Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 50.djvu/112

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Sackville
100
Sackville

without parliamentary sanction. Dorset had previously assured himself that judgment would be for the crown, but he apparently wished the judges to deliver it without stating their reasons (Gardiner, History, ii. 6–7). He died suddenly at the council-table at Whitehall on 19 April 1608. His body was taken to Dorset House, Fleet Street, and was thence conveyed in state to Westminster Abbey on 26 May. There a funeral sermon was preached by his chaplain, George Abbot [q. v.], dean of Winchester, and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. In accordance with his will he was buried in the Sackville Chapel, adjoining the parish church of Withyham. His tomb was destroyed by lightning on 16 June 1663, but his coffin remains in the vault beneath.

Dorset is credited by Naunton with strong judgment and self-confidence, but in domestic politics he showed little independence. His main object was to stand well with his sovereign, and in that he succeeded. He was a good speaker, and the numerous letters and state papers extant in his handwriting exhibit an unusual perspicuity. In private life he was considerate to his tenants. By his will, made on 7 Aug. 1607, a very detailed document, he left to his family as heirlooms rings given him by James I and the king of Spain, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, cut in agate and set in gold. This had been left him by his sister Ann, lady Dacre. Plate or jewels were bequeathed to his friends, the archbishop of Canterbury, Lord-chancellor Ellesmere, the Earls of Nottingham, Suffolk, Worcester, Northampton, Salisbury, and Dunbar. The Earls of Suffolk and Salisbury were overseers of his will, and his wife and eldest son were joint executors. He left 1,000l. for building a public granary at Lewes, 2,000l. for stocking it with grain in seasons of scarcity, and 1,000l. for building a chapel at Withyham.

He married, in 1554, Cecily, daughter of Sir John Baker of Sissinghurst in Kent; Dorset speaks of her in his will in terms of warm affection and respect. She survived till 1 Oct. 1615. By her he was father of four sons and three daughters: the eldest son was Robert Sackville, second earl of Dorset [q. v.]; William, born about 1568, was knighted in France by Henry IV in October 1589, and was slain fighting against the forces of the league in 1591; Thomas, born on 25 May 1571, distinguished himself in fighting against the Turks in 1595, and died on 28 Aug. 1646. Of the daughters, Anne was wife of Sir Henry Glemham of Glemham in Suffolk (cf. Cal. State Papers 1603–10, pp. 499, 575); Jane was wife of Anthony Browne, first viscount Montague [q. v.]; and Mary married Sir Henry Neville, ultimately Lord Abergavenny.

His poetical works, with some letters and the preamble to his will, were collected and edited in 1859, by the Rev. Reginald W. Sackville West, who prefixed a memoir.

There are portraits of the Earl of Dorset at Knole and Buckhurst (by Marcus Gheeraerts the younger [q. v.] ; while in the picture gallery at Oxford there is a painting of him in the robes of chancellor, with the blue ribbon, George, and treasurer's staff. This was presented by Lionel, duke of Dorset, in 1735. There are engravings by George Vertue, E. Scriven, and W. J. Alais.

[Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 484–92, supplies the most detailed account of his official career. George Abbot's Funeral Sermon, 1608, dedicated to the widowed countess, gives a contemporary estimate of his career (esp. pp. 13–18). W. D. Cooper's memoir in Shakespeare Society's edition of Gorboduc and Sackville West's memoir in his Collected Works, 1859, are fairly complete. See also Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia, ed. Arber, pp. 55–6; Owen's Epigrams, 1st ser. ii. 65; Strype's Annals; Correspondance Diplomatique de Fénelon, iii. iv. v. vii.; Birch's Queen Elizabeth; Camden's Annals; Doyle's Official Baronage; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1571–1608; Warton's Hist. of English Poetry; Ritson's Bibliographia Anglo-Poetica; Brydges's Memoirs of the Peers of James I.]

S. L.

SACROBOSCO, CHRISTOPHER (1562–1616), jesuit. [See Holywood.]

SACRO BOSCO, JOHANNES de (fl. 1230), mathematician. [See Holywood of Halifax, John.]

SADDINGTON, JOHN (1634?–1679), Muggletonian, was born at Arnesby, Leicestershire, about 1634, and was engaged in London in the sugar trade. He was among the earliest adherents to the system of John Reeve (1608–1658) [q. v.] and Lodowicke Muggleton [q. v.], and hence was known as the ‘eldest son’ of their movement. He was a tall, handsome man, and an intelligent writer; his strenuous support in 1671 was of essential service to Muggleton's cause. He died in London on 11 Sept. 1679. Two only of his pieces have been printed: 1. ‘A Prospective Glass for Saints and Sinners,’ 1673, 4to; reprinted, Deal, 1823, 8vo. 2. ‘The Articles of True Faith,’ written in 1675, but not printed till 1830, 8vo. Of his unprinted pieces in the Muggletonian archives, the most important is ‘The Wormes Conquest,’ a poem of 1677, on the trial of Muggleton, who is the ‘worme.’