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LUCIUS VISCOUNT FALKLAND.
The Portrait rnou Tn« orioimal dt VAwrrcx, at th« Onov«.
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LIVES
OP THK
FRIENDS AKD CONTEMPORARIES
: LORD CHANCELLOR CLARENDON:
ILLUSTRATIVE OF PORTRAITS IN HIS GALLERY.
By lady THERESA LEWIS.
"Of all the woes which civil discords bring,
And Rome o'ercome by Roman .arms, I sing."
Lucernes Pharsalia, by Rowe, b. i.
IN THREE VOLUMES.— Vol. I.
raiti^ 9ortratU.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMAELE STREET.
1852.
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LONDON: PUINTEU BT W. CLOWES AND 80\9, STAMFOUD STRErT.
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TO
GEORGE WILLIAM FREDERICK EARL OF CLARENDON
IS INSCRIBED
HIS AFFECTIONATE SISTER,
THE AUTHOR.
a2
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PREFACE.
It is with feelings of great diffidence that the foUowing
pages are offered to the public^ though not without the
hope that the result of much agreeable labour may be
of some interest to those whose sympathy is readily
awakened in the deeds of men who played their part in
an important period of the history of their own country.
No pains have been spared in the endeavour to be
accurate as to facts ; but it would be vain to suppose
that, in a work relating to a period of violent political
animosity and of civil war, the attempt to reconcile con-
flicting evidence and to supply the deficiencies of inform-
ation caused by the unsettled state of the country should
have always been successful Nothings however, has
been stated without fiill reference to the authorities
from which it is drawn, and in no case has information
knowingly been accepted at second hand when the ori-
ginal was accessible ; still less have the conjectures of
the author been allowed to supply the place of authentic
testimony. But if, through inadvertence or error, facts
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VI PREFACE.
have been misstated or misunderstood, it is to be hoped
that their correction or explanation by abler hands will
elicit the truth, the search for which has been through-
out the only object in view.
But if some apolc^y may be required for the publica-
tion of these volumes, a more pleasing task remains for
which none can be due — the acknowledgment of many
acts of kindness by those who on various occasions have
had the power of affording me facilities and assistance in
tjie pursuits in which I have been for some time engaged.
To the Duke of Somerset and Lord Essex I beg to
offer my best thanks for the loan of all such MSS. as
they had in their possession relating to the Marquis of
Hertford and to Lord Capell. * To Mr. Panizzi and to
Mr. Holmes my warmest thanks are due for the inva-
riable kindness and assistance by which every facility
has been given me to profit by the stores of the library
and MSS. of the British Museum. To Mr. Lemon, of
the State Paper Office, I am equally indebted, both for
his kindness and for valuable information obtained
through his knowledge of the papers in his custody.'
* Lord Falkland's absence from England deprived me of Uie advantage
of applying to him for any MSS. relating to his ancestor ; it has, however,
been abready stated by Mr. Teale, in his biographical work, that Lord Falk-
land had assured him he had none remaining in his possession.
* Through Mr. Lemon's assistance extracts from the Ck)uncil Registers
were procured : for the facility of obtaining information most important to
literary and historical researches the world is indebted to Mr. Greville
for his persevering exertions in procuring ample indexes to be formed to
those invaluable Records.
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PREFACE. VU
To Sir Francis Palgrave I must also take this oppor-
tunity of offering my best thanks for the obliging manner
in which he assisted me in researches at the Becord
OflSce ; also to Dr. Bandinel and Mr. Coxe, of the Bod-
leian Library. From Mr. William Smith I have
gratefully to acknowledge the assistance he was enabled
to give me, from his long experience and great know-
ledge of engravings; and to Mr. Carpenter, of the
British Museum, for the facilities afforded me, both in
profiting by the collection of prints under his care,
and by his own extensive information on the subject.
Lastly, to Dr. Waagen I must take this means of ten-
dering my thanks for the attention he bestowed and the
valuable opinions he gave on each picture individually
when he visited the collection at the Grove ; at the same
time trusting that he will excuse the liberty I have taken
in quoting the opinion of one whose knowledge of pic-
tures is of European reputation. Thanks are due to
other friends for minor services and for kind encourage-
ment. Whatever may be the success of the work to
which they have lent their aid, the pleasure conferred
by their kindness will always be gratefully remembered
by the author.
London^ December^ 1851.
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CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
Intkoduction ------- Page 13*
LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND.
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Parentage of Lord Falkland — Hii Education — He chal-
lenges Sir F. Willoughby, and is committed to the Fleet — His
Marriage — His Residence and Society at Great Tew — He joins the
King's Army in the North — Failure of the Expedition, and its
Causes -------- Page 3
CHAPTER II.
Lord Falkland is elected Member for Newport — Proceedings in the
House of Commons in reference to the question of Ship-money —
Message from the King upon a Supply — Dissolution of the Parlia-
ment — Council of the Peers at York — Treaty with the Scots —
Meeting of the Long Parliament — First Speech of Lord Falkland, on
the proposed Impeachment of Lord Strafford — Speech of Lord Falkland
on Ship-money — Impeachment of Lord Finch, and Speech of Lord
Falkland to the House of Lords in support of it - - - 24
CHAPTER IIL
Pttitions against the Bishops — Debate in the House of Commons on
Episcopal Gtovemment — Speech of Lord Falkland — Measures in pro-
gress respecting Episcopacy — their nature — Proceedings thereon in
both Houses — Lord Falkland's course in reference to them — He differs
from Mr. Hyde - - - - - -.-50
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X CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
CHAPTER IV.
Lord Falkland joins in the proceedings of the House of Commons against
Lord Straflford — Remonstrance of the Commons — Violent Debate
thereon — Lord Falkland opposes it — The King returns from Scotland
— Overtures to Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper to accept the
offices of Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Exchequer — Lord
Falkland accepts the offer — He is sworn of the Privy Council, and
receives the Seals of Secretary of State — Lord Kimbolton and the
Five Members impeached — Lord Falkland carries a Message from the
House of Commons to the King — The King comes to the House of
Commons to seize the Five Members — He returns to Hampton Court
— Conferences of Lord Falkland, Sir John Culpepper, and Mr. Hyde, at
Mr. Hyde's house ------ Page 80
CHAPTER V.
Final breach between the King and the Houses of Parliament — Unsuc-
cessful attempts at Reconciliation — Lord Falkland attends the King
at Greenwich upon a Message from Parliament — Lord Falkland, by
the King's command, requires Lord Essex and Lord Holland to deliver
up the Insignia of their Offices — Lord Falkland advises Mr. Hyde to
hasten to York — The Houses present nineteen Propositions to the King
— Lord Falkland prepares an Answer, and afterwards joins the King
at York — The King's Declaration that he engages in a War against
Parliament only in self-defence — Similar Declaration of his chief
Supporters — View with which these Declarations were made — Peti-
tions to the King against War ----- loo
CHAPTER VL
Preparations for War — The King's Standard erected at Nottingham —
Overtures for a Reconciliation made by the King on the advice of his
Ministers — Rejected by the Parliament — Lord Falkland is excluded
from the House of Commons — Reproof of Prince Rupert by Lord
Falkland — Battle of Edgehill — Gallant and himiane Behaviour of
Lord Falkland — The King advances to Colnbrook, where he receives
a pacific Message from the Parliament — Prince Rupert frustrates
the Negotiation — The King retires to Oxford for the Winter —
Wager of the King and Lord Falkland about Mr. Hyde's Style of
Writing - - - - - - --119
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CONTENTS OF VOL. I. XI
CHAPTER VII.
Story of Lord Falkland and the Sortea Virgilianaa — Its probable origin
— Lord Falkland advises the appointment of Mr. Hyde as Chancellor
of the Exchequer — Lord Falkland's change of demeanour and anxiety
for Peace — Negotiations for Peace at Oxford — Broken oflf by the King
— Lord Falkland's advice to the King on the Petition of the Scotch
Commissioners against Episcopacy — The War is renewed — Successes
of the Royalists — Lord Falkland accompanies the King to Bristol
Page 142
CHAPTER Vin.
Siege of Gloucester — Lord Falkland visits the Trenches — Battle of
Newbury — Lord Falkland is killed by a Musket-shot — Character of
Lord Falkland — He was known as a Poet and Theolc^ian — His
Mother attempted to convert him to the Church of Rome — His
Religious Opinions — His married Life — His personal Appearance
and bodily Endowments — His Literary Tastes — His Official Quali-
fications — His Parliamentary Speeches — Opinions of Contemporaries
respecting him — Place of his Burial — His Children - - 158
Appendix - - -_ - - - - 189
LIFE OF LORD CAPELL
CHAPTER L
Birth and Parentage of Arthur Capell — He loses his Parents at an early
age — His Grandfather's objections to his travelling abroad — His
Marriage — Death of his Grandfather — He represents the County of
Herts in the Parliament of 1640 — He is again elected for Herts in
the Long Parliament — His Parliamentary conduct — He is made a
Peer — ^probably by purchase ----- 249
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Xll CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
CHAPTER II.
Lord Capell concurs in an Address to the King on a Breach of Privilege
— He joins the Royalist party -^ His motives for the change — Lord
Capell is impeached by the Commons — He assists in collecting Money
for the King — The King wishes to confer an office on Lord Capell —
He is made Lieutenant-General for Shropshire and other Counties —
Measures for sequestrating his Elstate — The King wishes to create him
an Earl - . - . - - Page 262
CHAPTER IIL
Proceedings in Scotland — Communications between the Parliaments at
Oxford and Westminster — Letter to the Privy Coimcil in Scotland —
Arrangements respecting the King's Children — The King decides on
sending the Prince into the West — Lord Capell appointed one of the
Prince's Council — Treaty of Uxbridge — The Prince goes to Bristol
— Siege of Taunton, and Military Transactions in the Western
Counties --------283
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INTRODUCTION.
PART I.
LORD CHANCELLOR CLARENDON'S COLLECTION
OF PORTRAITS.
VOL, 1.
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INTRODUCTION.
PAET I.— THE CLARENDON GALLERY.
A Gallery of Portraits, serving to illustrate a most
eventful period in history, must always be regarded
with interest ; still more so when the pictures it contains
can also claim attention from their excellence as works
of art. But in viewing the Clarendon collection there
are yet other sources of interest, suggested by the recol-
lection that we are surrounded by the images of many
of those who were linked by the ties of kindred, of
friendship, or of party, to the person who collected their
likenesses — that their names have been enshrined in
history by his pen — and that we can at once associate
with their portraits the record he has left of their
actions, and the descriptions he has drawn of their cha-
racter. That record may be imperfect, his judgment of
character may have been partial or prejudiced, but
Lord Clarendon has frankly disclosed his knowledge
and his opinions, and they have been faithfully trans-
mitted to posterity. We know the feelings with which
he regarded the subjects of his gallery. Through him
we live again in their times ; we view them, as it were,
b2
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16 * INTRODUCTION. Part I.
with the eyes of a contemporary, and acquire the per-
sonal interest in each portrait which personal intimacy
would give/
Lord Clarendon describes his taste through life for
the society of eminent men;* the same taste would
seem to have guided his choice in the selection of por-
traits by which he surrounded himself in his home ;
and though the collection can boast of a few of the
best productions of Cornelius Jansen, and many of
Vandyck, Lely, &c., there are other paintings which,
as works of art, could never have found their place
in such a gallery but for the value he attached to them
as portraits.
The only authentic contemporaneous account that
^ For this reason Lord Clarendon's characters of his friends and contem-
poraries, and even of himself, have been selected in preference to the
accounts given by any other writer, and will be found subjoined to tho
description of the portrait and short memoir of its subject in the descrip-
tive catalogue at the end of the third volume of this work.
■ " He never took more pleasure in anything than in frequently men-
" tioning and naming those persons who were his friends, or of his most
" familiar conversation, aud in remembering their particular virtues and
** faculties ; and used often to say * that he never was so proud, or thought
** himself so good a man, as when he was the worst man in the company ;
" all his friends and companions being in their quality, in their fortimes,
" at least in their faculties and endowments of mind, very much his supe-
" riors ; and he always charged his children to follow his example in that
" point, in making their friendships and conversation : protesting that in
** the whole course of his life he never knew one man, of what condition
«* soever, arrive to any degree of reputation in the world, who made choice
" or delighted in the company or conversatioo of those who in their quali-
" ties were inferior, or in their parte not much superior, to himself.'*—
Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 29, 30.
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 17
remains of Lord Clarendon's gallery is to be found in a
passage of Evelyn's Diary, where the following entry is
made, December 20th, 1668: —
" I dined with my Lord Cornbury at Clarendon
" House, now bravely furnished, especially with the
" pictures of most of our ancient and modern wits,
" poets, philosophers, famous and learned English-
men." And again, in a long letter addressed by Mr,
Evelyn to Mr. Pepys, dated August 1 2th, 1689, where
he enumerates from memory many of the pictures he
had formerly seen hung up at Clarendon House, and
thus furnishes the only approach to a contemporaneous
catalogue that has been preserved. Pepys had been
desirous of forming a collection of pictures, somewhat
on the same plan as that of the Chancellor s. Evelyn
dissuaded him from the attempt, on the ground of the
expense into which it would lead him, and advised him
to confine himself to the less ambitious plan of collecting
prints : —
" I should not advise," writes Mr. Evelyn to " his
" worthy friend Mr. Pepys," " a solicitous expense of
" having the pictures of so many great persons painted
** in oil, which were a vast and unnecessary charge; . . .
** but," continues he, " if, instead of these, you think fit
** to add to your title-pages, in a distinct volume, the
" heads and effigies of such as I have enumerated, and
" of as many others as, either in this or any other age,
" have been famous for arms or arts, in taille doucej
** and with very tolerable expense, to be procured
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18 * INTRODUCTION. Part I.
*' amongst the printsellers, I should not reprove it. I
** am sure you would be infinitely delighted with the
" assembly ; and some are so very well done to the life,
" that they may stand in competition with the best
" paintings." Mr. Evelyn then speaks of the Chan-
cellor's " purpose to furnish all the rooms of state and
" other apartments with the pictures of the most illus-
" trious of our nation, especially of his Lordship's time
" and acquaintance, and of divers before it" " There
" were," says he, " at full length, the great Duke of
*^ Buckingham, the brave Sir Horace and Francis
" Vere, Sir Walter Kaleigh, Sir Philip Sidney, the
" great Earl of Leicester, Treasurer Buckhurst, Bur-
** leigh, Walsingham, Cecil, Lord Chancellor Bacon,
^^ EUesmere, and, I think, all the late chancellors and
<< grave judges in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth, and
" her successors James and Charles I. For there was
" Treasurer Weston, Cottington, Duke Hamilton, the
^ magnificent Earl of Carlisle, Earls of Carnarvon,
" Bristol, Holland, Lindsay, Northumberland, King-
^^ ston^ and Southampton, Lords Falkland and Digby
*' (I name them promiscuously, as they come into my
" memory), and of Charles II., besides the Koyal
" Family, the Dukes of Albemarle and Newcastle, Earls
" of Derby, Shrewsbury, St Albans, the brave Mont-
" rose, Sandwich, Manchester, &c.; and of the coif,
" Sir Edward Coke, Judge Berkeley, Bramston, Sir
" Orlando Bridgman, Geoflry Palmer, Selden, Vaughan,
" Sir Robert Cotton, Dugdale, Mr. Camden, Mr. Hales
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P.ABT I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * J 9
** of Eton ; the Archbishops Abbot and Laud ; Bishops
** Juxon, Sheldon, Morley, and Duppa ; Dr. Sanderson,
" Brownrig, Dr. Donne, Chillingworth, and several of
" the clergy and others of the former and present age.
** For there were the pictures of Fisher, Fox, Sir
" Thomas More, Thomas Lord Cromwell, Dr. Nowel,
" &c. And, what was most agreeable to his Lordship's
" general humour, old Chaucer, Shakspeare,^ Beaumont
" and Fletcher (who were both in one piece), Spenser,
" Mr. Waller, Cowley, Hudibras, whidi last he placed
" in the room where he used to eat and dine in public,
** most of which, if not all, are at the present at Corn-
" bury, in Oxfordshire, together with the library, which
" the present Earl has considerably improved."
Having thus detailed the list of such pictures as he
could recall to mind, Mr. Evelyn adds the following
names of those which he says he had sent to his Lord-
ship : — " Cardinals Pole and Wolsey ; Gardiner Bishop
" of Wuichester, Cranmer, Kidley, old Latimer, Bishop
" Usher, Mr. Hooker, Occam, Ripley, John Duns,
" Boger Bacon, Suisset, Tunstal Bishop of Duresme
" (correspondent with Erasmus), Tompson, Ven. Bede,
** if at least to be met with in some ancient oflSce or
> It would be interesting to know what has become of this portrait.
Shakspeare died 1616, only forty-four years before the Bestoration ; Ben
Jonson, the friend of Shakspeare and of Sir Edward Hyde, died in 1637,
only twenty-three years before the Restoration ; and from the circumstance
of Ben Jonson having written some lines under the print of Shakspeare it
is probable that Lord Clarendon would have known from him whether it
was that print or any other portrait that most resembled to remarkable a
person.
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20 * INTRODUCTION. Part I.
" mass-book, where I have seen some of those old
" famous persons accurately painted either fi'om the
" life or from copies : Sir John Cheke, Sir Thomas
" Bodley, Smith, John Berkeley, Mr. Ascham, Sir
'* Fulk Grevil, Buchanan, Dr. Hervey, Gilbert, Mr.
" Oughtred, Sir Henry Wotton (I still recite them
" promiscuously, and not like an herald). Sir Francis
" Drake, Sir Richard Hawkins, Mr. Cavendish, Martin
" Frobisher." * Some of these he says his Lordship
procured, " but was interrupted ; and, after all this
" apparatus and grandeur, died an exile, and in the dis-
" pleasure of his Majesty and others who envied his
" rise and fortune."
In the work entitled * Historical Inquiries,' by
Lord Dover, then Mr. Agar Ellis, this collection of
pictures is made a ground of serious accusation against
the Chancellor Clarendon. The cbarges are founded
upon a note of Lord Dartmouth's, in the Oxford edition
of Burnet's ' History of his own Times.'^ In the ' His-
torical Inquiries' it is stated that "Lord Dartmouth
" was a Tory, and therefore should naturally have been
** disposed to be favourable to Clarendon."* It is, how-
ever, quite clear that no party bias had influenced his
opinion in favour of the Chancellor, and that the note is
written in a tone of hostility and insinuation that betokens
rather personal enmity (though he was born too late for
' Evelyn's Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 806.
• Historical Inquiries respecting the Cbaracter of Lord Clarendon, p. 27
(1827).
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. •21
personal acquaintance ^) than honest reprobation of public
misconduct. Lord Dartmouth accuses Lord Clarendon
of having wished " to depress every one's merits to ad-
" vance his own ;" and alleges that he had recourse " to
" other means than the Crown could afford to increase
** his fortune ;" that those ** who had suffered most in
" the civil war were in no condition to purchase his
^'favour;" that "he therefore undertook the protec
" tion of those who had plundered and sequestered the
" others, which he very artfully contrived by making
" the King believe it was necessary for his own ease
" and quiet to make his enemies his friends ; upon
" which he brought in most of those who had been the
" main instruments and promoters of the late troubles,
** who were not wanting in their acknowledgments in
" the manner he expected, which produced the great
" house in the Piccadilly, furnished chiefly with cava-
" Hers' goods brought thither for peace offerings, which
** the right owners durst not claim when they were in
" his possession.* • . . . Whoever had a mind to see
' William Legge, 2nd Lord and Ist Earl of Dartmouth, b. Oct. 1672,
ob. Dec. 1, 1750. Mr. Hallam speaks of Lord Dartmouth as "one whose
" splenetic humour makes him no good witness against any one." — Hal-
lam's 'Constitutional History,* vol. ii. p. 503.
■ Lord Dartmouth adds, '* In my own remembrance Earl Paulett was
'* an humble petitioner to his (Lord Clarendon) sons for leave to take a
" copy of his grandfather and grandmother's pictures (whole length drawn
** by Vandyke) that bad been plundered from Hinton St. George, which
'* was obtained with great difiiculty, because it was thought that copies
" might lessen the value of the originals." In that point of view they
were certainly right, for there can be no doubt that the multi{dication of
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22 • INTRODUCTION. Pabt I.
V^ what great families had been plundered during the
^^ civil war might find some remains either at Clarendon
** House or at Cornbury.**
Nothing can be plainer than Lord Dartmouth's in-
tention to charge the Lord Chancellor with having
received bribes, both in money and goods, for the
" bringing in of men " who were unfit and unworthy of
the trust reposed in them; yet nothing can be more
vague than the grounds on which this accusation is
alleged ; no specific evidence is adduced to support it,
no mention is made of the particular individuals con-
cerned, or the occasion or the time when the Chancellor
received such bribes ; it can therefore only be inferred
that throughout his administration, on the most sordid
motives of self-aggrandizement, he brought into power
those " who had promoted the late troubles,"
In estimating the credit due to Lord Dartmouth's
testimony, the following considerations should be borne
in mind : —
copies has a tendency to lower the vahie of the originals. The portraits in
question being of such near relations to Lord Paulett, it may have been
considered an ungracious act on the part of Lord Clarendon's sons to raise
any difficulty on the subject ; but there may have been reasons connected
with the ownership of the pictures, or the immediate necessity of putting
their value to the test, that may have caused this hesitation ; as, however,
there is nothing in this part of L(»^ Dartmouth's note that bears upon the
charges against the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, it is unnecessary to allude
to it further. There is no account to be found in any county history of
Hinton St. George having been plundered; but in the Lords* Journals,
vol. V. p. 372, is the following entry :— " Ordered, 24th September, 1642,
" That the Lady Powlett shall have an order of Parliament to preserve her
<« houses at Hinton and Wicke from pillaging and violence of the soldiers.'*
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. • 23
1st Lord Dartmouth was not a contemporary of the
Chancellor; he was born in 1672: Lord Clarendon was
banished in 1667, and died December, 1674; so that
Lord Clarendon's administration came to an end five
years before Lord Dartmouth was born. Lord Dart-
mouth's information must therefore have been obtained
at second hand ; and although his informants may have
been persons who had taken a part in public afiairs in
the previous generation, yet, as he neither names nor
even indicates them, it is impossible to form any judg-
ment of their impartiality or means of knowledge.
2nd. Lord Dartmouth's note, written upon the margin
of his copy of Burnet's History, was not published to
the world till nearly a century after it was written,^ and
therefore it did not pass through the ordeal of contem-
porary criticism.* It never came under the eye of Lord
Clarendon's immediate descendants, of his friends per-
sonal or political, or of any others who could test the
statements from their own knowledge of the facts and of
the character of the individual inculpated.
* Biahop Burnet's ' History of his Own Times,* with the suppressed pas-
sages, and notes by the Earls of Dartmouth and Hardwick and Speaker
Onslow, published at Oxford, 1823.
' Lord Bacon's observations on unpublished precedents apply equally
to such private commentaries as Lord Dartmouth's marginal notes.
" Precedents,'* says he, " which have been published, have greater au-
** thority ; although they may not have been much in use, they have
** been agitated and discussed in the conversation and arguments of men.
<* But those which have remained in desks and archives, as if they were
" buried, and had passed into manifest oblivion, possess less authority.
*• For precedents, like water, are clearest in a running stream." — De
Augm. Scient., lib. viii. aph. 28.
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24 * INTRODUCTION. Part I.
3rd. Lord Dartmouth s note was written without any
view to publication ; it appears to have been founded
on loose impressions, and its grounds were not examined
with the care which a man of his station would doubtless
have bestowed if he had been personally responsible for
a charge of this nature against so eminent a public
servant as the Chancellor Clarendon.
Amongst the many evils that spring from an inter-
rupted succession are to be included such as necessarily
accompany a restoration; and perhaps none are more
difficult to cope with than the jarring claims of those
who, having remained faithful to the banished dynasty,
look to reward, and those who, returning to their alle-
giance, expect to be conciliated — gratitude and policy
become at once both rival appeals for preferment and
motives of action, and the advancement of the members
of either party is looked upon by the other as an act of
base ingratitude or of vengeful exclusion. Doubtless,
every mark of favour from the King to those who in
the civil war had been opposed to the Boyalist cause,
and for whose advancement the Chancellor was held
responsible, became a source of jealousy and of resent-
ment towards him. Evelyn, indeed, assigns as one of
the diflPerent causes of the Chancellor s downfall, " that
** he made few friends during his grandeur among the
" Koyal suflPerers, but advanced the old rebels."^
* The opposite opinions expressed by different writers of the Chancellor's
conduct and feelings on this point speak in favour of his impartiality in
the distribution of power and patronage, for he has certainly incurred the
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. *" 25
His administration lasted from the yeiar 1660 till
1667, when the King deprived him of the Great Seal,
During that time, justly or unjustly, he had provoked
the political and personal enmity of many high in power
and in various stations ; he was subjected to divers im-
penalty of impartiality, the dissatisfaction of both parties. Mr. Hallam
says, " The Cavaliers hated him on account of the Act of Indemnity, and
" the Presbyterians for that of Conformity." — Const. Hist., vol. ii. p. 494.
Bishop Burnet says, " Lord Clarendon put the justice of the nation in
" very good hands ; and employed some who had been on the bench in
"Cromwell's time, the famous Sir Matthew Hale in particular." — His-
tory of his Own Times, vol. i. p. 300. Mrs. Hutchinson regarded LonJ
Clarendon as one exasperated against her husband (Life of Col. Hutchin-
son, p. 412), " and determined to keep their family down" (p. 454). Hume
says, " The Royalists, disappointed in their sanguine hopes of preferment,
** threw a load of envy on Clarendon " (vol. v. p. 525). Mr. Macaulay says
that ** His love of episcopacy was mingled with a vindictive hatred of
** Puritans which did him little honour as a statesman or a Christian "
(vol. i. p. 174) ; that " he was regarded by the Puritans, and by all who
" pitied them, as an implacable bigot, a second Laud " (p. 194) ; and that
the House of Commons, which " loudly and sincerely professed the strongest
'' attachment to the royal office and the royal person, owed no allegiance to
" Clarendon, and fell on him as furiously as their predecessors had fallen
** on Strafford" (ibid). Perhaps Hume's more general observation, " that
" the Chancellor was at this time very much exposed to the hatred of the
" public and of every party which divided the nation " (vol. v. p. 525),
may be a true picture of his unfortimate position at the moment of his
downfall ; but it would be hard to fix any charge upon him based on the
supposition of a recognised preference of one party over the other.
" Lord Clarendon fell under the common fate of great ministers, whose
** employment exposes them to envy, and draws upon them the indig-
** nation of all who are disappointed in their pretensions. Their friends
*^ do generally show that they are only the friends of their fortunes ; and
** upon the change of favour they not only forsake them in their extremity,
" but, that they may secure to themselves the protection of a new favourite,
<* they will labour to redeem all that is past by turning as violently against
" them as they formerly fawned abjectly upon them." — Burnet's Hist, of
liis Own Times, vol. i. p. 446.
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26* INTRODUCTION. Part I.
putations, misrepresentations, and calumnies; and yet,
though for a period of seven years his conduct, accord-
ing to Lord Dartmouth, was open to the chaise of
bribery and corruption of the meanest kind, "this
** charge," says the author of * Historical Inquiries,'
" as far as documentary evidence goes, rests entirely,
" as far as I have been able to discover, upon the
" authority of Lord Dartmouth." ^ This silence cannot
be attributed to the forbearance of his enemies, and
must therefore be considered as a proof that his con-
temporaries did not seriously share in the opinions
expressed by Lord Dartmouth.*
But it is less to Lord Dartmouth's opinions ' than to
the inference drawn by the author of the * Historical
^ That Lord Clarendon was aocused by his enemies of accepting bribes
fnmi the French and Dutch, and that his house was called Holland House
and Dunkirk House, is perhaps too well known to be here repeated ; but
that accusation is quite distinct from Lord Dartmouth's charge " of bring-
" ing in those who had plundered and sequestered the others, for the sake of
" obtaining cavaliers' goods from the main instruments of the late troubles."
' The satirical poems of Andrew Marvell cannot be taken as historical
evidence. Mr. Pepys was unfriendly to the Chancellor Clarendon, and
would certainly not have failed to note down this charge had it been made
or believed in his time ; but though he makes mention of his house and
pictures, it is without any such comment. ** (April 22, 1667.) — To the
Lord Chancellor's house, the first time I have been therein ; and it is very
noble, and brave pictures of the ancient and present nobles." — Pepys'
Mem., vol. iii. p. 206.
* It must be remembered that Lord Dartmouth mentioned ** CavaUers'
** goods " in general, but without specifying pictures as amongst the gifts
the Chancellor received *' from the main instruments and promoters of the
** late troubles." The only allusion to pictures is the complaint that Lord
Panlett had been unconrteously treated when desirous of obtaining a copy
of the pictores of his grandfather and grandmother.
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 27
Inquiries ' that it is necessary to refer in treating the
subject of the Chancellor Clarendon's collection of pic-
tures, as it is from the existence of that collection that
he found what he states to him appeared " the circum-
" stantial evidence '* by which that charge "was curiously
" confirmed.** The " circumstantial evidence ** consists
in the following statement: "that in this collection * an
" extraordinary assemblage of portraits is to be found
" of different races, especially the portraits of the dif-
" ferent members of almost all the conspicuous families
" on the King's side in the civil wars ; among them
" the Stanleys, Cavendishes, Villierses, Hamiltons, &c.
" &c. ;" — that Lord Clarendon was certainly " uncon-
" nected either by relationship, connexion, or even
" friendshij^" with the subjects of these portraits ; —
" that no one gives away family portraits to a stranger ;
" — that they were almost all painted by Cornelius
" Jansen or Vandyck, and therefore must have been
" painted before the civil wars began ;" — " that the
" Chancellor could not have bought them ;'* for, ** had
" they been on sale, there can be no doubt but that the
" families to which they originally belonged would have
" managed to purchase them ;** — and that " in all other
" collections of portraits in England it is for the most
" part easy to discover how each portrait came into the
" family, by tracing its relationship and connexions.**
The mystery of an extraordinary assemblage of
persons of " different families " is at once solved by the
^ One half is at BothweU Castle, the other at the Grove Park, Herts*
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28* ' INTRODUCTION Part!,
fact that such was the plan on which the Chancellor's
gallery was formed, and which, we learn from Evelyn,
was intended to be made up of " our dncient wits, poets,
" philosophers, famous and learned Englishmen, the
" most illustrious of our nation, especially of his Lord-
" ship's time and acquaintance, and of divers before it."
Next, a gallery that included amongst its best pictures,
by Vandyck and other artists, the portraits of Lord
Falkland, Lord and Lady Capell,* Lord Grandison,*
Lady Moreton,^ Lord Hertford, the Duke of Rich-
mond,* Lord Cottington, Sir Thomas and Lady Ailes-
bury and Mr. Ailesbury,* Sir Henry Capell,' the Duchess
of Beaufort, Archbishop Laud (his earliest patron),
Selden,^ Ben Jonson, Charles Cotton, John Vaughan, Sir
Kenelm Digby, Cowley, Bishops Morley and Sheldon,
Hales and Chillingworth," Sir Edward Littleton, Sir
* The Chancellor's eldest son married Lord Capell's daughter.
* William Villiers, Viscount Grandison, was first-cousin to Lord Cla-
rendon's first wife, and of him he speaks as " his familiar friend," and
" one in whom he had entire confidence."
■ Lady Moreton was the sister of Lord Grandison, and with her Lord
Clarendon was also on terms of intimacy and friendship ; some of his letters
to her are still preserved in the Clarendon State Papers. The mothers of
Lord Grandison, of Anne Ayliffe (the first wife of Edward Hyde), and of
Lucy Apsley (the wife of Colonel Hutchinson), were sisters.
* Of the friendship established between Mr. Hyde and the Duke of
Richmond at York there is some account given in Lord Clarendon's * Life.'
* Father, mother, and brother in law to Lord Clarendon.
* Sir H. Capell and Duchess of Beaufort, son and daughter of Lord Capell.
' Mr. Hyde was wont to say he valued himself upon nothing more than
upon having had Mr. Selden's friendship.
* These ten persons are all named together in Lord Clarendon's 'Life,'
" as amongst the friends with whom he lived in greatest intimacy." —
vol. i. p. 30.
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. *29
Geofirey Palmer,* the Earl of Southampton, the Duke
of Ormond, besides a large number of family portraits
of the Hydes, ought certainly not to fall under any
suspicion on the ground of a want of relationship, con-
nexion, or still less of friendship, between the subjects
of the portraits and the person who collected them.*
That Lord Clarendon was not "a stranger ^^ to those
whose likenesses he collected round him, might at once
dispose of the diflSculty of his having received them as
^ To Sir G. Palmer he bequeathed the guardianship of his children in
the will made in the island of Jersey.
' It must also be observed that, even amongst the most valuable and
undoubted originals by Yandyck and others, many are duplicates of those
still in the possession of the families who claim descent from the subjects
of these portraits — such, for instance, as Lord Grandison, the father of the
Duchess of Cleveland, belonging to the Duke of Grafton ; the Earl of
Northumberland, belonging to Lord Essex, whose ancestor Arthur, first
Lord Essex, married the daughter of the Earl of Northumberland ; the
portraits of William and Philip, Earls of Pembroke, of which the dupli-
cates are at Wilton ; Archbishop Laud, of which there is a duplicate still
at Lambeth, and another at Wentworth ; Lord Strafford, of whom there
are so many portraits, and amongst the most celebrated that at Went-
worth ; Lord Arundel, whose portrait is in the collection of every branch
of the Howard family ; Sir Geoffrey Palmer, of whom a portrait is said to
be at Carlton Hall, Northumberland, and in the possession of Henry Pal-
mer, Esq. (vide Jones's * Views ') ; Lord Keeper Coventry, of whom there
is one in the possession of Lord Coventry. In addition to these examples
of portraits that do not seem to have been fruits of the plunder of parti-
cular royalist families, it should be remarked that at Bothwell Castle there
are eight and at the Grove fourteen pictures of royal persons, many of
which were painted after the civil war, and which could not therefore have
formed any part of the " plunder from Cavaliers." The portrait of George
Yilliers, first Duke of Buckin^iam, bore the initials of C. P., with the
crown over the letters, and was probably the gift of the King. That of
Catherine of Braganza, and the children of Charles I., also came from the
royal collection.
VOL. I. C
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30 * INTRODUCTION. Part I.
gifts from the family; Evelyn has, however, left no
room for doubt, by stating that many of these portraits
were gifts to the Chancellor. It is greatly overstating
the value of the collection to suppose that the pictures
" are almost all painted by Vandyck and Cornelius
" Jansen." Many original works by Sir Peter Lely
(who was much patronised by the Duchess of York),
by Honthorst, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Wissing, and by
some other artists, together with copies, some good,
some bad, have swelled the numbers of a gallery that
owes a large portion of its interest to causes independent
of excellence in art That they are not ** almost exclu-
" sively the works of Vandyck and Cornelius Jansen " *
removes at once that proof that the portraits must have
been painted before the civil wars.
The idea that the pictures could not have been
bought, but by those to whom they had originally be-
longed, is also dispelled by Evelyn's stating the fact
that many were purchased expressly for the Chancel-
lor's gallery ; and it must be admitted that those per-
sons mentioned by Lord Dartmouth as having " suffered
** most in the civil wars," who had been plundered and
sequestered, and who were in no condition to purchase
favour, were unlikely to be forward in the re-purchase
of pictures of great price, even when they did not (as
they often did) possess duplicate copies of the same
subject. The poverty that was said to exclude the
* There are but two pictures at the Grove by Coraelius Jansen inherited
from the Chancellor.
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. • 31
Royalists from lie power of bribing the Lord Chan-
cellor must also have prevented their repossessing them-
selves of these pictures : had they, indeed, been able to
do so, they would at once have held in their hands the
peace-ofFering supposed necessary to advancement.
There is, however, no diflSculty in accounting for the
facility with which the Chancellor and many other
collectors of that period may have become possessed of
portraits that had once been prized and cherished by
their original owners. The Royalists were not the
only sufferers during the civil wars. Many houses were
pillaged on each side, and large collections of pictures
were tiirown into the market both by plunder and by
the necessity for money. The Duke of Budkingham
lived for a time on the profits arising from the sale of his
fether's gallery.^ The King's collections were also
sold.^ Mrs. Hutchinson relates with natural pride the
' ' When Sir Peter Lely died, his splendid collection of pictures and draw-
ings was sold. He had purchased '* many of Vandyck and the Earl of
" Arundel's ; and the second Villiers pawned many to him that had
" remained of his father the Duke of Buckingham's." . . " A list of
" part of his collection was printed with the Duke of Buckingham's collec-
" tion hy Bathoe ; it contained twenty-six of Vandyck's hcst pictures." —
Walpole's * Anecdotes of Painting,* vol. iii. p. 20.
• All the furniture from all the King's palaces was brought up and ex-
posed to sale, particularly Somerset House, Greenwich, Whitehall, Oatlauds,
Nonsuch, Windsor, Wimbledon House, St. James's, Hampton Court, Rich-
mond, Theobalds, Ludlow, Carisbrook and Kenilworth Castles, Bewdley
House, Holdenby House, Royston, Newmarket, and Woodstock Manor-
house (Walpole's * Anecdotes of Painting,' toI. ii. p. 73) ; and from the
list of pictures given by Vertue from a catalogue once in possession of John
Anstis, Esq., Garter King at Arms, it would appear that no less than 1387
r2
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32* INTRODUCTION. Pabt I.
taste which prompted her hushand's purchases in works
of art, and the liberality with which he paid for its
indulgence : —
" The only recreation he had during his residence
^^ at London was in seeking out all the rare artists
" he could hear of, and in considering their works in
" painting, sculptures, gravings, and all other such curi-
•' osities, insomuch that he became a great virtuoso and
" patron of ingenuity. Being loth that the land should
" be disfumished of all the rarities that were in it,
" whereof many were set for sale from the King's and
" divers noblemen's collections, he laid out about 2000/.
" in the choicest pieces of painting, most of which were
" bought out of the King's goods, which had been given
" to his servants to pay their wages ; to them the
" Colonel gave ready money, and bought such good
" pennyworths that they were valued at much more
" than they cost. These he brought down into the
" country." *
Nor is it only in the confusion of civil strife, but
even in times of undisturbed peace, that the ruin of
pictures from these royal houses were sold in the Protectorate. — ^Mrs. Jame-
son's * Handbook to Public Galleries.'
* Memoirs of CJolonel Hutchinson, edit. Bohn's Standard Library,
p. 367.— Mrs. Hutchinson deeply felt the injustice with which her husband
was afterwards treated by the Crown on this subject ; — " In December,
** 1660, an order came down from the Secretary, commanding certain pic-
" tures and other things the Colonel had bought out of the late King's
" collection, which had cost him in ready money between 1000/. and 1500/.,
" and were of more value, and notwithstanding the act of oblivion were all
«* taken from him."— Ibid., p. 224.
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 33
great families and the consequent sale of collections of
pictures occur ; and it is then that either the skill of
the artist or the fame of the subject obtains a ready
sale for portraits wholly unconnected with the families
of their purchasers.^ These well-known facts alone are
inconsistent with the climax of " circumstantial evidence "
brought in favour of Lord Dartmouth's charge, viz.,
" that in all the collections of portraits in England it
" is for the most part easy to discover how each por-
" trait came into the family by tracing its relationship
** and connexion/' The daily experience of those who
have interested themselves on such subjects bears strong
testimony against this proposition : perhaps, indeed, the
converse is nearer the truth, and it might be more
truly said that there are few collections where there are
not many portraits for whose presence it would be dif-
ficult to assign any other reason than the accidents of
gift or of purchase. Nor can this be matter of wonder,
for the vicissitudes of a portrait often far outstep those
of the living subject. In the course of a few years the
names of even family pictures are frequently forgotten/
* Within the last few years the sales at Strawberry Hill and at Stowe
afford a good example of the rescattering of portraits that had been gathered
together without much reference to family connexion. Portraits by Sir
Joshua Reynolds have been for years eagerly bought up as works of art,
and many a picture has wandered from the family for whom it was painted
to adorn the galleries of some richer man or more practised connoisseur.
* Evelyn says, " Our painters take no care to transmit to posterity the
** names of the persons whom they represent, through which negligence so
** many excellent pieces come after a while to be dispersed amongst brokers
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34 * mTRODUCTION. Part I.
their value is then at once diminished, and, if without
merit as works of art, they are banished from their
places of honour, soon treated as worthless lumber,
parted with as unsightly incumbrances, and not unfre-
quently purchased as mere furniture to cover the bare
walls, or perhaps to be received as ancestors in some
strange family, and live again with fresh names in the
hands of fresh owners,*
But though the causes of dispersion and acquisition
are far too numerous and obvious not to readily account
for the assemblage of pictures collected by tlie Chan-
cellor or any other collector, it will be well to quote the
passage from Evelyn where he describes the manner in
which Lord Clarendon was assisted to form his gallery.
In his advice to Mr. Pepys " not to embark in the
" vast and unnecessary charge of having so many great
" persons painted in oil," he adds, that *' it was not so
" extraordinary a one to my Lord Clarendon as one
" may imagine, because, when his design was once made
" and upholsterers, who expose them to the streets in every dirty and
" infamous comer." — vol. iv. p. 300.
^ It is a notorious fact amongst dealers in pictures, that they receive ap-
plications from customers for " a set of ancestors;" — also portraits of bishops,
colonels of regiments, &c., of a given date, are sometimes required to fill
up the chain of succession. A well-attested story is told of a nobleman
(who died in the early part of this century), who was in the habit of men-
tioning with great satisfaction the ingenious method he had adopted to
supply his castle with such portraits as seemed wanting to his collection,
and that, whenever he saw on sale any portrait dressed in the costume of
a period where a blank was to be filled up, he always bought it, and, affix-
ing to it the name of the ancestor who had lived at that time, succeeded in
obtaining a complete series oi family portraits.
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. 'SS
" known, anybody who either had them of their own,
" or could purchase them at any price, strove to make
" their court by these presents, by which means he got
** many excellent pieces of Vandyck, and the originals
" of Lely, and the best of our modern masters' hands." ^
This desire to pay court to the great, in whatever way
evinced, is a weakness, not to say a meanness, that has
belonged to all ages ; but whatever might have been
the spirit of flattery or self-interest which prompted the
desire to gratify the Lord Chancellor's tastes, to sup-
pose that these offerings were received by him as bribes,
and that he misused his influence or was corrupt in the
administration of justice in return for such gifts, would
be to give an interpretation to Evelyn's words wholly
inconsistent with the opinion which in the very same
letter he expresses of the Chancellor's worth. * After
* Letter to Mr. Pepys, Evelyn's * Memoire/ voL iv. p. 30.
* There is no intention to discuss in this brief notice the more general ques-
tion of the purity of the Chancellor Clarendon's administration, but, since
a sentence has been quoted in the * Historical Inquiries,' l^m Pepys's
Diary, to prove that Evelyn's opinions were unfavourable to his honesty
and thus supported Lord Dartmouth's charge, it may be well here to repeat
the passage, and see how far it agrees with the feelings and opinions ex-
pressed by Evelyn on other occasions.
in the course of a conversation between Evelyn and Pepys, the subject
of Sir Thomas Clifford's rapid rise appears to have been discussed, and
attributed to the influence of Lord Arlington, ** whose creature he is and
** never leaves him,'** " By the way," writes Mr. Pepys, April 26, 1667,
*' he (Evelyn) tells me, that of all the great men of England there is none
*' that endeavours more to raise those that he takes into favour than my
*^ Lord Arlington, and that on that score he is much more to be made one's
** patron than my Lord Chancellor, who never did nor never will do anything
•* but for money." That Mr. Evelyn expressed an opinion of the superior
advantages to be gained by the protection of Lord Arlington seems quite
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36 * INTRODUCTION. Pabt I.
lamenting his fall, through the influence of the most
profligate members of a dissolute Court, and contrasting
clear, but it is much less clear that the reflection on Lord Clarendon was
ever uttered by him : the wording would admit of its being either his or
Mr. Pepys's, but the style of the comment is much more like Mr. Pepys's
own than Mr. Evelyn's. Nor is this all ; throughout Mr. Evelyn's diary
and letters there is not a word to be found corresponding to such sentiments,
and they are utterly at variance with his frequent expressions of friendship
and respect for the Chancellor's character ; of which the following letters,
addressed on two different occasions to Lord Combury, afibrd striking
examples : —
" London, February 9, 1664-5.
" I own, my Lord, our illustrious Chancellor for my patron and bene-
" factor ; so I pay him as tender and awful respect (abstracted from his
" greatness and the circumstances of that) as if he had a natural as he
** had a virtual and just dominion over me ; so as my gratitude to him
" as his beneficiary is even adopted into my religion, and till I renounce
" that I shall never lessen of my duty ; for I am ready to profess
" it, I have found more tenderness and greater hmnanity from the in-
" fluences of his Lordship than from all the relations I have now in the
" world, wherein yet I have many dear and worthy friends. My Lord,
" pardon again this excess, which I swear to you proceeds from the honest
" and inartificial gratitude of, my Lord, yours, &c." — Evelyn's 'Memoirs,'
vol. iv. p. 136.
** Says Conrt, January 20, 1665-6.
" May that great and illustrious person, whose large and ample heart
" has honoured his country wjth so glorious a structure, and by an example
" worthy of himself showed our nobility how they ought indeed to build and
" value their qualities, live many long years to enjoy it ; and when he shall
" be passed to that upper building, not made with hands, may his posterity
" (as you, my Lord) inherit his goodness, this palace, and all other cir-
" cumstances of his grandeur, to consummate their felicity ; with which
'* happy augur, permit me in all faithfulness and sincerity to subscribe
" myself, my Lord, yours, &c." — Ibid., pp. 173-4.
Had the religious-minded Evelyn believed that the great house " in the
" Piccadilly had been produced " by the bribes of those " who were the main
" instruments of the late troubles," and been furnished by goods acquired
in so discreditable a manner, it would have been impossible for him thus
to allude to the structure itself, and still less to the future state of its
possessor.
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PabtI.
THE CLARENDON GALLERY.
•37
the corruption that followed on his dismissal, he says, —
" Whatever my Lord Clarendon's skill, whether in
** law or politics, the oflSces of state and justice were
" filled with men of old English honour and probity. . .
" There were, indeed, heinous matters laid to his
" charge which I could never see proved'' Had Mr.
Evelyn supposed that by receiving these gifts the cha-
racter of a minister and a judge was tarnished, he would
never have described the plan of collection with un-
mixed approbation and admiration ; and still less would
one so pure and virtuous have aflforded his assistance to
make fresh lists of portraits to be obtained, had he
believed that such additions would be fresh blots on the
name and integrity of a Lord Chancellor.*
» In a letter to the Lord Chancellor, dated 18th March, 1666-7, Mr.
Evelyn says, —
" My Lord, your Lordship inquires of me what pictures might be added
" to the assembly of the learned and heroic persons of England which your
" lordshii^ has already collected ; the design of which I do infinitely more
'* magnify than the most famous heads of foreigners which do not concern
" the glory of our country ; and it is, in my opinion, the most honourable
" ornament, the most becoming and obliging which your Lordship can
" think of to adorn your palace withal ; such therefore as seem to be
" wanting I shall range imder these three heads : —
" The Learned.
" Sir Hen. Savell Alcuinus
** Archbishop of Armagh Ridley \
" Dr. Harvey lAfiTnfir I
" Sir H. Wotton
" Sir T. Bodley
" G. Buchanan
" Jo. Barclay
" Ed. Spencer
" Wm. Lilly
<* Wm. Hooker
Latimer f '
Roger Ascham
Dr. Sanderson
Wm. Oughtred
M. Philips
Rog. Bacon
Geo. Ripley
Wm. of Occam
Adrian IV.
Alex. Hales
Ven. Bede
Jo. Duns Scotus
Sir J. Cheke.
Ladies.
Eliz. Joan Weston
Jane Grey.
" POLITICTANS.
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38 * INTRODUCTION. Part I.
The friendly testimony of Evelyn is not, however,
the only contemporary circumstantial evidence to be
adduced in refutation of Lord Dartmouth's charge on
this subject Bishop Burnet, whose political opinions
were opposed to those of Lord Clarendon, and whose
private feelings were in no way engaged in his favour,
thus speaks of the manner in which he exercised his
power : — " He was," says he, " a good chancellor, only
" a little too rough, but impartial in the administration
" of justice.'' ^ . . . " The Lord Chrendon put the justice
" of the nation in very good hands'' ' That Lord Cla-
rendon scorned to accept the money which the corrupt
practices of that age induced a foreign minister to oflTer,
was • shown by the indignation with which he repelled
the insulting proposal of Fouquet * to seal an alliance
" POLITICIAIIS.
" Sir Fra. Walaingham Cardinal Wolsey
" Earl of Leicester Sir T. Smith
" Sir W. Raleigh Card. Pole.
*' SOLDIEBS.
" Sir Fra. Drake Earl of Essex
" Sir J. Hawkins Talbot
" Sir Martin Frobisher Sir F. Greville
" Thos. Cavendish Hor. Earl of Oxford.
" Sir Ph. Sidney
"Some of which, though difficult to procure originals of, yet haply
" copies might be found out upon diligent inquiry. The rest, I think,
" your Lordship has already in good proportion." — Evelyn's * Memoirs,'
vol. ii. p. 307.
> Burners * History of his Own Times,' vol. i. p. 161.
« Ibid., p. 300. •
• His answer to Fouquet was, " that he would lay all that related to
" the King faithfully before him, and give him his answer in a little
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 39
between France and England by a present to himself of
10,000/^ to be yearly renewed : nor did he less disdain
to court the favour of the King by any base compliance
with his dissolute habits. " The Earls of Clarendon
" and Southampton would never," says Bishop Burnet,
" so much as make a visit to any of them,^ which was
** maintaining the decencies of virtue in a very solemn
" manner." ^ " Lord Clarendon would never make
" application to Mistress Palmer, or let anything pass
^^ the seal in which she was named, as the Earl of
" Southampton would never suffer her name to be in
" the Treasury books. Those virtuous ministers thought
" it became them to let the world see that they did not
" comply with the King in his vices." ^ The tribute to
his general worth is thus expressed by Bishop Burnet :
— " His fall seemed to show how little princes are
" sensible of merit or great services — that they sacrifice
" their best servants not only when their affairs seem to
" require it, but to gratify the humour of a mistress or
" the passion of a rising favourite." ^ There is yet an-
*' time ; but for what related to himself, he said he served a great aiid
" bountiful master, who knew well how to support and reward his ser-
" vants ; he would ever serve him faithfully ; and because he knew he
" must serve those from whom he accepted the hire, therefore he rejected
" the ofifer with great indignation." — Burnet's * Hbtory,' vol. i. p. 825.
^ Alluding to the King's mistresses.
• History of his Own Times, vol. i. p. 209.
» Ibid., p. 281.
* Ibid., p. 446. This view of the real instruments of Lord Claren-
don's fall is repeated by Evelyn. Evelyn's friendship continued with
the Chancellor up to the time of his quitting England. The prejudice
against him on account of his having proposed the marriage with the
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40 * INTRODUCTION. Part I.
other fact which cannot be overlooked in detailing con-
temporary circumstantial evidence on this point, viz.,
the character of Lord Clarendon s dearest friends and
most intimate associates ; and the question will naturally
arise, would highminded men and incorruptible minis-
ters like Lord Southampton and the Duke of Ormond
have lived on terms of daily intimacy and uninterrupted
friendship with one whose very hospitality could not be
Infanta, to favour the chance of his own grandchildren succeeding, was
doubly unjust : first, because the idea of the Portuguese alliance was not
originated by him ; and next, because there could be no well-grounded
reason for supposing that a person in the prime of youth and in the full
enjoyment of good health was likely to be childless. Moreover, the hopes
that she would give an heir to the throne bid fair, soon after her
marriage, to be realized, though, unhappily for herself and the country,
they were prematurely extinguished. Evelyn*s allusion to Lord Claren-
don's impopularity on account of the supposed neglect of the Royalist
party shows that in his own time the reproach under which he fell was
in the opposite direction to that of party bigotry, for which in later times
he has been censured : —
" After dinner I walked to survey the sad demolition of Clarendon
" House, that costly and only sumptuous palace of the late Lord Chan-
" cellor Hyde, where I have often been so cheerful with him, and some-
" times so sad : happening to make him a visit but the day before he
** fled from the angry Parliament, accusing him of maladministration,
" and being envious at his grandeur, who from a private lawyer came to
" be father-in-law to the Duke of York, and, as some would suggest,
" designing his Majesty's marriage with the Infanta of Portugal, not apt
" to breed : to this they imputed much of our unhappiness, and that he,
" being sole minister and favourite at his Majesty's restoration, neglected
" to gratify the King's suffering party, preferring those who were the cause
" of our troubles. But perhaps, as many of these things were injuriously
" laid to his charge, so he kept the government far steadier than it has
" proved since. I could name some who I think contributed greatly to
" his ruin, the buffoons and the misses, to whom he was an eyesore." —
Mem. of J. Evelyn, vol. iii. pp. 95, 96.
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pabti. the clarendon gallery. *41
enjoyed without shocking their sense of purity and jus-
tice by the sight of every object that surrounded them ?
The love of art has in all times been honoured as the
taste of a refined and cultivated mind. To that taste
Lord Clarendon joined in a remarkable degree admira-
tion and respect for distinguished men, and a peculiar
tenderness for those to whom he gave his friendship.
To the cultivation and enjoyment of those feelings he
consecrated his gallery of portraits ; and whatever judg-
ment even-handed justice or party bias may pass on
Lord Clarendon's policy and character, a single note,
written in a style at once vague and hostile, cannot be
allowed to cast the stain of corruption on the exercise of
these feelings. It is but from time to time that tastes
so worthy of imitation are combined with wealth and
opportunity for their indulgence. Portraits of compa-
nions and friends gathered round the walls of those
rooms where perhaps, when living, they have sat in
friendly intercourse and serious debate, fill the mind
with associations that read a lesson to the heart. A
gallery thus formed, that includes many of the most
distinguished men of the period, acquires in time a value
in the country independent of the pleasure it may have
afforded the individual who collected it ; and it is to be
hoped that in after ages the collection of a late distin-
guished minister, who is said to have delighted not only
in collecting pictures as works of art, but also in sur-
rounding himself with the portraits of the friends and
colleagues with whom he had associated and laboured.
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42 * INTRODUCTION. Pabt I.
may meet with the respect due to his taste, without
incurring the reproach two hundred years hence of their
being the price of advancement in his sovereign's favour.
The * Historical Inquiries * treats on many other
points of Lord Clarendon's conduct and character ; but
as it was only the " circumstantial evidence " that these
portraits were deemed to afford in support of Lord Dart-
mouth's charge that gave the discussion a place in this
preface, it will be needless to enter further on a subject
so large and so intricate as the misrepresentations of
Lord Clarendon's political enemies and the panegyrics
of his political admirers.'
On the demolition of Clarendon House the pictures
were removed to the family residence in the country,
Cornbury House, Oxfordshire,* On the death of the
* It is to be regretted that the writer of the * Historical Inquiries ' did
not make himself personally acquainted with tie collection of pictures
which remain from the Clarendon Gallery, or had not applied to the family
for such information as would have spared many errors into which he has
involuntarily fallen, both with respect to the artists and to the collection
itself, and which doubtless none would have regretted more than the
accomplished author of a work which could have no other object than the
laudable desire to clear away mistaken impressions and establish historical
truth. The account contained in this Introduction, derived from family
documents, will show the manner in which the collection descended to its
present owners, and correct many inaccuracies which are unimportant to
any other fact than that to which the author of ' Historical Inquiries * ex-
pressed his wish to point, viz. " that the collection remains as it toas :"
not only has it received certain additions of a later date than the period of
the Chancellor quitting England, but also a legacy of twenty-one pictures,
including some of the royal family, a bequest which was made to Lord
Hyde by Mrs. Mary Shaw, daughter of the Chancellor's faithful private
secretary, who accompanied him in his banishment.
« Sold by Lord Cornbury to the Duke of Marlborough, 1751.
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. *43
Chancellor, Henry Lord Combury succeeded to the
title and property of his father, but his habits of ex-
travagance involved him in pecuniary diflSculties.^ Exe-
cutions were put into the house, and by the following lists
it would seem that all the pictures there mentioned Lad
been sacrificed to the creditors : —
" A Schedule of the Goods and Chattels bargained and sold by
the Bill of Sale hereunto annexed.
(Extract.)
13 In the great parlour, twelve Judges' pictures, and Sir
Geoffrey Palmer's.
4 In the drawing-room, four pictures.
2 In my Lord's bedchamber, two pictures.
1 In my Lord Combury's chamber, one landscape over the
chimney.
5 In the King's chamber, five pictures.
8 In the room next the King's chamber, eight pictures ; five
are at length.
1 In the room next the bowling-green, one picture over the
chimney.
13 In the dining-room, thirteen pictures, whereof nine are at
length.
9 In the room next the room looking into the chapel, nine
pictures, whereof three are at length.
1 In the room looking into the chapel, one picture.
1 In the garrets, one large landscape.
58, hereof seventeen are at length.
At the suit of John Taylor, gentleman, for 1200/. debt.
^ '* The Karl of Clarendon is a man naturally sincere, except in the
** payment of his debts, in which he had a particular art, upon his breaking
" of his promise, which he does very often, to have a plausible excuse and
'* a new promise ever ready at hand, in which he has run longer than one
" could think possible. He is a friendly and good-natured man." — Bur-
net's History of his Own Times, vol. i. p. 446.
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44 • INTRODUCTION. Part I.
In the receipt is acknowledged, by Thomas Engham,
of the Inner Temple, London, Esq., nine pictures,
&c., being in the room next the dining-room.
1350 books, being in folio.
5000 books, being quartos and twelves.
20 pictures, being in library of the said house, called Corn-
bury House. All which said pictures, books, and goods,
were the goods and chattels of the said Henry Earl of
Clarendon, and seized and taken in execution by the
said sheriff, by virtue of a writ fieri facias to the said
sheriff, &c.
At the suit of William Fallman, Esq., for 800/. debt, a.d.
1694, 26th July, 6 William and Mary."
It is more than probable, from the large collection
of portraits that remained after this date at Cornbury,
that many must have been bought in again by some
of the family ; ^ but such executions may easily account
* It appears in the catalogue made in 1750 that the portraits of Sir G.
Palmer and the twelve Judges were still at Cornbury, which makes it the
more probable that some were bought in ; but that others were parted
with, either in consequence of those executions or of some subsequent sale,
is clearly shown by the following extract from a catalogue of pictures in
the possession of the Right Hon. Sir George Clerk : —
OrigincU Pictures at Penicuick, from a Catdlogtie made by Sir John Clerk,
great-great-grandfather of the present Sir Oeorge Clerk, 1724.
" A large picture representing a man with a copper, a goat, ass, dogs,
" pheasants, &c., by Jordaens, and belonged to the Earl of Clarendon, the
" historian, and was valued at 50Z., and cost me 15Z.
" Mary Magdalene, by Rubens : it belonged to the Earl of Clarendon ;
" cost me 10 guineas, but reckoned worth 20^
" A young girl, by Rembrandt, being a picture which belonged to the
** Earl of Clarendon.
" A full-length picture of a lady, by Vandyke, the hands exceeding
" fine : it belonged to the Earl of Clarendon. This lady is in a pink
" robe : she is said to be a lady of the Coningsby family— a beauty."
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. *45
for the fact that pictures mentioned by Evelyn were no
longer in the collection when, in the year 1750, a cata-
logue was made previous to the sale of the whole estate
and mansion to the Duke of Marlborough. By an
arrangement between the two brothers, Henry Earl of
Clarendon and Lawrence Earl of Rochester, Combury
became the property of the latter during the lifetime of
his eldest brother. Lord Rochester speaks, in his will
dated July 27th, 1697, of the purchase he had lately
made from his '* dear brother, the Earl of Clarendon,
" of the manor of Wimey, as likewise of the house and
" park of Combury, &c. &C., which," he adds, " his
" circumstances indispensably obliged him to part with,
" and mine very hardly permitted me to comply
" with.*' ^ It appears that, from the false pride of the
one and the considerate delicacy of the other, this pur-
chase remained a secret till Henry Lord Clarendon s
death in 1709. But in a paper written in Lord Ro-
chester's own hand, intended, as he says, to accompany
his will, he details to his family the motives that
induced him to become the purchaser of Cornbury
House and park, together with other property in Ox-
fordshire.^
' Unpublished MS.
' He had lent his brother 5000?. upon his bond in the year 1685. For
eleven years he had in vain attempted to get any real security for either
the principal or interest due upon this loan, and he was uneasy at the
prospect of so cmisiderable a sum being lost to his children, together, as he
says, with the wish " to do all the service he could to preserve the repu-
** tation of his brother, that was extremely sunk by the great debts he
VOL. I. d
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46 * INTRODUCTION, Pabt I.
Certain estates had been bought by their father the
Chancellor, on account of their contiguity to Cornbury/
and Lord Rochester now consented to make this pur-
chase, on condition of becoming also the purchaser of
Combury House and Park. Lord Clarendon was at
first unwilling to make this (to him) inevitable sacrifice,
" havmg," as Lord Rochester says, " a certain kind of
" fondness to remain in appearance the master of Com-
" bury ; but on the promise that the sale of Cornbury
" should be entirely a secret, that he should appear to
" be still the master of it, and that, if I should act any-
" thitig there, in making improvements in the park or
^' otherwise, it should be so managed that it should look
" as if done by his direction and appointment, he
" consented to make an absolute sale of all the fore-
** mentioned particulars in the county of Oxford/' *
The will to which this paper is appended, in order to
" had contracted, to conceal for some time the infinite incumbrances and
" difficulties he was under to preserve those remnants of their father's
'* estate from falling into the hands of perfect strangers, and perhaps
" enemies to their name and family, he consented, after a very long and
'' pressing solicitation, to take upon him the burden of Witney, which had
" been mortgaged to gentlemen who pressed to be put in possession of the
" said estate, and would no longer have patience." — Unpublished MS.
* Witney and other adjacent manors.
• Lord Rochester adds, " for which I immediately became liable to pay
" the sum of 9810^. for Witney, 75001. for Combury, and 375/. for a year's
" interest ;♦ so that, to do my brother this kindness, and to secure myself
" the debt mentioned as due to me from my brother,! I engaged myself to
" pay interest for 16,500Z."
♦ Due from Lord Claroudon on Witney. f 5000/.
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. *47
explain the motives that induced him to purchase Com-
bury, was signed, sealed, and witnessed July 23, 1697,
but afterwards cancelled, and Lord Rochester died in-
testate fourteen years afterwards, 1711. There is
nothing specified in the will or the paper respecting the
purchase of the pictures; but in proof that he had
acquired legal possession of the whole collection, to-
gether with the books and MSS. at Combury, it seems
they not only remained there from the time of its pur-
chase, and were in some degree augmented, but that no
creditor either of Henry Earl of Clarendon or of his
son Edward (who died in 1723) ever pretended to
claim a right to these pictures. No general administra-
tion' appears to have been granted of Henry Lord
Clarendon's effects to any one ; it is believed he left no
personal estate of his own, and died insolvent By the
fortunate circumstance of the Earl of Rochester having
become the possessor of Combury, the pictures were
saved firom the danger of afterwards falling into the
hands of Lord Clarendon's eldest son, who on his
father s death succeeded to the title.
Edward Hyde, third Earl of Clarendon, presents one
of those melancholy instances which too often occur
amongst the descendants of distinguished men, where
the name, the honours, and the title are reproduced, but
unsupported and ungraced by any one of those qualities
' Limited admimstration appears to have been granted to different per-
sons, with respect to bis interest as a trustee for tbe benefit of younger
children in a certain marriage settlement.
d2
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48" INTRODUCTION. Part I.
or virtues which won distinction for their ancestor. His
conduct through life was a blot upon his name, and
brought down upon him the scorn and reproach of two
hemispheres. His character and government of New
York has been thus described by an able American
historian : —
" Lord Combury, destitute of the virtues of the
" aristocracy, illustrated the worst form of its arrogance.
" .... At about forty years of age, with self-will and
" the pride of rank for his counsellors, without fixed
" principles, without perception of political truth, he
" stood among the plebeians of New Jersey and the
" mixed people of New York as their governor." ^
The tradition of his character, conduct, and habits,
is thus related by another modern historian of the
North American provinces : —
" Whether firom real difference in the sentiment, or
" from a policy which in those days was not uncom-
'^ mon, while his father had adhered to the cause of
" James II., the son supported the pretensions of King
" William, and was one of the first oflScers who deserted
" with his troop to the enterprise which produced the
" British revolution He obtained, by one of the
" last acts of his royal patron's administration, the
*' government of New York as a reward for his services.
" This appointment was confirmed by his kinswoman,
" Queen Anne, who added to it the government of
* Bancroft's * History of the United States,' vol. iii. p. 60.
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 49
" New Jersey, which had been recently surrendered by
" its proprietors to the Crown."
« « « « «
" The dissolute habits and ignoble tastes and manners
^^ of the man completed and embittered the disgust with
" which he was now universally regarded ; and when
** he afironted public decency by rambling abroad in
" the dress of a woman,^ the people beheld with indig-
" nation and shame the representative of their sovereign
" and the ruler of their country.
" In the year 1708 Queen Anne was at last com-
" pelled, by reiterated complaints, to supersede his
" commission, and appoint Lord Lovelace his successor.
" No sooner was he deprived of command than he was
" thrown into prison by his creditors, and there re-
^^ mained a prisoner for debt till the death of his father
" entitled him to be liberated as a peer.'* *
Such was the unworthy grandson of Edward Lord
Clarendon and Arthur Lord CapelL' He died in
obscurity at a house in Chelsea, March 31, 1723, and
' Li this strange costume he has heen actually painted, and his portrait,
thus disguised, is in the possession of Sir John Pakington, of West-
wood, 00. Worcester. It is much to be regretted that no account of
this picture, either as to the artist, or the country in whidi it was painted,
or the manner in which it came to that house, is known by the present
owner.
■ Grahame's * History of the United States,' voL ii.pp. 247-251.
' Henry, second Earl of Clarendon, married Theodosia, daughter of
Arthur Lord Gapell ; she was mother to Edward, third Earl of Clarendon.
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50 * INTRODUCTION. Pabt I.
was buried in Westminster Abbey. Mr. Joseph Rad-
cliffe ^ was appointed one of his executors, and into his
hands a portion of the MSS. passed from the possession
of the family. Lord Clarendon had perhaps given the
MSS. to Mr. Badcliffe during his lifetime, for they
were not left to him by will ; * and after Mr. Radcliffe's
death these papers were purchased from his executors
by the trustees of Dr. Radcliffe, and by them presented
to the University of Oxford.
Judging by the little regard shown by this Lord
Clarendon for the valuable MSS. belonging to his father
and his grandfather which he had in his possession, it
must be considered as a fortunate circumstance that he
did not possess the pictures also, in which case their ex-
istence as a collection would have speedily ceased.'
On the death of Edward, third Earl of Clarendon,
in 1723, the title passed to his first-cousin,* Henry,
who thus united in his person the titles of Clarendon
and Rochester.
After much wasteful mismanagement of his estates, it
became clear to his family and friends that he was so
wholly unfit to conduct his own affairs properly, that for
' Of Lyon's Inn, gent. ; Lady Frances Keightley (his aunt), and Thomas
Ghiffinoh, of Northfleet, were the other executors. See below, p. 69*.
■ The fate of these manuscripts is more fully explained below, p. 73*.
• Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, first gave to the world the MSS.
that were in possession of Bichard Powney, Esq.
* He survired his son, who died February 12, 1712-13 ; his only re-
maining child, Tbeodosia, married John Bligh, Esq.
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n
pabti. the clarendon gallery. ♦si
the preservation of the property, for the welfare of his
children, and for his own happiness, it was desirable his
son should act in his stead.^ To give effect to this
resolution, Lord Combury was put in as complete pos-
session of his father's estates as if they had already
devolved upon him by inheritance. For this purpose a
deed poll was executed, November 18, 1749, between
Henry Earl of Clarendon and his son Henry Viscount
Combury, by which all property was transferred to the
latter, with Ml power to make marriage settlements
and any testamentary bequest he thought fit, without
reference to his father's continued existence.* The year
following the execution of this deed poll. Lord Corn-
bury, finding the debts by which he became encum-
bered demanded the sacrifice of Combury House, deter-
mined on seUing it; and an agreement was concluded
with the Duke of Marlborough, by which he became
the purchaser of the whole estate. This was a great
sacrifice, and felt to be so both by Lord Clarendon '
' Lord Clarendon seems to have been a very willing party to the execution
of a deed poll and other arrangements of property. His letters to his son are
full of tenderness and affectionate expressions of gratitude for the dutiful
care and attention he uniformly received at his hands.
^ An annuity of 2000Z., arising from the profits of the General Post
Office, was reserved for the exclusive use of the Earl of Clarendon. This
siun was the moiety of the annuity of 4000Z. given by James n. to
Lawrence Earl of Rochester.
• Lord Clarendon writes thus to hi» son, August 22, 1761 : — " I wish
" Combury House could have been kept for you to enjoy, but as matters
'* were I thii^ you have taken a prudent course, and am glad you have got
" through it. It is a fine and pleasant thing to be out of debt ; but as I
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52 * INTRODUCTION. Pabt I.
and Lord Combury.^ Nor was it the only one
contemplated by Lord Corabury, from the honourable
wish to pay the debts he had now taken upon him-
self. He had even determined on selling great part
of the pictures ;^ fortunately, it afterwards proved un-
necessary to make this further sacrifice, and they re-
mained in cases at Combury House, labeUed with Lord
Hyde's name, and sealed with his own seal, to mark
their being his property.' Lord Clarendon expressed
his satisfaction with his son's intention to keep the
pictures, and also with the arrangement to which the
Duke of Marlborough acceded.*
Nothing could more distinctly show that Lord Cla-
rendon considered the pictures to be then the property
of his son, and that his son believed them to be his
own ; and of this belief the will and codicils made by
Lord Hyde afforded the most conclusive evidence. To
" told you before, yon may comfort yourself with the thoughts that it has
" not been your fault.'* — Unpublished MS.
' Lord Combury was called up to the House of Lords by the title of
Baron Hyde.
• For that purpose they were inventoried and appraised.
• The Duke of Marlborough gave permission for these cases, containing
pictures, MSS., and books, to remain at Combury House.
• " My dear Son — I received your letter of the 7th of September (N.S.) ;
" it was very agreeable and very welcome to me. I thank you very kindly
" for it, and for communicating to me what you had done, and what you
" propose to do with yourself. I am glad you have preserved the pictures^
**/or they may be an handsome furniture for you. Your intended joumey
** is well and discreetly designed, and will, I hope, refresh your mind after
'* all its terrible anxieties, and confirm your health by the blessing of God
" for many years.**— MS. unpublished.
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 53
Lady Charlotte Capell, as the eldest daughter of his
eldest sister (deceased), Jane Countess of Essex, were
bequeathed all his estates real and personal. The dis-
posal of the pictures, books, and plate formed the
subject of one codicil, the disposal of the MSS. of
another. These were dated August 11, 1751. The
pictures, plate, and books were left as heirlooms,* so
far as the law will admit, to the person who for the
time being should be in possession of the estate, and a
sum not exceeding 10,0002. was to be laid out in the
purchase of a mansion-house in London, built for
duration, convenient and handsome, and large enough
to contain the library and the pictures entailed with the
estates. The drafts of the will and codicils were care-
fully drawn up by a lawyer, and read to Lord Cla-
rendon, who entirely approved of them. They were
then left with him, that he might have time to consider
them by himself, and no alteration appears to have been
suggested.
On the 30th March, 1752, Lady Charlotte Capell
' There were a few legacies of pictures as exceptions : — " The Head of
" a Saint, said to be painted by Vandyck, to the Buke of Queensbury ; to
" my nephew Charles Douglas, the picture of his mother, by Yanloo ; to
" the Hon. Mr. Thomas Villiers" (not then married), " brother to the Earl
" of Jersey, one of my whole-length pictures of George Villiers, Duke of
" Buckingham, part of the Combury collection, which of the two he shaU
** choose.
*^ To the Hon. Mr. Murray, his Majesty's Solidtor-G^eral, my four
'* pictures of the Muses, painted by Rosalba ; to Lord Foley, my two Fruit
" and Flower Pieces, by Snyers.'*
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54 INTRODUCTION. Part I.
was married to the Hon. Thomas VilHers.* In the
month of May, 1753, Lord Hyde was killed by a fall
from his horse at Paris.^ His surviving sister, Catherine
Duchess of Queensberry, was much offended at her
brother's disposition of his property, and determined to
dispute the validity of the deed poll, and consequently
his power of bequeathing the property that had been
transferred to him by his father. In November, 1753,
Lord Clarendon died. The Duchess of Queensberry
became administratrix to her father's affairs. A Chan-
cery suit was instituted by the Duke and Duchess of
Queensberry, in order to set aside the whole effect of
the deed poll. This suit lasted till 1763. They
entirely failed in shaking the validity of the deed poll
or any part of the will or codicils that related to the
real estates. But however clear the intention might
appear to be respecting the personalty, legal evidence
' Mr. Yilliers was a friend of Lord Hyde's, and had been mentioned in
his will, and named as one of his executors, some time before there had been
any question of his marriage with Lady Charlotte Capell. He was created
Baron Hyde of Hindon in 1756, and Earl of Clarendon in 1776.
• The author of * Historical Inquiries * has fallen into a strange error
respecting the cause of Lord Hyde's death : — " He is believed," says he,
" to have died by suicide at Paris on the 23rd of May, 1753, though the
" complaisant * Peerages ' say that his death was occasioned by a fall from
" his horse." The * Peerages ' are perfectly correct in their statement, and
a reference to family papers might have easily satisfied any doubts on the
subject. A full account of the accident was written home by Lord Albe-
marle, then ambassador at Paris ; and the post-mortem examination of
several physicians and surgeons in the possession of the Earl of Clorendou
could leave no room for any such suspicion.
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 55
was wanting to prove the deed of gift, and the Court
declared that the pictures, books, plate, and MSS. did
not pass by the same deed poll as the real estates had
done, and consequently that they were the property not
of Lord Hyde, but of Henry Earl of Clarendon and
Rochester, at his death; and it was further declared
" that the sum of 10,000/. ought not therefore to be
" laid out in the purchase of a mansion-house in
" London, to contain the same library, books, and
" pictures.** The Duchess of Queensberry had been in
no way influenced by the clearly expressed wishes and
intentions of both her father and her brother, and the
l^al distribution was made of the personalty to the
next of kin of Lord Clarendon, giving one half to the
only living representatives of his eldest daughter (long
deceased), Jane Countess of Essex, and the other half
to Catherine Duchess of Queensberry, as his only other
surviving child.' The object of Lord Hyde*s will, in
making heirlooms of these things, and of purchasing a
house that might have preserved unbroken the collec-
tion of pictures and books, was at once defeated. The
younger daughter of Lady Essex (Lady Mary Forbes)
appears to have respected the feelings of her uncle and
grandfather, and not to have accepted the partition of the
half that was assigned to her with her sister, as the co-re-
presentatives of their mother, and that portion of the pic-
' Though the Court of Chancery thus assigned the personalty to the
next of kin to Henry Earl of Clarendon and Rochester, they being all females
and married, the property belonged at once to their respective husbands.
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56 * INTRODUCTION. Pabt I.
tures have remained undisturbed ever since at the Grove
Park, Herts. The half assigned to the Duchess of Queens-
berry was sent to their country seat, Amesbury Park,
Wilts^ and has undergone other changes of place.
The Duchess of Queensberry died in July, 1778;'
there is no reason to suppose, from the Duke's dis-
posal of this property, that she desired even a tardy
fulfilment of her brother's wishes to preserve the
pictures, books, &c^ in one collection. The Duke
died October 22, 1778. It had been their misfortune
to outlive all their children, and the title of Queens-
berry descended to his cousin, William, third Earl of
March and Ruglin, and the pictures at Amesbury were
made heirlooms by his will. "The mansion-house at
" Amesbury, and all except the pictures^ he bequeathed
" to the Earl of March and Ruglin ; these pictures
" (both oil and paintings in water-colour) to descend as
" heirlooms so long as the law wiU admit*' In the year
1786 they were moved from Amesbury to the Duke of
Queensberry's residence at Richmond, and are thus
noticed by Horace Walpole in a letter to Lady Ossory.
" I went yesterday to see the Duke of Queensberry's
" palace at Richmond,* under the conduct of George
^ The Duchess of Queensberry does not appear to have made any will ;
none at least is to be found in the Prerogative Court.
« Horace Walpole agam mentions this palace in a letter addressed to
Miss Agnes Berry, dated November 29, 1790 ; he speaks of " the Prince and
«* Mrs. Fitzherbert coming there to dine with the Ihike of Queensbury, on
" the very spot where lived Charles I., and where are the portraits of hi&
" principal courtiers from Combury."— Vol. vi. p. 382,
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Pabt I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 57
" Selwyn, the concierge. You must imagine how nobly
" it looks, now the Amesbury Gallery are hung up
" there. The great hall, the great gallery, the eating-
** room, and the corridor are covered with whole and
" half lengths of royal family, favourites, ministers,
" peers, and judges, of the reign of Charles I., — not one
"original I think; at least not one' fine ;^ yet alto-
" gether they look very respectable." In the year
1810 William, fourth Duke of Queensberry, died, and
the Wiltshire property passed, by a settlement executed
by Charles, third Duke of Queensberry, to Archibald
James Edward, first Baron Douglas, son of Sir John
Stewart (afterwards Douglas)^ and his wife the Lady
Jane Douglas.
The pictures, as heirlooms, became the property of
Lord Douglas, and were transferred to Bothwell Castle,
his seat in Scotland, where they have since remained in
the successive possession of Lord Douglas and his three
sons, who have enjoyed the title and estates. Such is
> In this criticism Horace Walpole was certainly mistaken ; but though
made from an imperfect knowledge or hasty observation of the pictures, it
also tends to bear out the fact stated before, that the Chancellor's collec-
tion, though very extensive, was neither to be judged nor misjudged on
the ground of its costly value in original works. If the pictures that formed
the Queensberry portion are less to be admired for their excellence than
those contained in the other half of the gallery, it can only be attributed
to the want of discrimination and taste in the Duchess of Queensberry, to
whom, with greater courtesy than might perhaps have been expected under
existing circumstances, Mr. Yilliers, then Lord Hyde, gave the power of
^election.
« Vide Sharpens * Peerage.' — This Lord Douglas was the subject of the
celebrated trial known as " the Douglas cause."
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58* INTRODUCTION. Part I.
the history of a collection of portraits which circum-
stances have invested with an interest to which as a
private gallery or family portraits they could never
pretend. Their original selection was illustrative of
the characteristic tastes of their collector; in later
times their possession has been made the subject of re-
flection upon his conduct ; their diminution, partition,
and the final separation of one-half of the residue from
all connection with his descendants, afibrd a striking
example of the vicissitudes of human possessions.
The constant presence of the images of remarkable
persons naturally begets a desire to be well acquainted
with their character, their actions, their triumphs, and
their trials. Such was the origin of the present work.
The meagre notices contained in biographical dictiona-
ries and other works written on too comprehensive a scale
to admit of more than a brief or imperfect recital of a few
passages in each life, suggested the idea of tracing from
contemporary works, Parliamentary Journals, and all
other sources of authentic information, a more complete
and detailed account of the career of those whose por-
traits had become familiar.
But to describe the actions of those who, by counsel
or by conduct, have influenced the afiairs of state, the
opinions of the Court, or the fortunes of the field, is
unavoidably to enlarge biography into history. To
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Paet I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 59
understand the value of such actions, to appreciate the
merits or the defects of particular counsels, to form a
just estimate of the di£Sculties encountered, and to
guard against the danger of misconstruing motives from
imperfect information, it is absolutely necessary to learn
all the circumstances which accompanied, or, perhaps,
even preceded, the events to be described.
So intimately connected indeed are the subjects of
biography and history, that, whilst the French wisely
indite * Memoirs to furnish Assistance to History,'^ it
may be said that, for the right understanding of the
lives of men who have moved in the stirring events of
the world, history is needed to furnish assistance to
memoirs. There is always something cold and unreal
in a history when the personal character of those who
took part in its course is unknown or undescribed ; and
on the other hand, the biography that leaves untouched
or unexplained the historical circumstances by which its
subject was surrounded, fails to give any just idea of his
position or conduct. A perfect acquaintance with his-
torical personages, as well as with the historical events to
which they contributed, gives at once to the chronicles
of the past a tinge of the more glowing interest which
belongs to those scenes in which friends and contempo-
raries have played a part But a biography that faith-
ftdly portrays a person's character, disposition, and
principles, and is silent on the events of general import-
ance in which he was called upon to take his share, is
* M^moires pour servir k THistoire.
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60* INTRODUCTION. Pabt 1.
to put the key into the reader's hands by which a
cipher might be explained, yet withholding the writing
itself. If history may be considered as a true narration
of the aggregate actions of many men, and biography of
the individual actions of one, it is clear that the materials
of biography and history must often coincide ; and as, in
order to understand how a complicated machine is con-
structed, it is necessary to begin by taking it to pieces,
and thus to learn how wheel within wheel has acted and
been brought to contribute its separate power to the
general combination by which the greater movement
was effected, the task of the biographer may, if faith-
fully performed, render essential service to the under-
standing of history.
A well-composed history of a great nation will ever
be honoured as a menument of human skill and in-
dustry \ but while the historian takes the general view
of the entire province, the biographer tracks its single
paths, and, though deficient in the national importance
of history, the work of the latter has the interest which
belongs to personal adventure and personal feeling.
To comprehend the part assigned to any one actor in
the great drama of history, the reader must bring to
mind not only the particular scenes in which he was
called upon to perform, but all those other scenes and
other characters, without which his part would have
had neither shape, nor form, nor purpose.
The more a man has been distinguished above his
fellows, the more intimately is he likely to bind their
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. * 6 1
destinies in his ; the more stirring are the times in
which he lives, the more dependent must he be upon
the confidence he can inspire in others: and as it is
this principle of mutual dependence which binds toge-
ther the social system of civilised communities, it is as
impossible for any one to isolate himself from others in
the conduct of affairs during life, as it is afterwards
found to separate his personal biography from the
history of his times. The power of selection from so
large a field of knowledge on one hand, and of obtain-
ing or gathering together sufficient information on the
other, constitutes the main difficulty in a work of this
kind; above all things it is necessary to preserve as
much as possible the chain of personal narrative through
the mazes of general history, to accompany the subject
of each biography into those scenes in which he is
known to have appeared, to tread with him the path he
trod, to view with him the prospects he viewed, to
share with him the dangers he braved and the triumphs
he enjoyed, to become familiar with the knowledge he
possessed, and to forget in judging of his judgment
those secrets which time has since laid bare for the later
instruction of mankind.
The fulfilment of such a task needs patience and
research, but can lay no claim to originality, still less, it
is to be hoped, to invention. All that can be told of
historical characters with truth must have been already
said; old MSS. newly read, or books long written
more carefully examined, may bring to light that which
voi^ I. e
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62 * INTRODUCTION. Part I.
was generally unknown, or correct erroneous versions of
past events ; but new facts belong to the present time,
and the best title a biographer can claim for attention
or credence is that of a faithful collector and transcriber
of the testimony of others.
In treating of the lives of those whose fortunes were
interwoven with the civil wars, the truth of Lord
Bacon s remark, " that there is no great action but
" hath some good pen to attend it," is forcibly brought
to mind by the writings of Lord Clarendon ; and the
* History of his Life ' affords another happy illustration
of Lord Bacon's description of the advantages of bio-
graphy. " Lives," says he, " if they be well written,
" propounding to themselves a person to represent in
^^ whom actions, both greater and smaller, public
" and private, have a commixture, must of necessity
*' contain a true, native, and lively representation.**
From the writings of that " good pen " *' a true and
" lively representation ** of many lives, besides his
autobiography, has been transmitted, and much has
been recorded of those times that but for him would have
been lost His works will remain amongst the most
valued stores, on which to draw for information, though
with some reserve as to opinions formed under too
strong a bias of party and personal feelings to command
the implicit assent of posterity. In defence of his in-
tegrity as a writer of history, Lord Grenville thus well
described the natural influence of contemporaneous
events upon the mind of one engaged in the affairs on
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Part I. THE CLARENDON GALLERY. *63
which he writes : — " When a statesman traces, for the
" instruction of posterity, the living images of the men
" and manners of his time, the passions by which he has
" himself been agitated, and the revolutions in which his
** own life and fortunes were involved, the picture will
'' doubtless retain a strong impression of the mind, the
** character, and the opinions of its author. But there
" will always be a wide interval between the bias of
" sincere conviction and the dishonesty of intentional
" misrepresentation."^
Lord Clarendon has been thought guilty of painting
in too glowing colours the virtues and merits of his
friends; yet his praise is always discriminating, not
mere panegyric.
The necessity of gathering information respecting
particular persons from his works alone, because no
other accounts of them are extant, may perhaps lead
the modern reader to feel for their characters an admi-
ration too little tempered with blame ; it must, however,
be remembered that it was the hand of a contemporary
that shrouded their faults from view. An attempt to
tear away the veil that friendship has thrown over errors
and imperfections, and to supply them from the writer's
imagination, would now be a task as unavailing as un-
pleasing.
» Lord Grenville adds to this passage, " Clarendon was unquestionably a
'* lover of truth and a sincere friend to the free constitution of his country."
—Preface to * The Earl of Chatham's Letters to his Nephew.'
e2
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64^
INTRODUCTION.
Pabt I.
Biography can only recount what is known, or has
been said. A scrupulous and praiseworthy research
for accurate knowledge, or possibly even a less worthy
motive, the love of detraction, might inspire the wish to
bring to light every hidden failing of disposition or fault
in conduct in historical characters ; but, if such have
been concealed at the time, or been left unrecorded,
whether from kindness or from policy, nothing will be
added by mere conjecture or invention to that truth
which every reader of history should desire and seek.
Clan?ndon House Picfaclilly
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INTRODUCTION.
PART II.
LORD CHANCELLOR CLARENDON'S MANUSCRIPTS.
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INTRODUCTION.
PART II.— THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS.
Amongst the many irreparable evils that befell the
property of the Chancellor Clarendon, from the pecu-
niary difficulties in which his eldest son and successor
involved himself, and from the reckless character of his
grandson, Edward, third Earl of Clarendon, was the
dispersion of a large portion of his most valuable and
interesting collection of MSS. This collection must have
been unusually large ; partly on account of the important
correspondence in which he had been engaged with
various persons from the time preceding the breaking
out of the civil wars till that of his banishment ; partly
because, from his known purpose to write the history of
that period, he had been ftirnished, by desire of Charles I.
and by friends engaged in the royalist cause, with
papers and information relating to the events of which
he was not an eye-witness. These, together with his
own voluminous compositions, must have made an im-
mense accumulation of MSS., and there can be little
doubt but that in their dispersion many have been lost.
Besides the MSS. thus collected and written by the
Chancellor, a ftirther addition was made by the papers
and correspondence of his two sons, Henry, second
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68* INTRODUCTION. Part H.
Earl of Clarendon, and Lawrence Earl of Rochester ;
and as the titles and estates of the Chancellor and his
two eldest sons finally devolved upon the descendants
of the second son (the Earl of Rochester), in the ordi-
nary course of events the MSS. would have descended
with the pictures and other personalty to the heir of the
family. Such, however, was not the case, and the pub-
lication of the letters and diary of Henry, second Earl
of Clarendon, in the year 1763, with a preface by
Dr. Douglas, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, first ex-
plained the manner in which a portion of these MSS.
had passed from the family. Henry Lord Clarendon,
it appears, had incurred considerable obligations to a
gentleman of the name of Bryan Richards, first-cousin
to his second wife.^ These obligations were never dis-
charged ; and, whether by way of repaying a debt or
making a return for services only, his son Edward Earl
of Clarendon thought fit to confer upon Mr. Bryan
Richards a vast collection of papers belonging to his
father, together with some thousands of letters formerly
' Mr. Bryan Richards is spoken of in Dr. Douglas's preface to the Cla-
rendon Letters as Lady Clarendon's nephew, a mistake which is rci)eated
in the * Clarendon and Rochester Correspondence,' edited by Mr. Singer.
A few years since a gentleman named Bryan Richards was employed in
the Record Office at the Tower ; and in a bookseller's catalogue, published
1837, Mr. Richards describes a MS. " as made for the use of Henry Hyde,
" Viscount Combury, who was one of the co-trustees for the Queen
" (Catherine of Portugal) ; it was given," he adds, " to my grandfather,
" Bryan Richards, Esq., of Mattingley, co. Southampton, by the said
" Viscount Combury, afterwards second Earl of Clarendon, who married
" Lady Flower Backhouse, who was my grandfather's first-cousin."
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Part II. THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS. * 69
belonging to the Chancellor Clarendon. In 1737 Mr.
Richards appears to have sent a box full of these letters
to Lord Cornbury/ and Bishop Douglas mentions that
he had seen two letters from Lord Combury on the
subject) addressed to Mr. Bichardsy expressing his sur-
prise at the existence of such a collection out of the
possession of the family, and at the same time acknow-
ledging his obligations to him for having sent the box.*
But it was not Mr. Bryan Bichards only that became
the owner of a large portion of these valuable papers
through the means of Edward Earl of Clarendon. It
was through his means, directly or indirectly, that
Mr. Joseph Badcliffe ^ also became possessed of another
portion. Mr. Joseph Badcliffe, together with Lady
Frances Keightley (Lord Clarendon's aunt), and
Thomas Chiffinch, of Northfleet, were appointed by
him executors to his will ; and it was perhaps owing to
this circumstance that after Mr. Joseph Badcliffe's
death his executors found in his possession various
MSS. from the Clarendon collection ; at any rate they
seem to have regarded them as part of his property. It
is very possible that Lord Clarendon, when living, had
made a gift of them to Mr. Joseph Badcliffe ; but they
' Son of Henry, fourth Earl of Clarendon, and great-grandson to the
Chancellor Clarendon.
• It seems uncertain, from the manner in which Bishop Douglas men-
tions this circumstance, whether Mr. Richards gave back to Lord Com-
bury a box containing his great-grandfather's letters, or whether he only
sent them to him for perusaL
■ Of Lyon's Inn, gent.
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70" INTRODUCTION. Part II.
were certainly not bequeathed to him by will/ nor is
the fact of their having been a gift mentioned in the
Preface to the second volume of the Clarendon State
Papers, where the purchase from his executors is stated ;
it is only mentioned that he was one of the executors
to Edward Earl of Clarendon. A large collection of
Lawrence Earl of Rochester's papers, together with the
originals of those letters to him from his brother, Henry
Earl of Clarendon (of which the copies had been in
Mr. Bryan Eichards's hands), fell into the possession of
" a lady," who is stated to have " inherited them from
" persons very nearly connected with the noble family
" of Hyde ;" * but who " the lady " was does not appear
in the Preface to the Correspondence, where she is thus
mentioned, nor does it appear who were these persons
that were nearly connected with the Hyde family from
whom she inherited the MSS. — a silence which is to
be regretted, as the clue is now wanting by which to
trace the cause of this portion having strayed from so
interesting a collection. Like those in Mr. Radcliffe's
possession, they may have been a gift, but they were
certainly not a bequest, as Lord Rochester died in-
testate ; and if neither gift nor legacy, it is certain that
Lord Rochester's papers, comprising his own private
reflections, letters from his daughter, and his confidential
correspondence with his brother, ought to have passed
at his death, with other things, to his own son. Mr.
* The will has been examined to ascertain this fact.
• Preface to * Correspondence of the Earls of Rochester and Clarendon.*
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Part U. THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS. * 71
Guthrie, author of the * History of England,' was
another person who had become the possessor of some
of the Clarendon MSS^ but no account is given of the
means through which he obtained them. Mr. William
Man Godschall, of Aldbury, co. Surrey, had two
hundred and twenty letters, all in the Chancellor Cla-
rendon's own handwriting, consisting principally of his
confidential correspondence with Sir Edward Nicholas
fipom the years 1649 to 1657 : these, being originals
and not copies of his own letters, probably came to Mr.
Godschall through the means of Sir Edward Nicholas's
family. Lady Middleton was also the owner of fifly-
four letters, which had passed between her husband's
ancestor, Mr. Brodrick (afterwards Sir Allen), and the
Chancellor Clarendon before the Restoration.
Thus much for the scattering of materials so valu-
able to history ; and but for their subsequent reunion,
many events on which they have thrown light would
have remained comparatively obscure. The disper-
sion of papers, however, is never unaccompanied by
loss or destruction, and it is greatly to be regretted
that, when Lord Hyde bequeathed his great-grand-
father's writings and papers to the University of
Oxford, he had not been able to do so in their entire
state, together with those of his grandfather and great-
uncle, of whom he had become the representative.
It is to be feared that a further loss of valuable
papers may have been sustained by the fire at the Earl
of Rochester's house, New Park, Petersham, which
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72 • INTRODUCTION. Part II.
occurred on the 1st of October, 1721, being ten years
after the death of his father (Lawrence).
The reuniting of the various portions that had sur-
vived the perils of fire and dispersion into a form which
should render them available to the public was mainly
the work of Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury. It was
by his unwearied zeal, and at some personal expense,
that he secured to the University of Oxford those stores
which they were able to join with such as were pre-
sented to them also by the family. In 1757 Mr.
Bichards transferred to Bichard Powney, LL.D., a
collection of MSS., consisting of the copies of letters
written by Henry second Earl of Clarendon, his Diaries
for the years 1687, 88,* 89, and 90, and also some
thousands of letters belonging to the Chancellor. The
fact of these papers being in Mr. Powney's possession
became known to Dr. Douglas, and in 1763 he obtained
the power of publishing from them Henry Lord Cla-
rendon's Letters and Diaries, with a short preface of
his own. He was afterwards the means of securing all
the Powney Papers being put into the hands of the
University, as also of a purchase being eflected by Dr.
Badclifie's trustees, from the executors of Mr. Joseph
Badclifle, of what are termed the BadcliflFe Papers
He was himself the purchaser of the MSS. belonging to
Dr. Guthrie, obtained from Lady Middleton the letters
* The Diary for 1688 was printed fiom a copy. Mr. Richards, of Wo-
kington, lent the original MS. to one Mr. Carlton twenty years before, who
never returned it.
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Part II. THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS. * 73
in her possession, and gave both these collections to
the University. He discovered that a portion of the
MSS. parted with by Mr. Richards to Mr. Powney had
been accidentally separated from the mass, and were in
the possession of Mr. Richards's son ; and these were
then pm*chased also by Dr. RadcliflTe^s trustees, to be
added to the accumulating stores of the University ; it
was through information furnished by him that Mr.
Godschall's collection of original papers was discovered,
and that his consent was obtained to give the use of
them to the University. To these various contributions
were added such papers as had remained in the posses-
sion of the Chancellor Clarendon's family; and in
1767 the first volume, in 1773 the second volume, and
in 1786 the third volume of the ' Clarendon State
Papers ' were published.^ For the publication, in 1826,
* The first and second volumes were edited by Richard Scrope, Mag-
dalen College, Oxford ; the third volume by Dr. Monkhouse.
A large number of unpublished MSS. still remain untouched in the
repositories of the University. Dr. Monkhouse announces " a vast pro-
" fusion of MSS. during the seven years after the Restoration, while Lord
" Clarendon guided the operation of the Cabinet ;** " numerous documents
** in every department of business ;" " applications from Cavaliers, claim-
" ing reward for old services, and from Covenanters praying forgiveness
" of old ofiTences ;" " accounts of public revenues and expenditure ;" ** arti-
** cles about the settlement of Ireland and the regulation of the colonies ;'*
" heads of bills depending in Parliament ;" and " a variety of similar
" papers." Also there remains to be published " the correspondence of
" English ministers at foreign courts with Lord Clarendon during his
*' administration, including letters from Lord Carlisle, from Henry Coven-
** try, Sir Gilbert Talbot, Sir William Temple, Sir George Downing, Sir
*' Richard Fanshawe, and Lord Sandwich ; and from other public persons in
" various courts, with many of Lord Clarendon's letters written to them."
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74 * INTRODUCTION. Pabt II.
of Lord Rochester's papers in the possession of " a
lady," the public was indebted to Mr. William Up-
cott^ In the preface to* the second volume of the
* State Papers,* the Archbishop of York, Lord Mans-
field, and the Bishop of Chester, are specified as Lord
Hyde's trustees, and as having authority to give a
power of selection of the papers to the editors. Lord
Hyde's trustees could, however, only have acted by
courtesy, as, the Court of Chancery having decided that
the property of the Clarendon MSS. ** had never
'' become vested in Lord Hyde, his bequest to Oxford
" was void ;" but the Duchess of Queensberry, Char-
lotte Lady Clarendon, and Lady Mary Forbes, as next
akin to Henry Lord Clarendon and Rochester, in whom
the property in the MSS. was declared to have resided,
gave eflect by gift to the wishes of their brother and
uncle Lord Hyde, and framed the terms in which their
gift was made upon those of his will, which were as
follows : —
. " I, Henry Lord Hyde, do publish and declare this
" to be a codicil to my last will and testament. I
" desire that all historical or other writings of my great-
" grandfather, Edward Earl of Clarendon, and all
** public papers, and all valuable letters or other
" writings whatsoever, which shall be or ought to be in
" my custody at the time of my death, may be given,
" and I do hereby give and bequeath all such papers,
» It was edited by Samuel Weller Singer, F.S.A., and published in
1827.
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Part II. THE CLAHENDON MANUSCRIPTS. " /5
" letters, or other writings, to the Right Reverend Dr.
" Seeker, now Lord Bishop of Oxford ; to the Honour-
*' able Thomas Villiers, brother to the Earl of Jersey ;
" and to the Honourable Mr. William Murray, his
" Majesty's Solicitor-General, — in trust for the Uni-
" versity of Oxford. And I hereby desire the said
" trustees to revise the said papers, and at a proper
" time to cause to be printed and published such of
" them as they the said trustees shall judge proper ;
" and then, or before if they judge proper, to lodge in
'* the Bodleian Library the original manuscripts of
** such papers as they shall judge fit to be made public ;
" the advantage or profit whereof, arising from such
" publication or sale of such papers so printed or pub-
** lished, I desire may be given for the use of the Uni-
" versity of Oxford, to be applied as a beginning for a
" fund for supporting a manage or academy for riding
'* and other useful exercises in Oxford, if the University
" shall approve, under proper restrictions, of such an
" institution as they the said trustees shall propose to
" that purpose, upon ujature consideration and full
**' information from persons skilled in those matters in
" foreign coimtries as well as in England ; in which I
** recommend to them to have chiefly in their view to
" guard against such provision becoming a sinecure,
" whether by fixing the profit to the master of such aca-
" demy, to arise proportionably to the number of horses
'* he shall maintain for that purpose, or in such other
" manner as they the said trustees shall judge proper."
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76 * INTRODUCTION. Part II.
When Lord Hyde parted with Cornbury House to
the Duke of Marlborough, a catalogue of pictures,
books, &c., was made, together with the following
schedule of MSS., which formed the subject of a separate
codicil to his will : —
" Schedule of Marmscripts and Papers belongivg to Lord Hyde.
Five chests and boxes packed in matting, containing Manu-
scripts and Papers removed from Cornbury to the Countess of
Essex's house at Cassiobury : —
1. — A brown hair trunk, containing the manuscript * Life of
Edward Earl of Clarendon,* in his own handwriting.
The manuscript continuation of the ' Life of Edward Earl
of Clarendon,' or his Anecdotes after the Restoration, in
his own handwriting.
A manuscript work of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, in
the handwriting of Mr. William Shaw, his secretary,
entitled ' Religion and Policy,' together with several
loose papers relating thereto, of all which there is no
other copy extant.
[There is, among other papers, a list of the papers
belonging to the Earl of Clarendon when he died
abroad, in the handwriting of Mr. Shaw, in which
this work is mentioned.]
Manuscript, fair copies, in three folios, bound in red
leather, of * The Paraphrases upon the Psalms ;' by the
Lord Chancellor Clarendon: since published in his
Tracts.
Copy of a Dedication of ' The History of the Rebellion,'
written, as has been always understood, by Lawrence
Earl of Rochester, but not in his handwriting.
Two quires, in Lord Chancellor Clarendon's own hand-
writing.
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Part H. THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS. * ^'J
A little book, bound in vellum, of ^ Collections relating to
the Succession of the Popes/ in Lord Chancellor Cla-
rendon's own handwriting..
A manuscript book, in vellum, containing copies of letters
from King Charles I. to his Queen, &c.
2. — A brown wainscot chest, containing letters, papers, and
accounts of Lord Chancellor Clarendon and Lawrence
Earl of Rochester.
3. — An old chest of Lord Chancellor Clarendon, containing
letters and other papers of Lord Chancellor Clarendon.
4. — ^An old scrutoire of Lawrence Earl of Rochester, con-
tmning public papers of Lawrence Earl of Rochester.
5. — A small square deal box, removed from the library at
Combury, containing papers.
A red leather box, containing copy of the manuscript
^ Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon,' in one thick
porte-feuille.
Copy of the manuscript continuation of the * Life of
Edward Earl of Clarendon,' first part, in a thin porte-
feuille.
Copy of ditto, second part, in another thin porte-feuille. "
It is to be presumed that all the contents of these
boxes are now at Oxford. There is no reason to
suppose that any were retained by the Duchess of
Queensberry or Lady Mary Forbes, and there are none
in the possession of the present Earl of Clarendon but
a MS. copy, in Mr. Shaw's handwriting, of the first
part of the * Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon.* It
may not, however, be uninteresting to give a list of the
few MSS. now at the Grove to which any historical or
literary interest could be attached.
VOL. I. /
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78 * INTRODUCTION. Pabt IL
Abstract of Lord Clarendon^s Settlement, docketed
" Abstract of my Father's Settlement."
Charles I.'s Vow, dated Oxford, April 13th, 1646, buried
thirteen years under ground by Gilbert Sheldon.
King James's warrant for Lady Henrietta Hyde to be
governess to his children
A MS. paper, entitled ** Tlie Manner how the Duke's
Children are to be treated, as it was ordered by the
Queen Mother, and by her showed to the King, and
allowed by him."
A fragment, copied in the same hand, of "Instructions t9
my Son," apparently from the Duchess of York ; her
sons, however, died during her life.
Duty of Officers at the Court of Charles 11.
Letters from Lawrence Ear! of Rochester to his Son
Henry, 1688.
Two MS. Reflections of Lawrence Earl of Rochester on
the Anniversary of his Wife's Death.
Letters to Lord Rochester from the Electress Sophia, and
one from William III.
Will of Lawrence Earl of Rochester (found at New Park,
in a drawer in the library, May 6th, 1711).
Queen Anne to Henry Lord Rochester on the death of
his father.
Mr. Pope's letters to Lord Cornbury.
Lord Bolingbroke's letters to Lord Cornbury,
In a note to Dr. Monkhouse s Preface to the third
volume of the State Papers, he says " that the MS. of
" the History of the Rebellion, which appears to be the
" very copy prepared by the Earl of Rochester for
"publication, and which had been returned to him
** after it had been printed, was conveyed by favour of
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Part II. THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS. * 79
** the Duke of Queensberry^ to the Bodleian Library ;"
and as it was for the want of this, or, indeed, of any
MS. copy of the * History of the Rebellion,' by which
the University could prove the genuineness of their first
edition of the work, that it sustained a severe and most
unjust attack, it may be well to recapitulate in short
the circumstances of the case. The * History of the
Rebellion ' was first published in three folio volumes in
1702-4. In 1727 Oldmixon published a book entitled
* Clarendon and Whitelock compared,' when he first
began a serious and general charge against both the
editors of the work and the University, accusing them
of interpolations and omissions from the original MS.
In 1730 he published his ' History of England during
the Reigns of the Royal House of Stuart,' to which he
prefixed * Some Account of the Liberties taken with
Clarendon's History before it came to the Press, such
Liberties as make it doubtful what part of it is Cla-
rendon's, and what not.' On this arose the well-
known controversy between Dr. Oldmixon and those who,
then still living, considered their character as impugned.^
* Although this MS, might be presented by the Duke, or rather the
Duchess, of Queensberry, her right in it must have been shared by her nieces,
it being only as next akin to Lord Clarendon and Rochester that the right
in the MSS. was vested either in the Duchess of Queensberry or in them,
* In a letter from Dean Aldrich to the Bishop of Rochester (Sprat), which
is preserved in the British Museum, he assures him that all they who were
engaged in superintending the printing of this work " laboured to be scru-
" pulous even to superstition to reprint their copy to a tittle." Jn a letter
of great spirit by Bishop Atterbi^ry, dated Paris, October 26, 1731, he vin-
dicated his own character, as well as those of Bishop Rmallridgo and Dr.
/2
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80 * INTRODUCTION. Part IT.
The vindication was warmly taken up by Dr. John
Burton, and the accusations, founded principally on the
disreputable authority of a certain Mr. Smith (who
had been expelled from the University), and set forth
by Oldmixon, were refuted. The controversy is now
nearly forgotten, and the republication of the * History
of the Rebellion' in 1826, with the omissions and
corrections added to it, has given to the public the
power of judging what degree of censure should be
attached to those who deemed these deviations neces-
sary, and what degree of importance should be attached
to the restoration of the original text. By the Chan-
cellor's will his two eldest sons became responsible for
the use they made of their father's MSS. — the words
of his testament being, " I give and bequeath to my
** said two sons all my papers and writings of what kind
" soever, and leave them entire to their disposal as they
" shall be advised, either by suppressing or publishing,
" by the advice and approbation of my Lord Arch-
'* bishop of Canterbury' and the Bishop of Winchester,*
" whom I do entreat to be overseers of this my will."
It is clear, therefore, that the sons of Lord Clarendon
were fully at liberty, with the advice of the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester, to make
what suppressions they pleased, and to choose their
own time of publication ; and it was an overstrained
Aldrich from Oldmixon's charge of being concerned in altering Lord Cla-
rendon's History.
* Sancroft. * Morley.
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Part II. THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS. ' 81
feeling on their part to declare in the Preface^ that
" they who put forth this History dare not take upon
*• them to make any alterations in a work of this kind,
" solemnly left with them to be published, whenever it
" should be published, as it was delivered to them." It
is true that by Lord Clarendon's will no alteration
appears to have been sanctioned, but the time of publi-
cation and the power of suppression were committed to
their judgment and discretion ; and it seems that, when
the Chancellor Clarendon revised his ninth book in the
summer of 1671, it was his own opinion that the " pre-
'* sent age would hardly be a fit season for its publica-
" tion." That Lord Rochester, however, was peculiarly
scrupulous as to making any change in his father's MS.
is confirmed by a memorandum written by Dr. George
Clark, and deposited in the library of Worcester
College.
Memorandum^ 2l8t Aprils 1726.
Dr. Terry, Canon of Christchurch, came to see me, and,
knowing that he supervised the edition of Lord Clarendon's
* History of the Rebellion,' and corrected the press, when that
book was printed, I asked him what became of the copy from
which it was printed. He said that he tliought it was re-
timied to the Earl of Rochester. I mentioned to him what
Sir Joseph Jekyl said lately in the House of Commons, viz.
he believed it was not printed faithfully. The Doctor assured
me that he knew of nothing left out besides an imperfect
account of a bull-feast, which happened when the author was
Ambassador at Madrid, and little or nothing concerned the
* Written by the Earl of Rochester.
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82 * INTRODUCTION. Paet IF.
purpose of the History ; nor added, besides some circum-
stances of King Charles's remove from Brussels to Breda,
which the Earl of Rochester declared he took from his father's
papers. As for the rest, it was exactly printed from the copy,
and the Earl of Rochester was so nicely scrupulous in fol-
lowing it, that he would not suffer any small variation, though
only to make the sense clearer and the composition less
intricate, which also I have at several times heard confirmed
by Dr. Aldrich, Dean of Christchurch, and Mr. Richard
Hill, who both have been by when proposals have been made
to change a word or two in order to make the sense clearer ;
and the Dean sometimes proposed the doing it himself, but
the Earl always refused it, saying it was his father's book, and
he had solenmly promised to print it as he received it, and so
he would, by the grace of God. I asked Dr. Terry who
wrote the preface to the first volume ? He said he supposed
the Earl of Rochester, for it was delivered him in the Earl's
hand, and printed from that copy.
G. C.
To this meraorandum of Dr. Terry's should be
added a summary of Mr. Wogan's narrative, to the
truth of which he made affidavit ; * who, having been
the person employed in transcribing Lord Clarendon's
work, had it in his power to give important evidence as
to the manner in which the work was prepared for the
press : —
Memorandum^ 29M Aprils 1732.*
I. Mr. Wogan, who lives in Spring Garden, was kept a
year longer than ordinary at Westminster School, to tran-
' See Burton's * Genuineness of Clarendon.*
• MS. at the Grove.
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Part II. THE CLARENDON MANUSCWPl'S. *83
scribe the first four books of Lord Clarendon's History for the
press. He avers that there were not any material alterations
made in it, and that he does not remember the sense was ever
changed, or any minute part of any character.
2. Most of the rest of the transcript for the press is in the
handwriting of Mr. Low, who was secretary to the Bishop of
Rochester, Dr. Sprat.
3. The Earl of Rochester, Bishop Sprat, and Dean
Aldricb were the persons who compared and revised the
transcript before it was sent to the press.
4. The right to the copy was given to the University of
Oxford, and it was printed at the Theatre, without any altera-
tions, as may appear firom the transcript which they received,
if compared with the book in print. This is also attested by
Dr. Terry, Canon of Christchurch, in Oxford, who cor-
rected the press, except some few sheets at the boginning,
which were done by Dr. Stratford.
5. The few erasures in the twelfth book of the transcript
were made before it came to Oxford to Dr. Terry's hands, to
the best of his remembrance.
6. The erasures relate to some things concerning the
embassy to Spain, in which Lord Cottington and Lord Chan-
cellor Hyde were employed ; particularly an account of some
persons of distinction at that time in the Coiurt of Spain,
which being foreign to the afiairs of England is supposed to
be the reason it was struck out.
7. Dr. Terry says that there was not any addition that he
knows of, but a passage in the sixteenth book, page 740 of
the 8vo. edition, of Galleway's giving notice of the design
the Spaniards had to stop the King at Brussels. The Doctor
was sent for one day to the Deanery, and heard the late
Earl of Rochester declare that he foimd that passage among
his Other's papers, and that they were his own words ; that he
thought so material a circumstance ought not to be omitted,
and ordered Dr. Terry to transcribe it, which he did ; and at
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84 * INTRODUCTION. Pabt II.
this day it remains in the Doctor*s handwriting, in that part
of the transcript where it was to be inserted.
8. Dr. Terry says that, as far as he remembers and be-
lieves, Edmund Smyth had not a sight of the transcript while
it was in his custody.
9. It is notoriously known in the University, and particu-
larly in Christchurch, that Edmund Smyth was very far
from bemg employed or trusted by Dean Aldrich, who had a
power given him by the Chapter to expel him, whenever he
thought fit, for his misbehaviour in the Collie.
10. Some sheets of the History, in Lord Chancellor's
handwriting, have been found among the papers of the last
Earl of Clarendon, and in one of them is the character of
Mr. Hampden, as printed, lib. vii., p. 265, of the octavo
edition, in which are those very words tliat are pretended to
be foisted in by Edmund Smyth. They are also in the MS.
* Life ' of Lord Chancellor, of his own handwriting, now in the
possession of the present Earl. They are likewise in the body
of the transcript sent d6wn to Oxford, from London, by which
the History was printed.
1 L Bishop Tanner has the copy of a receipt, in Archbishop
Sancroft's own hand, which his Grace gave the Earl of Cla-
rendon in 1685, when his Lordship left the * History ' with him,
at his going to be Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. This receipt
particularly takes notice of the number of quires and pages
of which the * History ' consisted, and that it was wrote in Mr.
Shaw's hand. It is probable this copy was burnt at New Park.
It appears by this receipt that it was at that time styled the
' History of the Rebellion.'
When Lord Clarendon's History again appeared, in
1826, with all the suppressed or corrected passages
restored, the work was noticed, together with the old
controversy on the subject, by Sir James Mackintosh, in
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Part H. THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS. "^ 85
a postscript to an article on a different subject* Sir
James Mackintosh does full justice to the University,
both in admitting that *' it was in no degree answerable"
for the faults of the first publication, ^^ and that, on the
" other hand, they had the unalloyed merit of restoring
" the true text of the noble historian." But his obser-
vations on the editors are scarcely marked with his usual
candour : indeed, he even treats the fact of there being
omissions in the work as a suppression of evidence " very
" blameable in itself, and by no means calculated to in-
" spire confidence in the general good faith of the first
" editors." These observations might naturally apply
to the conduct of the editors, had they not been spe-
cially left with a discretionary power to suppress or
publish " as they shall be advised," and the friends
being also named with whom they were to consult on
these points ; and of the anxiety of the editors that the
text should be strictly followed there remains first the
testimony of the many competent witnesses that have
been already cited, and next the carefiil collation by
Dr. Bandinel of the original MS. with the first edition
of the work. Whether the first editors exercised wisely
their discretionary power ; whether they were unneces-
sarily scrupulous of publishing their father's opinions of
individuals to whose family the publication of such
opinions might be offensive or injurious; whether, in
fact, their judgment was on all occasions equal to the
task of selection, — must remain an open question : and
» On the 'Icon Basilike.'—Ed. Rev., No. 87.
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W* INTRODUCTION. Pabt U.
though it should be remembered that their opinions
must have been influenced by the knowledge of many
circumstances which are now passed away and lost,
the judgment they displayed in the exercise of so large
a discretion is a fair subject for discussion and difference
of opinion ; but it is hardly fair to question the good
faith with which they performed their task ; nor is it
very just to say that the loss of a MS. ** is owing, on
" the most candid hypothesis, to the not very filial
" negligence of Lord Clarendon s sons/* The fire at
New Park, and the dispersion of the Chancellor Cla-
rendon s MSS. subsequent to the death of his sons, show
at once that there were more ways than filial negligence
by which one of his MSS. might be lost. Sir James
Mackintosh appears also to lay much stress upon the
supposed obscurity of Mr. Shaw, in his estimate of the
value of the MS. firom which the first edition was
taken : — " The copy made for the press by Wogan
" and Low was not, however," he remarks, " taken from
" the original MSS. . . . but from an intermediate one,
" written (as is said) under the superintendence of the
" noble historian by one Shaw, of whom nothing is
" known ; when, or how, or where it was written, is
" also unknown to us." Mr. Shaw's name and cha-
racter were, however, very well known to Lord Claren-
don's family, and to his descendants;* and he is men-
tioned frequently in the diari ^s and letters of the Earl
of Clarendon and Rochester. He acted as private
J See the Catalogue of Portraits at the Grove, portrait of Mr. Shaw, vol. iii.
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Part II. THE CLARENDON MANUSCRIPTS. * 87
secretary to Lord Clarendon, and accompanied him in
his banishment; and the fact of a MS. being in his
hand carried with it the weight of highest probability
that it was written, " sm it is said," under the superin-
tendence of the author, whose fortunes he faithfully fol-
lowed in the days of adversity.
The whole of the History, as first published, has been
carefully collated with the MSS. from which the first
edition was printed, now in the Bodleian Library, by
Dr. Bandinel ; and great respect is certainly due to an
opinion founded on such careful labour, and which he
expresses in the advertisement to the edition of 1826,
" that Lord Clarendon's sons were justified in with-
** holding some parts of the History, which for many
*^ reasons were at that moment unfit for publication ;
^^ and that they had in no one instance added, sup-
" pressed, or altered any historical fact"
The following copy of verses, addressed by Lord Hampden
in 1777 to Thomas Villiers, Earl of Clarendon, is inserted as
containing an allusion to the collection of pictures at the
Grove : —
Description of the Grove^ 1777.
Hydiaci toties finieris quibus otia luci
Musa, repende brevi, si mens tua grata, caraena.
Est ubi tot dulces formet natura recessus ?
Aut ubi tot scenas ars intermisceat aptas ?
Interiora domus vestit pretiosior auro
Vandicii, Leliique manu depicta supellex :
Per muros vivae facies epirare videntur.
Hie vemse vates non Phoebo indigna locuti ;
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88* INTRODUCTION. Part IT.
Quotque nee in?ita sophiam coluere Minerva.
Ob patriam, ob regem pugnaudo vulnera passos
Ecce duces, aulaeque viros decora alta, forique.
Exulis egregii vultus agnosco verendos :
Ut vigor, ut candor placido simul enitet ore I
Quid subiisse tuo patris ac nati onme periclum,
Quid pietas, quid rara fides, quid longa laborura
Te juvit series, quid tot decursus honorum
Ingrato sub rege reum ? Nil splendida proeunt
Connubia, aut gener, ipse vices subi turns easdem,
Nil binae neptes ad sceptra Britannica nat®.
Macte senex, virtute ! viget tua fama perennis.
iEquior, en, cumulat te postera laudibus aetas,
Et tua progenies redivivo fulget honore,
Promissura tua similes de stirpe nepotes.
Extra compta nitet, sed rustica villa ; nee omnem
Munditiae steriles iructum pepulere, lucrumque.
Non juga detrectat mannus : non dama sodalem
Aspematur ovem, nee harae eultura pudori est
Hand impune fluens lapidem rotat unda molarem,
Et pingui? niveos inter strepit anser olores.
Non plumas immunis avis Junonia pandit.
Hie flores vemi, hie, hiemalia pabula, napi ;
Umbram si silvae, silvae quoque ligna ministrant ;
Inter odoriferos frutices seges aurea surgit
Horrea nunc campos, nunc rustica templa coronant,
Attonitosque trahit longe lateque eolonos
Area congests ditissima frugis acervis,
Panque columnato gaudens, novus advena, fano,
Et casa non nudos miratur Seotica elivos.
Runs herus solers ita miscuit utile dulci,
Ars ita naturam, natura ita temperat artem,
Auspiciisque cluet junctis plenissima villa.
Ut facis, haee gnavus vectare uberrima eircum
Rura diu, fructuque operum laetare tuorum,
Hyde, nee hoc spemas veteris rude carmen amici !
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THE
LIFE OF LUCIUS CAREY,
VISCOUNT FALKLAND.
VOL. I.
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' But fools the good alone unhappy call.
For ills or accidents that chance to all.
Sbb Falkland dibs, thb viBTUonB and the just I
See godlike Turenne prostrate on the dust I
See Sidney hleeds amid the martial strife I
Was this their virtue, or contempt of life ?*'
Pope, Estay on Man^ Ep. iv.
** If the oelehrating the memory of eminent and extraordinary persons,
and transmitting their great virtues for the imitation of posterity, be one
of the principal ends and duties of history, it will not be thought imperti-
nent, in this place, to remember a loss which no time will suffer to be
forgotten, and no success or good fortune could repair."
Clabendon's Hist, qfthe JReb,, vol. iv. p. 240.
** Non haec, o Palla, dederas promissa parenti,
Cautius ut saevo velles te credere Marti.
Hand ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis,
£t prasdulce decus primo certamine posset.
PrimitiiB juvenis misene, bellique propinqui
Dura rudimenta."
ViBGiL, iEn. xi. 152-157.
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LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND.
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Parentage of Lord Falkland — Hia Education — He chal-
lenges Sir F. Willonghby, and is committed to the Fleet — His
Marriage — His Residence and Society at Great Tew — He joins the
King's Army in the North — Failure of the Expedition, and its
Causes.
Lucius Caret was born at Burford, in Oxfordshire,
about the year 1610. He was the eldest son of Sir
Henry Carey, of Berkhampstead and Aldenham, in
Herts, and of Elizabetib, daughter and sole heir of Sir
Lawrence Tanfield, Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
Sir Henry was raised to the peerage of Scotland, No-
vember 19th, 1620, by the title of Viscount Falkland,
and two years afterwards, being appointed Lord Deputy
of Ireland, he removed his family to that country.
Lucius commenced his academical education at Trinity
College, Dublin, and, on his return to England, at
about the age of 18 years. Lord Clarendon says that
^^ he was not only master of the Latin tongue, and had
" read all the poets and others of the best authors with
^^ notable judgment for that age, but he understood and
^^ spake and writ French as if he had spent many years
B 2
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4 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. I.
** in France.*** After having quitted Trinity College he
became a student at St John's College, Oxford.
Allusions are made in different works to a story of
Sir L. Carey having been guilty in his youth of some
particular act of levity, for which he had incurred the
punishment of imprisonment. This story has been
founded on the existence of a petition from Lord Falk-
land for the release of his son from the Fleet prison.*
The petition is printed, without a date, in the col-
lection called * Cabala,* and affords no clue as to
the nature of the offence. Wood, in his ^Athense
Oxonienses,* speaks of Lucius as "a wild youth** when
he went to Ireland with his father, whereas, in fact, he
was then but a boy twelve years old ; and so tempting
is it to let imagination fill the gap when history is
incomplete, that in the * Biographia Britannica * and
other biographical works ^ this petition is given as a
proof that some unseemly act of youthful indiscretion
must have been committed by Sir Lucius. The idea
of lively irregularities, such as would have brought
upon him the penalty of imprisonment, seemed however
to accord so ill with the character ascribed to Sir Lucius
at this very period of his life as to throw a doubt on its
accuracy. A more careful search into the MS. records
of that time shows the nature of the offence to be alto-
» Life, vol. i. p. 38. ed. 1761. 8vo.
• See Appendix A.
• See • Biographie Universelle,' * Lodge's Portraits,' &o. Chalmers
speaks in his Biographical Dictionary of this petition as being addressed
to James I. instead of Charles I. ; and though he alludes to Sir Lucius being
thrown into prison for challenging Sir F. Willoughby, he neither gives
his authority nor the cause of the quarrel.
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Chap. I. IMPRISONED IN THE FLEET. 5
gether different from that which was assumed, and
proves that tibe cause of Sir Lucius*s confinement was
his treating too seriously, though not perhaps, according
to the temper of those times, unbecomingly, what he
regarded as an usurpation of his rights by another, and
a slight put upon him by the King.
Sir Lucius was deprived of a company of which he had
the command, that it might be conferred on Sir Francis
Willoughby.^ He considered this an act for which
Sir F. Willoughby was bound to *' give him satisfaction
with his sworde.** * Sir F. Willoughby denied having
wished that it should be the company of Sir Lucius
that was transferred to him; but it appears that Sir
Lucius was not satisfied with this reply, and persevered
in his intention to hold Sir Francis responsible either
for his own act or for that of the King.^
Temporary imprisonment of one or both of the par-
ties for the purpose of preventing a duel was not then
uncommon; but it seems that Sir Lucius was also
threatened with the Star Chamber, a circumstance
which raises a presumption that the King resented this
act of indirect insubordination to his will.
An order from the Privy Council is registered for
the imprisonment of Sir Lucius Carey on the 17th of
January, 1629-30, and, on the 27th, a warrant for his
* Sir F. Willoughby thus speaks of the circumstance in a letter to Lord
Dorchester, dated Jan. 1, 1629-30 :— " From my Lord Falkland I must not
looke for much favour, by reason his son's company is conferred uppon me,
as I am lately informed, which was no ackte of mine, neyther ought my
lord to blame me for it." Vide Appendix B 1.
« Fwic Appendix B 2.
* Vide Appendix B 3, original letters that passed between Sir F. Wil«
loughby and Sir L. Carey.
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6 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. I.
liberation.* Whetibier this deprivation of his company
was solely for tibe advantage of Sir Francis Willoughby,
or intended by the King as a slight on Lord Falkland,
then recalled from his government in Ireland, there is
no proof;' but though, by the tone of the petition and
the entries in Lord Falkland's journal,^ it would seem
tibat he was too good a courtier to resent the King's
conduct to his son, yet it was an exercise of power,
wanton, at least, if not vindictive, which was calculated
to make a deep impression on the mind of a high-
spirited youth nineteen or twenty years old.
The Chief Baron Tanfield ^ had so settled his estate
upon his grandson Lucius, that it descended to him
direct on die death of his maternal grandmother. Lady
Tanfield ; and at nineteen years of age he found himself
in possession " of two very good houses very well
" furnished (worth above 2000Z. per annum), in a most
^^ pleasant country, and the two most pleasant places
" in that country."* Soon after his inheritance of these
estates, Sir Lucius incurred the deep displeasure of
his father by his marriage with the daughter of Sir
Richard Morrison.* To this young lady he was pas-
* Vid$ Appendix C.
* It appears that it was not without difficulty that Lord Falkland
obtained for his son the tardy payment of arrears due to him and his com-
pany. Vide Appendix D.
» Vide Appendix E. * He died in May, 1625,
» Clarendon's * life,' p. 38.
* Of Tooley Park, Leicestershire. Her brother, Sir Henry Morrison, who
had been the chosen friend of Sir Lucius, died shortly before the marriage.
Their friendship was celebrated by Ben Jonson in an ode entitled * Ode
Pindaric to the Memory and Friendship of that immortal Pair Sir Lucius
Carey and Sir H. Morrison :' —
"And
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Chap. I. HIS MARKIAGE. 7
sionately attached, but her portion was inconsiderable.
Lord Falkland ^^had hoped,'' says Lord Clarendon,
^* to repair his own broken fortune and desperate hopes
*' in Court by some advantageous marriage of his son,
** about which it is conjectured he was then in treaty f
and his anger at the defeat of these intuitions seems to
*^ And flhine as you exalted are,
Two names of friendsldp, but one star ;
Of hearts the union, and those not by chance
Made, or mdentnre, or leased out t' advance
The profits for a time ;
No pleasures vain did chime^
Of rhymes, or riots, at your feasts,
Orgies of drink, or feign'd protests ;
But simple love of greatness and of good.
That knits brave minds and manners more than bk)od.
** This made you first to know the why
Tou liked, tiien after to apply
That liking ; and approach so one the t'other,
Till either grew a portion of the other :
Each styled by his end.
The copy of his friend,—
You lived to be the great surnames
And titles by which all made claims
Unto the virtue. Nothing perfect done
But as a Carey or a Morrison.
<< And such a force the fair example had,
As they that saw
The good, and durst not practise it, were glad
That such a law
Was left yet to mankind.
Where tiiey mi^t read and find
Friendship indeed was written not in words ;
And with the heart, not pen.
Of two so early men.
Whose Hvee her rolls were and records ;
Who, ere the first down bloomed on the dun.
Had sow'd these fruits and got the harvest in."
Beit Jonsom, Ode Pindaric W^ks, vol. ix. p. 0.
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8 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. I.
have been bitter and enduring.^ Sir Lucius, without
repenting the choice he had made of one in every way
deserving his affection and respect, most deeply de-
plored the offence he had given his father. He con-
fessed his fault with sincere and humble contrition, and
implored his forgiveness; nor did he content himself
with die mere expression of regret tibat his father's
fortune should be prejudiced by the smallness of his
wife's portion; he offered to resign the whole estate
that had been left to him ; he actually had tibe deeds of
conveyance prepared, presented them himself to his
father, and declared himself ready to execute this
transfer of his property to him, and to rely solely on
his paternal bounty in fixture. But Lord Falkland was
inexorable; he neitiber forgave the transgression, nor
accepted the proffered atonement. Sir Lucius imme-
diately determined to quit England, and proceeded with
his wife to Holland, intending there to purchase some
military command, and to devote his life to that pro-
fession ; but, being disappointed in his hopes of em-
ployment, he returned to England the following year,
retired to a country life and to his books, thinking
^^ that, as he was not like to improve himself in arms,
^ The adTantageons marriage to which Lord Clarendon thus vaguely
alludes is more plainly set forth in a letter of May 28, 1629, from Sir
George Gresley, Bart., to Sir Thomas Puckering, Bart., in which he says,
" Sir Thos. Edmundes hath sold his crown oflfioe to one Willis, a lawyer
" of the Temple, for 6000/., and goes ambassador to France, out of a hope
" at his return to be Lord Deputy of Ireland. But the truth «, the Lard
•« of Falkland and the Lard Treasurer are to match two of their children
" together, and thereupon the Lord Falkland to continue Lord Deputy
" still."— 1%« Court and Times </ Charles /., vol. ii. p. 16. The Lord
Treasurer referred to was Richard Weston, Earl of Portland.
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Chap. I. HIS LIFE AT GREAT TEW. 9
** he might advance in letters." * He immediately
began a rigorous course of study, resolved to abstain
from visiting London till he had mastered the Grreek
tongue, and adhered to his resolution. The death of
his father was the first interruption to his retirement.
Lord Falkland broke his leg by a fall from a stand in
Theobald's Park, and died in consequence of that acci-
dent in September, 1633. It is to be hoped that some
reconciliation took place between him and his son, but
no record is to be found that such was the case.^ Sir
Lucius inherited his father's title and estate, but his
fortune was by no means increased by the inheritance,
inasmuch as he was obliged to sell a finer estate of his
own to redeem that which descended to him, and which
was mortgaged to its fiill value. Having visited London
to complete the business which the death of his father
had rendered indispensable. Lord Falkland again retired
to the country, and resumed his studies. His life at
Great Tew^ must have been one of most perfect enjoy-
ment to a man of his tastes and acquirements. This
place was situated within ten or twelve miles of Oxford,
and became the rendezvous of learned men from the
University, as well as of his friends from London and
other parts. Amongst the most frequent guests we
find the names of Dr. Sheldon, Morley, Hammond,
» Clarendon's « Life,* p. 21.
* The last mention made in Lord Falkland's journal of his son's name
is on the 28th of October, 1630 (vide Appendix F), when it appears that
Mr. Lenthall interceded in his favour. This silence rather confirms the
impression that all intercourse ceased between them.
? Great Tew was one of the estates he inherited from his grandfather,
Laurence Tanfield. The house is now pulled down.
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10 LIFE OF LORD FALBXAND. Chap. I.
EarleSy and Chillingworth ; * also of Hugh Cressy, of
Merton Coll. ; " Charles Gataker/ of Pembroke Coll. ;
" George Aglionby, of Ch. Ch. ; Thos. Triplet, a
*' very witty man of Ch. Ch. ; Geo. Sandys, the poet ;
" and others.**' His library was open to their use, and
diey required no invitation to take possession of the
apartments regarded as their own.^ Lord Falkland's
greatest pleasure was in the conversation of men to
whom he looked up for instruction, whilst their powers
were stimulated by the learning, wit, and judgment of
their host He had, says Lord Clarendon, '^such a
*' vast knowledge that he was not ignorant in any-
^^ thing, yet such an excessive humility as if he had
" known noUiing."* It was here that Chillingworth
wrote his *book against the Jesuit Nott, and in this
society that he debated some of the most important
points in his work, and even occasionally submitted to
the judgment of his friends. There was in Lord Falk-
land a gentleness and affability that spread its influence
on those around him; they involuntarily caught the
spirit they admired, and in his presence subjects of
gravest import were discussed freely without levity,
and controversies were examined and maintained with
* Clarendcm, * Life/ p. 42.
* Son of Qataker of Redriff, or Iledrith, near London.
* See Wood's * Athenae Oxon.'
* " The lord of the house did not even know of their coming or going,
" nor who were in his honse, till he came to dinner or supper, where all still
^ met. There was no troublesome ceremony or constraint, to forbid men
*^ to come to the house, or to make them weary of staying there ; so that
«< many came there to study in a better air, finding all the books they could
*< desire in his library, and all the persons together whose company they
" could wish and not find in any other society." — Clarendon, * Life,' p. 43.
» Hist, of Reb., vol. iv. p. 243. ed. Oxford, 1826,
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Chap. I. HIS HOSPITALITY. 1 1
mutual forbearance and toleration for difference of
opinion.
To the more common rights of hospitality Lord
Falkland seems to have joined that well-bred politeness
which springs from a delicate regard for the feelings of
others : a quality which graced his more important acts
of benevolence in a singular degree.^ He seemed to
hold his estate in trust ^^ for worthy persons who needed
<< assistance, as Ben Jonson and others/' who accepted
from him what they would have recoiled from receiving
at other hands. He gave in secret to many whose
pride might have been wounded by their necessities
being known, and tibus enhanced the value of his bounty
by sparing the debt of obligation. In fulfilling the
charities of social and domestic life he won the affections
of diose around him ; distinguished alike for the depth,
extent, and variety of his acquirements and the re-
tentiveness of his memory, he was still totally free from
pedantry; lively and fluent in conversation, pure in
taste, and of great gaiety of spirit, his society was
cherished by those men of congenial habits and pursuits
who were admitted to his mtimacy and enjoyed his
friendship during the halcyon days spent at Great Tew
from the age of twenty to twenty-eight or twenty-nine.
From the year 1639 we must no longer seek Lord
Falkland in the retirement of domestic life and the
peaceable enjoyment of literary labours : henceforward
we shall find him an actor in those scenes where every
passion arising from religious differences, political con-
tentions, and civil war was called into action.
» Clarendon, « Life,' p. 41.
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12 LIFE OF LOKD FALKLAND. Chap. I.
In the spring of the year 1639 Charles I. had col-
lected an army of 6000 horse and as many foot, in
order to advance against Scotland ; and as this expedition
may be regarded as the first link in tlie long chain of
mistakes and misfortunes that led to the overtibrow of
die King, the destruction of his adherents, and the inter-
ruption of that national prosperity to which civil war is
fatal, it may not be improper in a few words to recall
the cause of quarrel and the supposed object of this
ill-advised expedition against Scotland. In the year
1633 the King resolved to visit his native country^
in order to be crowned at Edinbui^h. His whole pro-
gress throughout England was one continued homage
from all who were in a condition to offer hospitality to
their sovereign and his numerous attendants. The
houses of the nobility wherever he passed were devoted
to his service, and the fortunes of those whom he
honoured with his presence were lavishly expended in
the magnificence of their entertainments.^ Scotland
vied with England in this display of loyalty and respect
for the person of the King, and sought by their at-
tentions to the English who accompanied him to repay
the courtesy and hospitality which had been freely
tendered to their countrymen in England.
The coronation at Edinburgh was solemnized with as
much pomp as it had been in England, and with every
demonstration of public joy and satisfaction.'
In this journey Charles was accompanied by Laud,
• Charles had quitted Scotland when two years old.
• Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. i. pp. 139-141.
» Ibid., vol. i. p. 146.
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Chap. I. THE KING VISITS EDINBURGH. 13
Bishop of London ; the object of his attendance (which
was not otherwise necessary) was, that he might assist
in establishing that uniformity of worship which both he
and the King wished to introduce, by imposing the Eng-
lish Church Government and English Church Liturgy
on the Scotch Presbyterians. The Scotch were no less
strong in their preference for their own form of Church
Government and Service than tenacious of their civil
independence. The throne of England was occupied
by the King of Scotland, and much jealousy existed on
the part of that country lest it should be treated as a
province of England, and subjected in any way to her
laws and government beyond the unity of allegiance
due to their common sovereign. Great diversity of
opinion arose as to the time, as well as manner,
in which these projected changes should be effected.
It was well understood that the draught would be bitter
to swallow, and unhappily the various expedients to
sweeten the cup only added to its bitterness and in-
creased the repugnance of those for whom it was
intended. Bishop Laud, with true professional zeal,
thought the fittest remedy for the weakness of epis-
copacy was an increase in the number of Bishops and
an addition to the secular power of the Clergy ; but as
this weakness was occasioned by the want of support
in public opinion, he only added to the superstructure
without strengthening the foundation, and the pile thus
increased soon crumbled to ruins. Edinburgh was
erected into a bishopric, a new Dean was also appointed,
the Archbishop of St Andrews was made Chancellor
of Scotland, and four or five other Bishops named of
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14 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. I.
the Privy Council or Lords of the Session, in the vain
hope thaty by thus giving them power in the State, they
would acquire that respect and influence in the Church
which they had failed to obtain as Churchmen.
In August, 1633, the King returned from Scotland,
leaving to the care of the Bishops there the providing a
Liturgy and a book of Canons, and which, as soon as
they could be prepared, were to be submitted to Laud,
now Archbishop of Canterbury;* Juxon, Bishop of
London ; and Wren, Bishop of Norwich.
For a while there was a delusive acquiescence on the
part of the Scots in this preparation of a Liturgy, which
was attributed to conversion of opinion, or submission
to authority ; but it was afterwards found to proceed
from their trusting to the indiscretion of the Bishops
being of more advantage to them than any opposition
they could offer.*
After two years the Bishop presented a body of
Canons — the King referred them to the Archbishop
and Bishops in England ; after some alterations they
returned them to the King, who issued his proclamation
for their due observance in Scotland. The Archbishop
of Canterbury had warned the Bishops in Scotland not
to propose anything to the King which should be con-
trary to the law of that land, and never to put any-
thing in execution without the consent and approbation
of the Privy Council there. He well knew that no
change could be introduced in the Church which would
' Laud had been raised to the archbishopric on the death of Abbot when
the King returned from Scotland.
• Clarendon'f * Hist, of the Rebellion/ vol. i. p. 185.
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Chap. I. ATTEMPT TO INTRODUOE THE LITURGY. 15
not concern the State, and even the municipal laws of
the kingdom ; yet neither before nor after the King s
prodamation were these Canons seen by the Assembly,
by any Convocation of the Clergy, or by the Lords of
the Council in Scotland.
The people of Scotland considered the Canons as
new laws imposed by the King's sole authority; as
contrived by a few private men, strangers to the nation ;
and as implying a subjection not merely to the Church,
but also to the civil government of England. They
perceived an inclination to Popery in some of the
Cancms, whilst they objected to others as conferring an
unlimited power and prerogative upon the King in all
cases ecclesiastical ; their laws and customs were thwarted,
and the rights of property were infringed, by a direction
that all Bishops and ecclesiastics dying mtJumt children
should leave a good part of their estates, and those mth
children somewhat, to the Church. To crown the other
errors connected with this compilation, was its publi-
cation before that of the Liturgy, with which three or
four of the Canons enjoined punctual compliance,
though of its contents nothing was then known.
About the month of July, 1637, the Liturgy was
sent by the Scotch Bishops to England, perused by the
Archbishop and Bishops, approved and confirmed by
the King, and appointed to be read in Scotland on the
Sunday next ; and all this again without previous con-
sultation or knowledge of the Scotch Clergy, Privy
Council, and others.
The reception of the Liturgy in the cathedral
church of Edinburgh was in the highest degree unfa-
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16 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. L
vourable — all decency and reverence due to the place of
worship and the ministers of God was forgotten in the
outbreak of indignation at this imposition of a Liturgy
which was uncongenial to the feelings and opinions of
the people. Stones and cudgels were hurled at the
head of the Dean who read the service, and not a word
could be heard, from the clamour and uproar raised both
within and without the church : it fared no better with
those who had to read it in other places, for they were
attacked and followed with bitter execrations against
Bishops and Popery. The indifference in England as
to the a£&irs of Scotland in general was so great up to
this period, that, whilst the whole nation was solicitous
to know what passed weekly in foreign countries, " no
" one ever inquired what was doing in Scotland, nor
^^ had that kingdom a place or mention in one page of
" any gazette.*** Nor did even this forcible rejection of
the Liturgy create at first any interest in England. A
despatch was sent to require the Lords of the Council at
Edinburgh to act more vigorously in maintaining the King's
authority, but the Council was powerless. Men of high
rank engaged against the Bishops ; women of all ranks
joined in the cry against the Bishops and the Liturgy ;
Bishops were attacked in the streets ; every Bishop left
Edinburgh, and no one dared to read the Liturgy. People
now flocked from all parts to Edinburgh, and soon formed
themselves into a sort of government ; they petitioned
the King in the name of the nobility, lairds, clergy, and
burgesses, complaining of the introduction of Popery ; a
general assembly was called, the Bishops summoned,
■ Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 195.
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Chap. I. NEGM)TIATIONS WITH THE SCOTCH. 17
and then excommuQicated for not appearing. The next
step was to sign a covenant, which they maintained to
be the same as that subscribed by King James, and
to which they now called upon the King to agree, not-
withstanding a clause being inserted for the extirpation
of Bishops.
A series of negotiations passed, but without pro-
ducing any approach to reconciliation or submission,
and the Scotch began to raise an army, and chose as their
General Colonel Leslie. The King now thought fit to
acquaint his Council and the nation at large with the
state of affairs between himself and the Scotch, and at
the end of the year 1638 declared his resolution to
have recourse to arms to suppress the rebellion in Scot-
land.
In the following spring the army was in readiness.
The Earl of Arundel was chosen as General, the Earl
of Essex Lieutenant-General, and the Earl of Holland
General of the Horse. It appears that the King was
more anxious upon this occasion to make a display of
the nobility, than to select experienced officers, or pro-
cure efficient soldiers. He revived certain obligations
of service, and inquired into the tenure by which many
estates were held ; and finding that the King, when he
made war in person, called as many of the nobility to
attend him as he pleased, summoned most of the nobles
in his kingdom to be in readiness on a certain day.
It was this expedition that first called forth Lord
Falkland from his retirement
Whether his former desire for a military life prompted
him to engage in it, or that he was included in the
VOL. I. c
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18 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. I.
King's summons, does not appear. He had been pro-
mised a command ; but was disappointed in this expec-
tation.*
Lord Falkland's service on a crusade in favour of
episcopal power and a compulsory Liturgy could not
have been tendered from any sympathy in the cause ;
but when summoned by duty or by his sovereign to
take the field, he submitted to the disappointment of
not having the promised command, and volunteered to
serve under the Earl of Essex.
This change from his tranquil studious life seems to
have created no ordinary sensation in the society he had
gathered round him : his departure was a theme to the
poets Cowley and Waller,' and their verses bear the
• Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion/ vol. iv. p. 253.
• TO LORD FALKLAND,
FOR ms SAFB BBT17BN FBOK THB NOBTHIBN EXPSOITt(»T JLGAIKBT
THE BOOTS.
" Great is thy charge, North ; be wise and just ;
England commits her Falkland to thy trust.
Return him safe ; learning would rather chooM
Her Bodley or her Vatican to lose.
All things that are but writ or printed there.
In his unboimded breast engraven are ;
There all the sciences together meet.
And every art does all his kindred greet.
Yet juBtle not, nor quarrel ; but as well
Agree as in some common principle.
So in an army, govem'd right, we see
(Though out of several countries raised it be)
That all their order and their place m^tain, —
The English, Dutch, the Frenchman, and the Dane ;
So thousand divers species fill the air.
Yet neither crowd nor mix confus'dly there ;
Beasts, houses, trees, and men together lie,
Yet enter undisturb'd into the eye.
And
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Chap. L JOINS THE ARMY. 19
strongest testimony to the high value they set on his
worth, and to their anxiety at seeing so much virtue,
wisdom, and learning exposed to the risks of war.
The whole expedition to Scotland was, though costly,
And this great prince of knowledge is by Fate
Thrust into th' noise and business of a State.
All virtues, and some customs of the court,
Other men's labour, are at least his sport ;
While we, who can no action undertake,
Whom Idleness itself might learned make, —
Who hear of nothing, and as yet scarce know
VHiether the Scots in England be or no, —
Pace dully on, oft tire, and often stay,
Yet see his nimble Pegasus fly away.
'T is Nature's fault, who did thus partial grow,
And her estate of wit on one bestow,
Whilst we, like younger brothers, got at best
But a small stock, and must work out the rest.
How could he answer 't, should the State think fit
To question a monopoly of wit ?
Such is the man whom we require, the same
We lent the North ; untouch'd as is his fame,
He is too good for war, and ought to be
As far from danger as from fear he 's free.
Those men alone (and those are useful too).
Whose valour is the only art they know,
Were for sad war and bloody battle bom ;
Let them the SlAte defend, and He adorn."
Cowley.
" TO MY LORD OF FALKLAND.
" Brave Holland lands, and with him Falkland goes.
Who hears this told, and does not straight suppose
We send the Graces and the Muses forth
To civilize and to instruct the North ?
Not that these ornaments make swords less sharp, —
Apollo bears as well his bow as harp ;
And though he be the patron of that spring
Where in calm peace the sacred virgins sing,
He courage had to guard th' invaded throne
c2
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20 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. I.
fruitless and inglorious. It settled no diflerences with
the Scotch, whilst it gave rise to many jealousies and
disputes amongst the English themselves. The only
advantage gained by any part of the King*s troops was in
the early occupation of Berwick by the Earl of Essex.
For this object he marched day and night, yet with this
unwonted haste he succeeded in preserving order and
discipline. He disregarded all false rumours as to the
strength and feats and intentions of the Scotch, and
possessed himself of the town without opposition. The
King held his court at York for a time, and then
advanced beyond Berwick. The Scots were reported
to be on the march, and the Earl of Holland was sent
to Dunse, about ten or twelve miles over the border,
where he found the Scots drawn up. General Leslie
ingeniously disposed his army, consisting of only three
thousand ill-armed men, to look like a greater force.*
The Earl of Holland sent a message to the King to
consult his pleasure as to his engaging, but without
waiting for the answer he and his principal officers
decided to retreat. In this it seems he only anticipated
Of Jove, and cast th' ambitious giants down.
Ah 1 noble friend ! with what impatience all
That know thy worth, and know how prodigal
Of thy great soul thou art (longing to twist
Bays with that ivy which so early kiss'd
Thy youthful temples), with what horror we
Think on the blind events of war and thee !
To fate exposing that all-knowing breast
Among the throng as cheaply as the rest ;
Where oaks and brambles (if the copse be bum'd)
Confounded lie, to the same ashes tum'd."
Waller.
» Clarendon's 'Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 211.
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Chap. I. [FAILURE OF THE SCOTCH EXPEDITION. 21
the King's reply, which forbad him to engage ; and the
cordial reception of Lord Holland,^ who had thus sacri-
ficed the honour of his troops, and the joy evinced at his
return, plainly showed that the King had called together
this brilliant display of armed nobility with no other
idea than that of overawing the Covenanters into sub-
mission. The expedition was to be a mere military
pageant ; and an array of followers, who had willingly
devoted their time and their fortunes to bringing well-
appointed soldiers into the field, found that they had
been intended for little better than figures dressed up
for the occasion to produce a dazzling effect on a
people who were to be astonished and firightened, not
subdued, into obedience. No wonder that the Cove-
nanters, who were well informed of all that passed at
the English Court, should have hoped to open a corre-
spondence with generals who either shared in the weak
policy of their sovereign, or who, resenting their being
thus made to^play at war, might waver in their alle-
giance. Three separate letters were addressed by them
to Uie three generals, the Earls of Arundel, Essex^ and
Holland.
The Earl of Essex treated that which was addressed
to him with greater scorn than did the other two. He
sent it to the King without returning any answer, or
holding any communication with the messenger who
brought it; nor would he take part in the treaty which
was soon after set on foot This treaty of pacification
is thus described by Lord Clarendon :* —
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 214.
« Ibid., p. 217.
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22 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. I.
" Whosoever will take upon him to relate all that
" passed in that treaty must be beholden to his own
" invention, the most material matters having passed in
" discourse, and very little committed to writing. Nor
" did any two who were present agree in the same re-
^^ lation of what was said and done ; and, which was
" worse, not in the same interpretation of the meaning
** of what was comprehended in writing. An agree-
" ment was made (if that can be called an agreement
" in which nobody meant what others believed he did)
<< that the armies were to be disbanded, an act of
" oblivion passed, the King's forts and castles re-
^^ stored, and an assembly and parliament to be called
" for a fiill settlement"
The army was disbanded, the Scots retracted nothing
they had done, abated nothing in their demands, and
burned their own version of the treaty by the common
hangman. The King returned to London, outwitted
by Uie Scotch ; his army disappointed, his court dis-
tracted by animosities and factions, his nobility im-
poverished, his reputation diminished at home and
abroad by failure of success, and the attachment to
his person somewhat lessened by the little courtesy with
which he dismissed those who had shown so much
loyalty in the gathering together. One man stood free
of all blame in the much misunderstood treaty, and had
never made one false step throughout this * Tragedy
of Errors,' and that was the Earl of Essex ; yet he was
discharged in the crowd without even ordinary cere-
mony, and soon after refused the command of the
Forest of Needwood, which was close to his estates.
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Chap. I. THE ARMY DISBANDED. 23
and would have been a gratification to him.* No
doubt it must have been a satisfaction to a man of
Lord Falkland's character to have served under one
whose loyalty, courage, and independence of spirit
remained unimpeaehed ; but the cause of quarrel with
the Scotch, the counsels of Laud, the conduct of
Charles, viewed either as King of Scotland or as King
of England, the arbitrary spirit displayed on some
occasions during the expedition, and the want of courtesy
due to his own commander, might well account for the
unfavourable opinion he entertained of the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the little love he bore to episcopal
power, the mistrust he conceived of the King's views of
constitutional rights, and that indisposition to the King
personally of which Lord Clarendon makes mention
more than once, and which, if originally conceived at
an earlier period of life, was not likely to be softened
by an afiront now offered to the commander under
whom he had served as volunteer.
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 220.
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24 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. U.
CHAPTER 11.
Lord Falkland is elected Member for Newport — Proceedings in the
House of Commons in reference to the question of Ship-money —
Message from the King upon a Supply — Dissolution of the Parlia-
ment — Council of the Peers at York — Treaty with the Scots —
Meeting of the Long Parliament — First Speech of Lord Falkland, on
the proposed Impeachment of Lord Strafford — Speech of Lord Falkland
on Ship-money — Impeachment of Lord Finch, and Speech of Lord
Falkland to the House of Lords in support of it.
In 1640 Lord Falkland was chosen member of Par-
liament for Newport in the Isle of Wight. He was
now about thirty years old, and this was the first oppor-
tunity he had had of sitting in Parliament, or even of
judging of the power and effect of a representative
assembly, none having been summoned for the space of
twelve years.
The last Parliament of King James's reign had been
courted and influenced by the all-powerful George
Villiers Duke of Buckingham, more particularly on two
subjects, which were at variance with the policy and
opinions of the King, but in which he was fully counte-
nanced by the Prince of Wales, viz. the desire to make
^ war upon Spain, and the impeachment of Lionel Cran-
field Earl of Middlesex, Lord Treasurer.* The King
remonstrated with his favourite and his son in words
» Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 41.
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Chap. H. KING JAMES'S WARim^G. 25
which proved little short of prophetic: — "By G — ,
" Steeney, you are a fool and will repent this, and will
" find that in this fit of popularity you are making a
" rod with which you will be scourged yourself;" and
then, addressing the Prince, he continued, saying,
" that he would live to have his bellyful of parliament
" impeachments ; and when I shall be dead you will
" have too much cause to remember how much you
" have contributed to the weakening of the Crown by
** the two precedents you are so fond of*
His warning was in vain ; the Duke was triumphant
on both subjects. The King died shortly afterwards,
and a new Parliament was summoned on the accession
of Charles ; but the tide of parliamentary favour had
now changed, and Buckingham found himself the object
of strong reprobation ; votes passed against him as an
enemy to the public, and supplies were refused on the
ground of his ill management. His indignation, or pos-
sibly his alarm,was roused by this turn of popular opinion,
and he caused the Parliament to be dissolved. The
second Parliament was dismissed for much the same
reasons, and by the same pernicious counsels ; members
were imprisoned or disgraced who had given offence,
and a commission to levy a general loan was appointed,
armed with powers that were in direct violation of
existing statutes. A third Parliament was called ; and
although, like its two predecessors, it was of short dura-
tion, yet it framed and carried the memorable " Petition
of Eight."
From that time it was in vain to urge former pre-
cedents for levying any loan or tax but by consent of
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26 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAKD. Chap. II.
Parliament, impriftoning any one but by legal process,
or infringing other provisions made for the security of
person and property. The speedy dissolution of this
Parliament was partly attributed to the Lord High
Treasurer, Lord Weston, who, like the Duke of
Buckingham, had reason to expect some charges to
be preferred against him, and a ground of displeasure
was easily found in the refusal of the Commons to vote
Tonnage and Poundage for more than a year. The
Petition of Right was immediately afterwards infringed,
members were again imprisoned, and a declaration was
heard from the Attorney-General Heath that the Peti-
tion of Right was ^^ no law''
The King, driven to extremities for want of supplies,
had recourse to those various projects for raising money
that have since become as watchwords in the history of
overstrained prerogative. ** Acts of State were made
** to supply the defect of laws ; obsolete laws were
** revived and rigorously executed, wherein the subject
" might be taught how unthrifty a thing it was, by too
^^ strict a detaining of what was his, to put the King as
" strictly to inquire what was his own."* The compo-
sition for knighthood, the granting monopolies, revival
of the Forest Laws, the arbitrary imposition of Tonnage
and Poundage and of Ship-money, and enlargement
of the powers of the Council and the Star Chamber,
were the illegal and irregular means adopted by the
sovereign, in defiance of the well-defined rights of the
subject, to ipake the prerogative of the Crown obtain by
force those supplies which it was the privilege of Par-
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 119.
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Chap. H. SHIP-MONEY. 27
liaraent to grant or to withhold. It was necessity, not
choice, that induced Charles once more to summon
a Parliament. Hostilities were to be renewed against
Scotland. The Treasury was bankrupt — only 200^.
was left in the Exchequer. The revenue of the Crown
had been anticipated, an army was to be raised, but
means were absolutely wanting for the purpose. Charles
opened the Parliament on the 13th of April, 1640, and
Serjeant Glanvil was chosen Speaker.* Mr. Pym led
the way in the discussion of grievances that had been
occasioned by the long intermission of Parliament;
of the King he spoke with the utmost respect, but
animadverted strongly on the conduct and justice of
the Government. Mr. Grimston and others followed
in the same strain, and all joined in praising Mr.
Hampden for the resistance he had made to the pay-
ment of the Ship-money; even the King's solicitor,
Mr. Herbert, took occasion to add his praise to Mr.
Hampden for his great temper and modesty in the
prosecution of that suit. Mr. Herbert, of course, de-
fended the exaction of Ship-money, and grounded his
defence of its legality upon the opinion of the Judges,
to whose authority he said the King had willingly
deferred when the right was disputed. The case, he
declared, had been argued before all the Judges of
England in the Exchequer Chamber, and the major
part had given their opinion in favour of the King's
right to impose the offensive tax. How little reason
the nation at large or its representatives had to be satis-
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 233.
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28 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. II.
fied with the justice of this judicial opinion was after-
wards fully exposed; but whatever the suspicions or
knowledge of the House of Commons might then be,
neither their loyalty nor their moderation as a legis-
lative body were yet shaken. " The Parliament," says
Lord Clarendon, ^^had managed these debates and
" their whole behaviour with wonderful order and so-
" briety."^
At the end of six days the King became impatient
because no progress was made towards voting the sup-
plies. To hasten this object, the House of Peers was
prevailed on by the Court to tender their advice to the
Commons to begin with voting the supplies. The
Commons were indignant at a breach of privilege never
attempted before in the annals of Parliament. The
Lords retracted, but not to the entire satisfaction of the
Commons; and further delay was occasioned by this
ill-advised attempt to hurry them into acquiescence with
the King's wishes. Then came the King's written
message, delivered by his Secretary of State, Sir H.
Vane, oflfering to give up in future all title or pretence
to ship-money, provided the Commons would vote him
the twelve subsidies he required. The message was de-
bated; many objected to the largeness of the sums
demanded ; and others, who "were not indisposed to
give, as a free testimony of duty and afiFection, recoiled
from a bargain in which the King tendered as his share
of the engagement to give up that to which they firmly
believed he could be shown to have no right. Mr.
» Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 236.
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Chap. U. QUESTION OP SUPPLY. 29
Hampden desired the question might be put, whether
the House would consent to the King's proposition.
The House being in Committee, the Speaker, Ser-
jeant Glanvil, addressed them. He freely admitted
that the judgment on the imposition of ship-money was
against the law, " if he knew what law was ;"^ but urged,
and with great effect, the expediency of complying with
the King's desire, in order to reconcile him to Parlia-
ments for ever. Mr. Hampden's question * was again pro-
posed, and would certainly have been negatived, as those
who thought the sum too large,' and those who disliked
the conditional terms offered by the King, would have
joined against it Mr. Hyde then proposed an amend-
ment, which recommended that the question should be
put only upon giving the King a supply, without refer-
ence to the sura or to the rest of the message. A loud
call ensued as to whether Mr. Hampden's question
or Mr. Hyde's question should be put. The latter
was on the point of being carried, and, being in its
object far the most favourable of the two to the King's
interest, it seemed strange at first that Mr. Herbert, the
King's Solicitor, should strongly oppose it. But Sir
H. Vane removed all surprise on that score by rising
to declare that "A^ had authority to tell them that
» Vide Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 242. Lord Claren-
don adds he was " known to he very learned^* and that this expression
" very much irreconciled him at Court."
' Viz. whether the House would " consent to the proposition made to
" the King as it was contained in the message P" — ^p. 241.
" " There were very few, except those of the Court (who were ready to
<' give all that the King would ask, and indeed had little to give of their
" own), who did not believe the sum demanded to be too great, and wished
** that a less might be accepted."— p. 240.
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30 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. II.
** if they ahovM pass a vote for the giving the King
" a supply ^ if it were not in the proportion and
" manner proposed in his Majesty's message^ it would
" not he accepted by him.** * The conduct of Sir
H. Vane has been impugned, and this declaration
in the King's name treated as an act of treachery ;
but it is hard to decipher his motives, if he had
any less obvious than the ftilfilinent of his sove-
reign's command.^ That long-sighted desire to bring
things into confiision, of which he has been accused^
is an easier motive to assign when the story can be read
backwards, than a very probable one for a man to act
upon whose position was already too well assured to be
much tempted to court the uncertain fiivours and events
of the future. It is said that he and the Solicitor
Herbert misrepresented to the King the temper of the
House ;' and that it was in consequence of their mis-
representations and influence that on the following day,
without further deliberation, the King dissolved the
Parliament. This undiminished confidence on the part
of the Court in the trustworthiness of Sir H. Vane and
the Solicitor Herbert* must be admitted to confirm
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,* vol. i. p. 244.
■ Lord Clarendon says, ** What followed in the next Parliament, within
" less than a year, made it believed that Sir Henry Vane acted that part
•* maliciously and to bring all into confusion." — Ibid., p. 245.
» Ibid.
* " Let their motives be what they would, they two, and they only,
" wrought so far with the King that, without so much deliberation as the
«* affair was worthy of, his Majesty the next morning .... sent for
" the Speaker to attend him, and took care that he should go directly to
«* the House of Peers, upon some apprehension that, if he had gone to
** the House of Commons, that House would have entered upon some
** ingrateful discourse, which they were not inclined to do ; and then,
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Chap. II. CONDUCT OF SIB H. VANE. 31
the impression that neither the former nor the Solicitor
(who supported him) had gone beyond their instructions
in the House of Commons ; nor was it till the King
" sending for that House to attend him, the Keeper, by His Majesty's
" command, dissolved the Parliament.** — Clarendon*^ < Hist, of the Rebel-
lion,* vol. L pp. 245, 246. See Com. Joum., vol. ii. p. 19.
The Queen*s account of this transaction given to Madame de Motteville
shows the imperfect manner in which facts are remembered after a lapse of
time, and the misrepresentations that occur when the recollections of the
past are embittered by painful associations ; it is indeed too incorrect to do
much towards inculpating Sir Harry Vane or exculpating the King.
** Le Parlement t^moigna peu de dessein de lui oomplaire. H trouva
" que les demandes du Roi ^toient trop fortes et que le peuple en seroit
" surcharge. Par \k les parlementaires commenc^rent it le mettre en
*' mauvaise odeur parmi les peuples, qui tons, et en tons pays, n*aiment
*' point ii donner de I'argent. Dans cette conjoncture il arriva qu'un
'* Secretaire d'Etat en qui le Roi avoit de la confiance, et que la Reine
« m^me, le croyant fiddle, lui avoit donn^, fit k ce prince, en haine de Straf-
" ford, Yiceroi d*Irlande et premier ministre, \me insigne trahison ; car,
" ayant pris liaison avec les ennemis du Roi, et re9u ordre de lui d*aller au
" Parlement de sa part porter ses volenti, il leur fit voir que le sentiment
« de oe prince ^tait fort contraire k leur d^r. L*intenti<m du Roi avoit
« 4U de se contenter it bien moins qu*il n'avoit demand^, pourvu que ce
** moins lui fiit accord^ surement, et qu*il en p(kt faire ^tat ; et comme
** le Roi se mettoit entidrement k la raison, il commanda k oe Secretaire
'* d*£tat, si ce Parlement ne s*y mettoit pas aussi, qu*il le cong^diftt de sa
" part, et qu'ainsi le Parlement fiit fini. Get honmie malintentionne leur
** dit tout le oontraire ; il demeura ferme dans la premiere resolution du
** Rd ; et comme le Parlement y r^sista, il leur fit commandement de se
" s^parer. Ce precede si dur, mais qui ne venoit point du Roi, aigrit tout
" k fait les esprits centre lui.'* — M^, de Mad, de Motteville, vol. ii. p. 96.
The question in agitation during this short Parliament was in no way
affected by enmity to Lord Strafford ; the question was of supply, and the
illegality of raising revenue by means independent of, and unsanctioned
by. Parliament. The Queen has also entirely omitted to mention that the
ground on which the Parliament refused to comply with the King*s de-
mands was not only the amount of the sum, but the conditions on which
it was to be granted. The King could be under no delusion as to the line
adopted by the Solicitor-General, Mr. Herbert, and Sir Harry Vane, and
he publicly sanctioned and confirmed the authority upon which they had
acted in the House of Commons, by fulfilling the threat uttered in his
name, and dissolving the Parliament the following day.
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32 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. U.
had come to the conviction that the Parliament would
have voted him a supply but for the fatal declaration on
authority that it would have been refused by him,
" that he was heartily sorry for what he had done, and
" denied having given such authority."* He even
wished to recall by proclamation the Parliament he had
thus hastily dissolved, but that was impossible. The
King's will could not restore as it had destroyed, and
thus ended the brief existence of the fourth Parliament
of this reign, summoned from absolute necessity, and
dismissed in haughty displeasure.
Such was the course of events that passed before
Lord Falkland on his first introduction to Parliament.
The seeds then sown in his mind were destined to ripen
ere long into active participation in the affairs of state.
The impression produced on his opinions by this short
Parliament is thus described by Lord ^Clarendon : —
** From the debates, which were there managed with all
" imaginable gravity and sobriety, he contracted such a
" reverence for Parliaments that he thought it really
" impossible they could ever produce mischief or
" inconvenience to the kingdom, or that the kingdom
" could be tolerably happy in the intermission of them.
" And from the unhappy and unreasonable dissolution
'* of that Convention, he harboured, it may be, some
" jealousy and prejudice to the Court, towards which he
" was not before immoderately inclined." *
Parliament was no sooner dissolved than the King
had recourse to every expedient for procuring money ;
' Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion/ vol. i. p. 247 ; and see Appendix G.
■ Ibid., vol. iv. p. 244.
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CiiAP. II. WAR WITH SCOTLAND RENEWED. 33
and in less than three weeks, chiefly by a voluntary
loan, 300,000/. was paid into the Exchequer, and an
army was immediately raised to march into Scotland.
Lord Essex was again slighted ; his services of the pre-
ceding year were overlooked. The Earl of Northum-
berland was appointed General, and Lord Conway
General of the Horse. The Earl of Northumberland w^
too ill to take the field, and the Earl of Strafford was
appointed Lieutenant-General, that he might supply his
place. Lord Conway submitted to a most shameful
defeat at Newburn, and fled to Durham ; the Earl of
Strafford there met him, and the whole army retreated
into Yorkshire, the Earl of Strafford afterwards joining
the King at York. The difficulties of the King's
position now began to press sorely on him ; his ap-
pointing Lord Strafford had created great displeasure
in the army ;^ his enemies were successful, his friends
corrupted or disheartened, his treasury nearly exhausted,
and immediate danger was to be apprehended of further
invasion by the Scots, to whose progress little resistance
was to be expected. In this difficulty he had recourse
to an expedient which had not been practised for some
hundred years. A council of all the Peers was called
to attend the King at York, within twenty days, to
give assistance by their advice. Two petitions had been
* " The Earl of Strafford bringiDg with him a body much broken with
** his late sickness, which was not clearly shaken off, and a mind and
<* temper confessing the dregs of it, which, being marvellously provoked
'< and inflamed with indignation at the late dishonour, rendered him less
** gracious, that is, less inclined to make himself so, to the officers. ** The
result was, that in a short time the army *^ was more inflamed against
" him than against the enemy." — Clarend(m*8 Hist, of tTie Rebettion^
vol. i. pp. 256, 257.
VOL. I. D
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34 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. U.
addressed to the King, one from the city of London,
and another signed by twelve peers, to summon a Par-
liament ; and when the Council assembled at York the
24th September, the King's opening speech annoimced
that " he had of himself resolved to call Parliament,'*
and had given orders " to the Lord Keeper to issue
" writs, so that Parliament should be assembled by
" the 3rd of November." ^ He then asked their advice
and assistance how to deal with the Scots, and how to
maintain his own army till Parliament met. It was
agreed that a treaty should be set on foot, and Com-
missioners on the part of the King were appointed to
meet those named by the Scots at Ripon. The treaty
agreed to by the King's Commissioners was more
favourable to the Scotch than to the English army.
The Scots demanded the payment of their army, and
the English Commissioners allowed a larger sum for
their maintenance than that assigned for the same
purpose to the King ; 200,000Z. was to be borrowed in
the city, to be repaid out of the first grant by Parlia-
ment For this temporary cessation of hostilities the
Commissioners were to adjourn to London to complete
the treaty, and thither the King and his Lords also re-
paired. The King was so little satisfied with his Com-
missioners, that he looked forward to the Parliament as
" being more jealous of his honour " than they had
been.* On the 3rd of November Parliament met It
* Nalson's Coll., vol. i. p. 442.
• Lord Clarendon greatly attributes the favourable disposition of the
English Commissioners towards the Scotch to their being quite unin-
formed as to the laws and cu8t,oms of that kingdom, by which only
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Chap. II. MEETING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 35
was the opening of that long eventful chapter of our
history from which the great lessons of constitutional
government are to be gathered ; where the Prince was
taught too late how fatal to himself it was to exceed the
limits of prerogative; where the people learnt how
dangerous to their liberty it became to usurp as privi-
leges the sovereign power.
The King had weakened the Crown by the abuse of
its influence: the use of its authority was afterwards
wanting to redress the balance which had been dis-
turbed. He had leaned on the vicious support of pre-
rogatives that, whilst they seemed to add strength to
the throne, destroyed its healthy vigour. The skilful
hand of the reformer could now alone have saved its
existence ; but it was in no state to withstand those
ruder attacks of revolution which its weakness pro-
voked.
The reform of grievances that were fast subverting
the constitution was a task no less congenial to the
principles of such men as Lord Falkland and Hyde
than to those of Pym and Hampden ; but a period was
could they judge whether the King had exceeded his just power in the
past transactions ; and that, being dependent on the Scotch for informa- *
tion, they were indirectly influenced by their statements, as well as
colouring of facts. — Hist, of the Rebellion^ vol. i. p. 288.
This opinion does not, however, tally with the fact that, in addition to
the sixteen Commissioners employed in making the treaty, six more were
added " because the Commissioners, for their better proceeding and infor-
'* mation, desired some such assistance to be present with them at the
** treaty as were either versed in the laws of Scotland, or had been
*« formerly acquainted with the passages of this business." The following
were named and appointed assistants by his Majesty, viz. Earl of Traquair,
Earl of Morton, Earl of Lanerick, Mr. Secretary Vane, Sir Lewis Steward,
and Sir John Burrough, — Rushworth, Coll., vol. iii. p. 1276.
D 2
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36 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IT.
soon to arise when neither the conscientious royalist nor
the honest patriot could have trod with unmixed satis-
faction the path that he had chosen, or rather the path
which events had forced upon his choice.
The King, having been disappointed in the person he
had wished to make Speaker of the House of Commons,
prevailed on Mr. Lenthall, a lawyer, to fill that office.
The Commons began actively to apply themselves to
the business of the country. Much that had passed in
the interval between the dissolution of the last short
Parliament and the calling together of the present
must have tended to produce the change described by
Lord Clarendon. ** The same men,** says he, ** who
** six months before were observed to be of very mode-
** rate tempers and to wish that gentle remedies might be
** applied, without opening the wound too wide, and ex-
" posing it to the air, and rather to cure what was amiss
^^ than too strictly to make inquisition into the cause
** and original of the malady, talked now in another
" dialect both of things and persons."^ The first occasion
on which Lord Falkland seems to have addressed the
House was on the impeachment of the Earl of Strafford
of high treason on the 11th of November. This pro-
position was no sooner mentioned than, as Lord Cla-
rendon slates, " it found an universal approbation and
" consent from the whole House, nor was there in all
" the debate one person who offered to stop the torrent
** by any favourable testimony concerning the Earl's
** carriage." Lord Falkland fully shared m the unfa-
» Clarendon's « Hist, of the Rebellion,* vol i. p. 298.
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Chap. II. FIRST SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. 37
vourable opinion of Lord StraflFord, and deeply felt the
danger of his evil counsels : his private feelings were
also enlisted against him, *^ from the memory of some
" unkindnesses, not without a mixture of injustice,
" from him towards his father,"^ yet he was the only
member of the House of Commons, who, when the
proposition was made for the immediate accusation of
High Treason,* " desired the House to consider whether
" it would not suit better with the gravity of their pro-
" ceedings first to digest many of those particulars which
" had been mentioned, by a Committee, before they sent
^^ up to accuse him, declaring himself to be abundantly
** satisfied that there was enough to charge him.*" This
honest desire that no point should be stretched to hasten
the accusation of the Minister, whom he regarded not
only as guilty of treasonable abuse of power in his public
capacity, but also as a private enemy to his own family,
shows that Lord Falkland was above the blindness of
party spirit on a question of party struggle, and inca-
pable of being influenced in his conduct against a public
man on personal grounds. ' His suggestion was rejected
by Mr. Pym, not on the ground of its being in itself
objectionable, but on that of distrust of Lord Strafford's
influence, fearing that, should he have access to the King,
he might use his power to procure the dissolution of
Parliament, in order to save himself from further pro-
ceedings.' The sudden dissolution of former Parlia-
ments, to avert an unwelcome interference with the
favoured ministers, might readily account for the fear
» Clarendon's 'Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. iv. p. 245.
• n)id., vol. i. p. 303. * Nalson, vol. i. p. C54.
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38 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IL
of delay avowed by Pym, and affords an early example
in the measures of the Long Parliament of that spirit of
hasty legislation which arises from the expectation of
having to act on the defensive.
Petitions from various places, complaining of different
grievances, were presented ; and on the occasion of one
being read from Watford (Herts), against ship-money,
on the 4th December,^ Lord Falkland spoke at some
length on the illegality of the tax and on the opinion of
the Judges. After some apologies for undertaking the
task imposed upon him, by being intrusted with the
report of the Committee, he disclaimed any personal
hostility towards those against whom he had to speak,
and adds that public interest alone extorted from him
that which, to use his own words, " I would not say if
" I conceived it not so true and so necessary, that no
^' undigested meat can lie heavier upon the stomach
" than this unsaid would have lain upon my conscience."
" Mr. Speaker," continued he, " the constitution of this
** conmionwealth hath established, or rather endea^
" voured to establish, to us* the security of our goods,
" and the security of those laws which would secure us
" and our goods, by appointing for us Judges so settled,
'* so sworn, that there can be no oppression but they of
" necessity must be necessary ; since, if they neither
** deny nor delay us justice, which neither for the great
" or little seal they ought to do, the greatest person in
" this kingdom cannot continue the least violence upon
" the meanest But this security, Mr. Speaker, hath
" been almost our ruin, for it hath been turned, or rather
* Nalson, Coll., vol. i. p. 654.
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Chap. H. SPEECH ON SHIP-MONEY. 39
" turned itself, into a battery against us ; and those per-
*^ sons who should have been as dogs to defend the
" sheep, have been as wolves to worry them."
" These Judges," he continued, " have delivered an
" opinion and judgment in an extra-judicial manner,
** that is, such as came not within their cognizance, they
** being Judges, and neither philosophers nor politicians."
He then alludes to the opinion delivered by the Judges,
and comments thus forcibly upon its culpability : — " In
** this judgment they contradicted both many and learned
*^ acts and declarations of Parliament, and those in this
" very case, — in this very reign, — so that for them they
" needed to have consulted with no other record but
" with their memories." The plea of imminent danger
alleged by the Judges to justify the King's right to im-
pose the tax of ship-money is thus treated : — " They
" have contradicted apparent evidences by supposing
" mighty and imminent dangers in the most serene, quiet,
^* and halcyon days that could possibly be imagined ; a
" few contemptible pirates being our most formidable
" enemies, and there being neither Prince nor State
" with whom we had not either alliance, or amity, or
" both* They contradict the writ itself, by supposing
^^ that supposed danger to be so sudden that it would
" not stay for a Parliament, which required but forty
«< days' stay, and the writ being in no such haste, but
" being content to stay forty days seven times over. Mr.
" Speaker, it seemed generally strange that they saw not
" the law, which all men else saw but themselves." Such
conduct, he declared, created " general great wonder,"
but that still greater indignation was felt at the reason
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40 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IL
given for their judgment than even at the illegal writ
itself; " and that, after they had allowed to the King the
** sole power in necessity, and the sole judgment of neces-
" sity, and by that enabled him to take both from us, what
" he would, when he would, and how he would, — that
** they yet wished to persuade us that they had left us our
" liberties and properties." He complained that, " by
" the transformation of us from free subjects unto that
" of villeins, they disable us by legal and volimtary sup-
*' pUes from expressing our affection to his Majesty, and
" by that to cherish his to us, that is, by Parliaments.**
He then attributes all the miseries we have suffered, and
should yet suffer, to this cause, *' that a most excellent
" Prince hath been most infinitely abused by his Judges,
** telling him that by policy he might do what he
" pleased;" — and that ** since these men have trampled
" upon the laws which our ancestors have provided with
" their utmost care and wisdom for our imdoubted
*' security — words having done nothing, and yet they
" have done all that words can do, — we must now be
" forced to think of abolishing of om* grievances, and of
" taking away this judgment and these Judges together,
** and of regulating their successors by their exemplary
" punishment"
He then alludes to the accusation of Lord Strafford
" for intending to subvert our fundamental laws, and to
" introduce arbitrary government, which we suppose he
" meant to do ; we are sure these have done it, there
" being no law more fundamental than that they have
" already subverted, and no government more absolute
" than that they have really introduced. Not only the
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Chap. II. SPEECH ON SfflP-MONEY. 41
" severe punishment, but the sudden removal of these
" men,*' he deems ** will have a sudden eflFect in one
" very considerable consideration." " We only accuse,"
continued he, " and the House of Lords condemn ; in
" which condemnation they usually receive advice
" (though not direction) from the Judges." He point-
edly remarks on the bias likely to be given by self-
interest, in the advice of accused persons, and then, in a
strain of eloquent indignation, directs his attack against
the person whom he regarded as most guilty. ** Mr.
" Speaker," said he, ** there is one that I must not lose
** in the crowd, whom I doubt not but we shall find,
" when we examine the rest of them, with what hopes
** they have been tempted, by what fears they have been
** assayed, and by what and by whose importunity they
" have been pursued, before they consented to what
" they did ; I doubt not, I say, but we shall find him to
^^ have been a most admirable solicitor, but a most
" abominable judge ; he it is who not only gave away
" with his breath what our ancestors had purchased for
" us by so large an expense of their time, their care,
'^ their treasure, and their blood, and employed their
" industry, as great as his injustice, to persuade them to
" join with him in that deed of gift ; but strove to root
** up those liberties which they had cut down, and to
** make our grievances immortal, and our slavery
*^ irreparable, lest any part of our posterity might
^^ want occasion to curse him ; he declared that power
'^ to be so inherent to the Crown, as that it was
*' not in the power even of Parliaments to divide
" them."
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42 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. 1L
That the Lord Keeper ^ is the person thus spoken
of, he says " will be to tell them no news T but he then
reminds the House ^^ that his place admits him to his
^' Majesty, and trusts him with his Majesty's con-
" science f as well as giving him " unlimited power in
" Chancery ;" adding, " For my part, I think no man
" secure that he shall think himself worth anything
*' when he rises, whilst all our estates are in his breast
*' who hath sacrificed his country to his ambition ;
'' whilst he who hath prostrated his own conscience hath
*' the keeping of the King^s ; and he who hath undone
'* us already by wholesale hath a power left in him
" by retail." He then alludes to the Lord Keeper's
own speeches in the beginning of the Parliament, when
he declared *'that his Majesty never required any-
** thing from any of his Ministers but justice, and in-
** tegrity; against which if any of them have trans-
" gressed, upon their heads, and that deservedly, it
'^ ought to fall ; it was ftjll and truly said ; but he hath
** in this saying pronounced his own condemnation.
*' We shall be more partial to him than he is to himself
** if we be slow to pursue it."
In conclusion Lord Falkland moved that a select
Committee " might draw up his and their charge;* and
" if he shall be found guilty of tampering with judges
" against the public security, who thought tampering
" with witnesses in a private cause worthy of so great a
** fine, — if he should be found to have gone before the
*' rest to this judgment, and to have gone beyond the
> Lord Keeper Finch. • Viz. against the Lord Keeper and the Judges.
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Chap. II. RESOLUTIONS OF THE COMMONS. 43
" rest in this judgment, that in the punishment of it
** the justice of this House may not deny him the due
" honour both to precede and exceed the rest"
This speech was productive of important results.
Four resolutions were passed in the House, declaring
that the ** raising of ship-money," that the " extra-
" judicial opinion of the Judges," "the ship-writs,"
and the "judgment in Mr. Hampden's case were all
" contrary to the laws of the realm, rights of property,
*• and petition of right, &c." Mr. Hyde proposed that
a Committee should be appointed to ascertain if the
Judges had been threatened or solicited to give their
judgment on ship-money; and as delay might have
frustrated the object, it was proposed that two of the
Committee should go immediately "to visit all the
" Judges, and ask them apart, in the name of the Com-
" mons, what messages Lord Finch, when Chief Justice
" of the Common Pleas, had brought them from the
" King in the business of ship-money ; and whether
" he had not solicited them to give judgment for the
" King in that case."^
The motion was generally approved ; Lord Falkland
and Mr. Hyde were included in the members of the
Committee.' The result of the investigation was, that
Justice Croke and others confessed that the Lord Chief
Justice Finch had frequently, whilst that matter was
pending, earnestly solicited them to. give their judg-
ments for the King, and often used his Majesty's name
to them, as if he expected that compliance from them.
* Clarendon's * Hist of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 623. Appendix B.
■ Rnshworth, Coll., vol. iv. p. 88.
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44 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND, Chap. IL
On the 21st of December the Lord Keeper desired
" to be heard to speak for himself before any vote pass
^' against him." A chair was placed at the bar for
him, on which he laid the ^' Great Seal, and would
" neither sit down nor wear his hat, though the Speaker
*' motioned to him to do so ; but, standing and bare-
^^ headed,^ made a very elegant and ingenious speech,
^^ delivered with an excellent grace and gesture as well
*^ as words ;"• partly a vindication of his conduct, and
partly a submissive appeal to their feelings and their
favour. He succeeded in moving the compassion of
some of his hearers, but not in justifying his conduct
He was voted guilty by the House on four princiftad
chaises, and Lord Falkland was appointed to carry up
the accusation to the House of Peers the following day.
But earlier still had the Lord Keeper risen : he dared
not face the accusation, and fled in disguise to Holland.
The articles of impeachment were ordered to be carried
up to the Lords on the 14th of January, and, at the
request of Lord Falkland, Mr. Hyde ^^ was appointed
" to be assistant unto him for the reading of the articles
" to be declared against the late Lord Keeper." ^ The
Lords, sitting in Committee of the whole House, gave
the Commons the desired meeting. Lord Falkland
began his address by a modest reference to himself,
saying, " These articles against my Lord Finch being
" read, I may be bold to apply that of the poet, * Nil
" refert tales versus qua voce legantur.' " He then en-
larges on the crimes of the Lord Keeper, " whose life,"
* Nalson, Coll., vol. i. p. 693. • Whitelock's Memorials, p. 38.
■ Ruahworth, vol. iv. p. 139.
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Chaf. II. IMPEACHMENT OP LORD FINCH. 45
he says, " appears a perpetual warfare (by mines and
" by battery, by battle and by stratagem) against our
" fundamental laws, which (by his own confession)
" several conquests had left untouched, — against the
^' excellent constitution of this kingdom, which hath
^^ made it appear unto strangers rather an idea than a
** real commonwealth, and produced the honour and
** happiness of this to be a wonder of every other
" nation ; and this with such unfortimate success, that,
" as he always intended to make our ruins a ground of
^^ his advancement, so his advancement the means of
" our further ruin." Lord Falkland then enters in
detail upon the several articles of his impeachment, of
which the principal grounds were, disobeying the
House when Speaker in the Parliament of 1628, by
revising to put a motion at their command; using
threats and persuasions to the Judges on the opinion
given on ship-money; pronouncing cruel and illegal
sentences in the forest causes, when Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas; advising the King against Par-
liaments, and framing and advising the publication
of the King's declaration after the last Parliament.
" If what he had plotted,"* continued Lord Falkland,
" had taken root on this wealthy and happy kingdom,
" there could have been left no abundance but of
^^ grievances and discontentment, no satisfaction but
** amongst the guilty. It is generally observed of the
^^ plague, that the infection of others is an earnest and
^^ constant desire of all that are seized by it ; and as
^^ this design resembles that disease in the ruin, de-
** struction, and desolation it would have wrought, so it
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46 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. II.
^^ seems no less like it in this effect ; for having so
^^ laboured to make others share in that guilt, that his
'^ solicitation was not only his action but his works —
" making use. both of his authority, his interest, and im-
^^ portunity to persuade ; and in his Majesty's name
** (whose piety is known to give that excellent preroga-
" tive to his person that the law gives to his place — ^not
" to be able to do wrong) to threaten the rest of the
** Judges to sign opinions contrary to law, to assign
" answers contrary to their opinions, to give judgment
" which they ought not to have given, and to recant
"judgment when they had given it as they ought**
He observes that this was plotted against England by
an Englishman, " which increaseth the crime in no less
" degree than parricide is beyond murther.*' Also, " that
" he had turned our guard into a destruction, making
" law the ground of illegality." He alleges that this is
a treason " as well against the King as against the
" kingdom ; for whatever is against the whole is un-
** doubtedly against the head ;" that " it takes from his
" Majesty the ground of his rule — the laws ; and that it
" takes from his Majesty the principal honour of his
" rule — the ruling over free men — a power as much
" nobler than over villeins, as that is than that over
" beasts ; which endeavoured to take from his Majesty
" the principal support of his rule, the hearts and
'* affections of those over whom he rules (a better and
" surer strength and wall to the King than the sea is
" to the kingdom), and strengthen a mutual distrust,
" and by that a mutual disaffection, between them, to
" hazard the danger even of the destruction of both."
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Chap. II. ADDRESS TO THE LORDS. 47
He then alludes to the personal concern their Lord-
ships have in preserving their common liberties, founded
and asserted by their noble ancestors, and resisting the
establishment of an arbitrary government, that would
have made ** even their Lordships and their posterity
" but right honourable slaves." " My Lords," adds he,
in conclusion, " I will spend no more words, luctando
^^ cum larvoy in accusing the ghost of a departed person,
'^ whom his crimes accuse more than I can do, and his
" absence accuseth no less than his crimes. Neither will
^^ I excuse the length of what I have said, because I
" cannot add to an excuse without adding to the fault
" or my own imperfections, either in the matter or the
^^ manner of it, which I know must appear the greater
** by being compared with that learned gentleman's
" great ability, who hath preceded me at this time ; and
" I will only desire, by the command and in behalf of
^^ the House of Commons, that these proceedings against
" the Lord Finch may be put in so speedy a way of
^^ dispatch as in such cases the course of Parliament will
« allow-" »
The following day (Jan. 14th, 1640) the thanks of
the House of Commons were " ordered to Mr. St John
" and Mr. Whitelock, the Lord Falkland and Mr.
" Hyde, for the great services they have performed to
^^ the honour of this House and the good of the Com-
** monwealth in their conduct of this business.*'^ Lord
Clarendon describes Lord Falkland as ^* so rigid an
<< observer of established laws and rules, that he could
* Rushwortb, toL iv. pp. 139-41. • Ibid., p. 141.
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48 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. H.
^^ not endure the least breach or deviation from them ;
" and thought no mischief so intolerable as the pre-
" sumption of Ministers of State to break positive rules
" for reasons of State, or judges to transgress known
" laws upon the title of conveniency or necessity." * But
whilst Lord Clarendon acquits his friend of every tinge
of personal hostility in the severity of his judgment
against the Earl of Strafford and Lord Finch, he
speaks of his having been " misled by the authority of
" those who, he believed, understood the laws perfectly.**
If Lord Falkland's opinions, however, were unsound on
these subjects, it must be observed that they were fully
shared by Mr. Hyde, at least with regard to Lord
Finch and the Judges, and sanctioned by the House of
Commons. They acted together throughout that busi-
ness ; and Lord Clarendon, in reviewing the evils that
the Crown and State sustained by the deserved reproach
and infamy that attended the Judges, in being made
use of in this and like acts of power, thus forcibly ex-
presses himself : — *' Imminent necessity and public
** safety were convincing persuasions, and it might not
** seem of apparent ill consequence to the people that
" upon an emergent occasion the royal power should
** fill up an hiatus or supply an impotency in the law.
" But when they saw in a court of law (that law
" that gave them title to and possession of all that they
" had) reason of State urged as elements of law, judges
" as sharp-sighted as Secretaries of State and in the
** mysteries of State; judgment of law grounded upon
* Hist, of the RebellioD, voL iv. p. 245.
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Chap. H. EFFECTS OF THE JUDGES' SUBSERVIENCY. 49
" matter of fact of which there was neither inquiry nor
" proof; and no reason given for the payment of the
" 305. in question, but what included the estates of all
" the standers-by ; they had no reason to hope that the
" doctrine or the promoters of it would be contained
" within any bounds.** Nor does he scruple to attribute
** the exorbitancy of the House of Commons in their next
** Parliament principally to their contempt of the laws
" which the scandal of this judgment " had produced. ^
Such were the just remarks called forth from the
historian of his own times, by the recollection of events
which he had witnessed, by the impression which they
had made on himself and his contemporaries, and by
the experience of the unfortunate influence which they
exercised on the subsequent conduct of affiiirs.
* Hist of tiie Rebellion, vol. 1. pp. 123, 124.
VOL.1.
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50 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IIL
CHAPTER III.
Petitions against the Bishops — Deibste in the Hoote of ComDons on
Episoopal QovenmMQt — Speech of Lord Falklaad — Measures in pro-
gress respecting Episcopacy — their Nature — Proceedings thereon in
both Houses — Lord Falkland's course in reference to them — He differs
from Mr. Hyde.
The accusation of Lord Keeper Finch was but one
step on the path that was now pursued hj thoee
strenuous supporters of legal and oonstitutional rights
who determined to resist the imdue exercise of power in
Church and State to which the lofly pretensions of the
Crown and the long absence of Parliament had mainly
contributed. The impeachment of Strafford had taken
place as early as the 11th of November. In the first
week in December Mr. Secretary Windebank received
notice to appear at the House of Commons, to answer
such questions as should be propounded to him upon
information there delivered against him ; but Secretary
Windebank conceived it safer to elude than to meet his
diflSculties, and accordingly, when he was called for
and expected to appear, it was discovered that he had
already fled beyond sea.
Wren, Bishop of Ely, was impeached; and on the
18th of December Laud was voted by the House of
Commons to be a traitor. Lord Clarendon speaks of
the unfavourable opinion that Lord Falkland enter-
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Chap. III. PETITIONS AGAINST THE BISHOPS. 51
tained of the Archbishop, but there is no proof that he
took part io his impeachment. His opinion cm the use
and abuse of episcopacy was lully developed in his
speech ddivered on that subject on the 9th of February^
1640~L Petitions numerously signed had been }Hre*
sented to Parliament on the 11th, 12thy 19th, and 23rd
of December, from London, from Kent, from Glou«
cester, and from certain ministers of the Church, all
alleging their manifold grievances from the oppression
of the Bishops, and praying for the abolition of episco-
pacy. The grievance complained of in the different
petitions generally agree, and are reasserted with great
boldness in ihe speeches of those who supported their
object, whilst so much of their truth is admitted by
those who warmly opposed the prayer of the petitions,
as leaves no doubt of the serious provocation rieceived
at the hands of a despotic hierarchy.^
The London petition was signed by 16,000 pec^e,
and contained an elaborate detail of the eauses of com-
plaint divided into twenty-eight articles. There is so
much inequality in the ^avity of some of the charges
as compared with others, that the more trivial must be
' Lord Digby spoke in strong and even contemptuous terms of many
artides in the London petition, yet he scrupled not to declare " there
** was no man within those walls more sennble of the heavy grievances
'* of Church government, nor whose affeotions were keener to the clipping
" of the wings of the prelates, whereby they have mounted to such inso-
** lendes ; nor whose zeal was more ardent to the searing them so as they
<( may never spring again." £Le acknowledges " that no people have ever
« been more provoked than the generality of England of late years by the
<< insolendes and exorbitancies of these pfektes." He even speaks of
the practices of these Churchmen as seeming " a scourge employed by
" God upon us for the sins of the nation."— Rushworth, Coll., vol. iv.
pp. 170-172.
E 2
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52 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. III.
taken rather as proofs of the irritation excited by real
grievances and fear of further usurpation, than as being
deemed by the petitioners of equal importance in them-
selves. The revival of particular forms in worship, the
peculiar cut of vestments, the internal arrangement and
decoration of the churches, the introduction of pictures,
candlesticks, and images on the Communion table, the
selling of crucifixes, the strict observance of saints'
days, the publication of some books deemed too light
for edification, and the hindering of others fi'om being
printed which were held as " godly,** could never have
found their place by the side of charges that most deeply
affected the civil and religious condition of the Church
of England, had they not been viewed as so many indi-
cations of a design to assimilate and reunite with the
Church of Eome, then declared by the prelates, in
defiance of the 19th Article of their own Church,
" never to have erred in fundamentals!^ ' Any altera-
tion of external forms or observances is justly re-
garded with jealousy when it is suspected as a part
of some deeper and more extensive change ; and al-
though posterity may differ as to the amount of real
danger of reunion with the Church of Rome, no one
can calmly look back to the overgrown power of epis-
copal government, its assumption of divine authority,
its independence and defiance of civil authority, its
imposition of new oaths and frequent exercise of the
terrors of excommunication, without admitting that
there was reasonable ground for alarm in the tendency
* Rush worth, vol. iv. p. 6.
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Chap. in. SPEECH ON CHURCH GOVERNMEKT. 53
exhibited by so powerful an ecclesiastical body, whether
that tendency pointed to rejoining the Church of Rome,
or establishing a similar supremacy in the Church at
home. The discussion of the London and other peti-
tions on the 8th of February gave rise to the debate
on episcopal government, in which Lord Falkland
addressed the House in the following speech : —
" Mr. Speaker, — He is a great stranger in Israel
" who knows not this kingdom hath long laboured under
" many and great oppressions both in religion and
" liberty ; and his acquaintance here is not great, or
" his ingenuity less, who doth not both know and acknow-
^^ ledge that a great, if hot a principal cause of both
*^ these have been some Bishops and their adherents.
" Mr. Speaker, a little search will serve to find them
*' to have been the destruction of unity, under pretence
" of uniformity — to have brought in superstition and
** scandal imder the titles of Reverence and Decency
** — to have defiled our Church by adorning our
" churches — to have slackened the strictness of that
" union which was formerly between us and those of
^^ our religion beyond the sea: an action as impolitic
*' as ungodly. We shall find them to have tithed mint
** and anise, and have left undone the weightier works
** of the law." ..." It hath been more dangerous for
" men to go to some neighbour's parish when they had
** no sermon in their own than to be obstinate and
" perpetual recusants ; while masses have been said in
" security, a conventicle hath been a crime ; and,
" which is yet more, the conforming to ceremonies
^^ hath been more exacted than the conforming to
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54 UFE OF LORD FALKLAND. CnAP. HI.
" Christianity.*' .... "We shall find them to be like
** the hen in .&op, which, laying every day an egg
" upon such a proportion of barley, her mistress in-
" creasing her proportion in hopes she would increase
" her eggs, she grew so fat upon that addition t&at she
^^ never laid more ; so, though at first their preaching
" were the occasion of their preferment, they after
" made their preferment the occasion of their not
" preaching. We shall find them to have resembled
" another fable — the Dog in the Manger, — to have
" neither preached themselves, nor employed those that
^ should, nor sufiered those that would.'* Lord Falk-
land describes the check given to instruction for " the
" introduction of ignorance, which would best introduce
" that religion which accounts it the mother of dewtion ;**
and he also adverts to the preference shown to tiie
preaching of that doctrine, ** which, though it were not
** contrary to law, was contrary to custom, and for a
" long while in this kingdom was no ofi;ener preached
" than recanted. The truth, Mr. Speaker, is,** con-
tinued he, " that, as some ill ministers in our State first
" took away our money from us, and after endeavoured
" to make our mmiey not worth the taking, by turning
" it into brass by a kind of anti-philosopher's stDne, so
" these men used us in the point of preaching — first
" depressing it to their power, and next labouring to
*^ make it such as the harm had not been much if it
" had been depressed. The most frequent subjects even
" in the most sacred auditories being Ae jus divinum
" of bishops and tithes, the sacredness of the clergy,
" the sacrilege of impropriations, the demolishmg of
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Chap. III. SPEECH ON CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 55
** Puritanism and propriety, the building of the pre-
" rogative at PauFg, the introduction of such doctrines
^ as, admitting them true, the truth would not recom-
** pense the scandal, or such as were so far false that,
** as Sir Thomas More says of the Casuists, their
^* business was not to keep men from sinning, but to
" confirm them — Quam prope ad peccatum sine peccato
" liceat accedere ; so it seemed their work was to try
** how much of a papist might be brought in without
** Popery, and to destroy as much as they could of the
** Gospel without bringing themselves into danger of
" being destroyed by the law.
** Mr. Speaker, to go yet further, some of them have
** so industriously laboured to deduce themselves from
** Borne, that they have given great suspicion that in
" gratitude they desire to return thither, or at least to
" meet it half-way. Some have evidently laboured to
^* bring in an English, though not a Roman, Popery ;
^* I n^ean, not only the outside and dress of it, but
" equally absolute, a blind dependence of the people
" upon the clergy, and of the clergy upon themselves,
^^ and have opposed the Papacy beyond the seas that
" they might settle one beyond the water.* Nay,
*^ common fame is more than ordinarily false if none
*^ of them have found a way to reconcile the opinions
^^ of Rome to the preferments of England, and to be so
" absolutely, directly, and cordially Papists, that it is
** all that fifteen hundred pound a year can do to keep
*^ them fit>m confessing it
' Beferriog to Lambeth Palace.
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66 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. III.
" Mr. Speaker, I come now to speak of our liberties ;
" and considering the great interest these men have
^^ had in our common master,^ and considering how
<< great a good to us they might have made that interest
" in him, if they would have used it to have informed
" him of our general sufferings ; and considering how
" a little of their freedom of speech at Whitehall might
" have saved us a great deal of the use we have now
" of it in the Parliament House, — their not doing this
** alone were occasion enough for us to accuse them as
" the betrayers, though not as the destroyers^ of our
^^ rights and liberties ; though I confess that, if they had
" been only silent in this particular, I had been silent
too. But, alas I they, whose ancestors in the darkest
^' times excommunicated the breakers of Magna Charta,
" did now by themselves and their adherents both write,
^^ preach, plot, and act against it, by encouraging Dr.
" Beale, by preferring Dr. Mainwaring, appearing for-
" ward for monopolies and ship-money, and, if any were
^' slow and backward to comply, blasting both them and
" their preferment with the utmost expression of their
" hatred, the title of Puritan.
*' Mr. Speaker, we shall find some of them to have
" laboured to exclude both all persons and all causes of
" the clergy, from the ordinary jurisdiction of the tem-
" poral magistrate, and by hindering prohibitiqns (first
" by apparent power against the judges, and after by
" secret arguments with them) to have taken away the
" only legal bound to their arbitrary power, and made,
* Beferring to the King. .
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Chap. UI. SPEECH ON CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 57
" as it were, a conquest upon the common law of the
" land, which is our common inheritance, and after
" made use of that power to turn their brethren out of
" their freeholds, for not doing that which no law of
" man required of them to do, and which (in their
" opinions) the law of God required of them not to do.
" We shall find them in general to have encouraged all
^^ the clergy to suits, and to have brought all suits to
" the Council-table; that, having all power in ecclesi-
" astical matters, they laboured for equal power in
** temporal, and to dispose as well of every office as of
" every benefice, which lost the clergy much time and
** much reverence (whereof the last is never given when
" it is so asked), by encouraging them indiscreetly to
" exact more of both than was due ; so that indeed the
*' gain of their greatness extended but to a few of that
" order, though the envy extended upon all.
*^ We shall find of them to have both kindled and
" blown the common fire of both nations, to have both
'^ sent and maintained that book, of which the author
" no doubt hath long since wished with Nero, utinam
" nescissem literals, and of which more than one kingdom
^^ hath cause to wish, that when he writ that he had
" rather burned a library, though of the value of
" Ptolemy's. We shall find them to have been the
" first and principal cause of the breach, I will not say
" of, but since, the pacification at Berwick. We shall
'* find them to have been the almost sole abettors of my
" Lord Strafford, whilst he was practising upon another
" kingdom that manner of government which he in-
" tended to settle in this ; where he committed so many
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58 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. UI.
*^ mighty and so manifest enormities and oppressions, as
** the like have not been committed by any governor in
** any government since Verres left Sicily ; and after
" they had called him over from being Deputy of Ire-
*^ land to be in a manner Deputy of England (all
•* things here being governed by a Juncfillo, and the
^^junctiUo governed by him), to have assisted him in the
** giving such counsels and the pursuing of such courses,
*^ as it is a bard and measuring cast whe&efl^ they
** were more unwise^ more unjust^ or more unfortunate^
^^ and which had infallibly been our destruction if by
*^ the grace of Grod their ^are bad not been as small
*^ in the subtility of serpents as in the innocency of
" doves.
" Mr, Speaker, I have represented do small quan-
" tity and no mean degree of guilt; and truly I believe
*^ that we shall make no little compliment to those, and
" no little apology for those, to whom this charge
** belongs, if we shall lay the faults of these men upon
** the order of the Bishops — upon the Episcopacy. I
** wish we may distinguish between those who have been
" carried away by the stream and those who have been
** the stream that carried them — between those whose
*' proper and natural motion was towards our ruin and
*• destruction, and those who have been whirled about
** to it contrary to their natural motion by the force
** and swing of superior orbs ; and as I wish we may
•' distinguish between the more and less guilty, so I yet
" more wish we may distinguish between die guilty and
•' the innocent
" Mr. Speaker, I doubt, if we consider that, if not
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Chap. IU. SPEECH ON CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 59
" the first planters, yet the first spreaders of Chris-
*• tianity and the first and chief defenders of Christianity
*' against heresy within and paganism without, not only
" with their ink but with their blood, and the main
" conducers to the resurrection of Christianity, at least
** here in the Beformation, and that we owe the light
** of the Gospel we now enjoy to the fire they endured
" for it, were all bishops ; and that even now, in the
" greater defection of that order, there are yet some
*' who have conduced in nothing to our late innovations
" but in their silence — some who, in an unexpected and
" mighty place and power, have expressed an equal
'* moderation and humility, being neither ambitious
" before nor proud after, either of the crozier s staff or
** white staff-^some who have been learned opposers of
" Popery and zealous suppressors of Arminianism —
'• between whom and their inferior clergy infirequency
" of preaching hath been no distinction — ^whose lives
" are untouched, not only by guilt but by malice^ scarce
*• to be equalled by those of any condition, or to be
" excelled by those of any calendar ; — I doubt not, I
" say, but, if we consider this, this consideratidn will
" bring forth this conclusion — that bishops may be good
" men ; and let us give but good men good rules, we
'^ shall have both good governors and good times.
^* Mr. Speaker, I am content to take away all those
*^ things from them which to any considerable degree
" of probability may again beget the like mischiefs if
** they be not taken away. If their temporal title,
" power, and employment appear likely to distract
^^ them from the care of, or make them look down with
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60 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IIL
" contempt upon, their spiritual duty, and that the too
" great distance between them and those they govern
" will hinder the free and fit recourse of their inferiors
** to them, and occasion insolence from them to their
" inferiors, let that be considered and cared for. I
" am sure neither their Lordships^ their judging of
" tithes^ wills, and marriages^ no, not their voices in
" ParliamentSj are jure divino ; and I am sure that
" these titles and this power are not necessary to their
" authority, as appears by the little they have had with
" us by them, and the much that others have had
" without them.
" If their revenue shall appear likely to produce the
" same effects — for it hath been anciently observed that
" Religio peperit divitias et filia devoravit inatrem —
^^ let so much of that as was in all probability intended
" for an attendant upon their temporal dignities wait
" upon them out of the doors; let us only take care to
^^ leave them such proportions as may serve in some
** good degree to the dignity of learning and the en-
^^ couragement of students ; and let us not invert that
" of Jeroboam, and, as he made the meanest of the people
'^ priestSy make the highest of the priests the meanest of
" the people. If it be feared that they will again
" employ some of our laws with a severity beyond the
'^ intention of those laws against some of their weaker
" brethren, that we may be sure to take away that
<• power let us take away those laws, and let no cere-
" monies which any number counts unlawful^ and no
** man counts necessary^ against the rules of policy and
*' St. Paul, be imposed upon them. Let us consider
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Chap. III. SPEECH ON CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 61
" that part of the rule they have hitherto gone by —
^* that is, such canoDS of their own making as are not
" confirmed by Parliament — have been, or, no doubt,
" shortly will be, by Parliament taken away. That the
** other part of the rule (such canons as were here re-
" ceived before the Reformation, and not contrary to
^^ law) is too doubtfiil to be a fit rule ; exacting an exact
" knowledge of the canon lawy of the common fair, of
" the statute law : knowledges which those who are thus
" to govern have not, and it is scarce fit they should
" have. Since, therefore, we are to make new rules,
^^ and shall, no doubt, make those rules strict rules, and
" be infallibly certain of triennial Parliaments to see
" those rules observed as strictly as they are made, and
" to increase or change them upon all occasions, we shall
" have no reason to fear any innovation from their
" tyranny, or to doubt any defect in the discharge of
** their duty. I am as confident they will not dare
" either ordain, suspend, silence, excommunicate, or
" deprive otherwise than we would have them ; and if
" this be believed, we shall not think it fit to abolish
*^ upon a few days' debate an order which hath lasted
" (as appears by story) in most Churches these sixteen
" hundred years, and in all from Christ to Calvin ; or
'^ in an instant change the whole face of the Church
" like the scene of a mask. Mr. Speaker, I do not
" believe them to be jure divino — nay, I believe them
" not to be jure divino ; but neither do I believe them
" to be injurid humand. I neither consider them as
** necessary nor as unlawfiil, but as convenient or incon-
" venient. But since all great mutations in govem-
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62 LIFE OP LOBD FALKLAND. Chap. III.
*^ ment are dangerous (even where what is introduced
^^ by that mutation is such as would have been profitdble
*' upon a primary foimdation) ; and since thi^ greatest
^^ danger of mutations is, that all the dangers and incon-
^^ veniences they may bring are not to be foreseen ; and
^^ since no wise man will undergo great danger but for
** great necessity, my opinion is, that we should not
" root up this ancient tree^ as dead as it appears, till we
^' have tried whether by this or the like topping of the
^^ branches the sap, which was unable to feed the whole,
^^ may not serve to make what is left both grow and
" flouri^. And certainly, if we may at once take away
^^ both the inconveniences of bishops and the incon-
** veniences of no bishops — that is, an almost universal
*^ mutation — this course can only be opposed by tihiose
^^ who love mutation for mutation's sake.
" Mr. Speaker, to be diort (as I have reason to be
^^ after having been so long), this trial may be suddenly
^' made. Let us commit as much of the ministers'
^^ remonstrance as we have read, that those heads« both of
" abuses and grievances, which are there fully collected,
^' nxay be marshalled and ordered for our debate. If
** upon the debate it shall appear that those may be
^^ taken away and yet the order stand, we shall not
^ need to commit the London petition at all^ for the
^^ cause of it will be ended ; if it shall aj^ar that the
^^ abolition of the one cannot be but by the destruction
*^ of the other, then let us not commit the London
" petition, but let us grant it." *
» Ruflhworth, Coll., vol. iv. pp. 184-186.
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Chap. III. MEASURES KESPECTINO EPISCOPACY. 63
Lord Falkland's speeeh was followed by otliers, and
the result of this long debate was, ^' The further oon*
" sideration tiliereof being referred to the Committee
'' fermerly appointed for the London and other peti-
'' tionsy'' six more members being added to the Com-
mittee. ^ The questions raised by Ihe discussion of
these petitions became so important at this period, that
it may not be amiss in a few words to trace the course
pursued by the two Houses of Parliament respecting the
two separate propositions of reformation or demolition
of episcopacy* On the 11th of March it was resdved
in the House of Commons ' that^ ^^for bishops and any
" odier clergymen whatever to be in the commission of
'* the peace, to have any judicial power in the Star
'* Chamber or in any civil court, is a hindrance to their
'' ^iritual function, prejudicial to the commonwealth,
" and fit to be taken away." It was also resolved that
the legislative and judicial power of the Bi^ops in the
House of Peers is a great hindrance to the dischaige of
their spiritual function, prejudicial to the common-
wealtii, and fit to be taken away by bill, and that a bill
be drawn to that purpose.'
This bill, according to Lord Clarendon's account, was
" received in the House of Commons widi a visible coun-
*^ tenance and approbation of many who were neither
^' of the same principles nor purposes ;^^ and ihe argu-
ments used in its £sivour ^^ had so prevailed over many
** men of excellent judgments and unquestionable affec-
» Rushworth, Coll., vol. iv. p. 187. « Pari. Hist., vol. ii. p. 725.
' Journals of the Hoiase of Commons, vol. ii. p. 101.
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Picbellion,' vol. i. p. 410.
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64 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IH.
*' tions, that they in truth believed that the passing this
" Act was the only expedient to preserve the Church.**"
In that opinion Lord Falkland shared ; and it was in the
debate arising out of this bill that Lord Clarendon
graphically describes the first difierence of opinion be-
tween Lord Falkland and himself, the malicious pleasure
it occasioned to those who loved neither of them, and the
hope to which it gave rise amongst their political oppo-
nents that by loosening the bonds of their close friendship
Lord Falkland might be won over to their ranks. Mr.
Hyde spoke very earnestly for throwing out the bill, on
the ground of its being a change both in the consti-
tution of the kingdom and of the Parliament ; asserted
the right of bishops to vote as the third estate of the
realm ; and maintained that the clergy would be imre-
presented if the Bishops were deprived of their votes in
the House of Lords.
** Lord Falkland,* who always sat next to Mr. Hyde
" (which was so much taken notice o^ that, if they came
" not into the House together, as usually they did,
** everybody left the place for him that was absent),
" suddenly stood up, and declared himself to be of
*' another opinion ; and that, as he thought the thing
•' itself to be absolutely necessary for the benefit of the
" Church which was in so great danger, so he had never
** heard that the Constitution of the kingdom would be
'* violated by the passing that Act, and that he had
" heard many of the clergy protest that they would not
" acknowledge that they were represented by the
' Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. i. p. 411.
« Ibid., pp. 412, 413.
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CShap. m. DIFFEBENCE WITH HYDE. 65
•* Bishops. However, he continued, * we might pre-
" * sume that, if they could make that appear, that
" * they were a third estate, that the House of Peers
" * (amongst whom they sat and had yet their votes)
*' * would reject it.' And so, with some facetiousness
" answering some other particulars, concluded for the
" passing of the Act. The House was so marvellously
** delighted to see the two inseparable friends divided
" in so important a point, that they could not contain
" from a kind of rejoicing ; and the more because they
" saw Mr. Hyde was much surprised by the contradic-
" tion, as in truth he was ; having never discovered
'* the least inclination in the other towards such a com-
•* pliance." * It is diflScult to understand the surprise
here expressed by Lord Clarendon at Lord Falkland's
opinion of the secular employments of the Bishops and
clergy, when the speech on episcopacy, which could
leave no doubt as to his views on the subject, had been
delivered but one month before. The probable ex-
planation of this difficulty is to be found in the inac-
curacy which must so often arise when events are
transcribed from memory after a lapse of years. It
does not appear that Mr. Hyde had spoken in the
debate on the London and other petitions, which had
called forth the strong expression of Lord Falkland's
opinions. It was, therefore, the first time they had
differed in the House. The impleasant impression of a
difference with his friend having arisen in public pro-
bably outlived the accurate recollection of the circum-
' There is no aoconnt of the speeches in this debate to be found in
Rushworth's or Nalson's Collection, or in the Parliamentary History.
VOL. I. P
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66 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. ILL
stances attending it, and led him to describe as unex-
pected that which had been unwelcome.
On the 1st of May the bill, having passed the Com-
mons, was sent up to the Lords, and there read for the
first time and debated. On the 24th it was taken into
consideration in a grand Committee of the Lords ; and,
after a long debate (the House being resumed), it was
resolved, ^^that Archbishops and Bishops shall have
" sufirage and voice in the House of Peers in Parlia-
*' ment ; that they shall not have sufirage or voice in the
" Court of Star Chamber when they are called ; that
" no Archbishop or Bishop, or other person in holy
'' orders, shall be justices of the peace ; that no Arch-
'' bishop, &c., shall be of the Privy Council to the King
" or to his successors." On the 27th of May the Bill
was again debated in the Lords, and a question arose
^^ whether the restraints in the bill did extend to their
" right of sitting and voting in Parliament, which, by
'< the common and statute laws of the realm, as well
'* as by an ancient and continued practice, was unques-
" tionable."*
A conference was desired with the Commons upon this
point It took place on that day ; but^ on that same day,
another bill was introduced by Sir Edward Dering into
the House of Commons, ^^ for the lUter abolishing and
^' taking away of all Archbishops, Bishops, their Chan-
" cellors and Commissaries, Deans and Chapters, Arch-
* The resolutionB sent up to the Lords, by which it was detenDined that
bishops and any other clergymen were not to be in the commission of peace,
or to have any judicial power in the 6tar Chamber, or in any other civil
court, left the question of their seats in the House of Lords doubtful,
and justified the question sent in return. — Pari. Hist., yd. ii. p. 814.
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Chap. III. CONPBBBNCB BETWEEN THE HOUSES. 67
** deacons^ Prebendaries, Chapters and Canons, and all
" other under oflScers."*
On the 3rd of June the result of the conference of the
27th of May with the Lords was reported to the House
of Commons; the Lords assigned their reasons for
maintaining the Bishops' right to sit and vote in the
House of Peers ; at the same time they declared that, if
any inconveniences existed of which they did not know,
that they were willing to hear them, and take them
into consideration. On the following day the Com-
mons replied, stating their reasons in answer to the
Lords under nine heads, of which the most important
were the interruption occasioned by these secular duties
to their ministerial functions ; the want of independence
to which the votes of Bishops were subjected by their
dependence upon Archbishops, and from their expecta-
tion of being translated from one See to another; and
tibe late encroachments by the Bishops upon the con-
sciences and properties of the subject, serving as a dis-
couragement against complaints, where they are judges
of those complaints. The Commons* reply produced
no change in the views of the Lords.
The House of Lords had a strict call of its members
on the 7th of June, for the third reading of the bill,
when it was negatived by a large majority."
On the nth of June Mr. Hyde reported, in the House
of Commons, the preamble of the bill for abolishing
1 The House was divided as to the biU being read a second time on the
same day ; it was carried in favour of the second reading by a majority
of 31.— Par/. Hist.^ vol. ii. p. 815.
« Ibid., p. 818.
F 2
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68 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. HI.
Archbishops, &c. : it was this bill that acquired the
name of * Boot and Branch Bill.'^
Lord Clarendon says ^^ that^ though Nathaniel
" Fiennes, young Sir Harry Vane, and shortly after Mr.
" Hampden (who had not before owned it), were be-
•* lieved to be for * Boot and Branch,' *' it was not
approved by Mr. Pym, Mr. HoUis, or any of the
northern men.*
On the 12th of June the Lords voted the late canons
made at the Synod in 1640 illegal: they voted the
same verbatim as had passed a few months before^ in
the House of Commons, which afforded a considerable
proof that there was no undue disposition to protect the
Bishops in the exercise of illegal or excessive power.
This did not, however, moderate the severity with which
the Commons now determined to prosecute their inten-
tions respecting Church government
On the 15th Mr. Hyde reported the resolution of
the Committee " to utterly abolish Deans, Deans and
"Chapters, Archdeacons,^ &c. ;* and on the 21st the
House was resolved into a Committee for the consider-
ation of their abolition.
A warm discussion arose as to whether Mr. Hyde or
Mr. Crewe should be in the Chair — some of the enemies
' * The words of the preamble are—" Whereas the government of the
" Church of England by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and com-
** missaries, deans and archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical officers, hath
" been foimd by long experience to be a great impediment to the perfect
** reformation and growth of religion, and very prejudicial to the civil state
** and government of this kingdom."— Par?. Hist, vol. ii. p. 822.
■ Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 410.
• 16th of December, 1640. * Pari. Hist., vol. ii. p. 838.
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Chap. m. THE " ROOT AND BRANCH " BILL. 69
of the bill wishing for Mr. Crewe, and others thinking
that Mr. Hyde being in the Chair would better obstruct
the bill in that place, and which he somewhat triumph-
antly adds " they found to be true.*** The Committee,
in its eagerness to bring matters to a more hasty conclu-
sion, determined that the Chairman should report each
day to the House the several votes taken in Committee,
in order that the House should decide upon those votes
before it rose. The Speaker generally left the Chair
about nine o'clock, and resumed it at four. The House
was therefore very thinly attended when the votes were
discussed ; those only who most eagerly prosecuted the
bill remained, and those who opposed it grew we^ry of
^^ so tiresome an attendance, and left the House at
" dinner-time ;'* which drew from Lord Falkland the
remark, ^^ that those who hated the Bishops hated
" them worse than the Devil, and that they who loved
" them did not love them so well as their dinner.***
Lord Clarendon describes this proceeding, of voting
each day on the votes taken in Committee, as being
without precedent, and very detrimental to the grave
transaction of the business : it was, in fact, legislating
piecemeal; and votes so inconsistent with each other
were found to have been taken, that, after twenty days
sitting and some dexterous management on the part of
the Chairman in obstructing the progress of the bill, it
was discovered they must again review all they had done.'
The King was resolved to set oflf for Scotland ; the bill
was obliged to be discontinued for a time, and Sir
* Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 483. " Ibid., vol. i. p. 448.
• Ibid.
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70 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. CJhap. UI.
Arthur Hazelrig declared he would never hereafter put
an enemy into the Chair.
There is no account of the part taken by Lord Falk-
land during the discussion of the * Hoot and Branch
Bill ;' but as Lord Clarendon alludes to Lord Falkland's
change of opinion on the vexed question of episcopacy
taking place six months after the debate in which they
disagreed, he certainly could not have joined with him
in the opposition and obstruction so effectually offered to
this more sweeping measure.
On the 23rd of the following October a bill was again
brou^t into the House of Commons^ for depriving the
" Bishops of their Votes in Parliament, and disabling all
" in Holy Orders from the exercise of all temporal Ju-
" risdiction and Authority.'*
The bill was carried, but received greater opposition
than formerly. It differed little from that which had
before received Lord Falkland's support, but he now
concurred with Mr. Hyde in opposing it Mr. Hamp-
den remarked upon his change of opinion ; Lord Falk-
land retorted by observing " that he had formerly been
" persuaded by that worthy gentleman to believe many
" things which he had since found to be untrue, and
*• therefore he had changed his opinion in many parti-
" culars as well as to things and persons."* Lord Falk-
land stated his opinion in the month of March, that
the question respecting the Bishops' votes in the House
of Lords should rest with that House to decide,' and
» Pari. Hist., vol. ii. p. 916.
* Clarendon's ' Hist, of the RebcUion,' vol. ii. p. 76, note.
» See Lord Falkland's Speech above, p. 65 :— " We might presume that, if
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Chap. HI. CHANGE OP OPINION ON EPISCOPACY. . 71
their decision on that point had been adverse to that of
the Commons. When Lord Falkland gave his support
to that bill, he was assured by Mr. Hampden that, if it
pissed, nothing further would be attempted against the
Church, and in Mr. Hampden Lord Falkland had the
highest confidence. Mr. Hampden might have been
perfectly sincere at the time he gave that assurance, and
probably no further alteration to the Church was then
contemplated by him ; but, on the day when the Lords
conceded to the Commons so much that was important
in their bill, refusing only that which more immediately
affected the constitution of their own House, another
bill was brought in for the utter abolition of all Church
government as then instituted.
In confirmation of the sincerity of Mr. Hampden's
original professions to Lord Falkland it must be re-
marked that even Lord Clarendon admits he did not
seem inclined at first to the introduction of * The Root
and Branch Bill,* though he afterwards became favour-
able to this radical alteration.
The change to which Lord Falkland alluded in
things and persons had indeed, in the course of a few
months, been such as to surprise and gratify many of
the most zealous reformers of abuses, to startle and
humiliate the proud defenders of arbitrary measures.
Men who had groaned under the same grievances, and
joined in the same struggle to free themselves from the
burthen that had oppressed them, now began to use
** they (the Lords) could make that appear that they (the hishops) were
'* a third estate, that the Hoose of Peers, amongst whom they sat and had
** yet their votes, would reject it."
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72 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IIL
their newly gained freedom for objects as dissimilar as
their efforts to obtain it had been united.
The merit of consistency might well be disputed
in its award, between those who adhered to a party
whose views had gradually changed and enlarged under
the influence of success, and those who adhered more
strictly to the original purposes which had first drawn
them together. Mr. Hampden flowed on with the
stream which had swept away so much impurity, Lord
Falkland withdrew from the force of the current, and
in a few months they found themselves standing on
opposite banks, henceforth to view the same scene from
different points. Each may have mingled with that
stream the tears that sprang from honest regrets at the
fallen fortunes of a degraded monarchy and the dan-
gerous licence of an unrestrained parliament, but their
march in life was separated ; they had started in public
life with feelings, principles, and resentments in common ;
their deaths were nearly contemporaneous, but they died
bearing arms in opposite ranks, and an element of peace
was gone from the counsels of each party. The bill, to
which Lord Falkland now offered his decided oppo-
sition, was brought in, contrary to the rule of the House
" that a rejected bill could not be brought forward
" again during the same session."* The objection was
raised and discussed, but precedent had avowedly ceased
to guide or restrain the course adopted by the parlia-
mentary leaders.* No sooner had this bill passed
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion/ vol. ii. p. 75, note,
' Mr. Pym confessed the violation of the order, but said " that our orders
were not like the laws of the Medes and Persians, not to be altered." —
Hiit, of the Bebellion, vol. ii. p. 76.
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Chap. IH. VACANT SEES. 73
the House of Commons than fresh subjects of contention
arose between the two Houses respecting the votes of the
Bishops. On the 27th of October ^ the Commons de-
sired a conference with the Lords, the object of which
was to require that the thirteen Bishops impeached for
making the late canons should be excluded from their
votes in Parliament, and that all the Bishops should be
suspended from their votes upon the bill which con-
cerned their exclusion from the exercise of temporal
power.* The Lords debated on the report of the con-
ference, and ended with an order that the matter should
be further considered ; " but," says Lord Clarendon,
'* the House of Peers was not yet deluded enough or
** terrified (though too many amongst them paid an
" implicit devotion to the House of Commons) to
" comply in this unreasonable demand."*
Five Bishops' sees had now become vacant, and the
King intended to fill them up on his return from Scot-
land. On the 29th of October a motion was made in
the Commons to demand a conference with the Lords,
the object of which was to desire their concurrence in
a petition to His Majesty to delay making any new
bishops till the controversy was over respecting the
government of the Church.* A Committee was named
to draw up reasons for the proposed petition, and
amongst those named to be on that Committee were
* Four days later than the introduction of the " BiU for depriving the
** bishops of their votes in Parliament, and disabling all in holy orders
** from the exercise of all temporal jurisdiction and authority."
« Pari. Hist., vol. ii. p. 922.
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 20.
* Pari. Hist.
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74 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IH.
Lord Falkland and Mr. Hyde.* Mr. Hyde, who
appears to have spoken in the name of both, said " they
" could be of no use, having given so many reasons
^' against it that they could not apprehend any could
" be given for it;" and he suggested ^' that those who
^* had come to a different conclusion were better fitted
'* to convert other men." The piteous exclamation of a
country gentleman,* who was strongly in favour of the
bill, addressed to Lord Falkland and Mr. Hyde, of —
** For God*s sake be of the Committee ; you know none
** on our side can give reasons," provoked a smile from
those who heard it, but may be taken as a proof how
highly their talents and their honesty were valued, even
by an opponent. It was certainly not very probable that
the Lords would join with the Commons in this petition,
considering that they were already at issue on the point
of the Bishops' votes ; and Lord Clarendon states that,
after the appointment of the Committee was carried in
the Commons, "that stone moved no further."* Pe-
titions, numerously signed, had been presented in favour
of the Bishops, but still the popular feeling visibly in-
creased against the exercise of their secular power and
their votes in Parliament.
On the 13th of November the Londoners agreed to
lend money on certain securities and conditions, and
amongst the latter was distinctly stated ** the taking
" away of Bishops' votes." On the 1st of December a
Committee of the House of Commons presented their
» Clarendou's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 27.
• Mr. Bond, of Dorchester.
» Clarendon's ' Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 26.
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Chaf. m. TWELVE BISHOPS IMPEACHED. 75
petition and remonstrance to the King. The evil of
the Bishops' votes in Parliament^ and the want of con-
junction between the Lords and Commons owing to the
number and power of Bishops and recusant Lords to
thwart their measures of reform, was strongly put for-
ward. On the 28th of December there were riots
about the Houses of Parliament. Loud cries of ** No
" Bishops — No Bishops ! " were uttered. Swords
were drawn by gentlemen of the opposite party, and
some of the mob wounded. The Bishops were attacked
in their carriages, their liven and houses threatened
with destruction, and they only escaped the fury of
their assailants, who waited to renew the attack on their
return from the House of Lords, by retreating through
secret passages or by placing themselves under the
offered protection of imobnoxious peers. At the hasty
instigation of the Archbishop of York ' twelve Bishops
instantly determined to withdraw from their attendance
in Parliament, and signed a petition to the King pro-
testing against all proceedings during their forced
absence from Parliament The King, with no less in-
discreet haste, immediately delivered the petition to the
Lord Keeper to read to the Lords (October 30th).
The Lords, on hearing the petition, instantly sent a
message to the Commons desiring a conference ^^ touch-
" ing matters of dangerous consequence." The Com-
mons lost no time in impeaching the Bishops, and on
that day they were accused by the Commons of high
treason^ summoned to appear at the bar of the House
» Dr. Williams. •
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76 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. III.
of Lords, and after each appearing there, kneeling as
delinquents, ten were sent to the Tower, and two, on
account of their age, given in custody to the Black
Rod. How far the Bishops were justified in thus aban-
doning their posts may be questioned as a matter of
duty, and the King's precipitancy in acting on their
behalf certainly proved injudicious as a matter of policy ;
but their petition was neither unreasonable in its plea
nor illegal in its form, and the conduct of Parliament
towards them bore the stamp of that violent and un-
constitutional legislation which now too frequently
marked their acts.
On the 5th of Febniary the bill for taking away the
Bishops' votes was read for a third time in the House of
Lords and passed. The Commons expressed by mes-
sage their satisfaction at this concurrence between both
Houses, and their hope that the bill would be sent to
receive the royal assent without delay. This was ac-
cordingly done, and on the 8th of February the Earl of
Monmouth delivered for answer from the King, " that
** it was matter of weight which his Majesty would take
^' into consideration and send an answer in convenient
" tirae."^ On the same day both Houses again ad-
dressed the King, who was then at Windsor, assigning
their reasons for hastening this bill.* Sir John Cul-
pepper urged upon the King the necessity of giving his
consent; but the King asked if Ned Hyde was of that
opinion, and, hearing that he was not, the King declared
himself to be of the same opinion with him, and said
> Pari. Hist., vol. ii.
• Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 246.
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Chap. UI. THE BISHOPS DEPRIVED OF THEIR VOTES. ^^
'* that he would run the hazard.** In the mean time Sir
John Culpepper urged also upon the Queen the neces-
sity of yielding, and represented that her journey to
the Continent* would be endangered by this refusal.*
This contingency alarmed the Queen, and she never
ceased importuning the King to yield till she suc-
ceeded in obtaining his reluctant consent, and the bill
was passed by commission when the King and Queen
were on their way to Dover. Sir John Culpepper*8
counsel was given when alone with the King; and of
the three counsellors, Falkland, Hyde, and Culpepper,
it was the latter only who seemed to have tendered this
advice. Lord Clarendon admits it to have been given
upon the purest motives of fidelity and duty to the
King, though, he adds, ^ he quickly found he was
" deceived in the good he had expected from it*' *
Lord Falkland rightly estimated the growing spirit
of demand, the unstable character of the King, and the
danger of yielding to pressure what might be conceded
' The Queen's journey to Holland was ostensibly undertaken to convey
thither her daughter, the Princess Mary ; the more real object was the
raising money on the Continent by the sale of Crown jewels.
■ Clarendon's * life,' voL i. p. 100.
• • Life of Lord Clarendon,' vol. i. p. 92. On September 10th, 1642, the
provisions of the * Root and Branch Bill ' were again renewed in an * Answer
' to the Declaration of the General Assembly of Scotland about Church
* Grovemment,' in which it was declared, ** That the government by arch-
'* bishops, bishops, their chancellors and commissaries, deans, deans and
" chapters, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastic officers depending upon
« the hierarchy, is evil and justly o£fensive and burthensome to the king-
'* dom, a great impediment to reformation and growth of religion, very
" prejudicial to the state and government of this kingdom, and that we
" are resolved that the same shall be taken away."— Zordf* JowmaX^
vol. V. p. 850.
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78 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. III.
to policy, when he lent the powerful support of his
character and talents to the bill on its first introduction.
" He thought,** says Lord Clarendon, " the Crown it-
" self ought to gratify the people in yielding to many
*' things, and to part with some power rather than run
'* the hazards which would attend the refusal ; he
^^ was swayed in this by a belief that the King would
" in the end be prevailed with to yield to what was
'* pressed.**^
Lord Falkland was attached to the Church of Eng-
land and its doctrines, ^^ but he did not consider any
" part of its order or government so essentially neces-
'' sary to religion but that it might be parted with and
" altered for a notable public benefit or convenience.***
With Lord Falkland the question of the taking away
of the Bishops' votes presented itself rather as one of
expediency than of strict principle. When, therefore,
six months later, he withdrew his support from the pro-
posed renewal of the measure, it may be fairly con-
jectured that, in the altered position of the Crown, he
had ceased to deem it expedient to concede ; he may
justly have feared that the time had come when it would
no longer be accepted as a concession to the spirit of
reform, but be hailed as such a triumph over the
strong opinions of the sovereign, and such a proof of his
vacillating character, as would aflbrd the most direct
encouragement to the hope of successful innovation in
future. These conjectures as to the feelings which
regulated his conduct appear most consistent with the
» life, vol. i. p. 92. • Ibid.
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Chap. IU. OPINIONS ON CHURCH GOVERNMENT, 79
opinions expressed in his original speech on episcopacy,
and the firm resistance he displayed throughout his
short career against all excess of power, whether exer-
cised by the Throne or assumed by the Parliament.
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80 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Lord Falklimd joins in the Proceedings of the House of Commons against
Lord Strafford — Remonstrance of the Commons — Violent Debate
thereon — Lord Falkland opposes it — The King returns from Scotland
— Overtures to Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper to accept the
offices of Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Exchequer — Lord
Falkland accepts the offer — He is sworn of the Privy Council, and
receives the Seals of Secretary of State — Lord Kimbolton and the
Five Members impeached — Lord Falkland carries a Message from the
House of Commons to the King — The King comes to the House of
Commons to seize the Five Members — He returns to Hampton Court
— Conferences of Lord Falkland, Sir John Culpepper, and Mr. Hyde, at
Mr. Hyde's house.
In order to follow these measures through their vicissi-
tudes in both Houses, from their first introduction till the
passing of the bill which deprived the Bishops of their
votes, an interval of time has necessarily been passed
over without stopping to mark the other events with
which the name of Lord Falkland is connected, or those
subjects in Parliament to which he appears to have de-
voted his time. The journals afford ample proof that
from the beginning of November up to the 8th of the
following September, when he was named one of the
Committee appointed to sit during the recess, he had
taken an active part in the various Committees and
numerous conferences with the Upper House during that
long session.* The scanty records that have been
' See Appendix H.
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Chap. IV. JOINS IN IMPEACHING STRAFFORD. 81
handed down to us of the speeches delivered, and the
rare occasions on which votes are preserved on the im-
portant subjects discussed, leave but few certain marks
by which posterity can trace back the political opinions
and conduct of members of Parliament. Lord Falk-
land's name appears in the journals as being on the
several Committees appointed to meet the Committees
of the House of Lords to confer on points respecting
the impeachment of Lord Strafford, and also as acting
as reporter to the Commons of those conferences* The
notes preserved by Sir Ralph Verney of the proceed-
ings in Parliament afford an additional clue to the
opinions of Lord Falkland concerning Lord Strafford.^
During the debate, April 15th, in the Committee of
the whole House on the bill of attainder, Lord Falk-
land is quoted as saying, ^^ How many haires' breadths
''* makes a tall man, and how many makes a little man,
'* noe man can well say, yet wee know a tall man when
" wee see him from a low man : soe 'tis in this, — how
*' many illegal acts makes a treason is not certainly well
•* known, but wee well know it when wee see . . . .***
Four days later (the 19th) the following passage
concerning Lord Strafford's children is noted down as
Lord Falkland's words : " Being* Lord Strafford's
" children proceeded as well from his innocent wife as
" his owne guilty person, 'tis beter they should be
^ Published by the Camden Society, 1845, from pencil memorandums
in the possession of Sir H. Verney, p. 49.
■ MS. torn away. This passage alludes to the doctrine of constructive
treason — a subject which was fully discussed in Hardy's trial. — ^Howell's
State Trials, vol. xxiv. See also Luders* Tracts, vol. i.
• Seeing.
VOL. I. Q
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82 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV.
" spared in their estates for the innocent's sake, than
" punished for the guilty."
Then follow many notes, which would seem to be
heads of arguments respecting the definition of treason,^
in the midst of which occurs this plain passage : '^ In
" equity Lord Strafford deserves to dye.** Of the fifty-
nine names of those who voted against the bill of at-
tainder, and who were called Straffordians, neither that
of Lord Falkland nor of Mr. Hyde appears;* this leaves
it doubtful whether their votes were in favour of that
bill, or they abstained firom voting.
During the recess the Committees of the two Houses
were appointed to meet twice a week for the transaction
of business. On the 30th of October Parliament met
again, when Mr. Pym made a long report of the pro-
ceedings of the Committees during the recess. About
the middle of November the King returned to England,
having conceded to the Scots all they demanded/ and
' See Appendix I.
■ In Sir R. Vemey*8 notes is the first list given of the whole fifty-nine.
In the * Life of Richard Baxter,' from his own MS. (or * Reliquise Baxteriame,*
page 19), there is the following passage : — " And now began the first
" breach among themselves, for the Lord Falkland, the Lord Digby, and
" divers other able men, were for the sparing of his (Lord Strafibrd)'s life,
" and gratifying the King, and not putting him on a thing so much dis-
'* pleasing him." Lord Falkland was naturally of so humane a disposition,
and such a lover of strict justice, that there is nothing improbable in the
supposition that he might wish to spare the shedding of blood, or that he
might recoil from stretching the power of Parliament beyond its constitu-
tional limits even to reach so dangerous an offender as Lord Strafford ;
but the reason assigned by Baxter, that it was for "gratifying the King," was
so utterly at variance with the principles which actuated Lord Falkland in
his early Parliamentary career, that, unsupported by other evidence, and
in the face of Sir R. Vemey's notes as to his opinions, it must be supposed
that Baxter was mistaken at least in the motive he ascribed to him.
■ " The King," says Lord Clarendon, *• made that progress into Scot-
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Chap. IV. "REMONSTRANCE- OF THE COMMONS. 83
thus encouraged others at home to believe that he
would in the end yield to anything.* His journey to
England was no sooner fixed than the Committee of the
House of Commons for preparing the remonstrance
offered their report to the House. The remonstrance
was truly characterized ^' as a bitter representation of
^' all the illegal things which had been done from the
*' first hour of the King's coming to the Crown to that
" minute ; with all the sharp reflections which could
'' be made upon the King himself, the Queen, and
** Council." * The first impression of the House was
unfavourable to the remonstrance. It was, in fact,
ungenerous, as a revival of past grievances already re-
dressed ; it was unconstitutional^ as being an account
of services rendered by Parliament, and a remonstrance
against the King addressed to the people^ passing by
the sovereign ;* it was impolitic for those who firamed it,
as a warning to the adherents of monarchy that the
position between the King and the House of Commons
was fast reversing, and that the privileges claimed by
Parliament were bidding fair to take the place of the
long misused prerogative of the Crown ; it made, as it
were, the King's acquiescence in measures too well
known to have been contrary to his convictions the
<* land only that he might make a perfect deed of gift of that kingdom,
" which he could never have done so absolutely without going thither.** —
Hist, of the BeheUion^ vol. ii. p. 37.
^ The King gave his consent in Scotland to an Act that declared that the
government by archbishops and bishops was against the word of Qod and
the propagation of religion. — Ibid,, p. 39.
■ Clarendon's • Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 40.
• Vide Sir Edward Denny's speech. — ^Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 428.
G 2
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84 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV.
very ground for further demands ; * and the thankful-
ness expressed for what had been done seemed well to
exemplify that definition of gratitude which describes it
as an anticipation of future favours. Lord Clarendon^
attributes the carrying of the measure to the great art
and activity of its promoters, and they certainly either
miscalculated the degree of success with which they had
laboured, or else wished to assume the appearance of
unbounded confidence. Lord Falkland and others
desired that the debate should not be entered upon late
in the day. " Oliver Cromwell " (who at that time
was little taken notice of) " asked Lord Falkland why
** he would have it put oSy for that day would 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."^ The next day, November 22nd, the debate
took place ; it was of so stormy a character that blood
might have been spilt but for the well-timed inter-
ference of Mr. Hampden.* It lasted from nine o*clock
in the morning till past midnight,* when the remon-
strance was carried by a majority of eleven.*
' Clause 154. — Rushworth's Coll., vol. iv. p. 448.
• Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. ii. p. 41,
• Ibid., p. 42.
• ** I thought we had all sat in the valley of the shadow of death ; for
" we, like Joab*8 and Abner's young men, had catched at each other's locks,
" and sheathed our swords in each other's bowels, had not the sagacity and
" great calmness of Mr. Hampden by a short speech prevented it, and led
" us to defer our angry debate until the next morning."— Sir Ph. War-
wick's Memoirs, p. 222.
• Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. ii. p. 42.
• Journals of the House of Commons, vol. ii. p. 322.
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Chap. IV. DEBATE ON THE « REMONSTKANCE." 85
On leaving the House Lord Falkland asked Oliver
Cromwell " whether there had been a debate ? " to
which he answered, " 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 morn-
^^ ing, and never have seen England more, and he knew
" there were many other honest men of the same reso-
**^lution.*' * Mr. Hyde and Mr. Geoffrey Palmer had,
in the course of the debate, protested against the print-
ing and publishing the remonstrance without even
sending it up to the House of Peers for their concur-
rence. This mode of proceeding on their part was
complained of by the supporters of the measure. Many
wished to fix the blame on Mr. Hyde, but to that the
gentlemen of the north resolutely objected on account
of the service he had done them against the Court of
York. It ended on the 24th (two days after the de-
bate), by Mr. Palmer being committed to the Tower,
from which he was again released in a few days. The
notes that were taken by Sir Ralph Vemey ^ show that
Lord Falkland had spoken against the remonstrance,
and pointed out certain inconsistencies in the allega-
tions it contained ; an answer to the remonstrance was
written by Mr. Hyde, and, through the instrumentality
of Lord Digby, it was shown to the King, and adopted
by the King and the Privy Council. The answer had
been seen by none when it was taken by Lord Digby,
save Lord Falkland, "firom whom,'" says Lord Claren-
* Lord Clarendon adds, " So near was the poor kingdom at that time to
** its deliverance."— ffis*. of the BebeUicn, vol. ii. p. 44.
' See Appendix J.
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86 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV.
don, " nothing ever was concealed," It may be inferred
from this allusion that Lord Falkland concm^red in the
views taken by his friend.
The King returned to London from Scotland on the
25th of November, and, whatever gratification he may
have derived firom the loyal reception that awaited him
in passing through the city, his spirits must have been
considerably damped by the petition and remonstrance
presented to him at Hampton Court on the 1st of
December.
The King now began to be conscious of the need of
counsellors on whose trustworthiness he could rely, and
whose opinions and character would command confidence
in the House of Commons. Men who deserved well of
their country for their determined resistance to the
abuses of monarchical and episcopal power, and yet
stood forth to protect the Crown and the Church from
insult or injustice, seemed to fulfil these conditions ; ^
and overtures were made to Lord Falkland and to Sir
John Culpepper to accept the vacant offices of Secretary
of State* and Chancellor of the Exchequer.'
' The King naturally turned to those who in his absence had resisted
the undue encroachments of Parliament, and the following passage from
one of Sir Edward Nicholls' letters addressed to the King in Scotland, and
dated Westminster, October 29, 1641, will easily accoimt for his selection
of Lord Falkland and Mr. Hyde in the present emergency : — " I may not
" forbeare to let your Majesty know that the Lord FdUdcmd, Sir Jn.
" Strangwishe, Mr. Waller, Mr, Ed, Eidey Mr. Holboum, and diverse
** others, stood as champions in maintenance of your prerogative, and
*< showed for it unanswerable reason and undenyable precedents." — See
Appendix E.
■ Sir H. Vane had been deprived of his seals by the King when on his
return to Hampton Court after the visit to the City. — Clarendon's Hist, of
the Eehellumy vol. ii. p. 63.
* Lord Cottington had resigned the office that Mr. Pym might be put into
it, when the Earl of Bedford would have been Treasurer. — Ibid,, p. 98.
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Chap. IV. OVERTURES FROM THE KING. 87
The feelings of Lord Falkland at this offer are best
described in the words of Lord Clarendon : — **The King
" was more easily persuaded to bestow those prefer-
'* ments upon them ^ than Lord Falkland was to accept
*^ that which was designed to him. No man could be
*' more surprised than he was when the first intimation
" was made to him of the King's purpose ; he had never
** proposed any such thing to himself, nor had any
*' veneration for the Court, but only such a loyalty to
'* the King as the law required from him. And he had
** naturally a wonderful reverence for Parliaments, as
*^ believing them most solicitous for justice, the violation
** whereof in the least degree he could not forgive any
** mortal power ; and it was only his observation of the
*' disingenuity and want of integrity in this Parliament
*^ which lessened that reverence to it, and had disposed
''him to cross and oppose their designs. He was so
** totally unacquainted with business and the forms of
" it that he did believe really he could not execute
** the office with any sufficiency. But there were two
** considerations that made most impression upon him —
<^ the one lest the world should believe that his own
** ambition had procured this promotion, and that he had
*" tlierefore appeared signally in the House to oj^pose
** those proceedings that he might thereby render him-
'' self gracious to the Court ; the other, lest the King
" should expect such a submission and resignation of
'' himself and his own reason and judgment to his com*
** mands as he should never give or pretend to give ;
> Lord Falkland and Sir J. Coipepper.
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88 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV.
*' for he was so siucere an adorer of truth that he could
*' as easily have given himself leave to steal as to dis-
'* semble, or to suffer any man to think that he would
** do anything which he resolved not to do ; which he
" thought a more mischievous kind of lying than a
'* positive averring what could be most easily con-
" tradicted." '
Thus it appears that Lord Falkland's disinclination
to take office was founded on a mistaken diffidence in
his own powers, a just mistrust of the King's good faith,
and an honest repugnance to the arts and flatteries too
generally practised at Court He was a loyal subject,
but an indifferent courtier. It required all the influence
of Hyde's persuasion, and all the truth and force of his
arguments, to overcome Lord Falkland's reluctance, or
convince his reason that his personal scruples were mis-
placed, and that he owed his acceptance no less to his
allegiance to the King than to his duty to his country.
He promised to assist him in the execution of such
details or forms of office as he might find irksome to
perform, or in which he was not well informed, and
above all he urged, what to a generous mind might
well turn the balance in favour of his acceptance, the
prejudice that his refiisal might then do to the King.
That Lord Falkland should shrink from the dignity of
office, sooner than hazard even the slightest imputation
on the motives of his recent conduct in Parliament, was
perfectly natural for one of his sensitive disposition and
strict sense of honour; but at the moment when the
» Clarendon's * Hiat. of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 94.
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Chap. IV. ACCEPTS OFFICE. 89
King had just received a deep humiliation, and when
the difficulties of his position were daily increasing, it
was not in the character of Lord Falkland to augment
those difficulties by consideration of sel^ or to withhold
the assistance which he was now called upon to give to
one in need. He might have caught from the persuasions
of Hyde some hope of being able to do good service to the
King and to the kingdom,^ but he was too far-sighted
to suppose that his elevation to the honours of office
was ever likely to prove a source of gratification to any
personal ambition. He plainly saw th& clouds of ap-
proaching storms gathering fast round the political
horizon : one path alone could lead to safety — it was
narrow, steep, and difficult, but on that path only the
King must go, if he yet hoped to escape before all was
closed in hopeless darkness. The task that Hyde urged
upon Falkland was to be the guide along that way ; to
be to the King the organ of truth, to save him from the
errors into which evil counsels had led him — more truly
might it be said to save him from the errors into which
the duplicity or fickleness of his own character, and the
prejudicial influence of the Queen, had led him through-
out his reign. Lord Falkland made up his mind that
acceptance was a duty, and he acknowledged to his
friend that ^^ honesty obliged him to serve the King,
** but that he foresaw his own ruin by doing it."*
On the 1st of January, 1641-2, Lord Falkland
and Sir John Culpepper were sworn of the Privy
Council.' Hyde declined office, but was to be joined in
> Clarendon's * life,' vol, i, p. 92, » IbicU
• From the Council Register.
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90 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IT.
the counsels of the other two. The King recommended
these three to meet constantly, and solemnly declared
that he would do nothing that in any degree concerned
or related to his service in the House of Commons,
without their joint advice and " exact communication
" to them of all his own conceptions."*
But the leading error of Charles's conduct — the great
misfortune of his reign — prevailed : he willingly imposed
responsibility without abiding by counsel. Within a
few days of this voluntary compact, without consulta-
tion, without even the knowledge of these confidential
advisers, he resolved upon no less a step than that of
the impeachment and seizing of Lord Kimbolton and
the five members of the House of Commons. The pro-
mise *' to enter upon no counsel without the privity of .
" his three new advisers" had scarcely passed his lips
before it was forgotten or disregarded, and they found
themselves looked upon as the authors of that " to
" which they were absolute strangers, and which they
" perfectly detested."^
No wonder that they were so much displ^ised and
dejected as to be inclined at once to throw up the
charge they had just accepted. In later times such
faithless conduct on the part of the Sovereign could
only have been fittingly met by the Ministers' instant
resignation of office; and to some it may appear an
error of judgment, even at this period, to have con-
sented to act in the service of <me who seemed as inca-
pable of trusting others as he was undeserving of being
» Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 98.
• md., p. 133.
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CnAP. IV. THE KING'S INSTABILITY. 91
trusted himself. It may be alleged that their resigna-
tion would have been useful as a lesson to the King, to
show that honest men would not serve him unless
honestly dealt with; but it was now too late to offer
warnings; it was useless to talk of the danger of fire,
when the house was beginning to blaze. The same argu-
ments that had led them to undertake the task, now
led them to go on in spite of " the great discouragement
" they had received." But the King's conduct had made
a deep impression upon them.' Lord Falkland, who
from the beginning entered the King's service rather
with the devotion of a martyr than with the blindness
or confidence of a partisan, perhaps saw less that was
new in the character of the King's conduct than what
was alarming in its consequences ; every unfeivourable
impression must have been confirmed, but the need of
assistance had become more urgent. Whether they
judged rightly is a question, however, on which there
is just ground for difference of opinion. When time
has revealed the events that have been consequent
on any particular action, there is a ready disposition
to assert with equal confidence what would have en-
sued if some different line of conduct had been pur-
sued, and to place in juxta - position the real and
imaginary cases, as if they could be fairly weighed
against each other in the opposite scales of the balance,
and were equally susceptible of being judged. It is
easy to suppose that, had the newly-chosen Ministers
at once thrown up their charge, a beneficial effect
might have been produced on the character of the King,
* Clarendon's * Life,' vol. i. p. 90.
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92 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV^
and that many of the evils which arose from his want of
honourable consistency would have been checked by this
practical reproof. But in passing judgment on the
wisdom of their decision, it must also be remembered
that, whilst posterity has acknowledged the services that
were actually rendered by these Ministers, not only to
the Monarch, but to the cause of constitutional monarchy
itself, the improvement to be effected in the cha-
racter of the King remains but a hypothetical case.^
Judging by the higher standard of political morality
now recognised in England, Ministers would have been
too much degraded by continuing to serve the King who
had thus deceived them, to have retained any influence
on public opinion; but such ideas were then so little
developed, that perhaps it is rather to be wondered at
that the new Ministers contemplated withdrawing, than
that they persevered in the task on which they had
entered. Nor is there the slightest reason to believe
that their continuance in the King's counsels was re-
garded unfavourably on this account by their contempo-
raries, or even used as a weapon of attack by their
enemies. But, if the wisdom of their decision may be
disputed, the motives that decided Lord Falkland to
undertake the perilous task remain above suspicion ; if
he erred in judgment, it was an error into which he was
led by a mistaken sense of duty, not by the delusions
of self-interest or the allurements of gratified ambition.
On January 8th, 1641-2, four days after the open
' Mr. Hallam speaks of the constitutional language which, from the time
the King made vifie of the pens of Hyde and Falkland, he systematically
employed in his public declarations. — CoMtittitumal Hist,, vol. ii. p. 240.
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Chap. IV. MADE SECRETARY OP STATE. 93
attempt to seize the five members, Lord Falkland's
appointment was confirmed by his being sworn one of
his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State.*
Lord Clarendon speaks of the King's '* feeling within
*^ himself the trouble and agony which usually attends
" generous and magnanimous minds upon their having
** committed errors which expose them to censure and
" to damage/'* But the King's repentance in this
instance, as in the abrupt dissolution of that short
Parliament on whose loyalty he might so well have
relied, came only when the extent of the error could
not be concealed from his view, and when events had
fully exposed the short-sighted wisdom which had di-
rected a crooked policy.
Lord Falkland and the Chancellor of the Exchequer
(Sir J. Culpepper) seem on this important occasion to
have rather been called upon to act for the Commons,
than empowered as ministers to give any explanation
of the King's conduct.
On the 3rd of January the Attorney-General, by
command of the King, appeared at the table of the
' Feom the Council Register.
Ist Jan. 1641-2. — " This day Lucius Viscount Falkland was swome of
" his Ma*^ most Hon"^ Privy Counsell, by his Ma** command sitting in
" Coimsell, tooke his place and signed with the other Lords."
Ist Jem. — Sir John Culpepper was sworn of the Privy Council, and on the
same day the King, being present in Council, gave order for Sir J. Cul-
pepper's admission " into the place of his Ma*y- Under Treasurer and
" Chancellor of his Excheq'" The patent of the office is dated the 6th of
January.
Sth Jan. 1641-2.—" This day, his Ma»^«- present in Counsell, and by his
" Royall Command, the Lord Vise*- Falkland was swome one of his
" Ma** Principall Secretaries of State."
■ Clarendon's « Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 133.
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94 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV.
House of Lords, and impeached Lord Kimbolton and
five memb^^ of the House of Commons of high treason.^
The King had also ordered their chambers to be searched
and locked, their trunks, &c^ sealed, and issued out
warrants for their apprehension.* The Commons on
the same day resolved that every person engaged in the
execution of this command should be immediately
seized and brought to the House as delinquents, and
that the Serjeant should have power to break open the
doors and tear off the seals. A conference with the
Lords on the breach of privilege confirmed this reso-
lution. Immediately after the conference a Serjeant-at-
Arms was announced as the bearer of a message from
the King to the House of Commons, requiring the
Speaker to give up the five accused members. Lord
Falkland, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and two
others* were appointed instantly to wait upon the King
and acquaint him that ^^ this message of His Majesty
" is a matter of great importance as it concerns the
" privilege of Parliament ;" at the same time promising
that the House would take it into consideration. The
Speaker also, by command of the House, enjoined the
daily attendance there of the five members.
The following day (the 4th) Lord Falkland thus re-
ported the King's answer to the message from the
Commons :* — '* The King," he said, " had asked them
"whether the House did expect an answer?" They
* Mr. Denzil Holies, Sir Arthur Hazelrig. Mr. J. Pym, Mr. John
Hampden, and Mr. William Strode.
■ Nalaon's Coll., vol. ii. p. 811.
» Sir Philip Stapelton and Sir John Hotham.
* Nalson's CJoll., vol. ii. p. 816.
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Chap. IV. THE PIVB MEMBERS IMPEACHED. 95
replied, ** they had no more commission to say, but
** only to deliver the message*'* The King asked them,
as private persons, ** what they thought of it ?" They
said they conceived ** the House did expect an answer."
The King, hearing the House was up, said he would ^^send
^^ an answer the next morning ;" but, in the mean time,
he commanded them to acquaint the House that the
Serjeant-at-Arms did nothing but what he had di-
rections from himself to do.
On the disingenuousness of the King's conduct in
thus concealing his purposes from the counsellors to
whom he had promised ** to do nothing that in any
'' degree concerned the House of Commons without an
** exact communication to them of all his own concep-
" tions," it is needless to comment. The folly of deceiving
those who were selected by himself and trusted by the
Commons, at such a juncture, shows how incapable he
was of appreciating the value of men between whose
character and his own there was indeed but little
affinity. In the afternoon of the same day (the 4th)
that Lord Falkland delivered the King's answer, the
King came in person to the House of Commons to
demand the five members. The Speaker left the
chair ; the King took his place, and, standing on the
step with his hat ofi^, addressed the House. He told
them he had expected obedience and not an answer
from them the day before, and announced that he had
come himself for the five gentlemen ; he looked around
in vain for them ; he asked the Speaker where they
were, called upon them by name, and received no
answer : then, saying *' that his birds were flown, but that
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96 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV.
" he expected the House would send them to him,*'
he finished his speech, and then retired, his hat still oflF
till he came to the door.^
The members had received timely warning to absent
themselves from the House. The failure of this royal
intrusion as a coup dCitat must have produced at the
moment an effect almost ludicrous, but the consequences
were of most serious and lasting moment. The House
immediately adjourned, and on the next day (the 5th)
met with locked doors, and then decided on a further
adjournment till the 11th of January. A Committee
was appointed to sit in Guildhall, consisting of twenty-
five members^ and on which the names of Lord Falk-
land and the Chancellor of the Exchequer appear. On
the 5th the King made a speech to the Common
Council assembled at Guildhall, requiring their assist-
ance in apprehending the members. On the 8th he
issued a proclamation for their apprehension and im-
prisonment in the Tower. On the 10th the King left
Whitehall for Hampton Court, never again to enter his
capital of his own free will. On the 11th Parliament
met at Westminster, and the accused members, who had
been concealed in the city, were triumphantly brought
back to Westminster with every demonstration of public
' The King was so well pleased with this speech that on that evening
it was transcrihed from notes in his presence, sent to the press, and pub-
lished the next morning. — Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 479.
The Speaker's answer to this appeal showed where he felt his alle-
giance due. "May it please your Majesty," said he, "I have neither
" eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased
** to direct me, whose servant I am here ; and humbly beg your Majesty's
" pardon that I cannot give any other answer than this to what your
." Majesty is pleased to demand of me."
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Chap. IV. MINISTERIAL CONFERENCES. 97
rejoicing. On the 13th came the day of retractation,
when the Lord Keeper announced to the Houses of
Parliament that the King had determined to waive any
present proceedings against the accused members.
There is but little means of tracing the advice given by
Lord Falkland individually on his first coming into
ofiBce, but Lord Clarendon tells us that before the King
left Whitehall he renewed his commands to his two
ministers and Mr. Hyde to consult on his afiairs, and
also again declared solemnly that he would take no step
with Parliament but by their advice ; accordingly, they
met late every night to communicate the information
they had each gathered, and their respective impressions
as to what had passed, during the day, and to consult on
what should be their course for the morrow. Mr.
Hyde's house being the most convenient for these
nocturnal meetings, they were generally held there, a
circumstance which seems to have excited the suspicions
of their opponents. *^ They believed it,*' says Lord
Clarendon, '* a condescension that had some other
" foundation than mere civility."* Mr. Hyde was, in
fact^ looked upon with particular jealousy, from the
supposition that he had influenced Lord Falkland in his
decision to accept the service of the King. Lord Falk-
land seems to have also exercised a strong influence over
his two colleagues, for Lord Clarendon speaks of him-
self and Sir John Culpepper as being men of very
different natures, but both of warm tempers, and that it
was from the deference each paid to Lord Falkland,
* Clarendon, * life,' vol, i. p. 91.
VOL. I. H
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98 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. IV.
" who allayed their passions," that unanimity was pre-
served, and that they did succeed in ** much advancing
" the King's business from the very low state it was in
*' when they were first trusted."* On taking office
Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper became at once
obnoxious to the governing majority in the House of
Commons ; a letter, pretended to be intercepted from
one Roman Catholic to another, was produced in the
House of Commons, attributing the appointment of
Lord Falkland and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to
Roman Catholic interest, and made it the ground of
attack. Lord Falkland was too well known as a firm
opponent to the doctrine of that Church to deem it
worth while to notice this libel, nor did he even sufler
from the imputation ; and no doubt the selection of
men of unimpeachable character and known abilities
to take part in the direction of the State was cal-
culated to inspire confidence, and was, as Lord Cla-
rendon describes, " very grateful to all those both within
** and without the House who wished well to the King
'* and the kingdom."*
Amongst those who oflered their early congratulations
to Lord Falkland as Secretary of State were the Master
and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge, the
answer to which has been preserved.' Whatever might
' Clar., ' Life,' voL i. p. 98.
* Hist. Reb., voL ii. p. 97.
» For the President (Dr. Beale) of St, John's College in Cambridge^ with
g my humble service,
I lately received a letter from yourself, and others of your noble
society, wherein, as many titles were given me to which I had none, so
that which I should most willingly have acknowledged, and might with
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Chap. IV. LETTER TO DR. BEALE. 99
be the opinion of the Fellows of St John's, it must be
acknowledged that congratulations from Dr. Beale bore
high testimony to the estimation in which Lord Falk-
land's character and abilities were held. Dr. Beale had
little reason to regard Lord Falkland as a supporter of
those views in Church Government which he had pro-
fessed. His doctrines had been called in question be-
fore Parliament (May 1st, 1640) ; complaints had been
made of some passages in a sermon preached by him at
St. Mary's, Cambridge, March 27, 1635. The extracts
were delivered by Mr. Pym, read in the House of
Commons, and referred to a committee. The dissolu-
tion of Parliament, four days afterwards, stopped all
further proceedings ; but the *' encouraging of Dr. Beale "
is amongst the things charged by Lord Falkland against
the Bishops.'
most justice claiiQ, you were not pleased to vouchsafe me, that is, that of
a 8t. John's man. I confess I am both proud and ashamed of that ; and
the latter in respect that the fruits are unproportionable to the seed-plot.
Yet, Sir, as little learning as I brought from you, and as little as I have
since increased and watered what I did bring, I am sure I still carry about
with me an indelible character of that affection and duty to that society,
aud an extraordinary longing for some occasion of expressing that affection
ai^d that duty. I shall desire you to express this to them, and to add this,
that, as I never shall forget myself to be a member of your body, so I shall
be ready to catch at all means of declaring myself not only to the body,
but every member of it,
Sir,
A very humble Servant,
January 16, 1641. Falkland.
— Biog, Brit,, art. * Carey.' Lord Falkland playfully alludes to the cir-
cumstance of his having been a member of St. John's Coll^, Oxford.
> See above, page 66, and Appendix L.
H 2
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100 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
CHAPTER V.
Final breach between the King and the Houses of Parliament — Unsuc-
cessful attempts at Reconciliation — Lord Falkland attends the King
at Greenwich upon a Message from Parliament — Lord Falkland, by
the King's command, requires Lord Essex and Lord Holland to deliver
up the Insignia of their Offices — Lord Falkland advises Mr. Hyde to
hasten to York — The Houses present nineteen Propositions to the King
— Lord Falkland prepares an Answer, and afterwards joins the King
at York — The King's Declaration that he engages in a War against
Parliament only in self-defence — Similar Declaration of his chief
Supporters — View with which these Declarations were made — Peti-
tions to the King against War.
The current of events now rushed on with the fearful
rapidity to which the conduct of the King respecting
the five members had given the impetus, and there was
no shutting the floodgates upon a torrent that could
not be stemmed. His new counsellors must have felt
their only hope lay in waiting till its violence was
somewhat spent, or its force somewhat weakened by
diversion ; that diversion might have been looked for
in the dissensions between the Lords and Commons,
had not the King, by invading the privileges of both
Houses, united them in common hostility against him-
self. The King removed from Hampton Court to
Windsor on the 12th of January, and Lord Clarendon
describes his " sad condition, as fallen in ten days from
^^ a height and greatness that his enemies feared, to such
" a lowness that his own servants durst hardly avow
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Chap. V. A NEW " REMONSTRANCE." 101
** their waiting on hiin."^ The Lord Chamberlain and
First Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Lords Essex and
Holland, asked permission of the Committee in the City
to obey the King's summons, and were refused leave of
absence from Parliament to fulfil their duties of per-
sonal attendance on the sovereign. On the 15th Sir
Edward Herbert was impeached for preferring the
articles against the five members. Almost every
power hitherto exercised by the King was now claimed
by the Parliament It was proposed that the forts,
castles, and garrisons should be placed only in the
hands of such as the Parliament could confide in. Sir
John Hotham and his son were sent to Hull, the elder
as governor, without awaiting the consent of the King.'
The King's retractation respecting the proceedings
against the five members was unnoticed by the City
Committee, and the matter for a fresh remonstrance
was then prepared,' in which, amongst a long series of
remedies proposed for present evils, it was suggested
that all privy councillors and others of trust should be
displaced, and^uch as were not replaced by the Parlia-
ment should be forbid all personal access to the King or
Queen ; that no person should be made a peer but by
the consent of both Houses ; that all who had been made
peers or appointed to any place or office during this
Parliament should be put out of office, or be excluded
from the House of Peers, unless both Houses assented
to their appointment or creation. It was known that
the pretensions contained in this remonstrance would
' Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 182.
» Ibid., p. 181. » Ibid., p. 185.
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102 I-.IFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
not be palatable to the Lords, and in this disunion a
new ray of hope was opened to the counsellors of the
King; it was resolved to send from Windsor such a
message to both Houses as might at least ^^ divide those
" who desired the public peace from the ministers of
" confusion."* Accordingly, on the 20th of January
the Kings proposition and message was delivered to
both Houses ; it was so well received by the Lords, that
they called upon the Commons to unite with them in
returning thanks to His Majesty for his gracious oflFers,
but the Commons were not to be appeased. On Febru-
ary 2nd they petitioned the King to know the proofs
against the five members, that they might be brought
to trial or declared innocent On February 7th came
an ofler from Windsor, couched in gracious terms, of
such a free and general pardon as should be approved
by Parliament* The Commons treated the. offer with
contempt, and again with the Lords petitioned the
King " that the informers against the five members
" might be discovered ;" and sentence was afterwards
passed against Sir Edward Herbert (April 23rd) for
accusing the said members.' It is impossible to accord
to the House of Commons at this period the praise of
evincing that desire for peace which ought to be the
object, and which can alone be offered in justification,
of armed resistance against either the oppressions of
civil authority or the aggressions of foreign powers.
It would far exceed the limits of biography to follow
closely the course of that prolonged war with the pen,
* Clarendon's 'Hist, of the Rebellion,* vol. ii. p. 191.
• Pari. Hist., vol. ii. p. 1077. ■ Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 493.
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Chap. V. THE KING'S COUNSELS. 103
by which the lovers of peace had hoped to prevent the
more terrible stru^le with the sword. That they failed
to obtain the bloodless victory for which they laboured
cannot be accounted to them as a fault. No doubt the
great ability with which the controversy was conducted
by the counsellors of the King, and the respect pro-
fessed for the law by the leaders in Parliament, suc-
ceeded at least in delaying the recourse to arms ;
perhaps even finally to have averted the great evil of
civil war might not have been hopeless to the counsellors
of the King, but for the want of that good faith and
perfect openness on the part of the King himself which
was due to his responsible advisers, and for the secret
promise exacted firom him by the Queen on her de-
parture for Holland " that he would receive no person
** into favour without her privity and consent, and never
" make any peace but by her interposition and medi-
" ation "* — a promise which fettered his actions even
against the convictions of his reason. Though Lord
Clarendon repeatedly alludes to the union of opinion
between himself. Lord Falkland, and Sir J. Culpepper,
he has also recorded several instances of shades of
difference and of individual action; so that the bio-
grapher of any one of the three is not able either to
trace in the management of the King's affairs the part
performed by each, or to accept every move in the
King's counsels as the result of their concurrent opinion.
Such glimpses of Lord Falkland's remaining career as
are to be found in the writings of Lord Clarendon
serve to mark his fidelity to the cause he had espoused
* ClarendoD, * Life,' vol. i. p. 156.
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104 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
and his steady friendship to himself, and by these and
other occasional introductions of his name by different
authors we can partially track his course.
The King had accompanied the Queen to Dover,
whence she was to embark with the Princess Mary for
Holland ; and on his return to Canterbury he was met
by a deputation from both Houses of Parliament, con-
sisting of one peer and two commoners, who were
intrusted with a message from Parliament, desiring that
the Prince of Wales might not remove from Richmond
till the Marquis of Hertford (then suffering from indis-
position) was able to accompany him. Mr. Hyde was
chosen, much against his will, one of the Commissioners
for this errand. The King was greatly offended at
the message, and, without waiting to consult his Minis-
ters, returned an answer the same evening, but an
answer written under feelings of so much irritation that
Mr. Hyde sought the King's private ear to persuade
him to get back the answer, and to await the arrival of
Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper the following
day at Greenwich, in order to frame one that should be
better suited to the temper of those who sent the
message. In the mean time the King's orders to the
Marquis of Hertford to bring the Prince to meet him
at Greenwich were obeyed ; this mollified the anger
with which the King had received the message at Can-
terbury. Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper
arrived the following day, and an answer was agreed on
between the three that gave no fresh cause of disagree-
ment. The King proceeded to Theobald's on the 2nd
of February, accompanied by the Prince and the Mar-
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Chap. V. PLOT TO SEIZE THE MINISTERS. 105
quis of Hertford, and there remained till the 3rd of
March. The personal risk of being engaged in the
King's service was now beginning to be sensibly felt by
his Ministers in the House of Commons. Sir J. Cul-
pepper obtained information of a plan to seize Lord
Falkland, himself, and Mr. Hyde when there, and to
send them to the Tower. It had been resolved when all
three were present in the House that somebody should
move an inquiry as to who were the persons most likely
to have given the King the evil counsels he had lately
followed. This was to have been answered by one of
the same party naming the two Ministers and Mr.
Hyde. A sufficient majority was to be secured to
support the accusation, and to cause their being sent
to the Tower. The timely warning received by Sir
John Culpepper defeated this plan, and from this day
the three were never again present at once in the House.
Towards the end of March Mr.. Hyde had gone into
the country to his own house ; his absence was com-
mented upon, and there is a letter ^ extant from Lord
Falkland, informing him of what had passed on the
subject, in order that he might hasten back to London.
On the 19th of March, 1641-2, the King reached
York : " he was again surrounded by powerful ad-
herents gathered round him from northern counties,
and by many also from London who dared not attend
him at Whitehall. The opportunity seemed to him
favourable for fulfilling one of those fatal promises made
to the Queen, and, notwithstanding the earnest remon-
^ See Appendix M.
« Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 301.
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lOG LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
strances of the three wise counsellors who watched over
the conduct of his aflFairs in London, he persevered in
his resolution. He had been deeply offended by the
conduct of Lord Essex and Lord Holland in refusing
to attend his summons to Hampton Court. The Queen
had insisted on their removal, and had gone so far as
to declare that she would never live in the Court if
Lord Holland kept his place.^ The promise given to
the Queen, beuig no doubt in accordance with the King's
own feelings, strengthened his determination to adopt
this ill-judged course, and rendered him inaccessible
to advice. The King commanded both these Lords
to attend him at York, from which they excused
themselves. An order was sent to the Lord Keeper
Littleton, '' to require the staff and key from the one and
"the other."* The Lord Keeper immediately pro-
ceeded to Lord Falkland, and begged his services to
excuse him to the King; he alleged it to be a task
* That the Queen had been oflfended by what she deemed Lord Essex's
too great independence for some months is clearly marked in the following
letter addressed to Sir E. Nicholas during the King's absence in Scotland : —
" Maistre Nicholas, — I did desire you not to acquainte mi lord of essex
" of what the King commanded you touching is commin : now you may
" doe it and tell him that the King will be at Tibols vendnesday and shall
*' lye there and upond thursday he shall dine at milord Majors and lye at
" VVhitthall onlye for one nitgh and upon friday mil goe to hampton-court
" where he maenes to stay this vinter : the King commanded me to tell
** this to my lord of essex but you may doe it, for there lordsships are to
" great prinses now to receaued anye direction from mee : beeng all that I
" haue to say I shall rest
" Your assured fraud,
" For Maistre Nicholas, ** Henbiette Marie R.
" R : 26° No»"'» 1G41.
" The Q : for me to signify to Ix) : Chamb'lan."
—Evelyn's Diary, vol. ii. p. 78, 4to.
* Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. ii. p. 331.
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Chap. V. LORDS ESSEX AND HOLLAND DISMISSED. 107
unsuitable to his office, and feared lest the House
should commit him to prison. Lord Falkland con-
veyed the Lord Keeper's message to the King; he
was displeased at this refusal, but, so far from being
shaken in his resolution, he repeated his commands to
the Lords Essex and Holland, requiring their imme-
diate attendance at York, on the occasion of the feast of
St. George, when the Duke of York was to be made a
knight of that order, or to resign their insignia of office
into the hands of Lord Falkland. He also wrote
himself to Lord Falkland, and, with many gracious
expressions of excuse at putting such work upon him,
commanded him to require the insignia of those offices
from the two Earls.^ This command was grating to
the feelings of Lord Falkland, and highly inconsiderate
on the part of the King. It was unnecessary to employ
any one of higher rank than a gentleman-usher in such
a task ; and Lord Falkland not only disapproved of this
step being taken, but had lived on terms of familiarity
and friendship with both the Lords in question. The
fears, however, that had withheld the Lord Keeper did
not operate upon Lord Falkland. The King had un-
doubtedly the right to remove or appoint as he pleased
the officers of his household, and Lord Falkland con-
ceived his duty to lie in obedience to the commands of
his sovereign. He immediately sought Lord Essex and
Lord Holland, whom he met on their way to the House,
and delivered to them the King's message. They
desired, very civilly, " that he would give them leave to
" confer together, and they would, within half an hour,
' Hbt. of the Rebellion, vol. ii. p. 332.
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108 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
** send for him into the House of Commons."^ They
immediately communicated the King's letters to the
House of Lords ; the consequence was, that the former
order for their attendance in Parliament was confirmed.
They forthwith sent to Lord Falkland to meet them
in Sir Robert Cotton's garden, and there delivered into
his hands the staff and the key. Both Houses bitterly
resented this dismissal of the two Peers ,• strong expres-
sions were used against the evil counsellors who had
given his Majesty that counsel, and they concurred in a
vote> " that whosoever should accept of either of those
** offices should be reputed an enemy to his country."*
The King's own conduct had been harsh; but un-
doubtedly such a vote was far more arbitrary in its ten-
dency than the exercise of an undoubted prerogative of
the sovereign to dismiss or to choose the officers of his
household. The gratification of royal resentment was
dearly paid for by the royal cause. Lord Clarendon
describes Lord Essex as ^^ in his nature an honest man
** and a man of honour," who "did hope nothing more
" than to make himself the instrument to reconcile the
" Parliament to the King by some moderate and
" plausible expedient." ^ He also acknowledges that,
had Lord Essex retained the staff by which he was
charged with the defence and security of the King's
person, he Mould never have been prevailed upon to
command the army raised against the King; and that,
if he had not consented to be the general of that array,
it could never have been raised.*
* Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. ii. p. 332. • Ibid., p. 333.
• Life, vol. i. p. 109. * Hist. Reb., ib. p. 331.
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Chap. V. MR. HYDE DEPARTS FOR YORK. 109
The King had wished to impose a similar task upon
Lord Falkland with respect to the Lord Keeper, and
had actually sent an order to him ** to require the seal
" from him," but the representations oflFered by Lord
Falkland and Mr. Hyde induced the King to retract
this order. By the end of the month of May the
King's power to command the presence of his Ministers
was so little acknowledged by Parliament, that his sum-
mons to the Lord Keeper to attend him at York could
only be obeyed by his secret flight from London. Mr.
Hyde had also set out about the same time for York, in
obedience to the King's orders, having excused himself
to the Speaker on the score of health. He had agreed
with Lord Falkland that he should remain at a friend's
house, near Oxford, till he heard of the Lord Keeper's
movements. Lord Falkland was in the act of writing
to inform him that the Lord Keeper had been faithiul
to his word, and had departed on the 23rd of May
(1642) for the North, when he was apprised by Dr.
Morley,^ that it was the intention of Parliament to accuse
Mr. Hyde of high treason the following day, as having
been instrumental to the departure of the Lord Keeper.
Lord Falkland instantly advised him to continue his
journey northward with all possible speed, and intrusted
the letter to Mr. John Ayliffe,* who rode with such ex-
pedition as to reach Mr. Hyde the same evening.'
* Afterwards Bishop of Winchester.
■ Brother to Mr. Hyde's first wife.
* At Ditcheley, the seat of Lady Lee, afterwards Lady Bochester.
Mr. Hyde reached Yorkshire in safety, and remained for a while concealed
at Nostall, the seat of Sir John Worstenholm, twenty miles from York.
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1 10 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
It was on the 2nd of June, about a week or ten days
after the departure of the Lord Keeper, that Parlia-
ment agreed on presenting nineteen propositions to the
King for his acceptance, framed on those resolutions
which were originally proposed by the City Com-
mittee. It was impossible that any sovereign, with
whom the liberty of choice or action remained, could
ever have been expected to accede to propositions which
deprived him not only of the prerogatives of the Crown,
but which even interfered with that domestic and
parental authority which every subject in the kingdom
would have regarded as a right Mr. Hyde having left
London, the task of writing the reply to the nineteen
propositions devolved upon Lord Falkland and Sir John
Culpepper ; the result of their labours was forwarded to
Mr. Hyde at York. The Parliament now proceeded to
such extremities as rendered it no longer safe for those
Ministers who diflFered with the majority to remain
there; not above a fifth of the House of Commons nor
above twenty peers continued at Westminster. All
persons were forbidden to resort to the King, and those
who were on their journey to York were intercepted
and committed to prison ; * this rendered the position
of the faithful advisers of the Crown extremely perilous.
Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper quitted London,
and reached York in safety. Lord Falkland was dis-
appointed at finding that the answer to the nineteen
propositions had not been already printed, and some
expressions of momentary irritation passed between him
* Clarendon, *Life,' vol. i. p. 37.
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Chap. V. TUE PARLIAMENTS PKOPOSITIONS. 1 1 1
and Mr. Hyde on the subject The MS. was sent to the
press that night, and, with the King's consent, immedi-
ately published. Mr. Hyde then explained to Lord
Falkland the cause of his having withheld the publica-
tion. Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper had
divided the propositions between them that were to be
answered, and in the part prepared by Sir John Cul-
pepper, he had assumed that the King, the House of
Peers, and the House of Commons made the three
estates. This assumption, as Lord Clarendon tells us,
was partly made on the authority of lawyers, and partly
on the declaration of prelatical preachers, who main-
tained that Bishops did not sit in Parliament as the
representatives of the clergy, and were not therefore
the third estate. It is to be supposed that Lord Falk-
land was convinced by Mr. Hyde's arguments that Sir
John Culpepper had been mistaken on this point, as he
informs us that, when Lord Falkland knew the reason
of his having withheld the answer, he was much troubled,
and imputed it to his own inadvertence, and to the in-
fluence of lawyers and preachers on Sir John Culpepper.*
On the 13th of June, 1642, the King issued a de-
claration of what obedience he required from those who
then attended him at York, accompanied by an assur-
ance that it was not his intention to engage them in a
war against Parliament, unless as a measure of defence.*
This was responded to by a promise on the part of forty-
five peers and others, including the name of Lord Falk-
* Clarendon, * Life,* vol. i. p. 130. The answer to the nineteen propo-
sitions was delivered in Parliament on the 21st of June.
■ Rushworth, vol. iv. part iii. p. 626.
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112 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
land/ Two days afterwards (on the 15th of June) the
King in council made a still stronger declaration against
any intention on his part of levying war, and called
upon all his nobility and Council to bear witness to his
frequent and earnest declaration to that purpose. This
appeal produced the following document, signed by
forty-five peers and others : —
" We, whose names are underwritten, in obedience to his
Majesty's desire, and out of the duty which we owe to his
Majesty's honour and to truth, being here upon the place
and witnesses of his Majesty's frequent and earnest declara*
tions and professions of his abhorring all designs of making
war upon his Parliament, and not seeing any colour of pre-
parations or counsels that might reasonably beget the belief
of any such designs, do profess before God, and testify to all
the world, that we are fully persuaded that his Majesty hath
no such intention; but that all his endeavours tend to the
firm and constant settlement of the true Protestant religion,
the just privileges of Parliament, the liberty of the subject, the
law, peace, and prosperity of this kingdom."*
* The peers engaged themselves " not to obey any orders or commands
" whatsoever, not warranted by the knovm laws of the land ; and to
" defend his Majesty's person, crown, and dignity, together with his just
" and legal prerogative, against aU persons and power whatsoever ; that
** they would defend the true Protestant religion established by the law
" of the land, the lawful liberties of the subjects of England, and just
" privileges of his Majesty and both his Houses of Parliament ; and, lastly,
" they engaged themselves not to obey any rule, order, or ordinance what-
" soever, concerning any militia, that had not the royal assent/'
■ Signed by
Lord Littleton, Lord Keeper.
Marquis of Hertford.
Earl of Southampton.
Earl of Devonshire.
Duke of Richmond.
Earl of Cumberland.
Earl of Salisbury.
Earl of Cambric^.
Earl of Lindsay.
Earl of Bath.
Earl of Dorset.
Earl of Northampton,
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Chap. V.
MEANING OF THE DECLARATION.
113
The signing of this declaration by men of unim-
peachable honour has been a subject of wonder, of
regret, and of censure. The King's duplicity has
seemed to cast a shadow on those around him, and they
have incurred the odium of disingenuousness, if not o^
falsehood, in having, as it were, certified the truth of
the King's declaration. When, however, posterity sits
in judgment on the conduct of those whose career in
this life has long closed, it is more generous, and not less
just, to look rather for those springs and motives of action
that are consistent with the general tenor of their cha-
racter, than to seek for startling confa'asts between their
actions and their principles, and to attribute to baseness
what imperfect knowledge may have rendered obscure.
On the 15th of June a solemn assurance that the King
had no intention of makiog war upon his Parliament was
published to the kingdom, signed by forty-five persons
of high rank and responsible situations, most of whom
were witnesses of the King's daily actions, and some
of whom were intrusted with the management of his
affairs. Such a declaration seems so strangely at
Earl of Clare.
Earl of Monmouth.
Earl of Carnarvon.'
Lord Willoughby of Eresby.
Lord Newark.
Lord Rich.
Lord Coventry.
Lord Capel.
Earl of Westmoreland.
Earl of Blvers.
Earl of Newport.
Lord Grey of Buthin.
Lord Pawlett.
Lord Savill.
VOL. I.
Lord Dmismore.
Earl of Bristol.
Earl of Berkshire.
Earl of Dover.
Lord Mowbray and Martravers.
Lord Howard of Charleton.
Lord Lovelace.
Lord Mohun.
Lord Seymour.
Lord Falkland.
Sir P. Wich.
Secretary Nicholas.
Sir J. Colepepper, Chanc. of Exch.
Lord Chief-Justice Banks.
I
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1 14 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
variance with the events which immediately followed, and
even preceded, its publication, that it is necessary to
consider in what sense the levying war against the Par-
liament was both used and understood. That the
declaration was intended to convey the assurance that
the King remained a passive spectator of the active pre-
parations by the Parliament for approaching hostilities,
would have been too manifestly absurd to incur the
censure of duplicity. The Parliament, on the 10th of
June, had called upon their members and others to
contribute money and plate, and to provide horses,
horsemen, and arms for the public use, with the promise
of being repaid with interest On the 12th the King's
Commission of Array, accompanied by a King's letter,
was sent into Leicestershire; ^ the legality of this Com-
mission was denied by the Parliament On the 18th
and on the 20th a proclamation appeared, to re-assert
the lawfulness of the Commission of Array, issued
throughout the counties of England and Wales. This
Commission of Array was intended to counteract the
Parliamentary Militia ordinance ; and could it be
doubted that, when the King and the Parliament had
already begun to raise troops on separate and opposite
authorities, each had, in fact, made their first step
towards a struggle of arms? From these and other
events it might be fairly inferred that the denial of the
King's intention of levying war must have referred to
the accusation of preparing for an act of aggression.
The question undetermined when that declaration was
signed was, on which side should fall the blame — not of
* Ruahworth, vol. iv. p. 657.
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Chap. V. MEANING OF THE DECLARATION. 1 15
taking up arms for defence, but of beginning the war.
With the Lords* declaration and profession was pub-
lished so full a declaration of the King's grievances
and future intentions as was utterly incompatible with
any attempt to deceive respecting the preparations then
making. " We have,** says the King's declaration,
** upon all occasions, with all possible expressions, pro-
** fessed our fast and unshaken resolutions for peace ;
" and we do again, in the presence of Almighty God,
" our Father and Redeemer, assure the world that we
^^ have no more thought of making a war against our
^' Parliament than against our own children ; that we
" will maintain and observe the Acts assented to by us
" this Parliament without violation, of which that for
^^ the frequent assembling of Parliaments is one ; and
" that we have not, or shall not have, any thought of
** using any force, wdess we shall he driven to it for the
" security of our person and for the defence of the religion^
** Ictuos, and liberty of the kingdom^ and the just rights
** omd privileges of Parliament'^ Then follows the full
explanation of the Lords' professions : ^^ That all our
^^ loving subjects may see how causeless and groundless
^^ this scandalous rumour and imputation of our raising
** war upon our Parliament is, we have, with this our
'^ declaration, caused to be printed the testimony of
^^ those Lords and other persons of our Council who are
^^ here with us." Then, warning all loving subjects not to
obey the ordinance (of militia, or propositions for bring*
ing money and arms issued by Parliament), the decla-
ration continues : '*But if, notwithstanding this clear
" declaration and evidence of our intentions, these men
I 2
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116 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
^^ shall think fit by these alarms to awaken us
" to a more necessary care of the defence of ourself
" and our people, and shall themselves, under colour of
" defence, in so unheard-of a manner, provide to offend
" us," " all our good subjects will think it necessary to
" look to ourself; and we do then excite all ourwell-
^^ affected people, according to their oaths of allegiance
^^ and supremacy, and according to their solemn vow and
" protestation (whereby they are obliged to defend our
" person, honour, and estate), to contribute their heat
" assistance to the preparations necessary for the op-
^* posing and suppressing of the traitorous attempts of
" such wicked and malignant persons*^ Then came the
requisition, that, '^ upon so urgent and visible necessity,
" whosoever would bring in to the use of the King ready
" money or plate, or shall underwrite to furnish any
** number of horses, horsemen, and arms for the pre-
" servation of the public peace, the defence of the
" King's person, and the vindication of the privilege
** and freedom of Parliament, the King would receive
'^ it as a most acceptable service, and as a testimony of
" his singular affection to the Protestant religion, the
" laws, liberties, and peace of the kingdom ; the con-
" tinuance of that affection should no longer be desired
" than he should be ready to justify and maintain with
** the hazard of his life"*
It is unnecessary to quote other passages of this
declaration, as well as of those published as a rejoinder
to the reply of the Parliament, to show in what
sense the term of " preparation for war " was under-
» Pari. Hist., vol. ii. pp. 1377-1380.
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Chap. V. PETITIONS AGAINST WAR. 117
stood by those of the King's Council who signed their
declaration. Those Counsellors who were principally
concerned in the management of the King's affairs
had good reason to know the peaceful intentions of
the various declarations and professions that had been
issued in the King's name. Lord Falkland, Sir John
Culpepper, and Mr. Hyde might truly be regarded as
ministers for peace ; every declaration written by them
was in the hope of warding off that terrible alternative
towards which the current of events now seemed about
to drift both parties ; and it may fairly be supposed
that, as nothing could be more agreeable to their own
views than thus repudiating all design of aggressive
war, they must have been well content of every oppor-
tunity that enabled them to confirm the King in similar
intentions^ by committing him with his own consent to
the same pacific policy. That the King in his nego-
tiations with the Parliament was always guilty of some
mental reservation, founded on his hopes of foreign
succours to be raised by the Queen, was afterwards
undeniably proved. The exact Ime between preme-
ditated deceit, infidelity to engagements, and fickleness
of purpose, can seldom be traced with certainty in the
conduct of Charles ; but that he was never bound by
the expectations his promises had raised, when their
abandonment better suited the purpose of the moment,
was but too fully proved by the history of his whole
reign ; and it was thus he shook the confidence of his
most faithful advisers^ and afforded to his enemies an
excuse for acts of aggression as measures of defence.
The alarm at the threatened collision between the
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1 18 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. V.
King and the Parliament was now manifested in various
ways: amongst others, in loyal petitions addressed to
the King, most of them praying for some accommoda-
tion between the King and Parliament The first of
these petitions was from Hertford, bearing date June
7th; the next was a Cornish petition, signed by
forty-three gentlemen at Lostwithiel, and 7000 more
esquires, gentlemen, &c.; then a petition, July 5th,
from the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland,
signed by 4774 knights and gentlemen ; a petition from
Holdemesse, complaining of Sir John Hotham taking
into Hull part of the train-bands, drowning their lands,
&c.; a petition from Kent, August 1st; and a petition
from Flint, August 4th. To all these were returned
answers bearing Lord Falkland's signature ; these were
admirably adapted to their purpose, dignified, clear,
and forcible; but though Lord Falkland's name is
appended to each, and in some his style of writing
may be recognised,^ it would be impossible to quote
any of these documents as wholly of his composition.
The various declarations that issued from the Court in
Yorkshire are too numerous and too long to be here
recapitulated. There is no certain evidence of what
portion in each may have been approved of or sug-
gested by ihe subject of this memoir ; nor could they
convey a just estimate of the due allowance to be made
for the conduct of each of the conflicting parties without
the insertion of the replies and rejoinders of the Parlia-
ment.
' Sec Appendix N.
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Chap. VI. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 119
CHAPTER VL
Preparations for War — The King's Standard erected at Nottingham —
Overtures for a Reconciliation made by the King on the advice of his
Ministers — Rejected by the Parliament — Lord Falkland is excluded
from the House of Conmions — Reproof of Prince Rupert by Lord
Falkland — Battle of Edgehill — Qallant and humane Behaviour of
Lord Falkland — The King advances to Colnbrook, where he receives
a pacific Message from the Parliament — Prince Rupert frustrates the
Negotiation — The King retires to Oxford for the Winter — Wager
of the King and Lord Falkland about Mr. Hyde's Style of Writing.
Each side declared for peace, whilst each now pre-
pared for war. On the 22nd of June forty-three lords
and gentlemen at York voluntarily engaged to assist
the King in defence of his ** royal person,** " the two
Houses of Parliament," " the Protestant religion,** &c.
&c., by the paying, according to their respective means,
for so many horses for three months.^ Lord Falkland
* " A Catalogue of the Names of the Lords that subscribed to levie
*' Horse to assist His Majesty in defence of His Royall Person, the
'* two Houses of Parliament, and the Protestant Beligion.
«« Yorke, the 22nd of June, 1642.
" Whereas it may be collected by severall Declarations printed in the
" name of both Houses of Parliament, That the King's sacred person, the
** Houses of Parliament, the Protestant Religion, the lawes of the land,
** the liberty and propriety of the subject, and priviledges of Parliament
" are all in danger :
" We whose names are under-written doe voluntarily offer and severally
*' ingage ourselves, according to the following subscriptions, to assist His
** Majestic in defence of His Royall Person, the two Houses of Parliament,
" the Protestant Religion, the lawes of the land, the liberty and pro-
" priety of the subject, and priviledges of Parliament ; when His Majestic
'* shall have given Commission under the Great Scale for levying of
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120
LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND.
Chap. VI.
contributed twenty horses. Lord Lindsay was appointed
General of the King's forces on the 12th of July ; Lord
Essex was appointed Lord General by the Parliament.*
'* forces for those purposes, against all power, levies, and forces what-
" soever, or to be raysed upon any pretence whatsoever :
" To pay horses for three months, thirty dayes to the month, at
** two shillings sixpence per diemy still advancing a month's
'< pay, the first payment to begin so soone as the King shall
'' call for it after the Commissions shall be issued under the
" Great Seale. Li this niunber are not to be reckoned the
« horses of the subscribers, or those that shall attend them : —
Horse.
Earl of Newport .... 60
Lord Mowbray 50
Lord Willoughby .... 30
Lord Grey of Ruthin ... 10
Lord Lovelace 40
Lord Paget 30
Lord Falconbridge to come .
Lord Rich 30
LordPawlet 40
Lord Newark 30
Lord Montague 30
Lord Coventrey .... 100
LordSavUl 60
LordMohun 20
Lord Dunsmore . • • • 40
Lord Seymour 20
LordCapell 100
«
Lord Faulkland .... 20
Master Comptroller ... 20
Master Secretary Nicholas . 20
Lord Chief-Justice Bankes . 20
" ♦ The Lord Thanet is not here, but one hath undertaken for 100 for
him.
Sum total 1695."
— Vide vol. iii. of boimd pamphlets, from 1640 to 1642, in the possession
of the Earl of Essex.
* On the Speaker of the House of Lords acquainting the Earl of Essex
that the Lords consented to the wishes of the Commons in his appoint-
ment, the Earl gave their Lordships thanks.
Horse.
"The Prince 200
The Duke of York. ... 120
Lord Keeper 40
Duke of Richmond . . . 100
Lo. Marquesse Hartford . . 60
Lord Great Chamberlain . . 30
Earl of Cumberland ... 60
Earl of Himtingdon ... 20
Earl of Bath 50
Earl of Southampton ... 60
Earl of Dorset 60
Earl of Northampton ... 40
Earl of Devonshire ... 60
Earl of Dover 25
Earl of Cambridge • . • . 60
Earl of Bristoll 60
Earl of Westmorland ... 20
Earl of Barkshire and L. An-
dover 30
Earl of Monmouth .... 30
Earl Rivers 30
Earl of Camarvan .... 20
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Chap. VI. BEGINNING OP THE WAK. 121
On the nth of August a letter was addressed from the
King to the Lords, with a proclamation for suppressing
the rebellion under the command of Robert Earl of
Essex, with offer of free pardon to him and his ad-
herents should they lay down their arms within six days.
The offer of pardon was scornfully rejected, and the
proclamation defied. A counter declaration and pro-
clamation followed, requiring the King to disband his
army, and to abandon and leave to condign punishment
his evil counsellors.
On the 18th the Parliament declared all such as
assisted the King to be traitors. On the 22nd the
King's standard was erected at Nottingham.^ This de-
cisive step on the Royalist side did not, however,
diminish the ardent desire for peace on the part of his
wisest and most faithful counsellors. It was urged upon
the King that he should ^^ send a message to the Far-
** liament, with some overture to incline them to a
" treaty."* The King was indignant even at the pro-
posal, declared he never would yield to it, and broke up
the council. The next day, however, the same advice
was still more earnestly renewed, and the King was at
last prevailed on to consent, but rather from the belief
that the offer would be rejected than with any desire
it should be accepted.' The Earl of Southampton,
' Lord Clarendon gives tbe 25 th of August as the day on which the
standard was erected. This does not correspond with the date given by
Bushworth and Whitelocke ; but Lord Clarendon afterwards speaks of the
first message of peace (dated the 25th of August) as being three days after
the erection of the standard. It is probable, therefore, that the 25th is a
mere clerical error. — Vide Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. iii. pp. 206, 211.
• Ibid., vol. iii. p. 203.
' '' The King was so exceedingly afflicted after he had given his consent,
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122 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
who had been strongly in favour of this step, was ap-
pointed to be the bearer of this message of peace to the
Lords, whilst Sir John Culpepper was to be the mes-
senger to the Commons. The Lords refused to allow
Lord Southampton to deliver the message in person,
and, after an ineffectual resistance on his part against
the surrender of his commission into other hands, it
ended in his being obliged to send in the King's mes-
sage by Mr. Maxwell. Sir John Culpepper asked leave
of the House of Commons to deliver the King's message,
an order of the House existing that prevented his ap-
pearing there without leave.* The Commons showed
more respect on this occasion to the messenger of the
King than the Lords had done, and he was admitted
in person to deliver the King's message of peace. A
conference with the Lords followed its delivery, the
result of which was its total rejection, accompanied
** that he broke out into tears ; and the Lord Southampton, who lay in
** the bedchamber that night, told Mr. Hyde the next morning that the
<* King had been in so great an agony that whole night that he believed
*' he had not slept two hours in the whole night, which was a discom-
** posure his constitution was rarely liable to in the greatest misfortunes of
** his life." The King determined he would send no message but what
Mr. Hyde prepared, and he *' confessed himself better pleased with the
" message itself than the thought of sending it to them." Mr. Hyde suc-
ceeded in some degree in soothing the King's distress ; and on his " earnestly
'* desiring his Majesty would compose his own countenance, and abolish that
" infectious sadness in his own looks, which made the greatest impression
** upon men, and made them think that he found his condition to be more
" desperate than anybody else believed it to be, the King was very well
" pleased with the discourse, and told him he was a very good comforter," &c.
— Vide Appendix F, Clarendon's * Hist, of the Kebellion,' vol. iii. pp. 621-4.
' An order had passed that all the members who ** were not present on
" a certain day should not presume to sit there till they had paid 100?.,
** and given the House satisfaction in the cause of their absence." — Ibid.,
p. 209.
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Chap. VI. KING'S OVERTURES OF PEACE. 123
by orders to the Lord General (Essex) to advance
his forces with all possible speed. The King had
neither wished nor expected any other result from the
proposal that he had been so unwillingly forced to make,
and he pleased himself with the hope that he should not
again be required to address the two Houses ; but his
counsellors, more true to their trust than solicitous to
please, relaxed not in their endeavours to adopt some
course that should avert the collision of arms. He was
advised, as Lord Clarendon records, by " some whom
*' he trusted as much as any, and those whose affections
** were as entire to him as any men's, to give all other
^^ thoughts over, and instantly to make all imaginable
^^ haste to London, and appear in the Parliament
" House before they had any expectation of him.
" They conceived there would be more likelihood for
" him to prevail that way than by any army he could
" raise ; and it must be solely imputed to his Majesty's
" own resolution that he took not that course." ^
It is evident from Lord Clarendon's expression that
this advice was specially tendered to the King by those
three upon whose counsels he had mainly depended
for guidance in his fallen state, but, nevertheless, the
advice was rejected. The presence of the Sovereign in
the capital at this juncture of affairs would have been
calculated to give that confidence to the Parliament in
his sincerity which his professions and declarations
failed to inspire. In truth, it was not Charles, but his
advisers, who were sincere in the present wish for peace.
He had been with extraordinary difficulty brought to
' Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. iii. p. 212.
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124 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
consent to the first message ; he now absolutely refused
to adopt the counsel of presenting himself to Parliament
Perhaps he felt himself supported in this resistance by
the knowledge of the opinions of others, to whom he
was bound by the ties of affection and relationship.
Prince Rupert, who was in command of the horse at
Leicester, was so indignant at the King's first message
being sent, or at any question of a treaty, that he and
some of his principal officers even talked of offering
violence to those who had advised it.^ The promise
given to the Queen on her departure, that he would
not again approach the capital so long as the Parlia-
ment was sitting, but too probably retained its hold
upon his memory, and the more surely because it
accorded with his own feelings. As a compromise,
however, he allowed a second message of peace to be
carried to the Parliament, and on the 5th of September
* Lord Sunderland, In a letter addressed to his wife, the Lady Dorothy
Sidney (well known as the Sacharissa of Waller), dated Shrewsbury,
September 21, 1642, fully bears out the statement that the King had been
worked upon by some to no longer desire peace, though he seems to do
him more than justice in the belief that he " heartily wished it" when the
late messages were sent to Parliament : —
" If there could be an expedient foimd to solve the pimctilio of honour,
" I would not continue here an hour. The discontent that I and many
" other honest men receive daily is beyond expression. People are much
" divided ; the King is of late very much averse to peace, by the per-
'* suasions of 202 and 111 (?). It is likewise conceived that the King has
" taken a resolution not to do anything in that way before the Queen
" comes ; for people advising the King to agree with the Parliament was
" the occasion of the Queen's return. Till that time no advice will be
" received ; nevertheless the honest men will take all occasions to procure
** an accommodation, which the King when he sent the late messages did
" heartily desire, and would still make offers but for 202 and 111, and
" the expectation of the Queen and fear of the Papists, who threaten people
" of 342."— Sidney, Mem,, vol. ii. p. 657.
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Chap. VL OVERTURES REJECTED. 125
Lord Spencer and Lord Falkland were the messengers
appointed for its delivery to the two Houses. The same
scene was enacted as that which had passed with Lord
Southampton and Sir John Culpepper. Lord Falk-
land was allowed to deliver his message and then retire.^
Two days afterwards he was the bearer of the reply of
the Parliament to the King, which amounted to little
more than the repetition of their answer to the first
message. On the 13th, before leaving Nottingham,
the King addressed a third message to the Parliament,
which, Lord Clarendon says, was *' as a farewell to his
** hopes of a treaty, and to make the deeper sense and
^^ impression in the hearts of the people, of those who
" had so pertinaciously rejected it"*
* Lord Falkland's Message to Parliament
** We will not repeat what means we have used to prevent the dangerous
** and distracted estate of the kingdom, nor how those means have been
** interpreted ; because, being desirous to avoid the effusion of blood, we
'* are willing to decline all memory of former bitterness that might render
'* our offer of a treaty less readily accepted. We never did declare, nor
'* ever intended to declare, both our Houses of Parliament traitors, or set
** up our standard against them, and much less to put them and this
** kingdom out of our protection. We utterly profess against it before
** God and the world ; and farther, to remove all possible scruples which
" may hinder the treaty so much desired by us, we hereby promise (so
" that a day be appointed by you for the revoking of your declarations
*' against all persons as traitors or otherwise for assisting of us) we shall,
** with all cheerfulness, upon the same day recall our proclamations and
*< declarations, and take down our standard. In which treaty we shaU
** be ready to grant anything that shall be really for the good of our sub-
« jects ; conjuring you to consider the bleeding condition of Ireland and
*' the dangerous condition of England, in as high a degree as by these
** our offers we have declared ourself to do ; and assuring you that our chief
" desire in this world is to beget a good imderstanding and mutual con-
** fidence betwixt us and our two Houses of Parliament." — Clarendon, Hist,
cf Bebelliony vol. iii. p. 212 ; Com, c/bwm., vol. ii. p. 763.
• Ibid, p. 218.
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126 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VL
This last declaration was certainly well calculated to
produce a deep impression on the hearts of those who
recoiled with natural horror from the certain outbreak
of a civil war ; it was written with all the dignity and
courage becoming a sovereign towards his people, with
the humility and resignation due from man to his
Maker. Even at this distance of time it is impossible
to read this final address without being moved by the
solemn and pathetic tone which pervades its sentiments
throughout, and without deeply mourning that the Par-
liament at this critical moment was not represented by
counsellors as wisely pacific as those who had wrung
from the King the power of thus serving his cause in
spite of himself. " Who have taken most ways, used
" most endeavours, and made most real expressions to
** prevent the present distractions and dangers, let all
" the world judge, as well by former passages as by our
" two last messages, which have been so fruitless, that,
" though we have descended to desire and press it, not
** so much as a treaty can be obtained, unless we would
" denude ourself of all force to defend us from a visible
** strength marching against us, and admit those persons
" as traitors to us, who, according to their duty, their
" oaths of allegiance, and the law, have appeared in
** defence of us, their King and liege lord (whom we
** are bound in conscience and honour to preserve),
** though we disclaimed all our proclamations and de-
" clarations, and the erecting of our standard, as against
" our Parliament. All we have now left in our power is
" to express the deep sense we have of the public misery
" of this kingdom, in which is involved that of our
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Chap. VI. THE KING'S LAST DECLARATION. 127
" distressed Protestants of Ireland, and to apply ourself
" to our necessary defence, wherein we wholly rely
" upon the providence of God, the justice of our cause,
" and the affection of our good people ; so far we are
" from putting them out of our protection. When you
** shall desire a treaty of us, we shall piously remember
" whose blood is to be spilt in this quarrel, and cheer-
" fully embrace it. And as no other reason induced
" us to leave our city of London but that with honour
" and safety we could not stay there, nor to raise any
** force but for the necessary defence of our person and
" the law against levies in opposition to both, so we shall
" suddenly and most willingly return to the one and
^^ disband the other as soon as these causes shall be
** removed. The God of Heaven direct you, and in
" mercy divert those judgments which hang over this
*^ nation, and so deal with us and our posterity as
** we desire the preservation and advancement of the
** true Protestant religion, the law and the liberty of
*' the subject, the just rights of Parliament, and the
" peace of the kingdom."*'
The leaders in Parliament were probably well aware
that Charles's own opinions were oflen not represented
in the declarations and addresses that issued from his
Court, and in that consists their apology, if not justi-
fication, in continued resistance, but they had no reason
to doubt the sincerity of those by whom these addresses
were really penned ; yet on the 22nd of September we
find that a resolution passed the House of Commons
' Clarendon's 'Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol, iii. p. 218.
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128 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
** that the Lord Falkland shall be disabled for continuing
" any longer a member of this House during this Par-
" liament,"* and excluded the names of Lord Falkland,
Mr. Secretary Nicholas, Mr. Hyde, and some others
from the clemency that was to be extended to the
adherents of the King by their Lord-General, Lord
Esse^.*
It was in the beginning of the present month (Sep-
tember) that Prince Eupert and Prince Maurice
(nephews to the King) arrived in England to assist
their uncle in his military operations : the rash conduct
and haughty bearing of the elder of these two young
princes has become a fact of almost proverbial notoriety.
The Earl of Lindsay had been appointed General of
the whole army. Prince Rupert afterwards received
his commission as General of the Horse, with a clause
inserted to exempt him from receiving orders from any
but the King himself; which at once separated him from
' Com. Joum., vol. ii. pp. 775, 777.
■ The following notice of this event shows that the conduct of Parlia-
ment did not pass without notice in one of the publications of the time : —
" We would be glad to know what was the cause of turning the Lord
" Faulkland, Sir John Culpepper, Sir Jo. Strangwaies, Master G. Palmer,
" and divers others out of the Houses (for they were voted out by scores
" hand over head), unlesse it were because they spake more reason than
" the more violent party could answer ; and therefore it was come to that
*' passe, that (cleane contrary to the use, yea, and the honor of Par-
" liaments too) things were not debated by reason and strength of argu-
" ment, but by putting it to the question and carrying it by most voices,
" where the greatest number were so far from understanding many times
•* the force of arguments, that they did not, after the vote was past, con-
« ceive the state or sense of the question, but thought it was enough
" for them to vote with Master Pynun or Master Hampden by an im-
** plicate faith ; and if they differed (as seldom they did), then, crosse or
" pyle, vote at venture." — A Complaint to the House of CommanSy Oxford,
1642 ; Pamphlets, vol. iii., in the possession of the Earl of Essex.
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Chap. VI. BATTLE OF EDGEHILL. 129
the command of General Lindsay/ and occasioned con-
siderable jealousy between the officers of the foot and
those of the horse. This exemption, founded on misplaced
pride, and alike subversive both of military discipline
and civil authority, led on one occasion to a well-
timed reproof from Lord Falkland. Before the battle
of Edgehill, the King, receiving intelligence of the
enemy's movements after he had retired to bed, ordered
Lord Falkland to direct Prince Rupert what he should
do. The Prince regarded this as an infraction of his
peculiar right, and remonstrated in great anger with
Lord Falkland for giving him orders.* Lord Falkland
replied, " that it was his office to signify what the King
" bid him, which he should always do, and that his
" Highness, in neglecting it, neglected the King ;"
indeed^ as Lord Clarendon adds, *^ there was no man
" against whom the Prince could direct his anger who
" would feel or regard it less than Lord Falkland."
On the evening of the 22nd of October the armies
of the King and of the Parliament found themselves
within seven or eight miles of each other, and it was
decided on the morrow to test their strength by the
first general battle. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning,
the 23rd of October, the Boyalist army was ordered to
rendezvous on the top of Edgehill, about two miles from
Keinton, where that of the Parliament, under the com-
mand of the Earl of Essex, was stationed. Lord Falk-
land, Sir J. Culpepper, and Mr. Hyde were quartered in
a village called Culworth, with the Earl of Lindsay, and,
immediately on hearing the King's order for the army
» Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion/ vol. iii. p. 270. • Ibid.
VOL. I. K
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130 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
to assemble at Edgehill, made all possible haste to the
scene of action. Mr* Hyde was ordered by the King
to retire with the Prince of Wales and the Duke of
York to the top of the hill, and there to remain during
the engagement Sir J. Culpepper charged with Prince
Bupert on the right wing, but Lord Falkland had natu-
rally no inclination to serve under a commander who
had so recently forgotten what was due to the King, and
to himself as his minister ; he determined, therefore, to
charge with Wilmot, to whom was intrusted the left
wing. Lord Falkland was not only a man of remark-
able courage, but one of those daring spirits to whom
danger is not without a charm in itself. In describing
the battle of Edgehill, Lord Clarendon says, ^^ In all
^^ such actions Lord Falkland forgot that he was Secre-
** tary of State, and desired to be where there would
'* probably be most to do.*** It would have been well
for the King's service if in this battle his suggestions
had been more heeded. He had observed that the
horse of the enemy had made no resistance that day,
and yet that a body under command of Sir William
Balfour remained whole. He asked leave of his com-
mander to be allowed himself to charge them, and,
finding he made but little impression, he again pressed
his request, to which however Wilmot, with blind con-
fidence, replied, " My Lord, we have got the day, and
" let us live to enjoy the fruit thereof."* This small
body, which had been kept in reserve, afterwards proved
a most formidable force. They had waited unmolested
till the King's horse had nearly disappeared from the
> ClaraDdon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. iii. p. 634. Appendix I.
• Ibid.
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Chap. VI. BEHAVIOUR OP LORD FALKLAND. 131
field. FriDce Bupert had engaged in hot pursuit of the
right wing of the enemy, whilst Wilmot was engaged
with the other wing. Sir William Balfour then rushed
upon the foot and did fearful execution* The Earl of
Lindsay was mortally wounded, his son taken prisoner,
the standard-bearer, Sir Edward Yemey, killed, and
the King with his two sons, guarded by less than a
hundred men, were approached within half a musket-
shot before they were aware of the advance of this
successful body.^ It was not only for his foresight and
his personal courage that Lord Falkland deserves to be
mentioned on this occasion ; before the day closed he had
earned those still brighter laurels which are due to the
constant exercise of humane and benevolent feelings.
His gallant spirit always led him ** to engage his person
^^ with those troops whom he thought by the for-
^* wardness of the commander to be most like to be
** farthest engaged ; but, &r from taking any delight in
^* the execution that usually attended such encounters,
" he took pains to prevent it when it was not, by re-
^^ sistance, made necessary.''* On the present occasion,
no sooner was tiie enemy routed than^ at the imminent
risk of his own life, he actively interposed to save those
who had thrown away their arms, and whose defenceless
condition seemed rather to increase the ferocity with
which tiiey were attacked : thus justifying Lord Cla-
rendon s pointed description of the courage and hu-
manity of his friend, of whom he says, ^^ Any man might
^^ think he came into the field chiefly out of curiosity to
* Clarendon's ' Hist, of the Bebelliony' vol. ill. p. 280.
• Ibid., vol. iv. pp. 251-2.
K 2
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132 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
" see the face of danger, and charity to prevent the
** shedding of blood."* The victory was claimed by
each party; the question really at issue was rather
which had lost most in this undecided battle, than which
could boast of the greatest success. The Earl of Essex
retreated to Warwick. The King appointed the Earl
of Euthin General of the army in the place of the
Earl of Lindsay, and marched to Banbury, which sur-
rendered with its garrison of 1000 men. The fol-
lowing day he proceeded to his own house at Woodstock,
and the day after with his whole army entered Oxford,
where he was received by the University with every
demonstration of loyalty. The sick and wounded
were attended to, the troops reunited, and the King's
funds augmented by the voluntary gifts from the
different colleges of all the money in their trea-
suries. From Oxford the King marched to Reading ;
his approach created much alarm in the capital : the
Earl of Essex continued at Worcester, and the Parlia-
ment determined now on asking a safe-conduct for a
Committee of Lords and Commons to attend his Ma-
jesty with an humble petition from his Parliament
The following answer was addressed by Lord Falkland
to Lord Grey de Warke, as Speaker of the House of
Lords, dated Reading, November 6th, 1642: —
" My Lord, —
^' Your Lordship's of the 5th of this month I showed
unto his Majesty, who hath commanded me to return your
Lordship an answer in these words : — ^That his Majesty hath
now sent (which I have enclosed) a safe-conduct, imder his
' Clarendon's 'Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. iv. p. 263.
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Chap. VI. OVERTURES OF THE PARLIAMENT. 133
Royal hand and signet, for the Earl of Northumberland and
the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, Mr. Pierpointe, the
Lord Wenman, and Sir John Hippesley ; but hath not admitted
Sir John Evelin, of Wilts, to attend him, as being included in
the exception made by his Majesty in the letter of the 4th of
this month, sent by Mr. Secretary Nicholas to your Lordship,
as by the enclosed proclamation (proclaimed at his Majesty's
Court at Oxford, and sent with a writ sealed in the county of
Wilts) will appear. His Majesty hath likewise commanded me
to signify to your Lordship that, in case the Houses shall think
fit to send any other person in the place of Sir John Evelin,
that is not included in the exception made in Mr. Secretary's
letter before mentioned, his Majesty hath commanded all his
officers and soldiers and other subjects to sufier him as freely
to pass and repass as if his name had been particularly com-
prised in this safe-conduct This being all that I have in com-
mission, I rest
" Your Lordship's humble servant,
" Falkland.
" Reading, Nov. 6, 1642.
** For the Right Honourable the Lord Gray of Warke,
Speaker of the House of Peers pro temporer^
The messages and discussions that arose respecting
the presence of Sir John Evelyn produced some delay in
the sending of this Committee. In the mean time the
King had marched to Colnbrook, where, on the 1 1th
of November, the Earls of Pembroke and Northumber-
land, and others, presented the petition of Parliament,
of which the object was pacific. The King's answer
was in the same spirit, and the favourable report made
by the Committee to the Parliament of the King's
* Lords* Journals, vol. ▼. p. 435.
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134 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
reception, together with the fear now entertained of the
Bdyalist army, might have afforded some hope of
accommodation had the King returned to Reading as
was intended, or even remained at Colnbrook till he
heard again from the Parliament To this opinion
Lord Clarendon (never too favourable a witness to the
intentions of Parliament) certainly inclines in his account
of these preliminaries to a treaty, and attributes the
failure to the impetuosity of Prince Rupert Without
discussing the merits of his military genius, it was clear
that the headstrong zeal of this ungovemed Prince was
little fitted to cope with the difficulties or to serve the
cause in which he was now engaged. Ignorant of the
value to be placed on the sources from which he derived
information, and with no other ideas but those of con-
quest and victory in a war of opinion, he was ill able to
appreciate the grave questions that were inseparably
connected with a struggle for constitutional liberty ; — a
struggle which had throughout involved questions less
of physical force than of the authority of law and the
philosophy of government; a struggle which, when
brought to the issue of arms, needed as much the vigi-
lant eye of the statesman as the ready hand of the
soldier to bring to a happy termination. The welcome
information poured into Prince Rupert*s ear that the
King had a large party in the capital, and the flattering
assurances of the fear with which he himself had in-
spired the enemy, made him now determine, without
orders firom the King, the very morning after the Com-
mittee returned to London, to advance as far as
Hounslow ; from thence he sent to Colnbrook, to desire
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Chap. VI. SKIRMISH AT BRENTFORD. 135
that the army might follow, which, as Lord Clarendon
says, became then a necessity, for, ^^ if the King had
*^ not advanced, those who were before might very
^^ easily have been compassed in, and their retreat made
** very difficult"^
Both Houses were so well pleased with the report of
the Committee, that fihey resolved to send an order to
their troops ^ that they should not exercise any act of
*^ hostility towards the King's forces,** and sent a mes-
senger to the King to ask ** that tiiere might be the like
" forbearance on his.*** The messenger found both parties
in the height of an engagement at Brentford, and returned
to London without seeking to deliver his message, and
without therefore the King knowing either that any such
had been intended to be given, or that the proposed treaty
was now considered by the Parliament at an end. This
hostile encounter at Brentford, where many lives were
lost on both sides, many prisoners made, and many guns
and colours captured by the Royalists, was regarded by
tiie Parliament as an act of premeditated perfidy and
treachery on tiie part of the King, occurring as it did at
the moment when a treaty of peace was demanded on
both sides, and sincerely intended on theirs. The King
returned to Hampton Court and thence to Oatlands,
where he received the Parliament's allegations against
him for marching upon Brentford, and from Oatlands
he returned to Reading. The following declaration,
issued from Oatlands, seems to correspond with that
which Lord Clarendon describes as being drawn up by
* Clarendon's 'Hist, of the Rebellion,* vol. iii. p. 327.
• Ibid., p. 328.
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136 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
Lord Falkland, and is not without the characteristic
marks both of his style and feelings in the wish for peace
and the fearlessness of batde : — *
" Charles R. " Oatlauds, the 18th of Nov., 1642.
" To the answer of both Houses of Parliament to his
Majesty's message of the 12th of Noyember, his Majesty makes
this reply : — That his message of the 12th, though not received
by them till the 14th, was sent to them first upon the same day
upon which it was dated, and meeting with stops by the way
was again sent upon the 13th, and taken up on that day at ten
in the morning by the Earl of Essex, and, though not unto him
directed, was by him opened ; so the slowness of the delivery is
not so strange as the stop of the letter said to be sent by Sir
Peter Killigrew, which his Majesty hath not yet received, but
concludes, from the matter expressed to have been contained in
that letter (to wit, to know his pleasure whether he intended
the forbearance of hostility), and by the command of such for-
bearance said to be sent to the Lord of Essex's army, that no
such forbearance was already concluded ; and, consequently,
neither had his Majesty cause to suppose that he should take
any of their forces unprovided and secure in expectation of a
fair treaty, neither could any hostile act of his Majesty's forces
have been a course unsuitable to his expressions ; much less
could an endeavour to prepossess (for so he hoped he might
have done) that place, which might have stopped the further
march of those forces towards him (which, for aught appeared
to him, might as well have been intended to G)lebrook as to
' Lord Clarendon describes this declaration, as prepared by Lord Falk-
land, as one expressive of the King's desire of peace, and as offering some
explanation of the grounds of his advancing to Brentford ; and though he
speaks of it as being published at Oxford, as no declaration answering
to this description is to be found in the journals published at Oxford, it
is probable that Lord Clarendon has misdescribed the place from which it
was issued.
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Chap. VI. THE KING'S DECLARATION. 137
Brainford), and by that the further eflFiision of blood, deserve
that style. His Majesty farther conceives that the printing so
out of time of such a declaration as the reply to his answer to
theirs of the 26th May, but the day before they voted the deli-
very of their petition and the march of the Earl of £ssex*s
forces to Brainford, so near to his Majesty, when the Committee
at the same time attended him with a petition for a treaty, the
Earl of Essex being before possessed of all the other avenues to
his army, by his forces at Windsor, Acton, and Kingston, was
a more strange introduction to peace than for his Majesty not
to suffer himself to be coojped up on all sides, because a treaty
had been mentioned, which was so really and so much desired
by his Majesty, that this proceeding seems to him purposely by
some intending to divert (which it could not do) that his incli-
nation.
" That his Majesty had no intention to master the City by
so advancing, besides his profession, which (how meanly soever
they seem to value it) he conceives a sufficient argument (espe-
cially being only opposed by suspicions and surmises), may
appear by his not pursuing his victory at Brainford, but giving
orders to his army to march away to Kingston as soon as he
heard that place was quitted, before any notice or appearance of
further forces from London ; nor could he find a better way to
satisfy them beforehand that he had no such intention, but that
his desire of peace and of propositions that might conduce to it
still continued, than by that message of the 12tli ; for which
care of his he was requited by such a reception of his message
and messenger as was contrary at once both to duty, civility,
and the very custom and law of war and nations, and such as
theirs (though after this provocation) hath not found from
him.
" His Majesty wonders that his soldiers should be charged
with thirsting after blood, who took above five hundred prisoners
in the very heat of the fight, his Majesty having since dismissed
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138 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
all the common soldiers, and entertained sudi as were willing to
serve him, and required cmly from the rest an oath not to serre
against him.
" And his Majesty supposes ;uch most apt and likely to
maintain their power by blood and rapine, who have only got it
by oppression and injustice. That his is Tested in him by the
law; and by that only (if the destructive counsels of others
would not hinder such a peace, in whidi that might once again
be the uniyersal rule, and in which religion and justice can
only flourish) he desires to miuntcun it; and if peace were
equally desired by them as it is by his Majesty, he conceives it
would have been proper to have sent him such a paper as diould
have contained just propositions of peace, and not an unjust
accusation of his coundk, proceedings, and person. And his
Majesty intends to march to such a distance from his city of
London as may take away all pretence of apprehension from his
army that might hinder them in all security from yet preparing
them to present to him ; and there will be ready either to receive
them, or to end the pressures and miseries which hb subjects (to
his great grief) suflfer through this war by a present battle."'
Other declarations and replies followed between the
King and the Parliament^ but the unfortunate conflict
at Brentford and its consequences had shaken confi*
dence, and given fresh cause for dispute, and peace was
no nearer at hand.
The King took up his winter quarters at Oxford.
Marlborough was captured by the King's forces under
Wilmot in the month of December, and a few days
later the Parliamentary troops gained an advantage
over a small force under the command of Lord Grandi-
son near Winchester.*
' Lords* Jouroala, vol. v. p. 451. • Hist. Keb. vol. iii. pp. 340-3.
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Chap. VI. THE KING AT OXFORD. 139
The King now took every means to strengthen his
position. A long letter, explanatory of his present
condition and in justification of his conduct, was ad-
dressed to the Privy Council of Scotland, to counteract
the efiect of the declaration addressed by the Parlia-
ment to that kingdom. Money was raised for the pay-
ment of the troops : and those who bad attached them-
selves to the King's cause showed their loyalty by lai^e
contributions of money and plate. The Parliament
was no less active, nor were there wanting instances as
striking on their side of disinterested devotion to the
cause they had espoused. Hostilities and negotiations
were carried on, but neither victory was gained nor
peace concluded. Indeed, the histoiy of this period is
so strange a mixture of legal discussion and military
tactics, that it can hardly be understood or fairly judged
without as careful a perusal of the journals of Parlia-
ment as of the details of military operations.
The life of a Secretary of State must always be
closely interwoven with the history of his times, but the
scanty materials from which are to be drawn any
further details respecting Lord Falkland belong rather
to personal than to historical narrative. During the
residence of the Court at Oxford this winter, an inci-
dent occurred which shows that, however little personal
attachment subsisted between the Emg and Lord Falk-
land, they were at least on terms of some familiarity.^
The King had been speaking to Lord Falkland in
terms of kindness of Mr. Hyde ; and, remarking on the
» Clarendon, « Life,' vol. i. p. 136.
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140 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VI.
great peculiarity of his style of writing, he said that
" he should know anything written by him, if it were
'^ brought to him by a stranger amongst a multitude
" of writings by other men."* Lord Falkland expressed
his doubt as to his Majesty being able to do so, adding
that "he himself, who had so long conversation and
** friendship with him, was often deceived, and often
" met with things written by him of which he could
" never have suspected him upon the variety of argu-
" ments." The King replied, he " would lay him an
" angel, that, let the argument be what it would, he
" should never bring him a sheet of paper (for he
" would not undertake to judge of less) of his writing,
" but he would discover it to be his.**
Lord Falkland accepted the wager, and neither he
nor the King mentioned it to Mr. Hyde Shortly after-
wards Lord Falkland brought several unopened letters,
together with the diurnals and speeches which were
daily printed in London and sent to Oxford. Two
speeches attracted the King's attention, the one by
Lord Pembroke in favour of an accommodation, and
the other by Lord Brooke against it. He remarked
that he did not think Pembroke could have spoken at
such length ; " though," added he, " every word was
" so much his own that nobody else could make it."
Lord Falkland whispered in his ear, there being other
* The King appears to have been critical as to style, and, to judge by
his observations on Lord Falkland's manner of writing, he was not always
well pleased at his own being altered : " For," said he, " my Lord
** Carle ton ever brought me my own sense in my own words ; but my Lord
'* Falkland most commonly brought me my instructions in so fine a dress
" that I did not always own them/'—ifcm. of Sir Ph, Warwick, p. 72.
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Chap. VL WAGER WITH LORD FALKLAND. 141
persons in the room, and claimed an angel ; " which,"
says Lord Clarendon, "his Majesty in the instant
" apprehended, blushed, and put his hand in his pocket,
" and gave him an angel, saying, he had never paid
" a wager more willingly, and was very merry upon
" it" '
* Life, vol. i. p. 137. — It seems that Mr. Hyde not unfrequently amused
himself by thus oomiterfeiting the style of others, and afiSxing their names
to speeches never made by them.
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142 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VII.
CHAPTER VIL
Stoiy of Lord Falkland and the Sortes Yirgilian» — Its probable origin
— Lord Falkland adviaeB die appointment of Mr. Hyde as Chancellor
of the Exchequer — Lord Falkland's change of deameanonr and anxiety
forPeaoe — Negotiations for Peace at Oxford — Broken oflf by the King
— Lord Falkland's advice to the King on the Petition of the Scotch
CommiBsioners against Episcopacy — The War is renewed — Successes
of the Boyalists — Lord Falkland accompanies the King to Bristol.
As the term of Lord Falkland's residence at Oxford
is drawing to a close, it may not be improper here
to mention a story related by Dr. Welwood : " The
" Lord Falkland," says he, " to divert the King,
^^ would have his Majesty make a trial of his fortune
" by the Sortes Yirgilianao, which, everybody knows,
*^ was an usual kind of augury some ages past Where-
** upon, the King opening the book, the period which
^^ happened to come up was that part of Dido's im-
^^precation against ^neas which Mr. Dryden trans-
" lates thus : —
** ^ Yet let a race untamed, and haughty foes,
His peaceful entrance with dire arms oppose ;
Oppressed with numbers in th' unequal field,
His men discouraged, and himself expell'd,
Let him for succour sue from place to place,
Tom from his subjects, and his son's embrace.
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CHAP.Vn. BOBTES VIRGILIAN^. 143
Tirst let him see his friends in battle slain.
And their untimely hie lament in vain ;
And when at length the cruel war shall cease,
On hard conditions may he buy his peace ;
Nor let him then enjoy supreme command,!
But &11 untimely by some hostile hand, >
And lie unburied on the barren sand/ ^ i
^* It is said King Charles seemed concerned at this
^* accident, and that the Lord Falkland, observing it^
^^ would likewise try his own fortune in the same man-
^^ ner, hoping he might fall upon some passage that could
^^ have no relation to his case, and thereby divert the
^^ King's thoughts from any impression the other might
^^ have upon him ; but the place that Falkland stumbled
^^ upon was yet more suited to his destiny than the other
^^ had been to the King's ; being the following expres-
*^ sions of Evander upon the untimely death of his son
^* Pallas, as they are translated by the same hand : —
'' ' O Pallas I thou hast fail'd thy plighted word.
To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword :
I wam'd thee, but in vain ; for well I knew
What perils youthful ardour would pursue ;
That boiling blood would carry thee too fiir.
Young as thou wert in dangers, raw to war I
O curst essay of arms, disastrous doom,
Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come 1 ' " *
This anecdote has been repeated by different writers,
but on the sole authority of Dr. Welwood. It should,
however, be observed that not only is the double coin-
' See Mn. iv. 615-620—" At bello andads populi,'* &o.
• Ibid., xi. 152-157—" Non haec, o PaHa,** &o. See Welwood'f Me-
moire (ed, 1718), p. 90.
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144 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VII.
cidence so remarkable as to pass the limits of credibility,
but that the circumstance is not mentioned by any con-
temporary authority, or alluded to in any work previous
to that of Dr. Wei wood,* a Scotch physician, who
wrote fifly-six years after the death .of Lord Falkland.
It is in the highest degree improbable that Lord
Clarendon, so tenderly minute in all that concerned
Lord Falkland, should have omitted, both in his history
and in his own life, to mention such a striking and pa-
thetic coincidence had it really occurred.
The story may, perhaps, have originated in the fol-
lowing occurrence, mentioned by Aubrey in his MS.
on the Remains of Gentilism.^ He says that in De-
cember, 1648, when King Charles I. was prisoner at
Carisbrook, or to be brought to London to his trial, the
Prince of Wales was at Paris, and received a visit from
Mr. Abraham Cowley. The Prince asked him to play
at cards with him, " to divert his sad thoughts.** " Mr.
" Cowley replied, * He did not care to play at cards, but,
" if his Highness pleased, they would use Sortes Vir-
** gilianae.* Mr. Cowley had always a Vii^il in his
" pocket. The Prince liked the proposal, and pricked
** a pin in the fourth book of the -Slneid.' The Prince
" understood not Latin well, and desired Mr. Cowley
* Dr. James Welwood was bom near Edinburgh in 1652, and died in
1716. He wrote * Memoirs of the most material Transactions in England
for the last Hundred Tears preceding the Revolution in 1688 ' at the sug-
gestion of Queen Mary, who complained to him of the insuperable difiBculties
under which she lay of knowing truly the history of her grandfather's
reign, saying that *' most of the accounts she had read of it were either
" panegyric or satire, not history."
* See Appendix 0.
* " At hello audacis populi," &c.
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Chap. VII. MR. HYDE CHANCELLOR OP EXCHEQUER. 145
" to translate the verses, which he did admirably
"weir^
Whether Aubrey^s anecdote is correct or no it may
not be very easy to determine; but a letter* from
Cowley himself to Mr. Bennet ' is so far confirmatory
of its truth, that, in speaking of the Scotch treaty then
in agitation, he says, ^^ I cannot abstain from believing
'^ that an agreement will be made .... the mutual
** necessity of an accord is visible; the King is per-
" suaded of it. And, to tell you the truth (which I
" take to be an argument above all the rest), Virgil has
" told the same thing to that purpose'* Johnson says,
^^ I cannot but suspect Cowley of having consulted on
^^ this great occasion the Yirgilian lots, and to have
" given some credit to the answer of his oracle.*** If
this be the real foundation of Dr. Welwood's story of
the Sortes Virgilianae, it is clear that Lord Falkland
could have had no part in it ; and the verses that were
applicable to his fate were ingeniously supplied after
his death by some one who was struck with their
applicability.*
Towards the end of December in this year Lord
Falkland had the opportunity of evincing to Mr. Hyde
the value he set upon his service to the King, by being
'^ more solicitous to have him of the Council than he
" was himself for the honour." • The King had offered
Mr. Hyde to make him Secretary of State in place
* Brand's * Popular Antiquities,' edited by Sir H. Ellis, vol. iii. p. 177.
* Quoted in Johnson's * Life of Cowley.'
* Afterwards Earl of Arlington.
* Life of Cowley. » See Appendix P.
* Clarendon, ' Life,' vol. i. p. 142.
VOL. I. L
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146 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VH.
of Sir Edward Nicholas, but for various reasons he
thought fit to decliue the offer.
The death of Sir Charles Caesar shortly afterwards
caused a vacancy in the office of Master of the Rolls ;
Sir John Culpepper had been promised the reversion of
this appointment Lord Falkland immediately suggested
to the King that he would now have a good opportunity
for preferring Mr. Hyde, by making him Chancellor
of the Exchequer in place of Sir John Culpepper.
The King was well disposed to do so, but enjoined Lord
Falkland to silence till he had himself made the offer.
Mr. Hyde accepted, to the great dissatisfaction of Sir
John Culpepper, who was so long in surrendering his
patent of Chancellor of the Exchequer after that for the
Rolls was passed, that Lord Falkland and Lord Digby
expostulated very warmly with him upon it, and drew
the King^s attention to the circumstance. Sir John
Culpepper then relinquished his office, and the following
day Mr. Hyde succeeded to it, being sworn of the Privy
Council and knighted.^ Nor was this the only instance
mentioned by Lord Clarendon of Lord Falkland's inter-
ference on his behalf, when he was dissatisfied with
the conduct of others towards him.* A few months
later (in July), when the King went to Bristol, accom-
panied by some of his Council, Sir Edward Hyde,
now Chancellor of the Exchequer, found that the trade
> Sir J. Culpepper made Master of the Rolls, 30th Januar}% 1642-3.—
Vide Dugdale's * Origiues,' p. Ill, from whence it has been copied into
Beatson's * Political Index/ There is no entry in the Council Register of
Edward Hyde being sworn a Privy Councillor. The entries there become
extremely irregular after Charles retired to York.
• Clarendon, < Life,' vol. i. p. 162.
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Chap. VU. CHANGE IN LORD FALKLAND. 1 47
of that port was likely to yield good profit to the King,
if well managed; but on sending for the officers of the
Customs to obtain further information, he found that
an arrangement had been made, with the advice and
assistance of Sir John Culpepper, by which the King
assigned to Mr. Ashburnham this part of the duty of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer's office. Sir Edward
Hyde was mortified and offended at such interference
with his duty, and, to use his own words, " he took it
" very heavily, and the Lord Falkland, out of his friend-
" ship to him, more tenderly, and expostulated it with
^^the King with some warmth, and more passionately
** with Sir John Culpepper and Mr. Ashburnham, as a
^* violation of the friendship they professed to tiie Chan-
" cellor, and an invasion of his office,^ which no man
^' bears easily." Excuses and explanations ensued, with
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer was satisfied,
and thus the affair ended.^
The King remained for many months at Oxford, and
it was during the residence there with the Court and
' A work published by ihe late Earl of Ashburnham, entitled ' Ashbum-
ham's Narrative,' contains '' a vindication of his character and conduct from
" the misrepresentations of Lord Clarendcn.** In this vindication there is
a most minute and elaborate defence of Mr. Ashburnham on this subject
(vol. i. pp. 15-29). The spirit in which this portion of the vindication is
written, and the terms in which it is couched, are not calculated to produce
conviction in the mind of an impartial reader.
* Lord Clarendon thus winds up his account of this difference : — '' If
" there remained after this any jealousy or coldness between the Chancellor
" of the Exchequer and the other two, as the disparity between their
** natures and humours made some believe there did, it never brake out or
** appeared to the disturbance or prejudice of the King's service, but all
" possible concurrence in the carrying it on was observed between them." —
L^e of Lord Clarendon^ vol. i. p. 164,
L 2
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148 LIFE OP LOBD FALKLAND. Chap. VII.
Council, that Lord Clarendon noted the visible change
that public events had wrought on Lord Falkland's
spirits and habits, and which he thus describes : * " From
" the entrance into this unnatural war, his natural cheer-
" fulness and vivacity grew clouded, and a kind of sadness
" and dejection of spirit stole upon him, which he had
" never been used to/' He had at first entertained the
hope that one decided battle would be followed by a
peaceful adjustment of differences. " But after the
** King's return from Brentford, and the furious resolu-
*' tion of the two Houses not to admit any treaty for
** peace, those indispositions, which had before touched
"him, grew into a perfect habit of uncheerfulness; and
" he, who had been so exactly easy and affable to all
** men, that his face and countenance was always present
" and vacant to his company, and held any cloudiness
** and less pleasantness of the visage a kind of rude-
** ness or incivility, became on a sudden less communi-
" cable, and thence very sad, pale, and exceedingly
"affected with the spleen. In his clothes and habit,
" which he had minded before always with more neat-
" ness, and industry, and expense than is usual to so great
" a soul, he was not now only incurious, but too negli-
" gent ; and in his reception of suitors, and the necessary
*' or casual addresses to his place, so quick, and sharp,
" and severe, that there wanted not some men (strangers
" to his nature and disposition) who believed him proud
" and imperious, from which no mortal man was
"ever more free." "When there was any
" overture or hope of peace, he would be more erect
' Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. iv. pp. 254-6.
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Chap. VII. TREATY OP OXFORD. ' 149
"and vigorous, and exceedingly solicitous to press any-
" thing which he thought might promote it; and sitting
*' among his friends, often, after a deep silence and
" frequent sighs, would, with a shrill and sad accent,
*• ingeminate the word PeacCy Peace; and would pas-
" sionately profess that the very agony of the war, and
" the view of the calamities and desolation the kingdom
" did and must endure, took his sleep from him, and
** would shortly break his heart"
It must have been a welcome task to Lord Falkland,
when, on the 28th of January (1642-3), it fell to his
lot as Secretary of State to enclose to the Earl of
Manchester^ the King's safe-conduct to the Earl of
Northumberland and others,* who were appointed to
present some propositions from Parliament. The pro-
positions were met by others on the part of the King;
but no agreement was come to, and the Commissioners
returned to London. Again, on the 3rd of March, 1642-3,
a despatch was sent by Lord Falkland to the Earl of Man-
chester, enclosing a safe-conduct to Oxford to the Earl of
Northumberland and the other Commissioners^ to treat
for peace ; but no better result ensued from this second
meeting. In the account of the failure of these negoti-
ations, and the neglect of certain advantages laid open to
the King by confidential communications of the Commis-
• Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore.
• Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, and William Earl of
Salisbury.
• Earls of Pembroke, Salisbury, and Holland. For the Commons:
Lords Wennam and Dungarvon, Sir John Holland, Sir William Litton,
Hon. William Pierpoint ; Bulstrode Whitelock, Edmund Waller, and Richard
Winwood, Esqrs.
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150 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VII.
sioners to Lord Falkland and Sir Edward Hyde, Lord
Clarendon has exhibited to the world a curious picture
of the powerful effects of personal influence^ — that
mere personal influence, unsupported by any claims to
superiority in ability, judgment, or experience, which,
once established, maintains its hold over its object,
against the dictates of reason or the whispers of con-
science. The Queen had obtained firom the King a
solemn promise on parting, "that he would never make
" any peace but by her interposition and mediation,
"that the kingdom might receive that blessing from
** her ;" and it was " this promise which was the cause
"of his Majesty's rejection or not entertaining this last
"overture."* The Queen's views were in no degree
altered when she landed in the North, on the 22nd of
February, 1642-3, with arms and ammunition.' "The
** expectation of her arrival at Oxford,'* continues Lord
Clarendon, "was the reason that the King so much
" desired the prolongation of the treaty.*** It had doubt-
less been the consciousness of this promise that had
contributed to render him so reluctant to consent to
those messages of peace which his ministers had insisted
on bearing to Parliament before the war had actually
commenced, for though the obligations of a promise
weighed but lightly in the balance with Charles when
their observance interfered ¥rith some new motive of
> Clarendon, 'Life,' vol. i. p. 149.
' The King, says Lord Clarendon, " saw with her eyes and determined
«< by her judgment ; and did not only pay her this adoration, but desired
'< that all men should know that he was swayed by her, which was not
" good for either of them.**— Ibid., p. 165.
• Ibid., p. 167. * Ibid.
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Chap. VII. BROKEN OFF BY THE KING. 151
action, yet the influence of the Queen invested a
promise made to her with all its sacred character of
inviolability, and she only could release him from those
engagements to which by her he had been bound. It
cannot be doubted, from the concurrent testimony of
Clarendon^ and of Whitelock,* that the Commissioners
were sincerely anxious for peace ; it is equally clear, from
the same testimony, that Lord Falkland, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, and others of the King's Council, were
most desirous of peace — yet peace there was not White-
lock informs us that, when a new paper was presented by
the King to the Commissioners, contrary to the pur-
pose of that which had been agreed to the night before,
they (the Commissioners) pressed him upon his royal
word and the ill consequences that would follow upon
this his new paper. They could obtain no other
reply than ^^ that he had altered his mind, and that this
•* paper which he now gave them was his answer.**
During these negotiations the Commissioners appear
to have been on terms of confidence with some of the
King's own friends, and ofthem they now made inquiries
as to the meaning of this ^^ new paper ^^ and from them
they learnt that, " after they were gone from the King,
"and that his Council were also gone away, some
"of his bedchamber {and they went higher) ^^ hear-
" ing from him what answer he had promised, and
" doubting that it would tend to such an issue of the
" treaty as they did not wish, they being rather for the
' life, vol. i. pp. 149-56. • Memorials, p. 65.
* This must allude to the Queen's persuasions by letter, or to the &dyice
of the Princes Rupert and Maurice.
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152 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VII.
" continuance of the war, they never left pressing and
" persuading of the King, till they prevailed with him
" to change his'former resolutions." ^ The King adopted
this advice ; the message was sent ; the Commis-
sioners were recalled ; and, to use the words of plain and
honest regret in which Whitelock sums up the result of
their negotiations, '^ the treaty, having continued from
"the 4th of March to the 15th of April, was now dis-
" solved, and all their labours and hazards become
"fruitless and of no effect; and all good Englishmen,
" lovers of the peace of their country, were troubled
" and disappointed.*** The King's conduct upon this and
other occasions, whether proceeding from vacillation of
purpose or the evil influence of unwise counsel, must
have been trying to the temper and chilling to the affec-
tion of those who evinced their loyalty- by devotion to
his cause ; and that such was the effect on Lord Falk-
land is best shown in the words of Lord Clarendon.
^^ Albeit he had the greatest compliance with the weak-
" ness, and even the humour, of other men, when there
"could be no suspicion of flattery, and the greatest
" address to inform and reform them, yet towards the
" King, who many times obstinately adhered to many
" conclusions which did not naturally result from good
" premises, and did love to argue many things to which he
" would not so positively adhere, he did not practise that
" condescension, but contradicted him with more blunt-
" ness and by sharp sentences, and in some particulars (as
" of the Church) to which the King was in conscience
" most devoted ; and of this his Majesty often complained,
» Whitelock'8 'Memorials,' p. 66. « Ibid.
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CHAP.Vn. ANSWER TO THE SCOTCH PETITION. 153
*^ and cared less to confer with him in private, and was
** less persuaded by him than his affairs and the other's
" great parts and wisdom would have required ; though
" he had not a better opinion of any man's sincerity or
"fidelity towards him." '
An instance that well illustrates this state of feeling
between the King and his Secretary of State is re-
counted by Lord Clarendon* on the occasion of the
Scotch Commissioners* visit to Oxford. They pre-
sented to the King a long paper, inveighing against
Bishops and the whole government of the Church, and
concluding with a petition for the alteration of that
government throughout his Majesty's dominions. The
King brought this paper to the Council Board, and re-
quired the advice of the Council, declaring at the same
time his own wish to answer every expression contained
in the paper, and to maintain the divine right of epis-
copacy and the impossibility of his ever in conscience
consenting to anything to the prejudice of that order.'
Many of the Lords were of opinion that a short answer,
simply rejecting the proposition, would be best No
one concurred with the King, and ** he replied with
** some sharpness upon what had been said." Lord Falk-
land then expressed his opinion, and wished no reasons
to be given in the answer ; " and upon that occasion
" answered many of those reasons the King had urged,
** as not valid to support the subject, with a little
" quickness of wit (as his notions were always sharp,
^^ and expressed ¥dth notable vivacity), which made the
» Clarendon, * Life,' vol. i. p. 92. « Ibid., p. 158.
• Ibid, p. 159.
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154 LIFE OP LORD FALBXAND. Chap. VU.
^^ King warmer than he used to be, reproaching all who
" were of that mind with want of affection for the
" Church, and declaring that he would have the sub-
^^ stance of what he had said, or of the like nature,
'* digested into his answer ; with which reprehension
'^ all sat very silent, having never undergone the like
" before."
Sir Edward Hyde was called upon for his opinion,
and, with considerable dexterity, he succeeded in not
only preventing the King from entering into a long
discussion of theology and Church government, by way
of answer to the Scotch Commissioners, but, by ground-
ing his objection to that course on its being too great a
condescension on the part of the King, his dignity was
flattered, and he was so well pleased with the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, that he not only gave up his
own opinion, but *^ vouchsafed to make some kind of
" excuse for the passion he had spoken with.** * A few
weeks afler all hopes of a treaty were extinguished, a
conspiracy in favour of the King was discovered, well
known by the name of " Waller's Plot" How far the
King or his Council were cognizant of the intentions of
Waller and his friends it is not very easy to discover.
Whitelock attributes the King's gracious reception of
Mr. Waller at Oxford to his knowledge of the plan in
which he was engaged ;* whilst Lord Clarendon repu-
diates the idea of the King or his ministers being
parties to the plan, which he regarded as impracticable.
Edmund Waller had been one of Lord Falkland's early
" Clarendon, « Life,' vol. i. p. 161. « Whitelock, p. 64.
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Chap. VH. THE WAR RESUMED. 155
friends ; but, as it appears he was too cautious to commit
himself in writing, no correspondence took place on this
subject between them. Mr. Ti>mkins (Waller^s brother-
in-law) had, sometimes by writing and sometimes by
messages, signified to Lord Falkland " that the number of
" those who desired peace, and abhorred the proceedings
" of the Houses, was very considerable ; and that they
" resolved, by refusing to contribute to the war and
" to submit to their ordinances, to declare and manifest
*^ themselves in that manner that the violent party in
" the City should not have credit enough to hinder any
** accommodation."* ' Lord Falkland always returned
for answer, ^* that they must expedite those expedients
^' as soon as might be, for that delays made the war
" more difficult to be restrained.'*
Lord Clarendon declares he could find no evidence or
reason to believe in the King's countenance of the plot
itself, or of its various objects ; though, as he candidly
remarks, he should have no reason to conceal the King
giving his assistance and countenance to any design
that, by public force or private contrivance, should
have given him a reasonable hope of dispersing those
who, under the name of a Parliament, had kindled a
war against him.'
The war was now prosecuted with activity on both
sides. The Queen, who had landed at Burlington on
the 22nd of February, proceeded to York, from thence
to Pomfret, and to Newark, where she rested a fort-
night, and on the 13th of July she joined her husband
' Hist, of the RebeUion, vol. iv. p. 76. • Ibid., p. 77.
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156 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIT.
near Keinton, under Edgehill, where the battle had
been fought in October. On that same day the royalist
troops gained a signal victory at Roundway Down,
when the troops commanded by Sir William Waller
were completely routed. On the 26th of July Bristol
surrendered to Prince Rupert
This triumph was embittered to the King by the
disputes that arose between the Princes Rupert and
Maurice and the Marquis of Hertford. He determined,
in consequence, to proceed immediately to Bristol, not
only to settle, if possible, these differences, but to avoid
the presence of his Council on the occasion. Whilst
affection for his nephews blinded Charles to their faults,
the haughty rudeness with which these young Princes
treated the English nobility rendered them peculiarly
clearsighted to their failings : thus, to escape from any
advice that could be tendered to him on the subject, he
at once left Oxford for Bristol, taking with him of his
Council only Lord Falkland, the Master of the Rolls
(Sir J. Culpepper), the Chancellor of the Exchequer
(Sir Edward Hyde), and the Duke of Richmond. The
King passed the night at Malmesbury, whilst Sir Ed-
ward Hyde received Lord Falkland and Sir John Cul-
pepper at his own house at Pertou.
Once more these three faithful counsellors, who had
laboured at the helm and had striven so ably against the
storms without and mutiny within, who had firmly stood
against every attack, and fought without flinching even in
defeat, found themselves apart from the Court together
under the same roof; and, as in those early conferences
in Westminster, Lord Falkland and Sir John Cul-
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Chap. VH. THE KING AT BRISTOL. 157
pepper were the guests of Mr. (now Sir Edward)
Hyde.
Seventeen months had elapsed since that time. How
many hopes had been defeated — how many fears had
been realized — what a volume of history had been
enacted during that short period I and this must have
been the last such meeting of a triumvirate that had
been so firmly linked together by the ties of personal
affection and the duties of a common charge. Fortune
now seemed to decide in favour of the King ; he had
been victorious over Lord Fairfax in the North, over
Sir William Waller in the West; Bristol had sur-
rendered to his forces. A declaration was put forth by
the King, professing firm attachment to the Protestant
religion, and his determination to maintain the liberty
of the subject, the laws of the land, and the privileges
of Parliament, and exhorting his people to peace.
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158 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
Siege of Gloucester — Lord Falkland visits the Trenches — Battle of
Newbury — Lord Falkland is killed by a Musket-shot — Character of
Lord Falkland — He was known as a Poet and Theologian — His
Mother attempted to oonvert him to the Church of Rome — His
Religious Opinions — His married Life — His personal Appearance
and bodily Endowments — His Literary Tastes — His Official Quali-
fications — His Parliamentary Speeches — Opinions of Contemporaries
respecting him — Place of his Burial — His Children.
On the 5th of August, 1643, propositions for peace were
made by the House of Lords to the Commons in a con-
ference.* The Commons were little inclined to listen to
these propositions, and, on a petition of the Common
Council of London against peace, the Commons de-
termined to reject the Lords' propositions.
The differences that had arisen between the Princes
and the Earl of Hertford were adjusted, though not
healed, by the King ; and the time thus occupied had
occasioned some delay in following up the advantages
obtained by the success against Bristol. The question
now arose in what service the army should be next
engaged. On this point there was great division of
opinion ; at length the decision was made in favour of
laying siege to Gloucester. The enterprise was unsuc-
cessful in itself, and disastrous in its consequences to the
King*s position. The failure was attributed by those
» Pari. Hist., vol. iii. p. 156.
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Chap. VUI. LORD FALKLAND AT GLOUCESTER. 159
who were in favour of the attempt to the manner in
which their advice had been acted upon;* whilst by
those who had objected to this course the evil conse-
quences were looked upon as the natural fruits of an
ill-advised plan. On the 10th of August the King
ranged his army on the top of a hill within two miles
of Gloucester, and on that day summoned the city to
surrender. The summons was not obeyed, and pre-
parations for the siege were instantly commenced.*
Lord Falkland had accompanied the King to Glou-
cester, and was now active in " visiting the trenches and
" nearest approaches to discover what the enemy did."'
It was on this occasion that his too reckless disregard
of personal danger drew from Sir Edward Hyde an
affectionate remonstrance against his thus exposing him-
self to risks which formed no part of the duty of his
oflSce, " but," as he added, " might be understood rather
" to be against if Lord Clarendon tells us that to
this Lord Falkland merrily replied that his **oflSce
" could not take away the privilege of his age ; and
'* that a Secretary in war might be present at the
" greatest secret of danger.** *
The Earl of Essex assembled his forces at Hounslow
Heath on the 22nd of August, and marched from thence
' Sir J. Culpepper strongij urged the necessity of getting possession of
Gloucester. It does not appear what were the opinions of Lord Falkland
or of Sir Edward Hyde.
« Clarendon's * Hist, of the Hebelliou/ vol. iv, p. 179.
' Clarendon, ' life,' voL i. p. 165 ; Hist, of the Rehellion, vol. iv.
p. 256.
* There is here a play upon the words tecret and Secretary ; the allusion
being to the discovery of ike enemy's hidden intentions.
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160 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIIL
to the relief of Gloucester. He had to traverse a country
already eaten bare, and defended by half the King's body
of horse; but he succeeded in his undertaking. On the
5th of September the siege of Gloucester was raised, and
the King's army retired to Esham. The Earl of Essex
marched to Tewkesbury, seized upon Cirencester, then
directed his march through North Wilts on his way
back to London; Prince Rupert pursued his track,
and a skirmish took place at A whom -Chase near
Hungerford. The following day, the 17th of Sep-
tember, the Earl of Essex advanced to Newbury, but
found the King had been established there two hours
before his arrival. This was a decided advantage to
the King, and appeared to give him the option of the
time when he would risk the next engagement It was
determined on the night of their arrival at Newbury
not to engage without an almost certainty of victory.
Lord Essex had drawn out his army and disposed his
troops with admirable skill upon a height ^ within less
than a mile from the town. Lord Clarendon attributes
the commencement of the battle to the '* precipitate
** courage of some young oflScers " who were intrusted
with important commands in the King's army, and who,
undervaluing the courage of their opponents, frustrated
the deliberate intentions of the preceding evening by
attacking the enemy. Strong parties were successively
engaged, and a general battle became inevitable. Lord
Falkland had accompanied the King in his march from
Gloucester to Newbury. Sir Edward Hyde, who had
» Bigg'B mW.-^Vide Clarondon'a 'Hist, of the RebelUon,' vol. iv.
p. 235.
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Chap. VHI. DEATH OF LORD FAI.KLAND. 161
been detained on business at Bristol after the King's de-
parture, visited the Court for a short time during the
siege before Gloucester, and then returned to Oxford,
from whence he seems to have again remonstrated with
Lord Falkland by letter on his constant exposure to
uncalled-for risks. He represented to him that " he
" suffered in his reputation with all discreet men by engag-
" ing himself unnecessarily in all places of danger, and
** that it was not the office of a Privy Councillor and a Se-
" cretary of State to visit the trenches as he usually did,
^' and conjured him, out of the conscience of his duty to
^' the King, and to free his friends from those continual
^^ uneasy apprehensions, not to engage his person to
" those dangers which were not incumbent to him."
Lord Falkland's answer to him was " That the trenches
** were now at an end ; there would be no more danger
" there : that his case was different from other men's ;
'^ that he was so much taken notice of for an impatient
'* desire of peace, that it was necessary that he should
" likewise make it appear that it was not out of fear of
^^ the utmost hazard of war : he said some melancholic
'* things of the time ; and concluded that in few days
" they should come to a battle, the issue whereof, he
" hoped, would put an end to the misery of the king-
"dom."^
The battle came ; — the issue did little towards bring-
ing about any decisive result to either party. It is said
that on the morning of the battle Lord Falkland was
very cheerful, and, seeking as usual the post where there
was likely to be the hottest service, he put himself into
* Clarendon, « Life,' vol. i. p. 165.
VOL. I. M
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162 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIU.
the head of Sir John Byron's regiment/ He was
ordered to charge a body of foot ; the hedges on both
sides were lined with the enemy's musketeers; as he
advanced a musket-shot struck him in the lower part of
the stomach — the wound was mortal, and he dropped
dead from his horse.
" Thus fell that incomparable young man, in the
** four-and-thirtieth year of his age, having so much
" despatched the true business of life, that the eldest
" rarely attain to that immense knowledge, and the
" youngest enter not into the world with more inno-
" cency ; whosoever leads such a life needs be the less
" anxious upon how short warning it is taken from him."*
The body was not found till the next morning ; and
on the day the news of Lord Falkland's death reached
Oxford Sir Edward Hyde received the reply to that
letter which he had addressed to him at Gloucester.*
The messenger had been employed on other service,
which had delayed the delivery of this answer, and when
it reached its destination it came as a voice from the
grave. For many days Sir Edward Hyde was so ab-
sorbed in grief for the loss of his " dear friend," that he
was utterly incapable of composing his mind suflSciently
to attend to any business ; and his touching lamenta-
tions at being thus suddenly deprived of the " joy and
comfort of his life"* cannot fail to move the heart of
every reader. For thirteen years there had subsisted
between these two distinguished men a most " entire
* CUrendon, * Life,* vol. i. p. 164.
« Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. iv. p. 257. » Life, vol. i. p. 165.
* Ibid., p. 164."
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Chap. Vm. MODE OP HIS DEATH. 163
friendship,** and when, after the lapse of twenty-six
years. Lord Clarendon records the death of Lord Falk-
land, — when, after twenty-six years filled with every vicis-
situde that can befal a state or attend the fortunes of
an individual, he turns to the recollection of those earlier
days, and dwells with afiectionate admiration on the
virtues of his friend, — he felt that neither time, nor all its
burthen of events, could effiice the ** love and grief
¥rith which he cherished his memory, nor quench the
emotion to which the thoughts of him gave rise/
A story is told by Whitelock of Lord Falkland
having " called for a clean shirt on the morning of the
battle ; and, on being asked the reason for it, answered
^' that if he were slain he should not be found in foul
" linen ;" and also of " his being dissuaded by his
^^ friends to go into the fight, as having no call for it,
*^ being no military man : he said he was weary of the
" times, and foresaw much misery to his own country,
" and did believe he should be out of it ere night." *
This anecdote, related by Whitelock, and adopted by
subsequent writers, is not mentioned by any other con-
temporaneous authority. It has, however, frimished a
subject for comment, and inferences have been drawn,
or implied, fix)m the words thus reported to have been
uttered by Lord Falkland on the morning of the battle.
The question of his wearing-apparel, and the allusion to
■ In the will made by Sir Edward Hyde at Jersey, 1647, be leaves tbis
direction respecting his children : — " My sons may be seasonably instructed
** to all respect and kindness towards the children of my dear lord, the
*' Lord Falkland, with whom I had a most perfect and blameless friend-
" ship.*'— State Papers, vol. ii. p. 361.
* Wbitelook's * Memorials,' p. 70.
M 2
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164 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIII.
his being " out of it** before night, are treated as deli-
berate preparations for the death he intended to seek.
Admitting even the words to be correct as stated by
Whitelock, the value of such expressions must in part
have depended on the tone in which they were uttered
and the persons to whom they were addressed. White-
lock was a leader of the opposite party ; his testimony
could therefore only be given upon hearsay evidence,
and probably from no very direct channel ; the remon-
strance of his friends, and the melancholy presages of his
death contained in his answer, seem just such variations
of Lord Clarendon's account of what had passed by letter
between them as would naturally take place in the
transmission of the anecdote through different hands.
Lord Clarendon says he " died as much of the time as
" of the bullet;" and no doubt it was his too little value
for life, as well as his constitutional indifference to
danger, that drew from Lord Clarendon those tender
warnings and remonstrances already alluded to. But
Lord Clarendon, whose information was likely to be
far more direct than Whitelock's, tells us that on the
morning of the battle Lord Falkland was " very cheer-
** fill :" the charge in which he was killed was not
volunteered, but in obedience to the orders of his
commanding officer, and the shot by which he fell was
fired from the musket of a soldier concealed behind a
hedge. There is certainly nothing in these circum-
stances to show that he courted death, though he was care-
less of danger: on the contrary, it is distinctly stated by
Lord Clarendon that, at this very period, he was expect-
ing a speedy termination of the conflict in favour of the
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Chap. VIIT. HIS CHARACTEB. 165
cause he espoused, and looking forward to the next
battle as leading to the peace he so much desired.*
Lord Falkland was thirty-three years of age when he
was killed, and in that time, says Lord Clarendon, " he
" was very accomplished in all those parts of learning and
" knowledge which most men labour to attain till they are
" very old."* It will be well, therefore, to trace the various
paths by which Lord Falkland may be said to have attained
the celebrity which posterity has attached to his name.
He was well known in his time as a poet, and also as
a religious controversialist ; and in this double capacity
he is celebrated by Suckling in
" A SESSION OF THE POETS.
" A Session was held the other day,
And Apollo himself was at it, they say ;
The laurel that had been so long reserved
Was now to be given to him best deserved.
" Hales sat by himself, most gravely did smile
To see them about nothing keep such a coil ;
Apollo had spied him, but, knowing his mind,
PassM by, and call'd Falkland, that sate just behind.
" But he was of late so gone with divinity,
That he had almost forgot his poetry ;
Though, to say the truth, and Apollo did know it.
He might have been both his priest and his poet."
* Life, vol. i. p. 165. — Lord Sunderland seems to have been equally
sanguine as to the state of the King's aflfairs at this time. Four days only
before the battle of Newbury, in which he was killed, he wrote to his wife
that the King's affairs had never been in a more prosperous condition ;
" that setting down before Gloucester had prevented their finishing the
" war this year, which nothing could keep us from ddng if we had a month's
" more time."— /SiV/n^y Letters^ vol. ii. p. 671.
• Life, vol. i. p. 166.
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166 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VUT.
The only poems that have been handed down to us
of his writing are an * Eclogue on the Death of Ben
Jonson/ ^ * Lines on the Death of Dr. Donne,' and
* Verses to Grotius. ' Aubrey says " that Dr, Earle
" would not allow Lord Falkland to be a good poet,
" though a great wit ; he writ not a smooth verse, but
" a great deal of sense,*** Of his theological writings
there remain * A Discourse on Episcopacy ;' ' A Dis-
course on the Infallibility of the Church of Rome/ and
* A Reply to the Answer thereto ;" * A Letter addressed
to Mr, Walter Montague concerning his Change of
Religion ;' and also * A Letter to Mr. F. M.,' anno 1636,
printed at the end of Mr. Charles Gataker's * Answer
to Five Captious Questions,' propounded by a Factor
for the Papacy.*
Lord Clarendon speaks with regret that the two dis-
courses on the principal positions of the Church of Rome
had not been published, they having, as he says, " that
*^ sharpness of style and foil weight of reason that the
" Church is deprived of great jewels in the concealment
** of them."* They were, however, published some few
^ See Appendix B. and S.
■ Aubrey's * Lives of Eminent Men.' — " Dr. Earles was an excellent poet
both in Latin, Greek, and English. He was very dear to the Lord Falk-
land, with whom he spent as much time as he could make his own ; and as
that Lord would impute the speedy progress he made in the Greek tongue
to the information and assistance he had from Mr. Earles, so Mr. Earles
would frequently profess that he had got more useful learning by his con-
versation at Tew than he had at Oxford.** — Life of Clarendon, vol. i. p. 51.
' The Answer was written by G. Holland, a Cambridge scholar, and
afterwards a Romau Catholic priest.
* These were collected together and published by Dr. Triplet, who had
been chaplain to Lord Falkland, and dedicated by him to his son Lucius,
third Viscount Falkland.
* Hist, of the Bebellion, vol. iv. p. 244.
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Chap. VTII. HIS RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 167
years later, and Lord Clarendon thus alludes to the
Discourse on the Infallibility of the Church of Rome : —
" It is not a trivial evidence of his learning, his wit,
" and his candour, that may be found in that discourse
" of his against the Infallibility of the Church of Rome,^
" published since his death ; and from a copy under his
" own hand, though not prepared and digested by him
" for the press, and to which he would have given some
" castigations." * Lord Falkland was a decided member
of the Church of England, but his toleration for the
opinions of others who differed from him was no less
remarkable than the fund of knowledge on which his
own were based. Lord Clarendon tells us, ** He had
" read all the Greek and Latin fathers, all the most
" allowed and authentic ecclesiastical writers, and all the
" councils, with wonderful care and observation ; for in
" religion he thought too careftd and too curious an
" inquiry could not be made amongst those whose
" purity was not questioned, and whose authority was
" constantly and confidently urged by men who were
" furthest from being of one mind amongst themselves,
" and for the mutual support of their several opinions
" in which they most contradicted each other ; and in all
^^ those controversies he had so dispassioned a considera-
" tion, such a candour in his nature, and so profound a
** charity in his conscience, that in those points in which he
" was in his own judgment most clear he never thought
" the worse or in any degree declined the familiarity of
" those who were of another mind ; which, without
* See Appendix Q. ■ Clarendon, * life/ Yol. i. p. 44.
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168 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. YUl.
" question, is an excellent temper for the propagation
" and advancement of Christianity."*
Lord Falkland's attention had been peculiarly drawn
to the consideration of the pretensions of the Church of
Rome, not only by the deep interest which every reflect-
ing man must take in the faith to which he subscribes,
but by circumstances of a personal and domestic nature.
" Many attempts were made upon him by the instiga-
" tion of his mother (who was a lady of another persua-
" sion in religion, and of a most masculine understand-
" ing, allayed with the passion and infirmities of her
" own sex) to pervert him in his piety to the Church
" of England, and to reconcile him to that of Eome ;*
** which they prosecuted with the more confidence
" because he declined no opportunity or occasion of
" conference with those of that religion, whether priests
* Life, vol. i. p. 43.
■ In the Archbishop of Canterbury's (Laud) annual accounts of his
province to the King there is the following account^f Lady Falkland : —
" St, Asaph. — In the diocese of St. Asaph there is no complaint but the
" usual, that there is a great resort of recusants to Holy Well, and that
" this summer the Lady Falkland and her company came as pilgrims
** thither, who were the more observed because they travelled on foot and
" dissembled neither their quality nor their errand ; and this boldness of
** theirs is of very ill construction among your Majesty's people. My
* « humble suit to your Majesty is, that, whereas I complained of this in open
«* council in your Majesty's presence, you would now be graciously pleased
" that the order then resolved on for her confinement may be put in
•* execution. j C. R.
t Itt is done. "
In a letter dated London, November 17, 1626, and addressed to the
Rev. Joseph Mead, the following notice of Lady Falkland is to be found :—
" The Lady Falkland is newly banished the Court for lately going to mass
" with the Queen, in whose conversion the Roman Church will reap no
" great credit because she was called home out of Ireland for her grievous
" extortions."— 7^t/c and Times of James L and Charles /., vol. i. p. 170.
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Chap. VIH. ATTACHMENT TO THE CHURCH. 169
" or laics ; having diligently studied the controversies,
** and exactly read all or the choicest of the Greek and
" Latin fathers, and having a memory so stupendous,
" that he remembered on all occasions whatsoever he
" read. And he was so great an enemy to that passion
" and uncharitableness which he saw produced, by
*' difference of opinion, in matters of religion, that in
" all those disputations with priests and others of the
** Roman Church he affected to manifest all possible
" civility to their persons and estimation of their parts ;
" which made them retain still some hope of his reduc-
" tion, even when they had given over offering farther
*' reasons to him to that purpose. But this charity
" towards them was much lessened, and any correspond-
** ence with them quite declined, when by sinister arts
" they had corrupted his two younger brothers,* being
^^ both children, and stolen them from his house and trans
'* ported them beyond seas, and perverted his sisters."*
It was said^ of Lord Falkland, even in his lifetime, but
still more after his death, that he had adopted the
religious opinions of Socinus, and had been strengthened
in those opinions by Chillingworth. This impression
seems however to have been without foundation, and
may possibly have originated in Lord Clarendon's mis-
apprehension of a passage in Cressy's book.^ In Lord
^ The Peerages incorrectly mention but one brother, Lorenzo, killed at
the battle of Swords in Ireland, and one sister, Anne, married to Lord
Himio.
• Hist, of the Rebellion, vol. iv. p. 243. See Appendix T.— They
were said to be lodged in a convent at Cambray.
■ Anthony Wood, * Athenas Oxon.*
* Entitled * Fanaticism Fanatically Imputed to the Catholic Church by
Mr. Stillingfleet.*
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170 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIII.
Clarendon's animadversions upon that work, he accused
the author of speaking of Lord Falkland as a Socinian.
Cressy explained in reply/ saying, the words concerned
Mr. Chillingworth, and added, ** Touching my Lord
" Falkland, I was so far from entertaining a suspicion,
^^ and much more from propagating this suspicion to
" others, that I believe there are scarce three persons
" besides myself that are so enabled to give a demon-
** stration to the contrary, which was a solemn protesta-
" tion made by himself to the greatest prelate of England
" of his aversion from those blasphemous heresies which
" had been laid to his charge." In further corroboration
of the fact, that between Lord Falkland and Mr. Chilling-
worth there was no agreement in opinion on the subject
of Socinianism, a letter exists from Lord Spencer to his
wife, in which is to be found the following passage : —
** It is not to be imagined with what diligence and
" satisfaction (I mean to himself) Mr. Chillingworth
" executes this command ;* for my part, I think it not
" unwisely done of him to change his profession, and I
" think you would have been of my mind if you had
" heard him dispute last night with my Lord Falkland
** in favour of Socinianism ; wherein he was by his
" lordship so often confounded, that really it appears he
" has much more reason for his engine than for his
" opinion."
The early attention paid by Lord Falkland to his
religious duties is thus commented upon by one who
* In his * Epistle Apologetical.'
■ Mr. Chillingworth was engaged in the trenches before Gloucester to
try the effects of certain machines he had invented for the attack of fortifi-
cations. — Sidney Papers, vol. ii. p. 669.
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Ohap. Vm. HIS CONJUGAL LIFE. I7l
was intimately acquainted with his character and habits
in private :^ — " His religion was the more eminent,
*' because the more early, at that age when young gallants
** think least of it. When they, young candidates of
" Atheisme, begin to dispute themselves out of a beleefe
** of the Deity, urging hard against that which indeed is
" best for them that it should never be — ^ a judgment to
" come ;* then, I say, that salvation which these mention
*' with a scoff or a jeere, he began to work out with fear
" and trembling, and effectually to remember, that is,
" to honour and serve his Creator in the daies of his
*• youth."
In domestic life Lord Falkland seems to have found
m his wife a companion who was capable of appreciating
his worth, and who returned the tenderness and confi-
dence with which he regarded her. " She was a lady,"
says Lord Clarendon, " of a most extraordinary wit and
" judgment, and of the most signal virtue and exemplary
** life that the age produced, and who brought him many
'* hopeful children in which he took great delight"*
Lord Clarendon mentions in the History of his Own Life,
— and which, being written only for the information of his
own children,' must be regarded throughout in the nature
of a confidential communication, — that the melancholy
which Lord Falkland had contracted from the very be-
ginning of the war was partly attributed by those who
were not well acquainted vnth him to his having formed
an attachment "to a noble lady,"^ who died on the same
' See Dr. Triplet's dedication. " Life, vol i. p. 40.
• Preface to the Life of the Earl of Clarendon, p. 1.
* Aubrey calls her " Mrs. Moray, a handsome lady about court." Per-
haps he is to be relied on as to the name of the person alluded to, but the
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172 LIFE OF LOItD FALKLAND. Chap. VIIL
day as that vOn which he was killed. Lord Clarendon's
plain but full refutation of this calumny is best given
in his own words: — ** They who knew either the lord
" or the lady knew well that neither of them was
" capable of an ill imagination. She was of the most
" unspotted, unblemished virtue, never married, of an
** extraordinary talent of mind, but of no alluring
** beauty, nor of a constitution of tolerable health, being
" in a deep consumption and not like to have lived so long
" by many months. It is very true the Lord Falkland
" had an extraordinary esteem of her, and exceedingly
** loved her conversation, as most of the persons of emi-
" nent parts of that time did, for she was in her under-
" standing, and discretion, and wit, and modesty, above
** most women, the best of which had always a friendship
" with her. But he was withal so kind to his wife,
*' whom he knew to be an excellent person, that, though
" he loved his children with more affection and fondness
" than most fathers use to do, he lefl by his will
" all he had to his wife, and committed his three sons,
" who were all the children he had, to her sole care and
" bounty."^ Nor is Lord Clarendon's the only testimony
left to us of the happiness of Lord Falkland in his
domestic life. Dr. Triplet, who had been one of those
admitted into his closest intimacy at Tew, and who
speaks with such affectionate regret " of those happy
*' times, as that he would not willingly afflict himself by
" recalling the felicity he had outlived," thus alludes to
rest of his information seems to be incorrect. Lord Clarendon says she
was of no alluring beauty, and Aubrey speaks of Lord Falkland's grief at
her death, whereas she seems not to have died till the day on which he was
killed- » Life, vol. i. p. 166.
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Chat. VIU. HIS AFFECTION FOR HIS WIFE. 173
Lady Falkland in a dedication addressed to her son : —
*' And your blessed mother, were she now alive, would
" say she had the best of friends before the best of
" husbands," Another writer renders this mournful
tribute of respect to the unfading attachment that sub-
sisted between Lord Falkland and his wife. After
extolling the early virtue and piety of Lady Falkland,
he says, " And now these riches of her piety, wisdom,
" quickness of wit, discretion, judgment, sobriety and
" gravity of behaviour, being once perceived by Sir
" Lucius Gary, seemed portion enough to him. These
" were they he prized above worldly inheritance and
" those other fading accessions which most men court" ^
" Her proficiency and progress I shall account from that
" time when her prosperity began to abate ; when her
** dear lord and most beloved husband, that he might
" be like Zebulon (a student helping the Lord against
" the mighty — Judges v. 14), went from his library to
" the camp, from his book and pen to the sword and
" spear ; and the consequent of that, an inevitable neces-
" sity that she must now be divorced from him for a
" while, whom she loved more than all things of this
" world ; but that total divorce which soon after death
" made between him and her, that he should be taken
" away by an untimely death, and by a violent death
" too, this was a sore affliction to her ; the same sword
" which killed him, pierced her heart also."* There
^ Vid^e * The virtuous holy Christian Life and Death of the late Lady
* Letice,Vi-counte88 Falkland, with some Additionals (London, 1653, 12mo).
« In a Letter to her Mother the Lady Morison, of Great Tew, in Oxfordshire
« (signed J. D., 16 April, 1647). Written by John Dunoon.' P. 6.
• Ibid., p. 9.
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174 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIH.
is another account of the conjugal life of Lord and
Lady Falkland, written in a far more familiar style,
and to be found in the gossiping Memoirs of Aubrey,^
Though as a recorder of facts he is much too inaccurate
to quote from with confidence, yet, as an amusing pic-
ture of the influence which Lady Falkland was sup-
posed to have acquired over her husband, it may be
worth citing,
" I will tell you a pretty story from Will. Hawes,
" of Trin. Coll., who was well acquainted with the
** governor* aforesaid, who told him that my Lady
" was (after the manner of woemen) much governed by,
" and indulgent to, the nursery ; when she had a mind
" to beg any thing of my Lord for one of her mayds,
" woemen, nurses, &c., she would not doe it by herselfe
*' (if she could helpe it), but putt this gent, upon it
" to move it to my Lord. My Lord had but a small
** estate for his title; and the old gent would say,
" * Madam, this is so unreasonable a motion to propose
" * to my Lord, that I am certaine he will never graunt
" * it,* — e.g. one time to lett a bargaine (a farm) twenty
'' pound per ann. under value. At length, when she
** could not prevail on him, she would say, I warrant
'* you, for all this, I will obtaine it of my Lord ; it will
** cost me hut the expence of a few tears. Now she
** would make her words good ; and, this great witt, the
** greatest master of reason and judgment of his time,
" at the long runne, being stormed by her teares (I
** presume there were kisses and secret embraces that
' Aubrey's T/Ctters.
• Lord Falkland's tutor, whose name is not given.
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Chap. VHI. fflS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 175
*' were also ingredients), would this pious lady obtain
" her unreasonable desires of her poor Lord "
Lord Falkland seems to have been but little favoured
by nature either in his personal appearance or in his
physical powers ; Aubrey speaks of him as ** a little
" man, but no great strength of body, blackish haire,
" something flaggy, and, I think, his eyes black." Dr.
Triplet, whilst extolling his valour, says, " Though he was
" of David's stature, of his courage too," But it is from
Lord Clarendon's description that we learn most in
detail the difficulties with which Lord Falkland had
to contend from personal defects; and it must be
acknowledged as an additional proof of the charm of
character and force of mind which he possessed, that
these physical disadvantages did not mar his influence
over others in social and public life, " His stature was
" low and smaller than most men ; his motion not
^* graceful ; and his aspect so far from inviting, that it
" had somewhat in it of simplicity ; and his voice the
" worst of the three, and so untuned that, instead of
** reconciling, it offended the ear, so that nobody would
" have expected music from that tongue ; and sure no
*' man was less beholden to nature for its recommenda-
" tion into the world ; but then no man sooner or more
" disappointed this general and customary prejudice ;
** that little person and small stature was quickly found to
'' contain a great heart, a courage so keen, and a nature
" so fearless, that no composition of the strongest limbs,
" and most harmonious and proportioned presence and
*' strength, ever more disposed any man to the greatest en-
** terprise ; it being his greatest weakness to be too solicit-
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176 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VUI.
*' ous for such adventures ; and that untuned tongue and
" voice easily discovered itself to be supplied and governed
" by a mind and understanding so excellent, that the wit
" and weight of all he said carried another kind of
" lustre and admiration in it, and even another kind of
" acceptation from the persons present, than any orna-
" ment of delivery could reasonably promise itself, or
^' is usually attended with; and his disposition and
" nature was so gentle and obliging, so much delighted
'' in courtesy, kindness, and generosity, that all man-
" kind could not but admire and love him/'^
The taste for literary society, which adorned Lord
Falkland's days of retirement in the country, seems to
have been unaltered by his change of residence and
habits, and a club was formed in London, rendered
famous by the members of whom it was composed,
which afforded the means of meeting to those who were
bound together by the tie of similarity of pursuits. To
this club Lord Falkland introduced his friend Mr.
Hyde, and, at the same time, Mr. Waller introduced
Mr. Morley, afterwards Bishop of Winchester:* Mr.
Chillingworth, Mr.Godolphin, and Sir Francis Wenham,
were also amongst its members.
* Clareudon, * Life,' vol. i. p. 38.
• ** At one of their meetings they heard a noise in the street, and were
*• told a son of Ben Jonson's was arrested. They sent for him, and he
** proved Mr. Morley, afterwards Bishop of Winchester. Mr. Waller paid
" the debt, and this circumstance led to an intimacy between him and
** Morley, to whom this adventure proved very advantageous, for Mr. Waller
** introduced him into that learned and polite society, as my Lord Falkland
** did Mr. Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, at the same time, and the friend-
" ship continued between them till both were greater men." — Life of
Mr. Edmund WaUcr, pp. xi. and xii., prefixed to his Poems, London,
1711, 8vo.
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Chap. VIII. HIS OFFICIAL QUALIFICATIONS. 177
Lord Falkland possessed the advantage of being a
good linguist, and well fulfilled the duties of his office.
** In such a man," adds Lord Clarendon, " to speak of his
*' integrity and high disdain of any bait that might seem
" to look towards corruption would have been an affiront
'' to his virtues."* There were two things, however, which
were regarded as necessary to his office, but to which.
Lord Clarendon says, he could never bring himself —
" The one, employing of spies or giving any countenance
" or entertainment to them ; — not such emissaries as with
** danger would venture to view the enemy's camp, and
" bring intelligence of their number, or quartering, or
** any particulars that such an observation can compre-
" hend ; but those who, by communication of guilt, or
" dissimulation of manners, wind themselves into such
'' trusts and secrets as enable them to make discoveries :
" the other, the liberty of opening letters, upon a
'' suspicion that they might contain matter of dangerous
** consequence. For the first he would say, ^ such
" instruments must be void of all ingenuity and com-
" mon honesty before they could be of use ; and after-
** wards they could never be fit to be credited ; and that
" no single preservation could be worth so general a wound
" and corruption of human society as the cherishing
" such persons would carry with it.* The last he thought
** such a violation of the law of nature, that no qualifi-
'* cation by office could justify him in the trespass."*
In these days there are few in England, of Lord Falk-
land's station in life, to whom the employment of spies
» Hist, of tho Rebellion, vol. iv. p. 250. • Ibid., p. 249.
VOL. I. N
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178 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chxp. - IL
and the invasion of the secrecy of private correspond-
ence would not be highly repugnant ; yet, even in these
days, no government would be held justified in neglecting
such means of self-defence to the state when the peace
of the country was at stake. Lord Falkland himself
even admitted that the danger of the times necessitated
the resorting to such means, and profiting by the infor-
mation so obtained. The marked description, therefore,
that Lord Clarendon gives of the distaste with which
Lord Falkland viewed the agents of such information,
and the disinclination to take part himself in the opening
of letters never intended for his perusal, shows that
Lord Falkland's feelings on the subject were then
deemed peculiar ; and is rather a proof that he was in
advance of the age in which he lived, than that his
sentiments would now appear different from those
entertained by English statesmen of the present day.
As an orator. Lord Falkland must be judged by the
only speeches which have been handed down to us, and
which have been already quoted in this memoir. For
clearness of statement, force of argument, correct anti-
thesis, pointed satire, and high moral feeling, they may
claim a distinguished place in the ranks of Parlia-
mentary eloquence. As a statesman, the scenes in
which he acted, and the part he took in matters of
state, afford sufficient comment on his sagacity, justice,
courage, and integrity ; nor can any better monument
be raised to his memory than the opinions recorded by
his contemporaries of his talents and virtue.
Sir Philip Warwick says, " Lord Falkland had pro-
" digious natural parts, a memory and a fancy which
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Chap. VIH. OPINIONS CONCERNING HIM. 179
** retained all it read and heard, and then as rhetoric-
** ally set it forth, and his notions were useful and not
" common That which crowned all was, that he
" was a person of great probity and sincerity/' ^
Dr. Triplet, who enters with afiectionate minuteness
into the various qualities of his mind and character,
says, *' His abilities were such as though he needed
" no supplies of industry, yet his industry such as
^* though he had had no parts at all. Often would he
" pity those hawking and hunting gentlemen who, if
** unseasonable weather for their sports had betrayed
** them to keep home, without a worse exercise within
" doors could not have told how to have spent their
'* time ; and all because they were such strangers to such
'^ good companions with whom he was so familiar, such
" as neither cloy nor weary any with whom they con-
** verse ; such as Erasmus," &c " Though
*' there were as much true worth, and closely treasured
'' up, in him as, well divided, had been able to set tip a
*' hundred pretenders, yet so much modesty withal, that
" the hearing of anything was more pleasing to him
" than one tittle of his own praise."
Dr. Triplet also dwells upon Lord Falkland's sen-
sitive regard for the feelings of others ; and, in alluding
to the courteous spirit which pervaded even his contro-
versial writings, says, ** He excelled his antagonist no
" less in civility than in reason ; " and thus " showed
** that a gentleman writ with a scholar's pen."
Whitelock, though a warm partisan on the Parlia-
* Warwick's Momoirs, p. 214.
N 2
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180 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIIL
mentary side, yet failed not to pay his tribute of respect
to Lord Falkland's worth : "His death," says he, "was
" much lamented by all that knew him or heard of him,
" being a gentleman of great parts, ingenuity, and
** honour, courteous and just to all, and a passionate
** promoter of all endeavours of peace betwixt the
" King and the Parliament" ^ Of his desire for peace
no man could be a better judge than Whitelock, who
himself had been employed by the Parliament as a
Commissioner during the negotiations at Oxford,
In the verses of Cowley, Waller, Ben Jonson, and
Suckling, his name is enshrined as the very type of
learning and virtue.
By the great historian, whose discernment of cha-
racter was equalled by his power of delineation. Lord
Falkland is described with peculiar care and skill.
Every one acquainted with the elaborately-drawn por-
traits handed down to us by the pen of the Chancellor
Clarendon must have felt the fond pre-eminence
assigned to that of Lord Falkland. Nor can this be
ascribed to the strong and vivid colours in which pre-
sent afiection or recent sorrow seeks to portray its
subject. The character of Lord Falkland was neither
written when under the influence of constant companion-
ship, nor immediately after death, when grief most
delights to invest with imaginary virtues, and honour
with exaggerated praise, the object of regret The
History of the Rebellion was not begun till about two
years after the battle of Newbury, and the impression
* Whitelock's Memorials, p. 70.
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Chap. Vm. OPINIONS CONCERNING HIM. 181
then expressed of the irreparable loss incurred to the
state by the death of Lord Falkland was only deepened
and confirmed by time. Twenty-six years later Lord
Clarendon recurs to that event in the words of Cicero
lamenting Hortensius : " Quod magna sapientium
" civium bonorumque penuria, vir egregius, conjunctis-
" simusque mecum consiliorum omnium societate, alien-
'* issimo rei publicae tempore extinctus, et auctoritatis et
'* prudential su© triste nobis desiderium reliquerat." ^
In alluding to the ** unhappy battle " in which Lord
Falkland was slain, Lord Clarendon pronounces this
eulogy in tribute to his memory : " He was a person of
** such prodigious parts of learning and knowledge, of that
" inimitable sweetness and delight in conversation, of so
'' flowing and obliging a humanity and goodness to man-
" kind, and of that primitive simplicity and integrity o^
" life, that, if there were no other brand upon this odious
" and accursed civil war than that single loss, it must
** be most infamous and execrable to all posterity."
Such indeed is the inherent curse of civil war, where
victory and defeat are alike the source of mourning to
the State that has furnished the combatants to each side
of the battle. Even in times of unruffled peace and
settled prosperity the death of Lord Falkland would
have been a subject of general regret ; but at a period
when the country needed the aid of the utmost wisdom
' Life, vol. i. p. 167. — " That in a great dearth of wise and good
" citizens a man of admirable qualities, and intimately connected with me
** by a participation of all counsels, having died at a season most disastrous
*^ for the state, left us a melancholy regret both of his authority and
" wisdom.** (Brutus, c, 1.)
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182 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIIL
and sagacity to guide her counsels, the death of one in
whom was to be found the combination of so much
virtue with great ability and high cultivation became a
loss of general importance. The tendency of all nations
to suffer from time to time some great and dangerous
crisis seems but part of the condition of human affairs.
That power of accumulating knowledge by experience,
which makes the wisdom of one generation rise over
that of another, often calls for greater elasticity than is
to be found in the institutions by which a country is
governed. The disturbance of the equilibrium that
ensues from this unequal growth in the wants and ex-
pectations of a people, with the legislaticwi established
in a less enlightened period, is natural but dangerous ;
and on the conduct and ability of those who govern, and
on the good sense and forbearance of those who are
governed, depends the amount of evil that attends die
readjustment of the balance.
Doubtless, that form of government and that habit
of government is best which, by easily adapting its
measures to the changing necessities of the people,
passes in peace through even a state of transition,
and by yielding to pressure waits not to be over-
whelmed with force; — but the moment, the cause,
and the amount of pressure cannot always be foreseen,
and difficulties may arise which neither written laws nor
settled forms nor previous habits of government may
be prepared for : then is the time when the virtue,
wisdom, and foresight of those who rule and those who
resist, may determine whether reformation shall im-
prove or civil war desolate the country. A dangerous
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Chap. VUI. HIS IMPORTANCE TO THE COUNTRY. 183
state of transition may become inevitable, but as, in a
perilous voyage, on the fidelity, the vigilance, and the
skill of diose who guide die ship it may chiefly rest
whether shipwreck shall ensue, or the haven be reached
in safety. At such a time none can be spared with im-
punity who by liieir character and influence are fitted
■to assist in the direction of affidrs ; and it was at such a
conjuncture, when die aid of men like Lord Falkland
and John Hampden was of undoubted importance in
die guidance of the separate parties to which diey be-
longed, that the country was deprived of their services.
The sword of civil strife, which they had wielded for
peace and earnestly sought to sheath, inflicted a la-
mentable blow in cutting off those whose Io6s was irre-
parable to the state.
The early death of Lord Falkland closes too soon
the history of his short career, but he had done
enough to make die blank felt that was caused by
his untimely end To fiilly appreciate, however, the
extent of his loss, it is necessary not only to recall
the services he rendered and endeavoured to render
to his sovereign and to his country, but to bring to
mind die peculiar fitness of his character and abilities
to fiilfil the requisites for a statesman at that " season
most disastrous to the state." With a mind of
great natural power, he had invigorated and increased
its resources by the constant habit of study and reflec-
tion ; and thus, stored with knowledge and experience in
thought, he brought that spirit of philosophy to bear
upon passing events which enlightened his understand-
ing and gave depth to his views in the conduct of
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184 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIIL
affairs. With a lively imagination, great quickness of
perception, and ready sympathy with the feelings of
others, he was eminently qualified to take part in the
active business of life. He had, with indefatigable in-
dustry, devoted to his own improvement those years
when, from the cessation of Parliaments, no opportunity
was offered for participation in public affairs ; but no
sooner was that arena opened than it was eagerly
entered as one more extensively useful, and the student
and philosopher readily applied his learning and wisdom
to the exigencies of the people and the government of
the country. Elevated in station, of independent for-
tune, and devoid of personal ambition, he had no mean
motives to stimulate his exertions, but alike from duty
and inclination he freely gave service where his talents
could be available. At a time when the constitution
was daily violated or infringed by conflicting parties he
remained untainted by the bitterness and unmoved by
the passions of faction, and preserved those clear and
sound views respecting the privileges of Parliament and
the prerogatives of the Crown which had been formed
by his cool deliberate judgment At a period when the
country was torn by religious differences in doctrine
and discipline, when the principles of toleration were
scarcely recognised as consistent with religious faith,
and questions of Church government were closely in-
terwoven with every political struggle, he could bring
the learning of a theologian, the firm faith of a Chris-
tian, and the most enlightened opinions on religious
toleration to meet the bigotry and fanaticism with which
the Church was alternately supported or assailed. To
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Chap. VIII. HIS POLITICAL INTEGRITY. 185
the claims of the Church to secular power, and the pre-
tensions of the Crown to divine right, he could oppose
the knowledge of those constitutional principles which
held within limits ecclesiastical domination, and the
more enlarged views of later days respecting the sanctity
of Kings. He was straightforward, unbending, and
true in a Court that too often depended on intrigue and
falsehood for strength and defence. To the success of
the party which he had followed first on entering Par-
liament he fearlessly offered his opposition when their
course led to triumphs which his reason disapproved.
In the crowded events that came in rapid suc-
cession during this period of civil commotion and war-
like encounters, there was little pause to reflect on the
losses incurred, or to speculate on the evils that might
have been averted ; but on looking back to those times,
who can withhold his regret at the early loss of one so
admirably fitted as Lord Falkland to render good ser-
vice to his country in her utmost need ? who will not
feel this brand upon a civil war, that it diminishes the
resources of the people when danger is at hand ? who
will not feel that to destroy the physician as the pesti-
lence approaches carries with it the sting of a double
visitation? Lord Clarendon has called the attention
of his readers to the duty of history in celebrating " the
" memory of eminent and extraordinary persons, and
" transmitting their great virtues for the imitation of
" posterity." It is on biography that more particularly
devolves the fulfilment of this duty. It is to biography
that belongs the task of gathering together the meagre
notices and scattered details supplied by contemporary
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186 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. Chap. VIU.
writers, or to be found in works of more general import ;
and if in this concentration of interest, in dius analysing
the springs of action, and seeking out the principles that
governed and the feelings that moved the conduct of
those whom it celebrates, their memory is better pre-
served and their virtues are better appreciated, tiie use-
ftdness of their lives will be prolonged beyond their
es^istence, and posterity may reap the advantages be-
queathed by their example.
Lord Falkland was buried in Great Tew church.
There is no tablet to his memory, nor is the spot known
where he was interred; but in the register of the
church is the following (verbatim) entry: —
" The 23rd of September the
« Bight Hon^*«- &• Lucius Gary Knight
•' Lord Viscount of Falkland &
" Lord of the Manner of Great Tew
** was buried Here." *
He left three sons — Lucius, Lorenzo, and Henry —
under the guardianship of their mother. In the death
of her son Lorenzo Lady Falkland had to bear another
severe trial, and her constitution, naturally delicate,
sank under the depressing influence of such heavy
afflictions. Three years after the fatal battle of New-
bury she died of consumption. Lucius, who succeeded
his father, died at Paris in 1649, and was succeeded by
his brother Henry, who is said to have sold his father's
^ nde * Lives of Kuglish Layraen :* Life of Viscount Falkland.
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Chap. VUI.
HIS PORTRAITS.
187
library for a horse and a mare. This story seems
scarcely credible, though related on good authority.^
He wrote a play, called the * Marriage Night,' acted in
Charles II.'s time, and which is described by Pepys as *^ a
" kind of a tragedy, and some things very good in it"*
PORTRAITS OF LUCIUS LORD FALKLAND.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Painters,
In Lodge's mnstrious Portraite, from \
the picture in the collection of Lord | Van Dyck.
Arundel of Wardour. Folio. J
In the same. 4to
In the same. 8vo
In the same, without background,
smaller edition, now Mr. Bohn's.
8vo.
In the set of Loyalists, on the same j
plate with Lord Capel, from the
picture at Comhury. 8vo. i
In Edward Ward's History of the'
Rebellion in verse, 1713; afterwards
used for an edition of Lord Claren-
don's History ; from the picture at
Longleate. 8vo,
In Cowley's Poems. 8vo
In Hume and Smollett's History. 8vo.
In the same. 8vo
With seal and autograph, in a border,
in Thane's British Autography.
4to.
Ungracen,
E. ScaovsN, 1818,
J, Thomson, 1827.
H. T. Btall, 1834.
Phillibeown.
G. Vebtub.
G. Vbetoe.
M, V. GUCHT.
Bknoibt,
Bannebman.
;:}
Van Dyck.
. .. He was 80 exceedingly wild and extravagant that he sold lus father s
•• incomparable library for a horse and a mare, as I have been ^formed by
« SiT-?! H., who ma4d his widow ; afterwards he took up and proved a
" man of parts."— Wood's Athena Oxen.
* Diary, vol. Hi. p. 1"3.
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188
LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND.
Chap. VIII.
PaMen,
In Park's edition of Walpole's Boyal
and Noble Authors, published by
Harding in 1798, and by Scott in
1803, from the Duke of Queens-
berry's picture. 8vo.
In another edition of the same work, \
published by Scott. 8vo. /
Small oval. 12mo
Small octagon, published by Smeeton. \
8vo. /
Very small. 12mo
An etching. 8vo
In * Portraits of Characters illustrious
in British History,' &c., published
by Woodbum in 1811, from a pic-
ture in the collection of T. Lloyd,
Esq. Mezzotint. Svo.
Etkgra!06n»
BOCQUBT,
Habdino.
J. Nutting.
PiCHABD OF TOBK.
C. Jaussek. C. Tubnbb.
LETICIA VISCOUNTESS FALKLAND.
Oval, aetatis su89 35, in a wreath, ]
with emblematical figures beneath, I
prefixed to her Life by Dunoomb, |
1648. 12mo. J
CJopy of the preceding. 12mo. • .
In Woodbum's Portraits as above,
1811, from a picture then in Mr.
Lloyd's collection. Mezzotint. 8vo. .
Oval, from the same picture, in Bur-
der's Lives, 1815. 8vo.
W. Mabshall.
C. Jaussek. C. Tubneb.
HOPWOOD.
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APPENDIX.
(A.)
The Lord Falkland's Petition to the King.
Most humbly shewing that I had a sonne, until I lost him
in your Highness's displeasure, where I cannot seek him,
because I have not will to find him there. Men say there is
a wild young man now prisoner in the Fleet for measuring his
actions by his own private fence. But now, that for the same
your Majestie's hand hath appeared in his punishment, he bows
and humbles himself before and to it ; whether he be mine or
not I can discern by no light but that of your royal clemency ;
for only in your forgiveness can I own him for mine.. For-
giveness is the glory of the supremest powers, and this the
operation that when it is extended in the greatest measure
it converts the greatest offenders into the greatest lovers, and
so makes purchase of the heart, an especial privilege peculiar
and due to sovereign princes. If now your Majesty will
vouchsafe out of your own benignity to become a second nature,
and restore that unto me which the first gave me, and vanity
deprived me of, I shall keep my reckoning of the full number
of my sons with comfort, and render the tribute of my most
humble thankfulness ; else my weak old memory must forget
one. — Cahala.
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190 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. App.
(S. P. 0. Ireland.) ( B. )
Sir Francis Willmghby to Sec. Lord Dorchester.
Right Honorable, i Jan. 1 629-30.
God knowes howe muche I greeve that my mysfortunes
are such as cawseth me to become thus troublesom unto youre
Honor ; but I comfort my selfe againe in that I well knowe
youre Honer joyes in doeinge good toe all men, and espetially
toe those that are truly devoted toe honer and serve youre
Lordship; in so much as I nowe make bowld to let youre
Honer understond that yesterday I spake with my Lord
Tresurer, whoe towld me his Lordship had spoken with youre
Honer conseming my buisines and would advise with youe
what cowrse was fittest toe be taken. I umbly intreated his
Honer that the cowrse myght bee speedy, or else I showlde not
be able to attend it, for my stay heare was very chargeable,
and by my absence I suffer not only in Ireland, but feare my
goodes, that have bin longe at Bristow, may likewise perrishe.
Nowe, good my Lord, althowghe I have more then reason
toe be confident of youre care of me, yet I humbly beseeche
youre Honer that I may, without offence, prefer this sute unto
youe, which is, that his Majestyes grant may beo eyther
confirmed unto me, and that speedely, or otherwise toe let me
knowe what I may trust untoe. From my Lord Fawlkland I
must not looke for much favor by reason his son's company is
conferred uppon me, as I am lately informed, which was noe
ackt of myne, neyther owght my Lord toe blame me for it, but
toe the contrary, yf his Lordship will speake of me withowght
partiallity, hee knowes that I did hb Majesty good service in
Lreland, and was, by his Lordship's owne comyssion, made
Governor of the cittie of Lymbrick, when it was suspeckted the
enemy was coming owt of Biscaye with troopes, and supposed
would have landed there, in which place I contynued 20 weekes,
toe my great charge, without intertainment.
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B2. APPENDIX. 191
Right HoD(nrable, I knowe not any man's imploymentes in
the army that hath bin lyke myne, nor noe man hythertoe
meanlyer rewarded ; and truly, my Lord, toe make shewe of
abillity, not having it, were but folly, and the end would be
beggery ; for God is my witnes, my Lord, that I am, with my
long attendance, browght toe soe lowe a state of purse, that yf
I goe not suddenly I shall neyther be able to goe nor to
support my selfe in staying. I shall referr all to your good
consideration, and will wayght uppon your Lordship at a fit
tyme for answere, and ever be
Your Honer's true servant,
Y* first of January. Fr. WiLLODGHBY.
Toe the Right Honorahle the Lord Vycont Dorchester,
my ryght honored Lord. These.
(S. P. 0. Ireland.) ( B 2. )
A Paper, all in the handwriting of Sir Francis Willoughby,
containing copies of three letters without date, but probably
early in January 1630 — ^as follows: —
Sir LiLcius Caries Letter to me.
Sir,
Yf I had knowne certeinly afore the other daye that
youe had my company, and afore yesterdaye where youre
lodginge was, youe had afore nowe heard from me. Nowe I
heare youe are toe goe towardes Ireland on Mundaye, to which
I shalbe a little Remora. I only desire youe toe excuse me
that I send a sarvant of myne, and not a freind, on such a
buisines, for it is toe short a tyme toe make a fr*eind in, and I
had none ready made. I doe confesse youe a brave gentleman
(and for myne owne sake I would not but have my adversary
be soe), but I knowe noe reason why, therfore, youe showld
have my company, any more then why therfore you showld
have my breeches, which yf every brave man showld have, I
showld be fayne shortly toe begg in trowses. I dowght not
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192 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. App.
but youe will give me satisfaction with your sworde, of which
yf you will send me the lengthe, with tyme and place, youe
shalbe sure (accordingly toe the appointment) toe meete
Lucius Cary.
Sir Fr. Willoughby to Sir Lucius Cary.
ht first answer.
Sir,
Your lines, thowghe unexpeckted in suche a nature, I
have receaved. Tis true, as I heare, that the company which
was yours is confer'd uppon me, the knolege of which came toe
my handes not above 8 dayes agoe : it was noe sute of myne
to deprive youe of any thing you possest, but toe the contrary,
I desired that neyther youre honorable fathers, nor yours, nor
Sur Charles Cootses companyes myght be transferred to me ;
and this my respeckt wilbe witnessed by very good men. This
proceeded owt of a due respeckt toe my Lord youre father, unto
whom I have ever given all due respeckts. And there b noe
man lyving that can justly tax me that ever I sowght for any
partycular company, eyther yours or any mans else, and
therfore am free from doeing youe wronge. I have lost better
fortunes by following his Majesty then any 'is given me yet.
This is well knowne to the world, and I cowld wishe that I
were rendred in the same estate I was in, and youe youre
company againe ; but beinge this is an ackt of his Majesties,
whoe dowghtles will mayntayne it, I shall be the bolder toe
justefie my selfe in it ; yet shall I not willingly accept of this
your letter as a su£Scient cawse of a quarrell with youe, my
conscience giving me sufficient assurance that I never wronged
youe. With this I will conclude, that, yf this answere be not
sufficient to plead my innosence, I wilbe found ready toe give
youe any content befitting a gentleman. In the meane tyme I
shall dedre that youe will ground youre buiesnes well, and not
rashly run intoe an error, in laying a blame uppon hym that
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ipp. B3.] APPENDIX. 193
haeth not desarvid it. This my answer, being boath modest and
just, I referr toe youre further consideration, and soe I end, and
rest yours toe dispose of,
Fr. Will.
(B3. )
Sir Fr. Willmghby to Sir Lucitts Cary.
mt second answer.
Sir,
Since my last answer to yours, which I presumed myght
have servid to have excused hym that never wronged you, yet I
find by relation from Capt. Rainsford that youe rest unsatisfied,
and, as he tells me, it is becawse I have accepted of that com-
pany which was yours and taken from youe by his Majesty, and
of late conferd uppon me by the Lordes Justices ; and further
he tells me that, in regard youe can not strike at the hande,
youe must and will strike at the stone that lies lower. Yf this
be youre meaning, then this is my answer : — That as I noe
waye have done youe wronge, soe am I resolved toe receave
none frome youe ; yet youe being the sone of a father whom I
have and doe much honer, and would be glad toe retayne his
Honer's good opinyon, I doe, owt of a good conscience and these
respecktes, desire toe shun an unjust and yll grounded quarrell
with youe ; wherin yf youe persist, then I desire youe toe take
notice by these, that what I have receavid is by gift from his
Matie., which I am bounde in dewty toe mayntayne with my
lyfe, or else unworthy of it. What is conferred uppon me is
don by the Lordes Justices, which I am also in honer boimd toe
make good. Soe as I will conclude that, my cawse being just, I
shalbe found ready toe performe what I have here written ; and
in regard it is well knowne that my intended journey haeth bin
longe in expecktation, and nowe being ready toe journey
within 3 dayes, for many reasons can not devirt my cowrs from
VOL. I. o
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194 LIFE OP LOBD FALKLAND. [App. C, D.
Bristow, where, yf you desire toe meete me, I shall expres my
selfe toe be an honest man, and shall endevor toe gi?e youe
content in your desire. And soe I rest as you shall or will
conceave of me,
Fb. Will.
I pray, Sir, let me understand youre mynd by writing, — it
will be the better consealed.
(C.)
" At the Court at Whitehall, January 17*^, 1629-30.— A
" Warrant to the Warden of the Fleete to receive into lus
" custody the person of Sir Lucius Carey, and to keepe him
" prisoner untill further order." — Council Register.
"January y* 27***. — A Warrant to the Warden of the
" Fleete to sett at libertie the person of Sir Lucius Carey."
(D.)
ExtracUfram the Autograph Minute Book of Lord FdUdand^
now in the possession of Mr. Lemon : —
17 Apl. 1632.
S*. John Veele. — Then to hym — concerning the Arreares
diew to Lucius Cary and his Company for the haulf yeare
endeing ultP. Sept. 1629.
7 May, 1632.
S'. John Veele. — Then to hym— concemeing his speedy
transmittinge over Lucius Cary his Warrants of full pay for
the haulfe yeare endeing ult"^. Sept 1629, with Certificatts of
Checques and Defalcacions with the Accompte made upp.
This was my 2^. letter to this purpose.
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(E.)
Extracts continued.
1 Jan. 1629-30.
Lord President St. Leger. — The first day to hym — concern-
ing the Grant of the Fort of Corke and letter obteyned for
possession of Sir Francis Willoughby.
To respitt execution untyll he advertise His Ma*^ of Sir
Tho. Weynmans graunt being pryor.
Sir Tho. Weyneman.— The 26th of Decemb. 1629.— Cou-
ceming the kinges graunt to Sir Francis Willoughby.
My advise to hym to kepe possession tyll yt may appeare
what fruict my soUicitation for hym wyll produce.
My letter to y* President sent encloased.
16 Jan. 1629.
Lo. Banelagh. — ^The 16* day, to hym — concemyng my
2^. entrance into my Declaration in Phelym M^'Pheagh's
business, 14®. Jan. 1629.
The good Impression yt made.
The 18*^ of this appointed to finish yt.
Lucius his quarrell with Sir Francis Willoughby for his
Company to be this day composed before y* Lords.
Earle of Cork. — ^Then to hym — concerning Sir Francis Wil-
loughbys letter obteyned by his Lordships advise, as affirmed.
S'. Tho*. Weynemans pryor graunte under y* great seale.
To pause in the execution & advertise first y* state of the
case.
Lucius his difierence with &. Fr. Willoughby to be com-
26 Jan. 1629.
Lo. Ranelagh. — Then to hym — concerning Lucius his im*
prisonment and his entended Starr Chamber menace.
o 2
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196 LIFE OF LOBD FALKLAND. [App. F, G.
My confidence the conclusion wylbe fayre, but to be kept
Becrett.
1 Feb. 1629.
Lo. Ranelagh. — Then to hym — concerning the History of
Lucius his committment to y« Reete, and freedome from yt
and the Starr Chamber.
My Petition sent with yt.
Sir Tho. Weyneman. — Then to hym — concerning the receipt
of his letter by Femeley. Sir Francis Willoughbys disasting
to pursew the Fort business.
6 Feb. 1629.
Sir W». Parsons. — Then to hym — concerning Lucius his
freedome from Fleete and Starr Chamber with honor to boath
of us.
The Kinges favour and countenance to me.
12 April, 1630.
M». Piesley.— The S^ day to him— concerning Sir Lucius
Caryes marriadge, whereby he will judge what course I must
take.
My desire to have him hasten over to assist me therein.
(F)
Extract from Lord Falkland's Minute Book :—
28 Oct. 1630.
Of M'. Lentalls being with me, and of his intercessions for
Lucius.
(G.)
Soon after the dissolution of this Parliament the King pub-
lished a declaration to all his loving subjects of the causes
which induced him to take such a step. The following passage
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App. g.] appendix. 197
clearly shows that, however convenient it might be to deny
that Sir Harry Vane had acted in the House of Commons
upon authority, he certainly acted in the i^irit of the Ring's
view of his right to demand supplies from Parliament unfet-
tered by any security given on his part respecting arbitrary
exactions : — " Ill-affected persons of the House of Commons
*^ have been so far from treading in the steps of their ancestors
" by their dutiful expressions in this kind, that contrarily they
" have introduced a way of bargaining and contracting with
^' the King ; as if nothing ought to be given him by them, but
^' what he should buy and purchase of them, either by quitting
" somewhat of his royal prerogative, or by diminishing and
'' lessening his revenues ; which coiurses of theirs, how repug-
^* nant they are to the duty of subjects, how unfit for his
** Majesty in honour to permit and suffer, and what hazard
" and dishonour they subject this kingdom to, all men may
" easily judge that will but equally and impartially weigh
<* ihem.''—Rushwartkj voL iii. p. 1166.
The Parliament had good reason to mistrust the plan of
granting subsidies without a distinct recognition of the illegality
of ship-money. The King's conduct in dissolving a former
Parliament affi)rded a precedent of the spirit in which he was
likely to act when there was question of obtaining security
against illegal exactions by the Crown. ^^The King," says
Mr. Hallam, " who had very much lowered his tone in speak-
^^ ing of tonnage and poundage, and would have been content
" to receive it as their grant, perceiving that they were bent
** on a full statutory recognition of the illegality of impositions
** without their consent, and that they had opened a fresh
*^ battery on another side, by mingling in certain religious dis-
^^ putes in order to attack some of his favourite Prelates, took
^^ the step, to which he was always inclined, of dissolving the
" third Parliament"— C(m^. Hist., vol. i. p. 538.
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198 LIFE OP LOBD FALKLAND. [App. H-
( H.)
Nov. 10, 1640. — Committee to meet with the Committee of
the Lords concerning breach of privilege of their House.
Nov. 23. — Committee concerning the High Constable and
Earl Marshal's Court.
Nov. 30. — Committee to meet with a Committee of the
Lords concerning the examination of their members in the
accusation of the Earl of Strafford.
Jan. 31, 1640-41. — ^Thanks given to the Committee for the
great pains taken in preparing and drawing up the charge.
Feb. 13. — Committee for the abolishing of superstition and
idolatry, and for the better advancing of the true worship and
service of God.
Feb. 15. — Committee to attend upon his Majesty to give his
assent to the Bill for the relief of the King's army and the
northern counties.
Feb. 17. — Committee for the confirmation of letters patent
and other grants made by the King to his dearest consort.
Feb. 23. — Committee to take into consideration the par-
ticulars that were in former Parliaments against Dr. Montague,
now Bishop of Norwich, all complaints that concern the
Bishop of Llandaff and Bishop Manwaring, with power to
prepare a Bill for the reversal of pardon.
Feb. 24. — Lord Falkland, Committee, the matter of customs,
customers, farmers, receivers, &c.
Feb. 25. — Committee concerning the conversion of tillage
into pasture.
Feb. 27. — Committee for Ministers' and others' remonstrance.
March 7. — 48 of the Commons to meet a Committee of
21 of the Lords concerning the trial of the Earl of Strafford.
March 12. — Conference with a Committee of the House of
Lords concerning the trial of the Earl of Strafford. Lord
Falkland one of the reporters of the conference.
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March 19. — Committee concerning an Act against usury.
March 25, 1641. — 16 of the Commons with 8 of the Lords
to go to the City about the advancing of a loan upon the secu-
rity of the subsidies already granted and voted.
April 14. — Conference of Committees of both Houses touch-
ing the treaty of both kingdoms. Lord Falkland one of the
reporters of the conference.
April 19. — Conference by a Committee of both Houses con-
cerning the garrison of Berwick. Lord Falkland one of the
reporters of the conference.
April 22. — Conference by a Committee of both Houses con-
cerning the estate of Berwick. Lord Falkland one of the
reporters of this conference.
April 23. — Committee to prepare a protestation.
April 26. — Lord Falkland went up to the Lords to desire a
conference by a Committee of both Houses concerning the
Court of the President and Council in the North.
May 3. — Lord Falkland and others draw a letter to be sent
to the army and to present it to the House the following day.
The Committee to think of some way of provision of clothing,
if need be, for the common soldiers. Lord Falkland's name
to be added, with Mr. Selden and Mr. Vaughan, to the Com-
mittee to prepare the Declaration and Protestation.
May 4. — Committee to view the precedents of the Star
Chamber concerning the enormous sentences of that Court.
May 8. — Conference by a Committee of both Houses con-
cerning the great and weighty afiairs of the kingdom. Lord
Falkland one of the reporters.
May 20. — Committee for disbanding of the armies.
May 24. — Committee concerning an explanation of the vote
concerning the first part of the 11th Article of the House of
Commons touching incendiaries.
May 26. — Committee to examine who have received any
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200 LIFE OF LOED FALKLAND. [Afp. H,
benefit or bribe by the patent for the payment of 40 shillings
per ton on wines.
June 3. — Committee to prepare reasons to be given to the
Lords at a conference in answer of their objections to the
Bill concembg the removal of Bishops and others in holy
orders from temporal afiairs.
June 10. — Committee to consider the best and readiest way
for disbanding the armies.
June 28. — Committee of 24 of the Commons to meet 24 of
the Lords to confer about 10 propositions brought up by
Mr. Pym.
July 2, — For establishing Fellows at Sir Simon Bennet's
College.
July 3.— Mr. Rerpoint, Mr. Waller, Mr. Crewe, Mr. Hyde
desire Lord Falkland, Mr. Newport, Mr. Gerrard to assist in
reading the articles of impeachment against the judges.
July 5.— Committee to look into the journals of the House
for information concerning the restoring of the Prince Elector-
Palatine to his rights and possessions, &c. &c.
July 6. — Committee to take into consideration the oaths that
sherifis take before they come into their office.
July 12. — Committee to present to the House what busi-
nesses are fit to be considered of and expedited by the 10th of
August
July 15.— Committee to prepare heads for a Bill for regu-
lating the arms of the kingdom, and the musters, and ordering
the trained bands and ammunition.
July 20. — Conference with the House of Lords. Lord
Falkland one of the reporters.
July 21. — Conference by a Committee of botii Houses
touching a message received from the Queen. Lord Falk-
land one of the reporters.
July 28. — Committee to take into consideration what is fit
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to present to the House in case the King shall he out of the
kingdom when the Parliament is sitting.
July 29. — Committee for settling certain manors and lands
in the county of Somerset, &c.
July 30.T-Conference by a Committee of both Houses, con-
cerning the Scots Commissioners' answer touching the disband-
ing the armies. Lord Falkland reporter.
Aug. 4. — Ditto, ditto.
Aug. 5. — Conference by a Committee of both Houses concern-
ing a Custos Regni. Lord Falkland one of the reporters.
Aug. 7. — Lord Falkland, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hollis, Mr.
Hampden, Sir P. Stapleton, ordered to draw a letter to the
Lord-General concerning the disbanding of the troops of horse.
Aug. 7. — Committee to prepare heads for a conference with
the Lords concerning his Majesty's journey into Scotland.
Aug. 7. — Committee appointed for the remonstrance : ordered
that Lord Falkland be added to that Committee.
Aug. 7. — Conference by Committee of both Houses on the
subject of petitiomng his Majesty to stay yet 14 days. Lord
Falkland one of the managers of this conference.
Aug. 8. — Lord Falkland, Hampden, Sr J. Colepepper,
Mr. Pym, Mr. Hollis, appointed to prepare heads for a con-
ference with the Lords concerning some things that may settle
and preserve a good understanding between this and the Scottish
nation.
Aug. 8, — Lord Falkland appointed to go to the Lords with
a message to desire their Lordships to send to his Majesty to
know his pleasure when he will appoint a time for both Houses
to attend his Majesty.
Aug. 14. — Committee to draw up heads for instructions to
the gentlemen appomted by the House to be sent into Scotland
upon the general head of taking care to see the treaty per-
formed there.
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202 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. H.
Aug. 14. — Committee to take into consideration the present
wants and defects of the navy.
Aug. 16. — Lord Falkland, Mr. Hyde, Lwd Fairfax, and Sir
John Hotham to prepare a letter to be sent to the Lord-
General.
Aug. 16. — Conference by a Committee of both Houses con-
cerning some letters received from the Lord-General touching
the disbanding of the army. Lord Falkland one of the
reporters of this conference.
Aug. 16. — Committee appointed to meet with a Committee
of the Lords concerning the securing of Hull.
Aug. 20.— Lord Falkland, Mr. Selden, Mr. Walsh exammed
by the Committee of five, to prepare some authority and
warrant to be derived to those gentlemen of the House of
Commons that are to go into Scotland.
Aug. 21. — Committee to prepare an ordinance of Parlia-
ment and instructions for the present disarming of recusants.
Aug. 23. — Lord Falkland and Mr. Crewe ordered to pre-
pare letters to the several sherifis of the counties desiring the
money upon the Poll Bill be speedily paid in.
Aug. 24. — Conference by a Committee of both Houses con-
cerning the King's desires respecting the levying of soldiers
in L*eland. Letters from the Lord- General to the Lord-
Keeper and the Lord Chamberlain, &c. Lord Falkland one
of the reporters of the conference.
Aug. 24. — A conference by a Committee of both Houses
concerning the providing and sending of moneys for disbanding
the King's army. Lord Falkland one of the reporters of this
conference.
Aug. 24. — Lord Falkland and 5 others ordered to prepare
an order concerning the review of the assessments made of the
poll-money in the counties.
Aug. 26. — Committee to join with the Committee of the
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Lords to prepare an order for celebrating the public thanks-
giving on the 7th September.
Aug. 28/— Committee to meet with a Committee of the
Lords to prepare a despatch to his Majesty concerning the
levies of men desired for the service of the King of Spain and
French King.
Aug. 30. — Committee to consider of the petition from the
freeholders of the county of Herts. Care of the petition of
merchants and others concerning the speedy erecting .of a
Company for America and Africa to the southward part of*
Cape Blanke and the adjacent islands, referred to Lord Falk-
land and others. On the same day, conference by a Committee
of both Houses concerning letters sent from his Majesty to Mr.
Nicholas, touching the petition and commission sent to his
Majesty. Lord Falkland one of the reporters.
Aug. 31. — Committee to take into consideration the remov-
ing of the communion tables in the Universities and the Inns
of Court, and the book of sports, &c., and to frame an order
upon them.
Sept 1. — The report of this Committee produced on this
day the following declaration : — ^^ Whereas divers innovations,
in or about the worship of Grod, have been lately practised
in this kingdom, by enjoining some things and prohibiting
others, without warrant of law, to the great grievance and dis^
content of his Majesty's subjects : for the suppression of such
innovations, and for preservation of the public peace, it is this
day ordered by the Commons in Parliament assembled that
tiie Churchwardens of every parish church and chapel re-
spectively do forthwith remove the communion table from the
east end of the church, chapel> or chancel, into some other
convenient place ; and that they take away the rails, and level
the chancels as heretofore they were before the late inno-
vations :
That all crucifixes, scandalous pictures of any one or more
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204 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. H.
persons of the Trinityy and all images of the Virgin Mary,
shall be taken away and abolished ; and that all tapers, candle-
sticksy and basons be removed from the communion table :
That all corporal bowing at the name Jesus, or towards the
east end of the church, chapel, or chancel, or towards the com-
mimion table, be henceforth forborne :
That the orders aforesaid be observed in all the several
cathedral churches of this kingdom, and all the collegiate
churches or chapels in the two universities or any other part
of the kingdom, and in the Temple church and the chapels
of the other inns of court, by the deans of the said cathedral
churches, by the vice-chancellors of the said universities, and
by the heads and governors of the several colleges and halls
aforesaid, and by the benchers and readers in the said inns of
court respectively :
That the Lord's day shall be duly observed and sanctified ;
all dancing or other sports, either before or after divine service,
be forborne and restrained ; and that the preaching of God's
word be permitted in the afternoon in the several churches and
chapels of this kingdom, and that ministers and preachers be
encouraged thereunto :
That the vice-chancellors of the universities, heads and
governors of colleges, all parsons, vicars, churchwardens, do
make certificates of the performance of these ordere :
And if the same shall not be observed in any of the places
aforementioned, upon complaint thereof made to the two next
justices of peace, mayor, or other head o£Scer of cities or
towns corporate, it is ordered that the said justices, mayor, or
other head o£Scer respectively, shall examine the truth of all
such complaints, and certify by whose default the same are
committed ; all which certificates are to be delivered in Par-
liament before the 30th of October next."
This order was presented from the Committee appointed to
that purpose, and put to the question and assented unto.
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app.h.] appendix. 205
Sept. 6. — Lord Falkland teller for the Yeas on the ques-
tion whether this word " deprave " shall stand in the addition
brought in from the Committee to the ordinance for abolishing
innovations.
Sept. 8. — Lord Falkland, Mr. Pym, and Mr. Martin added
to the Committee of 6 appointed to meet with the Committee
of Lords for drawing a despatch to his Majesty concerning the
levies of men in Ireland for the service of the King of Spain
and the King of France. Lord Falkland, Sir J. Colepepper,
Mr. Waller, Sir H. Vane ordered to repair, two of them to
the Spanish Ambassador and two to the French, to know of
them by what authority they treat with officers concerning the
levies of men and horse in England.
Sept. y. — Lord Falkland reports the answer he received
from the French Ambassador. Lord Falkland and others
appointed to go to the Lords to desire a conference on the
subject of restraining of forces to be employed in the service of
foreign princes, and concerning instructions to be sent to the
Committees in Scotland. Lord Falkland one of the managers
of this conference.
Sept 9. — Lord Falkland sent to the Lords to acquaint their
Lordships that the House of Commons had appointed a Com-
mittee during the recess and has given them this power to recall
their Committee in Scotland if they shall see cause. Com-
mittee appointed in which Lord Falkland and 46 others were
to meet twice a week during the recess.
Oct. 26. — Conference by Committee of both Houses con-
cerning letters received by the Lord Keeper from his Majesty.
Lord Falkland one of the reporters of this conference.
Oct. 26. — Committee to prepare heads for a conference with
the Lords concerning the sequestering the Bishops from their
votes in Parliament, according to the resolutions of the House.
Nov. 9. — Committee to take into consideration the proposi-
tion of the merchants to have liberty to transport Spanish money
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206 LIFE OP LOBD FALKLAND. [App. I.
into Ireland in specie, or any other foreign coin to be uttered
there.
Nov. 13. — Committee to conrider the outrages offered to
Signer Amerigo, agent of the Duke of Florence, and to con-
sider of the abuses of those men that are employed by this
House for apprehending of priests.
Nov. 20. — Conference by a Committee of both Houses
concerning letters read in the House of Lords touching the
affidrs of the kingdom. Lord Falkland one of the reporters of
this conference.
Nov. 24. — Committee to examine the Irish lately taken up
on suspicion by order of this House.
Nov. 25. — Lord Falkland teller for the Noes on the ques-
don that Mr. Palmer shall be sent to the Tower.
Dec. 6. — Committee is to present some such course as may
be fit to prevent all abuses in the elections of memb^^s to serve
in this House.
Dec. 11. — Committee on the petition of the inhabitants of
Wisbech, Leverington, &c
Dec. 13. — Committee to examine the virhole business con-
cerning the rai^ng and sending armed men to the palace at
Westminster.
(L)
Falceiying and ' kings coyne is treason, but the endeavour
is not treason. The stat. 25 £d. 3 tooke away all treason at
the comon law for succeeding times.
Williams case, 16 Jacob.
Makinge bace money with an intent to utter it.
Counterfeiting the greate scale, by taking the wax from an
old patent and fixinge it to a new.
> So in the MS.
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App. I.] APPENDIX. 207
The statute sales, if the servant kill his master ; but if the
maid kill the mistris ?
If a judge bee killd in his seat of justice 'tis treason, but
quaere then the powder plot.
25 Ed. 3 takes not away all treasons at common law, for
'tis only an affirmative statute.
1 H. 4. cap. 10, and 1 Mar. cap. 1, doe not take away the
declaratory power given by 25 £d. 3.
Ri. Boose, alias Cooke, his case, in putting poyson into yeast,
divers died, this declared hi^ treason, and hee to bee boyled
to death* 22 H. 8. cap. 9, ergo, since Hen. 4tb his time,
treason hath been declared in parliament.
In equity Lord Stratford deserves to dye.
In Hen. 7ths time clergy was taken from on (one) Gleame,
and hee hanged.
The Committee spake to the lords like oratours, but heere
like judges, full of doubts.
Subversion of the fundamentall law either by force or by
tongue.
Ingenio^ssime nequam, et in malo publico facundus.
Lord Faulkland. Thb casts a concealing of delinquints
uppon the King.
Arminians agree noe more with papists then with protestants.
^^ Bellum episcopale," only said by on (one) bishopp, but laid
uppon the bishopps, and soe, ^^ bringing in idolatry."
Orders and ordinances made to conunand and forbid, where
there is noe law for them. Many good lawes made now
bishopps and popish lords are sitting in parliment, we confesse,
yet wee say, non can bee made whilst they sit there.
Preist and clerke, about approbation of councellours, where
on (one) approves and the other names. — Notes on the Lory
Parliament^ by Sir Ralph Vemetfy Knight.
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208 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. [App. g.
(K. )
Sir Edward Nicholas to the Kiiig.
Mat it please yo» most excellent Ma*^%
My last to yo* Ma**« was of y« il^ p^&ent, w*"* I sent by
packet addressed to M' Th'rer. Yo» Ma**^ long absence en-
courages some to talke in Parliam^ of highe matters. It was
yesterday in debate in y* Commons House, that y* Parliam* may
have tlie approbac^on of all Officers, Councellors, Amb'dors,
and Ministers, and yo' Ma*** y* nominac'on. The reasons
alleaged for it were, first that it had bene soe heretofore, and
soe is concealed to be an auntient right ; 2^^ that y* ill effects
that have bene by y* councells and acc'ons of olde Officers,
Councellors, &c., & y* feares that there may be y* like by the
new, will make all that hath bene hitherto donne nothing, if
this may not be graunted to secure them, whereby the king-
dome may be as well p*served as purged ; 3*"^ that yo* Ma***
did heare partic^ & privat mens advise in y* choyce of yo»
Offi", Councellors, &c., & therefore it can be noe derogac'on
for yo' Ma*** to take therein y* advise of y* P'liament. Some
said that untill such things as these shalbe granted they cannot
w*^ a good conscyence supply yo* Ma**** necessities. After
a long debate this busines was at length referred to a Select
Com'ittee to p*pare forthw*^ heads for a pet*° to be p*sented to
yo* Ma*** to receave the P'liam** approbac'on of such Officers,
Councellors, &c. as yo* Ma*** shall choose, for better p*venc'on
of y* great & many mischeife that may befall y* Common-
Ivealth by y* choyce of ill Councellors, Officers, Amb'dors, &
Ministers of State, w«^ pet*° is to be ripened w*^ all speede and
to be p*sented to y* House. There appeared soe many in ye
Com'ons House against this busines, that some conceave that
there wilbe noe further proceeding in it, but I doubt it : how-
soever I may not forbeare to let yo' Ma*** know, that the Lo :
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app. l.] appendix. 209
fialkland, & Jo. Strangewishe, M' Waller, M' Ed. Hide, &
M' Holbourne, & diverse others, stood as Champions in
maynten'nee of yo' Prerogative and shewed for it iinaunswerable
reason & undenyable p®sedents, whereof yo' Ma*** shall doe
well to take some notice (as yo' Ma**® shall thinke best) for
their encouragm't.
I co'mande you to doe it in my name, telling them that
I will doe it my selfe at my retume.
Westminster^ 29 Oct., 1641.
— EvelyvLS Diary and Correspondence^ vol. ii.
(L. )
William Beale, D.D., originally of Pembroke Hall, Oxford,
became afterwards Master of St. John's College, Cambridge,
and Chaplain to Charles I. He had been favoured and pro-
moted by Laud, and was deemed by the Puritans to be popishly
affected. He was amongst the first who engaged in gathering
and conveying the plate belonging to the University of Cam-
bridge to the Kmg, and was hurried a prisoner to London,
suffered great indignities from the populace through that city
on his way to the Tower, where he remained some years for
the same offence and for denying the covenant. He was plun-
dered, and deprived of his headship of St. John s, and seques-
tered from all his other spiritualities. He was at length
exchanged, and fled to Oxford, where he exercised his function
as minister in presence of the King and his court. After the
execution of the King he went abroad, and died heart-broken,
1651. — Wood's Fasti OxonienseSy vol. ii. p. 81.
VOL. I.
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210 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. [App. M.
(M.)
Lord Falkland's Letter to Mr, Hyde.
Dear Sweetheart,
The Lords sent to us to-day to desire that we would
make haste to proceed with the charges of my Lord of Canter-
bury, and the other delinquents accused before them. Among
the rest, the judges were named, in particular Judge Berkley ;
and Mr. Peard then named you, as having been in that chair,
and so fitted to attend that business, both to inform us and be
employed by us. He added, that he doubted not you were very
perfect in it ; for though you were sometimes at a committee in
the morning, yet the afternoons he supposed you spent about
that because you were never in the House. To this I replied,
that in the charge against Judge Berkley (which was to precede
the rest, because he stands committed, and none of the rest, and
tlie Lords had once set him a day for his trial and we had deferred
it) you were not engaged by the House, but reserved for those
judges whose charge you had yourself carried up. I told them
that you had, this good while, great inclinations to the stone,
so that, if you sat above an hour or two at a time, it put you
to much pain, which had made you attend the House so
seldom, and yet allowed you to be at a committee sometimes,
which sits but a little at a time, and which had carried you
now for a turn into the country, to try how air and riding
would mend you. Mr. Hunt replied, that, having been in that
chair, you would be necessary as well to Judge Berkley's
business as to that of the Chequer Judges ; and Mr. Morley
fell again upon you for not waiting upon the House, and yet
attending the Dover committee so duly ; and said the House
was not to take notion of any man's being out of town who had
not leave to go, and so moved (which was ordered accordingly)
that the House should order you to attend to-morrow morning.
I thought fit to let you know it, that you may rise at three of
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App. n.] appendix. 2 1 1
the clock to-morrow, and be here time enough if you please.
You know I never take upon me to counsel, nor will add any
more than that I am.
Sweetheart, y most affec* humble servant,
Falkland.
March 23, 1641.
The House sits more early in the morning to-morrow, and
no more in the afternoon. — Clarendon State Papers^ vol. ii.
p. 141.
(N. )
The King*s Anstoer to the Petition of Hertford of June 7, 1642.
His Majesty graciously accepts the acknowledgment of the
petitioners, and is very glad that in a county so near the
violence which hath sought to oppress his Majesty, and where
so great industry hath been used to corrupt his good subjects,
and to impress into them thoughts and resolutions of disloyalty
against him, there is yet so grateful a sense of his Majesty's
justice, and so true a sense of the calamities of the kingdom.
And his Majesty assures the petitioners that he so far concurs
with them in all their requests, that they do not more desire to
receive, than his Majesty doth grant, all they ask of him.
Of the present distractions and distempers, in which the peti-
tioners express an honest and loyal care of the safety of his
Majesty's person (a thing so far from being of late regarded,
that God only hath preserved him from being destroyed by the
bloody hands of rebels), his Majesty doubts not but the peti-
tioners know from what fountain they have sprung ; and by the
grievances and pressures exercised upon their own county, in
which his Majesty cannot be suspected to have the least hand,
so much as by accident, will quickly discern that, when that
part of the law which should defend his Majesty is so easily
mastered and trodden down, the other part, which should secure
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212 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. N.
his subjects, will insensibly moulder away, and give them up to
the same violence ; and that, when they shall too inconsiderately
look upon the public sufferings, they do but invite prosperous
ill instruments to bring the misery home to their doors.
That all hostility may cease, cease for ever, and a blessed
and happy accommodation and peace be made; that Grod*s
honour and the Protestant religion may be maintained ; that
the just privileges of Parliament, and the laws of the land,
may be upheld and put in execution, that so his good people
may be forced from their fears, and secured in their estates, is
not, cannot be more the wish and prayer of the petitioners than it
is the earnest and incessant endeavour of his Majesty. And that,
when the petitioners remember that his Majesty's compassion of
the miseries of a civil war kept him so long from endeavouring
to raise an army, that he was almost swallowed up by a
desperate rebellion, and nothing but the immediate hand of God
could have supplied him with men, arms, or money for his
defence ; and when they consider the strong licence given or
countenanced in the exercise of religion, the scorn and contempt
the very Protestant religion itself suffers by Brownists, Ana-
baptists, and sectaries, who in truth have destroyed the civil
peace too ; when they look upon the strong invasion upon the
freedom and privilege of Parliament, by the violence and
faction of such men, and see the laws of the land, with a loud
voice, vilified and trampled upon, they must confess 'tis no more
in his Majesty's power to satisfy the petitioners in their most
just desires, than to preserve his own person, honour, and estate,
from that fury which threatens that and all the rest ; and that
what the petitioners now ask is the only argument of his
Majesty's taking up just, necessary, and defensive arms. But if
the petitioners shall join with his Majesty, and assist him to
assist them ; if they shall resolve to defend the known laws of
the land (as the only excellent rule), and not to submit to any
extravagant arbitrary power whatsoever; if they shall set a
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app. n.] appendix. 213
true price upon their religion (sealed with the blood of so many
glorious martyrs), and on the behalf of it protest against all the
distempers of Brownists, Anabaptists, and sectaries ; if they shall
help his Majesty to reduce the whole fabric of Chiwch and State
according to the model of Q. Elizth's time (so long and seriously
proposed by his Majesty), in which the foundations were laid of
all that happiness and glory which the whole nation enjoyed so
many years after, and to which his Majesty hath made so great
an addition of excellent laws, his Majesty doubts not that any
faction shall prevail against them, but that, other counties fol-
lowing the example of the petitioners, in short time his Majesty,
the petitioners, and the whole kingdom, will find the accomplish-
ment of all that is desired by this petition.
Falkland.
The Kin^s Answer to the Petition of the Counties of Cumberland
and Westmorelandy July 5, 1642.
His Majesty is very well pleased with the duty and afiection
of this petition, and hath commanded me to signify his good
acceptance of it, and thanks for it' to the petitioners, and to
assure them that, if some others had had the same sense of, and
gratitude for, his justice and favour towards them, in the yield-
ing of his royal assent to so many good bills, as the petitioners
have, and given as good credit to his professions and protesta-
tions for the defence of the religion and laws established as
the petitioners give, and been as ready to recollect and embrace
all good means that might tend to a happy union, and renew a
right understanding between his Majesty and his Parliament,
as his Majesty hath been, is, and ever shall be, this (by the
help of God) had been by this time a most secure, imited, and
happy kingdom, free from all the present jealousies, distractions,
and dangers.
And as his Majesty consents with the petitioners in a most
earnest desire that such a way may be discovered and pursued
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214 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. K.
which might reconcile all differences and mistakings, and by
which he may have full satisfaction in his just demands ; so he
likewise consents with them that the choice of some plan, free
firom exception both of danger and distrust, would be the most
probable, and indeed a certain means to attain that end which
out of his great affection to justice and peace, and his care of
the freedom (which is the principal privilege) of Parliament, his
Majesty hath often intimated, and of late seriously recom-
mended to both Houses, but not only without success, but
without answer.
His Majesty doth likewise assure the petitioners that he will
no longer expect that they should make good their professions
of being ready, according to their power, with their lives and
fortunes, to defend his person, honour, crown, and dignity, than
he shall be ready, according to Ids power, with his life and for-
tune, to defend the religion and laws established, against all
maliguers of the peace and prosperity of the kingdom.
— RushtJDorthy vol. iv. p. 641. Falkland.
The Kin^s Answer to the Petition of Flinty Axigust 4, 1642.
His Majesty hath commanded me to return this answer
to this petition, that his Majesty is much pleased with the
duty and affection expressed by the petitioners, and with so
evident a testimony that the grievances he hath redressed, the
laws he hath passed, and the declarations he hath made, have
produced the effects for which they were intended — the satis-
faction, gratitude, and confidence of his good subjects, which he
doubts not but the whole course of his government will daily
increase. That his Majesty is no less pleased to see them so
sensible of what hath and ever will best preserve their happiness
and security ; and that therefore they desire only to be governed
by that rule which he is resolved only to govern by, the known
and established laws of the land, assuring them that, according
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App. 0.] APPENDIX. 215
to his oath, he will always protect them from the invasion of any
other assumed arbitrary power whatsoever, as long as he shall be
able to protect himself, being resolved of nothing more than to
stand and fall together with the law. And that he will not
expect they should be any longer ready to express their duties
to him by the hazard of themselves and fortunes for the pre-
servation of his person, honour, estate, and lawful prerogative,
against all powers and persons whatsoeyer, than his Majesty
shall ever be mutually ready to discharge his duty towards
them by the hazard of himself and fortime for the preservation
and defence of the religion and laws established, of the just
privileges and freedom of Parliament, and of the liberty and
propriety of his subjects, against whomsoever shall endeavour
either to destroy or oppose them.
— RiLshtoarthj vol. iv. p. 642. Falkland.
(Lanfldowne MS. 231, f. 155.) ( O. )
Extract from Auhrey*8 Bemains of Gentilism,
IHomericae.
Virgilian«.
Biblicse.
Sortes Biblicffi were condemned by a council. Sortes Virgi-
lianae are in use still, but more beyond sea than in England,
but perhaps heretofore as much here. As for Homer, Graecum
est, non potest legi : for Greek was not understood westwards
of GrsBcia till after the taking of Constantinople ; but y* Gre-
cians did use the Homerican sortilege.
These divinations are performed after this manner, viz.. The
party that has an earnest desire to be resolved in such an event
takes a pinne, and thrusts it between the leaves of one of the
aforesaid bookes ; and chooses which of the pages she or ho
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216 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. 0.
will take, and then open the booke and begin to reade at the
beginning of y^ period : the booke at the pricking is held in
another's hand.
In December, 1648, K. Charles the First being in great
trouble, and prisoner at Caersbrooke, or to be brought to Lon-
don to his triall, Charles, Prince of Wales, being then at
Paris, and in profound sorrow for his father, Mr. Abraham
Cowley went to wayte on (visite) him : his Highness asked
him whether he would play at cards, to diyerte his sad
thoughts. Mr. Cowley replied he did not care to play at
cards ; but if his Highness pleased, they would use sortes
Virgilianae [Mr. Cowley alwaies had a Virgil in his pocket] :
the Prince accepted (liked) the proposal, and prick't his pinne
in the fourth booke of the kneads at this place, w£n.
iv. 607 :—
Sol, qui terrarum flammis opera omnia lustras :
Tuque harum interpres curarum et conscia Juno :
Noctumisque Hecate triviis ululata per urbes :
Et Dirae ultrices, et Dii morientis Elisae :
Accipite haec, meritumque malis adyertite numen,
Et nostras audite preces. Si tangere portus
Infandum caput, ac tends adnare necesse est ;
Et sic fata Jovis poscunt, hie terminus haeret :
At bello audacis populi vexatus et armis,
Finibus extorris, complexu avulsus Juli,
Auxilium imploret, videatque indigna suorum
Funera ; nee cum se sub leges pacis iniquae
Tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur ;
Sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus arena.
The Prince understood not Latin well, and desired Mr.
Cowley to translate the verses, which he did admirably well,
and which Mr. George Ent (who lived in his house at Chertsey
in the great plague, 1665) showed me of Mr. Cowley's owne
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App. 0.] APPENDIX. 217
hand writing ; I am sorry I did not take a copie of them. It is
a good while since I saw them ; I thinke the Prince was put
about — Et si fata Jovis poscunt — ^but for want of Mr. Cow-
ley's,* I will set downe Mr. Ogilby's : —
O Sun, whose eye views all the worldes afikires,
And thou, great Jimo, conscious of those cares.
Nocturnal Hecate, who oft dost raise
Loud cries through cities, in cross meeting waies.
Revenging furies, and you Gods that are
Dying Eliza's, hearken to my prayer ;
Shew your deserved wrath : if he must gaine
His port, that impious man those coasts attain, —
If Fate decree, and fixt the periods are.
Let him be vext with a bold people's war ;
Exil'd, forc't from his sons embrace, may he
Seek aid, and his owne friends sad funerals see ;
Nor when dishonored peace he makes with them.
Let him loved life enjoy or diadem,
But die before his day, the sand his grave^ —
And with my blood this last request 1 crave.
I Aubrey has scratched through the lines marked. At the margin he has written
** Search for it amongst Mr. Ent's papeni in the library of the Royal Society ;" and
this he appears to have done, for a piece of paper is inserted, of which the following
is a copy :—
** T was this place —
Virg. iEneid, lib. 4.
Audacis populi bello, &c.
By a bold people's stubborn arms opprest,
Forc*t to forsake the land he once posses't,
Tom from his dearest sonnes, let him in vain
Seeke heipe, and see his friends unjustly slain.
Let him to base unequal termes submit,
In hope to save his crown, yet loose both it
And life at once, untimely let him dy,
And on an open stage unburied ly.
—Translated for K. Ch. II. by Mr. Abraham Cowley."
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„,o LIFE OF LORD FALKLAKD. tA^r. O
1 11 re-
Now as to the last part-the^ndb^^jav^^
^exnber it was frequently '-;^^^^^X pj^t was privately
ar«.y,&c.>attbebodyofK«gCha^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^
put into the sand about Wb.tebaU , and ^^^^^ ^^
'carried to Windsor, ^ V^tbll X"rPhilUps. J- C^,
filled witb rubbisl,, «;^"^^^^^i„g.3 tryall, by priuting.
plain deale coflBa.
..:>ansUG^etdansnt^eon.rait^e^^^^^
quelque po^te celebre. con>me Home^e P ^^^ ^,^^_
pr Jntait a Vou^ertu^ du U^ eU.^ U^^ ^^^^^^,
Le en fourmt nuUe exen^p^- OnvoU H ^^
deux cents ans ap,^ la ^^ ^1^%^,.^, et pour le,
de cas de ses vers pour les ««'^ Py J p^^^te. Car
^ettre en la place des sorts qu. --"* f;^^^ ^^^ que
Alexandre Severe, encore P"*'^'^^^^;' ^ .^ien, re<}utpour
re^pereur HeUogabale ne Im^ou^a^ p^ de J^e ^, ^^^_^^
reponse, dans le temple de ^«°^f ' ^^^^^ eontraires, tu
dont le sens est, Si tu peux surmonter les desuns
seras Marcellus. p-Tv^lais a parle des sorts
" Ici men auteur se souvient que ^^^*^ * ^^^ . et U
Virgilianes. que Panurge va consulter sur ^n --^ ^^
trouve cet endroit du livre auss. savant I'^J^ f ^^^^^^
badin. II dit que les bagatelles et les «»"7/^^^^^
valent souvent mieux que les discours les P^^^ «f"«"^ f^^
autres. Je n'ai point voulu oublier cet eloge, P-^^^-f;^
une chose singuliere de le roncontrer au nuheu dun traite d«
oracles plein de science et d'erudition. H est certain que Ra-
belais avait beaucoup d'esprit et de lecture, et un art t^ par-
ticulier de debiter des choses savantes comme de pures fadaisea,
et de dire de pures fadaises le plus souvent sans ennuyer.
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App. 0.] APPENDIX. 219
C^est dommage qu'il n'ait vecu dans un siecle qui Teut oblige
a plus d'honnetete et de politesse.
^' Les sorts pass^rent jusques dans le christianisme ; od les
prit dans les livres sacr&, au lieu que les paiens les prenaient
dans leurs poetes. Saint Augustin, dans Tepitre 119 a Janua-
rius, parait ne d^pprouver cet usage que sur ce qui regarde
les affaires du siecle. Gregoire de Tours nous apprend lui-
meme quelle etait sa pratique ; il passait plusieurs jours dans
le jeune et dans la priere ; ensuite U allait au tombeau de Saint
Martin, oil il ouvrait tel livre de TEcriture qu'il Youlait, et il
prenait pour la r^ponse de Dieu le premier passage qui s'oflrait
a ses yeux. Si ce passage ne faisait rien au sujet, il ouvrait un
autre livre de TEcriture.
" D'autres prenaient pour sort divin la premiere chose qu'ils
entendaient chanter en entrant dans I'eglise. Mais qui croi-
rait que Tempereur Heraclius, deliberant en quel lieu il ferait
passer Thiver a son armee, se determina par cette espece de
sort ? II fit purifier son armee pendant trois jours, ensuite il
ouvrit le livre des Evangiles, et trouva que son quartier d'hiver
lui etait marque dans TAlbanie.
" Etait-ce la une affaire dont on put esperer de trouver la
decision dans I'Ecriture ?
" L'Eglise est enfin venue a bout d'exterminer cette super-
stition ; mais il lui a fallu du temps. Du moment que Terreur
est en possession des esprits, c'est une merveille si elle ne s'y
maintient toujours." — Histoire des Oracles, CEuvres de Fonte^
nelley tome iii. p. 342.
[The passage referred to by Fontenelle is in c. iv. of the
Life of Alexander Severus, by Lampridius. It is stated like-
wise, in c. xiv. of the same Life, that when his mother dissuaded
him from the study of philosophy and literature, and directed
him to other pursuits, the Sortes Virgilianae presented the
verses beginning, Excudent alii, &c. There is, however, an
earlier instance of the use of the Sortes Virgilianae than that
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220 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. P.
referred to by Fontenelle. Hadrian is reported to have con-
sulted them, during the reign of Trajan, concerning the empe-
ror's opinion of him. (Spartian. Vit Hadrian, c. ii.) This
would fall in the early part of the second century.]
(P.)
It seems in this treaty they so pressed his Majesty with their
best reasons and arguments to grant what they desired, that
the King was so fully satisfied with their reasons, that he abso-
lutely agreed to what they proposed, and promised to give them
their answer the next morning, according to their desires ; but
because it was then late, and past midnight, he deferred to give
his answer in writing till the next morning, and commanded
them to wait upon him accordingly. The commissioners here-
upon went to their lodging full of joy, in hopes to receive the
answer agreed upon ; but, instead of what they expected, and
was promised by the King, he gave them a paper quite contrary
to what was concluded between them the night before. The
commissioners did most humbly expostulate with his Majesty,
and pressed him upon his royal word, and the ill consequences
they feared would follow upon this new paper, to which the
King told them he had altered his mind, and that the paper he
gave them was his answer, which he was resolved to make upon
their last debate, and they could obtain no other answer from
him, which gave them much sadness and trouble. After this
sad rencounter (which the commissioners did not expect), they
inquired of some of the King's particular counsellors how the
King came to change his mind, who said, that after the King
had left his council, and was undressing, some of those gen-
tlemen about him whose interest was for continuance of the
war, and hearing what answer the King had promised, never
left pressing the King till they had persuaded and prevailed
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app. q.] appendix.
with him to change his former resolution, and to ordi
answer to be drawn as then delivered ; which being intimate
the commissioners, they used their utmost endeavours to di
suade the King from sending this answer, fearing it would
break the treaty ; but they could not prevail : the answer was
sent, and, upon the Parliament's receiving it, they forthwith
recalled their commissioners, and the treaty ended unsuccess-
fully, having lasted from the beginning of March till the middle of
April. This relation I had from one of the commissioners, my
cousin-german, who, I am sure, wished well to the King, and
desired nothing more than a good peace between the King and
his people. — Memoirs of the Reign of King Charles I. by Sir
Richard Bulstrodey p. 90.
(QO
A draught of a Speech concerning Episcopacy, by the Lord Viscount
Falkland, found since his death amongst hb papers, written with
hb own hand. Oxford, printed by Leonard Lichfield, printer to
the University, 1644.
Mr. Speaker,
Whosoever desires this totall change of our present
government, desires it either out of a conceit that it is unlawfull
or inconvenient. To both these I shall say something. To the
first, being able to make no such arguments to prove it so my
selfe as I conceive likely to be made within the walls of so wise
a House I can make no answer to them till I heare them from
some other; which then (if they perswade me not) by the
liberty of a committee I shall doe. But this in generall : in
the mean time I shall say, that the ground of this government
of Episcopacy being so ancient and so generall, so uncon-
tradicted in the first and best times, that our most laborious
antiquaries can find no nation, no city, no church, nor houses
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222 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. Q.
under any other, that our first ecclesiasticall authors tell us
that the apostles not only allowed but founded bishops, so that
the tradition for some books of Scripture which we receive as
canonicall is both lesse ancient, lesse generall, and lesse uncon-
tradicted, I must ask leave to say, that, though the mystery of
iniquity began suddenly to worke, yet it did not instantly pre-
vaile ; it could not ayme at the end of the race as soon as it was
started, nor could Antichristianisme in so short a time have
become so Catholique.
To the second, this I say, that in this government there is no
inconvenience which might not be sufficiently remedied without
destroying the whole ; and though we had not paird their nailes,
or rather their tongues — I mean the High Commission — though
we should neither give them the direction of strict rules, nor the
addition of choyce assisters (both which we may doe, and sud-
denly I hope we shall), yet the feare sunk into them of this
Parliament, and the expectation of a trienniall one, would be
such bankes to these rivers, that we need feare their inundation
no more.
Next I say, that, if some inconvenience did^appeare in this, yet,
since it may also appeare that the change will breed greater, I
desire those who are led to change by inconveniences only that
they will suspend their opinions till they see what is to be laid
in the other ballance, which I will endeavour.
The inconveniences of the change are double, some that it
should be yet done, others that it should be at all done ; the
first agfldn double, because we have not done what we should doe
first, and because others have not done what they should doe
first. That which we should doe first, is to agree of a suc-
ceeding forme of government, that every man, when he gives
his vote to the destruction of this, may be sure that he destroyes
not that which he likes better than that which shall succeed it.
I conceive that no man will at this time give this vote who doth
not believe this government to be the worst that can possibly be
devised ; and for my part, if this be thus preposterously done,
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App. q.] appendix. 223
and we left in this blind uncertainty, what shall become of us ?
I shall not only doubt all the inconveniences which any govern-
ment hath, but which any government may have. This I insist
on the rather, because, if we should find cause to wish for this
back again, we could not have it ; the means being disperst, to
restore it again would be a miracle in state, like that of the
resurrection to nature. That which others should do first is
to be gone. For if you will do this, yet, things standing as they
do, no great cause appearing for so great a change, I feare a
great army may be thought to be the cause, and I therefore
desire (to be sure that Newcastle may not be suspected to have
any influence upon London) that this may not be done till our
brethren be returned to their patrimony.
We are now past the inconveniences in poynt of time ; I now
proceed, and my first inconvenience of this change is the incon-
venience of change it selfe, wliich is so great an inconvenience,
when the change is so great and suddain, that in such cases,
when it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.
To a person formerly intemperate, I have known the first pre-
scription of an excellent physitian to forbeare too good a
diet for a good while. We have lived long happily and glo-
riously under this form of government ; it hath very well agreed
with the constitution of our lawes, with the disposition of our
people : how any other will doe I the lesse knowe because I
know not of any other of which so much as any other monarchy
hath had any experience, they all having (as I conceive) at least
superintendents for life, and the mere word bishop, I suppose,
is no man's aime to destroy, nor no man's aime to defend.
Next, sir, I am of opinion, that most men desire not this
change, or else I am certain there hath been very suddenly
a great change in men ; severall petitions indeed desire it, but,
knowing how concerned and how united that party is, how few
would be wanting to so good a worke, even those hands which
values their number toothers, are an argument of their paucity
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224 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. [App. Q.
to me. The numberlesse number of those of a different sense
appeare not so publiquely and cry not so loud, being persons
more quiet, as secure in the goodnesse of their lawes and the
wisdome of their law-makers, and because men petition for what
they have not, and not for what they have, perhaps that the
bishops may not know how many friends their order hath, least
they be incouraged to abuse their authority if they knew it to
be so generally approved. Now, sir, though we are trusted by
those that sent us, in cases wherein their opinions were unknown,
yet truly, if I knew the opinion of the'major part of the town, I
doubt whether it were the intention of those that trusted me
that I should follow my own opinion against theirs ; at least let
us stay till the next session, and consult more particularly with
them about it.
Next, sir, it will be the destruction of many estates in which
many who may be very innocent persons are legally vested,
and of many persons who undoubtedly are innocent, whose
dependencies are upon those estates. The Apostle saith, he that
provides not for his family is worse then an infidell : this
belongs in some analogy to us ; and truly, sir, we provide ill for
our family, the common-wealth, if we suffer a considerable part
of it to be turned out of doores, so that, for any care is taken by
this bill for new dwelling (and I will never consent they shall
play an after game for all they have), either we must see them
starve in the streets before us, or, to avoid that, must ship
them some whether away, like the Moores out of Spmne.
From the hurt of the learned I come to that of learning, and
desire you to consider whether, when all considerable main-
tenance shall be reduced to those which are in order to preach-
ing, the arts and languages, and even eminent skill in contro-
versies, to which great leasure and great means is required,
much neglected, and, to the joy and gain of our common adver-
sary, Syntagraes, Postylles, Catechismes, Commentators, and
Concordances almost only bought, and the rest of libraries
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app. q.] appendix. 225
remain rather as of ornament then as of use. I doe not deny
but, for all this want, the wit of some hath been attempted both,
and the parts of some few have served to discharge both, and
those of Calvin to advise about and dispatch more temporall
businesse into the bargain then all our Privy Councell. Yet
such abilities are extreamly rare, and very few will ever preach
twice a Sunday, and be any match for Bellarmine ; nay, I feare,
sir, that this will make us to have fewer able even in preaching
it selfe, as it is separated from generall learning, for I feare
many, whose parts, friends and meanes, might make them hope
for better advancements in other courses, when these shall be
taken away from this, will be lesse ready to embrace it ; and
though it were to be wisht that all men should only undertake
those embassages with reference to his honour whose embas-
sadors they are, yet I doubt not but many who have entered
into the church by the doore, or rather by the window, have
done it after great and sincere service, and better reasons have
made them labour in the vineyard then brought them thither at
first ; and though the meer love of God ought to make us good,
though there were no reward or punlghment, yet it would be
very inconvenient to piety that hope of heaven and fear of
hell were taken away.
My next inconvenience, I feare, is this, that if we should take
away a government which hath as much testimony of the first
antiquity to have been founded by the apostles, as can be
brought for some parts of Scripture to have been written by
them, least this may avert some of our Church from us, and
rivit some of the Roman Church to her ; and as I remember,
the apostle commands us to be carefull not to give scandall
even to those that are without Sir, it hath been said that we
have a better way to know Scripture then by tradition : I dispute
not this, sir, but I know that tradition is the only argument to
prove Scripture to another, and the first to every man's selfe,
being compared to the Samaritan woman's report, which made
many first believe in Christ, though they after believed him
VOL. I. Q
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226 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. Q.
for himselfe; and I therefore would not have this so fiurre
weakned to us as to take away Episcopacy as unlawfully which
is so farre by tradition proved to be lawful!.
My next inconvenience that I feare is this : having observed
those generally who are against bishops (I will not now speak
of such as are among us, who, by being selected from the rest,
are to be hoped to be freer than ordinary from vulgar passions)
to have somewhat more animosity against those who are for
them then vice versa^ least when they shall have previdled
against the bishops they be so farre enraged against their
partakers, and will so have discouraged their adversaries, as
in time to induce a necessity upon others, at least of the clergy,
to believe them^ as unlawful! as they themselves doe, and to
assent to other of their opinions yet left at large : which will
be a way to deprive us, I think, of not our worst, I am sure of
our most learned ministers, and to send a greater colonie to
New England then it hath been said this Bill will recall from
thence.
I come now from the inconveniences of taking away this
government to the inconveniences of that which shall succeed
it: and to this I can speake but by gueese and groping,
because I have no light given me what that shall be ; onely
I hope I shall be excused for shooting at randome, since you
will set me up no butt to shoot at. The first I feare the
Scotch government will either presently be taken ; or, if any
other succeed for a while, yet the unity and industry of those
of that opinion in this nation, assisted by the counsell and
friendship of that, will shortly bring it in, if any lesse opposite
government to it be here placed then that of Episcopacy. And
indeed, sir, since any other government than theirs will by no
means pve any satisfaction to their desire of uniformity, since
all they who see not the dishonour and ill consequences of it
will be unwiUing to deny tiieir bretiu^n what they esteeme
indifferent, since our owne government being destroyed we
shall m all likelyhood be aptest to receive that which is both
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app. q.] appendix. 227
next at hand and ready made : For thes reasons I look upon it
as probable ; and for the following ones, as inconvenient.
When some bishops pretended to jure divino (though
nothing so likely to be believed by the people as these would
be, nor consequently to hurt us by that pretence), this was
cry'd out upon as destructive to his Majesties supremacy,
who was to be confessed to be the fountame of jurisdiction in
this kingdome. Yet to jure divino that ecclesiasticall govern-
ment pretends, to meet when they please, to treat of what they
please, to excommunicate whom they please, even Parliaments
themselves ; so farre are they from receiving either rules or
punishments from them. And for us to bring in any unlimited,
any independent authority, the first is against the liberty of
the Subject, the second against the right and priviledge of
Parliament, and both against the Protestation.
If it be said, that this unlimitednesse and independence is
pnely in spirituall things, I first answer, that, arbitrary govern-
ment being the worst of governments, and our bodies being
worse than our soules, it will be strange to set up that over the
second, of which we were so impatient over the first Secondly,
that M. SoIIicitor^ speaking about the power of the clergy to
make canons to bind, did excellently informe us what a mighty
influence spirituall power hath upon temporall afiaires, so that,
if our clergy had the one, they had inclusively almost all the
other. And to this I may adde, what all men may see, the
vast temporall power of the Pope, allowed him by such who
allow it him only in ordine ad spiriiualia : for the fable will
tell you, if you make the lyon judge (and the clergy assisted
by the people is lyon enough), it was a wise feare of the
foxes, least he might call a knubbe a home. And sure, sir,
they will in this case be judges, not only of that which is
spirituall, but of what it is that is so : and the people, receiving
instruction from no other, will take the most temporall matter
to be spirituall, if they tell them it is so.
Q 2
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228 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. [App. R.
( R.)
An Eclogue on t/ie Death of Ben Jonson^ between Melyhcsus
and Hylas. By Lord Falkland.
Hylas, the cleare day boasts a glorious sunne,
Our troop is ready and our time is come :
That fox who hath so long our Iambs destroi'd,
And daily in his prosperous rapin joy'd,
Is earth'd not farre from hence, old iEgen's sonne,
Rough Corilas, and lusty Corydon,
In part the sport in past reyenge desire.
And both thy tarrier and thy aid require.
Haste, for by this, but that for thee wee staid,
The prey-devourer had our prey bin made.
HyL Oh I Melibseus, now I list not hunt.
Nor have that vigor as before I wont ;
My presence will afibrd them no reliefe, ^
That beast I strive to chase is only griefe.
MeL What meane thy folded armes, thy down-cast eyes
Teares which so fast descend, and sighs which rise ?
What meane thy words which so distracted fall,
As all thy joyes had now one fiinerall ?
Cause for such griefe can our retirements yield ?
That followes courts, but stoopes not to the field.
Hath thy steme step-dame to thy sire reveall'd
Some youthful act which thou could'st wish concealed ?
Part of thy heard hath some close thiefe convey'd
From open pastures to a darker shade ?
Part of thy flocke hath some fierce torrent drown'd ?
Thy harvest fail'd ? or Amarillis frown'd ?
Hyl. Nor love, nor anger, accident nor thiefe.
Hath rais'd the waves of my unbounded griefe :
To cure this cause I would provoke the ire
Of my fierce step-dame, or severer sire,
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App. r.] appendix. 229
Give all my beards, fields, flocks, and all the grace
That ever shone in Amarillis face.
Alas, that Bard, that glorious Bard is dead,
Who, when I whilome cities visited.
Hath made them seeme but boures which were full dayes.
Whilst he vouchsaft me his harmonious layes ;
And when he lived, 1 thought the country then
A torture, and no mansion, but a den.
Mel. Johnson you meane, unlesse I much doe erre,
1 know the person by the character.
HyL You guesse aright, it is too truely so.
From no lesse spring could all the rivers flow.
MeL Ah I Hylas, then thy griefe I cannot call
A passion, when the ground is rationall.
I now excuse thy teares and sighs, though those
To deluges, and these to tempests rose ;
Her great instructor gone, I know the age
No lesse laments than doth the widdow'd stage.
And onely vice and folly now are glad.
Our gods are troubled and our prince is sad ;
He chiefly who bestowes light, health, and art,
Feeles this sharpe griefe pierce his immortall heart ;
He his neglected lire away hath throwne.
And wept a larger, nobler Helicon,
To finde his hearbs, which to his wish prevaile.
For the lesse lov'd, should his owne favorite faile :
So moan'd himseUe when Daphne he ador'd.
That arts relieving al should faile their lord.
HyL But say from whence in thee this knowledge springs
Of what his favour was with gods and kings.
MeL Dorus, who long had known books, men, and townes.
At last the honour of our woods and downes.
Had often heard his songs, was often fir'd.
With their inchanting power, ere he retir'd.
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230 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [Afp. R. |
And ere himselfe to our still groves he brought,
To meditate on what his rouse bad taught :
Here all his joy was to revolve alone
All that her musicke to his soule had showne.
Or in all meetings to divert the streame
Of our discourse, and make his friend his theame,
And, praising works which tliat rare loome hath weav'd.
Impart that pleasure which he had receav'd :
So in sweet notes (which did all tunes excell,
But what he prais'd) I oft have heard him tell
Of his rare pen what was the use and price,
The bayes of vertue and the scourge of vice ;
How the rich ignorant he valued least.
Nor for the trappings would esteeme the beast;
But did our youth to noble actions raise.
Hoping the meed of his immortall praise :
How bright and soone hb muses morning shone.
Her noone how lasting, and her evening none :
How speech exceeds not dumbnesse, nor verse prose.
More then his verse the low rough rimes of those
(For such his scene they seem'd) who highest rear'd,
Possest Parnassus ere his power appeared :
Nor shall another pen his fame dissolve.
Till we this doubtfull probleme can resolve,
Which in his workes we most transcendent see.
Wit, Judgement, Learning, Art, or Industry,
Which till is never, so all jointly flow,
And each doth to an equall torrent grow :
His learning such, no author, old nor new,
Escapt his reading that deserved his view,
Aud such his judgement, so exact his test.
Of what was best in bookes, as what bookes best.
That, had he joined those notes his labours tooke
From each most prais'd and praise-deserving booke,
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app.r.] appendix. 231
And could the world of that choise treasure boast,
It need not care though all the rest were lost :
And such his wit, he writ past what be quotes,
And his productions &rre exceed his notes :
So in his workes where ought inserted growes,
The noblest of the plants engrafted showes.
That his adopted children equall not
The generous issue his owne braine begot :
So great his art, that much which he did write
Gave the wise wonder, and the crowd delight.
Each sort as well as sex admired his wit.
The bees and shees, the boxes and the pit ;
And who lesse lik*t within did rather chuse
To taxe their judgements tben suspect his muse :
How no spectator his chaste stage could call
The cause of any crime of his, but all
With thoughts and wils purg'd and amended rise
From th' ethicke lectures of his comedies.
Where the spectators act, and the sham'd age
Blushes to meet her follies on the stage ;
Where each man finds some light he never sought,
And leaves behind some yanitie he brought,
Whose politicks no lesse the minds direct.
Then these the manners, nor with lesse efiect :
When his majesticke tragedies relate
All the disorders of a tottering state.
All the distempers which on kingdomes fall.
When ease, and wealth, and vice are general].
And yet the minds against all feare assure.
And telling the disease, prescribe the cure :
Where, as he tels what subtle wayes, what friends
(Seeking their wicked and their wisht for ends),
Ambitious and luxurious persons prove,
Whom vast desires, or mighty wants doth move,
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232 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. i^' ^
The generall frame to sap and undermine,
In proud Sejanus and bold Cateline ;
So in his vigilant prince and consuls parts
He sbewes the wiser and the nobler arts,
By which a state may be unhurt, upheld.
And all those workes destroyed which hell would build,
Who (not like those who with small praise had wnt.
Had they not cal'd in judgement to their wit)
Us'd not a tutoring hand his to direct.
But was sole workeman and sole architect :
And sure by what my friend did daily tell,
If he but acted his owne part as well
As he writ those of others, he may boast
The happy fields hold not a happier ghost ^„„„.un
^y/ Strangers will thinke tWs strange, yet he (deare youth).
Where most he past beleefe, fell short of truth :
Say on what more he said ; this gives reliefe,
And, though it raise my cause, it bates my gnefe.
Since Fates decreed him now no longer liv'd,
I joy to beare him by thy friend reviv'd.
Mel. More he would say, and better (but I spoUe
His smoother words with my unpolisht stile) ;
And having told what piteh his worth attwn'd.
He then would tell us what reward it gain'd :
How in an ignorant and leam'd age he swwd
(Of which the first he found, the second made) ;
How he, when he could know it, reapt his feme.
And long outliv'd tlie envy of his name ;
To bim how daily flockt, what reverence gave,
All that had vrit, or would be thought to have.
Or hope to gune, and in so large a store.
That to his ashes they can pay no more,
Except those few who, censuring, thought not so,
But aim'd at glory from so great a foe :
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app. r.] appendix. 233
How the wise too did with meere wits agree,
As Pembroke, Portland, and grave Aubigny ;
Nor thought the rigidst senator a shame
To contribute to so deserved a fame :
How great Eliza, the retreate of those.
Who weake and injured her protection chose,
Her subjects joy, the strength of her allies,
The feare and wonder of her enemies,
With her judicious favours did infuse
Courage and strength into his younger muse :
How learned James, whose praise no end shall finde
(But still enjoy a fame pure like his mind).
Who favour'd quiet, and the arts of peace
(Which in his halcion dayes found large encrease),
Friend to the humblest if deserving swaine.
Who was himselfe a part of Phoebus traine.
Declared great Johnson worthiest to receive
The garland which the Muses hands did weave.
And though his bounty did sustaine his dayes.
Gave a more welcome pension in his praise ;
How mighty Charles, amidst that weighty care
In which three kingdomes as their blessing share.
Whom as it tends with ever watchfull eyes.
That neither power may force, nor art surprise.
So bounded by no shore, graspes all the maine.
And farre as Neptune claimes extends his reigne.
Found still some time to heare and to admire
The happy sounds of his harmonious lire.
And oft hath left his bright exalted throne.
And to his Muses feet combined his owne :
As did his Queene, whose person so disclos'd
A brighter nymph then any part impos'd.
When she did joyne, by an harmonious choise,
Her gracefuU motions to his powerfull voice ;
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234 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. B.
How above all the rest was Phoebus fir'd
With love of arts, which he himselfe inspired,
Nor oftener by his light our sence was cheer'd
Then he in person to his sight appeared,
Nor did he write a line but to supply
With sacred flame the radiant god was by.
HyL Though none I ever heard this last rehearse,
I saw as much when I did see his verse.
Mel, Since he, when living, could such honors have.
What now will piety pay to his grave ?
Shall of the rich (whose lives were low and vile.
And scarce deserved a grave, mudi lesse a pile)
The monuments possesse an ample roome,
And such a wonder lye without a tombe ?
Raise thou him one in verse, and there relate
His worth, thy griefe, and our deplored state ;
His great perfections, our great losse, recite,
And let them meerely weepe who cannot write.
HyL I like thy saying, but oppose thy choise ;
So great a taske as thb requires a voice
Which must be heard, and listened to, by all,
And Fame^s owne trumpet but appeares too small :
Then for my slender reede to sound his name.
Would more my folly than his praise proclaime ;
And when you wish my weaknesse sing his worth.
You charge a mouse to bring a mountain forth :
I am by Nature form'd, by woes made dull.
My head is emptier then my heart is full ;
Griefe doth my braine impaire, as teares supply.
Which makes my face so moist, my pen so dry ;
Nor should this work proceed from woods and downes,
But from the academies, courts, and townes ;
Let Digby, Carew, Killigrew, and Maine,
Godolphin, Waller, that inspired traine.
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app. r.] appendix. 235
Or whose rare pea beside deserves the grace,
Or of an equall or a neighbouring place,
Answer thy wish, for none so fit appeares
To raise his tombe, as who are left his heires :
Yet for this cause no labour need be spent,
Writing his workes he built his monument.
Mel. If to obey in this thy pen be loth.
It will not seeme thy weaknesse, but thy sloth :
Our townes prest by our foes invading might,
Our ancient Druids and young vir^ns fight,
Employing feeble limbes to the best use ;
So, Johnson dead, no pen should plead excuse :
For eligies, howle all who cannot sing.
For tombes bring turfe, who cannot marble bring ;
Let all their forces mix, joyne verse to rime.
To save his fame from that invader, Time ;
Whose power though his alone may well restraine,
Yet to so wisht an end no care is vaine ;
And time, like what our brookes act in our sight,
Oft sinkes the weightie, and upholds the light ;
Besides, to this thy paines I strive to move
Less to expresse his glory then thy love.
Not long before his death, our woods he meant
To visit and descend from Thames to Trent,
Meete with thy elegy his pastoral!,
And rise as much as he vouchsaft to fall :
Suppose it chance no other pen doe joine
In this attempt, and the whole worke be thine^
When the fierce fire the rash boy kindled raignM,
The whole world suffered. Earth alone complain*d :
Suppose that many more intend the same.
More taught by art, and better knowne to fame,
To that great deluge which so farre destroid.
The Earth her springs, as Heaven his showrs emploid ;
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236 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. S.
So may who highest markes of honour weares,
Admit meane partners in this flood of teares ;
So oft the humblest joine with loftiest things,
Nor only princess weep the fate of kings.
Hyl. I yeeld, I yeeld, thy words my thoughts have fir'd,
And I am lesse perswaded then inspired;
Speech shall ^yc sorrow rent, and that releefe,
The woods shall echo all the citties griefe ;
I oft have verse on meaner subjects made ;
Should I give presents and leave debts unpaid ?
Want of invention here is no excuse.
My matter I shall find, and not produce,
And (as it fares in crowds) I onely doubt.
So much would passe, that nothing will get out.
Else in this worke which now my thoughts intend
I shall find nothing hard, but how to end :
I then but aske fit time to smooth my layes
(And imitate in this the pen I praise).
Which by the subjects power embalm'd may last
Whilst the sun light, the earth doth shadowes cast,
And feather'd by those wings fly among men,
Farre as the fame of poetry and Ben.*
Falkland.
(S.)
An Elegy on Dr, Donm. By Sir Lucius Carie.
Poets, attend the elegy I sing
Both of a doubly-named priest and king :
In stead of coates and pennons, bring your verse.
For you must be chiefe mourners at his hearse.
Vitfe * Joiuonus Virbios, or the Memorie of Ben Johnson/ publiahed 1638, being
: months since the most learned and judicious poet, Ben Johnson, became a subject
' these elegies."
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app. s.] appendix. 237
A tombe your Muse must to his fame supply.
No other monuments can never die :
And as he was a twofold priest, in youth
Apollo's, afterwards the voice of Truth,
God's conduit-pipe for grace, who chose him for
His extraordinary ambassador,
So let his liegiers with the poets joyne.
Both having shares, both must in griefe combine :
Whil'st Johnson forceth with his Elegie
Teares from a griefe-unknowing Scythians eye
(Like Moses, at whose stroke the waters gusht
From forth the rock, and like a torrent rusht).
Let Lawd his funerall sermon preach, and shew
Those vertues dull eyes were not apt to know.
Nor leave that piercing theme, till it appeares
To be Good Friday, by the Church's teares ;
Yet make not griefe too long oppresse our powers,
Least that his funerall sermon should prove ours ;
Nor let forget that heavenly eloquence,
With which he did the bread of life dispense.
Preacher and orator discharged both parts.
With pleasure for our sense, health for our hearts.
And the first such (though a long-studied art
Tell us our soule is all in every part).
None was so marble, but whil'st him he heares
His soule so long dwelt only in his eares.
And from thence (with the fiercenesse of a flood
Bearing downe vice) victual'd with that blest food
Their hearts ; his seed in none could faile to grow ;
Fertile he found them all, or made them so :
No druggist of the soule bestow'd on all
So catholiquely a curing cordiall.
Nor only in the pulpit dwelt his store,
His words work'd much, but his example more,
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238 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. [App. S.
That preach't on worky dayes. His poetrie
In selfe was oftentimes divinity,
Those anthemes (almost second Psalmes) he writ
To make us know the Cross^ and value it
(Although we owe that reverence to that name,
Wee should not need warmth from an under flame).
Creates a fire in us so neare extreme,
That we would die for and upon this theme.
Next, liis so pious Litany, which none can
But count divine, except a Puritan.
And that, but for the name, nor this, nor those,
Want any thing of sermons but the prose.
Experience makes us see that many a one
Owes to his country his relipon.
And in another would as strongly grow,
Had but his nurse and mother taught him so.
Not he the ballast on his judgement hung ;
Nor did his preconceit doe either wrong ;
He laboured to exclude whatever sinne
By time or carelessnesse had entered in ;
Winnow'd the chafie from wheat, but yet was loath
A too hot zeal should force him bum them both ;
Nor would allow of that so ignorant gall,
Which to save blotting often would blot all ;
Nor did those barbarous opinions owne.
To thinke the organs sinne, and faction none ;
Nor was there expectation to gain grace
From forth his sermons only, but his face ;
So primitive a looke, such gravitie
With humblenesse, and both with pietie ;
So mild was Moses countenance when he prai'd
For them whose Satanisme his power gainsaid ;
And such his gravitie when all God's band
Receiv'd his word (through him) at second hand,
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App. t.] appendix. 239
Which joyn'd did flames of more devotion move
Than ever Argive Helens could of love.
Now to conclude, I must my reason bring,
Wherefore I calFd him in his title king.
That kingdome the philosophers believed
To excel Alexander's, nor were griev'd
By feare of losse (that being such a prey
No stronger then ones self can force away).
The kingdom of ones self, this he enjoy'd.
And his authoritie so Well employed,
That never any could before become
So great a monarch in so small a roome ;
He conquer'd rebell passions, rul'd them so.
Asunder spheares by the first mover goe,
Banish'd so far their working that we can
But know he had some, for we knew him man.
Then 'let his last excuse his first extremes.
His age saw visions, though his youth dream'd dreams.
(T.)
The following letter from Mr. Patrick Carey, appealing to Sir
Edward Hyde for assistance, throws some light upon the history
of his conversion and subsequent life : —
The Honourable Mr. Patrick Carey to Sir Edward Hyde.
Mt Lord,
Had my sisters been the only reporters of your Lord-
ship's propension towards our family, I should not have so far
relied upon it, but thought that they, loving it themselves
desired that persons of your quality should do so too, and
easily believed their desires. But besides them, my Lord, all
else (who had the happiness of knowing you) assured me that
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240 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. T.
you were so noble as not only to conserve fresh the memory
of my brother Falkland, but also to extend your affection and
favour to those who had any relation unto him ; a thing becom-
ing much your generosity^ and answering to the rareness of
your other qualities. This relation given me by many, con-
tradicted by none, made me blush less in my becoming a
trouble unto your Lordship, and assured me that I should either
be quickly favoured or suddenly denied : two things, my Lord,
that equally would oblige me, I being now in a state to prefer
almost a despatching no before a lingering grant. I have been
brought up in a tedious Court, and inured to patience ; it is no
therefore out of want of it that I am so hasty ; but (were I
never so willing) I cannot attend my fortune more than some
three, or, when most, four months. All temporal good luck
after that time will come too late to be enjoyed by me. My
sister's letter will, I believe, in some part, let you see my pre-
tensions ; but that you may look them through, I will tell you
my story, and beg your pardon for my tediousness. I do thus
to make myself less a stranger to you, to entertain you with a
kind of romance, and that out of it you may gather what kind
of employment I am fittest for (if for any), and what kind of
favour to ask there for me. Being made, in secret, of my
mother's religion (for I knew no other distinction then between
the Catholick and Protestant one, but that my mother was of
that, my father of this), that I might continue in it, and be
taught what it was, I was stolen into France, and, after a stay
there of three years, transported into Italy, where I lived
twelve. My brother took my flight in such ill part, that
never after did I hear from him, though Mr. Cressy says that
before his death he had some intentions of using me better.
My very nothing of portion he detained in his hands, and left
me to a strange likelihood of starving. Whilst the Queen had
wherewithal, I had a small but suflScient pension underhand
from her Majesty ; afterwards I was better provided by the last
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app. t.] appendix. 241
Pope, who, upon her Majesty's recommendatioii, conferred
upon me an abbey and a priory in commendam ; and besides,
some pensions on other benefices, wherewith I subsisted well,
and from the pity became the wish of many English travellers,
as one that was disengaged from those tumults, and had a
being besides better hopes. Cardinal Barberini had assured
me of his efficacious frtvour, and I began to feel that he was in
earnest, when the wars with Parma broke out, which so took up
his thoughts, that in time of vacancies I was forgot, and military
officers' kindred remembered only. The peace killed the
Pope ; and his successor, seeking to be contrary to him in all
things, began to show an aversion from strangers. In Ins reign,
first, I lost a pension of above forty pounds a^year, paid me by
Cardinal Barberini (who was then in persecution, and I thought
it unworthy to exact ought from him who had given me all) ;
then an inundation in Sicily spoiled my priory so, that, as fruit-
less, I made it away. Then a canon died in Cambray, who
paid me a pension of 25/. yearly ; and since that time (the
space of upon five years) I have received nothing ; and now am
at law with his successor, in great likelihood of losing my suit
Lastly, the wars broke out in Naples, and such havock was
made of my abbey, that in great despair I renounced it ; where
300 banditti had made their nest, not only in the troubles, but
almost ever since. From this Pope all the while I had extra-
(nrdinary fiiir words ; but seeing he meant only to talk, I writ to
Court, to crave leave to come away ; for having been placed
there by her Majesty, I held it my duty not to quit the place
without her licence. Sir John Winter, in her name, answered
to two instances that I made thai I should stay still, assuring
me that, if ever the times were better, with the first I should
prove her Majesty gracious; and that this Pope was not
immortal ; yet, that I might depart when I could subsist there
no more. This too she was pleased to make known unto me
by Sir Kenelm Pigby. In compliance to this order, I ran out
VOL. I. R
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242 LIFE OP LORD FALKLAND. [App. T.
both in purse and credit ; then, seeing no hopes of good by my
stay, I thought it best to return. I had many designs. In my
father's time the office of Secretary to the Crown in Ireland
had been given me. The Queen had promised to recommend
me earnestly to my Lord of Ormond ; and Catholicks were now
by the articles of peace made capable of bearing (Mces in that
kingdom. I hoped to get my right by fayour, but at Paris
heard of the Marquis's and my hopes' defeat I had a great
desire then to have kissed their Majesties and your hands ; but
the failing of a merchant forced me to pass oyer into England
immediately. There I receiyed the remnant of my little
due ; and, fearful of the least charge I might Ining on my
friends, one hour after they had despatched me I left London
and came hither. Here I desired to take some employment
whereby to make a subsistence of my stock, though in a way of
life extremely new to me, who had been bred up in the schools,
and in a long robe. But first I thought to have got the
arrearages of my pension, and it extinguished ; which in all
would have come to 350/. more than I had already. But that
business is not yet ended ; and my monies brought to a suffi-
ciency only for the months I named. Into the Archduke's
family I had thoughts of putting myself, but servants there
receive no pay. Employment from the King is to be had, not
at hia but one's own expenses ; and I want means. A friend
in Rome labours hard to get me a canonry, now vacant, of
200/. a-year, whereby I might live, and yet not be obliged to
take orders (a thing I am less willing to do since my poor
nephew Falkland's death) or to bind myself. But if he obtain
it not, I cannot expect for a second trial unless I gain my
process, a thing most unlikely. Now, my Lord, casting about
where I might find a helper, I began to hope that by reason of
your Lordship's present employment I might have some succour
horn that Court, at least by an express eflectual order from
thence to be provided for by the Ministers of State here ; or an
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App. T.] APPENDIX. 243
hot recommendation to the less powerful Archduke. If your
Lordship gets it not very earnest and suddenly, I believe it will
find me incapable to make use of it and reap the benefit. I
hare a last refuge (perchance the happiest), but I dare not
recur unto it till I have tried all other ways, for I distrust my
own forces ; if though I settle on it, I shall not need other
assistance from any than that of prayers. Thus, my Lord,
most ingenuously have I opened my mind and designs, con-
fiding in the firiendship which passed betwixt yourself and my
poor brother. The sum of my desires is, that, if you can sud-
denly, you be pleased to interpose your authority in that Court
for my good, in that manner you shall think most convenient
and likeliest to succeed ; and if you conceive not ready hopes,
to put me out of mine. If I obtain ought I shall most will-
ingly employ it [in] your service ; if nothing, I shall thank you
in my prayers, the only thing I then shall have left; me to
exercise my office in ; for, my Lord, I am
Your Lordship's
Most devoted faithful servant,
J. Patrick Caret.
Bnusels, the 18th March, 1650.
— State PaperSj vol. ii. pp. 535-539.
Sir Edward Hyde to the Honourable Mr. Patrick Carey.
Sir,
Your's of the 18th of the last month came not to my hands
'till about the 18th of this ; nor hath it been possible for me to
return an answer sooner to you, this Court taking less care to
mmntain quick correspondence with the other parts of the world,
than I think any other place doth that is near so much con-
cerned in that kind of traffick.
Amongst my many faults and infirmities, you will not, I pre-
sume, hear dissembling, or speaking otherwise than I think, laid
to my charge ; and therefore you may very justly believe me
when I tell you that, since the unspeakable loss of your excel-
R 2
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244 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. T.
lent brother, i have rarely felt so great a pleasure as the first
sight of your name to a letter gave me. And you will not
wonder that many parts of it, besides the kindness throughout to
me, presented to the life that conversation to me I was once
more blessed with than most other men. When I had the
honour to see your sbters at Cambray, I carried great joy with
me into France, with the confidence I should possess you there ;
and you wiU pardon me if I protest to you, that when I heard
you were gone from Paris, and had left me no possibility of
finding you, the aflSiction was so great, that I improved it by
thinking you unkmd to me ; flattering myself (as men who have
received great obligations are apt to create new titles to favours)
that I had some right and claim to your kindness. And I had
this excuse for my passion, that I had some reason to believe
that it might have proved of some use to you to have received
some advertisements from me, before your going into England,
concerning your own fortune, to which I was not an absolute
stranger, knowing as much of your brother*s heart as any man.
And you cannot doubt a person of that incomparable virtue,
who would not have done an unjust thing to have procured the
peace of his country, which he desired with the greatest passion
ima^^nable, would have proved an unkind brother. I know his
purposes were very contrary ; and though he had been much
afiSicted with your leaving him (which yet he imputed to others,
not to your own inclination at that time), yet he was comforted
in your being still in a condition capable of his care ; and if he
had lived, you had heard from him very efiectually.
If I do not find myself like to do you service, which I do
deore equally with any good fortune that can befall me, and
flatter myself with some hope that I may live to do it, be con-
fident I shall not detain you with any vain expectations;
though I am not willing to be concluded by what I shall now
say upon so short tiioughts in a business I am so exceed-
ingly concerned [in]; but do desire you to expect a second
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app. t.] appendix. 245
letter from me, which I presume may come to your hands before
your time prefixed be expired. When I haye informed you
that this Court in glory and splendour is not answerable to the
fame it hath ; that the complaints, murmurings, and real want
of money, is not inferior to any I have known, whilst the
face of a Court was preserved ; that there is a multitude of
pretenders to recompence for great services done, and none sent
away satisfied ; that there is an universal stop of all pensions
which have been granted formerly, so that they who have those
grants have only liberty to complain, and to spend their time
in a fruitless solicitation ; that all the letters from Flanders
contain nothing but importunity for monies, and those from
hence excuses for not sending any ; and lastly, that the delay
in despatches of all kinds in this Court is so intolerable that no
spirit can submit to it ; you will not think my value of you the
less, in that I do not give you encouragement to expect any
supply from this Crown by pension, or anything of that nature,
at least from so inconsiderable interposition as mine would
prove ; for though I find more civilities here than could be con-
fidently presumed, from the ill condition of the master I serve,
and the strength and power of his enemies, I cannot pretend to
any notable interest. Yet, after all this, I must beseech you
for some time to suspend the engaging yourself in any such
course from which you cannot retire, {^nd to which you may
submit when you please.
m • * * m
I beseech you send me word what inclination you have to spend
a little more time in the Court of Rome, and what will support
that inclination ; and truly, if I cannot make myself of any use
to you, I shall the less value any good fortune that can be
reserved for me, which shall be always as much at your disposal
as it can be at the disposal of.
Sir,
Your most afiectionate
Madrid, 26tb April, 1650. And most humble Servant.
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246 LIFE OF LORD FALKLAND. [App. T.
P.S. — Though I know you need no recommendation to his
Majesty, or to any about him, the King himself retaining a rery
kind memory of your brother, yet I have writ to Mr. Secretary
Nicholas, who is a very honest worthy man, to do you all
service, which I know he will do with great affection. — da"
rendon State Papers^ vol. ii. pp. 535-7.
To these letters is appended the following note : — " It appears
by subsequent letters between the Chan, and Mr. P. Carey, not
thought necessary to be published, that he afterwards took the
habit of Douay, which he threw off within the year, his consti*
tution not being able to bear the kind of diet which the rules
enjoined. He then went to England in hopes of obtaining
a pension from his relations there, who were most of them in
good circumstances. Being disappointed of this also, he
desired Sir E. Hyde's interest to procure him some military
post in the Spanish service. His friend earnestly dissuades him
by very good arguments fit)m this, and advises him to lie by
a little while in expectation of some favourable change. After
this it does not appear what became of him."
Evelyn mentions [vol. i. p. 156] having visited the English
College at Douay, where, he says, he was recommended " to Mr.
^' Patrick Carey, an abbot, brother to our learned Lord Falkland,
" a witty young priest, who afterwards came over to our
" Church.''
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THE
LIFE OF ARTHUR LORD CAPELL.
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" These were the chief ; a small but faithful band
Of worthies, in the breach who dared to stand,
And tempt the united fury of the land.
With grief they view'd such powerful engines bent,
To batter down the lawful government."
Dbtdbh, Abealom and AchitopM.
** Unqualified and unsuspected praise may also be given to some others
who followed in his [Lord Falkland's] course : high-minded and steady
friends of liberty, who yet, to use the metaphor of one of them, * had
they seen the crown of England on a hedge-stake,' would have remained
with it to the death to defend it. Among these we may fairly class Lord
Hertford, Lord Dunsmore, Lord Capel, Lord Paget, and Sir Ralph
Hopton." — Lord Nugent's MemoriaU qf Hampden^ vol. ii. p. 188.
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LIFE OF LORD CAPELL.
X
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Parentage of Arthur Capell — He loses his Parents at an early
age — His Grandfather's ohjections to his travelling Ahroad — His
Marriage — Death of his Grandfather — He represents the Ckmnty of
Herts in the Parliament of 1640 — He is again elected for Herts in
the Long Parliament — His Parliamentary conduct — He is made a
Peer — ^probahly hy Purchase.
Arthur, first Lord Capell, was the son of Sir Henry
Capell, and of Theodosia, daughter of Sir Henry Mon-
tagu, of Boughton.^ Sir Henry was the son of Sir
Arthur Capell, and of Margaret, daughter of John Lord
Grey, of Pirgo, and was the eldest of twenty children,
eleven sons and nine daugliters. Sir Henry Capell
was married on the 21st of August, 1600, to his first
wife Theodosia,^ and by this marriage he had two sons
and three daughters.' Their eldest son, Arthur, was
born 20th February, 1603/ On the 14th January,
1615 (five days after the baptism of her youngest son).
Lady Capell died.* Sir Henry married a second time,
* Sister to Edward Lord Montagu and Henry Earl of Manchester.
* Parish Register of Wechley, in which parish Boughton is situated.
» Clutterbuck's \Hist. of Herts,* vol. i. p. 244.
* Parish Register of Hadham, Herts.
» Clutterbuck's * Hist, of Herte/ vol. i. p. 244.
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250 LIFE OF LORD CAPBLL. Chap. I.
to Dorothy, widow of Thomas Hoskyns, and died in
May, 1622/
Arthur Capell was thus early bereaved of both his
parents, and at the age of nineteen the guardianship
of him devolved upon his grandfather, who is said to
have superintended the remainder of his education.
There is no authentic account of his having been at any
place of public education, either school or college;*
and it seems that his grandfather's strong national pre-
possessions led him to object to his travelling abroad.
It was much the custom at this time for the young
nobility to travel on the Continent as a part of their
education ; Sir Arthur Capell's objections must there-
fore have appeared as little reasonable then as they
would do now. The paper containing his opinions is
headed, " Reasons against the travellinge of my grand-
** chylde, Arthur Capell, into the parts beyond the sea.
" Imprimis, His callinge is to be a countery gentill-
** man, wherein there is lyttell or no use of foreane
** experience.
" 2 Item. If God visitt him w** sicknes he shall
^^ not have those helpes abroade that he shall have
" at home in his owen countery. And there lyethe
" a greate penalty upon his deathe ; for his brother
" is so younge, as in all probabylyty he is like to be a
* By this marriage he had one son, who died an infant, and three
daughters — Grace and Mary, ob. s. p. — and Anne, who married Thomas
Westrow, of Twickenham, Esq. Vide ibid.
* Lodge, in his ' niustrations of Historical Portraits/ speaks of Lord
Capell having been sent to Clare College, Cambridge. The books of the
College at this period are unfortunately lost, and there is no proof to be
found of his having been there.
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L
Chap. I. MR. ARTHUR CAPELL'S YOUTH. 251
*' warde, w*** will be a greate hindrance unto the family,
** boathe by the impoveryshinge the estate of the next
" heyer, and by the ill pViding for the younger chil-
" dren, his sisters, both for their educatyons and hopes
** for their preferments in maryage.
** 3 Item. His tyme maye be better spent at home
" than abroade, in regard that he maye study the lawes
" of the relme, maye be made acquaynted w** his
" estate in his grandfather s lyfetime, whereby he shal
** be better able to governe it after, Allso, if he will
** applye himselfe, he maye be a good staye and helpe
** to his owlde and weak grandfather, whereby many of
" the name and family, as yet but in meane estate,
" maye be the better provided for.
*^ 4 Item. It is to be feared that thoroughe the
" wycked prests and Jesuites in those forane partes he
** maye be perverted to the idolatrous Romane rely-
** gion ; and if it be aunswered that he is so well
" grounded in trewe relygyon allready that there is no
" fear thereof, it maye be replyed agayne that he is
** very younge, and they subtyle and industrious ; and
" that it is a safer waye by abstayninge from travell to
'* avoyde the meanes, then for a man to thrust himself
** into the peryll w^owt any necessary occasyon.'* *
It may be presumed that Sir Arthur CapelPs wishes
respecting his grandson were complied with ; but, con-
sidering the active part subsequently taken by the
younger Arthur, first as a reformer, and afterwards as
a devoted loyalist, it is to be regretted that no details,
' Clutterback's < Hist, of Herts,' from a MS. lent to him by the late
George Earl of Essex.
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252 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. I.
either of his education or of his early private life, should
have been handed down, that might serve as a key to
the principles from which first sprang his opinions and
his actions.
In November, 1626, Arthur Capell was married to
Elizabeth Morrison, daughter and heir of Sir Charles
Morrison, of Cassiobury, and of Mary, daughter and
co-heir of Baptiste Hickes Viscount Campden.^ His
grandfather. Sir Arthur, seems to have been much
noted for the great hospitality he displayed at his
country seat, Hadham Hall, Herts, and for his liberality
and kindness to the poor around him. *^ He was a
^* gentleman of a great estate, one who followed the old
*^ mode of our nation ; kept a bountiful house, and
" showed forth his faith by his works ; extending his
** charity in such abundant manner to the poor, that
" he was bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty,
'^ eyes to the blind, and legs to the lame, and might
** be justly styled a great almoner to the King of
"kings."*
' Pariflh Register of Watford.
• Vide * Some Account of the Life of the pious and virtuouB Arthur Lord
CapelU Baron of Hadham,* prefixed to * The excellent Ck)ntemplation8,
divine and moral, by Arthur Lord Capell/ published first in 1654, re-
printed in 1683.
This description of Sir A. Capell's habits and hospitality seems to fulfil
the poetical notion of an old English country gentleman given in a song
preserved in Percy's * Reliques,' published 1660, entitled * The Old and
Toung Courtier :' —
** An old song made by an aged old pate
Of an old worshipful gentleman who had a great estate,
That kept a brave old house at a bountiful rate,
And an old porter to relieve the poor at his gate ;
Like an old courtier of the Queen's
And the Queen's old courtier. ** With
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Chap. I. HIS GRANDFATHER DIES. 258
In the year 1632 Sir Arthur Capell died;^ his
grandson succeeded to the estates, and seems to have in
no way lost the popularity which such munificent hospi-
tality and extensive charity had attached to the name/
" With an old study filPd full of learned old books ;
With an old reverend chaplain, you might know him by his looks ;
With an old buttery-hatch worn quite off the hooks,
And an old kitchen that maintain'd half a dozen old cooks.
" With a good old fashion, when Christmas was come,
To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum,
With good cheer enough to furnish every old room.
And old liquor able to make a cat speak and man dumb."
This song has been changed in modem times to * The Qood Old English
Gentleman.'
* Parish Register of Little Hadham, Herts : he was buried April 11th,
1632.
* A very shocking event appears to have taken place near Hadham in
the year 1636, and is thus related in a letter from London, Sir Arthur
Capell must have been the uncle to " young Mr. Capell," to whom Had-
ham belonged :—
" London, May 4, 1636.
. . . ** Sunday the news came to court that Sir Arthur Capell had
" slain Sir Thomas Lenthropp in a duel at Hadham (young Mr. Capell*s),
" in Hertfordshire ; a couple of very honest, fair-conditioned men, and
'* old friends in a very strict manner, the business they fell out upon being
** of no consideration. Sir Thomas Lenthropp said Sir Arthur Capell told
« him my Lord Howard was not pleased that ho, my Lord of Dover,
" Mr. Capell, and many country gentlemen besides, came to hawk upon
<* grounds which were in his Lordship's liberty, he being there ; and that
<« they neither came to him nor sent to him, as if my Lord Howard had
" not been considerable ; and this was a good while since. Sir Arthur
" Capell had forgot he told Sir Thomas Lenthropp so much ; ' but,' saith
'* he, ' if I had told you so much, must you, therefore, make me the
'* author ? ' They were made friends ; but Sir Thomas Lenthropp, two or
*' three hours after, pressed hard upon Sir Arthur Capell to fight, that he
" could not avoid it. So, to the next close they went, where Sir Arthur
** Capell, at the second pass, ran him throng the heart. All cry shame
" of the company that did not presently reconcile this diflference." — Letter
from Mr. E. R. to Sir Thomas Puckering. Vkh ' The Court and Times of
Charles I.,' vol. ii. p. 24S.
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254 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. I.
He was beloved and respected in his county, and on
the calling together of Parliament in April, 1640, he
was chosen one of the representatives for Hertfordshire.
During the session of that short-lived Parliament his
name appears in the journals on one or two Committees.
He was again elected in the following November
member for the county of Herts, and his conduct in the
outset of his public life showed that he was influenced
by that deep sense of existing grievances, which cer-
tainly the warmest and the wisest of the friends to
monarchy had most reason to fear and to deplore.
Whilst to Hampden's name justly belongs the glory of
being identified with the resistance to an illegal tax ;
whilst the first step to Falkland's parliamentary fame
was his speech on the subject of ship-money ; to Arthur
Capell is due the honour of being " the first member
^^ that stood up at this time to represent the grievances
" of his country." ^
On the 5th of December he presented a petition in
the names ^* of the inhabitants in and about the town
** of Watford, in the county of Herts,* setting forth the
" burden and oppressions of the people, during the
'^ long intermission of Parliament, in their consciences,
^' liberties, and properties, and particularly in the heavy
" tax of ship-money." ' Of his speech there is no
report, but the presentation of the petition produced
^^ a debate on that matter which had so long filled the
"nation with clamour as a most capital grievance,***
* Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 21.
• Commons' JoumaU, Dec. 6, 1640, vol. ii. p. 46.
■ Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 21. * Nalson's CJoll., vol. i. p. 654.
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Chap. I. HE SERVES IN PARLIAMENT. 265
and the consideration of it was referred to a Committee,
of which Arthur Capell was a member. A week after
the opening of Parliament his name appears on a Com-
mittee appointed on Lord Digby's motion to draw up
the Remonstrance on the state of the kingdom}
On the 23rd of November he was on the Committee
appointed to receive petitions concerning the Earl
Marshall's Court' On the 4th December he was on a
Committee to consider the petitions of Mr. Prynne, Mr.
Burton, &c., and also the jurisdiction of the High
Commission Courts of Canterbury and York, and the
Court of the Star Chamber.' On the 13th December
he was added to that which was to prepare the
charges against the Lord Keeper and the Judges.
On the I4th December he was one of the Committee
of Inquiry into the misdemeanors of lord lieutenants,
deputy lieutenants, &c.* On the 17th December he
was on the Committee for considering the petition of
John Bastwick;^ on the 21st on one to consider the
exactions of the King's officers and farmers, and also
the patents for salt, soap, leather, and wines.^
* Commons' Journals, vol. ii. p. 26, and Rnshworth, vol. iv. p. 37.
• Ibid., p. 34 ; ibid., p. 66.
• Commons* Journals, vol. ii. p. 44.
* Ibid., vol. ii. p. 60 ; Rushworth, p. 99.
' Dr. John Bastwick was imprisoned for libelling the prelates of the
Church, and having repeated and aggravated the offence, together with
Prynne and Burton, they were all sentenced to still severer punishment by
order of the Star Chamber. On the 26th February this Committee deter-
mined that the proceedings against Dr. Bastwick by the Star Chamber
were illegal ; that the further orders and warrants of the Council-board
were illegal ; and that he ought to be discharged from prison, and have
reparation. — Com. Journals, vol. ii. p. 92.
' These patents were amongst the grievances that daily affected the
comfort of all ranks. The monqfioly having been g;nutted to a new oom*
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256 LIFE OF LOBD CAPELL. Chaf. I.
On the 6th of March a message was sent from the
House of Com moos to the Lords, saying tbat the
House had considered the Earl of Straffi>rd's answer,
<< and did aver their charge of high treason against
^^ him, and that he was guilty in such manner and
*^ form as he stands accused and impeached." They
desired a free conference by select committees to con-
sider some propositions ^^ ccmceming the trial.'' ^
Mr. Capell was one of the forty-eight members
appointed to meet a Committee of twenty-four of the
Lords, and on the I5th of April, 1641, he is mentioned
as going up again with a message to desire a free
conference. This conference was one of deep import*
ance to the fate of Lord Straflbrd, involving, as it did,
^^ the question of his being heard by counsel, the pro-
" ceeding by way of bill," &c.
On the 18th of June he was on a Committee to draw
a bill *^ for the levying moneys upon several persons
^^ according to the votes of the House." * On the 22nd
pany for the making " a new soap, ihe Lord Mayor was actually sent for to
« the Court, where his Majesty and the Lords rehuked him for his partial
'< proceeding in favour of the old soap and disparaging the new." A poor
woman was sent for from Southwark, by a warrant signed by the Lord
Treasurer and three other Lords of the Council, *' for speaking invectively
" against the new soap." The King's own household, however, furnished
a good example of the inutility of patents and prohibitions. *' The new
** company of gentlemen soap-boilers have procured Mrs. Sanderson, the
*' Queen's laundress, to the goodness of the new soap ; but she tells her
'* Majesty she dares not wash her linen with any other but Castile soap ;
« and the truth is, that most of those ladies that have subscribed have all
'* of them their linen washed with Castile soap, and not with the new." —
Court of Charles /., vol. ii. p. 229.
' Com. Journals, vol. ii. p. 98.
• Ibid., p. 180.
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Chap. I. HIS PARLIAMENTARY COURSE. 257
of June he was named one of the persons^ to whom the
Scots should address themselves for receiving the sums*
at the days appointed by Parliament On the 3rd of
July he was selected to carry up the following bills to
the Lords, with a message to desire their Lordships, in
the name of both Houses, to move his Majesty to give
his assent unto all three: — 1st, the amendments and
provisoes to the Star Chamber Bill ; 2nd, the amend-
ments and additions of the Bill concerning the High
Commission ; 3rd, the amendments and provisoes to the
Bill for the speedy provision of moneys, for disbanding
the armies, and settling the peace of the two kingdoms.'
On the 6th of July he was one of the Committee for
taking into consideration the sheriff' oaths and the
selling of under-sheriffs* places.* On the 23rd of July
the Committee for the King's army were called upon
to consider the best way to effect a further continuance
of the loan which the City had already made, and
which the Committee declared itself ready to repay to
the lenders, and also to consider the means to provide
moneys by loan or otherwise.*
The names of seventeen gentlemen are mentioned as
declaring themselves willing to lend, and amongst that
* The others were the Earl of Warwick, Lord Mandeville, Earl of Bed-
ford, Earl of Essex, Earl of Holland, Lord Stamford, Lord Wharton, and
Lord Brook ; Mr. Martin, Sir Thomas Barrington, Sir Arthur Ingram,
Sir Gilbert Gerrard, Sir Robert Pye, Mr. Bellasys, Sir Walter Earle,
Sir William Litton, Sir Henry Mildmay, Sir Thomas Cheeke, Sir James
Strangeways, Mr. Arthur Groodwin, Mr. Hampden, Aldermen Pennington
and Soames. — Vide Joum. of the House of Com., vol. ii. p. 182.
* This was the money promised by treaty. See above, p. 34.
■ Com. Joum., vol. ii. p. 197. * Ibid., p. 200.
* Ibid., p. 221.
VOL. T. S
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258 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. I.
number Mr. Capell and one other gentleman appear to
have been subscribers to the amount of lOOOt each, Mr.
Hampden 500Z., Sir John Culpepper and four others
together made up 2000Z^ &c. &c. ; and with 2000f.
from the town of Newcastle a sum of 10,000/. was
raised.* On the 5th of August Mr. Capell, with twelve
other gentlemen, offered their security for money ;* on
the same day he \i^as named one of the Committee to
prepare heads for a conference with the Lords concern-
ing the disbanding the armies, and thus closed his career
in the House of Comnaons. On the 6th of August (four
days only before the King's departure for Scotland)
he was created a peer by the title of Baron Capell of
Hadham ; on the 7th he was introduced into the House
of Lords between the Lord Paget and the Lord Kym-
bolton. However meagre the information gathered
from the journals of Parliament, it is suflScient to show
that Mr. Capell had taken an active part in the business
of the House of Commons, and that his name was to be
found in those Committees on whom fell the duty of
investigating and reporting the most glaring abuses of
that period.
The elevation of Lord Capell to the peerage
appears to have given rise to the supposition that
the honour was conferred upon him as the price or
the reward of some sudden change in his political
views.' There is nothing, however, to be found in the
journals of Parliament to bear out this opinion. In
* Com. Journ., vol. ii. p. 222. » Ibid., p. 238.
' See Olutterbuck's * Herts,' Loilge's * Biographia Britannica,' and other
biographical works.
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Chap. I. HE IS MADE A PEER. 259
later times the creation of a peer has been generally
regarded as an honour conferred by the Sovereign as
the reward of merit, a mark of personal favour, or on
grounds of policy, and it is under this impression that
Lord Capell's promotion has been treated as the recom-
pence or the condition of a change in his political
principles, which is supposed to have converted him at
once from the steady reformer of prerogative encroach-
ments into the zealous supporter of kingly power. No
change in his political views is indicated by the minutes
of the journals of the House of Commons,^ and the fact
of his being introduced into the House of Lords by
Lord Kymbolton and Lord Paget, the very Hampden
and Pym of the Lords, would seem to contradict such
a supposition. The difficulty, therefore, is to understand
the motives that led the King to select for such a dis-
tinction a person who had been actively engaged with
those whose political views and measures were decidedly
opposed to the exercise of his power. It must, how-
ever, be remembered that in those days it was often the
Sovereign who was paid, and not the subject who was
purchased by a peerage ; and when the King was in
difficulty for money, the rich commoner might, with-
out any sense of degradation either to the Crown or to
himself, pay the gratuity which would purchase the
rank that thus became but nominally the gift of grace.^
* For further account of Lord Capell's attendance in Parliamentary
Committees, see Appendix A.
■ A curious account is given by Lord Clarendon of the mortification ex-
perienced by the Duke of Richmond at Mr. Ashbumham's influence having
been preferred to his own in obtaining a peerage for Sir John Lucas. Sir
Edward Hyde (then Chancellor of the Exchequer) endeavoured to soothe
8 2
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260 LIFE OP LORD OAPELL. Chap. I.
That some such sale of honours took place just about
the period of Lord Capell's elevation is plainly stated
in a letter of Sir Edward Nicholas' to a friend, where
is to be found the following passage : —
** There are great store of baronets made ; the price
" is come to 350/. as I am tould ; there are noe new
" barons made as yet, but there is great expectation
" that there shal be four made before it be long."'
Lord Clarendon distinctly says that Lord Capell had
*' no other obligations to the Crown than those which
** his own honour and conscience suggested to him." *
This could hardly have been said had he received a
peerage as the spontaneous gift from the ^' fountain of
honour." It is probable that his abandonment of the
Parliament for the service of the King was with him,
as with Lord Falkland, Culpepper, Hyde, and many
others, the natural result of seeing the excess of power
reversed rather than redressed in its balance. Lord
Capeirs activity in serving on committees was not
bis irritetion by saying tbat Mr. Ashbumbam " was preferred as tb©
** better marketman; and tbat be ougbt nojb to believe tbat tbe King's
*' affection swayed bim to tbat preference, but an opinion that tbe otber
<* would make tbe better bargain. He replied, tbat bis Majesty was de-
** ceived in tbat, for be bad told bim wbat tbe otber meant to give, witb-
** out tbe least tbougbt of reserving anytbing for bimself; wbereas bis
*< Majesty bad now received 500Z. less, and bis marketman bad gotten so
«* mucb for his pains.'*-*-* Life of Earl of Clarendon,' vol. i. p. 188.
Sir Francis Newport, " who was then recently married to tbe daughter
" of the late Earl of Bedford," gave 6000?. for his peerage. — Clarendon's
Hist, of the BebelHon, vol. iii. p. 258.
Mr. Hallam states tbat James I. sold several peerages for considerable
sums. — Const, Hist., vol. i. p. 461.
* See a letter from Sir Edward Nicholas to Admiral Sir John Penning-
ton, dat^d Westminster, July 15th, 1641 (State Paper OflSce).
» Hist, of the Reb., vol. vi. p. 265,
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■ 1
Chap. I. ; ORIGIN OF HIS PEERAGE. 261
diminished by his having changed the stage on which
he was to act, and for a time his name generally
appears in company with one or both of those peers
who had served as his supporters on entering the House
of Lords. Ten days after his taking his seat he with
Lord Paget and six others were added to the Com-
mittee for composing the diflferences between the Lord
Mayor and the commonalty, and the following day he
was added to the Committee for the free importation
and free making of gunpowder and saltpetre.
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262 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. U.
CHAPTER II.
Lord Capell concurs in an Address to the King on a Breach of Privilege
— He joins the Royalist party — His motives for the change — Lord
Capell is impeached by the Commons — He assists in collecting Money
for the King — The King wishes to confer an oflSce on Lord Capell —
He is made Lieutenant-General for Shropshire and other Counties —
Measures for sequestrating his Estate — The King wishes to create him
an Earl.
From the 6th of September to the 20th of October a
recess of Parliament was agreed oa between the two
Houses, and on the 1st of November Parliament again
met for business, and Lord Capell resumed his duties.
On the 14th of December Charles appeared in person
in the House of Lords, and desired the House of Com-
mons to be sent for. He then addressed the two
Houses upon the subject of the rebellion in Ireland and
upon ** the Bill for pressing of soldiers," which, so long
as it did not trench upon his prerogative, he promised,
in the following words, to pass : — " Seeing there is a
*' dispute raised (I being little beholden to him whosoever
" at this tirne began it) concerning the bounds of this
" ancient and undoubted prerogative, to avoid further
" debate at this time I offer that the Bill may pass, with
" a salvo jure both for King and people, leaving such
" debates to a time that may better bear it ; if this be
" not accepted the fault is not mine that this Bill pass
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Chap. U. BREACH OF PRIVILEGE. 263
" not, but those that refuse so fair an oflTer/'^ This
speech raised the indignation of both Houses as a
decided infringement of their privileges; Committees
were formed in each House to consider the matter, and
the following day (Deceipber the 15th) the reports
from the Select Committees of both Houses were
agreed to, and, the reports being taken into considera-
tion, it was resolved nem. con. that the privileges of Par-
liament were broken, 1st, by his Majesty taking notice
of the Bill for pressing being in agitation in both
Houses and not agreed to; 5Jndly, by his Majesty
propounding a limitation and provisional clause to be
added to the Bill, before it was presented unto him by
the consent of both Houses; 3rdly, by his Majesty
expressing his displeasure against some persons for
matters moved in the Parliament during the debate
and preparation of that bill, which was a breach of the
privilege of Parliament.^
On the 1 6th a declaratory protestation of both
Houses concerning the privileges of Parliament was
agreed to and entered on the journals, and an " humble
" remonstrance and petition of the Lords and Com-
" mons " was addressed to the King on the subject of
this recent breach of privilege, to be presented to him
by Committees from both Houses. Lord Capell was
one of the eighteen peers selected on that occasion ; and
on the 17th the King received, in the form of an humble
" remonstrance and petition," a just reprimand for
that incorrigible precipitancy to which he was so often
* Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 457. * Ibid., p. 458.
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264 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. IL
inclined, sometimes from the apprehension of possible
consequences by delay, and sometimes from the impa-
tience inseparable from an overweening love of power.
On the 20th of December the King's answer was
delivered, in which he disclaimed "any intention of
** violating the privileges of Parliament, and attributed
" whatever he did therein to the great zeal he had, and
** ever should have, to the suppression of the rebellion
" in Ireland,"
This is the last occasion on which Lord Capell
appears to have taken part on the side of the Par-
liament as opposed to that of the King. Whether he
was absent from Parliament on the 3rd of January,
when articles of high treason were exhibited by the
Attorney-General against Lord Kymbolton and the
five members, or on the memorable 4th, when the
King came in person to demand the surrender of those
who were impeached,^ does not appear; but Lord
Kymbolton was nearly related to Lord Capell,* and it
is not to be supposed, considering the opinions he had
entertained, and the measures he had supported from
his first entrance into public life, that such an act could
have been viewed by him with indifference, still less
with satisfaction. He had sat in Committee, and joined
in carrying up to the King, not a month before, a
remonstrance on a breach of privilege of far less
importance, and it is natural to suppose his private
feelings in this instance would have helped to enlist
* See above, p. 95.
• He was his first-cousin, son of Lord Manchester, the brother of Lord
Capeirs mother.
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Chap. n. HE JOINS THE KING. 265
him with those who most eagerly and bitterly resented
the King's conduct That such, however, was not the
case the journals afford direct evidence by the protests
in which he did not join, as well as by those to which
he affixed his name :^ the same motives that led men
like Lord Falkland, Culpepper, and Hyde, just at
this period, to give their assistance to the King, may
also have influenced Lord Capell to withdraw from
those whose zeal for the claims of Parliament had out-
stripped the principles by which they had been guided
in their outset, and the confidence that the choice of the
King's new counsellors was calculated to inspire might
naturally sanction the friend of constitutional monarchy
becoming a loyalist without fear of weakening the
cause of constitutional freedom and parliamentary pri-
vilege. The unacknowledged motives by which any
man is actuated are at best but mere surmise, and as
such can claim no other pretension to credit than
the probability that arises from their harmony with
his general character and the known circumstances
in which he is placed. But even when cotem-
poraries may have come to a right decision on the
subject, if they have left no memorial of their
opinions there is no point on which posterity is more
liable to err than in judging of the motives which in
times of political agitation have effected in the wisest
and purest men a change of party without even a
change of opinion.
Throughout the troubled reign of Charles L the
sentiment of loyalty may be said to have spnmg from
* Appendix B.
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266 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. U.
various sources ; and though many divergent opinions
were forced by the tendency of events into a common
course of action, and thus destined to bear a common
name, it would be a fruitful cause of error to attempt
to trace this apparent unity to a common origin. To
the mere courtier who sought but in his attachment to
the King the advancement of his own selfish views of
vanity or aggrandizement, the name of loyalty can
hardly be awarded, while to those who still held sacred
the divine right of kings loyalty was rather a worship
than an opinion. To the warmest adherents of mo-
narchy the character of Charles was on one side a
stumblingblock, whilst on the other the cause of the
monarch was held inseparable from the monarchy:
there were those who clung to the name of the King
from zeal to the constitutional principle '*that he could
do no wrong,*' whilst others saw only in the King's per-
sonal interference that principle endangered which they
equally revered : thus, at the outbreak of the civil war,
the country became divided between those who upheld
constitutional monarchy against the invasions of the
Sovereign, and those who supported the King lest the
monarchy should be destroyed. But there was yet
another source of loyalty, which appealed more directly
to the feelings than even to the opinions of the adhe-
rents of monarchy. The King was necessary to the
form of government to which they adhered, and from
which, after the many vital reforms recently efiected,
they were more than ever to reap the advantages of
security of person and property. The existence of a
King was an integral part of the system by which they
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Chap. II, ROYALIST OPINIONS. 267
desired to be governed ; he in return must be protected
from becoming the victim of the exalted position to
which he was called.* A sense of personal danger and
personal insult to the King could not fail at once to
rouse the generous indignation of those who regarded
the elevation of one over all as a benefit to themselves
and as a national good.
The heat of party violence, the spirit of partisanship,
the intemperance and injustice that is engendered on
each side by the fierce conflict of opinions, and the
more sanguinary appeal to the sword, imperceptibly
obliterate the political views and changes, the motives
which determine the colours of the combatants on first
entering the lists ; and thus, in this unhappy reign, after
the war of debate had been exchanged for a declaration
of hostilities, there were many in the parliamentary ranks
whose distrust of the King had grown into hatred to
monarchy, whilst those who had withdrawn from the
Parliament from disapproval of its too arbitrary pre-
tensions grew to be the personal friends and devoted
followers of the too despotic Charles.
Such was the career of many whose names have added
weight to the Koyalist cause, and amongst those is hence-
forth to be found that of Lord Capell. The protests*
signed by Lord Capell and a small minority of peers, vary-
ing in number from sixteen to only four besides himself,
are the best evidence of his disapprobation of measures in
which the Lords were now led to concur with the Com-
* In a letter of Lord Capell's, written to Dr. Brownrick, is to be found
some allusion to this principle of loyalty. See Appendix C.
• See Appendix B.
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268 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. II.
mons. On the 23rd of May he is for the last time
meutioned in the journals as sitting on a Committee in
the House of Lords. On the 30th of May Sir John
Pyckeringe declared " upon oath to the House of
** Lords what Lords he met going to Yorke, and did
" see at Yorke ;" Lord Capell and eleven others were
named. On that same day they were summoned to
make their appearance in the House of Lords by the
8th of June.^ In answer to that summons the following
letter was addressed to the Speaker of the House of
Lords: —
" Letter from nine Lords at Yorke to the Speaker.
" My Lord,
" We whose names are underwritten have received a
summons, dated SOth of May, to appear on the 8th of June at
the bar ; we are come hither to Yorke at this time to pay a
willing obedience to His Majesty's command, signified by
letters under his own command, which command remains upon
us still. And so we rest your Lordships' afiectionate servants,
" Hen. Dover, " Northampton,
" Grey de Ruthin, " Wm. Devonshire,
" C. Howard, " Monmouth,
" Thos. Coventry, " Rich.
" Arthur Capell,
« From Yorke, this 5th June, 1642."
The time had come when obedience to the King's
summons was in itself an offence against Parliament,
and was therefore an a^ravation instead of an excuse
for non-attendance. An impeachment of the nine
* Lords' Journals, vol. iv. p. 92.
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Chap. H. LORD CAPELL IMPEACHED. 269
lords^ was brought up from the House of Commons by
Mr. Denzil Holies on the IGth^ of June; on the 28th'
the House of Commons sent a message to desire their
Lordships would proceed to judgment against the nine
impeached lords. On the 1 9th of July judgment was
passed in the House of Lords against them/ On the
following day, the Lords being in their robes, and in
the presence of the House of Commons, who had been
summoned to attend, the Speaker of the Commons
demanded judgment against the impeached peers/ and
the Speaker of the House of Lords pronounced the
fbllowing sentence against them :* —
"That they shall not sit or vote in the present
" Parliament :'* " That they shall not enjoy the privi-
" lege of Parliament as members of Parliament :**
" That they stand committed to the Tower during the
" pleasure of this House.*^
Whilst these proceedings against Lord Capell and
the other eight impeached lords were carried on in Par-
liament, the King had on the 13th of June issued his
declaration of what obedience he required from those
who then attended him at York,* and received the
* Appendix D. • Lorda' Journals, vol. v. p. 141.
» Ibid., p. 168. * Ibid., p. 219.
* " The House of Commons being come with their Speaker, he said,
<* ' That the knights, citizens, and burgesses of the House of Commons
" * have impeached Spencer Earl of North'on, etc., for high crimes and
'* ' misdemeanors, to the interruption of the proceedings in Parliament and
*' ' great affairs of the kingdom, and tending to the dissolution of the Par-
*' ' liament and disturbance of the peace of the kingdom ; for which the
*' ' House of Commons have commanded him to demand their Lordshipa*
" « judgment.* "— iJW., p. 223. • Appendix D.
7 Lords' Journals, vol. v. p. 223. • See above, p. 111.
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270 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. . Chap. II.
promise on their part signed by forty-five peers and
others/ On the 15th of June the King in council
made his declaration against any intention of levying
war, and called upon his nobility and Privy Council to
bear witness to his frequent and earnest declarations
and professions to that purpose.* The document in
reply was again signed by forty-five peers and others,
and to both the promise and the declaration Lord
Capell's signature is aflBxed. The signing of that decla-
ration having already been fully discussed in the Life of
Lord Falkland, it is unnecessary to recapitulate those
facts or repeat those reasons which are equally ap-
plicable to the conduct of all who joined in its signa-
ture.' Lord Capell was now fairly enlisted in the
ranks of the Royalist party, and it may be presumed
that he remained with the Court during the King's
residence at York,* and must have been with him at
Nottingham, where, after the standard had been raised,
and the war had already begun, the diflBculty of pro-
curing money to maintain the King's troops began to be
very sensibly felt. The two Universities made large
» See above, p. 112. > Ibid.
• Lord Capell's name is included in the list of those Lords who
Bubscribed at York, on the 22nd of June, 1642, to levy horse for his
Majesty's service, as contributing 100 horse. (/6. p. 120.) Two other
peers only, not including the royal family (Lord Coventry and Lord
Thanet) subscribed so largely. A curious print, dated 1722, a copy of
which is in the possession of the Earl of Essex, represents the chosen
emblems of many of the royalist commanders, and bears the inscrip-
tion of ** A display of the royal banner and standards borne by the
" royalists in the grand rebellion, a d. 1641, with their several curious
** devices and mottos, together with the names of the Lords and principal
" gentlemen that gave them." Lord Capell's device was the crown, with
the sceptre : beneath, the motto, " Perfectissima gubematio."
* This party is well described in the letter of a cotemporary ; see App. E,
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Chap. H. VISIT TO LORD KINGSTON. 271
contributions of plate and money. The money was to
be carried with the King whenever he removed from
the town, and the plate was weighed and delivered to
the diflferent oflBcers who were intrusted to make levies
of horse and foot, and secret orders were sent to the
officers of the Mint to hold themselves in readiness to
come to the King as soon as he deemed it expedient to
do so. This restored confidence ; and whilst some gen-
tlemen sent voluntary presents of money to the King,
others undertook to make levies upon their own credit
and interest. Lord Clarendon relates a story* in illus-
tration of these endeavours to raise money, which, as he
says, " administered some mirth at Court." It seems
that Lord Capell and Mr. Ashburnham were each sent
to two great men living in the neighbourhood of Not-
tingham, both men of great fortunes and of great par-
simony, and known to have much money lying by
them — Pierrepont Earl of Kingston, and Leake Lord
Deincourt. Each was furnished with a letter from the
King, and was to endeavour to borrow 5000/. or
10,000/. Lord Capell was received with civility, and
was as well entertained by Lord Kingston as the ** ill
" accommodation in his house " and his host's " manner
" of living would admit ;" and on opening to him the
object of his visit he expressed with all possible pro-
fessions of duty " the great trouble he sustained in not
" being able to comply with his Majesty's commands:**
he said, " all men knew that he neither had nor could
" have money, because he had every year, of ten or a
» Hist, of the Reb., vol. iii. p. 247.
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272 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. IL
" dozen which were past, purchased lOOO/.'s land a-year ;
" and therefore he could not be imagined to have any
" money lying by him, which he never loved to have.
" But," he said, "he had a neighbour who lived within
" few miles of him (the Lord Deincourt), who was good
" for nothing, and lived like a hog, not allowing him-
" self necessaries, and who could not have so little as
" 20,000Z. in the scurvy house in which he lived ;" and
advised ** he might be sent to, who could not deny the
" having of money ;" and " concluded with great duty
" to the King, and detestation of the Parliament, and
" as if he meant to consider further of the thing, and to
" endeavour to get some money for him ; which though
** he did not remember to send," Lord Clarendon adds,
" his affections were good, and he was afterwards killed
" in the King's service."*
Mr. Ashburnham was still less successful ; he got
neither money nor good words. Lord Deincourt did not
know Mr. Ashburnham's name, and when he asked from
whom the letter came he utterly refused his belief that it
was from the King. " He was not such a fool," said he,
" as to believe it ; that he had received letters both from
" the King and from his father ; and running hastily out
" of the room, returned with half a dozen letters in his
" hand, saying that those were all the King's letters, and
" that they always began with Right Trusty and Well'
" belovedj and the King's name was ever at the top ; but
" this letter began with his own name, and ended
" with ' Your loving friendy C. i?.,' which, he said, * he
* Hist, of the Reb., vol. iii. p 148.
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Chap. II. VISIT TO LORD DEINCOURT. 273
" was sure could not be the King's hand.' " Mr.
Ashburnham was treated as little better than an im-
postor, whilst Lord Deincourt despatched a letter to
Lord Falkland, who was his wifeV nephew, to tell him
" that one Ashburnham was with him, who brought
** him a letter, which he said was from the King ; but
" he knew that could not be, and therefore he desired
" to know who this man was, whom he kept in his
** house till the messenger should return."* The man
arrived at midnight, after Lord Falkland was in bed,
but in spite of the laughter, which, as Lord Clarendon
says, " was not to be foreborne," Lord Falkland imme-
diately returned an answer, explaining the authority of
Mr. Ashburnham's mission. This produced so striking
a change of manner towards his suspected guest, that
the latter flattered himself his mission was about to be
successful ; but he was soon undeceived by Lord Dein-
court telling him, ^^ with as cheerful a countenance as
'* his could be, for he had a very unusual and unpleasant
" face, that though he had no money himself, but was
" in extreme want of it, he would tell him where he
" might have money enough ; that he had a neighbour
" who lived within four or five miles (Earl of Kingston),
" that never did good to anybody, and loved nobody
** but himself, who had a world of money, and could
^^ furnish the King with as much as he had need of ;
" and if he should deny that he had money when the
" King sent to him, he knew where he had one trunk
* Anne, daughter of Sir Edw. Carey, of Berkhampstead, co. Herts,
sister of Henry Viscount Falkland.
■ Hist, of the Reb., vol. iii. p. 249.
VOL. I. T
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274 LIFE OF LORD CAPBLL. Chap. U.
" fall, and would discover it ; and that he was so ill
" beloved, and had so few friends, that nobody would
" care how the King used him."
Lord Capell and Mr. Ashburnham returned from
tiieir separate missions so near the same time, to render
an account of their unsuccessfal though hiunorous
adventure, " that he who came first had not given his
" account to the King before the other entered into his
** presence/'*
The remainder of the year farnishes no other anec-
dotes or events in which the name of L(»rd Capell
appears.*
The diminished power of the Court to serve its
adherents in no way diminished the claims of those
who sought for advancement ; and the unanimity which
both honour and policy should have dictated was fre-
quently disturbed by the desire for personal promotion
outstepping all zeal to the cause in which they were
engaged. The followmg letter from Charles to the
Queen is curiously illustrative of his dependence on her
wishes and advice, the too great eagerness of some for
place, and the contrast afforded by the more modest
and disinterested conduct of Lord Capell : —
"Oxford, January 23, 1642-3.
" I hope shortly to have the happiness of thy company,
yet I must tell thee of some particulars in which I desire both
» Clarendon's * Hist. Reb.,' vol. iii. p. 250.
' The following entry serves to mark Lady Capell's movements and oc-
cupation at this time : —
« Jan. 26, 1642-3.— That the Lady Capell shall have a pass to come to
London, with her coaches and horses and servants, to see her grandmother
sick in London." — iortfo* Journals^ vol, iv. p. 670.
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Chap. II. LETTER OF THE KING. 275
thy opinion and assistance. I am persecuted concerning places^
and all desire to be put upon thee, for the which I cannot
blame them ; and yet thou knowest I have no reason to do
it Newark desireth Savil's place upon condition to leave it
when his fsither dieth ; Caunworth the same, being contented
to pay for it, or give the profit to whom or how I please :
Digby and Dunsmore for to be captain of the pensioners;
Hartford once looked after it, but now I believe he expects
either to be treasurer or of my bedchamber ; I incline rather
to the latter if thou like it, for I absolutely hold Cottington
the fittest man for the other. Tliere is one that doth not yet
pretend that doth deserve as well as any — I mean Capel; therefore
I desire thy assistance to find somewhat for him before he
ask. One place I must fill before I can have thy opinion ; it
is the Master of the Wards. I have thought upon Nicholas,
being confident that thou wilt not mistake my choice ; and if
he cannot perform both, Ned Hyde must be Secretary, for
indeed I can trust no other. Now I have no more time to
speak of more, but to desire thee not to engage thyself for
any ; so I rest eternally thine,
« C. R.»
" Oxford, 2 February 23 {January):'
It would seem that either the Queen was unfavour-
able to Lord Capell being placed about herself or about
the King, or that no such oflBce as would have suited
him fell vacant at Court, but he received no appoint-
ment, and in the following spring, 1642-3, he com-
menced his career as a military commander.
Lord Strange, eldest son of the Earl of Derby, had
been made by the King Lord-Lieutenant of Lanca-
shire and Cheshire, and on him therefore had devolved
the putting the King's Commission of Array into exe-
' King Charles's works.
t2
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276 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. U.
cution.' This had roused against him no small hostility
on the part of the gentry, and his influence was com-
pletely overpowered in both these counties by the adhe-
rents of Parliament. He was repulsed first at Man-
chester, July 15, 1642, and again, after a siege of two
months, was successftiUy resisted and prevented by Sir
William Bruerton from seizing on the county maga-
zine. Lord Clarendon represents the conduct of Lord
Strange as deficient in skill and vigour, though of
" blameless fidelity" to the King ;• and to mitigate the
evils that arose from the ill success and mismanagement
of Lord Strange's (now Lord Derby's)* command,
Lord Capell was sent to Shrewsbury with a commission
of Lieutenant-General for Shropshire and other counties/
On the 3rd of April, 1643, his proclamation was issued,
as Lieutenant-General,* to the counties of Worcester,
Salop, and Chester, and the six northern counties of
Wales.* His high character and great fortune availed
» May's * Pari. Hist.,' p. 147.
* Hist, of the Eeb., vol. ili. p. 451.
* William, sixth Earl of Derby, died Sept. 29, 1642.— Coi?iWPeera^.
^ If the informatioii from the opposite side is to be relied on respecting
the movements of the Royalists, it would seem that Lord Capell had been
designed in March to go into Cambridgeshire, but that this plan was
abandoned. Vide Append F.
^ Addressed to all commanding officers and soldiers, and to all other
subjects, by Arthur Lord Capell. Printed at Shrewsbury.
* On the day before this proclamation was issued the House of Lords
was informed that *' The Lady Capell hath had her horses and four hun-
'' dred pounds taken from her by some soldiers, under pretence of a war-
** rant from the Committee of the Safety, wherein the parties have
" exceeded their commission and injured the Committee :" whereupon it
was the resolution of the House, that the said Committee should make
inquiry thereof. And it is ordered that the said " lady shaU have a
** protection tor her houses of Hadham Hall and Cassioberry, in the county
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Chap. II. LORD CAPELL IN THE FIELD. 277
him much on this occasion, and justified the wisdom of
his appointment, inasmuch as Lord Clarendon says,
^^ he quickly engaged those parts in a cheerful asso-
^^ ciation, and raised a body of horse and foot that gave
** Sir William Bruerton so much trouble at Nantwich,
" that the garrison at Chester had breath to enlarge its
" quarters and to provide for its own security, though
** the enemy omitted no opportunity of infesting them,
** and gave them as much trouble as was possible."* The
success of Lord Capell*s forces in these parts appears
indeed to have been chequered with reverses. Lord
Clarendon admits that "Sir William Bruerton and the
" other gentlemen of that party executed their com-
" mands with notable sobriety and indefatigable industry
" (virtues not so well practised in the King's quarters),
" insomuch as the best soldiers who encountered with
" them had no cause to despise them."* Lord Capells
forces gave sufficient occupation to the Parliamentary
troops in those counties to which he was appointed
Lieutenant-General, to prevent their sending assistance
either to the Earl of Essex or to Lord Fairfax in
Yorkshire ;* but, on the other hand, the Parliamentary
writers have to boast of various successes in those parts.
Whitelock states in his Memorials that on the 29th of
August, 1643, Sir William Bruerton took Eccleshall
Castle, and defeated a party of the Lord Capell's forces
under Colonel Hastings; and the historian May de-
'' of Harteford, for her goods and chattels thereunto belonging; and that
" the Earl of Manchester, Speaker, should write to the Lord Qrey in her
" behalf." Vide Journals of the House of Lords, vol. v. p. 685.
* Clarendon's * Hist. Reb.,' vol. iii. p. 461.
• Ibid. • Ibid., p. 452.
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278 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. U.
scribes two other occasions of Sir William Bruerton's
victorious encounters with Lord CapelFs forces when
advancing against him in Shropshire* — the one, of his
** surprising a town called Drayton, in which Sir
" Vincent Corbet, a commander of the King's side,
" was quartered, where he entered with small opposition,
*^ took two complete troops of horse and six companies
" of dragoons, whilst Sir Vincent Corbet saved himself
" only by flight ;" and the other when he took " Whit-
" church upon the edge of Shropshire, with great store
^^ of arms and ammunition, and many prisoners of the
" Lord Capell's forces-"*
Lord Capell's forces were strengthened, by order of
the King, with such troops as could be spared from and
about Dublin, and whom he commanded should be
shipped for Chester that he might be able to resist the
growing power of Sir William Bruerton 2 * but Sir
William was also reinforced by an addition of troops
from London. Lord Clarendon states that with the
assistance of Sir Thomas Middleton and Sir John Gill
he was grown very strong, and was backed by Lan-
cashire, which was "wholly reduced to the obedience
*' of the Parliament ;"* and May describes Sir William
Bruerton as " the chief instrument of delivering
" Cheshire out of the hands of the Earl of Derby,
" and preserving it for the Parliament, though the
" greater part of the gentry adhered to the King/*
It was not only in the field that the leaders on either
side were now often made to feel the terrible scourge
» May's « Hist, of the Pari.' p. 208. • Ibid.
• Clarendon's * Hist. Reb.,' vol. iv. pp. 894-396. ♦ Ibid.
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Chap. II. HIS ESTATE SEQUESTERED. 279
of civil war, it was not enough to abide by the deci-
sion of arms to which each party had resorted, but the
Parliament on (me hand, and the King on the other,
pursued a course of regal and legislative action, as
though the power of the Sovereign and the validity of
the acts of Parliament were in no way impaired by
their separate action and hostile position. A double
interference with the rights of property and liberty of
person was thus carried on. Property was sequestered
and transferred by Act of Parliament or by royal gift,
without any conquest of die land ; and men were made
prisoners of war who were neither captured in battle nor
found bearing arms in the field. On the 10th of April,
1643, seven days after Lord Capell's proclamation was
issued at Shrewsbury, a message to the Lords from the
House of Commons (brought by Mr. William Stroude)
is entered in the Journals as follows :* — " An ordinance
* Lorda' Journals, anno 1643, vol. v. p. 706. The following letter,
written seven months before, shows that Lord CaijpeW had then begun to
feel the necessity of changing his usual mode of receiving his rents : —
** TheophUus Hide and Tho, Lad.
<* I would have you deliver all such sums of monies as you receive
'* of my manors in the west for rente and fines, and usually you bring to
<* Wrington, and thence to Haddam, unto such persons as the Marquis
** Hertford shall send unto you for it, with an acknowledgment under the
" Marquis Hertford's hand for the receipt of it ; which receipt, together
" witii the showing me this letter, shall be a sufiBcient discharge to you for
" it. I would not have you fail to do it.
" Derby, this 13th of Sept., 1642." " Abthub Capbll.
'< I have sent another letter to you, which is word for word with this,
because you may perceive I am careful that it may be done. Either of
' these letters will be sufiicient if they come to your hands. I think it
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280 LIFE OP LORD CAPELL. Chap. IL
" brought up for the Lord Generall to rake and seize
" the estate of the Lord Capell, because the King bath
" seized the estate of the Lord Generall, as appears by
" warrant under the sheriff*s hand.**
The following day (April 11th) a message was sent
by the Commons to desire their Lordships would expe-
dite the ordinance for the Lieutenant-General taking
possession of the Lord Capell's estate. On the day after
(the 12th), and also on the 14th, the message was
repeated, and on the 27th the Lords promised the
House of Commons that a Committee should be ap-
pointed to consider the ordinance for assessing the
twentieth part of malignants* estates, and that for
sequestrating Lord Capell's to the use of the Earl of
Essex.* On the 13th of May the Lords were again
ui^ed by a message from the Commons to expedite
the order for sequestrating Lord Capell's estate to the
use of the Lord-General, and for that and other matters
specified " that they will please to sit awhile.** The
Lords promised again ^^ to take the ordinance and other
^* matters into immediate consideration, and to sit
" awhile as is desired."
On the 18th of May the Lords resolved on a con-
ference with the House of Commons,* to let them know
that, though desirous to join in any fitting way to express
*' wero fit one of you go along with the money when it is delivered to the
** Marquis.
" To my servants. Theophilus Hide and
" Thomas Lad, at Wrington, in Somer-
" setsh., deliver these/' —
JoumaU of the Lords, p. 367.
» Lords' Journals, 1643, vol. vi. p. 20. * Ibid., p. 48.
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Chap. II. HE IS OFFEEED AN EARLDOM, 281
their respects to the Lord-General, they do differ in the
way, and conceive it will be better to have a proportion
answerable to the value intended him out of the Lord
Capell's estate allowed him out of the sequestration in
general, than to appoint it out of any particular estate,
which may draw envy upon him ; and that they do
think it fit that the King's warrant for seizing the rents
of the Lord-General be recalled by order of both
Houses. The Commons agreed to this resolution, and
resolved that the sum of 10,000Z. should be yearly paid
to the Lord-General towards the reparation for losses
he had received by the Kings forces; and on the 26th
of May the order for that payment was passed in the
House of Lords.*
There is no mention to be found of the exact time
that Lord Capell remained with his forces in those
counties to which he had been appointed Lieutenant-
General, but it would seem that he was recalled
from Shrewsbury by the King, and that Lord Cla-
rendon disapproved of his recall, which he regarded
as " unfortunate to the King's own affairs." The recall
was accompanied with a warrant for an earldom, but,
says Lord Clarendon, " though Lord Capell received it
" with that duty that became him, he resolved never to
" make use of it till the times proved good and honest,
" and then to lay it at his Majesty's feet to cancel
** or execute it."* Lord Capell was not destined, how-
' CJom. Journ., anno 1643, p. 89.
' These facts are mentioned by Lord Clarendon, in answer to a letter
from Sir Edward Nicholas, dated Feb. 22, in which he says, " I hope, since
** the King is still giving warrants for honours, that he will by Sir
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282 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. U.
ever, to see the ^^ good and honest times ** which he dien
ventured to anticipate.
** Edward Hyde be put in mind that the gallant and matchless Lord
*' Capell was, by our last master, promised to be made Earl of Essex.**
Lord Clarendon says, in reply, he never heard of that particular promise,
and " that he is sure the warrant sent to Lord Capell had a blank for the
** title." Whether Charles II. afterwards obtained proof of this promise
to Lord Capell or not, he seems to have acted on the belief that it had been
made, and on the 20th of April, 1661, Arthur, second Lord Capell, received
an advance in the peerage by the title of Earl of Essex.— Clarendon's State
Papers^ vol. iii. p. 61.
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Chap. III. PROCEEDINGS IN SCOTLAND. 283
CHAPTER III.
Proceedings in Scotland — Communications between the Parliaments at
Oxford and Westminater — Letter to the Privy Council in Scotland —
Arrangements respecting the King's Children — The King decides on
sending the Prince into the West — Lord Capell appointed one of the
Prince's Council — Treaty of Uxbridge — The Prince goes to Bristol —
Siege of Taunton, and Military TrauBactions in the Western Counties.
On the 22nd of December, 1643, a proclamation was
issued by the Kmg to summon the members of both
Houses to assemble at Oxford on the 22nd of January
following, upon occasion of the invasion by the Scots.'
The Convention of Estates, which was the Parliament of
Scotland, had been called together contrary to the King's
consent, and without warrant from their own laws ; * it
was not likely therefore to be very regular in its pro-
ceedings. The consequence of its meeting was a pro-
clamation, issued in the King's name, calling upon all
to take arms, " between the age of threescore to six-
teen," in order to rescue the King from " the great
" danger which his person was in by the power of
" the Popish and prelatical party in England." * To
this proclamation the Earl of Lanrick (brother to the
Duke of Hamilton) had affixed the King's own signet ;
a strange example of making war upon the King in his
* Rushworth, vol. v. p. 669,
• Clarendon's * Hist. Ileb.,' Appendix E, vol. iv, p. 626.
» Ibid., pp. 626-627.
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284 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. IIL
own name, to rescue him from those dangers in which
they knew he did not stand, in order to really expose him
to those attendant on a hostile invasion and coalition with
his enemies. Many really believed they were sum-
moned by the King himself, and thus the ranks of this
invading army were swelled even by his friends as well
as foes.^ The covenant which had been sent to England
was returned to Scotland with full approbation, " both
" Houses of Parliament at Westminster having taken
" it and enjoined it throughout the kingdom.*^ How
far the intrigues and treachery of the Duke of Hamilton
tended to bring about this state of affairs it is needless
here to discuss/ Two expedients were now suggested
to the King by Sir Edward Hyde (the Chancellor of
the Exchequer), which, meeting with the King's appro-
bation, were proposed for deliberation in Council ;* the
one that a letter should be addressed to the Council
of State in Scotland, signed by all the peers in Oxford
or in the King's service; the other to summon the
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Reb.,' Appendix E, vol. iv. p. 627.
' <' Thereupon the Lords of the Secret Council, and those CommitteeB
'' that were appointed to manage the affairs, ordered that whosoever re-
'* fused to take the covenant should be proceeded against as an enemy to
*' both kingdoms, and his estate be sequestered and disposed to the use of
'' the public ; the assembly, likewise, of their kirk pronouncing solemn
" excommunications against them," — Ibid.
* Lord Clarendon throws on the Duke of Hamilton much of the respon-
sibility of the unskilful or disloyal management of the King's affairs in
Scotland ; and his ill opinion of the conduct and designs of the Duke was
confirmed, if not formed, on this subject by the evidence given on oath
before the Lord Keeper, two Secretaries, the Master of the Bolls, and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, by the Earls of Montrose and Kinnoul, Lord
Ogilvie, and others. Vol. iv. p. 438.
* Ibid., p. 347.
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Chap. III. PARLIAMENT AT OXFORD. 285
Parliament to Oxford. The Council decided in favour
of these expedients, by both of which it was intended
to exhibit equally to the people of England, as to those
of Scotland, that, as the Parliament assembled at
Westminster was but an inconsiderable portion of the
whole body, the major part of both Houses having been
driven away by force, it was no longer to be regarded
as speaking on behalf of the kingdom, or entitled to the
authority of Parliament On the 4th January, 1643,
the Scots entered England, having already possessed
themselves of Berwick. On the 22nd of January the
Parliament met at Oxford, and on the 29th a letter was
written to the Earl of Essex, expressing the hope of his
concurrence in the earnest efforts and wishes for peace
of all who then addressed him. The reception of the
King's two last messages to Westminster, to which no
answer had been returned, and the fate of his last mes-
senger, who had been tried for his life in a court of
war, and imprisoned ever since, rendered it impossible
to again address Parliament Moreover, any address
from his Majesty to Parliament had been prohibited,
except through the hands of the Earl of Essex.^ It was
' " Upon our coming hither (Oxford) we applied ourselves with aU
« diligence to advise of such means as might most probably settle the
" peace of this kingdom, the thing most desired by his Majesty and
*' ourselves ; and because we found many gracious offers of treaty for
'* peace, by his Majesty, had been rejected by the Lords and Commons
<< remaining at Westminster, we deemed it fit to write in our own names,
'* and thereby make trial whether that might produce any better effect for
*< accomplishing our desires and our country's happiness ; and they hav-
" ing, under pain of death, prohibited the address of any letters or mes-
*' sages to Westminster but by their General, and we conceiving him a
*' person who, by reason of their trust reposed in him, had a great influence
*' in and power over their proceedings, resolved to recommend it to his
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286 LIFE OP LORD CAPELL. Chap. IIL
supposed that many of the Parliamentary leaders feared
the consequences to themselves should the King's
power be restored, and were thus withheld from the
desire of peace, and that a promise of the King's par-
don, endorsed, as it were, by so large a body of peers
and others of the King's party, would tend to reassure
them on that score.^ It was also hoped that Lord
Essex's own inclinations would lead him readily to con-
cur with those who addressed him in promoting the
overture for peace. The letter was signed by the
Prince of Wales and Duke of York, by 43 peers and
1 18 commoners : five more peers and twenty-three more
commoners, who were unable to reach Oxford in time,
soon afterwards added their concurrence to those who
had signed, making in all no less than 191 who joined
in thus addressing the Earl of Essex.^ Lord Capell was
amongst the five described as " disabled by several acci-
*^ dents to appear sooner, and who have since attended
" the service and concurred with us." The letter
produced no good results; Lord Essex gave no other
answer than enclosing the covenant taken by the king-
doms of England and Scotland, and declined to com-
municate the letter to Parliament, ^^ as havhig no address
"to the two Houses of Parliament'** After some
" care, and to engage him in that pions work." Vide « Declaration of Lords
and Commons assembled at Oxford.' — Parliamentary Hist., vol. iii. p. 209.
* Vide Clarendon's * Hist, of the Reb.' vol. iv. p. 399. A free and
general pardon was offered, in the Eong's proclamation for assembling the
Parliament at Oxford, " to all the members of either Honse who should,
" at or before the 22nd of January, appear at Oxford and desire the same
" without exception."— ParZtaiwentory Hist,, vol. iii. p. 195.
* Rushworth, vol. v. p. 574. See Appendix G.
* Ibid., p. 567.
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Chap. IU. PARLIAMENT AT WESTMINSTEK. 287
further correspondence between the King's general (the
Earl of Forth) and the Earl of Essex, the King con-
sented to address the Lords and Commons assembled
at Westminster. This produced from them an answer
to the letter to Lord Essex, but as little pacific in its
intention as it was defying and threatening in its tone.
The other expedient recommended by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer for the purpose of averting
the warlike movements of the Scots, viz. the letter
addressed to ^* the Bight Honourable the Lords of the
" Privy Council in Scotland and Conservators of Peace
" between both Kingdoms,"* met with no better success.
It bore the signatures of fiAy-two peers, and was designed
as a protest against the invitation of Parliament alleged
by the Scots in justification of their entering the king-
dom with an army. The letter stated how no sxk\i
invitation would have passed the two Houses of Par-
liament had they who were now assembled at Oxford
been present to give Aeir votes, and how their absence
fi*om Westminster had been forced by violence. The
name of Lord Capell is amongst the signatures to this
letter. Lord Clarendon states that it was sent to Scot-
land at the end of November ;' but there must be some
' See Appendix H.
• Lord Olarendon says, *• That the letter was perused and debated in
** €k>uncil, and afterwards in the presence of all the peers :** it was ap-
proved and agreed to without one dissenting voice, " ordered to be en-
'* grossed, and signed by all the peers and privy councillors who were then
" in Oxford, and to be sent to those who were absent in any of the armies
" or in the King's quarters — to be sent to the Marquis of Newcastle, who,
" after he had signed it, with those peers who were in those parts, was to
" transmit it to Scotland.** This seems to be one of the mistakes as to
dates into which Lord Clarendon is betrayed by writing from memory.
It
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288 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. Ul.
mistake as to this date, inasmuch as the Scots' answer,
dated March 18th,* acknowledged the receipt of this
letter the preceding day." ^
The Scots declared in their answer that the principal
cause of their present undertaking was their " Christian
" duty to religion, loyalty, and tender regard to his
" Majesty's honour and safety, and prevention of them-
" selves from ruin and destruction ; that the invitation
" of the Parliament in behalf of their brethren in
" England was their special motive to the same."'
They professed themselves unable to see that the forced
absence of so large a body of members of Parliament
could affect the validity of their acts, and concluded by
recommending their Lordships tp join in taking the
covenant, which they enclosed for that purpose.* Thus
ended any present hopes of peace ; and though the fail-
ure of the combined efforts of the King, the Lords, and
the Commons, then assembled at Oxford, to effect a re-
conciliation, may have increased the feelings of hostility
towards those who rejected such overtures, the attempt
must have afforded to those who had joined in good
faith for that purpose the consolatory reflection that
they had at least striven to spare the country the mise-
ries of a protracted war.
It is not improbable that the letter was written and agreed to at the time
he mentions; but though some delay in collecting the signatures may-
have occurred between the sending and the receiving the letter, it is very
improbable that a letter sent by express should have taken from the end
of November to the 17th of March to arrive at its destination.
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Reb./ Appendix E, vol. iv. p. 630.
* Rushworth, vol. v. p. 562.
■ Pari. Hist., vol. iii. p. 206.
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Reb.,-' vol. iv. p. 349.
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Chap, III. THE KING'S CHILDREN, 289
It was just about the time when this interchaDge oi
letters took place between the Lords of the Privy
Council in Scotland and the Lords in England that
the Parliament at Westminster concluded an arrange-
ment that had been pending for some months, and,
though deeply interesting to the parental feeling of the
King, he was denied all power of interference on the
subject His younger children were in the hands of
Parliament.^ On the 2nd of July, 1643, it was pro-
posed by the House of Commons that Lady Vere should
be appointed governess to the royal children. Whether
this proposition was disapproved of by the Lords, or
declined by her, does not appear, but on the 29th of
the same month (July) the House of Commons desired
the concurrence of the Lords to their vote that the
Countess of Dorset* should be appointed as governess
to the royal children. Many messages and conferences
took place between the two Houses on the subject of
attendants and establishments for the King's children.
On the 16th of December a touching letter was addressed
to the House of Lords by the young Princess Elizabeth,
then only eight years old, remonstrating against her
old servants being removed.' On the 2nd of March,
1643-4, the King tried to regain possession of his*
' Lord Clarendon speaks of the King's three younger children (vide
vol. V. p. 9) ; but the King's younger children, at that time, were only the
Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester. The Princess Anne
had died in December, 1640, and the Princess Henrietta Anne was not
bom till June, 1644.
* Mary, daughter of Sir George Curzon, and wife to Edward Sackville,
Earl of Dorset.
• Appendix I.
VOL. I. U
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290 LIFE OF LOBD CAPELL. Chap. ID.
children, and a letter was addressed by the Earl of Forth
to the Earl of Essex, saying that, if he would send the
children with a safe-conduct to Oxford, he would give
the Earl of Lothian in exchange. The letter was
despatched to the Lords, '^ but the House utterly disliked
" that the King's children should be sent to Oxford."*
On the 19th of March the two Houses came to an
agreement on the list of the establishment for the King's
children, at the head of which the Countess of Dorset
was named as governess;* and on the 12th of April,
1644, an oath or covenant was framed to be taken by
the womennservants attending the royal children at St
James's, the purport of which was to swear entire fidelity
to the Parliament'
Though the selection of the Countess of Dorset as
governess could not be displeasing to the King,* his con-
* Lords* Journ., vol. vi. p. 446.
• Appendix I,
• They were required to swear that neither word nor message to or
from Oxford or elsewhere, concerning the removal of the children, or any^
thing prejudicial to the children, or to either or both Houses, or any
member of that House, should pass without being immediately revealed to
at least three of the members of that committee, appointed by both Houses,
** for regulating the household at St. James's."
* The manner in which Lord Clarendon names the appointment of
those to whom the care of the King's children was given is not consistent
with the facts as they stand in the Journals. Upon two different occasions
(vol. V. pp. 453, 471) Lord Clarendon mentions the Countess of Dorset as
the person selected by the King to be governess to his children, and alludes
(ibid., p. 9) to the Parliament having taken them ** from the governess in
** whose hands he had placed them," and ** put them in the custody of
** one in whom he (the King) could have the less confidence because it
" was one in whom the Parliament confided so much." He also says
(p. 453) that the King had left his children under the tuition of the
Countess of Dorset, " but from the death of that Countess the Parliament
•* had presumed, that they might be sure to keep them in their power, to
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Chap. m. SAFETY OP THE PRINCE. 291
trol over his younger children had passed from his hands,
and he now turned anxiously to consider what course to
pursue with respect to the disposal of his two eldest
sons, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, who
were both with him at Oxford. He had hitherto been
so resolved that the Prince of Wales should never quit
him, that he had been comparatively indiffisrent as to
what governor or servants he put about him. To
superintend his education, to form his character, and to
guide his conduct, was to be the work of his own parental
care ; but the more gloomy aspect of his afiairs shook
this cherished resolution. He now began to say that
" himself and the Prince were too much to venture in
'* one bottom ; that it was time to unboy him by putthig
/^ him into some action and acquaintance with business
" out of his own sight ;"^ and after much consultation
with Lord Digby, Lord Culpepper, and Sir Edward
Hyde, he determined on sending the Prince from
him.
On the 15th of May a letter was addressed by the
" put them into the custody of the Lady Vere, an old lady much in their
'^ favour, but not at all ambitioua of that charge, though there was a
'* competent allowance assigned for their support." The facts as pre-
sented by the Journals are, that Lady Vere was proposed as their governess
by the House of Commons on the 2nd of July, 1643, and on the 29th the
Countess of Dorset was proposed by the House of Commons, and appointed.
Shortly before her death the Earl and Countess of Northimiberland wei6
appointed by Parliament to have the care of the children, but did not
enter upon that charge till her decease. May 17, 1645, when a messenger
was sent to Oxford to acquaint her husband with her death, and her funeral
and debts were ordered to be paid out of the maintenance allotted to her
by the Committee of both Houses for the King's children. — Com. Jwrruds^
vol. iv. p. 147.
» Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 9.
u2
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292 LIFE OP LORD CAPELL. Chap. UI.
Marquis of Hertford to the Earl of Essex, announcing
the King's pleasure that the Prince should now reside in
Cornwall, and desiring a pass for ^^ such furniture and
** other utensils as were necessary for him.** At the
same time he enclosed another letter from the Earl of
Berkshire to Sir David Cuningham, desiring him to send
down to Oxford a trusty messenger with the transcript
of former precedents concerning the Prince of Wales
taking possession of the duchy of Cornwall. These
letters were immediately forwarded to the House of
Lords, and both requests were at once refused, on the
ground " that, if the Prince should go into the western
'* parts under this pretence to settle in Cornwall, it
** might be of ill consequence to the public, for thereby
" the Prince might draw away the aflfections of the
" people from the service of the Commonwealth/'*
This refusal from Parliament did not, however, alter,
though it may have delayed, the King s resolution on
the subject of the Prince's departure. It was intended
at first he should go no further than Bristol, though his
ultimate destination was to be the west The King
talked openly of his intention of sending him away ; and
lest this change from his former declared resolution of
keeping his son always with him should create suspicion
of any secret intention of sending him to the Queen,
who was now in France,* the King made choice at once
of those counsellors to be about the Prince whose ap-
* Com. Journals, vol. vi. p. 658.
• The Queen had been forced to fly from Exeter at the end of June, a
fortnight only after the birth of her youngest child, the Princess Henrietta
Anne,
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Chap. ni. THE PJilNCE'S COUNCIL. 293
pointment were best calculated to allay any such appre-
hensions.^
The Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Southampton,
the Lord Capell, the Lord Hopton, Sir Edward Hyde,
and the Lord Culpepper were named as a council to the
Prince of Wales, and appointed to meet frequently at
the Prince s lodgings to consider ** with his Highness
" what preparations should be made for his journey, and
" in what manner his family should be established.***
From this time Lord Capell was called upon to play
an important part both in the council and the field. A
further delay in the King's intention of parting with
the Prince was now, however, occasioned by the hopeful
prospect of a peace. Important dissensions had arisen
among the leaders at Westminster. The more violent
party had become dissatisfied with Lord Essex, Crom-
well accused the Earl of Manchester of having betrayed
the Parliament out of cowardice at the battle of New-
bury, and the Scotch Commissioners were displeased
with Cromwell and Vane.* With the few exceptions of
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 11. * Ibid.
* The Scotch Commissioners demanded an interview with Lord Essex,
Mr. Maynard, and Mr. Whitelock, on which occasion they spoke of
Cromwell ** as no friend of ours ; and since the advance of our army into
** England he hath used underhand and cunning means to take ofT from
" our honour and merit in this kingdom — an evil requital of aU our hazards
" and services ; but so it is. ... He is not only no friend to us and to
" the government of our Church, but he is also no well-wisher to his
" Excellency. . . . Now the matter is, wherein we desire your opinion,
" what you take the meaning of the word * incendiary* to be, and whether
" Lieutenant-General Cromwell be not sike an incendiary as is meant
" thereby, and whilke way wud be best to tak to proceed against him
" if he be proved to be sike an incendiary, and that will clepe his wings
" from soaring ta the prejudice of our cause." — Whitelock's Memoriala^
p. 111.
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294 LIFE OP LORD CAPELL. Chap. HI.
those who were influenced by motives of fear, or inter-
ested by hopes of personal aggrandisement, in maintain-
ing the war, peace was now earnestly wished for on both
sides, and after much preliminary negotiation, beginning
in December, 1644, it was finally determined that a
treaty should be set on foot, and that Uxbridge should
be the place of meeting. Accordingly, on the 30th of
January, sixteen Commissioners for the two Houses of
Parliament, four for the Parliament of Scotland, and
sixteen for the King, assembled at Uxbridge for that
purpose. Lord Capell was one of the Commissioners
for the King who were engaged in that arduous but
unavailing task. The three subjects discussed, on which
the treaty was to be framed, were the Church,^ the state
of Ireland, and the militia. The Bang's Commissioners
offered certain limitations respecting episcopal govern-
ment that might have reasonably satisfied the Scots and
the English Presbyterians, but they were immoveable.*
The Covenant, the whole Covenant, and nothing but the
Covenant and the spirit of the Covenant, would satisfy
their demands ; nor did they show any greater disposition
* The King's doctors, Steward and Sheldon, argued at Uxbridge that
Episcopacy was jure divino, Henderson and others that Presbytery was
BO.— Whitelock, p. 132.
• " The King's Commissioners offered, what in an earlier stage of their
" discussions would have satisfied almost every man, that limited scheme
" of Episcopal hierarchy that rendered the Bishop among his Presbyters
" much like the King in Parliament, not free to exercise his jurisdiction,
" nor to confer orders without their consent, and offered to leave all cere-
" monies to the minister's discretion. Such a compromise would probably
*' have pleased the English nation, averse to nothing in their Established
" Church except its abuses ; but the Parliamentary negotiators would not
'* so much as enter into discussion upon it." — Hallam's Constitutional
HisU vol. ii. p. 237.
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Chap. m. TREATY OP UXBRIDGE. 295
to make concession on the subject of the militia; and
though it must always remain a subject of doubtful and
interesting speculation what Charles's position might
have been had he yielded sufficiently to the demands
of Parliament for the treaty to have been made, yet no
doubt can remain on the mind of any candid reader of
the details of that negotiation that the conduct of the
Parliamentary and Scotch Commissioners went far to
justify the animadversions contained in the last paper
delivered to them by the King's Commissioners, in
which they observed ** that, after a war of so many
" years, entered into, as was pretended, for the defence
" and vindication of the laws of the land and liberty ot
" the subject, in a treaty of twenty days they had not
** demanded any one thing that by the law of the land
*' they had the least title to demand, but insisted only
^' on such particulars as were against law and the estab-
** lished government of the kingdom; and that much
** more had been offered to them for the obtaining of
" peace than they could with justice or reason require.*'^
* Clarendon's * History of the Rebellion,* vol. v. p. 80.
'* According to the great principle that the English constitution in all
'* its component parts was to be maintained by both sides in this contest,
** the question for Parliament was not what their military advantages or
" resources for war entitled them to ask, but what was required for the
" due balance of power under a limited monarchy. They could rightly
'* demand no further concession from the King than was indispensable for
" their own and the people's security ; and I leave any one who is tole-
** rably acquainted with the state of England at the beginning of 1645 to
" decide whether their privileges and the public liberties incurred a
" greater risk by such an equal partition of power over the sword as the
" King proposed, than his prerogative and personal freedom would have
" encountered by abandoning it altogether to their discretion."— Hallam's
Constittttiondl Hist, vol. ii. p. 238-9.
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296 J4FE OP LORD CAPELL. Chap. 111.
The Commissioners parted on the 22nd of February.
The efforts of body and mind made by the King's
Commissioners during twenty- two days of fruitless nego-
tiation must have been great, for Lord Clarendon tells
us that ^^ they who had been most inured to business had
" not in their lives ever undergone so great fatigue as
" at that treaty." They seldom parted till between two
and three o'clock in the morning, and some of the Eling's
Commissioners were obliged to sit up later and prepare
the papers that were required for the next day, and to
write letters to the King at Oxford, ** so that, if the
" treaty had continued much longer, it is very probable
** many of the Commissioners must have fallen sick for
'* want of sleep."*
The failure of the treaty and the loss of Shrewsbury*
again turned the King's mind to the necessity of sepa-
rating from the Prince, and he spoke to those whom he
trusted most of his resolution to part, lest the enemy
should, " upon any success, find them together, which,
** he said, would be ruin to them both ; whereas, though
" he should fall into their hands, whilst his son was at
** liberty, they would not dare to do him harm."' The
preparations for the Prince's journey were ordered to
be made with all haste, and those who were appointed
to accompany him were commanded to hold themselves
immediately in readiness. The Duke of Richmond
» Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 81.
■ Taken by Colonel Langham and Mitton. The Governor, Sir Michael
Eamly, was dying of oonsumption, but, on hearing of the town being
entered by treachery, rose from his bed, refused quarter, and was killed in
his shirt. — Ibid., p. 67.
• Ibid., p. 82.
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Chaf. III. THE PRINCE GOES TO THE WEST. 297
and Lord Southampton, though of the Prince's council,
excused themselves from this duty. Sir Edward Hyde
represented strongly to the King also that his office as
Chancellor of the Exchequer made it more proper for
him to be near his Majesty, but the King " was so
" positive on the point of his accompanying the Prince,
" as to say, with some warmth, that, if he would not go,
** he would not send his son."* Lord Hopton was sent
to Bristol to provide a house for the Prince, and to put
the city into as good a state of security as was necessary
for the safety of his residence there. To Lord Capell
was assigned the duty not only of commanding the
Prince's only guard, consisting of one regiment of horse
and one of foot,* but of raising these troops ** on his
" own credit and interest, there being, at that time, not
** one man raised of horse or foot, nor any means in view
** for the payment of them when they should be raised,
** nor indeed for the support of the Prince's family or
" his person. In so great a scarcity and poverty was
'' the King himself and his Court at Oxford.'" What
part of Lord Capell's estates were at his own disposal
Lord Clarendon does not mention; possibly some of
those which were the inheritance of his wife had not
then imdergone the penalty of sequestration ; but whilst
Lord Clarendon speaks of two regiments raised at
Lord Capell's expense, the Journals of the House of
Commons note the cutting down of 250/. worth of
timber on his sequestered estates for the benefit of two
widows whose husbands had suffered in the service of
* Clarendon's * Life,' vol. i. p. 176. ■ Appendix J.
• Clarendon's ' Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 84.
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298 LIFE OF LORD CAPBLL. Chap. m.
the Parliament* On the 4th of March, 1644-5, the
Prince left Oxford, and at the end of a week arrived at
Bristol. When first it was known that the Prince was
to be sent into the west, a number of the leading gentle-
men of Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall waited
upon the King at Oxford; they announced their inten-
tion of forming themselves into an association to be
joint petitioners to the Parliament for peace,* " and
^* requested that the Prince might be general of this
•* association; in order to which they would provide for
*^ his support according to his dignity, and in the first
^^ place take care for the raising a good guard of horse
** and foot for the safety of his person."'
On arriving at Bristol it was found that no one pro-
mise was fulfilled — no guards raised, not one man or
horse provided; lOOl a week was to have been raised
for the Prince's support, " not one penny of which was
** ready nor like to be."* The Prince was obliged to
borrow firom " Lord Hopton*s own private store" to buy
bread ; and unhappily it appeared that the zeal of the
deputies of the Western Association who had made such
promises and engagements at Oxford had far outstepped
their knowledge of the circumstances and inclinations of
those in whose name they had spoken. At the earnest
* CJolonel Mildrum and Ck)lonel Cunningham. — Com, Joum.^ vol. iii.
p. 583.
■ They proposed " that their petition should be sent by very many
'* thousands of the most substantial freeholders of the several counties,
" who should have money enough in their purses to defray their charges
" going and returning ; and whosoever refused to join in the petition
** should be looked upon as enemies to peace and their cotmtry, and treated
" accordingly."— Clarendon's « Hist, of the Rebellion/ vol. v. p. 85.
• Ibid., p. 86. * Ibid., p. 141.
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Chap. in. HE ARRIYES AT BRISTOL. 299
request of these gentlemen the Prince, as before men-
tioned, had been named, on quitting Oxford, General of
the Western Association ; he was also appointed Gene-
ralissimo of the King's forces,^ though not, of course, with
any power to act, being then but fifteen years old : his
actions were to be entirely governed by his council ; and
the duties that devolved upon that council from the
moment of their arrival in Bristol were rendered pecu-
liarly harassing and difficult by the dissensions in the
Western Association and the jealousies that arose be-
tween the diflferent military commanders, whose move-
ments they were to direct in the Prince's name. Such
indeed were the disputes, the bitter animosities, and the
heavy complaints they lodged against each other, that
the narration of them sounds more like the history of
the antagonist parties in the civil war, than that of men
supposed to be united in a common cause.
Towards the end of March Lord Goring desired the
presence of two of the Privy Council at Wells, to con-
sider what course should be taken respecting Taunton.
Lord Capell and Lord Culpepper accordingly attended
him,* and the measures were agreed on that should be
adopted for reducing that place. Sir Kichard Greenvil
was to be ordered by the Prince to advance for that
purpose, and to'direct the Commissioners of Somerset to
give their personal attendance. In compliance with Lord
Goring's wishes orders to this effect were issued the
following day by the Prince, and Sir Bichard Greenvil
accordingly advanced with 800 horse and 2000 foot
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 87.
« Ibid., p. 143.
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300 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. in.
towards Taunton. In the mean time Lord Goring,
hearing that Sir William Waller's forces were at Shaftes-
bury and its neighbourhood, earnestly desired the
Prince to countermand Sir Bichard Greenvil's attempt
upon Taunton, and to join him instead, to assist in
repelling or attacking Sir William Waller. These
commands were also immediately sent by the Prince to
Sir Richard Greenvil, but he positively declined, for
himself and the Commissioners,^ giving any such assist-
ance. This produced the suggestion of fresh plans.
Lord Goring took offence at not being able to pursue
certain advantages he had gained over Sir William
Waller, complained of the Prince's council for readopt-
ing what had originally been his own suggestion, of
sending foot and cannon to Taunton, and retired to
Bath, saying, ** there was now nothing for him to do.''*
Lord Goring's foot and cannon were sent to Taunton
under command of Sir Joseph Wagstaffe, and it was
deemed necessary that Lord Capell and Lord Culpep-
per should repair thither immediately, lest disputes
should arise on the arrival of this reinforcement Their
* Clarendon's * Hist, of the Eebellion,' vol. v. p. 145.
■ Ibid., p. 147. Lord Clarendon adds, that, after " some days frolickly
" spent at Bath, Lord Goring returned to his former temper, and, waiting
" on the Prince at Bristol, was contented to be told * that he had been
" ' more apprehensive of discourtesies than he had cause ;' and so all mis-
** understandings seemed to be fairly made up." (Ibid., p. 148.) Mis-
imderstandings, however, that arose so easily, and apprehensions of dis-
courtesies so readily entertained on slight grounds when the most serious
interests were at stake, were proofs of a character on which no dependence
could be placed ; and the temper that was to be mollified by a few days
spent " frolickly " when serious duty was in question, was not likely to
be restrained by discipline, or be influenced in future by past misunder-
standings having been ** fairly made up."
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Chap. IIL SIEGE OP TAUNTON. 301
presence seemed to have been most opportmie. Sir
Bichard Greenvil had been so severely wounded on the
morning of his forces reaching Tamiton, that he was
obliged to give up his command ;^ and but for their in-
terference in placing Sir John Berkley at the head
both of Sir Bichard Greenvil's and of Sir Joseph Wag-
staffe's troops, it is probable that in the struggle for
command both forces would have been disbanded. Lord
Capell and Lord Culpepper visited Sir Bichard Green-
vil as he was placed in his litter to be carried to Exeter,
told him what they had done respecting Sir John
Berkley, and requested him to desire from his own
officers a cheerful submission to their new commander.
Sir Bichard Greenvil promised to do so, and, immedi-
ately speaking to some of his officers at the side of his
litter, Lord Capell and Lord Culpepper concluded he
had fulfilled his promise. Lord Clarendon, however,
surmises that, so far from this being the case, his
instructions must even have been of a contrary pur-
port, for after his departure *^ neither officer nor soldier
" did his duty, after he was gone, during the time Sir
" John Berkley commanded in that action,"* Whilst
the siege of Taunton was proceeding the Prince had
removed from Bristol to Bridgewater, and on the 23rd
of April he summoned the Commissioners of the four
associated western counties to meet him there." The
' He was shot in the thigh at Wellington House, five miles from
Taunton. Wellington House was afterwards taken by Sir John Berkley.
« Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 149.
• " There was a great body of Commissioners. For Dorsetshire and
" Somersetshire, Sir John Strangeways, Mr. Anchetil Grey, and Mr.
«* Ryves ; for Devonshire, Sir Peter Ball, Sir George Parry, Mr, Saint
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302 UFE OP LORD CAPELL. Chap. HI.
Commissioners of Devonshire had grievous complaints
to make against Sir Eichard Greenvil, and on the 30th
of April Lord Capell, with Lord Culpepper and Sir
Edward Hyde, were sent to Exeter ** to examine all
" the complaints and allegations of the Commissioners,
^* to settle the business of the contribution, and also to
" decide matters of dispute between Sir John Berkley
" and Sir Richard Green vil, so that the public service
" might not be obstructed."*
Immediately on their arrival at Exeter, Lord Capell
and Lord Culpepper went to visit Sir Kichard Greenvil.
He was still confined to his bed with his wound, but
full of bitter complaints against Sir John Berkley; and
it was no easy task to appease his angry* and ofiended
feelings towards him, or to settle the complaints alleged
against himself by the Commissioners. These differences
were at length composed. Sir Kichard Greenvil was
satisfied by being appointed according to his wishes, so
soon as he was sufficiently recovered, to assist in mould-
ing that army which was then raising ; and all that
remained was to dispose Sir John Berkley to acquiesce
in the arrangements proposed. Accordingly, Lord
Capell and Lord Culpepper resolved to return to the
Prince at Bristol/ visiting Taunton on their way, in
order to secure Sir John Berkley's consent to undertake
the blockade of Plymouth.'
" Hill, and Mr. Muddyford ; for Ck)mwall, Sir Henry Killigrew, Mr.
" Coriton, Mr. Scawen, and Mr. Roeoorroth."— Clarendon's * Hist, of the
Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 162.
t Ibid., p. 163. • Ibid., p. 167.
• Sir Edward Hyde did not accompany them, having to complete the
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Chap. IH. WAR IN THE WEST. 303
These constant efforts to produce peace and remove
misunderstandings amongst those whose cordial co-ope-
ration with each other was necessary for ultimate suc-
cess, were unhappily crossed not only by the perverse
conduct of the parties themselves, but by the successful
intrigues at Court which interfered with and lowered
the authority of the Prince's council. Lord Goring
and Prince Kupert endeavoured to lessen the credit
of the council with the King, and on the 10th of
May^ directions were given by his Majesty, in a letter
to his son,* that Lord Goring should be admitted into
all consultations as if he were one of the established
council; that the Prince's power as Generalissimo of
the King's forces was to be transferred to him, for that,
having received power from Prince Rupert to give
commissions in that army, ^^ all commissions to be
** granted should pass by General Goring;'* and no
arrangemeDts at Exeter for the contribution and other matters. — Claren-
don's • Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 168.
* It was abont the end of the second week in May when Lady Capell,
Lady Bradford, and Mrs. Fanshawe met by previous arrangement on the
way to Bristol, where they were to join their husbands. Their journey
was not performed without some danger of surprise, for which reason they
were to ride all night. " About nightfaU," says Mrs. Fanshawe, " having
" travelled about twenty miles, we discovered a troop of horse coming
" towards us, which proved to be Sir Marmaduke Roydon, a worthy com-
** mander and my coimtryman. He told me that, hearing I was to pass
" by his garrison, he was come out to conduct me he hoped as far as was
" dangerous, which was about twelve miles. With many thanks we
" parted ; and, having refreshed ourselves and horses, we set forth for
" Bristol, where we arrived on the 20th of May." In July, when the
plague increased too fast to remain at Bristol, the Prince and his retinue
went to Barnstaple ; from thence Lady Capell, with her daughter, after-
wards Marchioness of Worcester, went with a pass from Lord Essex to
London. — Mem, of Lady FaiUhawe^ pp. 47 and 66.
• Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 173.
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304 LIFE OF LORD CAPELL. Chap. HI.
commissions were to be granted (except to the Western
Association) by the Prince. The Council were directed
to contribute their advice and opinions to General
Goring, but to carefully forbear giving him any positive
or binding orders^ Lord Goring undertook the relief
of Taunton, but after six weeks spent in nominally en-
deavouring to reduce that town, and really wasted in
negligence and licence, he was forced to draw off his
troops on the 25th of July,* thus allowing Sir Thomas
Fairfax's forces to join with those under Colonel Massey,
that had already come to the relief of the city. He was
defeated and routed by Fairfax, and pursued through
Lamport* to the walls of Bridgewater ; here he spent the
night, and retired the next day to Barnstaple, in Devon-
shire, where he consoled himself by inveighing against
the Prince's council, and ^' declaring that they had been
** the cause of the loss of the West."*
» Clarendon's * ffist. of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 173.
• Whitelock's Memorials, p. 149.
• Sir Thomas Fairfax's account of this action fully bears out Lord
Clarendon's account of the manner in which Lord Goring neglected the
advantages of his position. — Appendix E.
• Clarendon's * Hist, of the Rebellion,' vol. v. p. 210.
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XIX.
DICTIONARY OP NAVAL AND MILITARY TECH-
NICAL WORDS AND PHRASES.
ENGLISH ANB FRENCH.^FRENCH AND ENGLISH.
FOR THE USB OP SOLDIERS, 8A1L0BS, AND SlfQINBEBS.
BY OOLONEL BURN,
ABsirtant Inspector of Artillery.
Crown 8to.
** 1 cannot conclude without acknowledging the great assistance I have derived in
this work from the * Naval and Military Technical Dictionary/ by Capt Bum, R.A.,
a book of reference to which I never applied in vain." — Prrfctce to ** Elements of
Naval Architecture,'^ by J. N, Strange, Com., JR.N.
^ A work which has done more to f a ci li tate the study of the great works of the con-
tinental writers on military science than any work ever publidied. In both ^e navy
and army that work was a desideratum, and became the ' open sesame ' to the many
excellent French treatises^ which were almost unintelligible, from their containing
terms not to he found explavned in any English dictionary,'" — Quebec Morning Chronicle,
XX.
THE WORKS OF THE LATE DR. YOUNG, F.R.S.,
MOW FIBST COLLECTED AND EDITED, WITH A MEMOIR OF HIS UFE.
BY THE VERY REV. GEORGE PEACOCK. D.D.,
Dean of Ely.
4YolB. 8T0.
XXI.
STATE PAPERS OF HENRY THE EIGHTH'S REIGN.
COMPRISING THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT AND
THE CONl'INENTAL POWERS,
FROM THE FEBIOD OF THE SLECnON OF 0HARLE8 V. TO THE DEATH OF JSaOfBT VIU.
With Indexes. yol0.YI— XI. 4to.
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e MR. MUaRAFS LIST OF FORTHCOMIXTG WORKS.
XXII.
MUSIC & BRESa.— TWO ESSAYS.
BY A LADY.
Fe»p. 8tp.
(For " Murray's Beading for the Rail**)
XXI J I.
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE
PROM THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS.
A MANUAL FOB EVBBT BLBOTOB. WITH A PBBFACE.
BY SEYMOUR TREMENHEERE, ESa,
lospeotor of Mines, &o.
Ffiap. 870.
(For ^ Murra^8 Bta^ for Hu RaiV)
XXIV.
BEES AND FLOWERS.
TWO E88ATS, BBFBnTFBD FB(»I THE QUABTBBLT BBVIBW.
Foap. Sto.
(For "Mutrofft Meadmsifw the ^U,*")
XXV.
THE HISTOEY OP HERODOTUS.
A NEW ENGLISH TERSION. TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OP GAISFORD, AND EDITED
WITH COPIOUS MOTES AND APPBIIBICBS, XLLCSTBATIKO THE HISTOKT Aim OKOOIUPHT 09 HEROOOTCS,
FUOX TWt von* KKfl^nT 80PRCXS OF nrVOSMATIOlfi BUBODTXNO THB CtUBT S£8ULT8,
HlSTOaiCAL JU<D XTHlfOORAFHIGAI^ VBICH HATS BEU7 OBTAIKEO IM THB
PRoaaxss of cuksifokm aitd htbroqltphical discotxrt.
BY REV. GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.,
Exeter College^ Oxford. Assisted
BY COLONEL RAWLINSON, C.B., AND SIR J. G. WILKINSON, F.R.S.,
4 Volt. 8ro.
The tranBlfttion itself has been undertaken from a conviction of the entire inadequacy
of any existing Tersion to the wanU of the time. The gross unfkitfafohiesB of Beloe, and
the extreme unpleasantness of his style, render his translation completely insufficient
in an age which dislikes affectation and requires accuracy ; while the only other com-
plete English versions which exist are at once too close to tiie original to be perused
with any pleasure by the general reader^ and also defective in respect of scholarship.
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H^ M UR^T'g LIBT OF FORTHCOMINa WOIIKS. T
XXVL
HANDBOOK OF CHEONOLOGY*
ALPHABBTIOALLT AEEANQBD TO FAOLTTATI BBFEftlNCE.
O&ftTolHme. 8to.
This book m&y be regarded as a condensed English Torsion of the celebrated
French work, " L'Art de Verifier les Dates," reduced to a more practical, alphabeti^d
arrangement, but drawn from original sources.
It will enable the student or general reader, or man of the world, to put his finger
at once upon the date of any particular event by means of a careful cUphabetical
classified arrangement of the various elaborate chronologies which have been given
to the world. It has been prtpa^ed wit|i such eate as wOl nemift it — ^it is hoped— a
trustworthy book of reference.
It contains the dates of the eveati wfaieh mark ^ rise, progress, declme, and fall of
states ; and the changes in the fortunes of nations. Alliances, wars, battles, sieges, and
treaties of peace; geographical discoveries, the settlement of colonies, and their
subsequent story ; — with all occurrences of general historic interest — are recorded in
it. It further includes the years of the leading inetdents in the lives of men eminent
for worth, knowledge, rank, or fame ; and of the writings, &c., &c., by which they arc
chiefly known; discoveries in every department of science; and inventions and
improvements, mechanical, social, domestic, and economical.
XXVIT.
AN ACCOUNT OP
THE DANES AND NORTHMEN, IN ENGLAND,
SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.
BY J. J. A. WORSAAE, FOR. F.8.A., LONDON.
Woodcuts. Poet 8to.
The author was sent by the late King of Denmark to investigate the Danish anti-
quities of the British islands. He travelled with this object in view for a twelvemonth.
The present wori contains part of the reeuU of that jo«mey»
I
XXVIIT.
ANECDOTES OF DEEDS OP DARING PERFORMED
BY THE BRITISH NAVY.
WITH A. SBOBT AOCOriTT OF TBB ACTK>98 FOl^ HVmCil VHB WAH^H^AL BAA Bfetlf
GRANTED, AND THE NAMES OP THE OFFICERS RECOMMENDED AND PROMOTED.
BY EDWARD GIFFARD, ESQ.,
Aut^r 9i"A Sbort Yittli to the loolaa Islanda,'' &c."
Foap. Svo.
(For " Mnrray*s lUadingfor iU Maiir)
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8 MR. MURRATS LIST OP PORTHCOMINa WORM.'
XXIX.
JOURNAL OF A WINTER'S TOUR IN INDIA.
INCLUDING A VISIT TO THE COURT OP NEPAUL.
BY THE HON. CAPT. FRANCIS EQERTON, R.N.
Woodcats. 2 Vols. Post 8to.
XXX.
STRIPE FOR THE MASTERY.
TWO ALLEGORIES.
BY A. H. F. E., & M. L B.
With Uliutntions. PottSro.
XXXI.
HISTORY OF THE ADVENTURES AND EXPLOITS
OF KING GUSTAVUS VASA.
WITH EXTRACTS 7B0M HI8 OOBRBBPOITDBNCE, AKD THE OHBONICLIS OP HIS BBIOlf.
Portrait 8to.
XXXII.
A HANDBOOK OF MEDIAEVAL ART.
TBAV5L1TBD FROM THE FRENCH OF IL JULES LABARTHS, AND EDITED WITH NOTES
AND ELLUBTRATIONS.
BY MRS. PALLISER.
With nioitnttoos. 8T0.
XXXIII.
THE PRINCIPLES OF ATHENIAN ARCHITECTURE,
AND THE OPTICAL REFINEMENTS EXHIBITED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE
ANCIENT BUILDINGS AT ATHENS. FROM A SURTET,
BY F. C. PENROSE, MA, ARCHT.
With40PIatM. FoUo. 51. 5#.
{PMi9ked tmdff the directum of Hit Dilettanti Socieftf,)
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MR MUKRATS LIST OP FORTHCOMINa WORKS. 9
XXXIV.
THE TREASURES OF ART IN GREAT BRITAIN.
BEINO AN ACCOUNT OF THE CHIEF COLLECTIONS OF PAINTINGS* SCULPTUBE, MSS.,
MINIATURES, &c.» fcc.,
OBTAINED 7B01I PBBSONAL INSPBCnON IN 1836--50 — 51.
(ZKCOKPOSATDCO ALL THB DCPOBTAKT PASTS OV **AB,T AND ABTIST8 IN EKOLAKD.**)
BY DR. WAAQEN,
Director of the BoTol GbiUery of Pietoref at Berlin.
S Tols. 8to.
XXXV.
A CHURCH DICTIONARY.
BY WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, D.D., VIOAR OF LEEDS.
Siaeih EdiUont revised and enlarged. One Volume. 8to.
" In this edition, bendes the addition of many new articles, all those relating to im-
portant Doctrinal and Liturgical Subjects hare been enlarged. The authorities on
which statements hare been made, are giyen, with copious extracts from the works of
our Standard Diyines. Special reference has been made to the Romish Controversy.
Attention has also been paid to the subjects of Ecclesiastical and Civil Law, and to the
Statute Law of EngUuid in Church lltitton.*'— Extract from the Preface,
XXXYI.
ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOK OP ARCHITECTURE.
BEING A CONCISE AND POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE DIFFERENT STTLES PREVAILING
IN ALL AGES AND COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD.
WITH A DB8CBIPTI0N OF THE MOST RKMABKABLK BUILDINGS.
BY JAMES FERQUSSON, ESa,
Author of " Indian Arohiteetore," ** Palaces of Ninerdi and PersepoUs Restored."
With 1000 Dlustntions on Wood. 8to.
XXXVII.
HANDBOOK TO THE CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND.
CONTAINING SHORT DESCRIPnONS OF EACH.
BY REV. Q. AYLIFFE POOLE, MA, Vicab or Wblfobd.
With Illustrations from Drawinga made on the spot. Post 8yo.
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10 MR. MURRAyg LIOT OP FORTHOOMUfa WORM.
XXXVIII.
HANDBOOK FOR ENGLAND AND WALES.
GiTing an account of the Places and Objects best worth visitmg in England, more
especial^ those rendered interesting hy Historical Associations, or likely to attract
the notice of intelligent strangers and passing trarellers ; arranged in connexion with
the most frequented Roads and Railways in Enslaad. Showing, at the same time, tlie
way of seeing them to the best advantage, with the least expenditure of time and money.
8 Vols. Post 8vo.
ALIO,
A CONDENSED HAND-BOOK OF ALL ENGLAND.
with Map and naaa. 1 VoL Pott 8to.
XXXIX.
HANDBOOK FOR THE ENVIRONS OF LONDON.
WITHIN A CIRCLE OP THIRTY MILES AROUND ST. PAUL'S.
WITH HINTS FOE EXCURSIOIfS BY RAIL — RIVKR— AND ROAD.
BY PETER CUNNINQHAM, F.S.A.
Post 8vo.
XL.
HANDBOOK FOR SYRIA AND THE HOLY LAND.
With Maps. Post 8ro.
XTJ.
OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OP CHURCH AND STATE.
BEING A MANUAL OF HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL REFERENCE.
One Volume. Fcap. 8vo.
XLTI.
THE YOUNG
OFFICER'S MANUAL OF FIELD OPERATIONS.
BY LIEUT. JERVIS, RA
Port 8vo.
XLTII.
HANDBOOK OP FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS.
FROM ENGLISH AUTHORS.
FMP.8V0.
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MB. IfUBBAT^ LIST OF NEW WORKS. 11
LAYARD'S LATEST DISCOVERIES AT NINEVEH.
Neadp rtady, m (me handtome volume folio,
ELUSTRATIONS OF THE SCULPTURES, VASES,
AOT) BRONZES
EECENTLT DISCOVERED AT NINEVEH.
[DURING MR. LAYARD'S SECOND VI8IT.1
PRINCIPALLY BAS-RELIEFS OF THE WARS AND EXPLOITS OF SENNACHERIB
FROM HIS PALACE AT KOUYUNJIK. FROM DRAWINGS BY MR. LA YARD, Ac.
UNIFORM WITH LATARD*8 MONUMENTS OP NINEVEH.
\* It has been ascertained, from Inscriptions lately decyphered, that the Palace of Kouyni^Jik,
excavated by Mr. Layard, was built by Sennacherib, King of Assyria, and ttiat its Bcnlptores represent
events recorded in Sacred History.— 2 Kings xvii. and xviii.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FRONTISPIECE.
COLOSSAL LION.
WINGED BULL AND KING.
KING AND ALTAR.
D^MON AND PRIESTS.
FISH PRIEST AND OTHER FIGLTIES.
HORSES LED.
MEN CARRYING FRUIT, LOCUSTS, &c.
CONTINUATION.
OBELISKS IN BOAT, AND HORSES.
ENGINEERING OPERATIONS OP THE ASaYRLA.118 IM TRANSPORTING
COLOSSAL OBELISKS AND STATUES.
TRANSPORT OF ONE OF THE COLOSSAL BULLS.
DRAWING BULL.
DRAWING BULL.
WORKMEN RAISING ARTIFICIAL MOUND.
MULTITUDE RAISING THE WINGED BULL TO THE SUMMIT OP THE
MOUND IN PRESENCE OF THE KING.
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12 MR. MURRArS LIST OF NEW WORKS. '
ILLUSTRATIONS-(Co»TiinntD.)
TRANSPORT OF BULL UPRIGHT.
WORKMEN WITH IMPLEMENTS.
SIEGE OF A CITY.
CAPTIVES.
ASSYRIAN TROOPS BEFORE THE CITY OF LACHISH.
THE SIEGE OF LACHISH, BY SENNACHERIB.
CAPTIVES AND SPOIL FROM THE CITY OF LACHISH.
SENNACHERIB ON HIS THRONE BEFORE THE CITY OF LACHISH—
"Now in Um fbuitcentk year of Klnf HaekUh did SaiiiAclialb, Kinf of AMjrfa, eooM m9
•gftkutaU ike fenced cHiee of Jndali, and took tkem. And HeMldah, Klnf of Jniah
■cnt to the King of AHyxia to lodkM.**— S KiHoe, xrUL 13^ 14.
CHARIOT AND ATTENDANTS OF SENNACHERIB.
BATTLE IN MARSHES.
CONTINUATION.
BATTLE IN MARSH.
CONTINUATION.
TRIUMPHS OF SENNACHERIB.
CAPTIVES AND IDOLS.
SIEGE AND ESCALADE.
A HUNTING SCENE FROM KHORSHABAD
CAPTIVES BROUGHT TO ASSYRIA.
CONTINUED.
CAPTIVES AND SPOIL.
CONTINUED.
CONQUEST OF A MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY
CONTINUED.
SIEGE OF A CITY.
SIEGE AND PLUNDER OF A CITY.
KING PREPARING TO CROSS A RIVER.
SIEGE OF CITY ON THE BANKS OF A RIVER.
CONTINUED.
CAPTIVES WITH FEATHERED HEAD-DRESS.
THE CONQUEST OF THE SON OF ESARHADDON.
CONTINUED.
CONTINUED.
CONTINUED.
CONTINUED.
PAVEMENTS.
ROCK SCULPTURE OF SENNACHERIB AT BAVIAN.
STATUE OF A PRIEST.
COLOURED TILES.
CONTINUED.
TEN PLATES OF BRONZE VESSELS, Ac Ac, DISCOVERED IN THE
ROYAL TREASURE-HOUSE.
A LIMITED EDITION ONLY HAS BEEN PRINTED.
2 Kings, xix. 87.
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Albsmablb Strekt,
Jarmaryy 1852.
MR. MURRAY'S
LIST OF NEW WORKS NOW READY.
LORD MAHON.
— * —
1763—80.
FORMING VOLS.V. AND VI. OF LORD MAHON'S "HISTORY OF ENGLAND."
2 Vols. 8vo. 80*.
In Uie Appendix to these volnmes will be found a great nomber of letters from Lord
Chatham, and several from Mr. Fox, derived from the Grafton MSS. ; two M^mmrta on
a projected Invasion of England by the French in 1767 and 1768, derived from the
Chattuun MSS. ; various unpubUshed documents, and many extracts from the King's
Private Correspondence with Lord North.
It is intended to complete this work in one more volume, bringing down the History
of England and of British India to the end of the American war, and at the close review-
ing the social state of the people during the seventy years which this history will com-
prise. The last volume will also contain an ample Index to all the seven. — Dec, 1851.
THE BISHOP OF OXFORD.
% Charge U % Ckg^r of % giotcst of (0irfo4
AT HIS SECOND VISITATION, NOVEMBER, 1861.
Sto. d#.6(l.
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14 MR. MURRAY'S LIST OP NEW WORKS.
PAEIS IN 1851.
% dwt of ixm\ Biith.
Br THE Author ov ''Bubbles fbom the Bbumnbn of Nabsau."
a Vols. Fostdvo. Us,
^ An old Boldier, of benevolent disposiiion and literary turn, is afflicted with btepham'
plUhalmia, a complaint in the eyes, which if its nature is to be measured by its name,
must be of a rather formidable description. To consult an eminent French oculist, he
repairs to Paris, which he has not visited for si x-and- thirty years — when he entered ity
we presume, as a conqueror. At Paris he remains little more than three weeks, but of
these he makes excellent use."
^ He tells you in his prefaee. He walked the streets , ' collecting literary sticks,
picked up exactly in the order and state in which he chanced to find them. They are
thin, short, dry, sapless, crooked, headless, and pointless. In the depth of winter, how-
ever, a faggot of real French sticks — although of littie intrinsic value— may possibly
enliven for a few moments an English fireside.' The metaphor is rather far-fetched,
and needs elucidation. In a word, then. Sir Fratioia Head, eschewing gaieties and invi-
tations, neglected his friends, sufiered his letters of introduction to rest in his port-
manteau, and passed his tiiree weeks of May — to our thinking, the pleasantest month of
the year at Paris — in visiting the public buildings, institutions, charities, musenms — in
short, everything that was worth seeing in the Frendi capital and its faubourgs. To
see so much, in so short a time, required, we need not say, early rising and no small
degree of activitv. He took with him to his task the kindly spirit and minute observa-
tion for which he is distinguished, and, on his t^tum to England, cast his notes and
reminiscences into volumes, summoning to his aid the easy, cheerful style, and sly
humomr which have long since eaosed his name to sound harmoniously in the ears of aU
lovers of a genial and amusmg book. We rejoice that this book is one we can honesUy
praise." — Literary Cfazette.
^ The style of Sir Francis is diffuse and minute. He enumerates as often as he
describes, and that in the manner of Diekena and his imitators— If they, indeed, have
not imitated the << Gallop *' and the ^ Bubbles." The book, however, is very oarious,
readable, and in some sense informing ; but perhaps its most remarkable feature is, how
mneh may b« Men in Paris in a short time by a man who reeolvtely sets about it" —
SpeckUor.
MRS. BRAY.
WITH PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.
ILLUSTBATEO BY SSOKATIAOB FBOH HIS CUlKt WOBKB, FBIXTGO IN A NOVEL STYLB OF ABT.
With Portrait. Fcap.ito. 21s.
" A more beautiful volume than this is not often issued. The * numerous illustrations '
have been chosen with a sedulous respect for the reputation of the graceful artist whose
life was in his works ; and they have been rendered with most delicate care — there
being something in the nature of Stothard's genius which lent itself, with more than
ordinary adapt ability, to this form of prvsentment." — Athenwum,
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MR. MURRArS LIST OP NEW WORM. 16
SIR CHARLES LYELL.
OB, THE ANCIENT CHANGES OF THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS,
XLLUSTBATED BY ITS GEOLOGICAL MONUMENTS.
^ourfA ^titfion, Rerised and Enlarged. 8vo. 12«.
In consequence of the rapid sale of the last edition ^of which 2000 copies were printed
in Jcmuwy last), another hjiA been called for. Even in this short interval, many new
facts of unusual importance in paleeontology have come to light, or have been verified
for the first time. To render this additional information accessible to the purchasers
of the former^ the preface to this edition is printed separately. Price 6d»
REV. JOHN PENROSE, MA.
BEING FIFTY-FOUR SERMONS WRITTEN FOR SUNDAY READING.
8vo. 108, 6(L
LUIGI-CARLO FARINI.
Sistcrg of % "^Mm Stale; isxs-so.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN.
BY THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, MJP.
2 Vols. 8vo. 94f.
CHARLES BABBAGE, ESQ.
^t ^IpOSltwm of 185X.
OR, VIEWS OF THE INDUSTRY, THE SCIENCE, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND.
.S^e<mdJ»i^ion,irithAddiftioii8. 8vo. 7#.6fr.
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16 MR. MURRAYT5 LIST OP NEW WORKS.'
GEN. SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS, G.C.R
FOR THE USE OF OFFICERS AND TRAINING OF SEAMEN GUNNERS.
DBDICATID BT 8FE0IAL FERHiaSION TO THB L0BD6 COMMIB8IOKEB8 07 THE ADMnULLTT.
Third Edition, Twiaed, With nnmeroas Plates. 8vo. 21«.
« The work of Sir Howard Douglas haa not only stood its ground for thirty years
and more, but (harder task) has operated on the Admiralty. The new edition contains
an account of all the improvements that have taken place in the theory and practice
of naval gunnery since the appearance of its predecessor.^^-^/Sjpec^otor.
WILUAM SMITH, LL.D.
— « —
% gktionatj of §xuk anb gloman (^wgraplj.
BY VARIOUS WRITERS.
ILLUSTRATED WITH COINS, PLANS OF CITIES, DISTRICTS, AND BATTLES.
Medium Svo. Fart I. 4*.
Although, for the sake of uniformity, it is called a Dictionary of Ortek and ^oman
Geography, it will be in reality a Dictionary of Ancient Grec^raphy, including even
Scriptiural Names. At present there does not exist, in the English or even in the
German languages, any work on Ancient Geography sufficiently comprehensive and
accurate to satisfy the demands of modem scholarship. And yet were are few subjects
connected witli antiquity for which we have such ample materials. The discoveries of
modem travellers, as well as the researches of modem scholars, have, within the last
few years, added greatly to our knowledge of Ancient Geography ; and it will be the
aim of the Editor to present, in the present work, the results of their labours in this
important branch of Classical Antiquity.
The work will, of course, not be confined to a barren description of the geography of
countries, and of the sites of places ; but it will also include an account of the political
history both of countries and of cities. An attempt will likewise be made to trace, as
far as possible, the history of the more important buildings of the cities, and to give an
account of their present condition wherever they still exist.
•,^« To appear in Quarterly Parts, and to form One Volume,
SIR CHARLES BELL'S BRIDGEWATER TREATISK
^^ Mtt\msm anb (^nboknents d % |iani>;
AS EVINCIKQ DESIGK.
ANewEdiUon, With many Woodcuts. FottSTO. 7s. 6d.
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MR. MURRATS LIST OP NEW WORKS. 17
MAJOErGENERAL CATHCART.
|tarrati&^ of % Mm m "^mm anir §tmm!^
OF 1813—14.
With Plana. 8to. lU,
^ We owe CoL Cathcart's solid and unpretending Tolume a notice. * • ^--Soimd,
concise, and pregnant It seems to us to be equally valuable for its facts and its com-
mentaries." — Quarterly Review,
WILLIAM JOHNSTON, ESQ.
POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND INDUSTBIAL.
2 Vols. PcwtSro. 18«.
« C'est un ouvrage plein de renseignements, fuU of informcUion, comme disent les
Anglus, et ces sortes de publications excitent, arec raison, une curiosity fort viye,
aujourd'hui que les nations reconnaissent avec le sage la n^cessit^ de se oonnftitre
soi-m6me8, et aussi de bien connaitre les autres, ne f(kt-ce que pour le mieux juger par
comparaison.** — L'lUustrcUion.
SIR JAMES EMERSON TENNENT.
C^ristiamJj in €q\m,
ITS INTKODUCnON AND PROGRESS UNDER THE PORTUGUESE, DUTCH, BRITISH*
AND AMERICAN MISSIONS.
With niustiiitioiiB. 8to. lU.
<< Though it is now nearly a year since this work issued from the press, we suspect
it is by no means so extensively known as it ought to be. It is seldom that we have a
governor in any of our colonies or dependencies turning his attention to the history and
progress of missions. Sir Emerson Tennent has been long and favourably known to
the Christian public, as taking a deep interest in all educational and religious
movements which have for their object tlie good of the people. His sketches of
tlie characteristics of Buddhism and Brahmanism are among the best of the kind we
ever recollect having seen. The interest which he seems to have taken in the cause
of missions during his stay on the island contrasts very favourably with the conduct of
most other government agents. The clear statement of tlie difficulties with which the
mifflionaries have to contend, and the confident hope expressed of final success, should
make the churches at home more patient towards their missionaries, and stir them up
to redoubled exertions. The volume will be found one of the most instructive and
interesting that has issued for a long tune from the English press." — Edinburgh Wiinet$,
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18 MR MURRA.TS LIST OF NEW WORKS.
HOEJE MQYFTIACM.
DI800TBBBD FBOX A8TB0N0IIICAL AND HISBOOLTPHIC RECORDS UPON ITt MONUMENTS.
BY REGINALD STUART POOLE, ESQ.
Witb Plates. 8to. lOt.M,
AUSTEN H. LAYARD, ESQ.
% IPopIar %ttmd ai ^is Jfirst €xp)A\m k %mk\.
AERANGED BY HIMSELF FOR POPULAR CIRCULATION.
"With Kamerons Woodeots. Post 8to. 5s,
^ This interesting Tolnme forms a portion of the series of * Murray*s Reading for the
Rail* It is an abridgment, by the author himself, of his larger work, * Nineveh and
its Remains.' Mr. Layard was indaced to undertake this publication on account of
the great curiosity excited by his discoveries at Nineveh, and the great eagerness
evinced by the public to peruse an authentic account of them. The small edition now
published seems calculated to supply what was wanted ; and its cheapness will ensure
for it a very extensive circulation. In this abridgment the author has omitted the
second part of the larger work, and, by introducing the principal bibUcal and historical
illostrations into the narrative, he has rendered it more agreeable to the general reader."
— Morning Herald.
" We have in this volume an admirable epitome of the author s valuable work ' On
Nineveh and its Remains ;' the abridgment being made by Mr. Layard himselt The
most attractive of the original materials are carefully digested, whilst the I'esults of his
laborious researches are brought down to the very latest dates.** — Olobe.
** A charming volume, to which we may safely promise a circulation without limit,
and as unbounded popularity. The great feature of the abridgment is the introduction
of the principal biolical and historical illlustrations (forming a separate section of the
original work) into the narrative, which, without sacrificing any matter of importance,
makes the story more compact, useful, and indeed complete, in its abridgment than it
was in its original form. In his brief preface Mr. Layard remarks that tlie more
recent discoveries, and the contents of the inscriptions, as far as they have been
satisfactoiily deciphered, have confirmed nearly all the opinions first expressed by him
on the subject. There was no necessity, therefore, to introduce a change in any
material point into the abridgment He is still disposed to believe that all the ruins
explored represent the site of Ancient Nineveh ; and, while still assigning the later
monuments to the kings mentioned in Scripture, he continues to feel convinced that a
considerable period had elapsed between their foundation and the erection of the older
palaces of Nimroud. Mr. Layard differs from some other antiquarians, however, in
thinking that the state of the inscriptions by no means as yet authorises the use of any
actual names for the earlier kmgs mentioned in tliem.^ — Examiner,
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MR. MURRArS LIST OF NEW WORKS. 1»
AUTHOR Or"PADDIANA."
^ Crawport fesagt to % Paotititts,
THE GAPB OF GOOD HOPS, AND ST. HELENA.
Post 8to. 9«. ed.
JAMES FKRGUSSON, ESQ.
AN ESSAY ON ANCIENT ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE.
WKhWooaeuto. Sro. 16«.
This volume is -written for the purpose of elucidating the ancient Architecture ot
Western Asia, especially to render intelligible the remarkable buildings of Nineveh, so
unexpectedly revealed by recent discoveries ; and by comparing them with those of
Babylon, Jerusalem, PersepoHs, and Modem Persia, to restore, as far as possible, the
history of an art long lost to the world.
fy^% ixm i\t ''Cimts."
A SELECTION FROM THE LITERARY PAPERS WHICH HAVE APPEARED IN
THE "TIMES" NEWSPAPER.
BEFBIHTSD VOB THE RAIL BT FEBIOBSION OF THE PBOPRXETOBa.
Second EiitUm. Fcap.Sro. 4».
Co:
Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton.
Railway Novela.
Loaia Philippe and hla Family.
Drama of the French RerolotlMk
Hoirard the Philanthropist.
Lord Holland's Reminisoenoes.
Rohert Sonthej.
Dean Swift— Stella and Vanessa.
Coleridge and Soutlwj, by Go^Ob.
John Keats.
O rote's History of Greece.
** Light without levity, grave without gloom, its contents are precisely such as one
would select for 'railway reading;* well calcubted to enlist attention, and to convey
equal pleasure and profit to the mind of the reader. The subjects are varied, and
each and all are dealt with transcendent ability. The mere fact of their having been
permitted to occupy whole columns of the THmes speaks volumes as to their recognised
sterhng worth. Their prevailing tone is that of a calm and measured dignity, befitting
one who, from ' the loop-holes of retreat,' looks out upon the waning world, and gives
to his fellow man their meed of censure or of praise, according as ^eir characters or
deeds present themselves, or pass in array before him. We are sure that the writer's
general sentiments will find a ready response in the heart of every right-thinking and
right-feeling reader. His powers will be appreciated even by the most cursor)'.*' —
Shrewsbury Journal,
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20
MR MURRAY'S LIST OF NEW WORKS.
LAVENGRO.
By the Author of " Thb Biblx in Spain."
WithPortnit. SYoIb. Po8t8To. 80«.
THE LEXINGTON" PAPERS.
IN THB 17th CENTURT.
BY THE HON. H. MANNERS SUTTON.
8to. li».
CAPTAIN J. D. CUNNINGHAM.
FROM THB OBIGIN OF THE NATION TO THE BATTLES OF THE SUTLEJ.
Second SdUicnf with a Memoir of the Author. If ape, 8to. 16#.
BY AUTHORITY.
Iinmial flf % llosal §topi^l^d Stfmtj.
VOL. XXI. PARTI.
CONTENTS:—
FlOOBSK ov GlOCnEUPHT.
CuMAToixxrr or thb Cavoabos, Bt PBorsesoit
H. Abioh.
LoiTXBXADBANDNxifGxnXXiL. Bt J.HHSxiXITItAT.
Sooth ArBicAU Lass "Noihi.'' By Rxt. D.
LZTIHOflfTOM.
MZDDLB InjLHD OW NKW ZxALAlfD. BT CaPT.
Btokxs, B.N.
AnsBOD) BABOMxmu Br Col. Tobxb.
Abbboxd vob Sttbtxtixo nc Ibdxa. Bt DB.'Bin«r.
SotrrH Sbjl Islands. Bt Capt. J, E. Ebskixb,
R,N.
Mission to Central Afbica. Bt Db. Babth.
80VTHKBN PsRV. Bt W. Bollasbt.
Edmabn and GvKHiTAL. Bt Capt. R. Stbaohkt.
Railvat across North Akkbica. Bt Asa.
Whitnbt.
Cbntbal Amkbica Canal. Bt A. S. Obbitkd.
Vocabulabt op thb Yvlb Indians. By Db.
CULLBN.
With Maps. 8to. 10«.
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MR. MTTRRATS LIST OP NEW WORKS. 21
2ES0P FOR THE PEOPLK— BEST AND CHEAPEST EDITION.
Jfalrb d %tB^.
A NEW VERSION, CHIEFLT FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK.
Br EEV. THOMAS JAMES, M.A.,
Vicar of Sibbertoft, and Examining Chaplain to the Biah«p of Bath and WeHs.
With 100 WooDCUTfl. Peat 8to. 2». 6d,
** This pretty and handy yolume will be eyerybody's -^Isop." — Examiner.
NIMROD.
REPRINTED FROM THE "QUARTERLY REVIEW."
Woodcuts. 3 Parts. Fcap.Svo. 8».6rf.
THE SAXON IN IRELAND.
Ilamlrb d m ^^hlpm m % MtBi td |wlan5r
IN SEARCH OF A SETTLEMENT.
8M0fKi£it<Mm. With Map. FostSro. 9s, 6d,
JOHN EDWAM) TAYLOR
P^ael %^th,€mhxt)i as a ^|feilffs0]f|it "^att
WITH TRANSLATIONS.
Second SatUm, PoatSvo. 5b.
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MB. MURRAYT3 LIST OP NEW WORKS.
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
BY THE LATE COLONEL GUBWOOD, C.R
INTENDED AS A CONVENIENT MANUAL FOE EVERY OFFICER.
New and Cheaper Edi^on^ with Index. One Volnine. 8ro. 18«.
^ It would be idle at this time of day to dilate on the treasure our country possesses
in the Duke of Wellington's Despalcbes-— or the wisdom which sanctioned their
publication in the lifetime of their illustrious author."— QuoHerZy Review,
THR HON EDMUND PHIPPS.
emoir 0f ^olrtrt |pinmer WLA
WITH HIS POLITICAL AND UXERARY OOBBB&PONDENGB, DIABIES^ AND REMAINS.
With Portrait. 2 toIa. 8to. 28#.
" By far the most valuable portions of Mr. Ward's diaiy are its illustrations of the
character of the Duke of Wellington. The great soldier, then in the flush of his
military triumph, was also in the prime of his power and activity ; and Mr. Ward
S'ves us an insight into his business habits, his method of aiguing public questions,
s ready resource and never-tiring energy, which possesses occasionally a striking
intere8t.^^£ixif7U9i«r.
KUGLER'S ILLUSTBATED HANDBOOK.
TEABBLATID FBOM TBI COBMAK.
EDITED WITH NOTES BY SIB CHABLES EASTLAKE, P JLA.
ANewBdiUon. With 100 Woodoati. 8 Vols. PortSvo. 2U,
EDWABD VEBNON HABCOUBT, ESQ.
% $hk^ flf Itakira.
OONTAINING INFORMATION FOR THB TIATILLER OR INTALID YISTTING THE ISLAND
With Maps aad Woodcuts. Poatftvo. U.M,
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MURRAY'S READING FOR THE RAIL.
OB, CHEAP BOOKS IN LABGE READABLE TYPE,
SUITED FOR ALL CLASSES OF READERS — FOR VARIOUS TASTES — AND FOR OLD AND
TOUNO OF BOTH SEXES.
To appear at ehort intervalg, tforjfing in »ue and price.
Works already Published : —
ESSAYS FROM << THE TIMES ; *' being a Selection from the
litenuy Papers which hare appeared In that JonmaL Foap. 8to. i»,
NIMROD ON THE CHACE. An Essay, reprinted from the " Quae-
TKBLT Bxraw i " and Oluatratcd with Woodcuts by Alkeic. Fcap. 8to. U,
LORD MAHON'S FORTY-FIVE ; or a Narrative of the RebeUion in
Scotland in 17i5. PoatSyo. 3«.
LAYARD'S OWN NARRATIVE OF HIS DISCOVERIES AT
NINEVEH. Arranged by himaelf for popular circulation, with Woodcuts. PostSro. 5«.
NIMROD ON THE ROAD. An Essay, reprinted from the " Quar-
TKBLT RxriEW ; " and illustrated with Woodcuts by Aulezc . Fcap. Svo. U,
^SOPS FABLES. A New Version. By Rev. THOMAS JAMES.
Illustrated with 100 Original Derigns. Post 8to. 2$, 6d,
NIMROD ON THE TURF. An Essay, reprinted from the " Quar-
TERLT RsTiKw; '* and illastnited with Woodcuts by Aulbic. Fcap. Sro. 1«. 64,
To be followed by : —
MUSIC AND DRESS. Two Essays. By a LADY. Fcap. 8vo.
DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING ; or. Anecdotes of the British Navt.
Foap. Sto.
BEES AND FLOWERS. Two Ensays, reprinted from the " Quarterly
Kktibw.** Fcap. Svo.
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE FROM THE WISDOM OF THE
ANCtENTti. With Note By SEYMOUR TKEMENHEBRE. Fnp. 8to.
MURRAY'S READING FOR THE RAIL
WILL coirrAiif WORKS or koumd ntrosscATioir axd htkockkt Auvsanarr, surm hot oklt ros
KAILWAT TBATBLXJOIS, BTT ADAPrKD FOR THX SHXLTXS OF STXRT UBRART.
[See next page.
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24 MURRArs READING FOR THE RAIL.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
— -♦
^ A series of cheap and healthy pablications, to supplant the deleterions mixtures sold
too frequently from the want of more wholesome food.'* — AtJiencmm.
" Blr. Murray starts with one great advantage. Cheap norels, compressing some five
Tolumee of French nonsense into one small duodecimo, must necessarily be in small
print and on bad paper. This bothers most eyes and wears many out. The same
objection applies to many even of the really useful books sold at railway stations.
Mr. Murray, whose subjects do not require the same compression, gives a good readable
type, quite large enough for ordinary eyes, even in express trains. For railway reading
this is reaUy the chief consideration of alL" — Atlas,
^ Mr. Murray has deserved well at the hands of the travelling conmiunity, as well as
at those of the public at large." — Observer,
« Encouraged by the brilliant success attendant upon many recent adventures in the
way of supplying the masses with cheap and standard literature, Mr. Murray has
commenced the issue of a new series, destined, we are satisfied, to occupy a very
distinguished position among this remarkable class of periodicals."' — Sun,
^ We heartily wish this new undertaking the success which the enterprising publisher
merits, and commend these productions to the railway and reading public" — Morning
Herald,
^ We hail Murray's * Reading for the Rail,' with much pleasure, as one of the many
efforts now making to supply the public with books at once dieap and good. This is
the only legitimate means by which literature that is cheap and worthless;, or positively
misdiievous, can be fairly and efficiently put down/' — Economist
** We recognise, both in its contents, and in the spirit in which, as the first of a
contemplated series of < Readings for the Rail,' it has been launched by Mr. Murray,
the highminded and rightminded effort of a healtliful spirit to leave its impress on the
age in which we live. And we tender to the publisher our cordial and earnest tlianks
for so valuable an addition to our current readings, — we ought to have said for so
wholesome a substitute for tlie poisonous trash which obtrudes itself at nearly every
railway station of the metropolis upon the notice of the young and the unthinking.*'
—Bath Herald,
^ It is to supply a cUss of books suited to modem travel, that Mr. Murray comes
forward as the ^ schoolmaster " of the Rail He desires to put into the hands of
travellers, works that shall mingle < pleasure with instruction,' or ' information,' if the
reader prefers the phrase."-— <SArcttW&ury Jouimal,
^ An able article on < Literature for the Rail,' was ktely inserted in the * Times,' and
naturally attracted general observation. The writer recommended as an effectual
means for expellmg from the book-stalls of the stations trashy and licentious publica-
tions, the issue of works of acknowledged merit at a low price ; and the argtmentwn
ad hominem was applied to Mr. Murray, by way of inducing that publisher to do for the
rail what he had done for other cUtsses of readers by issue of his popular < Home and
Colonial Library.* This pubUeation is the response to this appeal." — Worcester JowmaL
aaAABoai amp kvajis, rftiiiTBAt, wmiTsraiA**.
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^
^^^M
STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES ^H
STANFORD AUXILIARY LIBRARY ^^
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305-6004
(415) 723-9201
All books may be recalled ofJer 7 days
DATE DUE
^
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