IOC 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



substantial style, which seems appropriate to the hard 

 granite of which the structure is built. There was 

 doubtless a house here in earlier times, and the recent 

 discovery, during alterations, of a figure of Janus 

 gives colour to the old tradition that here dwelt an 

 Italian official of the Papacy charged with the manage- 

 ment of the church property around Tavistock which 



A LEADEN ll'ARRIOR. 



passed to the Russells after the Reformation. The 

 manor was held by a stem of the house of Ferrers 

 until, in 1314, Isolda, daughter and heiress of 

 John de Ferrers, married John Coryton, whose 

 family had derived its name from a place some eight 

 miles north of Tavistock in Devonshire. 



For centuries the house and manor of Newton 

 Ferrers belonged to this family, which did not become 



extinct in the male line until 1739. The Corytons 

 made no great mark upon history ; but William 

 Coryton, son of Peter Coiyton of Newton Ferrers, 

 was a prominent politician in the time of Charles I. 

 and the Commonwealth. He was Vice-Warden of 

 the Stannaries in 1603, and was elected to represent 

 his county in Parliament in 1623, his spirit being sturdy 



and strongly opposed to 

 the policy of the King. 

 He objected to the forced 

 loan of 1627, and was 

 arrested and lodged in 

 the Fleet prison, where he 

 remained some months, 

 being released in view of 

 the opening of Parlia- 

 ment. In the next year 

 he was again returned, 

 and spoke in the debate 

 on tonnage and poundage, 

 though his attitude was 

 studiously moderate. 

 He was, nevertheless, in- 

 volved in difficulties, and, 

 being present when 

 Speaker Finch refused 

 to put to the House a 

 remonstrance on the 

 subject, made by Sir John 

 Eliot, followed by the 

 laying of violent hands 

 upon the Speaker by 

 Denzil Holies and others, 

 he was implicated and 

 charged with having aided 

 and abetted. Coryton 

 was summoned before the 

 Star Chamber, but refused 

 to plead, alleging the 

 privilege of Parliament. 

 He was committed to the 

 Tower, but made sub- 

 mission, and was released 

 and reinstated in his 

 offices in the Stannary 

 Court. His son, John 

 Coryton of Newton, also 

 showed a strong spirit 

 against the Crown at one 

 time, but, nevertheless, 

 was received into favour, 

 and raised to the 

 baronetage in February, 

 1661-62. He represented 

 Cornwall Callington and 

 Launceston at various 

 times in Parliament, and 

 died in 1680. His two 

 sons, John and William, 

 followed him in his title 

 and possessions, and the 



younger of them, Sir William, who was three 

 times married, had for his third wife a lady some- 

 what advanced in years, who, however, was the 

 rich widow of a rich goldsmith and banker of 

 Lombard Street, and to this source we may pro- 

 bably attribute the building of the present house 

 and the construction of the remarkable terraces. He 

 left a son, who succeeded to the title in 1711, but 



