might otherwise have possessed, in the hearts of the people. Five thousand French troops were despatched to the seacoast of that country, apparently for Scotland; and violent counsels were suggested and resolved upon, at Paris, to suppress the Reformation, and its adherents, in Scotland. The selection, therefore, of Henry, Earl of Rutland, for the office of president of her majesty's council, for that portion of the kingdom in the immediate neighbourhood of Scotland, is an honourable testimony to his abilities, and the soundness of his religious views.

His first wife was Margaret, daughter to Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland. He had by her two sons, Edward and John; and two daughters; Elizabeth who married Sir William Courteney, of Powderham, in the county of Devon; and Eleanor, who married John, Earl of Bath.

He afterwards married Bridget, daughter of John, Lord Hussey,* of Sleaford, in the county of Lincoln, and widow of Sir Charles Morrison, of Cashiobury, in the county of Hertford, knight; but by her, who survived him, had no issue. By his last will, dated July 5, 1560, he bequeathed "his body to be buried in the Church of Bottesford, if he should die within the realm; and appointed that a tomb, suitable to his estate, should be made there." (See description of monuments in Bottesford Church.) Among other bequests, he gave "to John, his second son, his manor and rectory of Helmesley, formerly belonging to the monastery of Kirkham; as also his manor of Ross, in Holderness, and a fee-farm of £40 a year, issuing out of the city of York, during his life. To Edward, Lord Roos, his son and heir, all his armour, munition, and weapons; and ordered all his goods, chattels, jewels, plate, and household-stuff, which could be left unsold, to be divided betwixt his wife

Hussey. Arms-Quarterly I and 4, or a cross vert; 2 and 3, barry of 6,

ermine and gules.

and the said Edward, his son, when he should arrive at the age of twenty-one years. He also gave £200 to be distributed among his household servants, as his wife should judge convenient." He died Sept. 17, 1563.

His first wife, Margaret, was buried in Shoreditch Church, whither, Strype tells us, her corpse was carried, Oct. 21, 1559, from the house which had been the nunnery of Haliwell, and came into the possession of the Manners family, by the marriage of the father of the first Earl of Rutland with Anne Sellenger, (see page 37); with thirty clerks and priests singing; about three-score poor men and women in black gowns; mourners to the number of an hundred; two heralds of arms, garter, and York; then came the corpse; before a great banner of arms; and about her, four goodly banner rolls of divers arms. Mr. Bacon preached. After was dispersed a great dole of money, being 2d apiece for each. And so all departed to the place to dinner. About the vallance was written (in black letter) "Sic transit gloria mundi."

The Countess Bridget was afterwards married to Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford, her third husband, whom she survived many years; dying, January 12, 1600, aged seventyfive, and was buried at Watford, Herts; where, in the middle of the south chapel, is a monument, with an inscription to her memory.

Earl Henry was succeeded, in 1563, by his eldest son, EDWARD, third Earl of Rutland. The intrigues of the court of Rome against the authority and life of Elizabeth, had, from the peculiarity of the queen of Scotland's position, as a Romanist, and successor to the throne of England, failing the marriage and issue of Elizabeth, been concentred in the person of Mary. Mary, a weak, vain, and bigoted woman, was the too willing instrument of Rome. Her religion and claim to the succession secured a large and

influential party of English Romanists. Her beauty and fascinating manners allured others to her side, who, but for these accomplishments, might have continued indifferent, at the most, to her pretensions. While the misfortunes and ill-usage she had experienced among her own subjects, attracted the chivalrous sympathy of many others. Her early usurpation of the ensigns of English royalty, while it manifested her own wishes and intentions, could not but disquiet Elizabeth, whom it placed in the position of an usurper. A disquieting suspicion thus generated, must have been considerably augmented by the discovery, through the vigilance of the English government, that every plot against the authority and life of Elizabeth; whether originating in the courts of Rome, France, or Spain; whether conducted by her own disaffected Romanist subjects; whether secretly urged on by Jesuit missionaries in the disguise of soldiers, mechanics, or even puritan ministers, the most violent class of preachers against popery; every plot whatever might be its source, or the manner of its intended execution, was found to contain the name of Mary queen of Scots, as the willing co-adjutor; and the person who proposed to secure to herself, the greatest amount of benefit, from the success of Romish machinations. Unless, therefore, Elizabeth had courted martyrdom; and was prepared to sacrifice at the same time, the sacred interests of the Reformation; not only in this country, but in the whole of Europe; retaliative measures were a duty she owed to religion, her country, and herself. And of those measures, coercion was the only one that promised success; as every other, through the bad faith of her opponents, had failed. The final act, I can neither explain, nor defend. Of the sympathising members of Mary's communion, in this country, were the powerful Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, who contemplated in the first instance, the deliverance of Mary from prison,

and her marriage with the Duke of Norfolk. Elizabeth, having some vague information of the plot, summoned the suspected participators to her presence. All obeyed the summons, except the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland; who, hurried on by their fears or want of discretion, broke out into open revolt, in 1569. To suppress this revolt, Edward, Earl of Rutland, though then only twenty years of age, and in ward to the queen, was sent as lieutenant to the Earl of Sussex, commander in chief of the forces of the kingdom; and as a colonel of foot, and one of the council of war. The insurgent army soon broke up from the inherent weakness of their counsels.

In 1582, the Earl of Rutland was made lord lieutenant of the county of Lincoln; and, in 1585, was installed knight of the garter. His plate of arms was still remaining in 1792, in the twenty-third stall, in St. George's chapel, Windsor. In 1586, the Earl of Rutland, and others, were appointed commissioners to discuss with the Scottish ambassadors, whom they met at Berwick, on the 19th of June, the terms of a treaty of peace between England and Scotland. this treaty, which was finally agreed upon, July the 5th, or, according to some authorities, the 8th, the two kingdoms bound themselves in a league, offensive and defensive, against all foreign powers, who should invade the territories, or attempt to disturb the reformed religious establishment of either.

By

Camden has recorded an additional proof of the high sense entertained by Elizabeth, of the abilities and integrity of the Earl of Rutland. That accomplished historian states, that the queen designed to make him lord chancellor, on the death of chancellor Bromley; but that he died six days after him; "being a profound lawyer, and a man accomplished with all polite learning."

His will, dated Nov. 20, 1583, is an interesting memorial of

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his unaffected piety and sound discretion. After declaring that the certainty of death, and the uncertainty of the time or place of death, are evidently intended by God, to urge us to direct the course of our life, by his grace and mercy in such sort, as we might always be found ready, and prepared to die, when it shall be his pleasure to call us out of this life; he proceeds to express his conviction, that on this account, it is not the least duty of a christian man, to set in order his worldly affairs, while he is in best health, for the preventing of such troubles, unkindness, and controversies, as do commonly grow, when no such order is taken. then solemnly recommends his soul to God, and bequeaths his body to be buried in the Church, at Bottesford, with his ancestors; and directs £100, at least, to be laid out on his tomb; "the funeral to be in such decent order, as to the estate and calling, it hath pleased God to call me to, appertain; with liberality, especially to the poor." And considering that the barony of Ros, for want of heirs male of his body, was to descend to his heir general; for that one of his ancestors, whose heir he was, did marry the heir of the Lord Ros; and thereby enjoyed that title and dignity, as descended on the part of the mother; as also continued the same until their creation to this earldom of Rutland:-supposing therefore, the style and dignity of the said barony, not to be utterly extinguished, but to remain suspended; because the earldom of Rutland, was entailed to the heir male of Thomas, his grandfather; and that the said barony was descendable to the heirs general; he settled his estate so, as that both honours might properly be supported. By a codicil, dated April 14, 1587, being "sick of body, but yet of good and perfect remembrance," he recognised and confirmed his former will; and died the same day, at his house near Puddle Wharf, London, being only then thirty-eight years of age. The will was proved Dec. 1, 1587.