1 62 THE ORIGIN OF THE SHIRLEYS AND OF THE GRESLEYS. 



Mr. Round should know that the modern Gresley tenure (if indeed it 

 can go back so far) dates from a grant of the second year of King 

 John, etc., etc. 



This is far enough removed from the definite assertion that 

 the Gresleys acquired the lands by purchase in the reign of 

 James I. On p. 124 we find an even further admission: — . 



Whether the modern Gresleys have any descent from this William 

 Fitz Nigel is a very grave question. 



But, as we have seen, the Preface confidently spoke of this 

 descent, not as merely open to question, but as " a most 

 impudent fraud." So, again, on the next page, the definite 

 assertion in the Preface melts away into the vague claim that 

 " the whole pedigree of the Gresleys is doubtful, and requires 

 proof at many points." 



Seeking, instead of this vague language, some clear and 

 definite point on which Mr. Yeatman rejects the accepted 

 pedigree of Gresley, we find it in his fierce determination 

 to claim that the lords of Drakelowe, in Norman times, were 

 members of his beloved house of "Albini." Mr. Yeatman. can 

 discover Albinis in most unlikely places. An amazing 

 paragraph in Section VII. of his Feudal History of Derbyshire 

 — a paragraph in which the hapless M. Combes figures as 

 " Mr. Coombe " and " M. Coombs " — opens thus : — 



The name of Aubini is a great one in Anjou. The finest tower in that 

 city [sic), truly a magnificent one, and second only to the great Castle 

 (two of the chief wonders of France), is called after St. Albani.* 



What matters it that, in my " crass ignorance," I imagine 

 Anjou to be the name, not of a city, but of a province ? 

 What if this sainted "Albini" is not to be found in the 

 Calendar? Shall Mr. Yeatman be deprived of "this grand 

 Albini tower " merely because the family of Albini had no 

 more to do with it than I have ? If he can make them lords 

 of Drakelowe, why should he not discover their name to be 

 great in the city of " Anjou " ? 



Now, with Derbyshire, in sober fact, the Albinis had little 

 to do. I am anxious to be strictly fair to Mr. Yeatman, and 



* See the chapter on " The Albinis of the House of St. Sauveur." 



