SIR GEORGE SOMERS AND HIS FAMILY. 29 



or so it appears, in a manor at Upwey, the details of the 

 estate, supplied by the Feet of Fines, being 12 messuages, 2 

 mills, and 1,160 acres. It was in this latter year that he, who 

 had hitherto been plain George Somer, first (within the 

 writer's observation) became " George Somers, gentleman." 



There is some reason to suppose that for the next few years 

 the enriched sea captain attempted to live the life of a 

 country gentleman and failed to appreciate it. It is certain 

 that he was at sea again in 1595, and from that year till 1602 

 was pretty frequently employed on various expeditions, and 

 it is probable that during this period his skill as a navigator 

 and his aptitude for high command became generally 

 recognised. The stream of prize money began to flow again, 

 for in 1598 the lease of Berne farm was turned into a freehold, 

 and it is possible that Captain Somers about this time 

 embarked on the hazardous business of shipowning, unless 

 his purchase of a Spanish ship at Dartmouth for 150, 

 sanctioned by the Privy Council in 1597, was merely an 

 isolated transaction. 



Following the year 1602, came another spell of life on shore, 

 broken only by a voyage to Virginia in 1604. Fuller described 

 Sir George as " a Lion at sea " and " a Lamb on the land." It 

 was the Lion who gained a great reputation, a fortune, and 

 (in 1604) a well earned knighthood, and it was the Lamb who 

 represented Lyme Regis in Parliament, was elected mayor 

 of the town, and acquired, no doubt at a great price, from 

 the heralds, a crest and coat of arms the arms being, by the 

 way, those borne (it is said) by the family of Lord Somers ! 

 As to his mode of life at Berne, an inventory of Sir George's 

 goods (copied in Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset, 

 Vol. XI.) shows that his house, though furnished with consider- 

 able luxury, was only of moderate size, containing but a hall, 

 parlour, kitchen, buttery, &c., with the rooms above no 

 larger than the dwelling of many a yeoman. His want of 

 interest in agriculture is apparent from the fact that the farms 

 of Berne and Orchard, quite close to his residence, were let to 

 a gentleman farmer (named Baldwin Sampford) , and, without 



