Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/180

Herbert Oxf. Hist. Soc., n. ii. 214). His father died soon after he had arrived in Oxford, and Sir George More of Loseley, Surrey,with whom he afterwards corresponded on affectionate terms, became his guardian (cf. , Loseley MSS.) When he was sixteen a marriage was arranged for him by his relatives with a kinswoman (four years his senior), Mary, daughter and heiress of Sir William Herbert (d. 1593) [q. v.] Sir William's will made his daughter's succession to his property conditional on her marrying one bearing the surname of Herbert. The ceremony took place at Eyton on 28 Feb. 1598-9, and subsequently Herbert returned to Oxford, now accompanied by his wife and mother. He read hard, and taught himself French, Italian, and Spanish, besides gaining some proficiency in music, and becoming a good rider and fencer. A love of horses and efficiency as a horseman distinguished him through life. In 1600 he removed to London, and on presenting himself at court attracted Queen Elizabeth's notice. At the end of April 1603 he went to Burleigh House, Stamford, to present himself to the new king, James I, then on his way to London, and on 24 July 1603 was created a knight of the Bath. He wished to accompany the Earl of Nottingham's embassy to Spain, in February 1604-5, but his family induced him to retire to Montgomery Castle, where he continued his studies. He was sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1605, and his name appears regularly in succeeding years on the roll of the Montgomeryshire magistrates ; but on 9 Feb. 1606-7 James I took from him Montgomery Castle, and presented it to his kinsman, Philip Herbert [q. v.], who was created Earl of Montgomery (4 May 160-5). It was restored to Herbert by Earl Philip in July 1613 on payment of 500l. (Powysland Club Collections, x. 168 sq.)

In the summer of 1608 Herbert set out with a friend, Aurelian Townsend, on a foreign tour. Sir George Carew, the English ambassador, introduced him to the best society in Paris. He became intimate with M. de Montmorency, grand constable of France, and spent many months in hunting or riding on the constable's estates at Merlou or Mello, near Clermont (Oise), and at Chantilly. He celebrated the beauties of Merlou in attractive verse. At Paris he made Casaubon's acquaintance, and benefited by his learned conversation. Henri IV, Henri's divorced queen Marguerite of Valois, and the Princesse de Conti entertained him, and he satisfied his predilections for chivalric exercises by taking part as principal or second in many duels. With a friend, Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, Warwickshire, he landed at Dover in February 1609, after being nearly shipwrecked in the passage from Dieppe. ln July 1610 Herbert returned to the continent in company with Grey Brydges, fifth lord Chandos [q. v.], one of the officers of the English expedition which had been sent out under the command of Sir Edward Cecil [q. v.] to aid in the recapture of Juliers from the emperor. Herbert took an active part as a volunteer in the siege, and claimed to be the first man to enter Juliers after its fall (cf., Generall Historie of the Netherlands, continued by William Crosse, 1627, p. 1294). A trivial quarrel at a drinking bout in camp, while the siege was in progress, between Herbert and Theophilus Howard, lord Howard of Walden, afterwards second earl of Suffolk [q. v.], led Herbert to challenge Howard, but the duel, owing to Sir Edward Cecil's interference, never came off, much to Herbert's chagrin. Writing to Lord Salisbury, on landing at Dover in September 1610, Herbert offered to clear himself if accused of any wrong. Subsequently the dispute, to which Herbert gave an exaggerated importance in his memoirs, was composed by the privy council (Cal. State Papers, 1603-10, p. 635).

Herbert was now, he tell us, ‘in great esteem both in court and city.’ Copies of his portrait were in great demand, and he hints that Queen Anne was one of his admirers. A flirtation with a Lady Ayres led her husband, Sir John Ayres, to waylay him while riding near Scotland Yard in 1611, and he was brutally stabbed and beaten. A liaison of Sir Edward Herbert with the Countess of Kent, which is noticed by Selden, probably refers to Sir Edward Herbert (1591?-1657) [q. v.] the judge, Herbert's first cousin (cf., Table Talk). In 1614 Herbert joined, as a volunteer, the army of the Prince of Orange, which was taking part in the renewed strife for the possession of Juliers and Cleves. Herbert was well received, and when with the Dutch army before Rees, offered to accept a challenge, sent by a Spanish officer in the enemy's camp, to decide the war by single combat. Spinola, the Spanish commander, refused to sanction the duel. Herbert took advantage of an interval in the warfare to make his way to the Spanish camp, near Wezel, where he introduced himself to Spinola, and after some affable conversation with him, offered to join him if he led an army against the Turks. On leaving Wezel he travelled to Cologne; visited the elector palatine, whose fortunes he thenceforth watched with eager interest, at Heidelberg; and afterwards journeyed through the chief towns in Italy. He was everywhere royally entertained. At Rome he stayed at the English College, and