Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

Summary of the "Montgomeryshire Collections" issued by the Powys-land Club, since its commencement on

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

This year's subscription will cover the Part XVIII, to be issued

on 1st April, 1876.

Complete sets, of which there are not many more than Twenty remaining, can be supplied to New Members only, on payment of the back subscriptions.

There are a few odd parts which can be sold at 10s. 6d. each.

Fifty extra copies of Vol. viii have been printed for sale, and also for Exchange for the Publications of Literary Societies, and other books.

HERBERTIANA.

AFTER having noticed at length the lines of the Herberts of Powis Castle, and the Herberts of Chirbury, Llyssin, Lymore, and Ribbesford, we shall proceed with the line of Herberts of Dolguog and Oakley Park, all which were united by the marriage of the member of the Herbert family, whom we shall next notice.

HENRY ARTHUR, EARL OF POWIS.

Henry Arthur, Earl of Powis, may be ranked amongst the most fortunate of the Herbert family, but he also possessed the judgment and tact which enabled him to improve every opportunity of advancement or distinc

tion.

He was descended from Matthew Herbert, of Dolguog, in Montgomeryshire, M.P. for Monmouthshire, in the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth, and second son of Edward Herbert, sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1557, who married Anne, daughter of Charles Fox, Esq., of Oakley Park, near Ludlow; and he was great grandson, through his grandmother Florence, to Richard, second Lord Herbert of Chirbury. He was the son of Francis Herbert, of Dolguog, Montgomeryshire, and of Oakley Park, Salop, and of Dorothy, daughter of John Oldbury, Esq., of London, merchant.

Although born a private gentleman, he was favoured with three several patents of nobility, the last of which, in 1749, included his brother and cousin in its limitations, and he became Lord Lieutenant of two counties, and held offices in the administration of the govern

ment.

While a commoner, he served in three parliaments for

VOL. VIII.

B

the borough of Ludlow, having been first elected in 1727. His elections and near residence to the borough caused him to incur a great expenditure. Lord Littelton, in his "Account of a journey into Wales", makes some remarks on this subject, which we shall quote.'

"Not far from Ludlow is Okely Park, belonging to Lord Powis, and part of that forest which Milton, in his masque, supposes to have been inhabited by Comus and his rout. The god is now vanquished; but, at the revolution of every seven years, his rout does not fail to keep up orgies there and in the neighbouring town, as Lord Powis knows to his cost, for he has spent twenty or thirty thousand pounds in entertaining them at these seasons, which is the reason that he has no house at this place fit for him to live in. He talks of building one in the park, and the situation deserves it; for there are many scenes which not only Comus, but the lady of Milton's masque would have taken delight in, if they had received the improvements they are capable of, from a man of good taste; but they are as yet very rude and neglected."

Lord Littelton afterwards remarks (p. 740) about Powis Castle, which had been burnt down some thirty years previously, that "there are still remains of a great house situate so finely and so nobly that, were I in the place of Lord Powis I should forsake Okely Park with all its beauties, and fix my seat near there, as the most eligible in every respect."

His Majesty George the Second, taking into consideration the services of Henry Arthur Herbert, and his relationship, as nearest kinsman by male descent to the last Lord Herbert of Chirbury, of the Ribbesford branch, was pleased to create him, by letters patent dated December 21, 1743, Lord Herbert of Chirbury. Thereupon his brother, Richard Herbert, was elected M.P. for Ludlow in his place."

Moreover, on the death of William Herbert, Marquess of Powis, who died March 8, 1748, and left him his whole estate, he was further advanced to the dignity of Baron Powis, of Powis Castle, Viscount Ludlow, and

1 "The Works of George, Lord Littelton (1774)," p. 738. 2 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xiii, p. 668.

Earl of Powis, by letters patent bearing date 27 May, 21 George II. In 1735 his lordship was constituted Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum for the county of Salop, and in 1745 was one of the thirteen peers who were commissioned to raise each a regiment of foot in order to suppress the rebellion.

The historians of Shrewsbury state that the advance of the Scottish invasion in 1745,' under the command of the grandson of James II, as near to Shrewsbury as Ashbourne, distant only sixty miles, on December 4, excited much uneasiness in the town.

"Lord Herbert, Lord Lieutenant of the county (afterwards Earl of Powis), had been commissioned (October 1) to raise a regiment of Fusiliers in Shropshire, which he completed in a very short time. They were lying in Shrewsbury at this time, and on the news of the enemy's advance, marched out to meet them; but having been just raised, and quite undisciplined, and being indeed totally inadequate in number to cope with the Highland army, they soon fell back. Sir Thomas Whitmore, of Apley, K.B., marched as a volunteer in the Grenadier company, and is recorded (in a MS. contemporary chronicle) to have shown more courage and resolution than many of the officers. The information excited very much bustle and was the mere joke of some mischievous Jacobite, for the Scots were far from any thoughts of advancing to Shrewsbury."

1 History of Shrewsbury, ii, p. 507.

"2

2 The following appears in a local magazine:-"In the year 1745, in consequence of the rebellion, a regiment was raised by Lord Herbert (Powis) for the service of Government, among which were many gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who honourably enrolled themselves as volunteers.* Their loyalty and activity in this respect, no doubt, must have essentially contributed to the peace and security of the county, as we find the rebels had once a design of marching into Wales, but durst not even penetrate into Shropshire.'

*The 8th December, 1745.-This year, on a report that the Scotch were marching into Salop, all in the Court interest fled from town in the greatest consternation. A regiment, raised by Lord Herbert, then quartered in Salop, marched from Wenlock,

Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, dedicated to this nobleman the first edition of the autobiography of the first Lord Herbert of Chirbury in the following terms:

To the Most Noble, Henry Arthur Herbert, Earl of Powis, Viscount Ludlow, Lord Herbert of Chirbury, Baron Powis and Ludlow, and Treasurer of His Majesty's Household.

MY LORD,

Permit me to offer to your lordship in this more durable manner the very valuable present I received from your hands. To your lordship, your great ancestor owes his revival, and suffer me, my lord, to tell the world what does you so much honour, you have given him and me leave to speak the truth; an indulgence which I am sorry to say few descendants of heroes have minds noble enough to allow.

Hitherto, Lord Herbert has been little known but as an author; I much mistake if hereafter he is not considered as one of the most extraordinary characters which this country has produced. Men of the proudest blood shall not blush to distinguish themselves in letters, as well as arms, when they learn what excellence Lord Herbert attained in both. Your lordship's lineage, at least, will have a pattern before their eyes to excite their emulation; and while they admire the piety with which you have done justice to your common ancestor, they cannot be forgetful of the obligation they will have to your lordship's memory for transmitting to them this record of his glory.

I have the honour to be, my lord,

Your lordship's most obedient and most obliged Servant, HORACE WALPOLE.

His lordship, also, by right of his office as Lord Lieutenant, formed an association of the nobility, gentry,

full of fear; Sir Thomas Whitmore marched as a volunteer in the same regiment.—(MS. in the hands of the Editor.)

(The writer of the above note was evidently a partizan of the Pretender's; and we conceive he completely misrepresents the case, as we learn from Reay's History of the Rebellion, "that the Duke of Montague's and the Duke of Kingston's horse; the Duke of Ancaster's, Earl of Cholmondley's, Earl of Berkley's, Earl of Halifax's, Lord Gower's, and Lord Herbert's regiments of foot, with eight old regiments, were ordered to march for Staffordshire."--Salopian Magazine, No. 5, May 1815, p. 209.)

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »