392 



Wild Dwell of Littlecote. 



ohilde to speake w th you as well for myne owne matter of twenty e po uncles, as 

 also for other matters w ch yow wyll wonder to heare, and yet I suppose they 

 concerne youre selfe. I have byn of late amongeste craftye crowders, whoe 

 walked w th me on parables a longe tyme, and cowlered [theyre doinges w th 

 suttell sophistrye, still gropinge and undermininge me in matters of greate 

 importance, yea, as greate as may be to those partyes to whome they dyd 

 apperteyne, but I at the firste, perceaved theyre inglynge, and gave theyre 

 doinges in the begininge suche a dashe, that they seemed therew th alle utterly 

 discomfited, being as they said, a commissioner chose for them. The matter 

 feare you not yf it be no worse then I knowe, there was no partye named whome 

 the said matter dyd concerne, otherwyse then a gentleman dwellinge w th in 

 three myles of my house, but I" perceaved theyre fetche was not to have me a 

 commissioner, but a deponente, yf they coulde have gotten any thinge from 

 me that mighte have made for theyre purpose. T wyll tell you alle the sub- 

 stance of the matter (as I conjecture) at oure nexte meetinge, but the partyes I 

 may not name. I am nowe rydinge towardes Hampshyre in earneste busines, 

 and doe mynde, God willinge, to be at Ludgarshalle this nighte at bed, where 

 my busines is suche that I muste remayne thies three dayes as I suppose, and 

 in my retorne I wyll God wyllinge, see you at Lyttlecote. My wyfe is already 

 rydden towardes Ludgarshall. This I committ yow to Almighte God from 

 Shefforde the xxiiij th of Julye 1578. 



"Youre lovinge Cosen and assured 

 frende to command e, 



" Anthonte Bridges. 

 Addressed. "To the righte worshipfulle my very lovinge Cosen Wylliam Dar- 

 rell, Esquier, geve thes at Lyttlecote w th speede." 



A. Bridges' 's* account of Mrs. Barnes's Deposition. 

 tl Thes are to testefye my knowledge touchinge certeyne speche, w ch Mother 

 Barnes of Shefforde uttered not longe before her deathe, in the p r sence of me 

 and others, videlt, that there came unto her house at Shefforde, two men in 

 maner leeke servinge men in blacke fryse cotes, rydinge uppon very good 

 geldinges or horses, w ch declared unto her that theyre mystres (as they then 

 called her) nameinge M rs Knevett, w ch is nowe the wyfe of S r Henry Knevett, f 

 Knighte of Wyltesh, had sente by them comendacions unto her, prayenge 

 her of all loves to come unto her forthw th accordinge to her p ro mise, shee 



* He was of the family of Bridges of Coberley co. Gloucester, Vide Collins's Peerage. The Inqui- 

 sition at his decease was taken at Abingdon 11 Jac. 1. Eleanor his daughter, and the inheritrix of his 

 estates, was married to George Browne, and it was at their mansion at Shefford that Charles the First 

 slept, as appears in Symonds's Diary recently edited for the Camden Society by the contributor of 

 this article. "His Majestie lay "Nov. 19th 1644 " at Great Shefford in the old manor house of 

 Mr. Browne Esq. co. Berks ; a parke belonging to it." (Symonds p. 153.). Mr. Brydges was allied 

 to Darell in three ways, 1. by the marriage of his great grandfather with a Darell, vide the Darell 

 pedigree ; Wilts Mag. iv. 226. 2. through his grandmother a Hungerford. 3. through her mother, 

 a Fetyplace. Ludgershall Castle belonged to him. By the kindness of the Rev. T. T, Churton, 

 Rector of Great Shefford, T am informed that Mr. Bridges was buried March 4th, 1012. Also that 

 the entries of Burials at Great Shefford commence in 1599, too late to give us the entry of Mrs. 

 Barnes's name. 



+ Sir Henry Knevett married the daughter and heir of Sir James Stumpe of Malmesbury. One of 

 their three daughters and coheirs was the wife of the first Earl of Suffolk, by which marriage ho 

 became possessed of the Charlton Estate, 



