104 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



" 'Come you hither, my nine 



good sonnes. 

 Gallant men I trowe you 



bee; 



Ho'.v many of you, my chil- 

 dren deare. 



Will stand by tha*. good 

 erle and me r ' 



" EiR'it of them did answer 



make, 

 Eight of them spake lias- 



tilie. 

 Oh ! father, till the clay we 



dye, 



We'll stand by that jjood 

 erle and thee ! ' ' 



And so went forth 

 ancient Norton with his 

 banner bearing the cross 

 and the five wounds of 

 our Lord. His fair.ily 

 was ent ; rely ruineJ and 

 its estates confiscated, 

 though only one of his 

 sons was executed, while 

 he escaped himself to the 

 Low Countries. 



After the attainder of 

 the Nortons, their estates 

 were forfeited to the 

 Crown, and subsequently 

 Norton Conyers passed 

 by a marriage with the 

 ,\\ u s g r a v e s to the 

 Grahams, descended 

 through "John of the 

 Bright Sword" from the 

 Scottish Earls of Menteith 

 anJStrathearn. The first 

 of the Grahams at Norton 

 Conyers was the Royal. st 

 Sir Richard Graham, " of 

 the Netherby clan," who 

 had married the daughter 

 and heiress of Thomas 



TUB OLD CHAPEL. 



Musgrave. He was 

 Gentleman of the Horse 

 to James 1., wj> created 

 a Baronet in 1629, and 

 distinguished himself at 

 EdgehillandMarston Moor. 

 The storv runs that he 

 fled, desperately woundeJ, 

 from the latter field, and 

 was followed to Norton by 

 Cromwell, who gallopeJ 

 into the hall and up the 

 staircase, arriving just in 

 time to shake Sir Richard 

 in his bed before he died ; 

 and even, as if to con- 

 found the incredulous, the 

 print of the horse's hoof 

 is still shown upon 

 the stair. Sir R.chard 

 Graham was, indeed, 

 wounded at Marston, but 

 did not die until ten years 

 thereafter. 



The exterior of the 

 house has perhaps little 

 claim to architectural 

 beauty, but it tails well 

 into its charming sur- 

 roundings, and curious, 

 qu lint, weird, and pic- 

 turesque it must ever 

 remain. It is surrounded 

 by trees of great size, 

 and the sycamores are 

 perhaps not surpassed in 

 H n g 1 a n d . On the 

 northern side is the 

 historic bowling green, 

 on which King Charles I. 

 is said once to have 

 passed five , consecutive 

 dayi in that amusement 



' Country Life.' 



THH NORTH FRONT AND BOWLING GRIT::,. 



