Excerpt from Maid Ellice a Novel And there was a Herne who carried his master's banner before the Earl of. Southampton at the battle of Tewkesbury; but when he was borne down by nutri bers and slain, still grasping the pole of the standard, his last words to the priest who shrived him were, I leave my body to my wife, Dame Margery of Herne croft, my soul to Christ the Lord, and so took the crucifix between his hands, and kissing it he died: be ing then a mighty proper man; and one strong and much renowned for courage in the company of my Lord of Southampton. There was a Herne also of whom we find mention as a valiant trooper, so power ful in the arm as to cleave one Ezekiel, a Jew, through head and trunk at one blow in the Lincolnshire riots. And so the record stretches back, taking up a stray link here, and another there, till it seems as if the pres ent people are right enough in their claims that, though never noble, no, nor even knighted, they afe one of the oldest squirearchies in the kingdom, and have steadily passed down their ancient patrimony from the days of the Saxons to the present century. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.