Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/423

Percy  left eight sons and two daughters. Of the latter, Lucy married, first, Sir John Wotton; secondly, Sir Hugh Owen of Anglesey; and Eleanor married Sir William Herbert, baron Powis. The eldest son, Henry, ninth earl; the second, William (1575–1648); and the youngest son, George (1580–1632), are noticed separately. The other sons were Sir Charles (d. 1628), who fought in the Low Countries and Ireland, was implicated in Essex's rebellion, and was pardoned; Sir Richard (d. 1647), who also fought in Ireland; Sir Alan (d. 1611), who was made K.B. in 1604; and Sir Josceline (d. 1631), who, like his brother Charles, was concerned in Essex's rebellion.

[De Fonblanque's Annals of the House of Percy, ii. 125 seq.; Froude's Hist. of England; Cal. State Papers, Dom.; Camden's Annals; Doyle's Official Baronage; Sharpe's Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569; Collins's Peerage; G. E. C.'s Complete Peerage.]

 PERCY, HENRY, ninth (1564–1632), son of Henry Percy, eighth earl [q. v.], born at Tynemouth Castle in 1564, was educated in the protestant faith by one Thompson, vicar of Egremont. In 1582 he set out on a foreign tour, and at Paris he formed an intimacy with Charles Paget [q. v.], agent of Mary Queen of Scots and a staunch Roman catholic–a circumstance which raised suspicions of his loyalty. Both Paget and himself wrote home denying that religion entered into their discussions. He developed literary tastes, read Guicciardini and Holinshed, and purchased works of art. Astrology and alchemy interested him, and among his possessions in early life was a crystal globe. His indulgence in scientific experiments gained for him the sobriquet of 'the Wizard Earl.' He was soon passionately addicted to tobacco smoking, and lost large sums of money by gaming. In 1585, on his father's death, he succeeded to the earldom of Northumberland, and settled in London at the family residence near St. Andrew's Hill, Blackfriars. In 1590 he removed his London dwelling to Russell House, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, and in James I's reign to Walsingham House. He made Alnwick Castle his place of residence in the north. Somewhat fanciful in his tastes, he was unpopular in domestic life. With his mother he was perpetually quarrelling, and his numerous tenants found him an unsympathetic and harsh landlord. He was a justice of the peace for Sussex, Cumberland, Westmorland, Northumberland, and the North, East, and West Ridings of Yorkshire, but neglected his duties and declined to take part in repressing border warfare. Meanwhile he took some part in other departments of public affairs. He served as a volunteer under the Earl of Leicester in the Low Countries in 1585-6, and in 1588 in the fleet sent against the Spanish armada. In 1591 he was made governor of Tynemouth. On 23 April 1593 he was installed a knight of the Garter, and George Peele [q. v.] dedicated to him in the same year, in flattering terms, his elaborate poem entitled 'Honour of the Garter,' in which he celebrated the installation ceremony. In 1596 he carried the insignia of the order of the Garter to Henry IV of France, and in 1599 was nominated a general of the army.

Northumberland's name was entitled to stand eighth on the list of presumptive heirs to the crown, and the Roman catholics, who had hopes that he would yet declare for the faith of his fathers, suggested about 1590 that he should strengthen his claim by marrying another heiress, Lady Arabella Stuart (cf., State of England, 1600). In 1595 he disappointed this design by wedding Dorothy, sister of Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, and widow of Sir John Perrot. He was on good terms with his brother-in-law Essex, although he formed a low opinion of his character; but he found his wife uncongenial, and they frequently lived apart. No permanent breach, j however, took place, and she stood by him in his later difficulties. In 1600 he went to the Low Countries, and took part in military operations about Ostend. The English commander-in-chief, Sir Francis Vere, treated him with less respect than he deemed fitting, and, after brooding over his injuries, he sent Vere, in 1602, a challenge, which that general declined to treat as serious. A very angry correspondence followed. A similar quarrel with Lord Southampton was composed by the council.

When, during 1602, it became apparent that James VI of Scotland was certain to succeed to the English throne, Northumberland, following the example of his brother-in-law Essex and of Sir Robert Cecil, opened a correspondence with the Scottish king, and drew from him some pledge respecting his policy. James's conciliatory tone disarmed all Northumberland's scruples, and he became an ardent champion of James's claim. Although not an avowed catholic, Northumberland required of his future sovereign a promise of toleration for English catholics, and sent his kinsman Thomas Percy (1560-1605) [q. v.] to Edinburgh to receive assurances on this point. James forwarded a satisfactory message. Consequently, on Elizabeth's death and James's