A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



second in his memorable duel at Barn Elms with the duke of Buckingham, 

 who had for a long while intrigued with the countess, so at least Pepys tells 

 us. How it came about that Howard, if he were on Shrewsbury's side, 

 should have wounded him and his other second is extremely difficult to under- 

 stand. Jenkins was certainly on the side of the duke of Buckingham. 



The king visited Norfolk in September, 1671, coming from Newmarket 

 to Scole, where he breakfasted at the famous ' White Hart,' and then on to 

 Yarmouth, where he was well received, >C 1,000 being spent in entertaining 

 him, and ^250 in making four gold herrings and a chain to present to him. 

 He ' fed heartily ' on the local herrings and proceeded to Norwich, where he 

 was nobly lodged by Lord Howard in the duke's palace. There is a most 

 interesting account^ of the whole reception, but it is too long to print here. 

 Two incidents strike the modern as curious, viz. that some one dropped a 

 valuable pearl necklace, and that the finder who was 'a poor cavalier courtier' 

 actually called out and returned it to its owner, ' such a surprising act of 

 generous virtue that it has for ever gained him immortal fame and reputation 

 in this city,'^ and that Howard's butler averred that in about jr5,ooo worth of 

 plate ' they have not lost one ounce.' ^ From Norwich the king went to 

 Sir Robert Paston's at Oxnead and thence back to Euston. The most 

 memorable event of the visit was the knighting of Sir Thomas Browne. 

 Possibly as some reward for his welcome in Norwich, Lord Henry Howard 

 was created earl of Norwich and duke of Norfolk the next year.* 



Some time after 1680 a most extraordinary story ^ was told by one John 

 Mendham of Thetford, who alleged that William Harbord, M.P. for Thet- 

 ford, endeavoured to get him to join a party which was supposed to consist of 

 so many members of both Houses that they were worth >r5oo,ooo a year, and 

 were determined to go well armed to Oxford and have a skirmish with the 

 king and his guards, for they were resolved to know what the king would 

 be at, and they must have better security than his word, which he had broken 

 so often they would not take it for a groat. This was supposed to be pointed 

 against the accession of the duke of York, but it is extremely doubtful if 

 there was any truth in the tale. The informant goes on to say that Harbord 

 had shown him a double-barrelled gun, and was going to have more made, 

 saying that he would soon be at the head of a regiment, and that they would 

 never get on until they had hanged most of the bishops. Nothing came of 

 the information, which may either have been pure invention or the malicious 

 report of the ravings of a disappointed cavalier. 



In 1 68 1* the duke of York visited Norwich while on his way from 

 Yarmouth to Newmarket. He was received with much ceremony and firing 

 of cannon and other demonstrations of loyalty, and was lodged in the bishop's 

 palace. The result of this visit was seen soon afterwards in the address sent 

 up by the city to the king, approving of the dissolution of Parliament and 

 abusing the House of Commons in such terms that it was actually presented 

 by the grand jury of Middlesex as a public libel, though the court of King's 

 Bench took no notice of the presentation. The interests of the court were 

 well looked after at this time both in the city of Norwich and in the county 



' D. Turner, Fisit of King Charles to Notivkh. ' Ibid. 17. ' Ibid. 



* Cal. S. P. Dom. 1672, p. 667. 



' Mason, op. cit. 366. ' Blomefield, op. cit. iii, 417. 



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