18 Elsden Church and Parsonage, Northumberland. of which are trefoiled, and have two trefoiled circles in tracery above them; the middle window is of one light, with a trefoil ogee arch, and trefoiled spandrels not pierced; and the third, or south-east window, has a drop-arch and three lights, the heads of which are also trefoiled, and have three openings above them in quatrefoiled tracery, and set two and one. The great or east window has an equilateral arch, and consists of five lights; the arches of the secondary divisions having four cusps on each mullion, and below their imposts. The tracery above consists of four oblong quatrefoil openings, and the head finishes with the mullions of the middle light passing perpendicularly into the architrave of the arch, and having behind each of them a pea-shaped trefoiled opening, with its narrow point upwards. The end windows of the transepts have flat triangular arches; the rest are squareheaded; and all of them had their mullions taken out, to give way to sorry sash windows, by an archidiaconal command, in Mr. Dutens's time, which he, however, refused to comply with in the chancel. Corbules in the inside of the church, for resting timbers upon; and the manner in which the offsets at the basement in the gables of the transepts and nave, die into the walls of the side aisles, we think, show that the present are not the original walls of these aisles, which old foundations on the outside of them prove to have been once wider than they now are. They are, indeed, very narrow; not more, we think, than 50 inches wide, and pass into the west side of the transepts, in each of which are two piers and two arches. The nave has four piers and four arches. All the piers are plain, excepting the two nearest the chancel, which are square and massive. The two pilasters in the west gable are round, with capitals consisting of a square chamfered abacus, a broad fillet, and a cavetto, which takes the circular form downwards, and ends in a studded torus. The capitals of the piers in the transepts have fewer members, and less projection over the shaft, than those in the nave, one of which has the four alternate faces of its abacus enriched with foliage in alto-relievo. The doorway is covered with a shallow porch, and two of its lintels are old tombstones, one of which has a cross fleury [July, and a pair of shears upon it. The coup-d'oeil of the whole interior of the building, especially from its centre, in spite of the general plainness of its architecture, has something in it, perhaps its uniformity, which is both uncommon and agreeable. There are a few monuments in the chancel here, to the families of Hall and Reed; also a Roman funereal monument brought from Breineninm, in this parish; and a neat tablet to the memory of Mrs. Grose, daughter to Francis Grose, esq., the celebrated author of the "Antiquities of England, Scotland, and Ireland," and aunt to the Venerable Archdeacon Singletou, rector of this parish, and at present private Secretary to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. ELSDEN CASTLE. The Parsonage house, which is called ELSDEN CASTLE, is a strong old tower, which still externally retains much of its pristine form, and has the arms, given in the annexed wood-cut, in the battlement of the south front; they are perhaps a guide to the time of its being built or repaired; for it occurs under the name of the tower of Elsden in a list of fortresses in Northumberland, made out in the life-time of Sir Robert Umfreville, who died in 1436. It is certainly the coat of one of that highly renowned family, and the supporters to it seem to indicate that it belonged to one of them who was ennobled. If such was the case, they may be considered as the coat of Robert de Umfreville, second earl of Angus, who died in 1324. But supporters were sometimes formerly used by families that were not ennobled; and Mr. Hodgson once inclined to believe that this was the coat of Sir Robert Taylboys, as there is a shield similarly emblazoned on Witton Tower, which is the parsonage-house of Rothbury, and in which parish the Taylboys, who married the heiress of the Umfrevilles, were lords of the extensive manor of Hepple, and on that account might become contributors to building the manse of the rector of that parish. The inscription is, RoBERTUS DOMINUS DE REDE, i. e. Robert, Lord of Rede. The supporters were probably assumed in allusion to the circumstance of the franchise of Redesdale having been given to Robert 1829.] Elsden Castle, or Parsonage, Northumberland. de Umfreville by his relation William the Conqueror, to hold by defending that district for ever from wolves and enemies, with the same sword which that monarch had by his side when he first entered Northumberland. Till Mr. Duteus's death, the first floor consisted of a dark vault spanned by one arch, in which, in former times, the rector's cattle were housed by night. A circular stone staircase still leads to the upper rooms, on the first of which was a kitchen and servants' apartments, flagged with stone; and above these another room, fitted up as a lodgingroom and study, the bed being in a large recess, with closets on each side, one of which served as a wardrobe, and the other for more general purposes. In 1810 it contained the Greek and Latin authorities for Mr. Dutens's “Discoveries of the Ancients attributed to the Moderns," copied by himself with great beauty and correctness, and very methodically arranged. His books were mostly ponderous folios, in French and the ancient languages. Here Mr. Dutens lived, and entertained his company during his residences at Elsden. Formerly, there were two low rooms above, each containing four chambers, one partly destroyed by heightening this; the other is the present garret. Mr. Singleton has converted the dark damp vault into a comfortable drawing-room, 27 feet by 15, besides a recess 7 feet deep, cut through the wall to the window. The old kitchen and room which was the parlour of Mr. Mitford, a former rector, are two bedrooms; and the floor above is converted into a bed-room, dressing-room, and library. To the old building Mr. Singleton has added a vestibule and kitchen, a dining-room, 26 feet by 14, and bed-rooms above these; besides a back-kitchen, pantry, and other offices. Mr. Duters, the late rector here, was a Frenchman, and attached to the English mission at Turin. As editor of the works of Leibnitz, author of the "Discoveries of the Ancients attribated to the Moderns," "Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement," and other works, his name has long been before the public. He was also travelling tutor to the late Duke of Northumberland, who presented him with this valuable living. Mr. Hodgson says, the proceeds of this rectory were for many years regularly transmitted to Mr. Dutens at Turin; but that he fre 19 quently resided here, and was much respected in the parish, to which he was one of its greatest benefactors on record; for he gave 1200l. towards endowing a chapel at Birness, in this parish, and providing a curate there, who should teach, if required, twelve poor children of the neighbourhood gratis. His foreign accent made him almost unintelligible to his parishioners in the pulpit, and on his complaining that some of them absented themselves frequently from church, they complained in turn, that when he preached, it was impossible to understand a word he said. In the north it is usual at Easter to have an annual meeting of the minister and gentlemen of a standing parochial committee, called the Twenty-four, to discuss and settle all matters that concern the church and the parish at large. At the conclusion of one of these meetings, Mr. Dutens thanked the party for their attendance, and said he would be happy to see them all to dinner at a given hour, and bowing retired to his room in the castle. At the appointed hour the whole party waited upon him, and the ceremony of being seated and some ordinary conversation gone through, the rector began to observe that he supposed that some business had been omitted at their meeting in the morn ing, which had caused him the pleasure of their visit, of the object of which he would be glad to be informed. The company stared at each other; but after some hemming and hesitation, made him to understand, that, according to his own invitation, they had come to dine with him. "Dine vit me, gentlemen! To be sure I asked you to dine vit me; but as I had no interpreter vit me, and you say you can not tell vat I say in the pulpit, I tote you would not know vat I did say in de vestry, and therefore did not expect you." The company stood aghast; but were soon relieved from the embarassment into which the rector's joke had thrown them, and had their eyes and appetites gladdened by the appearance of a plentiful dinner placed before them. Besides making the additions already noticed to this ancient fortalice, Mr. Archdeacon Singleton has made very spirited improvements to the gardens and adjoining ground. Orchard and ordinary garden fruit trees of various kinds have been planted, and of late 20 Biographical Memoirs of Sir Lewis Dyve. years have borne abundant crops. The verted into an easier and safer line on The family of Dyve was early established at Brampton, in Northamptonshire, and a pedigree under that parish in Baker's History of the county, vol. i. p. 82, traces the descent from Henry Dyve, who was living in the reign of Henry the Third, through thirteen generations to Sir Lewis, the subject of this notice. The family acquired the estate of Bromham in Bedfordshire from an heiress of Wilde in the reign of Henry the Seventh; and, having changed their residence to that mansion, are supposed to have finally sold Brampton in the reign of Elizabeth. Sir John Dyve, of Bromham, the father of Sir Lewis, was twice married. By his first wife, a daughter of the celebrated Sir Anthony Denny, Groom of the Stole to Henry the Eighth, he had an only child, a daughter, who died young. His second lady was Beatrice, daughter of Charles Walcot, of Walcot in Shropshire, esq., by whom he had only one surviving child, Sir Lewis; another, named John, hav'ing died an infant. The following letter relative to Sir John Dyve, is perhaps worthy of insertion, both as illustrative of his history, and of female patronage during the reign of our great female sovereign : "My verie good Lo. I doubt not but Mr. John Dive is knowen to your LoP. to be as ancient a gentleman as any in his contrie, The original is preserved in the Harleian MSS. 6996, art. 101. [July, who, notwithstandinge he was in the laste comission for the peace, yet in this that is nowe goinge out, is left outt; wherefore I doe earnestlye entreat your LoP. that he maye be put in againe, soe shall the gentleman have his desired dispache, and will rest beholdinge to you for the same, and myself will as many other as well as for this favorable pleasure still remaine thanckfull; and soe, comendinge me verie hartilie to you, I comitt your LoP. nowe and ever to the tuic'on of Th'almightie. From the Court the xxth August, 1594. Your lo". moste Assured frynde, ANNE WARWYCK. "I pray your LoP. geve hymn hering and favurabell Aunsare for my Sacke [sake]." The signature and postscript only are in the Countess's handwriting I. Sir John Dyve died in 1608, but he had five years previously erected himself a monument in the church of Bromham, a mural altar-tomb, having, under a canopy supported by three columns, his recumbent effigies in armour; his head bare, and with a long beard; resting on a mat, and his hands raised in the attitude of prayer. On the pediment are the arms of Dyve and the initials I.B.D. 1603 (John and Beatrice Dyve). On the basement the arms of Walcot, three escallop-shells, are impaled by eleven quarterings of Dyve, viz. 1. Gules, a fess dauncette Or, between three escallop-shells Ermine, Dyve; 2. Vaire, three bends Gules, Bray; 3. Gules, on a bend Argent, three martlets Sable, Quynton; 4. Sable, a chevron between three gadflies Gules, Seywell; 5. Gules, a fess indented between six cross crosslets fitchée Argent, Longvile; 6. Azure, three roaches naiant in pale, barways, Roche; 7. Argent, a chevron Sable, on a chief of the second three martlets Argent, Wylde; 8. a chevron fretty Or and Sable, between three stags' He was probably suspected as a papist. Anne Countess of Warwick was the eldest of the three daughters of Francis, second Earl of Bedford, K.G. and her two sisters were the Countesses of Bath and Cumberland. She became the third wife of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, K.G. and was left his widow, without children, in 1589. She was "a lady of excellent character, and of most refined parts and education, and one of Elizabeth's few female favourites." She died Feb. 9, 1603-4. There is a monumental effigy of her at Cheneys; and her bold Elizabethan signature is engraved in the recently-published volume of Autographs." 66 1829.] Biographical Memoirs of Sir Lewis Dyve. heads couped Gules, Ragon; 9. Argent, a fess and canton Gules, Widvile; 10. Argent, a maunch Sable, with a mullet for difference, Hastings; 11. Argent, on a fess Azure three boars' heads couped Or, in chief a lion passant guardant...., Aprice. At the end of the monument are also the arms of Dyve; impaling Gules, a saltire Argent, between twelve cross crosslets Or, Denny. Beatrice, widow of Sir John, and mother of Sir Lewis Dyve, was married secondly to John Digby, afterwards Earl of Bristol, and gave birth, at Madrid, in October 1612, to George the second Earl. She had also another son, John, born in 1618; and two daughters, Lady Mary, who was married to Arthur Earl of Donegal; and Lady Abigail, married to George Freke, esq. Having survived the Earl about six years, she died in 1658, and was buried at Sherborne, where a flat marble within the altar-rails was thus inscribed: [The hands are intended to point to the two lines on each side, the larger letters of which give the date 1658.] The name of Lewis was introduced into the Dyve family by the marriage of William Dyve, esq. great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir, with Anne, daughter and heiress of Lewis Aprice, of Hanslope in Buckinghanishire, esq. William had a son Lewis, the father of Sir John Dyve, and of a Lewis who died an infant. Sir Lewis (son of Sir John, as before mentioned) was born and christened at Bromham in 1595. The next notice 21 we have of him is that he was knighted at Whitehall, April 19, 1620. The probability is, that he accompanied his nother to Spain, when his stepfather went ambassador to that country; and spent his youth chiefly in the Court of Madrid, as we find him quite at home there in 1623. It was then the incident occurred which is narrated in the Private Memoirs of Sir Kenelm Digby. On the evening after Sir Kenelm's first visit to his cousin the Earl of Bristol, the latter "sent his son Leodivius, with many of his servants and torches, to accompany him to his lodgings, which was not far off. But the night had slided so insensibly away while they were in their pleasing conversation (it being the nature of long absence of dear friends to cause at their first encounter much greediness of enjoying each other) that when they came out of the house they found the streets quiet, and no living creature stirring in them; and the moon, which was then near the full, shining out a clear light upon them, so that the coolness and solitude was the greatest sign that it was not noon-day. Wherefore they caused the lights and other servants to stay there (who then could serve but for vain magnificence), and Theagenes sent his servants to his lodging before, while he, and Leodivius, and another gentleman that Leodivius took with him to accompany him, that he might not return all alone to his father's house, came softly after, sucking in the fresh air, and pleasing themselves in the coolness of the night which succeeded a hot day, it being then in the beginning of the summer. But, as they were entertaining themselves in some gentle discourse, a rare voice, accompanied with a sweet instrument, called their ears to silent attention, while with their eyes they sought to inform themselves where the person was that sung; when they saw a gentlewoman in a loose and night habit, that stood in an open window supported like a gallery with bars of iron, with a lute in her hand, which with excellent skill she made to keep time with her divine voice,. and that issued out of as fair a body, by what they could judge at that light, only there seemed to sit so much sadness upon her beautiful face, that one might judge she herself took little pleasure in her own soulravishing harmony. The three spectators remained attentive to this fair sight and sweet music, Leodivius only knowing who she was, who coming a little nearer towards the window, fifteen men all armed, as the moon shining upon their bucklers and coats of mail did make evident, rushed out upon him with much violence, and with their drawn swords made sundry blows aud thrusts at him, that, if his better genius 22 Biographical Memoirs of Sir Lewis Dyve. had not defended him, it had been impossible that he could have outlived that minute; but he, nothing at all dismayed, drew his sword, and struck the foremost of them. such a blow upon the head, that if it had not been armed with a good cap of steel, certainly he should have received no more cumber from that man; yet the weight of it was such that it made the Egyptian [which name Sir Kenelm gives the Spaniards] run reeling backwards two or three steps, and the blade, not able to sustain such a force, broke in many places, so that nothing but the hilts remained in Leodivius's hand; who seeing himself thus disarmed, suddenly recollected his spirits, and using short discourse within himself, resolved, as being his best, to run to his father's house to call for assistance, to bring off in safety his kinsman and his other friend, whose false sword served him in the same manner as Leodivius's had done, as though they had conspired to betray their masters in their greatest need." he It would extend the extract to a great length to allow Sir Kenelin to relate in this place the whole of his account of this hazardous adventure, particularly as he enlarges very copious ly on his own chivalrous defence when left as the sole combatant. After slaying the head of the opposite party, was enabled to follow Leodivius back. "By this means," he continues, "Theagenes, who received but little hurt, had time to walk leisurely to the Ambassador's house, from whence, upon the alarm that Leodivius gave, many were coming to his rescue with such arms as hastily they could recover; the cause of whose coming so late (for he met them half way) was, that it was long before Leudivins, though he knocked and called aloud, could get the gates open, for all in the house were gone to take their rest. "The next day the cause of this quarrel was known; which was, that a nobleman of that country, having interest in a gentlewoman that lived not far from Aristobulus's [the Earl of Bristol's] house, was jealous of Leodivius, who had carried his reflections too publicly; so that this night he had forced her to sing in the window where Leodivius saw her, hoping by that means to entice him to come near to her, while he lay in ambush, as you have heard, to take his life from him.' " It is a matter of some surprise that after the fatal catastrophe in which this affray terminated, no bad consequences are said to have accrued to the victorious party; for, though the Spaniard was the aggressor, yet it might have been expected that his death would have been in some way resented. [July, It is true that the retinues of ambassadors were extraordinarily protected by the customs of the age; but it is probable that the arrival of the Prince of Wales at Madrid, which we are told occurred the very next day, induced the Spaniards to treat the English with more than customary indulgence, it being their object to conciliate them as much as possible at this crisis. As for the slayer of the Spanish nobleman, the only consequence to himself which he mentions, is, that "this action made the name of Theagenes known land];" and, for Sir Lewis Dyre, we not only in Egypt, but in Morea [Engfind a passage in Howell's Letters, which shews that he was riding in the streets of Madrid within two days of Prince Charles's arrival. "Now," says that amusing letter-writer, "it was publicly known among the vulgar that it was the Prince of Wales that was come; and the confluence of people before my Lord of Bristol's house was so great and greedy to see the Prince, that, to clear the way, Sir Lewis Dyve went out and took coach, and all the the Prince himself a little after took crowd of people went after him; so coach," &c. &c. The Earl of Bristol returned to England in the beginning of 1624, and his step-son about the same time. It was in this year that Sir Lewis entered into the state of matrimony. His bride was a young Dorsetshire widow, whom he met when with his stepfather at Sherborne-castle. She was Howard, the eldest daughter of Sir John Strange(ancestor to the Earls of Ilchester), by ways, of Melbury Sampford, knight of Woolveton. This young lady had Grace, daughter of Sir John Trenchard been first married in 1622, to Richard Rogers, of Brianston, in Dorsetshire, esq.; but he had died without issue in the following year. Sir Lewis's first child, a daughter, was christened at Melbury Sampford in 1625, and named Beatrix, after her grandmother, the Countess of Bristol. She died before her father; his sons Francis and Lewis, who survived him, were baptized at the same place in 1632 and 1633. They will be further noticed in the sequel. Lady Dyve died February 24, 1645-6, as appears by the parish-register of Bromham, where she was bu ried. In the two parliaments summoned in the first year of Charles the First, |