1617.] SIR THOMAS EDMONDS. 305 



"On the 29th of December, 1617, Sir William Ingleby, of 

 Ripley, Yorkshire, made his will, in which he bequeathed to 

 his ' welbeloved nephew. Sir Peter Midleton a bale Barbaric 

 horse which he now hath of mine.' George, Earl of Cumber- 

 land, who died in October, 1605, left this Sir William his 

 ' bald * gelding called Grey Lambert.' " — "Archaiologia 

 ^linana," vol. i., p. 4. 



" Count Gondomar, in a despatch, dated Madrid, September 

 19, 1622, to James I., says : ' Les deux chameaux et I'asne et 

 I'asnesse grandes a propo pour la race et generation je les 

 baillctay a my Lord Digby, qui les enuoyera a V. M"^ pour les 

 mettre dans le pare de Theobalds ; ' from which it seems that 

 the king contemplated to breed mules and jenets. The two 

 camels were probably designed for the menagerie in the 

 Tower." — Goodman's " Court of James I.," vol. ii., p. 237. 



^^^ Sir Thomas Edmonds was descended from a good family, 

 of which the chief branch was settled in Wiltshire. He was 

 born in the year 1654, and early in life entered the service of 

 the crown, under Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State 

 to Queen Elizabeth. He was Ambassador to Henry IV. of 

 France, in which post he continued till June, 1599. In 

 December, 1599, he was despatched by the queen to the 

 Archduke Albert about a treaty of peace ; as he was again 

 in March following upon the same business. In May, 1600, 

 he was one of the commissioners in the Treaty of Boulogne, 

 and after his return was appointed one of the clerks of the 

 Council ; and in June, 1601, was again sent to France. On 

 the accession of James I. to the crown of England he was 

 knighted, and in April, 1605, sent Ambassador to the Arch- 

 duke at Brussels, where he resided till about the end of 



* Bill, in the Celtic, is white-faced. In the Gaehc bal signifies a spot 

 or mark ; and ballach, spotted. In Welsh, ceyffyl bal is a horse with much 

 whiteness in his forehead. Hence the word piebald, i.e. black and white. 

 Balius is a horse with a white mark in his forehead or feet. Procopius, 

 describing the horse of Bclisarius, tells us that his general colour was 

 brown, with the exception of the lower part of his muzzle, which was white. 

 Cf, Boucher's " Prov. Gloss." 



VOL. I. X 



