interposall, are likely to fall together. Who, tho' they are but few in respect to the whole English clergy, yet, if I may speake it without offence, are too many to be thrown away all at once, considering their inoffensiveness in all cases (but this alone), their great parts and their as great virtues, what they have done already for the good of the Church and State, and what they are further able and certain to do, if God spare their lives, and the Law be not so extreme as to dash them all in pieces like a potter's vessel.

It will therefore be no grief of heart to you, my good Lord, nor to any else, I hope, that are of your high station, if you, with the assistance of your friends, should move their Majesties and both the Houses that those good men may be at all at ease, yea confident I am (because I know your generous temper) that it will be the joy of your heart that you have been the first mover in it, tho' it should not succeed; how much more if, by God's blessing (which is all in all), you should come to accomplish it.

Or if the Law, under which they are for not swearing, be so extreme, that it must have some atonement made, and the honour of the legislators cannot be silved otherwise, be pleased to endeavour that those atonements may be as few as possible: provided that I may be one of those few; and happy, thrice happy, shall I deeme myself if my single suffering, be it what it will (undoing, banishment, imprisonment, or death itselfe), may be accepted for all the rest, at leest for those that are of mine own order.

Not that I am so foolhardy as causelessly to engrosse the displeasure of my superiours, and draw it wholly on myselfe; for I know the weight of it. I am sure it will crush me, and therefore, if I could, would most certainly avoid it. Neither do I arrogate anything to myselfe upon this offer, as if it were my peculiar; for there is none (as I am persuaded) of all those for whom I plead but would leap into the gulph, for the safety of all the rest, as boldly and as willingly as I doe. I only hope that I have prevented them, and am the earlyest to offer it.

Now, if you would know my reason for all this, St. Paul will give it; for one good man-soe he (for the number is singular), and I add for many; for soe many, and for soe many very good men (as I take them to be)-some one would even dare to dye; and that some one am I; for besides that the action is a good one, I have the farther inducement for it, that when I fall, it will be without the hurt, the losse, and the grief, of any, at most of but very few, whereas they cannot fall without the hurt, the losse, and the griefe, of very many.

In all governments whatsoever, especially in newly erected ones (which therefore ought to aim at popularity, and for the most part doe so), those punishments are the least offensive which are the least severe; and those favours the most taking which are the most free and generous; for why should I not speake of some favour to

be extended to those good men who have of late so well deserved of Church and State, if it may be, and is, extended, as I hear, to Quakers, who have deserved nothing at all of either, or very little, that I know of?

Your Lordship needs not to be told what good effects are likely, yea certain, to ensue on such a temper, viz., the uniteing of all our minds in those things to which we have attained, which is a great happiness to Church and State, and our bearing with one another in what we have not or cannot attain unto. As little need have you to be told what bad effects are likely, yea certain, to be prevented by it, viz., those heartburnings and animosities which have so often endangered both, and noe where can do otherwise wheresoever they prevail: never did, nor ever will, for it is their very nature to destroy.

Nor is it a small inducement to such a generous temper as yours is, that our Rachel by your means will be fully comforted: I mean our good mother the Church of England, the best Christian Church that I know of in the world; when shee shall see so many of her children, and (without offence be it spoken) some of the choicest that shee hath, all safe, and no one of them cast out or cut off, but my selfe, who can best be spared, and will never repine at it.

These things I write to you, my good Lord, and to noe man else alive if all or any of them move you, trye what you can doe, and God blesse you in it. If you cannot, will not, or dare not, attempt it, for its impossibility, or any other smaller cause, burn this letter, and let it goe for nothing, though written by, my good Lord,

Your Lordship's much obliged and most affectionate
servant, that will love you for ever,

ROBERT GLOUCESTER,
Dec. 24 [16]89.

1803.-EXTON MONUMENT TO BAPTIST NOEL, THIRD VISCOUNT CAMPDEN, ETC. * -What especially attracts the notice of the visitor to Exton Church, Rutland, is a marble monument, in the north aisle, to the memory of Baptist Noel, third Viscount Campden, and grandson of Sir Baptist Hickes, who had been raised to the peerage as a viscount in 1628, with remainder to his sonin-law, Edward, Lord Noel. It is the work of the famous sculptor, Grinling Gibbons, and is a fine specimen of art. Its height is 22 feet, and its breadth 14 feet; and it contains, at a convenient distance from the floor, two statues, one of Lord Campden, and the other of Elizabeth, his fourth and last wife, both standing upright, and somewhat larger than life-size. Between these statues a pedestal supports an urn. On the outside of the statues are two large pyramids, each supporting a vase of black marble, twisted about with festoons of white; and on several parts of the

We are indebted for the particulars here inserted (with some exceptions) to an article headed "Some Monuments in Exton Church," in the first volume of Leicestershire and Ruand Notes and Queries, pp. 42, 43; and we hope soon to give an illustration of the monument.

monument are represented in bas-relief the four marriages of the said noblemen, and all the issue, living as well as dead, of those alliances.

On two tablets of black marble, under the two pyramids, are inscriptions in letters of gold. On the one to the left hand we may read:

"Here resteth Baptist Noel, Lord Viscount Campden, Baron of Ridlington and Ilmington, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Rutland. His eminent Loyalty to his two Sovereigns, King Charles I. and II.; his Conjugal Affection to Four Wives; his Paternal Indulgence to Nineteen Children; his Hospitality and Liberality to all that desired or deserved it (notwithstanding inestimable Losses in his Estate, frequent Imprisonments of his Person, Spoil and Havock of several of his Houses, besides the Burning of that Noble Pile of Campden),* have justly rendred him the Admiration of his Contemporaries, and the Imitation of Posterity. He left this Life for the Exchange and Fruition of a better, the 29th day of October, in the LXXI year of his Age, A.D. MDCLXXXIII."

On the right hand tablet are these words :

"He took to his First Wife Ann Fielding, 2d Daughter to William, Earl of Denbigh, by whom he had Three Children, who Dyed in their Infancy. By his Second Wife, Ann,† Countess of Bath, he had One Son Still-Born. By his Third Wife, Hester, One of the Four Daughters and Coheirs of Thomas, Lord Wootton, he had Two Sons and Four Daughters; 1, Edward, present Earl of Gainesburgh, Governor of Portsmouth, Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire and Rutland; 2d, Henry Noel, late of NorthLuffenham, Esq., who Died in the 35 year of his Age; 3d, Mary, present Countess of Northampton; 4th, Juliana, Wife of William, Lord Allington; 5th Hester, who Died an Infant; 6th, Elizabeth, Wife of Charles, Lord Duresly, Son and Heir Apparent of George, Earl of Barkley. By his 4th Wife (who standeth by his Side), Elizabeth Bertie, eldest Daughter of Mountagu, Earl of Lindsey, Lord Great Chamberlain of England, he had Nine Children, 1st, Lindsey Noel, who Died in his Infancy; 2d, Catherine, now Wife of John, Earl of Rutland; 3d, Baptist Noel, Esq., now living; 4th, John Noel, Esq., likewise living; 5th, Bridget Noel, also living; 6th, a Son, whose early Birth prevented his Baptisme; 7th, James Noel, Esq., who died in the 18th year of his Age; 8th, Martha Penelope, now living; 9th, a Son Still-Born.”

On a panel in the centre of the pedestal between the two figures :

"To the Pious Memory of Her said Husband, his Wives, their, "This house was, without any great reason, burnt down by the King's party in the great civil war, lest it should be made a garrison by the parliament."-Rudder's Gloucestershire, p. 319.

+ Daughter of Sir Robert Lovet, Knt., and widow of Edward Bourchier, Earl of Bath.

and her own Children, Elizabeth, his last Wife, in her Life time gave Monies, and left Orders for the Building this Monument, which by her Third Son and Executor, the Honourable John Noel, was punctually perform'd, 1686."

On the monument erected to the memory of his father and mother in Campden Church, Gloucestershire, Lord Campden is described as now living, who is blessed with a numerous and

gallant Issue."

66

In Wright's History and Antiquities of the County of Rutland (London, 1684), no mention appears of Lord Campden's monument. His death is referred to as having recently taken place; and there is a view of Exton House, which, with the estate, had been purchased by Sir Baptist Hickes, afterwards Viscount Campden, and was the family residence in that part of the kingdom. There is also a plate of "a neat monument, lately erected, in the north side of the church," with this inscription :

"Jacobus Noel, Baptista Vicecomitis de Campden, é quarta Uxore Elizabetâ, Montacuti Comitis de Lindsey, magni Camerarii Anglie, filiâ, Filius quintus; ingentis spei juvenis, formâ præcellens æque ac Staturâ eminens: insigni supra annos tam animi quam Corporis cultu, et vigore præditus, obiit Junii 24. 1681. Etatis suæ 18. Quem Puerum forsan facies dixissit et ætas,

Fecerat hunc virtus, atque Statura Virum.
Maturus vixit, licet immaturus obivet;

Ingenii vis hoc, mors dedit illud, Opus.

"Great as his birth did all his actions shew,

His very Recreations spoke him so.

Spritely his Meen, yet Grave, discreet, and Wise,

Free from the Ages grand Debaucheries.

Virtue with Stature still his years out ran;

He dyed in's Nonage, and yet lived a Man.

"Eodem fato conjunctus Linseius ejusdem Baptista et Elizabetæ Filius primulus, qui obiit anniculus Martii 12. An. Domini 1656. "Item eorundem parentum Filius quartus, cui ob præproperum nimis fatum defuit Prænomen, 1662.”

As already observed, no mention of Lord Campden's monument appears in Wright's History published in 1684; but in a supplement of twelve pages, which was "printed for the Author by Edw. Jones, 1687," and which may, or may not, be found to form part of the volume, there is a large plate of the tomb, with the inscriptions and other particulars, which have been given in Leicestershire and Rutland Notes and Queries. At the foot of the plate are these words, "Viro honorabili & præclaro Johanni Noel Armigero Tabula meritò dicata." EDITOR.

1804. SOME EARLY MARRIAGES IN FORMER DAYS.-A work entitled The Wedding Day in all Ages and Countries, by Edward

J. Wood, was published in 1869, in two vols. 8vo; and from vol. ii., pp. 115-117, the particulars which follow, have been derived.

Fathers who possessed rank and wealth affianced their children at a very early age, and compelled them to marry on arriving at puberty, in order to prevent wives or husbands from being forced upon the children after the father's death, the lord of the manor being eager either to secure an unmarried orphan prize for his own family, or to realise a profit by the sale to another. In 1265 William Fitz Nigel was obliged to pay King John eleven marks for liberty to marry at his own pleasure. Isabel, daughter of Maurice, third Lord Berkeley (who, born in 1281, was himself married at eight years of age, and was a father before he was fourteen), was married in June, in the second year of Edward III., to Robert, Lord Clifford, junior, upon the death of whose father, Lord Berkeley, supposing his son not to be of full age, bought his marriage of the king for £500; but it appearing by inquisition that he was of full age, Lord Berkeley got the money back from the Exchequer. Maurice, fourth Lord Berkeley, was knighted at seven years of age, to prevent wardship, and he was married at eight years to Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh, Lord Spenser, then only eight years also. In the eighth year of Henry VIII. Maurice, sixth Lord Berkeley, bought of the king the wardship of the body and lands of John, son and heir of Sir Richard Berkeley, of Stoke; and by his will directed that he should be married at sixteen years of age to Isabel Dennys, his sister's daughter.

Frequently the very early marriages of children in the days of chivalry, and subsequently, were arranged by their parents, not only to avoid wardship, but also to prevent the children from forming improper attachments, and to obtain for the parents advantages by union with important families. Thus, Thomas, Lord Berkeley, was contracted to Margaret, daughter of Gerald Warren, Lord Lisle, in the forty-first year of Edward III.; and by reason of her tender age-she was then only about seven years old-it was arranged that she should remain with her father for four years; but sickness happening in the family, they were married in the November following. Thomas, son of William, Marquis of Berkeley, was contracted by his father, at the age of five years, to Anne, Countess of Pembroke. Thomas, fifth Lord Berkeley, in the seventeenth year of Henry VIII., made a contract with Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, that his son and heir, Thomas, if he came to be nineteen years old, should marry Catherine, daughter of the duke. George, Lord Berkeley, in the twelfth year of James I., married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Michael Stanhope, he being thirteen, and she nine, years old. About four years afterwards the bridegroom was sent to Christ Church, Oxford, his wife remaining with her father. G. A. W.