MSS. which has been long forming under the judicious direction of his grace, and his ancestors. WILLIAM TRUMBULL, esq. envoy to the court of Brussels, from King James I. and King Charles I. Otho Venii p. 1617. G. Vertue sc. 1726; h. sh. &c. TRUMBULL, agent pour les roys Jac. I. et Char. I. M. GUILL. TRUMBULL. S. Gribelin sc. 4to. William Trumbull, esq. was also one of the clerks of the privy council. There is a short account of his descendants on the family monuments in the church of Easthamstead, Berks.* See more of him in Sir Ant. Weldon's "Court of King James," p. 94. SIR HENRY NEVILLE, ambassador to France, 1599. W. N. Gardiner. Sir Henry Neville, of Billingbere, in Berkshire, owed his introduction at court to a family connexion with Secretary Cecil, and his promotion there, perhaps, yet more to his own merit; for he was a person of great wisdom and integrity. He was appointed ambassador to France in April, 1599; and, in the summer of the following year, acted as first commissioner at the treaty of Boulogne. Unfortunately for him, the negotiation was concluded a few months before the discovery of Essex's conspiracy; and at his return he unwarily listened to some hints of that wild design which his excessive attachment to the earl induced him to conceal. Essex, on his arraignment, named him as a party; he was committed to the Tower for misprision of treason, in the midst of his preparations for a return to his charge in France, and sentenced to pay a heavy fine; which (as appears from a letter printed by Mr. Lodge) was mitigated to five thousand pounds. The alteration caused in his pecuniary circumstances by the rigid exaction of this penalty, compelled him in the next reign to accept of offices beneath his deserts, * It appears from them, that he was grandfather to Sir William Trumbull, the friend of Mr. Pope. and repugnant to his spirited disposition. We find him projecting and executing various little schemes for the temporary relief of James's necessities; and, in spite of the efforts made by his friends to get him appointed secretary in 1612, he was never advanced to any high employment; owing, as it is said, to the king's having conceived a personal dislike to him.* Sir Henry died July 10th, 1615. He was ancestor to Lord Braybroke. ANTONIUS SHERLEYUS, Anglus, &c. magni Sophi Persarum legatus invictissimo Cæsari, cæterisque princibus Christianis, &c. Egidius Sadeler (sculptor) D. D. 4to. 1612. ANTON. SCHERLEYUS, Ang. &c. in a cloak; gold chain, appendant to which is a medal of the Sophi; 4to. This scarce and curious print was, probably, engraved by one of the Sadelers. ANTONIUS SHERLEYUS, in armour, in a square, with arms; Joannes Orlandi formis Romæ, &c. 1601; rare. Sir Anthony Shirley, second son of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, in Sussex,† was one of the gallant adventurers who went to annoy the Spaniards in their settlements in the West Indies in the former reign. He afterward travelled to Persia, and returned to England in the quality of ambassador from the Sophi, in 1612. The next year he published an account of his travels. He was knight of the order of St. Michael in France, a knight of St. Jago in Spain, and was, by the Emperor of Germany, raised to the dignity of a count; and the King of Spain made him admiral of the Levant sea. He died in Spain, after the year 1630. ROBERTUS SHERLEY, Anglus, Comes Cæsareus, Eques auratus. Under the oval is this inscription: "Magni Sophi Persarum Legatus ad sereniss. D. N. Paulum P. P. V. cæterosque Principes Christi Sec Lodge's "Illustrations of British History," 4to. + Of which seat there is a view by Hollar. anos. Ingressus Romam, solenni pompa, die 28 Septemb. 1609, ætat. suæ 28. G. M. f. (Roma) 8vo. I never saw this print but in Mr. Gulston's collection, ROBERTUS SHERLEY, &c. a fac simile from the original. J. F (ittler) sculp. 1789. SIR ROBERT SHERLEY; whole length, fol. Birrell sc. Sir Robert Shirley, brother to Sir Anthony, was introduced by him to the Persian court; whence, in 1609, and the twenty-eighth year of his age, he was sent by the Sophi ambassador to Rome, in the pontificate of Paul V. He entered that city with eastern magnificence, and was treated with great distinction by the pope. A spirit of adventure ran through the family of the Shirleys. Sir Thomas, the eldest of the three brothers, was unfortunate.* "RICHARD PERCEVAL, esq. secretary, remembrancer, and one of the commissioners for the office of receiver-general of the court of wards in England, register of the same court in Ireland, and member of parliament for the borough of Richmond, in the county of York. Born Anno 1550, died 1620, Æt. 69." Faber f. 8vo. Engraved for the "History of the House of Yvery," &c. This gentleman descended from a family which was long seated at North Weston, and afterward at Sydenham, near Bridgewater, in the county of Somerset, where it flourished for more than five centuries. He was a principal officer under Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, in the court of wards, and was appointed register of that court when it was erected in Ireland. This occasioned the removal of his family into that kingdom, where it continued to flourish. He was ancestor to the Earl of Egmont. " In Purchas's" Pilgrims," much is said about these two brothers; and Fuller, in his "Worthies in Sussex," makes mention of all three. Sir John Finet, in his 'Philoxenes," gives a curious account of Sir Robert and his embassy to this country. There is also a quarto book, black letter, called "The Travels of Three English Brothers; 1. Sir Thomas Sherley; 2. Sir Anthony Sherley; 3. Sir Robert Sherley; with Sir Thomas Sherley's return into England this present year, 1607."-J. BINDLEY. Made lord keeper, May, 38 Eliz. And lord chan. 1 Jac. I. 1616. CLASS VI. MEN OF THE ROBE. THOMAS EGERTONUS, baro de Ellesmere, Angliæ cancellarius. S. Passæus sc. 4to. Lord Chancellor ELLESMERE. "Noble Authors," by Park; 1806. Bocquet sc. In THOMAS EGERTONUS, baro de Ellesmere, &c. Hole sc. THOMAS EGERTON, &c. Cross sc. 1664. In "The Conveyancer's Light." THOMAS EGERTON, &c. oval, sitting in a chair. Trotter sc. The original at Wootton-court, in Kent. Prefixed to " Memoirs of the Peers of England,” 4to. 1802. THOMAS EGERTONUS, &c. 4to. W. Richardson. THOMAS EGERTON, viscount Brackley, lord highchancellor. R. Cooper sc. 1816; from the original in the collection of the Most Noble the Marquis of Strafford; in Mr. Lodge's " Illustrious Portraits." The Lord Ellesmere, founder of the house of Bridgewater, adorned the office of chancellor, by his knowledge, his integrity, and his writings. When the king received the seal of him at his resignation, he was in tears,* the highest testimony he could pay to his merit. Several of his writings, relating to his high office, and the court in which he presided, are in print. He died in a very advanced age, 1617. It was while Lord Ellesmere held the great seal, that the famous contest began between the courts of common law and that of chancery; the jurisdiction of which, by the tyranny * Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 647. + See Worral's Cat. of Law Books. of custom, rather than the design of its institution, was much more circumscribed than it is at present. Sir Edward Coke, who, with great judgment, had strong prejudices, asserted, that a cause gained in the King's Bench, by a flagrant imposture, could not be reversed by the Court of Equity.* SIR FRANCIS BACON. Van Somer p. Vertue sc. large 4to. This was engraved after the original, now in the hall at Gorhambury, near St. Alban's, the seat of Lord Grimston. FRANCIS BACON, &c. C. Johnson C. Johnson p. Cooper;† h.sh. mezz. FRANCISCUS BACONUS, &c. 1626, Æt. 66. “ Moniti meliora:" probably by Simon Pass; frontispiece to Dr. Rawley's edit. of his Latin Works, fol. 1638. This has been several times copied. SIR FRANCIS BACON; a small neat head, together with that of SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, and the heads of two foreigners. W. Faithorne sc. Engraved for a title to a book, 12mo. FRANCISCUS BACONUS, Æt. 66. Hollar f. 4to. SIR FRANCIS BACON. Van Hove sc. 4to. A fellow swore in court, that he left the principal witness in such a condition, that if he continued in it but half an hour longer, he must inevitably die. This was naturally understood of the desperate state of his disease; but the truth was, that he left him at a tavern, with a gallon of sack at his mouth, in the act of drinking. This fraud, which equals any thing that Cicero relates in his "Offices," lost the plaintiff his suit. See "Biog. Brit." artic. Egerton, note (F). See also Blackstone's 66 Comment." vol. iii. chap. 4, where the author hints at this imposture. † The name of the vender. |