Mowbray family

“ For, as it is, you are doing you know not what. You are ruining yourself; you are blighting and blasting your own future; you are risking your reputation; you are exposing the family name to the sneers of the world, once again. Think of your frantic adventure at the gates with that—that Mowbray!”
Now if Wiggins had wished to mollify Edith, or to persuade her to fall in with his own wishes, he was certainly most unfortunate in his way of going about it; and especially in such an allusion as this. For no sooner did he mention the name of Mowbray than Edith was roused to a fresh excitement. ”

“ For my excellent grand-uncle had pondered with himself, that the favoured name of Mowbray would take no advantage, and attain no additional elevation, if his estate of Nettlewood (otherwise called Mowbray-Park) should descend to our family without any condition; and with the assistance of a sharp attorney, he settled it on me, then a schoolboy, on condition that I should, before attaining the age of twenty-five complete, take unto myself in holy wedlock a young lady of good fame, of the name of Mowbray, and, by preference, of the house of St. ”

“ Owing to his illegitimacy the eldest boy, who had been proclaimed King and soon afterwards set aside, could not retain the titles of Wales and Cornwall, nor could the younger one continue to have the royal title of York. The younger boy had also lost his claim to the Mowbray titles of Norfolk and Nottingham by the death of the little Mowbray heiress to whom he had been betrothed. Those titles justly passed to the representatives of the aunts who succeeded Anne Mowbray as the heirs of that family, the Ladies Howard and Berkeley. ”

“ Rochely, as soon as settlements can be prepared, my Lord Montreville, of whose generosity, and greatness of mind, and liberality, too much cannot be said, offers to consider you as being really his niece; as being really a daughter of the Mowbray family; and, that being so considered, you may not be taken by any man portionless, he will, on the day of marriage, present, and settle on, and give you, three thousand pounds. ”

“ Your family will live, and ennobled. The Fitz-Warenes Lords Valence will yield to none in antiquity; and as to rank, as long as Mowbray Castle belongs to them, the revival of the earldom is safe at the first coronation, or the first ministry that exists with a balanced state of parties."
"That is the right view of the case," said Lord de Mowbray; "and what do you advise?"
"Be calm, and you have nothing to fear. This is the mere revival of an old claim, too vast to be allowed to lapse from desuetude. Your documents you say are all secure?" ”

“ She is Master Mowbray’s cousin, a Gillespie, her great grandmother married one of those Scots; the family of course came to grief and Richard seems to think it is his business to see after her. But you would254 not believe the trouble she is, to look at her. It’s amazing how sly and dishonest some girls can be. ”

“ The second great peer of the story, Lord Mowbray, of a yet baser origin and character, owns the land on which has grown a mushroom city of mills and mill-hands. The ground-rents have made him fabulously rich, while, innocent of a suspicion that his wealth has brought obligations along with it, he lives in vulgar luxury in his adjoining castle.
On both estates the wretchedness is equal, though the [Pg 121] character of it is different. Lord Marney rules in a country district. A clergyman asks him how a peasant can rear his family on eight shillings a week. ”

“ I am of age. The estate is absolutely mine. He is only a servant. Have I no rights whatever?”
“I should say you had,” said Mowbray, languidly stroking his mustache. “I should say you had, of course. But this guardian business is a troublesome thing, and Wiggins, as your guardian, may have a certain amount of power.”
Edith turned away impatiently.
“I hoped,” said she, “that the mere mention of my situation would be enough to excite your sympathy. I see that I was mistaken, and am sorry that I have troubled you.”
“You are too hasty,” said Mowbray. ”

“ She belongs to a very rich family, and she is worth having for a friend."
"A girl like that?" cried Rotha. "A low spirited, false girl? Worth having for a friend? Not to anybody who is worth anything herself."
"But she is ever so rich."
"What's that to me? Do you think I am going to sit by and hear Mrs. Mowbray slandered, or anybody else, because the story teller has plenty of money? What is her money to me?"
"Well, I don't know," said the other deprecatingly. "It puts things in her power. Her family is one of the best in New York." ”

“ A fine veneration you pay to the honoured name of Mowbray! If my poor, old, simple father had known what the owners of these two grand syllables could have stooped to do for merely ensuring subsistence, he would have thought as little of the noble Mowbrays as of the humble Scrogies. And, I dare [Pg 273] say, the young lady is just such another—eager to get married—no matter to whom.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Touchwood,” answered Mowbray ”

“ Oh, Mowbray? We know him well; his partner died last year. When I say we know him well, I mean as a firm. I have never met him personally, though my partner (who does the office work) has regular dealings with him. He's an excellent man, but his managing clerk's frightful; I wonder Mowbray keeps him. Don't you let him do anything for you on his own hook; he makes the most disastrous messes, and I rather fancy he drinks. Deal with Mowbray himself; there's nobody better in London. ”

“ Do you get that? I'm thinking for Allan Mowbray the best I know. I can run this outfit to the limit. I can do what any other man can do for his help. Your place is your father's place—right here. Ask your mother."
Murray looked across at Mrs. Mowbray, still standing in her doorway, and her prompt support was forthcoming.
"Yes," she said, and her eyes sought those of her spoiled son. "For my sake, Alec, for your father's, for your sister's."
Ailsa Mowbray was pleading where she had the right to command. And to himself Father José mildly anathematized the necessity. ”

“ Pope Paschal II afterwards allowed her as a widow in all but name to marry Nigel de Albini [see under Mowbray, Roger I de] , a relative, probably a cousin of her husband, who founded the second house of Mowbray (ib. iii. 410; William of Jumièges, viii. 8; Freeman, ii. 612) . She apparently survived both husbands, as she was still living in 1130 (Pipe Roll, 31 Henry I, pp. 16, 76, ed. Hunter) .
Orderic has left a graphic portrait of Mowbray: 'Powerful, rich, bold, fierce in war, haughty, he despised his equals, and, swollen with vanity, disdained to obey his superiors. ”

“ I hate a child I cannot trust,” she said in freezing tones.
“I have not been dishonourable, Mistress Mowbray. I never said that I would not go out. I was disobedient and I am sorry, but if Father was alive, he would not have liked me to be kept in doors; and I do not think Cousin Richard would approve,” she added with some boldness, as she knew it was really unjust and had no one to defend her.
At that moment Master Mowbray entered. “What is this, about ‘Cousin Richard’?” he exclaimed.
Aline was silent and Mistress Mowbray looked confused. ”

“ Mowbray was twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Roger le Strange of Blackmere, died almost immediately, and in 1385 he took for his second wife Elizabeth Fitzalan, daughter of Richard, earl of Arundel, who bore him two sons : Thomas and John, who successively inherited his estates, and are separately noticed; and two daughters: Isabel, who married Sir James Berkley, and Margaret, who became wife of Sir Robert Howard, created Duke of Norfolk after the extinction of the male line of the Mowbrays (ib.; Doyle, Official Baronage) . ”

“ My dears, from that day till yesterday, your grandpapa and she never met again."
"Was he so angry?" we asked.
"Anger is no word for it. He was turned to stone to her. The deceitfulness—that was always his cry. Poor Mr. John Mowbray—his great friend, the one who had really the most to complain of, was far gentler, though it broke his heart. He never married, and at his death, two years ago, all came to your auntie as his brother's widow, for Mr. Conrad, the brother, was dead. That is how the Old House is now your auntie's, but she has never lived there. ”

“ It’s the trouble of every youngster, thinking he sees his life before him; they all forget the devil.”
Anthony laughed.
“What line of tactics do you suggest for overcoming him?” he asked.
“Haven’t myself had sufficient success to justify my giving advice,” answered Mr. Mowbray. “All I can warn you is that he takes many shapes. Sometimes he dresses himself up as a dear old lady and calls himself Mother Nature. Sometimes he wears a shiny hat and claims to be nothing more than a plain man of business. Sometimes he comes clothed in glory and calls himself Love.” ”

“ Mowbray was married to Miss Stavordale; nay even the clergyman who performed the ceremony at Paris, and who is found to be actually living in Westmoreland. The hand writing of your father is easily proved; and Mr. Newton, summing up briefly all the corroborating testimonies that exist of your right to the Mowbray estate, concluded by telling Lord Montreville, that at the end of two days he should wait upon his Lordship for his determination, whether he would dispute it in a court of law or settle it amicably with me on behalf of his niece. ”

“ Now let us stop speaking of these things. When I think of that young girl, all my calmness leaves me. Oh, she was so frank and true a soul, I thought!—so sincere and bold!—so lovely, and with such a strength of heart! I was deceived. Well, well—it seems to be the fate of men, to find the ideal of their hearts unworthy. Let us speak of it no further."
And suppressing his emotion by a violent effort, Mowbray added in a voice perfectly calm and collected:
"There is our cottage, Charles—Roseland; and I see Lucy waiting for us under the roses on the porch—she always looks for me, I believe." ”

“ Andrew Duncan!
“Rash man!” exclaimed Mowbray, as he again stepped forward to unloose the cords that bound him. “Why have ye again cast yourself into the hands of the men who seek your blood? Do you hold your life so cheap, that, in one week, ye would risk to sell it twice? Why did not ye, with your father, your brother, and your wife, flee into England, where protection was promised!”
“My father!—my brother!—my wife!—mine!—mine!” repeated the preacher wildly. “There are no such names for my tongue to utter!—none!—none to drop their love as morning dew upon the solitary soul o’ Andrew Duncan!” ”

“ But I have said enough, and more than enough, to explain his dilemma to an unassisted bachelor, who, without mother, sister, or cousin, without skilful housekeeper, or experienced clerk of the [Pg 154] kitchen, or valet of parts and figure, adventures to give an entertainment, and aspires to make it elegant and comme il faut.
The sense of his insufficiency was the more vexatious to Mowbray, as he was aware he would find sharp critics in the ladies, and particularly in his constant rival, Lady Penelope Penfeather. ”

“ I am most thankful to see you here, my dear boy. How is my sweet Helen?—could you not bring her with you, Charles?"
"She is in London, my dear Lady Harrington, with my mother. Where is the colonel?"
"With his father;—they will return together; no grass will grow under their horses' feet as they ride homeward to meet you, Charles! But how comes it that you are at home? If you have left Oxford, why are you not with your mother and Helen?"
A moment's thought might have told Mowbray that this question would certainly be asked, and must in some manner or other be answered ”

“ Lady Joan has a very high opinion of her. There’s the bell. Well, I shall tell Arabella that you mean to put up the steam, and Lady Firebrace shall keep Jermyn off. And perhaps it is as well you did not seem too eager at first. Mowbray Castle, my dear fellow, in spite of its manufactories, is not to be despised. And with a little firmness, you could keep the people out of your park. Mowbray could do it, only he has no pluck. He is afraid people would say he was the son of a footman.”
The Duke, who was the father of the Countess de Mowbray, was also lord lieutenant of the county. ”

“ Their son John (d. 1361) was father, by a daughter of Henry earl of Lancaster, of John, Lord Mowbray (c. 1328–1368) , whose fortunate alliance with the heiress of Lord Segrave, by the heiress of Edward I.’s son Thomas, earl of Norfolk and marshal of England, crowned the fortunes of his race. In addition to a vast accession to their lands, the earldom of Nottingham and the marshalship of England were bestowed on them by Richard II., and the dukedom of Norfolk followed (see Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, 1st duke of) . ”

“ And people do resist it, and go to law, and do everything they can, to prevent being trampled upon? Must one let oneself be trampled upon? Why? Justice should be done; and this is not justice. I wish Mrs. Mowbray would come in, that I might ask her! I do not understand it."
At the moment, as if summoned by her wish, Mrs. Mowbray tapped at the door; she wanted to get something out of a closet in that room, and apologized for disturbing Rotha.
"You are not disturbing—O Mrs. Mowbray, are you very busy?" cried the girl.
"Always busy, my dear," said the lady pleasantly. "I am always busy. ”