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thing therein contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding. And the testator then gave the residue of his personal estate, after payment of his debts and legacies, to the Duchess his wife, and appointed her and Thomas Lord Pelham, and the Honourable Henry Paget, Esq. executors.

On the 15th of July 1711, the Duke died, leaving his said Duchess, and the said Lady Henrietta, his only child and heir at law.

Soon afterwards several suits at law and equity, and in the spiritual court arose, wherein the validity of the said will was contested with respect to the Duke's real and personal estates; pending which suits, Lady Henrietta intermarried with the Right Honourable Edward Harley, commonly called Lord Harley, who was afterwards Earl of Oxford and Mortimer; and in some short time after this marriage, a treaty of accommodation having been proposed, an agreement was, on the 30th of July 1714, concluded between Lord Harley and Lady Henrietta his wife, and the respondent the Duke of Newcastle, and the said Henry Pelham, or his friends, he being then an infant; whereby it was agreed and declared between the said parties, and the respondent the Duke, for and on behalf of himself and the said Henry Pelham his brother, covenanted and agreed, that Lady Henrietta should have to her and her heirs, certain particular estates therein mentioned; and Lord Harley, on behalf of himself and Lady Henrietta his wife, did thereby covenant and agree with the respondent the Duke, and Mr Pelham, that all other the honours, manors, baronies, castles, lordships, and estates, as well leasehold and copyhold as freehold, which Duke John was possessed of, or entitled to in low or equity at the time of his death, should be held and enjoyed by the respondent the Duke for his life, with such remainders over, and subject to such limitations and restrictions, trusts, powers, and provisoes, and in such manner as in Duke John's will were mentioned, expressed, limited, or declared, [206] touching or concerning the same; and that all the burgage houses and lands in Aldborough, in Yorkshire, belonging to Duke John at his death, or to which Lord Harley and Lady Henrietta were or was afterwards entitled in law or equity, and also certain manors, lands, and hereditaments in the counties of Dorset and Wilts, held of the Bishop of Salisbury for lives, should be held and enjoyed by the respondent the Duke, with such remainders over, and in the same manner as the other honours, manors, and hereditaments therein before agreed to be held by his Grace were to be held and enjoyed by virtue of the said agreement; and that Lord Harley and Lady Henrietta should permit and suffer the said will to be proved in the ecclesiastical court, or court of delegates; but no use was to be made of the probate to the prejudice of this agreement; and it was thereby mutually agreed, that an act of parliament should be obtained, if possible, for confirming, establishing, and executing the said agreement.

After the execution of this agreement, the will of Duke John was duly proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, and in the Court of Delegates, by the Duchess Dowager of Newcastle, and Henry Paget, the then surviving executors: and in the 4th and 5th of George I. an act of parliament was made and passed, intitled,

An act to render more effectual the agreements that have been made between Thomas Holles, Duke of Newcastle, Henry Pelham, Esq. Edward Lord Harley, and the Lady Henrietta his wife, William Vane and Gilbert Vane, Esqrs, sons of Christopher Lord Bernard, or any of them, in relation to the will and estates of John, late Duke of Newcastle, and for the settling the same in such manner as may be agreeable to the intent of the said agreement, and for other purposes therein-mentioned;

whereby it was enacted, That the said will and agreement should be, and the same were thereby ratified, established, and confirmed, except so far as the same were therein-after reversed, altered, or changed: and it was also enacted, that the estates which were finally agreed to be enjoyed by Lady Henrietta, should be vested, held, and enjoyed in such manner as is therein mentioned, and that certain freehold estates, which were finally agreed to be enjoyed by the respondent the Duke, and the other persons claiming in remainder after him, should be, and the same were thereby vested and settled, upon and from the decease of Duke John, in and upon, and to the use of the respondent the Duke for life, remainder to the use of his first and other sons in tail male successively; remainder to the use of the said Henry Pelham for life, remainder to the use of his first and other sous in tail male successively; remainder to the use of the said William Vane for life, remainder to the use of his first and other sons in tail male in like manner; remainder to the use of the said Gilbert Vane for life, remainder to the use of his first and other