122 



Some Notice of William Herbert, 



weaving was established at Wilton by one of the Earls of Pembroke. 

 If there is any truth in the tradition it might have taken place at 

 this time. There are many letters preserved in the State Paper 

 Office of this period which prove the commercial activity prevalent 

 amongst all classes. In one, dated 1565, Mr. Daniel Hechstetter 

 makes offers touching his suit and petition for privileges of water- 

 works, for draining mines, &c, to form a company for the same, and 

 to give certain shares to the Earls of Pembroke and Leicester, Sir 

 William Cecil, and others. In the following year a letter is written 

 by the same noblemen to the Merchant Adventurers, requesting 

 they will promote the lottery established in London by the queen's 

 proclamation, by adventuring for their company in general, and 

 themselves individually. The increase of communication with 

 foreign countries also told on works of art introduced into England. 

 In February, 15 67, one Dominicque Troisrieux, a Frenchman, brought 

 certain works of marble jasper into England for Sir William Cecil 

 and the Earl of Pembroke. They do not seem to have been works 

 of high art, but are described as u one door of marble jasper, one 

 other of white marble, eight great tables, &c" 1 Frenchmen seem to 

 have had the same difficulty in those days of writing English proper 

 names as they have in our own times ; in the original document my 

 Lord Pembroke's name appears under the guise of "millort penbrout.'" 

 The year 1569 was an unquiet time for Pembroke. He, with a 

 majority of the Lords, was restless under the ascendancy of Cecil, 

 believing the country to be in a critical state, and not a little danger 

 to be apprehended from the conflicting schemes in favour of Mary 

 Stuart. He took an active part in the plot for making a match 

 between Norfolk and the captive queen of Scots, in which he was 

 joined by Leicester and Arundell. This was done secretly, and on 

 Pembroke's part in perfectly good faith, but Elizabeth had already 

 got the threads of the conspiracy into her own hands, and Leicester 

 hastened to purchase forgiveness by abandoning his colleagues ; 

 Norfolk was sent to the Tower, Pembroke was, for a time, under 

 arrest at Windsor, and he was ordered to forbear coming to court. 

 An examination of the noblemen implicated was undertaken by the 

 1 State Papers, Domestic, Elizabeth, 1567, vol. 42, No. 19. 



