HE was the third son of Lord Keeper Coventry, by the daughter of John Aldersley; educated at All Souls College, Oxford. A firm Royalist, on the Restoration he was appointed a groom of the Bedchamber, and in 1664 was sent Ambassador-Extraordinary to Sweden, where he remained till 1666. The following year he and Denzil, Lord Holles, went as Joint-Plenipotentiaries to Breda, where they concluded a peace with France, Denmark, and the States-General. In 1668 he went again on an embassy to Sweden, and on his return was made one of the Principal Secretaries of State, and Privy Councillor. He gave so much satisfaction in office that when compelled to retire from bad health, the _Gazette_ had a notice respecting him: ‘His Majesty has accepted the resignation with some unwillingness, because of the great satisfaction he always had in his services.’ Lord Clarendon commends his diplomatic duties, and says he was beloved of every one. He retired into private life, and died at his house in the Haymarket, unmarried, leaving his estates to his namesake Henry Coventry, and his nephew James Thynne, with several charitable bequests. -------------- No. 30. SIR JAMES THYNNE. DIED 1670. _In armour. Flowing hair._ THE eldest surviving son of the first Sir Thomas Thynne of Longleat, whom he succeeded. -------------- No. 31. THOMAS THYNNE, ESQ. BY SIR PETER LELY. MURDERED 1682. _Tawny-coloured dress. Wig and ruffles. Holding a cane._ THE son of Sir Thomas Thynne of Richmond, Surrey, by Stuart, daughter and co-heir of Dr. Walter Balquanhill, Dean of Durham and Master of the Savoy. On the death of his uncle Sir James, Thomas Thynne inherited Longleat and other large estates, and was thenceforward known by the nickname of ‘Tom o’ Ten Thousand.’ He enlarged and improved the house of his inheritance, built stabling, made good roads, which were a benefit to the country round, and was proverbial for generosity and hospitality. Indeed, his hospitable treats are immortalised in Dryden’s poem of ‘Absalom and Achitophel,’ for Absalom (the Duke of Monmouth) and the Master of Longleat were sincerely attached to each other. And on the Duke’s return from banishment to Holland, in 1680, his staunch friend Thynne gave him so enthusiastic a welcome at his house, that he was in consequence deprived of the command of a regiment of militia in the county.