290 An English Manor in the time of Elizabeth. 



character. " He was strong-sett but bony, reddish favoured, of a 

 sharp eye and stern look in his maturer years." In early life he 

 tells us he was " a mad fighting young fellow." On Midsummer 

 Day, 1527, he took part in a fray at Bristol between some Welshmen 

 and the watchmen ; and next St. James's Day he killed a mercer 

 named Vaughan on account of " a want of some respect in compli- 

 ment." Thereupon he escaped through the great gate towards the 

 Marsh, where a boat was procured, and with the ebb tide he got 

 safely into Wales, and thence to France. There, Aubrey says, he be- 

 took himself into the army,and showed so much courage and readiness 

 of wit in conduct that he was received into favour by Francis I., who 

 afterwards recommended him to Henry VIII. I have not, so far. 

 been able to confirm the last part of Aubrey's story, and as William 

 Herbert was in 1526 an Esquire of the body to Henry VIII., the 

 introduction of Francis I. seems to have been scarcely necessary. 

 Be this as it may his advancement at court was great and rapid. 

 It was still furtlier influenced by his marriage with Ann, daughter 

 of Sir Thomas Parr, and when her sister Katherine became Henry 

 the Eighth's Queen, the grants of land which William Herbert and 

 Ann Parr had received from the Crown were enormously increased 

 and were settled in remainder on their heirs male. Among these 

 lands were the manors of the dissolved Abbey of Wilton. Sir 

 William Herbert at once demolished the whole of the monastic 

 buildings and built Wilton House at a cost, he tells us, " of £10,000 

 and more." On the five fishponds, and walks around them planted 

 with many fruit trees, he spent " four score pounds " ; and on 

 Washern Grange, where his corn rents were received, and on the 

 marvellous stabling there for eighty horses, he spent a large sunt 

 He also built a belvidere where the casino now is, as a standing 

 from which he could get a pleasant view of his park. By the will 

 of Henry VIII. he was made one of the King's executors, and a 

 guardian of Edward VI. When our last King Edward was crowned 

 he had "charge of all things necessary to be provided for the 

 King's Majesty's own person against the Coronation." By Edward 

 VI. Sir William Herbert was created Earl of Pembroke. Besides 

 Wilton House he was Keeper of Baynard's Castle, near St. Paul's 



