Bromley, of Bagington, in Warwickshire, Esq. Speaker of the House of Commons, and principal Secretary of State in the reign of Queen Anne. 2. Catharine, married to William Higden, D.D. prebendary of Canterbury, and rector of St. Paul's, Shadwell, London. 3. Lucy. And, 4. Diana.

The said Ralph, Lord Stawel, their father, deceased on August 5th, 1689, in the forty-ninth year of his age, and was buried at Lowham. His second Lady, surviving him, died on September 27th, 1692, and was interred in the family vault of her family, in the church of Hartley. He was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOHN, SECOND LORD STAWEL, who married Margaret, daughter of James, Earl of Salisbury; but died without issue by her, on November 30th, 1692, in the twenty-fourth year of his age. And his Lady surviving him, married, secondly, Richard Jones, Earl of Ranelagh, of the kingdom of Ireland, by whom she had a daughter, Lady Anne, married, first, to James Darcy, grandson of Conyers, Earl of Holdernesse; and, secondly, to John Baber, Esq. His Lordship was succeeded by his brother,

WILLIAM, THIRD LORD STAWEL, who was one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber to his Royal Highness, George, Prince of Denmark, consort of her late Majesty, Queen Anne. He married Elizabeth, widow of William Forster, of Bulenburgh Castle, in Northumberland, Esq. daughter and heir of William Port, of Arnolds Hall, in Essex, Esq. and of Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of William Forster, Esq. and heir of her brother, Sir Humphrey Forster, Bart. in whose right he became possessed of the lordship of Aldermaston,t in the county of Berks, where he resided. He had issue by his said Lady (who died in 1748, and was buried at Aldermaston,)

WILLIAM, his son and heir, who died in 1740, unmarried.

And a daughter, Charlotte, married to Rushe Hassel, Esq. and, secondly, to Ralph Congreve, in her right, of Aldermaston, Esq.

His Lordship deceasing, January 23d, 1741-2, at his seat at Hartley, in the county of Southampton, was succeeded by his only surviving brother,

EDWARD, FOURTH LORD STAWEL, who married, May 10th,

↑ See Topographer, Vol. I. for an account of this curious old seat, and its

owners.

1719, Mary, daughter and heir of Sir Hugh Stewkley, of HintonAmney, in Hampshire, Bart. (who died in July 1740), by whom he had issue a son,

The Hon. Stewkley Stawel, who died young.

And a daughter, Mary, late Baroness Stawel.

And his Lordship dying on April 13th, 1755, at his seat at Aldermaston, without surviving male issue, was buried at Hinton, and the title of Lord Stawel became extinct; but he was succeeded in his estates by his said only daughter and heir,

MARY, late BARONESS STAWEL, who first married, on September 3d, 1750, the Right Hon. HENRY BILSON LEGGE, fourth son of William, first Earl of Dartmouth; which Henry represented the borough of Eastlow, in Cornwall, in part of the 8th parlia ment of Great Britain, at which time he was a Commissioner of the Navy, and soon after joint Secretary of the Treasury. In the 9th, 10th, and 11th parliaments, he represented the borough of Orford, in Suffolk; and was chosen to the 12th, Knight of the shire for the county of Hants. On July 16th, 1752, he had a grant of the office of Surveyor-General of all his Majesty's woods, in the lands of the ancient inheritance of the Crown, on the north and south sides of the river Trent; at which time he resigned his place of Secretary to the Treasury. On April 20th, 1745, he was constituted one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and June 4th, 1746, a Lord of the Treasury. In February, 1747-8, he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the King of Prussia ;" and arriving from Berlin, January 2d, 1748-9, was, in April following, appointed Treasurer of the Navy. On April 6th, 1754, he was constituted CHANCELLOR and UNDER-TREASURER of his Majesty's EXCHEQUER, and one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and sworn of the Privy Council, in which post he was succeeded by Sir George Lyttelton, Bart. the late Lord Lyttelton, upon his resignation on November 22d, the same year. On November 15th, 1756, he was again appointed to those great offices, from which he was removed on April 9th, 1757, and succeeded therein by Lord Mansfield. But the nation in general shewing their regret thereat,

Coxe says of his embassy to Prussia, that "though a man of great talents for business, he was unfit for a foreign mission, and of a character ill-suited to the temper of that powerful casuist, whose extraordinary dogmas were supported by 146,000 the most effectual and convincing arguments in the world."

his Majesty was pleased, on July 2d, the same year, to constitute him once more Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer, and one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. He continued in those offices, to the universal satisfaction of all parties, till, upon a change in the ministry, in 1762, he was turned out, as he chose to express it, and the Lord Viscount Barrington appointed in his room. His health for some time sensibly declining, he retired to the sweets of domestic happiness and private friendship, and departed this life on August 21st, 1764, at Tunbridge-Wells. His death was sincerely lamented by all good and virtuous men, and all true lovers of their country.

On May 20th, 1760, his Majesty was pleased to grant to the said Hon. Mary Legge, his wife, the dignity of a Baroness of Great Britain, by the name, style, and title of BARONESS STAWEL, of Somerton, in the county of Somerset; and the dignity of Baron, to her heirs male, by her husband, the said Right Hon. Henry Bilson Legge.

By whom her Ladyship had issue the Hon. Henry-Stawel Legge, now Lord Stawel.

Her Ladyship re-married, on October 11th, 1768, to the Right Hon. Wills Hill, late Earl of Hillsborough, afterwards Marquis of Downshire, by whom she had no issue.

Her Ladyship died at their house in Hanover Square, 29th July, 1780, and was succeeded by her only son,

HENRY-STAWELL-BILSON LEGGE, SECOND LORD STAWELL, of Somerton, in the county of Somerset, who is Patent Surveyor of the Customs in the Port of London; M. A.

His Lordship was born February 22d, 1757.

His Lordship married, July 1st, 1779, Mary, daughter of Viscount Curzon, by whom (who died September 19th, 1804), he has issue,

Mary, born July 27th, 1780; married, August 11th, 1803, the Hon. John Dutton, only son of James, Lord Sherborne.

And a son, born January 10th, 1785; since dead.

Title. Henry Stawel Bilson Legge, Baron Stawel, of Somerton, in the county of Somerset.

Creations. Baron Stawel, as above, May 20th, 1760, 34 George II.

Arms. First and fourth, Gules, a cross of lozenges, Argent,

x Annual Register.

for Stawel; second and third, Azure, a stag's head caboshed, for Legge.

Crest of Stawel. On a chapeau, Gules, turned up, Ermine, an eagle displayed, Argent, from its mouth a scroll, inscribed with the motto.

Supporters. Two man-tigers, i. c. beasts, bodied, &c. in form of lions, Argent, with human visages, proper, armed with a sort of horns, like those of a satyr, or goat, and maned and tufted, Or.

Motto. EN PAROLE JE VIS.

Chief Seat. The Holt, near Alresford, Hants.

IN the pedigree of Lord Monson it is recited, that JoHN, the first who bore that title, having married Lady Margaret, youngest daughter of Lewis Watson, the first Earl of Rockingham, had by her three sons,

1. John, his successor.

2. Lewis, of whom we are principally to treat, as being created Lord Sondes.

3. George Monson, a military officer, whose gallant exploits in the East Indies, during the late war, make a very considerable figure in history.

The said LEWIS, second son, FIRST LORD SONDES, was born on November 28th, 1728; and at the death of his cousin, Thomas, third and last Earl of Rockingham, Viscount Sondes, &c. on February 26th, 1745-6, assumed the name and arms of WATSON, in obedience to the will of that nobleman, who left him his estate on that condition.

In April, 1750, he was, on a vacancy occasioned by the death of Francis Scott, Earl of Dalkeith, elected one of the representatives for Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, to the 10th parliament of Great Britain; and at the general election, in 1754, was returned, to the next parliament, a burgess for the same place, and likewise one of the Knights for the county of Kent (after one of the most violent contests ever remembered for the county), for which last he chose his seat.

On February 16th, 1754, he was appointed for life one of the Auditors of the imprest and foreign accounts, first fruits, tenths, customs, and of the mint and coinage; and by letters patent, bearing date May 20th, 1760, was created a Peer of Great Britain,