The duke generally resided, with his royal consort, at his noble mansion of Westhorp Hall, in this county. The cloister, the chapel, with its painted windows, and the original furniture, were kept up till about half a century ago, when it was entirely pulled down, and the furniture and materials dispersed. EIGHTH Henry ruling in this land, That was the widow'd Queen of France, And being come to England's court, Charles Brandon nam'd, in whose fair eyes, And noting in her princely mind, His gallant sweet behaviour, Still more and more in favour: I am at love, fair queen, said he, That by your grace Charles Brandon may On earth be made divine: If worthless I might worthy be To have so good a lot, To please your highness in true love My fancy doubteth not. Or if that gentry might convey It hath been known when hearty love The goodly queen hereat did blush, Brandon (quoth she) I greater am, A king my husband was, But let him say what pleaseth him, And chuse a love to please myself, But tell me, Brandon, am I not Than when I love your royal grace, But if I do deserve your love, The queen and this brave gentleman Together both did wed, And after sought the king's good-will, For Brandon soon was made a duke, Then who but he did flaunt it forth And so from princely Brandon's line, And Mary's did proceed The noble race of Suffolk's house, As after did succeed: From whose high blood the lady Jane, Lord Guilford Dudley's wife, Came by descent, who, with her lord, In London lost her life. CAPTAIN DEATH: WRITTEN BY ONE OF THE SURVIVING CREW. History, perhaps, cannot afford a more remarkable instance of desperate courage than that, which was exerted on December 23rd, 1757, by the officers and crew of an English privateer, called the Terrible, equipped with 26 guns, and manned with 200 men, under the command of Capt. William Death. On the 22nd he engaged and made prize of a large French ship from St. Domingo, after an obstinate battle, in which he lost his own brother, and sixteen seamen. Having secured his prize with forty men, he afterwards fell in with the Vengeance, a privateer of St. Maloes, carrying 36 large cannon, with a complement of 360 men, which attacked and recaptured his prize. Both ships then bore down upon the Terrible, whose main-mast was shot away by the first broadside. Notwithstanding this disaster, the Terrible maintained such a furious engagement against both, as can hardly be paralleled in the British annals. The French commander and his second were killed, with two-thirds of his complement ; but the gallant Capt. Death, with the greater part of his officers, and almost his whole crew, having shared the same fate, his ship was boarded by the enemy, who found no more than 26 persons alive, 16 of whom were mutilated by the loss of leg or arm, and the other ten grievously wounded. The ship itself was so shattered, that it could scarcely be kept above water; and the whole exhibited a most dreadful scene of carnage, horror, and desolation. The victor itself lay like a wreck; and in this condition made shift, with great difficulty, to tow the Terrible into St. Maloes, where she was not beheld without terror and astonishment. This adventure was no sooner known in England, than a liberal subscription was raised for the support of Death's widow, and the surviving crew. The strange combination, mentioned by some writers, of one of the Terrible's Lieutenants being named Devil, the Surgeon Ghost, and of her having been fitted out at Execution-Dock, seem entirely destitute of foundation. The gallant Capt. Death was a native of this county, and his widow and daughters resided, after his death, at Mistley in Essex. THE muse and the hero together are fir'd, And here let the muse her poor tribute bequeath His ship was the Terrible,dreadful to see! Each man was determin'd to spend his last breath A prize they had taken diminish'd their force, No heart was dismay'd, each as bold as Macbeth;- Fire, thunder, balls, bullets, were seen, heard, and felt; A sight that the heart of Bellona would melt; |