By the late F. A. Carrington, Esq. 65 



High Steward of Wokingham, and there is every probability that 

 he procured the charter for the town from King James the First. 

 The duties of the High Steward are not defined by the charter, 

 but there is no doubt that he was the medium of communication 

 between the town and the Government. In addition to this the 

 charter gave a very excellent staff of officers for local authority — a 

 Recorder to hold Sessions, a Civil Court for causes up to what 

 would be now near £100 in value, and local Magistrates for all kinds 

 of Police business, with a market, three fairs, a Guildhall, and a 

 prison. 



In the reign of King James the First, Sir James Whitlocke, a 

 Judge of the King's Bench, wrote a MS. which he calls Liber 

 Famelicus, a sort of autobiography evidently intended only for the 

 perusal of his own family, in which he mentions Sir Henry Neville 

 in the following very high terms : — " On Munday the tenthe of 

 July, 1615, at Pillingbeer in the countye of Barkes, departed out 

 of this life Sir Henry Nevill, my true and worthy friend. He 

 was lineally descended from Edward Lord Abergavenny, fourthe 

 son of Ralphe Nevill, first Erl of Westmerland. He was a most 

 faytheful frend unto me, tarn in adversis quam secundis, and I dealt 

 as well withe him, for at the time I was committed to the Fleet, 

 he was hunted after by the Erl of Northampton, as the author of 

 the opposition against that irregular commission spoken of before 

 in the declaration of that businesse ; but althoughe he was an actor 

 in it withe far greater men, yet his good lordship could never find 

 it out, notwithstanding he cawsed me to be kept close prisoner and 

 exattiined by the Lords of the Counsell ; the truthe is, he durst 

 not name him plainly, althoughe he aymed at him, and I had 

 reason enough to conceal him. He was the. most sufficient man 

 for understanding of state businesse that was in this kingdom, and 

 a verye good scholer and a stout man, but was as ignobly and 

 unworthely handled as ever gentleman was. Two of his enemyes 

 lie saw dye ignominiously before him. The tresorer Salisburye, 

 that rotted above ground, and Northampton, that dyed of a gangren 

 in his thighe, a verye rot, and left the world suspected of ill dealing 

 towards the state. He was 52 yeares of age when he dyed." [Liber 



VOL. XI. — NO. XXXI. F 



