HERE·LIETH·THE·BODI·OF·LAVRENCE
WASHINGTON·SONNE·&·HEIRE·OF
ROBERT·WASHINGTON·OF·SOVLGRÆ
IN·THE·COVNTIE·OF·NORTHAMTON
ESQVIER·WHO·MARIED·MARGARET
THE·ELDEST·DAVGHTER·OF·WILLIAM
BVTLER·OF·TEES·IN·THE·COVNTIE
OF·SVSSEXE·ESQVIER·WHO·HAD·ISSV
BY·HER·8·SONNS·&·9·DAVGHTERS
WHICH·LAVRENCE·DECESSED·THE·13
OF·DECEMBER·A: D[=N]I: 1616
THOV·THAT·BY·CHANCE·OR·CHOYCE
OF·THIS·HAST·SIGHT
KNOW·LIFE·TO·DEATH·RESIGNES
AS·DAYE·TO·NIGHT
BVT·AS·THE·SVNNS·RETORNE
REVIVES·THE·DAYE
SO·CHRIST·SHALL·VS
THOVGH·TVRNDE·TO·DVST·&·CLAY
Above the inscription, carved in the stone, are the arms of the
Washingtons, with the arms of the Butlers _impaled_,--the latter
being, in the language of heraldry, _azure, a chevron between
three covered cups or_.
The other stone is placed over Robert Washington and Elizabeth
his wife. Robert was uncle of the emigrant. This is a slab of the
same sandstone, and measures three feet six inches long and two
feet six inches broad.
The inscription, on a small brass plate set into the stone, is as
follows:--
HERE LIES INTERRED Y^{E} BODIES OF ELIZAB: WASHINGTON
WIDDOWE, WHO CHANGED THIS LIFE FOR [=IM]ORTALLITIE
Y^{E} 19^{TH} OF MARCH 1622. AS ALSO Y^{E} BODY OF ROBERT
WASHINGTON GENT: HER LATE HVSBAND SECOND
SONNE OF ROBERT WASHINGTON OF SOLGRAVE IN Y^{E}
COVNTY OF NORT[=H]: ESQ^{R}: WHO DE[=PT]ED THIS LIFE Y^{E}
10^{TH} OF MARCH 1622 AFTER THEY LIVED LOVINGLY TOGETHER
MANY YEARES IN THIS PARRISH
On a separate brass, beneath the inscription, are the arms of
the Washingtons, without any addition but a crescent, the _mark
of cadency_, which denotes the _second_ son. These, as you are
well aware, have the combination of stars and stripes, and are
sometimes supposed to have suggested our national flag. In
heraldic language, they are _argent, two bars gules, in chief
three mullets of the second_.
In the interesting chapter on the “Origin and Genealogy of the
Washington Family,” preserved in the Appendix to your “Life of
Washington,” it appears that Lawrence, father of the emigrant,
died 13th December, and was buried at Brington 15th December,
1616. But the genealogical tables followed by you furnish no
indication of the locality of this church. Had it appeared as the
parish church of the Spencer family, in Northamptonshire, the
locality, which I believe was unknown in our country, would have
been precisely fixed.
In fact, the slab covering Lawrence Washington is in the chancel
of the church, by the side of the monuments of the Spencer
family. These are all in admirable preservation, with full-length
effigies, busts, or other sculptured work, and exhibit an
interesting and connected series of sepulchral memorials, from
the reign of Henry the Eighth to the present time. Among them is
a monument by the early English sculptor, Nicholas Stone; another
by Nollekens from a design by Cipriani; and another by Flaxman,
with exquisitely beautiful personifications of Faith and Charity.
Beneath these monuments repose successive representatives of this
illustrious family, whose aristocratic claims are enhanced by
services not only to the state, but also to knowledge, as shown
in the unique and world-famous library collected by one of its
members. In this companionship is found the last English ancestor
of our Washington.
The other slab, covering Robert, uncle of the emigrant, is in one
of the aisles, where it is scraped by the feet of all who pass.
The parish of Brington--written in Domesday Book “Brinintone,”
and also “Brintone,” in modern pronunciation _Brighton_--is
between seven and eight miles from the town of Northampton, not
far from the centre of England. It contains about 2,210 acres, of
which about 1,490 belong to Earl Spencer, and about 326 to the
rector in right of his church. The soil is chiefly dark-colored
loam, with a small tract of clay towards the north. Nearly four
fifths of the whole is pasture.
In the village still stands the house said to have been occupied
by the Washingtons when the emigrant brother left them. You will
see a vignette of it on the title-page of the recent English work
entitled “The Washingtons.” Over the door are carved the words,
THE LORD GEVETH, THE LORD TAKETH AWAY, BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE
LORD; while the Parish Register gives pathetic commentary, by
showing that in the very year when this house was built a child
was born and another died in this family.
The church, originally dedicated to the Virgin, stands at the
northeast angle of the village, and consists of an embattled
tower with five bells, nave, north and south aisles, chancel,
chapel, and modern porch. The tower is flanked by buttresses
of two stages. The present fabric goes back in origin to the
beginning of the fourteenth century, nearly two hundred years
before the discovery of America. The chancel and chapel, where
repose the Spencers and Lawrence Washington, were rebuilt by
Sir John Spencer, purchaser of the estate, at the beginning of
the sixteenth century. They afford a late specimen of Tudor
architecture. The church is beautifully situated on the highest
ground of Brington, and is surrounded by a stone wall lined with
trees. Dibdin says that a more complete picture of a country
churchyard is rarely seen. A well-trimmed walk encircles the
whole of the interior, while the fine Gothic windows at the end
of the chancel fill the scene with picturesque beauty.
The Parish Register, which is still preserved, commences in 1560.
From this it appears that William Proctor was rector from 1601 to
1627, partly contemporary with the last Washingtons there. Other
entries occur, relating to this family.
1616. “Mr. Lawrance Washington was buried the XVth day of
December.”
1620. “Mr. Philip Curtis and M^{is} Amy Washington were maried
August 8.”
1622. “Mr. Robert Washington was buried March y^{e} 11th.”
----. “M^{rs.} Elisabeth Washington widow was buried March y^{e}
20th.”
Of a minister in this church we have an amusing notice in
Evelyn’s Memoirs, where the following contrast is found, under
date of August 18th, 1688: “Dr. Jeffryes [a misnomer for
_Jessop_], the minister of Althorp, who was my Lord’s chaplain
when Ambassador in France, _preached the shortest discourse I
ever heard_; but what was defective in the amplitude of his
sermon he had supplied in the largeness and convenience of the
parsonage-house.”[42]
Less than a mile from the church is the famous seat of the
Spencers, surrounded by a park of five hundred acres, with one of
the gates opening near the church. Bordering on the churchyard
are oak-trees which were growing at the purchase of the estate
in the reign of Henry the Seventh. Evelyn was often here, a
delighted visitor. On one occasion he speaks of “the house, or
rather palace, at Althorp.”[43] Elsewhere he describes it as
“in a pretty open bottom, very finely watered, and flanked with
stately woods and groves in a park.”[44] An engraving by the
younger Luke Vorsterman, a Dutch artist, attests the attraction
of the place at this time.
One feature of the park excited the admiration of Evelyn, and at
a later day of Mrs. Jameson, who gives to it some beautiful pages
in her “Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad.” It is a record
of the dates when different plantations of trees were begun.
While recommending this practice in his “Sylva,” Evelyn remarks,
“The only instance I know of the like in our own country is in
the park at Althorp in Northamptonshire, the magnificent seat of
the Right Hon. the Earl of Sunderland.”[45] Here are six of these
commemorative stones. The first records a wood planted by Sir
John Spencer, in 1567 and 1568; the second, a wood planted by
Sir John Spencer, son of the former, in 1589; the third, a wood
planted by Robert Lord Spencer, in 1602 and 1603; the fourth,
a wood planted by Sir William Spencer, Knight of the Bath,
afterwards Lord Spencer, in 1624. This stone is ornamented with
the arms of the Spencers, and on the back is inscribed, VP AND
BEE DOING AND GOD WILL PROSPER. In this scenery and amidst these
associations the Washingtons lived. When the emigrant left, in
1657, the woods must have been well grown. Not long afterwards
they arrested the attention of Evelyn. The fifth and sixth stones
were never seen by the Washingtons, or by Evelyn. They were set
up in 1798 and 1800, by George John, second Earl Spencer, who
planted trees as well as amassed books.
The Household Books at Althorp show that for many years the
Washingtons were frequent guests. The hospitality of this seat
has been renowned. The Queen of James the First and Prince
Henry, on their way to London in 1603, were welcomed there in an
entertainment, memorable for a Masque from the vigorous muse of
Ben Jonson.[46] Charles the First was at Althorp in 1647, when
he received the first intelligence of those approaching pursuers
from whom he never escaped except by the scaffold. In 1695,
King William was there for a week, and, according to Evelyn,
“mightily entertained.”[47] At least one of the family was famous
for hospitality of a different character. Evelyn records that
he used to dine with the Countess of Sunderland,--the title
then borne by the Spencers,--when she invited _fire-eaters_,[48]
stone-eaters, and opera-singers, after the fashion of the day.[49]
The family was early and constantly associated with literature.
Spenser, the poet, belonged to it, and dedicated to one of its
members, Alice Spencer, “the Ladie Strange,” afterwards Countess
of Derby, his “Tears of the Muses.” For the same Alice Spencer
Milton wrote his “Arcades,” while Sir John Harrington celebrated
her memory by an epigram. The Sacharissa of Waller was the Lady
Dorothy Sydney, wife of the first Earl of Sunderland, third Lord
Spencer, who perished fighting for King Charles the First at
Newbury. I do not dwell on other associations of a later day, as
my object is simply to indicate those which existed in the time
of the Washingtons.
“The nobility of the Spencers has been illustrated and enriched
by the trophies of Marlborough; but I exhort them to consider the
‘Fairy Queen’ as the most precious jewel of their coronet.” Thus
wrote Gibbon in his Memoirs,[50] and all must feel the beauty of
the exhortation. This nobility may claim another illustration
from ties of friendship and neighborhood with the Washingtons.
Perhaps hereafter our countrymen will turn aside from their
travels to visit the parish church of Brington, in reverence for
a spot so closely associated with American history.
* * * * *
I trust that this little sketch, suggested by what I saw at
Althorp during a brief visit last autumn, will not seem
irrelevant. Besides my own personal impressions and the volumes
quoted, I have relied upon Dibdin’s “Ædes Althorpianæ,” so
interesting to all bibliographical students, and especially
upon Baker’s “History and Antiquities of the County of
Northampton,”--one of those magnificent local works which
illustrate English history,--to which you refer in your Appendix.
The Memorial Stones, which I have received from Lord Spencer,
are of historic value; and I think that I shall best carry out
the generous idea of the giver by taking care that they are
permanently placed where they can be seen by the public,--perhaps
in the State-House, near Chantrey’s beautiful statue of
Washington, if this should be agreeable to the Commonwealth.
Pray pardon this call upon your attention, and believe me, my
dear Sir, with much regard,
Ever sincerely yours,