instance of the Norman name William being attached to that of the village in which the owner of the said name lived. When this early member of the family removed to the Manor of Wessyngton, the surname, so to designate it, became de Wessyngton. This William de Wessyngton fought for the King at the battle of Lewes, in the year 1264. Under the warlike prelate, Beke, the Washingtons probably assisted Edward I in the invasion of Scotland. In their leisure time, hunting and falconry occupied their attention-pastimes they had not forgotten by the time they betook themselves to the Midlands. They were doubtless represented at the storming of Carlaveric Castle, near Dumfries, and we read of Sir Stephen de Wessyngton bearing for his device a golden rose on an azure field at the Dunstable tilt. From Galloway to Neville's Cross, and from Neville's Cross to Calais, this warlike family journeyed. But honour was satisfied by 1400, and a Sir William de Wessyngton was the last to render feudal service. The last of the powerful north country Washingtons died an abbot in 1446. It is interesting to note that his duties took him to Northampton in the year 1426. In process of time the name came to be spelt as it is spelt now; parishes in Durham and Sussex have a similar designation. Lawrence Washington was twice mayor of Northampton, in 1532-3 and 1545-6. He was descended from the Washingtons of Whitfield and Warton, in Lancashire. The pedigree shows that his father, John Washington of Warton, married Mary or Margaret, daughter of Robert Kitson of Warton, and sister of Sir Thomas Kitson, an alderman of the City of London. The arms of Washington are described as "Argent two bars gules, in chief three mullets of the second. Crest: a raven proper, rising from a ducal crown, on a helmet." It is of much interest to observe that the arms of Washington and Kitson are impaled on one of the shields still to be seen. Kitson: sable three trouts haurientupright-in fess argent, a chief or. The interest is still further increased when it is observed that in the Spencer Chapel at Brington, these haurient fishes are to be found impaled with the arms of Spencer, as a daughter of the London alderman married Sir John Spencer, of Althorp. At a later period, the marriage of Mr. William Pargiter, of Gretworth, cousin and nearest neighbour of the Washingtons at Sulgrave, to Mistress Abigail Willoughby, sister of Lord Spencer's deceased wife, still further connected these two important families. The visitor to Sulgrave is advised to leave the train at Malton Pinkney, where he will find himself close to Canon's Ashby, the home of the Drydens, but not the birthplace of John Dryden. It has been already stated that Lawrence Washington was mayor of Northampton in 1532 and 1545. In 1538-9, the Manor of Sulgrave, with lands lately belonging to the dissolved priories of St. Andrew, Northampton, Canon's Ashby, and Catesby were granted to him by the King. His death, in 1584, left Sulgrave in the hands of Robert, his son. He and his son Lawrence sold Sulgrave in 1610. It is uncertain who built the Manor House; it may have been finished by Robert, who sold it. It is conjectured that already the family had begun to retrench somewhat, and that the house was not completed as originally designed. The first illustration shows the Manor House as it now appears; in the porch the bars and mullets of the Washington arms can be discerned, and above are the Royal Arms of Elizabeth's time. From this place many of the heraldic devices now to be found at Fawsley were removed, according to Irving. The hall is now divided into a dairy and a sitting room, and at the east end of it a fire-place, seven feet wide, is to be seen. It is stated that there was formerly an arch, with a porter's lodge over it, but much difficulty arises when one attempts to describe the former appearance of a structure which was not completed according to the original design. The visitor to the Manor House will not leave the neighbourhood until he has seen the church, where he will find the headless effigy of Lawrence Washington, and the incision for Amee, his wife. Above them is a shield of the Washington arms, and below, a group of four sons and seven daughters formerly existed, but these have been stolen. Rubbings of these brasses afford us the information that the four sons were represented in frock coats and knee breeches, and the daughters in long gowns confined by girdles. Amee, the daughter of Robert Pargiter, of Gretworth, was Lawrence Washington's second wife. He died in 1584, having outlived his wife some twenty years. Two of their sons and four of their daughters married. More need not be said of Lawrence Washington, save that he was described as of Gray's Inn, and as a wealthy wool merchant. But the wool trade did not always mean wealth, and, probably, owing to its fluctuations, the time came for the Washington family to leave Sulgrave, and to seek a less ambitious domicile. The kind interest taken in his kinsfolk induced Lord |