Part 16 (1/2)
Fuller, in the _Worthies_, gives them full s.p.a.ce indeed considering that none was interested in the Church. I cannot do better than quote him:--”SIR ANTHONY s.h.i.+RLEY, second Son to Sir _Thomas_, set forth from _Plimouth_, _May_ the 21st, 1596, in a s.h.i.+p called the _Bevis of Southampton_, attended with six lesser vessels. His design for _Saint Thome_ was violently diverted by the contagion they found on the South Coast of Africa, where the rain did stink as it fell down from the heavens, and within six hours did turn into magots. This made him turn his course to _America_, where he took and kept the city of _St. Jago_ two days and nights, with two hundred and eighty men (whereof eighty were wounded in the service), against three thousand _Portugalls_.
”Hence he made for the Isle of _Fuego_, in the midst whereof a Mountaine, aetna-like, always burning; and the wind did drive such a shower of ashes upon them, that one might have wrote his name with his finger on the upper deck. However, in this fiery Island, they furnished themselves with good water, which they much wanted.
”Hence he sailed to the Island of _Margarita_, which to him did not answer its name, not finding here the _Perl Dredgers_ which he expected.
Nor was his gaine considerable in taking the Town of _Saint Martha_, the Isle and chief town of _Jamaica_, whence he sailed more than _thirty_ leagues up the river _Rio-dolci_, where he met with great extremity.
”At last, being diseased in person, distressed for victuals, and deserted by all his other s.h.i.+ps, he made by _New-found-land_ to _England_, where he arrived June 15, 1597. Now although some behold his voyage, begun with more courage then counsel, carried on with more valour then advice, and coming off with more honour than profit to himself or the nation (the Spaniard being rather frighted then harmed, rather braved then frighted therewith); yet unpartial judgments, who measure not worth by success, justly allow it a prime place amongst the probable (though not prosperous) English Adventures.
[Sidenote: SIR ROBERT s.h.i.+RLEY]
”SIR ROBERT s.h.i.+RLEY, youngest Son to Sir _Thomas_, was, by his Brother _Anthony_, entred in the _Persian_ Court. Here he performed great Service against the _Turkes_, and shewed the difference betwixt _Persian_ and _English_ Valour; the latter having therein as much Courage, and more Mercy, giving Quarter to Captives who craved it, and performing Life to those to whom he promised it. These his Actions drew the Envie of the _Persian_ Lords, and Love of the Ladies, amongst whom one (reputed a Kins-man to the great _Sophy_) after some Opposition, was married unto him. She had more of _Ebony_ than _Ivory_ in her Complexion; yet amiable enough, and very valiant, a quality considerable in that s.e.x in those Countries. With her he came over to _England_, and lived many years therein. He much affected to appear in _forreign Vestes_; and, as if his _Clothes_ were his limbs, accounted himself never ready till he had something of the Persian Habit about him.
”At last a Contest happening betwixt him and the Persian Amba.s.sadour (to whom some reported Sir Robert gave a Box on the Ear) the King sent them both into _Persia_, there mutually to impeach one another, and joyned Doctor _Gough_ (a Senior Fellow of _Trinity colledge_ in _Cambridge_) in commission with Sir Robert. In this Voyage (as I am informed) both died on the Seas, before the controverted difference was ever heard in the Court of _Persia_, about the beginning of the Reign of King _Charles_.
[Sidenote: SIR THOMAS s.h.i.+RLEY]
”Sir THOMAS s.h.i.+RLEY, I name him the last (though the eldest Son of his Father) because last appearing in the world, men's _Activity_ not always observing the method of their _Register_. As the Trophies of _Miltiades_ would not suffer _Themistocles_ to sleep; so the Atchievements of his two younger brethren gave an Alarum unto his spirit. He was ashamed to see them worne like Flowers 'in the _b.r.e.a.s.t.s_ and _Bosomes_ of forreign Princes, whilst he himself withered upon the stalk he grew on'. This made him leave his aged Father and fair Inheritance in this _County_, and to undertake _Sea Voyages_ into forreign parts, to the great _honour_ of his _Nation_, but small _inriching_ of _himself_; so that he might say to his Son, as _aeneas_ to _aescanius_:--
'Disce, puer, Virtutem ex me verumque Laborem, Fortunam ex aliis.'
'Virtue and Labour learn from me thy Father, As for Success, Child, learn from others rather.'
”As to the generall performance of these _three brethren_, I know the _Affidavit_ of a Poet carrieth but a small credit in the _court of History_; and the _Comedy_ made of them is but a _friendly foe_ to their Memory, as suspected more accomodated to please the present spectators, then inform posterity. However, as the belief of Mitio (when an _Inventory_ of his adopted _Sons misdemeanours_ was brought unto him) embraced a middle and moderate way, _nec omnia credere nec nihil_, neither to _believe all things nor nothing_ of what was told him: so in the _list of their Atchievements_ we may safely pitch on the same proportion, and, when abatement is made for _poeticall embelishments_, the remainder will speak them Worthies in their generations.”--Such were the three s.h.i.+rleys.
Wiston church, which shelters under the eastern wall of the house, almost leaning against it, has some interesting tombs.
[Sidenote: BIOHCHANDOUNE]
Walking west from Wiston we come to the tiny hamlet of Buncton, one of the oldest settlements in Suss.e.x, a happy hunting ground for excavators in search of Roman remains, and possessing in Buncton chapel a quaint little Norman edifice. The word Buncton is a sign of modern carelessness for beautiful words: the original Saxon form was ”Biohchandoune,” which is charming.
Buncton belongs to As.h.i.+ngton, two miles to the north-west on the Worthing road, a quiet village with a fifteenth-century church (a mere child compared with Buncton Chapel) and a famous loss. The loss is tragic, being no less than that of the parish register containing a full and complete account, by As.h.i.+ngton's best scribe, of a visit of Good Queen Bess to the village in 1591. A destroyed church may be built again, but who shall restore the parish register? The book, however, is perhaps still in existence, for it was deliberately stolen, early in the eighteenth century, by a thief who laid his plans as carefully as did Colonel Blood in his attack on the regalia, abstracting the volume from a cupboard in the rectory, through a hole which he made in the outside wall. No interest in the progress of Queen Elizabeth prompted him: the register was taken during the hearing of a law suit in order that its d.a.m.ning evidence might not be forthcoming.
[Sidenote: WILLIAM PENN IN SUSs.e.x]
While at As.h.i.+ngton we ought to see Warminghurst, only a mile distant, once the abode of the Sh.e.l.leys, and later of William Penn, who bought the great house in 1676. One of his infant children is buried at Coolham, close by, where he attended the Quakers' meeting and where services are still held. The meeting-house was built of timber from one of Penn's s.h.i.+ps.
A later owner than Penn, James Butler, rebuilt Warminghurst and converted a large portion of the estate into a deer park; but it was thrown back into farm land by one of the Dukes of Norfolk, while the house was destroyed, the deer exiled, and the lake drained. Perhaps it was time that the house came down, for in the interim it had been haunted; the ghost being that of the owner of the property, who one day, although far distant, was seen at Warminghurst by two persons and afterwards was found to have died at the time of his appearance.
Warminghurst in those days of park and deer, lake and timber (it had a chestnut two hundred and seventy years old), might well be the first spot to which an enfranchised spirit winged its way.
From Warminghurst is a road due south, over high sandy heaths, to Was.h.i.+ngton, which, una.s.suming as it is, may be called the capital of a large district of West Suss.e.x that is unprovided with a railway.
Steyning, five miles to the east, Amberley, seven miles to the west, and West Worthing, eight miles to the south, on the other side of the Downs, are the nearest stations. In the midst of this thinly populated area stands Was.h.i.+ngton, at the foot of the mountain pa.s.s that leads to Findon, Worthing and the sea. It was once a Saxon settlement (Wasa inga tun, town of the sons of Wasa); it is now derelict, memorable only as a baiting place for man and beast. But there are few better spots in the country for a modest contented man to live and keep a horse. Rents are low, turfed hills are near, and there is good hunting.
[Sidenote: A COSTLY QUART]
The church, which was restored about fifty years ago, but retains its Tudor tower, stands above the village. In 1866 three thousand pennies of the reign of Edward the Confessor and Harold were turned up by a plough in this parish, and, says Mr. Lower, were held so cheaply by their finders that half a pint measure of them was offered at the inn by one man in exchange for a quart of beer. Possibly Mr. Hilaire Belloc would not think the price excessive, for I find him writing, in a ”Suss.e.x Drinking Song”: