Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/265

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Neville
259
Neville

not to James's taste. In the first session of 1610 he advised the king to give way to the demands of the commons. In 1612 he urged the calling of a parliament, and drew up a paper on the subject, in which he recommended what James could not but regard as a complete surrender; he expressed the opinion that supplies would be easily voted if grievances were redressed. On Salisbury's death in 1612 Neville was a candidate for the secretaryship of state. His appointment would have been popular, but the king had no liking for him or for the policy with which he had identified himself. Southampton used his influence in Neville's behalf, but in October 1613 his chances were hopeless. Winwood was made secretary in 1614, much to Neville's irritation, and he refused Rochester's offer of the office of treasurer of the chamber as a compensation. In the Addled parliament of 1614 the paper of advice which Neville had drawn up in 1612 was discussed by the commons (May 1614), and with his view the commons could find no fault (cf. Spedding, Bacon, v. 1, 3, 34, &c.) About this time Neville was much interested in commercial affairs, and in 1613 he drew up a scheme for an overland route from India (Anderson, Histor. and Chron. Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, ii. 258). He died on 10 July 1615. A portrait of Neville is in the possession of the Earl of Yarborough.

He married Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew, and had five sons and six daughters. Of the sons, Sir Henry, the eldest, succeeded him, was father of Henry Neville (1620–1694) [q. v.], and died in 1629; William, the second son, was fellow of Merton College, Oxford; Charles died in 1626; Richard was sub-warden of Merton, died in 1644, and was ancestor in the female line of the Nevilles, barons of Braybrooke [see Neville, Richard Aldworth Griffin]; and Edward, a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, died in 1632. Of the daughters, Elizabeth married, first, William Glover; secondly, Sir Henry Berkeley; and, thirdly, Thomas Dyke. Catherine married Sir Richard Brooke; Frances married, first, Sir Richard Worseley, and, secondly, Jerome Brett; Mary married Sir Edward Lewknor; Dorothy married Richard Catlyn; Anne remained unmarried.

[An account of his French embassy and many letters are in Winwood's Memorials. Letters to Cecil are in Harl. MS. 4715; Gardiner's Hist. of England, i. 230, ii. 147, &c.; Nichols's Progresses of James I, i. 52, &c., ii. 37, &c., iii. 1063, &c.; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. ii. 307, vi. 48, 154; Bacon's Letters and Life, ed. Spedding, especially ii. 207, &c., iii. and v.; Birch's Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth; Cal. of State Papers, Dom. 1591–1618; Devereux's Lives of the Earls of Essex, ii. 198, &c.; Owen's Epigrams, 1st col. ii. 66; Metcalfe's Knights; Official Returns of Members of Parliament; Hist. MSS. Comm. 10th Rep. pp. 84, 174; Foster's Alumni Oxon.]

W. A. J. A.

NEVILLE, HENRY (1620–1694), political and miscellaneous writer, second son of Sir Henry Neville (d. 1629) of Billingbear, near Waltham St. Lawrence, Berkshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Smith of Ostenhanger, Kent, was born in 1620; his grandfather was Sir Henry Neville [q. v.] In 1635 he matriculated at Oxford, entering Merton College, whence he migrated to University College, but after some years' residence left the university without a degree, and made a tour on the continent, visiting Italy. Returning to England in 1645, he recruited for the parliament in Abingdon. Though apparently not in parliament, he sat on the Goldsmiths' Hall committee on delinquents in 1649, and was placed on the council of state in 1651. A strong doctrinaire republican, he acted in concert with James Harrington (1611–1677) [q. v.] and Henry Marten [q. v.], and rendered himself so obnoxious to Cromwell as to be banished from London in 1654. After Oliver's death he was returned to parliament for Reading, 30 Dec. 1658. The return was disputed, but was confirmed by order of the house. An attempt was also made to exclude him on the score of atheism and blasphemy, with which he was charged in the house on 16 Feb. 1658–9, but after prolonged debate the matter was allowed to drop. He spoke with great weight against the policy of armed intervention in the war between Sweden and Denmark on 21 Feb. 1658–9 [see Sir Philip Meadows], and against the recognition of the ‘other house’ on 5 March following. On 19 May he was placed on the new council of state, and after Richard Cromwell's abdication was a member of Harrington's Rota Club. In October 1663 he was arrested on suspicion of being implicated in the so-called Yorkshire rising, and lodged in the Tower. There being no evidence against him, he was set at liberty in the following year. Thenceforth he seems to have lived in retirement until his death on 22 Sept. 1694. He was buried in the parish church of Warfield, Berkshire. By his wife Elizabeth, only child of Richard Staverton of Warfield, he had no issue.

Neville is the author of the following rather coarse lampoons, viz.:

  1. ‘The Parliament of Ladies, or Divers Remarkable Passages of Ladies in Spring Gardens, in Parliament assembled,’ London, 1647, 4to, reprinted in 1778.
  2. ‘The Ladies a second time as-