Thorney abbey in Cambridgeshire gave Azure three Crosses, crossed fitchee, betwixt three Pastoral Staves Or.

Ramsey in Huntingdonshire gave Or three Rams' Heads couped Argent, on a Bend Azure. The rest of the Rams must be supposed in the blue sea, the Fens appearing such when overflown. Besides, such changes were common here; whereof Melibæus complaineth in the marshes of Mantua :

Non bene ripe

Creditur, ipse Aries etiam nunc vellera siccat. "There is no trusting to the found'ring bank, The Ram still dries his fleece so lately dank." But, since, the draining of the Fens hath (I hope) secured their cattle from casualties.

The very name of Peterborough unlocks the reason why that abbey gave Gules, two crosse Keyes betwixt four Crosses crossed fitchee, Or.

Crowland abbey gave quarterly three (call them long knives, or short) swords bladed Argent hafted or pomelled Or, Azure three whips stringed and knotted Or, the second like the third, the fourth like the first; instruments of cruelty relating to their monks massacred by the Danes, anno 870, whereof their historian gives us this account, that first they were examinati, "tortured," see there the whips; and then exanimati,†"killed," see there the swords. But if any will have those whips to relate to the whip of St. Bartholomew, the most remarkable relique of that monastery, I will not

oppose.

The arms of Bardney in Lincolnshire, and Evesham abbey in Worcestershire, I cannot recover, but possibly may before the conclusion of this work.

Shrewsbury gave Azure, a Lyon Rampant over a Pastorall Staffe bendwayes, so that both the ends thereof are plainly discovered.

Cross we now north of Trent, where only two remain Selby, (founded by William the Conqueror,) which gave Sable, three Swans Argent, membred Or; alluding, as I believe, to the depressed situation of the place, where the neighbouring river of Ouse affordeth such birds in abundance.

St. Mary's in York gave Argent a Crosse, Gules, and a Key, in the first quarter of the same in the midst of the Crosse a King in a Circle in his robes of state, with his sceptre and mound. Yet hath he only a ducal cap (and no crown) on his head, I humbly conceive under favour of better judgment, this king-duke's picture to relate partly to king William Rufus, partly to Alan duke of Britain and Richmond, the principal co-founders of that monastery.

VIRGILII Eclog. 9.

+ INGULPHUS, page 866.

XIII. THE LORD DARCY'S EXTRACTION JUSTLY VINDICATED.

1. A causeless Aspersion grounded on Passion.

AMONGST the principal persons who suffered for their zeal in defending of abbeys, was the lately-mentioned Thomas lord Darcy,* whose extraction I find foully aspersed by the pen of that passionate prince, king Henry VIII. For when the rebels boasted of the many noblemen who sided with them, in confutation thereof king Henry returned a letter to them, interlined with his own hand, wherein this passage: "Others, as the lord Marney and Darcy, are but mean, scarce well-born gentlemen, and yet of no great lands till they were promoted by us, and so made knights."+ It cannot be denied but that king Henry too much consulted his choler, (now swelling high, because opposed by the rebels,) more than his judgment, in this his expression; and seeing a historian should suum cuique tribuere, give me leave a little to enlarge in this subject.

2. What the Lord Marney was.

Of the lord Marney I can say but little, finding him, whilst as yet but a knight, (Sir Henry,) servant, and one of the executors, to the lady Margaret, countess of Derby; at which time he was chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. It seemeth he rose by the law, being the first and last baron of his name, whose sole daughter was married to Thomas Howard viscount Bindon.

3-5. Three noble Branches of the Darcyes in the North.

Longer must we insist on the parentage, performances, and posterity of Thomas lord Darcy, finding in the north three distinct branches thereof, whereof the first was

BEGUN in Norman de Adrecy or Darcy, possessed, under king William the Conqueror, of many manors in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, where Normanby his prime seat scemeth so named by him.

CONTINUED for ten generations, most of them buried in Noketon priory in Lincolnshire, by them founded and endowed; namely, 1. Robert, 2. Thomas, 3. Thomas, 4. Norman, 5. Norman, 6. Philip, 7. Norman, 8. Philip, 9. Norman, 10. Philip.

EXTINGUISHED, in Philip Darcy, dying issueless; whose two sisters and co-heirs were married, the one to Roger [de] Pedwardine, the other, to Peter of Limbergh [Sir Philip Limbury].

The first male line of the Darcyes being thus determined, a + SPEED'S" Chronicle," in his first edition

• l'ide supra, page 213, parag. 5. page 776.

Domesday book, chap. xxxii. in Lincolnshire.

second race succeeded, derived from Norman Darcy, the penultim lord in the last pedigree :

BEGUN in John Darcy, (son to the aforesaid Norman,) steward to the king's household, Justice of Ireland.

CONTINUED for five descents, being barons of Knaith and Meinill; namely, 1. John, 2. John, 3. Philip, 4. John, 5. Philip.

EXTINGUISHED in Philip, the fifth baron; who, though dying under age, left two daughters, Elizabeth married to Sir James Strangewayes of Hartley-castle, and Margaret to Sir John Coigniers [Conyers] of Hornbey-castle.

Thus expired the second male stem of the Darcyes, styled barons of Knaith, long since aliened from their family, and for this last hundred years the habitation of the lord Willoughby of Parham. Come we now to the third stem, which was

BEGUN in Sir John Darcy of Torxay, second son to the last lord John Darcy of Knaith.

CONTINUED through seven generations; namely, 1. Richard, 2. William, 3. Thomas, 4. George, 5. John, 6. Michael, 7. John. EXTINGUISHED in John lord Darcy of Ashton, dying issueless, (though he had four wives,) in the reign of king Charles.

6, 7. Thomas Lord Darcy.

Thomas Darcy here named is the person, the subject of this discourse, of whom four things are memorable :

1. He was knighted by king Henry VII. who made him captain of the town and castle of Berwick, and commander of the East and Middle Marches.*

2. King Henry VIII. in the first year of his reign, made him Justice in Eyre of the forests beyond Trent; summoned him the same year as a baron to parliament, employed him with a navy, anno 1511, to assist Ferdinand king of Arragon against the Moors; and made him knight of the garter.

3. Though the ancestors of this Thomas Darcy (since the second branch was expired) were styled "lords" in some deeds; (whether by the courtesy of the country, or because the right of a barony lay in them ;) yet this Thomas was the first summoned baron to parliament, in the first of king Henry VIII. and his successors took their place accordingly.

4. Though the revenue of this Thomas lord Darcy was not great at the beginning of king Henry VIII. because the heirs-general of the lord Darcyes of Knaith carried away the main of the inheritance yet he had a considerable estate, augmented by his match with Dowsabella, the daughter and heir of Sir Richard Tempest.

• Privata Sigilla de anno 14 Henrici VII.