Zbc Earls of Xon0^ale 421 



glorious battle of Agincourt. Two generations later, 

 the house of Lowther became allied with that of Clifford, 

 through the marriage of the grandson of the Agincourt 

 hero with the half-sister of the ' Good Lord Clifford ' 

 who had been brought up as a shepherd by his mother 

 to save him from the vengeance of the Yorkists. After 

 thirty years of that humble Arcadian life, he was re- 

 stored to his birthright and estates by Henry the 

 Seventh, a romantic incident which Wordsworth has 

 celebrated in the beautiful ' Song at the Feast of 

 Brougham Castle upon the Restoration of Lord Clifford.' 



The Lowthers have ever been an honourable race, and 

 their conscientious .sense of honour has more than once 

 .•stood in the way of their political advancement. Sir 

 Richard Lowther, Warden of the West Marches, and 

 High Sheriff of Cumberland, when despatched by Queen 

 Bess to escort Mary Stuart to Carlisle Castle after her 

 cru.shing defeat at Langside, thought it inconsistent with 

 the honour of a Lowther to treat as a prisoner the 

 hapless Queen who had thrown herself on the promised 

 protection of a sister-sovereign. Whereat ' good Queen 

 Bess,' who was herself absolutely destitute of any sense 

 of honour, was so wroth, that ever after Sir Richard was 

 in her black books. But it is plea-sant to know that, un- 

 like many of Elizabeth's disgraced and discarded 

 servants, he died peacefully in his bed at a good old age, 

 ' having kept up plentiful hospitality for fifty-seven years.' 

 What better tribute to his worth than those words 

 convey could any English country gentleman desire ! 



Few persons, I daresay, were aware when the Right 

 Honourable James Lowther (whom sportsmen know 

 as ' Jim ') was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in 



