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THE HOUSE OF GODOLPHIN. 

 By G. :R. Hadow, M.A., M.B. 



PREFACE, 



The following notes upon Godolphin House were collected 

 with a threefold object. In the first place it is my opinion that 

 an historic building can be properly appreciated only in the 

 light of some knowledge of those who built and occupied it. 

 Finding that the references which various writers have made to 

 early members of the Godolphin family were both fragmentary 

 in character, and by no means always in agreement, I determined 

 to compile a connected account of all the members of the family, 

 who had held the property, from the time of Henry VII to that 

 of the extinction of the family name. One difficulty which lay 

 in my way was presented by the often conflicting testimony of 

 various authorities. For example, by combining the information 

 afforded by three such reputable authorities as the Dictionary of 

 National Biography, the Parish Eegister of Breage, and Col. 

 Vivian's "Visitations of Cornwall," concerning a person as 

 eminent as Sydney Godolphin, Lord High Treasurer of England 

 and First Minister of State under Queen Anne, I find that he 

 was born in the year 1645 ; that he was baptised at Breage in the 

 preceding year ; and that he sat as member for Helston in the 

 Long Parliament. The Long Parliament met in 1640, six 

 years before the member for Helston was christened, and five 

 years before he was born. Similarly I find from other accounts 

 that the " King's Room " in Godolphin House was built by 

 Queen Anne's Treasurer to read his despatches in ; that it on 

 one occasion gave shelter to Charles II ; and that the style of 

 its decoration is Jacobean. I cannot hope to have avoided all 

 error in dealing with a subject involved in so much obscurity as 

 this, and I am well aware that there are few of my historical 

 statements against which the dictum of some authority might 

 not be quoted. But I have in no case remained content with the 

 opinion of one authority where it -was possible to consult others 

 as well ; and when their testimony has differed I have endea- 

 voured to present that view of the facts which was best supported 



