JAMES I. hearse of the deceased Sovereign, and to deliver to the officers a cloth of tissue.

I cannot but subjoin the following, as it gives an accurate idea of the state of the hardships the heralds complained of in this reign: it was drawn up by Francis Thynne, Lancaster herald, in 1605, and presented to the Earl Marshal. "A discourse of the duty and office of a herald of

66

armes;" in which he remarks, that " it shall not be unpleasant, I hope, unto your Lordship, to know what the authority of a king at arms is in "his province; and for that cause, I have here set them down. First, as " nigh as he can, he shall take knowledge, and record the arms, crests, " and cognizances, and ancient words, as also of the time and descent,

46

or pedigree of every gentleman within his province, of what estate or " degree soever he be. Item: he shall enter into all churches, chapels, "oratories, castles, houses, or ancient buildings, to take knowledge of " their foundations, and of the noble estates buried in them; as also of " their arms and arms of the places, their heads, and ancient records. " Item: he shall prohibit any gentleman to bear the arms of any other,

or such as be not true armory, and as he ought, according to the law of " arms. He shall prohibit any merchant, or any other, to put their names, " marks, or devices, in escutcheons or shields, which belong, and only appertain, to gentlemen bearing arms, and to none other. Item: he ** shall make diligent search, if any bear arms without authority, or good right; and finding such, although they be true blazon, he shall prohibit "them. The said king of arms in his province, hath full power and au"thority, by the King's grant, to give confirmation to all noblemen and

gentlemen, ignorant of their arms; for the which he ought to have the "fee belonging thereto. He hath authority to give arms and crests to per"sons of ability, deserving well of the prince and commonwealth, by " reason of office, authority, wisdom, learning, good manners, and sober

government. They to have such grants, by patent, under the seal of "the office of the king at arms, and to pay therefore the fees accustomed. " Item: no gentleman, or other, may erect, or set up in any church, at

funerals, either banners, standards, coats of arms, helms, crests, swords, " or any other hatchment, without the license of the said king at arms of the province, or by allowance or permission of his marshal or deputy; because the arms of the noble estate deceased, the day of his death, the place

"of

!

1

" of his burial, his marriage and issues, ought to be taken and recorded in JAMES I. "the office of that king."

Speaking of the little attention paid to the College and its members, when compared with former times, he observes, " if heralds, my good "Lord, might truly have fees of every one which gave them fees in time " past, they might live in reasonable sort, and keep their estate answer" able to their place; but now, whether it be our own default, or the " overmuch parsimony of others, or fault of the heavens, since by their " revolutions things decay when they have been at the highest, I know

not, the heralds are not esteemed; every one withdraweth his favor from "them, and denieth the accustomed duties belonging unto them: and "therefore, hoping your Lordship will repair this ruined state of ours, I " will set down what belonged unto us in the time of King Richard II., " out of an old written roll which came to my hands." It is a curious morsel of antiquity, but belongs not to this work.

GARTER, PRINCIPAL KING AT ARMS.

Eliz.-SIR WILLIAM DETHICK, Knight.

Second son of Sir Gilbert Dethick, Garter. He was early introduced into the College, and when Rouge-croix, he attended his father, in 1568, who went with the Earl of Sussex, to present the order of the Garter to the Emperor Maximilian II. At the investiture, the Monarch gave to Sir Gilbert his short gown and under garment, furred throughout with luzerns. Lord Sussex dined with the Emperor on that day, each of them dressed in the robes of the Order. The Earl, Sir Gilbert, and this his son, went through the Low Countries to Vienna, and returned through Newstadt in Stiria, Gratz in Carinthia, where the Archduke Charles, who had accompanied Lord Sussex, took his leave; thence passing the Alps to Saltzburgh, where part of that Nobleman's train met him, his Lordship and Sir Gilbert went to the coast opposite Britain, and embarking, came to England about the latter end of March. The young officer at arms, obtaining leave, left the suit in Saltzburgh, and proceeded to Italy, where he indulged his taste in viewing the remains of antiquity at Rome, and other cities; the cause, probably, of that predilection, which he ever retained for the works of the

ancients,

Garter.

JAMES I.
Garter.

ancients, a study he excelled in. Probably he received a flattering recep
tion in Italy, having a passport under the great seal of Maximilian, which
was an imperial introduction to the greatest courts in that charming country.
He would the better be enabled to conduct himself with propriety, as he
had been in France with Lord Buckhurst, and also with Lord Hunsdon
and his father Sir Gilbert, when they went to the French court, in 1564,
then at the city of Lyons, to present the Order of the Garter to Charles IX- -
How long he remained in Italy is not mentioned. He became York
herald in 1569. That tyrannic character, which afterwards so much dis-
tinguished him, became at this time apparent, by his presuming to grant
arms, using to such grants a seal, inscribed " S. Gulielmi Dethick, Ar. als
York;" by this mean invading the office of Norroy, a circumstance never
before, nor since attempted by any herald, who as such, has no right to a
seal of office, such being properly appropriated only to the kings at arms.
From an herald he became head of the College: the rapidity of his pre-
ferment was a misfortune, alike to the members and to himself. He pro-
cured from Elizabeth a more extensive charter of privileges than any pre--
ceding Garter, being impowered to visit, correct, and give arms absolutely
of himself, though it had ever been the acknowledged right of the two
provincial kings, with the consent of the Earl Marshal. This produced
long and acrimonious disputes between him, Cooke, and Lee, successive-
ly Clarenceux; even Camden, who held that place, was not free from al
tercation with him: each strove to criminate the other; secrets became di
vulged, which prudence ought to have confined within the walls of the
College. Garter was accused of drawing out a pedigree upon vellum for
the Duke of Norfolk, in 1571, being after his first imprisonment for his
design to marry Mary Queen of Scotland, and of finishing it, by emblazon-
ing the arms of the Duke on the right hand, and that Queen's on the left,
both largely painted. This was sufficient, it was thought, to have brought
down the vengeance of a Princess so jealous of her title, and sensible of
the consequences of seeing a rival Queen, her nearest relation, who had
claimed her crown, coupled, even upon vellum, with the first Peer in her
dominions. It was farther alleged against him, that he had, in marshalling
the Duke's genealogy upon glass, in the windows of the great chamber of
the Charter-house, quartered with the Norfolk bearings, the arms of Edward,
Duke of Buckingham, attainted in the reign of Henry VIIH. Seeing his
danger,

danger, he petitioned her Majesty to give a commission to examine him respecting his criminality. She named Lord Hunsdon, her chamberlain, the Lord Treasurer; Lord Howard, High Admiral; Earl of Ormond; Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor of England; Lord Burkhurst; and Sir John Wolley, Chancellor of the Garter; who gave it as their opinion, that he was highly culpable. In consequence of their decision, he was suspended from his office: Elizabeth at length pardoning, he was restored. In 1587, the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scotland, so long a prisoner in England, shared the same fate as had, some years before, befell her equally unhappy lover, Norfolk. Elizabeth, to throw off the just indignation of Europe for such a violence to Majesty, pretended, that she never meant to have had judgment carried into execution, punished her secretary for presuming to take down the fatal warrant, and to still far-ther impose upon the public mind, decreed the decapitated Queen the honor of a royal funeral. He, and Clarenceux Cooke, with each his gentleman usher, York and Somerset heralds, with Portcullis and Rougedragon pursuivants, assisted in conveying the remains of Mary, from Fotheringay to Peterborough Cathedral, accompanied by many ladies, noblemen, knights, and gentlemen. Garter fell again under the displeasure of the Commissioners for executing the office of Earl Marshal, who cited him before them, in 1595, for improperly giving to George Rotheram, Esq., the arms of Lord Grey of Ruthyn. Both he and Rotheram were adjudged of having acted improperly; what penalty he incurred does not appear *: he was in the full enjoyment of all the rights of his office soon after, because, in 1596, he was sent with the Earl of Shrewsbury, to present the ensigns of the Order of St. George to Henry IV. of France. At the ceremonial, he sat in the robes of the order, whilst Segar, then Somerset herald, stood before Lord Shrewsbury, that nobleman representing Elizabeth. Garter received from the French Monarch a present of 500 When the infatuated rash Earl of Essex, in 1600, entered Lon don, to obtain a revolt from the Queen, he accompanied Lord Burleigh into the city, to proclaim him a traitor: he also urged to this misguided peer, the absolute necessity there was for him to desist from his nefarious designs. When this was insisted upon at Essex' trial, he replied, " I saw "no herald, but that branded fellow, whom I took not for an herald."

crowns.

* See Appendix, letter H.

To

JAMES I.
Garter.

To which it was answered, that " an herald, though a wicked man, is "nevertheless an herald." By this he was not then in much personal estimation. He was one of the very few who assisted at the coronation of James I., who had seen the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth. We have remarked, that he attended the solemnity of the funeral of Mary Queen of Scots; August 14, 1603, James, her son, sent him to Peterborough, with a rich pall of velvet, embroidered with the arms of Mary, and with a letter to the Bishop of that see, to obtain leave to place it upon the coffin of the Queen; which being acquiesced with, he, assisted by many knights and gentlemen, and accompanied by a vast concourse of people, placed it over the tomb of the unfortunate victim to supposed state necessity. A sermon upon the occasion was delivered by the Bishop in the morning; at noon the company received a magnificent dinner; in the afternoon the Dean preached a sermon, relative to the late Queen. On the 20th of May, his Majesty conferred the order of knighthood upon him in the Tower; December 8, following, he was sent with Lord Spencer, to invest Frederic Duke of Wertemberg, with the Order of the Garter, from whom he received a rich sword and dagger, a chain of gold, with a miniature suspended to it, and 1000 rixdollars. He had been elected in 1597. That storm which so long had threatened, and which he had ever defied, now broke upon him. He had repeatedly been complained of: in 1601, the heralds presented a petition against him, stating that, whilst he increased his own, he so much lessened their fees, that they could not maintain themselves. It was urged, that he had never been created, though contrary to all ancient usage. All his faults were now remembered, each of them was aggravated, to authorize what the Court resolved to execute, his deposition. Anstis, Garter, is not singular in supposing, that James was particularly influenced, by his having hinted something derogatory to the right of the Stuarts to the imperial crown of England, which Somerset hearing, betrayed. When the warrant to displace him passed the signet, he put a caveat against its going to the great seal: it passed, however, January 1, 1603-4. That daring character which he had constantly displayed, even then did not desert him. Though forbidden to wear his tabard, or coat of office, on Christmas-day in that year, he would not obey; nor could he be prevailed upon to submit, until his Majesty had granted him an annuity of £200, with an exemption from all taxes.

He