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THE HERALDRY OK YORK MINSTER.
office of Protector, in contravention of the late King's will, which had
designated eighteen executors with equal powers.
Here Elizabeth resided from September 8th to 22nd, and again from
July 25th to 3Oth, 1564, and again in 1568, and received a visit from
Katherine Parr, the house having been settled upon her when princess by
her brother, Edward VI.
But in 1608 a great part of the house was demolished to build the
palace which James I. was erecting at Theobalds that earthly paradise,
in his eyes, for which he had lately exchanged King's Hatfield with Robert
Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, second son of the great Lord Burghleigh.
From 1600 to 1623 it was leased to Lord William Howard. In 1629
it was granted by Charles I. to Edward Ditchfield, and afterwards conveyed
by him to Sir Nicholas Raynton.
In 1660 it was the residence of Dr. Robert Uvedall, master of the
grammar-school, celebrated in those days as a botanist.
As a prophylatic against the plague he used (and apparently with
success) the following " preventive." He " caused a brick to be put into
" the fire overnight, and the next morning, when red-hot, poured a quart
" of vinegar on it, and placed
it in the middle of the hall floor, the steam
" of which was received by the whole family standing round. They then
" went to prayers ; afterwards, locking up the house, walked to Winchmore
" Hill, and on their return went to school. By this precaution not one of
" the family caught the infection."
What still remains of the house is almost obscured from public view
by houses and shops built in front of it, and bears nothing externally
to denote any semblance of the residence of royalty.
The interior preserves some vestiges of its ancient magnificence, viz.,
part of a large room with its fine fretted panels of oak, and its ornamental
ceiling with pendants of four spreading
leaves and enrichments of the
crown, the rose, and the fleur-de-lys and also a
; chimney-piece of stone,
beautifully cut, and supported by Ionic and Corinthian columns, decorated
with foliage and birds, and the rose and portcullis crowned with the arms
of France and England quarterly in a garter, and the royal supporters, a
lion and a dragon. Below is the motto, " Sola salus servire Deo : sunt
" caetera fraudes," with the monogram E. R., clearly that of Edward VI.
Upon another part of the chimney-piece are the words, " Ut ros super
" herbam, est benevolentia regis
"
(" The King's favour is as the dew upon
"the grass" Prov. xix. 12).
Let us say " Amen " to the pious aspiration of the young prince,
and add this, as expressing our sentiment after considering the vicissitudes
of these once great families
"Sic transit gloria mundi."