A.D. 1723
The noble brass statue of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, (who was Chancellor of the University from 1617 to his death in 1630, and was the donor of the Barocci MSS.,) which forms such a conspicuous feature in the Picture Gallery, was presented this year by the earl’s great nephew, Thomas, the seventh Earl of Pembroke. It was cast by the famous artist Hubert le Sœur, from a picture by Rubens, and is said to weigh about 1600 lbs. The letter of thanks from the University was read in Convocation on April 19; it is criticized by Hearne in his Diary198 in the following terms: ‘I am told that this letter is very silly and poor, and that, among other things, his Lordship is told in it that the statue is placed in æde immortalitatis. Now what this ædes immortalitatis, church, temple or chappel of immortality is, I cannot conceive, but am sure that the statue is at present fix’d in the Picture Gallery, adjoyning to the Bodl. Library.’
Notes
198 Vol. xcvi. p. 101.