but the fragment is of the actual size. A scrutiny of Plate V. will show the great superiority of rubbings over eye-copies of inscriptions, as elsewhere insisted upon in my archæological discussions; for, though Nicholas Charles might have been deemed an expert imitator, the fragment, small as it is, shows no fewer than nine little divarications from the original:

Sr Henry Lea, Knight of the most noble ord of ye Gart, sonne of St Antony Lee & dame Margaret his Wife daughter to St Henry Wyatt yt faithfull & constant Servant & Counseller to ye 2 Kings of famous memory Henryes ye 7 & eighth. He owed his birth & childhood to Kent & his highly honorable vncle Sr Tho. Wyatt at Alington Castle. His youth to the Court & King H. 8. To whose service he was sworn at 14 yeares old. His prime of Manhood (after the calm of that best Prince Edw. 6) to ye warres of Scotland in Queene Maries dayes. Till called home by her, whose sodayn death gave begining to ye glorious raigne of Queene Elizabeth, he gaue himself to voyage & trauell into ye flourishing states of France, Italy, & Germany; where soone putting on all those abilityes that become ye back of Honour, Especially skill & proofe in Armes, he liued in grace, & gracing ye Courts of the most renowned Princes of that warlik age returned home charged with ye reputation of a well formed Traveller & adorned wth those flowres of Knighthood, Curtesy, Bounty, Vallour, which quickly gaue forth theire fruit as well in the feild to the aduantage (at once) of ye 2 deuided parts of ye happily vnited state. And to both Theyre Princes his Sou'ringes successively in that expedicon into Scotland, the yeare 1573, when in goodly equipage he repayred to ye seige of Edinburgh, there quartering before ye castle & comanding one of ye batteryes, He shared largely in ye honor of rauishing yt mayden fort; as also in Court, where he shone in all those faire parts became his profession and vowes, Honoring his highly gratious Mries wth raising those later Olympiads of her Coronation Justes & Tournaments, thereby trying & treyning ye courtier in those exercises of arms that keepe ye p'son bright & steeled to hardinessc, that by soft ease rustes & weares, wherin still himself lead & triumphed, carying away ye spoiles of Grace from his Sovereigne & renowne from ye world, For ye fairest man at Armes & most compleat Courtier of his tymes Till singled out by ye choice hand of his sou’eigne Mris for mede of his worth (after ye Lieutenancy of ye royall mannour of Woodstok & ye office of ye royall Armory) he was called vp an assessor on ye benche of honour, emong Princes & peeres, receiving at her Mats hands the noblest ord of the Garter. Whilest the worme of tyme gnawing ye root of this plant yeelding to the burden of Age & ye industry of an active youth imposed on him full of that Glory of the Court he abated of his Sence to pay his better part resigned his dignity & honor of her Mats knight to ye aduenturous Compt George Earle of Comb'land, changing pleasure for ease, for tranquility hono", making rest his solace & contemplation his employment. So as absent fro ye world, present wth himself, he chose to lose ye fruit of publique vse & action for that of Deuotion & piety. In wch tyme, besides ye building of 4 goodly mannors, he renued ye ruines of this chapell, added these monuments to honor his blood & freinds, reysed ye foundation of ye adioyning hospitall, And lastly, as full of yeares as of honor, hauing serued 5 succeeding Princes & kept himselfe right & steady in many dangerous shocks & 3 utter turnes of State, wth a body bent to earth & a mynde erected to heauen, Aged 80, Knighted 60 yeares, he mett his long attended

Sir Henry Lee was

arrangement of coats in olden times cannot be depended upon as to their placing. elected a Knight of the Garter in 1597, and upon his stall-plate the same coats appear as upon the relic from the tomb of his father, though differently arranged."

end, & now rests wth his Redeemer; leauing much patrimony wth his name, honor with the world, & plentifull teares wth his freinds.

Of wch Sacrifice he offers his part yt being a sharer in his blood aswell as in many of his honorable fauors & an honorer of his vertues thus narowly registreth his spread worth to ensuing tymes.

*

WILLIAM SCOTT.

This bit of biography will be incomplete unless we notice another memorial, ensigned with these arms on a lozenge, Or, a dancette sable, differenced by a crescent, and for crest a cock gules,-showing that it was placed there in memory of a lady of the noble house of Vavasour. But it seems that, favourite Maid of Honour as she was to Queen Elizabeth, neither rank nor station could preserve her from frailty; and on that account her tomb is said to have been desecrated and defaced by order of the bishop of the diocese. Her shame and degradation was thus moderately commemorated :—

Under this stone intombed lies a faire and worthy dame,
Daughter to Henry Vavasor, Anne Vavasour her name.
Shee living wth Sr Henry Lee for love long tyme did dwell,

Death could not part them, but that here they rest wthin one cell.

Sir Henry died in 1610; the above was copied by the Lancaster Herald in 1611, and the following year he made a marginal note to the lines thus:"This tombe is since erased and pulled downe, 1612." Did the fastidious hierophant wait till the champion was gathered to his fathers?

At all events, under so open an avowal Sir Henry, the most chivalrous knight of his day, and Walter Scott's prototype of perfection, may be dubbed a cavalier sans peur, though, alas! not sans reproche. Moreover, he having been buried at Quarendon, and his wife and children at Aylesbury, where their monument may still be seen, is suspiciously significant. But, having cast an unwilling eye upon this scandal, we may now glance at the revels and pageantries with which the champion complimented his royal mistress, as being of a higher character than those with which Queen Victoria was lately entertained at Stowe.

* The Vavasours came to England with the Conqueror, and took that name from the office they bore, being the King's valvasours, holding land in fealty; a degree then but little inferior to a baron.

Furthermore, there is every reason to infer that the knight's great contemporary Shakespeare himself may have visited Quarendon about the time. The world is aware, from Aubrey's gossip, that the bard of bards passed a night with the constable of Grendon Underwood, where he picked up some of the humorous touches which bedeck his Midsummer Night's Dream; yet, as neither Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, nor Starveling were officers of the peace, a claim has been set up for Dull, in Love's Labour's Lost. However, worthy John merely alludes to the official's vein of humour, rather than to his august dignity. The straggling village in question is on the margin of an old way called Akeman Strete, and was formerly the thoroughfare-a miry one it was-from Aylesbury into Warwickshire. The late Sir George Lee was rector of this place for four years; and, though its road and trackways have been greatly improved since Shakespeare and Aubrey waded through them, the distinctive couplet has not been altogether lost which pronounces—

Grendon Underwood

The dirtiest town that ever stood.

To return for a moment to Quarendon. It is situated among some of the richest meadow-land in the proverbially rich Vale of Aylesbury, about 2000 acres of which pertain to the sacred ruin-a daughter-church of Bierton, which acknowledges Aylesbury as its mother-church. The great tithes of this forsaken fane, somehow belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, were commuted at 555l. per annum, in 1847; being leased to Mr. James Du Pré, the possessor of the surrounding property. Now this weighty sum is exacted from a parish where there is neither priest nor worship; moreover, that distant body at Lincoln also hold the vicarial tithes of wool and lambs, and yet the inhabitants of the place are deprived of religious instruction.

Struck with this discreditable state of things, Lady Frankland Russell made an earnest attempt, about fifteen years ago, to rescue the Chapel from utter destruction; and, in order that its deserted aisles might again resound with the praises of God, opened a subscription for its restoration. This effort

was but languidly responded to, for most people considered such replacement to be entirely the duty of those who received the profits. Indeed the whole of the donations were short of 60%. and therefore useless to the cause in view; while, among the subscribers, the names of those who for years have received such large sums from the devoted parish did not appear. In the list of those few persons who came forward on the occasion was Dr. Lee of Hartwell, but with a characteristic proviso, namely, "51. towards the expenses of investigating as to who are bound to rebuild the Chapel."

Thus a sensible, useful, and highly benevolent intention was frustrated; and each successive year has doubled all the difficulties of the case, till it is now impossible. Had the volunteer funds been at all equal to the object for which they were intended, the restoration would have been as in the following view, which was kindly presented to me by her ladyship:

In the Edes Hartwelliance (pages 66-80), will be found a tolerable outline of the public career of that distinguished civilian and statesman Sir