HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT. 
XV 
In accordance with, and in response to a national—we 
might almost say universal—wish for some biographical 
particulars relating to H. W. Herbert, we may commence 
by remarking that he was no curling-tongs count, nor 
runaway -banker’s clerk, but precisely what he always 
represented himself to be—an English gentleman, de¬ 
scended from and connected with some of the oldest and 
most aristocratic families in Great Britain and Ireland. 
The Herberts (or Eitz-Herberts, as they are frequently 
called in England) are undoubtedly of ancient origin and 
high rank. The name of Fitz-Herbert, signifying Son-of- 
Herbert, came into vogue in consequence of the long 
interval between their early progenitor of importance, 
who was lord-chamberlain to King Henry I. from about 
1120 till 1135, and the creation of William Herbert as 
Earl of Pembroke by Edward IV. in 3468. 
Chamberlains were of some importance in England 
about those days, especially when they acted as officier du 
Ixmche , or mouth-provider (chief butler), for their royal 
masters. This office was always considered a safe position 
for an ambitious man. Henry I. was killed by a surfeit 
after eating too many lampreys—a kind of fish he was 
very fond of—at Lyons, in Normandy. Edward IV. 
generally overcame his surfeits; but, when he made pris¬ 
oner of the Duke of Clarence, one of his brothers, who 
had joined in a rebellion against him under the Earl of 
Warwick, he ordered the duke to be drowned in a butt 
of Malmsey wine, and the sentence was duly executed by 
the king’s chief butler. These little facts are only men¬ 
tioned here in order to show that the family of Herberts 
would be likely to copy or inherit all the peculiar “ no¬ 
tions ” of monarchy since the days of the Norman kings; 
and, wherein they have not, we must give their heads and 
hearts credit for the difference. 
The English people have gradually made their mon- 
