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SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON

BOYLE

HENRY FROWDE

Oxford University Press Warehouse
Amen Corner, E.C.

Selected from

The History and Autobiography of
Edward, Earl of Clarendon

AND

6bite^ witj egort (Uotee

BY

THE VERY REV. G. D. BOYLE, M.A.

DEAN OF SALISBURY

Oxford

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1889

\^All rights reserved \

MICROFORMSD I

SiRv'iCifS

DATE OCT 1 4 199?

^'^r

INTRODUCTION.

* Talking of history/ Johnson said, * we may know his-
torical facts to be true, as we may know facts in common life
to be true. Motives are generally unknown. We cannot trust
to the characters we find in history, unless when they are
drawn by those who knew the persons ; as those, for instance,
by Sallust and by Lord Clarendon.' The opinion expressed
in these remarkable words is undoubtedly the opinion enter- \
tained by average Englishmen for many years regarding the
characters drawn by Clarendon in his great work. Indeed,
it may be said that until our own times, the supremacy of
Clarendon, as an historian and portrait painter, was almost
undisputed. He has moulded the conceptions of several,
generations, and, as Ranke expresses it, * he belongs to :
those who have essentially fixed the circle of ideas for the j
English nation.' The estimate which Ranke has formed
as to Clarendon's historical position will probably be accepted
generally as a thoroughly trustworthy account of this great
writer. With true historical insight he has shown the real
bias and intention of Clarendon's writings. He has placed
him high among the leading statesmen of the seventeenth
century, who have given to the world their own personal im-
pressions, under the form of memoirs and histories. The
moderation of Clarendon and the conspicuous defects of his
narrative are admirably delineated. The relation of the

vi INTRODUCTION.

history to the career of the great statesman is vigorously
traced, and ' the tone of honest conviction which commu-
nicates itself to the reader' — too often ignored by writers
like the late John Forster — is happily noted as a leading
characteristic of the historian. Whatever additions may be
made to our intimate knowledge of the history of the times,
the characters of Clarendon will always remain prominent
: and interesting, not altogether free from colour and partisan
feeling, but giving clear and distinct evidence of the genuine
hold which noble qualities of mind possessed over the soul
and understanding of the historian. Clarendon was well
read in French memoirs and the principal Latin writers.
Traces of the influence of Tacitus and Livy abound in his
pages. Lord Macaulay, who was not always just or fair
to Clarendon, admitted once in conversation, that there
were few things in English literature better worth a young
man's study than the characters in Clarendon. Indeed, the
^ charm of the stately writing, and the feeling that one is in
the hands of a strong and powerful spirit, never desert the
reader throughout the length of the narrative. We are
learning, from the admirable histories of Mr. Gardiner, the
importance of approaching the whole period which Clarendon
traverses in an impartial spirit ; but it is not too much to say,
that whatever else may be read and studied, as to the pro-
gress and issue of the great quarrel. Clarendon must not be
neglected. Clarendon, in that portion of his autobiography
which relates the experience of his youth, dwells on the obli-
gations he owed to many remarkable men. It is clear that
he was greatly indebted to men like Falkland and John
Hales, students of literature in a wide sense, and members

INTRODUCTION. vii

of a group of thinkers always interesting to Englishmen.//
His position as a moderate reformer in the Long Parliament,v
which met in 1640, is now better understood than it was in
the days when Clarendon's life was written by Mr. Lister.
Many of the Whig writers in the earlier part of this century,
although deeply interested in the great struggle of the seven-
teenth century, entirely failed to appreciate the exact position
assumed by Clarendon and his friends. The late Mr. John
ForstcTj to whose labours we are all greatly indebted, took
a far less generous view of Clarendon's position than the
German historian Ranke. An insinuation as to Claren-
don's motives on joining the King's party, pronounced by
Sanford, shows how strongly the prejudice against Claren-
don had entered into the mind of a writer generally con-
spicuous for ability and fairness. The history and the
autobiography, although always requiring careful treatment,
reflect, as few books do, the character and motives of their
author. If it be true that the plots for the assassination of
Cromwell were really secretly encouraged by Clarendon,
some allowance must be made for the many provocations
he had received. All, however, who desire to think well
of him, must regret that a stain should rest on his great
name. Some notes, in which my obligations to many
writers are expressed, are added to the selections. An an-
notated edition of the whole of Clarendon's writings must
be undertaken before long. It was one of the many
projects which floated before the mind of Walter Scott, in
the days when he edited Dryden and Swift. Mr. Thomas
Thomson, one of Scott's friends, who afterwards did good
service in editing some of the reprints of the Bannatyne

Vlll INTRODUCTION,

Club, had indeed undertaken some part of the task. The

failure of Constable put an end to this, as well as to many

other projected undertakings. The character of Falkland,

on which Clarendon bestowed much pains^ is perhaps on

thejwhole the most favourable specimen of his pjQjtraiture.

But there is great dignity and power in every one of the

characters contained in the history. Falkland must always

be a most interesting figure. He had a special attraction

for Dr. Arnold as well as for his gifted son ; and those who

are not acquainted with the beautiful passage in the sixth of

Dr. Arnold's Introductory Lectures on Modern History ^ will

* * We must distinguish therefore very widely between the antipopular
party in 1640 before the Long Parliament met, and the same party a
few years, or even a few months afterwards. Now, taking the best
specimens of this party, in its best state, we can scarcely admire them
too highly. A man who leaves the popular cause when it is triumphant,
and joins the party opposed to it, without really changing his principles
and becoming a renegade, is one of the noblest characters in history.
He may not have the clearest judgment or the firmest wisdom : he may
have been mistaken, but as far as he is concerned personally, we cannot
but admire him. But such a man changes his party, not to conquer, but
to die. He does not allow the caresses of his new friends to make him
forget, that he is a sojourner with them and not a citizen : his old
friends may have used him ill, they may be dealing unjustly and cruelly :
still their faults, though they may have driven him into exile, cannot
banish from his mind the consciousness that with them is his true home ;
that their cause is habitually just and habitually the weaker, although
now bewildered and led astray by an unwonted gleam of success. He
protests so strongly against their evil that he chooses to die by their
hands rather than in their company ; but die he must, for there is no
place left on earth where his sympathies can breathe freely ; he is
obliged to leave the country of his affections, and life elsewhere is
intolerable. This man is no renegade, no apostate, but the purest of
martyrs : for what testimony to truth can be so pure as that which is
given uncheered by any sympathy ; given not against enemies amidst
applauding friends, but against friends, amidst unpitying or half-rejoicing
enemies. And such a martyr was Falkland.'

INTRODUCTION. ix

find a touching and eloquent addition even to the expressive
periods of Clarendon. Dr. Phillimore, the father of many
distinguished sons, was in the habit of recommending all
young men who were taking interest in politics, to study the
prose and especially the characters of Clarendon. These
selections have been made in the humble hope of calling
attention to a great English classic, who is perhaps too much
neglected in days of haste and occupation.

G. D. BOYLE.
Deanery, Salisbury,
April J 18S9.

^

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

PAGE

Introductory i

The Duke of Buckingham 4

Sir Thomas Coventry 19

Sir Richard Weston 21

The Earl of Manchester 31

The Earl of Arundel 32 >C

William, Earl of Pembroke ....... 34

Earl of Montgomery and Earl of Dorset 37

The Earl of Holland 40

Sir John Cooke and Sir Dudley Carleton 42

") Attorney-General Noy and Sir John Finch .... 44

V Troubles in Scotland 46

\ Archbishop Laud 49 ;,

BOOK II.

Lord Cottington 53

BOOK III.

The Earl of Strafford 54

Lord Say 55

Xll CONTENTS.

PAGE

Lord Mandevile and the Earl of Essex 56

John Hambden 60

* Sir Harry Vane 61

The Earl of Strafford's Trial 63

The Bill of Attainder 68

The Earl of Bedford and Bill of Attainder . . . • /i

The Earl of Strafford Beheaded 76

BOOK IV.

Montrose and Argyle 78

The Grand Remonstrance 82

Lord Digby 85

The Arrest of the Five Members 88

The City of London . . -94

The Marquis of Hertford 96

BOOK V.

Earls of Holland and Essex . . . . . . .98

Sir John Hotham 100

The Lord Keeper Littleton 107

BOOK VL

• Pierrepoint, Earl of Kingston, and Leake, Lord Dencourt . 109

The Battle of Edge Hill 113

The Earl of Lindsey 120

The Lord St. John 122

Foreigners in England and their Treatment . . . .124

The Earl of Northampton 127

The Duke of Richmond 129

Mr. St. John 130

The Earl of Southampton 131

^
^

CONTENTS. XIU

PAGE

The Earls of Leicester, Bristol, Newcastle, and Berkshire, the

Lords Dunsmore, Seymour, and Savile . . . .133

The Earls of Essex, Salisbury, Warwick, Holland, and Man-
chester 138

The Lord Say 144

\ Sir Henry Vane 146

BOOK vn.

Attack by Rupert 148

John Hampden 151

Lord Falkland 155

Divisions 168

Divisions continued 170

Death of Pym 174

BOOK VHL
The King and the Battle at Cropredy-Bridge . . . .178

The Marquis of Newcastle i8i

The Relief of Basing-House 184

Sir R. Greenville 190

The Condemnation of the Archbishop of Canterbury . .194 ^

BOOK IX.

Prince Rupert and the Battle of Naseby 198

Cardinal Richelieu 201

BOOK X.

Monsieur Montrevil 203

Sir Harry Killigrew 205

The King and his Children 208

The King Escapes 211

Cromwell 216 V

XIV CONTENTS.

BOOK XI.

PAGE

Usage of the King 219

Character of the King 223

The Lord Capel 229

BOOK XII.

A Bull-Fight 232

Death of Montrose 236

BOOK XIII.

The Lord Widdrington 242

The Earl of Derby 243

Escape of Charles the Second 245

Escape continued 251

BOOK XIV.

Praise-God Barebone's Parliament 258

The Rising at Salisbury 265

BOOK XV.

Coronation of Oliver Cromwell 272

Death of Cromwell 275

BOOK XVL

Richard Cromwell . 284

The King's Return 286

SELECTIONS FROM THE LIFR

Mr. Hyde's Father removes to Salisbury 290

Ben Jonson and John Selden 292

Sir Kenelm Digby, Thomas May, and Thomas Carew . .294

CONTENTS. XV

PAGE

Sidney Godolphin, Edmund Waller, Dr. Sheldon, Dr. Morley,

Dr. Earles 297

John Hales 303

Mr. Chillingworth 307

Mr. Hyde's unpleasant Reception . . . . . -310

The Marquis of Ormond, Lord Colepepper, Secretary Nicholas 312

The Earl of Lautherdale 314

Sir Harry Bennet and Mr. William Coventry . -316

Sir John Lawson 322

The Stuart Family 326

The Earl of Southampton 328

The Fall of Clarendon 335

Clarendon's Tranquillity in his Banishment .... 342

NOTES 347

SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

BOOK I.

INTBODUCTOKY.

HTHAT posterity may not be deceived, by the prosperous
wickedness of these times, into an opinion, that less than
a general combination, and universal apostasy in the whole
nation from their religion and allegiance, could, in so short a
time, have produced such a total and prodigious alteration
and confusion over the whole kingdom ; and so the memory
of those few, who, out of duty and conscience, have opposed
and resisted that torrent, which hath overwhelmed them, may
lose the recompense due to their virtue ; and, having under-
gone the injuries and reproaches of this, may not find a
vindication in a better age ; it will not be unuseful (at least to
the curiosity if not the conscience of men) to present to the
world a full and clear narration of the grounds, circumstances,
and artifices of this Rebellion : not only from the time since
the flame hath been visible in a civil war, but, looking farther
back, from those former passages, accidents, and actions, by
which the seedplots were made and framed, from whence
these mischiefs have successively grown to the height they are
now at.

And then, though the hand and judgment of God will be
i 4 very visible, in the infatuating a people (as ripe and prepared
I for destruction) into all the perverse actions of folly and

a SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

madness, making the weak to contribute to the designs of
the wicked, and suffering even those by degrees, out of the
conscience of their guilt, to grow more wicked than they
intended to be ; letting the wise to be imposed upon by men
of no understanding, and possessing the innocent with
laziness and sleep in the most visible article of danger ;
uniting the ill, though of the most different opinions, divided
interests, and distant affections, in a firm and constant league
of mischief; and dividing those, whose opinions and interests
are the same, into faction and emulation, more pernicious to
the public than the treason of the others : whilst the poor
people, under pretence of zeal to Religion, Law, Liberty, and
Parliaments, (words of precious esteem in their just significa-
tion,) are furiously hurried into actions introducing atheism,
and dissolving all the elements of Christian Religion ; cancel-
ling all obligations, and destroying all foundations of Law and
Liberty ; and rendering, not only the privileges, but very
being, of Parliaments desperate and impossible : I say, though
the immediate finger and wrath of God must be acknowledged
in these perplexities and distractions, yet he who shall
diligently observe the distempers and conjunctures of time,
the ambition, pride, and folly of persons, and the sudden
growth of wickedness, from want of care and circumspection
in the first impressions, will find all this bulk of misery to
have proceeded, and to have been brought upon us, from the
same natural causes and means, which have usually attended
kingdoms, swoln with long plenty, pride, and excess, towards
some signal mortifications, and castigation of Heaven. And
it may be, upon the view of the impossibility of foreseeing
many things that have happened, and of the necessity of
overseeing many other things, we may not yet find the cure
so desperate, but that, by God's mercy, the wounds may

INTROD UCTOR Y. 3

be again bound up; though no question many must first
bleed to death ; and then this prospect may not make the
future peace less pleasant and durable.

And I have the more willingly induced myself to this
unequal task, out of the hope of contributing somewhat to
that end : and though a piece of this nature (wherein the
infirmities of some, and the malice of others, both things and
persons, must be boldly looked upon and mentioned) is not
likely to be published (at least in the age in which it is writ),
yet it may serve to inform myself, and some others, what we
are to do, as well as to comfort us in what we have done;
and then possibly it may not be very difficult to collect
somewhat out of that store, more proper, and not unuseful
for the public view. And as I may not be thought altogether
an incompetent person for this communication, having been
present as a member of Parliament in those councils before
and till the breaking out of the Rebellion, and having since
had the honour to be near two great kings in some trust, so
I shall perform the same with all faithfulness and ingenuity ;
with an equal observation of the faults and infirmities of both
sides, with their defects and oversights in pursuing their own
ends; and shall no otherwise mention small and light oc-
currences, than as they have been introductions to matters of
the greatest moment ; nor speak of persons otherwise, than
as the mention of their virtues or vices is essential to the
work in hand: in which as I shall have the fate to be
suspected rather for malice to many, than of flattery to any,
so I shall, in truth, preserve myself from the least sharpness,
that may proceed from private provocation, or a more public
indignation, in the whole observing the rules that a man
should, who deserves to be believed.

I shall not then lead any man farther back in this journey,
B 2

4 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

for the discovery of the entrance into these dark ways, than
(the beginning of this King's reign. For I am not so sharp-
isighted as those, who have discerned this rebelHon contriving
•from (if not before) the death of Queen Elizabeth, and
fomented by several Princes and great ministers of state in
Christendom, to the time that it brake out. Neither do I
look so far back as believing the design to be so long since
formed; (they who have observed the several accidents, not
capable of being contrived, which have contributed to the
several successes, and do know the persons who have been
the grand instruments towards this change, of whom there
have not been any four of familiarity and trust with each
other, will easily absolve them from so much industry and
foresight in their mischief) ; but that, by viewing the temper,
disposition, and habit, of that time, of the court and of the
country, we may discern the minds of men prepared, of some
to do, and of others to suffer, all that hath since happened ;
the pride of this man, and the popularity of that ; the levity
of one, and the morosity of another ; the excess of the
court in the greatest want, and the parsimony and retention
of the country in the greatest plenty ; the spirit of craft and
subtlety in some, and the rude and unpolished integrity of
others, too much despising craft or art ; like so many atoms
contributing jointly to this mass of confusion now before us.

THE Dtjke of Buckingham.

The duke was indeed a very extraordinary person ; and
never any man, in any age, nor, I believe, in any country or
nation, rose, in so short a time, to so much greatness of
honour, fame, and fortune, upon no other advantage or
recommendation, than of the beauty and gracefulness and

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 5

becomingness of his person. And I have not the least
purpose of undervaluing his good parts and qualities, (of
which there will be occasion shortly to give some testimony,)
when I say, that his first introduction into favour was purely
from the handsomeness of his person.

He was the younger son of sir George Villiers, of Brookes-
by, in the coimty of Leicester; a family of an ancient
extraction, even from the time of the Conquest, and trans-
ported then with the Conqueror out of Normandy, where the
family hath still remained, and still continues with lustre.
After sir George's first marriage, in which he had two or
three sons, and some daughters, who shared an ample
inheritance from him ; by a second marriage, (with a young
lady of the family of the Beaumonts,) he had this gentleman,
and two other sons and a daughter, who all came afterwards
to be raised to great titles and dignities. George, the eldest
son of this second bed, was, after the death of his father, by
the singular affection and care of his mother, who enjoyed a
good jointure in the account of that age, well brought up ;
and, for the improvement of his education, and giving an
ornament to his hopeful person, he was by her sent into
France ; where he spent two or three years in attaining the
language, and in learning the exercises of riding and dancing;
in the last of which he excelled most men, and returned into
England by the time he was twenty-one years old.

King James reigned at that time ; and though he was a
prince of more learning and knowledge than any other of
that age, and really delighted more in books, and in the
conversation of learned men, yet, of all wise men living, he
was the most delighted and taken with handsome persons,
and with fine clothes. He began to be weary of his favourite,
the earl of Somerset, who was the only favourite that kept

6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

that post so long, without any public reproach from the
people : and, by the instigation and wickedness of his wife,
he became, at least, privy to a horrible murder, that exposed
him to the utmost severity of the law (the poisoning of sir
Thomas Overbury), upon which both he and his wife were
condemned to die, after a trial by their peers ; and many
persons of quality were executed for the same.

Whilst this was in agitation, and before the utmost dis-
covery was made, Mr. Villiers appeared in Court, and drew
the king's eyes upon him. There were enough in the Court
enough angry and incensed against Somerset, for being what
themselves desired to be, and especially for being a Scots-
man, and ascending, in so short a time, from being a page,
to the height he was then at, to contribute all they could to
promote the one, that they might throw out the other. Which
being easily brought to pass, by the proceeding of the law
upon his crime aforesaid, the other found very little difficulty
in rendering himself gracious to the King, whose nature and
disposition was very flowing in affection towards persons so
adorned, insomuch that, in a few days after his first appear-
ance in Court, he was made cupbearer to the King ; by which
he was naturally to be much in his presence, and so admitted
to that conversation and discourse, with which that prince
always abounded at his meals.

And his inclination to his new cupbearer disposed him to
administer frequent occasions of discoursing of the Court of
France, and the transactions there, with which he had been
so lately acquainted, that he could pertinently enlarge upon
that subject, to the King's great dehght, and to the reconcihng
the esteem and value of all the standers by likewise to him :
which was a thing the king was well pleased with. He acted
very few weeks upon this stage, when he mounted higher,

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 7

and, being knighted, without any other qualification, he was
at the same time made gentleman of the bedchamber, and
knight of the order of the Garter ; and in a short time (very
short for such a prodigious ascent) he was made a baron, a
viscount, an earl, a marquis, and became Lord High Admiral
of England, lord Warden of the Cinque ports, Master of the
horse, and entirely disposed of all the graces of the King, in
conferring all the honours and all the offices of the three
kingdoms, without a rival; in dispensing whereof, he was
guided more by the rules of appetite than of judgment ; and
so exalted almost all of his own numerous family and depend-
ants, who had no other virtue or merit than their alliance
to him, which equally offended the ancient nobility, and the
people of all conditions, who saw the flowers of the Crown
every day fading and withered, whilst the demesnes and
revenue thereof was sacrificed to the enriching a private
family, (how well soever originally extracted,) not heard of
before ever to the nation ; and the expenses of the Court so
vast and unlimited by the old good rules of economy, that
they had a sad prospect of that poverty and necessity, which
afterwards befell the Crown, almost to the ruin of it.

]\Iany were of opinion, that King James, before his death,
grew weary of his favourite ; and that, if he had lived, he
would have deprived him at least of his large and unlimited
power. And this imagination prevailed with some men, as
the Lord Keeper Lincoln, the earl of Middlesex, Lord High
Treasurer of England, and other gentlemen of name, though
not in so high stations, that they had the courage to withdraw
from their absolute dependence upon the duke, and to make
some other essays, which proved to the ruin of every one of
them ; there appearing no marks, or evidence, that the King
did really lessen his affection to him, to the hour of his death.

8 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

On the contrary, as he created him duke of Buckingham in
his absence, whilst he was with the Prince in Spain ; so, after
his return, he executed the same authority in conferring all
favours and graces, and revenging himself upon those, who
had manifested any unkindness towards him. And yet, not-
withstanding all this, if that King's nature had equally
disposed him to pull down, as to build and erect, and if his
courage and severity in punishing and reforming had been
as great as his generosity and inclination was to oblige, it is
not to be doubted, but that he would have withdrawn his
affection from the duke entirely, before his death ; which
those persons, who were admitted to any privacy with [him,]
and were not in the confidence of the other (for before those
he knew well how to dissemble), had reason enough to expect.

After all this, and such a transcendent mixture of ill
fortune, of which as ill conduct and great infirmities seem to
be the foundation and source, this great man was a person of
a noble nature, and generous disposition, and of such other
endowments, as made him very capable of being a great
favourite to a great King. He understood the arts and
artifices of a court, and all the learning that is professed
there, exactly well. By long practice in business, under
a master that discoursed excellently, and surely knew all
things wonderfully, and took much delight in indoctrinating
his young unexperienced favourite, who, he knew, would be
always looked upon as the worknianship of his own hands,
he had obtained a quick conception, and apprehension of
business, and had the habit of speaking very gracefully
and pertinently. He was of a most flowing courtesy and
affability to all men who made any address to him ; and so
desirous to oblige them, that he did not enough consider the

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 9

value of the obligation, or the merit of the person he chose/
to oblige ; from which much of his misfortune resulted. He
was of a courage not to be daunted, which was manifested in
all his actions, and his contests with particular persons of the
greatest reputation ; and especially in his whole demeanour
at the Isle of Rh^, both at the landing and upon the retreat :
in both which no man was more fearless, or more ready
to expose himself to the brightest dangers. His kindness
and affection to his friends was so vehement, that it was as
so many marriages for better and worse, and so many leagues
offensive and defensive; as if he thought himself obliged
to love all his friends, and to make war upon all they
were angry with, let the cause be what it would. And it
cannot be denied that he was an enemy in the same excess,
and prosecuted those he looked upon as his enemies with the
utmost rigour and animosity, and was not easily induced to a
reconciliation. And yet there were some examples of his
receding in that particular. And in the highest passion, he
was so far from stooping to any dissimulation, whereby his
displeasure might be concealed and covered till he had
attained his revenge, (the low method of courts,) that he
never endeavoured to do any man an ill office, before he first
told him what he was to expect from him, and reproached
him with the injuries he had done, with so much generosity,
that the person found it in his power to receive further
satisfaction, in the way he would choose for himself.

And in this manner he proceeded with the earl of Oxford,
a man of great name in that time, and whom he had
endeavoured by many civil offices to make his friend, and
who seemed equally to incline to the friendship : when he
. discovered (or, as many thought, but suspected) that the earl
was entered into some cabal in Parliament against him ; he

lO SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

could not be dissuaded by any of his friends, to whom
he imparted his resolution ; but meeting the earl the next
day, he took him aside, and after many reproaches for such
and such ill offices he had done, and for breaking his word
towards him, he told him, * he would rely no longer on
his friendship, nor should he expect any further friendship
from him, but, on the contrary, he would be for ever
his enemy, and do him all the mischief he could/ The earl,
(who, as many thought, had not been faulty towards him, was
as great-hearted as he, and thought the very suspecting him
to be an injury unpardonable,) and without any reply to the
particulars, declared, ' that he neither cared for his friendship,
nor feared his hatred ; ' and from thence avowedly entered
into the conversation and confidence of those who were
always awake to discover, and solicitous to pursue, any thing
that might prove to his disadvantage ; which was of evil con-
sequence to the duke, the earl being of the most ancient of the
nobility, and a man of great courage, and of a family which
had in no time swerved from its fidelity to the Crown.

Sir Francis Cottington, who was secretary to the Prince,
and not grown courtier enough to dissemble well his opinion,
had given the duke offence before the journey into Spain, as
is before touched upon, and improved that prejudice, after
his coming thither, by disposing the Prince all he could to
the marriage of the Infanta ; and by his behaviour after his
return, in justifying to King James, who had a very good
opinion of him, the sincerity of the Spaniard in the treaty of
the marriage, that they did in truth desire it, and were fully
resolved to gratify his majesty in the business of the
Palatinate ; and only desired, in the manner of it, to gratify
the Emperor and the Duke of Bavaria all they could, which
would take up very little time. All which being so contrary

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, II

10 the duke's positions and purposes, his displeasure to
Cottington was sufficiently manifest, and King James was
no sooner dead, and the new officers and orders made, but
the profits and privileges which had used to be continued
to him who had been secretary, till some other promotion,
were all retrenched. And when he was one morning attend-
ing in the privy lodgings, as he was accustomed to do, one of
the Secretaries of State came to him, and told him, ' that it was
the King's pleasure that he should no more presume to come
into those rooms;' (which was the first instance he had
received of the king's disfavour) ; and at the same instant the
duke entered into that quarter. Upon which sir Francis
Cottington addressed himself towards him, and desired ' he
would give him leave to speak to him:' upon which the
duke inclining his ear, moved to a window from the company,
and the other told him, 'that he received every day fresh
marks of his severity ; ' mentioned the message which had
been then delivered to him, and desired only to know,
' whether it could not be in his power, by all dutiful appli-
cation, and all possible service, to be restored to the good
opinion his grace had once vouchsafed to have of him, and to
be admitted to serve him t ' The duke heard him without
the least commotion, and with a countenance serene enough,
and then answered him, 'That he would deal very clearly
with him ; that it was utterly impossible to bring that to pass
which he had proposed : that he was not only firmly resolved
never to trust him, or to have to do with him; but that
he was, and would be always, his declared enemy ; and that
he would do always whatever should be in his power to ruin
and destroy him, and of this he might be most assured ; '
without mentioning any particular ground for his so heightened
displeasure.

12 SELECT/0 JV^S FROM CLARENDON,

The other very calmly replied to him (as he was master of
an incomparable temper), ' That since he was resolved never
to do him good, that he hoped, from his justice and generosity,
that he would not suffer himself to gain by his loss ; that he
had laid out by his command so much money for jewels and
pictures, which he had received: and that, in hope of his
future favour, he had once presented a suit of hangings
to him, which cost him £800, which he hoped he would cause
to be restored to him, and that he would not let him be
so great a loser by him.' The duke answered, ' he was in the
right; that he should the next morning go to Oliver (who
was his receiver), and give him a particular account of all the
money due to him, and he should presently pay him ; ' which
was done the next morning accordingly, without the least
abatement of any of his demands.

And he was so far reconciled to him before his death, that
being resolved to make a peace with Spain, to the end
he might more vigorously pursue the war with France
(to which his heart was most passionately fixed), he sent
for Cottington to come to him, and after conference with
him, told him, ' the King would send him ambassador thither,
and that he should attend him at Portsmouth for his
despatch.'

His single misfortune was (which indeed was productive
of many greater), that he never made a noble and a worthy
friendship with a man so near his equal, that he would
frankly advise him for his honour and true interest, against
the current, or rather the torrent, of his impetuous passion ;
which was partly the vice of the time, when the Court was not
replenished with great choice of excellent men ; and partly
the vice of the persons who were most worthy to be applied
to, and looked upon his youth, and his obscurity, as obligations

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

^3

upon him to gain their friendships by extraordinary applica-
tion. Then his ascent was so quick, that it seemed rather
a flight than a growth ; and he was such a darling of fortune,
that he was at the top before he was seen at the bottom, for
the gradation of his titles was the effect, not cause, of his first
promotion; and, as if he had been born a favourite, he
was supreme the first month he came to Court; and it
was want of confidence, not of credit, that he had not all at
first which he obtained afterwards; never meeting with
the least obstruction from his setting out, till he was as great
as he could be : so that he wanted dependants before he
thought he could want coadjutors. Nor was he very fortunate
in the election of those dependants, very few of his servants
having been ever qualified enough to assist or advise him,
and were intent only upon growing rich under him, not upon
their master's growing good as well as great: insomuch as
he was throughout his fortune a much wiser man than
any servant or friend he had.

Let the fault or misfortune be what or whence it will
it may very reasonably be believed, that, if he had been
blessed with one faithful friend, who had been qualified with j
wisdom and integrity, that great person would have committed '
as few faults, and done as transcendent worthy actions, as
any man who shined in such a sphere in that age in Europe.
For he was of an excellent nature, and of a capacity very
capable of advice and counsel. He was in his nature just
and candid, liberal, generous, and bountiful ; nor was it ever
known, that the temptation of money swayed him to do
an unjust or unkind thing. And though he left a very great
inheritance to his heirs ; considering the vast fortune he
inherited by his wife, the sole daughter and heir of Francis
earl of Rutland, he owed no part of it to his own industry or

1

14 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

solicitation, but to the impatient humour of two kings his
masters, who would make his fortune equal to his titles, and
the one [as much] above other men, as the other was. And
he considered it no otherwise than as theirs, and left it at
his death engaged for the Crown, almost to the value of it, as
is touched upon before.

If he had an immoderate ambition, with which he was
charged, and is a weed (if it be a weed) apt to grow in
the best soils ; it doth not appear that it was in his nature, or
that he brought it with him to the Court, but rather found it
there, and was a garment necessary for that air. Nor was it
more in his power to be without promotion, and titles,
and wealth, than for a healthy man to sit in the sun in the
brightest dog-days, and remain without any warmth. He
needed no ambition, who was so seated in the hearts of two
such masters.

There are two particulars, which lie heaviest upon his
memory, either of them aggravated by circumstances very
important, and which administer frequent occasions by their
effects to be remembered.

The first, his engaging his old unwilling master and the
kingdom in the war with Spain, (not to mention the bold
journey thither, or the breach of that match,) in a time when
the Crown was so poor, and the people more inclined to
a bold inquiry, how it came to be so, than dutifully to provide
for its supply: and this only upon personal animosities
between him and the duke of Olivarez, the sole favourite
in that Court, and those animosities from very trivial provo-
cations, and flowed indeed from no other fountain, than that
the nature and education of Spain restrained men from that
gaiety of humour, and from that frolic humour, to which the
Prince his Court was more inclined. And Olivarez had been

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 15

heard to censure very severely the duke's famUiarity and
want of respect towards the Prince, (a crime monstrous to
the Spaniard,) and had said, that 'if the Infanta did not,
as soon as she was married, suppress that license, she would
herself quickly undergo the mischief of it : ' which gave the
first alarm to the duke to apprehend his own ruin in that
union, and accordingly to use all his endeavours to break and
prevent it: and from that time he took all occasions to
quarrel with and reproach the Conde duke.

One morning the King desired the prince to take the air,
and to visit a little house of pleasure he had (the Prado) four
miles from Madrid, standing in a forest, where he used some-
times to hunt ; and the duke not being ready, the King and
the Prince and the Infante don Carlo went into the coach,
the King likewise calling the earl of Bristol into that coach to
assist them in their conversation, the prince then not speaking
any Spanish ; and left Olivarez to follow in the coach with
the duke of Buckingham. When the duke came, they went
into the coach, accompanied with others of both nations, and
proceeded very cheerfully towards overtaking the King : but
when upon the way he heard that the earl of Bristol was
in the coach with the King, he broke out into great passion,
reviled the Conde duke as the contriver of the affront,
reproached the earl of Bristol for his presumption, in taking
the place which in all respects belonged to him, who was
joined with him as ambassador extraordinary, and came last
from the presence of their master, and resolved to go out of
the coach, and to return to Madrid. Olivarez easily dis-
covered by the disorder, and the noise, and the tune, that the
duke was very angry, without comprehending the cause of it ;
only found that the earl of Bristol was often named with such
a tone, that he began to suspect what in truth might be

l6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

the cause. And thereupon he commanded a gentleman, who
was on horseback, with all speed to overtake the King's coach,
and desire that it might stay ; intimating, that the duke had
taken some displeasure, the ground whereof was not enough
understood. Upon which the King's coach stayed ; and when
the other approached within distance, the Conde duke
alighted, and acquainted the King with what he had observed,
and what he conceived. The King himself alighted, made
great compliments to the duke, the earl of Bristol excusing
himself upon the King's command, that he should serve as a
truckman. In the end Don Carlo went into the coach
with the favourite, and the duke and the earl of Bristol went
with the King and the Prince ; and so they prosecuted their
journey, and after dinner returned in the same manner to
Madrid.

This, with all the circumstances of it, administered wonder-
ful occasion of discourse in the court and country, there having
never been such a comet seen in that hemisphere, and their
submiss reverence to their princes being a vital part of their
religion.

There were very few days passed afterwards in which
there was not some manifestation of the highest displeasure
and hatred in the duke against the other. And when the
Conde duke had some eclaircissement with the duke, in
which he made all the protestations of his sincere affection,
and his desire to maintain a clear and faithful friendship with
him, which he conceived might be, in some degree, useful to
both their masters, the other received his protestations with
all contempt, and declared, with a very unnecessary frankness,
' that he would have no friendship with him.'

And the next day after the King returned from accompany-
ing the Prince towards the sea, where, at parting, there were

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 17

all possible demonstrations of mutual affection between them ;
and the King caused a fair pillar to be erected in the place
where they last embraced each other, with inscriptions of
great honour to the Prince ; there being then in that Court not
the least suspicion, or imagination, that the marriage would
not succeed, insomuch that afterwards, upon the news from
Rome, that the dispensation was granted, the Prince having
left the desponsorios in the hands of the earl of Bristol, in
which the Infante don Carlo was constituted the prince's
proxy to marry the Infanta on his behalf, she was treated as
Princess of Wales, the Queen gave her place, and the English
ambassador had frequent audiences, as with his mistress,
in which he would not be covered : yet, I say, the very next
day after the prince's departure from the King, Mr. Clarke, one
of the Prince's bedchamber, who had formerly served the duke,
was sent back to Madrid, upon pretence that somewhat was
forgotten there, but in truth, with orders to the earl of Bristol
not to deliver the desponsorios (which, by the articles, he was
obliged to do within fifteen days after the arrival of the
dispensation) until he should receive further orders from the
Prince, or King, after his return into England.

Mr. Clarke was not to deliver this letter to the ambassador,
till he was sure the dispensation was come; of which he
could not be advertised in the instant. But he lodging in the
ambassador's house, and falling sick of a calenture, which the
physicians thought would prove mortal, he sent for the earl
to come to his bedside, and delivered him the letter before
the arrival of the dispensation, though long after it was known
to be granted; upon which all those ceremonies were per-
formed to the Infanta.

By these means, and by this method, this great affair, upon
which the eyes of Christendom had been so long fixed, came

c

1 8 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

to be dissolved, without the least mixture with, or contribution
from, those amours, which were afterwards so confidently
discoursed of. For though the duke was naturally carried
violently to those passions, when there was any grace or
beauty in the object ; yet the duchess of Olivarez (of whom
the talk was) was then a woman so old, past children, of
so abject a presence, in a word, so crooked and deformed,
that she could neither tempt his appetite, or magnify his
revenge. And whatever he did afterwards in England
was but tueri opus, and to prosecute the design he had, upon
the reasons and provocations aforesaid, so long before con-
trived during his abode in Spain.

The other particular, by which he involved himself in
so many fatal intricacies, from which he could never extricate
himself, was his running violendy into the war with France,
without any kind of provocation, and upon a particular
passion very unwarrantable. In his embassy in France,
where his person and presence was wonderfully admired and
esteemed, (and in truth it was a wonder in the eyes of all
men,) and in which he appeared with all the lustre the
wealth of England could adorn him with, and outshined
all the bravery that Court could dress itself in, and overacted
the whole nation in their own most peculiar vanities — he had
the ambition to fix his eyes upon, and to dedicate his most
violent affection to, a lady of a very sublime quality^, and
to pursue it with most importunate addresses : insomuch as
when the King had brought the Queen his sister as far as
he meant to do, and delivered her into the hands of the duke,
to be by him conducted into England, the duke, in his
journey, after his departure from that court, took a resolution
once more to make a visit to that great lady, which he
* [The Queen of France.]

S//^ THOMAS COVENTRY. I9

believed he might do with great privacy. But it was so easily
discovered, that provision was made for his reception, and if
he had pursued his attempt, he had been without doubt
assassinated ; of which he had only so much notice, as served
him to decline the danger \ But he swore, in the instant,
that he would see and speak with that lady, in spite
of the strength and power of France. And from the time
that the Queen arrived in England, he took all the ways
he could to undervalue and exasperate that Court and
nation, by causing all those who fled into England from
the justice and displeasure of that King, to be received
and entertained here, not only with ceremony and security,
but with bounty and magnificence; and the more extra-
ordinary the persons were, and the more notorious the King's
displeasure was towards them, (as in that time there were
very many lords and ladies of that classis,) the more respect-
ively they were received and esteemed. He omitted no
opportunity to incense the King against France, and to
dispose him to assist the Huguenots, whom he likewise
encouraged to give their King some trouble.

Sib Thomas Coventby.

He was a man of wonderful gravity and wisdom; and
understood not only the whole science and mystery of the
law, at least equally with any man who had ever sate in thatj
place, but had a clear conception of the whole policy of the!
government both of Church and State, which, by the unskilJ
fulness of some well-meaning men, justled each the other too
much.

He knew the temper and disposition and genius of the
kingdom most exactly; saw their spirits grow every day

* [See account in Gardiner's History, vol. v, p. 332.]
C 2

20 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

more sturdy and iniquisitive and impatient; and therefore
naturally abhorred all innovations which he foresaw would
produce ruinous effects. Yet many, who stood at a dis-
tance, thought that he was not active and stout enough in
the opposing those innovations. For though, by his place,
he presided in all public councils, and was most sharp-
sighted in the consequence of things, yet he was seldom
known to speak in matters of state, which, he well knew,
were for the most part concluded, before they were brought
to that public agitation ; never in foreign affairs, which the
vigour of his judgment could well comprehend, nor indeed
freely in any thing but what immediately and plainly con-
cerned the justice of the kingdom ; and in that, as much as
he could, he procured references to the judges. Though in
his nature he had not only a firm gravity, but a severity, and
even some morosity, (which his children and domestics had
evidence enough of;) yet it was so happily tempered, and his
courtesy and affabiHty towards all men was so transcendent,
so much without affectation, that it marvellously reconciled
[him] to all men of all degrees, and he was looked upon as an
excellent courtier, without receding from the native simplicity
of his own manner.

He had, in the plain way of speaking and delivery, without
much ornament of elocution, a strange power of making
himself believed, the only justifiable design of eloquence : so
that though he used very frankly to deny, and would never
suffer any man to depart from him with an opinion that he
was inclined to gratify when in truth he was not, (holding
that dissimulation to be the worst of lying,) yet the manner
of it was so gentle and obliging, and his condescension such,
to inform the persons whom he could not satisfy, that few
departed from him with ill will, and ill wishes.

S/A' RICHARD WESTON. 31

But then, this happy temper and these good faculties rather
preserved him from having many enemies, and supplied him
with some well-wishers, than furnished him with any fast and
unshaken friends; who are always procured in courts by
more ardour, and more vehement professions and appli-
cations, than he would suffer himself to be entangled
with. So that he was a man rather exceedingly liked, than
passionately loved : insomuch that it never appeared, that he
had any one friend in the Court, of quality enough to prevent
or divert any disadvantage he might be exposed to. And
therefore it is no wonder, nor to be imputed to him, that he
retired within himself as much as he could, and stood upon
his defence without making desperate sallies against growing
mischiefs, which he knew well he had no power to hinder,
and which might probably begin in his own ruin. To con-
clude ; his security consisted very much in the little credit he
had with the King ; and he died in a season most opportune,
and in which a wise man would have prayed to have finished
his course, and which in truth crowned his other signal pros-
perity in the world.

SiK RicHAKD Weston.

He was a gentleman of a very good and ancient extraction
by father and mother. His education had been very good
amongst books and men. After some years' study of the
law in the Middle Temple, and at an age fit to make obser-
vations and reflections, out of which that which is commonly
called experience is constituted, he travelled into foreign parts
and was acquainted in foreign parts ^. After this he betook
himself to the Court, and lived there some years, at that
distance, and with that awe, as was agreeable to the modesty

"■ [There is some confusion in the MS. here.]

Z2 SELECT/OATS FROM CLARENDON.

of that age, when men were seen some time before they were
known ; and well known before they were preferred, or durst
pretend to be preferred.

He spent the best part of his fortune (a fair one, that he
inherited from his father) in his attendance at Court, and
involved his friends in securities with him, who were willing to
run his hopeful fortune, before he received the least fruit from
it, but the countenance of great men and those in authority,
the most natural and most certain stairs to ascend by.

He was then sent ambassador to the archdukes, Albert
and Isabella, into Flanders ; and to the Diet in Germany, to
treat about the restitution of the Palatinate ; in which nego-
tiation he behaved himself with great prudence, and with the
concurrent testimony of a wise man, from all those with
whom he treated, princes and ambassadors, and upon his
return was made a Privy Councillor, and Chancellor of the
Exchequer, in the place of the lord Brooke, who was either
persuaded, or put out of the place ; which, being an office of
honour and trust, is likewise an excellent stage for men
of parts to tread, and expose themselves upon, and where
they have occasion of all natures to lay out and spread all
their faculties and qualifications most for their advantage.
He behaved himself very well in this function, and appeared
equal to it ; and carried himself so luckily in Parliament, that
he did his master much service, and preserved himself in
the good opinion and acceptation of the House ; which is
a blessing not indulged to many by those high powers. He
did swim in those troubled and boisterous waters, in which
the duke of Buckingham rode as admiral, with a good grace,
when very many who were about him were drowned, or
forced on shore with shrewd hurts and bruises: which
shewed he knew well how and when to use his limbs and

Sm RICHARD WESTON, 23

strength to the best advantage; sometimes only to avoid
sinking, and sometimes to advance and get ground. And by
this dexterity he kept his credit with those who could do
him good, and lost it not with others, who desired the
destruction of those upon whom he most depended.

He was made Lord Treasurer in the manner and at the
time mentioned before, upon the removal of the earl of
Marlborough, and few months before the death of the duke.
The former circumstance, which is often attended by com-
passion towards the degraded, and prejudice towards the
promoted, brought him no disadvantage : for besides the
delight that season had in changes, there was little reverence
towards the person removed ; and the extreme visible poverty
of the Exchequer sheltered that province from the envy it had
frequently created, and opened a door for much applause to
be the portion of a wise and provident minister. For the
other, of the duke's death, though some, who knew the
duke's passions and prejudice, (which often produced rather
sudden indisposition, than obstinate resolution,) believed he
would have been shortly cashiered, as so many had lately
been ; and so that the death of his founder was a greater
confirmation of him in the office, than the delivery of the
white staff had been : many other wise men, who knew the
treasurer's talent in removing prejudice, and reconciling him-
self to wavering and doubtful affections, believed, that the
loss of the duke was very unseasonable, and that the awe or
apprehension of his power and displeasure was a very neces-
sary allay for the impetuosity of the new officer's nature,
which needed some restraint and check, for some time, to
his immoderate pretences and appetite of power.

He did indeed appear on the sudden wonderfully elated,
and so far threw off his old affectation to please some very

24 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

much, and to displease none, in which art he had excelled,
that in few months after the duke's death he found himself
to succeed him in the public displeasure, and in the malice
of his enemies, without succeeding him in his credit at Court,
or in the affection of any considerable dependants. And
yet, though he was not superior to all other men in the
affection, or rather resignation, of the King, so that he might
dispense favours and disfavours according to his own elec-
tion, he had a full share in his master's esteem, who looked
upon him as a wise and able servant, and worthy of the trust
he reposed in him, and received no other advice in the large
business of his revenue; nor was any man so much his^
superior, as to be able to lessen him in the King's affection
by his power. So that he was in a post, in which he migh
have found much ease and delight, if he could have contained
himself within the verge of his own province, which was
large enough, and of such an extent, that he might, at the
same time, have drawn a great dependence upon him of very
considerable men, and appeared a very useful and profitable
minister to the King, whose revenue had been very loosely
managed during the late years, and might, by industry and
order, have been easily improved : and no man better under-
stood what method was necessary towards that good hus-
bandry than he.

But I know not by what frowardness in his stars, he took
more pains in examining and inquiring into other men's
offices, than in the discharge of his own ; and not so much
joy in what he had, as trouble and agony for what he had
not. The truth is, he had so vehement a desire to be the
sole favourite, that he had no relish of the power he had :
and in that contention he had many rivals, who had credit
enough to do him ill offices, though not enough to satisfy

S/J^ RICHARD WESTON. 25

their own ambition ; the King himself being resolved to hold
the reins in his own hands, and to put no further trust in
others, than was necessary for the capacity they served in.
Which resolution in his majesty was no sooner believed, and
the treasurer's pretence taken notice [of], than he found the
number of his enemies exceedingly increased, and others to
be less eager in the pursuit of his friendship. And every
day discovered some infirmities in him, which being before
known to few, and not taken notice of, did now expose him
both to public reproach, and to private animosities ; and
even his vices admitted those contradictions in them, that he
could hardly enjoy the pleasant fruit of any of them. That
which first exposed him to the public jealousy, which is
always attended with public reproach, was the concurrent
suspicion of his religion. His wife and all his daughters
were declared of the Roman religion : and though himself,
and his sons, sometimes went to church, he was never
thought to have zeal for it ; and his domestic conversation
and dependants, with whom only he used entire freedom,
were all known Catholics, and were believed to be agents
for the rest. And yet, with all this disadvantage to himself,
he never had reputation and credit with that party, who were
the only people of the kingdom who did not believe him to
be of their profession. For the penal laws (those only ex-
cepted which were sanguinary, and even those sometimes let
loose) were never more rigidly executed, nor had the Crown
ever so great a revenue from them, as in his time ; nor did
they ever pay so dear for the favours and indulgences of his
oflSce towards them.

No man had greater ambition to make his family great,
or stronger designs to leave a great fortune to it. Yet his
expenses were so prodigiously great, especially in his house.

26 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

that all the ways he used for supply, which were all that
occurred, could not serve his turn ; insomuch that he con-
tracted so great debts, (the anxiety whereof, he pretended,
broke his mind, and restrained that intentness and industry,
which was necessary for the due execution of his office,)
that the King was pleased twice to pay his debts ; at least,
towards it, to disburse forty thousand pounds in ready money
out of his Exchequer. Besides, his majesty gave him a whole
forest (Chute forest in Hampshire) and much other land
belonging to the Crown ; which was the more taken notice
of, and murmured against, because, being the chief minister
of the revenue, he was particularly obliged, as much as in
him lay, to prevent, and even oppose, such disinherison,
and because, under that obligation, he had, avowedly and
sourly, crossed the pretences of other men, and restrained
the King's bounty from being exercised almost to any. And
he had that advantage, (if he had made the right use of it,)
that his credit was ample enough (seconded by the King's
own experience, and observation, and inclination) to retrench
very much of the late unlimited expenses, and especially
those of bounties, which from the death of the duke ran in
narrow channels, which never so much overflowed as towards
himself, who stopped the current to other men.

He was of an imperious nature, and nothing wary in dis-
obliging and provoking other men, and had too much
courage in offending and incensing them : but after having
offended and incensed them, he was of so unhappy a
feminine temper, that he was always in a terrible fright and
apprehension of them.

He had not that application, and submission, and rever-
ence for the Queen, as might have been expected from his
wisdom and breeding, and often crossed her pretences and

S/i: RICHARD WESTON,

27

desires, with more rudeness than was natural to him. Yet
he was impertinently solicitous to know what her majesty
said of him in private, and what resentments she had to-
wards him. And when by some confidants, who had their
ends upon him from those offices, he was informed of some
bitter expressions fallen from her majesty, he was so exceed-
ingly afflicted and tormented with the sense of it, that some-
times by passionate complaints and representations to the
King ; sometimes by more dutiful addresses and expostula-
tions with the Queen, in bewailing his misfortunes ; he
frequently exposed himself, and left his condition worse than
it was before : and the iclaircissemeTit commonly ended in
the discovery of the persons from whom he had received his
most secret intelligence.

He quickly lost the character of a bold, stout, and mag-
nanimous man, which he had been long reputed to be in
worse times ; and, in his most prosperous season, fell under
the reproach of being a man of big looks, and of a mean
and abject spirit.

There was a very ridiculous story at that time in the
mouths of many, which, being a known truth, may not be
unfitly mentioned in this place, as a kind of illustration of
the humour and nature of the man. Sir Julius Caesar was
then Master of the Rolls, and had, inherent in his office, the
indubitable right and disposition of the Six Clerks' places;
all which he had, for many years, upon any vacancy, be-
stowed to such persons as he thought fit. One of those
places was become void, and designed by the old man to
his son Robert Caesar, a lawyer of a good name, and ex-
ceedingly beloved. The Treasurer (as he was vigilant in
such cases) had notice of the clerk's expiration so soon, that
he procured the King to send a message to the Master of the

28 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

Rolls, expressly forbidding him to dispose of that Six-Clerk's
place, till his majesty's pleasure should be further made
known to him. It was the first command of that kind that
had been heard of, and was felt by the old man very sensibly.
He was indeed very old, and had outlived most of his friends,
so that his age was an objection against him ; many persons
of quality being dead, who had, for recompense of services,
procured the reversion of his office. The Treasurer found it
no hard matter so far to terrify him, that (for the King's
service, as was pretended) he admitted for a Six-Clerk a
person recommended by him, (Mr. Tern, a dependant upon
him,) who paid six thousand pound ready money; which,
poor man ! he lived to repent in a gaol. This work being
done at the charge of the poor old man, who had been a
Privy-Councillor from the entrance of King James, had been
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and served in other offices ; the
depriving him of his right made a great noise : and the
condition of his son, (his father being not like to live to
have the disposal of another office in his power,) who, as
was said before, was generally beloved and esteemed, was
argument of great compassion, and was lively and success-
fully represented to the King himself; who was graciously
pleased to promise, that, if the old man chanced to die
before any other of the Six- Clerks, that office, when it should
fall, should be conferred on his son, whosoever should suc-
ceed him as Master of the Rolls : which might w^ell be pro-
vided for ; and the lord Treasurer obliged himself (to expiate
for the injury) to procure some declaration to that purpose,
under his majesty's sign manual ; which, how^ever easy to be
done, he long forgot, or neglected.

One day the earl of TuUibardine, who was nearly allied to
Mr. Caesar, and much his friend, being with the Treasurer,

S/J? RICHARD WESTON. 2g

passionately asked him, 'Whether he had done that busi-
ness ? ' To whom he answered with a seeming trouble, ' That
he had forgotten it, for which he was heartily sorry ; and if
he would give him a little in writing, for a memorial, he
would put it amongst those which he would despatch with
the King that afternoon.' The earl presently writ in a little
paper, Rememher Cccsar ; and gave it to him ; and he put it
into that little pocket, where, he said, he kept all his memo-
rials which were first to be transacted.

Many days passed, and Caesar never thought of. At
length, when he changed his clothes, and he who waited
on him in his chamber, according to custom, brought him
all the notes and papers which were left in those he had left
off, which he then commonly perused, when he found this
little billet, in which was only written, Remember CcBsar, and
which he had never read before, he was exceedingly con-
founded, and knew not what to make or think of it. He
sent for his bosom friends, with whom he most confidently
consulted, and shewed the paper to them, the contents
whereof he could not conceive, but that it might probably
have been put into his hand (because it was found in that
enclosure, wherein he put all things of moment which were
given him) when he was in motion, and in the privy lodgings
in the Court. After a serious and melancholic deliberation,
it was agreed, that it was the advertisement from some friend,
who durst not own the discovery: that it could signify no-
thing but that there was a conspiracy against his life, by his
many and mighty enemies : and they all knew Caesar's fate,
by contemning or neglecting such animadversions. And
therefore they concluded, that he should pretend to be indis-
posed, that he might not stir abroad all that day, nor that
any might be admitted to him, but persons of undoubted

30 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

affections ; that at night the gate should be shut early, and
the porter enjoined to open it to nobody, nor to go himself
to bed till the morning; and that some servants should
watch with him, lest violence might be used at the gate;
and that they themselves, and some other gentlemen, would
sit up all the night, and attend the event. Such houses are
always in the morning haunted by early suitors ; but it was
very late before any could now get admittance into the
house, the porter having quitted some of that arrear of sleep,
which he owed to himself for his night's watching ; which he
excused to his acquaintance, by whispering to them, * That
his lord should have been killed that night, which had kept
all the house from going to bed.' And shortly after, the
earl of Tullibardine asking him, whether he had remembered
Caesar; the Treasurer quickly recollected the ground of his
perturbation, and could not forbear imparting it to his
friends, who likewise affected the communication, and so
the whole jest came to be discovered.

To conclude, all the honours the king conferred upon him
(as he made him a baron, then an earl, and knight of the
Garter; and above this, gave ^a young beautiful lady nearly
allied to him, and to the crown of Scodand, in marriage to
his eldest son) could not make him think himself great
enough. Nor could all the King's bounties, nor his own
large accessions, raise a fortune to his heir ; but after six or
eight years spent in outward opulency, and inward murmur
and trouble that it was no greater, after vast sums of money
and great wealth gotten, and rather consumed than enjoyed,
without any sense or delight in so great prosperity, with the
agony that it was no greater, he died unlamented by any,
bitterly mentioned by most who never pretended to love
^ [A daughter of the house of Lennox.]

THE EARL OF MANCHESTER. 31

him, and severely censured and complained of by those who
expected most from him, and deserved best of him ; and left
a numerous family, which was in a short time worn out, and
yet outlived the fortune he left behind him.

The Eakl op Manchester.

He was a man of great industry and sagacity in business,
which he delighted in exceedingly ; and preserved so great
a vigour of mind, even to his death, (when he was very near
eighty years of age,) that some, who had known him in his
younger years, did believe him to have much quicker parts
in his age, than before. His honours had grown faster upon
him than his fortunes, which made him too solicitous to
advance the latter, by all the ways which offered themselves ;
whereby he exposed himself to some inconvenience, and
many reproaches, and became less capable of serving the
public by his counsels and authority, which his known
wisdom, long experience, and confessed gravity and ability,
would have enabled him to have done; most men con-
sidering more the person that speaks, than the things he
says. And he was unhappily too much used as a check
upon the lord Coventry; and when the other perplexed
their counsels and designs with inconvenient objections in
law, his authority, who had trod the same paths, was still
called upon ; and he did too frequently gratify their unjusti-
fiable designs and pretences : a guilt and mischief, all men
who are obnoxious, or who are thought to be so, are liable
to, and can hardly preserve themselves from. But his virtues
so far weighed down his infirmities, that he maintained a
good general reputation and credit with the whole nation
and people ; he being always looked upon as full of integrity

^2 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

and zeal to the Protestant religion, as it was established by-
law, and of unquestionable loyalty, duty, and fidelity to the
King; which two qualifications will ever gather popular
breath enough to fill the sails, if the vessel be competently
provided with ballast. He died in a lucky time, in the begin-
ning of the Rebellion, when neither religion, or loyalty, or
law, or wisdom, could have provided for any man's security.

The Eabl of Abundel.

The earl of Arundel was next to the officers of state, who,
in his own right and quality, preceded the rest of the Council.
He was a man supercilious and proud, who lived always
within himself, and to himself, conversing little with any
who were in common conversation ; so that he seemed to
live as it were in another nation, his house being a place
to which all men resorted who resorted to no other place ;
strangers, or such who affected to look like strangers, and
dressed themselves accordingly. He resorted sometimes
to the Court, because there only was a greater man than
himself; and went thither the seldomer, because there was
a greater man than himself. He lived towards all favourites
and great officers, without any kind of condescension ; and
rather suffered himself to be ill treated by their power and
authority (for he was always in disgrace, and once or twice
prisoner in the Tower) than to descend in making any
application to them.

And upon these occasions he spent a great interval of
his time in several journeys into foreign parts, and, with his
wife and family, had lived some years in Italy, the humour
and manners of which nation he seemed most to like and
approve, and affected to imitate. He had a good fortune by

THE EARL OF ARUNDEL, 33

descent, and a much greater from his wife, who was the
sole daughter upon the matter (for neither of the two sisters
left any issue) of the great house of Shrewsbury : but his
expenses were without any measure, and always exceeded
very much his revenue. He was willing to be thought a
scholar, and to understand the most mysterious parts of
antiquity, because he made a wonderful and costly purchase
of excellent statues, whilst he was in Italy and in Rome,
(some whereof he could never obtain permission to remove
from Rome, though he had paid for them,) and had a rare
collection of the most curious medals ; whereas in truth he
was only able to buy them, never to understand them ; and
as to all parts of learning he was most illiterate, and thought
no other part of history considerable, but what related to his
own family ; in which, no doubt, there had been some very
memorable persons. It cannot be denied that he had in
his person, in his aspect, and countenance, the appearance
of a great man, which he preserved in his gait and motion.
He wore and affected a habit very different from that of
the time, such as men had only beheld in the pictures of
the most considerable men ; all which drew the eyes of most,
and the reverence of many, towards him, as the image and
representative of the primitive nobility, and native gravity
of the nobles, when they had been most venerable : but this
was only his outside, his nature and true humour being so
much disposed to vulgar delights, which indeed were very
despicable and childish. He was never suspected to love
anybody, nor to have the least propensity to justice, charity,
or compassion, so that though he got all he could, and by
all the ways he could, and spent much more than he got or
had ; he was never known to give any thing, nor in all his
employments (for he had employments, of great profit as

34 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

well as honour, being sent ambassador extraordinary into
Germany, for the treaty of that general peace, for which he
had great appointments, and in which he did nothing of the
least importance, and which is more wonderful, he was
afterwards made general of the army raised for Scotland, and
received full pay as such ; and in his own office of Earl
Marshal, more money was drawn from the people by his
avidity and pretence of jurisdiction, than had ever been
extorted by all the officers precedent,) yet, I say, in all his
offices and employments, never man used or employed by
him, ever got any fortune under him, nor did ever any man
acknowledge any obligation to him. He was rather thought
to be without religion, than to incline to this or that party of
any. He would have been a proper instrument for any
tyranny, if he could have [had] a man tyrant enough to have
been advised by him, and had no other affection for the nation
or the kingdom, than as he had a great share in it, in which,
like the great leviathan, he might sport himself; from which
he withdrew himself, as soon as he discerned the repose
thereof was like to be disturbed, and died in Italy, under
the same doubtful character of religion in which he livedo

WILLIAM, Eakl of Pembroke.

William earl of Pembroke was next, a man of another
mould and making, and of another fame and reputation with
all men, being the most universally loved and esteemed
of any man of that age ; and, having a great office in the
Court, he made the Court itself better esteemed, and more
reverenced in the country. And as he had a great number
of friends of the best men, so no man had ever the wickedness
to avow himself to be his enemy. He was a man very well

WILLIAM, EARL OF PEMBROKE, 35

bred, and of excellent parts, and a graceful speaker upon
any subject, having a good proportion of learning, and a
ready wit to apply it, and enlarge upon it ; of a pleasant and
facetious humour, and a disposition affable, generous, and
magnificent. He was master of a great fortune from his
ancestors, and had a great addition by his wife, another
daughter and heir of the earl of Shrewsbury, which he
enjoyed during his life, she outliving him : but all served not
his expense, which was only limited by his great mind, and
occasions to use it nobly.

He lived many years about the Court, before in it, and
never by it; being rather regarded and esteemed by King
James, than loved and favoured : and after the foul fall of the
earl of Somerset, he was made Lord Chamberlain of the King's
house, more for the Court's sake than his own; and the
Court appeared with the more lustre, because he had the
government of that province. As he spent and lived upon
his own fortune, so he stood upon his own feet, without any
other support than of his proper virtue and merit ; and lived
towards the favourites with that decency, as would not suffer
them to censure or reproach his master's judgment and
election, but as with men of his own rank. He was ex-
ceedingly beloved in the Court, because he never desired to
get that for himself, which others laboured for, but was still
ready to promote the pretences of worthy men. And he
was equally celebrated in the country, for having received no
obligations from the Court which might corrupt or sway his
affections and judgment ; so that all who were displeased and
unsatisfied in the Court, or with the Court, were always
inclined to put themselves under his banner, if he would have
admitted them; and yet he did not so reject them, as to
make them choose another shelter, but so far to depend

D 2

36 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

on him, that he could restrain them from breaking out
beyond private resentments and murmurs.

He was a great lover of his country, and of the religion
and justice, which he believed could only support it ; and his
friendships were only with men of those principles. And as
his conversation was most with men of the most pregnant
parts and understanding, so towards any, who needed support
or encouragement, though unknown, if fairly recommended
to him, he was very liberal. And sure never man was
planted in a Court, that was fitter for that soil, or brought
better qualities with him to purify that air.

Yet his memory must not be so flattered, that his virtues
and good inclinations may be believed without some allay of
vice, and without being clouded with great infirmities, which
he had in too exorbitant a proportion. He indulged to him-
self the pleasures of all kinds, almost in all excesses. To
women, whether out of his natural constitution, or for want of
his domestic content and delight, (in which he was most
unhappy, for he paid much too dear for his wife's fortune, by
taking her person into the bargain,) he was immoderately
given up. But therein he likewise retained such a power and
jurisdiction over his very appetite, that he was not so much
transported with beauty and outward allurements, as with
those advantages of the mind, as manifested an extraordinary
wit, and spirit, and knowledge, and administered great
pleasure in the conversation. To these he sacrificed himself,
his precious time, and much of his fortune. And some, who
were nearest his trust and friendship, were not without
apprehension, that his natural vivacity and vigour of mind
began to lessen and decline by those excessive indulgences.

About the time of the death of King James, or presently
after, he was made Lord Steward of his majesty's house, that

EARL OF MONTGOMER Y AND EARL OF DORSET. 37

the Staff of Chamberlain might be put into the hands of his
brother, the earl of Montgomery, upon a new contract of
friendship with the duke of Buckingham ; after whose death,
he had likewise such offices of his, as he most affected, of
honour and command, none of profit, which he cared not
for. And within two years after, he died himself of an
apoplexy, after a full and cheerful supper.

Eakl op Montgomeky and Eabl op Dobset.

The earl of Montgomery, who was then Lord Chamberlain
of the household, and now earl of Pembroke, and the earl of
Dorset, were likewise of the Privy- Council ; men of very
different talents and qualifications. The former being a
young man, scarce of age at the entrance of King James, had
the good fortune, by the comeliness of his person, his skill,
and indefatigable industry in hunting, to be the first who
drew the King's eyes towards him with affection ; which was
quickly so far improved, that he had the reputation of a
favourite. And before the end of the first or second year, he
was made gentleman of the King's bedchamber, and earl of
Montgomery ; which did the King no harm : for besides that
he received the King's bounty with more moderation than
other men, who succeeded him, he was generally known, and
as generally esteemed ; being the son and younger brother
to the earl of Pembroke, who liberally supplied his expense,
beyond what his annuity from his father would bear.

He pretended to no other qualifications, than to under-
stand horses and dogs very well, which his master loved him
the better for, (being, at his first coming into England, very
jealous of those who had the reputation of great parts,) and
to be believed honest and generous, which made him many

38 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

friends, and left him no enemy. He had not sat many years
in that sunshine, when a new comet appeared in Court,
Robert Carr, a Scotchman, quickly after declared favourite :
upon whom the King no sooner fixed his eyes, but the earl,
without the least murmur or indisposition, left all doors open
for his entrance ; (a rare temper ! and could proceed from
nothing, but his great perfection in loving field-sports;)
which the King received as so great an obligation, that he
always after loved him in the second place, and commended
him to his son at his death, as a man to be relied on in point
of honesty and fidelity ; though it appeared afterwards, that
he was not strongly built, nor had sufficient ballast to endure
a storm ; of which more will be said hereafter.

The other, the earl of Dorset, was, to all intents, principles,
and purposes, another man ; his person beautiful, and grace-
ful, and vigorous ; his wit pleasant, sparkling, and sublime ;
and his other parts of learning, and language, of that lustre,
that he could not miscarry in the world. The vices he had
were of the age, which he was not stubborn enough to con-
temn or resist. He was a younger brother, grandchild to the
great Treasurer Buckhurst, created, at the king's first entrance,
earl of Dorset, who outlived his father, and took care and
delight in the education of his grandchild, and left him a
good support for a younger brother, besides a wife, who was
heir to a fair fortune. As his person and parts were such as
are before mentioned, so he gave them full scope, without
restraint ; and indulged to his appetite all the pleasures that
season of his life (the fullest of jollity and riot of any that
preceded or succeeded) could tempt or suggest to him.

He entered into a fatal quarrel, upon a subject very un-
warrantable, with a young nobleman of Scotland, the lord
Bruce; upon which they both transported themselves into

EARL OF MONTGOMER Y AND EARL OF DORSET, 39

Flanders, and attended only by two surgeons placed at a
distance, and under an obligation not to stir but upon the
fall of one of them, they fought under the walls of Antwerp,
where the lord Bruce fell dead upon the place; and sir
Edward Sackville (for so he was then called) being likewise
hurt, retired into the next monastery, which was at hand.
Nor did this miserable accident (which he did always exceed-
ingly lament,) make that thorough impression upon him, but
that he indulged still too much to those importunate and
insatiate appetites, even of that individual person, that had so
lately embarked him in that desperate enterprise ; being too
much tinder not to be inflamed with those sparks.

His elder brother did not enjoy his grandfather's title many
years, before it descended, for want of heirs male, to the
younger brother. But in these few years, by an excess of
expense in all the ways to which money can be applied, he
so entirely consumed almost the whole great fortune that
descended to him, that, when he was forced to leave the title
to his younger brother, he left upon the matter nothing to
him to support it ; which exposed him to many difficulties
and inconveniences. Yet his known great parts, and the
very good general reputation he had, notwithstanding his
defects, acquired, (for as he was eminent in the House of
Commons, whilst he sat there ; so he shined in the House of
Peers, when he came to move in that sphere,) inclined King
James to call him to his Privy- Council before his death. And
if he had not too much cherished his natural constitution and
propensity, and been too much grieved and wrung by an
uneasy and strait fortune, he would have been an excellent
man of business ; for he had a very sharp, discerning spirit,
and was a man of an obliging nature, much honour, and
great generosity, and of most entire fidelity to the Crown.

40 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

The Eabl of Holland.

The earl of Holland was a younger son of a noble house,
and a very fruitful bed, which divided a numerous issue
between two great fathers ; the eldest, many sons and daugh-
ters to the lord Rich ; the younger, of both sexes, to Mount-
joy earl of Devonshire, who had been more than once married
to the mother ^. The reputation of his family gave him no
great advantage in the world, though his eldest brother was
earl of Warwick, and owner of a great fortune ; and his
younger earl of Newport, of a very plentiful revenue likewise.
He, after some time spent in France, betook himself to the
war in Holland, which he intended to have made his profes-
sion; where, after he had made two or three campaigns,
according to the custom of the English volunteers, he came
in the leisure of the winter to visit his friends in England, and
the Court, that shined then in the plenty and bounty of King
James; and about the time of the infancy of the duke of
Buckingham's favour, to whom he grew in a short time very
acceptable. But his friendship was more entire to the earl
of Carlisle, who was more of his nature and humour, and had
a generosity more applicable at that time to his fortune and
his ends. And it was thought by many who stood within view,
that for some years he supported himself upon the familiarity
and friendship of the other; which continued mutually between
them very many years, with little interruption, to their death.

He was a very handsome man, of a lovely and winning
presence, and gentle conversation ; by which he got so easy
an admission into the Court, and grace of King James, that
he gave over the thought of further intending the life of a

* [The allusion is to the engagement, marriage and divorce of Lady
Rich, married by Laud, 1605, to Lord Mountjoy.]

THE EARL OF HOLLAND. 4 1

soldier. He took all the ways he could to endear himself to
the duke, and to his confidence, and wisely declined the
receiving any grace or favour, but as his donation ; above all,
avoided the suspicion that the King had any kindness for him,
upon any account but of the duke, whose creature he desired
to be esteemed, though the earl of Carlisle's friend. And he
prospered so well in that pretence, that the King scarce made
more haste to advance the duke, than the duke did to pro-
mote the other.

He first preferred him to a wife, the daughter and heir of
Cope, by whom he had a good fortune ; and, amongst other
things, the manor and seat of Kensington, of which he was
shortly after made baron. And he had quickly so entire a
confidence in him, that he prevailed with the King to put him
about his son the Prince of Wales, and to be a gentleman of
his bedchamber, before the duke himself had reason to
promise himself any proportion of his highness's grace and
protection. He was then made earl of Holland, captain of
the Guard, knight of the Order, and of the Privy-Council ; sent
the first ambassador into France to treat the marriage with
the Queen, or rather privately to treat about the marriage
before he was ambassador. And when the duke went to the
Isle of Rh^, he trusted the earl of Holland with the command
of that army with which he was to be recruited and assisted.

And in this confidence, and in this posture, he was left by
the duke when he died; and having the advantage of the
Queen's good opinion and favour, (which the duke neither
had, nor cared for,) he made all possible approaches towards
the obtaining his trust, and succeeding him in his power, or
rather that the Queen might have solely that power, and he
only be subservient to her ; and upon this account he made
a continual war upon the earl of Portland the Treasurer, and

42 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

all Others who were not gracious to the Queen, or desired not
the increase of her authority. And in this state, and under
this protection, he received every day new obligations from
the King, and great bounties, and continued to flourish above
any man in the court, whilst the weather was fair : but the
storm did no sooner arise, but he changed so much, and
declined so fast from the honour he was thought to be master
of, that he fell into that condition, which there will be here-
after too much cause to mention, and to enlarge upon.

Sib John Cooke and Sie Dudley Cakleton.

The two Secretaries of State (which were not in those days
officers of that magnitude they have been since, being only
to make despatches upon the conclusion of councils, not to
govern, or preside in those councils) were sir John Cooke,
who, upon the death of sir Albert More ton, was, from being
Master of Requests, preferred to be Secretary of State ; and
sir Dudley Carleton, who, from his employment in Holland,
was put into the place of the lord Conway, who, for age and
incapacity, was at last removed from the Secretary's office,
which he had exercised for many years with very notable
insufficiency ; so that King James was wont pleasantly to say,
* That Stenny ' (the duke of Buckingham) * had given him
two very proper servants; a secretary, who could neither
write or read ; and a groom of his bedchamber, who could
not truss his points ; ' Mr. Clark having but one hand.

Of these two Secretaries, the former was a man of a very
narrow education, and a narrower nature ; having continued
long in the university of Cambridge, where he had gotten
Latin learning enough, and afterwards in the country in the
condition of a private gentleman, till after he was fifty years
of age ; when, upon some reputation he had for industry and

S/J? JOHN COOKE AND SIR DUDLEY CARLETON. 43

diligence, he was called to some painful employment in the
oflSce of the Navy, which he discharged well ; and afterwards
to be Master of Requests, and then to be Secretary of State,
which he enjoyed to a great age: and was a man rather
unadorned with parts of vigour and quickness, and unendowed
with any notable virtues, than notorious for any weakness or
defect of understanding, than transported with any vicious
inclinations, appetite to money only excepted. His cardinal
perfection was industry, and his most eminent infirmity
covetousness. His long experience had informed him well
of the state and affairs of England; but of foreign transac-
tions, or the common interest of Christian princes, he was
entirely ignorant and undisceming.

Sir Dudley Carleton was of a quite contrary nature, con-
stitution, and education, and understood all that related to
foreign employment, and the condition of other princes and
nations, very well: but was utterly unacquainted with the
government, laws, and customs of his own country, and the
nature of the people. He was a younger son in a good
gentleman's family, and bred in Christ Church, in the univer-
sity of Oxford, where he was a student of the foundation, and
a young man of parts and towardly expectation. He went
from thence early into France, and was soon after secretary
to sir Harry Nevil, the ambassador there. He had been sent
ambassador to Venice, where he resided many years with
good reputation; and was no sooner returned from thence
into England, than he went ambassador into Holland, to the
States General, and resided there when that synod was
assembled at Dort, which hath given the world so much
occasion since for uncharitable disputations, which they were
called together to prevent. Here the ambassador was not
thought so equal a spectator, or assessor, as he ought to have

44 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

been ; but by the infusions he made into King James, and by
his own activity, he did all he could to discountenance that
party that was most learned, and to raise the credit and
authority of the other; which has since proved as inconvenient
and troublesome to their own country, as to their neighbours.
He was once more ambassador extraordinary in Holland
after the death of King James, and was the last who was
admitted to be present, and to vote in the general assembly
of the States, under that character, of which great privilege
the Crown had been possessed from a great part of the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, and through the time of King James to
that moment; which administered fresh matter of murmur
for the giving up the towns of the Brill, and Flushing, which
had been done some years before by King James ; without
which men thought those States would not have had the
courage so soon to have degraded the Crown of England from
a place in their councils, which had prospered so eminently
under the shadow of that power and support. As soon as
he returned from Holland, he was called to the Privy-Council;
and the making him Secretary of State, and a peer of the
realm, when his estate was scarce visible, was the last piece
of workmanship the duke of Buckingham lived to finish, who
seldom satisfied himself with conferring a single obligation.

Attoeney-Genebal Noy and Sie John Pinch.

The first, upon the great fame of his ability and learning,
(and very able and learned he was,) was, by great industry
and importunity from Court, persuaded to accept that place,
for which all other men laboured, (being the best, for profit,
that profession is capable of,) and so he suffered himself to
be made the King's Attorney general. The Court made no

ATTORNEY-GENERAL NOY AND SIR JOHN FINCH. 45

impression upon his manners ; upon his mind it did : and
though he wore about him an affected morosity, which made
him unapt to flatter other men, yet even that morosity and
pride rendered him the most liable to be grossly flattered
himself, that can be imagined. And by this means the great
persons, who steered the public aff'airs, by admiring his
parts, and extolling his judgment as well to his face as
behind his back, wrought upon him by degrees, for the
eminency of the service, to be an instrument in all their
designs ; thinking that he could not give a clearer testimony,
that his knowledge in the law was greater than all other
men's, than by making that law which all other men believed
not to be so. So he moulded, framed, and pursued the
odious and crying project of soap ; and with his own hand
drew and prepared the writ for ship-money, both which will
be the lasting monuments of his fame. In a word, he was
an unanswerable instance, how necessary a good education
and knowledge of men is to make a wise man, at least a man
fit for business.

Sir John Finch had much that the other wanted, but no-
thing that the other had. Having led a licentious life in a
restrained fortune, and having set up upon the stock of a
good wit, and natural parts, without the superstructure of
much knowledge in the profession by which he was to grow;
[he] was willing to use those weapons in which he had most
skill, and so (being not unseen in the affections of the court,
but not having reputation enough to guide or reform them)
he took up ship-money where Mr. Noy left it ; and, being a
judge, carried it up to that pinnacle, from whence he almost
broke his own neck, having, in his journey thither, been too
much a solicitor to induce his brethren to concur in a judg-
ment they had all cause to repent. To which, his declaration,

46 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

after he was Keeper of the Great Seal of England, must be
added, upon a demurrer put in to a bill before him, which
had no other equity in it, than an order of the lords of the
Council ; * that whilst he was Keeper, no man should be so
saucy to dispute those orders, but that the wisdom of that
board should be always ground enough for him to make a
decree in chancery;' which was so great an aggravation of
the excess of that Table, that it received more prejudice from
that act of unreasonable countenance and respect, than from
all the contempt could possibly have been offered to it. But
of this no more.

Now after all this (and I hope I cannot be accused of
much flattery in this inquisition) I must be so just as to
say, that, during the whole time that these pressures were
exercised, and those new and extraordinary ways were run,
that is, from the dissolution of the Parliament in the fourth
year, to the beginning of this Parhament, which was above
twelve years, this kingdom, and all his majesty's dominions,
(of the interruption in Scotland somewhat shall be said in
its due time and place,) enjoyed the greatest calm, and the
fullest measure of felicity, that any people in any age, for so
long time together, have been blessed with ; to the wonder
and envy of all the parts of Christendom.

Teoubles iw Sootland.

The King was always the most punctual observer of all
decency in his devotion, and the strictest promoter of the
ceremonies of the Church, as believing in his soul the Church
of England to be instituted the nearest to the practice of the
apostles, and the best for the propagation and advancement
of Christian religion, of any church in the world : and on

TROUBLES IN SCOTLAND. 47

the other side, though no man was more averse from the
Romish Church than he was, nor better understood the
motives of their separation from us, and animosity against
us, he had the highest dislike and prejudice to that part of
his own subjects, who were against the government estab-
Hshed, and did always look upon them as a very dangerous
and seditious people, who would, under pretence of con-
science, which kept them from submitting to the spiritual
jurisdiction, take the first opportunity they could find, or
make, to disturb and withdraw themselves from their tem-
poral subjection; and therefore he had, with the utmost
vigilance, caused that temper and disposition to be watched
and provided against in England ; and if it were then in
truth there, it lurked with wonderful secrecy. In Scotland
indeed it covered the whole nation, so that though there
were bishops in name, the whole jurisdiction, and they them-
selves were, upon the matter, subject to an assembly, which
was purely Presbyterian ; no form of religion in practice, no
Kturgy, nor the least appearance of any beauty of holiness :
the clergy, for the most part, corrupted in their principles ;
at least, (for it cannot be denied but that their universities,
especially Aberdeen, flourished under many excellent scholars
and very learned men,) none countenanced by the great
men, or favoured by the people, but such. Yet, though all
the cathedral churches were totally neglected with reference
to those administrations over the whole kingdom, yet the
King's own chapel at Holyrood-house had still been main-
tained with the decency and splendour of the cathedral
service, and all other formalities incident to the royal chapel ;
and the whole nation seemed, in the time of King James,
well inclined to receive the liturgy of the Church of England,
which the king exceedingly desired, and was so confident of.

48 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

that they who were privy to the counsels of that King in that
time did believe, that the bringing that work to pass was
the principal end of his progress thither some years before
his death, though he was not so well satisfied at his being
there, two or three of the principal persons trusted by him in
the government of that kingdom, dying in or about that very
time : but [though] he returned without making any visible
attempt in that affair, yet he retained still the purpose and
resolution to his death to bring it to pass. However, his two
or three last years were less pleasant to him, by the Prince's
voyage into Spain, the jealousies which, about that time,
began in England, and the imperious proceedings in parlia-
ment there, so that he thought it necessary to suspend any
prosecution of that design, until a more favourable conjunc-
ture, and he lived not to see that conjuncture.

The King his son, who, with his kingdoms and other
virtues, inherited that zeal for religion, proposed nothing
more to himself, than to unite his three kingdoms in one
form of God's worship, and in a uniformity in public devo-
tions ; and there being now so great a serenity in all his
dominions as is mentioned before, there is great reason to
believe, that in this journey into Scotland to be crowned, he
carried the resolution with him to finish that important
business in the Church at the same time. And to that end,
the then bishop of London, Dr. Laud, attended on his
majesty throughout that whole journey, which, as he was
dean of the chapel, he was not obliged to do, and no doubt
would have been excused from, if that design had not been
in view ; to accomplish which he was not less solicitous than
the King himself, nor the King the less solicitous for his
advice. He preached in the royal chapel, (which scarce any
Englishman had ever done before in the King's presence,)

I

ARCHBISHOP LAUD,

49

and principally upon the benefit of conformity, and the
reverent ceremonies of the Church, with all the marks of
approbation and applause imaginable ; the great civility of
that people being so notorious and universal, that they would
not appear unconformable to his majesty's wish in any
particular. And many wise men were then and still are of
opinion, that if the King had then proposed the liturgy of
the Church of England to have been received and practised
by that nation, it would have been submitted to against all
opposition : but, upon mature consideration, the King con-
cluded that it was not a good season to promote that busi-
ness.

Abchbishop Laud.

It was within one week after the King's return from
Scotland, that Abbot died at his house at Lambeth. And
the King took very little time to consider who should be his
successor, but the very next time the bishop of London (who
was longer upon his way home than the king had been) came
to him, his majesty entertained him very cheerfully with this
compellation, ^My lord's grace of Canterbury, you are very
welcome;' and gave order the same day for the dispatch of
all the necessary forms for the translation : so that within a
month or thereabouts after the death of the other archbishop,
he was completely invested in that high dignity, and setded
in his palace at Lambeth. This great prelate had been before
in great favour with the duke of Buckingham, whose great
confidant he was, and by him recommended to the kingi as
fittest to be trusted in the conferring all ecclesiastical prefer-
ments, when he was but bishop of St. David's, or newly
preferred to Bath and Wells ; and from that time he entirely
governed that province without a rival : so that his promotion

E

50 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

to Canterbury was long foreseen and expected
attended with any increase of envy or dislike.

He was a man of great parts, and very exemplary virtues,
allayed and discredited by some unpopular natural infirmities;
the greatest of which was, (besides a hasty, sharp way of
expressing himself,) that he believed innocence of heart, and
integrity of manners, was a guard strong enough to secure
any man in his voyage through this world, in what company
soever he travelled, and through what ways soever he was to
pass : and sure never any man was better supplied with that
provision. He was born of honest parents, who were well
able to provide for his education in the schools of learning,
from whence they sent him to St. John's college in Oxford,
the worst endowed at that time of any in that famous uni-
versity. From a scholar he became a fellow, and then the
president of that college, after he had received all the graces
and degrees (the proctorship and the doctorship) could be
obtained there. He was always maligned and persecuted by
those who were of the Calvinian faction, which was then very
powerful, and who, according to their useful maxim and
practice, call every man they do not love, Papist ; and under
this senseless appellation they created him many troubles
and vexations, and so far suppressed him, that though he
was the King's chaplain, and taken notice of for an excellent
preacher, and a scholar of the most sublime parts, he had
not any preferment to invite him to leave his poor college,
which only gave him bread, till the vigour of his age was
past : and when he was promoted by King James, it was but
to a poor bishopric in Wales, which was not so good a sup-
port for a bishop, as his college was for a private scholar,
though a doctor.

Parliaments in that time were frequent, and grew very busy;

ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 51

and the party under which he had suffered a continual per-
secution, appeared very powerful, and full of design, and
they who had the courage to oppose them, began to be
taken notice of with approbation and countenance : and
under this style he came to be first cherished by the duke of
Buckingham, after he had made some experiments of the
temper and spirit of the other people, nothing to his satis-
faction. From this time he prospered at the rate of his own
wishes, and being transplanted out of his cold barren diocese
of St. David's, into a warmer climate, he was left, as was said
before, by that omnipotent favourite in that great trust with
the King, who was sufficiently indisposed towards the persons
or the principles of Mr. Calvin's disciples.

When he came into great authority, it may be, he retained
too keen a memory of those who had so unjustly and un-
charitably persecuted him before, and, I doubt, was so far
transported with the same passions he had reason to com-
plain of in his adversaries, that, as they accused him of Popery,
because he had some doctrinal opinions which they liked
not, though they were nothing allied to Popery; so he enter-
tained too much prejudice to some persons, as if they were
enemies to the discipline of the church, because they con-
curred with Calvin in some doctrinal points, when they
abhorred his discipline, and reverenced the government of,
the Church, and prayed for the peace of it with as much
zeal and fervency as any in the kingdom ; as they made
manifest in their lives, and in their sufferings with it, and for
it. He had, from his first entrance into the world, without
any disguise or dissimulation, declared his own opinion of
that classis of men ; and, as soon as it was in his power, he
did all he could to hinder the growth and increase of that
faction, and to restrain those who were inclined to it, from

E 2

5iJ SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

doing the mischief they desired to do. But his power at
Court could not enough quahfy him to go through with that
difficult reformation, whilst he had a superior in the Church,
who, having the reins in his hand, could slacken them
according to his own humour and indiscretion, and was
thought to be the more remiss, to irritate his choleric dis-
position. But when he had now the primacy in his own
hand, the King being inspired with the same zeal, he thought
he should be to blame, and have much to answer, if he did
not make haste to apply remedies to those diseases, which he
saw would grow apace.

In the end of September of the year 1633, he was invested
in the title, power, and jurisdiction of archbishop of Canter-
bury, and entirely in possession of the revenue thereof,
without a rival in Church or State ; that is, no man professed
to oppose his greatness; and he had never interposed or
appeared in matter of State to this time. His first care was,
that the place he was removed from might be supplied with
a man who would be vigilant to pull up those weeds, which
the London soil was too apt to nourish, and so drew his old
friend and companion Dr. Juxon as near to him as he could..
They had been fellows together in one college in Oxford,
and, when he was first made bishop of St. David's, he made
him president of that college : when he could no longer keep
the deanery of the chapel royal, he made him his successor
in that near attendance upon the King: and now he was
raised to be archbishop, he easily prevailed with the King to
make the other, bishop of London, before, or very soon after,
he had been consecrated bishop of Hereford, if he were more
than elect of that church.

LORD COTTINGTON, ^^

BOOK II.

LOBD COTTrNraTON.

The lord Cottington, though he was a very wise man, yet
having spent the greatest part of his life in Spain, and so
having been always subject to the unpopular imputation of
being of the Spanish faction, indeed was better skilled to
make his master great abroad, than gracious at home ; and
being Chancellor of the Exchequer from the time of the disso-
lution of the Parliament in the fourth year, had his hand in
many hard shifts for money ; and had the disadvantage of
being suspected at least a favourer of the Papists, (though
that religion thought itself nothing beholding to him,) by
which he was in great umbrage with the people : and then
though he were much less hated than either of the other two,
and the less, because there was nothing of kindness between
the archbishop and him ; and indeed very few particulars of
moment could be proved against him: yet there were two
objections against him, which rendered him as odious as any
to the great reformers ; the one, that he was not to be re-
conciled to, or made use of in, any of their designs; the
other, that he had two good offices, without the having of
which their reformation could not be perfect. For besides
being Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was likewise Master of
the Wards, and had raised the revenue of that court to the
King to be much greater than it had ever been before his
administration ; and by which husbandry, all the rich families
of England, of noblemen and gentlemen, were exceedingly
incensed, and even indevoted to the crown, looking upon
what the law had intended for their protection and preser-
vation, to be now applied to their destruction ; and therefore

54 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

resolved to take the first opportunity to ravish that jewel out
of the royal diadem, though it were fastened there by the
known law, upon as unquestionable a right, as the subject
enjoyed any thing that was most his own.

BOOK III.

The Eabl of Stbaffobd.

It was about three of the clock in the afternoon, when the
earl of Strafford, (being infirm, and not well disposed in his
health, and so not having stirred out of his house that
morning,) hearing that both Houses still sat, thought fit to go
thither. It was believed by some (upon what ground was
never clear enough) that he made that haste then to accuse
the lord Say, and some others, of having induced the Scots
to invade the kingdom : but he was scarce entered into the
House of Peers, when the message from the House of Com-
mons was called in, and when Mr. Pym at the bar, and in
the name of all the Commons of England, impeached Thomas
earl of Strafford (with the addition of all his other titles) of
high treason, and several other heinous crimes and misde-
meanours, of which he said the commons would in due time
make proof in form ; and in the mean time desired in their
name, that he might be sequestered from all councils, and
be put into safe custody ; and so withdrawing, the earl was,
with more clamour than was suitable to the gravity of that
supreme court, called upon to withdraw, hardly obtaining
leave to be first heard in his place, which could not be
denied him.

And he then lamented ' his great misfortune to lie under
so heavy a charge ; professed his innocence and integrity,
which he made no doubt he should make appear to them ;

LORD SAY. ^^

desired that he might have his liberty, until some guilt
should be made appear ; and desired them to consider, what
mischief they should bring upon themselves, if upon such
a general charge, without the mention of any one crime,
a peer of the realm should be committed to prison, and so
deprived of his place in that house, where he was summoned
by the King's writ to assist in the council; and of what
consequence such a precedent might be to their own privilege
and birthright: and then withdrew. And with very little
debate the Peers resolved that he should be committed to
the custody of the gentleman usher of the Black-Rod, there to
remain imtil the House of Commons should bring in a par-
ticular charge against him: which determination of the
house was pronounced to him at the bar upon his knees, by
the lord keeper of the Great Seal, upon the woolsack : and
so being taken away by Maxwell, gentleman usher, Mr. Pym
was called in, and informed what the house had done ; after
which (it being then about four of the clock) both houses
adjourned till the next day.

LOBD SAY.

The lord viscount Say, a man of a close and reserved
nature, of a mean and a narrow fortune, of great parts, and
of the highest ambition, but whose ambition would not be
satisfied with ofiBces and preferment, without some con-
descensions and alterations in ecclesiastical matters. He
had for many years been the oracle of those who were called
Puritans in the worst sense, and steered all their counsels and
designs. He was a notorious enemy to the Church, and to
most of the eminent churchmen, with some of whom he had
particular contests. He had always opposed and contradicted
all acts of state, and all taxes and impositions, which were

56 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

not exactly legal, and so had as eminently and as obstinately
refused the payment of ship-money as Mr. Hambden had
done ; though the latter, by the choice of the King's Council,
had brought his cause to be first heard and argued, with
which judgment that was intended to conclude the whole
right in that matter, and to overrule all other cases, the
lord Say would not acquiesce, but pressed to have his own
case argued, and was so solicitous in person with all the
judges, both privately at their chambers, and publicly in the
court at Westminster, that he was very grievous to them. His
commitment at York the year before, because he refused to
take an oath, or rather subscribe a protestation, against
holding intelligence with the Scots, when the King first
marched against them^ had given him much credit. In a
word, he had very great authority with all the discontented
party throughout the kingdom, and a good reputation with
many who were not, who believed him to be a wise man and
of a very useful temper, in an age of Hcense, and one who
would still adhere to the law.

LOBD MANDEVILE and THE EABL OP ESSEX.

The lord Mandevile, eldest son to the lord Privy-Seal,
was a person of great civility, and very well bred, and had
been early in the court under the favour of the duke of
Buckingham, a lady of whose family he had married: he had
attended upon the Prince when he was in Spain, and had
been called to the house of peers in the lifetime of his father,
[by the name of the lord Kimbolton,] which was a very extra-
ordinary favour. Upon the death of the duke of Buck-
ingham, his wife being likewise dead, he married the daughter
of the earl of Warwick; a man in no grace at court, and

LORD MANDEVILE AND THE EARL OF ESSEX. ^"J

looked upon as the greatest patron of the Puritans, because
of much the greatest estate of all who favoured them, and so
was esteemed by them with great application and veneration :
though he was of a life very licentious, and unconformable to
their professed rigour, which they rather dispensed with, than
to withdraw from a house where they received so eminent a
protection, and such notable bounty. From this latter
marriage the lord Mandevile totally estranged himself from
the Court, and upon all occasions appeared enough to dislike
what was done there, and engaged himself wholly in the
conversation of those who were most notoriously of that
party, whereof there was a kind of fraternity of many persons
of good condition, who chose to live together in one family,
at a gentleman's house of a fair fortune, near the place where
the lord Mandevile lived ; whither others of that classis like-
wise resorted, and maintained a joint and mutual cor-
respondence and conversation together with much familiarity
and friendship : that lord, to support and the better to im-
prove that popularity, living at a much higher rate than the
narrow exhibition allowed to him by his wary father could
justify, making up the rest by contracting a great debt,
which long lay heavy upon him ; by which generous way
of living, and by his natural civility, good manners, and
good nature, which flowed towards all men, he was uni-
versally acceptable and beloved; and no man more in the
confidence of the discontented and factious party than he,
and [none] to whom the whole mass of their designs, as well
what remained in chaos as what was formed, was more
entirely communicated, and more consulted with. And
therefore these three lords are nominated as the principal
agents in the House of Peers, (though there were many there
of quality and interest much superior to either of them,)

58 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

because they were principally and absolutely trusted by those
who were to manage all in the House of Commons, and to
raise that spirit which was upon all occasions to inflame
the lords. [It] being enough known and understood, that,
how indisposed and angry soever many of them at present
appeared to be, there would be still a major part there, who
would, if they were not overreached, adhere to the King and
the established government. And therefore these three persons
were trusted without reserve, and relied upon so to steer, as
might increase their party by all the arts imaginable; and
they had dexterity enough to appear to depend upon those
lords, who were looked upon as greater, and as popular men;
and to be subservient to their purposes, whom in truth they
governed and disposed of.

And by these artifices, and applications to his vanity, and
magnifying the general reputation and credit he had with the
people, and sharpening the sense he had of his late ill treat-
ment at Court, they fully prevailed [upon], and possessed
themselves of, the earl of Essex ; who, though he was no
good speaker in public, yet, having sat long in ParHament,
and so well acquainted with the order of it in very active
times, was a better speaker there than any where else, and
being always heard with attention and respect, had much
authority in the debates. Nor did he need any incitement
(which made all approaches to him the more easy) to do any
thing against the persons of the lord archbishop of Canter-
bury and the lord lieutenant of Ireland, towards whom he
professed a full dislike ; who were the only persons against
whom there was any declared design, and the Scots having
in their manifesto demanded justice against those two great
men, as the cause of the war between the nations. And in
this prosecution there was too great a concurrence : Warwick,

LORD MANDEVILE AND THE EARL OF ESSEX. 59

Brook, Wharton, Paget, Howard, and some others, implicitly
followed and observed the dictates of the lords mentioned
before, and started or seconded what they were directed.

In the House of Commons were many persons of wisdom
and gravity, who being possessed of great and plentiful
fortunes, though they were undevoted enough to the Court,
had all imaginable duty for the King, and affection to the
government established by law or ancient custom ; and
without doubt, the major part of that body consisted of men
who had no mind to break the peace of the kingdom, or to
make any considerable alteration in the government of
Church or State : and therefore all inventions were set on foot
from the beginning to work on them, and corrupt them, by
suggestions ' of the dangers which threatened all that was
precious to the subject in their liberty and their property,
by overthrowing or overmastering the law, and subjecting
it to an arbitrary power, and by countenancing Popery to
the subversion of the Protestant religion ; ' and then, by
infusing terrible apprehensions into some, and so working
upon their fears * of being called in question for somewhat
they had done,' by which they would stand in need of their
protection ; and raising the hopes of others, * that, by con-
curring with them, they should be sure to obtain offices, and
honours, and any kind of preferment/ Though there were
too many corrupted and misled by these several temptations,
and others who needed no other temptations than from the
fierceness and barbarity of their own natures, and the malice
they had contracted against the Church and against the Court ;
yet the number was not great of those in whom the govern-
ment of the rest was vested, nor were there many who had
the absolute authority to lead, though there were a multitude
that was disposed to follow.

6o SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

John Hambden.
Mr. Hambden was a mail of much greater cunning, and
it may be of the most discerning spirit, and of the greatest
address and insinuation to bring anything to pass which he
desired, of any man of that time, and who laid the design
deepest. He was a gentleman of a good extraction, and a
fair fortune, who, from a life of great pleasure and license,
had on a sudden retired to extraordinary sobriety and strict-
ness, and yet retained his usual cheerfulness and affability ;
which, together with the opinion of his wisdom and justice,
and the courage he had shewed in opposing the ship-money,
raised his reputation to a very great height, not only in
Buckinghamshire, where he lived, but generally throughout
the kingdom. He was not a man of many words, and rarely
begun the discourse, or made the first entrance upon any
business that was assumed ; but a very weighty speaker, and
after he had heard a full debate, and observed how the house
was like to be inclined, took up the argument, and shortly,
and clearly, and craftily, so stated it, that he commonly con-
ducted it to the conclusion he desired ; and if he found he
could not do that, he never was without the dexterity to
divert the debate to another time, and to prevent the de-
termining any thing in the negative, which might prove
inconvenient in the future. He made so great a show of
civility, and modesty, and humility, and always of mistrusting
his own judgment, and of esteeming his with whom he con-
ferred for the present, that he seemed to have no opinions or
resolutions, but such as he contracted from the information
and instruction he received upon the discourses of others,
whom he had a wonderful art of governing, and leading into
his principles and inclinations, whilst they believed that he

Sm HARRY VANE, dl

wholly depended upon their counsel and advice. No man
had ever a greater power over himself, or was less the man
that he seemed to be, which shortly after appeared to every
body, when he cared less to keep on the mask.

Sib Habrt Vane.

The other, sir Harry Vane, was a man of great natural
parts, and of very profound dissimulation, of a quick con-
ception, and very ready, sharp, and weighty expression. He
had an unusual aspect, which, though it might naturally pro-
ceed both from his father and mother, neither of which were
beautiful persons, yet made men think there was somewhat
in him of extraordinary ; and his whole life made good that
imagination. Within a very short time after he returned
from his studies in Magdalen college in Oxford, where,
though he was under the care of a very worthy tutor, he lived
not with great exactness, he spent some little time in France,
and more in Geneva ; and, after his return into England, con-
tracted a full prejudice and bitterness against the Church, both
against the form of the government, and the liturgy, which was
generally in great reverence, even with many of those who
were not friends to the other. In this giddiness, which then
much displeased, or seemed to displease, his father, who still
appeared highly conformable, and exceedingly sharp against
those who were not, he transported himself into New England,
a colony within few years before planted by a mixture of all
religions, which disposed the professors to dislike the govern-
ment of the Church; who were qualified by the king's
charter to choose their own government and governors,
under the obligation, ' that every man should take the oaths
of allegiance and supremacy ; ' which all the first planters

62, SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

did, when they received their charter, before they transported
themselves from hence, nor was there in many years after
the least scruple amongst them of complying with those obli-
gations; so far men were, in the infancy of their schism,
from refusing to take lawful oaths. He was no sooner
landed there, but his parts made him quickly taken notice of,
and very probably his quality, being the eldest son of a Privy-
Councillor, might give him some advantage ; insomuch that,
when the next season came for the election of their magis-
trates, he was chosen their governor : in which place he had
so ill fortune (his working and unquiet fancy raising and in-
fusing a thousand scruples of conscience, which they had not
brought over with them, nor heard of before) that K^ un-
satisfied with them, and they with him, he transported himself
into England ; having sowed such seed of dissension there,
as grew up too prosperously, and miserably divided the poor
colony into several factions, and divisions, and persecutions
of each other, which still continue to the great prejudice of
that plantation : insomuch as some of them, upon the ground
of their first expedition, liberty of conscience, have withdrawn
themselves from their jurisdiction, and obtained other charters
from the King, by which, in other forms of government, they
have enlarged their plantation, within new limits adjacent to
the other. He was no sooner returned into England, than
he seemed to be much reformed in those extravagancies, and,
with his father's approbation and direction, married a lady of
a good family, and by his father's credit with the earl of
Northumberland, who was High Admiral of England, was
joined presently and jointly with sir William Russel in the
oflSce of Treasurer of the Navy, (a place of great trust and
profit,) which he equally shared with the other, and seemed
a man well satisfied and composed to the government. When

THE EARL OF STRAFFORD'S TRIAL. 63

his father received the disobhgation from the lord Strafford,
by his being created baron of Raby, the house and land
of Vane, (and which title he had promised himself,) which
was unluckily cast upon him, purely out of contempt, they
sucked in all the thoughts of revenge imaginable ; and from
thence he betook himself to the friendship of Mr. Pym, and
all other discontented or seditious persons, and contributed
all that intelligence (which will be hereafter mentioned, as he
himself will often be) that designed the ruin of the earl, and
which grafted him in the entire confidence of those who
promoted the same; so that nothing was concealed from
him, though it is beheved that he communicated his own
thoughts to very few.

The Eabl op Stbafpord's Trial.

All things being thus prepared, and settled, on Monday,
the twenty-second of March, the earl of Strafford was brought
to the bar in Westminster-Hall; the Lords sitting in the middle
of the hall in their robes; and the Commoners, and some
strangers of quality, with the Scottish commissioners, and the
committee of Ireland, on either side : there being a close box
made at one end, at a very convenient distance for hearing,
in which the King and Queen sat untaken notice of, his
majesty, out of kindness and curiosity, desiring to hear all
that could be alleged: of which, I believe, he afterwards
repented himself, when his having been present at the trial
was alleged and urged to him, as an argument for the pass-
ing the bill of attainder.

After his charge was read, and an introduction made by
Mr. Pym, in which he called him the wicked earl\ some
member of the House of Commons, according to theu- parts

64 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

assigned, being a lawyer, applied and pressed the evidence,
with great license and sharpness of language ; and, when the
earl had made his defence, replied with the same liberty
upon whatsoever he said; taking all occasions of bitterly
inveighing against his person : which reproachful way of
carriage was looked upon with so much approbation, that
one of the managers (Mr. Palmer) lost all his credit and
interest with them, and never recovered it, for using a
decency and modesty in his carriage and language towards
him ; though the weight of his arguments pressed more upon
the earl, than all the noise of the rest.

The trial lasted eighteen days ; in which, ' all the hasty or
proud expressions, or words, he had uttered at any time
since he was first made a Privy-Councillor; all the acts of
passion or power that he had exercised in Yorkshire, from
the time that he was first president there ; his engaging
himself in projects in Ireland, as the sole making of flax, and
selling tobacco in that kingdom; his billeting of soldiers,
and exercising of martial law in that kingdom; his extra-
ordinary proceeding against the lord Mountnorris, and the.
lord Chancellor [Loftus] ; his assuming a power of judicature
at the Council-table to determine private interest, and matter
of inheritance; some rigorous and extrajudicial determin-
ations in cases of plantations ; some high discourses at the
Council-table in Ireland; and some casual and light dis-
courses at his own table, and at public meetings ; and lastly,
some words spoken in secret Council in this kingdom after
the dissolution of the last parliament,' were urged and pressed
against him, to make good the general charge, of 'an
endeavour to overthrow the fundamental government of the
kingdom, and to introduce an arbitrary power.'

The earl behaved himself with great show of humility and

I

THE EARL OF STRAFFORD" S TRIAL. 6^

submission ; but yet, with such a kind of courage, as would
lose no advantage ; and, in truth, made his defence with all
imaginable dexterity; answering this, and evading that, with
all possible skill and eloquence ; and though he knew not, till
he came to the bar, upon what parts of his charge they would
proceed against him, or what evidence they would produce,
he took very little time to recollect himself, and left nothing
unsaid that might make for his own justification.

For the business of Ireland ; he complained much, ' that,
by an order from the committee which prepared his charge
against him, all his papers in that kingdom, by which he
should make his defence, were seized and taken from him;
and, by virtue of the same order, all his goods, household
stuff, plate, and tobacco (amounting, as he said, to eighty
thousand pounds) were likewise seized ; so that he had not
money to subsist in prison : that all those ministers of state
in Ireland, who were most privy to the acts for which he was
questioned, and so could give the best evidence and testi-
mony on his behalf, were imprisoned under the charge of
treason. Yet he averred, that he had behaved himself in that
kingdom, according to the power and authority granted by
his commission and instructions, and according to the rules
and customs observed by former Deputies and Lieutenants.
That the monopolies of flax and tobacco had been under-
taken by him for the good of that kingdom, and benefit of
his majesty : the former establishing a most beneficial trade
and good husbandry, not before practised there ; and the
latter bringing a revenue of above forty thousand pounds to
the crown, and advancing trade, and bringing no damage to
the subject. That billeting of soldiers,' (which was alleged
to be treason, by a statute made in Ireland in the time of
king Henry the Sixth,) ' and the exercising of martial law,

F

66 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

had been always practised by the Lieutenants, and Deputies of
that kingdom ; ' which he proved by the testimony and con-
fession of the earl of Cork and the lord Wilmot ; neither of
which desired to say more for his behoof, than inevitably
they must. He said, 'the act of parliament mentioned, of
Henry the Sixth, concerned not him ; it comprehending only
the inferior subjects, and making it penal to them to billet
soldiers, not the Deputy, or supreme commander ; if it did,
that it was repealed by Poyning's act, in the eleventh year of
Henry the Seventh : however, if it were not, and that it were
treason still, it was treason only in Ireland, and not in
England ; and therefore, that he could not be tried here for
it, but must be transmitted thither.' He said, ' the Council-
table in Ireland had a large, natural, legal jurisdiction, by
the institution and fundamental customs of that kingdom ;
and had, in all times, determined matters of the same nature,
which it had done in his time : and that the proceedings
there upon plantations had been with the advice of the
judges, upon a clear title of the Crown, and upon great
reason of state : and that the nature and disposition of that
people required a severe hand and strict reins to be held
upon them, which being loosed, the Crown would quickly feel
the mischief.*

For the several discourses, and words, wherewith he was
charged; he denied many, and explained and put a gloss
upon others, by the reasons and circumstances of the debate.
One particular, which they much insisted on, though it was
spoken twelve years before, ' that he should say in the public
hall in York, that the little finger of the prerogative should
lie heavier upon them than the loins of the law,' he directly
inverted; and proved, by two or three persons of credit,
* that he said ' (and the occasion made it probable, being

THE EARL OF STRAFFORD" S TRIAL, 67

upon the business of knighthood, which was understood to
be a legal tax) * the little finger of the law was heavier than
the loins of the prerogative ; ' that imposition for knighthood
amounting to a much higher rate, than any act of the prero-
gative which had been exercised. * However,' he said, ' he
hoped no indiscretion, or unskilfulness, or passion, or pride
of words, would amount to treason ; and for misdemeanours,
he was ready to submit to their justice.'

He made the least, that is, the worst excuse, for those two
acts against the lord Mountnorris, and the lord Chancellor ;
which indeed were powerful acts, and manifested a nature
excessively imperious if not inclined to tyranny; and, no
doubt, drew a greater dislike and terror, from sober and dis-
passioned persons, than all that was alleged against him. A
servant of the earl's, one Annesley, (kinsman to Mountnorris,)
attending on his lord during some fit of the gout, (of which
he often laboured,) had by accident, or negligence, suffered a
stool to fall upon the earl's foot; enraged with the pain
whereof, his lordship with a small cane struck Annesley : this
being merrily spoken of at dinner, at a table where the lord
Mountnorris was, (I think, the lord Chancellor's,) he said,
'the gendeman had a brother that would not have taken
such a blow.' This coming some months after to the
Deputy's hearing, he caused a council of war to be called;
the lord Mountnorris being an officer of the army ; where,
iipon an article * of moving sedition, and stirring up the
soldiers against the general,' he was charged with those
words formerly spoken at the lord Chancellor's table. What
defence he made, I know not ; for he was so surprised, that
he knew not what the matter was, when he was summoned
to that council : but the words being proved, he was deprived
of his office (being then Vice-Treasurer) and his foot-company;

F 2

68 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

committed to prison ; and sentenced * to lose his head.' The
office and company were immediately disposed of, and he
imprisoned, till the king sent him over a pardon, by which he
was discharged with his life ; all other parts of the sentence
being fully executed.

This seemed to all men a most prodigious course of
proceeding; that, in a time of full peace, a peer of the king-
dom and a Privy Councillor, for an unadvised, passionate,
mysterious word, (for the expression was capable of many
interpretations,) should be called before a council of war,
which could not reasonably be understood to have then a
jurisdiction over such persons, and in such cases ; and, with-
out any process, or formality of defence, in two hours should
be deprived of his life and fortune : the injustice whereof
seemed the more formidable, for that the lord Mountnorris
was known, for some time before, to stand in great jealousy
and disfavour with the earl : which made it looked on as a
pure act of revenge ; and gave all men warning, how they
trusted themselves in the territories where he commanded.

The Bill of Attaindeb.

The bill of attainder in few days passed the house of com-
mons ; though some lawyers, of great and known learning,
declared, 'that there was no ground or colour in law, to
judge him guilty of high treason:' and the lord Digby
(who had been, from the beginning, of that committee for
the prosecution, and had much more prejudice than kindness
to the earl) in a very pathetical speech declared, 'that he
could not give his consent to the bill ; not only, for that he
was unsatisfied in the matter of law, but, for that he was
more unsatisfied in the matter of fact; those words, upon

THE BILL OF ATTAINDER. 69

which the impeachment was principally grounded, being so
far from being proved by two witnesses, that he could not
acknowledge it to be by one ; since he could not admit sir
Harry Vane to be a competent witness, who being first ex-
amined, denied that the earl spake those words ; and upon
his second examination, remembered some ; and at his third
the rest of the words : ' and thereupon related many circum-
stances, and made many sharp observations upon what had
passed; which none but one of the committee could have
done; for which he was presently after questioned in the
House ; but made his defence so well, and so much to the
disadvantage of those who were concerned, that from that
time they prosecuted him with an implacable rage and un-
charitableness upon all occasions. The. bill passed with only
fifty-nine dissenting voices, there being near two hundred in
the house ; and was immediately sent up to the lords, with
this addition, 'that the commons would be ready the next
day in Westminster-hall, to give their lordships satisfaction
in the matter of law, upon what had passed at the trial.'

The earl was then again brought to the bar; the lords
sitting as before, in their robes ; and the commons as they
had done ; amongst them, Mr. Saint-John, (whom his majesty
had made his Solicitor general since the beginning of parlia-
ment,) from his place, argued for the] space of near an hour
the matter of law. Of the argument itself I shall say little,
it being in print, and in many hands ; I shall only remember
two notable propositions, which are sufficient characters of
the person and the time. Lest what had been said on the
earl's behalf, in point of law, and upon the want of proof,
should have made any impression in their lordships, he
averred, 'That, in that way of bill, private satisfiction to each
man's conscience was sufficient, although no evidence had

70 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

been given in at all : ' and as to the pressing the law, he said,
' It was true, we give law to hares and deer, because they
be beasts of chase ; but it was never accounted either cruelty,
or foul play, to knock foxes and wolves on the head as they
can be found, because they be beasts of prey.' In a word,
the law and the humanity were ahke ; the one being more
fallacious, and the other more barbarous, than in any age
had been vented in such an auditory.

The same day, as a better argument to the lords speedily
to pass the bill, the nine and fifty members of the House of
Commons, who (as is said before) had dissented from that
act, had their names written in pieces of parchment or paper,
under this superscription, Straffordians, or enemies to their
country, and those papers fixed upon posts, and other the
most visible places about the city; which was as great and
destructive a violation of the privileges and freedom of par-
liament, as can be imagined : yet, being complained of in the
House, not the least countenance was given to the complaint,
or the least care taken for the discovery.

The persons, who had still the conduct of the designs,
began to find, that their friends abroad (of whose help they
had still great need, for the getting petitions to be brought to
the house ; and for all tumultuous appearances in the city ;
and negociations with the common council) were not at all
satisfied with them, for their want of zeal in the matter of
religion; and, though they had branded as many of the
bishops, and others of the prelatical party, as had come in
their way : and received all petitions against the Church with
encouragement : yet, that there was nothing done, or visibly
in projection to be done, towards lessening their jurisdiction;
or indulging any of that liberty to their weak brethren, which
they had from the beginning expected from them. And

THE EARL OF BEDFORD. 71

then, the discourse of their ambition, and hopes of prefer-
ment at Court, was grown public, and raised much jealousy
of them.

The Eakl of Bedford and Bill of
Attainder.

The earl of Bedford secretly undertook to his majesty,
that the earl of Strafford's life should be preserved ; and to
procure his revenue to be settled, as amply as any of his
progenitors, the which he intended so really, that, to my
knowledge, he had it in design to endeavour the setting up
the excise in England, as the only natural means to advance
the king's profit. He fell sick within a week after the bill of
attainder was sent up to the lord's house ; and died shortly
after, much afflicted with the passion and fury which he per-
ceived his party inclined to : insomuch as he declared, to
some of near trust with him, ' that he feared the rage and
madness of this Parliament would bring more prejudice and
mischief to the kingdom, than it had ever sustained by the
long intermission of parliaments.' He was a wise man. and
would have proposed and advised moderate courses ; but was
not incapable, for want of resolution, of being carried into
violent ones, if his advice would not have been submitted to :
and therefore many, who knew him well, thought his death
not unseasonable, as well to his fame, as his fortune ; and
that it rescued him as well from some possible guilt, as from
those visible misfortunes, which men of all conditions have
since undergone.

As soon as the earl of Bedford was dead, the lord Say
(hoping to receive the reward of the treasurership) succeeded
him in his undertaking, and faithfully promised the King,
* that he should not be pressed in the matter of the earl of

7 a SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

Strafford's life : ' and under that promise got credit enough
to persuade his majesty to whatsoever he told was necessary
to that business. And thereupon, when the bill was depend-
ing with the lords, and when there was little suspicion that
it would pass, though the House of Commons every day by
messages endeavoured to quicken them, he persuaded the
King ' to go to the House of Peers, and, according to custom,
to send for the House of Commons, and then to declare him-
self, that he could not, with the safety of a good conscience,
ever give his consent to the bill that was there depending
before them concerning the earl of Strafford, if it should be
brought to him, because he was not satisfied in the point of
treason : but he was so fully satisfied that the earl was unfit
ever to serve him more, in any condition of employment,
that he would join with them in any Act, to make him utterly
incapable of ever bearing office, or having any other employ-
ment in any of his majesty's dominions : which he hoped
would satisfy them.'

This advice, upon the confidence of the giver, the King
resolved to follow : but when his resolution was imparted to
the earl, he immediately sent his brother to him, beseeching
his majesty ' by no means to take that way, for that he was
most assured it would prove very pernicious to him; and
therefore desired, he might depend upon the honour and
conscience of the Peers, without his majesty's interposition.'
The King told his brother, ' that he had taken that resolution
by the advice of his best friends ; but since he liked [it] not,
he would decline it.' The next morning the lord Say came
again to him, and finding his majesty altered in his intention,
told him, ' if he took that course he had advised him, he was
sure it would prevail; but if he declined it, he could not
promise his majesty what would be the issue, and should

THE BILL OF ATTAINDER. 73

hold himself absolutely disengaged from any undertaking.'
The King observing his posiliveness, and conceiving his in-
tentions to be very sincere, suffered himself to be guided by
him; and immediately went to the house, and said as the
other had advised. Whether that lord did in truth believe
the discovery of his majesty's conscience in that manner
would produce the effect he foretold : or whether he advised
it treacherously, to bring on those inconveniences which
afterwards happened; I know not: but many, who believed
his will to be much worse than his understanding, had the
uncharitableness to believe, that he intended to betray his
master, and to put the ruin of the earl out of question.

The event proved very fatal; for the King no sooner re-
turned from the House, than the House of Commons, in great
passion and fury, declared this last act of his majesty's to be
* the most unparalleled breach of privilege, that had ever hap-
pened ; that if his majesty might take notice what bills were
passing in either House, and declare his own opinion, it was
to prejudge their counsels, and they should not be able to
supply the commonwealth with wholesome laws, suitable to
the diseases it laboured under; that this was the greatest
obstruction of justice, that could be imagined; that they, and
whosoever had taken the late protestation, were bound to
maintain the privileges of Parliament, which were now so
grossly invaded and violated : ' with many other sharp dis-
courses to that purpose.

The next day great multitudes of people came down to
Westminster, and crowded about the House of Peers, ex-
claiming with great outcries, ' that they would have justice ; '
and publicly reading the names of those who had dissented
from that bill in the house of commons, as enemies to their
country ; and as any lord passed by, called Justice ^ justice !

74 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

and with great rudeness and insolence, pressing upon, and
thrusting, those lords whom they suspected not to favour
that bill; professing aloud, 'that they would be governed and
disposed by the honourable House of Commons, and would
defend their privileges according to their late protestation/
This unheard of act of insolence and sedition continued so
many days, till many lords -grew so really apprehensive of
having their brains beaten out, that they absented themselves
from the House ; and others, finding what seconds the House
of Commons was Hke to have to compass whatever they
desired, changed their minds ; and so in an afternoon, when
of the fourscore who had been present at the trial, there were
only six and forty lords in the house, (the good people still
crying at the doors for justice,) they put the bill to the ques-
tion, and eleven lords only dissenting, it passed that house,
and was ready for the King's assent.

The King continued as resolved never to give his con-
sent. The same oratory then attended him at Whitehall,
which had prevailed at Westminster ; and a rabble of many
thousand people besieged that place, crying out. Justice^
justice ; thai they would have justice ; not without great and
insolent threats and expressions, what they would do, if it
were not speedily granted. The Privy-Council was called
together, to advise what course was to be taken to suppress
these traitorous riots. Instead of considering how to rescue
their master's honour and his conscience from this infamous
violence and constraint, they press the King to pass the bill
of attainder, saying, 'there was no other way to preserve
himself and his posterity, than by so doing; and therefore
that he ought to be more tender of the safety of the king-
dom, than of any one person how innocent soever :' not one
counsellor interposing his opinion, to support his master's

THE BILL OF ATTAINDER. ^^

magnanimity and innocence : they who were of that mind,
"either suppressing their thoughts through fear, upon the new
doctrine established then by the new councillors, 'that no
man ought to presume to advise any thing in that place con-
trary to the sense of both Houses ; ' others sadly believing,
the force and violence offered to the King would be, before
God and man, a just excuse for whatsoever he should do.

His majesty told them, 'that what was proposed to him
to do, was in a diameter contrary to his conscience, and
that being so, he was sure they would not persuade him to
it, though themselves were never so well satisfied.' To that
point, they desired him 'to confer with his bishops, who, they
made no question, would better inform his conscience.' The
archbishop of York was at hand ; who, to his argument of
conscience, told him, ' that there was a private and a public
conscience ; that his public conscience as a king might not
only dispense with, but oblige him to do that which was
against his private conscience as a man : and that the ques-
tion was not, whether he should save the earl of Strafford, but,
whether he should perish with him : that the conscience of a
king to preserve his kingdom, the conscience of a husband
to preserve his wife, the conscience of a father to preserve
his children, (all which were now in danger,) weighed down
abundantly all the considerations the conscience of a master
or a friend could suggest to him, for the preservation of a
friend, or servant.' And by such unprelatical, ignominious
arguments, in plain terms advised him, ' even for conscience
sake, to pass that act.'

Though the bishop acted his part with more prodigious
boldness and impiety, the other of the same function (of
whose learning and sincerity the King and the world had
greater reverence) did not what might have been expected

76 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

from their calling or their trust ; but at least forbore to fortify
and confirm a conscience, upon the courage and piety of
which, themselves and their order did absolutely depend.

The Eakl of Stkapfobd Beheaded.

All things being thus transacted, to conclude the fate of
this great person, he was on the twelfth day of May brought
from the Tower of London (where he had been a prisoner
near six months) to the scaffold on Tower-hill ; where, with
a composed, undaunted courage, he told the people, * he was
come thither to satisfy them with his head ; but that he much
feared, the refof^mation which was begun in blood would not
prove so fortunate to the kingdom, as they expected, and he
wished : ' and after great expressions ' of his devotion to the
Church of England, and the Protestant religion established by
law, and professed in that Church ; of his loyalty to the King,
and affection to the peace and welfare of the kingdom ; ' with
marvellous tranquillity of mind, he delivered his head to the
block, where it was severed from his body at a blow : many
of the standers by, who had not been over charitable to him
in his life, being much affected with the courage and
Christianity of his death.

Thus fell the greatest subject in power, and litde inferior
to any in fortune, that was at that time in any of the three
kingdoms ; who could well remember the time, when he led
those people, who then pursued him to his grave. He was a
man of great parts, and extraordinary endowments of nature ;
not unadorned with some addition of art and learning, though
that again was more improved and illustrated by the other ;
for he had a readiness of conception, and sharpness of ex-
pression, which made his learning thought more than in truth
it was. His first inclinations and addresses to the Court were

THE EARL OF STRAFFORD BEHEADED, 77

only to establish his greatness in the country ; where he
apprehended some acts of power from the old lord Savile,
who had been his rival always there, and of late had strength-
ened himself by being made a Privy Councillor, and officer at
Court : but his first attempts were so prosperous, that he
contented not himself with being secure from his power in
the country, but rested not, till he had bereaved him of all
power and place in court; and so sent him down, a most
abject, disconsolate old man, to his country, where he was to
have the superintendency over him too, by getting himself at
that time made lord President of the North. These successes,
applied to a nature too elate and arrogant of itself, and a
quicker progress into the greatest employments and trust,
made him more transported with disdain of other men, and
more contemning the forms of business, than happily he
would have been, if he had met with some interruptions in
the beginning, and had passed in a more leisurely gradation
to the office of a statesman.

He was, no doubt, of great observation, and a piercing
judgment, both into things and persons ; but his too good
skill in persons made him judge the worse of things : for it
was his misfortune to be of a time wherein very few wise
men were equally employed with him ; and scarce any (but
the lord Coventry, whose trust was more confined) whose
faculties and abilities were equal to his : so that upon the
matter he wholly relied upon himself; and discerning many
defects in most men, he too much neglected what they said
or did. Of all his passions, his pride was most predominant :
which a moderate exercise of ill fortune might have corrected
and reformed; and which was by the hand of Heaven
strangely punished, by bringing his destruction upon him by
two things that he most despised, the people and sir Harry

78 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

Vane. In a word, the epitaph, which Plutarch records that
Sylla wrote for himself, may not be unfitly applied to him ;
* that no man did ever pass him, either in doing good to his
friends, or in doing mischief to his enemies ; ' for his acts of
both kinds were most exemplary and notorious.

BOOK IV.

Montrose and Argyle.

There had been, even from the time the Scottish army
entered into England, many factions and jealousies amongst
the principal persons of that nation, but none so much
taken notice of, as that between the two earls, of Montrose,
and Argyle. The former took himself to have deserved as
much as any man, in contributing more, and appearing
sooner, in their first approach towards rebellion; as indeed
he was a man of the best quality, who did so soon discover
himself, and, it may be, he did it the sooner, in opposition
to Argyle ; who being then of the King's Council, he doubted
not, would be of his party. The people looked upon them
both, as young men of unlimited ambition, and used to say,
'that they were like Caesar and Pompey, the one would
endure no superior, and the other would have no equal/
True it is, that from the time that Argyle declared himself
against the King (which was immediately after the first paci-
fication) Montrose appeared with less vigour for the Covenant;
and had, by underhand and secret insinuations, made proffer
of his service to the King. But now, after his majesty's
arrival in Scotland, by the introduction of Mr. William
Murray of the bedchamber, he came privately to the King ;
and informed him of many particulars, from the beginning of

MONTROSE AND ARGYLE. 79

the rebellion ; and, ' that the marquis of Hamilton was no less
faulty, and false towards his majesty, than Argyle ; ' and
oflfered ' to make proof of all in the Parliament ; ' but rather
desired ' to kill them both ; ' which he frankly undertook to
do; but the king, abhorring that expedient, for his own
security, advised, * that the proofs might be prepared for the
Parliament.' When suddenly, on a Sunday morning, the
city of Edinburgh was in arms ; and Hamilton and Argyle
both gone out of the town to their own houses ; where they
stood upon their guard ; declaring publicly, ' that they had
withdrawn themselves, because they knew that there was a
design to assassinate them ; and chose rather to absent
themselves, than by standing upon their defence in Edin-
burgh, which they could well have done, to hazard the public
peace and the security of the Parhament ; which thundered
on their behalf/

The committee at Edinburgh despatched away an express
to London, with a dark and perplexed account, in the morn-
ing that the two lords had left the city ; with many doubtful
expressions, ' what the end of it would be ; ' not without
some dark insinuations, as if the design might look farther
than Scotland. And these letters were brought to London,
the day before the Houses were to come together, after the
recess ; all that party taking pains to persuade others, * that
it could not but be a design to assassinate more men than
those lords at Edinburgh.'

And the morning the Houses were to meet, Mr. Hyde
being walking in Westminster-hall, with the earl of Holland
and the earl of Essex, both the earls seemed wonderfully
concerned at it ; and to believe, * that other men were in
danger of the like assaults : ' the other not thinking the
apprehension worthy of them, told them merrily, ' that he

8o SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

knew well what opinions they both had of those two lords, a
year or two before,, and he wondered how they became so
altered : ' to which they answered smiling, ' that the times
and the Court was much altered since.' And the Houses were
no sooner sat, but the report being made in the House of
Commons, and the committee's letter from Scotland being
read, a motion was made, ' to send to the house of peers,
that the earl of Essex, who was left by the king general on
this side Trent, might be desired to appoint such a guard, as
he thought competent for the security of the Parliament,
constantly to attend while the Houses sat ; ' which was done
accordingly ; and continued, till they thought fit to have
other guards. All which was done to amuse the people, as
if the parliament was in danger : when in Scotland all things
were quickly pacified ; and ended in creating the marquis of
Hamilton a duke, and Argyle a marquis.

There was another accident happened a little before, of
which the indisposition in Scotland was the effect, the death of
the earl of Rothes, a man mentioned before, of the highest
authority in the contriving and carrying on the rebellion in
Scotland, and now the principal commissioner in England,
and exceedingly courted by all the party which governed.
Whether he found that he had raised a spirit that would not
be so easily conjured down again, and yet would not be as
entirely governed by him as it had been; or whether he
desired from the beginning only to mend his own fortune,
or was converted in his judgment that the action he was
engaged in was not warrantable, certain it is, that he had not
been long in England, before he liked both the kingdom and
the court so well, that he was not willing to part with either.
He was of a pleasant and jovial humour, without any of those
constraints which the formality of that time made that party

MONTROSE AND ARGYLE. 8l

subject themselves to ; and he played his game so dexterously,
that he was well assured upon a fair composition that the
Scots' army should return home well paid, and that they
should be contented with the mischief they had already done,
without fomenting the distempers in England. He was to
marry a noble lady of a great and ample fortune and wealth,
and should likewise be made a gentleman of the King's bed-
chamber, and a Privy Councillor ; and upon these advantages
made his condition in this kingdom as pleasant as he could ;
and in order thereunto, he resolved to preserve the King's
power as high as he could in all his dominions. When any
extraordinary accidents attend those private contracts, men
naturally are very free in their censures, and so his sudden
falling into a sickness, and from a great vigour of body, in
the flower of his age, (for he was little more than thirty,)
into a weakness, which was not usual, nor could the physi-
cians discover the ground of it, administered much occasions
of discourse ; and that his countrymen too soon discovered
his conversion. He was not able to attend upon his majesty
to Scotland ; where he was to have acted a great part ; but
he hoped to have been able to have followed him thither.
His weakness increased so fast, that by the time the King was
entered that kingdom, the earl died at Richmond, whither he
retired for the benefit of the air ; and his death put an end to
all hopes of good quarter with that nation ; and made him
submit to all the uneasy and intolerable conditions there,,
they could impose upon him. Yet he returned from thence
with some confidence that he should receive no more trouble
from thence, the principal persons there having made him great
acknowledgment, and greater professions ; (for which he had
given them all they could desire, and indeed all and more
than he had to give :) and Lesley the general, whom he made

82 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

earl of Leven, with precedence of all earls for his life, had
told him voluntarily, and with an oath, that he would not only
never serve against him, but would do him any service he
should command, right or wrong.

The Gkand Remonstkancb.

About the time the news came of the King's being to begin
his journey from Scotland upon a day appointed, and that
he had setded all things in that kingdom to the general
satisfaction, the committee for preparing the Remonstrance
offered their report to the House ; which caused the draught
they offered to be read. It contained a very bitter represen-
tation of all the illegal things which had been done, from the
first hour of the King's coming to the crown, to that minute ;
i with all those sharp reflections which could be made, upon
the King himself, the Queen, and Council ; and published all
the unreasonable jealousies of the present government, of
the introducing Popery ; and all other particulars, which
might disturb the minds of the people ; which were enough
discomposed.

The House seemed generally to dislike it ; many saying,
' that it was very unnecessary, and unseasonable : unneces-
sary, all those grievances being already fully redressed ; and
the liberty and property of the subject being as well secured
for the future, as could possibly be done : and then that it
was very unseasonable, after the King had gratified them,
with granting every thing which they had desired of him ;
and after so long absence, in the settling the disorders in
another kingdom, which he had happily composed ; to be
now welcomed home with such a volume of reproaches, for
what others had done amiss, and which he himself had

THE GRAND REMONSTRANCE, 83

reformed.' Notwithstanding all which, all the other party
appeared passionately concerned that it might not be re-
jected; and enlarged themselves with as high expressions
against the government, as at first ; with many insinuations,
* that we were in danger of being deprived of all the good
Acts which we had gained, if great care and vigilance was
not used, to disappoint some counsels which were still enter-
tained ; ' making doubtful glances and reflections upon the
rebellion in Ireland, (with which they perceived many good
men were easily amused,) and in the end prevailed, * that a
day should be appointed, when the House should be resolved
into a grand committee, and the Remonstrance to be then
retaken into consideration:' and in the mean time they
employed all their credit and interest with particular men,
to persuade them, ' that the passing that Remonstrance was
most necessary, for the preservation and maintenance of all
those good laws which they had already made ;' giving
several reasons to several persons, according to their natures
and inclinations ; assuring many, * that they intended it only
for the mortification of the Court, and manifestation that
that malignant party, which appeared to be growing up in
the House, could not prevail ;' and then ' that it should remain
still in the clerk's hands, and never be published.'

And by these, and the like arts, they promised themselves,
that they should easily carry it : so that the day it was to be
resumed, they entertained the house all the morning with
other debates, and towards noon called for the Remonstrance;
and it being urged by some, ' that it was too late to enter
upon it, with much difficulty they consented, that it should
be entered upon the next morning at nine of the clock ; and
every clause should be debated, the Speaker in the chair;'
for they would not have the House resolved into a committee,

G 2

84 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

which they believed would spend too much time. Oliver
Cromwell (who, at that time, was little taken notice of) asked
the lord Falkland, ' Why he would have it put off, for that
day w^ould quickly have determined it?' He answered,
' There would not have been time enough, for sure it would
take some debate/ The other replied, 'A very sorry one:'
they supposing, by the computation they had made, that
very few would oppose it.

But he quickly found he was mistaken : for the next
morning, the debate being entered upon about nine of the
clock in the morning, it continued all that day ; and candles
being called for when it grew dark, (neither side being very
desirous to adjourn it till the next day ; though it was evi-
dent, very many withdrew themselves out of pure faintness
and disability to attend the conclusion,) the debate con-
tinued, till after it was twelve of the clock, with much pas-
sion ; and the House being then divided, upon the passing or
not passing it, it was carried for the affirmative, by nine
voices, and no more : and as soon as it was declared, Mr.
Hambden moved, ' that there might be an order entered
for the present printing it;' which produced a sharper
debate than the former. It appeared then, that they did
not intend to send it up to the House of Peers for their con-
currence ; but that it was upon the matter an appeal to the
people, and to infuse jealousies into their minds. It had
never been the custom to publish any debates, or deter-
minations of the House, which were not regularly first trans-
mitted to the House of Peers ; nor was it thought, in truth,
that the House had authority to give warrant for the printing
of any thing ; all which was offered by Mr. Hyde, with some
warmth, as soon as the motion was made for the printing
it ; and he said, ' he did beheve the printing it in that

LORD DIGBY. 85

manner was not lawful ; and he feared it would produce
mischievous effects ; and therefore desired the leave of the
House, that if the question should be put, and carried in the
afl5rmative, that he might have liberty to enter his protesta-
tion ; ' which he no sooner said, than Geffery Palmer (a man
of great reputation, and much esteemed in the House) stood
up, and made the same motion for himself, * that he might
likewise protest/ When immediately together many after-
wards, without distinction, and in some disorder, cried out,
'They did protest:' so that there was after scarce any quiet
and regular debate. But the House by degrees being quieted,
they all consented, about two of the clock in the morning,
to adjourn till two of the clock the next afternoon. And as
they went out of the House, the lord Falkland asked Oliver
Cromwell, ' whether there had been a debate ? * to which he
answered, * that he would take his word another time / and
whispered him in the ear, with some asseveration, 'that if
the Remonstrance had been rejected, he would have sold all
he had the next morning, and never have seen England
more ; and he knew there were many other honest men of
the same resolution.' So near was the poor kingdom at that / / /
time to its deliverance.

LOBD DlGBY.

By what hath been said before, it appears, that the lord
Digby was much trusted by the King, and he was of great
familiarity and friendship with the other three ', at least with
two of them ; for he was not a man of that exactness, as to
be in the entire confidence of the lord Falkland, who looked
upon his infirmities with more severity than the other two
did ; and he lived with more frankness towards those two,
^ [Falkland, Sir John Colepeper, and Hyde.]

86 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

than he did towards the other : yet between those two there
was a free conversation and kindness to each other. He
was a man of very extraordinary parts by nature and art,
and had surely as good and excellent an education as any
man of that age in any country : a graceful and beautiful
person ; of great eloquence and becomingness in his dis-
course, (save that sometimes he seemed a little affected,) and
of so universal a knowledge, that he never wanted subject
for a discourse : he was equal to a very good part in the
greatest affair, but the unfittest man alive to conduct it,
having an ambition and vanity superior to all his other parts,
and a confidence peculiar to himself, which sometimes in-
toxicated, and transported, and exposed him. He had from
his youth, by the disobligations his family had undergone
from the duke of Buckingham, and the great men who
succeeded him, and some sharp reprehension himself had
met with, which obliged him to a country life, contracted
a prejudice and ill-will to the Court ; and so had in the
beginning of the Parliament engaged himself with that party
which discovered most aversion from it, with a passion and
animosity equal to their own, and therefore very acceptable
to them. But when he was weary of their violent counsels,
and withdrew himself from them with some circumstances
which enough provoked them, and made a reconciliation,
and mutual confidence in each other for the future, mani-
festly impossible ; he made private and secret offers of his
service to the King, to whom, in so general a defection of
his servants, it could not but be very agreeable : and so his
majesty being satisfied, both in the discoveries he made
of what had passed, and in his professions for the future,
removed him from the House of Commons, where he had
rendered himself marvellously ungracious, and called him by

LORD DIGBY, 87

writ to the House of Peers, where he did visibly advance the
King's service, and quickly rendered himself grateful to all
those who had not thought too well of him before, when he
deserved less; and men were not only pleased with the
assistance he gave upon all debates, by his judgment and
vivacity, but looked upon him as one, who could derive the
King's pleasure to them, and make a lively representation
of their good demeanour to the King, which he was very
luxuriant in promising to do, and officious enough in doing
as much as was just

He had been instrumental in promoting the three persons
above mentioned to the King's favour ; and had himself, in
truth, so great an esteem of them, that he did very frequently,
upon conference together, depart from his own inclinations
and opinions, and concurred in theirs ; and very few men of
so great parts are, upon all occasions, more counsellable
than he ; so that he would seldom be in danger of running
into great errors, if he would communicate and expose all
his own thoughts and inclinations to such a disquisition;
nor is he unincHnable in his nature to such an entire com-
munication in all things which he conceived to be difficult.
But his fatal infirmity is, that he too often thinks difficult
things very easy; and doth not consider possible conse-
quences, when the proposition administers somewhat that
is delightful to his fancy, and by pursuing whereof he
imagines he shall reap some glory to himself, of which he
is immoderately ambitious; so that, if the consultation be
upon any action to be done, no man more implicitly enters
into that debate, or more cheerfully resigns his own con-
ceptions to a joint determination : but when it is once
affirmatively resolved, (besides that he may possibly reserve
some impertinent circumstance, as he thinks, the imparting

88 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

whereof would change the nature of the thing,) if his fancy
suggests to him any particular, which himself might perform
in that action, upon the imagination that every body would
approve it, if it were proposed to them, he chooses rather to
do it, than to communicate, that he may have some signal
part to himself in the transaction, in which no other person
can claim a share.

And by this unhappy temper he did often involve himself
in very unprosperous attempts. The King himself was the
unfittest person alive to be served by such a counsellor, being
too easily inclined to sudden enterprises, and as easily
amazed when they were entered upon. And from this
unhappy composition in the one, and the other, a very
unhappy counsel was entered upon, and resolution taken,
without the least communication with either of the three,
[who] had been so lately admitted to an entire trust.

The Akbest of the Five Membeks.

The House of Peers was somewhat appalled at this alarum^ ;
but took time to consider of it, till the next day, that they
might see how their masters the Commons would behave
themselves ; the lord Kimbolton being present in the House,
and making great professions of his innocence ; and no lord
being so hardy [as] to press for his commitment on the behalf
of the King.

At the same time, a sergeant at arms demanded to be
heard at the House of Commons from the King ; and being
sent for to the bar, demanded the persons of the five mem-
bers to be delivered to him in his majesty's name, his
majesty having accused them of high treason. But the

^ [The articles of impeachment were sent to the House of Peers, Jan.
23, 1642.]

THE ARREST OF THE FIVE MEMBERS. 89

Commons were not much surprised with the accident ; for
besides that they quickly knew what had passed with the
Lords, some servants of the King's, by especial warrant, had
visited the lodgings of some of the accused members, and
sealed up their studies and trunks; upon information
whereof, before the sergeant came to the House, or public
notice was taken of the accusation, an order was made by
the Commons ; * That if any person whatsoever should come
to the lodgings of any member of that House, and there
offer to seal the doors, trunks, or papers of such members,
or to seize upon their persons; that then such members
should require the aid of the next constable, to keep such
persons in safe custody, till the House should give further
order : that if any person whatsoever should offer to arrest
or detain any member of that House, without first acquaint-
ing that House therewith, and receiving further order from
thence ; that it should be lawful for such member to stand
upon his guard, and make resistance, and [for] any person
to assist him, according to the protestation taken to defend
the privileges of Parliament/ And so, when the sergeant
had delivered his message, he was no more called in ; but a
message sent to the King, ' that the members should be
forthcoming as soon as a legal charge should be preferred
against them ; ' and so the House adjourned till the next
day, every one of the accused persons taking a copy of that
order, which was made for their security.

The next day in the afternoon, the King, attended only by
his own guard, and some few gentlemen, who put them-
selves into their company in the way, came to the House of
Commons; and commanding all his attendants to wait at
the door, and to give offence to no man ; himself, with his
nephew, the Prince Elector, went into the House, to the great

90 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

amazement of all : and the Speaker leaving the chair, the
King went into it ; and told the House, ' he was sorry
for that occasion of coming to them ; that yesterday he had
sent his sergeant at arms to apprehend some, that, by his
command, were accused of high treason; whereunto he
expected obedience, but instead thereof he had received a
message. He declared to them, that no King of England
had been ever, or should be, more careful to maintain their
privileges, than he would be ; but that in cases of treason no
man had privilege ; and therefore he came to see if any of
those persons, whom he had accused, were there ; for he
was resolved to have them, wheresoever he should find them :
and looking then about, and asking the Speaker whether
they were in the House, and he making no answer, he said,
he perceived the birds were all flown, but expected they
should be sent to him, as soon as they returned thither ; and
assured them in the word of a King, that he never intended
any force, but would proceed against them in a fair and
legal way;' and so returned to Whitehall.

The accused persons, upon information and intelligence
what his majesty intended to do, how secretly soever it was
carried at court, having withdrawn from the House about
half an hour before the King came thither; the House, in
great disorder, as soon as the King was gone, adjourned till
the next day in the afternoon ; the Lords being in so great
apprehension upon notice of the King's being at the House of
Commons, that the earl of Essex expressed a tender sense he
had of the inconveniences which were like to ensue those
divisions; and moved, 'that the House of Peers, as a work
very proper for them, would interpose between the King and
his people ; and mediate to his majesty on the behalf of the
persons accused;' for which he was reprehended by his

THE ARREST OF THE FIVE MEMBERS. 9 1

friends, and afterwards laughed at himself, when he found
how much a stronger defence they had, than the best media-
tion could prove on their behalf.

How secredy soever this affair was carried, it was evident
that the King's [resolution of] coming to the House was dis-
covered, by the members withdrawing themselves, and by a
composedness, which appeared in the countenances of many,
who used to be disturbed at less surprising occurrences ;
and though the purpose of accusing the members was only
consulted between the King and the lord Digby; yet it was
generally believed, that the King's purpose of going to the
house was communicated to William Murray of the bed-
chamber, with whom the lord Digby had great friendship ;
and that it was betrayed by him. And that lord, who had
promised the King to move the House for the commitment of
the lord Kimbolton, as soon as the Attorney General should
have accused him, (which if he had done would probably
have raised a very hot dispute in the House, where many
would have joined with him,) never spake the least word ;
but, on the contrary, seemed the most surprised and per-
plexed with the Attorney's impeachment ; and sitting at that
time next to the lord Kimbolton, with whom he pretended
to live with much friendship, he whispered him in the ear
with some commotion, (as he had a rare talent in dissimula-
tion,) ' that the King was very mischievously advised : and
that it should go very hard, but he would know whence that
counsel proceeded ; in order to which, and to prevent further
mischief, he would go immediately to his majesty;' and so
went out of the House; whereas he was the only person
who gave the counsel, named the persons, and particularly
named the lord Kimbolton, (against whom less could be said
than against many others, and who was more generally

92 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

beloved,) and undertook to prove that he bade the rabble, when
they were about the Parliament House, that they should go to
Whitehall. And when he found the ill success of the impeach-
ment in both Houses, and how unsatisfied all were with the
proceeding, he advised the King the next morning to go to the
Guildhall, and to inform the mayor and aldermen of the
grounds of his proceeding; which will be mentioned anon.
And that people might not believe, that there was any dejection
of mind, or sorrow, for what was done ; the same night, the
same council caused a proclamation to be prepared for the
stopping the ports ; that the accused persons might not
escape out of the kingdom ; and to forbid all persons to
receive and harbour them : when it was well known, that they
were all together in a house in the city, without any fear of
their security. And all this was done without the least com-
munication with any body, but the lord Digby, who advised
it; and, it is very true, was so willing to take the utmost
hazard upon himself, that he did offer the King, when he
knew in what house they were together, with a select com-
pany of gentlemen, who would accompany him, whereof sir
Thomas Lunsford was one, to seize upon them, and bring
them away alive, or leave them dead in the place : but the
King liked not such enterprises.

That night the persons accused removed themselves into
their strong hold, the city: not that they durst not venture
themselves at their old lodgings, for no man would have
presumed to trouble them, but that the city might see, that
they relied upon that place for a sanctuary of their privileges
against violence and oppression ; and so might put on an
early concernment for them. And they were not disap-
pointed ; for, in spite of all the lord mayor could do
to compose their distempers, (who, like a very wise and

THE ARREST OF THE FIVE MEMBERS, 93

Stout magistrate, bestirred himself,) the city was that whole
night in arms ; some people, designed to that purpose, running
from one gate to another, and crying out, * that the Cavaliers
were coming to fire the city;' and some saying, ' that the
King himself was in the head of them.'

The next morning, the King, being informed of much that
had passed that night, according to the advice he had
received, sent to the lord mayor to call a Common Council
immediately ; and about ten of the clock, himself, attended
only by three or four lords, went to the Guildhall ; and in the
room, where the people were assembled, told them, * he was
very sorry to hear of the apprehensions they had entertained
of danger ; that he was come to them, to shew how much
he relied upon their affections for his security and guard,
having brought no other with him ; that he had accused
certain men of high treason, against whom he would proceed
in a legal way; and therefore he presumed they would not
shelter them in the city.' And using many other very
gracious expressions of his value of them, and telling one of
the sheriffs, (who was of the two thought less inclined to his
service,) ' that he would dine with him,' he departed without
that applause and cheerfulness, which he might have ex-
pected from the extraordinary grace he vouchsafed to them ;
and in his passage through the city, the rude people flocking
together, and crying out, ' Privilege of parliament, privilege
of parliament;' some of them pressing very near his own
coach, and amongst the rest one calling out with a very loud
voice, * To your tents, O Israel.' However the King, though
much mortified, continued his resolution, taking little notice
of the distempers; and, having dined at the sheriff's, returned
in the afternoon to Whitehall ; and published, the next day,
a proclamation for the apprehension of all those, whom he

94 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

accused of high treason, forbidding any person to harbour
them ; the articles of their charge being likewise printed and
dispersed.

The City of London.

The city of London, as the metropolis of England, by
the situation the most capable of trade, and by the most
usual residence of the Court, and the fixed station of the
courts of justice for the public administration of justice
throughout the kingdom, the chief seat of trade, was by the
successive countenance and favour of princes, strengthened
with great charters and immunities, and was a corporation
governed within itself; the mayor, recorder, aldermen,
sheriffs, chosen by themselves ; several companies incorpo-
rated within the great corporation ; which, besides notable
privileges, enjoyed lands and perquisites to a very great
revenue. By the incredible increase of trade, which the
distractions of other countries, and the peace of this, brought,
and by the great license of resort thither, it was, since the
access of the crown to this King, in riches, in people, in
buildings, marvellously increased, insomuch as the suburbs
were almost equal to the city ; a reformation of which has
been often in contemplation, never pursued, wise men fore-
seeing that such a fulness could not be there, without an
emptiness in other places ; and whilst so many persons of
honour and estates were so delighted with the city, the
government of the country must be neglected, besides the
excess, and ill husbandry, that would be introduced thereby.
But such foresight was interpreted a morosity, and too great
an oppression upon the common liberty ; and so, little was
applied to prevent so growing a disease.

As it had these and many other advantages and helps to

THE CITY OF LONDON. 95

be rich, so it was looked upon too much of late time as a
common stock not easy to be exhausted, and as a body not
to be grieved by ordinary acts of injustice ; and therefore, it
was not only a resort, in all cases of necessity, for the sudden
borrowing great sums of money, in which they were com-
monly too good merchants for the Crown, but it was thought
reasonable upon any specious pretences, to void the security,
that was at any time given for money so borrowed.

So after many questionings of their charter, which were
ever removed by considerable sums of money, a grant made
by the King in the beginning of his reign, (in consideration
of great sums of money,) of good quantities of land in
Ireland, and the city of Londonderry there, was avoided by
a suit in the Star-Chamber, all the lands, after a vast expense
in building and planting, resumed into the King's hands, and
a fine of fifty thousand pounds imposed upon the city.
Which sentence being pronounced after a long and public
hearing, during which time they were often invited to a
composition, both in respect of the substance, and the
circumstances of proceeding, made a general impression in
the minds of the citizens of all conditions, much to the
disadvantage of the Court ; and though the King afterwards
remitted to them the benefit of that sentence, they imputed
that to the power of the Parliament, and rather remembered
how it had been taken from them, than by whom it was
restored: so that, at the beginning of the Parliament, the
city was as ill affected to the Court as the country was :
and therefore chose such burgesses to sit there, as had
either eminently opposed it, or accidentally been oppressed
by it.

The chief government and superintendency of the city is
in the mayor and aldermen ; which, in that little kingdom,

g6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

resembles the House of Peers ; and as subordinate the Com-
mon Council is the representative body thereof, like the
House of Commons, to order and agree to all taxes, rates,
and such particulars belonging to the civil policy. The
Common Council are chosen every year, so many for every
parish, of the wisest and most substantial citizens, by the
vestry and common convention of the people of that parish ;
and as the wealthiest and best reputed men were always
chosen, so, though the election was once a year, it was scarce
ever known, that any man once chosen was afterwards
rejected or left out, except upon discovery of an enormous
crime, or decaying in fortune to a bankrupt ; otherwise, till
he was called to be alderman, or died, he continued, and was
every year returned of the Common Council.

The Makquis of Hebtfokd.

The marquis of Hertford was a man of great honour,
great interest in fortune and estate, and of an universal
esteem over the kingdom ; and though he had received
many and continued disobligations from the Court, from the
time of this King's coming to the crown, as well as during
the reign of King James, in both which seasons, more than
ordinary care had been taken to discountenance and lessen
his interest ; yet he had carried himself with notable steadi-
ness from the beginning of the parliament, in the support
and defence of the King's power and dignity, notwithstanding
all his allies, and those with whom he had the greatest
familiarity and friendship, were of the opposite party ; and
never concurred with them against the earl of Strafford,
(whom he was known not to love,) nor in any other ex-
travagancy.

THE MARQUIS OF HERTFORD. 97

And then, he was not to be shaken in his affection to
the government of the Church ; though it was enough known
that he was in no degree biassed by any great inclination to
the person of any churchman. And with all this, that party
carried themselves towards him with profound respect, not
presuming to venture their own credit in endeavouring to
lessen his.

It is very true, in many respects he wanted some of those
qualities, which might have been wished to be in a person
to be trusted in the education of a great and a hopeful
Prince, and in the forming of his mind and manners in so
tender an age. He was of an age not fit for much activity
and fatigue, and loved, and was even wedded so much to his
ease, that he loved his book above all exercises ; and had
even contracted such a laziness of mind, that he had no
delight in an open and liberal conversation ; and cared not
to discourse, and argue on those points, which he under-
stood very well, only for the trouble of contending; and
could never impose upon himself the pain that was necessary
to be undergone in such a perpetual attendance. But then
those lesser duties might be otherwise provided for, and he
could well support the dignity of a governor, and exact that
diligence from others, which he could not exercise himself;
and his honour was so unblemished, that none durst murmur
against the designation : and therefore his majesty thought
him very worthy of the high trust, against which there was
no other exception, but that he was not ambitious of it, nor
in truth willing ^to receive and undergo the charge, so con-
trary to his natural constitution. But [in] his pure zeal
and affection for the Crown, and the conscience, that in this
conjuncture his submission might advance the King's service,
and that the refusing it might prove disadvantageous to his

H

98 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

majesty, he very cheerfully undertook the province, to the
general satisfaction and public joy of the whole kingdom ;
and to the no little honour and credit of the Court, that so
important and beloved a person would attach himself to it
under such a relation, when so many, who had scarce ever
eaten any bread but the King's, detached themselves from
their dependence, that they might without him, and against
him, preserve and improve those fortunes, which they had
procured and gotten under him, and by his bounty.

BOOK V.

Eabls of Holland and Essex.

When the King came to York, he found himself at ease ;
the country had received him with great expressions of joy
and duty, and all persons of quality of that great county, and
of the counties adjacent, resorted to him, and many persons
of condition from London, and those parts, who had not the
courage to attend upon him at Whitehall ; so that the Court
appeared with some lustre. And now he began to think of
executing some of those resolutions, which he had made with
the Queen before her departure ; one of which was, and to
be first done, the removing the earls of Essex and Holland
from their offices in the Court, the one of chamberlain, the
other of groom of the stole, which hath the reputation and
benefit of being first gentleman of the bedchamber. Indeed
no man could speak in the justification of either of them, yet
no man thought them both equally culpable. The earl of
Holland was a person merely of the King's creation ; raised
from the condition of a private gentleman, a younger brother

EARLS OF HOLLAND AND ESSEX. 99

of an extraction that lay under a great blemish, and without
any fortune, to a great height by the King's mere favour and
bounty. And he had not only adorned him with titles,
honours, and offices, but enabled him to support those in
the highest lustre, and with the largest expense: and had
drawn many inconveniences, and great disadvantages, upon
himself and his service, by his preferring him to some trusts,
which others did not only think themselves, but really were,
worthier of; but especially by indulging him so far in the
rigorous execution of his office of Chief Justice in Eyre, in
which he brought more prejudice upon the Court, and more
discontent upon the king, from the most considerable part of
the nobility and gentry in England, than any one action,
that had its rise from the King's will and pleasure, though it
was not without some warrant from law ; which having not
been practised for some hundreds of years, was looked upon
as a terrible innovation and exaction upon persons, who
knew not that they were in any fault ; nor was any imputed
to them, but the original sin of their forefathers, even for
which they were obliged to pay great penalties and ransoms.
That such a servant should suffer his zeal to lessen and
decay towards such a master, and that he should keep a tide
to lodge in his bedchamber, from whose Court he had upon
the matter withdrawn himself, and adhered to and assisted
those who affronted and contemned his majesty so notori-
ously, would admit of no manner of interposition and
excuse.

Less was to be objected against the earl of Essex, who, as
he had been, all his Hfe, without obligations from the Court,
and believed he had undergone oppression there, so he was,
in all respects, the same man he had always professed him-
self to be, when the King put him into that office ; and in

H 2

lOO SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

receiving of which, many men believed, that he rather
gratified the King, than that his majesty had obliged him
in conferring it ; and it had been, no doubt, the chief reason
of putting the staff in his hand, because in that conjuncture
no other man, who would in any degree have appeared
worthy of it, had the courage to receive it. However having
taken the charge upon him, he ought, no doubt, to have
taken all his master's concernments more to heart, than he
had done; and he can never be excused for staying in
Whitehall, when the King was with that outrage driven from
thence, and for choosing to behold the triumph of the
members' return to Westminster, rather than to attend his
majesty's person in so great perplexity to Hampton-court,
which had been his duty to have done, and for failing
wherein no other excuse can be made, but that, after he
had taken so full a resolution to have waited upon his
majesty thither, that he had dressed himself in his travelling
habit, he was diverted from it by the earl of Holland, who
ought to have accompanied him in the service, and by his
averment, 'that if he went, he should be assassinated;'
which was never thought of.

Sib John Hotham.

As soon as it was known that his majesty meant to reside
in York, it was easily suspected, that he had an eye upon
the magazine; and therefore they made an order in both
Houses, * That the magazine should be removed from Hull to
the Tower;' and ships were making ready for the trans-
portation; so that his majesty could no longer defer the
execution of what he designed. And, being persuaded, by

S/I? JOHN HOTHAM, lOI

some who believed themselves, that, if he went thither, it
would neither be in sir John Hotham's will, or his power, to
keep him out of that town; and that, being possessed of
so considerable a port, and of the magazine there, he
should find a better temper towards a modest and dutiful
treaty; his majesty took the opportunity of a petition
presented to him by the gentlemen of Yorkshire, who in
truth were much troubled at the order for removing the
magazine from Hull ; and were ready to appear in any thing
for his service, by which ' they desired him to cast his eyes
and thoughts upon the safety of his own person, and his
princely issue, and that whole county; a great means
whereof, they said, did consist in the arms and ammunition
at Hull, placed there by his princely care and charge ; and
since, upon general apprehensions of dangers from foreign
parts, thought fit to be continued : and they did very
earnestly beseech him, that he would take such course, that
it might still remain there, for the better securing those, and
the rest of the northern parts.' Hereupon he resolved to go
thither himself; and, the night before, he sent his son the
duke of York, who was lately arrived from Richmond,
accompanied with the prince Elector, thither, with some
other persons of honour ; who knew no more, than that it
was a journey given to the pleasure and curiosity of the
duke. Sir John Hotham received them with that duty and
civility that became him. The next morning early, the king
took horse from York; and, attended with two or three
hundred of his servants, and gentlemen of the country,
rode thither ; and, when he came within a mile of the town,
sent a gentleman to sir John Hotham, * to let him know that
the king would that day dine with him ; ' with which he was
strangely surprised, or seemed to be so.

lOiJ SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

It was then reported, and was afterwards averred by
himself to some friends, that he had received the night
before advertisement, from a person very near to, and
very much trusted by his majesty, of the King's purpose
of coming thither, and that there was a resolution of
hanging him, or cutting his throat as soon as he was in
the town.

The man was of a fearful nature, and perplexed under-
standing, and could better resolve upon deliberation than on
a sudden ; and many were of opinion, that if he had been
prepared dexterously beforehand, and in confidence, he would
have conformed to the King's pleasure ; for he was master
of a noble fortune in land, and rich in money, of a very
ancient family, and well allied, his affections to the govern-
ment very good, and no man less desired to see the nation
involved in a civil war, than he: and, when he accepted
this employment from the Parliament, he never imagined it
would engage him in rebellion ; but believed, that the King
would find it necessary to comply with the advice of his two
Houses ; and that the preserving that magazine from being
possessed by him, would likewise prevent any possible rupture
into arms. He was now in great confusion; and calling
some of the chief magistrates, and other officers, together to
consult, they persuaded him, not to suffer the king to enter
into the town. And his majesty coming within an hour after
his messenger, found the gates shut, and the bridges drawn,
and the walls manned; all things being in a readiness for
the reception of an enemy. Sir John Hotham himself from
the walls, with several professions of duty, and many ex-
pressions of fear, telling his majesty, ' that he durst not open
the gates, being trusted by the Parliament ; ' the King told
him, ' that he believed he had no order from the Parliament

SIJ^ JOHN HOTHAM, IO3

to shut the gates against him, or to keep him out of the
town/ He replied, 'that his train was so great, that if it
were admitted, he should not be able to give a good account
of the town.* Whereupon the King offered * to enter with
twenty horse only, and that the rest should stay without.'
The which the other refusing, the King desired him * to come
to him, that he might confer with him, upon his princely
word of safety, and liberty to return.' And when he excused
himself likewise from that, his majesty told him, ' that as the
act of his was unparalleled, so it would produce some notable
effect ; that it was not possible for him to sit down by such
an indignity, but that he would immediately proclaim him
traitor, and proceed against him as such; that this dis-
obedience of his would probably bring many miseries upon
the kingdom, and much loss of blood ; all which might be
prevented, if he performed the duty of a subject; and
therefore advised him to think sadly of it, and to prevent
the necessary growth of so many calamities, which must lie
all upon his conscience.' The gentleman, with much dis-
traction in his looks, talked confusedly of ' the trust he had
from the Parliament ; ' then fell on his knees, and wished,
'that God would bring confusion upon him, and his, if he
were not a loyal and faithful subject to his majesty;' but,
in conclusion, plainly denied to suffer his majesty to come
into the town. Whereupon, the King caused him im-
mediately to be proclaimed a traitor; which the other
received with some expressions of undutifulness and con-
tempt. And so the King, after the duke of York, and prince
Elector, with their retinue, were come out of the town, where
they were kept some hours, was forced to retire that night
to Beverly, four miles from that place ; and so the next day
returned to York, full of trouble and indignation for the

I04 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

affront he had received; which he foresaw would produce a
world of mischief.

It was a wonderful influence, that this noble ^person's stars
(which used to lead him into and out of the greatest perplexi-
ties and dangers, throughout the whole course of his life) had
upon this whole affair. Hotham was, by his nature and
education, a rough and a rude man ; of great covetousness,
of great pride, and great ambition ; without any bowels of
good nature, or the least sense or touch of generosity ; his
parts were not quick and sharp, but composed, and he
judged well ; he was a man of craft, and more like to deceive,
than to be cozened : yet, after all this, this young nobleman,
known and abhorred by him, for his admirable faculty of
dissimulation, had so far prevailed, and imposed upon his
spirit, that he resolved to practise that virtue, which the other
had imputed to him ; and which he was absolutely without ;
and not to suffer him to fall into the hands of his enemies.
He sent for him, the next day, and at an hour when he was
more vacant from attendants and observers ; and, at first,
told him his resolution ; ' that, since he had so frankly put
himself into his hands, he would not deceive his trust ; ' and
wished him * to consider, in what way, and by what colour,
he should so set him at liberty, that he might, without any
other danger, arrive at the place where he would be. For,'
he said, * he would not trust any person living with the secret,
and least of all his son ; ' whom he mentioned with all the
bitterness imaginable, ' as a man of an ill nature, and furiously
addicted to the worst designs the Parliament had, or could
have ; and one that was more depended upon by them than
himself, and sent thither only as a spy upon him/ And
^ [Lord Digby, who came to Sir John Hotham in disguise.]

S//? JOHN HOTHAM, 105

from hence he entered upon the discourse ' of the times, and
mischief that was like to befall the whole kingdom, from this
difference between the King and the Parliament.' Then
lamented his own fate, * that, being a man of very different
principles from those who drove things to this extremity, and
of entire affection and duty to the King, he should now be
looked upon as the chief ground and cause of the civil war
which was to ensue, by his not opening the ports, when the
King would have entered into the town : ' of which business,
and of all the circumstances attending it, he spake at large ;
and avowed, * that the information sent him of the King's pur-
pose presently to hang him, was the true cause of his having
proceeded in that manner.'

The lord Digby, who knew well enough how to cultivate
every period of such a discourse, and how to work upon those
passions which were most predominant in him, joined with
him in the sense of the calamities, which were like to befall
the nation; which he bewailed pathetically; and, 'that it
should be in the power of a handful of ill men, corrupted in
their affections to the king, and against monarchy itself, [to
be] able to involve him, and many others of his clear inten-
tions, in their dark counsels, and to engage them to prosecute
ends which they abhorred, and which must determine in the
ruin of all the undertakers. For, he told him, that the King,
in a short time, would reduce all his enemies : that the hearts
of the people were already, in all places, aliened from them ;
and that the fleet was so much at the King's disposal, that, as
soon as they should receive his orders, they would appear in
any place he appointed : that all the princes in Christendom
were concerned in the quarrel, and would engage in it, as
soon as they should be invited to it : and that the prince of
Orange was resolved to come over in the head of his army.

I06 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

and would take Hull in three days/ All which ought,
reasonably, to have been true in the practick, though it had
very little ground in the speculation. And when he had, by
degrees, amused and terrified him with this discourse, he
enlarged upon ' the honour and glory that man would have,
who could be so blessed, as to prevent this terrible mass of
confusion, that was in view : that King and people would join
in rewarding him with honours and preferments of all kind ;
and that his name would be derived to posterity, as the pre-
server of his country/ He told him, ' He was that man, that
could do all this ; that, by delivering up Hull to the King, he
might extinguish the war; and that immediately a peace
would be established throughout the kingdom : that the world
believed, that he had some credit both with the King and
Queen ; that he would employ it all in his service ; and if he
would give him this rise to begin upon, he should find, that
he would be much more solicitous for his greatness, and a
full recompence for his merit, than he was now for his own
safety/ All these advertisements and reflections were the
subject of more than one discourse ; for sir John Hotham
could not bear the variety and burden of all those thoughts
together; but within two days all things were adjusted
between them. Hotham said, 'it would not become him,
after such a refusal, to put the town into the King's hands ;
nor could he undertake (if he resolved) to effect it ; the town
itself being in no degree affected to his service; and the
trained bands, of which the garrison wholly consisted, were
under officers, upon whom he could not depend. But,' he
said, ' if the King would come before the town, though with
but one regiment, and plant his cannon against it, and make
but one shot, he should think he had discharged his trust to
the Parliament, as far as he ought to do ; and that he would

THE LORD KEEPER LITTLETON, 107

immediately then deliver up the town ; which he made no
doubt but that he should be able to do.' And, on this errand,
he was contented the lord Digby should go to the King, and
be conducted out of the town beyond the limits of danger ;
the governor having told those officers he trusted most, that
* he would send the Frenchman to York ; who, he was well
assured, would return to him again/ And he gave him a
note to a widow, who lived in the city, at whose house he
might lodge, and by whose hands he might transmit any letter
to him.

The Lobd Keepek Littleton.

He was a man of great reputation in the profession of the
law, for learning, and all other advantages, which attend the
most eminent men; he was of a very good extraction in
Shropshire, and inherited a fair fortune, and inheritance
from his father ; he was a handsome and a proper man, of
a very graceful presence, and notorious for courage, which,
in his youth, he had manifested with his sword ; he had
taken great pains in the hardest and most knotty parts of the
law, as well as that which was more customary; and was not
only very ready and expert in the books, but exceedingly
versed in records, in studying and examining whereof, he had
kept Mr. Selden company, with whom he had great friend-
ship, and who had much assisted him ; so that he was looked
upon as the best antiquary of the profession, who gave him-
self up to practice ; and, upon the mere strength of his own
abilities, he had raised himself into the first rank of the
practisers in the common law courts, and was chosen Re-
corder of London before he was called to the Bench, and
grew presently into the highest practice in all the other

108 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

courts, as well as those of the law. When the King looked
more narrowly into his business, and found that he should
have much to do in Westminster-hall, he removed an old,
useless, illiterate person, who had been put into that office
by the favour of the duke of Buckingham, and made Littleton
his Solicitor General, much to his honour, but not to his
profit; the obligation of attendance upon that office depriving
him of much benefit he used to acquire by his practice,
before he had that relation. Upon the death of the lord
Coventry, and Finch being made Keeper, he was made Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, then the best office of the law,
and that which he was wont to say, in his highest ambition,
in his own private wishes, he had most desired ; and it was
indeed the sphere in which he moved most gracefully, and
with most advantage, being a master of all that learning and
knowledge, which that place required, and an excellent judge,
of great gravity, and above all suspicion of corruption.

Whilst he held this place, he was by the favour of the
archbishop of Canterbury, and the earl of Strafford, who had
a great esteem of him, recommended to the King to be
called to the Council table, where he kept up his good name;
and, upon the lord Finch's leaving the kingdom, in the be-
ginning of the parliament, he was thought, in many respects,
to be the fittest to be intrusted in that office ; and, upon the
desire of the earl of Strafford, after he was in the Tower,
was created a baron, out of expectation that, by his authority
and knowledge of the law, he would have been of great use
in restraining those extraordinary and unwarrantable pro-
ceedings : but, from the time he had the Great Seal, he seemed
to be out of his element, and in some perplexity and irreso-
lution in the Chancery itself, though he had great experience
in the practice and proceedings of that court ; and made not

EARL OF KINGSTON AND LORD DENCOURT. 109

that despatch, that was expected, at the Council table ; and
in the Parliament he did not preserve any dignity; and
appeared so totally dispirited, that few men shewed any
respect to him, but they who most opposed the king, who
indeed did exceedingly apply themselves to him, and were
with equal kindness received by him. This wonderful
alteration in him, his friends beheved to have proceeded
from a great sickness, which had seized upon him very soon
after he was created a baron, insomuch as every man believed
he would die ; and by this means, he did not attend the
house in some months ; and so performed none of those
offices toward the earl of Strafford, the expectation whereof
had been the sole motive of that promotion : from that time
he never did appear the same man ; but sure there were
other causes for it, and he was possessed with some melan-
cholic apprehensions, which he could not master, and had no
friend to whom he durst entirely communicate.

BOOK VI.

PlEKBEPOINT, EABL OF KINGSTON, AND LEAKE,
LOBD DENCOUBT.

There was a pleasant story, then much spoken of in the
court, which administered some mirth. There were two
great men who lived near Nottingham, both men of great
fortunes and of great parsimony, and known to have much
money lying by them, Pierrepoint, earl of Kingston, and
Leake, lord Dencourt. To the former the lord Capel was
sent ; to the latter, John Ashburnham of the bedchamber,
and of entire confidence with his master ; each of them with

no SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

a letter, all written with the king's hand, to borrow of each
ten or five thousand pounds. Capel was very civilly received
by the earl, and entertained as well as the ill accommodations
in his house, and his manner of living, would admit. He
expressed, with wonderful civil expressions of duty, 'the
great trouble he sustained, in not being able to comply with
his majesty's commands.' He said, ' all men knew that he
neither had, nor could have money, because he had every
year, of ten or a dozen which were past, purchased a
thousand pounds land a year; and therefore he could not
be imagined to have any money lying by him, which he
never loved to have. But, he said, he had a neighbour, who
lived within few miles of him, the lord Dencourt, who was
good for nothing, and lived like a hog, not allowing himself
necessaries, and who could not have so little as twenty
thousand pounds in the scurvy house in which he lived;'
and advised, ' that he might be sent to, who could not deny
the having of money ; * and concluded with great duty to
the King, and detestation of the Parliament, and as if he
meant to consider farther of the thing, and to endeavour
to get some money for him; which though he did not
remember to send, his affections were good, and he was
afterwards killed in the King's service.

Ashburnham got no more money, nor half so many good
words. The lord Dencourt had so little correspondence
with the Court, that he had never heard his name; and
when he had read the King's letter, he asked from whom it
was ; and when he told him, ' that he saw it was from the
King,' he replied, ' that he was not such a fool as to believe
it. That he had received letters both from this King and his
father ; ' and hastily ran out of the room, and returned with
half a dozen letters in his hand ; saying, ' that those were all

EARL OF KINGSTON AND LORD DENCOURT. 1 1 1

the King's letters, and that they always begun with Right
trusty and well-beloved^ and the king's name was ever at the
top; but this letter begun with Dencourt, and ended with
your loving friend C. R., which, he said, he was sure could
not be the King's hand.' His other treatment was according
to this, and, after an ill supper, he was shewed an indifferent
bed ; the lord telling him, * that he would confer more of the
matter in the morning ; ' he having sent his servant with a
letter to the lord Falkland, who was his wife's nephew, and
who had scarce ever seen his uncle. The man came to
Nottingham about midnight, and found my lord Falkland in
his bed. The letter was to tell him, * that one Ashburnham
was with him, who brought him a letter, which he said was
from the King ; but he knew that could not be ; and therefore
he desired to know, who this man was, whom he kept in his
house till the messenger should return.' In spite of the
laughter, which could not be forborne, the lord Falkland
made haste to inform him of the condition and quality of
the person, and that the letter was writ with the king's own
hand, which he seldom vouchsafed to do. And the messenger
returning early the next morning, his lordship treated Mr.
Ashburnham with so different a respect, that he, who knew
nothing of the cause, believed that he should return with all
the money that was desired. But it was not long before he
was undeceived. The lord, with as cheerful a countenance
as his could be, for he had a very unusual and unpleasant
face, told him, ' that though he had no money himself, but
was in extreme want of it, he would tell him where he might
have money enough; that he had a neighbour, who lived
within four or five miles, the earl of Kingston, that never did
good to any body, and loved nobody but himself, who had
a world of money, and could furnish the king with as much

Iia SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

as he had need of ; and if he should deny that he had money
when the King sent to him, he knew where he had one trunk
full, and would discover it ; and that he was so ill beloved,
and had so few friends, that nobody would care how the
King used him/ And this good counsel was all Mr. Ash-
burnham could make of him: and yet this wretched man
was so far from wishing well to the Parliament, that when
they had prevailed, and were possessed of the whole kingdom,
as well as of Nottinghamshire, he would not give them one
penny; nor compound for his delinquency, as they made
the having lived in the King's quarters to be ; but suffered
his whole estate to be sequestered, and lived in a very
miserable fashion, only by what he could ravish from his
tenants ; who, though they paid their rents to the Parliament,
were forced by his rage and threats to part with so much as
kept him, till he died, in that condition he chose to live
in : his conscience being powerful enough to deny himself,
though it could not dispose him to grant to the King. And
thus the two messengers returned to the king, so near the
same time, that he who came first had not given his account
to the king, before the other entered into his presence.

The same day, Mr. Sacheverel, who was a gentleman, and
known to be very rich, being pressed to lend the King five
hundred pounds, sent him a present of one hundred pieces
in gold; 'which,' he said, 'he had procured with great
difficulty ; ' and protested, with many execrable impre-
cations, that 'he had never in his life seen five hundred
pounds of his own together ; ' when, within one month after
the King's departure, the Parliament troops, which borrowed
in another style, took five thousand pounds from him, which
was lodged with him, in the chamber in which he lay. Which
is therefore mentioned in this place, that upon this occasion

THE BATTLE OF EDGE HILL, 1 13

it may be seen, that the unthrifty retention of their money,
which possessed the spirits of those, who did really wish the
King all the success he wished for himself, was the unhappy
promotion of all his misfortunes : and if they had, in the be-
ginning, but lent the King the fifth part of what, after infinite
losses, they found necessary to sacrifice to his enemies, in
the conclusion, to preserve themselves from total ruin, his
majesty had been able, with God's blessing, to have preserved
them, and to have destroyed all his enemies.

The Battle op Edge Hill.

It was near three of the clock in the afternoon, before
the battle began ; which, at that time of the year, was so
late, that some were of opinion, * that the business should
be deferred till the next day.* But against that there were
many objections ; * the King's numbers could not increase,
the enemy's might ; ' for they had not only their garrisons,
Warwick, Coventry, and Banbury, within distance, but all
that country so devoted to them, that they had all provisions
brought to them without the least trouble ; whereas, on the
other side, the people were so disaffected to the King's party,
that they had carried away, or hid, all their provisions,
insomuch as there was neither meat for man or horse ;
and the very smiths hid themselves, that they might not
be compelled to shoe horses, of which in those stony ways
there was great need. This proceeded not from any radical
malice., or disaffection to the King's cause, or his person ;
though it is true, that circuit in which this batde was fought,
being very much between the dominions of the lord Say
and the lord Brooke, was the most eminently corrupted of
any county in England ; but by the reports, and infusions
which the other very diligent party had wrought into the

I

1 14 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

people's belief ; '■ that the cavaliers were of a fierce, bloody,
and licentious disposition, and that they committed all manner
of cruelty upon the inhabitants of those places where they
came, of which robbery was the least ; ' so that the poor
people thought there was no other way to preserve their
goods, than by hiding them out of the way ; which was
confessed by them, when they found how much that infor-
mation had wronged them, by making them so injurious to
their friends. And therefore where the army rested a day
they found much better entertainment at parting, than when
they came; for it will not be denied, that there was no
person of honour or quality, who paid not punctually and
exactly for what they had ; and there was not the least
violence or disorder among the common soldiers in their
march, which scaped exemplary punishment; so that at
^ Bromicham, a town so generally wicked, that it had risen
upon small parties of the King's, and killed or taken them
prisoners, and sent them to Coventry, declaring a more
peremptory malice to his majesty than any other place, two
soldiers were executed, for having taken some small trifle of
no value out of a house, whose owner was at that time in the
rebels' army. So strict was the discipline in this army ;
when the other, without control, practised all the dissoluteness
imaginable. But the march was so fast, that the leaving
a good reputation behind them, was no harbinger to provide
for their better reception in the next quarters. So that their
wants were so great, at the time when they came to Edge-
hill, that there were very many companies of the common
soldiers, who had scarce eaten bread in eight and forty hours
before. The only way to cure this was a victory; and
therefore the King gave the word, though it was late, the

* [Birmingham.]

THE BATTLE OF EDGE HILL, II5

enemy keeping their ground to receive him without advancing
at all.

In this hurry, there was an omission of somewhat, which
the King intended to have executed before the beginning of
the battle. He had caused many proclamations to be printed
of pardon to all those soldiers who would lay down their
arms, which he resolved, as is said before, to have sent by a
herald to the earl of Essex, and to have found ways to have
scattered and dispersed them in that army, as soon as he
understood they were within any distance of him. But all
men were now so much otherwise busied, that it was not
soon enough remembered ; and when it was, the procla-
mations were not at hand ; which, by that which follows,
might probably have produced a good effect. For as the
right wing of the King's horse advanced to charge the left
wing, which was the gross of the enemy's horse, sir Faithful
Fortescue, (whose fortune and interest being in Ireland, he
had come out of that kingdom to hasten supplies thither,
and had a troop of horse raised for him for that service ; but
as many other of those forces were, so his troop was likewise
disposed into that army, and he was now major to sir William
Waller ; he) with his whole troop advanced from the gross
•of their horse, and discharging all their pistols on the ground,
within little more than carabine shot of his own body, pre-
sented himself and his troop to prince Rupert ; and immedi-
ately, with his highness, charged the enemy. Whether this
sudden accident, as it might very well, and the not knowing
how many more were of the same mind, each man looking
upon his companion with the same apprehension as upon the
enemy, or whether the terror of prince Rupert, and the King's
horse, or all together, with their own evil consciences, wrought
upon them, I know not, but that whole wing, having

I 2

Il6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

unskilfully discharged their carabines and pistols into the
air, wheeled about, our horse charging in the flank and rear,
and having thus absolutely routed them, pursued them flying;
and had the execution of them above two miles.

The left wing, commanded by Mr. Wilmot, had as good
success, though they were to charge in worse ground, among
hedges, and through gaps and ditches, which were lined with
musketeers. But sir Arthur Aston, with great courage and
dexterity, beat off those musketeers with his dragoons ; and
then the right wing of their horse was as easily routed and
dispersed as their left, and those followed the chase as
furiously as the other. The reserve seeing none of the
enemy's horse left, thought there was nothing more to be
done, but to pursue those that fled, and could not be con-
tained by their commanders ; but with spurs, and loose reins,
followed the chase, which their left wing had led them.
And by this means, whilst most men thought the victory
unquestionable, the King was in danger of the same fate
which his predecessor Henry the Third felt at the battle of
Lewes against his barons ; when his son the prince, having
routed their horse, followed the chase so far, that, before
his return to the field, his father was taken prisoner ; and so
his victory served only to make the misfortunes of that day
the more intolerable. For all the King's horse having thus
left the field, many of them only following the execution,
others intending the spoil in the town of Keinton, where all
the baggage was, and the earl of Essex's own coach, which
was taken, and brought away ; their reserve, commanded by
sir WilHam Balfour, moved up and down the field in good
order, and marching towards the King's foot pretended to be
friends, till observing no horse to be in readiness to charge
them, [they] brake in upon the foot, and did great execution.

THE BATTLE OF EDGE HILL. I17

Then was the general the earl of Lindsey, in the head of his
regiment, being on foot, shot in the thigh, with which he
fell, and was presently encompassed by the enemy, and his
son, the lord Willoughby, piously endeavouring the rescue
of his father, taken prisoner with him. Then was the
standard taken, (sir Edmund Verney, who bore it, being
killed,) but rescued again by captain John Smith, an officer
of the lord Grandison's regiment of horse, and by him
brought off. And if those horse had bestirred themselves,
they might with little difficulty [have] destroyed, or taken
prisoner, the King himself, and his two sons, the prince
[of Wales] and the duke of York, being with fewer than one
hundred horse, and those without officer or command, within
half musket shot of that body, before he suspected them to
be enemies.

When prince Rupert returned from the chase, he found
this great alteration in the field, and his majesty himself with
few noblemen, and a small retinue about him, and the hope
of so glorious a day quite vanished. For though most of
the officers of horse were returned, and that part of the field
covered again with the loose troops, yet they could not be
persuaded, or drawn to charge either the enemy's reserve of
horse, which alone kept the field, or the body of their
foot, which only kept their ground, the officers pretending,
* that their soldiers were so dispersed, that there were not
ten of any troop together ; ' and the soldiers, * that their
horses were so tired, that they could not charge.' But the
truth is, where many soldiers of one troop or regiment were
rallied together, there the officers were wanting ; and where
the officers were ready, there the soldiers were not together ;
and neither officers or soldiers desired to move without those
who properly belonged to them. Things had now so ill an

Il8 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

aspect, that many were of opinion, that the King should
leave the field, though it was not easy to advise whither he
should have gone; which if he had done, he had left an
absolute victory to those, who even at this time thought
themselves overcome. But the King was positive against
that advice, well knowing, that as that army was raised by
his person and presence only, so it could by no other means
be kept together ; and he thought it unprincely, to forsake
them who had forsaken all they had to serve him : besides,
he observed the other side looked not as if they thought
themselves conquerors ; for that reserve, which did so much
mischief before, since the return of his horse, betook them-
selves to a fixed station between their foot, which at best
could but be thought to stand their ground, which two
brigades of the King's did with equal courage, and gave
equal volleys ; and therefore he tried all possible ways to
get the horse to charge again ; easily discerning by some
little attempts which were made, what a notable impression
a brisk one would have made upon the enemy. And when
he saw it was not to be done, he was content with their only
standing still. Without doubt, if either party had known
the constitution of the other, they had not parted so fairly ;
and, very probably, which soever had made a bold offer,
had compassed his end upon his enemy. This made many
believe, though the horse vaunted themselves aloud to have
done their part, that the good fortune of the first part of the
day, which well managed would have secured the rest, was
to be imputed rather to their enemy's want of courage, than
to their own virtue, (which, after so great a victory, could
not so soon have forsaken them,) and to the sudden and
unexpected revolt of sir Faithful Fortescue with a whole
troop, no doubt much to the consternation of those he left ;

THE BATTLE OF EDGE HILL, 1 19

which had not so good fortune as they deserved ; for by the
negHgence of not throwing away their orange-tawny scarfs,
which they all wore as the earl of Essex's colours, and being
immediately engaged in the charge, many of them, not fewer
than seventeen or eighteen, were suddenly killed by those to
whom they joined themselves.

In this doubt of all sides, the night, the common friend to
wearied and dismayed armies, parted them; and then the
King caused his cannon, which were nearest the enemy, to be
drawn off; and with his whole forces himself spent the night
in the field, by such a fire as could be made of the little
wood, and bushes which grew thereabouts, unresolved what
to do the next morning ; many reporting, ' that the enemy
was gone : ' but when the day appeared, the contrary was
discovered ; for then they were seen standing in the same
posture and place in which they fought, from whence the
earl of Essex, wisely, never suffered them to stir all that
night ; presuming reasonably, that if they were drawn off
never so httle from that place, their numbers would lessen,
and that many would run away; and therefore he caused
all manner of provisions, [with] which the country supplied
him plentifully, to be brought thither to them for their repast,
and reposed himself with them in the place. Besides, that
night he received a great addition of strength, not only by
rallying those horse and foot, which had run out of the field
in the battle, but by the arrival of colonel Hambden, and
colonel Grantham, with two thousand fresh foot, (which were
reckoned among the best of the army,) and five hundred
horse, which marched a day behind the army for the guard
of their ammunition, and a great part of their train, not
supposing there would have been any action that would have
required their presence. All the advantage this seasonable

lao SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

recruit brought them, was to give their old men so much
courage as to keep the field, which it was otherwise believed,
they would hardly have been persuaded to have done. After
a very cold night spent in the field, without any refreshment
of victual, or provision for the soldiers, (for the country was
so disaffected, that it not only not sent in provisions, but
many soldiers, who straggled into the villages for relief,
were knocked in the head by the common people,) the King
found his troops very thin ; for though, by conference with
the officers, he might reasonably conclude, that there were
not many slain in the battle, yet a third part of his foot v^ere
not upon the place, and of the horse many missing; and
they that were in the field were so tired with duty, and
weakened with want of meat, and shrunk up with the cruel
cold of the night, (for it was a terrible frost, and there was
no shelter of either tree or hedge,) that though they had
reason to believe, by the standing still of the enemy, whilst
a small party of the King's horse, in the morning, took away
four pieces of their cannon very near them, that any offer
towards a charge, or but marching towards them, would
have made a very notable impression in them, yet there was
so visible an averseness from it in most officers, as well
as soldiers, that the King thought not fit to make the attempt;
but contented himself to keep his men in order, the body
of horse facing the enemy upon the field where they had
fought.

The Eakl of Lindsey.

The earl of Lindsey was a man of very noble extrac-
tion, and inherited a great fortune from his ancestors ; which
though he did not manage with so great care, as if he desired
much to improve, yet he left it in a very fair condition to

THE EARL OF LINDSEY, 121

his family, which more intended the increase of it. He was
a man of great honour, and spent his youth and vigour of
his age in military actions and commands abroad ; and albeit
he indulged to himself great liberties of life, yet he still
preserved a very good reputation with all men, and a very
great interest in his country, as appeared by the supplies he
and his son brought to the King's army ; the several com-
panies of his own regiment of foot being commanded by
the principal knights and gentlemen of Lincolnshire, who
engaged themselves in the service principally out of their
personal affection to him. He was of a very generous
nature, and punctual in what he undertook, and in exacting
what was due to him ; which made him bear that restriction
so heavily, which was put upon him by the commission
granted to prince Rupert, and by the King's preferring the
prince's opinion, in all matters relating to the war, before his.
Nor did he conceal his resentment : the day before the battle,
he said to some friends, with whom he had used freedom,
* that he did not look upon himself as general ; and therefore
he was resolved, when the day of battle should come, that he
would be in the head of his regiment as a private colonel,
where he would die.' He was carried out of the field to the
next village ; and if he could then have procured surgeons, it
was thought his wound would not have proved mortal.
And it was imputed to the earl of Essex's too well remember-
ing former grudges, that he never sent any surgeon to him,
nor performed any other offices of respect towards him ; but
it is most certain that the disorder the earl of Essex himself
was in at that time, by the running away of the horse, and
the confusion he saw the army in, and the plundering the
carriages in the town where the surgeons were to attend, was
the cause of all the omissions of that kind. And as soon as

I:JS SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

they were composed by the coming on of the night, about
midnight, he sent sir William Balfour, and some other officers,
to see him, and to offer him all offices, and meant himself to
have visited him. They found him upon a little straw in a
poor house, where they had laid him in his blood, which had
run from him in great abundance, no surgeon having been
yet with him ; only he had great vivacity in his looks ; and
told them, 'he was sorry to see so many gentlemen, some
whereof were his old friends, engaged in so foul a rebellion : '
and principally directed his discourse to sir William Balfour,
whom he put in mind of ' the great obligations he had to the
King; how much his majesty had disobliged the whole
English nation by putting him into the command of the
Tower ; and that it was the most odious ingratitude in him
to make him that return/ He wished them to tell my lord
Essex, ' that he ought to cast himself at the King's feet to beg
his pardon; which if he did not speedily do, his memory
would be odious to the nation ; ' and continued this kind of
discourse with so much vehemence, that the officers by
degrees withdrew themselves; and prevented the visit the
earl of Essex intended him, who only sent the best surgeons
to him ; who in the very opening of his wounds died before
the morning, only upon the loss of blood. He had very
many friends, and very few enemies ; and died generally
lamented.

THE LoKD ST. John.

The lord St. John was eldest son to the earl of Bulling-
broke, and got himself so well beloved by the reputation of
courtesy and civility, which he expressed towards all men,
that though his parts of understanding were very ordinary at
best, and his course of life licentious and very much depraved,

THE LORD ST. JOHN. 1^3

he got credit enough, by engaging the principal gentlemen of
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire to be bound for him, to con-
tract a debt of fifty or threescore thousand pounds ; for the
payment whereof the fortune of the family was not engaged,
nor in his power to engage. So that the clamour of his
debts growing importunate, some years before the rebellion,
he left the kingdom, and fled into France ; leaving his vast
debt to be paid by his sureties, to the utter ruin of many
families, and the notable impairing of others. In the begin-
ning of the Parliament, the King was prevailed with to call
him to the House of Peers, his father being then alive, upon
an assurance, ' that by his presence and liberty, which could
by no other way be secured, means would be found out to
pay his debts, and free so many worthy persons from their
engagements : besides that the times being like to be trouble-
some, the King might be sure of a faithful servant, who would
always advance his service in that House.' But the King had
very ill fortune in conferring those graces, nor was his service
more passionately and insolently opposed by any men in
that house than by those, who upon those professions were
redeemed by him from the condition of commoners. And
this gentleman, from the first hour of his sitting in that house
by the King's so extraordinary grace, was never known to
concur in any one vote for the King's service, that received
any opposition : and, as soon as it was in his power, he
received a commission with the first to command a troop of
horse against him, in which he behaved himself so ill, that he
received some wounds in running away; and being taken
prisoner, died before the next morning, without any other
signs of repentance, than the canting words, ' that he did not
intend to be against the King, but wished him all happiness : '
so great an influence the first seeds of his birth and mutinous

124 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

family had upon his nature, that how long soever they were
concealed, and seemed even buried in a very different breed-
ing and conversation, they sprung up, and bore the same
fruit upon the first occasion. And it was an observation of
that time, that the men of most licentious lives, who appeared
to be without any sense of religion, or reverence to virtue,
and the most unrestrained by any obligations of conscience,
betook themselves to that party, and pretended an impulsion
of religion out of fear of Popery; and, on the other side,
very many persons of quality, both of the clergy and laity,
who had suffered under the imputation of Puritanism, and did
very much dislike the proceedings of the Court, and opposed
them upon all occasions, were yet so much scandalized at
the very approaches to rebellion, that they renounced all
their old friends, and applied themselves with great resolu-
tion, courage, and constancy to the King's service, and
continued in it to the end, with all the disadvantages it was
liable to.

pobeigneks in" englaifd awd theik
Treatment.

When the reformation of religion first began in England,
in the time of King Edward the Sixth, very many, out of
Germany and France, left their countries, where the Refor-
mation was severely persecuted, and transplanted themselves,
their families, and estates, into England, where they were
received very hospitably; and that King, with great piety
and policy, by several acts of state, granted them many
indemnities, and the free use of churches in London for the
exercise of their religion : whereby the number of them
increased; and the benefit to the kingdom, by such an
access of trade, and improvement of manufactures, was very

TREATMENT OF FOREIGNERS IN ENGLAND. 1 25

considerable. The which Queen Elizabeth finding, and well
knowing that other notable uses of them might be made,
enlarged their privileges by new concessions ; drawing, by-
all means, greater numbers over, and suffering them to erect
churches, and to enjoy the exercise of their religion after
their own manner, and according to their own ceremonies,
in all places, where, for the conveniency of their trade, they
chose to reside. And so they had churches in Norwich,
Canterbury, and other places of the kingdom, as well as
in London ; whereby the wealth of those places marvellously
increased. And, besides the benefit from thence, the Queen
made use of them in her great transactions of stale in
France, and the Low Countries, and, by the mediation and
interposition of those people, kept an useful interest in that
party, in all the foreign dominions where they were tolerated.
The same charters of liberty were continued and granted to
them, during the peaceable reign of King James, and in the
beginning of this King's reign, although, it may be, the politic
considerations in those concessions, and connivances, were
neither made use of, nor understood.

Some few years before these troubles, when the power
of churchmen grew more transcendent, and indeed the
faculties and understandings of the lay-councillors more dull,
lazy, and unactive, (for, without the last, the first could have
done no hurt,) the bishops grew jealous that the countenancing
another discipline of the church here, by order of the State,
(for those foreign congregations were governed by a pres-
bytery, according to the custom and constitution of those
parts of which they had been natives : for the French, Dutch,
and Walloons had the free use of several churches according
to their own discipline,) would at least diminish the reputation
and dignity of the episcopal government, and give some hope

10,6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

and countenance to the factious and schismatical party in
England to hope for such a toleration.

Then there wanted not some fiery, turbulent, and con-
tentious persons of the same congregations, who, upon
private differences and contests, were ready to inform against
their brethren, and to discover what, they thought, might
prove of most prejudice to them. So that, upon pretence
that they far exceeded the liberties which were granted to
them, and that, under the notion of foreigners, many English
separated themselves from the church, and joined themselves
to those congregations, (which possibly was in part true,) the
Council-board connived, or interposed not, [whilst] the bishops
did some acts of restraint, with which that tribe grew generally
discontented, and thought the liberty of their consciences
to be taken from them ; and so in London there was much
complaining of this kind, but much more in the diocese of
Norwich; where Dr. Wren, the bishop there, passionately
and furiously proceeded against them : so that many left the
kingdom, to the lessening the wealthy manufacture there
of kerseys, and narrow cloths, and, which was worse, trans-
porting that mystery into foreign parts.

And, that this might be sure to look like more than what
was necessary to the civil policy of the kingdom, whereas,
in all former times, the ambassadors, and all foreign ministers
of state, employed from England into any parts where the
reformed religion was exercised, frequented their churches,
gave all possible countenance to their profession, and held
correspondence with the most active and powerful persons
of that relation, and particularly the ambassadors lieger at
Paris from the time of the Reformation had diligendy and
constantly frequented the church at Charenton, and held
a fair intercourse with those of that religion throughout the

THE EARL OF NORTHAMPTON, 1 27

kingdom, by which they had still received advantage, that
people being industrious and active to get into the secrets
of the State, and so deriving all necessary intelligence to
those whom they desired to gratify : the contrary whereof
was now with great industry practised, and some advertise-
ments, if not instructions, given to the ambassadors there,
'to forbear any extraordinary commerce with that tribe.'
And the lord Scudamore, who was the last ordinary ambas-
sador there, before the beginning of this Parliament, whether
by the inclination of his own nature, or by advice from
others, not only declined going to Charenton, but furnished
his own chapel, in his house, with such ornaments, (as candles
upon the communion-table, and the like,) as gave great
offence and umbrage to those of the Reformation, who had
not seen the like: besides that he was careful to publish,
upon all occasions, by himself, and those who had the
nearest relation to him, * that the Church of England looked
not on the Huguenots as a part of the communion;' which was
likewise too much and too industriously discoursed at home.

The EarIj of Nobthampton.

In this ^ fight, which was sharp and short, there were killed,
and taken prisoners, of the Parliament party, above two
hundred, and more than that number wounded, for, the
horse charging among their foot, more were hurt than killed.
Eight pieces of their cannon, and most of their ammunition
was likewise taken. Of the earl's party were slain but five
and twenty, whereof there were two captains, some inferior
officers, and the rest common men ; but there were as many
hurt, and those of the chief officers. They who had all the
ensigns of victory, but their general, thought themselves
1 [The battle of Hopton Heath.]

128 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

undone ; whilst the other side, who had escaped in the night,
and made a hard shift to carry his dead body with them,
hardly believed they were losers :

Et^ velut cequali bellatum sorte fuisset,
Componit cum classe virum

The truth is, a greater victory had been an unequal
recompense for a less loss. He was a person of great
courage, honour, and fidelity, and not well known till his
evening, having, in the ease, and plenty, and luxury of that
too happy time, indulged to himself, with that license which
was then thought necessary to great fortunes : but from the
beginning of these distractions, as if he had been awakened
out of a lethargy, he never proceeded with a lukewarm
temper. But before the standard was set up, he appeared in
Warwickshire against the lord Brook, and as much upon his
own reputation as the justice of the cause (which was not so
well then understood) discountenanced, and drove him out of
that county. Afterwards he took the ordnance from Banbury
castle, and brought them to the King. As soon as an army
was to be raised, he levied, with the first, upon his own
charge, a troop of horse, and a regiment of foot, and (not
like some other men, who warily distributed their family to
both sides, one son to serve the King, whilst his father, or
another son, engaged as far for the Parliament) entirely
dedicated all his children to the quarrel; having four sons
officers under him, whereof three charged that day in the
field : and, from the time he submitted himself to the profes-
sion of a soldier, no man more punctual upon command, no
man more diligent and vigilant in duty. All distresses he
bore like a common man, and all wants and hardnesses, as if
he had never known plenty or ease ; most prodigal of his
person to danger; and would often say, 'that if he outlived

THE DUKE OF RICHMOND, 129

these wars, he was certain never to have so noble a death.'
So that it is not to be wondered, if, upon such a stroke, the
body that felt it, thought it had lost more than a limb.

The Duke of Richmond.

The duke of Richmond, as he was of the noblest extrac-
tion, being nearest allied to the King's person of any man
who was not descended from King James ; so he was very
worthy of all the grace and favour the King had shewed him ;
who had taken great care of his education, and sent him into
France, Italy, and Spain, where he was created a grandee of
that kingdom ; and as soon as he returned, though he was
scarce one and twenty years of age, made him a Privy-
Councillor ; and shortly after, out of his abundant kindness
to both families, married him to the sole daughter of his dead
favourite, the duke of Buckingham ; with whom he received
twenty thousand pounds in portion ; and his majesty's bounty
was likewise very great to him; so that, as he was very
eminent in his title, so he was at great ease in his fortune.
He was a man of very good parts, and an excellent under-
standing ; yet, (which is no common infirmity,) so diffident of
himself, that he was sometimes led by men who judged much
worse. He was of a great and haughty spirit, and so punc-
tual in point of honour, that he never swerved a tittle. He
had so entire a resignation of himself to the King, that he
abhorred all artifices to shelter himself from the prejudice of
those, who, how powerful soever, failed in their duty to his
majesty ; and therefore he was pursued with all imaginable
malice by them, as one that would have no quarter, upon so
infamous terms, as but looking on whilst his master was ill
used. As he had received great bounties from the King, so

K

130 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

he sacrificed all he had to his service, as soon as his occasions
stood in need of it ; and lent his majesty, at one time, twenty
thousand pounds together ; and, as soon as the war begun,
engaged his three brothers, all gallant gentlemen, in the
service; in which they all lost their lives. Himself lived,
with unspotted fidelity, some years after the murder of his
master, and was suffered to put him into his grave; and
died, without the comfort of seeing the resurrection of the
Crown.

Mb. St. John.

Mr. St. John, who was in a firm and entire conjunction
with the other two, was a lawyer of Lincoln's Inn, known to
be of parts and industry, but not taken notice of for practice
in Westminster-hall, till he argued at the exchequer-chamber
the case of ship-money on the behalf of Mr. Hambden ;
which gave him much reputation, and called him into all
courts, and to all causes, where the King's prerogative was
most contested. He was a man reserved, and of a dark and
clouded countenance, very proud, and conversing with very
few, and those, men of his own humour and inclinations.
He had been questioned, committed, and brought into the
Star-chamber, many years before, with other persons of
great name and reputation, (which first brought his name
upon the stage,) for communicating some paper among
themselves, which some men had a mind at that time to
have extended to a design of sedition : but it being quickly
evident that the prosecution would not be attended with
success, they were all shortly after discharged ; but he never
forgave the Court the first assault, and contracted an im-
placable displeasure against the Church purely from the

THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, 131

company he kept. He was of an intimate trust with the
earl of Bedford, to whom he was allied, (being a natural son
of the house of Bullingbrook,) and by him brought into all
matters where himself was to be concerned. It was gener-
ally believed, that these three persons, with the other three
lords mentioned before, were of the most intimate and entire
trust with each other, and made the engine which moved all
the rest; yet it was visible, that Nathaniel Fiennes, the
second son of the lord Say, and sir Harry Vane, eldest son
to the secretary, and treasurer of the house, were received
by them with full confidence and without reserve.

The Eabl of Southampton.
The earl of Southampton was indeed a great man in all
respects, and brought very much reputation to the King's
cause. He was of a nature much inclined to melancholy,
and being born a younger brother, and his father and his
elder brother dying upon the point together, whilst he was
but a boy, he was much troubled to be called my lord, and
with the noise of attendance ; so much he then delighted to
be alone. Yet he had a great spirit, and exacted the respect
that was due to his quality ; he had never had any conversa-
tion in the Court, nor obligation to it. On the contrary, he
had undergone some hardship from it ; which made it
believed, that he would have been ready to have taken all
occasions to have been severe towards it. And therefore, in
the beginning of the Parliament, no man was more courted
by the managers of those designs. He had great dislike of
the high courses, which had been taken in the government,
and a particular prejudice to the earl of Strafford, for some

K 2

132 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

exorbitant proceedings. But, as soon as he saw the ways of
reverence and duty towards the King declined, and the prose-
cution of the earl of Strafford to exceed the limits of justice,
he opposed them vigorously in all their proceedings. He
was a man of a great sharpness of judgment, a very quick
apprehension, and that readiness of expression upon any
sudden debate, that no man delivered himself more advan-
tageously and weightily, and more efficaciously with the
hearers ; so that no man gave them more trouble in his
opposition, or drew so many to a concurrence with him in
opinion. He had no relation to, or dependence upon, the
Court, or purpose to have any ; but wholly pursued the public
interest. It was long before he could be prevailed with to be
a Councillor, and longer before he would be admitted to be
of the bedchamber ; and received both honours the rather,
because, after he had refused to take a Protestation, which
both houses had ordered to be taken by all their members,
they had likewise voted, ' that no man should be capable of
any preferment in Church or State, who refused to take the
same ; ' and he would shew how much he contemned those
votes. He went with the King to York ; was most solicitous,
as hath been said, for the offer of peace at Nottingham ; and
was then with him at Edgehill; and came and stayed with
him at Oxford to the end of the war, taking all opportunities
to advance all motions towards peace ; and, as no man was
more punctual in performing his own duty, so no man had
more melancholy apprehensions of the issue of the war;
which is all shall be said of him in this place, there being
frequent occasions to mention him, in the continuance of this
discourse.

THE EARLS OF LEICESTER AND BRISTOL, 133

THE Eakls op Leicestek, Bkistol, NE^VCASTLE,
and Bekkshibe, the Lords Dunsmore, Sbt-

MOUB, AND S A VILE.

The earl of Leicester was a man of great parts, very con-
versant in books, and much addicted to the mathematics ;
and though he had been a soldier, and commanded a regi-
ment, in the service of the States of the United Provinces,
and was afterwards employed in several embassies, as in
Denmark and in France, was in truth rather a speculative
than a practical man; and expected a greater certitude in
the consultation of business, than the business of this world
is capable of : which temper proved very inconvenient to him
through the course of his Hfe. He was, after the death of the
earl of Strafford, by the concurrent kindness and esteem both
of King and Queen, called from his embassy in France, to be
Heutenant of the kingdom of Ireland ; and, in a very short
time after, unhappily lost that kindness and esteem : and
being, about the time of the King's coming to Oxford, ready
to embark at Chester, for the execution of his charge, he was
required to attend his majesty, for farther instructions, at
Oxford; where he remained; and though he was of the
Council, and sometimes present, he desired not to have any
part in the business ; and lay under many reproaches and
jealousies, which he deserved not : for he was a man of
honour, and fidelity to the King, and his greatest misfortunes
proceeded from the staggering and irresolution in his nature.

The earl of Bristol was a man of a grave aspect, of a
presence that drew respect, and of long experience in affairs
of great importance. He had been, by the extraordinary
favour of King James to his person (for he was a very hand-
some man) and his parts, which were naturally great, and

134 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

had been improved by a good education at home and abroad^
sent ambassador into Spain, before he was thirty years of
age ; and afterwards in several other embassies ; and at last,
again into Spain, where he treated and concluded the
marriage between the Prince of Wales and that Infanta,
which was afterwards dissolved. He was by King James
made of the Privy Council, vice-chamberlain of the household,
an earl, and a gentleman of the bedchamber to the Prince,,
and was then crushed by the power of the duke of Bucking-
ham, and the prejudice the Prince himself had contracted
against him, during his highness's being in Spain ; upon
which he was imprisoned upon his return; and after the
duke's death, the King retained so strict a memory of all his
friendships and displeasures, that the earl of Bristol could
never recover any admission to the Court ; but lived in the
country, in ease, and plenty in his fortune, and in great repu-
tation with all who had not an implicit reverence for the
Court ; and before, and in the beginning of the Parliament,,
appeared in the head of all the discontented party; but
quickly left them, when they entered upon their unwarrant-
able violences, and grew so much into their disfavour, that
after the King was gone to York, upon some expressions he
used in the House of Peers in debate, they committed him to
the Tower ; from whence being released, in two or three
days, he made haste to York to the King ; who had before
restored him to his place in the Council and the bedchamber.
He was with him at Edge-hill, and came with him from thence
to Oxford; and, at the end of the war, went into France; where
he died ; that party having so great an animosity against him,
that they would not suffer him to live in England, nor to
compound for his estate, as they suffered others to do, who
had done them more hurt. Though he was a man of great

EARLS OF NEWCASTLE AND BERKSHIRE. 1 35

parts, and a wise man, yet he had been for the most part
single, and by himself, in business; which he managed with
good sufficiency ; and had lived little in consort, so that in
Council he was passionate, and supercilious, and did not bear
contradiction without much passion, and was too voluminous
in discourse ; so that he was not considered there with much
respect ; to the lessening whereof no man contributed more
than his son, the lord Digby ; who shortly after came to sit
there as Secretary of State, and had not that reverence for his
father's wisdom, which his great experience deserved, though
he failed not in his piety towards him.

The earl of Newcastle was a person well bred, and of a
full and plentiful fortune ; and had been chosen by the King
to be governor to the Prince of Wales, and made of the
Council, and resigned that office of governor to the marquis
of Hertford, for the reasons which have been mentioned. He
was not at Oxford, but remained at NewcasUe, with the King's
commission to be general of those parts; being a man of
great courage, and signal fidelity to the Crown, of whom there
will be more occasion hereafter to enlarge.

The earl of Berkshire was of the Council, but not yet at
Oxford ; having been, about or before the setting up of the
standard, taken prisoner in Oxfordshire, and committed to
the Tower, upon an imagination that he had some purpose
to have executed the commission of array in that county ;
but they afterwards set him at liberty, as a man that could do
them no harm any where ; and then he came to Oxford,
with the title and pretences of a man, who had been im-
prisoned for the King, and thereby merited more than his
majesty had to give. His affection for the Crown was good ;
his interest and reputation less than any thing but his under-
standing:.

136 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

The lord Dunsmore had been made a Privy Councillor,
after so many, who had deserved worse, had been called
thither, to make an atonement, which failing, he could not
be refused, who was ready to do whatever he was directed :
he was a man of a rough and tempestuous nature, violent in
pursuing what he wished, without judgment, or temper to
know the way of bringing it to pass ; however, he had some
kind of power with froward and discontented men ; at least
he had credit to make them more indisposed. But his
greatest reputation was, that the earl of Southampton married
his daughter, who was a beautiful and a worthy lady.

The lord Seymour, being brother to the marquis of Hert-
ford, was a man of interest and reputation ; he had been
always very popular in the country; where he had always
lived out of the grace of the Court ; and his parts and judg-
ment were best in those things which concerned the good
husbandry, and the common administration of justice to the
people. In the beginning of the parliament, he served as
knight of the shire for Wiltshire, where he lived ; and behav-
ing himself with less violence in the House of Commons, than
many of his old friends did, and having a great friendship
for the earl of Strafford, he was, by his interposition, called to
the House of Peers ; where he carried himself very well in all
things relating to the Crown ; and when the King went to
York, he left the Parliament, and followed his majesty, and
remained firm in his fidelity.

The lord Savile was likewise of the Council, being first
controller, and then treasurer of the household, in recompense
of his discovery of all the treasons and conspiracies, after
they had taken effect, and could not be punished. He was a
man of an ambitious and restless nature ; of parts and wit
enough ; but, in his disposition, and inclination, so false, that

LORD SAVILE. I37

he could never be believed, or depended upon. His particu-
lar malice to the earl of Strafford, which he had sucked in
with his milk, (there having always been an immortal feud
between the families; and the earl had shrewdly overborne
his father,) had engaged him with all persons who were
willing, and like to be able, to do him mischief. And so,
having opportunity, when the King was at the Berkes, and
made the first unhappy Pacification, to enter into conversation,
and acquaintance; with those who were then employed as
commissioners from the Scots, there was a secret intelligence
entered into between them from that time ; and he was a
principal instrument to engage that nation to march into
England with an army, which they did the next year after.
To which purpose, he sent them a letter, signed with the
names of several of the English nobility, inviting them to
enter the kingdom, and making great promises of assistance ;
which names were forged by himself, without the privity of
those who were named. And when all this mischief was
brought to pass, and he found his credit in the Parliament
not so great as other men's, he insinuated himself into credit
with somebody, who brought him to the King or Queen, to
whom he confessed all he had done to bring in the Scots,
and who had conspired with him, and all the secrets he knew,
with a thousand protestations * to repair all by future loyalty
and service ; ' for which he was promised a white staff, which
the King had then resolved to take from sir Henry Vane, who
held it with the Secretary's office ; which he had accordingly ;
though all his discovery was of no other use, than that the
King knew many had been false, whom he could not punish ;
and some, whom he could not suspect. When the King came
to York, where this lord's fortune and interest lay, his repu-
tation was so low, that the gentlemen of interest, who wished

138 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

well to the King's service, would not communicate with him ;
and, after the king's remove from thence, the earl of New-
castle found cause to have such a jealousy of him, that he
thought it necessary to imprison him, and afterwards sent
him to Oxford, where he so well purged himself, that he was
again restored to his office. But in the end he behaved him-
self so ill, that the King put him again out of his place, and
committed him to prison, and never after admitted him to his
presence ; nor would any man of quality ever after keep any
correspondence with him.

The Eaels of Essex, Salisbuky, Wabwick,
Holland, and Marches teb.

The earl of Essex hath been enough mentioned before ;
his nature and his understanding have been described ; his
former disobligations from the Court, and then his introduc-
tion into it, and afterwards his being displaced from the
office he held in it, have been set forth ; and there will be
occasion, hereafter, to renew the discourse of him ; and
therefore it shall suffice, in this place, to say, that a weak
judgment, and a little vanity, and as much of pride, will
hurry a man into as unwarrantable and as violent attempts,
as the greatest, and most unlimited, and insatiable ambition
will do. He had no ambition of title, or office, or prefer-
ment, but only to be kindly looked upon, and kindly spoken
to, and quietly to enjoy his own fortune : and, without doubt,
no man in his nature more abhorred rebellion than he did,
nor could he have been led into it by any open or transparent
temptation, but by a thousand disguises and cozenages. His
pride supplied his want of ambition, and he was angry to
see any other man more respected than himself, because he

EARLS OF ESSEX AND SALISBURY. 139

thought he deserved it more, and did better requite it. For
he was, in his friendships, just and constant ; and would not
have practised foully against those he took to be enemies.
No man had credit enough with him to corrupt him in point
of loyalty to the King, whilst he thought himself wise enough
to know what treason was. But the new doctrine, and dis-
tinction of allegiance, and of the King's power in and out of
Parliament, and the new notions of ordinances, were too
hard for him, and did really intoxicate his understanding,
and made him quit his own, to follow theirs, who, he thought,
wished as well, and judged better than himself. His vanity
disposed him to be His Excellency; and his weakness, to
believe that he should be the general in the Houses, as well
as in the field ; and be able to govern their counsels, and
restrain their passions, as well as to fight their battles ; and
that, by this means, he should become the preserver, and not
the destroyer, of the King and kingdom. And with this ill-
grounded confidence, he launched out into that sea, where
he met with nothing but rocks and shelves, and from whence
he could never discover any safe port to harbour in.

The earl of Salisbury had been born and bred in Court,
and had the advantage of a descent from a father, and a
grandfather, who had been very wise men, and great ministers
of state in the eyes of Christendom ; whose wisdom and vir-
tues died with them, and their children only inherited their
titles. He had been admitted of the Council to King James ;
from which time he continued so obsequious to the Court,
that he never failed in overacting all that he was required to
do. No act of power was ever proposed, which he did not
advance, and execute his part with the utmost rigour. No
man so great a tyrant in his country, or was less swayed by
any motives of justice or honour. He was a man of no

I40 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

words, except in hunting and hawking, in which he only
knew how to behave himself. In matters of state and counsel,
he always concurred in what was proposed for the King, and
cancelled and repaired all those transgressions, by concurring
in all that was proposed against him, as soon as any such
propositions were made. Yet when the King went to York,
he likewise attended upon his majesty ; and, at that distance,
seemed to have recovered some courage, and concurred in
all counsels which were taken t^o undeceive the people, and
to make the proceedings of the Parliament odious to all the
world. But, on a sudden, he caused his horses to attend
him out of the town, and having placed fresh ones at a
distance, he fled back to London, with the expedition such
men use, when they are most afraid ; and never after denied
to do any thing that was required of him ; and when the war
was ended, and Cromwell had put down the House of Peers,
he got himself to be chosen a member of the House of Com-
mons ; and sat with them, as of their own body ; and was
esteemed accordingly. In a word, he became so despicable
to all men, that he will hardly ever enjoy the ease which
Seneca bequeathed him ; Hie egregiis majoribus orius est,
qualiscunque est, sub umbra suorum lateat. Ut loca sordida
repereussa sole illustrantur, ita inertes majorum suorum luce
resplendeant.

The earl of Warwick was of the King's Council too, but
was not wondered at for leaving the King, whom he had
never served; nor did he look upon himself as obliged by
that honour, which, he knew, was conferred upon him in the
crowd of those whom his majesty had no esteem of, or ever
purposed to trust ; so his business was to join with those to
whom he owed his promotion. He was a man of a pleasant
and companionable wit and conversation ; of an universal

EARLS OF WARWICK AND HOLLAND. 1 41

jollity; and such a license in his words, and in his actions,
that a man of less virtue could not be found out : so that a
man might reasonably have believed, that a man so qualified
would not have been able to have contributed much to the
overthrow of a nation and kingdom. But, with all these
faults, he had great authority and credit with that people,
who, in the beginning of the troubles, did all the mischief ;
and by opening his doors, and making his house the rendez-
vous of all the silenced ministers, in the time when there was
authority to silence them, and spending a good part of his
estate, of which he was very prodigal, upon them, and by
being present with them at their devotions, and making him-
self merry with them, and at them, which they dispensed
with, he became the head of that party ; and got the style of
a godly man. When the King revoked the earl of Northum-
berland's commission of admiral, he presently accepted the
office from the Parliament ; and never quitted their service; and
when Cromwell disbanded that Parliament, he betook himself
to the protection of the Protector; married his heir to his
daughter ; and lived in so entire a confidence and friendship
with him, that, when he died, he had the honour to be ex-
ceedingly lamented by him ; and left his estate, which before
was subject to a vast debt, more improved and repaired, than
any man who trafficked in that desperate commodity of re-
bellion.

The earl of Holland had grown up under the shadow of
the Court, and had been too long a Councillor before, and
contributed too much to the counsels which had most pre-
judiced the Crown, to have declined waiting upon it, when it
needed attendance. But he chose to stay with the Parlia-
ment ; and there hath been enough said of him before, and
more must be said hereafter. And therefore it shall suffice

142 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

now, to say, that there was a very froward fate attended all,
or most of the posterity of that bed, from whence he and his
brother of Warwick had their original ; though he, and some
others among them, had many very good parts and excellent
endowments.

The earl of Manchester, of the whole cabal, was, in a
thousand respects, most unfit for the company he kept. He
was of a gentle and a generous nature; civilly bred; had
reverence and affection for the person of the King, upon
whom he had attended in Spain; loved his country with too
unskilful a tenderness ; and was of so excellent a temper and
disposition, that the barbarous times, and the rough parts he
was forced to act in them, did not wipe out, or much deface,
those marks : insomuch as he was never guilty of any rude-
ness towards those he was obliged to oppress, but performed
always as good offices towards his old friends, and all other
persons, as the iniquity of the time, and the nature of the
employment he was in, would permit him to do ; which kind
of humanity could be imputed to very few.

And he was at last dismissed, and removed from any trust,
for no other reason, but because he was not wicked enough.
He married first into the family of the. duke of Buckingham,
and, by his favour and interest, was called to the House of
Peers in the life of his father ; and made baron of Kimbolton,
though he was commonly treated and known by the name
of the lord Mandevile ; and was as much addicted to the
service of the court as he ought to be. But the death of his
lady, and the murder of that great favourite, his second
marriage with the daughter of the earl of Warwick, and the
very narrow and restrained maintenance, which he received
from his father, and which would in no degree defray the
expenses of the court, forced him too soon to retire to a

THE EARL OE MANCHESTER. 1 43

country life, and totally to abandon both the Court and
London ; whither he came very seldom in many years. And
in this retirement, the discountenance which his father under-
went at Court, the conversation of that family into which he
was married, the bewitching popularity, which flowed upon
him with a wonderful torrent, with the want of those guards
which a good education should have supplied him with, by
the clear notion of the foundation of the ecclesiastical, as well
as the civil government, made a great impression upon his
understanding, (for his nature was never corrupted, but re-
mained still in its integrity,) and made him believe that the
Court was inclined to hurt, and even to destroy the country ;
and from particular instances to make general and dangerous
conclusions. They who had been always enemies to the
Church prevailed with him to lessen his reverence for it, and
having not been well instructed to defend it, he yielded too
easily to those who confidently assaulted it ; and thought it
had great errors, which were necessary to be reformed ; and
that all means are lawful to compass that which is necessary.
Whereas the true logic is, that the thing desired is not neces-
sary, if the ways are unlawful, which are proposed to bring it
to pass. No man was courted with more application, by
persons of all conditions and qualities ; and his person was
not less acceptable to those of steady and uncorrupted prin-
ciples, than to those of depraved inclinations. And in the
end, even his piety administered some excuse to him; for
his father's infirmities and transgressions had so far exposed
him to the inquisition of justice, that he found it necessary to
procure the assistance and protection of those who were
strong enough to violate justice itself; and so he adhered to
those who were best able to defend his father's honour, and
thereby to secure his own fortune ; and concurred with them

144 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

in their most violent designs, and gave reputation to them.
And the Court as unskilfully took an occasion too soon to
make him desperate, by accusing him of high treason, when
(though he might be guilty enough) he was, without doubt,
in his intentions, at least, as innocent as any of the leading
men.

And it is some evidence, that God Almighty saw his heart
was not so malicious as the rest, that he preserved him to the
end of the confusion ; when he appeared as glad of the
King's restoration, and had heartily wished it long before, and
very few, who had a hand in the contrivance of the Rebellion,
gave so manifest tokens of repentance as he did ; and having,
for many years, undergone the jealousy and hatred of Crom-
well, as one who abominated the murder of the King, and all
the barbarous proceedings against the Hves of men in cold
blood ; the King upon his return received him into grace and
favour, which he never forfeited by any undutiful behaviour.

The Lord Say.

The last of those Councillors which were made after the
faction prevailed in Parliament, who were all made to advance
an accommodation, and who adhered to the Parliament, was
the lord Say ; a man, who had the deepest hand in the
original contrivance of all the calamities which befell this
unhappy kingdom, though he had not the least thought of
dissolving the monarchy, and less of levelling the ranks and
distinctions of men. For no man valued himself more upon
his title, or had more ambition to make it greater, and to
raise his fortune, which was but moderate for his title. He
was of a proud, morose, and sullen nature ; conversed much
with books, having been bred a scholar, and (though nobly

THE LORD SAY. 1 45

born) a fellow of New College in Oxford; to which he
claimed a right, by the alliance he pretended to have from
William of Wickham, the founder ; which he made good by
such an unreasonable pedigree, through so many hundred
years, half the time whereof extinguishes all relation of
kindred. However upon that pretence, that college hath
been seldom without one of that lord's family. His parts
were not quick, but so much above those of his own rank,
that he had always great credit and authority in Parliament ;
and the more, for taking all opportunities to oppose the
Court; and he had, with his milk, sucked in an implacable
malice against the government of the Church. When the
duke of Buckingham proposed to himself, after his return
with the prince from Spain, to make himself popular, by
breaking that match, and to be gracious with the Parliament,
as for a short time he was, he resolved to embrace the friend-
ship of the lord Say ; who was as solicitous to climb by that
ladder. But the duke quickly found him of too imperious
and pedantical a spirit, and to affect too dangerous muta-
tions; and so cast him off; and from that time he gave over
any pursuit in Court, and lived narrowly and sordidly in the
country; having conversation with very few, but such who
had great malignity against the Church and State, and
fomented their inclinations, and gave them instructions how
to behave themselves with caution, and to do their business
with most security ; and was in truth the pilot, that steered
all those vessels which were freighted with sedition to destroy
the government.

He found always some way to make professions of duty to
the king, and made several undertakings to do great services,
which he could not, or would not, make good ; and made
haste to possess himself of any preferment he could compass,

L

146 SELECTIONS JFROM CLARENDON.

whilst his friends were content to attend a more proper con-
juncture. So he got the mastership of the wards shortly
after the beginning of the Parliament, and was as solicitous
to be Treasurer after the death of the earl of Bedford ; and, if
he could have satisfied his rancour in any degree against the
Church, he would have been ready to have carried the prero-
gative as high as ever it was. When he thought there was
mischief enough done, he would have stopped the current,
and have diverted farther fury; but he then found he had
only authority and credit to do hurt ; none to heal the wounds
he had given ; and fell into as much contempt with those
whom he had led, as he was with those whom he had
undone.

Sib Henby Vawe.

The last of the Councillors who stayed with the Parliament
was sir Henry Vane ; who had so much excuse for it, that,
being thrown out of the Court, he had no whither else to go;
and promised himself to be much made of by them, for whose
sakes only he had brought that infamy upon himself. He
was of very ordinary parts by nature, and had not cultivated
them at all by art; for he was illiterate. But being of a
stirring and boisterous disposition, very industrious, and very
bold, he still wrought himself into some employment. He
had been acquainted with the vicissitudes of Court, and had
undergone some severe mortification, by the disfavour of the
duke of Buckingham, in the beginning of the King's reign.
But the duke was no sooner dead, (which made it believed
that he had made his peace in his lifetime, for the King was
not, in a long time after, reconciled to any man who was
eminently in the duke's disfavour,) but he was again brought
into the Court, and made a Councillor, and Controller of the

SIR HENRY VANE. 147

Household ; which place he became well, and was fit for ; and
if he had never taken other preferment, he might probably
have continued a good subject. For he had no inclination to
change, and in the judgment he had, liked the government
both of Church and State ; and only desired to raise his for-
tune, which was not great, and which he found many ways
to improve. And he was wont to say, ' that he never had
desired other preferment ; and believed, that marquis Hamil-
ton,' (with whom he had never kept fair quarter,) ' when he
first proposed to him to be Secretary of State, did it to affront
him; well knowing his want of ability for the discharge of
that office.' But, without doubt, as the fatal preferring him
to that place was of unspeakable prejudice to the king, so his
receiving it was to his own destruction. His malice to the
earl of Strafford (who had unwisely provoked him, wantonly,
and out of contempt) transported him to all imaginable
thoughts of revenge ; which is a guest, that naturally disquiets
and tortures those who entertain it, with all the perplexities
they contrive for others ; and that disposed him to sacrifice
his honour and faith, and his master's interest, that he might
ruin the earl, and was buried himself in the same ruin ; for
which being justly chastised by the King, and turned out of
his service, he was left to his own despair ; and, though he
concurred in all the malicious designs against the King, and
against the Church, he grew into the hatred and contempt of
those who had made most use of him ; and died in universal
reproach, and not contemned more by any of his enemies,
than by his own son ; who had been his principal conductor
to destruction.

L 2

148 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

BOOK VII.

Attack by Rtjpekt.

But the alarm had been brought to the earl of Essex from
all the quarters, who quickly gathered those troops together,
which were nearest ; and directed those to follow the prince,
and to entertain him in skirmishes, till himself should come
up with the foot, and some other troops, which he made
all possible haste to do. So that when the prince had
almost passed a fair plain, or field, called Chalgrove field,
from whence he was to enter a lane, which continued to the
bridge, the enemy's horse were discovered marching after
them with speed ; and as they might easily overtake them in
the lane, so they must as easily have put them into great
disorder. Therefore the prince resolved to expect, and stand
them upon the open field, though his horse were all tired,
and the sun was grown very hot, it being about eight of the
clock in the morning in [June]. And so he directed, ' that
the guard of the prisoners should make what haste they could
to the bridge, but that all the rest should return ; ' for some
were entered the lane : and so he placed himself and his
troops, as he thought fit, in that field to receive the enemy;
which made more haste, and with less order than they should
have done ; and being more in number than the prince, and
consisting of many of the principal officers, who, having been
present with the earl of Essex when the alarm came, stayed
not for their own troops, but joined with those who were
ready in the pursuit, as they thought, of a flying enemy, or
such as would easily be arrested in their hasty retreat, and,
having now overtaken them, meant to take revenge them-

ATTACK BY RUPERT. 149

selves for the damage they had received that night, and
morning, before the general could come up to have a share
in the victory, though his troops were even in view. But
the prince entertained them so roughly, that though their
fronts charged very bravely and obstinately, consisting of
many of their best officers, of which many of the chiefest
falling, the rest shewed less vigour, and in a short time they
broke, and fled, and were pursued till they came near the
earl of Essex's body; which being at near a mile's distance,
and making a stand to receive their flying troops, and to be
informed of their disaster, the prince with his troops hastened
his retreat, and passed the lane, and came safe to the bridge
before any of the earl's forces came up ; who found it then
to no purpose to go farther, there being a good guard of
foot, which had likewise lined both sides of the hedges a
good way in the lane. And so the prince, about noon, or
shortly after, entered Oxford, with near two hundred
prisoners, seven cornets of horse, and four ensigns of foot,
with most of the men he earned from thence, some few
excepted, who had been killed in the action, whereof some
were of name.

And the prince presented colonel Urry to the King with a
great testimony of the courage he had shewed in the action,
as well as of his counsel and conduct in the whole ; which
was indeed very dexterous, and could have been performed
by no man, who had not been very conversant with the
nature and humour of those he destroyed. Upon which, the
King honoured him with knighthood, and a regiment of horse
as soon as it could be raised ; and every body magnified and
extolled him, as they usually do a man who hath good luck,
and the more, because he was a Scotchman, and professed
a repentance for having been in rebellion against the King.

150 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

And he deserves this testimony, and vindication to be given
him, against the calumnies which were raised against him,
' as if he had broken his trust, and deserted the service of
the ParHament, and betrayed them to the King,' which is not
true. He had owned and pubUshed his discontents long
before, and demanded redress and justice in some particulars
from the parliament, in which the earl of Essex thought he
had reason ; and wished he might receive satisfaction. But
the man was in his nature proud and imperious ; and had
raised many enemies, and was besides of Hcense, and com-
mitted many disorders of that kind; and had little other
virtue than being a good officer in the field, regular and
vigilant in marching, and in his quarters, which the ParHa-
ment thought other men would attain to, who had fewer
vices ; and therefore granted nothing that he had desired ;
upon which he declared, ' he would serve them no longer ; '
and delivered up his commission to the earl of Essex ; and
being then pressed to promise, that he would not serve the
King, he positively refused to give any such engagement;
and after he had stayed in London about a month, and had
received encouragement from some friends in Oxford, he
came thither in the manner set down before.

The prince's success in this last march was very seasonable,
and raised the spirits at Oxford very much, and for some
time allayed the jealousies and animosities, which too often
broke out in several factions to the disquiet of the King. It
was visibly great in the number of the prisoners ; whereof
many were of condition, and the names of many officers
were known, who were left dead upon the field, as colonel
Gunter, who was looked upon as the best officer of horse
they had, and a man of known malice to the government of
the Church; which had drawn some severe censure upon

JOHN HAMPDEN. \$\

him before the troubles, and for which he had still meditated
revenge. And one of the prisoners who had been taken in
the action said, *that he was confident Mr. Hambden was
hurt, for he saw him ride off the field before the action was
done, which he never used to do, and with his head hanging
down, and resting his hands upon the neck of his horse ;' by
which he concluded he was hurt. But the news the next
day made the victory much more important than it was
thought to have been. There was full information brought
of the great loss the enemy had sustained in their quarters,
by which three or four regiments were utterly broken and
lost : the names of many officers, of the best account, were
known, who were either killed upon the place, or so hurt as
there remained little hope of their recovery.

John Hampden.

Many men observed (as upon signal turns of great affairs,
as this was, such observations are frequently made) that the
field in which the late skirmish was, and upon which Mr.
Hambden received his death's wound, Chalgrove field, was
the same place in which he had first executed the ordinance
of the militia, and engaged that county, in which his reputa-
tion was very great, in this rebellion : and it was confessed
by the prisoners that were taken that day, and acknowledged
by all, that upon the alarm that morning, after their quarters
were beaten up, he was exceedingly solicitous to draw forces
together to pursue the enemy; and, being himself a colonel
of foot, put himself among those horse as a volunteer, who
were first ready ; and that when the prince made a stand, all
the officers were of opinion to stay till their body came up,
and he alone (being second to none but the general himself

1^2 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

in the observance and application of all men) persuaded,
and prevailed with them to advance ; so violently did his fate
carry him, to pay the mulct in the place where he had com-
mitted the transgression, about a year before.

He was a gentleman of a good family in Buckinghamshire,
and born to a fair fortune, and of a most civil and affable
deportment. In his entrance into the world, he indulged to
himself all the license in sports and exercises, and company,
which was used by men of the most jolly conversation.
Afterwards, he retired to a more reserved and melancholy
society, yet preserving his own natural cheerfulness and
vivacity, and above all, a flowing courtesy to all men ; though
they who conversed nearly with him, found him growing into
a dislike of the ecclesiastical government of the Church, yet
most believed it rather a dislike of some churchmen, and of
some introducements of theirs, which he apprehended might
disquiet the public peace. He was rather of reputation in
his own country, than of public discourse, or fame in the
kingdom, before the business of ship-money: but then he
grew the argument of all tongues, every man inquiring who
and what he was, that durst, at his own charge, support the
liberty and property of the kingdom, and rescue his country,
as he thought, from being made a prey to the Court. His
carriage, throughout this agitation, was with that rare temper
and modesty, that they who watched him narrowly to find
some advantage against his person, to make him less resolute
in his cause, were compelled to give him a just testimony.
And the judgment that was given against him infinitely more
advanced him, than the service for which it was given. When
this parliament begun, (being returned knight of the shire
for the county where he lived,) the eyes of all men were
fixed on him, as their Patrice pater, and the pilot that must

JOHN HAMPDEN. 1 53

Steer the vessel through the tempests and rocks which threat-
ened it. And I am persuaded, his power and interest, at
that time, was greater to do good or hurt, than any man's in
the kingdom, or than any man of his rank hath had in any
time: for his reputation of honesty was universal, and his
affections seemed so publicly guided, that no corrupt or
private ends could bias them.

He was of that rare affability and temper in debate, and
of that seeming humility and submission of judgment, as if
he brought no opinion with him, but a desire of information
and instruction ; yet he had so subtle a way of interrogating,
and, under the notion of doubts, insinuating his objections,
that he left his opinions with those from whom he pretended
to learn and receive them. And even with them who were
able to preserve themselves from his infusions, and discerned
those opinions to be fixed in him, with which they could not
comply, he always left the character of an ingenious and
conscientious person. He was indeed a very wise man, and
of great parts, and possessed with the most absolute spirit of
popularity, that is, the most absolute faculties to govern the
people, of any man I ever knew. For the first year of the
Parliament, he seemed rather to moderate and soften the
violent and distempered humours, than to inflame them.
But wise and dispassioned men plainly discerned, that that
moderation proceeded from prudence, and observation that
the season was not ripe, rather than that he approved of the
moderation, and that he begat many opinions and motions,
the education whereof he committed to other men, so far
disguising his own designs, that he seemed seldom to wish
more than was concluded ; and in many gross conclusions,
which would hereafter contribute to designs not yet set on
foot, when he found them sufficiently backed by majority of

154 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

voices, he would withdraw himself before the question, that
he might seem not to consent to so much visible unreason-
ableness ; which produced as great a doubt in some, as it
did approbation in others, of his integrity. What combina-
tion soever had been originally with the Scots for the in-
vasion of England, and what farther was entered into after-
wards in favour of them, and to advance any alteration [of
the government] in Parliament, no man doubts was at least
with the privity of this gentleman.

After he was among those members accused by the King
of high treason, he was much altered, his nature and
carriage seeming much fiercer than it did before. And
without question, when he first drew his sword, he threw
away the scabbard ; for he passionately opposed the overture
made by the King for a treaty from Nottingham, and as
eminently, any expedients that might have produced any
accommodations in this that was at Oxford ; and was
principally relied on, to prevent any infusions which might
be made into the earl of Essex towards peace, or to render
them ineffectual, if they were made ; and was indeed much
more relied on by that party, than the general himself. In
the first entrance into the troubles, he undertook the com-
mand of a regiment of foot, and performed the duty of a
colonel, on all occasions, most punctually. He was very
temperate in diet, and a supreme governor over all his
passions and aff"ections, and had thereby a great power over
other men's. He was of an industry and vigilance not to be
tired out, or wearied by the most laborious ; and of parts not
to be imposed upon by the most subtle or sharp ; and of a
personal courage equal to his best parts ; so that he was an
enemy not to be wished wherever he might have been made
a friend, and as much to be apprehended where he was so,

LORD FALKLAND, 1^^

as any man could deserve to be. And therefore his death
was no less congratulated on the one party, than it was
condoled in the other. In a word, what was said of Cinna
might well be applied to him ; ' he had a head to contrive,
and a tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute, any mis-
chief/ His death therefore seemed to be a great deliverance
to the nation.

LoBD Falkland.
If the celebrating the memory of eminent and extra-
ordinary persons, and transmitting their great .virtues, for the
imitation of posterity, be one of the principal ends and duties
of history, it will not be thought impertinent, in this place, to
remember a loss which no time will suffer to be forgotten,
and no success or good fortune could repair. In this un-
happy* battle was slain the lord viscount Falkland ; a person
of such prodigious parts of learning and knowledge, of that ,
inimitable sweetness and delight in conversation, of so flow-
ing and obliging a humanity and goodness to mankind, and
of that primitive simplicity and integrity of life, that if there
were no other brand upon this odious and accursed civil war,
than that single loss, it must be most infamous, and execrable
to all posterity.

Turpe mori, post /<?, solo nan posse dolore.

Before this Parliament, his condition of life was so happy
that it was hardly capable of improvement. Before he came
to twenty years of age, he was master of a noble fortune,
which descended to him by the gift of a grandfather, without
passing through his father or mother, who were then both
alive, and not well enough contented to find themselves
passed by in the descent. His education for some years had
^ [The first battle of .Newbury.]

156 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

been in Ireland, where his father was Lord Deputy; so that,
when he returned into England, to the possession of his
fortune, he was unentangled with any acquaintance or friends,
which usually grow up by the custom of conversation ; and
therefore was to make a pure election of his company; which
he chose by other rules than were prescribed to the young
nobility of that time. And it cannot be denied, though he
admitted some few to his friendship for the agreeableness of
their natures, and their undoubted affection to him, that his
familiarity and friendship, for the most part, was with men
of the most eminent and sublime parts, and of untouched
reputation in point of integrity ; and such men had a title to
his bosom.

He was a great cherisher of wit, and fancy, and good parts
in any man ; and, if he found them clouded with poverty or
want, a most liberal and bountiful patron towards them, even
above his fortune ; of which, in those administrations, he was
such a dispenser, as, if he had been trusted with it to such
uses, and if there had been the least of vice in his expense,
he might have been thought too prodigal. He was constant
and pertinacious in whatsoever he resolved to do, and not to
be wearied by any pains that were necessary to that end.
And therefore having once resolved not to see London,
which he loved above all places, till he had perfectly learned
the Greek tongue, he went to his own house in the country,
and pursued it with that indefatigable industry, that it will
not be believed in how short a time he was master of it, and
accurately read all the Greek historians.

In this time, his house being within ten miles of Oxford,
he contracted familiarity and friendship with the most polite
and accurate men of that university; who found such an
immenseness of wit, and such a solidity of judgment in

LORD FALKLAND. 1 57

him, so infinite a fancy, bound in by a most logical ratioci-
nation, such a vast knowledge, that he was not ignorant in
any thing, yet such an excessive humility, as if he had known
nothing, that they frequendy resorted, and dwelt with him as
in a college situated in a purer air ; so that his house was a
university in a less volume, whither they came not so much
for repose as study, and to examine and refine those grosser
propositions, which laziness and consent made current in
vulgar conversation.

Many attempts were made upon him by the instigation of
his mother (who was a lady of another persuasion in religion,
and of a most masculine understanding, allayed with the
passion and infirmities of her own sex) to pervert him in his
piety to the Church of England, and to reconcile him to that
of Rome ; which they prosecuted with the more confidence,
because he declined no opportunity or occasion of conference
with those of that religion, whether priests or laics, having
diligently studied the controversies, and exactly read all, or
the choicest of the Greek and Latin fathers, and having a
memory so stupendous, that he remembered, on all occasions,
whatsoever he read. And he was so great an enemy to that
passion und uncharitableness, which he saw produced, by
diff"erence of opinion, in matters of religion, that in all those
disputations with priests, and others of the Roman Church,
he aff"ected to manifest all possible civility to their persons,
and estimation of their parts ; which made them retain still
some hope of his reduction, even when they had given over
offering farther reasons to him to that purpose. But this
charity towards them was much lessened, and any corres-
pondence with them quite declined, when, by sinister arts,
they had corrupted his two younger brothers, being both
children, and stolen them from his house, and transported

158 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

them beyond seas, and perverted his sisters : upon which
occasion he writ two large discourses against the principal
positions of that religion, with that sharpness of style, and
full weight of reason, that the church is deprived of great
jewels in the concealment of them, and that they are not
published to the world.

He was superior to all those passions and affections which
attend vulgar minds, and was guilty of no other ambition
than of knowledge, and to be reputed a lover of all good
men; and that made him too much a contemner of those
arts, which must be indulged in the transactions of hum.an
affairs. In the last short Parliament, he was a burgess in the
House of Commons ; and, from the debates which were then
managed with all imaginable gravity and sobriety, he con-
tracted such a reverence to parliaments, that he thought it
really impossible they could ever produce mischief or incon-
venience to the kingdom; or that the kingdom could be
tolerably happy in the intermission of them. And from the
unhappy and unseasonable dissolution of that convention, he
harboured, it may be, some jealousy and prejudice to the
Court, towards which he was not before immoderately in-
clined ; his father having wasted a full fortune there, in those
offices and employments by which other men use to obtain a
greater. He was chosen again this Parliament to serve in
the same place, and, in the beginning of it, declared himself
very sharply and severely against those exorbitancies, which
had been most grievous to the State ; for he was so rigid an
observer of established laws and rules, that he could not
endure the least breach or deviation from them ; and thought
no mischief so intolerable as the presumption of ministers of
state to break positive rules, for reasons of state ; or judges
to transgress known laws, upon the title of conveniency or

LORD FALKLAND. 159

necessity; which made him so severe against the earl of
Strafford and the lord Finch, contrary to his natural gentle-
ness and temper : insomuch as they who did not know his
composition to be as free from revenge, as it was from pride,
thought that the sharpness to the former might proceed from
the memory of some unkindnesses, not without a mixture of
injustice, from him towards his father. But without doubt he
was free from those temptations, and was only misled by the
authority of those, who, he believed, understood the laws
perfectly ; of which himself was utterly ignorant ; and if the
assumption, which was scarce controverted, had been true,
* that an endeavour to overthrow the fundamental laws of the
kingdom had been treason,' a strict understanding might
make reasonable conclusions to satisfy his own judgment,
from the exorbitant parts of their several charges.

The great opinion he had of the uprightness and integrity
of those persons who appeared most active, especially of
Mr. Hambden, kept him longer from suspecting any design
against the peace of the kingdom ; and though he differed
from them commonly in conclusions, he believed long their
purposes were honest. When he grew better informed what
was law, and discerned in them a desire to control that law
by a vote of one or both houses, no man more opposed those
attempts, and gave the adverse party more trouble by reason
and argumentation ; insomuch as he was, by degrees, looked
upon as an advocate for the Court, to which he contributed
so little, that he declined those addresses, and even those
invitations which he was obliged almost by civility to enter-
tain. And he was so jealous of the least imagination that he
should incline to preferment, that he affected even a morosity
to the Court, and to the courtiers ; and left nothing undone
which might prevent and divert the King's or Queen's favour

l6o SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

towards him, but the deserving it. For when the King sent
for him once or twice to speak with him, and to give him
thanks for his excellent comportment in those councils,
which his majesty graciously termed ' doing him service,' his
answers were more negligent, and less satisfactory, than
might be expected; as if he cared only that his actions
should be just, not that they should be acceptable, and that
his majesty should think that they proceeded only from the
impulsion of conscience, without any sympathy in his affec-
tions; which, from a stoical and sullen nature, might not
have been misinterpreted ; yet, from a person of so perfect a
habit of generous and obsequious compliance with all good
men, might very well have been interpreted by the King as
more than an ordinary averseness to his service : so that he
took more pains, and more forced his nature to actions
unagreeable, and unpleasant to it, that he might not be
thought to incline to the Court, than most men have done to
procure an office there. And if any thing but not doing his
duty could have kept him from receiving a testimony of the
King's grace and trust at that time, he had not been called to
his Council ; not that he was in truth averse to the Court or
from receiving public employment ; for he had a great
devotion to the King's person, and had before used some
small endeavour to be recommended to him for a foreign
negociation, and had once a desire to be sent ambassador
into France; but he abhorred an imagination or doubt
should sink into the thoughts of any man, that, in the
discharge of his trust and duty in Parliament, he had any
bias to the court, or that the King himself should apprehend
that he looked for a reward for being honest.

For this reason, when he heard it first whispered, 'that
the King had a purpose to make him a Councillor,' for which

LORD FALKLAND, l6l

there was, in the beginning, no other ground, but because he
was known sufficient, {hand semper errat /ama, aliquando et
elegit,) he resolved to decline it ; and at last suffered himself
only to be overruled, by the advice and persuasions of his
friends, to submit to it. Afterwards, when he found that the
King intended to make him Secretary of State, he was positive
to refuse it ; declaring to his friends, ' that he was most unfit
for it, and that he must either do that which would be great
disquiet to his own nature, or leave that undone which was
most necessary to be done by one that was honoured with
that place ; for that the most just and honest men did, every
day, that which he could not give himself leave to do/ And
indeed he was so exact and strict an observer of justice and
truth, ad amusstm, that he believed those necessary conde-
scensions and applications to the weakness of other men,
and those arts and insinuations which are necessary for
discoveries, and prevention of ill, would be in him a de-
clension from the rule which he acknowledged fit, and
absolutely necessary to be practised in those employments ;
and was, in truth, so precise in the practick principles he
prescribed to himself, (to all others he was as indulgent,)
as if he had lived in repuhlica Platonis, non infcece Romuli.

Two reasons prevailed with him to receive the seals, and
but for those he had resolutely avoided them. The first, the
consideration that it [his refusal] might bring some blemish
upon the King's affairs, and that men would have believed,
that he had refused so great an honour and trust, because he
must have been with it obliged to do somewhat else not
justifiable. And this he made matter of conscience, since he
knew the King made choice of him, before other men, especi-
ally because he thought him more honest than other men.
The other was, lest he might be thought to avoid it out of

M

1 62 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

fear to do an ungracious thing to the House of Commons,
who were sorely troubled at the displacing sir Harry Vane,
whom they looked upon as removed for having done them
those offices they stood in need of; and the disdain of so
popular an incumbrance wrought upon him next to the
other. For as he had a full appetite of fame by just and
generous actions, so he had an equal contempt of it by any
servile expedients : and he so much the more consented to
and approved the justice upon sir Harry Vane, in his own
private judgment, by how much he surpassed most men in
the religious observation of a trust, the violation whereof he
would not admit of any excuse for.

For these reasons, he submitted to the King's command,
and became his Secretary, with as humble and devout an
acknowledgment of the greatness of the obligation, as
could be expressed, and as true a sense of it in his
heart. Yet two things he could never bring himself to,
whilst he continued in that office, that was to his death;
for which he was contented to be reproached, as for
omissions in a most necessary part of his place. The one,
employing of spies, or giving any countenance or entertain-
ment to them; I do not mean such emissaries, as with
danger would venture to view the enemy's camp, and bring
intelligence of their number, or quartering, or such generals
as such an observation can comprehend, but those, who by
communication of guilt, or dissimulation of manners, wound
themselves into such trusts and secrets, as enabled them to
make discoveries for the benefit of the State. The other, the
Hberty of opening letters, upon a suspicion that they might
contain matter of dangerous consequence. For the first, he
would say, ' such instruments must be void of all ingenuity,
and common honesty, before they could be of use; and

LORD FALKLAND, 1 63

afterwards they could never be fit to be credited, and that
no single preservation could be worth so general a wound,
and corruption of human society, as the cherishing such
persons would carry with it.' The last, he thought * such a
violation of the law of nature, that no qualification by office
could justify a single person in the trespass ; ' and though he
was convinced by the necessity, and iniquity of the time,
that those advantages of information were not to be declined,
and were necessarily to be practised, he found means to shift
it from himself; when he confessed he needed excuse and
pardon for the omission : so unwilling he was to resign any
thing in his nature to an obligation in his office.

In all other particulars he filled his place plentifully, being
sufficiently versed in languages, to understand any that are
used in business, and to make himself again understood.
To speak of his integrity, and his high disdain of any bait
that might seem to look towards corruption, in tanto viro,
injuria virtuium fuerit. Some sharp expressions he used
against the archbishop of Canterbury, and his concurring in
the first bill to take away the votes of bishops m the House of
Peers, gave occasion to some to believe, and opportunity to
others to conclude, and publish, ' that he was no friend to
the Church, and the established government of it ; ' and
troubled his very friends much, who were more confident of
the contrary, than prepared to answer the allegations.

The truth is, he had unhappily contracted some prejudice
to the archbishop; and having only known him enough to
observe his passion, when, it may be, multiplicity of business,
or other indisposition, had possessed him, did wish him less
entangled and engaged in the business of the Court, or State :
though, I speak it knowingly, he had a singular estimation
and reverence of his great learning, and confessed integrity;

M 2

164 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

and really thought his letting himself to those expressions,
which implied a disesteem of him, or at least an acknow-
ledgment of his infirmities, would enable him to shelter him
from part of the storm he saw raised for his destruction ;
which he abominated with his soul.

The giving his consent to the first bill for the displacing of
the bishops, did proceed from two grounds : the first, his not
understanding the original of their right and suffrage there :
the other, an opinion, that the combination against the whole
government of the Church by bishops, was so violent and
furious, that a less composition than the dispensing with their
intermeddling in secular affairs, would not preserve the order.
And he was persuaded to this by the profession of many
persons of honour, who declared, ' they did desire the one,
and would not then press the other ; ' which, in that
particular, misled many men. But when his observation
and experience made him discern more of their intentions,
than he before suspected, with great frankness he opposed
the second bill that was preferred for that purpose ; and had,
without scruple, the order itself in perfect reverence; and
thought too great encouragement could not possibly be given
to learning, nor too great rewards to learned men ; and was
never in the least degree swayed or moved by the objections-
which were made against that government, (holding them
most ridiculous,) or affected to the other, which those men
fancied to themselves.

He had a courage of the most clear and keen temper, and
so far from fear, that he was not without appetite of danger;
and therefore, upon any occasion of action, he always
engaged his person in those troops, which he thought, by
the forwardness of the commanders, to be most like to be
farthest engaged ; and in all such encounters he had about

LORD FALKLAND. 1 65

him a strange cheerfulness and companiableness, without at
all affecting the execution that was then principally to be
attended, in which he took no delight, but took pains to
prevent it, where it was not, by resistance, necessary : inso-
much that at Edge-hill, when the enemy was routed, he was
like to have incurred great peril, by interposing to save those
who had thrown away their arms, and against whom, it may
be, others were more fierce for their having thrown them
away: insomuch as a man might think, he came into the
field only out of curiosity to see the face of danger, and
charity to prevent the shedding of blood. Yet in his natural
inclination he acknowledged he was addicted to the pro-
fession of a soldier ; and shortly after he came to his fortune,
and before he came to age, he went into the Low Countries,
with a resolution of procuring command, and to give himself
up to it, from which he was converted by the complete
inactivity of that summer : and so he returned into England,
and shortly after entered upon that vehement course of study
we mentioned before, till the first alarum from the north ;
and then again he made ready for the field, and though he
received some repulse in the command of a troop of horse,
of which he had a promise, he went a volunteer with the earl
of Essex.

From the entrance into this unnatural war, his natural
cheerfulness and vivacity grew clouded, and a kind of sad- ,
ness and dejection of spirit stole upon him, which he had
never been used to ; yet being one of those who believed \
that one battle would end all diff"erences, and that there .'
would be so great a victory on one side, that the other would
be compelled to submit to any conditions from the victor, \
(which supposition and conclusion generally sunk into the
minds of most men, and prevented the looking after many

1 66 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

advantages, that might then have been laid hold of,) he
resisted those indispositions, et in luciu helium inter remedia
erat. But after the King's return from Brentford, and the
furious resolution of the two Houses not to admit any treaty
of peace, those indispositions, which had before touched him,
grew into a perfect habit of uncheerfulness ; and he, who had
\ been so exactly unreserved and affable to all men, that his
\ face and countenance was always present, and vacant to his
' company, and held any cloudiness, and less pleasantness of
the visage, a kind of rudeness or incivility, became, on a
sudden, less communicable, and thence, very sad, pale, and
exceedingly affected with the spleen. In his clothes and
habit, which he had intended before always with more neat-
ness, and industry, and expense, than is usual to so great a
mind, he was not now only incurious, but too negligent ;
and in his reception of suitors, and the necessary or casual
addresses to his place, so quick, and sharp, and severe, that
there wanted not some men, (who were strangers to his
nature and disposition,) who believed him proud and im-
perious, from which no mortal man was ever more free.

The truth is, that as he was of a most incomparable gentle-
ness, application, and even demissiveness and submission to
good, and worthy, and entire men, so he was naturally
(which could not but be more evident in his place,
which objected him to another conversation and inter-
mixture, than his own election had done) adversus malos
injucundus', and was so ill a dissembler of his dislike and
disinclination to ill men, that it was not possible for such not
to discern it. There was once, in the House of Commons,
such a declared acceptation of the good service an eminent
member had done to them, and, as they said, to the whole
kingdom, that it was moved, he being present, 'that the

LORD FALKLAND, 1 67

Speaker might, in the name of the whole House, give him
thanks ; and then, that every member might, as a testimony
of his particular acknowledgment, stir or move his hat
towards him ; ' the which (though not ordered) when very
many did, the lord Falkland, (who believed the service itself
not to be of that moment, and that an honourable and \
generous person could not have stooped to it for any recom- \
pense,) instead of moving his hat, stretched both his arms
out, and clasped his hands together upon the crown of his
hat, and held it close down to his head ; that all men might
see, how odious that flattery was to him, and the very appro-
bation of the person, though at that time most popular. ^
When there was an overture or hope of peace, he wouldl
be more erect and vigorous, and exceedingly solicitous to \
press any thing which he thought might promote it ; and |
sitting among his friends, often, after a deep silence and ;
frequent sighs, would, with a shrill and sad accent, ingemin-
ate the word PeacCy Peace] and would passionately profess,
* that the very agony of the war, and the view of the calamities '
and desolation the kingdom did and must endure, took his
sleep from him, and would shortly break his heart.' This
made some think, or pretend to think, * that he was so much
enamoured on peace, that he would have been glad the King
should have bought it at any price ; ' which was a most
unreasonable calumny. As if a man, that was himself the
most punctual and precise in every circumstance that might
reflect upon conscience or honour, could have wished the
king to have committed a trespass against either. And yet
this senseless scandal made some impression upon him, or
at least he used it for an excuse of the daringness of his
spirit ; for at the leaguer before Gloucester, when his friends
passionately reprehended him for exposing his person un-

l68 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

necessarily to danger, (as he delighted to visit the trenches,
and nearest approaches, and to discover what the enemy
did,) as being so much beside the duty of his place, that it
might be understood against it, he would say merrily, ' that
his office could not take away the privileges of his age ; and
that a Secretary in war might be present at the greatest
secret of danger ; * but withal alleged seriously, ' that it con-
cerned him to be more active in enterprises of hazard, than
other men, that all might see, that his impatiency for peace
proceeded not from pusillanimity, or fear to adventure his
own person.'

In the morning before the battle, as always upon action,

he was very cheerful, and put himself into the first rank of

the lord Byron's regiment, who was then advancing upon the

enemy, who had lined the hedges on both sides with

musketeers ; from whence he was shot with a musket in the

lower part of the belly, and in the instant falling from his

horse, his body was not found till the next morning; till

when, there was some hope he might have been a prisoner ;

though his nearest friends, who knew his temper, received

small comfort from that imagination. Thus fell that incom-

j parable young man, in the four and thirtieth year of his age,

/having so much despatched the business of life, that the

I oldest rarely attain to that immense knowledge, and the

\ youngest enter not into the world with more innocence ;

\ whosoever leads such a Hfe, needs not care upon how short

Warning it be taken from him.

\

Divisions.

The general and prince Rupert were both strangers to the
government and custom of the kingdom, and utterly
unacquainted with the nobility, and the public ministers, or

DIVISIONS. 169

with their rights : and the prince's heart was so wholly set
upon actions of war, that he not only neglected, but too
much contemned, the peaceable and civil arts, which were
most necessary even to the carrying on of the other. And
certainly, somewhat like that which Plutarch says of sooth-
saying, ' that Octavius lost his life by trusting to it, and that
Marius prospered the better, because he did not altogether
despise it,' may be said of popularity: though he that too
immoderately and importunately affects it (which was the
case of the earl of Essex) will hardly continue innocent ; yet
he who too affectedly despises or neglects what is said of
him, or what is generally thought of persons or things, and
too stoically contemns the affections of men, even of the
vulgar, (be his other abilities and virtues what can be
imagined,) will, in some conjuncture of time, find himself
very unfortunate. And it may be, a better reason cannot be
assigned for the misfortunes that hopeful young prince (who
had great parts of mind, as well as vigour of body, and an
incomparable personal courage) underwent, and the kingdom
thereby, than that roughness and unpolishedness of his
nature ; which rendered him less patient to hear, and conse-
quently less skilful to judge of those things, which should
have guided him in the discharge of his important trust : and
thence making an unskilful judgment of the usefulness of
the Councils, by his observation of the infirmities and weak-
ness of some particular Councillors, he grew to a full
disesteem of the acts of that board ; which must be accounted
venerable, as long as the regal power is exercised in England.
And I cannot but, on this occasion, continue this digression
thus much farther, to observe, that they who avoid public
debates in Council, or think them of less moment, upon
undervaluing the persons of some Councillors, and from the

170 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

particular infirmities of the men, the heaviness of this man,
the levity of that, the weakness and simplicity of a third,
conclude, that their advice and opinions are not requisite to
any great design, are exceedingly deceived, and will per-
niciously deceive others who are misled by those conclusions.
For it is in wisdom, as it is in beauty. A face that, being
taken in pieces, affords scarce one exact feature, an eye, or a
nose, or a tooth, or a brow, or a mouth, against which
a visible just exception cannot be taken, yet altogether, by
a gracefulness and vivacity in the whole, may constitute an
excellent beauty, and be more catching than another, whose
symmetry is more faultless. So there are many men, who in
this particular argument may be unskilful, in that affected,
who may seem to have levity, or vanity, or formality, in
ordinary and cursory conversation, (a very crooked rule to
measure any man's abilities, as giving a better measure of the
humour, than of the understanding,) and yet in formed
counsels, deliberations, and transactions, are men of great in-
sight, and wisdom, and from whom excellent assistance is
contributed.

Divisions CoNTiisruED.

Amongst those who were nearest the King's trust, and to
whom he communicated the greatest secrets in his affairs,
there were some, who from private, though very good, con-
ditions of life, without such an application to Court as usually
ushered in those promotions, were ascended to that prefer-
ment ; and were believed to have an equal interest with any,
in their master's estimation. And these were sure to find no
more charity from the Court, than from the army; and
having had lately so many equals, it was thought no pre-
sumption, freely to censure all they did, or spake ; what effect

DIVISIONS CONTINUED. 171

soever such freedom had upon the public policy and trans-
actions. It were to be wished, that persons of the greatest
birth, honour, and fortune, would take that care of themselves
by education, industry, literature, and a love of virtue, to
surpass all other men in knowledge, and all other qualifications,
necessary for great actions, as far as they do in quality and
titles, that princes, out of them, might always choose men fit
for all employments, and high trusts; which would exceed-
ingly advance their service ; when the reputation and respect
of the person carries somewhat with it that facilitates the
business. And. it cannot easily be expressed, nor compre-
hended by any who have not felt the weight and burden
of the envy, which naturally attends upon those promotions,
which seem to he per sa //am, hovf great straits and difficulties
such ministers are forced to wrestle with, and by which the
charges, with which they are intrusted, must proporiionably
suffer, let the integrity and wisdom of the men be what it can
be supposed to be. Neither is the patience, temper and
dexterity, to carry a man through those straits, easily attained ;
it being very hard, in the morning of preferment, to keep an
even temper of mind, between the care to preserve the dignity
of the place committed to him, (without which he shall expose
himself to a thousand unchaste attempts, and disho'^nour the
judgment that promoted him, by appearing too vile for such
a trust,) and the caution, that his nature be not really exalted
to an overweening pride and folly, upon the privilege of his
place ; which will expose him to much more contempt than
the former; and therefore [is], with a more exact guard upon
a man's self, to be avoided : the errors of gentleness and
civility being much more easily reformed, as well as endured,
than the other of arrogance and ostentation.

The best provision that such men can make for their

17!^ SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

voyage, besides a stock of innocency that cannot be impaired,
and a firm confidence in God Almighty, that he will never
suffer that innocency to be utterly oppressed, or notoriously
defamed, is, an expectation of those gusts and storms of
rumour, detraction, and envy; and a resolution not to be
over sensible of all calumnies, unkindness, or injustice; but
to believe, that, by being preferred before other men, they
have an obligation upon them, to suffer more than other men
would do ; and that the best way to convince scandals, and
misreports, is, by neglecting them, to appear not to have
deserved them. And there is not a more troublesome
passion, or that often draws more inconveniences with
it, than that which proceeds from the indignation of being
unjustly calumniated, and from the pride of an upright
conscience, when men cannot endure to be spoken ill of, if
they have not deserved it : in which distemper, though they
free themselves from the errors, or infirmities, with which
they were traduced, they commonly discover others, of
which they had never been suspected. In a word, let no
man think, that is once entered into the list, he can by any
skill, or comportment, prevent these conflicts and assaults;
or by any stubborn or impetuous humour, suppress and
prevail over them : but let him look upon it as purgatory he
is unavoidably to pass through, and depend upon Providence,
and time, for a vindication; and by performing all the duties
of his place to the end with justice, integrity, and uprightness,
give all men cause to believe, he was worthy of it the first
hour, which is a triumph very lawful to be affected.

As these distempers, indispositions, and infirmities of
particular men had a great influence upon the public affairs,
and disturbed and weakened the whole frame and fabric of
the King's designs; so no particular man was more dis-

DIVISIONS CONTINUED. 173

quieted by them, than the King himself; who, in his person,
as well as in his business, suffered all the vexation of the
rude, petulant, and discontented humours of Court and army.
His majesty now paid interest for all the benefit and advan-
tage he had received in the beginning of the war, by his
gentleness, and princely affability to all men, and by
descending somewhat from the forms of majesty, which he
had, in his former life, observed with all punctuality. He
vouchsafed then himself to receive any addresses, and over-
tures for his service, and to hold discourse with all men who
brought devotion to him ; and he must be now troubled with
the complaints, and murmurs, and humours of all; and
how frivolous and unreasonable soever the cause was, his
majesty was put both to inform and temper their understand-
ings. No man would receive an answer but from himself, and
expected a better from him, than he must have been contented
to have received from any body else. Every man magnified
the service he had done, and his ability and interest to do
greater, and proposed honour and reward equal to both in his
own sense. And if he received not an answer to his mind,
he grew sullen, complained, ' he was neglected,* and resolved,
or pretended so, ' to quit the service, and to travel into some
foreign kingdom.' He is deceived that believes the ordinary
carriage and state of a King to be matters of indifferency, and
of no relation to his greatness. They are the outworks,
which preserve majesty itself from approaches and surprisal.
We find that the queen of Sheba was amazed at the meat of
Solomon's table, and the sitting of his servants, and the
attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup-
bearers, etc. as so great instances of Solomon's wisdom, that
there was no more spirit in her. And no doubt, whosoever
inconsiderately departs from those forms, and trappings, and

174 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

ornaments of his dignity and pre-eminence, will hardly, at
some time, be able to preserve the body itself of majesty,
from intrusion, invasion, and violation.

Death of Pym.

About this time the councils at Westminster lost a principal
supporter, by the death of John Pimm ; who died with great
torment and agony of a disease unusual, and therefore the
more spoken of, morbus pediculosus, as was reported ; which
rendered him an object very loathsome to those who had
been most delighted with him. No man had more to answer
for the miseries of the kingdom, or had his hand, or head,
deeper in their contrivance. And yet, I believe, they grew
much higher even in his life, than he designed. He was a
man of a private quality and condition of life ; his education
in the office of the Exchequer, where he had been a clerk;
and his parts rather acquired by industry, than supplied by
nature, or adorned by art. He had been well known in
former Parliaments ; and was one of those few, who had sat
in many; the long intermission of Parliaments having worn
out most of those who had been acquainted with the rules
and orders observed in those conventions. And this gave him
some reputation and reverence amongst those who were but
now introduced.

He had been most taken notice of, for being concerned
and passionate in the jealousies of religion, and much
troubled with the countenance which had been given to those
opinions that had been imputed to Arminius ; and this gave
him great authority and interest with those who were not
pleased with the government of the Church, or the growing
power of the clergy : yet himself industriously took care to be

DEATH OF PYM. 1 75

believed, and he professed to be very entire to the doctrine
and discipline of the Church of England. In the short Par-
liament before this, he spoke much, and appeared to be the
most leading man ; for besides the exact knowledge of the
forms, and orders of that council, which few men had, he
had a very comely and grave way of expressing himself, with
great volubility of words, natural and proper; and under-
stood the temper and affections of the kingdom as well as any
man ; and had observed the errors and mistakes in govern-
ment ; and knew well how to make them appear greater than
they were. After the unhappy dissolution of that Parliament,
he continued for the most part about London, in conversation
and great repute amongst those lords who were most
strangers to the Court, and were believed most averse to it ;
in whom he improved all imaginable jealousies and discon-
tents towards the State ; and as soon as this Parliament was
resolved to be summoned, he was as diligent to procure such
persons to be elected as he knew to be most inclined to the
way he meant to take.

At the first opening of this Parliament, he appeared
passionate and prepared against the earl of Strafford ; and
though in private designing he was much governed by Mr.
Hambden, and Mr. Saint- John, yet he seemed to all men to
have the greatest influence upon the House of Commons of
any man ; and, in truth, I think he was at that time, and for
some months after, the most popular man, and the most able
to do hurt, that hath lived in any time. Upon the first design
of softening and obliging the powerful persons in both
houses, when it was resolved to make the earl of Bedford
lord High Treasurer of England, the king likewise intended to
make Mr. Pimm Chancellor of the Exchequer; for which he
received his majesty's promise, and made a return of a suit-

176 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

able profession of his service and devotion ; and thereupon,
the other being no secret, somewhat declined from that sharp-
ness in the house, which was more popular than any. man's,
and made some overtures to provide for the glory and
splendour of the Crown ; in which he had so ill success, that
his interest and reputation there visibly abated ; and he found
that he was much better able to do hurt than good ; which
wrought very much upon him to melancholy, and complaint
of the violence and discomposure of the people's affections
and inclinations. In the end, whether upon the death of the
earl of Bedford he despaired of that preferment, or whether
he was guilty of any thing, which, upon his conversion to the
Court, he thought might be discovered to his damage, or for
pure want of courage, he suffered himself to be carried by
those who would not follow him, and so continued in the
head of those who made the most desperate propositions.

In the prosecution of the earl of Strafford, his carriage and
language was such that expressed much personal animosity;
and he was accused of having practised some arts in it not
worthy a good man ; as an Irishman of very mean and low
condition afterwards acknowledged, that being brought to
him, as an evidence of one part of the charge against the Lord
Lieutenant, in a particular of which a person of so vile quality
would not be reasonably thought a competent informer ; Mr.
Pimm gave him money to buy him a satin suit and cloak ; in
which equipage he appeared at the trial, and gave his
evidence ; which, if true, may make many other things, which
were confidently reported afterwards of him, to be believed.
As that he received a great sum of money from the French
ambassador, [which hath been before mentioned,] to hinder
the transportation of those regiments of Ireland into Flanders,
upon the disbanding that army there ; which had been pre-

DEATH OF PYM. 1 77

pared by the earl of Strafford for the business of Scotland ;
in which if his majesty's directions and commands had not
been diverted and contradicted by the houses, many do
believe the rebellion in Ireland had not happened.

Certain it is, that his power of doing shrewd turns was
extraordinary, and no less in doing good offices for particular
persons ; and that he did preserve many from censure, who
were under the severe displeasure of the houses, and looked
upon as eminent delinquents ; and the quality of many of
them made it believed, that he had sold that protection for
valuable considerations. From the time of his being accused
of high treason by the King, with the lord Kimbolton, and
the other members, he never entertained thoughts of modera-
tion, but always opposed all overtures of peace and accom-
modation, and when the earl of Essex was disposed, the last
summer, by those lords to an inclination towards a treaty, as
is before remembered, Mr. Pimm's power and dexterity wholly
changed him, and wrought him to that temper, which he
afterwards swerved not from. He was wonderfully solicitous
for the Scots coming in to their assistance, though his indis-
position of body was so great, that it might well have made
another impression upon his mind. During his sickness, he
was a very sad spectacle ; but none being admitted to him
who had not concurred with him, it is not known what his
last thoughts and considerations were. He died towards the
end of December, before the Scots entered ; and was buried
with wonderful pomp and magnificence, in that place where
the bones of our English kings and princes are committed to
their rest.

lyS SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

BOOK VIII.

The King and the Battle at Ckopbedy-
Bbidge.

It was now about three of the clock in the afternoon, the
weather very fair, and very warm, (it being the 29th day of
June,) and the King's army being now together, his majesty
resolved to prosecute his good fortune, and to go to the
enemy, since they would not come to him : and, to that
purpose, sent two good parties, to make way for him to pass
both at Cropredy-bridge, and the other pass a mile below;
over which the enemy had so newly passed: both which
places were strongly guarded by them. To Cropredy they
sent such strong bodies of foot, to relieve each other as they
should be pressed, that those sent by the King thither could
make no impression upon them, but were repulsed, till the
night came, and severed them ; all parties being tired with
the duty of the day. But they who were sent to the other
pass, a mile below, after a short resistance, gained it, and a
hill adjoining ; where after they had killed some, they took
the rest prisoners; and from thence, did not only defend
themselves that and the next day, but did the enemy much
hurt ; expecting still that their fellows should master the other
pass, that so they might advance together.

Here the King was prevailed with to make trial of another
expedient. Some men, from the conference they had with
the prisoners, others from other intelligence, made no doubt,
but that if a message were now sent of grace and pardon to
all the officers and soldiers of that army, they would forthwith
lay down their arms : and it was very notorious, that multi-
tudes ran every day from thence. How this message should
be sent, so that it might be effectually delivered, was the only

THE KING AT BA TTLE OF CR OPRED Y-BRID GE. 1 7 9

question that remained : and it was agreed, ' that sir Edward
Walker ' (who was both Garter King at arms, and secretary
to the council of war) ' should be sent to publish that his
majesty's grace.' But he wisely desired, 'that a trumpet
might be first sent for a pass ; ' the barbarity of that people
being notorious, that they regarded not the laws of arms, or
of nations. Whereupon a trumpet was sent to sir William
Waller, to desire ' a safe conduct for a gentleman, who should
deliver a gracious message from his majesty.' After two
hours' consideration, he returned answer, ' that he had no
power to receive any message of grace or favour from his
majesty, without the consent of the two Houses of Parliament
at Westminster, to whom his majesty, if he pleased, might
make his addresses.' And as soon as the trumpet was gone,
as an evidence of his resolution, he caused above twenty shot
of his greatest cannon to be made at the King's army, and
as near the place as they could, where his majesty used to be.
When both armies had stood upon the same ground, and
in the same posture, for the space of two days, they both
drew off to a greater distance from each other; and, from
that time, never saw each other. It then quickly appeared.,
by Waller's still keeping more aloof from the King, and his
marching up and down from Buckingham, sometimes towards
Northampton, and sometimes towards Warwick, that he was
without other design, than of recruiting his army ; and that
the defeat of that day at Cropredy was much greater, than it
then appeared to be, and that it even broke the heart of his
army. And it is very probable, that if the King, after he had
rested and refreshed his men three or four days, which was
very necessary in regard they were exceedingly tired with
continual duty, besides that the provisions would not hold
longer in the same quarters, had followed Waller, when it was

N 2

l8o SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

evident he would not follow the King, he might have destroyed
that army without fighting : for it appeared afterwards, with-
out its being pursued, that within fourteen days after that
action at Cropredy, Waller's army, that before consisted of
eight thousand, was so much wasted, that there remained not
with him half that number.

But the truth is, from the time that the King discovered
that mutinous spirit in the officers, governed by Wilmot, at
Buckingham, he was unsatisfied with the temper of his own
army, and did not desire a thorough engagement, till he had
a litde time to reform some, whom he resolved never more
heartily to trust ; and to undeceive others, who, he knew,
were misled without any malice, or evil intention. But when
he now found himself so much at liberty from two great
armies, which had so straitly encompassed him, within little
more than a month ; and that he had, upon the matter,
defeated one of them, and reduced it to a state, in which it
could, for the present, do him little harm ; his heart was at
no ease, with apprehension of the terrible fright the Queen
would be in, (who was newly delivered of a daughter, that
was afterwards married to the duke of Orleans \) when she
saw the earl of Essex before the walls of Exeter, and should
be at the same time informed, that Waller was with another
army in pursuit of himself. His majesty resolved therefore,,
with all possible expedition, to follow the earl of Essex, in
hopes that he should be able to fight a batde with him, before
Waller should be in a condition to follow him : and his own
strength would be much improved, by a conjunction with
prince Maurice, who, though he retired before Essex, would
be well able, by the north of Devonshire, to meet the king,
when he should know that he marched that way,
^ [March 31, 1661.]

THE MARQUIS OF NEWCASTLE, i8l

The Makquis op Newcastle.

All that can be said for the marquis is, that he was so
utterly tired with a condition and employment so contrary to
his humour, nature, and education, that he did not at all
consider the means, or the way, that would let him out of it,
and free him for ever from having more to do with it. And
it was a greater wonder, that he sustained the vexation and
fatigue of it so long, than that he broke from it with so little
circumspection. He was a very fine gentleman, active, and
full of courage, and most accomplished in those qualities of
horsemanship, dancing, and fencing, which accompany a
good breeding; in which his delight was. Besides that he
was amorous in poetry and music, to which he indulged the
greatest part of his time; and nothing could have tempted
him out of those paths of pleasure, which he enjoyed in a
full and ample fortune, but honour and ambition to serve the
King when he saw him in distress, and abandoned by most
of those who were in the highest degree obliged to him, and
by him. He loved monarchy, as it was the foundation and
support of his own greatness ; and the Church, as it was well
constituted for the splendour and security of the Crown ; and
religion, as it cherished and maintained that order and
obedience that was necessary to both; without any other
passion for the particular opinions which were grown up in
it, and distinguished it into parties, than as he detested what-
soever was like to disturb the public peace.

He had a particular reverence for the person of the King,
and the more extraordinary devotion for that of the Prince,
as he had had the honour to be trusted with his education as

his governor ; for which office, as he excelled in some, so he

/

1 82 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

wanted other qualifications. Though he had retired from
his great trust, and from the Court, to decline the insupport-
able envy which the powerful faction had contracted against
him, yet the King was no sooner necessitated to possess him-
self of some place of strength, and to raise some force for his
defence, but the earl of Newcastle (he was made marquis
afterwards) obeyed his first call, and, with great expedition
and dexterity, seized upon that town ; when till then there
was not one port town in England that avowed their obedience
to the King : and he then presently raised such regiments
of horse and foot, as were necessary for the present state
of affairs; all which was done purely by his own interest,
and the concurrence of his numerous allies in those northern
parts ; who with all alacrity obeyed his commands, without
any charge to the King, which he was not able to supply.

And after the battle of Edge-hill, when the rebels grew so
strong in Yorkshire, by the influence their garrison of Hull
had upon both the East and West Riding there, that it
behoved the King presently to make a general, who might
unite all those northern counties in his service, he could not
choose any man so fit for it, as the earl of Newcastle, who
was not only possessed of a present force, and of that im-
portant town, but had a greater reputation and interest in
Yorkshire itself, than, at that present, any other man had :
the earl of Cumberland being at that time, though of entire
affection to the King, much decayed in the vigour of his body
and his mind, and unfit for that activity which the season
required. And it cannot be denied, that the earl of Newcastle,
by his quick march with his troops, as soon as he had
received his commission to be general, and in the depth of
winter, redeemed, or rescued the city of York from the rebels,
when they looked upon it as their own, and had it even

THE MARQUIS OF NEWCASTLE. 1 83

within their grasp : and as soon as he was master of it, he
raised men apace, and drew an army together, with which he
fought many battles, in which he had always (this last only
excepted) success and victory.

/He liked the pomp and absolute authority of a general
well, and preserved the dignity of it to the full ; and for the
discharge of the outward state, and circumstances of it, in acts
of courtesy, affability, bounty, and generosity, he abounded;
which, in the infancy of a war, became him, and made him,
for some time, very acceptable to men of all conditions.
But the substantial part, and fatigue of a general, he did not
in any degree understand, (being utterly unacquainted with
war,) nor could submit to ; but referred all matters of that
nature to the discretion of his lieutenant general King ; who,
no doubt, was an officer of great experience and ability, yet,
being a Scotchman, was in that conjuncture upon more
disadvantage than he would have been, if the general himself
had been more intent upon his command. In all actions of
the field he was still present, and never absent in any batde ;
in all which he gave instances of an invincible courage and
fearlessness in danger; in which the exposing himself
notoriously did sometimes change the fortune of the day,
when his troops begun to give ground. Such articles of
action were no sooner over, than he retired to his delightful
company, music, or his softer pleasures, to all which he was
so indulgent, and to his ease, that he would not be interrupted
upon what occasion soever ; insomuch as he sometimes denied
admission to the chiefest officers of the army, even to general
King himself, for two days together; from whence many
inconveniences fell out.

184 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

The Relief op Basing-House.

The garrison of Basing House, the seat of the marquis of
Winchester, in which himself was and commanded, had been
now straitly besieged, for the space of above three months,
by a conjunction of the parHament troops of Hampshire and
Sussex, under the command of Norton, Onslow, Jarvis,
Whitehead, and Morley, all colonels of regiments, and now
united in this service under the command of Norton ; a man
of spirit, and of the greatest fortune of all the rest. It was
so closely begirt before the King's march into the west, and
was looked upon as a place of such importance, that when
the King sent notice to Oxford of his resolution to march into
the west, the Council humbly desired his majesty, ' that he
would make Basing his way, and thereby relieve it,' which his
majesty found would have retarded his march too much, and
might have invited Waller the sooner to follow him ; and
therefore declined it. From that time, the marquis, by
frequent expresses, importuned the lords of the council ' to
provide, in some manner, for his relief; and not to suffer his
person, and a place from whence the rebels received so much
prejudice, to fall into their hands.' The lady marchioness,
his wife, was then in Oxford ; and solicited very diligently
the timely preservation of her husband; which made every
body desire to gratify her, being a lady of great honour and
alliance, as sister to the earl of Essex, and to the lady
marchioness of Hertford ; who was likewise in the town, and
engaged her husband to take this business to heart : and all
the Roman Catholics, who were numerous in the town, looked
upon themselves as concerned to contribute all they could to
the good work, and so offered to list themselves and their
servants in the service.

THE RELIEF OF BASING-HOUSE, 1 85

The Council, both upon public and private motives, was
very heartily disposed to effect it ; and had several conferences
together, and with the officers ; in all which the governor too
reasonably opposed the design, ' as full of more difficulties,
and liable to greater damages, than any soldier, who under-
stood command, would expose himself and the King's service
to ; ' and protested, * that he would not suffer any of the
small garrison that was under his charge to be hazarded in
the attempt.' It was very true, Basing was near forty miles
from Oxford, and, in the way between them, the enemy had
a strong garrison of horse and foot at Abingdon, and as
strong at Reading, whose horse every day visited all the
highways near, besides a body of horse and dragoons quar-
tered at Newbury ; so that it appeared to most men hardly
possible to send a party to Basing, and impossible for that
party to return to Oxford, if they should be able to get to
Basing : yet new importunities from the marquis, with a
positive declaration, ' that he could not defend it above ten
days, and must then submit to the worst conditions the rebels
were like to grant to his person, and to his religion ; ' and
new instances from his lady prevailed with the lords to enter
upon a new consultation ; in which the governor persisted in
his old resolution, as seeing no cause to change it.

In this debate colonel Gage declared, ' that though he
thought the service full of hazard, especially for the return ;
yet if the lords w ould, by listing their own servants, persuade
the gendemen in the town to do the like, and engage their
own persons, whereby a good troop or two of horse might be
raised, (upon which the principal dependence must be,) he
would willingly, if there were nobody else thought fitter for
it, undertake the conduct of them himself; and hoped he
should give a good account of it : ' which being offered with

1 86 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

great cheerfulness by a person, of whose prudence, as well as
courage, they had a full confidence, they all resolved to do
the utmost that was in their power to make it effectual.

There was about this time, by the surrender of Greenland-
House, (which could not possibly be longer defended, the
whole structure being beaten down by the cannon,) the regi-
ment of colonel Hawkins marched into Oxford, amounting
to near three hundred ; to which as many others joined as
made it up four hundred men. The lords mounted their
servants upon their own horses ; and they, with the volunteers,
who frankly listed themselves, amounted to a body of two
hundred and fifty very good horse, all put under the command
of colonel William Web, an excellent officer, bred up in
Flanders in some emulation with colonel Gage; and who,
upon the Catholic interest, was at this time contented to serve
under him. With this small party for so great an action,
Gage marched out of Oxford in the beginning of the night ;
and, by the morning, reached the place where he intended to
refresh himself and his troops ; which was a wood near
Wallingford ; from whence he despatched an express to sir
William Ogle, governor of Winchester; who had made a
promise to the lords of the Council, ' that, whensoever they
would endeavour the raising of the siege before Basing, he
would send one hundred horse and three hundred foot out
of his garrison, for their assistance ; ' and a presumption upon
this aid was the principal motive for the undertaking : and
so he was directed, at what hour in the morning his party
should fall into Basing park, in the rear of the rebels' quar-
ters ; whilst Gage himself would fall on the other side ; the
marquis being desired at the same time to make frequent
sallies from the house.

After some hours of refreshment in the morning, and send-

THE RELIEF OF BASING-HOUSE, 187

ing this express to Winchester, the troops marched through
by-lanes to Aldermaston, a village out of any great road>
where they intended to take more rest that night. They had
marched, from the time they left Oxford, with orange-tawny
scarfs and ribbons, that they might be taken for the Parlia-
ment soldiers ; and hoped, by that artifice, to have passed
undiscovered to the approach upon the besiegers. But the
party of horse which was sent before to Aldermaston, found
there some of the Parliament horse, and, forgetting their
orange-tawny scarfs, fell upon them ; and killed some, and
took six or seven prisoners; whereby the secret was discovered,
and notice quickly sent to Basing of the approaching danger ;
which accident made their stay shorter at that village than was
intended, and than the weariness of the soldiers required.
About eleven of the clock, they begun their march again ;
which they continued all that night; the horsemen often
alighting, that the foot might ride, and others taking many
of them behind them ; however they could not but be ex-
tremely weary and surbated.

Between four and five of the clock on Wednesday morning,
it having been Monday night that they left Oxford, they
arrived within a mile of Basing ; where an officer, sent from
sir William Ogle, came to them to let them know, * that he
durst not send his troops so far, in regard many of the
enemy's horse lay between Winchester and Basing.' This
broke all the colonel's measures; and, since there was no
receding, made him change the whole method of his pro-
ceedings ; and, instead of dividing his forces, and falling on
in several places, as he meant to have done if the Winchester
forces had complied with their obligation, or if his march had
been undiscovered, he resolved now to fall on joindy with all
his body in one place ; in order to which, he commanded the

l88 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

men to be ranged in battalions ; and rid to every squadron,
giving them such words as were proper to the occasion;
which no man could more pertinently deliver, or with a better
grace : he commanded every man to tie a white tape ribbon,
or handkerchief, above the elbow of their right arm ; and
gave them the word St. George \ which was the sign and the
word that he had sent before to the marquis, lest in his sallies
their men, for want of distinction, might fall foul of each
other.

Thus they marched towards the house, colonel Web lead-
ing the right wing, and Heutenant colonel Bunkly the left of
the horse ; and Gage himself the foot. They had not marched
far, when at the upper end of a large campaign field, upon a
Httle rising of an hill, they discerned a body of five cornets of
horse very full, standing in very good order to receive them.
But before any impression could be made upon them, the
colonel must pass between two hedges lined very thick with
musketeers ; from whom the horse very courageously bore a
smart volley, and then charged the enemy's horse so gallantly,
that, after a shorter resistance than was expected from the
known courage of Norton, though many of his men fell, they
gave ground ; and at last plainly run to a safe place, beyond
which they could not be pursued. The foot disputed the
business much better, and being beaten from hedge to hedge,
retired into their quarters and works ; which they did not
abandon in less than two hours ; and then a free entrance
into the house was gained on that side, where the colonel only
stayed to salute the marquis, and to put in the ammunition
he had brought with him ; which was only twelve barrels of
powder, and twelve hundred weight of match; and imme-
diately marched with his horse and foot to Basingstoke, a
good market-town two miles from the house; leaving one

THE RELIEF OF BASING-HOUSE, 189

hundred foot to be led, by some officers of the garrison, to
the town of Basing, a village but a mile distant. In Basing-
stoke they found store of wheat, malt, oats, salt, bacon, cheese,
and butter; as much of which was all that day sent to the
house, as they could find carts or horses to transport, together
with fourteen barrels of powder, and some muskets, and
forty or fifty head of cattle, with above one hundred sheep :
whilst the other party, that went to Basing town, beat the
enemy that was quartered there, after having killed forty or
fifty of them ; some fled into the church, where they were
quickly taken prisoners; and, among them, two captains,
Jarvise and Jephson, the two eldest sons of two of the greatest
rebels of that country, and both heirs to good fortunes, who
were carried prisoners to Basing House ; the rest, who
besieged that side, being fled into a strong fort which they
had raised in the park. The colonel spent that and the next
day in sending all manner of provisions into the house ; and
then, reasonably computing that the garrison was well pro-
vided for two months, he thought of his retreat to Oxford :
which it was time to do : for besides that Norton had drawn
all his men together, who had been dismayed, with all the
troops which lay quartered within any distance, and appeared
within sight of the house more numerous and gay than before,
as if he meant to be revenged before they parted ; he was
likewise well informed by the persons he had employed, that
the enemy from Abingdon had lodged themselves at Alder-
maston, and those from Reading and Newbury, in two other
villages upon the river Kennet, over which he was to pass.

Hereupon, that he might take away the apprehension that
he meant suddenly to depart, he sent out orders, which he
was sure would come into the enemy's hands, to two or three
villages next the house, ' that they should, by the next day

190 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

noon, send such proportions of corn into Basing House, as
were mentioned in the warrants ; upon pain, if they failed by
the time, to have a thousand horse and dragoons sent to fire
the towns/ This being done, and all his men drawn together
about eleven of the clock at night, Thursday the second night
after he came thither, the marquis giving him two or three
guides who knew the country exactly, he marched from
Basing without sound of drum or trumpet, and passed the
Kennet, undiscovered, by a ford near a bridge which the
enemy had broke down ; and thereby thought they had
secured that passage; the horse taking the foot en croupe \
and then, marching by-ways, in the morning they likewise
passed over the Thames, at a ford little more than a mile
from Reading ; and so escaped the enemy, and got before
night to Wallingford ; where he securely rested, and refreshed
his men that night; and the next day arrived safe at Oxford;
having lost only two captains, and two or three other gentle-
men, and common men; in all to the number of eleven ; and
forty or fifty wounded, but not dangerously. What number
the enemy lost could not be known ; but it was believed they
lost many, besides above one hundred prisoners that were
taken ; and it was confessed, by enemies as well as friends,
that it was as soldierly an action as had been performed in
the war on either side; and redounded very much to the
reputation of the commander.

Sib R. Greenville.

Since there will be often occasion to mention this gentleman,
sir Richard Greenville, in the ensuing discourse, and because
many men believed, that he was hardly dealt with in the next
year, where all the proceedings will be set down at large, it

SIR R. GREENVILLE. 191

will not be unfit, in this place, to say somewhat of him, and
of the manner and merit of his entering into the king's ser-
vice some months before the time we are now upon. He
was of a very ancient and worthy family in Cornwall, which
had, in several ages, produced men of great courage, and
very signal in their fidelity to, and service of, the Crown ; and
was himself younger brother (though in his nature, or humour,
not of kin to him) to the brave sir Bevil Greenville, who so
courageously lost his life in the battle of Lansdowne. Being
a younger brother, and a very young man, he went into the
Low Countries to learn the profession of a soldier ; to which
he had dedicated himself under the greatest general of that
age, prince Maurice, and in the regiment of my lord Vere,
who was general of all the English. In that service he was
looked upon as a man of courage, and a diligent officer, in
the quality of a captain, to which he attained after few years'
service. About this time, in the end of the reign of King
James, the war broke out between England and Spain ; and
in the expedition to Cales, this gentleman served as a major
to a regiment of foot, and continued in the same command,
in the war that soon after followed against France ; and, at
the Isle of Rh^, insinuated himself into the very good grace
of the duke of Buckingham, who was the general in that
invasion ; and after the unfortunate retreat from thence, was
made colonel of a regiment with general approbation, and as
an officer that well deserved it.

His credit every day increased with the duke ; who, out of
the generosity of his nature, as a most generous person he
was, resolved to raise his fortune; towards the beginning
whereof, by his countenance and solicitation, he prevailed
with a rich widow to marry him, who had been a lady of
extraordinary beauty, which she had not yet outlived ; and

192 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

though she had no great dower by her husband, a younger
brother of the earl of Suffolk ; yet she inherited a fair fortune
of her own, near Plymouth ; and was besides very rich in a
personal estate, and was looked upon as the richest marriage
of the west. This lady, by the duke's credit, sir Richard
Greenville (for he was now made a knight and baronet)
obtained ; and was thereby possessed of a plentiful estate upon
the borders of his own country ; and where his own family
had great credit and authority. The war being shortly at an
end, and he deprived of his great patron, had nothing now to
depend upon but the fortune of his wife ; which, though
ample enough to have supported the expense a person of
his quality ought to have made, was not large enough to
satisfy his vanity and ambition ; nor so great, as he, upon
common reports, had promised himself by her. By not
being enough pleased with her fortune, he grew less pleased
with his wife ; who, being a woman of a haughty and impe-
rious nature, and of a wit superior to his, quickly resented
the disrespect she received from him; and in no degree
studied to make herself easy to him. After some years spent
together in these domestic unsociable contestations, in which
he possessed himself of all her estate, as the sole master of
it, without allowing her, out of her own, any competency for
herself, and indulged to himself all those licenses in her own
house, which to women are most grievous, she found means
to withdraw herself from him ; and was with all kindness
received into that family, in which she had before been mar-
ried, and was always very much respected.

Her absence was not ingrateful to him, till the tenants
refused to pay him any more rent, and he found himself on a
sudden deprived of her whole estate, which was all he had to
live upon. For it appeared now, that she had, before her

S//^ R. GREENVILLE. 193

marriage with him, settled her entire fortune so absolutely
upon the earl of Suffolk, that the present right was in him,
and he required the rents to be paid to him. This begat a
suit in the chancery between sir Richard Greenville and the
then earl of Suffolk, before the lord Coventry, who found the
conveyances in law to be so firm, that he could not only not
relieve sir Richard Greenville in equity, but that in justice he
must decree the land to the earl ; which he did. This very
sensible mortification transported him so much, that, being a
man who used to speak very bitterly of those he did not love,
after all endeavours to have engaged the earl in a personal
conflict, he revenged himself upon him in such opprobrious
language, as the government and justice of that time would
not permit to pass unpunished; and the earl appealed for
reparation to the court of Star Chamber ; where sir Richard
was decreed to pay three thousand pounds for damages to
him ; and was likewise fined the sum of three thousand
pounds to the King ; who gave the fine likewise to the earl ;
so that sir Richard was committed to the prison of the Fleet
in execution for the whole six thousand pounds ; which at
that time was thought by all men to be a very severe and
rigorous decree, and drew a general compassion towards the
imhappy gentleman.

After he had endured many years of strict imprisonment, a
little before ihe beginning of the late troubles, he made his
escape out of the prison ; and transporting himself beyond
the seas, remained there till the Parliament was called that
produced so many miseries to the kingdom ; and when he
heard that many decrees which had been made, in
that time, by the court of Star Chamber, were repealed,
and the persons grieved, absolved from those penalties,
he likewise returned, and petitioned to have his cause

o

194 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

heard ; for which a committee was appointed ; but before it
could be brought to any conclusion, the rebellion broke cut
in Ireland. Among the first troops that were raised, and
transported for the suppression thereof, by the Parliament, (to
whom the King had unhappily committed the prosecution
thereof,) sir Richard Greenville, upon the fame of being a good
officer, was sent over with a very good troop of horse ; and
was major of the earl of Leicester's own regiment of horse,
and was very much esteemed by him, and the more by the
Parliament, for the signal acts of cruelty he did every day
commit upon the Irish ; which were of so many kinds upon
both sexes, young and old, hanging old men who were bedrid,
because they would not discover where their money was, that
he believed they had ; and old women, some of quality, after
he had plundered them, and found less than he expected;
that they can hardly be believed, though notoriously known
to be true.

The Condemk-ation of the Archbishop of

CAK"TEBBUBY.

It was, as is said before, a very sad omen to the treaty,
that, after they had received the King's message by those noble
lords, and before they returned any answer to it, they pro-
ceeded in the trial of the archbishop of Canterbury; who had
Iain prisoner in the Tower, from the beginning of the par-
liament, full four years, without any prosecution till this time,
when ihey brought him to the bars of both Houses ; charging
him with several articles of high treason ; which, if all that
was alleged against him had been true, could not have made
him guilty of treason. They accused him ' of a design to
bring in Popery, and of having correspondence with the Pope,*
and such like particulars, as the consciences of his greatest

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 195

enemies absolved him from. No man was a greater or
abler enemy to Popery ; no man a more resolute and devout
son of the Church of England. He was prosecuted by
lawyers, assigned to that purpose, out of those, who from
their own antipathy to the Church and bishops, or from some
disobligations received from him, were sure to bring passion,
animosity, and malice enough of their own ; what evidence
soever they had from others. And they did treat him with
all the rudeness, reproach, and barbarity imaginable; with
which his judges were not displeased.

He defended himself with great and undaunted courage,
and less passion than was expected from his constitution ;
answered all their objections with clearness and irresistible
reason; and convinced all men of his integrity, and his
detestation of all treasonable intentions. So that though
few excellent men have ever had fewer friends to their per-
sons, yet all reasonable men absolved him from any foul
crime that the law could take notice of, and punish. How-
ever when they had said all they could against him, and
he all for himself that need to be said, and no such crime
appearing, as the Lords, as the supreme court of judicatory,
would take upon them to judge him to be worthy of death,
they resorted to their legislative power, and by ordinance of
Parliament, as they called it, that is, by a determination of
those members who sat in the houses, (whereof in the House
of Peers there were not above twelve,) they appointed him to
be put to death, as guilty of high treason. The first time that
two Houses of Parliament had ever assumed that jurisdiction,
or that ever ordinance had been made to such a purpose,
nor could any rebellion be more against the law, than that
murderous act.

When the first mention was made of their monstrous pur-
o 2

196 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

pose, of bringing the archbishop to a trial for his life, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had always a great rever-
ence and affection for him, had spoken to the King of it, and
proposed to him, ' that in all events, there might be a pardon
prepared, and sent to him, under the Great Seal of England ;
to the end, if they proceeded against him in any form of law,
he might plead the King's pardon ; which must be allowed
by all who pretended to be governed by the law ; but if they
proceeded in a martial, or any other extraordinary way, with-
out any form of law, his majesty should declare his justice
and affection to an old faithful servant, whom he much
esteemed, in having done all towards his preservation that
was in his power to do/ The King was wonderfully pleased
with the proposition; and took from thence occasion to
commend the piety and virtue of the archbishop, with extra-
ordinary affection ; and commanded the chancellor of the
exchequer to cause the pardon to be drawn, and his majesty
would sign and seal it with all possible secrecy; which at
that time was necessary. Whereupon the Chancellor sent for
sir Thomas Gardiner the King's solicitor, and told him the
King's pleasure ; upon which he presently prepared the
pardon, and it was signed and sealed with the Great Seal of
England, and carefully sent, and delivered into the arch-
bishop's own hand, before he was brought to his trial ; who
received it with great joy, as it was a testimony of the King's
gracious affection to him, and care of him, without any
opinion that they who endeavoured to take away the King's
life, would preserve his by his majesty's authority.

When the archbishop's council had perused the pardon,
and considered that all possible exceptions would be taken to
it, though they should not reject it, they found, that the im-
peachment was not so distinctly set down in the pardon as it

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 1 97

ought to be ; which could not be helped at Oxford, because
they had no copy of it ; and therefore had supplied it with all
those general expressions, as, in any court of law, would
make the pardon valid against any exceptions the King's own
counsel could make against it. Hereupon, the archbishop
had, by the same messenger, returned the pardon again to
the chancellor, with such directions and copies as were
necessary ; upon which it was perfected accordingly, and
delivered safely again to him, and was in his hands during
the whole time of his trial. So when his trial was over, and
the ordinance passed for the cutting off his head, and he
called and asked, according to custom in criminal proceedings,
* what he could say more, why he should not suffer death ? '
he told them, * that he had the King's gracious pardon, which
he pleaded, and tendered to them, and desired that it might
be allowed/ Whereupon he was sent to the Tower, and the
pardon read in both Houses ; where, without any long debate,
it was declared * to be of no effect, and that the King could
not pardon a judgment of Parliament/ And so, without
troubling themselves farther, they gave order for his execu-
tion; which he underwent with all Christian courage and
magnanimity, to the admiration of the beholders, and confu-
sion of his enemies. Much hath been said of the person of
this great prelate before, of his great endowments, and
natural infirmities ; to which shall be added no more in this
place, (his memory deserving a particular celebration,) than
that his learning, piety, and virtue, have been attained, by
very few, and the greatest of his infirmities are common to
all, even to the best men.

198 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

BOOK IX.

Peiwoe Eupekt ajstd the Battle of Naseby.

It was about ten of the clock when the battle began : the
first charge was given by prince Rupert ; who, with his own,
and his brother prince Maurice's troop, performed it with his
usual vigour ; and was so well seconded, that he bore down
all before him, and was master of six pieces of the rebels'
best cannon. The lord Astley, with his foot, though against
the hill, advanced upon their foot; who discharged their
cannon at them, but overshot them, and so did their musketeers
too. For the foot on either side hardly saw each other till
they were within carabine-shot, and so only gave one volley ;
the King's foot, according to their usual custom, falling in
with their swords, and the butt-ends of their muskets ; with
which they did very notable execution, and put the enemy
into great disorder and confusion. The right wing of horse
and foot being thus fortunately engaged and advanced, the
left wing, under sir Marmaduke Langdale, in five bodies,
advanced with equal resolution : and was encountered by
Cromwell, who commanded the right wing of the enemy's
horse, with seven bodies greater and more numerous than
either of the other; and had, besides the odds in number,
the advantage of the ground ; for the King's horse were
obliged to march up the hill, before they could charge them :
yet they did their duty, as well as the place, and great in-
equality of numbers, would enable them to do. But being
flanked on both sides by the enemy's horse, and pressed
hard, before they could get to the top of the hill, they gave
back, and fled farther and faster than became them. Four

PRINCE RUPERT AND THE BATTLE OF NASEBY. 1 99

of the enemy's bodies, close, and in good order, followed
them, that they might not rally agaip ; which they never
thought of doing ; and the rest charged the King's foot, who
had till then so much the advantage over theirs; whilst
prince Rupert, with the right wing, pursued those horse
which he had broken and defeated.

The King's reserve of horse, which was his own guards,
with himself in the head of them, were even ready to charge
those horse who followed his left wing, when, on a sudden,
such a panic fear seized upon them, that they all run near a
quarter of a mile without stopping ; which happened upon
an extraordinary accident, that hath seldom fallen out, and
might well disturb and disorder very resolute troops, as those
were the best horse in the army. The King, as was said
before, was even upon the point of charging the enemy, in
the head of his guards, when the earl of Carnewarth, who
rode next to him, (a man never suspected for infidelity, nor
one from whom the King would have received counsel in
such a case,) on a sudden, laid his hand on the bridle of the
king's horse, and swearing two or three full mouthed Scottish
oaths, (for of that nation he was,) said, * Will you go upon
your death in an instant ?' and, before his majesty understood
what he would have, turned his horse round ; upon which a
word run through the troops, * that they should march to the
right hand ; ' which was both from charging the enemy, or
assisting their own men. And upon this they all turned their
horses, and rode upon the spur, as if they were every man
to shift for himself.

It is very true, that, upon the more soldierly word Siandy
which was sent to run after them, many of them returned to
the King; though the former unlucky word carried more
from him. And by this time, prince Rupert was returned

200 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

with a good body of those horse, which had attended him in
his prosperous charge on the right wing ; but they having, as
they thought, acted their parts, could never be brought to
rally themselves again in order, or to charge the enemy.
And that difference was observed shortly from the beginning
of the war, in the discipline of the King's troops, and of those
which marched under the command of Cromwell, (for it was
only under him, and had never been notorious under Essex
or Waller,) that, though the King's troops prevailed in the
charge, and routed those they charged, they never rallied
themselves again in order, nor could be brought to make a
second charge again the same day: which was the reason,
that they had not an entire victory at Edge-hill : whereas
Cromwell's troops, if they prevailed, or though they were
beaten, and routed, presently rallied again, and stood in good
order, till they received new orders. All that the King and
prince could do, could not rally their broken troops, which
stood in sufficient numbers upon the field, though they often
endeavoured it, with the manifest hazard of their own per-
sons. So that, in the end, the King was compelled to quit
the field, and to leave Fairfax master of all his foot, cannon,
and baggage; amongst which was his own cabinet, where
his most secret papers were, and letters between the Queen
and him; of which they shortly after made that barbarous
use as was agreeable to their natures, and published them in
print; that is, so much of them, as they thought would
asperse either of their majesties, and improve the prejudice
they had raised against them; and concealed other parts,
which would have vindicated them from many particulars
with which they had aspersed them.

cardinal richelieu. 20i

Cabdinal Richelieu.

Cardinal Richelieu, out of the natural haughtiness of his
own nature, and immoderate appetite to do mischief, under
the disguise of being jealous of the honour of his master, had
discovered an implacable hatred against the English, from
that unhappy provocation by the invasion of the Isle of Rhd,
and the declared protection of Rochelle; and took the first
opportunity, from the indisposition and murmurs of Scotland,
to warm that people into rebellion, and saw the poison there-
of prosper, and spread to his own wish ; which he fomented
by the French ambassador in the Parliament, with all the
venom of his heart ; as hath been mentioned before. As he
had not unwisely driven the Queen mother out of France, or
rather kept her from returning, when she had unadvisedly
mthdrawn herself from thence, so he was as vigilant to keep
her daughter, the Queen of England, from coming thither ;
which she resolved to have done, when she carried the
princess royal into Holland, in hope to work upon the King
her brother, to make such a seasonable declaration against
the rebels of England and Scotland, as might terrify them
from the farther prosecution of their wicked purposes. But
it was made known to her, ' that her presence would not be
acceptable in France ; ' and so, for the present, that enter-
prise was declined.

But that great cardinal being now dead, and the King him-
self within a short time after, the administration of the affairs
of that kingdom, in the infancy of the king, and under his
mother, the queen regent, was committed to cardinal Mazarine,
an Italian by birth, and subject to the king of Spain, and
raised by Richelieu to the degree of a cardinal, for his great
dexterity in putting Casal into the hands of France, when the

202 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

Spaniard had given it up to him, as the nuncio of the pope,
and in trust that it should remain in the possession of his
hoHness, till the tide of the duke of Mantua should be deter-
mined. This cardinal was a man rather of different than
contrary parts from his predecessor ; and fitter to build upon
the foundations which he had laid, than to have laid those
foundations ; and to cultivate, by artifice, dexterity, and dis-
simulation, (in which his nature and parts excelled,) what
the other had begun with great resolution and vigour, and
even gone through with invincible constancy and courage.
So that, the one having broken the heart of all opposition
and contradiction to the crown, by the cutting off the head
of the duke of Montmorency, and reducing monsieur, the
brother of the King, to the most tame submission, and in-
capacity of fomenting another rebellion, it was very easy for
the other, to find a compliance from all men, who were suffi-
ciently terrified from any contradiction. So that how great
things soever this last minister performed for the service of
that crown, during the minority of the King, they may all, in
justice, be imputed to the prudence and providence of car-
dinal Richelieu ; who had reduced and disposed the whole
nation to an entire subjection and submission to what should
be imposed upon them.

Cardinal Mazarine, when he came first to that great
ministry, was without any personal animosity against the
person of the King, or the English nation ; and was no other-
wise delighted with the distraction and confusion they were
both involved in, than as it disabled the whole people from
making such a conjunction with the Spaniard, as might make
the prosecution of that war (upon which his whole heart was
set) the more difficult to him ; which he had the more reason
to apprehend by the residence of don Alonso de Cardenas,

MONSIEUR MONTR EVIL, 203

ambassador from the king of Spain, still at London, making
all addresses to the Parliament. When the Queen had been
compelled in the last year, upon the advance of the earl of
Essex into the west, to transport herself out of Cornwall
into France, she had found there as good a reception as she
could expect ; and received as many expressions of kindness
from the Queen regent, and as ample promises from the
cardinal, as she could wish. So that she promised herself a
very good effect from her journey; and did procure from
him such a present supply of arms and ammunition, as,
though of no great value in itself, she was willing to interpret,
as a good evidence of the reality of his intentions. But the
cardinal did not yet think the King's condition low enough ;
and rather desired, by administering little and ordinary sup-
plies, to enable him to continue the struggle, than to see him
victorious over his enemies, when he might more remember,
how slender aid he had received, than that he had been
assisted; and might make himself arbiter of the peace between
the two Crowns. And therefore he was more solicitous to
keep a good correspondence with the Parliament, and to pro-
fess a neutrality between the King and them, than inclined to
give them any jealousy, by appearing much concerned for
the King.

BOOK X.

MONSIEUB MONTEEVH..

Monsieur Montrevil was a person utterly unknown to me,
nor had I ever intercourse or correspondence with him ; so
that what I shall say of him cannot proceed from the effects
of affection or prejudice, and if I shall say any thing for his

204 SELECTION'S FROM CLARENDON.

vindication from those reproaches which he did, and yet lies
under, both with the English and Scottish nation, countenanced
enough by the discountenance he received from the cardinal
after his return, when he was, after the first account he had
given of his negociation, restrained from coming to the Court,
and forbid to remain in Paris, and lay under a formed, de-
clared dislike till his death ; which with grief of mind shortly
ensued. But as it is no unusual hardheartedness in such
chief ministers, to sacrifice such instruments, how innocent
soever, to their own dark purposes, so it is probable, that
temporary cloud would soon have vanished, and that it was
only cast over him, that he might be thereby secluded from
the conversation of the English Court ; which must have been
reasonably very inquisitive, and might thereby have discovered
somewhat which the other court was carefully to conceal : I
say, if what I here set down of that transaction, shall appear
some vindication of that gentleman from those imputations
under which his memory remains blasted, it can be imputed
only to the love of truth, which ought, in common honesty,
to be preserved in history as the soul of it, towards all per-
sons who come to be mentioned in it ; and since I have in
my hands all the original letters which passed from him to
the King, and the King's answers and directions thereupon, or
such authentic copies thereof, as have been by myself ex-
amined with the originals, I take it to be a duty incumbent
on me to absolve him from any guilt with which his memory
lies unjustly charged, and to make a candid interpretation of
those actions, which appear to have resulted from ingenuity,
and upright intentions, how unsuccessful soever.

He was then a young gentleman of parts very equal to the
trust the cardinal reposed in him, and to the employment he
gave him ; and of a nature not inclined to be made use of in

SIR HARRY KILLIGREW, 205

ordinary dissimulation and cozenage. Whilst he took his
measures only from the Scottish commissioners at London,
and from those Presbyterians whom he had opportunity to
converse with there, he did not give the King the least en-
couragement to expect a conjunction, or any compliance
from the one or the other, upon any cheaper price or condition
than the whole alteration of the government of the church by
bishops, and an entire conformity to the Covenant ; and he
used all the arguments which occurred to him, to persuade
his majesty that all other hopes of agreement with him were
desperate; and when he saw his majesty unmoveable in that
particular, and resolute to undergo the utmost event of war,
before he would wound his peace of mind, and conscience,
with such an odious concession, he undertook that journey
we mentioned in the end of the last year, to discover whether
the same rude and rigid spirit, which governed those com-
missioners at Westminster, possessed also the chief officers
of the Scottish army, and that committee of state that always
remained with the army.

Sir Haeby Killigee^w.

There remained with him in that service many gentlemen
of the country of great loyalty, amongst whom sir Harry
Killigrew was one; who, being an intimate friend of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, resolved to go to Jersey ; and, as
soon as the castle was surrendered, took the first opportunity
of a vessel then in the harbour of Falmouth, to transport
himself with some officers and soldiers to St. Maloes in
Brittany ; from whence he writ to the Chancellor in Jersey,
that he would procure a bark of that island to go to St.
Maloes to fetch him thither; which, by the kindness of sir

206 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

George Carteret, was presently sent, with a longing desire to
receive him into that island ; the two lords, Capel and Hop-
ton, and the governor, having an extraordinary affection for
him, as well as the Chancellor. Within two days after, upon
view of the vessel at sea, (which they well knew,) they all
made haste to the harbour to receive their friend ; but, when
they came thither, to their infinite regret, they found his body
there in a coffin, he having died at St. Maloes within a day
after he had written his letter.

After the treaty was signed for delivering the castle, he
had walked out to discharge some arms which were in his
chamber ; among which, a carabine that had been long
charged, in the shooting off, broke : and a splinter of it struck
him in the forehead ; which, though it drew much blood, was
not apprehended by him to be of any danger ; so that his
friends could not persuade him to stay there till the wound
was cured ; but, the blood being stopped, and the chirurgeon
having bound it up, he prosecuted his intended voyage ; and
at his landing at St. Maloes, he writ that letter ; believing his
wound would give him little trouble. But his letter was no
sooner gone than he sent for a chirurgeon; who, opening
the wound, found it was very deep and dangerous ; and the
next day he died, having desired that his dead body might
be sent to Jersey, where he was decently buried. He was a
very gallant gentleman, of a noble extraction, and a fair
revenue in land ; of excellent parts and great courage : he
had one only son, who was killed before him in a party that
fell upon the enemy's quarters near Bridgewater ; where he
behaved himself with remarkable courage ; and was generally
lamented.

Sir Harry was of the House of Commons; and though he
had no other relation to the Court than the having many

SIR HARRY KILLIGREW, 207

friends there, as wherever he was known he was exceedingly
beloved, he was most zealous and passionate in exposing all
the extravagant proceedings of the Parliament. And when
the earl of Essex was chosen general, and the several mem-
bers of the House stood up, and declared, what horse they
would raise and maintain, and that they would live and die
with the earl their general, one saying he would raise ten
horses, and another twenty, he stood up, and said, 'He would
provide a good horse, and a good buff coat, and a good pair
of pistols, and then he doubted not but he should find a good
cause ; ' and so went out of the house, and rode post into
Cornwall, where his estate and interest lay ; and there joined
with those gallant gentlemen his friends, who first received
the lord Hopton, and raised those forces which did so many
famous actions in the west.

He would never take any command in the army ; but they
who had, consulted with no man more. He was in all
actions, and in those places where was most danger, having
great courage and a pleasantness of humour in danger that
was very exemplary ; and they who did not do their duty,
took care not to be within his view ; for he was a very sharp
speaker, and cared not for angering" those who deserved to
be reprehended. The Arundels, Slannings, Trevanions, and
all the signal men of that county, infinitely loved his spirit
and sincerity; and his credit and interest had a great in-
fluence upon all but those who did not love the King ; and
towards those he was very terrible ; and exceedingly hated
by them ; and not loved by men of moderate tempers ; for
he thought all such prepared to rebel, when a little success
should encourage them ; and was many times too much
offended with men who wished well, and whose constitutions
and complexions would not permit them to express the same

208 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

frankness, which his nature and keenness of spirit could not
suppress. His loss was much lamented by all good men.

The King and his Childben.
^ In this conversation, as if his majesty had foreseen all that
befell him afterwards, and which at that time sure he did not
suspect, he took great care to instruct his children how to
behave themselves, if the worst should befall him that the
worst of his enemies did contrive or wish ; and * that they
should preserve unshaken their affection and duty to the
Prince their brother.* The duke of York was then about fif-
teen years of age ; and so, capable of any information or
instruction the King thought fit to give him. His majesty
told him, ' that he looked upon himself as in the hands and
disposal of the army, and that the Parliament had no more
power to do him good or harm, than as the army should
direct or permit ; and that he knew not, in all this time he
had been with them, what he might promise himself from
those officers of the army at whose devotion it was : that he
hoped well, yet with much doubt and fear ; and therefore he
gave him this general direction and command, that if there
appeared any such alteration in the affection of the army, that
they restrained him from the liberty he then enjoyed of seeing
his children, or suffered not his friends to resort to him with
that freedom that they enjoyed at present, he might conclude
they would shortly use him worse, and that he should not be
long out of a prison ; and therefore that from the time he
discovered such an alteration, he should bethink himself how
he might make an escape out of their power, and transport
himselT beyond the seas.' The place he recommended to
him was Holland; where he presumed his sister would
* [At Hampton Court, 1647.]

THE KING AND HIS CHILDREN. 209

receive him very kindly, and that the prince of Orange her
husband would be well pleased with it, though, possibly, the
States might restrain him from making those expressions of
his affection his own incHnation prompted him to. He
wished him to think always of this, as a tiling possible to fall
out, and so spake frequently to him of it, and of the circum-
stances and cautions which were necessary to attend it.

The princess Elizabeth was not above a year or two
younger than the duke, a lady of excellent parts, great obser-
vation, and an early understanding; which the King discerned,
by the account she gave him both of things and persons,
upon the experience she had had of both. His majesty
enjoined her, ' upon the worst that could befall him, never to
be disposed of in marriage without the consent and approba-
tion of the Queen her mother, and the Prince her brother ;
and always to perform all duty and obedience to both those \
and to obey the Queen in all things, except in matter of reli-
gion ; to which he commanded her, upon his blessing, never
to hearken or consent ; but to continue firm in the religion
she had been instructed and educated in, what discountenance
and ruin soever might befall the poor Church, at that time
under so severe prosecution.'

The duke of Gloucester was very young, being at that time
not above seven years old, and so might well be thought
incapable of retaining that advice, and injunction, which in
truth ever after made so deep impression in him. After he
had given him all the advice he thought convenient in the
matter of religion, and commanded him positively, ' never to
be persuaded or threatened out of the religion of the Church,
in which he hoped he would be well instructed, and for the
purity and integrity whereof he bid him remember that he
had his father's testimony and authority ; ' his majesty told

p

31 0 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

him, ' that his infancy, and the tenderness of his years, might
persuade some men to hope and believe, that he might be
made an instrument, and property, to advance their wicked
designs ; and if they should take away his life, they might,
possibly, the better to attain their own ends, make him King ;
that under him, whilst his age would not permit him to judge,
and act for himself, they might remove many obstructions
which lay in their way ; and form and unite their councils ;
and then they would destroy him too. But he commanded
him, upon his blessing, never to forget what he said to him
upon this occasion, nor to accept, or suffer himself to be made
Kmg, whilst either of his elder brothers lived, in what part of
the world soever they should be : that he should remember
that the Prince his brother was to succeed him by the laws of
God and man ; and, if he should miscarry, that the duke of
York was to succeed in the same right ; and therefore that
he should be sure never to be made use of to interrupt or
disturb either of their rights ; which would in the end turn to
his own destruction.' And this discourse the King reiterated
to him, as often as he had liberty to see him, with all the
earnestness and passion he could express ; which was so
fixed in his memory that he never forgot it; and many
years after, when he was sent out of England, he made the
full relation of all the particulars to me, with that commotion
of spirit, that it appeared to be deeply rooted in him ; and
made use of one part of it very seasonably afterwards, when
there was more than an ordinary attempt made to have per-
verted him in his religion, and to persuade him to become
Catholic for the advancement of his fortune.

In this manner, and with these kind of reflections, the King
made use of the liberty he enjoyed ; and considered as well,
what remedies to apply to the worst that could fall out, as to

THE KING ESCAPES. 211

caress the officers of the army in order to the improvement
of his condition, of which he was not yet in any despair ; the
chief officers, and all the heads of that party, looking upon
it as their wisest policy to cherish the King's hopes by the
liberty they gave him, and by a very flowing courtesy towards
all who had been of his party ; whose expectation, and good
word, and testimony, they found did them much good both
in the city and the country.

THE King Escapes.

The King found himself in great perplexity, from what he
discerned, and observed himself, as well as what he heard
from others ; but what use to make of the one or the other,
was very hard to resolve : he did really believe that their
malice was at the height, and that they did design his murder,
but knew not which was a probable way to prevent it. The
making an escape, if it were not contrived with wonderful
sagacity, would expose him to be assassinated, by pretended
ignorance, and would be charged upon himself; and if he
could avoid their guards, and get beyond them undiscovered,
whither should he go? and what place would receive and
defend him ? The hope of the city seemed not to him to
have a foundation of reason ; they had been too late subdued
to recover courage for such an adventure ; and the army now
was much more master of it than when they desponded.
There is reason to believe that he did resolve to transport
himself beyond the seas, which had been no hard matter to
have brought to pass ; but with whom he consulted for the
way of doing it, is not to this day discovered ; they who were
instrumental in his remove, pretending to know nothing of
the resolution, or counsel. But, one morning, [being the

p 2

212 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

eleventh of September,] the King having, the night before,
pretended some indisposition, and that he would go to his
rest, they who went into his chamber, found that he was not
there, nor had been in his bed that night. There were two
or three letters found upon his table, writ all with his own
hand, one to the Parliament, another to the general ; in which
he declared ' the reason of his remove to be, an apprehension
that some desperate persons had a design to assassinate him ;
and therefore he had withdrawn himself with a purpose of
remaining concealed, until the Parliament had agreed upon
such propositions as should be fit for him to consent to ; and
he would then appear, and willingly consent to any thing that
should be for the peace and happiness of the kingdom/
There were discovered the treading of horses at a back door
of the garden into which his majesty had a passage out of his
chamber ; and it is true that way he went, having appointed
his horse to be there ready at an hour, and sir John Berkley,
Ashburnham, and Legg, to wait upon him, the two last being
of his bedchamber. Ashburnham alone seemed to know
what they were to do, the other two having received only
orders to attend. When they were free from the apprehen-
sion of the guards, and the horse quarters, they rode towards
the [south-]west, and towards that part of Hampshire which
led to the New Forest. The King asked Ashburnham, where
the ship lay ? which made the other two conclude that the
King resolved to transport himself. After they had made
some stay in that part next the sea, and Ashburnham had
been some time absent, he returned without any news of the
ship ; with which the King seemed troubled. Upon this
disappointment, the King thought it best, for avoiding all
highways, to go to Titchfield, a noble seat of the earl of
Southampton's, (who was not there,) but inhabited by the old

THE KING ESCAPES.

213

lady his mother with a small family, which made the retreat
the more convenient : there his majesty alighted, and would
speak with the lady ; to whom he made no scruple of com-
municating himself, well knowing her to be a lady of that
honour and spirit, that she was superior to all kind of temp-
tation. There he refreshed himself, and consulted with his
three servants, what he should next do, since there was
neither ship ready, nor could they presume that they could
remain long there undiscovered.

In this debate, the Isle of Wight came to be mentioned,
(as they say) by Ashburnham, as a place where his majesty
might securely repose himself, until he thought fit to inform
the Parliament where he was. Colonel Hammond was
governor there, an officer of the army, and of nearest trust
with Cromwell, having by his advice been married to a
daughter of John Hambden, whose memory he always adored;
yet, by some fatal mistake, this man was thought a person of
honour and generosity enough to trust the King's person to,
and Ashburnham and Berkley were sent to him with orders,
* first to be sure that the man would faithfully promise not to
deliver his majesty up, though the Parliament or army should
require him ; but to give him his liberty to shift for himself,
if he were not able to defend him : and except he would
make that promise, they should not let him know where his
majesty was, but should return presently to him.' With this
commission they two crossed the water to the Isle of Wight,
the King in the mean time reposing himself at Titchfield.
The next day they found colonel Hammond, who was known
to them both, who had conversation with him in the army,
when the King was well treated there, (and their persons had
been very civilly treated by most of the officers, who thought
themselves qualified sufficiently for Court preferments.) They

iiI4 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

told him, ' that the King was withdrawn from the army ; ' of
which he seemed to have had no notice, and to be very much
surprised with it. They then said, *that the King had so
good an opinion of him, knowing him to be a gentleman,
and for his relation to Dr. Hammond, (whose nephew he
was,) that he would trust his person with him, and would
from thence write to the Parliament, if he would promise that
if his message had not that effect which he hoped it would
have, he would leave him to himself to go whither he thought
fit, and would not deliver him to the Parliament, or army, if
they should require it.' His answer was, * that he would pay
all the duty and service to his majesty that was in his power ;
and, if he pleased to come thither, he would receive and
entertain him as well as he could ; but that he was an inferior
officer, and must obey his superiors in whatsoever they
thought fit to command him : ' with which when he saw they
were not satisfied, he asked, ' where the King was ? ' to which
they made no other answer, ' but that they would acquaint his
majesty with his answer, and, if he were satisfied with it, they
would return to him again.' He demanded '■ that Mr. Ash-
burnham would stay with him, and that the other might go to
the King ; ' which Mr. Ashburnham refused to do.

After some time spent in debate, in which he made many
expressions of his desire to do any service to his majesty,
they were contented that he should go with them ; and Ash-
burnham said, ' he would conduct him to the place where the
King was ; ' and so, he commanding three or four servants or
soldiers to wait on him, they went together to Titchfield ;
and, the other staying below, Ashburnham went up to the
King's chamber. When he had acquainted him with all that
had passed, and that Hammond was in the house, his majesty
broke out in a passionate exclamation, and said, ' O Jack,

THE KING ESCAPES. 11$

thou hast undone me!' with which the other falling into a
great passion of weeping, offered to go down, and to kill
Hammond : to which his majesty would not consent ; and,
after some pausing and deliberation, sent for him up, and
endeavoured to persuade him to make the same promise,
which had before been proposed: to which he made the
same answer he had done, but with many professions of
doing all the offices he could for his majesty ; and seemed to
believe that the army would do well for him. The King
believed that there was now no possible way to get 'from him,
he having the command of the country, and could call in
what help he would ; and so went with him into the Isle of
Wight, and was lodged at Carisbrook-castle, with all demon-
stration of respect and duty.

It never appeared afterwards that the King was maliciously
betrayed to this unhappy peregrination, by the treachery and
practice of those he trusted ; and his majesty himself never
entertained the least jealousy, or suspicion of it: yet the
whole design appeared to be so weakly contrived, the not
being sure of a ship, if the resolution were fixed for embark-
ing, which was never manifest, the making choice of the Isle
of Wight, and of Hammond to be trusted, since nothing fell
out which was not to be reasonably foreseen and expected,
and the bringing him to Titchfield, without the permission of
the King, if not directly contrary to it, seemed to be all so far
from a rational design and conduct, that most men did
believe there was treason in the contrivance, or that his
majesty intrusted those who were grossly imposed upon and
deceived by his greatest enemies. Legg had had so general
a reputation of integrity, and fidelity to his master, that he
never fell under the least imputation or reproach with any
man : he was a very punctual and steady observer of the

Q,l6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

orders he received, but no contriver of them ; and though he
had in truth a better judgment and understanding than either
of the other two, his modesty and diffidence of himself never
suffered him to contrive bold counsels. Berkley was less
known among those persons of honour and quality who had
followed the King, being in a very private station before the
war, and his post in it being in the farthest corner of the
kingdom, and not much spoken of till the end of it, when he
was not beholden to reports ; his ambition and vanity were
well known to be predominant in him, and that he had great
confidence in himself, and did not delight to converse with
those who had not ; but he never fell under, any blemish of
disloyalty, and he took care to publish that this enterprise of the
King's was so totally without his privity, that he was required
to attend on horseback at such an hour, and had not the
least intimation of his majesty's purpose what he intended to
do. Another particular, which was acknowledged by Ham-
mond, did him much credit, that when Hammond demanded
that Ashburnham should remain with him whilst the other
went to the King, which Ashburnham refused to do, Berkley
did offer himself to remain with him whilst Ashburnham
should attend his majesty; so that the whole weight of the
prejudice and reproach was cast upon Ashburnham; who
was known to have so great an interest in the affections of
his master, and so great an influence upon his counsels and
resolutions, that he could not be ignorant of any thing that
moved him.

Cbomwell.

Cromwell, though the greatest dissembler living, always
made his hypocrisy of singular use and benefit to him ; and
never did any thing, how ungracious or imprudent soever it

CROMWELL. %!']

seemed to be, but what was necessary to the design ; even
his roughness and unpolishedness, which, in the beginning of
the Parliament, he affected contrary to the smoothness and
complacency, which his cousin, and bosom friend, Mr.
Hambden, practised to all men, was necessary ; and his first
public declaration, in the beginning of the war, to his troop
when it was first mustered, ' that he would not deceive or
cozen them by the perplexed and involved expressions in his
commission, to fight for King and Parliament ; * and therefore
told them, ' that if the King chanced to be in the body of the
enemy that he was to charge, he would as soon discharge his
pistol upon him, as any other private person; and if their
conscience would not permit them to do the like, he advised
them not to list themselves in his troop, or under his com-
mand ; ' which was generally looked upon as imprudent and
malicious, and might, by the professions the Parliament then
made, have proved dangerous to him ; yet served his turn,
and severed from others, and united among themselves, all
the furious and incensed men against the government,
whether ecclesiastical or civil, to look upon him as a man for
their turn, upon whom they might depend, as one who would
go through his work that he undertook. And his strict and
unsociable humour in not keeping company with the other
officers of the army in their jollities and excesses, to which
most of the superior officers under the earl of Essex were
inclined, and by which he often made himself ridiculous or
contemptible, drew all those of the like sour or reserved
natures to his society and conversation, and gave him oppor-
tunity to form their understandings, inclinations, and resolu-
tions, to his own model. By this he grew to have a wonderful
interest in the common soldiers, out of which, as his authority
increased, he made all his officers, well instructed how to live in

ai8 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

the same manner with their soldiers, that they might be able
to apply them to their own purposes : whilst he looked upon
the Presbyterian humour as the best incentive to rebellion, no
man more a Presbyterian ; he sang all psalms with them to
their tunes, and loved the longest sermons as much as they ;
but when he discovered that they would prescribe some
limits and bounds to their rebellion, that it was not well
breathed, and would expire as soon as some few particulars
were granted to them in religion, which he cared not for ;
and then that the government must run still in the same
channel ; it concerned him to make it believed ' that the State
had been more delinquent than the Church, and that the
people suffered more by the civil than by the ecclesiastical
power; and therefore that the change of one would give
them little ease, if there were not as great an alteration in
the other, and if the whole government in both were not
reformed and altered ; ' which though it made him generally
odious [at first], and irreconciled many of his old friends to
him; yet it made those who remained more cordial and
firm : he could better compute his own strength, and upon
whom he might depend. This discovery made him contrive
the [new] model of the army ; which was the most unpopular
act, and disobliged all those who first contrived the Rebellion,
and who were the very soul of it ; and yet, if he had not
brought that to pass, and changed a general, who, though not
very sharpsighted, would never be governed, nor applied to
any thing he did not Hke, for another who had no eyes, and
so would be willing to be led, all his designs must have come
to nothing, and he remained a private colonel of horse, not
considerable enough to be in any figure upon an advantageous
composition.

USAGE OF THE KING. 219

BOOK XI.

Usage of the King.

When he was first brought to Westminster-hall, which was
upon the the twentieth of January, before their High Court of
justice, he looked upon them, and sat down, without any
manifestation of trouble, never stirring his hat; all the
impudent judges sitting covered, and fixing their eyes upon
him, without the least show of respect. The odious libel,
which they called a charge and impeachment, was then read
by the clerk; which contained, 'that he had been admitted
King of England, and trusted with a limited power to govern
according to law ; and, by his oath and office, was obliged to
use the power committed to him for the good and benefit of the
people : but that he had, out of a wicked design to erect to
himself an illlmited and tyrannical power, and to overthrow
the rights and liberties of the people, traitorously levied war
against the present Parliament, and the people therein repre-
sented.' And then it mentioned his first appearance at York
with a guard, then his being at Beverly, then his setting
up his standard at Nottingham, the day of the month and the
year at which the battle had been at Edge-hill, and all the
other several battles which had been fought in his presence ; 'in
which,' it said, ' he had caused and procured many thousands
of the freebom people of the nation to be slain : that after all
his forces had been defeated, and himself become a prisoner,
he had, in that very year, caused many insurrections to
be made in England, and given a commission to the Prince
his son to raise a new war against the Parliament ; whereby
many who were in their service, and trusted by them, had

220 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

revolted, broken their trust, and betook themselves to the
service of the Prince against the Parliament and the people :
that he had been the author and contriver of the unnatural,
cruel, and bloody wars; and was therein guilty of all the
treasons, murders, rapines, burnings, and spoils, desolations,
damage, and mischief to the nation, which' had been com-
mitted in the said war, or been occasioned thereby; and that
he was therefore impeached for the said treasons and crimes,
on the behalf of the people of England, as a tyrant, traitor,
and murderer, and a public implacable enemy to the common-
wealth of England ; ' and ' prayed, that he might be put to
answer to all the particulars, to the end that such an exami-
nation, trial, and judgment, might be had thereupon, as should
be agreeable to justice/

Which being read, their president Bradshaw, after he had
insolently reprehended the King ' for not having stirred his
hat, or shewed more respect to that high tribunal,' told him,
' that the Parliament of England had appointed that court to
try him for the several treasons, and misdemeanours, which he
had committed against the kingdom during the evil adminis-
tration of his government; and that, upon the examination
thereof, justice might be done/ And, after a great sauciness
and impudence of talk, he asked the King, ' what answer he
had to make to that impeachment/

The King, without any alteration in his countenance by all
that insolent provocation, told them, ' he would first know of
them, by what authority they presumed by force to bring him
before them, and who gave them power to judge of his
actions, for which he was accountable to none but God;
though they had been always such as he need not be ashamed
to own them before all the world/ He told them, ' that he
was their King, they his subjects; who owed him duty

USAGE OF THE KING. 1%\

and obedience : that no Parliament had authority to call him
before them ; but that they were not the Parliament, nor had
any authority from the Parliament to sit in that manner : that
of all the persons who sat there, and took upon them to judge
him, except those persons who being officers of the army he
could not but know whilst he was forced to be amongst them,
there were only two faces which he had ever seen before, or
whose names were known to him.' And, after urging ' their
duty, that was due to him, and his superiority over them,' by
such lively reasons, and arguments, as were not capable
of any answer, he concluded, ' that he would not so much
betray himself, and his royal dignity, as to answer any thing
they objected against him, which were to acknowledge their
authority ; though he believed that every one of themselves,
as well as the spectators, did, in their own consciences, absolve
him from all the material things which were objected against
him.'

Bradshaw advised him, in a very arrogant manner, * not to
deceive himself with an opinion that any thing he had
said would do him any good : that the Parliament knew their
own authority, and would not suffer it to be called in question
or debated:' therefore wished him, 'to think better of it,
against he should be next brought thither, and that he would
answer directly to his charge ; otherwise, he could not be so
ignorant, as not to know what judgment the law pronounced
against those who stood mute, and obstinately refused to
plead.* So the guard carried his majesty back to St. James's ;
where they treated him as before.

There was an accident happened that first day, which may
be fit to be remembered. When all those who were com-
missioners had taken their places, and the King was brought
in, the first ceremony was, to read their commission ; which

322 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

was the ordinance of Parliament for the trial ; and then the
judges were all called, every man answering to his name as
he was called, and the president being first called and making
answer, the next who was called being the general, lord Fair-
fax, and no answer being made, the officer called him the
second time, when there was a voice heard that said, ' he had
more wit than to be there ; ' which put the court into some
disorder, and somebody asking, who it was, there was no other
answer but a little murmuring. But, presently, when the
impeachment was read, and that expression used, of ' all the
good people of England,' the same voice in a louder tone
answered, 'No, nor the hundredth part of them:' upon
which, one of the officers bid the soldiers give fire into that
box whence those presumptuous words were uttered. But it
was quickly discerned that it was the general's wife, the lady
Fairfax, who had uttered both these sharp sayings ; who was
presently persuaded or forced to leave the place, to prevent
any new disorder. She was of a very noble extraction, one
of the daughters and heirs of Horace lord Vere of Tilbury ;
who, having been bred in Holland, had not that reverence for
the Church of England, as she ought to have had, and so had
unhappily concurred in her husband's entering into rebellion,
never imagining what misery it would bring upon the
kingdom; and now abhorred the work in hand as much
as any body could do, and did all she could to hinder her
husband from acting any part in it. Nor did he ever sit in
that bloody court, though out of the stupidity of his soul
he was throughout overwitted by Cromwell, and made a
property to bring that to pass which could very hardly have
l^en otherwise effected.

As there was in^ many persons present at that woful
spectacle a r^l duty and compassion for the King, so there

CHARACTER OF THE KING. 2%^

was in others so barbarous and brutal a behaviour towards
him, that they called him Tyrant and Murderer; and one
spit in his face; which his majesty, without expressing any
trouble, wiped off with his handkerchief.

Chabactek op the King.

The several unheard of instances which this excellent
prince was forced to submit to, at the other times he was
brought before that odious judicatory, his majestic behaviour
under so much insolence, and resolute insisting upon his
own dignity, and defending it by manifest authorities in the
law, as well as by the clearest deductions from reason, the
pronouncing that horrible sentence upon the most innocent
person in the world, the execution of that sentence by the
most execrable murder that was ever committed since that of
our blessed Saviour, and the circumstances thereof; the
application and interposition that was used by some noble
persons to prevent that woful murder, and the hypocrisy with
which that interposition was eluded, the saintlike behaviour
of that blessed martyr, and his Christian courage and patience
at his death, are all particulars so well known, and have been
so much enlarged upon in a treatise peculiarly writ to
that purpose^, that the farther mentioning it in this place
would but afflict and grieve the reader, and make the relation
itself odious as well as needless ; and therefore no more shall
be said here of that lamentable tragedy, so much to the
dishonour of the nation, and the religion professed by it.

But it will not be unnecessary to add a short character of
his person, that posterity may know the inestimable loss
which the nation then underwent, in being deprived of a#
prince, whose example would have had a greater influence
[' Probably " England's Black Tribtinal."^

#

!2ii4 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

upon the manners and piety of the nation, than the most
strict laws can have. To speak first of his private quali-
fications as a man, before the mention of his princely and
royal virtues ; he was, if ever any, the most worthy of the
title of an honest man ; so great a lover of justice, that no
temptation could dispose him to a wrongful action, except
it was so disguised to him that he believed it to be just.
He had a tenderness and compassion of nature, which
restrained him from ever doing a hardhearted thing : and
therefore he was so apt to grant pardon to malefactors,
that the judges of the land represented to him the damage
and insecurity to the public, that flowed from such his
indulgence ; and then he restrained himself from pardoning
either murders or highway robberies, and quickly discerned
the fruits of his severity by a wonderful reformation of those
enormities. He was very punctual and regular in his
devotions ; he was never known to enter upon his recreations
or sports, though never so early in the morning, before
he had been at public prayers ; so that on hunting days his
chaplains were bound to a very early attendance. He was
likewise very strict in observing the hours of his private
cabinet devotions ; and was so severe an exactor of gravity
and reverence in all mention of religion, that he could never
endure any light or profane word, with what sharpness of
wit soever it was covered : and though he was well pleased
and delighted with reading verses made upon any occasion,
no man durst bring before him any thing that was profane or
unclean. That kind of wit had never any countenance then.
He was so great an example of conjugal aflection, that they
who did not imitate him in that particular did not brag
of their liberty: and he did not only permit, but direct
his bishops to prosecute those scandalous vices, in the

CHARACTER OF THE KING. 225

ecclesiastical courts, against persons of eminence, and near
relation to his service.

His kingly virtues had some mixture and allay, that
hindered them from shining in full lustre, and from producing
those fruits they should have been attended with. He was
not in his nature very bountiful, though he gave very much.
This appeared more after the duke of Buckingham's death,
after which those showers fell very rarely ; and he paused too
long in giving, which made those, to whom he gave, less
sensible of the benefit. He kept state to the full, which
made his Court very orderly ; no man presuming to be seen
in a place where he had no pretence to be. He saw
and observed men long, before he received them about his
person ; and did not love strangers ; nor very confident men.
He was a patient hearer of causes; which he frequently
accustomed himself to at the Council board ; and judged very
well, and was dexterous in the mediating part : so that he
often put an end to causes by persuasion, which the stubborn-
ness of men's humours made dilatory in courts of justice.

He was very fearless in his person, but not very enter-
prising. He had an excellent understanding, but was not
confident enough of it ; which made him oftentimes change
his own opinion for a worse, and follow the advice of men
that did not judge so well as himself. This made him more
irresolute than the conjuncture of his affairs would admit : if
he had been of a rougher and more imperious nature he
would have found more respect and duty. And his not
applying some severe cures to approaching evils proceeded
from the lenity of his nature, and the tenderness of his
conscience, which, in all cases of blood, made him choose
the softer way, and not hearken to severe counsels, how
reasonably soever urged. This only restrained him from

Q

226 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

pursuing his advantage in the first Scottish expedition, when
humanly speaking, he might have reduced that nation to the
most slavish obedience that could have been wished- But no
man can say he had then many who advised him to it, but
the contrary, by a wonderful indisposition all his Council had
to fighting, or any other fatigue. He was always an im-
moderate lover of the Scottish nation, having not only been
born there, but educated by that people, and besieged by
them always, having few English about him till he was king ;
and the major number of his servants being still of that
nation, who he thought could never fail him. And among
these, no man had such an ascendant over him, by the
humblest insinuations, as duke Hamilton had.

As he excelled in all other virtues, so in temperance he
was so strict, that he abhorred all debauchery to that degree,
that, at a great festival solemnity, where he once was, when
very many of the nobility of the English and Scots were
entertained, being told by one who withdrew from thence,
what vast draughts of wine they drank, and ' that there was
one earl, who had drank most of the rest down, and was
not himself moved or altered,' the King said, 'that he deserved
to be hanged ; ' and that earl coming shortly after into
the room where his majesty was, in some gayety, to shew
how unhurt he was from that battle, the King sent one to bid
him withdraw from his majesty's presence; nor did he
in some days after appear before him.

There were so many miraculous circumstances contributed
to his ruin, that men might well think that heaven and earth
and the stars designed it. Though he was, from the first de-
clension of his power, so much betrayed by his own servants,
that there were very few who remained faithful to him, yet that
treachery proceeded not from any treasonable purpose to do

CHARACTER OF THE KING. 227

him any harm, but from particular and personal animosities
against other men. And, afterwards, the terror all men
were under of the Parliament, and the guilt they were con-
scious of themselves, made them watch all opportunities
to make themselves gracious to those who could do them
good ; and so they became spies upon their master, and from
one piece of knavery were hardened and confirmed to under-
take another ; till at last they had no hope of preservation but
by the destruction of their master. And after all this, when
a man might reasonably believe that less than a universal
defection of three nations could not have reduced a great King
to so ugly a fate, it is most certain, that, in that very hour when
he was thus wickedly murdered in the sight of the sun, he
had as great a share in the hearts and affections of his subjects
in general, was as much beloved, esteemed, and longed for
by the people in general of the three nations, as any of his
predecessors had ever been. To conclude, he was the
worthiest gentleman, the best master, the best friend, the best
husband, the best father, and the best Christian, that the age
in which he lived produced. And if he were not the best
King, if he were without some parts and qualities which have
made some kings great and happy, no other prince was ever
unhappy who was possessed of half his virtues and endow-
ments, and so much without any kind of vice.

This unparalleled murder and parricide was committed
upon the thirtieth of January, in the year, according to the
account used in England, 1648, in the forty and ninth y^ar
of his age, and when he had such excellent health, and
so great vigour of body, that when his murderers caused him
to be opened, (which they did, and were some of them present
at it with great curiosity,) they confessed and declared, ' that
no man had ever all his vital parts so perfect and unhiut : and

Q 2

2^8 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

that he seemed to be of so admirable a composition and con-
stitution, that he would probably have lived as long as nature
could subsist.' His body was immediately carried into a
room at Whitehall ; where he was exposed for many days to
the public view, that all men might know that he was not alive.
And he was then embalmed, and put into a coffin, and so
carried to St. James's ; where he likewise remained several
days. They who were qualified to look after that province
declared, ' that he should be buried at Windsor in a decent
manner, provided that the whole expense should not exceed
five hundred pounds.' The duke of Richmond, the marquis
of Hertford, the earls of Southampton and Lindsey, who had
been of his bedchamber, and always very faithful to him,
desired those who governed, 'that they might have leave
to perform the last duty to their dead master, and to wait
upon him to his grave ; ' which, after some pauses, they
were permitted to do, with this, ' that they should not attend
the corpse out of the town ; since they resolved it should be
privately carried to Windsor without pomp or noise, and then
they should have timely notice, that, if they pleased, they
might be at his interment.' And accordingly it was committed
to four of those servants, who had been by them appointed to
wait upon him during his imprisonment, that they should
convey the body to Windsor ; which they did. And it was,
that night, placed in that chamber which had usually been his
bedchamber : the next morning, it was carried into the great
hall; where it remained till the lords came; who arrived
there in the afternoon, and immediately went to colonel
Whitchcot, the governor of the castle, and shewed the order
they had from the Parliament to be present at the burial;
which he admitted : but when they desired that his majesty
might be buried according to the form of the Common

THE LORD CAPEL. 229

Prayer Book, the bishop of London being present with them
to oflBciate, he expressly, positively and roughly refused to
consent to it ; and said, * it was not lawful : that the Common
Prayer Book was put down, and he would not suffer it to be
used in that garrison where he commanded ; ' nor could all
the reasons, persuasions, and entreaties, prevail with him
to suffer it. Then they went into the church, to make choice
of a place for burial. But when they entered into it, which
they had been so well acquainted with, they found it so
altered and transformed, all tombs, inscriptions, and those
landmarks pulled down, by which all men knew every
particular place in that church, and such a dismal mutation
over the whole, that they knew not where they were : nor
was there one old officer that had belonged to it, or knew
where our princes had used to be interred. At last there was
a fellow of the town who undertook to tell them the place,
where, he said, ' there was a vault, in which king Harry the
Eighth and queen Jane Seymour were interred.' As near
that place as could conveniently be, they caused the grave to
be made. There the King's body was laid without any words,
or other ceremonies than the tears and sighs of the few
beholders. Upon the coffin was a plate of silver fixed with
these words only, King Charles 1648. When the coffin was
put in, the black velvet pall that had covered it was thrown
over it, and then the earth thrown in; which the governor
stayed to see perfectly done, and then took the keys of the
church, which was seldom put to any use.

The Lobd Capeii.

The lord Capel was then called; who walked through
Westminster-hall, saluting such of his friends and acquaint-

230 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

ance as he saw there, with a very serene countenance, accom-
panied with his friend Dr. Morley ; who had been with him
from the time of his sentence ; but, at the foot of the scaf-
fold, his lordship took leave of him ; and, embracing him,
thanked him ; and said, he should go no farther, having some
apprehension that he might receive some affront by the sol-
diers after his death; the chaplains who attended the two
other lords being men of the time, and the doctor being well
known to be most contrary.

As soon as his lordship had ascended the scaffold, he looked
very vigorously about, and asked, ' whether the other lords
had spoken to the people with their hats on ? ' and being
told, that ' they were bare ; ' he gave his hat to his servant,
and then with a clear and strong voice he said, ' that he was
brought thither to die for doing that which he could not
repent of : that he had been born and bred under the govern-
ment of a King, whom he was bound in conscience to obey ;
under laws, to which he had always been obedient ; and in
the bosom of a Church, which he thought the best in the
world : that he had never violated his faith to either of those,
and was now condemned to die against all the laws of the
land ; to which sentence he did submit.'

He enlarged himself in commending ' the great virtue and
piety of the King, whom they had put to death ; who was so
just and so merciful a prince ; ' and prayed to God, ' to for-
give the nation that innocent blood.' Then he recommended
to them the present King ; ' who,' he told them, ' was their
true and lawful sovereign ; and was worthy to be so : that he
had the honour to have been some years near his person, and
therefore he could not but know him well ; ' and assured
them, 'that he was a prince of great understanding, of an
excellent nature, of great courage, an entire lover of justice,

THE LORD CAPEL, 23 1

and of exemplary piety ; that he was not to be shaken in his
religion ; and had all those princely virtues, which could
make a nation happy : ' and therefore advised them ' to
submit to his government, as the only means to preserve
themselves, their posterity, and the Protestant religion.' And
having, with great vehemence, recommended it to them,
after some prayers devoutly pronounced upon his knees, he
submitted himself, with an unparalleled Christian courage, to
the fatal stroke, which deprived the nation of the noblest
champion it had.

He was a man in whom the malice of his enemies could
discover very few faults, and whom his friends could not
wish better accomplished; whom Cromwell's own character
well described ; and who indeed would never have been con-
tented to have lived under that government. His memory
all men loved and reverenced, though few followed his ex-
ample. He had always lived in a state of great plenty and
general estimation, having a very noble fortune of his own
by descent, and a fair addition to it by his marriage with an
excellent wife, a lady of very worthy extraction, of great
virtue and beauty, by whom he had a numerous issue of both
sexes, in which he took great joy and comfort : so that no
man was more happy in all his domestic affairs ; and he was
so much the more happy, in that he thought himself most
blessed in them.

And yet the King's honour was no sooner violated, and his
just power invaded, than he threw all those blessings behind
him; and having no other obligations to the Crown, than
those which his own honour and conscience suggested to
him, he frankly engaged his person and his fortune from the
beginning of the troubles, as many others did, in all .actions
and enterprises of the greatest hazard and danger ; and con-

2,^2, SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

tinued to the end, without ever making one false step, as few
others did, though he had once, by the iniquity of a faction,
that then prevailed, an indignity put upon him that might
have excused him for some remission of his former warmth.
But it made no other impression upon him, than to be quiet
and contented, whilst they would let him alone, and, with the
same cheerfulness, to obey the first summons when he was
called out ; which was quickly after. In a word, he was a
man, that whoever shall, after him, deserve best of the Eng-
lish nation, he can never think himself undervalued, when he
shall hear, that his courage, virtue, and fidelity, is laid in the
balance with and compared to, that of the lord Capel.

BOOK XII.

A BULL-PlGHT.

' Here the place was very noble, being the market-place, a
very large square, built with handsome brick houses, which
had all balconies, which were adorned with tapestry and very
beautiful ladies. Scaff"olds were built round to the first story,
the lower rooms being shops, and for ordinary use ; and in
the division of those scaffolds, all the magistrates and officers
of the town knew their places. The pavement of the place
was all covered with gravel, (which in summer time was upon
these occasions watered by carts charged with hogsheads of
water.) As soon as the King comes, some officers clear the
whole ground from the common people, so that there is no
man seen upon the plain but two or three alguazils, magis-
trates with their small white wands. Then one of the four
gates which leads into the streets is opened, at which the
' [Madrid.]

A BULL-FIGHT, 2^^

torreadors enter, all persons of quality richly clad, and upon
the best horses of Spain, every one attended by eight or ten
or more lackeys, all clinquant with gold and silver lace, who
carry the spears, which their masters are to use against the
bulls ; and with this entry many of the common people break
in, for which sometimes they pay very dear. The persons
on horseback have all cloaks folded upon their left shoulder,
the least disorder of which, much more the letting it fall, is a
very great disgrace ; and in that grave order they march to
the place where the King sits, and after they have made their
reverences, they place themselves at a good distance from one
another, and expect the bull. The bulls are brought in the
night before from the mountains by the people used to that
work, who drive them into the town when nobody is in the
streets, into a pen made for them, which hath a door, which
opens into that large space ; the key whereof is sent to the
King, which the King, when he sees every thing ready, throws
to an alguazil, who carries it to the officer that keeps the
door, and he causes it to be opened, when a single bull is ready
to come out. When the bull enters, the common people,
who sit over the door or near it, strike him, or throw short
darts with sharp points of steel, to provoke him to rage.
He commonly runs with all his fury against the first man he
sees on horseback, who watches him so carefully, and avoids
him so dexterously, that when the spectators believe him to
be even between the horns of the bull, he avoids by the quick
turn of his horse, and with his lance strikes the bull upon
a vein that runs through his pole, with which in a moment
he falls down dead. But this fatal stroke can never be
struck, but when the bull comes so near upon the turn of
the horse, that his horn even touches the rider's leg, and so is
at such a distance that he can shorten his lance, and use the

234 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

full strength of his arm in the blow. And they who are the
most skilful in the exercise do frequently kill the beast with
such an exact stroke, insomuch as in a day two or three fall
in that manner: but if they miss the vein, it only gives a
wound that the more enrages him. Sometimes the bull runs
with so much fierceness, (for if he escapes the first man, he
runs upon the rest as they are in his way,) that he gores the
horse with his horns, that his guts come out, and he falls
before the rider can get from his back. Sometimes, by the
strength of his neck, he raises horse and man from the
ground, and throws both down, and then the greatest danger
is another gore upon the ground. In any of these disgraces,
or any other by which the rider comes to be dismounted, he
is obliged in honour to take his revenge upon the bull by his
sword, and upon his head, towards which the standers by
assist him by running after the bull and hocking him, by
which he falls upon his hinder legs ; but before that execu-
tion can be done, a good bull hath his revenge upon many
poor fellows. Sometimes he is so unruly that nobody dares
to attack him, and then the King calls for his mastiff's, whereof
two are let out at a time, and if they cannot master him, but
are themselves killed, as frequently they are, the King then, as
a last refuge, calls for the English mastiff's, of which they
seldom turn above one at a time ; and he rarely misses of
taking the bull and holding him by the nose till the men run
in ; and after they have hocked him, they quickly kill him.
In one of those days there were no fewer than sixteen horses,
as good as any in Spain, the worst of which would that very
morning have yielded three hundred pistoles, killed, and four
or five men, besides many more of both hurt : and some men
remain perpetually maimed : for after the horsemen have
done as much as they can, they withdraw themselves, and

A BULL-FIGHT. 235

then some accustomed nimble fellows, to whom money is
thrown when they perform their feats with skill, stand to
receive the bull, whereof the worst are reserved till the last :
and it is a wonderful thing to see with what steadiness those
fellows will stand a full career of the bull, and by a little
quick motion upon one foot avoid him, and lay a hand upon
his horn, as if he guided him from him ; but then the next
slanders by, who have not the same activity, commonly pay
for it, and there is no day without much mischief. It is a very
barbarous exercise and triumph, in which so many men's
lives are lost, and always ventured ; but so rooted in the
affections of that nation, that it is not in the King's power,
they say, to suppress it, though, if he disliked it enough, he
might forbear to be present at it. There are three festival
days in the year, whereof midsummer is one, on which the
people hold it to be their right to be treated with these spec-
tacles, not only in great cities, where they are never dis-
appointed, but in very ordinary towns, where there are places
provided for it. Besides those ordinary annual days, upon
any extraordinary accident of joy, as at this time for the
arrival of the Queen, upon the birth of the King's children, or
any signal victory, these triumphs are repeated, which no
ecclesiastical censures or authority can suppress or discoun-
tenance. For pope Pius the Fifth, in the time of Philip the
Second, and very probably with his approbation, if not upon
his desire, published a bull against the ioros in Spain, which
is still in force, in which he declared, that nobody should be
capable of Christian burial who lost his life at those spect-
acles, and that every clergyman who should be present at
them stood excommunicated ipso facto ; and yet there is
always one of the largest galleries assigned to the office of
the inquisition and the chief of the clergy, which is always

236 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

filled; besides that many religious men in their habits get
other places ; only the Jesuits, out of their submission to the
supreme authority of the pope, are never present there, but
on those days do always appoint some solemn exercise to be
performed, that obliges their whole body to be together.

Death of Montbose.

The marquis of Montrose, and the rest of the prisoners,
were the next day, or soon after, delivered to David Lesley ;
who was come up with his forces, and had now nothing left
to do but to carry them in triumph to Edinburgh ; whither
notice was quickly sent of their great victory ; which was
received there with wonderful joy and acclamation. David
Lesley treated the marquis with great insolence, and for
some days carried him in the same clothes, and habit, in
which he was taken ; but at last permitted him to buy better.
His behaviour was, in the whole time, such as became a
great man ; his countenance serene and cheerful, as one that
was superior to all those reproaches, which they had pre-
pared the people to pour out upon him in all the places
through which he was to pass.

When he came to one of the gates of Edinburgh, he was
met by some of the magistrates, to whom he was delivered,
and by them presently put into a new cart, purposely made,
in which there was a high chair, or bench, upon which he
sat, that the people might have a full view of him, being
bound with a cord drawn over his breast and shoulders, and
fastened through holes made in the cart. When he was in
this posture, the hangman took off his hat, and rode himself
before the cart in his livery, and with his bonnet on; the
other officers, who were taken prisoners with him, walking

DEATH OF MONTROSE. 2^7

two and two before the cart ; the streets and windows being
full of people to behold the triumph over a person whose
name had made them tremble some few years before, and
into whose hands the magistrates of that place had, upon
their knees, delivered the keys of that city. In this manner
he was carried to the common gaol, where he was received
and treated as a common malefactor. Within two days
after, he was brought before the Parliament, where the earl
of Lowden, the Chancellor, made a very bitter and virulent
declamation against him : told him, * he had broken all the
covenants by which that whole nation stood obliged; and
had impiously rebelled against God, the King, and the king-
dom ; that he had committed many horrible murders, trea-
sons, and impieties, for all which he was now brought to
suffer condign punishment;' with all those insolent re-
proaches upon his person, and his actions, which the liberty
of that place gave him leave to use.

Permission was then given to him to speak ; and without
the least trouble in his countenance, or disorder, upon all the
indignities he had suffered, he told them, * since the King had
owned them so far as to treat with them, he had appeared
before them with reverence, and bareheaded, which other-
wise he would not have done : that he had done nothing of
which he was ashamed, or had cause to repent ; that the first
Covenant, he had taken, and complied with it, and with them
who took it, as long as the ends for which it was ordained
were observed; but when he discovered, which was now
evident to all the world, that private and particular men
designed to satisfy their own ambition and interest, instead
of considering the public benefit ; and that, under the pre-
tence of reforming some errors in religion, they resolved to
abridge and take away the King's just power, and lawful

238 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

authority, he had withdrawn himself from that engagement :
that for the League and Covenant, he had never taken it, and
therefore could not break it : and it was now too apparent to
the whole Christian world, what monstrous mischiefs it had
produced : that when, under colour of it, an army from
Scotland had invaded England in assistance of the rebellion
that was then against their lawful King, he had, by his
majesty's command, received a commission from him to
raise forces in Scotland, that he might thereby divert them
from the other odious prosecution : that he had executed
that commission with the obedience and duty he owed to the
King ; and, in all the circumstances of it, had proceeded like
a gentleman ; and had never suffered any blood to be shed
but in the heat of the battle ; and that he saw many persons
there, whose lives he had saved : that when the King com-
manded him, he laid down his arms, and withdrew out of the
kingdom ; which they could not have compelled him to have
done.' He said, ' he was now again entered into the king-
dom by his majesty's command, and with his authority : and
what success soever it might have pleased God to have given
him, he would always have obeyed any commands he should
have received from him.' He advised them, 'to consider well
of the consequence before they proceeded against him, and
that all his actions might be examined, and judged by the
laws of the land, or those of nations.'

As soon as he had ended his discourse, he was ordered to
withdraw ; and, after a short space, was again brought in ;
and told by the Chancellor, ' that he was, on the morrow, being
the one and twentieth of May 1650, to be carried to Edin-
burgh cross, and there to be hanged upon a gallows thirty
foot high, for the space of three hours, and then to be taken
down, and his head to be cut off upon a scaffold, and hanged

DEATH OF MONTROSE, 239

on Edinburgh tollbooih ; his legs and arms to be hanged up
in other public towns of the kingdom, and his body to be
buried at the place where he was to be executed, except the
Kirk should take off his excommunication; and then his
body might be buried in the common place of burial/ He
desired, 'that he might say something to them;' but was not
suffered, and so was carried back to prison.

That he might not enjoy any ease or quiet during the
short remainder of his life, their ministers came presently to
insult over him with all the reproaches imaginable ; pro-
nounced his damnation; and assured him, 'that the judgment
he was the next day to undergo, was but an easy prologue to
that which he was to undergo afterwards.' After many such
barbarities, they offered to intercede for him to the Kirk upon
his repentance, and to pray with him ; but he too well under-
stood the form of their common prayer, in those cases, to be
only the most virulent and insolent imprecations against the
persons of those they prayed against, (* Lord, vouchsafe yet
to touch the obdurate heart of this proud incorrigible sinner,
this wicked, perjured, traitorous, and profane person, who
refuses to hearken to the voice of thy Kirk,' and the like
charitable expressions,) and therefore he desired them 'to
spare their pains, and to leave him to his own devotions.'
He told them, 'that they were a miserable, deluded, and
deluding people ; and would shortly bring that poor nation
under the most insupportable servitude ever people had sub-
mitted to.' He told them, ' he was prouder to have his head
set upon the place it was appointed to be, than he could have
been to have had his picture hang in the King's bedchamber :
that he was so far from being troubled that his four limbs
were to be hanged in four cities of the kingdom, that he
heartily wished that he had flesh enough to be sent to every

240 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

city in Christendom, as a testimony of the cause for which
he suffered.'

The next day, they executed every part and circumstance
of that barbarous sentence, with all the inhumanity imagin-
able ; and he bore it with all the courage and magnanimity,
and the greatest piety, that a good Christian could manifest.
He magnified the virtue, courage, and religion of the last
King, exceedingly commended the justice, and goodness, and
understanding of the present King ; and prayed, ' that they
might not betray him as they had done his father.' When
he had ended all he meant to say, and was expecting to
expire, they had yet one scene more to act of their tyranny.
The hangman brought the book that had been published of
his truly heroic actions, whilst he had commanded in that king-
dom, which book was tied in a small cord that was put about
his neck. The marquis smiled at this new instance of their
malice, and thanked them for it ; and said, ' he was pleased
that it should be there ; and was prouder of wearing it, than
ever he had been of the Garter;' and so renewing some devout
ejaculations, he patiently endured the last act of the executioner.

Soon after, the officers who had been taken with him, sir
William Urry, sir Francis Hay, and many others, of as good
families as any in the kingdom, were executed, to the num-
ber of thirty or forty, in several quarters of the kingdom;
many of them being suffered to be beheaded. There was
one whom they thought fit to save, one Colonel Whitford ;
who, when he was brought to die, said, ' he knew the reason
why he was put to death ; which was only because he had
killed Dorislaus at the Hague ; ' who was one of those who
had joined in the murder of the last King. One of the magis-
trates, who were present to see the execution, caused it to be
suspended, till he presently informed the council what the

DEATH OF MONTROSE. 241

man had said ; and they thought fit to avoid the reproach ;
and so preserved the gentleman ; who was not before known
to have had a hand in that action.

Thus died the gallant marquis of Montrose, after he had
given as great a testimony of loyalty and courage, as a sub-
ject can do, and performed as wonderful actions in several
battles, upon as great inequality of numbers, and as great
disadvantages in respect of arms, and other preparations for
war, as have been performed in this age. He was a gentle-
man of a ver}' ancient extraction, many of whose ancestors
had exercised the highest charges under the King in that
kingdom, and had been allied to the Crown itself. He was
of very good parts, which were improved by a good educa-
tion : he had always a great emulation, or rather a great
contempt of the marquis of Argyle, (as he was too apt to
contemn those he did not love,) who wanted nothing but
honesty and courage to be a very extraordinary man, having
all other good talents in a very great degree. Montrose
was in his nature fearless of danger, and never declined any
enterprise for the difficulty of going through with it, but
exceedingly affected those which seemed desperate to other
men, and did believe somewhat to be in himself which other
men were not acquainted with, which made him live more
easily towards those who were, or were willing to be, inferior
to him, (towards whom he exercised wonderful civility and
generosity,) than with his superiors or equals. He was
naturally jealous, and suspected those who did not concur
with him in the way, not to mean so well as he. He was
not without vanity, but his virtues were much superior, and
he well deserved to have his memory preserved, and cele-
brated amongst the most illustrious persons of the age in
which he lived.

242 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

BOOK XIII.

The Lobd Widdeington.

The lord Widdrington was one of the most goodly persons
of that age, being near the head higher than most tall men,
and a gentleman of the best and most ancient extraction of
the county of Northumberland, and of a very fair fortune,
and one of the four which the last King made choice of to be
about the person of his son the prince as gentleman of his
privy chamber, when he first erected his family. His affec-
tion to the King was always notorious; and serving in the
House of Commons as knight of the shire for the county of
Northumberland, he quickly got the reputation of being
amongst the most malignant. As soon as the war broke
out, he was of the first who raised both horse and foot at
his own charge, and served eminently with them under the
marquis of Newcastle ; with whom he had a very particular
and entire friendship. He was very nearly allied to the
marquis ; and by his testimony that he had performed many
signal services, he was, about the middle of the war, made a
peer of the kingdom. He was a man of great courage, and
choler, by the last of which he incurred the ill will of many,
who imputed it to an insolence of nature, which no man was
farther from; no man of a nature more civil, and candid
towards all, in business, or conversation. But having sat
long in the House of Commons, and observed the disingenuity
of the proceedings there, and the gross cheats, by which
they deceived and cozened the people, he had contracted so
hearty an indignation against them and all who were cozened
by them, and against all who had not his zeal to oppose

THE EARL OF DERBY. 1^7^

and destroy them, that he often said things to slow and
phlegmatic men, which offended them, and, it may be,
injured them; which his good nature often obliged him to
acknowledge, and ask pardon of those who would not ques-
tion him for it. He transported himself into the parts beyond
the sea at the same time with the marquis of Newcastle, to
accompany him, and remained still with him till the King
went into Scotland ; and then waited upon his majesty, and
endured the same affronts which others did, during the time
of his residence there. And, it may be, the observation of
their behaviour, the knowledge of their principles, and the
disdain of their treatment, produced that aversion from their
conversation, that prevailed upon his impatience to part too
soon from their company, in hope that the earl of Derby,
under whom he was very willing to serve, and he himself,
might quickly draw together such a body of the royal party,
as might give some check to the unbounded imaginations of
that nation. It was reported by the enemy, that, in respect
of his brave person and behaviour, they did offer him
quarter ; which he refused ; and that they were thereby com-
pelled, in their own defence, to kill him \ which is probable
enough ; for he knew well the animosity the Parliament had
against him, and it cannot be doubted but that, if he had
fallen into their hands, they would not have used him better
than they did the earl of Derby, who had not more enemies.

The Eakl of Dekby.

The earl of Derby was a man of unquestionable loyalty to
the late King, and gave clear testimony of it before he re-
ceived any obligations from the court, and when he thought
himself disobliged by it. The King, in his first year, sent

R 2

244 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

him the Garter; which, in many respects, he had expected
from the last. And the sense of that honour made him so
readily comply with the King's command in attending him,
when he had no confidence in the undertaking, nor any
inclination to the Scots; who, he thought, had too much
guilt upon them, in having depressed the Crown, to be made
instruments of repairing and restoring it. He was a man of
great honour and clear courage; and all his defects and
misfortunes proceeded from his having lived so little time
among his equals, that he knew not how to treat his in-
feriors ; which was the source of all the ill that befell him,
having thereby drawn such prejudice against him from per-
sons of inferior quality, who yet thought themselves too-
good to be contemned, that they pursued him to death. The
King's army was no sooner defeated at Worcester, but the
Parliament renewed their old method of murdering in cold
blood, and sent a commission to erect a high court of justice
in Lancashire to persons of ordinary quality, many not being
gentlemen, and all notoriously his enemies, to try the earl of
Derby for his treason and rebellion ; which they easily found
him guilty of; and put him to death in a town of his own,
against which he had expressed a severe displeasure for their
obstinate rebellion against the King, with all the circum-
stances of rudeness and barbarity they could invent. The
same night, one of those who was amongst his judges sent a
trumpet to the Isle of Man with a letter directed to the
countess dowager of Derby, by which he required her *ta
deliver up the castle and island to the Parliament :' nor did
their malice abate, till they had reduced that lady, a woman
of very high and princely extraction, being the daughter of
the duke de Tremouille in France, and of the most exemplary
virtue and piety of her time, and that whole illustrious family.

ESCAPE OF CHARLES THE SECOND. 245

to the lowest penury and want, by disposing, giving, and
selling, all the fortune and estate that should support it.

Escape op Chables the Second.

It is great pity that there was never a journal made of that
miraculous deliverance, in which there might be seen so
many visible impressions of the immediate hand of God.
When the darkness of the night was over, after the King had
cast himself into that wood, he discerned another man, who
had gotten upon an oak in the same wood, near the place
where the King had rested himself, and had slept soundly.
The man upon the tree had first seen the King, and knew
him, and came down to him, and was known to the King,
being a gentleman of the neighbour county of Staffordshire,
who had served his late majesty during the war, and had
now been one of the few who resorted to the King after his
coming to Worcester. His name was Careless, who had had
a command of foot, above the degree of a captain, under the
lord Loughborough. He persuaded the King, since it could
not be safe for him to go out of the wood, and that, as soon
as it should be fully light, the wood itself would probably be
visited by those of the country, who would be searching to
find those whom they might make prisoners, that he would
get up into that tree, where he had been ; where the boughs
were so thick with leaves, that a man would not be discovered
there without a narrower inquiry than people usually make in
places which they do not suspect. The King thought it good
counsel ; and, with the other's help, climbed into the tree ;
and then helped his companion to ascend after him ; where
they sat all that day, and securely saw many who came
purposely into the wood to look after them, and heard all

246 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

their discourse, how they would use the King himself if they
could take him. This wood was either in or upon the
borders of Staffordshire; and though there was a highway
near one side of it, where the King had entered into it, yet it
was large, and all other sides of it opened amongst enclosures,
and it pleased God that Careless was not unacquainted with
the neighbour villages ; and it was part of the King's good
fortune, that this gentleman, by being a Roman catholic, was
acquainted with those of that profession of all degrees, who
had the best opportunities of concealing him : for it must
never be denied, that some of that faith had a very great
share in his majesty's preservation.

The day being spent in the tree, it was not in the King's
power to forget that he had lived two days with eating very
little, and two nights with as little sleep ; so that, when the
night came, he was willing to make some provision for both :
and he resolved, with the advice and assistance of his com-
panion, to leave his blessed tree ; and, when the night was
dark, they walked through the wood into those enclosures
which were farthest from any highway, and making a shift to
get over hedges and ditches, after walking at least eight or
nine miles, which were the more grievous to the King by the
weight of his boots, (for he could not put them off, when he
cut off his hair, for want of shoes,) before morning they came
to a poor cottage, the owner whereof being a Roman Catholic
was known to Careless. He was called up, and as soon as
he knew one of them, he easily concluded in what condition
they both were ; and presently carried them into a little barn,
full of hay ; which was a better lodging than he had for him-
self. But when they were there, and had conferred with
their host of the news and temper of the country, it was
resolved, that the danger would be the greater if they stayed

ESCAPE OF CHARLES THE SECOND. 247

together; and therefore that Careless should presently be
gone ; and should, within two days, send an honest man to
the King, to guide him to some other place of security ; and
in the mean time his majesty should stay upon the hay-mow.
The poor man had nothing for him to eat, but promised him
good buttermilk the next morning ; and so he was once more
left alone, his companion, how weary soever, departing from
him before day, the poor man of the house knowing no more,
than that he was a friend of the captain's, and one of those
who had escaped from Worcester. The King slept very well
in his lodging, till the time that his host brought him a piece
of bread, and a great pot of buttermilk, which he thought
the best food he ever had eaten. The poor man spoke very
intelligently to him of the country, and of the people who
were well or ill affected to the King, and of the great fear and
terror, that possessed the hearts of those who were best
afifected. He told him, * that he himself lived by his daily
labour, and that what he had brought him was the fare he
and his wife had ; and that he feared, if he should endeavour
to procure better, it might draw suspicion upon him, and
people might be apt to think he had somebody with him thai
was not of his own family. However, if he would have him
get some meat, he would do it ; but if he could bear this
hard diet, he should have enough of the milk, and some of
the butter that was made with it.' The King was satisfied
with this reason, and would not run the hazard for a change
of diet; desired only the man, 'that he might have his
company as often, and as much as he could give it him ; '
there being the same reason against the poor man's dis-
continuing his labour, as the alteration of his fare.

After he had rested upon this hay-mow, and fed upon this
diet two days and two nights, in the evening before the third

248 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

night, another fellow, a Httle above the condition of his host,
came to the house, sent from Careless, to conduct the King
to another house, more out of any road near which any part
of the army was like to march. It was above twelve miles
that he was to go, and was to use the same caution he had
done the first night, not to go in any common road; which
his guide knew well how to avoid. Here he new dressed
himself, changing clothes with his landlord and putting on
those which he usually wore : he had a great mind to have
kept his own shirt; but he considered, that men are not
sooner discovered by any mark in disguises, than by having
fine linen in ill clothes ; and so he parted with his shirt too,
and took the same his poor host had then on. Though he
had foreseen that he must leave his boots, and his landlord
had taken the best care he could to provide an old pair of
shoes, yet they were not easy to him when he first put them
on, and, in a short time after, grew very grievous to him. In
this equipage he set out from his first lodging in the beginning
of the night, under the conduct of his comrade, who guided
him the nearest way, crossing over hedges and ditches, that
they might be in least danger of meeting passengers. This
was so grievous a march, and he was so tired, that he was
even ready to despair, and to prefer being taken and suffered
to rest, before purchasing his safety at that price. His shoes
had, after the walking a few miles, hurt him so much, that he
had thrown them away, and walked the rest of the way in his
ill stockings, which were quickly worn out : and his feet,
with the thorns in getting over hedges, and with the stones
in other places, were so hurt and wounded, that he many
times cast himself upon the ground, with a desperate and
obstinate resolution to rest there till the morning, that he
might shift with less torment, what hazard soever he run.

ESCAPE OF CHARLES THE SECOND. 249

But his stout guide still prevailed with him to make a new
attempt, sometimes promising that the way should be better,
and sometimes assuring him that he had but litde farther to
go : and in this distress and perplexity, before the morning,
they arrived at the house designed ; which though it was better
than that which he had left, his lodging was still in the barn,
upon straw instead of hay, a place being made as easy in it,
as the expectation of a guest could dispose it. Here he had
such meat and porridge as such people used to have ; with
which, but especially with the butter and the cheese, he
thought himself well feasted ; and took the best care he could
to be supplied with other, little better, shoes and stockings :
and after his feet were enough recovered that he could go, he
was conducted from thence to another poor house, within
such a distance as put him not to much trouble : for having
not yet in his thought which way, or by what means to make
his escape, all that was designed was only, by shifting from
one house to another, to avoid discovery. And being now in
that quarter which was more inhabited by the Roman
Catholics than most other parts in England, he was led from
one to another of that persuasion, and concealed with great
fidelity. But he then observed that he was never carried to
any gentleman's house, though that country was full of them,
but only to poor houses of poor men, which only yielded
him rest with very unpleasant sustenance ; whether there was
more danger in those better houses, in regard of the resort,
and the many servants; or whether the owners of great
estates were the owners likewise of more fears and appre-
hensions.

Within few days, a very honest and discreet person, one
Mr. Hudleston, a Benedictine monk, who attended the service
of the Roman Catholics in those parts, came to him, sent by

250 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

Careless; and was a very great assistance and comfort to
him. And when the places to which he carried him were at
too great a distance to walk, he provided him a horse, and
more proper habit than the rags he wore. This man told
him, ' that the lord Wilmot lay concealed Hkewise in a
friend's house of his; which his majesty was very glad of;
and wished him to contrive some means, how they might
speak together ; ' which the other easily did ; and, within a
night or two, brought them into one place. Wilmot told the
King, ' that he had by very good fortune fallen into the house
of an honest gentleman, one Mr. Lane, a person of an excel-
lent reputation for his fidelity to the King, but of so universal
and general a good name, that, though he had a son, who
had been a colonel in the King's service, during the late war,
and was then upon his way with men to Worcester the very
day of the defeat, men of all affections in the country, and of
all opinions, paid the old man a very great respect : that he
had been very civilly treated there, and that the old gentle-
man had used some diligence to find out where the King was,
that he might get him to his house ; where, he was sure, he
could conceal him till he might contrive a full deliverance/
He told him, ' he had withdrawn from that house, and put
himself amongst the Catholics, in hope that he might discover
where his majesty was, and having now happily found him,
advised him to repair to that house, which stood not near any
other.'

The King inquired of the monk of the reputation of this
gentleman; who told him, 'that he had a fair estate; was
exceedingly beloved : and the eldest justice of peace of that
county of Stafford: and though he was a very zealous
Protestant, yet he lived with so much civility and candour to-
wards the Catholics, that they would all trust him, as much as

ESCAPE CONTINUED, 25 1

they would do any of their own profession ; and that he
could not think of any place of so good repose and security
for his majesty's repair to.' The King, who by this time had
as good a mind to eat well as to sleep, liked the proposition,
yet thought not fit to surprise the gendeman; but sent
Wilmot thither again, to assure himself that he might be
received there ; and was willing that he should know what
guest he received; which hitherto was so much concealed,
that none of the houses, where he had yet been, knew, or
seemed to suspect more than that he was one of the King's
party that fled from Worcester. The monk carried him to a
house at a reasonable distance, where he was to expect an
account from the lord Wilmot ; who returned very punctually,
with as much assurance of welcome as he could wish. And so
they two went together to Mr. Lane's house ; where the King
found he was welcome, and conveniendyaccommodated in
such places, as in a large house had been provided to conceal
the persons of malignants, or to preserve goods of value from
being plundered. Here he lodged, and eat very well ; and
begun to hope that he was in present safety. Wilmot returned
under the care of the monk, and expected summons, when
any farther motion should be thought to be necessary.

Escape continued.

Mr. Lane had a niece, or very near kinswoman, who was
married to a gentleman, one Mr. Norton, a person of eight
or nine hundred pounds per annum,, who lived within four or
five miles of Bristol, which was at least four or five days'
journey from the place where the King then was, but a place
most to be wished for the King to be in, because he did not
only know all that country very well, but knew many persons

252 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

also, to whom, in an extraordinary case, he durst make
himself known. It was hereupon resolved, that Mrs. Lane
should visit this cousin, who was known to be of good
affections; and that she should ride behind the King, who
was fitted with clothes and boots for such a service; and
that a servant of her father's, in his livery, should wait upon
her. A good house was easily pitched upon for the first
night's lodging ; where Wilmot had notice given him to
meet. And in this equipage the King begun his journey ;
the colonel keeping him company at a distance, with a hawk
upon his fist, and two or three spaniels ; which, where there
were any fields at hand, warranted him to ride out of the
way, keeping his company still in his eye, and not seeming
to be of it. In this manner they came to their first night's
lodging ; and they need not now contrive to come to their
journey's end about the close of the evening, for it was in
the month of October far advanced, that the long journeys
they made could not be despatched sooner. Here the lord
Wilmot found them ; and their journeys being then adjusted,
he was instructed where he should be every night ; so they
were seldom seen together in the journey, and rarely lodged
in the same house at night. In this manner the colonel
hawked two or three days, till he had brought them within
less than a day's journey of Mr. Norton's house ; and then he
gave his hawk to the lord Wilmot ; who continued the journey
in the same exercise.

There was great care taken when they came to any house,
that the King might be presently carried into some chamber ;
Mrs. Lane declaring, ' that he was a neighbour's son, whom
his father had lent her to ride before her, in hope that he
would the sooner recover from a quartan ague, with which
he had been miserably afflicted, and was not yet free.' And

ESCAPE CONTINUED. 253

by this artifice she caused a good bed to be still provided for
him, and the best meat to be sent ; which she often carried
herself, to hinder others from doing it. There was no
resting in any place till they came to Mr. Norton's, nor any
thing extraordinary that happened in the way, save that they
met many people every day in the way, who were very well
known to the King; and the day that they went to Mr.
Norton's, they were necessarily to ride quite through the city
of Bristol ; a place, and people, the King had been so well
acquainted with, that he could not but send his eyes abroad
to view the great alterations which had been made there,
after his departure from thence : and when he rode near the
place where the great fort had stood, he could not forbear
putting his horse out of the way, and rode with his mistress
behind him round about it.

They came to Mr. Norton's house sooner than usual,
and it being on a holyday, they saw 'many people about
a bowling-green that was before the door ; and the first man
the King saw was a chaplain of his own, who was allied to
the gentleman of the house, and was sitting upon the rails to
see how the bowlers played. William, by which name the
King went, walked with his horse into the stable, until his
mistress could provide for his retreat. Mrs. Lane was very
welcome to her cousin, and was presently conducted to her
chamber ; where she no sooner was, than she lamented the
condition of ' a good youth, who came with her, and whom
she had borrowed of his father to ride before her, who was
very sick, being newly recovered of an ague ; ' and desired
her cousin, ' that a chamber might be provided for him, and
a good fire made : for that he would go early to bed, and
was not fit to be below stairs.' A pretty little chamber was
presently made ready, and a fire prepared, and a boy sent

254 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

into the stable to call William, and to shew him his chamber;
who was very glad to be there, freed from so much company
as was below. Mrs. Lane was put to find some excuse for
making a visit at that time of the year, and so many days'
journey from her father, and where she had never been
before, though the mistress of the house and she had been
bred together, and friends as well as kindred. She pre-
tended, ' that she was, after a little rest, to go into Dorsetshire
to another friend.' When it was supper-time, there being
broth brought to the table, Mrs. Lane filled a little dish,
and desired the butler, who waited at the table, 'to carry
that dish of porridge to William, and to tell him that he
should have some meat sent to him presently.' The butler
carried the porridge into the chamber, with a napkin, and
spoon, and bread, and spoke kindly to the young man ; who
was willing to be eating.

The butler, looking narrowly upon him, fell upon his
knees, and with tears told him, 'he was glad to see his
majesty.' The King was infinitely surprised, yet recollected
himself enough to laugh at the man, and to ask him, ' what
he meant ? ' The man had been falconer to sir Thomas
Jermyn, and made it appear that he knew well enough to
whom he spoke, repeating some particulars, which the King
had not forgot. Whereupon the King conjured him ' not to
speak of what he knew, so much as to his master, though he
believed him a very honest man.' The fellow promised, and
faithfully kept his word ; and the King was the better waited
upon during the time of his abode there.

Dr. Gorges, the King's chaplain, being a gentleman of
a good family near that place, and allied to Mr. Norton,
supped with them ; and, being a man of a cheerful con-
versation, asked Mrs. Lane many questions concerning

ESCAPE CONTINUED, 255

William, of whom he saw she was so careful by sending
up meat to him, ' how long his ague had been gone ? and
whether he had purged since it left him ? ' and the like ;
to which she gave such answers as occurred. The doctor,
from the final prevalence of the Parliament, had, as many
others of that function had done, declined his profession,
and pretended to study physic. As soon as supper was
done, out of good nature, and without telling any body, he
went to see William. The King saw him coming into the
chamber, and withdrew to the inside of the bed, that he
might be farthest from the candle ; and the doctor came,
and sat down by him, felt his pulse, and asked him many
questions, which he answered in as few words as was
possible, and expressing great inclination to go to his bed ;
to which the doctor left him, and went to Mrs. Lane, and
told her, ' that he had been with William, and that he would
do well ; ' and advised her what she should do if his ague
returned. The next morning the doctor went away, so that
the King saw him no more, of which he was right glad.
The next day the lord Wilmot came to the house with his
hawk, to see Mrs. Lane, and so conferred with William;
who was to consider what he was to do. They thought
it necessary to rest some days, till they were informed what
port lay most convenient for them, and what person lived
nearest to it, upon whose fidelity they might rely : and the
King gave him directions to inquire after some persons, and
some other particulars, of which when he should be fully
instructed, he should return again to him. In the mean time
Wilmot lodged at a house not far from Mr. Norton's, to
which he had been recommended.

After some days' stay here, and communication between
the King and the lord Wilmot by letters, the King came to

%^6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

know that colonel Francis Windham lived within litde more
than a day's journey of the place where he was ; of which he
was very glad ; for besides the inclination he had to his
eldest brother, whose wife had been his nurse, this gentleman
had behaved himself very well during the war, and had been
governor of Dunstar castle, where the King had lodged when
he was in the west. After the end of the war, and when all
other places were surrendered in that county, he likewise
surrendered that, upon fair conditions, and made his peace,
and afterwards married a wife with a competent fortune, and
lived quietly, without any suspicion of having lessened his
affection towards the King.

The King sent Wilmot to him, and acquainted him where
he was, and ' that he would gladly speak with him.' It was
not hard for him to choose a good place where to meet,
and thereupon the day was appointed. After the King had
taken his leave of Mrs. Lane, who remained with her cousin
Norton, the King, and the lord Wilmot, met the colonel;
and, in the way, he encountered in a town, through which
they passed, Mr. Kirton, a servant of the King's, who well
knew the lord Wilmot, who had no other disguise than the
hawk, but took no notice of him, nor suspected the King
to be there ; yet that day made the King more wary of having
him in his company upon the way. At the place of meeting
they rested only one night, and then the King went to the
colonel's house; where he rested many days, whilst the
colonel projected at what place the King might embark, and
how they might procure a vessel to be ready there ; which
was not easy to find ; there being so great a caution in all
the ports, and so great a fear possessing those who were
honest, that it was hard to procure any vessel that was
outward bound to take in any passenger.

ESCAPE CONTINUED. 257

There was a gentleman, one Mr. Ellison, who lived near
Lyme in Dorsetshire, and was well known to colonel Wind-
ham, having been a captain in the King's army, and was
still looked upon as a very honest man. With him the
colonel consulted, how they might get a vessel to be ready to
take in a couple of gentlemen, friends of his, who were in
danger to be arrested, and transport them into France.
Though no man would ask who the persons were, yet every
man suspected who they were ; at least they concluded, that
it was some of Worcester party. Lyme was generally as
malicious and disaffected a town to the King's interest, as
any town in England could be : yet there was in it a master
of a bark, of whose honesty this captain was' very confident.
This man was lately returned from France, and had unladen
his vessel, when Ellison asked him, ' when he would make
another voyage ? * And he answered, ' as soon as he could
get lading for his ship.' The other asked, ' whether he would
undertake to carry over a couple of gendemen, and land
them in France, if he might be as well paid for his voyage as
he used to be when he was freighted by the merchants.'
In conclusion, he told him, * he should receive fifty pounds
for his fare.' The large recompense had that eff'ect, that the
man undertook it; though he said *he must make his
provision very secretly ; for that he might be well suspected
for going to sea again without being freighted, after he was
so newly returned.' Colonel Windham, being advertised
of this, came together with the lord Wilmot to the captain's
house, from whence the lord and the captain rode to a house
near Lyme ; where the master of the bark met them ; and
the lord Wilmot being satisfied with the discourse of the man,
and his wariness in foreseeing suspicions which would arise,
it was resolved, that on such a night, which, upon consi-

s

258 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

deration of the tides, was agreed upon, the man should draw
out his vessel from the pier, and, being at sea, should come
to such a point about a mile from the town, where his ship
should remain upon the beach when the water was gone;
which would take it off again about break of day the next
morning. There was very near that point, even in the view
of it, a small inn, kept by a man who was reputed honest, to
which the cavaliers of the country often resorted ; and
London road passed that way ; so that it was seldom without
resort. Into that inn the two gentlemen were to come in the
beginning of the night, that they might put themselves on
board. All things being thus concerted, and good earnest
given to the master, the lord Wilmot and the colonel returned
to the colonel's house, above a day's journey from the place,
the captain undertaking every day to look that the master
should provide, and, if any thing fell out contrary to ex-
pectation, to give the colonel notice at such a place, where
they intended the King should be the day before he was
to embark.

BOOK XIV.

Pbaise-God Bakeb one's Parliament.

There were amongst them some few of the quality and de-
gree of gentlemen, and who had estates, and such a proportion
of credit and reputation, as could consist with the guilt they
had contracted. But much the major part of them consisted
of inferior persons, of no quality or name, artificers of the
meanest trades, known only by their gifts in praying and
preaching ; which was now practised by all degrees of men,
but scholars, throughout the kingdom. In which number,

PRAISE- GOD BAREBONE S PARLIAMENT. 259

that there may be a better judgment made of the rest, it will
not be amiss to name one, from whom that parliament itself
was afterwards denominated, who was Praise-God (that was
his Christian name) Barebone, a leatherseller in Fleet-street,
from whom (he being an eminent speaker in it) it was after-
wards called Praise-God Barebone's Parliament. In a word,
they were a pack of weak senseless fellows, fit only to bring
the name and reputation of Parliament lower than it was
yet.

It was fit these new men should be brought together by
some new way : and a very new way it was. For Cromwell
by his warrants, directed to every one of them, telling them
' of the necessity of dissolving the late Parliament, and of an
equal necessity, that the peace, safety, and good government
of the commonwealth should be provided for, and therefore
that he had, by the advice of his council of officers, nominated
<livers persons fearing God, and of approved fidelity and
honesty, to whom the great charge and trust of so weighty
affairs was to be committed, and that having good assurance
of their love to, and courage for God, and the interest of his
cause, and the good people of this commonwealth;' he
concluded in these words, * I, Oliver Cromwell, captain
general and commander in chief of all the forces raised,
or to be raised, within this commonwealth, do hereby summon
and require you personally to be and appear at the Council-
chamber at Whitehall, upon the fourth day of July next, then
and there to take upon you the said trust. And you are
hereby called and appointed to serve as a member for the
county of,' &c. Upon this wild summons, the persons so
nominated appeared at the Council-chamber upon the fourth
of July, which was near three months after the dissolution of
the former Parliament.

s 2

26o SELECT/OATS FROM CLARENDON.

Cromwell, with his council of officers, was ready to receive
them, and made them a long discourse of * the fear of God,
and the honour due to his name,' full of texts of Scripture ;
and remembered 'the wonderful mercies of God to this
nation, and the continued series of providence, by which he
had appeared in carrying on his cause, and bringing affairs
into that present glorious condition, wherein they now were.'
He put them in mind of ' the noble actions of the army in the
famous victory of Worcester, of the applications they had
made to the Parliament, for a good settlement of all the
affairs of the commonwealth, the neglect whereof made it
absolutely necessary to dissolve it/ He assured them by
many arguments, some of which were urged out of Scripture,
'that they had a very lawful call to take upon them the
supreme authority of the nation ; ' and concluded with a very
earnest desire, ' that great tenderness might be used towards
all conscientious persons, of what judgment soever they
appeared to be.'

When he had finished his discourse, he delivered to
them an instrument, engrossed in parchment under his
hand and seal, whereby, with the advice of his council of
officers, he did devolve and intrust the supreme authority of
this commonwealth into the hands of those persons therein
mentioned ; and declared, ' that they, or any forty of them,
were to be held and acknowledged the supreme authority
of the nation, to which all persons within the same, and
the territories thereunto belonging, were to yield obedience
and subjection to the third day of the month of November,
which should be in the year 1654,' which was about a year
and three months from the time that he spoke to them ; and
three months before the time prescribed should expire, they
were to make choice of other persons to succeed them, whose

PRAISE-GOD BAREBONE'S PARLIAMENT. 26 1

power and authority should not exceed one year, and then
they were likewise to provide and take care for a like
succession in the government. Being thus invested with this
authority, they repaired to the Parliament house, and made
choice of one Rouse to be their speaker, an old gentleman of
Devonshire, who had been a member of the former Parliament,
and in that time been preferred and made Provost of the
college of Eton, which office he then enjoyed, with an opinion
of having some knowledge in the Latin and Greek tongues ;
of a very mean understanding, but thoroughly engaged in
the guilt of the times.

At their first coming together, some of them had the
modesty to doubt, that they were not in many respects so
well qualified as to take upon them the style and title of a
Parliament. But that modesty was quickly subdued, and
they were easily persuaded to assume that title, and to
consider themselves as the supreme authority in the nation.
These men thus brought together continued in this capacity
near six months, to the amazement and even mirth of the
people; in which time they never entered upon any grave
and serious debate, that might tend to any settlement, but
generally expressed great sharpness and animosity against the
clergy, and against all learning, out of which they thought
the clergy had grown, and still would grow.

There were now no bishops for them to be angry with ;
they had already reduced all that order to the lowest beggary.
But their quarrel was against all who had called themselves
ministers, and who, by being called so, received tithes, and
respect from their neighbours. They resolved the function
itself to be antichristian, and the persons to be burdensome
to the people, and the requiring and payment of tithes to be
absolute Judaism, and they thought fit that they should

162 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

be abolished altogether; and that there might not for the
time to come be any race of people who might revive those
pretences, they thought fit, 'that all lands belonging to the
Universities, and colleges in those Universities, might be sold,
and the monies that should arise thereby, be disposed for the
public service, and to ease the people from the payment
of taxes and contributions/

When they had tired and perplexed themselves so long in
such debates, as soon as they were met in the morning upon
the twelfth of December, and before many of them were
come who were like to dissent from the motion, one of them
stood up and declared, 'that he did believe, they were
not equal to the burden that was laid upon them, and there-
fore that they might dissolve themselves, and deliver back
their authority into their hands from whom they had received
it ; ' which being presently consented to, their Speaker, with
those who were of that mind, went to Whitehall, and re-
delivered to Cromwell the instrument they had received from
him, acknowledged their own impotency, and besought him
to take care of the commonwealth.

By this frank donation he and his council of officers were
once more possessed of the supreme sovereign power of the
nation. And in a few days after, his council were too
modest to share with him in this royal authority, but declared,
' that the government of the commonwealth should reside in
a single person ; that that person should be Oliver Cromwell,
captain general of all the forces in England, Scotland, and
Ireland, and that his title should be Lord Protector of the
commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the
dominions and territories thereunto belonging; and that
he should have a council of one and twenty persons to be
assistant to him in the government.'

PRAISE'GOD BAREB one's PARLIAMENT. 263

Most men did now conclude, that the folly and sottishness
of this last assembly was so much foreseen, that, from their
very first coming together, it was determined what should
follow their dissolution. For the method that succeeded
could hardly have been composed in so short a time after, by
persons who had not consulted upon the contingency some
time before. It was upon the twelfth of December, that
the small Parliament was dissolved, when many of the
members, who came to the House as to their usual con-
sultations, found that they who came before, were gone to
Whitehall to be dissolved, which the other never thought of:
and upon the sixteenth day, the commissioners of the Great
Seal, with the lord mayor and aldermen, were sent for to
attend Cromwell and his council to Westminster-hall, it being
then vacation-time ; and being come thither, the commissioners
sitting upon their usual seat, and not knowing why they
were sent for, the declaration of the council of officers was
read, whereby Cromwell was made Protector ; who stood in
the court uncovered, whilst what was contained in a piece of
parchment was read, which was called the Instrument of
Government \ whereby it was ordained, 'that the Protector
should call a Parliament once in every three years ; that the
first Parliament should be convened upon the third day
of September following, which would be in the year 1654;
and that he should not dissolve any Parliament once met, till
they had sat five months; that such bills as should be
presented to him by the Parliament, if they should not be
confirmed by him within twenty days, should pass without
him, and be looked upon as laws: that he should have a
select council to assist him, which should not exceed the
number of one and twenty, nor be less than thirteen : that
immediately after his death the council should choose

2,64 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

another Protector before they rose : that no Protector after
him should be general of the army : that the Protector should
have power to make peace and war : that, with the consent
of his council, he should make laws, which should be binding
to the subjects during the intervals of Parliament.'

Whilst this was reading, Cromwell had his hand upon the
Bible ; and it being read, he took his oath, ' that he would
not violate any thing that was contained in that Instrument of
Government; but would observe, and cause the same to
be observed; and in all things, according to the best of his
understanding, govern the nation according to the laws,
statutes, and customs, seeking peace, and causing justice and
law to be equally administered/

This new invented ceremony being in this manner per-
formed, he himself was covered, and all the rest bare;
and Lambert, who was then the second person in the army,
carried the sword before his highness (which was the style he
took from thenceforth) to his coach, all they whom he called
into it sitting bare; and so he returned to Whitehall; and
immediately proclamation was made by a herald, in the
palace-yard at Westminster, ' that the late Parliament having
dissolved themselves, and resigned their whole power and
authority, the government of the commonwealth of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, by a Lord Protector, and successive
triennial parliaments, was now established: and whereas
Oliver Cromwell, captain general of all the forces of the
commonwealth, is declared Lord Protector of the said nations,
and had accepted thereof, publication was now made of the
same ; and all persons, of what quality or condition soever, in
any of the said three nations, were strictly charged and
commanded to take notice thereof, and to conform and
submit themselves to the government so established ; and all

THE RISING A7 SALISBURY. 265

sheriffs, mayors, «fec. were required to publish this pro-
clamation, to the end that none might have cause to pretend
ignorance therein.' Which proclamation was at the same
time published in Cheapside by the lord mayor of London ;
and, with all possible expedition, by the sheriffs, and other
officers, throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. And a
few days after, the city of London invited their new Pro-
tector to a very splendid entertainment at Grocers' hall, the
streets being railed, and the solemnity of his reception such
as had been at any time performed to the King ; and he, as
like a King, graciously conferred the honour of knighthood
upon the Lord Mayor at his departure.

In this manner, and with so little pains, this extraordinary
man, without any other reason than because he had a mind
to it, and without the assistance, and against the desire of all
noble persons or men of quality, or three men, who, in the
beginning of the troubles, were possessed of three hundred
pounds lands by the year, mounted himself into the throne of
three kingdoms, without the name of King, but with a greater
power and authority than had ever been exercised or claimed
by any King ; and received greater evidence and manifestation
of respect and esteem from all the Kings and princes in
Christendom, than had ever been shewed to any monarch of
those nations : which was so much the more notorious, in
that they all abhorred him, when they trembled at his power,
and courted his friendship.

The Rising at Salisbuky.

There cannot be a greater manifestation of the universal
prejudice and aversion in the whole kingdom towards Crom-
well and his government, than that there could be so many

l66 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

designs and conspiracies against him, which were communi-
cated to so many men, and that such signal and notorious
persons could resort to London, and remain there, without
any such information or discovery, as might enable him to
cause them to be apprehended ; there being nobody intent
and zealous to make any such discoveries, but such whose
trade it was for great wages to give him those informations,
who seldom care whether what they inform be true or no.
The earl of Rochester consulted with great freedom in
London with the King's friends ; and found that the persons
imprisoned were only taken upon general suspicion, and as
being known to be of that party, not upon any particular
discovery of what they designed or intended to do ; and that
the same spirit still possessed those who were at liberty.
The design in Kent appeared not reasonable, at least not to
begin upon; but he was persuaded, (and he was very
credulous,) that in the north there was a foundation of strong
hopes, and a party ready to appear powerful enough to
possess themselves of York ; nor had the army many troops
in those parts. In the west likewise there appeared to be a
strong combination, in which many gentlemen were engaged,
whose agents were then in London, and were exceedingly
importunate to have a day assigned, and desired no more,
than that sir Joseph Wagstaff might be authorized to be in
the head of them ; who had been well known to them ; and
he was as ready to engage with them. The earl of Rochester
liked the countenance of the north better ; and sent Marma-
duke Darcy, a gallant gentleman, and nobly allied in those
parts, to prepare the party there ; and appointed a day and
place for the rendezvous ; and promised to be himself there ;
and was contented that sir Joseph Wagstaff should go into
the west ; who, upon conference with those of that country,

THE RISING AT SALISBURY. 267

likewise appointed their rendezvous upon a fixed day, to be
within two miles of Salisbury. It was an argument that they
had no mean opinion of their strength, that they appointed
to appear that very day when the judges were to keep their
assizes in that city, and where the sheriff and principal
gentlemen of the county were obliged to give their attend-
ance. Of both these resolutions the earl of Rochester, who
knew where the King was, took care to advertise his majesty:
who, from hence, had his former faint hopes renewed ; and in
a short time after they were so improved, that he thought of
nothing more, than how he might with the greatest secresy
transport himself into England ; for which he did expect a
sudden occasion.

Sir Joseph Wagstaff had been formerly major general of
the foot in the King's western army, a man generally beloved ;
and though he was rather for execution than counsel, a stout
man, who looked not far before him ; yet he had a great
companionableness in his nature, which exceedingly pre-
vailed with those, who, in the intermission of fighting, loved
to spend their time in jollity and mirth. He, as soon as the
day was appointed, left London, and went to some of his
friends' houses in the country, near the place, that he might
assist the preparations as much as was possible. Those of
Hampshire were not so punctual at their own rendezvous, as
to be present at that near Salisbury at the hour ; however,
Wagstaff, and they of Wiltshire, appeared according to
expectation. Penruddock, a gentleman of a fair fortune, and
great zeal and forwardness in the service, Hugh Grove, and
other persons of condition, were there with a body of near
two hundred horse well armed, which, they presumed, would
every day be improved upon the access of those who had
engaged themselves in the western association, especially

Q,6S SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

after the fame of their being up, and affecting any thing,
should come to their ears. They accounted that they were
already strong enough to visit Salisbury in all its present
lustre, knowing that they had many friends there, and
reckoning that all who were not against them, were for them ;
and that they should there increase their numbers both in
foot and horse ; with which the town then abounded : nor
did their computation and conjecture fail them. They
entered the city about five of the clock in the morning ; they
appointed some officers, of which they had plenty, to cause
all the stables to be locked up, that all the horses might be at
their devotion ; others, to break open the gaols, that all there
might attend their benefactors. They kept a good body of
horse upon the market-place, to encounter all opposition;
and gave order to apprehend the judges and the sheriff, who
were yet in their beds, and to bring them into the market-
place with their several commissions, not caring to seize upon
the persons of any others.

All this was done with so little noise or disorder, as if the
town had been all of one mind. They who were within
doors, except they were commanded to come out, stayed
still there, being more desirous to hear than to see what was
done ; very many being well pleased, and not willing that
others should discern it in their countenance. When the
judges were brought out in their robes, and humbly produced
their commissions, and the sheriff likewise, Wagstaff resolved,
after he had caused the King to be proclaimed, to cause them
all three to be hanged, (who were half dead already,) having
well considered, with the policy which men in such actions
are naturally possessed with, how he himself should be used
if he were under their hands, choosing therefore to be before-
hand with them. But he having not thought fit to deliberate

THE RISING AT SALISBURY. ^69

this beforehand with his friends, whereby their scrupulous
consciences might have been confirmed, many of the country
gentlemen were so startled with this proposition, that they
protested against it ; and poor Penruddock was so passionate
to preserve their lives, as if works of this nature could be
done by halves, that the major general durst not persist in it;
but was prevailed with to dismiss the judges, and, having
taken their commissions from them, to oblige them upon
another occasion to remember to whom they owed their lives,
resolving still to hang the sheriff; who positively, though
humbly, and with many tears, refused to proclaim the King ;
which being otherwise done, they likewise prevailed with him
rather to keep the sheriff alive, and to carry him with them to
redeem an honester man out of the hands of their enemies.
This seemed an ill omen to their future agreement, and sub-
mission to the commands of their general ; nor was the
tender-heartedness so general, but that very many of the
gentlemen were much scandalized at it, both as it was a
contradiction to their commander in chief; and as it would
have been a seasonable act of severity to have cemented
those to perseverance who were engaged in it, and have kept
them from entertaining any hopes but in the sharpness of
their swords.

The noise of this action was very great both in and out of
the kingdom, whither it was quickly sent. Without doubt it
was a bold enterprise, and might have produced wonderful
effects, if it had been prosecuted with the same resolution, or
the same rashness, it was entered into. All that was reason-
able in the general contrivance of insurrection and commotion
over the whole kingdom, was founded upon a supposition of
the division and faction in the army ; which was known to
be so great, that Cromwell durst not draw the whole army to

'X'JO SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

a general rendezvous, out of apprehension that, when they
should once meet together, he should no longer be master of
them. And thence it was concluded, that, if there were in
any one place such a body brought together as might oblige
Cromwell to make the army, or a considerable part of it, to
march, there would at least be no disposition in them to fight
to strengthen his authority, which they abhorred. And many
did at that time believe, that if they had remained with that
party at Salisbury for some days, which they might well have
done without any disturbance, their numbers would have
much increased, and their friends farther west must have been
prepared to receive them, when their retreat had been neces-
sary by a stronger part of the army's marching against them.
Cromwell himself was amazed ; he knew well the distemper
of the kingdom, and in his army, and now when he saw such
a body gathered together without any noise, that durst in the
middle of the kingdom enter into one of the chief cities of it,
when his judges and all the civil power of that county was in
it, and take them prisoners, and proclaim the King in a time
of full peace, and when no man durst so much as name him
but with reproach, he could not imagine, that such an enter-
prise could be undertaken without a universal conspiracy ; in
which his own army could not be innocent ; and therefore
knew not how to trust them together. But all this appre-
hension vanished, when it was known, that within four or five
hours after they had performed this exploit, they left the
town with very small increase or addition to their numbers.

The truth is, they did nothing resolutely after their first
action; and were in such disorder and discontent between
themselves, that without staying for their friends out of
Hampshire, (who were, to the number of two or three
hundred horse, upon their way, and would have been at

THE RISING AT SALISBURY, 27 1

Salisbury that night,) upon pretence that they were expected
in Dorsetshire, they left the town, and took the sheriff with
them, about two of the clock in the afternoon : but were so
weary of their day's labour, and their watching the night
before, that they grew less in love with what they were about,
and differed again amongst themselves about the sheriff;
whom many desired to be presently released ; and that party
carried it in hope of receiving good offices afterwards from
him. In this manner they continued on their march west-
ward. They from Hampshire, and other places, who were
behind them, being angry for their leaving Salisbury, would
not follow, but scattered themselves; and they who were
before them, and heard in what disorder they had left Wilt-
shire, likewise dispersed: so that after they had continued
their journey into Devonshire, without meeting any who
would join with them, horse and men were so tired for want
of meat and sleep, that one single troop of horse, inferior in
number, and commanded by an ofiBcer of no credit in the
war, being in those parts by chance, followed them at a
distance, till they were so spent, that he rather entreated than
compelled them to deliver themselves ; some, and amongst
those Wagstaff, quitted their horses, and found shelter in
some honest men's houses ; where they were concealed till
opportunity served to transport them into the parts beyond
the seas, where they arrived safely. But Mr. Penruddock,
Mr. Grove, and most of the rest, were taken prisoners, upon
promise given by the officer that their lives should be saved ;
which they quickly found he had no authority to make good.
For Cromwell no sooner heard of his cheap victory, than he
sent judges away with a new commission of oyer and
terminer, and order to proceed with the utmost severity
against the offenders. But Roles, his chief justice, who had

2^7, SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

SO luckily escaped at Salisbury, had not recovered the fright;
and would no more look those men in the face who had
dealt so kindly with him ; but expressly refused to be
employed in the service, raising some scruples in point of
law, whether the men could be legally condemned; upon
which Cromwell, shortly after, turned him out of his office,
having found others who executed his commands. Penrud-
dock and Grove lost their heads at Exeter ; and others were
hanged there ; who having recovered the faintness they were
in when they rendered, died with great courage and resolution,
professing their duty and loyalty to the king: many were
sent to Salisbury, and tried and executed there, in the place
where they had so lately triumphed; and some who were
condemned, where there were fathers, and sons, and brothers,
that the butchery might appear with some remorse, were
reprieved, and sold, and sent slaves to the Barbadoes ; where
their treatment was such, that few of them ever returned into
their own country. Thus this little fire, which probably
might have kindled and inflamed all the kingdom, was for
the present extinguished in the west ; and Cromwell secured
without the help of his army ; which he saw, by the counten-
ance it then shewed when they thought he should have use of
them, it was high time to reform ; and in that he resolved to
use no longer delay.

BOOK XV.

COKONATION OF OLIVEB CBOMWELL.

On the day appointed, Westminster hall was prepared and
adorned as sumptuously as it could be for a day of corona-
tion. A throne was erected with a pavilion, and a chair of

CORONATION OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 273

State under it, to which Cromwell was conducted in an entry,
and attendance of his officers, military and civil, with as much
state (and the sword carried before him) as can be imagined.
When he was sat in his chair of state, and after a short speech,
which was but the prologue of that by the Speaker of the
Parliament Widdrington, that this promotion might not seem
to be without any vote from the nobility, the Speaker, with the
earl of Warwick, and Whitlock, vested him with a rich purple
velvet robe lined with ermines ; the Speaker enlarging upon
the majesty and the integrity of that robe. Then the Speaker
presented him with a fair Bible of the largest edition, richly
bound ; then he, in the name of all the people, girded a
sword about him ; and lastly presented him a sceptre of gold,
which he put into his hand, and made him a large discourse
of those emblems of government and authority. Upon the
close of which, there being little wanting to a perfect formal
coronation, but a crown and an archbishop, he took his oath,
administered to him by the speaker, in these words : ' I do,
in the presence, and by the name of Almighty God, promise
and swear, that, to the utmost of my power, I will uphold and
maintain the true reformed Protestant Christian religion in
the purity thereof, as it is contained in the holy scriptures of
the Old and New Testament; and to the utmost of my
power, and understanding, encourage the profession and
professors of the same ; and that, to the utmost of my power,
I will endeavour, as chief magistrate of these three nations,
the maintenance and preserving of the peace and safety,
and just rights and privileges of the people thereof; and
shall in all things, according to the best of my knowledge
and power, govern the people of these three nations ac-
cording to law.'

After this there remained nothing but festivals, and pro-

T

274 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

clamations of his power and authority to be made in the city
of London, and with all imaginable haste throughout the three
kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland ; which was
done accordingly. And that he might entirely enjoy the
sovereignty they had conferred upon him, without any new
blasts and disputes, and might be vacant to the despatch of
his domestic affairs, which he had modelled, and might have
time to consider how to fill his other House with members fit
for his purpose, he adjourned his Parliament till January next,
as having done as much as was necessary for one session. In
this vacancy, his greatness seemed to be so much established
both at home and abroad, as if it could never be shaken. He
caused all the officers of his army, and all commanders at sea,
to subscribe and approve all that the Parliament had done, and
to promise to observe and defend it.

He sent now for his eldest son Richard ; who, till this time,
had lived privately in the country upon the fortune his wife
had brought him, in an ordinary village in Hampshire ; and
brought him now to the court, and made him a privy coun-
cillor, and caused him to be chosen Chancellor of the University
of Oxford. Notwithstanding all which, few people then be-
lieved that he intended to name him for his successor ; he by
his discourses often implying, ' that he would name such a
successor, as was in all respects equal to the office : ' and so
men guessed this or that man, as they thought most like to be
so esteemed by him. His second son Harry, who had the
reputation of more vigour, he had sent into Ireland, and made
him his Lieutenant of that kingdom, that he might be sure to
liave no disturbance from thence.

He had only two daughters unmarried : one of those he
gave to the grandson and heir of the earl of Warwick, a man
of a great estate, and thoroughly engaged in the war from

DEATH OF CROMWELL, ^75

the beginning ; the other was married to the lord viscount
Falconbridge, the owner likewise of a very fair estate in York-
shire, and descended of a family eminently loyal. There
were many reasons to believe, that this young gentleman,
being then of about three or four and twenty years of age, of
great vigour and ambition, had many good purposes, which
he thought that alliance might qualify and enable him to
perform. These marriages were celebrated at Whitehall with
all imaginable pomp and lustre ; and it was observed, that
though the marriages were performed in pubUc view accord-
ing to the rites and ceremonies then in use, they were pre-
sently afterwards in private married by ministers ordained by
bishops, and according to the form in the Book of Common
Prayer, and this with the privity of Cromwell, who pre-
tended to yield to it in compliance with the importunity and
folly of his daughters.

Death op Cboitwell.

He seemed to be much afflicted at the death of his friend
the earl of Warwick ; with whom he had a fast friendship ;
though neither their humours nor their natures were alike.
And the heir of that house, who had married his youngest
daughter, died about the same time ; so that all his relation to,
or confidence in, that family was at an end ; the other branches
of it abhorring his alliance. His domestic delights were
lessened every day; he plainly discovered that his son Falcon-
bridge's heart was set upon an interest destructive to his, and
grew to hate him perfectly. But that which chiefly broke his
peace, was the death of his daughter Claypole; who had
been always his greatest joy, and who, in her sickness, which
was of a nature the physicians knew not how to deal with, had

T 2

276 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

several conferences with him, which exceedingly perplexed
him. Though nobody was near enough to hear the particulars,
yet her often mentioning, in the pains she endured, the blood
her father had spilt, made people conclude, that she had
presented his worst actions to his consideration. And
though he never made the least show of remorse for any
of those actions, it is very certain, that either what she said, or
her death, affected him wonderfully.

Whatever it was, about the middle of August, he was
seized on by a common tertian ague, from which, he believed,
a Httle ease and divertisement at Hampton Court would have
freed him. But the fits grew stronger, and his spirits much
abated: so that he returned again to Whitehall, when his
physicians began to think him in danger, though the preachers,
who prayed always about him, and told God Almighty what
great things he had done for him, and how much more need
he had still of his service, declared as from God, that he
should recover; and he did not think he should die, till
even the time that his spirits failed him. Then he declared
to them, 'that he did appoint his son to succeed him, his
eldest son Richard ; ' and so expired upon the third day
of September, 1658, a day he always thought very propitious
to him, and on which he had twice triumphed for several
^victories; a day very memorable for the greatest storm
of wind that had been ever known, for some hours before
and after his death, which overthrew trees, houses, and made
great wrecks at sea; and [the tempest] was so universal,
that the effects of it were terrible both in France and
Flanders, where all people trembled at it; for, besides
the wrecks all along the sea- coast, many boats were cast

1 [Dunbar and Worcester.]

DEATH Of CROMWELL, 2'J'J

away in the very rivers; and within few days after, the
circumstance of his death, that accompanied that storm,
was known.

He was one of those men, quos viiuperare ne inimici quidem
possuni, nisi ut simul laudent ; for he could never have done
half that mischief without great parts of courage, industry,
and judgment. He must have had a wonderful understand-
ing in the natures and humours of men, and as great a
dexterity in applying them ; who, from a private and obscure
birth, (though of a good family,) without interest or estate,
alliance or friendship, could raise himself to such a height,
and compound and knead such opposite and contradictory
tempers, humours, and interests into a consistence, that con-
tributed to his designs, and to their own destruction ; whilst
himself grew insensibly powerful enough to cut off those by
whom he had climbed, in the instant that they projected to
demolish their own building. What Velleius Paterculus said
of Cinna may very justly be said of him, ausum eum, qucB
nemo auderet bonus ; per/ecisse, qua a nullo, nisi fortissimo j
perfici possent. Without doubt, no man with more wicked-
ness ever attempted any thing, or brought to pass what he
desired more wickedly, more in the face and contempt of
rehgion, and moral honesty; yet wickedness as great as his
could never have accomplished those trophies, without the
assistance of a great spirit, an admirable circumspection and
sagacity, and a most magnanimous resolution.

When he appeared first in the Parliament, he seemed
to have a person in no degree gracious, no ornament of
discourse, none of those talents which use to reconcile the
affections of the stander by : yet as he grew into place and
authority, his parts seemed to be raised, as if he had had
concealed faculties, till he had occasion to use them; and

278 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

when he was to act the part of a great man, he did it without
any indecency, notwithstanding the want of custom.

After he was confirmed and invested Protector by the
humble petition and advice, he consulted with very few upon
any action of importance, nor communicated any enterprise
he resolved upon, with more than those who were to have
principal parts in the execution of it ; nor with them sooner
than was absolutely necessary. When he once resolved, in
which he was not rash, he would not be dissuaded from,
nor endure any contradiction of his power and authority;
but extorted obedience from them who were not willing to
yield it.

When he had laid some very extraordinary tax upon
the city, one Cony, an eminent fanatic, and one who had
heretofore served him very notably, positively refused to pay
his part ; and loudly dissuaded others from submitting to it,
* as an imposition notoriously against the law, and the pro-
perty of the subject, which all honest men were bound
to defend.' Cromwell sent for him, and cajoled him with the
memory of ' the old kindness, and friendship, that had been
between them ; and that of all men he did not expect this
opposition from him, in a matter that was so necessary for the
good of the commonwealth.' But it was always his fortune
to meet with the most rude and obstinate behaviour from
those who had formerly been absolutely governed by him;
and they commonly put him in mind of some expressions and
sayings of his own, in cases of the like nature : so this man
remembered him, how great an enemy he had expressed
himself to such grievances, and had declared, ' that all who
submitted to them, and paid illegal taxes, were more to
blame, and greater enemies to their country, than they who
had imposed them; and that the tyranny of princes could

DEATH OF CROMWELL, I'jg

never be grievous, but by the tameness and stupidity of
the people.' When Cromwell saw that he could not convert
him, he told him, * that he had a will as stubborn as his, and
he would try which of them two should be master/ There-
upon, with some terms of reproach and contempt, he com-
mitted the man to prison ; whose courage was nothing abated
by it ; but as soon as the term came, he brought his habeas
corpus in the King's Bench, which they then called the upper
bench. Maynard, who was of council with the prisoner,
demanded his liberty with great confidence, both upon the
illegality of the commitment, and the illegality of the im-
position, as being laid without any lawful authority. The
judges could not maintain or defend either, and enough
declared what their sentence would be; and therefore the
Protector's Attorney required a farther day, to answer what
had been urged. Before that day, Maynard was committed
to the Tower, for presuming to question or make doubt of
his authority; and the judges were sent for, and severely
reprehended for suffering that license ; when they, with all
humility, mentioned the law and magna charta, Cromwell
told them, 'their * * * should not control his actions;
which he knew were for the safety of the commonwealth.'
He asked them, * who made them judges ? whether they had
any authority to sit there, but what he gave them ? and if his
authority were at an end, they knew well enough what would
become of themselves; and therefore advised them to be
more tender of that which could only preserve them ; ' and
so dismissed them with caution, 'that they should not
suffer the lawyers to prate what it would not become them to
hear.'

Thus he subdued a spirit that had been often troublesome
to the most sovereign power, and made Westminster-hall as

28o SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

obedient, and subservient to his commands, as any of the
rest of his quarters. In all other matters, which did not con-
cern the life of his jurisdiction, he seemed to have great
reverence for the law, rarely interposing between party and
party. As he proceeded with this kind of indignation and
haughtiness with those who were refractory, and dared to
contend with his greatness, so towards all who complied with
his good pleasure, and courted his protection, he used a
wonderful civility, generosity, and bounty.

To reduce three nations, which perfectly hated him, to an
entire obedience to all his dictates ; to awe and govern those
nations by an army that was indevoted to him, and wished
his ruin, was an instance of a very prodigious address. But
his greatness at home was but a shadow of the glory he had
abroad. It was hard to discover, which feared him most,
France, Spain, or the Low Countries, where his friendship
was current at the value he put upon it. As they did all
sacrifice their honour and their interest to his pleasure, so
there is nothing he could have demanded, that either of them
would have denied him. To manifest which, there needs
only two instances. The first is, when those of the Valley of
Lucerne had unwarily rebelled against the duke of Savoy,
which gave occasion to the Pope, and the neighbour princes
of Italy, to call and solicit for their extirpation, and their
prince positively resolved upon it, Cromwell sent his agent to
the duke of Savoy, a prince with whom he had no correspond-
ence, or commerce, and so engaged the cardinal, and even
terrified the Pope himself, without so much as doing any
grace to the English Roman catholics, (nothing being more
usual than his saying, ' that his ships in the Mediterranean
should visit Civita Vecchia ; and that the sound of his cannon
should be heard in Rome,') that the duke of Savoy thought

DEATH OF CROMWELL, 38 1

it necessary to restore all that he had taken from them, and
did renew all those privileges they had formerly enjoyed, and
newly forfeited.

The other instance of his anthority was yet greater, and
more incredible. In the city of Nismes, which is one of the
fairest in the province of Languedoc, and where those of the
reformed religion do most abound, there was a great faction at
that season when the consuls (who are the chief magistrates)
were to be chosen. Those of the reformed religion had the
confidence to set up one of themselves for that magistracy ;
which they of the Roman religion resolved to oppose with all
their power. The dissension between them made so much
noise, that the intendant of the province, who is the supreme
minister in all civil affairs throughout the whole province, went
thither to prevent any disorder that might happen. When the
day of election came, those of the religion possessed themselves
with many armed men of the town-house, where the election
was to be made. The magistrates sent to know what their
meaning was; to which they answered, 'they were there
to give their voices for the choice of the new consuls, and to
be sure that the election should be fairly made.' The bishop
of the city, the intendant of the province, with all the officers
of the church, and the present magistrates of the town, went
together in their robes to be present at the election, without
any suspicion that there would be any force used. When
they came near the gate of the town-house, which was shut,
and they supposed would be opened when they came, they
within poured out a volley of musket-shot upon them, by
which the dean of the church, and two or three of the magis-
trates of the town, were killed upon the place, and very many
others wounded; whereof some died shortly after. In this
confusion, the magistrates put themselves into as good a pos-

2^2 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

ture to defend themselves as they could, without any purpose
of offending the other, till they should be better provided ; in
order to which they sent an express to the court with a plain
relation of the whole matter of fact, ' and that there appeared
to be no manner of combination with those of the religion in
other places of the province ; but that it was an insolence in
those of the place, upon the presumption of their great
numbers, which were little inferior to those of the catholics.'
The court was glad of the occasion, and resolved that this
provocation, in which other places were not involved, and
which nobody could excuse, should warrant all kind of
severity in that city, even to the pulling down their temples,
and expelling many of them for ever out of the city ; which,
with the execution and forfeiture of many of the principal
persons, would be a general mortification to all of the religion
in France ; with whom they were heartily offended ; and a
part of the army was forthwith ordered to march towards
Nismes, to see this executed with the utmost rigour.

Those of the religion in the town were quickly sensible
into what condition they had brought themselves ; and sent,
with all possible submission, to the magistrates to excuse
themselves, and to impute what had been done to the rash-
ness of particular men, who had no order for what they did.
The magistrates answered, ' that they were glad they were
sensible of their miscarriage ; but they could say nothing
upon the subject, till the King's pleasure should be known ;
to whom they had sent a full relation of all that had passed.'
The others very well knew what the King's pleasure would be,
and forthwith sent an express, one Moulins, a Scotchman,
who had Hved many years in that place, and in Montpelier,
to Cromwell to desire his protection and interposition. The
express made so much haste, and found so good a reception

DEATH OF CROMWELL. 283

the first hour he came, that Cromwell, after he had received
the whole account, bade him ' refresh himself after so long a
journey, and he would take such care of his business, that by
the time he came to Paris he should find it despatched ; '
and, that night, sent away another messenger to his ambas-
sador Lockhart ; who, by the time Moulins came thither, had
so far prevailed with the cardinal, that orders were sent to stop
the troops, which were upon their march towards Nismes ;
and, within few days after, Moulins returned with a full pardon
and amnesty from the King, under the great seal of France,
so fully confirmed with all circumstances, that there was never
farther mention made of it, but all things passed as if there
had never been any such thing. So that nobody can wonder,
that his memory remains still in those parts, and with those
people, in great veneration.

He would never suffer himself to be denied any thing he ever
asked of the cardinal, alleging, * that the people would not be
otherwise satisfied ; ' which the cardinal bore very heavily, and
complained of to those with whom he would be free. One
day he visited madam Turenne, and when he took his leave
of her, she, according to her custom, besought him to con-
tinue gracious to the churches. Whereupon the cardinal told
her, ' that he knew not how to behave himself; if he advised
the King to punish and suppress their insolence, Cromwell
threatened him to join with the Spaniard ; and if he shewed
any favour to them, at Rome they accounted him an heretic'

He was not a man of blood, and totally declined Machia-
vel's method; which prescribes, upon any alteration of
government, as a thing absolutely necessary, to cut off all the
heads of those, and extirpate their families, who are friends to
the old one. It was confidently reported, that, in the council
of ofi&cers, it was more than once proposed, ' that there

284 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

might be a general massacre of all the royal party, as the
only expedient to secure the government/ but that Cromwell
would never consent to it ; it may be, out of too much con-
tempt of his enemies. In a word, as he had all the wicked-
ness against which damnation is denounced, and for which
hell-fire is prepared, so he had some virtues which have
caused the memory of some men in all ages to be celebrated ;
and he will be looked upon by posterity as a brave bad man.

BOOK XVI.

RICHABD CBOMW^ELL.

It may not prove ingrateful to the reader, in this place, to
entertain him with a very pleasant story, that related to this
miserable Richard, though [it happened] long afterwards;
because there will not be again any occasion so much as to
mention him, during the continuance of this relation. Shortly
after the King's return, and the manifest joy that possessed
the whole kingdom thereupon, this poor creature found it
necessary to transport himself into France, more for fear of
his debts than of the King ; who thought it not necessary to
inquire after a man so long forgotten. After he had lived
some years in Paris untaken notice of, and indeed unknown,
living in a most obscure condition and disguise, not owning
his own name, nor having above one servant to attend him,
he thought it necessary, upon the first rumour and apprehen-
sion that there was like to be a war between England and
France, to quit that kingdom, and to remove to some place
that would be neutral to either party; and pitched upon
Geneva. Making his way thither by Bourdeaux, and through

RICHARD CROMWELL. 285

the province of Languedoc, he passed through Pezenas, a very
pleasant town belonging to the prince of Conti, who hath a
fair palace there, and, being then governor of Languedoc,
made his residence in it.

In this place Richard made some stay, and walking abroad
to entertain himself with the view of the situation, and of
many things worth the seeing, he met with a person who well
knew him, and was well known by him, the other having
always been of his father's and of his party; so that they
were glad enough to find themselves together. The other
told him, * that all strangers who came to that town used to
wait upon the Prince of Conti, the governor of the province ;
who expected it, and always treated strangers, and par-
ticularly the English, with much civility : that he need not be
known, but that he himself would first go to the prince and
inform him, that another English gentleman was passing
through that town towards Italy, who would be glad to have
the honour to kiss his hands.' The Prince received him with
great civility and grace, according to his natural custom, and
after few words, begun to discourse of the affairs of England,
and asked many questions concerning the King, and whether
all men were quiet, and submitted obediently to him ; which
the other answered briefly, according to the truth. * Well,'
said the Prince, * OHver, though he was a traitor and a villain,
was a brave fellow, had great parts, great courage, and was
worthy to command : but that Richard, that coxcomb, coqui'n,
poUron, was surely the basest fellow alive. What is become
of that fool ? how was it possible he could be such a sot ? '
He answered, ' that he was betrayed by those whom he most
trusted, and who had been most obliged by his father ; ' so
being weary of his visit, quickly took his leave, and the next
morning left the town, out of fear that the Prince might know

2S6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

that he was the very fool and coxcomb he had mentioned so
kindly. And within two days after, the Prince did come
to know whom it was that he had treated so well, and whom
before, by his behaviour, he had believed to be a man not
very glad of the King's restoration.

The King's Retukn.

With these committees from the Parliament and from the
city, there came a company of their clergymen, to the number
of eight or ten ; who would not be looked upon as chaplains
to the rest, but being the popular preachers of the city, (Rey-
nolds, Calamy, Case, Manton ; and others, the most eminent
of the presbyterians), desired to be thought to represent that
party. They entreated to be admitted all together to have a
formal audience of his majesty ; where they presented their
duties and magnified the affections of themselves and their
friends; who, they said, 'had always according to the obligation
of their covenant, wished his majesty very well ; and had lately,
upon the opportunity that God had put into their hands,
informed the people of their duty ; which, they presumed, his
majesty had heard had proved effectual, and been of great
use to him.' They thanked God *for his constancy to the
protestant religion j ' and professed, ' that they were no
enemies to moderate episcopacy; only desired that such
things might not be pressed upon them in God's worship,
which in their judgment who used them were acknowledged
to be matters indifferent, and by others were held unlawful.'

The King spoke very kindly to them ; and said, ' that
he had heard of their good behaviour towards him ; and that
he had no purpose to impose hard conditions upon them,
with reference to their consciences : that they well knew, he

THE KINCfS RETURN, zSy

had referred the settling all differences of that nature to the
wisdom of the Parliament ; which best knew what indulgence
and toleration was necessary for the peace and quiet of the
kingdom/ But his majesty could not be so rid of them ;
they desired several private audiences of him ; which he never
denied ; wherein they told him, * the Book of Common
Prayer had been long discontinued in England, and the
people having been disused to it, and many of them having
never heard it in their lives, it would be much wondered at,
if his majesty should, at his first landing in the kingdom,
revive the use of it in his own chapel : whither all persons
would resort ; and therefore they besought him, that he would
not use it entirely and formally, but have only some parts of
it read, with mixture of other good prayers, which his chap-
lains might use.'

The King told them with some warmth, * that whilst he
gave them liberty, he would not have his own taken from
him : that he had always used that form of service, which he
thought the best in the world, and had never discontinued it
in places where it was more disliked than he hoped it was by
them : that, when he came into England, he would not
severely inquire how it was used in other churches, though he
doubted not, he should find it used in many; but he was
sure he would have no other used in his own chapel.' Then
they besought him with more importunity, ' that the use of
the surplice might be discontinued by his chaplains, because
the sight of it would give great offence and scandal to the
people.' They found the King as inexorable in that point as
in the other : he told them plainly, * that he would not be
restrained himself, when he gave others so much liberty ;
that it had been always held a decent habit in the Church,
constantly practised in England till these late ill times ; that

ii88 SELECTIONS EROM CLARENDON.

it had been still retained by him ; and though he was bound
for the present to tolerate much disorder and undecency in
the exercise of God's worship, he would never, in the least
degree, by his own practice, discountenance the good old
order of the Church, in which he had been bred.' Though
they were very much unsatisfied with him, whom they thought
to have found more flexible, yet they ceased further troubling
him, in hope, and presumption, that they should find their
importunity in England more effectual.

After eight or ten days spent at the Hague in triumphs
and festivals, which could not have been more splendid if all
the monarchs of Europe had met there, and which were
concluded with several rich presents made to his majesty, the
King took his leave of the States, with all the professions of
amity their civilities deserved ; and embarked himself on the
Prince ; which had been before called the Protector, but had
been new christened the day before, as many others had been,
in the presence, and by the order, of his royal highness the
admiral. Upon the four and twentieth day of May, the fleet
set sail; and, in one continued thunder of cannon, arrived
near Dover so early on the six and twentieth, that his majesty
disembarked ; and being received by the general at the brink
of the sea, he presently took coach, and came that night
to Canterbury ; where he stayed the next day, being Sunday ;
and went to his devotions to the cathedral, which he found
very much dilapidated, and out of repair; yet the people
seemed glad to hear the Common Prayer again. Thither
came very many of the nobility, and other persons of quality,
to present themselves to the King; and there his majesty
assembled his Council ; and swore the general of the Council,
and Mr. Morrice, whom he there knighted, and gave him the
signet, and swore him Secretary of State. That day his

THE king's return, 289

majesty gave the Garter to the general, and likewise to the
marquis of Hertford, and the earl of Southampton, (who had
been elected many years before,) and sent it likewise by
garter, herald and king at arms, to admiral Mountague, who
remained in the Downs.

On Monday he went to Rochester ; and the next day,
being the nine and twentieth of May, and his birthday, he
entered London; all the ways from Dover thither being
so full of people, and acclamations, as if the whole kingdom
had been gathered. About or above Greenwich the lord
mayor and aldermen met him, with all such protestations
of joy as can hardly be imagined. And the concourse was
so great, that the King rode in a crowd from the bridge
to Temple-bar ; all the companies of the city standing in
order on both sides, and giving loud thanks to God for his
majesty's presence. And he no sooner came to Whitehall,
but the two Houses of Parliament solemnly cast themselves at
his feet, with all vows of affection and fidelity to the world's
end. In a word, the joy- was so unexpressible, and so
universal, that his majesty said smilingly to some about him,
* he doubted it had been his own fault he had been absent so
long ; for he saw nobody that did not protest, he had ever
wished for his return.'

In this wonderful manner, and with this miraculous ex-
pedition, did God put an end in one month (for it was
the first of May that the King's letter was delivered to the
parliament, and his majesty was at Whitehall upon the
twenty-ninth of the same month) to a rebellion that had
raged near twenty years, and been carried on with all the
horrid circumstances of parricide, murder, and devastation,
that fire and the sword, in the hands of the most wicked men
in the world, could be ministers of; almost to the desolation

u

290 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

of two kingdoms, and the exceeding defacing and deform-
ing the third. Yet did the merciful hand of God in one
month bind up all those wounds, and even made the scars as
undiscernible, as, in respect of the deepness, was possible;
which was a glorious addition to the deliverance ; and if
there wanted more glorious monuments of this deliverance,
posterity would know the time of it, by the death of the
two great favourites of the two crowns, cardinal Mazarine
and don Lewis de Haro, who both died within three or
four months, with the wonder if not the agony of this un-
dreamed of prosperity ; and as if they had taken it ill that
God Almighty would bring such a work to pass in Europe
without their concurrence, and against all their machinations.

SELECTIONS FROM THE LIFE.

Mb. Hyde's fathbk bemoves to Salisbtjby.

He had for some time before resolved to leave the country,
and to spend the remainder of his time in Salisbury, where
he had caused a house to be provided for him, both for the
neighbourhood of the cathedral church, where he could per-
form his devotions every day, and for the conversation of
many of his family who lived there, and not far from it ; and
especially that he might be buried there, where many of his
family and friends lay ; and he obliged his son to accompany
him thither before his return to London ; and he came to
Salisbury on the Friday before Michaelmas day in the year
1632, and lodged in his own house that night. The next
day he was so wholly taken up in receiving visits from his

MR, HYDE 'S.FA THER REMO VES TO SALISBUR V, 29 1

many friends, being a person wonderfully reverenced in thosex
parts, that he walked very little out of his house. The next
morning, being Sunday, he rose very early, and went to two
or three churches; and when he returned, which was by
eight of the clock, he told his wife and his son, 'that he
had been to look out a place to be buried in, but found none
against which he had not some exception, the cathedral only
excepted : where he had made a choice of a place near a
kinsman of his own name, and had shewed it to the sexton.
whom he had sent for to that purpose ; and wished them to
see him buried there ; ' and this with as much composedness
of mind as if it had made no impression of mind ; then
went to the cathedral to sermon, and spent the whole day
in as cheerful conversation with his friends, as the man
in the most confirmed health could do. Monday was
Michaelmas day, when in the morning he went to visit his
brother sir Laurence Hyde, who was then making a journey in
the service of the King, and from him went to the church to a
sermon, where he found himself a little pressed as he used to
be, and therefore thought fit to make what haste he could to
his house, and was no sooner come thither into a lower room,
than, the pain in his arm seizing upon him, he fell down dead,
without the least motion of any limb. The suddenness of it
made it apprehended to be an apoplexy; but there being
nothing like convulsions, or the least distortion or alteration
in the visage, it is not like to be from that cause ; nor could
the physicians make any reasonable guess from whence that
mortal blow proceeded. He wanted about six weeks of
attaining the age of seventy, and was the greatest instance
of the felicity of a country life that was seen in that age ;
having enjoyed a competent, and to him a plentiful fortune,
a very great reputation of piety and virtue, and his death

u 2

2g2 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

being attended with universal lamentation. It cannot be
expressed with what agony his son bore this loss, having,
as he was used to say, ' not only lost the best father, but the
best friend and the best companion he ever had or could
have ; ' and he was never so well pleased, as when he had fit
occasions given him to mention his father, whom he did in
truth believe to be the wisest man he had ever known ; and
he was often heard to say, in the time when his condition
was at highest, 'that though God Almighty had been very
propitious to him, in raising him to great honours and pre-
ferments, he did not value any honour he had so much as
the being the son of such a father and mother, for whose
sakes principally he thought God had conferred those bless-
ings upon him.'

Ben Johnson and John Selden.

Ben Johnson's name can never be forgotten, having by
his very good learning, and the severity of his nature and
manners, very much reformed the stage; and indeed the
English poetry itself. His natural advantages were, judg-
ment to order and govern fancy, rather than excess of fancy,
his productions being slow and upon deliberation, yet then
abounding with great wit and fancy, and will live accord-
ingly; and surely as he did exceedingly exalt the English
language in eloquence, propriety, and masculine expressions,
so he was the best judge of, and fittest to prescribe rules to
poetry and poets, of any man, who had lived with, or before
him, or since : if Mr. Cowley had not made a flight beyond
all men, with that modesty yet, to ascribe much of this to
the example and learning of Ben Johnson. His conversation
was very good, and with the men of most note ; and he had

BEN JOHNSON AND JOHN SELDEN, 293

for many years an extraordinary kindness for Mr. Hyde, till
he found he betook himself to business, which he believed
ought never to be preferred before his company. He lived
to be very old, and till the palsy made a deep impression
upon his body and his mind.

Mr. Selden was a person whom no character can flatter,
or transmit in any expressions equal to his merit and virtue.
He was of so stupendous learning in all kinds and in all
languages, (as may appear in his excellent and transcendent
writings,) that a man would have thought he had been
entirely conversant amongst books, and had never spent
an hour but in reading and writing; yet his humanity,
courtesy, and affability was such, that he would have been
thought to have been bred in the best courts, but that his
good nature, charity, and delight in doing good, and in
conmiunicating all he knew, exceeded that breeding. His
style in all his writings seems harsh and sometimes obscure ;
which is not wholly to be imputed to the abstruse subjects of
which he commonly treated, out of the paths trod by other
men ; but to a little undervaluing the beauty of a style, and
too much propensity to the language of antiquity : but in his
conversation he was the most clear discourser, and had the
best faculty of making hard things easy, and presenting them
to the understanding, of any man that hath been known.
Mr. Hyde was wont to say, that he valued himself upon
nothing more than upon having had Mr. Selden's acquaint-
ance from the time he was very young; and held it with
great delight as long as they were suffered to continue
together in London ; and he was very much troubled always
when he heard him blamed, censured, and reproached, for
staying in London, and in the parliament, after they were in
rebellion, and in the worse times, which his age obliged him

394 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

to do ; and how wicked soever the actions were which were
every day done, he was confident he had not given his
consent to them ; but would have hindered them if he could
with his own safety, to which he was always enough in-
dulgent. If he had some infirmities with other men, they
were weighed down with wonderful and prodigious abilities
and excellencies in the other scale.

SiK Kenelm Digbt, Thomas May and Thomas

CABE"W.

Sir Kenelm Digby was a person very eminent and no-
torious throughout the whole course of his life, from his
cradle to his grave ; of an ancient family and noble extrac-
tion ; and inherited a fair and plentiful fortune, notwith-
standing the attainder of his father. He was a man of a
very extraordinary person and presence, which drew the eyes
of all men upon him, which were more fixed by a wonderful
graceful behaviour, a flowing courtesy and civility, and such
a volubility of language, as surprised and delighted ; and
though in another man it might have appeared to have
somewhat of affectation, it was marvellous graceful in him,
and seemed natural to his size, and mould of his person, to
the gravity of his motion, and the tune of his voice and
delivery. He had a fair reputation in arms, of which he
gave an early testimony in his youth, in some encounters in
Spain and Italy, and afterwards in an action in the Mediter-
ranean sea, where he had the command of a squadron of
ships of war, set out at his own charge under the king's
commission; with which, upon an injury received, or ap-
prehended from the Venetians, he encountered their whole
fleet, killed many of their men, and sunk one of their

S//^ K. DIGBY, THOMAS MAY, THOMAS CAREW. 295

galleasses; which in that drowsy and unactive time was
looked upon with a general estimation, though the Crown
disavowed it. In a word, he had all the advantages that
nature, and art, and an excellent education could give him ;
which, with a great confidence and presentness of mind,
buoyed him up against all those prejudices and disadvant-
ages, (which the attainder and execution of his father, for a
crime of the highest nature ; his own marriage with a lady,
though of an extraordinary beauty, of as extraordinary a
fame ; his changing and rechanging his religion ; and some
personal vices and licenses in his life,) which would have
suppressed and sunk any other man, but never clouded or
eclipsed him, from appearing in the best places, and the
best company, and with the best estimation and satisfaction.
Thomas May was the eldest son of his father, a knight,
and born to a fortune, if his father had not spent it ; so that
he had only an annuity left him, not proportionable to a
liberal education : yet since his fortune could not raise his
mind, he brought his mind down to his fortune, by a great
modesty and humility in his nature, which was not affected,
but very well became an imperfection in his speech, which
was a great mortification to him, and kept him from entering
upon any discourse but in the company of his very friends.
His parts of nature and art were very good, as appears by
his translation of Lucan, (none of the easiest work of that
kind,) and more by his supplement to Lucan, which being
entirely his own, for the learning, the wit, and the language,
may be well looked upon as one of the best dramatic poems
in the English language. He writ some other commendable
pieces, of the reign of some of our kings. He was cherished
by many persons of honour, and very acceptable in all
places; yet, (to shew that pride and envy have their in-

29^ SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

fluences upon the narrowest minds, and which have the
greatest semblance of humility,) though he had received
much countenance, and a very considerable donative from
the King, upon his majesty's refusing to give him a small
pension, which he had designed and promised to another
very ingenious person, whose qualities he thought inferior to
his own, he fell from his duty, and all his former friends,
and prostituted himself to the vile office of celebrating the
infamous acts of those who were in rebellion against the
King ; which he did so meanly, that he seemed to all men to
have lost his wits when he left his honesty ; and so shortly
after died miserable and neglected, and deserves to be for-
gotten.

Thomas Carew was a younger brother of a good family,
and of excellent parts, and had spent many years of his
youth in France and Italy; and returning from travel,
followed the Court; which the modesty of that time dis-
posed men to do some time, before they pretended to be of
it; and he was very much esteemed by the most eminent
persons in the Court, and well looked upon by the King
himself, some years before he could obtain to be sewer to
the King; and when the King conferred that honour upon
him, it was not without the regret even of the whole Scotch
nation, which united themselves in recommending another
gentleman to that place : of so great value were those
relations held in that age, when majesty was beheld with
the reverence it ought to be. He was a person of a pleasant
and facetious wit, and made many poems, (especially in the
amorous way,) which for the sharpness of the fancy, and the
elegancy of the language in which that fancy was spread,
were at least equal, if not superior to any of that time : but
his glory was, that after fifty years of his life, spent with less

SIDNEY GODOLPHIN, EDMUND WALLER, ETC. 297

severity or exactness than it ought to have been, he died with
the greatest remorse for that license, and with the greatest
manifestation of Christianity that his best friends could
desire.

Sidney Godolphin, Edmund Wallek, Dk.
Sheldon, Db. Morley, Dr. Earles.

Sidney Godolphin was a younger brother of Godolphin,
but by the provision left by his father, and by the death of a
younger brother, liberally supplied for a very good education,
and for a cheerful subsistence, in any course of life he pro-
posed to himself. There was never so great a mind and
spirit contained in so little room ; so large an understanding
and so unrestrained a fancy in so very small a body ; so that
the lord Falkland used to say merrily, that he thought it was
a great ingredient into his friendship for Mr. Godolphin, that
he was pleased to be found in his company, where he was
the properer man ; and it may be, the very remarkableness of
his little person made the sharpness of his wit, and the com-
posed quickness of his judgment and understanding, the
more notorious and notable. He had spent some years in
France, and in the Low Countries; and accompanied the
earl of Leicester in his ambassage into Denmark, before he
resolved to be quiet, and attend some promotion in the
court; where his excellent disposition and manners, and
extraordinary qualifications, made him very acceptable.
Though every body loved his company very well, yet he
loved very much to be alone, being in his constitution in-
clined somewhat to melancholy, and to retirement amongst
his books; and was so far from being active, that he was
contented to be reproached by his friends with laziness ; and

298 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

was of so nice and tender a composition, that a little rain or
wind would disorder him, and divert him from any short
journey he had most willingly proposed to himself; inso-
much as, when he rid abroad with those in whose company
he most delighted, if the wind chanced to be in his face, he
would (after a little pleasant murmuring) suddenly turn his
horse, and go home. Yet the civil war no sooner began,
(the first approaches towards which he discovered as soon as
any man, by the proceedings in Parliament, where he was a
member, and opposed with great indignation,) than he put
himself into the first troops which were raised in the west for
the King; and bore the uneasiness and fatigue of winter
marches with an exemplar courage and alacrity ; until by too
brave a pursuit of the enemy, into an obscure village in
Devonshire, he was shot with a musket; with which (without
saying any word more, than, Oh God ! I am hurt) he fell
dead from his horse ; to the excessive grief of his friends,
who were all that knew him ; and the irreparable damage of
the public.

Edmund Waller was born to a very fair estate, by the
parsimony or frugality of a wise father and mother; and
he thought it so commendable an advantage, that he resolved
to improve it with his utmost care, upon which in his nature
he was too much intent ; and in order to that, he was so
much reserved and retired, that he was scarce ever heard of,
till by his address and dexterity he had gotten a very rich
wife in the city, against all the recommendation, and counte-
nance, and authority of the court, which was thoroughly
engaged on the behalf of Mr. Crofts ; and which used to be
successful, in that age, against any opposition. He had the
good fortune to have an alliance and friendship with Dr.
Morley, who had assisted and instructed him in the reading

SIDNEY GODOLPHIN, EDMUND WALLER, ETC. 299

many good books, to which his natural parts and promptitude
inclined him; especially the poets: and at the age when
other men used to give over writing verses, (for he was near
thirty years of age when he first engaged himself in that
exercise, at least that he was known to do so,) he surprised
the town with two or three pieces of that kind ; as if a tenth
muse had been newly born, to cherish drooping poetry.
The doctor at that time brought him into that company
which was most celebrated for good conversation; where
he was received, and esteemed, with great applause and
respect. He was a very pleasant discourser, in earnest and
in jest, and therefore very grateful to all kind of company,
where he was not the less esteemed for being very rich.

He had been even nursed in parliaments, where he sat
when he was in his infancy; and so when they were re-
sumed again, (after a long intermission and interdiction,) he
appeared in those assemblies with great advantage, having a
graceful way of speaking; and by thinking much upon
several arguments, (which his temper and complexion, that
had much of melancholic, inclined him to,) he seemed often
to speak upon the sudden, when the occasion had only ad-
ministered the opportunity of saying what he had thoroughly
considered, which gave a great lustre to all he said; which
yet was rather of delight than weight. There needs no more
be said to extol the excellence and power of his wit, and
pleasantness of his conversation, than that it was of mag-
nitude enough to cover a world of very great faults ; that is,
so to cover them, that they were not taken notice of to his
reproach; viz. a narrowness in his nature to the lowest
degree ; an abjectness, and want of courage to support him
in any virtuous undertaking; an insinuation and servile
flattery to the height the vainest and most imperious nature

300 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

could be contented with ; that it preserved and won his life
from those who were most resolved to take it, and in an
occasion in which he ought to have been ambitious to have
lost it; and then preserved him again, from the reproach
and contempt that was due to him for so preserving it, and
for vindicating it at such a price; that it had power to
reconcile him to those whom he had most offended and
provoked ; and continued to his age with that rare felicity,
that his company was acceptable, where his spirit was
I odious ; and he was at least pitied, where he was most
detested.

Of Doctor Sheldon, there needs no more be said in this
place, (there being frequent occasions to mention him here-
after in the prosecution of this discourse,) than that his
learning, and gravity, and prudence, had in that time raised
him to such a reputation, when he was chaplain in the house
to the lord keeper Coventry, (who exceedingly esteemed him,
and used his service not only in all matters relating to the
church, but in many other businesses of importance, and in
which that great and good lord was nearly concerned,) and
when he was afterwards warden of All Souls' college in
Oxford, that he then was looked upon as very equal to any
preferment the church could [yield] or hath since yielded
unto him ; and sir Francis Wenman would often say, when
the doctor resorted to the conversation at the lord Falkland's
house, as he frequently did, that ' Dr. Sheldon was born and
bred to be archbishop of Canterbury.'

Doctor Morley (of whom more must likewise be said in
its place) was a gentleman of very eminent parts in all polite
learning; of great wit, and readiness, and subtilty in dis-
putation ; and of remarkable temper and prudence in con-
versation, which rendered him most grateful in all the best

DOCTOR SHELDON, DOCTOR MORLEY, ETC. 301

company. He was then chaplain in the house, and to the
family, of the lord and lady Carnarvon, which needed a wise
and a wary director. From some academic contests he had
been engaged in, during his living in Christ Church in Oxford,
where he was always of the first eminency, he had, by the
natural faction and animosity of those disputes, fallen under
the reproach of holding some opinions which were not then
grateful to those churchmen who had the greatest power in
ecclesiastical promotions ; and some sharp answers and rcr
plies he used to make in accidental discourses, and which
in truth were made for mirth and pleasantness' sake, (as he
was of the highest facetiousness,) were reported, and spread
abroad to his prejudice: as being once asked by a grave
country gentleman, (who was desirous to be instructed what
their tenets and opinions were,) * what the Arminians held,'
he pleasantly answered, that they held all the best bishoprics
and deaneries in England ; which was quickly reported
abroad, as Mr. Morley's definition of the Arminian tenets.

Such and the like harmless and jocular sayings, upon
many accidental occasions, had wrought upon the archbishop
of Canterbury, Laud, (who lived to change his mind, and to
have a just esteem of him,) to entertain some prejudice to-
wards him ; and the respect which was paid him by many
eminent persons, as John Hambden, Arthur Goodwin, and
others, who were not thought friends to the prosperity the
Church was in, made others apprehend that he was not
enough zealous for it. But that disaffection and virulency
(which few men had then owned and discovered) no sooner
appeared, in those and other men, but Dr. Morley made
haste as publicly to oppose them, both in private and in
public ; which had the more effect to the benefit of the
Church, by his being a person above all possible reproach.

302 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

and known and valued by more persons of honour than
most of the clergy were, and being not only without the
envy of any preferment, but under the advantage of a dis-
countenanced person. And as he was afterwards the late
King's chaplain, and much regarded by him, and as long
about him as any of his chaplains were permitted to attend
him ; so presently after his murder he left the kingdom, and
remained in banishment till his majesty's happy return.

Doctor Earles was at that time chaplain in the house to
the earl of Pembroke, lord chamberlain of his majesty's
household, and had a lodging in the court under that re-
lation. He was a person very notable for his elegance in
the Greek and Latin tongues ; and being fellow of Merton
college in Oxford, and having been proctor of the university,
and some very witty and sharp discourses being published in
print without his consent, though known to be his, he grew
suddenly into a very general esteem with all men ; being a
man of great piety and devotion ; a most eloquent and
powerful preacher; and of a conversation so pleasant and
delightful, so very innocent and so very facetious, that no
man's company was more desired and more loved. No man
was more negligent in his dress, and habit, and mien ; no
man more wary and cultivated in his behaviour and dis-
course ; insomuch as he had the greater advantage when he
was known, by promising so Httle before he was known. He
was an excellent poet, both in Latin, Greek, and English, as
appears by many pieces yet abroad ; though he suppressed
many more him.self, especially of English, incomparably good,
out of an austerity to those sallies of his youth. He was
very dear to the lord Falkland, with whom he spent as much
time as he could make his own; and as that lord would
impute the speedy progress he made in the Greek tongue, to

JOHN HALES, 303

the information and assistance he had from Mr. Earles, so
Mr. Earles would frequently profess, that he had got more
useful learning by his conversation at Tew, (the lord Falk-
land's house,) than he had at Oxford. In the first settling of
the prince's family, he was made one of his chaplains; and
attended on him when he was forced to leave the kingdom,
and therefore we shall often have occasion to mention him
hereafter. He was amongst the few excellent men who
never had nor ever could have an enemy, but such a one
who was an enemy to all learning and virtue, and therefore
would never make himself known.

John Hales.

Mr. John Hales had been Greek professor in the univer-
sity of Oxford ; and had borne all the labour of that excel-
lent edition and impression of St. Chrysostom's Works, set
out by sir Harry Savile; who was then warden of Merton
college, when the other was fellow of that house. He was
chaplain in the house with sir Dudley Carleton, ambassador
of the Hague in Holland, at the time when the synod of
Dort was held, and so had liberty to be present at the con-
sultations in that assembly; and hath left the best memorial
behind him, of the ignorance, and passion, and animosity,
and injustice of that convention; of which he often made
very pleasant relations ; though at that time it received too
much countenance from England. Being a person of the
greatest eminency for learning, and other abilities, from
which he might have promised himself any preferment in
the church, he withdrew himself from all pursuits of that
kind into a private fellowship in the college of Eton, where
his friend sir Harry Savile was provost; where he lived

304 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

amongst his books, and the most separated from the world
of any man then Hving: though he was not in the least
degree inclined to melancholy, but, on the contrary, of a
very open and pleasant conversation; and therefore was
very well pleased with the resort of his friends to him, who
were such as he had chosen, and in whose company he
delighted, and for whose sake he would sometimes, once
in a year, resort to London, only to enjoy their cheerful
conversation.

He would never take any cure of souls ; and was so great
a contemner of money, that he was wont to say, that his
fellowship, and the bursar's place, (which, for the good of
the college, he held many years,) was worth him fifty pounds
a year more than he could spend ; and yet, besides his being
very charitable to all poor people, even to liberality, he had
made a greater and better collection of books, than were to
be found in any other private library that I have seen ; as
he had sure read more, and carried more about him in his
excellent memory, than any man I ever knew, my lord
Falkland only excepted, who I think sided him. He had,
whether from his natural temper and constitution, or from
his long retirement from all crowds, or from his profound
judgment and discerning spirit, contracted some opinions
which were not received, nor by him published, except in
private discourses; and then rather upon occasion of dis-
pute, than of positive opinion : and he would often say, his
opinions he was sure did him no harm, but he was far from
being confident that they might not do others harm who
entertained them, and might entertain other results from
them than he did; and therefore he was very reserved in
communicating what he thought himself in those points, in
which he differed from what was received.

JOHN HALES. 305

Nothing troubled him more than the brawls which were
grown from religion ; and he therefore exceedingly detested
the tyranny of the church of Rome ; more for their imposing
uncharitably upon the consciences of other men, than for the
errors in their own opinions : and would often say, that he
would renounce the religion of the Church of England to-
morrow, if it obliged him to believe that any other Christians
should be damned ; and that nobody would conclude another
man to be damned, who did not wish him so. No man
more strict and severe to himself; to other men so charit-
able as to their opinions, that he thought that other men were
more in fault for their carriage towards them, than the men
themselves were who erred ; and he thought that pride and
passion, more than conscience, were the cause of all separa-
tion from each other's communion ; and he frequently said,
that that only kept the world from agreeing upon such a
liturgy, as might bring them into one communion ; all doc-
trinal points, upon which men differed in their opinions,
being to have no place in any liturgy. Upon an occasional
discourse with a friend, of the frequent and uncharitable
reproaches of heretic and schismatic, too lightly thrown at
each other, amongst men who differ in their judgment, he writ
a little discourse of schism, contained in less than two sheets
of paper ; which being transmitted from friend to friend in
writing, was at last, without any malice, brought to the view
of the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Laud, who was a very
rigid surveyor of all things which never so little bordered
upon schism; and thought the Church could not be too
vigilant against, and jealous of, such incursions.

He sent for Mr. Hales, whom, when they had both hved
in the university of Oxford, he had known well; and told
him, that he had in truth believed him to be long since

X

306 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

dead \ and chid him very kindly for having never come to
him, having been of his old acquaintance : then asked him,
whether he had lately written a short discourse of scnism,
and whether he was of that opinion which that discourse
implied. He told him that he had, for the satisfaction of
a private friend, (who was not of his mind,) a year or two
before, writ such a small tract, without any imagination that
it would be communicated ; and that he believed it did not
contain any thing that was not agreeable to the judgment
of the primitive fathers : upon which, the archbishop debated
with him upon some expressions of Irenseus, and the most
ancient fathers; and concluded with saying, that the time
was very apt to set new doctrines on foot, of which the wits
of the age were too susceptible; and that there could not
be too much care taken to preserve the peace and unity
of the Church ; and from thence asked him of his condition,
and whether he wanted any thing : and the other answering,
that he had enough, and wanted or desired no addition, so
dismissed him with great courtesy; and shortly after sent for
him again, when there was a prebendary of Windsor fallen,
and told him, the King had given him the preferment, be-
cause it lay so convenient to his fellowship of Eton ; which
(though indeed the most convenient preferment that could
be thought of for him) the archbishop could not without
great difficulty persuade him to accept, and he did accept
it rather to please him than himself; because he really
believed he had enough before. He was one of the least
men in the kingdom; and one of the greatest scholars in
Europe.

MR. CHILLINGWORTH, 307

Mb. Chilliwgwokth.

Mr. Chillingworth was of a stature little superior to
Mr. Hales, (and it was an age in which there were many
great and wonderful men of that size,) and a man of so
great a subtilty of understanding, and so rare a temper in
debate, that, as it was impossible to provoke him into any
passion, so it was very difficult to keep a man's self from
being a little discomposed by his sharpness and quickness
of argument, and instances, in which he had a rare facility,
and a great advantage over all the men I ever knew. He
had spent all his younger time in disputation, and had
arrived to so great a mastery, as he was inferior to no
man in those skirmishes : but he had, with his notable per-
fection in this exercise, contracted such an irresolution and
habit of doubting, that by degrees he grew confident of
nothing, and a sceptic, at least, in the greatest mysteries
of faith.

This made him, from first wavering in religion, and in-
dulging to scruples, to reconcile himself too soon and too
easily to the church of Rome ; and carrying still his own
inquisitiveness about him, without any resignation to their
authority, (which is the only temper can make that church
sure of its proselytes,) having made a journey to St. Omer's,
purely to perfect his conversion by the conversation of those
who had the greatest name, he found as little satisfaction
there; and returned with as much haste from them; with
a belief, that an entire exemption from error was neither
inherent in nor necessary to any church : which occasioned
that war, which was carried on by the Jesuits with so great
asperity and reproaches against him, and in which he de-

X 2

3o8 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

fended himself by such an admirable eloquence of language,
and clear and incomparable power of reason, that he not
only made them appear unequal adversaries, but carried the
war into their own quarters ; and made the Pope's infalH-
bility to be as much shaken, and declined by their own
doctors, (and as great an acrimony amongst themselves
upon that subject,) and to be at least as much doubted, as
in the schools of the reformed or protestant; and forced
them since to defend and maintain those unhappy contro-
versies in religion, with arms and weapons of another nature
than were used or known in the church of Rome when
Bellarmine died; and which probably will in time under-
mine the very foundation that supports it.

Such a levity, and propensity to change, is commonly
attended with great infirmities in, and no less reproach and
prejudice to the person ; but the sincerity of his heart was
so conspicuous, and without the least temptation of any
corrupt end ; and the innocence and candour of his nature
so evident, and without any perverseness ; that all who knew
him clearly discerned, that all those restless motions and
fluctuations proceeded only from the warmth and jealousy
of his own thoughts, in a too nice inquisition for truth.
Neither the books of the adversary, nor any of their persons,
though he was acquainted with the best of both, had ever
made great impression upon him; all his doubts grew out
of himself, when he assisted his scruples with all the strength
of his own reason, and was then too hard for himself;
but finding as little quiet and repose in those victories, he
quickly recovered, by a new appeal to his own judgment;
so that he was, in truth, upon the matter, in all his sallies
and retreats, his own convert ; though he was not so totally
divested of all thoughts of this world, but that when he

MR. CHILLINGWORTH, 309

was ready for it, he admitted some great and considerable
churchmen to be sharers with him in his public conversion.

Whilst he was in perplexity, or rather some passionate
disinclination to the religion he had been educated in, he
had the misfortune to have much acquaintance with one
Mr. Lugar, a minister of that church; a man of a compe-
tency of learning in those points most controverted with
the Romanists, but of no acute parts of wit or judgment;
and wrought so far upon him, by weakening and enervating
those arguments, by which he found he was governed, (as
he had all the logic, and all the rhetoric, that was necessary
to persuade very powerfully men of the greatest talents,)
that the poor man, not able to live long in doubt, too hastily
deserted his own church, and betook himself to the Roman :
nor could all the arguments and reasons of Mr. Chilling-
worth make him pause in the expdition he was using, or
reduce him from that church after he had given himself to
it ; but he had always a great animosity against him, for
having (as he said) unkindly betrayed him, and carried him
into another religion, and there left him. So unfit are some
constitutions to be troubled with doubts after they are once
fixed.

He did really believe all war to be unlawful ; and did not
think that the Parliament (whose proceedings he perfectly
abhorred) did in truth intend to involve the nation in a civil
war, till after the battle of Edge-hill ; and then he thought
any expedient or stratagem that was like to put a speedy
end to it, to be the most commendable : and so having too
mathematically conceived an engine, that should move so
lightly as to be a breastwork in all encounters and assaults
in the field, he carried it, to make the experiment, into that
part of his majesty's army, which was only in that winter

3IO SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

season in the field, under the command of the lord Hopton,
in Hampshire, upon the borders of Sussex ; where he was
shut up in the castle of Arundel ; which was forced, after
a short, sharp siege, to yield for want of victual ; and poor
Mr. Chillingworth with it, falling into the rebels' hands ; and
being most barbarously treated by them, especially by that
clergy which followed them; and being broken with sick-
ness, contracted by the ill accommodation, and want of meat
and fire during the siege, which was in a terrible season of
frost and snow, he died shortly after in prison. He was a
man of excellent parts, and of a cheerful disposition; void
of all kind of vice, and endued with many notable virtues ;
of a very public heart, and an indefatigable desire to do
good; his only unhappiness proceeded from his sleeping
too little, and thinking too much ; which sometimes threw
him into violent fevers.

Mr. Hyde's unpleasant beception.

There happened an accident, at Mr. Hyde's first coming
to York, which he used often to speak of, and to be very
merry at. One of the King's servants had provided a lodging
for him, so that when he alighted at the Court, he sent his
servants thither, and stayed himself at the Court till after
supper, and till the King went into his chamber ; and then he
had a guide, who went with him, and conducted him to his
chamber; which he liked very well, and began to undress
himself. One of his servants wished that he had any other
lodging, and desired him not to lie there : he asked why, it
seemed to him a good chamber : his servant answered, that
the chamber was good, but the people of the house the worst
he ever saw, and such as he was confident would do him

MR, HYDE'S UNPLEASANT RECEPTION, 3II

some mischief: at which wondering, his servant told him,
that the persons of the house seemed to be of some con-
dition by their habit that was very good; and that the
servants, when they came thither, found the master and
mistress in the lower room, who received them civilly, and
shewed them the chamber where their master was to lodge,
and wished them to call for any thing they wanted, and so
left them : that shortly after, one of them went down, and
the mistress of the house being again in the lower room,
where it seems she usually sat, she asked him what his
master's name was, which he told her: 'What,' said she,
' that Hyde that is of the house of commons ? ' and he
answering ' Yes,' she gave a great shriek, and cried out, that
he should not lodge in her house ; cursing him with many
bitter execrations. Upon the noise, her husband came in ;
and when she told him who it was that was to lodge in the
chamber above, he swore a great oath that he should not ;
and that he would rather set his house on fire than entertain
him in it. The servant stood amazed, knowing that his
master had never been in or near that city, and desired to
know what offence he had committed against them ; he told
them, he was confident his master did not know them, nor
could be known to them. The man answered, after two or
three curses, that he knew him well enough, and that he had
undone him, and his wife, and his children; and so, after
repeating some new bitter curses, he concluded, that he
would set his house on fire, as soon as the other should set
his foot in it ; and so he and his wife went away in a great
rage into an inner room, and clapped the door to them.

When his servant had made this relation to him, he was
no less surprised ; knew not what to make of it ; asked
whether the people were drunk; was assured that they were

312 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

very sober, and appeared before this passion to be well bred.
He sent to desire the master of the house to come to him,
that they might confer together; and that he would im-
mediately depart his house, if he desired it. He received no
answer, but that he and his wife were gone to bed : upon
which he said no more, but that, if they were gone to bed,
he would go to bed too ; and did accordingly. Though he
was not disturbed in the night, the morning was not at all
calmer; the master and the mistress stormed as much as
ever, and would not be persuaded to speak with him ; but he
then understood the reason : the man of the house had been
an attorney in the court of the president and council of the
north, in great reputation and practice there; and thereby
got a very good livelihood; with which he had lived in
splendour ; and Mr. Hyde had sat in the chair of that com-
mittee, and had carried up the votes of the Commons against
that court, to the House of Peers ; upon which it was dis-
solved: which he confessed was a better reason for being
angry with him than many others had, who were as angry,
and persecuted him more. However, he thought himself
obliged to remove the eyesore from them, and to quit the
lodging that had been assigned to him ; and he was much
better accommodated by the kindness of a good prebendary
of the church. Dr. Hodshon, who sent to invite him to lodge
in his house, as soon as he heard he was come to town;
where he resided as long as the Court stayed there.

The Makquis of Obmond, Lobd Colepepper,
Secbetaby Nicholas.

The Marquis of Ormond was the person of the greatest
quality, estate, and reputation, who had frankly engaged bis

MARQUIS OF ORMOND, LORD COLEPEPPER, ETC. 313

person and his fortune in the King's service from the first
hour of the troubles, and pursued it with that courage and
constancy, that when the King was murdered, and he
deserted by the Irish, contrary to the articles of the peace
which they had made with him, and when he could make no
longer defence, he refused all the conditions which Cromwell
offered, who would have given him all his vast estate, if he
would have been contented to have lived quietly in some of
his own houses, without further concerning himself in the
quarrel; and transported himself, without so much as ac-
cepting a pass from his authority, in a little weak vessel into
France, where he found the King, from whom he never
parted till he returned with him into England. And having
thus merited as much as a subject can do from a prince, he
had much more credit and esteem with the King than any
other man : and the lustre the chancellor was in, was no less
from the declared friendship the marquis had for him, than
from the great trust his majesty reposed in him.

The lord Colepepper was a man of great parts, a very
sharp and present wit, and an universal understanding; so
that few men filled a place in council with more sufficiency,
or expressed themselves upon any subject that occurred with
more weight and vigour. He had been trusted by the late
King (who had a singular opinion of his courage and other
abilities) to wait upon the prince when he left his father, and
continued still afterwards with him, or in his service, and in
a good correspondence with the chancellor.

Secretary Nicholas was a man of general good reputation
with all men, of unquestionable integrity and long experience
in the service of the crown ; whom the late King trusted as
much as any man to his death. He was one of those who
were excepted by the parliament from pardon or compo-

314 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

sition, and so was compelled to leave the kingdom shortly
after Oxford was delivered up, when the King was in the
hands of the Scots. The present King continued him in the
office of secretary of state, which he had so long held under
his father. He was a man of great gravity, and without any
ambitious or private designs ; and had so fast a friendship
with the chancellor for many years, that he was very well
content, and without any jealousy for his making many
despatches and other transactions, which more immediately
related to his office, and which indeed were always made
with his privity and concurrence.

The Eakl op Lauthekdalb.

The Earl of Lautherdale, who had been very eminent in
contriving and carrying on the King's service, when his
majesty was crowned in Scotland, and thereby had wrought
himself into a very particular esteem with the King, had
marched with him into England, and behaved himself well
at Worcester, where he was taken prisoner; had, besides
that merit, the suffering an imprisonment from that very
time with some circumstances of extreme rigour, being a
man against whom Cromwell had always professed a more
than ordinary animosity. And though the scene of his
imprisonment had been altered, according to the alteration
of the governments which succeeded, yet he never found
himself in complete liberty, till the King was proclaimed by
the Parliament, and then he thought it not necessary to
repair into Scotland for authority or recommendation; but
sending his advice thither to his friends, he made haste to
transport himself with the Parliament Commissioners to the
Hague, where he was very well received by the King, and

THE EARL OF LAUTHERDALE, 315

left nothing undone on his part that might cultivate those old
inclinations, being a man of as much address and insinuation,
in which that nation excels, as was then amongst them. He
applied himself to those who were most trusted by the King
with a marvellous importunity, and especially to the chancel-
lor, with whom, as often as they had ever been together, he
had a perpetual war. He now magnified his constancy with
loud elogiums, as well to his face as behind his back; re-
membered * many sharp expressions formerly used by the
chancellor, which he confessed had then made him mad,
though upon recollection afterwards he had found them to
be very reasonable/ He was very polite in all his dis-
courses ; called himself and his nation ' a thousand traitors
and rebels ; ' and in his discourses frequently said, ' When I
was a traitor,' or ' When I was in rebellion ; ' and seemed not
equally delighted with any argument, as when he scornfully
spake of the covenant, upon which he brake a hundred jests.
In sum, all his discourses were such as pleased all the
company, who commonly believed all he said, and concurred
with him. He renewed his old acquaintance and familiarity
with Middleton, by all the protestations of friendship ; as-
sured him ' of the unanimous desire of Scodand to be under
his command ; ' and declared to the King, * that he could not
send any man into Scotland, who would be able to do him
so much service in the place of commissioner as Middleton ;
and that it was in his majesty's power to unite that whole
kingdom to his service as one man.' All which pleased the
King well : so that, by the time that the commissioners ap-
peared at London, upon some old promise in Scodand, or
new inclination upon his long s fferings, which he magnified
enough, the King gave him the signet, and declared him to
be secretary of state of that kingdom; and at the same

31 6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

time declared that Middleton should be his commissioner ;
the earl of Glencarne his chancellor ; the earl of Rothes, who
was likewise one of the commissioners, and his person very-
agreeable to the King, president of the council ; and conferred
all other inferior offices upon men most notable for their
affection to the old government of church and state.

Sib Habby Bennet and Mb. William
coventby.

But there were two persons now introduced to act upon
that stage, who disdained to receive orders, or to have any
method prescribed to them ; who took upon them to judge
of other men's defects, and thought their own abilities beyond
exception.

The one was sir Harry Bennet, who had procured him-
self to be sent agent or envoy into Spain, as soon as the
King came from Brussels ; being a man very well known to
the King, and for his pleasant and agreeable humour accept-
able to him: and he remained there at much ease till the
King returned to England, having waited upon his majesty
at Fuentarabia in the close of the treaty between the two
crowns, and there appeared by his dexterity to have gained
good credit in the court of Spain, and particularly with don
Lewis de Haro ; and by that short negotiation he renewed
and confirmed the former good inclinations of his master to
him. He had been obliged always to correspond with the
chancellor, by whom his instructions had been drawn, and to
receive the King's pleasure by his signification ; which he had
always done, and professed much respect and submission to
him : though whatever orders he received, and how positive
soever, in particulars which highly concerned the King's

S/I? HARRY BENNET AND MR. W. COVENTRY. 317

honour and dignity, he observed them so far and no further
than his own humour disposed him ; and in some cases flatly
disobeyed what the King enjoined, and did directly the con-
trary, as in the case of the Jesuit Peter Talbot ; who having
carried himself with notorious insolence towards the King in
Flanders, had transported himself into England, offered his
service to Cromwell, and after his death was employed by
the ruling powers into Spain, upon his undertaking to pro-
cure orders, by which the King should not be suffered longer
to reside in Flanders: of all which his majesty having
received full advertisement, he made haste to send orders
into Spain to sir Harry Bennet, ' that he should prepare don
Lewis for his reception by letting him know, that though
that Jesuit was his natural subject, he had so misbehaved
himself, that he looked upon him as a most [inveterate]
enemy and a traitor ; and therefore his majesty desired, that
he might receive no countenance there, being, as he well
knew, sent by the greatest rebels to do him prejudice.'

This was received by sir Harry Bennet before the arrival
of the man, who found no inconvenience by it ; and instead
of making any complaint concerning him, he writ word,
' that Talbot had more credit than he in that court ; that he
professed to have great devotion for the King; and therefore
his advice was, that the King would have a better opinion of
him, and employ him in his service : ' and himself received
him into his full confidence, and consulted with no man so
much as with him ; which made all men believe that he was
a Roman Catholic, who did believe that he had any religion.
But he had made his full excuse and defence for all this at
the interview at Fuentarabia, from whence the King returned
with marvellous satisfaction in his discretion as well as in his
affection. And until, contrary to all his expectation, he

31 8 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

heard of the King's return into England, all his thoughts were
employed how to make benefit of the duke of York's coming
into Spain to be admiral of the galleys ; which he writ to
hasten all that might be.

Though he continued his formal correspondence with the
chancellor, which he could not decline ; yet he held a more
secret intelligence with Daniel O'Neile of the bedchamber,
with whom he had a long friendship. As soon as the King
arrived in England, he trusted O'Neile to procure any direc-
tion from the King immediately in those particulars which
himself advised. And so he obtained the King's consent, for
his consenting to the old league that had been made between
England and Spain in the time of the late King, and which
Spain had expressly refused to renew after the death of that
King, (which was suddenly proclaimed in Spain, without ever
being consulted in England;) and presently after leave to
return into England without any letter of revocation : both
which were procured, or rather signified, by O'Neile, without
the privity of the chancellor or of either of the secretaries of
state ; nor did either of them know that he was from Madrid,
till they heard he was in Paris, from whence he arrived in
London in a very short time after. So far the chancellor
was from that powerful interest or influence, when his credit
was at highest.

But he was very well received by the King, in whose
affections he had a very good place : and shortly after his
arrival, though not so soon as he thought his high merit
deserved, his majesty conferred the only place then void
(and that had been long promised to a noble person, who
had behaved himself very well towards his majesty and his
blessed father) upon him, which was the office of privy
purse; received him into great familiarity, and into the

S/J^ HARRY BENNET AND MR. W. COVENTRY. 319

nightly meeting, in which he filled a principal place to all
intents and purposes. The King very much desired to have
him elected a member in the House of Commons, and com-
manded the chancellor to use his credit to obtain it upon the
first opportunity: and in obedience to that command, he
did procure him to be chosen about the time we are now
speaking of, when the Parliament assembled in February,

The other person was Mr. William Coventry, the youngest
son to a very wise father, the lord Coventry, who had been
lord keeper of the great seal of England for many years with
a universal reputation. This gentleman was young whilst
the war continued : yet he had put himself before the end of
it into the army, and had the command of a foot company,
and shortly after travelled into France ; where he remained
whilst there was any hope of getting another army for the
King, or that either of the other crowns would engage in his
quarrel. But when all thoughts of that were desperate, he
returned into England ; where he remained for many years
without the least correspondence with any of his friends
beyond the seas, and with so little reputation of caring
much for the King's restoration, that some of his own family,
who were most zealous for his majesty's service, and had
always some signal part in any reasonable design, took care
of nothing more, than that nothing they did should come to
his knowledge ; and gave the same advice to those about the
King, with whom they corresponded, to use the same caution.
Not that any body suspected his being inclined to the rebels,
or to do any act of treachery ; but that the pride and cen-
soriousness of his nature made him unconversable, and his
despair that any thing could be effectually done made him
incompetent to consult the ways of doing it. Nor had he
any conversation with any of the King's party, nor they with

320 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

him, till the King was proclaimed in London ; and then he
came over with the rest to offer his service to his majesty at
the Hague, and had the good fortune to find the duke of
York without a secretary. For though he had a Walloon
that was, in respect of the languages of which he was master,
fit for that function in the army, and had discharged it very
well for some years ; yet for the province the duke was now
to govern, having the office of high admiral of England, he
was without any fit person to discharge the office of secretary
with any tolerable sufficiency: so that Mr, Coventry no
sooner offered his service to the duke, but he was received
into that employment, very honourable under such a master,
and in itself of the greatest profit next the secretaries of
state, if they in that respect be to be preferred.

He had been w^U known to the King and duke in France,
and had a brother whom the King loved well and had
promised to take into his bedchamber, as he shortly after
did, Harry Coventry, who was beloved by everybody, which
made them glad of the preferment of the other ; whilst they
who knew the worst of him, yet knew him able to discharge
that office, and so contributed to the duke's receiving him.
He was a sullen, ill-natured, proud man, whose ambition
had no limits, nor could be contained within any. His parts
were very good, if he had not thought them better than any
other man's ; and he had diligence and industry, which men
of good parts are too often without, which made [him]
quickly to have at least credit and power enough with the
duke ; and he was without those vices which were too much
in request, and which make men most unfit for business and
the trust that cannot be separated from it.

He had sat a member in the House of Commons, from the
beginning of the Parliament, with very much reputation of

S/I^ HARRY BENNET AND MR. W. COVENTRY. 32 1

an able man. He spake pertinently, and was always very
acceptable and well heard ; and was one of those with whom
they, who were trusted by the King in conducting his affairs
in the Lower House, consulted very frequently ; but not so
much, nor relied equally upon his advice, as upon some few
others who had much more experience, which he thought
was of use only to ignorant and dull men, and that men of
sagacity could see and determine at a little light, and ought
rather to persuade and engage men to do that which they
judged fit, than consider what themselves were inclined to
do : and so did not think himself to be enough valued and
relied upon, and only to be made use of to the celebrating
the designs and contrivance of other men, without being
signal in the managery, which he aspired to be. Nor did
any man envy him the province, if he could indeed have
governed it, and that others who had more useful talents
would have been ruled by him. However, being a man who
naturally loved faction and contradiction, he often made
experiments how far he could prevail in the House, by
declining the method that was prescribed, and proposing
somewhat to the House that was either beside or contrary to
it, and which the others would not oppose, believing, in
regard of his relation, that he had received newer directions :
and then if it succeeded well, (as sometimes it did,) he had
argument enough to censure and inveigh against the chancel-
lor, for having taken so ill measures of the temper and affec-
tions of the House ; for he did not dissemble in his private
conversation (though his outward carriage was very fair) that
he had no kindness for him, which in gratitude he ought to
have had; nor had he any thing to complain of from him,
but that he wished well and did all he could to defend and
support a very worthy person, who had deserved very well

Y

323 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

from the King, against whom he manifested a great and
causeless animosity, and desired to oppress for his own
profit, of which he had an immoderate appetite.

SIB JOHIT LAWSOW.

There was another almost irreparable loss this day in sir
John Lawson, who was admiral of a squadron, and of so
eminent skill and conduct in all maritime occasions, that
his counsel was most considered in all debates, and the
greatest seamen were ready to receive advice from him. In
the middle of the battle he received a shot with a musket-
bullet upon the knee, with which he fell : and finding that
he could no more stand, and was in great torment, he sent
to the duke to desire him to send another man to command
his ship ; which he presently did. The wound was not con-
ceived to be mortal ; and they made haste to send him on
shore, as far as Deptford or Greenwich, where for some days
there was hope of his recovery; but shortly his wound gan-
grened, and so he died with very great courage, and profes-
sion of an entire duty and fidelity to the King.

He was indeed of all the men of that time, and of that
extraction and education, incomparably the modestest and
the wisest man, and most worthy to be confided in. He
was of Yorkshire near Scarborough, of that rank of people
who are bred to the sea from their cradle. And a young
man of that profession he was, when the parliament first
possessed themselves of the royal navy; and Hull being in
their hands, all the northern seamen easily betook them-
selves to their service: and his industry and sobriety made
him quickly taken notice of, and to be preferred from one
degree to another, till from a common sailor he was pro-

SIR JOHN LAWSON, 323

moted to be a captain of a small vessel, and from thence
to the command of the best ships.

He had been in all the actions performed by Blake, some
of which were very stupendous, and in all the battles which
Cromwell had fought with the Dutch, in which he was a
signal officer and very much valued by him. He was of
that classis of religion which were called Independents, most
of which were anabaptists, who were generally believed to
have most aversion to the King, and therefore employed in
most offices of trust. He was commander in chief of the
fleet when Richard was thrown out : and when the contest
grew between the rump and Lambert he brought the whole
fleet into the river, and declared for that which was called
the Parliament ; which brake the neck of all other designs,
though he intended only the better setdement of the com-
monwealth.

When the council of state was settled between the disso-
lution of the rump and the calling the Parliament, they did
not like the temper of the fleet, nor especially of Lawson,
who, under the title of vice-admiral, had the whole com-
mand of the fleet, which was very strong, and in which
there were many captains they liked well : yet they durst
not remove the vice-admiral, lest his interest in the seamen,
which was very great, should give them new trouble. The
expedient they resolved upon was to send colonel Mountague
as admiral to command the fleet, without removing Lawson,
who continued still in his command, and could not refuse
to be commanded by Mountague, who had always been his
superior officer, and who had likewise a great interest in
very many of the officers and seamen. Yet Mountague,
who brought with him a firm resolution to serve the King,
which was well known to his majesty, had no confidence

Y 2

324 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

in Lawson till the Parliament had proclaimed the King : and
when he brought the fleet to Scheveling to receive the King,
all men looked upon the vice-admiral as a great anabaptist,
and not fit to be trusted. But when the King and the duke
had conferred with him, they liked him very well : and he was
from time to time in the command of vice-admiral in all the
fleets which were sent into the Mediterranean. Nor did any
man perform his duty better : he caused all persons how well
qualified soever, who he knew were afi"ected to a republic,
to be dismissed from the service, and brought very good order
into his own ship, and frequented the church-prayers him-
self, and made all the seamen do so. He was very remark-
able in his affection and countenance towards all those who
had faithfully served the King, and never commended any
body to the duke to be preferred but such ; and performed
to his death all that could be expected from a brave and
an honest man.

It looked like some presage that he had of his own death,
that before he went to sea he came to the treasurer and the
chancellor, to whom he had always borne much respect, and
spake to them in a dialect he had never before used, for he
was a very generous man, and lived in his house decently
and plentifully, and had never made any the least suit or
pretence for money. Now he told them, ' that he was going
upon an expedition in which many honest men must lose
their lives : and though he had no apprehension of himself,
but that God would protect him as he had often done in
the same occasions, yet he thought it became him against
the worst to make his condition known to them, and the
rather, because he knew he was esteemed generally to be
rich.' He said, 'in truth he thought himself so some few
months since, when he was worth eight or nine thousand

SIR JOHN LAWSON. 325

pounds : but the marriage of his daughter to a young gen-
tleman in quality and fortune much above him, (Mr. Richard
Norton of Southwick in Hampshire, who had fallen in love
with her, and his father, out of tenderness to his son, had
consented to it,) had obliged him to give her such a portion
as might in some degree make her worthy of so great a
fortune; and that he had not reserved so much to himself
and wife, and all his other children, which were four or five,
as he had given to that daughter.' He desired them there-
fore, ' that if he should miscarry in this enterprise, the King
would give his wife two hundred pounds a year for her life ;
if he lived, he desired nothing. He hoped he should make
some provision for them by his own industry: nor did he
desire any other grant or security for this two hundred
pounds yearly, than the King's word and promise, and that
they would see it effectual.' The suit was so modest, and
the ground of making it so just and reasonable, that they
willingly informed his majesty of it, who as graciously granted
it, and spake himself to him of it with very obliging circum-
stances ; so that the poor man went very contentedly to his
work, and perished as gallantly in it with an universal lamen-
tation. And it is to be presumed that the promise was as
well performed to his wife : sure it is, it was exactly complied
with whilst either of those two persons had any power.

The victory and triumph of that day was surely very great,
and a just argument of public joy: how it came to be no
greater shall be said anon. And the trouble and grief in
many noble families, for the loss of so many worthy and
gallant persons, could not be but very lamentable in wives,
in fathers and mothers, and the other nearest relations : but
no sorrow was equal, at least none so remarkable, as the
King's was for the earl of Falmouth. They who knew his

326 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

majesty best, and had seen how unshaken he had stood in
other very terrible assaults, were amazed at the flood of
tears he shed upon this occasion. The immenseness of the
victory, and the consequences that might have attended it;
the safety and preservation of his brother with so much
glory, on whose behalf he had had so terrible apprehensions
during the three days' fight, having by the benefit of the
wind heard the thunder of the ordnance from the beginning,
even after by the lessening of the noise, as from a greater
distance, he concluded that the enemy was upon flight : yet
all this, and the universal joy that he saw in the countenance
of all men for the victory and the safety of the duke, made
no impression in him towards the mitigation of his passion
for the loss of this young favourite, in whom few other men
had ever observed any virtue or quality which they did not
wish their best friends without ; and very many did believe
that his death was a great ingredient and considerable part
of the victory. He was young and of insatiable ambition ;
and a little more experience might have taught him all
things which his weak parts were capable of. But they who
observed the strange degree of favour he had on the sudden
arrived to, even from a detestation the King had towards
him, and concluded from thence, and more from the deep
sorrow the King was possessed with for his death, to what
a prodigious height he might have reached in a little time
more, were not at all troubled that he was taken out of the
way.

The Stuabt family.

The truth is, it was the unhappy fate and constitution
of that family, that they trusted naturally the judgments of
those, who were as much inferior to them in understanding

THE STUART FAMILY, 327

as they were in quality, before their own, which was very
good ; and suffered even their natures, which disposed them
to virtue and justice, to be prevailed upon and altered and
corrupted by those, who knew how to make use of some
one infirmity that they discovered in them; and by com-
plying with that, and cherishing and serving it, they by
degrees wrought upon the mass, and sacrificed all the other
good inclinations to that single vice. They were too much
inclined to like men at first sight, and did not love the
conversation of men of many more years than themselves,
and thought age not only troublesome but impertinent.
They did not love to deny, and less to strangers than to
their friends; not out of bounty or generosity, which was
a flower that did never grow naturally in the heart of either
of the families, that of Stuart or the other of Bourbon, but
out of an unskilfulness and defect in the countenance : and
when they prevailed with themselves to make some pause
rather [than] to deny, importunity removed all resolution,
which they knew neither how to shut out nor to defend
themselves against, even when it was evident enough that
they had much rather not consent; which often made that
which would have looked like bounty lose all its grace and
lustre.

If the duke seemed to be more firm and fixed in his
resolutions, it was rather from an obstinacy in his will,
which he defended by aversion from the debate, than [from]
the constancy of his judgment, which was more subject to
persons than to arguments, and so as changeable at least
as the King's, which was in greatest danger by surprise:
and from this want of steadiness and irresolution (whence-
soever the infirmity proceeded) most of the misfortunes,
which attended either of them or their servants who served

3^8 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

them honestly, had [their] rise and growth ; of which there
will be shortly an occasion, and too frequently, to say much
more. In the mean time it cannot be denied, and was ob-
served and confessed by all, that never any prince had a
more humble and dutiful condescension and submission to
an elder brother, than the duke had towards the King : his
whole demeanour and behaviour was so full of reverence,
that [it] might have given example to be imitated by those,
who ought but did not observe a greater distance. And the
conscience and resentment he had within himself, for the
sally he had made in Flanders, made him after so wary in
his actions, and so abhorring to hear any thing that might
lessen his awe for the King, that no man who had most
credit with [him] durst approach towards any thing of that
kind ; so that there was never less ground of jealousy than
of him. And (as was said before) the King (who was in
his nature so far from any kind of jealousy, that he was
too much inclined to make interpretations of many words
and actions which might reasonably harbour other appre-
hensions) was as incapable of any infusions which might
lessen his confidence in his brother, as any noble and vir-
tuous mind could be.

The Eakl of Southampton.

There happened at this time an accident that made a fatal
breach into the chancellor's fortune, with a gap wide enough
to let in all that ruin which soon after was poured upon him.
The earl of Southampton, the treasurer, with whom he had
an entire fast friendship, and who, when they were together,
had credit enough with the King and at the board to prevent,
at least to defer, any very unreasonable resolution, was now

THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, 329

ready to expire with the stone ; a disease that had kept him
in great pain many months, and for which he had sent to
Paris for a surgeon to be cut, but had deferred it too long
by the physicians not agreeing what the disease was : so
that at last he grew too weak to apply that remedy. They
who had with so much industry, and as they thought
certainty, prevailed with the King at Oxford to have removed
him from that office, had never since intermitted the pur-
suing the design, and persuaded his majesty, 'that his
service had suffered exceedingly by his receding from his
purpose ; ' and did not think their triumph notorious enough,
if they suffered him to die in the office : insomuch as when
he grew so weak, that it is true he could not sign any orders
with his hand, which was four or five days before his death,
they had again persuaded the King to send for the staff.
But the chancellor again prevailed with him not to do so
ungracious an act to a servant who had served him and his
father so long and so eminently, to so little purpose as the
ravishing an office unseasonably, which must within five or
six days fall into his hands, as it did within less time, by his
death.

He was a person of extraordinary parts, of faculties very
discerning and a judgment very profound, great eloquence
in his delivery, without the least affectation of words, for he
always spake best on the sudden. In the beginning of the
troubles, he was looked upon amongst those lords who were
least inclined to the Court, and so most acceptable to the
people; he was in truth not obliged by the Court, and
thought himself oppressed by it, which his great spirit could
not bear ; and so he had for some years forbore to be much
seen there, which was imputed to a habit of melancholy, to
which he was naturally inclined, though it appeared more in

330 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

his countenance than in his conversation, which to those
with whom he was acquainted was very cheerful.

The great friendship that had been between their fathers
made many beheve, that there was a confidence between the
earl of Essex and him ; which was true to that degree as
could be between men of so different natures and under-
standings. And when they came to the Parliament in the
year 1640, they appeared both unsatisfied with the prudence
and politics of the court, and were not reserved in de-
claring it, when the great officers were called in question
for great transgressions in their several administrations : but
in the prosecution there was great difference in their passions
and their ends. The earl of Essex was a great lover of
justice, and could not have been tempted to consent to the
oppression of an innocent man : but in the discerning the
several species of guilt, and in the proportioning the degrees
of punishment to the degree of guilt, he had no faculties or
measure of judging; nor was above the temptation of
general prejudice, and it may be of particular disobligations
and resentments, which proceeded from the weakness of his
judgment, not the malice of his nature. The earl of South-
ampton was not only an exact observer of justice, but so
clear-sighted a discerner of all the circumstances which
might disguise it, that no false or fraudulent colour could
impose upon him ; and of so sincere and impartial a
judgment, that no prejudice to the person of any man
made him less awake to his cause; but believed that there
is * aliquid et in hostem nefas,' and that a very ill man might
be very unjustly dealt with.

This difference of faculties divided them quickly in the
progress of those businesses, in the beginning whereof they
were both of one mind. They both thought the Crown had

THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON. 33 1

committed great excesses in the exercise of its power, which
the one thought could not be otherwise prevented, than by
[its] being deprived of it: the consequence whereof the
other too well understood, and that the absolute taking
away that power that might do hurt, would likewise take
away some of that which was necessary for the doing good ;
and that a monarch cannot be deprived of a fundamental
right, without such a lasting wound to monarchy itself, that
they who have most shelter from it and stand nearest to it,
the nobility, could [not] continue long in their native strength,
if the Crown received a maim. Which if the earl of Essex
had comprehended, who set as great a price upon nobility as
any man living did, he could never have been wrought upon
to have contributed to his own undoing; which the other
knew was unavoidable, if the King were undone. So they
were both satisfied that the earl of Strafford had counten-
anced some high proceedings, which could not be supported
by any rules of justice, though the policy of Ireland, and
the constant course observed in the government of [that
kingdom], might have excused and justified many of the
high proceedings with which he was reproached : and they
who had now the advantage-ground, by being thought to be
most solicitous for the liberty of the subject, and most
vigilant that the same outrages might not be transplanted
out of the other kingdom into this, looked upon him as
having the strongest influence upon the counsels of England
as well as governor of Ireland. Then he had declared him-
self so averse and irreconcilable to the sedition and rebellion
of the Scots, that the whole nation had contracted so great an
animosity against him, that less than his life could not secure
them from the fears they had conceived of him : and this
fury of theirs met with a full concurrence from those of the

^^2 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

English, who could not compass their own ends without
their help. And this combination too soon, drew the earl
of Essex, who had none of their ends, into their party, to
satisfy his pride and his passion, in removing a man who
seemed to have no regard for him ; for the stories, which
were then made of disobligations from the earl of Strafford
towards the earl of Clanrickard, were without any foundation
of truth. *****

His own natural disposition inclined to melancholic ; and
his retirement from all conversation, in which he might have
given some vent to his own thoughts, with the discontinu-
ance of all those bodily exercises and recreations to which
he had been accustomed, brought many diseases upon him,
which made his life less pleasant to him ; so that from the
time of the King's return, between the gout and the stone,
he underwent great affliction. Yet upon the happy return
of his majesty he seemed to recover great vigour of mind,
and undertook the charge of high treasurer with much
alacrity and industry, as long as he had any hope to get
a revenue settled proportionable to the expense of the crown,
(towards which his interest and authority and counsel con-
tributed very much,) or to reduce the expense of the Court
within the limits of the revenue. But when he discerned
that the last did and would still make the former impossible,
(upon which he made as frequent and lively representations
as he thought himself obliged to do,) and when he saw
irregularities and excesses to abound, and to overflow all
the banks which should restrain them ; he grew more dis-
spirited, and weary of that province, which exposed him to
the reproaches which others ought to undergo, and which
suppHed him not with authority to prevent them. And he
had then withdrawn from the burden, which he infinitely

THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON. 2>?)?>

desired to be eased of, but out of conscience of his duty
to the King, who he knew would suffer in it ; and that the
people who knew his affections very well, and already
opened their mouths wide against the license of the Court,
would believe it worse and incurable if he quitted the station
he was in. This, and this only, prevailed with him still to
undergo that burden, even when he knew that they who
enjoyed the benefit of it were as weary that he should be
disquieted with it.

He was a man of great and exemplary virtue and piety,
and very regular in his devotions; yet was not generally
believed by the bishops to have an affection keen enough
for the government of the Church, because he was willing
and desirous, that somewhat more might have been done
to gratify the presbyterians than they thought just. But the
truth is ; he had a perfect detestation of all the presbyterian
principles, nor had ever had any conversation with their
persons, having during all those wicked times strictly ob-
served the devotions prescribed by the Church of England ;
in the performance whereof he had always an orthodox
chaplain, [one of those] deprived of their estates by that
government, which disposed of the church as well as of the
state. But it is very true, that upon the observation of the
great power and authority which the presbyterians usurped
and were possessed of, even when Cromwell did all he could
to divest them of it, and applied all his interest to oppress
or suppress them, insomuch as they did often give a check
to and divert many of his designs ; he did believe that their
numbers and their credit had been much greater than in
truth [they were]. And then some persons, who had credit
with him by being thought to have an equal aversion from
them, persuaded him to believe, that they would be satisfied

334 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

with very easy concessions, which would bring no prejudice
or inconvenience to the Church. And this imagination pre-
vailed with him, and more with others who loved them not,
to wish that there might be some indulgence towards them.
But that which had the strongest influence upon him, and
which made him less apprehensive of the venom of any
other sect, was the extreme jealousy he had of the power
and malignity of the Roman catholics; whose behaviour
from the time of the suppression of the regal power, and
more scandalously at and from the time of the murder of
the King, had very much irreconciled him towards them :
and he did believe, that the King and the duke of York had
a better opinion of their fidehty, and less jealousy of their
affections, than they deserved; and so thought there could
not be too great an union of all other interests to control
the exorbitance of that. And upon this argument, with his
private friends, he was more passionate than in any other.

He had a marvellous zeal and affection for the royal
family; insomuch as the two sons of the duke of York
falling both into distempers, (of which they both shortly
after died,) very few days before his death, he was so mar-
vellously affected with it, that many believed the trouble of
it, or a presage what might befall the kingdom by it, hast-
ened his death some hours: and in the agony of death,
the very morning he died, he sent to know how they did;
and seemed to receive some relief, when the messenger
returned with the news, that they were both alive and in
some degree mended.

THE FALL OF CLARENDON. 335

The pall of Clakendon.

Within few days after his wife's death, the King vouchsafed
to come to his house to condole with him, and used many
gracious expressions to him : yet within less than a fortnight
the duke (who was seldom a day without doing him the
honour to see him) came to him, and with very much trouble
told him, ' that such a day, that was past, walking with the
King in the park, his majesty asked him how the chancellor
did ; to which his highness had made answer, that he was
the [most] disconsolate person he ever [saw] ; and that he
had lamented himself to him not only upon the loss of his
wife, but out of apprehension that his majesty had of late
withdrawn his countenance from him : to which his majesty
replied, that he wondered he should think so, but that he
would speak more to him of that subject the next day. And
that that morning his majesty had held a long discourse with
him, in which he told him, that he had received very particu-
lar and certain intelligence, that when the Parliament should
meet again, they were resolved to impeach the chancellor,
who was grown very odious to [them], not only for his
having opposed them in all those things upon which they
had set their hearts, but that they had been informed that he
had proposed and advised their dissolution; which had
enraged them to that degree, that they had taken a resolution
as soon as they came together again to send up an impeach-
ment against him ; which would be a great dishonour to his
majesty, and obstruct all his affairs, nor should he be able to
protect him or divert them > and therefore that it would be
necessary for his service, and Hkewise for the preservation of
the chancellor, that he should deliver up the seal to him. All
which he desired the duke ' (who confessed that he had like-

^^6 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

wise received the same advertisement) ' to inform him of :
and that the chancellor himself should choose the way and
the manner of delivering up the seal, whether he would wait
upon the King and give it into his own hand, or whether the
King should send a secretary or a privy counsellor for it.'
When the duke had said all that the King had given him in
charge, he declared himself ' to be much unsatisfied with the
King's resolution; and [that] though he had received the
same advertisement, and believed that there was a real com-
bination and conspiracy against him, yet he knew the
chancellor's innocence would not be frighted with it.'

The chancellor was indeed as much surprised with this
relation, as he could have been at the sight of a warrant for
his execution. He told the duke, ' that he did not wonder
that the King and his highness had been informed of such a
resolution ; for that they who had contrived the conspiracy,
and done all they could to make it prevalent, could best
inform his majesty and his highness of what would probably
fall out.' And thereupon he informed the duke ' of what had
passed at the day of the last prorogation, and the discourse
and promise sir William Coventry had made to them, if they
had a mind to be rid of the chancellor : but,' he said, ' that
which only afflicted him was, that the King should have no
better opinion of his innocence and integrity, than to con-
clude that such a combination must ruin him. And he was
more troubled to find, that the King himself had so terrible
an apprehension of [their] power and [their] purposes, as if
they might do anything they had a mind to do. He did not
believe that he was so odious to the Parliament as he was
reported to be; if he were, it was only for his zeal to his
majesty's service, and his insisting upon what his majesty
had resolved : but he was confident that when his enemies

THE FALL OF CLARENDON. 337

had done all that their malice could suggest against him, it
would appear that the Parliament was not of their mind. He
wished that he might have the honour to speak with the
King, before he returned any answer to his commands/
The duke was pleased graciously to reply, ' that it was the
advice he intended to give him, that he should desire it ; and
that he doubted not but that he should easily prevail with the
King to come to his house, whither he had used so frequently
to come, and where he had been so few days before : ' and
at this time the chancellor was not only not well able to
walk ; besides that it was against the common rules of
decency to go so soon out of his house. When the duke
desired the King, that he would vouchsafe to go to Clarendon-
house, his majesty very readily consented to it ; and said, ' he
would go thither the next day.' But that and more days
passed ; and then he told the duke, ' that since he resolved
to take the seal, it would not be so fit for him to go thither ;
but he would send for the chancellor to come to his own
chamber in Whitehall, and he would go thither to him.'

In the mean time it began to be the discourse of the
Court : and the duchess, from whom the duke had yet con-
cealed it, came to be informed of it ; who presently went to
the King with some passion ; and the archbishop of Canter-
bury and the general accompanied her, who all besought the
King not to take such a resolution. And many other of the
Privy Council, with none of whom the chancellor had spoken,
taking notice of the rumour, attended the King with the same
suit and advice. To all whom his majesty answered, ' that
what he intended was for his good, and the only way to
preserve him.' He held longer discourse to the general,
' that he did believe by what his brother had told him, of the
extreme agony the chancellor was in upon the death of his

z

^^S SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

wife, that he had himself desired to be dismissed from his
office ; ' and bade the general * go to him, and bid him come
the next morning to his own chamber at Whitehall, and the
King would come thither to him/ And the general came to
him with great professions of kindness, which he had well
deserved from him, gave him a relation of all that had
passed with the King, and concluded, ' that what had been
done had been upon mistake ; and he doubted not, but that
upon conference with his majesty all things would be well
settled again to his content ; ' which no doubt he did at that
time believe as well as wish.

Upon Monday, the 26th of August, about ten of the
clock in the morning, the chancellor went to his chamber
in Whitehall, where he had not been many minutes, before
the King and the duke by themselves came into the room.
His majesty looked very graciously upon him, and made
him sit down; when the other acknowledged 'the honour
his majesty had done him, in admitting him into his presence
before he executed a resolution he had taken.' He said,
' that he had no suit to make to him, nor the least thought
to dispute with him, or to divert him from the resolution he
had taken ; but only to receive his determination from him-
self, and most humbly to beseech him to let him know
what fault he had committed, that had drawn this severity
upon him from his majesty.' The King told him, ' he had
not any thing to object against him ; but must always ac-
knowledge, that he had always served him honestly and
faithfully, and that he did believe that never king had a
better servant, and that he had taken this resolution for his
good and preservation, as well as for his own convenience
and security; and that he had verily believed that it had
been upon his consent and desire.' And thereupon his

THE FALL OF CLARENDOIV. 339

majesty entered upon a relation of all that had passed
between him and the duke, and * that he really thought his
brother had concurred with him in his opinion, as the only
way to preserve him/ In that discourse the duke sometimes
positively denied to have said somewhat, and explained other
things as not said to the purpose his majesty understood, or
that he ever implied that himself thought it fit.

The sum of what his majesty said was, ' that he was most
assured by information that could not deceive him, that the
Parliament was resolved, as soon as they should come
together again, to impeach the chancellor ; and then that his
innocence would no more defend and secure him against
their power, than the earl of Strafford had defended himself
against them : and,' he said, ' he was as sure, that his taking
the seal from him at this time would so well please the Par-
liament, that his majesty should thereby be able to preserve
him, and to provide for the passage of his own business, and
the obtaining all that he desired/ He said, 'he was sorry
that the business had taken so much air, and was so publicly
spoken of, that he knew not how to change his purpose ; *
which he seemed to impute to the passion of the duchess,
that had divulged it.

The chancellor told him, ' that he had not contributed to
the noise, nor had imparted it to his own children, till they
with great trouble informed him, that they heard it from
such and such persons,' whom they named, 'with some
complaint that it was concealed from them : nor did he then
come in hope to divert him from the resolution he had taken
in the matter itself/ He said, 'he had- but two things to
trouble him with. The first, that he would by no means
suffer it to be believed that he himself was willing to deliver
up the seal ; and that he should not think himself a gentle-

z 2

340 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

man, if he were willing to depart and withdraw himself from
the office, in a time when he thought his majesty would
have need of all honest men, and in which he thought he
might be able to do him some service. The second, that
he could not acknowledge this deprivation to be done in his
favour, or in order to do him good; but on the contrary,
that he looked upon it as the greatest ruin he could undergo,
by his majesty's own declaring his judgment upon him,
which would amount to little less than a confirmation of
those many libellous discourses which had been raised, and
would upon the matter expose him to the rage and fury of
the people, who had been with great artifice and industry
persuaded to believe, that he had been the cause and the
counsellor of all that they hked not. That he was so far
from fearing the justice of the Parliament, that he renounced
his majesty's protection or interposition towards his preserva-
tion: and that though the earl of Strafford had undergone
a sentence he did not deserve, yet he could not acknowledge
their cases to be parallel. That though that great person
had never committed any offence that could amount to
treason, yet he had done many things which he could not
justify, and which were transgressions against the law;
whereas he was not guilty of any action, whereof he did
not desire the law might be the judge. And if his majesty
himself should discover all that he had said to him in secret,
he feared not any censure that should attend it : if any body
could charge him with any crime or offence, he would most
willingly undergo the punishment that belonged to it.

' But,' he said, ' he doubted very much, that the throwing
off" an old servant, who had served the Crown in some trust
near thirty years, (who had the honour by the command of
his blessed father, who had left good evidence of the esteem

THE FALL OF CLARENDON, 341

he had of his fidelity, to wait upon his majesty when he went
out of the kingdom, and by the great blessing of God had
the honour to return with him again ; which no other coun-
sellor alive could say,) [on the] sudden, without any sugges-
tion of a crime, nay, with a declaration of innocence, would
call his majesty's justice and good-nature into question ; and
men would not know how securely to serve him, when they
should see it was in the power of three or four persons who
had never done him any notable service, nor were in the
opinion of those who knew them best like to do, to dispose
him to so ungracious an act.'

The King seemed very much troubled and irresolute ; then
repeated * the great power of the Parliament, and the clear
information he had of their purposes, which they were re-
solved to go through with, right or wrong ; and that his own
condition was such, that he could not dispute with them, but
was upon the matter at their mercy/

The chancellor told him, 'it was not possible for his
majesty to have any probable assurance what the Parliament
would do. And though he knew he had offended some of
the House of Commons, in opposing their desires in such
particulars as his majesty thought were prejudicial to his
service ; yet he did not doubt but his reputation was much
greater in both houses, than either of theirs who were known
to be his enemies, and to have this influence upon his
majesty, who were all known to be guilty of some trans-
gressions, which they would have been called in question for
in Parliament, if he had not very industriously, out of the
tenderness he had for his majesty's honour and service, pre-
vented it; somewhat whereof was not unknown to his
majesty.' He concluded 'with beseeching him, whatever
resolution he took in his particular, not to suffer his spirits

342 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

to fall, nor himself to be dejected with the apprehension of
the formidable power of the Parliament, which was more or
less or nothing, as he pleased to make it : that it was yet in
his own power to govern them ; but if they found it was
in theirs to govern him, nobody knew what the end would
be/ And thereupon he made him a short relation of the
method that was used in the time of Richard the Second,
* when they terrified the King with the power and the pur-
poses of the Parliament, till they brought him to consent to
that from which he could not redeem himself, and without
which they could have done him no harm/ And in the
warmth of this relation he found a seasonable opportunity
to mention the lady with some reflections and cautions,
which he might more advisedly have declined.

After two hours' discourse, the King rose without saying
any thing, but appeared not well pleased with all that had
been said; and the duke of York found he was offended
with the last part of it. The garden, that used to be private,
had now many in it to observe the countenance of the King
when he came out of the room : and when the chancellor
returned, the lady, the lord Arlington, and Mr. May, looked
together out of her open window with great gaiety and
triumph, which all people observed.

OLAKENDON'S TBANQUILLITY IN HIS BANISH-
MENT.

The seventeenth and last article was, 'That he was a
principal author of that fatal counsel of dividing the fleet
about June i666/

For answer to this, he set down at large an account of all
the agitation that was in council upon that affair, and that

clarendon's TRANQ UILLITY in banishment. 343

the dividing and separation of the fleet at that time was by
the election and advice of the two generals, and not by the
order or direction of the Council: all which hath been at
large, in that part of this discourse which relates to the
transactions of that time, set down, and therefore needs not
to be again inserted.

He took notice of the prejudice that might befall him, in
the opinion of good men, by his absenting himself, and
thereby declining the full examination and trial which the
public justice would have allowed him ; which obliged him
to set down all the particulars which passed from the taking
the seal from him, the messages he had received by the
bishop of Hereford, and finally the advice and command
the bishop of Winchester brought him from the duke of
York with the approbation of the King. Upon all which,
and the great distemper that appeared in the two Houses at
that time, and which was pacified upon his withdrawing, he
did hope, that all dispassioned men would believe that he had
not deserted and betrayed his own innocence; but on the
contrary, that he had complied with that obligation and duty
which he had always paid to his majesty and to his service,
in choosing at that time to sacrifice his own honour to the
least intimation of his majesty's pleasure, and when the least
inconvenience might have befallen it by his obstinacy, though
in his own defence : and concluded, that though his enemies,
who had by all the evil arts imaginable contrived his destruc-
tion, had yet the power and the credit to infuse into his
majesty's ears stories of words spoken and things done by
him, of all which he was as innocent as he was at the time
of his birth, and other jealousies of a nature so odious, that
themselves had not the confidence publicly to own ; yet, he
said, notwithstanding all those disadvantages for the present,

344 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

he did not despair, but that his majesty, in his goodness
and justice, might in due time discover the foul artifices
which had been used to gain credit with him, and would
reflect graciously upon some poor services (how over-re-
warded soever) heretofore performed by him, the memory
whereof would prevail with him to think, that the banishing
him out of his country, and forcing him to seek his bread in
foreign parts at this age, is a very severe judgment. How-
ever, he was confident that posterity will clearly discern his
innocence and integrity in all those particulars, which have
been as untruly as maliciously laid to his charge by men
who did nothing before, or have done any thing since, that
will make them be thought to be wise or honest men;
and will believe his misfortunes to have been much greater
than his faults.

As soon as he had digested and transmitted this his
answer and vindication to his children, which he did in a
short time after his arrival at Montpelier, he appeared to
all men who conversed with him, to be entirely possessed
of so much tranquillity of mind, and so unconcerned in all
that had been done to him or said of him, that men believed
the temper to be affected with much art ; and [that it] could
not be natural in a man, who was known to have so great
an affection for his own country, the air and climate thereof;
and to take so much delight and pleasure in his relations,
from whom he was now banished, and at such a distance,
that he could not wish that they should undergo the in-
conveniences in many respects which were like to attend
their making him many visits. But when there was visibly
always in him such a vivacity and cheerfulness as could
not be counterfeited, that was not interrupted nor clouded
upon such ill news as came every week out of England,

CLARENDON'S TRANQUILLITY IN BANISHMENT. 345

of the improvement of the power and insolence of his
enemies; all men concluded, that he had somewhat about
him above a good constitution, and prosecuted him with
all the offices of civility and respect they could manifest
towards a stranger.

NOTES.

Note 1, pp. 1-4.

The introductory portion of the History is an admirable specimen of
Clarendon's style and manner. The sentences are long and somewhat
involved, but there is dignity and distinction in his calm, though some-
what pretentious declaration of his motives. The passage was a
favourite of Hume's, who in several places gives evidence of the influ-
ence Clarendon exercised on his style. There is no reason to doubt the
religious feelings of Clarendon, although fault has been found with
such appeals as he makes in the early part of the Introduction.

Note 2, pp. 5-19.

In spite of all the light thrown by Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Brewer on
the reign of the first of the Stuarts, there are many points of interest
which involve the student of the period in perplexed consideration. The
whole character and government of the Duke of Buckingham presents
remarkable difficulty. Clarendon commences his character in two sen-
tences, which are masterpieces of quiet irony. That the person of
Buckingham was his original passport to favour is of course clear.
His contemporaries, however, greatly undervalued his intellectual
powers. Clarendon is evidently taking great pains with Buckingham,
and seems to have felt his fascination, much in the same way that
Laud did. Some believe that Buckingham had visions of an absolute
monarchy, fashioned after the French example. But that his policy
was generally dictated by the exigencies of the moment is evident from
the careful investigations of Mr. Gardiner and the great German his-
torian. Mr. Green's account of the Spanish policy of James I and
Buckingham leaves little to be desired. The breach with Spain in
1624, the result of the intrigue of Charles I and Buckingham, is a
striking illustration of the force of Buckingham's character, and the
obstinate weakness of Charles I. For once James I was in the right.

348 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

while the favourite and his son were bent on developing their disastrous
policy. There is great spirit and vivacity in Clarendon's brief account
of Buckingham's freaks on the Continent, and the attentive reader
cannot fail to mark the quiet xmdertone in which the historian shows
his knowledge of human nature.

Note 3, pp. 19-30.

In Sir Thomas Coventry and Sir Richard Weston, Clarendon has two
capital subjects, and among the minor personages of his gallery no
portraits are touched with greater discrimination. There is something
pathetic in the description of Coventry's death, and the portrait, though
short, is as distinct and clear as the longer one of Sir Richard Weston.
The story of Weston and Sir Julius Caesar is an apt illustration of
Clarendon's lighter narrative. Some critics of the History have objected
to the introduction of characters hardly possessing much historical
significance, and it may be true that the general narrative is sometimes
sluggish. But if it be remembered that the title of ' Memoirs ' would
perhaps have been more appropriate than ' History,' much of this objection
would be removed. A minute account of the long struggle which ended
in the imprisonment of Sir John Eliot formed no part of Clarendon's
plan. But it is impossible to refrain from wishing that the period dealt
with by Mr. John Forster in his Life of Sir John Eliot had been graphi-
cally treated by Clarendon. The Strafford letters and some of the
Calendars of State Papers should be consulted by students who wish to
grasp the leading features of the personal government in the early part
of Charles I's reign.

Note 4, pp. 31-46.

Manchester, Arundel, Pembroke, Montgomery, Dorset, Holland,
Cooke, Carleton, although possessing distinct characteristics, do not
seem to demand any special comment. The character of the Earl of
Pembroke, however, is admirably drawn, and the dignity of style is
nowhere more evident than in the graceful sentences which describe the
poor nature of the Earl of Arundel. On Attorney-General Noy and
Sir John Finch, Clarendon did not evidently bestow much pains. He
was no friend to lawyers, and seems to have felt that they were too
prominent in the history of the great struggle. Every reader of the
history is conscious of the deepened tone of interest which pervades the
narrative, when Clarendon approaches the stirring time when he played
so prominent a part. In his account of the reign of James I he has
had to rely upon the general tradition of the time. But when he comes

NOTES. 349

to treat of the troubles in Scotland and the rapid rush of events which
led to the fall of Strafford and the discomfiture of ' Thorough ' he seems
to tread with firmer footing, and there is a perceptible difference in the
march of his narrative.

Note 5, pp. 47-52.

To the narrative of the troubles in Scotland, briefly given by Clarendon,
much interesting material has been added by recent researches. The
folly of the king, and the impracticable obstinacy of Laud, become more
and more conspicuous as fresh revelations are made as to the intensity of
the religious feeling of Scotland, and the failure of the king to perceive
the grave issues involved in the struggle. Clarendon evidently labours
hard to do justice to Laud, but he cannot conceal his aversion. His
courage in his hour of suffering, and ' his learning, piety, and virtue,'
extract from him in the account of his execution a feeling tribute. It is
hardly possible to do justice to Laud, the theologian, even in these days
of calm historical scrutiny. The late Professor Mozley, in an elaborate
essay, gave a highly-coloured picture of Laud as he appeared to the eyes
of those who took a prominent part in the Oxford movement. Laud
must always possess a peculiar interest for those who believe that it is
possible for a churchman to play a part in political history. He made
the attempt, and the failure is written in the Strafford letters, where Laud
is seen at his best, a firm friend, a real believer in Wentworth's theory,
not without humour of a grim kind, and in spite of much superstitious
integument, a devout believer in his own system. To accuse Laud of
an underhand design to introduce popery, is entirely to mistake his
attitude. In his famous conference with Fisher the Jesuit, he puts the
case and position of the English Church with definite clearness. He
believed that if he had only a free hand he could have crushed the
Puritan movement, and once master of the situation, he would probably,
as he did in the case of Hales and Chillingworth, have proved that he
could be tolerant and forgiving. Lord Macaulay did not show his
usual sagacity in his estimate of Laud. Laud cannot be with justice
made responsible for the cruel treatment of offenders. He was in no
way ahead of his age, and it is hardly fair to expect him to treat men
differently from the way in which all in authority at that time abused
power. What we might have expected a man of Laud's insight to
discover, was the desirableness of treating with the Puritan movement
in such a way as to render compromise not impossible. But the disciples
of ' Thorough ' could only see before them an organized absolutism,
and a complete repression of antagonist opinion. The chapter in
Ranke's History, vol. ii, which gives an account of the tendencies of

350 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

the age, contains an admirable account of the difference between the
policy of James and his son. The influence of Laud upon the king's
view of the prerogative in ecclesiastical affairs has hardly ever received
sufficient consideration. Clarendon indeed may have perceived the fatal
consequences of Laud's influence, but it is hardly apparent in his account
of the Archbishop's supremacy. Mr, Wakeman, in his work upon the
Church and the Puritans, has given a candid and truthful account of
Laud's ecclesiastical reforms. Those, however, who wish to make
Land and his times a complete study, must consult Heylyn, Le Bas,
and the careful reprint of Laud's writings in the Anglo-Catholic Library.
Professor Masson, in his elaborate ' Life of Milton,' has accumulated a
rich mass of material for the use of the student of this period.

Note 6, pp. 54-55, also pp. 63-78.
Professor Gardiner, in a most interesting introduction to an annotated
edition of Mr. Browning's Tragedy of Strafford, has given an extract
from Mr. Forster's Life of Strafford which ought to be read along with
Clarendon's narrative. Professor Gardiner says with great justice that
it ' rises far above Mr. Forster's ordinary level,' and exhibits the ' true
theory of the identity of Strafford's life : ' —

' In one word, what is desired to impress upon the reader, before the
delineation of Wentworth in his after years, is this — that he was con-
sistent to himself throughout. I have always considered that much
good wrath is thrown away upon what is usually called "apostasy."
In the majority of cases if the circumstances are thoroughly examined
it will be found there has been " no such thing." The position on which
the acute Roman thought fit to base his whole theory of Aesthetics —
" Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam
Jungere si velit, et varias inducere plumas
Undique collatis membris, ut turpiter atrum
Desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne,
Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici ? " —

is of far wider application than to the exigencies of an art of poetry ;
and those who carry their researches into the moral nature of mankind,
cannot do better than impress upon their minds, at the outset, that in
the regions they explore they are to expect no monsters, no essentially
discordant termination to any " mulier formosa superne."

* Against all such conclusions T earnestly protest in the case of the
remarkable personage whose ill-fated career we are now retracing. Let
him be judged sternly, but in no unphilosophic spirit. In turning from
the bright band of patriot brothers to the solitary Strafford — " a star

NOTES. 351

which dwelt apart " — we have to contemplate no extinguished splendour,
razed and blotted from the book of life. Lustrous, indeed, as was the
gathering of the lights in the political heaven of this great time, even
that radiant cluster might have exulted in the accession of the " comet
beautiful and fierce" which tarried awhile within its limits ere it
" dashed athwart with train of flame." But it was governed by other
laws than were owned by its golden associates, and — impelled by a
contrary, yet no less irresistible force, than that which restrained them
within their eternal orbits — it left them, never to * float into that azure
heaven again.' " Mr. Gardiner rightly says that Mr. Forster's Life of
Strafford did not answer the expectation raised by these sentences. He
saw in Strafford a man of zeal and energy, but he had not the clear
insight of Mr. Green, who says that in his earlier days Strafford aimed
at the restoration of the Tudor system, when the sovereign was the
natural head of the people, but when parliaments were simply the
creatures of the crown. There will always rage a battle of opinion
round the character of Strafford. Whatever else may be thought of him,
he is always interesting. His stem and able rule in Ireland conferred
immediate benefit on the unhappy country. He ruled as tyrant, but he
delivered the Irish people from a mob of tyrants. Unfortunately the
reconciliation of Protestant and Catholic was hindered by his eccle-
siastical policy. Clarendon evidently had no love for Strafford. But
there is no real unfairness in his account of the trial, and the circum-
stances attending the Bill of Attainder. It is clear also that, in his
accotmt of the King's conduct. Clarendon puts a considerable restraint
upon himself. Strafford was never a favourite of Henrietta Maria's.
From his correspondence it appears that he was aware of secret
intrigues intended to stop his progress, and doubtless Strafford's un-
disguised attempt to make himself the Richelieu of the situation must
have impressed the Queen's mind with the feeling that the great minister
aimed at more than the assertion of royal prerogative.

Mr. Green's defence of the Bill of Attainder is undoubtedly able, but
opinion on the whole is strong in favour of those who think that the
public safety hardly demanded such a departure from precedent. Even
Mr. Green admits that the technical proof of treason was not strong.
Pym and Hampden were content to rely on impeachment ; but, as has
often happened in English history, the extremists carried the day. An
interesting essay by the late Lord Lytton, reprinted from the Quarterly
Review, should be read by those who desire a greater knowledge of the
trial of Strafford. What Clarendon calls the courage and Christianity
of his death, has greatly affected the historical estimate of Strafford's
strange and commanding character.

352 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

Note 7, p. 60.
Hampden is the favourite of almost all who have written upon this
portion of English history. There are few historical characters more
attractive. When he refused in 1636 the illegal impost of ship-money,
he became at once the champion of freedom and the favourite of all
friends of constitutional liberty. He was one of those who meditated
the abandonment of England, and he had actually purchased land in the
New World. Inferior to Pym in political ability, he possessed qua-
lities which fascinated his fellow-countrymen. Lord Macaulay in one
of his early essays has drawn a careful portrait of the Buckinghamshire
squire, but the few words of Clarendon leave perhaps as strong an im-
pression of his greatness, and the charm of his character. In the second
extract, pp. 151-155, Clarendon betrays his real opinion as to the great-
ness of the man, whose real temper and genius he never seems to have
entirely understood. The account of Hampden's last hours is one of
the most pathetic passages in English history, and the passage from
the Weekly Intelligencer, given by Lord Nugent in his memorials of
Hampden, has been fully justified by the increasing admiration of after
ages. ' The loss of Colonel Hampden goeth near the heart of every
man that loves the good of his King and country, and makes some con-
ceive little content to be at the army now that he is gone. The memory
of this deceased colonel is such that in no age to come but it will more
and more be had in honour and esteem ; a man so religious, and of that
prudence, judgment, temper, value, and integrity, that he hath left few
his like behind.'

Note 8, p. 61.
The character of Vane is one of the best of what may be called the
second gallery of the historian. Vane was in all respects a remarkable
man. In the reign of James I his father held many offices of import-
ance, and was sent as ambassador to Gustavus Adolphus. The part
he played in the prosecution of Lord Strafford made him unacceptable
to Charles I. Vane had a good deal of the fanatic in his composition,
and there is a remarkable account of him in Richard Baxter's auto-
biography. There is no doubt that what Clarendon says is true, that
the title of Raby, which Strafford took, was coveted by the Vanes, and
that the feeling of the father and son was inspired by the recollection of
their wrong.

Wote 9, p. 82.
Mr. Forster has given us an elaborate account of the debates on the
Grand Remonstrance. Party passion rose to its height, in all the

NOTES, 353

accounts of this remarkable affair. Mr. Forster writes with a strong
animus against Clarendon, but in spite of all his efforts the dignified
and impressive narrative will continue to maintain its ground. Some,
whose opinion is entitled to respect, think that Forster greatly exag-
gerates the importance of the Diary of Sir Simonds D'Ewes, and the
very lengthy accounts which D'Ewes gives of his own stilted orations
incline dispassionate readers of the literature of the period to adopt
that view. No doubt Clarendon was at the time of the Remonstrance
in a state of great mental uncertainty. He was a real admirer of the
Church system, and believed in the possibilities of reform. It was
natural that he should look with suspicion on the conduct of Pym and
Hampden, and there is perhaps ground for the belief that his account of
the debate is highly coloured. The intensity of the feeling of the
moment is felt throughout the passage. It was a great crisis in the
national struggle. * Had it been rejected,' said Cromwell, speaking of
the Remonstrance, ' I would have sold to-morrow all I possess, and left
England to-morrow.' Falkland's speech in the debate marked his
severance from the popular party. It was only by a majority of ii
that the Remonstrance was finally carried ; and there is nothing perhaps
sadder in the history of the struggle than the firm persuasion which im-
partial students of the period must entertain, that even at this supreme
moment bloodshed might have been averted, had the King only pos-
sessed the firmness and sagacity of Elizabeth or William III. Guizot
and Ranke have shown great judgment in their accounts of the par-
liamentary action of this time. In Mr. Carlyle's Essays there is an
interesting paper on an election to the Long Parliament, but since the
time when he wrote great discoveries have been made as to the value of
Sir Simonds D'Ewes' work as a narrative of events. The judgment,
however, of Mr. Carlyle would probably be confirmed. Those who
have made special study of the period may probably be inclined to
think, as I have already said, that Mr. Forster, who quotes largely from
D'Ewes, has over-estimated his treasure-trove.

Note 10, p. 85.

The character of Lord Digby is one of the very best in the series, and
in the last few sentences Clarendon delineates with great fairness and
truth the imhappy influence he exerted on the king's policy. Digby
had learnt lessons in the school of king-craft, and he found an apt pupil
in his royal master. It is probable that if he had remained in the House
of Commons he might have served the cause of Charles more efficiently,
and the miserable story of his unfortunate suggestion as to the five

A a

354 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

members might never have been made. In Mr. Forster's ' Arrest of the
Five Members ' there is a note on the appointment of Lunsford, where
he bears somewhat heavily upon Clarendon. But there seems hardly
reason for this grave censure, although the levity and indiscretion of Digby
afford some colour for the belief that in appointing a successor to the
governorship of the Tower in Lunsford, there was a careful design
against the liberties of the five members. Digby probably only thought
of advancing his own creature.

Note 11, pp. 88-94.

The arrest of the five members has been given in full. No passage
in Clarendon's History has been more keenly scrutinised. Mr. Forster's
volume ought to be thoroughly mastered, for although his prejudices are
strong, he has carefully examined all the accounts of this remarkable
story. It must be remembered that while there were some who merely
desired, like Pym and Falkland, the dismissal of the clergy from secular
duties, and the expulsion of the bishops from the House of Lords, there
was a rising party anxious to go further. Bishop Williams and some
others protested against the bill for the removal of bishops being dis-
cussed in their absence, which they said was caused by the violence of
the mob. The quarrels of the King's friends and the Parliamentarians
caused grave alarm, and at that moment the five members were accused
of treason in their traffic with the Scots. The resolution of the King to
enter the House seems to have been suddenly taken. Clarendon cer-
tainly understates the numbers that the King had with him, and there
was no doubt an intention of forcibly removing the members had they
been present. The Speaker's conduct was simple and dignified, and it is
impossible not to read the words in Rushworth's original note — ' Well,
since I see all my birds are flown, I do expect from you that you will
send them unto me as soon as they return hither ' — without a feeling of
emotion. Charles must at that moment have felt that he was entering
upon a new stage of the struggle, and when the cry of * Privilege !
Privilege ! ' rang in his ears, he must have known that evil days were in
store for him. From Wednesday, the 5th of January, when the King
determined on a conference with the city authorities, and failed in his
effort to secure the persons of the five members, and again heard the
cry of the privileges of Parliament, it is not too much to say, in Mr.
Forster's words, that 'he had thrown and lost the stake.' There is
a grave difference between Clarendon's account of what followed in the
House of Commons and the statements made by D'Ewes, Vemey, and
Rushworth. Experience of the variations in the accounts which we

NOTES.

355

have of such scenes as took place in Paris in 1848 in the Chamber, by
different persons all anxiously bent on giving their own impressions of
passing events, will probably incline fair-minded readers to give Claren-
don the benefit of a doubt. The position which he and the King's
new advisers found themselves in, was one of great trial. Culpepper,
Falkland, and Clarendon never really obtained the full confidence of
the King. They had the odious task of endeavouring to strike a stroke
in favour of what they believed to be constitutional prerogatives of the
Crown, while they were aware that Charles was really anxious to restore
lal ;i>v mment. The proclamation of the King, accusing the
•er wf 1 igh treason, made a middle course of action impossible.
>e \\ I orster's words : * It had become clear that the attempt
I th( I.R.J bers could not be defeated without a complete overthrow
pnv.ir of the King. He could not remain at Whitehall if they
ijd to V estminster. Charles raised the issue, the Commons ac-
-• I ' it, n.'uJ o began our great Civil War. The King drew the sword
i I he (1 ^ } ' Then he went with his armed followers to arrest the five
rs 1 1 r eir places in the House. The House of Commons un-
' nrlard on the day when, declining to surrender their

,, l.randed with the epithet of a scandalous paper the

• ' I achment issued by the King.'

Note 12, pp. 100-107.

^C[ account of Sir John Hotham's conduct at Hull is

1 of Clarendon's faculty for telling a story. The part

•j y is admirably given, and there is a grim irony in the

oh' am, who felt himself in the hands of a skilful intriguer.

1^ .. t. *h of humour in Clarendon's account of Hotham's deci-

rf Lhu 1 ing would come before the town, though with but one

,tj uk' lant his cannon against it, and make but one shot, he

thi ilv 1 had discharged his trust to the Parliament, as far as he

I) (L id that he would immediately then deliver up the town,

10 doubt he should be able to do J ^^ ^ »

I

fiif

'■ ' : ;

il

:. n . iiii

liiii

1

356 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON,

secure the influence of Clarendon. In Lord Campbell's ' Lives of the
Chancellors' there is a good account of his position as a lawyer, and the
life is, upon the whole, one of the best specimens of Lord Campbell's
ability as a biographer. The story of Pierrepoint and Dencourt is an
apt illustration of the almost anecdotal character of certain portions of
the History. Pierrepoint took his side with the King early in the struggle.
Clarendon accuses him of parsimony, but his general reputation was
that of being ' a good man,' an epithet which is not generally given
in England to men who are accused of want of liberality. He was
accidentally killed by a volley fired on the vessel in which he was a cap-
tive in 1643.

KTote 14, pp. 113-120.

The account of the battle of Edge Hill is full of interest. A very
complete account is given in the notes to the sixth book of Clarendon,
edited by Mr. Arnold, and I must refer all who desire accurate informa-
tion to his interesting summary. Cromwell most probably took part in
the battle, and no credence can be given to the intemperate account of
Denzil Hollis, penned in his exile, and intended to damage Cromwell.
Clarendon, of course, does not possess the power and eloquence which
imparted such a charm to Sir William Napier's accounts of battles in
his ' History of the Peninsular War.' He writes as a civilian, anxious to
convey the general impression of the fight. The stories of the cruelties
of Prince Rupert and his followers were no doubt greatly exaggerated.
On the whole the Parliamentarian party suffered most severely. The
withdrawal of the Earl of Essex gave the King a semblance of victory,
but the sturdiness and vigour of his opponents had been clearly shown.
Probably if Prince Rupert had prevailed on the King to return to Lon-
don a very different history might have followed. The occupation of
Oxford was one of the most unfortunate steps taken by the King.

Note 15, pp. 120, 122-124.

The description of the last moments of the Earl of Lindsey is a touch-
ing instance of the many horrors of a time of civil war. He was a man
of high character, who felt the slight put upon him by Prince Rupert
deeply. Lord St. John was not the ancestor of the famous Henry St.
John, Viscount Bolingbroke. The title of the earldom came to an end
in 1711.

Note 16, pp. 127-129.

Northampton was a great favourite of King Charles. He had been
admitted to great intimacy, and was with him when he went with

NOTES, 357

Bnckingham to Spain in 1623. The picture which Clarendon draws
of the careless man of pleasure, awakened out of his selfishness into
a noble temper of endurance and fortitude, cannot fail to impress the
imagination. Indeed, it seems as if all the portraits of this period are
executed with a remarkable brilliance and power. The historian evi-
dently felt deeply the withdrawal of these men from their proper spheres
of action and employment, and the loss which was incurred by the
country when the demons of discord were let loose.

Note 17, pp. 129-147.

The sixth chapter of the sixth book of the History is really a gallery of
portraits. They may be grouped together, although each possesses
distinctive features. The Duke of Richmond, being of royal blood, was
a figure of interest. He possessed the Stuart infirmity of purpose.
Lord Southampton was a man of high public spirit, with much of
Falkland's temper. Southampton lived to see the Restoration, and won
fame as a financier. The earls who form a group were not men of
remarkable consideration, but the Earl of Bristol enjoyed a greater
reputation than Clarendon is inclined to allow him. His differences
with his son, Lord Digby, undoubtedly lessened his reputation. Savile
was notoriously the personal foe of Strafford. The Earl of Berkshire
attained a great age, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Duns-
more was a distant connexion of the ancestor of the present Lord Leigh.
Seymour, ennobled at the instance of Strafford, was a pattern Cavalier.

Note 18, pp. 140-144.

The Earls of Warwick and Manchester are drawn at full length. The
language is stately, and there is an evident desire on Clarendon's part
to do some justice to the characters. The Earl of Manchester's conduct
with regard to the restoration of Charles 11 was no doubt the result of
his disgust at the weakness of Richard Cromwell. There is an amusing
instance of Clarendon's sententiousness in his account of Manchester's
Church opinions : ' The true logic is, that the thing desired is not
necessary, if the ways are unlawful which are proposed to bring it to
pass.'

Note 19, pp. 144-146.

According to Whitelocke, Lord Say and Sele was a man of remarkable
character, but it is evident he had aroused the deep displeasure of the
historian. His reconciliation to the Court after the Restoration created
great indignation amongst the extreme Royalists. Although he was the

358 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

author of some political pamphlets, it is believed that several which he
had the credit of writing were composed by his son, Nathaniel Fiennes.

Note 20, pp. 155-168.

I have already in my Preface alluded to this beautiful character, so
well known to all real lovers of grand historical figures. Those who
are anxious to know something of the charm and fascination attaching
to Falkland ought to study the late Principal Tulloch's most interesting
account in his * Rational Theology and Christian Philosophy in Eng-
land in the Seventeenth Century.' Falkland possessed the power which is
given to so few of impressing his contemporaries with a most perfect
belief in his integrity. Over Clarendon he seems to have exercised a
real fascination. Mr. Matthew Arnold has given us, in one of his
volumes of Essays, a most interesting picture of Falkland in his retired
solitude at Great Tew, and it is not too much to say that the manly
pathos of Clarendon's affecting account of Falkland's last days will re-
main an imperishable record of one of the noblest characters of English
history. It is said that Sir James Mackintosh, who was fond of reading
extracts from Clarendon to his family, burst into tears as he came to the
words ' Peace, peace,' and was so agitated that on some later occasion,
when he was asked to read aloud, he said, ' I will read anything but
Clarendon's character of Falkland.'

Note 21, pp. 174-177.

Clarendon has certainly done little justice to the character of Pym.
Pym, however, has found in the late Mr. Green and Mr. Goldwin Smith
two champions of his fame who have done more than justice to his
extraordinary ability and foresight. Much has been discovered since
Mr. Forster drew his sketch of Pym in his ' Statesmen of the Common-
wealth,' and few will now call in question Mr. Green's emphatic de-
claration, that Pym * was the first English statesman who discovered, and
applied to the political circumstances around him, what may be called
the doctrine of constitutional proportion.' Pym's doctrine as to the
supremacy of the House of Commons has since 1832 obtained the
acknowledgment of all parties in the state. Pym was no revolutionist,
and had his life been prolonged the course of events might have been
greatly changed. The scandals as to his character, widely circulated
amongst the Royalists, have little foundation. When the war broke
out Pym showed himself in his true colours, and he made many efforts
to control the violent temper of the extreme Presbyterians and fanatical
leaders. His alliance with the Scots was forced upon him, and his un-

NOTES. 35g

timely death led to great confusion in the Parliamentarian camp. Mr.
Goldwin Smith's picture of Pym ought to be read by all who wish to
understand the progress of the struggle. Pym died in December, 1643,
and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His famous speech delivered
on April 13, 1641, made a great impression on the King. At the
Restoration the bodies of Pym and Blake were removed from the Abbey
and placed in St. Margaret's churchyard. The resemblance between
Pym and Mirabeau, which some delighted to trace, is somewhat fanci-
ful. ^10,000 was voted to pay Pym's debts. No stain of dishonour or
corruption attaches to Pym, who may be pronounced on the whole to
be one of the noblest members the House of Commons can boast of.

Note 22, pp. 181-183.

Newcastle is vigorously drawn. He may be called upon the whole
a pattern Cavalier. His defence of York was vigorous. A quarrel with
Prince Rupert led to his withdrawal abroad. He incurred great losses
in the royal cause, and was rewarded with a duchy at the Restoration.
Horace Walpole calls the duke and the duchess a fantastic couple, and
that verdict is not likely to be challenged by any who pay attention to
their strange literary productions.

Note 23, pp. 184-190.

This extract is long, but it seemed necessary to give a specimen of
Clarendon's power as a simple narrator of episodes in the war, and in
the relief of Basing House there is a dignified simplicity really attractive
and characteristic. The picture of the march of the troops from Oxford
in their scarfs and ribands, that they might be taken for the Parliament
soldiers, is a touch which gives life and colour to the narrative.

Note 24, pp. 190-194.

Sir Richard Greenville is also drawn with great skill. He was the
younger brother of Sir Bevil, whose loss in the engagement at Lans-
down, near Bath, was nothing short of a calamity to the royal cause.
Granville, a minor poet, favourably mentioned by Pope, was the de-
scendant of Sir Bevil, not, as has been said by some, of Sir Richard.

Note 25, pp. 198-200.

The King was anxious as well as Prince Rupert for the battle of
Naseby. Cromwell, on the other hand, had great misgivings. The
charge of Rupert, though furious, was not sustained, and Cromwell,

36o SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

who had kept a stem hold on the enthusiasm of his troops, fell on the
royal force with such strength that a panic ensued. This was the crisis
of the struggle. It is evident that Clarendon in his brief narrative can
hardly bear to dwell upon the disaster at Naseby. The quarrel of the
sects and the supremacy of the army are chief features in the strange
confusion of the time.

Note 26, pp. 201-203.

Clarendon's estimate of the two cardinals is so distinctive as to make
us wish that he had drawn Richelieu and Mazarin at full length. The
whole career of Richelieu had great interest for the politicians in the
Civil War. It is doubtful how far the nature of the struggle in England
was grasped by a Frenchman, and there are indications in the letters,
which have recently seen the light, of a belief on the part of Mazarin
that the rebellion in England might have been extinguished easily.
The religious fervour of the Puritan party was not understood in
France.

Note 27, pp. 208-216, 219-229.

The whole account of the King and his children, his escape, and his
retreat to the Isle of Wight, is full of interest, and told with remarkable
historical power. The letters of Cromwell to Hammond, which are to
be found in Mr. Carlyle's well-known work, ought to be very carefully
read. No portion of English history has been so accurately examined
by competent critics, but there is good reason to believe that the calm
and judicial treatment it has received from Ranke will probably hold the
field. In the eleventh book of the History, where Clarendon gives his
account of the last days of Charles, and gives his final judgment on his
character, his language is grave and solemn. He entirely suppresses
his own feelings as to the negotiations carried on with the Scots, and in
the words 'he was the worthiest gentleman, the best master, the best
friend, the best husband, the best father, and the best Christian ' that the
age in which he lived produced, we may well believe that the man within
the man speaks, and that the historian has forgotten all blemishes and
king-craft in his desire to do justice to the master he really loved.
Ranke's judgment it is well to add. ' To some it will appear scarcely
allowable in the light of our times to revert to the question how far the
words repeatedly uttered by Charles I in the solemn moments between
this life and eternity, that he died as a martyr, really expressed a truth.
Certainly not so in the sense that has been attached to them, that he
was merely a sufferer who lived and bled for the known truth. He was
rather a prince who all his life long fought for his own rights and power,

NOTES. 361

which he, if ever man did, personally exercised, seeking at first to ex-
tend, and later only to defend them, by all means in his power, open
and secret, in council and in the field, in the battle of words and with
actual weapons, and who perished in the conflict.'

Note 28, pp. 229-232.

The character of Lord Capel stands next to Falkland in beauty and
dignity. When he was forced to surrender Colchester in 1648, he sub-
mitted to Fairfax, who would willingly have spared his life. The Par-
liamentarians were determined to get rid of a man who had been so
eminent a champion of the King's, and the trial and execution of Capel
is a great stain on the history of the time. In Lady Theresa Lewis'
most interesting book, 'Lives of the Friends and Contemporaries of
Lord Chancellor Clarendon,' there is a full memoir of Lord Capel. The
portrait of him, like that of Falkland, conveys from the canvas unmis-
takeable traces of the * courage, virtue, and fidelity ' of this distinguished

Note 29, pp. 236-241.
Montrose is the hero Cavalier. Mr. Carlyle, though never anxious to
bestow eulogy on a Royalist, has, in his ' Heroes and Hero-worship,'
some words of commendation for the gallant marquis. The period of
Scottish history during which Montrose flourished has been thoroughly
examined, and a vindication of his conduct in the difficult days of his
youth, proceeding, it is said, from the pen of one who occupies the
highest judicial position in Scotland, published in Blackwood's Maga-
zine in 1887, will be read with great interest. The late Lord Stanhope
wrote a fair account of Montrose in the Quarterly Review many years
ago. Much additional matter illustrative of Montrose's character has
recently seen the light. His touching and affecting verses, beginning
' My dear and only love,' are to be found in Archbishop Trench's
• Household-book of Poetry.' Sir Walter Scott is hardly at his best in
the ' Legend of Montrose,' but his portrait possesses remarkable attri-
butes.

Note 30, pp. 245-258.

The graphic accomit of the escape of Charles II could hardly be
omitted from this selection. It is admirably done, and upon the whole
must be pronoimced a narrative of great spirit and fidelity. Huddle-
stone, the Benedictine monk, appears again, as is well known, at the
death-bed scene of Charles II.

362 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

Note 31, pp. 265-272.

It would be altogether premature to pronounce a sentence on the
merits of the controversy which has been raised by Mr. Reginald Pal-
grave's account of the rising at Salisbury. The whole question is full of
interest, and there is much to be said in favour of Mr. Palgrave's
view.

Note 32, pp. 216-218 ; pp. 272-284.

Perhaps the most difficult problem ever presented to historical stu-
dents is the character of Oliver Cromwell. Since the publication of
Mr. Carlyle's ' Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, with Elucida-
tions,' the whole subject has been thoroughly explored, and much light
has been thrown upon Cromwell's policy, religious motives, and general
character. In the late Professor Mozley's essays, the one on Carlyle's
Cromwell may be taken as upon the whole the best modem exposition
of Clarendon's view. Ranke and Mr. Lecky, in his masterly history of
the eighteenth century, have treated the subject of the Irish massacres
with great impartiality. Upon the whole, Ranke's words regarding
Cromwell's failure to consolidate a tolerably durable political constitu-
tion, will express the view many are now inclined to take regarding
Cromwell's personal rule. ' His was at best but a de facto authority,
depending for its existence on the force of arms and his own personal
character. Such as it was, it was felt to be an oppressive burden at
home no less " by the lovers of the old legitimate forms " than by his
own party : abroad by those who feared him, and by those who were his
allies.' Mr. Forster, in a most interesting article in the 209th number
of the ' Edinburgh Review,' reprinted in ' Biographical Essays,' discusses
fully the various changes which have taken place in public opinion with
regard to Cromwell's character. Mr. Forster himself entirely adopts
Mr. Carlyle's view, ' that in Cromwell was seen a man whom no fear
but of the Divine anger could distract; whom no honour in man's
bestowal could seduce or betray ; who knew the duty of the hour to be
ever imperative, and who sought only to do the work, whatever it might
be, whereunto he believed God to have called him.' If I may venture
to express an opinion, the view of Monsieur Guizot, whose calm judg-
ment is seen to great advantage, in his ' Histoire de la Republique
d'Angleterre et de Cromwell,' and ' Richard Cromwell,' will ultimately
prevail amongst dispassionate readers of history. Cromwell, according
to Monsieur Guizot, had nobility of mind, and all that was little he
made subservient to the lust of power. Where passion led him, there he
thought duty lay. He loved government, and was a great, successful,

NOTES, 363

and unscrupulous ruler. Monsieur Guizot also believes that Cromwell
really desired to transmit a crown and sceptre to his family. Mr,
Forster criticizes with no great success Guizot's views regarding Crom-
well's religious attitude. It is difficult perhaps at this distance of time
to pronounce, with anything like decision, as to the sincerity of religious
expressions such as abound in Cromwell's letters, and the whole
question will probably remain among the many unsolved problems of
English history. Long before Cromwell had made himself a name, in
the year 1639, his eldest son, who had given promise of a noble future,
was buried in the churchyard of Felsted. He is called in the register
Robertus Cromwell, filius honorandi viri. The vicar of Felsted bore
the name of Wharton, and the insertion of this epithet in a parish
register is an interesting proof of the opinion entertained by a covmtry
clergyman of Cromwell's character. Mr. Forster, many years ago,
reproduced from a forgotten pamphlet an account of the death-bed of
the Protector, and the allusion of the dying man : * This Scripture did
once save my life, when my eldest son died, which went as a dagger to
my heart, indeed it did,' undoubtedly refers to the death of the boy at
Felsted. Mr. Forster's belief, * If Heaven had but spared all that gentle
and noble promise which represented once the eldest son and successor
of Cromwell's name, the sceptre then falling might have found a hand to
grasp and sustain it, and the history of England taken quite another
course,' will provoke a smile when contrasted with Lord Macaulay's
words, as to the restoration of Charles II : * The whole nation was sick
of government by the sword, and pined for government by the law.'

Note 33, pp. 284-286.

Richard Cromwell is an interesting character. His resolution * not to
have a drop of blood shed on his poor account,' was magnanimous.
His brother Henry, in command of the Irish army, might have deluged
the country with blood, but Richard determined to step aside rather than
commence another Civil War. He was buried at Hursley in 171 2, and
his letters show him to have been a man of high character and deep re-
ligious feeling.

Note 34, pp. 286-290.

Lord Macaulay has given in one of his very best passages a most in-
teresting and graphic picture of the Restoration of Charles II. Mr.
Brewer's able paper in the 'Quarterly Review,' reprinted in 'English
Studies,' on the Stuarts, must be consulted. Professor Seeley has shewn
that it was the ambition of the later Stuarts to follow the methods of

364 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

Cromwell in foreign policy, for the benefit of the old monarchy. * They
failed where their model had succeeded, and the distinction of having
enslaved England remained peculiar to Cromwell.' I owe this last re-
ference to the notes of Professor Palgrave, in his volume of interesting
poems, * The Visions of England.' The notes are a sufficient indication
that interest in historical questions is hereditary, and shew what dis-
crimination Mr. Palgrave could bring to the task, if he should ever
attempt it, of treating some portion of English history at length.

Note 35, pp. 290-292.

In the life of Clarendon, the narrative is generally less stately, and the
characters have a peculiar personal distinctness. In the account of his
father, Clarendon shews real feeling. The concluding passage of this
extract will recall the beautiful passage in Cowper's lines, on receiving
his mother's picture : —

*My boast is not, that I deduce my birth
From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth ;
But higher far my proud pretensions rise,
The son of parents passed into the skies."

The picture of the old man selecting his grave in the cathedral of Salis-
bury, is in keeping with the description of his habits as he lived.

Note 36, pp. 292-294.

After many changes of opinion, the fame of Ben Jonson has now
been thoroughly vindicated. The brief character of Clarendon will be
found to be almost identical with the elaborate study of Professor Ward.
Gifford, who has cleared Ben Jonson from cruel aspersions, dwells
upon Clarendon's estimate of his character. Professor Ward has well
said * that the admiration of the few, rather than the favour of the many,
has kept green the fame of the most independent among all the masters
of an art which, in more senses than one, must please to live.' In what
he says of Selden, Clarendon is particularly happy, but it is impossible
to help wishing that he had given more space to the portrait of one of
the most remarkable men of the time. ' The Table Talk ' of Selden
preserves his memory still. According to Mr. Hallam, it gives ' a
more exalted notion of Selden's natural talents than any of his learned
writings,' and S. T. Coleridge has recorded his opinion of its merits in
glowing terms. There is an interesting passage in Baxter's Diary,
bearing evident traces of the writer's veracity. ' The Hobbians and
other infidels would have persuaded the world that Selden was of their

NOTES. 365

mind, but Sir Matthew Hale, his intimate friend and executor, assured
me that Selden was an earnest professor of the Christian faith, and so
angry an adversary to Hobbes, that he halh rated him out of the room.'

Note 37, pp. 294-303.

Clarendon touches lightly on the strange and romantic incidents in the
early life of Sir Kenelm Digby. Digby's changes in religion undoubtedly
affected his reputation. His career was an interesting one. He enjoyed
the confidence of Henrietta Maria, and at one time his compromising
relations with Cromwell damaged his reputation. Digby was certainly
more of an amateur than a man of science. His portrait by Vandyck in
the National Portrait Gallery, as well as the well-known one at Oxford,
seems to reveal the character of the man. Clarendon evidently wished
to reinstate Digby in public opinion. The family of Glynne are
descended from Sir Kenelm Digby.

The judgment on May is undoubtedly severe, but may be taken to
represent the general opinion of the Royalist party. Modem criticism
has fully confirmed Clarendon's opinion of Carew's poetical powers.
Archbishop Trench considers him immensely superior to Waller, who is
described admirably in the next group of portraits.

Sheldon and Morley were among the most remarkable of the church-
men of the Restoration period. The consideration of Sheldon's influence
in shaping the Church policy of his time, belongs more properly to
special Church history. Attempts to conciliate the Puritan party were
not encouraged by Sheldon, who had however, it must be confessed, a
difficult part to play. A full account of Bishop Earles is given in Bliss'
edition of his Micro-cosmography. Walton says of him — * None since
the death of Mr. Hooker had been blessed with more innocent wisdom,
more sanctified learning, or a more pious, peaceable, and primitive
temper.'

Note 38, pp. 303-306.

The reputation of John Hales is hardly sustained by his Remains.
Principal Tulloch did his best, in the work which has been already
alluded to in these notes, to revive interest in his career and writings.
In the last century Lord Hailes reprinted his Remains, and modernised
the language, a step which Dr. Johnson disapproved of. * He
disapproved of Lord Hailes, for having modernised the language
of the ever-memorable John Hales of Eton, in an edition which his
Lordship published of that writer's works. An authour's language. Sir,
(said he,) is a characteristical part of his composition, and is also

366 SELECTIONS FROM CLARENDON.

characteristical of the age in which he writes. Besides, Sir, when the
language is changed we are not sure that the sense is the same. No,
Sir ; I am sorry Lord Hailes has done this.' Vide p. 315, vol. 4, Bos-
well's Life of Johnson, edited by G. B. Hill.

The account of Laud's interview with Hales affords us a pleasant
glimpse of the Archbishop in his kindlier moods. The style of Claren-
don in these later portraits is dignified and pathetic.

Note 39, pp. 307-310.
The present Dean of Wells, Dr. Plumptre, in a very complete study
of Chillingworth, has commented with great discrimination on the sen-
tence * the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants,'
which more than anything else preserves the memory of Chillingworth.
At the instigation of the Jesuit Fisher, Chillingworth in 1629 joined the
Church of Rome. After a sharp experience in the Jesuit seminary at
Douay, he returned to the communion of the Church of England.
Hales, Selden, and Falkland were his friends, and at Falkland's plea-
sant country seat, Great Tew, his famous controversial work was
planned. It has fallen into perhaps unmerited oblivion, and undoubtedly
contains many noble passages. It is difficult to define the exact posi-
tion Chillingworth maintains in the ' Religion of Protestants.' Unfair
attacks were made on his doctrinal tendencies. Dean Plumptre describes
Chillingworth 's work as ' an overgrown, enormous pamphlet,' but it is
fair to add that Locke thought that it ought to be studied, as a training
ground for the logical powers of men At the close of his life Chilling-
worth underwent much petty persecution at the hands of Cheynell. The
narrative of his sickness, death, and funeral, written by Cheynell, is an
extraordinary record of bigoted fanaticism, and almost deserves the
epithet given to it by Locke, ' a villanous publication.'

Note 40, pp. 312-334.

There is little to be said upon Ormond, Lauderdale, Bennet, and
Coventry. Sir John Lawson is sketched with great ability; and the
extract on the Stuart family is remarkably powerful. The Earl of
Southampton was a notable figure in the history of his time. Guizot,
in his ' Married Life. of Rachel, Lady Russell,' has drawn Southampton at
full length; and the parallel ' drawn between Southampton and Claren-
don, and Turgot and Malesherbes, is extremely striking. ' Turgot, full
of ardour, faith, hope, and perseverance ; Malesherbes equally sincere,
but weaker, more easily discouraged, saying : "Turgot will not let me
retire ; he does not perceive that we shall both be turned out." They

NOTES. 367

were, in fact, turned out by the weakness of a King well disposed like
themselves, who valued them, but who did not support them better than
he defended himself. Charles II, as clearsighted as he was corrupt,
soon discovered that Lord Southampton was indifferent to power, and
sought to profit by this indifference, quietly to free himself from an inde-
pendent and inconvenient counsellor ; but Clarendon, employing all the.
influence that remained to him, maintained his friend in office, as he did
himself Lord Southampton, who was Lord Treasurer until his death,
which took place a few months after, quitted office and life without
falling, like the Lord Chancellor in the sadness of exile, under the unjust
hatred of the people, and the ingratitude of the King.' It has been said
that Clarendon * cannot penetrate to the innermost recesses of men's
souls, and let us read the motives of their lives ' — but it seems to me that
in the portrait of Southampton, as well as in that of Falkland, there is
real insight, and an evidence that the historian, conscious of his own in-
firmities, was capable of appreciating the lofty ends and aims of men
who walked securely in a region he himself had never entered.

Note 41, pp. 335-345,

The fall of Clarendon, and his calm account of his banishment, seem
indispensably required to close this series of selections. Evelyn tells us
of a visit he paid to Clarendon on the 29th November, 1667, when he was
sitting in his garden at his new-built palace. ' After somewhile deplor-
ing his condition to me, I took my leave. Next morning I heard he was
gone.' Clarendon had collected many excellent pictures of Vandyck
and Lely, and to leave these behind him must have been even more
painful than to leave his scarcely finished mansion. Many of these
pictures are still to be seen in the possession of one of Clarendon's
descendants. In the account of his fall Clarendon evidently exercises
great self-restraint. His unfortunate disclosure of what took place on
the discovery of his daughter's marriage, shows him in a mean and un-
worthy light ; and the interest which the account of his fall would have
otherwise created is somewhat obliterated by the recollection of his
subservience in urging the Queen to admit her husband's mistress to a
place at court. In his retirement he behaved with dignity, but his appeal
for permission to die in England was refused, at least no answer ever
reached him, and he expired at Rouen, December 9, 1674. The Stuarts
never seem during the long drama of their history to have cultivated ' the
art of forgiveness.*

THE END.

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