(1452) Alberic de Vere was an Earl in the reign of Edward the Confessor.
(1453) Daughter of Thomas Chambers, Esq., and married to Lord Vere Beauclerc, third son of the first Duke of St. Albans by his wife Diana, daughter of Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford.
558 Letter 258 To George Montagu, Esq. Strawberry Hill, Aug. 11, 1748.
I am arrived at great knowledge in the annals of the house of Vere but though I have twisted and twined their genealogy and my own a thousand ways, I cannot discover, as I wished to do, that I am descended from them any how but from one of their Christian names the name of Horace having travelled from them into Norfolk by the marriage of a daughter of Horace Lord Vere of Tilbury with a Sir Roger Townshend, whose family baptised some of us with it. But I have made a really curious discovery! the lady with the strange dress at Earl's Colne, which I mentioned to you, is certainly Lancerona, the Portuguese-for I have found in Rapin, from one of the old chronicles, that Anne of Bohemia, to whom she had been Maid of Honour, introduced the fashion of piked horns, or high heads, which is the very attire on this tomb, and ascertains it to belong to Robert de Vere, the great Earl of Oxford, made Duke of Ireland by Richard II., who, after the banishment of this Minister, and his death at Louvain, occasioned by a boar at a hunting match, caused the body to be brought over, would have the coffin opened once more to see his favourite, and attended it himself in high procession to its interment at Earl's Colne. I don't know whether the "Craftsman" some years ago would not have found out that we were descended from this Vere, at least from his name and ministry: my comfort is, that Lancerona was Earl Robert's second wife. But in this search I have crossed upon another descent, which I am taking great pains to verify (I don't mean a pun)., and that is a probability of my being descended from Chaucer, whose daughter, the Lady Alice, before her espousals with Thomas Montagute,'Earl of Salisbury, and afterwards with William de la Pole, the great Duke of Suffolk, (another famous favourite), was married to a Sir John Philips, who I hope to find was of Picton Castle, and had children by her; but I have not yet brought these matters to a consistency. mr. Chute is persuaded I shall, for he says any body with two or three hundred years of pedigree may find themselves descended from whom they please; and thank my stars and my good cousin, the present Sir John] Philips,(1454) I have a sufficient pedigree to work upon; for he drew us up one by which Ego et rex mems are derived hand in hand from Cadwallader, and the English baronetage says from the Emperor Maximus (by the Philips's, who are Welsh, s'entend). These Veres have thrown me into a deal of this old study: t'other night I was reading to Mrs. Leneve and Mrs. Pigot,(1455) who has been here a few days, the description in Hall's Chronicle of the meeting of Harry VIII. and Francis I. which is so delightfully painted in your Windsor. We came to a paragraph, which I must transcribe; for though it means nothing in the world, it is so ridiculously worded in the old English that it made us laugh for three days.!
and the wer twoo kinges served with a banket and after mirthe, had communication in the banket time, and there sheweth the one the other their pleasure.
Would not one swear that old Hal showed all that is showed in the Tower? I am now in the act of expecting the house of Pritchard,(1456) Dame Clive,(1457) and Mrs. Metheglin to dinner. I promise you the Clive, and I will not show one another our pleasure during the banket time nor afterwards. In the evening, we go to a play at Kingston, where the places are two pence a head. Our great company at Richmond and Twickenham has been torn to pieces by civil dissensions, but they continue acting. Mr. Lee, the ape of Garrick, not liking his part, refused to play it, and had the confidence to go into the pit as spectator. The actress, whose benefit was in agitation, made her complaints to the audience, who obliged him to mount the stage; but since that he has retired from the company. I am sorry he was such a coxcomb, for he was the best. . . .
You say, why won't I go to Lady Mary's?(1458) I say, why won't you go to the Talbots? Mary is busied about many things, is dancing the hays between three houses; but I will go with you for a day or two to the Talbots if you like it. and you shall come hither to fetch me. I have been to see Mr. Hamilton's, near Cobham, where he has really made a fine place out of a most cursed hill. Esher(1459) I have seen again twice, and prefer it to all villas, even to Southcote's—Kent is Kentissing there. I have been laughing too at Claremont house; the gardens are improved since I saw them: do you know that the pineapples are literally sent to Hanover by couriers! I am serious. Since the Duke of Newcastle went, and upon the news of the Duke of Somerset's illness, he has transmitted his commands through the King, and by him through the Bedford to the University of Cambridge to forbid their electing any body, but the most ridiculous person they could elect, his grace of Newcastle. The Prince hearing this, has written to them, that having heard his Majesty's commands, he should by no means oppose them. This is sensible: but how do the two secretaries answer such a violent act of authority? Nolkojumskoi(1460) has let down his dignity and his discipline, and invites continually all officers that are members of parliament. Doddington's sentence of expulsion is sealed: Lyttelton is to have his place (the second time he has tripped up his heels); Lord Barrington is to go to the treasury, and Dick Edgecumbe into the admiralty.
Rigby is gone from hence to Sir William Stanhope's to the Aylesbury races, where the Grenvilles and Peggy Banks design to appear and avow their triumph. Gray has been here a few days, and is transported with your story of Madame Bentley's diving, and her white man, and in short with all your stories. Room for cuckolds—here comes my company—
Aug. 15?.
I had not time to finish my letter last night, for we did not return from the dismal play, which was in a barn at Kingston, till twelve o'clock at night. Our dinner passed off very well; the Clive was very good company; you know how much she admires Asheton's preaching. She says, she is always vastly good for two or three days after his sermons;' but by the time that Thursday comes, all their effect is worn out. I never saw more proper decent behaviour than Mrs. Pritchard's, and I assure you even Mr. Treasurer Pritchard was far better than I expected. Yours ever, Chaucerides.