The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West Part 29

At the date of Paleologus' decease, Clifton was evidently in the occupation of Sir Nicholas Lower, and it is probable the imperial refugee, with such of his family as remained with him, found a home under the roof-tree of the knight. Great friends.h.i.+p apparently existed between the Lowers and the Paleologi, as in his will Sir Nicholas orders "_Item, I doe give unto Mrs. Maria Paleologus tenne pounds to be paied unto her within one quarter of a yeare after my decease_,"--this was the eldest daughter; two of his sons fought under Major Lower, and the father was buried in the Clifton aisle, and close by him the testator was himself afterward laid.

Sir Nicholas Lower was a descendant of an old Cornish family, being the third son of Thomas Lower of St. Winnow by his wife Jane Reskymer; was knighted by Charles I., 1 June, 1619, and became Sheriff of Cornwall in 1632. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew, being her third husband, she having previously wedded Sir Jonathan Trelawney, of Pool in Menheniot in 1604, and Sir Thomas Reynell of East Ogwell, 1607.

Sir Nicholas, and his wife Elizabeth Killigrew, are both interred under a large high-tomb at the east end of the Clifton aisle of Landulph church. On the cover-stone, which is of black marble, and very ma.s.sive, are the following inscriptions:--

HEERE LYES BVRIED THE BODYES OF SIR NICHOLAS LOWER OF CLIFTON IN LANDVLPH IN CORNEWALL KNIGHT WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE XVII DAYE OF MAY. 1655.

And of Dame Elizabeth his wife who departed this Life the vi day of June 1638 aged 68 yeares and heere Expect a glorious Resurrection.

Arms,--_A chevron between three roses, on the chevron a mullet for difference_ (LOWER), impaling,--_a double-headed eagle displayed within a bordure bezantee_ (KILLIGREW). Crest,--_An unicorn's head couped, thereon a mullet_.

In the east window of the aisle, above the tomb, are the arms of Lower alone, in painted gla.s.s,--_Sable, a chevron between three roses argent_, with two crests, one LOWER, and the second, _a wolf pa.s.sant azure, langued and armed gules_ (RESKYMER?).

[Ill.u.s.tration: PART OF THE LOWER SEATS, LANDULPH CHURCH.]

On the wall over the south Lower seat, are these further inscriptions on bra.s.ses,--

HERE LYETH BVRIED YE BODY OF SIR NICHOLAS LOWER OF CLIFTON KNIGHT, (DESCENDED OF THE HOVSE OF ST. WINOWE) THE SONNE OF THOMAS LOWER AND JANE HIS WIFE, ONE OF THE CO-HEYRES OF RESKYMER; WHO HAD ISSVE SIX SONNES, VIZ: SIR WILLIAM LOWER KNIGHT DECEASED IN CARMARTHENs.h.i.+RE, JOHN LOWER, THE SAID SR NICHOLAS LOWER, SIR FRANCIS LOWER KNIGHT, THOMAS LOWER DECEASED IN LONDON, AND ALEXANDER LOWER. HE MARRIED WITH ELIZABETH, ONE OF THE DAVGHTERS OF SR HENRY KILLEGRVE OF LONDON KNIGHT, DIED WITHOVT ISSVE, SVRRENDRINGE HIS SOVLE TO HIS REDEEMER AT CLIFTON, YE 17TH OF MAYE, ANNO DOMINI 1655.

and to his much-married spouse, who pre-deceased him nearly twenty years, the following quaint tribute to her memory:--

HEERE LYETH BVRIED THE BODY OF DAME ELIZABETH LOWER LATE WIFE VNTO SIR NICHOLAS LOWER OF CLIFTON, KT, DAVGHTER VNTO SR HENRY KILLIGREWE OF LONDON, KT, ANTIENTLY DESCENDED FROM YE HOVSE OF ARWENNICK IN CORNWALL, AND FROM YE YOVNGEST OF YE LEARNED DAVGHTERS OF SR ANTHONY COOKE, KT, A MAIDE OF HONOVR TO QVEENE ELIZABETH; WHO FOR TREW VERTVE, PIETY, AND LEARNING, CAME NOTHING SHORT (THAT I MAY MODESTLY SPEAKE) OF ANY OF HER ANCESTORS, AND FOR HER SINGVLAR COVRTESIE TO ALL, AND AMIABLE SVBIECTION TO HER HVSBAND (A VERTVE RARE AND HIGH) I THINKE CAN HARDLY BE MATCH'D, WHO DESERVES A FAR AMPLER CHARACTER THEN CAN BE CONTAINED IN SO NARROW A ROOME: SHE DYED AT CLIFTON IN CORNWALL, THE SIXT DAY OF JVNE IN THE YEARE OF OVR LORD, 1638, AND EXPECTS HEERE A GLORIOVS RESVRRECTION.

The two representative "squires' pews" we glanced at on our way down the aisle, and in which presumably the old knight, his dame, and their dependants performed their devotions, when they were in the flesh, and resident at Clifton, accompanied it may be by his imperially descended friend,--are situate a little above their last resting places. Some of the middle panels exhibit the linen pattern, a late example of this last remnant of pointed design. Alternating with these are several filled with floriated ornament, having in their centres s.h.i.+elds, continued also on the cornice above, displaying the descent and alliances of Lower.

On the first seat,--1. _A chevron between three roses_ (LOWER). --2.

_Per fess, three pears in base, in chief a demi-lion rampant_ (PERROTT).--3. _Three castles_ (KESTELL).--4. _An annulet surmounted by a mullet._--5. _Three chevrons ermine_ (ESSE?).--6. _A chevron engrailed, between three talbots pa.s.sant_ (CARVETH or TREGa.s.sAWE).--7.

_A chevron between three trefoils, stems erazed._--8. _Two bars, in chief three roundels._--9. _A fess fretty._--10. _A cross moline_ (UPTON?).--11. _A chevron between three birds._--12. _A chevron between three boars' heads_.--13. _A chevron between three moors'

heads affrontee, couped at the shoulders_ (TREGENNA?).--14, as 1. On the second seat,--1. _A double-headed eagle displayed, within a bordure bezantee_ (KILLIGREW).--2. _Three bars, in chief a wolf pa.s.sant_ (RESKYMER).--3. _Three bends_(BODRUGAN).--4. _Three bends within a bordure bezantee_ (VALLETORT).--5. _A bend, a label of three_ (CARMINOW).--6. _A chevron, a label of three_(PRIDEAUX).--7. _A crescent surmounted by a mullet_ (DENZELL).--8. _A boar pa.s.sant, between three mullets_ (TREVARTHIAN?).--9. _A cross between four mullets_ (FLAMANK?).--10. _A fess indented, between three mullets._--11. _A stag's head_ (TRETHURFFE?).--12. _A calf pa.s.sant_ (CAVELL).--13. LOWER. The crest, _an unicorn's head couped at the shoulders_, in full relief at the corners, and the initials N.L. and E.L., together with the date 1631, is carved on the panels. LOWER impaling KILLIGREW appears also on the bra.s.ses. The character of the carving is superior for the era, and its subjects heraldically interesting.

A few words further here concerning two immediate descendants of this,--at the time,--numerous Cornish race, who acquired some renown, the one in amusing, and the other in preserving this transitory life of ours. John Lower of Tremeer, brother to Sir Nicholas, had a son Sir William, a cavalier strongly attached to the royal cause. He was a dramatist, and retired to Holland during the Commonwealth that he might enjoy peaceful companions.h.i.+p with the muses. He was a great admirer of the French poets, particularly Corneille, and on their works built the plans of four out of the eight plays which he wrote.

He also issued translations from the French, and edited a _Journal_ of the movements of Charles II. while in exile. He subsequently possessed Clifton as heir-general of the family, on the decease without issue of Thomas Lower (the son of Sir William Lower, Sir Nicholas' brother), to whom Sir Nicholas left it. He died in 1662. Richard Lower, the other descendant, was a celebrated London physician, and the author among other works of a "_Treatise on the Heart_," which "attracted much notice, in consequence of the chapter on the transfusion of blood which the author had practised." He died in 1690, and was buried at St. Tudy.

Here we conclude such notices of the lives, deaths, and memorials of the Paleologi, and their friend the old knight at Clifton and his family as have been found available. Have you anything further to say of them, you ask, ere we leave the little sanctuary? What _can_ there be said further--would be the obvious reply--concerning those whose lives, deaths, burial-places and memorials, have all been duly noticed and recorded? Well, for once, not even the fastness of the grave will be proof against some additional remembrances of the Paleologi.

Man's curiosity is unbounded and insatiable. No place or a.s.sociation is altogether safe from the intrusion of his prying eyes and ransacking fingers, if he thinks there is anything likely to be found therein calculated to gratify its longings, and he gets the chance, or has permission to make the search. In this particular he follows in the trail of death as being no respecter of persons, but with this ign.o.ble difference to the great conqueror, that he waits until the life is gone before he seeks to a.s.suage his morbid longings by an invasion of the bodies of his forefathers. It would be supposed the sanct.i.ty of death and the rest of the grave would naturally be privileged, but no, they have rather stimulated his curiosity, and so have found little or no consideration in his sight. The cunningly-embalmed Egyptian potentate in his burial fortress of the great pyramid,--his humble spice-wound subject in his rock-hewn sepulchre,--the Roman emperor in his grand mausoleum,--Greek hero in costly sarcophagus,--British chieftain in flint-piled barrow,--mediaeval saint in shrine, and king, ecclesiastic or n.o.ble in their ponderous stone coffins,--all have in turn been subjected to this unfeeling scrutiny, and the poor dust and mouldering bones rummaged over by irreverent hands, very few indeed escaping violation, sometimes for hope of plunder, but usually for idle curiosity, and the indulgence of relic-hunting propensities. And yet, perhaps, there is scarcely anything the living heart would more shrink from contemplating, than the possibility of such indignity being offered to the frail decaying tenement it had beat in, after death; a sentiment shared in common by the greatest intellects and humblest minds,--but that does not avert the outrage.[50]

[50] "About a year ago, there was a wonderful discovery of an antient tomb at Sidon, containing over a dozen sarcophagi. Many of them are described as being in the finest style of art, and formed after the Greek manner. Among them was a royal one, and on it was an inscription of which the following is the translation:--'_I, Talnite, Priest of Astarte, and King of Sidon, lying in this tomb, say: 'Come not to open my tomb; there is neither gold, nor silver, nor treasure. He who will open this tomb shall have no prosperity under the sun, and shall not find rest in the grave._' This expresses the old yearning to be at rest; but the belief in wealth deposited in royal tombs has always frustrated the realization of these desires. Now-a-days the archaeologist is the greatest desecrator." (_Daily News_, 4 March, 1888.) The anathema on Shakspeare's gravestone is another well-known example of this dread.

The ashes of the Paleologi have not escaped this common danger of being examined, the father's here on this bank of the Tamar, and by curious coincidence, the son's in the distant island of Barbados, but no indignity was offered the remains. At Landulph, toward the close of the last century, "when the vault was accidentally opened, the coffin of Paleologus was seen, a single oak coffin, and curiosity prompting to lift the lid, the body of Paleologus was discovered, and in so perfect a state, as to ascertain him to have been in stature much above the common height, his countenance of an oval form, much lengthened, and strongly marked by an aquiline nose, and a very white beard reaching low on the breast." A physiognomy and stature eminently representative of his imperial descent, and how remarkably preserved after the lapse of nearly two centuries. In 1831 a hurricane destroyed the church of St. John in Barbados. In a vault under the organ-loft was discovered "the leaden coffin of Ferdinando Paleologus, in the position adopted by the Greek church, which is the reverse of others.

It was opened on the 3rd of May, 1844, and in it was found a skeleton of remarkable size, imbedded in quicklime, thus shewing, that although Ferdinando may have accommodated himself to the circ.u.mstances of his position, he died in the faith of his own church."[51] He thus appears to have been of commanding appearance as his father.

[51] Archer.

Before we leave the little edifice, a look into the tower, and a glance under the communion table. Two incidents attendant on the perils of access to Landulph's maritime position meet the eye. In the chancel a flat stone commemorates the fate of a former rector, "_Edward Ameredith, who married Alice, the fourth daughter of William Kekewitch of Catchfrench in Cornewall, Esquire; 8th of May, 1661,--being drowned in pa.s.sing the Ryuer_." Within the tower a tablet erected a hundred years later is thus inscribed,--

Near this place Lies the Body of Fitz-Anthony Pennington, Bell-Founder, of the Parish of Lezant in Cornwall, who departed this Life, April 30, 1768.

_aetatis suae_ 38.

Tho' Boisterous Winds & Billows sore, Hath Tos'd me To and Fro, By G.o.d's Decree in spite of both, I rest now, here below.

At the top of the monument is incised a winged angel with a trumpet, supporting a man bearing a church bell; at the bottom a laver-pot flaming; both being emblems of his vocation. Fitz-Anthony Pennington, member of a noted family of bell-founders, was also unfortunately drowned. This occurred at Anthony pa.s.sage,--a somewhat dangerous creek further down the river,--while conveying across a church bell intended to be set up at Landulph. The curious doggerel in praise and regulation of ringing, that is inscribed on a large wooden tablet opposite the monument, is said locally to be an effusion from his pen, but it has a much earlier date. The Penningtons were successively of Exeter, Lezant, and Stoke-Climsland, and itinerated as occasion required. They cast nearly five hundred bells for the churches in Devon and Cornwall, between the end of the seventeenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth centuries.

Imperialist or Republican? Such are the echoes that quest the mental ear from the opposite sides of the Tamar, as our little craft gets well out into mid-stream, and we make for the creek that runs inland on the sh.o.r.e immediately facing Landulph. Here dwelled an antient family, in Domesday survey called Alured Brito, afterward named from the place of their residence De Budockshed (since provincialized to Butshead or Budshead), and who continued there from the time of King John downward for fourteen generations, until about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the inheritance pa.s.sed by a distaff to the possession of another old race (also having antecedents near), named Gorges. The venerable home of the Budocksheds has been destroyed, but two fine old barns--one of grand proportions--and a picturesque granite gateway, still remain to attest its aforetime importance.

Winifred, one of the daughters and coheirs of Roger Budockshed, Esq.

(who married Frances daughter of Sir Philip Champernowne of Modbury), the last possessor of that name of the mansion and manor; brought it to her husband Sir William Gorges, knt., a Vice-Admiral, Deputy of Ireland, and a Gentleman Pensioner of Queen Elizabeth. He was a scion of the wide-spreading Somersets.h.i.+re family of that name, and had three sons,--Tristram, Arthur, and Edward. Dying in 1583, he left it to his son Tristram, who married Elizabeth daughter of Martin Cole of Cole-Anger. He had one son William, and four daughters, two of whom married Courtenays of the Landrake descent, and another Trelawney.

William died without issue, and disinheriting his sisters, "conveyed Budoke-side," says Pole, "unto Sr Arthur his unkle, and hee hath lately sold it." Sir Arthur Gorges was of Chelsea, he disposed of the old possession to the Trevills, a family of prosperous Plymouth merchants. In the Budockshed aisle of the church is a handsome monument to them, which bears the following inscription:--

Here Lyeth Bvried the Body of Richard Trevill, Esqr., who died Avgvst the XXVI., 1648. Aged 73.

Here Lyeth Bvried the Bodyes of Richard Trevill, Esqr., Nephew and Heire of the Aforesaid Richard, who died April the 4th, 1662. Aged 51.

And also of Mary his Wife, who died the XXV. day of Febrvary, 1663. Aged 57.

Here Lyeth Bvried the Body of Richard Trevill, Esq., Sonn of the said Richard and Mary, who died Janvary the XIX. 1665. Aged 19.

This Monvment was Erected by William Trevill, of Bvtshead, Esq., in the year of ovr Lord 1667, to Perpetuate ye memorie of his Wors.h.i.+pfull Predecessors and Relations here buried.

Arms,--_Or, a cross sable, debruised by a bendlet azure_ (TREVILL), impaling,--_Argent, a chevron gules, between three birds (coots or moorc.o.c.ks), sable._

On ledger-lines upon flat stones below, the first and second of the foregoing inscriptions are repeated, with the arms of Trevill sculptured. In their centres are these further notices:--

Also Here Lyeth The Body of William Trevill of Butshead, Esq., Father of Lethbridge Trevill, who departed this Life the 18th Day of May, 1680.

Also Here Lyeth the Body of Lethbridge Trevill, Son of William Trevill of Butshead, Esq., who departed this Life 27th of February, 1699.

The name of Trevill is still perpetuated in a street in Plymouth.

From the Trevills, by a distaff, it became the property of Brigadier-General Trelawney, whence it descended to his son Sir Harry Trelawney, Bart., _aide-de-camp_ to the celebrated Duke of Marlborough. This gentleman "for many years led a retired life at Budshead, where he amused himself with planting and gardening, having been the first person who brought ornamental gardening to any perfection in the west of England. His gardens, which abounded with American and other exotic shrubs and plants, were much resorted to by the curious." (Lysons.) Some remains of his taste still exist, and an old yew garden, once having a fishpond in its centre, and one or two n.o.ble trees of unmistakably foreign origin, still hale and vigorous.

This genealogical recital brings us to "the middle of our song."

William Gorges, the last local possessor of Budockshed, was cousin to the celebrated Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the Founder of the State of Maine, U.S.A., and for some years Governor of Plymouth. He was also identified with St. Budeaux, both by property and marriage; first, by being owner of the manor of Kinterbury in that parish, and secondly, one of his four wives having been Elizabeth, sister of William Gorges of Budockshed, and widow of Edward Courtenay. Sir Ferdinando, whose history and proceedings are largely interwoven with the stirring movements of his time, both of warlike character at home, and colonization and enterprise abroad, died 14 May, 1647, and was buried at Long-Ashton, near Bristol.

In the Budockshed aisle of the church of St. Budeaux, is a beautiful monument to the memory of that family and their immediate successors, the Gorges. It consists of a high-tomb, with pillars at the angles, the cover-stone of slate finely carved, and a reredos of exquisite Elizabethan design. On it are these arms,--1. _Sable, three fusils in fess, between three stags' faces argent. Crest,--A moor's head affrontee proper_ (BUDOCKSHED).--2. Quarterly,--1 and 4. _Lozengy or and azure, a chevron gules, a crescent for difference_ (GORGES).--2.

and 3. _Argent, a bull pa.s.sant sable, within a bordure of the second bezantee_ (COLE).--3. GORGES, with crest,--_a greyhound's head couped at the shoulders, and collared, with crescent for difference_.--4.

GORGES and BUDOCKSHED quarterly.--5. BUDOCKSHED, with crest. The original inscription, which was probably gilded on it, had disappeared, but the sculptured date, 1600, remains.

The monument had become greatly dilapidated, but was restored in 1881, and the following inscription then cut on it,--

Roger Budockshed, of Budockshed, Esquire, obiit 1576.

Sir William Gorges, Knight, obiit 1583.

Dame Winifred Gorges, ob: 1599.

Tristram Gorges, of Budockshed, Esquire, ob: 1607.

Mrs. Elizabeth Gorges, ob: 1607.

Restored 1881: chiefly at the expense of the Historical Society and Citizens of the State of Maine, U.S.A.; in memory of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the first Proprietor and Governor of that Province, A.D. 1635; aided by some connections of the Gorges family in England.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PANEL FROM THE GORGES TOMB. ST. BUDEAUX CHURCH.]