Day after Day 18

May continued with her findings on the Marquis of Winchester.

"Now we are moving on eleven years. Your relative seems to have done pretty well in the end.

11 April 1659 Coney's Purchase.
The humble Petition of George Coney Esquire was this Day read; and was,
concerning a Purchase made by him and others, from the Trustees for
Sale of Delinquents Estates, of the Manor of Hooke, and several other
Manors, and Lands, late Parcel of the Possessions of John now Marquis
of Winchester, in the Counties of Dorsett, Devon, and Cornewall.
 concerning his Claim and Title to the said Manors.
 

Order to restore the M. of Winchester to all his Estates sold without his Consent.
The House being this Day
informed, That the Estate of the Marquis of Winchester was illegally
disposed of, aliened, and sold, without either Hearing, Summons, or
Proof of any Charge against the said Marquis, and contrary to the
Privilege of Peerage, and the fundamental Laws of the Land.
It is ORDERED, by the Lords in Parliament assembled, That the said
Dispositions, Alienations, and Sales, of the Estate of the said
Marquis of Winchester, be, and are hereby declared to be, null and
void (excepting those Lands which he hath consented to be sold); and
that the Marquis of Winchester be, and is hereby, restored to the
Possession of his Estate, in whose Hands soever the same is, together
with all Arrears of Rents, Fines, and other Profits, which are now in
the Tenants Hands, or in any other Persons, not accounted for, and to
all Timber and Wood felled off any Part of the said Estate, and to
all Materials of Houses and Buildings taken off any Part of the said
Estate. And hereof all Persons whatsoever are to take Notice, and
yield Obedience hereunto accordingly...''

2 July 1661
Marq. of Winchester's Estate.
An ingrossed Bill for the Marquis of Winchester, was this
Day read the Third time: And Resolved, That the said Bill do pass.
Resolved, That the Title of the said Bill shall be, An Act
for Reparation and Satisfaction to be made unto John Lord St. John of
Basing, Earl of Wilts, and Marquess of Winchester, out of the Manors
and Lands of Robert Wallop Esquire, for the Sum of Ten thousand
pounds, heretofore granted unto him by the then pretended Parliament,
out of the said Marquess of Winchester's Estate.

*

"I think it's interesting that he should refer to the 'pretended parliament''' said Muriel.

"Again, this next is not to do with your relatives, but interesting all the same,'' said May before
reading on.
Executing Regicides. Ordered, That Mr. Solicitor General do bring in a Bill, To-morrow Morning, for
Execution of the Persons, Prisoners in the Tower, condemned for the
horrid Murder of his late Sacred Majesty King Charles the First
 

27 January 1674
Marq. of Winton, Privilege, not to be proceeded against for Recusancy.
The House being informed,
"That the Lord Marquis of Winchester, a Peer of this Realm,  (not being
a Convicted Recusant) shall have the Privilege of Parliament, to be
discharged of all Proceedings had against him for Recusancy since the
Time of Privilege began, and during the Continuance of the same
Privilege; and that if any Indictment have been brought against him
for Recusancy during the Time of Privilege aforesaid, the same shall
be forthwith brought into the Court of King's Bench by Certiorari,
and the King's Attorney shall enter a Non Pros. upon the same.

"In other words, he was cleared of any offence,'' said Muriel.

"Then we have pages and pages of details of the court case, which I have eliminated, although it was very interesting,'' May continued. "I know what I have copied a great deal of material, but it shows the sort of work the Marquis was doing as a magistrate after he was released from prison and got his lands back."

*

The Information of Henry Berry, Porter of the Gate
at Somersett House, taken by the Right Honourable the Marquis of
Winchester, this 11th Day of November, 1678, as followeth;
videlicet...

"Videlicter? There's another word that requires a consultation of the dictionary,''said Muriel.

She went away, returning to report "It means to wit, or that is saying.''

"It doesn't seem necessary to use the word in this context,'' said May. "Now...this next section shows what the Marquis was doing once he was back in favour., but I think that is enough for one day,"
 Muriel agreed, and they arranged to meet again in the morning.

Next day Muriel told May that she had looked up the name Paulet in a copy of Webster's Biographical Dictionary which she had found among her father's old books.

She proceeded to read out the following list of names.

Sir Annas Paulet - 1536 -1588 Lt. Governor of Jersey - commissioner at trial of Mary Queen of Scots and famous as her Puritan guardian - refused to take suggestions to murder her privately.

Sir William Paulet - 1485-1572 First Marquis of Winchester - honoured by Henry VIII. Lord President of Council and one of Council of Regency. Lord Treasurer 1547. Joined Lords at Baynard Castle who proclaimed Queen Mary in place of Lady Jane Gray. Also gained favour of Queen Elizabeth and was treasurer (1550-72).

Grandson William Paulet (1535-1598) Third Marquis of Winchester commissioner at trial of Mary Queen of Scots - Lord Steward at her funeral.

John Paulet (1598-1675) The great loyalist after fortifying and garrisoning Basing House in Hampshire against Cromwell (1643-45) suffered by imprisonment and loss of property.

"Isn't that interesting," interjected May. "All along I thought he was against the King and for
Cromwell when we were reading it yesterday. It must have meant that those who tried and condemned him were Cromwell's men even though they were in the House of Lords. Do you remember how we commented on the words, pretend Parliament? Well now we know what they meant."

Charles Paulet (1625-1699) - against Stuart cause - supported Whigs and William of Orange on his landing. Precipitated Marlborough's disgrace by disclosing to the King.

Charles Paulet (1661-1722) - 7th Marquis of Winchester - Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Charles Paulet (1685-1754) 8th Marquis of Winchester - deprived of offices because of opposition to William Walpole. Married an actress, Laurissa Fenton, in 1751.

Harry Paulet (1715-1794) 11th Marquis of Winchester.

"And not a Peter Paulet amongst them. How disappointing for you," said May.

"Well, my informant might have had the first name wrong, but there must have been some evidence for her claims. Anyway, back to our research. One reference I wanted to find again was the one relating to Anne Boleyn. Here it is and this is about William Paulet, the 1st Marquis of Winchester:

When the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out in the Autumn, Paulet took joint charge of the musters of the Royal Forces and himself raised two hundred men. As the rebels complained of the exclusion of noblemen from the King's Council, Henry reminded them of the presence of Paulet and others. In
carrying out his Royal Master's commands, he was not, it would appear, unnecessarily harsh. Anne Boleyn excepted him from her complaints against the council. "The controller was a very gentleman" she admitted.

"Amyas Paulet, a nephew I presume, who was in the king's service at the same time, is also an interesting character. He was Mary Queen of Scot's last jailer. His first action was to take down Mary's cloth of state with her famous motto 'In my End is my Beginning' which she had hanging over her chair in all her prisons since the days of Shrewsbury. Paulet was a Puritan who found Mary irritating and tiresome and offending to his high principles. He repeatedly ignored her complaints regarding her health and stopped her outings to Buxton Baths on the pretext that by her alms to the
poor she might gain popular support. She was not even allowed to take the air nor to receive correspondence except from the French Ambassador. He refused to baptise the child of one of Mary's servants, and was scandalised when Mary herself baptised the baby as a Catholic.

"By the time the Babington Plot was taking shape. Mary had to be moved to Chartley due to her ill health. It was during that time that Paulet broke into her apartments while she was lying ill in bed and unceremoniously seized her money according to Elizabeth's instructions. Paulet was entrusted with several letters from Mary to Elizabeth and others.

"He delayed dispatching these for fear that Elizabeth might be touched by them and revoke the Death Warrant. It took almost a year for the other letters to be received by the addressees. Paulet also attended Mary's execution and was knighted after it.''

"I don't think he sounds like a relative that I would want to boast about," said May. "Your other
relation, William, was much kinder and more honest, from what we have read. What if one of your ancestors had carried a royal title? Could you now call yourself a marchioness?''

Muriel smiled. "I could only have that title if I was married to a marquis. Daughter of a marquis and marchioness were called lady. My ancestors were earls and marquis.''

"But after all this research we are no nearer to finding out anything about the ring,'' said May. "That was the purpose of our investigations. I think we have been going in the wrong direction. Why don't you write to that relative of your grandfather's and find out the addresses of the other grandchildren
of the Marchioness, if that is what she was. Even if you find out that the ring has been sold, and no-one knows where it is you would feel that your researches had achieved something.''

"The eldest son of a Marquis is by courtesy given his father's second title, which should be the next rank down, which is Earl, but if his father doesn't hold an earldom, he goes by whatever lesser title is available,'' Muriel said, continuing to reveal the results of her investigations. "Other children are
Lords or Ladies with both the forename or surname. So if our line had continued, and my father had been the oldest son he would have been the Marquis of Winchester. And if I had a brother, he would be the Earl of Wiltshire, and I would be Lady Muriel Paulet.

"These nobles almost behaved like royalty, yet they only came by their titles because they
had done something which pleased a king.''

"My noble family also left their mark on America,'' said Muriel, refusing to take offense. "There's a
town called Winchester in New Hampshire, named in 1733 in honour of Sir Charles Paulet. A church built in 1736 still stands there.''

"That isn't very old for a church,'' said May, with the faintest hint of subversion.

"It's old for America,'' said Muriel tartly.

With that May said it was dinner time and took her departure. As she was leaving, with a huge grin on her face, she curtsied to Muriel and said, "Until later, my Lady Muriel."