This first noble victim of the tyrannical Royal Commission was praised by all the writers of his time, and pitied by all Europe. Burleigh lived to be ashamed of his part in his death; and in his "Life" one can still read in the index "On the Case of Arden" an explanation which has been excised from the text.
It is more than probable that the active part that Sir Thomas Lucy took in his arrest told more on the fortunes and feelings of young Shakespeare than the fabulous deer-stealing story. The touching tragedy, to which Froude has given but little attention or study, is given in full detail in the State Papers. The traitor's lands, of course, fell to the Queen, and were granted to Edward Darcy.[422] But Robert Arden,[423] "who was a prudent person" (doubtless fortified by his brother-in-law's interest, and his own knowledge of the law), by virtue of an entail executed on his marriage got back by degrees most of his father's lands. He found, however, every tree in his parks had been cut down by Darcy, who seems to have been a difficult person to deal with, as may be gathered from Simon Arden's petition (p. 185); this Robert lived to a great age, dying on February 27, 1635. His son and heir, Sir Henry, who had been born April, 1580, had predeceased him in 1616.[424] He had married Dorothy, daughter of Basil Fielding, of Newnham, and had one son, Robert, and four daughters. Robert seems to have been a brilliant youth, but he died single at Oxford. In the Bodleian[425] are some verses deploring his loss. His four sisters were his coheirs: Elizabeth, wife of Sir William Pooley, of Boxsted, in Suffolk; Goditha,[426] wife of Herbert Price; Dorothy, wife of Hervey Bagot; Anne, wife of Sir Charles Adderley, of Lea.
In Worcestershire, near Stourbridge, there is a parish of Pedmore, and a hall of the name that seems at one time to have belonged to the Ardens, as well as the Pedmore Manor, near West Bromwich, Warwickshire. By the kindness of Mr. W. Wickham King, now resident there, I am told that "Mistress Joyce Arden" was buried there in 1557; Jane Ardern and Hugh Hall were married in 1560; Alice Ardeney and Thomas Carter married 1578; while John Arden, son of Mr. Robert and Mistress Elizabeth, was christened there in 1578. Frances Arden and Edward Wale married 1658; Arthur buried 1668, and Judith Arden, widow, 1682. The arms in the church are those of the Park Hall Ardens, and "Mr. Robert" was the heir of Edward (p. 41 and notes).
The Pakingtons of Worcester quarter Ermine on a fesse componé or, and az. an annulet for Arden.
FOOTNOTES:
[368] Dugdale's "Warwickshire," 372; Drummond's "Noble British Families"; "Guy of Warwick," ed. Zupitza, Early English Text Society, etc.; Harl. MS., 1167, f. 57; "Dictionary of National Biography."
"Guy of Warwick, I understand,
Slew a dragon in Northumberland."
Romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton.
"In Warwick the truth ye shall see
In arras wrought full craftily."