JANUARY 43 



this standard to its present resting-place. It is not at 

 Alnwick or Syon : is it at Petworth, whither so many 

 Percy pictures and relics have drifted, including the 

 spurs (or is it the sword ?) of Harry Hotspur ? 



This Percy standard is an ensign of melancholy, 

 having been displayed by Henry Percy ' the unthrifty,' 

 sixth Earl of Northumberland (1527-37), most forlorn 

 of all figures in his long, illustrious line. While passing 

 his minority in the household of Cardinal Wolsey, he 

 lost his heart to lovely Anne Boleyn, and came near 

 losing his head in consequence. For the King already 

 had cast unclean eyes upon this matchless beauty, and 

 the Cardinal received instructions to warn the young 

 lord of what had been marked as royal prey. 



Percy stoutly refused to give up his suit. ' I have 

 gone soe farre,' said he, ' before soe many worthy witt- 

 nesses, that I knowe not how to discharge meselfe and 

 my conscience.' 



' Well, then,' quoth my Lord Cardinall, ' I will send 

 for your father out of the north, and he and wee shall 

 take such order; and in the meane season I chardge 

 thee that thou resort no more into her company as 

 thou wilt abye the King's indignation.' * 



Percy's father, ' the Magnificent Earl,' hastened from 

 the north; the lovers were separated, and the young 

 lord was wedded forthwith to Lady Mary Talbot, 

 daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Among all the 

 shameful records of this dismal reign, there can be 

 found no more brutal outrage than this deed of the 



1 From Sir Roger Twisden's MS., published in Nott's Life of 

 , p. 442. 



