Note 30 — Chapter IV · THE COLLECTOR OF THE ARUNDELIAN MSS.

Part of Lord Northampton’s large estates came eventually to Lord Arundel by bequest. He also inherited Northampton’s house at Greenwich, and occasionally resided there, until its destruction by fire in January, 1616. Chamberlain’s account of the incident, given to Sir Dudley Carleton, is worth quotation for the comment with which it ends: ‘There fell a great mischance to the Earl of Arundel by the burning of his house ... at Greenwich, where he lost a great deal of household stuff and rich furniture; the fury of the fire being such that nothing could be saved. No doubt the Papists will ascribe and publish it as a punishment for his deserting or falling from them.’ Ten days before the fire, Arundel had testified, publicly, his conformity with the Church of England. But he had shewn long before that his religious views and convictions differed widely from those in which he had been brought up.