MEMOIRS OF SIR GEORGE COURTHOP 153
their confederates in this Plot to make a reduction of Great
Britain and Ireland and all His Majesty's Dominions, by the
sword, to the Romish Religion and Obedience.
In this examination, the Parliament discovered one Coleman
who was Secretary to the Duchess of York, to be a principal Agent,
by holding correspondence with the Jesuits at St. Omers, Rome,
Spain and France ; and by sending speedily to secure his Letters
and Papers, they had great light into the Plot, and upon his trial,
he was condemned, and was the first executed on this horrid Plot.
After this, they went on by way of discovery and took up many
Lords who are now in the Tower, and many disguised Jesuits,
being discovered were executed. Sir George Wakeman, the King's
Physician, was discovered to be among the plotters : but had
better luck than those who were tried before, for he escaped and
went over beyond sea speedily after he was acquitted by the Jury.
Sometime after, Viscount Stafford was tried by the Peers in West-
minster Hall, in which were seats made for them in their several
capacities as Judges : the Lord Chancellor Finch was Judge, and
having had a fair trial by the Lords, he was by much the major
part judged guilty, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and
quartered : but being a Peer of the Realm, the Lords interceded for
his being beheaded, which was done on Tower Hill Dec' 1 . 29, 1680.
In the aforesaid Parliament S r Thomas Osborne Lord Treasurer
of England was impeached of High Treason (now Lord Danby).
He was upon impeachment sent to the Tower by the House
of Lords, but there remained, and was not bro't to his tryal.
for the Commons who impeached him were not brought to their
Proof of the Articles against him. They found out he had
been tampering with the Court of France, to keep off all Parlia-
ments in England,, which was discovered by M r Ralph Montague
then Ambassador there. They also found much of the King's
revenue was wasted, by Pensions for secret services, which they
were afterwards informed was to secure voices in Parliament, so
that with the Members who were the King's Servants, and those
who were corrupted with Pensions, the major part of the House
were for the King upon all occasions. I shall not insert their
names, they being printed to their everlasting shame : I shall only
mention that being the King's Servant I was attempted to be in
the number, but the Magistrattis Domesticus that is in me, wo'd
not let me be caught in the snare.
154 MEMOIRS OF SIR GEORGE COURTHOP
In the Winter 1678 I had the Tresnuntii mortis, Casus, Infirmitas ,
Senectus ; Casus nuntiat mortem latentem, Infirmitas apparentem,
Senectus prcesentem. In the winter I was forced to stay at home.
and could not attend my service in Parliament : for which neglect
I had a Sergeant at Arms, sent by warrant from his house to my
habitation to give the house an acount of my condition. When
He came he found me on the bed labouring under a distemper of
bloody urine, which I conceive I got in straining my back to bend
a long bow : though some Doctors were of opinion I had a stone
in my kidneys which I had dislocated ; but he found me in a
condition unfitting for travel, which I could not undertake without
danger of my life, and promised to make such a Report to the
House : for which I gave him a gratuity for himself, and paid his
Fees as Sergeant at Arms (his name was Topham) which came to
20/. as by his receipt bearing date Dec 1 ' 27 th 1678 may appear.
Presently after this money was paid The Parliament which had
sat so long, dissolved, of which I was much glad, knowing that
Retiredness is more safe than Business. Periclitatur anima in
negotiis and he that doth vivere sibi must vacare Deo l and con-
sidering I had passed so many Offices with so long practice in
public employments, I now thought it time to seize on Death,
before it seized on me : having learned that the right way to die
well was to live well, and the way to live well in the world was to
die betimes to the world. Upon these meditations I was resolved
to spend the remainder of my days, and not to enter any more
upon public employments ; being then in my Climacterick year of
sixty-three, 2 and ever since have studied artem bene moriendi,
which I found to be better learned by Practice than Precept,
Therefore I beseech God, that by his assisting Grace I may be
brought to such a degree of repentance, that when by the direction
of his holy spirit I shall finish my course in this transitory Life, I
may cheerfully leave this world and resign my soul into his
fatherly hands, in assured confidence that through the Propitiation,
Mediation and Intercession of my alone surety and only Saviour
Christ Jesus, it shall be received into his heavenly kingdom, clothed
with the Robes of his Righteousness, there to rest for ever and to
be filled with the eternal comprehension of his Love and Glory.
1 * See his Epitaph, page [155]. From the phrase vacare Deo, which is repeated
in the Epitaph, it is most probable that he wrote the Epitaph himself.' [E. F.]
- ' A.D. 1679.' [E. F.]
MEMOIKS OF SIR GEORGE COURTHOP 155
APPENDIX 1
N.B. From the Inscription on the Monument in (Whiligh or)
Ticehurst Church it appears that Sir George lived there quietly till
1685. The inscription is as follows:
'Hie juxta situs est Georgius Courthop Eques Auratus qui
Carolo II fidelem quoad vixit operam navavit : In Aula quidem ex
Satellitibus Generosis Unus : in Urbe Commissarius Praediis
alienandis Primarius : Ruri cum Deputatus Locum tenens, turn
Irenarcha : in suprema vero curia Senator ex Populi Delegatis
Amplissimis et Coiisultissimis iterum lectus, ut antedicto Regi
restituendo, sic deinceps ad extremum Vitse spiritum stabiliendo.
Reliquis idem Pietatis et Christiana3 Justitiae muneribus defunctus :
inter ipsa negotia Deo vacavit et exuvias carnis suse prope cineres
Parentum hie juxta reponi vivens curavit.
'Obiit 18 mo Novembris
1685.' 2
2
His lady survived him five years. She is buried at Ticehurst,
and on a flat stone over her remains is the following inscription :
' Here lyeth the body of Dame Elizabeth Wife of Sir George
Courthop of this Parish who departed this life Dec r 18, 1690.
Aged 67.'
3
His Father and Mother were also buried at Ticehurst, and on
a mural monument is the following inscription :
' Hie juxta situs est Georgius Courthop Eques uua cum Uxore
Alicia filia Georgii Rivers Equitis Chaffordias in Agro Cantiano
oriundi.
Obiit Octob: 12, 1642.
'Hoc Monument um debito erga Parentes studio, Georgius
Courthop Eques, filius unicus posuit.
Resurgenius.'
1 By Mr. Ferrers. * ' Aged 69.' [E. P.]
156 MEMOIRS OF SIR GEORGE COURTHOP
4
His eldest Son, 1 who survived him 29 years, was buried at
Ticehurst. The following Inscription is on the Pillar in the
South-west comer of the family pew.
' Near this Place are deposited the Remains of George Courthop
Esq late of Whiligh in this Parish Eldest son of Sir George
Courthop K nt who died Sept r 13 AD. 1714. Aged 68.
' Albinia eldest Daughter of
Sir William Elliott K nt
late of Busbridge in the
county of Surry
His very disconsolate Relict
Erected this Monument
in true affection to his Memory.'
< He left
only one Son the present George Courthop Esq r % 2
And the said Albinia who died June 11, 1717.
Was interred
At her request
In the same grave
With her
Dear Husband.'
The second Daughter of the above-mentioned George Courthop
Esq rc is interred in the chancel belonging to the Family and North
of their pew with this Inscription on a flat stone.
' Here rests the Body of
Frances Courthop
Second Daughter of
George Courthop Esq rr
Of Whiligh in this Parish
Who departed this Life
July 10, 1723
Aged 14 years.'
1 * See page [145], where it appears that this son was married first to the
daughter of Captain Fuller of Waldron in Sussex in 1674 and that she died 1675 '
[E. P.]
2 ' Grandfather to the present possessor of Whiligh, 1801.' - [E. P.]
MEMOIRS OF SIR GEORGE COURTHOP 157
N.B. In Thorpe's ' Registrum Roffense' fol. P. 776, is the
following Epitaph etc. in Meopham Church. [Meopham in the
Deanery of Shoreham and a Peculiar to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury ; but in Rochester Diocese.]
In the chancel on a black marble gravestone is the following
inscription :
1 Here lyeth the Body of Henry Haslen of Meopham Esq re who
married Mary Courthope the daughter of Sir George Courthope
of Whiligh in the county of Sussex Knight and of Dame Elizabeth
his Wife, who had issue by her two Sons and one daughter.
' Obiit 26 Septembris anno Dom 1 1658 l getatis sua? 36.'
1 * 1658. The date cannot be correct : at p. [145] it appears that Sir George
married in 1643 ; and that Mary was his youngest daughter ; but according to
this statement, she would have been a widow at fourteen years of age, even if she,
as the eldest child of Sir George Courthop, had been born in 1644. Query if the
figures should not be reversed, i.e. 1685 instead of 1658.' [E. F.]
Ferrers has (as stated above, p. 145, note) confused the two Mary Courthopes.
Mary, wife of Henry Haslen, was the daughter of the first Sir George Courthope by
his 2nd wife Elizabeth, widow of Edward Hawes. The second Sir George Courthope
married Elizabeth Hawes, daughter of his stepmother by her first husband, and had
by her a daughter Mary, who was unmarried at the date when these memoirs
were written.
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