Cornish Worthies: Sketches of Some Eminent Cornish Men and Families, Volume 2 (of 2)Tregellas, Walter H. (Walter Hawken)
History
Cornish Worthies: Sketches of Some Eminent Cornish Men and Families, Volume 2 (of 2)
Tregellas, Walter H. (Walter Hawken)
Cornwall (England : County) -- Biography
'To the immortal memory of his renowned grandfather this monument was
erected by the Right Honorable George, Lord Lansdowne, Treasurer of
the Household to Queen Anne, and one of her Majesty's Most Honorable
Privy Council, &c., in the year 1714.
'Thus slain thy valiant ancestor did lye,
When his one bark a navy did defy,
When now encompass'd round the victor stood,
And bath'd his pinnace in his conquering blood,
Till, all his purple current dried and spent,
He fell, and made the waves his monument.
Where shall the next famed Grenville's ashes stand?
Thy grandsire fills _the seas_, and thou the land.
'MARTIN LLEWELLYN.'
(_Vide also Oxford University Verses, printed 1643._)
Mrs. Delany has stated that Sir Bevill had the patent for an Earldom
in his pocket on the day of the fatal fight at Lansdowne; and in this
there seems nothing improbable, as his youngest daughter, Joan, or
Johanna, had a patent of precedence as an Earl's daughter.
We have seen something of Sir Bevill's epistolary productions; and, if
we are to accept the testimony of the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, the writer
of the biography of the Rev. R. S. Hawker, some specimens of Lady
Grace's were preserved under the following singular circumstances:
One day, he tells us, Mrs. Hawker, the first wife of the Vicar of
Morwenstow, when lunching at Stow in the farmhouse, noticed that a
letter in old handwriting was wrapped round the mutton bone that was
brought on the table. Moved by curiosity, she took the paper off,
and showed it to Mr. Hawker. On examination it was found that the
letter bore the signature of Sir Bevill Grenville. Mr. Hawker at
once instituted inquiries, and found a large chest full of letters
of different members of the Grenville family in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. He at once communicated with Lord Carteret,
owner of Stow, and the papers were removed, but by some unfortunate
accident they were lost! The only ones saved were a packet removed from
the chest by Mr. Davis, Rector of Kilkhampton, previous to their being
sent away from Stow. These were copied by Miss Manning, of Eastaway, in
Morwenstowe, and her transcript, together with some of the originals,
was said to be in the possession of Ezekiel Rous, Esq., of Bideford.
The following, from Lady Grace to her husband, was probably another of
the letters in the collection said to have been found by Mr. Hawker,
and afterwards so mysteriously lost.
'For My Best Friend, Sir Bevill Grenville.
'MY EVER DEAREST,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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