The Story of an Ancient Parish Part 6

2d.

1797--Feb. 2nd, to a new white sheet for William Fischer to do penance, 6d.; ditto, to the expense of the occasion, one s.h.i.+lling.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FOOTNOTES:

[43] See Jenner's "Handbook of the Cornish Language."

[44] See Bouse's "Collectanea."

THE G.o.dOLPHINS.

CHAPTER VI.

[Ill.u.s.tration: G.o.dolphin House.]

The family of G.o.dolphin is by far the greatest and most important that has issued from our parish. Their original abode, according to the statement of Leland, was a fortified stronghold or tower on G.o.dolphin Hill, the remains of which were in existence in his time. The origin of the family is lost in obscurity, but the curious tenure under which the Manor of G.o.dolphin is still held from the owner of the Manor of Lambourne makes it clear that they were not tenants-in-chief from the Earls of Cornwall. A pa.s.sing allusion to the curious nature of this tenure may be pardoned. Each Candlemas morning at six o'clock, beneath the twinkling stars, or more probably in the black darkness of rain and tempest, the Reeve of Lambourne still pays his yearly visit to G.o.dolphin House. Beating on the outer oaken doors of the ancient mansion, he peremptorily demands admission. On the doors being opened, without waiting for invitation he enters the house and mounting upon the table of the hall he exclaims "O Yes! O Yes! O Yes! I am the Reeve of Lambourne in Perransand, come here to demand the old rent, duties and customs due to the lords of the said manor from the lands of G.o.dolphin."

In response to the summons of the Reeve there is brought him 2s. 8d. in rent, a jack of strong beer, a loaf of bread and a cheese. Out of the fact of this ancient tenure the incorrigible Hals has woven one of his innumerable romances, for which not one iota of evidence worthy of consideration exists. Hals possessed the art of evolving history of a libellous and defamatory character from his own inner consciousness in a way that has been seldom equalled.

After a number of generations the ancient race of G.o.dolphin centred in an heiress Elinor or Elianora, who married John Rinsey of Rinsey, thus joining the estates of Rinsey and G.o.dolphin. On 2nd December, 1398, John Rinsey of G.o.dolphin and Rinsey and Elianora his wife received a licence from Bishop Stafford for oratories on their manors of G.o.dolphin and Rinsey. The arms of this worthy pair are still to be seen quartered on the 15th century screen of Buryan Church.

Hals' story about the G.o.dolphin estates pa.s.sing by marriage to the Arundells of Perransand, and being sold to one Stephens or Knava, on the above-mentioned tenure, rests upon no proof save that the name of Knava happened to be common in Breage in his time, and it finds no support from the descent of the family given by Vivian.

John G.o.dolphin of G.o.dolphin, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1504, must be regarded as the real John of Hapsbourg of his race. I am led to conclude that the Master Thomas G.o.dolphin who became vicar of Breage in 1505 was the younger son of this founder of the family greatness.

The south-east corner of Breage Church, now called the G.o.dolphin Chapel, was the burying-place of this ancient family from the period of its rise to greatness, though no monument of any kind preserves the memory of those whose earthly remains rest there. It seems incredible that no monuments to the memory of departed G.o.dolphins ever marked the site of their last resting-place. Sir Francis G.o.dolphin, who lived in the time of Elizabeth, was a man of vast wealth, as well as vast influence. The age of Elizabeth was an age of ornate and magnificent tombs; they still survive in great numbers in our country churches, of elaborate character with rows of kneeling figures and inscriptions that will suggest the lines:

"The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe, And storied urns record who rests below; When all is done upon the tomb is seen Not what he was, but what he should have been."

The conclusion is forced upon us that at some period the tombs of the G.o.dolphins were removed and desecrated. As to the period there can be little doubt; it can only be placed in the time of the Independent ascendancy, during the Protectorate. The G.o.dolphins had distinguished themselves by their fearless loyalty to the exiled house, and had rendered themselves a target for the animosity of the Government and local fanatics and sectaries. Their elaborate tombs were thus perhaps conveniently confused with the emblems of superst.i.tion, and their recesses rifled in search of sacrilegious booty.

The helmets of three G.o.dolphins still hang in the south-east corner of the church, the silken banners that once hung with them having long since mouldered into dust. At the restoration of the church in 1892 two large marble slabs were removed from the floor of the church, which marked the stairway leading to the G.o.dolphin vault. John Evelyn, in his account of the burial of Margaret G.o.dolphin, speaks of this quiet corner as the "dormitorie of her family."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A G.o.dolphin Helmet in Breage Church.]

Sir John G.o.dolphin was succeeded by his son, Sir William G.o.dolphin: this Knight in his turn was repeatedly Sheriff of Cornwall. We may gather from the State Papers[45] that his character and principles, to say the least, were somewhat robust. s.h.i.+ps cast upon the wild, rockbound coast of Breage, it is complained, were snapped up as toothsome morsels by the Sheriff, and their contents carried doubtless as loot to G.o.dolphin. His burial is recorded in the Breage register on 30th July, 1570. He was succeeded by his son, the heroic Sir William G.o.dolphin, who covered himself with glory in the short war waged by Henry VIII. against Francis I., which terminated in the defeat of the French at the Battle of the Spurs. Carew says of this brave Knight that "he added l.u.s.tre to his fame at the expense of his face." This statement has reference to a charge made by Sir William and his brother Thomas, at the head of the force under his command, which resulted in the rout of the French opposed to them and the grievous shortening of Sir William's nose by a sword cut.

This warrior at home seems to have practised the robust methods of his father. In 1575 we find the [46]Crown preferring fifteen charges against him, thirteen of which were for piracy in conjunction with the Killigrews of Arwennick. He lies buried in Finchley Churchyard, and some faithful follower who had wandered over the fields of Picardy with him in search of military glory placed the following epitaph upon his tomb:

"G.o.dolphin his race to rest hath run, Where grace affords felicity; His death is gone, his life hath wone Eternal perpetuity.

Though William his corpse here doth lie Barnes' faith in him shall never die."

His wife Dame Blanche G.o.dolphin lies at Breage. As Sir William left no son his estates devolved on his nephew, Sir Francis, son of Thomas G.o.dolphin, who had, as we have already seen, distinguished himself in the war with France. Of Sir Francis G.o.dolphin, Carew says, "Zeal in religion, uprightness in government and plentifulness in house-keeping had given him a great reputation."

As well as having distinguished himself in the dreary wars of Ireland, Sir Francis had applied his mind to the problems of scientific mining on his estates, to his own great profit. In looking over the pages of the Church registers, I was perplexed to find the frequent recurrence of the name Erasmus. There can be but little doubt that the first Erasmus whose name appears in the registers was a Dutchman brought to Breage by Sir Francis G.o.dolphin in connection with his great projects of scientific mining. Sir Francis was Governor of the Scilly Islands. As Governor he rebuilt the ruined fortress of St. Mary, and made it so strong that it successfully resisted all the a.s.saults of the Parliamentary forces until the close of the Civil War. The heroic attempt of Sir Francis G.o.dolphin to defend Penzance against the attacking Spaniards has been dealt with in another place.

Sir Francis corresponded with Cecil Lord Burleigh, and we thus get from the Hatfield MS. a faint, blurred picture of the soul of this brave Cornish squire. In his last letter to Cecil, dated Tavistock, 8th October, 1601, he speaks of his "project as touching the wars in Ireland."[47] He married first Margaret, daughter of John Killigrew, of Arwenack, and secondly Alice, daughter of John Skerrit, and widow of John Glanville, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Of one of these ladies the following quaint story still survives: Sir Francis had taken into his confidence an attorney of Ottery St. Mary, named John Cole, and ultimately employed him as his agent. This person embarked in mining speculations on his own account with disastrous results, which soon hurried him into the paths of fraud. John Cole's blocks of tin bore for purposes of identification the figure of a cat stamped upon them, whilst those of his master bore the impress of a dolphin. Emboldened by successful peculations, the sign of the cat appeared in ever-increasing numbers where the sign of the dolphin should have been displayed. The suspicions of Lady G.o.dolphin, more shrewd in this respect than her husband, were aroused. Accompanied by a maid, she repaired to the G.o.dolphin Blowing House on foot, where she found numerous blocks of tin unlawfully stamped with the sign of the cat. On her return to G.o.dolphin House, she found Sir Francis and a number of friends wondering at her absence, prolonged long past the appointed hour of dinner. She explained that during her absence she "had been watching a cat eating a dolphin."

The Breage registers record the burial of Sir Francis G.o.dolphin on 23rd April, 1608.

Sir Francis was succeeded by his son, Sir William G.o.dolphin, educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, the home in those days of Puritan learning.

Sir William also had distinguished himself under Ess.e.x in Ireland ere he succeeded his father; tradition says that he had been knighted for his bravery on the field of battle. In 1606 he was employed by the Government on a mission to Paris, the object of which is unknown. In an extant letter to Cecil[48] he complains that his means were inadequate to meet the expenses of the mission. He represented Cornwall once, if not twice, in Parliament. He married Thomasina, the daughter of Thomas Sidney, of Wrighton, in Norfolk. It was thus that the Christian name of Sidney was introduced into the G.o.dolphin family. The Breage registers record his burial on 5th September, 1613. His eldest son William died whilst still a youth, when on a visit to Bruton Abbey, in Somersets.h.i.+re; he was thus succeeded by his second son Francis, a boy of fourteen at the time of his father's death.

It was during the lifetime of this Sir Francis that Charles II., then Prince of Wales, took refuge at G.o.dolphin House, on his flight to the Scilly Islands on the complete collapse of the Royal cause. Charles remembered the services of his faithful Cornish squire, and at his accession made him a Knight of the Bath, and entrusted to his charge the State prisoners, Sir Harry Vane and General Ireton; at the same time the foundation of the fortunes of his third son, Sidney, was laid by admission to the Royal household. Sir Francis represented St. Ives and other const.i.tuencies in Parliament. He and his wife, Dame Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Berkeley, of Yarlington in Somerset, were both buried in Breage Church. Sir Francis was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir William, who died without issue, and is buried at Breage. His fourth son, Henry G.o.dolphin, D.D., was Provost of Eton for thirty-five years, and ultimately became Dean of St. Paul's. The silver-gilt Communion services still in use at both the Churches of Breage and Germoe were the gift of Henry G.o.dolphin, whilst Dean of St Paul's. The record of his baptism occurs in our registers on 15th August, 1648.

No account of the house of G.o.dolphin would be complete without mention of the brave and debonair Sidney G.o.dolphin, poet, soldier and philosopher, brother of the foregoing Sir Francis G.o.dolphin, K.B. He was the trusted friend of the statesman Clarendon, Hobbes the philosopher, and Waller the Cavalier poet. These three friends.h.i.+ps in themselves made clear the temper of his mind. He sat in three Parliaments as member for Helston. He espoused in Parliament the cause of Strafford, and when peace seemed hopeless, he withdrew to the King at Oxford. The Earl of Clarendon in his history of the Great Rebellion has left a vivid portrait of his character and personality. He describes him as of small stature, but of sharp and keen wit, with a mind tinged with melancholy and fitfulness. He tells us that he would scarcely stir out of doors in windy or rainy weather, and that at Court he mingled freely with the greatest of the realm. He died fighting for his King at Chagford, in Devons.h.i.+re, in an obscure skirmish, and lies buried in Okehampton Parish Church. It is evident that he had inherited the nature of his mother, and was a Sidney both in mind and in person rather than a G.o.dolphin.

Sidney G.o.dolphin was before his age, and his philosophic mind revolted at the miserable tangle of religion and politics, and the degrading spirit of religious intolerance and persecution manifested by all parties. Of him it might have been well said: "_Qui n'as pas l'esprit de son age, de son age a tout le malheur._" On his tomb are inscribed the following pathetic lines by his friend Hobbs:

"Thou art dead, G.o.dolphin, who lov'dst reason true, Justice and peace, soldier belov'd, adieu."

The following entry in the Breage registers, which casts a sidelight on the story of the G.o.dolphin family, has a pathos all its own: "Franciscus Berkeley, filius Caroli Berkeley militis, sepultus fuit 27 Septembri, 1635." The mother of the child whose death is thus recorded was Penelope, daughter of Sir William G.o.dolphin, and the sister of Sir Francis and Sidney G.o.dolphin. Penelope G.o.dolphin had been married to Sir Charles Berkeley in Breage Church, September, 1627. Possibly the rapid rise of the G.o.dolphin family was due to some extent to this marriage into the powerful family of Berkeley. Sir Charles Berkeley afterwards became Viscount Hardinge, and ultimately Earl of Falmouth, and is said in the main to have been responsible for the failure of the negotiations between Cromwell and Ireton on the one hand, and Charles I. on the other, for the restoration of Charles once more, to a peaceful, if a more limited authority over his people.

The child whose death the entry records had doubtless come with his parents to his mother's ancestral home. Penelope Berkeley no doubt returned to the old home of her childhood full of dreams of the renewal of the life of her girlhood, proud of her firstborn, heir to a great name. It all ended, alas! in the laying of the body of her babe in the old grey Church on the hill, overlooking the sea, 'midst the dust of his maternal ancestors.

The parish has produced only one great man of the first rank, Sidney G.o.dolphin, Earl of G.o.dolphin, third son of the Sir Francis honoured by Charles II. Our Church registers record the baptism of Sidney G.o.dolphin in the following words: "Sidoni, the son of Francis G.o.dolphin and Dorothy his wife, was baptized 15th day of June, 1644." Sidney G.o.dolphin almost immediately after the Restoration became a page in the Royal household, and it was not long before the King conceived a strong personal liking for the son of the Cornish squire with whom he had found a refuge in the darkest hour of his fortunes. The regard of the merry Monarch made smooth the path of rapid advancement for Sidney G.o.dolphin.

Like his uncle of the same name, at an early age he entered Parliament as member for Helston. It is said that he very seldom spoke in the House of Commons, but quickly earned a reputation as a man of keen financial grasp and insight, and that his opinion on matters of finance soon came to be regarded as of great weight. In 1679 he was promoted with Viscount Hyde, afterwards Earl of Rochester, and the Earl of Sunderland to the chief management of affairs. In September, 1684, he was created Baron G.o.dolphin of Rialton, and succeeded the Earl of Rochester as First Lord of the Treasury. James II. extended to him the same favour and confidence that King Charles had given to him. He was one of the Council of Five to whom James left the management of affairs when he left London to meet the advancing forces of the Prince of Orange. On the utter collapse of the cause of James II. he was one of the Commissioners appointed to negotiate with William Prince of Orange. He continued in office under William III., whilst at the same time, like his friend the Duke of Marlborough, he carried on a secret correspondence with James at St. Germans. No doubt all his real sympathies were with the cause of the exiled Monarch. In the reign of Anne he was largely instrumental in bringing about the Act of Union with Scotland; and by his great ability as a Minister of Finance he alone rendered possible the victorious prosecution of the war with France. He was created Earl of G.o.dolphin in 1706. His position as a Minister of Finance in a venal age gave him unlimited opportunities for peculation, which others would have unblus.h.i.+ngly seized, but he remained incorruptible, and at his death in 1712 was found to be worth only 12,000. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

The life of Sidney G.o.dolphin was early clouded by a great sorrow. At the age of thirty he had married Margaret Blague, daughter of Colonel Blague, of Horningsheath. Three years after their marriage, in 1678, Margaret G.o.dolphin's saintly life came to an end. John Evelyn has rendered the story of her short life in a sense the common heritage of all English men and women. By her purity and simple goodness of character she came to exercise an influence upon an evil and licentious Court, and for posterity she stands out as one of its brightest ornaments. I extract the following fragment from Evelyn's memoir of her: "She died in the 26 yeare of age, to the inexpressible affliction of her deare husband. She was for beauty and good nature, wit, fidelity and discretion the most incomparable person. Her husband, struck with the unspeakable affliction, fell down as dead. The King himself and all the Court expressed their sorrow. To the poore and miserable her loss was irreparable, for there was no degree but had some obligation to her memorie. She desired to be buried in the dormitorie of her husband's family, neere 300 miles from all her other friends. So afflicted was her husband at this severe loss that the entire care of her funeral was committed to me. Having closed her eyes, and dropped a teare upon the cheeke of my deare departed friend, lovely even in death, I caused the corpse to be embalmed and wrapped in lead, with a plate of bra.s.s soldered thereon, with an inscription and other circ.u.mstances due to her worth, with as much diligence and care that my grieved heart would permit me. She was accordingly carried to G.o.dolphin, in Cornwall, in a hea.r.s.e with six horses, attended by two coaches of as many, with about thirty of her relations and servants. There accompanied the hea.r.s.e her husband's brother, Sir William, two more of his brothers and his three sisters; her husband was so overcome with grief that he was wholly unfit to travel so long a journey till he was more composed. I went as far as Hounslow with a sad heart, but was obliged to return on some indispensable affairs. The corpse was ordered to be taken out of the hea.r.s.e every night, and decently placed in ye house, with tapers about it, and her servants attending to Cornwall; and then was honorably interr'd in the Parish Church of G.o.dolphin. This funeral cost not much less than 1000. With Mr. G.o.dolphin I looked over and sorted his lady's papers. We found a diary of her solemn resolutions, all tending to practical virtue. It astonish'd us to see what she had read and written, her youth considered."

A bra.s.s with the following inscription marks the spot in Breage Church, in front of the altar in the south aisle, beneath which the earthly remains of Margaret G.o.dolphin lie: "Beneath this bra.s.s repose the mortal remains of Margaret G.o.dolphin, daughter of Colonel Blague, of Horningsheath, Groom of the Bedchamber to King Charles I.; the wife of Sidney G.o.dolphin, afterwards Earl of G.o.dolphin; and the friend of John Evelyn, who has told the story of her n.o.ble life. She wished to rest at Breage, the cradle of her husband's race. Born 2nd August, 1652. She died in London 9th September, 1678. This bra.s.s was placed to her memory by George G.o.dolphin Osborne, 10th Duke of Leeds."

It seems to have been the custom of the Lord High Treasurer, at any rate until his later years, from time to time to visit his old Cornish home, which, it may be added, did not become his property until two years before his death at the decease of his elder brother in 1710.

An interesting picture of these visits has come down to us from the father of Dr. Borlase,[49] of antiquarian fame, who in his youth was present on one of these occasions. He says that at this time no regular post or means of transit, either for persons or things, were to be found beyond Exeter, but when ma.s.ses of letters had acc.u.mulated at Exeter they were from time to time sent on to Cornwall, as occasion might serve, by a system which was called the post. When the Lord High Treasurer, however, visited G.o.dolphin, he had a weekly messenger from Exeter bringing letters, despatches and a newspaper; and on the fixed day of the messenger's arrival all the gentlemen for many miles round a.s.sembled at G.o.dolphin House to hear the newspaper read in the great hall.

A number of letters addressed to Sidney G.o.dolphin by his mother and other members of his family still survive in the British Museum[50] also letters of Sidney and his sisters to their mother. These letters give a deeply interesting picture of the family life as lived at G.o.dolphin.

Some of the letters of his sisters to their mother deal with the things they saw and did on their visits to London. Money seems to have been not too abundant at this period in the G.o.dolphin family, and considerations of ways and means constantly obtrude themselves in the letters. In one letter the future Lord High Treasurer is commissioned by his mother to purchase the wedding trousseau of one of his sisters; to this letter of his mother the future Finance Minister replies that he has purchased the dresses that a "Mrs. Stuart had had out of France just before the Court went into mourning." This engagement between his sister Catherine and a Mr. Dryden ultimately came to naught. Catherine remained unmarried, and was the last of her line to be laid in the "dormitorie" of her race in Breage Church. She died 7th October, 1678.

G.o.dolphin House was fitfully inhabited by Francis, 2nd Earl of G.o.dolphin, the only son of the Lord High Treasurer, for a few summer months. He seems to have somewhat enlarged the house and built the front portico and colonnade of granite from Tregoning Hill. Since his death in 1766 this ancient house has never been inhabited by its owners, and of it may be said in the words of Hafiz:

"The spider has woven her web in the palace and the owl hath sung her watch song on the towers."

In concluding the account of the family of G.o.dolphin, it is fitting to make some mention of Sir William G.o.dolphin, of Treveneag, in the parish of Mabe. He was the grandson of that Sir Francis G.o.dolphin who so gallantly attempted to defend Penzance against the Spaniards, his father being John G.o.dolphin, Captain of the Scilly Isles. Sir William in the days of the Commonwealth had eulogised the Protector in fulsome verses still extant: when the Protector was dead, and could no longer punish or reward, we find him on the other hand a.s.sailing his memory with virulent abuse. It is only just to add that whilst singing the praises of the Protector, he was in full communication with the spies and agents of Charles. Having so carefully prepared for the future, at the Restoration his advance was rapid. In 1661 he became member of Parliament for Camelford, and spoke vehemently in favour of the sanct.i.ty of the Royal prerogative, not going without substantial reward for his exuberant loyalty. Mr. Pepys describes him as "a very pretty and able person; a man of very fine parts." He affected science as then understood, and became a Fellow of the newly-formed Royal Society, and on account of the suns.h.i.+ne of the Royal favour in which he basked received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. He ultimately became Amba.s.sador Extraordinary to the Court of Spain, but was summoned home during the frenzy of the Popish Plot on a charge of high treason. Sir William under the circ.u.mstances thought it more prudent to disregard the command and remain at Madrid as a private person, which he continued to do until the day of his death in 1696. At his death he left considerable property in Madrid, Rome, Venice and Amsterdam, which continued for a number of years to be the source of much litigation. A portion of the property was ultimately employed, in accordance with the provisions of Sir William's will, in founding the G.o.dolphin School at Hammersmith. The G.o.dolphin School at Salisbury, it may be added, was founded by his niece, Elizabeth G.o.dolphin.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FOOTNOTES:

[45] State Papers, 1526.

[46] State Papers.

[47] See "The Life of Sidney G.o.dolphin," by the Hon. Hugh Eliot.

[48] See "The Life of Sidney G.o.dolphin," by the Hon. Hugh Eliot.