200 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 281. 



which you are -wilUng to confer upon him, we will 

 not allow him to lose any more time, though he be 

 actually engaged in a campaign both active and 

 dangerous against our rebellious subjects who are 

 the enemies of religion, but forward the attestation 

 which our holy father has had the goodness to send 

 in his favour. For the rest, and for the success 

 of our affairs, we recommend ourselves to the 

 prayers and good wishes of all your Order, and 

 pray God that He will have you in His holy 

 keeping. 



Given in our court, at the Castle of Dublin, 

 The 13th of July, a.d. 1689. 

 Your affectionate Cousin, 



James K..* 

 To my Cousin, 



The Grand Master of St. John of Jerusalem, 

 at Malta. 



Although this distinguished nobleman obtained 

 the high dignities of Grand Cross, and of Honorary 

 Grand Prior of England in the Order of St. John 

 of Jerusalem, still he was never professed. (Vide 

 Bankes, Ext. and Dormant Baronett., vol. iii. 

 p. 80.) 



Tirrell, William, was third son of Sir Thomas 

 Tirrell, of Heron, in the county of Essex, and his 

 wife Constance, daughter of John Blount, Lord 

 Mountjoy. This Knight was a witness in the 

 case of the Turcopolier, Clement West. (Vide 

 Burke, Dorm. Bar., also Coit. MSS., Otho, C. IX.) 



Tresham, Sir Thomas, of Rushton, in North- 

 amptonshire, son of John Tresham, and Eleanor, 

 daughter of Anthony Catesby, of Whiston, in the 

 same county, was appointed Lord Prior of the 

 newly restored Order of St. John of Jerusalem, 

 3rd and 4th Ph. and Mary, but was deposed again, 

 2nd Eliz. (Burke's. X)or. Baronett., p. 532.) 



Upton, Nicholas'^, second son of John Upton, of 

 Lupton, CO. Devon, and Anne Cooper, of a Somer- 

 setshire family, was much distinguished for his 

 knightly qualities, as will be seen by the following 

 notices now existing in the Record Office, in a 

 book of Latin manuscripts, under date of the 

 25th November, 1548. " It being consonant with 

 reason that those generous knights of our Order, 

 whose remarkable privity of life and manners re- 

 commend them, whose virtues adorn them, and 

 whose glory is rendered greatly and widely famous 

 by the deeds done by them in defence of the 

 catholic faith, should be called to the highest 

 grades of honour and dignity, so that having re- 

 ceived the rewards due to them, they may feel 

 themselves recompensed for their constant labours, 

 and may become farther excited to greater exer- 



* It will be observed that although this letter was 

 written by James II. a year after his deposition, still to it 

 the title of king was affixed. 



f In the pedigree of the Upton family, in Burke's 

 Landed Gentry, this Maltese Knight is erroneously named 

 John. 



tions, so as to deserve at a future period still more 

 distinguished rewards, we have raised our beloved 

 knight Nicholas Upton to the dignity of a Turco- 

 polier of his language." 



Under date of the 11th of July, 1548, only four 

 months and fourteen days before this honourable 

 testimonial was registered, and honour conferred, 

 it is recorded that the Commander and acting 

 Turcopolier, Nicholas Upton, was in such im- 

 poverished circumstances as to be unable to defray 

 some trifling expenses which his Language had 

 incurred. And furthermore, that he was com- 

 pelled, for the purpose of settling these debts, and 

 of paying the passage of a proper person to Eng- 

 land to recover some property of which the 

 English Knights had been unjustly deprived, to 

 give in pledge a silver basin for the sum of fifty 

 scudi (Al. Qs. Hd.). 



But for the legalised written testimony which 

 cannot be gainsayed, it would hardly be credited 

 that the British Knights were at this time so poor 

 as to be unable to raise so small an amount. It 

 is hoAvever certain that the silver basin was not 

 redeemed until after the decease of Nicholas 

 Upton, and then only by the proceeds arising from 

 the sale of his personal etrects.* 



Sir Nicholas was struck down by a coup de 

 soleil In July, 1551, when, at the head of thirty 

 Knights and four hundred volunteers, he had most 

 gallantly and successfully prevented Dragut's 

 attempted descent on the island. The Grand 

 Master, John D'Omedes, declared his death to be 

 a national loss, and wept, as did many of his 

 brethren, Avhile following his much-respected re- 

 mains to the grave.f 



West, Clement. This dignitary having pre- 

 tended that the procurators of the Language of 

 England and Ireland, and those of the bailiff of 

 Aguila, ought not to be admitted to vote in the 

 general chapter of 1532, and not being satisfied 

 with the decision of that assembly, by which this 

 permission was given, to show his displeasure, 

 broke out into insolent and blasphemous language, 

 calling the procurators Saracens, Jews, and bas- 

 tards. The procurators feeling themselves offended 

 at such conduct, preferred a complaint against the 

 Turcopolier, who, having been called upon for an 

 explanation, replied that it was impossible for him 

 to know if those persons were Jews or not, as they 

 certainly were not Englishmen. 



The Grand Master and council enjoined him to 

 ask pardon ; but this he not only refused to do, 

 but becoming furiously enraged, commenced curs- 

 ing and swearing, and said, on throwing his mantle 



* MS. Eeeords of the Order. 



t Farther notices of the Turcopolier Nicholas Upton 

 will be found in "N. & Q., " Vol. viii., p. 192., Vol. ix., 

 p. 81. ; Sutherland's Knights of Malta, vol. ii. p. 143. ; 

 V«rtot'8 History of the Order, under date of July, 1551. ; 

 Latin MSS. of the Order ; and Codice Dep., vol. ii. p. 573. 



