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410

P32
v.3

1847

J. BILLING, PRINTER, WOKING, SURREY.

TO

ROBERT HENRY ALLAN, ESQ., F.S.A.,

OF BLACK WELL HALL,

CO. DURHAM,

THE EARLIEST AND MOST CONSTANT PROMOTER OF THE

GENEALOGICAL PURSUITS OF THE EDITOR,

THIS VOLUME OF

The Patrician

IS INSCRIBED WITH

FEELINGS OF SINCERE ESTEEM.

THE PATRICIAN.
Τ

THE LANDS OF ENGLAND, AND THEIR PRO

PRIETORS SINCE THE CONQUEST.

Wiardour Castle, Wilts.

He has doff'd the silk doublet the breast-plate to bear,
He bas placed the steel cap o'er his long flowing hair,
From his belt to his stirrup his broadsword hangs down--
Heaven shield the brave Gallant that fights for the Crown !
For the rights of fair England that broadsword he draws,
Her king is his leader, her church is his cause;
His watchword is honour, his pay is renown,-
God strike with the gallant that strikes for the Crown!
They may boast of their Fairfax, their Waller, and all,
The roundheaded rebels of Westminster Hall;
But tell those bold traitors of London's proud town,
That the spears of the North have encircled the Crown.
There's Derhy and Cavendish, dread of their foes ;
There's Erin's high Ormond, and Scotland's Montrose !
Would you match the base Skippon and Massey and Brown,
With the Barons of England that fight for the Crown ?

The great Civil War forms the last era of the age of Chivalry. Montrose ard Falkland, Granville and Langdale, realize the abstract idea of the heroes of antiquity; and, though dark may be the shades in the reckless character of the cavalier, his romantic allegiance and his daring spirit will ever shine brightly forth, amid the gloom of the disastrous period which tested his loyalty and proved his valour. Certain it is that he loved his honour better than his worldly prosperity-his faith better than his lands. In glancing at this sad page of English history, we find much to console us, and much to retrieve the character of the country, in the gallant bearing assumed by the gentlemen of England, and the thorough devotedness of her high-minded nobility. The foes of royalty may decry, with as much malignity as they please, the cause in which the Cavaliers so nobly fought and bled ; but they must concede to those chivalrous men the meed, at least, of loyalty the most enthusiastic, fidelity the most disinterested, and bravery the most heroic.

In every county of England we meet with relics of the contests of Charles's time, and can only account for the popular interest now associated with them, by the feeling that honour and loyalty have a more enduring

VOL. III. NO, IX.

B

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