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LONDON : eiLBEST AND RITINeTON, PRINTBB8,
ST. John's squarx.
PUBLICATIONS
SURTEES SOCIETY,
BSTABLISHED IN THE YEAR M.DCCC.XXXIV.
VOL. LXVIII. FOE THE YEAE M.DCCC.LXXVII.
j^. Qunuar-n'jojty.
Bern Dtc. 19'^ /Se3. DUd Oct /6-fO.
LIU3 JAMSEN,
LOJ^ 1 ^
N
•^ ■ ' J
AM) ^ Tin ;
SELECTIONS
THE HOUSEHOLD BOOKS
LOED WILLIAM HOAVAED
NAWgRTH CASTLE:
mitt, u 3,j5tn!)ii,
SOME OF HIS PAPERS AND LETTERS,
AND OTHER DOCUMENTS, ILLUSTRATIVE OF
HIS LIFE AND TIMES.
^nbUslidi for ti)t £ad(lg
Br ANDREWS i CO., DURHAM ;
WHITTAKER & CO., 13, AVE MAItIA T.AXl
BERNARD -QUARITCH, 15, PICCADILLY!
BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH.
1878.
PUBLICATIONS
SURTEES SOCIETY,
b
ESTABLISHED IN THE YliAIt
M.DCCCXXXIV.
VOL. L2VIII. FOK THE YEAR M.DCCC.LXXYII.
LONDON : eiLBKST AND KITINGTON, PRINTBB8,
8T. John's square.
rNTKODUCTION.
1^ T
npon manners and customs, mode of living, rental of land, prices of cattle, horses, and provisions of different kinds, wages
of servants and labourers, and other matters more or less quaint or curious in various ways ; each of such entries being given in full.
Yet it seemed desirable, nevertheieas, that more than one Book should be given in its entirety, so that the minute and carefully classified subdivisions of receipts] and expenditure might be fully exhibited. The Books thus given arc the earliest (anno 1612), and the latest perfect one, that for the year 1633; the one exhibiting the condition of the estate and the scale of household expenditure not many years after Lord William came to reside at Naworth, the other showing the marked and striking improvement which many years of careful administration had effected, and the more liberal outlay which an increased revenue admitted.
One of the gaps in the series is partially and imperfectly supplied by an account for 1633, which is interesting a& con- taining the items of Lord William Howard's expenses in going and returning to imd from Spsi, a joiirn(;y taken probubly in pursuit of health. This supplementary information is gained from a Book of Accounts kept by one of Lord William's servants, which, forty years ago, was in the possession of Mr. Lawson of Longhirst in Northumberland, but is now in its original resting- place at Naworth Castle. The Book supplies also partial records of the expenditure for the years 1619, 1622 and 1627. The records for the first of these years is given in extcnso, and extracts, more or less copious, from the others.
A brief analysis, indicating the sort of information which may be gathered from these Household Books, will be given hereafter. It seems appropriate, in the first place, to give a sketch of the great central figure which meets us, directly or indirectly, in almost every page, — the Lord William Howard of Nawokth Castle.
It would be an easy matter to fill many pages with an account of the family of which he was no unworthy or undis- tinguished scion. But it is needless. The history of the illustrious house of Howard is written in the annals of Eug-
r
VIU INTRODUCTION.
land. His immediate parentage is all that requires to be mentioned before entering upon the detail of his own career.
Lord William Howard was the third son of Thomas, fourth Duke of Norfolk, by his second marriage with Margaret, only daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Audley of Walden. He was bom December 19th, 1563. His mother did not long survive his birth. Shortly after her death the duke contracted a third marriage, with Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Ley bourne of Cunswick, in the county of Westmorland, and widow of Thomas, Lord Dacre, of Gilsland. This alliance had an important in- fluence upon Lord William's after life. Lord Dacre left four children, a son, Gteorge Lord Dacre, and three daughters, Anne, Mary, and Elizabeth. By their mother's second marriage these children all came imder the Duke of Norfolk's care, and by grant from the Crown he had the wardship of the young Lord Dacre. The Dacre patrimony was very large. It had been greatly enhanced in extent and value by the marriage, in 1507, of Thomas, the great Lord Dacre, who fought at Flodden, with Elizabeth, granddaughter and heir of the last Lord Greystock, and the Duke's ambitious views led him to form plans for the aggrandizement of his own children's fortunes by marriages with these youthful representatives of the ancient houses of Dacre and Greystock. His scheme was to marry his daughter Lady Margaret to the young Lord Dacre, and his eldest son. Lord Arundel, to Anne, Lord Dacre's eldest sister. Mary, the next sister, he intended for his second son,. Lord Thomas Howard ; and Elizabeth, the youngest, for his third son. Lord William. The untimely death of the young Lord Dacre, at the age of eight years, by the accidental fall of a wooden vaulting-horse,* frustrated the Duke's project as to his daughter's
* Anno domini mdlxix, xrij die Maij, obiit Georgios Dacre, dominos de Gilles- land et Grajstock, pner magns spei et optims indolis, ex casa eqoi lignei saltatorii ; repenting corroit Tbetfoidiie, in com. Norf . infra etatem, torn existente in cnstodift Thorns dncis Norfolcie.: — ^x Martffrologio Novi Monasterii; an extract printed in " The Newminster Caxtnlary " (Pnb. Surteea Soc. toL 66. App. II. p. 304) from Dngdale's Monasticon (last ed.) toL t. p. 400. It is not known where the original MS. is from which Dngdak made his extracts, bnt there can be no doabt that this entry is a postscript added after the Dissdntion, and probably the book was at that time in the hands of the Dacres.^
INTRODUCTTON. IX
marriage, and Mary Dacre died in early youth. But having obtained the wardship of the Ladies Anne and Elizabeth Dacre, after their brother's death, his plans, as regarded their re- spective marriages with his two sons. Lord Arundel and Lord William Howard, were eventually carried out ; and the rich inheritance of which their brother's death made them the co-heirs, passed, through that double alliance, into the Duke's family, and is enjoyed to this day by his descendants.
For the early training of his sons the Duke had obtained the services of one of the most learned men whom Oxford could then furnish, Gregory Martin.* By him the foundation of Lord William's scholarship was laid, and to his inlSuence may probably be attributed that love of literature and of the society of learned men which formed, in after-years, so conspicuous a feature in his pupil's character. His influence possibly extended further than this. Gregory Martin was a Catholic, though, like many others at that time, an occasional conformist, and he is said to have lost no opportunity of "keeping the old religion alive in the hearts of many of the domestics " in the Duke^s household, with the tacit approval, as seems to have been thought by the Catholics, of the Duke himself (Cf. Dodd'a Church History^ ii. p. 121). It is scarcely likely that Martin would refrain from giving some bias in the direction of the ancient faith to the minds of his pupils. Impressions then received, on such a subject, would not easily be effaced, and
* Whilst he was tutor to his sons the Duke " happened to pay a visit to the University of Oxford, and particularly to S. John's College; where one of the Society entertained him with an eloquent speech, and thought it proper to touch upon the character and merits of Mr. Martin. HaheSy says the orator, illus' trissime Dux, HehrtBwn nostrum, GrcBcum nostrum, poetam nostrum, decus et gloriam nostrum" — Dodd's Church Hist. ii. p. 121. After Martin left the Duke's family he went to Douay, where he had many friends. In the English College there he devoted himself to the study of theology, and received Holy Orders in 1573. He wrote several controversial works, but his great work was the translation of the Scriptures into English, from the Vulgate, so well known as the Rhemish Bible. He was assisted by Dr. Allen, Dr. Bristow, and others, in carrying out the work, but the real labour of the translation was borne by Martin. It was not all published at one time. The New Testament appeared first at Kheims and Antwerp, with Dr. Bristow's notes, the Old Testament not until several years after. Martin died at Rheims 28th October, 1582.— Ibid. pp. 121, 122.
X INTRODUCTION.
resulted in all probability in a secret attachment to the Church of Rome, though Lord William's reception into her fold did not take place until he had fully arrived at manhood.
His education was carried on at Cambridge.* Lord Arundel is said to have gone there not long after his father's death, when he was about fifteen years of age, together with his two younger brothers. The difference in their ages renders it im- probable that they all went to the University at the same time* It is more likely that Lord William was sent there after his marriage, which took place when he was in his fourteenth year.. The Duke of Norfolk carried out his project as regarded hi& eldest son's marriage during his lifetime. Lord Arundel was betrothed to the Lady Anne Dacre in 1569, and was married at the latter end of 1571, about six months before his father's .execution. Lord William was then but nine years old, and incapable therefore of entering into a marriage contract. But the Duke left special orders behind him that when his son and the Lady Elizabeth Dacre had arrived at an age when each could legally give full consent, the ceremony of marriage was to take place between them. After the Duke's death, the Tjady Elizabeth was probably under her sister Lady Arundel's care, who was seven years her senior, and to her, in all likelihood, the trust had been committed of seeing that this alliance should be duly entered into. The marriage took place at Audley End,, on the 28th October, 1577, and a record of it is entered in the parish register of Saffron Walden.f
* Probably at S. John's College. Long years afterwards he gave a benefaction to the Library founded there by Lord Keeper Williams, when Bishop of Lincoln, which is thus recorded in the Liber MemorialU : — " Integerrimus Gulielmus dominus Howabd baro de Naworth, filius natu secundus ThomsB Howard inclytiss. ducis Norfolcise, regisB Majestati a sanctioribus consiliis, equitis nobilissimi ordinis Garteriorum, dedit libros exoptatiss. ad centum valorem librarum, denotissimsB mentis gratissimum testimonium." His armorial bearings are also emblazoned in the Book. — Cf. Bakers Hist, 8. John*g College, ed. by Professor Mayor, pp. 339, 1107. The records of S. John's College, as far as their admissions are concerned, do not begin so early as the time when Lord William must have been at Cam- bridge, and Dr. Luard, the Registrary of the University, tells me that his name does not appear in the Matriculation Register, though this does not prove that he never was mt Cambridge, since he may have entered at College, yet never have been matriculated. He certainly never took any degree.
t "Oct. 28th, 1577. Lord William Howard and Ladie Elizabeth Dakers."— Walden Marr. Reg.
INTRODUCTION. XI
Nothing seems to be known respecting the history of his early manhood. After the ceremony of marriage had given him the hand of the lady whom his father had designated as his bride, they separated for a time. He passed on to Cam- bridge, to resume or to prosecute his studies, whilst she, no doubt, returned to her sister's guardianship. No long time, however, elapsed before they lived together as man and wife. Their eldest son, Philip, was born on the 6th December, 1581. Mr. Howard of Corby offers a conjecture in his Memorials (App. No. XI.), that Lord William's early married life was passed at a house called Mount-pleasant,* in Enfield Chase, in the county of Middlesex, and that all their children were born there. The supposition is not an improbable one. Lord William was certainly in middle life before he made Naworth his home, or had any real enjoyment of his wife's fair inheritance.
For the Lady Elizabeth and her sister had kinsmen who ill brooked the acquisition of the broad lands and stately castles of the Dacre by the husbands to whom they had been married whilst husband and wife were alike children. The untimely death of their young brother had not caused the extinction of the male line. Thomas Lord Dacre, their father, had three brothers, Leonard, Edward, and Francis. On his nephew's death, Leonard, the eldest of the three, assumed the title of Lord Dacre and claimed the inheritance as heir in tail-male ; for he ^' stomached it much,'' says Camden, " that so goodly an inheritance descended by law to his nieces." The Duk6 of Norfolk instituted proceedings in Chancery to establish the rights of his wards. When Dacre perceived that the law was likely to be unfavourable to his claim, he became a participator in the treasonable schemes of the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland which resulted in the Northern Rebellion of 1569. Their objects were to rescue Mary Queen of Scots from the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury, to subvert the government of Elizabeth, and to re-establish the ancient faith. When the two Earls were actually in arms, they were pro- claimed as traitors. ^*Dacres with the crooked back," as
* It was used as an occasional residence until Lord William sold it in 1629 (p. 256).
Xll INTRODUCTION.
Leonard was often called, went up to London. His manners were insinuating, and he contrived to persuade Elizabeth to entrust to him a share in the work of suppressing the rebellion* But he was acting with great duplicity, for he was meanwhile secretly encouraging the two Earls by promises of foreign aid. On his return to the North he seized upon his niece's estates, fortified the castle of Naworth, and gathered together about 3000 men under the pretence of defending his own rights * and resist- « ing the rebels. The Queen soon became acquainted with the double game which he was playing, and she sent down orders to % apprehend " that cankred suttill traitor, Leonard Dacres,'' f M 'i her Majesty calls him in a subsequent letter to Lord Hunsdon. ||
Hunsdon encountered him at Gelts Bridge, about four miles ^ from Naworth. Dacre^s followers fought with singular reso- lution and bravery. " Hys footmen," says Hunsdon, "gave the prowdest charge upon my shott that ever I saw.'^ } But it was all in vain. Dacre was worsted, fled into Scotland, and finally took refuge in Flanders, where he died in 1573. His brother Edward was likewise deeply implicated in the rebellion, and they were both attainted. Edward Dacre found an asylum in Flanders also, and died in that country before 1584.
Several years elapsed after Leonard Dacre thus left England as an unwilling exile, during which no adverse claim was made ; and Lord Arundel and Lord William Howard entered upon the enjoyment of the inheritance which their marriages had given them. But a long and harassing period of litigation was in store for them. The death of Edward Dacre left his younger brother Francis the sole male representative of Wil- liam Lord Dacre, the grandfather of Lady Arundel and Lady Elizabeth Howard, and he entered upon the estates and claimed
* Maluit hello cum principe, says Camden, qudm judicio cum neptibu* de hcBreditatibus confiictari.
t The Queen writes to the Earl of Sussex, 13th Jan. [1569], " We perceive^ amongst other tbyngs, some of the principal rebells in Scotland make account of Leonard Dakers to be one of tber confederacy or league;" and tberefore she desires he may be taken into custody. — Rough Draft, S.P. And, for leaving the North without doing so, the Queen expresses her dissatisfaction. — Cf. Sir C. Sharp's Memorials of the Rehellion of 1569, p. 166, n,
X See his letter to Cecil, which gives a graphic accoont of the engagement. It is given in Sir C. Sharp's Memorials, <^c,, p. 219.
ii
INTRODUCTION. XUl
them as his own ; grounding his claim upon a settlement which he alleged to have been made by his father, William Lord Dacre, by which the property was entailed upon the male heirs.
The history of the protracted litigation which was the result of Francis Dacre's claim is recorded at great length in a very characteristic document drawn up by Lord William Howard, which is given in the Appendix (No. L, p. 365). It appears to have been written with a view to publication, for he mentions that the reasons which induced him to compile this Narrative were to satisfie the world for the validity of their '* (the co-heirs^) righte, as also to instruct them that shall succeede what to insist chiefly uppon, yf hereafter any objection shall be made." It was never printed, but more than one copy was made for the benefit of his descendants. There are two transcripts at Castle Howard, one in a decayed and fragmentary state, the other in good preservation, and a copy existed at Greystock Castle when Mr. Henry Howard wrote his Memorials. As an undoubted specimen of Lord William's composition it appeared worthy of a place in the pages which follow. He had evidently made himself master of all the legal bearings of the questions which came before one tribunal after another respecting the rights of his wife and her sister ; and the vigorous language in which he gives expression to his indignant feelings with respect to the base part which had been played by two of the Lowther family, -with reference to the matters in question, is not a little charac- teristic. As an expression of his abhorrence of all that is unworthy and ignoble it is characteristic of the man, and it is characteristic also of the time. An opponent then met with scant courtesy. If a Coke were examining a witness on the contrary side to that for which he had received his brief, he scrupled not to use language which would now be considered a degradation. In a later generation even a Milton, when he entered the lists of controversy, indulged in vituperative expres- sions, polished scholar though he were, which no one now would venture to employ. Lord William's epithets were certainly not choice. " Sons of Belial,'* " cursed crue," " serpents and viperous beastes,'' are amongst the flowers
XIV INTRODUCTION.
of rhetoric which he uses with reference to "those lewde Lowthers.*'
Containing as this Narrative does, a record of the troublee^ which embittered many years of his earlier life, it cannot be out of place to give an epitome of what occurred during that period^ until the litigation was finally ended, and he took up his abode in that ancient Border fortress with which his name has become so inseparably associated.
In 1584 Francis Dacre commenced proceedings, To vindicate his supposed rights he entered upon the property, and endea* j voured to obtain recognition by the tenants as its legitimate* ! possessor. Lord Arundel and Lord William Howard defended 8 their rights and kept possession of the lands and houses. The , whole title was gone into on the occasion of a vacancy occurring ; in the Rectory of Greystock, the patronage of which was claimed by Francis Dacre. A caveat having been entered by Lord Arundel, a commission de Jure patronatus was issued* The verdict was given in favour of Lord Arundel and his wife, and Francis Dacre was beaten.
In the year following Lord Arundel and Lord William Howard were committed to the Tower, ostensibly on account of their religion, and to frustrate a plan which the former had nearly carried out of retiring into some foreign country* Francis Dacre continued to prosecute his claim, and the broad lands of the Dacre and the Greystock were sequestered at his suit. In 1586 the cause was ordered by the Queen to be heard before Bromley, then Lord Chancellor, and Lord William was released from the Tower, by an Order in Chancery, that his evidence might be taken. The judgment of the Court, in which several of the Judges sat as assessors, was imanimous in favour of the title of the co-heirs. Dacre had influence enough to pro- cure another hearing not long afterwards, and contrived that some of the Judges should be changed, but when the day of hearing came, a letter was produced from Secretary Davison, in the name of the Queen, countermanding it altogether.
Not long after this, in the same year (1586), a trial came oa at Newcastle in which the whole title was again gone into. An action had been brought by a lessor of Lord Arundel, Lord
INTRODUCl'ION. XV
William Howard, and their wives, against a person of the name of Turner, who persisted in keeping possession of the demesnes of the Manor of Ulgham as a tenant of Francis Dacre. The ver- dict was in favour of the plaintiff. Owing to a technical error no judgment was given, and it was eventually referred to arbitration, and a deed of entail produced whereby it appeared that (not- withstanding the alleged entail of William Lord Dacre to heirs male) a remitter of both estates tail was in George Lord Dacre, and the inheritance of Greystock fully vested in the co-heirs.
Francis Dacre then set to work to get the tenants in the North to espouse his cause. The old feudal feeling of attach- ment to the name of Dacre operated strongly in his favour. He bore that ancient name. They knew him to be the male representative of the gallant chieftains under whose banner they and their fathers had fought and bled in many a wild Border fray, and if even a faint and distant echo of the old war-cry of the Dacre were heard, it still stirred their hearts like the blast of a trumpet summoning them to the battle.
But the husbands of the co-heirs were determined to make good the claim of their wives. Forcible entries were made by Lord Arundel and Lord William Howard on the houses of the disaffected tenants, and appeals and counter-appeals were made on both sides to the Court at York. Conflicting decisions were given from time to time on various points which came before that tribunal, many of them being adverse to Dacre's cause. Alarmed by this, Dacre obtained an order from the Privy Council to stay proceedings at York, although he and the refractory tenants were glad enough to resort to that Court whensoever a decision had been given upon any point which appeared favourable to their side. Letters in the Queen's name were likewise often procured for the same purpose. This went on for a long time.
At last, Lord Arundel and Lord William, under the advice of their lawyers, took the course of bringing actions against the tenants who espoused Francis Dacre's cause. The nimiber of actions thus brought amounted to 140. Dacre, not a little dis- turbed at the prospect of the expense in which these proceedings were likely to involve him, sought the advice of the Earl of
XVI INTRODUCTION.
Cumberland. Acting upon the EarFs suggestion, he applied to the Privy Council, complaining bitterly of the oppression to which he was subjected by such a multitude of actions, and praying that Lord William Howard might be committed to prison. Lord William was summoned to appear before the Council. He obeyed the summons, and stated his reasons for the course adopted. A suggestion was made by the Council that the question of title should be tried in two or three actions, the result of which was to decide all the others. A ready assent was given to this by Lord William, but Dacre absolutely refused to agree to it. So the matter was dismissed by the Privy Council, and both parties left to obtain such redress as the common-law might afiFord them.
The actions against the refractory tenants went on. But a new and unexpected claim was made. Mr. Gerard Lowther the elder, the object of Lord William's bitterest wrath and indigna- tion, how appeared upon the stage, and set up a title for the Queen to the Baronies of Brough and Gilsland, that portion of the Dacre property which came to the family by the marriage with Margaret de Multon. The claim was admitted at Carlisle,* being unopposed, for Lord Arundel was then (1589) under arraignment, and Lord WiUiam purposely thrown into prison. But as soon as the Queen's title to the Baronies was admitted, the latter was set at liberty.
The Queen's claim must have caused the most bitter chagrin to Francis Dacre. The various suits in which he was engaged had involved him in no trifling cost, yet he could not venture upon disputing the matter with her Majesty. He found also
* Henry, Lord Scrope, and the Bishop of Carlisle, appear to have been the Commissioners. They write as follows to Secretary Walsingham, on March 28, 1589 : — " We have effected the several Commissions for finding her Majesty's estate in the antient Dacre lands, by attainder of Leonard Dacre, in Cumberland and Westmorland, and found her entitled to all the lauds whereof they were pee- sessed before Hen. VIIL, omitting the Greystock's lands, and lands purchaaed since that time. For particulars we refer to the report of Mr. Hesketh and Mr. Lowther. As for any further course for establishing her possession in tbo lands we wait direction. Her Highness hath been diligently served in these shires by the actors in this business. Mr. Hesketh hath shewed himself very learned, and Richard Lowther and Qerard Lowther have carefully performedkll good offices requisite."— S. P. Dom. Eliz. xxxi. 11.
INTRODUCTION. XIX
ceeded in establishing his claim to the great estates which they claimed in right of their wives, and if, under colour of law, she could herself become the possessor, the same end would be achieved ; but with one important difference, namely, the en- richment of the Queen's coffers, a result to which her Majesty would be in no wise indifferent.
Lord William significantly hints that Francis Dacre, when he commenced his proceedings, was '' fedd on, noe doubte, by noe meane persons, and by them putt in hope of better successe than euer was intended to him." The natural in- ference is that Dacre was a tool in the hands of some one, probably the Earl of Leicester, who was a bitter enemy of the Howards, ostensibly on the score of their religion ; for it was his rok to profess the most extreme attachment to the Pro- testant cause. That Leicester was concerned with Gerard Lowther in prosecuting the Queen's claim is subsequently stated without any reserve by Lord William (App. p. 379), and this receives confirmation from a petition of Richard and Gerard Lowther for the grant of a lease of parts of the Dacre property "in consideration of performance of the Earl of Leicester his promise " * (S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxvi. 130). Leicester probably had a double end in view, in the first place to bring about that which he knew would not l^e unacceptable to the Queen, and in the second, to further his own interests, for it is quite possible that he might indulge the hope of receiving a grant of some great manor or lordship as his share of the spoil.
Leicester's schemes, whatever they might be, were cut short, however, by his death, which took place in 1588. Elizabeth, as we have seen, at last yielded, and the Lady Arundel and Lord William Howard and his wife were recognized as the
* They wanted "a lease of the lands in Westmorland, with the fishing of Beamond, Bocliffe, Carcandars [? Kirk-Andretvsi], with the mills of Borowghe and Bocliffe now founde payinge the rent, and the office of Becyvershipp and Stewerd- shipp of all the landes and courtes founde in these offices, with the fee of xx^i/* They do not seem to hare obtained the lease for which they petitioned, but on the 17th July, 1597, a grant was made to Gerard Lowther, Juni^., of the office of steward and keeper of the courts of Dacres' lands, co* Northumb., Cumb., and York; fee 20Z.— S. P. Dom. Bliz. cclxiv. 29. We may fairly presume that Mr* Gerard Lowther would not long retain his office after Lord William regained poMOMion of " Dacres' lands."
a 2
XVIU INTRODUCTION.
to contend further for its possession, and he doubtless felt that if he could obtain a grant of land, however inferior in extent and value, it would be infinitely preferable to a precarious pension.
Whether any response was given to this petition we know not, but everything was at last finally settled, by the Queen > consenting to waive her claim on payment of a large sum of ': money by Lord William and the Lady EKzabeth his wife, and p her widowed sister, the Lady Arundel. What this sum -i amounted to we are not told in Lord William's Narrative, n He merely says that " they were forced to buy their owne, and ?i redeem their possessions as mere straingers at a very dear rate/' ji (p. 373). Lady Arundel is said to have paid "well nigh I 10,000 pound'' (Lives of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundelyand of \ Anne Dacres, his wife : ed. by the late Duke of Norfolk, E.M. pb | 195), and the demand made upon Lord William and her sister }\ was probably not much less. The Queen^s consent to forego ^ her claim seems to have been due to Sir Edward Coke, who, as ] Lord William tells us, " assured her that she had no right to ' those lands, and therefore advised her to part with them to the ■) co-heires '' ( App. p. 380, w.). On the 19th Dec, 1601, this wa» \ carried out by Letters Patent of that date, in the names of =. Edward Carrill and others, whereby the Queen regranted all j the lands of which she had formerly been adjudged to be tho \ possessor. ,
What part Elizabeth actually took as regarded the attempts j to wrest their property from the co-heirs and their husbands^ it , is now, perhaps, impossible to discover. But it is more than , probable that she regarded with no disfavour the claim set up j at the outset by Francis Dacre, still less was she likely to \ interpose any bar to proceedings which might result in her own acquisition of the great possessions which were the subject of J the litigation. She had no kindly feeling towards the Howards. ^ She knew that she had deeply injured them — Humanum est odi9$$ ^ qtiem l(Bseris—Bhe knew that it was impossible for them to forget *l that she had consigned their father to the scaffold, and dons J her best to break the future power of his descendants. Thai i power would be still further weakened if Francis Dacre sno- ""
INTRODUCTION. XIX
ceeded in establishing his claim to the great estates which they claimed in right of their wives, and if, under colour of law, she could herself become the possessor, the same end would be achieved ; but with one important difference, namely, the en- richment of the Queen's coffers, a result to which her Majesty would be in no wise indifferent.
Lord William significantly hints that Francis Dacre, when he commenced his proceedings, was '' fedd on, noe doubte, by noe meane persons, and by them putt in hope of better successe than euer was intended to him." The natural in- ference is that Dacre was a tool in the hands of some one, probably the Earl of Leicester, who was a bitter enemy of the Howards, ostensibly on the score of their religion ; for it was his rok to profess the most extreme attachment to the Pro- testant cause. That Leicester was concerned with Gerard Lowther in prosecuting the Queen's claim is subsequently stated without any reserve by Lord William (App. p. 379), and this receives confirmation from a petition of Richard and Gerard Lowther for the grant of a lease of parts of the Dacre property "in consideration of performance of the Earl of Leicester his promise " * (S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxvi. 130). Leicester probably had a double end in view, in the first place to bring about that which he knew would not \\e unacceptable to the Queen, and in the second, to further his own interests, for it is quite possible that he might indulge the hope of receiving a grant of some great manor or lordship as his share of the spoil.
Leicester's schemes, whatever they might be, were cut short, however, by his death, which took place in 1588. Elizabeth, as we have seen, at last yielded, and the Lady Arundel and Lord William Howard and his wife were recognized as the
* They wanted "a lease of the lands in Westmorland, with the fishing of Beamond, Rocliffe, Carcandars [? Kirk'AndretDf\, with the mills of Borowghe and Bocli0e now founde payinge the rent, and the office of Becyvershipp and Stewerd« shipp of all the landes and courtes fonnde in these offices, with the fee of xxK" They do not seem to hare obtained the lease for which they petitioned, but on the 17tb Jaly, 1597, a grant was made to Gerard Lowther, Juuf., of the office of steward and keeper of the courts of Dacres' lands, co* Northumb., Cumb., and York; fee 20Z.— S. P. Dom. Bliz. cclxiv. 29. We may fairly presume that Mr, Gerard Lowther would not long retain his office after Lord William regained possession of " Dacres' lands."
a 2
XX INTRODUCTION.
owners of the broad lands of the Dacre and the Greystock* From the year 1601, therefore, we may date the absolute pes* session by Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle and tha great estates which had been allotted to the younger sister, (m l the partition which had heretofore taken place between herself i;, and Lady Arundel. |.
A word may be said here concerning Francis Dacre*s ultimata Ir fate. After the Queen's claim to the Dacre possessions hfii _ been admitted, he addressed a long letter to her Majesty, datei I Sept. 17, 1589, full of bitter complaints, telling her that hii ^ own means were utterly exhausted, that he was burdened witk t a load of debt, and that he must seek a maintenance in another T country, taking his son with him, and that as to his daughten he must ^^ commit them to God, and such friends as it shall please Him to provide for them." He then seems to have into Scotland, and to have devoted himself to the service of King of Scots. His leaving England without the Queen'i permission led to his attainder. In 1594 he was a pensioni of the King of Spain, receiving a monthly allowance of 8it| crowns. His son, who was at Douay, had 40 crowns a montik' from the same source (Examination of Robert Barrow y &c. Marbk' 21, 1594).— S. P. Dom. Eliz. ccxlviii. 41. In 1598 his four^; daughters were each in the receipt of a pension from the Crowm.; of 50/, a year (see ant^^ p. xvii, w.). On James' accession to tliil| throne of England, Francis Dacre accompanied him. He loat ^ no time in making his suit to the King to have the whole estata : of his ancestors given to him. James offered him as muoh of the Dacre property as was then vested in the Crown, being-:* that portion, no doubt, which escheated on Leonard Dacre^a ' attainder. But this offer was refused. His Majesty next ^ offered him a pension of 600/. a year, but that was likewiaa) rejected, unless it were accompanied by the reversal, not on]^ of his own attainder, but also that of his brothers, Leonard Edward ; so that nothing might operate as a bar to the he still conceived himself to have to the whole of the pro under the alleged entail of William Lord Dacre, in the 4th 6th Phil, and Mary. In 1607, however, he yielded, and coaltfl sented to forego all claims whatever to the lands of his ancestors ^
J
INTRODUCTION. XXI
On the 10th Oct. in that year he executed a release to Ann^ Countess of Arundel, Lord William Howard, and the Lady Elizabeth his wife, of all his title to all Dacre lands in Cumber- land, Westmorland, Durham, Yorkshire, Shropshire, and else- where.* Two years afterwards we find a pension granted to him by the Crown of 200/. a year, together with an annual payment of 100/. to Alice his wife, and an annuity of 50/. to Randal his son. — [Warrant Booky II. p. 111.] Dom. James I. xliii. 72. This pension probably constituted Francis Dacre's chief means of subsistence during the remainder of his life. He died in 1632. Randal Dacre also released to Lord William Howard, in 1633, and levied a fine (p. 302). We find him in the receipt of an annuity of 50/. from Lord William (p. 301). He died in London in 1634, leaving no issue, and was brought to Grey- stock for interment at the expense of Thomas, Lord Arundel and Surrey. There is an entry to this efiect in the Parish Register of Greystock. — Cf . Nicholson and Burn's Hist. Cumb, ii. p. 351. Randal's sisters, Elizabeth, Frances, and Ann, were receiving their annual pensions of 50/. each in 1607. The Warrant is dated Aug. 15th, in that year. — [ Warrant Book, II. p. 37.] Dom. James I. xxviii. 32.
The year in which Lord William actually made Naworth Castle his residence cannot be fixed with absolute precision. But in 1604 we find him taking a note of the heraldic bearings, and the inscriptions around them, which then adorned an armorial window in the ancient fortress of the Dacres at Kirk- oswald, and he was possibly even then making arrangements for the transference of its stained glass to Naworth Castle, f
* The original Deed is in the Muniment Room at Castle Howard. No money consideration is mentioned in the Deed.
f We may almost infer that he had already taken up his residence in the North from the fact that in this year, 1604, he gave a silver mace to the Corporation of Morpeth bearing the following inscription, with a cross- crosslet fitche prefixed :— **Donum dni Will. Howard: dni: de : Morpeth: filij : ducis : Norf: fratris: avunculi: nepotis: et: cognati: comitum: Arundell: Surrey: Suff: Northampt : et Netting: et : dnffl Eliz: uxoris: eius: sororis : et : cohseredis: Georgij : dni Dacre : de : Gilsland : et Oreistock : A9. dni : 1604 : Volo : non : valeo : W. H." Various shields of arms are engraven on the mace, viz. the Royal Arms as borne by James I., and the bearings of Howard, Brotherton, Mowbray, Warren, Dacre, Greystock, &c.
XXll INTRODUCriON.
Here, at all events, he was certainly living in 1607. His lifelong friend Mr. Nicholas Roscarrock writes a letter to Camden from "Nawarde," dated Aug. 7th in that year, and the great historian, in the edition of his Britannia^ which was published in the same year, mentions it as Lord William's abode, and says that he was then engaged in its reparation. From that time until his death it was his chief residence, and the place around which there has been such an outgrowth of traditions respecting him.
These traditions present him to our view in a picturesque and romantic aspect, and additional vitality has been given to them by the graphic portrait which Sir Walter Scott has drawn in his Lay of the Last Mimtrel, of the outward garb and the gallant bearing of the Lord William Howard as Lord Warden of the Marches, though for the purposes of his story the poet antedated his existence and assigned to him an office which in reality he never filled.
" Costly bis garb ; his Flemish ruff Fell o*er his doublet shaped of buff.
With satin slashed and lined ; Tawny his boot and gold his spur. His cloak was all of Poland fur,
His hose with silver twined j His liilboa blade, by March*men felt) Hung in a broad and studded belt : Hence in rude phrase, the Borderers still Call Noble Howard, Belted WiU.*'—C. v. 16.
It is somewhat uncertain when the soubriquet of '^Belted Will *' became attached to him. A broad leathern belt, studded with a series of letters in metal, arranged so as to form a yerse in German, used to be shown at Naworth as having belonged to him. Hence probably originated the name, to which Sir Walter's stanza gave wide-spread currency. Mr. Henry Howard' tells us in his Memorials, that the epithet which in former days, was most commonly given to him was Bauld (or bold) Willie, and that the Lady Elizabeth his wife was distinguished by the homely appellation of Bessie with the braid (broad) apron, in allusion, not to the width of that particular article of female attire, but to the breadth and extent of the possessions whick
HH^^^^ INTROUUCTION. XXUl
«he brougit to her husband. By the name of Belled Will, however, in whatever way it originated, he is now popularly known, and by the title of Lord Warden he is etill traditionally ^l^^ated. Tradition tells us also, and the statement finds a |aee even in the sober pages of the historian, that he raain- bined a garrison of 1-10 men at Naworth; whilst stories, based upon the rough and ready chastisement which he is supposed lo have meted out to the banditti who infested that wild I country, still meet with unhesitating acceptance and undoubting belief. What dweller on the Border refuses, for example, to give credence to that grim tale of the summary punishment dealt out to sorae unluuky wight, by reason of a peevish word from the lipa of the Lord Warden being only too literally in- terpreted ? " Hang him ! " was the hasty ejaculation of Belted Will, when disturbed, in the library which still bears his name, by the tidings that a thief had been caught in some act of plunder or spoliation, and by the natural inquiry, how it might please my Lord to deal with him. The man-at-arma, who brought the intelligence and heard the response, retired, per- fectly satisfied that he had received a precise and definite order ; and when, after some brief interval of time, my Lord descended from his Tower, he found the unhappy malefactor suspended either from some extemporised gallows in the court-yard, or from a bough of some neighbouring tree. It was a case of what was known on the Scotch border as Jeddart (or Jedburgh) Jwitice, — i. e. hanging ihe culprit first, and trying him after- wards.
It is a somewhat ungrateful task to throw the light of historical evidence upon wild and picturesque legends which, in successive generations, have charmed the ear of eager child- hood, when told by some hoary grandsire or some ancient grand-dame, to a listening group around the winter hearth. But legends these really are, so far, at least, as Lord William is concerned. The popular idea which prevails concerning him, even amongst educated people, is as purely imaginary as Sir Walter Scott's portraiture of his outward man. He never was Lord Warden. Such an appointment, with Elizabeth's feelings towards the Howards, could not have taken place
XXIV INTRODUCTION.
whilst slie occupied the throne, and after the accession of James I., George, the third Earl of Cumberland, was selected to succeed Thomas Lord Scrope, and was the last who filled that high office. He died in 1605, and the government of the Middle Shires (as James preferred to call the Borders) appears to have been subsequently vested in Commissioners, who w'ere partly Scotch and partly English, appointed by the Crown. The first Commission in which Lord William Howard's name appears,* is in the year 1618 (Rymer's Fcedera, xvii. p. 53). Previously to the issuing of this commission Lord William Howard possessed, apparently, no office which gave him any peculiar authority. As Lord of the Barony of Gilsland, indeed, he had the control, to a certain extent, of that district, the appointment of the Land-serjeant of Gilsland being vested in him. That officer, with a few men under him, was bound to reside at Askerton Castle, a small Border fortress belonging to the Lords of Gilsland. But there is no evidence whatever of a garrison being maintained at Naworth. The tradition to that effect receives indeed an apparent corroboration from the great preponderance of male over female domestics, as given in the lists of servants, contained in the Jfaworth Household Books. But it must be remembered that the number of male servants maintained by the higher nobility of the f)eriod was very large, and that men were then employed to discharge many duties in a house which now devolve almost exclusively upon women. At Naworth Castle the cooks were men, with " kitchen boys," or scullions, under them. The " chamberlains " would discharge all the functions in the apartments which are now delegated to housemaids. It is so« at the present day, to a great extent, in the hotels of France, Italy, Spain, great part of Switzerland, Germany, and Belgiimi. The garfon makes the bed, lights the fire, and scrubs the floor ; the employment of women for such tasks being comparatively rare. Then there would be the house-steward, the butler, the under-butler, the gentleman- usher, the pages, the footmen, probably eight or ten in number, the coachman, and the grooms and helpers in the stables, the
* For the Rc^port made in answer to this Conimisdoo see Appendiv (No. XIX.), p. 436.
INTKODDCnoS.
baker and the brewer with their assistants, the gardem lie under- gardeners, the butcher, or " slaughter- man," as sometimes called, who also, of course, had assistants, together ritii other individuals who acted in various subordinate capa- cities. The number of male domestics might easily, therefore, amount to the number we find in the Household Books,* without having occasion to resort to the supposition that any of them were armed retainers, or that they constituted a garrison in any proper sense of the word. There are no entries, more- over, indicating the purchase of ammunition or weapons outlay of that description would surely have been recorded during the series of years over which the Household Books extend] if a, body of men had been maintained within the walls of Naworth for purposes of Border defence or warfare.
Equally improbable is the tradition which portrays Lord William as promoting or maintaining order in the country by means of the sharp and summary procedure of martial law. There is not a trace of his having acted at any time in such a manner. That he was active and energetio in bringing maniuders to justice there Ciin be no question, but it was justice administered by the law of the land. The very list, drawn up by his own hand, of those offenders who expiated their offences by death, during many years of his residence at Naworth, goes to prove this. In many cases the place of their execution is noted ; some suffered at Durham, some at Newcastle, not a few at Carlisle, and others in Scotland, showing that they were brought to trial at the Assizes in the ordinary way. Incidental entries in the Household Books confirm this ; as, for example, the prosecution of Vasey, at Durham (p. 52), and the apprehension of Kinion Storie (p. 248), both of whom were afterwards executed, the one at Durham, the other at Carlisle. Besides this, reference may be made to the representations
* The bishopric of Carlisle was not a rich one, jct we find that Uialiop White's lionsehoU, in 1627, was not very mnch inferior in point of number to that mnin. tained at Naworth. The name and oftice of every servant nt Rose Castle is ncorded at the end of Ms rental -booli, which concludes thus ; — "Tlic coustant Lousbuld, besidus workfolL and stmngeis, about 35 Or 3G; amongst whom are a Keutlemati usiicr, a steward, a ehnnibcrlain, and the hishop's solicitor." — Ct. Sidiolsyn and Bum's Hist. Cumh. ii, p. 316.
XXVI INTRODUCTION.
which he addressed to James I. and his Council respecting the state of things on the Border. At the time he made these representations (a.d. 1615,) things were evidently in a very unsettled state. A wholesale ^* transplantation " (as it was called) into Ireland of the clan of the Greames had been carried out by the King^s order, soon after his accession, the expense of which was met by a rate levied upon the landowners of Cum- berland and Westmorland * But the offenders thus banished soon found their way back again, and resumed their old lawless life, to the great disquietude of all the peaceable inhabitants. Questions were addressed by the King in Council to the Earl of Cumberland, Lord Walden, and Lord William Howard, on the subject of the disorder which prevailed, asking how it came to pass that the maintenance of an expensive garrison seemed powerless for its repression (App., p. 416). A conjoint reply was given, briefly recommending more frequent gaol deliveries, and less readiness in admitting prisoners to bail (p. 417). Lord William transmitted some further memoranda of his own, enter- ing more fully into the matter, suggesting greater activity on the part of the commander of the garrison, less laxity on the part of the Judges in the administration of justice, *^ either out of pitie, or humour of popularitie," and repeating the sugges- tion as to the refusal of bail in the great majority of cases. He also intimated pretty plainly that the garrison, maintained at his Majesty's expense, did not do its duty, and was not worth the money which it cost, and offers other minor suggestions, for the suppression of many of the *^ ostler-houses," so liable to become the haunt of thieves, the prohibition of the sale of beef or mutton without the hide or skin, and making it punishable to purchase either horse, sheep, or cattle, except in an open market (pp. 417—421).
The duty of the soldiers maintained in the garrison at Car- lisle appears at this time to have consisted in acting as a sort of police, to hunt out the cattle-stealers and other offenders, after due intimation had been given of any loss or spoil, and to bring
* The asseesment amounted to 40SL 19s. The *' transplantation" cost 388/. 17s. lid. Lord William Howard was rated at 52. for the Barony of Gilsland. — Cf. Nicholson and Bum's Hist. Cumb. and West. i. p. cxvii.
INTRODDCTION, XXVll
them before sorae Justice of Peace, whose buBiness of course it was, if a case were made out, to commit them for trial. Notice, it was suggested by Lord William, should be given "within 12 houres after the goods bo stolen," and blood-hounda were to "be kept and trained" to track the offenders (p. 418). He afterwards expresses an opinion that the "transplantation " of offenders was not an unmixed benefit, carried out as it hud been in a manner inconsistent with equity in many cases, and involving, as it did, a large outlay of public money (p. 240).
The energy and ability displayed by Lord William led, as we may fali-Iy presume, to bis being placed at the bead of the Commission which, as has already been mentioned, was issued by the King in 1617-18, and the exact particularity which characterizes tbe list which ho sent in of the various bad characters who then infested tlie Border country, abundantly proves the minuteness with which he inquired into every detail respecting known offenders or auspicious cbaructera, and the strict surveillance which he exercised over a large tract of country (pp. 43ti — 447).
But his efforts to bring tbc Border land into something like rule and order were greatly thwarted by the culpable weakness of some of the neighbouring magistrates, and notubly, as it would seem. Sir William Hutton. Tbe truth is that they were afraid to act with tbe promptness and decision which were needful. The days were not so far distant wlien tbe avenging of injuries was counted as a virtue,* and the seizure and im-
• The following letter from Mr. Oswald Djkee, the Kector of Weosley, in York- ehire, to Sir Robert Cotlott, written but n short time before Lord William came to live at Nanorth, showe liow common tbese acta of retaliation maet have been. They eeem to have been accepted almost as matters of course. No peculiar horror is espreased at Mr. Aglioabj being " nm through with a spear," and dying ghortly after. — " Salbtem IK X'". Sir, 1 returned home through Bowes from CKrlile, and if I cold either for mooy or gould have liad the stone, that shold have bene hrooght jow to Newcastle nr yow removed from thence, and I wrott to yow a letter that 1 directed to meet yow at Durham to this effect. That one Cootes was in SuttoQ with hia wivo'a soune about poasession of the said howse and tenement, aed that nothing cold then be doue untlll Yorkc law had determined that matter. Coots was not at home when I was ther, but hia lonne in law kept a blosfring about. The dayes will waxe long, and 1 will ride to Bowes ahortly, and see what can 1)0 dory!. Yf I get there, as I hoopa I shall, yt is beat to have yt conveyed to Kewciisttll. y<jnd me the namu of tbc murelinnt your acq.[aiDtanco] with whom
r
XXViii INTRODUCTION.
prisonment of a marauder would be visited by his kinsmen, or the clan to which he belonged, upon the person or the property of those who were concerned, directly or indirectly, in bringing him to justice. Sometimes, perhaps, there was actual complicity with the offender, and the evidence brought against him was set aside as insufficient, or bail was given in cases where it ought to have been absolutely refused. The difficulties thus interposed were so great that Lord William made it a subject of complaint in the highest quarter, and petitioned for a peremp- tory order being given for the apprehension of certain offenders. Three of these belonged to Northumberland, and were to be apprehended by Sir John Fenwick, and three to Cumberland, whom Sir William Hutton was to *^be streightly charged to apprehend,^' and Lord William undertakes to prosecute the whole of them at the next Assizes (p. 447). An order was made accordingly by the King in Council, and sent down to Lord William for transmission to Sir William Hutton, as we learn from the knight^s own letter in reply to the Privy Coun- cil. In this he graphically describes his great alarm at the sudden appearance of Mr. Charles Howard and his brother Mr. Thomas making their way unannounced into the parlour where he was sitting at dinner. There they stood in silence, " with starne countenances," but inwardly amused, no doubt, at Sir William's extraordinary perturbation and alarm. Not a
yow wold take order (as you said) for the eariage therof emongst cooles to your howse besides Stilton. My soden departure from yow was for this cause. I was one with Mr. Egglanbe that had taken up the poole betwene Wedowe Kyrkebrid and my cosyn Warwicke that had slaine her husband. I feared some rough dealing by the Kirkebrides at that tyme, which maid me hast away with sped, sence which tyme Mr. Egglanbe and his brother ar both slaine in that quarrell. He was runne through with a spear one evening as he returned home from Corby, and died on Chrlstenmasse day. Commend me right heartily to good Mr. W°^. Camden, and tell him from me that I will be redye to doe any thing I can for either of yow both. I lament that I was chargeable to yow whose company was so sweet and pleasant to me. And be yow well assured yf ever I can pleasure yow or him, yow shall command me, as knoweth Jesus, who have yow ever in his Divine protection. Farewell. From Wenslay this 9 of Januarie, 1599. Yo^^. assured frend in Christ, Oswald Dykes." [Cotton MSS. Julius c. III. f. 162.] Mr. Oswald Dykes was brother of Mr. Dykes of Wardale, or Warthole (see p. 87, n.). He is described by Camden as " a very learned man," from whom he had received copies of several Roman inscriptions. — See Britannia (Gibson's edition), p. 830.
INTRODUCTION. XXIX
word was uttered until the knight became sufficiently composed to ask their business, and he then received as a reply the ** letter from his Majestic and the Lords of the Counsell," which Mr. Charles " drew furth of his pockett," and handed to him. Sir William Hutton of course makes out the best case he can for himself and his domestic servant, Taylor, who was one of the accused persons, but is obliged to acknowledge that he had admitted him to bail. But Lord William did not let the matter rest. He again memorialized the Privy Council, urging in yet stronger terms that Sir William Hutton may be ordered to commit Taylor for trial, and he takes occasion to suggest that his Majesty should be sparing in his exercise of the royal prerogative of granting pardon to these Border thieves, and that if the Judges would only deal severely with them at the Assizes, "night watches wilbe needlesse, and a garrison in those partes will never more be spoken or thought of" (pp. 450-1). Sir William Hutton's letter, and this memorial of Lord William Howard, were referred to the Judges, who were then on the northern circuit, and their decision was that it was not a case in which bail should have been taken.
There was clearly no good feeling between Lord William and Sir William Hutton. The latter had given the greatest possible oflPence to Lord William, by an imfounded accusation against the Lady Elizabeth his wife. The charge was that she had promoted the escape of a prisoner from Naworth Castle — one Thomas Routledge, who had been brought there on a charge of having been privy to a murder. The matter was brought before the King, and an inquiry ordered, the result of which was a full recognition of the Lady Elizabeth's innocence of the charge made against her. But Lord William's indignation was ex- treme. The injustice and wrong that had been done to his wife was never forgotten, and gave rise to a bitterness of language and an animosity of feeling towards Sir William Hutton which the mere fact of the weakness and timidity of an old man in dealing with the Border thieves would scarcely have justified, however worthy it might be of condemnation. (See Lord Wil- liam's Statement^ 8fc. App. pp. 452, et seqq,) Whilst, on the other hand, Sir William Hutton was little likely to have much
XXX INTRODUCTION.
goodwill towards one whose zeal for the reformation of Border matters went the length of recommending the withdrawal of a garrison and the abolition of a Commissionership which added 2000 marks to the knight's yearly income (p. 452, w.).
Enough has been said to show that Lord WiUiam Howard was never in such a position of military command on the Border as to make it either possible or probable that the ordi- nary traditions respecting him have their origin from his own actual manner of life, pursuits, and habits. Those traditions belong really to an earlier time. They belong to a time when the banner of the Dacre, with its silver scallops '* upon martiall red " still proudly waved over the towers of Naworth. They were stories, half fact and half legend, associated in the first instance with the powerful chieftains who, for two generations, had been entrusted with the powers of Lord Warden of the Western Marches, and who unquestionably maintained a garrison of resolute and faithful retainers within the walls of Naworth, always ready to raise the wild shout of " A Daker, a Daker I a read bull, a read bull ! " * and to rush with as much eagerness to a raid upon the Scottish Border as though it were a scene of joyous pastime. Many a story would be passed from mouth to mouth, detailing the incidents of some wild foray, as when a " jomay ^' was " devised by the liord Dacre " in the month of June, 1523, and directions were given by him that " the whole garrison, with the inhabitants of the country, were to meet at Howtell Swyre upon Mondaye, at iiij of the clok aft'none the xxix day of Junij, and the said company by the suflfrance of God to ride into Scotland, and to cast downe the towr of Kelso Abbaye, and to bume the Towne ; the towr of Sm^awes, the towr of Ormyston ; and the Mosse house/^ f And other stories would be told of some stem act of justice being dealt out by the Lord Warden, when some well-known bandit was seized and brought before him. And when, long years afterwards, the Lord William Howard became the owner of Naworth and Lord
* The well known war-cry of the Dacres, a " red bull " being their cognizance.
f Quoted in Hodgson's Hist. Northumb. (Part II. vol. ii. p. 475) from Lord Dacre*8 Ledger Book for 1523, preserved in Miss Currer's Library, at Eshton Hall, Craven.
r
INTRODUCriOIT,
of tie Barony of GKIsland, any act of energy and resolution which he displayed in the capture and proaecution of some bold offender would bu likened to aomo traditionary tale which still clung to the walls of the Caatle. And then, aa time went on, and Lord William was gathered to bis fathers, the remembrance of his powerful uharacter would survive. Tlie facts of yester- day, so to speak, would become mingled in dim and confused recollection with half- remembered legends of the Castle's former lords, and so it would come to pa^ that a reflected light from a bygone age would be thrown upon the dicta et geata of its latest
The strength and resolution of Lord William's character, his stem determination to uphold, at alt hazards, the majesty of tho law, his high-minded integrity of purpose, and his abhorrence of all that was base and ignoble, left unquestionably an impress, strong and lasting, upon tho country over which his influence extended. This is no mere matter of tradition. We see from his own correspondence and memoranda how that mark was made, as it regarded tho repression of lawlessness and misrule, and we may easily understand bow hia name soon became aa much a name of fear with the lawless depredators in that wild border country, as was the name of the Dacre in the days of their fathers. We see, also, from the correspondence of others, how hia influence was dreaded, and with what jealousy his , power was regarded, in the neighbouring county of Nor- thumberland. But he was dreaded there for a different reason, and by a different class of people. In Newcastle, as in most of the larger towns in England, the mercantile and trading classes were, as a rule, strongly imbued with Puritanism and bitterly adverse to the Church of Rome, and it roused both their fears and their suspicions, when any prominent office or place was held, or any commanding influence exercised, by those who adhered to the ancient faith. Lord "W^illiam's attachment to that faith waa well known. His possessions in Northumberland were large, and his power great ; for, besides the Barony of ilorpeth with its appendages, and other manors in different parts of that county, he had great sway in Rcdosdale,* and the ' TLc lordship of liedcadale, wbicli becnme vested \a the Crown in the n>lgn of
XXXU INTRODUCTION.
wild country around Harbottle Castle, by the delegated autho- rity of his near kinsman Lord Walden. That part of Nor- thumberland was in bad repute. Eedesdale and Tynedale were inhabited by numbers of thieves and receivers of stolen horses or cattle, and it is obvious from the report made in answer to the Royal Commission of Jan. 10th, 1617, that Northumber- land as well as Cumberland had a share in Lord William's watchful supervision.
But there is scarcely an allusion to this in the curious letters and papers, given in the Appendix, which were written by Sir Henry Anderson of Newcastle, Morton, the Vicar of that place, and others. There is no generous recognition of the efforts which were made by Lord William for the promotion of order in those wild and lawless parts. Yet the writers could scarcely be ignorant that some attempt had been made to restrain the predatory habits and thievish propensities of many of the dwellers in their own county, however ill informed they might be respecting the state of the more remote district of Cumber- land which so closely adjoined the Scottish Border. But Lord William was a Catholic, and that was enough. The odium theo^ logicum gives its colouring to every letter which they wrote. Dark hints about complicity in the Gunpowder Plot, strange stories about enormous sums of money placed by the Jesuits in Lord William's hands for the purposes of their order, a surmise (certainly not an improbable one) that " the Lord Willyam is thought to keep a priest in his house," accusations against him of maintaining an antagonistic attitude towards many of the gentry, of promoting vexatious suits against some of them, and of arbitrary interference in various ways connected with county affairs, — form the staple of these communications, one of which
Hen. Vlll.y was granted by James I. Ui George Home, Jan. 29thy 1604% who in the same year was created Earl of Dunbar, in Scotland, and an English peer by the title of Lord Home, of Berwick. The same grant gave him the Lordships of Wark and Coquetdale, and other possessions in Northumberland. They were pro- bably limited to heirs male, for on the death of the Earl, in 1611, they reverted to the Crown. Theophilus, Lord Howard of Walden, married Elizabeth, daughter to Lord Dunbar, and by patent, of 12th Jan., 1614, James granted to him and his wife all the possessions of the late Earl of Dunbar in Northumberland and North Durham, which included, inter alia, the Manor of Redcsdale and the Manor and Castle of Harbottle, &c.
INTRODTTOTION. XXXUl
is addressed to Arclibisliop Abbot, the rest to Secretary Win- wood. Their object is transparent. They wanted to arouse the suspicions of the Government, which they hoped might result in some steps being taken to convict Lord William of recusancy, in which case " the King shall have two partes of his landes, and he shall be disabled to serv" (p. 425). Yet they were evidently not very sanguine as to the result of their suggestions, for they arrived at the conclusion that if they ended in nothing, all further opposition to him would be utterly futile, and that policy and self-interest would alike counsel submission to one of whom it had been said by " some simple men '^ that *^ther is mercie with God, but no mercie with my Lord Willyam " (p. 425). We read also in an anonymous com- munication, written apparently by some one connected with the county of Durham, that " my Lord William Howard hath gotten the greatest footing in Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, Busshoprick (but here [«. e. in co. Pal. Durham] least, though very much), Lancashire, and Eichmondshire, that 1 ever I think any subject had, in the opinions of the people '* . (p. 436).*
Of Lord Wniiam's religion a few words will be said here- ^ after, but this part of the subject must not be left without a J remark upon the testimony indirectly given by these letters of g Sir Henry Anderson, Morton, &c. to the persistent hold which g the ancient faith then maintained in the northern counties of ^ England. The burghers of Newcastle were no doubt zealous ^ Protestants, of the Puritan type, as were the majority o^ie ^ clergy, but the gentry of Northumberland were, almost W a ^ man. Catholics, and their tenants and dependents, with few ^ exceptions, were doubtless of the same faith. It was the same in Cumberland, though it may be not to so great an extent.
^ * The representations made with regard to Lord William's attachment to the : Church of Rome utterly failed. No proceedings, apparently, on that score, were fl then taken against him. James I. prohably refused to sanction any. His 1 re^rd to the Duke of Norfolk's family was shown in various ways, and clearly : manifested what he thought of Elizabeth's animosity against the Duke and his I bouse, connected as it was with her treatment of the Queen of Scots his mother. : besides this, James knew perfectly well the amount of influence exercised by Lord I William in maintaining tranquillity on the Border. He was far too powerful and too useful a man to be disturbed.
b
XXXIV INTRODUCTION.
But Sir Ralph Sadler's words in 1569 were still generally applicable, — " there be not in all this countrey ten gentilmen that do favour and allowe of her Majestie's proceedings in the cause of religion" (ii. p. 65). He describes the lower orders also as being strongly imbued with the *^ olde popish doctryne.*' Nowhere, indeed (to use the words of Surtees), did " the first pale and struggling ray of the Reformation break with more unwelcome lustre " than in the Northern counties, the attach- ment of whose inhabitants to the ancient faith was deep and strong. It was a feeling which " lay like lees at the bottom of men's hearts, and if the vessel were ever so little stirred came to the top." We may note in these letters the uneasy, feeling which existed on the part of Protestants with reference to the increase in the number of recusants in the course of a few years. In 1603, when James I. ascended the throne, the return made to an Inquisition showed 306 Popish recusants in Northumberland, and sixty-seven non-communicants. But in 1616, the number of recusants had risen to 507, and that of non-communicants to 432 (p. 432). It seems as though when the pressure of Elizabeth's strong hand was removed, the bough that had been forcibly bent down to the earth sprang back to its place with all its native elasticity.
When Lord William Howard became the undisputed pos- sessor of his wife's great estates, he must have found them, from various causes, in no very satisfactory condition. After Leo- nard Dacre's unsuccessful encounter with the Queen's forces at Gdts Bridge, and his subsequent flight from England, Naworth CJ^e ceased to be inhabited, and is described in 1580 as being in a dilapidated condition. A survey of all the fortresses on the West Border was made in that year by order of the Queen, and a report of their state sent in to Secretary Walsing- ham. The account given of Naworth is as follows: — '^THs Castle is one other of the chefe and principall mansion-houses belonginge to the heires of the sayd late Lord Dacre, standing xij miles east by north from the Castle of Kirkoswould, and aboat ten miles from Scotland, partly decayed, the repairinge whereof^ with help of the woods there, belonging to the Lord and owner of the same, is esteamed to d^, if the same be repaired before any
j
INTRODUCTION, XXX T
greater decay happen " {Dom. Eliz. xxvii, 44). Askerton Castle, another small fortress within the Barony of Gilsland, is likewise reported as being " partly decayed, the repairinge whereof, with the help of the woods belonginge to the Lord and owner of the same, ia esteamed to xx'',"
Not very long after the transmission of this Report, Francis Dacre prosecuted his claim to the poaaessioiis of his ancestors, with the result, as already mentioned, of long years of litiga- tion, & period during which a property invariably suffers deteri- oration. No repairs probably were made. The castle was apparently untenanted, and as regarded the general condition of the estates, there was everything to cause impoverishment, nothing to foster improvement. For a long series of years there was a disputed ownership. Some of the tenants, as we have seen, supported Francis Dacre's claims, whilst others took part with Lord William and his wife, but all were probably unanimous on one point, namely, to expend as little as possible upon the improvement of their holdings. The unsettled condi- tion of the Borders, moreover, and the consequent insecurity of life and property, interposed, during the wliole period of the litigation, a complete barrier to any progress in material prosperity. In a communication addressed to Lord Burghley in 1-592, it is stated that " this country " (speaking of the Barony of Gilsiand) "is sore spoyled, and ever since worse governed" (Bibl. Reg. xvui. D. iii. fol, 70, — Printed in Archceologia, [Scotland], 1827).
Lord William bad, therefore, an onerous task before him, but easier in one respect than it would have been during the pre- vious reign. The commencement of his residence in the North coincided with the accession of Jamea to the throne of England, and nothing contributed more to the tranquillity of the Border country than the uniting of the two countries under one sove- reign. There cannot be a stronger proof of this than the speedy increase in value of the land which lay near to the Scot- liah Border. Of this result we have ample evidence. About 1595 or 1596 a statement was made to Queen Elizabeth by Lord William of the yearly value of the whole property which feu to bis wife the Lady Elizabeth's share, and it ia given in as b 2
XXXTi IHTSODUCnOir.
amoontingy in round numbers, to 1042/. (App. pp. 408-9). Fiye or six years afterwards, Lord William became recognized as absolute owner. No record of his revenue is extant, how- ever, until 1611. But in that year we meet with an exact account of the annual value of the estates, which shows a total of 3884/. (App. pp. 413—416). The profit derived from the cattle and sheep upon the demesnes which were in Lord Wil- liam's own hands, which is set down at 620/., is included in this sum. There were occasional fluctuations in subsequent years, but the Accounts show that the general increase in the value of the property was maintained. In 1633 it reaches its maximum^ the Household Book for that year, the latest perfect one,* recording an income, from all sources, of 6144/. 15«. 5d., exclusive of a balance in hand from the preceding year of 1613/. 18«. 2rf. Before the estates could be brought to the state in which we find them in 1633, there must have been much watchful supervision^ a wise and careful administration^ and the most judicious economy. The latter quality must have been much needed. When Lord William entered upon the estates in 1601, he must have been burdened with a load of debt, the damnosa JuBreditoB bequeathed by a long series of law-suits, and by the exorbitant sum demanded by the Queen as the price for regrant- ing the estates. Years afterwards we find him paying interest upon considerable sums of borrowed money, the rate being never less than 10/. per cent.f But incumbrances were gradually cleared off, and additions were from time to time made to the property. Thus, e. g. Lord William bought Thornthwaite of Sir Henry Curwen ; Corby was acquired, later on, from the Sal- kelds, the tithes of Brampton were purchased of Sir Thomas
* There is a hiatus in the serieB between that year and 1640. The accoonts for this latter year, the hist of Lord William's life, have been somewhat imperfectly kept, more particularly as regards the entries of moneys received, attributable pro* bftbly to the disturbed state of things caused by the advance of the Scottish army» incidental notices of which occur in the book.
f It must be borne in mind, however, that 101. per cent, was at that time legal interest. By 87 Henry YIII. all interest above that rate was declared nnlawftiL In the reign of Edward VI. religions feeling led to the prohibition of aU interat The statute of Henry YIII. was revived by 13 Elizabeth, and 10^ per cent, ooo* tinned to be the legal rate of interest until the 21 Jamei I., when it was restricted to 8/. per cent.
nrTRODUGTIOX. ZXXTU
Dacre, Plenmeller of Lord Walden, the Manor of Tursdale, in the county of Durham, of one of the Bulmers, the Lordship of Wheatley Hill, in the same county, of Sir Thomas Eiddell ; besides many smaller purchases of tenements and plots of ground in the neighbourhood of one or other of the great estates. Many difficulties, however, presented themselves at the out* set, exclusive of those caused by the lawlessness prevailing over all the Border country. The relations existing between Lord William and his tenants were for some time antagonistic.
The latter appear to have clung to the idea that they could still hold their land under the ancient tenure of doing military service on the Scottish Border. On one occasion they assem- bled in considerable numbers at Gelts Bridge to encourage each other in opposition to Lord William's claim to grant leases upon payment of an arbitrary fine. It is somewhat curious to find the place of meeting advisedly chosen as that •'whear their auncestors had in tymes past fought a battell against the late Queen's forces on the parte of Leonard Dacre, thereby the rather to invite and persuade them by the memorie thereof to stand uppon their pretended custom of Tenant-right, &c." (App. p. 426). Some had previously submitted quietly to Lord William's terms (p. 413) ; but this tumultuous assemblage of malcontents was made a Star-chamber matter, and the ring" leaders were severely punished.
It is to be regretted that no Household Book ia extant pre*
viously to 1612. It would have been interesting to have traced
i from its commencement the work which Lord William carried
I on at Naworth,^ both as regarded the restoration of the Castle,
I and the alterations made in it, as well as the improvement of
the wide domain which surrounded it. But there is much to
' be gathered from the Books which exist. We learn somewhat
g as to both these points, and we learn something else also. The
i home life of the Castle is brought vividly before Us, by the
various entries which illustrate the manners and customs of the
$ time^ the tastes, habits, pursuits, and amusements of its inmates,
• and by the information they afford respecting the cost of dress,
' furniture, provisions, horses, cattle, sheep, cost of labour, and
other items of the most miscellaneous kind
XXXVm INTRODUCTION.
With the mention of the home life of the Castle another figure comes into view. If> as has already been said, that of the Lord William Howard stands out, sharp and prominent, in almost every one of the pages which follow, the portrait of the Lady Elizabeth, his wife, is scarcely less clear in its outline. We see her as the provident and watchful, but kind and gene- rous, mistress of that great household. We see also that the fullest trust and confidence were reposed in her by her husband. Entries perpetually recur of payments made by *^ my Lady's allowance,*' that is, by her sanction and approval ; and her directions are given in the free und unrestrained exercise of an authority which was evidently recognized as co-ordinate with that of "my Lord." During his absences in London or elsewhere, my Lady acted as his alter ego ; payments were made to her, even for such unlikely things as " hydes " and " mort- skins " (p. 212), and for "the hay sold in Brearthwaite forest'* (p. 801) . With the assistance of her sons, she directed everything. She rarely left Naworth. Once or twice we find a bare refer- ence to her Ladyship having been in London, but there are no items relating to any journey taken thither by her.
At the time this series of Household accounts coimnences Lord William and the Lady Elizabeth his wife had ten- sur- viving children, seven sons and three daughters. They lived in patriarchal fashion. For many years none seem to have left the paternal roof, with the exception of the married daughtera The sons married, one after another ; but they and their wives and children lived on at Naworth, until, in the later years of Lord William's life, some of them appear to have resided upon one or other of the lesser mansion houses on their father's estates — Sir William at Braflerton, Sir Charles at Croglin, and Mr. Thomas at TJnthank, and afterwards at Tursdale.* Sir Philip, the eldest son, died early in life, in 1616. His widow apparently made her home at Naworth, and their eldest wm^
* The Manor of Tursdale, oo. Durham, was conveyed in 1638 hy William Balmflr, of Morwick, Esq. (for 16582.), to Lord William Howard, who immediately settled the same on himself and his wife Elizabeth for life, with remainder to his yoongeil son Thomas Howard. — Cf. Surtees' Hist. Dnrh. i. pp. 77-8. The ac|joiniiis lordship of Wheatley Hill w^ bought in 1639 (see hereafter, p. 352).
rNTHODUCTION, XXXIK
who succeeded at Lord "William's death to the bulb of the estates, was brought up under the eye of hia grandfather, and treated as the heir. Sir Francia, the second son, with hia family, appears to have resided constantly at Naworth until the end of his father's life- After Sir Philip's death, he took the prominent position which the eldest sou, if living, would hare occupied ; acting in conjunction with his father in various ways, attending the Assizes, going up to London when law-suits were going on, &c., &e. None of the sons, however, were mereidlera, devoting all their energies to hunting the red deer and the roe, or looking out on the wild upland for some quarry whereat to fly their hawks. Yet there was no indifference to " the noble art of venerie," nor any ignorance of wood-craft. Sir Francis had his hawks and hounds. Mr. Thom.as had his grevhounds. Sir Francis goes " to Keswick to take dear " (p. 97), and ho and his brother Robert go to hunt at Thornthwaite (p. 198); and my Lord telU some visitors, in 1634, " that his sonnes had then killed out of his owne parkea 120 buckes of this season " (App. p. 490). But they had sterner work at times on their hands. Lord "William obviously brought up his sons to emulate their father's activity and energy in dealing with the Border banditti. We find a payment "'to soldiora that went with Mr, Thomas" (p. 177), and another item "for the diet of 5 soldiers sent by Mr. Charles, for v days " (p, 198). la both cases some aid had been sought from the garrison at Carliale, on occasion of an expedition to track and seize some marauders. The latter entry follows one which records a payment for " carrying 2 fellowes to gaole," We have also a graphic account by Lord "William himself of Sir Francis and Mr, Thomas followiug some " notorious offenders," who had carried off a couple of horses into Scotland. The thieves showed fight, fired their pistols, and brandished their cutlasses, but were captured, at much personal risk, by Sir Francis and his brother. "We are somewhat quaintly told that in making tliia capture they were " inforced to hurt one of them resistinge, who was thereby in such danger of deathc as he could not be cairyed so fare as the next Scotish goaie" (p. 467). Encounters of this sort must have been of no infrequent occurrence. When Lord William wrote the Paper
Xlii INTRODUCTION.
carried on at home, but of this we have no account. The eldest had become Lady Bedingfield, before these Household Books commence, and Mrs. Cotton was married about the time when they begin. Mrs. Mary, afterwards Lady Wintour, is con- stantly mentioned, and from an item in 1619, when she was 8 girl of fifteen, we gather that Latin entered into the course of instruction which she received, for " a Latin primer '* is got for her, costing 65. 6d. (p. 109) * There is not a trace of any instruction in music or singing, and no mention of the purchase of any kind of musical instrument. Dancing appears to have been the solitary accomplishment given, with the exception of needlework and embroidery. The dancing lessons were given apparently by some country professor of the art. An item occurs of a payment of 2/. for a month's instruction (p. 344).
From an entry in 1629, we find that the marriage portion which Sir John Wintour received wjth Mrs. Mary was 5000/., the last instalment of which was paid in that year (p. 260). A like sum was probably given with each of her sisters.
The Castle must have been always enlivened by the presence of children. The families which grew up around the sons of the house of course resided there, and one or other of the married daughters appear to have sent their children from time to time to be under their grandmother's care. We have only to relet to the entries headed " My Ladie's parcels," to see how fre- quently this was the case, and how liberally any needfiil additions were made to their wardrobe, and all charged to my Lady's account.
Before directing attention to the light thrown by these Books upon the mode of life of the family, and upon various other matters of more or less interest, the items which illustrate the work carried on, and the improvements made by Lord William, in and about the Castle, may be briefly noted. The main repairs were probably efiected before the date of the earliest existing Accounts, but a little may nevertheless be gleaned as to what was done afterwards. Li 1612, the orohazd
* «A Dictionarie poeticall" U bought for her in 1625 (p. 232). No other mtrj oocan of the purchase of a book for her special use.
IJfTBODUCTlOW, Xli
Their names da not appear ia the Douay Begiater. Possibly they may have been at St. Omer, Money for their expenses, which seem to have amounted to 90/. a year, was sent through Mr. Cansfield.*
Begular allowances were made by Lord William to his sons and daughters. In 1612 we find Sir Francis receiving 50/. per annum, and 10/. yearly for oats. His brothers William, Charles, and Thomas, receive 40/. each. In 1620 Mr. Robert (who was then about twenty-three) has 30/. a year, and Mrs, Mary, the youngest daughter, then about sixteen, receives a like sum. In 1625 his granddaughters, Mrs. Aletheia, afterwards Lady Fairfax (p. 258, n.), and Mrs. Elizabeth, were allowed 20/. each. As time went on, these allowances were much increased. Mrs. Aletheia,^ after her marriage, had 40/. a year (p. 259), and in 1633 Mrs. Elizabeth receives a like sum. In 1633 Sir Francis's allowance was 100/., and Mr. William and JJ^r. Charles 60Z. each ; Mj. Thomas stiU remaining at 40/. The latter was living at TJnthank in 1628 (p. 249), and appears to have farmed some land under his father at Plenmeller, (p. 288). Both he and Sir Francis appear to have bred cattle and sheep on their own account, some of which probably had a free run on my Lord's demesne lan^. In 1629 my Lord buys ''75 beastes '' of Sir Francis, for which he pays him 60/. on account, and in 1633 "ten fatt quyes" are bought of Mr. Thomas Howard at 3/. apiece. In the last Household Book, moreover, there are entries of payments to Sir Francis for 100 sheep bought of him "in my Lord's lifetime" (pp. 362-3). Sir William Howard, the heir, had an allowance of 400/. a year in 1633. His mother, "my Ladie Mary Howard (widdow),^' received a "pension," as it is designated, of 100/. per annum (p. 259).
The education of Lord William's daughters was probably
* The mention of Mr. Cansfield's name in connexion with, these remittances
lers it not an improbable supposition that St. Omer was the place of their
ion. Brian Cansfield, doubtless a kinsman, who was bom in 1585, was
Iqlptod at St. ( r, and afterwards at the English college at Home. He became
in 1604 , and died in 1645, of the effects of an imprisonment in York
l» f^ [ Beoordfl, S^es v. — TiiL, p. 140. I am indebted to Dr. Enox
xliv iNTRcrnxJCTioN.
arable and pasture, was kept in my Lord's own hands.* Few changes, probably, had at that time been introduced into agri- culture, but if any improvement, either in implements or in the mode of working land, came under Lord William's notice in other parts of England, we may be quite sure his eye would be quick to mark it, and to bring it into use on his own estates. We see this readiness to adopt any useful invention exemplified as regarded the working of coal on his Cumberland property. When he came to Naworth, the mode of " winning " it (as the Northern phrase is) would be of a very rude description. An outcrop of coal would be visible, here and there, on the slope of some hill, and the stratum would be wrought by the primitive process of grooving, that is, by an adit horizontally excavated^ the miner tunnelling his way before him, but not advancing to any great distance from the light of day. Lord William had no doubt observed in Northumberland a process whereby the existence of a seam of coal, where no external sign was visible, and its depth and thickness, could be ascertained by means of boring-rod^. If a seam were discovered by this apparatus, a shaft was sunk to the depth required. These rods he procured in 1618, and a set of them, as we learn, cost 5/. I65. QcL (p. 94) .f This most useful invention may have been adopted, pos- sibly, for some time previously in the Newcastle coal-field, but its use was probably only local, for in 1628 my Lord sends " s boarer of coales," no doubt a skilled workman, to his son-in-law Sir John Wintour, a man being paid 15s. for acting as his guide between Doncaster and Lydney (p. 249). Sir John lived in the Forest of Dean, and was evidently anxious to develope its mineral wealth. Coal was used as fuel at Naworth, though by no means to the exclusion of wood and peat. There was a small inland sale at Lord William's colliery at Farlam, but the quan- tity of coal brought to bank is not given, nor the price per chaldron at which it was sold.} The receipts do not seem to
* In 1611 the number of cattle of all sorts is reckoned as amonnting to 1110» and the number of sheep to 3000, besides what had been consumed as provinoa for the household at Naworth. (App. p. 416.)
t The first record of the use of bore -rods is to be found in Grey's ChorogrctpJUa : a Survey of Newcartle upon 7)fne, &c., published in 1649. But the author does not mention it as a new thing.
X We meet with incidental notices of the price of coals in London. In 1620 there
INTRODUCTION. xliii
-wall was in progress, which may probably be identified with that which surrounds the present garden. In 1618 the park wall was either repaired or in process of building (pp. 89, 90), and Mr. Eadcliffe the Auditor's chamber was made habitable. In the following year the old Tower, sometimes called Carlisle Tower, was repaired (p. 132), and the Chapel wainscotted. Materials were brought from Kirkoswald Castle, the "little Chappie '' of which was taken down at this time, In 1620 two sundials were got. In 1622 the roof of the Chapel at Kirkos- wald was taken down and put up at Naworth, a work which occupied several men for twenty-two days (p. 194). *^ A pic- ture in glasse " is mentioned (p. 195), possibly for the Chapel. In 1624 some further work was done at the Chapel, the " Abbey Bridge '* over the Irthing, between Naworth and Lanercost, was built, and the building of the park wall carried on (p. 215). In the same year a representation of the Crucifixion in stained glass, and " the ould arms " in the same material — the latter no doubt brought originally from Kirkoswald and now re-leaded — were inserted in the Chapel windows (p. 222. See also Addenda, p. 514). Another "crucifix of glasse " is got in 1626 (p. 234). "Work was going on this year at the garden wall. In 1628 new windows in the parlour and chamber above, and a great win- dow in the gallery, are mentioned (p. 247). In 1633 a mason sends in a bill for fifty days' works at Naworth, and another bill comes in, not very long after, for sixty- three days' at Na worth and Corby. A good deal seems to have been laid out from time to time upon the house at the latter place. There is a further item for plastering '^the new gallerie" at Naworth, the construction of which dates probably from this year.
The information given as to specific improvements in the property is but partial, though there is enough to show that a gradual and progressive change for the better was being wrought. We read, for example, of the stubbing up of old tree-roots in the park, of quicksets being bought, of new hedges being made round the Hall flat and " the improvement," and elsewhere, all indicating that enclosures were in progress, and that some waste land, hitherto bearing nothing save broom, and heather, and fern, waa being brought into cultivation^ A large tract of land.
xlvi INTRODTTCTION.
curious, not only as a record of the prices of different articles of food at the time, but as showing the provision which was made, week by week, for the supply of that bountiful table. The quantity is great and the variety extraordinary. The bill of fare may be described as comprising omnimoda volatilia, and, if not omnimoda animalia, yet almost omnimoda natantia, some of which, indeed, would now be deemed repellent rather than inviting. Porpoise, e. g. must have been then regarded as a choice viand. It formed one of the dishes which graced the board when my Lord entertained the " Judges at Naward '* (p. 236), and three were provided for the guests who were present during a *^ Hunting week " (p. 127). Seal was likewise eaten, as also cormorant and solan-goose. It will be observed that neither beef nor venison are mentioned in these accounts of the weekly consumption, and mutton very rarely. The reason is that no money payment was made for them. My Lord's own demesnes furnished the beef and mutton, and the red deer and the roe were the spoils of the chase brought in by his sons. The purchase of veal, lamb, kid, and occasionally pork is recorded. *^ A veal " cost from 6s. to 9s., a lamb from 2s. 8d, to 3s. 4r/., a kid Is. 3^^. to Is. 9d, A side of mutton is charged 5s. 4fl?., and a quarter of pork 3s. 3^. Hares are gene- rally 6^/. each., and rabbits about 8^^. a couple. There is no trace of grouse, black-cock, or partridge being regarded in the light of game. They are constantly brought to the larder, but they are bought of a fowler, just as fish of all kinds were bought of a fisherman. These men sot their price upon the fish and fowl which they brought, and received in addition a recognized " fee." Grouse were usually from 3d. to 5d. apiece, a black-cock 6(/., and a grey-hen 6(/. From 3d. to 6d. is given for a partridge, and id, for a woodcock. Besides what is now classed under the head of game, the fowlers brought in birds of all descriptions, green and grey plover, bitterns, curlews, cushatSi or wild pigeons, larks, sparrows, field-fares and starlings, stints and redshanks, sea-mews and puffins. Herons and sheldrakes were also in favour.
The fasts of the Church were sbserved with great strictness. No flesh meat of any description was eaten during Lent, but
iin:KO!>ocnoN. xlv
to have varied much. In 1618 the amount realized from this source was 50/. 10s, 6d., and in 1633 it had only advanced to 61/. 9s. In this latter year my Lord was engaged in sinking a new coal-pit (p. 345). From an entry in the Account for 1618 there seems to have been some attempt made to find coal at Thornthwaite (p. 91), but no result followed.
Planting seems to have been going on. Elm-trees were bought in London, and sent down to Newcastle by sea (p. 140). The garden received much attention. In 1629 two dozen apple- trees, two dozen plum-trees, and three apricot-trees were bought at Newburn. Twelve pear-trees were also got about the same time (p. 264). Some garden seeds bought at this time are par- ticularized— parsley, beet, leek, and garlic. Sometimes garden seeds are purchased in York, sometimes in London. Artichoke roots are also got (p. 92). Fruit-trees, costing 2/., were shipped from London in 1619, and a gratuity given to the sailors to be careful of them (p. 108). In 1633 four young pear-trees are bought in London at 2s. 6^. each, and '* 6 vine-trees " at a cost of 2s. (p. 322).
A few notes may perhaps be conveniently introduced here concerning the information which may be gleaned from these Household Books as to the manner of life at Naworth Castle, the dress, amusements, and pursuits of its inmates, and the light thus incidentally thrown upon the manners and customs of the period. These notes must necessarily be somewhat brief. An exhaustive analysis of the contents of these Books would occupy far more space than the ordinary limits prescribed to an Intro- duction would admit of.
It is recorded of Lord William's father, the Duke of Norfolk, that he was '' much lamented by all men, for he was a man good to all, remarkable for his hospitality even in those times, when it abounded everywhere " (Bloomfield's Sist. Norfolk^ i. p. 86) . The open-handed hospitality of the father was assuredly revived in the person of one, at least, of his sons. A single glance at the weekly expenditure, recorded imder the head of
" Fresh Acates," will suffice to show this. The items are very
•
18 an entry of 42. 10«. left with the housekeeper in my Lord's lodgings at Arundel House, to buy six chaldrons of coals (p. 146). In 1627, 21«. 10c2. is mentioned as the price of a chaldron (p. 241), and in 1629 it varied from 19«. to 22«. (p. 272
xlviii isTTRODUcrioK.
failed to attend St. Luke's fair at that place, to lay in a stock of whatever might be required (see e. g. p. 94). But large purchases, both of groceries and other things, were made in London, sent by sea to Newcastle, from thence by boat to Newbufn, and then by land-carriage to Naworth, often on the backs of pack-horses, but not unfrequently by cart or waggon.
When Lord William first resided at Naworth, wine was very sparingly used. It will be seen, in the Household Book for 1612, that it was bought in small quantities, by the quart or the gallon, the whole of the outlay for that year amounting only to 13/. 9s. 6d, In after years, when the income had considerably increased, the expenditure in wine became much more liberal. Claret and sack were then sometimes bought by the hogshead. A hogshead of the former cost from 4.1, 10s. to 61. In 1629 a tun of claret was got, for which, including the cost of shipping and "double caskinge," 21Z. 2s. 10c?. was paid. Sack was more expensive, a hogshead costing 81. 10s. When bought by the gallon, claret was charged 2s., and sack from 3s. 2d. to 4s. The amount expended in wine in 1633-34 was about 75Z., after deducting the charge for vinegar, which, as bought of the wine-merchant^ is entered under the head of *' Wine." A hogs- head of vinegar cost Si. 15s. (p. 330).
The entries under the heads of " My Lord's parcells ^' and ** My Ladle's parcells '^ possess considerable interest. We have before us every item of apparel in which they themselves, their daughter Mrs. Mary, and their grandchildren were arrayed^ as well as occasional articles of raiment for one or other of their sons. On state occasions, or visits of ceremony, the attire of my Lord and my Lady was rich and costly. My Lord employed a London tailor for the apparel he was clothed withal at such times, and there are many entries of purchases made in London of rich and expensive articles of dress by my Lady's order, and for her use, or intended to be given by her to child or grand- child. But for ordinary purposes cloth or other ^material of stronger texture and more homely character was used. My Lady, for example, often dressed in serge, and my Lord in frieze or camlet. A riding-suit for the latter cost 41. 9s. (p. 188). And both were satisfied with the workmanship of a country
INTRODUCTION. xlvii
there was no lack of choice fresh fish from the lake, the riyer, and the mountain tarn. It is needless to say that there was a profusion also of sea-fish. This was usually supplied from the coast of Northumberland, transmitted sometimes by way of Newcastle, and sometimes from Morpeth. It was e^bn pro- cured occasionally from the distant fishing station of Hartlepool (p. 304).* Oysters and other shell-fish were much used. 2660 oysters were brought at one time at the commencement of Lent in 1620 (p. 140). The price was usually about 5«. per 1000. Dried and salt fish were laid in, in large quantities, sometimes sent down by sea from London (p. 340). The servants were probably fed for the most part upon salted meat and fish. There was a large yearly outlay for salt, and the amount of " salt store " in the shape of " powdered linges," haberdine, red-herrings, and other fish, was very considerable. The only vegetables which seem to have been bought were leeks and onions, to supplement the produce of the garden. Eggs entered largely into the cookery. They are a constant item. Quanti- ties were sent in payment of rent, or as tythe in kind ; and the same may be said of capons, hens, and geese. Thirty of the latter were sent regularly by "Parson Curwen/' and "rent hens from Corkeby " are mentioned (p. 170). Pickled cucum- bers and capers are often procured, as also are olives. The ordinary spices were used, and lemons must have been often employed to add a zest to some choice dish. Oranges were frequently bought, at the rate of from 8d. to Is, per dozen. Figs, raisins, dates, " marmalett of quinces," and " preserved damsons " occur. Preserved fruits, indeed, under the term of " wet sucketts " are constantly mentioned. These, and groceries generally, were brought chiefly from Newcastle. The house- steward, or his wife, or some other confidential servant, seldom
*
* It IB not a little remarkable to find that fish was sent all the way from Hartle* pool to Naworth, and scarcely less so to observe that the Northumbrian coast famished at all times the chief supply. But it would seem that there was very little enterprise on the part of those who dwelt on the shores of Cumberland with regard to sea-fishing. Camden says, "The ocean which beats upon this shore affords great plenty of the best fish, and as it were upbraids the inhabitants with their idleness, in not applying themselves closer to the fishing-trade." — Britannia (ed. Qibaon), p. 819.
xl INTRODUCTION.
which gives these particulars he was far advanced in Ufe^ too in- firm^ probably, to take any personal command on such oecasioxi^ and his sons would act as his lieutenants; but we may well bdieTO that it details a scene similar to many in which he had taken a pro-* minent part, whilst he was yet in the vigour of his active manhcx)d*
Of Robert and John, the two youngest sons, we have little mention. The former became a monk of the Order of St. Bene-* diet.* The other is barely mentioned in the Accounts, and there appears no record of his subsequent career.
With Lord William^s love of literature we can scarcely doubt his having carefully provided for the education of his sons, but where, or from whom, they received it we have no account. It appeared not altogether an improbable supposition that they might have been sent to the English College at Douay, but their names are not found in its Register.f Sir Francis waa sent to travel abroad, when he was about nineteen, under the care of Sir Henry Bedingfield, who had married his eldest sister. A licence to travel for three years was granted to them^ November 23, 1607 (S. P. James I., xxviii. 96). On the 23rd May in the following year, a similar licence was issued to hii eldest brother Philip (Ibid, xxvii. 61). Mr. William Howard, the grandson, who, as has been already mentioned, eventually inherited the property, was in France for education in 1619, ao* companied by his cousin Thomas Bedingfield (pp. 104, 106-9).
*■ I make this statement on the aathority of the late Mr. Howard, of Corby {Sowar d Memorials, p. 72). He goes on to say that Sir Francis Howard* in the distribution of 200Z. left by Lord William " for pious uses/' writes, in a paper addressed to his son Francis, *' You will express to Mr. Hungate (the chaplain) that he dispose of 60/. thereof as hee thinks fitting ; that 50/. be paid to my brother Robert as he thinks fit for his Order ; and 50Z, to Mr. Howard for the Dominicans for his Order ; and 50Z. to theim that are imploied for the Carthusian^ my father, as I remember, particularly desiring these might have a share in what hee intended for such uses." This Paper is preserved at Corby. The Mr. Howard who is mentioned as belonging to the Dominicans may possibly be William Howardflb the author of A pattern of Christian loyaltie, &c. (London : Printed by R. Badger, 1684.) It is dedicated to Lord Arundel, and the writer mentl^iiB himielf as related in blood to his Lordship, of whom he speaks also as being the chief of Ue house. I am unable to identify him.
t So I am informed by Dr. Knox, of the London Oratory, who, in answer to my inquiry on the subject, has kindly made reference to the yet anpublished portion oif his interesting edition of the Douay Register.
tNTRODfCTION, II
he got 20s., besides a New Year's gift from my Lady of 6s.
(p. 314). If is needless to repeat that hunting, hawking, and perhaps
fishing, formed the chief recreations of Sir Francis Howard and his brothers. To these pursuits must be added the fascina- tions of the race-course. Mention is made of Sir Prancia having been at a race in Scotland, and Langomby races had attractions both for him and Mr. Charles. "The little gentlemen," their nephews, went to the race at Langomby (p. 52). Perhaps each of their uncles had entered a horae to run. The only instance, I think, of the purchase of toys is a solitary entry for "a footeball for the children^' (p.'"59}.*
For many years very little was spent upon furniture. The making of three bedsteads at Thornthwaite in 1612, f the bring- ing of a iike number from Kirkoswald, and the purchase of some stools and chairs for Hinderskelf, are perhaps the most impor- tant items. More was laid out towards the latter part of my Lord's life. Amongst things bought in London, in 1621), is a cabinetj with twenty-one "draw boxies," as the drawers are qnaintly called, and six similar caljineta appear to have been afterwards got for my Lady (pp. 143, 140). In iti:!:i a cosily set of " lanskipp hanginges," or tapestry, was bought, measur- ing 148 ells, for which iil. 8s. was paid. A yellow damask bed, adorned with embroidery, with taffety curtains, two chairs and a long cushion to match, were purchased at the same time, costing 251. A Turkey carpet is also got, and expensive linen damask for table-cloths and napkins (p. 326). But no merely ornamental things occur. There is not a trace, for instance, of the purchase of such a thing as a mirror. My Lady, indeed, bought a " looking-glass " in 1618, for which 9s. was given,
• A note was inadTCrtentl J omitted at p. 228, where " bBttell dores " are mon- tioD«d. It is possible tliat if cursorily read the word mny be thought to have something to do with skuttle.cockt, and the conclusion miglit be come to that they were bought for the children's amusement. But these "battell doi'cs" were implemeats used in th^ laundry, for bonting coarae clothes.
+ When the family made Thornthwaite thtir homo for a time, bedding anil plat* were talien thither fi'om Niiworth (p. 182). Bedding was also taken to the bouse Lord William rented at Carlisle, wlicu he went there to attend the Assi'^es (p. 197).
Xlli INTRODUCTION.
carried on at home, but of this we have no account. The eldest had become Lady Bedingfield, before these Household Books commence, and Mrs. Cotton was married about the time when they begin. Mrs. Mary, afterwards Lady Wlntour, is con- stantly mentioned, and from an Item In 1619, when she was a girl of fifteen, we gather that Latin entered into the course of instruction which she received, for " a Latin primer " is got for her, costing 6s, 6d. (p. 109).* There is not a trace of any instruction In music or singing, and no mention of the purchase of any kind of musical instrument. Dancing appears to have been the solitary accomplishment given, with the exception of needlework and embroidery. The dancing lessons were given apparently by some country professor of the art. An item occurs of a payment of 2/. for a month's instruction (p. 344).
From an entry in 1629, we find that the marriage portion which Sir John Wintour received wjth Mrs. Mary was 5000/., the last instalment of which was paid in that year (p. 260). A like sum was probably given with each of her sisters.
The Castle must have been always enlivened by the presence of children. The families which grew up around the sons of the house of course resided there, and one or other of the married daughters appear to have sent their children from time to time to be under their grandmother's care. We have only to refer to the entries headed " My Ladle's parcels," to see how fre- quently this was the case, and how liberally any need&il additions were made to their wardrobe, and all charged to my Lady's account.
Before directing attention to the light thrown by these Books upon the mode of life of the family, and upon various other matters of more or less interest, the items which illustrate the work carried on, and the improvements made by Lord William, in and about the Castle, may be briefly noted. The main repairs were probably effected before the date of the earliest existing Accounts, but a little may nevertheless be gleaned as to what was done afterwards. Li 1612, the orchard
* "A Dictionarie poeticall" is bought for her in 1625 (p. 232). No other enti; oocoTB of the purchase of a book for her special use.
INTRODUCTION. xliii
wall was in progress, whicli may probably be identified with. that which surrounds the present garden. In 1618 the park wall was either repaired or in process of building (pp. 89, 90), and Mr. Sadcliffe the Auditor's chamber was made habitable. In the following year the old Tower, sometimes called Carlisle Tower, was repaired (p. 132), and the Chapel wainscotted. Materials were brought from Kirkoswald Castle, the "little Chappie *' of which was taken down at this time, In 1620 two sundials were got. In 1622 the roof of the Chapel at Kirkos- wald was taken down and put up at Naworth, a work which occupied several men for twenty-two days (p. 194). *^ A pic- ture in glasse '^ is mentioned (p. 195), possibly for the Chapel. In 1624 some further work was done at the Chapel, the " Abbey Bridge'' over the Trthing, between Naworth and Lanercost, was built, and the building of the park wall carried on (p. 215). In the same year a representation of the Crucifixion in stained glass, and " the ould arms " in the same material — the latter no doubt brought originally from Kirkoswald and now re-leaded — were inserted in the Chapel windows (p. 222. See also Addenda, p. 514). Another "crucifix of glasse '' is got in 1626 (p. 234). Work was going on this year at the garden wall. In 1628 new windows in the parlour and chamber above, and a great win- dow in the gallery, are mentioned (p. 247). In 1633 a mason sends in a bill for fifty days' works at Na worth, and another bill comes in, not very long after, for sixty-three days' at Naworth and Corby. A good deal seems to have been laid out from time to time upon the house at the latter place. There is a further item for plastering '^the new gallerie" at Naworth, the construction of which dates probably from this year.
The information given as to specific improvements in the property is but partial, though there is enough to show that a gradual and progressive change for the better was being wrought. We read, for example, of the stubbing up of old tree-roots in the park, of quicksets being bought, of new hedges being made round the Hall flat and " the improvement," and elsewhere, all indicating that enclosures were in progress, and that some waste land, hitherto bearing nothing save broom, and heather, and fern, was being brought into cultivation^ A large tract of land.
xKv iNTRODXJcnoir.
arable and pasture, was kept in my Lord's own hands.* Few changes, probably, had at that time been introduced into agri- culture, but if any improvement, either in implements or in the mode of working land, came under Lord William's notice in other parts of England, we may be quite sure his eye would be quick to mark it, and to bring it into use on his own estates. We see this readiness to adopt any useful invention exemplified as regarded the working of coal on his Cumberland property. When he came to Naworth, the mode of " winning " it (as the Northern phrase is) would be of a very rude description. An outcrop of coal would be visible, here and there, on the slope of some hill, and the stratum would be wrought by the primitive process of grooving, that is, by an adit horizontally excavated, the miner tunnelling his way before him, but not advancing to any great distance from the light of day. Lord William had no doubt observed in Northumberland a process whereby the existence of a seam of coal, where no external sign was visible, and its depth and thickness, could be ascertained by means of boring-rods. If a seam were discovered by this apparatus, a shaft was sunk to the depth required. These rods he procured in 1618, and a set of them, as we learn, cost 5/. 16«. 9d (p. 94) .f This most useful invention may have been adopted, pos- sibly, for some time previously in the Newcastle coal-field, but its use was probably only local, for in 1628 my Lord sends " a boarer of coales," no doubt a skilled workman, to his son-in-law Sir John Wintour, a man being paid 15s. for acting as his guide between Doncaster and Lydney (p. 249). Sir John lived in the Forest of Dean, and was evidently anxious to develope its mineral wealth. Coal was used as fuel at Naworth, though by no means to the exclusion of wood and peat. There was a small inland sale at Lord William's colliery at Farlam, but the quan- tity of coal brought to bank is not given, nor the price per chaldron at which it was sold, j: The receipts do not seem to
* In 1611 the number of cattle of all sorts is reckoned as amounting to 1110» and the number of sheep to 3000, besides what had been consumed as provisioa for the household at Na worth. (App. p. 416.)
t The first record of the use of bore-rods is to be found in Grey's Chorographia : a Survey of Newcartle upon Tyne, Sac, published in 1649. But the author does not mention it as a new thing.
X We meet with incidental notices of the price of coals in London. In 1620 there
iin:KO!>ocTioN. xlv
to have raried much. In 1618 the amount realized from this flource was 50/. 10s. 6d,y and in 1633 it had only advanced to 61/. 9s. In this latter year my Lord was engaged in sinking a new coal-pit (p. 345), From an entry in the Account for 1618 there seems to have been some attempt made to find coal at Thomthwaite (p. 91), but no result followed.
Planting seems to have been going on. Elm-trees were bought in London, and sent down to Newcastle by sea (p. 140). The garden received much attention. In 1629 two dozen apple- trees, two dozen plum-trees, and three apricot-trees were bought at Newburn. Twelve pear-trees were also got about the same time (p. 264). Some garden seeds bought at this time are par- ticularized— parsley, beet, leek, and garlic. Sometimes garden seeds are purchased in York, sometimes in London. Artichoke roots are also got (p. 92). Fruit-trees, costing 21., were shipped from London in 1619, and a gratuity given to the sailors to be careful of them (p. 108). In 1633 four young pear-trees are bought in London at 2s. 6d. each, and '* 6 vine-trees " at a cost of 28. (p. 322).
A few notes may perhaps be conveniently introduced here concerning the information which may be gleaned from these Household Books as to the manner of life at Naworth Castle, the dress, amusements, asd pursuits of its inmates, and the light thus incidentally thrown upon the manners and customs of the period. These notes must necessarily be somewhat brief. An exhaustive analysis of the contents of these Books would occupy far more space than the ordinary limits prescribed to an Intro- duction would admit of.
It is recorded of Lord William's father, the Duke of Norfolk, that he was '^ much lamented by all men, for he was a man good to all, remarkable for his hospitality even in those times, when it abounded everywhere " (Bloomfield's Sist. Norfolk, i. p. 86) • The open-handed hospitality of the father was assuredly revived in the person of one, at least, of his sons. A single glance at the weekly expenditure, recorded under the head of
" Fresh Acates," will suffice to show this. The items are very
•
18 an entry of 42. 10«. left with the hoasekeeper in my Lord's lodgings at Arnndel House, to buy six chaldrons of coals (p. 146). In 1627, 2\s, lOd, is mentioned as the price of a chaldron (p. 241), and in 1629 it varied from 19«. to 22f . (p. 272
xlvi INTRODTTCTION.
curious, not only as a record of the prices of different articles of food at the time, but as showing the provision which was made^ week by week, for the supply of that bountiful table. The quantity is great and the variety extraordinary. The bill of fare may be described as comprising omnimoda volatilia^ and, if not omnimoda animalia, yet almost omnimoda natantia, some of which, indeed, would now be deemed repellent rather than inviting. Porpoise, e. g. must have been then regarded as a choice viand. It formed one of the dishes which graced the board when my Lord entertained the " Judges at Naward " (p. 236), and three were provided for the guests who were present during a '^ Hunting week " (p. 127). Seal was likewise eaten, as also cormorant and solan-goose. It will be observed that neither beef nor venison are mentioned in these accounts of the weekly consumption, and mutton very rarely. The reason is that no money payment was made for them. My Lord's own demesnes furnished the beef and mutton, and the red deer and the roe were the spoils of the chase brought in by his sons. The purchase of veal, lamb, kid, and occasionally pork is recorded. '^ A veal " cost from 6s. to 9s,, a lamb from 25. 8d. to 3s. 4:d., a kid Is. 3d. to Is. 9d, A side of mutton is charged 5s. 4c?., and a quarter of pork 3s. 3d. Hares are gene- rally 6d, each., and rabbits about 8d. a couple. There is no trace of grouse, black-cock, or partridge being regarded in the light of game. They are constantly brought to the larder, but they are bought of a fowler, just as fish of all kinds were bought of a fisherman. These men set their price upon the fish and fowl which they brought, and received in addition a recognized " fee.'' Grouse were usually from 3d. to 5d. apiece, a black-cock 6c?., and a grey-hen 5d. From 3^/. to 6d. is given for a partridge, and id. for a woodcock. Besides what is now classed under the head of game, the fowlers brought in birds of all descriptions, green and grey plover, bitterns, curlews, cushats^ or wild pigeons, larks, sparrows, field-fares and starlings, stints and redshanks, sea-mews and puffins. Herons and sheldrakes were also in favour.
The fasts of the Church were observed with great strictness. No flesh meat of any description was eaten during Lent, but
INTRODUCTION, xlvu
{here was no lack of choice fresh fish from the lake, the river, and the mountain tarn. It is needless to say that there was a profusion also of sea-fish. This was usually supplied from the coast of Northumberland, transmitted sometimes by way of Newcastle, and sometimes from Morpeth. It was evfen pro- cured occasionally from the distant fishing station of Hartlepool (p. 304).* Oysters and other shell-fish were much used. 2660 oysters were brought at one time at the commencement of Lent in 1620 (p. 140). The price was usually about 5s. per 1000. Dried and salt fish were laid in, in large quantities, sometimes sent down by sea from London (p. 340). The servants were probably fed for the most part upon salted meat and fish. There was a large yearly outlay for salt, and the amount of " salt store '* in the shape of " powdered linges,'' haberdine, red-herrings, and other fish, was very considerable. The only vegetables which seem to have been bought were leeks and onions, to supplement the produce of the garden. Eggs entered largely into the cookery. They are a constant item. Quanti- ties were sent in payment of rent, or as tythe in kind ; and the same may be said of capons, hens, and geese. Thirty of the latter were sent regularly by "Parson Curwen," and "rent hens from Corkeby " are mentioned (p. 170). Pickled cucum- bers and capers are often procured, as also are olives. The ordinary spices were used, and lemons must have been often employed to add a zest to some choice dish. Oranges were frequently bought^ at the rate of from 8d. to Is. per dozen. Figs, raisins, dates, " marmalett of quinces," and " preserved damsons " occur. Preserved fruits, indeed, under the term of " wet sucketts " are constantly mentioned. These, and groceries generally, were brought chiefly from Newcastle. The house- steward, or his wife, or some other confidential servant, seldom
* It is not a little remarkable to find that fish was sent all the way from Hartle* pool to Na worth, and scarcely less so to observe that the Northumbrian coast famished at all times the chief supply. But it would seem that there was very little enterprise on the part of those who dwelt on the shores of Cumberland with regard to sea-fishing. Camden says, "The ocean which beats upon this shore affords great plenty of the best fish, and as it were upbraids the inhabitants with their idleness, in not applying themselves closer to the fishing-trade." — Britannia (ed. Qibaon), p. 819.
xlviii iKTRODUcrioK.
failed to attend St. Luke's fair at that place, to lay in a stock of whatever might be required (see e. g. p. 94), But large purchases, both of groceries and other things, were made in London, sent by sea to Newcastle, from thence by boat to Newburn, and then by land-carriage to Naworth, often on the backs of pack-horses, but not unfrequently by cart or waggon.
"When Lord William first resided at Naworth, wine was very sparingly used. It will be seen, in the Household Book for 1612, that it was bought in small quantities, by the quart or the gallon, the whole of the outlay for that year amounting only to 13Z. 98. 6d. In after years, when the income had considerably increased, the expenditure in wine became much more liberal. Claret and sack were then sometimes bought by the hogshead. A hogshead of the former cost from 4Z. 10s. to 61, In 1629 a tun of claret was got, for which, including the cost of shipping and " double caskinge," 21^ 2s. 10c?. was paid. Sack was more expensive, a hogshead costing 81. lOs, When bought by the gallon, claret was charged 2s., and sack from 3s. 2d. to 4s. The amount expended in wine in 1633-34 was about 75Z., after deducting the charge for vinegar, which, as bought of the wine-merchant, is entered under the head of *' Wine.'' A hogs- head of vinegar cost 81. 15s. (p. 330).
The entries under the heads of *^ My Lord's parcells ^' and ** My Ladie's parcells '^ possess considerable interest. We have before us every item of apparel in which they themselves, their daughter Mrs. Mary, and their grandchildren were arrayed, as well as occasional articles of raiment for one or other of their sons. On state occasions, or visits of ceremony, the attire of my Lord and my Lady was rich and costly. My Lord employed a London tailor for the apparel he was clothed withal at such times, and there are many entries of purchases made in London of rich and expensive articles of dress by my Lady's order, and for her use, or intended to be given by her to child or grand- child. But for ordinary purposes cloth or other ^material of stronger texture and more homely character was used. My Lady, for example, often dressed in serge, and my Lord in frieze or camlet. A riding-suit for the latter cost 4Z. 9s. (p. 188). And both were satisfied with the workmanship of a oountrj
INTRO DUCTION. xllX
tailor^ for a tailor was usually the cutter-out and the fitter on of my Lady's gowns and bodices, as well as of my Lord's doub- lets, nether garments, and cloaks. The tailor came to the Castle, and there did his shaping and his stitching, often, probably, under my Lady's eye. His modern successor still does the like in the farm-houses of most rural districts. And many small economies were practised. M^ Lord had his stockings " footed," when too far worn for darning, and my Lady and Mrs. Mary had their gowns '' translated,'* by which is meant turning the material and making it do double service. There are other instances of old-fashioned, homely frugality. The flax for the household linen, table-cloths, napkins, and sheets, was spun at home and sent to the loom of some skilful country weaver. Even in London the housekeeper in my Lord's lodgings at Arundel House was provided with flax, so that she might occupy her spare time with the distaff (p. 146). Candles were made at home. There is an entry recording the purchase of sixteen stones of tallow bought for the purpose (p. 48), and candle-wick in proportion. Another entry tells us that rush- lights were likewise made (p. 93). Wax candles are not often mentioned, but they were also sometimes of home manufacture. An entry occurs of 31s. 3^. paid for " 26 poundes of waxe for candell, and yarne for weekes for them" (p. 331),
The amusements of the inmates of the Castle were few and simple. Books, there can be no doubt, constituted the relaxa- tion of my Lord's leisure hours. Many items record his purchase of them, but unfortunately the titles are rarely given. In his latter years he seems to have taken interest in pursuits of a somewhat scientific nature, if, at least, we may deduce such an inference from the purchase of an Astrolabe, a quadrant^ and "a Booke of Dialinge" (pp. 252, 257). He was evidently curious in clocks and watches. Occasionally he bought pictures, but the prices given do not lead to the supposition that they were works of high art ; and he had portraits taken of different members of the family, by limners who can only have had a local reputation. A Mr. Barker of Newcastle is mentioned, and some are the work of a Mr. Hesketh. The latter artist appears to have been able to turn his hand to anything, for we
c
1 INTRODTJCTION.
find that besides painting the portraits of Mrs. Elizabeth, Mrs^ Mary, and Mr. Thomas, he mends my Lord^s closet and gilds lu- bedstead (p. 182). My Lady's favourite amusement was card- playing, and " tabells '^ (by which latter term we must under- stand draughts and backgammon), and her page, or her waiting- woman, was constantly sent to the house-steward for money when her Ladyship sat down to a game, or when she had to pay her losses. The sums varied from bs. to IO5., sometimes \L The largest stakes recorded are on occasion of her Ladyship being " at cardes with my Lord of Wallden.'' Thirty shillings were then sent for. My Lady had, however, other objects of interest. There is an entry of books bought for her (p. 161), but we are not told what they were. In her latter years she seems to have had a small dairy farm at Askerton, and cattle were bought for her at Darlington fair (p. 346).
The embroidery frame was a constant resource. Gold and silver thread, silks of various hues, needles, &c., are continually bought. Embroidery silk was purchased " for S'. Francis his Lady to woork for my Lord'' (p. 162). Sometimes they called in helpers. ^^ Davy Willson's wyfe " is paid 5s. " for woorking a peticoate for Mrs. Mary" (p. 189), a payment of 10s. is made " to Mrs. Catherine the imbroderer," and another payment is entered for embroidering a crimson velvet carpet or table-cover. Companies of strolling players often came into the neighbour- hood, and their performances had the patronage of Naworth Castle. A play is acted at Brampton, and Is, 6(1. given for Mrs. Mary and the party (p. 182). Penrith and Cumcatch, the latter only a small village, were visited when the players were there. A dancer on one occasion must have given great satis- faction, for he is rewarded with 20s., whilst the actors got 10s., apparently amongst them (p. 130). Minstrels, pipers, fiddlers, and harpers, alone or in company, ** consorts of musicians," as they are called, and men with hobby-horses, often came to the Castle gates. Their appearance was probably a welcome diversion, especially to the younger members of the family, and they were never sent away empty-handed. " A blinde harper " excites my Lady's sympathy, and is gladdened by the gift of 5s. A piper played all Christmas time, for which
INTRODUCTION. li
he got 20^., besides a New Year's gift from my Lady of 55. (p. 314).
It is needless to repeat that hunting, hawking, and perhaps fishing, formed the chief recreations of Sir Francis Howard and his brothers. To these pursuits must be added the fascina- tions of the race-course. Mention is made of Sir Francis having been at a race in Scotland, and Langomby races had attractions both for him and Mr. Charles. "The little gentlemen," their nephews, went to the race at Langomby (p. 52). Perhaps each of their uncles had entered a horse to run. The only instance, I think, of the purchase of toys is a solitary entry for "a footeball for the children '' (p.^59).*
For many years very little was spent upon furniture. The making of three bedsteads at Thorn thwaite in 1612,t the bring- ing of a like number from Kirkoswald, and the purchase of some stools and chairs for Hinderskelf, are perhaps the most impor- tant items. More was laid out towards the latter part of my Lord^s life. Amongst things bought in London, in 1620, is a cabinet, with twenty-one " draw boxies," as the drawers are quaintly called, and six similar cabinets appear to have been afterwards got for my Lady (pp. 143, 146). In 1633 a costly set of ** lanskipp hanginges," or tapestry, was bought, measur- ing 148 ells, for which 44^. 8s. was paid. A yellow damask bed, adorned with embroidery, with taffety curtains, two chairs and a long cushion to match, were purchased at the same time, costing 25/. A Turkey carpet is also got^ and expensive linen damask for table-cloths and napkins (p. 326) . But no merely ornamental things occur. There is not a trace, for instance, of the purchase of such a thing as a mirror. My Lady, indeed, bought a " looking-glass ^' in 1618, for which 9s. was given,
* A note was inadvertently omitted at p. 228, where " battell dores '* are men- tioned. It is possible that if cursorily read the word may be thought to have something to do with shuttle' cocJcs, and the conclusion might be come to that they were bought for the children's amusement. But these "battell dores*' were implements used in th^ laundry, for beating coarse clothes.
t When the family made Thornthwaite their home for a time, bedding and plate were taken thither from Naworth (p. 182). Bedding was also taken to the house Lord William rented at Carlisle, when he went there to attend the Assizes (p. 197).
c 2
Ill INTRODUCTION.
but it would be for use in her own chamber, not for the embel- lishment of her withdrawing-room.
There does not appear to have been much silver plate. Four- silver dishes are incidentally mentioned (p. 182), but the tabl^ service was certainly of pewter. More than one entry records the purchase of new services of the latter metal, with particulars of the number of dishes, pye and pasty plates, &c. (pp. 241, 251), and mention is made here and there of battered and worn-out pewter dishes being exchanged for new. New pewter was from Is. to 15d. a pound. Trenchers were also in use, no doubt at the servants' table. Three dozen and a half of them cost 3«. (p. 93). In later years, when the estates had become much im- proved in value, articles in silver were occasionally bought. Thus, in 1622, two little silver candlesticks are got, and " a silver forke for carvinge " (pp. 188, 200), as also a larger pair of candlesticks, which cost 10/. 17s. Six silver saucers were bought in 1628, at 5s. 6d, an ounce, and two silver flagons, on which my Lord had his arms engraved. The latter were 5s. dd. the ounce, and cost 37/. 13s. dd. In the following year we find a purchase of a dozen silver spoons, and ten silver forks (p. 265). The arms were engraven upon the latter. In 1633 a double- gilt silver cup and a paten are bought. These are charged at the rate of 8s. per ounce (p. 326).
Things now regarded as comforts of the most ordinary description, even in very humble houses, were then absent from the apartments of that stately mansion. Such a thing as a floor- carpet was unknown. The hall, the great chamber, and other rooms were strewn with rushes and bent. After a time the refinement of matting was introduced. In 1624 we find it mentioned as being laid down in my Lady Philip's chamber, and also in that of Sir Francis (pp. 216, 217). From a pre- vious entry we learn that it was procured from Norfolk. Six bundles of mats, each containing six yards, and charged 18«., were sent by sea from Lynn (p. 135).
Other entries, trifling in themselves, indicate much simplicity in the habits of daily life. My Lady, for example, goes down to the gate and buys lace and ribands of some travelling pack- man (pp. 122, 161). Two ''smoothing yrons and a setting
INTRODUCTION. liii
stick " are bought for her (p. 134), leading to the presumption that, high-bom lady though she were, she did not think it beneath her to take a part now and then in getting up her own ruffs, coifs, or pinners. Much kindly interest was taken in the home life of their humbler neighbours or dependents. When a wedding took place in the neighbourhood, it seems to have been often attended by one or other of the family. Mr. William Howard goes "to Rob. Stapleton's wedding " (p. 61), who was a farm bailiff at Corby, and ** My young Lady " is present at Jannet Armstrong's bridal (p. 182). Presents were always made on these occasions, and the children were encouraged to feel that they were taking a part in the kindly act, by having a little gift put into their hands to bestow, or by having it pre- sented in their name.
Great liberality was shown in the gifts which were constantly made to children and grandchildren. My Lord, for example, makes his grandson, Mr. Bedingfield, a present of 40Z., and my Lady gives Lady Wintour a like sum (pp. 317, 318). Many other gifts are mentioned. New Year's gifts are constantly recorded. But these gifts were not confined to children or near kindred, for friend and neighbour were remembered also. If economy was a characteristic of the Lord and Lady of Naworth, it never degenerated into parsimony. Frugality was in their case the parent of munificence.
With all this generosity and kindly feeling it would have been strange indeed if we had not found frequent mention of almsgiving. It was a virtue in which neither Lord William nor my Lady were lacking. When either of them left the Castle for some temporary absence, a crowd of poor people gathered at the gate to bid them God-speed on their journey, whilst others awaited them at some turn of the road, and they were never unrelieved. Many acts of charity to individuals are mentioned, especially on the part of my Lady, of whom it might be truly said, Manum suam aperuit inopi, et palmar mas extendit adpauperem. No distinction seems to have been made between Catholic and Protestant, for old Mr. Warwick, the vicar of Brampton, who seems to have been in a chronic state of impe- cuniosity, often received substantial assistance from my Lord.
liv INTRODUCTIOl^.
On one occasion he has a loan of 20Z. " to redeeme him from the Pursivantes^ handes*^ (p. 338). It is somewhat touching to read of the old Vicar sending his little present of '* young ducks and peascodds," and again of " peascodds and honie combes," as a humble tribute in return for the kindnesses he had so often received (p. 318). Some of the festivals of the Church were usually marked by almsgiving, especially St. Martin's Day* and the festival of SS. Simon and Jude, the latter being the anniver- sary of the marriage of Lord William and the Lady Elizabeth. On the return of the anniversary in 1628, alms were given to fifty-two poor people, by my Lady's command. The number of the recipients corresponded with her entrance upon the fifty-second year of her married life (p. 247). Other old customs, relics of a bygone age, still lingered on. funeral doles were always given. A dole of 3Z. was distributed when my Lady Francis was buried, whose death took place under peculiarly distressing circumstances (see p. 227 n,). Lesser doles were given at the funerals of two young grandchildren.
Travelling was a tedious and costly aflFair in those days. The expenses of my Lord's journeys to London will be found duly entered. The route was by way of Bowes. The road over Stanemoor was doubtless rugged enough, but it was passable for wheeled carriages. On one occasion Sir Francis, "belnge 81 ck,^' hired a coach for his journey from London to Bowes, which cost 18/. At the latter place my Lord^s coach met him and brought him home (p. 335) . It seems to have been a usual thing to send the coach some distance to meet members of the family who were on their way to Na worth. It was sent (as we read on the last cited page) as far as Ferrybridge, to meet Mr. Thomas Bedingfield and his wife, and several years previously an entry tells us that it went as far as Appleby, to meet Mrs. Howard (p. 181). Lord William's journeys to London were always taken on horseback^ and he was generally ten or eleven days on the road, the travelling expenses varying, according to the number
* St. Martin's Day was probably regarded as an appropriate one for the giTUig of alms, on account *of that Saint's singular charity to the poor. The oft-repeated story of liis dividing his cloak with a beggar narrates a weil-known incident in his life.
INTRODUCTION. Iv
of his retinue, and the directness of the route taken. A journey by way of Shiffnal and Lydney occupied eleven days, and cost 801. 17s. Id,, whilst the expenses of another, from Thorn thwaite to London, with twenty-four men and twelve horses in his train, came to 201. 15s. M (pp. 268, 148). Other entries give lesser amounts. The mention of a coach occurs in the earliest Book, and it appears to have been always in use, though evidently at times imder difficulties, as when we find an item for " hewing a way for the coach beyond Gelt bridge " (p. 228). A coach and four horses, bought in 1624, cost 30/. (p. 223). When my Lady went to pay formal visits to Rose Castle, or some other great mansion, she doubtless went in her coach in all due state, but on other occasions it is more than probable that she preferred the less dignified, but also less jolting, mode of locomo- tion called double-horse. The mention of her " dubble gelding,'* and of the " mending my Ladye's pileon-cloth," shows that it was a way of moving about which was not unfrequently adopted (pp. 196, 230).
A few of the prices of difierent items have already been cursorily mentioned. To bring this part of the subject more conveniently before the reader's attention, a classified summary of prices, wages of labourers, &c., will be subjoined to this In- troduction. A word, nevertheless, ought perhaps to be said here with reference to a question which naturally suggests itself, viz., what amount, in modern currency, is represented by the money of that time ? I am disposed to think that, if we take 4 A the multiple, we shall probably arrive at an approximation to our present standard. The price of ordinary labour must at all times be an exponent of the value of the circulating medium. Food, clothing, and shelter have to be provided out of the money a man receives in return for his work. During the period covered by these Household Accounts, an ordinary labourer received 6d. a day. This was apparently the wage commonly given in the Northern counties. It was given in Yorkshire in 1641, as we learn from Best's Farming Book (Pub. Surtees Soc), p. 140. Now if we multiply his week's pay of 3s. by 4, we get 12s., and for a long series of years, until the recent unsettled state of the labour-market, the latter sum might be said to
Ivi INTRODUCTION.
be, in the North of England, an ordinary wage for a week'a labour. Again, we meet with items which tell us the annuaL rent of a cottage. Two cottages in Brampton were let for 5». a year each (p. 275), but these must have been very poor dwellings. One of a better class in Little Corby was let for 15«. a year (p. 281). This sum represents a weekly payment for house-rent of S^d. ; and if we take the average rent of a labourer's cottage now, in a country district where there is no abnormal demand for house accommodation, we shall find that it bears something like the same relative proportion to his week's wages as the rent demanded in the 17th century did to those of his pre- decessor. The same thing holds good, to a great extent, as regards the prices of cattle, horses, sheep, &c. There are, no doubt, occasional anomalies and discrepancies, for at all periods circumstances will arise which give a more or less fictitious value to certain commodities. I do not think the price of wheat, during the period before us, can be taken as a factor in any calculations grounded upon the amount of wages received by the labourer. Its deamess must have placed it completely out of his reach as an article of daily consumption. There can be little doubt that oatmeal was then the chief food of a Cam- brian labourer and his family, as indeed it has continued to be, to a great extent, down to the present day. The price of the precious metals, it will be observed, was at that time very highi (see ante, p. lii). Dr. Whitaker remarks upon this with reference to the Inventory of Henry Lord Clifford in 1572, where silver plate is mentioned as costing 5s. id, and 5s. 2d, per ounce, — % price which he considered as equal to 20s. of our present money. {Huit. Craven, p. 331).
Some prominent features in Lord William's character have already been noted. We have seen him rendering essential benefits to the country around him by the vigour and determina- tion with which he grappled with proved abuses, and tanght his wild neighbours on the border, by many a sharp lesson, to have a wholesome fear of the law. And we have seen him also as the sagacious and careful administrator of large possessions, and as the vigilant head of a great household. Qenere nobiUs, manu
INTRODUCTION. Ivii
prompttASy ardorem animi vultu oculisque prceferens,^ he was singularly qualified to be a ruler of men. But he has another claim to remembrance which is not always associated with the qualities which have been indicated. He was a man of great learning and culture. From an early period of life he delighted in surrounding himself with books, and his chiefest pleasure was derived from the society and conversation of the most learned men of his time. Whilst still a young man, he published an edition of Florence of Worcester's Chronicle, which he dedicated to the great Lord Burlegh. The Dedication and Address to the Keader are given in the Appendix as specimens of his scholar- ship (pp. 410-11). Even at that early period of his life, limited as his resources must have been, burdened as he was by the expenses of the long litigation in which he was perforce involved, he contrived to gather round him a library which was even then sufficiently extensive to attract attention. Camden (Pref. Scripta Anglica) speaks of him as publishing Florence of Worcester e bibliothecd sua quam habet instructissimam. With Camden and Sir Robert Cotton his friendship was close and in- timate, drawn yet closer by the love which was borne by each to ** hoar Antiquity." He transmitted Roman stones to adorn Sir Robert's collection of antiquities, and made sketches, with his own hand, of others, for the illustration of Camden's great work, an obligation which the latter does not fail to acknowledge. f
Lord William was probably one of the original members of that first-formed Society of Antiquaries, which, owing to some timid suspicion on the part of James I. as to its ulterior objects, had but a brief existence. He is mentioned in an anonymous proposal made for establishing in its room an " Academy Royal,
* These are the words by which Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby, is tersely characterized (Johnson Her, Brit. Hist., p. 329). He was son of Charles Brandon, Dnke of Suffolk, by his fourth wife, sole daughter and heir of William, Lord WiUonghby of Eresby. They may be not inaptly applied to Lord William Howard.
t Sed hoc et ad Castle-steedes, id est, Castri locus ; uti ad Trederman adjunctum repertsB fnerunt hsB inscriptiones quas mihi sua manu descripsit honoratissimus Dominus Guilielmus Howard de Naworth, illustrissimi ThomsQ Duels Norfolcisa filins tertio-genitus, venerandsQ vetustatis cultor eximius et eruditus. — Camden, Britannia, p. 642 (ed. 1607).
Iviii INTRODUCTION.
or CoUedge of King James." The proposal was addressed to the Marquis of Buckingham. It mentions the names of deceased members, and those of "living persons fit to keep up and celebrate that Round Table, whose names," says the writer, "I have seen quoted, and heard oftentimes cited as authoritative." Lord William Howard's name occupies the first place. " Pro- found Judge Doderich *' is amongst them, and many eminent and well-known scholars, such as Sir Henry Spelman, Selden, and others (ArchcBologia, I. pp. xv — xix).
He was a friend and correspondent of Spelman. In a letter from the latter to Palaemon Rosecrantz, Danish ambassador at the Court of England, dated 14 Cal. Maij, 1629, he makes men- tion of Lord William as follows (after giving a fac-simile of the inscription to which he refers) : —
'' Sculpta fait bsBc inscriptio Epistylio crucis lapidese, Beacastri partibus AngUe borealibus (ubi Dani plurimum versabantur), Camdenoque et mihi simul exhibitft Anno Domini 1618, ab Antiquitatum inter Proceres AnglisB peritissimo Dn. Guilielmo Howard, novissimi Ducis NorfoleisB filio. Uabetur et ex eodem tracto, sub Brigantibus CumbcrlandisB in Camdeni Britannid, Uteris aliqaot magis obsoletis et exoticis alia inscriptio (Daniea reor) quam utramque intueator, cnpio vester Mystagogus Wormius, exponcnsque vel alterutrum erit mihi magnuf Apollo." — Olai Wormii et ad eum doctorum Virorum BpistoUe, ^c. (Havnue^ 1751), i., p. 426.
He is mentioned also by Archbishop Usher, with reference to a collation which the Archbishop had made of the Letters of Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, concerning which he says, —
"Ex quatuor antiquissimis codicibus descripta, quorum primum suppeditaTit mihi nobilissimus Dominus Guilielmus Howardus de Naworth, secundum JX Robertus Cottonus, tcrtiura Thomas Alanus, Oxoniensis, et ex Begii Bibliothedt quartura amicissimus Patricias Junius." — Veterum Spistolarum Sibemicarum Syllogey ^c. (Dublin, 1632), p. 129.
The interest taken by Lord William in Roman antiquities very great. There was much in his case to foster a taste for that particular branch of archaeology. Living, as he did, ckM to the great military rampart which stretched across the island^ the whole neighbourhood teemed with Eoman. altars and inscribed stones. The rock of Gelt, with its deeply chiselled letters^ and Amboglanna, or Birdoswald, one of the most impor- tant stations on the line of the great wall^ were both within a
INTRODUCTION. Ux
eliort distance of NawortL A collection of altars and inscrip- tions, chiefly from Amboglanna, was formed by Lord William They were still to be seen when Stukeley visited Na worth, and made this note concerning them : — *' In the gardens are many altars and inscriptions. I copied all these tolerably fair. With much regret I saw these noble monuments quite neglected and exposed ; some cut in half to make gate-posts " {Iter Boreale, p. 68). .Eventually they became dispersed. Gough's additions to the Britannia tell us that they were given " by the late Earl [of Carlisle] to Sir Thomas Robinson [his brother-in-law, and at that time proprietor of the Rokeby estate]^ and are now neglected and abused in the Museum at Rokeby, the seat of Bacon Morritt, Esq.** (Vol. III. p. 4591). Dr. Bruce has gathered together all the particulars attainable respecting the altars, &c., formerly at Na worth, in his Lapidarium SeptentrionaU, pp. 176 — 178, 197 — 199. Several of the Roman inscriptions now at Netherby formed part of Lord William's collection. Nothing of any value now remains at Naworth. " An altar,^' says Dr. Bruce, " which is quite illegible, and a slab which exhibits the semblance of a letter or two, are still to be seen in the garden walls at Naworth '* (p. 176). Another small inscribed stone is " built into the side-wall of the farm-house fronting the entrance into Naworth Castle (Ibid. p. 197). A few Roman stones are pre- served in a crypt at Lanercost, but it is " uncertain whence they came, and where they were found '^ {Trans, Cumb. and Westm. Antiq, 8oc, No. I. p. 44).
Whether any of Lord William's family sympathized with his love of literature, or shared in this deep interest with which he regarded antiquities generally, and these relics of Roman rule in particular, we know not ; but there was one inmate, at least, of Naworth Castle, who was of congenial tastes and pur- suits, like-minded in religion, a scholar and a gentleman — Mr. Nicholas Roscarrock, himself also a friend and correspondent of Camden and Sir Robert Cotton. The particulars which I have been able to gather respecting Mr. Roscarrock will be found in the Addenda (A. p. 505).
There must have been at one time a large collection of MSS. at Naworth Castle. Some, in all probability, belonged to the
Ix INTRODUCTION.
Dacres, but the larger portion were doubtless gathered together by Lord William. They are now hopelessly scattered, and with the exception of some which form a part of the Arundel col- lection in the Library of the College of Arms, and a very small number which have been preserved at Naworth Castle and Castle Howard, it seems impossible to ascertain into whose hands they have fallen, or when they were dispersed. A Cata- logue of the Arundel MSS. was printed in 1829 by the late Sir C. G. Young, Garter King of Arms. Some of them, chiefly historical, are identified as having belonged to Lord William Howard, either by his autograph, or by marginal notes in his hand. Whether Lord William gave them to his nephew, the Earl Marshal, or whether the latter obtained them after his uncle's death, is matter of uncertainty. The Cartularies of Brinkburn, Lanercost, and Holme Cultram, of the House of the Carmelites at Alnwick, of Hepp in Westmorland, and of the Priory of Wetheral, and the Rotulum Abhatice de Novo MofUK^ terioy in Northumberland, are all said to be ^^ penes Dm W. Howard de Naworth,*^ when Dodsworth made his collections from them in 1638. When Hutchinson wrote his History of Cumberland he mentions the Register of Lanercost as being then preserved in the Library at Naworth (i. p. 137). There can be little doubt that these last-mentioned MSS. came into Lord William's hands from the Dacres. They have all dis- appeared, with the exception of the Rotulum of Newminster, which is now at Castle Howard.*
Not long anterior to 1697 a considerable number of MSS. were still remaining in the Naworth Library, as we learn firom a Catalogue published in that year (see Appendix, p. 469). Of these a very small number can now be accounted for. Some of those which have been preserved are at Castle Howard, and some in their original resting-place at Naworth (see pp. 484, 486).
A number of printed books still remain in Lord William's Library at Naworth, a list of which is given in the Appendix
* It was reacquired by the late Lord Carlisle, after having been long in otfaw hands, and has recently been published by the Surtees Sodety, under the aUt editorship of the Rev. J. T. Fowler, M.A., F.S.A. See his Introdoction to the volume, p. xi, n.
:i
(pp. 473 et seqq.). They indicate, in aome degree, the direction whict hia studiee took. Cootroversial theology and history Beem to occupy the chief pkce. Genealogy and heraldry were also favourite subjects. One thing is very evident. He was not a mere book -collector. Jloat of the MSB., especially those in the College of Arms, which are known to have belonged to him, and very many of the printed books at Nawortb, bear frequent marks of a diligent and careful perusal, indicated by the a<l- teraaria in bis hand which appear upon their pages.
The last item in the Household Books which in any way connects Lord William with literary work is an entr}', sab- Kequent to his death, of a payment made by hia sons for " the printinge of S. Marie of Egipt her life {by my Lord's command) invearse" (p. 363), Dr. Knox has suggested to me that it may be an English version of the Metrical (Latin) Life of the iSaint which is given in Acta Sitndoruni (Aprilis), p. 85, headed ■' Paraphrosis Metrica Auctore Hildeberto Epiec. Cenomanensi. Ex veteri noatro MS, Auglicano." It is not at all improbable that its rendering into English may have been executed by my Lord himself. Its composition may have haply relieved the tedium of some weary hours when the infirmities of uge hegan to lay their heavy hand upon him. The book was not printed at Douay, as Lowndes s\ipposed. It does not occur in the Bibliographie Dovamenne, &c., des livres imprimes a Douai depuis I'annee 1563 jusqn'a nos joura: par H. R. Dutbillieul. JV'ourelle edition, Douai, 1842.
A word must be said about Lord William's religion. The Duke of Norfolk, bis father was a Protestant, and bis children were brought up in the same faith, although, as has already been said, some impressions of an opposite character may have been produced on their minds by their tutor, Gregory Martin (see ante, p. ix). Ilowcver this may be, Lord Arundel, the eldest son, was reconciled to the Church of Rome in 1584, by Father William Weston, S.J. Lord Arundel was strongly attached to his half-brother, Lord William, and was earnestly desirous that they should be united in the bonds of a common creed, as well as by the tie of fraternal affection. His influence and arguments prevailed, and ere long the latter took the
Ixii INTRODUCTION.
same step. Like most who belonged to, or who adopted, the ancient faith, he had his share of persecution at the hands of Elizabeth. It was often of a petty and harassing nature. Spies and informers were always at work in search of anything which might serve their turn. A declaration is made, for example, by George Lawe, &c., that Lady Arundel and Lady Margaret Sackville attended mass at Lord William Howard's house (S. P. Dom. Eliz. clxiv. 48) ; whilst another person writes that a priest came to the Earl of Arunders house to teach French to Lord William and others (S. P. Dom. Add. Eliz. xxxi. 97). His imprisonments have already been noticed. But he re- mained unshaken in his allegiance to the church of his adoption. We find him joining a pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well, in 1629 (p. 462), and in the same year an attempt was made to convict him of recusancy (pp. 461-62). His wife was of the. same faith, and the alliances formed by their children were with members of old Catholic houses. Some of them seem to have been objects of suspicion on the score of their religion. There is a payment to " Farrington the informer," for costs incurred by Mr. William and his wife (p. 234), and the name of " S^ Francis Howard, Knt., lodger in Tuttle Streete, in Westminster," occurs in an elaborate re- turn of the names, callings, and abodes of recusants in West- minster, sent in to the Privy Council in December, 1628 (S. P. Dom. Charles I. cxxiii. 12). Mr. Robert, one of the . younger sons, became, as has been already mentioned, a . Benedictine monk.
Little or nothing can be gathered from the Household Books as regards the religion of the household. There must always . have been a priest at Naworth, but the penal laws were so . severe that it would be a thing studiously concealed. The only ■> book from which we can infer anything is that for 1633, in which several anonymous payments are marked with the sign of the cross, and as similar amounts occur in conjunction with Mr. Hungate's* name, who was certainly the chaplain at the time of
* There were three of this name — all BencdictiDes. It is impoBuble to Mj " which was chaplain at Naworth, though we may fairly assume that one of tlMm i filled the office. Dom Augustine Uungate was professed at Montserrat in Spafai |
INTRODOCTION. klU
Lord William's death, we may perhaps cooclade that they were made by way of stipend to the priest. It may be mentioned as a habit of Lord WiUiara that he almost invariably prefixed the Bign of the cross to his letters, and occasionally to other dooa- menta.
The last of the Household Books (1640) contains some intereating entries in connexion with the closing days of Lord William's life. " My Lord's parcells " occupy as usual the first [bee amongst the disburaements. The entries under this head BTB few and unimportant, until we come to the last. With an unconscious irony, which would be almost grotesque, were it not for the touch of pathos which attaches to it, the closing item, dated October 7, is "for a coffinc for my Lord " (p. 350), thus briefly telling us that his long and honourable life was ended, JMt about a twelvemonth after the death of the Lady Elizabeth his wife.
For some time before Lord William's death the country wag in a very unquiet state. The Scotch army Had advanced into England. After the battle of Newbum, on the 28th August, 1640, in which the Scotch gained the day, an idea appears to have prevailed that the victory would be followed up by the Bdvance of their army towards Carlisle. If this took place, it was evidently feared that an attempt would be made to seize Jfaworth Castle, and preparations were at once made to defend it at all hazards. Valuables were hastily removed from thence, ' and from Lord William's other mansion oi' Corby, and forwarded to Greystock, as a place unlikely to he attiicked. " A wagou
before lfil9. He was Provincial of York, 1633.49. nail «s(iin from 1653 to 1657; Prcbulent-Geueral of tlie English Bencdietiues, IfiGl.fiO, nnd died, aged 88, " at the house of hia niece, Ladj Fairfax, in Yorkshire, having given singular eiainplc of piety and virtue to all with whom he conversed." A brother of his, Diim Kobert, also became a monk in Spain, and is spoken of ns a " zealoua mis. iioner in England." He died Oet. 18, 1657. A third of the name, Dom Gregory, was one of the first mouks professed at St. Gregory's at Douay in IGIO. A con- temporary aeconiit of him ^aj9, ■' Vixil posfea aliquot aaaas ia saer,i ttde S, Grefforii, theoloffvs et aacrtsta Ecclesiw, T'ipit adhuc presbyter tn A.BgIiiE missionit lahoriiui inientui ; vW pisa el detottu." In 1653 lie was cliosen Provincial of Tork, but dying in the North on Sept. 4tb of tbat year, he was Buccee<led by Dom Angustine above.mcntionod. I am indebted for this informntioii about the Hun- urates to Father Gilhcrt Dolan, O..S.U. of St. Gngory'a College, Dowubidc.
Ixiv INTRODUCTION.
load of stuffe/* and " a trunck with evidences " were taken thither from Naworth, and cartloads of " bedding and evi- dences *' from Corby. Provisions were also sent to Greystock, apparently in considerable quantities. An outlook was kept at Naworth, and the services of those who kept watch and ward were duly recognized (see pp. 355, 359).
There is something very pathetic in one or two entries which tell us of Lord William's last exit from the gates of Nawortli. The hand was now powerless to wield the sword which would once have leaped from its scabbard like the lightning's flash in the cause of his Royal Master. His day of active exertion was past, how urgent soever might be the occasion which demanded it. His strength was gone, and his life-work over. His state must indeed have been one of great debility, certainly of bodji possibly of mind.* He was obviously unable to mount a horse or to bear the jolting of a carriage ; for we find that he was borne away in a horse-litter and conveyed to Corby on the 22nd September. Here he rested for the night. On the day follow- ing he was carried to Greystock, and there, on or about the 7th October, he breathed his last.
The entries in this Book quite dispose of the tradition that Lord William died of the plague. It is clear that he sank from natural decay, accelerated, as we may well believe, by his hasty departure from Naworth, and the turmoil and unwonted bustle by which he must have been surrounded.
All doubt is removed, moreover, as to the place of his sepul- ture. At Greystock Castle he died, and in Greystock Church he found a grave. We have the amount of the funeral dole, the money paid to " five menne for ringinge the bells in Grey- stock church at my Lord's buriall," and the sum divided amongst '^ eight menne for takeinge up a marble stone '' in the same churchy and "makeinge a grave ther for my Lord" (p. 354).
A few words must now be said respecting the stately boild* ing which, for nearly forty years, was Lord William's home.
* Some vain attempts seem to have been made to restore failing appetite, and thereby to recruit wasted strength. Lord Fairfax sends him conserve of primfoai^ \ and herbs are got to mix with my Lord's beer (pp. 854> 859).
]
i
INTRODUenON. llT
It was the home of hia choice, the place which he was never weary of improTing and adorning.
The Caatlo of Naworth (or Naward, as it v/aa uniformly written at the period with which we are concerned) formed one of a chain of fortresses, of greater or lesser size and strength, which studded the English border from Bortt-ick on the east, to Carlisle and Drumburgh Castle on the west. They had been t needed for centuries to bridle the power and restrain the incur- of the Scots. Of these fortresses Naworth was not one of the least important. As a fortified residence of the Lords of the Barony of Gilsland, it dates from the earlier part of Edward III. 'a reign, a licence having been granted by that Sovereign, in 1335, to Eanulph de Dacre to crcnellato hia man- lion of Naward, of which he had become possessed by his marriage with Margaret de Mnlton. Irthington Castle waa previously the chief abode of the Lords of Gilsland, and it is raid that some of the materials of that fortress were removed by Eanulph de Dacre when he was building Naworth, and were I employed in its erection. However that may be, no part of the fabric at Naworth can be very much earlier than the time when he obtained his Kcence to crenellate, unless it be the south- western tower, which is clearly the oldest portiou, the groining of its lower apartments belonging probably to the thirteenth century. There is no trace of Nonnan architecture about the Castle, which is of the Edwardian type, an irregular quadrangle, with square towers at the angles.
The Castle is beautifully situated on the declivity of a hill which slopes towards the Irthing. The particular position which it occupies was chosen with great military skill, and before the daj-s of artillery the fortress must have been, on three of its sides, practically unassailable. The ledge of level L ground on which it stands is a tongue of land formed by the Castle-beck on the East, and a little streamlet on the West, which unite at its apex and flow into the Irthing, The banks of these streams, as they approach their point of junction, hecome exceedingly steep and precipitous, and the walls of the Castle rise from the summit of a natural escarpment of rock and cliff, formed by the sides of the ravines down which their
d
Ixvi INTRODUCTION.
waters flow. The southern portion of the building had origi- nally an outwork, or barbican, protected by a wide moat, the course of which is traceable in the existing garden. The gate- house and a low square tower are all that remain of the exterior defences. The gate-house must have had a portcullis and a drawbridge, but no trace is left of either. Its archway hai evidently been subjected to modern repair and restoration. A range of low buildings, probably used as stables, flanked these towers on either side. These buildings were taken down when j the late Lord Carlisle restored the Castle, after the fire in 1844. *= The whole of this outwork was probably built by Thomas, Loid Dacre, after his marriage with Elizabeth, the Lady of Gray- stock. The letters T. D., with the scallop of the Dacre betweea them, and E. D., the initials of his wife, are carved on tbft weather moulding of the battlemented parapet of the eastern- most tower. Over the arch of the entrance gateway a shield of arms is carved, above which is a boldly projecting helmet and mantling, surmounted by the Dacre bull as a crest. The shield ^ contains the arms of Dacre, gules, three escallops, argent, qiuuv -^ tering Vaux, MultoD, and MorvilL* The supporters are two i gryphons : the motto, fort en loialte. The removal of the L buildings which adjoined this gate-house and the tower beyond, - and formed an outer court-yard to the main building, is mnoh ; to be regretted. Buck's stiff but accurate view of the Castle, P published in 1739, shows the arrangement as it originallj ';,. existed. The range of long low buildings on either side, with their grey stone roofs, lichen-covered and weather-stained, must have given dignity and elevation to the towers of the barbioaa, as well as additional picturesqueness of effect, in the way thej ;is must have grouped with the mass of the Castle behind. \
The exterior of the structure has happily escaped modem J' restoration. The long line of the southern front, flanked by ^ its two stately towers, is very striking. The architecture of tht i^ upper stages of these towers belongs to the time of Thomaa Lord Dacre, by whom they were no doubt added. The gard$» V'
* The tinctures are, Vaux, chequy, or and gules. MuUon, barry of and gules, on a canton of the second a lion passant or. MorvUl, atare^ lem^ 4f fleurs-de-lis and fretted or.
i-
.SA
INTRODUCTION.
robes may be observeii from the outside, corbelled out and pro- jecting froni the back part of each tower. The tower at the ■western angle ia called by Hudson Turner (Som. Arch. ii. p. 211) "the Chancellor's Tower," I am not aware of any authority for this name. In the Household Books it is some- times designated the Old Tower, sometimes the Carlisle Tower. The corresponding one at the eastern angle ia known as " Belted Will's " Tower, containing as it does his library, oratory, &c. The walls of these towers are of enormous thick- ness. They are very lofty, with bartizans, or warders' turrets, rising above the battlements. The outlook from these is very extensive. The "Waste of Bewcastle, dreary and desolate, lies to the north. On one side are the dusky hills of Scotland, on the other those of Tynedale and Redeadale in Northumberland. The rich and pleasant valley of the Ii'thing stretches from east to west at the foot of the Castle walls, whilst immediately around lie the home grounds, the grey walls of the garden, with its rectangular green-sward walks, little altered, probably, Miee Lord William enclosed and laid it out ; a straight umbrageous walk beyond it, which he ia said to have planted, and which bears his name, the wooded ravines which skirt the Castle walls, and the park beyond, diversified by masses of woodland and scattared groups of venerable trees.*
In the centre of the southern face of the Castle a low-browed archway gives access to the Inner Court, or quadrangle. Over this entrance is a carving in stone of Lord William's escocheon, with a number of quarteringa.f The configuration of the Inner
* In ao Inqnisition of 31 Eliz. the Park of Nnworth is said to contain " by eetimBtion CR acres, it ie very barreo lande, there ia in it a great store of o\de oke vood, which is worth, if tho same Acre presently sold about cc''. There are no deare In the said parks, for they were all wasted and destroyed long sithence."
t The qnarteringfl are as follow ; — 1. Howard. 2. Fitton. Azure, three cinque- foils, p er ed ar^ at 3 Bo a Erm ne a cross sable. 4. Scalet. Gnles, six escallops argent 5 Teiid nge Aiure a fc a between two chevrons a:^nt. 6. UowbTag Gules a 1 on rampant ai^nt armed and langued azure. 7. Albany. Gnles, a 1 on rampant r 8 ^eqrane ^abl a lion rampant argent, crowned or. 9. Bigot Party pe pal or and vert a lion rampant gules. 10. Brotherton. Gules, three 1 ons pasaaot guardant or a label of three points argent. IL ■cb ay Galea a 1 on rampant argent lu Richard, Earl of Arundel Barry of itoraiidgnlea. 13. Albany. Gnles, a lion rampant or. 14 Lupus. Sable, a ivolFs d erased ai^nt. 15. Earl of Chester. Azure, three garbs or 16. Woodmie,
d 2
Ixviii INTRODUCTION.
Court, and the disposition of the various apartments on the principal floor, as they were left by Lord William Howard, and as they remained until the fire, will be best imderstood bj reference to the Plan given herewith. The extensive renovatioi which was necessitated by that untoward event has deprivec the quadrangle of the venerable air of antiquity which mark the outward walls and gives to their aspect such a peculia fascination. The muUions and tracery of the oriel window, an of the other windows of the great hall, as indeed of almoe every window which opens upon the quadrangle, are new insei tions, and the walls have been to some extent refaced. Bi Mr. Salvin, to whom the work of the restoration was intrastHl carefully worked upon the old lines. He found that ahndi every window had been inserted in the course of Lord WiUiaAj renovations, and their characteristic Jacobean type has bol faithfully reproduced. A portion of the side of the qaadr8i||[| opposite to the great hall was formerly filled up by a blodt^^ buildings, probably the work of Lord William, marked A^ •] C, and G, on the Plan. These have been taken down, and-lil original curtain wall, which completed the enclosure on Uu side, exposed to view. The great gateway which gives entnni from the west is of the same date as this wall. A flight < steps leads up to the doorway of the great hall. Over this all Lord William placed his shield, impaling the arms and qua terings of Dacre. The hall is very lofty. An oaken roof i good character, resting on corbels bearing shields, which she the various alliances of the family, has replaced the anciei roof which Lord William brought from Kirkoswald, the pane of which, says Sandford, contained " the great portraiture i King Brute .... and of all his succeeding successors, Kinj of England, portraicted to the waist, their visage, hats, feather garbs, and habits." Lord William built a partition wall acroi the upper end of the hall, for the formation of a dining-rooD marked M on the Plan. It is probably the apartment so ofte
Argent, a fess and a dexter canton gules. 17. Maltravers, Sable, a fret or. 18. Clm Argent, a chief azure. 19. Warren, Cliequy, or and azure. 20. Tilnetf, Argen a chevron between three gryphons' heads erased gules. 21. Mochfart. Quarter] or and gules within a bordure sable bezants. 22. Thorpe, of Norfolk, Azure, thn crescents argent. Supporters. Two lions argent. Motto, TOLO NOK talso.
N.B. The ^rtCen ieft unshaded hohs Oe^t siit'Ct: £a£tn- ciown.
UN OF THE PRINCIPAL FLOOR OF NAWOBTH CASTLE.
INTRODDCTION. !»!»
ulled in tte Household Booka " the great chamber." There nmfit also have been a room above it. With great good taste the hall has been restored to its original proportions, and the space occupied by the " great chamber" again forma the daia. At the lower extremity of the hall there was formerly a screen, surmounted by a gallery, the position of which is marked on Ibe Plan. It was " adorned," says Hutchinson, " with four vast crests, carved in wood" {Sist. Cumb. i. p. 134), which, laving escaped destruction at the time of the fire, still adorn tb hall, though in a different position. The screen and galleify fere not renewed. IVTiat Hutchinson calls "crests," are the cognizances of the Dacre and the Greystocb, which originally, perhaps, formed the supporters of two large shields, emblazoned »itk their respective bearings. The red bull and the gryphon of Dacre are now on either side of the great fire-place, and the dolphin and black bull of Greystock flank the doorway leading to the kitchen, all holding pennons with armorial insignia. A ioit of armour, said to have belonged to Lord "William, atands »t the lower end of the hall.
The hall is hung with tapestry brought from Castle Howard, from whence were also brought many of the portraits which now adorn its walls. The fire destroyed many of great interest, eBpecially one of Lord William Howard, and an original picture of Lady Elizabeth Dacre, taken at the time of her marriage. A replica of this is at Gilling Castle, a photograph of which illustrates this volume. Amongst the few paintings rescued from the flames is one at the lower extremity of the hall, which has long been called Queen Elizabeth. I can scarcely accept ihia tradition. The style of the dress gives it a sort of general resemblance to the Queen, but the face is not that of Elizabeth ; and moreover the lady, whoever she may be, bears a crucifix in one hand and a lighted taper in the other. It is utterly unhkely, at the date when this portrait must have been painted, that Elizabeth would be represented with adjuncts so directly associated in the minds of the people with the Homish faith. It is equally unlikely that she would give her portrait to any of llie Howards, and as improbable that Lord William would possess himself of one. An idea suggested itself to my mind
1
Ixx INTRODUCTION.
that it is more likely to be a portrait of the Lady Elizabeth his wife, taken some time after their marriage. It would be natural enough for her to be represented with crucifix and taper, and her dress would of course be that of the period. Very shortly after one of my visits to Naworth I had an oppor- tunity of carefully studying her portrait at Gilling Castle, and I became strengthened in my impression respecting the picture at Naworth. The likeness between the two, allowing for the difference in age, is very remarkable. I can only offer my idea as a conjecture, but I venture to think it is not altogether an improbable one, and if there be but a reasonable presumptioiL that it is the portrait of the Lady of Naworth, its interest to her descendants at once becomes wonderfully enhanced.
The apartments now used as the drawing-room and libraiy occupy the spaces marked on the Plan by the letters P, Q, K, S, and T, the latter of which was the Chapel, which receiyed much adornment at Lord William's hand. The whole of this . side of the court-yard, as well as the hall, was gutted by the fire, though the walls were little injured. Above these apart- ;; ments, the gallery, which was Lord William's work, extends -^ aloDg the central block of the building, looking out to the 5 south. At its eastern end it communicates by a newel stair - with the library, oratory, and bedroom, which occupy the upper ^ stage of " Belted Will's " Tower. These remain very much in their original state, having been uninjured by the fire. An oaken door, of great strength, with massive bars and bolts, pro- 1 tects the entrance to these rooms. The library still contains a \ portion of the books and MSS. which Lord William collected^ ; The windows are unaltered. They are very small and narrow. ; The roof is very beautiful. It is of low pitch. " The timbers," < says Hudson Turner, " are exceedingly strong and massive^ but both principals, wall-plate, and rafters are beautifully moulded .| with characteristic fourteenth-century mouldings, and with ^j extremely well executed foliage of the same date at the intei^ ^ sections, but it is to be regretted that the bosses, which must i have been of the same character, and have added greatly to its rich effect, have been lost or destroyed. The panels between are filled with tracery . of various design and consideraUs
ISTKOUUCTION. Ixxj
variety. It ie, however, evident that the roof was not originally intended for its present situation, as it does not fit the cornice of the room, and it has douhtlesa been brought from some other place" {l)om. Arch. ii. p. 211). It came, as we have already seen, from Kirkoawald. In the oratory is a painting, dated 1514, It has the Crucifixion in the centre, with the scourging on one side and the Reaurreetion on the other. A large chest stands here, intended probably for boots or vestments. It is adorned with the crosa-crosslets fitche of the Howard and the Dcallop sheila of the Dacre, on a red ground. The shield of Howard impaling Dacre is carved on the face of a stone corbel, showing unmistakably that Lord "William had a hand in the restoration of this part of the building. There is a bit of old panelling, beautifully decorated in colours, with the scallop shell and ragged staff intertwined with true-lover's knots Several earrings in alabaster, said to have come from Kirkoswald, are attached to the walls. They must have formed part of a reredoa or screen. Amongst them is a representation of the Ancient of Days holding a crucifix, a figure of our Blessed Lord, and one of the Blcssod Virgin crowned, with a. sword piercing her breast. There is also one representing .her Assumption, and another which may be either St. Michael or St. George, The bedroom adjoining has a large stone mantle- piece, the armorial bearings carved on which identify this upper stage of the Tower as the work of Thomas Lord Dacre. The central shield, within the Garter, has the arms of Dacre, quartering Vaux, Multon, and Morvill, with the motto fort et LOIAXL. On the right of this is a shield of the ancient arms of Greystock, gules, three cushions argent, impaling Grimthorpe, or new Greystock, barry of six argent and azure, three chaplets gules. On the left is another shield, with the arms of Boteler, gules, a fess chequy, argent and azure, between six crosses patte fitche or, impaling Ferrers, vairy, or and gulea.
The lower stages of this Tower are occupied by the dungeons. Access to them was provided from the Lord's apartments above. It is very possible that in Lord William's time the room or rooms immediately under the library and oratory may have been fitted up aa a place of concealment for a priest, if needed.
Ixxii INTRODUCTION.
Many instances of this provision may be seen at this day in some of the old mansions inhabited in bygone days by those who adhered to the ancient faith. There are dungeons also in the lower part of the Carlisle Tower, in the position marked U on the Plan.
With this imperfect survey of a most interesting building, I must bring to its close an Introduction which I fear has been unduly extended.
One duty remains, however, to be fulfilled, but it is always a pleasing one, — the acknowledgment of obligations incurred, and kindnesses received, during the progress of the work. The thanks of the Surtees Society must be gratefully tendered to Lord Lanerton for his continuation of the permission given by the late Lord Carlisle to publish these selections from the Naworth Household Books, and also for his kindness in allowing Lord William Howard's portrait to be photographed for the illustration of this book. My own personal thanks as Editoi are due to his Lordship for the courteous readiness with which access to the Muniment Room at Castle Howard has been accorded to me.
TJie thanks of the Society are also due to Mr. Woodman, oi Stob Hill, near Morpeth, for the loan of a transcript made by him many years ago of *^ John Pildrem's Account-Book," then in the possession of Mr. Lawson of Longhirst, from which I have taken many extracts. He also placed in my handf several interesting original Papers, which form a valuable addition to the Documents given in the Appendix.
The Surtees Society has further to acknowledge with man} thanks the kind permission given by Mrs. Barnes to have c photograph taken of the extremely interesting portrait of Lady Elizabeth Dacre, which is in her possession at Gilling Castle.
The obligations I am under to many literary friends, for information upon various points, will be found acknowledged in the Notes in which that information is embodied. But I must place on record here my grateful sense of the ready kindness with which ray inquiries have at all times been answered by them.
It would be unpardonable if I closed the list of my obliga-
■ tioas without a grateful acknowledgment of the kindness I I bsTe received, on more than one occasion, at Naworth Castle. Unrestricted access waa given me to Lord William's Librury, for the purpose of collating a transcript of one of the Account Books with the original MS. and examining the other books und JISS., as well as every facility for seeing all the objects of interest in and about the Castle. To its present inhabitants^ the Hon. Charles Howard, his son Mr. George Howard, and the Hon, Mrs. George Howard, I shall always fee! deeply indebted for a most courteous reception and the most kindly hospitality. The pages which follow give ample proof of the exercise of that gracious quality by their renowned ancestor. It is still a characteristic of those who bear his name and inhabit the stately dwelling which was so long his home.
GEORGE ORNSBY.
FOBUXE ViCjLBACE,
Sept. 0, 1878.
INTHODUCTION.
Ixxiii
(
A Classified Summaby op the Ohdinahy Prices of Grain, Cattle,
HOBSES, CHIEF ARTICLES OF CONBDMPTION, LaBOUEERs' WaOES, &C., BETWEEN THE YeARS 1612 1G40.
Gum (af di&brent aorts) par boahel : *— In 161S. Wheat, 111. 6d. to 16^. OaU, li.to4B.8i Boj-isi/, 5s. Ijd. tiO 8s. Feaae, 7». 6d. MOa. id. Beatm.Si. Malt, U. tc B>. Sd.
1618. Whaat, 12s. to 13a. 2d. Oats, Is. Bd. to 2s. Gd. Barley, Aa. Rye, 6>. Bd. FuM, it. to 10*. Sd. mt. Wheat, Ga. 8d. to 8s. Oats, Is. to Is. Sd. Beans, 3^ id. lo 4s.
I 16!1. Wheat, 12s. to 18s. Gd. Oats, Is. Bid. to Is, Bd, Beans, is.
I 1632, Wheat, (per bol!) 30». OaU, 3l. Bwrley, 10s.
1624 Wheat, 8s. iU- to 16a. Id. Oats, 2«. ftl. to &!. 3fa!t, Bi.
1K5. Wheat, lis. Barley, 5s. SJd. Wliite Pease (per boll), 8s. 8d. 3fo!t,
1626. Wheat, is. to Es, 2d. Barley, is. llji.
IKS. Seed wheat, li. 2s. 6d. Oats, 2s. Sd. to 3s. Oatnieal, Is. lid. pec peek. 11129. Wheat, 6s. Sd. Seed wheat, 10s. 2i, OM oafs, 2s. lljd. Oats (for poultry), Is. ed. iJorley, 8s. &i. 1633 Wheat, 9a. id. to Iftt. Beams, 9a. 3faK, blended, 6a. Sd. im. niieat, 5s. Seed wheat, 15s. Sd. Biie, 3s.
Cattie. &o.— a bull, 50s. A cow, 10s. A oow and calf, 503. 35 head of ratlle (one with another), 471. A quey, 2!. 18s. to 31. A runt, or Scotch m, SI- Us. Sd. A stot, 33s. Sixteen steers (one with another), 671. ISs. 4d. A stfep, 10s, to 12s. Ewe, 4s. Nineteen tups (ono with auother), 51. is. A goat, 3i. 6iJ. A BOW, 10s. Pigs, 4s. to 55. each. A young pig, Is. 2d.
' The following particulars 6re perhaps worth ootiog. They occur in a Paper (Dom. Charles I, cccci. 165) which is undated, but which appears to have been sent to Sir Jacob Astloy, or one of hia officers, some time in 1639 or 1640, in answer to inquiries about prices of provisions for the King's troops : — "A particular note of the prices of come used in Curlile, and the measure thcTeof. Iwprimis. Our bushell is 24 gallons, which gallon is 4 wine quarts aaJ a pint. Bi(fl{ is to be bought from 5s. to 7s. a bushell. Pease from 2s. Gd. to 4s. the bushel!. Malt 6s. or thereabouts the bushell. Wheat at 16s. the tnshell. Hye at 10s. the bushell. This note I had from Mr. Maior of Carlisle. H'esimeriajid. — Come is much at the same rates of Cumberland, but the measnie is not so much by 4 gallons in a bushell."
I
Ixxvi A CLASSIFIED SUMMARY OF THE PRICES OF GRAIN, ETC.
Cloth (and other woven material, of varioas textures and fabrics). — Ba/ize, per yard,* 2s. 6cL Red do. 6s. to 10s. 6d. Donble do. 4s. 6d. BlanketSy pair of Spanish, 27s. Broadcloth, 6s. to 7s. Ad. Calico, 4d, to Sd. Purple do.. Is. 6d. CamhriCy per ell, 5s. 4d. to 12s. Camlet, 5s. 6cl. Canvas, 7d. Cloth (for a suit and coat), 71. 7s. 6d. Scarlet do., 32s. 6d. Clothrash, 2s. 4d. DamasJc, 10s. 6d. to 13s. Qd. Flannel, Is. to Is. 2d. Frieze, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 4d. Fustian, Is. to Is. 4d. Gro-jram, silvered, 21s. Crimson do., 9s. Turkey do. 6s. 6d. Hair-cloth, Is. Harden, 9d. Housewife^s cloth, Is. 2Jd. to 2s. Holland, per ell, 2s. 6JcL to 2s. Holland diaper, 3s. 7cL Jean, Is. Kersey, 2s. Sd. to •is. 4d. Lawn, per ell, 6s. Cobweb do., 2s. Cypress do., 3s. Id. Linen, Is. to Is. lOiL Mohair, Is. 6d. Napkins, per doz., 7s. 9d. to lis. Padua soA/e, 5s. 5d. Paragon, Turkey, 8s. Peniston, 2s. to 3s. 5d. Peropus, 3s. to 3s. 4d. Riding suit, 41 9s. Sacking, SJd. Sarcenet, per ell, 7s. 6d. Satin, 12s. 6d. to 15s. Saye, 2s. 8d. to 5s. 6d. Serge, 2s. Sd. to 5s. 6d. Scotch cloth. Is. 2d. to 2s. lOd. Stammel, lis. Sd. Stuff, lid. to 2s. Stockings, 3s. Pair of Scotch do., 5s. 2d. Pair of silk do., 38s. to 21. Tahleing, 4s. Taffety, per ell, 12s. 6d. to 15s. 4d. Crimson do., per ell, 18s. White do., per ell, 7*. 6d. Towmy, 2s. 6d. Tiffany, white, 2s. Velvet, purple, 24s. Crimson da, 14s. Torlcshire cloth, 4s. 6d.
Fish (fresh). — Bret, Is, to 2s. 4d. Bodling, 6d. to Is. Cod, 7d. to Is. 2d. Codling, Id. Conger-eel, Is. 2d. to Is. Sd. Cockles, per peck, 7d. to Is. 6d. Eels, 6d. to 9d. Elldrings, Is. Sd. per doz. Flounders, per doz., 7d. to 9d. Flukes, per doz., Sd. to lid., and per score, Is. 4d. Giise, 7d. to Is. Orevell, Is. Sd. Gurnet, l^d. Herrings, per 100, 2s. Sd. to 3s. 4d. Keeling, Sd. to Is. 2d* Lamprey, Id. Laux, 3s. 4d. to 4s. Lobster, Id. to 3d. Lump, 4|d. to 5d. Mussels, per peck, Sd. Oysters, per 100, 6d. to Is. 6d. Pike, 3d. to 6d. Porpoise, 2s. to 3s. 9d. Salmon, Is. 3d. to 5s. Salmon trout, 4d. to 6d. Seal, Is. Sd. Shoulder- Jishj 2s. Skate, lOd. to Is. Sd. Sole, 2d. Sparlings, 9d. per doz. Sturgeon, 3s, 4d. Thornhack, or thompike, 5d. to Is. Trouts, per doz., 6d. Esk trout, 3d. to 4d. each. Bull trout. Is. to 2s. each. Turhot, Is. to 2s. WoorUng, 2s.
Fuel. — Faggots, per 100, 6d. Load of wood (in London), 9s. Billets (in London), per 1000, 15s. 3d. Charcoal, per bushel, lOd. Coals (in London), per chaldron, 19s. to 21s. lOd.
Groceries. — Almonds, per lb.. Is. to Is. lOd. Aniseed, per lb., lOd. Aqua vitc, bottle of, 2s. Bezoar, East Indian, per oz. 31. 10s. Grey do., 11. 8s. Candles, per lb., 4d. to 5d, Wax do., per lb.. Is. Id. Capers, per lb., Is. Chalk, per stone, -id. Cinnamon, per lb., 3s. Sd. to 5s. 4d. Cloves, per lb., 8s. Cucumbers, per barrel, 5s. 2d. Currants, per qr., lis. 9d. to 13s. Dates, per lb., 2s. Figs, per lb., 3d. Ginger, per lb., is. Candied do., per lb., 4s. Isinglass, per lb., 4s. to 5s. Liquorice, per lb., 6d. Mace, per lb., 7s. Mithridate, per oz., 2s. Mustard seed, per lb., 2|d. Nutmegs, per lb., 4s. Oil, salad, per quart, 2s. Olives, per pint, 6d. Oranges, per doz., Sd. to Is. Prunes, per qr., 4s. Pepper, per lb.. Is. 7d. to 2s. 4d. Batons, Alicant, per qr., 9s. 4d. to 10s. Malaga do , per qr , 7s. 6d. Raisins of the sun, per qr., 12s. Bice, per lb., 5d. Soap, per firkin, 16s. Sugar, per lb.. Is. 2Jd. to Is. 6d. Powdered do., ll^d. Sugar-candy, per lb., Ss. Suckett, Wet, per lb.. Is. 6d.
* The prices, when not otherwise expressed, are all per yard.
A CLASSIFIED SUMMARY OF THE PRICES OF GRAIN, ETC. IxxVli
Hops. — English Tiops, per cwt., 71. 10s. to 91. 10s. Do., by the lb., Is. to Is. 5rf. Flemish do., per owt., 4Z.
HOBSBS, &c. — Varions prices from 21. to 101. Two grey Friesland geldings for the coach, 40Z. 5s. A coach and foor horses, 301. A mule, 50s.
Lead, per stone, Is.
Provisions (fresh). — Apples, per firkin, Is. to 3s. 6d. Beef (in London), per lb., SJd. Bittern, Sd. Blackcock, 6d. to lOd. Blackbird, Id. Capon, 6d. to Is. Chicken, 2d. to 3(2. Cock, 4d. to 6d. Cockerell, 6d. Ten cocks and hens, 5s. Hens, 5d. to 7d. each. Coot, 2d. Cormoromt, 6d. Curlew, 2ld. to 6d. Curlew- Jack, 2d. Ctbsliat, l^d. to 2d. Dowker, 3d. Duck, 4<Z. to 6d. Duckling, 2d. Fieldfa/re, Id. Ooose, 6d. to 3s. Oorcock (red grouse), 5d. Greyhen, 4d. to 6d. Hare, 4d. to 8(2. Ueron, 6d, Kid, 10(2. to 2s. A lamb, 3s. 4(2. to 3s. Sd. Lap- wing, l\d. La/rks, per doz., 2|(2. to Sd. Leveret, 3(2. Mallard, 5^(2. to 9(2. Longh do , 4d. Moorfowl, 3(2. to 5(2. each. A mutton, 2s. 8(2. to 9s. 4(2. A quarter of do.. Is 2d. to 2s. Side of do., 5s. to 5s. 4(2. Partridge, Sd. to 6(2. Pigs (young), 3(2. each. Pigeon, 1J(2. to 2(2. Plover, 2d. to 4(2. Porfc, quarter of, Ss. 3(2. Pout, 1^(2. Puffin, Id. Quail, 2d, to 6(2. Rabbits, per couple, 8(2, i26(2s7ian%, 1(2. to 2(2. Seo/^gull, 4(2. Sea-la/rks, per doz., 4(2. Sea-mew, 2d. 8ea-pie, 2d. Sea-swallow, Id. Sheldrake, 4d. to 4J(2. Smeethe or Smew, 4(2. Snipe, 1(2. Sparrows, per doz., 2(2. Stints, per couple, J (2. Teal, 2d. Thrushes, about 1(2. each. A i;eal, 6s. 4(2. to 9s. Side of do , 2s. 8(2. to 3s. 4c2. Wild Ooose, 10(2. TFt(2^eoti, 3(2. Woodcock, Sd. to 4(2.
Provisions (salted). — Cod, per doz., 5s. Haberdine, per couple, Is. 3(2. to 2s. 6(2. Herrings (red), per barrel, 30s.; per cade, 14s. Do. (white), 19s. Ling (large size), per couple, 10s. Do. (medium size), per couple, 6s. 8(2. Do. (small), per couple, 4s. 8(2. Oysters (pickled), small barrel of. Is. 4<2. Salted salmon, 2s. to 4s. each. Sprats, per cade, 2s. 6(2. Salt butter, per stone, 3s. 2(2. to 6s.
Salt, per bushel, 3s. to 4s. 8(2. ; per peck. Is. 2d. to Is. 8(2.
Straw, per thrave, 5(2.
Tallow, per stone, 2s. 7 Id. to 3s. 6(2.
Wages (per day, of labourers and artisans*). — Bricklayer, 10(2. to Is. Car- penter (without victuals). Is. Do. (with victuals), 6(2. His man (without victuals), 10(2. Do. (with victuals), 4(2. Cooper, 6d. His man, 4(2 Dyer (per dozen yards), 4s. 2(2. Gardener, 10(2. Glazier, 8d. Haymakers (men), 6(2. ; (women), 4(2. Labowrer (ordinary), 6(2. Mowers, 10(2. to Is. Mason, Is. Pa/ver, 4d. Plasterer, 6(2. Plumber, Is. Qt^jwryman, 4(2. His boy, 2(2. Saddler, 6d. Sheep-shearers, Sd. to 6(2. each. Their assistants, 1(Z. to 3(2. Slater, 10(2. Thatcher, 8(2. His server, 6(2. Thresher, 6(2. to 9(2. Weavers (by the yard), for harden, 1(2.; for linsey-woolsey, 3(2. to 4J(2. ; kersey, 2d.; stuff, 3(2. J cloth, 5(2. ; for weaving 25 yds. fine linen, 7s. ; do. a round piece, with bounty, 3s. ; for bleaching, per yd., ^d.
Wine, Vinegar, and Beer. — Canary, Canary Sack, Sack, per gallon, 3s. 2d.
* A summary of the wages paid to the Household Servants at Naworth Castle will be found in the Appendix, No. xxxviii., p. 490.
Ixxviii A CLASSIFIED SUMMARY OF THE PRICES OP GRAIN, ETC.
to 4s. 6d. Do., per bntt, 131. 5s. Claret^ per gallon, 2s. 6(2. to 2s. 8(2. Do., per hogshead, 41. 5s. to 62. A ton of do. and expenses, 212. 2s. lOd. Malaga, per gallon, 4s. MuscacUne, 3s. 8(2. to 4s. 6(2. White wine, per gallon, 2s. to 2s. Sd. Vinega/r, per hogshead, 32. 15s. Beery per barrel, 6s.
Wool, per stone, 5s. 8 J (2. to 10s.
Miscellaneous. — Irorif per stone, 2s. 4d. Iron grate, 14s. A da/mash table- cloth. 32. A silver hell, 38s. Two beds and bolsters, 32. A rug (large), 27«. Coverlet (Arras-work), 40s. A watch, 42. A clock, lOZ. CorU, per lb., 4(2. to 8(2. Leather 'portmanteau, 10s. 1(2. Pa/rchment, skin of, 5(2. Infe, per pint, 6d, Lime, per bushel, 8(2. A mastiff, 10s. 8(2. J. bloodhound, 2s. -4 whelp, Is. 4d. JJea/wi o/ paper, 5s. Fire-shovel, 2s. J. so-ii;, 2s. J. whip, Is. A looking-glass, 9s. Ha/mess, for 4 coach horses, 82. J. saddle-cloth, and furniture, 3Z. .4. saddle, 26s. Mill-stones, 13s. to IZ. 10s. 8(2. J. mill-wheel, 26s. 8(2. J. comb (tortoise-shell), 2s. 6(2. Physician's fee, 20s. Dentisfsdo.,10s. Boots, pair of, 10s. to I2s. iS^ioes, pair of, 6s. 8(2. Needles (per 100), Is. Beaver /la*, 50s. to 31, 10s. f eZ2 do., lis. to 16s. Chinpowder, per lb.. Is. 6d,
GENERAL INDEX OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
1612. Naward. Ephemeris sen Liber Expens. Domest. ibidem, k
primo Jann. A®. "RK E^s. Jaoobi decimo, anno Domini 1612 . 1
Bents of Cumberland, ih. Bents of Northumberland, York, Durham, and Westmorland, 4, Foreign Beceipts, 5. My Lord's Parcels, 8. My Lady's do., 9. Pensions or Annuities, 13. Law charges, 14 Lands purchased, 16. Servants* wages, 17. Fresh Acaites, 20. Salt and Salt Store, 25. Bewards, 26. Building, Beparations, Workmen, 33. Hus- bandry, Herds, and Husbandmen, 36. Utensils or neces- saries, 41. Grocery, 44. Malt, 45. Bigg and peas, 46. Oats, ib. Wheat, 47. Hops, ih. Wine, 48. Lights, ih. Stable charges, ih. Horses and cattle bought, 50. Biding charges and errands, ih. Poor, 54. Money lent, imprest, or repaid, 55. Duties to Brampton and other places, 56. Mills, 57. Extraordinary payments, 59. Linen cloth and yam, &o., 63. Eldin (fuel), 65.
1618. Liber reoept : et expens : apud Kaward, incipiens primo die
Augusti : Anno B. B. Jacobi, xvj°. annoque Domini 1618 . 67 Bents of Cumberland, ih. Bents in Northumberland, 69. Foreign receipts, 70. Money received for fines, ih. Do. do. for wood, 72. My Lord's own parcels, ih. My Lady's do., 73. Pensions and annuities paid, 76. Law charges, lands purchased, debts paid and interest, ih. Servants* wages, 77. Fresh acaites, ih. Salt and salt store, 86. Bewards and given to the poor, 87. Building and reparations, 89. Hus- bandry, Herds, and Husbandmen, 90. Utensils or neces- saries, 91. Grain, 95. Wine, ih. Hops, 96. Lights, ih. Stable charges, ih. Biding charges or errands, 97. Dues to Brampton and other places, 98. Charges of mills, 99. Ex- traordinary payments, 100. Charges of carrying stuff, 101. Fuel, 102.
1619. Beceipts for my Lord William Howard, from 9 Oct., 1619. . 103 Payments general for my Lord's parcels and riding charges, &o.,
104 My Lord's parcels, 105. .Payments for debts, loans, interest and annuities, and lands bought, &c., ih. Do., do., 106. Payments for necessaries and extraordinaries, Ac, 107. Bewards, &c., 109. Stable charges, &c , 110. Law causes, ih., 116.
IXXX GENERAL INDEX OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
1620. Liber receptoram et expensorum apnd Naward, incipiens primo
die mensis Angasti, anno B. B. Jacobi 18^. annoqne Domini
1620 118
Rents received in Cumberland, ih. Reditns in Northumb., 119. Do. in Westm. Ebor. et Dunelm, 120. Foreign receipts, ih. My Lord's parcels, 121. My Lady*s expenses, ih. Pensions or annuities, 124. Law charges, lands purchased and debts paid, ih. Fresh acaites, 126. Salt and salt store, 128. Rewards and given to the poor, 129. Buildings and repara- tions, 132. Husbandry and Herds, 133. Utensils and necessaries, 134. Grocery and spices, 136. Grain, 137. Wine, ih. Hops, 138. Stable charges, ih. Riding charges and errands, ih. Charges of the mills, 139. Charges of carrying stuff, &o., 140. Extraordinary payments, ih. Fuel, 141. Horses and cattle, ih,
^^^' \ Receipts for my Lord, since the 27 April, 1620. ... 142 No. II. f
Do. do., ih. Payments general for my Lord's parcels
and riding charges, &c., 143. My Lord's parcels, 144. Necessaries and extraordinaries, ih., 146. Rewards, &c., ih. Stable charges, 147. Law causes, ih. Payments general, &c , 148
1621. Liber receptorum et expensorum apud Naward incipiens primo
die Augusti anno R. R. Jacobi 19<*. annoque Domini 162lo. 149 Rents in Cumberland, ih. Do., Northumberland, 156. Do., Westmorland, Ebor: et Dunelm, 157. Forreine Recepts, 158. My Lord's Expenses, 160. My Lady's do., 161. Pen- sions and annuities paid, Law charges, lands purchased and debts paid, 163. Wages paid to Servants, Fresh Acaites, 164. Salt and Salt store, Rewards, 175. Building and Repara- tions, Husbandry and Herds, 177. Utensils or necessaries, 178. Grocery or spices. Grain of all sorts, 179. Wine, Hops, Stable charges. Riding charges and errands, 180. Money lent or imprest, Dues to Brampton and other places. Charges about the mills, 181. Charges of carrying stuff. Extraordinary payments, Fuel, 182. Abstract of the con- tents of the Household Book for 1621-22, 183.
1621. ) Extracts from " John Pildrem's Account-Book " for the year
No. II. » 1621 184
1622. Naward. Liber Receptorum et Expensorum ibidem incipiens
primo die Augusti A^. R. R. Jacobi 20^. Annoqne Domini
1622 186
Rents in Cumberland, Fodina carbonum, ih. Do. NorthnmbrisB, Westmorland, Durism, York, Foreign Receipts, money re- ceived for Fines, &c , my Lord's expenses, 187. My Lady's expenses, 188. Pensions or Annuities, Law charges, Debts paid and land purchased, 189. Wages paid to Servants, 190. Fresh acaites, 191. Salt and salt store. Rewards and given to the poor, 192. Building and reparations, 193. Husbandry and Herds, Utensils or necessaries, 194. Grocery,
r
QENERAL INDEX OF CONTENTS.
^^^H
Oraiii, WinQ, 195- Hopa, Stabls Q)iargeH, Biding chargea and orranda, 196. Money lent or imprest. Dues to Bramp- ton, &o. Cliar^B abODt the MiU«. Charges of oanying staffs Estraordinary paymantB, 197. FuoL Horaea and cattlo bought, 198. ! Eitracta from " John Padrem'a Aocount-Book " for the year
Farther Extraate from the samo
Fajments general. Do. for my Lord gince tha last of April, 1633., lb- NecesBariea since May 7, 1623, 205. Paymenta general for my Lord's jonrnpy to Spa, May, 1633, his Biponces there, aud on his homeward joamey. Household oxpenoes. Do. in London, &o
Nawnrd. Lihor Reooptorora et eipenaoruni ibidem, incipions primo die Augustj, A°. E. B. Jncobi 22°. Annoque Domiiu 1G34
Rents in Cumberland, ib. Do. Northumbriie, Woatmorlnnd, Tork, et Dnriam. Money reoeired for Finea, &c, Foreign Bcccipts. My Lord's expenooB, 212. My Ladj'a expencea, 213, Fenaione and annuities. Law charges. Debts paid and lands pnrchaaed. Wages. Freah Acaitea. Salt and Salt store. Rewards nnd given to the Poor, 214. Building and Bcpomtions. Husbandry and Herda, 216. Kooesaarioa, 216. Grain. Wme, 217. Hopa- Lights. Stable charge*, 818. Biding charges and crranda. Money lent or imprest. Dues to Brampton, Ac. Cha:^^ of the Milla. Charges of carrying stuff, 219. Estraordinary payments. Fuel. Cattle, 220, I Eitraots from "John Pildrem's Account- Book " for the year , f 1634
Household Book for this year
Kents in Cumberland. Com. Northambrice, ib. DorCsmo. York, et Weatm. Monies received for Fines, Ac. Foreign Receipts. My Lord's expences. My Lady and the children. Fenaions or Annuities, 226. Law charges. Debts paid and lands pnr- chaeed. Wagea. Fresh Aoaites, 226. Salt and Salt store, fiewards and given to the Poor, 227. Building and Repsra- tions. Husbandry and Herds. Utensils or neceaaariea, 228. Spices. Grain, Wine, 229, Hops and Lights. Stable changes, 230.
} Eitracta from "John Pildrem'a Account- Book " for the year 1625
Naward- Liber receptoram et expensorum ibidem, incipiena primo die Junij, snno Regis Carol i secundo, nsque ad initinm Junij seqnentis, 1626
Kents in Cumberland, ib. Com. Northumbriae- Dnrisme, Torke, et Wostmerland. Money received for Fines, &c. Foreign Beceipta. My Lord'a eipences, 234. My Ijody and the children. Pensions and annnitiea. Law charges- Debts paid and lands porohaaed. Wagea. Freah acaits, 235. Salt
f
IxXli INTRODUCTION.
Many instances of this provision may be seen at tMs day in some of the old mansions inhabited in bygone days by those who adhered to the ancient faith. There are dungeons also in the lower part of the Carlisle Tower, in the position marked XJ on the Plan.
With this imperfect survey of a most interesting building, I must bring to its close an Introduction which I fear has been unduly extended.
One duty remains, however, to be fulfilled, but it is always a pleasing one, — the acknowledgment of obligations incurred, and kindnesses received, during the progress of the work. The thanks of the Surtees Society must be gratefully tendered to Lord Lanerton for his continuation of the permission given by the late Lord Carlisle to publish these selections from the Na worth Household Books, and also for his kindness in allowing Lord "William Howard's portrait to be photographed for the illustration of this book. My own personal thanks as Editor are due to his Lordship for the courteous readiness with which access to the Muniment Room at Castle Howard has been accorded to me.
TJie thanks of the Society are also due to Mr. Woodman, of Stob Hill, near Morpeth, for the loan of a transcript made by him many years ago of *^ John Pildrem^s Account-Book," then in the possession of Mr. Lawson of Longhirst, from which I have taken many extracts. He also placed in my hands several interesting original Papers, which form a valuable addition to the Documents given in the Appendix.
The Surtees Society has further to acknowledge with many thanks the kind permission given by Mrs. Barnes to have a photograph taken of the extremely interesting portrait of Lady Elizabeth Dacre, which is in her possession at Gilling Castle.
The obligations I am under to many literary friends, for information upon various points, will be found acknowledged in the Notes in which that information is embodied. But I must place on record here my grateful sense of the ready kindness with which ray inquiries have at all times been answered by them.
It would be unpardonable if I closed the list of my obliga-
INTRODUCTION. Ixxiil
tiona without a grateful acknowledgment of the kmdneas I have received, on more than one occasion, at Naworth Castle. Unrestricted access was given rae to Lord William's Library, for the purpose of collating a. transcript of one of the Account Books with the original MS. and examining the other books and MSS., as well as every facility for seeing all the objects of interest in and about the Castle. To its present inhabitants the Hon. Charles Howard, his son Mr. George Howard, and the Hon. Jlrs. George Howard, I shall always feel deeply indebted for a most coui'teous reception and the most kindly hospitality. The pages which follow give ample proof of the exercise of that gracious quality by their renowned ancestor. It is atill a characteristic of those who bear his name and inhabit the stately dwelling which was so long his home.
FlSHI^ASE VlCABAGB,
near DoDcuster,
Sept. 9, 1878.
GEORGE OENSBT.
r
A Classified Summary of the Obdisaky Prices op Grais, Cattle, HoRaEa, CHIEF Articles of CoNSOMPTioif, Labodkers' Waoehi Ac, HETWBss THE Years 1612—1640.
OwTic (of different BDrtB) per bntliel : "—In 1613. BTiea(,IU 6d. tol6«. OaU, 2a.ioia.6d. Barley, 5). Ifd. to B>. PeoM, 7a. Gd. to 9<. id Btcma, Si. Malt, 64. to 6s. 8(1.
1618. WJ'.eat, 12b. to IBs. 2(i. Oata, Is. 8(1. to 3s. 6d. Bof!<v, -Is. Rye. 6s. 8ci. Feiue, 4i. to 10s. SdL
1620. TFAeat, 6s. 8d. to Ss. Oafs, Is. to Is. Sd, Beavis, 3s 4(1. to 4<. Malt, 2*. 2i.
1621. Wheat, Ua. to 12s. 6iL Oats, Is. 5)d. to li. Bi. Bean», 4>.
1622. TlTtMf, (per boll) 305. Oats, Bs. Barley, 10s.
162'1 TPJrsfli, 83. 4j'i. to 16s. lii. Oats, 23. ed. to Bs. Walt, Ss.
1625. JVTiea(, lis. Barley, 5s. 31c(. MTiile Peass (per boll), 8s. 8il. Mali, 4s. lid.
162a Iffteo!, 4s. to 5s. 2ii BarUy, 4s. lljil,
1C28. Seed irheat, li. 2s. Cd. Oata, 2s. 6d. to 3s. Oatmeal, Is. lid. per pcok.
1G29. in.eat, 6s. 8d. Seed u-heat, 10s. 2d. Old oats, 2s. lljd. Oofs (for pooltry), Is. 6d. Barley, 8s. 6d.
1633 Wlieat, 9s. 4<i. to 10s. lleana, 9s. Malt, blondcd, 6s. 8<i.
1640. Wheat, 5s. Seed u-hcat, 15s. Gd. Rye, 9s.
CiTTLE, &c— A bull, SOs. A cow, 10s. A cow and calf, 50s. 35 head of caltle (one with another), 471. A qucy, 21. 18s. to 3i. A runt, or Scotch oi, 3). lis. 8J. A stot, 33s. Sixteen steers (one witb another), 671. 15s. id. A eheep, IDs. to 12s. Ewe, 4s. Kineteon tups (one with anotber), 5i. 4s. A goat, 3s, GiL A BOW, 10s. Figs, 4s. to 5s. each. A ^oung pig, Is, 3d.
* Tba following particulars are perhaps worth noting. They occur in a Paper (Dom, Charica I. cccci. 165) which is undated, bnt which appears to have been sent to Sir Jacob Asttey , or one of bis officers, some time in 1639 or 16-W, in answer to inquiries aboat prices of provisions for the Kin^s troopfl : — "A particnier note of the prices of corne naod in Carlile, and the measure thereof. Inprimis. Our busbell ie 24 gallons, which gallon is 4 wine qaarta and a pint. Bijrg is to be bonght from 5s, to 7s. a busbell. Pease from 25. 6i. to 4s. the buBhell. Malt 6s. or thereabouts the bUBhell. Wheat at 16s. the bnshell. Bye at 10s. the baahell. This note I bad from Mr. Maior of Carlisle. 'iyeslmerlund. — Come is much at the same rates of Cumberland, but the measure is not 90 nroch by 4 gallons in a bushell."
Ixxvi A CLASSIFIED SUMMARY OF THE PRICES OF GRAIN, ETC.
Cloth (and other woven material, of various textures and fabrics). — Badze, per yard,* 2s. 6d. Red do. 6s. to 10s. 6d. Double do. 4s. 6d. Bla/iiJcetSf pair of Spanish, 27s. Broadcloth, 6s. to 7s. Ad, Calico, 4d. to Sd, Purple do., Is. 6d. Cambric, per ell, 5s. 4d. to 12s. Camlet, 5s. Qd. Canvas, 7d. Cloth (for a suit and coat), 71. 7s. 6d. Scarlet do., 32s. 6d. Clothrash, 2s. 4d. Damask, 10s. 6d, to 13s. 6d. Flannel, Is. to Is. 2d, Frieze, 2s. 6d. to 3». id. Fustian, Is. to Is. 4d. Orogram, silvered, 21s. Crimson do., 9s. Turkey do. 6s. 6d. Hair-cloth, Is. Harden, 9d, Housewife's cloth. Is. 2Jd. to 2». Holland, per ell, 2s. 6JcZ. to 2s. Holland diaper, 3s. 7d, Jean, Is, Kersey, 2s. 8d, to 4s. 4id. Lawn, per ell, 6s. Cobweb do., 2s. Cypress do., 3s. Id. Linen, Is. to Is. lOcZ. Mohair, Is. 6d, Napkins, per doz., 7s. 9d, to lis. Padua soajb, 5s. 5cJ. Pa/ragon, Turkey, 8s. Peniston, 2s. to 3s. 5d, Peropus, 3s. to 3s. 4d. Riding suit, 41 9s. Sacking, S^d. Sarcenet, per ell, 7s. Gd. Satin, 12s. 6d, to 15s. Save, 2s. 8d. to 5s. 6d. Serge, 2s. Sd. to 5s. 6d. Scotch cloth. Is. 2d. to 2s. lOd. Stammel, lis. Sd. Stuff, lid. to 2s. Stockings, 3s. Pair of Scotch do., 5s. 2d. Pair of silk do., 38s. to 21. Tahleing, 4s. Taffety, per ell, 12s. 6(Z. to 15s. 4d. Crimson do., per ell, 18s. White do., per ell, 7*. 6d, Tarrnny, 2s. 6d. Tiffa/ny, white, 2s. Velvet, purple, 24s. Crimson do., 14s. Ywhshire cloth, 4s. 6d.
Fish (fresh). — Bret, Is. to 2s. 4d. Bodling, 6d. to Is. Cod, 7d. to Is. 2d, Codling, Id. Conger-eel, Is. 2d. to Is. Sd. Cockles, per peck, 7d. to Is. 6d, Eels, 6d. to 9d. Elldrings, Is. Sd. per doz. Flounders, per doz., 7d, to 9d. Fhikes, per doz., Sd. to lid., and per score, Is. 4d. Oilse, 7d. to Is. Qrevell, Is, Sd. Qwrnet, l^d. Herrings, per 100, 2s. 8d. to 3s. 4d. Keeling, Sd. to Is. 2(2. Lam/prey, Id. Laux, 3s. 4d. to 4s. Lobster, Id, to 3d. Lv/mp, 4Jd. to 5d. Mussels^ per peck, 8d. Oysters, per 100, 6d, to Is. 6d. Pike, 3d. to 5d. Porpoise, 2s. to 3s. 9d. Salmon, Is. 3d. to 5s. Salmon trout, 4d. to 6d. Seal, Is. Sd, Shoulder- fish, 2s. Skate, lOd. to Is. 8d. Sole, 2d. Sparlings, 9d. per doz. Sturgeon, 3s, 4d. Thornback, or thompike, 5d. to Is. Trouts, per doz., 6d, Esk trout, 3d. to 4d. each. Bull trout. Is. to 2s. each. Tu/rbot, Is, to 2s. WoorUng, 2s.
Fuel. — Faggots, per 100, 6d. Load of wood (in London), 9s. Billets (in London), per 1000, 15s. 3d. Charcoal, per bushel, lOd. Coals (in London), per chaldron, 19s. to 21s. lOd.
Gboceeies. — AUnonds, per lb., Is. to Is. lOd. Aniseed, per lb., lOd. Aqtui vitoe, bottle of, 2s. Bezoa/r, East Indian, per oz. 31, lOs. Grey do., 11. 8s. OaridZes, per lb., 4d. to 5d. Wax do., per lb.. Is. Id. Cc^pers, per lb.. Is. Chalk, per stone, 4d. Cinnam.on, per lb., 3s. 8d. to 5s. 4d. Cloves, per lb., 8s. Cucumbers, per barrel, 5s. 2d. Currants, per qr., lis. 9d. to 13s. Dates, per lb., 2s. Figs, per lb., 3d. Ginger, per lb.. Is. Candied do., per lb., 4s. Isinglass, per lb., 4s. to 5s. Liquorice, per lb., 6d. Mace, per lb., 7s. Mithridate, per oz., 2s. Musta/rd seed, per lb., 2|d. Nut)negs, per lb., 4s. Oil, salad, per quart, 2s. Olives, per pint, 6d. Oranges, per doz., 8d. to Is. Primes, per qr.,