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This ill-fated king may be claimed as one of Penrith’s notabilities, 
as it is undoubtedly his portrait (not a very lovely one, certainly) 
which is preserved in the fragment of stained glass now in the 
most eastern window of the north aisle of St. Andrew’s Church. 
The unfortunate Richard being deposed, there came from exile 
his cousin Henry, known as Bolingbroke, called by the decree of 
Parliament to reign as Henry IV.; and among the foremost to meet 
and welcome him when he landed was Ralph Nevill, Earl of West- 
morland. Under the new king Penrith’s feudal lord suffered no 
eclipse ; he stands more nearly related to the throne than before, 
_ his countess being half-sister to the new king. He is created Earl 
Marshal of England, an office of great dignity and responsibility. 
All through the fourteen years of Henry IV.’s reign Nevill is 
never at rest ; what with aggressive Scots and rebellious nobles his 
wits never get dull nor his armour rusty. Then the king dies, and 
is succeeded by Shakespeare’s “merry wag,” Prince Hal, who 
now, however, becomes a discreet and valiant monarch, bent on 
recovering English prestige and territory in France. He is followed 
there by his nobles and a powerful army, foremost amongst whom 
is Ralph Nevill, then fifty years old, and with a prospect of a 
harassing campaign and much desperate fighting ;—it indicates a 
man of immense pluck and endurance. 
Rapin the historian says, “Just as Henry and his army were 
about to embark, intelligence was received that the Scots were 
meditating an invasion. A council was held, when Ralph Nevill, 
Earl of Westmorland and Lord President of the North, endeavoured 
to persuade the king to disable the Scots before going to France ; 
- but Nevill was over-ruled, and to France they went;” and the 
historian adds, ‘“‘ Cumberland was ravaged and Penrith burned.” 
From the terrible campaign, terminating with the battle of 
Agincourt, Ralph Nevill returned with the small residue of 
victorious English warriors. And now he appears as if he thought 
_ he had had enough of that kind of thing. And at a time when 
the soldier’s regimental tailor was a blacksmith, and he fought in 
an iron uniform, with his head in a metal cupola, thirty years of it 
was enough even for a Nevill; so he retires from military life, but 
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