Devonshire Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Devonshire Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England) -- Biography; Devon (England) -- History
What became of Peeke afterwards we do not know; in the troubles of the
Civil War he doubtless played a part, and almost certainly on the side
of the Crown. The authority for the story is a rare pamphlet by Peeke
himself, entitled, “Three to One, Being, An English-Spanish Combat,
Performed by a Westerne Gentleman, of Tavystoke in Devonshire, with an
English Quarter-Staffe, against Three Spanish Rapiers and Poniards, at
Sherries in Spaine, The fifteene day of November, 1625 ... the Author
of this Booke, and Actor in this Encounter, _Richard Peeke_.” There is
no date to it. This has been reprinted by Mr. Arber in his _English
Garner_, and large extracts have been given by Mr. Brooking-Rowe in
his article, “Manly Peeke, of Tavistock,” in the _Transactions_ of the
Devonshire Association, 1879. Reprinted also as supplement to _Devon
Notes and Queries_, 1905. I have not in the above extracts strictly
confined myself to the spelling, nor have I reproduced the capital
letters employed profusely that are somewhat teasing to the eye of the
modern reader.
EULALIA PAGE
Mrs. Bray, in her _Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy_, written in
1832-3, quoting a letter from her husband, the Rev. E. Atkins Bray, to
Mr. Lysons, dated 16 January, 1819, tells the following story relative
to Judge Glanville, of Kilworthy, near Tavistock:--
“The Judge’s daughter was attached to George Stanwich, a young man
of Tavistock, lieutenant of a man-of-war, whose letters, the father
disapproving of the attachment, were intercepted. An old miser of
Plymouth, of the name of Page, wishing to have an heir to disappoint
his relations, who perhaps were too confident in calculating upon
sharing his wealth, availed himself of the apparent neglect of the
young sailor, and settling on her a good jointure obtained her hand.
She took with her a maid-servant from Tavistock; but her husband was
so penurious that he dismissed all the other servants, and caused
his wife and her maid to do all the work themselves. On an interview
subsequently taking place between her and Stanwich, she accused him
of neglecting to write to her; and then discovered that his letters
had been intercepted. The maid advised them to get rid of the old
gentleman, and Stanwich at length, with great reluctance, consented
to their putting an end to him. Page lived in what was afterwards the
Mayoralty House (at Plymouth), and a woman who lived opposite hearing
at night some sand thrown against a window, thinking it was her own,
arose, and, looking out, saw a young gentleman near Page’s window, and
heard him say, ‘For God’s sake stay your hand!’ A female replied, ‘’Tis
too late, the deed is done.’ On the following morning it was given
out that Page had died suddenly in the night, and as soon as possible
he was buried. On the testimony, however, of his neighbour, the body
was taken up again; and it appearing that he had been strangled, his
wife, Stanwich, and the maid, were tried and executed. It is current
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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