to have been a cottage of the better sort, such as a small
farmer might occupy to-day, and such as at that time a
well-to-do yeoman's son might live in without losing
caste. Edmund Drake, so Stowe tells us, was by trade a
sailor, and there is no reason for doubting his statement. ¹
At any rate he does not appear upon the Subsidy Rolls
as an inhabitant of Tavistock until 1544. His goods were
at that time assessed at 4l., which indicates a certain pros-
perity as things went then. It may well have come from
the sea, and since his first child Francis was probably born
in the following year it would look as though he had
thought it entitled him to marry and settle down. John
Drake the elder was assessed at 20l. and John the younger
at 5l., so that they may be regarded as fairly well-to-do
people, who adequately upheld the position of the family.

There had been Drakes of Tavistock from time im-
memorial, and moderate as were the circumstances of the
Crowndale family it would seem they had come of gentle
blood. What precisely was the connection with the
higher branches of the family is not clear, but in the days
of Francis Drake's renown they were glad to call him
cousin, and to admit his claim to bear the Wyvern or
Waver-Dragon gules, which was the ancient cognizance of
the house. The well-known story to the contrary which
Prince has to tell in his 'Worthies of Devon' was perhaps
never meant to be taken seriously. He relates that Sir
Francis upon receiving his knighthood from the queen
in 1581 assumed the family arms without authority, and
that Mr. Bernard Drake of Asshe, who claimed to be
head of the name, boxed his ears at Court for the im-
pertinence. The queen thereupon, to soothe her favourite's

-58-