vowed never to speak another word for seven years. The
oath was overheard by the seventh son of a seventh son
(locally known as The Raven) who warned the Squire that
nothing but misfortune would follow if he kept so rash a vow.
Nevertheless he adhered to it absolutely, and vowed, too,
to build a fish pond a year during the seven years silence,
some remains of which can be seen today at Spains Hall.
The misfortunes foreseen by The Raven followed. When the
first fish pond was being dug three of his servants were
drowned. The next year his wife died. Once, when he was
thrown by his horse in some woodland, he refused to call
for aid and lay all night long, wet and cold and with a
sprained leg until he was found by a chance passerby, by
which time, and for long afterwards, he was very gravely
ill. On another occasion he was sheltering from a storm
when he overheard a band of ruffians planning to rob his
mansion with violence. The river was in such spate that he
himself could not get across, nor could he tell his groom,
who offered to swim the river, what message to give. He
wrote a warning, but by the time the groom had arrived at
Spains Hall it was quite illegible. The retainers, naturally
enough, thought their master needed their help and sallied
forth to find him, leaving only a little boy behind. Thus the
thieves had a clear field, stole everything in the house, and
murdered the boy. During this period he was (to quote a
contemporary) "so swallowed up with a Melancholy Phrensie
that he neither went to Church nor spoke to any person".
However, the living of Finchingfield (then worth £200 a
year), was in his gift and, when it fell vacant in the autumn
of 1625, William Kempe "had suitors indeed for the Living,
and would hear of none". In rage he wrote that the petitioners
"did but go about to shorten his life by giving him this
trouble: no man should have it but Mr. Marshall". So it was
due to him that this most famous preacher who was to play
so prominent a role in the history of the Commonwealth
and of Presbyterianism, became Vicar of Finchingfield.
Steven Marshall was the son of a poor glover, who after
being educated at Emmanuel College at Camridge, was