William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke

“ Copies exist of an alleged commission issued by Edward IV. to a committee of Welsh bards for the ascertaining of the true ancestry of William Herbert, earl of Pembroke, whom “the chiefest men of skill” in the province of South Wales declare to be the descendant of “Herbert, a noble lord, natural son to King Henry the first,” and it is recited that King Edward, after the creation of the earldom, commanded the earl and Sir Richard his brother to “take their surnames after their first progenitor 339 Herbert fitz Roy and to forego the British order and manner.” ”

“ Price was encouraged by William Herbert, first earl of Pembroke [q. v.] , and devoted himself to study. He took, however, some part in public affairs, and is stated to have been greatly occupied in the union of England and Wales, drafting or suggesting the petition on which the statutes were framed. He was sheriff of Brecknock in 1541, and lived chiefly at Brecon priory. He was knighted on 22 Feb 1546-7, and made one of the council for the Welsh marches in 1551. ”

“ Jasper Tudor was shortly afterwards restored to his rank and title, and a second time became Earl of Pembroke, resumed his possessions in Wales; and finding his nephew, Henry Earl of Richmond, then scarcely ten years of age, in the care of the widow of his deceased rival, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, he removed him from her superintendence, took him and presented him to Henry VI., who, on seeing him, is said (with what truth may well be doubted) to have made a speech almost prophetic of Richmond’s future fortunes. ”

“ Curle, who was then Rector of Bemerton, in Wiltshire, was made Bishop of Bath and Wells, and not long after translated to Winchester, and by that means the presentation of a Clerk to Bemerton did not fall to the Earl of Pembroke,—who was the undoubted Patron of it,—but to the King, by reason of Dr. Curie's advancement: but Philip, then Earl of Pembroke,—for William was lately dead,—requested the King to bestow it upon his kinsman George Herbert ”

“ Some Notices of William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke of the present creation, by J. E. Nightingale, F.S.A.. 1878; Camden's Annals; Froude's Hist. of England; Aubrey's Lives, ii. 478; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 258; Collins's Peerage, ed. Brydges, iii. 116 sq.; Doyle's Baronage; Lit. Remains of Edward VI, ed. Nichols (Roxb. Club) ; Machyn's Diary (Camden Soc.) ; Wriothesley's Chronicle (Camden Soc.) ; Chronicle of Queen Mary and Queen Jane (Camd. Soc.) ; Cal. ”

“ He graduated B.A. in 1605 and M.A. in 1608. ‘He was admired for his disputations in the schools, even when he was an undergraduate’ (Patrick, Reliquiæ Raleighanæ) . He took holy orders, and in 1618 became chaplain to William Herbert, third earl of Pembroke [q. v.] ”

“ Thus the ancestor of the present earls of Pembroke and Carnarvon and of the Herbert who was created marquess of Powis was a natural son of the first earl, one Richard Herbert, whom the restored inscription on his tomb at Abergavenny incorrectly describes as a knight. He was constable and porter of Abergavenny Castle, and his son William, “a mad fighting fellow” in his youth, married a sister of Catherine Parr and thus in 1543 became nearly allied to the king, who made him one of the executors of his will. ”

“ A manuscript by him in the Cambridge University Library, ‘Regole de la Lingua Thoscana,’ shows that he was for some time a teacher of Italian in London, perhaps in the service of William Herbert, first earl of Pembroke, to whose son Henry, ‘Signore Arrigo Herbert,’ this work is dedicated (London, 21 Aug. 1553) . The elder Florio also wrote, ‘Catechismo, cioè forma breve per amaestrare i fanciuli: Laquale di tutta la Christiana disciplina cõtiene la somma ... ”

“ HERBERT, Sir THOMAS (1606–1682) , traveller and author, son of Christopher Herbert, by Jane, daughter of Henry Akroyd of Foggathorpe in the East Riding of Yorkshire, was born in 1606 at York, where his family, which descended from Sir Richard Herbert of Colebrook, Monmouthshire [see under Herbert, Sir William, Earl of Pembroke, d. 1469] , had been settled for some generations as substantial merchants (Drake, Eboracum, pp. 298-300; Dugdale, Visitation of Yorkshire, Surtees Soc., xxxvi. 165) . According to Wood he was admitted commoner of Jesus College, Oxford, in 1621 ”

“ HERBERT, HENRY JOHN GEORGE, third Earl of Carnarvon (1800–1849) , born 8 June 1800, was eldest son of Henry George Herbert, the second earl, by Elizabeth Kitty, daughter of Colonel John Dyke Acland of Pixton, Somerset. His grandfather, Henry Herbert (1741–1811) , was elder son of William Herbert, the fifth son of Thomas Herbert, eighth earl of Pembroke [q. v.] , and was created Lord Porchester of Highclere 17 Oct. 1780, and Earl of Carnarvon 3 July 1793. Henry John George, at first known as Viscount Porchester, was educated at Eton and matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 22 Oct. ”

“ But, as GOD would, partly by weariness of his soldiers, and partly by the breach [break down] of the wheels that carried his ordnance; it was nine of the clock of the day following, being Ash Wednesday [7th February 1554] , before he came so far as Hyde Park: where his courage, being tofore as ye have heard not very lusty, began now utterly to die; beholding as it were before his face the present bane and confusion whereunto his malicious intent was shaped.
Yet desperation being his lewd guide, he marcheth forward; and cometh within the power of Sir William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke ”

“ On the death of his patron the Earl of Portland in 1635, Le Sueur was employed to execute his monument in Winchester Cathedral; this was subsequently wrecked by the puritans, but the figure still remains. In 1635 also Le Sueur executed the fine bust of Sir Thomas Richardson in Westminster Abbey. In the Bodleian Library at Oxford there is an excellent statue of William Herbert, third earl of Pembroke, by Le Sueur. By an agreement dated 17 June 1638 (also among the State Papers) , and witnessed by Inigo Jones, Le Sueur agreed to make two statues of James I and Charles I, at 170l. each ”

“ Herbert, William, earl of Pembroke. Dedications &c. to him. 1592 T, 1622 O, 1625 C, W, 1626 P, 1629 C, Z, 1630 T. Hereford, diocese, 1586. See Westfaling, Herbert. Heresies. See Sparke, Thomas, 1591. Herks. See Harkes. Hermaica gymnasmata (Latin exercises) . 1589 H. Herod the Great. The unfortunate politique (i. e. Herod) , by C. N. (i. e. N. Caussin) . 1638 C. Herodotus. Historiarum liber primus (Graece) . 1591 H. Heropaideia. See Cleland, James. Hesse, Ludwig and Philip landgraves of. Dedications to them. 1637 S. Hetone, —, subdean of Christ Church, Oxford. Dedication to him. ”

“ In 1662 he published, while living at the Charterhouse, London, 'Considerations in the behalf of Foreigners which reside in England, and of the English who are out of their own Country,' and pleaded earnestly for universal toleration in matters of religion and politics. In the dedication of his 'Careful Father' to Philip Herbert, earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, he addresses the earl as 'the chiefe Herbert,' but claims no near relationship. ”

“ Herbert, Sir Henry: for second book read second chapter 204 ii 27-28 Herbert, Mary, Countess of Pembroke: for (1555?-1621) , born probably . . . . about 1555, read (1561-1621) , born at Ticknell, near Bewdley, Worcestershire, 27 Oct. 1561, 206 i 39-44 ⁠omit Shakespeare . . . . her prime. 207 i 27 ⁠for acceptance read some consideration 208 ii 30-32 Herbert, Philip, Earl of Montgomery and 4th Earl of Pembroke: for a Scottish courtier . . . . ”

“ It soon became the chief ambition of William to put himself in the position of the old Earls of Pembroke. It has been much disputed when he became Earl of Pembroke. The probability seems that he was never formally created earl, but that, as exercising all the rights of earl over the ‘comitatus’ of Pembroke as protector of his wife's inheritance, he was loosely called ‘Earl of Pembroke’ very occasionally in early years, but more frequently as his position became more established. ”

“ In his title-pages he variously described himself as ‘of Lincoln's Inn’ and ‘a student of physick.’ He was at one time chief steward to Philip Herbert, fifth earl of Pembroke [see under Herbert, Philip, fourth Earl] , but he chiefly devoted himself to literary work (Cobbett, State Trials, vol. v.) . ”

“ When Edward at last took up arms, he once more attempted to mediate, and failing in this attempt, actively upheld the king. On 22 March 1322 he joined in the judgment and condemnation of Lancaster. He received Higham Ferrers and other of the earl's lands in Northamptonshire. Later in the year he accompanied the king in his expedition against Scotland, and on 30 May 1323 arranged a truce of thirteen years with the Scots. In 1324 Pembroke died suddenly near Paris, while on an embassy to Charles IV. He married three times. ”

“ Earl Pembroke, slain so impiously!
That slender Youth, a scholar pale,
From Oxford come to his native vale,
He also hath his own conceit:
It is, thinks he, the gracious Fairy,
Who loved the Shepherd Lord to meet
In his wanderings solitary;
Wild notes she in his hearing sang,
A song of Nature’s hidden powers ”

“ HERBERT OF LEA, SIDNEY HERBERT, 1st Baron (1810–1861) , English statesman, was the younger son of the 11th earl of Pembroke. Educated at Harrow and Oriel, Oxford, he made a reputation at the Oxford Union as a speaker, and entered the House of Commons as Conservative member for a division of Wiltshire in 1832. ”

“ Many of the Earls of Pembroke were men of culture and patrons of learning. In 1629 William, the third Earl, gave to the University of Oxford, of which he was Chancellor, a very valuable series [Pg 138] of Greek manuscripts collected by Giacomo Barocci, a gentleman of Venice; and in 1649 his brother Philip, the fourth Earl, gave to the same University, of which he was also Chancellor, a splendidly bound copy of the Paris Polyglot Bible, printed in 1645 in nine volumes. These two brothers are 'the incomparable pair of brethren' to whom the first folio of Shakespeare is dedicated. ”

“ During a short time Henry remained at Pembroke with the Herberts, but soon after the king obtained an important victory, and Jasper Tudor, uncle of the boy, returned to Pembroke. Then lady Herbert refused to stay longer within the walls of the castle, and departed with her children to rejoin her own friends. ”

“ A sad, deep gloom o’ercast his large dark eye, and threw a shadow over his massy forehead. His lip had forgot to smile, his glance to lighten; yet was there no remorse, no doubt, no wavering in his calm, noble features—only fixed, settled sorrow. His long and waving hair of the darkest chestnut, evenly parted on his crown, fell down on either cheek, and flowed over the broad, plain collar of his shirt, which, decked with no embroidery-lace, was folded back over the cape of a plain black pourpoint, made of fine cloth indeed, but neither laced nor passemented, nor even slashed with velvet ”

“ We will hope that, when this order was issued, the Earl had not consulted the text of Isaiah, 58th Chap. 12th Verse, to which the inscription placed over the gate of Pendragon Castle, by the Countess of Pembroke (I believe his Grandmother) at the time she repaired that structure, refers the reader. 'And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places ”

“ With this aspiring leader it was an object of prime importance to purchase the support of a nobleman who now appeared at the head of three hundred retainers, and whose authority in Wales and the southern counties was equal, or superior, to the hereditary influence of the most powerful and ancient houses. To engage him therefore the more firmly in his interest, Northumberland proposed a marriage between Pembroke's son lord Herbert and lady Catherine Grey, which was solemnized at the same time with that between lord Guildford Dudley and the lady Jane her eldest sister. ”

“ Sailing in March they visited the Cape, Madagascar, Goa and Surat; landing at Gambrun (10th of January 1627–1628) , they travelled inland to Ashraf and thence to Kazvin, where both Cotton and Shirley died, and whence Herbert made extensive travels in the Persian Hinterland, visiting Kashan, Bagdad, &c. On his return voyage he touched at Ceylon, the Coromandel coast, Mauritius and St Helena. He reached England in 1629, travelled in Europe in 1630–1631, married in 1632 and retired from court in 1634 (his prospects perhaps blighted by Pembroke’s death in 1630) ”

“ It was to be performed before the king on occasion of the marriage of the eldest son of the fourth Earl Pembroke to the daughter of the first Duke of Buckingham, and it was afterwards acted at the Blackfriars Theatre. ”

“ The name of Herbert, which we have met with in the cathedral, and which belongs to the Earls of Pembroke, presents itself to us once more in a very different and very beautiful aspect. Between Salisbury and Wilton, three miles and a half distant, is the little village of Bemerton, where "holy George Herbert" lived and died, and where he lies buried. Many Americans who know little else of him recall the lines borrowed from him by Irving in the "Sketch-Book" and by Emerson in "Nature." ”

“ It is also most unlikely that the 1600 edition of The Duke of York should have been issued as played by Pembroke's servants if the play had275 been previously acted by the Chamberlain's. Compare the parallel case of Andronicus. Miss Lee's statement, "Greene wrote, Nash tells us," more than four others "for Lord Pembroke's company," is absolutely without foundation. Nash says "the company" (Apology, 1593) , and evidently alludes to the Queen's men, for whom Orlando, Bacon, Selimus, and The Looking-glass were written. ”