, after he had exhausted every means of
gentleness and clemency. The Taw, the Torridge, the Tamar, and the Tavy,
all comprise some form of the same syllable, "Taw"; and "Tamar" is a
corruption of "Taw-meer," which Westcote takes to mean the
river-boundary, "Taw" occurring in the names of the four principal rivers
"of these parts."

There was a Saxon church at Barnstaple, probably on the site of the
present parish church of St. Peter's, and the tithes were given to the
Abbey of Malmesbury. The original ecclesiastic seal bore the seated
figure of King Athelstan. After the Conquest the barony of Barnstaple
(which comprised the church) was given to Judhael of Totnes; from him it
passed to the famous family of Tracy, from them to the Martins (whose
name remains in the little village of Martinshoe, near Lynton), and from
them, again, to the Audleys.

It was a Lord Audley who distinguished himself so greatly in the Battle
of Poitiers, and, as his family were then in possession of Barnstaple, it
appears that the town changed hands frequently in the first three hundred
years after the Conquest. The story told of Lord Audley is that he had
made a vow that he would strike the first stroke in a battle for Edward
III or for his son, and that at Poitiers he fought with such desperate
courage in the forefront of the battle that he was carried off the field
severely wounded. After the battle the Black Prince inquired after him,
and was told that he lay wounded in a litter. "Go and know if he may be
brought hither, or else I will go and see him where he is," said the
Prince; so Audley had his litter taken up by eight of his servants, who
carried him to the Prince's tent. The Prince took him in his arms, and
kissed him, and praised him for the best and most valiant Knight of all
that had fought that day, nor, though the wounded Knight disclaimed it,
would he admit of any refusal, but gave him a yearly grant of 500 marks
out of his own inheritance. Lord Audley, being carried back to his own
tent, summoned his four esquires and divided the gift among them. The
Black Prince, presently hearing of this, had Sir James once more brought
before him, and asked if he did not consider the gift worthy of his
acceptance, or for what other reason he had so disposed of it.

"Sire," said the Knight, "these four esquires have a long time well and
truly served me in many great dangers, and at this present especially, in
such wise that, if they