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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.]
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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,)
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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.
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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
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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
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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,
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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;
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 !
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.]
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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
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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
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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.]
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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,
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.]
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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 ;