upied by
the Washingtons when the emigrant brother left them. You will see a
vignette of it on the title-page of the recent English work entitled
"The Washingtons." Over the door are carved the words, "The Lord
giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord;"
while the Parish Register gives a pathetic commentary by showing
that, in the very year when this house was built, a child had been
born and another had died in this family.

The church, originally dedicated to the Virgin, stands at the
northeast angle of the village, and consists of an embattled tower
with five bells, a nave, north and south aisles, a chancel, a
chapel, and a modern porch; the tower is flanked by buttresses of
two stages. The present fabric goes back in its origin to the
beginning of the 14th century, nearly two hundred years before the
discovery of America. The chancel and chapel, where repose the
Spencers and Lawrence Washington, were rebuilt by Sir John Spencer,
the purchaser of the estate, at the beginning of the 16th century.
They afford one of the latest specimens of the Tudor style of
architecture. The church is beautifully situated on the summit of
the highest ground of Brington, and is surrounded by a stone wall
flanked on the inside by trees. Dibdin says that a more complete
picture of a country churchyard is rarely seen. A well-trimmed walk
encircles the whole of the interior, while the fine Gothic windows
at the end of the chancel fill the scene with picturesque beauty.

The Register of the Parish, which is still preserved, commences in
1560. From this it appears that Wm. Proctor was the rector from 1601
to 1627, covering the period of the last of the Washingtons there.
The following further entries occur relating to this family:

1616. "Mr. Lawrence Washington was buried XVth day of December."

1620. "Mr. Philip Curtis & Mis Amy Washington were married August 8."

1622. "Mr. Robert Washington was buried March ye 11th."

---- "Mrs. Elizabeth Washington, widow, was buried March ye 20th."

Of one of the ministers in this church we have an interesting
glimpse in Evelyn's "Memoirs" (vol. i. p. 612), where the following
entry will be found, under date of July, 1688: "Dr. Jeffreys, the
minister of Althorp, who was my lord's chaplain when Embassador