Page:The History of the Church & Manor of Wigan part 1.djvu/152

 Derby calls him "his cousin," but his name does not occur in the family pedigree. He is said to have been an illegitimate son of Sir Edward Stanley, the first Lord Monteagle, of Hornby Castle. in which case he will have been a brother, or half brother, of Dame Elizabeth the wife of Sir Thomas Langton, knight, the patron of Wigan church.

Bishop Stanley was the writer of the "Rhyming Chronicle," a kind of history in verse of the Stanley family, continued to the year 1562, and his verses have been received by genealogists as the most authentic account of the family. He is described by Bishop Tanner as "Poeta haud cotemnendus." He is said to have had in his possession a very ancient painting of the face of our Blessed Lord, which was taken by him to Douglas, in the Isle of Man, where it is still preserved. Mr. Beamont informs us that he was a bad steward to the rectory of Winwick, one of his preferments, for in 3 Eliz., 1563, he granted to Sir Thomas Stanley,