Henry, Earl of Arlington, a distinguished statesman in the reign of Charles II., was born of an ancient family in Middlesex, in the year 1618. In the beginning of the civil war he was appointed under-secretary to George Lord Digby, secretary of state. He afterwards entered himself as a volunteer for the royal cause, and did the king good service, especially at Andover in Hampshire, where he was severely wounded. He was made secretary to the Duke of York, received the honour of knighthood from Charles II. at Bruges in 1658, and was sent as envoy to the court of Spain. Upon the return of the king to England, he was called home, made keeper of the privy purse, and principal secretary of state. In 1670 he was of the council distinguished by the title of the Cabal, and one of those who advised the shutting up of the exchequer. In 1672 he was made Earl of Arlington and Viscount Thetford, and soon after knight of the Garter. "Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington (Macaulay's Hist., vol. i. p. 212), then secretary of state, had, since he came to manhood, resided principally on the Continent, and had learned that cosmopolitan indifference to constitutions and religions which is often observable in persons whose life has been passed in vagrant diplomacy. If there was any form of government he liked, it was that of France. If there was any church for which he felt a preference, it was that of Rome. He had some talent for conversation, and some talent also for transacting the ordinary business of office. He had learned, during a life passed in travelling and negotiating, the art of accommodating his language and deportment to the society in which he found himself. His vivacity in the closet amused the king; his gravity in debates and conferences imposed on the public; and he had succeeded in attaching to himself, partly by services and partly by hopes, a considerable number of personal retainers." He died in 1685. His Letters to Sir William Temple were published after his death.

Dr Thomas, an eminent divine, born at Salisbury on the 7th of May 1673, and educated at St John's College, Cambridge. In 1700 he was made rector of St James's in Colchester; afterwards became lecturer of St Olave's, Southwark, and morning-preacher at St Lawrence, Jewry; and at last was presented to the vicarage of St Giles's, Cripplegate. His writings were chiefly of a controversial character. He died Oct. 9, 1728.