Wulfhall and the Seymours. 141 
a man as Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Albans, viz., that of the 
three branches of Civil History, “ Antiquities” is one. Among 
obscure sources, he enumerates “ Words,”’—we all know how much 
attention has been of late years given to this subject ; and how much 
curious history is often wrapped up in an old word. “ Monuments;” 
the great trial for the Shrewsbury Peerage is a proof of their im- 
portance, where so much often depends upon the preservation of an 
inscription. “ Private Records and Evidences,’—It is my very 
business this evening to endeavour to show you what they can do 
for us in the ease of an Old Wiltshire Mansion House now no more, 
and its family (old also, but still vigorous),—WuULFHALL and THE 
SEYMOURS. 
The family of Seymour, Duke of Somerset, though the Title was 
taken from the neighbouring county, has been for centuries connected 
with our own. It fills a very exalted place in English History, for 
it is able to say, what very few can say, that a single generation of 
brothers and sisters supplied a Queen of England, a Protector of 
the Realm, and a Husband to a Queen Dowager. Of course the 
public and political career of those distinguished’ personages is to be 
found in our English Histories, and the genealogical account of the 
_ family in Books of the Peerage; but there are some smaller and 
more private matters, relating to themselves, in connection with our 
_ neighbourhood, which, having been recovered from the wreck of 
time, will be considered, I hope, a not unsuitable subject for the 
evening ears of a Wiltshire Archeological audience. 
In the large collection of Old Documents at Longleat, which I 
had the pleasure of bringing out into the light and identifying, 
there happens to be an unusual number that relate to the Seymour 
family, especially to the Protector Duke; and though I will not say 
that there are any State Papers of the highest importance, still, 
there are papers of considerable value affecting certain historical 
transactions in which, as you will hear, one or two of his family 
were involved. Besides correcting, in a few points, the usual ac- 
counts of those events, these papers supply ws, who take interest 
more particularly in Wiltshire History, with a good deal of new 
‘material for our purpose. 
