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CUMNOR PLACE, BERKS, 
 
 WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF 
 
 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY, 
 
 ANTHONY FORSTER, Esq. 
 
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AN 
 
 HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 CUMNOR PLACE, 
 
 BERKS, 
 
 WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF 
 
 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY 
 
 AND OF 
 
 ANTHONY FORSTER, Esq. 
 
 SOMETIME M.P. FOE ABINGDON. 
 
 followed by some remarks on the statements in sir walter scott's 
 
 kenilworth; and a brief history of the parish of 
 
 cumnor and its antiquities. 
 
 BY ALFRED DUELING BARTLETT, 
 
 OF ABINGDON. 
 
 Iii winter's tedious night, sit by the fire, - * - 
 With good old folks ; and let them tell thee tales 
 Of woeful ages, long ago betid. 
 
 Shake sp. Richard IT. 
 
 OXFORD AND LONDON, 
 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER. 
 
 1850. 
 

 BAXTER. PKINTER> OXFOED. 
 
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE 
 MONTAGU BEETLE EARL OF ABINGDON, 
 
 BARON NORREYS OF RYCOTE, IN THE COUNTY OF OXFORD, LORD 
 LIEUTENANT OF BERKSHIRE, HIGH STEWARD OF ABINGDON, AND 
 LORD OF THE HUNDRED OF HORMER, AND OF THE MANOR OF 
 CUMNOR, BERKS. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 From your Lordship holding the Manor 
 of Cumnor, and your ancestors having done so for 
 more than two centuries, moreover from knowing 
 the warm interest you take in the place, I have 
 thought it might be appropriate to preface the 
 account I am about to publish by a few remarks 
 addressed to your Lordship. 
 
 Cumnor Place is a spot which excites a thrilling 
 interest in the breast of all who are familiar with 
 the mournful history of Amy Robsart, especially 
 
VI 
 
 as that tale has been traditionally preserved by 
 the villagers, and pourtrayed by the romantic pen 
 of Sir Walter Scott in his Kenilworth. 
 
 Deeply interested by that history, I visited the 
 spot a few years back, and having been gradually 
 drawn into inquiries respecting the locality, ma- 
 terials have accumulated on my hands, which I 
 have deemed may be interesting, not only to your 
 Lordship as possessor of the Manor, but to many 
 persons who are connected with the neighbour- 
 hood, and even to the general reader. 
 
 I will not anticipate the developement of the 
 details of the tragedy that forms the topic of 
 highest interest in connexion with Cumnor Place. 
 I will only mention, that in examining the records 
 of it, I have studiously avoided being carried away 
 by romantic sentiment or mere tradition, deeming 
 truth the most valuable object ; and I have only 
 alleged what I support by documentary evidence, 
 supplied from various remote quarters by the 
 valuable assistance of friends ; whose researches 
 and communications I gratefully acknowledge. 
 
Vll 
 
 Even after the removal of the exaggerations of 
 fiction, sufficient interest attaches to the spot, to 
 constitute it a shrine of hallowed sympathy for 
 the sorrows and lamentable decease of a virtuous 
 and suffering Lady. 
 
 Requesting your Lordship to receive the ex- 
 pression of my respect, in thus announcing to you 
 the origin and purport of this publication, 
 
 I have the honour to subscribe myself, 
 
 Your Lordship's most obedient servant, 
 A. D. Bartlett. 
 
 Abingdon, March 1, 1850. 
 
GROUND PLAN OE CUMNOR PLACE, 
 
 A8 CORRECTLY AS IT CAN BE TRACED. 
 
 
 North. 
 
 REFERENCE. 
 
 a Entrance to the quadrangle. 
 
 b Staircase to Long Gallery, &c. 
 
 c Supposed buttery. 
 
 d Hall. 
 
 e Room known as the butler's pantry. 
 
 / Door leading to Lady Dudley's chamber. 
 
 g Entrance to the garden. 
 
 h Part converted into a malt-house. 
 
 i The Chapel. 
 
 j Arch into churchyard. 
 
 k Remains of a chimney-piece. 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 -forsaken stood the hall, 
 
 Worms ate the floors, the tap'stry fled the wall; 
 No fire the kitchen's cheerless grate displayed, 
 No cheerful light the long-closed sash conveyed. 
 
 Ceabbe. 
 
 The village of Cumnor is situate in the Hundred 
 of Hornier, at the north-western extremity of 
 Berkshire, three miles from Oxford, and four from 
 Abingdon. It is built on the brow of a hill, and 
 is but thinly peopled, the inhabitants being all 
 either engaged in, or dependent on, agricultural 
 pursuits. 
 
 The parish may be traced in close union with 
 the once splendid Monastery of Abingdon, from 
 the very earliest annals of that institution ; it was 
 its chief domain, and the Lord Abbot for the 
 time being was Rector of the parish, and Lord of 
 the manor. The Mansion attached to the estate 
 
Z CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 was both the Rectory and the Manor-house, and 
 was retained by the Monastery for the Abbot's 
 country seat. In all ancient documents it is called 
 Cumnor Place ; but it afterwards acquired the 
 name of Cumnor Hall, by which it is now fami- 
 liarly known ; and subsequently from the villagers 
 it received the appellation of Dudley Castle. 
 
 The edifice, which was constructed of stone, 
 and slated, stood on the west side of the church- 
 yard, on a gentle eminence commanding the rich 
 and beautiful vale of Berks, and formed a qua- 
 drangle, the principal front facing the south ; but* 
 like most monastic buildings of the class, it was 
 low and massive, and the situation exceedingly 
 retired ; but the salubrity of the air, and the 
 beauty of the prospect, must have made it a 
 most agreeable retreat from the confines of the 
 Monastery during the summer season. 
 
 From the accounts preserved amid the wreck 
 that has swept over the old Mansion, and what 
 has been gathered from the testimony of living 
 witnesses, the buildings composing the quadrangle 
 inclosed an area of about seventy-two feet m 
 length, by about fifty-two in breadth, and appeared 
 to have been all built at one period. Portions of 
 the architecture bore traces of the Tudor style; 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 6 
 
 but this was the introduction of Anthony Forster, 
 after he had purchased the property. It was 
 erected by the Ecclesiastics of Abingdon, but no 
 entry can be discovered, in any extant document 
 of the Abbey, that would lead to the date of its 
 foundation. All writers, however, concur in fixing 
 it in the reign of Edward III. and about the time 
 of the great plague, which for nine years raged 
 with such devastation, that, according to Baker, 
 u it so wasted the people, that scarce a tenth of all 
 " sorts was left alive ;" and of this being about the 
 period there cannot be much question, as those 
 parts of the fabric, that retained their primitive 
 state, accorded in every respect with the archi- 
 tecture of that age, and there was no fragment in 
 any part of it that could have been assigned to a 
 more remote era. 
 
 The purpose for which Cumnor Place was 
 originally intended, has been a subject upon which 
 authors and others have disagreed. Anthony Wood 
 notices it thus ; " At y e west end of y e church is 
 " y e rain g of an antient mannor house ; some say it 
 " was a removall of y e Monks of Abington att some 
 " times ; some say, againe, it was a CellV And 
 Ashmole thus ; " At the west end of the church 
 a MS. vol. 20. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 
 b2 
 
% CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 " are the ruins of a manor antiently belonging (as a 
 " Cell or Place of removal, as some report) to the 
 " Monks of Abingdon." As to its having been a 
 Cell, in the literal acceptation of the word, there is 
 no ground whatever for believing such to have 
 been the case, neither is there any intimation in 
 any ecclesiastical work to warrant such a sup- 
 position. 
 
 The opinion, that it was constructed as a 
 lazaretto, or place of removal, for the Monks of 
 Abingdon, in case of an epidemic prevailing in the 
 town, has been much entertained, and is founded on 
 the record of first-fruits and tenths, 26 Hen. VIII. 
 wherein it is said, the park and closes, &c. about 
 it paid no first-fruits ; " Quia reservantur in 
 " manibus nunc abbatis ut in tempore predeces- 
 " sorum suorum causa infirmitatis sive plage in 
 " villa AbendonV and this idea is strengthened 
 by the fact, that it was a practice of the Eccle- 
 siastics to erect such places in healthy situations 
 to avoid infection, or for the recovery of those 
 infected during such visitations. But this notion in 
 a great measure loses its support, when the magni- 
 tude and structure of the building are taken into 
 
 b Vide Dr. Buckler's Replies to Rowe More's Enquiries in 
 Bib. Topo Brit. 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. O 
 
 consideration ; indeed one of its upholders appears 
 distrustful for this reason, observing, " the build- 
 " ings, though they presented no appearance of 
 " grandeur, were constructed in a style far superior 
 " to the other lazarettos in the vicinity of Oxford c ;" 
 and it is at variance with the assertion of Dugdale, 
 that it was the Abbot's "country seat, as Abbot 
 " for life/' Lyson, in the Mag. Brit. Berkshire, 
 p. 213. thus alludes to it ; " Cumner Place, 
 '• which was one of the country seats of the Abbots 
 " of Abingdon, having been the rectorial house, 
 " reserved in the hands of the Abbot, stands on the 
 " west side of the church-yard ; it is built round a 
 " quadrangle, and retains nearly its original form* 
 u The hall, now used as a granary, and the chapel d , 
 " occupy the west side of the quadrangle, and from 
 " the style of the windows seem to have been built 
 " as early as the fourteenth century." But at page 
 270 of the same work, the author confirms what 
 has been here previously noticed, as to its having 
 been a place of resort for the monks in time of 
 plague. But taking all circumstances into con- 
 sideration, the most feasible solution of the question 
 would appear to be, that it was designed for the 
 
 c Gentleman's Magazine, 1821. 
 d Appendix, Note A. 
 
O CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 Rectory and Manor-house, and intended as a 
 country seat for the Abbot for the time being. At 
 the period of the Reformation it was so used ; and 
 besides being Rector and Lord of the Manor, the 
 Abbot was also Lord of the Hundred, and it was 
 here from time immemorial that both the Hundred 
 and Manor Courts were holden. 
 
 Although the date of the erection has been almost 
 unanimously agreed on, no one has ventured to 
 suggest the founder ; but if the roll of those who 
 were Abbots about that period be referred to, a 
 probable clue maybe discovered. In 1331, William 
 de Comenore was elected to the Abbacy; and it 
 may be inferred from his name, he was either a 
 native, or closely connected with the parish; and 
 it may have occurred to him to fix upon the 
 site, from a feeling of attachment or veneration 
 for the place of his descent. He however sur- 
 vived his election only about two years, which 
 was an insufficient time to admit of its completion, 
 which devolved on his successor; who in that case 
 would have been able to finish it about the time 
 of the plague previously noticed, as having occurred 
 in the reign of Edward III. This hypothesis may 
 also serve to account for the tradition associating 
 it with pestilence. 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 7 
 
 At the commencement of the differences between 
 Henry VIII. and the Pope, which gradually widened 
 and ultimately ended in the destruction of the 
 monasteries, the Abbey of Abingdon was presided 
 over by Thomas Rowland alias Penthecost, a man 
 from his vacillating character easily won to further 
 the measures of the King in his determination to 
 annihilate the authority of the sovereign Pontiff in 
 England. "He e was among the first to acknow- 
 ledge the King's supremacy in 1534; and on 
 " the 9th of February, 1538, with the rest of his 
 " convent, signed the surrender of his monastery. 
 " For his ready compliance he was rewarded with 
 " the Manor of Cumnor, which had been his country 
 " seat as Abbot for life, or until he should have 
 " preferment to the value of <£223 per annum." 
 The grant to the ex-Abbot bears date a few days 
 after the surrender, viz. the 23d of February ; and 
 in a note in Dugdale f , it is said he died at Cumnor 
 in the time of Edward VI. 
 
 The first lay possessor of the estate and mansion 
 was George Owen, physician to Henry VIII. ; to 
 whom the King, by Letters Patent dated at Windsor, 
 October 8, 1546, granted it, upon the surrender to 
 the Crown of some lands in Oxfordshire, the site of 
 e Dugd. Monast. vol. i. p. 510. f Ibid. 
 
8 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 Rowley Abbey, and a sum of <£309. 12s. 9d. At the 
 time of this grant, Cumnor Place seems to have 
 been the residence of Oliver Wellesborne, a man of 
 family and distinction, who had acquired very con- 
 siderable property at the dissolution of the religious 
 establishments in the neighbourhood. On the 24th 
 of April, 1558, the estate was settled by George 
 Owen upon his son William's marriage with Ur- 
 sula daughter of Alexander Fettiplace. In 1561, 
 after the death of his father, William Owen sold his 
 estates at Cumnor to Anthony Forster, who was 
 then tenanting the Mansion. How long he had 
 resided in it cannot be discovered, but most likely 
 some little time previously to the mysterious death 
 of Lady Dudley, which happened there on the 8th 
 of September in the preceding year. On becoming 
 owner, Forster began making very extensive alter- 
 ations and improvements ; and if the dates which 
 were inserted in various parts of the building have 
 been correctly transcribed, it is clear they were in 
 progress at his death, and afterwards completed in 
 accordance with his plans. It must have been at 
 this period that Cumnor Place reached the climax 
 of its splendour, and may be said to have been as 
 replete in accommodation, and as much in accord- 
 ance with the abodes of the gentry of the early 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. V 
 
 part of the Elizabethan age, as the old building 
 would allow. 
 
 Forster died in 1572, and in his will devised it 
 to his friend and patron, the Earl of Leicester ; but 
 his widow with her sisters seem to have continued 
 to inhabit it until her death in 1599. It afterwards 
 passed, together with the manor, into the family of 
 the present proprietor, the Earl of Abingdon, but 
 when or under what circumstances is not ascertain- 
 able. 
 
 Upon the decease of Mrs. Forster, it was never 
 again the abode of the opulent, and for upwards of 
 a century remained deserted; during which period 
 of superstition, the recollection of Lady Dudley's 
 melancholy end was revived among the ignorant 
 villagers, whose imaginations conjured up forms 
 and horrors before unheard of; and hence arose 
 the legendary tales, that have descended to the 
 present day. Why Cumnor Place remained so long 
 unoccupied cannot be accounted for, unless upon 
 the supposition, that towards the close of Elizabeth's 
 reign, a great change took place in the habitations 
 of the gentry, and that notwithstanding the great out- 
 lay expended in making it a convenient residence, it 
 was still ill adapted for such a purpose ; but whatever 
 were the true reasons for its abandonment, the man- 
 
10 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 sion, once the pride, at length became the dread of the 
 village, from the belief that it was haunted. Decay 
 followed fast on desertion, and, with the aid of 
 the wanton and mischievous, before a century had 
 rolled away, it had become almost a ruin, and had 
 acquired the name of Dudley Castle, from a notion 
 that it was Lady Dudley's ghost that haunted it, 
 and disturbed the peace of the village. The appa- 
 rition was said to appear chiefly in the form of a 
 beautiful woman, superbly attired, and was mostly 
 to be seen at the foot of a stone staircase, in the 
 north-western angle of the building, where the re- 
 mains of her Ladyship are said to have been dis- 
 covered. At length the panic became so general, 
 and the building so dreaded, that the fear-stricken 
 superstitious villagers had recourse to exorcism to 
 expel the spirit ; and the tradition yet remaining is, 
 that the ceremony was performed by nine Parsons 
 from Oxford, who laid the ghost in a pond in the 
 adjoining close; and it is said that the water never 
 afterwards froze over the spot. This story exists in 
 the neighbourhood to the present day, and the 
 pond is still pointed out as the receptacle of 
 Madame Dudley's spirit. 
 
 Rather more than a century ago, a part of the 
 building was repaired and fitted up for the resi- 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 11 
 
 dence of a farmer and maltster, who converted 
 the other parts to the uses of his business ; 
 and after the house had been for some years 
 so occupied, it was patched up and made into 
 tenements for labourers ; and in the year 1810, 
 nearly the whole was taken down to obtain materials 
 for rebuilding Wytham church, and the wreck that 
 remained was in the course of a few years de- 
 molished. There is a story now current in the village, 
 that the ghost was never effectually laid, and that 
 it exercised its power to the terror and annoyance 
 of the inmates as long as the place was inhabited ; 
 and it is asserted, that at times the candles would 
 become almost extinguished, and the subdued light 
 assume an unnatural hue ; while at other times the 
 inmates would be aroused from their slumbers in 
 the dead of night by the most terrific and un- 
 earthly noises. 
 
 The Gentleman's Magazine of 1821, contains a 
 minute but incorrect description of The Place, 
 and its several apartments. That account has 
 been carefully revised, and the inaccuracies cor- 
 rected, from the information of parties to whom it 
 was well known before any part was removed. 
 
 The mansion stood back a short distance from 
 the road, the intervening space being a court yard, 
 
12 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 inclosed by a substantial stone wall, which com- 
 menced not far from the north-west corner of the 
 present churchyard, and was continued along the 
 front and round to the out-offices at the back of the 
 western side, with which it formed a junction. The 
 wall was lofty, but reduced on each side of the 
 entrance to within about four feet of the ground, 
 the reduced part being surmounted with palisades. 
 A portion of the lower course of the masonry still 
 remains, and is of a magnitude both unusual and 
 unnecessary for a work of this class. The principal 
 approach was towards the western end of the wall, 
 through a large carriage gateway, which when 
 the place was pulled down had gone completely to 
 decay. In the masonry over the arch was an 
 oblong pannel, inscribed, 
 
 gjamta iritae bufmm Uomtm' Mntfionim jforster. 1575. 
 
 The reduction of the wall and the addition 
 of the palisades were no doubt Forster's doing, to 
 relieve the heaviness and seclusion of " that lonely 
 pile." The date on this inscription is somewhat 
 mysterious, and cannot satisfactorily be accounted 
 for. It represents, that Forster placed it there in 
 1575, whereas he had then been dead three years ; 
 and the only explanation that can be offered is 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 13 
 
 upon the presumption, that the entrance was in 
 progress at his death, and completed in accordance 
 with his design in the year it was dated, when his 
 widow or Leicester caused the tablet with the ad- 
 monitory phrase and the addition of his name to 
 be placed over the gateway. 
 
 Within the wall was the court yard, and on each 
 side of the drive approaching the mansion a row of 
 yew trees. In the centre of the north side of the 
 building opposite the front gateway was the principal 
 entrance to the quadrangle, which was formed by an 
 architrave composed of plain moulding rising from 
 the ground. The archway was groined, and decorated 
 at the intersection of the ribs with a central sculp- 
 tured boss, and was about nine feet in height. The 
 rooms in the ground story of this side were four 
 in number, two on each side, which were entered 
 from the archway ; they were rather small, but well 
 proportioned, and highly finished. The door cases 
 were very elegant, and the windows uniform, of the 
 Tudor style, but only substituted; they were com- 
 posed of two cinquefoil arched lights, inclosed in 
 square frames. The chimney pieces were richly 
 adorned. The outer doorways were removed to 
 Wytham, and one of them re-erected on the north 
 side of the tower, and the other now forms a com- 
 
1 4 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 munication between the Earl of Abingdon's garden 
 and the churchyard ; but the chimney pieces, 
 through the unskilfulness of the workmen, were 
 broken and spoiled in extracting them from the 
 walls. Over these rooms and the entrance was a 
 passage known to the villagers as the "Long 
 Gallery/' extending the whole length of this side. 
 It was lighted by windows looking upon the qua- 
 drangle, and divided by a partition from a large 
 chamber, which in the original appropriation of 
 the building was most likely the dormitory. In 
 the east wall of this chamber was a large window 
 opening upon the churchyard, inclosed in an elegant 
 painted architrave, and composed of two cinquefoil 
 lights, divided horizontally by a transom, with ela- 
 borate tracery at the end of the arch ; over which, 
 at the gable end of the roof, was a small stone cross. 
 The Long Gallery was reached by a circular newel 
 stone staircase, which was built towards the south- 
 western angle of this range, the access to it being 
 through the rooms on the basement, and the one 
 which will be next described. 
 
 At the northern extremity of the west side on 
 the ground floor was a large room, that projected 
 several feet into the quadrangle beyond the line 
 of the other buildings, and which, from its proximity 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 15 
 
 and facility of access to the hall and kitchen, may 
 have been designed for the buttery. It had a 
 window in its eastern and western walls, the 
 former of a square form, divided into three cinque- 
 foil lights. There were two outer doorways, one 
 into the quadrangle at the south-east corner of 
 the projection, and another that led into a back 
 yard, wherein were the kitchen and other offices. 
 Over this room was a spacious and elegant apart- 
 ment, approached by the before-mentioned staircase ; 
 it had but one window, and that opened into the 
 quadrangle, and is reported to have been the 
 largest and most elaborate in the mansion. This 
 window was very carefully removed, and has been 
 re-erected in the east wall of the chancel of Wytham 
 church. The original appropriation of this room 
 there is no means of ascertaining, as long previous 
 to the demolition of the building this part had 
 become so extremely ruinous, that the villagers 
 were in continual expectation of its fall. Tradition 
 assigns this as the chamber in which Lady Dudley 
 reposed the night of her death, and where it is 
 said she suffered the first acts of violence. Wood, 
 Aubrey, and Ashmole, each say, that for the pur- 
 pose of more easily accomplishing her destruction, 
 she had been removed from her usual chamber, 
 
16 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 which, according to the local tradition, was at the 
 extreme end of this side of the edifice ; but in 
 whatever way her death was occasioned, there can 
 be no doubt of this being the fatal staircase, and 
 that at the foot of it her dead body was found. 
 
 The hall retained its primitive state, and re- 
 mained perfect to the last ; it adjoined the room 
 supposed to have been the buttery, with which it 
 is said to have communicated in the inside by a 
 double arched entrance. It was situated in the 
 centre of the west range, and was of an oblong 
 form, and is reported to have measured in length 
 from north to south forty-four feet, and in breadth 
 from east to west twenty-two feet. The walls, 
 although but fourteen feet high, and more than a 
 yard in thickness, were strengthened by two large 
 projecting buttresses on each side, to support the 
 enormous weight of the roof, which was of an 
 equilateral shape. The principal entrance was 
 towards the north end of the quadrangle, through 
 a pointed arch, inclosed in a square architrave, 
 and bounded by a sub-architrave. This doorway 
 has been re-erected in the porch of Wytham 
 church. Opposite this doorway was one of very 
 rude workmanship, communicating with the offices 
 behind,, and over it the date 1571 carved, between 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 17 
 
 the initials of Forster's name. On each side of 
 the hall were two windows, for the reception of 
 which the walls were carried up a considerable 
 height, above the springing of the roof, and ter- 
 minated with pedimental heads surmounted with 
 cross capstones. The windows were bounded by 
 pointed architraves, and inclosed by sub-architraves 
 springing from corbels representing human heads : 
 they were each divided by a mullion into two lights, 
 subdivided by a small transom, the upper division 
 being ornamented with trefoil or cinquefoil arched 
 heads. The tracery was fanciful and elegant, and 
 three of them are re-erected in Wytham church. 
 Each of these windows was formerly filled with 
 painted glass, and many curious fragments re- 
 mained long after the conversion of the hall into 
 a granary, to which purpose it was at last appro- 
 priated, but not a vestige was left when the building 
 was pulled down. Dr. Buckler, Vicar of Cumnor, 
 writing in 1759, thus observes g : " About four years 
 " ago the arms of the Abbey were to be seen prettily 
 " painted in the remains of the glass in one of the 
 " windows, but some careless hand, or the fingers of 
 " some admirer of antiquity, has robbed us of them." 
 The roof was of timber, and richly ornamented, and 
 « Replies to Ro-we More in Bib. Topo. Brit. 
 C 
 
18 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 supported by immense beams,, carved with bold 
 and handsome mouldings, resting on stone corbels, 
 sculptured to resemble angels, and other figures, 
 bearing shields, some of which were charged with 
 arms, while others were quite plain. The principal 
 cross beams, at their intersection, were adorned 
 with bosses, on which were carved shields of arms 
 and flowers. The pannels of the roof were ceiled ; 
 and so firmly were the beams attached, that when 
 the building was taken down, they were with the 
 greatest difficulty severed, while many split to 
 pieces in wrenching them asunder. At the south 
 end was a curious ancient stone chimney piece ; 
 the uprights were wrought into channelled 
 mouldings, and supported an entablature, at each 
 end of which was a shield, one bearing the arms 
 of the Abbey of Abingdon, the other plain. In the 
 centre were the letters 3SJ^S> in old characters, 
 embossed in a curious cipher ; and the intermediate 
 spaces were divided into square pannels, orna- 
 mented with circles enclosing quatrefoils. Anthony 
 Wood, in his MS. vol. before quoted from, remarks, 
 " In y e Hall thereof, over y e chimney, are these 
 " armes, a cross patonie hit— 4 martletts, a lyon 
 " ramp — there be also miters cut in several places 
 " of y e house." And Dr. Buckler, in his replies to 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 19 
 
 Rowe More's enquiries, thus writes : " In the hall 
 " of this monkish edifice, which is now (1759) 
 " turned into a granary, there is a large old stone 
 " chimney piece, on which are carved two mitres, 
 " and between the name of %\$fySb in ancient 
 " characters, at one end of it, are the arms of the 
 " Abbey of Abingdon, at the other a shield." And 
 the same writer records, " Over a door case in the 
 " hall is this date, 1575." 
 
 At the south end of the buildings, on the western 
 side, was a neat room, lighted by a square window 
 opening into the quadrangle, separated into two 
 divisions, each terminated by a cinquefoil arched 
 head. The original entrance was by a small door- 
 way at the extreme end, which had been altered 
 into the Tudor style ; this was afterwards closed 
 internally, and appropriated solely as the mode of 
 access to the chamber over ; and in lieu, a some- 
 what unsightly semicircular arched doorway was 
 cut through the wall, between the before-mentioned 
 doorway and the window. This room was known 
 as the butler's pantry, but for what reason cannot 
 be ascertained, unless it was appropriated to the 
 person who served Forster in that capacity, and 
 thus acquired the name. Above was a large 
 apartment, with an elegant pointed arched window, 
 
 c2 
 
20 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 nearly resembling those of the hall, but larger, also 
 looking into the quadrangle. This was called Lady 
 Dudley's chamber, and is said to have been her 
 dormitory during her residence at the mansion. 
 It was so known in Wood's time, who, in the 
 before-cited MS. volume, notes, " In this house is a 
 " chamber called Dudley's chamber." And in the 
 same MS. the author distinguishes it from that in 
 which the attack on her is said to have been made, 
 as follows : " They make advantage to convey her 
 " to another chamber, where her bed's head should 
 " stand just against a doore, which she did not 
 " know off." Both Aubrey and Ashmole make 
 similar distinctions. 
 
 The south side of the quadrangle abutted upon 
 the pleasure gardens, and is reported to have 
 contained the most elegant suite of apartments in 
 the mansion. At the western end was a handsome 
 gateway, communicating with the gardens, of a 
 similar order to the one that led into the hall, but 
 richer in its execution ; it measured eight feet in 
 height by three feet four inches in width, and 
 was formed by an elegant pointed arch, inclosed 
 by an architrave of a square form, the spandrils 
 being filled with trefoil pannels. The architrave on 
 the exterior was enriched with a deep hollow 
 
CtJMNOR PLACE. 21 
 
 moulding, and bounded by a sub-architrave, sup- 
 ported by two slender circular columns having 
 octangular capitals, and was terminated by a small 
 embattled cornice. This doorway was carefully re- 
 moved, and re-erected by Lord Abingdon's directions 
 at the entrance to Wytham churchyard ; and over 
 it, between the cornice and coping of the wall, his 
 Lordship has caused to be inserted that part of the 
 pannel, which contained the phrase, 
 
 3Janua bte bcrbum Itomfai. 
 
 and which had so long surmounted the archway in 
 front of the road ; but the other part of the 
 pannel which bore Forster's name and the date 
 was cut off. 
 
 The building and rooms adjoining this gateway 
 appear to have gone to ruin earlier than other 
 parts of the fabric, and had been converted into a 
 malthouse. In the side walls were a range of 
 windows corresponding in architectural feature 
 with those on the opposite side. 
 
 At the south-eastern angle was a small chapel, 
 which remained more perfect than any other part of 
 the south side ; it is said to have measured in length 
 twenty-two feet by fifteen in breadth ; the east end 
 abutted on the churchyard, and somewhat resembled 
 
22 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 that of the opposite side. The south windows were 
 small, but bounded by pointed architraves, and part 
 of the northern wall abutted on the east buildings. 
 The chapel was entered through a plain pointed 
 archway in the south-east corner of the quadrangle ; 
 the interior of the roof was finely timbered, the 
 beams reposing upon corbels grotesquely carved, 
 respecting which many popular tales had been in 
 circulation to alarm the timorous. The floor and 
 seats had all been removed before it was made 
 into a cow house, to which use it was afterwards 
 desecrated. 
 
 The existing wall at the west end of the church- 
 yard formed the back of the east side of the 
 quadrangle, which contained apartments of a more 
 ordinary class. The arch of communication between 
 The Place and the churchyard is yet visible, and 
 was in the centre of the building. Northward of 
 this arch is still to be seen the remains of a 
 chimney piece wrought in the wall ; on the enta- 
 blature is a series of quatrefoils rudely indented. 
 Beneath this range of the structure, as well as that 
 on the north side, was extensive cellaring, but in 
 what part the entrance was, cannot now be ascer- 
 tained. 
 
 The offices and outbuildings were behind the 
 
CUMNOR PLACE. 23 
 
 west side, and were from time to time destroyed ; 
 and there is scarcely an inhabitant now alive who 
 has any recollection of their ruins. The gardens 
 shared the same fate, but the terrace walks may- 
 yet be traced round and about the three adjoin- 
 ing closes, which were the pleasure grounds, and 
 originally formed one enclosure, called The Park, 
 which name is still retained. 
 
 _ When Cumnor Place was in the zenith of its 
 splendour, the great attraction must have been 
 the Park ; the terrace walks which encircled it, 
 the stately trees and capacious fish ponds with 
 which it was ornamented, and the church elevated 
 conspicuously in the immediate rear of the Mansion, 
 all added their charms to the natural beauty of the 
 spot ; a pleasing contrast to the distant unculti- 
 vated downs which form the southern boundary 
 of the vale. A complete change, however, has 
 now swept over the former interesting aspect of 
 the scene. The church indeed is an abiding re- 
 presentative of former ages, and the resting-place 
 of some of those whose lives were spent at this 
 monastic abode, while round the sacred edifice 
 rests the remains of many who felt the bounty of 
 its owners. The gardens and grounds, wherein 
 the unfortunate Amy passed so many cheerless 
 
24 CUMNOR PLACE. 
 
 hours, have disappeared; their site is now in the 
 occupation of the agriculturist, and for his con- 
 venience the present partition of them has been 
 made. A few fine elms scattered here and there 
 are all that is left to aid in realizing the former 
 picturesque appearance of this retreat, where we are 
 privileged to sympathize with suffering innocence 
 and blighted affection, although truth dispels from 
 the story the exaggerated horrors with which those 
 sufferings have been pourtrayed. 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " Alas ! my children, human life 
 
 " Is but a tale of woe, 
 " And very mournful is the tale 
 
 " Which ye so fain would know." 
 
 The Heemit of Waekwoeth. 
 
 The family of the Robsarts, of which this Lady 
 became the representative, were descended from 
 Lord Robert Robsart, Baron of Cannon in Hein- 
 hault, who entered into the English service during 
 the war of Edward III. with France, and greatly 
 distinguished himself in the many actions in which 
 he was engaged during the reign of Edward and 
 his successor. He died, leaving three sons, John, 
 Lewis, and Theodorick; all of whom joined the 
 English army, and became distinguished com- 
 manders. 
 
26 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 John a , the eldest, was born in the year 1390, 
 and embarked in the crusade to the Holy Land ; 
 where he signalized himself, and acquired the 
 crest which has descended to the Earl of Orford. 
 He was created a Knight Banneret in the reign of 
 Richard II. "And for the good services of his 
 " beloved and faithful Knight," Henry IV. shortly 
 after ascending the throne, granted him an annuity 
 of c£l00 for his life, which was confirmed by the 
 succeeding Sovereign, Henry V. in whose service 
 he was actively and prominently employed, in the 
 wars that ensued on the continent. Sir John was 
 one selected by Henry to confer with the King of 
 France concerning the English Monarch's claim to 
 the Crown of that kingdom, and to treat for his 
 marriage with the Princess Catherine, the French 
 King's daughter ; and when the treaty had been 
 concluded, he was left in attendance on the Princess 
 until the nuptials could be celebrated; after which 
 he returned with the King and Queen to England. 
 During this reign he was elected a Knight of the 
 Garter ; and upon his royal master's death in 
 France, attended his remains to this country, and 
 then again returned to his military duties in France 
 in the following year. 
 
 a Appendix, Note B. 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 27 
 
 In the second year of Henry VI. he was 
 naturalized ; which event is thus noticed in Collins's 
 Peerage, vol. v. p. 644. " This Sir John, being born 
 " in Heinhalt, was naturalized in the second year 
 " of King Henry VI. ; and in the preamble of the 
 " Patent it is recited, That the King, in consi- 
 " deration of the long and faithful services of Sir 
 " John Robsart, Knight, to his dear father and 
 " grandfather, and also because he did homage to 
 " his father, with the advice and assent of the 
 " Lords spiritual and temporal, and the Commons 
 " of England in Parliament assembled, grants 
 " to the said Sir John, that he should be made 
 " a native of this kingdom, &c." 
 
 In 1431, upon the death of his brother Lewis, 
 who was also a Knight of the Garter, and who, after 
 his marriage with the daughter and heiress of Lord 
 Bouchier, took the title, Sir John was found to be 
 his heir. 
 
 Henry VI. renewed the pension granted by 
 Henry IV. ; also one of £50 a year made by 
 Henry V. out of the castle, forest, and lordship of 
 Rockingham, and confirmed it to his son John for 
 life. Sir John died in 1450, and was buried in 
 Saint Francis' Chapel, in the Grey Friars, London, 
 now Christchurch ; where a raised tomb was erected 
 
28 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 to his memory, with his effigy in the livery of the 
 Garter, and this inscription, 
 
 ?%'c facet gtrtmmg bit bom pannes 
 Sftofcsartr balens milts in armts qui 
 obiit xxiv Bmmbris, mccccl. 
 
 He was succeeded by his son John, of whom 
 nothing appears to be known. The next repre- 
 sentative of the family was Sir Theodorick, or, as 
 he was called, Sir Terry, son of the last-named 
 John Robsart, who married Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Sir Thomas Kiderston, Knight, of Siderstone, 
 Norfolk, and died in or previously to the year 
 1497. By this alliance the family acquired the 
 manors of Bircham Newton, and Siderstone, in 
 that county, of which William, the eldest son 
 of the marriage, died possessed in 1517; where- 
 upon the estates devolved on his brother John, 
 the second son, who was afterwards Knighted, 
 and of whom a few historical traces remain. 
 The matter of chief interest is, that he married 
 Elizabeth, daughter of John Scott, Esquire, of 
 Camberwell, Surrey, but in what year is unknown ; 
 there is, however, no doubt that it was previous 
 to the year 1530. The issue of this marriage 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 29 
 
 was an only child, Amy. Where Sir John resided 
 at his daughter's birth, does not appear; in fact, 
 there is no mention either of his residence, or 
 that of any earlier member of the family, until 
 1546, when, according to Bloomfield's History of 
 Norfolk, he, with Dame Elizabeth his wife, dwelt 
 in Stanfield Hall, then the property of the Ap- 
 pleyards; and from this circumstance Stanfield 
 Hall has been regarded as the birthplace of Amy 
 Robsart. The same author in the third volume of 
 his History, under the title Siderstone, observes of 
 this Sir John, he " was Lord of this manor, Sheriff 
 "of Norfolk and Suffolk, in 1st Edward VI. 
 " I find that this John Robsart, called late of 
 " Windham in Norfolk, alias of Stanfield, in 
 " the parish of Wymondham, to have a pardon 
 " from the King by the advice of the Duke of 
 " Somerset the Protector, for all treasons, mur- 
 " ders, insurrections, &c. before 20th January, 
 " 1st Edward VI." but in what treasonable acts 
 he had been engaged, or was suspected of, there 
 is no record remaining. 
 
 In 1551, he was joined with the Earl of Sussex, 
 Sir Roger Townsend, and Sir John Fermore, in the 
 commission of Lieutenantship for Norfolk, and 
 died, according to Bloomfield, in the first or 
 
30 
 
 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 second of Philip and Mary. The precise date is not 
 recorded, but it is quite clear he was dead in 1554, 
 as in that year, Elizabeth his widow presented 
 Thomas Angier to the Living of Bircham Newton. 
 Upon the death of Sir John, the subject of this 
 biography became entitled to the family estates, 
 which were of considerable magnitude. 
 
 When or where she was born is not indeed a 
 matter of certainty. The first allusion to her is 
 contained in the Will of her grandmother, dated 
 1535, and, from the nature of a bequest to her, it is 
 more than probable, her birth took place sometime 
 between the years 1525 and 1530, and probably at 
 Stanfield Hall. 
 
 After the accession of Edward VI. it is well 
 known that the Court was divided by the 
 factions and rivalries of the two great statesmen 
 of the day, the Duke of Somerset and the Earl 
 of Warwick, afterwards Duke of Northumberland. 
 These differences were attempted to be healed 
 by an alliance between the younger branches of 
 the two families; and accordingly, on the 3d of 
 June, 1549, the Lord Lisle, son of the Earl, was 
 married to the Lady Jane, the Duke's daughter; 
 and on the next day, the Earl's younger son 
 Robert espoused Amy Robsart. Both nuptials 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 81 
 
 were solemnized at the Royal Palace at Sheen b , 
 and honoured with the presence of the King, who 
 thus records the marriages in the diary written 
 with his own hand, and which is preserved in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 " 1549. 
 " June 
 
 " 3. The King cam to schein, where was a mariag 
 " mad bet wen The L Lisle, the'rl of warwics sone, and 
 " the ladi anne, daughter to the duke of Somerset ; 
 " wich don, and a faire diner made, and daunsing 
 * finished, the King and the ladies went into tow 
 " chambers mad of bowis, wher first he saw six 
 " gentlemen of on side and six of another rune 
 " the course of the field twis ouer : ther names 
 " hiere do folow ; 
 
 " The L Edward S Jhon aplebey 
 
 [Here is a blank of about an inch.] 
 
 " And afterward com three masters of one side and 
 " tow of another, wich rane fowre courses apece : 
 " ther names be 
 
 [Here is a blank of half an inch.] 
 
 " Las of al came the count of ragenne w* 3 
 
 b See Appendix, Note C. 
 
32 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " italians, who ran wth al the gentlemen fowre 
 " courses, and afterward fought at tornay. And 
 " so after souper he retorned to Whesminster. 
 
 " 4. S Robert dudeley, third sonne to th'erle of 
 " warwic, maried S Jon Robsartes daughter, after 
 " wich mariage, ther were certain gentlemen that 
 " did striue who shuld first take away a goses heade 
 " wich was hanged alive on tow crose postes." 
 
 At the time of her marriage, Lady Dudley was 
 most likely her husband's senior, who was then only 
 about eighteen years of age. He was possessed of 
 great personal attractions and natural talent, and 
 trained in all the courtly graces and accomplish- 
 ments of the period. During the following year, 
 he was made one of the Gentlemen in Ordinary to 
 the King, and remained in attendance on him until 
 his death, when he took up arms with his family 
 in favour of Lady Jane Grey, who had married his 
 brother Lord Guildford Dudley. The attempt to 
 seat her on the throne failing, Sir Robert, with 
 other branches of his family, was arrested for high 
 treason, and committed to the Tower on the 26th 
 of July, 1553. From her marriage in 1549, until 
 her husband's captivity, nothing whatever is known 
 of Lady Dudley; but at this eventful crisis, and 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 33 
 
 when the horrors and ignominy of a traitor's death 
 were apparently inevitable to her husband, she 
 emerges from her obscurity, in the exercise of her 
 duties as a wife ; and the following brief record re- 
 mains of her during this trying season. 
 
 "Another Lettre to the Lieutenaunt of the 
 " Towre, whereby he is willed to permitt these Ladies 
 " folio winge to have accesse to their husbands, and 
 " there to tarie with them so long and at suche 
 " tymes as by him shall be thought convenient ; viz. 
 " the Lord Ambrose's wife, the Lord Robert's wife, 
 "Sir Frances Jobson's wife, Sir Henry Gat's wife, 
 " and Sir Richard Corbet's wife," 
 
 On the 15th of January following, Sir Robert 
 Dudley was arraigned at the Guildhall of London 
 for high treason, to which charge he pleaded guilty, 
 and thereupon received the usual sentence of a 
 traitor; but intercession being afterwards made in 
 his behalf, he was pardoned, and restored to his 
 civil rights. 
 
 The only other memorial relating to Lady Dudley 
 preceding her death, is that of a letter bearing her 
 
 c Extract from the Journals of Proceedings in the Privy 
 Council, on the 10th of September, 1553. 
 
34 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 signature, which may be found in the Harleian 
 MSS. 4712, in the British Museum. The date of the 
 year is omitted, but it must have been written in 
 or probably after the 3d and 4th year of Philip and 
 Mary, 1556-7, as it was in this last year, and after 
 the demise of her father, that the grant of Sider- 
 stone, to which place the letter refers, was made to 
 her and Dudley. There appears reason to conclude, 
 that it was written during the latter portion of her 
 life, when her husband was in attendance at Court, 
 and she living in privacy in the country ; and 
 there are passages in it which seem to indicate, 
 that there was a want of affection and a partial 
 estrangement on his part, but still there is no 
 positive admission that she considered herself 
 deserted. 
 
 At the time of writing this letter, she was staying 
 with a family of the name of Hyde, but in what 
 locality does not appear; but from the circumstance 
 of Mrs. Odingsells, the daughter of William Hyde, 
 Esq. of Denchworth, Berks, being mentioned in the 
 correspondence between Dudley and Blount, during 
 the coroner's inquest after her death, it is very 
 probable that this letter was written from that place, 
 which is about four miles from Cumnor. There can, 
 however, be very little question of Cumnor or the 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 35 
 
 vicinity being the part from whence the letter was 
 sent, as several branches of the Hydes were 
 settled thereabouts at the period, and one of the 
 family was at the time living at a considerable 
 mansion within the parish, called Blagrove, some 
 remains of which are still to be seen, 
 
 Mr. Flowerdew, the party to whom it is directed, 
 seems from other extant letters to have been the 
 steward of Dudley's Norfolk property, and to have 
 been consulted by him on a negociation for the 
 purchase of some land in that neighbourhood. The 
 following is a copy of the Lady Amy's letter, 
 
 " Mr. Flowerdue, 
 " I undarstand by Gruse y* you put him in 
 " remembreance of y* you spake to me of con- 
 " sarning y e goyng of sertayne shepe at Systorne, 
 " & althow I forgot to mowe my Lorde therof 
 " before his departyng, he beyng sore trubeled w* 
 u wayty afFares, ane I not being all together in 
 " quyet for his soden departyng ; yet, not wt 
 " standyng, knowing your acostomid fryndshype 
 " towards my Lordchip and me, I nether may nor 
 " can deney you y* requeste in my lordes absence 
 " of myn owne awtoryte, ye & y* war a gretar 
 " matter, as, if any good occasyon may serve you, 
 
 d 2 
 
36 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " so trye me ; descyring you furdar y* you wyll 
 " mak salle of y e wolle so sone as ys possyble, 
 " althowe you sell yt for vj 9 the stone, or as you 
 " wolde sell for your sealf, for my lorde so ernystly 
 " requered me at his departyng to se thosse poore 
 " men satysfyed, as thowe yt had bene a matter 
 " dependyng uppon lyff; wherfore I force not to 
 " sustayne a lyttell losse, therby to satysfy my 
 " Lordes desyer ; and so to send y* mony to 
 " Grysses house to London by Brydwell, to whom 
 " my lorde hath gewen order for y e pament therof. 
 " And thus I ende, alwayes trobelyng you, wyssyng 
 " y t occasyon may serve me to requyte you. Untyll 
 " y* tyme, I must pay you w* thankes, and so to 
 " God I leve you. 
 
 " From Mr. Heydes this vij of Auguste. 
 
 u Your assured duryng lyffe, 
 
 " Amye Duddley." 
 
 [Addressed on the outside of the other half sheet,] 
 
 " To my veary frynd Mr. Flowerdwe the ellder 
 " NorfF geive this." 
 
 On the 9th of September, 1560, when Dudley 
 was in attendance on the Queen at Windsor, a 
 messenger arrived from Cumnor with a letter, 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 37 
 
 containing the intelligence of the death of his 
 wife on the previous day, by a fall down some 
 stairs ; and although it may be gleaned from the 
 ensuing correspondence that Bowes the messenger 
 was attached to the household at the mansion of 
 Cumnor Place, where the disastrous occurrence 
 had taken place, he was unable to give very little, 
 if any, account of how it happened, being in all 
 probability absent with the rest of the servants 
 at the fair at Abingdon. 
 
 Dudley's first impression on receipt of the news, 
 appears to have been most remarkable and myste- 
 rious ; he at once expressed an opinion, that her 
 death had not been the result of an accident, but 
 of violence, and that he should be accused of being: 
 implicated in her destruction. The most reasonable 
 explanation of these expressions that can be sug- 
 gested, consistent with a perfectly guiltless con- 
 science, seems to be, that he must have at once 
 perceived that so unlooked for an event, occurring 
 in so extraordinary a manner, would give his 
 enemies the opportunity of asserting that his wife 
 had been murdered, and that, notwithstanding his 
 absence from the scene, they would charge him with 
 being the originator of the plot ; and he could not 
 but have felt, that his past estrangement from her 
 
38 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 would be held up as a ground of suspicion, and 
 would be generally interpreted as a strong pre- 
 sumption of guilt. 
 
 His conduct also, as well as his expressions, 
 exposes him to invidious remarks, and may be by 
 the prejudiced regarded as additional evidence in 
 proof of the grave charge that has been so strongly 
 urged against him. One would have thought that 
 he would at once have started for the scene of his 
 bereavement, and have satisfied himself whether 
 there were any grounds to support his suspicions ; 
 but apprehensive of crimination from his wife's 
 relations, he immediately dispatches the news to 
 them in Norfolk, that they might be present at 
 the coroner's enquiry, which he knew to be 
 inevitable, to satisfy themselves as to the true 
 cause and manner of her death ; and he then sits 
 down and writes a letter of instructions on the 
 subject to a gentleman in his confidence named 
 Blount. 
 
 Such a course of proceeding on the part of 
 Dudley, coupled with his expressions, do not at 
 first sight seem altogether consistent with a com. 
 plete state of innocence ; but his subsequent con- 
 duct, in promoting the inquiry before the coroner, 
 tends greatly to relieve the distrust that otherwise 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 39 
 
 would be felt, and must be properly weighed in 
 arriving at an impartial conclusion of his guilt or 
 innocence ; indeed it would be the extreme of 
 prejudice to insinuate that there is any thing in the 
 ensuing correspondence that betrays an attempt on 
 his part to conceal a crime, or to baffle investi- 
 gation. 
 
 The following letter is the first that passed 
 between Dudley and Blount, pending the coroner's 
 inquest at Cumnor. The letters are bound with 
 other MSS. and commence at page 703, in the 
 second of three folio volumes in the Pepysian 
 Library, Cambridge, lettered at the back, " Papers 
 of State" From the handwriting they appear to 
 have been made towards the close of the 16th 
 century, probably about twenty or twenty-five 
 years after the period under consideration. 
 
 " Cosin Blount, 
 
 " Immediatelie upon y r deptinge from me, there 
 " came to me Bowes, by whom I do understande that 
 " my wife is dead, and, as he saithe, by a falle from 
 f a paire of stayres ; little other understandinge can 
 " I have of him. The greatnes and the suddennes of 
 " the mysfortune doth so pplex me untill I do heare 
 
40 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " from you how the matter standethe, or howe this 
 " evill shuld light upon me ; considering what the 
 " malicious world will bruyte as I can take no rest. 
 " And, because I have no waie to purge my-selfe 
 " of the malicious talke that I knowe the wicked 
 " worlde will use, but one, which is the verie plaine 
 " troth to be knowen, I Do praie yo 11 , as yo u have 
 " loved me, and do tender me and my quietnes, 
 " and as nowe my special trust is in yo u , That will 
 " use all the devises and meanes you can possible 
 " for the learnyng of the trothe, wherein have no 
 " respect to any living p-son ; And, as by yo u owne 
 " travell and diligence, So likewise by order of lawe, 
 " I meane, by calling of the coroner, and charginge 
 " him to the uttermost from me to have good 
 " regarde to make choyse of no light or slight 
 " psons, But the discretest and substantial men, 
 " for the Juries ; suche as for there knowledge may 
 " be able to serche thorowlie and duelie, by al 
 " manner of examynacons, the bottome of the 
 " matter ; and for the re uprightnes, will earnestlie 
 " and sincerlie deale therein without respect. And 
 " that the bodie be viewd and serched accordinglie 
 " by them, and in everie respect to precede by order 
 " and lawe. In the mean tyme, Cosin Blount, Let 
 " me be advertysed from yo 11 , by this berer, w* all 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 41 
 
 " spede, howe the matter dothe stande ; For, as 
 " the cause and the manner thereof doth mvel- 
 " ously trouble me, considering my case many 
 " waies, so shall I not be at rest, till I may be 
 " ascertayned thereof ; Praying yo u even, as my 
 " truste is in you, and as I ever loved yo u , do not 
 " dissemble w* me, neither let any thinge be hidd 
 " from me, But sende me y r trewe conceyte and 
 " opinion of the matter ; whether it happened by 
 " evill chaunce, or by Villanye, and faile not to let 
 " me heare contynewallie from yo u , and thus fare 
 « yo u well, in moch haste from Windsore, this ix tb 
 " of September, in the eveninge, 
 
 " Y r lovinge frende and kynsman, 
 " moch perplexed, 
 
 « R. D. 
 " I have sent for my brother Appleyarde, bycause 
 " he is her brother, and other of her frendes also, to 
 " be theare, that they may be previe, and se how 
 " all things do proceade." 
 
 From this letter, and the reply of Blount, it may 
 be inferred, that the latter had left Dudley at 
 Windsor on the 9th of Sept. for the purpose of 
 proceeding to Cumnor, but that previously to his 
 
42 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 arriving at Abingdon, which lay in his route, he 
 met with Bowes on his way to Windsor with the 
 above news, and from him learnt what had hap- 
 pened to Lady Dudley. Bowes, it would seem, 
 informed Blount all that he knew of the cir- 
 cumstance, and also that when it occurred, all the 
 domestics belonging to the establishment were 
 absent at Abingdon fair. 
 
 It is somewhat strange that Blount, on being 
 apprised of Lady Dudley's death, should, like 
 Dudley, have felt distrust of fair means having 
 been used towards her; and his manner is in 
 some degree open to suspicion, inasmuch as he 
 did not, upon hearing the disastrous intelligence, 
 hasten on to Cumnor, or immediately return to 
 Windsor, to consult or take fresh instructions from 
 Dudley. He however continued on his journey as 
 far as Abingdon, where he stayed the night at an 
 inn, for the avowed but somewhat singular purpose 
 of ascertaining the particulars relating to the cata- 
 strophe and the public feeling in the neigh- 
 bourhood, touching the cause. The better to 
 accomplish this end, he dissembles with the 
 landlord, with whom he manifestly assumes to 
 be unconscious of what had taken place, and 
 leads him to believe that he is merely passing the 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 4S 
 
 night at his house, on his road into Gloucestershire, 
 and while at supper sends for him to learn if there 
 was any news stirring. As a matter of course,, the 
 all engrossing topic of conversation, the death of 
 Lady Dudley, is communicated,, and he then pro- 
 ceeds to inquire how she had come by the fall; to 
 which the landlord replied, he knew not. Dissatisfied 
 with this answer, Blount asked what was his judg- 
 ment and the judgment of the people ; when the 
 landlord, attempting an evasion of the question, 
 replied, that some were disposed to say well, and 
 some evil. This, however, was by no means satis- 
 factory to Blount, who was bent upon extracting 
 from his host more than he appeared willing to 
 disclose, and whom he supposed, like the rest of 
 his fraternity to be more conversant with the tales 
 and rumours of the locality than the generality of 
 the public, a country inn in those days being the 
 place where all the news that was abroad was sure 
 to be discussed and propagated ; he therefore presses 
 the landlord more closely for his opinion. " By 
 " my troth, said he, I judge it a very misfortune, 
 " because it chanced at that honest gentleman's 
 " (Forster's) house, his great honesty doth much 
 " cut the evil thoughts of the people." This 
 remark in a measure appeased Blount, who, 
 
44 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 still pretending entire ignorance of every thing 
 connected with the sad affair, proceeded to 
 interrogate his companion as to what explanation 
 the domestics at the mansion gave of the matter ; 
 and was told, that they were not at home at the 
 time, but at Abingdon fair. Upon this, Blount 
 proceeded to catechise the landlord as to how that 
 chanced, and elicits in answer, that " it is said how 
 u that she rose very early, and commanded all her 
 " sort to go to the fair, and would suffer none to 
 " tarry at home, and thereof much is judged." 
 
 It may here be remarked, that previously to this 
 conversation, Blount could not have received the 
 above letter from Dudley, which was dispatched to 
 him by a person of the name of Bristo, who in all 
 probability delivered it to Blount on the next day, 
 viz. the 10th, after he had arrived at Cumnor, and 
 it is therefore beyond a doubt that the suspicions 
 that presented themselves in the minds both of 
 Dudley and Blount on hearing her Ladyship was 
 dead, were also rife in the vicinity of Cumnor 
 before either the one or the other were made 
 acquainted with the fact of her decease. 
 
 The proceedings of Blount, on reaching the 
 scene of the calamity, do not appear to have been 
 characterized by any remarkable incident. He 
 

 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 45 
 
 finds some of the jury already assembled at the 
 house, and to them he communicates Dudley's 
 wishes, and the directions he had received from 
 him, with reference to the inquiry about to be 
 entered on, and he then sets about investigating 
 the matter. He at once discovers that it is sur- 
 rounded with such suspicious circumstances, and 
 is so enveloped in mystery, that, to use his own 
 language, "it passetb the judgment of any man 
 to say how it is." But the details of Blount's 
 proceedings are more fully disclosed in his own 
 letter to Dudley, which was written from Cumnor 
 on the day after his arrival there, and is as follows. 
 
 <( Maie it please yo r Lordshipe to understande 
 " that I have receyved youre Ires by Bryses, the 
 " contents whereof I do well perceyve and that 
 " yo r lordship was advertised by bowes ymediatelie 
 " upon my departinge, that my ladie was deade. and 
 " also yo r straite charge given me that I shuld use 
 " all the Devices and policies that I can for the 
 " trewe understanding of the matter, as well by 
 " myne owne travell, as by thorder of lawe ; As in 
 " callinge the coroner, gevinge him charge that he 
 " chowse a discrete and substanciall Jurie, for the 
 " vie we of the bodie, And that no corrupcion shuld 
 
46 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 "be used, or psons respected. Yo r L. great 
 " reasons that maketh you so earnestlie searche to 
 " learn e athrothe The same w* y r earnest comande- 
 " ment dothe make me to do my best therein. The 
 " psent advertisement I can give to yo r L at this 
 " tyme is, To trewe it is that my ladie is dead, and 
 <c as it seamethe w* a fall, But yet howe or whiche 
 " waie I cannot lerne. Y re L shall heare the maner 
 " of my proceedinge since I cam from you ; The 
 " sam nyghte I cam from Windsore I laie at 
 "Abington all that nyght, and, bicause I was 
 <c desirous to heare what newys went abrode in the 
 <e countrie, At my supper I called for myne hoste, 
 " and asked him what newes was there about, 
 <c takinge upon me I was going into Glocestershier ; 
 ''he saide there was fallen a greate mysfortune 
 " within three or iiij myles of the towne ; he saide, 
 " my lorde Robert Duddeleys wyfe was deade, and 
 " I axed howe, and he saide, by a mysfortune, as 
 " he hard by a fall from a paire of stayres : I asked 
 " him by what chaunce. he said, he knewe not, I 
 " axked him what was his Judgement and the 
 " Judgment of the people, he saide, some weare 
 " disposed to saie well and some evill. What is yo r 
 " Judgment, said I. By my trothe, said he, I judge 
 * c it a mysfortune, bicause it chaunced in that 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 47 
 
 " honest gentleman's house, hys great honestie, 
 " said he, dothe moche cutt the evill thoughts of 
 " the people. Mythink, said I, that some of her 
 "people that wayted upon her shuld somewhat 
 " saie to this. No, Sir, said he, but litle, for it was 
 " saide that they were all here at the fayre, and 
 " none left w* her. Howe myght that chaunce, 
 " said I. Then said he, it is saide how that she rose 
 " that daie verie earelie, and comanded all her 
 " sorte to go the fayre, and wold suffer none to 
 " tarie at home. And thereof is moche judged, and 
 " trewlie, my lorde, I did first learne of Bowes 
 " as I met w* him corny nge towards y r L of his 
 a owne being that daie; and of all the rest of there 
 
 * beinge, who affirmed that she wold not that daie 
 " suffer one of her owne sorte to tarye at home, 
 " and was so earnest to have them gone to the 
 " faire, that w* any of her owne sorte that made 
 a reason of tarying atwhome she was verie angrie, 
 " and cam to Mrs. Odingsells, the wedowe, that 
 
 * lieth with Anthony Fforster, who refused that daie 
 " to go to the faire, and was very angrie w* her also, 
 " Bycause she saide it was no daie for gentlewomen 
 " to go in, but said the morrowe was moch better, 
 "And then wold she goo; whereunto my ladie 
 " answered and saide, That she might chowse and 
 
48 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 u go at her pleasure, but all hers shuld go ; and 
 " was verie angry e. They asked who shuld kepe 
 "her companye if they all went. She said Mrs. 
 u Owen shuld kepe her companye at Dyner. The 
 " same tale dothe Purto, who dothe dearlie love 
 " her, confirm ; certenly, my lorde, as little while 
 " as I have bene here, I have harde diverse tales 
 " of her that maketh me to judge her a straunge 
 " woman of mynde. In askinge of Pirto what she 
 "might thinke of this matter, either chaunce or 
 " villany, she saide, By her faithe she dothe judge 
 " it verie chaunce, and nether done by man nor by 
 "her-selfe. For her-selfe she saide, she was a 
 "good vertuous gentlewoman and daielie would 
 " praie upon her knees ; and divers tymes she saithe 
 " that she hath harde her praie to god to deliver 
 " her from Disperaconne. Then said I, she myght 
 " have a evell toy in her mynde, No, good Mr. 
 " Blount, said Pirto, do not judge so of my wordes, 
 "yf you shuld so gether, I am sorie I saide so 
 "moche, my lorde it is most strange that this 
 " chaunce shuld fall upon yo n , as it passeth the 
 " Judgment of any man to saie ho we it is, but then 
 " the tales I do here of her makethe me to thinke 
 " she had a strange mynde in her, as I will tell yo u at 
 " my comyng. But to th inquest yo u wold have 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 49 
 
 " so verie circu'spectlie chosen by the coroner for 
 " the understandinge of the trothe, yo r L nedith 
 " not to doubt of ther well chosinge. Before my 
 " coming, the inquest were chosen, and p* of them 
 " at the house ; yf I be able to judge of men and 
 " of their ablenes, I judge them, and speciallie 
 " some of them, to be as wise and as able men to 
 " be chosen upon suche a matter as anie men* 
 " beinge but countrie-men, as ever I sawe, and as 
 " well able to answeare for there doings before 
 ** who so ever they shall be called. And for there 
 " trewe serche w*out respect of pson. I have done 
 ? yo r message unto y m , I have good hope they will 
 " conceale no fawte yf any be ; For as they are 
 "/ wise, So are they, as I here, parte of them verie 
 " enemes to Anthony Fforster. god give them, w* 
 " there wisdome indifFerenciie, and then be they well 
 " chosen men. More advertisement at this tyme I 
 " cannot give y r L, but, as I can lerne so will I ad- 
 " vertise, Wishing y r L to putt awaie sorowe and re- 
 " joice, whatsoever fall out of y r owne inosency, by 
 " the which, in tyme, doubt not, but that malicious 
 " reports shall turne upon their backs, that can be 
 iC glad to wish or saie against yo u . And thus I humblie 
 " take my leve from Comner, the xjth of September, 
 
 " Y r Lordships lif and leving, T. b. 
 " Y rC L hath done verie well in sending f 1 ' Mr. Appleyarde," 
 
 E 
 
50 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY, 
 
 By this letter it is certain, that the chief ground 
 of suspicion rested upon the fact, that at the time 
 of the fall, both Lady Dudley's and Forster's ser- 
 vants were away at the fair, which it so happened 
 this year fell on a Sunday. The truth of the very 
 remarkable assertion of Lady Dudley being angry 
 with Mrs. Odingsells, (w 7 ho, it must be borne in 
 mind, was a lady of family and station,) because 
 she declined to go to the fair, and of her not 
 suffering one of her own attendants to remain at 
 home, was most likely proved to the jury as an 
 explanation of the cause of so few being at Cumnor 
 Place when the fatal fall took place. Forster's 
 absence is not alluded to, and therefore it may 
 be supposed that he was at home at the time, 
 and probably the only male person in the house, 
 and that from these untoward circumstances, and 
 the very singular manner of her death, the sus- 
 picions against him arose. 
 
 There is a passage in Blount's letter highly 
 favourable to Forster, as it diminishes the pro- 
 bability of his having been accessory to the death 
 of Lady Dudley. For in the conversation re- 
 counted to have passed between Lady Dudley 
 and Mrs. Odingsells, the former states, that if 
 Mrs. Odingsells should be absent, Mrs. Owen 
 would be her companion at dinner. This lady 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 51 
 
 may most reasonably be concluded to have been 
 the wife of Mr. Owen, then proprietor of Cumnor. 
 And so it would appear that both Mrs. Odingsells 
 and Mrs. Owen were staying in the house, and 
 that they were there when Lady Dudley met with 
 her death. Under such circumstances, it is hardly 
 possible to conceive, that Forster would have at- 
 tempted so atrocious a crime under his own roof ; 
 and it would be most improbable to suppose, that 
 he could have secured the connivance of these two 
 ladies, even if he had induced all the servants pur- 
 posely to absent themselves. Moreover it appears, 
 that it was Lady Dudley and not Forster that insisted 
 on the visit of the servants to Abingdon Fair. 
 
 Blount's letter reaches Dudley, who had in the 
 mean time gone to Kew, and causes him very 
 great uneasiness. His apprehension that his wife 
 had been murdered, and that he should be con- 
 sidered privy to the act, appears, if any thing, 
 increased by this communication. Upon receipt of 
 it, he again writes to his friend and emissary, 
 urging him to repeat to the jury his earnest desire 
 that they should, without either fear or favour, 
 proceed in the most rigid manner with the in- 
 vestigation. The following is the letter. 
 
 " Cosin Blount : Vntill I heare from yo u againe 
 e 2 
 
52 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " howe the matter fallethe out,, in verie trothe I 
 " cannot be in quiet, and yet yo u do well satisfye 
 " me w* the discrete Jurie yo H saie are chosen 
 " alredie ; vnto whome I praie you saie from me, 
 " that I require them, as ever I shall thinke good 
 " of them, that they will, accordinge to these 
 " dueties, earnestlie, carefullie, and trewlie, deale 
 " in this matter, to fynde it as they shall se it fall 
 " out. And if it fall out a chaunce or mysfortune, 
 " then so to saie ; and if it appeare a villanye, (as 
 " God forbid so myschievous or wicked bodie shuld 
 "lyve!) then to finde it so. And, god willing, I 
 " shall never feare the due prosecutione accord- 
 " inglie, what person soever it may appeare any 
 " waie to touche ; as well as for the iust punnysh- 
 " ment of the act, as for myne owne trewe iusti- 
 " ficacone, for as I wold be sorie in my harte any 
 " such evill should be comytted, So shall it well 
 " appeare to the worlde my Innocensie, by my 
 " dealing in the matter, if it shall so fall out. And, 
 " therefore, Cosin Blount, I seke chefelie trothe in 
 " this case, whiche I praie yo 11 still to haue regarde 
 " vnto, w th out any favo r to be shewed either wone 
 " waie or other. When yo 11 haue done my message 
 " to them, I require yo u not to staie to serche 
 " thorolie yo r selfe, alwaies that I may be satisfied. 
 " And that w 4 such convenient spede as yo 11 maie. 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 53 
 
 " Thus fare yo u well, in hast, at Kewe, this xijth of 
 " September. 
 
 " Yo rs assured, 
 
 " R. D," 
 
 Again, Blount conveys to the jury Dudley's 
 commands, and as the inquiry advanced, it is un- 
 questionable that there was a suspicion of Lady 
 Dudley having been murdered, and of Forster being 
 implicated in the crime. Blount appears faithfully 
 to discharge his trust, and he resorts to every 
 means he can conceive likely to ascertain the true 
 facts ; he endeavours secretly to discover the feel- 
 ing of the jury, but is unsuccessful; and after 
 remaining at Cumnor three days, he professes 
 not to be able to regard her Ladyship's death 
 otherwise than as an accident. He insinuates 
 that some of the jury appeared to be quite desirous 
 of criminating Forster if they could; and considers 
 their not being able to prove any thing against 
 him, ought to produce a conviction that there 
 were no grounds to consider it an act of violence. 
 Blount's next communication is as under. 
 
 " I have done y r Lordship's message vnto the 
 " iurye, yo u nede not to byde them to be carefull : 
 " Whether equitie of the cause or malice to forster 
 
54 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 "do forbyd it, I knowe not. They take great 
 6( paynes to learne a trothe : to morrowe I will 
 " wayte upon yo r L, and as I come, I will brake 
 " my fast at Abington, and there I shall mete w th 
 " one or two of the iurye, and what I can I will 
 " bringe, they be verie secrete, and yet I do heare 
 " a whysperinge that they can find no p'sumptions 
 (s of evell. And if I maie saie to yo r L. my con- 
 " science, I think some of them be sorie for it, god 
 " forgive me, and yf I iudge amysse, myne owne 
 " openion is moche quieted ; the more I serche of 
 " it, the more free it doth appeare to me. I have 
 " almost nothing that can make me so moche to 
 " think that any man shuld be the Doer thereof, 
 " as when I think yo r L. Wif before all other 
 " wemen, shuld have such a chaunce ; the cir- 
 " cumstances and as many thinges as I can learne 
 (( doth prswade me that onelie mysfortune hath 
 " done it, and nothing els. My-self will wayte 
 " vpon yo r L. tomorrowe, and saie what I knowe. 
 " in the meane tyme, I humblie tak my leave from 
 " Comner, the xiijth of September, 
 
 " Yo r L. lif and loving, 
 
 " T. b." 
 
 It would seem before the receipt of the last 
 letter, the foreman of the jury had written to 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 55 
 
 Dudley, apprising him that his wife's death did 
 appear plainly to have been caused by an accident, 
 but it is evident, that at the time the letter was 
 penned, a verdict to that effect had not been re- 
 turned. The receipt of such a communication 
 under such circumstances will by some be sus- 
 piciously regarded ; both on the part of Dudley, 
 and the foreman. This letter, however, seems in a 
 great measure to have relieved his anxiety ; never- 
 theless, he does not abate in his expressions of 
 eagerness to sift the transaction, and to push the 
 enquiry to the utmost possible limit. He requests 
 that another gentleman, Sir Richard Blount, and 
 also Mr. Norris, will assist in furtherance of the 
 investigation. His intimation to this effect is con- 
 veyed to his friend Thomas Blount at Cumnor, in 
 the following letter. 
 
 "I have reseved a Ire from one Smythe, one 
 " that seamethe to be foreman of the iurye. 
 " I pr c eve by his Ires, that he and the rest have 
 " and do travell verie diligentlie and circumspectlie 
 " for the try all of that matter, whiche they have 
 " charge of; and for any thing that I hear, they 
 " by any serche or examynacone they can make in 
 " the world hetherto, it dothe plainelie appeare, he 
 
56 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " saithe, a verie mysfortune, whiche, for my owne 
 " parte, Cosin Blount, dothe moch satisfie and 
 "quiet me. Nevertheles, bicawse of my thoroue 
 " quietnes and all others hereafter, my desire is 
 " that they may contynewe in there enquery, and 
 " examynacone to the vttermost, as longe as they 
 " lawfullie maie. Yea, and when they haue geven 
 " there verdyt, thoughe it be never so plainelie 
 " founde, Assuredlie I do wish that an-other sub- 
 " stantciall company of honest men might trye 
 " again e for the more knowledge of troth e. I have 
 " also requested S r Ric. Blount, who is a prflte honest 
 " gentleman, to helpe to the furtheraunce thereof. 
 " I trust he be w th yo u , or thing long w th Mr. Norris 
 (i likewise. Appleyarde, I heare, hath been there, as 
 " I appointed, and Arthure Robsert, her brothers ; 
 " yf any more of her frendes had bene to be had, 
 " I wold also haue caused them to haue seene, and 
 w bene previe to all the dealings there ; well, cosin, 
 " god's will be done ; and I wishe he had made me 
 " the porest that crepeth on the grounde, so this 
 " myschaunce had not happened to me. But, good 
 " cosin, according to my trust, haue care above all 
 " things that there be playne, sencere, and direct 
 " dealing for the full tryall of this matter. Touch- 
 " inge Smythe and the rest, I meane no more to 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 57 
 
 " deale w* them, but let them proceade, in the 
 " name of god, accordinglie, and I am ryght glad 
 " they be all strangers to me. Thus fare yo u well, 
 " in moche hast, from Windsore. 
 
 " Yo r loving frend and kinsman, 
 
 " R. D." 
 
 What subsequently took place before the coroner, 
 or how long the inquest lasted after the 13th, or 
 what became of Blount, are only subjects of con- 
 jecture, for there are no further documents extant ; 
 and here, so far as is known, ended the correspond- 
 ence. 
 
 There appears no ground for questioning the 
 fairness of the inquiry, which, it must be borne in 
 mind, was attended by Arthur Robsart, a relation 
 of Lady Dudley's, and by Mr. Appleyard, pro- 
 bably the owner of Stanfield Hall, an old friend of 
 her family, and ended, after a tedious and patient 
 investigation, with a verdict of mischance, or what 
 would now be termed accidental death, which was 
 equivalent to an entire acquittal of Forster and 
 all others of violence. It is, however, certain, that 
 there were circumstances of very grave suspicion, 
 and that an unusual degree of public feeling was 
 roused in all parts of the country. 
 
58 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 The only person known to have taken an active 
 and conspicuous part in the public outcry was 
 Thomas Leaver, a distinguished preacher of the 
 day, a prebendary of Durham, and Master of Sher- 
 borne Hospital, who appears to have been impressed 
 with the general opinion, that Lady Dudley had 
 been murdered, in furtherance of her husband's 
 ambitious designs, and that it was his intention to 
 hush up the matter, and prevent an inquiry into 
 the cause of her death ; and possibly feeling that 
 the sacred duties of his office demanded that he 
 should step forward, and claim on behalf of the 
 public a discovery of the truth or falsehood of the 
 current rumours, he took upon himself to address 
 the subjoined letter to two of the Queen's principal 
 advisers, being, it may be gathered, at the time un- 
 aware that a coroner's jury had been impannelled for 
 that purpose, and that Dudley himself was urging 
 the unflinching discharge of their duty. This do- 
 cument is copied from " The Burleigh State Papers 
 at Hatfield," p. 362, under the date A. D. 1560. 
 
 " The grace of God be unto your Honors, with 
 " mi humble commendations and harte thanks in 
 " Christ ; for it hath pleased God to place you in 
 "Autorite with Wisdome and Willes to advance 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 59 
 
 "his Glore, the Quene's Majesties godli Honor, 
 " and the peacable Welthe of this Realme ; and 
 " that also I am well assured of your faverable 
 " minds towards me, to take in writing accord- 
 " ing to mi Meaning, fathfulli, reverentli, and 
 u lovingli. 
 
 " Therefore, I am moved and boldned hi writing 
 " to signine unto you, that here in these Partes 
 " seemeth unto me to be a grevous and dangerous 
 
 * suspition and muttering of the Death of her 
 " which was the Wife of my Lord Robert Dudlei. 
 " And now mi Desire and Trust is, that the rather 
 " bi your godli discrete devise and diligence, through 
 " the Quene's Majesties Autorite, ernest searching 
 " and triing out of the Truethe with dwe Punish- 
 " ment, if ani be found guilte in this Mater, mai be 
 
 * openli known. For if no search nor inquire be 
 "made and known, the displeasure of God, the 
 " dishonor of the Quene, and the Danger of the 
 " whole Realme is to be feared. And bi dwe Inquire 
 " and Justice openli known sureli God shalbe wel 
 " pleased and served, the Quene's Majestie wortheli 
 " commended, and her loving subjects comfortabli 
 " quieted. The Lord God guide you by his Grace 
 " in this and all other your godli Travels, as he 
 " knoweth to be most expedient in Christ. 
 
60 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " Scriblet at Coven tre, the 1 7th of September, bi 
 " your faithfulli in Christ 
 
 " Thomas Lever. 
 
 " Unto the right Honorable Sir Francis 
 " Knolls, and Sir William Cecill, Knights, 
 " and to either of them be these dd." 
 
 Whether Leaver was satisfied with the verdict 
 of the jury, there is nothing to shew, but it may 
 be presumed he was, as no more is afterwards heard 
 of him on the subject. 
 
 There is too much reason for believing, that the 
 last part of Lady Dudley's life was embittered by 
 the estranged conduct of her husband, and was 
 passed in privacy, if not in strict seclusion, under 
 the surveillance of his dependants ; but however 
 culpable may have been his conduct towards her 
 while alive, he cannot be charged with not having 
 paid due respect to her remains, which he caused 
 to be interred in the chancel of St. Mary's Church, 
 Oxford, and her funeral to be conducted in the 
 most ostentatious manner possible, but his motives 
 for thus acting are certainly questionable ; it may 
 be, that her sad fate had induced remorse, and 
 rekindled his affection for her, and that he was 
 anxious, from a sense of duty, to discharge the 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 61 
 
 only tribute of regard left him to bestow ; or it 
 may have been merely an exhibition to dazzle the 
 eye by the costliness of the last earthly ceremony, 
 and thus allay the public feeling towards him. 
 
 The following is an account of her funeral, 
 extracted from an old manuscript volume in the 
 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, giving an account of 
 the funerals of the nobility ; the writing which is 
 extremely illegible, identifies it as having been 
 written at the date of the funeral. 
 
 " The f uner all of the Lady Amye Robsert, wife of the 
 " L d Robert Dudley, Knt. of the Garter, A . 1560. 
 (MSS. Dugdale, T. 2. fol. 77.) 
 
 " Th enterment of the right noble Lady Amy 
 " Robsert, late wyfFe to the right noble the Lord 
 " Robert Dudelley, knight and compagnion of the 
 " most noble ordre of the Garter, and M r of the 
 " horse to the Queen's most excellent mat ie , who 
 " depted out of this world on Sounday, beinge our 
 " Lady day, the viij day of September, at a keepe 
 " of one Mr. Forster, 3 myle of Oxford, the seconde 
 " yere of the reigne of o r Sov T aign lady Queen 
 " Elizabeth, by &c. Quene of Englande, Fraunce, 
 " and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. A dni 
 -1560. 
 
62 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " Fyrst, after that the said lady was thus depted 
 " out of this transsetory world, she was saffely 
 " cered and coffened, and so remayned there tyll 
 " Fry day, the day of the said Moneth of Sep- 
 
 " tember, on the w ch day she was secreately brought 
 " to Glocester College, a lytell w th out the towne of 
 " Oxford, the w ch plasse of Gloster couledge was 
 " hanged w th blake cloth, and garnesshed w th 
 " Skocheons of his armes and heres in palle, that 
 " is to say, a great chamber where the mourners 
 " did dyne, and at the chamber wher the gentle- 
 " women did dyne, and beneth the steres a great 
 " hall, all w ch places, as afforesaide, were hanged 
 " w th blake cloth, and garnesshed w th Skochions ; 
 " the howsse beinge thus furnesshed, ther the 
 " corsse remayned till the Bury all, and till suche 
 " tyme as all things were redy for the same. 
 
 " The manner of the garnessinge of the church 
 " w th the hersse. 
 
 " Item, it was appoynted that the said corsse 
 " should be buryed in o r lady church, in the said 
 " Towne of Oxfourd, the w ch churche was hanged 
 " w th blake cloth, and garnesshed w th Skocheons, 
 "and in the mydell eyle in the upper end ther 
 "was maid a hersse 4 square, contayning in 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 63 
 
 " leingth 10 fote, and in bredth 7 fote and a haulf, 
 "and in height 10 fote on the sydes, and on the 
 " tope 14 fote, and from the tope came rochements 
 " to eche corner of the said square frame, in the 
 " w ch tope of the hersse was set 2 Skochions of 
 " Armes on paste paper in metall wrought w th com- 
 "partements of gold, and bereng ther penseles 
 "round aboute them, beneth that the said tope 
 " was kevered all over w th fyne blake cloth, and in 
 " every square ther was set 3 Skochions in metall, 
 " then on the Rochements ther was set penseles of 
 " sarsenet on metall w th bages, then on the square 
 * beneth the saide Rochements went a bredth of 
 " blake velvet, on the w ch ther was pyned skocheons 
 " in metall, on eche syde 3, and on eche end 2, and 
 " at the upper eye of the velvet ther was set pen- 
 " seles round aboute, and at the neither eye ther 
 " was fastyned a Vallence of blak sarsenet wrytten 
 " w th Lres of Gold, and frynged w th a fringe of 
 " blake sylke, ther was a floor of bords, and under 
 " that flouer ther was a Vale of Bokeram w th Armes 
 " on the same, the 4 postes were kovered w th fyne 
 "blacke cloth, and on eche poste was fastened 
 " 2 Skochions, and on the top of every poste ther 
 "was a great Skochon of Armes on past paper 
 " w tlx a compartement on the nether parte of the 
 
64 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " rayles of the saide hersse was hanged doubled w th 
 " blake cloth and garnesshed w th Skochions. Then 
 " 4 foote from the same hersse went a Rayll of 
 " Tymber, the w ch was covered w th blake and gar- 
 " nesshed w th Skochions in lyke manner as aforsaid, 
 " and between the said ralle and the hersse ther 
 " was set vij stoles, that is to say, at the hedd one, 
 " and on eche syde 3, the w ch were covered w th 
 " blake cloth, and cushions at the same to kneel 
 " on, the quere was also hounge and garnesshed in 
 " like manner, and at the upper end of the said 
 " quere was maid a vaute of bryke, where the said 
 " corsse was buryed. Thus all things redy, the 
 " day of the buryall was appoynted, the w ch was 
 " Sonday, the day of Sept r , on the w ch 
 
 " day they proceed to the Churche in lyke 
 " manner. 
 
 « w th 
 
 a 
 
 The Order of the pro ceding e to the churche 
 the said Corsse from Gloster Colledge to 
 o r Lady churche in Oxforde. 
 
 " Furste the 2 Conducters w th blake staves in 
 " there Hands to led the way. 
 
 " Then the pore men and women in gownes to 
 " the nomber of 80. 
 
 " The Universities 2 and 2 together, accordinge 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 65 
 
 " to the degres of the Colleges, and before every 
 " housse, ther officers w th ther staves. 
 
 "Then the quere in surplesses singenge, and 
 " after them the Minester. 
 
 "Then R crosse pursuvant in his mournyng- 
 " gowne, his hod on his hed, and his cote of armes 
 " on his bake. 
 
 " Then gentillmen having blake gownes w th ther 
 " hoods on ther shoulders. 
 
 " Then Lancaster herauld in his longe gowne, 
 " his hod on his hed. 
 
 " Then the baner of Armes borne by Mr. Appel- 
 " yard in his longe gowne, his hod on his hed. 
 
 " Then Clarenceulx King of Armes, in his longe 
 " gowne, and his hood on his hed, and in his cote 
 " of armes. 
 
 " Then the Corpes borne by 8 talle yeomen, for 
 " that the wey was farre, and 4 assystants to them, 
 " and on eche syde of the Corsse went 2 assystants 
 "touching the corsse in long gownes, and ther 
 " hoods on ther hedds, and on eche corner a ba- 
 " nerolle borne by a gentleman in a long gowne, 
 " his hod on his hed. 
 
 " Then the CheifFe Morner, Mrs. Norrys, daugh- 
 " ter and heyre of the lord Wylliams of Thame, 
 " her Trayne borne by Mrs. Butteller the younger, 
 
66 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " she beinge assysted by Sir Richard Blunte, 
 " Knight. 
 
 " Then Mrs. Wayneman and my lady Pollard. 
 
 "Then Mrs. D'oylly and Mrs. Butteller the 
 " elder. 
 
 H Then Mrs. Blunte and Mrs. Mutlowe. 
 
 " Then 3 yeomen in blak cotes to seperate the 
 " morners from the other gentlewomen. 
 
 " Then all other gentlewomen, having blake, 
 " 2 and 2. 
 
 " Then all yeomen 2 and 2 in blake cotes. 
 
 " Then the Mayor of Oxford and his brethren. 
 
 " Then after them all that would, and in this 
 u ordre they proceed to the Church in at the West 
 " dore, and so to the hersse wher the corsse was 
 " plased, and on eche syde of the hersse w th out the 
 " ralles stod 2 gentlemen holdinge the bannerroles, 
 " and at the fete stod he that held the great banner, 
 " then the Mourners were plased, the Chief at the 
 " hed, and on eche syde 3, thus every man plassed, 
 " the service began ; first, sarteyne prayers, then 
 " the 10 Commandments, the quere answering in 
 " Peyke-songe, then the Pystle and the Gospell 
 " began, and after the gospell the ofFeringe began 
 " in manner following. 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 67 
 
 "First, 
 " The order of the qfferinge. 
 
 " Fyrste the Cheff mourner came fourth having 
 "before her the Officers of Armes, her trayne 
 " beinge borne, the assystants ledyng her, and the 
 " other morners followinge her, went to the offer- 
 "inge and offered, and retorned agayne to the 
 " hersse. 
 
 " Then after she had maid her obeyssyance to 
 " the Corsse, she went up agayne, havinge before 
 " her Garter, and offered for herself and retorned, 
 
 " Then offered the Assystants to the Chieffe 
 " Morner, and the other 4 Assystants having Cla- 
 " renceulx before them. 
 
 "Then offered the other 6 Morners 2 after 2, 
 " having before them Lancaster herauld. 
 
 " Then offered all gentillmen 2 and 2, havinge 
 " the Ruge Crosse pursevante before them. 
 
 "Then the Mayor and his brethren offered, 
 " having ah offycer of Armes before them. 
 
 " Item, the offering thus don, the Sermon began, 
 " made by Doctor Babyngton, Doctor of Devynytie, 
 " whoes antheme was, Beati mortui qui in Domino 
 " moriuntur? 
 
 f2 
 
86 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 In the above detailed account, there is an 
 omission of the day, on which the body was 
 removed from Cumnor to Oxford ; but from the 
 fact of Blount's last letter being dated the 13th, 
 and the inquest then pending, no doubt the body 
 was then lying at the Mansion of Cumnor Place ; and 
 if such was the case, then the date may be supplied 
 the 20th, and the interment on Sunday the 22d. 
 Independently of which, it would have been almost 
 an impossibility for arrangements on so costly and 
 extensive a scale to have been completed before 
 the last-named day. 
 
 The Court, which at the time was staying at 
 Hampton, exhibited on the occasion a degree of 
 respect quite unusual ; unquestionably by the 
 Queen's order, with a view both to shield Dudley 
 from the malicious attacks of his enemies, and to 
 mark her Majesty's approval of the termination of 
 the very serious charge which had been so publicly 
 made against him. This appears by the following 
 extract from a letter in the Cotton MSS. Vesp. F. xii. 
 f. 151. dated October 6, 1560, written by William 
 Honyng to the Earl of Essex, then Lieutenant of 
 Ireland. 
 
 " The say'd berer seeth the corte stuffed with 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 69 
 
 u morners (yea many of the better sort in degree) 
 "for the L Robertes wief, who was uppon the 
 " mischauncing death buried in the hed Churche 
 " of the University of Oxford, the cost of the 
 " funerelles estemed at better than jj m 1 marks." 
 
 The news of Lady Dudley's death, and the pre- 
 valent reports of her having been murdered, soon 
 spread to the continent, where they appear to have 
 created as much if not more excitement than in this 
 country, and to have led to a surmise that it was the 
 Queen's intention to marry Dudley ; and so much 
 importance did Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, then Am- 
 bassador in France, attach or pretend to attach to 
 the rumours, that in the month of November suc- 
 ceeding, he dispatched one of his suite, a Mr. Jones, 
 specially to England, to communicate them to his 
 Sovereign, and of his interview with Elizabeth. 
 Jones gives the following account. 
 
 " When a I came to the point that touched his 
 " case, which I set forth in as vehement terms as 
 "the case required, that the Duke's hatred was 
 " rather to her than to the Queen her sister, she 
 " laughed, and forthwith turned herself to the one 
 " side and to the other, and set her hand upon her 
 a Printed in Lord Hardwicke's State Papers, i. 1.65.. 
 
70 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 "face. She thereupon told me, that the matter 
 " had been tried by the country, and found to be 
 " contrary to that which was reported, saying that 
 " he was then in the Court, and none of his at the 
 " attempt at his wife's house, and that it fell out as 
 "should neither touch his honesty or his honor; 
 " quoth she, My Ambassador knoweth somewhat 
 " of my mind on these matters." 
 
 At this particular time the French people were 
 strongly incensed against Elizabeth, on the ground 
 of her religious faith, and they were taught to look 
 upon her as the usurper of the rights of her 
 cousin Mary Queen of Scots to the crown of 
 England ; it is not therefore a matter of so much 
 surprise, that they should embrace the opportunity 
 thus offered of defaming her. Throgmorton too 
 was both in creed and politics the opponent of 
 Dudley, and, notwithstanding Jones's mission, and 
 the strongly expressed opinion of his royal mistress 
 on the subject of Lady Dudley's death, he was either 
 unable or careless to appease the clamour with 
 which he was on all sides surrounded, or to check 
 the scandal of the Queen's alleged determination 
 to marry Dudley. In this state of affairs, Sir 
 Nicholas addresses a letter to Secretary Cecil, 
 from which the following extract is taken. 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 71 
 
 (( b 
 
 I looked by your last to be somewhat satisfied 
 " touching the greatest matter of all, I mean the 
 " Queen's marriage : I know not what to think, or 
 " how to understand your letter in that point. And 
 " the bruits be so brim and so maliciously reported 
 " here touching the marriage of the Lord Robert 
 " and the death of his wife, as I know not where 
 " to turn me, nor what countenance to bear. Sir, 
 " I thank God I had rather perish and quail with 
 " honesty, than live and beguile a little time with 
 "shame. And therefore I tell you plainly, until 
 "I hear off or on what you think in that 
 " matter, I see no reason in the advising of her 
 " Majesty. Marry, to you I say in private, that 
 " albeit I do like him for some respects well, and 
 " esteem him for many good parts and gifts of 
 ** nature that be in him, and do wish him well to 
 " do : yet the love, duty, and affection that I bear 
 "to the Queen's Majesty, and to the surety of 
 tf herself and her realm, doth and shall during my 
 " life, take more place in me than any friendship 
 u or any particular case. And therefore I say, if 
 "that marrige take place, I know not to what 
 " purpose any advice or counsel should be given, 
 " for as I see into the matter none would serve." 
 b Hardwicke State Papers, vol. i. p. 121. 
 
72 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 Although there is nothing like authentic inform- 
 ation, that in England Dudley was immediately 
 upon his wife's death branded with the charge of 
 procuring her destruction, in the hope of marrying 
 Elizabeth, yet there can be little if any doubt, 
 of that being the imputation shortly afterwards 
 openly reported against him ; and it would 
 seem from the following verse, in a poetical 
 and most severe libel, entitled " Leycester's Ghost," 
 published after his death, that this censorious 
 observation had its source among the Queen's 
 enemies in France, 
 
 " They were to blame that said the Queen should marry 
 " With mee, her horsekeeper, for so they told mee ; 
 " But thou, Throgmorton, which this tale did carry 
 " From France to England, has most sharply gald mee, 
 ■" Sith my good Queene in office high extol'd mee; 
 ft For I was master of her highnesse horse, 
 " I scorn'd thy words, which did my hate inforce." 
 
 It is, however, beyond a question, that Dudley 
 did, after his wife's death, cherish the hope of being 
 honoured with the hand of his Sovereign, and that 
 the propriety of such an alliance was discussed at 
 a meeting of the Privy Council, in April, 1566, 
 when Cecil assigned the reasons that follow for not 
 sanctioning it, one of which proves that time had 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 73 
 
 not removed from his mind the rumour, true or 
 false, of his having been privy to his wife's destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 [From a minute of Secretary Cecil.] 
 
 " De matrimonio Reginas Anglise cum extero 
 " principe, April, 1566. 
 
 " Reasons against E. of L — 
 
 " I. Nothing is increased by Marriadg of hym 
 "either in Riches, Estimation, Power. 
 
 "II. It will be thought that the slanderoos 
 
 " Speches of the Quene with the Erie have been 
 
 " trewe. 
 
 "III. He shall study nothing but to enhanss 
 
 " his owne particular Frends to Welth, to Officees, 
 
 u to Lands, and to offend others. 
 
 " Sir H. Sydney Middlemore 
 
 " Erl Warwyk Colshill 
 
 " Sir James Croft Wyseman 
 
 " Henry Dudley Killigrew 
 
 " Sir Fran. Jobson John Dudley 
 
 "Apleyard 1.1. Christmas 
 
 " Hornsey Fostar 
 
 " Layghton Ellyss 
 
 « Mollynex Middleton 
 
 " IV. He is infamed by deth of his wifF. 
 " V. He is farr in Debt. 
 
74 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 " VI. He is lyke to prove unkynd or gelooss of 
 " the Queries Majesty ." 
 
 There can be no difference of opinion of Queen 
 Elizabeth having entertained feelings of great regard 
 for Dudley ; but at the same time it is very much to 
 be doubted whether she ever had an intention of 
 making him her husband, although it is well 
 authenticated that she proposed him as such to 
 her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, and that she 
 showered on him almost every favour and honour 
 in her power to bestow. But, notwithstanding all 
 his influence, he was unable to stifle the odium of 
 criminality in his wife's death, and his enemies took 
 especial care not to omit an opportunity in re- 
 proaching him with it. About the year 1584, one of 
 the most virulent libels ever written was published 
 against him on the continent, the authorship of 
 which is attributed to Parsons the Jesuit; and upon 
 its appearing in this country, it was repudiated by 
 the Queen in council, on the 20thjof June in 
 the succeeding year, in a letter addressed to the 
 Magistrates of Cheshire, wherein it is stated, 
 
 " Her Highness not only knoweth to assured 
 " certainty the books and libels against the said 
 
 * Haynes, Burghley Papers, p. 444. 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 75 
 
 " Earl to be most malicious, false, and scandalous, 
 V and such as none but an incarnate devil could 
 " dream to be true, &c." 
 
 The book was composed in the form of a dialogue 
 between a Scholar, a Gentleman, and a Lawyer, and 
 is entitled, "■ Secret Memoirs of Robert Dudley, 
 Earl of Leicester," and is also known under the 
 title, " Leicester's Commonwealth ;" and such parts 
 as apply to the death of Lady Dudley are printed 
 in the Appendix, H. 
 
 Leicester died on the 4th of September, 1588 ; 
 but even his death did not appease the malice of 
 his enemies ; for shortly afterwards, another libel, 
 quite as bitter as the one last cited, was composed, 
 and is preserved in the British Museum, MS. Addit. 
 1926. It relates, that his spirit on leaving this 
 world was met in the air by an evil spirit, named 
 Sarcotheos, who deceived him by inscribing on his 
 forehead the words, Lettice, Amys, as a passport to 
 heaven ; but on arriving at its portal, he was told 
 by Peter, " Sarcotheos hath wrighten upon your 
 " forehead the names of both your wiefs, namely, 
 " of the Lady Amy your first wief, and of the Lady 
 " Lettice your last wief ; and he hath written them 
 " both in blude, to shew that you lefte the one and 
 " got the other with murder and blude." But this 
 
76 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 was not the only defamatory publication that fol- 
 lowed Leicester's decease ; the one from which an 
 extract has already been made, viz. Leycester's 
 Ghost, appeared about the same time, and contains 
 the verses in the Appendix, I. 
 
 Lady Dudley's death continued the talk and 
 tradition of the village ; and when Anthony Wood 
 visited Cumnor, its character and circumstances 
 had lost nothing by repetition, and there are un- 
 mistakeable marks of exaggeration and untruth in 
 the statements at this period ; for it is impossible to 
 suppose, that any other verdict than that of murder 
 could have been returned, if what Wood heard 
 there had been true. He thus notes the purport of 
 the information he acquired, in the MS. vol. before 
 cited from. 
 
 " In this house (Cumnor Place) is a chamber, 
 " called Dudley's chamber, the reason of which is, 
 " y* w 11 Dudly E of Leicest was L d hereof, his wife 
 " would often retire to this place to live, Forster 
 " abovesaid being then Tenant. Att this time 
 " y e E of Leicest then lived at the y e Court, being 
 " oe of the chiefe under Q Eliz. and being a very 
 " handsome proper man, it was rumor'd y* he was 
 " to marry, and thought y* y e Q (if he was a 
 " Batchelour or Widower) might expect to make 
 
THE LAt>Y AMY DUDLEY. 77 
 
 " him her husband : to effect which, he layed a 
 "plott with y e abovesaid Forster, his Tenant, to 
 "make away his wife, and upo y e condition he 
 " would doe it, he would give y* L d ship soe long 
 " as he live : y e Plot being laid, and y e night 
 * appointed, they make advantage to convey her 
 " to another chamber, where her bed's head should 
 " stand just against a do ore which she did not 
 " know off : in y e middle of y e night cae a man 
 " with a spitt in his hand, open the privy doore, 
 " run y e spitt into her head, and tumbled her downe 
 " staires, to make y e people believe she had killed 
 " herself : they bury her immediatly, but her 
 " father caused her to be taken up again, enquires 
 " into y e business, and prosecutes it." 
 
 John Aubrey was the next who wrote an account 
 of Lady Dudley's death ; and he, it would seem, 
 borrowed largely from the Secret Memoirs, adding 
 the then tradition of the village, which, in the 
 main fact of the perpetration, differs widely from 
 that recorded by Wood. Aubrey states, she was 
 either stifled or strangled before being thrown 
 down stairs ; but he follows Wood in the erroneous 
 assertions that were made respecting her burial, 
 and the part taken by her father. Ashmole tran- 
 scribed from Aubrey, and inserted it in his History 
 
78 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 and Antiquities of Berkshire, where Sir Walter 
 Scott read it. The account as published in Ash- 
 mole will be found in the Appendix, K, and also in 
 the preface to the later editions of Kenilworth. 
 
 The occurrence was next destined to assume 
 the form of a ballad. The author of this beautiful 
 composition, from which originated the novel of 
 Kenilworth, and with which Sir Walter Scott 
 expressed himself " particularly pleased," was Wil- 
 liam Julius Mickle, a native of Scotland, born 
 about the year 1733, afterwards a corrector to the 
 Clarendon press at Oxford, and author of the 
 Lusiad of Camoens, the Concubine, and other 
 poems, and who died at Wheatley near that city, 
 October 25, 1788. At what period he wrote the 
 ballad does not seem to be ascertained ; but in it 
 Lady Dudley is for the first time styled Countess 
 of Leicester, a title she never attained, as that 
 dignity was not conferred on her husband until 
 the year 1563, three years after her death. Upon 
 the appearance of the novel, the villagers were 
 at first confounded by the inquiries made of them 
 respecting the murder of the Countess ; as they 
 had never heard of any other name in connexion 
 with the tale of her death at the mansion than 
 that of Madame or Lady Dudley. The poem, 
 which is printed in the Appendix, L, may be found 
 
THE LADV AMY DUDLEY. 79 
 
 in Evans's Collection of Ancient Ballads, vol. iv. 
 p. 130. 
 
 All writers, but more especially modern ones, 
 have viewed the death of Lady Dudley in the 
 most unfavourable light, both towards her hus- 
 band and Forster ; but the present state of public 
 opinion respecting it has been produced more 
 by the erroneous assertions of Sir Walter Scott, 
 than from what is historically known of the 
 circumstances. The investigation by the coroner 
 appears not to have been preserved in the tra- 
 ditions of the village, and must have been soon 
 forgotten by the inhabitants ; indeed, the fact had 
 not been satisfactorily established, and was dis- 
 trusted, until the correspondence between Dudley 
 and Blount was discovered, and which was first 
 published by Craik as an Appendix to vol. i. of the 
 Romance of the Peerage. It cannot therefore be 
 wondered that the affair should have been scanned 
 with a prejudiced eye, and it is for these reasons 
 the judgment and opinions of modern authors have 
 not been noticed in this memoir. 
 
 It is apparent, that, before the event happened, 
 all regard on the part of Dudley for his wife had 
 ceased ; as in the whole of the correspondence with 
 Blount, there is not one expression of affection 
 towards her, nor one passage from which it may 
 
80 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 be gleaned that he felt one pang of regret, or was 
 even shocked at the melancholy way in which she 
 had suddenly died ; and his chief concern and care 
 are throughout, how best he can satisfy the world, 
 that if she really had come to her end by an act 
 of violence, that there was no ground for saying 
 that he was tainted with the crime. 
 
 It is certainly mysterious, that both he and 
 Blount should have anticipated, immediately on 
 hearing of her death, a public outcry, as if it 
 must have resulted from violence ; and but for 
 these strange surmises entertained and avowed by 
 them, it may fairly be said, that the letters that 
 passed between Dudley and Blount during the 
 inquest contain nothing but what perfectly in- 
 nocent men might have written; there is, how- 
 ever, one way of accounting for their surmises, 
 which has before been adverted to ; and if that 
 should be received, although it may relieve 
 Dudley's memory of the heavy charge of being 
 a participator in the murder of his wife, it 
 must fix on him the character of a heartless, 
 unkind, as well as an unfaithful husband. Blount 
 in his first letter insinuates the probability of her 
 having committed an act of self-destruction ; and 
 states, that one of her attendants had frequently 
 heard her pray to God to deliver her from 
 
THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 81 
 
 desperation, and that his belief was, her mind 
 was affected. That such was the state to which 
 she was reduced cannot be wondered at, as she 
 could not well have been kept in ignorance of the 
 notoriety of her husband's attentions to others, 
 which, with his neglect of her, she must have felt- 
 most acutely, in the retirement in which she lived 
 at Cumnor. And if his conduct as a husband had 
 thus been notoriously cruel, he might well conjecture 
 so sudden and extraordinary an accident would give 
 rise to such an imputation among his enemies. 
 
 Many parts of the current story have now been 
 proved to be void of foundation ; the misrepresent- 
 ation of Forster's having occupied Cumnor Place 
 as Dudley's tenant, at the time of Lady Dudley's 
 death, and the misstatement of the hasty and 
 obscure burial of her body, and its exhumation 
 previous to the inquest, testify how little regard 
 can be attached to the allegations in the libels; 
 while the exaggerations in the manuscript of Wood, 
 and the publications of Aubrey and Ashmole, ex- 
 emplify the fallacy, and utter impossibility, of at 
 all relying on the traditions of the village. Dudley 
 especially, when three years afterwards he became 
 Earl of Leicester, had his enemies, not the least of 
 whom were Cecil and Throgmorton, the weight of 
 
 G 
 
82 THE LADY AMY DUDLEY. 
 
 whose opinions must have seriously prejudiced any 
 attempt on his part to eradicate the impressions 
 amongst the community at large. 
 
 All the documents that have been discovered, 
 having any claim to originality, have been chro- 
 nologically arranged, and inserted in this publica- 
 tion, and from them the reader will be best able to 
 form a correct judgment. 
 
 Lady Dudley left no issue, nor is she supposed 
 to have had any. As regards her character, there 
 is but one source from which an opinion can be 
 formed, and that is her letter, which leads to the 
 conclusion, that at the time it was written, she had 
 but little of the society of her husband ; that she 
 spent her life in country retirement, busying herself 
 in his welfare and concerns, and was unaccustomed 
 to join the courtly circles in which he was always 
 conspicuous. It proves her to have been a woman 
 endowed with a meek, amiable, and considerate 
 disposition, and possessing a deep affection for her 
 husband; indeed, almost every passage of the letter 
 bears traces, that though she might have been 
 deficient in the graces and arts that would have 
 enabled her to shine as Dudley's wife at court, in 
 her nature were implanted the virtues and amiable 
 qualities that best adorn the female character. 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER, ESQ. 
 
 Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, 
 Till we can clear these ambiguities, 
 And know their spring, their head, their true descent. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 After the lapse of nearly three centuries, it 
 cannot be expected that much material will remain 
 for the biography of one, who neither attained any 
 very elevated position, nor acquired fame enough 
 to stamp his name in the annals of history, or to 
 mark his character and career above others of his 
 class and age. If it were not for the modern 
 revival of aspersions on him in connection with 
 the death of Lady Dudley, the existence of such a 
 person would by this time have been forgotten, or 
 his name known only to the few who might chance 
 to read his epitaph in Cumnor church ; any memoir 
 of him therefore must necessarily be both brief and 
 imperfect. 
 
 g2 
 
84 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 He was the fourth and youngest son of Richard 
 Forster, of Evelith, in the parish of Shifnal, Shrop- 
 shire, by Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Gresley. 
 In this district the family had been very early 
 settled. The first of whom there is any authentic 
 record was Roger, who followed the vocation of 
 a forester, and was keeper of the haia a of the 
 Wreken forest, and died at Wellington in that 
 neighbourhood in the reign of Edward the First. 
 The following verification of this statement is taken 
 from the Calenclarium Inquisitiones post mortem, 
 which contains extracts of the returns to the 
 inquiries instituted by the crown, to ascertain 
 of what land a party, who had died, was possessed 
 at the time of his death. 
 
 6 Edward I. No. 108 b . 
 
 Roger' le, Forestarius Roger the Forester of 
 
 de Welington. Wellington. 
 
 Welington haya, ex- Wellington, a haia ex- 
 tent infra forestam, de tending within the forest 
 Wreken e. of Wreken. 
 
 From Roger may be traced, by means of the 
 same work, the succession of the family, pursuing 
 
 a Appendix, note M. b Vol. i. p. G5. 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 85 
 
 the like employment, until the year 1466, when the 
 property and office, which for several generations 
 had been held by them, escheated to the crown. 
 
 7 Edward I. No. 78 c . 
 
 Robertus Forester. Robert Forester. 
 
 Welynton una vir- Wellington one yard 
 gata terr' Ballia forestarii land the bailiwick of the 
 de monte Gilberti. forester of Gilbert's hill. 
 
 Notes (n). 
 
 13 Edward I. No. 2/ 
 
 Roger' le Forester de Roger the forester of 
 Welington. Wellington. 
 
 Welington haia ballia, Wellington, the haia, 
 
 the bailiwick. 
 
 9 Edward III. No. 14. e 
 
 Johannes Alius et h se- 
 res Rogeri le forester de 
 Welynton. 
 
 Probatio setatis. 
 
 John the son and heir 
 of Roger the forester of 
 Wellington. 
 
 Proof of his age. 
 
 Vol. i. p. 
 
 Id. p. 85. 
 
 Vol. ix. p. 440, 
 
86 
 
 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 24 Edward III. No. 46/ 
 Joh'es le Forester John the forester Wei- 
 Welyton. lington. 
 
 Una caruc' terr' &c. 
 per servic' custodiendi 
 mediet' forestar' de Wre- 
 kenne, 
 
 19 Richard 
 WiU'us Forester de 
 Welyngton, 
 
 Welyngton una noca 
 terr' contin' quartam par- 
 tem unius caruc' terr'. 
 Wreken forest custod' 
 haie ibni. 
 
 Welyngton unum mes- 
 suag' duo burgag' et 
 unum cottag' et unum 
 messuag' vocat Whites 
 Place et sex assarte vo- 
 cate le Stockinges infra 
 bundas haie predicte. 
 
 One carucate of land, 
 &c. by the service of 
 keeping half the forester- 
 ship of Wreken. 
 
 II. No. 27. g 
 
 William Forester of 
 Wellington, 
 
 Wellington one nook 
 of land containing the 
 fourth part of a carucate 
 of land. Wreken forest 
 the custody of the haia 
 there, 
 
 Wellington one mes- 
 suage, two burgages, and 
 one cottage, and one 
 messuage called White's 
 Place, and six assartes 
 called the Stockings 
 within the bounds of 
 the haia aforesaid. 
 
 f Vol. ii. p. 164. 
 
 g Vol. iii. p. 190, 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 87 
 
 21 Richard II. No. 27. h 
 
 Rogerus Forster de Roger Forster of Wel- 
 Welynton. lington. 
 
 Welynton haye cha- Wellington the chace 
 cea. of the haia. 
 
 3 Henry IV. No. 6. 1 
 
 Roger' Forster Wei- Roger Forster, Weh 
 
 ington. lington. 
 
 Una noca terre per One nook of land by 
 
 serjanciam custodiendi the serjeantry of keeping 
 
 haiam in foresta de the haia in the forest of 
 
 Wreken. Wreken. 
 
 20 and 21 Hen. VI. No. 15. k 
 Rogerius Forster Wei- Roger Forster, Wel- 
 ynton. lington. 
 
 Una noca terr' ibm One nook of land 
 contin' 4 partem, 1 car' there, containing the 
 terr' ac divers' messuag' fourth part of one caru- 
 et terr' ibm. Wreken cate of land, and divers 
 forest ballia. messuages and lands 
 
 there. Wreken the bai- 
 liwick of the forest. 
 
 h Id. p. 220. 
 
 k Vol. iv. p. 210. 
 
 1 Vol. iii. p. 283. 
 
88 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 Escaet' de anno quinto Eschaets in the 5th of 
 
 Edwardi Quarti. No. 3. 1 Edward theFourth.No.3. 
 
 Joh'es Forster. John Forster. 
 
 Welynton terr', &c. Wellington, lands, &c. 
 
 ibm. there. 
 
 Wreken custodia fo- Wreken the custody 
 
 rest as. of the forest. 
 
 The above extracts indisputably prove, that at 
 an early period the Forsters were domiciled at 
 Wellington, filling what was then an honourable 
 office, but they do not appear to have possessed 
 extensive landed property ; still they must have had 
 what in those days was considered a good estate; 
 and although there are no public documents by 
 which their continuance in this locality can be 
 proved, after John had forfeited the estate and 
 office, the fact has been established from other 
 sources down to the close of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 The adoption of the name of Forster seems to 
 have commenced with Roger, who died about the 
 year 1398, and is merely an abridgment of the word 
 forester, the family avocation, respecting which, it 
 may not be out of place to offer a few remarks. 
 1 Vol. iv. p. 329. 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 89 
 
 The occupation was, during the time the forest 
 laws were in their full rigour, considered an honour- 
 able one, and those who had sufficient interest to 
 obtain an appointment in the royal service, were 
 inducted by letters patent under the great seal ; 
 some however held the office in fee, paying to the 
 King an annual fee farm rent out of the emolu- 
 ments ; but in all cases, previous to entering on the 
 duties, an oath was required to be taken, expressly 
 stipulating a faithful discharge of them m . 
 
 In Manwood's forest laws, one of the customs to 
 be performed at the general assize of the county 
 is thus described, and in its fulfilment, the badge 
 of the chace, and the device of those who thus 
 anciently trace their descent, is prominently em- 
 ployed. 
 
 " Every forester is bound to appear at the 
 "justice seat; and when he is called, he ought to 
 " deliver his horn upon his knees to the Justice in 
 "eyre, which is then delivered to the Marshall; 
 " and he pays the fine of six and eight pence before 
 " 'tis redelivered." 
 
 In more civilized times, the family fixed their 
 abode at Evelith, which, in the inscription on 
 
 111 See Appendix, 0. 
 
90 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 Anthony Forster's tomb in Cumnor church, is 
 termed Iphlethse. 
 
 John, the grandfather of Anthony, was the first 
 of his race who can be identified as residing at 
 Evelith ; but in all probability before his day it 
 had become their seat. John married Isabel 
 Kuffln, of Abertanet, in Montgomeryshire, but 
 when he died is unknown. He was succeeded by 
 his eldest son Richard, mentioned at the beginning 
 of this memoir, who died in 1524, and left four 
 sons, Thomas, William, Michael, and Anthony, the 
 subject of these remarks. Thomas succeeded to 
 the patrimony, and married Frances GifFord, and 
 died A. D. 1567. 
 
 When Anthony was born, cannot now be ascer- 
 tained ; but it may fairly be presumed, his birth took 
 place somewhere about the year 1510, and that he 
 received an education in advance of the times, 
 commenced probably under his relative Thomas 
 Forster, who was prior of the neighbouring eccle- 
 siastical institution at Woombridge, warden of 
 Tong, and vicar of Shifnal, who died in 1520, and 
 to whose memory an altar tomb remains in Shifnal 
 church. The period of his marriage is also un- 
 certain, but maybe placed between the years 1530 
 and 1540 ; he espoused Ann, daughter of Reginald 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 91 
 
 Williams, of Burghfield, Berks, who was the eldest 
 son of Sir John Williams of that place, and the 
 brother of Lord Williams of Thame ; this con- 
 nection gave Anthony Forster an introduction into 
 the best society of the age. 
 
 At the dissolution of the monasteries, he seems to 
 have had both influence and opportunities of ac- 
 quiring a fortune, of which he availed himself. In 
 1544, he obtained, jointly with Richard Ingram, a 
 grant from the crown of the manor of Sidilmington, 
 and other estates in the counties of Worcester and 
 Warwick 111 ; and in the ensuing year, the manor of 
 Little Wenlock n , and other property in Shropshire. 
 
 In October, 1559, he lost his wife's noble relative, 
 Lord Williams, with whose friendship it may be 
 assumed he was honoured until his death, as he 
 attended his funeral as one of the four banneral 
 bearers, being placed in the procession (according 
 to a manuscript account of the funeral still extant 
 in the Ashmolean library) on the right, at the head 
 of the coffin. 
 
 Until Forster came to Cumnor, nothing whatever 
 is known of where he lived ; and the most er- 
 roneous notions, as to his occupation of that 
 mansion, have been entertained. In the first libel 
 m Jones, Index, vol. i. n Ibid. 
 
92 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 referred to, in the biography of Lady Dudley, he is 
 described as tenant to Dudley. Wood, Aubrey, 
 and Ashmole, all adopt the same supposition ; but 
 it has been already shewn, that when her Lady- 
 ship's death happened, the mansion and estate 
 belonged to William Owen, of whom Forster in 
 the following year bought it, and subsequently the 
 lordship of the hundred of Hormer. 
 
 Having acquired a rather large landed property, 
 and being closely allied to families of distinction, as 
 a matter of course he became a man of importance 
 in the neighbourhood ; while the superiority of his 
 education, and the refinement of his pursuits, brought 
 him in contact, and gave him a standing, with the 
 members of the adjoining University. In 1562, 
 scarcely a year and a half after the alleged murder 
 under his roof, when a catholic movement broke 
 out at Merton College, Oxford, and the fellows 
 closed the gates, and refused to admit Dr. Mann, 
 on whom the wardenship had been conferred by 
 the patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Forster, 
 is found taking an active part in the inforcement 
 of order ; and it may be observed, that at the time 
 of this tumult, Dudley held no appointment in the 
 University, and therefore the appearance of Forster 
 could not, as some might imagine, have been as his 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 93 
 
 deputy, or as supported by his interest. Wood 
 thus describes the scene. 
 
 " Soon after the new Warden comes to Oxford, 
 u and the next day, being the 30th of March, 
 " came with Dr. Babington, the Vice-Chancellor, 
 " Dr. White, Warden of New College, and others, 
 " to Merton College gate, where meeting him, 
 " certain of the Fellows gives them letters, under 
 " seal from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Patron 
 " of that College, that he should be admitted 
 " Warden thereof; but the Fellows not agreeing 
 " at that time to give answer to his desire, deferred 
 " the matter to the 2d of April ; which day being 
 " come, he appeared again at 9 of the clock in the 
 " morning, accompanied with the before-mentioned 
 " persons, Henry Norreys, of Wytham, Esq. and 
 " Anthony Forster, Gent. ; but coming to the 
 " College gate, they found it shut, by the general 
 " assent of the Fellows. At length, after he and 
 " his company had tarried there awhile, sends for 
 " Mr. John Broke, one of the senior Fellows, 
 " desiring to let him in, and admit him ; he there- 
 " fore, being of a base and false spirit, opens the 
 " gate by some means or other, and admits him. 
 " At whose entrance the Fellows were so enraged, 
 Wood's Annals, vol. ii. p. 149. 
 
94 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 " that Mr. Hawle, as 'tis reported,, gave the new 
 " Warden a box on the ear, for his presumption 
 " to enter into the gates without his leave." 
 
 From this it is evident, that Forster had forsaken 
 the religion of his forefathers, and had adopted the 
 reformed ; but in what capacity he figured in this 
 broil is not clear, and it is the only occasion in 
 which his name is mentioned in the annals of the 
 University. 
 
 It is rather singular, that an intimacy so close as 
 that which must have existed between Forster and 
 Dudley should have been formed, considering that 
 Lord Williams, with whom the former was so nearly 
 connected, had signalized himself by the prompt 
 and energetic steps he took to quell the rebellion, 
 raised by the father of the latter in favour of Lady 
 Jane Grey, and in which Dudley was so deeply 
 involved; but in whatever way the friendship origi- 
 nated, it is certain it was of no ordinary descrip- 
 tion, since Cecil, as one of his reasons why Leicester 
 should not marry the Queen, classes Forster among 
 those " his own particular friends," whom he should 
 study nothing but to enhance to wealth, to offices, 
 and to lands; a document of the date 1566, and 
 given before at page 73. 
 
 Upon the death of Oliver Hyde, in 1570, 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 95 
 
 Forster was returned as the representative in 
 parliament for the borough of Abingdon ; and 
 having the influence of Leicester, then High 
 Steward of the town, and Chancellor of the 
 University of Oxford, and being himself closely 
 associated with the place, there could have been 
 very little difficulty in his obtaining the seat, 
 which he retained the remaining short period of 
 his life. Of his political career no record remains, 
 not even a mention of his name in the journals of 
 the House ; but there can be no diversity of 
 opinion of his being a devoted adherent of Leicester 
 and his party. 
 
 During his brief representation of Abingdon, he 
 received from his constituents what at the present 
 day would be considered some rather singular pre- 
 sents, entries of which remain in the account books 
 of the corporation of that borough, and are as 
 under. 
 
 From MS. 6th Eliz. to MS. 7th Eliz. 
 
 1570. 
 
 From the Account of Thomas Mylles, Chamberlain 
 of the Borough of Abingdon. 
 
 Item, paid to master fisher for one pownde 
 " of suger, gevin to master foster, 
 
 xiv d . 
 
96 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 " Item, paid to master Stevinson for A pottyll 
 " of Claret wyne, gevyn also to master 
 " foster, 
 
 " Item, paid more to the goodman Kisbie' 
 "for a pottyll of Secke, and gevin to 
 " master foster, 
 
 y-viii d . 
 
 xii d ." 
 
 From MS. 7th Eliz. to MS. 8th Eliz. 
 
 1570. 
 
 From the Account of Thomas Milles, Chamberlain 
 of the Borough of Abingdon. 
 
 " Item, paide more to the same thomas' 
 "jeners for ii cople of capons, geven to[-viii d " 
 " master foster at london, 
 
 Forster's friendship for Leicester continued un- 
 abated until his death ; and on the fifth of No- 
 vember, 1572, when in the last stage of sickness, 
 he made his Will ; Leicester was therein named as 
 the chief object of his benefaction ; a copy of that 
 instrument will be found in the Appendix, (P.) 
 After settling his worldly affairs, a very brief space 
 only was left to him on earth ; for on the fifth 
 day after the date of the Will, he was interred 
 in the chancel of Cumnor church. His burial, 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FOHSTER. 97 
 
 which was the only one in the parish that year, 
 being thus entered in the register : 
 
 "Ano Dni 1572. 
 "Anthoni 3 foster generosus sepult. erat 10 Novem. 
 
 1572." 
 
 Two days afterwards, viz. on the twelfth, his 
 widow proved the Will in the Prerogative Court. 
 
 His monument q mentions the names of his five 
 children ; all of whom died in his lifetime, and 
 most likely previous to his coming to reside at 
 Cumnor, as there is no entry of their burials in 
 the register, which commences 1559. His widow 
 survived him twenty-seven years, and spent the 
 rest of her days at Cumnor Place, and was buried 
 with her husband in the chancel. Her burial 
 thus appears in the register : 
 
 "Ano dni 1599. 
 
 " Sepult. erat m rs . Anna fibster de Comn. 10 th die 
 
 Aprilis." 
 
 Ashmole, after describing the miserable deaths 
 of Varney, and the underling who is said to have 
 assisted Forster in the perpetration of the alleged 
 murder, thus narrates the wretched way in which he 
 
 q See page 102. 
 H 
 
98 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 says he afterwards lived. " Forster, likewise, after 
 " this fact, being a man formerly addicted to hos- 
 " pitality, mirth, and music, was afterwards observed 
 " to forsake all this, and with much melancholy and 
 "pensiveness (some say with madness) pin'd and 
 " droop'd away." But it is utterly impossible to 
 credit the account here given of the last part of 
 Forster's life. No allusion whatever is made to it 
 in either of the libels, which, it must be borne in 
 mind, were not published until long after his 
 death, while the end of Varney is in one of them 
 said to have been preceded with all the horrors of 
 a guilty conscience ; and it may be relied on, 
 that had such a report been prevalent as to 
 Forster, it would certainly have been introduced. 
 Wood does not appear to have heard of the 
 rumour, which must be considered as having 
 originated groundlessly among the gossips of the 
 village, and to have been handed down with the 
 other exaggerated traditionary tales respecting 
 Lady Dudley's death ; and it is somewhat to 
 be regretted, that those authors, who have pro- 
 mulgated the reports, should have received as 
 authentic such scandals, without endeavouring to 
 ascertain what proof there was for their foundation. 
 There are very few whose name and character 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 99 
 
 have been so widely calumniated, and whose origin 
 and life are so falsely represented, as this gentle- 
 man's ; the insinuations of a rival political party, 
 and the tattle of the village, were magnified upon 
 every repetition of the story, and, as is invariably 
 the case, time and tradition added to the horrors of 
 the tale. And last, but not least, the great novelist 
 of this age, as if universally branding him as a mur- 
 derer was insufficient for his tale, has voluntarily 
 held him up to public contempt in a new light, as 
 a man of mean birth, bodily deformed ; and after 
 loading his memory with the imputation of some 
 of the worst vices that debase human nature, has 
 depicted the close of his life with incidents so disho- 
 nourable, as to make mankind recoil at the thought 
 of such a being. In opposition to this account, it is 
 certain that he received the acquittal of the jury, 
 who investigated the mysterious and fatal accident 
 that befel Lady Dudley at his residence ; and it has 
 been shewn, that he both lived with credit ten years 
 after that event in the same neighbourhood, and 
 was chosen to represent in Parliament the Borough 
 of Abingdon ; and although in the lapse of years 
 rumour sullied his fame, the unbiassed will candidly 
 admit, that there are intimations of his habits being 
 those of refinement, and that he must have been a 
 LofC. H 2 
 
100 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 man of talent and character, to have maintained 
 such a position, and such associations ; while the 
 most prejudiced cannot do otherwise than confess, 
 that his Will discloses a disposition full of kindly 
 feeling and natural generosity. 
 
 The tomb of Forster is now looked upon as the 
 chief object of attraction at Cumnor. It is composed 
 of purbeck marble, and stands against the north 
 wall of the chancel, within the altar rails, and is 
 nine feet high by six and a half in length ; of no 
 particular order, but a mixture of the Gothic and 
 Italian schools, and in parts very ill proportioned. 
 It contains no date, which has frequently called in 
 question both the period of its erection, and the 
 fact of Forster having been buried at Cumnor. As 
 to the latter, that is conclusively proved by the 
 register, but the precise date of its erection remains 
 questionable; most probably, however, it was con- 
 structed early in the reign of Elizabeth. The ab- 
 sence of a date is not at all remarkable, as it was 
 not an uncommon thing for men of station to design 
 or select the monument which was to perpetuate 
 their memory, and even to superintend its erection ; 
 and in such instances, the date was either altogether 
 omitted, or left to be supplied after death. And to 
 a certain extent circumstances favour the supposi- 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 101 
 
 tion, that such might have occurred in this instance, 
 as there can be no doubt of Forster being equal to 
 the task, both of designing the tomb, and com- 
 posing the inscription ; besides which, dying child- 
 less, and giving as he did the bulk of his property 
 from his family, there remained behind him no 
 filial duty to demand, or any kindred obligation to 
 prompt the erection of so costly a memorial. 
 
 The monument is elevated in a basement of free 
 stone, and the plinth is ornamented with a pannel 
 enclosing quatrefoils. The front is separated into 
 three square compartments, enriched with very 
 elaborate tracery, and the sides contain one pannel 
 similarly adorned. The centre of every compart- 
 ment had a small brass plate, on which was 
 engraven a shield of arms, but those at the end 
 are now gone ; there are eight brass plates let in 
 at the back. The largest represents Forster as an 
 Esquire clad in complete armour, excepting his 
 head-piece, which is lying at his feet. Opposite is 
 the figure of his wife. Each is kneeling on a 
 cushion before a faldstool, on which lies an open 
 book. Behind the female are their three sons in 
 a similar attitude, habited like their mother, in the 
 dress of the Elizabethan age. Above the figures, a 
 brass plate bears his arms, as follows ; Quarterly, 
 
102 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 first and fourth, three huntsman's horns stringed ; 
 second and third, three phseons, their points up- 
 wards, with mantling and crest, which is a stag 
 lodged and regardant, gules, charged on the side 
 with a martlet, or, and pierced through the neck 
 with an arrow, argent. Behind his wife is a similar 
 plate with her arms ; and at his back a like plate 
 impales their two arms. 
 
 Under the figures are four other plates ; one 
 large, and the others small ; they contain the 
 following poetical record. 
 
 Anthonius Forster, generis generosa propago, 
 
 Cumnerse Dominus Barcheriensis erat ; 
 Armiger Armigero prognatus patre Ricardo, 
 
 Qui quondam Iphlethge Salopiensis erat, 
 Quatuor ex isto fluxerunt stemmate nati, 
 
 Ex isto Antonius stemmate quartus erat. 
 Mente sagax, animo prsecellens, corpore promptus, 
 
 Eloquii dulcis ore disertus erat ; 
 In faetis probitas fuit, in sermone venustas, 
 
 In vultu gravitas, religione fides ; 
 In patriam pietas, in egenos grata voluntas 
 
 Accedunt reliquis annumeranda bonis : 
 Sic, quod cuncta rapit, rapuit non omnia lethum, 
 
 Sed quse mors rapuit vivida fama dedit. 
 
 Argute resonas Citharse praetendere chordas, 
 Novit et Aonia concrepuisse lyra. 
 
MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 103 
 
 Gaudebat terrge teneras defigere plantas, 
 Et mira pulchras construere arte domos. 
 
 Composita varias lingua formare loquelas, 
 Doctus et edocta scribere multa manu. 
 
 Anna, Rainoldo Williams, fuit orta parente, 
 
 Evasit meritis Armiger ille suis ; 
 Sed minor huic frater, prasstanti laude Baronis, 
 
 Thamensis viguit gloria magna soli ; 
 Armiger ergo pater, Dominus sed Avunculus Annae ; 
 
 Clara erat his meritis clarior Anna suis, 
 Casta viro, studiosa Dei, dilecta propinquis, 
 
 Stirpe beata satis, prole beata satis. 
 Mater Iohannis, mediaque setate Roberti, 
 
 Et demum Henrici, nobilis ilia Parens, 
 Cynthia Penelope tumulo clauduntur in isto, 
 
 Anna sed hoc tumulo sola sepulta jacet. 
 
 Ashmole's translation of this epitaph, copied 
 from his Berkshire, will be found in the Ap- 
 pendix, (Q,) but it must not be considered to 
 be represented by the author as a proper 
 translation. 
 
 At the corner of the slab covering the tomb are 
 four small ill-proportioned Ionic columns, sustain- 
 ing a large canopy, the roof of which is sculptured 
 in fourteen circular pannels, with quatrefoil tracery, 
 
104 MEMOIR OF ANTHONY FORSTER. 
 
 dispersed in two rows. On each column rests a 
 small circular pinnacle; and the front of the 
 canopy is divided in the centre by another, which 
 terminates beneath in the form of a boss, and 
 is charged with three hunters' horns stringed, 
 carved in relief. The front is adorned with pannels, 
 similar to those which decorate the roof, and is 
 terminated by a cornice, in imitation of the Tudor 
 flower. 
 
 
APPENDIX AND NOTES. 
 
 Note A, page 5. 
 
 Lyson is in error on this point, the Chapel was on the 
 south side. 
 
 Note B, page 26. 
 
 A note in p. 644. vol. 5. of Collins' Peerage, gives a 
 detailed account of this Sir John Robsart's military ex- 
 ploits. His services in the Holy Land obtained the crest, 
 which has descended to, and is now borne by, the Earl of 
 Orford ; whose ancestor, Edward Walpole, Esq. married 
 Lucy, the only sister of Sir John Robsart, the father of 
 Amy ; and upon Amy's death, John, the eldest son of 
 Lucy, became the heir of the Robsart family. 
 
 Note to page 29. 
 
 Stanfield Hall, the spot rendered recently so notorious 
 by the tragical fate of its possessor, Isaac Jermy, Esq. and 
 his son. 
 
 Note C, page 31. 
 Sheen was the ancient name of Richmond. 
 
 Note E, page 35. 
 
 John Flowerdew, Esq. of Hethersett, Norfolk; his 
 fourth son, Edward, in 1584, was made a Baron of the 
 
106 APPENDIX. 
 
 Exchequer. In 1564, Edward Flowerdew, Esq. one of 
 the family, probably the after Baron and Henry a younger 
 son of Sir Robert Townsend, purchased Stanfield Hall of 
 the Appleyards. On the 19th of August, 1849, William 
 Flowerdew, Esq. a descendant of the Baron of the Ex- 
 chequer, died at Dundee at the advanced age of ninety. 
 
 Note to page 55. 
 
 Mr. Norris, here alluded to, was Henry Norris, Esq. 
 of Wytham, who had married one of the daughters and 
 coheiress of Lord Williams. 
 
 Note to page 69. 
 
 The Duke referred to by Elizabeth is Northumberland, 
 Dudley's father. 
 
 H, page 75. 
 
 In that part of the dialogue between the Scholar, the 
 Gentleman, and the Lawyer, which immediately precedes 
 the passage about to be quoted, the three concur in fixing 
 upon Leicester the crimes of first seducing the Countess 
 of Essex, and then with murdering her husband, by causing 
 him to be poisoned ; after which the Scholar thus expresses 
 himself. 
 
 " Only for the present I must advertise you, that you 
 " may not take hold so exactly of my Lord's doings in 
 " women's affairs ; neither touching their marriages, neither 
 " yet their husbands. 
 
 " For first, his Lordship hath a speciall fortune, that 
 <l when he desireth any woman's favour, then what person 
 " soever standeth in his way hath the luck to dye quickly, 
 " for the finishing of his desire. As, for example, when 
 " his Lordship was in full hope to marry her Majesty, and 
 (i his owne wife stood in his light, as he supposed, he 
 
APPENDIX. 107 
 
 " did but send her to the house of his servant Forster, 
 " of Cumver, by Oxford, where shortly after she had the 
 " chance to fall from a paire of staires, and so to breake 
 " her neck, but yet without hurting of her hood that stood 
 " upon her head. But Sir Richard Varney, who, by 
 " commandement remained with her that day alone, with 
 " one man and had sent away perforce all her servants 
 " from her to a market two miles off, he (I say) with his 
 M man can tell how she dyed, which man being afterwards 
 " taken for a felony in the Marches of Wales, and offering 
 " to publish the manner of the said murder, was made away 
 " prively in the prison; and Sir Richard himself dying 
 " about the same time in London, cried piteously, and 
 " blasphemed God, and said to a gentleman of worship of 
 " mine acquaintance, not long before his death, that all the 
 " devils in hell did tear him to pieces. The wife also of 
 " Bald Butler, kinsman to my Lord, gave out the whole 
 " fact a little before her death. But to return unto my 
 " purpose, this was my Lord's good fortune, to have his 
 " wife dye at that time when it was like to turne most to 
 " his proflte." 
 
 The discussion in an after part of the libel, turning upon 
 the alleged birth and secret burial of a child, which Lady 
 Sheffield is charged to have borne to Leicester, and to have 
 been delivered of at Dudley Castle, the following ensues. 
 
 " Lawyer. True it is, (said the Lawyer,) for he doth not 
 " poison his wives, whereat I somewhat mervaile, especially 
 " his first wife ; whom he chose rather to make away by 
 (( open violence, then by some Italian confortive. 
 
 " Hereof (said the Gentleman) may be divers reasons 
 " alledged. Fiist, that he was not at that time so skilful 
 " in those Italian wares, nor had about him so skilful 
 " physicians or chyrurgions for the purpose : nor yet, in 
 
108 APPENDIX. 
 
 " truth, doe I thinke that his minde was so settled then in 
 " mischiefe, as it hath been since. For you know that 
 " men are not desperate the first day, but doe enter into 
 " wickednesse by degrees, and that with doubt or stagger- 
 " ing of conscience at the beginning. And so he might at 
 " that time be desirous to have his wife made away, for 
 " that she letted his designement, but yet not so stony 
 " hearted as to appoint out the particular manner of her 
 " death, but rather to leave that to the discretion of the 
 " murtherer. 
 
 " Secondly, it is not unlike also that he prescribed unto 
 " Sir Richard Varney, at his going thither, that he should 
 " first attempt to kill her by poyson, and if that tooke not 
 " place, then by another way to despatch her howso- 
 " ever. And this 1 prove by the report of old Dr. Bayly, 
 " who then lived in Oxford, (another manner of man than 
 " he who now liveth about my lord of the same name,) and 
 " was Professor of the Physicke Lecture in the same Uni- 
 " versity. This learned grave man reported for a certaine, 
 " that there was a practice in Cumnor amongst the con- 
 " spiratours to have poysoned the poore lady a little before 
 " she was killed, which was attempted in this order. 
 
 " They seeing the good lady sad and heavy, (as one 
 " that knew by her handling that her death was not 
 " far off,) began to perswade her that the disease was 
 " abundance of melancholly and other humours, and there- 
 " fore would needs counsaile her to take some potion, 
 " which she absolutely refused to do, as suspecting still 
 " the worst, they sent one day (unawares to her) for Doctor 
 " Bayly, and desired him to perswade her to take some 
 " little potion at his hands, and they would send to fetch 
 " the same at Oxford upon his prescription, meaning also 
 " to have added somewhat of their own for her comfort, 
 
APPENDIX. 109 
 
 " as the doctor upon just causes suspected, seeing their 
 " great importunity and the small need the good lady 
 " had of physick; and therefore he flatly denied their 
 " request, misdoubting (as he after reported) lest if they 
 " had poisoned her under the name of his potion, he might 
 " after have been hanged for a cover of their sinne. 
 u Marry, the doctor remained well assured that, this way 
 " taking no place, she should not long escape violence, 
 " as after ensued. And this was so beaten into the heads 
 " of the principall men of the University of Oxford by these 
 " and other means, as for that she was found murthered (as 
 " all men said) by the crowner's inquest, and for that she 
 " being hastely and obscurely buried at Cumver, (which 
 " was condemned above, as not advisedly done,) my lord, 
 " to make plain to the world the great love he bare to 
 " her in her life, and what a griefe the losse of so vertuous a 
 " lady was to his tender heart, would needs have her taken 
 " up againe and reburied in the University Church at 
 " Oxford with great pomp and solemnity; that Doctor 
 " Babington, my lord's chaplain, making the publick 
 " funerall sermon at her second buriall, tript once or twice 
 " in his speech, by recommending to their memories, * that 
 " vertuous lady so pitifully murthered,' instead of l so piti- 
 " fully slaine.' 
 
 " A third cause of this manner of the ladies death may 
 " be the disposition of my lord's nature, which is bold and 
 " violent where it feareth no resistance, (as all cowardly 
 " natures are by kind,) and, where any difficulty or 
 " danger appeareth, there more ready to attempt all by 
 " art, subtilty, treason, and treachery. And so, for that 
 " he doubted no great resistance in the poore lady to 
 " withstand the hands of them which should offer to 
 " break her neck, he durst the bolder attempt the same 
 " openly." 
 
110 APPENDIX. 
 
 T, page 76. 
 
 My first wife fell downe from a paire of staires, 
 And brake her neck, and so at Cromner died, 
 Whilst her true servants, led with small affaires, 
 Unto a faire at Abbington did ride, 
 This dismal hap unto my wife betide : 
 Whether yee call it chance or destinie, 
 Too true it is, shee did untimely die. 
 
 O ! had I now a showre of teares to shed, 
 Lock't in the empty circles of mine eyes, 
 Or could I shed in mourning for the dead, 
 That lost a spouse so young, so faire, so wise, 
 So faire a corps, so foul a corse now lies ; 
 
 My hope to have married with a famous Queene, 
 Drave pity back, and kept my teares unseene. 
 
 What man so fond that would not loose a Pearle 
 To find a Diamond, leave brasse for gold ? 
 Or who would not forsake a gallant girle, 
 To winne a Queene, great men in awe to hold ? 
 To rule the State of none to her controld ; 
 " O but the steps that lead unto the throne, 
 " Are dangerous for men to tread upon." 
 
 K, page 78. 
 
 " Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a very goodly 
 " personage, and singularly well-featured, being a great 
 " favourite to Queen Elizabeth, it was thought, and 
 " commonly reported, that had he been a batchelor, or 
 
APPENDIX. Ill 
 
 " widower, the Queen would have made him her husband. 
 " To this end, to free himself of all obstacles, he com- 
 " mands his wife, or perhaps with fair nattering in treaties 
 " desires her to repose herself here at his servant Anthony 
 " Forster's house, who then lived at the aforesaid Manor- 
 " house, (Cumnor Place ;) and also prescribed to Sir 
 " Richard Varney, (a prompter to this design,) at his 
 " coming hither, that he should first attempt to poison 
 " her, and if that did not take effect, then by any other 
 " way whatsoever to dispatch her. This, it seems, was 
 " proved by the report of Dr. Walter Bayly, sometime 
 " Fellow of New College, then living in Oxford, and 
 " Professor of Physic in that University, who, because he 
 " would not consent to take away her life by poison, the 
 " Earl endeavoured to displace him from the Court. This 
 " man, it seems, reported for most certain, that there was 
 " a practice in Cumnor, among the conspirators, to have 
 " poisoned this poor innocent lady a little before she was 
 " killed, which was attempted after this manner. They, 
 " seeing the good lady sad and heavy, (as one that well 
 " knew by her other handling that her death was not far 
 " off,) began to persuade her that her present disease was 
 " abundance of melancholy, and other humours, &c. and 
 " therefore would needs counsel her to take some potion, 
 " which she, absolutely refusing to do, as still suspecting 
 " the worst : whereupon they sent a messenger on a day 
 " (unawares to her) for Dr. Bayly, and in treated him to 
 " persuade her to take some little potion by his direction, 
 " and they would fetch the same at Oxford, meaning to 
 " have added something of their own for her comfort, as 
 " the Doctor upon just cause and consideration did suspect, 
 " seeing their great importunity, and the small need the 
 " lady had of physic, and therefore he peremptorily denied 
 
112 APPENDIX. 
 
 " their request, misdoubting, (as he afterwards reported,) 
 " least if they had poisoned her under the name of 
 " his potion, he might have been hanged for a colour 
 " of their sin ; and the Doctor remained still well 
 " assured, that this way taking no effect, she would not 
 " long escape their violence, which afterwards happened 
 " thus. For Sir Richard Varney aforesaid, (the chief pro- 
 " jector in this design,) who by the Earl's order remained 
 " that day of her death alone with her, with one man only, 
 " and Forster, who had that day forcibly sent away all her 
 " servants from her to Abingdon market, about three miles 
 " distant from this place, they (I say, whether first stifling 
 " her, or else strangling her) afterwards flung her down a 
 " pair of stairs, and broke her neck, using much violence 
 " upon her ; but yet, however, though it was vulgarly 
 " reported that she by chance fell down stairs, (but yet 
 " without hurting her hood that was upon her head,) yet 
 " the inhabitants will tell you there, that she was conveyed 
 " from her usual chamber, where she lay, to another, 
 " where the bed's head of the chamber stood close to a 
 " privy postern door, where they, in the night, came and 
 " stifled her in her bed, bruised her head very much, 
 " broke her neck, and at length flung her down stairs, 
 " thereby believing the world would have thought it a 
 " mischance, and so have blinded their villainy. But 
 " behold the mercy and justice of God in revenging and 
 " discovering this Lady's murder ; for one of the persons 
 " that was a coadjutor in this murder, was afterwards taken 
 "for a felony in the Marches of Wales, and offering to 
 " publish the manner of the aforesaid murder, was privately 
 " made away with in the prison by the Earl's appointment. 
 " And Sir Richard Varney, the other, dying about the 
 " same time in London, cried miserably, and blasphemed 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 113 
 
 God, and said to a person of note, (who has related the 
 same to others since,) not long before his death, that all 
 the devils in hell did tear him in pieces. Forster likewise 
 after this fact, being a man formerly addicted to hospi- 
 tality, company, mirth, and music, was afterwards 
 observed to forsake all this, and being afTected with much 
 melancholy and pensiveness, (some say with madness,) 
 pined and drooped away. The wife too of Bald Butler, 
 kinsman to the Earl, gave out the whole fact a little 
 before her death. Neither are the following passages to be 
 forgotten : That as soon as ever she was murdered they 
 made haste to bury her, before the Coroner had given in 
 his inquest, (which the Earl himself condemned as not done 
 advisedly,) which her father, Sir John Robertsett, (as I 
 suppose,) hearing of, came with all speed hither, caused 
 her corpse to be taken up, the Coroner to sit upon her, 
 and further enquiry to be made concerning this business 
 to the full ; but it was generally thought, that the Earl 
 stopped his mouth, and made up the business betwixt 
 them ; and the good Earl, to make plain to the world 
 the great love he bare to her while alive, what a grief 
 the loss of so virtuous a Lady was to his tender heart, 
 caused (though the thing by these and other means was 
 beaten into the heads of the principal men of the 
 University of Oxford) her body to be re-buried in 
 St. Marie's Church in Oxford, with great pomp and 
 solemnity. It is remarkable, when Dr. Babington (the 
 Earl's Chaplain) did preach the funeral Sermon, he tript 
 once or twice in his speech, by recommending to their 
 memories thatvirtuousLadyso pitifully murdered, instead 
 of saying so pitifully slain. 
 
 " This Earl, after all his murders and poisonings, was 
 himself poisoned by that which was prepared for others, 
 
 I 
 
114 APPENDIX 
 
 ' * (some say by his wife,) at Cornbury Lodge, (though Baker 
 i - in his Chronicle would have had it at Killingworth,) anno 
 " 1588." 
 
 L, page 78. 
 
 CUMNER HALL. 
 
 The dews of summer night did fall, 
 The moon (sweet regent of the sky) 
 
 Silver'd the walls of Cumner Hall, 
 And many an oak that grew thereby. 
 
 Now nought was heard beneath the skies, 
 (The sounds of busy life were still,) 
 
 Save an unhappy Lady's sighs, 
 
 That issued from that lonely pile. 
 
 " Leicester," she cried, " is this thy love 
 " That thou so oft has sworn to me, 
 
 " To leave me in this lonely grove, 
 " Immur'd in shameful privity ? 
 
 " No more thou comest with lover's speed 
 " Thy once beloved bride to see ; 
 
 " But be she alive, or be she dead, 
 " I fear stern Earl's the same to thee. 
 
 t( Not so, the usage I received, 
 
 " When happy in my father's hall : 
 
 " No faithless husband then me grieved, 
 " No chilling fears did me appal. 
 
APPENDIX. 115 
 
 " I rose up with the cheerful morn, 
 
 " No lark more blithe, no flower more gay ; 
 
 " And, like the bird that haunts the thorn, 
 " So merrily sung the live long day. 
 
 " If that my beauty is but small, 
 
 " Among Court ladies all despis'd ; 
 " Why didst thou rend it from that hall, 
 
 " Where, scornful Earl, it well was priz'd ? 
 
 " And when you first to me made suit, 
 " How fair I was you oft would say ! 
 
 " And proud of conquest, pluck'd the fruit, 
 " Then left the blossom to decay, 
 
 " Yes, now neglected and despis'd, 
 
 " The rose is pale — -the lily's dead, 
 " But he that once their charms so priz'd, 
 
 "Is sure the cause those charms are fled. 
 
 " For know, when sick'ning grief doth prey, 
 " And tender love's repaid with scorn, 
 
 " The sweetest beauty will decay — 
 " What flow'ret can endure the storm ? 
 
 " A Court, I'm told, is beauty's throne, 
 
 " Where every lady's passing rare ; 
 " That, eastern flow'rs, that shame the sun, 
 
 "Are not so glowing, not so fair. 
 
 " Then, Earl, why didst thou leave the beds 
 
 " Where roses, and where lilies vie, 
 " To seek a primrose, whose pale shades 
 
 " Must sicken, when those gaudes are by ? 
 
 i2 
 
116 APPENDIX. 
 
 " 'Mong rural beauties I was one, 
 
 " Among the fields wild fiow'rs are fair ; 
 
 " Some country swain might me have won, 
 " And thought my beauty passing rare. 
 
 " But, Leicester, (or I much am wrong,) 
 " Or 'tis not beauty lures thy vows: 
 
 " Rather ambition's gilded crown 
 
 u Makes thee forget thy humble spouse. 
 
 " Then, Leicester, why, again I plead, 
 " (The injur'd surely may repine,) 
 
 " Why didst thou Wed a country maid, 
 
 " When some fair Princess might be thine ? 
 
 " Why didst thou praise my humble charms, 
 " And oh ! then leave them to decay ? 
 
 " Why didst thou win me to thy arms, 
 " Then leave to mourn the live long day ? 
 
 " The village maidens of the plain 
 
 " Salute me lowly as they go, 
 " Envious they mark my silken train, 
 
 " Nor think a Countess can have woe. 
 
 " The simple nymphs ! they little know 
 " How far more happy 's their estate— 
 
 " To smile for joy, than sigh for woe ; 
 " To be content, than to be great. 
 
 " How far less blest am I than them ? 
 
 " Daily to pine and waste with care ! 
 " Like the poor plant : that from its stem 
 
 " Divided, feels the chilling air. 
 
APPENDIX. 117 
 
 " Nor (cruel Earl) can I enjoy, 
 
 " Trie humble charms of solitude ; 
 " Your minions proud my peace destroy, 
 
 " By sullen frowns or pratings rude. 
 
 " Last night, as sad I chanced to stray, 
 " The village death bell smote my ear ; 
 
 " They wink'd aside, and seemed to say, 
 " Countess, prepare, thy end is near ! 
 
 " And now while happy peasants sleep, 
 
 " Here I sit lonely and forlorn ; 
 " No one to soothe me as I weep, 
 
 " Save Philomel on yonder thorn. 
 
 " My spirits flag — my hopes decay — 
 
 " Still that dread death bell smites my ear, 
 
 " And many a boding seems to say, 
 " Countess, prepare, thy end is near !" 
 
 Thus sore and sad that Lady grieved, 
 
 In Cumner Hall so lone and drear ; 
 And many a heartfelt sigh she heaved, 
 
 And let fall many a bitter tear. 
 
 And e'er the dawn of day appeared, 
 
 In Cumner Hall so lone and drear, 
 Full many a piercing scream was heard, 
 
 And many a cry of mortal fear. 
 
 The death bell thrice was heard to ring, 
 
 An aereal voice was heard to call ; 
 And thrice the raven flapp'd its wing 
 
 Around the tow'rs of Cumner Hall. 
 
118 APPENDIX. 
 
 The mastiff howled at village door, 
 The oaks were shatter 1 d on the green 
 
 Woe was the hour — for never more 
 That hapless Countess e'er was seen. 
 
 And in that manor now no more 
 Is cheerful feast and sprightly ball ; 
 
 For ever since that dreary hour 
 
 Have spirits haunted Cumner HalL 
 
 The village maids, with fearful glance 
 Avoid the ancient moss grown wall ; 
 
 Nor ever lead the merry dance 
 Among the groves of Cumner HalL 
 
 Full many a traveller oft hath sighed, 
 And pensive wept the Countess' fall, 
 
 As wand'ring onwards they've espied 
 The haunted tow'rs of Cumner HalL 
 
 Note M, page 84. 
 
 The Commissioners, in their Reports on the Public 
 Records, vol. i. p. 410. Desertations in Doomsday, state, 
 that " Beasts were caught by driving them into a hedge or 
 " paled park of a wood or forest, as elephants are in India, 
 " or deer in North America. This is the haia." There is 
 only mention of one haia in the forest of Wreken, and 
 there can be little if any question, but that it was situate 
 on the north side of the Wreken hill, as at this day there 
 is a large Inn, called " The Haye Gate," ten miles from 
 Shrewsbury, on the great road from Wolverhampton, 
 
APPENDIX. 119 
 
 known as the Watling street road, (the via vitelliana of 
 the Romans,) and if this was the site of the gate of the 
 haia, then the enclosure must have been bounded by this 
 Roman road on the north, and probably by an ancient 
 road by which tourists go from Haye Gate, to ascend the 
 Wreken on the west. 
 
 Note N, page 85. 
 
 The Wreken was also known as Gilbert's hill. Cam, 
 Brit. 543. 
 
 O, page 89. 
 
 " You shall truly execute the office of forester or keeper 
 " of the King's wild beasts in the walk called 
 " within the forest of you shall be of good 
 
 " behaviour yourself towards his Majesty's wild beasts, and 
 " the vert and venison of the same forest. You shall not 
 " conceal the offence of any person either in vert or venison, 
 " that shall be done within your charge, but as well the 
 " same offence as also all attachments you shall present at 
 " the next court of attachments or swainmote, which shall 
 " first happen to be holden for the same forest, and you 
 " shall to the utmost of your power maintain and keep 
 " the assize of the forest, and in all things the King's right 
 " defend, concerning the same, so long as you shall be 
 " keeper there. So help you God." 
 
120 APPExNDIX. 
 
 P, page 96. 
 ANTHONY FORSTER'S WILL. 
 
 In tg£ jSame of (Soil, gtmen. The v th daie of November, 
 In y e yeare of oure Lord god, 1572, I Anthonye Forster, of 
 Comenore, in y e Countie of Barke, Esquier, being of 
 periitt mynde and memorie, I thanke my god therfore, 
 doe make and ordeine this my last will and testamet in 
 maner and forme followinge. First, revokinge, anullinge, 
 and forsakinge all wills and testamets had or made by me 
 the saied Anthonie Forster, before this my present will 
 and testament, I do suerlie and vndoubtedlie trust and 
 assure my selfe to be saued, and to enioye the everlastinge 
 blisse of heaven, throughe the onlie mercie and meritts off 
 y e Sone of god, my Lord and M r . Christ Jesus. And so 
 bequeath my soule to the Holie Trynitie, and my bodie to 
 be buried at the discrecon of my executours. Item, I 
 give and bequeath to y e right honorable the Lord Robart, 
 Earle of Leicester, my Mannor and Lordshipe of Come- 
 nore, in the saied Countie of Barke, w th all the proffits 
 and comodities therunto belonginge, w th all and singler 
 their appurtinucs, together w th Comenore Woode, and the 
 hundred of Hornemore, and my lease of Whitley leaze, in 
 the saied Countie of Barke, To haue and to holde the saied 
 Mannor, and all other the premiss's to him and his heires 
 for euer, upon condicon tha the saied right honorable 
 Earle, his heires and assignes, shall paie, or cause to be 
 paied, one thousande twoe hundreth poundes of lawfull 
 Englishe money for the same, in maner and forme fol- 
 lowinge, That is to saie, To my welbeloued wief Anne, 
 five hundreth poundes, and to John Forster, sone of my 
 
APPENDIX. 121 
 
 brother Michaell Forster, one hundred poundes; and to 
 Richard Forster, sone and heire to my nephew George 
 Forster, one hundreth pounds; and to Robert Forster, 
 Edward Forster, and John Forster, brethren to the saied 
 Richard Forster, four tie pounds apece, viz. to euerie of 
 them fourtie pounds, and the rest of that twelue hundreth 
 pounds to myne executours towards the paymet and 
 pformance of my debts and legacies. Item, I give to 
 Thomas Dudley, Esquier, attendente vppon the saied 
 Earle, my sorrell geldinge, w ch I had of Ruffin for a 
 heriott. Item, I give and bequeath to my said wief the 
 vse off my pastures or groundes, called Longe Deane, 
 w ch I houlde by lease for diuers yeres yet to come, for and 
 during the tearme of twentie yeres yf she live so long, my 
 saied wief payeng the lords rents, and after hir decease 
 I giue my saied lease of the saied pasture to my nephew, 
 Thorns Forster of Oxford. Item, I give to my cozen, 
 Thomas Selman off Breninghm in y e Countie of Warwick, 
 one hundreth pounds of lawfull Englishe money ; and I do 
 forgive him all the debts, reckonings, and accopts that he 
 oweth me, and haue bien betwen him and me (or may be) 
 from the beginninge of the worlde to this daie. Item, I 
 giue and bequeath to the saied Thomas Forster, my 
 nephew, all my beddinge and stuffe w ch I haue lyeng in 
 my lodginge, at the signe of the catte and fidle in Flete- 
 strete in London, all writings and specialties onelie ex- 
 cepted; and doe forgiue him tenne pounds w ch he oweth 
 me by his obligacon, and for the w ch Giles Swett standeth 
 bounde w th him. Item, I giue and bequeath to my saied 
 nephew, Thorns Forster, y e revercon off one coppie houlde 
 w th in the saied Mannor of Comenore, w ch the widowe of 
 George Carter houldeth during hir widowhode, To haue 
 and to holde the same to him u for terme of his lief, 
 
122 APPENDIX. 
 
 accordinge to y e custome off the saied manor, ymediatlie 
 after the deceace, forfeyture, surrender, or season of the 
 state of y e saied widowe of George Carter. And I giue to 
 my saied cozen, Thorns Forster, fourtie poundes of Englishe 
 money, vpon condicon that he, y e saied Thomas, shall giue 
 his best helpe, councell, and furtherance to myne exe- 
 cutours for the pforminge of my will and testamet in all 
 points. Item, I giue and bequeath to my syster in lawe, 
 Edithe Staffert, one hundreth and five pounds, in re- 
 compence of all man 1 reckoninges, matters, and demaunds 
 betwen hir and me, w ch hundreth and five pounds John 
 Noorthe of Shipto, w th in the saied Countie of Berks, 
 oweth me ; and for the w ch I haue in pawne and in gage 
 the lease of the saied Nourthe of that wherein he nowe 
 dwelleth ; and w ft that I will that my syster shalbe paied. 
 Item, I giue and bequeath to y e M 1 ', Fellowes, and Schol- 
 lers of Ballioll Colledge in Oxford, one hundreth pounds 
 off lawfull Englishe money, to be bestowed there at the 
 good discrecon off Mr. Adam Squyer, nowe M r there, and 
 Mr. John Renall, Archdeacon of Oxforde. Item, I do 
 forgeue, remytt, release, anihilate, and make voied to the 
 saied Adam Squier, all maner debts, writinges, bills, and 
 bonds w ch are due, and be betwene me and the saied Adam 
 Squier from the beginninge of the worlde vntill this daie. 
 Item, I giue to Anthonie Holborne, my godsone, twenti 
 pounds ; and to Francs Holborne, his syster, other twentie 
 pounds. Item, I do forgeue my brother in lawe, Mr. Rock- 
 ley, thirten pounds sixe shillings eight pence, which he 
 oweth me vppon his specialtie. Item, I giue and bequeath 
 to my saied wief, all my householde stuffe, plate, and 
 cattell w ch I haue w th in the mannor howse of Comenore, 
 and w th in the growndes off y e sayed Manor, w th all maner 
 my corne. Item, I giue and bequeath to Anthonye 
 
APPENDIX. 123 
 
 Forster, my godson, the revercon of John Francklins 
 houlde in Coinenore, for terme off his lief, after y e custome 
 of y e manor. Item, I giue to my nephew, Walter Forster^ 
 sone to my brother Thorns Forster, tenne poundes of 
 lawfull Englishe money. Ite, I giue to my cozen, Henry 
 Gryines, twentie pounds. Ite, I forgeue, remytt, and 
 release, and make voyde to my lovinge and painefull frend, 
 Robert Bellamie, Doctour of Phisicke, twentie poundes 
 w cb he oweth me, and all maner bills, and bondes, and 
 reckonings betwen him and me from y e begininge of the 
 worlde vnto this claie, in consideracon of his paine and 
 travell w th me in this my sicknes. Item, I giue to my 
 ssnmte, Marye Edmondes, twentie nobles. Ite, I giue to 
 my olde and trustie ss r unte, John Harris, the Bayliewick 
 of the hundred of Hornemore, and the howse wherin he 
 dwelleth w & the close thereunto adioyninge rent free for 
 one and twentie yeres. Item, I giue to my lovinge 
 serunte, John Ellis, the revercon of Raynolde Daye ? 
 his houlde in Comeno r for terme of his lief, after y e 
 custome of the Mannor. Ite, I giue to my ss r unte, 
 Margaret, fyve poundes. Ite, I give to Anthonie Bostocke 
 of Abingdon tenne pounds, w ch he oweth me. Item, I 
 giue to Richard, my serunte, fouer markes, to be receiued 
 of Thorns Wilson, late his M r , w cb the saied Wilson oweth 
 me. Item, I giue to my fouer ss'unts musicons twelve 
 pounds tenne shiliinges equallie amongest them ; the w cb 
 some the saied Thomas Wilson oweth me vpon his spe- 
 cialtie. Item, I giue to my serunte, Henry Michel], 
 twentie nobles. Item, I giue to my serunt, Robert 
 Callis my butler, fortie shiliinges. Item, I giue to myne 
 olde acquaintenunce, Robert Rodes, my sixe songe bookes 
 w ch he him selffe did prick. Item, I giue to Harte, my 
 warryner, fower marcks for his wage, and twoe loades of 
 
124 APPENDIX. 
 
 haie so longe as he contynueth ss r unte and kep of the 
 warren. Item, 1 giue to the rest of all my householde 
 ss r unts one halffe yeres wage, besydes that which is dew 
 to them. Item, 1 giue to Mabell Staffer ton 
 Ite, I giue and bequeath to the Mayor of Abingdon, and 
 his brethren, twentie nobles in money, for certaine sermons 
 to be made there at the discrecon of my Overseers. Item, 
 I giue to Elizabeth Osbaston twentie pounds. The rest 
 of all my goods and chattells herein not giuen, or not 
 bequeathed, my debts and legacies being paied, I giue to 
 my saied kinnesman Thomas Selman, and my welbeloued 
 wief Anne Forster, whom I make my executours of this 
 my last will and testamet ; charginge them, and either of 
 them, as they will answere in the terrible daie of the most 
 dreadfull iudgement, trulie and iustlie to execute and 
 pforme this my last will and testament in all points. And 
 I make and ordeine Doctor Renall and Adam Squier of 
 Oxford, overseers of this my last will and testamet. And 
 I doe giue to either of them for their paynes, to Doctour 
 Renall my yonger stoned horse ; and I give to Adam 
 Squyer the stoned horse that I was wont to ride on my 
 selfe. In witness wherof, and of all the premisses, I the 
 saied Anthonie Forst r haue putto my hande, and to this 
 my last will and testamet, in the presence of Robert Bellam, 
 Phisition; Anthonie Forster, Ada Squier, Henry Greams, 
 Nicholas Staverton, France Noble, John Ellis, Thomas 
 Forster. 
 
APPENDIX. 125 
 
 Q,page 103. 
 
 " Anthony Forster, Esq. the generous offspring of a 
 " generous race ; Lord of the Manor of Cumnor, Berks ; 
 " son of Richard Forster, late of Salop, Esq. who had four 
 " sons, the youngest whereof was Anthony. 
 
 " In person fair, and of the brightest sense, 
 
 " Where wisdom joined with smoothest eloquence ; 
 
 " In action, justice, speech, a flowing grace, 
 
 " Faith in religion, gravity of face ; 
 
 " A patriot firm, and to the needy kind, 
 
 " With numerous graces more adorned his mind : 
 
 " Death took too much, (what can his power survive,) 
 
 " Yet spite of death, his fame shall ever live." 
 
 " Skilled in the softest notes the muses sing, 
 " Or on the harp to touch the sounding string ; 
 
 " Pleased with the florist's tender nursing care, 
 " Or architect, stupendous piles to rear. 
 
 " Read in the tongues the ancient sages taught, 
 " And learned works confess how well he wrote." 
 
 " Ann, daughter of Rainolde Williams, Esq. whose 
 " younger brother, a Baron, shone the glory of Berkshire ; 
 " though her father was but a Squire, her uncle was a 
 " Lord ; chaste to her husband, devout towards God, and 
 " beloved by her neighbours. Sufficiently happy in her 
 " progenitors, happy enough in her offspring. Mother of 
 " John, in her middle age of Robert, and lastly of Henry ; 
 il Cynthia and Penelope are inclosed in that tomb, but Ann 
 " alone lies buried here." 
 
SYNOPSIS OF FACTS CHRONOLOGICALLY 
 ARRANGED. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1525 There are grounds for placing the birth of Amy 
 Robsart about this year. 
 
 1535 or thereabouts, the marriage of Anthony Forster 
 with Ami Williams. 
 
 The following dates are positively ascertained. 
 
 1549 The public marriage of Lord Robert Dudley 
 with Amy Robsart is evidenced by the entry 
 in King Edward's Journal. See p. 32. 
 
 1554 Sir John Robsart, father of Amy, dies, 
 
 1557 The internal evidence of Amy's letter to Mr. 
 Flowerdew induces us to place the estrange- 
 ment of Lord Dudley about this date. 
 
 1560 Amy's death ; and communications from France 
 
 about the Queen's marriage with Dudley. 
 
 1561 Forster, having before only been a tenant, now 
 
 purchases Cumnor of Mr. Owen. 
 
 156*2 Forster appears publicly, and with personal in- 
 fluence, at Oxford. 
 
 1563 It was not until this date Dudley was made Earl 
 of Leicester. 
 
 1566 The debate appears to have occurred in the 
 Privy Council about Lord Leicester's marriage 
 to Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 1570 Forster elected to represent Abingdon in Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 1572 Forster's death. He leaves Cumnor to his 
 patron, the Earl of Leicester. 
 
 1575 Elizabeth's visit, and the revels at Kenilworth. 
 1588 Leicester died. 
 
 1599 Death of Ann, the widow of Anthony Forster, at 
 Cumnor. 
 
SOME REMARKS 
 
 SIR W. SCOTT'S STATEMENTS IN KENILWORTH. 
 
 In comparing with the preceding table of dates 
 the narrative given by Sir Walter Scott in his 
 interesting historical novel Kenilworth, the reader 
 will be surprised to find the extent to which his 
 account varies from sober history. It would be 
 an excess of criticism to require, that a writer of 
 fiction should substantiate every date and incident 
 used by him ; in fact, it would be inconsistent 
 with the nature of fiction ; still, without being 
 hypercritical, one may demur to admit unsup- 
 ported allegations of crime, and may repudiate the 
 concentration of events extending over twenty or 
 more years into a very limited space, the period of 
 scarce one year. In both respects has Sir W. Scott 
 erred; he makes the marriage of Dudley with 
 Amy, and the visit of Elizabeth to Kenilworth, 
 events of no great distance; he represents Anthony 
 Forster to be son of the Abbot's Reeve, and a 
 widower, with an only child Janet, in 1575 ; whereas 
 Forster was descended of a good family, and died 
 without any of his children surviving him in 1572, 
 having represented Abingdon in Parliament the 
 
128 REMARKS. 
 
 last two years of his life ; and his widow sur- 
 vived until the year 1599, that is, 50 years sub- 
 sequent to Amy's marriage ; he describes that 
 marriage as a private one ; whereas we have King 
 Edward's testimony that it was publicly solemnized 
 at the Royal Palace of Sheen, and consequently 
 there could never have been any secret about it. 
 Nor was she abstracted from her friends by guile. 
 He adopts the erroneous assertion of the Earl of 
 Leicester being the owner of Cumnor at the time 
 of the marriage ; whereas he was not made an 
 Earl until fourteen years after that event, and not 
 till three years after Amy's death ; and the deeds 
 relating to the estate indisputably substantiate, 
 that Cumnor did not then belong to him, but to 
 Mr. Owen, of whom Forster shortly afterwards 
 purchased it, and subsequently left it in 1572 to 
 the Earl. 
 
 The allusion to the death of Amy's father (who 
 throughout the novel is miscalled Sir Hugh) very 
 soon after his daughter, is another error ; he died 
 six years before her. 
 
 As regards Sir Richard Varney, and the accom- 
 plice, who, it is said, by Leicester's direction, was 
 privately made away with in prison, their names 
 must have originated with other groundless 
 assertions of the period, as no allusion whatever 
 is made to them in the correspondence respecting 
 the death, or in any authentic document. 
 
REMARKS. 129 
 
 There is no reason to believe that an inn, like 
 the one described by Scott, existed at Cumnor in 
 the reign of Elizabeth, and both that and the 
 landlord of the inn were purely his inventions; but 
 it certainly is singular that he should have chanced 
 to hit upon the name of a person, who no doubt 
 at the time of Lady Dudley's death was living in 
 the village, as the name of Frances Gosling appears 
 in the Parish register of burials in 1562 ; but no 
 other mention of the name has been discovered in 
 the subsequent registers, and there is no tradition in 
 the village of the family having lived in the place ; 
 it is quite clear that this was the surmise of Scott, 
 who never had access to the register, nor was he 
 ever at Cumnor. 
 
 It is not to be conceived, that Lord Dudley 
 would have been raised to an Earldom, had the 
 imputation of guilt really attached to him after the 
 coroner's inquest; and much less that the Queen 
 would entertain affection for a nobleman whose 
 fame was so dishonoured* It has been shewn in 
 the preceding pages, that the rumours were greatly 
 encouraged at Paris, and thence transmitted to 
 England. The Jesuits are suspected of systema- 
 tically traducing the character of their religious 
 and political opponents ; they would not spare 
 a zealous upholder of contrary views ; and the 
 vulgar are ever ready to welcome and to exag- 
 gerate reports that tend to the disparagement of 
 
 K 
 
130 REMARKS. 
 
 those elevated above them. It is to be regretted, 
 that the great novelist himself appears to enjoy 
 any opportunity of holding up to ridicule or sus- 
 picion parties making any pretension to seriousness 
 in religion and practical godliness ; and his repeated 
 insinuations of hypocrisy against the puritans, with 
 whom he classes Forster, betray the same culpable 
 spirit. 
 
 The result of observing all the above inaccuracies 
 in Scott's account must be, that however deeply 
 we may be interested with the pictures he has 
 drawn of the times and the characters, we shall 
 discreetly distinguish between imaginations of fiction 
 and the sober information of history. As long as 
 the tale is regarded as purely fictitious, it would 
 be literary prudery to make objections to it. But 
 when there is danger of its being regarded as 
 grounded on facts, the student of truth will desire 
 to see due discrimination made between fiction 
 grounded on the superstitious traditions of the 
 ignorant peasantry, and the incontrovertible re- 
 cords of history. He will pause ere he receives as 
 authentic the surmises which Jesuits encouraged 
 against a protestant Queen and her favourite 
 courtiers of the reformation party, and which the 
 countrymen of Mary Queen of Scots have readily 
 acquiesced in, and inconsiderately propagated, to 
 the disparagement of Elizabeth. And the evidence 
 that tends to exculpate the memories of the Earl 
 
REMARKS. 131 
 
 of Leicester and of Anthony Forster from the 
 atrocities laid to their charge, will be welcome to 
 the lover of impartial justice. 
 
 The description of the Mansion of Cumnor 
 Place, previously to its being dismantled, was chiefly 
 supplied by the lately deceased Vicar of the parish, 
 who was familiar with the building long before any 
 part was taken down. Much interesting information 
 was also supplied by him, which could not otherwise 
 have been gained, as few survive capable of giving 
 a statement from actual inspection of the premises. 
 
 In writing the preceding pages, it has been 
 endeavoured, as much as possible, to represent the 
 locality as in its original state, and the scenes and 
 personages connected with it, without bias or favour ; 
 every thing like romance, or the introduction of 
 argument not warranted by authentic information, 
 has been avoided; and if, in narrating the tra- 
 ditions of the village, a departure has been made 
 from the homely language in which those traditions 
 were expressed, their meaning has not been per- 
 verted by any unnecessary finish of words. 
 
 k2 
 
BRIEF HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PARISH OF CUMNOR 
 
 AND ITS ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Connected with most of the religious establish- 
 ments of the middle ages, will be found some extra- 
 ordinary legendary tale to account for the origin 
 of the building. Many of the earliest of these 
 societies almost invariably imputed their existence 
 to the interposition of the Deity, or to some miracu- 
 lous event ; and the magnificent Abbey of Abing- 
 don is one of the numerous instances, 
 
 Aben, the son of a British Consul, more for- 
 tunate than his father in escaping the general 
 massacre by Hengist in the year 460, retreated for 
 safety into the woody district now known as 
 Chilswell, one of the tythings of Cumnor; where, 
 it is said, he erected an oratory, or chapel, 
 and passed the rest of his life in strict seclusion, 
 and in acts of piety. The tradition associating his 
 
134 BRIEF HISTORY OF 
 
 name with Chilswell is, that being one day very 
 thirsty, he addressed himself to the Almighty, who 
 answered his supplications, by causing a spring of 
 water immediately to burst forth, and from it the 
 holy man satisfied his thirst. The spring was ever 
 afterwards looked upon as sacred, and regarded 
 with the greatest veneration. Such an event was 
 at once considered as a mark of God's especial 
 favour to the locality ; and it is therefore not 
 surprising, that in after years the spot should have 
 been selected for the site of a monastery. 
 
 About the year 675, Heane, who had devoted 
 his life to the religious austerities of the age, 
 obtained from his uncle Cissa, a petty King of the 
 West Saxons, a piece of ground at Chilswell for 
 the purpose of founding a monastery ; he also 
 obtained, from him and other persons of wealth, 
 grants of land and gifts wherewith to endow it ; 
 and he gave a large portion of his own inheritance 
 for the same purpose ; but, according to the 
 legend, all his efforts to rear the fabric were in- 
 effectual, for what was built up one day, generally 
 fell down the next. This was viewed by Heane, 
 and those engaged in the erection, as an indication 
 of the Divine displeasure ; whereupon Heane 
 sought the advice of a hermit who lived in an 
 
THE PARISH OF CUMNOR. 135 
 
 adjoining wood, and to him related these ominous 
 circumstances. The hermit at once told him, that 
 the Almighty had revealed to him in a vision His 
 disapproval of the site, and that it was the Divine 
 will that it should be removed three miles off, to a 
 place called the Seuksham, the ancient name of 
 Abingdon. Heane followed the advice of the 
 hermit, and in five years afterwards completed the 
 erection of the Abbey, which he dedicated to the 
 Virgin Mary, and of which he became the first 
 Abbot. 
 
 Chilswell is a manor within the manor of 
 Cumnor, and consists of a lone farm ; the ancient 
 manor house is now in the last state of decay. 
 The above-narrated traditions, however, are not 
 the only ones connected with the place. It was 
 originally called Childswell, from the alleged 
 fecundizing virtues of the before-mentioned spring 
 or well, which is at the present day pointed out 
 by the labouring population. 
 
 In the Lib. Nig. Scac. vol. ii. p. 560. Chilswell, 
 and the virtue of the water, are thus alluded to. 
 
 " Dr. Leonard Hutton (in his remarkable account 
 " of the Antiquities of Oxford, printed by me at 
 " the end of Textus Rossensis) is pleased to take 
 " notice of this Chilswell, which he calls Childs- 
 
136 BRIEF HISTORY OF 
 
 " well, and observes that it was so denominated 
 " from a particular virtue in a certain well there, 
 " that made barren women bring forth children, 
 66 especially if they first addressed themselves to 
 " the chaplains that successively officiated here, in 
 " a certain old chapel that was near the. well, of 
 " which chapel I have often heard mention. And 
 " some say, the remains of such a chapel were 
 " there very lately. Nor indeed can there be the 
 " least doubt of such efficacy in the well, (which 
 " is still to be seen about a furlong eastward of 
 " the farm-house,) nothing being more common 
 " than in the olden time to frequent wells in a 
 " devout manner, upon account of divers qualities 
 " for which they were celebrated." 
 
 More than one attempt has been made to dis- 
 cover the derivation of the word Cumnor. The 
 learned Dugdale supposes it to have been taken 
 from Cumanus, the second Abbot of Abingdon, 
 whose death has been placed about the year 784 ; 
 while the talented Dr. Buckler, who was vicar 
 of the parish, apprehends it was derived from 
 St. Coleman, or Cuman, a Scotch or Irish Saint, 
 who lived about the sixth or seventh century. 
 
 The Saxon Kings were great benefactors to 
 Abingdon Abbey ; and before the period of the 
 
THE PARISH OF CUMNOR. 137 
 
 Norman conquest the whole of Cumnor had 
 fallen into its hands. Henry the First received 
 his education within its walls ; and he, as well as 
 his successors to the Crown, added largely to the 
 privileges of the society ; which so increased, as to 
 become one of the most opulent of the religious 
 houses in the realm. 
 
 Upon the dissolution of the Monasteries, the 
 parish of Cumnor was divided among royal 
 favourites, and those who had aided the King in 
 his designs to overthrow the popish supremacy. 
 It was then of very much greater extent than it 
 now is. The parishes of North Hinksey, South 
 Hinksey, and Wootton, formed part of it, and 
 were chapels of ease to the mother church : 
 and Cassington in Oxfordshire is said also to have 
 belonged to it ; but a close consideration of the 
 locality, and other circumstances, will remove any 
 idea of that sort, that may have been entertained. 
 From the Hinkseys and Wootton, it was separated 
 by Montague, second Earl of Abingdon, the lay- 
 rector of the parish, and patron of the vicarage, 
 in the early part of the last century. 
 
 Long previously to the reformation, Cumnor 
 was divided as it now is into ten tythings ; viz. 
 Cumnor, Whitley, Stroud, Swinford, Hill End, 
 
138 BRIEF HISTORY OF 
 
 Botley, Chawley, Chilswell, Henwood, and Bradley ; 
 but since the enclosure of the parish in 1820, 
 and subsequent alterations, the boundaries of the 
 ty things have been but little regarded. 
 
 The principal of the tythings is that of Cumnor, 
 which included the village. This, as has been pre- 
 viously shewn, upon the dissolution of Abingdon 
 Abbey, was comprised in a grant that was imme- 
 diately afterwards made to Thomas Penthecost, alias 
 Rowland, the last abbot of the monastery. After his 
 death, it passed into the hands of George Owen, Esq. 
 physician to Henry VIII. whose son disposed of it 
 to Anthony Forster, who willed it to the Earl of 
 Leicester ; and from the latter it came into the 
 family of the present owner, the Earl of Abingdon. 
 There is, however, a small portion of this tything 
 belonging to St. John's College, Oxford. 
 
 The chief objects of interest. within this tything 
 are, the church, and the site of the mansion of 
 Cumnor Place. The church is dedicated to 
 St. Michael, and stands on an elevation in the 
 centre of the village, which gives it a bolder and 
 more stately appearance than the generality of 
 country churches ; and it is generally allowed to 
 be one of the handsomest and most compact in 
 the neighbourhood. Within these last twelve 
 
THE PARISH OF CUMNOR. 139 
 
 months it has been restored internally, and has 
 undergone a course of thorough repair. 
 
 In the Norman survey, a church is mentioned 
 as existing at Cumnor, in place of which the 
 present edifice is a substitution. It consists of a 
 nave, with north aisle ; a chapel, forming a south 
 transept ; and chancel, with a tower at the west 
 end. The nave, chancel, and tower, are the 
 oldest portions of the fabric, and were erected by 
 the ecclesiastics of Abingdon during the thirteenth 
 century. The chapel is dedicated to St. Catherine, 
 and the aisle to St. Thomas. These parts were 
 added by the same body in the following century ; 
 but there have been so many additions and alter- 
 ations in the building, to meet the changes and 
 notions of succeeding ages, that but little of the 
 first design remains ; and the rough cast, with 
 which it is externally coated, greatly detracts from 
 its true features and antiquity. 
 
 The tower is built in a style exhibiting the trans- 
 ition from Norman to Early English, or rather a very 
 early specimen of the Early English style, perhaps 
 about the year 1280. There are two small Early 
 English windows on the sides of it, excepting on the 
 south, which has been rebuilt. The door-way seems 
 to be of a rather earlier date than the parts above it. 
 
140 BRIEF HISTORY OF 
 
 The nave has undergone material alteration ; 
 the ancient windows have all been closed, and 
 superseded by a solitary and singular one ; the 
 mouldings of which are common plain Early 
 English. A little to the east of this window is 
 part of a Norman corbel table, the rest having 
 been cut off on the building of the chapel. The 
 nave has a clerestory, which was added about the 
 early part of the fourteenth century. 
 
 The north aisle was built probably about the 
 year 1320, when the clerestory was added to the 
 nave. This aisle is lighted by three windows of 
 the common flowing decorated pattern. 
 
 The chapel is of the same date as the aisle, 
 and has three windows, which retain their primitive 
 character ; but each is varied in form. Those 
 on the south and east sides are of the common 
 kind of flowing tracery ; the one on the west side 
 is of a somewhat uncommon form, and its mould- 
 ings shew it to be early in the fourteenth century. 
 There is a similar window in North Hinksey 
 church, which, as before mentioned, was formerly 
 a chapel of ease to Cumnor. 
 
 The chancel is considerably turned to the north 
 from the line of the nave, and with the rest of the 
 building was refitted towards the beginning of the 
 
THE PARISH OF CUMNOR. 141 
 
 fourteenth century. In the south wall are two 
 windows of the early decorated order, about the 
 date 1300, and both are inserted in the original 
 window openings. The east window is generally 
 the most admired in the church, and corresponds 
 with the one on the south side of the chapel ; but 
 it is worked with more than ordinary care and 
 delicacy. The mouldings are fine, and the pro- 
 portions unrivalled. It may be seen to greater 
 advantage from the interior of the chancel. 
 
 In the inside of the church is an exceedingly 
 fine equilateral arch, of very Early English order, 
 supporting the east side of the tower ; it is now 
 inclosed with masonry, but originally it was 
 designed to open the tower to the nave. 
 
 The nave is separated from the aisle by three 
 arches ; affixed to the wall at the east end is 
 a brass plate, bearing the following quaint in- 
 scription. 
 
 An Epitaph vpon y e Death of James Welsh. 
 
 The body of James Welsh lyeth bvryed heere, 
 Who left this mortall life at fovrescore yeare ; 
 One thousand and six hundred twelve he dyed, 
 And for the poore did christianly provide, 
 Accordinge to the talent God had lent, 
 Five povndes he gave, of zeale, and good Intent. 
 
142 BRIEF HISTORY OF 
 
 The Fruit makes knowne the natvre of the tree, 
 Good life the Christian, even so was hee ; 
 Whose tyme well spent, unto his Sovle did gaine 
 The heavenly rest, where holy saynts remayne. 
 
 This memory a lovinge wife unto her husband gave, 
 
 To shew her hart remembers him, though death inclose 
 
 his grave ; 
 The gifte he gave vnto the poore, she hath inlarged the same, 
 With five povndes added to his five, vnto her Christian fame 
 Hath placed them both to y e Churchmen here, no wise to 
 
 be delay'd, 
 Bvt that yearely to the poore of Comner be a marke of 
 
 silver pay'd ; 
 Which is the fvll appointed rent of the whole bequeathed 
 
 some ; 
 And so for ever shall remayne, vntill the day of dome, 
 In Comner, for the poore's reliefe, Margery Welsh doth will 
 The charge of this, when she is deade, maybe performed still. 
 
 . To the antiquary, perhaps the most interesting 
 objects in the church are the open seats in the 
 north aisle and chancel, relics of the church fittings 
 during the Romish period ; the poppy heads of 
 those in the aisle are bold and elegant, but those 
 in the chancel are the most attractive. One is 
 especially worthy of notice, and, although muti- 
 
THE PARISH OF CUMNOR. 143 
 
 lated, is still exceedingly beautiful ; it has three 
 shields on each side, one above and two beneath, 
 each bearing emblems of the crucifixion, inter- 
 twined with oak leaves. 
 
 There is a piscina in the chapel, and another in 
 the aisle ; and in the south wall of the former are 
 two recesses, in each of which is a stone coffin, 
 containing the remains of an Abbot. These coffins 
 are about the date of the middle of the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
 The original font in past ages was removed 
 from the church, but where it was taken to is not 
 known ; recently a handsome one has been given 
 to the parish by some members of the family of 
 the last two Vicars. 
 
 Close by the churchyard, adjoining the site of 
 Cumnor Place, is a very humble building, known 
 as the church-house, occupied by aged poor of the 
 parish. It was formerly preserved by the parishioners 
 for holding their annual feasts, a custom now only 
 known in the breach. The ancient fire-place may 
 still be seen, and the spits and utensils for cooking 
 are said to have remained until about a century 
 ago. 
 
 A short distance below the church-house is a 
 barn, formerly of an immense size ; parts of the 
 
144 BRIEF HISTORY OF 
 
 ancient building may still be seen. It was originally 
 built by the Abbey, for the reception of the rectorial 
 or great tithes, and retains its old name, the Tithe 
 Barn. Thomas Baskeville, a native of the adjoin- 
 ing parish of Sunningwell, thus characterizes it, and 
 three similar buildings in Berkshire, which had been 
 erected for the like purpose. 
 
 The fourths at Cumnor near that Church 
 I can't tell where, it has a porch, 
 But as to length in days of yore, 
 'Tis now much shorter than before \ 
 
 Whitly Ty thing is small, and has no object worthy 
 of notice beyond a mineral spring, called by the 
 inhabitants the physic spring, which is mentioned 
 by both Camden and Lyson. 
 
 In the ty things of Stroud, Swinford, Botley, 
 Chawley, Henwood, and Bradley, there is nothing 
 of any public interest. 
 
 In Hill End tything is an old mansion, called 
 Dane or Dean Court. It originally belonged to, 
 and was occupied by, some of the fraternity of 
 Abingdon Abbey. Hearne, in the Glossary to Peter 
 
 a These doggrel rhymes are supposed to have been written 
 about the year 1690, and are extracted from the Baskeville 
 Papers, Har. MSS. 4716. 4762. 
 
THE PARISH OF CUMNOR. 
 
 145 
 
 Langtoft, gives an account of this place, very little 
 however of the ancient structure, excepting the 
 chapel, now exists ; and even of this, all trace 
 internally has been removed, but in the outer walls 
 are the remains of the chapel windows. 
 
 There were some very singular customs in the 
 parish, but circumstances are so altered, that here, 
 as in most other places, they are now fallen 
 into disuse ; and, but for the record of them left 
 by Dr. Buckler, and which may be found in the 
 Bib. Top. Brit, most of them at the present day 
 would, in all probability, have been entirely for- 
 gotten. 
 
 As regards the Vicars of the parish, no other 
 account can be given of them than what the 
 registers afford. The first name that appears is 
 that of 
 
 William Barefoot, in 1599, when the register com- 
 mences, but when he died or quitted does 
 not appear ; in 1608 is the name of 
 
 Hugh Hant, who was succeeded by 
 
 Thomas Drope,B.D. Rector of Ardley, Oxon. buried 
 at Cumnor, Feb. 27, 1644, and was suc- 
 ceeded by 
 
146 BRIEF HISTORY OF 
 
 John Langford, who died 1681 ; and was succeeded 
 by 
 
 William Peacock, M.A. Fellow of Magdalen College, 
 Oxford, and Rector of Aston, Berks, who 
 died Dec. 11, 1728; and was succeeded 
 
 by 
 
 Richard Kent, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 
 and Rector of Ducklington, who died 
 Nov. 24, 1746; and was succeeded by 
 
 John Simpson, M.A. Rector of Frilsham, Berks, 
 who died Nov. 2, 1755; and was suc- 
 ceeded by 
 
 Benjamin Buckler, D.D. Fellow of All Souls 
 College, Oxford, and Keeper of the 
 Archives in that University, who died 
 Dec. 24, 1780; and was succeeded by 
 
 James Hake well, Vicar of Fritwell and North Aston, 
 Oxon. who died Dec. 22, 1798; and was 
 succeeded by 
 
 John Slatter, M.A. Vicar of Stanton Harcourt, 
 Oxon. and Chaplain of New College, 
 Oxford, who died July 11, 1810; and 
 was succeeded by 
 
THE PARISH OF CUMNOR. 147 
 
 William Slatter, M.A. Rector of Hethe, Oxon, and 
 Chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford, 
 who died November 8, 1849; and was 
 succeeded by 
 
 Hon. C. F. Octavius Spencer, M.A. the present 
 Incumbent. 
 
 There are few agricultural parishes that have 
 been so favoured as Cumnor with charitable bene- 
 factors ; the bequests annually derived from charities 
 and distributed among the poor amount to upwards 
 of seventy pounds, besides an accustomed yearly 
 donation from Lord Abingdon. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD. 
 
/ 
 
 7