Part 39

P. 189. To the pious Memory of C[harles] W[albeoffe] Esquire.

Charles Walbeoffe was a man of considerable importance in Brecknockshire. His name occurs several times in State papers of the period. A petition of his concerning a ward is dated October 12, 1640. (Cal. S. P. Dom., Car. I., 470, 113). He was High Sheriff in 1648 (Harl. MS. 2,289, f. 174), and a fragment of a warrant signed by him on April 17 of that year to Thomas Vaughan, treasurer of the county, for the monthly assessment, is in Harl. MS. 6,831, f. 13. As we might perhaps gather from Vaughan's poem, he does not seem to have taken an active part in the Civil War. He did not, like some other members of his family, sign the Declaration of Brecknock for the Parliament on November 23, 1645 (J. R. Phillips, Civil War in Wales and the Marches, ii. 284). And he seems to have joined the Royalist rising in Wales of 1648. Information was laid on February 10, 1649, that he "was Commissioner of Array and Association, raised men and money, subscribed warrants to raise men against the Parliament's generals, and sat as J.P. in the court at Brecon when the friends of Parliament were prosecuted" (Cal. Proc. Ctee. for Advance of Money, p. 1017). Afterwards he was reconciled, sat on the local Committee for Compositions, and again got into trouble with the authorities. On May 14, 1652, the Brecon Committee wrote to the Central Committee that, being one of the late Committee, he would not account for sums in his hands. He was fined £20. (Cal. Proc. Ctee. for Compositions, p. 578.)

Miss Morgan has copied the inscription on his tombstone in Llanhamlach Church.

"Here lieth the body of Charles Walbeoffe, Esqre., who departed this life the 13th day of September, 1653, and was married to Mary, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Aubrey of Llantryddid, in the county of Glamorgan, Knt., by whom he had issue two sonnes, of whom only Charles surviveth."

Charles Walbeoffe the younger died in 1668, and was succeeded by his cousin John. "This gentleman," says Jones (Hist. of Brecknock, ii., 482), "being of a gay and extravagant turn, left the estate, much encumbered, to his son Charles, and soon after his death it was foreclosed and afterwards sold."

This John Walbeoffe is mentioned in Thomas Vaughan's Diary (cf. vol. ii., p. xxxviii). He may be the writer of the preface to Thalia Rediviva (cf. p. 164, note).

It is possible that the R. W. of another of Vaughan's Elegies may also have been a Walbeoffe. Cf. p. 79, note.

Dr. Grosart was unable to identify the initials C. W. The Walbeoffes, or Walbieffes, of Llanhamlach, the next village to Llansantfread, were among the most important of the Advenae, or Norman settlers of Brecknockshire. They were related, as the following table shows, to the Vaughans of Tretower. The following extract from the genealogy of the Walbeoffes of Llanhamlach is compiled from Harl. MS. 2,289. f. 136b; Jones, History of Brecknockshire, ii., 484; Miss G. E. F. Morgan, in Brecon County Times for May 13, 1887.

William Vaughan of Tretower. | ----------------------- | | Charles. Margaret = John Walbeoffe. | | | +-------------+--------------------+---+ | | | | Thomas = Denise Williams. Charles = Mary, d. of Sir | Robert. | ob. 1653. | Thomas Aubrey | | | of Llantrithid. | | | | Henry. +----------------+ | | | | | +-------+---------+ | Son | | | | | (name unknown.) | Henry. Thomas. W[illiam?] | | | | Charles = Elizabeth, d. and | nat. 1646, matr. h. to Thomas Aubrey | 19, vii., 1661, ob. of Llantrithid. | s.p. 1668. | | +-----------------------+ | John = Catherine Watkins. | John = Susan, d. of Humphry | Howarth of Whitehouse, | Herefordshire. | +----------+------------+ | | Charles. John, Rector of Llanhamlach, nat. 1675, matr. 3, ii., 1696.

P. 193. In Zodiacum Marcelli Palingenii.

Marcellus Palingenius, or Petro Angelo Manzoli, wrote his didactic and satirical poem, the Zodiacus Vitae, about 1535. It was translated into English by Barnabee Googe in 1560-1565. The latest edition of the original is that by C. C. Weise (1832). As we may gather from Vaughan's lines, Manzoli was an earnest student of occult lore. Cf. Gustave Reynier, De Marcelli Palingenii Stellatae Poctae Zodiaco Vitae (1893).

P. 195. To Lysimachus.

Bevis ... Arundel ... Morglay. The allusion is to the Romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton (ed. E. Kölbing, E. E. T. S., 1885). Arundel was Sir Bevis' horse, and Morglay his sword.

P. 197. On Sir Thomas Bodley's Library.

If Vaughan was not himself an Oxford man (Biog. Note, vol. ii., p. xxvi), he may have been in Oxford with the King's troops at the end of August, 1645 (Biog. Note, vol. ii., p. xxxi).

Walsam, Walsingham, in Norfolk, famous for the rich shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, to which many offerings were made.

P. 200. The Importunate Fortune.

I. 105. My purse, as Randolph's was. The allusion is to Randolph's A Parley with his Empty Purse, which begins:

"Purse, who'll not know you have a poet's been, When he shall look and find no gold herein?"

P. 204. To I. Morgan, of Whitehall, Esq.

Whitehall appears to be an Anglicised form of Wenallt, more properly Whitehill. John Morgan, or Morgans, of Wenallt, in Llandetty, was a kinsman of Vaughan's, as the following table (from Harl. MS., 2,289, f. 39) shows:

John Morgans. | Morgan Jones = Frances, d. of Charles | Vaughan of Tretower ________________________|______________ | | John Morgans = Mary, d. to Thomas Anne = Aubrey of Llantrithid. 1. Charles Williams of Scethrog. 2. Hugh Powell, parson of Llansantffread.

P. 211. To the Editor of the Matchless Orinda.

cf. p. 100, note. These lines do not appear in either the 1664 or the 1667 edition of Orinda's poems.

P. 213. Upon Sudden News of the Much Lamented Death of Judge Trevers.

"This was probably Sir Thomas Trevor, youngest son of John Trevor, Esq., of Trevallyn, co. Denbigh, by Mary, daughter of Sir George Bruges, of London. He was born 6th July, 1586. He was made one of the Barons of the Exchequer 12th May, 1625; and was one of the six judges who refused to accept the new commission offered them by the ruling powers under the Commonwealth. He died 21st December, 1656, and is buried at Lemington-Hastang, in Warwickshire." (Dr. Grosart.)

P. 214. To Etesia (for Timander) The First Sight.

I do not think we need look for anything autobiographical in this and the following poems written to Etesia. They are written "for Timander," that is, either to serve the suit of a friend, or as copies of verses with no personal reference at all. The names Etesia and Timander smack of Orinda's poetic circle.