112

anno ætatis 79.'

He married

the daughter of

Tweed, of Stoke by Clare, gent. by

whom he left no issue.

The Arms borne by the Copingers of Buck'shall were-Bendy of six, Or

and Gul. on a fess Az. three plates.

Crest: a Chamois-deer's head Sable.

In the chancel of the church of Weting St. Mary, in Norfolk, is this inscription: Copinger, impaling, on a bend, three cinquefoils, Kirkham.

"Gregory Copinger, of Bromehill-house, who dy'd the 10th Feb. 1724, aged 65 years. Elizabeth his wife, bury'd the 19 of July, 1702, aged 40 years." Yours, &c.

J. F.

Mr. URBAN, Feb. 9. THE numerous readers of the Gentleman's Magazine are under great

Sir William Copinger, Lord Mayor of London 1512; died 1512.

[Feb.

obligations to your Correspondent, who now dates from the Glebe House, Navestock, for his communications on and his known accuracy is such, that the subjects of genealogy and biography;

I now address you upon the notices of in your last Number, p. 12. There is the family of Copinger, which appear great confusion in the several pedigrees of this family, concerning the early descents. I very much doubt whether Henry Copinger, who married the daughter of Sir Thomas Jermyn-of Rushbrook, was the brother of Sir William C. the Lord Mayor of London, and the son of Walter Copinger, who died in 1532; indeed in two or three pedigrees of the family in my possession, no less than two generations are interposed between the said Walter, and the said Henry. The pedigrees I allude to, give the descents as under:

it is with considerable hesitation that

ob. 1517.

3 daugh

ters.

Thomas, 1512.

Buxhall.

Another pedigree in my possession makes William Copinger, who married Asherst, the son and not the brother of Sir William C. the Lord Mayor.

I have in my possession a small pamphlet of three leaves, not paged, in 4to, printed at London, for T. Bates, by B. A. in 1641, entitled "A Seasonable Speech by Sir Nathaniell Coppinger, spoken in the High Court of Parliament, Oct. 14, 1641, for the bringing of the Archbishop of Canterbury to his long expected Tryall. And concerning the Expulsion of Papists, in respect of their late dangerous Plots; and the correcting of Separatists, in regard of their Errors."

Perhaps your Correspondent abovementioned, or some other, may be able to give some information about the above Sir Nathaniel C. I cannot find

his name in the list of Members, in the Parliamentary History, nor in any account of the family which I have met with. I should be very glad to have something about him. Also to ascertain how Edmund Copinger, who

died 1600.

was one of the followers of William Hacket, the pretended Prophet, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was connected with the Suffolk family. See Biog. Dict. art. Hacket. Also the connection of Gregory Copinger of Bromehill House (in Weting St. Mary) Norfolk, who died in 1724; his daughter and heir Sarah married Thomas Moyle, Esq. D. A. Y.

In p. 14, col. 1, line 33, for favit we should read pavit; in col. 2, line 7, for Burly, Burlz; in the inscriptions Copinger should have only one p; col. 2, 1. 28, for Clopton read Copinger. The arms on the large shield over the monument of Henry Copinger are:-1 and 6. Copinger.-2. Sturmyn. Qy. Or and Gules; on a bend Sable three escallops Argent.-3. Bond. Argent, two bends Sable, in sinister chief a cross croslet of the Last.-4. Alphage.

Argent, a fesse between three boars' heads couped, fesse ways, Sable.-5. Petytt. Argent, a chevron engrailed between three bugle-horns Sable, stringed Gules.-The arms of Fisher are: Argent, on a chevron between three demi-lions rampant Gules, as many Plates.

1831.]

MR. URBAN,

Feb. 15.

IN your last number you gave some interesting notices of the family of Prince Polignac, with whose name, whatever may have been his political errors, we now cannot avoid associating that interest which ever attends the "greatly fallen."

I herewith send you (Plate II.) a view of the fortress in which the exMinisters of Charles the Tenth are now confined. Some modern views of Ham may, probably, have been published, although I have not met with them; but the present gives a general idea of the size and aspect of the place, and shows its wretchedly damp and marshy situation.

It has been

copied from the Topographia Galliæ of Caspar Merian, published at Frankfort in 1656.

Ham is in the ancient province of Picardy and comté of Vermandois, at about an equal distance from Peronne and St. Quentin. It stands, like those towns, on the banks of the Somme; and the affluence of a small river, called the Baine, combining with its flat situation, surrounds it entirely with marshes. It is thus rendered one of the strongest places in the country.

Before the year 876, Ham is said to have been the capital of a country called le Hamois. It long had lords of its name, of whom the last died before the year 1374. The lordship subsequently passed through the houses of Couci, d'Enghien, Luxembourg, Rohan, Vendôme, and Navarre, and was rejoined to the Crown when Henri IV. became King of France. In 1645 it came into the hands of the house of la Porte Mazarin.

Ham has three parishes-St. Pierre, St. Martin, and St. Sulpice. A Mayor was established before the year 1188.

The Castle was built and fortified by Louis de Luxembourg, known by the name of the Constable de St. Pol, about the year 1470. The principal tower, which is round, has walls thirty-six feet thick, a hundred in diameter, and the same in height.

There is a plan of the town in Merian's work; and among the drawings belonging to the King's collection in the British Museum (LXIX. 47) will

be found two others. On one of them is a rough view of the town; and an elevation, section, and three plans of the tower of the Constable de St. Pol. GENT, MAG. February, 1831.

113

In the year 1557, after the capture of St. Quentin's (the pillage of which, it will be remembered, Philip gave to his English allies*), the town of Ham was burnt by the French themselves, but the citadel fell into the power of the Spaniards.

In 1615 there happened another fire, occasioned by lightning; in which a hundred and twenty houses, and a church, were burnt, and many lives were lost.

Towards the close of the last cen

tury, after Paris had fallen entirely under the dominion of the Republicans, the Royalist party had for some time their head-quarters at Ham; and in the Memoirs of the Prince of Conde,, are several letters of members of the Royal Family, written during that period, and particularly some in which the King's murder is alluded to, which are dated from Ham.

The late Ministers of France, Messrs. de Polignac,† Peyronret, Chantelauze, and Guernon Ranville, were removed from Vincennes at ten o'clock on the evening of the 29th of December. In the carriages were Lieut.-Colonel Delpiec, who is appointed Governor of the fort of Ham; Lieut.-Colonel Lavocat, of the national guard of Paris; Captain Guibout, an officer attached to the department of the Minister of War; and another officer of the national guard. General Daumesnil delivered up the prisoners to Lieut.-Colonel Delpiec. Messrs. de Polignac and Chantelauze were in the first carriage, and with them Lieut.-Colonel Delpiec and Colonel Lavocat. In the second were Messrs. de Peyronnet and Guernon Ranville, and with them the two other officers. The escort was composed of two squadrons of Hussars, who were relieved between La Villette and Le Bourget by two squadrons of Chasseurs. Detachments were also stationed on the road to the fort of Ham, where the prisoners arrived on the 30th, at noon.

*Who shortly after paid the penalty of losing Calais. There was a castle named Hammes near Calais, which, with Guisues, frequently occurs in the later records of the English dominion in France.

It was at first stated that M. de Polignac was to suffer separate confinement at Mont St. Michael. It does not appear how far this was actually intended; nor, if intended, for what reason the purpose was changed.