Crest. On a wreath, a gryphon's head, couped Or, its beak and wings, Sable.

Supporters. On the dexter side a triton, holding over his right shoulder a trident, all proper, his Eastern crown, Or: on the sinister a parrot, with wings disclosed, Vert.

Motto. POST TOT NAUFRAGIA PORTUM.

Chief Seat. At Hinchingbroke castle, in the county of Huntingdon.

THE first who laid the foundation of supporting the honour which afterwards his descendants obtained, was Sir WILLIAM Capel, Knight; Lord Mayor of London, A. D. 1503, second son of John Capel, of Stoke Neyland, in com. Suff. Esq. descended from an ancient family, who were lords of the manor of Capel in that county for several ages.c

b

The said John Capel, of Stoke-Neyland, Esq. made his will on April 1449, and died the same year (the probate bearing date June 14th) leaving, by Joan his wife, three sons and a daughter, all in their minority.

JOHN, the eldest, had the estate in Suffolk.

Of his second son, Sir WILLIAM, it is recorded, that Sir Richard Empson and Sir Edmund Dudley, emissaries of Henry VII. did,d under colour of justice, draw and extort from him the sum of 16007. to enrich the treasury in the Exchequer, and demanded a like sum some years after, under pretence that in his mayoralty he did not duly punish the party that had been accused before him for coining false money; though he was indeed guilty

a Stow's Survey of London, p. 576.

b Sir Richard de Capel was lord justice of Ireland in the year 1261. Sir John Capel was + chaplain to Lionel Duke of Clarence; which Duke, by his will, gave him a girdle of gold to make a chalice in memory of him, and to pray for his soul.

And of the manor of Stanton, near Bury, Suff. from very remote antiquity. d Stow's Annals, p. 479.

* Cox's Hist of Ireland, p. 69.
+ Barnes's Hist. of Edw. III. p. 720.

of no other fault, but that God had filled his coffers: wherefore knowing his own innocence, he refused to pay the last 20007. for which Dudley and Empson committed him to the Tower, where he remained till the death of the King, which happened on April 22d, the same year, 1509. He was then discharged out of prison, and from his illegal fine; and Dudley was committed for his great oppressions, which soon after cost him and Empson their heads. This Sir William was knighted on December 17th, 1485, and served in parliament for the city of London in 7 Hen. VII. also in the parliaments which met on January 15th, 1512, and December 12th, 1514.

It is supposed that he was an inhabitant of the parish of St. Bartholomew behind the Royal Exchange, because he added a chapel or chantry to that church; and it is also very probable, that he had his mansion on that spot, which after the dreadful conflagration was rebuilt in the form of a court, after his name, but was afterwards successively called Ship-yard and Black Swan-court, on account of the signs hung out at the end of it, till the year 1764, when it recovered its original name of Capel-court.

Sir William married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Arundel, of Lanhern in Cornwall, Knight, ancestor to the Lords Arundel, of Wardour and Trerise, and by her had issue

Giles, his son and heir, and two daughters.

Elizabeth, married to William Paulett, first Marquis of Winchester; and Dorothy, to John, Lord Zouch, of Harringworth.

He died on September 6th, 1515, and was buried in the chapel on the north side of St. Bartholomew's-church, near the Royal Exchange in London.

Sir GILES, his son and heir, who had his residence at Raineshall in Essex, was knighted for his valour at the sieges of Teroven and Tournay, and the action that ensued on August 18th, in 5 Hen. VIII. at Guinegaste, commonly called the battle of spurs. He waited on the King in 1520, in that expedition into France, where he, with others, challenged all gentlemen there in feats of arms for four days; and was constituted sheriff of the counties of Hertford and Essex in the 20th of Hen. VIII. He attended

h

d Stow's Annals, p 486.

e He is called Foulk in the Visitation of Hertfordshire, anno 1634.

f Stow's Survey, p. 191.

Jekyll's Cat. of Knights, MS.
i Fuller's Worthies.

Stow's Ann. p. 509.

* Stow's Ann. p. 560.

that King again in the twenty-fourth year, in another expedition to Calais, and thence to Boulogne, where, in the way, at Sadingfield, the French monarch met the King of England. In 36 Hen. VIII. he was charged with providing twelve men for his Majesty's service in his wars. This Sir Giles married Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Ross, younger son to William Lord Ross of Belvoir; but she died without issue by him.

After her decease he married Isabel, daughter and heir to Sir Thomas Newton (by Ellen, daughter of Lord Dawbney) son of Sir John Newton, and Isabel his wife, daughter and heir of Thomas Chedder, Esq. and had issue two sons.

First, Sir HENRY Capel, his son and heir, who married Anne, sister of Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland, by m whom he had Arthur, Edward, John, Robert, Anne, Mary, Agnes, Frances, and Gabriel, who all died before their father. By the same Lady Sir Giles had also another son, Edward, and a daughter, ... wife to Robert Ward, of Kirby Bedon in Norfolk, Esq. ancestor, by her, to the Viscount Dudley and Ward.

To the said Sir Henry Capel succeeded EDWARD, his brother and heir, seated at Raines-hall in Essex," who was knighted A.D. 1560, and constituted sheriff of the counties of Hertford and Essex the same year.

He married Anne, daughter of Sir William Pelham, and by her had two sons, Henry and Giles; and four daughters, Elizabeth, married to John Wentworth, Esq.; Anne, to Ralph Hide, Esq.; Mary, to Wistan Brown, of Essex, Esq.; and Grace, to John Burton, of Eastborne-place in Sussex, Esq. who died in 1586, leaving issue by her ten children. "

HENRY, his eldest son, who succeeded him in his estate, was

1MS. Sub. Effig. Otho. Ed. II. in Bibl. Cotton.

m Visit. of Hertfordsh. prædict. and Visit. of Essex, anno 1613, from whence the corrections in this family are chiefly taken.

His eldest son was Sir Edward Burton, Knight, whose son and heir Edward Burton, doctor in divinity, was rector of Broadwater in Sussex, and chaplain to King Charles the First; a person of great note for his learning and loyalty. He was the last male-heir of the Burtons, who had been long seated there; and his son-in-law, Sir William Wilson, of Eastborne-place, became possessed, temp. Car. I.* of that ancient seat, with the lordships, and a fair inheritance thereunto belonging, and had the dignity of a Baronet conferred on him, previous to the magnificent coronation of King Charles the Second. 9 Fuller's Worthies.

* G. 18, Visit. Suss. 1570, and Visit. Suss. 1634, in Offic. Armor.

constituted sheriff of Essex in 21 Eliz. and of Hertfordshire in the 7th of Elizabeth; and two years afterwards received the honour of knighthood. This Henry married Mary, daughter of Anthony Brown, Viscount Montagu, widow to John Lord Grey, Marquis of Dorset, but there is no mention of any issue by her: after whose decease he wedded Catherine, daughter of Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland, and by her he had issue seven sons, viz. First, Arthur.

Second, William, who died issueless.

Third, Edward.

Fourth, Robert, who died young.

Fifth, John.

Sixth, Gamaliel; and,

Seventh, Robert.

And three daughters; Frances, married to Sir John Shirley, Knight, serjeant at law; Anne, married to Sir Robert Chester, of Widdington in Essex; and Mary, married to Humphrey Mildmay, of Danbury in Essex, Esq. younger son of Sir Walter Mildmay, Knight, the founder of Emanuel college in Cambridge.

ARTHUR, his eldest son and heir, famous for his great hospitality, was constituted sheriff of Hertfordshire in the year 1592, and knighted at Theobalds on May 7th, 1603. He married Margaret, daughter of John Lord Grey, of Pirgo, brother to Henry Duke of Suffolk before-mentioned, and by her had issue eleven sons, viz. first, Sir Henry; second, Edward; third, Arthur; fourth, Robert; fifth, Humphrey; sixth, William; seventh, Giles; eighth, John; ninth, Roger.

Tenth, Gamaliel, (who was D. D. and had a son William, ¶ which died Dec. 25, 1685, aged thirty-nine, and was buried at Stanton in Suffolk, leaving issue by his wife Jane, daughter and coheir of William Clarke, of Chiswell, Hertfordshire, two sons

And also a son Edward, rector of Stanton.

Le Neve's Mon. Ang. vol. v. p. 160.

• Gamaliel Capell, died at Abbotts Stoke in Essex, December 21st, and buried the 24th, anno 1683. Harl. MSS. No. 1040.---On 3d Nov. 1781, died the Reverend Robert Capell, M. A. senior fellow of Trinity college, Cambridge, at his rectory of Stanton near Bury in Suffolk, which he held as successor to his father, the late Rev. Gamaliel Capell, son of the Rev. Edward Capell, who was of the before-named Gamaliel, for twenty-seven years. He was the last heir-male of that branch of the Capel Family, and was born the 20th September, 1715. Gent. Mag. vol. 1781, p. 542. Mr Capel Lofft now enjoys the estate at Stanton, under the will of his uncle Edward Capell, editor of Shakespeare, brother of the said Robert and of Anne, wife of Christopher Lofft, Esq. late recorder of Windsor, father of Mr. Capel Lofft: the