all of which have been engraved. The earliest is a beautiful miniature in enamel, used by Lady Foster as an ornament, and supposed to have been painted about the time of their marriage in 1725. A private plate of this was executed in 1831, by E. Scriven, in his best manner. A three-quarter length painting of Sir Michael, in his judicial robes, with a companion picture of Lady Foster, was taken by T. Wills, between the years 1745 and 1748. There is a very good mezzotint of the former, executed by Faber in 1748, and another engraving of the same by an inferior artist. Another excellent portrait, a half-length, painted in after life, probably by Wills. This is the picture engraved by James Basire in 1811, but the plate is not held in much estimation, either as a work of art, or as expressing the extreme benevolence of the Judge's features, depicted in the original. These portraits are now in the possession of Thomas Rawdon Ward, Esq.

JOHN WARD.

The Despencers Estates in Wilts.

Without inflicting on our readers the long story of the rule of the two Despencers in the Court of Edward II.; of their short banishment and recall; how Queen Isabella took the affair into her own hands, and, with the assistance of her favorite knights, drove the King into Wales, and his advisers into other places of refuge; how she stormed the city of Bristol and hung up the elder Despencer in his coat of armour; how she pursued the younger Despencer to Hereford, and in like manner suspended him upon a gibbet fifty feet high; how she procured the abdication of her husband and the accession of her youthful son Edward III.; all which belongs to the general history of England: we may, nevertheless, regard the traces left by the belligerent parties in this county, as falling within our legitimate limits, and discover in them additional evidence of the despotism which a court favourite could exercise in the Plantagenet age.

Edward III. being now placed on the throne, the Queen Mother, Isabella, wielded for a brief period an empire almost equal to that

of her son. In conjunction with her paramour, Roger Mortimer, she maintained in Nottingham Castle a retinue (so Speed tells us), of a hundred and fourscore knights beside esquires and gentlemen. To give one example of her power:-it must have been through her influence that the unjust detention of Sir William de la Zouch and Eleanor his wife in Devizes Castle occurred, even while the King and his council were sitting at Windsor. From this harassing duresse, Roger Mortimer threatened the captives that they should purchase deliverance only by the surrender of their lands in Glamorganshire, of the Manor of Tewkesbury, and of other their lands in Wales, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. "For the salvation of their lives, and for doubt of death," they did indeed make over the Castle of Halle, and the chaces of Malvern and Cors, but of course petitioned for restitution as soon as Mortimer in his turn was slain, and Devizes Castle taken out of Isabella's hands. [See the Zouch petition, on the Rolls 4th Edward III.] To return now to the Despencers :

Though the estates of the elder Hugh le Despencer lay in several counties, the greater part were in Wilts, and his favorite residence appears to have been in the Manor of Fasterne, a spot still distinguished by the remains of a mansion, where the Englefields, in a subsequent age, lived and died, and where Dryden no doubt spent many a holiday with the Howards. (It is now the property of Lord Clarendon). In addition to his various Wiltshire manors, the names of which will occur in the following memoranda, the elder Despencer was also warden of the forests of Clarendon and Braden, and Constable of the Castles of Devizes and Marlborough, with their valuable appendages. The title of the elder Despencer was Earl of Winchester, that of his son was Earl of Gloucester.

The fall of the two favorites was, as might be expected, immediately followed by the cry for reparation issuing from the victims of their oppression. The first audible utterances from this county emanate from the Abbat and Convent of Stanley, touching the Manor of

BERWICK BASSET. The Abbat reminds the King and council that in the previous year, 1327, he, and his brethren, had sought

by petition the recovery of Berwick Basset and the presentation to the church there, ravished from them by Hugh le Despencer the elder; but, though the petition was duly enrolled, no one would move in the affair, because the manor in question was in the Queen's hands. Response: Let the Inquisition come into Chancery.

Five years later, unable to obtain justice, the Abbat makes a more lengthy appeal, detailing all his efforts and their fruitless results. The Response this time is an order to Master Geoffrey Scrope, who it appears held the record and process in his hand, to surrender the same, in order that the affair might receive a renewed hearing before the Court. Rolls of Parliament, 2nd and 7th Edward III.

SHERRINGTON. Juliana, Isabella, and Emma, heiresses of John Ken of Sherrington, come before the King and council and make the following appeal :-That, whereas their ancestors were seised of a messuage and forty acres of land with appurtenances at Sherrington, yet Hugh le Despencer, Earl of Winchester, by his great lordliness and power had dispossessed the petitioners, so that neither by law nor by favor could they approach their possessions. Therefore they pray remedy, in consideration of their poverty and long disinherison. Response: Let the muniments of Sir Hugh be searched, and if nothing appear to bar the petition, the King will grant them right. Ibid anno incerto.

BRADEN FOREST. The Guardians and Brethren of the Hospital of St. John at Cricklade, aver that by royal charter they have ever enjoyed free cheminage, going or coming, in Braden Forest, for the transport of firewood, charcoal, or sand; which right Hugh le Despencer has disturbed. Granted. Ibid.

LEDIARD TREGOZ. Henry at Hok having purchased a messuage and plough-land at Lediard Tregoz, and two rent-charges (southe de rente) in Cricklade, Master Hugh le Despencer the elder came, with force and arms to his residence, and on no other plea than that the lands so purchased were contiguous to his (Despencer's) Manor of Fasterne, took the petitioner prisoner, tied his hands behind him, and caused him to be led to his prison at Fasterne, where he kept him a whole week, till he induced him to make a

quit-claim of the said property. Response: If the fact was before the exile of the Despencers, let the process sue according to statute. Ibid. ["Henry at Hok," means Henry who lived at Hook farm near Lediard Tregoz.]

MORTON MEYSEY. John of Meysey complains that Hugh le Despencer took from him his Manor of Morton Meysey, simply because it was adjoining to the said Hugh's Manor of Fasterne. Response: Let certain persons be assigned in the Chancery to enquire. Ibid. This case, which is the only one in our list couched in English, ends thus.-There are many petitions of this nature for wrongs done by Hugh Spencer father and son."

CHISELDON. John le Ferrour, (iron-smith), of Chiseldon, having lain long in the Marshalsea prison, prays deliverance on the ground that judgment was never given on the alleged felonies and trespasses for which his enemies indicted him before the itinerant Justices in Wilts. Response: The Marshall and Seneschalls are directed by Chancery brief to take bail if the case be bailable. Ibid.

SHEPERUGGE. John, son of Ralph Berd of Sheperugge, prays recovery of a pasture called Forlesse, a meadow called Westmead, and a fishery in the river Loddon there, leased to the elder Despencer, but now in the King's hands by forfeiture. Ibid a.d. 1347. Sir John Blount makes a similar claim in respect of other lands at Sheperugge. [Sheperugge or Sheep-ridge, now spelt Sheep Bridge, lay in a detached part of the county, between Reading and Strathfieldsaye, and is now included in the County of Berks.]

Many years afterwards, when parties were altogether changed, and Thomas le Despencer, the heir, petitioned for a reversal of attainder, in 1397, 21st Richard II., various documents were put in evidence before the King and council, to illustrate on the other hand, the oppressions practised by Queen Isabella's adherents, while the Despencers were in exile. As some of these point to Wiltshire, we must needs make a further extract.

It was now remembered, among other things, how the Earl of Hereford, Roger Mortimer the nephew, Roger Mortimer the uncle, Roger Damory, John de Mowbray, Hugh Audley the father, Hugh