The cause why this Feast is this Fryday is in comemoraĉn of the King's Delivery Gowrye. I am att this instant by comandiment, sent away amongst other Gent. to conduct this Ambassador to Court, and therfore I beseech yor LoP to pdon my brevitye and rude hasty scriblinge 2."

I shall here resume the narrative of Sir Robert Carey :

"When the Queen came up, my Wife waited on her, and at Windsor was sworn of her Privy Chamber and Mistress of her Sweet Coffers 3, and had a lodging allowed her at Court. This was some comfort to me, that I had my wife so near to me. Shortly after her coming 4, she made suit too for James Hayes 5 to be admitted again into the Bed-chamber with Philip Herbert 6. I bestirred myself as well as I could, but could do no good. They were taken in 7; and poor I refused, never after to hope for it. They left me not thus, that wished me evil; but, having nothing but Norham to live on, my good Lord of Dunbar

' In the Churchwarden's Accompts of St. Margaret's, Westminster, for 1603, are these entries : "Paid the 5th of August for ringing for the King, 3s.

"Paid for a Book of Publique Prayer for the King, Sd."

Cotton. MSS. E. x. fol. 225.

"They were called Sweet Coffers, from the variety of musks and sweets in which the Queen's cloaths were kept, according to the perfumed fashion of those times. The employment, I believe, was the same as that which is now termed Mistress of the Robes." Lord Corke.

• The Queen.

5 of whom see before, p. 104.-Lord Corke observes, that "he was a Gentleman of the Bedchamber in Scotland, and desired to be in the same post in England."-—He will be more conspicuously noticed under the year 1606-7.

* Afterwards Earl of Montgomery, and of whom see before, p. 221.

7 "They afterwards became favourites, and enjoyed very high promotions. Hay was made Earl of Carlisle." Lord Corke.

› Norham, a pleasant village, in a low situation, on the banks of the Tweed, is a place of great antiquity, said to be built by Egfrid Bishop of Lindisfarn in 830; and gives the name of Norhamshire to a large tract of country within the County of Durham. About half a mile from the Church stands the Castle built by Bp. Flambard in 1121, on the brink of a steep rock, whose foot is washed by the Tweed. This Castle was frequently attacked by the Scots; and many curious particulars of its various sieges are given by Mr. Hutchinson. This Castle, which from the time of Bp. Flambard had appertained to the See of Durham, became vested in the Crown in 1552, on the deprivation of Bp. Tunstall; but was restored to him, with his Bishoprick, in 1553, and by him repaired and fortified not long before his second deprivation in 1559, when it was continued to his successors till 1603, when Bp. Mathew demised Norham Castle, Norhamshire, and Islandshire, to the King, who immediately granted Norham to George Home, Earl of Dunbar, and it has ever since remained severed from the possessions of the See. He obtained, in consideration, an abatement in the outrent paid by the See of

begged the keeping of it over my head, and I did see it was folly to strive, and therefore thought on the next best course to do myself good. Dunbar1 thirsted after nothing more than to get of me the possession of Norham. My Lord Cecil was umpire between us; he offered £.5,000. I held it at £7,000. £.6,000 was agreed upon, which was truly paid, and did me more good than if I had kept Norham. After the agreement made, having received £.2,000, the rest I was to have at three months, and three months, and I then took my journey to the North to give his agents possession of Norham. I sold them there as much goods as when I returned

Durham to the garrison of Berwick, and restitution of Durham House in the Strand. Fuller accuses the Earl of a design of swallowing up not only Norham but the whole Bishoprick; but Heylyn (Exam. Hist. p. 176) says the Earl was a well-principled man, and that his own turn being served by a lease of Norham in fee-farm, he joined with Archbishop Bancroft in procuring the Act for preventing future alienations of lands belonging to Bishopricks, which, as it was the best market ever Toby Mathew was at, so was it the best bargain which was ever driven for the Church of England. Surtees's Durham, vol. I. p. lxxxvii.

George Home, Earl of Dunbar, is characterized by Abp. Spottiswoode as a man of deep wit, few words, and in his Majesty's service no less faithful than fortunate. The most difficult affairs he compassed without any noise; and never returned, when he was employed, without the work performed he was to do. Being early introduced at Court, he soon rose high in the favour of King James VI. who appointed him one of the Gentlemen of his Bedchamber, 1658; conferred on him the honour of Knighthood; constituted him Master of the Wardrobe, 1590; and delivered to him the Staff of High Treasurer of Scotland, 5th September 1601. Attending his Majesty into England on his accession, 1603, he had a considerable influence in the management of the affairs of that Kingdom; and the sole disposal of those of Scotland. He was sworn a Privy Councillor of England, and created a Peer of that Kingdom, by the title of Baron Home of Berwick, 7th July 1604; and he was also created a Peer of Scotland, by patent, dated at Windsor, 3d July 1605, constituting George Lord Home of Berwick, and his heirs male, Earls of Dunbar. He was likewise appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in England. He was the person on whom the King most depended for the restoration of the Episcopal Order in Scotland; and for that purpose he was sent down to that Kingdom in 1606. Matters were so skilfully managed, that in the Parliament held at Perth, 9th July 1606, he carried through the Act for the Restitution of the Estates of Bishops. In the same Parliament he obtained a ratification of the Earldom of Dunbar, and other lands, and an acquittance and discharge of the King's jewels and wardrobe. He was High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 1606 and 1608; and as a mark of the King's approbation, was installed a Knight of the Garter, 20th May 1609. He was High Commissioner to the General Assembly at Glasgow, 8th June 1610, wherein several Acts were passed very unacceptable to the Presbyterians. He had charters of the Earldom of Dunbar, 19th July 1606; of the Barony of Broxmouth, 24th June 1609; and of the lands or Smallame, &c. in the Lordship of Lochmaben, 15th January 1610-11. He died at Whitehall, 29th January 1611, when he was about to solemnize magnificently his daughter's marriage with Lord Walden, and was buried at Dunbar, where is a monument to his memory." Wood's Douglas.

back I received of my Lord Dunbar £.800 for. When I was at Norham, God put it into my mind to go to Dumfermling1 to see the King's second Son 2, I found him a very weak child. I stayed a day or two with my Lord of Dumfermling 3, whom I had long known, and was my noble Friend; and so returned to Court.”

"Wednesday the 10th of August was by the Ordinary appoynted to bee kept holliday, and fasting; the Church to be frequented with prayers to Almighty God, Sermons of repentance to the people, and charity to the poore to be collected and distributed, and the like commanded to bee done weekely every Wednesday while the heavy hande of God, by the Plague of Pestelence, continued amongst us4."

'At Dumfermling, in the shire of Fife, was a sumptuous Abbey built by Malcolm III, whose father Donald (or Duncan) was murdered by Macbeth. Malcolm III. began his reign in 1059; and from that time the Abbey of Dumfermling was the residence of the Kings of Scotland, and this valuable Palace having fallen into decay, a new one was built in 1600 by Queen Anne of Denmark, which has now also become a heap of ruins.

2

• Prince Charles; afterwards King Charles the First.

› Alexander Seton, Earl of Dumfermling, was in his youth destined to the Church; and went to Rome to perfect his ecclesiastical studies; but the establishment of the Reformed Religion in Scotland diverting him from that pursuit, he betook himself to the study of the Law; which he pursued with diligence and application for several years. On his return home, King James VI, took him under his immediate protection, and appointed him an extraordinary Lord of Session in 1585; where, by several gradations he became President of the Court of Session in 1593, and a Commissioner of the Treasury in 1595. He was one of the Commissioners to treat of an Union with England, mentioned in Parliament July 11, 1604; appointed Lord Chamberlain of Scotland the same year; and created Earl of Dumfermling, to him and his heirs male, 4th March 1605-6. His Lordship was Commissioner to the Parliament holden at Edinburgh, 24th October 1612, wherein the Acts of the General Assembly of Glasgow, June 1610, were ratified, and the Act of Parliament, 1592, establishing Presbyteries, was rescinded. He held the Chancellor's Office till his death, which happened at his seat of Pinkie, near Musselburgh, built by himself on the 16th of June 1622, and he was buried at Dalgety in Fife, with great funeral solemnity, on the 19th of July following. Archbishop Spottiswoode observes of the Earl of Dumfermling, that he exercised his place with great moderation, and to the contentment of all honest men. He was ever inclining to the Popish faith, as being educated at Rome; but was very observant of good order, and one that hated lying and dissimulation; and, above all things, studied to maintain peace and quietness. It may be added, that the Chancellor was esteemed one of the most eminent lawyers of his time, and excelling in wisdom. He was a good scholar. Some fragments of his performances are extant, particularly an epigram prefixed to Lesly's History of Scotland, and another addressed to John Skene on his publishing the Regium Majestatem. Arthur Johnston thus panegyrized the Earl of Dumfermling:

4 Howes' Chronicle.

VOL. I.

"Sub Jove liquit humum, spreta Themis aurea cœlo,
Nunc tecum in terris, Haye! tribunal habet."

2 K

Wood's Douglas.

"The fourteenth of August Sir William Dethicke, Garter Principall King of Armes, being sent to Peterborough in Northhamptonshire, with a rich pall of velvet embrodered with the Armes of the mightie Princesse Mary Queene of Scots, having letters directed to the Reverend Lord Bishoppe of Peterborough in that behalfe, which pall of velvet embrodered was by him solempnly carried and laid uppon and over the corpes of the said late Queene, assisted by many Knights and Gentlemenne, and much people at the time of divine service; and then the said Lord Bishoppe preached a Sermon, in that behalfe, in the morning, and made a great feast at dinner, and the Deane preached of the same in the afternoone; the said Queene of Scotland was royally and sumptuously enterred by the said Garter, on the first of August, one thousand five hundred and eightie-seven !."

On the 17th of August the King visited Basing, the seat of William Pawlet, fourth Marquis of Winchester; who, in 1601, had the honour of entertaining Queen Elizabeth 2 on her third Visit at that famous mansion.

The 18th and 19th were passed at Sir William Kingsmill's 3 at Sydmonton 4. On the 20th and 21st, at Hursbourne 5, Sir Robert Oxenbridge's".

'Howes' Chronicle.

2 See her "Progresses," vol. I. p. 87; vol. II. p. 58; vol. III. p. 566.-Some idea may be formed of the magnificence of Basing from the following circumstance: Hugh Peters was at the taking of the house (in 1645 after two years' siege), and being come to London to make a report of it to the Parliament, said it was a house fit for an Emperor to dwell in, it was so spacious and beautiful. The Marquis had called the mansion Love Loyalty, and caused that name to be written with a diamond on every window. This is said to have, in great measure, provoked the enemy to burn it: the plunder was so great, that a private soldier got £.300. A bed was valued at £.1,400.

3 Sir William Kingsmill had been knighted at the Charter-house on the 11th of May (see p. 116). He was Sheriff of Hampshire in 1601, and again in 1612.

• Sydmonton House was granted to John Kingsmill by Henry the Eighth, on the dissolution of monasteries, it having belonged to the Abbey of Romsey. It was long in the possession of the Kingsmill family, and was the residence of Admiral Sir Robert Kingsmill, Bart. who died in 1805. The building is irregular, and has been erected at various periods. No particulars either of this or the subsequent Visit are preserved.

5 Hursbourne passed from the Oxenbridges to the ancient family of Wallop; and is now the property of John-Charles Wallop Fellowes, third Earl of Portsmouth. The ancient mansion-house has been succeeded by a handsome modern edifice, delightfully situated in an extensive park, and erected nearly forty years ago from a design by Mr. Wyatt.

Sheriff of Hampshire in 1595.

In a Letter of De Vitry', the French Ambassador, to Sir Thomas Parry 2, dated Basingstoke, August 21, 1603, we find the following fragment: "J'ay eu cest honneur d'avoir eu audience. . . . . de Basing, par le faveur de Monsieur de . . . . Le Roy retenu le matin en sa chambre et à son disne . . . . . il me fit conduire en la chambre parée par dela je fut conduit par un autre Seigr en la chambre du Roy, ou sa Mtie vint accompagnée des plus grands de sa Cour, et me receut avec tant de benignité et de faveur, que je ne peux vous en faire le contentement, que j'en rends à Messeigrs de l'honneur qu'ils on receut en ma personne mesmes es responces de S. M. plen. . . . d'amitie. Dieu viuille que l'issue de ma negotiation corresponde au commencement 3."

Mr. Philpott entertained the King and Queen at Thruxton in Hampshire on the 22d and 23d of August; and Sir Richard Gifford on the 24th and 25th at King's Somborne 4.

On the 26th the King visited the famous City of Salisbury; where he was received with becoming formality by the Mayor and Corporation; and was presented with a silver cup, presented by the Recorder with a handsome Oration; and then proceeded to the Episcopal Palace, where he was for three days entertained by Dr. Henry Cotton 5.

Louis d'Hôpital, Marquis de Vitry, one of the old Catholics of the League, but now firmly attached to Henry IV. L.

2 Sir Thomas Parry, or ap Harry, alias Vaughan, of Hampsted Marshal in Berkshire, eldest son of Sir Thomas Parry, Comptroller of the Household, and Master of the Wards in the preceding Reign, by Anne, daughter of Sir William Reed, of Borestall in Buckinghamshire. Winwood's Memorials inform us, that he was appointed Ambassador Resident at the Court of France in 1601, much against his inclination, and I find in one of the unpublished Howard Papers, that he succeeded Sir John Fortescue as Chancellor of the Exchequer, in December 1607, and was then sworn of the Privy Council. He married Dorothy, daughter of Brooke, of Bristol, and a Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth. Whether he left issue by this Lady is unknown; for the Pedigree in the College of Arms ends with his own name. L. 3 Cotton MSS. Caligula, E. x. 255, injured by fire.

4 No account of either of these Visits has been seen. But at King's Sombourne are the ruins of an old mansion (traditionally said to have been a Palace of John of Gaunt) where the King was entertained by Sir Richard Gifford.

5 Dr. Henry Cotton, son of Sir Richard Cotton, of Warblington, Hants, became Commoner of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1566, and having taken his degrees in Arts, was appointed Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, his godmother, and a Prebendary of Winchester Cathedral. Favoured by the Queen, he was exalted to the Bishoprick of Salisbury in 1598, at one step from his Chaplainship. He continued in it till his death in 1615, and lies buried in the Cathedral. Godwin (de Præsulibus) describes him as not more honourable for his parentage than eminent for learning, and for those virtues which peculiarly adorn the Episcopal office.