worthy of notice that the tragedy of “Jane Shore” was acted there in
the “late Lord Holland’s time” (Dodaley’s “Old Plays,” vol. xii. p.
345). The late Mr. Fox supported the character of _Lord Hastings_; his
brother, the General, was _Bishop of Ely_; Lady Sarah Bunbury, _Jane
Shore_; and Lady Susan O’Brien, _Alicia_.
[8] “The name Blickling,” according to Blomefield, “seems to signifie
the low meadows at the Beck.”
[9] Among these odd substitutes for ancient heroes, are carved copies
of foot-soldiers of the time of George III. It would seem as if the
Earl of Buckingham--writing in 1765--had actually contemplated the
“improvements” indicated in the following letter. “I have,” he writes,
“determined what to do with the Hall. Some tributary sorrow should,
however, be paid to the nine Worthies--but Hector has lost his spear
and his nose; David his harp; Godfrey of Boulogne his ears; Alexander
the Great his highest shoulder; and part of Joshua has fallen in. As
the ceiling is to be raised, eight of them must have gone; and Hector
is at all events determined to leave his niche. You will forgive my
replacing them with eight worthies of my own times, whose figures are
not yet essentially mutilated, viz., Dr. Shebbeare, Mr. Wilkes, Dr.
Hill, Mr. Glover, Mr. Deputy Hodges, Mr. Whitfield, Justice Fielding,
and Mr. Foote; and as Anne Boleyn was born at Blickling, it will not
be improper to purchase her father Henry, the eighth figure (which by
order is no longer to be exhibited in the Tower), who will fill with
credit the space occupied by the falling Hector.”
[10] We borrow a passage from Mr. Robinson’s “Vitruvius Britannicus,”
which conveys a compliment as justly merited as it is well expressed.
“On the resignation of the Duke of Sussex, the Marquess of Northampton
was elevated to the chair of the Royal Society; and if ardent zeal
in the promotion of scientific truth, unaffected affability of
manners, liberal and unostentatious hospitality, and exemplary private
character, are deemed qualifications for the blue riband of science,
his lordship’s claim to the distinguished honour must be universally
admitted.”
[11] Among the pictures are portraits of Bishop Compton, Sir Stephen
Fox, a “conversation piece,” by West, including the eighth Earl of
Northampton, his lady, and two children. There is also a portrait of
Spenser, second earl (in armour), who, as we have seen, devoted himself
so bravely to the royal cause in the civil wars, and was killed at
Hopton Heath: at an advanced age he raised a regiment of foot and a
troop of horse at his own expense. Other portraits at Castle Ashby are,
a curious and finely-painted head of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who
was killed by Felton. In the Long Gallery are portraits of John Talbot,
Earl of Shrewsbury, and his countess, painted on panel; these are
valuable as examples of the art of the time of Henry VI. This Talbot
was one of the most renowned heroes of his time, having gained no less
than forty battles and skirmishes. At his death he was above eighty
years of age. Walpole ranks these pictures among the most ancient
specimens of English painting.
[12] “Kirby Hall is situated in Corby Hundred, about nine miles
north-west of Oundle, partly in the Parish of Bulwick, and partly in
that of Gretton--the Church of which contains several monuments to
members of the family of Hatton.”
[13] The family of Hatton is stated to be descended from Ivon, a noble
of Norway, whose sixth son, Wolfaith, obtained the Manor of Hatton, in
Cheshire. Sir Christopher Hatton is said to have danced himself into
Court favour; mightily pleasing the fancy of “the virgin Queen” by
the graces of his person; and consequently rising with great rapidity
through the several offices of Captain of the Guard, Vice Chamberlain,
Privy Councillor, &c., until, in 1587, he obtained possession of
the seals as Lord Chancellor. He died not long afterwards--and, it
is believed, of a broken heart, in consequence of a demand, on the
part of his fickle and heartless mistress, for the payment of an old
debt, which he was unable to discharge. He was a liberal patron of
learning,--one of the worthies of the Elizabethan age; “so great, that
his sentence was a law to the subject; and so wise, that his opinion
was an oracle to the Queen.”
[14] The name has been said to be compounded of _Bent_, an old
English word for brow of a hill, and the Celtic _al_, or _hal_ (Lat.
_altus_), a termination commonly found in names of hills. The motto
of Benthall, “Ten_de_ _Bene et alta_ pete,” seems to allude to this
interpretation of the name; but as, in Domesday Book, the name is spelt
“Benhale,” the first syllable may be derived from the Gaelic word
_En_, or _An_--water, the letter _B_ being only the prefix importing
the article _the_. This suggestion receives some weight from the fact
that the Benthall estate, and one of the same name in another part of
Shropshire, are washed by a river--the Severn. The derivation of the
second syllable is too plainly correct to be interfered with.
[15] Benthall MSS. Dugdale’s “Monasticon.”
[16] Polyd. Virg.
[17] Heralds’ “Visitations of Salop.”
[18] It is remarkable that a superior seigniory or lordship in this
estate was retained by the Burnell family till so late a period as
the close of the reign of Richard III., while the Benthalls, the
subtenants, were lords of the manor, as appears by their descriptions
in deeds and on the court-rolls.
So early as in the reign of Edward III., lords of manors began to
neglect the military services, on condition of which they held their
lands under the tenant _in capite_ (in most instances a powerful
baron), who, on his part, owed and neglected services to the king, the
supreme owner of the lands. The rights of the superior or intermediate
lords becoming disused, the lords of manors gradually acquired the
tenure which, in the present day, supposes only a superior right in the
sovereign; yet it was not till Henry VII. had grasped the sceptre that
the feudal system of military service was totally suppressed.
In effecting national improvement, that sagacious monarch acted on the
just conviction that his own paid army was better to be relied on than
the retainers of his nobles: he wisely conceived that, having already
dethroned their sovereign, they might be little scrupulous of removing
his successor, whose personal pretensions to the throne, though
strengthened by his marriage, were by no means universally admitted.
[19] Buried in the family vault, near the altar of Benthall Chapel.
[20] This gentleman and his wife, Ann, daughter of Piers Cariswall,
Esq. of Lilleshall, were interred in St. Clement’s Chapel, in the south
aisle of the parish church of Much Wenlock. There is a small estate in
the parish belonging to their descendants, the Benthalls of Buckfast,
in Devonshire.
[21] Rot. Hund.
[22] At that time the head of the family of Cassey of Wightfield,
Cassey Compton, and Kilcot, in the county of Gloucester.
These manors descended to John Cassey, Chief Baron of the Exchequer
in the reign of Henry IV., and from him to Thomas, the subject of
this note, who died while on a visit to his son-in-law at Benthall,
A.D. 1634, and was buried in Wenlock Church.
[23] Hulbert’s “History of Shropshire.”
[24] This tower was erected by one of the family of the Phelips. The
ascent to it is so gradual, that he is said, upon one occasion, to have
visited the summit in his coach and four. The road winds round the hill.
[25] The family suffered considerably, in consequence of their
devotion to the royal cause during the unhappy reign of Charles the
First; and, afterwards, their loyalty being unchilled by their losses,
Colonel Richard Phelips united with Colonel Wyndham in secreting, and
subsequently conveying out of the kingdom, the Second Charles.
[26] “Skimmitting, or, as it is called in the north of England,
stang-riding, is still kept up in many parts of the kingdom, for the
purpose of exposing to shame and ridicule, the man who has been guilty
of cruelty or infidelity towards his wife.” In the basso-relievo
at Montacute, the wife, accompanied by a crowd of villagers, is
represented bestowing a few sound blows with her shoe upon her
faithless partner, and “the artist has with happy effect introduced a
church in the back-ground, to intimate that certain vows and promises
which had been there solemnly pledged ought to have been kept in
remembrance.”
[27] “It would appear from the introduction of the elegant screens
or door-cases in the principal living rooms, that the cold draughts
of air, caused by the long passages, the extent of the rooms, and
the great size of the windows, must have been felt even in the time
of Elizabeth; these screens could have been made only for warmth and
comfort. They are beautifully painted, and their effect is very quaint
and pleasing.”--C. J. RICHARDSON.
[28] On a mural monument in the chancel of Caverswall Church, adjoining
that of his father, which we have engraved, is the following singular
inscription to his memory:--
“M.S.
“George Cradock, Esq., (for his great prvdence in yᵉ common lawes
well worthy to be beav-Clarke of yᵉ assizes for this Circvit), did
take to wife yᵉ most amiable, most loving Dorothy, yᵉ davghter of
John Savnders, Doctor of Physicke, by whom he had a Pair-royall of
incomparable davghters, to wit, Dorothy, Elizabeth, and Mary.
“It is easie to gvess that he lived in a splendid degree, if I
shall bvt recovnt vnto you that
Sʳ. Thomas Slingsby, Baronet, } { Dorothy }
yᵉ Right Honᵇˡᵉ Robt. Lord Cholmondely } Maried { Elizabeth } Coheir.
Sʳ. John Bridgeman, Baronet, } { Mary }
“But! but! to our grief, George Cradock is assavlted by death in
yᵉ meridjan of his age, not far off from his Castle of Caverswal
(lately bvilt, even to beavty, by Mathew Cradock, Esq., his father,
who lies inter’d near this place).
“And dying of yᵉ small pox yᵉ 16th of April, 1643, he tooke
himselfe to yᵉ private masion of this tombe, erected for him at yᵉ
cost of Dorothy, his obseqviovs wife, where he now rests (vnder the
protection of an Essoine) vntil he shall be svmmon’d to appeare at
yᵉ last great and general Assizes.”
The Sir Thomas Slingsby, of Scriven, Bart., who married Dorothy, the
eldest of this “pair-royal,” was beheaded by Oliver Cromwell.
[29] William Chetwynd, who was Gentleman Usher of the Chamber to Henry
the Seventh, in the ninth year of that king’s reign was barbarously
and treacherously assassinated on Tixal Heath, near Ingestre, by Sir
Humphrey Stanley, of Pipe, from motives of jealousy, having inveigled
him from his house by a counterfeit letter. Pennant says:--“It does
not appear that justice overtook the assassin, although his widow
perseveringly evoked it.”
[30] The fertility and other natural advantages of “the vale,” and, we
may believe, its picturesque beauties also, in remote times, determined
the ancient nobility of Staffordshire to make it their chosen seat.
This, and a lower portion of the river, are adorned with that graceful
bird the swan. Ingestre, and the neighbouring royalties, have had
“games of swans” immemorially. Amongst the distinguishing marks on the
beaks of the birds used in 1785 in the several royalties adjoining
the Trent, enumerated by Dr. S. Shaw, we find that of “Earl Talbot,
Ingestre; two notches on the right side.”
[31] Walter Chetwynd, Esq., of Ingestre, the celebrated antiquary, was
the son of Walter Chetwynd, Esq., and married Ann, daughter of Sir
Edward Bagot, Bart., August, 1658. He introduced the learned Dr. Plot,
from Oxford, into Staffordshire, to write its Natural History. Dr.
Plot exhibits in his work (1686) a Plan of Ingestre Hall, and gives an
account of the rebuilding of Ingestre church by his patron.
The first person who undertook to write upon the history and
antiquities of Staffordshire was Sampson Erdeswick, Esq., of Sandon,
near Ingestre, venerandæ antiquitatis cultor maximus, as Camden
describes him; _i. e._ an eminent encourager of venerable antiquity.
He died in 1603, and was buried under a handsome monument, having his
effigy, “cut to life,” erected by himself in his lifetime, in Sandon
church. His MS. papers fell into the hands of Walter Chetwynd. This
latter gentleman obtained in addition the collections of Mr. Ferrers,
of Baddesley, and of William Burton, the Leicestershire historian, and
brother of the Anatomist of Melancholy. To these he added very large
collections of his own. All these MSS., upon the repairing of Ingestre
Hall, were put in a box, for safety, by the Rev. James Milnes, rector,
and were unfortunately lost. They were, however, subsequently found
at Rudge; but continued in obscurity, till rediscovered at Ingestre,
when they were placed in the hands of Dr. Stebbing Shaw, the learned
and indefatigable historian of the county, whose premature decease
unhappily interrupted his elaborate work. There is a good portrait of
Walter Chetwynd, Esq., the antiquary, by Lely, at Ingestre Hall.
[32] One member of the Talbot family, Charles Talbot (son of the Lord
Chancellor), who died in 1733, made the tour of Europe with Thomson,
the author of the “Seasons,” to whom Lord Talbot was a liberal patron
and kind benefactor.--His poem on “Liberty,” which was conceived during
their travels, opens with an affectionate tribute of sorrow to the
memory of his friend.
“O my lamented Talbot! while with thee,
The Muse gay roved the glad Hesperian round,
And drew th’ inspiring breath of ancient arts;
Ah! little thought she, her returning verse
Should sing our darling subject to thy shade!
And does the mystic veil from mortal beam
Involve those eyes, where every virtue smiled,
And all the father’s candid spirit shone?
The light of reason, pure without a cloud;
Full of the generous heart, the mild regard;
Honour disdaining blemish, cordial faith,
And limpid truth that looks the very soul.”
Thomson also composed a poem “To the memory of Lord Talbot,” which is
equally creditable to the Chancellor and the Poet, and reflects great
honour on Lord Talbot’s family, to whom it is addressed.
[33] The village of West Bromwich is remarkable as the birthplace of
Walter Parsons, porter to King James I., who appears to have been
equally distinguished for extraordinary strength and equanimity of
temper. His stature was but little above the common size; yet such was
the prodigious power of his arm, that he could easily “take up two of
the tallest yeomen of the guard and carry them where he pleased, in
spite of their attempts to free themselves from his iron grasp.”
[34] Over the entrance of the Porch leading to the Great Hall from the
Court Yard, is a shield cut in stone, with these seven quarterings:--
1. Tollemache, Argent, a Frett Sable.
2. Joyce Argent on a Chevron Gules, 3 escallops, Or.
3. Joyce Or, a Lion rampant, Azure armed Gules.
4. ---- Gules, a Fesse between 3 buckles, Or.
5. Visdeliea Argent, 3 Wolves’ heads, couped Gules.
6. Curzon Ermine a bend checky, Argent and Sable.
7. Peche Argent, a Fesse between 2 Chevrons Gules.
[35] During the lifetime of this Earl, old English hospitality was kept
up in a most primitive style, whenever he was residing at the Hall.
The tenants and tradesmen employed by his Lordship were allowed to
visit the Hall whenever they pleased, and many yet living remember with
grateful pleasure the entertainment afforded them there.
[36] The exception should, however, be made in favour of General
Thomas Tollemache. In the Church, there is a sarcophagus of white
marble, in which stands, upon a pedestal, a bust, and behind it an
obelisk of reddish marble, surrounded by military trophies. On the
face of the sarcophagus is this inscription:--“Thomas Tollemache,
Lieutenant-General (descended of a family more ancient than the Norman
Conquest,) second son of Sir Lionel Tollemache, Bart., by his wife,
Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart in her own right. His natural
abilities and first education were improved by his travels in foreign
nations, where he spent several years in the younger part of his
life, in the observation of their genius, customs, politics, and
interest; and in the service of his country, abroad in the field, in
which he distinguished himself to such advantage by his bravery and
conduct, that he soon rose to considerable posts in the Army. Upon
the accession of King William III. to the Throne, he was made Colonel
of the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, and soon after advanced
to the rank of Lieutenant-General. In 1691, he exerted himself with
uncommon bravery in the passage over the river Shannon, and the taking
of Athlone, in Ireland, and in the battle of Aghrim. In 1693, he
attended the King to Flanders; and at the battle of Landen, against
the French, when His Majesty himself was obliged to retire, he brought
off the English Foot with great prudence and success. In 1694, he was
ordered by the King to attempt the destroying of the harbour of Brest
in France; but on his landing at the head of six hundred men, he was
so much exposed to the enemy’s fire, that most of his men were killed,
and himself shot through the thigh, of which wound he died a few days
after. Thus fell this brave man, extremely lamented, and not without
suspicion of being made a sacrifice, in this desperate attempt, through
envy of some of his pretended friends; and thus failed a design, which,
if it had been undertaken at any time before the French were so well
prepared to receive it, might have been attended with success, and
followed with very important effects.”
[37] These rhymes are curious and interesting, and possess sufficient
merit to justify our devoting to them the space necessary.
I.
Baptized Lyonel Tollemache, my name,
Since Norman’s conquest of unsoyled fame,
Shews my descent from ancestors of worth;
And that my life might not belye my birth,
Their virtues’ track, with heedful steps I trod:
Rightful to men, religious towards God.
Train’d in the law, I gain’d the bar and bench,
Not bent to kindle strife, but rather quench;
Gentle to clients, in my counsels just;
With Norfolk’s great Duke, in no little trust;
Sir Joyce his heir was my fair faithful wife,
Bentley my seat, and seventy years my life.
II.
Heir of my Father’s name, surname, and seat,
Lands, goods, and goodness towards small and great;
By Heaven’s dear blessing on my best endeavour,
In his fair footsteps did I well persevere;
Amongst the best, above the most admir’d,
For all the parts my race and place requir’d.
High sheriff of Suffolk once, of Norfolk twice,
For both approv’d, right, gentle, just and wise;
Frank house, frank heart, free of my purse and port
Both lov’d, and loving towards every sort;
Lord Wentworth’s daughter was my lovely Pheer,
And fourscore, six less, lived I pilgrim here.
III.
My stile and state (least any question should)
My Sire and Grandsire have already told;
My fame and fortune not unlike to theirs,
My life as fair as human frailty bears;
My zeal to God, my love to ev’ry good,
My Saviour knows, his saints have understood.
My many virtues moral and divine,
My liberal hand, my loving heart to mine,
My piety, my pity, pains and care,
My neighbours, tenants, servants, yet declare.
My gentle bride Sir Ambrose Jermyn bred;
My years lack five of half my grandsire’s thread.
IV.
Here, with his father, sleeps Sir Lyonel,
Knight, Baronet, all honours worthy well;
So well the acts of truth, his life exprest
His elders’ virtues, and excell’d their best;
His prudent bearing in his public place,
Suffolk’s high sheriff twice, in sixteen years space.
His zeal to God, and towards ill, severity;
His temperance, his justice, his sincerity;
His native mildness towards great and small,
His faith, his love to friends, wife, children all,
In life and death; made him belov’d and dear,
To God and man, happy in Heaven and here.
Happy in soul and body, goods and name;
Happy in wedlock with a noble dame,
Lord Crumwell’s daughter; happy in his heir,
Whose spring of virtues sprouts so young and fair:
Whose dear affection, to his founders debtor;
Built them this tomb, but in his heart a better.
[38] Hengrave is called in Domesday Book “Hemegretha.” In several
ancient deeds it is variously spelt Hemegreth, Hemegrede, Hemegrave,
and Hengrave.
[39] This information we condense, chiefly from a costly volume in
quarto, published by the late John Gage, Esq., F.S.A., entitled “The
History and Antiquities of Hengrave.”
[40] His portrait, by Holbein, is among the family portraits at
Hengrave. It is that of a fine portly citizen, with a stern, but
intellectual, countenance. He was Sheriff of London in 1533 having
been previously knighted. His mercantile transactions were principally
carried on “at the cloth fairs or staples holden at Antwerp,
Middleburg, and other places in Flanders, by the Merchant Adventurers,
to which company he belonged.” His wealth must have been enormous,
for he purchased estates in the counties of Suffolk, Devon, Dorset,
Somerset, and Nottingham.
[41] It is said that Sir George Trenchard, Sir John Gage, and Sir
William Hervey, each solicited at the same time the hand of the wealthy
heiress; and that, to keep peace between the rivals, she threatened the
first aggressor with her perpetual displeasure; “humorously telling
them that, if they would wait, she would have them all in their
turns--a promise which the lady actually performed.” Her first husband
was Sir George Trenchard, her second Sir John Gage, and her third Sir
William Hervey. She left issue only by her second husband.
[42] Several documents relative to “the raising of Hengrave” are still
preserved. Among others, is the contract with John Eastowe, the mason,
to “macke a house at Hengrave of all manor of mason’s worck,” &c. &c.
“The said John must have for ye sayd worck, and finishing thereof,
iic. li. (£200), to be paid, x li. when he begins the foundacyon
thereof, and afterwards always as xx li. worth of worke is wrought by
estymacion.” The plasterer’s contract is for £116 “of lawful money of
Ingland.” Among other items are these--“For a lode of tymber, vi s.;”
“The glasyar, for making of all the glass wyndowes of the manour place,
with the solar, and for xiii skuttchens with armes, iiii li.” (four
pounds.)
[43] Burnet gives a character of the first Earl of Dysart by no means
flattering. “He was well turned for a Court; very insinuating, but
very false; and of so revengeful a temper that rather than any of the
counsels given by his enemies should succeed, he would have revealed
them, and betrayed both the King and them. He had one particular
quality, that when he was drunk, which was very often, he was upon a
most exact reserve, though he was pretty open at all other times.”
[44] The Duchess of Lauderdale was one of the “busiest” women of
the busy age in which she lived. Burnet insinuates, that during the
life-time of her first husband “she had been in a correspondence with
Lord Lauderdale that had given occasion for censure.” She succeeded in
persuading him that he was indebted for his escape after “Worcester
fight” to “her intrigues with Cromwell.” “She was a woman,” continues
the Historian, “of great beauty, but of far greater parts. She had
a wonderful quickness of apprehension, and an amazing vivacity in
conversation. She had studied not only divinity and history, but
mathematics and philosophy. She was violent in every thing she set
about; a violent friend, but a much more violent enemy. She had
a restless ambition, lived at a vast expense, and was ravenously
covetous; and would have stuck at nothing by which she might compass
her ends.” Upon the accession of her husband to political power, after
the Restoration, “all applications were made to her; she took upon her
to determine everything; she sold all places; and was wanting in no
methods that could bring her money, which she lavished out in a most
profuse vanity.”