320 TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
have been the finest mansion in Cornwall, and to have contained 
a large number of rooms decorated in the highest taste of that 
period. A good description and plan of the house is published 
by Mr. Jeffery in the Trans. Royal Inst, of Cornwall. We know 
that considerable luxury was enjoyed by the Cornish gentry at 
this time, since we find that the silver plate seized by the Crown 
in 1562, belonging to Sir John Arundell, of Lanherne, amounted 
in weight to about one hundred pounds, and consisted of plates, 
spoons, candlesticks, tankards, covered cups, and bowls. 
In Budock Church is a brass bearing the following inscription : 
" Here lyeth John Killigrew, Esq., of Arwenack, and lord of the 
manor of Killigrew, in Cornwall ; and Elizabeth Trewinnard, his 
wife. [She was daughter of J. Trewinnard, Esq., of St. Erth.] 
He was the first captain of Pendennis Castle, made by Henry VIII., 
and so continued until the ninth of Queen Elizabeth, at which 
time God took him to his mercy." The brass shows him as a 
grim warrior clad in cap-a-pie armour. He was succeeded by his 
son John, who was knighted by the Virgin Queen in 1574, and 
who married Mary, daughter of Philip Wolverston, Esq., of 
Wolverston Hall, Suffolk, and widow of Henry Knyvet. Of this 
knight little is recorded anywhere. There can be no doubt as to 
the story about his wife, Dame Mary, to which I shall have to 
refer presently. He sent two of his sons to the Court of Elizabeth, 
Thomas and Simon by name, and these founded those younger 
branches of this family in the neighbourhood of London, which 
are now also extinct. Queen Elizabeth is said to have remarked, 
in connection with the Killigrews and some other Cornish gentle- 
men, that they were all born courtiers, and with a becoming 
confidence. 
The story about Dame Mary, wife of Sir John, is as follows 
(given in the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic) : A Spanish 
ship, called the Mary, of St. Sebastian, came into Falmouth 
Harbour in January, 1582, and was boarded by a boatful of men, 
acting under Dame Killigrew's orders, and who overpowered the 
Spaniards, and set sail for Ireland. The Spaniards were thrown 
overboard. Two men, named Kendal and Hawkins, brought 
ashore sundry bolts of Hollands and leather, which they gave to 
Lady Killigrew. It happened that the two merchants to whom 
the cargo belonged remained ashore that night, and when they 
found that their ship and cargo had been stolen they went to 
