have observed an enumeration of the distinguished individuals produced by the baronial House of Scrope; but that list did not particularly name, William, Lord Scrope, who reigned King of the Isle of Man, from 1395 to 1399. From John Scrope of Spennithorne, younger brother of Henry Lord Scrope, descended the three great families, of Spennithorne and Danby-Super-Yore; Cockerington in Lincolnshire; and Wormesley. The house of Cockerington was distinguished for its loyalty during the civil wars of the seventeenth century. Sir Gervase Scrope, son of "the thrice noble Sir Adrian," who died in 1623, was a staunch and gallant cavalier. He was left for dead on the field of Edgehill, in 1642, having received no less than twenty-six wounds. On the following day, his son, Adrian, discovered the still breathing, but senseless body, and by dint of great care, the brave knight was restored to health, and survived the action for nearly ten years. Sir Adrian Scrope, of Wormesley, was, unhappily, a Puritan, and not only bore arms against his sovereign, but actually sat as one of his judges, and signed the warrant for his execution. After the Restoration, Sir Adrian was tried for his participation in Charles's murder, when being found guilty, he was left for execution, and hanged, drawn, and quartered, at 'My Lord has need of these flow'rets gay,' The Reaper said, and smiled; Where he was once a child.' 'They shall all bloom in fields of light, And saints, upon their garments white And the mother gave, in tears and pain, She knew she should find them all again In the fields of light above. O, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The Reaper came that day; 'Twas an angel visited the green earth, And took the flowers away." LONGFELLOW. Charing Cross, October 17th, 1660, but his quarters were given to his friends, and not exposed. There is something approximating regal style in the peculiar manner in which the barons are designated on the screen from Easby-William the first, Henry the third, Symon the first, &c.; but this is useful, and not an uncommon custom in Scotland. In England it was adopted by the Bishops of Durham, who used numerals to distinguish prelates who had predecessors of the same name; and also by the Mauleys and some other families. At the modern Bolton Hall several portraits of the Scropes are preserved, and very many others may be discovered in the neighbourhood, in possession of various hands. The contest between Richard, Lord Scrope, son of the Lord Chief Justice, Henry, of Bolton, and Sir Robert Grosvenor, ancestor of the present Marquis of Westminster, respecting the armorial bearings, which is familiarly known amongst heralds as 'The suit of the bend, or,' is probably the most remarkable in English heraldic history. It is impossible to enter at length into this celebrated controversy; I can only give the outline. During forty years, there was scarcely a battle, including the memorable day of Cressy, in which Lord Scrope did not distinguish himself. Ordered on a military expedition into Scotland, in 1385, he appeared in the old insignia of his family, azure, a bend or,' when to his mortification and astonishment he found Sir Robert Grosvenor usurping his bearings. The right of the latter was instantly challenged, and proclamation made through the army appointing a day at Newcastle for investigating the dispute. In a previous dispute with one of the Cornish family of Carminow, the latter asserted that his elders had used the bend as Scrope wore it, ever since the time of King Arthur, A.D. 506—42. A trial by single combat produced no satisfactory issue, and it was decreed that both families should continue to use the same arms. Grosvenor, like his antagonist Scrope, only 6 claimed from the Norman conquest, but refused to obey the court sentence, that he was to add a silver border to the arms. He appealed to the King, (Richard II), who decided that he was not entitled to the bend at all, and ultimately the affair terminated in his begging Scrope to forgive him the heavy costs of the cause, which he did. (1) Grosvenor adopted in lieu, azure, a garb, or; being arms of affection taken from those of the Earls of Chester, and which have ever since been borne by his descendants. On the trial, men of almost every grade, amongst whom was numbered John of Gaunt, were summoned to give evidence. The principals of the religious houses bore testimony to the perpetual recurrence of the bend of Scrope in their buildings and ornaments; and the official of Richmond produced a formidable list of the blazonry in the churches of his district. The testimony of John de Thirlwall indeed shewed that there was some dispute as to the claimant's father, the Chief Justice, being a gentleman, yet, above his tomb in the monastery of St. Agatha, was an effigy sculptured with the bend on his shield, circa collum suum. He was buried viij. Id. Sep. 1336, and round the tomb were the same arms solemnly sculptured in twenty places. On tablets and in windows of the church and the chapel of St. Thomas, in the same monastery, were the same arms from time whereof the memory of man ran not to the contrary in 1399. The same in the parish church. In "the chapel of the chantry within the Castle of Richmond” were the arms of Scrope in a window from time immemorial. (2) (1) Longstaffe's Richmondshire, pp. 29, 30. (2) The admission of the right of the family of Carminow to use arms alleged to have been borne by their ancestors in the reign of King Arthur, would, in itself, be sufficient to refute those theorists who maintain that heraldry was only introduced into England after the Norman Conquest. Guillim writes "Osyris, surnamed Jupiter the Just, son to Cham, the son of Noah, called of the Gentiles Janus, being banished from the tents of Shem and Japhet, assembled an army and appointed his son Hercules captain; when arms were first used; Hercules bearing a lion rampant holding a battle-axe." Display of Heraldry, p. 5, edit. 1660. We also find in Homer and Virgil, that the heroes had distinctive cognizances. Agamemnon bore a lion, and Ulysses a dolphin, and a Typhon There are several monumental slabs in the church- one is to the memory of Peter Goldsmith, Esq., M.D., of Leyburn, who was surgeon on board the Victory, at the ever memorable battle of Trafalgar, and in whose arms Lord Nelson expired. He lies in the churchyard, where also rest the mortal remains of THOMAS MAUDE, the poet and historian of Wensleydale, who died Dec. 23, 1798, in the 81st year of his age. This gentleman, who was descended from De Montalto, surnamed "The Norman Hunter," was surgeon on board the Harfleur, when com-. manded by Captain Lord Harry Poulet, who on succeeding to the title of Duke of Bolton, appointed him breathing out flames of fire. Pindar, the Theban Poet, says, Amphiarus, in his expedition to Thebes, bore a painted dragon; Cadaneus, one of the seven captains who besieged Thebes, bore the seven-headed Hydra, as the Poet Statius reports, but Eschylus, in "The Seven before Thebes," says he had 'for his escutcheon, a naked man, holding a torch.' In this play the bearings of all the chiefs are given minutely. Tydeus bore the sky with the moon and stars; Eteodus, an armed man scaling a lofty tower; Hippomedon, a Typhon breathing flames, and surrounded by serpents; Parthenopeus, a sphynx, devouring a Theban; Amphiarus, an unemblazoned brazen shield; and Polynices, a warrior, led by a woman, representing Justice. These facts show the antiquity of heraldry. Plutarch, in his life of Marius, also tells us that the Cymbrians had animals depicted on their shields, Each of the twelve tribes of Israel carried a distinctive banner and badge, differing in colour, and emblazoned with separate forms. As to the colour, Lyra, upon Num. ii., says, 'Qualia sunt ista vexilla in textu non habetur, sed dicuntalii que Hebræi quod vexillum cujuslibet Tribus, erat similis colori lapidis positi in rationali, in quo inscriptum erat nomen ipsius Reuben, et sic de aliis.' As to their several forms, Martinus Borhaus, in his Commentary on the same place, says 'Tradunt veteres in Rubenis vexillo Mandoragoram depictam fuisse, quam ille in agro collectam matri Liæ attulerat : In Jehudæ, Leonem, cui illum benedicendo pater Jacobus contulerat. In Ephraim vexillo, bovus species. In Danis vexillo, serpentis imago, qui serpenti et colubro a Jacobo comparatus erat, fiat Dan coluber in via.' And in conclusion he says 'sic fides penes authores.' And coming down to more modern times, there is no doubt each feudal chief took his own heraldic distinction at his own will, provided he used no coat which was already used by another; and part of the business of the earl-marshal and his officers was to attend the field when the armies were arrayed, and see that no one committed this fault upon order. No one holding by military tenure, land of sufficient quality and amount to impose on him the necessity of bringing into the field troops under his own command, could be without his heraldic ensign for his shield and his banners. His very military tenure gave him a right to it. It should likewise be generally known, although it is not, that the statute 14, Edw. I., A.D., 1285, enacted that all freemen and the more substantial villeins, even, should have their own proper seals; and this act is in full force at present, having never been repealed. agent for his northern estates. He resided at Bolton Hall. His "Wensleydale" was published at York, in 1771, for the benefit of the Leeds General Infirmary. He also published several other works possessing much merit, though almost forgotten, but his claim to remembrance in this dale must always be admitted with respect, from his having been its first topographer. He is buried in a fit spot for the poet's dreamless sleep, anticipating which, he addressed his wife in these words: "Safe in the haven of consoling rest, We sip from ev'ry hour nectareous zest; Pluck from the graceful rose its irksome thorn, waterfall in Wensley. In the vestry of Wensley Church are preserved several monumental stones, dug up at different times in the churchyard. One of these bears a cross, with two birds in the upper corners, and two serpents or dragons in the lower. Beneath, in Saxon characters, is the name of DOMFRID. It may be considered a clear proof that there was a Saxon church here, though not mentioned in Domesday. There is a very picturesque (1) Wensleydale, p. 52. |