Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/449

 Wales he exercised with very great moderation, and the most serious charge brought against him by his enemies consisted of such alleged acts of vandalism as breaking up the fine organ of Wrexham Church for the sake of supplying his men with bullets.

He married, first, Margaret, daughter and heiress of George Savile of Wakefield in Yorkshire, by whom he had no issue; and secondly, Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Napier, bart., of Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, by whom he had seven sons and six daughters. The eldest, Thomas Myddelton (d. 1663), who was created a baronet in 1660, and was besieged by Lambert in Chirk Castle in August 1659, left two sons, Thomas (d. 1684), M.P. for Denbigh, and Richard Myddelton (d. 1716), M.P. for Denbigh 1685–1716, both of whom succeeded in turn to the baronetcy. Sir Richard's son, William Myddelton, fourth baronet, died unmarried in 1718, when the baronetcy became extinct and the estates reverted to Robert Myddelton of Llysvassi, a son of the parliamentary general's third son Richard, from whom Mr. Myddelton-Biddulph, the present owner of Chirk Castle, traces descent. A daughter of Myddelton, Ann, married Edward, third lord Herbert of Cherbury, grandson of the first lord.

 MYDDELTON, WILLIAM (1556?–1621), Welsh poet and seaman, was the third son of Richard Myddelton, governor of Denbigh Castle, by Jane, daughter of Hugh Dryhurst, also of Denbigh. Richard Myddelton was the fourth son of Foulk Myddelton, who claimed descent from Ririd Flaidd; on Richard's death in 1575 his elegy was written by Rhys Cain, and he was buried at Whitchurch, the parish church of Denbigh, where there is a brass effigy showing Richard kneeling at an altar with his nine sons behind him, while round the figure of his wife, who had predeceased him in 1565, are grouped their seven daughters. Among the sons were Sir [q. v.] and Sir [q. v.], lord mayor of London, the father of Sir (1587 [sic]–1666) [q. v.], the parliamentarian. William was, according to Wood, educated at Oxford, but he must be distinguished from the 'William Myddelton of co. Denbigh, gent.,' who matriculated from Gloucester Hall on 23 Oct. 1584, aged 15 (, Alumni Oxon.), and was of Gwaynynog; no other Oxford student of the name appears in the university register at a possible date. Myddelton, while young, certainly became a seaman, and may have been the 'Captain Middleton' mentioned in a letter to Lord Burghley of 6 Nov. 1590 as ' returning with a prize of pepper' (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser.); though possibly this refers to John Middleton [see under ]. In 1591, when the English squadron, under the command of Lord Thomas Howard, had been sent to the Azores, with the view of intercepting the homeward-bound treasure-ships of Spain, George Clifford, earl of Cumberland, who was then on the coast of Portugal, sent off a pinnace, under Myddelton's command, to warn Howard of a powerful fleet that was on the point of sailing from Spain to attack him. The pinnace being 'a good sailer' Myddelton was able to keep company with the Spanish ships for three days, 'both to discover their forces as also to give advice of their approach,' and on 31 Aug. (1591) he delivered the news to Howard scarcely before the Spaniards were in sight. Howard forthwith retired, but Sir (1541?–1591) [q. v.], in spite of Myddelton's eloquent entreaties, remained behind in the Revenge (cf. The Last Fight of the Revenge at Sea, ed. Professor Arber, London, 1871).

Previous to this Myddelton was a recognised authority on Welsh prosody; Dr. John David Rhys speaks eulogistically of him in his 'Welsh Grammar' (London, 1592, fol.), and inserts therein an appendix contributed by Myddelton, under his bardic name of Gwilym Ganoldref—a Welsh translation of William Middle town—together with two original poems intended to illustrate Welsh metres (Cambrytannicæ Lingua Institutiones, &c., pp. 235–49). But finding that Rhys's 'Grammar,' owing to its being in Latin, was of little use to his fellow-countrymen, Myddelton, in 1593, published a work of his own, entitled 'Bardhoniaeth neu Brydydhiaeth, y Lhyfr Kyntaf' (London, 8vo), which was reprinted in 1710 as a part of a work called 'Flores Poetarum Britannicorum, sef Blodeuog Waith y Prydyddion Brytanaidd' (Shrewsbury, 12mo; 2nd edit., London, 1864; 3rd edit., undated, Llanrwst), and has been laid under contribution by almost every subsequent writer on Welsh prosody. Myddelton's chief work was his metrical version of the Psalms, published in 1603 (after the author's death) by Thomas Salesbury, under the title 'Psalmae y Brenhinol Brophwyd Dafydh, gwedi i