lU 



whatever is known about it. Again, it is sometimes stated that 

 the Queen was in Bath in 1592, "when she granted the Corpo- 

 ration a Charter." A moment's thought will show this argument 

 to be of no value, as the Queen may have granted a Charter with- 

 out being present. Further, a peep into Warner will discover 

 the Charter set out in full, but dated 4th September, 1590, and 

 a reference to the original patent shows this date to be correctly 

 given.* So that if the Queen were in Bath when the Charter 

 was granted it was neither in 1591 nor 1592. The only other 

 authority that I am aware of is CoUtnson, in the History of 

 Somerset. In Vol. I., page 128, under Kelweston, he gives a 

 short account of the Harington Family, and concludes the para- 

 graph by saying, " The old house at Kelweston, buUt by John 

 and finished by his son, Sir John, was constructed as a proper 

 reception for Queen Elizabeth during her summer's excursion, who 

 visited her godson in her way to Oxford, 1591." For this two 

 references are apparently given, ■vdz., " Dugdale's Baronetage" 

 (Baronage he means), and " Wright's (James") Rutlandshii-e," and 

 the impression conveyed is, that these are the authorities for the 

 statements in that paragraph, yet in neither is there any allusion 

 to anything in it. Both are simply pedigree notes, in no way 

 connected with Somerset, and in Dugdale there is no mention 

 even of any Elizabethan Harington. The assertion, too, that the 

 house was constructed in 1587, purposely to receive a royal visit 

 promised for 1591, is rather strong, and this Warner seems to 

 have felt when recording the same event. After noting the grant 

 of the Charter in 1590, he says, — "The year after, i.e., 1591, the 

 Queen fulfilled a promise to visit Sir John Harington at 

 Kelweston, and to give her a proper reception he fitted up his 

 house in a stile of elegance and magnificence suitable to the 

 taste of the age." No reference is given for this, and it is 

 aimply Collinson's " construction" theory, modified and elaborated. 



* Pat. 33 Eliz., P&rt A. RoU. 1342, Mem. 24, 



