OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 309 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



A BRIEF RETROSPECT OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER S 

 GENEALOGY, AND HIS PRIVATE, POLITICAL, AND PHILO 

 SOPHICAL CHARACTER ; INCLUDING HIS OWN STATEMENT 

 OF EXPENDITURE DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 



THE ancient and honourable family of Somerset is 

 descended from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 

 son of Edward the Third. 



1. Charles,* the only natural son of Henry Beaufort, 

 third Duke of Somerset, in that line (eldest son of 

 Edmond, Duke of Somerset), assumed the surname of 

 Somerset. He, in consequence of the devastating wars 

 of the Eoses, was, on the accession of Henry the Seventh 

 to the throne, the only remaining representative of that 

 monarch s illustrious ancestors, and he, therefore, con 

 siderably distinguished him. In addition to his other 

 honours, he was created a Knight of the Garter; 

 and in the succeeding reign elevated to the dignity of 

 Earl of Worcester, on the 1st of February, 1514. 



In right of his first marriage with Elizabeth Herbert, 

 only child of William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, 

 he bore the titles of Baron Herbert, Lord Herbert of 

 Eaglan, Chepstow and Gower. After the decease of 



* The annexed 

 autograph of this 

 great ancestor of 

 the Marquis of 

 Worcester, is ob 

 tained from a do 

 cument in the British Museum. Cotton. MSS. Vesp. F. xiii. fol. 78. 



