Chapter V: Part 5

Leonard, was in 1536 created Viscount Graney in the peerage of Ireland, and same year authorized to execute the office of Deputy of Ireland under Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, natural son of king Henry VIII., by Elizabeth daughter of Sir John Blount, and widow of Gilbert, Lord Talboys. In 1540 he was recalled, and the next year articles of high treason were exhibited against him, and although he had shewn the king good services formerly both in France and Ireland, was charged with a purpose to join Cardinal Pole and other the king's enemies, and to that end had left the king's ordnance in Galloway, and consented to the escape of his nephew Gerald (son of his sister Eleanor), and being brought to trial confessed all. He was thereupon beheaded on Tower Hill, and attainted by the Parliament then sitting.

This nephew, he had consented to the escape of, was Gerald, his sister's eldest son, who subsequently became the eleventh Earl of Kildare. He was born in 1525, and at the time of his half-brother's execution about ten years of age. Henry VIII., "being very averse to his whole family, and offering large sums of money for his apprehension," the poor youth's peril was imminent, and his escapes almost marvellous, from the treachery that environed him, and plots laid to get possession of his person; besides disease and accidents of extraordinary nature that otherwise threatened his existence. But he contrived to keep safe until after the death of Henry VIII., when Edward VI. reinstated him in much of his forfeited property, and Queen Mary, at the intercession of Cardinal Pole, restored him, 13 May, 1554, to the titles of Baron Offaley and Earl of Kildare.

George was in holy orders. Edward and Anthony died young, and John, of whom we have no further account.

Of the daughters,--Dorothy married first, Robert, the second Lord Willoughby de Broke, and secondly, William Blount, seventh Lord Montjoy, who died in 1594.

Cicely married John Sutton, seventh Lord Dudley,--"a man of weak understanding, who became entangled in usurer's bonds, and at last became exposed to the charity of his friends for subsistence, and spending the remainder of his life in visits among them, was commonly called _Lord Quondam_."

Mary, as his first wife, to Walter Devereux, Lord Ferrers of Chartley, and Bourchier, created first Viscount Hereford, 1549, and K.G.

Margaret, as his second wife, to Richard Wake, of Hartwell, Northamptonshire, second son and heir of Roger Wake of Blisworth in the same county, who died 19 Henry VII., 1504.

Elizabeth, as his first wife, to Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, Cornwall. He was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Arundell, K.B., who died 1 Oct., 1485, by Katharine, third daughter of Sir John Dinham, and coheir to her brother John, Lord Dinham; their daughter Elizabeth was wife of Giles, Lord Daubeney, K.G. "Sir John Arundell was made a Knight of the Bath on the eve of All Saints, 31 October, 1494, Knight of the Garter, 1501, and Knight Banneret in the expedition to Terouenne and Tournay at the battle of 'the Spurs,' in 1513, Receiver of the Duchy of Cornwall in 1506, and Receiver General for life, 1509" (Dunkin). He died 36 Henry VIII., 1545. Their second son Thomas was ancestor of the Lords Arundel of Wardour.

Their splendid and originally richly enamelled brass still exists in the church of St. Columb-Major, Cornwall, in a fairly complete state, the knight bare-headed, but otherwise in complete armour, between his two wives (the second was Katharine, daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville), in gowns, mantles, and pedimental head-dresses. Below them were two smaller male figures, one partly perfect in armour, and underneath again, six female children, of whom two remain. The inscription, partly missing, is on a ledger-line,--

? =John Arundell Knyght of ye Bath and Knyght Banneret
Recey ... ye Duchye of Cornewall ffirst Ma ...
Elizabeth Grey Daughter to the Lorde Marques Dorse
& after Kateryn ye Daughter of Syr Thomas Gre ...
... ght of ffebruary the xxxvi yere of
the raigne of Kyng Henry the Eyght an^o domine 1545
and ye yere of his age=

There were formerly eight shields of arms; of these six remain quartered as follows,--

(1.) _Baron_, quarterly of six:--1. ARUNDELL.--2. DINHAM.--3. ARCHES.--4. CHIDEOCK.--5. CARMINOW.--6. ARUNDELL;--impaling _femme_, quarterly of eight,--1. GREY.--2. HASTINGS.--3. VALENCE. 4. FERRERS OF GROBY.--5. ASTLEY.--6. WIDVILLE.--7. BONVILLE.--8. HARINGTON. For Sir John Arundell, and the Lady Elizabeth Grey, his first wife.

(2.) _Baron_, quarterly of six as before, impaling _femme_, quarterly of four:--1 and 4. GRENVILLE.--2 and 3. WHITLEY. For Sir John Arundell and Katharine Grenville his second wife.

(3.) _Baron_, as before, impaling _femme_, quarterly of four:--1. HOWARD.--2. BROTHERTON.--3. WARREN.--4. MOWBRAY. For Sir Thomas Arundell (second son of Sir John), and his wife Margaret Howard, daughter of Lord Edmund Howard, and sister of Queen Katharine Howard.

(4.) _Baron_, quarterly of four:--1 and 4. EDGCUMBE.--2 and 3. HOLLAND;--impaling _femme_, Arundell and other quartered coats as before. For Richard Edgcumbe and Elizabeth daughter of Sir John Arundell.

(5.) _Baron_, quarterly of eight:--1. RATCLIFFE.--2. FITZ-WALTER.--3. BURNELL.--4. BOTETOURT.--5. LUCY.--6. MILTON.--7. MORTIMER OF NORFOLK.--8. CULCHETH?;--impaling _femme_, Arundell with quartered coats as before. For Mary (daughter of Sir John Arundell and his second wife Katharine Grenville;) and her _first_ husband, Robert Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex.

(6.) _Baron_, quarterly of four:--1. FITZ-ALAN.--2. Fitz-Alan of Bedale.--3. Widville.--4, quarterly, 1 and 4 Maltravers. 2 and 3 Clun;--impaling _femme_, Arundell, &c., as before. For Mary Arundell, as above, and her _second_ husband, Henry Howard, Earl of Arundel.

Although, from his memorial brass, Sir John Arundell is presumably buried here, Weever, in his notice of St. Mary Woolnoth, London, gives this inscription as being found in that church for him,--

"HERE LIETH SIR _JOHN ARUNDELL_ KNIGHT OF THE BATH, AND
KNIGHT BANERET, RECEIVOR OF THE DUCHY .................
GREY DAUGHTER TO THE LORD MARQUESE _DORSET_, WHO
DIED 8 FEBR: THE 36 OF THE REIGNE OF KING _HEN._ THE 8."

Of the three remaining daughters of Cicely Bonville, Marchioness of Dorset, Eleanor married as his second wife Gerald Fitzgerald, ninth Earl of Kildare, for a considerable time Lord Deputy of Ireland during the reign of Henry VIII. In his prime, he is said to have been "one of the fairest men then living," and led a very eventful and troubled life, was greatly disliked by Wolsey, who twice got him cited to England and sent to the Tower on charges of maladministration, and on his third committal in 1534 to that fortress, he never emerged again alive. During his incarceration his son--"called 'Silken Thomas,' of tall stature, comely proportion, amiable countenance, flexible and kind nature, and endowed with many accomplishments and good qualities"--together with his five brothers, engaged in open insurrection in Ireland. The news of this so "oppressed him with grief," that it is said to have hastened his death, which took place in 1534. Six months afterward, the five brothers and their nephew, his son, "were all six condemned to suffer the punishment of traitors, and were accordingly executed at Tyburn, on 2 Feb., 1535-6,--being hanged up, cut down before they were dead and quartered." The Earl was buried in the Tower Chapel, and on digging a grave therein for Ralph, son of Sir Owen Hopton, Lieutenant of the Tower in 1580, his coffin was found with this inscription on it,--

HERE LYETH THE CORPES OF THE L. GERALD FITZ-GERALD, EARLE OF
KYLDARE, WHO DECEASED THE 12TH OF DECEMBER, IN THE YEAR OF OUR
LORD M.CCCCC.XXXIIII. ON WHOSE SOLE JESU HAVE MERCY

Of this Earl, Hollingshed relates that he was

"A wise, deep, and far reaching man; in war valiant and without
rashness; and politic without treachery; such a suppressor of
rebels in his government, as they durst not bear armour to the
annoyance of any subject. He was so religiously addicted to the
serving of God, as what time soever he travelled to any part of
the Country, such as were of his chapel should be sure to follow
him. He was also well affected to his wife, as he would not at
any time buy a suit of apparel for himself, but he would suit her
with the same stuff; which gentleness she recompensed with equal
kindness; for after that he deceased in the Tower, she did not
only ever after live a chaste and honourable widow, but also
nightly before she went to bed, she would resort to his picture,
and there, with a solemn _conge_ she would bid her lord good
night."

Not the least interesting, and almost romantic account, of one of the many of Cicely Bonville's daughters. The poet Earl of Surrey's 'Fair Geraldine' was one of this Earl's children.

Of the Marchioness's two remaining daughters, Anne was married to Richard Clement; and Bridget died young.

Leland, making note of this large family, remarks,--

"The sole doughtar of the Lorde Harington cawlid (Cecily) was
maried to Thomas the first Marquese of Dorset that favorid the
cummynge of Henry the vii, and he had by hir a 14 children, bothe
men and wimen of excedinge goodly parsonage, of which the first
sune lyvyd not longe, and then had Thomas the name of Lorde
Harington, and aftar was the second Marquese of Dorset."

The Marquis of Dorset with Lord Hastings commanded the rear-guard at the battle of Tewkesbury, and after the engagement was over, and the young Prince Edward taken prisoner, who being introduced to Edward's presence, and interrogated, was brutally struck by him on the mouth with his gauntlet, and was thereupon dragged out of the king's presence and murdered by the attendant nobles, the Marquis of Dorset is said to have been among the savage conclave. Mercy and pity appear at the time to have fled from the earth.

Naturally all went well with the Marquis during the reign of his father-in-law, Edward IV., but at that king's death the machinations of Gloucester, Buckingham, and Hastings, the entrapping Earl Rivers, and getting possession of the persons of the young king and his brother, placed him in considerable peril. The Duke of York was under his custody in London, as Governor of the Tower, but on the approach of Gloucester to London, with the young king, the Marquis, together with the Duke of York, the Queen-Mother and her family at once took sanctuary at Westminster.

Events rapidly succeeded each other. Gloucester got first named Protector, a stepping-stone merely to his assumption of the Crown; the Earl Rivers and his companions, and Lord Hastings, were mercilessly disposed of; the young king and his brother sent to the Tower. Nothing now remained calculated to give Richard any cause for uneasiness, or lie in the way of his ambition, but the fact that these two poor boys, his nephews, were still alive. This difficulty did not exist long, and they perished under the influence of the same hideous resolve.

But the retribution was surely coming, if delayed for a time. Buckingham had retired in dudgeon to his castle at Brecknock, and his astute prisoner Morton, soon became the capturer of his gaoler, at least in mind, and then bade him adieu. Then followed the series of intrigues between Buckingham, the Countess of Richmond, and the Queen-Widow, with Sir Reginald Braye as ambassador, and Dr. Lewis as go-between, which ended in the unfortunate rising of Buckingham, so disastrously extinguished by the Severn flood. The Marquis of Dorset then appears to have quitted sanctuary, and gone into Yorkshire, presumably to raise forces, with the intention of joining the other contingents to be gathered in Kent under Sir Richard Guilford, and from the west under the Courtenays, Cheney, Daubeney, and others, the place of _rendez-vous_ being at Salisbury. Before however this could be accomplished, or rather while measures were being taken in preparation, Buckingham's misfortune took place, and these, the other chief actors, fled for their lives, and were fortunate to escape and get across the channel to Brittany, and to the Earl of Richmond.

Richard promptly attainted the fugitives, and, says Rapin,--

"issued a Proclamation against Buckingham, and the Marquis of
Dorset, with others of his adherents, whom he supposed to be in
league with him. But as the Marquis had not appeared in arms, and
so could not be styled a rebel, he made use of another pretence
to involve him in the sentence. He said that having taken oath at
his coronation to punish vice and wickedness, he was obliged to
punish the Marquis of Dorset, notorious for his debaucheries, who
had seduced and ravished several virgins, being guilty of sundry
adulteries, &c. A reward of a thousand marks, or one hundred
marks a year (in land), was promised to anyone who would bring
the Marquis to justice, and sums in proportion for the rest that
were named in the Proclamation."

They got safely across however, and so foiled the tender intentions of this amiable potentate. Richmond appeared soon after, returning from his fruitless voyage across the channel, and,

"when he arrived he heard of the Duke of Buckingham's death, and
found the Marquis of Dorset, and other English gentlemen who had
made their escape. They all swore allegiance to him, and he took
his corporal oath on the same day, the 25th of December, that he
would marry the Princess Elizabeth, when he had suppressed the
usurper Richard, and was in the possession of the Crown."

Richard, however, who was kept well informed of all that went on abroad, had determined if possible to check-mate this scheme of Richmond, by marrying the lady himself,--

"and to that end did his utmost to ingratiate himself with her
mother the Queen Elizabeth. He sent flattering messages to her in
Sanctuary, promised to advance the Marquis of Dorset and all her
relations, and won upon her so much by his fair speeches, that
forgetting the many affronts he had cast upon the memory of her
husband, on her own honour and the legitimacy of her children,
and even the murder of her dear sons, she complyed with him, and
promised to bring over her son, and all the late king's friends
from the party of Richmond, and went so far as to deliver up her
five daughters into his hand. She also wrote to her son the
Marquis of Dorset, to leave Richmond and hasten to England where
she had procured him a pardon, and provided all sorts of honours
for him."

Then, of course, followed the "illness" of Richard's poor Queen, now completely in the way of these delicate arrangements, who hearing

"what was reported against her, believed it came from her
husband, and thence concluding that her hour was drawing nigh,
ran to him in a most sorrowful and deplorable condition, and
demanded of him, '_what she had done to deserve death_.' Richard
answered her with fair words and false smiles bidding her '_be of
good cheer for to his knowledge she had no other cause_.' But
whether her grief, as he designed it should, struck so to her
heart, that it broke with the mortal wound, or he hastened her
end, as was generally suspected, by poison, she died in a few
days afterward."

Thus another victim was removed from this ghastly panorama of treachery and guilt. She was the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, the 'king-maker,' and, when Richard married her, widow of Prince Edward (heir to Henry VI.), so foully murdered after the battle of Tewkesbury. The Lady Katharine Bonville was her aunt, and Cicely Bonville, her daughter, was the poor Queen's cousin.

Richard's new matrimonial project did not go on so smoothly as he expected, his former Queen "was scarcely cold in her grave, before he made his addresses to the Princess Elizabeth, who held his pretended love in abhorrence, and the whole kingdom averse to so unnatural a marriage,"--she was his own niece. He therefore put off for a time further prosecuting his suit, and "deferred his courtship until he was better settled on the throne."

Richmond, who in his turn had full knowledge of all Richard's proceedings, was quite equal to the occasion, and determined to foil his rival both of wife and kingdom, which he successfully accomplished.

In the meantime the Queen-Mother, to oblige Richard, continued

"to write her son the Marquis of Dorset, to leave Richmond. The
Marquis fearing the Earl would not succeed in his enterprise,
gave way to his mother's persuasions, and King Richard's
flattering promises, left the Earl, and stole away from Paris by
night, intending to escape into Flanders. But as soon as the Earl
had notice of his flight, he applied to the French Court to
apprehend him in any part of his dominions, for both himself and
his followers, were afraid of his discovering his designs if he
got to England.

"Having obtained license to seize him, the Earl sent messengers
every way in search of him, and among the rest Humphrey Cheney,
Esq., who overtook him near Champaigne, and by arguments and fair
promises prevailed with him to return.

"By the Marquis's disposition to leave him, the Earl began to
doubt, that if he delayed his expedition to England longer, many
more of his friends might grow cool in their zeal for him. So he
earnestly solicited the French Court for aid, 'desiring so small
a supply of men and money, that Charles could not in honour
refuse him; yet for what he lent him, he would have hostages,
that satisfaction should be made. The Earl made no scruple of
that, so leaving the Lord Marquis of Dorset (whom he still
mistrusted), and Sir John Bourchier, as his pledges at Paris, he
departed for Rouen, where the few men the French king had lent
him, and all the English that followed his future, rendezvous'd.'"

Rather an ignominious _denouement_, but doubtless Richmond, quite estimated the quality of his man, and would not allow the Marquis to play any possible double game by taking him to England with the expedition. So he remained at Paris, in this kind of semi-imprisonment, until after the battle of Bosworth, Henry's coronation, and the end of the Parliament in 1485, when the king was possessed of some means to pay off his debt to the French king.

This being obtained, he sent across to Paris and redeemed the Marquis and Bourchier, and invited them over to England. On the 18 Jan. following, Henry married the Princess Elizabeth, half-sister to the Marquis. Soon after the king restored him to all his honours, called him to the Privy Council, and created him a Knight of the Garter, being the two hundred and fortieth in the succession of that noble Order.

Henry however still distrusted him, for on his pilgrimage to Walsingham in 1487,--

"being come to St. Edmunds-bury, he understood that Thomas,
Marquis of Dorset, was hasting toward him, to purge himself of
some accusations that had been made against him. But the King,
though he kept an ear for him, yet was at the time so doubtful,
that he sent the Earl of Oxford to meet him, and forthwith carry
him to the Tower; with a fair message nevertheless, that he
should bear that disgrace with patience, for that the King meant
not his hurt, but only to preserve him from doing hurt, either to
the King's service or to himself, and that the King should always
be able (when he had cleared himself) to make him reparation."

Very wise of Henry, doubtless, and done in kindness to prevent his not too strong-minded brother-in-law getting into mischief. The Marquis remained in the Tower until after the coronation of the Queen,--when Henry, who had locked him up "rather upon suspicion of the time, than of the man, set him at liberty without examination, or other circumstance."

He was with the large army taken across the channel to France in 1492, in the flotilla under the command of Lord Willoughby de Broke, which was apparently designed, but really never intended, to assist the Emperor Maximilian. The Marquis also held a command in the royal forces in 1497, at the defeat of the Cornish insurgents on Black-Heath.

It is probable also he accompanied Henry into the west, at the suppression of Perkin Warbeck's attempt in October of the same year. Respecting this Mr. Davidson writes,--

"The king left Exeter on 3 November, and passed the night at the
College of St. Mary, at Ottery, and on the next day proceeded to
Newenham Abbey. At this place the king remained nearly a week
until the 10th, when he resumed his progress to London. It is
difficult indeed to imagine for what reason the king remained so
long a time at Newenham at this period, unless he was engaged in
making enquiry for such of the men of consideration in the
Counties of Devon and Somerset as had taken part with the rebels,
and in appointing the commissioners for detecting them. Among
those commissioners the name of Sir Amias Paulet appears, whose
residence in Somersetshire was at no great distance from this
place. It may be conjectured also, that the king was entertained
by the lord Marquis of Dorset, at his manor and mansion of Shute,
which is nearly adjoining the Abbey demesnes, for this nobleman
appears to have been on terms of familiar intercourse with his
sovereign. The following items appear in the king's privy purse
expenses;--'_1492, 7 July. To my lord Marquis for a ring of gold,
L100.--1495, March 20.--Loste at the buttes to my lord Marques
L1._'"

Four years after Warbeck's rebellion, on the 10 April, 1501, the Marquis died; by his will, without date, he "_bequeathed his body to be buried in his College at Astley, before the image of the Blessed Trinity, in the midst of his closet, within the same College; and that his executors should cause to be said for his soul, in every of the four orders of Friars in London, a hundred masses, and at the time of his burial, one hundred marks to be distributed in alms to the poor people_."

On a boss over the organ-gallery in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, are the arms of the Marquis, quarterly of eight:--1. _Barry of six argent and azure, in chief three torteaux_ (GREY).--2. _Or, a maunche gules_ (HASTINGS).--3. _Barry of ten argent and azure, an orle of martlets gules_ (VALENCE). Over these three quarterings _a label of three points ermine_--4. _Gules, seven mascles, three, three, and one, or_ (QUINCY).--5. _Azure, a cinquefoil ermine_ (ASTLEY).--6. _Argent_, _a fess and a canton gules_ (WIDVILLe).--7. _Sable, six mullets argent, pierced gules_ (BONVILLE).--8. _Sable, a fret argent_ (HARINGTON).

On his banner he bore the same quarterings. The "tenan," _an unicorn ermine_. His standard, _per fess white and murrey_. The badges are "_bunches of daisies, tufted proper_" (this from Widville). The motto, "A MA PUISSANCE" (Willement).

Cicely Bonville, Marchioness of Dorset, married secondly Henry Stafford, second son of Henry Stafford, second Duke of Buckingham (by his wife Catherine daughter of Richard Widville, Earl Rivers), who, rising in revolt against Richard III., was beheaded at Salisbury, 1483.

He was created Earl of Wiltshire by Henry VII., in 1509, and constituted a Knight of the Garter by the same monarch, being the two hundred and fifty-eighth on the roll of the Order.

The Marchioness of Dorset was his second wife. His first was Muriel, daughter of Sir Edward Grey,--created Viscount L'Isle, 1483,--brother to Sir John Grey, father of the Marquis of Dorset, and therefore cousin to the Marchioness's first husband. The Earl of Wiltshire left no issue by either of his wives. He died 6 March, 1523, when his title became extinct.

On a boss in the vaulting of the choir of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, is his badge, _a Stafford knot argent, differenced by a crescent sable_, and on a stall-plate below are his arms, quarterly:--1. _France and England within a bordure argent_ (PLANTAGENET).--2. BOHUN.--3. STAFFORD.--4. BOHUN, EARL OF NORTHAMPTON; there are no supporters. The crest, _in a ducal coronet, per pale sable and gules, a demi-swan argent, beaked gules, the wings endorsed_. Motto, "HUMBLE ET LOYAL" (Willement).

The carved escutcheon of this Earl, quartered as above, with _crescent_ for difference, and encircled by the Garter, was found among the ruins of the Cluniac Priory of St. Mary Magdalene at Barnstaple, and is now preserved in a modern residence built on the site. The _knot and crescent_ are found on the churches of Axminster, Ottery St. Mary, and Seaton, and will be further referred to.

We do not hear much more of the Marchioness, but she evidently stood very high in the Court of Henry VIII., for in September, 1533, at the christening of the Princess, afterward Queen Elizabeth, daughter of Queen Anne Boleyn, at Greenwich, Hall relates that "the old Marchioness of Dorset, widow," was one of the child's god-mothers, and in the grand procession the Marquis her son, bore the Salt, and she afterward made the infant-princess "a present of three gilt bowls pounced with a cover."

By her will, dated 6 March, 1528-9, 19 Henry VIII., she "_bequeathed her body to be buried in the Chapel of Astley, in the tomb where her husband the late Lord Marquis lay, and a thousand masses to be said for her soul. That a goodly tomb should be made in the Chapel of Astley over the Lord Marquis her husband, and another for herself, and two priests daily to sing in the said Chapel of Astley by the space of eighty years, to pray for the soul of the said Lord Marquis and her own soul._"

The exact date of her death does not appear to have been ascertained, but probably before, or by 1530, when she would have been about seventy years old.

With the death of Cicely Bonville--last of her name and race--the main personal interest of our little narrative ceases, and it is not intended, in bringing our story to its conclusion, to give a long detailed account of the two next succeeding generations of the Greys, which belongs rather to national history.

Thomas Grey, eldest son of Thomas Grey, first Marquis of Dorset, and Cicely Bonville, was summoned to Parliament in 1509, as Lord Ferrers of Groby, and in 1511, as the second Marquis of Dorset. He married first Eleanor, daughter of Oliver, Lord St. John, by whom he had no issue, and secondly Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Wotton of Bocton in Kent, by whom he had Henry, his successor;--John, ancestor of the Earls of Stamford;--Elizabeth, married to Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden, K.G., Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII., who sat as High Steward at the trial of Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, and who died in 1544;--Catherine, to Henry Fitzalan, eighteenth and last Earl of Arundel of that family, Lord High Steward to Queen Elizabeth, and K.G., who died 1579;--and Anne, to Henry Willoughby of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire.

He appears to have enjoyed the favour and confidence of that dangerously uncertain despot Henry VIII., and in 1512 was constituted Commander-in-Chief of the expedition sent into Spain, designed as an augmentation of the forces of the Emperor Ferdinand in the invasion of Guienne, and with him were associated the second Lord Willoughby de Broke and other noblemen. In 1514, he was with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in France at the jousts of St. Denis, and acquired considerable renown; as afterward at the meeting of Henry and Francis in 1521 on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He was one of the lords who signed the celebrated letter to Pope Clement touching the king's divorce, and subscribed to the articles of impeachment against Cardinal Wolsey. Altogether a pliant and observant courtier probably, who carefully noted, studied, and complied with the errant phases of his grim master's will, the only safe way of getting on with him, and keeping his head on his shoulders, but, of course, requiring the aid of a not too-exacting conscience.

He made his will 1530, "_ordered his body to be buried at Astley, near his father, and his executors to make and build a Chapel at Astley, according to the will of his father, with a goodly tomb over his father and mother, and where he himself resolved to be buried_." Together with further bequests "_to found an alms house for thirteen poor men, who were to have twelve pence a week, and a livery of black cotton yearly at a cost of four shillings, and three honest priests to pray for his soul, &c._"

Relating to the burial of this nobleman, we append the following, given as a quotation by Burke,--

"The Collegiate church of Astley, founded by Thomas third Lord
Astley, whose heiress-general married the ancestor of this
Marquis, a most rare and beautiful piece of workmanship, having
fallen down, a new chancel was erected by the parishioners. When
on opening the vault where the body of the Marquis was laid, a
large and long coffin of wood was found, which at the curious
desire of some, being burst open, the body which had lain there
for seventy-eight years, appeared perfect in every respect,
neither perished nor hardened, but the flesh, in colour,
proportion, and softness, alike to any corpse newly interred. The
body was about five feet eight inches in length, the face broad
and the hair yellow. All which seemed to be well preserved from
the strong embalming thereof."

Henry Grey, third and last Marquis of Dorset, was constituted Lord High-Constable of England for three days at the coronation of Edward VI., 1547. In 1551 made Justice in Eyre of all the King's Forests, and in 1552 Warden of the East, West, and Middle Marches toward Scotland, and 11 October of the same year was created Duke of Suffolk, and installed Knight of the Garter.

He married first Katharine, daughter of William, Earl of Arundel, but by her had no issue.

Secondly, he espoused Frances, daughter of Charles Brandon, created Duke of Suffolk in 1514, and K.G.,--by his third wife the Princess Mary, second daughter of king Henry VII., widow of king Lewis XII., and so Queen-Dowager of France. The issue of this marriage was three daughters, Jane, Katharine, and Mary.

The Lady Jane Grey married the Lord Guilford Dudley, son of John Dudley, created Duke of Northumberland in 1551 and K.G.; by his wife Jane daughter of Sir Edward Guilford, knt. The Duke his father, was beheaded on Tower Hill 22 Aug., 1553.

The Lady Katharine Grey, married first Henry, Lord Herbert, eldest son of William, Earl of Pembroke, from whom she was divorced. Secondly she married Lord Edward Seymour, son of the Protector Somerset, who was beheaded on Tower Hill, 22 Jan., 1552. Lord Edward Seymour was created by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, Baron Beauchamp of Hache, and Earl of Hertford. But for marrying the Lady Katharine without the permission first obtained of the imperious and unfeeling Queen, they were both committed to the Tower. He was fined five thousand pounds, and endured nine years imprisonment. His wife bore him three sons during her captivity, and she died while still a prisoner in that fortress 26 Jan., 1567. He died at an advanced age in 1621.

The Lady Mary Grey married Martin Keys, Groom-Porter to Queen Elizabeth.

It is not necessary here to enter into the mournful circumstances of the deaths,--perhaps the most sad in English history--of the youthful Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Guilford Dudley,--they are fully known to all who have the slightest acquaintanceship with our national annals. The event occurred on 12 Feb., 1554.

The same remark will apply to the fate of the Duke of Suffolk, her father,--his participation in Wyatt's rising, the story of his fleeing from his pursuers, hiding in a hollow tree in his park at Astley, and betrayal (under circumstances somewhat similar to Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham), by Underwood, one of his own park-keepers to whom he had confided the secret of his life,--need only the outline of relation here, to give semblance of completion to our little history. He found his death also by the executioner's hand on Tower Hill, 23 Feb., 1554.

The Duchess of Suffolk, his widow, married secondly Adrian Stokes, Esq. She was buried in St. Edmund's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, where, on a high-tomb of the same costly material, reclines her effigy in alabaster, clad in the rich costume of the period, with a crowned lion at her feet. On one side of the tomb is this inscription,--

HERE LIETH THE LADIE FRANCES, DVCHES OF SOVTHFOLKE,
DOVGHTER TO CHARLES BRANDON, DUKE OF SOVTHFOLKE,
AND MARIE THE FRENCHE QVENE;
FIRST WIFE TO HENRIE, DUKE OF SOVTHFOLKE,
AND AFTER TO ADRIAN STOCK, ESQVIER.

and on the other the following,--

IN CLARISS: DOM: FRANCISCAE SVFFOLCIAE QVONDAM DVCISSAE EPICEDION.

MIL DECVS AVT SPLENDOR, NIL REGIA NOMINA PROSVNT
SPLENDIDA DIVITIIS, NIL JVVAT AMPLA DOMVS;
OMNIA FLVXERVNT, VIRTVTIS SOLA REMANSIT
GLORIA, TARTAREIS NON ABOLENDA ROGIS.

NVPTA DVCI PRIVS EST, VXOR POST ARMIGERI STOKES;
FVNERE NVNC VALEAS CONSOCIATO DEUS.

Below in panels are sculptured the arms of France and England, Brandon and Stokes with numerous quarterings.

Of this lady says Dean Stanley,--

"She had thrown herself headlong into the Protestant cause. She
had dressed up a cat in a rochet to irritate the bishops; and had
insulted Gardiner, as she passed by the Tower, 'It is well for
the lambs when the wolves are shut up.' Naturally in her own turn
she had to fly after her husband's and her daughter's bloody
death, and lived just long enough to see the betrothal of her
daughter, Catherine Grey to the Earl of Hertford, and to enjoy
the turn of fortune which restored her to the favour of
Elizabeth, and allowed her sepulture beside her royal ancestors.
The service was probably the first celebrated in English in the
Abbey since Elizabeth's accession; and it was followed by the
Communion service, in which the Dean (Dr. Bill) officiated, and
Jewell preached the sermon. Could her Puritanical spirit have
known the site of her tomb, she would have rejoiced in the
thought, that it was the first to displace one of the venerated
altars of the old Catholic saints."

The effigy, a very noble one, clasps a book, presumably intended for the Bible, in her hands, doubtless another evidence of her "Puritanical spirit," and which she probably deemed of more importance than the choicest relics of "saints" preserved in the "venerated altars" that teemed around.

Adrian Stokes, or Stock, Esq., who married the Duchess of Suffolk, 1 March, 1555, just twelve months after the Duke's death, is said to have acted as her Master of the Horse. In spite of this disparity of social position, and also of age (he being about seventeen, and the Duchess thirty-two years old at the date of their marriage), the union appears to have been a happy one (she only survived four years), for at her death in December, 1559, she left him in possession of large estates in Warwickshire and Leicestershire. In 1571 Stokes was returned to Parliament for Leicestershire, having under his charge the Lady Mary Grey, his step-daughter, and about that period, married secondly, Anne, widow of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton. He died without issue 30 Nov., 1586. He erected this fine monument to her memory.

His ward the Lady Mary Grey appears to have had no higher ambition in the selection of a husband, than her mother's second venture, having married, as previously related, Martin Keys, Groom-Porter to Queen Elizabeth. It may be, her step-father's social position was against anything better.

The memorials of Cicely Bonville, Marchioness of Dorset, are fairly numerous and interesting. "The walls of many churches," says Mr. Davidson, "in the neighbourhood of this lady's extensive possessions testify by the arms and devices of her family and connections, that she employed a part of her immense wealth by assisting in their erection."

The most considerable of these, is the beautiful Chapel on the north side of the nave of the Collegiate Church of St. Mary, at Ottery, and known as the "Dorset aisle," which without doubt she built. It is of considerable size, and its fan-traceried vaulting very rich; on the pillars of the arcade are the arms of Bishop Oldham, and his rebus, _an owl holding a label in its beak inscribed with the last syllable of the prelate's name_, =ham=,--1504-19; and also of Bishop Vesey his successor, 1519-51. This shews that its erection occurred within those dates, after her marriage with the Earl of Wiltshire, but before her death, which took place about 1530. Studding the moulding under the parapet outside are the family badges, the Harington _fret_, Stafford _knot_, _bull's-head_ of Hastings, and Bourchier _knot_, often repeated, while over the porch-entrance are the denuded remains of what was evidently the armorial achievement of this lady. There is a shield surrounded by the Garter, but the bearings are quite undecipherable, except the traces of a _fret_, the supporters appear to have been a _lion_ on the dexter side, and on the sinister an _antelope_. Above the shield is a helmet, and remains of a crest. At the top and in the base of the panel is the Stafford _knot_, of large size, and on each side this device is repeated alternately with the _mullet_ of Bonville.

These arms together with some other sculpture within the porch, appear to have been designedly mutilated, perhaps after the attainder and execution of the Duke of Suffolk, by order of Queen Mary, similarly to the manner the heraldic achievements of the Countess of Salisbury in her beautiful Chantry in the Priory Church of Christ Church, Hants, were commanded to be obliterated ("_delete_") by Henry VIII., after her savage beheading.

The outer armorial panel is supported by columns with a crocketted canopy, and figures of angels stand on the pillars; at their base are small shields with the _merchant's mark_ and _initial_ of Goodwyn of Plymtree, who held that manor of the Hastings family at the time. There are several of the original bench-ends within the Chapel; on one is a large _double rose_ and on another _pomegranates_, but they are of comparatively plain character in carved detail.

At the meeting of Henry VIII. and Maximilian at Terouenne in 1515, Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham was "attired in purple satin, his apparel full of _antelopes_, and _swans_ (of Bohun) of fine gold bullion, and full of spangles." Henry Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, his brother, and second husband of Cicely Bonville, bore on his banner the _swan_ (of Bohun) amid _semee of Stafford knots_, with the motto, "HUMBLE ET LOYAL."

Knightstone, in Ottery St. Mary, originally the inheritance of the Bittlesgate family, became the property of the Marchioness of Dorset in 1494, the remainder having previously been vested in William, Lord Bonville. On the attainder of her grandson, the Duke of Suffolk, in 1554, it was purchased by Mr. William Sherman, a merchant of Ottery, who died in 1583, and whose brass effigies are on the pavement of the south aisle of the church.

In the church of Limington near Ilchester, Somerset, two memorials are found, but whether they are to be considered mementoes of Cicely Bonville, or of her son the second Marquis, is not so clear. These consist of two finely carved bench-ends, in the chancel. They are of considerable height, having _fleur-de-lys_ shaped finials on the top, and below occurs, on one the _rose_, and on the other the _pomegranate_, of Henry VIII. Then follows a large shield, quarterly,--1 and 4, _six mullets pierced, three, two, one_ (BONVILLE).--2 and 3, _a fret_ (HARINGTON); and under this the initials W. C. joined by a cordon. Beneath are four _roses_, single and very thickly double, alternate.

The Bonvilles acquired considerable property in Limington, Somerset, of the representatives of the De Gyvernay family. The last of them Henry de Gyvernay died seized of the manor 35 Henry III., leaving a daughter Joan married to William de Shareshull. The very fine and well-preserved effigy in the uniquely-groined north transeptal Chantry, was probably placed to the memory of one of them (although the armour and appointments are comparatively late), and the other three earlier effigies on the floor doubtless represent preceding generations.

The initials W. C. on the bench-end evidently allude to Walter Cocks, incumbent of the parish, who was inducted in 1535, patron the Marquis of Dorset. This would be about five years after Cicely Bonville's death, and in the lifetime of her son, but the marshalling of the arms seems to allude more directly to his mother.

On escutcheons in the panels of the carved parapet of Axminster church are the Harington _fret_, and the Stafford _knot, surmounted by a crescent_; this last badge having allusion to Henry Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, her second husband, he being the second son of Henry, Duke of Buckingham. "As the manor of Uphay in the parish belonged to her," remarks Mr. Davidson, "it is not surprising she should have contributed to the enlargement of the church at Axminster."

Among the shields shewing the descent of Walrond, that formerly had place on a screen in their Chantry in Seaton church, is one charged with the Stafford _knot_ and _crescent_, probably included out of compliment by the squire of Bovey to his noble neighbour of Wiscombe. It also occurs over the tower door at Hawkchurch, together with the arms of Daubeney, and the Abbey of Cerne.

But the most interesting of all, is the presumed effigy of Cicely herself, in the portion remaining of the once beautiful church of Astley, in Warwickshire. This, for a long time fixed upright in the wall of the tower, at the west end of the choir, now reclines on a low tomb. The figure is of alabaster, with pyramidal head-dress, gown richly embroidered and gilt, and mantle, on which are traces of crimson colour, the head rests on a cushion originally guarded by angels. From her girdle are suspended an _aumoniere_ on the right side and a rosary on the left.

There are two other effigies, also in this church, sculptured in alabaster. One, a knight with hair polled, in full plate armour, and collar of S.S. His head rests on a helmet, and his feet on a lion. The other, a lady, has long flowing hair to the shoulders, on her head a coronet with traces of _fleurs-de-lys_ and pearls, necklace, and wearing also the rare Yorkist collar of Suns and Roses, from which is suspended the Lion of March. The remains of angels support the cushions on which her head rests.

The ladies are much shorter in stature than the knight, and the probability is they all occupied separate tombs, which stood in the side chapels originally existing attached to the antient chancel, before it fell down and was rebuilt at the time the body of the second Marquis was discovered, at the end of the seventeenth century.

The knight is apparently the earlier effigy of the three, probably dating about 1480-90, the lady with the coronet next, or about contemporary, and the lady in the pyramidal head-dress considerably the latest, as shewn by her costume, which would accord very nearly with that worn at the era of Cicely Bonville's death.

Sir Edward Grey, uncle to Thomas Grey, first Marquis of Dorset, married Elizabeth, sister and heir of Thomas Talbot, Viscount L'Isle. 15 Edward IV. he was created Baron, and 1 Richard III. Viscount L'Isle, died in 1492, and bequeathed his body to be buried in the new chapel of Our Lady, begun to be built by himself in the College of Astley, where the body of his late wife Elizabeth lay interred. His daughter Muriel was the first wife of Henry Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire, second husband of Cicely Bonville. A guess may be hazarded that these figures represent Sir Edward Grey and his wife Elizabeth.

Before we close our account of the Bonville and Grey memorials, we propose to include--from its uniqueness of example--another remembrance to a presumed second-cousin of the Lady Cicely, that we discovered among the fine series of bench-ends in a visit to the little church of Barwick, near Yeovil, on our way back from Limington. It is one of a pair in the chancel, almost alike, the only difference being--and here note the evident purpose conveyed in all mediaeval symbolism--that one shield, the earliest in the succession is suspended by a guige from _a hawthorn tree in blossom_, and the later one from _a hawthorn tree in fruit_. The arms on the first are, dexter, quarterly of four:--1 and 4. _On a chief a fleur-de-lys, in base a mullet pierced_ (ROGERS).--2 and 3. _Fretty, and a chief_ (ECHYNGHAM); impaling,--_In chief quarterly, 1 and 4, six roundels, 2 and 3, three camels; in base, guttee_ (----?). On the second bench-end are ROGERS and ECHYNGHAM, quarterly as before, impaling COURTENAY and DE REDVERS quarterly.

"The family of Roger or Rogers," says Mr. Batten, "whose chief seat was at Bryanstone, Dorset, held Barwick for six generations, extending to the latter part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth." John Rogers married Anne, daughter of Thomas de Echyngham, Lord of Echyngham in Sussex. His grandson Sir John, married presumably--for singularly her name does not as yet appear to be identified in the pedigree--Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Courtenay of Powderham, who died in 1512, by his wife Cicely, daughter of Sir John Cheney of Pinhoe.

Sir William Courtenay's mother was Margaret Bonville, daughter of Lord William Bonville, and so great-aunt to Cicely Bonville, and Elizabeth Rogers of the Barwick panel, was her second cousin.

They were buried at Bryanstone, and on the floor of the chancel of that church, without the rails, says Hutchins, "on the gravestone are the brass effigies of a man and a woman kneeling and their hands elevated. Over are the arms of Rogers and Echyngham quarterly, and under the woman, Rogers impaling Courtenay, and this inscription:--

=Of your charitie pray for the soules of John Rogers esquyer and
Elizabeth his wyfe which John decessed the day of in the
ye'r md^c and Elizabeth decessed the first day of October
in the ye'r of our Lord m d^c xviii on whose soules J'hu have m'cy=

on other bench-ends at Barwick are the initials W. H. and date 1533, probably for William Hooper, patron of the benefice at that time. The date of the Limington bench-ends is almost contemporary."

A round-about digression, you will say, gentle reader, but how interesting is it, thus in our little pilgrimage, to connect the relationship of these old sculptures, and make their personal history live again; verily, if there be any charm belonging to these researches into the past, herein it is found.

Of the early inheritances of the Bonvilles, Wiscombe, and Shute, on the attainder of the Duke of Suffolk both fell to the Crown, and Queen Mary granted them to her Secretary, Sir William Petre.

Wiscombe, toward the end of the sixteenth century, appears to have been the residence of Robert Drake, Esq., probably under grant from the descendants of Sir William Petre. He was the son of John Drake, Esq., of Ashe, Musbury, who died 4 Oct., 1558, by his wife Amy daughter of Roger Grenville, Esq., of Stow, who died 18 Feb., 1577-8. He married Elizabeth--daughter of Humphrey Prideaux of Theuborough, north Devon, who died 8 May, 1550, by his wife Joan daughter of Richard Fowell, of Fowells-combe, in south Devon,--by whom he left a large family.

William, the eldest son, was of Wiscombe. He married Philippa, sister of Sir Thomas Denys, died in 1619, leaving six children, of whom Thomas the eldest succeeded him at Wiscombe, and died in 1661.

Henry was of Childhay, an old picturesque seat in the parish of Broad-Winsor, Dorset. This he acquired by his marriage with Amy, daughter of John Crukerne, of Childhay, and widow of Sir Arthur Champernowne, of Modbury, Devon. He died in 1640.

Nicholas, a pensioner of James I., died 1640. He married Jane, daughter of William Tothill, "youngest of thirty-three children," she died 1622.

Robert, a colonel in the army, together with Humphrey his brother, a captain, were both killed at Ostend early in 1604.

Bernard, also described as of Wiscombe, married Elizabeth Densloe, and John, died without issue. Three of the daughters were named Gertrude, Ursula, and Amy.

The old historian, Westcote, thus refers to the untimely death of these soldier-brothers,--

"Wiscombe; where liveth a generous family of Drake; of which race
there were lately two brothers, (besides others) Robert and
Henry: (the sons of Robert:) the first, a colonel of much worth
and esteem with the Prince of Orange in the Netherlands; and the
other a captain: both taken away in the flower of their age: a
great grief to their friends and loss to their country."

And Risdon, his contemporary, adds in almost similar words,--

"Here (Wiscombe) now inhabits a generous tribe of the Drakes, of
which, besides other brothers, were Robert and Henry, the sons of
Robert; the first a colonel in the Netherlands, of great esteem
with the Prince of Orange and the States, of his valour, who in
all his actions was said to make use of the spur of courage, and
the reins of judgment; the other a captain, of much hope, both
taken away in the flower of their age, in defence of Ostend, to
the great grief of their friends, and loss of their country."

The monument of Robert Drake, the father of these unfortunate men,--and who was mercifully prevented by death from experiencing the great trial of their early decease,--occurs on the north side of the chancel of Southleigh church. It is of Ionic character with arabesque ornamentation, and bears the following inscription,--

ARMIGER AURATUS ROBERTUS NOMINE DRACUS
HIC JACET ILLE PIUS PAUPERIBUSQUE BONUS
SEPTE GNATOS FRUGI ET GNATAS QUINQUE VENUSTAS
PARTURIIT CONJUX ELIZABETHA SIBI
OBIIT 1600. MARCH 30.

Thus translated,--"_An ennobled Esquire; Robert Drake by name, lies here, one who feared God and remembered the poor; his wife Elizabeth bore him seven thrifty sons and five comely daughters. Died 30 March, 1600._"

Below are five shields:--1. _A wyvern with wings displayed_ (DRAKE), impaling _A chevron enhanced by a fleur-de-lys and charged with two_ _roundels, between three crescents._--2. GRENVILLE.--3. _A chevron charged with a mullet, a label of three_ (PRIDEAUX).--4. _Ermine, three battle-axes in pale_ (Denys).--5. _A fess between three fleurs-de-lys._

Robert Drake was the brother of Sir Bernard of Ashe, who died of jail fever in 1586, and of Richard Drake of Esher, who died in 1603.[16]

[16] A portrait of this Richard Drake, painted by Zucchero, was
shewn in London at the Tudor Exhibition of 1890. Described as
"Three-quarter length, life-size, to left, in black armour,
ornamented with gold, white ruffs on neck and wrists, black
jewelled cap with plumes, gold chain of several strings passing
over right shoulder; right hand on hip, left rests on sword hilt,
helmet with plumes on table. Below a shield of arms in the back
ground, the motto "_Tousiours prest a seruir_"; and this
inscription "AN^O DNI 1577. AETATIS SUAE 42." He was one of the
Esquires of Queen Elizabeth, from whom he received the grant of
the Stewardship of the Courts and Leets within the Manor of
Woking, with the Mastership of the Game there. He was also Lord
of the Manor of Esher, and in September 1600, had the honour of
entertaining the Queen at dinner at the Manor House of Esher,
where he resided, and where he had from 1588 to 1593 accommodated
certain notable Spanish prisoners of war, including Don Pedro de
Valdez, and other officers of high rank in the Spanish Armada,
with their suites of attendants. They had been captured by Sir
Francis Drake, and at his instance remitted to the keeping of
Richard Drake at Esher. He died in 1603."

The Wiscombe estate appears to have remained in the possession of the Petre family, until disposed of by Lord Petre in 1794, to Mr. J. M. How.

Speaking of Wiscombe, Risdon says,--

"It some time belonged to the priory of Otterton, which was in
the time of K. Hen. 3., by the prior granted unto sir Nicholas
Bonvile, kt., which he made his dwelling, and had here a large
park for deer, not long since disparked by the Lord Petre whose
inheritance it now is."

And Westcote, albeit with no special genealogical accuracy, thus soliloquises,--

"This place is memorable for being the habitation of Lord
Bonvile, an unfortunate man: (for unwise I dare not nor may not
term him:) yet this may I say by the way, good fortune and
wisdom, folly and ill-fortune or mischance, go masked, and that
very often under one hood; yea, unmasked do so near resemble one
the other, that they are hardly known or rightly distinguished
(by those that look them directly in the face) each from other,
and therefore one bears very often the other's faults, and on the
contrary one steals away the other's praise and commendation;
which is truly avered by Athenaeus, when he saith,

'Longissime a sapientia sors dissidet
Sed multa perfecit tamen simillima.'

Seldom the traitor, though much haste he make,
Lame-footed vengeance fails to overtake.