(U) 



sporting and Rural Records of the Cheveley Estate. 



L HEVELEY. 



The Duchess 

 of Somerset's 



vast 

 possessions. 



The Duke and 

 James II. 



The Duke and 

 Wilham III. 



The Duke anc 

 Queen Anne. 



age. Besides the estates and the territorial influence of the 

 Percys, the Duke thus became master of Aln\vicl< Castle, Pet- 

 worth, Sion House, and Northampton, better known by its latter 

 title of Northumberland, House, in the Strand. 



The Duke's handsome figure appeared to advantage in pageants 

 and ceremonies of State, for which he showed an extraordinary 

 predilection, taking chief part at the funerals of Mary, William HI., 

 Anne and George I., and bearing the orb at the coronations of 

 each of those sovereigns. The Duke sumptuously entertained 

 James H. at Marlborough in August, i6S6, during his progress 

 from Windsor to Portsmouth. 



In July, 1687, the King assigned to Somerset, as first Lord of 

 the Bedchamber, the duty of introducing at St. James's the Papal 

 Nuncio, whom the King was determined to receive publicly in 

 his official character. The Duke objected to the task on the 

 ground that its performance would subject him to a heavy penalty 

 under the law of the land. By this action he lost his place at 

 Court and the regiment he commanded, but his conduct in that 

 affair raised him in the estimation of the Orange faction, to which 

 he soon after attached himself. In 1689 he was elected Chancellor 

 of Cambridge University. He succeeded Halifax as Speaker 

 of the House of Lords in i6go, and was one of the Regents 

 from July to November, 1701. He was on cordial terms with 

 William III., whom he had the honour to entertain at dinner 

 at Northumberland House on April 10, 1700, and on the 

 26th of June in the following year — probably the only occa- 

 sions on record of that monarch having figured as a guest of 

 a subject when the Court was in residence in London during 

 his reign. 



With Queen Anne he was a prime favourite. When, as 

 Princess, she had been summarily ejected from the Cockpit, 

 Westminster, in April, 1692, and the courtiers were forbidden to 

 countenance her, the Duke gave her a warm welcome at Sion 

 House. By her influence he was made, in 1702, Master of the 



