l6o THE ORIGIN OF THE SHIRLEYS AND OF THE GRESLEYS. 



obtained the dignity in 1611. After alleging that "the 

 fakers . . . forged a few amazing charters," Mr. Yeatman 

 asserts that " the first baronet would seem to have acquired 

 an interest in Drakelowe, but how or when it is not stated." 

 The charge, I have said, is definite enough; but what is 

 the proof? Amazing though it may seem, Mr. Yeatman does 

 not condescend to offer even a scrap. 



Let us consider the position. In The Gresleys of 

 Drakelowe, Mr. Madan has written an elaborate history of 

 that family, giving his references throughout. With that work 

 Mr. Yeatman is acquainted, for he actually quotes from its 

 pages, and in it he must have seen the Gresleys succeeding 

 one another at Drakelowe, without a break, for generations 

 before the baronetcy was created. The first baronet had 

 succeeded his father in the ordinary course at Drakelowe, 

 and that father had been sheriff not only of Derbyshire, but 

 of Staffordshire, and Deputy Lieutenant and Captain of the 

 Horse of Derbyshire ; for the Gresleys of Drakelowe were not 

 a house whose light was hid beneath a bushel. They were, 

 as records prove, the holders of a great estate, and they duly 

 received knighthood generation after generation. 



Where was the break in this knightly line ? When and how 

 did " the old stock " come to part with the estate ? When 

 did the " novus homo " buy it ? To these questions Mr. Yeatman 

 can give no answer. It is for him to prove that Mr. Madan's 

 narrative is here a tissue of falsehoods ; but he does not 

 attempt to do so.* Ignoring that writer, he asserts, we have 

 seen, that " it is not stated " how Sir George " acquired an 

 interest in Drakelowe," and observes that " Lysons does attempt 

 to prove a connection with Swadlincote," adding that — 



Lysons, and, of course, the modern historians of the family (including 

 Mr. Round), regard this as conclusive proof " that the Gresley family had 

 continued to be superior Lords of Swadlincote from the time of their 

 ancestor, Nigel de Stafford." This is absurd. 



My readers will doubtless be surprised to learn that I have 



* His attack on the Gresley pedigree here has been satirised in No. 10 

 of The Ancestor by the Editor of that magazine. 



