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154 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
Chief Justice of Chester, and Attorney and Solicitor-General, and many of
the neighbouring nobility, with a number of subordinate officers.
The sword of State borne before him is still in possession of Earl
Powis. Alcock was the first of a long succession of magnates, which lasted
until
the days of William and Mary, 1689, when the Court was dissolved at
the humble suit of the gentlemen and inhabitants of the Principality of
Wales, by whom it was represented as an intolerable grievance.*
Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII., resided there after his
marriage with Catherine of Arragon, and died there.
Amongst the Presidents many illustrious names occur.f Lord Eure
succeeded Edward Lord Zouche, who died and was buried in a vault close
to the wine cellar, which gave rise to the following epigram by Ben
Jonson : " Whenever I die, let this be my fate,
To lie
by my good Lord Zouche ;
That when I am dry, to the tap I may hie,
And so back again to my couch."
Lord Eure retained the appointment from 1607 to 1616, and does not
appear to have found it altogether a bed of roses, for in the Cotton MS.
there is a letter of his, probably addressed to the Earl of Salisbury, commencing
: " It doth not a little grieve me to have occasion to relate to your
" lordship the generall disobedience, many meetings and combinations
" against the government of the Court in the Principality of Wales."
He marvels that " the grave Bishop of Hereford" should combine with
" the rest of the gentlemen of that countie to their principal agent,
" Sir Herbert Croft, to challenge the free action and inheritable libertie of
"the laws of the realme." "Worcester groweth," he says, "almost as
" vehement as Herefordshire, by means of Sir John Packington, now High
" Sheriff of the countie. The Deputy Lieutenants there, as also in Here-
" fordshire, do refuse once to visit me, so that I do forbear to grant them
" my deputations till I see better conformitie." And the letter concludes
with a " postscript
: I beseech your lordship let me know whether by your
" favour I may obtain at his Majesty's hands the place of second justice in
" circuit with Mr. Barker, for my brother, Sir Francis Eure."
Whatever may have been the result of the former part of the letter,
he seems to have been successful in his request, as we shall see by-and-by.
During his short tenure of office, though he (for some reason not stated)
" being then absent, the creation of Prince Charles of Wales to the Princi-
" pality of Wales and the earldom of Chester, was celebrated here with
" unusual magnificence on November 4th, 1616." A long description thereof,
printed by Nicholas Okes, 1616, is
extant.
* Todd's Miilon. t History of Ludlow.