RISE OF THE SOMERSETS 



A second claim to consanguinity with the royal 

 family was given by the marriage of the fourth 

 Earl with Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Hastings, 

 Earl of Huntingdon, and of Catherine his wife ; 

 for Lady Huntingdon was the daughter of Henry 

 Pole, Lord Montague, whose mother was Margaret, 

 Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of 

 Clarence. It is through this marriage that the 

 present (ninth) Duke of Beaufort is sixteenth in 

 lineal descent from Richard, Duke of York, from 

 whom, through his eldest son, Edward IV., Queen 

 Victoria was fourteenth in descent. This Earl was a 

 good horseman and a tilter of some note. He was 

 one of the commissioners appointed to report on the 

 conduct of Essex, when the latter returned from 

 Ireland without permission, and his opinion was 

 given in the form of a Latin couplet, very concise 

 and to the point. 



" Scilicet a superis etiam fortuna luenda est, 

 Nee veniam, Iseso numine, casus habet." 



This shows that the Earl was something of a 

 scholar, besides being a diplomatist and a sports- 

 man. 



On this occasion Essex got off by favour of the 

 queen, but once again Worcester was called upon 

 to sit in judgment upon him, and then the favourite 

 paid the penalty of his reckless pride and insensate 

 folly. Lord Worcester succeeded to Essex's office 

 as Master of the Horse, an appointment confirmed 



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