Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/306

 of Somerset in the light of a suitor, and on 30 May 1682 they were married, the duke having previously agreed to assume the names and arms of Percy; but from this agreement he was released when his wife came of age. Besides the estates and the territorial influence of the Percys, Somerset thus became master of Alnwick Castle, Petworth, Syon House, and Northampton, better known by its later title of Northumberland House in the Strand.

Somerset was appointed a gentleman of the bedchamber in 1683, was installed K.G. on 8 April 1684, and was second mourner at Charles II's funeral. His handsome figure appeared to advantage in pageants of this character, for which he showed an extraordinary predilection, taking a chief part at the funerals of Mary, William III, Anne, and George I, and bearing the orb at four coronations. His wife was chief mourner at the funeral of Mary. On 2 Aug. 1685 he was appointed colonel of the queen's dragoons (now 3rd hussars), a regiment formed out of some troops specially raised to cope with Monmouth's rebellion. In July 1687 James assigned to Somerset as first lord of the bedchamber the duty of introducing at St. James's the papal nuncio d'Adda, whom James was determined to receive publicly in his official character. Somerset objected to the task on the ground that its performance would subject him to a heavy penalty under the law of the land. ‘I would have you fear me as well as the law,’ said James. ‘I cannot fear you,’ was the answer; ‘as long as I commit no offence I am secure in your majesty's justice.’ He lost his place and his regiment, but his spirited conduct raised him high in the estimation of the people.

Somerset was ‘one of those in arms’ with the Prince of Orange in 1688, but he took a much less conspicuous part than his kinsman, Sir Edward Seymour [q. v.] In 1689 he was elected chancellor of Cambridge University (he was incorporated D.C.L. at Oxford in August 1702). He succeeded Halifax as speaker of the lords in 1690, and was one of the regents in July to November 1701. William looked coldly upon him, but with Anne he was a prime favourite. When, as princess, she had been summarily ejected from the cockpit in April 1692, and the courtiers were forbidden to countenance her, Somerset had caused her to be warmly welcomed at Syon House (cf. London Gazette, No. 2758). By her influence he was made in 1702 master of the horse, and in 1706 one of the commissioners for the union with Scotland. In December 1703 he was sent to Portsmouth to welcome the Archduke Charles as king of Spain, and figured prominently in the magnificent ceremonial devised for the occasion. He supported Marlborough in the ministerial crisis of February 1708; but Marlborough thought that the mastership of the horse was fully commensurate with Somerset's abilities, and ignored his claims to further advancement, being at some pains to explain to his wife that he never dreamed of employing so witless a person ‘in anything that is of any consequence’ (Works, x. 300). Somerset was consequently driven into the arms of Harley, and, though he was dismayed by the extent of the tory reaction in 1710, he retained his place in the council until August 1711. St. John was at last successful in his ruses to get rid of him, but he still had a large share in the confidence of Anne. His wife, too, despite her extreme coolness towards Harley and Mrs. Masham, remained mistress of the robes and groom of the stole, in which she had succeeded the Duchess of Marlborough in January 1711, and the queen was proof against all the efforts made to remove her. No one worked harder for this object than Swift, who, in December 1711, circulated a cruel lampoon upon the duchess, ‘The Windsor Prophecy’ (which he afterwards tried to recall). In it she was reproached with red hair (‘Beware of carrots from Northumberland’) and the murder of Thynne. But the confidante continued, in Swift's words, to ‘instil venom into the royal ear.’ She certainly aided the Hanoverian interests and influenced her husband in the same direction.

When the queen lay dying, Somerset repaired to the council board, where he had been a stranger for three years, and supported Shrewsbury, Somers, and Argyll in the steps taken to ensure the succession of George I. The new king reinstated him as master of the horse. Two years later, however, upon being refused permission to bail his son-in-law, Sir William Wyndham [q. v.], who was suspected of corresponding with the Pretender, Somerset expressed his indignation in terms which procured his dismissal. Henceforth he devoted himself to ruling his family and estates, and Horace Walpole often cites him as the type of aristocratic arrogance and parental despotism. He became known as ‘the proud duke,’ and the tradition of his pride is kept alive by the anecdote that, when his second duchess once tapped him with her fan, he remarked, ‘Madam, my first duchess was a Percy, and she never took such a liberty.’ He mulcted his daughter Charlotte of 20,000l. of her inheritance for having sat down in his presence. His domestics obeyed him by signs, and, when he