and adopted the opinions of the Protestants, probably from political reasons. This branch enjoyed its possessions until ruined by the wars of religion, and afterward the edict of Nantes in 1685, retired from France, when

Phillippe de VISME, a Hugonot nobleman, settled in England. He m. 26th July, 1716, old style, Marianne de la Majanes, last descendant of a Protestant branch of the ancient and noble family of Picquet, Marquis de Majanes, originally of Picardy, and had issue,

male, her nephew. The Comté of Ponthieu was confiscated under her grandson, King EDWARD III. of England, and united to the crown of France 14th May, 1580.

The Sires or Counts de Visme (Comites Vimacensis, Counts of the Vimea territory) spoken of as being amongst the most illustrious and powerful of the princes of their day, derived from Guielmus or Guatterus, fourth son of William, first of the name, eighth Count de Ponthieu, assumed their surname and title from a place of the same name within the Duchy of Ponthieu, situated in the Vimea and near the river Breste, which takes its source above the town of Aumale, and throws itself into the Manche near Treport, after having separated Southern Picardy from Normandy, it is separated into two villages, under the names of Visme au Mont and Visme au Val, forming together a population of six hundréd inhabitants. The registers of the Abbey of St. Vallery attest that Visme was a Comté extending from the Somme to the sea, and was one of the most considerable seigneuries of the ancient Counts de Ponthieu of the first race, and gave its name to that part of Lower Picardy called Vimeux, of which St. Vallery became the capital, after the ruin of the castle of Visme, which was one of the most strongly fortified of ancient Neustrie. The Comté of Visme was then so considerable that its seigneurs had established a prévôté, of which the prévôt was noble d'épée, but the judgment rested in the high bailiff of Amiens, as bailiff royal. The prévôté was afterwards confiscated under the Duke of Burgundy.-Histoire de France, vol. xvii. p. 414.

In the archives of the Abbey of St. Requier Fanum Sancti Ricardi, situated in the Comté of Ponthieu, at twelve leagues from Abbeville, mention is made of the Sires, Barons, and Counts de Visme, who amongst other seigneurs had made gifts to this celebrated abbey.

The elder branch of the Sires or Counts de Visme continued through a long line to Jeanne de Visme, Dame de Visme, and finally merged into the House of Orange. She became, in the 13th century, sole heiress of the patrimonial seigneuries of her house, and marrying Mathieu de Coyeu, Sire de Senarpont, (descended from the ancient Counts of Guines and Ardres), carried into her husband's family all the seigneuries of this illustrious house. The last male descendant of the above-named Mathieu de Coyeu dying about the year 1407, without male issue, the seigneurie of Visme passed into the House of Monchy, by the marriage of Jeanne de Coyeu, Dame de Visme and Senarpont, with John, second seigneur de

PHILLIPPE, who married, but his male line is extinct. His daughter m. N. Goldschmidts of London, and had issue, who assumed the surname of De Visme.

Andrew, b. 19th May, 1718; m. Miss Webb, daughter of N. Webb, esq. of Taunton, in Somersetshire, whose family represented that town during many years in Parliament. He died s. p.

Lewis, b. 25th September, 1720, in holy

Monchy, descendant of Henry Seigneur de Monchy and of Catherine de Montmorency. The last of the elder branch of this family who took the title of Baron de Visme and Marquis of Senarpont, was Marie Madeline Amicie. She married, 1st December, 1743, Maxmillian William Adolphus, Prince of Orange, (born at Paris 1st October, 1722, and died the 17th January, 1748), legitimate son of the Prince Emanuel of Nassau and of Charlotte de Mailly Nesle. The Princess of Nassau died the 12th April, 1752, leaving Charles Henry Nicolas Otho, Prince of Orange and of Nassau, born the 7th April, 1745, and Charlotte Amicie, Princess of Orange and of Nassau, born posthumous the 6th April, 1748.

The seigneurs de Visme were not contented with being illustrious in their own country, but carried afar the glory of their name, for in the list of the nobles who accompanied William, Duke of Normandy, to the conquest of England in the year of our Lord, 1066, we find Theobald Sire de Visme (called Vimers in the Chronicles of W. Taylor) described as the near relation of Roger, Seigneur de Montgomery, and Vicomte de Hiesmes, who commanded the advanced guard of his army. The Sire de Visme, it is presumed, ranked in England amongst the great barons of the realm. His name is to be found recorded in Doomsday Book. Again, some years later, in 1089, two other Sires or Counts de Visme are found amongst the French seigneurs who followed the Duke Henry of Burgundy, grandson of Hughes Capet, in his expedition to Portugal, when he carried succours to King Alphonse VI., who was attacked by the Moors. The Sires de Visme, in recompense for their services, received a certain extent of territory to which they gave their name, and are recorded as the Seigneurs de Vimioso or Vimeiro. After their extinction their territory became the appanage of the princes of the House of Braganza, which is attested by an ancient manuscript in parchment, which contains the genealogy of the royal houses of France and Portugal. (P.98.)

The Seigneurs de Visme were also of the different expeditions made to the Holy Land. In 1215 Raval, Baron de Visme, made a crusade to the Holy Land, and was one of the most valiant heroes of that day. About this period the arms of the family, which had been borne in chief argent, were a chevron gules, accompanied with a crescent, on a field argent. In the course of time the family divided into several younger branches. One branch formed an establishment in Normandy, and from that line the present English family of De Visme.

orders, educated at Westminster and at Christchurch, Oxford, was appointed, in 1763, Secretary of Embassy at St. Petersburgh, subsequently Envoy to the Court of Bavaria, and finally succeeded Sir John Goodrich as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Stockholm, where he died unmarried 4th September, 1776. FREDERICK THE GREAT, King of Prussia, as a mark of esteem, granted to him and his issue the honour of bearing the Prussian eagle as a crest.

Stephen, b. 18th May, 1723; obtained an appointment in India, and died at Canton, in China, 2nd November, 1770, unmarried. He bequeathed his fortune to his brother William. Gerard, b. 6th January, 1726; obtained

an appointment at Lisbon, and was there at the time of the great earthquake. He died unmarried, and was buried at Wimbledon. His illegitimate daughter and heir, Emily, m. 28th June, 1810, the Hon. H. Murray, C.B. lieut.-colonel 18th Light Dragoons, son of Robert, second Earl of Mansfield.

Leo, b. 14th September, 1727, went to the West Indies and married there. He was killed on his passage home to England, by falling out of his cot in a rolling sea, 17th August, 1766. He had no issue.

WILLIAM, of whom presently. Benjamin, b. 5th March, 1730, who served as a volunteer under Lord Clive, commander-in-chief in India, and highly distinguished himself. He d. unmarried, a captain in the army. Amelia, b. 11th June, 1732; m. to John Emanuel de Rondeli, Baron de Rondeli, of Berne, in Switzerland, descendant of Nicolas de Rondeli, Statholder of Berne, and had two sons.

ELISEE-WILLIAM, his heir.

James, of Newcourt House, in the county of Gloucester, barrister-atlaw, m. Elizabeth, daughter of N. Bearcroft, esq. chief justice of Chester, by his second wife Miss Roger, of Ohill, in Gloucestershire, and he eventually obtained through his wife, who became sole heiress of her brother Philip, a considerable property. The issue were,

James, of Ohill, in Gloucestershire, and of Bath, in holy orders. Frank, a captain in the army, m. Harriet, daughter of Sir N. Sullivan, bart.

Andrew.

Edward, in the army.

Phillippa, m. to John Holder, esq.
of Ross, in Herefordshire.
Letitia.

Ann, m. to N. Auriel, esq.
Julia.

Elizabeth, m. 12th December, 1782, to the Rev. Edward Auriol Hay Drummond, D.D., king's chaplain, prebendary of York, and rector of Hadleigh, in Suffolk, grandson of Thomas, Earl of Kinnoul. Mr. De Visme was s. by his son, the present ELISEE-WILLIAM DE VISME, esq. commonly called Count de Visme.

Arms-1st and 4th, arg. a chev. gu. accompanied in chief with two golden spurrowels of five points, and en pointe with a crescent of the same; 2nd and 3rd, az. semée de fleurs-de-lis d'or quartered with the arms of Ponthieu.

Residence--Exmouth, Devon.

FRANCIS I.) received the golden ring, the sword and golden spurs, and was honoured, the first on whom it had been conferred, with the office of Grand Référendaire in the Chancellerie of Tou

louse. FRANCIS I. was, it is well known, fond of the belles lettres, and d'Auriol's reputation for learning had widely extended. On a visit his Majesty paid to Toulouse, he enquired if he wished for greater riches, and for a higher title. 'I thank your Majesty," replied d'Auriol, "for your goodness, but I am sufficiently rich, and as to more exalted honours, I am of the truest and highest nobility, being descended from a long line of illustrious ancestors: but lest your Majesty will not think me ungrateful I will ask a favour, which is, that your Majesty will do me the honour, for me and my descendants, to hold my stirrup when I mount on horseback." FRANCIS acceded to the request, a grant he had never previously made to any other subject in the kingdom.

lord of Denvers, having married the heiress of that family; his heir, Robert Godard, held a lordship in Walpole, and was buried in Terrington church 1448. Of this family was Sir John Godard, governor of Louviers in Normandy, 6 HENRY V. (See Bloomfield's Norf.)

In the reign of King JOHN we gain the first authentic information of the settlement of the Godard family in Wilts.

WALTER GODARD-VILLE, or GODARD-VIL, who for some purpose appears to have added to his originally Saxon name the Norman termination of ville, (which his descendants as readily discarded), held tenements and lands in Chippenham and Albourn, in the county of Wilts. We also find grants of lands to him in the reign of HENRY III. at Bourton, in the county of Northampton, at Pedrisham, in the county of Dorset, and at Liskered. In 1234 an injunction was issued to the said Walter Godard-ville from HENRY III. to send horses and arms in assistance to the Earl of Brittany. He died at a late period of the 13th century,* and from him lineally descended

JOHN GODARD de Poulton, living from the reign of RICHARD II. to that of HENRY VI. He possessed property in Wilts, near Marlborough, and also in Berks. His name is among the landed gentry of the latter county returned by commissioners 12 HENRY VI. and by his will soon afterwards he left some property to his daughter,

Cicily, m. to Thomas Fisher. and all his lands to his son and heir,

JOHN GODARD, de Poulton, near Marlborough, who left, inter alios, a son,

WALTER GODARD, de Cherhill, in the county of Wilts, living in 1460. The name of his wife is not recorded, but in the county visitations and old family papers he is said to have left a son,

JOHN GODARD, de Upham, in Albourn, (in which his ancestor, Walter Godard-ville, had possessed lands several centuries before), and de Cliffe Pypard, where the Rev. Edward Goddard, the representative of his family, still resides, in whose possession there is, on parchment with the seal of King EDWARD I. quite perfect, the original charter of the manor and free warren of Cliffe Pypard to Roger de Cobham, from whose family it came to the Goddards; it is dated Aug. 1. 32 EDWARD I. A.D. 1304. He has also the original grant of the impropriate

The descents which are wanting between this and John Godard, de Poulton, are found in many old papers (though there is scarcely sufficient authority for inserting them in the text), viz.

Walter Godard, living temp. King EDWARD
I., succeeded by his brother,

John Godard, who left a son and heir,

Edmond Godard.

rectory and the advowson of the vicarage of Cliffe, dated 30th September, 1531, from King HENRY VIII. to the above J. Godard, de Upham, which had belonged to the monastery of Lacock, in the county of Wilts. HENRY VIII. granted also to John Godard "tenements and lands in Wigglestote, in the parish of Wroughton, tenements and lands in Wanborough and Upham, tenements and lands in North Tidworth, in the county of Hants, lately belonging to the abbey of Bradenstock," for many of which the original grants still remain. He was possessed of very large estates in the counties of Wilts and Berks. In the visitation of Wilts by Robert Treswell, Bluemantle, 1569, he is stated to have m. Elizabeth, daughter of William Berenger, of Manningford Bruce. He d. 10th March, 1545, leaving issue,

I. JOHN, of Standen-Hussey and Cliffe, son and heir.

II. Thomas, of Ogbourn, m. first, Ann, sister to Sir George Gifford, of the county of Bucks, from the eldest son of which match descends GODDARD, of Swindon. He m. secondly, Jane, daughter of John Ernley, of Cannings, in the county of Wilts, and Ernley, Sussex, from which marriage is GODDARD, of Hartham.

III. Thomas, of whom Goddard, of Ber-
wick Bassett, m. Mary, daughter of
William Alleyne, of Calne.

IV. John, buried at Cliffe in 1584.
1. Anne, m. Thomas Hinton, esq. of
Eagles Hall, in the county of Berks,
of whom descended Thomas Hinton,
esq. of Chilton.

II. Jane, m. Richard Hinton, esq. of
Bourton, Berks.

The eldest son,

JOHN GODARD, or Goddard, of Upham, inherited his father's estates at StandenHussey, Cliffe-Pypard, and other places. He m. first, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Phetyplace de Besylsley, in the county of Berks, of a very ancient family of that name; and by her, who died in 1585, and was buried at Cliffe, (in the church of which place there is a curious old wooden monument, with the Goddard and Phetyplace arms impaled, to her memory), he had issue two sons and three daughters,

1. THOMAS, bis heir.

II. Anthony, who lived and was buried at Cliffe in 1606, m. the widow of Lancelote Humber, and left three daughters by her.

III. William.

1. Anne, d. unm.

This Thomas Goddard bought the Swindon estate in 1562, but the family of Goddard was connected with Swindon in 1404.