Lady Arabella was buried in Westminster Abbey in the same vault with Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Prince of Wales, but without any memorial of her resting-place.* Camden says her funeral was conducted in the night, and without pomp. An epitaph was written for her by Richard Corbet, Bishop of Norwich. The production is far from remarkable for poetical talent, and the third and last lines are obscure :

How do I thank thee, Death, and bless thy power,
That I have pass'd the guard, and 'scaped the Tower!
And now my pardon is my epitaph,

And a small coffin my poor carcass hath;

For at thy charge, both soul and body were
Enlarged at last, secured from hope and fear;
That amongst saints, this amongst kings is laid,
And what my birth did claim, my death hath paid.

Ballard informs us that her coffin was at one time so shattered and broken, that her skull and body might be seen. Seymour appears to have regarded his wife's memory with affection. It may be taken as an evidence of it, that he called one of his daughters by his second marriage with Frances, daughter of Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, by the name of Arabella Seymour.†

*Ballard, p. 248.

+ Biog. Brit. vol. i. p. 177.

LODOWICK STUART,

DUKE OF RICHMOND.

King James's Affection for this Nobleman.-The Duke's Family Connections-his singular and sudden Death.-Parliament prorogued in respect to the Duke's Memory.

A NOBLEMAN whose name is never mentioned without eulogy. James the First regarded him with personal affection, and seems fully to have appreciated in him those talents and that strong sense, of which, however, the monarch unfortunately neglected to avail himself. Had he invested him with half the power which he lavished on Somerset and Buckingham, it would have been far better for his own interests and the happiness of his realm.

The Duke was related not very distantly to his Sovereign. He was the younger son of Esme Stuart, Duke of Lennox, and great nephew to Matthew Earl of Lennox, the King's grandfather. James created him Duke of Richmond, and a Knight of the Garter, and appointed him Lord Steward of the Household. He was three times married: first, to Sophia, daughter of William Earl of Ruthven; secondly, into the family of Campbell; and lastly, to Frances, daughter of

Viscount Howard of Bindon. In 1604, he was sent Ambassador into France, where he appears to have been well received by the French Court.*

His death, which was singular and sudden, took place on the 12th of February 1625. The Duke was to have attended his Majesty in state at the opening of a new Parliament. The King missing him in his place, and making some inquiries as to the reason of his absence, a messenger was instantly despatched to the Duke's residence requiring his attendance. The Duchess, who fancied that she had left him asleep, was induced to open the curtains of his bed, and was horror-struck to discover her husband a corpse. The King appears to have been much affected at the circumstance, and paid an unusual compliment to the Duke's memory, by proroguing the Parliament for a week. The Duchess is said to have communicated to her intimate friends a private, and remarkable reason, for believing the Duke was in perfect health but a few hours previously to his death.+

* Talbot Papers; Lodge, Illust. vol. iii. pp. 246. 249. + Wilson, p. 257; Sanderson, p. 557.

FRANCES HOWARD,

DUCHESS OF RICHMOND.

Character of this Lady-her Lineage-her First Husband-her Second Marriage.-Despair and Suicide of Sir George Rodney, her Lover-her Vanity rebuked by her Second Husband-her Third Marriage (to the Duke of Richmond).— her Ambition on becoming a Widow for the Third Timeher obstinate Arrogance-her affected Sanctity—whimsical Effect of her Vow-her Death.

BEAUTY, folly, vanity, and eccentricity, appear to have constituted the character of this remarkable woman. It is singular that she was the grandaughter of two Dukes, each of whom lost his life on the scaffold. Her father was Thomas, Viscount Howard of Bindon, second son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, the lover of Mary Queen of Scots. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, who fell a victim to the malice of Wolsey and his own ambition. The lady herself was the third wife of the respectable Duke Lodowick, whose brief memoir has just been introduced.

The first husband of Frances Howard was one Prannell, the son of a wealthy vintner of London. Under what circumstances the loveliest and proud

est woman of her time, and the grandaughter of the two greatest subjects in England, became the wife of a citizen, it has been found impossible to explain. Prannell, however, died in December 1599, leaving her a young, childless, and beautiful widow. Sir George Rodney, a gentleman of the west of England, became shortly afterwards her professed and ardent admirer. She at first gave him encouragement, but the Earl of Hertford paying her his addresses, influenced perhaps by ambition, she jilted the unfortunate knight and married the Earl. Rodney, unable to endure the pangs of love and jealousy, hastened to Amesbury in Wiltshire, whither Hertford had carried his beautiful bride. Shutting himself up in a private room in the inn, according to Arthur Wilson, he wrote with his own blood some affecting verses descriptive of his misery and bereavement, after which he threw himself on his sword and died on the spot. The verses said to have been composed by Rodney on this occasion, are preserved in the British Museum, and may possibly be authentic. The singularity of the circumstances must be the apology for their insertion.

What shall I do that am undone !
Where shall I fly, myself to shun!
Ah me! myself myself must kill,
And yet I die against my will.
In starry letters I behold

My death in the heavens enroll'd.