ANOTHER UNRULY TUDOR [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The
Tudor of whom " Moth " wrote in the Spectator of June 27th is not the only one of that name and alleged lineage I have known to be fined for causing an obstruction.
In my village in Wales there lived, when I was a boy in the 1860's, a tailor named Henry Tudor. Henry was a quiet, Jaw-abiding subject when sober, but when he was under the influence of the strong ale for which our neighbouring town of Wrexham was famous he would proclaim his royal descent in loud and by no means uncertain tones and endeavour to compel the neighbours to pay him homage : he asserted that as he was a direct descendant of Henry VII (the eighth Henry he would have no truck with ; said that the latter was a disgrace to the family because of having married so many foreigners) it was but right that they should.
The village constable, named Henshaw (an Englishman, and in consequence a "foreigner "), had no trouble usually at such times in getting Henry peaceably to his cottage, but on one memorable occasion, when he had imbibed more than ordinarily, Henry not only resisted the constable, but demanded a genuflection from him, greatly to the amusement of the sympathetic crowd. This was too much for Henshaw, so he hauled Henry off to the lock-up and next day brought him before the sitting justice of the peace, who summarily imposed a fine of 5s. and costs.
My grandmother—whose tenant Tudor was—acceded to an appeal from him to pay his fine, which amounted with costs to 12s. 6d., I remember, but not before she had given him a "right down good talking-to" in the vernacular (in which one can say much more in fewer words than in English) for the "shameless affront he had offered to Our Sovereign Lady, Queen Victoria, by claiming to be her rightful heir" (Henry had always sworn that he had no wish to depose so good a queen).—! am, Sir, &c.,
Apartado 34 &is, City of Mexico. W. E. LLOYD.
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