of Britain—stood, - Their heads in rev’rence bow’d, and bare of foot, - A deathless brotherhood. - -But whether as priests or mere medicine men, the existence of Druids in -Devon has yet to be proved. Drewsteignton derives its initial syllable, -not from them, but from Drogo; Wistman’s Wood comes, not from _wissen_, -but is more probably _uisg-maen-coed_ disguised in modern garb. And, as -for those basins on the summits of the Dartmoor tors, they are purely -natural. So the whole delightful edifice which Polwhele was at such -pains to build up, and which Mrs. Bray described to the sympathetic -Southey, topples down, or, rather, vanishes into thin air, leaving not a -wrack behind. - -While the Druids, both locally and generally, belong rather to the -region of myth than of solid history, the Romans are an indisputable -fact in both senses. Still, their advent in the West Country is not free -from obscurity. One thing seems fairly certain, namely, that they did -not establish themselves in Devonshire by their usual method of -conquest. Exeter, however, was a thoroughly Roman city, and traces of -the Imperial race are to be found in local names, such as Chester Moor, -near North Lew, and in the ruins of Roman villas, as at Seaton and -Hartland. The siege of Exeter by Vespasian is one of those fictitious -events which, by dint of constant reiteration, work themselves into the -brain as substantial verities. The place that Vespasian attacked was not -Exeter, but Pensaulcoit (Penselwood), on the borders of Somerset and -Wilts. Probably the Romans were content with a protectorate, under which -the Britons were suffered to retain their nationality and their native -princes. - -The Saxons, though known as “wolves,” certainly appeared as sheep or in -sheep’s clothing in their earliest attempts to settle in the county. -They lived side by side with the Britons, notably at Exeter, where the -dedications of the ancient parishes testify to the juxtaposition of -British and Saxon. Here, also, it was that the West Saxon apostle of -Germany, St. Boniface, was educated in a West Saxon school. But this -state of things was not to last. In 710, Ine, the King of the West -Saxons, vanquished Geraint, prince of Devon, in a pitched battle; and -although there is no reason to think that he extended his borders much -to the west of Taunton, the work of subjugation thus begun was continued -by Ine’s successors, primarily by Cynewulf (755–784); and since, in 823, -the men of Devon were marshalled against their kinsmen, the Cornish, at -Gafulford, on the Tamar, the Saxon conquest must by that time have been -complete. Still the victors were not satisfied. In 926, as we learn from -William of Malmesbury, Athelstan drove the Britons out of Exeter, and, -constituting the Tamar the limit of his jurisdiction, converted Devon -into a purely Saxon province. The immense preponderance of Saxon names -in all parts of the county proves how thoroughly this expropriation of -the Kelts was carried into effect. The theory held by Sir Francis -Palgrave, amongst others, that the conquest of Devon was accomplished by -halves, the Exe being for some time the boundary, rests upon no adequate -grounds, neither evidence nor probability supporting it. In due course, -the whole county was mapped out into tithings and hundreds, in -accordance with the Saxon methods of administration, and the executive -official was the portreeve. - -Parallel with the record of Saxon conquest runs the story of Danish -endeavours, stubborn, long-protracted, but, on the whole, less -successful, to secure a footing and affirm the superiority. In the first -half of the ninth century, the Vikings, in alliance with the Cornish, -were routed by Egbert in a decisive engagement at Hingston Down, when, -according to a Tavistock rhyme— - - The blood that flowed down West Street - Would heave a stone a pound weight. - -During the latter half of the same century, the Danes were again active, -and in 877 made Exeter their headquarters. Seventeen years later they -besieged the city, which was relieved by Alfred the Great, who confided -the direction of church affairs in the city and county to the learned -Asser, author of the _Saxon Chronicle_. In 1001, the Danes, having -landed at Exmouth, made an attempt on Exeter, when the Saxons of Devon -and Somerset, hastening to the rescue, were overthrown in a severe -encounter at Pinhoe, and the piratical invaders returned to their ships, -laden with spoil. The following year was marked by a general massacre of -the Danes at the behest of Ethelred, and, to avenge this treacherous -slaughter, Sweyn (or Swegen) swooped, like a vulture, on the land, and, -through the perfidy of Norman Hugh, the reeve, was admitted within the -gates of Exeter. As usual on such occasions, red ruin was the grim -sequel; but in after days, when the Danish dynasty was in secure -possession of the throne, Canute (or Cnut) cherished no malice by reason -of the tragic horror inflicted on his race, but conferred on Exeter’s -chief monastery the dignity of a cathedral. - -In a secular as well as in a religious sense, far the most romantic -episodes of Saxon rule in Devon centre around the old Abbey of St. -Rumon, Tavistock, the largest and most splendid of all the conventual -institutions in the fair county. Ordulf, the reputed founder, was no -ordinary mortal. He looms through the mist of ages as a being of -gigantic stature, whose delight it was, with one stroke of his -hunting-knife, to cleave from their bodies the heads of animals taken in -the chase, and whose thigh-bone, it is said, is yet preserved in -Tavistock Church. But if he had something in common with Goliath and -John Ridd, Ordulf was likewise, and very plainly, cousin german to Saint -Hubert, for having been bidden in a vision, he built Tavistock Abbey, to -whose site his wife was conducted by an angel. An alternative version -associates with him in this pious work his father, Orgar. However that -may be, the edifice was destroyed by the Danes in the course of a -predatory expedition up the Tamar to Lydford. This was in 997. It was -re-built on a still grander scale, and bore the assaults of time until -the days of the sacrilegious Hal, when it was suppressed and given to -William, Lord Russell. - -So much for the Abbey. Now for the secular romance, which yields a -striking illustration of Shakespeare’s warning:— - - Friendship is constant in all other things - Save in the office and affairs of love: - Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues, - Let ev’ry eye negotiate for itself - And trust no agent; for beauty is a witch - Against whose charms faith melteth into blood. - -Orgar, the father of Ordulf, had a daughter named Elfrida, the fame of -whose loveliness came to the ears of the King. Edgar, being unwedded, -despatched Earl Ethelwold to Tavistock on a mission of observation, and -the courtier was empowered, if report erred not, to demand her in -marriage for his royal master. Ethelwold came, and saw, and was -conquered. Although much older than the fair lady, he fell in love with -her, and gained her assent and that of her father to their union. This -he could do only by concealing from them the more advantageous offer of -a royal alliance. With equal duplicity he kept from the King not only -the knowledge of his bride’s surpassing beauty, but the bride herself, -being assured that her appearance at court would be fatal. However, in -no long time the truth leaked out, and Edgar set out for Dartmoor, -ostensibly to hunt. Ethelwold, in desperation, now made full confession -to his wife, whom he charged to disguise her charms, but the vain and -ambitious woman, angered at his deceit, displayed them the more, and the -King, resolved on Ethelwold’s death, actually slew him at Wilverley or -Warlwood in the Forest. - -After the departure of the Romans and before the final absorption of -Devon by the Saxons, there are signs that the Kelts of South-West -Britain were in intimate touch with their brethren on the other side of -St. George’s Channel. At any rate, the Ogham inscriptions found in the -neighbourhood of Tavistock testify to the missionary enterprise of the -Island of Saints during the latter part of the fifth and the beginning -of the sixth centuries after Christ. For most purposes, the centre of -county life has from the first been Exeter, but to this rule there was -at one time an important exception, which was not Tavistock, but the -little town of Crediton, situated on a tributary of the Exe. An old -rhyme has it— - - Kirton was a market town, - When Exeter was a fuzzy down. - -Little can be said for this view on general historic grounds, but from -the standpoint of ecclesiastical Anglo-Saxondom, Crediton had a decided -claim to the preference, for was it not the birthplace of Winfrid (St. -Boniface), and the seat of the Anglo-Saxon bishops from the year 909 -until 1050, when Leofric, for fear of the Danes, transferred the see to -Exeter? This prelate was installed by Edward the Confessor and Queen -Edith, who, holding him by the hands, invoked God’s blessing on future -benefactors. - -If the Ogham stones of Dartmoor attest the zeal of Keltic Christianity, -Coplestone Cross, a richly-carved monument near Crediton, is a reminder -of the early days of Saxon piety, when such crosses were erected as -shrines for the churchless ceorls. Coplestone, also, was the name of a -powerful race known as the Great Coplestones, or Coplestones of the -White Spur, who claimed, but apparently without reason, to have been -thanes in Saxon times. In the West Country, no distich is more popular -or more widely diffused than the odd little couplet— - - Croker, Cruwys, and Coplestone, - When the Conqueror came, were all at home. - -The invincible William knocked at the gates of the Western capital in -1066, and was at first refused admission. If it be true, as Sir Francis -Palgrave held, that Exeter was a free republic before Athelstan -engirdled it with massive walls, the _genius loci_ asserted itself with -dramatic effect when the Conqueror demanded submission, and, in the -words of Freeman, “she, or at least her rulers, professed themselves -willing to receive William as an external lord, to pay him the tribute -which had been paid to the old kings, but refused to admit him within -her walls as her immediate sovereign.” Dissatisfied with this response, -William besieged the city, which held out for eighteen days, and then -surrendered on conditions. Exeter, it may be observed, was at this time -one of the four principal cities of the realm, the other members of the -quartette being London, Winchester, and York. - -The capitulation was followed by the building of Rougemont Castle, not a -moment too soon, for ere it could well have been completed, the sons of -Harold led an assault on Exeter. This was repulsed without much -difficulty by the Norman garrison, but the Saxons showed themselves -still restless in the West. The army of Godwin and Edmund fought with -fruitless valour on the banks of the Tavy until, three years after the -opening of the struggle, Sithric, the last Saxon abbot of Tavistock, -betook himself to the Camp of Refuge at Ely, to be under the protection -of the noble Hereward. - -Exeter, to which one always returns, stands out prominently among -English towns on account of its many sieges. Old Isaacke, happily a much -better chronicler than poet, testifies as follows:— - - In midst of Devon Exeter city seated, - Hath with ten sieges grievously been straitned. - -This is sure proof of the immense value attached to the possession of -the place in troublous times, and prepares us for the conspicuous part -taken by both county and city in the centuries that succeeded the -establishment of Norman rule. The first Norman governor was Baldwin de -Redvers, whose grandson, another Baldwin, declared for Matilda when -civil war broke out between her party and Stephen’s. The citizens, on -the other hand, espoused the cause of the King, and were subjected to -all sorts of barbarities, until the approach of a vanguard of two -hundred horse compelled the retreat of the garrison into the castle. -After a three months’ siege, water failed, and the doughty defenders -were forced to yield. - -[Illustration - - _From a Photograph_] [_by Frith & Co._ - ROUGEMONT CASTLE, EXETER. - -] - -Edward I. held a parliament at Exeter, and his great-grandson, the -famous Black Prince, must have been well acquainted with the city, as he -passed through it more than once _en route_ to Plymouth, whence he -sailed to France on the glorious expedition which ended at Poictiers. -Its relations with the Black Prince reveal to us how much the county has -receded in practical importance since medieval times. Plymouth, indeed, -maintains her place: she is as great now, perhaps greater, than she was -then; and Dartmouth, charming Dartmouth, is still far from obscure. -Nevertheless, it is idle to claim for the ports of Devon as a class the -relative standing they once enjoyed, when, according to the _Libel of -English Policy_, Edward III., bent on suppressing the pirates of St. -Malo— - - did dewise - Of English towns three, that is to say, - Dartmouth, Plymouth, the third it is Fowey; - And gave them help and notable puissance - Upon pety Bretayne for to werre. - -And when Chaucer has to depict a typical mariner, he begins with the -words— - - A schipman was ther, wonyng far by weste; - For ought I woot, he was of Dertemouth. - -—obviously because of Dartmouth’s national reputation. Topsham, formerly -the port of Exeter, is a truly startling instance of decline, since as -late as the reign of William III. London alone exceeded it in the amount -of its trade with Newfoundland. On the other hand, Bideford never -possessed all the importance that Kingsley attributes to it, though -relatively of much greater consequence in ancient days than at present. -It is a curious fact that Ilfracombe, that popular watering-place, sent -six ships to the siege of Calais, as compared with Liverpool’s one, -Dartmouth contributing thirty-one, and Plymouth twenty-six. - -The Black Prince was the first Duke of Cornwall, and the stannaries or -tin-bearing districts of Devon and Cornwall, which in Saxon and Norman -times had been a royal demesne, passed to this valiant prince and his -successors. The old Crockern Tor Parliament would furnish material for a -fascinating chapter in the romance of history, but the present sketch is -necessarily too brief to admit of much discussion. Its regulations -certainly did not err on the side of leniency. “The punishment,” says -Mrs. Bray, “for him who in days of old brought bad tin to the market was -to have a certain quantity of it poured down his throat in a melted -state.” The most important event in the annals of Chagford, one of the -stannary towns, is the falling in of the market-house on Mr. Eveleigh, -the steward, and nine other persons, all of whom were killed. This sad -disaster, which occurred “presently after dinner,” is the subject of a -rare black-letter tract, entitled, _True Relation of the Accident at -Chagford in Devonshire_. - -Going back to the Wars of the Roses, the West of England for the most -part supported the Lancastrian cause. In 1469, Exeter was besieged for -twelve days by Sir William Courtenay, in the interest of Edward IV.; and -in the following year, Clarence and Warwick repaired to the city prior -to embarking at Dartmouth for Calais. When, however, Edward IV., seated -firmly on the throne, appeared in Exeter as _de facto_ sovereign of the -realm, the citizens, forgetting past grudges, provided such a welcome -for the monarch, his consort, and his infant son, that he presented the -Corporation with the sword of state still borne before the Mayor. The -city had given him a hundred nobles. Just twice that sum was the loyal -offering to Richard III. when, in 1483, he arrived at Exeter soon after -the Marquis of Dorset had proclaimed the Earl of Richmond King. A -gruesome incident marked his visit, for Richard, that best-hated of -English rulers, caused his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas St. Leger, to be -beheaded in the court-yard of the Castle. The name, Rougemont, jarred on -his superstitious nature, the reason being its similarity to Richmond. -The point is referred to by Shakespeare in the well-known play:— - - When last I was at Exeter - The Mayor in courtesy showed me the castle, - And called it Rougemont; at which name I started, - Because a bard of Ireland told me once - I should not live long after I saw Richmond. - -In 1497, that bold adventurer, Perkin Warbeck, claimed admission within -the walls, which, so far as the citizens were concerned, would have been -readily granted. The Earl of Devon and his son were less accommodating, -and, after Warbeck had set fire to the gates, succeeded in beating off -his attack. The pretender’s next appearance in the city, where the King -had taken up his quarters, was in the character of a prisoner. Henry’s -conduct towards his rebellious subjects was worthy of a great prince, -and affords a marked contrast to the brutality that characterized the -suppression of the next revolt and the still more notorious savagery of -“Kirke’s Lambs.” When brought before him, “bareheaded, in their shirts, -and halters round their necks,” he “graciously pardoned them, choosing -rather to wash his hands in milk by forgiving than in blood by -destroying them.” - -As is well known, the Reformation was not the popular event in England -that it was in Scotland, and the introduction of the Book of Common -Prayer in lieu of the Mass was the torch which, in 1549, set the western -shires—Cornwall, and Somerset, and Devon—in a blaze. The opposition, -started at Sampford Courtenay by a pair of simple villagers, soon came -to include leaders of the stamp of Sir Thomas Pomeroy and Sir Humphry -Arundel, who barricaded Crediton, the rendezvous of their party. The -interests of the Crown were befriended by Sir Peter and Sir Gawen Carew, -who, though utterly unscrupulous and barbarous in their methods of -warfare, failed to arrest the insurrection. Presently no fewer than ten -thousand rebels commenced the investment of Exeter. At this serious -juncture, the Lord Lieutenant of the county (Lord Russell) took the helm -of affairs, and ultimately raised the siege, the city in the meantime -being reduced to terrible straits through famine. But the rebels -suffered, too. In all, four thousand peasants fell in the Western -Rising. A dramatic episode was the execution of the Vicar of St. Thomas, -who was hanged in full canonicals on his church, where his corpse -remained suspended till the reign of Edward’s successor, when the Roman -Catholics regained, for a season, the upper hand. - -The geographical position of Devonshire suggests, what is also the fact, -that the county had a considerable share in the colonization of the -Western Hemisphere. The first port in Devon to send out ships to America -for the purpose of establishing settlements was Dartmouth. In this -enterprise, Humphry and Adrian Gilbert, who were half-brothers of Sir -Walter Raleigh, and whose seat, Greenway, was close to Dartmouth, took -the lead. The pioneer expedition, which took place in 1579, was -productive of no result; but in 1583, Humphry Gilbert seized -Newfoundland, the present inhabitants of which are largely of Devon -ancestry. This navigator, though brave and skilful, rests under an ugly -imputation which we must all hope is baseless. According to some, he -proposed to Queen Elizabeth the perfidious destruction of the foreign -fishing fleets which had long made the island their station. During his -homeward voyage Humphry was drowned, and the manner of his death is -depicted in an old ballad:— - - He sat upon the deck; - The book was in his hand. - “Do not fear; Heaven is as near - By water as by land.” - -Adrian Gilbert interested himself in the discovery of the North-West -Passage, but neither of the brothers did much more than secure for -Dartmouth a principal share in the Newfoundland trade, for many and many -a year one of the chief props of Devon commerce. - -Of far greater practical significance, as a centre of maritime -adventure, was Plymouth. Hence sprang William Hawkins, the first of his -nation to sail a ship in the Southern Seas. Hence sprang his more famous -son, Sir John Hawkins, the first Englishman that ever entered the Bay of -Mexico, and who spent the bribes of Philip of Spain in defensive -preparations against that tyrant’s fleet. Here was organized the -Plymouth Company founded for the colonization of North Virginia after -the failure of Sir Walter Raleigh (who, like Sir Humphry Gilbert, had -made Plymouth his base) to form a settlement. The efforts of the -Plymouth Company were at first not very felicitous, but in 1620 it -received a new charter, and although its schemes were absurdly -ambitious, and fell ludicrously short of realization, and although it -was administered for private ends rather than in a large spirit of -enlightened patriotism, still the mere existence of the company must -have tended to promote the flow of men and money to the new plantations -beyond the seas. - -In the Great Civil War, the towns generally were in favour of the -Parliament, but Exeter, on which city Elizabeth had conferred the proud -motto _Semper fidelis_, appears to have been Royalist in sympathy. As, -however, the Earl of Bedford, the Lord Lieutenant, held it for the -opposite party, it was besieged by Prince Maurice, to whom it -surrendered in September, 1643. In April, 1646, it was recovered by the -Roundheads, but ere this many interesting events had come to pass. In -May, 1644, Queen Henrietta Maria had arrived in the city, and there, on -June 16th, was born the Princess Henrietta Anne, afterwards Duchess of -Orleans. Just at this moment, the Earl of Essex made his appearance, and -the Queen was fain to escape alone, leaving her infant in the charge of -Lady Moreton and Sir John Berkeley, who arranged for her christening in -the font of Exeter Cathedral. Her portrait by Sir Peter Lely, which -adorns the Guildhall, was the gift of Charles II., who, in 1671, thus -testified his appreciation of the city’s good services. The donor -himself had been the guest of the Corporation in July, 1644, when his -royal father had received from the civic authorities a present of five -hundred pounds. - -Looking further afield, Devonshire was the theatre of many stirring -events in that fratricidal struggle. It was in 1642 that the High -Sheriff, Sir Edmund Fortescue, of Fallapit, at the instigation of Sir -Ralph Hopton, called out the _posse comitatus_, and so precipitated a -conflict. Sir Ralph himself, with the aid of Sir Nicholas Slanning, -assembled a force of some two or three thousand men, with which he -captured first Tavistock, and then Plympton, afterwards joining -Fortescue at Modbury, where a mixed army of trained bands and levies was -soon in being. The next proceeding was to have been an attack on -Plymouth, but Colonel Ruthven, the commandant of that town, sent out -five hundred horse, which, after a feint at Tavistock, dashed through -Ivybridge, and delivered a sudden assault on Modbury. In a moment all -was over. Exclaiming, “The troopers are come!” the trained bands fled in -confusion, while the rest of the army, who knew nothing about soldiering -and had no love for the cause, went after them, save for a few friends -of the Sheriff, who helped him to defend the mansion of Mr. -Champernowne. When this was fired, the movement collapsed, and the -Roundheads, who had lost but one man, effected a good haul of county -notabilities, including the High Sheriff, John Fortescue, Sir Edmund -Seymour, and his eldest son, Edmund Seymour, M.P., Colonel Henry -Champernowne, Arthur Basset, and Thomas Shipcote, the Clerk of the -Peace. About a score of these worthies of Devon were placed on board -ship at Dartmouth, and transported to London. - -This initial success of the Roundheads was soon qualified by reverses. -Ruthven, having marched into Cornwall, was encountered by Hopton at -Braddock Down, and sustained a crushing defeat. In February, 1643, -Hopton laid siege to Plymouth, but Fortune again veered, and the -Royalists were forced to retire in consequence of a second defeat at -Modbury. Attempts were made to bring about a _pax occidentalis_, by -which both parties were to forswear further participation in the -unnatural strife, but they proved abortive. Encouraged by the defeat of -the Earl of Stamford at Stratton, a Cornish army advanced northwards on -the disastrous march which resulted in the overthrow at Lansdown, near -Bath, and involved the loss of four leading Royalists—Sir Bevil -Grenville, Trevanion, Slanning, and Sidney Godolphin—the last of whom -fell in a miserable skirmish at Chagford. - -Later in the year, Prince Maurice exerted himself to reduce Plymouth, -but, although the Cavaliers fought well, the garrison, equally brave and -perhaps more pious, drove them back to the cry of “God with us!” Among -the besiegers was King Charles himself, but not even the presence of -royalty could alter the situation, and he and Maurice presently withdrew -from the scene of operations. The siege was not ended till the spring of -1645, in the January of which year Roundheads and Cavaliers occupied the -same relative positions as Britons and Boers in the memorable fight at -Wagon Hill. Even after this terrible repulse, the Cavaliers did not -quite abandon hope, and several small actions took place; but the advent -of Fairfax in 1646 led to a precipitate retreat, and the Cavalier -strongholds—Mount Edgecumbe and Ince House—gallantly defended -throughout, had to be given up. - -The last place in Devon to be held for King Charles was Salcombe Castle, -and the person who held it was the very Sir Edmund Fortescue who was -High Sheriff, in 1642, and, in that capacity, threw down the glove to -his opponents. The “Old Bulwarke” was not a promising fort, but it stood -a siege of four months, when the garrison were allowed to march out with -the honours of war. Among other articles of surrender, it was stipulated -that John Snell, Vicar of Thurlestone, who had acted as chaplain to the -garrison, should be allowed quiet possession of his parsonage. This -condition was not observed. However, Parson Snell was not forgotten -after the Reformation, as he was appointed Canon Residentiary of Exeter, -in which position he was succeeded by his sons. By the 7th of May, the -date of the surrender, the cause of King Charles was _in extremis_; and, -accordingly, Fort Charles, as Sir Edmund had re-named the castle, was -fully justified in capitulating. The key of the castle is said to be -still the treasured heirloom of the hero’s representative. - -Devon men took an active part in the Monmouth Rebellion; and, in common -with its neighbours, the county experienced the judicial atrocities of -the notorious Jeffreys. A “bloody assize” was opened at Exeter on -September 14th, 1685, when twenty-one rebels were sentenced, thirteen of -whom were executed. Thirteen more were fined and whipped, and one was -reprieved. A feature in this assize was the publication of 342 names, -all belonging to persons who were at large when the business closed. -These comparatively fortunate yeomen had escaped the search of the civil -and military powers, and were tenants of the open country, living in -copses and haystacks as best they might. - -However, vengeance was not long delayed. In 1688, the Prince of Orange -landed at Brixham, and marched to Exeter by way of Chudleigh. The -account of an eye-witness printed in the Harleian Miscellany gives the -impression that his entry into the city, as a spectacle, was somewhat -barbaric. The pageant included two hundred blacks from the plantations -of the Netherlands in America, with embroidered caps lined with white -fur, and crested with plumes of white feathers; and two hundred -Finlanders or Laplanders in bear-skins taken from the beasts they had -slain, with black armour and broad, flaming swords. The troops were -received with loud acclamations by the people at the west gate, and -their conduct was excellent. Meanwhile, the position of the authorities -was far from enviable. In vulgar parlance, they were in a “tight place,” -not knowing which way the wind would blow, and being desirous of -maintaining the reputation of the city for unswerving loyalty. The -Bishop and the Dean adopted the safe, if not too heroic, method of -flight, while the Mayor, with more dignity, commanded the west gate to -be closed, and declined to receive the Prince. The poor priest-vicars, -no less faithful at heart, were intimidated into omitting the prayer for -the Prince of Wales, and employing only one prayer for the King. On the -ninth, notice was sent to the canons, vicars-choral, and singing lads, -that the Prince would attend the service in the Cathedral at noon, and -they were ordered by Dr. Burnet to chant the _Te Deum_ when His Highness -entered the choir. This they did. The Prince occupied the Bishop’s -throne, surrounded by his great officers, and after the _Te Deum_, Dr. -Burnet, from a seat under the pulpit, read aloud His Highness’s -declaration. The party then returned to the Deanery, where William had -taken up his quarters. - -The Prince of Orange was in Exeter for three days before any of the -county gentry appeared in his support, and naturally the members of his -suite began to feel disconcerted. Presently, however, the gentlemen of -Devon rallied to his standard, and in compliance with a proposal of Sir -Edward Seymour, formed a general association for promoting his interest. -A notable arrival was Mr. Hugh Speke, who, it is said, had been -personally offered by King James the return of a fine of £5,000 if he -would atone for his support of Monmouth by acting as spy on the Prince -of Orange, and had bravely refused. The Mayor and Aldermen now thought -it high time to recognise the change in the situation and observe a -greater measure of respect towards one who, it seemed likely, would soon -be their lawful sovereign. The Dean, too, hastened home to give in his -adhesion to the Prince; and William left Exeter with the assurance that -the West Country, which could not forgive the Jacobite massacre, was -heart and soul with him, and that elsewhere the power of his despotic -father-in-law was rapidly crumbling. - -In a second letter, reproduced in the Harleian Miscellany, we are -informed that there had been “lately driven into Dartmouth, and since -taken, a French vessel loaded altogether with images and knives of a -very large proportion, in length nineteen inches, and in breadth two -inches and an half; what they were designed for, God only knows.” -Possibly for a purpose not wholly unlike that which inspired the -unpleasant visit of some of the same nation to Teignmouth in 1690, when -they fired the town. It appears that the county force had been drafted -to Torquay with the object of resisting a threatened landing from the -French fleet, which was anchored in the bay. Certain French galleys, -availing themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them, stole round -to Teignmouth, threw about two hundred great shot into the town, and -disembarked 1,700 men, who wrought immense damage in the place, already -deserted by its inhabitants. For three hours there was pillage, and then -over a hundred houses were burnt. A contemporary named Jordan, -recounting the circumstances, cannot restrain his righteous indignation. -“Moreover,” says he, “to add sacrilege to their robbery and violence, -they, in a barbarous manner, entered the two churches in the said town, -and in a most unchristian manner tore the Bibles and Common Prayer Books -in pieces, scattering the leaves thereof about the streets, broke down -the pulpits, overthrew the Communion tables, together also with many -other marks of a barbarous and enraged cruelty; and such goods and -merchandize as they could not or dare not stay to carry away, they -spoiled and destroyed, killing very many cattle and hogs, which they -left dead behind them in the streets.” This, the last, invasion of -Devonshire, cost the county £11,030, the amount at which the damage was -assessed, and which was raised by collections in the churches after the -reading of a brief. French Street, Teignmouth, conserves by its name the -memory of this heavy, but happily transient, disaster. - -With the seventeenth century ends the heroic period of Devonian history. -From that time it figures merely as a province sharing in the triumphs -and distresses of the country of which it forms part, but having no -special or distinctive record. The most exciting era was, without doubt, -the Napoleonic age, when the dread of a new French invasion was -terminated only by the glorious victory of Trafalgar. - -In conclusion, it may be mentioned that Sidmouth was the early home of -her late Majesty Queen Victoria. Her father, the Duke of Kent, died -there in 1820, and the west window of the church was erected as a -memorial of this son of George III., whose visit to Exeter in the -preceding century gave such delight to the county. - - THE EDITOR. - - - - - THE MYTH OF BRUTUS THE TROJAN. - - BY THE LATE R. N. WORTH, F.G.S., ETC. - - -Brutus, son of Sylvius, grandson of Æneas the Trojan, killed his father -while hunting, was expelled from Italy, and settled in Greece. Here the -scattered Trojans, to the number of seven thousand, besides women and -children, placed themselves under his command, and, led by him, defeated -the Grecian King Pandrasus. The terms of peace were hard. Pandrasus gave -Brutus his daughter, Ignoge, to wife, and provided 324 ships, laden with -all kinds of provisions, in which the Trojan host sailed away to seek -their fortune. An oracle of Diana directed them to an island in the -Western Sea, beyond Gaul, “by giants once possessed.” Voyaging amidst -perils, upon the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea they found four nations of -Trojan descent, under the rule of Corinæus, who afterwards became the -Cornish folk. Uniting their forces, the Trojans sailed to the Loire, -where they defeated the Gauls and ravaged Aquitaine with fire and sword. -Then Brutus - - “... Repaired to the fleet, and loading it with the riches and spoils - he had taken, set sail with a fair wind towards the promised island, - and arrived on the coast of Totnes. This island was then called - Albion, and was inhabited by none but a few giants. Notwithstanding - this, the pleasant situation of the places, the plenty of rivers - abounding with fish, and the engaging prospect of its woods, made - Brutus and his company very desirous to fix their habitation in it. - They therefore passed through all the provinces, forced the giants to - fly into the caves of the mountains, and divided the country among - them, according to the directions of their commander. After this they - began to till the ground and build houses, so that in a little time - the country looked like a place that had been long inhabited. At last - Brutus called the island after his own name, Britain, and his - companions Britons; for by these means he desired to perpetuate the - memory of his name; from whence afterwards the language of the nation, - which at first bore the name of Trojan or rough Greek, was called - British. But Corinæus, in imitation of his leader, called that part of - the island which fell to his share Corina, and his people Corineans, - after his name; and though he had his choice of the provinces before - all the rest, yet he preferred this county, which is now called in - Latin Cornubia, either from its being in the shape of a horn (in Latin - _Cornu_), or from the corruption of the same name. For it was a - diversion to him to encounter the said giants, which were in greater - numbers there than in all the other provinces that fell to the share - of his companions. Among the rest was one detestable monster called - Goemagot, in stature twelve cubits, and of such prodigious strength - that at one stroke he pulled up an oak as if it had been a hazel wand. - On a certain day, when Brutus was holding a solemn festival to the - gods in the port where they at first landed, this giant, with twenty - more of his companions, came in upon the Britons, among whom he made a - dreadful slaughter. But the Britons at last, assembling together in a - body, put them to the rout, and killed them every one, except - Goemagot. Brutus had given orders to have him preserved alive, out of - a desire to see a combat between him and Corinæus, who took a great - pleasure in such encounters. Corinæus, overjoyed at this, prepared - himself, and, throwing aside his arms, challenged him to wrestle with - him. At the beginning of the encounter, Corinæus and the giant, - standing front to front, held each other strongly in their arms, and - panted aloud for breath; but Goemagot presently grasping Corinæus with - all his might, broke three of his ribs, two on his right side and one - on his left; at which Corinæus, highly enraged, roused up his whole - strength, and snatching him upon his shoulder, ran with him, as fast - as the weight would allow him, to the next shore, and there getting - upon the top of a high rock, hurled down the savage monster into the - sea, where, falling on the sides of craggy rocks, he was torn to - pieces, and coloured the waves with his blood. The place where he - fell, taking its name from the giant’s fall, is called Lam Goemagot, - that is, Goemagot’s Leap, to this day.”[1] - ------ - -Footnote 1: - - _Geoffrey of Monmouth_, Giles’ Translation. - ------ - -Such, in its complete form, is the myth of Brutus the Trojan, as told by -Geoffrey of Monmouth, sometime Bishop of St. Asaph, who professed, and -probably with truth, to translate the British history of which it forms -a part from “a very ancient book in the British tongue,” given to him by -Walter Mapes, by whom it had been brought from Brittany. Geoffrey wrote -in the earlier part of the twelfth century, and he does not indicate -with more precision than the use of the term “very ancient” the date of -his original. - -If, however, we are to accept the writings of Nennius as they have been -handed down as substantially of the date assigned to them by the -author—the middle of the ninth century—the legend of Brutus, though not -in the full dimensions of the Geoffreian myth, was current at least a -thousand years ago; and in two forms. In one account, Nennius states -that our island derives its name from Brutus, a Roman consul, grandson -of Æneas, who shot his father with an arrow, and, being expelled from -Italy, after sundry wanderings settled in Britain—a statement that -agrees fairly well with that of Geoffrey. In the other account, which -Nennius says he had learned from the ancient books of his ancestors, -Brutus, though still through Rhea Silvia, his great-grandmother, of -Trojan descent, was grandson of Alanus, the first man who dwelt in -Europe, twelfth in descent from Japhet in his Trojan genealogy, and -twentieth on the side of his great-grandfather, Fethuir. Alanus is a -kind of European Noah, with three sons—Hisicion, Armenon, and Neugio; -and all his grandsons are reputed to have founded nations—Francus, -Romanus, Alamanus, Brutus, Gothus, Valagothus, Cibidus, Burgundus, -Longobardus, Vandalus, Saxo, Boganus. He is wholly mythical. - -Brutus here does not stand alone. He falls into place as part of a -patriarchal tradition, assigning to each of the leading peoples of -Europe an ancestor who had left them the heritage of his name. This one -fact, to my mind, removes all suspicion of the genuineness of these -passages of Nennius, which have been sometimes regarded as -interpolations. With Geoffrey not only is the story greatly amplified, -but it is detached from its relations, and is no longer part of what may -fairly be called one organic whole. Nennius, therefore, gives us an -earlier form of the myth than Geoffrey. I think, too, that the essential -distinctions of the two accounts render it clear that the ancient -authorities of Nennius and Geoffrey are not identical, from which we may -infer that the original tradition is of far older date than either of -these early recorders. - -But we may go still further. Whether the legend of Brutus is still -extant in an Armoric form, I am not aware, but it appears in Welsh MSS. -of an early date; the “Brut Tysilio” and the “Brut Gr. ab Arthur” being -important. It has been questioned whether, in effect, these are not -translations of Geoffrey; but there seems no more reason for assuming -this than for disbelieving the direct statement of Geoffrey himself, -that he obtained his materials from a Breton source. Bretons, Welsh, and -Cornish are not only kindred in blood and tongue, but, up to the time -when the continuity of their later national or tribal life was rudely -shattered, had a common history and tradition, which became the general -heritage. If the story of Brutus has any relation to the early career of -the British folk, we should expect to discover traces of the legend -wherever the Britons found their way. If this suggestion be correct, if -Geoffrey drew from Armoric sources, and if the “Brut Tysilio,” which is -generally regarded as the oldest of the Welsh chronicles, represents an -independent stream, the myth must be dated back far beyond even Nennius, -as the common property of the Western Britons, ere, in the early part of -the seventh century, the successes of the Saxons hemmed one section into -Wales, another into Cornwall, and drove a third portion into exile with -their kindred in Armorica. There is, consequently, good reason to -believe that the tradition is as old as any other portion of our -earliest recorded history or quasi-history, and covers, at least, the -whole of our historical period. - -The narrative of Geoffrey does not give the myth in quite its fullest -shape. For that we have to turn to local sources. Tradition has long -connected the landing of Brutus with the good town of Totnes; the combat -between Corinæus and Goemagot with Plymouth Hoe. Like the bricks in the -chimney called in to witness to the noble ancestry of Cade, has not -Totnes its “Brutus stone”? And did not Plymouth have its “Goemagot”? - -The whole history of the “Brutus stone” appears to be traditional, if -not recent. My friend, Mr. Edward Windeatt, informs me that it is not -mentioned anywhere in the records of the ancient borough of Totnes. I -fail to find any trace of it in the pages of our local chroniclers, -beyond the statement of Prince (_Worthies_) that “there is yet remaining -towards the lower end of the town of Totnes a certain rock called -Brute’s Stone, which tradition here more pleasantly than positively says -is that on which Brute first set his foot when he came ashore.” The good -people of Totnes, so it is said, have had it handed down to them by -their fathers from a time beyond the memory of man, that Brutus, when he -sailed up the Dart, which must consequently have been a river of notable -pretensions, stepped ashore upon this stone, and exclaimed, with regal -facility of evil rhyme:— - - “Here I stand, and here I rest, - And this place shall be called Totnes!” - -Why the name should be appropriate to the circumstances, we might vainly -strive to guess, did not Westcote and Risdon inform us that it was -intended to represent _Tout à l’aise_! We need not be ashamed of -adopting their incredulity, and of doubting with them whether Brutus -spoke such good French, or, indeed, whether French was then spoken at -all. - -The stone itself affords no aid. All mystery departed when it was -recently lifted in the course of pavemental repairs, and found to be a -boulder of no great dimensions, with a very modern-looking bone lying -below. However, it is the “Brutus stone,” and I dare say will long be -the object of a certain amount of popular faith.[2] - ------ - -Footnote 2: - - An old inhabitant of Totnes, named John Newland, states that he and - his father removed this stone from a well which they were digging - about sixty years ago, and deposited it in its present position. The - stone is precisely such a boulder as occurs in large numbers in the - deposit left by the Dart on the further margin of the alluvial flat or - “strath” at Totnes, and which is cut through by the tramroad to the - quay, near the railway station. Popular opinion is in favour of the - authenticity of the stone, but it can hardly have been the “rock” - referred to by Prince, already cited, “towards the lower end of the - town”; and for my own part, I am inclined to regard it as the “modern - antique” Newland’s account would make it, to which the old tradition - has been transferred. Moreover, there is yet current a local tradition - that Brutus landed at Warland. If this is not held to dispose of the - present “Brutus stone,” it certainly indicates an important divergence - of authorities. - ------ - -But, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth himself, Totnes town could not -have been intended by him as the scene of the landing of Brutus. It was -when Brutus was “holding a solemn festival to the gods, in the port -where they had at first landed,” that he and his followers were attacked -by Goemagot and his party. There it was that Goemagot and Corinæus had -that famous wrestling bout, which ended in Corinæus running with his -gigantic foe to the next shore, and throwing him off a rock into the -sea. There is no sea at Totnes, no tall craggy cliff; and for Corinæus -to have run with his burden from Totnes to the nearest point of Start or -Tor Bay would have been a feat worthy even of a Hercules. - -We are not surprised to find, therefore, that Totnes has her -rivals—Dover, set up by the Kentish folk, and Plymouth,[3] each claiming -to be the scene of the combat between Corinæus and Goemagot, and -claiming, therefore, incidentally, also to be the port in which Brutus -landed. I do not know that we can trace either tradition very far into -antiquity. They do not occur in the chronicles, where, indeed, the very -name of Plymouth is unknown. The earliest reference to that locality has -been generally regarded as the Saxon Tamarworth. I am not at all sure, -however, that Plymouth is not intended by Geoffrey’s “Hamo’s Port,” -which he assumes to be Southampton. Geoffrey, indeed, says that -Southampton obtained the “ham” in its name from a crafty Roman named -Hamo, killed there by Arviragus; but if the identification is no better -than the etymology, we may dismiss it altogether. On the other hand, the -name of the estuary of the Tamar is still the Hamoaze—a curious -coincidence, if it goes no further. There is nothing in the story of -Hamo itself to indicate Southampton or preclude Plymouth; only a few -references to Hamo’s Port occur in Geoffrey. One of these, where Belinas -is described as making a highway “over the breadth of the kingdom” from -Menevia to Hamo’s Port, may rather seem to point to Southampton; but -there is no positive identification, even if we assume the story to be -true. Again, “Maximian the senator,” when invited into Britain by -Caradoc, Duke of Cornwall, to be King of Britain, lands at Hamo’s Port; -and here the inference would rather be that it was on Cornish territory. -And so when Hoel sent 15,000 Armoricans to the help of Arthur, it was at -Hamo’s Port they landed. It was from Hamo’s Port that Arthur is said to -have set sail on his expedition against the Romans—a fabulous story, -indeed, but still helping to indicate the commodiousness and importance -of the harbour intended. It was at Hamo’s Port that Brian, nephew of -Cadwalla, landed on his mission to kill the magician of Edwin the King, -who dwelt at York, lest this magician might inform Edwin of Cadwalla’s -coming to the relief of the British. After he had killed Pellitus, Brian -called the Britons together at Exeter; and it would be fair to infer -that the place where he landed was likely to be one where the Britons -had some strength. Here, again, whatever we may make of the history, it -is Hamo’s Port that is the fitting centre of national life; and it is -the Hamoaze that best suits the reference. - ------ - -Footnote 3: - - Bridport also, on the ground of its etymology, Brute-port (!). - ------ - -This legend of Brute the Trojan was firmly believed in, and associated -with these Western shores, by the leading intellects of the Elizabethan -day. Spenser refers to it in his:— - - That well can witness yet unto this day - The Western Hogh besprinkled with the Gore - Of mighty Goemot. - -Drayton verifies the legend in his _Polyolbion_, and tells us how— - - Upon that loftie place at Plimmouth, call’d the Hoe, - Those mightie Wrastlers met; - -and how that Gogmagog was by Corin— - - Pitcht head-long from the hill; as when a man doth throw - An Axtree that with sleight deliurd from the Foe - Roots up the yeelding earth, so that his violent fall, - Strooke Neptune with such strength, as shouldred him withall; - That where the monstrous waues like mountaines late did stand, - They leapt out of the place, and left the bared sand - To gaze vpon wide heauen. - -And this article of faith had then long been popular. Carew, in his -_Survey of Cornwall_, says: “Moreover, vpon the Hawe at Plymmouth, there -is cut out in ground the pourtrayture of two men, the one bigger, the -one lesser, with clubbes in their hands (whom they terme Gogmagog), and -(as I have learned) it is renewed by order of the Townesmen when cause -requireth, which should inferre the same to be a monument of some -moment.” Westcote, writing some half a century later, states of the -Hoe—“in the side whereof is cut the portraiture of two men of the -largest volume, yet the one surpassing the other every way; these they -name to be Corinæus and Gogmagog.” And there these figures remained -until the Citadel was built in 1671—a remarkable witness of the local -belief that Plymouth had played a prominent part in the affairs of -Brutus and his fellows. - -We know when these figures ceased to be. Can we form any idea as to when -they originated? Their earliest extant mention occurs in the Receiver’s -Accounts of the borough of Plymouth, under date 1494–5:— - - It. paid to Cotewyll for y^e renewying of y^e pyctur of Gogmagog a pon - y^e howe. vij^{d.} - -Previous to this date there only remain complete accounts of two -years—those for 1493–4 and those for 1486—with a few fragmentary -entries; and as the Gogmagog did not come to be “renewed” every year, -there are no conclusions to be drawn from the absence of earlier -notices. The next entry is in 1500–1, when 8_d._ was paid for “makying -clene of gogmagog.” In 1514–15, John Lucas, sergeant, had the like sum -for “cuttyng of Gogmagog”; and in the following year we read of its “new -dyggyng.” In 1526–7, the entry runs: “Itm p^{d.} for Clensying and -ryddyng of gogmagog a pon ye howe viij^{d.}”; and about this time it was -renewed almost yearly. In 1541–2, the entry is: “Itm p^{d.} to William -Hawkyns, baker (evidently to distinguish him from William Hawkyns, -father of Sir John), for cuttynge of Gogmagog the pycture of the Gyaunt -at hawe viij.” In 1566–7, the price had gone up to twenty pence. -Probably this ancient monument had been neglected for some years before -the last vestiges disappeared in 1671. It is not likely to have been -renewed under the Commonwealth, nor do I think it was revived under the -Restoration. It is noteworthy that the official entries apparently refer -to one figure only, though we know from Carew and Westcote that there -were two. Fourpence a day was about an average wage for labourers at -Plymouth in the opening years of the sixteenth century, so that the -“pyctur” probably took about two days to cleanse, and therefore must, -indeed, have been of gigantic dimensions. - -Some years ago I threw out the suggestion that as Geoffrey made no -allusion to these figures, “it must be assumed either that he did not -know of their existence, or that they did not then exist.” Believing the -latter the more reasonable conclusion, I suggested, further, “that they -were first cut in the latter half of the twelfth century, soon after -Geoffrey’s chronicle became current, or not long subsequently; unless, -as is possible, they had a different origin, and were associated with -the wrestling story in later days.” Finally, I put forward the -hypothesis, “that the legend, in the first place, did refer to something -that occurred in the fifth century at or near the Hoe, and with which -the Armorican allies, whom Ambrosius called to his aid about the year -438, were associated; that the Armoricans, on their return to Brittany, -between the fifth and twelfth centuries, under the mingled influence of -half-understood classical history and of religious sentiment working -through the romantic mind, it developed into the full-blown myth of -Brutus the Trojan; and that when it returned to England, and was made -known under the auspices of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Plymouthians of -that day, to perpetuate the memory of what they undoubtedly believed to -be sterling fact, cut the figures of the two champions on the greensward -of the Hoe.” - -I am not inclined now to adopt this hypothesis so broadly as it was then -suggested. Probably the story did take shape in Brittany in some such -fashion, but I now believe we must look far beyond the fifth century for -its origin. There seems, however, little reason to doubt that the -“Brutus stone” of Totnes and the Gogmagog of Plymouth originated, like -the Gog and Magog of London City, in the popularity of Geoffrey’s book. -The name, of course, linked Totnes with the legend, but we have -absolutely no knowledge whatever of the reason why Plymouth (any more -than Dover) came into the story. Dover, indeed, has no case -what-ever—not even a “Gogmagog.” - -What, then, are the claims of Totnes? - -Now, as to Totnes, it is important, in the first place, to observe that -in all the early works, Totnes is generally alluded to as the name of a -district, and not of a town. For example, in the story of Brutus, as -given by Geoffrey of Monmouth, his hero “set sail with a fair wind -towards the promised island, and arrived on the coast of Totnes.” -Nennius does not mention any place of debarkation. Geoffrey makes -Vespasian arrive at the shore of Totnes, and, in quoting Merlin’s -prophecy to Vortigern concerning his own fate, says of the threatened -invasion of Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon, “to-morrow they will -be on the shore of Totnes.” Later in the same chronicle, the Saxons whom -Arthur had allowed to depart “tacked about again towards Britain, and -went on shore at Totnes.” Though the town seems rather to be indicated -here, it is not necessarily so. - -However, it is certain that we are to understand the landing to have -taken place somewhere upon the south coast, for the invaders made an -“utter devastation of the country as far as the Severn sea.” Constantine -is said to have landed at the port of Totnes, which again may mean a -place so called, or the principal harbour of a district of that name. It -is clear, then, all things considered, that we are not dealing in these -older chronicles with the present Totnes, great as is its antiquity, -though the “Brut Tysilio” does go so far as to specify the place of -Constantine’s landing as “Totnais in Loegria.” - -Now, Mr. T. Kerslake, of Bristol, who has applied himself with singular -acumen to the unravelling of sundry knotty points of our ancient -history, is inclined to hold that the Totnes of the chronicles was a -distinct place, and he has pointed out that the Welsh chronicles contain -“early forms of the names of this favourite British port that has got to -be thus confounded with Totnes.” In the “Brut Tysilio,” for example, the -place of the landing of Brutus is called “Talnas” (at least, this is the -printed form given in the Myvyvian Archæology); “Brut Gr. ab. Arthur” -reads “Totonys”; and in a third, the “Hafod Chronicle,” we have -“Twtneis.” Mr. Kerslake, therefore, treats “Talnas” as the earliest form -of the word, and thereon builds the hypothesis that “the name given by -the British writers to their port would resolve itself into ‘’t-aln-as’ -and if Christchurch Haven should be conceded to be Ptolemy’s estuary of -Alaunus, it would also be the port called by the Britons ‘Aln’ or -‘’t-Aln-as,’ from which Vespasian advanced up to Alauna Sylva, or Caer -Pensauelcoit—the City in the Head of the High Wood.” - -There can be little doubt, I think, that Mr. Kerslake is right in -regarding Penselwood as the site of Caer Pensauelcoit, given as Exeter -by Geoffrey of Monmouth, not apparently on the authority of his British -original, but, as in other cases, for his own gloss; and thenceforward -cherished most fondly as one of the worthiest memories of the -“ever-faithful” city by its chief men and antiquaries. If it was at -Totnes town, or in Torbay, into which some critics have expanded the -idea of the “Totonesium littus,” that Vespasian landed immediately -before his siege of “Kairpen-Huelgoit,” then there is considerable force -in Geoffrey’s comment, “quæ Exonia vocatur.” If Penselwood, on the -borders of Somerset, Dorset, and Wilts, were this “Primæval British -Metropolis,” then we must give up the idea that Vespasian landed at -Totnes town, or anywhere in its vicinity. However, it by no means -follows that there was such a place as Totnes in the Talnas sense, as -localised by Mr. Kerslake. Talnas is the single exception, so far as I -am aware, to an otherwise general concord of agreement in favour of -Totnes, at a date when Totnes town had not yet risen into such -prominence as to justify or explain its appropriation of this tradition. -The general sense of the language used when Totnes and the Totnes shore -are mentioned, lead me, as I have already said, to the conclusion that -it was rather the name of a district than of a town or port; and it was -evidently understood in this sense by Higden, who in his Chronicle -quotes the length of Britain as 800 miles,“a totonesie litore,” rendered -by Trevisa, “frome the clyf of Totonesse,” which I take to be only -another form of expression for the Land’s End. - -My suggestion is that what we may call the Older Totnes is really the -ancient name for the south-western promontory of England, and perhaps -may once have been a name for Britain itself, in which case we can -understand somewhat of the motive which led early etymologists to derive -Britain from Brute or Brutus. The myth may be so far true that an elder -name was supplanted by that which has survived, and that it lingered -latest in this western promontory, perhaps as a name for the district -occupied by the Kornu-British kingdom in its more extended form. Whether -the modern Totnes is nominally the successor of the ancient title, the -narrow area into which this vestige of far antiquity had shrunk, may be -doubtful; for the name is as capable of Teutonic derivation as of -Keltic. In my _Notes on the Historical Connections of Devonshire -Place-names_, I pointed out that a Saxon derivation that “would fit -Totnes town quite as well as any other would be from ‘Tot,’ an -‘enclosure,’ and ‘ey,’ an ‘island’—Totaneys, allied to Tottenham, and -associated with the island by the bridge, one of the Dart’s most notable -features.” For the original Totnes I suggested: “Perhaps instead of -‘ness,’ a ‘headland’ (Scandinavian), we should read ‘enys,’ an ‘island,’ -and Tot may be equivalent to the Dod or Dodi, which we have in the Dod -of the well-known Cornish headland, the Dodman.... Then we may read -Toteneys the ‘projecting or prominent island’; or, if ‘Dod’ is read as -‘rocky,’ the ‘rocky island.’” I am satisfied that it is somewhere in -this direction we have to look for the origin of the name, which would -seem, however, to be corrupted from its earliest form when we first -light upon it, and which may, indeed, be a relic of the giant race whom -the followers of Brutus extirpated. - -The last sentence may sound somewhat strange, but my enquiries into this -curious story have led me to attach more importance to it than at first -sight it seemed to deserve. Stripped of the dress in which it was decked -out by Geoffrey, improving on his predecessors; deprived of its false -lustre of classicism; cleared from the religious associations of a later -day—this myth of Brutus the Trojan loses its personality, but becomes -the traditionary record of the earliest invasion of this land by an -historic people, who, in their assumed superiority, dubbed the less -cultivated possessors of the soil whose rights they invaded “giants,” -and extirpated them as speedily as they knew how. - -Moreover, though Totnes town has to surrender its mythical hero, it -preserves a record of an elder name for this England of ours than either -the Britain of the later Kelts or the Albion of the Romans; and if that -name be indeed a survival from these early times, makes certain what the -general aspect of the story renders highly probable—that it was into -this corner of Britain the pre-Keltic or Iberic inhabitants of our -island first entered, and that it was here their rude predecessors—who -to the diminutive Turanians might indeed appear as “giants”—made their -final stand, just as in later days the non-Aryan invaders had to fly -before the Kelt, and the Kelt in turn before the Saxon, until the -corners of the island became the refuge not only of a gallant, but of a -mingled race, with one language, one faith, and a common tradition. - -Thus much, indeed, I think we may safely infer from the local -associations of the story, supported as that inference is by the yet -current traditions of the giant enemies of the Cornish folk. - - - - - THE ROYAL COURTENAYS. - BY H. M. IMBERT-TERRY, F.R.L.S. - - -When in that incomparable romance, _Les Trois Mousquetaires_, the source -and parent of every historical novel of to-day, the author, Alexandre -Dumas, wished to impute to the leader of his trinity of heroes the -possession of a high and exalted chivalry, he called him Athos. - -Probably the intention was to institute a comparison between the lofty -attributes of the character and the altitude of the celebrated Greek -mountain. Possibly, however, the talented Frenchman may have bestowed -this title on the chief personage of his story because he, the author, -conceived that no more fitting designation could be given to the -embodiment of distinguished and aristocratic qualities than the actual -name borne by the founder of one of the most illustrious families that -has adorned the brilliant roll of French nobility, has given Emperors to -the East, and subsequently established in this land of Devon a noble -house which is inseparably connected with the traditions and history of -the county. - -In the continuation of Aimon’s _History of France_, an ancient chronicle -of the thirteenth century, it is stated that the Châtelain of Chateau -Renard had a son, named Athos, who rendered himself famous by his deeds -of daring, and, in the reign of King Robert of France—A.D. -1020—fortified the town of Courtenay. - -[Illustration: - - Okehampton Castle, 1734.</sc> - (_From an Engraving by S. and N. Buck_) -] - -Transcription: _This Castle, was built by Baldwin de Bronys, & was at -first call’d Ochementon; it descended to Rich. de Rivers or Riparus, & -from him to his Sister Adeliza, who marrying one of the Courtenays, it -came into that Noble family, & so continued til K.E.IV. seized it, for -their adherence to the Hous^e of Lancaster. K.H. VII. restord it to the -Courtenays, but K.H.VIII. again alienated it & dismantled the Castle & -Park, yet Ed. Courtenay in Q. Marys Reign obtain’d a Restoration, but he -dying without Issue Male, it came by a female into the Mohuns Barons of -Mohun & Oakhampton, & by the like failure of y^e male it came by -marriage to Christopher Harris of Heynes Esq^r._ - - _S. & N. Buck, delinm et Sculp. 1734._ - -From this castle, situated on a hill in the rich and wooded country -which stretches over that district anciently called L’Isle de France, -the descendants of Athos took their title. The name of his wife, the -mother of the race, is nowhere recorded, although Bouchet, the historian -of the French branch of the Courtenay family, states that she was “une -dame de condition”; and the truth of this statement is verified by the -fact that in those days, when the prerogatives of birth were universally -acknowledged, her progeny were considered fitting mates for the noblest -in the kingdom. - -Jocelyn de Courtenay, the son of Athos and his unnamed wife, married -twice: first, in the year 1060, Hildegarde, daughter of Geoffrey de -Ferole, Comte de Gastinois; second, Elizabeth, daughter of Guy, Seigneur -de Montlehery, by whom he had three sons—Milo, Jocelyn, and Geoffry. - -At this period of history, the countries of Europe were undergoing one -of those strange religious convulsions which frequently occurred in the -Middle Ages. The passionate pilgrimage of Peter the Hermit drew motley -crowds of so-called Christians to the Holy Land. Wherever the small, -mean monk of Picardy, seated on his ass, “pusillus, persona -contemptibilis et sponte fluens ei non deerat eloquium,” as William of -Tyre describes him, preached the holiness of the Cause and the shame to -Christendom that the Sepulchre of the Saviour should remain in infidel -hands, his earnestness and enthusiasm, if not his eloquence, made -thousands of fervid converts. - -In those days of lawlessness and violence, few men of rank but had the -stain of blood-guiltiness upon their souls. The richer hoped to buy -salvation and release from their wrongdoings by founding abbeys and -bestowing, out of their abundance, generous grants of land to maintain -the same; the poorer went pilgrimages, and purchased the promise of as -much future happiness as their possessions would afford. - -But to the fighting noble of the day, whatever means he may already have -taken to obtain the pardon of the Church, the call to arms by Pope Urban -for the defence of the Holy Land, proclaimed, as it was, with all the -authority of the Head of Christendom, endowed with all the plenitude of -Papal indulgence, necessarily possessed a special attraction, for it -promised him not only remission of his sins, but also the hope that the -remission would be gained by exercising those very same deeds of -violence and rapine, the commission of which in his daily life had -probably brought him to believe that eternal punishment was his just -doom. - -Small wonder, therefore, that knights and nobles in large numbers -endeavoured thus to gain everlasting advantages. Among the French -nobility who passed over to La Terre Sainte, Jocelyn II. de Courtenay is -numbered. - -The principality of Edessa, a province so situated as not only to be -divided by the Euphrates, but by its position specially exposed to -enemies who surrounded it on all sides, was then held by Baldwin de -Bruges, a renowned knight, cousin to Godfrey de Bouillon. Baldwin’s -mother and the wife of Jocelyn, son of Athos, were sisters, their -children consequently being cousins. - -According to the Archbishop of Tyre, the elder warrior gladly welcomed -his young kinsman, yielding to his charge those territories which lay -farthest from the enemy, but retaining under his personal supervision -the frontier, on which largely depended the safety of the Christian -dominions. - -Blessed with all the advantages a good administration can bestow, and -protected from an unwearying enemy, to a certain extent, by the river, -the country ruled by Jocelyn de Courtenay acquired such prosperity and -opulence as to excite the envy of the neighbouring Christian Princes. -Indeed, as all chroniclers show, when the overpowering personality of -Godfrey de Bouillon was withdrawn, the promiscuous host which he led, -rent by great diversity of interests, composed of many nations, lost the -little cohesion it had once possessed, and rapidly fell apart. - -Baldwin succeeding to the throne of Jerusalem, his cousin held undivided -sway over the whole province. For thirty years did the gallant Frenchman -defend his domains against the ever-returning infidel hordes, with -varying success—at times a conqueror, at times a captive, dying in a -manner befitting his life, for in his old age, weak with sickness, -broken with wounds, he caused himself to be carried before his troops as -he led them to succour their fellow-countrymen besieged by the Sultan of -Iconium. - -On his advance, the terror his prowess inspired sufficed to force the -enemy to retire, news of which reaching the ears of the dying warrior, -he gave thanks to God that the last moments of his life should be -illumined with victory, and then immediately expired. - -He was succeeded by Jocelyn, third of the name, the only son of his -first wife, a sister of Levon, an Armenian notable. - -It is to be suspected that the wisdom, energy, and endurance which so -strongly characterized the father, and by which the little state, -threatened with innumerable enemies, could alone be preserved, were, to -some extent, deficient in the son, the deterioration probably being -caused by the mixture of Asiatic blood in his veins. - -In all contemporary records, the Pullani or Poulaines, progeny of Frank -Crusaders and Syrian mothers, are spoken of with contempt and disdain, -and although no lack of valour or even military qualities can be -attributed to Jocelyn II., yet it is plain that the Eastern strain in -his descent rendered him unduly disposed towards the seductions of a -luxurious life; leading him to prefer the pleasures and ease of -residence in the agreeable city of Turbessel to the constant care and -hardships inseparable from an habitation in his fortified capital, -Edessa. - -This lack of vigilance on his own part naturally re-acted on his -subordinates, and led, as a logical consequence, to a serious diminution -in the military spirit and power of the country. In addition, an -embittered feud with Raynald, Prince of Antioch, deprived him of the -only ally who could, if well disposed, afford prompt and efficient aid. - -Therefore, when Zenghi, or Sanguine, as the name has been corrupted by -the Latin writers, leader of the Atabeks, with a vast host invaded the -city of Edessa, it fell into his hands before either the ruler or the -neighbouring Christian Princes were prepared to march to its assistance. - -Defeated so often as to be without the means of efficient resistance to -the powerful invader, Jocelyn himself before long became the prisoner of -some wandering hordes. Carried a captive to Aleppo, he soon died, -crushed by the misery of his position and the unwholesomeness of his -surroundings, leaving one son, called by the same name as himself, and -two daughters. - -Beatrice, his widow, for a while, with ability and courage, defended -Turbessel against the attacks of Zenghi’s successor, Noureddin, but -receiving inadequate support from the King of Jerusalem, she yielded the -task of holding the country to the effeminate Greeks, and they proving -incapable of the effort, the whole province, which from the time of the -Apostles had been the home and refuge of Christianity in the East, was -irretrievably overrun by the infidel. - -Jocelyn III., with his mother and sister, took refuge in Jerusalem, -where, for more than twenty years, he led the existence inseparable from -the lot of those who supported the waning dominion of the Christians—one -constant struggle, not for supremacy, but for life. His fate is unknown: -history has no record of him after the siege of Jerusalem, so it may -well be surmised that he shared the fate of the slain when the Holy City -fell to the assault of the great Sultan Saladin. - -Two daughters were the sole descendants of Jocelyn; consequently, with -him ended the House of the Courtenays of Edessa. - -But while one branch of the parent stem had thus died off in less than -ninety years, the family tree itself flourished exceedingly, giving -great promise of that luxuriance which, in after generations, blossomed -into Royal magnificence. - -The fall of Edessa, the bulwark of Christianity in the East, caused the -Second Crusade. Again in the roll of those who took the Cross is to be -found the name of Courtenay, for among the followers of King Louis le -Jeune were numbered William and Reginald of that name, and also Peter de -France, the King’s brother. - -When Jocelyn of Edessa, together with his younger brother, Geoffrey -Courtenay, surnamed de Chapalu, sailed, in the year 1101, for La Terre -Sainte, the eldest son of the house, Milo de Courtenay, remained in -France, succeeding, on the death of his father, to the family domains. -He married Ermengarde, daughter of Renaud, Comte de Nevers, and by her -had three sons—William, Reginald, and Jocelyn. Of the last, nothing is -known but the name. William, who as aforesaid took part in the Crusade, -died in the Holy Land, leaving, on the extinction of the Counts of -Edessa and the death of Geoffrey de Chapalu, his uncle, Reginald, his -younger brother, sole heir to the name and possessions of his -forefathers. - -In those days, when transit was difficult and the social barriers -between the noble and the roturier almost insurmountable, it was the -custom, well known to all who plunge into the intricacies of French -genealogy, and reasonable enough, considering the circumstances of the -times, for the males of a family of rank to marry, hardly without -exception, the daughters of their neighbours of like degree. - -Life was a very precarious commodity to a man of the eleventh and -twelfth centuries. He lived in an atmosphere of continuous warfare, and -if by nature, mental or physical, he was disinclined for this turbulent -existence, the only refuge open to him lay in the celibate seclusion of -the cloister. It frequently occurred, therefore, that females inherited -paternal estates. - -To this cause may well be attributed the fact that the possessions of -the Courtenays had become largely augmented, for Reginald is described -as Seigneur of Montargis, Chateau Renard, Champignelle, Tanlay, Charny, -Chantecoq, and several other seigneuries, all situated in the Pays de -Gastinois and the country round Sens, many of which, in the time of his -progenitors, were unmistakably the property of neighbouring families. - -The possession of great wealth, at all periods of the world’s history, -has been held as a claim to consideration; and when such opulence is -combined with high rank and birth, the fortunate owner may well cherish -lofty ambitions. - -In the early part of what we call the Middle Ages, the coat armour borne -by a warrior surely denoted his lineage and descent, for, unless assumed -for purposes of disguise, heraldic insignia were used as a means of -showing to which family an individual belonged—not, as now-a-days, to -which family an individual wishes the world to think he belongs. - -In addition to those claims to nobility which are known to be possessed -by Athos, the fact is also acknowledged that he and his descendants used -the arms attributed to the ancient counts of Boulogne—three torteaux or, -on a field gules—arms which were undoubtedly borne by Eustace de -Bouillon, when he and his illustrious brother Godfrey journeyed on the -Crusade. - -It may, therefore, well be believed that the ancestors of the Courtenays -came from the same stock as the even more ancient house of Boulogne; and -it is easy to understand that the only daughter and heir female of -Reginald de Courtenay was considered a fitting mate for Peter de France, -seventh son of King Louis le Gros. - -Indeed, the relations between the Crown and the great nobles of the -kingdom rested far more on a basis of equality than the pretensions of -the monarch cared to allow. - -Sismondi declares that the real domains of Louis VI. consisted only of -five towns, including Paris and Orleans, together with estates, probably -large, in the immediate vicinity; the remainder of the country being -divided among the great nobles, some of whom possessed equal, if not -more, extensive territories than their titular Sovereigns. - -The young Prince Peter having but little estate left him by his father, -and no title—for he is always styled the “King’s son” or “the King’s -brother”—took to himself the name of Courtenay, and from him and his -wife, Elizabeth, sprung that branch of the family which flourished in -France for more than six hundred years. Five sons and six daughters -issued from this union, the eldest daughter, Alix, marrying, as her -second husband, Aimar, Comte d’Angouleme, by whom she had one daughter, -Elizabeth, who, in her turn, became the wife of John, and the mother of -Henry III., both Kings of England. - -That portion of the Eastern Empire which, having been conquered by the -Latin knights errant remained in their power, for twelve years had been -ruled by Baldwin of Flanders and his brother, Henry, a wise and politic -prince, upon whose death, in 1217, the male line of the House of -Flanders became extinct. - -From respect to the laws of succession, the crown was thereupon offered -to Peter de Courtenay, son of Elizabeth de Courtenay and Peter of -France, who had married Yolande, daughter of the Count of Hainault, and -sister to both the late Emperors, Baldwin and Henry. The proffered -honour, doubtless, was great, yet the accession to the Imperial purple -proved the precursor of heavy calamities to the unfortunate Emperor and -his descendants. Peter de Courtenay, it is true, bore the reputation of -a valorous knight and a courageous warrior. He served with distinction -in the Crusade against the Albigenses, prompted, perhaps, by a desire to -merit the forgiveness of the Church, whose servants in his own domain he -had, if the chroniclers are to be believed, treated with the haughty -intolerance characteristic of the arrogant seigneur of the period. - -But at that critical time in the history of the Eastern Empire, the -wearer of the Imperial Crown required not only courage, but talents and -diplomacy of the highest degree, such as Peter neither possessed nor -found opportunity of acquiring. - -Arriving at Rome in company with his wife, Yolande, and his children, -Pope Honorius, after some pressure, was induced to crown him and his -consort; but, as Gibbon hints, performed the ceremony in the Church of -St. Lawrence, without the walls, lest by the act itself any right of -sovereignty over the ancient city should be bestowed or implied. - -In pursuance of a promise to the Venetians, the Emperor Peter, having -first sent his wife and children by sea to Constantinople, directed his -forces against the Kingdom of Epirus, then under the rule of Theodore -Comnenus. Failing in his object, he fell, either by force or fraud, into -the hands of the Greek despot, and died, by assassination or in prison, -without having entered his Imperial dominions. - -With a discretion rare, indeed, in those days, Philip, his eldest son, -refused the honour of the purple, contenting himself with the Marquisate -of Namur, his paternal fief; whereupon Robert, the younger brother, -accepted the burden of the crown, and having, with due precaution, -journeyed to Constantinople, was there crowned by the Patriarch Matthew, -with all pomp and circumstance, in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia. - -But in the grandeur of his coronation consisted the only splendour of -his reign. All historians combine in representing Robert as deficient in -every quality requisite for the high station he occupied and the -necessity of the realm he had been chosen to rule; even Bouchet, -self-appointed laureate to La Maison Royale de Courtenay, after -describing the death of the Emperor on his return journey from Rome, -whither he had gone to solicit against his own rebellious subjects the -thunders of the Pope, is constrained to admit that to the weakness of -this ruler may justly be attributed the disgraces which occurred in the -reign of his successor. - -Robert dying childless, the crown descended to his brother, Baldwin, the -infant son of Yolande, born during his father’s captivity. The -impossibility of an empire in the throes of dissolution being governed -by a child of seven years, compelled the barons of the realm to invite -John of Brienne, the old King of Jerusalem, to bring his wisdom and -experience to their aid; but the seeds of disintegration had too long -been sown. Notwithstanding a two-fold victory against the invader, on -the death of the veteran in 1237, the Latin supremacy in the East well -nigh vanished. - -The youthful Baldwin de Courtenay, during the life of John of Brienne, -visited many European courts in the vain hope of obtaining aid, military -or pecuniary, for the defence of his forlorn dominions, and in the -subsequent five and twenty years of his reign these visits were more -than once repeated, each time with less result, and though, in fruitless -efforts to raise men and money, he alienated his own patrimony of Namur -and Courtenay, although in desperation he sold the sacred treasures of -his capital—the Crown of Thorns and other relics reputed equally -holy—yet his utmost efforts could in no wise avert the doom which -threatened the Empire, but only availed to postpone for a while the -final catastrophe. - -At last the determination of Michael Palæologus brought the struggle to -an end. Constantinople was invested and taken by the Greeks, the last -remnant of Latin sway, in the person of the Emperor Baldwin and his -family, taking refuge on board the Venetian fleet, which lay anchored in -the Bosphorous. - -With Baldwin and his son Philip, titular Emperor of Constantinople, -ended the elder branch of the Courtenay family, for the latter left one -daughter only, who married Charles of Valois, a prince aptly described -as “son of a King, brother of a King, uncle to a King, and father to a -King, but yet himself no King.” - -The elevation of three of its members to the Imperial throne undoubtedly -conferred great honour on the House of Courtenay, but the after results -most adversely affected the surviving members. While other families -connected with the French monarchy increased in wealth and influence, -the severe struggles made by three generations to maintain their -Imperial dignity so impoverished the ancestral domains that the -successive holders, though undeniably of Royal descent and near -relationship to the reigning dynasty, were not esteemed, and could not -obtain recognition of their claims to be considered as Princes of the -Blood Royal. It is true, however, that much doubt exists as to whether -in the early days of the French nobility, kinship with the King implied -any superiority of rank over others nobly born. - -Le Comte Boulainvilliers, to whose family the Seigneurie of Courtenay, -after its alienation, had been given as a royal fief, declares, in his -“Dissertation sur la Noblesse de France”: “The French knew nothing of -Princes among themselves; consanguinity (_parenté_) to Kings gave no -rank the same as if descended in the male line. This is evident by the -examples of the Houses of Dreux, of Courtenay, and the junior branches -of the House of Bourbon.” - -Indeed, it is quite apparent to all who read early French history that -the King exercised merely nominal authority over the nobility, and was -considered but as a chief and leader among those of equal birth and -descent, though differing in degree. It cost King Louis VI. a vast deal -of trouble to reduce the pretensions of the Seigneurs of Montlehery, -who, allied by marriage to the houses of Flanders and Courtenay, -conceived themselves in all essentials to be equal to and independent of -their titular monarch, while even more cogent testimony to the same -effect, redolent also to a great degree of the atmosphere of the times, -is borne by the subjoined letter from Thibaut, Comte de Champagne, to -the Abbot of St Denis, Governor of the Realm in the absence of the -King:—“This is to let you know that Renaud de Courtenay hath done great -injury to the King, ... for he hath seized on certain merchants that are -the King’s subjects, who have discharged their toll at Orleans and Sens, -and hath stripped them of all their goods. It is, therefore, necessary, -to order him in the King’s name, they be set at liberty and all that -belongs to them restored. In case he refuse ... and you be desirous to -march an army against him, ... let me know, and I will send you aid.” - -After the extinction of the elder branch in the persons of the Emperor -Baldwin and his son, the House of Courtenay became so divided that, in -the many ramifications of descent and consequent division of goods, the -Seigneurs de Champignelles, de Tanlay, d’Arrablay, de Ferté Loupiere, -etc., lost their pride of place, and were undistinguishable from the -remainder of the nobility, direct evidence of which is furnished by the -fact that Bouchet, who certainly loses no opportunity of enhancing the -grandeur of the race, places over the arms of the Lord of D’Illier the -nine-pointed coronet of a seigneur, and not, as on other occasions, the -crown, embellished with fleur-de-lys, which designated the Royal House -of France. - -Yet the right of the Courtenays to be considered of Royal blood is -incontrovertible, testimony to it being borne by many deeds of partition -and contracts of marriage to which members of the reigning family -affixed their signatures, in each case describing themselves as -relations and cousins. - -Moreover, even in the nineteenth century, the head of the House of -Courtenay received a summons to the funeral of Henri Dieudonné, Comte de -Chambord, Henri Cinq de France, as “notre parent et cousin.” - -Fifteen years after the surviving members had lodged a final petition -for the restoration of their rights of blood, “by the eternal doom of -Fate’s decree,” the death of Charles Roger de Courtenay, the last male -of the line, the controversy was closed; and thus what Gibbon calls the -plaintive motto of the House: “Ubi lapsus, quid feci?” for the second -time in history received the endorsement of truth. - -But while two branches of the race grew, flourished, and fell, a third -division rose to rank and fortune in this island, becoming closely -allied by links of property and title with Devon, the fairest shire in -the English land—links which the space of 750 years has strengthened, -the glamour of an historic name, the charm of many a noble nature, have -rendered unbreakable. - -In olden times, a nation made it a point of honour to claim descent from -ancestors who had participated in the siege of Troy. Fashions change. In -the twentieth century, if an individual rises to such eminence that he -is elevated to the peerage, the world knows he must have had a father, -and presumes he had a grandfather. When the presumption can be carried -back for a generation or two, the basis of an ancient descent is so -firmly laid that a visit to the Heralds’ College will inevitably result -in the discovery of a progenitor among those who fought with Norman -William at the battle of Senlac, undoubtedly, judging from their reputed -descendants, the most prolific band of warriors that ever peopled a -conquered country. - -In this, as in some other attributes, the Courtenays differ from the -modern aristocracy. - -The first mention of a Courtenay in English history occurs in the reign -of Henry II., and although Bouchet, with true prophetic instinct, -considers it necessary to allege that a certain Guillaume de Courtenay -crossed over with the army of William of Normandy, the Battle Abbey roll -of William Tailleur does not contain the name; but a “Cortney” may be -found in the probably inaccurate transcriptions of the same, which have -been inserted in the Chronicles of Stowe and Holinshed. A certain degree -of doubt, however, exists as to the identity of the first Courtenay -mentioned in English records. - -Dugdale, copying the register of the monks of Forde Abbey—a foundation -which benefited largely by the munificence of the family, and, as long -as the spring flowed, lost no opportunity of gratifying their ancestral -pride—declares that the founder of the name in this country was -Reginald, a son of Florus, younger son of Lewis le Gross, King of -France, who assumed the name of Courtenay from his mother, the heir -female of that family. - -History is silent as to whether Peter, seventh son of Louis le Gros, -ever bore the designation of Florus; but it is undoubtedly proved by -Bouchet and others that the said Peter married a daughter of Reginald de -Courtenay, and enjoying her possessions, called himself by the title of -her seigneurie. It is also fairly assured that the offspring of this -noble couple did not number among them any son of the name of Reginald, -and the preponderance of authority seems to show that the Reginald, -friend of Queen Alienore of Aquitaine, who, being divorced from King -Louis, afterwards married Henry of England, was probably the father of -that Elizabeth de Courtenay who became allied with the Royal family of -France. - -On many occasions a de Courtenay is mentioned as accompanying Henry on -his travels; and in the year 1167, Roger de Hoveden records that -“Reginald de Curteney” witnessed a treaty of peace between Henry II. of -England and Roderick, King of Connaught. - -For services rendered to the State, Henry, in exercise of his -prerogative, gave as wards to Reginald de Courtenay, probably the one -aforesaid, the two daughters of Matilda, herself daughter of Randolph -Avenel. - -Reginald immediately married the elder, Hawise, and bestowed her -half-sister, Maude, on a William de Courtenay, possibly his son, -probably, as Cleveland thinks, his brother. - -Hawise, as sole heiress to her father, Robert d’Abrincis, and descended -from Baldwin de Brionis, a valorous Norman knight, inherited large -estates in the West of England—the Barony of Okehampton, the Shrievalty -of Devonshire, the custody of the Castle of Exeter, and the title of -Vicecomes or Viscount; both dignities and land, as was the custom in -those days, being enjoyed, “jure uxoris,” by her husband, Reginald de -Courtenay, passed to the child of their marriage, Robert, who still -further augmented the position of the family by marrying in his turn -Mary, younger daughter of William de Redvers or Rivers, sixth Earl of -Devon, through whom the House of Courtenay finally obtained the title -which they retain to this day. - -The policy of Henry III. deprived Robert de Courtenay of the Viscounty -of Devon and the custody of Exeter Castle, but the Barony of Okehampton -still remained in the line, being successively held by John and Henry, -son and grandson of the said Robert. - -In 1262, by the failure of heirs male, Isabella, daughter of Baldwin, -seventh Earl, and his wife, Amicia, became Countess of Devonshire. This -masterful lady married William de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle, and, -surviving her husband and children for more than thirty years, exercised -despotic sway over the wide domains belonging to her. She erected a weir -across the River Exe, even now called Countess Weir, for the benefit, as -she declared, of her mills situated on both banks, though the citizens -of Exeter were of different opinion, and on their oaths did aver that -the Countess had “made a great Purpresture or Nusance ... to the -Annoyance, Hurt and Damage of the said City.” - -At her death, in 1292, the Earldom of Devon reverted to Sir Hugh -Courtenay, second of the name, Baron of Okehampton, through his -great-grandmother, Mary de Rivers, daughter of William de Ripariis, -Redvers or Rivers, sixth Earl. - -Some forty years after the death of his predecessor, Sir Hugh was -summoned by writ, without any further creation, to take his seat as -Earl, but before then he participated in many Parliaments as a Baron, -both Stowe and Holinshed alleging that he was one of the two Lords of -that rank who carried a solemn message to King Edward II., demanding -from him the abdication of the throne. - -Chiefly by means of judicious matrimonial alliances, the first members -of the English Courtenays added largely to their rank and possessions. - -Following the good example, Hugh, third of the name and second Earl, -wedded, in 1325, Margaret, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of -Hereford, Lord High Constable of England, by her obtaining that appanage -associated so intimately with the Courtenay name as known in their own -county, the beautiful castle and demesne of Powderham. Earl Hugh -assigned this residence and estate to his younger son, Philip, from whom -is descended the present branch of the family. - -High in rank, possessed of great territory, honoured in the council, -foremost in the fray, for a hundred and fifty years the Courtenays of -Devon occupied a great place in English history. They took part in the -battles of Halidon Hill, Creçy, the siege of Rouen, the triumphal entry -into Paris; as Admirals of the West, repelled invasion; as Governors of -the County, exercised extensive jurisdiction; and in their just pride of -station, contended with the Earls of Arundel as to who should take -precedence as premier Peer in the degree which they held. - -Their functions, when acting as rulers of the county, were varied, for -it is stated that in 1383 a command was issued to them by the King, -ordering the punishment of “certain malefactors and troublers of our -peace ... come lately to Topsham and by force of arms have taken Peter -Hill, a certain messenger of the Venerable Father, William, Archbishop -of Canterbury, and with no small cruelty and threatening compelled him -to eat the wax of a certain seal of the said Archbishop.” - -This William, son of Hugh, second Earl, at first Bishop of London, -afterwards raised to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury, possessed so -fully the hereditary courage of his opinions that he not only resolutely -opposed the weighty influence of the Duke of Lancaster and Lord Percy of -Northumberland, when exercised by them in favour of John Wicliffe, but -also as Adam, Archdeacon of Usk, pathetically declares: “Eciam a facie -istius regis Ricardi, ille vir perfectissimus Willelmus Cantuariensis -Archiepiscopus quia hujus modi taxe resistere volens.” The strength of -the superlative epithet is justified by the said tax having been levied -solely against the clergy. - -But the prosperity of the Courtenays, as of most other noble families in -England, was rudely disturbed by the outbreak of civil strife—the Wars -of the Roses. Supporting strongly the House of Lancaster, they shared in -undue proportions the calamities which befel that party, three -successive Earls of Devon, the sons of Thomas, fifth in title, giving -their lives for the cause they supported. Thomas, the elder of the -three, taken at Towton, was soon after executed, as historians say, to -appease the ghost of the Duke of York. A few years later, Henry, his -brother, met the same fate; while John, the youngest, fell in the -disastrous battle of Tewkesbury, the great estates of the family being -escheated by the King. - -Yet once more, with the triumph of Henry VII., the fortunes of the -ancient house revived. The King annulled the attainder and restored the -ancestral domains to the faithful noble who had followed him into exile -and fought by his side at Bosworth Field, subsequently sanctioning also -the marriage of the eldest son, Sir William Courtenay, with Katherine, -the younger daughter of the late King Edward IV.; though this royal -alliance, as was often the case in such connections, only led to -suspicion on the part of the reigning monarch and calamity to the -aspiring bridegroom. - -In the succeeding reign, Henry, the child of this marriage, stood high -in the favour of the monarch. As the boon companion of his cousin the -King, he tilted with him at Greenwich; as his brother-in-arms, he fought -at the Battle of the Spurs; in the office of Lord High Steward, he -presided over the trial of those persons who had fallen under the Royal -displeasure; and finally the honour of a Marquisate was bestowed, and -Henry, seventh Earl of Devon, became the first Marquis of Exeter. - -But the friendship of Henry VIII. was almost as deadly as his enmity. -Accused of treason, neither personal virtues nor high connections -availed anything, and so the Marquis of Exeter was arrested, tried, and -executed. Hume, in this connection, remarks: “We know little concerning -the justice or iniquity of the sentence pronounced against these men: we -only know that the condemnation of a man who was at that time prosecuted -by the court forms no presumption of his guilt”; but with characteristic -ambiguity he continues: “Though ... we may presume that sufficient -evidence was produced against the Marquis of Exeter and his associates.” - -In the light of present knowledge, it is not difficult to conjecture the -causes of this unfortunate nobleman’s downfall. There were two actions -Henry VIII. never forgave: Failure to obey his wishes, tantamount to -disobedience to his commands; and friendship, or even tolerance, towards -those whom he chose to consider his enemies. - -There is little doubt that Henry Courtenay committed the former as well -as the latter form of “lèse majesté.” A letter from Sir Thomas More to -Cardinal Wolsey is still extant, in which he writes:—“And as touching -the ouverture made by my Lord Shevers for the marriage of my Lord of -Devonshire the King is well content and as me seemyth very glad of the -motion, wherein he requireth your Grace that it may lyke you to call my -Lord of Devonshire to your Grace and to advise him secretly to forbere -any further treate of marriage with my Lord Mountjoy.” - -Now, in 1526, Henry, Marquis of Exeter, married, as his second wife, -Gertrude, daughter of Lord Mountjoy, as this letter shows in opposition -to the wishes of the King; and although, truly, the matter cannot in any -way be considered of importance, yet the fact that the lady was a strong -supporter of the ancient Church, taken in conjunction with the jealousy -obviously shown by Henry towards the power and authority exercised in -the West Country by all who bore the Courtenay name, may well have had -an influence over the fate of the unfortunate nobleman. - -The actual charge, in the State Trial, alleged complicity with the -designs of Cardinal Pole and a desire to deprive the King of his -prerogatives. At this period of his reign, the one great object of -Henry’s life was to assert his supremacy over the English Church—that -church in whose services and welfare he showed such deep interest, not -only by the extreme frequency with which he celebrated the marriage -ceremony, but also by the tenacious affection he displayed for her -temporal possessions. - -Reginald Pole, at one time Dean of Exeter, born of a royal stock, allied -with many noble English houses, a Cardinal, and deep in the councils of -the Pope, was an unsparing opponent of Henry’s aspirations; so if, as -Burnet says, “There were very severe invectives printed at Rome against -King Henry, in which there were nothing omitted which could make him -appear as the blackest of tyrants, ... and Cardinal Pole’s style was -known in some of them,” even a kindly expression, much less a spirit of -friendliness towards the author of these attacks would be amply -sufficient to draw on anyone, be he gentle or simple, the wrath of -Henry, who “never spared man in his anger, or woman in his lust.” - -Therefore, as Wriothesley, in his Chronicle, relates: “The third of the -same month, the Lord Henry Courtney, Marquis of Exceter and Earle of -Devonshire, and the Kinge’s neare kinsman, was arraigned at Westminster -Hall ... and there condempned to death, for treason against the Kinge by -the counsaille of Raynold Poole, Cardinall ... which pretended to have -enhaunsed the Bishop of Rome’s usurped authority againe, lyke traitors -to God and their Prince.” - -The same strain of royal blood, breeding jealousy and mistrust, which -had caused the imprisonment of the grandfather and the death of the -father, inflicted also heavy penalties on the son. Edward, only child of -Henry and Gertrude Courtenay, though but twelve years old at the date of -his father’s execution, was then committed to the Tower, and there -remained close prisoner for fifteen years. - -Released by Mary on her first regal entry into London, restored to his -hereditary titles and property, endowed, moreover, with ample bodily and -many mental charms, the youthful Earl of Devonshire rapidly rose into -favour, and at one time was even considered as a fitting aspirant for -the hand of the Queen. - -But to a young man of twenty-seven, the greater part of whose life had -been spent amid the gloom and seclusion of a State prison, with only -such amusements as the translation of Italian theological treatises -could afford, or other similar exercises, whether physical or mental, as -the gaoler would allow, the freedom of the outer world presented greater -temptations than his untrained nature could resist. Yielding to the -dissipations of the court and, so ’tis said, the more sordid pleasures -of the town, Edward Courtenay sacrificed to the enjoyment of the moment -the opportunities which were offered him of gratifying splendid -ambitions, and, too high placed to be disregarded, became, as his -progenitors before him, an object of mistrust and suspicion to the -occupant of the throne. - -This unfortunate youth has been accused not only of ingratitude to his -royal benefactress by making secret advances to her sister, the Princess -Elizabeth, but also of the serious offence of disloyalty and treason -towards the monarch. But though, indeed, he may have committed the -former mistake, a critical examination of the evidence produced clears -him of knowing and wilful participation in any of the serious plots -which the proposed marriage of the Queen with Philip of Spain had -aroused among her subjects. Sir Thomas Wyat unreservedly absolved -Courtenay from all knowledge of his rising, and the leniency with which -Mary, little given to clemency, extended towards the Earl shows that -she, at least, believed in his innocence. - -Probably the truest aspect of the case is shown by Burnet, who declares, -when writing of the harsh treatment dealt to Elizabeth by her royal -sister: “Others suggest a more secret reason for this dispute. The new -Earl of Devonshire was much in the Queen’s favour, so that it was -thought that she had some inclination to marry him, but he, either not -presuming so high or having an aversion to her and an inclination to her -sister, who of that moderate share of beauty which was between them had -much the better of her and was nineteen years younger, made his -addresses with more than ordinary concern to the Lady Elizabeth, and -this did bring them both into trouble.” - -[Illustration - - _From the original portrait by Sir Antonio More, at - Woburn._] [_Engraved by T. Chambars._ - EDWARD COURTENAY, EARL OF DEVONSHIRE. - -] - -It is plain enough that this young man, little older and assuredly not -more experienced than a boy, was a tool in the hands of those astute -intriguers, de Noailles and Simon Renard, the French and Spanish -ambassadors. The one, strenuously opposing the Spanish marriage, the -other, equally determined in his advocacy of the alliance, united in -using the innocent Earl of Devonshire as a factor in their game, with -disastrous results to the unfortunate victim. - -Advised to remove himself far from the scene of those intrigues which -had caught him in their net, Edward Courtenay departed for the Continent -with the declared intention of travelling to distant lands, even to -Constantinople. That he had no consciousness of having committed a great -offence is evident from his correspondence; for while frequently -expressing the hope that he may soon be home again, he asks a friend to -give him a buck and some does, so that his park may be stocked with -deer, and gleefully relates that the Emperor and King Philip had -received him kindly. But his health is not good. He suffers, so he -writes, from a disease in his hip from cold; there is, also, much plague -about; and then no more is heard until the news arrives from Peter -Vannes, the English ambassador to the Venetian Republic, who was staying -at Padua, announcing that Edward, Earl of Devonshire, had died in that -city, on September 18th, 1556. _Ubi lapsus, quid feci?_ - -Noble and honoured in degree, gifted with many admirable and amiable -qualities, the fairest prospects open before them, yet, one after the -other, successive Earls of Devon, like their even more exalted -ancestors, perished in sorrow and adversity, until, as was generally -believed, their ancient title became extinct. - -Yet, far away in the West Country, beneath the oaks of Powderham, while -the elder branches dropped or were snapped off, the descendants of Sir -Philip Courtenay, youngest son of Hugh, second Earl of Devon, lived and -thrived, gaining among their own people a love and devotion which has -endured the strain of centuries and the many vicissitudes of fortune. - -Through the course of years the Courtenays of Powderham followed the -example of their greater kinsmen, taking part in events of national -importance, bearing themselves with distinction against the foreign foe; -with hereditary courage and self-denial opposing the usurper, Richard of -Gloucester, and, in defeat as well as in victory, supporting the cause -of Henry VII. - -But in all things, great or small, they essentially were Devonshire -leaders of Devonshire men—living among their own people, beloved and -respected by them. - -Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter in 1437, expended his energy and -substance in maintaining and improving the Cathedral, and to this day -the great bell which he hung in the north tower is called by his name, -Great Peter. - -Many a Devonshire Courtenay sat as Knight of the Shire for his native -County; others of the family filled the office of Sheriff; and thus for -340 years this branch of the house did its duty punctually and well, -earning fresh honours and new titles in the place of those which lay in -abeyance. - -On the death of Edward, eighth Earl, in 1556, at Padua, the Courtenays -of Powderham were represented by Sir William Courtenay, who died at the -siege of St. Quintin, a few months after the decease of his noble -kinsman, his son and successor, also called William, being but four -years old at the time. - -It may be that the tidings of the death of the head of the house were -long in travelling from Italy to distant Devonshire. It may be that none -of the living members of the family were cognizant of the facts of the -case; but whatever the reasons, for 260 years the Earldom of Devon was -regarded as lapsed, and no successor claimed its honour and dignity, -though some indications may, indeed, be found, both in written records -and the behaviour of individuals, of a belief that the title, though -latent, was not extinct. - -Gibbon, who himself has conferred a great and undying honour on the -family by devoting, in his monumental work, a whole chapter to the -history of the Courtenays, uses this significant expression: “His -personal honours as if they had been legally extinct”; and in 1660, when -Charles II. offered the dignity of a Baronetcy to the then Sir William -Courtenay, it was, as Cleveland relates, refused, “he not affecting that -title because he thought greater of right belonged to him. Indeed, the -patent of Baronetcy was never taken out, although his successors were -always styled as such.” - -It is possible, however, that this refusal may have been due to the -natural irritation felt by the head of a great family at seeing his -hereditary and ancestral honours conferred on others; for in 1602, James -I. created Charles Blunt, Lord Mountjoy, Earl of Devonshire, and on his -decease, six years later, gave the same title to William Cavendish, in -whose line it remained until changed to a Dukedom. - -In the reign of William III., an offer of an English Barony was made to -the head of the Courtenays, and again refused; but in 1762, the many -services of Sir William Courtenay, eighth of the name, merited a higher -honour, and he, accepting a Peerage, took his seat in the House of Lords -as Viscount Courtenay of Powderham Castle. - -Only surviving his elevation some six months, he was succeeded by his -son, who, marrying a lady of less exalted lineage than himself, became -the parent of one son and thirteen daughters. - -This only son and heir, the tenth in thirteen generations who -successively bore the name of William, on the advice, it is said, of -that distinguished lawyer, Mr. Pepys, afterwards Lord Chancellor and -first Earl of Cottenham, in 1830 asserted, by petition to Parliament, -his right to the ancient Earldom of Devon. The grounds of the claim were -as follows: When, in the year 1553, Sir Edward Courtenay, son of Henry, -Marquis of Exeter and Earl of Devonshire, attainted and executed by -Henry VIII., after having suffered a long confinement in the Tower, -obtained from Queen Mary his release, she annulled the attainder, and -created him, by special patent, “to hold the title and dignity of Earl -of Devon with the said honours and pre-eminence thereunto belonging, to -the aforesaid Edward and his _heir male for ever_” (“prefato Edwardo et -heredibus suis masculis imperpetuum”). And this phrase is again repeated -later: “Do grant to the aforesaid now Earl that he and his _heirs male_ -may enjoy ... the same pre-eminence as any of the ancestors of the said -Earl being heretofore Earl of Devon may have enjoyed.” - -With great lucidity and deep knowledge of the subject, Mr. Pepys -maintained that, whereas in the majority of patents it was usual to -restrict the title to the recipient and his direct descendants (heirs -male of his body), in this instance, as shown by the wording of the -deed, the Sovereign deliberately intended to restore the Earldom to the -heir male of Hugh, second Earl of Devon, which position was undoubtedly -occupied by the claimant, William, Viscount Courtenay. - -Certain cases were cited in support of this contention, especially the -charter given by Richard II. creating William le Scrope Earl of -Wiltshire, and special reference was made to a patent of Charles I. -appointing Lewis Boyle Baron of Bandon Bridge, which contained a -declaration explaining the express intention of words absolutely similar -to those used in the deed concerning the Earldom of Devon. The claim was -tried before the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords, -consisting of the Lord Chancellor (Lord Brougham) and Lord Wynford, who -himself, as Sir W. Draper-Best, had lately been raised to the peerage, -for the reason, as Greville, in his Memoirs, amusingly remarks, “that he -is to assist the Chancellor in deciding Scotch causes of which he knows -nothing whatever; as the Chancellor knows nothing either, the Scotch law -is likely to be strangely administered.” The decision in this case which -related to an English peerage, however, was eminently just, and the -House resolved and adjudged: “That William, Viscount Courtenay, hath -made out his claim to the title, honour, and dignity of Earl of Devon.” - -By this decision, William, Lord Courtenay, succeeded to one of the great -historical titles of England, for the Earl of Devon is justly entitled -to rank with his brothers of Shrewsbury, Derby, Huntingdon, and -Pembroke, who, occupying Earldoms created before 1600, have been -designated Catskin Earls—a name concerning the derivation of which -authorities differ, some alleging that the ancient trimming of an Earl’s -gown consisted of cat skin, in the place of ermine; while others are -inclined to believe that in early times Peers of this rank were -permitted to wear four (quatre) rows of fur on their coronation robes. -It is to be feared that now this question “des jupons” will never be -definitely settled. - -On the successful issue of his claim, William, ninth Earl of Devon, both -at Powderham, in London, and in Paris, maintained a state which, however -worthy of the vast domains appertaining to his great ancestors, yet cast -a heavy burden on the mere moderate appanage inherited by himself, with -the inevitable result that the estates were encumbered and the successor -to the title seriously embarrassed. He died, a bachelor, in 1835, being -succeeded by his cousin, William, the representative of a younger branch -of the family derived from Sir William Courtenay, third Baronet. - -This nobleman, before his accession to the Peerage, sat in the House of -Commons as Member for the City of Exeter, at one time also filling the -post of Clerk to Parliament. After a long and valuable life, he died in -1859, the succession devolving upon his son, William Reginald, eleventh -Earl, whose name is still a household word in the land with which he and -his have so long been associated. - -Marrying Lady Elizabeth Fortescue, a member of a house also closely and -honourably connected with the best traditions of the county, Lord Devon, -in all things which he undertook, exercised an influence indeed worthy -of his illustrious lineage. - -Gifted with a great kindliness of disposition—he was never known to lose -his temper or to utter a harsh opinion of others—and a high sense of the -duties and responsibilities of his position, he spent his life in -earnest endeavours, and whether as President of the Local Government -Board in Lord Derby’s Ministry, or as Chairman of the St. Thomas’ Union -in the neighbourhood of his own beautiful home, his uniform punctuality -and assiduity was only exceeded by his unfailing courtesy and -amiability. - -It has been said of “Devon’s noblest son,” as he was popularly styled, -with equal truth and felicity, that from the date of his accession to -the title till the day of his death, he identified himself with every -good work, whether in the County of Devon or the City of Exeter; those -which had as their aim the spread of religious teaching or the -advancement of the Church of England being specially near his heart. So -active was the part he played in all ecclesiastical matters, that on one -occasion, so it is currently reported, Dr. Temple, afterwards Archbishop -of Canterbury, declared: “Why, Lord Devon is almost a lay Bishop.” - -Unfortunately, carried away, perhaps, by a desire to adequately perform -the obligations of his rank, Lord Devon’s expenditure largely exceeded -the income from his property. In the hopes that it would materially -conduce to the welfare of that part of Ireland in which his estates were -situated, he laid down, mainly at his own cost, a line of railway, the -heavy outlay on which and the paucity of returns added considerably to -the encumbrances which then burdened him. It should, however, be stated -that in the last few years this line, which cost its maker so dearly, -has been bought by an important Irish railway company for many thousands -of pounds. - -The embarrassments which these ventures charged upon the property were, -moreover, in no way lightened by the successor to the title, Edward -Baldwin, twelfth Earl, whose expenditure as M.P. for East Devon and for -the City of Exeter, as well as his fondness for sport in many branches, -added costly burdens to an already overweighted exchequer. - -And thus, by a proneness to follow the dictates of a benevolent heart or -the desire to indulge in magnificence consonant with ancient tradition, -without adequate consideration with regard to the means by which the -impulse was to be gratified, the glories of the Earldom of Devon have -been shorn of their just splendour, and the holders of the dignity -deprived of the due means of maintaining their hereditary station. - -Edward Baldwin died in 1891, and was succeeded by his uncle, Henry Hugh, -thirteenth Earl and Rector of Powderham, who married Lady Anna Maria -Leslie, sister to the eleventh Earl of Rothes. By her, whose charity and -simple-minded goodness of heart made her universally beloved, he had two -sons—Henry Reginald, Lord Courtenay, who married Lady Evelyn Pepys, -youngest daughter of the first Earl of Cottenham, predeceasing his -father in 1898; and Hugh Leslie, who is still living. Lord Devon died in -February, 1904, at the ripe age of 93, having survived his beloved wife -by seven years. - -_Ubi lapsus, quid feci?_ Surely, if worldly prosperity could be earned -by a blameless life and a just discharge of every duty, Henry Hugh, -thirteenth Earl of Devon, Rector of Powderham, and Prebendary of Exeter, -would have enjoyed wealth beyond the desires of man; surely, if the -highest place and the greatest honours could be gained by courage and -devotion, they would have adorned his noble son, Henry Reginald, Lord -Courtenay, who bore the suffering and faced the inevitable end of a -dread disease with an heroic courage which more than equalled the deeds -of his chivalrous ancestors. - -It is to be deplored, in these days, when wealth has usurped to an undue -extent that place which used formerly to be the privilege of high birth -or great intellectual attainments, that the holders of an historic -dignity are deprived, even for a time, of a revenue commensurate with -their name and station; but as it was by the legal knowledge and -forensic skill of Charles Pepys, Earl of Cottenham, the Courtenays -regained their ancestral rank, so, perhaps, it is reserved for a noble -daughter of that same distinguished family, by her wise guidance, to -assist in reviving the glories of a House which she has graced with her -alliance and enriched with her many virtues. - -Yet to those who saw the crowds, all sorts and conditions of men, which -thronged the little churchyard at Powderham when the last four -Courtenays were laid to rest, it was plainly evident that in their own -fair county of Devon, the land of the green hill and the flowing river, -the love which is felt for all who bear the Courtenay name is not -measured by the breadth of their acres or the length of their -purse-strings, but in the heart of everyone who knows this ancient house -and its kindly members, there exists a genuine and sincere wish that the -Royal Courtenays may ever flourish in all fulness of health, honour, and -prosperity. - - H. M. IMBERT-TERRY, F.R.L.S. - -[Illustration - - _From a Drawing by F. Wilkinson._] [_Engraved by J. Mills, 1830._ - DOORWAY OF KING JOHN’S TAVERN, EXETER. - -] - - - - - OLD INNS AND TAVERNS OF EXETER. - - BY THE LATE ROBERT DYMOND, F.S.A. - - Whoe’er has travelled life’s dull round, - Where’er his stages may have been, - May sigh to think he still has found - The greatest comfort in an inn. - —_Shenstone._ - - -In one of his oracular and sententious utterances, Dr. Johnson declared -that “there is nothing that has yet been contrived by man by which so -much happiness is produced, as by a good tavern or inn.” But, inasmuch -as Boswell tells us that this opinion was pronounced just after the -great doctor had “dined at an excellent inn,” we may fairly receive the -sentiment as the pair received their meal—with a grain of salt. It would -be foreign to the purpose of this paper to enlarge upon the benefits or -to denounce the evils connected with inns and taverns. It is enough to -know that they exercised on the domestic lives and habits of our -forefathers an influence sufficiently potent to establish their claim to -share the attention of historical writers with churches, and -monasteries, and castles. The Royalist tendencies of the citizens were -shown by the “King John Tavern,” in the Serge Market, at the head of -South Street; the “Plume of Feathers,” at the bottom of North Street; -the “Unicorn,” in the Butcher Row; the “King’s Head,” formerly in -Spiller’s Lane; and the “Crown and Sceptre,” in North Street. - -The oldest of Exeter inns having anything like a connected history was -known for centuries by the inappropriate title of the “New Inn.” We may -enter it now without any suspicion of its antiquity. Of the ladies of -the present day who are so familiar with the house, which bears over its -alluring portal the name of “Green & Son,” probably not one in a hundred -suspects that her ancestors knew it equally well as the principal inn in -Exeter. The archives of the Corporation and of the Dean and Chapter, to -whom it jointly belonged, make frequent mention of the “New Inn,” the -earliest being a lease in 1456, by which the Master and Brethren of the -Magdalen Hospital granted to Roger Schordych and Joan, his wife, two -tenements opposite “le Newe Inne,” in the parish of St. Stephen. It -appears from Shillingford’s _Letters_ (p. 85), that the inn was then -“newly built,” and one of the frequent squabbles between the Cathedral -and the City authorities arose out of a “purpresture” or encroachment -said to have been made there by the Chapter. A few years later, as we -learn from Mr. Cotton’s _Gleanings_ (p. 11), an entry was made in the -accounts of the Receiver to the Chamber of 3_s._ 4_d._, disbursed for -“four gallons of wine sent to Lord Stafford at the Newynne.” From this -time it often occurs on successive renewals of the lease. In John -Hoker’s _Extracts from the Act Books of the Chamber_, we find that on -the 16th February, 1554, during the mayoralty of John Midwinter, that -body resolved to establish at the “New Inn” the cloth mart previously -kept at the “Eagle” from 1472—"The newe Inne to be bought of Christian, -the wydowe of Thomas Petefyn, and the same to be converted into a -commodious hall for all manner of clothe, Lynnen or wollyn, and for all -other m’chandises and w^{ch} shalbe called the m’chaunts hall." In -pursuance of this arrangement, Edward Clase and Elizabeth, his wife, who -had succeeded Thomas Peytevin, surrendered their lease to the Chamber in -1555. The Act Book also shows that Thomas Johnson was deprived of the -tenure of the “New Inn” on the 25th July, 1582, and was succeeded by -Valentine Tooker (or Tucker). This tenant had a misunderstanding with -the municipal authorities, in which he induced some of his mercantile -customers to take up his cause; for amongst the municipal records is a -letter addressed to the Chamber on the 20th of June, 1612, in which -Matthew Springham, Walter Clarke, John Pettye, and eighteen other London -merchants, intercede for Tooker, who had received notice to quit his -“nowe dwelling howse, the Newe Inn”; and they pray that in consideration -of his years and services “some stipend may be given him.” Shortly after -this, Valentine Tooker died, and in 1617 his sons, Thomas and Samuel, -state, in a letter to Ignatius Jurdaine, the Mayor, that their father -had recovered £43 13_s._ 4_d._ from the Chamber by a Decree in Chancery -for being compelled to leave the New Inn, of which he had been tenant -for many years, and they desired that it might be paid without putting -them to the charge of taking out the Decree under the Great Seal. They -thought it hard that their father should, without any just cause or -indemnity, be thrust out of doors, “after keeping the New Inn for more -than thirty years, behaving himself honestly, and paying his rent duly, -albeit two or three several times raysed and enhanced therein on the -promise afterwards to enjoy it for his life.” Notes are added in favour -of the petitioners by the brothers Richard and Symon Baskerville. - -This Simon Baskerville, a near relative of the Mayor, was a man of note -and influence at this time. He was the son of Thomas Baskerville, an -Exeter apothecary, and was born in the city in 1573. He was successively -appointed physician to James I. and Charles I., from the latter of whom -he received the honour of knighthood. A mural tablet in St. Paul’s, -London, records that “Near this place lyeth the body of that worthy and -learned gentleman, Sir Simon Baskerville, Knight and Doctor in Physick, -who departed this life the fifth of July, 1641, aged 68 years.” The -transactions between the sons of Valentine Tooker and the Chamber appear -to have closed on the 3rd of April, 1618, when they acknowledged the -receipt from that body of £6 16_s._, “in full satisfaction, recompence -and payment, of and for the full and uttermoste value of all those -selynges, stayned or paynted, clothes, shelfes, and all other goods, -chattels,” etc., left by them in the “New Inn.” - -After the year 1612, we find many references to the “New Inne Halle” or -Merchants’ Hall. This was let separately from the inn, and was used as -an Exchange, where the cloth merchants congregated, and where the three -great yearly cloth fairs drew together traffickers from all parts to -carry on the trade previously conducted at “le Egle,” opposite the -Guildhall. These merchants rented stalls or shops, which were also -distinct from the inn, and in 1640 they petitioned the Chamber to -prevent “foreigners,” by whom they meant non-residents, from buying and -selling to one another in the city. They suggested that “the hygher -roome of Sent Johns (Hospital) be ordenyd to be a store as a roome -annyxt unto the New In halle, to reseve all wols browght unto thys -cyttaye by foreners.” These restrictive and protectionist measures, -operating with the introduction of steam power, finally caused the great -woollen manufacture of the West to depart into districts where trade was -freer and coal was cheaper. - -The “New Inn” extended as far back as Catherine Street, including what -was till lately Mr. Seller’s coach factory. Perhaps the sole relic of -the original structure is the well in the cellar under this part of the -old premises. When this well was opened, in May, 1872, its circular -wrought courses of red sandstone plainly testified to its antiquity. The -stabling was on the other side of Catherine Street, on a site still used -for that purpose, and belonging to the Duke of Bedford. A fire broke out -in these stables in 1723, and their great extent is shown by the -following advertisement in Andrew Brice’s _Postmaster, or Loyal -Mercury_: “Whereas there has been a Report industriously spread abroad -by certain malicious or designing persons, that all or most of the -Stables belonging to the New Inn, in the High Street, Exon, are burnt -down;—this is to certify that the said Report is vicious and false, -there being but one only Stable any way damaged by the said late Fire; -and that there are remaining near Three times as much Stable room as -belongs to any other Inn House in that City, with handsome Accommodation -for Coaches, &c., and above an Hundred Horses.” - -The structure already referred to was the first edition of the “New Inn” -on that site. About the time of the Restoration of Monarchy the house -appears to have been re-built, and then was erected the great Apollo -Room, which still remains the chief ornament of the house. This splendid -apartment is 32½ feet long by 23½ feet wide, and before the floor was -raised by Messrs. Green to increase the height of the shop below, it was -17 feet high. The original contract for the construction of the rich and -elaborate ceiling appears to have been made with the Chamber by Richard -Over, who was to receive £50 “for his skill and labour in playstering -the fore chamber, or dining-room, in the New Inn, according to the form -and mould which he hath propounded and laid down in a scheme or map.” -But the work appears to have been begun in 1689 by Thomas Lane, a -plasterer, for five shillings a yard, and on the following 20th of March -he was paid by the Chamber £50 for this admirable work of art. It -displays the royal arms, with those of the See of Exeter, and of the -county families of Hillersdon, Calmady, Prestwood, Acland, and -Radcliffe. The name of this fine room may possibly have been borrowed -from the Apollo Club in London, near Temple Bar, a place of great resort -in the reign of James I. Its principal room was called the Oracle of -Apollo, the bust of the god being set above the door of the room, whilst -over the entrance to the house were some verses beginning:— - - Welcome all who lead or follow - To the Oracle of Apollo. - -Perhaps our county magistrates sought his inspiration when they met at -the “New Inn” for public business. Amongst the many illustrious visitors -who have been lodged there, none ever excited more curiosity than that -great potentate, Cosmo III., Grand Duke of Tuscany, who came with an -imposing retinue, on his way to London, in the spring of 1669. The Mayor -and Alderman waited on him in full state, and were received in a saloon -above stairs, perhaps the one that was afterwards converted into the -Apollo Room. His highness graciously desired the Mayor to be covered, -listened patiently to the inevitable speech or address, accepted the -gift of money (£20), which it was then customary to present to great -personages, but politely declined his worship’s invitation to a banquet. -The Grand Duke afterwards received Sir John Rolle and his two sons, John -and Denys, and on the next day returned the visit at their house in the -Close, formerly the town mansion of the Abbot of Buckfast, and now -occupied as a school by Mrs. Hellins. The fortunes of the “New Inn” -began to decline when the Cloth Fair was removed to St. John’s Hospital -in 1778, and its decay was probably hastened by the rivalry of the -“London Inn,” now the “Bude Haven Hotel.” In his _Grand Gazetteer_, -published a little before this time, Andrew Brice describes the “New -Inn” as “not undeserving mention, not only as having most or all the -Properties of an Inn super-excellent, but especially for one most -magnificent lofty and large room, called the Apollo; the Fellow of which -scarce any Inn in the Kingdom can truly boast. It’s the property of the -Chamber. Herein is kept the present Cloth Hall, and at Whitsuntide fairs -the whole Court and nearly every Room are filled with Clothiers and -their wares. It may casually be acceptable to some or other of the -worthy Fraternity to note also that the said Apollo is the only -constituted Lodge of Exeter Freemasons.” When the testy but clever -author of this description ended his long life in 1773, two hundred of -his brother Freemasons, members of several lodges, met in full costume -at the Apollo Room, and joined the funeral procession to St. -Bartholomew’s Yard, singing as they went a solemn Masonic elegy composed -for the occasion. It was probably not long after this event that the -premises ceased to be used as an inn; but the judges of assize continued -to be lodged there until about the year 1836, when they removed to -Northernhay Place. In a large upper room, in the rear of the “New Inn” -premises, the first popular Literary Society in Exeter held its meetings -from the year 1830. It was founded five years earlier in some rooms in -South Street, under the title of a Mechanics’ Institute. Soon after the -termination of its brief but useful existence, its place was supplied by -the still flourishing Exeter Literary Society. - -Next, if not equal, in importance to the “New Inn” was the “Mermaid,” -whose yard is now worthily occupied by two huge blocks of Industrial -Dwellings. There was a great oaken staircase, with carven handrail and -ample landings, leading to the assembly and other large rooms, for the -quality folks, on the left of the entrance. Dr. Oliver, in a -contribution to a newspaper in 1833, mentions this assembly room as -having been used for balls within the memory of old people then living. -It was 56 feet long and 17 wide. Its arched and moulded ceiling was -enriched with gold and colour. On a carved stone in the centre of the -mantelpiece (30 inches wide by 25 high), and dated 1632, were impaled -the arms of the old Devonshire families of Shapleigh and Slanning. -Travellers and casual guests were lodged on the left side of the -entrance; and besides the spacious yard there was a large garden with a -summer-house, commanding a prospect of fields and distant hills. Here -the city merchants could look down upon their ships in the haven below, -as they smoked their pipes over cups of canary, and held converse -touching their foreign ventures. The “Mermaid” was a favourite sign with -our forefathers, who had a liking for strange fishes, especially for -those connected with fable or mystery. An old book tells how, once upon -a time, a long consultation on the choice of a sign ended in the -selection of the “Mermaid,” “because,” said the hostess, “she will sing -catches to the youths of the parish.” Not from the parish only, but from -every quarter of the county, did customers of high degree make their way -to the “Mermaid” of Exeter. They sang catches, if she did not. "What -things we have seen done at the ‘Mermaid!’" wrote Beaumont to Ben -Jonson. Those dashing brethren, Sir Peter and Sir Gawen Carew, with a -gallant company of knights and squires and justices of the quorum, rode -into its yard, in 1549, after conference with the misguided Catholic -insurgents at St. Mary’s Clyst, and there, after supper, words waxed -high over the terms of dealing with the rebels. - -During the whole of the last century the “Mermaid” was a great -rendezvous for carriers; and Edward Iliffe, to whom it belonged in 1764, -was a partner with Thomas Parker, of the “New Inn,” and two others, in -one of those long vehicles, then called “machines,” advertised to carry -passengers from Exeter to London in two days. Iliffe had also “fly -waggons,” which performed the journey in four and a half days, setting -out from the “Mermaid” every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. It may be -doubted whether this promised speed was maintained, for, in the course -of some alterations of the covered entrance in 1825, discovery was made -of a board announcing under the date 1780, that “Iliffe’s Flying Van -leaves this yard every Monday morning for London, performing the journey -in six days.” Edward Iliffe sold the “Mermaid,” about the year 1810, to -Thomas Bury, a wool-stapler, who erected for himself a substantial brick -dwelling in the yard. Iliffe prospered in his business, and ended his -days at Exmouth, where he lived at Sacheverall Hall, with the title of -Esquire, and a mural tablet to his memory may yet be seen in Littleham -Church. In later times the yard became the site of a brewery, carried on -successively by Mr. Joseph Brutton and the father of the late Mr. John -Clench. All traces of its former state are now obliterated, and the -“Mermaid” no longer “sings catches to the youths of the parish.” - -But although the “Mermaid” has completely vanished, its rival, the -“Dolphin,” over the way, still retains the name, and little but the -name, that was once so widely known. Francis Pengelly, an Exeter -apothecary, its owner at the beginning of the last century, gave it in -charity to trustees for certain benevolent purposes, which were not to -take effect until after the death of Joan, his wife. Once, in 1725, the -“Dolphin” happened to remain unlet for a week, and was kept open by the -trustees. Their accounts show that during this short period there came -carriers from Moreton, Yeovil, Ashburton, Totnes, and Okehampton, with -fifty-six pack-horses amongst them. The regular charge was sixpence per -night for each horse. A century before this, the “Dolphin,” like the -“Mermaid,” was frequented by guests of a higher class. Amongst the -documents preserved in the Record Room of Exeter Guildhall are some -lengthy depositions of witnesses on a charge of murder, supposed to have -been committed by some of these. From their testimony may be gleaned the -following condensed outline of the story. It appears that on a January -night, in the year 1611, there was staying at the “Dolphin” Sir Edward -Seymour, of Berry Pomeroy, the first Devonshire member of the new order -of baronets created by James I. as a means of raising money for his -royal needs without the aid of Parliament. Sir Edward was seated in an -upper chamber, playing at cards with some friends, when the party was -joined by Master William Petre, a member of a distinguished family no -longer connected with Devonshire, and by John and Edward Drewe, then of -Killerton, but whose worthy descendants are now seated at the Grange in -Broadhembury. One of the Drewes wore a white hat and cloak, the other -was clad in black. Edward carried a short sword, and John a rapier. -These three young gallants, already flushed with wine at the “Mermaid” -and at the “Bear,” in South Street, drank “a pot or two of beer” and -some more wine with Sir Edward Seymour at the “Dolphin.” Perhaps they -were in too quarrelsome a mood to be very acceptable company, for after -tarrying there an hour, and indulging in a rude practical joke on the -tapster, they remounted their horses, dropped in at a few more taverns, -and finally rode out of the city through the East Gate. Here Will Petre -spurred on at a reckless pace up the broad highway of St. Sidwell, and -was soon lost in the darkness. The Drewes gave chase, but stopped at St. -Anne’s Chapel, and shouted to their companion by name. Receiving no -answer, they groped their way to a house where a light was burning, but -the woman of the house had seen nothing of Will Petre. They rode on to -his home, at Whipton House, and there found his horse standing, -riderless, at the gate, whereupon a servant of the house came forth and -opened the gate. He (Edward Drewe) then willed him to take of his -master’s horse, and then the servant demanded where his master was. -Drewe, contenting himself with the answer that he thought he would come -by-and-bye, rode on with his brother to their home at Killerton. The -dawn of Sunday morning showed the dead body of Will Petre lying by the -causeway near St. Anne’s Chapel, with a ghastly wound on the head. The -hue and cry was raised, and the two Drewes were taken as they lay in -their beds, and brought before the city justices on the charge of -murdering their friend. Some of the witnesses testified to a quarrel -between Edward Drewe and Will Petre; but, though the papers do not -disclose the issue of the trial, I think it must have ended in the -discharge of the accused. - -The “Bear Inn,” where the three roysterers had called for a quart of -wine, was in South Street, at the lower corner of Bear Lane. It probably -took its name from the Bere or Bear Gate, which was so styled in 1286, -when the Cathedral Close was first surrounded by a wall. It was rebuilt -in 1481, and was then the town mansion of the abbots of Tavistock, the -wealthiest, if not the oldest, of the monastic houses of Devonshire. It -is described as “le Bere Inne alias Bere” in the lease; by which John -Peryn, the last abbot, in view of the pending dissolution of his house, -leased it, in the year 1539, to Edward Brygeman and Jane, his wife, for -a term of sixty years. King Henry VIII., on the 30th January, 1546, -granted the freehold of the premises to William Abbot, Esq., by whom, on -the 15th February, 1548, they were sold to Griffin Amerideth and John -Fortescue, who, on the 28th October, 1549, renewed the lease granted by -the abbot to Edward Bridgman. Shortly afterwards the property was held -in moieties, one of which belonged to William Buckenham, Mayor of Exeter -in 1541, and was, in pursuance of his will, together with the other -moiety which he purchased of Edward Ameredith in 1565, conveyed by -Buckenham’s executor, Philip Chichester, on the 6th of March, 1566, to -the mayor, bailiffs, and commonalty of the city of Exeter, for the -benefit of the poor persons lodged in the Twelve (Ten) Cells in Billiter -Lane, now called Preston Street. Prince, in his _Worthies of Devon_, -published in 1701, tells us that the arms of Tavistock Abbey and of -Ordgar, its founder, were “to be seen in painted glass in the great -window of the dining room,” with the figure of a man standing on a -bridge. This was, no doubt, a rebus on the name of Bridgeman, the former -owner. Even so late as the beginning of the present century, when -Jenkins wrote his _History of Exeter_, he could remember that a “great -part of the old buildings, particularly the chapel, was standing a few -years since; they were built with freestone, of excellent Gothic -workmanship, decorated with fretwork panels. Mutilated inscriptions and -different sculptures were seen, and over the cornice, even with the -battlements, was a cabossed statue of a bear, holding a ragged staff -between its paws.” Dr. Shapter is the fortunate possessor of some -admirable sketches of bits of the old building from the pencil of the -late John Gendall. These show the heavy stone arches of the basement, -and a massive stone spiral staircase leading to the floor above, -evidently portions of the structure rebuilt in 1481. When newspapers -began to be published in Exeter, early in the last century, the “Bear” -appeared now and then in their quaint advertisements, and, like the -“Mermaid” and the “Dolphin,” it became a noted house for carriers. One -of these advertisements announced, in July, 1722, that “Since the widow -Wibber has left The Bear, for the Better Accommodation of Merchants, -Tradesmen, &c., who frequent the Serge Market, at The Mitre, in the same -Street, is commodious Entertainment for Man and Horse by Henry -Dashwood.” Simon Phillip advertised that he had taken the “Bear” in -1779, and when he died, in 1796, Mary, his widow, continued the -business. She kept it until it ceased to be an inn, and Robert Russell -re-modelled it for his great waggon establishment. This gentleman, -familiarly known as Robin Russell, offered to assist the Government with -three hundred draught horses at the time of the threatened French -invasion in 1798. He became wealthy, built himself a house, called -Russell House, on the quay at Exmouth, and finally died there in 1822, -at the age of 63. - -Our final notice must be given to the inn now known as the “Clarence.” -It was the first in Exeter, if not the first in England, to assume the -French title of hotel, and in its early days was commonly referred to as -“The Hotel in the Churchyard.” It was built about the year 1770 by -William Mackworth Praed, Esq., a partner in the adjacent Exeter Bank, -the oldest banking-house in the city. The first landlord of the hotel -was Peter Berlon, a clever Frenchman, who nevertheless failed in 1774, -and was succeeded by one Connor, from the well-known “Saracen’s Head” in -London. Connor remained less than two years, and the house, which was -still known as “Berlon’s Hotel,” was entered on by Richard Lloyd, who -had kept the old “Swan Inn” in High Street, where Queen Street now joins -it. Lloyd succeeded no better than Berlon, and in October, 1778, he went -to the “New Inn,” whilst his waiter, Thomas Thompson, took his place, -and the house was thenceforward known as “Thompson’s Hotel.” This -landlord fared better than his predecessors, for his reign lasted more -than twenty years. In 1799, the hotel was kept by James Phillips, but in -October, 1813, he was overtaken by the bad fortune of former landlords, -and was succeeded by Samuel Foote, from Plymouth. Foote at once -proceeded to carry out several improvements, including the restoration -of the large assembly-room. For decorating this in the “Egyptian style,” -he engaged the services of an artist named De Maria, whose work on the -ceiling is described in a newspaper of the day as a masterpiece of -“classic taste and elegance.” The new room was opened with a ball in the -following year, and in 1815 a meeting was held there to consider a plan -for lighting Exeter with gas—an invention which this city was the first -place in Devonshire to adopt. Samuel Foote was chiefly known to fame as -the parent of Maria Foote, the celebrated actress, whose brilliant -career on the stage had just commenced at the time when her father -entered on the hotel. She finally quitted the boards in 1831 to become -the wife of Charles, Earl of Harrington. The Countess survived until the -27th of December, 1867. Her only son having died in his father’s -lifetime, the Earldom passed to his uncle. - -Samuel Foote was succeeded by Mr. Congdon, who afterwards took the -Subscription Rooms, while Mrs. Street became landlady of the hotel. -Under Foote and Congdon, the house was visited by many guests of high -distinction. In 1799, during Phillips’ time, a great crowd assembled in -front to welcome the arrival of Lord Duncan soon after his great victory -at Camperdown, and his lordship was presented with the freedom of the -city. - -The Duke of Kent was there in 1802, and in 1806 Lord Cochrane, with his -friend, Col. Johnson, set out from thence in a coach drawn by six -horses, decorated with purple ribbons, to visit the electors of the -immaculate borough of Honiton. In 1817, Samuel Foote received no less a -guest than the Grand Duke Nicholas, afterwards Emperor of Russia. But -the event which earned for the hotel its present name of the “Clarence” -occurred on the 13th of July, 1827, whilst Mrs. Street was the landlady. -The Duchess of Clarence, afterwards Queen Adelaide, came to Exeter on -her way to join the Duke, who had arrived at Plymouth by sea. Her -carriage was escorted into the city by a procession, and the streets -through which she passed were gaily decorated. Lord Rolle and the -Recorder received the Duchess at the hotel, and the Bishop and cathedral -dons were introduced. On the next morning she went to the Bishop’s -Palace and the Cathedral, and then pursued her journey to Plymouth, by -way of Teignmouth and Torquay. In later years she visited the city as -the Dowager Queen Adelaide, and was again a guest at the “Clarence.” - -This sketch of the old inns of Exeter, however imperfect, may at least -suffice to prove their importance in the trade of the city, and their -influence in moulding the habits of the citizens. - -[Illustration - - _From a Photograph_] [_by Frith & Co._ - HIGH STREET, EXETER. - -] - - - - - THE AFFAIR OF THE CREDITON - BARNS—A.D. 1549. - - BY THE REV. CHANCELLOR EDMONDS, B.D. - - -There are few memorials of county history even in Devonshire at once as -authentic, as interesting and as important, as that of which the title -of this chapter recalls a single incident. And not only is it authentic -and interesting, but the story comes to us at first hand. It is written -by one who was an eye-witness of most of the scenes which he describes, -who bore an honoured name, and held an honourable office in the City of -Exeter in the days of Henry VIII., Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth. He was -uncle of a man yet more celebrated and gifted than himself—the famous -Richard Hooker. His own name was John; his surname is sometimes written -with one “o,” sometimes with two, and sometimes it is written as if he -had another name altogether—Vowell. Uncle and nephew belonged, as Sir -FitzJames Stephen says, to the party of progress in the greatest crisis -which the world had seen for many centuries—a greater crisis, in some -respects, than any which has followed it. - -Moreover, he was brought into contact with two men who in importance are -part of the history of their times—Dr. Moreman, the great Cornish -schoolmaster, whose influence was immense amongst the West Country -rebels who fought at Crediton; and Myles Coverdale, afterwards Bishop of -Exeter, who held a service of thanksgiving a little while afterwards -among the bodies of the slain Cornishmen, “as, with stiffening limbs, -they lay with their faces to the stars.” - -It is strange that the burning of the barns at Crediton should be a -catchword to recall the struggle that for the moment seemed to involve -the fate of Exeter and even the religion of England. But the barns at -Crediton were like the barns of Hougoumont at the Battle of Waterloo. -The fight was critical, and it had decisive consequences. - -The Diocese of Exeter appears to have shared in the indifference which -throughout the country marked public opinion in the matter of the Pope’s -authority. The words of the Act of Henry VIII., “in restraint of -appeals” (to Rome), expresses the mind of most men at that time, “by -divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles, it is manifestly -declared and expressed that this realm of England is an Empire.” It is -tolerably certain that if the changes brought about in England at the -Reformation had been restricted to the abolition of the authority of -Rome, there would have been no rising such as that which is here -described in opposition to it. But it was otherwise when the changes -extended to the order and nature of the services by which the religious -life of the time was guided. Then the love which is felt for things -familiar came into play. The old order changed, and yielded place to -new. But the break of the new day was not cloudless nor serene. - -It is so natural to us to think of ourselves in England as a people of -one language, and that a very noble language, whatever the pure, not to -say pedantic, grammarian may say, that it is hard to think that in this -West Country the English tongue was not universal even as late as the -beginning of the seventeenth century. Devonshire and Cornwall, which -from 1042 to 1877 formed a single diocese, were in some respects for -many centuries like countries foreign to each other. The Book of Common -Prayer in the mother tongue of the English made no appeal, in the -sixteenth century, to the hearts of the common people in Cornwall. This -most interesting matter does not appear to have attracted the notice -which it deserves. If Cranmer and his colleagues could have made these -admirable offices speak to the ears of the Cornish, as they speak to the -ears of the English, Sampford Courtenay might have been left to fight -its own battles, and the Crediton barns would have lacked at the -critical moment their most eager defenders. - -Long after 1549, in King James’ time, when the Great Bible, despised by -the Cornish, despised and rejected as an alien thing, had as a -translation lost its hold upon the scholars of England, and its -successor in public esteem, the Geneva Bible, was in turn to yield place -to what we now call the Authorised Version, the celebrated John Norden, -with Royal recommendations in his pocket, was making his journeys and -constructing his _Speculum_, his topographical description of this -kingdom. He never completed it; indeed, it was not printed till long -after his time. But it is a vivid and for the most part trustworthy -survey of the country generally, and the county of Cornwall is minutely -described. Nowhere can a better view be had of the condition of the -Western part of the Diocese in the distribution of language. Here are -his words; the spelling is Norden’s: “Of late the Cornishmen have muche -conformed themselves to the use of the English tongue, and their English -is equal to the beste, especially in the Eastern partes; even from Truro -eastwarde it is in menner wholy Englische. In the West parte of the -Countrye, as in the hundreds of Penwith and Kirrier, the Cornish tongue -is most in use amongste the inhabitantes, and yet (which is to be -marveyled) though the husband and wife, parentes and children, master -and servauntes do mutually communicate in their native language, yet -there is none of them in manner but is able to convers with a straunger -in the English tongue unless it be some obscure people that seldom -confer with the better sorte. But it seemeth that in a few yeares the -Cornish language will be by litle and litle abandoned.” That was how the -case stood in the beginning of the seventeenth century. - -It is no wonder that two generations earlier the leaders of the Cornish -rising demanded that they should be allowed to have the services of the -Church as they had been accustomed to have them, for that other new Book -was to them a foreign thing. “We will not receive,” they said, “the new -service, because it is but like a Christmas game.... And we, the -Cornish, whereof certain of us understand no English, utterly refuse the -new English.” - -Whitaker, himself a Cornish clergyman, though not a Cornishman, who -published his _History of the Cathedral of Cornwall_ in 1804, and -represents the most intelligent criticism of his time, says, in his -vigorous way, as if the old blood still ran in his veins: “The English -was not desired by the Cornish, but forced upon the Cornish by the -tyranny of England, at a time when the English language was as yet -unknown in Cornwall.” “This act of tyranny,” he continues, “was at once -gross barbarity to the Cornish people, and a death blow to the Cornish -language.” “To use the universal tongue,” says Freeman, “whether -understood or not, was no grievance; to have English forced on them -was.” - -Two centuries before the Book of Common Prayer was issued, a Bishop of -Exeter, John de Grandisson, one of the most accomplished and travelled -of the whole series of mediæval prelates, was describing the Cornish end -of his Diocese to the Pope who had “provided” him to his Bishopric. He -speaks of it as if it were a foreign land “adjoining England only along -its eastern boundary, being surrounded on every other side by the sea, -which divides it from Wales and Ireland on the North. On the South, it -looks towards Gascony and Brittany; and the Cornish speak the language -of those lands.” The barrier of language was breaking down fast in 1549, -but these illustrations will show how real a barrier it was. - -The Act of Parliament which authorised the use of the Book of Common -Prayer and, indeed, commanded it to be used, took effect on Whitsunday -in 1549. A cold but competent critic, Mr. Goldwin Smith, has remarked of -it that “Cranmer’s singular command of liturgical language enabled him -to invest a new ritual at once with a dignity and beauty which gave it a -strong hold on the heart of the worshipper, and have made it a main stay -of the Anglican Church.” He adds, however, that in the backward parts of -the country masses of people willing enough to part with papal supremacy -and courts ecclesiastic “clung to the ancient faith and still more to -the ancient forms.” Various risings against the new order took place. -Two chief struggles stand out from the rest: one, in the East of -England, with its centre around Norwich, the other, in the West of -England, with its centre round Exeter. It is this last, of course, with -which the present chapter is concerned, and in telling the story of this -fragment of county history, as much use as possible will be made of -Hooker’s own language. It is a strange thing, however it may be -accounted for, that this racy narrative lay for years in manuscript in -the archives of the City of Exeter, and was not printed till 1765. Even -then it was left to private enterprise, and was published by -subscription. The title runs: “The Antique Description and Account of -the City of Exeter, in three parts, All written purely By John Vowell, -alias Hoker, Gent. Chamberlain, and Representative in Parliament of the -Same. Exon, now first printed together by Andrew Brice, in North Gate -Street. M.DCC.LXV.” It is dedicated to the two representatives of the -City in Parliament at the time of its publication, and begs them -“Candidly to pardon the Presumptions, and benignly accept this little -Oblation, of their most respectful and obsequious humble Servant, Andrew -Brice.” In such a modest moment was this precious document given to the -world. - -“It is apparent and most certain that this rebellion first was raised at -a place in _Devon_ named Sampford Courtneie, which lieth Westwards from -the City about sixteen miles.” Then Hooker marks the day. It was Monday; -it was in Whitsun-week; it fell that year on the tenth of June. It was -indeed a memorable day. For, as already has been said, the Book of -Common Prayer was ordered to be used on Whitsunday, and was so used in -Exeter as elsewhere, and in Exeter “the day passed off quietly.” Hooker -says the statute was “with all obedience received in every place, and -the common people well enough contented therewith every where, saving in -this West Country, and especially at this said Sampford Courtneie.” “For -upon the said Monday, the Priest being come to the Parish Church of -Sampford, and preparing himself to say the service as he had done the -day before, ... they said he should not do so.... The Priest in the end, -whether it were with his will, or against his will, he relied (_sic_) to -their minds, ... and forthwith ravisheth himself in his old Popish -attire, and sayeth mass, and all such services as in Times past -accustomed.” - -Then the movement took shape. Leaders were chosen, or chose themselves. -“William Underhill or Taylor and one Segar, a labourer,” joined -afterwards as “Captains” by Maunder, a shoemaker, and Aishcaredge, a -fish-driver. “Like lips, like lettice,” says Hooker, “as is the cause so -are the rulers.” These leaders were good enough for the Sampford -Courtenay men, but it was otherwise when the prevailing discontent, -slowly gathering strength at first, and directed as much against the -Lord Protector Somerset and “the gentlemen” who suddenly had become rich -at the cost of the poor, as at the alteration in the services of the -Church, brought more powerful persons and larger bodies of men upon the -scene. Then the dimensions of the rebellion revealed themselves. -Devonshire sent knights like Sir Thomas Pomeroie; Cornwall sent squires -like Arundell and Winneslade, doomed to end their lives at Tyburn. -Arundell’s history is illuminative of the times in which he lived and of -the events in which he took part. Ten years before, at the dissolution -of the monasteries, he had obtained the revenues of St. Michael’s Mount. -It was by his advice that the rebels laid siege to Exeter. If he had -marched on, his army would have gathered as it marched. The “ten -thousand” who were at his heels at Exeter would have been fifty thousand -before he reached London; but Exeter held out stubbornly, and Arundell -it was, not Exeter, that surrendered. But this is anticipatory; and it -is necessary to return to Sampford Courtenay on Whitsun Monday. - -When the news of the disturbance at Sampford had spread through the -neighbourhood, the local magistrates met together to endeavour to pacify -the people. They temporised and were timid; “they were afraid of their -own shadows,” and “departed without having done anything at all.” So -things went on till the news reached the King and his Council, who -already had enough on their hands elsewhere. Sir Peter Carew and Sir -Gawen Carew, Devonshire men, were sent down with commissions to deal -with the rising as on consideration and conference with the magistrates -might seem best. Lord Russell was to follow. The two knights came with -all haste to Exeter, and sent for the Sheriff, “Sir Peter Courtneie,” -and the Justices of the Peace, “and understanding that a great Company -of the Commons were assembled at Crediton, which is a town distant about -seven miles from Exeter, ... it was concluded that the said Sir Peter -and Sir Gawen, with others, should ride to Crediton, ... and to use all -the good ways and means they might to pacify and appease them.... But -the people being by some secret intelligence advertised of the coming of -the Gentlemen towards them, and they (being) fully resolved not to yield -one jot from their determinations, but to maintain their cause taken in -hand, do arm and make themselves strong, with such armors and furnitures -as they had, they intrench the highways and make a mighty Rampire at the -Town’s End, and fortify the same, as also the Barns next adjoining to -the same Rampires with men and munitions, having pierced the walls of -the Barns with Loops and Holes for their Shot.” - -When “the Gentlemen” reached the “Rampire,” they were surprised to find -all conference refused, and Hooker says: “The Sun being in Cancer and -the mid-summer moon at full, their minds were imbrued with such follies, -and their heads carried with such Vanities, that ... they would hear no -man speak but themselves, and thought nothing well said but what came -out of their own mouths. The warlike knights, after conference, -attempted the barrier, but a volley from the Barns repelled them with a -loss of some, and the hurt of many.” But a servant of Sir Hugh Pollard, -whose name was Fox, set one of the barns on fire, and the defenders -fled. When the magistrates entered the town, they found none in it but -old women and children. And so it might seem that the incident was -closed, and the rebellion stamped out and quenched. It was not so. Here -Hooker’s account must be given without alteration or abridgment:— - -“The noise of this Fire and Burning was in Post-haste, and as it were in -a moment, carried and blazed abroad throughout the whole Country; and -the common people, upon false Reports, and of a Gnat making an Elephant, -noised and spread it abroad, that the Gentlemen were altogether bent to -over-run, spoil and destroy them. And in their Rage, as it were a Swarm -of Wasps, they cluster themselves in great Troops and Multitudes, some -in one place and some in another, fortifying and entrenching themselves -as though the Enemy were ready to invade and assail them.” Thus “the -barns of Crediton,” in themselves of small importance, became, as in our -days for a moment “Remember Mitchelstown” was, a war cry in a movement -of high and lasting importance. - -While the country was in this excited state on the West side of Exeter, -an incident of no great apparent importance stirred up a new outbreak on -the Eastern side. The father of Sir Walter Raleigh was riding through -Clyst St. Mary, when he overtook an old woman on her way to church, -telling her beads as she went. Quite needlessly, but also quite after -the fashion of the time, he entered into a polemical discussion, and so -angered the old lady that she rushed into church, and shouted that she -and her religion had been insulted, and that a “gentleman” had -threatened that if they did not give up their beads, their holy bread, -and their holy water, he would burn them out of their homes. This was -enough to set the heather on fire on the eastern side of Exeter. - -By this time Exeter was the centre of a district in full revolt, and -amongst the country gentlemen and magistrates there was weakness and -division. - -It was at this stage that there arrived from Cornwall and North Devon -the promise of support from men of more mark than the leaders of the -village revolutionists. The barns of Crediton had done their work; the -eyes of all men turned now to the walls of Exeter. The annals of Exeter -are rich in records of worthy conduct. The proud motto, _Semper -fidelis_, has been no inglorious boast. Amongst all her chronicles none -is more to her credit than her behaviour throughout this siege. Around -the walls thousands of men were encamped, or came and went as -opportunity offered or necessity compelled. The Cornishmen brought to -the siege men skilled in “underground” labour, and these dug beneath the -walls and prepared mines. Exeter had also at least one man of skill in -like arts. Setting pans of water over suspected places, he watched till -the vibrations of the water revealed the blows of the pick-axe below. It -was at once deliverance and merry relaxation of the strain upon the mind -to divert all the slop and drainage of the city into the besiegers’ -mines. John Newcomb was this man’s name; and like the name of the man -who fired the barn at Crediton, it bears witness to the genuineness of -the narrative. - -Meantime, during this five weeks’ siege, strange things had happened. -One of the Carews had been to London to convince the Court of the -reality of the peril, and with blunt directness had driven the -conviction that the case was urgent, home to the minds of the Council. -Troops were promised, Germans chiefly, and though their number was not -great, they were used to discipline—war was their profession, not their -pastime—their arrival soon made a difference. The citizens were cheered -and depressed alternately, as news reached them from the villages, that -Lord Russell and the Carews were coming. The darkest hour, it is said, -is that before the daybreak. It was so in Exeter at the end of July and -the beginning of August. The siege had lasted five weeks, when news -reached the city that the relieving troops had been defeated. Sunday, -the fourth of August, was the darkest day of the siege. While the -citizens were at Church, and, in obedience to the law, were using the -new order of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, news -had reached the ill-affected in the city that the King’s troops had -suffered defeat. A violent mob paraded the streets, hungry and angry, -shouting: “Come out, these heretics and twopenny bookmen! Where be they? -By God’s wounds and blood, we will not be pinned in to serve their -turns. We will go out and have in our neighbours; they be honest, good, -and godly men.” The Mayor drove them back to their dwellings, and then -the most faithful of the defenders entered into a covenant of fidelity -to each other, no matter what might befall the city. Bedford House -should be their citadel, and if and when that ceased to be tenable, they -would go out by the postern gate into Southernhay, and cut their way -through or die together. That very day the reported defeat was turned -into victory. The relieving army, after reverses all but fatal, finally -won the field. Monday inside the city was strangely quiet; before -midnight the invading Cornish, the besieging multitude, had melted away. -When the morning of Tuesday broke, Exeter was free. - -Such is the bare outline of the last siege but one of the many which -Exeter has sustained. “The barns of Crediton” raised the country side; -the bridge of Clyst St. Mary pacified it. Between the place where the -fighting began and the place where it ended stood, and still stands, the -ancient city which so often in the past had been a place of defence to -the interests of the country, but never in all the long roll of her -achievements had borne herself more bravely, more nobly, and more -successfully than when she disdained to surrender at the cry of hunger -the _rôle_ of law-abiding fidelity which was the crown and glory of her -mayor and municipality in the July and August of 1549. - -Strangely enough, but fitly, too, the struggle closed where it began. -Back through Crediton, past the blackened barn, the Royal troops -marched. At Sampford Courtenay the shattered forces of the insurgents -had collected. Once more they fought, “and never gave over until that -both in the town and in the field, they were all or the most taken and -slain. And so,” says Hooker, “of a traitorous beginning they made a -shameful ending.” - -It is a pathetic thing to read the Collect for Whitsunday, with its -prayer for a right judgment in all things, and to think that the first -result of ordering it to be said in the mother tongue was the series of -battles, sieges, and executions which make up the terrible history that -began to unroll its woes outside the Barns of Crediton. - - W. J. EDMONDS. - - - - - GALLANT PLYMOUTH HOE. - - BY W. H. K. WRIGHT. - - -What memories of the past crowd into the mind as we stand upon the -far-famed Plymouth Hoe, and gaze seaward towards the open Channel! -Looking out over Plymouth Sound, crowded with shipping from all parts of -the world, one is apt to lose one’s twentieth-century identity, and to -wander in thought over long-past and well-nigh forgotten days. - -For, in truth, there is a glamour and a halo of romance about Plymouth -Hoe which can be found nowhere else; for there, beyond and around us, -spread the blue waters ebbing and flowing as they have ebbed and flowed -for countless ages, and pregnant with mighty secrets and a wondrous -retrospect. - -Beneath those waters lie buried many strange tragedies, and of the -shores are told many wonderful legends; but there are many living -stories connected with our national and naval history that are to be -found enshrined in our glorious annals. The Hoe, as regards its position -and outlook, has changed but little since the days of Trojans, -Phœnicians, Romans, Danes, Normans, Bretons, and Spaniards, all of whom -in their turn have brought their ships within the bold headlands to east -and west in quest of spoil or possessions. - -The watchers on Plymouth Hoe may have witnessed many novel sights from -their elevated standpoint, and may have joined in the welcome accorded -to many distinguished visitors. - -[Illustration - - _From a drawing by J. M. W. Turner._] [_Engraved by W. J. Cooke._ - PLYMOUTH HOE. - -] - -From a very early period, Plymouth has occupied a prominent position in -the naval affairs of the kingdom, and on many occasions has been -privileged to supply men, ships, money, and other requisites for the -fitting out of expeditions—some of a warlike character, against our -aggressive neighbours or foreign foes; others of a more peaceable -intent, destined for the discovery of new countries and the exploration -of unknown seas. From its position as one of the most westerly ports, -and possessing, as it does, one of the finest harbours in the world, -Plymouth has naturally been chosen as the starting-point of many of -those daring enterprises which have astonished the world; and doubtless -the Hoe has witnessed many interesting scenes, including the departure -of these diversified expeditions and their triumphant homecoming. It -would seem to us but as a matter of course that our forefathers should -have betaken themselves to this famous place of outlook when anything -unusual was going forward, even as we do at this time under similar -circumstances. But in olden time there were many reasons beside those of -mere idle curiosity to prompt the inhabitants of Plymouth to assemble on -the Hoe. With what eager interest must they have repaired thither in -those early days, when the French, with fire and sword, descended upon -it, and made havoc wherever they went! Small and insignificant as the -town then was, it appeared, nevertheless, to have possessed a peculiar -attraction for our French neighbours, who, upon several occasions, paid -their unwelcome visits. Thus, in 1339, we find it recorded that the -French burnt the greater part of the town; again, in 1377, the same -depredations were committed; in 1399, the French attacked Plymouth, but -were defeated by the people of the town and neighbourhood, under Hugh -Courtenay, Earl of Devon, the enemy losing five hundred men, and flying -in disorder to their ships; in 1403 it was burnt by the French; and -again, in 1405, the Bretons invaded Plymouth, and burnt six hundred -houses. The name Breton or Briton Side, given to a street in the lower -part of the town, and still in evidence, is traceable to a connection -with this event. - -But the brave seamen of gallant little Plymouth were on other occasions -amply revenged for these outrages. Thus, in 1346, the battle of Cressy -and siege of Calais are recorded, and it is a matter of historical fact -that the latter town was blockaded by twenty-six ships and over six -hundred men mustered by the town of Plymouth, while Saltash, Millbrook, -and other neighbouring places also sent their quota of help. Again, in -1354, a fleet of three hundred ships sailed from hence, and within sight -of the watchers on Plymouth Hoe, for the invasion of France, under the -command of the King (Edward III.), the Black Prince, and other noted -leaders. The watchers on Plymouth Hoe may have also taken part in the -enthusiastic reception given by the people to the Black Prince, on the -occasion of his landing here, after his memorable victory at Poictiers -in 1356, bringing with him as hostages John, King of France, that -monarch’s youngest son, and some of his principal nobles. - -It is, however, to the age of Elizabeth that we must turn to find the -greatest interest centreing around Plymouth. In that reign, the town -attained a degree of importance that it has never since lost; and, as a -matter of course, Plymouth Hoe was, as in still earlier times, from its -commanding position and extent, the rendezvous for the townsfolk, as -well as the muster-ground for troops. Many scenes of intense interest -that have been witnessed from this historic spot, rise to the mind’s -eye. - -“The brave sea-captains it (Plymouth) produced made a glorious history -for England in the reign of Elizabeth. Drake, first of England’s -vikings, as a sailor, went out with his little fleet of schooners from -this port on the 15th of November, 1577, to plough with their small -keels a track through all the seas that surround the globe. The -birth-roll of Plymouth is rich and illustrious with names of seamen who -wrote them on the far-off islands and rough capes of continents they -discovered. Drake, Hawkins, Raleigh, Oxenham, and Cook sailed on their -memorable expeditions from this port.”[4] - ------ - -Footnote 4: - - Burritt’s _Walk from London to Land’s End_. - ------ - -Many a time and oft did the people of Plymouth his away to the Hoe to -bid Drake and his gallant company God-speed on their voyages of -discovery and warfare. And it was no empty curiosity that led them to do -this, for Drake was their hero, beloved by everybody, and his ship’s -company numbered many Plymouth men, the husbands, sons, and brothers of -those who looked wistfully and through blinding tears at the little -vessels fast disappearing in the distance, out into the great unknown. - -And if they thus watched the outgoing, what about the home-coming? That -was an anxious time for the watchers on Plymouth Hoe, for no one knew -until the ship actually arrived in port how many of their loved ones had -succumbed to the rigours of the varying climate, disease, storm, and, -worst of all, the dreaded Spaniards, with their horrible Inquisition. It -is very evident that the townsfolk did take a very great interest in the -events and expeditions of this period, for one old chronicler informs us -that “Sir Francis (then Captain) Drake returning from one of his -voyages, and arriving at Plymouth on Sunday, August 9th, 1573, in sermon -time, and the news of his return being carried into the church, there -remained few or no people with the preacher, all running to observe the -blessing of God upon the dangerous adventures of the captain.” - -But this home-coming of Drake’s, and the reception then given him, was -as nothing compared to that accorded him when he returned from his -voyage of circumnavigation. As stated before, he left Plymouth on the -15th of November, 1577, and returned on the 11th September, 1580. In -this voyage he had completely surrounded the globe—a feat which, it is -alleged, no commander-in-chief had accomplished before. He had five -vessels at starting, the aggregate tonnage of which did not reach three -hundred tons, and a company of men, gentlemen, and sailors, all told, -amounting to one hundred and sixty-four. Before this voyage was half -done, Drake had parted company with several of his ships, and returned -from that voyage with only one ship, _The Golden Hind_, otherwise known -as _The Pelican_. But, alas! there came a time when the watchers on -Plymouth Hoe looked in vain for their hero; for both he and his -companion, Hawkins (of a noted Plymouth family), died at sea, and were -buried in the ocean, within a few weeks of each other. It was said of -Drake— - - The waves became his winding-sheet, the waters were his tomb, - But for his fame the ocean-sea was not sufficient room. - -But we have anticipated matters a little. It must not be forgotten that -Drake and Hawkins, with many another Plymouth captain of renown, fought -the Armada of Philip the Second in 1588. All other events in the annals -of Plymouth and Plymouth Hoe pale into insignificance beside that -culminating event in the history of the time—that grandest of all -England’s triumphs—described by Camden as “the only miraculous victory -of that age.” For out there, well within sight of the watchers on -Plymouth Hoe, was assembled the English fleet of a hundred and twenty -sail, which was destined, by the Providence of God, to cause the -destruction of that magnificent armament, “whose descent upon our shores -had lighted up the beacon fires of British defiance from the Lizard to -the Hoe, and roused the spirit of our loyal tars to drive the proud -invaders from the seas.” - -Let us, for a moment, imagine ourselves thrown back to that eventful -summer’s evening in 1588, so graphically described by Macaulay, when— - - There came a gallant merchant ship full sail to Plymouth bay, - -bringing the important and alarming news that the Spaniards were within -sight of our shores. We take up our position on the Hoe, then, as now, -the favourite resort of the townsfolk, and find much to interest us. -Near the Hoe is “The Pelican” Inn, with its terrace bowling green, and -there we find a noble company assembled. “Chatting in groups, or -lounging over a low wall which commands a view of the shipping far -below, are gathered almost every notable man of the Plymouth fleet—that -fleet which will to-morrow begin the greatest sea fight the world has -ever seen.” - -There we see Lord Charles Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral of -England, Sir John Hawkins, Admiral of the Port of Plymouth, Sir Francis -Drake, Lord Sheffield, Sir Richard Grenville, the hero of the great -fight with the Spaniards a few years later, Sir Robert Southwell, Martin -Frobisher, John Davis, and possibly Sir Walter Raleigh. - -These and many others were on the Hoe at Plymouth that summer’s evening -the day before the coming of the Armada. Some were enjoying a game of -bowls, and tradition says that in the midst of the game intelligence was -brought that the Armada were in the offing. Howard called upon the -captains to lay aside their toys, and prepare to shoot in another and -more serious game; but Drake, with that coolness which was one of his -most marked characteristics, respectfully answered his chief: “There is -time enough to finish our game, and to fight the Spaniards afterwards.” -So the game was fought to its finish, and then there was hurry and -bustle on land and sea, men thronging to the shore to gain their ships, -sails being spread, all sorts of commands being given, and then came a -waiting time, till the darkness of night fell, till— - - The beacons blazed upon the roof of Edgcumbe’s lofty hall, - -and the warning radiance spread from hill-top to hill-top, from cape to -cape, until in a few short hours the whole land was told that the -dreaded and much-vaunted Armada was at last in the English Channel. -There is no need to follow the story further, as the scene is shifted -from Plymouth Hoe, and the doings of Howard, Drake, Hawkins, and their -brave companions have passed beyond our ken. - -A few years later, in 1620, a little bark lay out there on the waters of -the Sound having on board her the seeds of a mighty empire; for in the -little _Mayflower_ were the pilgrims who alienated themselves from home -and friends for religion’s sake, and sought in a new clime a haven of -rest and peace. They found it after many days and the endurance of much -hardship. Elihu Burritt, an American writer, giving his reminiscences of -Plymouth Hoe and the Pilgrim Fathers, says:— - - As Noah took in with him all that was worth preserving of the old - world before the Flood, not only of animal, but of mental and moral, - life, so that little ruddered ark, with its sky-lights looking upward - to the face of God by night and day, and filled with the ascending - voice of prayer by those who trusted in His guidance, bore across the - wide world of waters the life-germs of all that was worth planting in - the New World, or that could grow in its soil. - -How these seeds of Empire have borne fruit may be seen in the marvellous -growth of the United States of America, which has now a population -exceeding eighty millions. - -A few years later, viz., in 1625, all Plymouth flocked on to the Hoe, -attracted thither by the presence of the King, Charles I., who there -reviewed 10,000 troops from the counties of Devon and Cornwall. Twenty -years after, the Royalist forces were encamped on Staddon Heights over -yonder, holding the rebel town under close siege, and the people who -ventured on Plymouth Hoe noted the white tents of the opposing forces -with a feeling somewhat akin to dismay, for they did not know what a day -might bring forth. But Plymouth remained staunch to the Parliamentary -cause, and withstood Charles and his armies throughout the whole period -during which the Civil War lasted. - -Then, in 1652, a mournful procession landed under the Hoe with the body -of Admiral Blake, who had succumbed to wounds received in a sharp fight -with the Dutch. His heart was buried in St. Andrew’s Church; his body -received honourable interment in Westminster Abbey. - -The next memorable scene was the building of the Citadel—that huge -fortification to the east of the Hoe proper—which served the double -purpose of repelling invaders and of menacing the rebellious townsfolk, -the memory of whose disaffection still rankled in the minds of Charles -II. and his advisers. This was in 1670. - -Another notable scene was doubtless witnessed by the watchers on the Hoe -on the 14th of November, 1698, when Henry Winstanley completed and -lighted the first lighthouse on the Eddystone reef. The story is well -told by Jean Ingelow in a graphic poem, for which we have only space for -a few lines:— - - Till up the stair Winstanley went - To fire the wick afar, - And Plymouth in the silent night - Looked out and saw her star. - - Winstanley set his foot ashore; - Said he, "My work is done; - I hold it strong to last as long - As aught beneath the sun. - - "But if it fail, as fail it may, - Borne down with ruin and rout, - Another than I shall rear it high, - And brace the girders stout. - - “A better than I shall rear it high, - For now the way is plain; - And though I were dead,” Winstanley said, - “The light would rise again.” - . . . . . . . - With that Winstanley went his way, - And left the rock renowned, - And summer and winter his pilot star - Hung bright o’er Plymouth Sound. - -The sequel to this episode is a sad one, for it is recorded that the -tower was destroyed on the 26th of November, 1703, and its -public-spirited and confident designer perished with it. - - And men looked south to the harbour mouth, - The lighthouse tower was down. - -Other scenes rise up before us as the centuries roll on. We see the good -citizens of Plymouth crowd on to the Hoe to witness the departure of -Captain Cook on his various voyages of exploration in the South Seas; we -note the pregnant comings and goings attending the great war with -France, stately vessels sailing from the Sound in all their warlike -glory, anon coming back crippled and wounded, with half their men killed -or maimed. Then, later, we see the arch-cause of all this bloodshed—the -great Napoleon—a prisoner on board the _Bellerophon_ in Plymouth Sound, -while the waters below us teem with the boats and craft of all -descriptions of the curious sightseers. - -The years slip by. This time we are at war with Russia, with France as -our ally, and we stand on the Hoe to watch the stately troopships -sailing off with the flower of our army to court death in the Black Sea -or in the Baltic. History tells the tale. - -At another time we watch the first shipload of emigrants bound for the -Antipodes to plant New Englands in Australia, New Zealand, and -elsewhere; and so it goes on through the centuries—the Plymouth Hoe -beautified by the hands of men, and surrounded by stately buildings, and -within sound of a teeming population, but in its general character and -appearance little changed since the days of which we have spoken; and -Plymouth men of to-day congregate on the Hoe, and watch the huge liners -and leviathan battleships coming and going, even as their far-away -ancestors noted the coming and going of Drake and his fighting ships -that bore over the blue waters of the Sound those pioneers of empire—the -sea-dogs of Devon. - - W. H. K. WRIGHT. - -[Illustration: leaf] - - =A SONG OF EMPIRE.= - - (Occasioned by the visit of the King and Queen to Devonshire, March, - 1902.) - - A song, a song of Empire, of Britain, and her fame; - Of sons who fought and fell for her, and gained a deathless name; - Of men who on the trackless deep, or on the battle-field, - Maintained her old supremacy, who died, but scorned to yield. - - They sowed the seeds of Empire in far lands o’er the sea; - They made the name of England the watchword of the free. - And by their deeds of daring, on land or on the main, - O’erthrew the pride of Philip, and crushed the power of Spain. - - ’Twas Drake and his brave seamen who boldly led the van; - ’Twas Hawkins, Grenville, Raleigh, and many a Devon man - Who taught the boastful Spaniard how dogged they could be— - That British pluck was e’er a match for old-world chivalry. - - Through many an age on history’s page their fame shines clear and fair, - From sire to son the message passed boldly to do and dare; - And whereso’er Old England’s flag is seen the world around, - Shoulder to shoulder, rank on rank, Devonia’s sons are found. - - But Britain’s Empire grows apace; and whereso’er they be, - Britannia’s sons still wave aloft the banner of the free. - No narrow jealousies can stay—no obstacles affright: - Their motto is “Right forward, for Britain, Crown, and Right.” - - And when the war-note soundeth, as late it sounded shrill, - How nobly rose her sons to arms, obedient to her will! - And as they came to Afric’s shores from many a distant clime, - So will they come for her loved sake, e’en to the end of time. - - - Nor race, nor people, clime nor zone her march can stay or bound; - In every land beneath the sun the British bugles sound; - Her warships ride on every sea, her flag flies far and near, - Mother of nations is she still, to all her children dear. - - . . . . . . . - - “God Save the King,” the people cry, and ’tis no empty sound— - He’s loved and honoured for his worth the whole wide world around. - Despotic power he’ll never wield, but with benignant sway - Rule o’er a people myriad-tongued, who gladly homage pay. - - And to his Consort, now a Queen—the Queen we all adore— - We raise our greetings loyally and all our love outpour; - Long life be hers and happiness, and may no cares of State - E’er cast a shadow o’er her crown or love or joy abate. - - Let Britons all with pride unite in welcome leal and true, - To Edward, King and Emperor, we’ll raise our shouts anew. - And may our mighty Empire still flourish and increase— - May War and Anarchy give place to Unity and Peace. - - W. H. K. WRIGHT. - - - - - THE GRENVILLES: A RACE OF - FIGHTERS. - - BY THE REV. PREBENDARY GRANVILLE, M.A. - - -The family of Grenville claimed descent from Rollo the Sea-King, and -they did not belie their fierce and adventurous ancestor. They were -fighters to the core. Rightly they had for their bearing three -horseman’s rests, in which the lance or tilting spear was fixed. Some, -of course, through the long centuries, were senators, magistrates, -ecclesiastics; but as a rule they were men of the sword, serving their -country by land and sea. - -The first Sir Richard de Grenville, “near kinsman to the Conqueror,” -sheathing his sword after the Conquest of South Wales, settled on the -borders of Devon and Cornwall beside the Severn Sea. Concerning any -feats of arms achieved by his immediate descendants the chronicles are -silent. We have only their frequent summonses “to go with the King -beyond the seas for their honour and preservation and profit of the -Kingdom”; but another Sir Richard was Marshal of Calais under Henry -VIII., and in the quaint language of Carew, “enterlaced his home -magistracy with martial employments abroad”; whilst his son, Sir Roger, -a sea captain, and the father of the future hero of the _Revenge_, after -fighting the French off the Isle of Wight in 1545, went down in the -_Mary Rose_ off Portsmouth, when that ill-fated vessel, like the _Royal -George_, two centuries later, capsized and sank with all on board. - -His son, Richard, was then but two years old. The story of his boyhood -has yet to be discovered, but he first gave vent to his fierce fighting -spirit when, a stripling of some eighteen summers, he took service under -the Emperor Maximilian against the Turks, obtaining therein the -commendation of foreign historians for his intrepidity and early -knowledge of the art of war. Next we find him taking part in suppressing -the Irish rebellion, and though after this he settled for a while on his -English estates, his restless spirit and natural thirst for distinction -led him to participate in the perils and glories of the brilliant -engagement at Lepanto in 1572, when Don John of Austria, with the -combined squadrons of Christendom, defeated the Ottoman fleet. On his -return to England he was knighted. - -One of the features of the Elizabethan era was the zeal for colonization -which pervaded the West of England. In common with Gilbert, Raleigh, and -many others, Grenville petitioned the Queen to allow an enterprise for -the discovery of “sundry ritche and unknowen landes.” Their request was -granted, and in 1584 two ships, provided by Raleigh and Grenville, -discovered Virginia; and the following spring, Sir Richard took command -of seven ships fitted with the first colonists of that country. On his -return journey he sighted a Spanish vessel of 300 tons, and his ship, -the _Tiger_ (which was but 140 tons), out-sailing the rest of his little -squadron, had nearly overhauled the chase, when the wind suddenly -dropped, and the little _Tiger_ and her big quarry lay becalmed. Sir -Richard’s boats had all been carried away in a gale of wind, but, -determined not to lose his prize, he “boarded her,” says Hakluyt, “with -a boat made with the boards of chests, which fell asunder and sank at -the ship’s side as soon as ever he and his men were out of it.” The -Spaniard proved richly laden, and Grenville’s dare-devilry won him -£50,000 in prize money. - -But his δαιμονίη ἀρετὴ (as Froude calls it) was soon to be exemplified -in a still more striking manner in that last great service for his Queen -and country, in which he so nobly sacrificed his life, and which has -been told by Raleigh and Tennyson in “Letters of Gold.” To his great -mortification, he had been prevented from sharing in the glories of the -defeat of the Armada, having received the Queen’s special commands not -to quit Cornwall during the peril; but in the summer of 1591 he was -appointed Vice-Admiral, under Lord Thomas Howard, and despatched to the -Azores to intercept an unusually rich treasure fleet, which was lying at -Havannah ready for the homeward voyage. Grenville’s ship was the -_Revenge_, a second-class galleon, carrying twenty-two heavy guns, -twelve light ones, and twelve small pieces used for repelling boarders. -She had carried Drake’s flag against the Armada three years before, and -was considered one of the best types of a fighting ship. - -On the 31st of August, Lord Thomas Howard’s squadron, consisting of six -men of war and nine or ten victuallers and pinnaces, was riding at -anchor in the bay of Flores; many of the crews were ashore digging for -ballast, filling water casks, and obtaining fresh provisions and fruit -for the sick, who numbered nearly half the strength of the fleet, for -fever and scurvy had made havoc among the ships’ companies. Suddenly an -English pinnace, the _Moonshine_, swept round a headland into the bay -with the alarming intelligence that an armada of twenty Spanish -men-of-war and over thirty transports and smaller craft were close at -hand, despatched by Philip II. to protect his treasure ships. - -Howard at once determined that he was in no condition to fight a force -so superior, and accordingly made signal to weigh anchor instantly. All -obeyed but the _Revenge_, Grenville being delayed, according to Raleigh, -in getting his sick men brought on board from the shore; and when at -last she got under way, she had lost the wind, and was unable to follow -the other vessels as they ran past the Spanish fleet to windward. A -second line of retreat was still open to him: by cutting his mainsail, -he could run before the wind, pass the Spaniards to leeward, and rejoin -the flag in the open sea. But to pass an enemy to leeward was a -confession of inferiority to which Grenville would not stoop, and, -though urged to this course by his officers and crew, he scornfully and -passionately refused, and, sword in hand, drove his men to their posts, -swearing that he would hew his way single-handed through the whole -Spanish fleet, or perish in the attempt. - -For a while he prevailed, compelling several of the foremost to give -way, who sprang their luff and fell under the lee of the _Revenge_. But -his success was short-lived; the _Revenge_, coming under the lee of the -great _San Philip_, of 1,500 tons, was becalmed. This was about three -o’clock in the afternoon; and while the _Revenge_ was hotly engaged with -this gigantic adversary, four more Spanish ships-of-war ranged -alongside, and, after a furious cannonade, attempted to board her, but -in vain; and the _San Philip_, after receiving from the lower tier of -guns of the _Revenge_ an especially deadly salvo, “discharged with -cross-bar shot, shifted herself with all diligence from her sides, -utterly misliking her first entertainment.” But her place was at once -taken by another Spaniard, and, indeed, through the twelve or fifteen -hours during which the battle lasted, Grenville’s ship was constantly -fighting against overwhelming odds. All through the August night the -fight continued under the quiet stars, ship after ship washing up on the -_Revenge_ like clamouring waves upon a rock, only to fall back foiled -and shattered amidst the roar of artillery:— - - Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons came, - Ship after ship, the whole night long, with their battle-thunder and - flame, - Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead and her - shame, - For some were sunk, and some were shattered, and some would fight no - more; - God of battles! was ever a battle like this in the world before? - -Though wounded early in the day, Grenville was able to fight his ship -from the upper deck till an hour before midnight, when he was again -wounded, this time in the body, with a musket ball. The sailors carried -him below, and as his wounds were being dressed, a shot crashed through -the _Revenge_, stretched the doctor lifeless, and inflicted an injury to -Sir Richard’s head from which, in two or three days, he died. - -And still the battle raged; and still ship after ship drew out of -action, utterly defeated by the splendid gunnery and desperate courage -of Grenville’s men. Gradually the fire slackened; before daylight it -ceased altogether, for the Spaniards abandoned their attempts to sink -the _Revenge_ or carry her by board. Yet fifteen out of their twenty -men-of-war had been hotly engaged with her: two of them she had sunk -outright; a third was so damaged that her crew ran her on shore to save -their lives; a fourth was in a sinking condition. Dawn found the enemy’s -immense fleet encircling the one English ship like wolves round a dying -lion, and wary of approaching him in his last agony. When the sun rose, -the survivors of the crew began to realise their desperate plight. Sir -Richard commanded the master-gunner to split and sink the ship, that -thereby nothing might remain of glory or victory to the Spaniards, and -endeavoured to persuade the crew “to yield themselves to God and to the -mercy of none else, but as they had, like valiant resolute men, repulsed -so many enemies, they should not now shorten the honour of their nation -by prolonging their own lives by a few hours or a few days.” - -The chief gunner and a few others consented; but the rest having dared -quite enough for mortal men, refused to blow up the ship, and -surrendered to the enemy. Grenville was carried in a dying condition to -the ship of the Spanish Admiral, and as he lay upon his couch on the -deck, the captains of the fleet crowded round to see the expiring hero, -who, feeling his end approaching, showed not any sign of faintness, but -spake these words in Spanish, and said: “Here die I, Richard Grenville, -with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I have ended my life as a true -soldier ought to do, that hath fought for his country, Queen, religion -and honour. Wherefore my soul most joyfully departeth out of this body, -and shall always leave behind it an everlasting fame of a valiant and -true soldier that hath done his duty as he was bound to do.” - -Such was the fight at Flores in that August of 1591—“a fight memorable -even beyond credit and to the height of some heroic fable.” It has been -called “England’s naval Thermopylæ.” It was from the first as hopeless a -battle as that of the Spartans under the brave Leonidas, and its moral -effects at the time were hardly less than that of Thermopylæ. Froude -tells us it struck a deeper terror, though it was but the action of a -single ship, into the hearts of the Spanish people—it dealt a more -deadly blow upon their fame and moral strength than even the destruction -of the Armada itself, and in the direct results which arose from it it -was scarcely less disastrous to them. Men may blame Sir Richard -Grenville for his obstinacy, and what they deem his false notion of -honour in scorning to turn his back upon the foe when the odds were so -overwhelmingly against him, but at least it must be conceded that his -courage and that of his crew have immortalised his name. - -[Illustration: - - SIR BEVILL GRENVILLE. - (_From an Oil Painting._) -] - -Passing over Sir Richard’s son, John, who followed Drake and was drowned -in the ocean, “which became his bedde of honour,” and also another son, -Sir Bernard, we come to the latter’s famous son, Sir Bevill—a man no -whit inferior in loyalty and courage to his illustrious grandsire, and -whom men called the English Bayard. When Charles I., in 1639, raised an -army against the Scots, Bevill Grenville joined the Royal Standard at -the head of a troop of horse at York. “I cannot contain myself within my -doors,” he wrote, “when the King of England’s standard waves in the -field upon so just an occasion, the cause being such as must make all -those that die in it little inferior to martyrs. And for my own part, I -desire to acquire an honest name or an honourable grave. I never loved -my life or ease so much as to shun such an occasion, which if I should, -I were unworthy of the profession I have held, or to succeed those -ancestors of mine who have so many of them in several ages sacrificed -their lives for their country.” - -History shows this to have been a bloodless campaign, but the above -extract proves Grenville’s hereditary spirit, and the King, in token of -his approval, knighted him at Berwick-on-Tweed before the army broke up; -and when, three years later, the storm at last burst over England, which -had been so long threatening, Charles I. had no more loyal supporter -than Sir Bevill Grenville. Clarendon says he was “the most generally -loved man in Cornwall.” He was the soul of the Royalist cause there, and -his influence was so great that he readily raised a body of volunteers -fifteen hundred strong. At Bradock Down, near Liskeard, where the first -important encounter with the Parliamentarian troops took place, Sir -Bevill led the van. Describing the fight to his wife, he writes: “After -solemn prayers at the head of every division, I led my part away, who -followed me with so great a courage, both down the one hill and up the -other, that it struck a terror into them,” with the result that twelve -hundred prisoners were captured, and all the guns. The next engagement -took place at Stratton (distant only a few miles from Grenville’s own -home in the adjoining parish of Kilkampton) on May 16th, 1643, where he -was again conspicuous for his personal courage. The Earl of Stamford, -who commanded the Parliamentarian troops, which numbered close on 6,000, -all perfectly equipped and victualled, had encamped in a very strong -position on the top of a hill, now called Stamford Hill, near the -village of Stratton. It is an isolated grassy hill on a ridge which runs -nearly due north and south. The sides on the east and south are the -steepest, whilst the western slope has an ancient earthwork near the -summit, which Stamford had defended with guns that ought to have -rendered it impregnable. The Royalist troops, less than half their -number, short of ammunition, and so destitute of provisions that the -best officers had but a biscuit a day, lay at Launceston. They -nevertheless marched the twenty miles to Stratton “with a resolution to -fight with the enemy upon every disadvantage of place or number.” In the -evening they halted, footsore and hungry, a mile from the base of the -high hill on which the Parliamentarian troops lay in overwhelming -strength, and determined to attack them at daybreak. Weary as they were, -the men stood to their arms all night, for the enemy were too near to -make rest possible, and with the first light, Sir Bevill, to whom every -inch of the ground was, of course, perfectly familiar, and to whom, -consequently, was committed the ordering of the fight, divided the -troops into four storming parties. The little army was too small to -merit, when divided into such parts, any other designation. In the -morning the fight commenced, and continued till the afternoon was well -advanced, but no impression could be made by the gallant Cornishmen, who -were repulsed again and again. At last powder began to fail, and it -became a question between retreat, which implied certain disaster, or -victory. A final and heroic effort was made; muskets were laid aside, -and, trusting to pike and sword alone, the lithe Cornishmen pressed -onwards and upwards. Grenville led the party on the western slope, and -Sir John Berkeley that on the northern, while Hopton and the other -commanders scaled the south and east sides. Their silent march seems to -have struck their opponents with a sense of power, and the defence grew -feebler. Grenville first reached the crest, and seized the entrenchment, -and captured the thirteen brass field-pieces and one mortar by which it -was defended; and when Berkeley prevailed on the north side, the -Parliamentarian horse fled from the hill headlong down the steep -descent, and made off. This had its moral effect on the defenders of the -other two sides of the camp, and their resistance perceptibly slackened. -Soon the other two storming parties, who had had the steepest climb, -pressed upward, and the enemy, despite the efforts of their officers to -rally them, made off to the adjoining heights. The victorious commanders -embraced one another on the hard-won hilltop, thanking God for a success -for which at one time they had hardly ventured to hope. It was no time -to prolong their rejoicings, as the enemy, demoralised though they were, -appear to have rallied somewhat, and to have shown a disposition to -renew the combat; but Grenville quickly turned their own captured cannon -on them, and a few rounds sufficed to dislodge them. Panic ensued, and a -general stampede, in which arms and accoutrements were flung aside, -concluded the fight of Stratton. By this decisive victory, not only was -Cornwall cleared of the enemy and secured for the King, but the whole of -Devon, excepting a few of the principal towns, fell into the hands of -the Royalists. The King was not unmindful of the gallant Sir Bevill’s -share in the fight, but wrote him a gracious letter promising further -proofs of his bounty and favour. - -The following June, the Cornish army joined that under Prince Maurice -and the Marquis of Hertford at Chard, and soon Taunton, Bridgwater, -Glastonbury, and Dunster Castle were taken. They then proceeded to -attack Sir William Waller, who had occupied an extremely strong position -on the lofty ridge of Lansdown, near Bath. There he had raised a -breastwork behind which his guns were posted, and he had so distributed -his foot and horse as to defend all points of access. Realising the -tremendous strength of his position, the Royalists wisely resolved not -to break themselves upon it, and were actually turning to resume their -march when the whole body of Waller’s horse came thundering down the -hill upon their rear and flank, striking them with a crash they could -not withstand, and throwing them into disorder from which they could not -recover, till Slanning came up with a party of three hundred Cornish -musketeers, and with his aid the enemy were beaten off and chased back -to the hill again. Hopton now assumed the offensive. The blood of the -whole army was beating hotly. It is said that the Cornishmen, under Sir -Bevill, coveted Waller’s cannon, and begged at least to be allowed “to -fetch off those cannon.” Leave was given, and up the steep height the -Cornishmen went with a rush: the horse on the right, the musketeers on -the left, and Sir Bevill himself leading the pikes in the centre. In -this order the Cornish moved forward, much as they had moved at -Stratton, slowly and doggedly. In the face of the enemy’s cannon and -small shot from their breastworks, they at length gained the brow of the -hill, having sustained two full charges from Waller’s horse, but in the -third charge Sir Bevill’s horse had given way; the cohesion of the pikes -was broken, and instantly the enemy was in among them, hewing them down; -the officers were falling fast, and Sir Bevill himself, sorely wounded -and fighting valiantly, was struck out of his saddle by a pole-axe, of -which hurt he died very shortly. Young John Grenville, a lad of sixteen, -sprang, it is said, into his father’s saddle, and led the charge, and -the Cornishmen followed with their swords drawn and with tears in their -eyes, swearing they would kill a rebel for every hair of Sir Bevill’s -beard; and at last the whole Royalist force surged over Waller’s -breastworks, and the victory was theirs. - -Never was a man more universally or deservedly beloved than Sir Bevill, -and it is said that his untimely death was as bitterly lamented by the -Parliamentarian troops as it was by his own followers. - -Of a very different character and temperament was his brother, another -Sir Richard Grenville, of whose life as a soldier only the very briefest -sketch can be given. He seems to have had little in common with the long -line of his illustrious predecessors, except their just pride of -ancestry and their appetite for fighting; for he was undoubtedly a brave -soldier of no little experience and skill. He entered the army at an -early age, and left England when he was eighteen, and saw much service -in France, Holland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Next he took part in -the disastrous expeditions to Cadiz and the Island of Rhe, in both of -which he was accompanied by his young cousin, George Monk, who always -regarded him as his father-in-arms. Like Sir Bevill, he accompanied -Charles I. to Scotland, having also raised a troop of horse; and in 1641 -he took a prominent part in suppressing the rebellion in Ireland, when -in fire and blood the wretched Irish were made to do penance for their -outburst of savagery, to which they had been goaded by Strafford’s -imperious rule. Having been recalled to England in 1643 for -insubordination to the Marquis of Ormond, Sir Richard pretended to adopt -the Parliamentarian cause, and was made a Major-General of Horse; but -having learnt all the secrets of their campaign, he treacherously -marched his soldiers to Oxford, and joined the King. For such abominable -treachery he was rightly denounced, and no epithets were too choice to -apply to him. He was, moreover, excepted from all pardon, both as to -life and estate. Shortly afterwards he was placed by Prince Rupert in -command of the troops that were besieging Plymouth, and it was mainly by -his successful tactics that Lord Essex was utterly defeated in Cornwall -in 1644, when the King commanded the Cavaliers in person. - -After this he was appointed “The King’s General in the West,” a title of -which he was justly proud, and which was eventually carved on his -tombstone at Ghent. Considering himself thus constituted -Commander-in-Chief, he afterwards refused, when called upon to do so by -the Prince’s Council, to act in any subordinate position; and hence -arose those unhappy dissensions and jealousies which finally wrecked the -royal cause in the West. Grenville was placed under arrest, and -cashiered from his command without any court-martial. In spite of his -overbearing manners and tyrannical conduct, of which frequent complaints -had been made, public opinion was strongly in his favour and clamoured -for his release, whilst the soldiers refused to be commanded by Hopton -or anyone else, and both officers and men, to the number of four -thousand, petitioned the Prince in his favour. Sir Richard’s -imprisonment and the dissensions that arose in consequence undoubtedly -gave the finishing stroke to the war in the West; the service everywhere -languished; the soldiers gradually deserted, and Lord Hopton was -compelled, after some faint resistance, to disband, and accept of such -conditions as the enemy would give. Sir Richard, it must be confessed, -represented the worst type of Cavalier. He was frequently actuated by -the dictates of a violent and revengeful disposition, and was intriguing -and unscrupulous. He died abroad in exile in 1659. - -The heroism of young John Grenville, Sir Bevill’s son, in taking command -of his father’s regiment at Lansdown when the latter fell mortally -wounded, met its recognition a month later at Bristol, when he was -knighted. After this he served under his uncle, Sir Richard, at the -siege of Plymouth and in Cornwall, and apparently accompanied Charles I. -in his march from the West after the defeat of Lord Essex; for the next -time we hear of him is at the second battle of Newbury (27th October, -1644), where he narrowly escaped his father’s fate. Being in the -thickest of the fight, and having received several other wounds, he was -at last felled to the ground with a very dangerous one in the head from -a halberd, which rendered him unconscious, and he was left for dead, nor -was he discovered until a body of the King’s horse, charging the enemy -afresh and beating them off the ground, found him covered with blood and -dust, but still living. He was carried to where the King and Prince of -Wales were, who sent him to Donnington Castle hard by, to be treated for -his wounds; but no sooner were the armies drawn off from the field of -battle than the castle itself was besieged by the enemy, and their -bullets constantly whistled through the room where the young sufferer -lay, during the twelve days which elapsed before the defenders were -relieved by the King at the third battle of Newbury. On his recovery -from his wounds, Sir John Grenville was promoted to the rank of a -Brigadier of Foot, and the following year was appointed a Gentleman of -the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales, who had formed a strong -attachment for him, which proved lifelong. He remained with the Prince -accordingly during the rest of the war, and accompanied him in his -flight to the Isles of Scilly, and afterwards to Jersey. - -Towards the end of the year 1648 the Scilly Islands revolted from the -Parliament, and became the last rallying point of the Royalists under -Grenville, who was appointed Governor to hold them for the King; but he -had scarcely been there three weeks when tidings reached him of the -King’s execution. With passionate indignation, he at once proclaimed -Charles II. King, and could find no words hard enough for Cromwell and -the Regicides. He fortified the islands, already strong from their -natural position and existing earthworks; and in this he was ably -assisted by his brother, Bernard, then barely eighteen, who had run away -from his tutor, and lay concealed at Menabilly, near Fowey, whence he -managed to carry considerable reinforcements for the defence of the -islands. For two years Sir John carried on a guerilla warfare against -the English republic, and seized many merchant and other vessels; but -when Van Tromp made overtures to him to cede the islands to the States -General, and offered £100,000 as a bribe, Grenville indignantly refused -to yield an inch of British soil to a stranger, saying he was there “to -contend against treason, not to imitate it.” Admiral Blake, who was in -pursuit of Van Tromp, next appeared, and again attempted negotiations -for the cession of the islands, but Grenville was resolved to hold them -for the King alone, and for a whole month made such a stubborn -resistance that when at last Blake prevailed, Grenville secured terms so -exceptionally favourable to the Royalists that the Parliament refused to -ratify them, till Blake insisted and threatened to resign his -commission. - -Sir John Grenville’s future career and the prominent part he took, in -conjunction with his cousin, George Monk, in the Restoration of Charles -II., who created him Earl of Bath, and showered countless honours and -endowments upon him, do not belong to a paper confined to giving the -fighting qualities of the family. These, however, found expression in -his two sons, Charles, Lord Lansdown, and John, afterwards created Lord -Granville of Potheridge. The latter was in the navy, and took part in -most of the naval engagements of his time, behaving with great bravery -and skill, particularly at the siege of Cork in 1690. Lord Lansdown took -part in the wars of Hungary against the Turks, and was present at the -battle of Kornenberch, the siege of Vienna, at Baracan, Gran, and -several smaller engagements, in all of which he displayed such unwonted -valour and intrepidity for one so young, that the Emperor Leopold, as a -special mark of honour, created him a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, -with the distinction of bearing his paternal coat-of-arms upon the -breast of the Roman Eagle. He also took part in the constant reprisals, -which marked the reign of William III., by the English and French upon -one another’s shores; and in one of these assisted in the bombardment of -his ancestral Norman town, Granville, and in another in the defence of -Teignmouth and Torbay. - -The fighting spirit of the family was still handed on in another member -of the family—a second Sir Bevill, the eldest son of the Honourable -Bernard Granville (as the name was now spelt), who appears to have -inherited all the courage of the grandfather whose name he bore. On -leaving Cambridge, he entered the army, and served with distinction in -his uncle, Lord Bath’s, regiment in Ireland and Flanders, and was -knighted by James II. at the head of that regiment on Hounslow Heath on -the 22nd of May, 1686. When Lord Bath revolted to the side of the Prince -of Orange, Sir Bevill was despatched to Jersey to disarm the Papists and -secure the island—a mission which he carried out with complete success. -After this he took part in the Continental war against the French, and -behaved with conspicuous bravery at the battle of Steinkirk, August 4th, -1692. The battle was going against King William, when Prince Casimer of -Nassau, who was in command of the troops, galloped back to the English -in his right rear, and begged them to advance, as Count Solmes refused -to bring up his infantry. Rapidly forming Bath’s regiment, with the -pikes in the centre and the grenadiers and musketeers on either flank, -Sir Bevill put himself at its head, and, closely followed by the Buffs, -moved out from the line. He was only just in time. Baron Pibrach, the -Colonel of the Luxemburgers, had been desperately wounded whilst -endeavouring to rally his men, who were flying in disorder, hotly -pursued by the French. Suddenly out of the crowd of fugitives hurrying -to the rear there emerged a line of glistening steel, and Bath’s -regiment, scarcely discernible from its foes in its scarlet stockings -and breeches, its blue coats and buff cross-belts, strode sternly -forward, its three red banners waving overhead. A hail of musket balls -smote it in the face; a storm of iron from the batteries mangled and -tore its flanks; but it pressed irresistibly on, and amid a hurricane of -cheers that drowned even the roar of the cannons, hurled the French -infantry from its path, and recovered the position. But only for a -moment. Again and again the French batteries worked up in dense masses -along Granville’s front, only to surge back again, rent and maimed by a -pitiless fire. So for another hour the carnage grew, till Prince -Casimer, galloping to Granville’s side, gave him the order to retire. It -was six in the evening. The allied drums were everywhere beating the -retreat. William had at last given up the struggle, and the columns were -slowly winding to the rear. There was no pursuit. Sir Bevill’s gallantry -was long remembered and talked of with grateful admiration by the -British camp fires. - -This paper must now close with a brief quotation from a letter written -by one who was the last but one of the representatives of this ancient -house in the senior male line, namely, George Granville (younger brother -of the last-mentioned Sir Bevill), afterwards created Baron Lansdown of -Bideford. Although no opportunity arose for him to distinguish himself -otherwise than in politics and as a poet, the old fighting spirit was -not lacking in him, and he was eager to gain his father’s permission to -take up arms against the Prince of Orange:— - - Sir,—You having no prospect of obtaining a commission for me can no - way alter or cool my desire at this important juncture to venture my - life in some manner or other for my King and my country. I cannot bear - living under the reproach of lying obscure and idle in a country - retirement when every man, who has the least sense of honour, should - be preparing for the field. You may remember, Sir, with what - reluctance I submitted to your commands upon Monmouth’s rebellion, - when no importunity could prevail with you to permit me to leave the - Academy. I was “too young to be hazarded”; but give me leave to say it - is glorious at any age to die for one’s country, and the sooner, the - nobler the sacrifice. I am now older by three years. My uncle Bath was - not so old when he was left among the slain at the battle of Newbury, - nor you yourself, Sir, when you made your escape from your tutor’s to - join your brother at the defence of Scilly. The same cause is now come - round about again. The King has been misled; let those who have misled - him be answerable for it. Nobody can deny but he is sacred in his own - person, and it is every honest man’s duty to defend it. You are - pleased to say it is yet doubtful if the Hollanders are rash enough to - make such an attempt. But be that as it will, I beg leave to insist - upon it that I may be presented to his Majesty, as one whose utmost - ambition it is to devote his life to his service and my country’s, - after the example of my ancestors. - -No unworthy extract, this, surely, wherewith to close the annals of six -centuries of stainless loyalty in a family whose motto has always been: -“Deo, Patriæ, Amicis.” - - ROGER GRANVILLE. - - - - - - -THE AUTHOR OF _BRITANNIA’S| PASTORALS_ AND TAVISTOCK.[5] | |BY THE REV. -D. P. ALFORD, M.A. - - -If beautiful country could beget good poets, Tavistock ought to abound -in them. For, on one side, there is Dartmoor, with its rugged grandeur, -stretching out protecting arms to Brent Tor and Whitchurch Down; on the -other side, there is the majestic Tamar, winding through its -deeply-wooded valley, from Latchley Weir, past New Bridge and the -Morwell Rocks, to Gawton Quay; whilst through the midst, the sportive -Tavy runs down from its lonely cleave, and gathering up the Walla on its -way, with bright and tawny waters, now creeps, now rushes past, to break -through the beetling cliffs beyond Crowndale, and glide beneath the -Ramsham woods, to its happy meeting with the Walkham, and thence to the -copse-covered banks at Denham Bridge. - ------ - -Footnote 5: - - _Chief authorities for this paper_: Dugdale and Oliver’s _Monasticon_; - old documents connected with Tavistock, recovered in ancient oak chest - in 1886; various papers on Tavistock Worthies, in the _Transactions of - the Devonshire Association_; Mr. A. H. Bullen’s “Life of William - Browne,” in the _Dictionary of National Biography_; and Mr. Wm. Carew - Hazlitt’s Introduction to the Roxburghe Club Edition of Browne’s - Works, 1868. - ------ - -Perhaps it was the rich and varied beauty round his home that forced -some scraps of verse from the rugged soul of our Puritan incumbent, -Thomas Larkham. At all events, two hundred years later, Vicar Bray was -versifying in the quiet seclusion of his vicarage, and inscribing his -best lines on slate slabs for the garden walls; and at the same time, -Mrs. Bray was writing her local tales in imitation of Scott, sending -letters to Southey about the borders of the Tamar and Tavy, and -commending to his kindly notice her poetical _protegée_, the modest and -gentle maid-servant, Mary Collins. Then, also, Miss Rachel Evans was -writing verse, as well as prose; and her brother-in-law, Mr. H. S. -Stokes, was beginning his career as a west-country poet here in -Tavistock. - -[Illustration: - - WEST VIEW OF TAVISTOCK ABBEY, 1734. - (_From an Engraving by S. and N. Buck._) -] - -Transcription: [For the most noble John, Duke and Earl of Bedford, -Marquess of Tavistock, Baron Russel of Thornbaugh, and Baron Howland of -Streatham. Proprietor of these Remains. This Prospect is humbly -Inscrib’d by Your Grace’s most Dutiful, and Obedient Servants, Sam^l & -Nath^l Buck. Ordigarius or Orgarius Duke of Devonshire & Cornwall, whose -Daughter was married to K. Edgar, Very probably kept his Court here, -till his son Odulph built this Abbey Anno 961, for then the whole Mannor -of Tavistock, & Jurisdiction thereof, were given to the Monastery with -view of Frank Pledge, Gallowes Pillory assize of Bread Beer &c. The -Church was dedicated to St. Mary &. St Rumon. The Danes burnt it but it -was soon rebuilt. In the Reign of Ed. I. The abbot claim’d the aforesaid -Priveleges, which were by that King allow’d & confirm’d. There were some -famous Men Abbots thereof, particularly two Bishops & one Earl of -Devonshire; of the Courtenay family, Lectures were herein read in the -Saxon language to preserve it in Memory; it was of the Dignity of the -Mitred Abbots, who sat as Barons in Parliament. Their Power and -Priveleges continued till the Dissolution by K. H. 8. who gave it to -John L’^d Russel, in which Noble Family it still continues. Annual Value -£902 5 7¾. - -S. & N. buck delim et sculp 1733 ] - -All these, however, are local celebrities; and our one poet of public -fame is William Browne, the reverent disciple of Sidney and Spenser; the -personal friend of Wither and Drayton, Selden and Ben Jonson; the poet’s -poet, who suggested more than one idea to Milton, was admired by Keats, -and highly commended by Mrs. Browning. He was a bright little man, -beloved by his brother-poets for his simple manners and gentle -character; such another as Hartley Coleridge, without his weakness of -will; so that he was known amongst them as “Bonny Browne” and “Sweet -Willy of the Western Main.” - -William Browne probably came of a knightly family near Great Torrington; -but he was born here in Tavistock in 1591—just the most stirring time -for minds and morals that England has ever known. The Reformation had -stimulated the conscience, as the New Learning had liberated the mind; -and then our wonderful deliverance from the mighty power of Spain had -produced an extraordinary national exultation. What wonder that this -newly-awakened energy should find expression in Spenser and Shakspere, -in Hooker and Bacon, and their innumerable, not unworthy satellites? - -But apart from the general excitement, Tavistock had its own special -atmosphere of stirring influences, both from the past and in the -present. The inscribed stones in the vicarage garden show that the -country was occupied by a Gaelic tribe of Celts early in the Roman -times. But the town owed its fame, and probably its very existence, to -the great Benedictine monastery, founded by Earl Ordulf, and sanctified -by the relics of St. Rumon in the days of Edgar the Peaceable. For -almost six centuries it had reflected, and even, for a short while, -directly influenced, through its abbots, the changeful course of -England’s progress. Two of its earlier abbots were leading statesmen, as -well as active prelates. Lyfing, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, was -Canute’s fellow-traveller to Rome in 1026, and the staunch friend of the -patriotic Earl Godwin. Aldred, also Bishop of Worcester, and then -Archbishop of York, was the wise counsellor of Edward the Confessor and -of Harold, and the brave rebuker of William I.; he was the great -church-builder and church-reformer of his time, and he was the first -English Bishop to visit Jerusalem. - -Our later abbots often illustrate public feeling, though they could not -guide it as these two had done. Thus the general confusion at the close -of Henry III.’s reign found such a bad sample in our monastery that -Abbot John Chubbe was suspended in 1265, and deposed in 1269. The -growing luxury and indifference of the fourteenth century was seen too -plainly in Abbot John de Courtenay, who was reproved by the good Bishop -Grandisson, in 1348, for neglecting his duties to the abbey and -alienating its property, whilst he kept dogs for hunting. Bishop -Brantyngham’s strong injunctions to Abbot Thomas Cullyng, in 1387, to -restore discipline and to keep the monastic rules, show that disorder -and dissipation had been tending from bad to worse. - -But there is a brighter side to this picture of the past, and most of -our abbots were more learnedly or more clerically disposed. Some had -been slowly collecting a good library—an early promise of the present -Public Library, the best, for the size of the town, in the West of -England. Others had fostered the “Saxon School,” probably founded in the -early days of the thirteenth century, and still represented by the -Grammar School. In the spring of 1318, under Abbot John Campbell, Bishop -Bronescombe consecrated the Parish Church, which had been rebuilt in the -beautiful Decorated style of the day; and in the autumn of the same -year, he came again to consecrate the Conventual Church, which, in its -grand proportions, was almost a rival of Exeter Cathedral. Under Robert -Bonus, in 1325, was established the Guild of the Brothers and Sisters of -the Light of St. Mary in the Parish Church; and in 1370, Abbot Stephen -Langdon showed his concern for the good of the town by appealing to the -faithful to help in restoring the stone bridge over the rude waters of -the Tavy. John Denyngton probably rebuilt much of the Abbey in the -Perpendicular style then in vogue; and he certainly added to his own -dignity and to that of his monastery by gaining the permission of Henry -VI., in 1458, to apply to the Pope, Pius II., for the privilege of -wearing the pontificalia. This, our first mitred abbot, like his -predecessor, Allan of Cornwall, two hundred years earlier, had come back -to Tavistock from presiding over the dependent Priory of Tresco, in the -Isles of Scilly. Abbot John Banham was more ambitious than Denyngton; in -1513 a grant of Henry VIII. made him a spiritual peer, as Baron -Hurdwick, and four years later, a bull of Leo X. exempted him from -episcopal visitation. It was probably to Banham that the abbey owed an -honour more considerable and more in keeping with the spirit of the -age—the setting up within its precincts of the first printing-press in -the West of England. - -But the glory of our abbey had scarcely reached its height, before it -faded suddenly and for ever. Anticipating the blow which shattered the -larger monasteries in the spring of 1539, our abbot, John Peryn, not -emulous of the fate of the abbots of Glastonbury, Woburn, and Fountains, -assembled his twenty monks in the Chapter-house on March 20th, and then -and there resigned all their claims into the hands of the King. For this -ready surrender they were rewarded with their lives and various -pensions. With his pension of £100 a year, the abbot withdrew to -Stonepost, in West Street, and was probably the “Sir John Peryn” who, in -1543, was paid £6 as “Jesus’ Priest.” - -When William Browne was a lad, middle-aged men must have known the last -Abbot of Tavistock; and old people could recall—the poorer sort with -regretful sighs, the good old times, when the frequent services still -sounded from the Abbey Church, and the monks distributed alms at the -arched gateway, beneath the present library. Even Browne himself, a -child of the Renaissance, who hated superstition and loved the Pagan -mythology, could grudge the misuse of sacred buildings; and amongst -other evils done by the Tavy in flood, he tells us how the stream— - - Here, as our wicked age doth sacriledge, - Helpes downe an Abbey. - -But though he was fond of Chaucer and our older poets, and though he -felt the influence of the stately ruins that surrounded his -school-house, he loved nature more than art, and was too full of present -life to care very much for the past. As a boy with boys, he would spend -his holidays breaking away from - - An Orchard, whence by stealth he takes - A churlish Farmer’s Plums, sweet Peares or Grapes; - -chasing the “nimble Squirrel” in “Blanchdown Woods”; or, with his rod, -following his “native Tavy” in her “many mazes, intricate meanders.” But -as thought came with years, he would be stealing away alone to cherish -his “Spring of Poesie” with Sidney’s _Sonnets_ or Spenser’s _Faërie -Queen_, as he wandered over the “Dazied Downes” that “sweetly environed” -his home, or nestled beneath some shade in “Sweet Ina’s Combe,” half -lulled to sleep by the Walla’s murmurings, or rousing himself to compose -“the pleasing cadence of a line” in tune with those gentle murmurings. - -Nor, indeed, had all the honour of Tavistock departed with the overthrow -of her abbey. The Russells, who succeeded to the property, did not -neglect the duties connected with it. They began—as they have -continued—to maintain the religious and educational endowments. They -supplied the borough with statesmen for Members of Parliament, in the -generous patriot, Lord William Russell, in Lord John, the leader of -Reform, and in the thoughtful, far-sighted Lord Arthur. They improved -the town with wide streets and public buildings, and, more recently, -with a fine statue, the first in the country, of Francis Drake. - -Browne was but a little lad of five when his greatest townsman finished -his heroic course in a sea-grave off Nombre de Dios, in 1596; but he -kept his exploits in remembrance, and presently celebrated him as the— - - —valiant, well-resolvèd Man, - Seeking new paths i’ th’ pathlesse Ocean. - -Besides the Drakes, there were several families of distinction in and -about Tavistock when Browne was a boy: there were Slannings, Kellys, and -Champernownes near by; and in the parish, Glanvills, Maynards, Peeks, -and Fitz. - -In that year, 1596, there was born in the mansion at Fitzford the -daughter of John Fitz and Bridget Courtenay, who, as Lady Howard, was to -be so cruelly maligned by false rumours and fictitious romance. The -family had been long settled at Fitzford, and a John Fitz was M.P. for -Tavistock in 1427. Lady Howard’s grandfather married Mary Sydenham, of -Brympton, Somerset; and at the back of their quiet tomb in the Parish -Church is the kneeling figure of her father, Sir John Fitz. He was but a -youth of fifteen at his father’s death, in 1589; and his riotous, wasted -life was an ironical commentary on his kneeling posture. After a wild -and reckless youth, in 1699, when he was twenty-five, he killed Nicholas -Slanning, of Bickley, in a cowardly brawl. Coming home from a short -sojourn abroad, he was more quiet for a while; but presently, returning -from London, whither he had gone to be knighted at the Coronation of -James I., he was more dissipated than ever. He drove his wife and -daughters to seek refuge at Powderham, and upset the usually decent -parish with drunkenness and disorder. At last, on a second journey to -London, in a fit of mad panic, he killed the innkeeper at Twickenham, -and then so stabbed himself that he died in a few days. - -His nine-year-old daughter, the prey of greedy guardians, after being -forced into early marriages, enjoyed some years of wedded happiness with -her third husband, Sir Charles Howard, fourth son of the Earl of -Suffolk. Then, having suffered years of neglect and annoyance from her -fourth husband, the clever soldier, but treacherous politician, Sir -Richard, brother of the chivalrous Sir Bevil Grenville, at last, after -Fitzford had been sacked by the Roundheads, and her husband had fled the -country, she settled down in her old home for twenty-five quiet years, -from 1646 to 1671. Her son, George Howard, managed her property, joined -her in such local contributions as that, in 1670, for the “redemption of -captives in Turkey,” and represented Tavistock with Lord William Russell -in 1660. But as he died some weeks before her, Lady Howard left her -large estates bordering the Tavy, the mansion of Fitzford, the pleasant -country house of Walreddon, with many goodly farms, Browne’s favourite -Ramsham amongst them, to her first cousin, Sir William Courtenay, of -Powderham. - -It was about the year 1606 that William Browne left the Grammar School -for Exeter College, Oxford. He did not then matriculate or take his -degree, but he made friends with his colleagues, several of whom showed -their poetical taste in commendatory verses to his _Pastorals_ in 1613. -Meanwhile, in November, 1611, Browne had passed on to the Inner Temple, -where he largely increased his poetical acquaintance. He was on good -terms with Ben Jonson, Chapman, and Massinger amongst our dramatists, -and was therefore probably known to Shakspere; but his most intimate -friends were John Davies, the able author of _Nosce Teipsum_; -Christopher Brooke, the close ally of the famous poet and preacher, John -Donne; George Wither, and Michael Drayton. He and Brooke, in 1613, -published in one volume their elegies on the death of Prince Henry. He -had much in common with the early poems of Wither: their _Pastorals_ -exhibit the same charming simplicity, the same full content in -verse-making, the same indifference to irresponsive maidens. These lines -of Browne:— - - And gentle Swaine, some counsel take of me; - Love not where still thou maist; love who loves thee; - -strike the same note as that of Wither’s spirited song:— - - Shall I wasting in despair, - Die because a woman’s fair? - . . . . . . - If she be not so to me, - What care I how fair she be? - -To Drayton, as his “Honor’d Friend,” Browne addressed some verses -introductory to the second part of the _Polyolbion_. Regretting the loss -to letters when great Eliza died, with Chapman’s _Homer_ in mind, he -boasts that we can still render the classics into English without loss:— - - Whilst our full language, musical and high, - Speaks, as themselves, their best of Poesy. - -Browne’s regret at the general falling-off since the death of Elizabeth -suggests that the verses in her honour, which were removed with the -plastering from Tavistock Parish Church in 1845, may have been amongst -his earliest efforts. They ended with these flattering words:— - - This! This was she, that in despite of Death, - Lives still ador’d, admir’d Elizabeth. - Spain’s rod, Rome’s ruin, Netherland’s relief; - Heaven’s gem, Earth’s joy, World’s wonder, Nature’s chief. - -Browne’s elegy on Prince Henry was reprinted as one of the songs in the -first book of his _Britannia’s Pastorals_, which was also published in -1613, with commendatory verses from Drayton and Brooke and the learned -Selden, besides those from his college friends. In doing the same kindly -office for the second book, in 1616, Ben Jonson spoke thus highly of the -care and finish of Browne’s work:— - - which is so good - Upon th’ Exchange of Letters, that I wou’d - More of our Writers would, like thee, not swell - With the _how much_ they set forth, but th’ _how well_. - -Other verses prefixed to this book came from Tavistock, and were written -by Sir John Glanvill, probably Browne’s relation, and an old -schoolfellow. - -After the Fitz, the Glanvill family was the most important in Tavistock. -Settled at Holwell, in Whitchurch, for many generations, about 1550 they -sent a younger son into the town as a merchant. His son, John, passed -from an attorney’s office to the Bar, and in 1598, two years before his -death, he was made a Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1615, the fine -Jacobean monument against the south wall of the chancel was erected to -his memory by his widow, probably in gratitude to her sons, who in that -year had conveyed to her Sortridge, her own family estate, also in -Whitchurch, probably forfeited by her second marriage; for in the -interval she had married Sir Francis Godolphin, and become a second time -a widow. She occupied a dower house in Barley Market Street, and her -second name still lingers in the “Dolvin Road,” across the Tavy. The -Judge, Prince tells us, lived in part of the Abbey, this being, most -likely, the Abbey House, which Oliver says was occupied in 1635 by -Serjeant Maynard. The Barton at Kilworthy was bought by Judge Glanvill, -but it was his eldest son, Sir Francis, who built the mansion and laid -out the terrace gardens, of which some charming portions are still in -use. This Sir Francis Glanvill sat, as M.P. for Tavistock, in 1625 and -1628, with the great Commoner, John Pym. On January 21st, 1626, his son, -Francis, was baptized at Mary Tavy, by reason of the plague raging so -fiercely at Tavistock. So dreadful was the scourge, that six hundred -people died in twelve months; and the little town had scarcely recovered -its normal population in a hundred and fifty years. The younger Francis -dying without issue, left Kilworthy to his nephew, Francis Kelly; and he -left it to the Manatons, who held it till it was bought by the Russells -about 1770. By his sisters, daughters, and grand-daughters, Judge -Glanvill’s family became allied to the Brownes, Hamlyns, and Glubbs of -Tavistock, the Grylls of Launceston, to Heles, Eastcourts, and -Polwheles; to the Fowells, the Sawles of Penrice, and the Doidges of -Hurlesditch; besides the Kellys and Manatons. One of his sisters was the -second wife of Robert Knight, probably the first _married_ Vicar of -Tavistock; and his third son, George, was Vicar from 1662 to 1673. - -Sir John Glanvill, the second son, was equally distinguished in law and -politics. He was made Recorder of Plymouth in 1614, Serjeant in 1637, -and Recorder of Bristol in 1640. As M.P. for Plymouth from 1614 to 1628, -he was attached to the country party with Elliott and Pym, and he had -charge of the Petition of Right before the Lords. Returned for Bristol -in 1640, he was chosen Speaker of the Short Parliament, as a man of -reasonable judgment and soothing speech; but having joined the King at -Oxford in 1643, from 1645 to 1648 he was imprisoned in the Tower as a -delinquent. He was re-appointed King’s Serjeant at the Restoration, and -died soon after at Broad Hinton, his estate in Wiltshire. It was this -worthy fellow-townsman who, in 1616, addressed William Browne in verses -overflowing with kindly appreciation, and beginning:— - - Ingenious Swaine! that highly dost adorne - Clear Tavy! on whose brinck we both were borne! - -Another eminent fellow-townsman, John Maynard, might have been with -Browne at the Grammar School, and certainly followed him to Exeter -College and to the Inns of Court. Like Sir John Glanvill, Maynard was a -man of mark, both in law and politics; but he was more of a time-server. -He was clever enough to be leader of the Western Circuit during fifty of -the most turbulent years of our annals. He was “Protector’s Serjeant” -under Cromwell; “Ancient Serjeant” under Charles II. and James II.; and -“Lord Commissioner” after the Revolution of 1688. He also sat in every -Parliament from the first of Charles I. to the first of William and -Mary. He was presented to the new King at Whitehall when he was nearly -ninety; and William observed that he must have outlived all the lawyers -of his time. “Yes, sire,” he promptly replied; “and if your Highness had -not come over to help us, I should have outlived the law, too.” As -Maynard took part both in the impeachment of Strafford and also of Sir -Henry Vane, it is no wonder that Roscommon, Strafford’s nephew and -godson, should write of him:— - - The robe was summoned, Maynard at the head, - In legal murder none so deeply read; - -or that the author of _Hudibras_ should enquire, in his witty doggrel:— - - Did not the learned Glynne and Maynard, - To make good subjects traitors, strain hard? - -It is to Maynard’s credit that he spent part of his fortune in founding -a free school at Bere Alston, which he had represented in Parliament. -Maynard and Courtenay are names still pleasantly associated in Tavistock -with provision for the deserving poor, in convenient almshouses; whilst -an exhibition to help some “Grammar scholar,” “of the best ingenuity and -towardliness,” on his way to the University, is a lasting memorial of -Sir John Glanvill. - -In 1626, Browne probably received from another old schoolfellow, Richard -Peeke, a copy of his _Three to One_, a short and vigorous account of his -recent exploits in Spain. This Richard Peeke, a gentleman of good family -in Tavistock, had volunteered, in 1625, for the ill-starred expedition -to Cadiz, and being taken prisoner, by his prowess in defeating three -fully-armed Spaniards with a quarter-staff, had won his life and -liberty, and was presently celebrated in ballads as “Manly Peeke,” and -in a fine old play as “Dick of Devonshire.” He was invited by King -Philip IV. to serve him by land or sea, but Peeke said he must return to -the wife and children who were sighing for him in Tavistock; so he came -back to settle down quietly in the old home, and, as one of our pewter -flagons tells, he was churchwarden in 1638. - -And what was William Browne doing all this time? In 1614 he had written -his masque of “Ulysses and Circe” for the Inner Temple, where it was -performed 13th January, 1614–5. The subject may have been suggested by -Chapman’s _Odyssey_, printed in 1614, or by Samuel Daniel’s lyric, -“Ulysses and the Siren” (1605), and it is more than likely that Browne’s -masque gave Milton some hints for his “Comus.” In 1614 he also -contributed seven Eclogues to the “Shepheard’s Pipe,” the other -contributors being C. Brooke, Davies, and Wither. Browne worked into his -first Eclogue the “Jonathas” of the little-known Occleve, and the fourth -is an Elegy on Thomas, the son of Sir Peter Manwood. - -Our little and learned poet, as Prince describes him, is said to have -been appointed, in 1615, Pursuivant of Wards and Liveries for life. He -married a daughter of Sir Thomas Eversfield, and had two sons, who both -died young. In 1624 he returned to Oxford as tutor to the Hon. Robert -Dormer, afterwards Earl of Carnarvon, who was killed at Newbury in 1643. -Browne, being thirty-three, matriculated from Exeter College on 30th -April, 1624, and on 16th November took his M.A., being commended for his -knowledge of humane letters and the fine arts. He seems to have gone -abroad with his pupil, and in 1640 he wrote from Dorking to Sir Benjamin -Ruddyerd, congratulating him on his “late speech in Parliament, wherein -they believe the spirit which inspired the Reformation, and genius which -dictated the Magna Charta, possessed you. In my poore cell and -sequestration from all businesse, I blesse God and praye for more such -members in the Commonwealth.” Anthony Wood says he was afterwards -domesticated with the Herberts at Wilton, and prospered there; and it -has been fairly proved that he, and not Ben Jonson, wrote that most -perfect epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke:— - - Underneath this sable hearse - Lies the subject of all verse, - Sidney’s sister, Pembroke’s mother; - Death! ere thou hast slain another, - Learn’d and fair, and good as she, - Time will throw a dart at thee. - -We do not know when or where our poet ended his days, but if, oppressed -with sorrow or sickness, he turned with longing to the native scenes -which in early youth he had loved so well, it is likely enough that he -is referred to in the simple entry of the Tavistock register:—“27th -March, 1643, William Browne was buried.” - -As poets will, Browne went on writing all through life, but he published -nothing new after 1616. He left in MS. a third book of the Pastorals, -which was first printed in 1852, and a number of smaller poems, sonnets, -epistles, visions, allegories, epigrams, epitaphs, and some jocular -pieces. Amongst the last were the Lydford stanzas, which contained the -first notice of the wild Gubbingses, and the sharp satire on Lydford -Law; about 1630 they were “commonly sung by many a fiddler” as a -Devonshire ballad. - -Why did Browne print nothing new after 1616? He had not lost the poetic -gift, for much that he left in MS. is as good as anything he ever wrote. -We have examples in the first and second songs of the third book of the -Pastorals, and nothing that he published is brighter than the song in -the Lansdowne MS. with the pleasant refrain: - - Welcome! Welcome! do I sing! - Far more welcome than the Spring! - He that parteth from you never, - Shall enjoy a Spring for ever!” - -In truth, William Browne was, as his friend Drayton styled him, “a -rightly-born Poet.” If, like the “Faërie Queene,” his Pastorals are -vague and diffuse in narrative, and deficient in human interest, yet, -like the “Faërie Queene,” they abound in happy visions, and fine -descriptions, and wholesome thoughts, expressed in easy, flowing melody. -Browne was akin to Keats and Tennyson in his love of well-sounding words -and sonorous lines. It gave him keen pleasure— - - To linger on each line’s enticing graces. - -And his enjoyment of the simple beauties of nature was as true and -heartfelt as Cowper’s. Vivid pictures of country scenes, and homely -sketches of country life, are presented to us again and again in verse -that is always clear and lucid, though soft and sweet, or rough and -rugged, according to the subject. His carefully-constructed verses, in -their clearness and in their varying tone, would really seem to have -been attuned to the “voiceful Tavy” which he loved so dearly and -celebrated so gladly, and by whose side many of them were written. - -Why, then, with such a gift, so obviously unexhausted, did he decline to -publish anything after the appearance of the second book of _Britannia’s -Pastorals_, in 1616? Probably he felt, as S. Daniel had felt before him, -that a people entirely devoted to action and incident could have little -taste for pure poetry. Even as early as 1613 he had described a poor -poet, sitting up late, wasting ink and paper, and wearing out “many a -gray goose quill,” in the vain hope of immortal renown:— - - When Loe! (O Fate!) his worke not seeming fit - To walk in equipage with better wit, - Is kept from light, there gnawne by Moathes and Wormes, - At which he frets. - -And, in 1623, when he wrote his commendatory verses for Massinger’s -_Duke of Millaine_, he was convinced that there was no demand for any -poetry but the drama:— - - I am snapt already, and may go my way; - The Poet-Critic’s come; I hear him say: - This Youth’s mistook, the Author’s work’s a Play. - -It would be easy to make a pleasant little volume of selections from the -more striking or more beautiful passages in Browne’s Pastorals, but here -we can hardly find room for half-a-dozen specimens. Of death he writes:— - - Death is no stranger, - And generous Spirits never fear for danger. - -Of cheerful content:— - - Where there’s content, ’tis ever Holy-day. - -Of the Good Shepherd he says that from - - the stem - Of that sweet singer of Jerusalem, - Came the best Shepherd ever flocks did keepe, - Who yeelded up his life to save his sheepe. - -In Book 2 we have such satire as this, of the “fawning citizen,” - - Who “lives a Knave to leave his sonne a Knight”; - -such strong lines as this of the sea:— - - The vast insatiate Sea doth still devour; - -such vivid pictures as this:— - - The whistling Reeds upon the water’s side, - Shot up their sharpe heads in a stately pride; - -or sweetly-soothing verses like these, on the stillness of nightfall:— - - Onely the curled Streames soft chidings kept; - And little Gales that from the greene leafe swept - Dry summer dust, in fearefull whisp’rings stir’d, - As loth to waken any singing bird. - -Such passages as these must be admired by every lover of nature, but the -poet will always be doubly dear to those who have lived amongst the -scenes he describes so tenderly and so faithfully. My own feeling of -indebtedness to one whose poetry had given a sort of sacredness to his -native haunts was thus expressed when I was in clerical charge of the -Tamar side of Tavistock, more than thirty years ago:— - - Nature’s true Poet, blest with fancies sweet, - And voice as swift and changeful as our brooks, - We country swains cast often wondering looks - On those great singers that around thee meet; - For Spenser, Sidney, thy chief teachers were, - And Wither, Drayton, Jonson, called thee friend; - And, like enough, kind Shakespere did commend - Thy “modest muse.” And yet, we all may share - The scenes of beauty that inspired thy lay; - For still, by “Blanchdown Wood” the Tamar sweeps; - Still trickle streamlets down the “Dartmoor” steeps, - And sing blithe music to the lambs at play; - Still through “sweet Ina’s Combe” the Walla leaps, - Hurrying to greet the Tavy on its way. - - D. P. ALFORD. - - - - - THE BLOWING UP OF GREAT - TORRINGTON CHURCH. - - BY GEORGE M. DOE. - - -The town of Great Torrington played a not inconspicuous part in the -Civil Wars, the culminating and dramatic incident of which was the -blowing up of the Parish Church after the defeat and flight of the -Royalist forces who were then in the town. The fight at Torrington, too, -was the last important engagement of the campaign in the West, being the -final decisive blow to the Royalist cause there. A very accurate and -full account of the whole of the doings in North Devon during this -stirring time is to be found in the late Mr. R. W. Cotton’s invaluable -work on _Barnstaple and the Northern part of Devonshire during the Great -Civil War_, 1642–1646, and the incidents more particularly relating to -Great Torrington were collected by me and embodied in a little book -entitled, _A few Pages of Great Torrington History_, 1642–1646, and the -blowing up of the Church is also dealt with in my paper in the -_Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the year 1894_. - -Though of far less importance than the final battle, there were two -other previous engagements at Great Torrington. The first of these took -place in December, 1642, when a party of Parliamentarian horse and foot -from Barnstaple attacked the Royalists then in the town. From the -varying accounts given by each party, it is, however, uncertain which -side came off best in the encounter. - -[Illustration: GREAT TORRINGTON CHURCH (OLD).] - -[Illustration: GREAT TORRINGTON CHURCH (NEW).] - -There are entries of burials in the Parish Register of Great Torrington -of this date, one being that of Christopher Awberry, a trooper of Sir -Ralph Hopton, who was killed by the “goeing off of a muskett unawares -upon the maine gard,” and was buried “Souldier Like,” and another of -Thomas Hollamore, “slaine by ye goeing off of a muskett.” - -In the next year another attack was made on the Royalist forces under -Colonel Digby in Great Torrington, resulting in a fight on the Commons -on the north side of the town, in which the attacking force was -repulsed. A description of this engagement is given by Lord Clarendon in -his _History of the Rebellion_. - -Between this last date and that of the blowing up of the Church, there -is the following interesting entry in the Register of Burials of July, -1644:— - - Thomas Moncke gent. lieuetennt to Colonell Thomas Moncke of Poderidge - Esq beeing slaine in South Streete the IX^{th} day about 12^{th} a - ’clocke att night by somme of his owne company by reason of some - misprision of the word given being the IX^{th} day att 12^{th} - aforesaid was buried the 10^{th} day. - -The “Colonell Thomas Moncke” in this entry was the father of the -unfortunate lieutenant, and brother of the celebrated George Monk, Duke -of Albemarle and Earl of Torrington, who subsequently played the leading -part in the Restoration of King Charles II. Potheridge, in the parish of -Merton, which is now converted into a farm-house, was the family seat of -the Monks. - -On the morning of Monday, the 16th February, 1645, the Parliamentarian -Army, with Fairfax as General and Cromwell Lieutenant-General, marched -from Ashreingney viâ Stevenstone, reaching Great Torrington late in the -evening, and after some hard fighting in the dark succeeded in forcing -their way into the town and driving the Royalist soldiers, under Lord -Hopton, through the streets and across the Torridge in the direction of -Cornwall. Hardly had the victors effected an entrance, before the -Church, which had been used by the Royalists as a magazine for their -powder, was blown up, the explosion wrecking the surrounding houses and -dealing ruin and destruction in all directions. - -There are several very graphic accounts of the catastrophe and the -incidents immediately leading up to it, by eye witnesses, which cannot -be excelled in accurate and vivid description by any additional -embellishments. The following is that of Joshua Sprigge, the chaplain of -Fairfax:— - - Monday, February 16th, the drums beat by four of the clock in the - Morning; the general rendezvous of the army was appointed to be at - Rings-Ash, about three miles from Chimleigh; where, accordingly, by - seven of the clock in the morning, the whole army was drawn up in - battalia, horse and foot, on the moor five miles short of Torrington, - and so marched in order ready for a present engagement, in case the - enemy should attempt any thing in our march through the narrow lanes; - the forlorn hope of horse, commanded by major Stephens and Captain - Moleneux, being advanced towards Stephenston (master Rolls’ house near - Torrington), his excellency understood that the enemy had 200 dragoons - in the House, whereupon a commanded party of horse and foot were sent - to fall on them; but upon the advance of our forces towards them, the - enemy quit the place; yet our horse marching fast, engaged their rear, - took several of their dragoons prisoners, and afterwards the forlorn - hope of horse on both sides were much engaged in the narrow and dirty - lanes; at last we beat them from master Rolls’ house, all along the - lane almost to Torrington. About five of the clock in the evening the - van of the army was drawn up in the park, the forlorn hope of foot was - drawn out near the forlorn hope of horse in the midway, between master - Rolls’ house and Torrington, and there lined the hedges to make good - the retreat of the horse; the enemy likewise drew out of the town four - or five closes off, and lined the hedges with musketeers within a - close of ours, and flanked their foot with horse; whereupon good - reserves were sent to second our forlorn hope of foot, lest the enemy, - knowing the ground, and we being strangers unto it, might suddenly - encompass us (it being by this time dark night, and the whole army - being then come up, having marched ten miles that day). About eight at - night the enemy drew off from some of the closes they formerly - possessed; whereupon we gained the ground they quitted, and a council - of war being called, whether it was advisable, being night, to engage - the enemy’s body, then in the town, who were ready with the best - advantages of ground and barricadoes to receive us; it was the general - sense of the council to make good our ground and double our guards - till the next morning, that we might the better take view of the - places where we were like to engage; whereupon the general and - lieutenant-general went from master Rolls’ house to see the guards - accordingly set, but, hearing a noise in the town, as if the enemy - were retreating, and being loath that they should go away without an - affront, to that purpose, and that we might get certain knowledge - whether they were going off or not, a small party of dragoons were - sent to fire on the enemy near the barricadoes and hedges. The enemy - answered us with a round volley of shot; thereupon the forlorn hope of - foot went and engaged themselves to bring off the dragoons, and the - reserve fell on to bring off the forlorn hope; and being thus far - engaged, the general being on the field, and seeing the general - resolution of the soldiery, held fit that the whole regiments in order - after them should fall on. And so both sides were accordingly engaged - in the dark for some two hours, till we beat them from the hedges and - within their barricadoes, which were very strong, and where some of - their men disputed the entrance of our forces with push of pike and - butt-end of musket for a long time. At last it pleased God to give us - the victory, our foot first entering the town, and afterwards the - horse, who chased the enemy through the town, the Lord Hopton, - bringing up the rear, had his horse shot dead under him in the middle - of the town, their horse once facing about in the street, caused our - foot to retreat, but more of our horse coming up pursued them to the - bridges, and through the other barricadoes at the further end of the - town, where we had no sooner placed guards at the several avenues, and - had drawn our whole army of foot and most of our horse into the town, - but the magazine of near eighty barrels of powder, which the lord - Hopton had in the church, was fired by a desperate villain, one Watts, - whom the enemy had hired with thirty pounds for that purpose, as he - himself confessed the next day, when he was pulled out from under the - rubbish and timber, and the lead, stones, timber, and iron work of the - church were blown up into the air and scattered all over the town and - fields about it where our forces were; yet it pleased God miraculously - to preserve the army, that few were slain besides the enemy’s (that - were prisoners in the church where the magazine was blown up), and - most of our men that guarded them who were killed and buried in the - ruins: and here was God’s great mercy unto us, that the general being - there in the streets escaped with his life so narrowly, there falling - a web of lead with all its force which killed the horse of one master - Rhoads of the lifeguard who was thereon next to the general in the - street, but doing neither him nor the general any hurt. There were - taken in the town about 600 prisoners besides officers, great store of - arms (the lanes and fields being bestrewn with them), all their foot - were scattered, their horse fled that night towards Cornwall in great - confusion: the prisoners we took confessed they had about 4,000 foot - and 4,000 horse at least; the service was very hot, we had many - wounded, it was stoutly maintained on both sides for the time. - -From other sources we learn that the main body of the Royalist Horse was -stationed at the end of the barricade on the north side of the town, and -the Prince’s Guards were in the Castle Green. The word for the night -was, “We are with you,” and the signal was a handkerchief tied round the -right arm. The word for the night of the Parliamentarian Army was, -“Emmanuel, God with us,” and each man carried a sprig of furze in his -hat. - -Fairfax himself also gives a detailed account of the affair in a letter -to the Speaker of the House of Commons, in which he says:— - - Accordingly on Monday morning I drew out the army to an early - rendezvous at Ring-Ash, within six miles of the enemy; the weather - still continued very wet and so by all signs was like to hold till we - advanced from the rendezvous; but suddenly, when we were upon march, - it, beyond all expectation, began to be fair and dry, and so continued - whereas we had scarce seen one fair blast for many days before. The - enemy (as we understood by the way), had all their horses drawn - together about Torrington, and with their foot prepared to defend the - town, which they had fortified with good barricadoes of earth cast up - at every avenue, and a competent line patched up round about it, their - horse standing by to flank the same, and some within to scour the - streets. Our forlorn hope had order to advance to Stephenson-park, - about a mile from the town, and there to stay for the drawing up of - the army, there being no other place fit for that purpose nearer to - the town on that side we came on. But when we came near we understood - that the enemy had with 200 dragoons possessed the house in the park, - and were fortifying it, being of itself very strong, but upon our - nearer approach their dragoons quitted the house, and our forlorn hope - falling on them took many prisoners and pursuing them near the town - were engaged so far as they could not well draw back to the park which - occasioned to sending up of stronger parties to make them good where - they were, or bring them off; and at last there being some fear that - the enemy would draw about them and hem them in, Colonel Hammond was - sent up with three regiments of foot, being his own, Colonel Harlow’s, - and mine, and some more horse to lie for reserves unto them, by which - time the night was grown on so that it was not thought fit unless the - enemy appeared to be drawing away to attempt anything further upon the - town till morning, in regard none of us knew the ground nor the - advantages or disadvantages of it; but about nine of the clock, there - being some apprehension of the enemy’s drawing away, by reason of - their drawing back some outguards, small parties were sent out towards - the town’s end to make a certain discovery which going very near their - works before the enemy made any firing, but being at last entertained - with a great volley of shot and thereupon supposed to be engaged, - stronger parties were sent up to relieve them, and after them the - three regiments went up for reserves, till at last they fell on in - earnest. After very hot firings, our men coming up to the barricadoes - and line, the dispute continued long at push of pike and with - butt-ends of muskets till at last it pleased God to make the enemy fly - from their works, and give our men the entrance; after which our men - were twice repulsed by their horse and almost all driven out again, - but colonel Hammond, with some other officers and a few soldiers, made - a stop at the barricadoes, and, so making good their re-entrance, - rallied their men, and went on again, major Stephens with their - forlorn hope of horse coming seasonably up to second them: the enemy’s - foot ran several ways, most of them leaving their arms, but most of - their officers, with the assistance of horse, made good their own - retreat out of the town towards the bridge, and taking the advantage - of strait passages, to make often stands against our men, gave time - for many of their foot to get over the bridge; their horse without the - town, after some attempts at other avenues to have broken in again - upon us, being repulsed, at last went all away over another bridge, - and at several other passes of the river, and all fell westward; the - ground where their horse had stood and the bridge they went over lying - so beyond the town, as our horse could not come at them but through - the town, which, by reason of strait passages through several - barricadoes, was very tedious, by means whereof, and by reason of - continued strait lanes the enemy had to retreat by, after they were - over the river, as also by the advantage of the night, and by their - perfect knowledge of the country and our ignorance therein, our horse - could do little execution upon the pursuit, but parties being sent out - several ways to follow them, as those disadvantages would admit, did - the best they could, and brought back many prisoners and horses. We - took many prisoners in the town, who, being put into the church where - the enemy’s magazine lay, of above fourscore barrels of powder, as is - reported, besides other ammunition either purposely by some desperate - prisoner, or casually by some soldier, the powder was fired, whereby - the church was quite blown up, the prisoners and most of our men that - guarded them were killed and overwhelmed in the ruins; the houses of - the town shaken and shattered, and our men all the town over much - endangered by the stones, timber, and lead, which with the blast were - carried up very high, and scattered in great abundance all the town - over and beyond; yet it pleased God that few of our men were slain or - hurt thereby, save those in the church only, our loss of men otherwise - in this service was small, though many wounded, it being a hotter - service than any storm this army hath before been upon, wherein God - gave our men great resolution; and colonel Hammond especially, and - other officers engaged with him, behaved themselves with much - resolution, courage and diligence, recovering the ground after their - men were twice repulsed; of prisoners taken in this service about 200 - were blown up, 200 have taken up arms with us, and about 200 more - common soldiers remain prisoners: besides many officers, gentlemen, - and servants, not many slain, but their foot so dispersed as that of - about 3,000, which the most credible persons do affirm they had there, - and we find, by a list taken among the lord Hopton’s papers, - themselves did account them more, we cannot hear of above 400 that - they carried off with them into Cornwall, whither their horse also are - gone, being much broken and dispersed as well as their foot. By the - considerations and circumstances in this business which I have here - touched upon, you will perceive whose hand it was that led us to it, - and gave such success in it, and truly there were many more evident - appearances of the good hand of God therein than I can set forth: let - all the honour be to Him alone for ever. - -A letter of John Rushworth, the Secretary to Fairfax, written at -Torrington on the 22nd of February, 1645–6, states that:— - - The other day, being the market day, Master Peters preacht unto the - country people and souldiers in Torrington (the Church being blown up) - he was forced to preach out of a belcony, where the audience was - great: he made a great impression upon the hearts of the people. - -This was the celebrated Hugh Peters, the Puritan preacher, who attended -the army in its journeyings. - -The following curious certificate is given in the preface to a work by -the Rev. John Heydon, dedicated to Sir Thomas Fairfax, the title page of -which reads:— - - The Discovery of the wonderfull preservation of his Excellencie Sir - Thomas Fairfax, The Army, the Records of the Town, the Library, and - blessed Bible, under the hands of the Maior, Aldermen, Capt. and - Schoolmaster of Torrington in Devon. In an Epistle to his Excellency - (and also in the end of a Book, entituled, _Man’s Badnesse and God’s - Goodnesse_: or, some Gospel Truths laid down, vindicated and - explained), by his Excellencies speciall Command. Never Printed - heretofore by any. By John Heydon, Minister of the Gospel. London, - Printed by M. Simmons, 1647. - -The certificate runs:— - - We whose names are here subscribed do testifie, that when the Publick - place of God’s worship was blown up by a hellish plot, and his - Excellency was wonderfully preserved, there fell out by Divine - Providence, that which we look upon as _mira non mirabilia_, viz., - though both the Books of Common Prayer were blown up or burnt, yet the - blessed Bible was preserved and not obliterated, although it were - blown away; and also the Library, and the books, together with the - Records of the Town were wonderfully preserved: I do testifie, John - Voysey, Maior. We also testifie, Richard Gay, William White Capt., - John Ward, Henry Semor Schoolmaster, and John Heydon Minister of the - Gospel. And I shall be ready to shew the Originall to whomsoever - desires it, and craves condigne punishment if the Originall be - adulterated. - -Further on Mr. Heydon says:— - - Now the Lord confirm you in the true grace of God wherein you stand, - and make you more instrumentall to the Kingdom and Nations that are - Christian the world over, and make you a leading peece to all Generals - that now are, or shall be here after, and move your heart to pity the - Town of Torrington, and as much as in you lyes, to erect a publick - Place for God’s worship there, upon the Publique Stock; the people - being poore, yet those that are Christian, both Magistrates and - Commanders, that have little incouragement from those that they have - adventured their lives for, and expended their estates, for their - safety; the Lord put better hearts into them I say, those are - thankefull to God, and have gladly received those that would impart - the Gospel to them, and keep dayes of Thanksgiving, etc., for so great - a deliverance, and though they stand in the open streets, neither cold - nor rain can deter them from it; they being true Eagles will feed on - the carkasse Christ in the Gospel purely preach’t, as Mr. Peters and - divers of the Army can witnesse, and their own testimony for my self - annexed, that spent a day by way of Thanksgiving since my being under - the Command of Coll. Henry Gray, as it follows word for word in their - Certificate annexed, the 20. Decemb. 1646: This day Mr. John Heyden - Chaplain to the Honorable Coll. Gray, did powerfully preach the Gospel - of Jesus Christ in Torrington magna, to the great comfort and - incouragement of that great audience which were present.—John Voysey - Maior, Richard Gay, John Harwood, John Ward, William White, and Henry - Semor. - -The blowing up of the Church of Great Torrington is recorded on two -stones built into the walls of the south transept. The inscriptions on -these stones run as follows:— - - This Chvrch was blowen up with Powder Febry ye 16^{th} ano 1645 and - rebuilt A^d 1651; - -and - - This Church was re-erected ano Domini 1651. - -Under the date of February, 1645, there is this entry in the Register of -Burials:— - - There have bin buried the 16th 17th 18th 19th and 20th 21st dayes 63 - soldyers; - -and other entries appear in July and August of the same year of -interments of soldiers. - -In the _Journal of the House of Lords_ (Vol. x., 318) is the following -entry respecting the re-building of the Church:— - - _10 June 1648_ _Ordered_, By the Lords and Commons assembled in - Parliament, That a Grant be prepared, and that the Commissioners of - the Great Seal be hereby authorized and required to pass the same - under the Great Seal, to the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, of - the Town of _Greate Torrington_, in the County of _Devon_, for a - General Collection of the Charity of well-disposed People, through all - the Counties of _England_ and Dominion of _Wales_ for Reparation of - the Great Church of the said Town, which was utterly demolished by the - Enemies Firing thereof with their Magazine of Powder, to the Value of - Six Thousand Pounds at least; which the Inhabitants, by reason of the - Miseries of the late War, and Ruin of the said Town, are no Way able - to repair. - -The only external part of the Church which appears to have escaped is -the vestry, though a few of the piers and arches at the east end seem to -be in their original condition, and perhaps also the arch of the north -transept. - - GEORGE M. DOE. - - - - - HERRICK AND DEAN PRIOR. - - BY F. H. COLSON, M.A. - - -The little village of Dean Prior, five miles from Brent on the high road -from Plymouth to Ashburton, is indissolubly associated with the name of -one of the greatest of our lyric poets; a poet, indeed, who has a -certain touch and power which is quite unique in English poetry. Robert -Herrick was vicar of this parish for about thirty-two years. The main -facts of his life may be very shortly told. Born in London in 1591, he -was educated at St. John’s College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He spent -the earlier part of his life, after taking his degree, probably partly -in Cambridge and partly in London. It was not till 1629, when he was -thirty-eight years old, that he was ordained and presented to Dean -Prior. Here he remained till 1648, when he was ejected, and a certain -John Syms, a Puritan of some fame and worth, established in his place. -Herrick went to London and there published his two books of verse, -_Hesperides_ and _Noble Numbers_. In 1662 he was sent back to his -living, and there spent the remainder of his days. He died and was -buried in the churchyard of Dean Prior in 1674. - -There is not much in this little parish at the present day to remind one -of Herrick. The vicarage is probably an enlargement of the poet’s house. -The newer part stands on a somewhat higher level than the old, and this -last is probably the “cell,” whose humble comforts Herrick extols in one -of his most true and charming pieces. The present vicar, Mr. -Perry-Keene, who is himself something of a poet, and knows and loves -well his great predecessor, showed me what he believes to be Herrick’s -“byn.” - -Just opposite the Vicarage stands the Church, which Mr. Perry-Keene -tells me has been altered a great deal. It now contains a monument to -Herrick erected in 1857 by a remote kinsman, Mr. William Perry Herrick. - -Opposite this recent memorial, in the south aisle, stands a far more -interesting monument. It is a brass with three figures—husband, wife, -and son—but no name or inscription which might give a clue to the name -is legible. Underneath it, however, run the following verses:— - - No trust to metals nor to marbles, when - These have their fate and wear away as men. - Times, Titles, Trophies may be lost and spent, - But virtue rears the eternal monument. - - What more than these can Tombs or Tomb-stones pay? - But here’s the sunset of a tedious day. - These two asleep are: I’ll but be undrest, - And so to Bed, Pray wish us all good rest. - -This beautiful and interesting epitaph is printed by Mr. Grosart in his -fine edition of Herrick, as being indisputably the work of the poet. Mr. -Grosart also states positively that the figures on the monument are -those of Sir Edward and Lady Giles, of whom the former died at Dean -Court in 1637. Mr. Grosart speaks on these points with such certainty -that I was surprised to find that the external evidence for both -statements is absolutely nil. As a matter of fact, the monument itself -hardly appears to belong to Herrick’s time. Mr. Perry-Keene’s opinion is -(and I confess that my own very slight knowledge of such subjects would -have led me to the same conclusion) that the figures are Elizabethan -rather than Caroline. It seems, therefore, hardly safe to print the -inscription as being _undoubtedly_ Herrick’s work. At the same time I do -believe that the lines are Herrick’s. There is a very distinct -Herrickian ring about them, particularly about the last three, which to -my mind is almost unmistakeable. Observe the phrase “I’ll but be -undrest.” It borders on the grotesque; in almost any other poet’s hand -it would have been grotesque. In his hand it acquires a certain -beautiful quaintness, becomes what Herrick himself calls a “phrase of -the royal blood.” I commend this charming epitaph, therefore, to the -reader as the one existing memorial which connects Dean Prior with -Herrick, though I think he should at the same time be cautioned, that -the ascription of the lines to the poet is based solely on internal -evidence. - -About a mile from the Church stands Dean Court, now a farm-house, in -Herrick’s time a manor house, and occupied during his incumbency by the -above-mentioned Sir Edward Giles, and afterwards by the Yardes. To-day -it looks what it is, and unless there has been considerable alteration -and demolition, it seems a poor house for such important families. - -A charming village is Dean Prior, as indeed are all the villages on the -outskirts of Dartmoor. No wonder that essayists on, and editors of, -Herrick have traced his freshness and quaintness to the simplicity of a -West Country parish, and that the perfume of flowers which pervades his -pages almost _ad nauseam_ seems to his readers to be inspired by the -soft and luxurious air of Devonshire. In a word, Herrick’s _Hesperides_ -has seemed to be the work of a Devonshire man drawing his inspiration -from Devonshire, as Barnes from Dorset or Burns from Ayrshire. - -I am bound, however, to say that I believe this to be true only with -considerable limitations. Generally speaking, I hold that while the -_Noble Numbers_ do undoubtedly belong to the Dean Prior period, the same -cannot be said with equal certainty of the _Hesperides_, or at least of -that part of the _Hesperides_ which has given Herrick his immortality. -The book contains, no doubt, several pieces, perhaps some sixty in all, -which are shewn by internal evidence to have been written later than -1628, but of these, few, if any, are of special merit. The real Apples -of the Golden Garden are practically undated. - -Now we must remember that not only was Herrick thirty-eight when he went -to Devonshire, an age at which many poets have produced their best work, -but that he hated, or, to use his own oft-repeated expression, “loathed” -Devonshire. This hatred is expressed in numerous passages. The -following, written at the time of his ejection from the living, may -serve as a specimen:— - - First let us dwell in widest seas, - Next with severest savages, - Last let us make our best abode - Where human foot as yet ne’er trod. - Search worlds of ice and rather there - Live than in loathèd Devonshire. - -“No bird,” says Plato, “sings when it is cold or hungry or suffering any -pain,” and it is a natural inference from passages like this of -Herrick’s that his native genius suffered rather than gained from his -sojourn at Dean Prior. But on this point he has left us his own -testimony in two important passages. The first runs thus:— - - Before I went - In banishment - Into the loathèd West, - I could rehearse - A lyric verse, - And speak it with the best. - -The second is— - - More discontents I never had - Since I was born than here, - Where I have been and still am sad, - In this dull Devonshire. - Yet justly too I must confess - I ne’er invented such - Ennobled numbers for the press - As where I loathed so much. - -At first sight these two passages seem contradictory, but the -contradiction vanishes when we remember that Herrick’s book of sacred -poems is called _Noble Numbers_. To these and these only, as it seems to -me, the “ennobled numbers” of the second passage refers, and the plain -meaning of these lines is that Herrick, as vicar of Dean Prior, felt his -old powers of song-making gone, and gave his attention mainly to sacred -poetry. - -To the same conclusion point some lines in the “Farewell to Poetry,” -written probably when he took orders:— - - I my desires screw from thee, and direct - Them and my thoughts to that sublime respect - And conscience unto priesthood. - -But he adds:— - - When my diviner muse - Shall want a handmaid as she oft will use, - Be ready then for me to wait upon her, - Though as a servant, yet a maid of honour. - -I do not of course suggest that all this is to be taken quite literally, -or that we are to affirm positively that all Herrick’s best lyrics date -from an earlier period; but that it is generally true I see no reason to -doubt, more especially as in the many hundred lyrics which - - Sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds and flowers, - Of April, May and June, and July flowers, - -there is, so far as I can see, little or no trace of Devonshire. - -The great poets—whom Herrick looked on as his masters—Catullus and -Horace, understood the magic of a name, and were fond of grouping their -best thoughts round the names of the particular spots which they knew. -Anyone who reads Catullus’s lines on Sirmio, or Horace’s on Tivoli, -anyone, we may add, who knows Burns, or Wordsworth, or Scott, will feel -the significance of the fact that Herrick only once mentions by name any -place in Devonshire. It is not that he dislikes localising, for he -lingers affectionately enough over the names of - - Richmond, Kingston, and of Hampton Court. - -And on the one occasion, when a Devonshire scene is described by name, -it is in the following lines on “Dean, a rude river in Devon, by which -he sometimes dwelt”:— - - Dean Bourn, farewell! I never look to see - Dean, or thy watry incivility. - -The reader of Herrick will remember that he goes on to say that the -“currish, churlish” people of Dean are as rocky as their river. Herrick -could hardly be expected to admire Dartmoor itself. The love of moor and -mountain hardly existed in his time; but the glen of Dean Bourne is a -different thing, and surely nothing but invincible prejudice can have -made Herrick describe it in such “currish and churlish” terms. - -Herrick is _par excellence_ the poet of flowers and fruits. Cherries, -cowslips, daffodils, and primroses are inseparably connected with his -verse. That the rich luxuriance of Dean Prior must have been a source of -continual pleasure to him we cannot doubt. Yet even in this department -of nature one misses local touches. Where are the high hedgerows, the -ferns, and the fox-gloves? and where are the apple orchards of Devon? - -Herrick was very fond of observing village festivities and studying -folk-lore, and it is generally assumed that the poems which deal with -these subjects were written in Devonshire and based on Devonshire -observations. This may be so, though I do not know of any evidence in -favour of it. On the other hand there is one small circumstance which -seems to me significant. In Herrick’s descriptions of barley-breaks, -harvest homes, and Christmas festivities, there is much mention of beer -but none of cider. Cider making had its poetry for Keats:— - - Or by a cider-press with patient look - Thou watchest the last oozings hour by hour. - -It seems strange that it should never be mentioned by the poet of -cider-land. - -One of Herrick’s parishioners stands out pleasantly in the pages of -_Hesperides_—“my Prue,” otherwise Prudence Baldwin, the house-keeper, -who apparently followed him to London at his ejection and returned with -him in 1662. It is generally assumed that the persons attacked in the -epigrams were parishioners. If so, no wonder they were churlish. It does -not appear that many of the fifty or sixty persons addressed in what Mr. -Grosart calls “verse-celebrations,” were West-Country people, and on the -whole there is as little of local life as of local scenery in the -_Hesperides_. - -The critics, then, seem to me perverse, who, in spite of Herrick’s -assurances, declare that he only pretended to dislike Dean Prior. They -rely, presumably, on his keen eye for country beauties. Now I venture to -doubt whether Herrick, as we see him in the _Hesperides_, is one of the -real nature-poets. He knows and loves certain aspects of nature, more -particularly fruits and flowers, bright colours and sweet smells. Even -amongst these he is often happiest when he can trace some likeness to -human beauty. The famous “Cherries ripe” grew on Julia’s lips, not in an -orchard. Above all poets he understands the picturesqueness of dress, -and when after a catalogue of Julia’s silks and laces in their “wild -civility” he confesses that he dotes less on nature than on art, he -probably speaks the truth. It is the same with country life; he has none -of the deep respect for the peasant’s healthy and thrifty life, which -lies at the bottom of Virgil and Horace and Wordsworth’s work. He has -plenty of interest in their May-days and other merry-making, but little, -I think, in their life as a whole. And the few praises of country life -to be found in the _Hesperides_ do not seem to me to ring very true. - -If, then, I read Herrick’s life at Dean Prior aright, he is not the -genial parson, moving light-heartedly among the people, drinking in the -soft air of Devonshire and pouring it out in spontaneous song, passing -from his sermon to the Maypole, blending Paganism with Christianity and -ribaldry with religion, without sense of harm or incongruity—writing, in -fact, the _Hesperides_ on weekdays and the _Noble Numbers_ on Sundays. -Rather it was by the Cam and the Thames that he imbibed his inspiration, -made love to his half-imaginary mistresses, and learnt— - - How roses first grew red and lilies white. - -In Devonshire he is a changed man, sobered partly by isolation and -partly by clerical responsibility. He has, no doubt, his light-hearted -and even wanton moods, and often writes poetry in the old vein; but he -feels that the old lyrical effusiveness is going or gone, and finds his -main occupation in writing sacred poetry. - -At any rate he did not write gross or indecent verse during this period. -This all too plentiful element of the _Hesperides_ need not be fathered -on Dean Prior. He himself calls it— - - Unbaptised rhymes - Writ in my wild, unhallowed times. - -There is surely no reason why these words should not be taken in their -literal sense, which is that they were written in Herrick’s youth and -before he took orders, and the pilgrim to Dean Prior need not harrow his -imagination with the revolting picture of this elderly bachelor sitting -in the little vicarage spinning out these miserable and often pointless -indecencies. No doubt it may be asked why, if these were poems of -Herrick’s youth, condemned by his better judgment, he published them in -1648. Two answers may be given to this question, though I do not say -that either of them is an excuse. In the first place he had been turned -out of his living and probably wanted money. In the second place, the -fact that he describes himself on the title page as Robert Herrick, -Esq., seems to indicate that he considered his clerical profession had -gone with his incumbency, and if so, he very probably had deluded -himself into the idea that clerical responsibility had gone also. - -I will devote the rest of my allotted space to a few remarks on that -part of Herrick’s work which undoubtedly belongs to the Dean Prior -period. I mean the “pious pieces,” or _Noble Numbers_. Now it is not to -be denied that there is a great deal of poor stuff in the _Noble -Numbers_. Nobody is likely to care much for the metrical creeds, or the -tawdry and sensuous poems on the Nativity or Passion. Still the little -book contains some pieces which English literature could ill spare. -There is, for instance, the strange and, indeed, startling “litany to -the Holy Spirit.” This hymn is actually included in one at least of our -popular hymn-books, and I have sometimes heard parts of it sung in a -village church. I wonder what the congregation would have thought of -these two stanzas, which, needless to say, are not to be found in the -hymn-book version:— - - When the artless doctor sees - No one hope, but in his fees - And his skill runs on the lees, - Sweet Spirit, comfort me. - - When his Potion and his Pill - Has or none or little skill, - Meet for nothing but to kill, - Sweet Spirit, comfort me. - -Probably they would be greatly shocked, and indeed everyone must admit -that the stanzas show a certain strange devilry mixing itself with -Herrick’s most reverent thoughts. At the same time, I do not think there -is any real or intentional irreverence in them. There is one stanza in -the “Litany” which has, I think, a personal interest:— - - When the house doth sigh and weep, - And the world is drowned in sleep, - Yet mine eyes the watch do keep, - Sweet Spirit, comfort me. - -Now compare this with the following:— - - Night hath no wings to him that cannot sleep, - And time seems then not for to flie but creep. - . . . . . . - Just so it is with me who listening pray - The winds to blow the tedious night away. - -And again— - - Through all the night - Thou dost me fright, - And holdst mine eyes from sleeping. - -I infer from these that Herrick suffered much from sleeplessness, and if -so, may we not with considerable probability trace the genesis of this -celebrated litany to some sleepless nights in the little vicarage of -Dean Prior? - -Again it is to the _Noble Numbers_ that we owe the beautiful “Lord, Thou -hast given me a cell.” Familiar as this poem is, it is only a just -tribute to Dean Prior that these sweet praises of its simple plenty -should be set down here. - - A THANKSGIVING TO GOD FOR HIS HOUSE. - - Lord, Thou hast given me a cell - Wherein to dwell; - A little house, whose humble roof - Is weather-proof; - Under the sparres of which I lie - Both soft and drie; - Where Thou my chamber for to ward - Has set a guard - Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep - Me while I sleep. - Low is my porch, as is my Fate, - Both void of state; - And yet the threshold of my doore - Is worn by th’ poore, - Who thither come, and freely get - Good words or meat. - Like as my Parlour, so my hall - And Kitchen’s small: - A little Buttery, and therein - A little Byn - Which keeps my little Loafe of Bread - Unchipt, unflead: - Some little sticks of Thorne or Briar - Making a fire, - Close by whose living fire I sit - And glow like it. - Lord, I confess too, when I dine, - The Pulse is Thine, - And all those other bits, that bee - There plac’d by Thee; - The Worts, the Purslaine, and the Messe - Of Water-cresse, - Which of Thy kindness Thou hast sent; - And my content - Makes those, and my beloved Beet - To be more sweet. - ’Tis thou that crownst my glittering Hearth - With guiltlesse mirth; - And giv’st me Wassaile Bowles to drink, - Spic’d to the brink. - Lord,’tis Thy plenty-dropping Hand - That soiles my land; - And giv’st me, for my Bushell sowne, - Twice ten for one: - Thou mak’st my teaming Hen to lay - Her egg each day: - Besides my healthful Ewes to beare - Me twins each year. - The while the conduits of my kine - Run creame (for Wine). - All these, and better Thou doest send - Me, to this end, - That I should render, for my part, - A thankful heart, - Which, fired with incense, I resigne, - As wholly Thine; - But the acceptance, that must be, - My Christ to Thee. - -And now let me ask the reader to note the following triplet, which -occurs in a Christmas Anthem in _Noble Numbers_:— - - We see Him come and know Him ours, - Who with His sunshine and His showers - Turns all the patient earth to flowers. - -I think if we compare these two poems, which embody Herrick’s attitude -to nature and country life during the Dean Prior period, with some of -the earlier (as I think) lyrics in the _Hesperides_, we shall feel that -if Dean Prior took something from him, it also gave him something. -Compare them, for instance, with “Fair Daffodils, we weep to see,” or -the song to “Meddows,” which begins “Ye have been fresh and green.” -These last are beautiful fancies, among the most beautiful in our -language, but they have not the depth or fulness of feeling which the -triplet has. _That_ breathes the spirit of the true lover of rural life, -and so it seems to me that if Herrick, in this little out-of-the-way -village, felt the lyric power gone, if the “fairy fancies” no longer -“ranged” or “lightly stirred” as before, on the other hand, something of -the peace of a country village, something of the peace which Wordsworth -felt two centuries later, had descended upon him. - -Finally, let me call the reader’s attention to the two “Graces for -little children,” also to be found in _Noble Numbers_:— - - Here a little child I stand, - Heaving up my either hand; - Cold as paddocks though they be, - Here I lift them up to Thee - For a Benison to fall - On our meat and on us all. - -And again— - - What God gives and what we take, - ’Tis a gift for Christ His sake; - Be the meal of beans and pease, - God be thanked for those and these. - Have we flesh or have we fish, - All are fragments from His dish. - He His Church save and the King, - And our peace here like a spring - Send it ever flourishing. - -If I may indulge in a little fancy, I should say that this last was -written for some small Dean Prior “maid”; written on one of those -delicious balmy days which a Devonshire spring sometimes, though not, -alas! always, brings; written during the first half of Herrick’s first -incumbency, when peace still “flourished” at Dean Prior, though perhaps -the shadows of the coming trouble were not unfelt by those who could -read the signs of the times. Both these “Graces” always seem to me to -have a peculiar charm and freshness, and even by themselves they would -go far to justify the view that has been maintained in this essay, that -Herrick’s genius, if hampered and enfeebled in some ways, was in other -ways matured and mellowed by his sojourn in “dull Devonshire.” - -The following passage, which is an extract from an article in the -_Quarterly_ of August, 1809, by Mr. Barron Field, may be of some -interest:— - - Being in Devonshire during the last summer, we took an opportunity of - visiting Dean Prior for the purpose of making some inquiries - concerning Herrick, who, from the circumstance of having been vicar of - that parish (where he is still talked of as a poet, a wit, and a hater - of the county) for twenty years, might be supposed to have left some - unrecorded memorials of his existence behind him. We found many - persons in the village who could repeat some of his lines, and none - who were not acquainted with his "Farewell to Dean Bourn"— - - “Dean Bourn, farewell; I never look to see - Dean, or thy watry incivility,” - - which, they said, he uttered as he crossed the brook upon being - ejected by Cromwell from the Vicarage, to which he had been presented - by Charles I. “But,” they added, with an air of innocent triumph, “he - did see it again,” as was the fact after the Restoration. And, indeed, - although he calls Devonshire “dull,” yet as he admits, at the same - time, that “he never invented such ennobled numbers for the press as - in that loathed spot,” the good people of Dean Prior have not much - reason to be dissatisfied. - - The person, however, who knows more of Herrick than all the rest of - the neighbourhood, we found to be a poor woman in the ninety-ninth - year of her age, named Dorothy King. She repeated to us, with great - exactness, five of his _Noble Numbers_, among which was the beautiful - Litany quoted above. These she had learned from her mother, who was - apprenticed to Herrick’s successor in the vicarage. She called them - her prayers, which, she said, she was in the habit of putting up in - bed whenever she could not sleep, and she therefore began the Litany - at the second stanza, “When I lie within my bed,” etc. Another of her - midnight orisons was the poem beginning— - - “Every night thou does me fright, - And keep mine eyes from sleeping,” etc. - - She had no idea that these poems had ever been printed, and could not - have read them if she had seen them. She is in possession of few - traditions as to the person, manners, and habits of life of the poet, - but in return she has a whole budget of anecdotes respecting his - ghost, and these she details with a careless but serene gravity which - one would not willingly discompose by any hints at a remote - possibility of their not being exactly true. Herrick, she says, was a - bachelor, and kept a maid-servant, as his poems, indeed, discover; but - she adds, what they do not discover, that he also kept a pet pig, - which he taught to drink out of a tankard. And this important - circumstance, together with a tradition that he one day threw his - sermon at the congregation, with a curse for their inattention, forms - almost the sum total of what we could collect of the poet’s life. - - F. H. COLSON. - -[Illustration - - _From a Painting by T. Stothard, R.A._] [_Engraved by George Noble._ - THE LANDING OF WILLIAM III. AT TORBAY. - -] - - - - - THE LANDING OF THE PRINCE OF - ORANGE AT BRIXHAM, 1688. - - BY THE LATE T. W. WINDEATT. - - -The landing of the Prince of Orange—the Prince who "saved England"—on -the shores of Devon in 1688, must always be a matter of interest. The -subject has been dealt with by Macaulay and other historians with more -or less detail. I certainly should not, therefore, have ventured on the -subject myself had it not been for the fact of having had placed in my -hands, through the courtesy of Mr. J. B. Davidson, of Secktor, a -somewhat rare pamphlet, containing many interesting facts not noted in -the papers referred to by Mr. Pengelly, and from my being the repository -of some local anecdotes worth preserving. - -The pamphlet I have referred to is entitled, “An Exact Diary of the late -Expedition of His Illustrious Highness The Prince of Orange (now King of -Great Britain), from his Palace at the Hague to his Landing at Torbay, -and from thence to his arrival at Whitehall. Giving a particular account -of all that happened and every Day’s March. By a Minister Chaplain in -the Army.” It consists of seventy-three pages, was printed for Richard -Baldwin, near the Black Bull, in the Old Bailey, in 1689, licensed April -23rd, 1689. It is dedicated to the Earls of Bedford and Portland, -Viscount Sidney of Sheppy, and Sir John Maynard, one of the Lords -Commissioners of the Great Seal; and from the Dedication it appears that -the writer was one “John Whittle.” - -This Sir John Maynard was at this time Recorder for this borough, and -member for the borough during the Long Parliament. He was a very able -lawyer, and at this time near ninety. It is related of him that when he -came “with the men of the law” to welcome the Prince, the latter took -notice of his great age, and said that he had outlived all the men of -the law of his time. Whereupon Maynard replied, he had like to have -outlived the law itself if his Highness had not come over. - -That this pamphlet is genuine, and was written by an English clergyman -who accompanied the expedition throughout, there is strong internal -evidence; and Macaulay cites it as one of the authorities for several of -his statements with reference to the expedition, though he does not -quote largely from it. - -In this diary or, more strictly, narrative, which enters more fully into -particulars than the other pamphlets, Mr. Whittle gives a graphic -account of the arrangements for, and the departure of, the expedition, -the storm which sent it back again, its refitting, second departure, and -safe (if not miraculous) arrival in Torbay, of all of which the writer -was evidently an eye-witness. - - The number of our capital ships or men-of-war was about fifty, which - were very well rig’d, mann’d, and provided with all things requisite; - the number of our fire-ships was about five and twenty; lesser - Men-of-war or Frigats about six and twenty; the number of Merchant - Ships, Pinks, Fly-boats and others was about three hundred and odd; so - the total number of the Fleet as they sailed from the Brill was about - four hundred and odd ships. But at our setting out the second time, at - Hellevort-Sluys, there were near an hundred vessels more, which were - Schievelingers or Boats which the Fisher-men of Schieveling went to - sea in. - -Whittle gives the following account of the final departure of the -expedition:— - - Upon Thursday, Novemb. 1, Old Stile, Novemb. 11, New Stile, after the - Prince of Orange had din’^d with all English, Dutch, Scotch, and - French Lords, Knights and Gentlemen attending his Sacred Person, about - three or four of clock in the afternoon, he went on board a new vessel - of about Twenty-eight Guns, with the Rotterdam’s Admiral call’d the - Brill, as some will have it, and being now in his Cabin, fired, for to - give notice unto all the Fleet to weigh their anchors and make Sail, - which was accordingly done by every Ship with all possible expedition. - The whole Fleet was divided into three Squadrons; the Red Flag was for - the English and Scotch, commanded by Major-General Mackay; the White - Flag was for the Prince’s Guards and the Brandenburghers, commanded by - Count Solms; the Blew Flag was for the Dutch and French, commanded by - Count Nassau. Now every Ship had a certain Mark, or Token, that it - might be known unto what Squadron she belong^d. - - So once more the whole Fleet (thro’ God’s blessing) was under sail for - England, with a very favourable East Wind. The darkness coming on us, - all the Ships set out their Lights, which was very pleasant to see, - and the Ship in which the Prince of Orange was, had three Lanthorns, - the Men of War two, and each other Ship one. - -Whittle brings the fleet to the English shores, and thus continues:— - - On the morrow-morning, being the Lord’s day, Novemb. 4, Old Stile, - which was the happy Birthday of his thrice Illustrious Highness, the - Prince of Orange; most men were of opinion that we should land either - in the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, or some other convenient place, - about which matter they were much mistaken, for the Prince of Orange - did not sail, but observe the duty of the day; so all were driven of - the Waves. Prayers and Sermon being done, he went to Dinner with some - Nobles attending him, and about Four of Clock in the afternoon made - sail, all the whole Fleet following the example of his ship; now every - Schipper endeavour’d for to keep sight of the three Lanthorns or - Admiral of Rotterdam’s Ship for the sake of his Highness therein. The - darkness shutting upon us all our Lights were set out as before. - -Whittle then brings us down to the morning of Monday, the 5th of -November, and proceeds as follows:— - - So when the day began to dawn, we found that we were very near the - English Shore, but whereabout we could not yet tell. The Ship in which - the Prince of Orange was sailed so near the Shore that with much - facility a man might cast a stone on the Land; we were driven very - slowly, all our Sails being struck. The morning was very obscure with - the Fog and Mist, and withal it was so calm that the Vessels now as - ’twere touch’d each other, every Ship coming as near unto the Ship - wherein the Prince of Orange was as the Schipper thereof would permit - them. Here we were moving for a while very slowly by the Shore, and - could see all the Rocks there abouts very plain. We perceived that we - should land thereabout, but no place near was commodious for either - Men or Horses, it being a steep Rock to march up. The Ships did all - observe the motion of the three Lanthorns, which were driven by the - Coast of England back again, for we had sailed somewhat beyond Torbay. - And being thus calm’d for a while, it afterwards pleased the God of - Heaven, that He gave us a West or Westerly Wind, which was the only - Wind that could blow to bring us safe into the Bay; for even to this - place we had an East and South-East Wind, which was indeed a good Wind - to bring us from Holland, and along all the Channel, but not to carry - us into the Bay, there were so many Rocks and Shelves on that side. - Making some Sail again, his Highness the Prince of Orange gave order - that his Standard should be put up, and accordingly it was done, the - White Flag being put uppermost, signifying his most gracious offer of - Peace unto all such as would live peaceably: And under that the Red or - Bloody Flag was set up, signifying War unto all such as did oppose his - just Designs. The Sun recovering strength soon dissipated the Fog, and - dispers’d the Mist, insomuch that it prov’d a very pleasant Day. Now - every Vessel set out its Colours, which made a very pleasant show. By - this time the People of Devonshire thereabout had discovered the - Fleet, the one telling the other thereof; they came flocking in droves - to the side or brow of the Hills to view us: Some guess’d we were - French, because they saw divers White Flags; but the Standard of the - Prince, the Motto of which was, For the Protestant Religion and - Liberty, soon undeceived them. - - Others more discreet said, that it was the Dutch Fleet so much talk’d - of in the Nation, and so long expected by most people. This Day was - very remarkable in England before, being the fifth of November, the - Bells were ringing as we were sailing towards the Bay, and as we - landed, which many judged to be a good Omen: before we came into the - Bay’s mouth, as we were near the Rocks, the People ran from Place to - Place after us; and we being so near as to see and discern the Habit - of the Country People, and they able to see us and hear our voices, a - certain Minister in the Fleet, on board the Ship called the Golden - Sun, went up to the top of the uppermost Cabin, where the Colours hang - out, a Place where he could easily behold all the people on the Shore, - and where they might most perfectly see him, and pulling a Bible out - of his Pocket, he opened it, and held it so in his right Hand, making - many flourishes with it unto the People, whose Eyes were fix’^d on - him, and duly observ’d him, thereby signifying to the People the - flourishing of the Holy Gospel (by God’s Blessing upon the Prince of - Orange’s Endeavours), and calling out as loud as he was able, said - unto them on the top of the Rock: For the Protestant Religion, and - maintaining of the Gospel in the Truth and Purity thereof, are we all - by the Goodness and Providence of God come hither, after so many - storms and Tempests. Moreover, said he, it is the Prince of Orange - that’s come, a Zealous Defender of that Faith which is truly Ancient, - Catholic, and Apostolical, who is the Supream Governour of this very - great and fomidable Fleet. Whereupon all the People shouted for Joy, - and Huzzas did now echo into the Air, many amongst them throwing up - their Hats, and all making signs with their Hands. So after the - Minister had given them some Salutations, and they returned him the - same again, he came down from off the upper Deck, unto the vulgar one - among his Acquaintance, who spoke to him about the People on the brow - or side of the mountain. - -The bells were evidently ringing for the 5th of November, and I find -that the bells of the parish church of Brixham are still rung on that -day, but I apprehend that the custom has been continued in commemoration -of the landing of the Prince. - -All who know Brixham, even in its present populous condition, can -corroborate the accuracy of Whittle’s description of the coast, and -recognize his felicitous expression of the people on shore being “on the -brow of the mountain.” - -Whittle proceeds as follows:— - - The Prince of Orange being come into the middle of the Bay, called - Torbay, attended with three or four Men of War only, that is to say, - one or two sailing before his Vessel, and one on each side the Ship in - which he was; and all the Merchant Ships, Pinks and Fly-boats coming - round him, as near as they durst for safety, the rest of the Men of - War being out in the Rear to secure all the little Pinks and - Fly-boats, and withal to prevent the English Fleet from disturbing us - in our Landing. - - At the upper end of Torbay there is a fair House, belonging to one Mr. - Carey, a very rigid Papist, who entertained a Priest in his House. - This Priest going to recreate himself on the Leads, on the top - thereof, it being a most delightsome day, as he was walking there he - happened to cast his Eyes towards the Sea, and espying the Fleet at a - distance, withal being purblind in his Eyes, as well as blinded by - Satan in his mind, he presently concludes that ’twas the French Navy - (because he saw divers White Flags) come to land the Sons of Belial, - which should cut off the Children of God, or as they call us, the - Hereticks. And being transported with joy, he hastened to inform his - own Disciples of the House, and forthwith they sung Te Deum. This was - a second grand Mistake, the third time will fall to our Lot to sing Te - Deum for our safe Landing (as the Prince had it done at Exeter - Cathedral in the Quire): And because false Reports were spread abroad, - that the People of this House had shot several of the Prince of - Orange’s Souldiers, and thereupon they had burnt down the House. I - must inform the candid Reader that there was nothing at all in it, for - our People did not give them one reviling word, nor they us; some - lodged there while we were at Torbay. - -He then proceeds with the following account of the landing:— - - The major part of the fleet being come into the Bay, Boats were - ordered to carry the Prince on Shore, with his Guards; and passing - towards the Land, with sundry Lords, the Admiral of Rotterdam gave - divers Guns at his Landing; the Boat was held length-ways until he was - on shore: So after he had set his Fleet on Land, then came all the - Lords and Guards, some going before his Sacred Person, and some coming - after. There are sundry little Houses which belong unto Fishermen, - between the two Hills, at Torbay where we landed. The People of these - Houses came running out at their Doors to see this happy Sight. So the - Prince, with Mareschal Schomberg, and divers Lords, Knights, and - Gentlemen, marched up the Hill, which all the Fleet could see over the - Houses, the Colours flying and flourishing before his Highness, the - Trumpets sounding, the Hoit-boys played, the Drums beat, and the - Lords, Knights, Gentlemen, and Guards shouted; and sundry Huzzas did - now echo in the Fleet, from off the Hill, insomuch that our very - hearts below in the water were even ravished for joy thereof. On this - Hill you could see all the Fleet most perfectly, and the Men of War - sailing up and down the Seas, to clear them of all enemies; the Ships - in the Rear making all the sail and speed they could. - - The Navy was like a little City, the masts appearing like so many - Spires. The People were like Bees swarming all over the Bay; and now - all the Schievelingers are set to work to carry the Men and Horses - unto Shore with speed, for as yet they had done nothing. The Officers - and Souldiers crowded the Boats extreamly, many being ready to sink - under the Weight; happy was that Man which would get to Land soonest: - And such was the eagerness of both Officers and Souldiers, that divers - jeoparded their Lives for haste. Sundry Oars were broken in rowing, - because too many laid hands on them, some jump’d up to their Knees in - Water, and one or two were over Head and Ears. Extraordinary pains was - now taken by all sorts of Men to get their necessary things to shore, - every one minding his own concern. The Night was now as the Day for - Labour, and all this was done, lest the Enemy should come before we - were all in readiness to receive them. The Country Harmony was, - ringing of Bells for our arrival. - - The Officers and Souldiers were continually marching up the Hill after - the manner of the Guards, with their Colours flying and flourishing, - Hoit-boyes playing, Drums beating, and all shouting and echoing forth - Huzzas. - -Whittle does not give many particulars of the landing of the Prince -himself. Probably they did not land at the same time. It is interesting -as to this to refer to the details given by Blewitt in the _Panorama_. -His account is as follows:— - - The 4th of November it anchored safely in Torbay. This was the - anniversary of the Prince’s birth and marriage, and he therefore - wished to render it more memorable by landing on the British shore. - The preparations, however, could not be completed that night, but on - the following day, the Prince, attended by his principal officers, - proceeded to raise his standard on Brixham Quay. At this time Brixham - contained but few houses, and the good people, astonished at the - appearance of such an armament, are said to have stood in silent - wonder on the beach. At last William approached the shore and demanded - whether he was welcome, when after some further pause he was asked his - business, and his explanation considered satisfactory, he was, after a - little more parley, informed that he was welcome. “If I am, then,” - said the Prince, “come and carry me ashore,” and immediately a little - man, one of the party, plunged into the water and carried him - triumphantly ashore to the steps of the pier. On his landing the - inhabitants are said to have presented their illustrious visitor with - the following address: - - “And please your Majesty King William, - You’re welcome to Brixham Quay - To eat buckhorn and drink bohea, - Along with me, - And please your Majesty King William.” - -This story Mr. White very properly calls an absurd one, as the Prince -was not a King, and tea was a fabulous price. - -In a note to this account, said to have been communicated by the Rev. H. -F. Lyte, it is stated as follows:— - - The subsequent history of the “little man” who carried the King on - shore is rather singular. Having a short ambling pony, which was - commonly used in fish-jolting, he rode bare-headed before the Prince - to Newton and afterwards to Exeter, and so pleased him by his zeal - that he told him to come to him to court, where he should be seated on - the throne, and he would make a great man of him. He also gave him a - line under his hand, which was to be his passport into the royal - presence. In due time accordingly the little man took his course to - London, promising his townsmen that he should come back among them a - Lord at least. When, however, he arrived there some sharpers, who - learnt his errand at the inn where he put up, made our poor little - Brixhamite gloriously drunk, and kept him in that state for several - successive weeks. During this time one of the party, having obtained - the passport, went to court with the little man’s tale in his mouth, - and received a handsome present from the King. Our adventurer, - recovering himself shortly afterwards, went to the Palace without his - card of admission and was repulsed as an impostor, and came back to - Brixham never to hold up his head again. - -I find that this story of the little fisherman carrying the Prince on -shore is still current at Brixham, the reason given for it being that it -was low tide at the time; the ending of the story as given to me being -that the “little man” who journeyed to London to see the Prince, owing -to being in difficulties from having lost his horse, and his boat being -out of repair, did see the King, and received a large sum of money, said -to be £100, with which he built a house in Brixham and lived “happily -for ever after.” His name was Varwell, and one story is that the Prince, -on being carried safely on shore, desired him to ask a favour of him, -upon which the fisherman desired that no press-gang might be sent to -Brixham. The actual spot on which the Prince landed was where the fish -market now stands, and the stone on which the Prince first placed his -foot was long preserved there and pointed out with pride and veneration. -In 1828 William IV., then Duke of Clarence, having come into Torbay, -landed at the New Quay at Brixham, and this stone was removed from the -fish market to this place to have the additional honour of receiving the -second Prince of that name who had dignified Brixham by his presence; -and while the Duke stood on the stone the Rev. H. F. Lyte, on the part -of the inhabitants, presented him with a box of heart of oak eight -hundred years old, a portion of the timber of the old Totnes bridge, -lined with velvet, containing a small portion of the stone, which the -Duke in his reply promised to preserve as a precious relic. - -The stone itself was built into a small granite column erected to -commemorate the landing of the two Princes, and was set up in the fish -market; but in consequence of its inconvenient situation it was taken -down and subsequently erected on the Victoria Pier. - -Blewitt remarks that the landing of the Prince on the shoulders of the -little fisherman was a very different kind of landing to that which -Northcote has assigned to William in his celebrated picture. An old -Dutch print, at present in my possession, purporting to be a delineation -of the landing, represents on the land a large and imposing castle, into -which the troops as they land are triumphantly marching, the Prince’s -flag flying from the summit. - -To return to Whittle’s narrative, we find him giving the following -account of the proceedings subsequent to the landing:— - - As soon as the Prince had viewed well the Ground upon the top of the - Hill, and found the most commodious place for all his Army to encamp, - he then gave Orders for everything, and so returned down the Hill unto - the Fishermen’s little Houses: One of which he made his Palace at that - time, instead of those at Loo, Honsterdyke, and the Hague. The Horse - Guards and some Foot were round about him at other Houses, and a - strong Guard but a little below the House wherein his Highness was. - All the Lords were quartered up and down at these Fishermen’s Houses, - whereof these poor Men were glad. Now the camp began to be filled with - Officers and Souldiers; for no Officer must move from his Company or - Post. The Foot Guards belonging to the Prince of Orange did encamp - within an enclosure of plowed Land, about which there was a natural - Fence, good Hedges and little Stone Walls, so that no Horse could - touch them; Count Solms being their Colonel or Commander. Count - Nassau’s Regiment encamp’d in another Craft or Inclosure joyning to - that of the Guards, having the like Fence about it as before. The - Regiment belonging unto Colonel Fagell encamp’d in a Craft or - Inclosure next to that of Count Nassau, and so all the English, Dutch, - French, and Scots encamp’d according to the aforesaid manner. The - Souldiers were marching into the Camp all hours in the Night; and if - any straggled from their Companies, it was no easy matter to find them - in the dark amongst so many thousands; so that continually some or - other were lost and enquiring after their Regiments. - - It was a cold, frosty night, and the stars twinkl’d exceedingly; - besides, the Ground was very wet after so much Rain and ill Weather; - the Souldiers were to stand to their Arms the whole Night, at least to - be all in a readiness if anything should happen, or the enemy make an - Assault; and therefore sundry Souldiers were to fetch some old Hedges - and cut down green Wood to burn therewith, to make some Fire. Now one - Regiment beginning all the rest soon followed their Example. Those - that had Provision in their Snap-sacks (as most of the Souldiers had) - did broil it at the Fire, and others went into the villages - thereabouts to buy some fresh Provisions for their Officers, being we - were newly come from Sea; but alas! here was little Provision to be - gotten. There was a little Ale house amongst the Fishermen’s Houses - which was so extremely throng^d and crowded that a Man could not - thrust in his Head, not get Bread or Ale for Mony. It was a happy time - for the Landlord, who strutted about as if indeed he had been a Lord - himself, because he was honoured with Lords’ Company. - -The little “ale-house” was probably the Buller’s Arms, which is still in -existence. Report says that the Prince himself slept there, though this -is doubtful, and that he left behind him there, or where he slept, a -ring, which fell into the possession of the landlord, and was preserved -with great care by subsequent possessors, eventually coming into the -possession of one Mary Churchward, who died somewhere about twenty years -ago, from whom the ring was stolen some years before her death by a -thief who entered her bedroom at night and carried it off owing to the -lady being in the habit of sleeping with her window open. Persons now in -Brixham remember the lady bitterly lamenting the loss of the ring on -account of its having belonged to the Prince of Orange. - -Whittle continues:— - - On the morrow after we landed, when all the Souldiers were encamp’d, - the Prince with sundry Noblemen rode and viewed each Regiment, and - then return’d to Dinner at this little House. The number of his - Highness’s Regiments landed here at this Bay was about six and twenty, - the number of Officers about one thousand, the number of Field - Officers about seventy-eight. The number of all his Forces and - Souldiers about fifteen thousand four hundred and odd men. You might - have seen several hundred Fires all at once in this Encampment, which - must needs signify to the Country round about that we were landed. The - Prince here was pleased to accept of Peoples Good-Will for the Deed, - because things were not here to be bought for Mony, no Market-Town - being near. Many People from all the adjacent places came flocking to - see the Prince of Orange. The Horses were landed with all the speed - that might be, and truly were much out of order, and sorely bruised, - not able to find their Legs for some days: Everything that was of - present use was posted to shoar, but the Artillery, Magazine, and all - sorts of Baggage and cumbersome things were left on Shipboard, and - order’d to meet us at Exeter. - -Whittles reference to the fact that many people from the adjacent places -came flocking to see the Prince is confirmed by other writers. - -Local tradition in my own family, handed down from parent to child with -no little pride, says that among those who flocked to see the Prince -from here were two Windeatts, Samuel and Thomas—father and son, and a -lady whose great niece subsequently intermarried with the Windeatts. At -the time of the Prince’s landing, Samuel Windeatt, a man about forty, -and a strict Nonconformist, was living in Bridgetown, where the family -had been settled for some years. Hearing the joyful news that the -Protestant Prince of Orange was in Torbay, he immediately set off to -“Broxholme” on horseback, taking his little son Thomas, then about eight -years old, in front of him, to see the Deliverer of England and his -troops. They narrated the fact on their return that the country people -around brought quantities of apples and rolled them down the hill to the -soldiers; and the truth of this incident was curiously confirmed some -years since. A member of my family having mentioned this to a gentleman -who in his early days farmed in this part of the country, he gave me the -following interesting account of the stories handed down to him:— - - There are few now left who can say as I can that they have heard their - father and their wife’s father talking together of the men who saw the - landing of William the Third at Torbay. I have heard Capt. Clements - say he as a boy heard as many as seven or eight old men each giving - the particulars of what he saw then. One said a ship load of horses - hauled up to the Quay and the horses walked out all harnessed, and the - quickness with which each man knew his horse and mounted it surprised - them. Another old man said, “I helped to get on shore the horses that - were thrown overboard and swam on shore, guided by only a single rope - running from the ship to the shore”; and another would describe the - difference in the rigging and build of the ships, but all appeared to - welcome them as friends. - - My father remembered only one “Gaffer Will Webber,” of Staverton, who - served his apprenticeship with one of his ancestors, and who lived to - a great age, say, that he went from Staverton as a boy, with his - father, who took a cart-load of apples from Staverton to the high-road - from Brixham to Exeter, that the soldiers might help themselves to - them, and to wish them “God-speed.” - -I merely mention this to show how easily _tradition_ can be handed down, -requiring only three or four individuals, for two centuries. - -The lady I referred to as one of those who flocked to see the Prince was -a Miss Juliana Babbage, from a brother of whom the late Charles Babbage, -the famous mathematician, was descended. She came, when a girl of -twelve, from Barbadoes, and was also a decided Nonconformist. On the 5th -November, 1688, she was attending the old meeting-house in Totnes, at a -thanksgiving service for the discovery of the gunpowder plot, and while -there was told that the Prince of Orange was in Torbay landing his -troops. She also hailed the news with joy, and as soon as service was -over set off to walk to Brixham, accompanied by an old lady of her -acquaintance, and making their way to the Prince, they boldly welcomed -him to England. He shook hands with them, and gave them some of his -proclamations to distribute, which they did so industriously that not -one was left in the family as a memorial. A crimson velvet and gold -purse, a pincushion, and a gold chain, which she is said to have worn on -the occasion, as well as a curious gold locket with hair belonging to -her, are still in the possession of our family. - -These stories come to me from a relative who has attained an honoured -old age, who, owing to the early death of her mother, passed her -childhood and girlhood in an old family circle, and heard from the lips -of those elderly relatives tales of old times, which they had received -in like manner from their relatives. This lady says her grandmother told -her she well recollected her father joking her mother as to what might -have happened if the Prince had not succeeded, saying, “Oh! mistress, -your aunt might have swung for it!” - -The terror infused into the minds of the men of the West by the bitter -persecution which followed the unsuccessful rising on behalf of the Duke -of Monmouth, was doubtless sufficient to deter the leading men from -openly espousing the Prince’s cause at this moment. - -The first gentleman of any position to do so, and this he probably did -at Brixham, as he lived in the neighbourhood, was Mr. Nicholas Roope, -who was appropriately rewarded for his adhesion to the Prince by being -appointed, within a short time of the Prince reaching St. James’, -Governor of Dartmouth Castle, in the room of Sir Edward Seymour the -elder, who had then recently died. - -In an interesting letter from the last Governor of Dartmouth Castle -(Governor Holdsworth) to Sir H. P. Seale, Bart., dated May 1st, 1857, -the warrant for his appointment is set out in full. It runs in the name -of William Henry, Prince of Orange, and is dated 7th of January, 1688–9, -and this was followed, on the 18th July of the same year (1689), by a -regular commission, when the Prince had become King of England. - -The authority for the statement that Mr. Roope was the first to join the -King is contained in a letter from Mr. Roope to the Earl of Nottingham -in reply to one from his Lordship containing a complaint against him. -These letters are set out in full in Governor Holdsworth’s letter. - -At Berry Pomeroy, some few miles distant from the scene of the Prince’s -landing, was then living Sir Edward Seymour the younger, sometime -Speaker of the House of Commons, son of the Seymour who was Roope’s -predecessor in the Governorship of Dartmouth Castle, and one of the most -influential men of his time, whose birth, says Macaulay, put him on a -level with the noblest subjects in Europe, and who, in political -influence and in Parliamentary abilities was beyond comparison the -foremost among the Tory gentlemen of England. He openly joined the -Prince at Exeter, and he it was who contributed greatly to the success -of the Prince’s cause by suggesting that an association should be -founded, and that all the English adherents of the Prince should put -their hands to an instrument binding them to be true to their leader and -to each other. He doubtless was well informed of what was now going on -at Brixham, and we can hardly imagine him to have been a passive -spectator of the great enterprise. Tradition says that the Prince had a -secret interview with him at a house, now a cluster of labourers’ -cottages, still known as Parliament House, situate on the confines of -Berry parish on the road from Berry House to Brixham, and that there he -agreed to come out for the Prince at Exeter, for which city he was -member. Another account gives the place of meeting at Marldon, at a spot -now called Parliament Hill. The present Duke of Somerset, with whom I -have communicated on this point, has been good enough to inform me that -he believes the building called Parliament House to have been the place -where the country gentlemen assembled and agreed to support the Prince, -and that the latter probably had some interview with Seymour at that -time, as it was by his inducement that the country gentlemen, when they -met at Exeter, signed their names to the paper I have been referred to, -promising to support the Prince, and that for this probably the Prince -appointed him Governor of Exeter. - -His Grace also informs me that the late Duke, who had the family papers -examined, said that all documents relating to these transactions -appeared to have been carefully destroyed, and that this precaution was -natural after the recent failure of Monmouth’s landing in the West of -England, though it deprives us, as he says, of many incidents that would -now be very interesting. - -There is little information to be gained from the parish records of -Brixham on the subject of this paper, but from them it appears that at -least one poor nameless foreigner was left behind at Brixham when the -Prince’s army began its march to Exeter, and probably succumbed to the -effects of the voyage, which, from Whittle’s narrative, appears to have -been fatal to five hundred horses; for in the Register of Burials for -the parish for the year 1688 there appears the following entry:— - - Nov. 21, a fforeigner belonging to the Prenz of Oringe. - -In another book, containing an account of those buried in woollen, in -accordance with the law passed to encourage that trade, the entry is as -follows:— - - November 21, a Dutchman cujus nomen ignotum. - -There is a steep lane leading from the outer harbour up the hill to -where the station now stands, which the present vicar of Brixham -considers derives its name, Overgang, apparently a Dutch word, from -“Obergang,” or Gang-ober or “over,” and that it arose from the fact of -troops after the landing being repeatedly ordered to gang over this -hill. This may be so; but as I find that the word “gang,” meaning to go -or to walk, was in use in England in the time of Spenser, it is not -improbable that this lane gained its name before the advent of the -Prince of Orange. - -The Prince’s army marched from Brixham on its way to Newton on the 6th -or 7th November, passing along the narrow lanes of Churston, Paignton, -Cockington, and Kingskerswell, taking apparently a part of two days on -the march, the roads being so bad as to make locomotion slow and -tedious. - -Report says that at a place called Collins’ Grave, near the higher lodge -at Churston, where there is high ground overlooking the river, the army -encamped one night; also that the Prince himself stayed at a house in -Paignton, now the Crown and Anchor Inn. A room there is still shown as -the “Prince’s room.” - -In a Protestant sense it is interesting that William landed within sight -of the Bible Tower at Paignton, where Coverdale, the translator of the -Bible, undoubtedly dwelt, and where he is said to have been probably -engaged on his translation; and doubtless this tradition was not lost -sight of by those about the Prince on his sleeping at the “Crown and -Anchor,” just outside the palace wall. - -The following is Whittle’s graphic account of the march to Newton:— - - Upon Wednesday about Noon, Order was given to march towards Exeter, - and so every Souldier was commanded by their Officers to carry - something or other besides his own Arms and Snap-sack, and this made - many murmur exceedingly. Sundry scores of Horses were thrown overboard - which died at Sea, so that by just Computation the Prince lost about - six hundred Horses at least by the Storm. As we marched here upon good - ground, the Souldiers would stumble and sometimes fall, because of a - dissiness in their Heads after they had been so long toss’d at Sea, - the very ground seem’d to rowl up and down for some days, according to - the manner of the Waves: Therefore, it is the Lords Goodness that our - Foes did not come upon us in this juncture and unfit Condition. The - whole Army marched all the same way, in a manner which made very ill - for the Rear Regiments, and cast them much behind. Many Country People - which met us did not know what to say or think, being afraid that we - should be served as the D. of Monmouth’s handful of Men were. - Notwithstanding, some were so courageous as to speak out and say, - truly their Hearts were for us, and went along with us, and pray’d for - the Prince of Orange; but they said the Irish would come and cut them - in pieces if it should be known. Some Souldiers asked them if they - would go with them against the Popists? and many answered they were - enough themselves, and wanted no more. His Highness, with Mareschal - Scomberg, Count Sohms, Count Nassau, Heer Benting, Heer Zulustein, - Earl of Shrewsbury, Earl of Macclesfield, Viscount Mordaunt, Lord - Wiltshire, and divers other Knights and Gentlemen, came in the Rear of - the middle Line; for as soon as we could conveniently, we were to - march in three Lines, and the Prince was commonly or always in the - middlemost Line, which was the meetest place. So he went unto a - certain Gentleman’s House, about two miles off, where the last Line - encamp’d the Second Night, and lodged there, his own Guards being with - him. The first day we marched some hours after Night in the Dark and - Rain; the lanes hereabout were very narrow, and not used to Wagons, - Carts or Coaches, and therefore extreme rough and stony, which - hindered us very much from making any speed. Divers of the Dutchmen - being unaccustomed to such bad ways and hard marching in the Dirt, - wished themselves back again in their own Country, and murmured - because of the Dark and Rain. At length we came to the Corn-stubble - Inclosures on the side of a Hill, where we encamp’d that Night. It was - a red clay, and it rain’d very hard the greatest part of the Night; - the Winds being high and stormy. Nevertheless, the poor Souldiers - being much wearied with the Tent-Polls, Spare Arms, and other Utensils - for War, which they had carried all Day and some hours after Night, as - well as with the badness of the March, lay down to take their Repose; - and verily the water run over and under some of their legs the major - part of the Night, and their Heads, Backs and Arms sunck deep into the - Clay, being so very wet and soft, notwithstanding they slept all Night - very sweetly, in their Pee or Campagne Coats. The Souldiers here - fetch’d some old Hedges and Gates to make their Officers and - themselves some Fire (as they had done the night before), else some - would have perished in the Cold, being all over in a Froth with Sweat - in marching. And the old Hedges and Gates not being enough, they - fetch’d away the new ones, for the Weather was not only raw and cold - but we ourselves were so too, having nothing to eat or drink after so - bad a day’s journey. The Souldiers had some good Holland’s Beef in - their Snap-sacks, which they brought, and their Officers were very - glad to get part with them, so they broil’d it at the Fire; some had - bought Chickens by the way, but raw, which they broil’d and eat as a - most delicate Dish. Sundry Captains offer’d any Mony for a Guide to - bring them to a House thereabout, where they might have some provision - for their money, but no Guide could be found; it was exceeding dark, - and being all Strangers and unacquainted with the Country, we could - not tell where to find one House, for those few that were scattering - here and there were either in some little grove of Trees, and so hid - from our Eyes, or else in a bottom amongst the Hills, and so could not - be seen. These Quarters did not content our Minds, for tho’ we got as - near to the Hedges as we could possible with our Fires, yet we could - not be warm. Many of the Souldiers slept with their feet in the Ditch, - and their Heads on the side thereof. We thought this Night almost as - long as that in the Storm at Sea; and judged it to be the dawn of Day - some hours before it was. The Morning appearing rejoiced our very - Hearts, for we thought now we should march presently; and we were sure - of this, that worse Quarters we could never meet with, but much better - we hoped to find. A private souldier, therefore, going in the next - Croft for to seek a convenient place, he found it to be an Inclosure - with Turnips, so bringing his Burden away with him, he came to the - Fire and gave those there some, telling his Comrades of the Place, who - soon hastened thereto, and brought enow with them: Some roasted them - and others eat them raw, and made a brave Banquet. The Souldiers were - busy in discharging their Musquets, after the Wet and Rain, for they - durst not trust to that Charge; and about 11 of the Clock the Army - received Orders to march. - - The Prince of Orange with the Lords and Gentlemen, rode from this - place unto Sir William Courtenay’s, within a mile of Newton Abbot, the - first Line being about Newton, and the last on their march thither. - The Place where we encamped was trodden to Dirt, and stuck to our - Shoes wretchedly. Now the Regiments marched sundry Roads, of which we - were right glad, hoping to meet with better Quarters than the Marl and - Clay Crofts. The People came in flocks unto the Cross-ways to see the - Army, but especially the Prince. We met with much civility on the - Road; now they began to give us Applause, and pray for our Success; - sundry Persons enquired for the Declaration of his Highness. - -Arrived near Newton, the Prince, as Whittle says, went to Ford House, -within a short distance of the town, the residence of Sir William -Courtenay, who endeavoured cautiously to abstain from doing anything to -compromise himself with the King, should the latter prevail, and so -managed not to be at home on the Prince’s arrival, but left directions -that he should be hospitably lodged and feasted. Here he probably stayed -two nights to enable the whole of the troops to come up and be in order -for the march to Exeter, to which place Dr. Burnet and Lord Mordaunt -with four troops of horse were sent on in advance. - -The room at Ford House in which the Prince slept is still pointed out; -it is called the “Orange room,” and is papered and upholstered in -orange. - -Mr. Blewitt, in the _Panorama of Torquay_, says:—“It is _said_ that his -first proclamation was read from the base of the ancient cross at Newton -by the Rev. John Reynell, the minister of Wolborough”; and Mr. White, in -his valuable _History of Torquay_, published in 1878, repeats this -statement as a fact. The stone pedestal on which formerly stood the -ancient cross, still remains near the tower at Newton, in the parish of -Wolborough, and is now surmounted by a public lamp. On this pedestal is -the following inscription:— - - THE FIRST DECLARATION OF - WILLIAM III., PRINCE OF ORANGE, - THE GLORIOUS DEFENDER OF THE - LIBERTIES OF ENGLAND, - WAS READ ON THIS PEDESTAL BY - THE REV. JOHN REYNELL, - RECTOR OF THIS PARISH, - 5TH NOVEMBER, - 1688. - -That the Prince’s declaration was read from the old cross there can be -little doubt, but that the inscription cannot be looked upon as much of -an authority is clear from the statement that the declaration was read -on the 5th; for the Prince’s army did not commence to land at Brixham -until that day, and could not have possibly reached Newton until the -7th; and that it is erroneous also in stating that it was read by -Reynell is evident from the following very interesting paragraph from -Whittle’s Diary:— - - Now being on their march to Newton Abbot, a certain Divine went before - the Army; and finding that ’twas their Market-day, he went unto the - Cross, or Town Hall; where, pulling out the Declaration of the Prince - of Orange, with undaunted Resolution, he began, with a loud and - audible voice, to read as follows: William Henry, by the Grace of God, - Prince of Orange, &c., of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms - in the Kingdom of England, for preserving of the Protestant Religion, - and restoring the Laws and Liberties of England, Scotland, and - Ireland, &c. - - When the people heard the Prince of Orange’s name mentioned, they - immediately crowded about him in a prodigious manner to hear him, - insomuch that some jeoparded their lives. - - The Declaration being ended, he said, God bless and preserve the - Prince of Orange: To which the People, with one Heart and Voice, - answered Amen, Amen; and forthwith shouted for Joy, and made the Town - ring with their echoing Huzzas. The Minister, _nolens volens_, was - carried into a Chamber near the Place: the Windows were shut, the - doors lock’d and bolted, to prevent the crowd from rushing in. - - The People of the House, and others very kindly asked him: Sir, What - will you be pleased to eat? or, What shall we provide for you? Name - what you love best, it shall be had. The Minister answered, What you - please, give me what you will. So they brought forth such as was - ready; and having eaten and drunk well, they desired him to spare them - but one Declaration. Yes, says he, for I have enow in my Pocket, and - pulling them out, he gave Three, because they were of distinct - Parishes. He told the People, he would go and visit their Minister, - and cause their Bells to ring, because the Prince of Orange was come - into the Parish, at Sir Will Courtney’s, tho’ not into the Town; and - (says he) this being the first Market-Town, I cannot but think it much - the more proper and expedient. Whereupon he went to the Minister’s - House, and enquiring for him he was courteously invited in, and - desired to sit down: The Reverend Minister of the Parish coming - presently to him, they saluted each other; and after some - communications passed between them, this Divine from the Army, desired - the Keys of his Church Doors, for to welcome the Prince of Orange into - England with a Peal (that being the first Market-Town they came to). - The Minister answered; Sir, for my own part, I am ready to serve his - Highness any way, but of my own accord cannot give the Keys; but you - know you may command them, or anything else in my House in the Name of - the Prince of Orange, and then I will readily grant it. So the Divine - said: Sir, I demand your Keys of the Church Door only for an hour to - give his Highness a Peal, and then I will return them safely unto you. - - The Minister presently directed him to the Clerk’s house, and desired - him to come and take a Glass of Wine with him after the Peal was - ended, (but the Ringers coming together, they rung sundry Peals) and - he returned the Keys to the Minister. - - The People of the Town were exceeding Joyful, and began to drink the - Prince of Orange’s Health. The Country People in the Town were well - inclined towards us; and here was the first favour we met with worth - mentioning. His Highness was most kindly receiv’d and entertain’d at - Sir Will Courtney’s, the Souldiers generally well treated by the - Vulgar. - -Oldmixon, in his _History of the Reign of the Stuarts_, simply says that -“the first place the Prince of Orange’s Declaration was publicly read -was Newton Abbot, a market town near Exeter, and the first man who read -it was _a_ clergyman.” No doubt the fact that it was read by a clergyman -gradually changed into the statement that it was read by _the_ clergyman -of the parish, and so Reynell became credited with a bold act, which, -from Whittle’s account, he was far too cautious a man to commit, however -favourable he may have been to the Prince’s cause. The lettering of the -inscription is evidently modern, and the Rev. H. Tudor, the present -Rector of Wolborough, informs me that a man, now dead, told him he was -employed to cut or re-cut it, and was never paid for doing so. - -The question remains, and it is an interesting one, who was the divine -who first proclaimed the Prince by reading the Declaration? I was first -inclined to believe, from the detailed manner in which the story was -told, that it was Whittle himself. It is not improbable, however, that -it was the renowned Dr. Burnet, afterwards Bishop Burnet. He was the -Prince’s own chaplain, and doubtless the head and chief of the clergy -who accompanied the Prince, and from his undaunted spirit, and the -leading part he took in the Cathedral at Exeter, he was undoubtedly the -divine most likely to have performed this act. One gentleman with whom I -have been in communication on the point, and whose opinion always -carries weight, says:— - - Burnet was such a busybody, that I feel certain if anything was to be - done by a clergyman he would have put himself forward to do it. - -No information is to be gleaned from the parish registers or the books I -have inspected relative to what occurred at Newton during the time of -the Prince’s visit, but I have been favoured with the following -interesting story from a lady now residing at Newton, of the advanced -age of ninety-six, told her by her father, who heard it from his -grandmother, who was a Miss Joan Bearne, the daughter of Mr. Bearne, a -lawyer of Newton Abbot; viz., that when a girl of sixteen, there was a -stranger staying at her father’s house for about three weeks, who was -only known as “the gentleman,” and who was out during the day, and only -returned in the evening; that on the entry of William of Orange into -Newton from Ford House, her father took her out to see him, and that -walking by the side of the Prince was the strange gentleman, who, on -passing where Mr. Bearne was standing, pointed him out as “his host for -three weeks” to the Prince, who at once lifted his hat to him. - -[Illustration: leaf] - - [This paper having been written in 1880, sundry allusions must be - interpreted in the light of that circumstance.—THE EDITOR.] - - - - - REYNOLDS’ BIRTHPLACE. - - BY JAMES HINE, F.R.I.B.A. - - -Any interest attaching to Plympton belongs to the olden time. Of many -other places it may be said that the new has entirely supplanted the -old. Modern business requirements, new warehouses, and thoroughfares, -have had the effect of stamping out all vestiges of the past, and even -the traditions of them. An unpretending Railway Station and a dozen or -more new houses have not had this effect at Plympton. The town has no -novelties to shew us; the lions are just what they were two hundred -years ago. - -Plympton in the olden time had its castle and its priory, its two -churches, and later its Guildhall and Grammar School. Not quite in the -olden time, but only just on the verge of our prosaic modern time, -Plympton gave to the world England’s greatest painter—a circumstance -which (though forgotten by the native, who on being asked by a tourist -where Sir Joshua Reynolds was born, replied he “never heeard of sich”) -should indeed make this honoured little town almost as famous as -Stratford-on-Avon. - -In the Doomsday Book, Plympton is designated “Terra Regis,” so also are -Tavistock, Ashburton, and Tiverton, “all which places were then the -King’s demesne towns,” but not boroughs. - -[Illustration - - _From an Engraving_] [_by J. E. Wood._ - THE CLOISTERS, PLYMPTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL. - -] - -[Illustration - - _From an Engraving_] [_By J. E. Wood._ - NORMAN DOORWAY, PLYMPTON PRIORY. - -] - -A date anterior to the Norman Conquest has been ascribed to the castle, -on the ground of its similarity to Trematon, Launceston, and Restormel -castles, which Borlase and Grose assert to have been built before the -year 900. The antiquaries, however, of the eighteenth century are often -extremely inaccurate in their classification both of military and -ecclesiastical structures. St. German’s Church, the ancient cathedral of -Cornwall, is designated Saxon by them, whereas its features, as any tyro -will now see, are undoubted Norman; in fact, there are no remains of -Saxon architecture in Cornwall, and it would be surprising if there -were, seeing that the Saxons never had any permanent hold on this part -of Britain; for, though Egbert is said to have reduced the Cornish -Britons to “nominal subjection” about the year 810, we find that -Athelstan as late as 936 was in conflict with the British forces, and -drove them across the Tamar, and not until that year had Exeter been -subjected to his government. - -Restormel Castle is undoubtedly of Norman construction, and it is -probable that the most ancient portions of Launceston Castle are nearly -two centuries later than the date ascribed by Borlase. - -Although, therefore, from the naturally strong position of all these -castles, it is probable that the Britons occupied these positions for -defence, no visible remains can be considered as anterior to the Norman -Conquest. In the absence of any architectural details at Plympton -Castle—the masonry in the walls being somewhat analogous to the British -masonry found in different parts of Cornwall—there may be more room for -doubt and conjecture here than in respect to the other castles; yet the -rudeness of the masonry may be accounted for by supposing that only the -vassal inhabitants of the neighbourhood were employed in the works, -under Norman architects and overseers. - -The vestiges of Norman rule are clearly traceable in the county and -borders of Devon. The same independent character which Exeter maintained -against the Saxon authority, that city endeavoured to assert against the -Conqueror; and the obedience of the western capital required to be -insured by a number of castles, of a date not long subsequent to the -Conquest. The castles of Barnstaple, Exeter, Totnes, Plympton, and -Trematon guarded the rivers which gave access to the interior of the -county; and the fortresses of Okehampton, Launceston, Lydford, Berry, -and Tiverton, the inland passes. Of the castles enumerated here, Berry -at least has been entirely rebuilt at a later period. - -Plympton Castle was the chief residence of the Earls of Devon and Lords -of Plympton. King Henry, the youngest son of the Conqueror, in the first -year of his reign, granted the Lordship to Richard de Redvers or Rivers -and his posterity, to enjoy also the title and possessions belonging to -the Devonshire Earldom. The said Richard was one of William the -Conqueror’s generals in the battle of Hastings, and obtained the barony -of Okehampton from William Rufus. He was one of the chief councillors of -Henry the First, and was so highly esteemed by him that he was created -first Earl of Devon since the Conquest. The castle stood on the north -side of the town, occupying a space of about two acres, extending 700 -feet from east to west, including the ditch, and 400 feet from north to -south. Leland says of this structure, in his Itinerary, “On the side of -the town is a fair large castelle and dungeon in it, whereof the walls -yet stand, though the lodgings be clean decayed.” At present there only -remains a portion of the circular keep or tower, fifty feet in diameter, -on a mound about sixty feet high. The ruined walls average fourteen feet -in height and are nine feet thick, grouted with mortar or concrete as -hard as the stones themselves. Around the keep in the thickness of the -wall is a plastered flue, fifteen inches by ten inches, the purpose of -which is not obvious. It has been suggested that it was designed for the -conveyance of sound. It seems more probable that it was for ventilation. -There is a similar flue at Rochester Castle. The habitable portions of -Plympton Castle must have been of considerable extent. These, including -the state apartments, and lodgings (as Leland calls them) for the -military and retainers, were within the outer castle walls, and built -around a spacious basse-court. The ballium wall—embattled and flanked -with towers—was raised on a platform about 30 feet above the fosse or -ditch, in the position now indicated by a modern path, and by a belt of -trees planted about a hundred years ago. The basse-court has long been a -quiet village green, and the site of the ballium wall, where stern -warriors peered over frowning battlements, is now a “lovers’ walk.” Such -are the tendencies of modern civilization. Surrounding the castle wall -was a deep moat about 40 feet wide, still to be traced, except on the -eastern side, where it has been filled up. In Leland’s time it was full -of water, and stored with carp. There are no remains whatever of the -great gateway of the castle (with its drawbridge and portcullis), which, -as shewn by the seal of the Lords of Plympton, was on the north side. -There were probably towers at the different angles. - -In the time of Baldwin de Rivers, second Earl of Devon and Lord of -Plympton, the castle was the scene of events which strikingly illustrate -the then unsettled state of the country, and the insubordination of even -the most privileged class. Baldwin de Rivers was considered one of the -richest and bravest men of the age; but having with some other nobles -rebelled against King Stephen, on account, it is said, of the king -refusing to confer certain honours on them, he fortified himself in his -castle at Exeter, where he was besieged by the monarch; and it appears -that certain knights, to whom he had entrusted his castle of Plympton, -being apprehensive of the Earl’s danger, or alarmed about their own -safety, treated for the surrender of Plympton; and the king sent two -hundred men with a large body of archers from Exeter to Plympton, who -unexpectedly appeared under the walls of the castle about daybreak, and, -according to the chronicler, the fortress was then almost entirely -destroyed. - -The lands of the Earl, which extended far and wide round Plympton -Castle, and said to have been abundantly stocked and well cultivated, -were harried by the king’s troops, who drove off to Exeter many -thousands of sheep and oxen.[6] Baldwin was then dispossessed of all his -honours, and banished the kingdom; but afterwards siding with the -Empress Matilda, in the civil wars which ensued, he was restored to all -his honours and possessions by Henry II. He died A.D. 1155, and was -succeeded by his son, Richard de Redvers. - ------ - -Footnote 6: - - Devonshire wool was already a valuable commodity, and was bought at - that time, it is said, by Flemish merchants who frequented Devonshire - ports. - ------ - -Baldwin, the eighth Earl, was the last of the male Redvers or Rivers who -held the barony of Plympton. His death, by poison, occurred in France in -1262, and the inheritance of the Earls of Devon and Lords of Plympton -descended to Isabella de Redvers, the wife of the Earl of Albemarle, who -styled herself Countess of Devon. Their only issue was a daughter, -Aveline, who married the Earl of Lancaster, and she dying in 1293, -without issue, Hugh Lord Courtenay, next heir to Isabella, Countess of -Devon, and lineally descended from John Courtenay, Lord of Okehampton, -who married the daughter of Sir William de Redvers, became ninth Earl. - -The possession by the Courtenays during succeeding centuries of the -Earldom of Devon and the Barony of Plympton, was marked by many -interesting and even tragical incidents, but these have no very -immediate connection with the subject of this paper.[7] - ------ - -Footnote 7: - - One remarkable circumstance—mentioned by Pole—concerning Henry - Courtenay, created Earl in 1525, may be noted. “This Henry,” says - Pole, “was soe intimate unto King Henry the 8th, that having no issue - he intended to have made hym his successor unto the crown; but - afterwards he fell into high displeasure of the King, so, as being - questioned with divers others for ayding of Cardinale Poole, and - intencion for the raising of forces on the Pope’s behalf, he was - arraigned, convicted, and executed for treason.” - ------ - -The barony of Plympton was subdivided in the reign of Queen Mary. In the -beginning of the eighteenth century it was in the hands of three -families. It is now invested in the Earl of Morley. - -The castle (probably rebuilt after its partial demolition in the time of -Baldwin de Rivers, second Earl) does not appear to have been much -molested between the reigns of Stephen and Charles I.; at least, we have -no record of any memorable event during that long interval. - -At the beginning of the Civil War, Plympton was the headquarters of the -force which the Royalists then had in the county. It was one of the -principal quarters of Prince Maurice’s army whilst besieging Plymouth, -from October, 1642, to January, 1643. The King had a garrison here, -which, however, was taken by the Earl of Essex, in the month of July, -1644. The castle at this period was mounted with eight pieces of -ordnance. - -The fertile valley of the Plym was often a tempting field for plunder to -the Plymouth parliamentary troops, as it had been to the archers of King -Stephen five centuries before. Its rich pasturage and produce induced a -fraternity of pious monks at a very early period to settle here; which -brings me to speak of the once famous priory of Plympton, the richest -and most flourishing in Devon. - -The first monastery or college existing here is said to have been -founded by one of the Saxon kings, possibly Ethelwolf, who had a palace, -so tradition informs us, at Yealmpton, about four miles distant. This -establishment, however, early came to grief. Leland says:— - - The glory of this towne (Plymptoun Marie) stoode by the priorie of - blake chanons, there buildid and richely endowid with landes. - - The original beginning of this priorie was after this fascion: one - William Warwist, bisshop of Excester, displeased with the chanons or - prebendaries of a fre chapelle of the fundation of the Saxon kinges, - because they wold not leve theyr concubines, found meanes to dissolve - their college, wherein was a deane or provost, and four prebendaries, - with other ministers. - - The prebende of Plympton self was the title of one, and the prebend of - S. Peter and Paule at Sultown, now caullid Plymmouth, another. Bisshop - Warwist, to recompence the prebendaries of Plympton, erectid a college - of as many as wer ther at Bosenham in Southsax, and annexid the gift - of them to his successors, bisshops of Excester. Then he set up at - Plympton a priorie of canons regular, and after was ther buried in the - chapitre house. - - Diverse noble men gave after landes to this priorie, emong whom was - Walterus de Valletorta, lord of Tremerton, in Cornewal, and, as sum - say, of Totnes, who gave onto Plymtown priorie the isle of S. Nicholas - cum cuniculis, conteyning a two acres of ground, or more, and lying at - the mouthes of Tamar and Plym ryvers. - - There were buryed sum of Courteneis and diverse other gentilmen in the - chirch of the priorie of Plymtoun. - -The second establishment, then—dedicated to the Virgin Mary and SS. -Peter and Paul—of the Order of St. Augustine, was founded in 1121 by -William Warelwast, Bishop of Exeter, the nephew and chaplain of William -the Conqueror. He was one of the most gifted and energetic ecclesiastics -of his day, and to him we are indebted for the earliest existing -portions of Exeter Cathedral, including the two noble Norman towers. He -seems to have set his heart on making Plympton priory the richest and -most important in this part of the kingdom, and conveyed to it very -large properties in Exeter. Many noblemen followed his example. - -The rental of the priory shows that certain lands and rents were -attached to the several conventual offices of almoner, precentor, -cellarer, and chaplain of the infirmary. - -Some idea of the wealth of the monastery may be gathered from the fact -that at the dissolution it was rated at £912 12_s._ 8_d._ per annum, -whereas the whole annual revenue of the 173 Augustine priories in the -kingdom amounted to £33,027, the average being about one-fourth that of -Plympton. - -The founder, Bishop Warelwast, was buried here (as Leland says) in the -chapter house of the priory, as were also the remains of his nephew, the -fifth Bishop of Exeter. “Whoever is acquainted,” says Dr. Oliver, “with -the deeds and writings of subsequent bishops, the immediate patrons of -Plympton Priory, must have observed how closely they imitated the zeal -of the founder in watching and guarding its interests and promoting its -welfare.” Amongst other privileges, the prior and convent possessed the -right of appointing the rural dean of Plympton. - -The venerable building had been destroyed before Leland’s time, as is -evident from his saying “the chirch that there a late stood,” meaning, -of course, the priory church. - -“At present,” says Dr. Oliver, “scarcely a vestige remains of any of the -conventual buildings”; but in this respect, as we shall hereafter see, -he is not quite correct. - -Within one hundred and fifty years after the erection of the priory -church, another sacred edifice was required for the growing population -around; and Bishop Stapeldon, on Friday, October 29th, 1311, consecrated -one in honour of the Virgin Mary, for the use of the parishioners. The -present chancel and north aisle of Plympton St. Mary Church are portions -of the church then dedicated, the great body of the church, as we now -see it, having been re-built in a later age and style. It was situate -“_infra cemeterium prioratus_”; and, as a mark of subjection, the -parishioners were required to assist at divine service in the conventual -church on the feast of its dedication, and to receive the blest palms -there on Palm Sunday, and walk in the solemn procession of that day. -This obligation was sanctioned by Archbishop Courtenay, when he made a -visitation of the diocese of Exeter in 1387, and confirmed by Pope -Boniface IX. For some neglect of this ancient custom Bishop Lacy -expressed his high displeasure, and enjoined its strict observance in -the future. - -In Plympton St. Mary parish there were several chapels, subject to the -priory—one at Newnham, another at Hemerdon, and a chapel attached to a -lazar-house, of which there are now no remains. Sutton or South-town, -now part of Plymouth, belonged to the priory of Plympton. “In the -priors’ court there the portreve of the commonality was elected and -sworne into office by his steward, and the markets, the instruments of -punishment, and the assize of provisions belonged to him.” - -Those were not exactly the “furzy down” days of Plymouth; but it was -quite an insignificant place at that time, compared with its more -wealthy neighbour, Plympton. Its great market, in fact, was Plympton. As -Plymouth grew into more importance, as a naval as well as fishing -station, and as the inhabitants became more influential, they naturally -became anxious to obtain independence and the right of self-government, -with municipal privileges. Accordingly, the inhabitants petitioned the -king and parliament to be incorporated as early as 1412, and the answer -to the petition was, “Let the petitioners compound with the lords having -franchises before the next parliament, and report to them of their -having made an agreement.” As a matter of course, the prior and convent -at first opposed their views, but when the inhabitants succeeded, in -1439, in obtaining the royal licence and an Act of Parliament, which -constituted them a corporation, under the title of the Mayor and -Commonalty of the Borough of Plymouth, it was time for the prior and -convent to come to terms with the reformers; and animated with an -excellent feeling, they addressed a petition to Bishop Lacy, -representing that it would be desirable to convey to this municipal body -certain lands, tenements, franchises, fairs, markets, mills, and -services, which they had possessed therein from time immemorial, and -praying his consent to dispose of them. In January, 1440, as bishop and -patron, he directed a commission to the archdeacon of Totnes to hold an -inquisition, and to report to him the verdict of the jury. Accordingly, -a public inquisition was held in the nave of the priory church of -Plympton, on the 7th of January, the gates of the monastery, and the -doors of the church, being thrown wide open for all comers to enter. -That was a memorable day for the young town; and no doubt many -Plymouthians flocked to the priory, anxious to know the award. The jury -being sworn, found that the premises of the priory, within Sutton-Prior, -had in part been burnt by a hostile descent from Brittany; that the -yearly rental of the lands and tenements there was £8; of the courts, -fairs, and markets, 60_s._; and the clear profit from the mills -something more than £10 yearly; that the offer by the mayor and -corporation of the yearly fixed pension of £41 for the premises -aforesaid was deemed by the prior and convent a satisfactory -compensation, and that they were willing to accept the same; and the -jury concurred in recommending such alienation and sale on such terms. - -The parish church of St. Andrew, in Plymouth, continued an appendage to -the priory nearly until the dissolution of the house. Its perpetual -vicar, William de Wolley, became a professed religious at Plympton; and -on resigning this benefice, the prior and convent granted, November -23rd, 1334, to Bishop Grandisson, the nomination of an incumbent, -saving, however, their yearly pension of sixty marks. The bishop -nominated Nicholas de Weyland, a canon of Plympton, December 23rd. - -The chapel of St. Katherine on the How also belonged to the priory; but -the following list of chapels appendant to this house will give some -idea of the immense patronage which it enjoyed:—SS. Mary and Thomas, -Plympton, Brixton, Wembury, Plymstock, Saundford-Spiney, Egg Buckland, -Lanhorn (or Lanherne), Tamerton, Maristowe, Thrushelton, Uggeburgh, -Exminster, Islington, Newton, Stoke-in-Teignhead, Blackhauton, Bratton, -Meavy, St. Just, Petertavy, etc.; and the tithes of these places were -appropriated to the priory for the promotion of hospitality and charity. - -Two subordinate priories or cells depended on Plympton priory—St. Mary -de Marisco, commonly called Marsh Barton, in Alphington parish, and the -cell of St. Anthony in the deanery of Powder, in Cornwall. - -Most of the churches appendant to the Plympton priory have the parvise -over the south porch, as at both the Plympton churches and at Ugborough. -Here were probably deposited books written by the monks in their hours -of study—missals with rich borders, as well as writings of a more -secular character; and possibly the preaching monks tarried in these -chambers between the hours of divine service. - -Dr. Oliver gives the names of thirty Priors of Plympton, from Ralph, the -first prior, to John How, the last, who subscribed to the King’s -supremacy in 1534. During the administration of some of the priors, the -hospitality of the establishment seems to have been unbounded. In -consequence of the great confluence of the nobility and their retinues -to the priory, the house became overcharged with debt, and Bishop -Oldham, after his first visitation of the house, in 1505, authorized the -prior, David Bercle,[8] to retire to a distant cell until a new system -of economy could be arranged. - ------ - -Footnote 8: - - There is a quaint letter extant of this hospitable prior, which Dr. - Oliver gives. It is— - - “To his rev’ende broders in Criste, Maister Dene and Maister Chaunter, - of Excester, or on’ of theym, this to be delyvd. in goodely haste. - Right rev’end broders in Criste, in my most lovynge maner y recomaunde - me unto yow p’ynge yow right hartely to be good maisters to a prieste - called I. David Neyton, a lovyer of myn’ which trustyth by your favors - to be on’ of your vicaryyes in Synte Peters Churche if he be a person’ - necessary to occupye a such rome yn your’ sayde churche y p’y yow that - he may the rader for my desyre be accepte to the same rome, and he and - y shall p’y for the longe contynuance of your bothe prosperyteis, - which God p’sve to his pleasur’ and your hartes desyres—Amen. Writyn - in haste penultimo die Aprilis by your olde louyer and bedman’. - - “DAVID, Prior of Plympton’.” - ------ - -The refectory was by no means an unimportant portion of the priory. It -and the cellar under (which was in charge of a much-envied functionary, -known as the cellarer) are the only considerable remains existing of the -once extensive monastic buildings at Plympton. Here the monks, according -to the seasons, had their one meal or two meals a day; the usual -allowance being “one white loaf, another loaf called Trequarter, a dish -called General, another dish of flesh or fish called Pitance, three -potells of beer daily, or three silver halfpence” for the teetotalers. -This is said to have been the ordinary bill of fare, but it was, no -doubt, amplified to any extent when the lords and squires were -entertained by the prior, and especially when, as in 1348, Edward the -Black Prince dined at his hospitable table. - -But the time was coming when there would be “no more cakes and ale”—when -the prior and brethren would leave the monastery gates, never again to -re-enter them; when, with their “occupation gone” (like the stage -coachmen and guards of the nineteenth century), they would be lost in -the crowd of a bustling world, and never seen or heard of more. There -was a dark side to the picture which England then presented; and perhaps -the saddest sight was when, on the morrow after the dissolution, the -mendicant knocked at the almonry door, knowing no change, and least of -all in charity, and for the first time found no bread or alms for him. - -The priory remains, though little known, are of considerable interest. -Besides the Norman cellar, and the Early English refectory over, there -are some scattered remains of the chapel and cloisters. The cellar is -sixty-one feet six inches by fourteen feet within, stone-arched, and -lighted on the south side by four small semi-circular-headed windows. -The masonry is of great thickness; and on the north side and east end, -in the width of the wall, is a passage two feet six inches wide, which -probably was nothing more than a dry area, though the common notion is -that it is the commencement of a subterranean way (now blocked up) -leading to the castle, about a quarter of a mile distant. The original -entrance to the cellar was by a fine Norman doorway on the south side. -It was only after diligent search that I found it, encased with many -coats of plaster. There are engaged shafts on each side, and the chevron -ornament is carried round the jambs as well as the arch, which latter is -formed of alternate voussoirs of grey and green stone. - -Above the cellar is the almost perfect outline of the refectory, with -its original fire-place, windows, and roof, all of an Early English -character. The kitchen, a detached building of the fifteenth century, -situated to the east of the refectory, remains in a tolerably perfect -state, and the position of the old priory mill is indicated by a modern -structure erected about seventy years ago. - -Adjoining the mill is the priory orchard, said to be the oldest in -England. - -At some distance to the north-west of the domestic buildings were the -chapel and cloisters, of which some vestiges remain in their original -positions, but around them modern walls and hedges have been formed. The -bases of a doorway, deeply recessed, having four detached shafts on each -side, and beautifully moulded, lead to the supposition that the Priory -as a whole was a most important architectural work. I also found several -scattered fragments of Early English foliage. No doubt many interesting -objects lie buried in the priory lands, and possibly even the tombs of -the two bishops Warelwast. - -In the Norman and Early English and Decorated work about here we find -that granite was never used, although to be obtained in the immediate -locality.[9] It was probably rejected, not merely because it was hard to -work, but on account of its cold and colourless appearance. Thus, in the -Priory and in the most ancient portions of the two churches, _i.e._, the -chancels, you will find no dressings or moulded work in that material, -but in the beautiful and durable green slate-stone from St. Germans or -Boringdon, and in Caen stone; and to give still more artistic effect to -their buildings, they used sparingly a close red sandstone, obtained -from a distance. There are some rather old-looking houses in Plympton, -which are said to be built entirely of stone from the priory, and in one -front in particular may be observed this beautiful masonry of the -thirteenth century, in green and red, arranged almost like a draught -board. - ------ - -Footnote 9: - - This also applies to the Cornish churches. - ------ - -The Perpendicular builders were not, as a rule, remarkable for artistic -feeling. They saw beauty in size, uniformity, and in the endless -repetition of a stereotyped panel; and one can imagine archæologists of -the fifteenth century regarding contemporary architects much as we look -upon the designers of the glass and iron palaces of the present day. The -greater part of the churches of Plympton St. Mary and Plympton St. -Maurice are Perpendicular and built of granite, in large blocks, and -there is not that sharp and elegant detail in this as in the earlier -work. - -St. Mary’s is a pretty and picturesque church now; but it was probably -more than two hundred years before the granite began to tone down, and -the ivy and lichen to cling to it—neither, as a rule, “take kindly,” as -the saying is in Devonshire, to granite. - -The limits of this paper will not allow of my giving anything like a -detailed description of Plympton St. Mary Church. Full justice has -already been done this edifice by the late Rev. W. I. Coppard, who was -largely instrumental in its being restored. The Early Decorated -chancel—with its fine east window and elaborate sedilia and piscina—is -one of the best specimens of the period in the county. Not the least -interesting part of the church is the south porch and parvise over, -which the late Mr. H. H. Treby took most commendable pains to restore. -The groining of the porch is admirable, though in the re-dressing and -chiselling of the ribs and bosses the original character of the work has -been partially impaired. In restorations, much is lost through the -desire to see things look fresh and new. - -In the Strode, or St. Catherine chapel, is the monument of Sir William -Strode, with the effigies of the knight and his two wives:— - - Mary, incarnate virtue, soul and skin - Both pure, whom death nor life convinced of sin, - Had daughters like 7 Pleiades, but she - Was a prime star of greatest charity. - -And over the knight:— - - Treade soft, for if you wake this knight alone, - You raise an host, religion’s champion, - His country’s staff, right bold distributor, - His neighbour’s guard, the poor man’s almoner, - Who dies with works about him as he did, - Shall rise attended most triumphantly. - -The Town Church of Plympton, originally dedicated to Thomas à Becket, -but, when rebuilt in the fifteenth century, to St. Maurice, consists of -a nave, north and south aisles, and a fine tower at the west end, in the -Perpendicular style of the fifteenth century, and a chancel, as at St. -Mary’s, of an earlier date, having an interesting sedilia and good -decorated window at the east end—speaking of the masonry, and not of the -glass, which is extremely bad. The south porch has a vaulted roof and -parvise over, as at the other church. - -Much has been done of late years towards improving this parish church, -but its internal effect is entirely marred by the unsightly plastered -roof of the nave, and the close pews or pens. The nave-roof, I find by -reference to the vestry book, was re-constructed in the year 1752, after -the model of the new roof in Stoke Damerel Church, then recently put up. -That was the dark age of English taste. How very dark may be imagined -from this plagiarism. - -There are memorial windows in this church to members of the Treby -family, and monuments to the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, Admiral Cotton, and -other local celebrities. The following epitaph is the most curious:— - - Saml. Snelling, Gent. - Twise Maior of this - town, he died the 20 - Day of Nov. 1624. - - The man whose body - That here doth lye - Beganne to live - When he did dye. - - Good faith in life - And death he proved, - And was of God - And man belov’d; - - Now he liveth - In Heaven’s joy, - And never more - To feel annoy. - -The shaft of a large granite cross, probably the market cross, was -discovered about forty-two years ago embedded in a wall of the -Guildhall, taken down in the course of some alterations. - -In the register of this parish are some curious entries. Thus, there is -record of a plague which carried off a great number of the inhabitants; -and on one occasion forty marriages are said to have taken place in one -day, by proclamation, at the Market Cross. This was during the -Commonwealth, when the religious ceremony was ignored, and against the -entry some stout Royalist or disappointed bachelor has written: “This -was the hour and power of darkness.” - -We have yet to touch on the politics of the town. - -Plympton became a borough town, with the privileges of a market and -fairs, by a charter from Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon, dated March -25th, 1241. The borough sent members to Parliament as early as the -twenty-third year of Edward I.’s reign, and continued to do so until -disfranchised in 1832. It was a very respectable constituency of nearly -a hundred free burgesses, who were sworn in by the corporation, which -consisted of a mayor, recorder, and eight aldermen, called the Common -Council. - -The Strode influence was great in the town from a very early time, and -several members of that family sat in Parliament for Plympton. In -Elizabeth’s reign, Sir John Hele, a distinguished lawyer, and at one -time King’s Sergeant, was returned for the borough. A little later, Sir -Francis Drake, nephew of the great Sir Francis, and successor to the -baronetcy, became member. In Charles I.’s reign, Sir William Strode, one -of the most distinguished of the great party which then resisted the -undue authority of the Crown, and who, with three other members, was -committed to the tower by the King, sat in Parliament for Plympton. -Another famous member for Plympton was Sir Nicholas Slanning, a staunch -Royalist, who distinguished himself, especially, as a brave soldier in -the siege of Bristol. Then we have the memorable names of Sir George -Treby (ancestor of the late Mr. H. H. Treby) and Sir John Maynard, and -at quite a late period in the history of this borough, Lord Castlereagh -represented it in Parliament. - -In an interesting address delivered by the last recorder of the town, -Mr. Deeble Boger, on the occasion of the corporation resigning their -functions in 1859, it was stated that the borough was “what was called a -nomination borough, that is, those two families who had the greatest -number of friends, and to whom, from the period of the revolution, the -gratitude of the borough was justly due—the Trebys, in whom great -interest naturally centred, and the Edgcumbes, who were connected with -the borough in the same way—possessed the power of nominating a member, -and this nomination consisted in their recommending him for election. -This power was subject to one limitation, that the person recommended -should be of the same politics as the electors.” - -Perhaps the greatest representative the borough ever had was Sir -Christopher Wren. It was in May, 1685, that this distinguished architect -was elected Member of Parliament for Plympton. How this came to pass, -and which of the two great parties he represented, we are not precisely -informed, but may easily conjecture, as Plympton was always a Tory -borough. No doubt he occasionally thought, though he might not say, with -Mercutio, “A plague on both your houses,” for men of science and -artists—and he was in a high degree an artist—are seldom very ardent -politicians. Still, we know he was a staunch Royalist and Churchman. His -father was Dean of Windsor; his uncle, the Bishop of Ely, had been -imprisoned in the Tower for nearly twenty years during the Commonwealth; -he himself was a Fellow of All Souls’, Oxford, and held a professorship -at that University, at an extremely orthodox period. There are other -reasons for supposing that he stuck pretty close to the court and -government of the day. His father being Dean, and Sir Christopher -himself having only the year before been appointed Comptroller of the -Works at Windsor, we may readily imagine that he came down to the -independent electors of Plympton with a rather strong recommendation -from the Dean and Chapter, who were, as they are still, the patrons of -the living in this borough. And when he came (always supposing that he -did come, and that he did not merely send his respects from London), he -was, no doubt, well entertained by the gentlemen of his party in the -town, and lustily cheered by the agricultural non-electors, who always -exhibited a great deal of enthusiasm under the stimulating influence of -an election, and were never heard again to express their sentiments -until the next parliament brought down a new member for the eyes of all -Plympton—not to say “all Europe”—to gaze upon. Many of the inhabitants, -however, who were acquainted with Sir Christopher’s fame, may be -supposed to have regarded their representative with admiration and -pride. Just nineteen years before, the terrible Fire had devastated the -metropolis, and now London was rising like a phœnix from the ashes by -his magic wand. Exactly ten years before he had himself laid the -foundation stone of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and now the first stage of -that great work had been just completed, the choir and its side aisles, -and critics, who remembered old St. Paul’s in its Gothic glory, and had -seen Inigo Jones defacing and tinkering the venerable fane with his -Palladian porticoes and urns, were flocking to the churchyard. The new -structure was already too grand and unique not to be commended; but -there was yet a quarter of a century’s laborious and incessant work -before the top stone could be raised, and the gilded cross could crown -the noble dome. The same architect, the same master-builder, and the -same bishop, who witnessed the beginning of the great work in 1675, saw -its close in 1710. - -Sir Christopher Wren, the member for Plympton, was probably the first -architect ever returned to the House of Commons. There have been several -since then, and their presence in Parliament has no doubt tended to -advance public taste, and to further many great and important national -works. - -The Guildhall was built or, rather, restored in 1696, some years after -Sir Christopher Wren represented the town, and it may be safely asserted -that he had no hand in designing the present elevation, because, quaint -and picturesque though it is, his style is nowhere stamped on it. It is, -however, said (with what truth I cannot say) that he was the architect -of Plympton House, a large and substantial mansion, with a façade of -Portland stone, erected in the reign of Queen Anne for Mr. Commissioner -Ourry, of Plymouth Dockyard. It is a plain but costly building, in the -then newly-adopted style, with a certain French character about it. The -large and broad barred sash windows, with their weights and pulleys, -which were novelties at that time, must have greatly puzzled Snug, the -joiner of Plympton, who had been accustomed all his days to the old -English casements. - -The Guildhall has more of the mediæval character about it, with its -pillars and arches and covered way, like the Chester Rows, and probably -it was intended to have some resemblance to the Guildhall in the county -town—a humble but by no means unsuccessful imitation. Thus we follow -suit in buildings as in everything else, though the architecture of our -towns would, no doubt, be more entertaining if we oftener aimed at -originality, and played a card of our own occasionally.[10] - ------ - -Footnote 10: - - Over the Guildhall are the arms, carved in stone, of Sir Thomas - Trevor, Knight, and Sir George Treby, Knight. Members of the Treby - family were often connected with the corporation of the borough. In - 1755 the parishioners at a vestry then held passed a resolution - concerning the ringing of the church bells, “George Treby, Esq., and - the other gentlemen belonging to the corporation,” being respectfully - included in the said resolution. - - “Agreed on Easter Monday, March the 31st day, 1755, by us whose names - are hereunto subscribed, being the Parishioners then present at the - Vestry then held. That only five persons shall, and are by the - authority of the said Vestry allowed to ring the Bells of this Parish - for the future, and that they shall ring only on such public days as - the Parishioners shall from time to time agree to and approve of, and - that the said five persons that shall undertake to Ring shall be - obliged likewise to chime the Bells on every Sunday in the forenoon - and the afternoon, at the proper season for Divine Service, and that - they shall be obliged to give their due and regular attendance, both - in the fore and afternoon of every Sunday upon the Service of the - church, and that they be at Liberty to ring for George Treby, Esq., - and the other Gentlemen belonging to the Corporation, as often as the - said Gentlemen shall signify it to be their pleasure to have the Bells - rung, and that the said Ringers are never to ring after _Eight_ of the - clock in the Evening, or before Seven in the morning.” - - “The Ringers are never to ring after Eight.” Thus are old customs and - traditions handed down from age to age. - - “The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day.” - ------ - -Speaking of cards reminds me that in the same street with the Guildhall -are some curious old slated fronts, in which the slates have been cut in -the shape of clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds. Under these fronts we -have also the covered way. - -We now come to a building a little to the south-east of the church, -around which so many treasured associations cluster, that we hardly know -whether we have yet said adieu to the sacred edifices of Plympton. The -old Grammar School is the most venerable and interesting school of art -in all England. Here the greatest English painter—a man for “all -time”—learnt the first principles of drawing. The house in which he was -born overlooks his schoolroom and his playground. Here, too, Northcote, -his clever and eccentric pupil, acquired his, perhaps not very classic, -education. This, also, was the first school of the late distinguished -President of the Royal Academy, Sir Charles Eastlake, and the _Alma -Mater_ of poor Benjamin Haydon. A mournful interest, indeed, attaches to -the building as connected with the last-mentioned name. The year before -he died Haydon visited the old Grammar School, and wrote his name in -pencil on the wall, where you may still see it:— - - B. R. Haydon, - Historical Painter, London, - Educated here 1801. - Rev. W. Haines (Master). - Head Boy then. - -This was only a few months before a dark and impenetrable cloud shrouded -the clear intellect of this gifted man, and his life—so useful, but so -ill-requited—closed in saddest gloom. - -The key-stone of the doorway under the cloister gives the date of the -building as 1664. Strange to say, it is a Gothic structure of the most -picturesque design and arrangement. At the time it was built, -architecture had been given over almost entirely to the Renaissance and -Italian schools. It is singular, therefore, to find here at Plympton an -unconventional style adopted at such a time, but it has been suggested -that the same eccentric architect who designed the fine Gothic church of -Charles in Plymouth in the middle of the seventeenth century built also -the Grammar School in the neighbouring town, and the points of -resemblance are certainly very great. We have the same evidence of the -desire to do something good and true in both—the same good outline and -arrangement of parts, and the same superadded faults in little details, -as though the designer himself knew what he was about, but could not -bring his workmen up to the mark. No wonder little Reynolds saw -something to admire in the outline and shadows of the cloisters, for -nothing can be better than the proportions of the pillars and arches, -and the banding of the masonry over in alternate courses about six -inches high, of granite and dark limestone. In fact, the lower portion -of the building is the most pleasing piece of masonry in this -neighbourhood; and though the large square-headed windows over are not -so good, yet the angle of the roof is excellent, and the large -Perpendicular windows at the ends not without merit. The schoolroom is -about sixty-three feet long by twenty-six feet in width, the master’s -desk at one end, and on each side of the window (over) a rudely-painted -shield, with the armorial bearings of Hele and Maynard. Overhanging the -entrance on one side is a small gallery, approached from a chamber -probably once used as a class or flogging room, but now too dilapidated -for either practical purpose, and much in keeping with the rest of the -building, which is rather out at elbows. In fact—what with the Castle, -Priory, and Grammar School—the description which the American gave of -Rome will apply to Plympton—“_Quite_ a nice place, but the public -buildings very much out of repair.” The Master’s house adjoins the -school-room, and here the great painter was born. The front appears to -be comparatively modern, but the bedroom in which he is said to have -first seen the light is in the back and older part of the house, with a -window overlooking the school and playground, as before mentioned. Some -rough sketches, drawn by Reynolds in his youth, were to be seen on the -walls of this room when Haydon and Wilkie visited the house in 1809, but -have since been obliterated by some barbarous whitewasher. The engraving -represents the cloisters of the Grammar School, the subject of almost -the first drawing Reynolds ever made. - -Sir Joshua Reynolds was born on the 16th July, 1723, and was baptized on -the 30th of the same month, when, by mistake, his name was entered in -the register as Joseph. - -It is unnecessary here to give anything like a sketch of the great -painter’s career, but one or two incidents connected with the place of -his birth (to which throughout his life he was strongly attached) may be -mentioned. He regarded with the greatest satisfaction and pleasure his -visit to Devonshire with Dr. Johnson in 1762. It was on this occasion -that Northcote first saw his great master. It seems that Sir Joshua went -to Plymouth Dock, in company with the Doctor, on a certain day when -there was a great commotion in reference to some local matter, probably -the water question. “I remember,” says Northcote, “when he was pointed -out to me at a public meeting, where a great crowd was assembled, I got -as near to him as I could from the pressure of the people, to touch the -skirt of his coat, which I did with great satisfaction to my mind.” - -In 1772, Sir Joshua was elected to the Aldermanic gown of Plympton, Lord -Mount Edgcumbe acquainting him by letter of the circumstance. The letter -in which he acknowledges the honour, with most hearty thanks, is in the -Cottonian Museum at Plymouth. In the following year he was chosen Mayor -of the borough, and he declared that this circumstance gave him more -gratification than any other honour which he had received during his -life; and this sentiment he expressed when it was rather out of place, -as the following circumstance related by Northcote will shew. Reynolds -had built for his recreation on Richmond Hill a villa, of which Sir -William Chambers was architect, and in the summer season it was the -frequent custom of Sir Joshua to dine at this place with select parties -of his friends. “It happened some little time before he was to be -elected Mayor of Plympton that, one day, after dining at the house, -himself and his party took an evening walk in Richmond Gardens, when, -very unexpectedly, at a turning of one of the avenues, they suddenly met -the King, accompanied by a part of the Royal Family; and when, as his -Majesty saw him, it was impossible for him to withdraw without being -noticed. The King called to him, and immediately entered into -conversation, and told him that he had been informed of the office that -he was soon to be invested with—that of being made the Mayor of his -native town of Plympton. Sir Joshua was astonished that so minute and -inconsiderable a circumstance, which was of importance only to himself, -should have come so quickly to the knowledge of the King; but he assured -his Majesty of its truth, saying it was an honour which gave him more -pleasure than any other he had ever received in his life; and then, -luckily recollecting himself, added, ‘except that which your Majesty was -graciously pleased to bestow upon me,’ alluding to his knighthood.” - -On the occasion of his being elected Mayor, he presented to his -much-loved native town his own portrait, painted, as it seems, expressly -to commemorate the occasion. It was placed in the Corporation -dining-room, but sold by the Common Council for £150 when the town was -disfranchised! That _this_ was “the hour and power of darkness” there -cannot be a doubt. - -Sir Joshua Reynolds died on the 23rd February, 1792, and was interred in -the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral with every honour that could be shewn -to worth and genius. His tomb, adorned by one of Flaxman’s best works, -is almost close to that of Sir Christopher Wren—England’s greatest -painter, we may almost say without any qualification, and England’s -greatest architect—each, during some portion of life connected with this -honoured little town of Plympton, though by different ties and at -different periods of its history; both resting from their labours in the -great temple which Wren built, and which Reynolds sought to adorn with -his matchless pencil. - -The great honour which belongs to Plympton deserves to be held in -lasting remembrance, not merely by every inhabitant of that town, but by -all who have any appreciation of art or desire for its advancement. - - JAMES HINE. - -[Illustration: leaf] - - NOTE.—The authorities for the historical facts in this paper are Dr. - Oliver, Rev. S. Rowe, and Mr. Cotton. - -[Illustration - - _From a Drawing by S. Prout, Jun._] [_Engraved by Neele._ - THE “WAR PRISON” ON DARTMOOR, 1807. - -] - - - - - FRENCH PRISONERS ON DARTMOOR. - - BY J. D. PRICKMAN. - - -In the early part of the nineteenth century Mr. Thomas, afterwards Sir -Thomas Tyrwhitt, who held the office of Lord Warden of the Stannaries -under the then Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., originated the -idea of building a prison on Dartmoor for the numerous prisoners of war -then in Great Britain, who were at that time mostly confined in hulks -and military and naval prisons. The Government of that day took up the -idea, and, adopting the plans of Mr. Daniel Alexander, proceeded to -carry them out, the first stone of the prison being laid by Sir Thomas -Tyrwhitt on the 20th March, 1806. - -The site of the prison—about seven miles east of Tavistock and about -fifteen (straight across the moor) south of Okehampton—was granted by -the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall and Lord of the Forest of -Dartmoor. - -The building as then built is described in the Notes to Risdon’s -_Devonshire,_ published in 1811, as follows:— - - The outer wall encloses a circle of about 30 acres—within this is - another wall which encloses the area in which the Prison stands—this - area is a smaller circle with a segment cut off. The prisons are 5 - large rectangular buildings each capable of containing more than 1,500 - men; they have each two floors, where is arranged a double tier of - Hammocks slung on cast-iron pillars, and a third floor in the roof, - which is used as a promenade in wet weather. There are besides two - other spacious buildings, one of which is a large hospital, and the - other is appropriated to the Petty Officers. The entrance is on the - western side, the gateway, built of solid blocks of granite, bearing - the inscription, “Parcere subjectis.” - -The total cost of the work was nearly £130,000, and it was completed -somewhere about the year 1809, and the collection of houses gradually -formed what is now known as Princetown. - -The first set of prisoners was sent there on the 29th May, 1809, and the -buildings continued to be used as a war prison from then until the 22nd -April, 1814, during which time no less than 12,679 prisoners underwent -confinement there. During the years 1809, 1810 and 1811, deaths at the -prison were very numerous from one cause and another, so much so, that a -Return was asked for in the House of Commons, by which it appears that -from May, 1809, to June, 1811, no less than 622 prisoners died. - -The following is a copy of such Returns:— - - 1809. No. in Prison. Deaths. - May 2,479 — - June 2,471 9 - July 3,059 9 - August 4,052 3 - September 6,031 15 - October 5,993 21 - November 5,940 29 - December 5,875 63 - —- - 149 - === - - - 1810. No. in Prison. Deaths. - January 5,741 131 - February 5,624 87 - March 5,399 63 - April 5,352 28 - May 5,282 25 - June 5,261 17 - July 5,247 12 - August 5,229 16 - September 5,209 11 - October 5,399 9 - November 5,372 12 - December 5,247 8 - —- - 419 - === - - - 1811. No. in Prison. Deaths. - January 5,728 14 - February 5,019 7 - March 5,605 11 - April 5,594 10 - May 6,084 5 - June 6,577 7 - —- - 54 - === - -In the year 1812 no less than 6,280 prisoners of war were confined in -the buildings. The total number of deaths during the whole time the -buildings were used as a war prison was 1,117; of these 1,095 were -French, and 22 American, prisoners. - -Of the life of the prisoners inside the prison little is known. We know -that Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt procured the privilege of holding a market and -a fair at Princetown, and that daily markets were held within the -precincts of the prison for the sale by the country people of -vegetables, etc., to the prisoners. There are rumours that the prisoners -gambled away their clothing and rations; but their life as prisoners on -Dartmoor must have been infinitely preferable to that endured by those -who were previous thereto confined in hulks and transports; but the -details of the life are wanting, and even the pamphlet written by Capt. -Vernon Harris, for many years Governor of Dartmoor Prison after it was -re-opened, gives no great information on the subject. Many writers of -fiction have founded romances on the prison and the prisoners, but for -the most part on imagination. Probably the best of the kind, and most -accurate in detail, is _The Queen of the Moor_, by the Rev. Frederick -Adye, who was for many years resident in the district, and therefore -well acquainted with the surrounding country and the rumours of the -neighbourhood. Monsieur Jules Poulain, a Frenchman who is said to have -lived at Princetown to be near a friend who was confined there, has -written in the French language an interesting book entitled _Dartmoor, -or the Two Sisters_. He, in describing Dartmoor, says:—“Think of the -ocean waves changed into granite during a tempestuous storm, and you -will then form an idea of what Dartmoor is like,” which indeed gives -rather a vivid picture of the rolling hills and valleys. - -Many of the prisoners of war were allowed out on parole. From Capt. -Vernon Harris’ interesting pamphlet we learn the form of parole was as -follows:— - - Whereas the Commissioners for conducting His Majesty’s Transport - service and for the care and custody of French officers and sailors - detained in England have been pleased to grant A. B. leave to reside - in .... upon condition that he gives his parole of honour not to - withdraw one mile from the boundaries prescribed there without leave - for that purpose from the said Commissioners, that he will behave - himself decently and with due regard to the laws of the Kingdom, and - also that he will not directly or indirectly hold any correspondence - with France during his continuance in England, but by such letter or - letters as shall be shewn to the Agent of the said Commissioners under - whose care he is or may be in order to their being read and approved - by the superiors. He does hereby declare that he having given his - parole of honour will keep it inviolably. - - (Signature) - -The following towns in Devon and Cornwall were set aside for prisoners -on parole:—Ashburton, Okehampton, Moretonhampstead, Tavistock, Bodmin, -Launceston, Callington, Roscoe and Regilliack, but probably prisoners -were from time to time billetted in other towns such as Tiverton -(mentioned later) and elsewhere. - -The following notice was sent and posted as notice to the inhabitants of -the town selected for residence of the prisoners allowed out on parole:— - - NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, - - That all such prisoners are permitted to walk or ride on the Great - Turnpike Road within the distance of one mile from the extreme parts - of the Town (not beyond the bounds of the Parish) and that if they - shall exceed such limits or go into any field or cross road they may - be taken up and sent to prison and a reward of 10s. will be paid by - the Agent for apprehending them. And further that such prisoners are - to be in their lodgings by 5 o’clock in the winter and 8 o’clock in - the summer months and if they stay out later they are liable to be - taken up and sent to the Agent for such misconduct. And to prevent the - prisoners from behaving in an improper manner to the inhabitants of - the town or creating any riots or disturbances either with them or - among themselves notice is also given that the Commissioners will - cause upon information being given to their agent any prisoner who - shall so misbehave to be committed to prison. And such of the - inhabitants who shall insult or abuse any of the prisoners of war on - parole or shall be found in any respect aiding or assisting in the - escape of such prisoners will be prosecuted according to law. - -In reference to Tavistock, the Prison Commissioners reported that there -were 150 prisoners there allowed out on parole, and that their conduct -was exemplary. The Report further stated— - - Some of them have made overtures of marriage to women in the - neighbourhood which the magistrates have very properly taken pains to - discourage. - -When allowed out on parole the prisoner was assigned to some place of -residence, after which he received a fixed sum for his maintenance, and -was permitted to engage in any kind of business or occupation, and to -use any additional funds he might possess. Many of the prisoners -occupied their time in teaching languages, and in carving various things -such as chessmen, etc. - -There are instances of attempts by the prisoners on parole to escape. At -the Devon Summer Assize, 1812, Richard Tapper, described as of -Moretonhampstead, Carrier, Thomas Vinnacombe and William Vinnacombe (his -brother) of Cheriton Bishop, described in the indictments as Smugglers -(a curious and, one would have thought, a somewhat prejudiced -description of their occupation), were indicted and convicted of -misdemeanour for aiding and assisting, with divers other persons -unknown, Casimer Baudouin, an officer in the French Navy; Allain Michel -and Louis Hamel, Captains of Merchant Vessels; Pierre Joseph Dennis, a -Second Captain of a Privateer; and Andrew Fleuriot, a Midshipman of the -French Navy, to escape from Moretonhampstead. The French prisoners paid -£25 down, and subsequently £150 for the assistance rendered. They were -taken on horseback to Topsham, and placed in a large boat described as -eighteen feet long, but in going down the estuary of the Exe, however, -not far from Exmouth, the boat grounded on the Bar, and they were -apprehended. The story is somewhat graphically, though at considerable -length, told in the records of the proceedings. - -The French prisoners formed no less than twenty-six Lodges and Chapters -of Freemasons in England and elsewhere. The only one in the -neighbourhood of Dartmoor was at Ashburton, and the only evidence of it -is an undated certificate granted to one Paul Carcenac, described as -Assistant Commissary, the Lodge being described as “Des Amis Reunis” -(the Re-united Friends). A copy of the certificate and many further -interesting details concerning this and other Lodges, notably those at -Abergavenny, “Enfants de Mars et de Neptune”; at Plymouth “Amis Reunis”; -at Tiverton, “Enfants de Mars” (see Bro. Sharland’s _Freemasonry in -Tiverton_, published in 1899), are given in a most interesting book by -Bro. John T. Thorp entitled _French Prisoners’ Lodges_, published in -1900, and printed at Leicester by Bro. George Gibbons, King Street. - -There appear to be but few records of the prisoners at the various -towns, and only the vaguest reminiscences. In Okehampton it is said that -there were about 150 prisoners on parole. In the Churchyard is a -tombstone—a rough slate slab—on which appears the following:— - - Cette Pierre Fut - Elevee Par - Lamitie a La Memoire - Darmand Bernard - ne au Harve - En Normande Marie a - Calais a Mad^{cle} Margot - 11^e Officer - De Commerce Decedee - Prisoner de Guerre a - Okehampton le 26 October - 1815 aged 33 ans - A Labri des vertus - Qui Distinguaient - La vie - Tu reposes en paix - ombre tendre et cherie - -Another close by bears the following inscription:— - - C^r Cit - Adelaide Barrin Du Puyleaune[11] De La - Commune De Montravers Dept - Des Deux Sevres Nee le 31 Avril - 1771 Decedee a Okehampton le 18 - Fevre 1811 Fille le Legitme Dal - F^{are} Barrion Notaire et Procav^{re} - De Machecoura ne de N^{re} - Ici repose la mere & l’enfant - ------ - -Footnote 11: - - Entered in the Death Register of the parish as Ann Duchane. - ------ - -Many prisoners on parole died and were buried at Moretonhampstead, but -the grave-stones are not easily decipherable. The following entries of -burial appear in the Register:— - - Jan. 24 1811 Jean Francois Rohan French Officer on Parole. June 11 - 1811 Arnaud Aubry Lieutenant on Parole. Buried in Wooling (Shroud) - according to act of Parliament. - -Of the numerous French prisoners who died at Princetown no account -appears in the parish register, and to quote again from Capt. Vernon -Harris’ book: - - Little attention appears to have been paid to the last resting-place - of these unfortunates. We read in the account published by R. Evans - that the burial place of the unfortunate captives has been sadly - neglected. Horses and cattle have broken up the soil and left the - bones of the dead to whiten in the sun. - -This will be readily understood when it is remembered the prison -remained unoccupied from 1816 until about the year 1850. To Capt. -Stopforth, who was Governor of the prison in 1865, belongs the honour of -collecting the remains of the prisoners and burying them in two separate -enclosures on the northern side of the prison way from the public road, -and erecting monuments which are at present existing, being granite -columns; the one on the left or western side being the French, bears the -following inscription:— - - In memory of the French - Prisoners of War who - died in Dartmoor Prison - between the years 1809 - and 1814 and lie buried here - “Dulce et decorum - est pro patriâ mori.” - -The other, being the American, bears the same inscription except that -the word “French” is altered to “American.” - -After the prison was discontinued as a war prison, various schemes were -started for utilising the buildings. The late Prince Consort visited the -Duchy Estates in 1846, and the question of making use of the old prison -came under his notice. In 1850 began the formation of a Convict -Settlement, and gradually the old buildings have been pulled down so -that now only one small portion, known as the French Prison, remains. As -a convict prison all the prisoners—and the average is about one -thousand—are those who have been sentenced to penal servitude. Many are -sent specially to Dartmoor for the benefit of their health, the climate, -in the early stages of chest complaint, being most efficacious. Medical -officers of the prison and elsewhere have from time to time recorded -their opinion of the great advantages which are derived by phthisical -patients from residence at such an altitude above the sea-level. - -Much of the information derived is from Capt. Vernon Harris’ pamphlet, -Rowe’s _Dartmoor_, 3rd Edition, published in 1896, and from the various -references thereto. Some of the statistics are contained in the writer’s -paper on the prison printed in the transactions of the Devonshire -Association, 1901, xxiii. pp. 309–321. - - J. D. PRICKMAN. - - - - - OTTERY ST. MARY AND ITS - MEMORIES. - - BY THE RIGHT HON. LORD COLERIDGE, M.A., K.C. - - -If the traveller passing down the Vale of Otter by rail looks out to the -East, he will see a great grey church with transeptal towers—a rare -feature—one crowned with a spire, standing on rising ground backed by a -great continuous chine of hill. Around the church nestles a small town, -and a clear, swift river hastens by it to the sea. This is the -Collegiate Church of Ottery St. Mary, mainly the creation of Bishop -Grandisson. Edward the Confessor gave the Manor of Ottery St. Mary in -1061 to the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Rouen, in Normandy. -Bishop Grandisson bought the Manor in 1335, laid the foundations of the -college for forty secular monks, and amplified the church to suit the -college. Bishop Bronescombe consecrated a church here in 1260. His work -is seen in the nave and transepts of the present building. Bishop -Grandisson built the nave, lady chapel and side chapels, etc., raised -the towers over the transepts, and covered the whole with a -stone-groined roof. The church left his hands a miniature cathedral. A -wealthy lady, Cicely Bonville, wife, first of the Marquis of Dorset, and -then of Henry Lord Stafford, added the north aisle—1503–1523—with its -grand fan-tracery groining, a purely indigenous feature, which may be -seen repeated at Cullompton, and the whole result is a majesty and -variety of external elevation which no building of its size can well -surpass. It was the central figure of a group of buildings. -Chapter-house, library, cloisters, gate-house, all were there. The -houses for the dignitaries stood around. Fragments alone remain. There -still stand the vicar’s house, the warden’s house, the chanter’s house, -and the manor house containing portions of old work. The houses of the -minister, the sacristan, and the canons have disappeared. - -From these haunts of ancient peace there was issued, in 1509, Alexander -Barclay’s _Stultifera Navis_, or _Ship of Fools_, a translation, or -rather paraphrase, of the _Narrenschiff_ of Sebastian Brandt, which -originally appeared in the Swabian dialect. Barclay’s book contains much -original work, and breaks the great period of literary silence between -Chaucer and Spenser. When we say, “Man proposes, God disposes,” “skin -deep,” “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” “of two evils choose the least,” -“from pillar to post,” “sticking like burrs,” “over head and ears,” “you -cannot touch pitch and not be defiled,” “making the mouth water,” “out -of sight out of mind,” “the burnt child dreads the fire,” we are -unconsciously using phrases which appear in their first form in -Barclay’s writings. - -The town was dominated by the College. The bridge by which you entered -the town from the west was the bridge of the Holy Saviour. In one of its -recesses the sacred light was ever kept burning, inviting those who -passed to pray. We have Pater-noster Row, Jesu Street, Chapel Lane, -Butts (St. Budeaux) Hill, Paradise; names of a flavour ecclesiastical. -In the Flexton, as the open space is called where now the Town Hall and -a Jubilee Memorial Pillar to Queen Victoria stand, the markets and fairs -were held, and in the churchyard may still be seen the ancient stocks. -Great fires, however, in 1604, 1767, and 1866, have destroyed much of -interest in the town. - -Henry VI. visited the College in 1451, and Henry VII. in 1497. - -The College disappeared at the Reformation. Some portion of its funds -were used to found the King’s Grammar School, which took root in what -remained of the collegiate buildings. The fortunes of the school varied -with the capacities of the head masters. It was successful under the -Rev. John Coleridge, 1760–1781, and under his son, the Rev. George -Coleridge, 1794–1808, it became almost the equal of Blundell’s School at -Tiverton. It subsequently slowly declined, the buildings were unsuited -to modern requirements, and it finally disappeared, reviving recently on -another site in another form under a scheme of the Charity Commission. - -The town must have sadly suffered for a time from a dissolution of the -College. But as soon as the rule of Philip II. in England was over, and -his fanaticism began to work in the Netherlands, the Flemings flying to -England added a great impetus to our wool trade. Some, I think, must -have come to Ottery St. Mary, for a flourishing woollen industry sprang -up here about this time, and a small outlying portion of the town still -bears the name of Dunkirk. The pastoral character of the Vale of Otter, -and the ample water-power of the river were advantageous to the trade, -which was only killed by the discovery of steam. - -The great factory built by Sir George Yonge, the Secretary of State for -War in 1790, a prominent feature to the passer-by, shows the extent to -which the industry once flourished. - -In Mill Street there stood a house “beturreted and wearing a monasterial -aspect,” which Sir Walter Ralegh, who was born at Poer’s Hayes, now -Hayesbarton, further down the valley, is said once to have inhabited. A -house built in the quiet, dignified style of the eighteenth century, -called Ralegh House, marks the site. - -Our town and vale were not unnoticed by poets. William Browne, the -author of _Britannia’s Pastorals_, full of quaint conceits, but with a -true vein of poetry running through them, alludes to the Naïads who fish -and swim in the clear stream of Otter. And he is believed, on the -authority of Southey, to be the author of two fine inscriptions in the -small south chapel of the church, one on John Sherman and his son, who -died on the same day in 1617, and one on the wife of Gideon Sherman, who -died in the first week of her marriage. - -Michael Drayton thus described the broad pastoral character of our -vale:— - - Here I’ll unyoke awhile, and turn my steeds to meat, - The land grows large and wide, my team begins to sweat. - -At the time of the Great Rebellion, Ottery St. Mary was for a time -occupied by the King’s troops. At the advance of the Parliamentary army, -however, in 1645, they withdrew beyond Exe, and the Roundheads took -their place. The Commander-in-Chief, Sir Thomas Fairfax, took up his -quarters at the Chanter’s House, then owned by Robert Collins, a strong -sympathiser. Fairfax was accompanied by Ireton as Commissary, and John -Pickering as Colonel. In the dining-room, which still exists, and was -then called the Great Parlour, he met Lord General Cromwell, and -determined on the plan of campaign against the King’s forces in the -West, which terminated in the capitulation of Sir Ralph Hopton in -Cornwall in March, 1646. This room Polwhele calls “the Convention Room.” -Here also a number of members of Parliament, in the name of both Houses, -presented Fairfax with a fair jewel set with diamonds of great value, -which they tied with blue ribbon and hung about his neck in grateful -recognition of his signal services at Naseby. - -Sickness overtook the army during its stay, and they removed to -Tiverton. Local opinion at the Restoration swung round to the Monarchy, -the Stuarts, and the Church of England. Violent strife, political and -ecclesiastical, embittered social life. The Rev. Robert Collins, of the -Chanter’s House, a descendant of the host of Fairfax, was the leader of -the Nonconformists, and Mr. Haydon, of Cadhay, a fine quadrangular Tudor -House in the neighbourhood, upheld the dominant party. Robert Collins -insisted on disobeying the Act of Uniformity, 1662, and the Conventicle -Act, 1664. Haydon resolved to see the law obeyed. There was a constant -besetting of the Chanter’s House to discover the holding of an unlawful -prayer-meeting, and finally persistent persecution drove Robert Collins -and his family to Holland in 1685, where he died, brave and unflinching -to the last, bequeathing money to the building of the Independent Chapel -at Ottery St. Mary. - -This chapel, built of old-time furze-burnt bricks in the manner known as -“the Flemish bond,” is one of the oldest in the kingdom, has an air of -Quaker-like seclusion, and is surrounded by a small graveyard occupying -the site of an ancient bowling green. There existed a trap-door in the -floor at the back of the pulpit, through which the minister could fly in -case of danger, into the vaults which still exist below the schoolroom. -The parish workhouse, now converted into cottages, stands near St. -Saviour’s Bridge. Here, on the ground floor, were ranged the chained -lunatics, to whom passers-by would throw scraps of bone and odds and -ends to appease their raving hunger. - -At the Vicar’s House was born, in 1772, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His -father, the Rev. John Coleridge, vicar and schoolmaster, was an erudite -Hebrew scholar, and assisted Dr. Kennicott in his literary labours. He -was a pious, simple soul, beloved by his family, whose amusing absence -of mind is described in a diverting anecdote by De Quincey, not quite -fit to be repeated here. One of his scholars was Francis Buller, who sat -for twenty-two years as a puisne judge, through whose influence Samuel -Taylor Coleridge obtained a nomination at Christ’s Hospital. - -[Illustration - - _From the Portrait_] [_By Peter Vandyck._ - SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. - -] - -This is not the place to describe at length the career of Ottery St. -Mary’s most gifted son. But we can read in his poems of the profound -influence of early scenes in the home of his boyhood upon the poet’s -imagination. In his sonnet to the river Otter, his “native brook, wild -streamlet of the West,” in after years he calls up the vision of the -crossing plank, the marge with willows grey, the bedded sand, the flung -stone leaping along its breast. - - Then with quaint music hymn the parting gleam - By lonely Otter’s sleep-persuading stream. - Or where his wave with loud unquiet song - Dashed o’er the rocky channel froths along, - Or where his silver waters smoothed to rest - The tall tree’s shadow sleeps upon his breast. - -The last two lines describe with exquisite felicity the peaceful -passages between the “stickles” of the bickering river. - -In the year 1789, he cut his initials, “S. T. C.,” on the rock just -outside Pixie’s Parlour, a small cavern in the sandstone on the left -bank half a mile down stream. - -Always keenly sensible to music, the cadence of the old church bells -rang in his ears in later life when far away from home, for he sings:— - - Of my sweet birthplace, and the old Church Tower - Whose bells, the poor man’s only music, rang - From morn to evening, all the hot fair day. - -He spoke of them to Charles Lamb, his schoolfellow; for though Charles -Lamb never came to Ottery St. Mary and never heard the bells, he makes -his characters allude to them thus:— - -_Marg._: Hark the bells, John! _John_: Those are the Church bells of St. -Mary Ottery— St. Mary Ottery, my native village, In the -sweet shire of Devon, Those are the bells. - -A. W. Kinglake, the author of _Eothen_ and the _History of the Crimean -War_, was educated here at Rock House, now Sandrock, under the Rev. -Edward Coleridge, who kept a successful private school. In the year -1849, Thackeray published the novel _Pendennis_. He lived as a youth at -Larkbeare House, and the scene of many of his incidents is laid in the -neighbourhood. We read of the little river running off noisily westward, -of the fair background of sunshiny hills that stretch towards the sea, -of the pattens clacking through the empty streets, of the schoolboys -making a good, cheerful noise, scuffling with their feet as they march -into church and up the organ-loft stair, and blowing their noses a good -deal during the sermon; of the factory, of the single pair of old -posters that earned their scanty livelihood by transporting the gentry -round to the county dinners; of the hollow tree in Escot Park (then a -noble house built by Inigo Jones, since burnt down, and now replaced by -a modern building, the seat of the Right Hon. Sir J. H. Kennaway), in -which the young lovers deposited their letters; and above all of the -great grey towers rising up in purple splendour, of which the sun -illuminates the delicate carving, deepening the shadows of the huge -buttresses and gilding the glittering windows. - -The town contributed its share to science. Here, in 1806, in Ralegh -House, was born Edward Davy. In 1836 he sketched out a plan of -telegraphic communication, and in 1837 he laid down a copper wire round -the inner circle at Regent’s Park, and made wonderful experiments in -electricity with it. In March, 1837, he took the first step to patent -his invention by “entering a caveat,” and deposited with Mr. Aikin, -Secretary of the Society of Arts, a sealed description of his invention, -anticipating Cook and Wheatstone by two months. His invention and that -of Cook and Wheatstone were held not to be quite identical. In 1839 he -emigrated to Australia, leaving the field to his rivals. - -The inhabitants are remarkable for the love which they bear towards -their birthplace. In London a society of over one hundred members of -townsfolk who have left to seek their fortunes in other scenes meet at -regular intervals to talk over the present local gossip and call up past -associations, and to renew or form a community of feeling based on -common love of home. And when the members take a holiday, the first -object of their pilgrimage, the shrine towards which their footsteps are -directed, is the dear old town of Ottery St. Mary. - - COLERIDGE. - - - - - “PETER PINDAR”: THE THERSITES - OF KINGSBRIDGE. - - BY THE REV. W. T. ADEY. - - Thersites only clamoured in the throng, - Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue; - Aw’d by no shame, by no respect controul’d. - In scandal busy, in reproaches bold; - With witty malice studious to defame; - Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim, - But chief he gloried, with licentious style, - To lash the great and monarchs to revile. - —_Pope._ - -Buried in the vestry vault of the churchyard of St. Paul’s, Covent -Garden, London, so near that their coffins actually touch, are the -mortal remains of two remarkable Englishmen. - -The one is a Worcestershire worthy, Samuel Butler, the author of -_Hudibras_, a caricaturist in verse of the times in which he lived. His -chief character, giving name to the book by which he is best known, was -suggested by Sir Samuel Luke, his puritan patron, whilst the book -itself, commenced in 1663 and modelled after the Don Quixote of -Cervantes, is in its faithful exposure of cant and hypocrisy scarcely -inferior to its spirited Spanish prototype. - -[Illustration - - _From a Painting by Opie._] [_Engraved by C. H. Hodges._ - DR. WOLCOT (“PETER PINDAR”). - -] - -The other distinguished person who found a resting-place so near him, -also a satirist and an accomplished genius with many and varied gifts, -was Dr. John Wolcot, a Devonian, born at Kingsbridge, or, more -accurately, Dodbrooke, who is better known as PETER PINDAR, whose lively -writings were most popular in the time of the later Georges, and who -then enjoyed a large measure of favour with society, whose questionable -manners he so fearlessly portrayed, and for a while at least with the -Court, every one of whom in turn, from the King and Prince Regent down -to the royal kitchen maids and cooks, he mercilessly, cleverly, and -continuously lampooned. - -It is with this latter curious and cosmopolitan poet and satirist that -we have to do. We shall be obliged to tread carefully as we follow the -track of his life and his literature, for at the very outset we must -remember that the times in which he lived were coarse and in many ways -objectionable, and that he was, if not a product, at least a reflection -of them. - -We may wonder why he took upon himself the name of _Pindar_ with the -added apostolic difference—_Peter_. Was it done playfully or -satirically, as was usual with him? Perhaps it was a joke at the expense -of his neighbours, whose talk was so seldom on literature and art, but -so often on _oves et boves_. Turning to the _Biographia Classica_, which -he very possibly used, we read:—“_Pindar_, the first of the lyric poets -born in Bœotia.... He quitted his native country, which was proverbial -for the stupidity of its inhabitants, and went to Athens, where the -greatest honours were bestowed upon him.... Such was the respect paid to -his memory that when the Lacedemonians took Thebes, they spared his -house, as also did Alexander the Great.” To this historical fact Wolcot -frequently alluded, as, for instance, in the clever poem entitled— - - AN ODE TO MY BARN. - - By Lacedæmon men attack’d, - When Thebes in days of yore was sack’d, - And naught the fury of the troops could hinder; - What’s true yet marv’lous to rehearse, - So well the common soldiers relish’d verse, - They scorn’d to burn the dwelling-house of Pindar. - - With awe did Alexander view - The house of my great cousin too, - And gazing on the building, thus he sigh’d— - “General Parmenio, mark that house before ye! - That lodging tells a melancholy story: - There Pindar liv’d (great Bard!) and there he died. - - “The king of Syracuse, all nations know it, - Was celebrated by this lofty poet, - And made immortal by his strains: - Ah! could I find like him, a bard to sing me; - Would any man like him a poet bring me; - I’d give him a good pension for his pains. - - “But, ah! Parmenio, ’mongst the sons of men, - This world will never see his like again; - The greatest bard that ever breath’d is dead! - Gen’ral Parmenio, what think you?” - “Indeed ’tis true, my liege, ’tis very true,” - Parmenio cry’d, and, sighing, shook his head. - - Then from his pocket took a knife so nice, - With which he chipp’d his cheese and onions, - And from a rafter cut a handsome slice, - To make rare toothpicks for the Macedonians; - Just like the toothpicks which we see - At Stratford, made from Shakespear’s mulb’ry tree. - - What pity that the squire and knight - Knew not to prophesy as well as fight; - Then had they known the future men of metre: - Then had the gen’ral and the monarch spy’d - In fate’s fair book, our nation’s equal pride, - That very Pindar’s cousin Peter! - - Daughter of thatch, and stone, and mud, - When I, no longer flesh and blood, - Shall join the lyric bards some half a dozen; - Meed of high worth, and, ’midst th’ Elysian plains, - To Horace and Alcæus read my strains, - Anacreon, Sappho, and my great old cousin; - - On thee shall rising generations stare, - That come to Kingsbridge and to Dodbrook fair, - For such thy history and mine shall learn; - Like Alexander shall they ev’ry one - Heave a deep sigh, and say, since Peter’s gone, - With rev’rence let us look upon his Barn. - -His allusions to Pindar the Greater make one fear that he has paid an -ill compliment to his old friends, and that in his choice of a _nom de -plume_ he has allowed, as in many other instances, his merciless satire -to overcome his evenness of judgment. Like his namesake, he turned from -the country to find his laurels in the town, and there the parallel -ends. It is not true that the people of South Devon, who singularly -combine agricultural skill with good seamanship, so that they handle -equally well the plough and the oar, are open to any implication of -special dulness. - -There is little in common between the two Pindars, the ancient and the -modern. Peter displayed great skill of a kind in his versification, but -no one can say it was to any extent truly lyrical. We cannot imagine the -people singing his productions. They were popular, readable, pungent, -savoury (too much so by a long way), but certainly not lyrical, for he -had not the singer’s heart or the singer’s sweetness. Beyond the -attraction of “apt alliteration’s artful aid,” we can see no great -reason why he should have gone so far as Thebes in 540 B.C. to -appropriate the name of that ancient singer of triumphal hymns for -classic warriors. - -There is a pretty story of the older Pindar that a swarm of bees lighted -on his cradle in his infancy and left honey on his lips; but we fear in -the case of our hero they were wasps that came, and that they left some -of the caustic venom of their stings. - -The odes of Pindar the Great have survived and are to be admired “for -sublimity of sentiment, grandeur of expression, energy and magnificence -of style, boldness of metaphors, harmony of numbers, and elegance of -diction.” According to Horace he was inimitable, and all succeeding -writers have agreed in extolling his genius. - -_Peter Pindar_ also called his favourite productions odes. We have them -before us in bulky quartos as originally published, and in numerous -volumes of pocket size as collected in 1816 by Walker. They were written -in Cornwall, Devon, the West Indies, Bath and London, and covered a very -wide range of subjects. He approached the realm of poetry as George -Morland did that of pictorial art, refusing no subject on account of its -coarseness, and yet with his fidelity of treatment in describing both -rustic and town life, has often shown a fine appreciation of truth and -of the beautiful. - -Like George Morland he was spoiled by moral laxity, and like him always -gives us a sad impression of what he might have been and might have -done, if his clever genius had been kept within bounds by moral -restraint. But, alas! even as an old man, he retained a taste for the -follies which corrupted his youth, and continued to reflect too -faithfully the spirit of those immoral days when the scandalous manners -of the court were injurious alike to the Church and the State. It would -have been better for him to have taken the advice he gives in one of his -odes:— - - Build not, alas! your popularity - On that beast’s back ycleped Vulgarity, - A beast that many a booby takes a pride in, - A beast beneath the noble Peter’s riding. - - . . . . . . - - Envy not such as have surpast ye, - ’Tis very, very easy to be nasty. - -The name of the classic Pindar has been associated with other writers -than Dr. Wolcot, who probably have better claims to use it than ever he -had. - -Thomas Gray (1716–1771), whose monument in Westminster Abbey bears these -lines: - - No more the Grecian muse unrivalled reigns, - To Britain let the nations homage pay: - She felt a Homer’s fire in Milton’s strains, - A Pindar’s rapture in the lyre of Gray. - -Jean Dorot (1507–1588) and Pouce Denis Debrun (1729–1807), have each -worn the title of French Pindar, whilst Gabriello Cluobrera (1552–1637) -was the acknowledged Italian Pindar. Peter’s work has been translated -into most of the continental tongues, and has been appreciated in -Germany especially but not in France, his Francophobia being all too -evident in many allusions to the French people. His poetry is too full -of the localisms of his native county to be fully appreciated by any but -Devonians, and too full of personal and political references and -allusions to persons about the court and in the London society of that -day to appeal successfully to readers of the present generation. - -Our Dr. John Wolcot was the fourth child of Dr. Alexander Wolcot, -himself a surgeon’s son residing at Kingsbridge, on the bank of the -estuary at the foot of the town. The grounds of the family dwelling -extended from the old Dartmouth Road at the back down to the water’s -edge, and the house, though much altered, still retains its name of -Pindar Lodge. His baptismal register, preserved at the Church of St. -Thomas à Becket, Dodbrooke, is dated May 9th, 1738. Of his mother we -have not been able to gather much information beyond her name—Mary -Ryder—and that she belonged to a local family. The Ryders are still -numerously represented in the townships both of Kingsbridge and -Dodbrooke. - -The Grammar School of Kingsbridge, erected at the cost of the old -Puritan, Thomas Crispin, Merchant of Exeter, and endowed by him in 1670, -was the place where he commenced his education under the mastership of -John Morris. It is to be regretted that no roll of scholars earlier than -1830 is extant, so that we have to depend upon indirect though undoubted -evidence as to his connection with this school, but there are lively -legends of his school days preserved in the folk-lore of the district, -one of which is too characteristic to be omitted. - -A certain cobbler whose shop was in the street leading to the Grammar -School, a man disliked by the boys, and specially so by young Wolcot, -was, to the amazement and horror of the whole township, reported to have -been cruelly murdered whilst sitting at his stall. The neighbours, on -looking in, were terror-stricken to find the man and his shop from floor -to ceiling bespattered with blood. The cobbler was certainly living, but -too terrified to speak of the nature of his wounds, his features being -covered with gore. He was not, however, seriously injured; indeed he was -much frightened and little hurt. What had happened was this. Young -Wolcot, whose threats of vengeance against the offender had been -somewhat mysterious for several days, had procured an old blunderbuss -from his father’s house and had duly charged it with powder, but instead -of shot had loaded it with _bullock’s blood_, and deliberately fired it -in the cobbler’s face; of course in one moment transforming the whole -appearance of things, and creating in the peaceful neighbourhood a great -sensation. - -Such escapades no doubt made it desirable that he should change his -quarters, and he was presently transferred to the care of an uncle -practising as a surgeon at Fowey, in Cornwall. He attended the Grammar -School for awhile at Liskeard, and after that at Bodmin, under the -mastership of a clergyman named Fisher. - -After this he spent one year in completion of his education in France -(1760). He failed to appreciate the French, and the dislike was quite -mutual. Of them he said in one of his odes:— - - I hate the shrugging dogs, - I’ve lived among them, ate their frogs. - —_Coll. Works_, Vol. I., p. 107. - -On his return to England he became his uncle’s pupil and medical student -for seven years. A reflection of his duties is cleverly given in one of -his lyrics, apparently addressed to Opie, his pupil in art:— - - The lad who would a ’Pothecary shine, - Should powder Claws of Crabs and Jalap fine, - Keep the shop clean, and watch it like a Porter, - Learn to boil glysters—nay, to give them too, - If blinking nurses can’t the business do: - Write well the labels, and wipe well the Mortar. - —_Odes to Royal Academicians_, Ode iii., p. 8. - -Drawing, painting, and classical reading seem, however, to have claimed -too much of his time, and his verse-making occupations were no doubt -hindrances to his professional progress, for in them he was quite -industrious, and from Fowey, in 1756, he sent his poem on the elder -“Pitt’s recovery from Gout” to _Martin’s Magazine_. - -His apprenticeship over, he spent a short time in the medical schools of -London; then he returned to Devon, where Dr. Huxham, a celebrated -Plymouth physician, did him the good service of examining him as to his -competency in medicine and surgery, and recommended him to a northern -university—that of Aberdeen—for a degree by diploma, which he was -fortunate enough to get conferred upon him, receiving his M.D. in -September, 1767. - -In the same year came an opportunity for foreign travel, of which he -eagerly availed himself. Sir William Trelawney, a connection of the -family on his mother’s side, and a patient of his uncle’s in Cornwall, -was that same year appointed Governor of the island of Jamaica, and -taking young Wolcot with him, in a short time made the new-fledged -doctor Physician General to the Forces in the island. - -Whilst there, in 1769, the idea seems to have occurred to his patron -rather than to himself that if he could give his young friend nothing -more in the way of official promotion, there was yet the hopeful field -of Church preferment, which, in the West Indies, he was able to command. -The rich living of St. Ann’s, Jamaica, then enjoyed by an invalid -clergyman, was likely to be soon vacant by his demise. Sir William was -the patron, and without sufficient thought, as it seems to us, of -Wolcot’s unfitness for such a solemn responsibility, urged him to go at -once to England and qualify by ordination for the post. - -This curious candidate for holy orders was actually ordained deacon on -June 24th, 1769, and the following day priest, but he did not on his -return secure the living of St. Ann’s, as the incumbent recovered his -health and lived on for years. He was, however, solaced by the inferior -living of Vere, a parish for which Wolcot procured the services of a -curate, himself continuing to reside in the Government House at Spanish -Town. The history of this transaction and the profanity of the language -in which it is recorded are alike scandalous. - -“Go,” said Sir William, “and get japanned. You may safely say that you -have an inward call, for a hungry stomach can speak as loudly as a -hungry soul!” _O tempora, O mores!_ How very few persons ever imagine -Peter Pindar in clerical guise. Sir William Trelawney died, Wolcot -returned to England in company with his widow, who died on the voyage. -Once more in England, he showed his good sense by reverting, despite the -axiom “once a clerk always a clerk,” for his future occupation to -medicine, letters, or the fine arts, leaving the sacred office to -others. - -As a medical man Peter Pindar was a modified failure at the best. He was -cordially disliked by his brother practitioners in the Truro district, -who in the end drove him out of it. His treatment of fever patients with -copious libations of cold water roused their wrath, and they utterly -despised the theory expressed in his own words that “a physician can do -little more than watch Dame Nature and give her a shove on the back when -he sees her inclined to do right.” - -In letters he was far more successful, and was undoubtedly the most -popular satirical poet of the Georgian period. Whether he lampooned -individuals, or public bodies, the Royal Academicians, or Royalty -itself, his versatile genius displayed such a wide range of -accomplishments that he attracted hosts of readers, and his books -commanded a prodigious sale. All the world has read of the King’s visit -to Whitbread’s Brewery, and his wondering how the apples got into the -apple dumplings, and not a few readers have felt for Sir Joseph Banks, -James Boswell, and Benjamin West, as they came in turn under his -stinging lash. - -His principal poems were issued from time to time as shilling or -half-crown pamphlets. They were written in irregular, rollicking metre, -the most important of them in the form of odes. In these he shines as a -critic of music, painting, and literature. In all these directions he -was, as he describes himself, “the most merciless Mohawk that ever -scalped.” By such an expression he puts himself out of court as a safe -and equitable judge. His appreciations of Wilson, of Gainsborough, of -Sir Joshua Reynolds, and of J. M. W. Turner, have been endorsed by the -foremost art writers of our time. Of Turner he said:— - - Turner, whatever strikes thy mind, - Is painted well, and well designed. - -Perhaps his least-known verses are those written for music and published -from Exeter in the time of Jackson, the Cathedral organist, who was -responsible for the airs to which they were sung. His own musical -accomplishments were undoubtedly varied and sound. - -Dr. Wolcot had much of the Bohemian in his constitution. He lived in a -town where to this day a Puritan simplicity of manners marks the habits -of the middle-class people. Quakers, Baptists, and Independents of the -early Presbyterian type were numerous in the Kingsbridge of his day. If -the old barn to which he addressed some of his odes could speak, it -would tell of the visits of strolling players who, anathematised -elsewhere, but welcomed by Peter Pindar, were allowed there to perform -their bloodcurdling tragedies and questionable farces, to the scandal of -the “unco guid.” And besides all this, old Richard Stanley, the king of -the gipsies, grandfather of the present Romany patriarch of that name, -was welcomed year by year to a shake-down in the straw when he came -horse-dealing to Kingsbridge or to Dodbrooke Fair. Wolcot stoutly -maintained that he never lost an egg or a chicken by his hospitality to -the gipsies. We have heard the Bucklands, the Stanleys, and the Lees -speak of his memory as of one who was kind to their fathers, and we have -conversed with old people who have spoken of the building, which now -stands almost unaltered, as the only theatre in Kingsbridge. Its -interior is wonderfully like the picture of Hogarth’s called the -“Strolling Players.” The fact that Bamfield Moore Carew, the king of the -beggars, frequently lodged in it, adds historical interest to the -picturesque and venerable shanty. - -Dr. Wolcot’s real kindness to John Opie, whom he discovered as a lad -working in a saw pit; his industrious endeavours to educate and refine -him; and his generous assumption of fullest responsibility for his -maintenance, together with his introduction of him to the world in -London, form a creditable chapter in his history which ought never to be -omitted from Peter’s life story. In Dugdale’s _British Traveller_ will -be found the copy of a written contract made by Opie in favour of his -patron and friend. It begins— - - I promise to paint for Dr. Wolcot any picture or pictures he may - demand, as long as I live; otherwise I desire the world will consider - me as an ungrateful son of a ——. [The words are unquotable.] - -Opie stood to this obligation, but always made his friend pay -eighteenpence for the canvas! - -Opie is said to have paid great deference to Dr. Wolcot’s instructions. -Whilst that gentleman was painting, he would sometimes lean over him and -exclaim, “Ah! if I could ever paint like you!” to which Pindar replied, -“If I thought thou wouldst not exceed me, John, I would not take such -pains with thee.” For two years he never painted a single picture -without the judgment of his friend. - -It was at the Doctor’s suggestion that his name was changed from Hoppy -to Opie, a name worn by a good family in Cornwall, and more likely to -attract favourable notice in London, whither they both went together in -1780, their joint expenses being supplied from one purse. Out of this -last circumstance grew a dispute and estrangement, never fully settled. -The communistic arrangement lasted for a short time only. One morning, -when Sir Joshua Reynolds was breakfasting with Wolcot and Opie, Sir -Joshua remarked of Opie, “Why, this boy begins his art where other -people leave off!” Very numerous are the portraits of his patron which -Opie has left behind, representing Pindar in different stages of his -career, most of them having been engraved and published in various -editions of his works, or in miscellanies containing contributions from -his pen. - -If a watchful editor did not restrict us for space, we should have liked -to show how that facile pen of Peter’s could run on “from grave to gay, -and from lively to severe.” Perhaps there may be room for a sample of -each. We wish he had given us a little more of such quiet and pathetic -writing as - - THE OLD SHEPHERD’S DOG. - - The old shepherd’s dog like his master was gray, - His teeth all departed and feeble his tongue, - Yet where’er Corin went, he was followed by Tray; - Thus happy through life did they hobble along. - - When fatigued on the grass the shepherd would lie - For a nap in the sun—’midst his labours so sweet, - His faithful companion crawled constantly nigh, - Plac’d his head on his lap or lay down at his feet. - - When winter was heard on the hill and the plain, - And torrents descended and cold was the wind, - If Corin went forth ’midst the tempests and rain, - Tray scorned to be left in the chimney behind. - - At length in the straw Tray made his last bed; - For vain against death is the stoutest endeavour— - To lick Corin’s hand, he rear’d up his weak head, - Then fell back, closed his eyes, and, ah! clos’d them for ever. - - Not long after Tray did the shepherd remain, - Who oft o’er his grave in true sorrow would bend; - And when dying, thus feebly was heard the poor swain, - “Oh! bury me, neighbour, beside my old friend.” - -Is not that a genuine piece of pure pastoral writing—grave and truthful? -Of his gay writing there is more than enough, and much of it is as unfit -for modern quotation as some of the classics in whom he delighted. As -Thomas Bewick could not be persuaded that anything he actually saw was -unsuited for pictorial representation, however vulgar, if the drawing -were true to nature, so Pindar shocks our sense of propriety continually -and without apology. He could, however, play on the whole gamut of the -soul’s passions, as witness his touching threnody on “Julia, or the -Victim of Love,” in his _Smiles and Tears_, a piece no man without a -tender heart could ever have written. - -Many jocular little pieces like the following are strewn among his -verses:— - - =ODE (_Introductory_).= - - Simplicity, I dote upon thy tongue; - And thee, O white-rob’d _Truth_, I’ve reverenced long— - I’m fond too of that flashy varlet wit, - Who skims earth, sea, heav’n, hell, existence o’er - To put the merry table in a roar, - And shake the sides with laugh-convulsing fit. - - O yes! in sweet simplicity I glory— - To _her_ we owe a charming little story. - - =WILLIAM PENN, NATHAN, AND THE BAILIFF.= - A Tale. - - As well as I can recollect, - It is a story of fam’d _William Penn_, - By bailiffs oft beset, without effect, - Like numbers of our Lords and Gentlemen. - - William had got a private hole to spy - The folks who came with writs, or “How d’ye do?” - Possessing too a penetrating eye - Friends from his foes the Quaker quickly knew. - - A bailiff in disguise, one day, - Though not disguised to our friend Will, - Came, to Will’s shoulder compliments to pay, - Concealed, the catchpole thought, with wondrous skill. - - Boldly he knocked at William’s door, - Drest like a gentleman from top to toe, - Expecting quick admittance, to be sure, - But no! - - WILL’S servant NATHAN, with a strait-hair’d head - Unto the window gravely stalked, not _ran_. - “Master at home?” the Bailiff sweetly said— - “Thou canst not speak to him,” replied the man. - - “What,” quoth the Bailiff, “won’t he see me then?” - “Nay,” snuffled Nathan, “let it not thus strike thee; - Know, verily, that WILLIAM PENN - _Hath seen_ thee, but he doth not _like_ thee.” - -A Kingsbridge gentleman having recently come across the original -manuscript of one of the characteristic pieces written by Peter Pindar, -has kindly allowed its publication. It will be seen that the rhyme -describes in his forceful and not over polite style the outcome of a -magistrates’ meeting at Morleigh after the passing of the law against -poaching. It is in the Devonshire dialect:— - - =EPISTLE.= - - From Deggony Dolt, farmer, of Stanborough; to John Tolt, waggoner, of - Clannaborough. - - Lord Jan! hast thee heer’d that at leet Morleigh Town, - Where Just Asses often rag w——e, rogue and clown, - A learge drove of Passons and Tomies and Squires - Met lately to ruin the Poachers and Buyers? - How vierce and how vine they came scampering in, - Zome dreiving, zome riding, zome vat and zome thin; - This mounted on Pony and that Rozinante, - Zome Galloways shodded, zome whisky, zome jaunty. - - Mum Doubtful, Tom Guzzle, Jack Jaw, and Ned Tilly, - Dick Doubty, Jan Numskull, and Blockheaded Billy, - Jan Clod from the vield, Janny Jumps from the Shop, - His father sells Incle, woll buy and woll zwop; - Young Nincompoop Simpkins, the son of Jan Huffer, - Wat Windy, Soft Stephen, and Peter the Puffer, - Like mazed men were eager their plans to express, - Tho’ as to their reasons they cou’d not be less, - Where brains are but little and Tyranny’s found - Much bother and bluster most times do abound. - - Our Squires of those yet but a few by the bye - War zich; as to their others, that’s all in my eye, - Our Squires and Parsons and limbs of the Law - Determined strong rules and resolves for to draw, - And then in the Papers the whole advertise, - Sure most as they thaut you’d be acting more wise, - All Game must in future to none else belong, - Their Rerts were so clear, their powers so strong. - - To dinner they went, where they grinned and they sneer’d; - The Bottle pushed round till with drink their eyes glared, - All speakers at once, nort but d—m—ie was plain, - Ev’n Parsons took roundly the Lord’s name in vain; - The Reckoning discharged yet at this zome looked bluff, - And grudged the expense tho’ ’twas reasonable enough; - Zome gallopped away, zome halted at ease, - Zome mounted their ponies and two wheeled post chaise. - Not far howsomever went Mum Doubtful ’twas zed - When he tumbled and luckily valled on his head; - Tom Guzzle over zit in a Ditch on the road, - And eased his gorged Stomach of part of its load. - Jan Clod lodged his bones where bars grow in clumps, - And under a hen roost sprawled leet Janny Jumps, - Reversed lay Soft Staphen his heels only zeed, - The rest was concealed in the Briers and Weed; - Here plunged in a Buddle roll’d Parson Jack Daw, - There bald pate Dick Doubty was emptying his Maw, - Wat Windy proceeded, but at length came to ground, - Zome say that his nose in a Cow Dung was found; - But Nort’s ne’er in danger who’s born to be hung, - Will never meet death till on gallows he’s slung. - Jan Numscull, a Mushroom that’s lately arose, - Now stretched on a Dunghill had fuming repose; - Young Nincompoop Simpkin lay speechless hard by, - A large Dap of Cow Dung had closed his left eye, - And Peter the Puffer, he could not tell how, - In spite of his boasting rode into a slough, - While snug in a hogstie got Parson Ned Tilly, - And under a Vuz bush snored Blockheaded Billy, - Thus ended the meeting that made Poachers tremble. - The next thee shall hear when again they assemble. - -The late Rev. Treasurer Hawker, M.A., in his sketch of Wolcot, written -for the Devonshire Association in 1877 and published in their -_Transactions_, describes most accurately Pindar’s very humorous account -of George the Third’s visit to Exeter in _Brother Jan’s Epistle to -Zester Naw_. He says:— - - The humour is irresistible. It is impossible not to laugh.... There is - a rollicking swing about the description which keeps the whole - narrative going like the steady onward pace of a racing eight-oar, or - the _vis vivida_ of a fast four-horse coach. - -He quotes these stanzas as characteristic alike of the humour and the -dialect. Introducing the Royal entry:— - - Well, in a come _King George_ to town - With doust and zweat as nutmeg brown, - The hosses all in smoke: - Huzzain, trumpetin, and dringin, - Red colours vleein, roarin, zingin, - So mad seemed all the voke. - -The King was not entertained at the Palace, but was sent to the Dean. -Peter says:— - - Becaze the Bishop sent mun word - _A hadn’t got the means_. - A could not meat and drink afford. - -Peter affected to have heard the King’s remarks about the cathedral:— - - Zo, said, “Neat, neat; clean, very clean; - D’ye mop it, mop it, Measter Dean, - Mop, mop it every week?” - -The unhappy reference of Farmer Tab to the King’s mental condition, -though concealed by his dialect, was simply cruel, and, of course, was -carefully preserved by Peter:— - - And, Varmer Tab, I understand, - Drode his legs vore and catched the hand - And shaked wey might and main. - “I’m glad your Medjesty to zee, - And hope your Medjesty,” quoth he, - “Wull ne’er be _mazed_ again.” - -The King is befogged by the Devonshire word:— - - “Maz’d, maz’d, what’s maz’d,” then said the King, - “I never heerd of zich a thing. - What’s maz’d, what, what, my lord?” - “Hem,” zed my lord, and blow’d his nose, - “Hem, hem, sir, ’tis, I do suppose, - Sir, an old Devonshire word.” - -Jan Ploughshare is made to say in a later stanza that he has found -royalty so disappointing a show that when he gets home to Moreton and -reads his Bible he shall for the future “skep the books of Kings.” - -The late Rev. Treasurer Hawker further says:— - - Kingsbridge may point with some degree of pride to her son’s sturdy - independence, his dislike of jobbery and shams, his refusal to be - blinded or muzzled in his denunciation of abuses by any powerful - position or high rank.... Wolcot was a bad, sensual, vindictive man, - yet a certain respect must, I think, be paid to one who in an age - inclined to toadyism of big people, did not shrink from confronting - the false idols of the day, even if sometimes he toppled them over - with undue violence and contempt.—(Sketch of Wolcot read at - Kingsbridge, July, 1887. _Transact. Devon. Association._) - -A writer in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ gives this most accurate -appreciation:— - - Wolcot’s humour was broad, and he cared little whether he hit above or - below the belt, but he had a keen eye for the ridiculous, and was - endowed with a wondrous facility of diction. - -The same writer truly says that many of his serious pieces were marked -by taste and feeling, and his translation of Thomas Warton’s Latin -epigram on sleep dwells in the memory through its happy simplicity. - -The story is told of the bargain which he made with the London -publishers, who, hearing that he proposed to sell his copyrights, told -off one of their representatives to negotiate with him. The agent found -the old Doctor quite ready for him, sitting up in bed with a fine -churchyard cough in splendid development, and with a side-table -furnished with an impressive array of medicines. At first a sum was -offered which Peter considered contemptibly small. He asked at once a -payment of some three hundred pounds a year, and amidst much painful -coughing managed to say, “I shall not live, I know, to enjoy it long, as -you may see, so there is no excuse for meanness in my case.” The agent -was quite impressed by the scene, and the bargain was closed for two -hundred and fifty pounds yearly for his life, with the condition that -all future writing was to be for them alone. This was in 1795, and to -the chagrin of his publishers he displayed the vitality so often seen in -annuitants, and actually lived on for nearly a quarter of a century to -enjoy their reluctant generosity. - -His minor poems are oftener quoted because they are freer from -objectionable matter. _The Razor Seller_, and _The Pilgrim and the Peas_ -are well known, and have been used as recitations, but his longer odes -and letters had more than a passing notice, they were so strong in their -satire, and so numerous as to have affected public opinion. The very -Government were alarmed and pressed upon him a pension as a means of -preventing further onslaughts upon the foibles and peculiarities of the -king. Some preliminary payments were actually received by him, and all -was at one time apparently settled in his favour when he suddenly -returned the monies paid him, objecting to the conditions of silence and -declining all further favours. - -Cruel to the peculiarities of others, he was most sensitive himself to -criticism, and hungry for praise, as he admits in an appeal to his -reviewers:— - - I am no cormorant for fame, d’ye see; - I ask not _all_ the laurel, but a _sprig_! - Then hear me, Guardians of the sacred Tree, - And stick a leaf or two about my wig. - - In sonnet, ode, and legendary tale, - Soon will the press my tuneful works display; - Then do not damn ’em, and prevent the sale; - And your petitioner shall ever pray. - -It must have been hateful to him to have found at last, in Gifford, the -scholar and critic who attacked him in the anti-Jacobin magazine in an -article entitled “Nil admirari, etc.,” a foeman whose satire was as -strong as his own. Gifford speaks of Peter Pindar as “this disgusting -subject, the prolific reviler of his Sovereign and impious blasphemer of -his God”; hard words for one to put up with, however clearly he may have -deserved them. Though his character is not exemplary, and cleverness -must not be allowed to atone for lack of moral sense, we do not wish to -paint him of too black a hue, if only for charity’s sake. Gifford’s -attack was strong and straight, and it may be doubted if Peter’s -reputation ever survived it. There was a common fight between these two -in which Peter came off worst. He deserved it, for he was the aggressor. -Discredited in the popular estimation, he lingered on for a while, and -though from 1811 to 1819 he was suffering from blindness and infirmity, -he dictated verses until within a few days of his death. - -Commencing his London residence in 1781, soon after the publication of -his first book of lyric odes, he lived in many different houses, in -Southampton Row (1793); Tavistock Row (1794); Chapel Street, Portland -Place (1800); 8, Delany Place, Camden Town (1802); 94, Tottenham Court -Road (1807); and Latham Place, Somer’s Town, where he died on the 14th -January, 1819. - -Of his personal appearance much has been said. He has been described as -“a thick, squat man with a large, dark and flat face and no speculation -in his eye.” There are many portraits of him published, most of them by -his _protégé_, Opie, the “Cornish boy,” as he calls him, whom he both -educated and boomed in the press, a genius of undoubted merit as a -painter. Unless these pictures outrageously flatter him, his must have -been a fine physiognomy. We have seen eight or nine portraits, taken at -different periods of his life, and in all he appears like a well-bred -and handsome man of the style and period of George the Fourth. There is -a miniature of him, however, in the National Portrait Gallery, which is -said with candour to express many of the disagreeable features of his -character. Our own portrait appended to this sketch is from a painting -by Opie, engraved by C. H. Hodges, and reproduced in photography by -Bailey, of Kingsbridge. One of his most faithful portraits is a -miniature by Lethbridge, a Kingsbridge artist of some fame, who was born -at Goveton, a little hamlet not far from the town. - -Probably the last public compliment ever received by Peter Pindar was -the dedication by his scholarly neighbour to him of the well-known -_History of Kingsbridge_, published in 1819 (the year of Pindar’s death) -by A. Hawkins, Esq., F.H.S. With the terms of that dedication we might -fitly close our notice:— - - To JOHN WOLCOT, M.D., long accredited at the Court of Apollo as Peter - Pindar, Esq., these pages commemorative of the History and Topography - of the vicinity of his native earth, are by his permission dedicated - as a mark of sincere respect for his superior genius and talents. - -If in our sketch of Peter Pindar we have “extenuated aught,” we have -been wishful to “set down naught in malice,” and can only endorse the -universal opinion as to his talent, with the unconcealed wish that such -great power had been allowed to exert itself on a higher plane and to a -nobler purpose. - - O quantum est in rebus inane! - —_Pers. I._ 1. - - How vain are all his cares! - And oh! what bubbles, his most grave affairs. - —_Gifford._ - - WILLIAM THOMAS ADEY. - - - - - HONITON LACE. - - BY MISS ALICE DRYDEN. - - -Situated in the fertile vale of the Otter, surrounded by wooded hills -and combes, the quiet little town of Honiton slopes down a hill, crosses -the river, and ends at the old Hospital of St. Margaret. The picturesque -street seems to have a repose amid its beautiful surroundings -commensurate with the peaceful industry that has made its undying fame; -for thanks to its having been the head-quarters of the beautiful lace -manufacture, the name of Honiton is better known than that of many a big -city. That its renown should have overshadowed other places is doubtless -owing to its being situated on the great coach roads from London and -from Bath to Exeter and the ports beyond; travellers were brought to the -spot, who would alight while their horses rested; they would then be -offered a box of lace at the inn to select from, while the work-girls -themselves looked out for the arrival of the coaches and pressed their -wares on the occupants, who took away their purchases to other parts of -the country as a speciality of Honiton. - -Risdon[12] speaks of it as “a great Market and Thorough-Fair, from East -to West,” and Westcote[13] writes:—“It is a great thoroughfare from -Cornwall, Plymouth, and Exeter to London; and for the better receipt of -travellers, very well furnished with Inns.” - ------ - -Footnote 12: - - _Survey of Devon_, 1605–20 (printed editions, 1785, 1811). - -Footnote 13: - - _View of Devon_, _circiter_ 1630 (first printed, 1845). - ------ - -[Illustration - - _From a Photograph_] [_By Miss Alice Dryden._ - HONITON LACE. - -] - -Lace-making has been practically limited to that part of the county -south of Exeter which lies between Dorset and the Exe. The industry -found its way to Devonshire, if the generally accepted theory be -correct, by the Flemish refugees flying from the persecutions of the -Duke of Alva. Lace was made on the pillow in the Low Countries about the -middle of the sixteenth century, so by the date of the Alva persecution -(1568–77) the people might have learnt it in sufficient numbers to start -it wherever they set up their new home. - -There is much probability to support this theory, and some names of -undoubted Flemish origin did and do still exist in Honiton, as Gerard, -Murch, Groot, Trump. On the other hand, if there had been any -considerable number of Flemings in Devonshire they would surely have -founded a Company of their Reformed Church, and no reference is found in -the published books of the Archives of the London Dutch Church of any -such Company in Devonshire; whereas references abound to places in the -eastern counties and Midlands where Flemings were established. - -It was not till we read of bone[14] lace that it may be taken to mean -pillow lace, made either with fish bones as pins or sheep’s trotters as -bobbins. That bones were used as bobbins is stated by Fuller;[15] but -the fish bone theory is also possible; pins were very high priced at -that time, and it would have been perfectly possible to use fish bones -fine enough for the geometrical laces of the sixteenth century. - ------ - -Footnote 14: - - The term _bone_ lace is wrongly interpreted as representing the raised - Venetian points, which have been likened to carved ivory or bone. - -Footnote 15: - - _Worthies_, 1662. - ------ - -Queen Elizabeth was much addicted to the collecting and wearing of -beautiful clothes, but no definite mention of English lace seems to -occur in the Royal Wardrobe Accounts. - -The earliest mention of Honiton lace is by Westcote—“At Axminster you -may be furnished with fine flax thread there spun. At Honiton and -Bradnidge with bone lace much in request”;[16] and, referring again to -Honiton—“Here is made abundance of bone-lace, a pretty toye now greatly -in request”; and therefore the town may say with merry Martial— - - In praise for toyes such as this, - Honiton second to none is. - ------ - -Footnote 16: - - _View of Devon._ - ------ - -The famous inscription on a tombstone in Honiton Churchyard, together -with Westcote, proves the industry to have been well established in the -reign of James I. The inscription runs:— - - Here lyeth ye body of James Rodge, of Honinton in ye County of - Devonshire, (Bonelace Siller, hath given unto the poore of Honinton - P’ishe the benyfitt of £100 for ever) who deceased ye 27 of July A^o - D^i 1617 ÆTATÆ SVAE 50. Remember the Poore. - -There have been traditions that Rodge was a valet who accompanied his -master abroad and there, learning the fine Flemish stitches, taught some -Devonshire women on his return home, and was enabled to make a -comfortable competence by their work. - -Rodge was not the only benefactor to the town connected with the -industry; there are two others recorded in the seventeenth century. -“Although the earliest known MS., Ker’s _Synopsis_, 1561, giving an -account of the different towns in Devonshire, makes no mention of lace, -we find from it that Mrs. Minifie, one of the earliest named -lace-makers, was an Englishwoman.”[17] “She was a daughter of John Flay, -Vicar of Buckrell, near Honiton.”[18] She died in 1617, and left money -for the indigent townspeople, as did Thomas Humphrey, of Honiton, -lace-maker, in 1658. - ------ - -Footnote 17: - - _History of Lace._ Mrs. Palliser, 1901. - -Footnote 18: - - _Worthies of Devon._ Prince, 1701. - ------ - -The advantages of the lace trade were realized by the time of the -Commonwealth. Fuller,[19] writing during that period, says of bone -lace:— - - Much of this is made in and about Honyton, and weekly returned to - London. Some will have it called Lace, _à Lacinia_, used as a fringe - on the borders of cloathes. Bone-lace it is named, because first made - with bone (since wooden) bobbins ... - - Modern the use thereof in England, and not exceeding the middle of the - Raign of Queen Elizabeth. Let it not be condemned for a superfluous - wearing, because it doth neither hide nor heat; seeing it doth adorn. - Besides, though private persons pay for it, it stands the State in - nothing; not expensive of Bullion, like other lace, costing nothing - save a little thread descanted on by art and industry. Hereby many - children who otherwise would be burthensome to the Parish prove - beneficial to their Parents. Yea, many lame in their limbs, and - impotent in their arms, if able in their fingers, gain a livelyhood - thereby; not to say that it saveth some thousands of pounds yearly, - formerly sent over Seas to fetch Lace from Flanders. - ------ - -Footnote 19: - - _Worthies_, 1662. - ------ - -The English were always ready to protect their own trades and -manufactures, and various were the Acts passed to prohibit the -importation of foreign lace, for the encouragement of home workers. In -1698 it was proposed to repeal the last Prohibition, and from the text -of a Petition sent to the House of Commons, some interesting light is -thrown on the extent of the trade at that date. - - The making Bonelace has been an ancient Manufacture of England and the - Wisdom of our Parliaments all along thought it the interest of this - Kingdom to prohibit its Importation from Foreign Parts.... This has - revived the said Languishing Manufacture and there are now above one - hundred thousand People in England who get their living by it and Earn - by meer Labour £500,000 a year, according to the lowest computation - that can be made; and the Persons employed in it, are for the most - part Women and children who have no other means of Subsistence. The - English are now arrived to make as good Lace in Fineness and all other - respects, as any that is wrought in Flanders; and particularly since - the late Act so great an improvement is made that way that in - _Buckinghamshire_ the highest prized lace they used to make was about - eight shillings per yard, and now they make lace there of above thirty - shillings per yard and in Dorsetshire and Devonshire they now make - lace worth Six pound per yard and in other Places proportionable. The - Laws formerly made not proving effectual, one more strict passed 36 - Years since in the 14th of King Charles II. which said Act recites - “That great numbers of the Inhabitants of this Kingdom were then - employed in making the said manufacture. Since that time the same has - encreased to a great Degree, till of late Years the Art of Smuggling - being grown to greater Perfection than formerly, larger quantities of - _Flanders_-lace have been clandestinely imported, which occasioned the - Enforcing of the former Prohibition Acts by a late one made in the - 10th year of his Present Majesty. - - Secondly, the Lace which used to come for England is but a small part - of their [Flanders] whole Lace-Trade, for they send it to Holland, - Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain, Portugal, etc., whereas we - make it chiefly to serve our own Country and Plantations. - - ... The Lace Manufacture in England is the greatest next to the - Woollen and maintains a multitude of People, which otherwise the - Parishes must, and that would soon prove a heavy burthen, even to - those concerned in the Woollen Manufacture ... on the Resolution which - shall be taken in this affair depends the Well-being or ruin of - numerous families in their own Country. Many laws have been made to - set our Poor on Work and it is to be hoped none will be made to take - away work from Multitudes who are already Employed.” - -Here follows the numbers of the people in a few places which get their -living by making of lace. Those quoted in Devonshire as interesting to -compare with the present day are:— - - Gittesham 139 - Culliton 353 - Coumbraleigh 65 - Northleigh 32 - Sidmouth 302 - Axmouth 73 - Sidbury 321 - Buckerall 90 - Farway 70 - Upotery 118 - Shut and Musbery 25 - Southley 45 - Fennyton 60 - Branscombe Beare and Seaton 326 - Widworthy and Offerell 128 - Broad Hembury 118 - Honyton 1,341 - Luppit 215 - Axminster 60 - Otrey St. Mary 814 - Shut and Musbery 25 - -The Dragoons suppressing Monmouth’s Rebellion in 1680 are stated to have -despoiled the poor lacemakers greatly, and at Colyton broke into the -house of a dealer in bone lace, Burd by name, and stole his goods to the -value of £325. - -The trade was still advancing when Defoe wrote in 1724:— - - The valuable manufactures of Lace, for which the inhabitants of Devon - have long been conspicuous, are extending now from Exmouth to Torbay. - -Later still we find the people at Honiton make “the broadest sort that -is made in England.”[20] Just previously, in 1753, the first prize was -awarded by the Anti-Gallican Society, which encouraged home trade, to -Mrs. Lydia Maynard, of Honiton, “in token of six pairs of ladies’ -Lappets of unprecedented beauty.” This date seems to have been the -zenith of the lace prosperity, and reverses soon after set in. - ------ - -Footnote 20: - - _Complete System of Geography._ Bowen, 1747. - ------ - -Two fires occurred in Honiton, causing much distress, and the second, in -1765, was of so devastating a character that the town had to be rebuilt. -Shawe says, writing at the end of last century:— - - For its present condition Honiton is indebted to that dreadful fire - which reduced three parts of it to ashes. The houses now wear a - pleasing aspect, and the principal street extending from East to West, - is paved in a remarkable manner, forming a canal, and well shouldered - up on each side with pebbles and green turf, which holds a stream of - clear water with a square dipping place opposite each door, a mark of - cleanliness and convenience I never saw before. - -The American war had an evil effect upon the lace trade; still worse was -the French Revolution, and also the change of the fashion in dress; lace -was no longer used in profusion in the ladies’ wardrobe, and the demand -for it declined to a serious extent for the workers. Worse yet, however, -was the introduction of machine net, the first factory being set up at -Tiverton in 1815. Lysons[21] writes just afterwards:— - - The manufactory of lace has much declined, although the lace still - retains its superiority. Some years ago, at which time it was much - patronized by the Royal Family, the manufactures of Honiton employed - 2,400 hands in the town and in the neighbouring villages; they do not - now employ above 300. The lace here made had acquired some time ago - the name of Bath Brussels lace; but it is now generally known by its - original appellation of Honiton bone (or thread) lace. It has always - been manufactured from thread made at Antwerp; the present market - price of which is 70l. per lb.; an inferior lace is made in the - villages along the coast, of British thread, called Trolly lace. - ------ - -Footnote 21: - - _Britannia_, 1822. - ------ - -No other reference to Bath Brussels lace is forthcoming; the reason of -the name Bath is not apparent. The thread seems always to have been and -is still a difficulty to contend with in English lace. It seems -impossible to get the very fine, silky, pure flax thread in the home -market. A greater part of the lace made at the present time is wasted -labour by reason of the coarse cottony thread used. - -The evolution (if it may be termed so) of Honiton lace is briefly this. -The bone or bobbin lace before mentioned at first consisted of a small -and simple imitation of the early Italian pillow laces—mere narrow -strips made by coarse threads plaited and interlaced. They got wider and -more elaborate as the workers gained experience. Specimens may be seen -on three Devonshire monuments of the first part of the seventeenth -century. Whether the lace of the district is imitated or not it is -probably similar to what would have been made there at that time. On the -effigy of a Lady Pole in Colyton Church, her cape is edged with three -rows of bone lace. Another, which is in excellent preservation, is on an -effigy of Lady Dodderidge in Exeter Cathedral, her cuffs and tucker -being a good pattern of geometric design. The third is on an effigy in -Combe Martin Church, 1637.[22] - ------ - -Footnote 22: - - There is an example of _opus araneum_ or _lacis_, net work embroidered - with a simple floral design, on the collar of Bp. Stafford, 1308, in - Exeter Cathedral. - ------ - -Bobbin laces soon became popular, as they were so much cheaper than the -elaborate points; they became so eminently the speciality of Belgium as -to make her the classic country of pillow work. Belgium was noted for -her linens and delicately spun flax; in consequence, the Flemings -departed from the style of their Italian masters, and made laces of -their own fine threads; the fashion of wearing flat linen collars, in -the early part of the seventeenth century, encouraged the new style. -They worked out their own designs, and being fond of flowers, it -naturally came about they composed devices of blossoms and foliage. - -These alterations, in course of time, found their way to England, there -being much intercourse between their brethren here established and those -remaining in Flanders. The lace continued to get finer and closer in -texture, the flax thread being required so fine that it became necessary -to spin it in damp underground cellars. That the workers in England -could not compete successfully against the foreigner with their -home-made threads we find over and over again. They also altered the -Brussels designs, and instead of the beautiful _fillings_ and openwork -stitches substituted heavy guipure bars. The _vrai réseau_ or pillow net -ground succeeded the _bride_ towards the end of the seventeenth century. -During the eighteenth century the flowers were made separately and -worked in with the net afterwards, or rather the net was worked into the -flowers on the pillow. The best _réseau_ was made by hand with the -needle, and was much more expensive. The advantages of making the net -separately soon declared themselves, and it formed an extensive branch -of the trade. The mode of payment seems tedious but primitive in its -simplicity; the net was spread out on the dealer’s counter, and the -worker covered it with shillings; as many as it took to cover it she had -as the value of her work. “A piece bought previous to the introduction -of machine net, 18 ins. square, cost £15. At the commencement of machine -net, in 1808, it could be bought for as many shillings, and in 1851 for -as many pence.”[23] - ------ - -Footnote 23: - - _Antique Point and Honiton Lace._ Mrs Treadwin. No date. - ------ - -Trolly lace comes next in order; it was quite different from the Honiton -type, and resembled many of the laces made in the Midlands at the -present time. It was made with coarse British thread, heavier, larger -bobbins, and worked straight on round the pillow. The origin was -undoubtedly Flemish, but it is said to have reached Devonshire at the -time of the French Revolution through the Normandy peasants, driven by -want of employment from their own country, where lace was a great -industry in the eighteenth century. Be this as it may, lappets and -scarves were certainly made of Trolly lace at an earlier date; Mrs. -Delaney, in one of her letters (1756) speaks of a “trolly head.” Trolly -lace, before its downfall, has been sold at the extravagant price of -five guineas a yard.[24] The origin of _Trolly_ is from the Flemish -_Trolle Kant_, where the design was outlined with a thick thread. - ------ - -Footnote 24: - - _History of Lace._ Mrs. Palliser, 1901. - ------ - -The most startling change in the lace industry occurred after 1816, when -the introduction of machine net caused the _vrai réseau_ to go out of -fashion. The cheap mechanical net took the place of the hand-made -ground, throwing hundreds of hands out of work in a few years, and -upsetting the social economy of the district. Application on machine net -became universal, and the prices decreasing, the workers lost heart, and -gave up their good old patterns, taking to inventions out of their -heads, and frequently down to the present time copying some frightful -design from a wall paper! - -Queen Adelaide, in answer to a petition sent up by the lace makers, -ordered a dress made of Honiton sprigs on machine net, in which every -flower was to be copied from nature. It was executed at Honiton.[25] The -bridal dress of Queen Victoria, which she ordered from Devonshire, was -carried out at Beer, and cost £1,000. It was made in the _guipure_ -fashion, the sprigs being connected by openwork stitches on the pillow. -The trade from that time revived, as lace came once more into fashion, -the _guipure_ being the description made, the sections of the pattern -united on the pillow, or sewn on to paper and joined by the needle with -the various lace stitches; _purling_ is made by the yard, for the edge. - ------ - -Footnote 25: - - Queen Adelaide also caused to be introduced the Maltese lace, that - continued to be made for years here and there. - ------ - -The lace schools of this time were a great feature, there being many in -every village, and as few other schools existed, boys in addition to the -girls of the place attended and learnt the industry.[26] The usual mode -of procedure was this. The children commenced attending at the age of -five to seven, and were apprenticed to the mistress for an average of -two years, who sold all their work for her trouble; they then paid 6d. a -week for a time, and had their own lace, then 3d., and so on according -to the amount of teaching they still required. The young children went -first from 10 to 12 in the morning to accustom them to work by degrees. -At Honiton the full hours were 8 to 8 in the summer and in the depth of -winter, but in spring and autumn less on account of the light; as -candles were used only from nutting day, the 3rd of September, till -Shrove Tide. The old rhyme runs:— - - Be the Shrove Tide high or low Out the candle we will blow. - ------ - -Footnote 26: - - Mrs. Treadwin in her younger days saw some twenty-four men lace makers - in Woodbury, one of whom had worked at his pillow so late as 1820. - From being taught as boys, the sailors used to employ themselves in - the winter making some of the coarse laces. - ------ - -At Sidbury it was _de rigeur_ that directly a girl married, however -young, she wore a cap; but till then the lace-makers were famous for -their good hair being beautifully dressed. When school began they stood -up in a circle to read the “Verses”; if any one read “jokily” they were -given a penalty, and likewise for idleness—so much extra work. In nearly -all schools they were taught reading from the Bible, and in some they -learnt writing. - -The Honiton pillows run rather smaller than those for Buckingham lace, -and do not have the multiplicity of starched coverings—only three “pill -cloths” over the top, and another each side of the lace in progress; two -pieces of horn, called “sliders,” go between to take the weight of the -bobbins from dragging the stitches in progress; a small square -pincushion is on one side, and stuck into the pillow is the “needle -pin,” a large sewing needle in a wooden handle, used for picking up -loops through which the bobbins or “sticks” are placed. These last are -mostly turned box-wood, small and light, and no coloured beads or -“gingles” at the end, as that would make them too heavy for the fine -threads. Some of them are of great age. Mrs. Treadwin found an old -lace-maker using a lace “turn” for winding sticks, having the date of -1678 rudely carved on the foot. - -The pillow has to be frequently turned round in the course of the work, -so no stand is used, and it is rested against a table or doorway, or -formerly, in the golden days, in fine weather there would be rows of -workers sitting outside their cottages resting their “pills” against the -back of the chair in front. - -Ever since the Great Exhibition of 1851 drew attention to the industry, -someone or some society has been trying to encourage better design and -better manufacture; but the majority of the people have sought for a -livelihood by meeting the demand for cheap and shoddy articles—that -dreadful bane of modern times. Good patterns, good thread, good work, -have been thrown aside, the workers and small dealers recking little of -the fact that they themselves were ruining the trade as much as -machinery; tarnishing the fair name of Honiton throughout the world -among those able to appreciate a beautiful art. Fortunately there were -some able to lead in the right path, and all honour must be given to -Lady Trevelyan, who, at Seaton and Beer, about 1850–70, designed and -superintended the working of naturalistic flowers and sprays; also to -Mrs. Treadwin at Exeter, who started reproducing old laces, and with her -workers turned out excellent copies of old Venetian rose-point, -Valenciennes, or Flemish. Mrs. Treadwin was a woman of culture and taste -who had the best interests of the trade at heart. - -In the present work there is a straining after novelty with no capable -designers at the helm. We ought, as a national duty, to encourage to our -utmost any industry that can be worked in the rural districts. Let the -Education Authorities frankly acknowledge that our Art Schools cannot -turn out lace designers, and import one of our clever French neighbours -to help the Devonian workers. It would, after all, only be a case of -_L’histoire se répète toujours_ since the days of Benedict Biscop, who -imported vestments which gave the English their first lesson in -embroidery. - - ALICE DRYDEN. - - - - - “THE BLOODY ELEVENTH”; - WITH NOTES ON COUNTY DEFENCE. - - BY LIEUT.-COL. P. F. S. AMERY. - - -The Devonshire Regiment, of which the Haytors now form a battalion, was -raised so far back as 1685, has seen a vast amount of service, and has -ever served with distinction before the enemy in the two centuries of -its history. During the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, in 1685, many -new corps were raised, and among them a regiment of musketeers and -pikemen by the Duke of Beaufort. It was composed of loyal men of Devon, -Somerset, and Dorset, and was known as “The Duke of Beaufort’s -Musketeers.” In the same year, after the rebellion had been crushed at -Sedgemoor, the Duke resigned the colonelcy to his son, the Marquis of -Worcester. At that time regiments were named after their colonels. The -corps was distinguished by tawny-coloured ribbons in their hats, scarlet -coats lined with tawny-coloured shalloon, tawny-coloured breeches, -stockings, and sashes. Lord Worcester was succeeded in 1687 by Lord -Montgomery, who was devoted to the interests of James II. In 1688 the -regiment was in garrison at Hull, when the Prince of Orange landed at -Torbay. The Governor of Hull was also a supporter of James. The -regiment, however, led by its Lieutenant-Colonel, Sir John Hanmer, -declared with the inhabitants of Hull for the Prince of Orange and the -Protestant party. Sir John Hanmer was made Colonel, and in 1689 took -part with his regiment in the famous relief of Londonderry. In 1690 it -served under the eye of William III. at the Battle of the Boyne, where -it repulsed three cavalry charges and materially assisted to secure the -Protestant succession. In 1707, under Colonel Hill, it was present at -the terrible battle of Almanza, in Portugal, where, after performing -deeds of valour, it was overpowered and cut to pieces. Twenty-six -officers and nearly all the men were killed, wounded, or taken. In 1709 -it served under Marlborough in the Netherlands, took part in the siege -of Mons, where it greatly distinguished itself in repulsing a sortie, in -which ten officers and 150 men were lost. In 1715, under Colonel -Montague, it took part against the rebellion under the Earl of Mar in -Scotland, and at the battle of Dunblane lost eight officers and 108 men. -In 1738, Colonel Cornwallis was appointed, and as Cornwallis’ regiment -took part in the war of Austrian succession. It was present at the -battle of Dettingen, in 1743, where George II. in person commanded the -army, and received a French cavalry charge in line. Cornwallis’ and -another battalion executed a difficult manœuvre, which brought the -enemy’s cavalry under fire. The name of Dettingen is borne on the -colours. In 1745, at Fontenoy, it again broke through the French lines, -and almost secured victory; its losses were seven officers and 212 men. -It was re-called to England during the Pretender’s rebellion in -Scotland, and sent again into the Low Countries in 1746, where, as -Graham’s regiment, it took a prominent and honourable part in the -desperate battle of Roucoux against the renowned Marshal Saxe, where it -lost twelve officers and 206 men. - -1st July, 1751.—A royal warrant was issued, regulating the clothing and -colours of every regiment. It was now numbered as 11th Regiment of Foot, -and the “facings spoken of as being green,” but when they were changed -from tawny is not known. The drummers were clothed in green, faced with -red. 1756.—The strength was increased to twenty companies, which were -divided into two battalions. 1758.—The second battalion was constituted -the Sixty-fourth Regiment, illustrating the birth of new regiments. The -11th took part in the Seven Years’ War, 1760 to 1763, under the Prince -of Brunswick. In 1782 county titles were given to regiments in order to -facilitate recruiting, and the 11th was designated the “North Devon -Regiment,” and the officers were enjoined to cultivate an intercourse -with that part of the county, so as to create a mutual attachment -between the inhabitants and the regiment. Exactly a century afterwards -similar orders and changes took place for a like purpose. In 1793, when -England was threatened with invasion by the French Republic, and -volunteers were being drilled, the 11th was defending Toulon against -Napoleon. It was evacuated after a gallant defence by twelve thousand -men of five different nations, over a line of outposts extending fifteen -miles in circumference, against an army of between thirty and forty -thousand men. The 11th formed part of the garrison under Lord Mulgrave, -and distinguished itself in several sorties, especially that on 30th -November, 1793, when the French were driven from their batteries and -guns spiked. In this affair, Napoleon Bonaparte, then an artillery -officer, received a bayonet wound in his thigh. Thus the first contact -the future Emperor made with a British battalion was with our Devon -Regiment; and he did not again come face to face with us until the -Battle of Waterloo, although he is said to have watched some of the -battles in the Pyrenees from a distance. In 1798, it was sent to Ostend -on a very hazardous expedition to cut the Great Canal; it did its work, -but was unable to re-embark owing to a storm, and 24 officers and 456 -men were captured. In 1800, the 11th was sent to the West Indies, took -part in the capture of St. Bartholomew, St. Martin’s, St. Thomas, St. -John, and Santa Cruz; in 1807 to Madeira. In 1808, a second battalion -was again added, which formed a part of the Walcheren expedition in -1809. At the taking of Flushing they took a set of brass drums belonging -to the 11th French Regiment, and enlisted the musicians of a Prussian -band serving in the French army, when all the men joined with their -instruments. In 1810 and 1811, they took part in the Peninsula War. On -22nd July, 1812, the regiment won glory at the decisive battle of -Salamanca, which led to the French being driven out of Spain. The 11th, -53rd, and 61st Regiments formed a brigade in the Sixth Division, -commanded by Major-General Clinton. Lord Wellington had noticed that in -manœuvring his troops the French marshal had so extended his forces as -to be unable to support each other. To take advantage of this mistake, -the 11th, as leading its brigade, was pushed forward under a heavy fire, -and was soon engaged in a desperate struggle, and drove the French from -their ground. At the close of the action a French division made a very -determined stand to recover the retreat. The 6th British Division again -attacked, led by the 11th, and as the darkness came on overpowered the -French, who fled in confusion. They lost 16 officers, 325 men; only 4 -officers and 67 men came out unwounded. The 11th captured a battery of -guns and a green standard without an eagle. The 122nd French Regiment, -which was opposed to the 11th with two battalions, numbering 2,200 -strong, the next day only mustered 200 men; they were mostly taken -prisoners. Captain Lord Clinton, uncle of our late Lord Lieutenant, was -despatched with the news direct from the field, and carried with him the -green standard. He landed at Plymouth, and in a chaise and four rattled -up the road to London. As he passed through the towns on the way he -exhibited the standard, and persons now living in Ashburton remember -seeing him pass through; he was at that time Lord of the Borough of -Ashburton. The 11th earned the nickname of “The Bloody Eleventh” from -the part it had taken in that terrible day. It suffered severely in the -battles in the Pyrenees and following movements, which resulted in -driving the French across the frontier. It was not present at Waterloo, -and in 1816 the Second Battalion was disbanded at Gibraltar, the men -being incorporated in the First Battalion. In 1825, new colours were -presented to the regiment whilst at Cork, on which were added the names -of the Peninsula battles. During the years of peace it moved from -station to station, and was not in the Crimea. During the Indian Mutiny -a Second Battalion was again raised, but did not take part. In -1879–1880, the 11th took part in the Afghan War; in 1881, the regiment -ceased to be the 11th and became the “Devonshire Regiment,” but the -green facings were changed to white, in common with other line -regiments, and are alone borne by the junior battalion, viz., the Haytor -Volunteer Battalion. The Devonshire Territorial Regiment now consists of -two line battalions for foreign service, two militia battalions, five -volunteer battalions, of which the 1st and 2nd are rifles, total nine. - -The reformation and development of the volunteer force in the middle and -latter half of the nineteenth century, with its embodiment into the -territorial line regiments, has tended to increase the local _esprit de -corps_ throughout the kingdom, and especially in Devon, where the -movement had its birth. A short sketch of the formation and growth of -the volunteers in Devon will, therefore, not only be of local interest, -but will be an illustration of the steps taken in times of danger for -the defence of our shores in the times of our grandfathers, and -continued through the years of peace under our late imperial Sovereign, -Queen Victoria. - -Plymouth and its immediate neighbourhood is the cradle in which the -spirit of volunteer defence has been nurtured; frequently before the -sixteenth century have French and Spaniards made or attempted landings -there for pillage or destruction, but in each case they suffered -severely from the resolute resistance of the townspeople. In the Civil -War the inhabitants formed themselves into trained bands and resisted -the Royalist siege. In 1745, when Prince Charlie, the young Pretender, -landed in Scotland and gained the battle of Prestonpans, Plymouth again -raised a body of volunteers; and in 1759, when France determined on a -descent on England and had 18,000 men ready to embark on board the -French fleet, Plymouth again raised two companies of volunteers to -strengthen the militia, one of which undertook to clothe and feed -itself. The destruction of the French fleet by Admiral Hawke, at the -mouth of Quiberon Bay, and the decisive battle of Minden, where the -20th, or East Devon Regiment, learned its celebrated “Minden Yell,” -removed for a time the fear of French invasion. When, therefore, in -1779, the combined fleets of France and Spain held for a time the -possession of the English Channel, and the gallant Elliot was holding -the rock of Gibraltar against famine and bombardment, and most of our -army was fighting in America, the Spanish and French fleets suddenly -appeared off Plymouth, causing great alarm for the safety of the -dockyard and the numerous French prisoners in the port, the inhabitants -were again ready to enroll themselves. Mr. William Bastard, of Kitley, -the great grandfather of the present Mr. B. J. B. Bastard, the first -Lieutenant-Colonel of the Haytor Volunteer battalion, offered to raise a -force of 500 men as a corps of Fencibles, and in two days had 1,500 -young men to select from, who wished for the honour of serving under -him. On 23rd August, 1779, he escorted 1,300 war prisoners to Exeter for -safety, and on the 25th delivered them to the commanding officer there, -and at once returned with his regiment to Plymouth. I have been unable -to find any traditions of this march preserved in the towns through -which they must have passed, but we may be sure at the time it caused -much excitement along the road and at the places they rested the two -nights. The whole of this eventful period at Plymouth is well described -by Miss Peard in her charming little book, _Mother Molly_. The example -of Plymouth was followed by the citizens of Exeter, who also raised a -Volunteer corps. For these services the King, on the 24th September, -signed a warrant for a baronetcy for Mr. Bastard, who, however, modestly -declined the honour. The supremacy in the Channel was soon restored by -the return of the fleet, and the victories of Admiral Rodney rendered -our shores safe for a time. - -In 1794, the effects of the French Revolution had made themselves felt -in England, and several elaborate plots were formed to supersede -Parliament by a National Convention after the French model, and to -abolish the Monarchy. Great distress prevailed in the country, which -always forms the best weapon of revolutionists. The rate of interest -rose to seventeen per cent.; the Bank of England only saved itself by -the suspension of cash payment. Monge, the French Minister of Marine, -threatened to land in England with 50,000 red caps of liberty, and to -overthrow the Government of the country. - -It was at this crisis that the Government called on the different -counties to take steps for the defence of the kingdom, and a meeting of -magistrates was called by Lord Fortescue, the Lord Lieutenant, and -presided over by the High Sheriff, J. S. Pode, Esq., on the 22nd April, -1794. 1795, 7th January, returns showed two troops of cavalry and -twenty-three companies of infantry to have been raised and equipped by -subscription. March 23rd, the Lord Lieutenant, Earl Fortescue, ordered -monthly returns from each corps. 7th April, 1795, the twelve corps in -the eastern part of the county were formed into a battalion, under Col. -Mackenzie. 2nd June, Colonel Orchard, of Hartland Abbey, reported that -he had inspected his own regiment, viz., corps at Fremington, Westleigh, -Northam, Hartland, and two companies at Bideford. This appears to be the -six western companies of the north battalion. 1796 returns showed two -troops of cavalry, twenty-two companies of infantry—1,651 men. In this -year an attempt was made by the French to land in Bantry Bay, which, -however, failed, and the expedition was glad to get back to Brest, with -the loss of four ships of the line and eight frigates. Early in 1797, -another expedition, under Tate, appeared in the Bristol Channel, off -Ilfracombe, with the intention of burning Bristol. The North Devon -Volunteers turned out with great zeal, and were prepared to dispute the -landing on their coast. The French, however, turned northward and landed -in Wales, where they soon surrendered to a far inferior force of -militia, yeomanry, and volunteers, commanded by Lord Cawdor, and -supported by a reserve of Welsh women in red cloaks. 1798 saw the nation -in the most serious crisis of its history. The French Directory having -made terms with the European powers, were able to turn all their -attention to the invasion and conquest of the British Isles. Former -expeditions were designed to stir up the disloyal and assist them to -overthrow the Government, but now a French army was to land on our -shores. The Spanish and Dutch fleets had been pressed into the French -service, but British courage and seamanship had effectually disposed of -them in the great naval battles of St. Vincent and Camperdown. -Nevertheless, an army was organized, named the Army of England, and -distributed along the French coast in readiness for embarkation. -Flat-bottomed boats were prepared for landing troops and for service on -our rivers. The bankers of Paris were called upon to advance a loan on -the security of English property. The greatest calamity, however, was a -general mutiny in the Channel Fleet at the Nore, which expelled their -officers, elected their own admiral and captains, hoisted the red flag, -and blockaded the mouth of the Thames; they seriously discussed the -expediency of making the whole over to the French. If England could not -depend on her fleet she must fall. Had not prompt measures been taken -and the mutiny quelled, invasion on a large scale would certainly have -taken place. To add to these troubles a formidable rebellion broke out -in Ireland, and its leaders arranged for the support of the French army, -under Hocke, a general of great experience. A brigade of 1,000 men -actually landed in Ireland, under General Humbert, beat the local -troops, and advanced into the country, but were compelled to surrender -to Lord Cornwallis; and Admiral Warren caught a French fleet with 3,000 -troops on their way to support them, and only one of the nine ships -returned to France. Such being the state of public affairs, it cannot be -denied that our great grandparents had good grounds for alarm. There is -hardly a district or family in Devon but has some tradition of that -period. Nervous people were afraid to take off their clothes at night. -Old gentlemen provided themselves with hollow walking-sticks filled with -guineas to carry with them in their flight. At Totnes my -great-grandfather’s family permanently engaged a post-chaise in which -the women and children might escape to Bristol; the family plate was -packed ready to be taken off, and a belt of guineas provided. The -schoolboys enjoyed it, for there was no school, as the seniors were too -much engaged in obtaining and discussing news to attend to them. The -saying still exists at Totnes, “Going to Paignton to meet the French,” -for “meeting trouble half-way.” Beacon fires were prepared to spread the -news of any landing. A story is told of a tramp at Dawlish who, in -lighting his pipe, set a hay rick on fire; the watchers at the nearest -beacon took it for a signal of an invasion, and lighted their fires, -which were answered in every direction, and the people sprang to arms -until “That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day.” One old -sailor, however, had his wits about him, when his daughter shook him out -of a deep sleep with the news that the French had landed. Rubbing his -eyes, he told her to go and look at the weather-cock. She came back -saying the wind was from the north. “I thought so,” said he, “and so it -was yesterday. The French can’t land with this wind.” And so the ancient -mariner turned round and went to sleep again. - -The next place in the history of volunteers was the extension of the -area of their service. Up to this date the condition of service was -confined to the county of Devon, and in the case of the early Exeter -corps to the defence of the city only. The military authorities saw the -impossibility of mobilising the volunteers, even to a small extent, who -had enlisted under these conditions. The County Committee were, -therefore, instructed to accept no offers except for service throughout -the military district. It was, however, ultimately arranged for all -volunteers to accept the new conditions, but cities or large towns -should be allowed to maintain a local corps composed of respectable -householders only, to aid the civil power to protect property. Most of -the corps appear to have been willing to extend their services to the -military district. In January, 1799, it was resolved that no further -offers should be accepted. Each parish was required to appoint a man and -horse to act as guide. The battle of the Nile and the extinction of the -Irish rebellion seem to have quieted men’s minds for a time. But in -April Devonshire was again astir, for the Committee of Secrecy of the -House of Commons reported that undoubted intelligence had been received -that plans of an invasion and insurrection in Ireland were being made in -France. That the utmost diligence was being observed in the ports of -France in preparing another expedition to co-operate with the rebels in -Ireland, that it was intended at the same time to land a French force at -different parts of the coast. That the instructions to Tate, who was -taken prisoner in Wales in 1797, and those of General Humbert, who -landed in Ireland, and who had been destined to command an expedition -against Cornwall, had fallen into the hands of the Government, and were -as follows:—The legion was to land in Cornwall and to cross the Tamar as -quickly as possible, and to establish itself in the district between it -and the Exe, or, as we should say, in the South Hams. The “passes and -mountains” (Dartmoor) would afford an easy and safe retreat from the -pursuit of the enemy. Thus Dartmoor was selected both by the French -Directory and by the English officers for a place of refuge. There, -indeed, in the Dartmoor prisons, many French soldiers and sailors were -destined to find a safe retreat. - -But as time went on, and no invasion took place, things became quieter; -the Defence Committee seldom met; the volunteers, however, continued to -drill and to hold reviews. - -In 1801, the separate corps were consolidated into battalions and -regiments. The two 1st Devon troops of cavalry, with those at Bicton, -Tiverton, and Cullompton, united in the “Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry -Cavalry,” under Lord Rolle as Colonel, Sir Stafford Northcote as -Lieutenant-Colonel. The North Devon Corps of Infantry became the 3rd -North Devon Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Fortescue. The Loyal -Exminster Hundred Regiment of Volunteers, under Lord Courtenay, was -similarly formed. In 1802 came the “Peace of Amiens,” or, as it is -frequently called, the “Cloamen Peace.” It was a fragile, patched up -affair, by which Bonaparte gained breathing time. “It was a peace -everyone was glad of and nobody proud of.” Volunteer affairs became -quiet, many corps were disbanded, among them the Ashburton Sergebacks. -Old soldiers were discharged from the line regiments, and militiamen -sent to their homes. - -In May, 1803, Bonaparte suddenly declared war, and then, as Emperor, -prepared in earnest to invade England. A camp of 100,000 men was formed -on the cliffs at Boulogne, and a host of flat-bottomed boats gathered -for their conveyance across the Channel. At last the Emperor Napoleon -appeared in camp; all was ready. “_Let us be masters of the Channel for -six hours_,” he is reported to have said, “_and we are masters of the -world._” But he never was able to be master of the Channel for six -hours. The army waited and drilled, the old Bayeaux tapestry, which -illustrates the conquest of England by William of Normandy, was searched -out to create enthusiasm, and show what had once been done; all kinds of -schemes were resorted to to obtain the naval assistance of other -nations, and with success, for the Spanish fleet joined him. Still, the -English fleet, under Lord Nelson, held the Channel, but any accident -might give the six hours’ mastery, and so England had to be prepared. -The County Defence Committee again assumed the direction of affairs. The -arrangements made in 1798 were once more put in force. It was in 1803 -that the Haytor Regiment was formed, and commanded by Lord Seymour; it -was 1,000 strong, with 250 artillery attached, and appears to have been -made up of all the volunteers in the Haytor Hundred with those of -several towns and parishes adjoining. Newton Abbot was the headquarters, -where Captain Babb, afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel Babb, was captain. In -the former arming of 1798 Ashburton had formed the 9th Devon Corps, -under Captain Walter Palk; they had clothed themselves with local-made -serge, and so gained the name of Sergebacks; they were disbanded at the -Peace of Amiens, but now again formed and became a company in the Haytor -Regiment, under Captain Tozer. Bridgetown, being in Berry Pomeroy -parish, also was in the Haytor district. Mr. Milford Windeatt, a -relative of the present Captain Windeatt, held a commission in the -Haytor Corps. Totnes, however, formed a separate corps, being in the -Stanborough Hundred, as did also Highweek, Kingsteignton, Chudleigh, and -Bovey Tracey, which were in Teignbridge. The Stanborough Regiment, in -which Kingsbridge formed a part, was connected with Plymouth. Torquay, -Paignton, and Brixham supplied artillery men under Colonel Cary, of Tor -Abbey. For the protection of Tor Bay the authorities garrisoned Berry -Head, which, being in the Haytor Hundred, was committed to a detachment -of the regiment under Colonel Cary. Many stories remain of this period -of service. I cannot say how long the volunteers were out; probably they -relieved each other. One story frequently told was of the French -fire-ships, for which they were on the lookout, to be sent among the -fleet in the bay, and which caused much stir. One night, as the full -moon rose red and fiery out of the sea, the sentry at the headland, who -had come from an inland parish, mistook it for a fire ship, discharged -his musket, and aroused the garrison. The uniform was similar to the -line regiments of the period, viz., scarlet swallow-tailed coats, turned -out with yellow, blue-black breeches, white cross belts, with a brass -plate having Haytor Regiment thereon; the pouches were black, the -buttons had H.V.R. (Haytor Volunteer Regiment); officers wore cocked -hats, others tall shakoes. The regiment assembled for field days and -drill at various points in the district. Lord Clifford has a plan of a -sham fight on Bovey-heathfield, but the movements appear to have been -very simple. Lieutenant-Colonel Babb, whose tablet is in Wolborough -Church, Newton Abbot, commanded the regiment at one time. On 21st -October, 1805, Lord Nelson caught the combined French and Spanish fleet -off Cape Trafalgar. His last and famous signal, “England expects every -man to do his duty,” was observed and obeyed, and although he fell in -the hour of victory, twenty battleships had struck their flags ere the -day was done. Pitt explained, in his last public words, “England has -saved herself by her courage; she will save England by her example.” The -crisis had again passed, England could breathe freely once more, still -the volunteers were kept enrolled for a time. The Haytors were disbanded -about 1809, and the old colours laid up in Wolborough Church until time -had consumed them. The time of peace continued for about forty years, -until the Crimean War, in 1853, left the country almost without troops -to garrison her arsenals. Then several Volunteer corps were raised, -among them the “Exeter and South Devon,” under Colonel Sir Edmund -Prideaux. At the peace in 1856 it was not disbanded, but remained -embodied until the memorable circular of 12th May, 1859, in which the -Secretary of State for War suggested the formation of Volunteer corps -throughout the country as a means of preventing the frequent war scares -caused by the uncertain actions of the French under Napoleon III. The -Exeter corps then became the first in the kingdom, and through them -Devonshire stands at the top in the precedence of the counties. On 24th -May, 1859, the Plymouth corps was formed, but the date of its acceptance -was later on. The movement had life because it was in accordance with -the feelings of the people, which was shown by almost every town in -Devon holding meetings for the purpose of forming corps, and persons of -every social position offered their services, and in a large proportion -undertook their own outfits. These offers were mostly accepted by Her -Majesty; each corps became an independent body, and was numbered in the -order in which they were accepted, but joined into administrative -battalions for drill purposes. In 1880, the administrative battalions -were consolidated into corps, which in 1885 were incorporated as -volunteer battalions of the county regiment, of which they have since -formed a part, and in the South African war sent two companies, fully -officered and equipped, to the front. This brings us to the eve of the -proposed changes in the constitution of our army and military system, -and possibly the close of the volunteer system as we have known it. - - “The brave old men of Devonshire! - ’Tis worth the world to stand, - As Devon’s sons, on Devon’s soil, - Though juniors of the band; - And tell Old England to her ace, - If she is great in fame, - ’Twas good old hearts of Devon oak - That made her glorious name.” - P. F. S. AMERY. - - - - - JACK RATTENBURY, THE ROB ROY - OF THE WEST. - - BY MAXWELL ADAMS. - - - - -John Rattenbury—or, as he is commonly called, the “Rob Roy of the -West”—was born at Beer in 1788. His father was a shoemaker by trade, but -before his son John was born, he went to sea on board a man-of-war, and -was never again heard of. His mother supported herself by selling fish, -while Jack was allowed to run wild, spending his time chiefly at the -water-side, where he acquired a taste for the sea and for those daring -adventures which made him subsequently so notorious. When about nine -years of age, he induced his uncle, who was a fisherman, to take him -with him in his fishing expeditions. This was the beginning of his sea -training, and continued for some time, until one day, being left in -charge of the boat, while his uncle was on shore at Lyme, he lost her -rudder. For this negligence his uncle chastised him with a rope’s end, -whereupon a separation ensued. Jack then joined a Brixham fisherman as -an apprentice, but after a space of twelve months, finding this -occupation uncongenial, he engaged himself to the master of a coasting -vessel of Bridport, trading between that port and Dartmouth. - -[Illustration: - - “JACK” RATTENBURY. - (_From a Lithograph by W. Bevan._) -] - -About this time war broke out between England and France, and fearing -the press-gang, he returned to Beer. There he found his uncle engaged in -collecting men for privateering, an enterprise which appealed to his -roving spirit, and joining the crew, he, with twenty-two others, was -conveyed to Torquay and put on board the _Dover_, commanded by Captain -Matthews. In due course the _Dover_ was ready for sea, and in March, -1792, started for her first cruise off the Western Islands. He thus -describes his feelings on this occasion:— - - And even now, notwithstanding the lapse of years, I can recall the - triumph and exultation which rushed through my veins, as I saw the - shores of my native country recede, and the vast ocean opening before - me; I was like a bird which had escaped from the confinement of the - cage, and obtained the liberty after which it panted. I thought on - some who had risen from the lowest to the highest posts, from the - cabin boy to the admiral’s flag. I wished to make a figure on the - stage of life, and my hopes and expectations were restless and - boundless, like the element around me. - -The privateering enterprise, however, does not appear to have been very -successful. After cruising about the Western Islands for several weeks -without meeting with any adventure worth relating, the _Dover_ at last -fell in with three American merchant ships laden with French goods, but -as their commanders contended that they were not lawful prizes, they -were allowed to go. It transpired later on that these very vessels were -afterwards taken by an English cruiser. Not long after, the _Dover_ was -captured by a French ship, and the crew, including John Rattenbury, were -taken to Bordeaux and confined in the prison of that place. He does not -appear to have been badly treated by his jailers, and he was allowed a -certain amount of liberty, which enabled him to make the acquaintance of -the master of an American vessel, then lying in Bordeaux harbour, -Captain Prowse by name, who, taking a liking to the lad, allowed him to -conceal himself on board his ship. It was, however, more than twelve -months before the vessel was allowed to leave the port in consequence of -an embargo on all foreign shipping, when, having taken in a cargo of -wine, etc., it was cleared for New York, which port was reached after a -passage of forty-five days. Here Rattenbury engaged himself as cook and -cabin boy on board a ship sailing for Havre de Grâce. On arrival there -he was anxious to get home again. He therefore transferred himself to an -American merchantman belonging to Boston named the _Grand Turk_, bound -for London, as he supposed, but much to his disappointment it proceeded -to Copenhagen instead. He returned in her to Havre de Grâce, and thence -after sundry adventures found himself in Guernsey, where, to his -delight, he met his uncle, who took him back to Beer. - -He was now sixteen years of age, and remained quietly at home for six -months, part of which time he spent in fishing. After the roving life he -had led, he found this occupation most uncongenial, and the smuggling -trade, which was then being plied very briskly in the neighbourhood, -offering great inducements, he determined to try his fortune at it. He -accordingly joined a vessel engaged in this trade between Lyme and the -Channel Islands, but after four months he engaged on another vessel, the -_Friends_, a brig, commanded by Captain Jarvis. While in Tenby harbour -she was captured by a French privateer. He thus narrates the incident:— - - At eight o’clock the captain set the watch, and it was my turn to - remain below; at twelve I went on deck, and continued till four, when - I went below again, but was scarcely dropped asleep when I was aroused - by hearing the captain exclaim, “Come on deck, my good fellow! here is - a privateer, and we shall all be taken.” When I got up, I found the - privateer close alongside of us. The captain hailed us in English, and - asked us from what port we came and where we were bound. Our captain - told the exact truth, and he then sent a boat with an officer in her, - to take all hands on board his own vessel, which he did, except myself - and a little boy, who had never been to sea before. He then sent his - prize-master and four men on board our brig, with orders to take her - into the nearest French port. When the privateer was gone, the - prize-master ordered me to go aloft and loose the main-top-gallant - sail. When I came down I perceived that he was steering very wildly, - through ignorance of the coast, and I offered to take the helm, to - which he consented, and directed me to steer south-east by south. He - then went below and was engaged in carousing with his companions. They - likewise sent me up a glass of grog occasionally, which animated my - spirits, and I began to conceive a hope not only of escaping, but also - of being revenged on the enemy. A fog, too, came on, which befriended - the design I had in view. I therefore altered the course to east by - north, expecting that we might fall in with some English vessel. As - the day advanced, the fog gradually dispersed, and the sky getting - clearer, we could perceive land. The prize-master and his companions - asked me what land it was; I told them it was Alderney, which they - believed, though at the same time we were just off Portland. We then - hauled our wind more to the south until we cleared the Bill of the - Island. Soon after we came in sight of land off St. Alban’s. The - prize-master then again asked what land it was which we saw; I told - him it was Cape la Hogue. My companions then became suspicious and - angry, thinking I had deceived them, and they took a dog that had - belonged to our captain and threw him overboard in a great rage, and - knocked down his house. This I supposed to be done as a caution, and - to intimate to me what would be my own fate if I had deceived them. We - were now within a league of Swanage, and I persuaded them to go ashore - to get a pilot. They then hoisted out a boat, into which I got with - three of them, not without serious apprehension as to what would be - the event; but hope animated, and my fortunate genius urged me on. We - now came so near shore that the people hailed us, and told us to keep - further west. My companions now began to swear, and said the people - spoke English; this I denied, and urged them to hail again; but as - they were rising to do so, I plunged overboard, and came up the other - side of the boat. They then struck me with their oars, and snapped a - pistol at me; but it missed fire. I still continued swimming, and - every time they attempted to strike me, I made a dive and disappeared. - The boat in which they were now took in water, and finding they were - in a vain pursuit and endangering their own lives and safety, with - little chance of being able to overtake me, they suddenly turned round - and rowed away as fast as possible to regain the vessel. Having got - rid of my foes, I put forth all my efforts to get to the shore, which - I at last accomplished, though with great difficulty. In the meantime - the men in the boat reached the brig, and spreading all their canvas, - bore away for the French coast. Being afraid that they would get off - with the vessel, I immediately sent two men, one to the signal-house - at St. Alban’s and another to Swanage, to obtain all the assistance - they could to bring her back. - -By good fortune the _Nancy_, a cutter belonging to the Custom’s Service, -happened to be lying in Swanage Bay, under the command of Captain -Willis, who, giving chase, re-captured the brig and brought her into -Cowes Roads. She was restored to her owners, on their paying salvage, -but Rattenbury received no reward for his services, and two days after -re-joining the brig, was impressed into the Royal Navy and put on board -a cutter cruising off the Channel Islands. On her return to Spithead, -Rattenbury escaped on board a fishing smack and was landed at Portland, -whence he proceeded, on foot, to Beer, exchanging his cap with a young -man whom he met on the way for a hat. Some days after a party from the -cutter sent in search of him reached Lyme, but although they failed to -catch Rattenbury they had arrested the young man with whom he had -exchanged hats. He was released, however, when they discovered that he -was not the man they were in search of. - -During the next six months he occupied himself with fishing and -smuggling, but his roving spirit once more took him to sea, and in -March, 1800, we find him sailing for Newfoundland on board a brig -belonging to Topsham, commanded by Captain Elson. He was now twenty-two -years of age. On its way out the brig put into Waterford for provisions, -but had not been at sea many days before it had to put back to Waterford -for repairs, having sprung a leak. These were speedily effected owing to -the kindness of Lord Rolle, who lent seventeen of his soldiers to assist -in the work. In due course they reached St. John’s, Newfoundland, and -after discharging a part of their cargo, proceeded to Placentia and -afterwards to Pacee, where the ship was laid up for three months, while -the crew were employed in catching and curing cod. When they had secured -sufficient for a cargo, they set sail, in November, for Oporto, but they -had not been at sea many days before they were chased and captured by a -Spanish privateer, and a prize crew put on board. Rattenbury and an -Irish lad were, however, allowed to remain on board, and the former, by -making himself generally useful, gained the confidence of the Spanish -prize-master, so that when the prize reached Vigo, Rattenbury, instead -of being sent to a prison, was taken by the prize-master to his own -house, and given such a good character that the owner of the privateer -gave him his liberty and presented him with thirty dollars and a mule to -take him to Vianna, where the British Consul gave him a pass to Oporto. -Here he met his late captain and ship-mates, who had also been given -their liberty, and after some days found a vessel bound for Guernsey, on -which he was engaged as mate. After an exceedingly rough passage he -reached Guernsey on the 25th March, 1801, where he found a packet about -to sail for Weymouth, in which he took a passage, and thus reached Beer -once more. - -On the 17th April, 1801, he married a young woman to whom he had become -engaged before setting out for his last voyage and settled down at Lyme. -Failing to find any regular employment, he determined to try -privateering again, and accordingly joined the _Alert_, a lugger -belonging to Weymouth, commanded by Captain Diamond. In her he sailed, -in May, for Alderney, where, having taken in a stock of wine and -spirits, a course was steered for the Western Islands in the expectation -of falling in with Spanish vessels, but the venture was not successful, -and the _Alert_ returned to Weymouth on the 28th December, 1801. - -Rattenbury now remained at home for four years, and was employed in -piloting and victualling ships. One day, while at Bridport, he was taken -by the press-gang. He managed, however, to escape, and was pursued by -the lieutenant and nine men of the _Greyhound_. During the chase his -wife appeared on the scene, and seized the lieutenant round the neck. A -scuffle ensued, in which the townspeople joined, and Rattenbury was able -to get clear away. After this adventure he went to live at Beer, and -made many trips in smuggling with varied success; but the lieutenant of -the _Greyhound_ was his most persistent enemy, and was determined to -capture him. On one occasion, at Weymouth, hearing that the lieutenant -was on his track, he took refuge in a public-house, the landlord of -which was a friend of his. The lieutenant having received information as -to his hiding-place proceeded to the spot, and at two o’clock in the -morning roused up the house, threatening to fire at the landlord through -the window and force an entrance if he did not immediately come down and -open the door. On the alarm being given, Rattenbury concealed himself in -the chimney, and remained there for about an hour, while the premises -were being searched. On the departure of the lieutenant he came out of -the chimney in a parlous condition, black with soot and much bruised, -but, as he says, “triumphing over the sense of pain itself, in the -exultation which he experienced at having once more escaped out of the -clutches of this keen-eyed Lieutenant and indefatigable picaroon.” - -Becoming sick of being constantly hunted, he determined to take to -privateering again, and shipped accordingly on board the _Unity_, a -cutter then fitting out at Weymouth, commanded by Captain Head. About -February, 1805, they proceeded to sea, touching at Alderney to take in -provisions and spirits, and steered a course for Madeira, Teneriffe, -etc., in the hope of falling in with prizes; but they met with no -success, and returned to Beer in August of the same year. In consequence -of his continued want of success in privateering, he determined never -again to engage in it, “a resolution,” he says, “which I have ever since -kept, and of which I have never repented.” - -Rattenbury now settled down ostensibly to a life of fishing, but -actually of smuggling, in which he met with many adventures and every -variety of fortune. He had not been long at this employment when he was -captured by the _Roebuck_ while off Christchurch, in Hampshire; but -during the chase one of the man-of-war’s men, named Slaughter, had his -arm blown off in the act of firing one of the guns. The captain was -anxious to land the wounded man, and ordered a boat alongside to take -him ashore, into which Rattenbury smuggled himself, and on reaching -shore got clear off. That same evening he borrowed a boat and rescued -his companions from the _Roebuck_, together with three kegs of gin, part -of his contraband cargo which had been seized. - -In the spring of 1806, he was captured by the _Duke of York_, cutter, in -a fog, and was taken to Dartmouth. On nearing that port, he jumped -overboard, swam ashore, and concealed himself in some bushes. Two women, -however, who had seen him, inadvertently revealed his place of -concealment, and he was re-taken. When he came on board again - - ... He was in such a pickle that his own shipmates could not help - laughing at him, and the captain, completely aggravated, exclaimed, “I - will put you on board a man-of-war and send you to the East Indies,” - to which he replied by calling him an old rascal, an expression which - only tended to sharpen his anger still more. - -The smugglers were all tried by the magistrates of Dartmouth, who -sentenced them to a fine of £100, to go on board a man-of-war, or to -jail. They unanimously agreed to the last condition, but by six o’clock -in the evening they were all so heartily sick of their quarters, which -resembled the “Black Hole of Calcutta,” that they agreed to serve in the -Navy, and were accordingly entered for the _Kite_, then lying in the -Downs. They were removed the same evening to the _Safeguard_, brig, -which lay in Dartmouth Roads. Next morning Rattenbury asked permission -to go on board the _Duke of York_, on the pretext that he had a private -communication to make to the captain. While on board, he seized an -opportunity for escaping, jumped down on the bob-stay, and signalling -with his finger a small boat which was passing at the time dropped into -her, and in five minutes was landed at Kingswear, opposite Dartmouth, -whence he made his way home by land. - -Later on he was captured by the _Humber_, sloop, commanded by Captain -Hill, and taken to Falmouth, where he was committed by the magistrates -to jail. Next morning he and one of his shipmates were put into two -post-chaises in charge of two constables to be taken to Bodmin. As the -constables stopped for liquid refreshment at every public-house on the -road they came to, they became somewhat merry towards evening. This was -Rattenbury’s opportunity. While the constables were taking their -potations at the “Indian Queen,” a public-house a few miles from Bodmin, -he bribed the drivers not to interfere in what was to follow, and as -soon as the constables came out they were overpowered by the smugglers. -Rattenbury ran to a cottage close by, and the woman who occupied it -showed him a way through the back door and garden, and having run a -mile, on looking back, he saw his companion, who had escaped in the same -way. That night they reached Newquay together, and next morning found -their way on hired horses to Mevagissey, whence they took a boat to -Budleigh Salterton. - -On another occasion he defended himself in a cellar for four hours with -a reaping hook and a knife, against a sergeant and ten men, all armed, -and only escaped capture through a diversion created by some women -arriving with a made-up story that a vessel had drifted ashore and that -a boy was in danger of drowning. - -Towards the end of 1808, through the influence of Lord Rolle, the -soldiers posted at Beer for the purpose of catching Rattenbury were -ordered away, and the ever-present fear of capture being thus removed, -he determined to settle down as a law-abiding citizen, and with this -object in view took a public-house, spending his leisure hours in -fishing. But unfortunately this business did not prosper, so that about -November, 1812, he reverted to his old trade of smuggling. In due course -he was captured by the _Catherine_, a brig commanded by Captain Tingle, -and brought to Brixham. While there his wife was allowed to visit him, -and with her he arranged a plan of escape. She, in company with the -wives of his shipmates, were to come alongside the _Catherine_ on the -next day with a good boat. This was done, and Rattenbury, with his -companions, jumped into the boat for the avowed purpose of helping “the -ladies” out of her up the side of the brig. As soon as the women were -all out of the boat, Rattenbury gave the order to “shove off,” and -although chase was immediately given and shots fired, the smugglers -managed to land at a headland called “Bob’s Nose.” They quickly -scrambled up the cliff, but Rattenbury, taking off his coat and hat and -leaving them at the top of the cliff, rolled himself down again to the -beach and made for Torquay. On the next day he met his wife, and they -set off together for Beer. His companions, however, were pursued, the -chase being watched from the neighbouring hills by several hundred -people from Brixham, but only two were re-taken. - -Rattenbury remained in his public-house till November, 1813, when he was -obliged to close it owing to want of business and the bad debts he had -contracted. He was now in a bad way, without any obvious means of -subsistence, except fishing, which did not pay, and with a wife and four -children to support. To add to his misfortunes, in the autumn of the -same year, he lost his boat in a gale. He, nevertheless, managed to pick -up a little by piloting, and in the beginning of 1814 was fortunate -enough to obtain employment with a Mr. Down, of Bridport, who kept a -small boat for fishing. With the wages thus obtained he was enabled by -August to buy another boat. - -During the next few years he was engaged in running contraband cargoes -from Cherbourg, and some of his expedients for outwitting the revenue -officers are very ingenious. On one occasion the officer who was -searching his ship for contraband goods came across a goose, which he -was desirous of purchasing, but as it was stuffed with fine lace instead -of the orthodox sage and onions, Rattenbury naturally preferred not to -sell it. At another time he had soldered up some valuable French silks -in a tin box, so that when his boat was being overhauled he was able to -throw it overboard while the searchers were in another part of the boat, -and the package being buoyant was subsequently recovered. - -One dark night he landed a cargo at Seaton Hole, and began carrying the -kegs one by one on his back up the cliff, when he tumbled over a donkey -lying in the path. The beast set up such a vigorous braying that it -awoke the preventive officer, who was asleep at the foot of the cliff, -and the whole cargo was consequently seized. - -In the summer of 1820, he contemplated building himself a house, and -bought a piece of land for the site. He at once commenced collecting -stones on the coast in his boat, and till the end of the year was -superintending building operations. - -In 1825, while returning from a smuggling expedition, he was captured -off Dawlish by the crew of a coastguard boat and lodged in Exeter jail, -where he remained till the 5th April, 1827, when he was released through -the influence of Sir William Pole. In May, and again in July, he was in -London giving evidence in connection with a scheme for the construction -of a harbour at Beer and a canal from Beer to Thorverton. He then -remained at home engaged in his old occupations till 1829, when Lord -Rolle got him into the Royal Navy, but falling sick, he was discharged -on 6th January, 1830. His last smuggling adventure happened in January, -1836. He was bringing twenty tubs of brandy in a cart from Torquay to -Newton Bushel, and when within a mile of the latter place, at ten -o’clock at night, he was overtaken by some mounted officers, and the -horse, cart, and its contents were seized. Rattenbury, however, effected -his escape. This adventure ended his career as a smuggler. At the Exeter -Assizes, held in March, 1836, he appeared as a witness on behalf of his -son, who was charged with having been engaged with others in an affray -on Budleigh Salterton beach, in which some revenue officers were roughly -handled. The case excited considerable interest, and Rattenbury’s -cross-examination by Mr. Sergeant Bompas afforded much amusement. The -following are some extracts from a contemporary account of the trial:— - - Rattenbury _loquitur_. He keeps school at sea—fishes for sole, turbot, - brill; any kind of fish that comes to hook. B.: Which do you catch - oftenest, soles or tubs? R.: Oh, the devil a tub—(great - laughter)—there are too many picaroons going now-a-day. B.: You have - caught a good many in your time? R.: Ah, plenty of it! I wish you and - I had as much of it as we could drink—(laughter). B.: You kept school - at home and trained up your son? R.: I have always trained him up in a - regular honourable way, larnt him the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and - the Ten Commandments. B.: You don’t find there, Thou shalt not - smuggle? R.: No, but I find there, Thou shalt not bear false witness - against thy neighbour. B.: Nobody smuggles now-a-day? R.: Don’t they, - though! (Laughter.) B.: So these horses at Beer cannot go above three - or four miles an hour? R.: If you had not better horses you would - never get to London. I seldom ride on horse-back. If I do, I generally - falls off seven or eight times in a journey—(great laughter). - -Rattenbury’s adventures now come to an end, and he appears to have -settled down to a quiet life for the remainder of his days, Lord Rolle -having generously allowed him a pension of one shilling a week for -life.[27] - - MAXWELL ADAMS. - ------ - -Footnote 27: - - This account of John Rattenbury is compiled from a somewhat scarce - little book entitled _Memoirs of a Smuggler_, compiled from his Diary - and Journal, containing the Principal Events in the Life of John - Rattenbury, of Beer, Devonshire, commonly called “The Rob Roy of the - West.” Sidmouth: J. Harvey, 1837. 12mo. - ------ - - - - - FAIR. - - BY THOMAS WAINWRIGHT. - - -Barnstaple Fair, although now deprived of some of its ancient commercial -importance by the establishment of great markets at other centres in -North Devon, still attracts great numbers of purchasers of horses, -Exmoor ponies, cattle, and sheep, reared by the agriculturists of the -neighbourhood. Buyers attend the fair not only from all parts of -Devonshire, but also from places beyond the borders of the county, among -others cavalry officers come in some years to purchase horses for the -military service of the country, while visitors from a wide district -around the town arrive in large numbers to enjoy the “fun of the fair.” - -This annual event has a very ancient history, for the claim of the town -to the right to hold the fair is granted in Charters and recognized in -Inquisitions from an early period, in one of which Inquisitions the -jurors say that among divers liberties and free customs used and enjoyed -by the burgesses of the Borough by the Charter of the Lord Athelstan, of -famous memory, King of England, is the right to hold one fair in the -year. The date of the fair was anciently July 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and -24th, as appears from the following regulations, which were in force for -a long period:— - - 1st. The fair shall continue for four days, viz., on the eve and the - day of the blessed Mary Magdalene and the two next days following. - - 2nd. The whole soil of Boutport Street and the other streets within - the said Borough belongs to the Mayor and Comonaltie of the said - Borough during the fair and until 12 o’clock at noon on the day - afterwards. - - 3rd. The said Mayor and Comonaltie may set and demise the said soil - one day before the eve of the said fair, and have the whole profits of - the said fair and the bailiff of the said Borough shall collect and - receive the same. - - 4th. Also they shall there have the cognizance of Pleas and a court of - Pie Poudre, as incident to all fairs. - -[Illustration - - _From a Lithograph_] [_by J. Powell._ - QUEEN ANNE’S WALK AND THE QUAY, BARNSTAPLE. - -] - -The time for holding the fair was changed subsequently, probably during -the reign of King James I., the new regulations being as follows:— - - If the 19th of September be on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, the - fair shall finish on the following Saturday night, but if on either of - the three subsequent days it shall be allowed to continue until Friday - in the next week. - -Another change was made in the year 1852, the fair being then fixed to -commence on the Wednesday nearest to September 19th, and to continue for -the two days following only, and this is the present regulation -respecting its date and duration. By the latest arrangement the dealings -in horses and ponies are limited to Thursday, the second day, the first -being still devoted to the sale of cattle and sheep, and the third being -_par excellence_ the pleasure day, although the shows, swings, “horses,” -and other attractions, and the stalls, do a great trade on the other -days also. - -The place for holding the fair has also been changed. A century ago the -cattle were disposed of in Boutport Street, the horses in the North -Walk, and the shows and stalls for pleasure-seekers were located in the -Square. For a few years, about 1880, the cattle and sheep were placed in -Victoria Road, but by the present arrangement the cattle and sheep are -disposed of in the Cattle Market, the horses in the Strand, and the -pleasure-seekers find their shows and other attractions in the North -Walk. It has already been mentioned that the cattle and sheep now sold, -though still many, are not so many as in the old days when Barnstaple -fair was the only event of the kind in North Devon. In the year 1824, it -was recorded that 1,440 bullocks were driven in by the northern entrance -into the town, over Pilton Bridge, of which not 300 were driven out by -that road, and of these more than half were sold, and that it was -calculated that £20,000 was expended in the purchase of cattle. - -In the Borough Records we have accounts of the sales of horses and -cattle at an early period, which are interesting as showing the mode in -which security was given by the purchasers and the prices paid. The -following are extracts from these records:— - - Barnestaple. The register of horses and mares bought, sold and - exchanged in the ffayre there holden on the feast day of the Nativitie - of our blessed Virgin Mary, the 8th day of September [O.S.] in the - fowerth yeare of our Sov’eigne Lord Charles, by the grace of God of - England, France and Ireland King, defender of the faith, &c. - - [Tolls] For every horse, mare, or colt 8d., viz., for record 4d. and - for custome 2d. apiece of the buyer & seller. - - For every bullock 2d., viz., 1d. a piece of the buyer and seller; for - every pigg 1d. a peece; for every calf 1d. a peece. - - Abraham Hearson, of Tawton, sold unto one William Earle of Biddiford, - one black mare, with a hitch in the near ear, Price 33sh, John Dillon - knoweth the seller. - - Henry Puggesley, of Bratton, sold unto Walter Thomas, of South Malton, - one little bay nagge, with a square halfpenny under the farther ear, - Price 27 sh. The parties know each other. - - William Blake, of Chiltenhampton sold unto John Ballamey of Stover a - bay mare with a halfpenny and a slit in the neare eare. Price 43sh. - 4d. Roger Blake of Chittington, knoweth the seller. - - William Barber, of Instowe sold unto Thomas Axford, of Lifton one bay - mare with a spade in the further eare, Price 33sh. 4d. Amos Ford - knoweth the seller. - - Matthewe Brooke of Clovelly sold unto John Pine of Burrington one - little sorell nagge, toope cut in the neare eare & a slitt in the - farther, price 54sh. 8d. Hugh Dennis Upoostree knoweth the seller. - - John Bellamy of Stooerd exchanged with John Ruddicliffe of Bishopp - Nimpton one pinshutt nagge colour blacke for a little blacke nagge, - top cut in the farther eare & a ob, [halfpenny] in the neare. John - Bellamey giveth 13sh. 4d. to boote. - - Arthur Serjante of Kirchbe in Lancaster sold unto Richard Chapple of - Ilfarcombe in the County of Devon one greye geldinge snipt in the - bottome of both eares. Price £3 2s. 6d. The parties know each other. - - Thomas England of Bristoll sold unto Richard Lyssett of Newport, one - browne baye mare top cutt in the neare eare. Price 10sh. - -The total number of horses disposed of at this fair was 44, while 6 were -exchanged; the prices of two are not given; the remaining 36 average £2 -0s. 0½d. each, the highest price paid being £4 5s. for “one bay nagge,” -and the lowest 10s. for the bay mare sold by the Bristol dealer. - -At fairs in other years the business done in horses was as follows:— - - Average price. - No. of horses sold. £ s. d. - 1629 39 2 9 8 - 1630 97 2 9 9 - 1631 60 2 19 8½ - 1632 26 2 16 2 - 1633 33 3 5 0 - 1634 29 2 18 0 - 1635 21 2 1 10 - 1636 17 2 15 7 - 1637 22 2 19 1 - 1638 31 2 18 0 - 1639 36 2 14 0 - 1641 9 2 14 5 - 1642 3 — - 1643 2 1 15 6 - 1647 46 4 3 4 - 1648 5 2 14 0 - 1649 37 3 15 10 - 1650 17 4 5 8 - 1651 12 3 16 0 - -The absence of sales during the years 1644–46, and the small number -disposed of in 1641–3, may be accounted for by the following entry in -the Parish Register:— - - 1647. The Regester of the Towne and Burrough of Barnestaple, by the - cause of the troubles and the contagion [plague] was not kept from the - year anno 1642 till the year anno 1647. - -The following prices were realized for cattle sold at the various fairs -mentioned above:— - -8 heifers, black like, price £30 10s. 0d. -2 black oxen, topp cutt on farther eare. Price £13. -2 heifers and 1 steward. Price £6 13s. 4d. -1 red ox. Price £4 3s. 4d. -2 oxen. Price £10. - -The opening of the fair takes place with the ceremonies which have -attended it for many generations. On the morning of the first day a -large stuffed glove, fixed at the end of a pole, is displayed from a -window of the Guildhall, having before the year 1852 been exhibited from -the west corner of the Quay Hall, which was demolished in that year to -widen the street and quay, and which had been, until the dissolution of -religious houses by Henry VIII., an ecclesiastical building, known as -St. Nicholas’ Chapel. In the Receiver’s accounts for 1615 occurs the -entry:— - - Paid for a glove put out at the fair, 4d.; - -and in those for 1622:— - - Paid for a paire of gloves at the faire 4d. - -Another entry in the same account being:— - - Paid for candles to hange by a bull that was not beaten, - -from which it may be inferred that bull-baiting was one of the -amusements provided for visitors. The display of the glove is usually -considered to be a symbol of the welcome extended to all comers. In the -Guildhall meanwhile the sergeants-at-mace are busy preparing for all -comers who care to partake of it the toast and spiced ale, the latter -according to a recipe handed down for centuries. With this ale are -filled the handsome flagons belonging to the Corporation, and the loving -cups charged from them are passed round to the assembled guests. A few -toasts are then given, among them that of “The Ladies,” the response to -which often affords a good deal of amusement, for humorous Mayors have -been known to astonish a bachelor in the company, sometimes “a young man -from the country,” by calling upon him to respond; and while some -orators have passed the ordeal successfully, others have found the -situation an embarrassing one. The speeches ended, and the toast and ale -consumed, about noon a procession of the Mayor, Corporation, and -officials is formed, and, escorted by a large crowd of on-lookers, the -Town Clerk reads the following proclamation at the High Cross and other -places in the Borough:— - - =Proclamation for the Fair.= - - THE MAYOR of this BOROUGH doth hereby give notice that there is a FREE - FAIR within this Borough for all manner of persons to BUY and SELL - within the same which fair begins on this day WEDNESDAY the - and shall continue until 12 o’clock on the night of FRIDAY next the - instant during which time the Mayor chargeth and commandeth on - HIS MAJESTY’S behalf all manner of persons repairing to this TOWN and - FAIR do keep the KING’S PEACE. - - AND that all BUYERS and SELLERS to deal justly and truly and do use - true WEIGHTS AND MEASURES and that they duly pay their TOLL, STALLAGE - and other DUTIES upon pain that shall fall thereon - - AND if any OFFENCES INJURY or WRONG shall be committed or done by or - to any person or persons within this TOWN FAIR and LIBERTY the same - shall be redressed according to JUSTICE and the LAWS of this REALM - - DATED this day of September 190 - - =God Save the King.= - -In the olden time it was the custom to have a stag hunt on the second -day, and the “fair ball” is still, and has long been, kept up. It was -formerly the practice for many tradesmen to keep open house during the -fair, of which practice some of their customers took very liberal -advantage. Calling on one shopkeeper to pay a small account, they and -members of their family who accompanied them would enjoy a hearty meal, -and after an hour or two in the fair would repeat the proceeding with -another, and sometimes with a third. This has now been put a stop to by -the reduction of profits, through the competition brought about by the -advent of Co-operative Societies and Companies, and other causes. Not -only have the glories of Barnstaple fair been celebrated in prose, but -the poet has sung of them, and this sketch may be appropriately -concluded by giving one of the compositions that used to be sung:— - - =BARNSTAPLE FAIR.= - - Oh! Devonshire’s a noble county, full of lovely views, miss! - And full of gallant gentlemen, for you to pick and choose, miss! - But search the towns all round about there’s nothing can compare, miss! - In measurement of merriment, with Barnstaple Fair, miss! - Then sing of Barum, merry town, and Barum’s merry Mayor too, - I know no place in all the world old Barum to compare to! - - There’s nothing happens in the year but happens at our fair, sir! - ’Tis then that everything abounds, that’s either new or rare, sir! - The Misses make their start in life its gaieties to share, sir! - And ladies look for beaux and balls to Barnstaple Fair, sir! - Then sing of Barum, merry town, and Barum’s worthy Mayor too, - I know no place in all the world old Barum to compare to! - - The little boys and girls at school their nicest clothes prepare, ma’am! - To walk the streets and buy sweetmeats and gingerbread so rare, ma’am! - Their prime delight’s to see the sights that ornament our square, ma’am! - When Powell brings his spangled troop to Barnstaple Fair, ma’am! - Then sing of Barum, merry town, and our indulgent Mayor too, - I know no place in all the world old Barum to compare to! - - If milk be scarce though grass be plenty, don’t complain too soon, dame! - For that will very often happen in the month of June, dame! - Though cows run dry while grass runs high, you never need despair, dame! - The cows will calve, and milk you’ll have, to Barnstaple Fair, dame! - Then sing of Barum, wealthy town, and its productive Fair too, - And drink “the corporation, and the head of it, the Mayor too.” - - If pigeons’ wings are plucked, and peacocks’ tails refuse to grow, - friend! - In spring; you may depend upon’t in autumn they will shew, friend! - If feathers hang about your fowls in drooping style and spare, friend! - Both cocks and hens will get their pens to Barnstaple Fair, friend! - Then, friend leave off your wig, and Barum’s privileges share too, - Where everything grows once a year, wing-feathers, tails and hair, - too! - - If winter wear and summer dust call out for paint and putty, sir! - And Newport coals in open grates make paper-hangings smutty, sir! - And rusty shops and houses fronts most sadly want repair, sir! - Both shops and houses will be smart, to Barnstaple Fair, sir! - And Barum is a handsome town, and every day improving, sir! - Then drink to all who study its improvement to keep moving, sir! - - - King George the Third rode out of Staines, the hounds to lay the stag - on; - But that was no great thing of sport for mighty kings to brag on; - The French, alas! go _à la chasse_ in _von po shay_ and pair; - But what’s all that to Button Hill? to Barnstaple Fair? - For we will all a hunting go, on horse, or mule, or mare, sir! - For everything is in the field to Barnstaple Fair, sir! - - To Button Hill, whose name to all the sporting world sure known is, - Go bits of blood, and hunters, hacks, and little Exmoor ponies; - When lords, and ladies, doctors, parsons, farmers, squires, prepare - To hunt the stag, with hound and horn, to Barnstaple Fair. - Then up and ride for Chillam Bridge or on to Bratton Town, sir! - To view the rouse, or watch the yeo, to see the stag come down, sir! - - There’s nothing else in jollity, and hospitable fare, sir! - That ever can with Barnstaple, in Fair time, compare, sir! - And guests are very welcome hospitality to share, sir! - For beer is brew’d, and beef is brought, to Barnstaple Fair, sir! - Then sing of merry England, and roast beef, old English fare, sir! - A bumper to “the town and trade of Barum and its Mayor,” sir! - - Boiled beef, roast beef, squab pie, pear pie, and figgy pudding plenty, - When eight or nine sit down to dine, they’ll find enough for twenty; - And after dinner, for dessert, the choicest fruits you’ll share, sir! - E’en walnuts come from Somerset, to Barnstaple Fair, sir! - Then sing of Barum, jolly town, and Barum’s jolly Mayor too, - No town in England can be found, old Barum to compare to. - - I will not sing of Bullock Fair, and brutes whose horrid trade is, - To make us shut our window blinds, and block up all the ladies: - Nor of the North Walk rush and crush, where fools at horses stare, sir! - When Mister Murray brings his nags to Barnstaple Fair, sir! - But sing of Barum, jolly town, and Barum’s jolly Mayor too, - No town in England can be found old Barum to compare to. - - The ball one night, the play the next, with private parties numerous; - Prove Barnstaple people’s endless efforts, sir, to humour us; - And endless, too, would be my song if I should now declare - All the gaieties, and rarities, of Barnstaple Fair. - Then loudly sing, God save the King, and long may Barum thrive, O! - May we all live to see the Fair, and then be all alive, O! - - - - - TIVERTON AS A POCKET BOROUGH. - - BY THE EDITOR. - - -Towards the close of the year 1903 the Earl of Harrowby generously -presented to the Mayor and Corporation of Tiverton a very complete -collection of manuscripts carefully preserved by his ancestors and -relating to the Parliamentary connection between themselves and the old -Corporation of Tiverton, swept away by the municipal Reform Act of -1834–5. The general nature of the tie has long been known. It was a -political nexus binding privileged burgesses to an influential family, -and the sanction was interest. The motto might have been, on both sides, -_do ut des_, for, while there were many professions of personal -attachment, which may have been real, it was well understood that the -cornerstone of the whole edifice was mutual advantage. As the -connection, venal in origin, crystallized into permanence and -respectability, it lost something of its sordid character. Sentiments of -honour and loyalty, and even chivalric devotion, were spoken and -cultivated, but these were the accidents, the trimmings. The substance -remained what it had always been—reciprocal profit. All this was vaguely -familiar to the present generation of townspeople, to whom traditions of -the _ancien régime_ had descended from their forefathers, but the -arrival of twenty-six stout files, crowded with an infinite variety of -curious particulars, has made an evident change in the situation. We no -longer behold through the dark windows of distorted memory. Now at last -we see face to face; and for the authors of some of those “human -documents” the Day of Doom would have already dawned, but for the screen -of their own insignificance, which incriminating papers may remove, but -the discretion of the censor at once re-erects. - -[Illustration - - _From a Lithograph_] [_by W. Spreat, Jun._ - ST. PETER’S CHURCH, TIVERTON. - -] - -Before we speak of Tiverton as an appanage of the Ryders, it will be -desirable to glance at the subject of pocket boroughs in general. There -are no pocket boroughs or rotten boroughs now, and readers who have -bestowed no special attention on political or constitutional -developments, may be glad of some measure of illumination as to their -rise and their place in the representative system of England. An -impression formerly prevailed that the institution dated from the great -Revolution, but this, it will be easy to show, was a fallacy. It was -much older. On the other hand, the pocket-borough was never substituted -by the arbitrary action of the Crown for the open borough, although it -was the settled belief of many of the inhabitants of Tiverton that under -the provisions of that mighty instrument, Magna Carta, the right of -returning members had been inalienably secured to them, and the -circumstance that this right was in fact exercised by neighbouring -towns, like Barnstaple and Taunton, was considered proof that the local -potwallers, or potwallopers, were the victims of invidious and illegal -discrimination. “Magna Carta,” said Sir Edward Coke, “is such a fellow -that he will not fear an equal”; and if it had been true that open -voting in the boroughs had been promulgated as the law of the land after -Runnymede, it has been judicially determined that no departure from that -principle, brought about by the use of the Royal prerogative or by any -other means, would have been recognized as valid. The terms of Magna -Carta, however, do not countenance the view that the burgesses of any -given town became entitled at their own option to send deputies to -Parliament, or that universal suffrage was the rule. On the contrary, -Parliamentary representation had at that time no existence either in -theory or in practice. The Commons were simply tenants _in capite_ of -the Crown. After 1265, no doubt, elections began to be held, and many -little places were summoned to return members, who received salaries -from their constituencies in payment of their services. This charge -rendered the honour a costly burden, and Edward I., one of the wisest of -our princes, varied the direction of the writs so as to distribute the -maintenance of the new third estate over as wide an area as possible. -The towns themselves did not greatly value the franchise, and, in many -instances, petitioned to be relieved of the dubious privilege. It seems -unquestionable that the mere receipt of an occasional summons did not -create or confirm any inherent or indefeasible right of unbroken -representation, nor do we meet with any attempt to institute such a -system until the days of the Reformation, when a new spirit invaded the -country and the Commons, as a branch of the Legislature, made rapid -strides in numbers and importance. - -Then it was that the lawyers of the Inns of Court, many of them Puritan -in sympathy, disinterred the ancient records, and, on the strength of -one or two summonses, insisted that such demesne towns, some mere -villages, were boroughs by prescription, and as such possessed the right -to send representatives to Parliament for all time. The consequence was -that about thirty towns, in which great men at Court had an interest, -resumed their lapsed privileges, and by the reign of Queen Elizabeth the -Lower House had received an accession of sixty fresh members. This seems -to have been brought about in the first instance by the sheriffs sending -precepts to the places in question, and although in the thirteenth year -of Elizabeth a debate took place regarding the admission of members from -towns not hitherto represented, the practice was not seriously -challenged owing to the efficient patronage and protection of the -courtiers before named. In subsequent reigns the Commons themselves -proceeded to enlarge their body. James I., indeed, talked of reform, but -that pedantic monarch, far from checking the growth of the borough -system, was the very sovereign to whom Tiverton was indebted for its -charter. - -The small borough, in the nature of things, tended to become a -pocket-borough. In the reign of Elizabeth the Earl of Leicester “owned” -the town of Andover; and the degree to which this form of property was -stretched is amusingly illustrated by the well-known story of Ann -Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, who lived in the days of the Merry -Monarch. The Secretary of State, Sir Joseph Williamson, had sent her a -letter in which he named a particular candidate for her borough of -Appleby. Incensed at this presumption, the haughty dame returned the -following reply: “I have been bullied by an usurper, I have been -neglected by a court, but I will not be dictated to by a subject. Your -man shan’t stand.” - -The system, it goes without saying, lent itself to numberless kinds of -abuse. It has been stated that at one period a mistress of the King of -France acquired some borough, and that the Nabob of Arcot was able to -secure the return of seven or eight members, all pledged to his -interest. These assertions may be true or they may not, but the -possibility of such anomalies did not deter apologists from affirming -that the system was not by any means an unmixed evil. - - A splendid senate, too, requires the gay ornamental parts, a sort of - shining plumage. The witty, the ingenious, the elegant, should be - represented. They were faithfully represented in our time by a - Sheridan, a Hare, a Fitzpatrick. Would a young adventurer, as Sheridan - was at his entrance in life, have attracted the eyes of the crowd? - Would the attic Hare or courtly Fitzpatrick have contended at a scene - like the Westminster election? We might have lost not only them, but - even the philosophic eloquence of Burke if all the returns were to - proceed from the crowd.—(George Moore, _History of the British - Revolution_, p. 341.) - -This brief sketch will perhaps suffice as an explanation of the origin -and character of the borough system in general. Let us now turn to the -case of Tiverton in particular. As has been intimated, many of the -inhabitants believed that Tiverton was a borough by prescription, and -that accordingly the crown could not by its charter limit the right of -election to members of the corporate body alone. Naturally the evidence -relied on was that of State papers. An inquisition _post mortem_ a^o 51 -Edw. III. sets out the extent and value of the manor and borough, from -which it appears that the two were distinct as to rents and services, -and that each had a separate court. By Letters Patent a^o 1 Edw. IV., -the King grants the manor, borough and hundred to Humphry Stafford, -Knight, in special tail without any other description. These data are -obviously insufficient, and search was made at the Rolls Chapel from the -thirty-third year of Henry VIII., the year of the earliest return to -Parliament extant since the reign of Edward IV. The result was not -satisfactory to the enthusiasts who instituted the inquiry, the first -return discovered being that of 18 James I., when John Bamfylde and John -Davye, Esqrs., were returned by indenture dated the 20th December, by -the Mayor, capital burgesses, and assistants. It may be added that in -Prynne’s _Brevia Parliamentaria_ there occurs no mention of Tiverton, -which, on all these grounds, can hardly have been a borough in the sense -desired. - -Tiverton, then, we may take it as certain, did not enjoy the right of -returning members until the thirteenth year of the reign of James I., -when the Mayor, Capital Burgesses, Assistant Burgesses of the town and -parish, or the major part of them, were empowered to choose and nominate -two discreet and sufficient men to be burgesses of the Parliament. The -charter was renewed in the same terms in the fourth year of James II., -and again in the reign of George II., so that we need feel no surprise -that, when the potwallopers from time to time threatened to assert their -supposed right, the members of the Common Council, assured of their -legal position, treated such vapourings with calm superiority. Until the -tidal wave of reform demolished the bulwarks of their monopoly, the -twenty-four were sole masters and arbiters. It was they who had the -right to decide who should sit in Parliament for the ancient town—they -and they alone. But how that right was exercised, if we except the bare -list of the Council’s nominees, there is for a long period no evidence -to show. - -However, there was always material for a deal, and in the former half of -the eighteenth century Tiverton already figures as a political -tied-house. The overlordship afterwards acquired by the Ryder family was -then vested in a politician of some note, who in 1728 was one of the -representatives of Tiverton, though the Parliamentary connection of his -house with Honiton was even closer and of much longer standing, lasting, -indeed, from 1640 to 1796. We allude to Sir William Yonge. Martin -Dunsford, the first real historian of Tiverton, describes him as “a -popular man and closely attached to the minister, Sir Robert Walpole,” -adding that he “had great influence over the leading members of the -Corporation of Tiverton, and generally directed their choice of -burgesses.” The same writer, referring to Sir Edward Montague and -Charles Gore, Esquire, who in 1761 held one of the seats successively, -makes bold to assert that “there is reason to believe these members were -never in Tiverton, but bargained for their seats at a distance either -with Sir William Yonge or with Oliver Peard, Esq., the _primum mobile_, -of the Corporation.” With regard to the former, there is clearly some -misapprehension, as he had died in 1755, but the tradition that this -eminent Devonshire worthy was dictator at Tiverton must have rested on a -solid foundation. It behoves us, therefore, to render some further -account of him. - -In the course of his successful career Sir William, who was the fourth -holder of the baronetcy, became one of the Lords of the Treasury, and on -the restoration of the order in 1725, was created a Knight of the Bath. -Subsequently he was appointed Secretary at War and Privy Councillor, and -over and above these political distinctions, was entitled to write after -his name the honourable symbols LL.D. and F.R.S. As Dunsford implies, he -was a great personal friend of Walpole, and his support was of -inestimable value to that statesman, “the glory of the Whigs.” Outside -the house he does not appear to have counted (save, of course, in -Devonshire), but inside, partly by reason of his high ability, and -partly on account of his voice, which is stated to have been peculiarly -melodious, his speeches were eagerly listened to. One curious fact -preserved concerning him is that Sir Robert could speak from notes taken -by Yonge, and by no other. - -During the local supremacy of this statesman, and doubtless under his -auspices and sponsorship, there was introduced to the Corporation of -Tiverton a member of the Bar, Dudley Ryder, Esq., who in 1735 became -their representative. In 1741, the same gentleman, but now known as Sir -Dudley Ryder, Solicitor-General, was re-elected; and he continued to -hold the seat until 1754, when he was elevated to the great office of -Lord Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench. Mr. Nathaniel Thomas Ryder -succeeded him, but only for a short time, after which Mr. Nathaniel -Ryder occupied the seat, and remained one of the members till, in 1776, -he was called to the House of Lords by the title of Baron Harrowby. As -the Hon. Dudley Ryder was still an infant, Mr. John Wilmot was permitted -to fill the vacancy, but on the clear understanding that he would at the -proper time make way for Lord Harrowby’s son and heir. This condition -was eventually carried out in the most honourable manner, and, on the -part of Lord Harrowby, with a patriotic regard for the public interests. - -Thus, little by little and step by step, the Ryders firmly consolidated -their political influence in the town, and though only one of the seats -was claimed for a member of the family, the other seat also was -evidently at their disposal. This for a long series of years was -entrusted to the Duntzes, rich merchants of Exeter, who became baronets. -Apart from politics, the Ryders had no connection with Devonshire, which -they seldom visited, but Sir John Duntze, living at Rockbeare, and a -member of the Tiverton Corporation, was able to keep a watchful eye on -the local barometer, of whose subtle changes he (and most of his -colleagues) kept Lord Harrowby sedulously and punctually informed -through the post. On the other hand, poor Duntze, a perfect martyr to -rheumatism, experienced, owing to the exposure of the long journey by -coach, considerable difficulty in attending to his Parliamentary duties, -and for practical purposes Lord Harrowby, or his nominee, was the London -agent of the Tiverton Corporation. From the point of view of convenience -no arrangement could have been happier. - -The above remarks apply to the first Lord Harrowby and the first Sir -John Duntze. The second Lord Harrowby, after a distinguished official -career, was advanced to the dignity of an earldom, and locally much -regret was expressed that he did not take his second title from the town -so long represented by his grandfather, his father, and himself. Had -this been the case, the present Lord Chancellor, whose eldest son enjoys -the courtesy title of Viscount Tiverton, must have looked elsewhere for -a subsidiary territorial designation. The second Sir John Duntze lived -at Tiverton in a large house, which he either erected or restored for -himself in the centre of the town; and an old man named Court, who is -still alive, but almost totally blind, told me a year or two since of a -lively incident which he can remember as taking place in front of the -floridly decorated mansion. The potwallopers of the place, he said, -organized a torchlight procession, the principal feature of which was a -cavalcade of four-and-twenty bedizened donkeys. The point could not be -missed. The asses were aggressively emblematic of the “corporators,” and -their riders of the family of which Lord Harrowby was the head. - -In 1832, the Parliamentary connection ended with the passage of the -Reform Bill. The alliance had always been with the Corporation rather -than with the town, although many of the inhabitants, directly and -indirectly, had been repeatedly benefited by the generous consideration -of Lord Harrowby and his relations. There was, however, in the town a -strong body of malcontents numerous enough to carry their point, and a -potent counter-attraction had arisen in the person of Mr. John -Heathcoat, a resident manufacturer, whom his opponents derisively styled -“Lord Tiverton.” In view of these facts, Lord Harrowby’s friends felt it -their duty to notify him that no member or adherent of his family would -stand a chance of being returned at the approaching open election. The -members of the Common Council, loyal to the end, refused the least -countenance or support to any of the new candidates until his lordship’s -wishes had been disclosed, but the day of their predominance was already -past. Politically, the game was up. Both Lord Harrowby and his brother, -the Hon. Richard Ryder, consented to remain members of the Corporation, -but three years later the “iron hand of Parliament,” as the Town Clerk -expressed it, “terminated the long continuance and interchange of -friendly communications.” At present the chief, if not the sole -surviving, link between the family of Ryder and Tiverton is the large -share of the ecclesiastical patronage of the borough still in the hands -of Lord Harrowby. - -And now for the Ryder correspondence. The earliest letters appear to -date from the time when the Georgian lawyer was elevated to the bench -and the seat which he had occupied, no doubt to his immense advantage, -passed by inheritance to his son, then a young man fresh from college. -We have the very epistles written by the gentleman whom Dunsford so -grandly names “the _primum mobile_ of the Corporation,” congratulating -him on taking his master’s degree and absolving him from the unnecessary -trouble of a journey to the south in order to attend his cut-and-dried -election. A letter from Mr. Osmond acquaints him with the departure from -the town of a “pretty partner” whose lively manners had enhanced the -enjoyment of a visit, whilst the member for Tiverton was yet a callow -bachelor. Eight years later Mr. Ryder had joined the noble army of -Benedicks, and then we find Mrs. Peard afflicted with an unselfish -anxiety to gratify his lady with a fine collection of shells. - -Such pleasing gifts were the regular accompaniment and sweetener of the -more serious transactions, the graver obligations which formed the -mainstay of the connection. On the part of the members there was the -annual present of a pair of bucks for the municipal banquet, and one of -the oddest passages in this vast epistolary jungle is to be found in a -letter of Sir John Duntze, in which he informs his colleague that a -member of the Corporation, on bad terms with another member, announced -as the ostensible cause of the quarrel, that he had been improperly -helped to venison on the occasion of this important festival. Allusions -to the subject are so frequent and unctuous, that one is tempted to -conclude that in those gay, convivial days the yearly consignment of -venison was a more considerable factor in the case than we should now -deem possible. Thus, Mr. Mayor observes, with the distinctive air of a -man of the world:— - - We had on Thursday the Grand Dinner, when ninety-four gentlemen dined - with me, amongst whom was Sir Rich. Bampfylde and Mr. Ackland, eldest - son of Sir Thos. Ackland, who is going to be married to Sir Rich^d’s - second daughter, a most amiable lady. This is a very great alliance - for Sir Richard Bampfylde’s family, and will be the means of keeping - everything quiet in the county. - -This brings us to the topic of the social status of the Corporation, -which was comparatively high. Its critics, indeed, complained that it -included attornies, “very improper persons to be elected”; and the -members were frequently laughed at for “having Mayors in trade.” In -reply to this heavy indictment it was alleged by one of their number -that at least twenty-two out of the twenty-four had landed property -either in the town or in the parish. This was in 1831. In the reign of -William and Mary the “burgesses” are described some as esquires, others -as merchants, and one or two as yeomen; and this standard, there is -reason to think, was consistently maintained. Tiverton, it may be well -to say, was for centuries an important centre of the woollen trade. -Instead of one big factory, as now, for the production of lace, there -were many modest firms engaged in the manufacture and sale of serges, -etc., and consequently the Common Council was, above all things, the -valued preserve of families enriched by commerce, some of whom had -acquired all the attributes of gentle birth and breeding. Mr. Worth, of -Worth, and Mr. Cruwys, of Cruwys Morchard, belonged to two of the oldest -families of Devon, and an ancestor of the former had sat in Parliament -for Tiverton in days when the choice of members was apparently free and -unfettered. With such the Ryders corresponded in the most genial, -unaffected, and friendly way, and, in their somewhat infrequent visits -to the place, were glad to accept their hospitality. They would, for -instance, occasionally stay with Mr. Dickinson, of Knightshayes, an -ancestor of the present Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Sir W. H. -Walrond), and once, at least, Air. George Owen, of Lowman Green, was -honoured by a surprise visit from the younger nobleman. - -In the year 1808, this second Lord Harrowby condescended to be Mayor—a -concession which resulted in a somewhat diverting misconception. It -appears that a Barnstaple correspondent, interested in the working of -the mails, had written to him in the belief that he was a “common or -garden” mayor—a plain Mr. Mayor. His consternation on learning the truth -does not need to be imagined, for he has pictured it himself:— - - I was much mortified at my ignorance at the receipt of your Lordship’s - letter, for which I beg to apologize. Far from having the least idea - that the Corporation of Tiverton was so highly respected and had the - Honor of a Nobleman of your Lordship’s High Rank for Mayor, I - naturally concluded it to be an open borough like Barnstaple. - -Lord Harrowby was coached for the inaugural ceremonies by the cousins -Wood, the elder of whom, Mr. Beavis Wood, who long filled the office of -Town Clerk, was by far the shrewdest of the Ryders’ multitudinous -correspondents. Even now his clever, incisive letters, lit up with many -a happy jest, are a pleasure to peruse, and neither in his earlier nor -in his later ones was he inclined to spare the feelings and -eccentricities of those with whom his lot was cast. Thus, on August 5th, -1808, he writes:— - - The Mayor now again produced your Lordship’s Letter, desiring to know - the answer they might [deem?] it proper for him to give to it, when - they unanimously acknowledged your Lordship’s kind offer, and gladly - consented to embrace it, and elect you Mayor for the ensuing year. The - Business being unanimous, to be sure on that account from such an - offer it must be pleasant; but those assembled on this occasion did - not look like _old Christians_ in old Times at previous meetings on - such occasions. Twelve o’clock by Day is always a dull, dry time, when - old Tiverton aldermen never met to do chearful Business, as they could - not fix their Nominee by drinking his Health. Father Tucker gave the - Company a Hint of it, but it had no effect. I suppose as those of the - Junta are now under pantile Influence, and have turned their Backs on - our Lord Bishop, they will leave off drinking wine, unless when quite - by themselves. - -_Tempora mutantur._ Of the old times and the old Christians Mr. Wood had -told Lord Harrowby not a few entertaining stories, which are still -preserved in his faded but excellent handwriting. Possibly at some -future date they may be printed for the benefit of students of human -nature, together with extracts from other correspondence, but with one -more specimen of his admirable humour this paper must be brought to a -close. - - Sept. 17, 1775. - - This afternoon according to the usual Custom the Corporation attended - the new Mayor to Church, but before the Procession moved from the Town - House, there happened a very unseasonable altercation and Dispute - between Mr. Osmond, Mr. Mayor, and Mr. Lewis about the priority of - reading the newspapers which are sent here directed to you. For since - the late spite commenced, and almost during the whole of Mr. Lewis’s - Mayoralty, care has been taken to prevent the newspapers coming to Mr. - Osmond’s hands, and they have been sent about to persons out of the - Corporation. Words grew high and rough, and this mad Trio did not end - ’till each had called the other a damned Liar. Mr. Atherton[28] was - present, and being met to go to church, the Magistrates recollected - themselves, and after their return from prayers they looked at one - another as quietly as if nothing had happened. - ------ - -Footnote 28: - - The Rev. Philip Atherton, M.A., Headmaster of Blundell’s School, and a - member of the Corporation. - ------ - - - INDEX - - - Abbey of St. Rumon, Tavistock, 5, 73. - Abbot of Buckfast, former town house of, 68. - Abbot of Tavistock, Aldred, 118. - ” ” Banham, John, 119. - ” ” Campbell, John, 118. - ” ” Chubbe, John, 118. - ” ” Cullyng, Thomas, 118. - ” ” de Courtenay, John, 118. - ” ” Denyngton, John, 119. - ” ” Langdon, Stephen, 119. - ” ” Lyfing, 118. - ” ” Peryn, John, 119. - Abbot Sithric, last Saxon Abbot of Tavistock, 8. - Adelaide, Queen, at “Clarence,” Exeter, 76. - Adye, Rev. Frederick, Romance of, 203. - Albemarle, George Monk, Duke of, 133. - Alexander, Plans of Mr. David, 201. - Alfred the Great, Relief of Exeter by, 4. - Amicia, Countess of Devon, 48. - Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall, 177. - Annals of Chagford, 10. - Apollo Room, New Inn, Exeter, 67-69. - Archbishop of Canterbury, William Courtenay, 50. - Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Temple, 60. - Armada, Coming of the, 93. - ” Fight with the, 92. - Arms of Sir George Treby, Plympton Guildhall, 195. - Arundel, Sir Humphrey, 11, 82, 83. - Asser, Saxon Chronicle of, 4. - Athelstan, Charter to Barnstaple from King, 276. - ” Drives Britons out of Exeter, 3. - Athos, Founder of illustrious family, 34. - Attack on Pensaulcoit, 3. - - Babb, Lieutenant Colonel, 261. - ” ” ” Tablet of, 262. - Babbage, Charles, famous mathematician, 166. - Babbage, Miss Juliana, 166. - Ball, Barnstaple Fair, 281. - Barclay, Alexander, “Stultifera Navis” of, 211. - Barnstaple Borough, 295. - ” ” Charter to, 276. - ” ” records, 278. - ” Fair, 276, 281, 284. - ” poem on, 282. - ” Guildhall, 280. - ” Quay Hall, 280. - Baronet, First Devonshire, 71. - Baskerville, Sir Simon, Mural tablet of, 65. - Bastard, Mr. William, of Kitley, 255. - Battle of Stratton, 105. - ” ” Steinkirk, 113. - “Bear Inn,” The, Exeter, 73. - Bearne, Story of Miss Joan, 175. - Beaufort, Duke of, 256. - Beer, Harbour construction at, 274. - ” birthplace of Jack Rattenbury, 264. - ” return to, of Jack Rattenbury, 268, 269. - ” to Thorverton Canal, 274. - Bercle, David, Prior of Plympton, 186. - Berry Pomeroy, Sir Edward Seymour of, 71. - Bideford, Importance of, 9. - Bishop of Exeter, Peter Courtenay, 56. - Black Prince, Relations of Exeter with the, 8. - Blake, Admiral, Death of, 95. - ” ” Pursuit of Van Tromp, 112. - Blewitt, account of the landing of the Prince of Orange, 161–163. - Blewitt, “Panorama of Torquay,” 172. - “Bob’s Nose” headland, 273. - Boger, Mr. Deeble, Recorder of Plympton, 192. - Bompas, cross-examination by Mr. Sergeant, 275. - Bonville, Lady Cicely, 210. - Bray, Mrs., description of Druidic remains, 2. - Bray, Mrs., Local tales of, 116. - “Brevia Parliamentaria,” Prynne’s, 287. - British Revolution, George Moore’s History of the, 287. - Brooke, Christopher, 123. - Browne, William, Tavistock poet, 117–212. - Brutus, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. - ” Stone, 24. - Brut, Tysilio, 23. - ” Gr. ab Arthur, 23. - Buller, Francis, puisne judge, 214. - Burnet, Dr., proclamation of the Prince of Orange, 17, 174. - Burritt, reminiscences of Elihu, 94. - Butler, Samuel, caricaturist in verse, 218. - - Cadhay, Ottery St. Mary, 213. - Caer, Pensauelcoit, 31. - Canal, Beer to Thorverton, 274. - Canterbury, William Courtenay, Archbishop of, 50. - Canute, 4. - Captain Cook, departure from Plymouth, 96. - Capture of Jack Rattenbury by French privateer, 266. - Cardinal Reginald Pole, 52. - Carew, Sir Peter, 11, 70, 83. - ” Sir Gawen, 11, 70, 83. - Carew’s “Survey of Cornwall,” 27. - Cargoes from Cherbourg, 273. - Cary, Colonel, 261. - Castle of Rougemont, 8. - ” Plympton, 177, 178. - ” Salcombe, 15. - Cathedral, ancient, of Cornwall, 177. - Catskin Earls, Origin of, 59. - Catullus, 145. - Chagford, Annals of, 10. - Chancellor, Earl of Halsbury, present Lord, 291. - ” of the Duchy of Lancaster, present, 294. - Chanters House, quarters of Sir Thomas Fairfax, 213. - Chapel at Ottery St. Mary, Independent, 214. - Charles I., King, 94. - ” Lord Lansdowne, 112. - Cherbourg, cargoes from, 273. - Chronicle of Higden, 31. - Church, Colyton, Effigy of Lady Pole in, 244. - Church, Plympton Town, 190. - ” ” St. Mary, 189. - ” St. Germans, 177. - Churchyard, ring of Mary, 164. - “Clarence” Inn, Exeter, 74. - ” ” ” Duchess of Clarence at the, 76. - Clinton, Captain Lord, 253. - Close, house in the, 68. - Cluobrera, Gabriello, the Pindar of Italy, 222. - Clyst St. Mary, 85. - Coke, Sir Edward, on Magna Carta, 285. - Coleridge, Rev. John, 212, 214. - ” ” George, 212. - ” ” Samuel Taylor, Birthplace of, 214. - Collection of manuscripts, 284. - College of Ottery St. Mary, 211. - Collins, Mary, maid to Mrs. Bray, 117. - Collins, Rev. Robert, Nonconformist leader, 213, 214. - Comte de Chambord, Funeral of the, 46. - Consort, late Prince, visit to the Duchy Estates, 208. - Convention Room, 213. - Convict Settlement, Formation of, 208. - Coplestone Cross, 7. - Coplestones of White Spur, Race of the, 7. - Corinæus, 25. - ” Rule of, 20. - ” Combat of, 21. - Cosmo III., Grand Duke of Tuscany, 68. - Cottenham, First Earl of, 58, 61, 62. - Cotton, R. W., on Barnstaple, 132. - Courtenay, Baronetcy refused by family of, 57. - ” Barony refused by family of, 57. - ” Edward, 53–55. - ” Edward Baldwin, 12th Earl of Devon, 61. - ” Henry, 80. - ” Henry Hugh, 13th Earl of Devon, 61, 89. - ” Henry Reginald, Lord, 61. - ” John, 50. - ” Lord, 260. - ” Made Viscount, 57. - ” Peter, Bishop of Exeter, 56, 183. - ” Philip, 49. - ” Sir Hugh, 49, 180. - ” Sir William, 51. - ” Sir William of Powderham, 56, 122, 172. - ” Thomas, 80. - ” William, 9th Earl of Devon, 59. - ” William, 10th Earl of Devon, 59. - ” William Reginald, 11th Earl of Devon, 60. - Courtneie, Sir Peter, Sheriff of Exeter, 83. - Coverdale, Myles, 77. - ” translator of the Bible, 169. - Crediton, town of, 6, 83. - Crockern Tor Parliament, 9. - Cynewulf, King of Wessex, 3. - Cruwys, Mr., of Cruwys Morchard—old Devon family, 294. - - Danes at Exmouth, 4. - Dartmoor, King Edgar on, 6. - ” Pre-historic Remains on, 1. - ” Rowe’s, 209. - Dartmouth Castle, Last Governor of, 167. - ” Charming, 9. - ” French Vessel taken at, 18. - ” Jail, 271. - ” Trade with Newfoundland, 12. - Davidson, J. B., of Secktor, 155. - Davy, Birthplace of Edward, 216. - Dean Bourn, 146. - ” Court, 143. - ” Prior, Village of, 141, 143. - Debrun, Ponce Denis, Pindar of France, 222. - de Courtenay, Baldwin, 43. - ” ” Jocelyn, 35, 39. - ” ” ” II., 36. - ” ” ” III., 37. - ” ” ” IV., 38. - ” ” Peter, 41. - ” ” Reginald, 39, 40. - ” ” Robert, 42. - ” ” William, 39. - de Courteney, John, Abbot of Tavistock, 118. - ” ” Reginald, 47. - ” ” Robert, 48. - de Grandisson, John, 80. - de Grenville, First Sir Richard, 99. - ” ” Sir Richard, Marshal of Calais, 99. - ” ” Sir Richard, Capture of Spanish Vessel, 100. - ” ” Sir Roger, sea captain, 99. - Delaney, letters of Mrs., 246. - Denyngton, John, Abbot of Tavistock, 118. - De Quincey, Anecdote of, 214. - Devon, Amicia, Countess of, 48. - ” Edward Baldwin, 12th Earl of, 61. - ” Edward, Earl of, 55. - ” Henry Hugh, 13th Earl of, 61, 89. - ” Notes to Risdon’s, 201. - ” William, 10th Earl of, 57. - ” William Reginald, 11th Earl of, 60. - Dickinson, Mr., of Knightshayes, 294. - Dodbrooke, birthplace of Dr. John Wolcot, 219. - Dodderidge, Effigy of Lady, 244. - “Dolphin” Inn at Exeter, 71, 72. - Dolvin Road, 124. - Dorot, Jean, a French Pindar, 222. - “Dover,” adventures of the, 264. - Drake, Sir Francis, 90, 91, 93, 192. - ” ” Statue of, 121. - Drayton, Michael, poet, 27, 123, 129, 213. - Drewe, John and Edward, of Killerton, 72. - Druids in Devon, 2. - Duchess of Clarence (afterwards Queen Adelaide) at Exeter, 76. - Duchy of Lancaster, present Chancellor of, 294. - Dugdale, copying register, 47. - Duke of Kent at Exeter, 76. - ” ” ” Death of, 19. - “Duke of Millaine,” Massinger’s, 130. - Duncan, Arrival in Exeter of Lord, 76. - Dunsford, Martin, historian of Tiverton, 289. - Duntze, family of, 291. - - Earl of Cottenham, Mr. Pepys, afterwards first, 58, 61, 62. - Earl Ethelwold, 5. - Earl of Harrowby’s present to Tiverton, 284. - Earl of Torrington, George Monk, 133. - Earls, Catskin, Origin of, 59. - Eastlake, First school of Sir Charles, 196. - Eddystone Lighthouse, Completion of, 95. - Edgar, King, 5. - Edith, Queen, 7. - Edward the Confessor, 7. - Edward I. varies direction of writs, 286. - Effigy of Lady Pole, 244. - ” ” ” Dodderidge, 244. - Elfrida, Loveliness of, 5. - Elizabeth, Queen, 239. - Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke Nicholas, afterwards, 76. - Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke, 128. - Ethelwolf, Saxon King, 181. - Evans, Poetry and prose of Miss Rachel, 117. - Exeter, 3, 85, 86. - ” Arrival of Lord Duncan at, 76. - ” “Bear Inn” at, 73, 233. - ” “Clarence” at, 74. - ” Danes at, 4. - ” “Dolphin Inn” at, 71, 72. - ” Free Republic of, 7. - ” Headquarters of the Danes at, 4. - ” Henry, first Marquis of, 51, 52. - ” History of, Jenkin’s, 73. - ” “Mermaid” Inn at, 69. - ” “New” Inn, 63–68. - ” Peter Courtenay, Bishop of, 56. - ” Royalist, 13. - ” Sieges of, 8, 10, 87. - ” William Warelwast, Bishop of, 182. - Exmouth, Danes at, 4. - - Fair ball, Barnstaple, 281. - Fair, poem on Barnstaple, 282. - Fairfax, Letter to Speaker from General, 136. - ” March to Great Torrington by General, 133. - ” Sir Thomas, 213. - ” Sir Thomas, Wonderful preservation of, 138. - Field, Mr. Barron, on Dean Prior, 153. - Firing of Teignmouth, 18. - First Earl of Cottenham, Pepys, afterwards, 58, 61, 62. - First Marquis of Exeter, 51. - Foote, Maria, celebrated actress, 75. - Former Town Mansion of Abbot of Buckfast, 68. - Fortescue, Lord, 256. - ” Lieutenant-Colonel, 260. - ” Sir Edmund, 14. - Freemasons, French, in England, 206. - Free Republic of Exeter, 7. - French landing at Torquay, 18. - French privateer, capture by, 266. - Froude on Sir Richard Grenville, 100. - Fuller on bone lace, 241. - - Geoffrey, of Monmouth, 21. - George III., Memorial to son of, 19. - ” ” Visit to Exeter, 233. - Gilbert, Adrian and Humphry, 12. - Glanville of Kilworthy, Judge, 124. - ” John, 125. - ” Sir Francis, 125. - Goegmagot, 25. - Gogmagog, 27, 28. - Grammar School of Plymouth, 197. - ” ” Kingsbridge, 223. - Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosmo III., 68. - ” ” Nicholas received by Samuel Foote, 76. - Grandisson, Bishop, 185, 210. - Granville, George, created Lord Lansdown, 114. - ” Lord of Potheridge, 112. - ” Sir Bevill, at Steinkirk, 113. - Gray, Monument of Thomas, 222. - Great Coplestones, race of, 7. - ” Torrington, Fight at, 133. - Grenville, Bevill, supporter of Charles I., 104. - ” ” knighted at Berwick, 105. - ” ” brother of Sir Richard, 122. - ” John, drowned, 104. - ” 2nd John, leads charge at Lansdown, 108. - ” 2nd John, knighted at Bristol, 110. - ” John, brother of Sir Bevill, Flight of, 122. - ” Sir John, flight to Scilly Isles, 111. - ” Sir Richard, 108. - ” 3rd Sir Richard, fight with Spanish at Flores, 103. - ” 3rd Sir Richard Death of, 104. - ” 4th Sir Richard, Death in exile of, 110. - “Greyhound,” lieutenant of the, 269. - Grosart, Mr., statement _re_ brasses, 142. - Guildhall, Barnstaple, 280. - - Hall, Barnstaple Quay, 280. - Hamoaze, The, 26. - Hamo’s, Port, 26. - Hanmer, Londonderry, 250. - Harbour construction at Beer, scheme for, 274. - Harris, Form of parole by Captain Vernon, 204. - Harris, Pamphlet by Captain Vernon, 203. - Harrowby, present Earl of, 284. - Harrowby, 1st Lord, 290–291, 295. - ” 2nd Lord, first Earl, 291. - Hawker, Sketch by late Reverend Treasurer, 232–234. - Hawkins, Sir John, 12, 92. - ” William, 12. - Haydon, Benjamin, last visit to Grammar School, 196. - Headland, “Bob’s Nose,” 273. - Heathcoat, Mr. John, “Lord Tiverton,” 292. - Hele, Sir John, distinguished lawyer, 192. - Henry Courtenay, first Marquis of Exeter, 51, 52. - Heydon, Curious certificate of Rev. John, 138, 139. - Higden, Chronicle of, 31. - Hill, Colonel, in Portugal, 251. - Historian of Tiverton, Martin Dunsford, 289. - History of Kingsbridge, 237. - ” ” Torquay, 172. - “History of the British Revolution,” George Moore’s, 287. - Hoker, John, _alias_ of John Vowell, 81. - Holdsworth, Governor of Dartmouth Castle, 167. - Honiton, 238. - ” Mrs. Lydia Maynard of, 243. - Hopton, Defeat of Lord, 133, 135. - Horace, 145. - Howard, Disposal of estates of Lady, 122. - ” Lord Thomas, 101. - ” Romance of Lady, 121. - - Ilfracombe, 9. - Independent Chapel, Ottery St. Mary, 214. - Ine, King of West Saxons, 3. - Ingelow, Jean, poem on Eddystone Lighthouse, 95. - Inns of Court, lawyers of, 286. - Inscriptions, Ogham, 6. - Isaacke, Chronicler, 8. - - Jail, Dartmouth, 271. - Jenkin’s History of Exeter, 73. - Johnson, Dr., on Inns, 63. - ” ” visit to Devonshire, 198. - Jonson, Ben, on Browne’s “Britannia’s Pastorals,” 124. - - Keats on Cider making, 146. - Kennicott, Dr., 214. - Kerslake, Mr. T., 30. - Killerton, John and Edward Drewe of, 72. - King Charles besieging Plymouth, 15. - ” Stephen, 8. - Kinglake, W., 215. - Kingsbridge Grammar School, 233. - King’s Grammar School, Ottery, 212. - Knightshayes, Mr. Dickinson of, 294. - - Lacy, Petition to Bishop, 184. - Lamb, Schoolfellow of Charles, 215. - Lancaster, ancestor of present Chancellor of Duchy of, 294. - Landing of the Prince of Orange, 16. - Langdon, Stephen, Abbot of Tavistock, 119. - Lansdown, Attack on Sir William Waller at, 107. - Lansdown, Charles, Lord, 112. - Larkham, Thomas, Puritan incumbent, 116. - Last Governor of Dartmouth Castle, Letter from, 167. - Late Prince Consort, visit to Dartmoor, 208. - Lawyers of Inns of Court, 286. - Leicester, Earl of, 287. - Leland on Plympton Castle, 178, 179, 181. - Leofric, Bishop, 7. - Letter to Dr. Oliver, 186. - Lieutenant of the “Greyhound,” enmity of, 269. - Lighthouse, First Eddystone, 95. - Lord Russell, 11. - Lowman Green, Tiverton, Mr. George Owen of, 294. - Lydford Law, Satire on, 128. - Lyte, Communication from Rev. H. F., 161. - Lyte, Rev. H. F., presentation to William IV., 162. - - Mackenzie, Colonel, 256. - Magna Carta, 285. - Manuscripts, collection of, 284 - Marquis of Worcester, 250. - Massinger’s “Duke of Millaine,” 130. - Maurice, Prince, 15. - ” ” at Chard, 107. - “Mayflower,” Sailing of the, 94. - Maynard, John, eminent townsman, 126. - ” Sir John, Lord Commissioner, 155. - ” Sir John, Recorder of Brixham, 156. - ” Sir John represents Plympton, 192. - ” of Honiton, Mrs. Lydia, 243. - “Mermaid” Inn at Exeter, 69. - Monk, George, Duke of Albemarle, in Scotland, 109. - Monk, George, Duke of Albemarle, Restoration of Charles II., 112, 133. - Monmouth Rebellion, 16. - Montgomery, Colonel, 251. - ” Lord, 250. - Monument to Sir William Strode, 190. - ” to Thomas Gray, 222. - Moore’s “History of the British Revolution,” 287. - “Mother Molly,” Miss Peard’s, 255. - Mural Tablet to Sir Simon Baskerville, 65. - - Napoleon on board the _Bellerophon_, 96. - Nennius, 22. - Newfoundland seized, 12. - “New Inn,” Exeter, 63–67. - ” ” ” Apollo room in the, 67–69. - ” ” ” “Inne Halle,” 66. - Norden, John, 79. - Northcote, Education of, 196. - ” Sir Stafford, 260. - Notes to Risdon’s “Devonshire,” 201. - - Offering to Richard III., 10. - Ogham Inscriptions, 6. - Oldham, Visitation to Plympton Priory by Bishop, 186. - Oliver, Dr., 69, 182, 183, 186. - ” ” Letter to, 186. - Opie, John, 228, 229, 237. - Orchard, Colonel, 256. - Ordulf, founder of St. Rumon’s Abbey, 5. - Owen, Mr. George, of Lowman Green, Tiverton, 294. - - Paignton, Bible Tower at, 169. - Palgrave, Sir Francis, Theory of, 4. - Palk, Captain Walter, 261. - “Panorama of Torquay,” Blewitt’s, 161, 172. - Parliament, Crockern Tor, 9. - Peard, Miss, 255. - Peeke, Exploits in Spain of Richard, 127. - Pembroke, Ann Clifford, Countess of, 287. - ” Epitaph on the Countess of, 128. - “Pendennis,” Thackeray’s, 215. - Pensaulcoit, Attack on, 3. - ” Caer, 31. - Penselwood, 31. - Perkin Warbeck, 11. - Perry-Keene, Rev., Vicar of Dean Prior, 141. - Peryn, John, Abbot of Tavistock, 119. - Peters, Hugh, Puritan preacher, 138. - Petre, Master William, 71. - Pindar, first lyric poet of Bœotia, 219. - Pindars, French and Italian, 222. - Pixie’s Parlour, 215. - Plato on birds, 144. - Plymouth, 12. - ” Port of, 89. - ” Siege of, 15, 25. - Plympton, 176. - ” Castle, 177, 178. - ” Grammar School, 196. - ” Guildhall, 195. - ” David Bercle, Prior of, 186. - ” Priory, 181, 182, 187. - ” St. Mary Church, 190. - ” Town Church, 190. - Pode, J. S., 256. - Poem, “Barnstaple Fair,” 282. - Pole, Cardinal Reginald, 52. - ” Effigy of Lady, 244. - ” Influence of Sir William, 274. - Polwhele, 2, 213. - “Polyolbion,” Drayton’s, 27. - Pomeroy, Sir Humphry, 11. - Port, Hamo’s, 26. - Port of Topsham, 9. - Poulain, Interesting book of Mons. Jules, 203. - Powderham, Sir William Courtenay of, 56. - Powderham, Viscount Courtenay of, 57. - Pre-historic Remains on Dartmoor, 1. - Present Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster, 294. - Prideaux, Colonel Sir Edmund, 262. - Prince Consort, the late, visit to Duchy Estates, 208. - ” Maurice, 15, 107. - ” of Orange, Landing of the, 16. - ” “Worthies of Devon,” 73. - Princess Henrietta Anne, born at Exeter, 13. - Privateer, capture by French, 266. - Privateering, 264. - Prynne’s “Brevia Parliamentaria,” 288. - Pym, John, 125. - - Quay Hall, Barnstaple, 280. - Queen Adelaide, 246. - ” ” at the “Clarence,” Exeter, 76. - ” Elizabeth, Fondness for dress of, 239. - ” Victoria, 246. - ” ” Early home of, 19. - - Raleigh, Sir Walter, 13, 212. - Rattenbury, Jack, amusing cross-examination of, 275. - ” ” birthplace at Beer, 264, 274. - ” ” capture by French privateer, 266. - ” ” pension allowed to, 275. - Rebellion of Monmouth, 16. - Records, Barnstaple Borough, 278. - Republic, Free, of Exeter, 7. - Revolt of Scilly Isles, 111. - Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 176. - ” ” ” admiration of cloisters, 197. - ” Sir Joshua, Appreciation of, 227, 229. - ” Sir Joshua, astonished by the King, 199. - ” Sir Joshua, Birth of, 198. - Richard II., Offering to, 10. - Risdon’s Notes to “Devonshire,” 201. - ” Honiton, 238. - Rivers, Sir Richard, 178. - Rolle, Lord, 260, 268, 272, 274, 275. - ” Sir John, 68. - ” ” ” House in the close, 68. - Roope, Mr. Nicholas, first openly to espouse the Prince of Orange, 167. - Roscommon, nephew of Strafford, 126. - Rougemont Castle, 8. - Rowe’s “Dartmoor,” Information derived from, 209. - Russell, Lord, 11, 83, 86. - ” Arthur, 121. - ” John, Leader of Reform, 121. - ” William, Patriot, 121. - Russells of Tavistock, The, 121. - Ryder, family of, 290–296. - - St. Boniface of Germany, 3. - St. German’s Church, ancient cathedral, 177. - St. Mary’s Church, Plympton, 189. - Salcombe Castle, 15. - Sampford Courtney, 82. - ” ” Battle of, 87. - ” ” Whitsun Monday at, 83. - Saxon Abbots, Last of Tavistock, 8. - Saxons, The, 3. - “Saxon School” of Tavistock, 118. - Scilly Isles, Revolt of the, 111. - Seale, Letter to Sir H. P., 167. - Secktor, Mr. J. B. Davidson of, 155. - Secretary of State, Sir Joseph Williamson, 287. - Seizure of Newfoundland, 12. - Sergeant Bompas, amusing cross-examination by, 275 - Seymour, Lord, 261. - ” Sir Edward, Proposal of, 17. - ” Sir Edward, the younger, 167 - Ship of Fools, “Stultifera Navis,” 211. - Siege of Plymouth, 15, 25. - Sieges of Exeter, 8, 10. - Sithric, Abbot, 8. - Slanning, Sir Nicholas, at the siege of Bristol, 192. - Smith, Mr. Goldwin, 81. - Snell, John, 15. - Sonnet to the River Otter, 215. - Speke, Arrival of Hugh, 17. - Spenser, 27. - Sprigge, Joshua, Chaplain to Fairfax, 133. - Stamford, Earl of, Parliamentarian commander, 105. - Stapledon, Bishop, consecrates Plympton Church, 183. - Statue of Sir Francis Drake, 121. - Steinkirk, Battle of, 113. - Stephen, King, 8, 179. - Stokes, Mr. H. S., as West Country poet, 117. - Stratton, Battle at, 105–107. - Strode, Sir William, member for Plympton, 192. - Strode, Sir William, Monument to, 190. - “Stultifera Navis,” or Ship of Fools, 211. - Survey of Cornwall, Carew’s, 27. - Sweyn, Revenge of, 4. - - Tablet to Lieutenant-Colonel Babb, 261. - Tavistock Abbey, 5, 73. - ” Beauty of, 116. - ” Last Saxon Abbot of, 8. - ” Tamar side of, 131. - ” Town Mansion of Abbots of, 73. - Teignmouth, Firing of, 18. - Temple, Dr., Archbishop of Canterbury, 60. - Thackeray, Youthful home of, 215. - The Armada, Appearance off Plymouth of, 93. - ” College of Ottery St. Mary, 211. - ” Conqueror, William, 7. - ” Convention Room, Ottery St. Mary, 213. - ” “Dover,” adventures of, 265. - ” Earl of Leicester, 287. - ” Earl of Stamford, 105. - ” “Greyhound,” lieutenant of, 269. - ” Guildhall, Barnstaple, 280. - ” Hamoaze, 26. - ” Marquis of Worcester, 250. - ” _Mayflower_, Sailing of, 94. - ” present Lord Chancellor, 291. - ” Prince of Orange, Landing of, 16. - ” Quay Hall, Barnstaple, 280. - ” _Revenge_, naval battle at Flores, 101, 102. - ” ” Surrender of, 103. - ” River Otter, Sonnet to, 215. - ” Russells of Tavistock, 121. - ” Saxons, 3. - ” _Tiger_, Sir Richard Grenville’s Ship, 100. - Theory of Sir Francis Palgrave, 4. - Thorverton, canal from Beer to, 274. - Thurlestone, Vicar of, 15. - Tiverton, 243, 284–296. - Tiverton, Martin Dunsford, historian of, 289. - Topsham, Port of, 9. - Torquay, French landing at, 18. - Torrington, George Monk, Earl of, 133. - Totnes, Claims of, 29. - ” Landing of Brutus at, 24. - ” Port of, 30. - Town Church, Plympton, 190. - ” Mansion of Abbots of Tavistock, 73. - Treadwin, Mrs., 248, 249. - ” ” Younger days of, 247. - Treby, Sir George, 192. - ” ” ” Arms of, 195. - Trelawney, Sir William, 225, 226. - Trevelyan, Lady, 248. - Trevisa, 32. - Turner, J. M. W., 227. - Tyrwhitt, Sir Thomas, lays first stone of Dartmoor Prison, 201. - Tyrwhitt, Sir Thomas, Privileges procured by, 203. - - Van Tromp attempts to bribe Grenville, 111. - Vicar of Thurlestone, 15. - Village of Dean Prior, 141. - Vowell, John, 77, 81. - - Waller, Sir William, attacked at Lansdown, 107. - Walpole, Sir Robert, 289, 290. - Walrond, Sir W. H., 294. - Warbeck, Perkin, 11. - Warelwast, William, Bishop of Exeter, 182. - Westcote, 27. - ” on Honiton, 238. - ” on lace, 240. - White, Mr., contradiction of story, 161. - ” ” History of Torquay, 172. - Whittaker on the Cornish language, 80. - “Whittle, John,” pamphlet on landing of the Prince of Orange, 155. - Wilkie visits Plympton Grammar School, 198. - Williamson, letter to Countess of Pembroke from Sir Joseph, 287. - William the Conqueror, 7. - ” IV. landing at Brixham, 162. - Windeatt, Mr. Edward, 24. - ” Mr. M., 261. - ” Samuel and Thomas, 165. - Winstanley, Henry, completion of first Eddystone Lighthouse, 95. - Wolcot, Dr. Alexander, father of Dr. John Wolcot, 223. - Wolcot, Dr. John, “Peter Pindar,” 218–223. - Wood, Mr. Beavis, 295. - “Worthies of Devon,” Prince’s, 73. - Worth, Mr., of Worth—old Devon family, 294. - Wren, Sir Christopher, distinguished representative, 193. - Wren, Sir Christopher, first architect returned to Parliament, 194. - - Yonge, Sir George, Factory built by, 212. - ” Sir William, 289. - Youthful home of Thackeray, 215. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Bemrose & Sons, Limited, Printers, Derby, London and Watford. - - =Selected from the Catalogue of - BEMROSE & SONS, Ltd.= - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - =Memorials of the Counties of England.= - -=MEMORIALS OF OLD BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.= - - Edited by the Rev. 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NOBLE, Editor of the “Bampton - Parish Registers” and Author of “A History of Bampton.” Demy 8vo, - cloth, price =21/-= net. - - These Registers contain many interesting entries of the Sandford, - Myddleton, Collinson, Bowman, Law, Holme, Wilkinson, and Langhorne - families, and others, and some reference to Parochial events. A list - of Vicars is included, and some Local Notes. - -“Miss Noble has followed up her admirable edition of the “Bampton Parish -Registers” by copying and publishing the Registers of the adjoining -parish of Askham, which go back to the year 1566. She has discharged her -self-imposed task with her accustomed care and ability, and the -handsomely printed and substantially bound volume of 250 pages is not -merely a record of marryings, buryings, and christenings in this ancient -parish ... but a valuable contribution to the history of the border -land.”—_The Carlisle Patriot._ - -=MATLOCK MANOR AND PARISH.= - - Historical and Descriptive, with Pedigrees and Arms, and Map of Parish - reduced from the Ordnance Survey. By BENJAMIN BRYAN. Crown 8vo, cloth, - =12/6=; large paper, =15/-=. - -“Mr. Bryan’s history is an excellent record of the rise and progress of -the Matlocks up to the present time, and for many years to come local -people will regard it as the standard work for consultation on all -questions arising out of local customs, local government, local -institutions, local events, and prominent local people.”—_Derby -Mercury._ - -=HOW TO WRITE THE HISTORY OF A PARISH.= - - An Outline Guide to Topographical Records, Manuscripts, and Books. By - Rev. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A. _Fourth Edition._ Crown 8vo, - buckram. Price =3/6=. - -=THE FRENCH STONEHENGE.= - - An Account of the Principal Megalithic Remains in the Morbihan - Archipelago. By T. CATO WORSFOLD, F.R.HIST.S., F.R.S.L., Member of the - Council of the British Archæological Association; Author of “Staple - Inn,” “Antwerp, Past and Present,” “Porta Nigra, the Treasure of - Treves,” &c. Second Edition. =With numerous additions and - Illustrations.= Size 9 in. by 6 in., cloth, price =5/-=. - -“Mr. Worsfold has compressed into a small space a great amount of -interesting detail with regard not only to the megalithic and other -stone monuments, but also to the Roman and early Mediæval remains in the -district he has sought to illustrate. His style is easy and attractive, -and his little work may induce visitors to France, who are interested in -objects of remote antiquity, to take the opportunity of seeing a part of -the country which abounds with them.”—_Athenæum._ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - =London:= - BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., 4, SNOW HILL, E.C.; - AND DERBY. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note - -The Index distinguishes between ‘de Courtenay’ and ‘de Courteney’. -However, the latter does not appear in the text. The index is given as -printed. - -Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and -are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. - - 129.9 Shall enjoy a Spring for ever![”] Removed - 174.29 The lettering of the inscript[i]on Inserted. - 183.25 [“]and,> as a mark of subjection Removed. - 204.32 Th[e] following notice Added. - 246.20 _vrai r[esé/ése]au_ Replaced. - 299.20 de Courteney, John, Abbot of Tavis[s]tock Removed. - 299.47 Dickinson, Mr., of Knight[s]hayes Added. - - --- - - Transcriptions of Extended Captions - - --- - - Okehampton Castle, 1734. - -This Castle, was built by Baldwin de Bronys, & was at first call’d -Ochementon; it descended to Rich. de Rivers or Riparus, & from him to -his Sister Adeliza, who marrying one of the Courtenays, it came into -that Noble family, & so continued til K.E.IV. seized it, for their -adherence to the Hous^e of Lancaster. K.H. VII. restord it to the -Courtenays, but K.H.VIII. again alienated it & dismantled the Castle & -Park, yet Ed. Courtenay in Q. Marys Reign obtain’d a Restoration, but he -dying without Issue Male, it came by a female into the Mohuns Barons of -Mohun & Oakhampton, & by the like failure of y^e male it came by -marriage to Christopher Harris of Heynes Esq^r. - - S. & N. Buck, delim et Sculp. 1734. - - West View of Tavistock Abby - -For the most noble John, Duke and Earl of Bedford, Marquess of -Tavistock, Baron Russel of Thornbaugh, and Baron Howland of Streatham. -Proprietor of these Remains. This Prospect is humbly Inscrib’d by Your -Grace’s most Dutiful, and Obedient Servants, Sam<sup>l</sup> & -Nath<sup>l</sup> Buck. Ordigarius or Orgarius Duke of Devonshire & -Cornwall, whose Daughter was married to K. Edgar, Very probably kept his -Court here, till his son Odulph built this Abbey Anno 961, for then the -whole Mannor of Tavistock, & Jurisdiction thereof, were given to the -Monastery with view of Frank Pledge, Gallowes Pillory assize of Bread -Beer &c. The Church was dedicated to St. Mary &. St Rumon. The Danes -burnt it but it was soon rebuilt, In the Reign of Ed. I. The abbot -claim’d the aforesaid Priveleges, which were by that King allow’d & -confirm’d. There were some famous Men Abbots thereof, particularly two -Bishops & one Earl of Devonshire; of the Courtenay family, Lectures were -herein read in the Saxon language to preserve it in Memory; it was of -the Dignity of the Mitred Abbots, who sat as Barons in Parliament. Their -Power and Priveleges continued till the Dissolution by K. H. 8. who gave -it to John L’<sup>d</sup> Russel, in which Noble Family it still -continues. Annual Value £902 5 7¾. - - S. & N. 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