XVi AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



ence in colour and in feature may be traced to this ; 

 viz. that the first has had too much, and the 

 second too little, sun. 



In remote times, some of my ancestors were suf- 

 ficiently notorious to have had their names handed 

 down to posterity. They fought at Cressy, and 

 at Agincourt, and at Marston Moor. Sir Robert 

 Waterton was Governor of Pontefract Castle, and 

 had charge of King Richard II. Sir Hugh Water- 

 ton was executor to his Sovereign's will, and guar- 

 dian to his daughters. Another ancestor was sent 

 into France by the king, with orders to contract a 

 royal marriage. He was allowed thirteen shillings 

 a day for his trouble and travelling expenses. An- 

 other was Lord Chancellor of England, and preferred 

 to lose his head rather than sacrifice his conscience. 

 Another was master of the horse, and was deprived 

 both of his commission and his estate, on the same 

 account as the former. His descendants seemed 

 determined to perpetuate their claim to the soil ; 

 for they sent a bailiff once in every seven years to 

 dig up a sod on the territory. I was the first to 

 discontinue this septennial act, seeing law and length 

 of time against us. 



Up to the reign of Henry VIII., things had gone 

 on swimmingly for the Watertons ; and it does not 

 appear that any of them had ever been in disgrace. 

 " Neque in his quisquam damnatus et exsul." 



But, during the sway of that ferocius brute, there 

 was a sad reverse of fortune : 



" Ex illo fluere, ac retro sublapsa referri, 



