358 The Fifty-third General Meeting. 



Katherine Parr, the sister of Anne Parr, Lady Herbert. On the 

 occasion of the marriage of Queen Marj' with Philip of Spain in 

 1554, Lord Pemliroke received the Spanish Envoy, and lodged him 

 at Wilton for one night, on his way from Plymouth to Winchester. 

 This Earl died in 1570, and was succeeded Ijy his son Henry, 

 second Earl, who married Mary Sidney, sister to Sir Philip Sidney. 

 Tliat famous soldier, courtier, and poet was a constant visitor to 

 Wilton, and tradition tells us that he composed the famous 

 " Arcadia " while wandering up and down the avenue in the park, 

 which still bears his name. In 1574 Queen Elizabeth paid a visit 

 to Wilton, and it is possible that the "man Shakespear " was 

 present upon that occasion. Philip Massinger, whose father was 

 attached to Lord Pembroke's household, was brought up at Wilton. 

 Unfortunately there is no portrait here of this Earl, l)ut that of 

 his wife, Mary Sidney, by Marc Gherardt, is in the Library. He 

 died in 1601, two years before the death of Queen Elizabeth, and 

 was succeeded by his son, William, the third Earl. There is much 

 controversy as to whether Shakespeare dedicated his sonnets under 

 the initials " W. H. " to this Earl as William Herl^ert, or to Lord 

 Southampton, but we have abundant evidence of his having been 

 a great patron of the famous poet, and a porti'ait of him l)y Mytens, 

 with an old MS. pasted on the back on which one of the sonnets 

 is quoted, is now in the Single Cube Koom. Another portrait of 

 him by Vandyck is in the Double Cube Eoom. This Earl enter- 

 tained James I. at Wilton in 1603. He died without a son in 

 1630, and was succeeded by his brother Philip, fourth Earl, who 

 had already been created Earl of Montgomery. This Earl enter- 

 tained Charles I. more than once at Wilton, and that monarch 

 " did love Wilton above all places and came therein every sum- 

 mer." (Aubrey.) 



This Earl rebuilt a great portion of the house, notably the south 

 front, which was designed by Inigo Jones, and he also laid out the 

 old formal gardens on designs by Isaac de Caux. Of these gardens, 

 however, nothing remains except a few statues and fountain 

 pillars, etc. This Earl is the central figure in Vandyke's famous 

 family picture, which, with other portraits by the same painter, is 



