817 



WYATT, SIR THOMAS. 



WYATT, SIR THOMAS. 



849 



magnificent feat of arms performed before the king at Greenwich, at 

 Christmas, 1525. He was then one of the gentlemen of the king's 

 bedchamber. He was married by this time to Elizabeth, daughter of 

 Brook, Lord Cobham. The year of his marriage is not known, but 

 his eldest son Thomas was born either ia 1521 or 1523. A long 

 interval of seven years, entirely barren of events, succeeds. In 1532 

 he was one of Anne Boleyn's train when she went from Dover to 

 Calais a short time 'before her marriage ; and in July 1533, we find 

 him officiating for his father as ewerer at her coronation. 



This meagre array of incidents merely indicates that Wyatt was a 

 youns? gentleman who had been well educated; early "settled in 

 life"by marria g e ; and introduced at .court under the auspices of a 

 father who had influence enough to obtain for him appointments 

 suited to his age. He had already obtained some reputation as a poet, 

 for Leland, in some Latin verses addressed to him from Paris, com- 

 pliments him on his compositions. In person he was strong, but 

 elegant; with fine features, a penetrating eye, and a mouth of singular 

 sweetness. He was dexterous in the use of arms ; he sung, played 

 well on the lute, and he spoke French, Italian, and Spanish with 

 fluency. His readiness at repartee is a constant theme of his contem- 

 porary eulogists. 



There is much perplexity in the accounts of the danger in which he 

 was involved on account of Anne Boleyn. So contradictory are the 

 statements, that it is impossible to decide at what time he was 

 placed in peril, and whether as friend or foe of that lady. Fuller's 

 " Sir Thomas Wyatt fell, as I have heard, into King Henry's disfavour 

 about the business of Anne Boleyn, till by his industry, innocence, and 

 discretion he extricated himself" admits of either interpretation. 

 Judging by Henry's character, it seems more probable that Wyatt 

 fell into temporary disgrace from having shown his aversion to the 

 match, than from his having been suspected of too much intimacy 

 with the lady. Anne Boleyn, it may be observed, was executed in 

 May 1536; on the 18th of March of that year Wyatt was dubbed a 

 knight by the king; and in 1537 he was with the king's sanction 

 nominated high sheriff for Kent at a period of considerable danger. 



The remaining part of Wyatt's life was passed in the toils of diplo- 

 macy and anxieties of court intrigue. In April 1537, he was appointed 

 to succeed Pate as Henry's minister at the Spanish court. He re- 

 mained at Madrid till the beginning of 1538. In May he was sent 

 back to Spain (Bonner being joined in commission with him) ; in June 

 he followed the emperor Charles V. to Nice on his expedition to meet 

 the Pope and Francis I. ; in July he was with Charles at Barcelona. 

 In April 1539, he was recalled, but was detained in Spain till June. 

 The principal service he performed for his king during his Spanish 

 mission was keeping him informed of the intrigues of the court. The 

 indifferent reception that Cardinal Pole experienced at the hands of 

 Charles V. at this time was attributed to the dexterous management 

 of Wyatt. He had urgently solicited to be recalled for nearly a year 

 before he could obtain his wish. His desire to return to England was 

 excited in part by the necessity of looking after his family concerns, 

 his father having died about this time ; and in part by the necessity 

 of being at hand to meet the charges brought against him by Bonner. 

 The distaste he entertained for Spain was probably occasioned in a 

 great measure by the anxious state of his mind. All his verses written 

 at this time are in a desponding tone. When not engaged in business 

 he employed himself in corresponding with his son, or in superintend- 

 ing the education of a young person of the name of Baker, recom- 

 mended to his care by Wriothesly, or in composing verses. He mixed 

 little in society; his principal associates were the ambassadors of 

 Venice and Ferrara. 



He was not allowed to remain long unemployed. Towards the close 

 of 1539 the emperor began his journey through France into the 

 Netherlands, and in November Wyatt was appointed ambassador- 

 extraordinary to the imperial court, with instructions to join Charles 

 on his road through France. Wyatt joined the emperor at Blois, on 

 the llth of December, accompanied him to Paris, and left that city on 

 the same day with him (7th January), proceeding direct to Brussels, 

 there to await his arrival He continued in attendance on the court 

 at Brussels and Ghent till about the middle of May, when he returned 

 to England. Wyatt had zealously seconded Cromwell in promoting 

 the match between Henry and Anne of Cleves. During his residence 

 in the Netherlands he consistently advocated the policy of supporting 

 the duke of Cleves and the Protestant princes of the empire. By this 

 course he ran counter to the inclinations of the king, and, in common 

 with Cromwell, lost favour with him. 



Wyatt had grown averse to business, having been disgusted with 

 the falsehood of the statesmen with whom he had to deal ; but 

 prudence had also a share in his resolution to retire from bis diplo- 

 matic career. He was aware that Cromwell's enemies were gaining the 

 ascendancy, and knew that the fall of the minister would involve his 

 own. He was not mistaken. Although Henry received him on his 

 return in a manner that seemed to imply satisfaction with his conduct, 

 he was arrested, towards the close of 1540 or the beginning of 1541, 

 on the old charges of Bonner, which had been understood to be 

 departed from. Although neither allowed to cross-examine Bonner's 

 witnesses nor produce any of his own, he was acquitted, about the 

 month of June 1541. On the 10th of July following he obtained a 

 grant of lands in Lambeth from the king ; in 1542 he was created 



High Steward of the king's manor of Maidstone ; and in the same year 

 he received additional valuable grants. These favours would seem to 

 imply that Henry was convinced of his loyalty and satisfied with his 

 services. 



The brief remainder of his life was spent in retirement at Allington. 

 He has himself informed us that when the season permitted he was used 

 to hunt and hawk ; that in the depth of winter he was fond of shooting 

 with his bow; and that when the weather confined him to the house, 

 he devoted himself to study or the composition of verse?. In October 

 1542, he was unexpectedly summoned to attend the king, and, eager 

 to show his zeal, overheated himself in his hasty journey. He was 

 seized in consequence with a fever at Sherborne, and died there on 

 the llth of the month. 



Wyatt was one of the most elegant and accomplished courtiers of 

 his age ; and a statesman of great sagacity, dexterity, and integrity. 

 There were four reasons, it is remarked by Lloyd, why men went to 

 dine with him : " first, his generous entertainment ; secondly, his free 

 and knowing discourse of Spain and Germany, an insight into whose 

 interests was his masterpiece, they having been studied by him for his 

 own satisfaction as well as from the exigency of the times ; thirdly, 

 his quickness in observing, his civility in entertaining, and his readi- 

 ness in encouraging every man's peculiar parts and inclinations ; and 

 lastly, the favour and notice with which he was honoured by the 

 king." Wyatt has left writings both in verse and prose. His amatory 

 verses are, in regard to matter, much like other amatory verses. 

 Their language, though less fluent than that of modern ballad-mongers, 

 who have a language made rhythmical to their hand, is sufficiently 

 polished to entitle him to be regarded as one of those whose works 

 mark the progress of the language. His satires have more of matter 

 in them, and more of nerve in the versification. The first is remark- 

 able as containing the earliest English' version of the Town and Country 

 Mouse. Of Wyatt's prose writings, his letters on state business show 

 much shrewdness ; his letters to his son exhibit a pure, elevated, and 

 well disciplined mind. Taking into account the time at which he 

 wrote, his prose has always struck us as more to be admired than his 

 verse. 



WYATT, SIR THOMAS (the Younger), only son of the preceding, 

 was born in 1520, or at the latest in January 1521. He was married 

 to Jane, daughter of Sir William Hawke, of Bourne in Kent, in 1536 

 or 1537, when he could not have been more than fifteen or sixteen 

 years old. It has been conjectured that his father was induced to 

 settle him thus early in life with a view to give greater stability to a 

 character which threatened to be unsteady. The supposition is ren- 

 dered plausible by the tone of two letters addressed by the father to 

 the son a year or two after the marriage, which have been published 

 by Mr. Nott. 



In October 1542, Wyatt succeeded to his father's estates, and before 

 little more than a year had elapsed, executed a deed (discovered by 

 Mr. Cayley in the Augmentation Office), which further corroborates 

 the suspicion of the wildness of his youth an alienation of his estate 

 of Tarrant in Dorsetshire in favour of Francis Wyatt, his natural son 

 by the daughter of Sir Edward Dorrel, of Liddlecote. In April 1543 

 he had been imprisoned for assisting the Earl of Surrey in breaking 

 the windows of the citizens of London at night with stones shot from 

 a crossbow. Surrey gravely said in after-life that his intention was, 

 by frightening the citizens through the sudden and mysterious break- 

 ing of their windows, to turn them to repentance ; but this ingenious 

 defence, if alleged before the privy council, availed neither himself nor 

 his accomplices Wyatt and Pickering. 



After his release from the Tower, Wyatt raised a body of men at 

 his own expense, and did good service with them at the siege of Land- 

 recy. It appears from the statements of Churchyard that the military 

 talents of Wyatt were soon acknowledged. Early in 1545 he was placed 

 in command at Boulogne, and constantly employed against the French 

 in that quarter. When Surrey was appointed governor of Boulogne 

 in September 1545, Wyatt was made one of the council. " I assure 

 your majesty," Surrey wrote to Henry VIII. respecting Wyatt, " you 

 have framed him to such towardness of knowledge in the war, that, 

 none other dispraised, your majesty hath not many like him in your 

 realm for hardiness, painfulness, and circumspection, and natural dis- 

 position to the war." Wyatt continued to hold his situation at Bou- 

 logne after Surrey's recall, and even, it has been assumed, till the 

 place was finally given up to the French in 1550. 



During the latter part of the reign of Edward VI., Wyatt appears 

 to have lived chiefly at Allington. The part he took immediately after 

 the king's death is ambiguous. Sir John Bridges subsequently re- 

 proached him in words which seem to imply that he had appeared in 

 arms in favour of Lady Jane Grey ; but Wyatt in his defence before 

 the privy council asserted that " he had served the queen against the 

 Duke of Northumberland, as my lord of Arundel can witness." 



In the year 1554, when the Spanish match was in agitation, Wyatt 

 was persuaded to take the command of the Kentish men in the rising 

 concerted with the Duke of Suffolk. The other conspirators were sur- 

 prised before they could proceed to action, but Wyatt with his forces 

 having gained some considerable advantages over the royalists, pushed 

 on to Southwark. An attempt to surprise Ludgate on the 7th of Feb- 

 ruary failed, and he with one or two of his followers were separated 

 from the body of his troops and taken in Fleet Street. His conduct 



