No. XXX.

SIR JOHN PALMER, BArt.

THE Palmers of Carlton, in Northamptonshire, boast of an ancient lineage, having been seated at Stoni-Stanton, in the county of Leicester, so early as 1408. The baronetcy was obtained in 1660; and Sir Geoffery, the first who possessed that title, had a seat in parliament, and must have been a man of some consequence, as he was selected one of the managers for conducting the prosecution of the famous Earl of Strafford. Having changed sides, and being bred to the bar, he was advanced to the rank of Attorney-General by Charles II., soon after the Restoration.

Sir Lewis, his eldest surviving son, seems to have both lived and died in great privacy; but his grandson, Sir Geoffery, sat as Knight of the Shire for the county of Leicester in four successive parliaments.

Sir John Palmer, the fifth and last Baronet, was the only surviving son of Sir Thomas, by Jemima daughter of Sir John Harpur, Bart., a grand-daughter of Thomas Lord Crew. He was born in 1735, succeeded his father, Sir Thomas, in 1765; and three years after, married Charlotte daughter of Sir Harry Gough, a Warwickshire baronet, and granddaughter of Thomas Lord Crew, by whom he had eight children, six sons and two daughters. He died at his seat in Northamptonshire in 1817, at the age of eighty-two, after having represented the county of Leicester in Parliament during fifteen years, from 1765 to 1780, at which period he retired to his patrimonial estate. He was a gentleman of pure and virtuous principles, steadily and zealously attached to the

Establishment in Church and State and eminently distinguished for a high sense of duty, in every relation of life. He was a good father, an affectionate husband, a kind master, and a firm friend. The neighbourhood will experience the severe loss of a liberal benefactor, and the community at large, that of a valuable example.

No. XXXI.

THE RIGHT HON.

JAMES-EDWARD LORD ARUNDEL OF WARDOUR

(May 4, 1605),

AND COUNT OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (1595).

THIS is an ancient family which has flourished during many years, in the west of England. It is most likely that it derives its origin from Normandy; for at the general survey, soon after the conquest, Roger de Arundel was found to be possessed of 28 lordships in the county of Somerset alone, (20th of William I.) as appears from the text of Domesday Book. His descendants proved warriors of some renown. One of these, Sir John Arundel, was a valiant commander during the French wars, in the reign of Henry VI. and his grandson, of the same name, was dubbed a knight, on account of the courage displayed by him in the battles of Terouen and Tournay. Of his sons, Sir John, the eldest, was ancestor of the Arundels of Lanherne, in the county of Cornwall; while a second, Sir Thomas, obtained a grant of Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, from the crown; but the latter was beheaded in 1552, under pretence of conspiring against the life of John Dudley Duke of Northumberland. His son, Sir Matthew, however, was knighted in 1574, and his grandson Sir Thomas, was created Lord Arundel, Baron of Wardour, by James I.

This nobleman, like his progenitors, addicted himself to warlike pursuits, and was romantic enough to take up arms against the Turks, then denominated Infidels, who wished to over-run all the Christian powers of Europe. He accordingly

served under the Austrian banners in Hungary, and in consequence of his gallantry was created a Count of "the Sacred Roman Empire," by the Emperor Rodolphus II. the patent of which title is dated at Prague, Dec. 4, 1595, and the rank and honours are extended to him and his descendants for ever. Thomas, the second Lord, married the gallant Blanche, sixth daughter of Edward eleventh Earl of Worcester, and seems to have led a quiet life, notwithstanding he ap pears to have been a Roman Catholic; but his son and successor Henry, was committed a close prisoner to the Tower of London, together with several other noblemen of the same persuasion, on the infamous testimony of the profligate Titus Oates. He was afterwards however admitted to bail, and liberated when the arts and perjuries of that miscreant had been fully detected.

Henry, the seventh Lord, in 1739, married Mary, daughter and heir of Richard Arundel Béaling, of Lanherne, in the county of Cornwall, Esq., by which match he re-united the two chief branches of this family, after a separation of 200 years, and thus brought a considerable addition to the fortune of the younger, which happened to be the ennobled

branch.

Henry, the late Lord, travelled for many years on the Continent, and resided successively at the courts of Versailles, Vienna, and Berlin; at the two former of which he was well received on account of his professing that very religion which disqualified him from any honourable or lucrative post in his own country. As his ancient seat of Wardour Castle was ruined in the time of the civil wars, when his ancestors had taken part with Charles I. he erected a noble mansion in its vicinity, a circumstance which contributed not a little to embarrass his fortune.

On the demise of this nobleman, who had no male issue, Dec. 4, 1808, he was succeeded by his first cousin.

*This heroine, with a garrison of only 200 men, defended Arundel Castle against a parliamentary army consisting of 1300 troops, during six days, at the end of which period she obtained an honourable capitulation. This intrepid female died in 1649.

James Everard Arundel, the 9th Lord, was born March 4, 1763; and on February 3, 1785, married his second cousin, Mary Christiana, eldest daughter of Henry the preceding Baron, by whom he had seven children. This lady having died in 1805, he afterwards selected for his wife, Mary, daughter of Robert Burnet Jones, Esq. by whom he had two daughters.

Being, like all his immediate progenitors, of the Roman Catholic persuasion, he of course hesitated to subscribe the oaths prescribed to such as are allowed to take their seats in the House of Lords, and was thus excluded from many of the benefits of peerage. The same reason that prohibited him from his seat in Parliament, also precluded him from any honourable employment in the service of his country; but the rigour of our ancient statutes have been greatly softened since that period, in respect to those who serve either in the army or the fleet.

His lordship was accordingly obliged to lead a life of seclusion, but being a man of amiable manners, he was greatly beloved. He died at Bath, July 14, 1817, in his 57th year, and was succeeded in the family honours and estates by his eldest son Everard, the tenth Lord.