he Plantagenet Edwards,
who were great encouragers of mercantile adventure, the House of Vipont,
shunning Crecy, Bannockburn, and such profitless brawls, intermarried
with London traders, and got many a good thing out of the Genoese. In
the reign of Henry IV. the House of Vipont reaped the benefit of its
past forbearance and modesty. Now, for the first time, the Viponts
appear as belted knights; they have armorial bearings; they are
Lancasterian to the backbone; they are exceedingly indignant against
heretics; they burn the Lollards; they have places in the household of
Queen Joan, who was called a witch,--but a witch is a very good friend
when she wields a sceptre instead of a broomstick. And in proof of its
growing importance, the House of Vipont marries a daughter of the then
mighty House of Darrell. In the reign of Henry V., during the invasion
of France, the House of Vipont--being afraid of the dysentery which
carried off more brave fellows than the field of Agincourt--contrived to
be a minor. The Wars of the Roses puzzled the House of Vipont sadly. But
it went through that perilous ordeal with singular tact and success.
The manner in which it changed sides, each change safe, and most changes
lucrative, is beyond all praise.

On the whole, it preferred the Yorkists; it was impossible to be
actively Lancasterian with Henry VI. of Lancaster always in prison. And
thus, at the death of Edward IV., the House of Vipont was Baron Vipont
of Vipont, with twenty manors. Richard III. counted on the House of
Vipont, when he left London to meet Richmond at Bosworth: he
counted without his host. The House of Vipont became again intensely
Lancasterian, and was amongst the first to crowd round the litter in
which Henry VII. entered the metropolis. In that reign it married a
relation of Empson's, did the great House of Vipont! and as nobles of
elder date had become scarce and poor, Henry VII. was pleased to make
the House of Vipont an Earl,--the Earl of Montfort. In the reign of
Henry VIII., instead of burning Lollards, the House of Vipont was all
for the Reformation: it obtained the lands of two priories and one
abbey. Gorged with that spoil, the House of Vipont, like an anaconda in
the process of digestion, slept long. But no, it slept not. Though it
kept itself still as a mouse during the reign of Bloody Queen Mary (only
letting it be known at Court that the House of Vipont had strong papal
leanings); though during the reigns of