Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 21.djvu/242

 but it was rejected on each occasion. In November 1692 the duke brought an action in the court of king's bench against Germain, and claimed 50,000l. damages, when 'lascivious conversation' between him and the duchess was proved, but to the astonishment of the court the jury awarded only a hundred marks in damages and costs. A third bill for a divorce passed the House of Lords in 1700. At the death of her father, 19 June 1697, the duchess inherited great estates, including that of Drayton in Northamptonshire, which Charles, the next Earl of Peterborough, tried in vain to secure for himself. A license for the marriage of 'Sir John Germain, of St. James's, Westminster. . . and Lady Mary Mordaunt, of same, spinster,' was granted at the faculty office of the Archbishop of Canterbury at London on 15 Sept. 1701, and shortly afterwards they were married. She died on 17 Nov. 1705, aged 46, and a tomb of grey marble, with her figure above it, was placed under the east window of the north chancel aisle of Lowick Church. By her will Drayton and other property, valued at 70,000l., passed to Germain, who had been knighted at Kensington on 26 Feb. 1698, and exalted to a baronetcy on 25 March in the same year. Immediately on the death of Germain's wife it was rumoured that her brother, the Earl of Peterborough, intended to enter upon legal proceedings for obtaining her property, and in November 1707 a great trial took place, whenthe tithes were assigned to the peer, but the remainder was left to the husband. A second trial, with the same result, occurred in 1710, and for the rest of Germain's life he was involved in constant trouble over the estate. Upon his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Berkeley [see Germain, Elizabeth (DNB00)], it was given out by Peterborough that if Drayton was left to her she should remain in undisturbed possession, and the peer kept his word. Germain died on 11 Dec. 1718, aged 68 years. A tomb of grey marble, with his effigies, and with representations of their three small children before him, was erected to his memory by his second wife near the monument of her predecessor. His 'defective morals were accompanied by a total want of education. A modern colonnade, the pillars of which were at first set up with their capitals downwards,' was constructed by him at Drayton, and he is said to have believed that St. Matthew's Gospel was written by his compatriot, Sir Matthew Decker [q.v.] In his last moments he is said to have been in great distress and desired the sacrament, but Dr. Clarke of St. James's, Westminster, refused to give it to him (, Lit. Anted, iv. 720).

[Walpole's Corresp. (Cunningham), viii. 58, 297; Prior's Malone, pp. 442-3; Wraxall's Memoirs (1884 ed.), iii. 131-3; Harl. Soc. xxiv. 240 (1886); Le Neve's Knights (Harl. Soc). p. 461; Burke's Extinct Baronetcies; Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, vol. ii. passim; Bridges's Northamptonshire (1791 ed.), ii. 247-52.]  GERMANUS (378?–448), bishop of Auxerre, and missionary to Britain, son of noble parents whose names are given as Rusticus and Germanilla, was born at Auxerre about 378, and after attending schools in Gaul went to study at Rome. There he practised as an advocate, and on his return to Gaul married a lady named Eustachia, and became one of the six dukes of Gaul (for the office of dux see Recueil des Historiens, i. 750; there were five duces in Gaul about this time, ib. p. 125;, ii. 320). Auxerre appears to have been in his province. He was fond of hunting, and used to hang the heads of the beasts which he slew on a large pear-tree in the middle of the city. Amator, the bishop, vainly remonstrated with him on this practice, which gave some countenance to pagan superstition, and one day, when Germanus was absent, cut down the tree and threw away the heads. Germanus thought of slaying Amator, but the bishop, who felt unworthy of the honour of martyrdom, circumvented him by going to the prefect Julius, and requesting that, as he knew that his end was near, he might secure Germanus as his successor. When he returned to Auxerre he gathered the people in the church, and Germanus came with the rest. The bishop caused all present to lay aside their arms, ordered the doors to be barred, and then seized the duke, cut his hair, made him a cleric, and bade him live as one who was to be a bishop. Soon after this Amator died, and Germanus wasunanimouslv chosen to succeed him, and was consecrated 7 July 418. He at once adopted a new manner of life, his wife became to him as a sister, he distributed his goods among the poor, and practised many austerities, such as abstaining from salt, oil, and other things, and sleeping on ashes laid upon boards. He founded a monnstery on the other bank of the Yonne, and often went across to visit the abbot and monks there. He had power over demons, laid a ghost which haunted a ruined house, and when on one of his journeys he found that the people who received him were in trouble because their cocks could not crow, he blessed the fowls' grain, and ever after the birds crowed so much that they became a nuisance (ad molestiam fetigabant) to the neighbours ( Vita, i. c. 5). In 429 a message