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AUTHOR: 
 
 BLUNDELL WILLIAM 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 CROSBY RECORDS. 
 
 CAVALIER'S NOTE BOOK 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 LONDON 
 
 DA TE : 
 
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 Blundell, William, 1620-1698. 
 
 Crosby records. A cavalier's note book; beino; notes, anec- 
 dotes, i^ observations of William Blundell of Crosby, Lan- 
 cashire, esquire, captain of di*a^oons ... in the royalist army 
 of 1642; ed., with introductory chapters, by the Rev. T. 
 Ellison Gibson. I^ndon, Longmans, Green, and co., 1880. 
 
 vlil, 312p. front (facslmg.) 21 cinl 
 
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Cio^DU l^rfortJ 
 
 
 CAVALIER'S NOTE BOOK 
 
 BEING 
 .VOTES, ANECDOTES, &^ OBSERVATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 Willi Bl \\)\AA 
 
 of Crosby^ Lancashire, Esquire 
 
 CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS UNDER MAJOR-GEN. SIR THOS. TILDESLEY, KN r. 
 
 IN THE ROYALIST ARMY OF 1642 
 
 ■) 
 
 EDITED, 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. BY THE 
 
 REV. T. ELLISON GIBSON 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 I.Y1MATE HALL AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS' 
 
 I 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 1880 
 
 \ i 
 
 lil 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
TO 
 
 
 NICHOLAS BLUNDELL 
 
 of Crosby, Lancashire, Esq., J. P., D.L. 
 
 COLONEL OF DUKE OF LANCASTER'S OWN Rlt^LE MILITIA 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 WHICH ENSHRINES SOME OF THE WISDOM 
 
 OF A WORTHY ANCESTOR 
 
 IS 
 
 Saci^jpcctfiiHtj in^rriljetJ 
 
 
 K\ 
 
 *: \ J 
 
 CTI 
 
 \ Ii^,,,,;* 
 
 J. U V..? r^ 'i ^ " 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 -•o*- 
 
 INTRODUCTORY, 
 
 I / 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 I'Af.E 
 
 The Blundells of Little Crosby in Lancashire —Seated first at 
 Ainsdale — Of Norman descent- -First charter temp" Henry II. 
 — Remarks on Seals — King John exchanges Ainsdale for Liver- 
 pool — Sir Robert Blundell, Knight, with Edward L in Wales 
 — Nicholas Blundell in suit with the King for right of wreck 
 at Ainsdale — Provincial phrases —Nicholas Blundell, M.P. for 
 Lancashire — Feud with the Molyneuxs of Sefton — Award of 
 Cardinal Wolsey in favour of the Blundells — Opposition of the 
 family to the Reformation — Impdsonment of Richard Blundell 
 for harbouring a priest— His death in prison — Forfeitures for 
 Recusancy — W. Blundell's narrative of troubles on account of 
 religion— Persecution by Sir Richard Molyneux and Rev. John 
 Nutter, parson of Sefton — Verses on this event — Harkirke jjurial- 
 ground — Discovery of Saxon coins— W. Blundell prosecuted in 
 Star Chamber and fined heavily i 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 Birth at Crosby — Secret Jesuit Schools in England — Early Marriage 
 at Haggerston — Becomes Captain of Dragoons — Commission 
 signed by Sir Thomas Tildesley — I^med at Lancaster — Suffer- 
 ings in the Civil Wars — Fourth Imprisonment at Liverpool — 
 Statement of his Losses — Sequestration of his Estate for Ten 
 Years — Purchases it with Borrowed Money — Enormous Bill of 
 Fines for Arrears of Recusancy — Goes Abroad — At Breda witli 
 King Charles II. — Accompanies him to Dover— Fresh Persecu- 
 tions — Titus Oates' Plot — His friend Richard Langhorne one of 
 its victims — Letters on the Plot — His Son Nicholas accused by 
 Oates — Correspondence with Sir Roger 1" Estrange . . .19 
 
 '«] 
 
vin 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CWM^lFJR—COritlniied. 
 
 PACE 
 
 Mr Blundell's Activity— Hunting-His friend Laurence Ireland, 
 of Lydiate, becomes a Jesuit— Bills of Mortality— Bowling at 
 Sefton— Prevalence of Drink— Duelling— Remarkable Answer 
 to an expected Challenge— The Moores of Bank Hall— Intended 
 Banishment of Catholics— List of the Proscribed in Lancashire 
 —Difficulty in obtaining a Pass— Abroad at La Fleche- Draws 
 up Petition to James IL— Suggests Plan for Defeat of Cavalry 
 —Fifth Imprisonment at Manchester— Discharge and Five- 
 miles Chain— Patriotic Grant to a Seaman-His Son William 
 carried off Prisoner for Lancashire Plot -Death of the Cavaher 
 —Petition to the Crown— Little Crosby Village 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHARACTER AND LITERARY PRODUCTIONS OF 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 
 
 Character seen in his Writings— Confidence reposed in him— His 
 Good-humour— As a Soldier- His Influence over Young Men 
 —Tutor to his Grandsons— Religious Matters— Difficulties m 
 the Way of practising Religion— Rev. John Walton. S.J.— Rev. 
 Francis Waldegrave. S.J. —Relations with his Chaplains -Their 
 position in the Household- Agreeable Companions— Promoters 
 of Marriages— A Curious Love-letter— Priests of Good Birth- 
 Large Number of his Relatives Religious— Real Names not 
 entered in Pedigrees— His Literary Occupations— Common- 
 place Books— Plan of Drexelius— Favourite Authors— Neglect 
 of Poetry— Unacquainted with Shakespeare's or Milton's Verses 
 —Character of his Remarks— Wise Suggestions— Letters in- 
 tended for Publication— Treatise on Penal I.aws 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK 
 
 39 
 
 FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 Facsimile of a Commission, signed by Major-General Sir Thomas 
 Tyldesley, appointing William Blundell to be Captain of one 
 Company of Dragoons in his Regiment. 
 
 56 
 
 81 
 
 4 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 The Blundell s of Little Crosby in Lancashire — Seated first 
 at Ainsdale^Of Norman desceiit — First charter temp" 
 Henry II. — Remarks on seals — Kiii^ John exchanges 
 Ainsdale for Liverpool — Sir Robert Blundell^ Knight, 
 with Edward I. i7i Wales — Nicholas Blundell in suit 
 with the King for right of wreck at Aitisdale — Provin- 
 cial phrases — Nicholas Blundell, M.P. for Lancashire — 
 Feud with the Molyneuxs of Seftcn — Award of Cardinal 
 Wolsey in favour of the Blundells — Opposition of the 
 family to the Reformation — Imprisonment of Richard 
 Blundell for harbouring a priest — His death in prison — 
 Forfeitures for recusancy — IV. BlundcWs narrative of 
 troubles on account of religion — Persecution by Sir 
 Richard Molyneux and Rev. folm Nutter, parson of 
 Sefton — Verses on this event — Harkirke burial-ground — 
 Discovery of Saxon coins — VV. Blundell prosecuted in 
 Star Chafnber and fined heavily. 
 
 The Blundells have been seated at Little 
 Crosby, in Lancashire, from very remote times. 
 
 B 
 
I 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY, 
 
 This village lies near the sea-coast, six miles from 
 the great maritime town of Liverpool. At the 
 present moment the suburbs of this vast town, 
 soon to be dignified with the title of city, have 
 stretched out almost to the park walls, and its long 
 line of docks commences with the newly-constituted 
 borough of Bootle. The family is of Norman 
 descent, and French representatives of the race 
 are still to be found in good position, using the 
 original form * Blondell,' as the name appears in 
 the roll of Battle Abbey. Both surnames, Blon- 
 dell and Blundell, are indeed to be met with in 
 this famous catalogue, but the former is supposed 
 to be the more ancient. The author of the fol- 
 lowing notes makes mention of a deed, temp^ 
 Henry II., in which his ancestor is styled Nicholas 
 Blondell, but this deed cannot at present be found. 
 The earliest charter now in possession of the 
 family is one of that reign, in which John, Earl of 
 Morton, gives Great Crosby and its appurtenances 
 to Robert de Ennuylcsdale (Ainsdale), his forester, 
 for homage and service, and a reserved rent of 
 100 solidi. This deed is very clearly indited, and 
 the strong ligature of silk and silver tissue to 
 which the seal was originally attached is well pre- 
 served. The seal itself has disappeared, and its 
 loss may perhaps be due to the custom of en- 
 closing valuable seals in linen bags. Most of the 
 
 seals so covered have crumbled away, whilst others 
 of an equally early date, to which this attention 
 has not been paid, are in good preservation. It is 
 perhaps worthy of remark that the green wax has 
 proved more durable than the white, and a friend 
 who was for many years in the Record Office 
 declares that his experience in this matter coin- 
 cides with that of the writer. The grant above 
 referred to was confinned by King John in the 
 year of his accession to the throne (1199). Blun- 
 dell Sands, now the site of numerous villas, and a 
 portion of the property thus acquired, is still held 
 by the family ; but the manor and bulk of the 
 township passed in very early times to the neigh- 
 bouring family of Molyneux of Sefton. On the 
 other hand, the manor and township of Little 
 Crosby, the present seat of the Blundells, is said 
 to have been derived from the Molyneuxs. 
 
 It is somewhat curious that the first possessions 
 of the Blundells in this country are intimately 
 connected with the early fortunes of Liverpool. 
 In 1208, King John gave Ravinesmols,^ Annolnes- 
 dale, &c., to Henry Fitz-Warine of Lancaster 
 (whose father, Warine, had been the King's fal- 
 coner), in exchange for Liverpool and Uplither- 
 
 • Raven-meols, formerly a separate lordship, is now included in 
 Formby. A large farm still bears the name, which is clearly of 
 Danish origin, as are Formby, Crosby, &c. 
 
 B 2 
 
^ 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 land.i He then ordered his vassals at Toxteth to 
 settle in the new town, and by a grant, dated the 
 same year, constituted it a free burgh. This was 
 the origin of what is now the most important 
 seaport town in England. Ainsdale, though under 
 a new feudal lord, remained in the hands of the 
 Blundclls, whose representative, Nicholas Blundell, 
 was called upon in 1 292 to show why he claimed 
 wreck of the sea on this manor, without the King's 
 licence. This was at Lancaster, before Hugh de 
 Cressingham and his associates, itinerant judges. 
 
 And Nicholas appeared and said that he and 
 all his ancestors from time immemorial had held the 
 said manor, and in like manner had the wreck of 
 the sea all the time, and considered it something 
 annexed and appertaining to the manor ; and had 
 used that liberty up to this time without any inter- 
 rupdon of time, and he was prepared to venfy this 
 
 in Court. 
 
 And William Inge answered for the King, that 
 in England no one can have or receive wreck but 
 the King and those to whom he concedes the 
 privilege, and as Nicholas the aforesaid can produce 
 no concession of such right from the King or his 
 ancestors, he claims judgment for the King. More- 
 
 » Up4itherland was likewise for a long period a separate 
 lordship, until absorbed into the township of Aughton. Here, in 
 a secluded spot, amidst low-lying meadows, stands Walsh Hall, 
 occupying the site of the ancient residence of a branch of the 
 powerful family of Waleys, a name frequently met with in early 
 local charters. 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 over, it was urged that in point of fact the ancestors 
 of Nicholas had not exercised this liberty ab an- 
 tiquo. [Enquiry is asked.] 
 
 The jury declare upon oath that the afore- 
 said Nicholas had acquired the manor from his 
 father. And they say that Henry, father of the 
 King, gave to the father of Nicholas a certain vessel 
 from a certain wreck which happened in the manor, 
 and no other of the ancestors of Nicholas had ever 
 taken wreck, nor has Nicholas himself, since no 
 wreck has happened. Hence it follows that the 
 King recovers his seisin of the aforesaid wreck 
 when it may happen in the aforesaid manner. 
 [Judgment for the King.] * 
 
 In 1328 Ainsdale was transferred, apparently 
 by marriage settlement, to Gilbert de Halsale, and 
 in 163 1 it was purchased from Sir Cuthbert Hal- 
 sall, along with Birkdale, Meanedale, and Formby, 
 by Robert Blundell of Ince Blundell, Esq., at that 
 period a lawyer of Gray's Inn. It has descended 
 to Thomas Weld Blundell, Esq., and the fortunate 
 position of this property (between Liverpool and 
 Southport) has led to the conversion of a large 
 tract of rabbit warrens into a valuable estate. 
 
 Robert de Ainsdale had a son Adam, whose 
 son Robert assumed the name of Blundell, to 
 which family no doubt the grantee of King John 
 belonged. Norman races of distinction were care- 
 
 * riacita de quo Warranto, p. 369. 
 
THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 ful to preserve their patronymics, whilst members 
 of less distinguished families suffered themselves 
 to be designated from the properties which they 
 acquired. Thus, the descendants of William 
 Gernet became De Lydiates and De Halsalls 
 from these attained possessions. In the same way 
 the De Scarisbricks, De Aghtons, De Maghulls 
 and others are found in this neighbourhood early 
 in the thirteenth century seated at their respec- 
 tive manors, while the Molyneuxs and Blundells 
 alone in these parts retained their ancestral 
 
 surnames. 
 
 There were several knights amongst the first 
 Blundells, who were probably all soldiers and 
 knighted for their prowess in battle. Sir Robert 
 Blundell accompanied Edward I. in his Welsh 
 expedition, 1277, and the following year, in view 
 of eventualities, he made over his estates to his 
 son Nicholas, reserving to himself * wreck of the 
 sea' and certain rents. A curious clause, in 
 which Nicholas in case of failure in the fulfilment 
 of the conditions is to pay five marks to the King 
 for his new work constructing at ' Roye Lane,' 
 confirms the circumstance of his presence in 
 Wales, where Edward was then fortifying Rhudd- 
 lan Castle. The Welsh proved valiant defenders 
 of. their native hills, and it seems probable that 
 Sir Robert Blundell was one of the fourteen 
 
 knights banneret who perished during the absence 
 of the King, in an engagement which was very 
 disastrous to the English arms. The Lion ram- 
 pant, the present crest of the family, appears on 
 the seal of this interesting deed of Sir Robert 
 Blundell's, whose name encircles the device. 
 
 We pass on to notice an early specimen of an 
 English deed, bearing date 1405, which shows the 
 remarkable tenacity of provincial phrases. This 
 document is a declaration of uses by * Robyn y^ 
 Molyncux ' of Melling, in which the same terms 
 are often repeated, so that it affords little scope 
 for variety of phraseology. Still, a few of the ex- 
 pressions used may be worthy of notice. Thus, 
 in the passage, ' Yf he dee bowte hayr of hys bode 
 gey ton i weddyd bed yen to,' &c., we find several 
 terms still employed. * Dee ' for die, ' bowte ' for 
 without, ' geyton ' for begotten, * i ' for in, ' yen ' 
 then, are frequently heard in this neighbourhood. 
 At the same time it cannot fail to strike the ob- 
 server, that the number of those who speak the 
 broad vernacular of their forefathers is yearly 
 decreasing. The Fylde country has long been 
 considered the stronghold of Lancashire provin- 
 cialisms, but even there a notable change is 
 manifest. This change is due not so much to 
 the spread of education, as to the increased facili- 
 ties of intercommunication leading to a greater 
 
 « 
 
s 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 •'■' 
 
 refinement of speech, and in some respects of 
 
 manners. , 
 
 In 1414 we find Nicholas BlundcU of Crosby, 
 one of the knights of the shire for the county of 
 Lancashire, in conjunction with Ralph deRadchfTe 
 son and heir of Sir Ralph de Radcliffc, Knight, of 
 Smithells and Blackburn. Alice, his daughter, 
 married William Blundell of Ince Blundell, Esq., 
 the representative of the neighbouring branch of 
 this ancient race. It is somewhat curious that this 
 is the only ascertained alliance between the two 
 families This is the more remarkable as the pro- 
 perties lie contiguous to each other, and both have 
 had resident proprietors for nearly seven centur.es, 
 united by the bonds of religion and friendly inter- 
 course. There is no trace of any feud existing 
 between the two houses, at any period of the.r 
 history, and scarcely even of a passing estrange- 
 ment on the question of boundaries, that fru.ttul 
 source of dissension betwixt neighbours. 
 
 A century later we meet with a document enu- 
 merating the wrongs which Nicholas Blundell, his 
 wife and children, suffered at the hands of Dame 
 Anne Mulnes (Molyneux), and Sir Edward Mulnes, 
 Parson of the Church of Sefton, ' by thare grat 
 myzgth and power.' The Molyneuxs, whose seat 
 was at Sefton, only a short distance from Crosby, 
 had always been a warlike race, and had risen to 
 
 eminence by their prowess in the field. Sir Wil- 
 liam Molyneux distinguished himself at Agincourt, 
 and Dame Anne, daughter of Sir John Button, 
 was the widow of his son, Sir Thomas, who died 
 1491. Their eldest son, Sir William, in conjunc- 
 tion with Sir William Stanley, led the Lancashire 
 bowmen at Flodden Field, and contributed greatly 
 to the success of that memorable engagement. At 
 the date of the events recorded in the document 
 he was absent in the service of his sovereign, 
 leaving his mother lady paramount at Sefton. The 
 allegations of the Blundells show an abuse of power 
 and a defiance of law on the part of this great 
 family, which we should hardly have expected to 
 find in the reign of Henry VIIL, although the 
 * Paston Letters ' have made us familiar with 
 similar instances of the violence and lawlessness of 
 powerful nobles at a somewhat earlier date. The 
 difference between the parties appears to have 
 sprung from a disputed claim to certain lands in 
 Sefton, which the Blundells had possessed from 
 time immemorial, and for which they were entitled 
 to receive from the Molyneuxs twenty marks per 
 annum, which sum the latter refused any longer to 
 pay. This land they seized upon, and when the 
 Blundells endeavoured to regain possession, they 
 proceeded against them with a high hand, refusing 
 to abide the award of four * indifferent ' men, to 
 
lO 
 
 THE BLUN DELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 whom both parties had agreed to refer the ques- 
 tion. Mr. Blundell declares that they took from 
 him his right of waifs and strays, and wreck of the 
 sea, and would not suffer his family to follow 
 hunting, fishing, and hawking, * qwech was to yam 
 grat plesure and tresure.' They carried off his 
 tenants at their will, and * retayned yam to do 
 yam s'v's in y**" time of pleasure.' Sir Edward 
 Molyneux, the Parson of Scfton, seems to have 
 gone the length of practically excommunicating 
 Mr. Blundell, who complains that he took from him 
 the right of the Church, and would not suffer him 
 to ' kneel or tarry ' in his chapel on the north side 
 of Sefton Church. They broke into his house, spoil- 
 ing his goods, and carried off a fat ox ; when he 
 would have defended his premises, they took him 
 and his son to Lancaster, where they cast them 
 into prison, and kept them fourteen weeks to his 
 utter undoing. They further took possession of a 
 ward of George Blundell, and parted Nicholas and 
 his wife, after they had been united three-score 
 years and had had twelve children together, and 
 ' nev' nod^ cold find fotc nod^ w^ od^' a picture of 
 domestic felicity which would have entitled the 
 couple to the flitch of Dunmow. In fine, they 
 drove him out of his house, and kept it by force, 
 putting in his brother, and they * occupy his proper 
 goods moveable and unmoveable.' 
 
 THE B LUND ELLS OF CROSBY, 
 
 II 
 
 This document is in the nature of a petition to 
 the Crown, for redress, and the matter was finally 
 adjudicated upon by Cardinal Wolscy, who in 
 1526 issued a decree in favour of the Blundclls. 
 
 At the period of the Reformation the family 
 adhered to the ancient faith, and had much to 
 suffer from the oppressive laws which signalised 
 the latter portion of the reign of Elizabeth. In 
 1590, Richard Blundell of Crosby was indicted at 
 the Lancaster Assizes, before Judges Church and 
 Walmsley, for having harboured Robert Woodroff, 
 a seminary priest, and being convicted, was com- 
 mitted to prison at Lancaster Castle, along with 
 his son William. A letter to his wife, dated Sep- 
 tember 28, 1590, has been preserved, in which he 
 speaks of the sickness prevalent within the walls 
 of the prison. He mentions the death of Mr. 
 Worthington of Blainscoe, and the grievous illness 
 of Mr. Latham of Mosborough, both fellow-sufferers 
 in the cause of religion. He himself died there 
 on March 19, 1 591-2, the restrictions of confine- 
 ment and the unwholcsomeness of the prison no 
 doubt contributing to hasten his end. William, 
 his son and heir, followed the same course, and, 
 until James I. came to the throne, two-thirds of his 
 lands were in the hands of the Crown for recu- 
 sancy. He was then able to obtain a royal pardon, 
 and resumed possession of his lands, but after the 
 
 c 2 
 
!f 
 
 
 THE B LUND ELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 THE B LUND ELLS OF CROSBY, 
 
 13 
 
 Gunpowder Plot, the odium of which fell upon the 
 whole Catholic body, they were again seized by 
 rapacious courtiers, who had begged them from 
 the King. The following statement, written by 
 himself, gives a precise and circumstantial account 
 of the troubles in which he had been involved for 
 conscience' sake : — 
 
 In the yeare of our Lord God 1590, the nth 
 June, the Right Hon^J^ Henrie, Earl of Darbie, 
 sent certaine of his men to searche the house of 
 Richard Blundell of little Crosbie, in the Countie 
 of Lancaster, Esq., for matters belonging to Catho- 
 licke Religion, &c., where they apprehended and 
 took away with them to his honor's house (the new 
 Parke) one Mr. Woodroffe, a seminary priest, and 
 the said Richard Blundell, and mee, William Blun- 
 dell, son of the said Richard : and the day next 
 following we were severally examined by the Earle : 
 and on the thirteenth day of the said month wee 
 were all sent to be imprisoned in Chester Castle. 
 About the 5th or 6th of August next following, wee 
 were all by the Earle's men featched from Chester 
 and brought to Knowesley, one of his honor's 
 houses, where wee were (as alsoe my mother, and 
 one John Carre, my father's man) severally ex- 
 amined by Chatterton the Bishopp of Chester, who 
 was joyned in Coraission with the Earle to examine 
 us uppon interrogatories by the Lords of the Coun- 
 cell. And the day following, the priest, my father, 
 and I w^ere sent prisoner to Lancaster (where we 
 found prisoners there before us, Mr. Henrie Latham 
 
 of Mosborowe, and Mr. Richard Worthington of 
 Blainschouge, committed for their conscience), 
 where also my father and I remained for the most 
 part until the 19th day of March of the year 1592, 
 on which day my saide ffather changed this life for 
 a better. Within about a ffortnight after, I had a 
 license, obtained from the Right Hon^'« the Earle 
 of Derbie, to come to Crosbie for one onely month. 
 And then returned to Lancaster againe, whence, 
 about Michaelmas ensuing or somewhat before, I 
 was againe dismissed by his honor's warrant. 
 
 And uppon the 20th or 21st November next 
 after, I was againe apprehended (in the time of 
 Bell's persecution) by John Nutter, Parson of Seph- 
 ton, and divers others assisting him, and my wyfe 
 also was taken, and both of us first weare carried to 
 the Parsonage of Sephton, and theire staide all 
 night, whence on the morning wee were brought to 
 my Lord his house, the New Parke, before the 
 Earle, the Bishopp Chatterton, and Mr. Wade, one 
 of the Clearkes of the Councell ; where my wife was 
 dismissed, and I with others sent to London with 
 2 Pursevants or Messengers. And on the 8th Deer, 
 (being the Feast of the Conception of Our bl : 
 Ladie), I, with an- Henrie Latham of Mosborowe, 
 was by the afforesaid Mr. William Wade brought 
 before Docter Whyt(gift), Archbishop of Canter- 
 burie, att his house, Croydon in Surrey, where we 
 were adjudged to prison, Mr. Latham to the Fleete, 
 and I to the Gatehouse of Westminster, where" I 
 remained prisoner till the 12th July i595- Then 
 was set at libertie uppon bonds to appeare and 
 come in within 20 dayes after warning given, since 
 
 ■• ir ' 
 
• f 
 
 14 
 
 THE B LUND ELLS OF CROSBY, 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 IS 
 
 which time I was never imprisoned. And soe 
 coming home with my wyfe, who had come upp to 
 London with her brother Edward Norres, and he 
 returning after a few dayes, she stayed in prison with 
 mee till my said deliverie, which was some 6 or 8 
 weeks. And after, we lived at Crosbie untill the 
 27th May 1598, at what tyme my house was searched 
 by S^ Richard Mollinex, Knt. and John Nutter, 
 Parson of. Sephton, when, I escaping, my wyfe was 
 taken for her conscience and carried first to Sephton, 
 and examined, and returned home for tliat night 
 uppon bonds or promise of my father Norres (as I 
 thinke) to appeare at Chester before the Bishopp 
 such a day. Accordingly, the last of the same 
 month, she, together with other Catholicks, as 
 namely Hector Stock, Elin Baron, the wyfe of 
 Laurance Baron of the Edge, Jane Melling, widow, 
 Ehn Blundell, the wyfe of Thomas Blundell of the 
 Carrside m Ince Blundell, were committed to prison 
 in the Castle of Chester. And within a little more 
 than a month after (as I take it), some man (but I 
 never knew who it was) caused the old indictm* for 
 entertameing a Seminary Priest, which had been in 
 the yeare 1590 afforesaide, to be prosecuted against 
 me. Whereuppon proclamation was made accord- 
 ing to theire custome at the Countie Courts at Lan- 
 caster, that I should come in and appeare, which I not 
 doeing, was condemned of felonie by the Coroner. 
 
 After this condemnation I tarried secretly at 
 countrie houses some 3 quarters of a yeare. And 
 m the meanwhile my wife, getting out of prison in 
 Chester Castle uppon bonds for her appearance 
 agame &c., she and I, for feare of being appre- 
 
 hended, went first to Wrixham in Wales, where our 
 brother Bannister dwelt. And thence after a good 
 while (my wyfe being great with childe) returned 
 into Lancashire to the Spekes, and I ridde to Weme, 
 where my brother Bannister had another dwelling 
 house. And thence to London to get a pardon, 
 where, sending home my horses, I with my man Peter 
 Stocke staide there about ffive weeks. And, without 
 getting a pardon, I came into Staffordshire, changing 
 my name, whither my wyfe came to mee, and theire 
 we staide about two yeares att six several places 
 until the Queen's death ; when cominge home, I 
 soone after obtained from K. James a free and 
 large pardon, which cost me in all but either 40 or 
 50 shillings. 
 
 He also gives a list of all those who begged 
 his lands from the Crown, and the result, but this 
 document is too long for insertion here. 
 
 In connection with the long imprisonment of 
 Mrs. Blundell at Chester, mentioned in the fore- 
 going narrative, a curious letter is extant at Crosby, 
 dated August 23, 1598, which bears the signature 
 of Sir Richard Molyneux, Knt, and Rev. John 
 Nutter, Parson of Sefton, the ' Golden Ass ' of 
 Queen Elizabeth. This is an application to the 
 Bishop of Chester on behalf of Mrs. Blundell, whose 
 release they ask for on the ground of ill health. 
 One very suggestive passage may be noticed : — 
 
 And for that common experience doth too well 
 teach us that y^ evill examples of such Archpapists 
 
i6 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 THE BLUNDELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 17 
 
 
 and disobedient persons doe greatlie hinder the race 
 of ye Gospell (especiallie in these maritime parts) 
 and daylie threaten dangerous events, if y® same be 
 not wislie foreseene and speedilie prevented: wee 
 could wish o^" selves likewise altogether freede from 
 the company of Mr. Blundell if by any lawful way 
 or meanes he (being a confyned Papist) might be 
 removed from among us. 
 
 It is not clear whether the death of Mr. Blun- 
 dell or only his banishment is here hinted at. 
 
 This staunch recusant has left behind him in 
 manuscript several treatises on controversial mat- 
 ters, and many poems of a religious character. One 
 of the latter consisting of seventeen stanzas was 
 written, as he states, at the time of the above per- 
 secution. He appears to have wooed the muses 
 with little success, but we give the following stanza 
 of this poem, not for the sake of its versification, 
 but to show what sort of trials those had to endure, 
 who in this country, three centuries ago, refused to 
 accept the new ordinances in matters of religion, 
 which were then being forced upon the nation : — 
 
 Husbands and their wives parted are asunder, 
 Parents severed are from their children dear. 
 Sucking babes do cry 
 Which at home do lie ; 
 Mothers do bewayle 
 Being fast in gaol ; 
 All the country talketh 
 Every way one walketh, 
 
 What in Sefton we endure 
 For no strange opinion 
 But that old religion 
 Austin planted here most sure. 
 
 In 161 1, Mr. Blundell, finding his fellow Catho- 
 lics refused burial at their Parish Church (Sefton), 
 ordered a plot within his own grounds to be set 
 apart for this purpose. The place selected was 
 called Harkirke — the hoary or ancient church — 
 and the tradition that a church had once existed 
 there probably influenced his choice. In pre- 
 paring the ground many scores of Saxon coins 
 were discovered, chiefly of the reign of Alfred the 
 Great ; and Mr. Blundell caused a copper-plate to 
 be engraved in which thirty-two of these coins are 
 represented. This plate has been preserved at 
 Crosby, as well as a description of the coins written 
 by himself ; but not altogether correct : the coins 
 themselves have disappeared. Later on, this act 
 of humanity, coming to the knowledge of Govern- 
 ment, was the occasion of a severe sentence being 
 pronounced against him. For when the Sheriff 
 and his followers, in attempting a levy upon his 
 goods for recusancy, had met with some resistance 
 on the part of his tenants, he was summoned 
 before that all-potent tribunal, the Star Chamber. 
 This happened in the year 1629, and the result is 
 
 D 
 
i8 
 
 THE B LUND ELLS OF CROSBY. 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 19 
 
 thus given in Rushworth's * Historical Collections,' 
 
 vol. ii. p. 21 : — 
 
 And y*' defendant Blundell being a Popish 
 Recusant convict, and living in Little Crosby in 
 Lancashire, enclosed a piece of ground and fenced 
 it, part with a stone wall and part with a hedge and 
 ditch, and kept and used the same for the space of 
 10 years for the burial of Popish Recusants and 
 Seminary Priests, and for these offences 2 of the 
 rioters were fined 500/. a piece and 3 others 100/. a 
 piece, and Blundell for procurement of the riots and 
 erecting the Churchyard, 2,000/. All committed to 
 ye Fleet, and the walls and mounds of the Church- 
 yard to be pulled down by the Sheriff, and y« ground 
 laid waste, by decree to be read at y«^ assizes. 
 
 From further documents it appears that the fine 
 was afterwards reduced to 500/. The sum of 80/. 
 was awarded to the Sheriff, Sir Ralph Ashton, 
 whose acknowledgment to Mr. Blundell for the 
 payment of this amount on July 20, 1629, is now 
 before the writer. 
 
 This stout sufferer for conscience sake died at 
 Crosby, at the age of 78, on July 2, 1638, and was 
 succeeded in his estates by his grandson William, 
 the author of the following notes. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 Birth at Crosby — Secret Jesuit Schools in Eitgland^Early 
 Marriage at Haggerston — Becomes Captaiii of Dragoons 
 — Commission signed by Sir Thomas Tildesley — Lamed 
 at Lancaster— Sufferings i7i the Civil Wars — Fourth Im- 
 prisonment at Liverpool— Statejnent of his Losses — Se- 
 questration of his Estate for Ten Years — Purchases it 
 with Borrowed Money — Enormous Bill of Fines for 
 Arrears of Recusancy — Goes Abroad— At Breda with 
 King Charles I I. —Accompanies hitn to Dover— Fresh 
 Persecutions-Titus Oates' Plot— His friend Richard 
 Langhorne one of its victims — Letters on the Plot — His 
 Son Nicholas accused by Oates— Correspondence with Sir 
 Roger P Estrange. 
 
 William Blundell the Cavalier was born at 
 Crosby Hall on July 15, 1620, and lost his father 
 Nicholas in 1631, when he was but eleven years of 
 age. His mother, Jane, daughter of Roger Brad- 
 shaigh, Esq. of Haigh, near Wigan, survived till 
 August 26, 1640. It seems probable that he re- 
 ceived his early instruction from his father or 
 grandfather, and was afterwards sent to one of 
 the secret places of education well known to those 
 
 D 2 
 
■■w m 
 
 ii t 
 
 20 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER, 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 21 
 
 who adhered to the ancient faith. That there were 
 several such in various parts of the kingdom, is 
 evident from the frequent reference made to them 
 in the reports of the Government spies and in- 
 formers. In 1635 a draft warrant was issued by 
 the Privy Council for the search of Stanley Grange, 
 the residence of the Hon. Anne Vaux, where the 
 Jesuit Fathers had established a school. In this 
 case, timely notice of the intended visit having 
 been received, the school was found to be broken 
 up and the bo>'s dispersed. A more successful 
 raid on Mr. Levison's house, near Wolverhampton, 
 resulted in the capture of several youths, who were 
 in the end restored to their parents. It does not 
 appear that Mr. Blundell was trained at St. Omer's 
 College, for though he speaks favourably of the 
 system of education pursued at that famous Jesuit 
 Seminary, yet he expressly says that he derived 
 this opinion from the fruits of learning and virtue 
 which he perceived in others. Moreover, the cir- 
 cumstance of his never having acquired the French 
 language until late in life sufficiently proves that 
 he never resided in a foreign seminary. In fact, 
 the period allowed him for education was too short 
 for him to have spent his time abroad, for he was 
 summoned to take an active part in life at an 
 unusually early age. But whoever taught him did 
 the work well, securing for his pupil a solid founda- 
 
 tion of learning and a love of letters which he 
 never lost. In consequence of the death of his 
 eldest son and heir, the grandfather was anxious 
 to make a fresh settlement of his estates during 
 his own lifetime. This was of particular impor- 
 tance in the case of recusants, as two-thirds of 
 their landed property lay at the mercy of the 
 crown, and hence it was very desirable that the 
 holder should only possess a life interest in the 
 estate. This rendered necessary the early marriage 
 of William Blundell, who, when but fifteen, es- 
 poused Ann, daughter of Sir Thomas Haggcrston, 
 of Haggerston, co. Northumberland, Bart. In 
 one of his letters to Lady Haggerston, written in 
 165 1, there is an interesting reference to his youth- 
 ful and martial appearance when he came as a 
 suitor to the fair Northumbrian home, from which 
 he drew his partner in the joys and sorrows of a 
 long career : — 
 
 I remember there was a young fellow not far 
 from Haggerston, that told a friend of ours that 
 would gladly have drawn him to the wars, that it 
 was a great pity * so gude a like man as he should 
 be knocked o'th head.' You will remember what a 
 pretty, straight young thing, all dashing in scarlet, I 
 came to Haggerston, &c. 
 
 The dashing scarlet attire must have added to 
 the attraction of his youthful figure, and such an 
 
I i 
 
 ! 
 
 \ I 
 
 II 
 
 I 
 
 22 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 apparition would have found favour at other places 
 besides Haggerston. If he could not entice a 
 sturdy yeoman to the field, another voice answered 
 more readily to his call. His wife happily proved 
 all that he had hoped for, and in 1665, writing to 
 the same lady, he alludes to her thus pleasantly : — 
 
 And now, when I speak of your ark, I must 
 here acknowledge that the dove which was sent 
 from thence, some thirty years ago, hath saved from 
 sinking our little cock-boat at Crosby in many a 
 storm. 
 
 In the early part of his wedded career, Mr. 
 Blundell led a life of gaiety, and readily gave him- 
 self to the pursuit of pleasure with little thought 
 of the morrow. He afterwards bitterly lamented 
 his great and continual charge at this time in 
 horses, dogs, hawks, play, apparel, and a thousand 
 other excesses. A few lively poetical pieces written 
 at this period evince the delight he took in plays, 
 dances, and other country amusements. He visited 
 Dublin in 1638, and was entertained at the court 
 of the unfortunate Earl of Strafford, then at the 
 height of his short-lived glory. He describes the 
 almost regal state assumed by the Lord Deputy, 
 the first nobleman of Ireland, the Marquis (after- 
 wards Duke) of Ormond being amongst his re- 
 tainers. In these pursuits, without the aid of more 
 destructive sources of expenditure, he was gradually 
 
 WILLL4M BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 23 
 
 involving himself in debt, when he was called to a 
 sense of his duty and to more serious occupations 
 by the summons of war. The King was rallying 
 his adherents round his standard, and had grate- 
 fully responded to the applications of certain loyal 
 Lancashire Catholics to be permitted to take up 
 arms in his defence. With all the ardour of youth 
 Mr. Blundell threw himself into the struggle, ac- 
 cepting a captain's commission from Sir Thomas 
 Tildesley, Knt, authorising him to raise a com- 
 pany of 100 dragoons for the royal cause. This 
 commission, dated Leigh, December 22, 1642, 
 bearing the neat signature of the famous Lanca- 
 shire General, is still preserved at Crosby, and 
 is couched in the following terms : — 
 
 By virtue of his Ma*' commission under his 
 signe manuall to mee directed, I doe hereby con- 
 stitute and appointe yo" William Blundell Esq^^ to 
 bee Captaine of one companie of Dragoones in 
 my Regiment. And I doe hereby give yo^ full 
 power and authoritie for bis Ma*^« and his name to 
 raise, impresse and retaine the said companie, raised 
 or to bee raised by sound of Drumme or anie other 
 waie (and in anie of his Ma*^ Dominions) for the 
 defence of his Ma*" royall person, the 2 houses of 
 Parliament, the Protestant religion, the lawe of the 
 land, the libertie and propertie of the subject and 
 Priveledge of Parliament, and when soe raised to 
 bringe together and employ in his Ma** service as 
 you shall from tyme to tyme receive directions for. 
 
r 
 
 \ ' 
 
 ll 
 
 24 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER, 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 25 
 
 'Jl 
 
 And I doe hereby require all the inferiour officers 
 and souldiers of y® companie yo" to obey as their 
 Capitane, yo" likewise obeying your superiour officers 
 according to the discipline of warre.* 
 
 The quota was still incomplete, when Mr. Blun- 
 dell was called upon to join Lord Strange in the 
 neiiihbourhood of Preston. The latter nobleman, 
 by the death of his father, had become Earl of 
 Derby before the march to Lancaster was under- 
 taken. A work by Madam Guizot de Witt, entitled 
 * The Lady of Latham,' which contains several 
 particulars derived from family documents, gives 
 the following account of this expedition : — 
 
 Lord Derby left Latham House on 1 7th March 
 (1642-3) after nightfall, and after a forced march of 
 about 30 miles, the little army appeared the next 
 morning before the walls of Lancaster. The gar- 
 rison were summoned to surrender, and indignantly 
 refused ; the soldiers hesitated to make a second 
 attack, when the Earl of Derby, seizing a short 
 
 ' A reduced facsimile of this Commission is given as a frontis- 
 piece ; it is taken with permission from a full-size impression which 
 accompanies two papers by the editor, entitled * A Century of Re- 
 cusancy,' read before the Historic Society of Lancashire and 
 Cheshire, and printed with the proceedings for 1879. In these 
 papers a few of the documents and letters here given are made use 
 of, with several additional ones having reference to that particular 
 subject. It may likewise be here mentioned, that four articles from 
 the same pen were inserted in the Month (October 1878, to January 
 1879), under the title of 'A Loyal Catholic Cavalier.' In these 
 will be found some specimens of the following notes, and of the 
 numerous letters of Mr. Blundell. 
 
 pike, sprang forward, crying, 'Follow me.' Some 
 gentlemen volunteers immediately joined him, and 
 urged the soldiers on. The assault was made, the 
 city taken, and the fortifications raised.' 
 
 Mr. Blundell was one of those who responded 
 with alacrity to the call of their leader. The 
 gallantry of this little band exposed it to the 
 severe fire of the garrison, and he received a 
 serious wound, having his thigh shattered with a 
 musket-shot. Seacome — of whom Dr. Ormerod, the 
 historian of Cheshire, remarks that, though un- 
 trustworthy in other matters, he may be relied on 
 in what relates to the civil war — in describing this 
 engagement, says, * Mr. Blundell, that gallant, loyal, 
 and worthy gentleman, was wounded on entering 
 the city.' He was carried to Dinkley, the residence 
 of Colonel Talbot, then engaged on the King's 
 side, where every attention was paid him. In 
 after years, writing to Mrs. Talbot, he recalls his 
 obligations to her, reminding her of the long week 
 which he spent in her hospitable mansion, where 
 he was nursed with so much tenderness in his sore 
 infirmity. This wound had the effect of rendering 
 him a cripple for life, and in his own neighbour- 
 hood, his tenants, indulging the Lancashire propen- 
 sity for nicknames, commonly called him, ' Halt- 
 Will.' He himself tells us that he had to wear a 
 very high-heeled shoe, and calculated that he had 
 
26 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER, 
 
 ^\ 
 
 lost three inches in height by reason of his acci- 
 dent. From this period till the close of the civil 
 war, his life was one of privation and anxiety. He 
 resided during these disastrous years chiefly in the 
 houses of friends and acquaintance, his constant 
 good humour making him a general favourite. As 
 lie was in continual danger of being taken prisoner, 
 he was compelled to leave his own house at Crosby 
 to the care of his wife, or of his sister Frances, a 
 woman of rare courage and prudence. So exposed 
 were they, while the war lasted, to domiciliary 
 visits, in which the soldiers carried off anything 
 they could lay their hands upon, that they were 
 obliged to bury their bread from meal to meal. 
 One advantage which Mr. Blundell undoubtedly 
 drew from his misfortunes, was the conviction that 
 they were sent him as a wholesome correction, to 
 withdraw him from the vain pursuit of pleasure, 
 and to fix his mind on more lasting possessions. 
 Tliis is evident from numberless letters and re- 
 marks, some of which will be found in the fol- 
 lowing pages. ' Periissem nisi periissem,' was the 
 motto to which he clung in after life, for he de- 
 clares that he would have been lost, as regards his 
 fortunes both here and hereafter, if it had not 
 been for this merciful visitation. 
 
 Being totally disabled from all active employ- 
 ment, he could do little to aid his party, and must 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 27 
 
 have watched the waning cause of the Royalists 
 with dismay. A letter of his to a friend in the 
 Isle of Man sends intelligence which he desires 
 may be communicated to the Earl of Derby. He 
 was thrice imprisoned at this period, and again a 
 fourth time, in 1657, at Liverpool, which he de- 
 scribes as a loathsome prison. From a letter 
 dated March 17, 1657-8, it appears that his con- 
 finement had then lasted ten weeks. This was 
 probably in some part of the Castle, which had 
 been dismantled during the civil war. Here he 
 had for a companion his uncle, Christopher Brad- 
 shaigh, and the Hon. Richard Butler, heir to the 
 title and impaired fortunes of Viscount Mount- 
 garret. When this young man was released, after 
 a long imprisonment, his uncle, Colonel Mervin 
 Touchet, requested Mr. Blundell to receive him for 
 a time at his house at Crosby. There he remained 
 for two years, his father and friends being unwil- 
 ling, perhaps unable, to assist him with the means 
 necessary for his return to Ireland. It is not sur- 
 prising that, under these circumstances, he formed 
 an attachment to Emilia, Mr. Blundell's eldest 
 daughter. This resulted in a marriage in 1661, 
 but the young couple had many privations to en- 
 dure, until their accession to the title in 1679. 
 The Duke of Ormond, the head of the house of 
 Butler, proved a warm friend, and for many years 
 
 E 2 
 
 
26 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 WILUAM B LUND ELL THE CAVAUER, 27 
 
 I 
 
 lost three inches in height by reason of his acci- 
 dent From this period till the close of the civil 
 war, his hTe was one of privation and anxiet>^ He 
 resided during these disastrous years chiefly in the 
 houses of friends and acquaintance, his constant 
 good humour making him a general favourite. As 
 he was in continual danger of being taken prisoner, 
 he was compelled to leave his own house at Crosby 
 to the care of his wife, or of his sister Frances, a 
 woman of rare courage and prudence. So exposed 
 were they, while the war lasted, to domiciliary 
 visits, in which the soldiers carried off anything 
 they could lay their hands upon, that they were 
 obliged to bury their bread from meal to meal. 
 One advantage which Mr. Blundell undoubtedly 
 drew from his misfortunes, was the conviction that 
 they were sent him as a wholesome correction, to 
 withdraw him from the vain pursuit of pleasure, 
 and to fix his mind on more lasting possessions.* 
 This is evident from numberless letters and re- 
 marks, some of which will be found in the fol- 
 lowing pages. * Periissem nisi periissem,' was the 
 motto to which he clung in after life, for he de- 
 clares that he would have been lost, as regards his 
 fortunes both here and hereafter, if it had not 
 been for this merciful visitation. 
 
 Being totally disabled from all active employ- 
 ment, he could do little to aid his party, and must 
 
 have watched the waning cause of the Royalists 
 with dismay. A letter of his to a friend in the 
 Isle of Man sends intelligence which he desires 
 may be communicated to the Earl of Derby. He 
 was thrice imprisoned at this period, and again a 
 fourth time, in 1657, at Liverpool, which he de- 
 scribes as a loathsome prison. From a letter 
 dated March 17, 1657-8, it appears that his con- 
 finement had then lasted ten weeks. This was 
 probably in some part of the Castle, which had 
 been dismantled during the civil war. Here he 
 had for a companion his uncle, Christopher Brad- 
 shaigh, and the Hon. Richard Butler, heir to the 
 title and impaired fortunes of Viscount Mount- 
 garret. When this young man was released, after 
 a long imprisonment, his uncle, Colonel Mervin 
 Touchet, requested Mr. Blundell to receive him for 
 a time at his house at Crosby. There he remained 
 for two years, his father and friends being unwil- 
 ling, perhaps unable, to assist him with the means 
 necessary for his return to Ireland. It is not sur- 
 prising that, under these circumstances, he formed 
 an attachment to Emilia, Mr. Blundell's eldest 
 daughter. This resulted in a marriage in 1661, 
 but the young couple had many privations to en- 
 dure, until their accession to the title in 1679. 
 The Duke of Ormond, the head of the house of 
 Butler, proved a warm friend, and for many years 
 
 E 2 
 
 J. \ 
 
! 
 
 * 
 
 » 
 
 ? i 
 
 28 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 they resided at Kilkenny, near the mansion of 
 their noble benefactor. From this couple, the pre- 
 sent Henry Edmund, thirteenth Viscount Mount- 
 garret, descends. 
 
 By the law of 1646, no Papist delinquent could 
 compound for his estate ; consequently, all Mr. 
 Blundell's estate was seized and remained in the 
 hands of the Commissioners for nine or ten years. 
 His trials at this period, in the loss of goods and 
 the ravages committed upon his lands, were very 
 severe. The following is a record preserved in his 
 handwriting : — 
 
 The war between Charles I. and his Parliament 
 began a.d. 1642. That year, March 18, my thigh 
 was broken with a shot in the King's service, a.d. 
 1643, ^^1 ^y goods and most of my lands were 
 sequestered for being a Papist and delinquent, as 
 the prevailing party call the King's partakers. In 
 the year 1645, my wife fanned my demesne at 
 Crosby, and all her quick goods being lost, she 
 bought one horse and two oxen to make up a team. 
 A.D. 1646, November 13, I valued all my goods, 
 and comparing them with my debts, I found myself 
 worse than nothing by the whole sum of 81/. i8j., 
 my lands being all lost. a.d. 1653 : Till this year, 
 from 1646 inclusively, I remained under sequestra- 
 tion, having one-fifth part allowed to my wife, and 
 farming only from the sequestrators my demesne of 
 Crosby and the mill. About Midsummer 1653, my 
 whole estate was purchased and compounded for 
 
 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER, 29 
 
 with my own money, for my use, so that in the month 
 of February 1653-4, 1 was indebted 1,100/. 7^., after 
 which time I was so overcharged with care, debts, 
 business, and imprisonments, that I think I took no 
 account of the value of my goods till the year 1658. 
 
 In the repurchase of his estate, Mr. Blundell 
 employed the intervention of two Protestant 
 friends— his cousin. Sir Roger Bradshaigh, Bart, 
 of Haigh, and Mr. Gilbert Crouch. The sum 
 paid appears to have been 1,340/., representing, no 
 doubt, his life interest in the property. In addi- 
 tion to this Mr. Blundell found himself saddled 
 with the arrears of rents reserved to the Crown, 
 arising out of frequent grants for recusancy, some 
 of which had never been discharged. These went 
 as far back as the reign of Elizabeth, and though 
 Mr. Blundell represented the injustice of charging 
 him with rents which should have been paid by 
 those who had the benefit of the forfeitures, the 
 Government was inexorable, and he was compelled 
 to pay on this score 1,167/. 15^-. 6^^. Moreover, 
 the cost of making out this prodigious bill was 
 added to the account, making an addition of 
 34/. io.y. 2d. to the foregoing sum. This remark- 
 able document, a roll of twenty feet in length, has 
 been carefully preserved at Crosby. May it long 
 serve to remind his descendants of the faith and 
 loyalty of their ancestor. 
 
1 
 
 30 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 «# 
 
 11 
 
 In 1658, Mr. Blundell procured a pass from 
 Colonel Gilbert Ireland to go abroad, which he 
 made use of to conduct two of his daughters to 
 Rouen, where they were desirous of embracing a 
 religious life. An incidental reference to the 
 journey, which he makes in a letter written subse- 
 quently to these daughters, reveals some of the 
 inconveniences to which travellers were subjected 
 at that period. 
 
 When you went from my poor house to Rouen, 
 part of your journey was on horseback, some little 
 part on foot, the most by coach, and the rest in a 
 tottering bark or cockboat upon the unstable ele- 
 ment of water, not without crosswinds and perhaps 
 a tempest. Besides these you may remember some 
 other varieties in that journey, as our stop at Liver- 
 pool water, the brawls, the lets, and other accidents 
 in the coach and in the inns ; and at the last, when 
 we came to London, the unexpected death of the 
 greatest person (Oliver Cromwell), as we esteemed 
 him, upon the whole earth, was the occasion, by 
 shutting up of the sea-ports, of a notable stop in 
 your journey. 
 
 Our Cavalier was still abroad in 1660, when 
 England was preparing to welcome again her 
 legitimate monarch. Attracted by the gathering 
 of royalists at Breda, he hastened thither and had 
 an interview with Charles the night before his em- 
 barkation. He renewed on this occasion to his 
 
 31 
 
 King the offer of his fortunes and life, and no 
 doubt heard him utter those promises of toleration 
 which were so soon forgotten. He accompanied 
 him in the same ship to Dover, where he was a 
 witness of the joy and acclamations which greeted 
 his arrival. An interesting anecdote, recorded in 
 the following pages, in which we find King Charies 
 measuring his height against the lintel of the cabin 
 door, shows that the King was of more than or- 
 dinary stature. None of his followers could attain 
 the measure of royalty ; but perhaps the tallest 
 practised a wise abstention, qualifying themselves 
 thus early for the role of courtiers. 
 
 Whatever benefits some of the party may have 
 derived from the Restoration, those of an ob- 
 noxious faith had little to expect. At first there 
 was a gleam of sunshine and a certain degree of 
 relaxation from the severities of the penal laws ; 
 but soon the Anti-Popery cry was renewed, and 
 persecution became the order of the day. The 
 King's easy nature induced him to accede to fresh 
 measures of repression, and the report of the con- 
 version of the Duke of York was not calculated 
 to alter the temper of the nation. At length the 
 audacious plot concocted by Titus Gates found the 
 country ready to listen to any extravagance, and 
 worked it into the frenzy of a religious panic. 
 The voice of justice and reason was no longer 
 
 ^ \ i 
 
32 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CA VALIER. 
 
 i 
 
 heard, and many innocent Catholics, both priests 
 and laymen, became the victims of popular fury. 
 
 Among the sufferers was Richard Langhorne, 
 Esq., a lawyer of eminence and a consistent Ca- 
 tholic, with whom Mr. Blundell had long before 
 contracted what he styles, in the language of the 
 day, 'an entire friendship.' Many letters had 
 passed between them, and in 1666 Mr. Langhorne 
 sent his friend an interesting account of the Great 
 Fire of London, of which he was an eye-witness. 
 A remarkable letter, bearing date May 14, 1673, 
 written by Mr. Blundell, we cannot forbear quoting 
 in part It reveals the consternation with which 
 Catholics beheld the signs of the times, and their 
 apprehension of what was to follow. It will be 
 seen that Mr. Blundell echoes a sentiment of his 
 correspondent, which, taken in connection with his 
 subsequent fate, seems couched in the language of 
 prophecy. It is clear also that Mr. Blundell would 
 have been equally ready to suffer death in the 
 same cause. 
 
 You think we are all asleep, and that we shall 
 be * eating and drinking, marrying and giving in 
 marriage,' when the storm and the flood come. 
 Shall I tell you my fancy % Perhaps you will say it 
 is a wild one. I think that none but madmen 
 can execute those cruel things that are threatened 
 against His Majesty's Catholic subjects. And if 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 33 
 
 men be really mad, there is no defence against 
 them by paper walls. In my younger days our 
 next Justice of the Peace (Colonel Moore, of Bank 
 Hall) sent one of my tenants, a soldier of the 
 trained bands, to the gaol for refusing the oath of 
 allegiance. He was prisoner a year or two, and 
 being at last released in time of the war, he took up 
 arms for the King, and lived and died (with his 
 poor estate sequestered) a loyal Catholic subject ; 
 whilst that very same Justice of the Peace was one 
 of the King's Judges and died (for aught I know) 
 an unrepenting rebel. I knew no leading rebel 
 about those times who was not, as I confidently 
 think, a notable taker or tenderer of the oath of 
 allegiance, nor any one Catholic refuser who proved 
 disloyal to his King. God grant us a better test 
 of allegiance, a more lucky oath. 
 
 I have a villainous book of Prynne's printed in 
 1643, where he endeavours to prove by the re- 
 cords of sundry kingdoms, that the people had 
 authority to depose and resist their kings, to call 
 them to strict account, and, when they saw just 
 cause for it, to proceed capitally against them. 
 According to these same grounds, King Charles I. 
 was beheaded. When the bloody deed was done, 
 Milton and sundry others by writing, and thousands 
 of others by the sword, defended it as just. Yet 
 Milton and those are pardoned and live in security. 
 Prynne, as is very well known, was an eminent 
 Parliament man, a mortal foe to the Papists, and 
 was cherished with a very fair salary and with singular 
 places of trust since the King came in. I think we 
 do not seek for preferment For my own part, I 
 
 F 
 
 i 
 
34 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 35 
 
 am sure I only plead 'pro domo mea,' for the same 
 house and lands which I lost for my duty to the 
 King, to a pack of those arch villains, and pur- 
 chased it from them again after 9 or 10 years' se- 
 questration, with money which I borrowed. My 
 limbs, my goods, my liberty, I lost on the same 
 account Many others of ours lost life and all. 
 And ours and our greatest enemies' principles are 
 still the same. If we must therefore beg or hang, I 
 pray God bless the King, and the will of God be 
 done. My dearest sir, I wish as much as you that 
 we were together one day before we suffer^ and I shall 
 not despair of this happiness, neither will I be cross 
 or wilful in refusing advice, &c. 
 
 In a letter to the same gentleman, dated 
 February 22, 1677, Mr. Rlundell speaks of the 
 fresh exactions in his neighbourhood, to which the 
 revival of the persecution had given rise. 
 
 . . . Many seizures have here (in these 
 parts) been made of y® estates of convicted Recu- 
 sants. If y® Inquisitions had not been indifferently 
 favorable, they had been utterly ruined. Y« Papists, 
 I presume, do take it a little unkindly, after an 18 
 years' sequestration suffered under y*' usurpers, to be 
 sequestered again by y* King, and to be jeered no 
 doubt for theire loyalty by y« old oppressors. Here 
 is one of my poore neighbours hardly put too't by 
 many ej^enceful shifts to keepe off for a tyme a 
 judgement and y® execution necessarily following, 
 upon a verdict given against him about 18 months 
 agoe by force of y^ statute for 20/. a month for his 
 
 absence from church service. For my own part, 
 you know I am wholly for liberty of conscience ; 
 yet would I have them humbly to submit their for- 
 tunes to the secular power. . . . 
 
 In a letter to Lady Bradshaigh dated Decem- 
 ber 26, 1678, he writes : 
 
 Notwithstanding the great disloyalty of very 
 many persons (as it seems) who had lived in good re- 
 pute, I cannot accuse myself of any such crime. And 
 although by confinement, disarming and other waies 
 I may appear to be one of y« wicked, yet, for as 
 much as concerns either my allegiance to y® King, 
 or my hearty true respects to my worthy friends, I 
 defy y® whole world and y® Devil himself to prove it 
 
 Another letter relating to this eventful period, 
 and dated April 4, 1679, is addressed to Mr. John 
 North, of Dublin. It is valuable, as expressing 
 the personal sentiments of Mr. Blundell on a 
 matter regarding which the religion of Catholics 
 has often exposed them to the suspicion of dis- 
 loyalty. But neither the past sufferings of our 
 Cavalier on behalf of the Crown, nor his present 
 protestations, could avail him as long as he adhered 
 to the proscribed creed of his forefathers. 
 
 I have been inwardly no little afflicted to see 
 and hear those many astonishing particulars w*=^ 
 have filled y® world with wonder, and to be con- 
 strained either to believe that many of those very 
 
 F 2 
 
36 WILLIAM BLUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 WILLIAM BLUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 37 
 
 same persons, who being of my own profession had 
 once been active assertors of y® Royal cause and 
 painful sufferers for it, have since contrived y« 
 worst of treasons against it ; or else to believe or 
 think . . . that there hath been an unchristian 
 confederacy against ye reputation, lives and fortunes 
 of many innocent men. I was troubled a little 
 som months agoe to see my trusty old sword taken 
 fro me (w*=^ had been my companion w^ I lost my 
 limbs, my lands, my liberty for acting against the 
 rebels in the King's behalQ by an officer appointed 
 for y-' purpose, who in that former old war had been 
 a captaine against y« King. Yet I hear no personal 
 charge against me, nor do I fear any at all, saving 
 purely upon y*' account of y^ religion w*=^» I have 
 ever profest. In that particular I conceive that my 
 estate and my liberty, as well as many others, may 
 incur no little damage, if y*' Parlements will be 
 done ; and if that be y^ King's will too, I shall 
 most heartily and humbly submit. I have formerly 
 suffered the loss of a fair personal estate and se- 
 (juestration of all my lands for 10 long years and 
 upwards. After vv«»^ I bought y« same lands off ^ 
 rebels in y*^ year 53 with y« money W^^* I borrowed 
 off my friends. I was 4 tymes taken prisoner and 
 ^ my ransom twice. All this was for my loyalty to 
 y^' King. I deny, as in y® presence of God, y' I 
 have ever entertained any designe whoever con- 
 trary to y® duty of a subject eyther against that K. 
 or this. And as for invasions, it hath ever been my 
 professed principle, that all even Catholic subjects 
 of a lawful Protestant king (such as King Charles 
 y« 2d) are obliged faithfully to adhere to that King 
 
 in all invasions w^soever, though made by Catholic 
 princes or even by the Pope himself 
 
 Mr. Langhorne suffered resolutely on July 14, 
 1679, asserting in his last speech that he had an 
 offer of a free pardon if he would have renounced 
 his religion. The judge who condemned him 
 (Justice Scroggs) afterwards declared that he was 
 convinced of his innocence, for which he was taken 
 to task by Gates and Bedloe. This must have 
 been a very anxious time for Mr. Blundell, as, in 
 addition to his friend's prosecution, his own son 
 Nicholas had been marked out as one of the vic- 
 tims for destruction. He had entered the Society 
 of Jesus in 1662, and was arrested at Lambeth 
 by the pursuivants of Gates, who declared that he 
 had revealed to him the plan for the burning of 
 London. He must have been speedily released 
 from custody, and was present at the trial of 
 the accused, of which he gives many particulars 
 in a letter to a nun at Cambray, which has found 
 its way into the State Archives at Brussels. Ex- 
 tracts from the letter may be seen in the ample 
 account of this conspiracy, contained in the fifth 
 volume of Foley's * Records of the English Pro- 
 vince,' S. J. This work, of which the last volume 
 has only recently appeared, is not sufficiently 
 known. It embodies more original information 
 respecting the Catholic body during the operation 
 
 V 
 
 
38 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 of the penal laws than any work hitherto pub- 
 lished. 
 
 Another of Mr. Blundell's correspondents was 
 the well-known political writer Roger I'Estrange, 
 Esq. (afterwards knighted), who published an ' In- 
 telligencer/ which his friend was able to join a 
 neighbour in procuring twice a week. From some 
 passages in his letters, it is probable that he fur- 
 nished occasional items of news for this journal. 
 Mr. Blundell seems to have had some difficulty in 
 getting his correspondent to put the right address 
 upon his letters. Thus on June i, 1664, he says 
 in a postscript : 
 
 If you do ever remember me again, I pray 
 forget not Liverpool, for your two last letters being 
 directed to Preston (20 miles off) came late to my 
 hand. Liverpool is 5 from hence and even from 
 thence the passage to us dependeth very often upon 
 the market day. 
 
 Writing the following month from ' West- 
 chester,' he says : 
 
 Yours of the 2d, directed to Crosby in Cheshire, 
 I have caught to day in my journey to Chester. 
 You shot 6 bows over Crosby when you aimed at 
 Preston, and now at Cheshire you are three or four 
 short. Surely I shall take myself for some great 
 body, for every shaft will hit me though shot at 
 random. 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 39 
 
 1 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CASf KLIEK— continued. 
 
 Mr. BlundeWs Activity— Hunting— His friend Laurence 
 Ireland, of Lydiate, becomes a Jesuit— Bills of Mortality 
 —Bowling at Sef ton— Prevalence of Drink— Duelling — 
 Remarkable Answer to an expected Challenge — The 
 Moores of Bank Hall— Intended Banishment of Ca- 
 tholics—List of the Proscribed in Lancashire— Difficulty 
 i?t obtaining a Pass— Abroad at La Fleche — Draws up 
 Petition to James Il.—Suggests Plan for Defeat of 
 Cavalry— Fifth Imprisonment at Manchester— Dis char oe 
 
 o 
 
 and Five-miles Chain ^Patriotic Grant to a Seamaji 
 
 His Son William carried off Prisoner for Lancashire 
 Plot — Death of the Cavalier — Petition to the Crown- 
 Little Crosby Village. 
 
 Notwithstanding his lameness, Mr. Blundell's 
 activity, both of mind and body, was very great. 
 He visited, as may be seen from the following 
 notes, many places of interest at home and abroad, 
 concerning which he has several curious notices. 
 His hurt does not seem to have prevented him 
 from riding, or from following the diversion of 
 hunting, of which he was particularly fond. His 
 cousin. Sir Roger Bradshaigh of Haigh, kept a 
 pack of hounds, as also did his kinsman and 
 
 i * 
 
 li 
 
40 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 neighbour, Laurence Ireland, of Lydiate, Esq. He 
 carefully records the bugle notes of Sir Roger's 
 huntsman, also his * recheat ' or recall of the hunt- 
 ing party. He gives also the * recheat' (a much 
 longer one) of his friend Mr. Ireland. This gentle- 
 man, the last of the Lydiate branch of the Irelands 
 of Hutte and Hale, when a widower at the age of 
 thirty-one, having settled his estates on his elder 
 daughter Margaret (afterwards married to Sir 
 Charles Anderton, Second Baronet of Lostock), 
 left the world and became a Jesuit and a priest. 
 Mr. Blundell, in his letters to his friend and to Sir 
 Thomas Preston, of the Manor, Furness, Bart, 
 who some time afterwards, under similar circum- 
 stances, entered the same Society, seems to envy 
 their lot, and tells them that they have chosen the 
 better part. He reminds Laurence Ireland of the 
 last house but one at which they had met to join a 
 hunting party. On this occasion his friend re- 
 marked to him that whenever he heard the triple 
 note of the bugle sounding to the chase, it seemed 
 to cry out to him * Dead, Dead, Dead.' Whilst 
 abroad, Mr. Blundell furnished him, at his request, 
 with what he calls ' bills of mortality.' Three or 
 four of these very interesting communications have 
 been copied into his letter-book, and they contain, 
 besides much local news, many matters of general 
 interest. In a letter dated 1668 occurs this passage : 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 41 
 
 The noble Countess of Southampton hath been 
 here four or five weeks amongst us, bowling on 
 Sephton Green ; the country came flowing in, and she 
 kept a public table at the Hall of Maile (MaghuU). 
 I could have soured her cheer by giving her bills of 
 mortality since the last scene she acted in this neigh- 
 bourhood. But I was so sour myself, that I saw not 
 so much as a brace of rubbers on the Green during 
 the whole play. Quantum mutatus. 
 
 It must be presumed that the once fashionable 
 pastime alluded to was the attraction which drew 
 Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland and Coun- 
 tess of Southampton, one of the numerous mis- 
 tresses of Charles II., from the fascinations of a 
 Court to so remote a spot as Maghull. From a 
 letter written about this time by the Cavalier's 
 son William to his brother-in-law, Lawrence, son 
 of Rowland Eyre of Hassop, co. Derbyshire, Esq., 
 it would appear that a bowling club had been es- 
 tablished at Sefton under distinguished auspices : 
 
 If you could have time to make a step into 
 Lancashire, I would show you once a week a meeting 
 of a dozen or fourteen gentlemen, or more, who, 
 after a dinner had at Sefton, spend the afternoon at 
 bowls. My Lord Molineux and his son (who is 
 lately come out of Italy), Sir Edward Stanley, my 
 cousin Scarisbrick, and others have engaged to meet 
 at Sefton every week. Sir Edward Stanley has set 
 afoot bows and arrows, and follows the sport very 
 eagerly. My Lord Molineux his son intends to 
 
 G 
 
 *•- 
 
t 
 
 i 
 
 42 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 do the like. So that you will find other diversion 
 besides downright drinking. 
 
 From the last expression it may be inferred 
 that the praiseworthy encouragement given to these 
 innocent recreations by the heads of the chief 
 families in this part, was with the view of counter- 
 acting that evil. That it was a great evil at that 
 period, is evident from Mr. Blundell's correspon- 
 dence. 
 
 In his hills of mortality the number of deaths 
 amongst the gentry, which he attributes to what 
 he calls * the vice of our country,' is very large. 
 He mentions the appalling circumstance of a ' no- 
 table observing youth ' having reckoned no fewer 
 than fifty burials of rich and poor within the space 
 of one year in Prescot parish alone, all caused by 
 immoderate drinking. This shows the prevalence 
 of this vice to an alarming extent, fostered as it 
 was by the example of the higher orders. Mr. 
 Blundcll gives more than one example of a young 
 man challenged and shot dead by his host, who 
 chose to think himself insulted when his guest 
 refused his cups. Whatever may be the case at 
 present with regard to the lower orders, it is certain 
 that there is a manifest improvement amongst 
 those of the higher class, since the days of deep 
 drinking have gone out. 
 
 In the following notes frequent reference will 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 43 
 
 be found to the subject of duelling, another pre- 
 valent vice of the times. Mr. Blundell's mind 
 seems to have been much exercised by this ques- 
 tion ; but he was clearly of opinion that it was 
 unlawful either to give or to accept a challenge. 
 He says that a man whose courage has been 
 proved can refuse a challenge without imputation 
 of cowardice, and he brings an example to show 
 how a man should act whose valour has not been 
 put to the test. How Mr. Blundell himself would 
 have acted in such a case, is evident from the 
 following remarkable answer which he had pre- 
 pared in anticipation of a challenge. Here we 
 find the noblest sentiments of a Christian and the 
 exalted courage of a cavalier happily blended : 
 
 I have lost much blood in defence of the laws, 
 and will not hazard any to break them. I confess I 
 dare not be damned upon any account, and am 
 unwilling to be hanged upon this. I have not learnt 
 the ways to evade the hand of justice when I am 
 guilty of blood. In short, I will neither meet you 
 nor any man, how strong or weak he may be, with 
 so bad a design, and I propose, by God's assistance, 
 that the most public or great affront that malice 
 shall devise against me, shall not move me from 
 this resolution. If I have done wrong to you or 
 any man else, I will hazard my blood and fortune 
 (in a just and honourable way) so far to make 
 amends ; and in this I shall always be willing to 
 submit to indifferent judges. In the mean time, 
 
 G 2 
 
 trt'- 
 
44 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER, 45 
 
 if this answer displeases you, I shall never decline 
 the walks to which my business leads me out of any 
 fear of your sword, «l'c. 
 
 Mr. Blundell says that the party from whom 
 he had good reason to expect a challenge was a 
 person of great repute, and from another passage 
 we gather that it was Colonel Moore, his neigh- 
 bour of Bank Hall. This gentleman was the only 
 Protestant magistrate in the neighbourhood, and 
 had given much annoyance to him and his tenants 
 on the score of religion. Mr. Blundell had written 
 some verses concerning him which were not of a 
 complimentary character, and possibly had ex- 
 pressed his sentiments in language which would 
 be called in these days * unparliamentary.' As 
 Colonel Moore died in Dublin about 1650, having 
 accompanied Cromwell to Ireland at the head of 
 a force, this answer must have been written before 
 that period. He was one of the members of Par- 
 liament whose names we find appended to the 
 warrant for the execution of Charles I. Notwith- 
 standing the injuries received from the family, Mr. 
 Blundell, on occasion of an epidemic (said to have 
 been small-pox), when Mrs. Moore had her hus- 
 band (Edward, afterwards Sir Edward Moore, 
 Baronet, son of the Colonel) sick and three child- 
 ren dead in the house, went no less than four 
 times to visit and console her. At this time none 
 
 of her friends would come near the place, and it is 
 a curious sign of the credulity of the age, that Mrs. 
 Moore could not be persuaded that her children 
 had succumbed to any natural distemper, but 
 ascribed their death to witchcraft. 
 
 So great was the excitement produced through- 
 out the country by the accusations of Titus Oates, 
 that besides the exclusion of the Catholic Peers 
 from the House of Lords, which was effected in 
 1678, the banishment of all the leading Catholics 
 of the kingdom was seriously contemplated. This 
 was perhaps found to be too severe and impolitic 
 a measure to be carried out. Lists of the intended 
 victims were prepared in 1680 by the aid of the 
 returns of the names of recusants made at that 
 time. Sir Roger Bradshaigh sent Mr. Blundell a 
 catalogue of Popish recusants of the greatest 
 quality in Lancashire, whom it was proposed to 
 banish. This he had procured from the Earl of 
 Ancram, and we find Caryll Viscount Molyneux 
 at the head of the list, which comprises sixty-four 
 names, including those of Mr. Blundell and his son 
 William. He had previously applied to Govern- 
 ment for a pass to go abroad, and was informed 
 that he could not have one, unless he entered into 
 recognisances not to return into England with- 
 out a licence. Mr. Blundell indignantly refused 
 a permission coupled with so hard a condition. 
 
 »^ 
 
1! 
 
 40 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 and thus expresses himself in a letter to Lord 
 Ancram : — 
 
 22 Aug. 1679. • • • ^ ^^^'^ engaged in 500/. 
 already not to travel to Rome, and now to banish 
 myself by a deliberate act of my own from my 
 native and best beloved country, I have not the 
 heart to do. I should certainly forfeit my bond if 
 nothing else would effect my return. I would rather 
 be confined again (as once in the prime of my youth 
 for the noblest cause in the world) to my plundered 
 bare walls and a pair of crutches, than to lead the 
 life of an outlaw. I desire, as the case now stands, 
 rather to keep my possession till the law of the land 
 or of nature do turn me out 
 
 Later on he procured a licence free from the 
 obnoxious condition, and passed over into France, 
 where he spent a good part of the following year. 
 He resided chiefly at La Flcche, for the sake of his 
 grandson the Honourable Edmund Butler, who was 
 then pursuing his studies at the Jesuit Academy. 
 
 During the short reign of James H. our Cava- 
 lier was frequently in London, where he had many 
 friends at Court, who encouraged him with the 
 hope of at length obtaining some compensation 
 for his many trials. At their suggestion he pre- 
 pared a petition to the King, and was led to ex- 
 pect that he might receive some post, though, as 
 he himself says, he hardly knew what sort of an 
 oflRce would suit a man of his years and infirmities. 
 
 WILLIAM B LUND ELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 47 
 
 This petition, which is inserted at the conclusion 
 of this sketch, does not appear to have been 
 actually presented, and the end of his hopes and 
 those of his friends came very speedily. When 
 the news of the Prince of Orange's intended land- 
 ing reached England, the martial instincts of the 
 old cavalier were aroused, and he addressed a letter 
 to the Honourable Robert Strickland, Vice-Cham- 
 berlain to the Queen, suggesting a plan for the 
 discomfiture of the enemy's troop of horse, which 
 was said to be incomparably strong. This plan 
 was the planting of a number of sharp-pointed 
 rods (tipped with iron, if possible) to be so placed 
 as to impale the horses of the troopers when they 
 rushed to the attack. He goes into details, de- 
 scribing, with the precision of a quartermaster, the 
 size of the rods, the quantity required, and the 
 wagons desirable for their transportation. What- 
 ever military men may think of this scheme, to 
 a non-combatant it wears rather an impracticable 
 appearance, as its success seems wholly to de- 
 pend upon the enemy adopting the exact position 
 necessary for their impalement. As they might 
 possibly have declined to be parties to their own 
 destruction, in this case the rods were as likely to 
 be a hindrance to the King's troops as damaging 
 to the enemy. Our cavalier must have been con- 
 siderably disgusted to find the kingdom delivered 
 
48 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 up without a struggle ; but, considering the then 
 temper of the nation, it was perhaps the wisest 
 course the King could have adopted. 
 
 In 1689 Mr. Blundell underwent, at Man- 
 chester, his fifth imprisonment, being confined with 
 others of his religion, by virtue of a warrant from 
 Lord Gerard of Brandon, Lord Lieutenant of the 
 county. This step was no doubt taken as a mea- 
 sure of precaution to prevent the disaffected from 
 joining King James in Ireland. This confinement 
 lasted seven weeks, and was rendered less irksome 
 by the company he met with. Of Mr. Towncley 
 of Towneley, one of the prisoners, he says that his 
 cheerful society would make life pleasant anywhere. 
 
 From the period of his release till the close of 
 his life, Mr. Blundell remained at his own house, 
 or rather within the tether of what he calls his 
 five miles' chain.' This was the limit of travel 
 then prescribed for recusants, who had to enter 
 into recognisances not to exceed it without a 
 licence. In January 1691, he thus writes to a 
 Protestant friend in London : — 
 
 * Since my discharge at the assizes, I have not 
 stirred from home \ yet my son and servant have 
 made good use in my behalf (so far as their five 
 miles' chain will reach) of those two horses for which 
 you were kindly pleased to i)rocure me a licence. We 
 have now no disturbance at all, and if I be not greatly 
 
 / 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CA VALIER. 49 
 
 mistaken, all my friends here and hereabout are so 
 sensible of this present ease, that they will not easily 
 lose it through any demerit. It is but nine or ten 
 months since my own in-foal mares were taken out 
 of my grounds, and sold to my neighbours. Our 
 colts were then taken at two or three years of age, 
 and about that time it was, that my servant, return- 
 ing unarmed from the next market, was assailed 
 upon the road with pistol and bayonet, whereby 
 some blood was drawn, because he would not yield 
 his horse (which, in truth, was a very mean one) to 
 an officer of our country's militia, who refused to 
 show an order for seizing the same. We have none 
 of these doings now. AVe may sit very securely under 
 our own vines, and we have reason to pray for the 
 King. I am sure without his favour (a favour, I 
 confess, unexpected) we had all been a prey to the 
 law, or, rather, perhaps, to the rabble.' 
 
 The record of the death of one of Mr. 
 Blundell's tenants, in 1692, brings to light a re- 
 markable proof of the patriotism and loyalty of 
 our cavalier. This man, Robert Tomson, had 
 been a seaman in the reign of Charles L, and had 
 performed some conspicuous act of gallantry, for 
 which Mr. Blundell gave him a free lease of his 
 tenement in Little Crosby. The grant is thus re- 
 corded in the tenants' book : — 
 
 24th June 1669. Gave unto Robert Tomson, the . 
 seaman, a lease gratis, for the great service he had 
 done to his late Majesty in time of the war, which 
 was truly great and remarkable in many respects. 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
50 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ffl 
 
 We regret that we have not succeeded in find- 
 ing any particulars of this deed. The ingratitude 
 and injustice with which Mr. Blundell had been 
 treated enhance the generosity of this act. Him- 
 self a great sufferer for his loyalty, he would not 
 allow an inferior man, who had done a service to 
 the King, to go without his reward, although his 
 own reduced fortunes could ill afford the sacrifice. 
 
 Another trial awaited Mr. Blundell, before his 
 long and eventful career came to a close. He was 
 one of the Lancashire Catholics of position ac- 
 cused of participation in the sham plot of 1694. 
 The late Bishop Goss, in ' Manchester State Trials,' 
 which he edited for the Chetham Society from 
 papers at Crosby, gives the following account of 
 his transaction : — 
 
 On Monday, July 30, 1694, at half-past five in the 
 morning, three of the King's messengers, with two 
 of the informers, invaded the hall at Crosby, with 
 the intention of carrying off old Mr. Blundell. As, 
 however, he was then in his seventy-fifth year, and 
 had been lame for many years, in consequence of 
 the injuries he had received while fighting in the 
 royal cause, they did not take him with them : but 
 they carried off a case of pistols, two swords, and a 
 fowling-piece, with seven horses and two hackney- 
 saddles. Mr. William Blundell, jun., having shown 
 them to his father's room, left the house ; but, find- 
 ing on his return that they carried off his horses, he 
 went to Liverpool, to Mr. Norris of Speke, who 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER, 51 
 
 ( 
 
 gave him into the custody of the Mayor, by whom 
 he was handed over to Captain Baker, who sent him 
 to Chester Castle and thence to London, where, 
 having been examined, he was committed and taken 
 to Newgate. None of the authorities concerned in 
 this illegal arrest seem to have doubted the justice 
 of committing the son for the supposed crime of 
 the father. 
 
 The trial resulted in the acquittal of the pri- 
 soners, who were dismissed by the Judge with the 
 injunction to * go and sin no more : ' a singularly 
 inappropriate application of Scripture in the case 
 of these much injured gentlemen. 
 
 The brave, loyal, and virtuous Cavalier whose 
 life we have been attempting to sketch ended his 
 days peaceably at Crosby Hall, on May 24, 1698, 
 He was interred at Sefton Church, in the Blundell 
 Chapel, where the bones of so many of his an- 
 cestors repose. He was succeeded in his estates by 
 his son William Blundell, who only survived him 
 a few years, dying in 1702. This gentleman's son 
 Nicholas, who married the Honourable Frances, 
 daughter of Marmaduke, third Lord Langdale, 
 and died in 1737, was the last in the male line of 
 this ancient race. The family succession was kept 
 up through the marriage of Frances, surviving 
 daughter and heiress of Nicholas, with Henry 
 Peppard, Esq., of Drogheda, whose son Nicholas 
 took, in 1772, the name of Blundell, and was an- 
 
 H 2 
 
 \ V 
 
:>- 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER, 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 53 
 
 cestor to Colonel Nicholas Blundell, its present 
 worthy representative. To the courtesy of this 
 gentleman our readers are indebted for whatever 
 pleasure or interest they may derive from the 
 perusal of these pages. 
 
 The following is the petition to King James II. 
 referred to above, which was prepared by the Ca- 
 valier, but never presented. It is interesting as con- 
 taining the summary of his claims upon the merciful 
 consideration of his sovereign. It is headed — 
 
 The Family of William Blundell. 
 
 The family of W. B. hath continued in y« place 
 where it is now seated for very many generations, 
 during which time there is no memory left that any 
 son or daughter of y® house hath professed any other 
 than y® Roman Catholick Religion. This hath been 
 y« cause that since y*' pretended Reformation, it hath 
 suffered persecution for the same in an extraordinary 
 degree. The story would be here over long : and 
 so much thereof as happened before our rt\emory, 
 may be found by ancient writings, that give us an 
 account of many imprisonments of y® ancestors of 
 y® said W. B., viz. at Chester, Lancaster, and London ; 
 the begging of y® real estate by sundry court fa- 
 vourites in Queen Elizabeth's dayes, and y® seizure of 
 y® moveable goods with y® utter loss of y® same in 
 later times. The persecution occasioned by y® late 
 plott, and especially the execution of y® statute for 
 20/. per mensem, hath been an extraordinary damage 
 by reason it hath also involved and very sorely im- 
 
 
 poverisht )^ greatest part of his tenants. For whereas 
 W. B. is y® Lord or owner of one small Lordship or 
 Manor consisting of forty houses or thereabouts, 
 there are not (thro y® grace of God) any other but 
 Catholicks in it, except, peradventure, one or two 
 dayly labourers, w<^*^ being born in other places are 
 come to live there for work. And as it hath pleased 
 God to grant such grace to that neighbourhood 
 dureing a long persecution, His goodness has been 
 greatly remarkable to y® kindred of W. B. which is 
 scattered farther abroad ; as appears by a list of one 
 hundred Catholic Priests and Religions of both sexes, 
 whereof seven of his own children and all y® rest in 
 the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th degree ; many of which are 
 liveing and many dead. If none of these had re- 
 nounced y® world, it is probable that an extraordinary 
 great number of that kindred had engaged in de- 
 fence of y® Crown in our late unfortunate warrs. 
 And yet there has likewise been very many such, 
 and some of them greatly remarkable, w^hereas there 
 were none at all that fought on y® Rebells' side. 
 
 It is known that W. B. himself was sorely maimed 
 in y® service at y® very beginning of >^ warr, in the 
 year 42, and that he w^as for y® same divested of 
 goods and land ; which lands were sequestred and 
 wholly detained from him for y® space of ten years, 
 and then were exposed to sale by virtue of a Rump 
 act. Yet true it is, that they were purchased in the 
 name of his friends with moneys which he himself 
 procured, for his own proper use and behoofe. 
 
 This case of sequestration and sale under a 
 monstrous pretence of delinquency, involved all y« 
 visible fortunes of very many hundreds of other 
 
 
 fp|||l|flUB|U, 
 
 jii^aMLiwfcp^ 
 
54 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER, 
 
 v. 
 
 I 
 
 Catholick familyes, as well as y® family abovesaid of 
 W. B. ; altho it may be hard at y*' present to find 
 one other English subject liveing, that in other 
 respects and according to his small quantum has 
 suffered so much as he by loss of blood, imprison- 
 ment, decimation, and sundry other wayes. There 
 are liveing this present year, 1687-8, no fewer then 
 13 sons and daughters (besides the teeming wife of 
 his most dutiful eldest son and som children already 
 preferred) that are yet to be provided for out of his 
 small estate : and this estate at y« present is so sorely 
 charged, that altho y« family hath long subsisted in 
 y« worst of times, it is now in danger to fail when y« 
 times are good. 
 
 .... It is very well known that y« small town- 
 ship abovesaid was many years remarked for these 
 things, — 
 
 That it had not a beggar ; 
 
 That it had not an alehouse ; 
 
 That it had not a Protestant in it. 
 Yet our troubles have so much increased for some 
 later years, that y« case as to y^ matter of beggars is 
 sorely changed. 
 
 This document reminds us that time brings 
 about its revenges. It is curious to find one who 
 had suffered constant persecution and had ex- 
 perienced the severe displeasure of the Crown 
 because he refused to become a Protestant, plead- 
 ing the absence of Protestantism in himself, family, 
 and township, as an argument likely to find favour 
 with his sovereign. It is perhaps still more curious 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 55 
 
 to notice that after the lapse of two centuries 
 things remain in this respect almost wholly un- 
 changed. A direct descendant of the Cavalier, 
 occupying his mansion and estate, can say at this 
 day of his village, that there is neither beggar, 
 alehouse, nor Protestant within it. This cannot 
 altogether be spoken now of the township, although 
 the truth is not far from it. 
 
 The village of Little Crosby lies on the north- 
 west of the park, almost within shelter of its walls. 
 Many of the cottages have been rebuilt of late 
 years, and the place has a neat and clean appear- 
 ance. The school is under charge of the Sisters 
 of Charity of St. Vincent of Paul, with whose 
 habit those who have travelled abroad will be 
 familiar. One of the sisters of the present squire 
 is a member of this religious Order. The church 
 stands at the northern extremity of the village, 
 and is the result of a bequest of the late William 
 Blundell, Esq., who died in 1854. This gentleman 
 married Katharine, daughter of Sir Thomas Massey 
 Stanley, Bart., of Hooton, Cheshire, the chief of 
 that famous race. 
 
 Little Crosby Church is a neat Gothic edifice, 
 complete with spire, &c. The interior decorations 
 were designed and executed by the patient and 
 skilful hand of the present squire in his younger 
 years. 
 
 « 
 
56 WILLIAM BLUNDELL THE CAVALIER. 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 57 
 
 .*" 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHARACTER AND LITERARY PRODUCTIONS OF 
 
 WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 
 
 Character seen in his Writings— Confidence reposed in him 
 — His Good-humour— As a Soldier— His Influence over 
 Young Men — Tutor to his Grandsons — Religious Mat- 
 ters—Difficulties in the Way of practising Religion- 
 Rev. John Walton, S.J. —Rev. Francis Waldcgrave, S.J. 
 — Relations with his Chaplains— Their Position in the 
 Household— Agreeable Companions— Promoters of Mar- 
 riages — A Curious Love-letter — Priests of Good Birth — 
 Large Number of his Relatives Religious — Real Names 
 not entered in Pedigrees — His Literary Occupatio7is — 
 Common-place Books— Plan of Drexelius— Favourite 
 Authors — Neglect of Poetry — Unacquainted with Shake- 
 speare's or Milton's Verses — Character of his Remarks — 
 Wise Suggestions — Letters intended for Publication — 
 Treatise on Penal Laws, 
 
 The following notes show that Mr. Blundell pos- 
 sessed much of that honourable and open character 
 which is said to belong to Lancashiremen of the 
 best type. He speaks his mind in a straightfor- 
 ward, manly way. The impression we have in 
 reading his letters and remarks is highly favourable 
 to his integrity. We seem to be listening to a 
 
 man who would rather suffer any torments than 
 tell a lie or deny his principles. And that such 
 was his real character, the whole tenor of his life 
 bears witness. His friends reposed the greatest 
 confidence in him, and he was frequently selected 
 as umpire in family differences, where the circum- 
 stances called for the exercise of much tact and 
 judgment. Ladies who presided over religious 
 houses abroad found in him a faithful financial 
 agent. His carefulness and exactitude in manag- 
 ing this troublesome business, which he undertook 
 solely out of charity, is manifest from the account- 
 books which he has left behind him. Considerine 
 the many troubles in which he was involved, it is 
 diflficult to see how he contrived to' bring up a 
 large family in tolerable comfort. He says in one 
 of his letters, that three generations of his race 
 were then living on the estate, and that he does 
 not believe that there is in Lancashire another 
 housekeeper who has so many mouths to feed. 
 One element in his character was of the most 
 essential service to him at all times, and that was 
 his unfailing good-humour. Whatever he had to 
 endure, he never desponded ; nor did he givQ way 
 to any murmuring or repining at Divine Provi- 
 dence. How he combated temptations of this 
 nature (which happened to him as to others), may 
 be gathered from some of the following reflections. 
 
 I 
 
58 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM B LUND ELL. 
 
 He was of a hasty temperament, and frequently 
 yielded to sallies of anger. This propensity, how- 
 ever, he much subdued by watchfulness, and we 
 learn from his own observations, how continually 
 he laboured to repress other excesses, not by 
 general resolutions, but by particular and approved 
 methods. His witty and agreeable manner made 
 him a delightful companion, and his society was 
 eagerly sought for by a large circle of acquaint- 
 ance. He reckoned amongst his dearest friends 
 many who were not of his own faith, and exercised 
 towards all an hospitality that was only bounded 
 by his means. 
 
 If his career as a soldier had not been cut 
 short, Mr. Blundell was likely to have proved a 
 sood commander. He was of an enterprising, 
 hardy, and valorous nature : qualities which would 
 have gone far to endear him to his troops. Nor 
 was he wanting in that discretion and ability 
 without which a general can neither combat diffi- 
 culties nor achieve successes. To the close of his 
 life he took much interest in military matters, and 
 made many observations relative to cannon and 
 other implements of war. As has been already 
 remarked, one of his latest letters, addressed to the 
 Vice-Chamberlain of King James H.'s consort, 
 contained details of a plan for the defeat of the 
 Prince of Orange's troop of horse. 
 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL, 59 
 
 His letters are no hasty scrawls, but bear 
 marks of the careful revision of the writer. They 
 must have been charming reading to his corre- 
 spondents, from the pleasant vein of humour which 
 runs through them. One addressed to a recently 
 married daughter, which he wrote towards the 
 end of his life, is full of fun, showing that he 
 retained to the last the same happy and contented 
 mind. They contain many proofs of the influence 
 which he possessed over young men of his own 
 position in life, and of the excellent use which he 
 made of that influence. Whilst his neighbours, 
 the young squires of Ince Blundell and Scarisbrick, 
 are still at college, he writes to them in his pleasant 
 manner, giving them details of country news, but 
 does not fail to exhort them to lay up such a 
 stock of learning and virtue as will enable them 
 to combat the temptations to which they will soon 
 find themselves exposed. His nephew, Thomas 
 Selby of Biddlestone, Northumberland, Esq., who 
 had come early into possession of his estate, ex- 
 perienced a large share of this tenderness and 
 solicitude. In a long letter written to him at St. 
 Omer's College, he confesses his own mistakes in 
 early life, the better to warn him against those 
 dangers which beset unguarded youth. He uses 
 many motives to urge his correspondent to aim at 
 a high standard, while he enjoys the advantage of 
 
 12 
 
6o CHARACTER OF WILLIAM B LUND ELL. 
 
 I 
 
 I fiiri, 
 
 II 
 
 residing at a place so renowned for virtue and 
 learning. One sentence we give as a sample of 
 his earnest and impressive manner : 
 
 I would have you, nephew, to think often (it is a 
 lawful and honourable ambition), that the time will 
 come when you shall sit like an oracle in the High- 
 lands of Northumberland, giving counsel and assist- 
 ance to all your friends and neighbours. So did 
 Roger Widdrington, your late neighbour and kins- 
 man, who, besides a general reputation for wisdom, 
 raised himself merely by his own wit, tempered 
 finely with learning and seconded by a commend- 
 able frugality, from a most inconsiderable to a fair 
 and eminent fortune. This example is familiar 
 (nam nota loquor), and yourself cannot choose but 
 remember him. 
 
 It may be thought that this was the outcome 
 of the wisdom of his riper age, but he had only 
 attained his thirtieth year when he penned these 
 lines. They represent, therefore, the excellent form 
 which his mind had thus early assumed. So great 
 an interest did he take in the welfare of youth, 
 that for some years he acted as tutor to his grand- 
 sons Edmond and Richard Butler, the children 
 of Lord Mountgarret. His assiduity and perse- 
 verance in this laborious office were incessant. The 
 result he communicates in a letter to their father, in 
 which he commends the proficiency of his pupils, 
 and boasts, not unreasonably, that this success has 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 6i 
 
 been attained without the help of a rod. He says 
 that he had found better means of stimulating 
 their industry, and urges their father to send them 
 abroad, to pursue their studies under a better mas- 
 ter. He says of the elder — 
 
 I would have him to dance and fence, to speak 
 Latin and French readily, and to see the world. 
 We are here so far from speaking good Latin, that 
 our English is barbarous. You may find us now 
 and then up to our ears in Plutarch, in a hot dispute 
 whether Alexander the Great or Caesar was the 
 braver man. And perhaps, within an hour or two 
 afterwards, the gallant fierce disputant will be up to 
 the knees in the brambles, at the head of a whole 
 regiment of our pitiful tatterdemalions, beating to 
 start a hare. I blame not but pity him for it ; he 
 hath seldom better company with which to divert 
 himself And yet, to my great admiration, he con- 
 tracts as little rusticity as any I have ever met with 
 in so hard a case. 
 
 The elder of these youths became, in 1706, the 
 
 sixth Viscount Mountgarret, and retained to the 
 
 close of his life a strong attachment to Crosby, the 
 
 scene of his happy and careless boyhood. When 
 
 obliged to leave Ireland, through the troubles in 
 
 which his family was involved by its fidelity to 
 
 King James, he sought with his father an asylum 
 
 in England. They settled in the neighbouring 
 
 town of Ormskirk, then the residence of a number 
 
 of the local gentry, as the petty capital of a rural 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 :i 
 
 62 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLOND ELL. 
 
 district. Edmund, Lord Mountgarret, was restored 
 in blood and honours in 172 1. 
 
 In matters of religion, as may easily be dis- 
 covered from the following notes, Mr. Blundell was 
 not only staunch in belief, but faithful in the prac- 
 tice of the duties of his creed. And yet he must 
 have had many difficulties to encounter in securing 
 opportunities for its observances. At a time when 
 no Catholic chapel except the Queen's, and those 
 of foreign ambassadors, were tolerated in England, 
 the services of the Church were necessarily per- 
 formed in secret in some obscure part of the 
 dwelling. To this the tenants and neighbouring 
 Catholics had access, and the priest attended to 
 their spiritual wants with as much precaution as 
 possible. All this was accompanied with great 
 risk to the host, and still greater to the priest, whose 
 life was at the mercy of the meanest informant. 
 The chaplain had generally, for greater security, 
 his room at the upper part of the house, and in 
 time of danger was obliged 'to keep very close and 
 retired. Mr. Blundell, in his letters to Haggerston, 
 often desires to be remembered to the gentleman 
 at the ' top of the house.' Here too he w^as, when 
 necessar>% served from the family table. In the 
 * Breiffe Narration ' of Rev. Gilbert Blackball (pub- 
 lished in 1844 by the Spalding Club), the writer 
 says — * In great houses, if the priests eat in their 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 63 
 
 private chambers, they must stay till the lady send 
 them from the table, upon trenchers, such pieces as 
 she pleaseth. I have seen this done in England 
 to priests eating in their chambers' (1638). A 
 frequent change of residence was very necessary, 
 and we do not find that any priests had a settled 
 abode till the close of the civil war. Curiously 
 enough, it happens that Crosby Hall is the first 
 place in Lancashire named in conjunction with a 
 resident priest. The Rev. John Walton, S.J., be- 
 came Mr. Blundell's chaplain about 1652, but was 
 obliged to leave through ill-health in 1656. Mr. 
 Blundell, who was then staying with his wife at 
 Haggerston, sent him a farewell letter, which we 
 quote, to show the affectionate relations subsisting 
 between them : 
 
 • I received your letter of farewell long since, and 
 if y" had dealt lesse cruelly by writing lesse kindly, 
 I could sooner have returned an answer. That 
 part \\^^ belongs to my wife, she returns y" in 
 prayers and tears ; but those (as y" know best) are 
 generally much wanting in her husband. Yet I 
 confidently believe now that he prayes very heartily 
 amongst other blessings for your health. Just so do 
 I pray for my purgatory in this world, both wishing 
 and fearing y*^ smart. If y" recover now, S**, we would 
 not murther y" againe at Crosby for all y^ world. If 
 y" linger in y^ same maner still, I have petitioned y"*" 
 master to return y** thither. And as long as those 
 fearefull hojjes of ours are lyk to continew, so long 
 
m 
 
 64 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL, 
 
 shall y"'- poore old cabin be undisposed to any 
 other, &c. 
 The Rev. John Walton, SJ., who belonged to 
 an old Lancashire family, was sent on the mission 
 in 1652, and it is probable that Crosby was the 
 first place that he served. When absent from 
 home for the reasons already assigned, we find 
 Mr Blundell saying in a letter to his sister Frances 
 at Crosby, in 1656, ' Mr. Walton is welcome to 
 stay and do nothing ; ' from which it would appear 
 that his health was very bad. He did not return 
 to Crosby ; but died in London on December 30, 
 1677, at the age of fifty-five. The next chaplain at 
 Crosby was the Rev. Francis Waldegrave, S.J. He 
 was a great grandson of Sir Edward Waldegrave, 
 Knight, the stout servant of Queen Mary, who was 
 imprisoned for refusing to enforce the mandate of 
 King Edward VL's Council, which forbade the 
 celebration of mass at Copped Hall, in Essex, the 
 then residence of the Princess. Losing his father 
 in early youth, his mother, Lucy, daughter of Dean 
 Mervin, sought an asylum with her brother, a 
 clergyman of the Established Church. Notwith- 
 standing her conversion, he received her and her 
 children with the utmost kindness, and made no 
 objection to her son Francis going to St. Omcr's 
 College, which was accomplished with the assistance 
 of his aunt Frances, who had married Richard, 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 65 
 
 Lord Weston, Lord High Treasurer of England, 
 and subsequently. Earl of Portland. He was or- 
 dained priest in the church of St. John Lateran, 
 at Rome, on March 25, 165 1, and left college for 
 the English Mission in the autumn of the follow- 
 ing year. After three years he embraced the So- 
 ciety of Jesus, having long had this desire. Mr. 
 Blundell says that he was the dear friend of his 
 brother Richard, who had the same desire, and, 
 impatient of delay, sought the intercession of 
 several cardinals to obtain a dispensation from his 
 College oath. Making many journeys for the 
 object through the streets of Rome, during the 
 summer heats of 1649, ^^ contracted a fever, of 
 which he died the same year. He had the conso- 
 lation of being clothed, before his death, with the 
 habit of St. Ignatius. In another place will be 
 found Mr. Blundell's memoir of his brother, from 
 which it appears that he was a youth of remark- 
 able virtue and ability. After having served 
 Crosby for many }^ears. Father Waldegrave went 
 to Lydiate Hall, the residence of old Mrs. Ireland, 
 where he died in 1701. He was buried in the 
 ruined chapel of St. Katharine, and a copy of the 
 inscription, still to be seen on his tombstone, will 
 be found in ' Foley's Records, S.J.,' vol. v. He was 
 a man of zeal and talent, and Mr. Blundell con- 
 tracted a friendship with him which lasted through 
 
66 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 
 
 
 life. After he had left Crosby, his friend continued to 
 employ him as his spiritual director, and consulted 
 him in weighty matters. He speaks of a horse to 
 which he had given the name of * Waldegrave.' 
 
 The amusing incident which Mr. Blundell re- 
 lates of his chaplain refusing, on one occasion, to 
 join him and his family in a particular act of de- 
 votion, no doubt refers to Mr. Waldegrave. It did 
 not, however, disturb the amicable relations sub- 
 sisting between them, and the squire's momentary 
 irritation passed off in the act of recording it. 
 There is no doubt that, although priests had only 
 their patrons to look to for the supply of all their 
 wants, yet they occupied a perfectly independent 
 position in the household. They were by no 
 means that abject servile class which chaplains of 
 the Established Church are represented by some 
 popular writers to have been. They were, for the 
 most part, men of family, often the equals in point 
 of birth to those at whose table they sat, and not 
 rarely their superiors in culture and learning. Add 
 to this the advantages derived from a long resi- 
 dence abroad, and it may readily be imagined that a 
 Catholic squire of those days found in his chaplain 
 a polished and agreeable companion. Moreover, 
 their wide acquaintance with the Catholic gentry 
 would furnish them with topics of conversation 
 very acceptable to those knit together by the 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL, 67 
 
 powerful bonds of faith and mutual suffering. 
 Much information on family matters was thus ob- 
 tained, and introductions with a view to marriage 
 were frequently furnished through their agency. 
 When Mr. Blundell wanted a wife for his son and 
 heir, he received very exact particulars of two 
 matches proposed to him, and in one case his infor- 
 mant was a priest. Although his choice did not fall 
 upon either of these parties, yet he was indebted 
 to a priest for an introduction to his future 
 daughter-in-law. In a letter to the Rev. Henry 
 Heaton, S.J. (probably Lord Montague's chaplain), 
 he takes occasion to thank him for the good wife 
 which he had procured for his son. This lady was 
 Mary, daughter of Rowland Eyre, of Hassop, Der- 
 byshire, Esq., who married William Blundell in 
 1668. We are tempted to bring to light a love- 
 letter, written shortly before their union, which 
 tends to show the immense distance between that 
 age and the present one. The courtly and chival- 
 rous terms in which this Cavalier's son greets the 
 lady of his heart will fall on modern ears like the 
 strains of an ancient roundelay. 
 
 It is near ten days since I was torn away from 
 your presence, where I desire ever to live, having left 
 my heart behind me. Yet I bear the separation with 
 the less impatience, because you did not reject me 
 when I came from thence. I shall never desire to 
 
 K 2 
 
68 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 69 
 
 }i 
 
 live without your favour, nor shall your favours ever 
 raise me to a higher degree of confidence than be- 
 comes your humble servant. This paper shall take 
 the boldness to kiss your fair hand, from whence I 
 am encouraged to hope for such a favourable return 
 as may keep my hopes alive. I will still confide in 
 your goodness to allow me the great honour to 
 appear again in your presence about the middle of 
 the next month. Oh ! my most honoured dear 
 lady, how shall I count those unkind hours tliat 
 keep me from so great a joy ! I could wish your 
 heart like mine in all but the pain it feels. I told 
 you once before (as I hope I did not offend), that 
 your goodness hath cause to pardon what your 
 virtue and beauty have done. 
 The accomplished object of these stately sighs 
 brought her husband a numerous family, but was 
 always delicate in health, and was more than once 
 on the brink of the grave. In her youth she had 
 wished to consecrate herself to God in religion, but 
 yielded to the representation of her friends, who 
 thought her health too infirm for such a vocation. 
 On tlie death of her husband in 1702, her longing 
 for a religious life returned, and she went to join 
 the Benedictine Nuns at Ghent, where two of her 
 daughters had been professed. One of these was the 
 Superioress, and under her rule she spent happily 
 the last years of her pilgrimage. She died in 1707, 
 and a sitting portrait of her in her religious habit 
 is amongst the family pictures at Crosby Hall. 
 
 We have said that the priests in the times we 
 are alluding to were frequently men of good birth, 
 and Mr. Blundell names no fewer than eighty- 
 seven of his relatives, without reckoning any of his 
 own family, who had embraced a religious life. In 
 speaking of the disastrous civil wars and the large 
 number of Catholics who had fallen on the royal 
 side, he says that the number would have been 
 much greater if so many had not entered a better 
 militia. Out of a family of three sons and seven 
 daughters who grew to man's estate, two sons and 
 five daughters of our Cavalier became religious. 
 Taking together the three generations in the midst 
 of which he stood, no less than seventeen Blundells, 
 male and female, devoted themselves to a religious 
 life. Unless the sons of the gentry had adopted 
 this vocation, the necessary succession of priests, 
 humanly speaking, could not have been kept up. 
 By debarring Catholic gentlemen from any worldly 
 employment suitable to their position in life, the 
 Government, in its blind policy, promoted to the 
 best of its power the cause of that religion which 
 it was its object to stifle. It threw into its arms 
 those who alone had the means and the opportu- 
 nity of becoming priests. Moreover, it furnished 
 a class of priests which in the circumstances of 
 the times was more acceptable to the gentry, and 
 therefore more serviceable to religion, than any 
 
r 9 
 
 y 
 
 \ 
 
 70 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL, 
 
 Other could have been. Not the least valuable 
 portion of the work to which we have already 
 alluded (* Foley's Records, SJ.'), is the revelation 
 it makes of the real names of the priests whose 
 lives it recounts. It will there be seen that they 
 worked under assumed names, not only on account 
 of the danger which threatened themselves, but 
 also for fear of that in which their kindred might 
 be involved through their means. For this reason 
 priests and religious were carefully excluded from 
 pedigrees presented at Visitations or entrusted to 
 Heralds' College. Many ancient and honourable 
 houses will be able to fill up these lacunar in their 
 genealogical tables by the aid of the pedigrees in 
 which Brother Foley introduces, for the first time, 
 not the least worthy branches of their stock. 
 
 We must now devote a short space to some 
 cursory notice of the literary occupations of Mr. 
 Blundell. These pervaded his life, or rather a 
 certain calm and studious life ran alongside his 
 public troubled career, tending much, no doubt, to 
 sweeten the cup of his sorrows. He seems to have 
 begun the practice of taking notes from the various 
 authors he read when about the age of forty. 
 These notes are contained in three books, called 
 ' Historia,' * Adversaria,' and ' Hodge Podge.' The 
 two first are small quartos of perhaps 1200 pages 
 each, and these are for the most part well filled, 
 
 * 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 71 
 
 and closely written in a neat and clear hand. 
 ' Hodge Podge ' is a large quarto, and, in addition 
 to Mr. Blundell's notes, contains literary produc- 
 tions in poetry and prose of his grandfather, besides 
 matters of later date. Most of the extracts and 
 notes have a Latin heading in the margin, and the 
 same heading recurs in several places, if the number 
 of selections requires it This plan of common- 
 place book has obvious advantages. With a gene- 
 ral threefold grouping there is ample scope to 
 embrace every subject within very elastic folds. 
 Although he nowhere mentions it, it seems highly 
 probable that Mr. Blundell adopted this plan from 
 ' Drexelius ' a learned Jesuit writer of the early 
 part of the seventeenth century. It is certain that 
 he was well acquainted with his treatise called 
 ' Aurofodina,' in which this system is recommended 
 and elucidated by examples. He quotes at the 
 begihning of ' Historia ' the Latin dictum found in 
 this work, and followed it in practice, * Modo tui 
 armenti pecus sit, de stabulo non litigemus : ' ' Only 
 let it be one of your herd, and you need not care 
 where it is housed.' This plan of common-place 
 book has found favour with many literary men. 
 William Windham, the statesman, had his * His- 
 toria ' and ' Adversaria,' as we learn from his diary 
 (a very disappointing book), and it is highly pro- 
 bable that Dr. Johnson, to whom he deferred in 
 
1 
 
 7'2 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL, 
 
 such matters, recommended to him the adoption 
 of this system. The result in Mr. Blundell's case 
 is an accumulation of extracts and quotations, 
 which, while they bespeak his industry, must have 
 helped materially to enlarge his knowledge and 
 correct his judgment. Common-place books are 
 of all publications the most dreary and uninvitmg. 
 and hence it happens that even the names of 
 Southey and Buckle cannot invest their compila- 
 tions of this kind with any flavour of interest. 
 We need not stop, therefore, to speak of these 
 selections, which derive whatever value they possess 
 from the books from which they were taken. These 
 are now for the most part obsolete, yet it is a 
 pleasure to find that Mr. Blundell appreciated the 
 writings of Bacon, the great luminary of his age. 
 He quotes Ben Jonson, Sidney, and numberless 
 travellers in whose strange accounts of newly dis- 
 covered regions he much delighted. Such descrip- 
 tions have no longer any interest, but the raciness 
 and originality of ' Howell's Letters of Foreign 
 Travel,' a work frequently quoted by Mr. Blundell, 
 have preserved it from oblivion. In one of his 
 amusing 'Roundabout Papers,' Thackeray says, 
 * Montaigne and Howell's Letters are my bedside 
 books. If I wake at night, I have one or other of 
 them to prattle me to sleep again.' In religious 
 books he had some special favourites ; such as the 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 73 
 
 *Holy Court,' by Caussin, a work that has still 
 many readers, who gather instruction from its ample 
 pages, and regale themselves with its numerous 
 examples. He was well versed in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, and applies them frequently in illustration of 
 various headings. Although Mr. Blundell was in 
 his younger days the author of verses by no means 
 despicable, yet he seems early to have abandoned 
 the pursuit. It is quite in conformity with his 
 character to suppose that he relinquished poetry 
 from a religious motive, for fear of it engrossing 
 too much of his mind and time. With the same 
 view, probably, he gave up all desire of seeing 
 plays or comedies, or even of reading such pro- 
 ductions. At all events, he very rarely quotes any 
 of them, and considering the general character of 
 such writings in the seventeenth century, no one 
 can say that he did not practise a wise abstinence. 
 Yet it probably deprived him of the opportunity 
 of reading Shakespeare's inimitable works, with 
 which he appears to have been wholly unac- 
 quainted. He only mentions his name once, and 
 that in connection with the worst of his plays. 
 Shakespeare's fame was of slow growth, and he 
 cannot be said to have been really known to his 
 countrymen till the opening years of last century. 
 Even the Rev. John Ward, who became Vicar of 
 Stratford-on-Avon in 1662, has very little to say 
 
 L 
 
74 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 
 
 in his diary of the man to whom that town is in- 
 debted for whatever celebrity it possesses. One 
 passage seems to corroborate the opinion that 
 Shakespeare had Httle classical learning, but he 
 was evidently then unacquainted with his plays, for 
 he adds this memorandum, ' Remember to peruse 
 Shakespeare's plays, and be much versed in them, 
 that I may not be ignorant in that matter.' Still 
 it is remarkable that a gentleman in the position 
 of Mr. Blundell, a literary man, not unacquainted 
 with the contents of London bookshelves, and ac- 
 customed to polished if not learned society, should 
 know nothing whatever of our great household 
 poet. With his contemporary Milton, as a poet, 
 he was no better acquainted. Of his prose works 
 he speaks frequently, and, as may be imagined, 
 with due abhorrence ; but he does not seem to have 
 had any idea that he was the most charming versi- 
 fier in the kingdom. 
 
 The foregoing remarks do not apply to the 
 following notes added by Mr. Blundell himself, 
 which form the matter now given to the public. 
 These are the product of his own thought and ob- 
 servation, and are generally very judicious. He 
 expresses himself in clear and concise terms, free 
 from affectation or pedantry. His good sense re- 
 volted against the fashion, common to writers of 
 his day, of decking out their sentences in gaudy 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 75 
 
 
 i> 
 
 , 
 
 trappings. He says of one book (' Loveday's 
 Letters'), that if it was put into plain English, it 
 would look like a plucked peacock. The anecdotes 
 which he recounts are well told, and the quaintness 
 of their dress reminds us of his contemporary 
 Pepys. Several of them regard historical per- 
 sonages, and their authenticity is ensured by Mr. 
 Blundell's careful habit of giving dates and names. 
 His position in life afforded him opportunities of 
 seeing and hearing much that has more than a 
 local interest. Thus he speaks of the conversa- 
 tions of Charlotte, Countess of Derby, the famous 
 defender of Latham House. Unfortunately, he does 
 not tell us many of her remarks, which may have 
 arisen from the difficulty which he says he had in 
 catching her observations * by defect of my Lady's 
 English.' 
 
 It will be seen that in many matters of political 
 economy Mr. Blundell w^as much in advance of his 
 age. He advocates the publication of law reports 
 and of the proceedings in criminal cases, and has 
 an eye to the advantage, if not necessity, of adver- 
 tising. Notices of sales, &c., he recommends 
 should be put up at the church door or village 
 smithy. He thinks it advisable that when a 
 gentleman wants to sell his horse, a ribbon should 
 be affixed to the bridle. In days when everybody 
 rode on horseback, it is strange that so good a 
 
 L 2 
 
 f 
 
76 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 
 
 su^^gestion was never adopted. He speaks of the 
 advantage of circulating the particulars of the acci- 
 dents that may happen in a neighbourhood, and 
 instances the case of a man who, while digging for 
 rabbits at the Grange, was smothered by the sand 
 falling upon him. Shortly after, a similar disaster 
 occurred at Maghull, which is only three miles 
 distant. * Surely,' he says, ' this would never have 
 happened if the last man had been aware of the 
 other's mishap.' He had the satisfaction of find- 
 ing one at least of his recommendations carried 
 out before his death. His position in life and well- 
 known integrity had caused him to be the deposi- 
 tary of various sums of money, belonging to the 
 ladies who presided over religious houses abroad. 
 This money he was in the habit of lending to 
 gentlemen of his acquaintance in sums of 50/. at 
 the invariable interest of six per cent. He some- 
 times found a difficulty in locating these trusts, 
 and thought the establishment of agencies for the 
 lending and borrowing of money would be of 
 much benefit. Such houses were afterwards estab- 
 lished in a few provincial towns, and he made use 
 of them in his later years. The parties who under- 
 took the management of this business appear to 
 have been at first agents or attorneys. The system 
 of banking was commenced in London before the 
 end of the seventeenth century, and Mr. Blundcll 
 
 i 
 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 77 
 
 frequently quotes the works of Sir Josiah Child on 
 trade and currency questions. The cavalier's sug- 
 gestion of a matrimonial mart, conducted by ' sober 
 and discreet persons,' is a good one, and such 
 institutions are successful in France. In this 
 country they have not been attempted, perhaps 
 through fear of the ridicule which might be thrown 
 upon them. It is well known that the more 
 vulgar method of advertising has given rise fre- 
 quently to practical jokes not of the most gentle 
 character. In the matter of weights and measures 
 Mr. Blundell had the sagacity to see that great 
 injustice and anomalies might be remedied by a 
 law of uniformity. It is very remarkable that 
 abuses which this country gentleman saw and 
 spoke of 200 years ago have been permitted to go 
 on to the present day. This very year has wit- 
 nessed for the first time the attempt to supply the 
 obvious remedy for a great evil which he so long 
 ago suggested. 
 
 ' In addition to the notes of Mr. Blundell which 
 are here given, he left behind him a number of his 
 own letters copied into folio sheets, and since 
 bound up in a volume. He has also inserted in 
 another book those letters of his correspondents 
 which he deemed worthy of preservation. His 
 letters are uniformly well written, and there are 
 few of them that will not bear perusal. In these 
 
 
 \ I 
 
 \i 
 
 I, 
 
78 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL, 
 
 days of railway haste, correspondence has become 
 an extinct art, and one not likely to be revived. 
 If the present publication meet with the favour 
 of the public, it is intended to publish these letters 
 as the second series of the ' Crosby Records,' 
 under the title of 'A Cavalier's Letter Book.' 
 We have already in the present introduction given 
 a few extracts from some of these letters for the 
 purpose of illustrating the life of our hero. 
 
 A formal work of Mr. Blundell's, entitled ' A 
 Short Treatise on the Penal Laws,' exists in 
 MS. at Crosby, but a printed copy cannot be 
 found, though he states that a few copies were 
 printed in London. It is a ^small quarto contain- 
 ing about eighty-five pages, and giving an account 
 of the laws affecting religion and of the hardships 
 arising from them. The author argues that the 
 Catholics are entitled to relief by reason of their 
 great loyalty. He proves this from the fact that, 
 whereas the Catholic gentry of the kingdom were 
 computed before the wars at one-fifteenth of the 
 whole, no less than one-third or one-fourth of the 
 officers of the King's army were Catholics. The ma- 
 jority of those in command who fell at Worcester, 
 he believes to have been Catholics. A good deal of 
 space is taken up in replying to the extravagances 
 of Prynne and others. 
 
 In 1876-7 the Manx Society published 'A 
 
 CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL. 79 
 
 
 History of the Isle of Man, by Wm. Blundell, 
 Esq., of Crosby, co. Lancaster, 1648-56,' in two 
 volumes, edited by Wm. Harrison, Esq., and form- 
 ing Nos. 25 and 2y of the series. The original 
 MS. from which the transcript possessed by the 
 Society was made, appears to be in the Knowsley 
 library. The materials used in the compilation of 
 this work were collected by Mr. Blundell in 1648, 
 when he visited the island under the following cir- 
 cumstances, as recorded in his preface : — ' Wearied 
 with being so often wakened at midnight to fly 
 from the King's and Parliamentary troops, both 
 equally feared because equally plundering, and 
 finding no shelter under the Snowden Hills, I re- 
 solved to banish myself to the Isle of Man.' The 
 Editor mentions in his introduction that Seacome 
 (John Seacome was house-steward to William, 
 ninth Earl of Derby) alludes to this work in his 
 'Account of the Isle of Man,' appended to his 
 * History of the House of Stanley,' and styles the 
 author ' the great and learned Mr. Blundell of 
 Crosby.' He characterises it as the clearest and 
 most correct account of the History and Antiqui- 
 ties of the Island. There does not appear to be a 
 copy of the above MS. at Crosby, and it is some- 
 what singular that neither in the following notes, 
 nor in the whole series of his letters (occupyino- 
 three hundred folio pages), does Mr. Blundell make 
 
 I 
 
 '• I 
 
 (, 
 
8o CHARACTER OF WILLIAM BLUNDELL, 
 
 any mention of this history, which he must have 
 completed early in life during the days of his 
 sequestration. 
 
 The spelling in Mr. Blundell's MS. notes is 
 generally good, but we have for the most part 
 accommodated it to modern rules. In other 
 respects nothing has been altered, and with the 
 exception of the omission sometimes of a re- 
 dundant parenthesis, the construction of the sen- 
 tences remains precisely as he left it. 
 
 The editor wishes to express his acknowledg- 
 ments to J. E. Bailey, Esq., F.S.A., of Stretford, 
 Manchester, for the notes with which he has 
 favoured him, and which are marked with his 
 initials. 
 
 T. E. GIBSON. 
 
 6 Crosby Road, 
 
 BiRKDALE, SOUTHPORT. 
 
 CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Ife 
 
 M 
 
#' 
 
 4 
 
 CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 -*o*- 
 
 r 
 
 i^ 
 
 Note such things as are more Hke to be service- Eiectio .. .i- 
 
 bendornn^. 
 
 able many years after the noting than about the 
 present time. For young men do collect such 
 things as to their riper years do appear but toys ; 
 therefore be sure to make your notes a little more 
 weighty (i.e. of matters somewhat higher) than 
 your present genius and inclination can yet fully 
 relish. Time will bring you to the liking and the 
 use of those which otherwise would be tedious and 
 fruitless. 
 
 Collect only the best things, even a few of the 
 very best, to avoid contempt of your own collec- 
 tions no less than confusion. 
 
 Do not forbear to note because you know not 
 unto what letter or class to reduce the thing most 
 properly ; be sure to insert it. * Modo tiii armenti 
 
 M 2 
 
 y 
 
 I . 
 
H 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 85 
 
 * 
 
 Atimonitio 
 litielis atnit' 
 
 ill If 
 
 t urrc> 
 
 pecns sit, de stabido non litigemiis ' (Only let it be 
 one of your herd, and you need not care where it 
 \s housed). 
 
 I did not begin to take these notes until July 
 I5> 1659, being that day 39 years old, yet some 
 few in the 'Historia' were notes which I first 
 took in loose papers about the year 1644 and 1645. 
 Quantum ternpus perdidivms ! 
 
 Few there are who will ^wq. or take advice 
 as they ought. I have oft been grievously dis- 
 couraged in the freedom of my admonishments 
 given to grave persons, men of great virtue and 
 learning, and even sometimes when I had not 
 given the admonishment till themselves had de- 
 sired me to do it. If such men as these did take 
 my plain dealing so ill, what may be thought of 
 such as myself.? Perhaps I have offended so oft 
 in taking admonitions unthankfully, that now, by 
 reason of my pride, I meet with few or none. 
 
 This will remind the reader of a well-known 
 passage in Dr. Johnson's VLife' in connection with 
 his friend Langton. 
 
 On June 3, 1676, I ascended the new tower or 
 monument at Pudding Lane, London, by 310 steps 
 
 
 \ 
 
 (which I twice counted), to the noble iron balcony 
 which is round the tower ; from whence I had an ex- 
 cellent view of the town and country. Above this 
 balcony, the tower, not then quite finished, is raised 
 (as I once counted them), 136 steps. This I take 
 to be the intended full height of the tower. I take 
 the steps on the lower parts to be 6\ inches, but 
 6 inches from about the middle. They are large 
 and fine, wonderfully held up by ironwork, after 
 the mode of the stairs at Greenwich. The base 
 of the tower is near 26\ feet square. But the 
 tower is round and egregie structa, all of stone. 
 
 June 3, 1676. I saw about 120 brass guns on xormenta 
 
 - _, cserulea. 
 
 the Tower Hill, London. One weighed, as by the 
 figures, 8.1.27. The length appeared to be near 
 13 feet ; the wideness, by my span, 'j\ inches. It 
 was said to carry a ball of 6^ pounds. 
 
 The way to establish trade is to establish fair Mercatores. 
 dealing. Of merchandise some sorts consist of 
 100 to the hundred, others of 120 and 112. Note 
 the words of ' The Complete Tradesman,' printed 
 1680 for John Dunton, viz., ^70 pipe-hoops, 90 
 hogshead, 120 barrel or kilderkin, no pink or 
 
 't 
 
 1 
 
86 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Eleemo- 
 syiue. 
 
 I 
 
 firkin-hoops make a hundred ; ' glass bottles 2 1 to 
 the dozen, &c. One agreed to deliver lOO measures 
 of salt for so many hundreds of oats. He took the 
 numbers to be equal, but it was adjudged otherwise 
 at Liverpool, as I have heard, to his great damage. 
 A stone of beef is 8 lbs., of horseman's weight 14, 
 of wool 16, 20, and in some parts of Northumber- 
 land 23^. 
 
 It was the opinion of Judge Hale (see p. 3 in 
 his ' Life '), that to give to such poor as did receive 
 alms of the parish, was to save so much money to 
 the rich, who were bound by law to keep them. 
 He therefore gave to the poor housekeepers who 
 were not kept on the charge of the parish. He 
 laid aside the tenth penny of all he got for the 
 poor. Ibid. p. 89. 
 
 The present January 5, 1686-7, I saw a lusty, 
 strong beggar woman in the street at Wildhouse 
 Gate, who carried upon her back, in a begging way, 
 an old w^oman, which she said was her mother, and 
 that she was 102 years old. She said that she 
 lived in St. Ann's Parish of Soho. I told her the 
 parish was hard-hearted to permit such way of 
 begging, and she did say thereupon that the parish 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 87 
 
 
 was the most hard-hearted in the world. She got 
 money and farthings apace while I stood by her, 
 and my man Walter Thelwall (who writes this 
 after my dictate) did afterwards meet her in the 
 same street, and saw her receive in a very short 
 time alms from six or seven persons, most of which 
 gave her halfpence, and the rest each one farthing. 
 
 Sir Roger Bradshaigh limed the hall croft Ummsof 
 
 land. 
 
 with lime from Clitheroe, which cost about 8/. per 
 acre, each horse-load being \s. lod. It hath yielded 
 very good corn since that time, which is now about 
 twelve years, and is like to continue. One year 
 barley, one year fallows, one year wheat for the 
 most part. 1660. 
 
 Out of Mr. Foxe's note, who got limestones for 
 me in Wales, 1659 — 
 
 I 
 
 For getting 1 2 load of stone at 2d. per load 2 
 
 carriage of do. 17 
 
 slack to burn it 4^., and for carriage 4f. 8 
 
 burning all at 4^. per load . . 4 
 
 
 d. 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 
 Sir Roger Bradshaigh, of Haigh, near Wigan, 
 born 1627, created Bart. 1679, ^^^ the son and heir 
 of James Bradshaigh, Esq., a remarkably learned 
 and pious man, who died in his father's lifetime. 
 His mother was Anne, daughter of Sir William Norris, 
 
88 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE^BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 89 
 
 Masons' 
 work. 
 
 of Speke, but he had the misfortune to lose his 
 parents, who were both Catholics, in very early life. 
 His guardian, John Fleetwood, of Penwortham, 
 Esq., entrusted his education to the Earl of Derby, 
 by whom he was brought up a Protestant. He was 
 throughout life devotedly attached to his cousin 
 Mr. Blundell, and performed for him all the kind 
 offices (and they were very many) which a friendly 
 Protestant could do for one lying constantly under 
 the pressure of the penal laws. Sir Roger died 
 March 31, 1684, and the baronetcy expired m i73i» 
 on the death of Sir Roger Bradshaigh, fourth Bart. 
 The property fell through female heiresses to the 
 family of the present Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, 
 one of whose residences is Haigh Hall, the fine 
 mansion of the Bradshaighs, in the neighbourhood 
 of Wigan. This nobleman also possesses the exten- 
 sive and valuable coalfields with which the estate 
 abounds. 
 
 A mason will commonly demand for the get- 
 ting, working, and setting of such window-work as 
 that in my new building, about 6d. the foot. How 
 great their gain will be, we may judge by this. 
 Daniel Sefton (as his prentice told me), doth work 
 upon one day 12 feet of stanchions for those win- 
 dows, and that in November. It is true that it is 
 the easiest sort of work in my windows, but the 
 said prentice at the same time of the year did 
 work, as he told me, S feet of jambs upon one day. 
 
 Ill 
 
 
 And his master doubtless is able to work more 
 than he can. A.D. 1660. But note, the said Daniel, 
 when I hired him by days' wages, did usually work 
 no more (and commonly not so much) than 6 feet 
 of stanchions of the very same stone and the same 
 mould. 
 
 I have heard that the wallers about Rivin Pike 
 will make a defensible rough wall for 9^. or \od, 
 the rood. Inquire of this, for Daniel demandeth 
 more than twice as much. 
 
 Hair, if it is grey, may be made black, or of a Hair, to 
 
 colour ; 
 
 good dark colour, by rubbing with the light dust of 
 cork which is burnt to ashes. The hair will con- 
 tinue that colour three or four days at the least. 
 You may work the same effect in this manner upon 
 red hair. It likewise drieth the hair exceedingly, 
 and is done in an instant. You niust slice the cork 
 very thin, and it will take fire and flame and burn 
 quickly into the powder abovesaid. I saw it tried 
 by Mr. Stanton, November 8, 1660. 
 
 The tops of green hemp ready to knot or seed, to grow. 
 being made into a juice and mixed with cream and 
 olive oil, is singular good to anoint the parts from 
 where your hair is apt to fall, to prevent falling. 
 
 N 
 
90 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 
 Slat lira 
 
 Idem narravit, who hath tried the same, and doth 
 think it causeth hair to come thicker. 
 
 Burn southernwood to ashes and mix therewith 
 either thick salad oil, or, which is better, the oil of 
 black snails : anoint the bald part evening and 
 morning, often. This or nothing will make hair to 
 grow upon a bald place. Mr. Stanton had this 
 from Dr. Martin, who magnified the secret very 
 much. The southernwood must be well dried by 
 the fire or the sun. Let it then take fire and burn 
 in an earthen pot of itself almost a day together, 
 still stirring up (if it need), to burn the better. 
 The snails must have salt sprinkled among them, 
 and being then hung up in a net, they will work 
 themselves into a fat, which will drop into a dish 
 which you may set under it. 
 
 I was present in the ship (about ^vo, miles from 
 Dover), two or three hours before King Charles II. 
 landed in England on Fryday, May 25, 1660, when 
 the King (by reason of an accident), took his own 
 measure, standing under a beam in the cabin, upon 
 which place he made a mark with a knife. Sundry 
 tall persons went under it, but there were none that 
 could reach it. After all I went under it myself, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 91 
 
 and turning in the ends of my thumb and my 
 little finger, I set the knuckle of my thumb, 
 stretched out as much as could be, upon my 
 head, and turning the knuckle of my little finger 
 (borne up as stiff as might be), I found it did 
 touch directly the mark which the King had made. 
 So that I find myself to be about 5 inches lower 
 than that mark, and I think I am 3 inches lower, 
 as I stand in my high-heeled shoe, than I was 
 before I was lame. 
 
 In November 1861, I saw an Irish stripling 
 called (as I take it) Edmund Malone, said to be 
 then under 17 years of age. I found him to be 
 higher than John Dodes by about i J inch. I think 
 he was 7 ft. 2\ in. in his shoes, which were not 
 high. He was languid and listless, and not comely, 
 although he was straight. I was told he died a 
 few days or weeks after. 
 
 On May 23, 1660, the King embarked at the 
 Hague on board a vessel which had hitherto Been 
 called the ' Naseby,' but to which he now gave 
 the name of the 'Royal Charles,' and landed at 
 noon on 25 th, at Dover, where Monk awaited him 
 surrounded by an immense crowd. — (' Lady of 
 Latham,' by Madme. Guizot de Witt, p. 244.) 
 
 On August 20, 1675, Mr. Blundell of Ince juramcnt: 
 
 N 2 
 
92 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOO JC. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 93 
 
 O ratio. 
 
 told me that the King (within four months of that 
 time) had said that Lancashire was infamous for 
 perjury and packing of juries. These words, or 
 words to this effect, my cousin Blundell said to 
 me as we came from Croxteth. 
 
 This was Henry son of Robert Blundell, of 
 Ince Blundell, Esq., who had succeeded to the 
 estate on the death of his father in 1656. He 
 spoke feelingly on the subject of juries, having him- 
 self lost in 1665 ^ l^'^rge tract of land, and been 
 mulcted in costs and mesne profits, as the issue of 
 a law- suit with the Gerards, Earls of Macclesfield, 
 on a dispute concerning the boundaries of adjoining 
 properties purchased by the two families. Some 
 account of this tedious and expensive contest will 
 be found in ' Lydiate Hall and its Associations.' 
 Mr. Blundell seems to have thought that the power 
 and might of his opponent influenced the adverse 
 verdict of the jury. He married Bridget daughter 
 of the famous Cavalier Sir Thomas Tildesley, Knt, 
 and died on March 30, 1687-8, at the age of 55. 
 
 While I am in health, I may do well to make 
 and write down a prayer, protestation, or soliloquy, 
 just such a one as I would desire to say in the 
 extremity of my last sickness. By this I may 
 renounce all thoughts, words, and deeds contrary 
 to a good Christian, which shall happen or to which 
 I shall be tempted at the time. I may beg of 
 
 i 
 
 God to assist my soul while my body lies in tor- 
 ment, and, by the extreme anguish thereof, hath 
 stupefied or perverted my reason. I may beg 
 likewise grace for my friends that stand by to 
 assist me, that they may not be scandalised either 
 at the rage or stupidity which then may happen 
 unto me by the force of the sickness. And I may 
 offer myself up to suffer more and longer torments, 
 if it be God's pleasure I should do so ; and that 
 grace may be allowed me to bear them, I may 
 carry this paper always about me, to the end it 
 may be read to me in my sickness. 
 
 The recent admirable biography of Thomas 
 Grant, first Bishop of Southwark, by the lady who 
 writes under the name of Grace Ramsay, contains 
 a passage expressing a similar sentiment. In re- 
 counting what took place shortly before the death 
 of this saintly prelate, the writer says, ' And then, 
 seeming quite to forget that any one was present, he 
 broke out into a most beautiful prayer, full of sorrow, 
 love, resignation, and every virtue befitting his state. 
 This lasted for a while, wrote the Bishop of Beverley 
 (Dr. Cornthwaite), and then he turned suddenly to 
 me and said, " There, when I can speak no longer, 
 I mean that.'" Dr. Grant died at Rome whilst 
 attending the Vatican Council, on June i, 1870. 
 
 We do dispraise ourselves for such and such a Superbia. 
 thing, that others may thereby have occasion to 
 
 » 
 
 it' ' 
 
 I; 
 
 4 
 
1 
 
 94 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 \ 
 
 Observa- 
 tiones politi- 
 co;. 
 
 Ebrietas. 
 
 Anglicfe^ 
 locjuendi 
 modus. 
 
 commend us. And this is called a pride * by hook 
 or by crook.' 
 
 The common people are more easily won by 
 cheap and unprofitable courtesies than by churlish 
 benefits. 
 
 Sir William Stanley told me on 14 April, 
 1668, that he had once at Hooton my Lord M — , 
 the three T's, and I think some few more for 3 or 
 4 nights, and that there were consumed in his 
 house during their stay 16 dozen bottles of wine, 
 2 hogsheads of beer, and 2 barrels of ale. 
 
 Observe this manner of speaking, viz., 'The 
 thing was done by the King's command,' and thus, 
 * The thing, no doubt, was done by the King's com- 
 mand.' The first assertion is positive, the second is 
 doubtful, by reason of the words ' no doubt,' which 
 yet ought rather to confirm the position. This hap- 
 pened by the long insincere use of that word. And I 
 fear the same may be said of others. The nobility 
 at the Coronation, 1661, in making homage to the 
 King, said, they would live and die with him, &c., 
 against all manner of ' folks.' In the 8th Ed" of 
 Claudius Maugre's French Grammar (1678) there 
 is also his short English Grammar, which is very 
 
 95 
 
 pretty and remarkable to be done by an extern. 
 Yet he doth commit some errors in the matter of 
 pronunciation, which I think proceeds from the 
 great conversation he had at London with ladies 
 and nice things. 
 
 We translate the words * Utinam ' and ' Ave ' 
 into * Would to God ' and * God save you,' whereas 
 indeed there is no mention of God. My Pro- 
 testant Bible englishes ' Ave,' * God speed.' 
 
 We pronounce the letter i variously and dif- 
 ferent from other nations. Consider it in China, 
 ditch, &c. How can it be proper to say ^ Chyna,* 
 and yet improper and rustical to say ' dych ' } 
 
 The histories which relate the rebellious wars puntani. 
 of the Puritans against Charles L are (amongst 
 many others) the ist and 2nd part of Dr. Bate's 
 history in Latin concerning our late wars. This 
 Bate had been Cromwell's physician. Thomas 
 May was the Parliament's Latin historian, and 
 wrote their history partially. Baker's Chronicle, 
 or rather the continuation of Baker by Ph, hath 
 very much of that history, but the man that 
 pleases me best for exactness and brevity is 
 
 I 
 
 »j 
 
 ..Jl 
 
96 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 97 
 
 Patientia 
 et impa- 
 tientia. 
 
 i 
 
 t 
 
 III* 
 
 T. Hobbes, who has writ a considerable treatise ' of 
 2s, or 3j". price. The name I remember not. 
 
 Bishop Juxon of Canterbury was a most pa- 
 tient and gentle man. When he was Bishop of 
 London and Lord Treasurer, a distressed gentle- 
 woman desired him to pay her a good sum of 
 money which was granted her out of the Ex- 
 chequer. He told her indeed that he could not do 
 it for want of money in the treasury, but that she 
 should be paid when the first money came in. 
 Whereupon observing that she began to weep, he 
 excused himself very humbly by the necessary 
 reason abovesaid, for this dilatory answer. Unto 
 whom the good woman replied, * Oh, my lord, 
 these are tears of joy. When I made the same 
 suit to my Lord Weston (your Lordship's prede- 
 cessor), I received a most harsh denial, and now, 
 by your Lordship's most gentle answer, I am put 
 into assured hope. Oh, the great difference (said 
 she) that there is in men ! ' Mr. Thos. Hawarden 
 told me this July ist, 1663. 
 
 Howell, in his * Familiar Letters ' (Book ii. letter 
 25) confirms this narrative. He says, * I have 
 
 ' * Behemoth ' was the title of Hobbes' treatise on the Civil 
 War. 
 
 known two Lord High Treasurers of England of quite 
 contrary humours, one successively after the other ; 
 the one, though he did the suitor's business, yet he 
 went murmuring ; and the other, though he did it 
 not, was used to dismiss the party wuth some satis- 
 faction.' 
 
 Richard Lord Weston, who contrasts here un- 
 favourably with Archbishop Juxon, was born 1577 ; 
 sent as Ambassador to Bohemia, 1619 ; Chancellor 
 of Exchequer, 162 1-4; Ambassador to Brussels, 
 1622 ; cr. Baron Weston of Key land, Essex, 1628 ; 
 Lord Treasurer of England, 1628; cr. Earl of 
 Portland, 1633; ob. Mch. 12, 1635. He married 
 Frances Waldegrave, and had issue, but the titles 
 expired with his own family about 1688, at the 
 death of his son Thomas, who was fourth Earl of 
 Portland. 
 
 A man who showed a dromedary in most Angii. 
 parts of England told me (1662) that he found 
 more profit thereby in Lancashire than in any 
 other county. John Butler the mountebank, born 
 in Berkshire, told me (July 17, 1663) that he 
 found nowhere in England more money stirring 
 among the common people than in Lancashire 
 He commended for the like plenty, Cheshire, 
 Suffolk, and Norfolk. He saith that this is a 
 healthful country, that the moist parts eastward, 
 especially the Isle of Ely, are the most unhealthful. 
 That in the moist parts and in the shires that 
 
 -rT5ili5Bia=^ 
 
 >; 
 
9S 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 99 
 
 Jusiitia 
 civilis. 
 
 abound with fruits, are the worst teeth : the worst 
 eyes about the fens: that corns on the feet in 
 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and other dry 
 countries are contracted by much ploughing. 
 
 Dr. Plot, in his * Natural History of Staffordshire' 
 (published 1686), mentions the burial many years 
 before in a field at Tixall, of a dromedary which 
 had died through the neglect of its keeper. This 
 may not improbably have been the very animal 
 which Mr. Blundell saw. The Doctor speculates 
 upon the curious surmises that the discovery of the 
 bones in after ages may give rise to. 
 
 In June 1676 I came from London by coach 
 with Sergeant Edward Rigby, a Parliament man, 
 who told me that some years ago it was moved in 
 the House (and I think it was he who first moved 
 it) that there should be abatement made of the 
 excessive fees in courts, and thereupon a com- 
 mittee was appointed to consider of it, of which 
 he was the chairman. It proceeded far in the 
 matter, and he brought their report concerning the 
 same to the House. After waiting ten days at the 
 bar to deliver the same, the House being busy 
 about a Bill for raising two millions to maintain 
 the war against the Dutch, he could not be ad- 
 mitted, whereupon he told the Speaker, that the 
 
 matter which he had there to present would ad- 
 vantage the generality of the people of England 
 more than the value of that whole sum, and I 
 think he said that the advantage would be made 
 in as short a time as while the said money was 
 raising. However, he was never admitted to pre- 
 sent the report, and he told me he did believe 
 that the men of law in the House, foreseeing their 
 own damage thereby, did hinder the whole matter. 
 Mr. John Entwistle, the lawyer, held in my 
 hearing, in August 1676, that Mr. Pemberton 
 having received 30/. to draw a release (or general 
 release), called it ' Porter's wages.* 
 
 Edward Rigby, serjeant-at-law, born 1627, was 
 third son of Colonel Alexander Rigby, and was 
 M.P. for Preston 1661-1678-9, and again re-elected 
 for the subsequent session.— J. E. B. 
 
 I did once inquire of a haberdasher of hats, Angib. 
 who had a wholesale trade with most parts of 
 England, whether he had observed that any coun- 
 ties of England did produce heads remarkably 
 great or remarkably little; and he told me that 
 the heads of Lincolnshire men were generally 
 smaller than any others that he met with. 
 
 The most universal detraction proceeds from Detractio. 
 
 o 2 
 
 f 
 
I- 
 
 lOO 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 lOI 
 
 ii' ' 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 State policy. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
 our English books were full of all manner of dis- 
 graceful things concerning the Spaniard, because 
 he was then our enemy. Since then, we have 
 stood in fear of the French ; at least, we have 
 envied their greatness, and slandered them accor- 
 dingly. In our late wars with Holland, one Dow- 
 ning, who had been (as I take it) the King's agent 
 or ambassador there, printed a book (which I have 
 in my library) against the Dutch, charging them 
 bitterly with many foul things, and saying to this 
 •effect, that they have cost more coin and Christian 
 blood to Europe than it hath spent and lost by 
 all the wars it has had with the great Turk. In 
 that speech of the Earl of Shaftesbury, spoken in 
 the Parliament about March 1678-9, which was 
 thought to have occasioned the murder of the 
 Bishop of St. Andrews, and the rebellion in Scot- 
 land, he was most severe against the Government 
 of that kingdom. lie speaks as if the arbitrary 
 power thereof did quite exceed the tyranny used 
 in those which we do esteem the eastward and 
 southern kingdoms of the world. Note the scornful 
 habit of detraction which the English for sundry 
 ages have used against the Welsh and the Scots. 
 
 
 ^4 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 This vice is not peculiar to England, yet we have 
 seen here its dismal effects, especially since the 
 revelations made by Dr. Gates in 1678. Mons. 
 Rob, in his history (written in French) shows how 
 the persecution of the Christians in Japan was 
 grounded upon a malicious lie forged by the Dutch 
 for their own advantage, to discountenance the 
 trade of the Catholic European merchants. The 
 consequence of this persecution, I fear, hath been 
 the destruction of all visible Christianity in Japan. 
 By God's just judgment, the chief author of that 
 contrivance had a punishment even in this world 
 most exemplary strange. 
 
 I have heard of one Mr. Fielding, a forward Dueiimn. 
 duellist, who notwithstanding did most shamefully 
 misbehave himself (I mean most like a coward) in 
 one of our great battles in the late Dutch war, at 
 sea. And this day, January 29, 1667, my cousin, 
 Margaret Molyneux (who, having waited sundry 
 years upon Madam Eliot, at London, had occa- 
 sion to know the truth of many such things), 
 told me, for certain, that the said Fielding, coming 
 out of a tavern in London, with his own brother, 
 some months ago, called to a coachman for a 
 
fri 
 
 i 'I 
 
 f I 
 
 I-ongevi. 
 
 Judicia in 
 
 Catholico- 
 
 102 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOO A'. 
 
 coach. The fellow not being willing to take him 
 in, he was so incensed that, drawing his sword, and 
 being hindered by his said brother from hurting 
 the coachman, he presently killed his brother with- 
 out more ado, and was fairly hanged for his pains. 
 My good friend, Mr. Da. Sa. (whom I call son) 
 told me this following story, this present May 12, 
 1668. Mr. Grosvenor, son of Sir Richard Gros- 
 venor, who was killed some time since, said to Mrs. 
 Houghton (now widow of Mr. Gilbert Houghton) 
 that day before he was killed, that if any man was 
 to ride near his footman (who, I think, was to run a 
 race that day), he would kill him, or be killed by 
 him. Mr. D. S. told me that Mrs. Houghton told 
 him this. But the conclusion was this — Mr. Gros- 
 venor that day switched Mr. Roberts, and drew upon 
 him ; but Mr. Roberts killed him with his sword, 
 and before he died, he said it was his own fault. 
 
 It was ridiculous in the beggar (100 years old 
 and odd) who, to move charity, said he was a poor 
 motherless and fatherless creature. 
 
 Mr. Howell in 9 letter, sec. 5, says, * I never 
 
 rumhostes. heard of anything that prospered which, being 
 
 
 J 
 
 ]J 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BO OUT. 
 
 103 
 
 once designed for the honour of God, was alienated 
 from that use.' 
 
 A cross was pulled down at Tewkesbiiry by 
 the prevailing power of a Puritan minister, long 
 before the general ruin of crosses through England. 
 An inferior townsman of the same sect made use 
 of one the stones of this cross for walling about his 
 welt, and some of them (wherein had been pictures 
 of Our Lady and St. John) were converted into 
 swine troughs. The event was this : His wife and 
 sundry of his children became blind, and he drowned 
 himself in the same well. Narravit mihi Dnus. 
 Thos. Stanton, qui degens tunc temporis in illo 
 oppido, cum erat admodum juvenis, non semel 
 viderat hominem, qui postea (ut dictum est) sacri- 
 legio suo fatum accelerasset.^ 
 
 It was proved at Hugh Peter's arraignment 
 that he had said in his sermon that Charing Cross 
 had made more Papists, and done more harm in 
 that way, than any pulpit in London had done 
 good. He was hanged at this place. 
 
 • This was told me by the Rev. Thos. Stanton, who when a 
 youth resided at that period in the town, and had more than once 
 seen the man who afterwards, as it was said, hastened his death by 
 his sacrilege. 
 
 
I04 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 J 05 
 
 Longcvi. 
 
 Straffordiae 
 
 Comes. 
 
 I saw Thomas Parr's picture at full length among 
 Cardinal Mazarine's rarities in his Palace at Paris, 
 1660. In the same year, as I travelled betwixt 
 Antwerp and Breda, I found posted upon the wall 
 of a poor inn the picture of Anthony Haasethus, 
 who was Primus Pastor Gulensis in the Diocese of 
 Liege, where he lived the parson of the parish 100 
 years together. He died, aged 125, a.d. 1586. 
 Being asked by the Bishop of Liege what means 
 he had taken to prolong his life, he answered that 
 he had always abstained from three things,* w^omen, 
 wine, and anger.' This I have transcribed out of the 
 Latin subscription at the bottom of the same picture, 
 which picture I bought, and have it now in my house. 
 
 The King said to the Parliament that the mis- 
 demeanours of the Earl of Strafford were so great 
 and many, that he was not fit to serve the place of 
 a Constable. Yet there is no question but these 
 expressions did not proceed from any just will in 
 the King, but only to have saved his life. The 
 loss of this (by his Majesty's consent) did wonder- 
 fully afflict and scruple the King ; as appcareth by 
 the sad expression he used to the Earl of Carnwath, 
 from whom I received it. 
 
 I saw the Earl of Strafford in Dublin (June 
 1639), w^hen he was then Lord Deputy, in far 
 greater state (in some respects) than the King of 
 England. The Earl of Ormond (now Marquis) 
 was pointed out to me riding in the Deputy's own 
 troop. I saw one princely stable of the Deputy's, 
 wherein I judged the worst of 60 horses for the 
 great saddle to be worth 30/. He was an excellent 
 orator, as appears by his speeches at the bar ; and 
 a passing wise man. A Colonel of Parliament 
 told me that beyond the seas it is reported of 
 England that it produceth but one wise man in an 
 age, and that the people gaze on him awhile as a 
 monster, then cut off his head. * So,' said he, 
 * did they do by Sir Thomas More and the Earl 
 of Strafford.' This story I was telling to the 
 present Earl, his son, who told me (Septem- 
 ber 1659) that the King of Sweden's Embas- 
 sador at London did very lately procure there 
 for his master (by his especial command) the 
 pictures of these very same two wise persons I 
 mentioned. His Lordship told me further, that 
 his Lordship's paternal estate was 4 to 5,000/. 
 per annum, which he lived to double, but dying 
 in about 80,000/. debt, he himself had sold (one- 
 
 « 
 
 \ 
 
mm" 
 
 ■<■■■» - — 
 
 io6 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 107 
 
 \ 
 
 { 
 
 fifth part too cheap) about a moiety of the said 
 estate to pay the aforesaid debts. 20,CXX)/. of this 
 debt was incurred by being surety for the King, 
 or by taking up the Hke sum for his Majesty, at 
 the beginning of the war in Yorkshire. 
 
 The Earl of Strafford, upon the scaffold, left 
 as a prime precept to his son, that he should not ■ 
 meddle with Church lands, for they would prove 
 a canker to his estate. 
 
 The sad expression which the King made use of 
 to the Earl of Carnwath respecting Strafford is not 
 recorded, but it resembled, no doubt, his utterances 
 on the scaffold. Clarendon seems to attribute to 
 this Earl the loss of the Battle of Naseby. He says 
 that when the King was on the point of charging the 
 enemy, the Earl of Carnwath, who rode next to him, 
 on a sudden laid his hand on the King's bridle, and 
 swearing two or three full-mouthed Scotch oaths, 
 said, ' Will you go upon your death in an instant ? ' 
 and,' before his Majesty understood what he was 
 about, turned his horse round. His followers seeing 
 the movement fled in disorder. ('Hist. Rebell.,' 
 vol. ii. p. 508.) Mr. Blundell would probably meet 
 the second Earl of Strafford at Knowsley, as this 
 nobleman had married Henrietta, daughter of James, 
 Earl of Derby. 
 Aucupium. The use of stalking-horses is great and notably 
 
 advantageous in some parts. Horses are easily 
 taught. Some do use to have a painted horse 
 
 carried upon a frame. But, doubtless, a bust is 
 more easy and not less useful. I know some to 
 have stalked so near to partridges that the birds 
 have pecked at the horses' legs. Let your painted 
 horse or cow have one side of a different colour to 
 the other. 
 
 Dotterells in Lincolnshire are taken by candle- 
 light ; for whilst they imitate the fowler's gestures, 
 they suffer him to cast his net upon them. 
 
 Our posterity will hardly believe the extrava- 
 gance and damage which we find now in England 
 by the clipping of our silver coin. The present 
 Tuesday, January 11, 1695, I received from my 
 servant Walter Thelwall (who writes this affair 
 after my dictate, and knows the same to be true) 
 the just sum of 10/. iSs. for cattle of mine which 
 he sold yesterday at Newbrough fair. Out of this 
 sum I picked out thirteen of the smallest dipt 
 shillings. These thirteen shillings being laid on a 
 pair of scales which were used for the weighing of 
 gold, were then clearly overweighted by five broad 
 shillings chosen at adventure, viz. by two Eliza- 
 beth shillings and three shillings of Charles L, and 
 I found that these five shillings weighed just one 
 
 P2 
 
 Pecuni I 
 vitiata. 
 
 \] 
 
 \\ 
 
■•■"—' 
 
 io8 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
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 109 
 
 \ 
 
 Sanguinis 
 cinissio. 
 
 ounce. However, when I had put the thirteen 
 shillings abovesaid to the rest of the same, and 
 weighed altogether the foresaid sum of 10/. 18^., 
 1 found the whole weight to be very near 26 ounces, 
 and by throwing in an old ninepence it clearly 
 turned the scales. Now, according to this account 
 the said 10/. 18^., which ought to have weighed 
 43 J ounces, was no more but 26 ounces, bating an 
 old ninepence. 
 
 My landlord at La Fleche, Julian Bionteau, 
 writ and printed a book (which book I have) 
 against the common practice of the doctors at 
 Paris in taking too much blood from their patients. 
 He speaks of horrid abuses in that, and doth 
 bitterly condemn it. He entitles himself the 
 King's physician. 
 
 Howell, in his ' Familiar Letters ' (Book I. Letter 
 21) refers to this Parisian custom of blood-lettmg. 
 As 'the date of this letter is 1622, it would appear 
 that the practice had not abated sixty years later, 
 when Mr. Blundell was at La Fleche :— 
 
 ' At first they let me blood, and I parted with 
 above so ounces in less than a fortnight ; for phle- 
 botomy is so much practised here, that if one's little 
 finger ache they presently open a vein : and to 
 balance the blood on both sides, they usually let 
 blood on both arms.' 
 
 Catholics deny the oath, yet keep their alle- Apparatusdc 
 
 CathoUcis 
 
 giance to the King. Others take the oath and fail Angiicanis. 
 in allegiance. Mr. Blood was an Irish Protestant, 
 and so great a rebel or plotter, that a great sum (I 
 think 500/. at the least) was promised by proclama- 
 tion to those that could apprehend him. This man 
 did afterwards steal the King's crown in the Tower 
 of London, and was taken in the fact ; yet for some 
 supposed discoveries by him made of other traitors, 
 he had his liberty, and, as was said, the King's 
 favour, so that he frequently walked in the court 
 at Whitehall. It may seem that some treasons are 
 too great to be punished, as some services are too 
 great to be requited. There is a great difference 
 between the case of the Pendrells, who being Ca- 
 tholics cannot appear in the court, though they 
 saved the King's life with the hazard of their own, 
 and the case of notorious traitors {oliin) who are 
 now in favour. Popery is an odd religion. If I 
 mistake not, the proclamation against Blood was 
 in the year 1666, and he stole the crown about 
 three or four years after. His brother-in-law, 
 Lachy, was hanged for rebellion in Ireland. He 
 was a Minister. 
 
 Mr. Blundell was not singular in his surprise at 
 
 » 
 
no 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 \ 
 
 Justitia 
 
 civilis. 
 
 Flays. 
 
 the favour experienced by the notorious Colonel 
 Blood. Sir R. Burgoyne, writing to Sir Nathaniel 
 Hobarts, February 12, 1671-2, says, 'A fortnight 
 since my Lord Brook told me that Blood had not 
 only his own pardon for all his villainy, but also had 
 procured the like for Desburrough, Kelsey, &c. : 
 certainly, some designs more than ordinary are on 
 foot, that such persons are received into favour.'— 
 (Historical Commissioners' 7th Report, Appendix.) 
 
 Sir Josias Child, in his discourse of trade, 
 printed in octavo, 1693, assigns one reason of the 
 prosperity of the Hollanders to be their fair dealing 
 in packing up their goods, as herrings, codfish, &c., 
 and ascribes the disrepute and loss to the English 
 by taking the contrary course. 
 
 Prologue to a stage play, which I made at the 
 entreaty of some country neighbours who were to 
 act the play — about Christmas 1647 : 
 
 The bitter storms of war are over-blown, 
 And joyful peace succeedeth in the place, 
 The husbandman may now enjoy his own, 
 And look the armbd soldier in the face. 
 The soldier too doth live an honest life. 
 Confines himself to quarter and his pay ; 
 And each one, weary with the bloody strife. 
 Hath sheathed his sword, and now begins to play. 
 And to a PLAY we do invite you all. 
 According to the custom of the time ; 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Though in that art our talent be but small, 
 Our best endeavours cannot prove a crime. 
 Excuse us then, who, with a willing heart. 
 Have ta'en some pains to entertain you here, 
 And shall we hope (if no man miss his part), 
 Give cause to think you have not bought it dear. 
 Then patient sit, with silence, three short hours, 
 And if you like not then, the fault is ours. 
 Non omnes arbusta juvent. 
 
 Bare the roots of your trees and make a hole to impart 
 
 • 1 . , - flavour to 
 
 m a pnncipal root, and then put in a pretty quan- fr""- 
 tity of powder, made of such things as you desire 
 your apple should taste of; as of cloves, mace, 
 nutmeg, or such like. 
 
 Quaere— if it will not work that effect in other 
 fruit trees, and whether the bole of the tree will 
 not serve to put it in, or whether the bole must be 
 cloven or bored. 
 
 Sir George Blundell of Edenderry, King's Biundeiiio- 
 County, Ireland, Bart. His estate is esteemed to '""" ^'"'''''' 
 be 1,000/. per annum. He told me (1662) that 
 he was descended from Blundell of Ince, and that 
 he gives the same coat with a half-moon. 
 
 He told me likewise then of one Sir George 
 Blundell of Cardington in Bedfordshire, then lately 
 knighted. The Eari of Aylesbury told me in 1676 
 
112 
 
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 "3 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 that Sir George Blundell was then a D.L. in that 
 
 county. Blundell, living 
 
 There is a Baron of this name, u 
 
 ■i„ frr^m Douay, of whom I have often 
 about a mile from uouay, 
 
 u ^ .= -1 nerson exceedingly remarkable tor 
 heard as a perbou c _ , iT»r-,lHrv 
 
 valour in war. I found in the French He.ld^y 
 three different families of this name m Fran , 
 besides an advocate whom I knew at Rouer. 
 
 their coat armour is not the same with ours. Yet 
 
 ^, A/TocQPv told me that he saw a coacn 
 
 Mr. Thomas Massey toia m^ 
 
 ^ . rW^r\^ were our arms, and that an at- 
 
 in Pans on which were our 
 
 , , 1 • 4.u^ maQtpr's name was Blunaeii. 
 tendant told him the master s nam 
 
 from Thomas, a younger son oi 
 
 ; T o T?lnndell Esq., who was living 1534- ^^ 
 i T bZIi Knt. of this race, married Eliza- 
 
 PriSlr andheircss of John Gascoigne Esq. 
 beth, daughter an ^^ ^^^ j^,^ ^^ 
 
 of Cardington, Beds. He ^^^ ^_^ . ^^^^^ ^^ 
 
 Rhe, in x630, and h d n.c „,y ,,„ed 
 
 that century a grant oi lai , TjiehrntherSir 
 
 T^inndell in King s County, Ireland. His brother bir 
 Blunatii, 111 ivii b y Trpinnd i6iQ, was 
 
 x^ :. Qprrptarv of Affairs in Ireiana, luiy, 
 S'a b" t iJthe following year^ Sir Montague 
 BluTdell fourth Bart., was advanced m «7^°tode 
 dints 'of Baron Edenderry and Viscount Blundell, 
 Srough default of male issue, these titles expired 
 L ,756 The Sir George Blundell spoken of a. a 
 
 D.L, lies buried at Cardington, and the inscription 
 on his monument is a curious bit of Latinity. It 
 commences thus : ' Hie jacet corpus Georgii Blun- 
 dell Militis, Directi successoris et H^eredis Blun- 
 dellianne et Gasconianae familice Bedfordiensis. Obiit 
 Nov. II, 1688.' 
 
 There are two or three families still flourishing 
 in Pmnce who bear the name and arms of Blondell. 
 
 My neighbour Richard Johnson told me this Quakers, 
 day (August i8, 1665), in plain terms, that those 
 of his religion did not use baptism by water at all ; 
 and that it is not lawful for them to fight in any 
 case ; and that one Bennet, in Derbyshire, first 
 called them Quakers. 
 
 Mrs. Trask was a kind of primitive Quaker, yet 
 was she called a Sabbatarian. She lived in prison 
 (where she died) a most strict penitential life fifteen 
 years. 
 
 One John Blaket (if I mistake not the name) 
 is a great man among the Quakers, and liveth near 
 Sedbergh in Yorkshire. 
 
 * This was Justice Bennet of Derby, who was the 
 first that called us Quakers, because I bid them 
 tremble at the word of the Lord.' This was in the 
 year 1650.— (George Fox's Journal, ed. Leeds, 1836, 
 vol. 1. p. 132.) Fox's committal for six months to 
 IX^rby Gaol in 1649 was signed by Gervas Bennet 
 J. P. —J. E. B. 
 
 Q 
 
H4 
 
 A CAVALIERS NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 H5 
 
 optauda. 
 
 \ 
 
 It were good that all casual manslaughters, a 
 J as murders and executions of felons, were 
 
 , nrinted in England, upon which many ob- 
 yearly pnnted m g ^^^ ^^^ 
 
 ser\^ations might be maac t> 
 
 coroner and Clerk of the Crown m.ght much 
 
 cur to the doing of this ^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 This summer (1669), ^ ^^ , 
 
 with earth in a sandhill at the Grange wh.lst he 
 with eart ^^^ ^^ ^ j^^,^ . ^„d 
 
 was seekmg to take raou 
 
 quickly after, another man penshed m Ml (but 
 ! miles off) just in the same manner, m a sandy 
 3 miles on;, 3" honoened if he had 
 
 cop. This I think had hardly happeneo 
 
 hpard of the other man's chance. 
 
 r likewise be a history of all trials of 
 Let there likewise oe a , „• „ j^,. 
 
 A ^n.llists &c , even when the offender 
 felons and duellists, «c., 
 
 comes off with life. But this, alas! would rather 
 ::ourage offenders by the slack execution of 
 
 ^"tonesty is wanting in England, and that ..nt 
 
 corrupts all commodities and stops the well pro- 
 corrupts ali ^j^y^^^^ ^^^. 
 
 ceeding of all affairs. M ^^ 
 
 , ^„t told me about the year 1672, when 
 
 h Holland that even then he would rather 
 war with Houana, um ^^^^tiotp bv 
 
 trust Hollanders than Englishmen to negotiate by 
 
 way of factorage his affairs abroad. 
 
 It were good to have steps or seats (as in a 
 cock-pit), for the better sight of public executions 
 and trials, as at Tyburn, Westminster Hall, &a 
 
 In April 1669, Mr. Edward Lloyd told me Arbores 
 
 XT -y J ingentiores. 
 
 that his father Mr. Robert Lloyd of Place-ys- 
 asaudd, in Denbighshire (not far from Wrexham), 
 had a tree growing near his house which was 
 seven fathom (measuring by men's arms) round 
 about the bole, which bole was seven yafds high 
 to the first bough. But when I seemed not to 
 credit this, he did seriously affirm that he had been 
 assured that it was either five or seven fathom in 
 compass, but that indeed he had never measured it 
 
 In Lent, which was in the year 1648-9, just Moon out of 
 
 order. 
 
 about the equinox, there was a report of the moon 
 rising at an unusual time, and it went a higher or 
 longer course than ordinary. This, they say, was 
 observed by the market men and fishermen, which 
 I little regarded ; but one Sunday, when I was at 
 dinner, some one bringing word that the moon ap- 
 peared out of course, I went down into the orchard, 
 and it being then an exceeding clear day, about 
 12 o'clock or before, I saw the moon about an hour 
 
 Q2 
 
]i6 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 and a half high to my judgment, and shining with a 
 perfect orb in the east, if I be not mistaken, or 
 rather one point toward the south. That evening 
 about seven o'clock we went down to the back porch, 
 where standing still, we saw the moon in a full 
 clear orb over the chapel chamber chimney or 
 thereabouts. It appeared higher to our judgment 
 than ever we had seen the sun in the longest day. 
 My cousin Heaton was with me then, and at noon 
 my brother Haggerston. It was observed to go 
 such a like strange course a day or two after. If 
 I be not much mistaken, some did affirm (with 
 such testimony as I then believed it), that the 
 moon was up at least 21 hours together. How- 
 ever, I think the prodigy was very remarkable and 
 the greatest that ever I saw. 
 
 The editor has been favoured by the Rev. Syl- 
 vester J. Hunter, SJ., with the following observa- 
 tions on this phenomenon :— ' If my astronomy is 
 not at fault, I suspect that the phenomenon was akin 
 to that of the har\'est moon, which commonly does 
 not attract the same attention at the spring equinox 
 as in the autumn. The harvest moon is much 
 more noticeable in some years than in others, and a 
 rough calculation that I have made seems to show, 
 that 1648-9 would be one of the years in which it 
 would be most prominent. In these same years the 
 moon, when in the north, would attain a greater 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 \ 
 
 117 
 
 height than that of the sun in the longest day, by 
 about five degrees, or ten times her own diameter. 
 And in this we have a remarkable proof of the ac- 
 curacy of the observations, made as they were by 
 the naked eye. As to the moon being up 21 hours 
 he speaks doubtfully, and with reason : if I am not 
 mistaken, she never can be up for much more than 
 18 hours in Lancashire. The longest stay above 
 the horizon will occur just in the same year as that 
 in which she attains the greatest light in the heavens, 
 and rises most nearly at the same time for several 
 successive nights.' 
 
 A prologue to a sword dance, spoken at Lathom 
 upon Ash Wednesday, 1638 : 
 
 The common proverb teacheth us to say, 
 'Tis hazardous with sharp-edged tools to play. 
 Yet we t' increase your honour's pleasures shall, 
 Adding more triumph to this carnival. 
 Forget the Muses' Hill, those nymphs, those dames, 
 And practise with our swords th' Olympic games. 
 Be but auspicious to our play, while we 
 This night shall Mars prefer to Mercury. 
 
 Mr. Blundell, although already married, was not 
 more than eighteen years of age at this time, and, 
 as he himself confesses, remarkably fond of all 
 youthful amusements. Lathom House, the ancient 
 seat of the Earls of Derby, was then in its glory, 
 soon, alas ! to be reduced, by miserable civil broils, 
 to a shapeless ruin. It was the scene of the well- 
 known and memorable defence made by the spirited 
 Countess Charlotte de la Tremouille, who frequently 
 entertained our Cavalier in after years at Knowsley. 
 
 %A 
 
 y 
 
 (I 
 
ii8 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 119 
 
 Condaeus 
 Princeps. 
 
 Dracon 
 
 Carmen. 
 
 Vvilnera 
 graviora 
 sanata. 
 
 The present prince (1659) was born Sept. 8, 
 1 62 1, and is a most bold and vigilant soldier, but 
 immoderate (as they say) in his amours. He 
 sleepeth no more commonly but three hours, in the 
 night, and useth to say that the devil rocketh him 
 that sleepeth longer. Narravit mihi Gul. Clifton, 
 Feb. 8, 1659. 
 
 I do not know in what part of the world 
 dragons are now to be found, nor do I know their 
 shape or size. 
 
 This rivals the remarkable chapter on snakes in 
 the ' History of Iceland from the Danish of Hor- 
 rebow,' which is referred to in Boswells Lite ol 
 Johnsoa' 
 
 Tu pacata vale rore lavata caput. 
 This verse is the same read backwards. It was 
 made by occasion of a woman dispossessed of the 
 devil by baptism. 
 
 Sir Ferdinand Carey, a huge corpulent knight, 
 was shot through his body ; the bullet entering at 
 the navel and coming out at his back, killed his 
 man behind him, yet he liveth still and is like to 
 
 recover. — Mr. Howell's letter, 32, sec. 3. Yet he 
 hath it from a second hand. 
 
 A servant maid, at the siege of Hardin (Har- 
 warden) Castle, was shot in the mouth, and the 
 bullet came out of her fundament, and she re- 
 covered the hurt. She served Sir William Neale, 
 who affirmed this to be true in my hearing. But 
 the bullet (you must know) came, many days after 
 it was shot, through the common passage. 
 
 Choose rather to lend money to your friend Praecepta 
 
 olitica. 
 
 (though you borrow it yourself) even upon his 
 single bond, than to enter into bond with him. 
 
 There are five Collei^es of the Society in jesuSodeta 
 
 ^ Anglicana. 
 
 England : 
 
 1. St. Ignatius's College at London, wherein 
 they say are such of the novices as are to be 
 trained in England. 
 
 2. St. Peter and Paul's College at Norwich. 
 
 3. St. Xavier's College in North Wales. 
 
 4. The College of the Holy Conception in 
 Derbyshire, Leicester, and thereabouts. This col- 
 lege was esteemed the richest of all the foundation 
 thereof, having been no less than 7,000/. and the 
 
 I 'J I 
 f .1 
 
 III 
 
 J j|.IIIiIhII 
 
I20 
 
 A CAVALIER^S NOTE-BOO kr 
 
 A CAVALIERS S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 121 
 
 yearly revenue thence arising 625/. But 6,100/. 
 of that foundation is in great danger to be lost in 
 
 ill hands. A.l). 1660. 
 
 5. The College of Bd. Aloysius, including Lan- 
 cashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, and no more. 
 
 Besides the colleges there are many parts of 
 England called ' Residences,' not belonging to the 
 colleges, as Yorkshire, Cornwall, Northumberland, 
 &c. In 1660 there were 23 fathers in the College 
 of St. Aloysius. About Michaelmas 1663, Father 
 Courtney the Provincial came into Lancashire, and 
 received an account or list of 2,500 penitents under 
 those of his order. Narravit mihi Ds. Peter 
 Bradshaigh. 
 
 Father Edward Courtney, whose real name was 
 Leedes, was the son of Sir Thomas Leedes of Wap- 
 pingthorne, in Sussex, and had a brother Thomas, 
 likewise of the Society of Jesus. Edward, born 1599, 
 became a student at the English College, Rome, 
 1618, and entered the novitiate S.J. on August 28, 
 1621! After his ordination he was employed 
 in various capacities, and must have had a talent 
 for government, as before his death he filled nearly 
 every office in his Province. He was English Pro- 
 vincial, 1660-4, and ended his days at St. Omer's 
 College on October 3, 1677. (Foley's ' Records,' 
 
 S.J., vol. i. p. 251.) 
 
 Rev. Peter Bradshaigh was one of three brothers, 
 
 uncles of Mr. Blundell, who embraced the Society 
 of Jesus. He died April 17, 1676, aged dd. 
 
 It is very remarkable that the English in this Latine 
 age have no great talent in writing Latin prose. ^^^"^^^^ 
 See my history of the expedition into the Isle of 
 Rhe, writ most pitifully by an English Lord. But 
 that which passes all for barbarous Latin is the 
 work of the classical divines, mentioned at large in 
 the history of Presbitery. 
 
 The author of the former work was Edward 
 Lord Herbert of Cherbury, of whom Anthony A 
 Wood writes (vol. iii. 240): 'Under the tuition of an 
 emment tutor [he] laid the foundation of that ad- 
 mirable learning whereof he was afterwards a com- 
 pleat master. The book is entided, ' Expeditio in 
 Ream Insulam, ' Authore Edovardo Domino Herbert, 
 Barone de Cherbury in Anglia. . . . Anno mdcxxx.' 
 Quam Publici Juris fecit Timotheus Balduinus, 
 LSD. e Coll. Omn. Anim. Apud Oxon. Socius! 
 Lond. 8vo. 1656.— J. E. B. 
 
 It was the saying of Sir Thomas Tildesley (as cEcononua. 
 his lady told me), that he would follow his business 
 close, to the end that he might the more enjoy his 
 pleasures. 
 
 ij 
 
 I spent in France a great part of the 
 
 R 
 
 years Festidies. 
 
 U' 
 
122 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 1680 and 1 68 1, and there I found that our cata- 
 logue of the new holydays was not then observed ; 
 ye"t sundry days of Saints whose names we scarce 
 know are kept holy there in particular dioceses. 
 
 If there be four million of working people in a 
 country who are each able to earn 6d. per diem, the 
 work of one day will amount to 100,000/. So that 
 the difference of working and not working of the 
 people of a whole nation is no small matter as to 
 civil and political respects. Note the different 
 consequence of industry and idleness by compar- 
 ing the present state of France, Holland, Flanders, 
 &c , with the present state of Spain and the lazy 
 old Irish. A thousand weighty matters may be 
 considered pro and con. on this occasion. 
 
 A.D. 1683. Christmas began on Tuesday, so 
 that we had at that time eight holydays altogether, 
 Sunday being included therein. Immediately be- 
 fore that Christmas, we had six days beginning on 
 Wednesday 19th. whereof five were fasting-days, 
 one holyday, and one Sunday ; so that there were 
 at that time fourteen days altogether, which were 
 all of them either holydays or fasting-days. Note 
 that Friday 21st (St. Thomas the Apostle) was not 
 only holyday but double fasting-day, to say nothing 
 
 123 
 
 ii 
 
 of the Friday and Saturday following, which were 
 
 days of abstinence. I was at Paris in July 1680, 
 
 and found there that the 26th of that month (St. 
 
 Anne's day) was not kept holyday, neither was the 
 
 24th kept as a vigil either by fasting or abstinence. 
 
 At La Fleche, in Rogation week, I found there was 
 
 abstinence for five days, but no days fasted, 
 
 whereas we fast two days in England. 
 
 The want of regular Church government in Mr. 
 Blundell's time long prevented any change in these 
 matters ; but the fasting-days in England have since 
 been much reduced in number, and are no longer 
 burdensome. 
 
 In hac domo quam a vermiculis mutuo accepi, Rutteri Epi- 
 
 - . taphiuni. 
 
 cum fratribus meis, sub spe resurrection is ad vitam, 
 jaceo Samuel, permissione divina Episcopus hujus 
 
 Insulae. 
 
 Siste lector, ^ 
 
 Vide et ride 
 
 Palatium Episcopi. 
 
 This epitaph was given to me June 18, 1662, by 
 Monsieur Daniel Trioche, Secretary to the Countess 
 of Derby, who saith that it was sent out of the 
 Isle of Man, and that it was found among the 
 Bishop's papers. 
 
 This inscription was on a plate in St. German's 
 
 R 2 
 
 \\\ 
 
 \ 
 
1 
 
 Ocrex un- 
 
 Anomola, 
 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOO/^. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 125 
 
 \.\ 
 
 Cathedral, Isle of Man, but was stolen by a tourist, 
 
 before 1825.— J. E. B. 
 A pint of ale, a halfpenny in wax, fresh butter 
 one quarter ; melt them together. Afterwards (but 
 not before, lest it flame), add some turpentine. 
 And so use it I bad this from a shoemaker m 
 Chester, a Quaker. Try it on the boots of your 
 servant. When boots are new, fill them with strong 
 wort and tanners' bark bruised. Hang them up for 
 two or three months till all be dried in ; then oil 
 them as you please for softness. This (saith Major 
 Gibson) is the best way. 
 
 Now in my old age (xtatis 59), having spent 
 much time in study for the knowledge of things, 
 I find, with great regret, that 1 know not so much 
 as ^vhat is meant by the common names of things 
 that are most commonly known and spoken of. 
 And I do persuade myself that the most part of 
 our disputes were ended, if our words were always 
 such as clearly to express our thoughts. How 
 little do Protestants know what we mean by our 
 Church's infallibility, indulgences for sin, or merit 
 for good works 1 But let us take more familiar 
 notions : a day, a month, a yean I find in Miege's 
 
 French Dictionary this which follows : — * Les 
 Babiloniens commencoient le jour au lever du 
 soleil, les Juifs et les Atheniens le commencoient 
 au coucher, et les Italiens les imitent. Les Egyp- 
 tiens le commencoient a midi.' As for the begin- 
 ning, the end, and the just term of a year, the 
 differences in sundry ages and places have been 
 unspeakably great, and caused great confusion. 
 
 The most weighty controversy that happened 
 in my time in England before the Judges, was to 
 determine the meaning of the words twelve months. 
 The innocent Irishmen had only twelve months 
 allowed them by Act of Parliament to be restored 
 to their lands, after which there was to be no re- 
 storation. Upon this, the Court of Claims at 
 Dublin sat one whole year, and making a quick 
 despatch near the end of that term, some hun- 
 dreds of persons were in the last month of the 
 year restored to their lands. Whereupon their 
 adversaries got the matter to be heard in England, 
 pretending that twelve lunar months was the time 
 allowed. But, contrary to men's expectation, the 
 cause was carried by the Irish. 
 
 Exempli gratia : if a man desire to measure Computandi 
 
 IcltlO. 
 
 ; ; 
 
 4 I 
 
 I I 
 
;i' 
 
 r 
 
 126 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 127 
 
 the length of a field or way by pacing over the 
 same, and he finds it hard to remember the several 
 scores or twenties, so that he will drop a pebble 
 into his pocket at the end of each score ; which 
 being tedious may be helped by keeping time to 
 the motion of your feet with these or the like 
 
 words, viz. — 
 
 Who saw Jack Straw — one. 
 Who saw Jack Straw— two, &c. 
 Which being continued to twenty, the whole num- 
 ber is 100. 
 
 So one may count at shuttle cock, either with 
 
 the same words or thus — 
 
 Take care, strike fair— one ; 
 
 or one may say 
 
 Take care, strike fair, pit pat, hit that— one ; 
 which being repeated to twenty, makes just nine 
 
 score. 
 
 This thing maybe sundry other ways improved 
 
 to serious uses, notwithstanding the matter may 
 seem to be ridiculous. 
 
 Mensura U- 
 quidorum. 
 
 An old wine-tierce which, being filled with 
 claret, I had formerly bought, was, when I had 
 drawn it out, measured {me vidente) with water. 
 
 It was filled with 131 size— quarts. I mean such 
 quarts, 7,2 whereof make a Winchester bushel. 
 The quart which I used therein had been measured 
 by my servant James Hoghton with the brazen 
 standard quart at Liverpoole, about the year 1676. 
 
 Many persons have money which they desire com.oda 
 to put out for lawful interest, &c. ; but they are ^''p'-ci'^^^^ 
 wholly ignorant of the means to do it. Many 
 others would take up money in extreme necessity, 
 and are willing to give security ; but they know not 
 where to find money. This hath been the reason Brokers for 
 the scriveners of London have been employed as """""^ ' 
 brokers for money, with benefit to themselves and 
 commodity to the borrower and lender. This 
 might be practised with much advantage to the 
 country, in each county of England, by the means 
 of some discreet honest person in each town of 
 note, whose known employment it should be either 
 to put out money and take security, or at least to 
 be able to give the names of the borrowers and 
 lenders of such sums as are required to be borrowed 
 and lent. This was the judgment of Mr. T. Sel. 
 
 The above was writ about the year 1659, since 
 when great practice hath been made in this kind 
 
 \ 
 
 "t:,. 
 
 ai 9 ^^ Hi, 
 
I 
 
 and for 
 Land and 
 Marriages ; 
 
 ,28 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 year 1683, it seems so convenient to borrowers and 
 lenders, that 1 think it is like to continue. ■• 
 
 And I believe the like might be practised 
 with great advantage to the country, in other 
 „,atters: as in buying and selling of land and 
 even in marriages (if the person employed be 
 discreet and tender of other men's credits). In 
 these he might be used (if you please), no other- 
 wise than as an informer or intelligencer betw.xt 
 the parties, and his commission might be so re- 
 strained as that he should only tell the circum- 
 stances-as the value, price, site, and buildings upon 
 the land : the age, portion, quality, beauty, &c., 
 of such a maid or widow ; and the like of such a 
 bachelor or widower as desireth to have a wife. 
 And when he findeth that these informations are 
 agreeable to the inquirer's desires, he may inform 
 the parties concerned ; and telling withal the several 
 qualities of the inquirer, if they do then seem to 
 be grateful to the other, he may name each party 
 to the other, and so leave them to transact their 
 business. This course seemeth to prevent two ex- 
 tremes : the one of wanting the commodity of the 
 thing you desire, by a bashful silence, and the other 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 129 
 
 of becoming necessarily the common chat of the 
 neighbourhood, if you should after publish your 
 desire to buy or sell land, to marry, or the like. 
 
 Some such way might be used for the hiring of and *r- 
 servants or 'prentices, and for the utterance of divers '^"' "'' 
 wares and commodities. 
 
 It would be very expedient if each parish or" 
 village might have some place, as the church, 
 smithy, wherein to publish (by papers posted up) Thbgs.ou 
 the wants either of the buyer or seller, as, such a ""' ''" 
 field to be let, such a servant or such a service to 
 be had, &c. And it seemeth convenient that each 
 man that will sell his horse should tie a mark or 
 sign thereof in the bridle. For, in regard it is 
 often ill taken to ask a gentleman the price of 
 his horse, many necessary bargains are hindered ; 
 as likewise, if a man should now declare his wil- 
 lingness to sell his horse, it would argue some 
 hidden fault, whereas in so general a usage it were 
 not so like to be suspected. 
 
 There was a book published at London weekly 
 about the year 1657, which was called (as I re- 
 member) • The Publick Advice.' It gave informa- 
 tion in very many of these particulars. Quare— if it 
 continues still to do so, or the reason that it doth not. 
 
 S 
 
 \: 
 
 \ 
 
 * 
 
 *K 
 
a 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 Consiilera- 
 
 \ 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 ' ' ~"TL • «« r^ffire near the Old 
 AD. i66o.-There is an ottice ne 
 
 ti A fUA office of * Publick 
 Exchange in London, called t^e office o 
 
 . , IT ^«. thence both printed and private 
 Advice.' From thence oot v 
 informations of this useful nature are alw^ so be 
 
 ,ad. But what they print is no .ore than a W 
 or less in a diurnal. I was m this office. The 
 diurnal consisted of sixteen pages quarto m 1689. 
 
 I am convinced by reason and my own ex- 
 
 • . rto sav nothing of faith), that it is extreme 
 penence (to say noum g . ^ • ^^ crrief in 
 
 folly to be transported either w.th joy or gr.ef m 
 
 e Jporal respects. That which hath an end s 
 temporal P ^^v^^^^x, it would 
 
 nothing, saith a great sau. 
 ,eem Lething if it would last some numbe of 
 
 vears But we do see desperate and gnpmg sor- 
 
 oT tread upon the heels of the greatest joy. 
 
 The very day (to the best of my memory and 
 
 u Lns of my own greatest joy did -mme- 
 observauon of my ^^^ ^^^ 
 
 diately precede the aay ^ 
 
 probability) of my greatest loss and gr.e^ Yet 
 notwithstanding that this loss was no less than my 
 whole estate by incurring ^-'^^^:^^^^^ ^^' ^\ 
 ..ilation of the -ngest hmb m my b a,^W a 
 musket shot, it hath proved m the end ( 
 human prudence can yet conjecture) the greatest 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 131 
 
 temporal fortune that ever befell me, and that for 
 many reasons, partly known to others, but princi- 
 pally to myself These changes are no wonder, 
 when we know of far greater happening to whole 
 cities. To-day the bells and the bonfires express 
 the violent passions of an overjoyed people, when 
 to-morrow their own reeking blood must extinguish 
 their flaming buildings. That thing for which we 
 do most labour and pray, and for the happening 
 whereof we are even transported with joy, is not 
 seldom our utter destruction, and that speedily. 
 
 1665, May.— Richard Airey, of London, his bill xaiior..' biik 
 for Mall [Mary, Mr. Blundell's daughter] :— 
 
 For a sky-coloured silk mohair coat ,£2 17 
 „ „ coloured stuff coat bought for her i 3 
 „ sky-coloured silk mohair waistcoat 
 „ mixed pink-coloured petticoat of 
 good sarcenet .... 
 „ suit of knots of pink and silver 
 
 riband 
 
 2 laces 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ 
 
 \!^:- 
 
 » 
 
 o 17 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 4 
 o 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 £^ I o 
 
 He speaks also of paying 2/. 5^. for two hats of 
 equal price, and i/. Zs. for a border of hair. Mr. 
 
 s 2 
 
 I 
 
n^ 
 
 132 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Servant," 
 
 wages. 
 
 5 o 
 
 7 15 
 
 8 o 
 
 Airey, on the other hand, had sold for him twenty- 
 seven dozen rabbit skins at 4^. 2d. per dozen, coming 
 to 5/. 125. 6^. 
 
 I paid many round sums for clothes for my son 
 Butler (Richard, afterwards Viscount Mountgarret, 
 who had married, in 1661, Mr. Blundell's daughter 
 Emilia). I do remember particularly a stuff suit 
 and coat when he came to me about April 1661^ 
 
 This I take cost about . . • • ^4 
 His wedding suit and coat of Spanish 
 cloth, being 2 pair of breeches besides 
 the doublet and the coat, cost about . 
 A velvet coat bought at London, cost . 
 A hat when he was at London 1661 . 
 A sword at the same time, about . 
 Besides sundry other things, which partly I do not 
 remember, and partly do forbear to put down. 
 
 1667, May.-It is agreed betwixt me and John 
 Tildesley that he shall serve me one whole year, 
 from May 2, 1667, for 4/. wages, and for such vails 
 as shall happen in the service ; but I am not 
 obliged to give him any further reward for his 
 services, either by old clothes or any other way. 
 (Signed by W. Blundell and John Tildesley.) 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 o 
 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 
 133 
 
 Upon the eve (December 7) of the Conception Mirabiib 
 of our Lady, I, being of the sodality with others of ^^"^^em 
 
 ' spectantia. 
 
 my family, proposed to our spiritual director that 
 we might all together say the Rosary upon the said 
 feast day. He said he did very well like it, but 
 could not conveniently be present himself, having 
 but weak health and finding that such exercises 
 did spend him. I told him that he might in such 
 a number of persons answer in silence, and no 
 notice would be taken of it. But he said that he 
 found that even the noise of others speaking was 
 often troublesome to him. In fine, we said the 
 Rosary on the said feast day, and although we had 
 not his company, yet he spent the most part of the 
 afternoon of that holyday in playing at tables 
 and shovel-board in the dining-room and in the 
 hall, and at four of the clock and a half retired to 
 his chamber. This gentleman was a person of 
 singular virtue and prudence, and one whom I 
 should have chosen before thousands, as well for a 
 companion as for a director. And this I note that 
 I may remember not to have a bitter prejudice 
 against the actions of such men as I like not, when 
 those whom I like so well will do things so con- 
 trary to my judgn;ient. 
 
134 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 'I 
 
 I 
 
 Verslones 
 
 Anglicanac. 
 
 The chaplain whose conduct on th.s occasion 
 excited the momentary displeasure of Mr. Blunde 1 
 was, no doubt, the Rev. Francis Waldegrave, b.J. 
 We have already spoken of him in the introductory 
 chapters, and have mentioned the great esteem m 
 which he was held by his patron, who mdeed con- 
 firms this estimate of him in the foregoing remarks. 
 The Rosary is still a favourite devotion of the 
 Catholic Church, and sodalities for the daily recital 
 of it have numerous associates. Tables is the same 
 as backgammon, but shovel-board is no longer known 
 as it was formerly played. It seems to have been 
 the forerunner of billiards. An old shovel-board is 
 said to exist at Chartley HalL It is 31 feet i inch 
 long, made up of 260 pieces, 12 or .8 inches long, 
 laid on longer boards underneath, and well jointed. 
 Those who have made a long sea voyage will be 
 familiar with a description of shovel-board played 
 on deck, which is one of the few diversions possible 
 under such conditions. Flat discs of wood are used 
 and these are propelled with long-handled spades of 
 corresponding size into divisions chalked out at a 
 suitable distance. On the latter are marked the 
 numerals up to 10, with two forfeits of 10, one at 
 each end. The chief amusement seems to consist 
 in driving your enemy out of the winning numbers 
 and lodging yourself in his place. This is varied by 
 dexterous attempts to land him in the forfeits, and 
 to cover skilfully the approaches, that he may not be 
 afterwards relieved. 
 
 It is wonderful to see how notably our country- 
 men do translate anything out of the Latin, either 
 
 I'll 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 »35 
 
 verse or prose, and yet we shall never meet with 
 an Englishman that either writes or speaks Latin 
 commendably. 
 
 Sands' translation of Ovid's ' Metamorphoses ' 
 is said to bear the bell for a translation in verse. 
 Virgil's ' ^neid ' hath ever been esteemed a piece 
 too high to be dealt with, with any hope of success 
 in that kind. Yet hath Ogleby (a fellow that kept 
 a tap house) engaged upon it, and performed it 
 with good applause. May hath done 'Lucan' 
 rarely well, and Virgil's ' Georgics." 
 
 Sir Humphrey Stapleton [.' Robert] hath hit 
 very right of the jog of an English style in his 
 version of • Strada.' yet in sundry places he mis- 
 takes the sense of the author. Winterton hath 
 made a most proper piece of English of Drexelius' 
 ' Nine Considerations upon Eternity.' But his dif- 
 ferent opinions in religion hath made him often to 
 mince and conceal the author's sense. 
 
 A good lady of my acquaintance was so curious mos ves- 
 in her attire, as to send out of Lancashire to Lon- ""'"' 
 don her linen to be washed and starched as often 
 as they were fouled ; such fine linens, I mean, as 
 were used about her neck and shoulders. 
 
 \ 
 
Eleemo- 
 synae. 
 
 ,36 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Sir William Petty (in his book of taxes) esteems 
 begging to be the worst way for relief of the poor. 
 Sir Thomas Haggerston told me (this 4* day of 
 August 1665) very much of the abuse of begging 
 in Northumberland, and how gladly himself, Mr. 
 Ralph Clavering and others would reform it, but 
 they are afraid of curses and clamours. That very 
 many Scotch beggars come into those parts, and 
 many that are lusty and able ; yet when they 
 have got an alms at the hall, they beg at the 
 houses in the town, and there they get alms too 
 for fear of their curses, although the housekeepers 
 be less able than themselves, as being labouring 
 men, and having no more but a cottage and a yard 
 or garden. That the beggars wherever corn is 
 stirring (as in winnowing, sowing, &c.) do beg, or 
 as it were get by custom a part of the same : and 
 to this end many go about to beg in the time of 
 seeding. That in time of shearing he hath often 
 faulted the reapers for unclean reaping, and that 
 they have frequently answered, ' What shall we 
 leave for the poor ones ? ' That when he leads his 
 corn many do come to glean in the field at the 
 same time, so that those who should reap for hire 
 do turn gleaners, to his great damage. 
 
 3zr~ 
 
 li 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 "^V 
 
 An advertisement from the Hospital called 
 Bedlam, printed in the Gazette about 24th June 
 1675, certifies that there is never any licence given 
 nor any plates on the arms to such wanderers as 
 under those colours pass up and down. When I 
 read this, I mentioned one Medcalf, a gentleman 
 who passed as a Bedlamer. Mr. Tempest and his 
 wife thereupon told me that he was hanged for a 
 murder. 
 
 On the 6th July 1673, I caused John Gorsuch wine. 
 to put into the cart-house pit, about six or seven 
 yards north-west of the lime kiln, twelve bottles of 
 claret wine bottled about six weeks since (without 
 sugar), but not kept since that time exactly cool. 
 The cord in which they are threaded is put by a 
 noose upon the head of a stake which \s driven in 
 a little below the surface of the water, the head 
 of which is about two yards from the nicks made 
 for a mark on the north-east of an alder tree, 
 which mark is about half a yard from the root of 
 the tree. Note, that the water is very low this 
 dry summer, so that it will be hard in winter to 
 find the cord, as the head of the stake may be 
 probably two or three feet under water. 
 
 T 
 
 ^ 
 
,38 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 bought, 1664. 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 Aiiglicc scri- 
 Ltndi modus. 
 
 Hibcrnicum 
 Mellum. 
 
 At Ormschurch, Whitson fair, four stirks and 
 twinters, one for i/. 9-^. 4^., two for 3/. 3-^. 6^., 
 
 one for i/. 14^. 10^. 
 „ Prescot fair, two stirks, one for i/. ws, 6d., 
 
 one for i/. 4^. 6^- 
 „ Newborough fair, five stirks or twinters, 
 
 * one for i/. 5^- 6^» one for i/. 19^., two for 
 
 3/., one for i/. 9^- ^d. 
 
 It is to be marked that many things which I 
 put down as strange expressions do within a year 
 or two become so familiar that even I myself do 
 wonder why I took notice of them. Which thing 
 may put us in mind how the English language 
 changeth in the age of a man. 
 
 About August 1674, Richard Bellings, Esq., 
 told me that he had almost finished the history of 
 the Irish war for the space of about eight or nine 
 years. He showed me a part thereof (viz. about 
 1 20 very large pages, just at the beginning of the re- 
 bellion), which I read over. I do give the greater 
 credit to it, by reason that the said R. B. was a wit- 
 ness to very many things which he writes there. 
 The said R. B. in one of his letters to me speaks 
 of a former narrative of his own in two parts. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 139 
 
 setting forth the beginning of the commotion in 
 Ireland. 
 
 r 
 
 I find the following words in the kingdom's Bccobei. 
 'Intelligencer,' from January 13 to January 20, 
 1 661, p. 28 : — 
 
 ' By express command from his Majesty we 
 are to acquaint the reader that a little book named 
 " Boscobel " (being a relation of his Majesty's happy 
 and miraculous escape after the fight at Worces- 
 ter) hath divers errors and mistakes in it, and 
 therefore not to be admitted as a true and perfect 
 narrative of his sacred Majesty's deliverance.' 
 
 I am not certain whether the advertisement 
 abovesaid do relate to the first part of ' Boscobel,' or 
 to the second, or both. For the author doth pro- 
 fess that he had not so good intelligence for the 
 writing of the second as of the first. And it may 
 be thought that this advertisement may be given 
 to lessen the displeasure which some hot heads 
 have conceived, that Catholics should be looked 
 upon as the King's chief preservers next to God. 
 But the most of the chief circumstances which we 
 read in * Boscobel' are confirmed by Dr. Bates 
 Latin history, called * Elenchus Motuum/ &c., 
 
 T 2 
 
 ^1 
 
 ,'-'.5.'.» 
 
( 
 
 140 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 where you may read sundry more delightful things 
 concerning the King's travels in the west of Eng- 
 land, than Mr. Blunt (who writ * Boscobel ') was 
 able to relate, who wanted intelligence of the 
 
 same. 
 
 f 
 
 H 
 
 Sinenses. 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 I was at London constantly for some years 
 last past, where, in the years 1687 and 1688, I 
 chanced to have some conference in Latin with a 
 natural Chinese whom I did sundry times meet 
 with, by reason that he went to the Latin school 
 at the Savoy. He told me that he was a native of 
 Pekin, and that he had been about eight years 
 absent from China. He told me that he judged 
 Pekin to contain about double the number of the 
 inhabitants contained in London, where he had 
 been resident about eight months. I had formerly 
 seen his picture admirably well painted at Windsor 
 Castle. He appeared to be aged more than thirty 
 years, though he pretended (and perhaps very 
 truly) to be but five or six and twenty. He spoke 
 to me imperfectly in Latin, as having learnt the 
 same without any rules. I do not take him to be 
 a competent judge of the number of people either 
 in Pekin or in London. His stature was low and 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 141 
 
 his complexion very swarthy. His nose was very 
 flat, and his eyes, by reason that his face in that 
 part was also flat, stood outward somewhat oddly, 
 and were very brown ; yet his countenance was 
 pleasing and smiling. I did likewise see in London, 
 and had a short and free conference with Father 
 Couplet, a Jesuit that had lived in China about 
 twenty years. He was a native of the Spanish 
 Netherlands, and although he was ' Sexagenario 
 major,' he was waiting for an opportunity to pass 
 over again to his beloved China, which was so much 
 in his mind that, whether he was waking or sleeping, 
 he was in a manner continually thinking of it. I 
 did then hear him hold some short discourse in 
 the Chinese language with that very same Chinese 
 whom I have mentioned above, who came in unto 
 us (when we two were only together) to ask some 
 questions, as it seemed, of the said father. 
 
 June 3, 1676.— I saw twenty-six guineas im- Aurumet 
 pressed in the space of one minute, measured by ^"p^^^Sim. 
 my minute-watch. That coin was polished at the 
 very same stroke (or turn) which made the impres- 
 sion. All this was done by one machine fed by 
 one man and turned by three, and only one guinea 
 
 \1 
 
 -LTJ^J 
 
 I 
 
 '•art'- 
 
f 
 
 141 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 was impressed at each turn of the said machine or 
 screw. It was in the Tower of London. 
 
 Londinu.. The present March 4, 1686-7, 1 took great notice 
 
 at Whitehall of that famous large map (lately set 
 out by William Morgan), of the City and Suburbs 
 of London, where the scale of the map is such that 
 every inch of the same represents 300 feet of the 
 town, river, gardens, streets, &c. The circuit is no 
 less than eighteen or nineteen miles. Mr. Morgan, 
 who made the map, told me that he reckoned 1,000 
 paces to be a mile, which I think is eighty paces 
 less than an English statute mile. I do reckon the 
 gates of London to be as follows : Ludgate, New- 
 gate, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, Moorgate, Postern. 
 Bishopsgate, Aldgate. 
 
 Paiili 
 
 Basilica 
 
 Londinensis. 
 
 m 
 
 u 
 II 
 
 \ 
 
 In November 1681, 1 took great notice of that 
 new building, which I found then to be raised 
 above the earth about 10 or 11 yards, according 
 to the guess I made when I looked upon the 
 same. Below the surface of the earth about 14 
 or 16 feet the foundation seemed to be laid, and 
 all that was hollow like a cellar. If I be not 
 mistaken it was arched all over, even with the 
 
 f 
 
 \ 
 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 »43 
 
 top of the earth, so that there is an appearance 
 of a church below as well as above the ground. 
 But there was no manner of building at the west- 
 end of the same, all betng left so open that I 
 guessed that the building would be continued 
 much longer towards the west, which way there 
 was then remaining, betwixt the new buildings 
 and the ruins of the outermost part westward of 
 the old burned church, about 80 yards or more. 
 The east end of this new church was then close 
 built, and the wideness there within the walls was 
 about 41 yards, and the greatest wideness of this 
 church was about 104 yards, whereof 11 yards 
 on the south side and 11 yards on the north 
 side of the same seem to be taken up in porches. 
 At the same time I read a written paper which 
 hung up on a wall or pillar of this new building, 
 mentioning the contributions given towards thrt 
 work by the several Bishopricks of England, the 
 total of which amounted to 14,000/.. whireof 
 London gave 2,844/., Winchester 1,026/, Chester 
 561/ \%s. 6d., Durham 334/., Canterbury 199/ j 
 suppose there is a standing fund or revenue be- 
 longing to this same church by which in length of 
 time it may come to be finished. There is or was, 
 
 i 
 
ti 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 I > 
 
 Juramenta. 
 
 Leases. 
 
 1 
 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 as I take it, an allowance given by Parliament out 
 of every ton of coals coming to London. 
 
 As I came down from London in June 1676, 
 with Sergeant Rigby, who is a J.P. for Lancashire, 
 he told me plainly once or twice upon occasion 
 given, that the multitude of our penal laws cause 
 them to be ill executed ; that he himself was per- 
 jured (or forsworn), for not putting the laws in 
 execution against swearers, when he heard and 
 saw their transgressions. I did farther understand 
 clearly by his expression, that he did not in the 
 like case intend to mend his fault. 
 
 June 27, i663.-My nephew Selby told me 
 that his wife's grandfather, Thomas Hesketh, Esq., 
 did in the year 163. and 1632 (6 and 7 Charles I.) 
 offer to his tenants in Pilling, who had leases m 
 being for 12 years from 7 Charles L, either to seal 
 them new leases upon surrender of the old ones for 
 three lives or for 33 years, i.e. for 21 years longer 
 than their term of 1 2 years. The number of leases 
 in being were about 97- "hereof 64 were renewed ; 
 all of them but five in 7 Charles I., and those five 
 in 8 Charles L Of these 64, 49 ^vcre taken for three 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 '45 
 
 lives and 15 for 33 years. We reckoned by the 
 tenants' books that of these 49 leases five of them 
 did yet retain three lives in being, 24 of them two 
 lives in being, and 19 one life in being. So that it 
 did appear that only one tenement of the 49 (taken 
 about 32 years ago for three lives) had fallen to the 
 lord. On the other hand, the 15 leases taken for 
 33 years are just upon the point of expiring. 
 
 This interesting record shows that the custom of 
 granting leases for lives instead of for a terra of 
 years, which was ordinarily practised in the seven- 
 teenth century, was greatly to the disadvantage of the 
 landlord. Yet it is doubtful if the benefit to the 
 tenant was more than apparent. Probably, the custom 
 was injurious both to landlord and tenant The 
 landlord may be said to have suffered more, for he 
 received a very inadequate rental for his pro))ertv 
 It was Mr. Blundell's practice to give an old tenam 
 a lease for three lives at tlie rate of seven years' pur- 
 chase. Thus, if a farm was worth annually 10/., he 
 got 70/. for the lease with some other trifling allow- 
 ances, and lost all control over his property for the 
 next thirty, forty, or fifty years, if any of the three 
 lives lasted so long. There was something paid an- 
 nually by way of ground rent, but the amount was 
 very small. The tenant, on the other hand, havin.^ 
 had difficulty in raising the capital required to enter 
 "pon the farm, had seldom anything to expend upon 
 his place, which fell into dilapidation often long 
 before the tenancy expired. He had no stimulus to 
 
 U 
 
 \ 
 
 If- 
 
,46 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 ill 
 
 
 •Ht..,..i" 
 
 industry, and generally contented himself with an 
 easy and careless management, provided he secured 
 a moderate maintenance for himself. Moreover he 
 or some of those belonging to him might, and often 
 did render themselves particularly obnoxious to 
 their landlord, whose hands were tied by the lease. 
 ' Moore's Rental,' published by the Cheetham Society 
 and written by Sir Edward Moore, first Baronet of 
 Bank Hall, Mr. Blundell's contemporary and neigh- 
 bour, contains very severe strictures upon the con- 
 duct of his tenants. It is true that these were 
 mostly leaseholders residing in the adjacent town 
 (Liverpool), whose interests as townsmen would 
 often dash with those of their landlord. Still, the 
 same spirit manifested itself in country places. 
 Mr. Nicholas Blundell, grandson to the Cavalier, 
 frequently complains of the behaviour of certain 
 tenants, and recommends his successor to discard 
 them when their leases expire. The custom of 
 leasing for lives was discontinued upon the Crosby 
 Estate about a century ago, and although it lingered 
 in the neighbourhood for another half-century, it is 
 now almost universally abandoned. 
 
 Pilling in the Fylde lies on the borders of More- 
 cambe Bay, and its once extensive moss (reduced 
 gradually by cultivation) is still frequented by large 
 flocks of sea-birds which build there annually. Fil- 
 ling was a possession of Cockersand Abbey, pur- 
 chased at the dissolution by John Kitchin, whose 
 daughter conveyed a portion of it to the Daltons, 
 on whose estate of Thurnham lie the ruins of the 
 abbey. These ruins are not extensive, but the 
 chapter-house has been covered in, and is used as 
 a family Mausoleum by the Daltons. The abbey 
 
 ♦ 
 "^1 I 
 
 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 147 
 
 stood at the edge of the sands, through the midst of 
 which the small river Cocker flows towards the sea. 
 Hence its ancient name, but in these days it is com- 
 monly called Thurnham Abbey. The Hall is in the 
 immediate neighbourhood, and is an old rambling 
 manor-house, built at different periods and not with- 
 out that usual adjunct to ancient Catholic dwellings, 
 a priest's hiding-place. There is more than one 
 place of this kind, and the writer remembers to have 
 noticed that they differ from others that he has seen, 
 in respect that they are entered by the removal of a 
 square stone in the wall. This plan of construction 
 was adopted in order that no hollow sound might 
 betray their purpose. The Dalton family is now re- 
 presented by Sir Gerald Dalton Fitzgerald, Bart. 
 
 Barnaby Kitchin, who died July 6, 1603, held 
 the other moiety of Pilling, and married — 
 
 ist. Ann, daughter of Sir John Aughton, of 
 North Meols, Esq., by whom he had one 
 daughter — 
 
 Alice, bom 1554 = Hugh Hesketh, natural 
 son of Sir Thomas Hesketh of Rufford, 
 Knight. 
 2nd. Alice, widow of William Forshaw, Esq., by 
 whom he had two daughters — 
 
 Anne, born 1582 = Thomas Ashton. 
 
 Elizabeth, born 1587 = Nathaniel, son and 
 
 heir of Nicholas Banastre, of Altham, Esq. 
 
 In 1649, a partition of Barnaby Kitchin's Pilling 
 
 estate was made, when Pilling Hall and one-third 
 
 of the demesne fell to Richard, son of Nathaniel 
 
 Banastre, one-third to Richard, son of Thomas 
 
 Ashton, and the remaining third to Thomas and 
 
 Robert, sons of Hugh Hesketh. This Thomas was 
 
 u 2 
 
 «-~5 — «^ 
 
Justitia ci- 
 
 \t 
 
 OaHianu 
 iilionia. 
 
 k I 
 
 148 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 
 grandfather to Mrs. Selby, who had likewise inherited 
 North Meols from the Aughtons. This latter town- 
 ship is that on which the modern town of Southport 
 is built. At the death of Mrs. Selby, without issue, 
 her estate reverted to her uncle, Robert Hesketh, 
 whose descendant still possesses one moiety of North 
 Meols. The Hornbys, of Poulton, purchased the 
 Banastre and Ashtun shares of Pilling in 1678, and 
 the remaining third in 1772. They are now held by 
 E. G. S. Hornby, Esq., of Dalton Hall. (Fishwick's 
 Garstang, vol. ii. Chetham Society.) 
 
 I was told on October 24, 1683, by Mr. Thomas 
 Beetle, that whereas twe shillings is always paid in 
 our neighbourheod to the Justice's Clerk for a 
 warrant even in case of felony and of like crimes 
 against the King, that at Manchester there is paid 
 no mere than one shilling and sixpence for such 
 warrants. William Norres, who was clerk to Jus- 
 tice Blundell in King James' time, told me oft. 
 that in those days the clerks took not one penny 
 for any such warrant. 
 
 I did first of all in this my 58th year begin to 
 study French, with design to understand it in a 
 book, and I find it is not hard to do so. It is too 
 late for me to begin with things of this nature, 
 but I have an honest design, though no great hope 
 to effect it. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 149 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 
 I; 
 
 4\ 
 
 There should be a north-west passage found, or \;-^^^-^^^^ 
 rather a north-east passage, for the attaining of 
 the Latin tongue. The inseparable difficulties of 
 Latin do arise chiefly from hence, that we pretend 
 to the understanding of Latin which hath been 
 writ in all places and ages for about 2,000 years, 
 whereas we are not able to understand our Eng- 
 lish Chaucer who lived but 300 years ago. And 
 the several dialects of our own little country used 
 at this day are net understood by any one person. 
 The vulgar tongues are more easy. In September 
 1677, I knew not so much of French as to under- 
 stand the meaning of mol, toi, elk, or the like most 
 usual words, yet in March next following (having 
 spent in reading French, an hour or two in the 
 interim each day for the most part, and still 
 without the help of a dictionary) I began to read 
 the first part of the abridgment of the ' Holy 
 History.' It was composed by Du Verdier, and 
 consists of 574 pages octavo. I read this book 
 twice over in French with much delight, as under- 
 standing the story sufficiently well without the 
 help of an English translation. This I did in the 
 space of twenty-six days, spending little time but 
 only after supper, and yet during these twenty-six 
 
 i 
 
 V 
 
 J 
 
I 
 
 150 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 days I had five fits of an ague. My memory was 
 then very bad, as being dulled with age and cares, 
 yet my knowledge of Latin and English I think 
 did advance me more, by three parts in four, than if 
 I had only understood some one other language or 
 two which had affinity with the French. I judge 
 that I myself and others of my small bore have 
 in our younger days spent fifteen-fold more labour 
 and time in the study of Latin only, without at- 
 taining that degree of knowledge therein which I 
 ^ot as above in French. So that it is not to be 
 doubted, though Latin be very hard, but that it is 
 a ready means to the knowledge of the best modern 
 languages of Europe. I must not conceal that I 
 was helped in reading the French book abovesaid 
 by the knowledge which I had of the story, and 
 although I wanted a dictionary, I had a good 
 French grammar from which I learned much. 
 
 Apparatus Many things have been said well by way of 
 
 de Catholicis 
 
 Angiicanis. apology for CathoHcs, and more may be said here- 
 after as occasion shall serve. In the year 1661, 
 I printed a small book on that subject which I 
 have showed to few, and I think it w^as never ex- 
 posed to sale. It is entitled * Quid me perscqiieris P' 
 
 t 
 
 < 
 
 I 
 
 ' 
 
 A CAVALIER S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 151 
 
 There are remarkable things in it which may do 
 well now (1678) when the state of things is 
 changed, being put into a better method. 
 
 No printed copy of this work has been found, 
 but it is the title Mr. Blundell gave to his treatise on 
 the Penal Laws, referred to in the introductory 
 chapters. 
 
 Cherlotta, daughter of the Duke of Trimouil, is Derbiae Cu 
 
 mitessa. 
 
 now the widow of James Earl of Derby, who was 
 beheaded for his fidelity to the King, 165 1, Octo- 
 ber 15. She was pleased to tell me (December 14, 
 1659) that she was then one of the five heirs 
 to Madam Mamsel d'Orange, whose estate was 
 60,000/. per annum. There was then a report that 
 that lady was to marry King Charles, which Lady 
 Derby seemed heartily to wish, though it was like 
 to destroy her own expectation. The Duke, her 
 brother, refused (as she said) 100 years' purchase 
 from Richelieu for his Dukedom, but answered 
 that he would part with that and his life together. 
 It may be I did mistake some of these stories by 
 defect of my Lady's English. 
 
 It is reported that Sir Kenelm Digby ( a per- Dueiium&c. 
 son very famous for valour and other great parts) 
 
 ) 
 
 (J I 
 
 I 
 
 'M' 
 
 7f 
 
 i 
 
 "I 
 
{ : 
 
 
 152 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOO fC. 
 
 did receive a challenge from a certain young cour- 
 tier, whose reputation in that kind was yet in 
 question, and his person (by lowness of stature) a 
 little contemptible. But this challenge was flatly 
 refused by Sir K., and when the young spark com- 
 plained that he had blemished his honour, and 
 therefore did not deal like a gentleman to deny 
 him a way to clear it. Sir K. replied that he would 
 give it him under his hand, that Sir Kenelm Digby 
 had refused to fight a duel with Mr. A. B. So 
 confidently may a known and valiant spirit slight 
 all the rash contempts of an inferior person. But 
 when the same Sir Kenelm was provoked in the 
 Kin£j's presence (upon occasion of the old business 
 of Scanderoon) by the Venetian Embassador, who 
 told the King it was very strange that his Majesty 
 should slight so much his ancient amity with the 
 most noble state of Europe, for the affection which 
 he bare to a man (meaning Sir K.) whose father 
 was a traitor, his wife a wh-e, and himself a pirate, 
 altho he made not the least reply (as long as the 
 Embassador remained in England) to those great 
 reproaches, yet after, when the quality of his enemy 
 was changed (by his return) to that of a private 
 person, Sir Kenelm posted after him into Italy. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 153 
 
 • 
 
 There sending him a challenge to Venice (from 
 some neighbouring state), he found the discreet 
 Magnifico as silent in Italy as himself had been 
 before in England, and so he returned home. 
 
 But how shall a gentleman refuse a challenge 
 without a note of cowardice, whose valour hath not 
 yet been testified ? This let the following story 
 teach you : — 
 
 Mr. Langley of Shropshire sent a challenge to 
 Mr. Owen, a gentleman of the same county, to 
 provoke him, on pretence of an injury, to a single 
 duel. Owen returns a denial, alleging the laws 
 of God and of the nation for so doing, and addeth 
 further that he shall never decline his usual and 
 well-known walks for any /ear of Langley, who 
 may find him when he pleaseth with his sword b>' 
 his side, which he shall not doubt but to manao-e 
 
 in his own defence, to the damage of a future 
 
 • 
 
 assailant. Langley hereupon assails him in his 
 walk, but is opposed strongly and in fine disarmed. 
 He sends him after this a second challenge, but 
 receiving the same answer, he assaulteth his adver- 
 sary again in the former manner and just with 
 the former success. After all this ado, nothing 
 would serve our unfortunate champion but a third 
 
 X 
 
 \ \ 
 
 ft 
 
 't 
 
154 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 adventure, which proving just the same in all 
 kinds of respects with the other two, finding him- 
 self condemned, and the other as much extolled 
 by all the country, he was content at length to be 
 quiet. Narravit niihi Ds. Geo. Fox, January 22, 
 1659. Mr. Langley lives now in Shrewsbury. 
 
 George Lord Digby (now Earl of Bristol) about 
 the year 1649, when he went out of Ireland into 
 France, was met at his landing by the Lord VVil- 
 mot, who provoked his Lordship to a single duel 
 upon an old difference in England betwixt the 
 Lord Digby, as Chief of the faction at Court, and 
 the soldiers of fortune patronised by Prince Rupert, 
 and mainly strengthened by the Lords Gerard and 
 Wilmot This challenge was refused by the Lord 
 Digby with much civility and fair words, commise- 
 rating the loss of so much English loyal blood as 
 had been spilt in the late war, and lamenting withal 
 the fewness of his Majesty's surviving servants. 
 The Lord Wilmot, interpreting all this mildness to 
 proceed from weakness of courage, did reproach 
 him unworthily with it, but could not for all that 
 wrest his Lordship a jot from his fixed resolution. 
 At the last he told him the Prince Rupert, esteem- 
 ing him unworthy to die by his sword, had vowed 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 155 
 
 ,„ 'i| 
 
 f 
 
 to shoot him dead at their first meeting. But here 
 the Lord Digby changeth his copy, and that which 
 he would not before accept in defence of his own 
 honour, he offers now to his enemy in defence of 
 another. For charging the Lord Wilmot grievously 
 for having aspersed so basely a person of so great 
 worth and a Prince of the Royal blood of England, 
 he requireth satisfaction with his sword for the 
 Prince's honour. So by the help of his wit chang- 
 ing the state of the quarrel, he is now become 
 Prince Rupert's champion, and to approve himself 
 right worthy of that honour he worsteth the Lord 
 Wilmot in the duel, and is afterwards reconciled to 
 his other great enemies who had intended to have 
 fought him upon the same old quarrel. 
 
 This encounter between Lords Digby and Wil- 
 mot occurred in 1647, ^s we learn by a letter from 
 Robert Thorner to Sir R. Verney, dated Paris, in Oc- 
 tober of that year. ' Lord Digby, O'Neal, and Mr. 
 Digby, son to Sir Kenelm, on Thursday last dis- 
 armed the Lord Wilmot, the Lord Wentworth, and 
 his second, to their great dishonour.' (See Collections 
 of Sir William Verney, Bart., in ' Historical Com- 
 missioners' Appendix to 7th Report.') 
 
 It is said that there is a certain eel in the sea Cete ab 
 
 anguillis 
 
 which is called the whale thrasher, as big as a ^'^p"^^^^""-- 
 
 X 2 
 
 ft 
 
 I 
 
156 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE- BO OK. 
 
 157 
 
 fM 
 
 Vcrtardans 
 
 aliquando 
 
 tesiinans. 
 
 small mast 6f a ship, and that there is a con- 
 federacy betwixt this eel and the sword fish to 
 destroy the whales. Whereupon the sword fish 
 going under the whale's belly, pricketh the tender 
 parts thereof in such sort as that the whale to 
 avoid the hurt raiseth himself above the water. 
 Then comes the sliding eel upon his back, and 
 having seized fast about his head, she raiseth her 
 tail aloft like a whip and belabourcth his sides and 
 back with continual lashes, until with the assistance 
 of her undermining companion they have effected 
 their design by the death of their unwieldy enemy. 
 Captain Hill (once a pirate at sea, afterwards a lay- 
 brother with the Jesuits) told Mr. Waldgrave (from 
 whom I had the relation, February 8, 1659) that 
 once as he sailed, he saw such an eel for the space 
 of half-an-hour thrashing the sides of a whale in 
 such manner as is aforesaid. 
 
 This looks like an early appearance of the sea- 
 serpent. 
 
 I have observed that in such springs as are 
 neither forward nor backward, our apple trees are 
 fully yet freshly blossomed on May-day, yet have 
 I noted in a very backward year, that very few 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 apple-tree buds have on that day put forth any man- 
 ner of reddish colour and cast no flower at all. I 
 have noted in my almanac about the year 1669 (as I 
 take it), that on the 3rd of May I could not discern, 
 as I passed closely by the side of the orchard at 
 Haigh, so much as the least red or white upon any 
 
 apple bud. 
 
 A.D. 1679-80, January 30, white violets were 
 plucked in my garden, and daffodils in great 
 number budded and near breaking out, as to the 
 flower. Plenty of tansy about a finger long. On the 
 1st Februaiy many of our apricock buds were red. 
 Some hawthorn leaves were in February as broad 
 as a silver twopence, many were so. On 30th 
 March 1680, very many of my summer russetting 
 apple blossoms were full blown. Our pear trees 
 fully flowered, and in their greatest lustre, March 25, 
 1680. 
 
 Very many barren wives do so strongly fancy observa-^. 
 themselves to be with child, that they do even '''^^ 
 send for the midwife as being ready to bring forth, 
 when yet there is no conception. One of my ac- 
 quaintance fancied herself to be pregnant ten years 
 together. The fanatical wife of a baronet, at such 
 
Lancashire 
 maid- 
 servants. 
 
 f| 
 
 I 
 
 Tertius dies 
 Scptembris. 
 
 158 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 time as her preacher came to give her a visit, said, 
 * As soon as the voice of your salutation sounded 
 in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb.' Yet 
 was she never with child. 
 
 1666, September 26. — Winefrid Blundell, writ- 
 ing to a lady of rank who had applied to her for a 
 serv^ant, says, * I have engaged her for i $s. for a 
 quarter, which is all the time agreed for. I have 
 heard that our country-women are generally es- 
 teemed much better servants than I can for the 
 present furnish your Ladyship with, but both the 
 best and indifferent sort are of a humour which 
 must be dealt with (now and then) by giving some 
 little sweet encouragement, and not always by 
 severity. They will commonly for a great fault 
 endure a severe check, but not for every small one, 
 and sometimes they must know it if they do 
 well, &c.' 
 
 Mr. Blundell's- sister Winefrid, in giving the 
 above advice to her correspondent, evinced a 
 thorough knowledge of the 'humour' of servant- 
 girls from that part of Lancashire, which remains 
 unchanged to this day ; the last touch is admirable. 
 
 It is well known that this day, 1650, Cromwell 
 won the famous battle of Dunbar, and on the same 
 
 ' 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 159 
 
 day, 165 1, the great battle of Worcester. On that 
 day, 1658, he ended his own life. The same day, 
 1662, William Lenthall, Speaker of the Long Par- 
 liament, did likewise die. I have heard that Wed- 
 nesday, as I take it, hath been fatal to the house 
 of Derby. I was born, contracted to my wife, and 
 lamed with a shot upon Saturday, on which day 
 my father died. 
 
 The greatest gamblers are those who in public Aieaeiusus. 
 gaming houses, called the offices of insurance, do 
 for a sum of money secure buildings upon the land 
 from fire, and ships upon the sea from water, &c. 
 
 If the writer had lived in these times and seen 
 the accounts of the great insurance companies, he 
 would have retracted this sweeping condemnation. 
 In his day, the few risks of this nature that were 
 taken up were incurred by single individuals, and 
 this certainly wears the appearance of reckless 
 gambling. 
 
 Our manner of writing^ in this age is too exact AnsHc^ 
 
 *^ *^ scnbendi 
 
 and wholly turned into points (and witticisms), the "'°'^"'* 
 continuation of which is impossible. Mr. Gui 
 Miege set forth his great French and English 
 Dictionary, price jOi"., about the year 1688. There 
 
i6o 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 is in it his English Grammar, which I take to be 
 much better than any I have seen. The word 
 * cozen ' is writ twenty-nine different ways. 
 
 Eieemosyna. The book Called * Britannia Languens,' p. 1 3 1 
 (note that the pages there for a long way together 
 are false printed), speaking of the poor of England, 
 says that they are increased by computation to 
 near ten times the late number, within the last 
 twenty years, and that their maintenance doth cost 
 the nation 400,000/. per annum constant tax. 
 
 In July 1684, I asked a poor woman how 
 many children she had. She answered, 'Six.' 
 VHere,' said I, 'here is sixpence for them.' 'No, 
 sir,' said she, most simply, 'I will not sell my 
 children.' 
 
 Manchester 
 early regis- 
 ters. 
 
 Pudor sub- 
 rusticus. 
 
 
 Baptisms 
 
 Burials 
 
 
 Baptisms 
 
 Burials 
 
 1663 
 
 1664 
 
 1665 
 1666 
 
 1667 
 1668 
 
 1669 
 1670 
 
 158 
 254 
 
 174 
 205 
 
 174 
 
 192 
 
 187 
 194 
 
 212 
 
 172 
 282 
 176 
 212 
 242 
 230 
 
 143 
 
 167I 
 1672 
 
 1673 
 1674 
 
 1675 
 1676 
 
 1677 
 
 1678 
 
 163 
 
 209 
 
 191 
 
 166 
 
 164 
 
 174 
 206 
 
 182 
 
 307 
 
 213 
 
 288 
 
 231 
 
 242 
 
 224 
 210 
 
 A bashful man is not his own master, nor uses 
 his own judgment, but is overawed by the boldness 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 161 
 
 of others, and they that are impudent have a power 
 over him. Bashfuhiess is sometimes a friend, but 
 more often an evil guardian to youth, betraying it, 
 contrary to its own desire and inclination, to the 
 worst of men, who hurry it to evil actions and 
 places. How many men have lost their estates, 
 honour, and lives, because they were ashamed to 
 distrust. A man invites you to game, drink, rob, 
 or to be bound for him. This foolish modesty is' 
 to be cast off Deny him. An impudent flatterer 
 comes to eat upon you ; he begs a horse, a ring, or 
 garment of you. Give to the deserver; respect 
 not him that begs. Some are so bashful as not 
 to send for a good physician, nor employ a good 
 lawyer, because they are acquainted with a worse. 
 Begin betimes to break this fault, and in small 
 matters to assert your own liberty ; deny to de- 
 bauch, deny to lend money, or to admire everyone 
 you hear praised ; be constant, and be not over- 
 come by importunity which is a part of impudence, 
 needful (perhaps) to them that know not otherwise 
 how to live. 
 
 Some men ask pardon where there is no offence, OAkiosa 
 but when it is commanded by God and reason, they " 
 will rather die than do it. 
 
 verba. 
 
i f 
 
 162 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Proceiix. In August 1 662, thcrc happened a hail-storm 
 
 in these west parts of Lancashire, whereby many 
 fields of good corn were quite destroyed in an in- 
 stant. Some parts of Sefton parish (especially 
 the Lunt), some parts of Halsall, Aughton, and 
 Ormskirk parishes, did suffer very much damage. 
 Pigeons were killed thereby, fruit spoiled, and the 
 boughs of trees cloven and slit with the hail-stones. 
 In February 1 66 1, there was a short storm of 
 wind, which exceeded (as some affirm) all that 
 have been known in these parts. Sundry buildings 
 and some orchards in Cheshire were quite over- 
 turned. And the damage to ships in Liverpool 
 was such, as the like (in no proportion) could ever 
 be remembered. 
 
 Ruperti Mr. Humphrey Bagarley lent me a MS. of this 
 
 Principis , l_ • T C /4 
 
 maritima ex- expcdition, writ by an eye-witness, wnerem i nna 
 this. That Prince Rupert and his brother Prince 
 Maurice began this voyage from Helvoet-sluys 
 A.D. 1648, in January. He returned to Nantes in 
 March 1652-3. He had many sad disasters, but 
 made no considerable fight in the whole voyage, 
 which was most of it spent in and about the West 
 Indies. Prince Maurice was lost in the night, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 163 
 
 
 • 
 
 ♦ 
 
 driven upon a rock (as was supposed) by Ireland. 
 Prince Rupert's ship, towards the end of the year 
 1652, was sunk by a leak, wherein perished 333 
 persons, who forced him to save his life by the 
 help of a small pleasure boat. The story of that 
 is very long and tragical. Prince Rupert was 
 wounded with an arrow in Affrick. They took 
 some prizes, but not many. This relation is not 
 well penned, nor is it at all exact in the chief par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 Her letter to my sister Frances, dated March Cannei the 
 23 (it came into my hands, May 1674), tells that she 
 was at the writing of it in as great a depth of 
 miser}' and grief of heart as ever she was since 
 her dear husband and children left her. That her 
 house and lands were fallen into my lord's hands 
 for want of payment of rent. That she cannot 
 get money to pay the rent, but is at suit for 10/., 
 which is owing to her, but that the officers cannot 
 give her justice till an officer come from the old 
 Bishop who banished her. That the officers have 
 given her a letter to him (who is at London), but 
 that she knows not well how to get it thither. 
 That she is tabled with her daughter Ratclif at a 
 
 Y 2 
 
1 64 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 165 
 
 market town, fifteen miles from her own house, but 
 her son Ratclif having come to some loss by her, 
 she finds a change in some things. That her 
 daughter Cannel's husband aims to get her lands, 
 who asked in the face of the Court why they suf- 
 fered her to live there ? and who would live in a 
 house with a papist ? They were bloody, and he 
 would not live with any of them. He swore the 
 peace against her, and that he was afraid she would 
 burn his house upon him, and so she was ordered 
 to put in sureties or go to prison. That her health 
 is worse and worse each day, and that her grief is 
 great for want of the Sacraments. She intends to 
 come over to her daughter Jane (if Jane's husband 
 be content) for one year. 
 
 This unfortunate gentlewoman was a daughter 
 of Thomas Hesketh of Meols, Esq., and had mar- 
 ried Deemster Cannel of the Isle of Man, from 
 whence she writes this pitiful letter. She was re- 
 lated to Mr. Blundell through the Norris's of Speke, 
 her grandmother, wiie of Mr. Molineux of the 
 Wood, being sister to Edward Norris, Esq. We find 
 from his book of accounts that Mr. Blundell fre- 
 quently extended his charity to her and her im- 
 poverished family. She seems to have had a 
 daughter settled at Crosby, and no fewer than five 
 of her children became Religious abroad. 
 
 t 
 
 October i, 1677. — My son made a large firkin, cider. 
 two parts and more of orange apples, the rest 
 were large sour apples. The liquor was strained 
 through a cloth and stood two days in a large 
 vessel, then was it drawn into a firkin and 
 stopped up. 
 
 October 5th and 6th. — I made three firkins of 
 cider — one of orange apples, one of Harrison's 
 apples, and one of grove apples. All these were 
 turned immediately into the firkins. The two first 
 were stopped up the second day, the last stopped 
 up the first day. Some small vent was left in all. 
 The second had far more pills and uncleanness in 
 it than the rest. I put some wheat into the first 
 and second when I made them up. We had gene- 
 rally near a third part of liquor proportionable to 
 the measure of the apples. The grove apples, 
 which made the last firkin, were got about eighteen 
 hours before they were pressed. The rest were 
 plucked or shaken some days before. The ^vo: 
 firkins contained, I think, one hogshead. 
 
 A list of the names of Popish Recusants of 
 
 Banish- 
 ment of 
 
 
 the greatest quality in the county of Lanc^ to be Sedirant 
 
i66 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOO/^, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 167 
 
 banished by Act of Parliament, held October 
 
 1680 : — 
 
 Caryll Lord Viscount Molyneux. 
 Wm. Molyneux, Esq. 
 Sir William Gerard, Bart 
 Sir Chas. Anderton, Bart. 
 Wm. Molyneux of Croxteth, Esq. 
 Richd. Sherburne of Stonyhurst, Esq. 
 Ricd. Walmesley of Dunkenhalgh, Esq. 
 Edmd. Trafford of Trafford, Esq. 
 Edmd. Tildesley of the Lodge, Esq. 
 Thos. Tildesley his soa 
 Ralph Tildesley. 
 Humphrey Trafford. 
 Robt. Dalton of Thurnham, Esq. 
 Hugh Dicconson of Wrightington, Esq. 
 Hy. Blundell of Ince Blundell, Esq. 
 John Harrington of Huyton, Esq. 
 Wm. Blundell of Crosby, Esq. 
 Richd. Butler of Rawcliffe, Esq. 
 Wm. Hesketh of Singleton, Esq. 
 Thos. Stanley of Eccleston, Esq. 
 John Brockholes of Claughton, Esq. 
 Robt. Molyneux of the Wood, Esq. 
 Sir Rowland Bellasis, Bart. 
 Richd. Towneley of Towneley, Esq. 
 S. Langton of Abraham, Esq. 
 
 — Eccleston of Eccleston, Esq. 
 
 — Scarisbrick of Scarisbrick, Esq. 
 Thos. Culcheth of Culcheth, Esq. 
 Thos. Braithwaite of L'pool, Esq. 
 Richd. Chorley of Chorley, Esq. 
 Richd Grimshaw of Clayton, Esq. 
 
 Richd. Sherburne of Stonyhurst, gent. 
 Wm. Standish of Wigan, gent. 
 Wm. Blundell, Jr. of Crosby, gent. 
 Wm. Dicconson of Wrightington, gent. 
 Alexr. Standish of Standish, gent. 
 Richd. Gerard of Ince, gent. 
 Chrisr. Anderton of Wigan, gent. 
 George Cams of Whittington, gent. 
 Thos. Lydiate of Lydiate, gent. 
 Wm. Wolfall of Huyton and Roby, gent. 
 Edmd. Stanley of Aughton, gent. 
 Thos. Stanley of Aughton, gent. 
 Thos. Worthington, Senr. of Wigan, gent. 
 Chas. Harris of Bowland, gent. 
 Cuthbt. Hesketh of Goosenargh, gent. 
 Edmd. Threlfall of Goosenargh, gent. 
 Thos. Gooden of Pendlebury, gent. 
 Edmd. Gooden of Little Bolton, gent 
 Jas. Duckett of Ashton, gent 
 Christr. Hayes of Bulk, gent 
 Richd. Massy of Ashton (q. Rixton), gent 
 George Leybourne of Nateby, gent 
 Hy. Gerard of Bamfurlong, gent. 
 Wm. Anderton of Euxton, gent 
 Edmd. Standish of Worthington, gent 
 Peregrine Tasburgh of Ormskirk, gent 
 Geo. Westby of Up. Rawcliffe, gent 
 Josh. Bryer of Lathom, gent 
 Bernard Westby of Manor, gent 
 Wm. Money of Dunkenhalgh, gent 
 Geo. Culcheth of Towneley, gent 
 Thos. Knype of Dalton, gent 
 Wm. Fazakerley of Liverpool, gent. 
 
 m 
 
1 68 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 169 
 
 Cost of 
 bricks. 
 
 This list was sent by Mr. John Gelibrond to Mr. 
 Blundell, and he says that it is imperfect in names 
 and places, but is a true copy of the list given by 
 Lord Ancram to Sir Roger Bradshaigh. 
 
 1624, October 19. — A speeche of a bargain 
 with Nichs. Hewett Brikeman for the making of 
 eight schore thousand breekes : — 
 
 The claye must be feighed, upon my master's 
 charges and a horse and carte fownde during the 
 tyme of moulding ; a moulding boarde and three 
 whyte barrows ; a bearing barrow and a burbette 
 to keep water. 
 
 He must have 2s, gd. for a thowsand breeke. 
 The breeke must be 10 in. long, 5 in. broade, and 
 2\ in. thicke, which cometh to the sum of 22/. 
 The payment of that he would have at three tymes 
 viz., at the carting (which must be as soon as my 
 master can make ready for it) the sum of 5/. 10^. ; 
 at the moulding, 1 1/., and at the burning 5/. lOi". 
 Towards the burning there must be provided 
 twenty tunne of coale and sixty tunne of slacke, 
 ten loade of woode and three of turfc. He must 
 have two beds found him, and housing fitting to lay 
 his bed and dressing meat, and a cow grass during 
 the tyme of moulding, which will be about Whit- 
 
 
 suntide ; the tyme of burning must be abowte St. 
 James' tide (J\ily 25), 
 
 Although this memorandum is before the time 
 of the Cavalier, it is inserted on account of its 
 interest, as regards the price of building material 
 early in the seventeenth century. It points also to 
 the period when large additions were made to 
 Crosby Hall, and when probably the older portions 
 of the house were demolished. 
 
 I fee'd an attorney (Mr. Samuel Andrews) after Conviction of 
 
 Catholics.- 
 
 my conviction at the Assizes, and thus he writ to '^ 
 
 me August 26, 1673 :— * I have enquired in the 
 Crown Office at Lancaster, and am informed by 
 the clerks there that you are not in any danger ot 
 conviction till the next assizes at soonest. The 
 course being, that such presentments as were 
 brought in at the last assizes are at the next 
 drawn up into a formal bill and found by Grand 
 Inquest, and at the latter end of that assize i^xi 
 prosecution be intended against them) their names 
 are read up and a proclamation made, that unless 
 they conform before the then next assizes, or in the 
 mean time render their bodies to the Sheriff (this 
 seems grounded upon two several statutes, viz., 
 29 Eliz. cap. vi. and 3 James, cap. iv) they will be 
 
 z 
 
 •f ' 
 
 t 
 
 J 
 
17° 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Cniccs &c. 
 
 convict. So that I conceive (supposing a vigorous 
 prosecution be intended, which I hope is not), 
 there can be no conviction against you until next 
 summer assizes, unless the Justices of the Peace 
 at their Quarter Sessions proceed against you, 
 which the statute of 3 James, cap. iv. directs. 
 
 The Lord Scudamore caused a marble altar 
 table to be taken from Abbey Dore in Hereford- 
 shire, and brought to his own house, Holme. In 
 the carriage whereof one of his servants had his 
 leg broken and another was killed outright. The 
 table or stone was used in his house for the press- 
 ing of cheeses. But the cheeses that were pressed 
 therewith did run blood, whereupon it was re- 
 moved to the laundry for the linens to be washed 
 and batted upon it Then again it was observed 
 that a continual noise of batting upon the said 
 stone was heard in the night, whereupon the stone 
 was taken by the command of the said lord to the 
 place from whence he had taken it. This hap- 
 pened about seven or eight or ten years ago and was 
 told to me by Mr. Stanton, November 7, 1660. He 
 heard the relation from one Mr. Scudamore, a 
 priest, for whom the Lord Scudamore had sent 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 171 
 
 to advise with him concerning the fore-mentioned 
 prodigies. Mr. Stanton did likewise hear the son 
 of the said lord, when he told the same story to 
 other persons. 
 
 There was a stone cross standing at Whalley 
 on the side of a bowling green which was found 
 one day when the bowlers were come to play to be 
 thrown down upon the green ; and in regard it lay 
 in their way, they desired to have it removed off 
 the green. Whereupon an able strong man that 
 was present reared up the stele or shaft of the 
 said cross upon one end ; and because it was too 
 heavy to be otherwise removed by a single person, 
 he wrested it from edge to edge (keeping the 
 higher end all the while in his arms), intending in 
 that manner to have removed it off the green. 
 But it pleased God that while the man was labour- 
 ing hard to effect his purpose, he fell down flat 
 upon his back, and the stone falling upon his 
 breast killed him outright, so that he uttered never 
 a word. The news of this strange accident com- 
 ing to a house in the neighbourhood, a certain 
 man who heard the relation cried out immediately, 
 that some sudden death would undoubtedly betide 
 himself, because (said he), that same man and my- 
 
 i 
 
 Z2 
 
 % 
 
 
172 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 173 
 
 Tituli vanis 
 
 Observa- 
 tioncs pia. 
 
 self did, this very last night, privately pull down 
 the cross that hath now killed him. 
 
 This relation I had from William Norris of 
 Blackrod, gentleman, January 3, 1660, who told 
 me that he had it from Mr. Richard Craven of 
 Dinkley, about thirty years since ; who told him 
 that he himself was an eye-witness when the man 
 was killed. 
 
 Whittaker in his 'History of Whalley' makes 
 no mention of the latter remarkable circumstance. 
 
 When the King of Morocco expressed his 
 wonder to the Embassador sent from King Charles 
 of England, that so mighty a prince as his master 
 was entitled so poorly ; the Embassador returned 
 answer that many of his titles were left out for 
 brevity sake, for besides the dominion of Great 
 Britain, his master was likewise King of Northum- 
 berland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, and of 
 many other places no less considerable ; which 
 answer did abundantly satisfy. 
 
 In the use of excessive gaming my passions 
 have been very great and many— viz. hope, fear, 
 joy, sadness, &c., but above all anger. And I do 
 believe that my passions have been more frequent 
 
 r 
 
 and violent about this one thing, than upon any 
 one other occasion, hitherto, in the course of my 
 life. Yet see the folly of this. The sense of those 
 things at gaming which troubled or rejoiced me so 
 much, was commonly so inconstant and short, 
 that within one hour or two (especially at tables, 
 and at all other games of dice), I had quite forgot 
 the occasions of my several passions. And now 
 at this present all those things which have formerly 
 troubled me so much do seem no more to concern 
 me than if they had been only dreams. I am 
 therefore persuaded that if I had now the courage 
 to leave the superfluous things of this world (which 
 trouble and solicit me so much), I should within a 
 short time be no more concerned in the want of 
 them than I am now concerned in those desires 
 and passions which I have had long since at play 
 and which are now all forgotten. 
 
 The many great virtues and high abilities in Richard^^ 
 sundry kinds of my dear brother- Richard have 
 been told unto me by divers persons who have 
 lived long in his company, some of whom were 
 present at his death. These were Mr. Thomas 
 Bradshaigh, Mr. Kempe, Mr. Christopher Brad- 
 
 $ 
 
174 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 ^7S 
 
 shaigh, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Walgrave, Mr. Cotton, 
 and sundry others. His learning and judgment 
 were so great that the Italians would point him 
 out in the streets with these words, * There goeth 
 the great English Wit' He lived at Rome but 
 about three years at the most, yet he had learnt 
 the Italian language ; he spake Greek so perfectly 
 that he frequently repaired to the natural Greeks 
 in Rome to hold discourse in their own language. 
 He wrote a pretty book in Latin (which is now in 
 my hands), concerning the nature of meteors, and 
 another small book in English, wherein he did 
 epitomise the chief part of Sir Kenelm Digby's 
 book of Bodies. His nature was lively and cheer- 
 ful, and exceeding sociable and grateful. He was 
 very exemplary in his life and conversation, inso- 
 much that I have been credibly informed that the 
 remarkable passages of his life are collected and 
 read frequently in the college where he lived. and 
 died, for the example of others. One of the 
 above-named persons, who was his dear friend and 
 chamber-fellow in the college, did inform me that 
 he hath sundry times invited him, especially upon 
 the eves of some notable feasts, to retire into their 
 chambers, where they have offered to God certain 
 
 devotions and sharp disciplines for the good of 
 their native country. Sundry of the persons 
 above mentioned appeared so extremely affected 
 to his memory, that I have heard them make long 
 and feeling discourses of many of these particulars, 
 and of other notable things concerning his life and 
 death. 
 
 Mr. Henry Long, who came this year, 1666, 
 from Rome, told me that to this day there is a 
 great memory even among the Italians at Rome of 
 my brother Richard, and that he hath heard sundry 
 of them much extol his great abilities. He told 
 me with what great applause my said brother did 
 make his public defension of Philosophy in the 
 Roman College, and that the famous divine and 
 philosopher, Father Geteen, did dispute against 
 him. This Mr. Long told me, December 16, 1666. 
 
 Richard Blundell, born 1625-6, entered the Eng- 
 lish College, Rome, September 7, 1645. At that 
 time he made the following answers to the usual 
 interrogatories :—' My name is Richard, youngest 
 son of Nicholas Blundell and Jane Bradshaw, who 
 on account of divers persecutions for the orthodox 
 faith fled from her nadve country of Lancashire 
 into Cheshire, and there brought me into the world 
 her eleventh child ; but ten days after my birth sent 
 me back to her own home to be nursed, and there I 
 
 %. 
 
 It 
 
176 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 177 
 
 ,• A ,^ ^^, thirteenth year under various tutors, 
 hved to my thirt^^nt" > ^.^^^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 both CathoUc and J °f ^"^^^"^^like that of my 
 My present condition is not um. 
 
 country that -^^'l^^^^^Jl'lZyl^ all the 
 myself happy, * '^ f f fj^^^ ^Lately landed 
 troubles of ^/^^^^^'J ^^^^ notwithstanding that 
 
 " trS' te%7r ed by the multitude of their 
 my parents \\ere opi ^^^^^^ 
 
 at least suckled, in prison ^n ^ 
 
 i„.,rr t\mp on account of their laitn. ii'=, 
 
 ^ th m^nied Jane, the eldest daughter of Roger 
 youth married J an ^^^ ^_^^^.^^^ ^^ 
 
 Bradshaw, Esq., the truit 01 
 
 thirteen children, "^ -J^j; Vetremature deaths 
 who left orphans, ~ o- ^^^^^^^^ ^ ^,„, ,, fe, 
 of their parents. AU my «^ ^^ ^^.^^ 
 
 as I know, are and aWys ^ ere ^a^ ,^ 
 
 four uncles are priests, two ^'^f ^^^"'V \'^g, ^^n- 
 
 Rpsides these 1 have many umti 
 aunts, nuns. Besiaes u.c 
 
 ^f;,.ns When I was thirteen years 01c, 1 
 nections. When _ ^.^^ ^^ ^^^^ g^g,,^^ 
 
 St. Omer s College, &.c ^^.^ ^^^^^^ 
 
 CMeae of fever, on August 7, 1049- ^ 
 
 K H hf was received into the Society of Jesus, hav- 
 
 ,nn. had the desire of entering it. In fact, his 
 mg long had tnt a ^^.^^^ ^^^ 
 
 fever was ""--"^ VaWe^ave declared, by his 
 schoolfellow Father waiaegr 
 
 ».f tnvel through the streets of Rome dunng 
 r?„ ummer ^o obtain by the interest of certain 
 
 "difal a rpensation from his college oath. An 
 cardmals a aispe containing 
 
 interesting memoir of this P'°"^ J ' . g^^j^er 
 
 „.any edifying ^«f -;.; " . ^^ ^1 ...ten by 
 Foley's 'Records S. J. ^ol. i. 
 
 t 
 S 
 
 •4 
 
 Father George Gray, and is addressed to Father 
 Richard Bradshaigh, his uncle. A copy of this 
 document is amongst the * Crosby Papers/ 
 
 It must be remembered that the term English 
 *Wit/ as applied to R. Blundell, would then have a 
 much wider signification than it has at the present 
 day. 
 
 On Thursday, August ii, 1664, the Earls of Damacur- 
 
 su duorum 
 
 Castlehaven and Arran (whereof the first was sipe^uis. 
 about fifty years of age or very near it), in St 
 James' Park, upon a wager laid with the King, 
 killed a fat strong buck by running on foot, having 
 each a knife in his hand. They had six hours to 
 perform it, but they did it in two and a half. They 
 were a good while before they could unherd him. 
 Then they run him till, being extremely hot, he 
 took the water in a pond where they threw stones 
 at him, and toiled, and drove him so to a side, till 
 they killed him with their knives. This was told 
 me by a gentleman that was present when the 
 buck was killed, and the thing is very true. 
 
 James Touchet, second son of Mervyn Touchet, 
 Baron Audley and Earl of Castlehaven, executed on 
 Tower Hill for infamous crimes, had a new patent 
 of his father's titles in 1634. Was general of the 
 Irish army which acted against Cromwell and the 
 Parliament. After the subjugation of Ireland, he 
 
 A A 
 
 i 
 
178 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 179 
 
 
 ,|csti. 
 Societas. 
 
 retired to France, but returned to England when the 
 King came back. Was restored in 1678 to all the 
 honours forfeited by his father, and died October 11, 
 1684. His brother succeeded to his titles, but the 
 Earldom expired in 1777. The Barony of Audley, 
 being a barony in fee, has descended through the 
 last Earl's sister to the present Lord Audley. 
 
 Lord Richard Butler, second son of James, first 
 Duke of Ormond, was created Earl of Arran in 
 1662. Became a Peer of England under the title 
 of Baron Butler of Weston, 1673. He distinguished 
 himself in the naval engagement of that year, and 
 later on, in 1682, he did good service in Ireland. 
 He died in 1685 without male issue, though he had 
 been twice married. 
 
 The Fathers do accustom themselves to public 
 disciplines in their colleges on the eves of great 
 feasts. Narravit miJii uniis ex illis. The same 
 party told mje that when the Swede was expected 
 in Lithuania, the Fathers in Vilna, whereof he was 
 one, did take a bloody discipline each day for a 
 whole month to avert the displeasure of God. 
 
 I told Father Richard Banister (who had been 
 Provincial the year before), that one great cause of 
 the disaffection of some Englishmen to the Jesuits 
 in England was the false apprehension of the 
 greatness of their number in this province. To 
 which he answered that he knew for certain that 
 
 there were not in England at that time 150 Jesuits, 
 and said, \{ an account were taken, he would be 
 content to die, &c., \{ the number were so many. 
 1 66 1. 
 
 Sir Edward Widdrington showed me a picture Dneiunu 
 of a Frenchman who, he said, had killed twenty- 
 two men in single duel, and was finally slain him- 
 self in such a combat. 
 
 Baron Limbeck, a Burgundian (yet living, 1660) 
 had eight brothers slain in duels. He fought a 
 famous combat, as one of the six subjects of Spain, 
 against the like number of French who were under 
 the Prince of Conde. They fought upon post 
 horses to prevent inequality of management. Two 
 of the French were slain, and the Spaniards got 
 the day. Narravit mihi Mr. Jo. Molineux, Feb- 
 ruary 16, 1660. 
 
 Baron Botavil was a most desperate, implacable 
 duellist. He was beheaded for this in Place 
 Royale, having killed divers men even upon mere 
 shadows of affronts.— /^^w narravit. 
 
 Lewis XL, King of France, had granted a 
 pardon four or five times to one who had killed so 
 many men in duels. He asked his Confessor 
 
 A A 2 
 
 r 
 
i8o 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 i8i 
 
 Hispaiiiola. 
 
 Fcttifera 
 familia. 
 
 whether he might lawfully pardon him any more, 
 the like occasion being then happened. The Con- 
 fessor replied that the King might do it as well then 
 as he had done it the first time. For the murderer 
 had only killed one single man, the King (who had 
 pardoned that) killed all the rest. 
 
 The story is very famous of the fleet which 
 was sent by Cromwell to subdue this island about 
 the year 1655, where as they marched through the 
 woods to surprise St. Domingo, a great part of the 
 army was routed and destroyed by one troop of 
 about fifty horsemen. After which repulse the re- 
 mainder of the army went and took Jamaica. In 
 the year 1673, I was told by owner William Wil- 
 liamson of Liverpool that he was at Hispaniola at 
 the same time, and upon Easter day he saw the 
 English army mustered there, and that the muster- 
 master, being his friend, told him that the army 
 mustered was 9,774, of which number 1,200 were 
 seamen and no more. 
 
 In or about the year 1673 there happened in one 
 family in Salford, within the space of twenty-four 
 hours, these several births following, viz. : the wife of 
 
 the house was delivered of a son, a cow of a calf, a 
 sow of fifteen pigs, a bitch of sixteen whelps, a 
 cat of four kittens, and a hen hatched fourteen 
 eggs. All this I took in writing from Mr. Samuel 
 Andrews, and he professed that he had it credibly 
 affirmed to him by persons in the same neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 September 2, 1666, a fire began in London, Londinum. 
 and in four or five days burned the greater part of 
 the city. Mr. Thomas Massey in his letter to me 
 from thence, October 9, 1666, saith that of 410 
 acres within the city, the which hath been mea- 
 sured, there are 335 burnt and 64 out of the city. 
 
 *The London Gazette,' ending April 30, 1666, 
 tells us of Colonel John Rathbone and seven more 
 old rebels, found guilty at the Old Bailey for plotting 
 the King's death and surprisal of the Tower, &c. 
 The 2nd and 3rd September was pitched on for 
 the attempt, as being found by ' Lilly's Almanack,' 
 and a scheme erected for the purpose, to be a lucky 
 day, and a planet then ruling which prognosticated 
 the downfall of the monarchy. 
 
 I saw a great brass gun mounted over the cliff Tonrenta 
 
 X. TA _ - caerulia. 
 
 at Dover Castle, A.D. 1660. It was (I take it) 
 
 t 
 
l82 
 
 A CAVALIER\S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 183 
 
 both in repute and appearance about 24 feet long, 
 made in Utrecht about 200 years before. It 
 seemed to carry a ball of less than 12 pounds. 
 I have been in a castle, besieged at the same 
 time by the enemy and battered with a shot of 
 18 pounds at near distance, which made but 
 a small dint in the stone walls thereof (viz. little 
 more than the concave side of a large deep 
 saucer) at every single shot. However, by re- 
 peated shots, the same or the very like cannons 
 did make a large breach (which I saw) in the like 
 walls elsewhere. I have seen the gates of a town 
 bored with many such shots, but not broken or 
 split. I stood by the cannonier when with an iron 
 gun under eight feet long, with a ball (as I guessed) 
 of seven or eight pounds at the most, he cleared 
 a road from the enemy's ships, which he sundry 
 times hit and harmed at a long mile's distance ; and 
 finally drove them away. Yet I looked sundry times 
 at the levelling of his cannon, and found it to be 
 mounted, when he made the best shots, much 
 above the hull of the ship even to the main-yard, 
 so that the gun could carry the bullet point blank 
 nothing near so far. One of these, removing full a 
 quarter of a mile further from the danger, did 
 
 afterwards shoot a random shot, armed with strong 
 pikes, into the town from whence our cannon 
 played, which shot came in through the back door 
 of my house, where breaking through the door 
 near the bottom, grazed on the floor, and raising 
 itself again brake in pieces the pottage pot which 
 was then actually in the hands of my maid servant, 
 who was making the same clean. The maid re- 
 ceived no harm, but one of the pikes was broken 
 close off at the globe of the bullet, which was 
 done, as I think, by the grazing, but we found it 
 not. I think the round ball of this was about eight 
 pound in weight. It flew near a mile and a half 
 before it came to my house, which being armed 
 (and consequently much hindered) by the pike or 
 pikes abovesaid, was, as it seemed to me, a won- 
 derful distance. I do think it probable that the 
 gun of 2^ pound, first above named, might, being 
 mounted to its best height, send forth a random 
 bullet five miles. 
 
 In my younger days I thought that the names Nomina sive 
 of the poor husbandmen in our township did qSm"^ 
 
 in nostra vi- 
 
 sound poorly, and to signify something contempti- 
 ble even in the very sound. But I have lately 
 
 m nostra vi- 
 cinia. 
 
 i 
 
 J 
 
1 84 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Joci. 
 
 observed my error and the cheats which custom 
 puts upon us ; whereas I do rather now find that 
 many of those names are of great fame and 
 esteem, viz. — 
 
 Marrow 
 
 Barton 
 
 Harrison 
 Williamson 
 
 Ryce 
 
 Griffith 
 
 Howard 
 
 Bullen 
 
 Hatton 
 
 Ferrers 
 
 Stock 
 
 Sir Wm. Marrow, Mayor of London, 
 34 Hen. VI. A valiant colonel slain 
 in the King's service, 1644. 
 
 A famous Scotch commander, called 
 Sir Andrew Barton. 
 
 The late powerful rebel and regicide. 
 
 Sir Joseph, a late Plenipotentiary and 
 Secretary, 1676. 
 
 A name in Wales most famous in our 
 annals as princes or kings. 
 
 Famous in the very same respect 
 
 The chief name of English nobility. 
 
 The name of an English Queen. 
 
 The now Lord Hatton. 
 
 Anciently Earis of Derby 
 
 Said to be the name of the Emperors 
 of the House of Austria. 
 
 Quibble, pun, punnet, pundigrion, of which 
 fifteen will not make up one single jest. I find 
 
 i 
 J 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 185 
 
 these words in Counsellor Manners' last legacy, 
 printed 1676. 
 
 St. Ignatius advised the Provincials and other observa- 
 great officers in the Society of Jesus to be very "'^^'^'" 
 attentive to the great and public affairs belonging 
 to them, but not to meddle much in smaller mat- 
 ters. He said it was fitter that they should (fail 
 to) correct others who erred in such small things 
 than to lay themselves open by their own errors 
 (which will be sure to happen oft if they meddle 
 in small matters) to the censure or reprehension of 
 inferior officers. And I think this is good advice 
 even in woridiy affairs. 
 
 April 8, i665.-Colonel Daniel, who had been Dueiiu. 
 a soldier for the Pariiament and Commonwealth 
 from about the beginning of the war and in many 
 great employments, told me that during the whole 
 time of his service on that side, which continued 
 till the King came in, a.d. 1660, he never knew of 
 any officers in their armies that ever fought in a 
 single duel saving a corporal and a drummer. 
 The corporal, having killed the drummer, was 
 presently hanged at Edinborough, two regiments 
 
 B B 
 
i86 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 M iracula. 
 
 Convivia. 
 
 being drawn up for that purpose. I hope it will 
 not be denied that these armies consisted of 
 valiant men. 
 
 I think it less damage to Christianity if we 
 conceal a hundred true miracles, than if we publish 
 one false one. 
 
 ■ June 25, 1666. — I dined in the Castle at Dublin 
 at the Lord Lieutenant's table. There were, besides 
 the Duke and Duchess (Ormond), sixteen persons : 
 we sat with our hats on. The first course had 
 seventeen dishes, the second seventeen dishes, the 
 third fifteen dishes, most of them choice sweet- 
 meats. I had formerly dined there in the year 
 1662, and there was an excellent concert of instru- 
 ments, the table being furnished much after the 
 same manner as is above said. And I was told 
 that it was his daily state and custom. 
 
 Munstercui TWs prescnt January 12, 1663, Major John 
 uxoS"* Beversham told me that he was present at the Old 
 Bailey when a minister (one Wilson, as I remem- 
 ber) was arraigned for having thirteen wives, and 
 he was saved by his book, when another was hanged 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 187 
 
 . 
 
 (for two wives) not being able to read. Quaere, 
 whether the book may be given in that case. 
 
 Although the life of man be most uncertain, Longevi. 
 yet do I not doubt at all but a far greater number 
 of people grow up to old age than are commonly 
 reported to do so. As a small instance of which I 
 have observed that, within my memory (who am 
 now this present year, 1660, forty years of age), no 
 fewer than forty-three or forty-four persons at the 
 least are counted of the inhabitants of Little 
 Crosby, betwixt the Hall and the hill, who have 
 lived about sixty years, and yet the number of 
 houses are but twenty or thereabouts. 
 
 Beat turrs (or old green gorse) in a tray till Genista spi- 
 
 nosa fit 
 
 the pricks be rebated ; a beast or horse will eat J^T^,"*"™™ 
 them, and do as well as with hay. This I was 
 told by Mr. Whittle of Kilkenny, an old soldier of 
 Cromwell's. 
 
 Feed sheep in the house with beans, ground Oves 
 
 saginandx. 
 
 round, and bran (with some oats if you will). 
 Give them plenty of water and hay, and keep 
 them warm. They will feed exceedingly fat in 
 
 B B 2 
 
i88 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 189 
 
 Protestantes 
 Anglican!. 
 
 Comnioda 
 reipublicae 
 optuiida. 
 
 fourteen days. This is the practice in Flanders, 
 where I learnt it. I suppose the winter is the 
 chief time for this. 
 
 I did once make trial of this, but it did not 
 succeed well. Yet it is most certainly and success- 
 fully practised beyond the sea, as I was told at St. 
 Omers by F. John Gary, the minister of the Eng- 
 lish College, 1660. 
 
 The Duke of Buckingham, being asked by my 
 Lady Castlemaine what religion he was of, an- 
 swered that he had not faith enough to be a Pres- 
 byterian, nor good works enough to be a Papist, 
 and therefore he was an honest old Protestant 
 without faith or good works. Mr. Anderton of 
 Lostock told me this, August 11, 1669. 
 
 It is a great damage in England, that it is held 
 a shame for a man to do the offices of a woman in 
 housewifery, as washing, milking, making cheese, 
 butter, &c. In Flanders and Holland men do 
 these things even much better than women, and 
 very frequently. Here in England, seeing men are 
 the best cooks, brewers, bakers and midwives, why 
 should it be held a shame to milk, &c. } The want 
 
 
 of this causeth many men to marry fondly or to do 
 worse, seeing they cannot (by reason of bad cus- 
 tom), keep house without a woman. 
 
 It is now quite customary for men to milk, but 
 they neither wash nor make butter ; cheese is no 
 longer made in that part of Lancashire. 
 
 Keep rather too few than one too many, feed Senmset 
 
 ■*• quomodu 
 
 them well, and pay them with the most. ddSr" 
 
 Adam Jovius, who writeth, thirteenth century, Xurres 
 
 ■^ altiores. 
 
 in the continuance of Baronius' Annals, speaking ol 
 the steeple at Argentine (Strasburg), A.D. 1277, 
 saith it is 574 feet. The tower at St. Stephen's 
 Church, Vienna, he affirms to be 480 feet high, 
 and St. Paul's, in London {e ten^d), 534: Our 
 Lady's at Antwerp, 466. I did ascend the square 
 steeple at Durham, A.D. 1634, and I counted the 
 steps to be between sixteen and seventeen score, 
 which are more than the steps of St. Paul's in Lon- 
 don, there being between fifteen and sixteen score 
 to the top of the square steeple which I ascended 
 in 1638. Yet there were at Durham upon the 
 same church two spires at the west end (besides 
 two less spires at the east end), which were leaded 
 on the outside and were much higher than the 
 
Sentent'a 
 morales. 
 
 190 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 square. But one of them being fallen of late years, 
 I hear that the other is taken down (1664). In 
 1660, I counted the steps of the steeple of St. 
 Martin's Church at Ipres to be 342, containing 
 more than six inches a piece. Upon this steeple is 
 a spire, which I did ascend by twenty-five larger 
 steps. I ascended St. John's steeple at Gant 
 (1660), by 426 steps of seven inches at the least. 
 Upon the square top of this there is a tower to be 
 ascended by thirty steps more, but I did not ascend 
 that. 
 
 I counted the steps of Notre Dame in Paris to 
 be 250, so far as I could well ascend, for the height 
 was much more, these 250 reaching even with the 
 top of the church. 
 
 On July 8, 1666, I ascended St. Patrick's steeple 
 in Dublin by 176 steps of an unequal height, which 
 I take to be (at a medium) 7| inches. 
 
 He that has too much of a good fellow, has too 
 little of a good Christian. 
 
 Agricuitura. The improvement of land by marl, where 
 timber did lately grow, is well known to be ex- 
 ceeding great Sir William Gerard told me 
 
 A 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 191 
 
 (March 11, 1662), that Mr. Leigh, having marled 
 sundry acres where Haydock wood stood, has 
 farmed the same for 4/. los. and for 5/. the acre 
 yearly for the term of ten years. Sir William 
 Gerard told me at the same time, that he him- 
 self hath two acres of such improved wood land, 
 which hath yielded him 120 bushels of barley 
 yearly upon each acre. He told me likewise 
 then, that he had land which hath at some times 
 yielded 140 bushels by the acre. 
 
 I have a book which is entitled * Opusculum de 
 regimine rusticorum.' It seems to be a notable 
 piece. It is said that if you put seed corn into a 
 sack which hath lately been filled with meal, the 
 meal not being well dusted out, that the said seed 
 when sown will produce pitiful dwindling corn. 
 Uredinem Contrahit. This was told me by Hamlet 
 Massey, who noted it out of * Kerkerous ' Sym- 
 pathies. 
 
 Tis surely a far less deplorable spectacle to Nobiies pa- 
 rum nobiles. 
 
 see a gentleman spoiled of his fortune by his con- 
 science than his luxury, and to behold him under 
 the stroke of the headsman, than under those more 
 infamous executioners, his lust or intemperance. 
 
 ^. 
 
 X 
 
192 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 I9J 
 
 Carmina 
 incondita. 
 
 Shall those, who have not so much Christian 
 patience as to bear the slightest reproach for God, 
 have yet so much unchristian stupidity as to en- 
 dure the greatest in opposition to Him ? Those 
 that consume all on hawks, hounds, and horses, 
 seem to make the same menace to their estates 
 which Goliath did to David : * I will give thee to 
 the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field/ 
 
 Sir Vivian Molyneux told me of two verses 
 written over the gate of the Savoy at London; 
 which are (as I remember), these — 
 
 King Henry the Seventh, to his worship and honour, 
 Builded this hospital, poor people to succour. 
 
 Sir Vivian Molyneux, born November i, 1595, 
 was fourth son of Sir Richard Molyneux, who was 
 created Bart, in 161 1, the first year of such creations, 
 and was brother to Richard, the first Viscount Moly- 
 neux. Anthony-a-Wood says of him : ' He travelled 
 into several foreign countries, was at Rome where 
 (tho' puritanically educated under the tuition of Sam 
 RadcUffe of Brazen-nose College, Oxford), he 
 changed his religion, returned a well-bred man, was 
 knighted, and in the grand rebellion suffered for the 
 royal cause. He translated from Spanish into Eng- 
 lish " A treatise of the difference between the Tem- 
 poral and Eternal," London, 1672, October, wrote 
 originally by G. Eusebius Nieremberg, S. J.' (Fasti 
 
 Hiben-.ici 
 morbi cu- 
 ratio. 
 
 i. 346). He was admitted amongst the students of 
 the English College, Rome, as a 'convictor' or 
 boarder, on September 29, 161 7, under the name of 
 Thomas Leigh.— J. E. B. 
 
 The best cure for a flux of blood is supposi- 
 tories made of the fat of hung bacon, put up be- 
 twixt every stool till you find the effect, which will 
 be complete in two days. If the bacon be roasted, 
 it is rather better than otherwise. This was told 
 me by my old kind friend Mr. Price, the Protestant 
 Bishop of Kildare, who had good experience of it. 
 
 I take flattery not to be that common and Aduiatio. 
 harmless faculty of good language and plausible 
 address, but a diabolical art of holding intelligence 
 with natural corruption and accommodating itself 
 to our vices whatsoever they be. 
 
 She was the wife of Judge P. of Wales, a p. Domin? 
 woman of an incomparable wit, but fondly be- 
 sotted of her children. When her eldest son was 
 in the cradle, she would not permit either geese, 
 hogs, or any such like things to be kept about the 
 house, lest their noise should wake the child. The 
 magpies were persecuted for that reason with a 
 
 C C 
 
 yi 
 
194 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 gun up and down the demesne. Her indulgence 
 in other things was ridiculously suited to this. 
 Witness her standing with the child to delight 
 him with the. creaking of an old gate, whilst they 
 lost the sermon at the church to which they were 
 going. When this son of hers was sent to the 
 University, he had a maid along with him to at- 
 tend him. After, when the mother lay desperately 
 sick, the gratitude of the children appeared. For 
 her sons (otherwise immeasurably disrespectful), 
 drank up in contempt the ale that was brewed for 
 their mother, and ranted so loud in the next room 
 to hers, that she sent to require their silence. 
 Whereupon they doubled their noise, with shouts 
 and horns, and dogs and horses, brought for that 
 end into a ground chamber where they were, by 
 trampling and howling to fright away their 
 mother's soul. She died, indeed, soon after, and 
 even at the last gasp confessed her fond indul- 
 gence to have been the cause of her own greatest 
 grief and her children's wickedness. Since her 
 death they do frequently make mention of her in 
 this manner, * That w — e, my mother.' When the 
 Judge, their father, lay upon his deathbed (where- 
 upon he had lain as a languishing man for many 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 195 
 
 months), this his eldest son would reproach him 
 with these words : * Oh thou old wicked rogue, now 
 do despair and the pains of hell seize on thy cursed 
 soul for such and such faults in thy younger days.' 
 These things I heard from Mr. George Fo. and 
 Mrs. P. a Welsh woman, 1659. And no doubt 
 much more no less horrid might be learned of 
 others. And other things I have heard since, 
 October 6, 1660. 
 
 In a letter to Laurence Ireland, dated November 
 22, 1667, Mr. Blundell gives the following account 
 of the miserable end of the eldest of these un- 
 natural children : — 
 
 ' Mr. P. of Flintshire, the great heir of the Judge 
 of that name, lost his life by the same excess, con- 
 cerning whom alone I could write a history, which 
 might fright all the parents in the world from being 
 too fond of their children.' 
 
 John Bradshaw, the President who condemned Bradshawus 
 King Charle.^ I., was the younger son of one Brad- 
 shaw, called Goodman of Cheshire. Mr. Raphael 
 Hollinshead told me that, being a boy at the 
 school, he made certain English rhymes in con- 
 tention (as it were) with his brother, some of 
 
 which ran thus — 
 
 c c 2 
 
196 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 197 
 
 Catliolic 
 Loriis. 
 
 Harry thou art, and thou must to the plough and 
 
 cart, 
 But I am John, that honour must attend upon. 
 
 John Bradshaw the Regicide was the youngest 
 son of Henry Bradshaw, Esq., of ]Mar[)le Hall, 
 County Cheshire, four miles from Stockport. The 
 property is still held by a descendant in the female 
 line. I'he verses said to have been scratched by 
 the President, when a boy, upon a tombstone, are 
 elsewhere differently given, but the above version, 
 resting as it does on the authority of a Cheshire 
 man, a relative and namesake of the famous Chroni- 
 cler, is probably correct. 
 
 1663. — Lords esteemed to be Catholics who are 
 Peers of the Realm : 
 
 Marquises — Winchester, Worcester, Dorchester. 
 
 Earls — Bristol, Cardigan, Shrewsbury, Norwich, 
 Rivers. 
 
 Lords — Andover, Abergavenny, Arundel of 
 Wardour, Teynham, Langdale, Stourton, Went- 
 worth, Barkley, Montague, Carrington, Powis, 
 Crofts, Bellasis, Vaux, Audley (Earl of Castle- 
 haven), Petre, Stafford. 
 
 Catholic Lords not Peers of the Realm — 
 
 Dunbar, Molineux, Fairfax, Baltimore, Lumley. 
 
 In this list Mr. Blundell seems to have omitted 
 some Irish and Scotch Peers who were Catholics, 
 
 and on the other hand, to have represented as 
 Catholics some English Peers who were not really 
 so. Taking the list as it stands, we find only five of 
 the above peerages held by Catholic descendants. 
 For the sake of comparison we give a complete list 
 of Catholic Peers at the present time (1880) : — 
 
 Duke — Norfolk. 
 
 Marquises— Bute, Ripon. 
 
 Earls— Denbigh, Newburgh, Westmeath, Fingal, 
 Granard, Ashburnham, Kenmare, Orford, Gains- 
 borough. 
 
 Viscounts— Gormanston, Netterville, Taaffe, 
 
 Southwell. 
 
 Barons— Mowbray and Stourton, Camoys, Beau- 
 mont, Vaux, Petre, Arundel of Wardour, Dormer, 
 Stafford, Clifford, Ashford, Herries, Lovat, Louth, 
 French, Bellew, De Freyne, Howard of Glossop, 
 Acton, O'Hagaji, Emly, Gerard, Braye. 
 
 Of these, twenty-nine only are Peers of the Realm, 
 against twenty-five in the preceding list. It will be 
 noticed how very little remains of the old element 
 in the present Catholic peerage after the lapse of 
 two centuries. No fewer than twelve of the peers 
 above enumerated are converts to the Catholic faith. 
 When the comparative small number of peers in 
 1663 is taken into account, it will be seen that a 
 much larger proportion of peers was Catholic at 
 that period than at the present day. At the same 
 time it must be remembered that from the time of 
 James II. to the end of the reign of George IV. (a 
 period of 150 years), no Catholic received the dis- 
 tinction of a peerage, although the creations during 
 that period were very numerous. Lingard gives the 
 
198 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Anglice 
 
 scribendi 
 modus 
 
 list of Catholic Peers excluded from the House of 
 Lords by the Bill of 1678 as follows :—- 
 
 Duke— Norfolk. 
 
 Marquis — Worcester. 
 
 Earls— Shrewsbury, Berkshire, Portland, Qirdi- 
 gan, Powis. 
 
 Viscounts— Montague, and Stafford. 
 
 Barons— Mowbray, Audley, Stourton, Petre, 
 Arundel, Hunsdon, Belasyse, Langdale, Teynham, 
 Carrington, W'iddrington, Gerard of Bromley, Clif- 
 ford. 
 
 The Rhemes Testament is bad English. I 
 heard that Sir Toby Matthew, reading the title, 
 page, *The New Testament, &c., faithfully trans- 
 lated into English," said it was a lie, for it was not 
 English. 
 
 Eugle notes □ [^ O . I I 
 for the hunt. ' ' 
 
 To call the compaiiie in the morninge. 
 
 oii300|oaEi||- 
 
 The strake to the feeilde is seven. 
 
 □ o I □ II 
 
 When the hounds be unciipled— the seeke. 
 OCDOOOOOOOOO 
 
 When the hounds doe hunt a game unknowne. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 199 
 
 60666666166160 666 
 66611 
 
 When the hounds have found the game — the rechaite. 
 
 ■ • ■ 
 
 00OG0|0[Z)[Z] 
 
 The strake of eight to drawe from the covert. 
 
 • • •• •• ••••••• • ■ 
 
 n|onoooooo|| 
 
 The yearthinge of a fox if hee bee coverable. 
 
 O O o 
 
 If he be not coverable — the call away. 
 
 • • •• 
 
 czi|c=]|[i:i|oc:ioooooo|oo 
 
 lonoooooo 
 
 The death of a fox in feild or covert. 
 
 666|6n6|6cz]czi| 
 
 The calls for a keeper in parke or forrest. 
 
 The death of a bucke with bovre or grayhound. 
 
 □ |0|OCI] 000000|00|0 
 
 066666611 
 
 The death of bucke in parke or forrest. 
 
 • t** •• •• •• ■• 
 
 • • •• •• •• •• •• 
 
 •• •• •• •• •• 
 
 onolciiooiaoo 
 
 The prise of a harte rial with the rechaite. 
 
 00O00|OO00 
 
 The strake of nine to call home the companie. 
 
200 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 O O I n -J 
 
 The strake of five for the tarrears. 
 
 • • • • « •••• • • • ••••,• 
 
 000|00| _J|0|0|OC]000 
 
 666|66|6c:666666| 
 
 The mount is from parte to parte, and curricall three repeated. 
 
 ooon|ooooooooo|oo 
 
 00|00000000000 o 
 
 o o o o 
 
 The long rechaite. 
 
 John Scott. 
 
 Sir R. Bradshaigh. 
 
 This seems to have been inserted in ' Hodge- 
 podge ' by Sir Roger Bradshaigh. John Scott was 
 his huntsman. 
 
 Wainscot. 1 664, May 7. — The wainscot of my dining room 
 
 being finished, we measured the same, and found 
 it, without the chimney corner, to be 109 yards 
 2 feet. And the lining of the great door cheeks 
 were, although plain work, accounted as wainscot. 
 The plane tier and the crest were reckoned (mea- 
 suring not perpendicular but slope-wise) to 7 in- 
 ches high or broad. And the cusitooses (besides 
 the rail on which they stand) were measured at 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 201 
 
 \i 
 
 i 
 •1 
 
 I 
 
 2 inches high. So that the whole work was 1 1 feet 
 1 1 inches high. My bargain was to have all the 
 panels cloven timber except the frize and the 
 lowest course. But yet there were fifteen or twenty 
 panellings of sawed wood, contrary to bargain. 
 I was to pay 3^-. yd. a yard for all, and if I liked 
 the work, 2d. more. The work I did like and 
 paid for— 
 
 109 yards 2 feet . . . . . 
 
 The man with whom I bargained, made 
 the pilasters upon his own account, 
 for which I gave him 4^., which 45". 
 he gave to the labourer, an honest 
 workman, who made all with the 
 help of a boy or two in short time . 
 
 I gave this labourer at several times 8i-. 
 and to his son 3^. . . . 
 
 All the nails which were used cost me 
 about ..... 
 
 17 6 
 
 d. 
 O 
 
 o 4 
 
 O II 
 
 o 
 
 I had a mason three days to make holes for 
 the wood to be put, unto which we pinned it. 
 The joiner and his boy were working seven days 
 in putting up the wainscot. I only gave them 
 meat. I take this wainscot to be the cheapest 
 
 D D 
 
202 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 great work which I have done about my house, 
 and I think it was the only great thing in all 
 my expenseful work which did fail short, in charge, 
 of my expectation. 
 
 Epistoise. Mr. Loveday's letters are esteemed by many 
 
 to be most quaint and ingenious, but it seems to 
 me as if they were of that number, which Ben 
 Jonson saith go a-begging to be understood. 
 The expressions, indeed, are nothing vulgar, but 
 the sense is as plain as may be. For an example 
 of which I do propose, that one of the choice 
 epistles be translated out of that new-fashioned 
 English phrase into plain honest English, and I 
 think it will then look like a plucked peacock. 
 And the like may be done to show the worthless 
 gaudiness of many other writings. 
 
 A good character adds much to a well -indited 
 letter, but the faults of an ill-indited letter are 
 much hid by a character which is not easily read. 
 My physician [Dr. Worthington of Wigan — Ed.] 
 wrote unto me most material prescriptions in time 
 of my great danger by sickness. I showed these 
 unto three most expert readers, and neither they 
 nor I could read it, or understand the main points 
 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 !03 
 
 of the letter. I told the writer how ill he had 
 done therein. He answered that the letter was 
 so plainly written, that there was never a boy in 
 Wigan school unto w^hom the same was not 
 legible. 
 
 Captain Tarleton shot a right good musket. Globus tor 
 
 mentarius. 
 
 with a charge and a half of powder, at a full bag 
 of wool (about twenty stone). He stood about 
 nine yards off it, and shot quite through it and 
 next an inch and a half into a door behind it. 
 He told me this, and showed me the hole in the 
 door. And he said that he saw one shoot a 
 musket, at thirty yards distance, at a bag of 
 cotton (which is very hard and close). He shot 
 not through it, but the cotton appeared thrust out 
 by the bullet, like a finger, on the other side. 
 
 The verse * Alexandrine ' consists of twelve or AngUcc 
 thirteen syllables. This I take to be the way of '"odil 
 our old English poets, and particularly in the old 
 translation of ' Virgil,' w^here the second book be- 
 gins thus — 
 
 They whisted all, and fixt with eyes attentive did 
 
 behold 
 Where Lord ^neas from high bench thus he told. 
 
 D D 2 
 
r 
 
 204 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 205 
 
 Zealotypia. 
 
 Conjuges 
 quales esse 
 debent inter 
 
 Thomas Phaer translated * Virgil,' A.D. 1555, 
 being moved thereunto for the defence of his 
 country's language, which he had heard discom- 
 mended. What a silly piece of English this is 
 may be judged by the reader. 
 
 R. Willes writes a preface to Peter Martir's 
 * Decades of the West Indies/ translated by R. Eden, 
 printed in London, 1577. Willes says, * Many 
 of his English words cannot be excused in my 
 opinion for smelling too much of the Latin, as, 
 ponderous, antiques, despicable, obsequious, homi- 
 cide, destructive, prodigious, &c.' These words arc 
 now common (1690). 
 
 Jealousy is a bad daughter born of a good 
 house. 
 
 Let the married couple, when they consult 
 together upon occasion of differences with others, 
 carry themselves justly, lest by teaching each 
 other how to wrong a third person, they be in- 
 structed, as conscious of their own mutual know- 
 ledges, to be unjust to themselves. 
 
 It is accounted a piece of ill-breeding to see 
 a man go abroad with his own wife. ( ' Ladies' 
 
 s 
 
 Calling,' pt 11. page 30). I suppose those who 
 brought up these rules are not to seek what use to 
 make of them. 
 
 When I was at Paris in the month of August jesuSod 
 
 ocietas 
 
 and September 1681, I received there from Sir 
 John Warner a catalogue of the names of the 
 English Jesuits, the total number whereof in all 
 places, living or supposed to be living 23rd May 
 1 68 1, was just 280, viz., Fathers 174 (69 professed), 
 and brothers 106. Of this number there were 
 then at Liege 16 fathers and 59 brothers, students, 
 &c. ; in all 75. In England there were 109, of 
 whom four were lay brothers. The rest were at 
 St. Omers, Ghent, Watten, Spain, &c. 
 
 The Rev. Sir John Warner of Parham, Suffolk, 
 Bart, had a romantic history. He married in 1659 
 Miss Trevor Hanmer, daughter of Sir Thomas 
 Hanmer of Hanmer, Flintshire, Bart., and had 
 this title conferred on himself in 1660 for his loyal 
 and faithful services. Lady Warner and Elizabeth 
 Warner, a sister of Sir John's, became converts to 
 the Catholic faith in 1664. Sir John being inclined 
 the same way consulted Dr. Buck, who had been 
 his grandfather's chaplain, and afterwards called on 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Sheldon). The 
 latter handed him over to Dr. Dolbin, Dean of 
 Westminster, who told him that it was a mere 
 
 Anglicana. 
 
2o6 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 207 
 
 punctilio the Pope stood upon, which hindered the 
 union of the two churches. Sir John Warner, not 
 being satisfied, ended his doubts by entering the 
 Catholic Church. He and his Lady then agreed to 
 part for the purpose of embracing a religious life. 
 Sir John, after providing for his two children, settled 
 his estate on his next brother Francis, and entered 
 the Novitiate, S.J., at Watten, under the name of 
 Clare. Here he ' divided the commons,' to use Mr. 
 Blundell's expression, with Laurence Ireland of 
 Lydiate, Esq., who had lately taken the very same 
 step, and who wrote to his friend about this time, a 
 full account of the conversion of Sir John Warner. 
 In 1667, his brother Francis came over to see him, 
 and having been in the mean time converted, felt 
 the same longing for a religious life. Having visited 
 Nieuport, where there was a colony of Carthusians, 
 he admired their strict way of life and resolved to 
 embrace it. In his eagerness to return to England, 
 to settle his affairs before carrying out this design, 
 he urged the captain of the vessel on which he had 
 taken his passage to set sail, although the weather 
 was threatening. Overcome by his promises, the ship 
 was put to sea, and had scarcely left the port when 
 she encountered a terrible gale and became a com- 
 plete wreck. Francis Warner was drowned within 
 sight of the monastery where he had hoped to pass 
 his days, and was interred as one of their brethren 
 by the Carthusian monks. Sir John Warner, hearing 
 of the sad occurrence, and having his estate once 
 more fallen to him, was obliged to undertake a 
 journey to London, where he found a second 
 brother Edmund, on whose not unwilling shoulders 
 he laid his burthen. After his ordination Sir John 
 
 p 
 
 spent most of his life abroad, but was in England in 
 the office of Provincial, S.J., from 1689 to 1693. 
 He died at Watten in 1705. Lady Warner died a 
 Poor Clare at Gravelines in 1670, and her two 
 daughters ended their days as Benedictine Nuns at 
 Dunkirk. The Cavalier's grandson, Nicholas Blun- 
 dell, relates that Sir John Warner had in his younger 
 days been passionately fond of hawking, and that 
 once, when he happened to be at Dunkirk, a tame 
 hawk which had been caught was brought to him. 
 On examining it Sir John discovered by certain 
 secret marks that it was his own hawk which had 
 flown out of Suffolk. The life of Lady Warner of 
 Parham was published in London in 1692. (See 
 Foley's 'Records, S.J.' vol. ii.) Laurence Ireland 
 adds to the above particulars, that the estate which 
 Sir John Warner resigned w^as of the value of 800/. 
 per annum, and that he was twenty-six years of age 
 when he made this sacrifice. 
 
 Peter Blundell of Tiverton, clothier, erected a Biundeii. 
 fair free school in that town, and allowed it a com- 
 petent maintenance and lodgings for a master and 
 usher. He bestowed two scholarships and two 
 fellowships on Sidney College, Cambridge, pro- 
 viding Tiverton scholars should be elected therein. 
 Tis thought he died about 1596. In the Paris 
 ' Gazette,' January 26, 1686, I found this : — 
 
 January 22. * Le sieur Blondell, Marechal des 
 Camps et Armies du Roy, Professeur Royal des 
 
208 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 209 
 
 Mathematiques,de I'Acad^mie Royaledes Sciences, 
 et ci-devant Maistre des Math^matiques de Mon- 
 seigneur le Dauphin, mourut ici apr^s une longue 
 maladie. II avait etd Envoy^ du Roy a Constan- 
 tinople, et il avait fait pour le service de sa Ma- 
 jestic divers voyages en Levant, en Afrique, en 
 Am^rique et en plusieurs cours de I'Europe. II 
 s'^toit acquitte de tous ces differents emplois avec 
 une grande capacity' This man hath published 
 many learned writings. 
 
 I found at London a good number of Blundells, 
 viz. : a considerable merchant at his house near Lon- 
 don Stone. One Richard Blundell, an ingenious 
 young man and surgeon, lived near Bishopsgate 
 Street, westward from it and in some close build- 
 ings. There was then an Attorney of good note 
 who frequented the coffee-houses in and about 
 Gerard Street. Another attorney of good parts 
 (yet somewhat blemished by good fellowship), in 
 one of the Inns below Holborn Bar, who had a 
 brother of the same name, living in or very near 
 Bloomsbury Market. He has the repute of a very 
 ingenious man, and is said to keep at the joiners' 
 trade about eighteen or twenty servants. Mr. 
 Thomas Morton, silkman, told me, about the year 
 
 1687, that one Blundell in the city, a plain, 
 clownish man, had gained an estate by weavino- 
 laces, of above i,cx)o/. per annum. I think he told 
 me that the weaver was lately dead, and that the 
 son was a very well-bred and genteel person. 
 
 I have writing, which came under the Privy 
 Seal of King Henry II., where my antecessor 
 N. B. is written Nicholas Blondell, Esq. 
 
 AD. 1 68 1. —There are in Paris three Acade- Academia 
 mies, in all which the learner's expense is equal- ''""""" 
 viz. 1,300 livres for his diet, exercise, and lodging ; 
 for a Governor's diet and lodging, 600 livres ; for 
 a servant's diet and lodging, 300 livres. The six 
 masters {:x{ you use them), each of them a louis 
 d'or or one pistole at your entrance— viz. for danc- 
 ing, fencing, geography, mathematics, pike and 
 musket, and when first you ride the ring. Thirty 
 sols per mensem for switches, and as much for 
 music. Some few half-crowns a year to other 
 officers. It is a question whether besides all this 
 you be not charged to pay for the furniture of 
 your chamber. I rather think you are not. All 
 this is besides apparell for yourself and. servants. 
 If you will lodge in the town, you may exercise 
 
 E E 
 
 il. 
 
I;l ' I 
 
 2IO 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOO A^. 
 
 riding in the Academy at four pistoles per mensem, 
 but no other exercise. Those in the Academy may 
 stay as little a while as they please, and the ad- 
 vance will be refunded. The expense of Acade- 
 mies out of Paris amounts to a full third part less, 
 the charge for diet, exercise, and lodging being but 
 800 francs. 
 
 Judicia in 
 Cat hori co- 
 rum hostes. 
 
 I read in the great English Chronicle at Crox- 
 teth, September 10, 1660, of great punishments 
 that happened to those that had a chief hand in 
 the subversion of the forty monasteries, granted 
 by Pope Clement VII. to Cardinal Wolsey. Of 
 those five men which were chiefly employed by the 
 Cardinal about it, two fought with each other : one 
 of them was killed and the other hanged for it. 
 A third drowned himself Another, that was a 
 bishop in Ireland, became sadly lamed, and the 
 fifth, that was formerly a rich man, died a beggar. 
 The Pope suffered by the loss of Rome, &c., and 
 the King and Cardinal as we know. 
 
 I have heard of a part of England (either Nor- 
 folk or Northampton, as I take it), wherein it is 
 observed by a Protestant writer of note, that 
 within a small compass or tract of land there lived 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 211 
 
 about twenty gentlemen, consisting all or in part of 
 religious lands. About as many lived in the same 
 tract whose estates had no part of any such lands. 
 It was noted that, whereas there was but one or 
 two of this second sort that had come to ruin or 
 any notable decay since Henry VI 1 1., there were 
 but one or two of the first sort that had 'skaped 
 from such ruin. I believe Mr. Edwards, alias 
 Anderton, can say som.ething to this business. 
 
 The horrid judgments upon sequestrators, 
 committee men and farmers of Catholic estates, 
 have been remarkable. Quaere, of Mr. Chorley 
 and his daughters' disastrous ends. And note 
 those incomparable disasters upon Mr. Moore's 
 family, since Edward Moore, about the year 1632, 
 fell dead upon the road. He was a great perse- 
 cutor, &c. 
 
 Spelman is the writer of note referred to above. 
 
 Soon cry, soon dry. See how mourning and Lacrymje. 
 tears are commended at funerals, as it were for 
 fashion's sake and to satisfy others. 
 
 A curious person who spends two much time curiosi. 
 in reading, may be said to be ignorant of almost 
 
 E E 2 
 
1" I 
 
 212 
 
 A CAVALIER\S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 nothing, his own misery and weakness only ex- 
 cepted. If v/e ask him for whom he labours, he 
 will tell you, ' I read to please myself This upon 
 the whole is no more than to please a roving fancy, 
 and it is very well for him \{ he do not regret it 
 when repentance comes too late. A man may be 
 too covetous of knowledge as well as of coin, and 
 whether he stands possessed of the one or the other 
 without making advantage of them for himself and 
 his neighbour, it is like to cost him dear when the 
 account is made. 
 
 li' Estrange, 
 
 Roger. 
 
 In his * Observator,' No. 5, February 19, 1684-5, 
 in answer to Trimmer, who taxes him with med- 
 dling too much about Gates' miscarriage, he says : 
 
 * I entered upon this commission by the order 
 of his late sacred Majesty of ever blessed memory. 
 I continued my proceedings upon it by the same 
 Royal and repeated commands, and if it had not 
 been for some previous deliberations in what 
 manner to proceed and which causes to pitch 
 upon out of the choice of eleven or twelve, this 
 matter had been brought to an issue time enough 
 for the late King to have seen this wretched creature 
 brought to public shame and justice. ... I must 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 213 
 
 avow further that his Majesty was pleased to de- 
 clare this scrutiny to be a point highly incumbent 
 on his Royal justice. Thus I began, thus I pro- 
 ceeded, and by the grace of God thus I resolve to 
 continue, till I see this point brought to a conclu- 
 sion. Having the honour of his present Majesty's 
 commission, also to prosecute the orders and in- 
 tentions of the late King.' 
 
 I saw (in 1658) an old hollow oak close by the 
 road betwixt London and Tunbridge, wherein (as 
 I was then assured) 140 boys were placed, who all 
 came swarming out of it unexpectedly to enter- 
 tain King James with admiration, as he passed 
 that way on hunting. 
 
 Mr. Ireland of Lydiate told me, that he saw an 
 oak that grows in the forest of Delamere, the bole 
 of which is affirmed to be in circumference 14 
 yards. Mr. Henry Stanley told me at the same 
 instant that the said oak was measured to be in 
 circumference about the bole 14 yards i foot. 
 This they told me October 2, 1663. 
 
 When I was about nine years old, my grand- 
 father Blundell showed me the oak in the north cor- 
 ner of the new orchard, and making me to clip it 
 
 Arbores iii- 
 gentiores. 
 
K 
 
 214 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE^BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 215 
 
 about, I found that my finger ends did overreach 
 each other some httle, less than an inch I take it. He 
 told me, that he did plant that tree when it was 
 like a small twig which he showed me (less than 
 ordinary riding rod). And now this present De- 
 cember 18, 1663, I being in the 44th year of 
 my age, I measured the same tree again, clipping 
 it in my arms as high as I could well reach, stand- 
 ing on the west side, and I found it to be 9 inches 
 (within less than one straw's breadth) more than I 
 could fathom. My grandfather was born 1560. 
 
 Amichristus. Mr. Samuel Aspinwall, a zealous puritan of a 
 moral conversation, talking with me this day 
 (February 13, 1663) as he hath often done, pro- 
 fessed that if he did not think the Pope were Anti- 
 christ, he would turn Papist. ' For if he be not 
 so/ saith he, * we cannot excuse ourselves from 
 schism..' 
 
 Eleemo- 
 
 synx. 
 
 The same old beggar whom I have mentioned 
 before used to beg in a rhetorical bold way at the 
 races on Crosby marsh, and he would flatter the 
 noble gentlem.en, and tell aloud what gallant 
 houses they kept. His importunity there was in- 
 
 sufferable. I did there once see a gentleman cast 
 a shilling unto him, saying, ' A pox o' God take 
 thee ! ' The boldest wandering beggars (and a 
 Bedlam one, Medcalf, above all others) ever speeded 
 the best at these races, whilst the truly poor 
 widows and orphans who lived in the parish found 
 little effect there of their modest low way of beg- 
 ging. Tom Arnold told me that he saw at night 
 near that place thirty or forty of these wandering 
 beggars at Rogerson's (a paltry alehouse), spend- 
 ing the money they had gotten at the race. 
 
 April 21, 1676.— This day my servants did Lana 
 
 1 • 1 ^ 1 1 . appensa. 
 
 Shear eight wethers unwashed, and weighed {ine 
 ipso vidcnte) the fleeces of the same, the weight of 
 which was fully sixty pounds, whereof five pounds 
 was foul-knotted wool. One of these eight fleeces, 
 without any knotted wool, weighed eight pounds 
 fully. These were Irish sheep, part of forty-six 
 which I had bought for i-^^l. the last June, and I did 
 shear the same afterwards (1675), so that these 
 last fleeces wanted much of a year's growth. Note 
 that I had sold twenty choice sheep out of the 
 forty-six aforesaid, and afterwards ten choice sheep 
 so that six or seven of the abovesaid eight sheep 
 
 "-^ — ]■:■ ■"- 
 
 ^^^pWPte"'''' JiW?'*' 
 
w 
 
 2l6 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 217 
 
 AiigUce_ 
 
 loquendi 
 modus. 
 
 were as it were the refuse of the forty-six. After 
 the wool aforesaid had been washed and dried 
 it weighed (as my wife told me) but forty-five 
 pounds. 
 
 It think it is probable that the false pronuncia- 
 tion of many words hath first arisen through a 
 childish error in reading. For example, the word 
 ' through ' is but one syllable, and yet it is now 
 commonly pronounced, especially by the nicer sort, 
 as if it were of two syllables. The word ' ask ' is 
 called by many *axe' by a mistake (I conceive) in 
 reading. * Massacre' (I take it) is called 'massacar' 
 by the like mistake. But custom in this is a law. 
 I have heard sundry gentlewomen, who were good 
 readers of English, pronounce the word ' anxiety ' 
 as if it had been writ * anexety.' And who can 
 doubt but if that word were very commonly mis- 
 taken in the same manner, it might in the end 
 exchange its own essence.? We may add the 
 words * sure ' and 'sugar,' which arc commonly pro- 
 nounced ' shure ' and ' shuggar.' 
 
 We may observe that many Englishmen, who 
 are great scholars and have spent their time abroad, 
 are very defective and oftentimes ridiculous (al- 
 
 though they will hardly believe it) in their English 
 tongue. I heard one of these in a sermon repeat 
 the name of a certain precious stone (unto the rare 
 virtues of which he did piously allude) no fewer 
 than twenty times. And yet the name of this 
 stone did sound as filthily in our language, as any 
 word whatsoever in the English tongue. What 
 strange apprehensions would the ruder sort of 
 people frame hereupon } 
 
 An amusing incident of this nature happened 
 a few years ago in a neighbouring town. A youthv 
 had been sent to Louvaine from a country district 
 in Ireland to study for the Priesthood. Here he 
 soon acquired the language of his new companions, 
 and made good progress in his studies. In due 
 time he was ordained Priest, and came home a well 
 educated and polished man. On landing in Eng- 
 land he was asked to preach to a mixed congrega- 
 tion of English and Irish. He had no difficulty in 
 preparing an excellent discourse, but found that he 
 had no language wherewith to clothe his ideas ex- 
 cepting that of his boyhood. As may well be 
 imagined, his thoroughly Irish manner and the droll 
 expressions which he used had an irresistibly comic 
 effect. 
 
 Women may pretend a little to govern because F^emina 
 men have governed so ill, as plausibly as some 
 have reformed the Church upon the like pretence. 
 
 F F 
 
 r 
 
 (! 
 
!9ipi 
 
 2l8 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 219 
 
 Heidelber- 
 gensis cadus. 
 
 Peiidrcl, 
 Tvicliard. 
 
 Literae ab- 
 •'teryendae 
 vel renovan- 
 
 d<r. 
 
 Concerning the great tun of Heidelberg men- 
 tioned by Ben Jonson and by other English poets, 
 I did enquire of a German whom I met in France 
 and of a Frenchman who travelled in our company, 
 and one of them affirmed that it did contain 300 
 wain-loads of wine, which was no less, said the 
 other, than 2,800 French hogsheads or dolia. 
 Both of these gentlemen had seen the said tun and 
 they were very sober men. 
 
 King Charles II. in his flight from Worcester, 
 165 1, was cast by his nobles (by the Earl of Derby) 
 upon the care and fidelity of Richard Pendrel, a 
 poor Catholic in leathern breeches. And Catholics 
 were many of them the sole instruments of his 
 safety at the first brunt. 
 
 Boil galls in wine, and with a sponge wipe over 
 the letters. They will presently be seen when they 
 are once wet, and be well coloured as they were at 
 first. Aquafortis in a feather (or a sponge) held 
 near to the letters will exhale the ink to it. John 
 Wilson saith that one Mr. Denby, a stationer at 
 Warrington, useth it. 
 
 This was the wife of Philip III., who was a 
 
 I>ic;tum 
 Keginae 
 
 H^.j>ama:de sj^g^i^^j. g^^at fricnd to the Jesuits. It chanced 
 
 that one of that order in Spain had committed 
 some kind of fault, which came immediately to 
 the King's ear. Whereupon the King, going in all 
 haste to the Queen, related the story, and asked 
 (by way of reproach) what she could say now in 
 excuse of the Jesuits. The Queen returned this 
 sudden and witty reply : ' Sir, I can nothing say in 
 defence of those fathers but this — that (without 
 all question) the bell that sounds so loud with so 
 small a touch must needs be of an excellent tem- 
 per.' Narravit mihi, Pater Richd. Banester, Provs, 
 Ord. in Anglid, 1660. 
 
 I do not remember that any capital crime, but Dueiium. 
 this of duels, is frequently and publicly defended 
 by persons otherwise discreet and sober. The 
 women (or young girls) do urge on the men by 
 crying that down for cowardice, which God and 
 the laws command. And this the giglets do, be- 
 cause it is not the mode in the romances for 
 gentlemen to refuse a challenge. I knew a youth 
 in the fourteenth year of his age, with whom I had 
 great means to be acquainted ; but I found him 
 reserved and unwilling to talk (though I tried him 
 in sundry ways and on many subjects), until I 
 
 F F 2 
 
» 
 
 220 
 
 ^ CAVA LIE R^S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 221 
 
 i 
 
 chanced to speak of the point of honour and duels. 
 You cannot believe how far he was transported 
 with this discourse. To show how deeply he was 
 possessed with it at that age, he gave me a spon- 
 taneous account of the most remarkable actions 
 of that nature in the country where he lived, and 
 seemed able to give a list both of the swordsmen 
 and the cowards. This I conceived was occasioned 
 by the discourse which he heard from his father, 
 who was ever a great deal too forward in the mis- 
 taken points of honour. How far did boys and 
 girls who were martyred in the primitive Church 
 exceed these swashbucklers in valour I There were 
 no parasites or pot companions to extoll them ; 
 they were wounded on all hands as well by words' 
 as by blows. 
 
 The young man referred to was no doubt one of 
 his grandsons, a son of Viscount Mountgarret, who 
 had married Mr. Blundell's eldest daughter Emilia. 
 
 See a story in the fifteenth book of Davila, his 
 ' French Civil Wars,' where the Sieur de Coquein 
 Villiar, one of the King's servants, gave a box on 
 the ear to Monsieur de Bonivet in the King's ante- 
 chamber ; for which Coquein Villiar acknowledged 
 his fault and offered to ask his pardon, refusing a 
 
 challenge which Bonivet sent unto him, and keep- 
 insr himself in-doors to avoid the duel. At last, 
 being forced to fight, he killed Bonivet and had the 
 King's pardon and favour. This is noted as well 
 for the worthy satisfaction offered for striking a man 
 where he durst not defend himself, as for the King's 
 great moderation in pardoning a gentleman who, 
 being surprised with the apprehension of losing his 
 own honour, forgets his duty to his sovereign, and 
 doth yet upon that occasion afterwards show both 
 great submission and valour. 
 
 Take a kite and a carrion crow, and tie them Aucup: 
 down in the stubble with sufficient liberty, and they 
 will fight and cry in a strange manner ; upon which 
 there will come immediately great flocks of crows 
 from all parts, which striking freely at the kite will 
 many of them be taken in the lime twig which 
 must be placed round in the stubble for that reason. 
 Remember that you tie up one foot of your kite to 
 make the battle more equal. You may easily take 
 a kite with a pigeon and lime. The dun horny 
 kite is thought to be the best. 
 
 Set many lime twigs in a tree, growing in a 
 wood, the boughs many of the smallest being first 
 
 % 
 
 mm 
 et variae ejus 
 artes. 
 
 * I 
 
 I i| 
 
 (. 
 
1 3' 
 ■I 
 
 222 
 
 A CAVALIERS S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 223 
 
 'I 
 
 Stadium 
 
 Crosbiense. 
 
 cut off Then betake yourself to a bower under 
 the tree, a good while after sunset. There, with an 
 owl-call made with a hazel, you may call 'a world 
 of birds about you, pyes, jays, thrushes, &c., which 
 will hop up and down, and many of them be taken 
 with the twigs. Your dog or yourself may fetch 
 them in. October is the best time for this sport. 
 
 If you take a quick and lively magpie, and lay 
 heron the ground upon her back in such sort that 
 her wings be fastened to the earth, the stir and 
 no.se she will make will call many other magpies 
 about her which lighting upon her (as it were to 
 succour or relieve her), she will hold the first that 
 comes fast with her claws, till you may come and 
 take her. This you may pin down by the other in 
 like manner, and so you may do until you have 
 taken a great number of those birds. The best 
 time for this is when they pair. 
 
 Take waterfowl with hooks baited with the lites 
 of a beast, which is a flesh that will swim. The above 
 experiment with a magpie has been tried success- 
 fully by Mr. Thomas Stanton, from whom I had it. 
 
 This course, as it is now used upon the marshes 
 of Great and Little Crosby, was stooped out by me 
 
 W. B., A.D. 1654, at the request of Richard Lord 
 Molyneux. I did not then, nor have I yet 
 measured it (1663). Only I caused my man to 
 pace over the first mile of the old course of Liver- 
 pool (which standeth partly even with a part of 
 Crosby course), and I find that from the stone 
 where the first mile ends to anenst Crosby stoop, is 
 contained 35 rods of 8 yards. To anenst the stoop 
 in the Gorse, 125, and to the ending stones, 237 
 and 3 yards. This mile (and the whole course of 
 Liverpoole), which seemeth not to agree with the 
 measure in use, was set out by my father. From 
 the end of this mile to the plat, 27 rods. From 
 the plat to the starting pole on the Morehouse 
 marsh, 116 rods and 4 yards. But note that these 
 measures are not to be relied on till further trial. 
 
 In or about the year 1683, I procured a great 
 change in this course, viz. that the starting place 
 (which was also the end of the course) having been 
 formerly on the Morehouse marsh, it was then 
 changed to that pole or corner of the said course 
 which stands on Great Crosby marsh, about 30 
 yards from the sandy fence or doles which separate 
 the marsh from the holme. This is now {iGSG-y) 
 both the beginning and the end of the course. 
 
 
224 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Ben 
 Jonson. 
 
 i" 
 
 Wolves and 
 drunkards. 
 
 I I" 
 
 1 
 
 See his ' Discoveries/ where he speaks of the 
 envy towards an able writer who shall be better 
 understood in another age. He showeth his abili- 
 ties to be such, as if he hath given a character of 
 himself (page lOO). Ben Jonson's head is put up 
 for a sign in London and sundry places. 
 
 The above passage has been generally supposed 
 to refer to Shakespeare, of whose writings Mr. Blun- 
 dell appears to have known little. (See Introductory 
 Chapters). 
 
 Drunkards and other sensual persons may be 
 considered, in reference to the number of sober 
 and virtuous men, as wolves are considered with 
 sheep. Wolves are produced in multitudes, five or 
 six at a litter. Sheep, but one by one. Wolves 
 destroy sheep. Sheep destroy no wolves. Sheep 
 in great multitudes do yield their lives and blood, 
 and suffer themselves to be shorn and even exen- 
 tcrated without the least resistance, for man's be- 
 hoof. Whereas wolves, by all dexterous arts of 
 force and craft, avoid the sight of man, are rarely 
 entrapped, and doing much mischief to the world, 
 do very seldom pay for it with the loss of their 
 lives. Then how comes it to pass, that the number 
 of wolves increases not to be infinitely more than 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 225 
 
 the number of sheep } which we see to be much 
 otherwise. It is answered truly that wolves, how- 
 ever they join oft in mischief, do frequently kill 
 and devour each other, and by that sole means do 
 disburthen the world in a great measure of their 
 mischief. The application of these things is very 
 obvious. 
 
 Lerpoole had three Lord Mayors not four years since, Richmond 
 Then an honest tradesman, and now a prince. Maiof of 
 
 Leverpoole. 
 
 These three lords were the Earl of Derby, 
 Lord Colchester, and Lord Strange. The towns- 
 man was Mr. Bicsteth. Dr. Richmond is called a 
 prince by reason of his noble way of living. This 
 was writ 1673. 
 
 Dr. Richmond resided at Thornton Hall in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of Crosby. The pro- 
 perty is still held by the family, and its present re- 
 presentative has his residence near the old mansion. 
 
 1664.— I concluded to pay i/. 5^-. the thousand Marling the 
 
 r 1 • 1 /-11. higher Oak- 
 
 tor hewmg and filhng, and to brew three bushels of J^^^^^- 
 malt into small beer for hewers and fillers, and two 
 bushels for strong beer for all the workmen. The 
 carters were to have 2s. 6d. per day and no meat 
 for their horses. The whole sum of loads I do ac- 
 
 G G 
 
 h 
 

 JJH 
 
 226 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 227 
 
 \ 
 
 ti 
 
 6 o 
 I 12 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 count to be 5,180, and the workmen do account the 
 loads to be 5,200. 
 
 After which account I have paid them . 6 10 o 
 And I do account for carts hired . 
 And for my own carts at 2s. 6d. per day 
 For fourteen days' spreading with two 
 
 For a water-bearer *at "jd. for fourteen 
 
 X otai • • • . 
 
 1 do moreover conjecture that the feying 
 of the pit cost about .... 
 
 My wife sent the workmen 5^-. when 
 their own small beer was ending, and 
 bade them choose whether they would 
 have that or else a supply of small 
 beer till the end of the work. They 
 chose the latter, and I believe all our 
 beer given by bargain or otherwise 
 from first to last was worth i/. 2^., 
 which with a little tobacco, &c., and a 
 poor accidental dinner on Saturday 
 when they had ended, may be ac- 
 counted 
 
 9 8 
 
 089 
 16 o 5 
 
 247 
 
 So that the total charge was . 
 
 £19 10 o 
 
 I guess the land to be somewhat considerably 
 less than four acres. The hewing and filling, at 
 iL ^s. per thousand, cost one farthing per load. 
 The men had about i6s. as I take it in gifts from 
 my friends. 
 
 It is no small victory for reason to overcome 
 the senses. And it may appear the greater, if we 
 do well consider how long the senses have domi- 
 neered in us (during our whole infancy and child- 
 hood) with little or no opposition at all of our 
 reason. Let me judge of the far different powers 
 of sense and reason by this one example. Upon 
 the first or second sight of the skull of a dear 
 friend of mine who died many years before, my 
 reason hath been so convinced concerning the 
 vanity of wit, beauty, and other worldly blessings 
 (whereof my dear friend had enjoyed a great share), 
 that I have very seldom been more disposed to 
 goodness and more adverse to vanity than at that 
 time. And yet, upon the frequent renewing of the 
 same object, I have looked upon it at the last as 
 if I had only looked on a painted skull. But now 
 on the other side, where sense hath the sway, I 
 must needs remember that I have viewed the faces 
 
 G G 2 
 
 Considcr.v 
 tiones pi:^. 
 
 i 
 
 ij 
 
228 
 
 A CAVALIERS S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 229 
 
 ill 
 
 iVayigia 
 jJtrfoiata. 
 
 !> 
 
 i 
 
 of some living persons, which upon the first sight 
 have made no greater an impression of sensuah'ty 
 in my thoughts than \^ it had been no more but a 
 painted thing upon a sign post ; and yet the often 
 renewing of the same objects hath so much dis- 
 composed me in the end, that if grace had not 
 come to save me, my reason had been fooled, and 
 all had been utterly lost. 
 
 I have found by experience that my great 
 jealousy of my wordly reputation hath much dis- 
 turbed my mind, endangered my soul, and hath 
 rather hindered than promoted what I aimed at. 
 For my honour can never receive a notable blemish 
 until I dishonour my Maker. Worldly honour is 
 a shadow, that flies when you follow it, and follows 
 you when you fly it. 
 
 See the ' Intelligencer,' Monday, April 11, 1664, 
 p. 234.—' Barbados, February 16. In the latitude 
 2-50 south, 900 leagues eastward of this island, 
 a great fish struck the ship under the starboard 
 side, and passing under it touched the rudder and 
 threw the man from the helm ; and when she came 
 on the other side, heaved a great sea into the ship. 
 At her first stroke she ran her horn (or fin) 
 
 through the sheathing, a three-inch plank, through 
 
 the timber into the ceiling, and there brake it 
 
 short off. So that a piece of 12 inches long and 
 
 I \ c. weight was left in the hole. If the horn had 
 
 not been broken in the hole the vessel had been 
 
 lost ; for that stoppage notwithstanding, the water 
 
 came in so fast, that it kept a pump employed. 
 
 Since the ship came in here it hath been careened, 
 
 the piece taken out of the bulge, and the hole 
 
 stopped. The horn is like an elephant's tooth, but 
 
 more ponderous.' 
 
 Mr. Roger I'Estrange, in his letter to me on 
 
 occasion of this story (which I had touched upon 
 
 in some of my letters to him), writes thus : ' As to 
 
 the disproportionate (and indeed incredible) weight 
 
 of the fish bone, I delivered it as a wonder, but 
 
 not without an express direction of conformity to 
 
 the relation sent to his Royal Highness, however 
 
 mistaken.' 
 
 The weight assigned to the horn is of course an 
 absurd error. Nearly a century later we find the 
 following record of a similar event, taken fi-om the 
 narrative of the crew of a ship from St. Eustatia to 
 Edinboro' : * In our passage from the Main hither, 
 June 16, 1754, in lat. 15° long. 61°, we were struck 
 by a sword-fish, or sea-unicorn, on our starboard 
 bow, which ran his horn through our outside plank 
 
 Jk', . 
 
 I 
 
 'i? 
 
 I * 
 
228 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOT E-BOOK. 
 
 \ 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE- BOOK. 
 
 229 
 
 .ta. 
 
 of some living persons, which upon the first sight 
 have made no greater an impression of sensuality 
 in my thoughts than if it had been no more but a 
 painted thing upon a sign post ; and yet the often 
 renewing of the same objects hath so much dis- 
 composed me in the end, that if grace had not 
 come to save me, my reason had been fooled, and 
 all had been utterly lost. 
 
 I have found by experience that my great 
 jealousy of my wordly reputation hath much dis- 
 turbed my mind, endangered my soul, and hath 
 rather hindered than promoted what I aimed at. 
 For my honour can never receive a notable blemish 
 until I dishonour my Maker. Worldly honour is 
 a shadow, that flies when you follow it, and follows 
 you when you fly it. 
 
 See the * Intelligencer,' Monday, April 1 1, 1664, 
 p. 234.— * Barbados, February 16. In the latitude 
 2'5o south, 900 leagues eastward of this island, 
 a great fish struck the ship under the starboard 
 side, and passing under it touched the rudder and 
 threw the man from the helm ; and when she came 
 on the other side, heaved a great sea into the ship. 
 At her first stroke she ran her horn (or fin) 
 
 through the sheathing, a three-inch plank, through 
 
 the timber into the ceiling, and there brake it 
 
 short off. So that a piece of 12 inches long and 
 
 i^ c. weight was left in the hole. If the horn had 
 
 not been broken in the hole the vessel had been 
 
 lost ; for that stoppage notwithstanding, the water 
 
 came in so fast, that it kept a pump employed. 
 
 Since the ship came in here it hath been careened, 
 
 the piece taken out of the bulge, and the hole 
 
 stopped. The horn is like an elephant's tooth, but 
 
 more ponderous.* 
 
 Mr. Roger I'Estrange, in his letter to me on 
 
 occasion of this story (which I had touched upon 
 
 in some of my letters to him), writes thus : * As to 
 
 the disproportionate (and indeed incredible) weight 
 
 of the fish bone, I delivered it as a wonder, but 
 
 not without an express direction of conformity to 
 
 the relation sent to his Royal Highness, however 
 
 mistaken.* 
 
 The weight assigned to the horn is of course an 
 absurd error. Nearly a century later we find the 
 following record of a similar event, taken from the 
 narrative of the crew of a ship from St. Eustatia to 
 Edinboro' : ' In our passage from the Main hither, 
 June 16, 1754, in lat. 15° long. 61°, we were struck 
 by a sword-fish, or sea-unicorn, on our starboard 
 bow, which ran his horn through our outside plank 
 
230 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 231 
 
 Venefici Suf- 
 folcienses. 
 
 Hibemicum 
 bellum et 
 cades. 
 
 (a timber of 10 inches thick) and ceiling into the 
 hold, broke his horn off, and left it in the hold 10 
 inches. We reckon that the horn went through 
 i4i inches of solid oak.' (Nichol's * Literary Illus- 
 trations/ vol. iii. p. 800.) 
 
 Mr. Howell's Letter yS, vol. ii. a.D. 1646, saith 
 * We have multitudes of witches among us, for in 
 Essex and Suffolk there were about 200 indited 
 within these two years, and about one half of them 
 executed : more I may say than ever this island 
 bred since the creation.' He saith that * never a 
 cross is left to fright the devil away.' 
 
 The cruelties of the Irish against the English 
 are in ever>^body's mouth, and set forth in printed 
 pageants sold in London. Some cruelties on the 
 contrary part are these that follow. 
 
 An English parson that lived in Ireland told 
 me that one of his own coat, born in Wirral in 
 Cheshire and beneficed in Ireland, killed with his 
 own hands one Sunday morning fifty-three of his 
 own parishioners, most or all of them (as I remem- 
 ber) women and children. This was told me at 
 Chester, A.D. 1644, in the hearing of Mr. Ralph 
 Bridoke, chaplain to the Earl of Derby. 
 
 Colonel Washington told of great cruelties 
 committed by the soldiers against the Irish; among 
 other things, that he saw one take an infant upon 
 his pike and toss it up in the air. 
 
 Captain Robert Bramwel told me he was in 
 danger of his life from his own party for covering 
 a young gentlewoman with his cloak who had been 
 stripped by them ; they afterwards dashed out her 
 brains. 
 
 One Captain Phillipson (as I take it), one of 
 the English ofBcers, told me that about 100 or 200 
 of unarmed Irish, that climbed up to the top of trees 
 to avoid the soldiers, were all killed with shot from 
 below, and that a child of two years old was bar- 
 barously (and oddly) murdered in the same place. 
 
 Archdeacon Pryce told me that Major Morice 
 hanged a gentlewoman, only because she looked^ 
 (as he was pleased to phrase it) Hke an Irish lady. 
 
 The 'Politician's Catechism' relateth briefly 
 other sad particulars of this nature. Few of the 
 populous country of Fingal left alive ; all perished 
 by fire and sword, being innocent people and hav- 
 ing nothing Irish-like in them but the Catholic 
 religion. The army killed man, woman, and child 
 in the county of Wicklow. A gentlewoman, big 
 
 V 
 
233 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 233 
 
 Naves in- 
 gentiores. 
 
 with child, was hanged on the arch of a bridge. 
 Mr. Comain, who never bare arms, was roasted 
 there alive by Captain Gines. They murdered all 
 that came in their way from within two miles of 
 Dublin. Mrs. Eustace of Cradockston in the 
 county of Kildare (sister to Sir William Talbot), 
 of 80 years of age, after she had entertained with 
 victuals, was murdered by the Protestant officers, 
 with another old gentlewoman and a girl of eight 
 years of age. Mr. Cauley of Westmeath, showing 
 his protection, was killed with a shot, the protec- 
 tion being laid on his breast to try i{ it were proof 
 Mr. Thomas Talbot, a great servitor in Queen 
 Elizabeth's wars in Ireland, aged 90 years, was 
 murdered tho' he had a protection. From 700 to 
 800 women, children, and labourers were murdered 
 in one day in the King's land within seven miles 
 of Dublin. And yet it may be a question whether 
 those great transplantations to Connaught and to 
 America exceed not all that hath been said. 
 
 Concerning the Royal Sovereign, see Howell's 
 
 'Ep. * 33. sec. 6. Her length, 127 feet; her 
 
 greatest breadth within the planks, 46-6 ; her 
 
 depth from the breadth, 19 feet 4 inches. The 
 
 charge of building, 80.000/. Her burthen, 1,636, 
 which was the year in which she was built. 
 
 I saw this ship in 1660 lying in a dock at 
 Chatham. I saw her dry to the keel and I did 
 judge her to be about those very dimensions which 
 Mr. Howell speaks of but not altogether so wide. 
 This I can add, that her firm flat side in the port 
 holes was 17 inches thick as near as may be. 
 
 A country song remembering the harmless 
 mirth of Lancashire in peaceable times (164 1). 
 Tune, ' Roger o' Coverley : 
 
 Robin and Ralph and Willy 
 Took Susan and Ginnet and Cisly ; 
 And Roger and Richard and Geordy 
 Took Mary and Peggy and Margery ; 
 And danced a hornpipe merrily : 
 Tired out the bagpipe and fiddle 
 With dancing the hornpipe and didle. 
 
 But Gilbert and Thomas and Harry, 
 Whose sweethearts were Nell, Nan and Marie, 
 Took sides against Giles, James, and Richard, 
 Whose wenches were Joan, Jane, and Bridget. 
 The wager was for a wheat cake. 
 They danced till their bones did ache ■ 
 That Gilbert and Nanny and Nellie 
 Did sweat themselves into a jelly. 
 
 H H 
 
'■34- 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 & 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 The lads of Chowbent were there, 
 
 And had brought their dogs to the bear, 
 
 But they had no time to play, 
 
 They danced away the day ; 
 
 For thither then they had brought Knex 
 
 To play Chowbent hornpipe, that Nick's, 
 
 Tommy's and Geffrey's shoon 
 
 Were worn quite through with the tune. 
 
 The lads of Latham did dance 
 Their Lord Strange hornpipe, which once 
 Was held to have been the best. 
 And far to exceed all the rest. 
 But now they do hold it too sober, 
 And therefore will needs give it over. 
 They call on their piper then jovially, 
 *Play us brave Roger o' Coverley.' 
 
 The Meols men danced their Cop, 
 
 And about the may-pole did hop. 
 
 Till their shoes were so full of sand, 
 
 That they could no longer stand. 
 
 The Formby trotter supplied. 
 
 Who, though that his breeches were wide, 
 
 Yet would he ne'er give it o'er 
 
 Till the piper was ready to snore. 
 
 But Gilbert and Susan and Nanny, 
 With Tom and Dick, Cisly, and many. 
 Tripped and skipped full merrily. 
 The music now sounding out cheerily. 
 
 235 
 
 Dick booted, Nel flouted, he shouted 
 * Tak't thee James Pyper of Formby ; 
 Tak't thee, tak't thee, tak't thee, 
 Tak't thee James Pyper of Formby.' 
 
 At length it was time to go, 
 And Susan did hear the cock crow. 
 The maids might go make up their fires. 
 Or else be chid by their sires. 
 Next holyday, they'll ha' their fill 
 At Johnson's o' th' Talke of the hill, 
 Where Bell shall be brought to play. 
 Alack, how I long for that day ! 
 
 The second part, to the tune of the ' Upstroke : ' 
 
 That day it was past 
 
 On Tuesday last. 
 
 And you might have seen there, 
 
 If you had been there. 
 
 The lasses and louts 
 
 With smirkings and shouts. 
 
 Such did I ne'er hear on. 
 
 Good Lord, they would fear one. 
 
 For still they cried merrily, 
 
 * Hey for Crosby 1 
 
 Hey Sefton ! hey Thornton ! 
 
 Hey for Netherton ! ' 
 
 Till hoarse they whopped. 
 
 Being weary they stopped. 
 
 Then cakes and prunes stewed 
 
 Were greedily chewed. 
 
 Of ale that was good 
 
 They poured down a flood. 
 
 H H 2 
 
236 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE^BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 237 
 
 And being got giddy, 
 
 Then stepped forth Neddy, 
 
 And swore by his fakins. 
 
 That he would go dance again ; 
 
 Aye, by the makins 
 
 Then hand in hand they went, 
 
 Cheerily, cheerily ; 
 
 Calling on their Bell, 
 Merrily," merrily. 
 All sport was forsaken 
 To see loose legs shaken. 
 But Rowland and Nelly, 
 With Susan and Billy, 
 Got all the glory. 
 That is in the story. 
 And those that are sager, 
 Say they won the wager ; 
 For whilst there was any day, 
 They would ne'er get away. 
 
 Mr. Blundell seems to have had some misgivings 
 in leaving on record this lively sketch of the frolic 
 and i)astimes of his earlier days. In the margin he 
 has written ' Ne reminiscaris, Domine, dclicta juven- 
 tutis mcc-e— Remember not, O Lord, the sins of my 
 youth.' We gather from the context, that he is 
 IKiurtraying some of the festivities connected with 
 the rearing of the May-{>ole. By King Charles' 
 warrant, October 18, 1633, it was enacted that 'for 
 his good people's lawful recreation, after the end of 
 Divine Service, his good people be not disturbed, 
 letted, or discouraged from any lawful recreation : 
 such as dancing, either men or women ; archery for 
 men, leaping, vaulting, or any other such harmless 
 
 |4 
 
 i 
 
 recreations ; nor from having of May Games, Whit- 
 son ales, and Morris dances, and the setting up of 
 May-poles, and other sports therewith used,' &c. In 
 1644, May-poles, described as a heathenish vanity, 
 were ordered by the Commonwealth to be destroyed 
 throughout the Kingdom. After the restoration they 
 were again permitted to be erected, and the custom 
 held its ground almost to our own time. Within 
 the last half century, May-poles and the festivities 
 connected with them have gradually become things 
 of the past ; but memorials of them, and traditions 
 of their sites, are still abundant. The gathering 
 round the May-pole of Crosby must have been very 
 large, as it comprised the youth not only of the 
 neighbouring villages, Formby, Sefton, Netherton, 
 and Thornton, but also of the more remote ones, 
 Meols and Lathom. The first ceremony was deck- 
 ing the pole with flowers, and this was done by the 
 fair hands of the village maidens. To this custom 
 Herrick alludes ; for the May-pole figures in those 
 loose and flowing numbers with which at this very 
 period he was beguiling the tedium of his solitary 
 life at Dean Prior : 
 
 * The May-pole is up 
 
 Now give me the cup ; 
 III drink to the garlands around it ; 
 
 But first unto those 
 
 Whose hands did compose 
 The glory of flowers that crowned it' 
 
 Then the rearing took place ; and the pole was 
 fixed in its position amidst the tumultuous cheers of 
 the assembled crowd. A general dance round the 
 newly-erected pole followed, and in this everybody 
 
■M 
 
 238 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 239 
 
 took part, joining hand to hand At Crosby, the 
 squire himself, who, though already married, was 
 then but twenty-one, would certainly be present to 
 witness, if not to participate in the dance. 
 
 * The lords of casdes, mannors, townes and towers, 
 Rejoic'd when they beheld the farmers flourish ; 
 And would come down unto the summer bowers, ' 
 To see the country-gallants dance the Morrice.' 
 
 (Pasquil's *Palinodia,' 1634.) 
 
 Mr. Blundell has recorded his love of dancing, but 
 the fatal accident he met with in the eventful'year 
 which followed these festivities, put an end to his 
 capacity for such amusements. The dancing on 
 these occasions was kept up with great spirit, assisted 
 by the piper's melody. In those days almost every 
 township had its piper or fiddler, for the two instru- 
 ments in vogue were the bagjDipes and fiddle. 
 Some of these pipers were no mean proficients on 
 their instruments. Thomas Knex, of Chowbent, 
 was a noted piper, and he must have received a 
 special invitation to join this gathering. The lads 
 of Chowbent, which is thirty miles from Crosby, 
 would hardly have made so long a journey unless 
 they had come in the train of their celebrated 
 player. The Cavalier's grandson, Nicholas Blundell, 
 has the following entry in his diary, regarding An^ 
 derton, the piper :— 
 
 ,,,.„'.'7°7, January 31. -I sold my horse Buck to 
 William Anderton for one day's playing of the pipes 
 per annum, as long as he lives in Lancashire, and 
 for 25^. to be paid by parcels as he can get it • if 
 the horse prove ill, I promise to bate him 5^.' 
 
 The Chowbent lads had brought their dogs to 
 
 , 
 
 the bear, as the barbarous sport of bear-baiting 
 usually formed part of the May-pole festivities. 
 There was generally a bear-garden in each town- 
 ship ; that at Lydiate was let in 1682 at 3/. per 
 annum. The bears were chiefly itinerant, and there 
 must have been a large supply for the whole of Eng- 
 land. To this pastime we may suppose that the 
 lads from Chowbent were specially addicted ; for we 
 have been accustomed to associate with that spot 
 ideas and customs not the most refined. But it is 
 fair to remind our readers that Chowbent has re- 
 cently undergone the purification of railway official 
 baptism, and has begun a new life in the character 
 of mild-mannered Atherton. 
 
 The dancers contended for prizes, but these were 
 of a Spartan simplicity of character, ' the prize it 
 was a wheat-cake.' The winners were apparently 
 those who could remain longest upon their legs, and 
 the lusty lads and country lasses must have taxed 
 the patience of the spectators, to say nothing of the 
 pipers, by their powers of endurance. Cakes, stewed 
 prunes, and ale was the fare provided, and no doubt 
 much of the last was consumed, but Mr. Blundell 
 does not speak of any excess. Prunes were then 
 largely imported into Liverpool and much used in 
 the country districts around it. Mr. Nicholas Blun- 
 dell, the diarist, records that Mr. Houghton, a mer- 
 chant of Liverpool, told him that he had once im- 
 l)orted eight casks of prunes, from which he expected 
 no small profit. He warehoused them carefully, 
 but on examining them a few months later, he found 
 to his dismay that the rats had got into the casks, 
 and had eaten every kernel out of the prunes. 
 Talk-on-t'hill (Tulketh Hill), formerly outside Pres- 
 
 iWlltmnii" 
 
240 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 ton, is now absorbed in that town. This was the 
 scene of the second festive gathering commemo- 
 rated by Mr. Blundell in another metre — the whole 
 forming an amusing and spirited description of 
 May-pole festivities in the year of Grace 1641. 
 
 Sabbath. 
 
 I 
 
 The Scots are severe in keeping the Sunday 
 holyday. They do not permit a barber or a bottle 
 of wine to come into a gentleman's lodging through 
 the streets. My son William tells me that he heard 
 Mr. Alexander Rigby (who was newly come thence 
 to Haigh in November 1669), relate this following 
 stor>'. The Earl of Athole's brother had his wine 
 taken by the guards, who drank it off as it was 
 coming through the streets to his chamber. Where- 
 upon he sent a bottle partly filled with poison and 
 partly with sack, which the guards took and drank, 
 and were sundry of them grievously sick, whereof 
 one lay in great danger of death when the said 
 Mr. Rigby (who was then a companion of the said 
 Earl's brother, when the deed was done), came out 
 of the kingdom. 
 
 The peasants about Rome do come on Sun- 
 days to hear Mass in the city, from whence after 
 noon they carry their weekly bread home which 
 they do buy in the city. This was told me by Mr. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOT E-BOOK, 
 
 241 
 
 Edward Anderton, March 1669-70. He told me 
 further that workmen did publicly expose them- 
 selves there on a Sunday in the streets or market, 
 where it is the custom to hire them for the follow- 
 ing week. 
 
 Nine persons may enter at a door or sit at a Pbraquam 
 table 362,700 times, and each of those times with 
 a different precedence. I mean in such sort as 
 that all of them shall never be twice in the same 
 order, which may be well expressed by these nine 
 figures, 123456789, which may be varied 
 362,700 times. 
 
 Twelve (e.g. the twelve bells in Bow Church, 
 which I have seen and counted) may be varied 
 with different changes 478,764,000 times. 
 
 Consider the life of some virtuous poor souls— Eieemo- 
 Bridget Stock, for example. She is disabled to '^"^ 
 work, hath nothing whereby to subsist, being 
 neither a beggar from door to door, nor relieved 
 by a tax on the parish. Some little work she can 
 do to earn perhaps a penny a day, and that but 
 sometimes. A raging sore leg hath long tormented 
 her, the bone is almost bare for a long way. She 
 
 I I 
 
 1 
 1^1 
 
242 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 sells her best clothes to buy salve for this, and 
 alas ! to little purpose. Now, in the winter, she 
 keeps no other fire (or at the most exceeding 
 little), but to melt her salve. Her windy, cold 
 house is very small and uncomfortable, and she 
 lives in a poor town, where the relief they bring 
 her is very scant. She is born of good friends, is 
 fair and young, and a virtuous patient soul. The 
 sixth part of one extravagant madam's useless 
 ribbons would relieve twenty such maids as these, 
 and yet one of these maids is worth 1 0,000 of those 
 madams. 
 
 \ 
 
 Obseiva- 
 
 tiones 
 ix>liticx. 
 
 It was the saying of a widower who had chil- 
 dren, when he was asked why he did not marry 
 again, * Liberorum causa duxeram uxorem ; libe- 
 rorum causi rursus non duxi.' Colloquium senile. 
 240. [I married a wife for the sake of children ; for 
 the sake of my children I have not married again]. 
 
 A man must be twenty or thirty years in rais- 
 ing a fortune ; the business is hardly done till he 
 be growing up to sixty ; when he is an old man 
 he begins to build a fine house, and just when he 
 finishes it, he drops away. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 24-0 
 
 1 68 1. — After my master, W. B. Esq., had been Kiysiran.i 
 
 docior's bill. 
 
 long ill of a violent cold, Dr. Worthington came 
 first unto him on January 8. He staid two nights 
 and received for his pains i/. los. He brought 
 along with him, and left with my master, a kind of 
 syrup or consistence in a small earthen pot ; this 
 he called Lohoch. He brought also ten pills, with 
 a bottle of spirits somewhat bigger than one's 
 thumb, and a paper of lozenges, with French barley 
 and several ingredients for the making the water 
 thereof On the nth day he sent a glister, with a 
 large pint bottle of a cordial julep, and a small 
 bottle of syrups to be sucked up with a liquorice 
 stick, also some small quantity of sal-prunella. 
 On the 2 1 St day he sent by way of Liverpoole a 
 bottle containing, as we guess, five or six ounces of 
 syrups, also another bottle less by more than half 
 than the former, containing the oil of sweet al- 
 monds, together with ten pills. His letter of in- 
 structions, which came then, mentions some spirits 
 and sugared oil which were not delivered. The 
 doctor was with my master the second time on 
 January 17, and received for his pains 15^. This 
 is writ by me Walter Thelwall, by my master's 
 
 order. Note, that the spirits and sugared oil were 
 
 I I 2 
 
244 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 \W 
 
 brought to my master by Mr. Thomas Worthing- 
 ton on Janiiar}^ 24, and were both of them to be 
 taken together mixed with barley water and other 
 beverage. 
 
 The elder Lady Bradshaigh sent my master a 
 bottle containing, as we guess, about one ounce of 
 balsam, which in her letter she calls (if we read it 
 aright) balsam of sulphur. Her ladyship there 
 saith that it is an approved cure for a cough ; that 
 she had it from Sir Peter Brooks that it had cured 
 him of a most violent cough, and that the Lady 
 Ossory had sent it to him. That it must be taken 
 morning and night, three or four drops naked and 
 alone in a spoon, that it must be a little warmed 
 before it will drop at all, by reason it is thick and 
 clammy. 
 
 Copy of Dr. W'orthington's Bill. 
 For Mrs Blundell, sen. 
 
 1 68 1, Oct. 24— Spirits . 
 
 £ 
 . 
 
 s. 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 An ointment . 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 For Mr. Blundell, sen. 
 
 
 
 
 1 68 1, Jan. 8 — Spirits . 
 
 . 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 Ten pills 
 
 . 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 245 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 A Lohoch 
 
 . 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Lozenges 
 
 . 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Jujubes and sebertines 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 French barley 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 Ingredients 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 6 
 
 Syrups . 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 A cordial julep 
 
 . 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 A glister 
 
 . 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 i68i,Jan. 11 — Syrups . 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 White powder 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Five pills 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 The oiled sugar 
 
 . 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 Syrups 
 
 . 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 Oil of sweet almonds 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 Spirits of ptisanne . 
 
 , 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 For a messenger 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 6 
 
 
 £Z 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 'wi 
 
 '. I] 
 
 My master's opinion of these several things in 
 particular is here to be inserted for farther use, viz.. 
 That the spirits first named, of which twenty-six 
 drops were put into one small cup of barley water 
 and beer or into barley water alone, had no ap- 
 parent effect, although he doth not much doubt 
 
246 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 247 
 
 but the secret effect might be good. That the Hke 
 might be said of the//7/j: mentioned in two places; 
 although it seemed that they did somewhat as- 
 suage his cough, which was extremely violent. 
 The Lohoch, a liquor like a syrup, did apparently 
 bring up phlegm, and was well liked. The lozeytges 
 were pleasant, and did sometimes stop the cough. 
 Barley water with the ingredients was cooling and 
 pleasant. Syrups, twice mentioned, although of 
 much different prices, seemed to be the same. 
 They seemed to stop the cough, and bring up 
 phlegm. The cordial jukp, of which there was a 
 large pint bottle, was pleasant, but the effect not 
 apparent. The glister extraordinarily effective 
 and good. White powder, supposed to be sal- 
 prunella, assuaged thirst. The oiled sugar with the 
 spirits of ptisanne, besides the extreme dearness, 
 were almost wholly useless in regard that the 
 patient, being much on the mending hand when 
 they were sent unto him, drunk little barley water, 
 and these were only to be infused in that beverage.' 
 He sent back to the doctor about seven-eighths of 
 the oiled sugar, and yet he paid for the whole. 
 The oil of street almonds, of which seven or eight 
 drops were taken in a bolus of white sugar candy, 
 
 frequently helped the breast, made very sore by 
 coughing. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Worthington lived at Wigan, and 
 some mention of him occurs in ' Lydiate Hall and 
 its Associations,' where it is recorded (page 125) 
 that he was obliged to sell his goods and fly from 
 that town at the time of the ferment which followed 
 the^iretended discoveries of Titus Gates. As he is 
 found attending Mr. Blundell in 1681, he must have 
 soon returned, and his death is mentioned by Mr. 
 Nicholas Blundell as having occurred on November 
 27, 1 701. He reached the age of 83, and his son 
 Francis, called by Mr. Nicholas Blundell, Dr. Fanny 
 Worthington, continued the practice of medicine in 
 Wigan, and is frequently mentioned both in the 
 Tyldesley and Blundell Diaries. 
 
 September 12, 1666.— I did engage with my xraffiqu 
 cousin Henry Blundell of Ince Blundell, Esq., to 
 join 40/. with him as an adventure to the Barbadoes 
 in the good ship called the ' Antelope ' of Liver- 
 poole, and he undertook at the same time to Dr. 
 Richmond to become a merchant for that voyage for 
 one-fourth part of the said ship to Barbadoes and 
 back to Liverpoole, for which he is to pay 3/. per 
 ton thither and 6/. back. Dr. Richmond said that 
 80/. would be sufficient for him and me to venture 
 for the fourth part of the said ship. 
 
 e at 
 
 sea 
 
 
248 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 249 
 
 f ' i I 
 
 '_)bserva- 
 
 tiones 
 
 poiiticae. 
 
 September 15. — I delivered 40/. to my son to 
 bring for that purpose to my cozen Blundell or to 
 John Laithwaite (Mr. H. Blundell's steward). 
 
 October 11. — I received from my sister Wine- 
 frid 5/. as one-eighth part of my adventure above- 
 said, and she is for that to have one-eighth part of 
 my profit, paying for the tonnage, according as I 
 do myself, over and above this 5/. 
 
 The 'Antelope' went from Leverpoole, Mon- 
 day, September 15, towards Barbadoes, 1666. 
 
 1667, August 19.— The * Antelope ' returned to 
 Leverpoole from the Barbadoes. 
 
 1667, November i. — I received upon account 
 %^l. 6s., and the next day 2s. 6d. more from my 
 cozen Blundell. And there yet remains to be ac- 
 counted for one butt of sugar, besides 1,300 lbs. 
 weight of sugar left at Barbadoes. 
 
 167 1, July 7.— This day I call to mind that I 
 did receive betwixt 3/. and 4/. more than is men- 
 tioned above, viz., for the odd parcel of sugar late 
 mentioned, and I cleared all with my sister. 
 
 Our excess and curiosity in victuals, furniture 
 and apparell, &c., are often destructive to our- 
 selves and to the Commonwealth. What wonders 
 
 were wrought by the Spartans and other ancient 
 nations, who avoided all excess of this kind. 
 There is one that observeth (and seemeth in a sort 
 of demonstrate), what a vast advantage would 
 arise to this nation if all would observe abstinence 
 from flesh on those days on which the Catholic 
 Church commandeth it. And it is not to be 
 doubted but the money which would yearly be 
 saved (if all the nation would agree to regard no 
 other thing but warmness and other useful con- 
 veniences in their habits), might keep in continual 
 pay a considerable army. And this besides 
 providing competently for the necessities of such 
 as otherwise would be like to perish, because 
 their superfluous handicrafts would now be un- 
 useful. 
 
 King James and King Charles I. proclaimed a Sabbaunn. 
 licence to the people to use sundry recreations 
 upon Sundays, and particularly the sport of danc- 
 ing after evening prayer. In April 1660, I saw 
 the Dukes of York and Gloucester, with their sister 
 the Princess of Orange, play a long time at nine- 
 pins upon a Sunday, whilst the King their brother 
 looked on. It was at Breda. 
 
 K K 
 
2;o 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE- BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 251 
 
 Amicus et 
 amicitia. 
 
 Tenants 
 book. 
 
 Mr. Langhorne, in his letter to me of September 
 5, 1668, speaking of his long silence, saith, 'Friend- 
 ship is a marriage of two affections, and if either 
 party fail sometimes in their duty (as of late I have 
 done), yet it is no real disobligation, so far as to 
 justify the other in a failure of what is just in him 
 to practise.' 
 
 I do hereby strictly charge and conjure my 
 heir, and so far as lawfully I may (who have all 
 my estate now in fee simple) I do obleege him 
 hereby in strict justice, that (notwithstanding what 
 he may find written in any book of mine) he do 
 regard the heir of John Howard according as he 
 regardeth or ought to regard his ancient tenants. 
 And I do farther desire my heir to show some- 
 times unto the said John and his children some 
 marks of particular favour, which may be known 
 to be chiefly done in memory and gratitude for the 
 long and faithful service of his uncle Edward 
 Denton, performed to my grandfather and myself 
 Witness of what I have here required and desired 
 —my hand—William Blundell, June 15, 1663. 
 
 piumimm. The pits whcrc lead is digged, in Derbyshire, are 
 
 ! 
 
 called grooves. I was informed by many there, 
 that these pits are extremely narrow, viz., not one 
 yard square, and yet forty fathom deep, and some 
 of them more. The price of lead at the mill (as 
 Wm. Harrison, who deals much therein, told me, 
 1668) is now at 10/. lOs. a fodder, which is very 
 cheap. About the year 1663 it was more than 
 15/. A fodder is eight-horse load (as he saith), 
 each load being 2 1 stone and. a half, of 15 to 
 the stone, each pound being 18 ounces. This 
 seems to be a great horse load, but the account 
 is very confused. I was told as for certain, that 
 anybody might get lead anywhere in another 
 man's ground where the same is known to be, 
 allowing the owner of the land a thirteenth part. 
 This is in the Peak of Derbyshire. 
 
 On May i, 1673, Sir Thomas Clifton made a The Lady 
 
 Clifton, her 
 
 relation to me at Scarisbrick to this effect, viz., d''^^"! 
 * On Monday se'night my wife, told me that she 
 had dreamed that herself and her cousin Scaris- 
 brick and his brother Thomas were all of them 
 laid out in white as if they were dead.' Sir 
 Thomas did then express in many words, what 
 
 trouble of mind he had to hear so speedily after 
 
 K K 2 
 
f 
 
 252 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 253 
 
 the death of my cousin Thomas Scans brick, which 
 happened on April 21 (but two days after we had 
 heard of my lady's dream), and then again to hear 
 of my cousin Scarisbrick's death, which happened 
 on the 29th of the same, at whose burial on May i, 
 he made this relation to me. 
 
 All this above I wrote on May 2, 1673, and 
 this I shall add, that my cousin Scarisbrick was in 
 health when my Lady told that dream : and I 
 think it is true that my Lady did not then know 
 anything of my cousin Thomas his sickness, which 
 had been but a day or two. If my Lady (who I 
 think is now in health) 6X& within a short time, I 
 shall not doubt but the matter was revealed unto 
 her by a special favour from God ; otherwise I 
 shall not well know how to interpret the dream or 
 rely on the relation. 
 
 The recorded pedigrees of the Clifton family do 
 not give the date of Lady Clifton's death, but it is 
 highly probable that if it had taken place within a 
 short time, Mr. Blundell would have added a note to 
 this effect. She was Bridget, daughter of Sir Ed- 
 ward Hussey, Knt. of Honington, co. Lincoln, and 
 second wife to Sir Thomas, who had been created 
 Bart., 1660. Dying in 1694 without male issue, the 
 title expired while the estates descended to his 
 nephew. Thomas Scarisbrick, Priest, S.J., had re- 
 
 sided with the Cliftons at Lytham, and seems to 
 have been on a visit to Scarisbrick when he caught 
 a fever of which both he and his elder brother died. 
 James Scarisbrick, of Scarisbrick, Esq., had married 
 Frances fifth daughter of Robert Blundell, of I nee 
 Blundell, Esq., by whom he left a young family. 
 She survived her husband 47 years. 
 
 In June 1695 I caused my man, Walter Thel - stadium 
 
 Crosbiense. 
 
 wall, with the help of another person, to measure 
 the Crosby course exactly with a chain, and this 
 was the result, each rood being 24 feet : 
 
 From the chair or starting place to the 
 sea-post ...... 
 
 From the sea-post to the left-hand post 
 From the left hand post to the plat 
 From the plat to the post on the More- 
 house marsh 
 
 loods. 
 
 yds. 
 
 82 
 
 4 
 
 81 
 
 
 
 122 
 
 
 
 118 
 
 403 4 
 
 The total, ridden twice over to make the course 
 complete, amounts to 807 roods. 
 
 That which followeth is a copy of my letter to Tenant- 
 right. 
 
 Mr. Henry Howard [alias Ireland), and his answer 
 
254 
 
 ^ CAVALIER'S NOTE^BOOK, 
 
 thereunto was written on the back of my said 
 letter : — 
 
 To Mr. Henry Howard at Chester, October 7, 
 1654.— I beseech you, do me the great favour to 
 give me your opinion in the cases of conscience 
 following : 
 
 I. What doth the claim of the heir of a de- 
 ceased tenant (commonly called tenant right) 
 amount to in Lancashire after his father's lease is 
 expired? If you be not acquainted with the 
 ground of their claim, I will give it you as best I 
 can. The landlords in that county have generally 
 admitted the heirs of former tenants not only 
 before another, but at a much lower rate than any 
 other ; so that where a stranger will pay ten years' 
 value at the least for a lease of three lives, the heir 
 of the former tenant shall have the same for ^x^ 
 years' value. Very good landlords will take but 
 the half from the heir that a stranger will giv^ him ; 
 some will take less than the one half There are' 
 some again (but not many) that turn them quite off 
 without any regard to the claim. These last are 
 railed upon and cursed, and many of the former 
 cannot 'scape it. We know no law to cause these 
 favours, nor anything but the custom of our 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 25s 
 
 country, to use our tenants kindly, which is 
 variable according to the landlords' humour, affec- 
 tion, &c. 
 
 2. In case the landlord be bound in conscience 
 to bate something considerable to the late tenant's 
 heir, of that which a stranger will givQ, and a 
 stranger bids 100/. fine, and the lord will let a 
 deserving tenant take it for 50/., and yet make a 
 tenant in the like case that he thinks undeserving 
 to pay 60/. or 65/., or else go without it, is there 
 any injury in that } By undeserving I understand 
 all great misdemeanours, or notable disrespect to 
 his landlord for which the landlord would punish 
 him. 
 
 3. The landlord supposeth that when a stranger 
 will give 100/. he may safely take 60/. of the heirs 
 to preceding tenants. But yet he resolveth 
 to take but 50/. or less of all such tenants as shall 
 please him, and of those that shall displease him 
 to take 60/. Is not the supposition true, and the 
 resolution of the landlord lawful, provided he do it 
 for example's sake and not for revenge > 
 
 A resolution of the cases expressed. 
 I. I say that by the laws of England, as they 
 have been expounded by divers judges in open 
 
256 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S ^OTE-BOOK, 
 
 257 
 
 court, there is no tenant-right at all remaining 
 when their leases are fully expired. The reason 
 and ground for this is, because the land being the 
 lord's the tenant can claim no more right than that 
 the lord of the land did grant by the bargain ex- 
 pressed in his lease ; therefore, when his lease is 
 fully expired, the former bargain is wholly ended, 
 and consequently there remains no tenant-right 
 at all. 
 
 2. I say in answer to the first case, that there is 
 a probable opinion commonly received by the best 
 divines in England, that what is law betwixt party 
 and party as concerning the right of private per- 
 sons without any penalty for religion or delin- 
 quency, is also good and lawful in conscience. 
 Wherefore, as by the laws of England there is no 
 tenant-right at all when the lease is fully expired, 
 so by this probable opinion there is no obligation 
 of conscience for the landlord to give or grant any- 
 thing for tenant-right after the tenant's lease is 
 fully expired. 
 
 3. I answer concerning the same first case, that 
 the custom of the country begets no tenant-right, 
 nor brings any obligation at all upon the landlord 
 to g\\^, grant, or allow anything at all for it. The 
 
 I 
 
 reason for this is, that the most that can be said 
 for the custom \^, that there has been formerly 
 and peradventure there may still remain an opinion 
 amongst many, that there is some such tenant-right 
 brought in by custom, and, to grant unto these as 
 much as can be required, that this their opinion 
 should be allowed for probable and still in practice 
 amongst many. Yet, notwithstanding, should all 
 this be granted, being as much as any can say for 
 that side, it is without all doubt most certain that 
 the opposite opinion that denies any such tenant- 
 right brought in by custom is at the least probable, 
 as hath been sufficiently proved. Wherefore it is 
 lawful not only by the laws of England, but also 
 in conscience, for any landlord to choose and follow 
 whichever opinion he shall like the best. For it is 
 a certain principle amongst divines, that in all cases 
 where there are two opposite opinions and both 
 probable, it is lawful in conscience for any one in 
 particular to follow which opinion he will, and if 
 any therefore shall curse or clamour against him, it 
 is for no fault he has committed, but a bad effect 
 of their own malicious mind. 
 
 Now, to come to the second case. First, I say 
 in that opinion of such as will hold landlord 
 
 L L 
 
> 
 
 258 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 259 
 
 
 bound in conscience to bate something considera- 
 ble to the late tenant's heir of that which a 
 stranger will give, it is no wrong or injury at all to 
 make an undeserving tenant to pay 60/. or 65/. or 
 to go without it, as the second case relates. For 
 the opinion that makes for tenant-right brought in 
 by custom does not prescribe in particular what 
 the landlord is bound to do, but leaves landlords to 
 their own discretion, which teacheth more is in 
 reason fitting to be done for one well deserving or 
 that has not given any cause of offence, than for any 
 undeserving man such as your case describes. Se- 
 condly, I say to this second case, that by the other 
 opinion which admits no tenant-right after the 
 lease is fully expired, that of an undeserving tenant 
 you may take what you will more than you would 
 of another, so you do not exceed the just price that 
 strangers would give for it, and that you do not 
 do it out of any anger or ill will towards him, but 
 for any good motives of virtue, to teach him and 
 others by example how to perform their duty. 
 
 By this that hath been already said, you may 
 gather a full answer to all the rest you have writ. 
 For seeing there is a probable opinion that admits 
 of no tenant-right at all after the lease is fully 
 
 expired, whatsoever you shall bate to any tenant 
 of that a stranger would give, is a favour which 
 you may show more or less as you shall see cause 
 for it. — (Hen. Ho., October 11, 1654.) 
 
 It is difficult to identify this Henry Howard alias 
 Ireland. Sir Thomas Haggerston, second Bart, of 
 Haggerston, Northumberland, had two sons, Henry 
 and John, who became Jesuits and were known by 
 the alias of Howard, their mother being Margaret, 
 daughter of Sir Francis Howard of Corby. These, 
 however, belonged to the next generation, and the 
 Henry Haggerston of the earlier period, a brother-in- 
 law of Mr. Blundell's, was a married layman who 
 had borne some part in the Civil War on behalf of 
 the King. Of the Ireland family of Lydiate, Alex- 
 ander, born 1604, became a priest and entered the 
 Society of Jesus in 1640. In 1632 a younger 
 brother, Thomas, in answer to interrogatories on en- 
 tering the English College, Rome, declares that he 
 has two brothers, priests, one a secular (Alexander), 
 and the other a Jesuit, but gives no names. This 
 may possibly be the missing brother, but it is more 
 likely, from Mr. Blundell's usual mode of writing, 
 that the real name of the casuist was Howard. 
 
 In solving the question, prominence is given to 
 the doctrine of probabilism, which was then in great 
 repute. Concina, in his ' Delia Storia del Proba- 
 bilismo' (Lucca, 1743, vol. L p. 18), says thatBarto. 
 Medina, a Dominican, first broached this doctrine, 
 A.D. 1577, in a work on the Summa of St. Thomas. 
 It did not attract much attention till 1620, when a 
 book of P. Milliard advocating it was prohibited by 
 
 L L 2 
 
26o 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 261 
 
 Ai'-..^ 
 
 I 
 
 Ret<"irquia 
 
 acute. 
 
 
 the Sorbonne. This gave rise to wider discussions, 
 and these opinions, growing into favour, were taken 
 up in the Jesuit schools. Sanchez, Layman, Garasse, 
 and especially Diana, who is called the ' Lamp of 
 Probabilism,' became the chief exponents of this 
 doctrine. Mr. Blundell's correspondent, in his reply, 
 seems to have regarded more the requirements of 
 justice than those of custom or charity. He has 
 perhaps not allowed sufficient weight to obligations 
 arising from a custom then clearly established by 
 long and universal usage. It has been already re- 
 marked that the practice of granting leases for three 
 lives has of late years been generally abandoned. 
 W^hatever Mr. Blundell may have thought of his 
 correspondent's opinion, he continued to the end 
 of his life to follow his accustomed plan of favouring 
 old tenants by requiring from them only a six or 
 seven years' fine, while exacting from a stranger 
 one of ten or twelve years. At the same time he 
 would doubtless use his liberty in the extreme case 
 of very undeserving tenants. 
 
 Father Warner, the Provincial of the English 
 Jesuits, told me in 1681 of a late professed Atheist, 
 M'ho was (as I take it) well known to him, that 
 wished he had lost an arm on condition that he 
 could have firm Christian faith. 
 
 The merr>' tale told by Jo. Molineux of the 
 drunken frolics betwixt the Lord Goring and Ad- 
 miral Opdam. Opdam having been pressed to 
 
 sacrifice some garments of better value than the 
 rest of the drinkers had, to the health of the King, 
 took the like advantage of Goring, and caused him 
 to burn a cloth of gold doublet on the like occa- 
 sion. Which affront was retorted on Opdam, when 
 Goring caused a foetid tooth to be plucked out of 
 his own head, to the honour of the party they drank 
 to, and Opdam (for shame) was constrained to 
 second the frolic with a sound tooth. 
 
 George Lord Goring, the Royalist general, pos- 
 sessed undoubted courage, but his life was vicious. 
 Having gained his pardon and lost his estate, he re- 
 tired in the time of the interregnum to the little 
 Court of Charles II., and his manners were perfectly 
 adapted to it when it rose to the height of frolic and 
 debauchery (Granger's ' Biography '). He was created 
 Earl of Norwich in 1645, having married Lady Ann 
 Denney, sister and ultimately co-heir of her brother 
 Edward, who had received that Earldom in 1626, 
 and had died without issue. He died suddenly in 
 1662. No doubt the meetings with Admiral Opdam 
 would take place at the King's Court abroad. This 
 Dutch Admiral had the reputation of being a skilful 
 and brave commander. He met with his death in 
 the famous naval engagement of June i, 1665, which 
 covered with laurels the unfortunate James IL, then 
 Admiral of the English fleet. It is said that Opdam 
 was forced by the peremptory orders of his Govern- 
 ment to give battle, although much against his own 
 judgment. Sir Charles Sedley is elsewhere described 
 as the hero of the above story. 
 
 ( 
 
262 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 263 
 
 Commoda 
 
 reipublicee 
 optanda. 
 
 Tithes and 
 church dues. 
 
 
 
 To prevent quarrels and jostles in the streets, it 
 were not amiss that all that have the wall on their 
 right hand might go next to the wall. This would 
 cause almost all persons to pass one way, i.e. all 
 on one side of the street to go one way and the 
 rest another way. It is the custom in Italy (espe- 
 cially where enemies do meet) to play for the pre- 
 cedence at a game, which in Latin is called ' micare 
 digit is! 
 
 It were good that the miscarriage of a business 
 should not be a bettering of the reward of him 
 that miscarries it. Why should the nurses of sick- 
 persons (especially in London) have all that they 
 find upon them when they die } Doth it not make 
 them to desire they may die > Lawyers and their 
 clerks get the more money if they make the deeds 
 superfluously long ; the inconvenience of which is 
 unspeakable in two respects. 
 
 I found once the tails of my cattle cut almost 
 to the rump. The cowman did this, who had the 
 hair for a fee. 
 
 We pay the tithe of corn in kind. Hay we 
 compound for. In 1662 I paid for the tithe hay 
 of my demesne at Crosby, ijs. In 1663, i6s. 
 
 For many years together during the Usurpation, 
 I paid I3i-. and i^s. 4^. But about the year 1639, 
 we paid little less than 40j-. for the Hall and the 
 Town. Wool is paid in kind. For hemp, i^. the 
 bushel seeding ; for flax, u. ditto. If it do appear 
 that we have ten calves, of which by rearing, selling, 
 or killing, we have had any profit, we must pay for 
 tithe 20s. If we have seven calves or upwards, we 
 pay as much as for ten calves, only we have to 
 receive back for every calf short of ten is. For 
 five calves we pay lOi-., and for fewer ij-. for each 
 calf 
 
 I paid, 1664, for one lamb, 2s, 6d. ; for hay, 
 i6s. ; for half a calf, los. But that year I had 
 more than twelve kine, and commonly, when I had 
 ten or twelve kine, I came off with half a calf. 
 For christening and churching, 4^. ; for weddings 
 published in the church, is. %d., and for their mar- 
 riage ; for marrying by the parson with a licence 
 and not asked in the church, 6s. 
 
 Smoke, id. Garden, \d. Windmill, is. For 
 eggs at Easter, twelve eggs are paid or 2^. ; id. for 
 the master, as much for the dame, and but one 
 halfpenny for each other person at all. Receiving 
 at Easter : clerk's wages, id. ; one colt, id. Leys 
 
264 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOO A^. 
 
 A CAVA LIE R^S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 265 
 
 
 for the repairs of the church, everybody in the 
 town pays 2d. 
 
 Civil war. The Lord Gerard of Brandon told me in the 
 
 hearing of my nephew Selby, Hy. Banister and 
 others, May 18, 1663, that the late King had 900 
 servants, whereof no more than twenty-seven en- 
 gaged with him in the late war. He said there 
 were very few lawyers that adhered to the King, 
 and spoke ill as to the same thing of the nobility 
 in general that were made before the war. He 
 said at the same time, that the King's cause was 
 truly and constantly maintained by the English 
 gentry. 
 
 Thomas Selby, Esq., of Biddlestone, Northum- 
 berland, owed much to the care and good counsel 
 of his uncle. He met with an early death on 
 December 6, 1666. Mr. Henry Banister, of Bank, 
 came to a melancholy end, being slain at the races at 
 Delamere (Sir Philip Egerton's) in April 1665. His 
 murderer Colket, or Colcoth, was hanged at Chester 
 for the crime. A diary of Roger Low, mercer, of 
 Ashton-in-Makerfield, has this entry : 
 
 * 1665, April 3. — Mr. Banister de Banke came 
 through Ashton, being slain at the forest of Dela- 
 mere, being accompanied by a store of gentry.' He 
 was son of Henry Banister of Bank, Esq. (ob. 1641), 
 married to Dorothy, daughter of Roger Nowell of 
 Read, who survived him. They had no children. 
 
 (Local Gleanings, vol. i.) Mr. Blundell says in a let- 
 ter to Lawrence Ireland that it was a drunken quarrel. 
 
 August 22, 166^.— At the Swan, in the Strand, 
 near Charing Cross, I saw (for 6d.) John Dodes, as 
 I understood him, a Hollander, born at Schon- 
 haven. All I could do, standing flat on my heels, 
 was to reach with the point of my long finger to 
 the very top or middle part of his head. His 
 shoes were full three inches, as I take it, high on 
 the heel. I could not reach with my head to his 
 armpit by a full handfull. His wife was there, a 
 woman of a middle or rather of a mean stature. 
 He had had two children, both of whom were 
 dead. I asked him for one Gerrard, his neighbour, 
 whom I had heard, as I told him, to be higher 
 than himself He did not deny it, but said that 
 the man was crook-shouldered or deformed. This 
 John said he was himself twenty-eight years old, 
 and that he was grown the>readth of his thumb 
 since the age of twenty-seven. He was a handsome 
 straight man in appearance, but he wore an Indian 
 gown. He said he had been in Turkey (I saw him 
 in a turban), and that he had been in Paris, where 
 he received at the first half-a-crown of all that saw 
 him, and that he took less and less. 
 
 M M 
 
 Statu ra 
 hominum. 
 
266 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 267 
 
 Lep. 
 
 Justhia 
 
 The weekly news-book called the * Intelli- 
 gencer/ printed Monday, July 25, 1664, tells us 
 of an overgrown elephant sent by the Persian to 
 the Great Turk, and how a lion was turned to 
 him, which after they had gazed awhile did assail 
 the elephant. The elephant did forthwith throw 
 him up with his proboscis, with the bruise of 
 which the lion being astonished was trodden or 
 crushed to death by the said elephant. This is 
 confirmed by many who say that the lion is dead. 
 
 An excessive multitude of laws is the destruc- 
 tion of justice. When they can hardly all be read 
 by one man, they are not possible to be remem- 
 bered or comprehended. And if rigid penal laws 
 do abound in a great measure, they settle an arbi- 
 trary power : for whereas the rigour is too great to 
 be put into frequent execution, it must necessarily 
 come to this, that the magistrate must punish or 
 release offenders according to his own pleasure. 
 Quaere, whether for the very same reason a multi- 
 tude of pious laws and universal customs in the 
 Church (I mean such as are painful or costly) do 
 not, after some time, undoubtedly occasion the like 
 effect ; the prelates being forced either to dispense, 
 or connive at the breaking of the same. And 
 
 hereby may probably have risen the slender regard 
 which is given in many places to holy-days and 
 fasting-days. 
 
 I have thought sometimes that it might have 
 good success, if one should collect the whole pro- 
 ceedings, charges, writings, and troubles, which 
 have belonged to some particular suits of small 
 concernment Then to publish in print a relation 
 of the same with the hard terms of the law men- 
 tioned in the margin, not forgetting the abbrevia- 
 tions, the Latin, the French, and the strange hands. 
 This may be useful to deter people from suits, and 
 to induce them to submit to arbitration. The best 
 examples for that purpose may be taken out of our 
 Chanceryes, where all is done upon record ; and I 
 would have the bill printed with the answer there- 
 unto, as likewise the reply and rejoinder, and let it 
 be mentioned what sheets they contained. 
 
 Articles for Races at Crosby, drawn up by W. B. stadu.m 
 at the request of Hon. W. Molyneux, to be run on ist 
 Monday in August 1682, and yearly afterwards : — 
 
 I. It is articled and agreed upon, that a piece 
 of silver plate, or plate consisting of sundry pieces 
 of silver, shall be then exposed upon the stoop, 
 
 M M 2 
 
 
 4t| 
 
268 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'' S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 269 
 
 commonly called the chair, where the horse course 
 on Crosby Marsh doth usually begin and end, and 
 that the said plate shall be given to such horse, 
 mare or gelding, as by the observance of these 
 articles shall win the same. 
 
 2. Horse to be brought to the ground ten days 
 before the race, aired and trained there, housed and 
 fed within a mile and a half of the course. Name 
 of horse and person who intends to put him in to 
 be given two days before the horse comes to the 
 ground, to a qualified person or subscriber of 20s. 
 
 3. Every person bringing a horse to deposit 40^. 
 as a stake eight days before the race, which stake 
 or stakes either to be given to a second horse, or 
 held for another race next year, as the subscribers 
 may judge, dps. subscribers to the plate exempted. 
 No subscriber to bring more than one horse. 
 
 4. Horses to be drawn out on the race-day at 
 two p.m., and weigh with rider and accoutrements 
 ten stone. 
 
 5. And whereas the limits of the said course, 
 by reason of long discontinuance, are unknown to 
 many persons, every rider in the race shall leave 
 the three first stoops, which stand upon the marsh 
 belonging to Great Crosby and next to the town 
 
 so called, all of them on his right hand, but the 
 fourth and last stoop standing on the said marsh 
 to be left on the left hand of the rider, at whose 
 choice it shall be to leave the distance post and the 
 post or chair, at the end, either on the one hand or 
 the other. 
 
 6. That the horse which shall first end the first 
 course or heat by returning back to the starting 
 post, and by carrying his rider thither with his full 
 weight or within a pound thereof, before any horse 
 be come back to the distance post which stands 
 upon the same ground, about twelve score yards 
 from the end, shall win the plate. But if no such 
 thing happen, a second heat to be run at the end 
 of half an hour with horses not distanced. Again, 
 after another half-hour, a third heat if necessary. 
 
 7. In case the plate be not gained in three 
 heats, the horse coming in first in two, and within 
 the distance in the one he loses, shall have the 
 plate. If two different horses win the first and 
 second, the winner of third shall take it. 
 
 8. Riders not submitting to the rules to be ex- 
 cluded from winning. A cloth or flag to be placed 
 at the top of the ending post, to be let fall imme- 
 diately the first horse comes to the end. 
 
 •f 
 
 
270 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 271 
 
 Palatia nobi- 
 liura. 
 
 9. If only one horse come, he must take the 
 plate after galloping over the course. Riders and 
 horses to be weighed afresh after each heat, and 
 before he enter the scales, a flagon of beer to be 
 given to each rider if he require it. 
 
 10. Three gentlemen to be chosen by the ma- 
 jority of subscribers, for umpires in case of dispute. 
 
 The foregoing rules have been somewhat con- 
 densed, but they contain all essential particulars. 
 There is frequent mention of Crosby races, from 
 1702 to 1 728, in the Diary of Nicholas Blundell, Esq. 
 
 Chatsworth in Derbyshire, within the Peak, is 
 the Earl of Devonshire's house, most stately and 
 noble. I take the pile to be about 100 yards 
 square on the outside. It is built about a court. 
 My lord told me that it cost in building 80,000/., 
 and that the less of his two houses at Hardwick 
 cost 30,000/^ Chatsworth was built about the year 
 1573, and the little house abovesaid about 1597, 
 both of them, and also Oldcotes (which was sold 
 by his lordship to the Earl of Kingston), were 
 built by Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury. 
 
 The great chamber at the less house at Hard- 
 wick is 26 of my long paces in length, and 12 
 wide. That and the galler)' (which is, as my lord 
 
 saith, accounted to be 60 yards long, though he 
 thinks it is but 57) are, as my lord saith, 30 feet 
 high. But the gallery seemed to me to want 
 about a large foot (as I judged by the four heights 
 of the windows) of 30 feet in height, and I take 
 the hall to be as high as the gallery. The gallery 
 is over the hall, which makes a most stately high 
 pile, exceedingly full of windows. 
 
 The new gallery at the Duke of Newcastle's 
 house, called Bolsover, is in length (as his Grace's 
 architect told me) 72 yards, 22^ feet wide, and 
 about the same height. In the great chamber 
 there is almost 29 of my large paces long, and 
 almost 12 wide, and half a foot higher than the 
 gallery. 
 
 My Lord of Devonshire told me Sir Benjamin 
 Rydicar did write these verses on Chatsworth : 
 
 A woman thus composed much love would win, 
 Hard of access, fair without, fair within. 
 
 But these verses or rhymes, written in large gold 
 letters over the dining-room chimney, I am sure 
 are bald ones : — 
 
 Truly to serve in sight, duly by day or night, 
 
 My Prince with all my might, such is my nature right 
 
 If 
 
 iU 
 
 i\ 
 
 \ ' t J 
 
272 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Many other worse rhymes, and most ridiculously 
 spelt, are written there in large gold letters. In 
 the drawing chamber at Hardwick, where a stag 
 (or two stags) supports a coat of arms over the 
 chimney, are these verses writ (as my lord told 
 me) by Lady Arabella, who was cousin to King 
 James : — 
 
 Sanguine, cornu, corde, oculo, pede cerv-icis et aure 
 Nobilis ; at claro pondere nobilior. 
 
 Aucupium. A great help to the cymbal nets for bringing in 
 
 of larks about your net, is a gigg of feathers stand- 
 ing a distance off, which twirleth swiftly round on 
 the least breath of wind. When the sun doth not 
 shine, a fox tail pulled up within the compass of 
 your net will make the larks strike at it as if it 
 were a weasel. 
 
 Dress lime-twigs by the fire ; anoint your 
 hands and your twigs a little with goose-grease, 
 or any such like thing ; cleanse your hands with 
 bran, &c. 
 
 You may take a hawk by turning out a bird 
 with a most slender limed twig ; lime the bird's 
 back, and that alone will entangle the hawk. 
 
 When you hear a pheasant crow, turn out near 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 273 
 
 to him a house-cock, which will answer the crow- 
 ing of the pheasant, and thereupon they will meet 
 and fight, so that you may take the pheasant with 
 your hand. 
 
 My Lord Langdale (the first) bred up his child- Liberonun 
 ren in much awe and fear. His eldest son, being ''"""" 
 then a father of many children, did observe him 
 (even till my lord's death) with a childish awe. 
 And though this son was a man of a high spirit, 
 yet finding it to be, as he thought, ungrateful to 
 his father, he durst not give him nor procure any- 
 one to give him notice in his last sickness of the 
 apparent signs of his death, so that my lord (who 
 did not expect death) died without the help of a 
 priest. His son, who lived in the house and durst 
 scarce visit him in his sickness, did not so much as 
 adventure to pray by his bedside till my lord was • 
 in his last pangs and not able to observe what he 
 did. One of the family told me this, that was 
 present at his death. 
 
 Sir Richard Houghton's daughter did fly from 
 her parents and married a poor minister. The 
 bustle she made to be got away was apparent to 
 the servants, but no one durst speak a word, for 
 
 N N 
 
274 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 275 
 
 III % 
 
 my lady her mother, who had made her daughter 
 the idol of the family, would never endure to hear 
 anything said against her. 
 
 Praise your children openly, reprehend them 
 
 secretly. 
 
 Sir Marmaduke Langdale, the famous Royalist 
 leader, was created Baron Langdale of Holme, 
 County York, in 1658. The austerity of his manner 
 is spoken of by others. Lloyd describes him as a 
 lean mortified man, so that his enemies called him 
 the ghost. They had some reason for this, consider- 
 ing that he haunted them so much. He is highly 
 commended by Clarendon, and is said to have spent 
 160,000/. in the King's service. He died at his 
 seat. Holme, in Yorkshire, on August 5, 1661. His 
 son Marmaduke, second Lord Langdale, was Go- 
 vernor of Hull for James H., and Mr. Blundell 
 says that he was offered the command of a troop 
 of horse, which he declined. The Barony became 
 extinct in 1777 by the death of Marmaduke, fifth 
 Lord Kangdale, whose sister Mary had married 
 Charles Philip, sixteenth Lord Stourton. Their third 
 son, the Honourable Charles Stourton, assumed in 
 1815 the surname of Langdale only, incompliance 
 with the will of Philip Langdale of Houghton, county 
 York, Esq., to whose estates he succeeded. His 
 honourable and religious character is well remem- 
 bered, and on his death-bed he was admitted at his 
 earnest desire into the Society of Jesus, putting on 
 the habit of a lay-brother. The Cavalier's grand- 
 son, Nicholas Blundell, of Crosby, Esq., married in 
 
 1703 Frances, second daughter of Marmaduke, third 
 Lord Langdale. 
 
 Sir Richard Hoghton, third Baronet of Hoghton, 
 county Lancaster, was ]\LP. for his native county, 
 and died February 1677-8. He had married Sarah, 
 daughter of Philip, first Earl of Chesterfield, w^ho 
 survived him till 1698. This will be the lady re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 The casuists say it is not lawful to sell any- Emptioet 
 
 venditio. 
 
 thing above such or such a degree of dearness. 
 Quaere then, whether it be lawful to buy above 
 such or such a degree of cheapness. If one may 
 buy as cheap as he can, and yet may not sell as 
 dear as he can, how comes this judgment to pass in 
 favour of money } For he that giveth the money 
 is called the buyer ; he that giveth any other thing 
 (I mean by such contract) is called the seller ; 
 whereas my horse doth buy for me my neighbour's 
 money, as well as my neighbour's money doth buy 
 my horse for him. 
 
 Cato counselled those that were to take a farm, 
 to have a great regard what neighbours it had, and 
 Themistoclcs, being to sell a certain manor, caused 
 the cryers to proclaim that it had good neighbours. 
 
 A friend of mine, a person of great virtue, who Dueiuuu 
 
 N N 2 
 
276 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 277 
 
 Decima. 
 
 used to spend eight or nine hours each day in 
 prayer and meditation, made a long relation to 
 me, how valiantly his son had lately behaved him- 
 self in the acceptance of a duel. He made little 
 complaint against him, only (when I said so) con- 
 fessed it was unlawful, yet it seemed very apparent 
 that he took a kind of glory in his son's supposed 
 gallantry. So much doth false honour deceive 
 even virtuous men. For this same person was at 
 that very time continuing in a long and great dis- 
 pleasure against a younger son of his own for 
 having married below his quality, although the 
 portion was really more than his own fortunes de- 
 served. So that it seems, if sins be fashionable 
 sins, we cannot blame them. We would not go to 
 hell unless honour calls us. Nay, we should be 
 content to go to Heaven, if it were not against our 
 credit to receive an affront 
 
 The tyrannical decimation of Cromwell is yet 
 in fresh memory. It was once conceived to be so 
 firmly established, that a friend of mine took my 
 6d. to give me \os, when the decimation should 
 cease. This he did soon after perform. The deci- 
 mation was laid upon us in the year 1655, and 
 
 taken off about two years later. Sir Wm. Petty, 
 in his book of taxes, proposes a way for the 
 saving of 500,000/. per annum of the Church 
 revenues of England, which being allotted for the 
 publick charge, the care of souls may, notwith- 
 standing, be taken sufficiently by encouragement 
 for the remaining revenue. 
 
 1646. — My Lord of Derby took the custom of Epigramma. 
 
 some mills from Deemster Christian, and the Calf 
 
 of Man from Dick Stevenson, and after that 
 
 Stevenson and Will Christian feasted his Lordship : 
 
 on which was made this epigram — 
 
 Will did invite his guests ; they eat their fill : 
 He gave them bread that robbed his father's mill ; 
 But was not Dick the madder man by half, 
 To give him veal that stole away his calf? 
 
 1664, May 23. — Laurence Ireland, Esq., being Mirabnia 
 
 quccdam ad 
 
 that very day aged thirty years, and left by the fidemspec- 
 
 tantia. 
 
 late death of his wife a jolly, healthful widower 
 with two daughters and no son, told me as we were 
 coming from Holywell, that he would not marry 
 again, although by that marriage he should know 
 that all the people of England would become 
 Catholics. That day I took leave of him, who 
 
 ''S 
 
 t' 
 
 
 I J 
 
278 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 was then on his journey towards the other side of 
 the sea with intention to undertake a reh'gious life. 
 
 Laurence Ireland of Lydiate, the last squire of 
 his race, after the death of his wife, became a Jesuit, 
 and died of consumption at York, June 30, 1673. 
 He was an intimate friend and neighbour of Mr. 
 Blundell, and entrusted his two young children to 
 the care of his lady, to whom he writes afterwards 
 in terms of grateful acknowledgment for the care 
 bestowed upon them. He settled his estate of 
 Lydiate Manor, cScc, on his elder daughter Mar- 
 garet, who married Sir Charles Anderton, second 
 Baronet of Lostock, and had a numerous issue. 
 The second daughter, Katharine, became a Nun 
 O.S.B. at Dunkirk, where she died February 4, 
 1740. (See ' Lydiate Hall and its Associations.') 
 
 '* 
 
 lip 
 
 Morstin. &c. " A.D. 1660. — About the end of June, I met 
 with a young Polander at Dieppe, with whom I 
 had much free and pleasant company for sundry 
 days at the same inn. He was newly landed from 
 his own country. He spoke Latin most readily, 
 and learnt it (as he said) at seven years of age by 
 conversing with his father and a tutor. He ap- 
 peared to be little or no less than twenty-four years 
 of age, yet he told me he was born November lo, 
 l64i,sothat he had not then attained to the twen- 
 tieth year of his age. If that was true, he was 
 
 \1 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 279 
 
 almost prodigiously learned for one of that age. 
 Sure I am he gave me great occasion of humility. 
 I could scarcely mention anything, even out of 
 those Latin books which I had studied and pored 
 on with endless repetitions, but he had it almost 
 by heart ; or else knew the substance thereof 
 much better than myself. Especially Barclay's 
 
 * Argenis,' the historical part of which I had read 
 over no fewer than eight times. The like of 
 
 * Quintus Curtius,' &c. I never met with an Eng- 
 lishman that seemed to know the tenth part of 
 what he knew and repeated to me of Owen, our 
 English epigrammatist. Seneca the philosopher 
 was his vade meaini, and he seemed to have sucked 
 all the marrow out of that book. He wrote his 
 name thus in my table-book, ' Stanislaus de Rati- 
 borko Morstin." He said he was nephew to that 
 Morstin whose name we often read in the news- 
 book as Secretary to the King of Poland. He 
 wrote in my book sundry epigrams, one of which 
 IS as follows : — 
 
 In Reginam Poloniae nomine, non re, Bonam. 
 
 Qui tibi cunque Bonae sacris dum tingeris undis 
 Imposuit nomen, omnibus imposuit. 
 
 \ 
 ? 
 
 
 1 
 
28o 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 281 
 
 Treasure- 
 trove at 
 Scarisbrick. 
 
 Extract from a letter of William Blundell to 
 Mr. Scarisbrick at St. Omers College, April 29, 
 l6S5 :— -Hugh Worthington, your tenant, hath found 
 a few days since, in the ground about his house, 
 divers scores of most ancient Roman pieces, many 
 of them pure silver, others (supposed once to be 
 gold) prove now but brass: these about half-a- 
 crown in weight, those but sixpence. The faces 
 ai)d inscriptions upon the silver coin are cleariy 
 apparent, and very neatly cut ; the character is the 
 same now used, or with little difference. One of 
 these bears the face of Vespasian, with his name 
 and title (Caesar) stamped at large upon the verge. 
 On the other side is a woman, despoiled of all her 
 dresses, in a sedentary and pensive posture, and 
 the inscription upon the ring, Judaea. You have 
 in others S P Q R in a wreath of laurel, the Roman 
 eagle displayed, the altars and instruments of sacri- 
 fice, with the faces of sundry of the first twelve 
 Caesars, no less discernible than the stamps of our 
 modern coin. Thus, sir, you may see that your 
 learned Worship's poor tenants, without the trouble 
 of Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius, or any other of those 
 crabbed companions, are as conversant with the 
 noble old heroes as yourself We have here an 
 
 rum 
 cursus. 
 
 odd opinion, that the finding of iron is lucky, but 
 of silver extremely unfortunate. 
 
 James Scarisbrick of Scarisbrick, county Lanca- 
 shire, was first cousin to the writer, their mothers 
 being two sisters, daughters of Roger Bradshaigh of 
 the Haigh, Esq. Mr. Scarisbrick succeeded his 
 father Edward in the estate in 1653, at the age of 
 eighteen, and had returned to St. Omers to finish 
 his studies. He died of fever April 1673, and was 
 the subject of the remarkable dream of Lady Clifton, 
 related in another place, and told Mr. Blundell by 
 Sir Thomas Clifton on the day of the funeral, May r, 
 1673. 
 
 December 18, 1663.— Jack Hesketh, starring at Equo 
 the usual place of Crosby course, and running by 
 Lightheeles stubb (left on the left hand) to Crosby 
 pole, and turning back the very same way, came 
 to the start again in twelve minutes and two-thirds 
 of a minute, as near as I could hit it by the help 
 of a half-quarter and a half-minute glass. The 
 horse was the Eari of Derby's, matched to run for 
 lool. January 11 following, with a gray gelding to 
 carry 15 stone 9 lbs., and the horse 12 stone 9 lbs. 
 The rider abovesaid weighed, when he gave the 
 heat, 12 stone loj lbs. ; he was shamefully beaten. 
 
 My blind stallion did run, by the same glasses, 
 upon the sea sands (which were then heavy), 
 
 O O 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 w 
 
 \ 
 
 /,i 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 'i'l 
 
282 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 runnine ofT and on, and turning in a compass of 
 about 25 yards in diameter, just 5 miles and 82 
 roods. Each rood is 24 feet, and each mile 220 
 roods, which is after the measure of 320 statute 
 perch to a mile, each perch or rod consisting of 
 i6\ feet He ran this space of ground in fifteen 
 minutes time, wanting about the sixth part of one 
 minute, and no more. 
 
 Cha-itas. The news-book, August 24, 1665, tells how *it 
 
 hath pleased God to move the hearts of some 
 citizens of London, &c. to consider of the great 
 necessities of the poor of the out-parishes of this 
 city, by reason of the dreadful visitation of the 
 pestilence, and they have remitted the disposal of 
 their charity to the Right Honourable Sir John 
 Laurence, Lord Mayor of London/ Then he tells 
 us the just sum is 61/., and names twenty-five 
 bcncfiictors, beginning John Wiat, &c. This I 
 note as a ridiculous charity to be so published. 
 
 Kbemosyna. John Widowcs, the churchwarden of Winwick, 
 when he opened the poor man's box which stands 
 in the church, called upon the parson, Mr. Sher- 
 lock (a very charitable man) to be present at the 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 283 
 
 opening of it, and withal said to him, ' Sir, if here 
 be any brass money you ought to make it good.' 
 'Who, I?' said Mr. Sherlock, 'I pray, sir, your 
 reason.' * Marry, sir,' replied Widowes, * there is 
 never a man but yourself that ever puts money 
 into it, and therefore you ought to make it good 
 if any be amiss.* 
 
 My aunt Massey used sometimes to give a 
 peck or bushel of corn to several particular persons 
 of the poorest sort. Once, when she had given a 
 measure to a poor woman, the woman held her 
 sack open after the corn was put in, and said, ' I 
 hope, good Mrs., you will give me now some 
 charity or overmeasure, according as others do 
 after a measure of corn sold.' 
 
 I knew an old wandering beggar, by name 
 Hesketh, of whom I have credibly heard this tale. 
 He understood one time that a company of young 
 gallants (most or all of them Catholics) were pass- 
 ing through Downholland, towards Scarisbrick. It 
 was in the times of usurpation, and in the summer 
 season. The man, being very old, had his grand- 
 son to attend him, whom he commanded to go 
 aside ; then he threw himself into a puddle, and 
 
 wallowed therein. The gallants, coming to the 
 
 002 
 
 VI 
 
 r 
 
 /' 
 

 284 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 place, asked him what he was. He replied, ' I will 
 never deny myself to be a Catholic, and because 
 I am so, your comrades the troopers that went 
 before you have beaten and used me thus; and 
 now I do expect you will kill me outright.' Here- 
 upon the soft-hearted gallants made a contribution 
 of twelve or fourteen shillings. Which when he 
 had got, and the gentlemen passed away, he called 
 to his boy and said, * Here is a trick to help >^ou 
 when you grow to be old.' 
 
 Rev. Richard Sherlock, D.D., born 1612, was 
 presented to the rectory of Wlnwick by Charles, Earl 
 of Derby, and died June 16, 1689. He had the 
 reputation of a pious, humble, and charitable man. 
 The epitaph dictated by himself may still be seen in 
 the chancel of that ancient church. It concludes 
 with these words, *Sal infatiuitum conculcate;' 
 ('Tread under foot the worthless salt.') Dr. Sher- 
 lock's niece married Bishop Wilson. 
 
 The Masseys of Rixton Hall, near Warrington, 
 were an ancient family, which became extinct in the 
 male hne about the middle of last century. The 
 preceding anecdote regarding Dr. Sherlock would 
 probably come to Mr. Blundell's knowledge through* 
 his relatives at Rixton. 
 
 Niiiiiiiiii 
 
 The golden mean is the best measure for all 
 things ; and the hitting of this aright is the 
 
 \ 
 
 ■>^7 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 285 
 
 greatest wisdom. I fear my countrymen are not 
 guilty of too much wit upon this account. We 
 love all in excess. Our modes are now excessive 
 little, then excessive large ; excessive broad and 
 excessive narrow ; excessive long and excessive 
 short ; extremely rich and extremely plain. The 
 breeding of our children is and hath been faulty 
 in the contrary extremes. The manners of wives 
 for the most part are strangely changed. Once a 
 velvet gown would have passed from mother to 
 daughter for two or three generations, and they 
 knew no more of London but only the name. 
 Now they know the streets as well as the porters 
 of the town ; and they pay not for their gowns 
 and silk stockings till there be half-a-dozen on the 
 score. 
 
 A while ago the best parts of the nation were 
 given by pious souls into churchmen's hands, and 
 a law was made to restrain these excessive gifts. 
 Then presently comes a zeal which holds it a 
 Christian work to destroy the Church and the 
 churchmen. And because there was or seemed 
 to be an excess before in some religious duties, the 
 fonts were pulled down and the churches turned to 
 stables. 
 
 tt 
 
286 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Hibemi. 
 
 Biiodecim 
 viri. 
 
 Mr. Richard Bellings in his letter to me, 
 January lo, 1674, saith, *I must say this for my 
 nation, that next the Spaniard it is the laziest 
 generation/ 
 
 In August 1676, many great causes were 
 brought into the Court to be tried, I being then at 
 Lancaster, where I saw wretched mean persons 
 most commonly (yea, almost wholly) upon the 
 juries. Of these sundry were bum-bailiffs, as 
 Tom Tilsley, Edward Atkinson, &c., whereof the 
 latter was by far the best like man in the whole 
 twelve. Sundry of these men served on twenty or 
 thirty juries, and each had 4^. a piece in each 
 cause. One John Brewer (who wants an eye) 
 being then often sworn on the jury, a gentlewoman 
 who stood next me (daughter to Mr. Rigby, Clerk 
 of the Crown) told me that the said Brewer had 
 two brothers who were drudges at her father's 
 house and natural fools, and that the said John 
 was little better; all which Mr. Rigby confirmed 
 to me about two days after. Yet I saw this 
 Brewer, and others that appeared as simple and 
 as poor as he, sworn on the jury for the trial of 
 Mrs. Anderton's estate in Lydiate, Melling, &c., 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 287 
 
 which I take to be worth 10,000/. and more. Of 
 which jury young Mr. Preston of Holker was the 
 first, but no other like a gentleman except one, 
 Crowder. In this cause the plaintiff was non- 
 suited. 
 
 The Mrs. Anderton, who had to defend her 
 title to her estate under the disadvantages spoken 
 of, was Margaret Ireland, who had married Mr., 
 afterwards Sir Charles Anderton, second Baronet of 
 Lostock. Her father, Laurence Ireland, on leaving 
 the world in 1664, had settled his estates upon her. 
 After his death in 1673, they were claimed by his 
 cousin Francis Ireland, who pleaded a settlement 
 made by the grandfather in favour of the male line. 
 Although this deed was recited at the Inquisition 
 P. M., it was proved never to have been executed, 
 so that the opposition fell to the ground. Lady 
 Anderton enjoyed her estates till her death in 1720, 
 when her bequest of them became the occasion of 
 some curious proceedings. (See ' Lydiate Hall and 
 its Associations.') 
 
 I am now (1676) eight or nine years older than patiemia. 
 Cato Uticencis was at the time of his death, yet I 
 never drew blood by giving a blow to a servant. 
 But Cato, the very next night before his designed 
 and much-famed death, blooded his own hand by 
 striking his servant even for a faithful and loving 
 act. Yet Cato was very patient, and I am a pas- 
 
288 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 289 
 
 Edvardi 
 
 Scarisbrick 
 
 epitaphium. 
 
 sionate wretch. We are not to judge of men by 
 one act or circumstance. 
 
 Edvardi Scarisbrick, Armigeri, Lancastriensis, 
 Quod reliquum, hie situm est. 
 (&c.) Obiit November 7, 1652. 
 
 The above is engraven upon a square marble, 
 which I procured to be set in the church of St. 
 Andrew in Holborn, together with his coat of 
 arms. You may find it over his grave, upon the 
 left hand as you enter at the little south gate. 
 
 There are nine eulogistic lines, in one of which 
 the deceased is described as dear ' to God, to the 
 Angels, and to Stanley ' (Deo, Angelis et Stanlaio), 
 a curious climax, the conception of Rev. Samuel 
 Rutter, Chaplain to the Earl of Derby and after- 
 wards Bishop of Sodor and Man, who composed 
 this inscription. A friend who kindly undertook to 
 look for it in the present church informs the writer 
 that the ancient monuments are put together in an 
 ante-chapel under the tower. He says that the 
 room is so dark and the monuments placed at such 
 a height, that it is difficult to see, and impossible to 
 decipher any inscription. The church standing in 
 1652 escaped the fire, but did not escape the de- 
 stroying hand of Christopher Wren, by whom it was 
 rebuilt in 1686. Hare ('Walks in London,' vol. ii. 
 p. 193) calls it a bad likeness of St. James', Picca- 
 dilly. Its associations are not without interest. 
 
 Richard Savage, the Poet, was baptised there, and 
 it was the burial place of the unfortunate Chatterton. 
 Stillingfleet was its Rector in 1665, and later on. 
 Dr. Sacheverel, whose name became the 'shibbo- 
 leth ' of a party. He died Rector in 1724, and lies 
 buried in the chancel. 
 
 A former Edward Scarisbrick had been receiver- 
 general for Henry, Earl of Derby, and was one of 
 the gentlemen-ushers who attended the burial of his 
 father Edward, Earl of Derby, in that remarkable 
 display of funeral pageantry which the town of 
 Ormskirk witnessed on December 4, 1574. The 
 full details may be found in Collins' Peerage, which 
 says that the place assigned by the Heralds to 
 Edward Scarisbrick was to accomi)any the chariot 
 which conveyed the body itself : 
 
 'Then the chariot, wherein the body lay, was 
 covered with black velvet gamislicd with escut- 
 cheons, drawn by four horses, trapped with black, 
 and on each horse was placed four escutcheons and 
 a shaffron of his arms, and also on each horse sat a 
 page in a black coat, and a hood on his head ; on 
 the fore-seat of the said chariot sat a gentleman- 
 usher in his gown, and his hood on his head, and 
 a white rod in his hand ' (vol. ii. p. 76). 
 
 This Edward Scarisbrick, having lost his only 
 son Alexander, left the property to his nearest heir- 
 male, Thomas Scarisbrick of Borwick, in t'urness 
 whose son Henry died in 1608. The latter uas 
 succeeded by his son Edward, the person com- 
 memorated by Mr. Blundell, whose uncle he was 
 by marriage with Frances, daughter of Roger Brad- 
 shaigh of Haigh, near Wigan, Esq. The last in 
 the male line of this ancient race was the late 
 
 P P 
 
 \ 
 
..#■■ 
 
 290 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 291 
 
 Jll I 
 
 M 
 ? 
 
 43eliii. 
 
 Charles Scarisbrick, Esq., who died unmarried in 
 i860, leaving large possessions, inherited and ac- 
 quired. The manors of Scarisbrick, Halsall and 
 Downholland, fell to his eldest sister, Ann, widow 
 of Sir Thomas Windsor Hunloke, of Wingerworth, 
 Derbyshire, Bart, who assumed the name of Scaris- 
 brick. At her death in 1872, she was succeeded by 
 her only surviving daughter, Eliza Margaret, married 
 to Leon Biandos, Marcjuis de Castbja. This lady 
 is since dead without issue, and the Marquis now 
 enjoys the estate. 
 
 I do not remember any frost in England so 
 lon^ and so violent as that which happened in the 
 year 1683-4, concerning which I shall here insert 
 some words out of Mr. Michael Rock's letter, 
 dated at London, January 29, 1683, and directed 
 to Edmund Butler, Esq., at Crosby, viz. :— 
 
 * We have but little news about town ; that 
 which gives most occasion of discourse is the ex- 
 tremity of the weather, and our great river Thames 
 being frozen over. The like was never seen, it 
 being almost every day covered over with people ; 
 several booths— nay, several thousands of booths 
 arc built on it, and coaches and carts go as fre- 
 quently on it almost as in the streets. The common 
 passage from the city to Whitehall and West- 
 minster is on the Thames, it being the shorter cut. 
 
 We had yesterday a bull baited on the Thames. 
 In fine, it looks like a vast common, and not a 
 river. Every day for this month past, it seemed 
 as if there were a fair upon it, all things being sold 
 there in booths, of which there are several great 
 lanes between the bridge and Westminster, besides 
 what are all along up the river and below the 
 bridge. The like was never seen by any man now 
 living. All trade and commerce is ruined by this 
 weather, for no posts can come or go. There is 
 now due from Ireland thirteen packets, and five or 
 six from other parts.' 
 
 On August 26, 1674, I was told at Dublin by Patricius 
 
 Hiberniaj 
 
 one Mr. Carney (who lived, as I take it, at his own apostolus. 
 house, the Holy Lamb, in High Street), that he had 
 seen the crosier staff of St. Patrick, which he saith 
 is kept by Donogh, alias Denis Carney, of Balli- 
 dough, in the county of Tipperary. Alford speaks 
 of this staff, tome i, p. 539. 
 
 There died in the compass of about one year Parliamen- 
 tarians and 
 
 four of our chiefest Lancashire colonels of the Par- ZT"'"'" 
 
 liament party, viz., Ashton, Dodding, More, and 
 
 Rigby. Of which the last was thought, as his 
 
 nephew told me, to be certainly poisoned. 
 
 p p 2 
 
292 
 
 A CAVALIEIVS NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 293 
 
 f 
 
 ^.: 
 
 There died within the compass of seven weeks, 
 1656, Lieutenant Colonel Aspinwall, Colonel Hol- 
 croft, and Colonel Egerton, of which the last did 
 poison himself by mistake. There died also a few 
 months before, Jo. Atherton, Esq., High Sheriff of 
 the county, who had been a captain for the Par- 
 liament. Since the Great Committee for Seques- 
 tration was changed, there have been five new 
 Commissioners, four whereof, to wit, Holt, Cunliffe, 
 Massey, Aspinwall, are all of them dead, and had 
 the same precedence in death as they had in their 
 severity. Mr. Pigot, indeed, who had left the place, 
 and was esteemed the most moderate of them all, 
 is yet alive. 
 
 The judgment that hath been shown upon 
 sequestrators hath been very observable, and no 
 less upon those that have intruded to other men's 
 estates. Witness Mr. Ambrose, Ellison, Richard- 
 son, the man that expired in so horrid a manner 
 on the edge of Yorkshire, that other that was killed 
 with a tile, and the man that left the employment 
 upon the breaking of his leg. These were all 
 sequestrators, but inquire further. 
 
 For intruders, there was Mr. Chorley, his 
 daughter, and others of his family that died in a 
 
 horrid manner. Then Norris, Whittson, Latham. 
 I have heard it confidently reported that Peter 
 Ambrose (that worst sequestrator of all others) 
 died of phthisis, being a prisoner to the State, 
 because he could not make his accounts. 
 
 Colonel Ralph Ashton, Major-General, and M.P. 
 for Lancashire, was of the Middleton branch of that 
 family. He is said to have died 1652, aged forty- 
 five. Colonel George Dodding was son of Miles 
 Dodding, of Conishead Priory, Lancashire, Esq., and 
 had commanded one of the Lancashire regiments 
 during the civil war. Colonel John Holcroft was of 
 Holcroft, Lancashire, and defended Lancaster Castle 
 against the Royalists in 1643. He was buried at 
 Newchurch, in Winwick parish, on April 22, 1656. 
 His daughter Mary married Colonel Blood. 
 
 Colonel Peter Egerton, of Shaw, near Flixton, 
 commanded the Parliamentary forces at the siege 
 of Latham House. From the Flixton register he 
 appears to have died May 22, 1656. In Newcome's 
 Autobiography, November 1657, we find the follow- 
 ing reference to his death : — ' This induces to re- 
 membrance another sad story that was notoriously 
 known not many years since of Colonel Egerton 
 of the Shaw, here in Lancashire, who used to take 
 flower of brimstone for some distemper he had, and 
 he sent the maid into the closet, and she mingled it 
 with milk, and he drunk it, and it proved mercury ; 
 and by this woful mistake he was poisoned, and died 
 within a few hours.' John Atherton of Atherton, 
 Esq., died January 17, and was buried at Atherton 
 
 ^ _^ Ill""*" "»"""' 
 
294 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 295 
 
 '% 
 
 4 
 
 lil •; 
 •■ ! 
 
 January 24, 1655-6. In his funeral sermon, deli- 
 vered by J. Livesey, minister of the Gospel at Ather- 
 ton, he is extolled as one *who in his youth was 
 counted worthy of command in a valiant, victorious 
 
 army.' 
 
 Alexander Norris, of Bolton, was treasurer of the 
 Parliamentary Committee for Lancashire, in 1645. 
 On April i, 1643, Nicholas and Robert Cunliffe are 
 both in the list of Lancashire sequestrators ; the 
 former is said to be of Hollinge. Peter Holt's name 
 appears in 1649, and that of William Ambrose at an 
 earlier date. George Piggott was a Commissioner in 
 1650 ; Edward Aspinall and Ro. Massey, in 1654.— 
 
 J. E. B. 
 
 Colonel John More was son and heir of Edward 
 More, of Bank Hall, near Liverpool, Esq., who fell 
 down dead in the street (as Mr. Blundell records) 
 about 1632. To Colonel More was entrusted the 
 defence of Liverpool when besieged by Prince 
 Rupert. He conducted a force into Ireland at the 
 time of Cromwell's expedition, and died at DubUn 
 on his return in 1650. He was M.P. for Liverpool, 
 and one of those members who signed the warrant 
 for the King's death. 
 
 There were three Colonels Rigby of the name of 
 Alexander, all active partisans in the civil war. The 
 one referred to was of Middleton, and originally 
 bred to the law. Entering the army, he became 
 one of its foremost leaders, and is styled by Lady 
 Derby 'that inveterate rebel' He was M.P. for 
 Wigan in the Long Parliament, and made a Baron 
 of the Exchequer in 1649. He died the following 
 year at Croydon, while on the circuit, of an infec- 
 tious disorder, to which both his companion Judge 
 
 Yates, and the Sheriff of the County fell victims. 
 His son Alexander was also a Lieutenant Colonel 
 for the Parliament, and is mentioned by Mr. Blundell 
 as having related to Mr. William Blundell, when 
 they met at Haigh, an anecdote already given. The 
 third, Colcnel Alexander Rigby, was of the Burgh 
 family, and on the side of the King. It was his son, 
 Alexander Rigby, of Layton, who, when Sheriff of 
 Lancashire in 1677, erected the monument to Sir 
 Thomas Tildesley, which may still be seen on the 
 battle field, near Wigan, where that gallant hero 
 
 fell. 
 
 Mr. Blundell has the following notice at the end 
 of an obituary for 1679 : ' Evan Heaton, of Billinge, 
 an old sequestrator, drowned in a pit as he came 
 from Wigan, in the way from which he had drunk at 
 two ale-houses.' 
 
 I heeird the Countess of Derby say, A.D. 1644, Miracuia. 
 that since miracles ceased in the Church, she 
 thought there had not been a more wonderful 
 thing than the preservation of Latham House. It 
 was then newly relieved from a long siege in 
 which her Ladyship had made a most noble re- 
 sistance. 
 
 It has been asserted by some wTiters that Mr. 
 Blundell himself took part in this memorable de- 
 fence. This is clearly a mistake ; as the wound 
 which he received at the assault on Lancaster, 
 March 18, 1642-3, was of so severe a nature as to 
 
296 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Aucupmm et 
 variae ejus 
 artes. 
 
 render him totally incapable of any further active 
 military service. Charlotte, Countess of Derby, 
 died at Knowsley on March 22, 1663. 
 
 Observe a flock of stares (or shepsters) when 
 they are ready to lodge themselves in a dovecote 
 or some thicket, and you shall see how they will 
 fly up and down together a long time in a great 
 and thick knot. If you do then turn out a quick 
 stare with a limed thread of near three yards long, 
 she will straight fly to the rest, and flocking among 
 them she will infallibly bring down entangled with 
 her thread one or two (at the least) and perhaps 
 five or six of those birds ; and this you may do 
 often with the like success. But take heed that 
 the thread be not limed too near the bird. This 
 experiment has been tried successfully by Mr. 
 Thomas Stanton, from whom 1 had it 
 
 He told me of a merry conceited experiment 
 (which I rather take to be a mere speculation) of 
 catching wild ducks. If you go into the water up 
 to the neck, with a pumpion put over your head, 
 and whilst the ducks come to eat the seeds which 
 must be stuck upon the outsides of the pumpion, 
 you may take them by the legs, and pluck them 
 quietly one after another under the water. 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 297 
 
 cerasi 
 
 semine 
 
 nata. 
 
 He told me likewise of an odd ridiculous way 
 of catching herons, which I forbear to relate. 
 October 29, 1660. 
 
 About the year 1648 or '49, I sowed cherry Fj-^xinusex 
 stones upon a gardeij bed finely wrought for 
 that purpose. There came up no cherry tree at 
 all, but in place thereof a pretty crop of ash plants, 
 sundry of which were planted afterwards in the 
 parsnip yard or dovecote croft, as we now call it. 
 I do not doubt at all but that they were really 
 produced of the stone of cherries, for no seeds of 
 ashes were sown on that bed that I do know or 
 suspect. And I do presume that the stones grew 
 of such a tree as had been grafted in the stock of 
 a cherry. For the seed of fruit will produce a tree 
 ao-reeable to the stock or root from whence it 
 came. 
 
 The following are the latest notes written by 
 Mr. Blundell, and were compiled in answer to an 
 application from some London booksellers for any 
 remarkable facts suitable for a new edition of Cam- 
 den's 'Britannia.' They were addressed in 1693, 
 a portion of them to Mr. Abel Swall, Bookseller, at 
 the Unicorn, at the West-end of St. Paul's, London, 
 and the remainder to Mr. Timothy Childe, Book- 
 seller. 
 
 Q Q 
 
k) 
 
 Altcar. 
 
 Forniby. 
 
 Lathom 
 s; aw. 
 
 298 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 I find the township of Altcar &c. in Lanca- 
 shire to have the privilege to be free from taxes, 
 at the least from such as are laid for the behoof of 
 the county. 
 
 Mr. Camden speaks of fishes caught by the 
 diir^ers within the earth. He calls the place 
 Ferneby, but the name is certainly Formby. I 
 have lived above sixty years in the neighbourhood, 
 yet I can by no inquiry hear of any such thing. 
 True it is that the unctuous matter he speaks of 
 there is greatly remarkable. A chemist in our 
 neighbourhood reports that he has extracted from 
 it, being first congealed into a turf, an oil extraor- 
 dinary sovereign for paralytic distempers, &c. 
 
 Mineral waters or spaws are now abounding 
 everywhere in the kingdom. We have one of 
 these in the Earl of Derby's ground near Lathom 
 Park, Lancashire. The want of convenient lodg- 
 ing makes it less frequented, and I had not men- 
 tioned it but that it hath done some notable cures, 
 and one to my certain knowledge the greatest and 
 the quickest that ever I knew to be done by any 
 such water. 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 299 
 
 I think you ought to inform yourself of that The wides. 
 most wonderful mine of solid salt lately discovered 
 in Cheshire. A lump of the same was given me 
 by Sir J. P. and I can scarcely distinguish it from 
 alum except only by the taste. It is said to be 
 about forty foot thick, and certainly all the rich 
 salt springs in the Wiches mentioned by Mr. Cam- 
 den derive their perpetual flow from this or from 
 such like. 
 
 The buildings and people of Leverpoole, our Leverpooie. 
 next post town, are certainly more than doubly 
 augmented and the customs eight or ten-fold in- 
 creased within twenty-eight years last past. 
 
 That heroic and loyal act of Sherlotta Countess LaU^am 
 of Derby in her personal and successful defence 
 of Latham House against a potent and long siege 
 in 1644 may deserve an entire history. It is true 
 that that ancient house after a second siege was . 
 laid almost flat in the dust, and so was the head of 
 James, that loyal Earl of Derby, cut off at Bolton 
 in Lancashire October 15, 165 1, by the rebels' pre- 
 vailing power. 
 
 QQ2 
 
3cx> 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOO A' 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BO OAT. 
 
 301 
 
 Lead mine. 
 
 Mill-stones. 
 
 |llll| 
 
 Iron. 
 
 Coal. 
 
 A mine of lead in Whittle, near Chorlcy, Lan- 
 cashire, lately found and wrought with good suc- 
 cess in the land of Sir Ric. Standish, I take to 
 be the first lead mine that has been wrought in 
 this country. 
 
 Near to the same place is a plentiful quarry of 
 mill-stones not less fit to be noted than that which 
 is mentioned by Camden in the ' Peak.* 
 
 Mines in Furness and elsewhere which produce 
 iron-ore. . I have seen one of them long since, but 
 I know not how they succeed. I think they were 
 not known in Camden's time. 
 
 There are plentiful and profitable mines of an 
 extraordinary canel-coal wrought now and long in 
 the grounds of Sir R[oger] B[radshaigh] of Haigh, 
 near Wigan. Besides the splendid flame it yields 
 in burning, we have often seen this coal framed 
 and curiously polished into the appearance of 
 black marble and into the forms of large candle- 
 sticks, sugar-boxes, spoons and many other knacks 
 to garnish as it were a cupboard with a kind of 
 sable plate. These things have been a very ac- 
 
 ceptable present to our friends at London and to 
 others beyond the seas. 
 
 Mr. Camden speaks of the prodigious floating Breerton^ 
 of certain fatal blocks as predicting the death of 
 the heirs of the family of the Breertons. I never 
 heard the thing contradicted, saving that in a long 
 discourse which an ancient lady of that house 
 made of that subject to Sherlotta Countess of 
 Derby, I heard her say that she did not give much 
 credit to it. Yet she seemed to ground her dis- 
 belief too much upon one late imposture proved 
 upon the boatmen of the place who had drawn 
 much people together and gotten some money 
 from them by playing a knavish trick. The truth 
 of the main matter may be worth the search. 
 
 In 1646 I observed in the Isle of Man that a isieofMan. 
 person who desired to commence a suit brought 
 a small piece of slate or thin stone to the Governor, 
 whereon he wrote his name or mark with a stile or 
 such like matter and gave it back to the plaintifl*. 
 He was then pleased to tell me that this being 
 delivered to the defendant imported as much as a 
 summons under a penalty to appear in the Court. 
 
Northamp- 
 ton. 
 
 f 
 
 I 1 
 
 Dublin. 
 
 Kilkenny. 
 
 .1 
 
 302 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 This story may be pleasant enough to an English- 
 man that spends so much money in his proceedings 
 at law. 
 
 It may be noted upon the city of Northampton 
 that from the ancient rotten buildings of wood and 
 clay it has now become the handsomest little town 
 in the kingdom, and not unlike to the fine build- 
 ings in Holland. 
 
 Dublin is strangely beautified with building on 
 new ground and also with several bridges. The 
 bowling-green is highly pleasant, convenient, and 
 large. There I have seen eight companies or sets 
 of bowlers playing all at a time ; and the Lord 
 Lieutenant himself being one, it is not to be 
 thought he would suffer the ground to be cloyed. 
 
 The reason why the city of Kilkenny in Ire- 
 land is commonly said to have water without mud, 
 air without fog^ and fii'e zvithout smoke, is taken 
 from the limpidness of the river, the dryness of 
 the seat, and from that admirable hot-pit coal 
 which is hardly ever seen to blaze or smoke. The 
 castle peereth aloft delicately just over the river. 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 303 
 
 The following obituaries which Mr. Blundell has 
 added to collections of his letters^ may be useful in 
 fixing dates and particulars of the deaths of remark- 
 able persons : — 
 
 1672-3. 
 Mr. Moore dyed June 17. Mr. Thomas Moore 
 dyed June 21. Mrs. Peters, of Greenfield. Mr. 
 William Anderton. Elin Shepard. Ginet Hil. 
 Mr. Fenwick Moore dyed June 28. Edmond 
 Hulm. Captain Asmal, of Amerston. Lady 
 Howard, of Corby. Mr. John Gerard and his only 
 chyld. Catherine Bridge. My niece Clenel. Mr. 
 Plumpton Atturney. Mr. Thomas Blundel, of 
 Ince. Mr. Haskene, of Haskene, and (a few weeks 
 after) his brother. Mr. Samuel Aspinwill. Mr. 
 Raphael Hollinshead. Mr. John Vincent, alias 
 Kanes. Mrs. Elinor Eccleston. Mrs. Catherine 
 Shakerley. About eighty men drowned on Formby 
 shore in a ship, September 22 or 23. Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Ogles. Sir Cicil Traford. Mr. Sayers 
 drowned a hunting at y*" Breck, November 25. 
 The Earle of Derby dyed at Knowsley of a dropsie, 
 on December 21, 1672. Alderman Brownlow, of 
 Leverpool, a young man who had been maior y*^ 
 year before. Mrs. Townley, of Townley, a mother 
 of many young children. At Leverpoole dead in 
 
304 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 It " 
 
 i 
 
 a few dayes three young men of note, Alderman 
 Brownlow, Mr. Robert Breers, merchant, and Mr. 
 Formby, newly marryed. The Duke of Richmond 
 sodainly. Sir George Midleton. Mr. Farrington, 
 of Werden. Mr. Marshal, of Prescot Mr. Charles 
 Walmsley, of Selby. Sarracol (Sorocold) of — , 
 reported to be worth 26,000/. Richard Adam. 
 Mr. Thomas Scarisbrick. The Lady Haggerston. 
 The Roman Empres. James Scarisbrick, Esq. 
 Young Mrs. Preston, of Howker (Holker). Young 
 Mrs. Nowel, of Read. Lady Mountgaret dyed in 
 February or March. The Lady Shakerley. So- 
 merset Oldfield, of Oldfield, Esq. dyed sodainly ; 
 so did Mr. Francis Hollinshead. The Lady Preston. 
 Mr. Plowden, of Plowden. Mrs. More, of Bank 
 Hall. Mr. James Anderton, of Lostock, was slain 
 in the year 1672, in parting som persons that 
 fought. My sister Haggerston, June 22, 1673, and 
 her onely daughter at y*^ same hour. Mr. Laurence 
 Ireland, June 30, 1673. Mrs. Stanley, of Eccleston, 
 dyed in chyldbed. Sir William Stanley, Sep- 
 tember 24, 1673. Mr. Gerard P. 
 
 In the margin these notes are inserted : — 
 
 Mrs. Brigit Savage maryed. Lady Stanley 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK, 
 
 305 
 
 distracted. Mr. R. Bradshaigh maryed. Lady 
 Clifton's dream. Jack Clifton's ruin. 
 
 1673-4-5- 
 November 1673, Mr. William Martin dyed 
 sodainly in drink at Levcrpool. James Anderton, 
 Esq. dyed December 16. My aunt, Elin Brad- 
 shaigh, at Roan, December 28. Mr. Robert Mayl. 
 Mr. Peter Stanley. Mr. Andrew^ Holland. Lame 
 Gervise Clifton. Dutches of Newcastle. Mrs. 
 Gorsuch. About October 1S73, Timothy, an old 
 huntsman of Sir Richard Fleetwood's (who was 
 well known at + B) fell from his horse as he came 
 from the ale-house in y^ evening, and was found 
 dead (unhurt, yet warm) in /' morning, with y'" 
 whip in his hand. Mr. William Parker, of Woof- 
 house. Sir Thomas Haggerston, March 5, 1673 
 (or rather, perhaps, y" 6th). Mrs. Osbalston, of 
 Osbalston. Mr. Richard Moore, P. Mr. John 
 Mollins, P. Mr. Staninought, parson of Aughton, 
 February 28, 1674. John Tildesley. Sir William 
 Stanley, of Hooton. Mr. Edward Massey, of Pud- 
 dington. Dr. Murton, parson of Sephton, Feb- 
 ruary 28, 1674. Mr. John Clifton. Mrs. Westby, 
 of Burn. Sir Gilbert Ireland dyed April 1675. 
 
 R R 
 
 (J 
 
T 
 
 306 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Captain Peter Slater slain May 5. My Lady Ire- 
 land. Mrs. Charles Westby. Mrs. Clifton, of 
 Litham. Mr. Massey, of Rixton. Mrs. Ogles, of 
 Whiston. Mr. John Tatlock. Mr. Cuthbert Clifton, 
 sen. Mr. George Clifton. Robert Hesketh, of 
 Meales, Esq., in December 1675. Mr. Holt, of 
 Castleton. 
 
 The following notes occur in the margin :— 
 
 Mr. Parker lost the woof-house by a verdict at 
 Lancaster. Sir Thomas Preston entered into y'^ 
 Novitiat of y*^ Jesuites, 1674. 
 
 1677-9. 
 
 Mr. Richard Ashton, pf Littlewood, who had 
 formerly slain two men in Lancashyre, was barba- 
 rously slain at London. Sir Francis Anderton 
 dyed at Parris, and his son Henry, in France. Sir 
 Richard Hoghton. Thomas Arnold and William 
 Hunt. Mrs. Frances Latham. Mr. H. Latham. 
 Sir Edward More, October 4, 1678. Mr. John 
 Townley. The only son of Sir Charles Anderton. 
 Mr. Walmsley, in April 1679. Mr. Bretherton, of 
 y*' Hey. Mrs. Massey, of Rixton, May 10, 1679. 
 Mr. Alcock, about March. Mr. Gellibrond," of 
 
 A CAVALIER'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 307 
 
 Chorley, about June. Mrs. Elinor Anderton. Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Anderton. Mr. John Cooke drowned in 
 a ditch or pudle in December. Mr. Lancaster, of 
 Rennel (Rainhill) about y^ same time hardly escaped 
 drowning, haveing fallen into a brook, out of which 
 he got with much adoe, and died a few days 
 after. Mr. Nich. Fazakerley, January 6, 1679. Mr. 
 Robert Williamsa Mn John Leigh. Mrs. Sin- 
 gleton, of Steinig (Stayning). In or about Rain- 
 ford, a maid having filled a pail of water at a pit, 
 whilst she sat it on her head, fell back into y^ pit 
 and was drowned. Another girl or maid-servant 
 in Rainford, on Thursday, January 29, 1679, fell 
 into a pit and was drowned as shcc was stooping 
 to take water. 
 
 / 
 
 R R 2 
 
• *i 
 
 
 fj 
 
 i\ 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ACA 
 
 ACADEMIES, Parisian, 209 
 Alms-giving, 86, 136, 160, 
 
 214, 241, 282 
 Altcar, exempt from taxes, 297 
 Anderton, Lady, 287 
 Andrew, St., Holborn, Church of, 
 
 288 
 Antelope, ship, 247 
 Arran, Earl of, 178 
 Ashton. Ralph, Col. 293 
 
 BANISTER, Henry, of Bank, 
 264 
 Bashfulness, 160 
 Beggars, 86, 136, 160, 214, 283 
 Belling, Richard, 138, 286 
 Birds, to ensnare, 221, 272, 296 
 Blondell, Le Sieiir, 207 
 Blood, Colonel, 109 
 Blood-letting, 108 
 Blundell, Henry of Ince, 92, 247 
 Blundell, Peter of Tiverton, 207 
 Blundell, Richard, 173 
 Blundell, Sir George, Bart., iii 
 Blundells of Cardington, 112 
 Blundells of London, 208 
 Boots, to grease, 124 
 Boscobel, 139 
 Bowling at Dublin, 302 
 Bradshaigh, Sir Roger, 87, 200 
 Bradshaw, John the Regicide, 138 
 Brereton prognostic, 300 
 Bnck-making, 168 
 Brokerage system, 127 
 Buckingham, Duke of, saying of, 
 
 188 
 Bugle-notes, 198 
 
 DIG 
 
 CANNELL, widow, 163 
 Cannon, 85, 181 
 Camwath, Earl of, 106 
 Castlehaven, Earl of, 177 
 Cattle, prices of, 138 
 Cato, passion of, 287 
 Charles II., anecdote of, 90 
 Chatsworth, 270 
 Children, unnatural, 193 
 Chinese, 140 
 Church-dues, 262 
 Cider, 165 
 
 Clifton Lady, dream of, 251 
 Clifton, Sir Thomas, Bart., 251 
 Coal, cannel, 300 
 Cockersand Abbey, 146 
 Coin, debased, 107 ; impressed, 
 
 141 ; found, 280 
 Cond^, Prince of, 118 
 Courtney, Edward, S. J. ven 
 
 Leedes, 120 
 Crosby, Race-course at, 222, 253, 
 
 267, 281 
 Crosses, &c., desecration of, 103, 
 
 170 
 
 DAYS, fatal. 158 
 Death-bed sentiments, 92 
 Decimation, of Cromwell, 276 
 Deer-hunt, remarkable, 177 
 Derby, Charlotte Countess of, 151, 
 
 295. 299 , ^ . 
 Derby, Earl of, epigram on, 277 
 
 Detraction, 99 
 
 Devonshire, Earl of, 270 
 
 Digby, George Lord, 154 
 

 I 
 
 310 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 DIG 
 
 MON 
 
 Digby. Sir Kenelm, 151 
 
 Doctor's bill, 244 
 
 Dore Abbey, 170 
 
 Dover Castle, 18 1 
 
 Dream, Lady Clifton's, 251 
 
 Drinking, 94, 224 
 
 Dublin, 186, 302 
 
 Duelling. loi, 151. 179. 185, 219, 
 
 275 
 Durham Cathedral, 189 
 
 EGERTON, Col. Peter, 293 
 English Grammar, 94 
 Excess, 248, 284 
 
 FASTING-DAYS. 122 
 Fees, clerks', 148 
 Fire of London, 181 
 Flattery, 193 
 
 Flux of blood, cure for, 193 
 Formby, 298 
 
 French language, 148, 149 
 Friendship, definition of, 250 
 Frost, remarkable, 290 
 
 GAMING. 172 
 Gerard, Lord, of Brandon, 
 saying of, 264 
 Goring, Lord, 260 
 Grant. Thomas, Bishop of South- 
 wark, 93 
 
 HAIL-STORM, 162 
 Hair, to colour, &c. 89 
 Heads, small, 99 
 Heidelberg, tun at, 218 
 Hispaniola, 180 
 Holydays, 122 
 Horses, food for, 187 
 Houghton, Lady, 273 
 Howard, Henry, alias Ireland, 253 
 
 INSURANCES, 159 
 
 J- Ireland, Laurence, 277 
 
 Irish War, history of, 138 ; cruel- 
 ties, 230 
 Isle of Man. law custom, 301 
 
 JESUITS. 119, 178, 185. 205. 
 J 218 
 
 Jonson. Ben, 224 
 Juries, Lancashire, 91, 286 
 Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 anecdote of, 96 
 
 T7-ILKENNY, 302 
 
 T ANGDALE, Hon. Charles. 
 
 JU 
 
 274 
 
 Langdale. Lord, 273 
 I Langhome, Mr. 250 
 Language, 94, 138, 202. 203. 
 
 216 
 Latham House, 117, 295, 299 
 Latham Spaw, 298 
 Latin, barbarous, 121 ; difficult, 
 
 149 
 Laws, too many, 144, 266 
 
 Lawyers' wages, 99 
 
 Lead-mines, 250, 299 
 
 Leases, 144 
 
 L'Estrange, Sir Roger, 212 
 
 Letters, to renew, 218 
 
 Liming of land, 87 
 
 Liverpool, increase of. 299 
 
 Longevity, 104, 187 
 
 A/TANCHESTER Registers, 
 
 Map of London, Morgan's, 142 
 
 Marling, of land, 190, 225 
 
 Masons' work. 88 
 
 Mayors, three of Liverpool, 225 
 
 May-pole festivities, 233 
 
 Measures for liquor, 126 
 
 Men, tall, 90, 265 
 
 Merchants, dishonest, no, 114 
 
 Mill-stones, 300 
 
 Molyneux, Sir Vivian, 192 
 
 Monument, Pudding Lane, 84 
 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 3" 
 
 MOO 
 
 Moon out of order, 115 
 More, Colonel John. 294 
 
 NAMES, remarkable, 183 
 Norris, Alexander, 294 
 Northampton, 301 
 Notes, how to take, 83 
 
 OATES, Titus, 212 
 Oaths, 144 
 Obituaries, 303 
 Opdam, Admiral, 260 
 
 PARLIAMENT, Colonels of, 
 
 ^ 291 
 
 Patrick, St., his crozier, 291 
 
 Paul's, St., London, 142 
 
 Peers, Catholic, 196 
 
 Pendrel, Richard, 218 
 
 Physic, 243 
 
 Pilling, leases, 144 
 
 Polander, a learned, 278 
 
 Probabilism, 259 
 
 Prologue to a play, no ; to a 
 
 sword-dance, 117 
 Prunes, 239 
 Puritans, 95 
 
 QUAKERS, 113 
 
 RACE-COURSE, Crosby, 222, 
 253, 267, 281 
 Rebellion, histories of, 95 
 Reckoning, mode of, 125 
 Recusants, Lancashire, 165, 166, 
 
 169 
 Registers, Manchester, 160 
 Rh6, Isle of. Expedition, 121 
 Richmond, Dr. Sylvester. 225, 247 
 Rigby, Colonel Alexander. 294 
 Rigby, Sergeant Edward, 98. 144 
 Rosary, Devotion of. 133 
 Royal Charles, ship, 91 
 Royal Sovereign, ship. 232 
 
 TRE 
 
 Rupert, Prince, 162 
 Rutter, Samuel, Bishop of Sodor 
 and Man, Epitaphs, 123, 288 
 
 SABBATH-DAY, 240, 249 
 Sacrilege, punishment of, 
 
 103, 170, 171, 210 
 Salt-mine, 298 
 
 Scarisbrick, coins found at, 280 
 Scarisbrick, Edward, 288 
 Scarisbrick, James, 232, 281 
 Scarisbrick, Thomas, S. J. 232 
 Scudamore, Lord, 170 
 Sea-serpent, 155 
 Selby, Thomas of Biddleston, 144, 
 
 264 
 Sequestrators, 291 
 Servants, 158, 189 
 Sheep, to fatten, 187 ; shearing, 
 
 =•15 
 Sherlock, Dr. , anecdote of, 282 
 
 Shots, extraordinary, 119, 182, 
 
 203 
 
 Shovel-board, 133, 134 
 
 Showmen, 97 
 
 Spring, early and late, 156 
 
 Stalking-horses, 106 
 
 Strafford, Earl of, 104 
 
 Steeples, ascent of, 189 
 
 Suffering, advantage of, 130 
 
 Sword-dance, 117 
 
 Sword-fish, 228 
 
 TABLES. 133. 134 
 Tailors' bills. 131, 132 
 Tenant-right, 253 
 Tenants, 250 
 Tewkesbury Cross, 103 
 Thames frozen, 290 
 Thurnham Hall, 147 
 Tildesley, Sir Thomas, sajingof. 
 
 121 
 Tithes, 262 
 Tower-hill, 85 
 Trade anomalies, 85 
 Traffic at sea, 247 
 Translations, English. 134, 203 
 Treasure-trove, 280 
 Trees, large, 115, 213 ; to flavour, 
 
 III 
 
' Z -•'w.'-ae^siii^^MSiRCS^SE! 
 
 I / 
 
 312 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 WAG 
 
 WAGES, 88, 132, 168. 200, 225 
 Wainscoting, 200 
 Waldegrave, Francis, S. J. 134 
 Warner, Sir John, 205 
 Waterfowl, to take, 221 
 Weights and Measures, 85 
 Weston, Richard Lord, Earl of 
 
 Portland, 96, 97 
 Whale-thrasher, 155 
 
 WOR 
 
 Whalley Cross, 171 
 Whittle. 299 
 Wiches, The, 298 
 Wine, immersed, 137 
 Wise men of England, 105 
 Witches, numbers of, 230 
 Wool, weight of, 215 
 Words, uninlelligible, 124 
 Worthington, Doctor, 202, 243 
 
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