Drayton House is described in the "Beauties of England and Wales" as an antiquated and castellated structure, and that in an engraving of the house by Buck (1729) it is said that the house was formerly a castle; but if so, it must have been very much altered, though it still retains some of its castellated features in its embattled walls and entrance gateway, and the two square turrets at either end. It contains, inter alia, a fine collection of pictures and portraits by the most eminent masters. In Lowick Church, under the east window of the north aisle, is an altar tomb, on which is a recumbent female figure, representing the Lady Mary Mordaunt, whose marriages we have already recorded. On the north side, on a similar tomb, lies the effigy of a knight in armour, with an inscription stating that beneath it repose the remains of Sir John Germaine, knight and baronet, who figures in the Extinct Baronetage as "Sir John Germaine, of Westminster," and who there appears to have had neither father nor mother. At all events, his pedigree is "conspicuous by its absence" from the work of Sir Bernard Burkean omission very significant, and a strong confirmation of the supposition which I have already recorded as to his real parentage. I have read, though I cannot now tell where, a statement to

the effect that Sir John Germaine was so illiterate a person that he could scarcely sign his name; but I cannot vouch for the truth of the assertion.

209

THE DUCAL HOUSE OF SUTHERLAND.

N an early chapter of this series of papers,

IN

while speaking of the Grenvilles, I took occasion to remark that many of our ducal houses are built up, so far as wealth is concerned, of a succession of heiresses. Of no family is my remark more true than it is in the noble House of Gower, which, rising steadily but slowly, at last, some forty years ago, reached its zenith of exaltation, when its head won his strawberry leaves from William IV. The Gowers, however, have been among the "noble and gentle men" of England for many a long age. According to the consent of all our best antiquaries, they can boast of a Saxon origin, and in all probability, like the Coplestones and two other Devonshire families, can boast that their ancestors were "at home"seated, that is, on lands of their own-" when

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the Conqueror came;" so that it mattered little to them, as they walked across their broad acres at Sittenham, in Yorkshire, noble though unentitled, and "monarchs of all they surveyed," whether Harold or William was doomed to win the battle of Hastings.

Be this, however, as it may, at all events towards the close of the thirteenth century, in the reign of Henry III. or Edward I., we find Sir John Gower, a Yorkshire knight, under orders to repair to Carlisle with horse and arms on the Feast of St. John the Baptist, and to march northwards with the King's army into Scotland: and it was probably his son, Lawrence Gower, who obtained pardon from Edward II., for having had a hand in the murder of the royal favourite, Piers Gaveston. His son, Sir Nicholas, took part in the council of the realm held at Northampton under Edward the Black Prince; and his son again, Sir John Gower, standard-bearer to Prince Edward, was taken prisoner at the battle of Tewkesbury, and afterwards beheaded. In the next century or two we find the heads of the family constantly honoured with knighthood, and allying themselves with ladies of gentle blood, such as the Constables, the Mauleverers, and the Fairfaxes.

But the chief pride of this family, if any weight

may be attached to the statement of Leland and others, is the fact, that from it sprang one of the first of our English poets; I mean of course John Gower, who with Chaucer and Lydgate formed the "celebrated triumvirate" of early poets in this country, much as did Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch in Italy. Gower is supposed to have been born about the year 1325, but the exact place of his birth is unknown. It is recorded of him that he was certainly rich, and a Yorkshireman; and it is conjectured that he was a knight, and even a judge. As well as being a man of letters, he was an accomplished jurist, and he did not neglect the practice of the law even while he attached himself ardently to literature. Gower enjoyed the friendship of the great men of his country, and was honoured with the recognition of royalty. Like Chaucer, he is stated to have had his strong political predilections, attaching himself to the House of Lancaster under Thomas Woodstock, as his friend did under John of Gaunt. But to return to my subject, the history of the family.

Passing on to the reign of Charles I., we come to Sir Thomas Gower, twice High Sheriff of Yorkshire, who suffered severely in pocket and in purse for his faithful allegiance to his king. His first wife, however, one of the Howards of Na