Part 44

[246] An allusion possibly to some design on the part of Charles to forsake rebellious London, and make York his capital; but more probably--as I am reminded by a correspondent--to an old prophetic saw in rhyme, viz.--

“Lincoln _was_, London _is_, and York _shall be_ The greatest city of the three.”

[247] Ubi Troja nunc seges.

[248] Literally, having been created Marquess very recently.

[249] This quaint phrase may mean two days or two months.

[250] Thus the King had his money, and the poor Marquess was indulged with the royal conversation, which Dr. Bayly worked up into the “Certamen Religiosum,” a duodecimo of 232 pages.--_Certamen Religiosum_, p. 2-11, Lond. 1649.

[251] In variety of wines, and the copious use of them, the wealthier classes of England in this age were not a whit behind their ancestors. The arrival of the Danish King and his courtiers in the reign of James, had greatly increased the national thirst; insomuch that it was observed, “The Danes have again conquered England!” In the reign of Charles the First the Cavaliers were as little famed for temperance as the Courtiers of King James. The English followed also, very scrupulously, the Danish custom of drinking healths; and foreigners were astonished to find that when a company amounted to some twenty or thirty, it was still expected that every guest should drink the health of each in rotation. Such festivals, of course, inflamed the love of quarrel. Toasts were given which produced discussion, or refusal to drink them; and if the overheated parties did not immediately come to blows, still duels and bloodshed were the usual consequences. Sometimes, when a lady or an absent patron was toasted, the company pledged the toast upon their knees. Among other disgusting modes of drinking healths at this period, the toper sometimes mingled his own blood with the wine.--“_Manners and Customs of England._”

[252] Apophthegm 25, Bayly, p. 52.

[253] Nothing can be more wondered at than that the King should amuse himself about forming a new army in counties which had been already vexed and worn by his own troops, and the licence of those governors whom he had put over them; and not have immediately repaired into the west, where he had an army already formed, and a people generally well devoted to his service; whither all his broken troops, and General Gerrard, might have transported themselves, before Fairfax could have given them any interruption.--_Clarendon._

[254] The branch of the Morgan family here mentioned, like that of Worcester, were devoted to the royal cause, and on all occasions evinced that unshrinking loyalty which added lustre to their descent. In the halls of Tredegar, as in Raglan Castle, Charles found an asylum--the only asylum, perhaps, that could then be a sure guarantee for his personal safety. The Morgan family was descended from the ancient princes of South Wales, and as much distinguished by its hospitality as its antiquity.

[255] Sir Henry Ellis’s Orig. Lett., vol. iii. p. 310.

[256] Grandfather of the famous Dean of St. Patrick’s.

[257] Apophthegms.--See the former _note_.

[258] Among what are called “_The King’s Pamphlets_,” in the British Museum, the collection of which, begun by a Mr. George Thomason, and continued by order of King Charles the First, there is a single folio sheet printed at London, containing “VERSES lately written by Thomas Earle of Strafford.”--_Sir Henry Ellis’s “Original Letters” illustrative of English History_, vol. iii. p. 238.

[259] Of this disastrous event a sympathising French poet writes:--

Tel qu’un lion forcé de repaire en repaire, En dépit des chasseurs regagne sa tanière. Mais Charles , en cet asile investi sans sécours, Ne pouvait s’y flatter que d’un frêle recours-- Trop déplorable objet de tant de trahisons, Indigné, trainé de prisons en prisons, L’imfortuné Monarque, abreuvé de misères, Finit sur le billot ses destins sanguinaires.

[260] See Thomas’s “Tinterne,” p. 78.

[261] Rowland Williams of Llangibby was distinguished by royal favour, both in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and that of her successor, and in proof thereof received the honour of knighthood. His grandson, the Sir Trevor Williams here mentioned, in consideration of his loyal attachment to the interests of King Charles, was created a baronet on the 14th of May, 1642.

[262] See Letter published by Mr. Thomas in his “Account of Raglan,” _note_ 23.

[263] Stated by Rushworth, as only 1,500 men, while the garrison in the Castle amounted to 800 men.

[264] Of this document the following is a copy:--

“To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Thos. Glenham, Sir Thos. Tildesley, Col. H. Washington, Col. Tho. Blagge, Governors of our Cities and Towns of Oxford, Lichfield, Worcester, and Wallingford, and all other Commanders of any Towns, Castles, and Forts, in our Kingdome of England:--

“Charles R.

“Having resolved to comply with the desires of our Parliament in every thing which may be for the good of our subjects, and leave no means unessayed for removing all differences amongst us, therefore We have thought fit, the more to evidence the reality of our intentions of settling an happy and firm peace, to require you to quit those Towns, Castles, and Forts intrusted to you by us, and to disband all the Forces under your several commands.

“Newcastle, the 10th June, 1646.”

[265] The Marquess, like many other royalists, considered that the King was under restraint; and that it was his _duty_ to disobey the royal orders for surrender. In fact, Charles himself had written to the Queen that he was in durance in the hands of the barbarous and perfidious Scots; and that she, his son, and all his faithful counsellors, were to regard every order from him, C. R., as forced or surreptitious. The Marquess, therefore, regarded the document with well-grounded suspicion, and took exception to his Majesty’s warrant, because, while it specified others, it did not name him or his Castle.--_Hist. of Engl., Civ. and Milit. Transact._ p. 356.

[266] It is worthy of remark, that Sir Thomas Fairfax, on his arrival, does not so much continue the siege already commenced by Colonel Morgan, as begin a new siege by a new summons. It was thought, perhaps, that the Marquess would be more disposed to surrender his Castle to a man of General Fairfax’s rank than to Colonel Morgan; and from what follows, the opinion was not without foundation.

[267] A prohibition, by-the-by, which the noble owner and his royal master do not seem to have applied to themselves.--See _Certamen Religiosum_.

[268] “An exact and true Relation of the many several Messages that have passed between his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax and the Marquess of Worcester, Governor of Raglan Castle, touching the Surrender thereof: Together with a Copy of the Propositions sent to the General from the Marquess of Worcester out of Raglan Castle, and his Excellency’s Refusal to treat on them: Also, the Names your Commissioner appointed to treate with the Enemy upon the Propositions sent to them from the Generall. Certified in a Letter to a Member of the Honourable House of Commons, on Tuesday, August 18th, 1646, and commanded to be forthwith printed and published. London. 1646.”

[269] Fairfax was encamped on a rising ground north of the Castle, which commanded the whole line of the fortress occupied by the Marquess of Worcester.

[270] It is deserving of notice, that the communication above quoted was ordered by the House of Commons to be made public the moment it was received, although it describes very frankly all the plans and difficulties of the besieging army. In other cases it would probably have formed the substance of a secret despatch.

[271] An account precisely similar to that quoted is given in the “Mercurius Civicus--London’s Intelligencer; or, Truth impartially related from thence to the whole Kingdom, to prevent misinformation. From Thursday, August 13, to Thursday, August 20, 1646.” This singular-looking gazette, determined it would seem on impartiality of honours, ornaments its title-page with a likeness of Sir Thomas Fairfax, faced by that of King Charles.

[272] Part of this building remains, with the date 1616. In the parish church of Llandenny, is a monument of Roger Oates of Kevantilla, who died 1706, ætatis 67.

[273] “History of England,” Charles I. p. 607.

[274] Among the gentlemen who took part with him in the defence was Sir Harry Killigrew, of whose melancholy fate Clarendon gives some interesting particulars.--_Clarendon_, part ii. p. 39, ed. 1706; also, vol. v. p. 40.

[275] “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made, each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.”--Isaiah ii. 20.

[276] Dr. Henry Edwards, author of “History of the Siege of Jerusalem.”--_Archæol. Journ._, vol. i. p. 112.

[277] “Thomas’s Tinterne,” p. 158.

[278] From lines ascribed to Lord Strafford.--_Sir Henry Ellis’s_ “_Original Letters_,” vol. iii.

[279] “Tout est perdu, hors _l’honneur_.”

[280] Carlyle’s “Cromwell:” [quoting Hist. of Independ. London, 1683-5.]

[281] See description of this walk, _ante_ p. 158.

[282] London, 1650; a thin folio volume.

[283] Douay, 1654.

[284] Quoting from Sacred Writ.

[285] “Guide to Piety.”

[286] A small volume with this title: “Worcester’s Apophthegms; or, Witty Sayings of the Right Honourable Henry (late) Marquess and Earle of Worcester, delivered upon several occasions, and now published for the benefit of the reader, by T. B., a constant observer and no less admirer of his Lordship’s wisdom and loyalty. 1650.”

[287] See _ante_ page 175, the King’s letter to Glamorgan.

[288] This, in some degree, explains the strong motives by which the Marquess was actuated in his devotion to the King.

[289] On the coffin was this inscription, engraved on a brass plate:--“Depositum illustrissimi principis Edwardi, Marchionis et Comitis Wigorniæ, Comitis de Glamorgan, Baronis Herbert de Raglan, Chepstow, et Gower, nec non serenissimo nuper Domino Regi Carolo Primo, South Walliæ locum tenentis, qui obiit apud Lond., tertio die Apriles, An. Dom. MDCLXVII.”

[290] August 18, 1660.

[291] See description of the moat, &c., _ante_ p. 158.

[292] Tinterne and its Vicinity, page 130.

[293] Page 131.

[294] Monmouth, Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Salop, Wilts, Somerset, Devon, Brecon, Glamorgan, Caermarthen, Cardigan, and Radnor; together with the British Channel to some distance beyond the Holms. Near the latter is a Tower called “Kemey’s Folly.” Its founder, boasting to his father that the tower could be seen from thirteen counties, was answered--“I am sorry, my son, that so great an extent of country should be witness to thy consummate folly;” and from that day, we are told, the tower assumed the name which it still retains.

[295] Or, according to Mr. Thomas, 1720 feet.

[296] “Thomas’s Raglan,” p. 155.

[297] A MS. plan, which has just been sent to the Editor from Raglan, in confirmation of the above, seems to complete the evidence which was hitherto wanting.

[298] One solitary attempt to imitate the jousts and tournaments of former days, was made a few years ago at the expense of the Earl of Eglinton; but “the burlesque was apparently too extravagant, if not too costly, for repetition.”

[299] In the bowling-green attached to the residence of a gentleman at Muswell Hill, Hornsey, the ancient national game is still kept up--_ritu majorum_.

[300] Fosbroke, Nares, Strutt, Gage’s Hengrave Hall.--_Encyclopædia of Antiq._, vol. ii. p. 674.

[301] See “Strutt’s Sports,” p. 97.

[302] “Fosbroke’s Gymnastics.” The late Sir S. R. Meyrick gives various kinds of jousts, _i. e._ where the combat is limited to two rivals.

[303] Page 175 of this volume.

[304] The contributor of this anecdote is not sufficiently acquainted with the habits of birds as to pronounce that no bird builds its nest of white-thorn; but if such be really the case, that circumstance might surely have led the cavaliers to suspect that the prophecy had received some aid in its fulfilment from the worthy townsmen of Caernarvon. But the explanation given by the Marquess is, as usual, felicitously characteristic, and veiled in a politico-religious guise.

[305] Bayly, Apophthegm xix.

[306] The woodcut represents the old baronial kitchen with its appendages, as described page 154.

[307] See note, page 138.

[308] As an author, he is known by a work relating to that curious monument of former ages, Stonehenge, which he pronounced to be a Roman temple, dedicated to Cœlus; an opinion, however, which antiquaries have decried as erroneous and absurd.--_Biog._

[309] See account of the King’s visit to Raglan, p. 163.

[310] He died in 1348.

[311] The lordship of Grosmont was absorbed in the acquisitions of the house of Lancaster, and a court-baron is held for the district, called “the Hundred of the Three Castles”--Grosmont, Skenfreth, and White Castle, or Castle Gwyn.

[312] 1326.--See Hist. of Monmouth.

[313] 1387.--Ibid.

[314] Life of Henry V.

[315] In the “Shakspeare,” edited by the late poet Campbell, it is thought that the parts of _Gloucester_ and _Edgar_ are taken from the story of the Paphlagonian King in Sir Philip Sydney’s “Arcadia.” There was also a play, entitled “The True Chronicle Historie of King Leare and his 3 Daughters,” entered at Stationers’ Hall in 1594, which kept possession of the stage several years, and must have been familiar to Shakspeare himself.

[316] The recent epic poem by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart., entitled “King Arthur,” is one of the few poems of our own times that promises to descend to posterity. What Milton admired, and Dryden projected, as the subject of a national poem, Sir Edward has accomplished with that felicitous taste and ability which have impressed his name on the popular and classic literature of the day. Pope himself had at one period of his life resolved to complete, what Milton and Dryden had only planned--a heroic poem on the same subject.

[317] Among the estates thus rejected was the ancient manor of Berkeley, in the Vale of Gloucester. “Nam cum eis aliquando tota provincia de Bergelay a Rege et Regina, gratis offeretur,” etc. etc.

[318] Regina verò Matildis sanctitatis ignara quanta videlicet mentis constantia insaturabilem divitiarum fugeret ingluviem; cum aliquando _rogare cœpit ut modis omnibus sineret eam manum suam in sinum ejus mittere_, etc.

[319] The precise year of its foundation has never been ascertained; but there is no doubt that it was commenced after 1108, and completed before 1136, when the greater part of the brotherhood were removed to Hereford, and subsequently to New Llanthony, near Gloucester. We have the testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis that, in 1186, the Mother-Abbey had been long completed. He describes it as covered with lead, and not inelegantly constructed with a roof of stone.

[320] Hist. Abbatiæ de Llanthony , in Bibl. Cotton, Sub. Effigie Julii DXI. fol. 30. B.; also, Monasticon Angl. vol. iii. p. 58. Ed. 1673. It is too long for our purpose; but the article will be interspersed with extracts from it.

[321] Translated by the late Sir R. Colt Hoare, Bart., 1806.

[322] The name of the place in Welsh, as he explains it, is Nanthodeni. _Nant_ signifies a running stream, from whence this place is still called by the inhabitants, Llandevi Nantodeni, or, the Church of St. David upon the river Hodeni. By the English, therefore, it is corruptly called Llanthoni; whereas it should either be called Nanthodeni, that is, the brook of the Hodeni, or Lanthodeni, the church upon the Hodeni.

[323] This was before the _New_ Abbey had been thought of; or, in the original words, “Before the Daughter had existence; and I sincerely wish,” adds the devout historian, “that she had never been produced.”

[324] Resembling in many respects--though in a less inhospitable region--the Augustine monks of “the Great St. Bernard,” and holding no intercourse with the world around them, unless by means of those pilgrims who resorted to their shrine, and spread abroad the fame of their sanctity.

[325] Seneca’s Morals.

[326] This anecdote, somewhat differently told, we have already noticed in the sketch of Tinterne Abbey.

[327] This reminds us of a visit to a celebrated monastery in Tuscany, where the writer was received by one of the superior monks with great politeness and hospitality. In the course of the evening he mentioned the principal circumstances of his life--“court intrigue, dissipation, extravagance, and moral depravity; at last,” said he, “I became utterly disgusted with the life I had led, and flew for refuge to this sanctuary, where I have lived many years, and found, to my soul’s content, that there is no happiness in this life but in preparing for the next--_pensare, pensare, sull’ éternità_.”--Ed.

[328] Sir R. C. Hoare, quoting Giraldus.

[329] Orig. Nova Marchia. Chr. New March?

[330] See the account already given of the Clare family.

[331] In those times the Wye was considered the boundary between England and Wales.

[332] See _ante_, founders and benefactors of Tinterne Abbey.

[333] Of the strict legal phraseology of this document, the following is a specimen:--Volo et firmiter præcipio quod Canonici Lanthoniæ Primæ, omnia tenementa sua in terra de Ewias , tam laica quam ecclesiastica quæcumq: in præsenti habent vel in posterum, emptione, donatione, vel quocumq: alio titulo habituri sunt, bene et in pace, liberè et quietè teneant in omnibus locis et rebus ubicumque fuerint in terra de Ewias , quieta de omnibus placitis et querelis, et auxiliis, et _sumagiis_, et _cariagiis_, et clausturis; et de pontium et castrorum ædificatione, et de conductu thesauri, et de omni operatione et lestagio et stallagio et summonitionibus, et de assisis, et superassisis; et de omnibus foris functis, quacumque occasione emerserint; et de assartis. Nullus verò de Forestariis nostris quicquam se intromittat de boscis Prioris et Canonicorum Lanthoniæ Primæ; sed omnem potestatem et libertatem, quam ego et hæredes mei in boscis nostris habemus, vel habere poterimus, habeant prædicti Prior et Canonici in boscis suis, sint verò et homines et res ipsorum quieta de telonio, et ex omnibus exactionibus, et consuetudinibus in Nundinis, foris, et mercatis; et omnibus locis et rebus _per totam terram de_ Ewias . Habeant prædicti Prior et Canonici omnem justiciam de _assaultu_ et _murdro_ et sanguinis effusione, et pacis infractione et thesauri inventione, et quicquid ad nostram pertinet potestatem.... Concedo quod habeant de hominibus suis et de tota possessione sua, quam habent vel habituri sunt, in terra de Ewias , etc. etc. Concedo quod predicti Prior et Canonici omnes libertates prædictas et liberas consuetudines habeant adeo liberè et quietè, pacificè et integrè sicut ego et antecessores mei, ipsius libertatis unquam melius, plenius, et liberiùs habuimus. Concedo etiam quod habeant omnes libertates quas ego et successores mei per Regem Angliæ, vel alium, habere poterimus in terra de Ewias , etc. etc.--Datum per nostrum manum apud Langley , Anno regni nostri decimo octavo.

[334] These Canons were to live in common; to have but one table, one purse, one dormitory. But as many of them had begun to abate somewhat of the strictness of their first rules, a new set sprang up that pretended to reform upon the rest; and these, from their more pointed observance of the vow, were styled Regular Canons ; whereas those who had fallen from the original purity of the Order were called, by way of reproach, Secular Canons . In this manner the monks of New Llanthony, who affected a more exemplary life, called themselves Regulars--which they did not permit those of the parent Abbey, in Wales, to assume, but addressed them only as Canons or Seculars. It was by this distinction--“I am holier than thou”--that they endeavoured to justify their “unfilial conduct,” and promote their own ascendancy, in their connection with Old Llanthony. [But in the Charters they are often called _Regulars_.]

It seems uncertain at what precise period the title or designation of Canons was assumed in the church; but the first Regulars we read of were those employed by Pope Alexander II., in his mission to St. John Lateran. But so irregular, says a historian, were those Regulars, and so addicted to crimes, that even Pope Boniface VIII. was forced to drive them away, and placed Secular Canons in their room.

They were introduced into England about the middle of the seventh century.

[335] The paper is entitled, “LICENTIA PER REGEM EDWARDUM QUARTUM, pro unione Prioratûs de Llanthony _Prima_, in Wallia, Prioratui de Lanthony juxta Gloucestriam.”

[336] In the Original, the contrast between the two monasteries, in their position and outward circumstances, is thus picturesquely and forcibly drawn. Speaking of the introduction of the old Canons to their new cells on the Severn, he says--Nam valdè dissimiliter sibi respondere experti sunt, urbem Gloucestriæ et montem Hatyre [Hatterilhills], et fluvium Sabrinæ , et aquam Hodanie ; _Anglos_, ditissimos et Wallenses pauperrimos: Illic, agros fertiles; hîc saltus steriles, unde illorum copia blandientæ illecti; istorum inopia urgente pertæsi locum istum, nec hominum quorum libet nec dum religiosorum inhabitatione dignum censuerunt.

The next is quite in keeping:--

Audivi quidem dici et ex parte credo, quosdam linguæ levitate (et utinam non odii livore) desiderâsse ut quilibet hujus Ecclesiæ lapis _lepus_ foret: alios autem, quod in pace illorum dixerim, ore sacrilego impetisse ut Ecclesia cum omnibus officinis abyssi voragine absorberetur! Omnes verò Ecclesiæ hujus redditus pro suo arbitrio expenderunt; illic excelsa et decentia officinarum ædificia fabricantes; hìc verò fabricata situ et vetustate deferentes.

Et quoniam eis indignissimum videbatur ut locus [old Llanthony] tam antiqua religione sacer et tam amplis possessionibus ditatus, omninò virorum religiosorum residentiâ destitueretur, destinare solebant genes debiles, et abjectiores, qui nec sibi nec aliis multum prodesse valebant, qui non immeritò cum Apostolo dicere poterant: _tanquam purgamenta fratrum facti sumus omnium paripsima usque adhuc_.--_Pri. de Lanth. ord. S. Aug._

[337] In old writings it is spelt Hodenay, Hondy, Hodenie, &c.

[338] We have not introduced the original Welsh; but the reader may see the whole in the “Historie of Cambria , now called Wales, a part of the most famous Yland of Brytane, by David Powel , Doctor in Divinitie, [=c] privilegio. 1584.”

[339] State of Europe during the Middle Ages.--_Hallam._

[340] Ibid.

[341] Hallam’s Middle Ages.

[342] Whewel.

[343] Sir Thomas More said to his lady that the consideration of the time--for it was Lent--should restrayne her from so scolding her servants. “_Tush, tush_, my lord,” said she; “_Lookye! here is one step to heavenward_,”--shewing him a frier’s girdle. “Alas! I fear me,” said he, “this _step_ will not bring you up one step higher.”--_Camd. Remains_, quoted Brit. Monach. p. 173.

[344] Dugdale gives it at £71. 3_s._ 4_d._; Speed at £112. 1_s._ 5_d._ At the Dissolution, John Ambrose was Prior, and with John Nealand and three other Canons subscribed to the Supremacy in 1534.

[345] See the notice of Tinterne Abbey.