foils or; Cobham impaling Bardolf; Az. a winged dragon, argent; Gules, a lion rampant, argent. The lady's head is enveloped in a widow's wimple, or hood, plaited at the edges, and folded below the chin, and descending to the breast, and is laid upon a pillow, semée with cinque foils or, and supported by two angels with golden wings and hair. The knight is represented without beard or moustachios of any kind; unlike his grandfather, who has a small moustachio, but no beard. He has a ring of a different pattern on each finger, except the little finger of the left hand.

The inscription has long since been lost; but, fortunately, I have been able to supply it from the manuscript note in the Heralds' College, before alluded to. It was as follows:

“Orate pro animabus Reginaldi Cobham militis, et Annae, consortis sue, fundatorum hujus Collegii."

His wife, who survived him, is thus clearly designated as one of the founders of the college, and this is confirmed by an entry in the Patent Rolls of 24th, 25th, 26th of Henry VI., relating to an endowment (which must have been made immediately after her husband's death), and from which it appears, that she, with others, gave to the warden and chaplains of the college of St. Peter, in Lingfield, the manors of Hexted and Bylyshersh, with other lands in Lingfield.

According to Sir Wm. Segar's "MS. Baronage," it would seem, that this knight left six children by his first marriage; viz.: Elizabeth, the wife of Lord Strange of Knocking; Margaret, the wife of Reginald Courtays; Reginald; Eleanor, the wife of Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester; Ann, a nun at Barking, and Sir Thomas Cobham, Knight. Vincent, in his "MS.

VII. Profile of Mouldings, from Tomb of Reginald, 1st Lord Cobham.

Baronage," also gives the same account, except that he makes Margaret the wife of Reginald Courtney. So far as the daughter Margaret is concerned, however, these accounts are incorrect; for, as we have already seen, the wife of Reginald Courtays was this knight's sister, and not his daughter.

THE SECOND SIR REGINALD COBHAM, KNIGHT,
OF STERBOROUGH.

THIS Reginald Cobham, the eldest son of Sir Reginald, by his marriage with Eleanor, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, died in his father's lifetime. It appears that he was knighted in the fourth year of Henry VI., and the occasion on which this ceremony took place was a singular one. The Duke of Gloucester and his uncle, the Cardinal Beaufort, had long been engaged in that fierce strife which, having lasted more than twenty years, ended only with the duke's life, and which not only wrought such vast mischief to the realm, but contributed to the downfall of the house of Lancaster. At this time they had agreed to refer all their disputes to arbitration, and thus a short and insincere reconciliation was effected. They shook hands in the presence of the king and of the parliament, on Whitsunday, at Leicester, the king being then five years of age. of age. Upon this event great rejoicings ensued, the king himself was knighted by the Duke of Bedford, many promotions were made in the peerage, and several gentlemen were knighted, and, amongst others, this Reginald, and also Sir John Chideoke, probably his wife's brother. According to Sir William Segar's account, he married Thomasine, the daughter of Sir Ralph Chideoke, Knight, and left one daughter, Mar

garet, who married Ralph Neville, earl of Westmoreland, and died without leaving issue, having had one child, a daughter, Margaret, who died in infancy. I have been unable to discover where this knight was buried, or whether he left any will.

SIR THOMAS COBHAM OF STERBOROUGH, KNIGHT.

UPON the death of his father, in 1446, his second son, Sir Thomas Cobham, succeeded to the family estates, or at least to that portion of them which was situate in this county. It does not appear that he took any active part in the public affairs of his time. From the connections and traditional politics of his family, he was doubtless attached to the house of Lancaster, and thus would not find much favour in Edward IV.'s reign; while the untimely fate of his wife's first husband would probably deter him from taking part in the plots which were then so rife. He married Anna, the widow of Aubrey de Vere, who, with his father John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was beheaded in the first year of Edward IV., and with him was buried in the church of the Augustine Friars, London. This lady was the daughter of Humphry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and her brother, Sir Henry Stafford, Knight, was the second husband of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII. In this way the Cobhams again became connected with the house of Lancaster. Sir Thomas Cobham died between April and July, 1471, leaving his wife and a daughter Anne, and also a bastard son, Reginald Cobham (whom in his will he describes as a nephew of Gervase Clifton), surviving him. It appears from his own will, as well as from