dye, I thought it most certaine, but to dye basely, I would not: For
Three to kill One had bin to mee no Dishonour; To them (Weapons
considered) no Glory: An Honourable Subjection I esteemed better, than
an Ignoble conquest.... Only Heaven I had in mine eye, the Honor of my
Country in my heart, my Fame at the Stake, my Life on a narrow Bridge,
and death before and behind me.'

With a supreme effort Peeke succeeded in killing one of his opponents
and disabling the other two. Then for a moment he feared the threatening
anger of the crowd, but the nobles showed great generosity in their
admiration of his pluck, whether they felt mortified or not, and he was
treated with extreme kindness, both then and afterwards. He 'was kept
in the Marquesse Alquenezes House, who one day ... desired I would sing.
I willing to obey him (whose goodnesse I had tasted), did so, and sung
this Psalme: _When as we sate in Babylon, etc._ The meaning of which
being told he saide to me, _English_ Man, comfort thyself, for thou art
in no Captivity.'

Peeke was then sent to the King of Spain, who tried to keep him in his
service, but with a becoming gratitude for the favours shown to him,
Peeke begged to be allowed to return home, 'being a Subject onely to the
King of England.' Whereupon the King very magnanimously gave 'one
hundred Pistoletts to beare my charges.'

A play has been written called 'Dick of Devonshire,' in which the
adventures of 'Dick Pike' are set in the midst of a Spanish
tragi-comedy.

Nothing is known of Peeke's life after he came back to his own country,
but there are strong reasons for believing that he returned to
Tavistock. And if it was himself, and not a namesake, who flourished
there, in 1638, our hero might be seen in an entirely new role, for that
year Richard Peeke filled the peaceful office of people's churchwarden!

Tavistock's fine church is dedicated to St Eustachius, and it has a high
battlemented tower crowned with slender pinnacles. The tower is 'pierced
with arches in all four sides, so that it stands on piers. It is thus a
true campanile, and was never joined to the church.' There are monuments
to several families in the nave and chancel, and stories and memories
crowd especially round two of them. One is the tomb of John Fitz of
Fitz-ford and his wife, at the back of which their son Sir John kneels
at a desk with a book before him.

Fitzford House is close to Tavistock, and with the property came to Sir