324 TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
the proceeds of wrecks as any other maritime people. In fact, 
there is ample proof of their readiness to seize the spoil cast up by 
the sea, as well as their avidity for smuggling, which latter 
procedure in those days was considered as a kind of protest in 
favour of free trading, and was clandestinely tolerated by some 
in authority up to the time of the establishment of the regular 
Coastguard. 
On the death of Sir John, his younger brother Peter, afterwards 
Sir Peter, became the representative of the family ; and on the 
death of the divorced Lady Jane he entered into possession of the 
Arwenack estate, which was then sadly reduced in value, as by 
a Parliamentary inquiry at about this time it is valued at only 
<£80 a year ; whereas on the first Sir John's coming into possession 
it is said to have been valued at £6000 a year. 
Sir Peter is described as having been bred under the Earl 
of Bristol in Spain, and at home at Court, and that he was a fine 
gentleman — a gamester in his youth when he had nothing to lose 
— and ever a merry and desirable companion, even in those times 
of civil distractions ; and while preserving his loyalty to his king, 
he obtained the esteem of those of the opposite faction. 
Whilst he was still a younger brother this Sir Peter, who had 
nothing but his wit and agreeable temper to live on (as the family 
chronicler reports), had fallen in love with one of the sisters of 
Lord Lucas, of Colchester ; but his suit had been refused, because 
of his being unable to offer her a jointure. This fact being 
reported to his friends — William, Earl of Pembroke, and Philip 
Herbert his brother — they out of their generous natures gave to 
Sir Peter and Dame Mary his wife, various parcels of land at or 
near Cardiff, amounting in value to <£300 a year. 
About this time Sir Peter, who was called "Peter the Post," 
brought a message to the king from Madrid in what was considered 
in those days an extraordinarily short time. He rode overland 
through Spain and France, and crossing to Dover by a fleet ship, 
rode quickly to London, performing the journey in a week. 
When the Civil War came he took the side of the king, but 
without taking up arms, as several of his kinsmen did. One of 
these, Sir Henry Killigrew, was in Pendennis Castle during the 
long siege (that being the last fortress in England that was yielded 
to the Parliament). It was during this siege that most of 
Arwenack House was destroyed by fire; viz., on March 16th, 
