Ferdinando Lord Hastings, eldest son of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, married Lucy, daughter and heiress of Sir John Davis, and in 1613 succeeded his father as Earl of Huntingdon.
Sir John Davis married Lady Eleanor, only daughter of the Earl of Castlehaven, and sister of the infamous Earl. She remarried Sir Archibald Douglas, and died in 1652. She was the lady of the anagram celebrity, "Reveal, oh, Daniel," and "Never so mad a lady." There is no doubt that she and her brother were as mad as could well be.
In a letter from Mr. Edward Rossingham to Sir Thomas Puckering, dated 4th January, 1636, it is stated:
"Sunday before Christmas the Bishop, Dean, and Chapter of Lichfield sent up a complaint against the Lady Eleanor Davis. It seems the cathedral church in Lichfield is lately very beautifully set out with hangings of arras behind the altar, the Communion table handsomely railed in, and the table itself set out in the best manner, and the Bishop's seat fairly built. This Lady came one Communion day, in the morning, with a kettle in one hand and a brush in the other, to sprinkle some of her holy water (as she called that in the kettle) upon these hangings and the Bishop's seat, which was only a composition of tar, pitch, sink-puddle water, &c., and such kind of nasty ingredients, which she did sprinkle upon the aforesaid things. This being the act of a mad woman, the Lords, to prevent further mischief, have given out two warrants, the one to bring the Lady to Bethlehem, the other to the keeper of Bethlehem to receive her. There are messengers gone into Staffordshire to bring her up."
It appeared afterwards she was so poor, that it became a question at the Council who should maintain her. She seems to have been wholly neglected by her second husband.
Sir John Davis and his lady are buried in the church of St. Martin's in the Fields, and the following are their epitaphs, from Strype's _Stow_, book vi. p. 72.:
"D. O. M. S. Johannes Davys, Equestris ordinis quondam Attornati Regis Generalis amplissima Provincia in regno Hib. functus. Inde in Patriam revocatus inter Servientes Domini Regis ad Legem primum locum sustinuit. Ob. 1626."
"Acc[=u]bat dignissimo marito incomparabilis Uxor, &c., 1652."