defied the king and lost it. Adeliza, widow of Henry I., having a
brother Josceline de Louvaine whom she wished to benefit, Petworth was
given to him. Josceline married Agnes, daughter of William de Percy, the
descendant of one of the Conqueror's chief friends, and, doing so, took
his name. In course of time came Harry Hotspur, whose sword, which he
swung at the Battle of Shrewsbury, is kept at Petworth House. The second
Earl was his son, also Henry, who fought at Chevy Chase; he was not,
however, slain there, as the balladmonger says, but at St. Albans.
Henry, the third Earl, fell at Towton; Henry, the fourth Earl, was
assassinated at Cock Lodge, Thirsk; Henry, the fifth Earl, led a
regiment at the Battle of the Spurs; Henry, the sixth Earl, fell in love
with Anne Boleyn, but had the good sense not to let Henry the Eighth see
it. Thomas, his brother, was beheaded for treason; Thomas, the seventh
Earl, took arms against Queen Elizabeth, and was beheaded in Scotland;
Henry, the eighth Earl, attempted to liberate Mary Queen of Scots, and
was imprisoned in the Tower, where he slew himself; Henry, the ninth
Earl, was accused of assisting Guy Fawkes and locked up for fifteen
years. He was set at liberty only after paying _L_30,000, and promising
never to go more than thirty miles from Petworth House. This kept him
out of London.

The last two noble Earls of Northumberland were Algernon, Lord High
Admiral of England, who married Lady Anna Cecil, and planted an oak in
the Park (it is still there) to commemorate the union; and Josceline,
eleventh Earl, who died in 1670, leaving no son. He left, however, a
daughter, a little Elizabeth, Baroness Percy, who had countless suitors
and was married three times before she was sixteen. Her third husband
was Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset, who became in time the
father of thirteen children. Of these all died save three girls, and a
boy, Algernon, who became seventh Duke of Somerset. Through one of the
daughters, Catherine, who married Sir William Wyndham, the estates fell
to the present family. The next important Lord of Petworth was George
O'Brien Wyndham, third Earl of Egremont, the friend of art and
agriculture, who collected most of the pictures. The present owner is
the third Baron Leconfield.

[Illustration: _The Rother at Fittleworth._]

[Sidenote: THE EARL AND THE HOUSEMAID]

C. R. Leslie, who painted more than one picture in the Petworth gallery,
has much to say in