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WILLIAM HERBERT

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 80 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM See also:HERBERT , 3rd See also:earl of See also:Pembroke (1580-1630), son of the 2nd earl and his famous countess, was a conspicuous figure in the society of his See also:time and at the See also:court of See also:James I. Several times he found himself opposed to the schemes of the See also:duke of See also:Buckingham, and he was keenly interested in the colonization of See also:America. He was See also:lord See also:chamberlain of the royal househol4 from 1615 to 1625 and lord steward from 1626 to 163o. He was See also:chancellor of the university of See also:Oxford in 1624 when See also:Thomas Tesdale and See also:Richard Wightwick refounded Broadgates See also:Hall and named it Pembroke See also:College in his See also:honour. By some Shakespearian commentators Pembroke has been identified with the " Mr W. H. " referred to as " the onlie begetter "of See also:Shakespeare's sonnets in the See also:dedication by Thomas See also:Thorpe, the owner of the published See also:manuscript, while his See also:mistress, See also:Mary See also:Fitton (q.v.), has been identified with the " dark See also:lady " of the sonnets. In bot h cases the See also:identification rests on very questionable See also:evidence (see SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM). He and his See also:brother See also:Philip are the " incomparable pair of brethren " to whom the first See also:folio of Shakespeare is inscribed. The earl See also:left no sons when he died in See also:London on the loth of See also:April 1630. See also:Clarendon gives a very eulogistic See also:account of Pembroke, who appears, however, to have been a See also:man of weak See also:character and dissolute See also:life. See also:Gardiner describes him as the See also:Hamlet of the See also:English court.

He had See also:

literary' tastes and wrote poems; one of his closest See also:friends was the poet See also:Donne, and he was generous to See also:Ben See also:Jonson, See also:Massinger and others. His brother, PHILIP HERBERT, the 4th earl (1584-1650), was for some years the See also:chief favourite of James I., owing this position to his comely See also:person and his See also:passion for See also:hunting and for See also:field See also:sports generally. In 1605 the See also:king created him earl of See also:Montgomery and See also:Baron Herbert of Shurland, and since 1630, when he succeeded to the earldom of Pembroke, the See also:head of the Herbert See also:family has carried the See also:double See also:title of earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. Although Philip's quarrelsome disposition often led him into trouble he did not forfeit the esteem of James I., who heaped lands and offices upon him, and he was also trusted by See also:Charles I., who made him lord chamberlain in 1626 and frequently visited him at See also:Wilton. He worked to bring about See also:peace between the king and the Scots in 1639 and 1640, but when in the latter See also:year the See also:quarrel between Charles and the English See also:parliament was renewed, he deserted the king who soon deprived him of his See also:office of chamberlain. Trusted by the popular party, Pembroke was made See also:governor of the Isle of See also:Wight, and he was one of the representatives of the parliament on several occasions, notably during the negotiations at See also:Uxbridge in 1645 and at See also:Newport in 1648, and when the Scots surrendered Charles in 1647. From 1641 to 1643, and again from 1647 to 1650, he was chancellor of the university of Oxford; in 1648 he removed some of the heads of houses from their positions because they would not take the See also:solemn See also:league and See also:covenant, and his foul See also:language led to the remark that he was more fitted " by his eloquence in See also:swearing to preside over See also:Bedlam than a learned See also:academy." In 1649, although a peer, he was elected and took his seat in the See also:House of See also:Commons as member for See also:Berkshire, this " ascent downwards " calling forth many satirical writings from the royalist wits. The earl was a See also:great See also:collector of pictures and had some See also:taste for See also:architecture. His eldest surviving son, Philip (1621-1669), became 5th earl of Pembroke, and 2nd earl of Montgomery; he was twice married, and was succeeded in turn by three of his sons, of whom Thomas, the 8th earl (c. 1656-1733), was a person of See also:note during the reigns of William III. and See also:Anne. From 1690 to 1692 he was first lord of the See also:admiralty; then he served as lord privy See also:seal until 1699, being in 1697 the first plenipotentiary of Great See also:Britain at the See also:congress of See also:Ryswick. On two occasions he was lord high See also:admiral for a See also:short See also:period; he was also lord See also:president of the See also:council and lord-See also:lieutenant of See also:Ireland, while he acted as one of the lords justices seven times; and he was president of the Royal Society in 1689-1690.

His son See also:

Henry, the 9th earl (c. 1689-1750), was a soldier, but was better known as the " architect earl." He was largely responsible for the erection of See also:Westminster See also:Bridge. The title descended directly to Henry,loth earl (1734-1794), a soldier, who wrote the Method of Breaking Horses (1762); See also:George See also:Augustus, 11th earl (1759-1827), an See also:ambassador extraordinary to See also:Vienna in 1807; and See also:Robert Henry, 12th earl (1791-1862), who died without issue. George Robert Charles, the 13th earl (1850-1895), was a See also:grandson of the rrth earl and a son of Baron Herbert of See also:Lea (q.v.), whose second son See also:Sidney (b. 1853) inherited all the family titles at his brother's See also:death. See G. T. See also:Clark, The Earls, Earldom and See also:Castle of Pembroke (See also:Tenby, 1880); J. R. See also:Planche, " The Earls of Strigul " in vol. x. of the Proceedings of the See also:British Archaeological Association (18J5); and G. E. C(okayne), See also:Complete See also:Peerage, vol. vi.

(London, 1895).

End of Article: WILLIAM HERBERT

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