Part 27 (1/2)
Hic parte sua mortali quiescit, qui in coelo potiori parte vivit immortalis THOMAS ARUNDEL, Baro Arundel de Warder, sacri Romani imperii Comes, primogenitus nempe Thomae Arundel, Baronis etiam de Warder, qui, ob insignia et pietatis et fort.i.tudinis exempla in communem Christiani nominis hostem in Hungaria ad Strigonium praest.i.ta haereditarium hunc honoris t.i.tulum a Rodolpho secundo meruit ipse, et ad posteros transmissit; cujus dignitatum virtutumque hic haeres, dum vixit, sic Deo in constanti pietatis exercito militavit in terris, ut debitum sibi in coelis triumphum expectare videretur, ita se totum in Regis Caroli primi obsequium, imminente in Anglia bello civili, impendit, ut in illud opes fortunamque profuderit, ac vitam denique ipsam lubentissime contulisset, e qua excessit Oxonii die 19^o Maij, ann. aetatis 59, annoque reparatae salutis 1643.
And on the adjoining stone:--
D. O. M.
Hic conjugi conjux amantissima adjacet Domina BLANCHA SOMERSET, filia Edwardi Somerset, Wigorniae Comitis, privata sigilli custodis, magistri equitum, &c., quae marito par generis splendore, exercitio virtutum non impar, in aula regia quasi in cella privata vixit quanto dignitate terrena sublimior, tanto pietatis fulgere splendidior, quantoque regiae vicinior majestati, tanto (quod parum est inter mortales) supremo dilectior numini quo ut proprius frueretur coelo natura mortalitatem exuit Wintoniae die 28^o Octob: ann: aetat: LXVI. annoque Dom: M.DC.XLIX.
Henry, their son, spent five years in the Tower, 1673 to 1678, on the information of the infamous t.i.tus Oates, but afterward became Lord Privy Seal to James II.
”Which Henry Lord Arundell, at his own charge, raised a regiment of horse for the service of King Charles the First in the time of the usurpation, and stoutly defended his Castle of Wardour against those rebellious forces, which, under the command of Edward Hungerford, did then attempt it on behalf of the Parliament. In the year 1678, he was with William Earl Powis, William Viscount Stafford, William Lord Petre, and John Lord Bellasis, committed prisoners to the Tower, and afterwards were impeached by the House of Commons of high crimes and offences, without being brought on their trial. He continued prisoner with the other Lords, till the year 1683, when they were admitted to bail.
”On King James II. accession to the throne he was sworn of his Privy Council, and on 11 March, 1686, was const.i.tuted Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, also, when that Monarch, in 1688, began his journey towards Salisbury, he committed the administration of affairs in his absence to the Lord Chancellor, the Lords Arundell, Bellasis, Preston, and G.o.dolphin. He departed this life 28 December, 1694, having married Cecilie, daughter of Sir Henry Compton, C.B., of Brambletye, in the county of Suss.e.x.”
(Collins.)
Henry, the seventh baron, by his marriage in 1739 with Mary Arundell-Bealing of Lanherne, who died in 1769, re-united the antient branch of the family from which he was descended; he died in 1756, aged 38, is interred below, and his epitaph (by translation) tells us, ”_who taking to himself to wife Mary Arundell, the most n.o.ble heiress of the family of Lanherne in Cornwall, and having gotten a son of her, a most renowned race which for more than two centuries had been rent asunder, now happily united, flourishes, and may it for ever flourish by the favour of G.o.d_.”
With the memory of this delightful incident, so gracious and refres.h.i.+ng after the blood-stained relation of the earlier portion of our little narrative, we take our leave of this garner of the departed Arundells, and, seeking once more the rapid convenience of the iron road, are pa.s.sing swiftly homeward. As the train glides rapidly by the little station of Sutton-Bingham, we remember that not far from this, another and almost unique trace of Arundell of Cornwall is to be found. At about a mile's distance is the village of East-c.o.ker, and in the south transept window of its church are two antient s.h.i.+elds of painted gla.s.s side by side, on one are the arms of the See of Exeter, on the other quarterly, Arundell and Carminow. These are the arms of John Arundell, Bishop of Exeter, who presided over the diocese two years, died 19 Feb., 1506, and was buried in the church of St.
Clement Danes, London, and, as far as we have knowledge, is the only trace of memorial existing to him.
Once more the career of the subject of our little narrative returns to us. All appears to have gone well with him, even among the perils with which he was environed during the reign of Henry VIII. It may be, the instant danger of giving offence to the wishes or inclinations of that capricious tyrant kept him in the path of caution and safety.
But when that king's baby son a.s.sumed the reins of sovereignty this terror had disappeared, and men were busily vieing with each other as to whom,--professedly under the little king,--should really rule the destinies of the nation. Sir Thomas now appears to have taken action, and identified himself with one side of the contending factions, not prominently, but sufficiently marked to make him a subject of suspicion--to say nothing beyond--with those he was presumed to differ from, and this on an adverse emergency was a position of considerable peril. So it turned out, for in the end his death appears to have been resolved on, not because his offence was easily proved, or that he deserved such punishment, but as a makeweight, to give the colour of complicity, and so justify the death of Somerset, by the execution of himself, and that of others, thereby inferring the plot was a real one, and of dangerous extent. If so,--and circ.u.mstances seem strongly to confirm this view,--his was altogether a hard fate; it is difficult indeed, to imagine a harder one.
”SICUT PULLUS HIRUNDINIS SIC CLAMABO.”
Even Thine altars!--there my soul shall flee-- O Lord of Hosts! and as a swallow come On quivering wing, and chatter mournfully, And make her nest, and seek eternal home.
Even Thine altars! where in holy state Lies the Great Sacrifice of endless love, Incense adoring streams to heaven's gate, Service unceasing seeks Thy throne above.
Even Thine altars! there unharmed to stay, And when my captive pinions death shall free, Migrate to fairer regions far away, There fold my wings, and rest in peace, with Thee.
=Deo data.=
[Ill.u.s.tration: BENCH ENDS. LANDULPH CHURCH, CORNWALL.]
OF THE IMPERIAL LINE.
A leisurely sail from the beautiful, capacious, and almost land-locked harbour of Plymouth, up its main inlet--so curiously named the Hamoaze--to the picturesque precincts of the lower extremity of the Tamar, on a bright summer day with a gentle breeze, is an excursion in all respects most enjoyable.
The harbour itself is studded over with craft of every variety and size, and sails spread of almost all hues, with here and there a fussy steam-boat ploughing its smoky way between them, while just inside, and tethered as it were to the dim line of the breakwater, are two or three dark grim-looking ironclads, lying as watch-dogs at its entrance.
Sea-ward, is the broad, blue, open main; on the left, the tree-fringed heights of Mount-Edgc.u.mbe; before us, the irregular, creek-broken sh.o.r.e of the ”Three-Towns” jutting angularly into the deep, clear water, with houses crowding down to its rocky edge. There, too, in its centre, is one of the most cla.s.sic spots on English soil--the Hoe--consecrated by endless historic national traditions, and made sacred beyond imagination's most inspired effort, by the tears, prayers, and hopes that have alternately taken their rise, and from its heights watched the silent sails pa.s.s on below to the distant ocean, bearing voyagers, the purpose of whose errands,--who may declare?
On its pleasant open plateau, how diverse also have been the objects of those who from time to time have there a.s.sembled. Determined spirits with hands upon their sword-hilts, waiting and watching for the first glimpse of the van of the seven miles crescent-flotilla of the dark and hostile Spaniard, sweeping onward toward the sh.o.r.e, bearing the chains of slavery, spiritual and social, within their holds. Bands of bare-headed, bent-browed men, kneeling in reverent, prayerful conclave--the last home-office of their undaunted faith--ere they stepped on board the peaceful convoy, expatriated by conscience from their native soil, in search of a larger liberty, and destined to found in another hemisphere, an even greater England than they were leaving. Invader and emigrant, each shall we say, with purpose animated by soul-constraining religious convictions, but with ultimate aspirations, how different!
Spectators,--myriad numbered, greeting with enthusiastic plaudits, the departure of stately fleets, that at intervals during successive centuries, have pa.s.sed out, destined to carry the grand conquests of the seamans.h.i.+p and valour of the English race,--triumphs martial and commercial,--to every sea; or anon, sorrowful groups with down-cast hearts, wafting sad and final farewells to those, who have here in continuous exodus set out to seek new homes on distant sh.o.r.es, and from hence cast their last ”longing, lingering look,” at the receding, vanis.h.i.+ng outline of their native land; or again, eager eyes anxious to descry the first rise of the sail of the home-bound s.h.i.+p on the distant horizon, bearing a freight more precious to the love-strained heart, than all the wealth of Ind.
But while these suggestive thoughts are haunting us, we have slowly crept up to the warlike precincts of the lower Hamoaze. We pa.s.s the huge, cavernous, pent-house-looking, but now empty 'slips,' hanging over the darkling tide, in which the 'wooden walls' of _old_ England were wont aforetime to be built, ere the steam-urged iron monsters of our present _new_ England were dreamt of. And we ruminate a moment over this change of times and things, and mentally ask the question, What is the gain to human development achieved by much of the scientific--_ergo_ mechanical--appliances of the present hour? the which, while it flatters the lord of creation with the belief he has become the autocrat of the forces and elements, in truth practically reduces that proud being to be the servant and care-taker of the machine he has constructed, for a.s.suredly to a very large extent to this menial occupation he is being rapidly reduced.