244 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
In the course of some remarks upon some early rolls of arms, 
the following translation of a passage in the poem of the Siege of 
Carlaverock, a.d. 1300, relating to the family of Carew, was 
quoted u ^ g a j] an ^ mam an( j 0 f g rea ^ fame, 
Nichol de Karru, with him came, 
Who oft had made his foemen yield 
In thick defile and open field. 
When fighting the wild Irish kerne, 
His banner easy was to learn — 
In yellow field, with angry scowl, 
Three sable lions stalk and prowl." 
In referring to the contests that were at one period frequently 
entered into to preserve against infringement the right to certain 
coat armour, the case of Scrope and Grosvenor was mentioned. 
Three of the commissioners in the Scrope and Grosvenor controversy 
sat on the 16th June, 1386, at the house of the Carmelites in 
Plymouth. They were Lord Fitz Walter, Sir John Marmyon, 
and Sir John Kentwode. They called before them Sir Eichard le 
Scrope, who appeared, and Sir Robert Grosvenor, or his proctor, 
who did not appear. They took the depositions of the Duke of 
Lancaster, and of sixty-nine other witnesses for the plantiff, and 
certified the same by an instrument under their seal dated at 
Plymouth on the 26th of June, 1386. Imagine the brilliant 
scene in the narrow streets of our good old town and in the 
monastery — the tramp of steeds, the clank and dash of mailed 
knights, the flashing light as it glitters and glances from the 
burnished steel, and plays on the rich surcoats, embroidered with 
the heraldic ensigns of the wearers ; while aloft silken banners en- 
wrought with armorial devices in flowing colours slowly ripple and 
wave with the breeze as if rejoicing in the warm June sunshine, 
gently kissing their graceful folds. Add a sprinkling of towns- 
folk gazing open-mouthed at the unwonted stir, with here and 
there an ecclesiastic in his sombre habit hastening to discharge 
some duty of his office, or coming more leisurely to record his 
testimony before the Commissioners. These backed by the sub- 
stantial masonry of the stately Friary and the quaint houses of 
the town, surely make a subject worthy the brush of the best 
artist, the pen of the most graphic writer. On the 12th July Sir 
John de Kentwode examined Sir John de Sully in his own church 
at Yerdeley, he being unable by reason of his advanced age to 
