Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 93, August 9, 1851 / A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.

When found, make a note of. —CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
VOL. IV.—No. 93.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9. 1851.
Price Threepence. Stamped Edition, 4 d.
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I have thought that the following old letter, relative to a family once of some distinction, and especially as describing a very remarkable individual, from whom a multitude of living persons are immediately descended, might be of sufficient interest to occupy a place in NOTES AND QUERIES. It has never, that I am aware of, been published; but it has long been preserved, amongst similar papers, with the accompanying endorsement:— Though Mr. Ernle's letter relating to Lady Hopton and her family contains some fabulous accounts, and is in some parts a little unintelligible, yet it may be urged in confirmation of the truth of the several descents therein mentioned. He was the son of Sir John Ernle, and could not but have some general knowledge of his grandmother's relations.
This Mr. Ernle, afterwards knighted, died A.D. 1686.
Sir Arthur Hopton lived at Witham Friary, co. Somerset, and the heroine of this document was, according to the pedigree in Sir R. C. Hoare's Monastic Remains of Witham , &c., Rachel, daughter of Edmund Hall of Gretford, co. Lincoln, Esq. The date of Sir Arthur's death is not there given, but he was made a K.B. in 1603.
C. W. B.