172 DR. BENJAMIN ALLEN, OF BRAINTREE.
death.1 Recently, I visited Black Notley and succeeded, after a
good deal of trouble, in reading the whole inscription. To do
this, I was obliged to borrow scrubbing brushes and pails of
water from the adjacent Hall and to give the slab a thorough
cleaning. The inscription reads :—
Here lieth interred the body of
BENJAMIN ALLEN,
late of Braintree, in this County,
Batchelor in Physick,
who married Katherine the Daughter
of Joshua Draper, of Braintree
aforesaid, also Batchelor in Physick,
By whom he had two Sons and four
Daughters.
As to his Caracter, it may suffice to say
that his Learning, Industry, and
Integrity engaged the attention of the
Judicious & Discerning Part of Mankind.
He departed this Life the 28th day of
February 1737, aged 75 years.
Above the inscription is graven an elaborate achievement of
arms—a shield bearing two coats impaled, with helmet, crest,
and mantling. Unfortunately, the dexter coat (Allen's) is so
defaced, owing to exposure to the weather, that the charges on
it are quite undecipherable. It gives us, therefore, no clue as to
which of the many armigerous families of Allen the doctor
belonged to. The sinister coat is less defaced, and one is able to
make out that it consists of five bendlets and something
on a chief. It represented, no doubt, the coat of Draper of
London (granted 1618)2, to which, doubtless, Allen's wife
belonged. The crest (which would be, of course, that of Allen)
appears to consist of foliage or flames.3
The accompanying photograph of Allen's tomb (fig. 5) was
taken for Mr. Kenworthy, to whom I am indebted for use of it.
It is of interest as showing that, however much the two friends,
Ray and Allen, had been divided in the latter part of their lives, at
the end they were united and were buried within a few feet of
one another ; for the altar-tomb almost directly in front of the
1 The entry reads:—1737-8, "Doctor Allen, of Braintree, [buried] March ye 6th."
2 Gules, four bendlets or ; on a chief per fess argent and ermine, three fleurs de-lys
sable.
3 Possibly it may be that assigned to John Alleyn, founder of Dulwich College—an arm,
couped at the elbow and erect, holding a human heart, the arm issuing out of flames of
fire proper.