22 Earls of Wiltshire. 



the Crown. Among these were the Priory and Lands of Edington 



in "Wilts, which were made over to him in 1549, (3. Edw. VI.) 



after the execution of Sir Thomas Seymour of Sudeley, the first 



grantee on the Dissolution. 



He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir "William Capel, Knight, 



and by her had four sons and four daughters. He was succeeded 



in his accimiulated honours by his eldest son, 



1572. John Paulet, 2nd Earl of "Wiltshire and Marquis of "Win- 

 chester, who died shortly after his father, in 1576, and was 

 succeeded by his son and heir, 



1576. John Paulet, 3rd Marquis and Earl of Wiltshire, a poet and 

 a man of letters. He died in 1598, and was succeeded by his 

 son and heir, 



1598. William Paulet, 4th Marquis and Earl of Wiltshire. This 

 nobleman, like his great grandfather, but forty years later, 

 namely, in 1601, had the honour of sumptuously entertaining 

 Queen Elizabeth at Basing House, for a period of thirteen 

 days, to the no slight impoverishment of the Marquis, who 

 in fact says Stowe, was forced not long after, to sell his 

 house in Austin Friars, London, in order to pay the debts 

 incurred by his costly living at Basing House. Dying in 

 1628 he was succeeded by his son and heir, 



1628. John Paulet, 5th Marquis and Earl, celebrated for his gal- 

 lant and obstinate defence of Basing House, in the cause of 

 King Charles against the Parliamentarian forces. The siege 

 lasted upwards of two years, from August 1643, to October 

 1645. The Journal of this siege was printed in Oxford in 

 1645, and is said by Granger to have been one of the most 

 eventful episodes of the Civil War. The Marquis repeatedly 

 declared that " Even if the King had no more ground in Eng- 

 land than Basing House, he would maintain it for him to the 

 uttermost." Colonel Gage relieved the garrison twice, but it 

 was finally stormed by Cromwell in person, with the aid of 

 treachery from within. The plunder taken is said to have 

 amounted to £200,000. The house was burnt to the ground, 

 and has not since been rebuilt. All that remains is a heap of 



