The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the WestRogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
History
The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West
Rogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603; Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485
How blessed comes each change;--with sobering tints
The fading flowers have to rich fruitage turned,
The golden leaves lit with faint sunny glints,
Flame mid the dews like patient martyrs burned,--
The robin pipes his lay,--the bee speeds home,--
And o'er the soul a sweet repose doth come.
Shute also became the property of Secretary Petre, "from whom," says
the Antiquary, "my father had the howse and park, and dwelled theire
duringe his lief, and left it unto mee, and my eldest son John Pole
holdeth it from mee"; it is now held by his descendant, the ninth
baronet.
Once more we are back in Southleigh churchyard in the Wiscombe valley,
from which our footsteps originally set out to thread the mazes of our
imperfectly told but eventful history. We look into the little church
for traces of Bonville, but nothing is visible, reflecting their
memory in this their earliest home. A few years since in clearing the
foundations of an old picturesque cottage, not far from the church,
some fragments of sculpture, of Perpendicular character, were found,
being part of a cornice of rich vine-tracery, together with scrolls,
and winged angels holding shields, canopies of niches, panelled
shafting, the emblem of St. Luke, &c.,--the colours and gilding still
fresh on them. These were apparently portions of the antient reredos,
and from their rich character, were probably relics of the taste and
munificence of the Bonvilles; or of their last descendant "that devout
woman Cecilia, Marchioness of Dorset, Lady de Bonville, and
Haryngton," the patron of numerous benefices in Devon, and other
counties; and generous benefactor toward the ornamentation, repair, or
additions to, the various parish churches in which her extensive
possessions were situate. Pleasing remembrances, left to attest her
memory, and which still stand out in grateful relief, long after the
turbulent scenes of treachery and bloodshed amid which they found
their existence, have passed away; for is it not written,--
"The meek shall inherit the land;
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
[Illustration: EXTERIOR OF THE DORSET CHAPEL, OTTERY ST. MARY]
One further circumstance, referable only to the realms of conjecture,
but unique in its way, detains us a minute, as we turn to leave the
village graveyard. Just outside the chancel is a high-tomb,
commemorating the burial of _Henry Willoughby, 28 Sept., 1616_.[17] At
its end is the grand escutcheon of Willoughby de Eresby, with
_crescent for difference_. It has not yet been explained who he was,
or how he found sepulchre here. We remember that Anne, younger
daughter of Thomas Grey, second Marquis of Dorset, and so
grand-daughter to Cicely Bonville, married Henry Willoughby, of
Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, which would not be far from the home of the
Willoughbies de Eresby in Lincolnshire. Is this the memorial of her
husband? The date would accord with the presumption.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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