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THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY NATURALIST. 



THE BRANDON FAMILY TRAGEDY. 



The following account ot a tragic incident which 

 occurred on the borders of Hampshire is quoted in 

 The Gentleman s Magazine for this month (pp. 586- 

 587) from a very rare pamphlet, of which it is sup- 

 posed there are only two copies now extant, entitled 

 "English Adventures," printed and published in 

 1667. The pamphlet dealt with strange occurrences 

 that had befallen old and noble families of the time ; 

 and, no doubt, as many of the adventures related.were 

 repugnant to the descendants of the families con- 

 cerned, steps were taken to suppress as many of the 

 pamphlets as possible. 



" Upon the deaih of his lady, the lather of Charles Bran- 

 don retired to an estate on the borders of Hampshire. His 

 family consisted of two sons and a young-lady, the daugh- 

 ter of a friend lately deceased, whom he adopted as his 

 own child. The lady being singularly beautiful, as well as 

 amiable in her manners, attracted the attention of both 

 brothers. The elder, however, was the favourite, and he 

 privately married her; which the younger not knowing, 

 and overhearing an appointment of the lovers the next 

 night in her bedchamber, he, thinking it a mere intrigue, 

 contrived to get his'.brother otherwise employed, and made 

 the signal of admission himself. His design, unfortu- 

 nately, answered only too well. 



" On a discovery the lady lost her reason, and soon after- 

 wards died. The two brothers fought, and the elder fell, 

 cut through the heart. The father broke down, and went 

 to his grave in a very short time. Charles Brandon, the 

 younger brother, and unintentional author of all this 

 misery, quitted England in despair, with a fixed deter- 

 mination of never returning. Being abroad for several 

 years, his nearest relations supposed him to be dead, and 

 began to take the necessary steps for obtaining his estates- 

 Aroused by this intelligence, he returned privately to Eng- 

 land, and for a time took private lodgings in the vicinity 

 of his family mansion. 



" While he was in this retreat, the %-oung king, Henry 

 VIII, who had just buried his father, was one day hunting 

 on the borders of Hampshire, when he heard the cries of a 

 female in distress issuing from an adjoining wood. His 

 gallantry immediately summoned him to the place, though 

 he then happened to be detached from all his courtiers, 

 when he saw two ruffians attempting to violate the honour 

 of a young lady. The king instantly drew his sword upon 

 them ; a scuffle ensued, which roused the reverie of 

 Charles Brandon, who was taking his morning walk in an 

 adjacent thicket. He immediately ranged himself on the 

 side of the king, whom he then did not know, and, by his 

 dexterity, soon disarmed one of the ruffians, while the 

 other fled. 



"The king, charmed with this act of gallantry, so con- 

 genial to his own mind, inquired the name and family of 

 the stranger; and not only repossessed him of his 

 patrimonial estates, but took him under his own immediate 

 protection. 



" It was this same Charles Brandon who afterwards 

 privately married King Henry's sister, Margaret, Queen 

 Dowager of France ; which marriage the king not only for- 

 gave, but created him Duke of Suffolk, and continued his 

 favour towards him to the last hour of the Duke's life. 

 He died before Henry; and thelaiter showed in his attach- 

 ment to this nobleman that, notwithstanding his fits of 

 caprice, he was capable of a cordial and steady friendship. 

 He was sitting in Council when the news of Suffolk's 



death reached him, and he publicly tok that occasion, 

 both to express his own sorrow, and to celebrate the 

 merits of the deceased. He declared that during the- 

 whole course of their acquaintance his brother-in-law had 

 not made a single attempt to injure an adversary, and had 

 never whispered a word to the disadvantage of anyone ; 

 ' And are there any of you, my lords, who can say as 

 much?' The king looked round in all their faces, aad 

 saw that confusion which the consciousness of secret guilt 

 naturally drew upon them." 



From the fact related in the early history of Charles 

 Brandon, the poet, Thomas Otway, took the plot of 

 his tragedy, " The Orphan." To avoid causing un- 

 necessary pain, however, to descendants of the 

 families affected who were living at that time, Otway 

 transferred the scene of his tragedy from England t 

 Bohemia. So late as 1825 there was a large painting 

 of the Brandon incident at Wobuin, the seat of the 

 Duke of Bedford, and the old Dowager Duchess, in 

 showing this picture to a nobleman a few years be- 

 fore her death, is said to have related all the par- 

 ticulars of the story. 



Can any reader of The Hampshire Independent 

 say what estate the Brandons held " on the borders 

 of Hampshire "? Charles Brandon, on being created 

 Duke of Suffolk, was granted Arbury Hall, Warwick- 

 shire, by the king, and this is how the story 

 comes to be related in an article on " George 

 Eliot and her neighbourhood " in the Gentleman's, 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 

 From the meteorological register made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S..R.E. Lat. 50* 

 54' 50" N.; long, i" 24' o" W. ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

 Observer Mr.J. T. Cook. 



* Black bulb in vacuo. I Melted snow, t Rain, sleet 

 and snow. 



