less were the suits with Richard Banastre, who refused (35th Henry VIII.) to serve in the King's wars on the ground that he was a servant of the Earl of Derby and of John Holcroft Esq., and that he did not owe suit and service to the Crown for his lands. On the same ground Peter ffarington was prosecuted for neglect of service in the war (35th Henry VIII.), he stoutly maintaining that he was the servant of Sir Thomas Langton Knt. and not of the King.1 And although some of these litigations might and did arise out of his office, Sir Henry was frequently involved in disputations with his neighbours as well as with members of his own family.

Notwithstanding his appetite for law, he was not entirely forgetful of the claims of the Church, and on the 9th April 1524, as Henry ffarington Esq., he endowed by deed the Chantry, (which had been founded in Leyland Church by one of his ancestors,) for the souls of his father Sir William ffarington Knt. and others named therein, and "for the prosperitie and welfare of Dame Alice (daughter of Sir Richard Asheton of Croston Knt.) his moder, himself, his heirs and all benefactors."2 He secured to himself and his heirs the appointment of "an able and well disposed Preste" from time to time, and in default of such appointment he vested the presentation in the Abbot and Convent of Evesham for ever.3 At this time he had not cast an evil eye on the revenues of the Church, and never contemplated their alienation.

His foundation was, however, of short continuance. He 1 Duchy Records. 2 Worden Evid. 3 Ibid.

witnessed the fall of Evesham and Cockersand, with which he and his forefathers had been long and intimately connected, and secured by purchase Hutton Grange, which had belonged to the latter house; but not being prepared for the first act of Edward VI. he bitterly deplored the subversion of his family Chantry, the loss of his patronage, and the suppression of masses for the spiritual welfare of his dead ancestors. It was a singular chance which enabled him to resume his own endowment, and on the 5th August 1550 to convey by deed to Thomas Babyngton Gent. apparently a trustee, "one close in Leyland, and xx rent issuing from lands in Howick," late belonging to the Chantry of St. Nicholas, and which had been purchased by Sir Henry of the King's Commissioners."

He was at this time connected with the household of Edward Earl of Derby, and not improbably filled the office of Secretary to that nobleman, as a manuscript volume of

1 Owing to some dispute respecting St. Nicholas' Chapel, it was confirmed by Bishop Chaderton in 1591 to William ffarington of Worden Esq. and his heirs for ever. Here are several marble monuments erected at various times to members of the family, and

"Still with Heraldry's rich hues imprest,

On the dim window glows the pictur'd Crest,"

as well as some more recent obituary memorials of pious affection on the storied pane." The stalls are of old oak, well arranged and carved, presenting a pleasing appearance of solidity and indicating an exact appreciation of ecclesiastical beauty on the part of the Camdenian by whom they were designed. The whole Chapel has been restored without any regard to modern views of cheapness, and is a beautiful example of refined and chastened Christian art.

2 Worden Evid.

letters addressed by his Lordship to various individuals, and containing transcripts of letters to the Earl from Henry VIII. and his Council, together with copies of several grants and other matters connected with the Derby family, still remains at Worden.

On the 10th August 25th Henry VIII. 1533, Edward Earl of Derby and Sir Henry ffarington Knt. addressed a letter to the King' with certain depositions of witnesses concerning "dyverse vnfytting and slanderous words," spoken by Sir James Harrison, Chaplain of Croston, of the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn; and from the tenor of the letter there can be little doubt that the "lewde Preste," who was attached and sent up to his Highness, was dealt with as the King in his virtuous indignation thought best to vindicate his own outraged honour and the aspersed morality of the lady termed by the Croston Priest "Nan Boleyn."

Before 1536 Sir Henry lost his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Alexander Radclyffe of Ordsall Knt., and his eldest son William ffarington had also been removed by the hand of death. His surviving son Thomas married but without male issue, and the name and inheritance seemed in a fair way of becoming extinguished, when, at the mature age of sixty-six, he married a second wife, Dorothy Okeover, by whom he had issue William ffarington, the writer of the following Diary, and from whom, in a direct line, the present family descend. Sir Henry's Will is dated December 12th 1549, and the inventory of his goods was taken in 1551. He desired that his body might be buried in Ley1 Worden Evid.

2 Ibid.

land, "or some other hollye place wheare it shall fortune him to die," and his remains were consigned, when in his 80th year, to "holy earth" in St. Nicholas' Chapel where many of his ancestors reposed. He appointed as his executors Dorothy his wife, trusting she would be loving and kind to his said son William ffarington after the testator's decease, also William his said son, William Charnock, William Cowper, and John Crane; and he requested that his son Anthony Browne1 and John Langton Esquires would act

1 Joan ffarington married first Charles Booth of Hackensall Esq., by whom she had issue a daughter; she married secondly Henry Becconsall of Becconsall, by whom she had also issue a daughter Dorothy, wife of Sir Edward Huddleston; and, afterwards, she married thirdly Anthony, son of Sir Weston Browne of Abbess Roothing in Essex. On 16th October 1554 the last husband was made Serjeant at Law, and shortly afterwards appointed Serjeant to the King and Queen, Philip and Mary. In 1558 he was preferred to be Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, but removed by Queen Elizabeth. who had, however, so high an opinion of his talent that she continued him a puisne Judge; and it is recorded that he refused the office of Lord Keeper when the Queen contemplated the removal of Sir Nicholas Bacon. Sir Anthony Browne and Joan his wife, who is loosely styled "cosyn and heyr of Sir Henry ffarington Knt." prosecuted Robert ffarington and Elizabeth his wife, William Fisher and others, in the time of Queen Mary, for retaining possession of the manor, hall, and lands of ffarington, Ulnes walton, &c. in breach of a decree and after the committal of the defendants to the Fleet Prison. (Duchy Records.) In the 2nd Elizabeth, Anthony Browne and Joan his wife, " daughter of William ffarington deceased and Isabel his wife who was daughter of John Clayton of Clayton Esq." prosecuted John Orrell Esq. and Elizabeth his wife for lands in Clayton Manor and Penwortham. (Cal. Plead.) William ffarington was Sir Henry's eldest son by his first wife, and died early in life, leaving this daughter, who succeeded to her father's estate of ffarington, which thus became alienated from the male line. A copy of Sir Anthony Browne's Will is amongst the Worden Evidences. It is dated 1565, and this profound and eloquent Judge died May

as supervisors of his Will. From the frequent occurrence of his name in connection with the management of the minor's estate, it is tolerably evident that the direction of his education devolved on his kinsman Browne, afterwards the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who had probably obtained his Wardship, and thus preserved the inheritance from the rapacity of an ordinary purchaser, and with such a guardian we are at no loss to understand his bias towards the law. In the 34th Henry VIII., when a boy, he was enrolled a burgess of Preston at the Guild then held;1 and it is not improbable that he received the rudiments of his education in the Grammar School of that town, which had long been of good repute in the county. At an early age he was sent to Oxford, but it is not clear that he graduated at that University, and he was admitted a member of the Middle Temple 6th August 1555, not with the view of following the law as a profession, but to complete his education.2

From the large estates settled upon him it might seem that he was a favourite son of his father, and as he was

6th 1567. In the ffarington pedigree, as published in Baines' Hist. of Lanc. vol. iii. p. 446, Lady Browne is placed in the line as the great granddaughter of Sir Henry ffarington, but is afterwards stated to be Jane, daughter of William and granddaughter of Sir Henry ffarington, whilst her presumed father is recorded as having died without issue! In the Will of Sir Henry, dated 1549, he names "my sonne Anthonye Browne," which being read grandson will settle the degree of relationship.

1 Guild Book.

2 Mr. Hulton informs me that the books of the Middle Temple are not arranged prior to the year 1600, but that the following entry is found under date 6th August 1555: "Willus ffarryngton filius primus Henrici ffarryngton de ffarryngton in com. Lancast. admissus est generaliter ad inst. Browne."