the use of the Navy. The Earl then retired to his mansion in the Strand, and lived there in great privacy until his death in 1652.

At the Deepdene, near Dorking, in Surrey, which for centuries formed a portion of the Howards' possessions, lived the Hon. Charles Howard, son of the above Earl of Arundel. He was an accomplished chemist, and built here a laboratory; and in subterranean grots, formed for that purpose, had furnaces of different kinds,' of which some remains existed to our time; he was also styled 'the Christian philosopher,' and built here an oratory. Aubrey was so enchanted with the Deepdene garden, or 'solitaire recess,' that he could never expect any enjoyment beyond it, but the kingdom of heaven.' Henry Charles Howard of Greystokes, son and heir of the above, who resided at the Deepdene, is spoken of as having a fine taste for the polite arts; thus inheriting the genius of the famous Earl of Arundel, who presented to the University of Oxford the Arundelian Marbles.1

1 At the classic Deepdene, too, were written Anastasius, by Thomas Hope; and Coningsby, a novel of political life, by Benjamin Disraeli.

THE TRAGEDY OF SIR JOHN ELAND.

N the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the southern bank of the Calder, in the district formerly comprising the Forest of Hardwyke, stands, on an eminence, the ancient town of Eland, or more properly Ealand. Opposite to the town, and on the north bank of the river, on the opening of the wood, stands the timberbuilt mansion of Eland Hall, for several generations the seat of the ancient and honourable family of the Elands; and memorable on account of the deadly feud that arose in the reign of Edward III. between Sir John Eland and some of the neighbouring gentry. The family of Eland was of great antiquity, and had large possessions in this Riding, as also in the townships of Spotland and Whiteworthe, in Lancashire. They were liberal benefactors to the great abbey at Whalley. Sir William de Eland was Constable at Nottingham Castle, and was the same who betrayed Earl Mortimer by showing the secret passage in the rock. Early in the fourteenth century Sir John Eland was the representative of this powerful family, and he resided at Eland Hall, the seat of his ancestors. The origin

of the sanguinary quarrel is not very clearly stated. The ballad which relates the story is thought to have been written for the use of the minstrels, and was sung or recited at the entertainments of the gentry in those parts; and Brady, in his History of the Reign of King Stephen, says that this mode of taking private revenge was brought by the Normans into England. Those lawless times are glanced at in the ballad: 'For when men live in worldlie wealth,

Full few can have that grace
Long in the same to keep themselves
Contented with their place.

'The squire must needs become a knight,
The knight a lord would be:

Thus shall you see no worldlie wight
Content with his degree.'

Sir John Eland, being sheriff, was disobeyed in some respect by his neighbour Sir Robert Beaumont of Crossland Hall, who had thus incurred his resentment. Another account states that one Exley, an adjoining proprietor, had killed the nephew of Sir John in a fray; and flying from his vengeance, was received and sheltered by Sir Robert Beaumont. As usual in those days, compensation was accepted; and all might have ended, had not one Lockwood of Lockwood, and Sir Hugh Quarmby, stirred the strife anew. Sir John, having mustered his tenants and friends, came suddenly in the night, and having first met Sir Hugh Quarmby and Sir John Lockwood, friends of Sir Robert Beaumont, at their houses at Quarmby and Lockwood, proceeded with his men to Crossland Hall, the seat of Sir Robert Beau

mont; and lying in ambush till the drawbridge over the moat that surrounded the house was let down in the morning, he rushed in and entered the knight's chamber. Sir Robert made a courageous resistance, but being unarmed, was soon overpowered and slain; and with him fell all his servants who had come to his defence. The tradition says: 'The knight was driven back into his chamber, where his faire ladye, hanging upon him, besought for his life, and placed her precious body so as to shield her bleeding lord. But all in vain, for faint with loss of blood, they bound his arms; and heedless of the cries and shrieks of his terrified ladye, drew him into his own hall, and there cut off his head.

And so, after this wicked deed, they bethought to regale themselves. And the cloth was spread, and the meat was brought, and the cellar furnished abundance of good wine; and that stern knight, Sir John Eland, sitting at the head of the table, on the dais, sent for the two sons of the slain Sir Robert; and when they came, ordered them to eat and drink with them. The younger, who was of a mild and gentle nature, overcome with fear, did as he was bidden; but Adam, the elder, looking angrily at his brother, sturdily refused to eat or drink with the slayers of his father.' Lady Beaumont, stealing away in the dead of the night from Crossland Hall, escaped with her children, and found a secure asylum with the Townleys of Townley. She subsequently took up her residence at Brereton, as most remote from her deadly foe. Thither also retired the young Lock

wood and Quarmby, with another youth named Lacie, who was likewise on some account an object of Sir John Eland's resentment. These young gentlemen were brought up at Brereton by Lady Beaumont, where they employed their time acquiring skill and address in the martial exercises of that age, and with a continual sense of the wrong inflicted by the knight of Eland. As we do not find that he was called to any account for these outrages, it seems that he must have obtained the king's pardon. The young brood of Eland's enemies still abode at Brereton Hall:

'The feats of fence they practised
To wield their weapons well,
Till fifteen years were finished!
And then it so befell.'

Then the young Beaumont, Lockwood, Quarmby, and Lacie having grown up to manhood, resolved to avenge the death of their parents. Having learnt from two of their spies the day on which Sir John Eland held the sheriff's turn at Brighouse, a village on the Calder, about three miles from Eland Hall, they took measures for waylaying him as he returned home:

'The day was set, the turn was kept

At Brighouse by Sir John :

Full little wist he was beset

Then at his coming home.

Dawson and Haigh had played their parts,

And brought from Brereton Green

Young gentlemen with hardy hearts,

As well were known and seen.'

They gathered such of the retainers of the families as they