30 Sporting and Rural Records of the Cheveley Estate. 



Cheveley. 



His Emolu- 

 ments. 



The Races. 



Earl St. Albans 



Appointed 



Lord 



Chamberlain. 



Cheveley 

 Warrants. 



The Royal 

 Jewel House. 



Catherine, Queen Consort, her Majesty, curiously enough, having 

 had a rent charge annuity on the manor of Saxton Hall, which is a 

 parcel of the Cheveley Estate. He was likewise custodian of the 

 Park and Palace of Greenwich, and steward of the royal manors 

 there, including Deptford^ the Isle of Dogs, &c. 



During the period Lord St. Albans represented his sovereign at 

 the Court of the Grand Monarch he seldom came to England 

 except during the Newmarket race meetings, which he rarely 

 missed attending. At other times he was ably represented by his 

 favourite nephew and successor, Henry Jermyn, afterwards Lord 

 Dover, of whom more anon. Eventually, when Lord St. Albans 

 was recalled, he was considered to have admirably acquitted him- 

 self In all the Intricate and onerous duties that fell to his lot. He 

 was received by the King with open arms, and was henceforth 

 looked up to as one of the most important personages at Court. 

 He was soon again in official harness, having been appointed Lord 

 High Chamberlain. We now find him domiciled at Cheveley, 

 surrounded by a host of brilliant admirers and others, where he 

 kept open house to all comers, dispensing hospitality with all the 

 refinement and taste which was peculiar to the magnificent Court 

 of Louis XIV. 



In his capacity of Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household, 

 we get a curious Insight of the various duties appertaining to this 

 department to which he had to attend, especially when the Court 

 was at Newmarket, and when he himself was domiciled at Cheveley, 

 where we may depend he was frequently beseiged by courtiers and 

 others soliciting his patronage, in hope of sharing in the good 

 things, which were obtainable at those race meetings with less 

 ceremony and trouble than at any other place or upon any other 

 occasion. Thus we find Lord St. Albans issuing a series of 

 warrants, In the King's name and by his authority, to various other 

 departments relating to a curious collection of things. The Master 

 of the Royal Jewel House was authorised to prepare and deliver to 

 Henry Coventry, Ambassador Extraordinary to the King of Sweden, 



