"The kinge in his freshe youth was in the chaynes of love with a fair damosell called Elizabeth Blount, which in synging, daunsyng, and in all goodly pastymes exceeded all others, by the which goodly pastymes she wan the Kingys harte, and she again shewed him such favour that by him she bare a goodly man childe, of beautie like to the father and mother. This childe was well brought up, like a prince's childe: and when he was six yere of age, the Kinge made him Knight, and called him Lord Henry Fitzroy and in London, being the 18th day of June, at the manor, or place, of Bridewell, the said Lord ledde by twoo Erles was created Earle of Nottingham, then he was brought back again by the said twoo Erles. Then the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolke led hym into the great chamber again, and the King created him Duke of

Richmond and Somerset."-Hall, fol. c, ed. 1550.
The title of Richmond was that of the king's father
before he became Henry VII., and had not since
been conferred on a subject.

1536, less than three months after his attendance at the Tower scaffold, he died, in a very mysterious manner, at St. James's Palace, having probably been poisoned by some of those who objected to the arrangements in progress for his succession to the crown. Lord Herbert says of him that he was "equally like to both parents," his mother "being thought, for her rare ornaments of nature and education, to be the beauty and mistress-piece of the time" (Herbert's Henry VIII., 165). He was the close friend of the cultured Earl of Surrey, and some of his letters remain (Camd. Misc., iii.), which indicate that he was a youth of great promise. He was buried at Framlingham, in Norfolk, where his monument still remains.

Sir Gilbert was summoned to Parliament as

Elizabeth Blunt does not seem to have returned to the Court after the birth of her son, and the This son of Elizabeth Blunt was born at the only trace of any association between them in later manor house of Jericho, Blackmore, Essex, a seat days is that William Blunt, her youngest brother, of the Blunts, in the year 1519, his mother being and only a boy at the time, was on the roll of his not more than seventeen years of age at the time nephew's household as a gentleman usher at the of his birth, and Cardinal Wolsey became one of time of the duke's death. But before Henry Fitzhis godfathers. On June 18, 1525, he was, as Roy was three years old his mother had become stated in the preceding quotation, made Duke of the wife of Sir Gilbert Tailbois, the manor of Richmond and Somerset, and was also created Rokeby, in Warwickshire, part of the Duke of Knight of the Garter, his plate of arms still remain-Buckingham's estates, being granted to him and ing on his stall in St. George's Chapel. A month his wife Elizabeth on June 18, 1522. In the later, on July 16, 1525, the Duke of Richmond following year a private Act of Parliament (14 & 15 was made Lord High Admiral of England; in Hen. VIII. c. 34) was passed respecting the 1527 he was appointed Warden of the Marches jointure of "Elizabeth, wife of Gilbert Taylboys," on the borders of England and Scotland; and in from which it would appear that some provision 1530 was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was made for her by the Crown on her marriage. with Sir William Skeffington for his acting deputy. In 1525 Sheriff Hutton was assigned to the young Lord Tailbois of Kyme-an ancestor of his had duke for his residence, and he was placed in charge been Earl of Kyme, but the title had been forfeited of a council, being treated in all respects as a for rebellion-in 1529, though he lived to wear prince of the blood. The antiquary Leland appears the honour of a peerage for a very short time, to have been one of his early tutors, but before he his death taking place on April 15, 1530. Lord was twelve years of age he had become a student at King's College, Cambridge, under the care of Kyme had three children by Elizabeth Blunt: two Croke, the Professor of Greek. Henry Fitz-Roy Elizabeth, Lady Tailbois,+ who was married first sons, who died before him, and one daughter, attended his father to the Field of the Cloth of to Thomas Wimbush of Norton, in Lincolnshire, Gold in 1532, and thence went to Paris to com- and secondly to Ambrose Dudley, afterwards Earl plete his education in the university there; and of Warwick, the eldest son of the Duke of Northreturning in the following year was present at the umberland, and brother of Lord Guildford Dudley, baptism of Queen Elizabeth. Three months later but she died without children. The two infant he was married to Lady Mary Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, but it appears that the sons of Lord Kyme and Elizabeth were buried young bride and bridegroom never lived together. On May 19, 1536, the king imposed upon him the duty of attending, as one of four peers, the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn; and there can be little doubt that the Act of Succession, which was passed soon afterwards (28 Hen. VIII. c. 7), was intended to facilitate his nomination as his father's successor to the crown.* But on July 22,

From a passage in Tyndale's Practice of Prelates, written about 1529 and published in 1530, it seems probable that the Protestant party proposed a marriage between the Princess Mary and the Duke of Richmond.

"If the King of England," says Tyndale, "had a son by one wife, heir to England, and a daughter by another, heir to Wales [Mary being then Princess of Wales], then, because of the great war that was ever wont to be between these two countries, I would not fear to marry them together for the making of a perpetual unity, and to make both countries one, for to avoid so great effusion of blood."-Tyndale's Pract. Prel., 331, Parker Soc, ed.

+"The controversy between the Ladie Talbois and her husband Mr. Wimbuss was committed by the Council to the order of the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Lord Admiral, and the Master of the Horse" (Privy Counc. Reg., June 13, 1550). This was probably respecting the claim made by Wimbush to the barony of Kyme,

ANCIENT MONUMENTS OF THE MORETON FA

MILY IN ASTBURY CHURCH, CHESHIRE (5th S. x. residing near Congleton," who has so kindly solaced 349, 517.)-I am afraid that "the clergyman MR. E. WALFORD's anxieties by informing him that "the recumbent figures of the Moretons in Astbury Church are still there," must be a bit of a wag, and one who delights to play practical jokes, for the statement is utterly devoid of truth. Still it must be confessed that MR. WALFORD laid

are four effigies, removed some centuries ago from the church, and now much defaced by the weather: one of these is that of a priest, and the other three relate either to the families of Venables or Brereton, the arms admitting of dispute.

As your correspondent MR. PICKFORD Very properly points out, the altar tomb of Sir William Moreton, who died in 1763, has been removed, and the inscriptions let into the floor of the church; and it seems to me possible that it was to the removal of this heavy altar tomb that the correspondence to which MR. WALFORD alludes took place. But if this is really the case, it is a wonderful instance of the growth of mythical traditions when in twenty years a heavy altar tomb of the eighteenth century becomes converted into "two recumbent figures of Crusaders." But putting conjecture on one side, it is only right that MR. WALFORD should be made aware of the practical joke that has been played upon him by his nameless correspondent. I can only hope he has not forwarded the information to Mrs. MoretonCraigie. J. P. EARWAKER, M.A., F.S.A. Withington, near Manchester.

himself open to have practical jokes played upon
him by stating as facts what every one who knows
anything of Astbury Church must know to be
fictions. Thus he wrote, "In it [the Moreton
aisle] or the chancel were formerly two recumbent
figures of Crusaders, members of the ancient family
of Moreton." This is not a fact, although so pre-
cisely stated, for no such monuments ever existed.
MR. WALFORD continues, "My cousin Mrs. More-
ton-Craigie... about twenty years ago gave per-
mission to the vicar to remove these monuments a
few inches;... they have, however, been removed,
not a few inches, but wholly and entirely, and
cannot now be found. Can any of your readers
say what has become of them? I would gladly
forward any information to my cousin." These
are some more of MR. WALFORD'S statements; and
although it is as obviously impossible for any one
to give leave to move what never existed, or to lose
what never could be lost, as it is for any of your
readers to state where these monuments now are,
still it was not for me to dispute the word of a
lady or the knowledge of MR. WALFORD, so I let
the matter rest, wondering all the time what it
could really mean. It was not, however, kind of
the Cheshire clergyman to play off his practical
jokes, but if your correspondent will allow me to
say so, he should make sure of his facts before
stating them, and before rushing into the columns
of "N. & Q." should not mind taking a little
trouble to see what has already been written
on the subject. Most people know that there are
two books, at the least, relating to Cheshire his-
tory, one called Lysons's Cheshire and the other
Dr. Ormerod's History of Cheshire, and in both
these are accounts of the monuments in Astbury
Church. Had MR. WALFORD but consulted these
well-known books it would have prevented his
being subjected to the ridicule of a country clergy-
man. For it is really too bad to try and palm off
the well-known effigy of an old lady, who died in
1599, as one of the imaginary Moreton Crusaders,
and yet that is what MR. WALFORD'S correspondent
has "kindly" done for him, and for which he is |
grateful.

The real "facts" of the case are, however, very simple. There are but two recumbent effigies in Astbury Church, as the Cheshire clergyman no doubt well knows. One of these is, as he says, at the east end of the south aisle, and the other at the east end of the north aisle, although it formerly stood on the south side of the chancel. The former of these is an effigy of a member of the old Cheshire family of Davenport of Davenport, and is of fourteenth century date, bearing upon the surcoat the well-known arms of Davenport. The other is that of the old lady before referred to, Dame Mary Egerton, who died in 1599, and it represents her in the costume of that period, hooped petticoat and ruff, &c. In the churchyard

EPIGRAM ON BEAU NASH (5th S. x. 429.)The oldest printed version of this which I have seen is that given in the Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1741, p. 102. It is there printed without any author's name or initials. It is so frequently to be met with in an imperfect or incomplete form that it is worth reproducing entire :

"On Mr. Nash's present of his own picture at full Length, fixt between the Busto's of Mr. Pope and Sir Is. Newton, in the Long Room at Bath.

"Immortal Newton, never spoke

More truth than here you'll find;
Nor Pope himself, e'er penn'd a joke
More cruel on Mankind.

This picture plac'd the busts between,
Gives satyr all his strength;
Wisdom and wit are little seen,

But Folly at full length."

Nash died in 1761, and his life, written by Oliver Goldsmith, was published in 1762. In this (p. 127) the second verse of the above lines is thus mentioned: "The Corporation of Bath placed a fulllength statue of him in the pump room between the busts of Newton and Pope. It was on this occasion that the Earl of Chesterfield wrote that severe but witty epigram, the last lines of which were so deservedly admired." As Lord Chesterfield did not die till 1773, he was of course alive when Goldsmith wrote this not very accurate sentence, and it may be presumed that he did not deny its correctness. In 1777 Dr. Maty, in his handsome edition of Chesterfield's Miscellaneous Works (vol. ii. App., p. 190), has inserted the lines "on the picture of Richard Nash, Esq.," &c. These consist of six verses, and begin,

"The old Egyptians hid their wit
In hieroglyphic dress,"

and end with the same concluding verse as that
already quoted from the Gentleman's Magazine,
whilst the verse commencing "Immortal Newton"
is entirely left out. Mrs. Brereton, who was well
known as a contributor to the Gentleman's Maga-
zine, in which she wrote under the name of
Melissa, died in 1740. Her poems were reprinted
with a short memoir in 1744; and if in that
volume the epigram is given in the form in which
it had previously appeared in the Gentleman's
Magazine, it is clear that she is entitled to the
credit of its authorship, and that Lord Chesterfield,
having prefixed to her second verse five by no
means so good, has very generally been considered
to be the writer of the epigram. I have not the
volume of Mrs. Brereton's poems. Any corre-
spondent who has it will deserve thanks if he will
state if it contains this epigram.

EDWARD SOLLY.

for it was purposely made to describe such a one as Dr. Benn was not.

The story goes that, after his death, his niece sent to Queen's College, asking for an appropriate inscription for her uncle's tomb, and the waggery of the Common Room provided her with one which she adopted. It certainly does not describe the man, who has been pictured to me by the present incumbent (Mr. T. Falcon) as having been handed down as a man dull and morose, of little culture, and not much sense of duty. He kept the registers himself, very badly and carelessly, evidently filling them up once a year. Dates are often omitted and children's burials are entered together after the adults'."

Now as to his ghost. It is certainly said that he walks in the old house, but confines himself to the cellars and the old parts of the house where the offices and servants' bedrooms are the rest of the house has been built since his day. The present incumbent tells me that "there are many people These lines are misquoted both by Mr. Locker in about Charlton whom nothing could induce to pass his Lyra Elegantiarum and by JAYDEE, although a night in the house alone, and that eight or nine the latter is perfectly correct as to the reading of years ago one of his servants certainly left his the third line, for it is very apparent that the sub-service in consequence of some ghostly impression. stitution of the word seldom entirely destroys the intended satire. The epigram is one of several verses contained in a book of Mrs. Jane Brereton's poems, published in 1744. EVAN THOMAS. Pimlico.

The

REV. R. BENN, OB. 1752 CHARLTON-UPONOTMOOR, OXON (5th S. x. 408.)-Queen's College, Oxford, holds the patronage of Charlton. college has ever been the resort of North-countrymen; especially has it been favoured by those from Cumberland and Westmoreland. The Rev. Robert Benn, D.D., was a fellow of this society. He was a Cumberland man of good family. The Benns lived at Heasington House, serving the office of sheriff and the like, till, in the close of the last century, one of them lived at a great rate, got the nickname of "Lord Benn," and ran through the estate. Dr. Benn, fellow of Queen's and incumbent of Charlton, is not accused of being "guilty" of any crimes. If epitaphs were veracious (which they seldom, if ever, are), Dr. Benn must indeed have been a pattern clergyman. Unfortunately his epitaph is less to be trusted even than others,

His presence is supposed to be made evident by the rustling of a silk doctor's gown." Mr. Falcon has been there for some sixteen years, and (except the one servant leaving him) has never had any trouble with the ghost. With regard to the exorcism Mr. Falcon says: "The story that a dozen parsons and a woman went down to the cellar to exorcise him is a very silly and modern tradition. It is possible that my predecessor, Mr. Knipe (1805-1845), who was a merry man, may have made a jest of going down with his guests after a dinner party to confront the ghost. I believe he used to laugh and say 'he had laid him in the middle of Otmoor.' But certainly no solemn exorcism has been attempted within the memory of the oldest inhabitant surviving."

It was a wicked Common Room jest to concoct such a thing, but the epitaph is worth preserving:

"Juxta situs est

Beatam expectans resurrectionem
ROBERTUS BENN, S.T.P.

Collegii Reginensis quondam socius

Hujus Ecclesiæ per breve heu septennium Rector
Vir Eximiis Naturæ dotibus
Eleganti Literarum Supellectilis
Lepida morum urbanitate

Omni demum privata laude cumulatus.
Pastor, non vicario aliorum opere contentus
Ipse sacra obivit munera

Et semper præsens gregi invigilavit suo.
Socius, iis quibusdam fuit unà
Ob summum Ingenii Acumen
Et parem Animi Candorem
Innocue jucundus.
Mirus Facetiarum Artifex
Jocos fundebat liberales
Ex improviso sponte erumpentes
Novos, ardentes, rapidos, suos,