Part 3

'On the brow of a lofty hill,[19] crested with stag-horned trees, commanding a deep and woodland gorge wherein "the Crooks of Combe" (the curves of a winding river) urge onward to the "Severn Sea," still survive the remains of famous old Stow, that historic abode of the loyal and glorious Sir Bevill, the Bayard of old Cornwall, "sans peur et sans reproche," in the thrilling Stewart wars. No mansion on the Tamar-side ever accumulated so rich and varied a store of association and event. Thither the sons of the Cornish gentry were accustomed to resort, to be nurtured and brought up with the children of Sir Bevill Grenville and Lady Grace; for the noble knight was literally the "glass wherein" the youth of those ancient times "did dress themselves." There their graver studies were relieved by manly pastimes and athletic exercise. Like the children of the Persians, they were taught "to ride, to bend the bow, and to speak the truth." At hearth and hall every time-honoured usage and festive celebration was carefully and reverently preserved. Around the walls branched the massive antlers of the red deer of the moors, the trophies of many a bold achievement with horse and hound. At the buttery-hatch hung a tankard, marked with the guest's and the traveller's peg, and a manchet, flanked with native cheese, stood ready on a trencher for any sudden visitant who might choose to lift the latch; for the Grenville motto was, "An open door and a greeting hand." A troop of retainers, servants, grooms, and varlets of the yard, stood each in his place, and under orders to receive with a welcome the unknown stranger, as well as their master's kinsman or friend.'

To Mr. Hawker's graceful pen we are also indebted for the following capital ballad:

SIR BEVILL--THE GATE SONG OF STOW.

'Arise, and away! for the King and the land; Farewell to the couch and the pillow: With spear in the rest, and with rein in the hand, Let us rush on the foe like a billow.

'Call the hind from the plough, and the herd from the fold, Bid the wassailer cease from his revel; And ride for Old Stow, where the banner's unrolled For the cause of King Charles and Sir Bevill.

'Trevanion is up, and Godolphin is nigh, And Harris of Hayne's o'er the river; From Lundy to Loo, "One and all" is the cry, And "The King and Sir Bevill for ever!"

'Ay! by Tre, Pol, and Pen, ye may know Cornish men, 'Mid the names and the nobles of Devon; But if truth to the King be a signal, why then Ye can find out the Grenville in heaven.

'Ride! ride with red spur! there is death in delay, 'Tis a race for dear life with the devil; If dark Cromwell prevail, and the King must give way, This earth is no place for Sir Bevill.

'So at Stamford he fought, and at Lansdowne he fell, But vain were the visions he cherished; For the great Cornish heart that the King loved so well, In the grave of the Grenville is perished.'

From Stow Bevill Grenville went to the famous old West-country college, Exeter College, Oxford; where he was placed under Dr. Prideaux (one, I fancy, of the worthy family of Prideaux Place, Padstow). He shortly afterwards entered Parliament, and going to Scotland, in command of a troop of horse, with the King, was knighted.[20]

The relations of Sir Bevill and Clarendon were peculiar. Clarendon had quarrelled with Sir Bevill's fiery brother, Sir Richard (created, according to Whitelocke, Baron of Lostwithiel in 1644), a man of high spirit and of considerable bravery and military skill, but with an unlucky facility for getting into scrapes and troubles of all sorts. He begins with a squabble with his wife's brother-in-law, the powerful Earl of Suffolk, which ends in Sir Richard's having to pay a fine of £8,000, besides undergoing sixteen months' imprisonment in the Fleet. He afterwards served in Ireland, and on his return to England, finding it a matter of considerable difficulty to get his arrears of pay, resorted to the following questionable artifice for the purpose. He pretended to lend a not unwilling ear to the Parliament's suggestion, that in return for being paid the money due to him, he should transfer his sword from the King's cause to theirs. Indeed, he even went so far as to take the command of a body of Roundhead horse, and marched upon Basing. But on reaching Hounslow he, without much difficulty, persuaded all his officers and men to proceed to Oxford instead, where he placed the services of his whole party at the King's disposal, whereupon the Parliamentarians righteously enough dubbed him 'skellum' (scoundrel) and 'renegado.' He did yeoman's service for the King in Cornwall, and Charles left the blockade of Plymouth in his charge--a blockade which, as we know, was finally abandoned. The whole story is given in Llewellyn Jewitt's 'History of Plymouth,' together with a scornful letter to Sir Richard from the defenders. And I notice that in a letter from Sir R. Grenville to his nephew, the Earl of Bath, then only about sixteen years old, he is reported to have said, 'We have here made a stand with our forces and the garrisons of Salt Ash, Milbrooke and others considerable have come up and added to our former, and we hope well.' The letter is dated 'Truro, 29 July, 1644.'

There appears to have been no sufficient reason why he should have been asked to surrender his post of 'the King's General in the West'[21] in favour of Lord Hopton, but he was compelled to do so; and on giving up his command he refused to serve under that officer, upon which he was forthwith 'clapped up' in Launceston Gaol, to the great dissatisfaction of many of the Cornish officers and soldiers, who attributed their ultimate discomfiture to the absence of Sir Richard from the field.[22] Clarendon (his foe), and the prejudiced and inaccurate Echard, give very unflattering accounts of Sir Richard; but his grand-nephew, George Lord Lansdowne, published a skilful and temperate vindication of him against their aspersions; and Sir Richard printed his own 'Defence' in Holland, dating it 28th January, 1654. Whilst in Holland, by the way, he seems to have attempted reprisals upon the Earl of Suffolk; for we find that one of Milton's Latin 'State Letters' is addressed to the Archduke Leopold of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (undated), to the effect that Sir Charles Harbord, an Englishman, has had certain goods and household stuff violently seized at Bruges by Sir Richard Grenville. The goods had originally been sent from England to Holland in 1643 by the then Earl of Suffolk, in pledge for a debt owing to Harbord; and Grenville's pretext was that he also was a creditor of the Earl, and had obtained a decree of the English Chancery in his favour. Now, by the English law, neither was the present Earl of Suffolk bound by that decree, nor could the goods be distrained under it. The decision of the Court to that effect was transmitted, and his Serenity was requested to cause Grenville to restore the goods, inasmuch as it was against the comity of nations that anyone should be allowed an action in foreign jurisdiction which he would not be allowed in the country where the cause of the action first arose. The letter ends thus:

'The justice of the case itself and the universal reputation of your Serenity for fair dealing have moved us to commend the matter to your attention; and, if at any time there shall be occasion to discuss the rights or convenience of your subjects with us, I promise that you shall find our diligence in the same not remiss, but at all times most ready.'

Clarendon and Sir Richard both went into exile, and more than once hurled reproaches at each other; but the crowning misfortune of Grenville's life was the refusal of Charles II., on Sir Richard's failing to justify some statements which he had made against Lord Clarendon, to let him appear at Court. This broke the old man's heart. He let his beard grow from that time; and died soon afterwards.[23]

Hals, delighting, as usual, to say anything sour and disagreeable of his fellow-countymen, states in his MSS. that when Sir Richard, at the death of Charles I., 'for safe gaurd of his life fled beyond the seas,' he passed most of his time 'in france and Itally, sufferinge greate wants and necessities,' and 'was at Length comparitively starved to Death.... His son Richard Grenvill, in the Interregnum of Cromwell, was executed at Tyburne for robbinge Passengers on the high way to Relieve his necessity. Moreover Sir Thomas Grenvill Kt. at the same tyme was Driven to such Extreame wants in his owne Country that he was forced for Reliefe to begge the Charity of his friends and Dyed in Great want and penury--and his Lady also--though his Daughter Jane, being a Servant to the Lady Robarts, was marryed to John Tregagle Gent. from whom the Tregagles of Treworder are Descended.'

Here is, perhaps, a convenient place to add that Polwhele thought that Henry Grenfield, Master of the Truro Grammar School in 1685, was one of this family. He wrote a charming 'Hymnus Vespertinus,' which is preserved in R. N. Worth's 'West Country Garland.'

A writer in _Notes and Queries_ (5th Series, X. Sept. 14th, 1878) observes that, 'It is curious that, whereas the name of Grenville, as one of distinction, has long died out in Cornwall, it appeared suddenly in the registers of Fowey about a hundred years ago, the persons bearing it being in humble circumstances. As this is the only trace of the family name remaining in Cornwall or Devonshire, counties with which it was so intimately connected in local history, the matter may be of interest. There would, in fact, seem to be some mystery enveloping the extinction of the name, which is at the present moment borne _by right of birth_ by very few persons, although some six creations of the title have been made to keep it in the peerage. Gilbert is believed to have entertained an opinion that the family still existed _in the direct line_ in Cornwall or Devonshire, and had sunk out of sight by reason of poverty, when the never very flourishing condition of the Grenvilles became untenable. The Carterets, Thynnes, and Leveson-Gowers now jointly and severally represent the old family, but only indirectly, and solely in the line which Sir Bevill Grenville ennobled.'

But Clarendon, though he had quarrelled so utterly with Sir Richard, had nothing but good to say of 'the most generally beloved man of the county of Cornwall,' his brother, Sir Bevill[24]--'Sans peur et sans reproche'--of his mild and conciliatory character, his indefatigable activity, and his ardent courage--qualities which rendered him an invaluable adherent of the first Charles during the unnatural struggles of the Civil War--'the war without an enemy'--the black cloud' which was to overspreade the whole kingdome, and cast all into disorder and darknesse.'

It will be within the memory of all readers of the noble historian that the King's cause suffered very much, from the first, from the superior promptitude of the Parliamentary leaders, who had actually appointed Militia Committees in the various counties--Cornwall included--long before the King's standard was raised. But the Cornish gentry, headed by our Sir Bevill, who had already in 1638 raised a troop of horse to serve with Charles against the Scots, were conspicuous for their loyalty, to which Charles's memorable letter of thanks from Sudeley Castle, 10th September, 1643 (copies of which still hang in many of the Cornish churches as commanded by the King) amply testifies. And at first Sir Bevill, 'the Mirror of Chivalry,' as he was called in the West, was more than a match for the Committees, which he speedily suppressed; and at once, with the assistance of Trevanion, Arundell, Basset, Godolphin, and others, set to work to raise a regular force.[25]

At this juncture, the following sweet and gallant letter, which Eliot Warburton quotes as an example of the romantic loyalty of the day, in his 'Memoirs of Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers,' was addressed to Sir John Trelawny, the first baronet of that name--evidently in reply to a communication from Sir John urging the Knight of Stow not to embark in so perilous an enterprise:

'MOST HONOURABLE SIR,

'I have in many kinds had trial of your nobleness, but in none more than in this singular expression of your kind care and love. I give also your excellent Lady humble thanks for respect unto my poor Woman, who hath been long a faithful much obliged servant of your Ladyes. But, Sir, for my journey, it is fixed. I cannot contain myself within my doors, when the King of England's standard waves in the field upon so just occasion. The cause being such as must make all those that die in it little inferior to martyrs. And for my own part, I desire to acquire an honest name or an honourable grave. I never loved my life or ease so much as to shun such an occasion; which if I should, I were unworthy of the profession I have held, or to succeed those ancestors of mine, who have so many of them in several ages sacrificed their lives for their country.

'Sir, the barborous and implacable enemy, notwithstanding His Majesty's gracious proceedings with them, do continue their insolencies and rebellion in the highest degree, and are united in a body of great strength; so, as you may expect, if they be not prevented and mastered near their own homes, they will be troublesome in yours, and in the remotest places ere long.

'I am not without the consideration, as you lovingly advise, of my wife and family; and as for her, I must acknowledge, she hath ever drawn so evenly in the yoke with me, as she hath never prest before, or hung behind me, nor ever opposed or resisted my will. And yet truly, I have not, in this or anything else, endeavoured to walk in any way of power with her, but of reason; and though her love will submit to either, yet truly my respect will not suffer me to urge her with power unless I can convince with reason. So much for that, whereof I am willing to be accomptable unto so good a friend.

'I have no suit unto you in mine own behalf, but for your prayers and good wishes; and that if I live to come home again, you would please to continue me in the number of your servants.

'I shall give a true relation unto my very noble friend Mr. Moyle, of your and his Aunt's loving respect to him, which he hath good reason to be thankful for. And so, I beseech God to send you and your noble family all health and happiness, and while I live, I am, Sir,

'Your unfeigned loving and faithful Servant, 'BEVILL GRENVILE.'

Writing to his 'Deare love' and 'best friend,' from Bodmin on the 12th October, he says: 'My neighbours did ill that came not out, and are punishable by the law in high degree; and although I will do the best I can to save some of the honester sort, yet others shall smart.' Nevertheless he was a staunch friend of Sir John Eliot (who was godfather to one of his children), and was mainly instrumental in procuring Sir John's release from the Tower. Forster quotes many of Sir Bevill's letters, in his 'Life of Eliot,' all of which are in the highest degree noble, patriotic, and affectionate. But by far the most charming are the following delightful letters to his graceful, affectionate, and accomplished wife:[26]

'To my best Frend--the Lady Grace Grenvile--these.

Plimp. (Plympton), Feb. 20, 1642.

'MY DEARE LOVE,

'Y^r great care and good affection, as they are very remarkable, so they deserve my best thankes, and I could wish that the subject which you bestowe them upon could better requite you.

'I shall returne ye messenger with but little certainty concerning our present condition.'

(Here follows a description of the positions of the contending forces.)

'The Queene is coming with good Ayde to the King. The Parl. did attempt to force severall quarters where the King's army lay, and were beaten off with great losses to themselves in all places. We have advertiz^{mt} that some ayde is coming from his Ma^{tie} to us, but it is so slowe as we shall need it before we see it, but God's will be done, I am satisfied I cannot expire in a better cause. I have given some directions to Jack' (his son John Grenvile) 'for his study, pray cause him to putt them in execution, and to make some exercise in verse or prose every day. Intreat my cos.' (imperfect) 'and Bar. Geal. to take a little paines (with) him. I have released the Prisoners that Bar. Geal. wrote for. Let Cap. Stanb. know, it is all one to me whither he goe by Byd' (Bideford), 'or Pads. (Padstow) so he make haste and now to conclude, I beseech you take care of your health, I have nothing so much in my prayers. Y^r Phisiton Jennings is turned a Traytor with the rest--whereby he hath lost my love, and I am doubtfull to trust you with him. Present my humble duety and thanks to your mother and I beseech God to blesse your young People.

'I rest y^r owne ever, 'BEVILL GRENVILLE.

'My new cap is a little to straight. I know not what forme of a certifficate it is that Jo. Geal. desires, but if he will send it to me drawne, I will get it sign'd.'

Then comes the account of the victory over the Parliamentary forces on Braddock Down, half-way between Lostwithiel and Liskeard:

'MY DEARE LOVE,

'It hath pleas'd God to give us a happie victory this present Thursday being ye 19th of Jan^y, for which pray join with me in giving God thanks. We advanced yesterday from Bodmin to find ye enemy which we heard was abroad, or if we miss'd him in the field we were resolved to unhouse them in Liskeard or leave our boddies in the highway. We were not above 3 miles from Bodmin, when we had view of two troops of their horse to whom we sent some of ours, which chased them out of the field while our foot march'd after our horse; but night coming on we could march no further than Boconnocke Parke,[27] where (upon my co. Mohun's kind notion) we quartered all our army by good fires under the hedge. The next morning (being this day) we marched forth, and about noone came in full view of the enemies whole army upon a fair heath between Boconnocke and Braddocke Church. They were in horse much stronger than we, but in foot we were superior, as I thinke. They were possest of a pretty rising ground which was in the way towards Liskeard and we planted ourselves upon such another against them with in muskett shot, and we saluted each other with bulletts about two hours or more, each side being willing to keep their ground and to have the other to come over to his prejudice; but after so long delay, they standing still firm, and being obstinate to hould their advantage, Sir Ra. Hopton resolved to march over to them, and to leave all to the mercy of God and valour of our side. I had the Van; so after solemne prayers in the head of every division,[28] I led my part away, who followed me with so good courage both down one hill and up the other, as it strooke a terror in them, while the seconds came up gallantly after me, and the wings of horse charged on both sides, but their courage so failed them as they stood not our first charge of the foot, but fled in great disorder and we chast them divers miles; many were not slain because of their quick disordering, but we have taken above 600 prisoners among which S^r Shilston Calmady is one, and more are still brought in by the soldiers; much armes they have lost, and colours we have won, and 4 pieces of ordinance from them, and without rest we marched to Liskeard, and tooke it without delay, all their men flying from it before we came, and so I hope we are now againe in ye way to settle the country in peace. All our Cornish Grandies were present at the battell with the Scotch Generall Ruthen, the Somersett Collonels and the horse Captains Pim and Tomson, and but for their horses' speed had been all in our hands; let my sister and my cossens of Clovelly, with ye other friends, understande of God's mercy to us, and we lost not a man. So I rest

'Yours ever, 'BEVILL GRENVILE.

'Liskeard, Jan. 19, 1642. 'For the Lady Grace Grenvile at Stow. d. d.

'The messenger is paide, yet give him a shilling more.'

As a result of the battle, Saltash was now relieved, many prisoners, guns, and a frigate were taken there, and the Parliamentary leaders were reduced to propose (ineffectually, however) the neutrality of Cornwall and Devon in the conflict. We next hear of Sir Bevill's being, in conjunction with Sir Ralph Hopton, after a sudden and forced march from Plymouth, attacked at Launceston; but the Cornish forces repulsed their assailants and drove them back into Devonshire. Such was the reputation of this gallant little force that it was now determined to send an army of 7,000 men against them, and the battle of Stratton, almost within sight of the old Grenville seat at Stow, ensued; in which the Parliamentarians, though two to one, were again defeated. Sir Bevill once more led the van of the King's army; and Clarendon thus describes the engagement in language so vivid, that we almost see the cavaliers as they dashed, all plumed and crimson-scarfed, through fields of blood:

'Then "Spur and sword!" was the battle-word, and we made their helmets ring, Shouting like madmen all the while, "For God and for the King!" And, though they snuffled psalms, to give the rebel dogs their due, When the roaring shot poured thick and hot they were stalwart men and true.'

Thus Clarendon: