294 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'>'i S. VIII. Oct. 8. '59. 



Quotation. — Can you inform me who is the 

 author of the frequently quoted lines, — 

 " True patriots they, for be it understood. 

 They left their country for their country's good." 



Gdstavus a. Mteks. 

 Richmond, Virginia, U. S. A. 



[These lines occur in the cliaracleristic Prologue com- 

 posed by the notorious pickpocket, George Barrington, 

 and spoken on the occasion of opening the first play- 

 house at Sydney, New South Wales, IGth Jan. 1796, 

 ivhen the performances were whollj' conducted by the 

 " best behaved convicts." The price of admission to the 

 galler}' was one shilling, paid either in money, flour, 

 meat, or spirits, according to the market rate ! We can- 

 not refrain from quoting below the first eight lines ; the 

 entire Prologue will be found in Barringtou's interesting 

 History of New South Wales, p. lo2. (8vo. Lond., 1802), 

 the first work, we believe, ever published on the penal 

 settlements there ; — 



" From distant climes, o'er wide-spread seas we come, 

 Though not with much eclat, or beat of drum, 

 True patriots all, for be it understood, 

 We left our country for our countr3''s good ; 

 No private views disgraced our generous zeal. 

 What urged our travels was our country's weal ; 

 And none will doubt but that our emigration 

 Has prov'd most useful to the British nation."] 



CARDINAL WOLSEY. 



C2"<i S. viii. 228.) 



Your correspondent Armiger has directed the 

 attention of your readers to a fine old baronial 

 residence, Morton Court, Worcestershire, as hav- 

 ing once been the abode of that eminent eccle- 

 siastic, Cardinal Wolsey : certainly as valuable 

 historical associations are attached to Morton 

 Court as to Empson's house in Fleet Street, near 

 Temple Bar, which was occupied by the cardinal 

 whilst Dean of Lincoln. At this moment, a painted 

 board, placed in a conspicuous position over the 

 house on the right side of the entrance into the 

 learned region of the Temple, from Fleet Street, 

 announces that it was once the palace of that great 

 and good man. Doubtless, there is equal recog- 

 nition of the honour once conferred by the pre- 

 sence of the cardinal at Morton Court. Nash's 

 History of Worcestershire^ published in 1799, re- 

 cords that " One Nanfan is said to have been 

 instrumental in the first rise of Cardinal Wol- 

 sey." 



It appears that the cardinal was chaplain to 

 John Nanfan, Esq., son and heir of Sir Richard 

 Nanfan, who was sheriff of Worcestershire in the 

 first year of the reign of Henry VII., Captain of 

 Calais, and a knight and esquire of the body to 

 Henry VII. " These Esquires of the body ranked 

 after all Knights Bachelors, but before all gentle- 

 men of ancestry. They took place before all 

 Esquires, except the sons of Barons and Ban- 

 nerets." This John Nanfan behaved himself va- 



[ liantly in the wars, but reduced his estates by 



extravagance. 

 ; The manor-house of Morton Court is very 

 j ancient, moated round. One of the parlours is 

 wainscotted with oak, and carved. On the walls 

 i are exhibited the quarterings of the numerous 

 I families with which the Nanfans were allied. At 

 '■' the time of Domesday Survey, llobert de Stat- 

 '' ford held the manor and house. It afterwards be- 

 longed to John, Baron of Monmouth, then to the 

 Brute family, then to the Ruyhalls. At length, 

 in the 9th year of Henry VI., John Nanfan was 

 Lord of Birtsmorton and Berrow. It continued 

 i in the possession of the Nanfan family till 1704, 

 when it fell by marriage Into the hands of Richard 

 Coote, Lord Coloony, and Earl of Bellamont. It 

 continued in the possession of the Coote family 

 till the death of the last Earl, which occurred at 

 Morton Court in the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century. It was then purchased, together with 

 the rectory, by John Thackwell, Esq., of Rye 

 Court, Worcestershire, lord of the manors of Ber- 

 row and Birtsmorton, whose ancestors had pos- 

 sessed a landed estate In the parish of Berrow, 

 Rye Court, for nearly two centuries previously. 

 After belonging to William Thackwell. an officer 

 of yeomanry cavalry, the second son of the said 

 John, it is now the property of John Cam Thack- 

 well of Wilton Place, D. L. and J. P. for Glou- 

 cestershire and Worcestershire, son of the late 

 John Thackwell, D. L. and J, P. of Wilton Place, 

 Gloucestershire, and grandson of the John Thack- 

 well of Rye Court who purchased the estate. 



Red Hat akd Stockikgs. 



Dr. Nash, In his History of Worcestershire, says 

 "one Nanfan is said to have been instrumental in 

 the first rise of Cardinal Wolsey." Sir JRichard 

 Nanfan, was according to the same authority. 

 Captain of Calais, made a knight, and esquire of 

 the body to Henry VII. 



Cavendish, in his Life of Wolsey (p. 8.), states : 



" He (Wolsey) fell in acquaintance with one Sir John 

 Nanphant, a very grave and ancient knight, who had a 

 great room in Calais under K. Henry 7th. This knight 

 lie served, and behaved so discreetl3' and justly, that he 

 obtained the especial favour of his said master, inso- 

 much that for his wit, gravitj*, and just behaviour, he 

 committed all the charge of his office unto his chaplain ; 

 and as I understand the office was the treasurership of 

 Calais, who was, in consideration of his great age, dis- 

 charged of his chargeable rooms, and returned again into 

 England, intending to live more at quiet ; and, through 

 his constant labour and especial favour, his chaplain was 

 promoted to the king's service, and made his chaplain." 



FIddes, who calls Sir J. Nafant a gentleman of 

 Somersetshire, gives almost the same account of 

 Wolsey's transactions as Cavendish, and his pro- 

 motion as king's chaplain through Che interest of 

 the knight. 



It does not appear in any life of Wolsey I have 



