Chapter II: Part 2

Sir Martyn left three daughters, Elizabeth married to Hugh Poynings, Lord St. John of Basing, Leva to Christopher Fleming, Baron of Slane in Ireland, and Jone "to whom the mannor of Beer-Ferrers fell in porcion" to Alexander Champernowne. Further notices of this family will occur on our visit to the little sanctuary in the village, which they appear to have originally built, and wherein several interesting memorials to them remain. Their allusive arms were, _Or, on a bend sable, three horse-shoes argent._

Concerning this prettily named heiress Blanche Champernowne and her family, the prosaic and literal old itinerant Leland, gives us further notice, and, if his description of her be correct, takes much of the romance out of it,--

"There was another house of the Campernulphes more auncient,
caullid Campernulphe of Bere. The last of this house left a
doughter and heire caullid Blanche, maried first onto Copestan of
Devonshire, and after devorcid and maried onto the Lord Brooke,
Steward onto Henry the VII, and he had by her a 700 markes of
lande by yere.

"John Willoughby that cam out of Lincolnshire and maried the an
heire general of the Lord (of) Broke, and after was Lord Brooke
hymself, lyeth buried at Hedington, and was a benefactor to that
house. As I remembre, the sunne of this Lord Broke was Steward
of king Henry the VII House, and his son was the third Lord
Brooke of that--. N.B.--and he had a sunne by his firste wife,
and that sunne had ij doughters maried to Daltery and Graville.
He had by another wife sunnes and doughters. The sunnes toward
yong men died of the sweting syknes."

The genealogy is here somewhat confused, but Leland appears to have been trusting to memory only.

We have made pilgrimage to, and described what remains of the old ancestral home of the knight in Wiltshire, and our steps next lead us to the locality of the new one he possessed by right of his wife at Beer-Ferrers in Devon. Like all places situate on the estuaries of large rivers such as the Tamar, that are tidal, and fringed by creeks that run considerable distances inland, Beer-Ferrers on the land side is only to be reached by a circuitous route from Plymouth, and therefore we elect the easier and more direct approach to it, by aid of the iron horse to Saltash, and thence by boat.

The tide is well up, and a pleasant breeze soon speeds us on our way. We pass the Budshead creek, that extends inland to Tamerton-Foliot, and are soon opposite a second and somewhat larger opening that runs up to Maristow, where, at its far end, the sparkling Tavy, fresh from the granite boulders of Dartmoor, delivereth her waters into the salt bosom of the lower Tamar. At about mid-distance up the creek on its northern shore, a small compact village, with a square battlemented church tower rising in the midst, has its place on the bank that slopes gently down to the water's edge. Thither we steer our way, and making fast our little craft to the pier, or 'quay' as these landing places are locally termed, find ourselves at Beer-Ferrers.

And where shall we discover this new home, you say, that Lord Willoughby de Broke acquired by right of Blanche Champernowne, and when in the flesh possessed and resided in, with surrounding park, and for which mansion or manor-house, his wife's ancestor Sir William de Ferrers had a license to castellate from king Edward III. in 1337, a concession subsequently renewed to his widow the Lady Matilda, and continued to his son Sir John?

Even in Leland's time, immediately after the decease of the last Lord Willoughby de Broke, it seems to have disappeared, for he notes:--"on the east side of this creek is Buckland. And on the west side is Bere, _where the Lord Broke's house and park was_." We believe nothing now remains to mark its former site but a few undulations in the turf. A graphic picture of the lawlessness of the era of Lord Willoughby de Broke's earlier residence at Beer-Ferrers, and the amenities of social life exhibited between the "bettermost folk" of that district, and comparatively neighbours also, is shewn in an account preserved among the muniments of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, describing attacks made on the person, servants and residence of his ancestor Richard Edgcumbe of Cotehele (M.P. for Tavistock in 1468) by Robert Willoughby of Beer-Ferrers, and thus described by the Earl to the members of the Royal Archaeological Society in 1876:--

"The document is rather amusing, dated 1470, and is apparently
the rough copy of a complaint or information by this Richard
against Robert Willoughby, who lived across the water at Beer
Ferrers, of injuries done to him at sundry times. This paper
which is remarkable for its wonderful spelling and for the
careful way in which every hostile act is estimated at its money
value, contains no less than thirteen items or charges, each
specifying some distinct outrage on the part of the said
Willoughby and his followers, numbering on one occasion '_three
score persons, in form of war arraied, with jackes, salettes,
bowys, ar'ws, and byelys, who at various times and places
contrewayted the said Richard to have mordered him and with force
of armes made a great affray and assawte upon him and his
servants sometimes to the gret jeperdy and dispayre of his
liff_,' always to his hurt and damage of so many pounds. And on
another occasion attacked Cotehele House itself and carried off a
very miscellaneous collection of articles to the hurt and damage
of the said Richard of a great many pounds; and at other times
took divers of his servants and kept them for a week at a time in
prison at '_Bere Ferrers_,' and '_bete_' and grievously wounded
others, especially one William Frost, to the hurt and damage to
the said Richard of L20 and more. It is a curious fact that
fifteen years later this Willoughby (as Lord de Broke) and
Richard Edgcumbe held high places together in the court of Henry
VII."

Richard Edgcumbe had a narrower escape however from the vengeance of Richard III., after the suppression of Buckingham's revolt, in which he was a partizan, being strongly attached to the fortunes of the Red Rose. A party of armed men in Richard's interest, headed according to tradition by Sir Henry Bodrugan, otherwise Trenoweth, of St. Gorran in Cornwall, an adherent of the White Rose, made search for him in his own beautiful home of Cotehele. Carew describing the event says,

"he was driven to hide himself in those his thick woods, which
overlook the river, what time being suspected of favouring the
Earle of Richmond's party, against King Richard the III., he was
hotely pursued, and narrowly searched for. Which extremity taught
him a sudden policy, to put a stone in his cap, and tumble the
same into the water, while these rangers were fast at his heeles,
who looking downe after the noyse, and seeing his cap swimming
thereon supposed that he had desperately drowned himselfe, gave
over their farther hunting and left him at liberty to shift away,
and ship over into Brittaine: for a grateful remembrance of which
delivery, hee afterwards builded in the place of his lurking, a
Chapell."

After the victory of Bosworth, and Henry was seated on the throne, it came to Edgcumbe's chance to turn the tables on his adversary, and this he did most effectually. Tradition further relates, according to Lysons quoting from Tonkin, that,

"Sir Henry Bodrugan was in arms in Cornwall against the Earl of
Richmond, (Henry VII.) that he was defeated on a moor, not far
from his own castle by Sir Richard Edgcumbe and Trevanion, and
that he made his escape by a desperate leap from the cliff into
the sea, where a boat was ready to receive him, and fled to
Ireland, when all his large estates, including Bodrugan Castle,
described by Borlase "that there was nothing in Cornwall equal to
it for magnificence" were forfeited to the Crown. Most of
Bodrugan's estates, including the manor of St. Gorran (whereon
was the castle) were granted to Sir Richard Edgcumbe, and now
belong to his descendants."

Two very remarkable and almost identically coincident escapes. The place where he jumped over the cliff at Dodman's Head, is still known as "Bodrugan's Leap."

Edgcumbe was Comptroller of the Household, and of the Privy Council to Henry VII., and died returning from an embassy to France, at Morlaix on his way home, in 1489. Willoughby, Lord de Broke was his superior officer as Lord Steward of the Household to the same monarch; thus at Court they were closely associated with each other. Subsequently 22 Henry VII. (1497), Lord de Broke obtained of the king a grant in fee of the manor of Trethewye in St. Cleer, and all the lands there, part of the forfeited possessions of Sir Henry Bodrugan, and which were situate near his other property at Callington. So these worthies divided the spoil of their unfortunate neighbour.

As it hath happened to us aforetime, in many of our wanderings, in search of the former earthly habitations of those we were essaying to bring back to the stage of our thoughts, so also here,--successively of Ferrers, Champernowne and Willoughby,--all traces of their olden home have disappeared, and only a site with a name and a tradition remains to identify where stood their antient dwelling-place. Therefore our steps lead us back to that hallowed spot, where they, in common with us all, found their last and final home of eternal rest, there to seek for such memorials of them as may yet remain.

The church of Beer-Ferrers is an antient structure, the chancel and transepts of interesting early-decorated character, and but little disturbed from their original condition. But although used for parochial worship in the ordinary sense of the word, the little sanctuary was of old something more than that, being dignified ecclesiastically as a foundation of collegiate character, and termed an Arch-Presbytery. Of these somewhat uncommon religious establishments there were two in Devon, the other being at Haccombe, founded (about the same time) 1341, by Sir Stephen de Haccombe. This, at Beer-Ferrers, was founded by Sir William de Ferrers, who having rebuilt the church was desirous of making it Collegiate. For this purpose he assigned a sufficient endowment for an arch-priest and four other priests, who were to live in common under the same roof; and provision was also made for an assistant deacon, or sub-deacon, or at least a clerk. The Community were to perform the daily and nightly office in the church, and to offer up perpetual prayers for the prosperity of the Founder and his Lady Matilda during their lives, and for their souls after death. Also for the souls of Reginald de Ferrers and his wife Margery (parents of the Founder) and the souls of Sir Roger and Lady Joan de Carminow (parents of his wife) and the bishops of Exeter living or dead. Bishop Grandison confirmed this foundation 17 June, 1333. The Founder did not long survive his charitable work, for it is found in that prelate's register (vol. ii., fol. 219) that his relict and executrix Matilda obtained from the bishop 15 Dec., 1338, an acknowledgment of having well and faithfully administered to her husband's property, and that only the sum of twenty pounds remained in arrear, "_ad completionem cantarie de Biry_." (Oliver.)

A glance into the chancel, although five centuries have flown, brings us face to face with the Founder and his wife. There--marvellously preserved--humbly postured on one knee, his glowing tinted proportions, amid the crimson interlacery, and quarrels of pale-pencilled leaflets, that fill the east window, arrayed in gilded chain-mail, silver genouilleres and sword-hilt, with the armories of his race, the dark bend and gleaming horse-shoes traversing both ailette and surcoat. In his raised hands he bears the offering of a grand church, having three spires, and over his head runs a legend that apparently reads "(SYR) E WILL'S FERREYS ME FECIT." Fronting him in the adjoining light, with hands uplifted in prayer, kneels his wife Matilda Carminow, in snowy wimple and cover-chief, pink boddice and sleeves, with the broad bend of her husband's arms embroidered on her golden robe. The inscription above her head, seems to be confused and undecipherable. Studding the borders of the lights, interspersed among other ornaments, are the arms of Ferrers and Carminow, and a grand escutcheon similarly charged, and encircled with beautiful green-foliaged ornament occurs below.

Thus much for the history of the foundation of the arch-presbytery as depicted in the window; immediately beneath on the north side of the altar, upon a raised tomb of plain character, rest the recumbent effigies of the Founder and his wife, carved in stone, and habited almost exactly in duplicate of the figures limned on the glass above. Over them rises a beautiful pyramidal canopy, cusped below, flanked by pinnacles rising from the ground, the whole richly foliaged and finialed. In the upper spandrels are angels swinging censers.[5] But the peculiarity of this memorial consists in the lower portion of the canopy being cut through the wall, and opening to the side-chapel or chamber that adjoins the chancel on that side, where its elevation is repeated, as in the church, but with much less ornament.

[5] There appears to be only two examples of this fine style of
monument found in the county, the other occurring in the Chapel
of St. James, in Exeter Cathedral.

In the transept, which appears to be coeval with the chancel, in the east wall is a piscina, and the moulding immediately adjoining, marks the position of an altar that once had its position there. In a recess beneath a finely moulded arch at the north end under the window, is the effigy of a knight in chain-mail and surcoat, with shield, and hands grasping his sword, cross-legged,--the head raised and supported on a large bascinet-shaped helmet. The legs are destroyed to the knees, and of the lion on which his feet rested, only the paws remain. This figure is of contemporary date with the Founder in the chancel, with great probability is a Ferrers, and may represent his father, who was on the bede-roll of the foundation.

Here concludes our notices of the memorials of Ferrers, the first of the influential families Blanche Willoughby represented. Our next care, will, if it may be, to note any traces of the equally antient race that succeeded them at Beer, and gave to her, her maiden name of Champernowne.

One only, humble but characteristic, remains, now ousted from its original position in the pavement of the church, to the yard outside, where it must speedily pass to decay. It is a flat stone, on which is incised a Calvary cross on degrees, having at the intersection the Sacred Heart _rayonne_, inscribed with the Sacred Monogram. Below is this inscription,--

=Hic iacet Roger Champnow'e Armiger
cui' a'i'e p'p'cietur de' ame'=

This was the eldest brother of John Champernowne, to whom he succeeded at Beer, and uncle to Blanche Willoughby. Roger died 14 November, 1422.

Following these, our investigations naturally carry us on to note such remembrances of Willoughby as occur in the sacred edifice. There are several, actual and inferred, but our jottings must be stayed for the present, as the first memorial to that noble race is found elsewhere,--and our steps will return here after a while to conclude them.

Again we have recourse to our little craft, and crossing the bright Tamar, land on the Cornish side, and thence by a circuitous and winding lane of considerable length, find ourselves on the high road about halfway between the old half-maritime, half-inland borough of Saltash, and the equally antient half-mining, half-agricultural borough of Callington. As we steadily climb the gentle but continual ascent that leads to the old tinners' town, a grand and varied prospect surrounds us. Immediately in front looms the immense pyramidal mass of Hingston Down and Kit Hill rising over it, in all near eleven hundred feet above the tidal marge of the blue sea that gleams behind us, its crest garnished with many a tall chimney stack, the out-growth of that glamour of wealth so invincibly dear to the Cornishman's heart, that is always coming, but so seldom arrives, and whose witchery has been handed down from countless generations even long before old Leland's foot passed over it, and he made note of it as "being a hy hylle, and nere Tamar yn the easte part, baryn of his self, yt it is fertile by yielding of tynne both by water and dry warkes." Hence the distich,

"Hengston Down well yrought,
Is worth London Town dear ybought,"

but whose smokeless chimneys now stand as the witness-ghosts of the hundreds of thousands of buried treasure sunk aforetime within its vast bosom, yet nevertheless rich to a degree in mineral wealth, and boundless resource of granite and clay of the finest quality, from which considerable returns have been made. To the right in the far distance rise the shadowy tors of Dartmoor in successive range, melting back and merging into the grey realms of cloud-land. On the left, clear cut into the bright evening sky, appears the magnificent boldly outlined mass of the Caradons, behind which the sun has just dipped, and a blue aerial haze of singular beauty and varying density, stretches down their side and unites them to the broad valley beneath. We pass the skirt of Viverdon Down, an immense common, susceptible of better cultivation, but now a fastness for game only, and rough food for young animals; albeit gay in its appointed season with wealth of heather and gorse, and, if neglected by man, glorified by the unseen touch of the Infinite,--

"How full of love must He
In all things be,
Who strews with beauty e'en the waste and wold,
Who gives the moorland lark
His purple heath-bower dark;
The mountain bee, his wilderness of gold."

Quietly continuing our way, a short distance further brings us to the apex of the ascent, and as we begin to descend, before us is the 'tynner's towne' of Callington, with its granite-built, expressively-pinnacled church tower rising well above the clustering houses that surround it.

Here, at Callington, Lord Willoughby de Broke held another large property by right of his wife as a descendant of Ferrers, and also at South-Hill, as being himself the representative of the family of Stafford. Lysons says,--

"The manor of Callington was in the Ferrers family when the
market was granted in 1267 by Henry III.; Joan daughter of Martyn
Ferrers, brought it into the Champernowne family, Lord Willoughby
de Broke became possessed of it by marrying their heiress. It
appears that he occasionally resided, and that he died, at the
Manor-house of Callington, for he directed in his will he should
be buried in the church of that parish in which he should die.
From Willoughby it passed by successive marriages to Paulet,
Marquis of Winchester (who married his grand-daughter Elizabeth),
Dennis, Rolle, Walpole, and Trefusis. At Southill, two-thirds of
the great manor or franchise of Callilond or Kalliland, to which
the church of Southill is appendant, which belonged formerly to
the baronial family of Stafford, and passed by a coheiress to
Willoughby Lord Broke, and now vested in Trefusis."

Where the Manor-house mentioned by Lysons was situate cannot now be determined, but it is surmised to have been a building, which has long wholly disappeared, and was called Chickett-Hall, that formed Lord Willoughby de Broke's residence at Callington, and where he presumably departed this life. He was patron of the important benefice of South-Hill, and in its daughter church of Callington he was buried. But according to Sir R. C. Hoare he died at Wardour Castle, Wilts, which he had purchased.

Lord Broke made his will 19 August, 1502, and "_ordered his body to be buried in that parish wherein he should happen to die appointing that part of the issues and profits of Mitton and Kelmesham, &c., Co. Worcester, and the Manors of Helmingham, Thorpe-Latimer, Skredyngton, Heckington, Ledynghall and Swynehead in Com: Lincoln (then lately belonging to Lord Latimer) should be employed, by the space of twenty years next after his decease, to the finding of a priest to sing in the parish church of Hoke in Com: Dorset, for that term, taking for his salary every year ten marks, and to the relief of fourteen poor men and women, by the space of the said twenty years, to pray for his soul, as also for the soul of Blanche his wife, and the souls of his father and mother_." Probate, 25 December next ensuing. (Dugdale.)

Lord Willoughby de Broke is buried on the north side of the chancel of Callington church, and his monument--perhaps the finest of its kind in Cornwall--consists of his effigy recumbent on a high-tomb, both composed of alabaster. He is habited in complete plate armour, collar and apron of mail, and broad-toed sollerets, and is armed with sword and misericorde. The hands are in gauntlets, the head--which rests on a helmet--is uncovered, the hair cut short across the forehead, but flowing by the sides of the face, to the shoulders. The helmet is mantled, and surmounted by the crest _a Saracen's head affronte, couped at the shoulders, ducally crowned, and with ear-rings_. The feet are on a lion, and behind the soles, are two monks, or weepers, their heads bowed and inclining toward each other, resting on one hand, with the other they hold a rosary. The Garter appears below the left knee, and over the armour he wears the Robe and Collar of the Order, on the left shoulder is embroidered the Shield encircled by the Riband, the Collar is composed of roses within a garter, and garter-knots alternate, and from it is suspended the George.

The tomb below is formed of panels filled with rich tracery, having in their centres shields with carved armorial bearings, and twisted pillars were at the corners; of these two remain. No inscription is visible, it was probably only painted on the verge of the ledger-moulding, but traces of colour and gilding are faintly discernible on the figure. The effigy is in a fair state of preservation, but wretchedly disfigured on the surface, by legions of names and initials, barbarously cut into, and scratched on it.

The shields,--two of which are encircled by the Garter,--are charged with the arms borne by Lord Willoughby de Broke, as derived from Willoughby de Eresby with due difference. Quarterly: first grand quarter 1 and 4, _Sable, a cross engrailed or_ (UFFORD); 2 and 3, _Gules, a cross moline argent_ (BEC or BEKE), at the intersection _a crescent for difference_; second, _Gules, a cross patonce or_ (LATIMER); third, _Gules, four fusils argent, on each an escallop sable_ (CHENEY); fourth, _Or, a chevron gules, within a bordure engrailed sable_ (STAFFORD). On the styles between the panels appears the _rudder_, surmounted by the _rose_ of his patron Henry VII.

It is singular that no armorial alliance allusive to his wife appears on the tomb, but only his own family achievement with its proud distinguishment conspicuously displayed, finds place thereon. Yet Blanche Champernowne was an heiress of no mean descent, and richly dowered also, being the representative of the two very antient races of Ferrers and Champernowne, west country names of remote descent, and wide-spread renown, whose property she inherited. The more to be noted also, as he was presumably buried and his monument occurs in the church at Callington, whose manor formed a portion of her possessions. Where Lady Willoughby de Broke was buried does not appear. At Beer-Ferrers the _horse-shoes_ of Ferrers do find position of equal consequence with her husband's, but largely super-imposed with the _rudders_ of Willoughby. Champernowne does not appear in either church, but on her descendant's tomb at Alcester, both Ferrers and Champernowne are carefully marshalled among the elaborate heraldic display.

Stay thy foot, friend of mine, a short while, ere thou passest out of the sacred enclosure, and scan yon venerable churchyard cross--how rich is Cornwall in these reminders--slightly leaning, yet hale in the strength of the almost imperishable granite, and with the age-worn imagery of the Great Sacrifice, still plainly discernible, insculped on one of the faces of its pediment. There it was before the honour-bedizened noble--whose tomb we have been just surveying--found his way to Callington to enjoy the portion of his great possessions, situate near it; and who shall say he may not many a time have bowed his head in silent prayer, and crossed himself reverently at the sight of its solemn appeal, when in life he passed in front of it, as he entered the adjoining sanctuary for worship, ere he finally found therein his grave. And here also it is to-day, speaking the same eternal lesson to us, who are seeking to gather back from the woof of the Past, ravelled threads of his memory; and there it will doubtless be found, when we also are merged into the things that were. Such is

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS.

Hoary and worn and frayed,--
Old cross,--
By ruin's hand arrayed,
Time's dross:--
What message never stayed,
Speaks from thy lips decayed?

"Strife of the years is gone,
Not me,--
Drooping, bereft, and lone,
Here see
Pilgrim, by days undone,
Heaven's pleading-still, milestone.

"Ah! many eyes as thine
Have come,
Met this old gaze of mine,
Then home,
Would their glad steps incline,
Bearing my tale divine.

"Where are they now? O say--
No sound,--
Ask the memorials gray,
Around,--
They came again this way,
And down beside me lay."

Lord Willoughby de Broke by his wife Blanche Champernowne, left one son Robert, his heir, and a daughter Elizabeth, married (as his second wife) to William Fitz-Alan, seventeenth Earl of Arundel, K.G. who died in 1543, and was buried at Arundel.

Robert Willoughby, the second Lord Willoughby de Broke, married first Elizabeth, eldest of the three daughters and coheiresses of Sir Richard Beauchamp, second Lord Beauchamp of Powyke, who died 1503, by his wife Elizabeth daughter of Sir Humphrey Stafford, knt.

This marriage of Lord Beauchamp and Elizabeth Stafford, took place in the private chapel of his manor-house of Beauchamp's-Court near Alcester, by special license of the Bishop of Worcester.

The manor of Alcester belonged to the Beauchamps. Walter de Beauchamp, brother to William de Beauchamp, the first Earl of Warwick of that line, purchased a moiety of the manor, and had one of his seats at Beauchamp's-Court near that town, the other being at Powyke, in Worcestershire. His descendant Sir John de Beauchamp, K.G., who was created Baron Beauchamp of Powyke, 2 May, 1447, by Henry VI. and who was also Lord Treasurer of England, purchased the other portion of the manor of Thomas Bottreaux, a representative of the antient Cornish family of that name, who had held it for several descents. He died in 1478, and at his death left the whole manor to his son and heir, Richard, the second baron; and he at the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth with Robert Willoughby, settled its reversion, subject to his own life, upon her.

By this his first marriage, Robert, the second Lord Willoughby de Broke had one son Edward. More concerning him presently.

Secondly he married Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, K.G.--by his wife Cicely, the heiress of the Lords Bonville and Harington. By her he had two sons Henry and William (who died young of the sweating sickness)[6] and two daughters, Elizabeth married to John Paulet, second Marquis of Winchester who died in 1576, and Anne wedded to Charles Blount, fifth Lord Montjoy, who died in 1545, son and heir of William, fourth Lord Montjoy, whom her mother Dorothy Grey subsequently married as her second husband. Of the public services of this nobleman we hear little beyond his being attached to the expedition under the command of his father-in-law the Marquis of Dorset, sent to Spain early in 1512 by Henry VIII. on behalf of Ferdinand of Arragon, and which returned to England somewhat ingloriously in the November of the same year. He survived his son Edward, and gave a considerable portion of his large property to the daughters of his second wife. He made his will 1 Oct., 1521, and "_bequeathed his body to be buried in the Hospital called the Savoy, in the suburbs of London, before the image of St. John the Baptist, appointing a priest of honest conversation should be provided to sing and pray for his soul, as also for his wife's soul, and all his ancestors souls for ever, in the place where he should be buried taking for his yearly salary seven pounds_." After making bequests to his illegitimate children, he gives "_to his son Henry, all his harness, bows, arrows, and all other his weapons defensive, to the intent he should be therewith ready to serve his prince, in time of need_." "And departing this life shortly after by a pestilential air 10 Nov. 13 Henry VIII.--1521,--was buried in the church of Beer-Ferrers." (Dugdale.)

[6] Bacon thus describes the pestilence:--"This disease (Sweating
Sickness) had a swift course both in the sick body, and in the
time and period of the lasting thereof, for they that were taken
with it, upon four and twenty hours escaping were thought almost
assured. It was a pestilent fever but as it seemed not seated in
the veins or humours, for that there followed no carbuncle, no
purple nor livid spots, or the like, the mass of the body being
not tainted, only a malign vapour flew to the heart and seized
the vital spirits, which stirred Nature to strive to send it
forth in an extreme sweat. And it appeared by experience that
this disease was rather a surprise of Nature, than obstinate to
remedies, if it were in time looked unto; for if the patient were
kept in an equal temper, both for clothes, fire, and drink
moderately warm, with temperate cordials, whereby Nature's work
were neither irritated by heat, nor turned back by cold, he
commonly recovered. But infinite persons died suddenly of it,
before the manner of the cure and the attendance were known."

Edward Willoughby, son of the foregoing, married Margaret daughter of Richard Nevill, second Lord Latimer[7] of the second creation (by Anne Stafford his wife), who died in 1530. By her he had three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, and Blanche. Anne died unmarried, Blanche married Sir Francis Dautry, knt., and dying leaving no issue, Elizabeth the eldest was left at length, says Collins,--

"sole heir to the last Lord Broke, her grandfather; also to her
grandmother Elizabeth, eldest of the daughters and coheirs of the
last Lord Beauchamp of Powyke; and thus in her own person, united
the illustrious successions of those two noble families. As the
sole heir to her grandmother, she came to be seized in fee of the
whole manor of Alcester, in consequence of which, letters-patent
of exemplification were granted 3 Elizabeth, to her then a widow,
confirming all the grants of fairs, markets, &c., made in the
time of her ancestors. And as the sole heir of her grandfather,
it appears by an inquisition taken after her death, that she died
seized in fee, not only of the manor of Alcester, but of sundry
other manors and lands, in the counties of Warwick, Worcester,
Lincoln, Leicester, Somerset, and divers others; the whole
amounting to so great a value, that she might well have been
esteemed one of the richest heiresses of her time, as well as one
of the best descended."

[7] Memorable also is this Richard, Lord Latimer, for the dispute
he had with Robert, Lord Broke, touching the Barony of Latimer;
to which as next heir in blood to John, Lord Latimer of Danby,
who died without issue 9 Henry VI., he claimed a right. But to
end the contention the Lord Broke was informed by an herald, that
Sir George Nevill, grandfather to Sir Richard, was created Lord
Latimer by a new title, which therefore lineally descended to
Richard, by Henry, son and heir of the said George; and that the
Lord Broke had made a wrong claim; who should have claimed his
style from William Latimer, first created Lord Latimer of Danby,
(the head manor of this Barony) temp. Edward II; on this, the
Lord Broke perceiving his error, and having a title of his own,
was contented to conclude a match between their children, and
Richard suffered a recovery on certain manors and lordships
demanded by the Lord Broke, with which adjustment both parties
were well satisfied.--BANKS.

Here was a lady rivalling in illustrious birth and immenseness of possessions the famed west country heiress Cicely Bonville, one of whose daughters her grandfather had married as his second wife. What fortunate youth was destined to make prize of this high-born and wealthy orphan,--with whom was to reside the influence of the bestowal of her hand, fortune, and let us hope also, her heart?

There resided not far away from the home of this fatherless, richly-dowered girl, an old and well descended race of gentlemen called Greville. Leland, who wrote his itinerary contemporary with the little lady's existence in the flesh, thus describes them,--

"Sum hold Opinion, that the gravilles cam originally in at the
conquest. The veri ancient house of the gravilles, is at draiton
by banburi, in oxfordshire. But ther is an nother manor place of
the chief stok of the Gravilles, caullid Milcot, yn Warwickshire,
where a late is a newer, fairer and more commodious house. And
court rolles remayne yet at Draiton, that the Gravilles had
landes ons by yere 3300 marks. And Gravilles had Knap Castel, and
Bewbush Parke, and other landes in Southfax, by descentes of
their name.

"Grevill an ancient Gent. dwelleth at Milcote, scant a mile lower
than Stratford towards _Avon ripa dextra_."

This "ancient gent" residing at Milcote, only a comparatively short distance from Beauchamps-Court, Sir Edward Greville by name, although of considerable social standing, did not rank in influence with the Brokes and Beauchamps. He appears to have been an assiduous attendant at the Court of Henry VIII.,

"was in the commission of the peace for Warwickshire, and in 1514
at the seiges of Terouen and Tournay, also at the battle that
ensued, called by our historians the Battle of Spurs, from the
swiftness of the French running away. He received the honour of
Knighthood 13 October for his valiant behaviour. In 1523, he was
appointed one of the Knights to attend the King (Henry VIII.) and
Queen to Canterbury, and from thence to Calais, and Guisnes, to
the meeting of the French king; every one of that degree having a
chaplain, eleven servants, and eight horses."

Sir Edward married Anne, daughter of John Denton of Amersden in the county of Bucks, died in 1529, and was buried in the Chapel of St. Anne in the church of Weston-upon-Avon. By his wife he had four sons, John, Fulke, Thomas, and Edward, and like a prudent far-seeing father, he naturally looked about for good matches for them, and one prize at least was in view, and near at home, if he could obtain her reversion. So making use of his Court influence, on his return from the Field of the Cloth of Gold, he

"in 13 Henry VIII., 1522, obtained the wardship of Elizabeth, one
of the daughters and coheirs, and eventually the sole heir of
Edward Willoughby the only son of Robert, the second Lord Broke;
a grant which in its consequences, greatly contributed to
aggrandize his family as will appear from what followed."

Theoretically it would be presumed the "obtaining a wardship from the Crown," was simply that of a philanthropic trusteeship, but practically it meant something of a much more sordid nature, even the disposal of the person and possessions of the ward, for its own selfish uses and purposes, a monstrous privilege, or rather power, which was the chief object of their acquisition, and as a rule duly enforced. Therefore in accordance, we learn further that

"Sir Edward intended her for John his eldest son, but she
preferred in affection Fulke his younger son, and we get the
following account of this marriage from a manuscript entitled
'_The Genealogie, Life, and Death of Robert, Lord
Brooke_,'--wrote in 1644, and in possession of Francis Earl
Brooke,[8]--'In the days of king Henry the Eighth, I read of Sir
Edward Grevill of Milcote, who had the wardship of Elizabeth, one
of the daughters of the Lord Brook's son. This Knight made a
motion to his ward, to be married to John his eldest son; but she
refused, saying, that she did like better of Fulke his second
son. He told her, that he (Fulke) had no estate of land to
maintain her, and that he was in the King's service of warre,
beyond the seas, and therefore his returne was very doubtful. She
replyed and said, that shee had an estate sufficient for both,
for him, and for herselfe, and that shee would pray for his
safeties, and waite for his coming. Upon his returne home, for
the worthy service he had performed, he was by king Henry
honoured with knighthood; and then he married Elizabeth, the
daughter of the Lord Brooke's son.'"

[8] Collins, _Peerage_, edition 1756, and probably now among the
muniments of the Earl of Warwick.

After all, Sir Edward did not have it exactly his own way, some little romance was mixed up with this "matter of mere attorneyship," and the evidently high-spirited girl had a will of her own, and preferred the sailor youth, to the more prosaic stay-at-home son. It is well perhaps her inclinations did not lead her for choice outside Sir Edward's family circle, and doubtless the knight was sufficiently reconciled to find one of his boys in possession of the heiress.

By this marriage Sir Fulke settled himself at Beauchamp's-Court, and with his wife's large property, and others acquired afterward by purchase, became of high distinction and position in the county of Warwick, and it further appears that

"he was an affectionate husband and tender parent; that he had
encountered great difficulties, in securing the inheritance of
his wife (the daughters of the late Lord Broke, claiming as
coheirs), and that he was remarkably accurate in his accounts,
and adhered strictly to justice in all his transactions, appears
by the whole tenor of his will, dated 12 Elizabeth, in which
towards the end he thus expresses himself, '_and my especial
requests to my executors (his wife and eldest son) for the love I
have borne them, and for the travel I have taken in establishing
the hole inheritance, with my great costs also to be considered,
I most earnestly require them, and on God's behalf charge them,
that my debts be paied, if I die before the accomplishments
thereof_.'"

So it fortunately turned out, that the Lady Elizabeth was happily wedded to a kind, honourable, and just man. She bore him seven children, three sons and four daughters,--Fulke, who succeeded his father,--Robert, of Thorpe-Latimer, Lincolnshire, ancestor of the Earls Brooke and of Warwick,--Edward, of Harrold Park, Waltham-Abbey, Essex, whose line terminated in two daughters coheiresses,--Mary, married to William Harris of Hayne, Devon,--Eleanor, to Sir John Conway, of Arrow, and Ragley, in Warwick, who died in 1603, father of Edward, first Baron Conway,--Catherine, to Charles Read, of the county of Gloucester, and Blanche who died unmarried.

This evidently attached couple did not long survive each other, Sir Fulke died 10 Nov., 1559, and his wife followed him to the tomb the year following--1560.

They were buried under a magnificent monument that originally stood at the end of the south aisle, near the chancel in Alcester church, but which is now removed to a position near the tower at the west end.

Considering Alcester church was almost wholly rebuilt about a century and a half since, at an era when memorials of the dead were not too circumspectly cared for, this noble tomb with its recumbent figures, and wealth of ornament has been wonderfully preserved from injury. Except that the coloured decoration is somewhat softened by Time, it is otherwise but little mutilated, and displays all its antient splendour almost unimpaired.

On a black marble table are their effigies in alabaster, richly painted and gilded. Sir Fulke, bare-headed, is in full armour, two chains around the breast, from the lower depends a Maltese cross (or star) of five arms, sword and misericorde, feet in broad sabbatons puffed at the toes, and resting on a lion,--rings on his fingers, head reclining on a helmet, with crest _a greyhound's head couped at the shoulders sable, collared or_. Lady Elizabeth wears a close fitting cap, hair parted in the centre and brought across the brow, ruff, three small chains around the neck, gown with collar, sleeves having dependant lappets, and putted, knotted and slashed at the shoulders, with robe over fastened across the breast with cordon and tassels. Her head rests on double cushions, rings are on her fingers, and from her girdle, suspended by a chain, a gold pomander or pix, with double rose ornament on the lid. By her left foot is a little dog, sable and collared. The effigies are in a fine state of preservation, and around the edge of the table this inscription:--

=Here lyeth the bodyes of s ffoulke grevile knyght & lady
Elizabeth his wefe the doughter & heire of edward willoughbye
esquyre the sone & heyre of Robert willoughbye knyght lord of
broke & lady Elizabeth one of the doughters & coheyres of the
lord beauchamps of powycke whiche s ffoulke dyed the x day of
november a'no d'ni M^o d^o lix and the seid lady Elizabeth
hys wyff deperted the day of in the yere of o^r lord god M^o
d^o lx of whose soules god have mercy amen=

On the sides of the tomb below are a series of small figures, and an elaborate heraldic display, which claims special notice. Under the knight are seven figures: 1, a knight in full armour, bareheaded, sword, and chain round neck; 2 and 3, two ladies, with black hair, chains round their necks, their gowns red, lined with black. On the other side of the large shield, four figures: 4 and 5, two ladies with black hair, gold chains, and black gowns lined with red; 6, apparently a chrism child, with hood and clothes wound round in red, laced across the chest, knees, and ankles with a black band; 7, another lady clothed as 1 and 2. Under the cornice eight small shields:--1. _Sable, a cross engrailed or_ (UFFORD).--2. _Gules, a cross moline or_ (BEC).--3. _Gules, a cross fleurie or_ (LATIMER).--4. _Sable, a fess between three fleurs-de-lys or._--5. _Gules, four fusils in fess or,[9] each charged with an escallop sable_ (CHENEY).--6. _Gules, three mullets pierced, or._--7. _Azure, a cross fleurettee or_ (Paveley?).--8. _Gules, a lion rampant or._ Below them inscribed in the centre,

=Arma Edwardi grevile de milcote militis.=

under the inscription a large escutcheon quarterly of four,--1 and 4. _Gules, a fess between six martlets or._--2 and 3. _Or, on a fess azure, three fleurs-de-lys of the first._ Round the shield on a blue riband,

DONA PACIENCIA DIEN ME

On the other side under the lady are eight figures: 1 and 2, are ladies in gilded caps and cuffs, black gowns lined with red, and sleeves similar to those worn by Lady Greville; 3, a chrism child habited exactly as that on the opposite side; 4, a lady clad similar to the first two. On the other side of the central shield, four ladies apparelled as the other three, their gowns red lined with black. All the figures stand on little pedestals and have their hands raised in prayer. Under the cornice eight small shields: 1. _Sable, a fret or_ (MALTRAVERS).--2. _Azure, two bars gemells or_ (CIFREWAST).--3. _Per fess gules and azure, three crescents or_ (D'AUMARLE).--4. _Gules, a saltier vaire, between twelve billets or_ (CHAMPERNOWNE).--5. _Or, on a bend sable, three horse-shoes of the first_ (FERRERS).--6. _Azure, an eagle displayed or_ (BIGBURY).--7. _Gules, a fess between six martlets or._--8. _Or, on a fess azure, three fleurs-de-lys of the first._ Inscribed below them in the centre,

=Arma Robert Willoughbye domina de broke.=

Under the inscription a large escutcheon quarterly of eighteen:--1. _Sable, a cross engrailed or_ (UFFORD).--2. _Gules, a cross moline or_ (BEC).--3. _Gules, a cross fleurie or_ (LATIMER).--4. _Sable, a fess between three fleurs-de-lys or._--5. CHENEY.--6. _Gules, three mullets pierced or._--7. _Azure, a cross fleurettee or_ (PAVELEY?)--8. _Gules, a lion rampant or._-9. _Or, a cross fleurie gules._--10. _Or, three bars gules._--11. _Or, a chevron gules, within a bordure engrailed sable_ (STAFFORD).--12. _Or, six lioncels rampant gules, three and three._--13. MALTRAVERS.--14. CIFREWAST.--15. D'AUMARLE.--16. CHAMPERNOWNE.--17. FERRERS.--18. BIGBURY.--Around the shield the riband of the Garter with motto,

HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE

At the head of the tomb, four small shields[10] on the cornice:--1. _Sable, on a cross within a bordure both engrailed or, nine pellets of the first_ (GREVILLE).--2. _Erminois, a fess checquy or and azure._ 3. _Quarterly per fess dancette, 1 and 4 or, 2 and 3 azure, in the dexter chief a crescent gules._--4. GREVILLE. Below them inscribed in the centre,

=Arma Fulconis grevile militis & domini Elizabeth uxoris eius.=

under, a large escutcheon supported by nude alabaster figures of boys,--_baron_, quarterly of four charged as the shields on the cornice above, impaling _femme_, quarterly of twenty, eighteen of the charges as on the large shield below the lady, and 19. _Gules, a fess between six martlets or._--20. _Or, on a fess azure, three fleurs-de-lys of the first._ Around the shield on a blue riband the motto as under the knight.

[9] Gold is used throughout the heraldry on the monument to
represent either metal. The shields are here blazoned as they
actually appear.

[10] Commencing with these, the series of small shields round the
tomb, numbering twenty-four in all, follow the same sequence as
the corresponding number of quarterings on the escutcheon below
them.

At the foot of the tomb, four shields on the cornice:--1. _Or, a cross moline gules._--2. _Or, three bars gules._--3. STAFFORD.--4. _Or, six lioncels rampant gules, three and three._ Inscribed below them,

=Arma Richardi d'ni de bello Campo baronis de powick et
d'ni de Alcester.=

Underneath are two shields and a lozenge,--one above two. On the first, quarterly of four, as under the knight; on the second, quarterly of four as _baron_ at the head of the tomb, _in the fess point a mullet for difference_. On the lozenge twenty quarterings as _femme_,--as at the head of the tomb.

Twisted pillars occur at the corners of the tomb, and on each side of the large escutcheons, and the whole composition is in a remarkably good state of preservation.

Fulke, the eldest son of Lady Elizabeth, was a most accomplished man, and the great friend and biographer of that "mirror of knighthood," Sir Philip Sidney. He married Ann, daughter of Ralph Nevill, fourth Earl of Westmoreland who died in 1549. By her he left one son Fulke, and one daughter Margaret, married to Sir Richard Verney of Compton-Mordak, Warwickshire. Sir Fulke died in 1606.

Sir Fulke, the grandson of Lady Elizabeth, was really the heir through her to the barony of Broke, but at that time, it did not appear to be a point clear in law, that after an honour had been for some time in abeyance in the female line, it could be afterward claimed by the heir. He was greatly in favour at the Court of Elizabeth, who rewarded him liberally, and he obtained from king James I., in the second year of his reign, a grant of Warwick Castle and its dependencies, then in a ruinous state, which he gradually re-edified and restored at great cost, and, January 29, in the eighteenth year of the same reign was advanced to the title of Baron Brooke, of Beauchamp's-Court, a dignity further enhanced to an Earldom of the same name 7 July, 1746, followed by that of the Earldom of Warwick 13 Nov., 1759. Sir Fulke, the first Lord Brooke, was unfortunately murdered at his house in London, by one Haywood his servant, who hearing Lord Brooke had not included him for a legacy in his will, as he had his other servants, Lord Brooke not considering him entitled to it, resented the omission, and after angry expostulations, stabbed him in the back, in his bedchamber. The assassin then rushed into another chamber, locked the door, and destroyed himself. Lord Brooke lingered a few days, and expired 30 Sep., 1638.

It was to the descendants of Margaret Greville, sister to Sir Fulke the first Lord Brooke, and grand-daughter of the Lady Elizabeth, that the title of Willoughby de Broke, was destined to be restored. She married Sir Richard Verney, of Compton-Murdack in Warwickshire, the then representative of that very antient and distinguished family. Sir Richard died 7 Aug., 1630, and Lady Margaret 26 March, 1631. They had issue four sons and four daughters. Sir Greville ob: 1642, the eldest son of Sir Richard, had also four sons,--Greville, the eldest; John, who died young; Richard, of Belton; and George. This descent of Greville (the eldest son of Sir Greville) became extinct on the death of his son William in 1683, leaving no issue.

The succession was now vested in Richard of Belton in the county of Rutland, third son of Sir Greville. He was a person of considerable culture and influence, and Sheriff and Knight of the shire for Warwick. As descendant through the heiress of Greville, from Robert Willoughby, Baron of Broke, he laid claim to that title, which was allowed him in Parliament 13 February, 1695,--8 William III., and on the twenty-fifth of that month, had summons by writ to the house of peers, and on the twenty-seventh took his seat accordingly as the third Baron Willoughby de Broke,--the original title being granted 12 August, 1492,--7 Henry VII. He married two wives, lived to the great age of ninety, and was buried at Compton-Verney, Warwickshire. The title is still held by his descendants.

Here ends our direct genealogical and biographical details, and we retrace our steps to the church of Beer-Ferrers, where the second Lord Willoughby de Broke was buried. We have described such remembrances as remain there to the families of Ferrers and Champernowne, and it now becomes our province to make note of the memorials that exist to their successors the Willoughbys.

The first traces that meet the eye are on the bosses of the roof of the south porch--whereon are shields charged with the arms of Ferrers, Cheney, Latimer, &c.; and a glance within the church shews us a pleasing array of bench-ends, of well designed tracery and uniform design, except the two easternmost, which are ornamented with shields of arms, referable to their presumed donor. On one is the achievement of Willoughby de Broke, similar to the escutcheon on the tomb at Callington, on the other the _bend and horse-shoes_ of Ferrers, here made _four_ in number, and saltierwise across them, are _five rudders_,--that descended to and was adopted by Willoughby. Both porch and bench-ends are of late fifteenth century work. We pass into the north transept, and there on the north side of the position of the antient altar once therein, and standing at right angles from the wall, is a large high-tomb of Purbeck marble. The massive cover stone is plain, but around its edge is a deeply sunk indent in which was originally the inscription either on brass or painted within it. Below in panels are shields with classic wreaths around them, boldly sculptured,--there are no charges on the escutcheons, and they appear to have been originally covered with brasses, on which the charges were emblazoned.

The era may be referred to the first half of the sixteenth century, and with great probability it may be considered to be the tomb of Robert, the second Lord Willoughby de Broke, who died in 1522.

Before we leave the sacred edifice, a chastened thought creeps over us, as we take a last look at the fine old glass in the east window. Just seventy years a-past, a gifted student in the pursuit we also at humbler distance love, made pilgrimage here, and was engaged in making a drawing of its interesting painted story, when death suddenly stayed the work of the artist, snapping the very pencil in his fingers, and instantly translated him, from picturing the earthly image of the Founder of these courts below, into his immortal presence in the great temple above, and the company of all those who "have died in His faith and fear." Gratefully we note, appreciative minds have placed a small brass in the pavement, where, on the 28 May, 1821, Charles Alfred Stothard met with his sad, and to mortal sight, untimely end. His cunning fingers are mouldering in the dust below, and moss and decay are stealthily obliterating his record outside, but the fidelity and truth of his works remain bright and undimmed, forming his best and most enduring monument,--for

"It is the gods that die, not God; It is the arts that perish, not
Art; And beauties may disappear, but Beauty herself Is immortal."