32 Devon Notes and Queries. ^ devise unto the said Nicholas Lreach and Henry Trosse & to their heires & assignes for ever one annuall or yearly rent of iz^ Quarterly to be paied at the foure principall and most vsuall feasts of the yeare (that is to saye the birth of our Lo'd God th' annunciacon of our blessed Lady Mary the Virgin the nativity of St. John Baptist & St. Michaell th' arch- angell by equall porcons during the estate aforesaid to be had reced pceaved & taken out of all those my messuages lands burgages tents heredits wth th' appurtenances wch I have scituate lyeing ft being wthin the borough towne and parrish of Barnstaple in the said countie of Devoa Provided allwaies and my will and meaneing is and I doe hereby •declare & devise that the said rent of ix^ishalbe imployed and bestowed as foUoweth vizt five pounds a yeare towards the repayring of my said monu- ment And in case yt shall not want repaying I will that the said fyve pounds yearly as yt shall come in shalbe lent out to poore men of the said parrish of Cadleigh vppon good securitie And yf it shall soe longcontynue wthout repayring as that by fyve pounds a yeare there be raysed the some of one hundred pounds then I will that that c^ shalbe bestowed in lands to the vses aforesaid that is to and for repayring tlie said monument when & as often as neede shall require and in the meane tyme be lent out as aforesaid and for th* other foure pounds residue of the said iz^ I will that it be from tyme to tyme quarterly payed by xx« a quarter as the same shall be due unto and received by the said Nicholas Leach & Henry Trosse their heires & assignes vnto tie wardens ft overseers of the said parrish of Cadeleigh to be weekly distributed by them to the poore aforesaid. This provision for the repair of his tomb has now been quite lost as will be hereafter shown. The will was proved on the 8th April, 1637, in the Pre- rogative Court of Canterbury, and on the i6th September, 1651, administration of effects left unadministered by his Executors (both then deceased) according to the tenor of the will, was granted to his grandson Simon Leach out of the same Court. From the will I surmise that he was probably a lawyer. Mr. Hubert Hall, in his Society in the Elizabethan Age^ has shown how common it was for sixteenth century lawyers to amass fortunes and acquire landed estates, which may account for Sir Simon's rise from theCrediton smithy to the Shrievalty of Devon, a Knighthood, and the lordship of numerous manors. He makes a bequest of all his law books to his son Nicholas ; and also makes provision for one Nicholas Slee, described as his Clerk. From the foregoing extract it will be seen he had many friends in London, and that he had had much experience of public disorder at funerals, and his ' will bears traces of home preparation. I am much indebted to Mr. H. J. Carpenter, of Tiverton, for the above translations of the epitaphs and a careful examination of the will.
