At this time, when the name of Sir Francis Drake has been so prominently before the public, some gleanings relative to him not generally known may be acceptable. The story given by Prince, in his " Worthies of Devon," is too well known to need repeating, and was for some time generally accepted as a correct account of the quarrel between Sir Francis and Sir Bernard Drake; and though Barrow, in his life of Sir Francis Drake, quotes it, declaring it to be " as absurd as improbable," he adds, "it appears to be unsupported by any evidence." Although much embellished in the telling, there were undoubtedly some grounds for the tale, for the wyvern of Drake was, it is certain, originally introduced into the crest of Sir Francis, but not hung up by the heels, as will appear below.

The facts of the case appear to be these :—Sir Francis was born in a humble station; his parents had no thought of being entitled to armorial ensigns, nor was it until their son had acquired a prominent position that the thought was ever entertained of claiming relationship to the Family of Drake of Ashe (whose representative at that time was Sir Bernard Drake), yet it is quite certain that Sir Francis greatly desired to graft himself on to the house of Drake of Ashe, but whether this desire arose from a personal weakness on the point of ancestry, or whether there was some vague tradition in his family that they were descended from the same stock as Sir Bernard, while the evidence is against such a connection, it is certain Sir Francis did all he could to get the connection acknowledged. For instance, in his will, he calls Richard Drake of Esher (brother of Sir Bernard) his cousin; he also became mortgagee of the estate of Ashe.

In the Herald's College is a MS. (F. 12, p. 164) which is apparently the original draft of the grant of arms to Sir Francis, as it contains many paragraphs subsequently erased and altered. Amongst these alterations and additions is the following : " Notwithstanding the sayd Sir Fraunces Drake may, by prerogative of his birth, and by right from his auncestor, bear the arms of his surname and family, to wit, Argent, a wyver dragon gewels, with the difference of a third brother, as I am credibly informed by the testimony of Bernard Drake, of the county of Devon, Esquire, chief of that cotarmure, and sondry others of that family of worship and good credit."

It would appear that Sir Francis, presuming on Bernard Drake being under some obligation to him, expected he would have attested the foregoing statement of their relationship, but he refused, and Sir Francis, having failed to satisfy the heralds, the paragraph was for very sufficient reasons omitted from the grant made by Rob. Cooke, Clarencieux King of Arms, dated 20th June, 1581, of which the following is a copy, viz. :—

" Whereas it hath pleased the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty graciously to regard the praiseworthy deserts of Sir Francis Drake, knight, and to remunerate the same to him not only with the honorable order of knighthood and by sundry other demonstrations of her Highness's

especial favor; but also further desirous that the impressions of her princely affections toward him might be, as it were, immortally derived and conveyed to his offspring and posterity for ever, hath assigned and given unto him arms and tokens of virtue and honor answerable to ye greatness of his deserts and meete for his place and calling. That is to say, a field of sable, a fesse wavy between two starres Argent. The healme adorned with a globe terrestrial, upon the height whereof is a ship under sail trained about the same with golden haulsers by the direction of a hand appearing out of the clouds, all in proper collour, with these words AUXILIO DIVINO. The said Arms with all other the parts and ornaments thereof here in the margin depicted, I Robert Cooke Esq., al's Clarencieux King of Arms of the East, West and South parts of ye realme of England, according as the duties of mine office binds me, have caused to be registered, entered and recorded for perpetual memory with the arms and other honourable and heroicall monuments of the nobility and gentry within my said province and marches.

" In Witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name the twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord God 1581, and in the 23rd of the prosperous reign of our most Gracious Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth, &c.

" Robt. Cooke, al's Clarencieux, Roy d' Armes."

Although in this grant no reference is made to the " wyvern," its insertion in the rigging was at one time intended, as in a draft or docket of the grant (Coll. of Arms, R. 21, p. 31), a "Dragon volant sheweth itself; a sketch in the college of Arms (MS. 184, p. 54) shows the wyvern with its wings displayed, standing on the deck gules, and also an estoile or, on the mast-head. This crest does not appear to have been used by Sir Francis himself, but it was used by the descendants of his brother, as late as Feb., 1740, as seen in a workbook in the College of Arms, I.B., 18. 139. In an exemplification of the crest in 1813 at the College of Arms (grants 27, p, 277), the wyvern and estoile are omitted. In the Bodleian Library, Ashmole MS. 834, folios 37 and 38, are two drafts of the grant of Arms ; one gives the red dragon and estoile in the crest, with the same Arms as those in the grant above ; the other gives the " vpper haulf of a red dragon," and makes the stars in the Arms gold.

After the death of Sir Bernard Drake, Sir Francis quartered Drake of Ashe, with the coat granted to him
—viz., 1 and 4 arg., a wyvern wings displayed gu., 2 and 3 Sa., a fesse wavy betw. two estoiles arg., as appears on a seal attached to some letters (Lansdowne MS. 70.) from Sir Francis Drake to the Lord Treasurer Burghley in 1592 ; and in Harl. MS. No. 4762, attached to a document dated 24th July, 1595, both after the death of Sir Bernard, which happened in 1586 ; but it is pretty clear that Thomas Drake, brother and heir to Sir Francis, nor his descendants, considered they had any right to the wyvern coat. The earliest mention of the name of Drake in Devonshire is in the Assize Rolls, temp. Hen. III., when Reginald le Drake held lands in Tiverton; the next one Reginald le Drake a monk of Tavistock 4 Edw. III., De Banco, but the name spread rapidly. The baptisms of the children of Thomas and Robert Drake occur about