THE AUSTEN FAMILY. xxxvii 



her children ; and John Austen (surviving his wife 

 only four months) is buried in the churchyard (close 

 to the walls of the church), in a spot that has since 

 become the burial-place of the family, a monument 

 being erected to his memory on the south wall of 

 the church, bearing the following inscription 



" In Memory of JOHN AUSTEN, late of this parish, who was 

 confessedly great and good in every relation of life. 

 He ordered his body to be deposited in the common 

 burial-place of the dead, but near the remains of Rebecca, 

 his beloved wife, who lies interred, as do also nine of 

 their children, within this church." 



John, son of the foregoing John Austen, was born 

 at St. Martin's in the year 1708, and married in 

 1736 Mary Hulse, born in 1711. She was the 

 daughter of Nathaniel and Anne Hulse ; the heiress 

 and last direct descendant of the ancient family of 

 Hulse, or De la Hulse, of Bethersden, county of Kent, 

 whose descent and pedigree (amongst the family 

 documents) is lineally and clearly deduced from 

 the reign of King Henry I., A.D. 1100, and took 

 its rise in that " cradle of gentilesse the County 

 Palatine of Chester," from whence its knightly 

 representatives followed their sovereigns in their 

 Welsh and French wars ; while one of the sons 

 held the more peaceful office of " Lord Chief 

 Justice/' 



As to the further descent of the Austens from 



