Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/341

 (Lords' Journals, i. 381, 383). According to Miss Strickland, she married Sir Edward Bushel, and was ancestress of the Johnson Lawsons of Grove Villa, Clevedon, who possess some personal relics of her mother, Catherine Parr; but the evidence of Wriothesley's ‘Chronicle’ and the silence of contemporary records as to her subsequent existence establish almost beyond doubt that she died in infancy.

[Sir John Maclean's Life of Sir Thomas Seymour (privately printed in 1869, and not in the Brit. Museum Library) is written mainly from contemporary sources. See also Addit. MSS. 5751 (ff. 295, 307), 5753 (ff. 20, 48, 137), 6705 (f. 62), 19398 (f. 52), authorities mentioned in the text, and under art. , first .]

 SEYMOUR, WILLIAM, first and second  and second  (1588–1660), born in 1588, was second son of Edward Seymour, lord Beauchamp, by Honora, daughter of Sir Richard Rogers of Bryanston, Dorset [see, (1539?–1621), and ]. Lord Beauchamp died in 1612, in the lifetime of his father, the Earl of Hertford, but by reason of the doubt affecting his legitimacy, the title by letters patent of 1608 was entailed upon his eldest son Edward, and in the event of his death and failure of his issue upon the second son, William. William Seymour early showed both taste and aptitude for study, and was sent to Oxford, where he matriculated from Magdalen College on 16 April 1605, graduated B.A. on 9 Dec. 1607, was created M.A. on 31 Aug. 1636, and D. Med. on 12 Aug. 1645. He was chancellor of the university from 1643 to 1647, and again in 1660.

About 1602 Arabella Stuart [see ] had formed an attachment for a member of the Seymour family, and probably for William, although he was a boy of only fifteen. Antony Rivers [q. v.], the jesuit, wrote on 9 March 1602–3: ‘Some say [Arabella] is married to the Earl of Hertford's grandchild, which is most false’ (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1601–3, p. 299). According to the improbable account of Scaramelli, the Venetian envoy (Edinb. Rev. October 1896), it was one Thomas Seymour who at this period attracted Arabella's favour. This Thomas Seymour has been erroneously identified with William Seymour's uncle, Thomas Seymour, the Earl of Hertford's younger son. The latter died some time before—on 8 Aug. 1600 (cf., Baronage, and , Peerage), and he was survived by a wife who died on 20 Aug. 1619. In any case, the intrigue was frustrated by the rigour of Queen Elizabeth; and Lady Arabella, having relinquished what was designated by Elizabeth's successor as forbidden fruit, was taken into favour by the new king upon his accession in 1603. In 1610, however, though she had now attained the discreet age of thirty-five, Arabella once more infringed the royal prerogative by seeking a husband for herself from ‘her own rank.’ This time her lover was undoubtedly William Seymour.

While at Oxford William Seymour had opportunities of visiting Arabella at Woodstock, and on 2 Feb. 1609–10 the pair plighted their troth. The secret was ill-kept, and the lovers were summoned before the council. Seymour made submission in writing (20 Feb.) denying the existence of an engagement or intention of marriage without the king's consent. The explanation was accepted, the lovers continued to meet, and on 22 June were privately married at Greenwich. The affair got wind at once, and while Lady Arabella was committed to the custody of Sir Thomas Parry at Lambeth, Seymour was provided with lodgings in the Tower (8 July). Neither was closely confined; Seymour found means to pay occasional visits to Lambeth, and, after Arabella was removed to Barnet, the Countess of Shrewsbury concerted a plan of escape in order to enable her to join him. On 4 June Arabella rode in man's attire some thirteen miles down to the Thames, where she embarked in a French vessel, which promptly sailed for Calais, but was captured by a boat from an English frigate about a league from that port. Arabella was remitted to the Tower. Meanwhile her husband had sailed in quest of her. He effected his escape from the Tower by the help of his barber, one Batten. Batten, who was well known to the guards, presented himself on 3 June at the Tower, completely disguised, and asked for Mr. Seymour's barber, whom he professed to know to be within. On being admitted he transferred the disguise to Seymour, and then boldly sallied forth with him. The unfortunate barber was taken next day and committed to the dungeon of the Tower. Seymour was met at the Iron Gate by Rodney, and carried by boat down the Thames as far as Lee. There, missing the ship which contained his wife, he boarded a collier bound for Newcastle, induced the master to make for Calais; owing to adverse winds, he was landed at Ostend, and awaited tidings of Arabella at Bruges (, Life and Letters of Lady Arabella Stuart; Life of Lady Arabella Stuart, by E. T. Bradley (Mrs. A. Murray-