WIGMOllE CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE. 



that this arose from the same cause as the wars between the houses 

 of York and Lancaster, namely, the want of a constitutional mode 

 of inducing the sovereign to change the ministry. Happy are we 

 at the present day, who live at a time when violence need not be 

 resorted to for the correction of evils in government ; nor shall we 

 wrong our ancestors if we consider this attempt of the Earl of 

 Essex as the first movement towards that liberty which has been 

 consolidated by the act of reform in parliament. 



Sir Gelly left a son, Roland, who, at his father's death, was pro- 

 secuting his studies at Sienna, under the auspices of Casanbon ; and 

 a daughter, Margaret, who married John Vaughan, Esq., of Golden 

 Grove, Caermarthenshire, who, through Sir Gelly's introduction, 

 was knighted by the Earl of Essex in Ireland, was created, by 

 James I., Lord Molingar, and on the coronation of Charles I. became 

 Earl of Carberry. There can scarcely be a doubt that had Sir 

 Gelly's life been spared, James would have raised him to the peer- 

 age, for " that prince," as Mr. Chalmer's observes, *' recollecting the 

 intrigues of Essex and the conspiracy of Gowry, acted on his arri- 

 val (in England) as if he had thought that the rebellion against 

 Elizabeth was a rising for him.*' 



The sentence passed on Sir Gelly carried with it, of course, con- 

 fiscation of property; and thus Wigmore Castle reverted to the 

 crown. Roland Meyrick returned to England, petitioned the 

 parliament for the reversal of the attainder on behalf of himself 

 and his sister, and an act was passed to that effect ; but James I. 

 had granted Wigmore Castle, &c., to Thomas Harley, Esq., of 

 Brampton Brian. 



The disconsolate Lady Meyrick retired to Gladestry, where she 

 lived with her son, who became one of the magistrates for the 

 county of Radnor. He married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress 

 of Thomas Blundevylle, of Newton Flotman, in the county of Nor- 

 folk, Esq., and had issue four sons and a daughter, Margaret, mar- 

 ried to one of the Norreys family. His descendants lived in the 

 vale of Wigmore. 



Thomas Harley, Esq., of Brampton Brian, was bom about the 

 year 1548, and was the son of John Harley, Esq., slain during the 

 French wars. During his father's life-time he lived at Wigmore 

 Castle, which King James had granted to him. He appears, how- 

 ever, to have been the last regular occupant, as after the death of 

 his father we find him at Brampton Brian, where he was buried. 



His son Robert, afterwards knighted, was born at Wigmore 

 Castle, and he is said to have dismantled it at the commencement 



