heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

254 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
But now to turn our attention to the House of Clifford. The arms,
chequy, or and azure a fesse gules, may be found in several places, viz. :
In Glass. Chapter House: north-west window.
Nave: south side, fifth window east.
Nave: north aisle, eighth window west, on one of the tabards
Choir:
of the figures in the border of the centre light.
south side, sixth window east, with 3 bezants on the fess.
In Stone. North Choir: transept, south side.
Choir: north side, sixth window west.
Not only, however, do the arms thereof adorn our walls and windows,
but the body of one member at least of the family rests within our precincts.
At the east end of the Lady Chapel lies a black marble slab, the remains
of a monument which shattered by the falling beams at the fire which burnt
the greater portion of the choir in 1829 has been lately restored by the
present Duke of Devonshire. Whom does it commemorate ? Frances Clifford.
Truly a lady worthy of our sympathy and our interest, for she was the
widow of Henry the last Earl Clifford, the intimate friend and companion
of Thomas the great Lord Fairfax, whom he playfully addressed as
" Worthy Father Tristram," until the civil war broke out, and even the
staunchest friends were ranged on opposite sides and bitterly estranged
from each other.
And so Lord Clifford Earl of Cumberland "heartily espoused the
" Royal cause, yet not being in any degree active or of a martial tem-
"perament," according to Clarendon; nevertheless, in his cousin Lady
Anne's estimation, he was " a tall and proper man, a good courtier, a brave
"horseman, an excellent huntsman, with good skill in architecture and
"mathematics." In 1643 he came to York, probably to escape from the
disturbed condition of his own country, Craven, and died in one of the
Prebendaries' houses "of a burning fever," that same year. His body was
buried in Skipton church amidst the clash of arms for even there the
;
Roundheads, under General Lambert, were hotly besieging the castle, which
was stoutly held against them for three years under Sir John Mallory,
the governor, a most valiant soldier. In three months his widow followed
him, borne down with sorrow, and by the care and anxiety " which those
" troublous times brought her "
;
and we can understand why, at such a
time, her body was laid here instead of being buried by her husband.
Like many another life, her sorrows seem, perhaps, the greater
because of the bright promise of her early days. She was the daughter
of Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, second son of Queen Elizabeth's
celebrated High Treasurer, Lord Burleigh, and a far more distinguished
man than his elder and half-brother Thomas who succeeded his father.
This Robert rose to be Secretary of State to the virgin Queen, which