Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/217

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Herbert
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Herbert

all his speeches were written by his secretary, Michael Oldsworth, M.P. for Salisbury. In May 1649 his enemies attacked him unmercifully in a mock ‘Thanksgiving for his recovery from a pestilent feaver, which after turn'd into the Fowl disease.’

Pembroke died on 23 Jan. 1649-50, ‘in his lodgings in the Cockpit,’ Whitehall, and was buried in the family vault at Salisbury Cathedral on 9 Feb. following. By order of the council of state all members of parliament accompanied the cortège two or three miles on the journey from London (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1649-50, p. 505). The royalist pamphleteers again venomously assailed his memory, and in their mock accounts of his ‘last will and testament’ dwelt at length on his blasphemous speeches, his libertinism, and his absorbing affection for dogs and horses (cf. Butler, Posthumous Works, 1715, vol. ii.) His income, including his receipts from his offices, had often amounted to 30,000l. a year (Aubrey), and he left a large fortune.

The earl accepted the dedication of numerous books, often in conjunction with his brother William. To ‘the incomparable pair of brethren’ the first folio of Shakespeare's works was inscribed in 1623, and to Massinger, Montgomery, like his mother and brother, was a constant patron throughout his life, continuing a pension to Massinger's widow. Pembroke seems to have been fond of scribbling irrelevant remarks on the margins of his books. In the British Museum Library is a copy of Chapman's ‘Conspiracie of Byron’ (1625), with numerous manuscript notes ascribed to him, but the binder has so cropped the edges as to make few of the notes intelligible. Walpole mentions similar treatment by Pembroke of a copy of ‘Sir Thomas More's Life.’ But the earl's tastes did not incline to books or poetry. Apart from his sporting proclivities he was devoted to painting and building. At the instigation of Charles I (according to Aubrey) he rebuilt the front of Wilton House on an elaborate scale in 1633. The king recommended him to employ Inigo Jones as his architect. Although Jones, who had been in the earl's service, was too busily employed at Greenwich to accept the commission, Solomon de Caus, who undertook the work [see De Caus], received many suggestions from him. In 1647 the south side of the house was burnt down, and it was rebuilt by Webb, who married Inigo Jones's niece. According to Walpole, Pembroke quarrelled with Jones over the plans. In a copy of Jones's ‘Stonehenge,’ once in the Harleian Library, Pembroke scribbled in the margin disparaging remarks of the author, whom he called Iniquity Jones. The stables were of Roman architecture, with a ‘court and fountain…adorned with Caesar's heads’ (Evelyn, ii. 59), and there were kept racehorses (some from Morocco) and carriage horses for six coaches, besides all manner of dogs and hawks. The gardens, according to Evelyn ‘the noblest in England,’ were laid out by Solomon de Caus's son or nephew Isaac, who published an elaborate series of etchings of them, with a French text, dedicated to Pembroke, in 1647. Within the house Pembroke placed a magnificent collection of paintings. He employed an agent, Mr. Touars, to collect works of art on the continent at a salary of 100l. a year. The ceiling of one of the rooms was painted by John de Critz [q. v.], and examples of Giorgione and Titian adorned the walls. But Pembroke is best known as the patron of Vandyck. ‘He had,’ says Aubrey, ‘the most of his paintings of any one in the world.’ A family portrait by Vandyck of himself, his wife, and children is now at Wilton House, together with two other separate paintings by Vandyck of himself.

Pembroke's domestic arrangements were much complicated by his immorality. In 1622 a daughter of the Earl of Berkshire lived with him as his mistress, and caused him annoyance by suddenly running away (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1619-23, p. 366). In his last years the royalist pamphleteers constantly made offensive references to his mistress Mrs. May. His first wife died in January 1628-9. On 1 June 1630 he married his second wife, Anne, daughter of George Clifford, earl of Cumberland, and widow of Sackville, earl of Dorset [see Clifford, Anne], By his first wife he had seven sons and three daughters. The eldest daughter, Anne Sophia, married Robert Dormer, earl of Carnarvon [q. v.] The third son, Charles, was created K.B. in 1626; married, at Christmas 1634, Mary, daughter of George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, and died at Florence in the following month. Massinger addressed to his father an elegy on his death.

Philip Herbert (1619-1669), the fourth and eldest surviving son, became fifth Earl of Pembroke. Like his father he sided with the parliament, was M.P. for Glamorgan through the Long parliament, and on his father's death succeeded to his seat in the House of Commons for Berkshire. He was elected a member of the council of state 1 Dec. 1651, and was president of the council from 3 June to 13 July 1652. He made his peace with Charles II at the Restoration; was appointed a councillor for trade and navigation (7 Nov. 1660), and bore the spurs and acted as cupbearer at Charles II's coronation, 23 April 1661. He sold the chief