During the reign of James I., and while his grandfather was Keeper of the Privy Seal, no mention occurs of Lord Herbert enjoying any favour at Court, his courtier life commencing only in that of Charles I., according to allusions made in the document before noticed. On the accession of the latter monarch to the throne, Lord Herbert might be 24 years of age. In alluding to his “education and breeding,” coupled with his travels, he adds: “And since most plentifully at my master of most happy memory, the late King’s Court;” making it almost conclusive that his education was considered as completed shortly prior to the King’s decease, in 1625. In 1627 his grandfather was at Worcester House, whence he wrote to the Earl of Huntingdon on the 11th of June, informing him of his illness and inability to leave his bedchamber.[C] The first year of the reign of Charles I. was an auspicious one, therefore, for the young Lord Herbert. His father, a stalwart, hale man, was in the prime of life, only 48 years of age, lord of one of the finest castles in the kingdom, whether considered for the beauty, strength and importance of its structure and its commanding situation, or the extent of its parks, pastures, plantations, and forests; it was a luxurious place well stored with paintings, furniture, and plate, while it was surrounded with every embellishment of fountains, fishponds, statuary, and gardens that art or wealth could command. Lord Herbert himself was rich in acquired knowledge, and in whatever way his natural genius then displayed itself, such a mind as he possessed must have afforded many evidences of latent talent. One important part of a young nobleman’s education in Elizabeth’s time, and later, was that of horsemanship, particularly in the tilt-yard, a kind of adjunct to noble residences, supposed by many to have existed even at Raglan Castle, but such an opinion is not even authorised by any tradition. Some interest he might take in tournaments, but we easily suspect without aiming at, or succeeding in that skill in manœuvres so requisite in the fierce and fiery jousts appertaining to such knightly contests, equipped in heavy armour, wielding a ponderous lance, and mimicking all the maddest encounters of the fellest enemies. We doubt if his talent lay that way. His grandfather’s horsemanship has been greatly extolled by all writers, in alluding to his character. In his youth (it is said) he was remarkable for his athletic acquirements, distinguishing himself by the manly exercises of riding and tilting, in which he was perhaps superior to any of his contemporaries. But we have no reason to extol the grandson for like success in these chivalric exercises.