DEVISED AND GRANTED BY MONTE SANTO, DEVON HERALD, A.D. 1823.

I had at this time the pleasure of being acquainted with a young lady on whom Dame Nature had bestowed much personal beauty and agreeability of manners. From her father, to whom she was an only child, she inherited considerable property and the name of Physicke.

My fair friend requested me to ascertain her armorial bearings:

but, as I was unable to discover that any heraldic cognizances had ever been borne by a Physicke of any sort, kind, or degree, I devised and granted as follows, "To be Revested to Her Honner, and to her Posteritée for evermore: "—

PHYSICKE OF DEVON AND LINCOLNSHIRE.

ARMS:

Gules, on a fesse engrailed sable, between three vials argent, labelled MORNING, NOON, NIGHT, a pair of scales between an hourglass and a drinking-cup, all or; in chief a pile azure, gouttée de sang.

CREST:

A mortar and pestle of the third, with the serpent of Hygea crowned of the last, issuant, vert.

MOTTO:

Bibe Et Vive.

MEMORANDUM.-The strict and correct rule of heraldry, viz. colour on metal, or, metal on colour, was dispensed with in this grant, to attain a greater Physicke-al conformity of art and nature.

Inquiring for the armorial bearings of Wrixon, I had them defined to me in writing by what I may term the heraldry of sight; and, as a curiosity not to be met with on Bennet's Hill, I subjoin a copy of the original MS.

"A green field.

"Three red-hot cannon-balls and the roof of a house-the Arms. "A stag's head-the Crest.

"The Motto-Vincit qui patitur: He

conquers who

perseveres.

"1350 the year.

ARMS OF WRIXON."

SAINTHILL OF SAINTHILL, DEVON.

[In looking over a bundle of papers I found this Fragment, March, 1848.—R. S.]

Risdon, who wrote in the reign of Charles the First, in speaking of Bradninch, Devon, says, "In this parish is St. Hill seated: descended from the Norman line." We cannot suppose so learned an author, as Risdon undoubtedly was, and writing at a period when these subjects were most jealously investigated, to have advanced this as a mere assertion. It is, nevertheless, to be regretted that he did not refer to his authorities, for his opinion, though entitled to very great credit, might not be absolutely decisive in a Court of Heraldry. General tradition certainly ranked the family as of Norman descent; for in a party philippic written to ridicule the Royalist head of the house, and which will be subsequently quoted,* this is admitted as a matter of common notoriety. On a reference to the Battle Abbey Roll, we find many of those reputed to have come over with the Conqueror bearing names which are not very unlike such as this family probably bore at that time; but there are not any which can positively be said to be the Norman root referred to by old Risdon: and when we remember what swarms gradually followed the settlement of the Norman Princes in England, the chances are greater that the founder of the Sainthills came over subsequently. That they were settled in Devonshire at a very early period there can be no doubt, for in the Harleian MS. No. 6126, in the British Museum, relating to tenures in the reign of Edward the Second, it is mentioned that the manor of Sweynthull was then held by the Abbot of Dunkeswelle; † and it appears to have remained attached to the abbey to its dissolution. (Oliver's Monasteries in Devon, page 76, where in the list "Abbas de Donkeswell habet Apud Sengetel" is that in question.) Now a considerable time is likely to have elapsed between the family giving its name to or

* See Olla Podrida, p. 300.

See Olla Podrida, p. 310.

taking it from a place, and the domain itself passing into the hands of the Church or others. The hamlet is situated in the parish of Kentisbeare, near Collumpton, and still bears the name of Upper and Lower Sainthill. The former is now the property of Dickenson, Esq. and the latter of Miss Turner.

In the reign of Edward the Second, we find (Pole's Devon, p. 133) that "Walter Sweinthill, a man learned in the lawe," had his residence at Honyton, which place he left to his daughter Jone, who married William Henton. Her uncle Reginald de Sweinthill left her also Wadheys, in Aulescombe, which we are informed by the Harleian MS. No. 2410, p. 31, had been conveyed to him by Henry de Botelier, in the time of Edward the First. The issue of the marriage of William de Heanton, of Old Port, is stated by Pole to have been a daughter, Jone, who married Richard Malduit, called Somaister.

The above mentioned Sir Walter de Sweinthill, with Thomas Gervais, represented the city of Exeter, in the fifth Parliament of King Edward the Second, held at Westminster (Willis's Not. Parliam. vol. ii. p. 269); and in the reign of King Edward the Third, he represented the county of Devon in eight different Parliaments.

What armorial bearings the early Sweynthulls bore, I am not as yet able to say. A question has arisen, from a similarity of the component parts of the arms borne by the Cantelupes, Lords of Bergavenny (Gules, a fesse vaire between three fleurs-de-lis issuing from three leopard's heads or.-Vide Banks's Extinct Baronage) to those subsequently granted the Sainthills by Henry the Eighth, A.D. 1546 (though this was rather an augmentation than a grant) whether these families were not from the same stock? My opinion is against the supposition. I am inclined to conjecture that the early Sweynthulls bore a shield, Or, semée de fleurs-de-lis, and a fesse engrailed azure. Edmondson, in his Heraldry, gives the arms of the Sainthills of Devonshire, and which probably refers to about the time of Henry the Fifth or Sixth, Or, on a fesse, between three fleurs-de-lis azure, as many besants; on a chief of the second an orle of demi fleurs-de-lis of the first. And subsequently he describes the arms of Sainthill of Sainthill, Or, on a chevron engrailed azure, between three leopard's heads gules, as many

besants, each charged with a fleur-de-lis of the second; in chief, on a pile azure three fleurs-de-lis of the first. Crest, out of a ducal coronet or, two wivern's heads indorsed vert. The only difference in the grant of 1546 is, that a fesse replaces the chevron, and the wiverns are en contrant instead of being indorsed. Elven's Heraldry (Hatchard, 12mo. 1815) makes the same distinction of crests: Seinthill indorsed; Seinthill en contrant. But the most ancient bearing of the Sainthills I have met with is in the Harleian MS. No. 1091, pp. 33, 34, Or, on a fesse between three fleurs-de-lis B. three besants, a pile in chief voided. Edmondson also gives an early bearing, Or, on a fesse between three fleurs-de-lis azure as many besants, on a chief gules, fretty of the first, three fleurs-de-lis of the last. These different coats are probably merely the gradual increase of the charges on the shield, as the ancient simplicity grew out of fashion. Towards the reign of Edward the Fourth, the Sainthills would appear to have again settled at the manor of that name. The Heraldic visitations, which are now more frequent, all mention Richard Sainthill of Sainthill. He may have rented the manor from the Abbey of Dunkeswell, or recovered it on the dissolution of the abbey, or, what I think more probable, the heralds recognise in the designation Sainthill of Sainthill the ancient connection between the family and the manor. In Kentisbeare Church, near the pew belonging to the manor, is a gravestone supposed to be his. In a recent visit to the church, I found I could not decypher the inscription without removing the gravestone into the light, and before I could obtain permission to do so, I was obliged to leave Bradninch.

Cork, July, 1824.

RICHARD SAINTHILL.