(From Lord Herbert to Lord.)

"MY LORD,'-Since your Lordship has given me liberty to lay my case before you, I will doe it in as few words as I can. Your Lordship knows how my father acted at the Revolution, and afterwards, and how he was rewarded for it.

"Some years before his death I engaged in the Bewdley election for myself, and in several others for my friends, as the Worcester, county and city, Bridgenorth, and the County of Salop.

"The first by the constant lawsutes was extremely expensive to me, having cost me at least six thousand pounds: the others, tho' not so chargeable, still cost me a great deal of money. When I began these disputes, I owed not one shilling in the world; and at my father's death was near six thousand pounds in debt, the allowance I had from him being little, or nothing. I wont besides mention the incumbrances he left me, which were very great, besides the misfortunes I have had since in my own family, from which I can at any time justifie myself both to God and man. Since his Majestie's happy accession I have endeavour'd to get some place, especially out of England, whereby I might in time retrieve the misfortunes of a family, that has not been always the most inconsiderable. I have been more than once made to believe I should succeed in what I desired, but instead of that, when all those governments were disposed of, I was told his Majesty had allotted me six hundred pounds a year, till I could be provided for. I must confess, my Lord, I thought this too little, since several, who at least have deserv'd no better than myself, have more, and since I still continue at an expense to keep up that interest, which has cost me so much money in the countrey, and can say without vanity there were few Whiggs when I came to live there, and at this time there are very few who are otherwise. The beginning of the last year I had two orders for three hundred pounds each, signed by his Majesty. The fees of both cost me at the different offices fifty pounds, and this year I have not had any thing. I have laid my case before your Lordship just as it is, and shall submit every thing to his Majesty's goodness, and your Lordship's consideration; and whatever may happen will upon all occasions shew myself a dutiful and faithfull subject, and my Lord, etc. "HERBERT."

He had once possessed a good estate, but he had impaired it in his political zeal. The pressure of debts, a narrow income, and the scanty supply of aid from the government cast a deep gloom over the remaining days of Lord Herbert, and finally occasioned in a sudden fit of insanity the loss of his life by his own hand. Our authority for saying so is a book called a Guide to

Worcestershire, by W. Noake of Worcester. Speaking of Ribbesford Court, he writes-" In this house was the scene of poor Lord Herbert's tragedy, who committed suicide here in 1738, and in the obituary of the Historical Register for that year it is stated that he died suddenly at his seat at Ribbesford, near Bewdley. The snapping asunder the cord of being in the vigour of manhood-in the flower of life-struck every generous heart in the neighbourhood with consternation."

Lord Herbert left his landed property to Henry Morley, Esq., the grandson of his aunt, Magdalene Herbert, who is named in a letter, written by Monsieur de la Place, a French Protestant, to Mr. Herbert, afterwards the first Lord Herbert of Chirbury of the Ribbesford branch :-"Pray let Mrs. Magdalen know by these, that I have been with Mrs. Snoden, who tells me that on Friday last she sent her the thred demanded by the shoemaker, who was then to send down some shoes." She married, according to Neve, Sir Charles Morley, Kt., great nephew of George Morley, Bishop of Winchester. Henry Morley left Ribbesford to his sister Mary Magdalene, who devised it to her first cousin George Powlett, twelfth Marquis of Winchester. We insert an accurate pedigree of the Morley family, derived from Le Neve, Berry, and other sources.

We have thus been able to collect fresh materials for the illustration of our subject. By the dim light of antiquity we have retraced the course of ages, and marked the spirit and manners of bygone generations. We have been admitted into the privacy of the domestic circle, where the members of the family of the Montgomeryshire Herberts have communicated to us the plans they had formed, the hopes that buoyed up their spirits, and the fears that beclouded their prospects. We have contemplated changes in the State in the "Great Rebellion", the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution, and the Hanoverian succession, and observed a corresponding ebb and flow of individual prosperity. We have witnessed the constant revolutions of the wheel of Fortune, and observed the canker of disappointment preying on many a blooming expectation; and sundry leaves, once fair and gay, dropping from the full flower of manhood. We have also followed divers clues into the labyrinth of obscurity, and seen our tangled webs unfold, as by the hand of the enchanter. We have learnt to sympathize with the subjects of our biographical research

1 Pedigree of the Morley family in Le Neve's Pedigrees of Knights. Harl. Misc. 5801, published by the Harleian Society.

They suffered, but their pangs are o'er;
Enjoy'd, but their delights are fled;
Had friends-their friends are now no more;
And foes-their foes are dead.

The rolling seasons, day and night,

Sun, moon, and stars, the earth, and main,
Erewhile their portion, life and light,

To them exist in vain.

Our task is done, and has thriven better than we anticipated, leaving, as we believe, but few trifling errors to be corrected, and few important omissions to be supplied. G. S.

APPENDIX,

CONTAINING MISCELLANEOUS ADDITIONS TO HERBERTIANA.

We have been favored by the Earl of Powis with the loan of the three documents 1 to 3. The subsequent documents, 4 to 11, have been derived from various sources.

1.-(16 March, 35 Henry 8th.)

"SR WM HERBERT'S APPOINTMENT OF EDWARD HERBERT' to the Office of Deputy Constable of Aberystwith Castle, in Cardiganshire, South Wales, with the annual ffee of £11 5s. above the perquisites of office.

"Be it known unto all men by these presents That I, Sir William Herbert, Knight, one of the gentlemen of the Kinge's Maiestie's most honorable previe Chamber, have given and graunted, and by these presentes do give and graunte unto Edwd. Herbert my

to be my deputie yn myn office of the Constableshippe of the Castell of Aberustwith, in the countie of Cardigan, in South Wales, with all and singular proffittes and advantages belonging unto the said office, To have, hold, occupy and enjoy the said office, with the proffittes and advantages belonging unto the same, unto the said Edward Herbert, for and during my lyff, yf the said Edward Herbert shall so long lyve. And further, I, the said William Herbert, have given and graunted, and by these presentes do give and graunte unto the said Edwd. Herbert, for the and occupying of the said office under me, an annuitie or annuall ffee of Eleven pounds five shillings over and besides all the said proffittes and advantages, To be paid yerely to the said Edward Herbert on the feasts of St. Michael

1 See Mont. Coll., vol. iii, p. 355 et seq.

the Archangell and Annuntiation of our Ladie by even portions: Provided allweis yf yt happen the said Edward Herbert, at any time hereafter to be reteyned wyth any other person or persons in some other office with me the said Sir William Herbert, that then this present graunte, in all and every thinge be voyde and of none effect. In witness whereof to these presents I have subscribed my name and put my seall, even the 16th day of March, inthe XXXV year of the most prosperous reign of our Sovereign Lord Henry the Eighth, by the Grace of God of England, France, and of Ireland, King, defender of the faith. And in of ye of England and of Ireland."

2.-"ORDER for payment of £6 a day for the Tables of SR EDWARD HERBERT,' Knight, Ambassador to ffrance, and other expenses, etc. "James, by the grace of God, etc. To the Commissioners for our Treasury, and to the Treasurer and Under Treasurer of our Exchequer for the time being, and to every of them greeting: Whereas we have appointed our Trustie and well beloved Sr Edward Herbert, Knight, to be ambassador extraordinary unto our good brother the French King, and are pleased to allowe unto him for his entertainment and diet the sum of Sixe pounds lawfull money of England, by the day. We will and command you out of our Treasury from time to time remayning in the receipt of our Exchequer, to pay or cause to be paid to the said Sir Edward Herbert, or to his assignes, the said sum of Sixe pounds by the day for his entertainment and diet aforesaid, the same to begin from the last preceding the date hereof, and to continue untill his returne to our presence, or that we shall signify our pleasure to the contrary. And further, to advance unto him presently, by way of imprest, soe much money as his said entertainment and diet shall amount unto in moneys, to be afterwards de . . . . . d upon his said entertainment, as also to pay unto him or his assigns such sums of money as he shall signify unto them by bills under his hand, to have been disbursed for his transportation both outwards and homewards, for sending of letters either to us or our privy Councell, and for such other expences as shall be incident to this our service, the same Bills being first subscribed by one of our principal Secretaries. these, etc. "By order of Mr. Secretaire Calvert.

day of

And

"Ex. P. KIRKHAM."

3.-APPOINTMENT of COL. RICHARD HERBERT to be Governor of Aberyst(L.S.) with Castle by Prince Rupert (see Mont. Coll., vol. vii, p. 137.)

"Prince Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhyne, Duke of Bavaria and Cumberland, Earle of Aldersey, Knight of the most honorable

1 Probably the Hon. Richard Herbert, subsequently second Lord Herbert of Chirbury, who was colonel in the forces of Charles I, and served in Wales.