Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/241

 12 8. iv. SEPT., i9i8.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

whom he was father of Sir Robert Honywood, Kt., of Charing (of him anon) ; secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Browne of Betchworth Gastle, Surrey, by whom he had Sir Thomas Honywood (b. 1586, d. 1666), his successor at Markshall. He purchased that estate in 1605 of John Cole, and is said to have entirely rebuilt the front of the house. The alterations were com- pleted in 1609, when the date and the initials " R. H. O." were cut into the mantel- piece of one of the rooms.

In a little book published in 1869 by Bryan Dale, entitled ' The Annals of Coggeshall,' it is stated that

" the apartments on the east side of the mansion, including the hall, with its fine old Jacobean screen across the lower end ; the Squire's room, with the bedroom over, the Oak room, and one staircase were survivals of Bobert Honywood's time ; also the panelling of the hall, the cornices, and the mullioned windows."

In an old MS. written by Robert Hony- wood, dated 1612, he said :

" My father married my mother in Febuarie, 1543, as by her owne speech affirminge that she was married at Shrof tyde . . . . As also appeareth true by the indentures of marriage y* passed between my father and grandfather Waters. My mother also saith y* I was borne at Royton upon Michaelmas Eve's eve near twelve moneth follqwinge, wh che was ye 27th of September, 1645. So I am at Michaelmas Eve's eve, 1612, of the age of 67 years.

" My mother departed this life at my house at Markshall tppon Tewesday, ye 16th day of May, 1620, in ye 93rd yeare of her age, and, accordinge to her desire, was buryed hi Lenham church, in ye county of Kent, uppon Saturday then follow- inge

" [The writer's son] Thomas Honiwood was borne at Bechworth Castle in Surrey, also uppon Sunday ye xv of January, 1587, about four in ye morning, and was baptised in ye Chappell ther. Sir Thomas Browne, myne Uncle, Richard Browne of Cranley, and his wife were witnesses."

Over the fireplace in the dining-roo'm at Markshall long hung the portrait of Robert Honywood (died 1576) and of his wife Mary. It represented her in her habit of widow- hood, with a book in her hand. On her hat was inscribed " ^Etatis Sue 70," and on the other side " Anno Dni. 1579." She is said to have deeply sympathized with the religious martyrs, and to have visited and comforted them in prison.

Thomas Fuller in his ' Worthies ' wrote : " Mrs. Mary Honywood being much afflictec in mind, many ministers repaired unto her amongst the rest the Rev. John Fox.... All his counsels proved ineffectual, in so much that, in th agony of her soul, she having a Venice glass in her hand brake forth into this expression, ' '. am as surely damned as this glass is broken, which she immediately threw with violence t

he ground. Here happened a wonder, for the s rebounded again whole.... So she led the emainder of her life in spiritual gladness."

This glass survived at Markshall until 1897.

On a monument erected to this lady by ler son, in Markshall Church, is the follow- ng:

" Mary Waters, daughter and coheir of Robert Waters of Lenham in Kent, wife of Robert lonywood of Charing in Kent, Esquire, her onlie lusband, had at her decease, lawfully descended rom her, 367 children : 16 of her own body, .14 grandchildren, 228 in the third generation, and 9 in the fourth. She led a most pious life, nd in a Christian manner died, here at Markshall, n the 93rd yeare of her age, and the 44th of her widowhood, the 16th of May, 1620."

Her grandson Dr. Michael Honywood b. 1597, d. 1681), when Dean of Lincoln, elated that he was once present at a dinner- party given by her to two hundred of her progeny.

Her son Robert Honywood died at Markshall on June 11, 1627, leaving several sons, of whom Thomas (b. 1585, d. 1666) succeeded him in the Essex estate.

' Sir Thomas was," says Mr. Dale, " the grandson of Mrs. Mary Honywood, and having been trained up at her feet, it is not surprising that he abhorred intolerance and oppression of every kind."

He had come to reside at Markshall in 1627, and was knighted in 1632. At the time of the breaking out of the Civil War he was 50 years of age, but he threw himself into the Parliament cause with all the ardour of youth. He raised a regiment of horse and foot, and at the siege of Colchester was colonel of a regiment of Essex men. He was a member of Oliver's Parliaments in 1654 and 1656, and one of his lords of the other House. He died on May 26, 1666, at the house of his son-in-law Sir John Cotton at Westminster, aged 80, and was buried at Markshall. His widow, Dame Hester, followed him to the grave in October, 1681, when the incumbent, Mr. Livermere, in her funeral sermon, said :

" She came of pious and religious parents, such as were tried and grown up under persecution .... She was daughter of John Le Mott, a London merchant whose parents came from Flanders, driven out by religious persecution."

Sir Thomas Honywood had four sons, of whom Thomas, the third son, died s.p. in 1672, and was succeeded by his brother John Le Mott Honywood, who reigned at Markshall from 1672 until 1693. He was High Sheriff in 1689, and M.P. in 1692, when a local diarist, Joseph Bufton, wrote :

" A bonfire was made at Coggshall on the 15th of Februarie, for joy that Squire Honywood had got the day of Sir Eleab Harvey, and was not