136 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. 



by Kichard Blunderville, Earl of Chester, on his return 

 from the Holy Land, and from him descended to William 

 Ferrars, Earl of Derby, whose son Eobert forfeited the 

 estate by his rebellion. He was, however, afterwards 

 allowed to retain it. Subsequently it came by marriage 

 to the family of Devereux, and was in their possession 

 when IMary, Queen of Scots, was taken there from Tutbury 

 Castle, in December, 1585, and remained there till she was 

 removed to Fotheringhay, in September, 1586. Before 

 her arrival Lord Essex wrote to Mr. Bagot of Blithfield, 

 asking him to have "all the bedding, hangings, and such 

 like stuffs, removed to your own house for a wile ; and, 

 if she come to Chartley, it may be carried to Lichfield, 

 or els (she being gone to Dudley or els wher) it may be 

 carried back." From this letter it does not seem as if 

 Lord Essex quite approved of having his house turned 

 into a sort of State prison. While there, the queen em- 

 broidered a bed with her own hands, which is still at 

 Chartley. Queen Elizabeth came there, on her way to 

 Stafford, in 1575. Li 1781 the curious old manor house 

 was burnt down, while, about fifty years ago, the new 

 one caught fire. Abberley, who is now one of Lord 

 Bagot's keepers, and who lives at Abberley's house, on 

 the outskirts of Bagot's Wood on the Uttoxeter turnpike 

 road, remembers the fire, and was struck with the number 

 of old guns, pikes, bayonets, and the like, which came out 

 of it on that occasion. 



" It is traditionally said," Mr. Redfern observes, '* that 

 liobin Hood found asylum at Chartley Castle, and its 

 founder, Randall of Chester, is thus named in con- 

 nection with the famed Robin, by the author of ' Piers 

 Plowman.' 



"*I can perfitly my paternoster, as the priest it siugeth ; 

 I can rhyme of Robin Hood, and Randall of Chester.' " 



Does the coupling together of these two names favour 

 the idea of a Robert de Ferrars being no other than a 

 Robin Hood ? 



