OF the earlier life of Sir Thomas Audley, the founder of Audley End, or of the family from which he sprang, but little is known. His rise was rapid, as his rapacity was great, and, like others in the very extraordinary times in which he lived, he fawned on his sovereign and preyed on the possessions of others until he had raised himself to a high position. “Thomas Audley,” says a writer in 1711, “being a sedulous student in the law, became Autumne Reader to the Inner Temple, temp. Henry VIII., and was after chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, in the 21st of Henry VIII. In which station (this being the parliament that gave the finishing hand to the dissolution of monasteries) he was so acceptable to the king that he at first made him Attorney of the Duchy of Lancaster, next Serjeant-at-Law, being after the King’s Own Serjeant; and upon the resignation of the Lord Chancellor More, he was knighted, made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and, before the end of the year, Lord Chancellor of England. And the 30th of Henry VIII. sat as Steward upon the arraignment of Henry Courtney, Marquis of Exeter, for endeavouring to advance Cardinal Pole to the crown. And subtilly, at length, obtaining the great Abbey of Walden, in Essex, he was, in the 30th of Henry VIII., created Lord Audley of Walden, and died the 35th of Henry VIII., leaving issue by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, only two daughters his heirs—Mary, who died unmarried; and Margaret, who became his sole heir, first married to the Lord Henry Dudley, and after to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, as second wife, whose son by her, Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, Lord Treasurer of England, built upon the ruines of the abby that stately fabrick at Walden, call’d Audley-End, in memory of this Lord Audley.”

Thomas Audley, who, as has just been stated, was the principal agent in the great work of spoliation, the dissolution of monasteries, was rewarded for his zeal by grant after grant from the spoils, and yet was always, as is shown by his letters, whining and craving for more. The rich priory of Christchurch, Aldgate, London, “with all the church plate and lands belonging to that house, was first granted to him; and afterwards many portions of the estates previously belonging to the lesser religious houses of Essex, with licenses to alienate them, of which he duly availed himself. Thus St. Botolph’s Priory, at Colchester, with all its revenues, the Priory of the Crutched Friars, in the same town, and Tiltey Abbey, near Thaxted, were added to the list of his monastic spoils, after the gifts from the king, in 1538, on Sir Thomas’s application, of the rich Abbey of Walden, with all the estates, manors, and advowsons thereunto attached. He was also created Lord Audley of Walden, and installed a Knight of the Garter. Yet,” says the late Lord Braybrooke, “instead of Audley being contented with these repeated marks of the royal favour, we are compelled to admit that every grant which he obtained encouraged him to importune the king for further recompense; and his letters, preserved in the Cottonian Library, prove that, in making these applications, he was mean enough to plead poverty as an excuse, and even to assert that his character had suffered in consequence of the public services which he had been obliged to perform.”

Lord Audley, at his death in 1544, left two daughters, his co-heiresses; but the younger one dying in 1546, the eldest, Margaret Audley, became sole heiress to the estates. This lady was married twice: first, at the age of fourteen, to Lord Henry Dudley, younger brother to Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, by whom she had no issue; and secondly, in 1557, to Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, as his second wife. She thus, the daughter of one of the most aspiring men of the time, became allied to the two most powerful and ambitious families in the kingdom—those of Northumberland and Howard. By this second marriage, Margaret Audley (who died when only at the age of twenty-three) became the mother of two sons—Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards created Earl of Suffolk, of whom we shall speak presently, and Lord William Howard, ancestor of the Earls of Carlisle, &c.—and two daughters, Elizabeth, who died in her infancy, and Margaret, who became the wife of Robert Sackville, Earl of Dorset.

The elder of these sons, Thomas Howard, inherited Audley End and the other family estates from his mother. Having, by Act of Parliament, 27th of Elizabeth, been restored in blood, he was, in 1588, knighted for his gallant behaviour in the engagement with the Spanish Armada, and in 1597 was created Baron Howard of Walden. “He was a brave sea officer, and successively employed upon many trying occasions, sometimes as chief, sometimes as second in command, during that reign, and in particular contributed greatly to the reduction of the town and castle of Cadiz.” In 1597 he was installed Knight of the Garter, and, according to some accounts, was made Constable of the Tower. On the accession of James I., Lord Howard was, in 1603, sworn a Privy Councillor, created Earl of Suffolk, and made one of the Commissioners for the office of Earl Marshal. In 1608 he was appointed Lord Chamberlain, and in 1614 Lord High Treasurer of England. He it was who, with Lord Monteagle, made the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot while performing the routine business pertaining to his office of Lord High Chamberlain on the 4th of November, 1605.

Lord Suffolk was married twice: first, to Mary, sister and co-heiress of Thomas, Lord Dacres of Gillesland, by whom he had no issue; and, secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Knevett, of Charlton, and widow of Richard, eldest son of Lord Rich, by whom he had four daughters—viz. Elizabeth, who married successively William Knolles, Earl of Banbury, and Edward, Lord Vaux; Frances, married first to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, from whom she was divorced, and next to Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, Margaret; and Catherine, married to William Cecil, Earl of Salisbury—and eight sons, viz. Theophilus, who succeeded him; Sir Thomas, who was created Earl of Berkshire, and is the direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire—the earldom of Suffolk having reverted to this branch in 1733—whose descendants later on succeeded to the titles; Henry, who married Elizabeth Bassett, of Blore, by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth, who became successively the wife of Sir John Howard, of Swarkeston, in Derbyshire, and of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle; Sir Charles; Sir Robert, “a gallant cavalier soldier, was but too notorious in his own day for his intrigue with the Viscountess Purbeck, the beautiful and ill-assorted daughter of the Chief Justice Coke;” Sir William; Sir John; and Sir Edward, who was created Baron Howard of Escrick.

The first Earl of Suffolk built the magnificent mansion of Audley End, over which he is stated to have expended the enormous sum, for those days, of more than £190,000. It is said of him that although he had, from his many high and lucrative offices and his large estates, more ample means of displaying his magnificence than had any of his ancestors, he eclipsed them all in extravagance and show. His wife, Lady Suffolk, too, “was unfortunately a woman of a covetous mind, and having too great an ascendancy over her husband, used it in making him a party to her extortions on persons who had business to transact at the Treasury, or places to obtain at Court; and her husband was charged with embezzlement, deprived of his office, and fined £30,000, but which was reduced by the King to £7,000. He was generally considered to have been chiefly guilty in concealing the malpractices of his wife, who eventually died in debt and difficulty.” Probably one great reason for these things being laid to his charge was that, through having for a son-in-law the fallen and disgraced courtier Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, he had become obnoxious to the new favourite, Buckingham, through whose influence it appears he and his countess were, for a short time, committed to the Tower. He died at Suffolk House (where Suffolk Street, Strand, now stands), in 1626, and was buried at Walden. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Theophilus Howard (who during his father’s lifetime had been summoned to Parliament as Lord Howard of Walden) as second Earl of Suffolk. He was a Knight of the Garter, Lord Warden, Chancellor, and Admiral of the Cinque Ports, Constable of Dover Castle, &c., and married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of the Earl of Dunbar, by whom he had issue four sons and five daughters, three of the sons becoming successively Earls of Suffolk.

He was succeeded by his son James (third Earl of Suffolk), who, like his father, for a time resided at Audley End in quiet retirement. The cost of the building had so greatly involved the first earl that, at the time of his committal to the Tower, he was about £40,000 in debt, although he had then but recently sold the Charter House to Mr. Sutton for £13,000, and his property at Aynhoe, in Northamptonshire, for a considerable sum. The charges thus entailed on the estate, and the cost of maintaining it, so affected his successors that they were unable to support an establishment commensurate with the size and magnificence of the house. After the Restoration, Earl James, therefore, gladly took the opportunity which offered of selling the park and mansion of Audley End to the King, Charles II.

The purchase-money of this estate (which, as already stated, in building alone had cost £190,000) was £50,000, of which but £30,000 was paid by the King, the remaining £20,000 being left on mortgage. This was in 1666, and in 1670 the Court was regularly established at Audley End; the Queen very frequently resided there; and, being convenient for Newmarket, festivities were kept up on a large scale.

After the sale of the house, the Earl of Suffolk and his successor, the fourth earl, resided in comparative retirement, Audley End being, by the King, “committed to the charge of one of the family, who held the office of housekeeper and keeper of the wardrobe, with a salary; and this arrangement continued till 1701, when the house and park were reconveyed” back to the Suffolk family. The £20,000 left on mortgage continued unpaid by the King at the revolution of 1688, “nor is it clear that any interest had ever been paid upon it” during the many years it had remained. In 1701, therefore, the demesne was, as just stated, conveyed back to the Howards, the fifth Earl of Suffolk, on receiving it, relinquishing his claim on the Crown for the debt.

James, the third Earl of Suffolk, already spoken of, married, first, Susan, daughter of the Earl of Holland, by whom he had an only daughter, Essex, married to Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke; secondly, Barbara, daughter of Sir Edward Villiers and widow of Sir Richard Wenman, by whom he had a daughter, who became the wife of Sir Thomas Felton; and, thirdly, to Anne, daughter of the Earl of Manchester, by whom he had no issue. Dying in 1688, he was succeeded by his brother, George Howard, as fourth earl, who enjoyed the title only three years; when, dying without surviving male issue, he was succeeded by his brother, Henry Howard, as fifth earl. This nobleman married twice: first, Mary, daughter of Lord Castle Stewart, by whom (besides a daughter) he had three sons—Henry, Edward, and Charles—who each successively became Earl of Suffolk; and, secondly, the widow of Sir John Maynard, by whom he had no issue. He died in 1709, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Howard, created in his father’s lifetime Baron Chesterford and Earl of Bindon, who was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles William, as seventh Earl of Suffolk, and second Earl of Bindon and Baron of Chesterford. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Astrey, but had no issue; and, dying in 1721-2, the titles of Baron of Bindon and Earl of Chesterford became extinct, while those of Earl of Suffolk and Baron Howard of Walden passed to his father’s brother Edward, and, at his death, to his brother Charles, as ninth earl. He dying in 1733, left one only son, Henry Howard, who thus became tenth Earl of Suffolk. This tenth earl married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Irwin, but died without issue in 1745, his widow afterwards becoming the wife of Viscount Falkland.

On the death of the tenth earl, the title of Earl of Suffolk, &c., passed to his distant relative, Henry Bowes Howard, Earl of Berkshire, Viscount Andover, &c., who, descended from Sir Thomas Howard, second son of the first Earl of Suffolk, was direct ancestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, the barony of Howard de Walden remaining in abeyance between the descendants of the two co-heiresses of the third earl.

These were, as already shown, Essex, wife of Edward, Lord Griffin of Braybrooke, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Felton. The representatives of the elder of these were the Hon. Elizabeth Griffin, married, first, to Henry Neville Grey, and, secondly, to the Earl of Portsmouth; and her sister, Ann, wife of William Whitwell. Lady Portsmouth having no issue by either of her husbands, the real descent lay with the son of Mrs. Whitwell, in whose favour the abeyance terminated, and who thus became Lord Howard of Walden. The possession of the Audley End estates was disputed by Thomas Howard, second Earl of Effingham, who claimed under a settlement in his favour, made by the seventh Earl of Suffolk, who, however, having been proved to have himself only been a tenant for life, the claim was disallowed, and the estates passed to Lady Portsmouth, from whom, by bequest, they ultimately came to John Griffin Whitwell, Lord Howard of Walden.

This nobleman was created Baron Braybrooke in 1788, with remainder to his relative, Richard Neville, whose father, Richard Aldworth, was maternally descended from the Nevilles; and, dying without issue, the title of Lord Howard of Walden passed to a distant descendant of that family. He was succeeded, as second Baron Braybrooke, in 1797, by this Richard Neville, who assumed the name of Griffin. He married, in 1780, Catherine, daughter of the Right Hon. George Grenville, who was maternally descended from Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk, and sister of the first Marquis of Buckingham, and had by her, besides other issue, the Hon. Richard, who succeeded him, and who, by arrangement with the deceased peer’s only sister and heiress (wife of the Rev. Dr. Parker), obtained immediate possession of the mansion and unentailed portion of the estate, the other portion coming to him at the death, without issue, of that lady.

Richard, third Baron Braybrooke, born in 1783, succeeded his father in 1825, and married the Lady Jane, eldest daughter of Charles, Marquis Cornwallis, by whom he had issue five sons—Richard Cornwallis Neville, Charles Cornwallis Neville, Henry Aldworth Neville, Rev. Latimer Neville (now Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, and heir-presumptive to the title), and Grey Neville—and three daughters. Lord Braybrooke was well known as the author of the “History of Audley End,” and as the editor of the “Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys.” He was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard Cornwallis Neville (better known as the Hon. R. C. Neville), as fourth Baron Braybrooke. This nobleman, who was born in 1820, was an eminent antiquary, and was author of several important works. He was educated at Eton, and in 1837 entered the army, serving in Canada till 1838. Ill-health, which continued throughout his life, compelled him to retire from the army in 1841, and he devoted himself thenceforward to the study of history and antiquities. He became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a member of other learned bodies, and contributed many papers to the ArchÆologia and to the Transactions of the ArchÆological Association and Institute. Having undertaken and carried out some important excavations at Chesterford, &c., he published his “Antiqua Explorata,” which afterwards he followed by another volume, “Sepulchra Exposita.” In 1852 he issued his great work, “Saxon Obsequies;” and, later still, the “Romance of the Ring; or, the History and Antiquity of Finger Rings.” His lordship married, in 1852, the Lady Charlotte Sarah Graham Toler, sixth daughter of the second Earl of Norbury (who afterwards married Frederick Hetley, Esq., and died in 1867), by whom he left two daughters, and, dying in 1861, was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. Charles Cornwallis Neville, the present peer.

Charles Cornwallis Neville, fifth Baron Braybrooke, was born in 1823, and educated at Eton and at Magdalen College, Cambridge, of which he is Hereditary Visitor. In 1849 he married the Hon. Florence Priscilla Alicia Maude, third daughter of the third Viscount Hawarden, by whom he has issue one daughter, the Hon. Augusta Neville, born 1860. The heir-presumptive to the title is, therefore, his brother, the Rev. Latimer Neville, Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Rochester, who is married to Lucy Frances, eldest daughter of John Le Marchant, Esq., by whom he has issue.

Lord Braybrooke is patron of seven livings—viz. Arborfield, Waltham St. Lawrence, and Wargrave, in Berkshire; Shadingfield, in Sussex; and Littlebury, Saffron Walden, and Heydon, in Essex. His arms are—quarterly, first and fourth, gules, on a saltire, argent, a rose of the field; second and third, or, fretty, gules, on a canton of the first, a lymphad, sable. Crests—first, a rose, seeded and barbed, proper; second, out of a ducal coronet, or, a bull’s head; third, a portcullis, proper. Supporters—two lions reguardant, argent, maned, sable, gorged with wreaths of olive, proper. Motto—“Ne vile velis.”

The history of Audley End has been pretty fully told in the history of the families to whom it has belonged; but little, therefore, need be added. The architect of the mansion has been variously stated to be Bernard Jansen and John Thorpe, but the weight of evidence seems to be in favour of the latter. Regarding the house itself, and especially the “admirable drink” kept in the cellar, we have two striking pictures written by “quaint old Pepys” in 1659-60 and 1667. “Up by four o’clock,” he says on the 27th February, “Mr. Blayton and I took horse and straight to Saffron Walden, where, at the White Hart, we set up our horses, and took the master of the house to show us Audley End House, who took us on foot through the park, and so to the house, where the housekeeper showed us all the house, in which the stateliness of the ceilings, chimney-pieces, and form of the whole was exceedingly worth seeing. He took us into the cellar, where we drank most admirable drink, a health to the king. Here I played on my flageolette, there being an excellent echo. He shewed us excellent pictures; two especially, those of the Four Evangelists, and Henry VIII. After that I gave the man 2s. for his trouble and went back again. In our going, my landlord carried us through a very old hospital, or almshouse, where forty poor people was maintained; a very old foundation: and over the chimney-piece was an inscription in brass, ‘Orate pro anim ThomÆ Bird,’ &c., and the poor-box also was on the same chimney-piece, with an iron door and locks to it, into which I put 6d. They brought me a draft of their drink in a brown bowl tipt with silver,[45] which I drank off, and at the bottom was a picture of the Virgin and the Child in her arms, done in silver. So we went to our Inn, and after eating of something, and kissed the daughter of the house, she being very pretty, we took leave, and so that night, the road pretty good, but the weather rainy, to Epping, where we sat and played a game at cards, and after supper and some merry talk with a playne bold mayde of the house we went to bed.” Again, in 1667, he says: “I and my wife and Willet (the maid), set out in a coach I have hired with four horses, and W. Hewer and Murford rode by us on horseback; and before night come to Bishop’s Stortford. Took coach to Audley End, and did go all over the house and gardens; and mighty merry we were. The house indeed do appear very fine, but not so fine as it hath heretofore to me; particularly, the ceilings are not so good as I always took them to be, being nothing so well wrought as my Lord Chancellor’s are; and though the figure of the house without be very extraordinary good, yet the stayre-case is exceeding poore; and a great many pictures, and not one good one in the house but one of Henry VIII., done by Holbein; and not one good suit of hangings in all the house, but all most ancient things, such as I would not give the hanging up of in my house; and the other furniture, beds, and other things, accordingly. Only the gallery is good, and above all things the cellars, where we went down and drank of much good liquor. And indeed the cellars are fine: and here my wife and I did sing to my great content. And then to the garden, and there eat many grapes, and took some with us; and so away thence exceeding well satisfied, though not to that degree that by my old esteem of the house I ought and did expect to have done, the situation of it not pleasing me; thence away to Cambridge, and did take up at the Rose.”

Evelyn, who wrote a little before Pepys—in 1654—says he “went to Audley End, and spent some time in seeing that goodly palace, built by Howard, Earl of Suffolk, once Lord Treasurer. It is a mixed fabric ‘twixt ancient and modern, but observable for its being completely finished; and it is one of the stateliest palaces in the kingdom. It consists of two courts, the first very large, winged with cloisters. The front hath a double entrance; the hall is faire, but somewhat too small for so august a pile; the kitchen is very large, as are the cellars, arched with stone, very neat, and well disposed. These offices are joyned by a wing out of the way very handsomely. The gallery is the most cheerful, and, I think, one of the best in England; a faire dining-roome and the rest of the lodginges answerable, with a pretty chapel. The gardens are not in order, though well inclosed; it has also a bowling-alley, and a nobly walled, wooded, and watered park. The river glides before the palace, to which is an avenue of lime-trees; but all this is much diminished by its being placed in an obscure bottom. For the rest it is perfectly uniform, and shows without like a diadem, by the decoration of the cupolas and other ornaments on the pavilions. Instead of railings and ballusters, there is a bordure of capital letters, as was lately also in Sussex House.”

In 1721, on the advice of that man of little taste, Sir John Vanbrugh the architect, the three sides of the grand quadrangle, which formed so magnificent an entrance to this splendid mansion, were destroyed, along with the kitchen and offices, which were behind the north wing. The chapel and cellars, which projected from the gallery wing at each end, soon shared the same fate. The inner court thus was alone allowed to remain untouched, and the mansion was confined to one hollow square. In 1747 the house was in a state of dilapidation, and projects were set on foot both for pulling it down, and for converting it into a silk manufactory. Two years later, the eastern wing, whose feature was the magnificent gallery, was pulled down. The house was, at an enormous expense, restored, repaired, and made habitable by the first Lord Braybrooke, and, though there remains but a small portion of the original edifice, it is yet a noble and stately building.

We have left ourselves scant space for a description of the noble and very beautiful house, one of the best of those of the Elizabethan era that time has left us, though it is not now as it was when Evelyn pictured it in the quotation we have given; but the gardens are charmingly kept, and have been laid out with taste and skill; the classic river Cam runs in front, and it is here of considerable breadth, Art having utilised the small stream, and made what is technically termed “a sheet of ornamental water;” it is also used to supply fountains and jets d’eau in various parts of the grounds.

The house is distant about a mile from the pretty and picturesque town of Saffron Walden, whose Church holds rank among four of the most perfect examples in Great Britain; and close to it is a Museum containing much that is deeply interesting—many specimens of the earliest races by whom this island was inhabited in the pre-historic ages.

We give several engravings of the house; one of its principal Lodge, one of its attractive Gardens, and one of a comparatively modern structure in the grounds, called the Temple of Concord, built, it is said, to commemorate the recovery of George III. from his first afflicting illness.

Before we reach the house, proceeding from the Audley End station, we may pause awhile to examine the Abbey Farm-buildings and a square of venerable and very comfortable Almshouses, in which “nine old ladies” are passing in ease the residue of their lives—blessing, as we bless, the lord who founded them.

The grand feature of the house is the Hall: it is not, as Evelyn thought it was, “somewhat too small,” but is finely proportioned, in some parts admirably carved, and it contains many portraits—among others that of the founder and his wife and daughter. The ceilings throughout the mansion are of much beauty, and, besides several grand examples of the ancient masters and “throngs” of family portraits, there are some rare specimens of china. There are other curious relics—among them the chair of Alexander Pope, and the carved oak head of Cromwell’s bed, converted into a chimney-piece.

Audley End is not often visited: it is somewhat out of the highway of England, but of a surety it will largely repay those who love Nature and appreciate Art, and who rejoice that one of the grandest and most beautiful of our landmarks of family history is yet in its perfection and thoroughly “well cared for.”