DINING ROOM.

ELIZABETH SACKVILLE, VISCOUNTESS WEYMOUTH.BORN 1713, DIED 1729.Plain white dress. Looking at a miniature she holds in her hand.

ELIZABETH SACKVILLE, VISCOUNTESS WEYMOUTH.

BORN 1713, DIED 1729.

Plain white dress. Looking at a miniature she holds in her hand.

THE second daughter of Lionel, first Duke of Dorset, by the daughter of General Colyear. She became the bride of the second Lord Weymouth, the respective ages of the pair being sixteen and fourteen. Immediately after the ceremony the bridegroom proceeded on his travels, and the separation was eternal, for the poor child-wife died before the return of her lord to England.

FRANCES FINCH, VISCOUNTESS WEYMOUTH.By Sir Peter Lely.DIED 1712.Fair hair. Grey gown. Blue mantle. Spaniel in her lap.

FRANCES FINCH, VISCOUNTESS WEYMOUTH.

By Sir Peter Lely.

DIED 1712.

Fair hair. Grey gown. Blue mantle. Spaniel in her lap.

ELDEST daughter of Heneage Finch, second Earl of Winchilsea, by Mary, daughter of William Seymour, Duke of Somerset. She married the first Lord Weymouth, by whom she had a son, Henry, who diedv.p., and a daughter, married to Sir Robert Worsley, Bart.

No. 21.

THOMAS THYNNE, SECOND VISCOUNTWEYMOUTH.By Dahl.BORN 1710, DIED 1751.Tawny coat. White skirt. Short hair.

THOMAS THYNNE, SECOND VISCOUNT

WEYMOUTH.

By Dahl.

BORN 1710, DIED 1751.

Tawny coat. White skirt. Short hair.

ON the death of the first Viscount, the title and estates, by virtue of patent, and entail, descended to the heirs of his youngest brother, Henry Frederick, namely, his grandson Thomas, then only four years old, the posthumous son of Thomas Thynne, by Lady Mary Villiers, daughter of the first Earl of Jersey.

His guardians appear to have been in haste to arrange the young lord’s marriage. At the early age of sixteen he espoused Lady Elizabeth Sackville, eldest surviving daughter of Lionel, Duke of Dorset. But the married pair were immediately separated, as before mentioned, and Lord Weymouth sent off to travel, and while absent from his wife she fell sick, and died in 1729. On his return to England in the same year, a second wife was speedily provided for him, in the person of Lady Louisa Carteret, daughter of John Earl Granville, by whom he had three sons; Lord Weymouth, on first coming of age, finding the grounds and gardens round Longleat House, not only in a bad state, but in too antiquated a style to suit his taste, sent for the renowned ‘Capability Brown’ to improve and modernise them; some of the plans, however, made at that time were not carried out till later. ‘The most august house in England’ was much neglected during this Lord’s lifetime. He did not reside there in his minority, and soon after he came of age he went to live in an old manor-house in the neighbouring village of Horningsham,which had once belonged to the Arundel family. He died and was buried at Horningsham. In 1739 Lord Weymouth was appointed Ranger of Hyde and St. James’s Parks.

THOMAS THYNNE, FIRST VISCOUNT WEYMOUTH.By Sir Peter Lely.BORN 1640, DIED 1714.Coronation robes. Holding coronet. Full wig.

THOMAS THYNNE, FIRST VISCOUNT WEYMOUTH.

By Sir Peter Lely.

BORN 1640, DIED 1714.

Coronation robes. Holding coronet. Full wig.

THE eldest son of Sir Henry Frederick Thynne, Bart., of Kempsford, by Mary, daughter of the first Lord Coventry. From his schoolmaster, Dr. William Burton, young Thynne imbibed a taste for antiquarian research, which lasted his life. He studied successively under Dr. Triplet and Dr. Henry Drummond, both literary men of mark, and finally at Christ Church College, Oxford, under Dr. John Fell, afterwards Bishop of the diocese.

It was about the year 1657, that Thynne entered the University at the same time as Ken, with whom he then formed a close friendship, which only terminated with the life of that celebrated divine. In 1673 Thomas Thynne was returned M.P. for the University of Oxford, in place of Sir Heneage Finch, appointed Lord Keeper, and later he sat for Tamworth. In 1679 he was chosen Honorary Steward of Sutton Coldfield, county Warwick; and in 1682, in addition to his large paternal estates, he inherited Longleat and other vast possessions on the murder of his cousin and namesake. This was in virtue of an entail made by his uncle, Sir James.

The same year he was raised to the peerage by the titles of Baron Thynne of Warminster, county Wilts, and ViscountWeymouth, county Dorset, with limitations to his brothers in default of male issue. In 1762 Lord Weymouth was sworn of Queen Anne’s Privy Council, and in 1710 Custos Rotulorum, county Wilts, and the ensuing year Keeper of His Majesty’s deer, and woods, Forest of Dean. He married the daughter of the second Earl of Winchilsea, by whom he had three children.

Lord Weymouth was much esteemed for many excellent qualities. He died in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and was buried at Longbridge Deverill; his kindness and hospitality towards Bishop Ken is recorded in another page.

He appears to have been worthy of his good fortune, inasmuch as he valued and appreciated the beautiful estate which had fallen to his share. He made considerable improvements in the interior of Longleat House, finished and caused to be consecrated the domestic chapel, and laid out the gardens adjoining the mansion. He was a friend to literature, a patron of literary men, and was deservedly regretted when he passed away.

SIR JOHN COVENTRY.By Dobson.Grey suit. Blue cloak.

SIR JOHN COVENTRY.

By Dobson.

Grey suit. Blue cloak.

SIR John of Pitminster, county Somerset, and Mere, county Wilts, was the son of John Coventry, by Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of John Barton, and widow of one Herbert, a gentleman of Hampshire. The Lord Keeper Coventry was his grandfather. He was Knight of the Bath, and sat in the Long Parliament, and others, for Weymouth.

In 1670 an inhuman assault was made on him, which gave rise to the Act since known as ‘The Coventry Act,’ against wounding, maiming, etc.

Money being asked for in the House of Commons at a time when Sir John, and other members, were advocating economy, the good knight proposed to tax the theatres, the immorality of which was at that time notorious. The courtiers opposed the measure, saying that the players were the King’s servants, and part of his pleasure. Whereupon Sir John asked facetiously, ‘Whether the King’s pleasure lay among the actors, or the actresses?’

This speech was reported to His Majesty by those who were glad to inflame his choler against Coventry, and revenge was projected. Some of the guards were to watch for Sir John in the street, and set a mark upon him.

The Duke of York heard of the plot, and told Bishop Burnet that he had done all in his power to dissuade his brother from so cruel and unjust a proceeding, but in vain. As Coventry came out of his house one evening, he was attacked by three gentlemen, but snatching the flambeau from his servant, with the light in one hand, and his sword in the other, he made a most gallant defence. He wounded one, but was soon overpowered, and the villains cut his nose to the bone,—‘to remind him,’ they said, ‘of the respect he owed the King,’ and leaving him in his pain, returned to the Duke of Monmouth’s, whence they came. The Duke was much censured for the part he had taken in the affair, and all the more that he and Coventry had been on friendly terms. Fortunately for the sufferer, ‘his nose was so well needled up,’ that the scar was scarcely perceptible. The members of the House of Commons were furious, and passed a Bill of banishment against the perpetrators of the outrage, with a clause that it should not be in the King’s power to pardon them. Sir John died unmarried.

No. 24.

SIR JOHN THYNNE,CALLED ‘THE BUILDER.’By Holbein.BORN 1515, DIED 1580.

SIR JOHN THYNNE,

CALLED ‘THE BUILDER.’

By Holbein.

BORN 1515, DIED 1580.

White and gold dress, with buttons. Badge. Sword. In the corner an inscription: ‘Sir John Thynne, builder of Long Leat. AnoDomi1566. Ætatis suæ, 51.’

THE son of Thomas Thynne of Stretton, Shropshire, by Margaret Eynes.

In 1540 he married Christian, daughter of Sir Richard Gresham, (twice Lord Mayor of London,) who was half-sister and co-heir of Sir Thomas Gresham, builder of the Royal Exchange. In the same year Sir John purchased the old Priory of the Black Canons of St. Augustine, near to Horningsham, county Wilts, with the adjoining lands, and he spent several years in improving and enlarging the estate.

In 1547, being then Secretary to the Duke of Somerset, he was knighted by that nobleman in the camp before Roxburgh, after the battle of Musselburgh and the siege of Leith.

When the Protector Somerset, to whom Sir John was much attached, was sent to the Tower, on being attainted, his Secretary was also imprisoned, and subjected to a heavy fine, but was soon released. In 1555 he obtained a grant of Kempsford, county Gloucester, and was appointed by the Lady Elizabeth (afterwards Queen) Comptroller of her Household, a post he ere long vacated, and went to live on his estate.

He sat in Parliament for county Wilts, for Bedwyn, andfor Heytesbury. Now Sir John’s good fortune roused the jealousy of his neighbours, one of whom, an Earl and a Privy Councillor, caused him to be arraigned before the Council, upon the somewhat novel accusation of having amassed a large fortune. Perhaps the worshipful gentlemen were in hopes of discovering Sir John’s secret. The knight spake out boldly, and honestly, saying his wife’s fortune had laid a good foundation, which he had improved by industry and economy, and he wound up his defence by observing that his Lordship and the other gentlemen had now as good a mistress in the Queen as he had formerly had a master in the Duke of Somerset; and thus terminated the legal (?) inquiry into well-gotten wealth.

It was in 1567 that he began to build that noble structure, the glory, not only of the west, but of all England, respecting the architecture of which, so many pages of controversy have been written.

Both to John of Padua and John Thorpe (unless they be one and the same person) the designs for the house were attributed; but from documents lately discovered, the most probable solution of the mystery is, that Sir John made use of designs prepared many years before by his patron, the Duke of Somerset, for a house on his own estate; this would account for the name of the architect not being mentioned in the records of the building. Be this as it may, the fame of Longleat and its beauty reached the ears of Queen Elizabeth, and she resolved to judge for herself, even before its completion; and so Sir Henry Seymour (the Protector’s brother) told poor Sir John roundly, ‘that her Grace did not relish his seeming unwillingness to receive her, and making excuses of sicknesses and other letts to divert her from the country.’

Moreover, the said Sir Henry Seymour, and Lord Sussex, a personal friend of Sir John’s, were so good as to pacify the Queen, by assuring her, that the master of Longleat hurriedon the building, mainly with the view of receiving his royal mistress. Thither therefore she repaired in 1574, in her progress from Bristol. After feasting the royal party in the most sumptuous manner, the good knight was rewarded for his unbounded hospitality by a message, through the Earl of Hertford (son of Protector Somerset), to the effect his illustrious guest had expressed ‘great liking for her entertainment in the west, especially at your house.’ Moreover, the Queen condescended, in conversation, to praise the charms of Longleat, an example that has not been lost on succeeding generations. Sir John finished the south and east fronts, and the interior from the hall to what was then called the Chapel Court. He had to his second wife, Dorothy, daughter to Sir William Wroughton of Broadhinton, county Wilts; he died in 1580, and by his own desire was buried by his first wife at Longbridge Deverill. Amidst all the persecutions of Mary’s reign, he was a staunch supporter of the Reformed Church.

SIR EGREMONT THYNNE.Red robe. Ruff. Holding a scroll.

SIR EGREMONT THYNNE.

Red robe. Ruff. Holding a scroll.

HE was the eldest son of Sir John Thynne of Longleat, by his second wife. He was Serjeant-at-Law, and married Barbara, daughter of Henry Calthorpe, whose brother was Lord Mayor of London. Aubrey has a strange story connected with him, in his Miscellanies, which is interesting to those who love the marvellous. One of Sir Egremont’s sisters married (as his second wife) Sir Walter Long of Draycot, county Wilts, and hadseveral children; it would appear that this lady used every means in her power to induce her husband to disinherit his son by the first marriage, sowing dissension between the father and his first-born in a most unpardonable manner. She persuaded her brother, Sir Egremont Thynne, to draw up a paper, by which Sir Walter, if prevailed on to sign the same, cut off his eldest son from the inheritance. This was at Bath, during the Assizes, where the learned serjeant-at-law was engaged in his legal duties; Sir Egremont accordingly drew up the document, and gave it to his clerk one night, bidding him sit up and engross it.

The man set to work, but no sooner had he commenced, than he was startled by a shadow falling on the parchment; he looked up hastily, and perceived a hand between him and the candle; he rubbed his eyes, and roused himself to his work, in the belief that he was falling asleep. Once more came the dark blot on the deed, and this time he saw quite clearly a small, white, lady’s hand, that vanished each time, as he gazed on it. He flung down his pen in terror, and, hastening from the room, went and told his master he would have no more to do with so unpleasant a transaction. But Lady Long found some one else to do her bidding, and the obedient husband signed and sealed.

No good came, as may well be imagined, of such dealings. The rightful heir’s maternal relations rose in his defence, seized the body of Sir Walter (who died shortly afterwards) in the church porch, and began a law-suit against the second son, by which they compelled him to accept of a moiety of the property, and to relinquish the principal estate to his half, and elder, brother.

No. 26.

LOUISA VISCOUNTESS WEYMOUTH.By Van Der Bank.In a fancy dress of pink and black. Pearl ornaments. Aigrette in her hair.

LOUISA VISCOUNTESS WEYMOUTH.

By Van Der Bank.

In a fancy dress of pink and black. Pearl ornaments. Aigrette in her hair.

LADY Louisa Carteret was the daughter of John Carteret, Earl Granville, by Lady Grace, daughter of John Granville, Earl of Bath.

She married the second Lord Weymouth (as his second wife) in 1733, and had by him two sons—Thomas, who succeeded his father; and Henry, who became Lord Carteret.

The dress in which Lady Weymouth is painted, was worn by her at a fancy ball at the Spanish Ambassador’s, and was so much admired, that she sat for her portrait in the same.

THOMAS THYNNE, THIRD VISCOUNT WEYMOUTH,FIRST MARQUIS OF BATH.By Sir Thomas Lawrence.BORN 1734, DIED 1796.In Parliamentary robes.

THOMAS THYNNE, THIRD VISCOUNT WEYMOUTH,

FIRST MARQUIS OF BATH.

By Sir Thomas Lawrence.

BORN 1734, DIED 1796.

In Parliamentary robes.

SON of the second Viscount, by Lady Louisa Carteret. In 1753 he set out on a foreign tour to complete his education; in 1760 he was appointed Lord of the Bedchamber to the King; in 1763, Master of the Horse to the Queen; in 1765, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, which post he did not occupy more than a few months, and in 1768, Secretary of State. He was also a PrivyCouncillor, High Steward of the Corporation of Tamworth, and an Elder Brother of the Trinity House. In 1759 he married Lady Elizabeth Cavendish Bentinck, eldest daughter of William, second Duke of Portland, by whom he had three sons and six daughters.

In 1789 he was created Marquis of Bath, and in the autumn of that year their Majesties and the Princesses, with a numerous suite, were sumptuously entertained at Longleat. By the way, it is mentioned, in an elaborate account of this visit, that 30,000 people pressed into the park, and 125 guests, independent of servants, slept in the house. The King, GeorgeIII., who had just recovered from a serious illness, and was on his road from Weymouth, was delighted with his reception. He went out on the roof of the house, and there observed, what many have said before, and since, that Longleat far exceeded its reputation for beauty.

Lord Bath continued the alterations begun by his father, and died in 1796.

SIR THOMAS THYNNE.Black dress. Pointed beard.

SIR THOMAS THYNNE.

Black dress. Pointed beard.

HE was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Thynne, by his first wife, the daughter of Lord Audley. He was seated at Richmond, in Surrey, and married the daughter of Walter Balquanhill, Dean of Durham, by whom he had Thomas, called of ‘Ten Thousand,’ who was murdered. He diedv.p.

No. 29.

THE HONOURABLE HENRY COVENTRY.By Sir Peter Lely.BORN 1620, DIED 1686.Scarlet and gold dress. Tawny mantle. Wig.

THE HONOURABLE HENRY COVENTRY.

By Sir Peter Lely.

BORN 1620, DIED 1686.

Scarlet and gold dress. Tawny mantle. Wig.

HE was the third son of Lord Keeper Coventry, by the daughter of John Aldersley; educated at All Souls College, Oxford. A firm Royalist, on the Restoration he was appointed a groom of the Bedchamber, and in 1664 was sent Ambassador-Extraordinary to Sweden, where he remained till 1666. The following year he and Denzil, Lord Holles, went as Joint-Plenipotentiaries to Breda, where they concluded a peace with France, Denmark, and the States-General. In 1668 he went again on an embassy to Sweden, and on his return was made one of the Principal Secretaries of State, and Privy Councillor. He gave so much satisfaction in office that when compelled to retire from bad health, theGazettehad a notice respecting him: ‘His Majesty has accepted the resignation with some unwillingness, because of the great satisfaction he always had in his services.’ Lord Clarendon commends his diplomatic duties, and says he was beloved of every one.

He retired into private life, and died at his house in the Haymarket, unmarried, leaving his estates to his namesake Henry Coventry, and his nephew James Thynne, with several charitable bequests.

No. 30.

SIR JAMES THYNNE.DIED 1670.In armour. Flowing hair.

SIR JAMES THYNNE.

DIED 1670.

In armour. Flowing hair.

THE eldest surviving son of the first Sir Thomas Thynne of Longleat, whom he succeeded.

THOMAS THYNNE,Esq.By Sir Peter Lely.MURDERED 1682.Tawny-coloured dress. Wig and ruffles. Holding a cane.

THOMAS THYNNE,Esq.

By Sir Peter Lely.

MURDERED 1682.

Tawny-coloured dress. Wig and ruffles. Holding a cane.

THE son of Sir Thomas Thynne of Richmond, Surrey, by Stuart, daughter and co-heir of Dr. Walter Balquanhill, Dean of Durham and Master of the Savoy. On the death of his uncle Sir James, Thomas Thynne inherited Longleat and other large estates, and was thenceforward known by the nickname of ‘Tom o’ Ten Thousand.’ He enlarged and improved the house of his inheritance, built stabling, made good roads, which were a benefit to the country round, and was proverbial for generosity and hospitality.

Indeed, his hospitable treats are immortalised in Dryden’s poem of ‘Absalom and Achitophel,’ for Absalom (the Duke of Monmouth) and the Master of Longleat were sincerely attached to each other. And on the Duke’s return from banishment to Holland, in 1680, his staunch friend Thynne gave him so enthusiastic a welcome at his house, that he was in consequence deprived of the command of a regiment of militia in the county.

Thomas Thynne now turned his thoughts to matrimony, and resolved to take a wife whose birth and fortune qualified her to reign as mistress of his lordly mansion. He therefore selected the first match in the United Kingdom, and engaged himself to a widow lady of the mature age of thirteen years, Lady Elizabeth Percy, daughter and heir of the eleventh Earl of Northumberland. She had been removed from her mother’s guardianship on that lady’s second marriage, and committed to the care of her grandmother, the Dowager Lady Northumberland, by whom she was betrothed to Lord Ogle, son of the Duke of Newcastle, 1679. But the bridegroom dying the next year, the heiress was once more free to bestow her hand, and the Duke of Monmouth interested himself to further the suit of his friend, ‘Tom o’ Ten Thousand,’ but it was whispered that the grandmother favoured the idea more than the granddaughter. However, in June 1681 they were contracted, and in July Mr. Thynne gained the young lady’s consent that the marriage should be solemnised, on condition that it was kept secret until her year of mourning should be over. In the Marriage Service, when they came to the passage ‘with all my worldly goods I thee endow,’ the husband placed on the open Prayer-Book one hundred pieces of golden guineas, mixed with silver, ‘which the lady put into her handkerchief, and then pocketed.’ No sooner was the ceremony concluded than the bride announced her intention of going abroad to spend a year with Lady Temple, the wife of the celebratedSir William Temple, in Holland, a proceeding which was the cause of much gossip, some saying that she disliked her husband, and preferred another, and hoped to procure a dissolution of the marriage, etc. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that Count Königsmark, a handsome and distinguished officer, the head of one of Sweden’s noblest families, then residing in London, was Thynne’s rival. It is said he followed the young bride to the Continent, at all events he laid a deep scheme to rid himself of the obnoxious husband, by whom, he affirmed, he had been insulted. He accordingly secured the services of a German officer, who on his part hired two men, to one of whom (a Pole) was intrusted the actual murder. Königsmark kept out of the way, while his three creatures watched Thynne’s proceedings, and lay in wait for him.

On the night of February the 12th, 1682, as the unfortunate gentleman was returning from a visit to the Countess of Northumberland, his coach was stopped, one villain riding up to the horses’ heads, another alongside pointing to the occupant of the carriage, when the Pole fired, lodging several shots in the body of Thomas Thynne. On hearing the sad news, his faithful friend, the Duke of Monmouth, from whom he had just parted, hastened to the sufferer’s bedside, tending him through the night with the utmost care, and taking the most energetic measures for the detection of the murderers. Indeed, it was at first supposed that the shot was intended for the Duke himself, but this Königsmark strenuously denied. Thomas Thynne lingered till the next morning.

The instigator of this foul deed was acquitted; the three men in his employ suffered death, the Duke of Monmouth witnessing the execution. The German officer behaved with gallantry worthy a better cause, his accomplice protested against the hardness of his fate, seeing he was about to die for two men, and a woman, on not one of whom he had everset his eyes; and the Pole pleaded that he had only obeyed orders, as a soldier should do.

The Count, so unjustly acquitted, found, however, that his reputation had suffered by the dastardly and cruel deed, and confessing that it was a stain on his name, he entered the Venetian service, went to the wars, was sent to Greece as second in command, and fell at the siege of Argos, August 1686. The well-known marble monument erected by Thomas Thynne’s family to his memory, in Westminster Abbey, has an elaborate bas-relief representing the murder.

Dying without children, he was succeeded by his second cousin and namesake, afterwards first Viscount Weymouth.

ELIZABETH, FIRST MARCHIONESS OF BATH.Pastel.BORN 1734, DIED 1825.White déshabille. Blue scarf.

ELIZABETH, FIRST MARCHIONESS OF BATH.

Pastel.

BORN 1734, DIED 1825.

White déshabille. Blue scarf.

LADY Elizabeth Cavendish Bentinck was the eldest daughter of William, second Duke of Portland, by Lady Margaret Harley, only daughter and heir of Edward, second Earl of Oxford.

She married, in 1759, Viscount Weymouth, who became Marquis of Bath in 1789. Their children were Viscount Weymouth, who succeeded to the Marquisate, and George, second Lord Carteret, married to Harriet, daughter to the second Viscount Courtenay. Lord Carteret died 1838,s.p., and was succeeded in the title by his brother John, married to Mary Anne, daughter of Thomas, Master of theAbbey, Cirencester. This Lord Carteret also died childless, when the title became extinct. Lord and Lady Bath had four daughters,—Louisa Countess of Aylesford, Henrietta Countess of Chesterfield, Sophia Countess of Ashburnham, and Mary, wife to Osborn Markham, son of the Archbishop of York. Two died unmarried, Isabella and Caroline, of whom the former was Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester.

SIR HENRY FREDERICK THYNNE.Plum and fawn-coloured dress. Long and flowing hair.

SIR HENRY FREDERICK THYNNE.

Plum and fawn-coloured dress. Long and flowing hair.

GEORGE, FOURTH VISCOUNT TORRINGTON.By Hoppner.DIED 1812.Dark coat. Full wig.

GEORGE, FOURTH VISCOUNT TORRINGTON.

By Hoppner.

DIED 1812.

Dark coat. Full wig.

THE eldest son of the third Viscount by Miss Daniel; he married, in 1765, the Lady Lucy Boyle, only daughter of John Earl of Cork and Orrery, by whom he had four daughters,—Lady John Russell, the Countess of Bradford, the Marchioness of Bath, and Emily, married to Henry, eldest son of Lord Robert Seymour.

No. 35.

VISCOUNTESS LANSDOWNE.In a white déshabille. Flowers on the table beside her.

VISCOUNTESS LANSDOWNE.

In a white déshabille. Flowers on the table beside her.

THE daughter of the Earl of Jersey, the wife of Thomas Thynne, (by whom she had the second Lord Weymouth,) and afterwards of Lord Lansdowne.

LADY ISABELLA THYNNE.Buff gown. Pearls. Ringlets. Oval.

LADY ISABELLA THYNNE.

Buff gown. Pearls. Ringlets. Oval.

DAUGHTER of the Earl of Holland, and wife to Sir James Thynne of Longleat.

JAMES THYNNE.By Clostermann.DIED 1708-9.Grey coat. Red mantle. Cravat and ruffles.

JAMES THYNNE.

By Clostermann.

DIED 1708-9.

Grey coat. Red mantle. Cravat and ruffles.

SECOND son of Sir Henry Frederick Thynne by the daughter of Lord Keeper Coventry; seated at Buckland, county Gloucester; LL.D. at Oxford; was M.P. for borough of Cirencester, 1700-1. He died unmarried.

No. 38.

JOHN ALEXANDER, FOURTH MARQUISOF BATH.By George Richmond, R.A.BORN 1831.Shooting dress.

JOHN ALEXANDER, FOURTH MARQUIS

OF BATH.

By George Richmond, R.A.

BORN 1831.

Shooting dress.

MARQUIS of Bath, Viscount Weymouth, Baron Thynne of Warminster, county Wilts, and a Baronet, succeeded his father in 1837. Was educated at Eton, and Christ Church, Oxford; married the daughter of Viscount de Vesci in 1861. Has six children, three sons, and three daughters.

THE LORD KEEPER COVENTRY.By Cornelius Jansen.BORN 1578, DIED 1640.In robes of office.

THE LORD KEEPER COVENTRY.

By Cornelius Jansen.

BORN 1578, DIED 1640.

In robes of office.

THE founder of the family’s fortunes was one John, who, assuming the name of his native town, went to London, where he became a mercer, and, doing well in business, was elected Lord Mayor in 1425.

Thomas, a descendant of the worshipful aforesaid (a lawyer, and eventually a Judge of Common Pleas), married Margaret, daughter and heir of —— Jefferies of Croome d’Abitot, county Worcester, still the residence of the Earls of Coventry. The subject of this notice was his son and heir, educated under the eye of his father, till he was fourteen,afterwards at Balliol College, Oxford, where he remained three years, then passed to the Inner Temple, London, to study law, which he did zealously. ‘By an indefatigable diligence he attained the bar, and appeared in the lustre of his profession above the common expectations,’ according to the magniloquent phrases of the time. In 1616 he was elected Recorder of London, and in the following year Solicitor-General, and shortly afterwards he was knighted at Theobalds.

1620 saw him Attorney-General, and in 1625 Buckingham recommended him to the King, as Lord Keeper, the Duke being most anxious to oust his old enemy Bishop Williams, who then held the Seals. A letter is extant from Coventry to the Duke, in which, with many circumlocuting paragraphs, he accepts the responsible post, which it would appear he had at first declined from diffidence. ‘But after a great conflict in himself against those disabilities,’ he laid himself ‘in all humility and submission at the feet of his Sovereign, hoping that God and His Majestie would accept his true hart and willing endevor,’ etc. etc.

But although he wrote in a style that may seem to us time-serving, it should be rather attributed to the fashion of the day, since not long after he had the independence to resist the grasping ambition of the Duke, his original patron.

Buckingham was moving heaven and earth to induce the King to revive in his favour the dormant post of Lord High Constable. The Lord Keeper was well aware what a dangerous power would thus devolve on a dangerous man, and he strongly advised the King to refuse.

Buckingham, furious, insolently demanded, ‘Who made you, Coventry, Lord Keeper?’ ‘The King,’ was the reply. ‘’Tis false, ’twas I, and you shall see that I who made, can and will unmake you.’ ‘Did I conceive,’ answered the Lord Keeper, with dignity, ‘that I held my place by your favour, I would presently unmake myself by resigning the Seals to His Majesty.’

The arrogant Buckingham dashed off, breathing revenge, and there is little doubt that he would have done his worst against the man who presumed to oppose him, had not his career been so soon ended by the knife of the assassin.

But Coventry had other enemies, and he offended the Marquis of Hamilton and the Earl of Manchester by the rigid discharge of his duties; the Earl of Portland, Lord High Admiral, was also much opposed to him, nevertheless he stood high at Court. In 1628 he was created Baron Coventry of Aylesborough, and Lord Clarendon says that ‘he discharged all his offices with great ability and singular reputation of integrity. He enjoyed his place of Lord Keeper for sixteen years, and sure justice was never better administered, even until his death; no man had held the post so long, for the lapse of forty years.’ The whole character of the man by Lord Clarendon is most admirable, and shows what a true friend he was to the King he loved, by opposing him in any unwise or unjust proceeding, even on his deathbed sending him good and wholesome counsel. Another witness says of him, ‘He had a noble fame—not that he passed unaccused, for envy is a constant follower of greatness, and detraction an utter enemy of desert.’ ‘Amongst all and the many felicities of his life,’ we again quote Clarendon, ‘that of his short sickness and willing embracement of deathe with open armes, were of the most remarkable observacion, for it is ourfinis qui coronat opus.’

The venial charges brought against this great and good man are so slight as to demand no place in these pages. ‘He was of a venerable aspect, wise, grave, and severe almost to moroseness, yet tempered with courtesy, discreet and reticent, speaking to the point without much eloquence—few enemies and some well-wishers—a man rather exceedingly than passionately loved.’ He died at Durham House, Strand. His first wife was the daughter of Edward Sebrightof Besford, county Worcester, by whom he had a daughter, and a son, his successor, the mother dying in childbirth.

His second wife was the daughter of John Aldersey of Spurston, county Chester, and widow of William Pitchford of London, citizen—‘lovely, young, rich, and of good fame.’ She brought him four sons, of whom two at least, and four daughters, were all celebrated for some high quality—Anne, married to Sir William Saville; Mary, wife to Sir Henry Frederick Thynne of Kempsford; Margaret, to the first Earl of Shaftesbury; and Dorothy, to Sir John Pakington, Bart., of Westwood, county Worcester. ‘This lady,’ says Lodge, ‘stood at one time first candidate for the honour of having writtenThe Whole Duty of Man, a possibility which at least speaks well for the consideration in which her talents and piety were held at the time.’

Lord Coventry published some legal works.

SIR WILLIAM COVENTRY.By Sir Peter Lely.BORN 1626, DIED 1686.Tawny-coloured coat. Wig. Hand resting on book.

SIR WILLIAM COVENTRY.

By Sir Peter Lely.

BORN 1626, DIED 1686.

Tawny-coloured coat. Wig. Hand resting on book.

HE was the youngest brother of Sir John Coventry. Went to Queen’s College, Oxford, as gentleman-commoner, when sixteen; then travelled in foreign parts: on his return, declaring himself a loyal subject of King Charles, he was appointed secretary to the Duke of York, and also to the Admiralty. Other honours succeeded—Privy Councillor, Commissioner of the Treasury, etc.

Evelyn calls him a ‘wise and witty gentleman.’ Burnet says of him: ‘A man of great notions and eminent virtues, the best speaker in the House of Commons, and capable of leading the best Ministry, as it was once thought he was very near it, and deserved it more than all the rest did.’

Having quarrelled with the Duke of Buckingham, and a duel being in contemplation, he was forbid the Court, and retired to Minster-Lovell, near Witney, in Oxfordshire, where he led a quiet country life, refusing all offers of public appointments. He was never married, and died at Somerhill, near Tunbridge Wells, where he had gone for the benefit of the waters. He was buried at Penshurst, in the same county.

He left in his will £2000 for the relief of the French Protestants lately banished on account of their religion, who had taken refuge in England; also £3000 for the redemption of captives from Algeria.

THOMAS THYNNE,Esq.By Sir Godfrey Kneller.DIED 1710.Tawny suit. Full wig.

THOMAS THYNNE,Esq.

By Sir Godfrey Kneller.

DIED 1710.

Tawny suit. Full wig.

THE only son of Henry Frederick Thynne, by the daughter and co-heir of Francis Philips of Sunbury, county Middlesex; born at Little Holland House, Kensington; educated at Eton and Oxford. He afterwards travelled on the Continent for two years, and on his return, Lord Weymouth, who was his uncle, godfather, and guardian, arranged a marriage for him with LadyMary Villiers, daughter of the first Earl of Jersey. By his father’s will he was not to come into possession of his estates till he was twenty-four, which age he never attained, but his guardians purchased property for him in Dorset, Wilts, etc. etc. He died of the small-pox in London, leaving his wife near her confinement, and accordingly, the month ensuing, she gave birth to a son, afterwards the second Viscount Weymouth.

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