206 N'otes on Biel and Stenton. 



sions and families given in tlie '' Proceedings " having attracted 

 the attention of topographers, it is most desirable that, whatever 

 may be their deficiencies otherwise, they may be reliable. 



The following statements are from the communications of Miss 

 NisBET Hamilton. 



Queen Elizabeth's Peaels, p. 431. 



The necklace which has always gone by the name of " Queen 

 Elizabeth's Pearls," is supposed to have been a gift from Queen 

 Elizabeth, when on a visit to the Lord Treasurer Burghley, either 

 to Abigail Cave, who was nearly related to the Cecils, or to her 

 second husband, William, first Baron Sherard of Leitrim, who 

 was brought up in the Cecil Family as page to Lady Burghley : 

 — The Descent of the Biel Family from the Caves and Sherards 

 is as follows : — Eoger Cave of Stanford, co. Northampton, six- 

 teenth in descent from Jordan de Cave, a Norman baron who 

 came over with the Conqueror, married Margaret, daughter of 

 Eichard Cecil, and sister of the celebrated Lord Treasurer Burgh- 

 lej . Their third son, Cecil, married Anne, daughter and heir of 

 Anthony Bennet of Greenwich, and left two daughters, of whom 

 the elder, Abigail, married first, Sir Thomas Tresham of New- 

 ton, CO. Northampton, and secondly, William Sherard of Staple- 

 ford, CO. Leicester, created Baron Sherard of Leitrim in 1627. — 

 The Sherards were descended from the Family of Sherard, 

 which was powerful at the time of the Conquest in the counties 

 of Chester and Lancaster. The first Lord Sherard was succeeded 

 by his eldest son, Bennet, second Lord Sherard, who married 

 Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Eobert Christopher, Knt. of 

 Alford, CO. Lincoln. Their son Bennet was created Earl of Har- 

 borough, and their second daughter Lucy, who succeeded to her 

 mother's property, became the second wife of John, second Duke 

 of Eutland. The eldest surviving son of this marriage, General 

 Lord Eobert Manners of Alford and Bloxholme, co. Lincoln, 

 succeeded to his mother's estates, and married Mary Digges of 

 Eoehampton, co. Surrey. Lord Eobert left two sons and two 

 daughters, all of whom died unmarried with the exception of the 

 elder daughter, Mary, who became the wife of William Hamil- 

 ton Nisbet of Belhaven and Dirleton, my great grandfather. 

 William Pitt's Gold Chain, p. 431. 



I have always understood that the hair contained in the locket 

 was cut off, after Mr Pitt's death, by his friend the Eight Hon. 

 William Dundas, Lord Clerk Eegister, (my great uncle). The 



