rety
for his good 'aberying' (bearing) of 100 marks. Although this was a very
mild verdict, it infuriated the culprit, whose next step was to shear
the Church lambs, and carry off '11 youes with their lambs'; and on the
Thursday night before the Feast of St. Matthew he, with his son Thomas
and many others, did 'then and there ryottusly assemble theym togeders
to kyll your said orators, leyin awayte,' and the said 'Thomas Gybbys
with a swarde and a bokeler made a sawte' upon John Hals, ' ... so as
the said John Hals was in danger of his lyf and toke the church and
church yerde for his savegard and kept the same by the space of two
hours.' His enforced vigil had the added bitterness that, according to
the complainants, he had had no previous quarrel of any kind with his
assailant. But this demonstration was not enough to satisfy the Gibbses,
and the next Sunday they came again to Rattery 'in manner of a new
insurrection with twenty-three persons and above,' and with such a
fierce aspect that they caused 'great feer and dreed' to their
neighbours, who in alarm of worse to come warned 'your said orators ...
to kepe them absent from their said church and from their divine
service, and so they dyd.' The complainants now evidently felt that the
time for definite action on their part had come, and the case was
eventually carried before the 'Lord Cardinall, Chancellor of England,'
but the account of the proceedings does not give his verdict.

Returning to the river, Dartington Hall, the beautiful home of the
Champernownes, is soon reached. Dartington was originally the gift of
the Conqueror to William de Falaise, and passed through the hands of the
Lords Audley and of John Holland, Duke of Exeter, half-brother of
Richard II, before Sir Arthur Champernowne exchanged for it the lordship
of Polslo, and settled here in the reign of Elizabeth. And now, says
Westcote, 'it glories in the knightly tribe of Champernowne.' Originally
Dartington consisted of two large quadrangles, but one has long been in
ruins. The most striking feature is the hall, which is seventy feet long
and forty feet wide, and has pointed windows, a huge old fireplace, and
a porch with a groined ceiling. This dates from the fourteenth century,
and part of the quadrangle, together with the gateway at the south end,
is early fourteenth-century work.

The Champernownes are a very ancient and distinguished family, though
Prince complains that their 'actions and exploi