SUTTON PLACE 315 



service of the King under the circumstances is 

 almost horrible. Nothing causes him to swerve 

 in his allegiance ; minister after minister goes to 

 his death, but the old knight still basks in Henry's 

 favour, and nothing but old age causes him to 

 resign his office. He died in 1542, leaving every- 

 thing to his little grandson, Henry Weston. He 

 married a lady who was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, 

 Dorothy, daughter of Sir Thomas Arundell of 

 Wardour. Her family have an extremely in- 

 teresting history, being allied to every great family 

 in England, and possessing besides the awful record 

 of fourteen members having been beheaded, all 

 near relations of Dorothy's, including her father! 



Queen Elizabeth paid Sir Henry Weston a 

 visit at Sutton Place very early in her reign, the 

 first of many subsequent visits. If the Queen's 

 eventful life left time for thoughts of the past, 

 she must have recalled the tragic fate of her 

 host's father and the execution of her mother, 

 both victims of her relentless father. It was 

 during Elizabeth's first visit to Sutton that a 

 fire broke out in the great gallery, through neglect 

 on the part of the servants, and that side of the 

 house was reduced to ruins. Sir Henry Weston 

 gradually ceased to hold any appointments under 

 Elizabeth, though he always retained her regard. 

 As a staunch Catholic he could not hold office 

 after the Reformation was firmly established, and 



