Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 2.djvu/206

 Hill succeeded Baron Hervart in the superintendence of this Bounty; but both of their Excellencies in their after-lives continued to take some active charge of it. In 1711 Mr. Behaghel wrote, “There is no one here or elsewhere who can give you better information on the state of the colonies, since I had the trouble on the part of England, by order of M. d’Hervart, to effect the establishment of them, in conjunction with M. Valkenier on the part of Holland” — and again in 1714, “There is no need of recommending these poor people to me, as I have their interest at heart, having by M. d’Hervart’s order distributed the English collection among them. At the time that M. Valkenier was establishing them, they all, great and small, had recourse to me daily.” In 1716 King George gave a donation of £1000 "without account " for the Waldenses. A memorandum, as to its distribution, has been preserved in Mr. Hill’s handwriting, showing that thirteen pastors, and the same number of schoolmasters in the Valleys, and the pastors and schoolmasters in the seven German Colonies, participated in this grant. Mr. Behaghel wrote from Frankfort, 13th September 1716:

“I have seen how it was thought proper to dispose of the £1000 sterling, which M. d’Hervart had remitted to the Treasury. The £340, 6s. sterling which you ordered me to pay to the Vaudois ministers and schoolmasters, also to the school at Offenbach, and to Mr. Jordan for the expenses of his journey, shall be punctually paid.”

Glancing back to the reign of Queen Anne, we find that it was expected that, through the favour of Lord Bolingbroke, Baron Hervart would have returned as Ambassador to the Cantons in 1711; this, however, was not realized. At this juncture he renewed his acquaintance with the Robethons, and, at the same time perhaps, was introduced to Mr. Aufrère, who was a most serviceable friend to himself and his descendants.

As to his private life, he was married in Switzerland to a lady with a good fortune, named Jedide Azube de Graffenried, by whom he had five children. In his latter years Southampton, where so many refugees resided and worshipped in the venerable Maison-Dieu, became his residence. On the death of the Earl of Galway, in 1720, he became Governor of the French Hospital of London. The death of his son, Frederick, seems to have affected him much; and on that occasion he presented to the hospital, as a donation, the munificent sum of £4000, which Frederick would have inherited. This was about eight months before his own death, which took place on the 30th April 1721. He was seventy-six years old. He was buried in the Parish Church of Holyrood, in Southampton, his funeral being attended by all the ministers of the towns, French and English, and by a large number of the French and English population. From his deathbed he sent £32 to the poor of the Maison Dieu, besides £50 bequeathed to them by will. He also left £12 a year for the pasteur. These particulars are recorded in the register of that church, where a brief biography records his great and constant charity to the poor of the town.

His surviving children were two sons and two daughters. It was not till the 20th June 1724 that the Court of Chancery found that the one-fourth share of his estate, to which each child was entitled, was £4286, 5s. 4d.; so that the Baron had proved himself to be nearly as accurate, and a much more expeditious judge in his estimate of what the fifth share of the unbroken estate amounted to. His widow returned to Switzerland, and the younger son and daughter accompanied her. The elder son, John Francis Maximilian De Hervart, remained in Southampton, and was married there, in 1723, to Margaret Angelique de Vignolles. In the same year the elder daughter, Mariana Ursula, was married in London to Colonel John Guise, regimental Major of the Guards. The Baroness d’Hervart de Hunninghen died in Switzerland, in May 1737; and we learn from her will that her younger son, James Philip d’Hervart, was styled Lord of St. Leger, and resided in Vevay, and that the younger daughter, Sabina Frances, was the wife of Sigismund de Cerjat (or de Bressonay), Lord of Syens, who lived at Lausanne. The Lord of St. Leger, being voluntarily offered, and having accepted his mother’s estate in Switzerland, renounced his share of the Baroness’s English property, so that each of his sisters, and his elder brother obtained a share of about £1312, 10s. — with the addition of a third of a share, or £1750 altogether, which added to their patrimony was a large portion for those days.

Mrs. Guise died 25th May 1749, leaving an only child, William (born 2d March