BIOGRAPHY. 33 



Scotland, and purchased Cardross Park, an old family- 

 estate that had formed a portion of the dower of one of 

 his royal ancestors ; Sir John Edmonstoue, who married 

 the Princess Isabel, daughter of Piohert II. of Scotland ; 

 and Sir William Edmonstone his son, who married his 

 cousin, the Princess Mary, daughter of Robert III. 



Through this branch, Edmund Waterton, the present head 

 of the family, is descended lineally from Leofric and Godiva, 

 whose romantic legend is, I regret to say, wholly a myth. 

 It was impossible that she could have ridden through 

 Coventry, for the same reason that, according to the old 

 song, prevented Guy Faux from crossing Vauxhall Bridge 

 on his way " to perpetrate his guilt." Coventry was not 

 in existence at the time. 



There is, however, some foundation for the legend. 

 Godiva was a lady possessing vast wealth, with wdiich 

 she determined to found and endow an abbey. This she 

 did, " stripping herself of all that she had," and thence 

 the legend. Coventry gradually arose round the abbey, 

 and had no streets, and consequently no tolls, until Godiva 

 had been dead at least a century. 



On the death of Charles Edmonstone and his wife, their 

 three daughters, Eliza, Anne Mary, and Helen, were sent 

 to the well-known convent of Bruges, for the purpose of 

 completing their education, and, in the Convent Church, 

 Waterton was married to Anne, on May 11, 1829, she 

 being then only seventeen, and he forty-eight. There is 

 an old Scotch proverb to the effect that a bride of one 

 May will never see a second. It was but too true in this 

 case, for Anne Mary Waterton died on April 27, 1830, 

 twenty-one days after giving birth to a son. 



Through him it is to be hoped that a line so interwoven 

 with ancient history, and so prominent in modern times, 

 will not be broken. He married Josephine, second daughter 



D 



