Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/20

12 Henry, son of Francis, succeeded his father as third Earl; he claimed succession to the throne after Elizabeth, in right of his mother; and in the troubles then raging between religious opinions and the claims of heredity, his pretensions were supported by a considerable section of the Protestant leaders during the severe illness of Elizabeth in 1562. By religion he was a zealous puritan, a strong sympathiser with the Huguenots, and he 'much wasted his estate by a lavish support of those hot-headed preachers.' He had something to do with the persecution of Mary Queen of Scots, but he had the good sense to perceive that honour, if not policy, must prevent a rival to the throne from taking too open a part against her. He died without issue in 1595, and was succeeded by his brother, whose great-grandson Ferdinando, sixth Earl, flourished in the reign of Charles I, and was brother to Henry, the celebrated Lord Loughborough, an ardent supporter of the king. Ferdinando's son adhered to the cause of James II, and protested against the Act of Settlement, 1701; he was eventually succeeded by his son Theophilus as ninth Earl, who was the father of Lady Elizabeth, third wife of Lord Moira (John, Lord Rawdon), and mother of Francis, the future Ruler of India.

Such in brief is an account of the families from which Rawdon sprang, and such some of the traditions which he represented and inherited. But there