Part 52

Richard Roberts married Frances, daughter of John Hender of Botreux Castle or Boscastle, a co-heiress, and died in 1634. He was evidently a very shrewd and grasping man, and particularly desirous of pushing ahead and obtaining a position to which his only claim was wealth. By the marriages of father and son, the very plebeian family of Roberts brought strains of gentle blood into the veins of their descendants. He it was who built the stately mansion of Lanhydrock. He died 19th April, 1634, but was not buried at Lanhydrock till July 4th in the same year.

His son and heir John Roberts, second Baron Truro, was sent to be educated at Exeter College, Oxford. He entered as Gentleman Commoner in 1625, when aged seventeen, the year of his mother's death. At college, according to Wood, he "sucked in evil principles both as to Church and State."

By his marriage with the Lady Lucy, daughter of Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, he became allied to the leaders of the opposition among the peers, and during the Long Parliament his vote was almost always given with the popular party among the Lords. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall in 1642, and became colonel of a regiment of foot in the army of Lord Essex. He fought at Edgehill, and commanded a brigade in the battle of Newbury. In 1644 he held the position of Field Marshal in the army of Essex, and he was with him in the west when he advanced further into Cornwall, getting into a position which eventually led to a humiliating defeat, among a population fanatically affected to the Royal side.

The King with Prince Maurice was in full pursuit, driving him into a corner, the narrow extremity of Cornwall. The King was now joined by Sir Richard Grenville with Cornish levies, cutting off some of the Parliamentarian foraging parties. But the sea as yet was open, and the Earl of Warwick, who attended the motions of the army, was off the coast. "It was therefore now resolved to make Essex's quarters yet straiter, and to cut off even his provisions by sea, or a good part thereof." Fowey was in the possession of Essex, "and it was exceedingly wondered at by all men, that he being so long possessed of Foy, did not put strong guards into the place, by which he might have prevented his army's being brought into these extreme necessities." Sir Richard Grenville possessed himself of Lanbetherick, a strong house belonging to Lord Roberts, and lying between the Parliamentarian army and the little harbour, and Sir Jacob Astley made himself master of View Hall, which was opposite to Fowey, and then cut off supplies from reaching the camp of Essex.

For eight or ten days the armies lay inactive, and then Charles drew closer the toils in which the hostile army was held. He drove them from a rising ground called Beacon Hill, and immediately raised a square work on it, and placed there a battery that threw a plunging fire into their quarters. Then Goring was sent with the greatest part of the royal horse, and fifteen hundred foot, to S. Blazey, to drive the enemy yet closer together, and to cut off the provisions they received from that direction. The dashing, daring Goring executed his commission with complete success, and the Parliamentarians were reduced to that small strip of land that lay between the river Fowey and that of S. Blazey, which was not above two miles in breadth and little more in width, and which had already been eaten bare by the cavalry. The destruction of the whole army now appeared inevitable; but through the carelessness of Goring, one dark night all the horse of the enemy were allowed to slip unperceived through the lines, on the night of the 30th and 31st August, 1644, and the Earl of Essex with Lord Roberts and many of his officers fought his way to the shore near the mouth of the Fowey, and there they embarked on board a ship which Warwick had sent round, and sailed away to Plymouth on September 1st, leaving the foot, cannon, and ammunition to the care of the gallant Skippon, who had nothing left for it but to make the best capitulation he could. Essex left Roberts in command at Plymouth, which he successfully defended against the attacks made during the ensuing months, and his popularity is attested by the petitions made by the Plymothians that he might be left in command of the town.

Lord Roberts must have suffered considerably in the Civil War, for his estates were alienated from him and granted by the King to Sir Richard Grenville, whilst his home of Lanhydrock was occupied by the Royalists, and his children were detained from him. He was a staunch Presbyterian, hating Prelacy, believing in exclusive salvation, the perquisite of those who believed in Calvin, and he had no love for the Independents.

Since 1643 an assembly for the regulation of religion had been sitting at Westminster. It had substituted Presbyterianism for the Episcopacy, as the established religion of England, and had abolished the Prayer Book and issued in its stead a book called the Directory. These changes had been confirmed by Parliament. But this settlement of the religious question was quite contrary to the views of the Army, which was mainly--at all events that portion commanded by Cromwell in the North--composed of Independents.

Sir Harry Vane, Oliver Cromwell, Nathaniel Fiennes, and Oliver St. John, the solicitor-general, were regarded as their leaders. Dissentions broke out in the House of Commons; Cromwell and Lord Manchester cast imputations on each other. Cromwell desired to remodel the Army, of which the House of Commons had already become suspicious, and how to effect this project was the difficulty, and his object could only be attained by a circuitous course. At his instance a committee was chosen to frame what was called the "Self-denying Ordinance," by which the members of both Houses were excluded from all civil and military employments, except a few offices which were specified. After a great debate, the Ordinance passed both Houses (April 3rd, 1645), and Essex, Warwick, Manchester, Denbigh, Roberts, and many others resigned their commands, and received the thanks of Parliament for their past services.

Lord Roberts's zeal for the cause rapidly cooled. He and Essex both protested against the passing of the Ordinance on March 13th, 1646, that made the new Presbyterian Established "Church" subordinate to Parliament.

On January 3rd, 1648, it was passed in both Houses that thenceforth no addresses should any more be sent to the King; he was virtually dethroned, and the whole constitution was formally overthrown; and by orders from the Army the King was shut up in close confinement, his servants removed, and his correspondence with his friends prevented. When the Army threatened to intervene, Roberts deemed it his most prudent course to absent himself from the House of Lords, and suffer the act to pass.

He took no part in the trial of the King, and after the execution of Charles withdrew from further share in public affairs. He was, however, not hostile to the Protectorate, and at the Installation of the Protector he suffered his son to be in his train.

At the Restoration he was received into favour, and became a Privy Councillor, and was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal in May, 1661. In July, 1679, he was created Viscount Bodmin and Earl of Radnor.

With the latter part of his life we have no concern, as this article has to do only with the rise of the family of Roberts to an Earldom from a store of wood and furze, and the sordid desk of an usurer. Pepys, in his _Diary_, describes him as "a very sober man," and Clarendon as "a sullen, morose man, intolerably proud," and as having a "dark countenance," and Burnet as a "sullen and morose man." He died July 17th, 1685. His son Robert seems to have deemed it expedient to differentiate his family name from the thousands of Roberts's in humble life, by the alteration of the spelling of the name, by the transfer of the _e_ and the addition of an _a_, and the vulgar Roberts bloomed into Robartes.

The motto assumed by the first Lord Roberts, "quæ supra" expressed the sincere aspiration of the man, who was certainly sincere in seeking "those things which are above," as the guiding principle of his life.

The Robartes or Roberts family became extinct in the male line in 1757; but Mary Vere Robartes, daughter of the Hon. Russell Robartes, married Thomas Hunt, of Mollington, and left issue Thomas Hunt, who had an only child, Anna Maria, who married Charles Reginald Agar, third son of James, Viscount Clifden, and carried the wealth of the Robartes family into that of Agar; and in 1822 Thomas James Agar, her son, assumed the name and arms of Robartes, and was created Baron Robartes of Lanhydrock and Truro in 1869. The descent is, however, so remote and through females, that the present family can hardly be considered to represent the original Robertes or Roberts stock.

THEODORE PALEOLOGUS

In the church of Landulph is a small brass attached to the wall that bears the following inscription: "Here lyeth the body of Theodore Paleologus, of Pesaro in Italye, descended from y^e Imperyal lyne of y^e last Christian emperors of Greece, being the sonne of Camillio, y^e sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of John, y^e sonne of Thomas, second brother of Constantius Paleologus, the 8^{th} of that name, and last of y^e lyne y^t rayned in Constantinople until subdued by the Turks, who married w^t Mary, y^e daughter of William Balls, of Hadlye in Souffolke, Gent., and had issue 5 children, Theodore, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy; and departed this life at Clyfton, y^e 21^{st} of Jan^y 1636." Above the inscription are the imperial arms of the empire of Byzantium--an eagle displayed with two heads, the two legs resting upon two gates; the imperial crown over the whole, and between the gates a crescent, for difference as second son.

There were eight Emperors of the East of the family of the Paleologi. The family descended from a General Andronicus Paleologus, who died in 1246. The Emperor Manuel, who deceased in 1425, had five sons: John II, Emperor, who died in 1449; Theodore, despot in Lacedemon; Andronicus, despot in Thessalonica; Constantine, despot of the Morea. John II was associated with his father, and succeeded him. Andronicus, the second son, died of leprosy in 1429. Theodore, Constantine, Demetrius, and Thomas wasted their resources in mutual contests, but Theodore was constrained to adopt the monastic profession. On the death of John II the royal family was reduced to three princes--Constantine, Demetrius, and Thomas. Demetrius at once claimed the vacant throne, but failed in his attempt, and Constantine succeeded, the last and greatest of the Paleologi. "Demetrius and Thomas now divided the Morea between them; but though they had taken a solemn oath never to violate the agreement, differences soon arose, and Thomas took up arms to drive Demetrius out of his possessions; Demetrius hereupon retired to Asan, his wife's brother, by whose means he obtained succours from Amurath, and compelled Thomas to submit the matters in dispute to the Emperor's (Constantine's) arbitration. But that prince refusing to deliver to his brother the territories that fell to his share, Mohammed ordered Thuraken, his governor in the Morea, to assist Demetrius."

Shortly after this, on the fatal May 29th, 1453, Constantinople was taken by the Turks, and the gallant Constantine was killed.

Immediately after the capture Mohammed proceeded to make war on Demetrius and Thomas, whereupon the Albanians, subjects of Thomas, revolted. Fresh disputes broke out between the brothers, each endeavouring to supplant the other, and in 1459 Mohammed entered the Morea and reduced Corinth. At the first news of his approach Thomas fled to Italy with his wife and children, and Demetrius submitted to the Sultan, who carried him away to Constantinople, where he died in abject slavery in 1470. Thomas was received in Italy by Pope Pius II in 1461, who allowed him a pension of six thousand ducats.

Historians record only two sons, Andrew and Manuel, but according to the inscription in Landulph church there was a third, John, whom Italian writers have not mentioned.

Andrew, the eldest, married a woman from the streets of Rome, and dying childless, in 1502, bequeathed his empty honours to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, having previously sold them to Charles VIII of France. Manuel Paleologus, the second son, revisited his native country. He was granted a train of Christians and Moslems to attend him to his grave. Gibbon says: "If there be some animals of so generous a nature that they refuse to propagate in a domestic state, the last of the imperial race must be ascribed to an inferior kind; he accepted from the Sultan's liberality two beautiful females; and his surviving son was lost in the habit and religion of a Turkish slave." Thomas, who had been despot of Morea, died in 1465. By his wife, Catherine Zaccaria, he had one daughter, in addition to the sons mentioned, and this was Helen, who married Lazarus II, King of Servia, and died in 1474.

Why Theodore Paleologus came to England we do not know, but possibly in the train of Sir Henry Killigrew and Sir Nicholas Lower. Sir Nicholas had married Sir Henry's daughter, and as they were both advanced in life and childless they may have been disposed to befriend the Paleologi, and Lady Killigrew was one of the learned daughters of Sir Anthony Coke, celebrated for her knowledge of Greek, and she may have inspired her daughter, Lady Lower, with the same fondness for the classic languages. This is but conjecture; but this at least is certain, that the Paleologi were given Clifton, in Landulph, as their residence, and this was a mansion that belonged to the Lowers.

Theodore Paleologus married Mary Balls in 1615, and by her had three sons, Theodore, John, and Ferdinando, and two daughters.

Theodore was a lieutenant in the Parliamentary army in 1642, under Lord St. John, and was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1644.

There are no traces to be found of John and Ferdinando. Mary, one of the daughters of Theodore and Mary Balls, died unmarried, and was buried at Landulph in 1674. Her sister Dorothy married, in 1656, William Arundell, and died in 1681, he in 1684.

There was a Theodore Paleologus who died at sea on board the _Charles II_ under Captain Gibson, in 1693. In his will Theodore mentions only his wife Martha, and we do not know who was his father.

We do not know who was the William Arundell whom Dorothy Paleologus married. Unhappily the registers of S. Dominic, where she and her husband lived, have been lost, and we cannot say whether the Mary Arundell who married a Francis Lee soon after the death of her presumed parents was a daughter. But if so, as Dr. Jago suggests in a paper in the _Archæologia_, "The imperial blood perhaps still flows in the bargemen of Cargreen."

INDEX

Abbot, Archbishop, 334

Abder-Rhuman, 715

Abercrombie, Dr., 427, 428

Aberdeen, University of, 34

Abingdon, 127

Abyssinia, Prince of, 599

_Account of the Desperate Affray in Blean Wood_, etc., 612

_Account of the English Colony of New South Wales_, 568

_Account of R. Jeffery_, 257

Acharnania, 508

Acombe, 12

Acton, 403, 477, 673

Actor, Mr., 275

_Adams_, 252

Adams, John Couch, 189 -- birth and upbringing, 84 -- character of, 88, 89, 90 -- discoverer of Neptune, 86, 88 -- early observation, 84

Adams, Mr., 322, 714

Adams, Mr. John, 463

Adams, Thomas, 83

Adams, William Grylls, 89, 90

Addison, Joseph, 644

_Admiral Hood_, 602

Admiralty order replacement of logan stone, 20, 23

Adoption of poor children, 533

Adour, 504

Advent, 425

Adventure Series, 708

_Adventures of a Younger Son_, 445, 452, 454

_Ætna_, 267

Agamemnon's tomb, 448

Agar, Charles R., 726

Agar, Thomas James, 726

_Age of Reason_, 358

Agnes, 649

_Agnus Dei_, 656

_Agreeable Surprise, The_, 469

Ainsworth, Harrison, on "Courtenay," 605

Airy, 86, 88

_Alarm_, 664

Albanian revolt, 728

Albert, Prince, 621

_Albion_, 248, 249

Alderton, 487

Aldrich, Dean, 213

_Alexander_, 559, 561

_Alexander the Great_, 300

Alexandria, 459, 686

Algerine Corsair at Penzance, 130

Algerine pirates, 332

Algiers, 507, 617, 715

Ali Pacha, 508-514 -- at home, 510-513 -- human butcher, 509

All, the five alls, 550

Allen, river, 118

_Alligator_, 196

Alligators attract patients, 632

_All the Year Round_, 93

Almanza, 12

Altarnon, 73, 80, 186, 187, 190

Amaza, 416

Amell, 340

Ames, Dr. William, 34

Ammonites, superstition concerning origin of, 4

Amurath, 728

Anagram of Noye, 339

Andalusian Moors, 711

Anderson, Captain, 62

_Andromache_, 505

"Angel, The," 542

Anglesea, Earl of, 298

Anglo-Mexican Company, 493

Anguella, 251

_Annals of King James_, 615

Anne of Bohemia, 433

Anne, Queen, 219, 299, 307, 310, 318, 372, 639

Annesley, Lady Philippa, 298

_Annual Register_, 58

_Annual Report of the Society of Arts_, 64 note

_Anson_, H.M.S., salvage of, 62 -- wreck of, 60, 71

Anson, Lord, 158

_Antony and Cleopatra_, 205

Antigua, 320

_Antiquities of Cornwall_, 18

Antony ferry, 225

Antwerp, 26

Anyada, 250

_Antelope_, 645

Anthem, Cornish, 577

_Antiquary, The_, 547

Ap Rice, Mr., 288

Arabia, Prince of, 600

Ararat, 406

Arbuthnot, Sir Charles, 529

_Archæologia_, 730

Arcot, 159, 164

Argand lamp, 202

Argos, 448

_Argus_, 689

Argyro-Kastro, 509

_Arithmetic_, Walkinghame's, 3

Arms of Braddon family, 107 -- of Byzantine Empire, 727 -- of Call family, 155, 167 -- of Clobery family, 231 -- of Foote family, 280 -- of Jane family, 206 -- of Lake family, 251 -- of Noye family, 341 -- of Pennington family, 224 -- of Robartes family, 726 -- of Sandys family, 374 -- of Tillie family, 402, 405 -- of Tilly family, 407 -- of Wills family, 12

Armstrong, Major, 609, 610, 613

_Around and about Saltash_, 665

Arslan, 508

Arta, 508

_Arundell_, 646

Arundel family, the, 157

Arundel, Earl of, 435

Arundell, Henry, Lord, 173

Arundell, Humphrey, 588, 589, 591

Arundell, Mary, 730

Arundell, Roger, 592

Arundell, Sir John, 136, 661

Arundell, Sir Thomas, 137

Arundell, William, 730

Arundel Street, 301

Arwenack, 133, 134, 135, 137, 140

Asan, 728

Ashburton, 200

Ashfield, Dame, 468-9

_Assassinations and Civil Wars_, 426

_Assistance_, H.M.S., 488

_Association_, wreck of the, 640, 643, 647, 651

Astley, 203

Astley, Sir Jacob, 126, 723

Aston Clinton, 251

Astronomy, 86

Astronomy, ignorance of, 593

_As You Like It_, 467

_Athenæum_, 88, 452 -- founded by Buckingham, 464

Athens, 446, 452

Atkins, Sir Robert, 101

Atlas, 181

Atterbury, 219

"Auction of Pictures, An," 287

Audrey, 516

Augsberg Island, 420

_Aunt Mavor's Storybooks_, 622

_Authentic Account of the late unfortunate Death of Lord Camelford_, 328

_Authentic Memoirs of the Green Room_, 467, 469

_Author, The_, 288

_Autobiography of a Cornish Smuggler_, 473

_Autobiography of John Harris_, 697

Avalon Peninsula, 265

Avery, Captain John, 173

Avery, Dr., 194

Ayres, Mr., 119

Azila, 714

Babbage, 88

Badcock, John, volunteers for Terra del Fuego, 233 -- dies of privations, 235

Bagdad, 462

Bagshot Heath, 672

Bahia, 422

Bailey, Mr., 188

Baker, Mr. Henry, 105, 347, 351

Ball, John, 432

Ball, Lieutenant, 565

Ballads, "Chevy Chase," 703 -- "The fight of the _Monmouth_ and _Foudroyant_," 377 -- "The Highwayman," 630

Ballads, "Rosamond Clifford," 703 -- "Rule Britannia," 377 -- sung by Incledon, 386 -- "The Storm," 380, 386 -- "'Twas Thursday," 377 -- of wrestling, 58

Ballot Society, 627

Balls, Mary, 727, 729 -- William, 727

Baltic, 67

Banks, Sir Joseph, 233, 679

Bannister, 380

Banns of marriage, 578

Bantry Bay, 638

Banza, 419

Baptista, Signor, 552

Barabbas, 40

Barbados, 623

Barcelona, 477, 640

Barff, Mr., 451

_Barfleur_, 261

Bargus, Mr. Samuel, 262, 264

Barlow, Bishop, 32

Barming Heath, 603

Barnardiston, Sir Samuel, 483, 484

Barnstaple, 455, 659, 665

_Baronetage_, 156

_Baron Munchausen's Travels_, 2

Barrey, Lord, 547

Barrie, Captain, 327

Barrington, Admiral, 238

Barrington, Hon. Daines, 238, 241 -- visits Dolly Pentreath, 239, 240

Barrow, Sir John, 415, 423

Barthlever, 528

_Bartholomew Fair_, 271, 552

Bartlett, Rafe, 388, 393, 397 -- confession of, 389, 395

Barwell, Nabob, 525

Barwick, Dr. J., 45

Baseley, Richard, 388, 397 -- confession of, 389, 392, 394

Bashaw, Inglis, 716

Basset, Sir Francis, 519

Bassiere, 314

_Batavia_, 568

Bate, Mrs., 346

Bath, 198, 200, 290, 377, 466 -- Cathedral, Lady Chapel of, 32

Bath, Earl of, 182, 183, 184

Bathurst, Mr. C., 253, 256

Battye, Philadelphia, 165 -- William, 165

Bawden, Giles, 540

Baxter, Richard, 209

Bayonne, 196, 504, 505

Bay of Biscay, 489

Beacon Hill, 723

_Beaver_, 321

Beddoes, Dr. Thomas, 676

Bedford, Earl of, 139

Behethlan, 614; _see_ Bohelland.

Behethlan, Joan, 614 -- John, 614 -- Margery, 614

Beirout, 597, 599

Bell, Lieut. John, 64

Bell-casting, 224-6

Bell-founders, 224, 225, 226

Bell-ringing, competitions, 223 -- mysterious, 284 -- song of, 223

Bells, baptism of, 222 -- inscriptions on, 222 -- removed, 592

_Belle Poule_, 505

Bellingham, Mr., 427, 430

Bellot, Anne, 516, 517 -- Christopher, 516

Bemba Ganga, 417

Ben, John, 649

Benbow, Admiral, 372

Bennett, Lieutenant, 609, 610

Bentinck, Mr. Cavendish, 634

Berat, 509

Beresford, Lord Charles, 669

Bergh, 47

Berkeley, Earl of, 647 -- Hon. Charles, 140 -- Sir G. Cranfield, 648

_Berlin, The_, 70

Bermuda, 35

Berne, 319

Berry, Mr., 418

Berry Pomeroy, 592

Bessie's Cove, 470

Best, Captain Thomas, 479 -- Mr., 324-8, 519

Beveridge, 215

Biagi, D. Guido, 454

Bible explains fossils, 4

_Bibliographia Cornubiensis_, 556 note

_Bibliotheca Cornubiensis_, 245

Bideford, 633

Bignell, George Carter, 141 -- early life of, 144 -- entomologist, 147-153

Bignor, 517

Bingham, Captain, 299

_Biographica Dramatica_, 296

_Biographical Dictionary of English Catholics_, 556 note

_Biographical Dictionary of Poets_, 231

_Biographical Sketches in Cornwall_, 340

Birmingham, 467

_Birthday, The_, 469

Bishop and his Clerks, 640

Bishop of Bath and Wells, 32 -- of Carlisle, 89 -- of Exeter, 140, 219, 425 -- of Lichfield, 32 -- of London, 27, 43, 215 -- of Oxford, 207 -- of Rochester, 213 -- of Salisbury, 211 -- of S. David's, 32 -- of Winchester, 643, 649

Black Friars, The, 544

"Black Lion," 144

Black Sea, 67

Blackwood, John, 648 -- Shovell, 648

Blague, Thomas, 127

Blake, Admiral, 45

Blanchard, Mr., 608

_Blanche_, 248, 250

Blean, The, 607, 612

_Blenheim_, 260

Blewett, George, 343

Bligh boy sees ghost, 74-80

Bligh, Edmund, 81 -- family, the, 74, 79, 81 -- Mr., 74, 81, 701 -- Thomas, 81 -- Walter, 81

Blight, Mr. J. T., 143

Blockly, 81

Bloomsbury, 165

Blossom Underwing, 149

"Blue Boar's Head," 542

Board of Trade, 68

Boase & Courtney, Messrs., 556 note -- Dr., 680

Boat-races at Saltash, 663

Bochym, 517