especiallie enriched by her goodnes. This request he also said in her Majesties name to be moste wise and reasonable. "First, because he was poore and had moste need of healpe; contrariwise, my lord of Hertford was riche, and neded not the like healpe. "Secondlie, that whatsoever her Grace hearetofore obteyned for the betteringe and mainteyninge of her estate, hit was uppon her erneste complainte that otherwise she knewe not howe to provide for her younger children; for, albeit the elder was well provided for, yeat without further maintenance the youngest (beinge all a Duke's children) should have nothinge to further themselves withall in the world; whearfore, yf your Grace (said Mr. Gorges*) shall leave that to your eldest sonne which was given for the relieff of yourselfe and your younger poore children, hit may be thought that the prince was deluded by you, and turne to your great dishonor. "Thirdlie, that it weare a thinge agreable to her Grace's singular wisdome, to make as many heads of her howse as possible she might; contrariwise to advance only one sonne (and hym moste honorablye provided for) and to prese downe the other, was a thinge nether politique in itselfe, nether of comone example amongste the wiseste. "Lastelie, he added that her Majestie hade also especiall cawse to tender my Lord Henrye so muche the more, becawse he hade benne these many yeres her faithfull servant, and moste prudentlie and sincerelie discharged many matters of truste; and also that She had purposed againe to have imployed him by sea or by lande, wear it not that she comaunded him to tender his mother's healthe, and hade rather looke out other to supploye his place, then her Grace should want the benifite of his attendance, whearfore she expecteth (saied Mr. Gorges) that your Grace should espetiallie do for hym; and yf you laye any charge of truste uppon him (be it executorship or what soever), her Majestie will (I dare say) promise for his faithfulnes, and undertake he shall trewlie discharge it, otherwise she would prove his moste heavie mistris, and denaye him her service and favour." Her Grace's Answeare. "I moste humblie thanke her Majestie that she vouchsafeth not only to tender my health, but also myne honour, and trewlie This is one instance of many that might be adduced of knights being styled Mr. in old documents, which style is consequently no proof of a document being anterior in date to the knighthood of the party mentioned. Harrie shall fare never a whitt the worse for her good oppinion of him, but much the better. As for makinge him mine executor I cane not do it, for I have alredie made another." "Whye, madame (saied Mr. Gorges), so longe as you leve you may make ether the Lord Henrye your executore, or whom you will; and yf you mislike the demeanour of my Lord Henrie, you may prefere my lord of Hertford againe; yet, madame, I will urge you to nothinge; I only shew what her Majestie wisheth and counseleth, as your deare freind and soveraigne, namlie, that your espetiall favour in all thinges should be bestowed uppon him, and that yf you truste him with any thinge I deare saye her Majestie will undertake for his uprighte dealinges." Her Grace's Answeare. praye you, cozine Gorges, goo to dinner, and in the meane season I will advise of this pointe." So we departed. After dinner her Grace called for us againe, and of her selfe, without any farther speache or motion used by any, uttered these words: "My good cozine, I have thought uppon your laste motion, touchinge puttinge Harrie in truste, and am fullie resolved therein to followe her Majesties devise (undertakinge so gratiouslie for his faithfulnes); and my laste will is her Majesties will, and so I pray you saye, cozine, from me; and I praye you returne my moste hartie and humble thankes unto her Majestie for thinkinge so well of my sonne, and so carefullie tenderinge his estate, as also for her love shewed alwaies to my nephewes John and Michael, desiringe her to continewe the same." Mr. Gorges. "Will it please your G. to comaund me any farther service, or to send some ringe or token in witnes that you will it thus towards my Lord Henrie." Her Grace. "Yes;" and kissinge a ringe delivered it unto him, and willed me and my Lady Marie † to beare record thereof, prayinge moste godlie and hartilie (even with teares) for the preservation of her Majesties liffe many yeres. Mr. Gorges. "Her Majestie wilbe very glade of your Graces answearetouchinge my Lord Henrie ; neverthelesse, she would not that all love should be so conveyed to him, but that you should also carrie a natural and lovinge affection towards my Lord of Hartford, Lady Mary Rogers. your righte honorable sonne, and sometimes my old master, desiringe you to love him stille, and to make muche of hime, who (as he himselfe hath often protested) wilbe glade of his brothers prosperitie, and often hath he wished that my Lord Henrie might be pute in truste with your goodes, and not hymselfe; whearfore, beinge a thinge that he himselfe hath desired, and this beinge donne not for any evell opinions conceaved of him, but for betteringe of his brothers estate, I doubt not but he wilbe contented." Her Grace. "Yet I beseeche you all to let nether him por Harrye knowe of it as yet;" which bavinge promised, we departed. It is remarkable that much of the Duchess of Somerset's plate may be traced as late as 1618 in the will of Sir Valentine Knightley (124 Meade), whose father had married for his second wife one of the Duchess's daughters.* The Duchess died on Easter Day, April 16, 1587, at ninety years of age: when, according to her epitaph, "with firme faith in Christ, in most mylde manner rendred she her life." Her body was interred in Westminster abbey, where her monument still remains. It is one of those gigantic erections which contribute to block up the various chapels, and occupies, to the height of twenty-four feet, the very spot where anciently stood the altar in the chapel of St. Nicholas. An effigy of the Duchess, in her robes as a peeress, is placed on a sarcophagus in its front. Engravings of this will be found in Dart's Westminster Abbey, plate 23, and in Akermann's Westminster Abbey, plate 31: where also, and in Neale and Brayley's History, the epitaph, both in Latin and English, will be found. A portrait at Strawberry Hill, said to be painted by Sir Anthonio More, was attributed to Anne Duchess of Somerset ; and an engraving of it, by T. Nugent, was published in Harding's Biographical Mirrour, 1792. It represents a young woman, in the costume of Queen Mary's reign, holding in her right hand her gloves and in her left a miniature. It is not, therefore, the Duchess, who was then more than fifty years of age, but possibly represented another "Anne Stanhope.' Eight letters of the Duchess of So * Unton Inventories, 4to. 1841, p. 1xx. merset to Lord Burghley occur among his papers, and may be found as fol. lows: 1565, Jan. 9. Soliciting the release of her son, the Earl of Hertford, and his bride. MS. Lansd. 8, art. 43. Printed by Strype, Annals, II, 445. 1566, Apr. 18. On the same subject. MS. Lansd. 9, art. 32. 1571, Sept. 13. Now printed. 1574, April 20. Also now printed. 1576, Dec. 12. Recommending Mr. Druse for preferment. MS. Lansd. 22, art. 87. 1581, May 7. Recommending Edward Stanhope, her nephew, to be a Master of Requests. MS. Lansd. 33, art. 3. 1582, July 17. On the conveyance of the manor of Asted to her son Henry. MS. Lansd. 36, art. 5. 66 July 22. This letter mentions some unnaturall and unjust dealing used by Henry towardes me." Ibid. art. 6. There is another document in the British Museum, which, though it has been erroneously connected with the Duchess of Somerset, yet requires notice here from having been made the occasion for Strype's adoption of those very severe views of her character which he had found in the pages of Hayward. This occurs in his Life of Sir Thomas Smith, as follows: "Yet he had his share of trouble and sorrow; as, the anger of his haughty mistress, the Duchess of Somerset, and many unjust imputations that were raised against him, whereto she gave too much credit; which was the cause of a large letter, which he addressed unto her; wherein he vindicated himself against many slanders which were told the Duchess; whereof she had "Intwitted him in the teeth." tured woman, and had taken some occadeed, she was an imperious and ill-nasion to fall out with him; and in her passion, it seems, had cast out these reports before him." * Now this document, which Strype ought to have printed at length in a Life of Sir Thomas Smith, (particularly if he had really apprehended the person to whom it was addressed,) but to which he does not even give a reference, is still existing in the MS. Harl. 6989, art. 84, and is described in the printed Catalogue with the same error as that committed by Strype "Sr. Thomas Smith to the Dutchess of Somerset, in vindication of himself against certain Reflections about his acquisition of Wealth." But the document was evidently addressed to the Duke of Somerset, not the Duchess. The blunder arose from the indorse, in which the word Duke was first written "Duch," and then by a second hand, (Strype's own, it is believed,) altered from misapprehension to "Duches." There is, then, no evidence to show that the Duchess interfered with the affairs of Sir Thomas Smith, and Strype's abuse of her on this occasion is consequently gratuitous. In his Life of Cheke, Strype again speaks of her as "a very imperious woman, and "this lofty lady," founding those epithets on a letter written by Cheke to the Duchess in Jan. 1549, to excuse some offence which his wife had given to her Grace. The original of this letter is in the Burghley Papers, MS. Lansd. 2, art. 34. The children of the Duchess of Somerset are thus enumerated in her epitaph. "Edward Earl of Hertford." "Henry." He married Lady Jane Percy, daughter of the Earl of Northumberland. "Another Edward," probably one who died in infancy before the birth of the Earl of Hertford, as he is not otherwise mentioned. "Anne Countess of Warwick :" whose memorable marriage took place when the feud between her father and the Duke of Northumberland was temporarily patched up. She was subsequently the wife of Sir Edward Unton, K.B. and at length died insane.* "Margaret," who during the period of her father's elevation was destined for the heir of the earldom of Derby, but subsequently died unmarried. "Jane." This daughter her father is said to have endeavoured to contract to her cousin, King Edward. She died "in her virginitie" at the age of nineteen, the 19th March, 1550, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument was erected to her memory by her brother Viscount Beauchamp. See it engraved, with its epitaph, in Dart, pl. 12. " Mary;" married first to Andrew Rogers, esquire, and secondly to Sir Henry Peyton. "Katherine." She died unmarried. "Elizabeth," who became the second wife of Sir Richard Knightley. J. G. N. RECTORY HOUSE AT KINGSWORTHY, HAMPSHIRE. (With a Plate.) THE Rectory House at Kingsworthy, near Winchester, represented in the annexed engraving, is situated on rising ground near the river Itchin, a short distance from the parish church. It was built in the year 1836, at the expense of Sir Thomas Baring, Bart. The walls are of dark red brick, and all the dressings of Bath stone. The clustered chimneys are variously ornamented, and were made upon the spot in moulds furnished for the purpose from Cossey Hall in Norfolk, a magnificent specimen of domestic architecture by the same architect, Mr. J. C. Buckler. MR. URBAN, Cork, Feb. 18. IN the late republication of the Right Hon. member for Edinburgh's contributions to the great Northern periodical, one which bears the unerring impress or internal evidence of his composition, and is consequently, in general opinion, ascribed to him, has been omitted, though hardly surpassed by any of the articles which, in this collection, so eminently display the extent, the diversity, and, with some J. B. few exceptions, the philosophic soundattainments. Among these none shine ness and laudable application of his brighter than his classical references when called for by any arising occasion; and I have therefore been not a little surprised at a singular oversight in that department of literature which See memoirs of the Unton family, prefixed to the Unton Inventories, published by the Berkshire Ashmolean Society, 4to. 1841. |