honours of her government; and what more decent way of complimenting a great Prince than through the veil of fiction; or what so elegant way of entertaining a learned Prince, as by working up that fiction out of the old poetical story1: and if something of the Gothic romance adhered to these classical fictions, it was not for any barbarous pleasure that was taken in this patch-work, but that the artist found means to incorporate them with the highest grace and ingenuity. The deities introduced in the compliments at Kenilworth were those of the waters, the most artful panegyric on the Naval glory of this Reign, and the most grateful representation to the Queen of the Ocean, as Elizabeth was then called. The attributes 1 "Nothing could be more amusing to rude minds, just opening to a taste of letters, than the fabulous story of the pagan gods, which is constantly interwoven in every piece of antient poetry. Hence the imitative arts of Sculpture, Painting, and Poetry, were immediately employed in these pagan exhibitions. But this was not all. The first artists in every kind were of Italy; and it was but natural for them to act these fables over again on the very spot that had first produced them. These too, were the masters to the rest of Europe: so that fashion concurred with the other prejudices of the time, to recommend this practice to the learned. From the men of art and literature the enthusiasm spread itself to the Great; whose supreme delight it was to see the wonders of the old poetical story brought forth, and realized, as it were, before them. Hence it is that a celebrated Dramatic Writer of those days represents the entertainment of masks and shows, as the highest indulgence that could be provided for a luxurious and happy Monarch. His words are these: "Music and poetry are his delight. Therefore I'll have Italian masques by night, Such things as these best please his Majesty." Marlow's Edward II. And how exactly this dramatist painted the humour of the times, we may see from the entertainment provided, not many years after, for the reception of King James at Althorp in Northamptonshire; where this very design of Sylvan Nymphs, Satyrs, and Actæon, was executed in a Masque by Ben Jonson." Bishop Hurd, ubi supra. and dresses of the deities themselves are studied with care, and the most learned poets of the time employed to make them speak and act in perfect character. To shew that all this propriety was intended by the Designer himself, and not imagined by his Encomiast, the Earl of Hertford, who some years after had the honour to receive her Majesty at his seat in Hampshire, because he had not a canal in readiness like that at Kenilworth, employed a vast number of hands to hollow a bason in his park for that purpose'. These devices, composed out of the poetical history, were not only vehicles of compliment to the Great on solemn occasions, but of the soundest moral lessons, artfully thrown in and recommended by the charm of poetry and numbers 2." The Earl of Hertford whom she visited in 1558 was Edward Seymour, eldest son of Edward Duke of Somerset, uncle to Edward VI. and beheaded in his reign. His son was restored by Elizabeth in her first year, and created Baron Beauchamp and Earl of Hertford. He incurred her displeasure, 1563, four years after, by marrying a daughter of the late Duke of Suffolk, and sister of the consort of Jane Grey; and she made him feel the full weight of it, fining him £.5000, imprisoning him nine years, till 1572, and his wife till her death. He married, secondly, Frances, daughter of William Lord Howard of Effingham, sister of Charles Earl of Nottingham, who was probably the Lady who had the honour of entertaining her Majesty at Elvetham3 1591, where her Lord spared no expence to recover his Sovereign's favour. Sudeley Castle, in Leland's time, was one of the most beautiful in Gloucestershire, the windows of the hall being glazed with round beryls. It had long belonged to a family of its name, the last of whom, to avoid confiscation, sold it to Ed He caused also a View of it to be engraved; which is copied in vol. III. p. 109. The grave Sir Thomas More in his youth, for his pastime, wrote Pageants, which are prefixed to his Works, 1557, fol. Farmer on Shakspeare, p. 36.-The grand Christmas at the Temple in 1562, and "The Masque at Gray's Inn," 1594, here re-printed, shew that even the Sages of the Law did not think themselves exempt from the fashion of the times. The Speeches of the academical Students were a jumble of sacred and profane history blended into compliments to their Patroness. Be it however remembered, that if Elizabeth's was a reign of pageantry and devices, it was a reign of business and real glory also. For the strewing of carpets on the ground before Queen Elizabeth near the water, see Warton's History of Poetry, vol. III. p. 153. Clothes of gold before the Bride of Henry II. in the Romance of Cœur de Lion. "He found a Knight under a tre; Upon a cloth of gold he lay." Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, vol. I. p. 156. ward IV. The owner of it at this time was Giles Brydges third Earl of Chandos, whose grandfather John had been created Baron of Sudeley Castle, 1 Mary. He married Frances, daughter of Edward Earl of Lincoln, and died the year after he had the honour of entertaining her Majesty. The monuments of this family were destroyed with the Church during the siege in the Civil Wars. Her Visits to Cecil, it may be presumed, were not unfrequent. She was twelve times at Theobalds, beginning in 1564, which was a very convenient distance from London. Each Visit cost Cecil "two or three thousand pounds; the Queen lying there at his Lordship's charge sometimes three weeks or a month, or six weeks together. Sometimes she had strangers or embassadors came to her thither, where she has been seen in as great royalty, and served as bountifully and magnificently as at any other time or place, all at his Lordship's charge, with rich shows, pleasant devices, and all manner of sports that could be devised, to the great delight of her Majesty and her whole train, with great thanks from all who partook of it, and as great commendations from all that heard of it abroad. His Lordship's extraordinary charge in entertaining of the Queen was greater to him than to any of her subjects. But his love to his Sovereign, and joy to entertain her and her train, was so great, that he thought no trouble, care, or cost, too much, but all too little, so it were bountifully performed to her Majesty's recreation, and the contentment of her Train 2. Bisham, when she visited it in 1592, belonged to the daughter of Sir Nathaniel Cook 3, widow of Sir Thomas Hobie, re-married to Sir John Russell. In the epitaph of her first husband at Bisham she offers clouds of incense to his manes ; and concludes with wishing for such another husband, or him back again; or if neither of these requests could be granted, that she may go to him. "Te Deus aut similem Thomæ mihi redde maritum, Aut reddant Thomæ me mea fata viro 4." The entertainments of this Progress are marvelously full of quips and conundrums. Anthony Lord Viscount Montague 5 was son of Sir Anthony Brown, one of Henry VIII's favourite servants, who shared with his Master in his French. Rudder's Gloucestershire, p. 717. 3 Dugdale's Baronage. * Peck's Desiderata Curiosa. • Ashmole's Berks, vol. II. p. 468. 5 His son, who was advanced to the title of a Viscount, 1 Philip and Mary, though a zealous Catholic, was so highly esteemed for his great prudence, that Elizabeth employed him as her Ambassador to victories, which till lately adorned his mansion-house at Cowdray, and reflect much honour on the Society of Antiquaries, at whose expence they were engraved 1. Her Progress in 1564 to the University of Cambridge, was a compliment, to Sir William Cecil, who had been chosen Chancellor 1558. Her second to Oxford two years after, to shew the same respect to the Earl of Leicester then Chancellor, and in both she acquitted herself in a manner worthy the education she had received, and the patronage she professed to give to Learning. The Reign of Edward IV. in which Printing was invented and introduced among us, excited the first taste for Polite Literature; to which Henry VIII. gave his sanction as a polemist; and which was so much cultivated in the Reign of his Son and Daughters, till it sunk into pedantry under their Successors of the line of Stuart. the King of Spain; and Dr. Milner, in his History of Winchester, remarks that Elizabeth knew how to relax the Laws in favour of those who pleased her. For example, Cowdray-house was a kind of privileged place for priests, where scores of them were sometimes assembled; and, in the Act, 6th of Eliz. against acknowledging the Pope's supremacy, there was an express exemption in favour of Peers. Thus, what was high treason in a Commoner, was lawful in a Lord."—Lord Montague died the year after this Visit, and was buried with his ancestors at Cowdray. By his first wife Jane, daughter of Robert Earl of Sussex, he had issue Anthony, who died before him, leaving two sons, Anthony the second Viscount, and John; and one daughter, Mary, married, first, to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton; secondly, to Sir Thomas Heneage, Knight; thirdly, to Sir William Harvey, Knight and Baronet, created Lord Rosse of Ireland. By his second, Magdalen, daughter of William Lord Dacres of Gillesland, he had George, knighted on this occasion; Thomas and Henry (Sir William Dugdale, vol. II. p. 396, makes Henry fourth son, but this Progress calls him third son), Ranger of Windsor Forest; Elizabeth, married to Sir Robert Dormer, Knight, afterwards Lord Dormer; Mabel; and Jane, married to Sir Francis Lacon, of Willey in the county of Salop, Knight. Anthony succeeded his grandfather as second Viscount, and died 1629. His son Francis became third Viscount, and died 1682, leaving a son, Francis, fourth Viscount, who dying 1708, was succeeded by his brother Henry, fifth Viscount, who died 1717. His son Anthony became sixth Viscount, and died 1767, leaving Anthony his son seventh Viscount, who was succeeded by his son George Samuel, eighth Viscount, who lost his life at the Falls of Schauffhausen in Switzerland, unmarried, in Oct. 1793. The Viscounty then descended to Mark Anthony Browne, from John, second son of Anthony, who was eldest son of the first Viscount. At his death, in 1797, the honours are supposed to have become extinct. The Priory mentioned in the account of the Visit at Cowdray (vol. III. p. 91) must be that of Esseburn, Eseburn, or Oseburn, near Midhurst, founded by Sir John Bohun, of Midhurst, in the Reign of Henry III.; and granted 28 Henry VIII. to Sir William Fitz-William. Tanner, p. 563. 'One of these Views is copied in vol. III. p. 90; and is the more valuable, as the noble mansion was demolished by an accidental fire, Sept. 25, 1793, a few days only before the Noble Owner's fatal death as mentioned in the Note above. See Gent. Mag. vol. LXIII. pp. 858, 996, 1054, 1213. Her Visits to Suffolk and Norfolk, as well as that to Gloucestershire, were politically directed to Counties where the woollen manufactory flourished, having derived no little advantage from the troubles of the Low Countries. Sir William Spring, a wealthy Clothier, was Sheriff. The ancestors of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave1 had followed the same trade. Sir William Cordell was Master of the Rolls. Sir William Drury2 had distinguished himself in Ireland and Scotland. The Earl of Surrey, Philip, son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, beheaded 1572, made the greatest figure in Norfolk, at Kenninghall, which falling to the Crown on the attainder of Thomas Duke of Norfolk by Henry VIII. had been a favourite residence of her Majesty, and restored by her to Earl Philip, 1 66 Hengrave Hall is a rare remaining example of the domestic architecture of the beginning of the sixteenth century; being an embattled Manor-house built by Sir Thomas Kytson, a very wealthy Merchant of London, between the years 1525 and 1538. This Sir Thomas was Sheriff of London in 1533, and had, in 1522, purchased Hengrave (styled Hemegretha in Domesday Book) from the Duke of Buckingham, whose attainder and execution involved the property in considerable risk; but after some law proceedings, the King relinquished his gripe of the forfeiture, and the opulent Citizen was suffered to enjoy his estate. Upon this he erected the Hall, which cost, as appears from the documents preserved, about £3000. The mansion was large and imposing, and the Gate-house, especially, remains a splendid example of the architectural magnificence which marked the epoch of the Tudors; a fine English style, which we admire so entirely that we should be happy to see it restored and cultivated in our own days. The grounds were laid out by Sir Thomas Kytson, in the Dutch style, who brought a Dutch gardener thither to superintend them. "In an Accompt-book of Thomas Fryer, Steward of the Household at Hengrave, under " Foreign Charges" in April 1583, are the following entries respecting his Ladye's attendance on the Queen. For carrying my La. jewell chest to the water side, when she went to the Court at Greenwich, 9d. For fire and candle at the Court, 12d.-For a billyard borde 55s. To the Parson at London for his di. yeres wages, 12s. For 7 yards 3 qrts. of poppyngage green cloth for a long borde and a short borde, at London-house £3. 9s. 9d. For a tawney beaver hat for my Mr. 30s. and a band of black silk and gold 20s. For perle given by my Mr. to my Mrs. 18. 7s. 10d. For a case of lyon counters, 18d.-For a Shepard's Calendar 2s." Gage's History of Hengrave. The following Letter was written by the Queen to Lady Drury on the death of her Husband: "Bee well aware, my Besse, you strive not with divine ordinaunce, nor grudge at irremediable harmes, lest you offend the highest Lord, and no whitte amend the married hap. Heape not your harmes where helpe ther is none; but since you may not that you would, wish that you can enjoye with comforte, a King for his power, and a Queene for her love, who loves not now to protect you when your case requires care, and minds not to omitte what ever may be best for you and yours. "Your most loving careful Sovraigne, E. R." |