STRANGE BRITISH TREASURES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 72

STRANGE BRITISH TREASURES.

If the heirlooms that are so jealously treasured in the stately homes of Britain could only be brought together they would make one of the most fascinating museums in the whole world.

Lord Elgin has among his many ancestral treasures at Broomhal! the very helmet which the valiant Robert Bruce once wore and the hug* two-handed sword which he wielded with such deadly effect in many a hard-fought fray ; while the Douglas banner which floated in the thickest of the fight at Otterburn has come down to our i times through nearly 20 generations of the ! descendants of Archibald Douglas, who bore it so gallantly. The broocn of Lorn, too, which was taken from Robert Brnce at the battle of Dalrigh, hae been preserved ever since at Donelly Castle by the family of M'Dougall. Another most interesting relic of Bruce days is the famous Lee penny, which was the inspiration of Scott's "Talisman." This magical coin, which is a silver groat of Edward IPs time, with a cornelian set in

tawavo ii s lime, wmi a cornelian sei> in it, was brought from the East by Sir Simon Lockhart, and is credited with wonderful powers of healing the sick and curing those who have been bitten by mad dogs. Among the many _ memorials of Sir Francis Drake to be seen in private houses is the very sword which was presented to him by the burgesses of Plymouth, and which now belongs to Sir Francis Elliott Drake of Buckland Abbey. At Buckland Abbe,y, also, are the drum which accompanied the great naval hero on his voyage in the Pelican ; a cocoanut cup mounted in silver gilt, given by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Francis, and also a silver gilt standing dish and cover. At Kimberlcy Hall, the Norfolk seat of Lord Kimberley, are many* valuable memorials of old days, notably the silver hilt of the sword which bis lordship's ancestor, Sir John Wodehouse_. wielded at Agincourt, and a rosary of coral and gold presented to Sir Philip's wife by Queen Catherine of Valois. At Lyme Hall, in Cheshire, is a very ancient bed. with a canopy of carved black wood, in which the Black Prince used to sleep ; at Oxburgh Hall one may look on the bed in which Henry VII was wont to take his rest ; at Nappa Hall, the ancestral Yorkshire seat of the Metcalfes, there is, or was within recent years, a massive fourposter which the beautiful and ill-fated Queen of Scots occupied for a few nights ; and 1 at Sizergh Castle the Stricklands proudly exhibit a magnificent counterpane and toilet cover of the richest white satin embroidered by the hands of Queen Catharine Parr during a visit she paid to the castle as a young girl. The centre of the pattern on both counterpan* and toilet cover is a medallion surrounded by a wreath of natural flowers wrought in twisted silks and bullion ; a spread eagle in bold relief, gorged with the imperial crown, forms the middle, and at each corner is a dragon glowing with purple, crimson, and gold. The colours are almost as fresh and vivid to-day pb when they left the hands of Catharine centuries ago. At Rue. near Bala, are preserved a

knife, fork, and dagger, once the properly of Owen Glendower, the famous Welsh chieftain ; Lord De L'lsle and Dudley has a magnificent two-handed sword- which was once worn by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester ; and the Earl of Pembroke is very proud of the suit of ruseet and gilt armour which his remote predecessor William Earl of Pembroke wore when commanding the English army at the battle of St. Quentin.

Better known, and of exceptional interest, is the ancient glass goblet known the world over as the "Luck of Edenhall," which bears the legend, "When this cup shall break and fall. Farewell the luck of Edenhall," and which has been so long treasured by the Musgraves. A similar heirloom is" the "Luck of Muncaster," a quaint enamelled glass rase, presented by Henry VI to Sir John Feitnington. when he sheltered the King at) Muncaster after the battle of H-exham in 1463; while in the drawing 1 room of Worthington Hall, the seat of the Gurwens, is a small drinking cup of Scotch agate given by Mary Qu-een of Scots- as a parting gift to her friend and host, Sir Henry Curwen. At Hesleyside, Durham, is a very remarkable memorial of past oenturies in the form of a formidable spuf, 6in long, which, we are told, the "lady of the family used to serve upon a dish to her husband and sons, as a* hint that the domestic larder needed replenishing." At Ooksbill House is a wax image of an infant, the last 1 hope of the Pleydells, which is credited with remarkable influence over the fortunes- of the Bbuveries ; and at Matfen one can see tlie Soekburne- falchion, the identical sword wit<b which Convers of Seckburn is said to have slain the Serpent.