{69b} The following it a copy of a paper upon the extraordinary and abrupt changes of fortune of Jasper Earl of Pembroke, afterwards Duke of Bedford, in the fifteenth century, written by the author of this work, and read by him in person, on the 31st of March, 1856, before a meeting of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, for which the thanks of the meeting were voted to him:— “Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, often called Jasper of Hatfield, from the place of his birth, was a nobleman celebrated for his descent, and for the royal and illustrious alliances of his family. He was one of the noble personages who lived and distinguished himself in the fifteenth century: a period memorable in the history of England, for foreign and domestic wars, and civil dissensions, and for the strange mutations of fortune, which its princes and nobles were doomed to experience; and perhaps we may search the pages of history, in fruitless endeavours to discover an instance of any nobleman, who experienced such abrupt and extraordinary vicissitudes, and such sudden and astonishing transitions, on several occasions, from power and wealth, to exile and poverty, and again from the miseries of a poor outlaw and fugitive, to rank, possessions, and honours, as fell to the lot of Jasper Earl of Pembroke. “It matters now little to us, whether in the wars of York and Lancaster, and the violence and exasperation of the contending factions, the one party or the other was in the right; but under every possible circumstance, whether the cause which he espoused was successful or unfortunate, he uniformly supported the Lancastrian interest; and when we consider how many personages of high rank fought during those lamentable conflicts, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other, and joined the winning party, as seemed best to suit their own interests, we must at least give him credit for consistency, and perhaps for sincerity. One reason of some moment, may, however, be found for his strenuous and consistent support of the Lancastrian party. He was half-brother of King Henry VI., being the son of Sir Owen Tudor, who was descended from persons of the first consideration, and of a family of great antiquity in Wales, by his wife Queen Katherine, daughter of Charles VI. King of France, and widow of Henry V. King of England, and had by Queen Katherine, two sons, the oldest of whom was Edmund Earl of Richmond, usually denominated Edmund of Hadham, who married Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, son of John Earl of Somerset, a son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III., by whom he had a son, Henry Earl of Richmond, who was afterwards King Henry VII.; and the second son of Sir Owen Tudor was Jasper Tutor, who was,