the Royal cause, which he did care for, and of the Church, for which
he cared not a rush. In 1655 he quitted England and went to Cologne,
which was full of refugees, and there he was cheered with the tidings
that Oliver Cromwell was failing in health and had not long to live.
Leaving Cologne, after a brief residence there, he "took sanctuary in
Holland, where in peace and privacy he enjoyed the society of the
Muses," says Langhorn.
His _The Phœnix in Her Flames_, a tragedy in four acts, had been
published in 1639. _The Innocent Lady, or the Illustrious Innocence_,
translated from the French of R. de Ceriziers, was published in 1654.
Now in Holland he worked hard at other translations, and he was the
more able to do this at ease, as the Princess Royal Mary of Orange
seems to have taken him into her retinue at the Hague. If the Court
was anything like what it was when James Howell was there, it must
have been vastly dull for the lively and dissolute Sir William Lower.
But his stay was enlivened by the arrival of Charles and the intrigues
there carried on with the well-affected in England.
At the Hague he issued a thin royal folio, with many plates, entitled
"A relation in form of Journal of the voiage and residence which the
most excellent and most mighty Prince, Charles the II, King of Great
Britain, etc., hath made in Holland, from the 25th of May to the 2nd
of June, 1660, rendered into English from the original French. By Sir
W. Lower, Knt. Printed by Adrian Ulack." This was published in Dutch,
French, and English, and at the end of the volume Sir W. Lower
inserted his poems, and an apology for the "tardive appearance (of the
book) due to those men who grave the plates."
Such "poems" as he has given as his own show conclusively enough that
he was not a poet, but a mere hammerer together of rhymes.
In June, 1660, calculating on his services rendered to Charles I and to
the sumptuous book on the residence in Holland of Charles II that he had
brought out, Lower appealed to Secretary Nicholas from The Hague to
obtain for him some place in the King's service. But the death of his
cousin Thomas, only son of Sir William Lower, of Treventy, who died on
5th February, 1661, by which he became sole heir, executor, and chief
representative of the family, recalled him to England. He did not,
however, enjoy ease long, for he died in the ensuing year, 1662, leaving
an only child, Elizabeth, who probably died early, for nothing further
is known of her than that she was in existence when her father died. Who
the wife of Sir William Lower was is not known.
His cousin, Dr. Richard Lower, of S. Paul's, Covent Garden, who gave
Wood information relative to his kinsman, described him as "an ill
poet and a worse man."
His long residence abroad, his dissociation from Cornwall for all his
life save his early boyhood, his separation from his kinsmen, had
broken all the ties that linked him to his family and county; and when
he inherited the estates and was in a position to assist his kinsmen
who had been greatly reduced by the civil wars, "he did not, but
followed the vices of poets."
THE PIRATES AT PENZANCE
An event occurred at Penzance in the year 1760 that deserves to be
remembered. Great Britain had been engaged in the Seven Years War; and
notwithstanding the successes of 1759, when Rodney bombarded Havre,
Boscawen had routed and dispersed the Toulon fleet off Lagos, and Hawke
had defeated the fleet of De Conflans near Quiberon, there was still a
certain amount of alarm in the country, a dread of predatory incursions,
and if this fear existed inland, it was most acute upon the coast.
On the night of the 29-30th September Penzance was alarmed by the firing
of guns, and soon after by the intelligence that a large ship of a
strange appearance had run ashore near Newlyn. Half Penzance poured out
in that direction in the grey of early morning. But on reaching the
strand they were panic-stricken to see on the ship, and drawn up on the
beach, a number of ferocious-looking individuals with baggy trousers,
and red fezes on their heads, and each armed with a scimitar, and with
brass-mounted pistols stuck in their girdles. Thereupon the half of
Penzance that had turned out now turned tail and made the best of their
way back to the town, crying out that the Turks had landed and were
intent on massacring the inhabitants of Penzance, plundering their
houses, and carrying away their wives and children into captivity to
become galley-slaves or to fill the harems of these Moslem monsters.
A volunteer company was called out, the drum beat to arms, and marched
to the beach, where they found 172 men, who were surrounded, deprived
of their weapons, and marched to a spacious building called "The
Folly," that stood on the Western Green. As there were some of the
captives who could speak the _lingua franca_, and there was here and
there to be found a magistrate or an officer who had a limited
knowledge of French, it was at last elicited from these men that they
were the crew of an Algerine corsair, carrying twenty-four guns, from
nine to six pounders. The captain, believing himself to be in the
Atlantic, somewhere about the latitude of Cadiz, had cheerily in the
dark run his vessel into Mount's Bay, and was vastly surprised when
she struck, and still more so when he found himself surrounded by
Cornishmen and not by Spaniards. He had lost eight men, drowned.
No sooner was this bruited about than a second panic set in, and the
good citizens of Penzance went into hysterics of fear lest these
Algerine pirates should have brought with them an invasion of the
plague.
A cordon of volunteers was accordingly drawn up round "The Folly" to
prevent all intercourse, intelligence was conveyed to the Government,
and orders were issued for troops to march from Plymouth so as to
surround the whole district. However, the local authorities recovered
from their terror or apprehension in time to send off information that
there was no cause for such a measure, and the orders were
countermanded.
After some days, when no case of plague had revealed itself among the
captives, the people of the town and neighbourhood were suffered to
approach and contemplate the strangers. Their Oriental dress, their
long beards and moustaches, the dark complexion and glittering eyes
of the piratical band, made them objects of curiosity. But they still
inspired so much fear that few ventured to approach near to them.
Upon the whole, they were kindly treated, and finally, as their vessel
was a complete wreck, a man-of-war was despatched to take all the men
on board and convey them back to Algiers.
DAME KILLIGREW
The Killigrew family is one of the most ancient in Cornwall. It takes
its name from Killigrew in the parish of S. Erme. Here stands the old
nest of the family beside the high road from Truro that falls into
that from Redruth to Bodmin at Casland. It is now represented by a
couple of insignificant cottages, without old trees surrounding it,
and the only hint that it was once the seat of a distinguished family
is found in the remains of the deerpark.
The genuine pedigree of the family goes back to Ralph Killigrew of
Killigrew, in the reign of Henry III. In that of Richard II, Simon
Killigrew married Jane, daughter and heiress of Robert of Arwenack,
near Penryn, and he quitted the ancestral mansion to move to his
wife's house that was planted in a less bleak situation and was on the
estuary of the Fal.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Sir John Killigrew of Arwenack, was
Captain in Command of Pendennis Castle. He married Mary, daughter of
Philip Wolverston and widow of Henry Knyvett of an Eastern counties
family, but her son by Henry Knyvett settled in Cornwall, at
Rosemorryn in S. Budoc. Sir John pulled down the greater portion of
the ancient house and built himself another, very stately in the style
of the times--but, alas! this also has disappeared, for when Sir
William Waller approached Pendennis, to besiege it on behalf of the
Parliament, the Governor of the Castle set fire to Arwenack lest it
should give harbour to the enemy.
Sir John had a son, also called John, who married Dorothy, daughter of
the impecunious Sir Thomas Monck, Knt., of Potheridge, which Sir
Thomas died in the debtors' gaol at S. Thomas', by Exeter. John and
Dorothy had a son, Sir John Killigrew, aged twenty-two on his father's
death in 1605.
Now it fell out that Sir Walter Raleigh on his homeward voyage from
Guiana put into Falmouth harbour, and found there, where the town now
stands, only a fisherman's cottage. Killigrew, however, hospitably
entertained Sir Walter, who expressed his surprise that so fine a
harbour should have no accommodation for sailors sheltering there, and
when he went to town memorialized King James on the subject. He had
fired the imagination of his host, Sir John, and he also petitioned
the King to grant him a royal licence to build four houses, where now
stands Falmouth, for the convenience of sailors. This roused the wrath
of the people of Penryn further up the river, who saw that four houses
would bring in their wake many more, and would draw away the trade,
and cut off the prosperity of Penryn. Accordingly they used every
possible endeavour to obstruct the project. Sir John made several
journeys to London, but it was only by spending a great deal of money
in fees and bribery of officials that he was able to obtain the
licence; and by so doing he incurred the implacable resentment of the
inhabitants of Penryn.
We will now let Martin Killigrew continue the story. He wrote a
history of the family in 1737 or 1738. We will somewhat simplify the
reading by giving "the" for "y^e."
"The last Sir John Killigrew was hardly got over this difficulty,
when he fell under a much greater affliction, the prostitution of his
wife, who caused herself to be called, or unaccountably was known by the
name of Lady Jane." He has already stated, "Sir John Killigrew, a sober,
good man, to his utter undoing, married the daughter of an ancient and
honourable family, new in the peerage, in respect to whom I forbear the
name; making herself infamous, and first debauched by the Governor of
Pendennis Castle." This lady was Jane, daughter of Sir George Fermon, of
Northampton. Sir William, his brother, was created Baron Leominster in
1622, whose son was given the earldom of Pomfret in 1721.
[Illustration: THE KILLYGREW CUP
"1633. FROM MAIOR TO MAIOR TO THE TOWNE OF PERMARIN, WHERE THEY
RECEIVED MEE THAT WAS IN GREAT MISERY"
JANE KILLYGREW
_This Cup has been recently valued at the sum of £4,000. It measures
just two feet in height_]
"Arrived to that shameful degree, Sir John, in point of honour and for
quietness of mind, found himself under a necessity to prosecute a
divorce from her in the Archbishop's Court, which lasted so many years
and [was] so very expensive, as quite ruined his estate, to the degree
of his being often put to very hard shifts to get home from London
upon the frequent recesses in the process, but at length obtained the
divorce in all its formal extent. This woman in such long contest was
in no degree protected by her family, but supported and cherished by
the town of Penryn, from their jealousy and hatred of Arwenack, as
specially appears to this day, by plate by her given to the Mayor and
Corporation of Penryn, when she came into her jointure, as an
acknowledgment for such protection.[11] Sir John did not long outlive
such his divorce, dying in 1632."
Hals says: "Jane Killigrew, widow of Sir John Killigrew, Knt., in the
Spanish wars in the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, went on
board two Dutch ships of the Hans Towns (always free traders in times of
war) driven into Falmouth harbour by cross winds, laden with
merchandise, on account (as was said) of Spaniards, and with a numerous
party of ruffians, murdered the two Spanish merchants or factors on
board these ships, and took from them two barrels or hogsheads of
Spanish pieces of eight, and converted them to her own use."
"Now, though Fleta (lib. i. c. iii., temp. Edward II) tells us that it
is no murder except it be proved that the party slain was English, and
no stranger, yet afterwards by the statute 4 Edward III, the killing
any foreigner under the King's protection, out of evil design or
malice, is murder; upon which statute these offenders were tried and
found guilty at Launceston of wilful murder, both by the grand and
petty juries, and had sentence of death passed accordingly upon them,
and were all executed, except the said Lady Killigrew, the principal
agent and contriver of the barbarous fact, who, by the interest and
favour of Sir John Arundell, of Tolverne, Knt., and his son-in-law,
Sir Nicholas Hals, of Pengersick, Knt., obtained of Queen Elizabeth a
pardon or reprieve for the said lady, which was seasonably put into
the Sheriff of Cornwall's hands.
"At the news whereof the other condemned wretches aforesaid at the
gallows lamented nothing more than that they had not the company of
that old Jezebel Killigrew at that place as in justice they ought to
be (to use their own words), and begged Almighty God that some
remarkable judgment might befall her and her posterity, nay, and all
those that were instrumental in procuring her freedom, and observed
hereupon it was, that her grandson Sir William Killigrew spent the
whole paternal estate of his ancestors, as did Sir Thomas Arundell,
Knt., son of Sir John Arundell, aforesaid, and John Hals, Esq., son of
Sir Nicolas Hals, Knt., in their own times, but alas, several and
public revolutions of this kind; and all other in worldly affairs are
carried on by the judgment and providence of God, not the
determination of men, especially such barbarous ruffians as these
criminals, though these things happened according to the malefactors'
direful imprecations in some sense."
Hals in the above account makes several blunders. The affair to which
he alludes took place in January, 1583, and the Dame Killigrew who was
involved in it was Mary, wife of Sir John, the grandfather of the Sir
John who divorced his wife Jane. Another mistake is that the ship was
not one of the Hanseatic town merchant vessels, but was Spanish.
Moreover, Hals is wrong in saying that the two Spanish merchants were
murdered. On the contrary, Lady Killigrew's ruffians threw overboard
and drowned the whole ship's crew, with the exception of the two
merchants, who were on shore and so escaped.
The facts are as follows:--
The _Mary_ of S. Sebastian, a Spanish ship of 144 tons burden, owned
by two merchants, John de Chavis and Philip de Oryo, the latter being
as well the captain, arrived in Falmouth harbour on January 1st,
1582-3, and cast anchor within the bar, just under Sir John
Killigrew's house of Arwenack. Here for lack of wind it remained, and
the owners went on shore and took up their quarters in an inn at
Penryn, awaiting a favourable breeze. At this time there was no open
breach of peace between England and Spain. It was not till 1585 that
Elizabeth sent over an army into the Netherlands to oppose the forces
of Philip II, and despatched a fleet under Sir Francis Drake into the
West Indies to molest the Spanish galleons and colonies there.
Lady Killigrew seems to have formed a scheme for robbing the merchant
vessel and massacring the crew and the owners, and several efforts
were made to induce the two merchants to quit their inn at Penryn and
return on board, so that the whole of those on the vessel and the
merchants might be got rid of, and not a witness left. However, this
failed; Chavis and Oryo did not return to their ship.
About midnight on 7th January a boatload of men boarded the Spanish
vessel and overpowered the sailors, raised the anchors, and set sail.
The Spaniards were all either butchered or thrown into the sea. The
ship was then taken to Ireland, where she was plundered and the spoil
divided. But before this was done, two of Lady Killigrew's servants,
named Kendal and Hawkins, were sent back to Arwenack with sundry bolts
of Hollands and leather, as the share of Lady Killigrew, her
kinswoman, Mrs. Killigrew, and the maids and servants in the house.
Lady Killigrew was highly incensed at being put off with so little,
but fume as she might she could do nothing, for the ship was on its
way to Ireland. What she did accordingly was to keep all that was sent
on shore for herself, and distribute none of it among her household.
The two merchants now stirred, and laid formal complaint before the
Commissioners for Piracy in Cornwall. Among these was Sir John
Killigrew, the husband of the lady who had contrived or abetted the
act. A meeting was held at Penryn, and sufficient evidence was
produced to implicate Hawkins and Kendal; but this they were able to
rebut by the testimony of Elizabeth Bowden, who kept a small tavern
at Penryn, and who swore that up to the time that the act of piracy
was committed the two men Hawkins and Kendal were drinking in her inn.
The jury returned an open verdict that the ship had certainly been
stolen, but by whom there was no evidence to show.
Chavis and De Oryo were not men disposed to let the matter rest thus,
and having procured a safe conduct to London from the Commissioners,
they proceeded thither, and laid their complaint before the higher
authorities, with the result that the Earl of Bedford instructed Sir
Richard Grenville and Mr. Edmund Tremayne to make a searching
investigation into the affair.
As might be anticipated, this inquiry was more thorough-going and real
than the other, and the truth was at last elicited from witnesses very
reluctant to speak what they knew. The result arrived at was this:--
The whole plot had been contrived by Dame Killigrew, who on the Sunday
in question ordered Hawkins and Kendal to board the Spaniard, along
with a party of sailors and fishermen got together for the purpose.
Moreover, she sent a messenger by boat to the Governor of St. Mawes
Castle, to inform him that the Spanish merchants proposed to sail that
night, and to request him not to hinder them from so doing. The other
castle, that of Pendennis, commanding the entrance to the haven, had
Sir John Killigrew as Governor, and in it all day were harboured the
boarding-party destined to carry off the merchantman.
Hawkins, who was the ringleader, had been sworn to strict secrecy by
Lady Killigrew, who desired to keep the whole transaction from the
knowledge of her husband. The leather that fell to her share was placed
in a cask and buried in the garden at Arwenack. Hawkins and Kendal were
hanged at Launceston, but Lady Killigrew escaped as Hals relates. Sir
John died next year; when Lady Killigrew died is not known.
On the death of the later Sir John in 1633, Arwenack passed to his
nephew, as he left no issue, and that nephew, Sir Peter Killigrew,
married Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Roger Twysden. He had
two daughters, and a son George who came to an untimely end.
He was killed in a drunken brawl in a tavern at Penryn by Walter
Vincent, barrister-at-law, "who," says Hals, "was tried for his life
at Launceston for the fact, and acquitted by the petty jury, through
bribery and indiscreet acts and practices, as was generally said; yet
this Mr. Vincent, through anguish and horror at this accident (as it
was said), within two years after wasted of an extreme atrophy of his
flesh and spirits, that at length at the table whereby he was sitting,
in the Bishop of Exeter's palace, in the presence of divers gentlemen,
he instantly fell back against the wall and died."
Frances, the eldest daughter of Sir Peter Killigrew, married Richard
Erisey, and had a daughter who became the wife of John West, of Bury S.
Edmunds, and by him had a daughter Frances, who married the Hon. Charles
Berkeley, and through their descent the estates, or such as remained of
the old family of Killigrew, passed to the Earl of Kimberley.
The history of the Killigrew family, by Martin Killigrew, was
published in part by Mr. R. N. Worth in the _Journal of the Royal
Institution of Cornwall_, Vol. III (1868-70), and the story of the
seizure of the Spanish vessel by Dame Killigrew was investigated by
Mr. H. M. Whitley, in the _Journal_, Vol. VII (1881-3).
FOOTNOTE:
[11] The cup is still in the possession of the Corporation of Penryn.
It is of silver, will hold about three quarts, and is inscribed: "From
Mayor to Mayor of the town of Penryn, where they received me in great
misery. Jane Killygrew, 1613."
TWO NATURALISTS IN CORNWALL
The two men of science of whom a sketch is about to be given here were
neither of them Cornishmen by birth and parentage, but, inasmuch as a
long stretch of the life of each was spent in the delectable duchy, and
as both were well known in it and made it the principal field of their
labours, they deserve a place in this collection. These two men are John
Ralfs, the botanist, and George Carter Bignell, the entomologist.
John Ralfs was born September 13, 1807, at Millbrook, near
Southampton. His father, Samuel Ralfs, died when he was a year old,
and to his mother was entrusted his early training. From an early age
he manifested a passionate love of flowers, and as he grew older an
interest in chemistry. Probably on this latter account he decided on
the medical profession, and whilst studying medicine he prosecuted
botanical research, so that on passing his final examination the
President of the Royal College of Surgeons complimented him on his
botanical knowledge, and predicted that the world would one day hear a
good deal of this then "beardless boy."
He married a Miss Newman, and by her had a son, but they were in every
way an ill-suited pair, and after a while they agreed to part, and she
went to reside in France, taking her son with her.
Fortunately for science, Ralfs' health would not stand the arduous and
anxious life of a village doctor, and he threw up his profession and
wandered about in the south of England, a friendless, reserved, and
taciturn man, devoting all his time and attention to botany. He
settled finally in Penzance, in the year 1837, and became a familiar
personality in the west of Cornwall, rambling over the moors, creeping
into bogs, often on hands and knees, searching for rare plants; "a
terror to timid ladies, who would scuttle away like frightened rabbits
at the sight of this dark, strange man hanging over some deep pool,
peering with his short-sighted eyes into what was to him a paradise,
and perhaps calling out aloud, forgetful that he and nature were not
alone, 'I see him! I've got him!' And often he would be seen resting
on a stile, weary with his wanderings, his hat and coat almost as
green as the grass on one of his favourite bogs, the marks of his last
fray fresh upon them, his collar disappearing, apparently, in vain
search of his cravat; gazing absently into the distance, where he saw,
doubtless, beautiful and rare specimens of his Algæ and Diatomaceæ."
Mr. Ralfs was never so happy as when alone; he did not care for
society, least of all that of women, and grievous deafness made it
difficult for him to engage in conversation. Even with men of science
like himself he did not care to associate, except through written
correspondence. At Penzance he was generally regarded as "a bit
total," a little, perhaps not a little, off his head; but no one could
have other than a kind word to say of him, for he never injured any
one. Occasionally his son came from France to pay his father a visit;
but such visits were brief; their tastes were not the same, and their
outlook into life was different.
Mr. Ralfs wrote a good deal. He contributed to the proceedings of
many learned societies, but especially the Edinburgh Botanical
Society. He was the author of the botanical chapter in the _Guide to
Ilfracombe_, and of the "Sketch of the Botany of West Penwith" in Mr.
J. S. Courtney's _Guide to Penzance_. Mr. J. T. Blight also was
assisted by him in his _Week at the Land's End_. He helped as well in
_English Botany_, by Sir James E. Smith, the figures by James Sowerby.
He composed, moreover, a _Flora of West Cornwall_ that remains in MS.
in the Penzance Public Library.
[Illustration: GEORGE CARTER BIGNELL.
_From a photograph_]