102 HISTORY OF HARTING, 



And yet Ford Lord Grey, now Lord Tankerville, 

 was not more than forty-seven years of age when he 

 died. He had gained the summit of his ambition, and 

 his restless mind and brilliant vivacity carried him just 

 far enough for his goal. He died 24th June, 1701, the 

 same year as that in which James the Second died, 

 and the year previous to that in which his master 

 William the Third's delicate and consumptive frame 

 yielded also. 



In 1851, when the large vault in the chancel of 

 Harting Church was opened, a coffin bearing the 

 following inscription was disclosed : 



" The Body of the R l Hon ble - Ford Grey, Earl of 

 Tankerville, Viscount Glendale, Baron Grey of Werke, 

 and Baronet, Lord Privy Seal,* and one of the Lord's 

 of his Majestie's Privy Council, who died the 24th June, 

 1701, aged 47." 



The lid of the coffin was partially open and disclosed 

 a plain Dutch clay pipe, grasped in the right hand,. 



* It is a curious coincidence that, as Harting supplied the first 

 member for the county in the first beginning of popular govern- 

 ment Hen. Hussey of Harting being sent to the Carlisle parlia- 

 ment so in the first modern ministry (Green, 68 1) which brought 

 down the popular government to its present form (i.e., the as- 

 cendancy of a committee of a party in the House of Commons 

 who for the time enjoys the confidence of the people), Harting had 

 the honour to supply a principal member of the Cabinet, a First 

 Lord of the Treasury, nearly at the time of the commencement 

 of the National Debt, and of the Bank of England. Few traces of 

 Lord Tankerville still remain. Perhaps the fields called " The 

 Great Dukes " and the " Little Dukes " commemorate the un- 

 fortunate Duke of Monmouth, just as Hen. Hussey called a field 

 of his " Mountford " after Simon de Montfort. The earl's coronet 

 with the strawberry leaf, in duplicate, denoting the two Earls of 

 Tankerville, is still to be seen on the door of the smithy on the 

 East Harting side of South Harting Street, belonging to Mr. 

 G. Blackmore. The forge is generally the oldest of village 

 curiosity shops, and also the rustic Music Hall. Doubtless the 

 old smith of 1700 (R. Wakeford) was proud to mount the new 

 Earl of Tankerville's arms, and thanks to the chiaro olscuro of 

 dust and soot, they have escaped a good many eyes, and are in 

 their way curiosities to this day. 



