276 ANCIENT MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET. 



The inscription below in old English type is as follows : 



" Tbere %\?etb William IWapper, Brotber unto Sr 

 TCobert IRapper Ikn^abt wbo after jvn^ears travell in 

 forapne lances marieo Hnne Sbelton tbe Bancjbter 

 of William Sbelton of ncjer parftc in Esses 

 Esquier, bs wbom be bao vi Sonnes, ano nowe 

 bis sonle be^n^e witb <3oo, bis booie bere restetb 

 in 3esu Gbrist be^noe of tbe age of - - $eres. 



2>eceaseo tbe &a$e of - anno 2>omini 



16 - -" 



William Napper died in 1616 some years after his brass was cut. 



Heraldry. On the shield immediately above the effigy are the 

 arms of Napper, ah. Napier. Argent ', a saltaire between four roses 

 gules (the saltaire should be engrailed], with a crest above, a lap- 

 wing. The crest otherwise given for Napier is, a dexter arm coupcd 

 at the elbow, vested gules, turned up argent, grasping a crescent proper, 



The arms above, on a small escutcheon, are a little puzzling, 

 but plain enough if read as being a shield belonging to a 

 monument to William Napper's grandfather and grandmother: 

 they are, Napper, impaling, Argent, a lion rampant gules, on a chief 

 sable 3 escallops of the first, Russell of Berwick, and no doubt were 

 engraved for James Napier, Esq., Avho settled at Swyre temp. 

 Henry VII. (son of Sir Alec. Napier, Kt., of Merchiston, 

 Scotland, by a sister of Robert Stewart, Duke of Athol), and 

 married Anne, daughter of John Russell of Berwick, Esq., and 

 his wife, Elizabeth, nee Frocksmer (see Swyre brass). 



The brother mentioned on the brass was Sir Robert Napper, 

 als. Napier, of Middlemarsh Hall, Dorset, Knt., Lord Chief 

 Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland 1593, High Sheriff of Dorset 

 1606, died 1615, and buried at Minteme, who by his will 

 endowed and founded the Dorchester Almshouses, known by his 

 desire as " Napper's Mite," 2oth August, 1615, "tending only to 

 the glory of God and to the relief of the poor." 



