166 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2«^ S. VII. Fbb. 2G. '59. 



Edward Waldegrave, who died a.d. 1501 ; leav- 

 ing John WaMegrave, his only son, and be dying 

 6tn Oct. 1543, was succeeded by his eldest son 

 Edward Waldegrave, Esq. (afterwards Sir Ed- 

 ward Waldegrave), who received from Queen 

 Mary a grant of the manor of Chewton, Somerset, 

 but being committed to the Tower by Queen Eli- 

 zabeth, he died there 1st Sept. 1651, when these 

 manors were inherited by Charles, his eldest son 

 and heir ; and from him they descended, in a di- 

 rect line, to George Earl of Waldegrave, who 

 died A.D. 1784, having sold the manor of WeU 

 leslegh, with the principal farm belonging to it, 

 called Wei leslegh Farm, only four years before his 

 death, to the late Clement Tudway, Esq., M.P. 

 for Wells.* 



Now although these Notes are to a certain ex- 

 tent confused and meagre, yet I think sufficient 

 appears to enable us to trace, with some decree of 

 certainty, the descent of the manor of Welles- 

 Leigh for the long period of nearly eight hundred 

 years from its former possessors — to whom it im- 

 parted a name which has since become so justly 

 celebrated in our national history. 



It seems certain that Walerand de Welleslegh* 

 had the estate, and resided on it soon after the 

 Conquest, and it is equally clear that it after- 

 wards came to Philip de Welleslegh ; subse- 

 quent to whose death it passed through the 

 families of Banastre, Alfoxton, Hill, and Cheyney, 

 the succession in each case terminating in heirs 

 female, until it came, by marriage with the eldest 

 of the four co-heiresses of John Cheyney, to the 

 Waldegraves ; by one of whom it was, as we have 

 seen, alienated as late as the year 1780. 



It thus appears to me that the principal repre- 

 sentative of the Somersetshire branch of the Wel- 

 lesleys is the present Earl of Waldegrave ; but in 

 saying this, I am open to correction, and respect- 

 fully invite farther notices of this interesting sub- 

 ject from any who may be possessed of accurate 

 information, tending to elucidate or to add to the 

 matter 1 have here ventured to place before the 



{>ublic — particularly as to the descendants of He- 

 ena, Elizabeth, and Anne, the other three daugh- 

 ters of John Cheyney — and thus complete the 

 representatives of the Wellesleys of Somersetshire. 



Ina. 



THE MARCHIONESS BBOGLIO SOLARI. 



In the year 1845, Mr. Pickering published at 

 London a duodecimo volume, containing 142 



* The estates which appertained to the manor of Wel- 

 lesleigh were of considerable extent and value, and ex- 

 tended into different parts of the parish of St. Cuthbert, 

 including the hamlets of Dulcot, Haydon, Woodford, &c. 

 They were mostly granted on leases for ninety -nine years, 

 determinable with three lives. The last lease of Welles- 

 ley farm was, I believe, granted in 1766, by John Earl 

 Waldegrave, to John Haynes for two lives, with a fine of 

 300/. 



pages, besides the Preface, with the following 

 title : — 



" Letters of the Marchioness Broglio Solari, one of the 

 Maids of Honour to the Princess Lamballe, Author of 

 Memoirs of the Princess Lamballe, &c., containing a 

 Sketch of her Life, and Recollections of celebrated Cha- 

 racters, with Notes." 



An advertisement, dated London, April, 1845, 

 is prefixed to the work, in which the editor states 

 that the Marchioness Solari, a short time belore 

 her death, placed in his hands some letters writ- 

 ten by her containing a sketch of her life, as well 

 as other manuscripts, with a request that he would 

 prepare them for publication. He proceeds to 

 say that the biographical sketch published by him 

 has been given in her own words as far as it was 

 practicable, and that the deficiency was supplied 

 from memoranda in her own handwriting, and 

 from personal knowledge. The editor does not 

 mention his name. 



The countess signs her name " Catherine Hyde 

 Broglio Solari," and in her letters she gives the 

 following account of her birth and life : — 



Lord Hyde Clarendon (she says) was sent in 

 1745 as British ambassador to Germany, and in 

 particular to Vienna, where he made the memor- 

 able peace so advantageous to Austria. After the 

 termination of this mission, he was sent to con- 

 clude a treaty in Poland. During his residence 

 at Warsaw he privately married a Princess Scha- 

 vorinska, which, for motives unknown, was on his 

 arrival in England set aside. By this lady he had 

 a son named George Augustus Hyde, who was 

 privately educated under the immediate care of 

 the celebrated Count Briiht [Briihl] at Dresden, 

 and the Jesuit Scalrosky, a Polish Jew in his ser- 

 vice, Mr. G. A. Hyde was invited once during 

 his youth by his father to come to England, 

 which he did in company with Count Stanislaus 

 Poniatowsky, his Jesuit, a Polish Jew, and an 

 English gentleman named Williams ; but he made 

 only a short stay, and returned to Poland, where 

 he distinguished himself by his personal and men- 

 tal accomplishments. He was known at the Court 

 of Augustus III. by the appellation of le hel Art' 

 glois, and the king's sudden death alone prevented 

 him from being created a Prince by the name of 

 Hydrasky. After the king's death, Hydrasky (as 

 be was then called) left Saxony to reside in Po- 

 land, where he became attached to the Countess 

 Branizky, sister to Count Stanislaus Poniatowsky, 

 afterwards King of Poland. The Countess, ex- 

 pecting to obtain a divorce by the assistance of 

 her uncle, the Primate of Guerna, encouraged his 

 attentions : the result of which was that she found 

 herself pregnant. In this state she travelled to 

 England under an assumed name, in company 

 with a confidential Jew and bis son. This Jew 

 had another son in London named Moses Hyams, 

 who procured lodgings for her in the house of a 



