[Illustration: Godolphin House.]
The family of Godolphin is by far the greatest and most important that
has issued from our parish. Their original abode, according to the
statement of Leland, was a fortified stronghold or tower on Godolphin
Hill, the remains of which were in existence in his time. The origin of
the family is lost in obscurity, but the curious tenure under which the
Manor of Godolphin is still held from the owner of the Manor of
Lambourne makes it clear that they were not tenants-in-chief from the
Earls of Cornwall. A passing allusion to the curious nature of this
tenure may be pardoned. Each Candlemas morning at six o'clock, beneath
the twinkling stars, or more probably in the black darkness of rain and
tempest, the Reeve of Lambourne still pays his yearly visit to Godolphin
House. Beating on the outer oaken doors of the ancient mansion, he
peremptorily demands admission. On the doors being opened, without
waiting for invitation he enters the house and mounting upon the table
of the hall he exclaims "O Yes! O Yes! O Yes! I am the Reeve of
Lambourne in Perransand, come here to demand the old rent, duties and
customs due to the lords of the said manor from the lands of Godolphin."
In response to the summons of the Reeve there is brought him 2s. 8d. in
rent, a jack of strong beer, a loaf of bread and a cheese. Out of the
fact of this ancient tenure the incorrigible Hals has woven one of his
innumerable romances, for which not one iota of evidence worthy of
consideration exists. Hals possessed the art of evolving history of a
libellous and defamatory character from his own inner consciousness in a
way that has been seldom equalled.
After a number of generations the ancient race of Godolphin centred in
an heiress Elinor or Elianora, who married John Rinsey of Rinsey, thus
joining the estates of Rinsey and Godolphin. On 2nd December, 1398, John
Rinsey of Godolphin and Rinsey and Elianora his wife received a licence
from Bishop Stafford for oratories on their manors of Godolphin and
Rinsey. The arms of this worthy pair are still to be seen quartered on
the 15th century screen of Buryan Church.
Hals' story about the Godolphin estates passing by marriage to the
Arundells of Perransand, and being sold to one Stephens or Knava, on the
above-mentioned tenure, rests upon no proof save that the name of Knava
happened to be common in Breage in his time, and it finds no support
from the descent of the family given by Vivian.
John Godolphin of Godolphin, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1504, must be
regarded as the real John of Hapsbourg of his race. I am led to conclude
that the Master Thomas Godolphin who became vicar of Breage in 1505 was
the younger son of this founder of the family greatness.
The south-east corner of Breage Church, now called the Godolphin
Chapel, was the burying-place of this ancient family from the period of
its rise to greatness, though no monument of any kind preserves the
memory of those whose earthly remains rest there. It seems incredible
that no monuments to the memory of departed Godolphins ever marked the
site of their last resting-place. Sir Francis Godolphin, who lived in
the time of Elizabeth, was a man of vast wealth, as well as vast
influence. The age of Elizabeth was an age of ornate and magnificent
tombs; they still survive in great numbers in our country churches, of
elaborate character with rows of kneeling figures and inscriptions that
will suggest the lines:
"The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe,
And storied urns record who rests below;
When all is done upon the tomb is seen
Not what he was, but what he should have been."
The conclusion is forced upon us that at some period the tombs of the
Godolphins were removed and desecrated. As to the period there can be
little doubt; it can only be placed in the time of the Independent
ascendancy, during the Protectorate. The Godolphins had distinguished
themselves by their fearless loyalty to the exiled house, and had
rendered themselves a target for the animosity of the Government and
local fanatics and sectaries. Their elaborate tombs were thus perhaps
conveniently confused with the emblems of superstition, and their
recesses rifled in search of sacrilegious booty.
The helmets of three Godolphins still hang in the south-east corner of
the church, the silken banners that once hung with them having long
since mouldered into dust. At the restoration of the church in 1892 two
large marble slabs were removed from the floor of the church, which
marked the stairway leading to the Godolphin vault. John Evelyn, in his
account of the burial of Margaret Godolphin, speaks of this quiet corner
as the "dormitorie of her family."
[Illustration: A Godolphin Helmet in Breage Church.]
Sir John Godolphin was succeeded by his son, Sir William Godolphin: this
Knight in his turn was repeatedly Sheriff of Cornwall. We may gather
from the State Papers[45] that his character and principles, to say the
least, were somewhat robust. Ships cast upon the wild, rockbound coast
of Breage, it is complained, were snapped up as toothsome morsels by the
Sheriff, and their contents carried doubtless as loot to Godolphin. His
burial is recorded in the Breage register on 30th July, 1570. He was
succeeded by his son, the heroic Sir William Godolphin, who covered
himself with glory in the short war waged by Henry VIII. against Francis
I., which terminated in the defeat of the French at the Battle of the
Spurs. Carew says of this brave Knight that "he added lustre to his fame
at the expense of his face." This statement has reference to a charge
made by Sir William and his brother Thomas, at the head of the force
under his command, which resulted in the rout of the French opposed to
them and the grievous shortening of Sir William's nose by a sword cut.
This warrior at home seems to have practised the robust methods of his
father. In 1575 we find the [46]Crown preferring fifteen charges against
him, thirteen of which were for piracy in conjunction with the
Killigrews of Arwennick. He lies buried in Finchley Churchyard, and some
faithful follower who had wandered over the fields of Picardy with him
in search of military glory placed the following epitaph upon his tomb:
"Godolphin his race to rest hath run,
Where grace affords felicity;
His death is gone, his life hath wone
Eternal perpetuity.
Though William his corpse here doth lie
Barnes' faith in him shall never die."
His wife Dame Blanche Godolphin lies at Breage. As Sir William left no
son his estates devolved on his nephew, Sir Francis, son of Thomas
Godolphin, who had, as we have already seen, distinguished himself in
the war with France. Of Sir Francis Godolphin, Carew says, "Zeal in
religion, uprightness in government and plentifulness in house-keeping
had given him a great reputation."
As well as having distinguished himself in the dreary wars of Ireland,
Sir Francis had applied his mind to the problems of scientific mining on
his estates, to his own great profit. In looking over the pages of the
Church registers, I was perplexed to find the frequent recurrence of the
name Erasmus. There can be but little doubt that the first Erasmus whose
name appears in the registers was a Dutchman brought to Breage by Sir
Francis Godolphin in connection with his great projects of scientific
mining. Sir Francis was Governor of the Scilly Islands. As Governor he
rebuilt the ruined fortress of St. Mary, and made it so strong that it
successfully resisted all the assaults of the Parliamentary forces until
the close of the Civil War. The heroic attempt of Sir Francis Godolphin
to defend Penzance against the attacking Spaniards has been dealt with
in another place.
Sir Francis corresponded with Cecil Lord Burleigh, and we thus get from
the Hatfield MS. a faint, blurred picture of the soul of this brave
Cornish squire. In his last letter to Cecil, dated Tavistock, 8th
October, 1601, he speaks of his "project as touching the wars in
Ireland."[47] He married first Margaret, daughter of John Killigrew, of
Arwenack, and secondly Alice, daughter of John Skerrit, and widow of
John Glanville, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Of one of these
ladies the following quaint story still survives: Sir Francis had taken
into his confidence an attorney of Ottery St. Mary, named John Cole, and
ultimately employed him as his agent. This person embarked in mining
speculations on his own account with disastrous results, which soon
hurried him into the paths of fraud. John Cole's blocks of tin bore for
purposes of identification the figure of a cat stamped upon them, whilst
those of his master bore the impress of a dolphin. Emboldened by
successful peculations, the sign of the cat appeared in ever-increasing
numbers where the sign of the dolphin should have been displayed. The
suspicions of Lady Godolphin, more shrewd in this respect than her
husband, were aroused. Accompanied by a maid, she repaired to the
Godolphin Blowing House on foot, where she found numerous blocks of tin
unlawfully stamped with the sign of the cat. On her return to Godolphin
House, she found Sir Francis and a number of friends wondering at her
absence, prolonged long past the appointed hour of dinner. She explained
that during her absence she "had been watching a cat eating a dolphin."
The Breage registers record the burial of Sir Francis Godolphin on 23rd
April, 1608.
Sir Francis was succeeded by his son, Sir William Godolphin, educated at
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, the home in those days of Puritan learning.
Sir William also had distinguished himself under Essex in Ireland ere he
succeeded his father; tradition says that he had been knighted for his
bravery on the field of battle. In 1606 he was employed by the
Government on a mission to Paris, the object of which is unknown. In an
extant letter to Cecil[48] he complains that his means were inadequate
to meet the expenses of the mission. He represented Cornwall once, if
not twice, in Parliament. He married Thomasina, the daughter of Thomas
Sidney, of Wrighton, in Norfolk. It was thus that the Christian name of
Sidney was introduced into the Godolphin family. The Breage registers
record his burial on 5th September, 1613. His eldest son William died
whilst still a youth, when on a visit to Bruton Abbey, in Somersetshire;
he was thus succeeded by his second son Francis, a boy of fourteen at
the time of his father's death.
It was during the lifetime of this Sir Francis that Charles II., then
Prince of Wales, took refuge at Godolphin House, on his flight to the
Scilly Islands on the complete collapse of the Royal cause. Charles
remembered the services of his faithful Cornish squire, and at his
accession made him a Knight of the Bath, and entrusted to his charge the
State prisoners, Sir Harry Vane and General Ireton; at the same time
the foundation of the fortunes of his third son, Sidney, was laid by
admission to the Royal household. Sir Francis represented St. Ives and
other constituencies in Parliament. He and his wife, Dame Dorothy,
daughter of Sir Henry Berkeley, of Yarlington in Somerset, were both
buried in Breage Church. Sir Francis was succeeded by his eldest son,
Sir William, who died without issue, and is buried at Breage. His fourth
son, Henry Godolphin, D.D., was Provost of Eton for thirty-five years,
and ultimately became Dean of St. Paul's. The silver-gilt Communion
services still in use at both the Churches of Breage and Germoe were the
gift of Henry Godolphin, whilst Dean of St Paul's. The record of his
baptism occurs in our registers on 15th August, 1648.
No account of the house of Godolphin would be complete without mention
of the brave and debonair Sidney Godolphin, poet, soldier and
philosopher, brother of the foregoing Sir Francis Godolphin, K.B. He was
the trusted friend of the statesman Clarendon, Hobbes the philosopher,
and Waller the Cavalier poet. These three friendships in themselves made
clear the temper of his mind. He sat in three Parliaments as member for
Helston. He espoused in Parliament the cause of Strafford, and when
peace seemed hopeless, he withdrew to the King at Oxford. The Earl of
Clarendon in his history of the Great Rebellion has left a vivid
portrait of his character and personality. He describes him as of small
stature, but of sharp and keen wit, with a mind tinged with melancholy
and fitfulness. He tells us that he would scarcely stir out of doors in
windy or rainy weather, and that at Court he mingled freely with the
greatest of the realm. He died fighting for his King at Chagford, in
Devonshire, in an obscure skirmish, and lies buried in Okehampton Parish
Church. It is evident that he had inherited the nature of his mother,
and was a Sidney both in mind and in person rather than a Godolphin.
Sidney Godolphin was before his age, and his philosophic mind revolted
at the miserable tangle of religion and politics, and the degrading
spirit of religious intolerance and persecution manifested by all
parties. Of him it might have been well said: "_Qui n'as pas l'esprit de
son âge, de son âge a tout le malheur._" On his tomb are inscribed the
following pathetic lines by his friend Hobbs:
"Thou art dead, Godolphin, who lov'dst reason true,
Justice and peace, soldier belov'd, adieu."
The following entry in the Breage registers, which casts a sidelight on
the story of the Godolphin family, has a pathos all its own: "Franciscus
Berkeley, filius Caroli Berkeley militis, sepultus fuit 27 Septembri,
1635." The mother of the child whose death is thus recorded was
Penelope, daughter of Sir William Godolphin, and the sister of Sir
Francis and Sidney Godolphin. Penelope Godolphin had been married to Sir
Charles Berkeley in Breage Church, September, 1627. Possibly the rapid
rise of the Godolphin family was due to some extent to this marriage
into the powerful family of Berkeley. Sir Charles Berkeley afterwards
became Viscount Hardinge, and ultimately Earl of Falmouth, and is said
in the main to have been responsible for the failure of the negotiations
between Cromwell and Ireton on the one hand, and Charles I. on the
other, for the restoration of Charles once more, to a peaceful, if a
more limited authority over his people.
The child whose death the entry records had doubtless come with his
parents to his mother's ancestral home. Penelope Berkeley no doubt
returned to the old home of her childhood full of dreams of the renewal
of the life of her girlhood, proud of her firstborn, heir to a great
name. It all ended, alas! in the laying of the body of her babe in the
old grey Church on the hill, overlooking the sea, 'midst the dust of his
maternal ancestors.
The parish has produced only one great man of the first rank, Sidney
Godolphin, Earl of Godolphin, third son of the Sir Francis honoured by
Charles II. Our Church registers record the baptism of Sidney Godolphin
in the following words: "Sidoni, the son of Francis Godolphin and
Dorothy his wife, was baptized 15th day of June, 1644." Sidney Godolphin
almost immediately after the Restoration became a page in the Royal
household, and it was not long before the King conceived a strong
personal liking for the son of the Cornish squire with whom he had found
a refuge in the darkest hour of his fortunes. The regard of the merry
Monarch made smooth the path of rapid advancement for Sidney Godolphin.
Like his uncle of the same name, at an early age he entered Parliament
as member for Helston. It is said that he very seldom spoke in the House
of Commons, but quickly earned a reputation as a man of keen financial
grasp and insight, and that his opinion on matters of finance soon came
to be regarded as of great weight. In 1679 he was promoted with Viscount
Hyde, afterwards Earl of Rochester, and the Earl of Sunderland to the
chief management of affairs. In September, 1684, he was created Baron
Godolphin of Rialton, and succeeded the Earl of Rochester as First Lord
of the Treasury. James II. extended to him the same favour and
confidence that King Charles had given to him. He was one of the Council
of Five to whom James left the management of affairs when he left London
to meet the advancing forces of the Prince of Orange. On the utter
collapse of the cause of James II. he was one of the Commissioners
appointed to negotiate with William Prince of Orange. He continued in
office under William III., whilst at the same time, like his friend the
Duke of Marlborough, he carried on a secret correspondence with James at
St. Germans. No doubt all his real sympathies were with the cause of the
exiled Monarch. In the reign of Anne he was largely instrumental in
bringing about the Act of Union with Scotland; and by his great ability
as a Minister of Finance he alone rendered possible the victorious
prosecution of the war with France. He was created Earl of Godolphin in
1706. His position as a Minister of Finance in a venal age gave him
unlimited opportunities for peculation, which others would have
unblushingly seized, but he remained incorruptible, and at his death in
1712 was found to be worth only £12,000. He was buried in Westminster
Abbey.
The life of Sidney Godolphin was early clouded by a great sorrow. At the
age of thirty he had married Margaret Blague, daughter of Colonel
Blague, of Horningsheath. Three years after their marriage, in 1678,
Margaret Godolphin's saintly life came to an end. John Evelyn has
rendered the story of her short life in a sense the common heritage of
all English men and women. By her purity and simple goodness of
character she came to exercise an influence upon an evil and licentious
Court, and for posterity she stands out as one of its brightest
ornaments. I extract the following fragment from Evelyn's memoir of her:
"She died in the 26 yeare of age, to the inexpressible affliction of her
deare husband. She was for beauty and good nature, wit, fidelity and
discretion the most incomparable person. Her husband, struck with the
unspeakable affliction, fell down as dead. The King himself and all the
Court expressed their sorrow. To the poore and miserable her loss was
irreparable, for there was no degree but had some obligation to her
memorie. She desired to be buried in the dormitorie of her husband's
family, neere 300 miles from all her other friends. So afflicted was her
husband at this severe loss that the entire care of her funeral was
committed to me. Having closed her eyes, and dropped a teare upon the
cheeke of my deare departed friend, lovely even in death, I caused the
corpse to be embalmed and wrapped in lead, with a plate of brass
soldered thereon, with an inscription and other circumstances due to her
worth, with as much diligence and care that my grieved heart would
permit me. She was accordingly carried to Godolphin, in Cornwall, in a
hearse with six horses, attended by two coaches of as many, with about
thirty of her relations and servants. There accompanied the hearse her
husband's brother, Sir William, two more of his brothers and his three
sisters; her husband was so overcome with grief that he was wholly unfit
to travel so long a journey till he was more composed. I went as far as
Hounslow with a sad heart, but was obliged to return on some
indispensable affairs. The corpse was ordered to be taken out of the
hearse every night, and decently placed in ye house, with tapers about
it, and her servants attending to Cornwall; and then was honorably
interr'd in the Parish Church of Godolphin. This funeral cost not much
less than £1000. With Mr. Godolphin I looked over and sorted his lady's
papers. We found a diary of her solemn resolutions, all tending to
practical virtue. It astonish'd us to see what she had read and written,
her youth considered."
A brass with the following inscription marks the spot in Breage Church,
in front of the altar in the south aisle, beneath which the earthly
remains of Margaret Godolphin lie: "Beneath this brass repose the mortal
remains of Margaret Godolphin, daughter of Colonel Blague, of
Horningsheath, Groom of the Bedchamber to King Charles I.; the wife of
Sidney Godolphin, afterwards Earl of Godolphin; and the friend of John
Evelyn, who has told the story of her noble life. She wished to rest at
Breage, the cradle of her husband's race. Born 2nd August, 1652. She
died in London 9th September, 1678. This brass was placed to her memory
by George Godolphin Osborne, 10th Duke of Leeds."
It seems to have been the custom of the Lord High Treasurer, at any rate
until his later years, from time to time to visit his old Cornish home,
which, it may be added, did not become his property until two years
before his death at the decease of his elder brother in 1710.
An interesting picture of these visits has come down to us from the
father of Dr. Borlase,[49] of antiquarian fame, who in his youth was
present on one of these occasions. He says that at this time no regular
post or means of transit, either for persons or things, were to be found
beyond Exeter, but when masses of letters had accumulated at Exeter they
were from time to time sent on to Cornwall, as occasion might serve, by
a system which was called the post. When the Lord High Treasurer,
however, visited Godolphin, he had a weekly messenger from Exeter
bringing letters, despatches and a newspaper; and on the fixed day of
the messenger's arrival all the gentlemen for many miles round assembled
at Godolphin House to hear the newspaper read in the great hall.
A number of letters addressed to Sidney Godolphin by his mother and
other members of his family still survive in the British Museum[50] also
letters of Sidney and his sisters to their mother. These letters give a
deeply interesting picture of the family life as lived at Godolphin.
Some of the letters of his sisters to their mother deal with the things
they saw and did on their visits to London. Money seems to have been not
too abundant at this period in the Godolphin family, and considerations
of ways and means constantly obtrude themselves in the letters. In one
letter the future Lord High Treasurer is commissioned by his mother to
purchase the wedding trousseau of one of his sisters; to this letter of
his mother the future Finance Minister replies that he has purchased the
dresses that a "Mrs. Stuart had had out of France just before the Court
went into mourning." This engagement between his sister Catherine and a
Mr. Dryden ultimately came to naught. Catherine remained unmarried, and
was the last of her line to be laid in the "dormitorie" of her race in
Breage Church. She died 7th October, 1678.
Godolphin House was fitfully inhabited by Francis, 2nd Earl of
Godolphin, the only son of the Lord High Treasurer, for a few summer
months. He seems to have somewhat enlarged the house and built the front
portico and colonnade of granite from Tregoning Hill. Since his death in
1766 this ancient house has never been inhabited by its owners, and of
it may be said in the words of Hafiz:
"The spider has woven her web in the palace and the owl hath sung her
watch song on the towers."
In concluding the account of the family of Godolphin, it is fitting to
make some mention of Sir William Godolphin, of Treveneag, in the parish
of Mabe. He was the grandson of that Sir Francis Godolphin who so
gallantly attempted to defend Penzance against the Spaniards, his father
being John Godolphin, Captain of the Scilly Isles. Sir William in the
days of the Commonwealth had eulogised the Protector in fulsome verses
still extant: when the Protector was dead, and could no longer punish or
reward, we find him on the other hand assailing his memory with virulent
abuse. It is only just to add that whilst singing the praises of the
Protector, he was in full communication with the spies and agents of
Charles. Having so carefully prepared for the future, at the Restoration
his advance was rapid. In 1661 he became member of Parliament for
Camelford, and spoke vehemently in favour of the sanctity of the Royal
prerogative, not going without substantial reward for his exuberant
loyalty. Mr. Pepys describes him as "a very pretty and able person; a
man of very fine parts." He affected science as then understood, and
became a Fellow of the newly-formed Royal Society, and on account of the
sunshine of the Royal favour in which he basked received the honorary
degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. He ultimately became
Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Spain, but was summoned home
during the frenzy of the Popish Plot on a charge of high treason. Sir
William under the circumstances thought it more prudent to disregard
the command and remain at Madrid as a private person, which he continued
to do until the day of his death in 1696. At his death he left
considerable property in Madrid, Rome, Venice and Amsterdam, which
continued for a number of years to be the source of much litigation. A
portion of the property was ultimately employed, in accordance with the
provisions of Sir William's will, in founding the Godolphin School at
Hammersmith. The Godolphin School at Salisbury, it may be added, was
founded by his niece, Elizabeth Godolphin.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[45] State Papers, 1526.
[46] State Papers.
[47] See "The Life of Sidney Godolphin," by the Hon. Hugh Eliot.
[48] See "The Life of Sidney Godolphin," by the Hon. Hugh Eliot.
[49] See Gilbert's History of Cornwall.
[50] Life of Sidney Godolphin by the Hon. Hugh Eliot.
The Arundells, de Pengersicks, Militons and Sparnons.