/ 
 
 V 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 IN THE 
 
 DAYS OF THE STUARTS 
 
 COMPILED FROM THE PRIVATE PAPERS 
 AND DIARY OF SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE, SECOND BARONET 
 WITH EXTRACTS FROM MS. NEWS-LETTERS 
 ADDRESSED TO HIM BETWEEN 
 
 1675 AND 1689 
 
 BY 
 
 LADY NEWDIGATE- NEWDEGATE 
 
 Author of 'The Cheverels of Cheverel Manor' 
 &c. 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT 
 
 LONDON 
 
 SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 
 
 1901 
 
 [Al! right* reserved] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PACE 
 
 INTRODUCTION vii 
 
 I. A SQUIRE IN THE DAYS OF THE STUARTS . . I 
 
 II. A KING'S TARDY RECOGNITION 21 
 
 III. CHARLES II. AND HIS PARLIAMENT • • • 35 
 
 IV. CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 52 
 
 V. ROUGH MANNERS AND BARBAROUS DEEDS . . 72 
 VI. RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AND PERSECUTION . . . 88 
 
 VII. THE TERRORS OF THE PILLORY . . . . lOI 
 
 Vin. SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE'S DIARY . . . . II4 
 
 IX. SIR RICHARD'S FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE 1 29 
 
 X. THE LADY OGLE'S MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES . I45 
 
 XI. AMBASSADORS AND THEIR ECCENTRICITIES . . 165 
 
 XII. SOME DARING WOOERS I?^ 
 
 XIII. A FAMILY INTERLUDE ...... 197 
 
vi CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAP. PAGF. 
 
 XIV. SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY .... 2o8 
 
 XV. WIG AND GOWN 222 
 
 XVI. THE GREAT FROST OF 1 683-4 . . . , 233 
 
 XVII. SUNDRY ITEMS OF NEWS , 243 
 
 XVHI. THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS .... 254 
 
 XIX. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN . . . . 271 
 
 XX. AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME ...... 290 
 
 XXI. A TOUR IN FRANCE . . . . . . „ 312 
 
 XXII. HOMEWARD BOUND ....... 329 
 
 XXIII. END OF THE DIARY AND THE DIARIST . . . 343 
 
 INDEX 361 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In the following pages will be found some echoes 
 of the past, tending to illustrate the lighter side 
 of public, private, and social life in the days of the 
 Stuarts. 
 
 The original and contemporary sources from 
 which extracts have been made are twofold : 
 
 1. A collection of manuscript news-letters 
 written from London to Sir Richard Newdigate, 
 2nd Bart., of Arbury, Warwickshire. 
 
 2. The remains of a private diary kept by Sir 
 Richard during many years of his life, and some 
 letters of interest addressed to him, which help 
 to illustrate the Stuart period. 
 
 The writers of the news-letters, sometimes 
 called * intelligencers,* were employed profession- 
 ally by those living at a distance from London, 
 
viii CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 who, like the owner of Arbury, were desirous of 
 being kept in touch with all that was passing at 
 the seat of government in the unquiet days of 
 the seventeenth century. Their business was to 
 supplement the scanty news a strict censorship 
 allowed to appear in the public print or Gazette, 
 in Charles II /s time, with gleanings of social and 
 political gossip, picked up by hearsay, and usually 
 prefaced by an irresponsible ' 'Tis said ' etc. 
 
 My readers may remember how, in a well- 
 known romance — ' Shrewsbury,* by Stanley Wey- 
 man — the narrator, adrift in London and reduced 
 to sore straits, is fortunate in finding work as a 
 copyist under a news-writer of repute. At first 
 the task seems an easy one. The scribe soon 
 finishes the requisite number of copies of the 
 sheet of occurrences and on-dits collected by his 
 master from the public news-resorts of the capital, 
 but overlooks the importance of the word ' Whig ' 
 or * Tory ' added by him as a guide to the political 
 bias of each Western town for which the letters 
 are destined. When his patron returns, his work 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 goes for naught, and he has to learn how Tory 
 Bridport and Whiggish Frome cannot be served 
 identically. His apprenticeship then begins in 
 the art of manipulating and colouring the items of 
 public news so as to render them acceptable to 
 the opposite parties in the realm. * There are 
 tricks in all trades/ he avows ; * so Mr. Timothy 
 Brome, the writer, did not enjoy without reason 
 the reputation of the most popular news-vendor 
 in London.' 
 
 In Macaulay's * History' we find a more 
 serious picture of this useful calling. The his- 
 torian asserts that ' no part of the load which 
 the old mails carried out was more important 
 than the news-letters. ... In the capital the 
 coffee-houses supplied in some measure the place 
 of a journal. . . . Neither the Gazette, nor any 
 supplementary broadside printed by authority, 
 ever contained any intelligence which it did not 
 suit the purposes of the Court to publish. . . . 
 The news-writer rambled from coffee-room to 
 coffee-room, collecting reports ; squeezed himself 
 
X CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 into the Sessions House at the Old Bailey if there 
 was an interesting trial ; nay, perhaps obtained 
 admission to the gallery of Whitehall, and noticed 
 how the King and Duke looked. . . . Such were 
 the sources from which the inhabitants of the largest 
 provincial cities and the great body of the gentry 
 and clergy learned almost all that they knew of the 
 history of their own time. . . . Many of these 
 curious journals might doubtless still be detected by 
 a diligent search in the archives of old families. . . 
 
 Perhaps there are not many series of news- 
 letters, of the time of which Macaulay writes, that 
 have been preserved so carefully as those at 
 Arbury. They date from 1675 to 171 2, and 
 when at some later date they were roughly bound 
 up in nineteen folio volumes, they found a safe 
 resting-place in a dark and inaccessible corner of 
 the library. 
 
 The extracts from them which follow are given 
 in the news-writers' quaint but often picturesque 
 language. The diversity of handwriting in these 
 letters proves that different writers were employed. 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 some being far more illiterate than others. The 
 mode of spelling at that date was so erratic that I 
 have thought it advisable to adopt one uniform 
 standard. 
 
 No doubt the letters at Arbury were copied in 
 duplicate and despatched to more customers than 
 one. Yet we know they had to be varied to suit 
 the special proclivities of the man to whom they 
 were addressed. In the present series it is easy 
 to read between the lines that the client for whom 
 the newsmen catered was a Protestant of the Pro- 
 testants ; a loyal subject in spite of the strain upon 
 the people^s allegiance after the Restoration ; and 
 though a man of culture and a patron of the arts, 
 he was not so refined as to shrink from coarser 
 and more realistic details than we should tolerate 
 in the present day. Nor had he a soul above 
 the social gossip and scandal v/hich the newsmen 
 liberally supplied for his entertainment. 
 
 The principal qualifications for the post of 
 an intelligencer seem to have been alertness and 
 enterprise tempered with accuracy. The profes- 
 
xii CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 sion was not without its risks, should the news- 
 writer be too bold or frank in the exercise of his 
 calling. 
 
 Under the date of September t68i we are 
 told that ' some Malicious writers of news have 
 sent into the Country false and base reflections on 
 the Government, and the same coming to the 
 knowledge of Authority, some of them have been 
 seized, together with their writings, in order to be 
 prosecuted according to their demerits/ 
 
 In spite of the risks entailed, an intelligencer s 
 charges were not heavy, even allowing for the 
 vast difference in the value of money between that 
 era and the present day, 
 
 ' Read a news-letter from Muddiman,' writes 
 Sir Richard Newdigate in his diary, * whose news 
 I intend to have for one quarter and no longer, 
 for which he is to have ;^i.5.o/ 
 
 The writers seldom sign their names, and then 
 only when a private note is added in the margin, 
 such as the following : 
 
 * S' I return my humble acknowledgments for 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 your constant Remitting the Quarterly of my In- 
 telligence. Under the candour of your goodness, 
 I take the liberty to acquaint you that this now 
 due is not come to hand as usual, and therefore 
 presume that there is some mistake, which I do 
 not send in the least to misdoubt your sincerity, 
 but truly and earnestly from a desire to occasion 
 no misunderstanding between S"" and [your ?] most 
 humble Servant, Gilt/ 
 
 This polite form of sending in a bill must have 
 received a satisfactory reply, for the letters go on 
 for some time in Mr. Gilt's cramped handwriting. 
 
 The private diary of Sir Richard Newdigate 
 needs a word of introduction and explanation. It 
 consists, for the most part, of fragments of torn 
 sheets of folio paper containing unconnected and 
 mutilated portions of what must have been a 
 minutely kept record of daily life extending over 
 some thirty years. When the manuscript volumes 
 were doomed to destruction, certain parts were 
 thought worthy of preservation, mainly because 
 they noted matters of estate interest, or were 
 
xiv CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 of significance in other ways. Whole sheets were 
 then rent apart from the diary at irregular inter- 
 vals, interspersed in order of date with rough - 
 edged slips of paper torn from the middle of a 
 page. Some curious entries have been retained 
 which might not have escaped destruction had 
 not the folio sheets been closely written upon on 
 either side. Thus a note on some matter of mere 
 local importance has safeguarded a more interest- 
 ing entry of candid self-revelation on the reverse 
 side of the paper. 
 
 In these remnants of a day-by-day record 
 there is no reference to politics or public Hfe, not 
 even during the period when Sir Richard was a 
 representative of his county in Parliament. The 
 diary is chiefly noteworthy for the naivet6 and 
 frankness of the writer, and for the fulness of detail 
 with which he helps us to realise the private life 
 of a country gentleman more than two hundred 
 years ago. 
 
 The historical links which have been added, in 
 order to explain political references in the letters 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 of the newsmen and of Sir Richard's private 
 correspondents, have been compressed as much 
 as possible. They have been intended to act 
 merely as reminders of the history of the past, 
 whilst avoiding a wearisome repetition of well- 
 known details. 
 
 It will be necessary in the first instance to 
 give a short sketch of the antecedents of the man 
 to whom the news-letters are addressed, and with 
 whose character, habits, and manner of thought we 
 shall become acquainted, directly and indirectly, 
 from the extracts which follow. 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ^ A SQUIRE IN THE DAYS OF THE STUARTS 
 
 Sir Richard Newdigate had his lot cast in 
 troublous times. He was born in 1644, when 
 Charles I. still reigned, although his kingdom was 
 being torn asunder by the civil war then raging 
 between the Royalists on the one side and the 
 Parliamentary forces on the other. 
 
 The boy Richard had scarcely doffed the 
 girlish petticoats and close white cap in which 
 he appears in his earliest portrait at four years 
 old, when nis ill-fated and ill-advised monarch 
 was hurried to his premature grave. As a lad, 
 his earliest impressions must have been of 
 Cromwell's puritanical rule and iron grip of the 
 judder of State. With the Lord Protectors 
 death the inevitable reaction set in. The 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 CAVAI.IER AND PURITAN 
 
 Rcstoralion (]uickly followed, and Charles II. was 
 set upon the throne of his forbears. 
 
 Then all was changed. The second Charles, 
 gay and debonair, licentious, lax and self-indul- 
 gent, reigned over his long-suffering subjects 
 with an autocratic sway and a scandalous extra- 
 vagance which must have sorely tried their 
 attachment to the newly restored line. On the 
 whole the yoke was borne with outward sub- 
 mission, though plots and counterplots abounded 
 towards the end of this reign. 
 
 The succession of James, Duke of York, in 
 apparent quietude testified to the innate loyalty 
 of the British nation, and for nearly four years 
 England was governed by a Roman Catholic 
 King. Then the overstrained allegiance of the 
 people and their invincible antagonism to the 
 Church of Rome combined to bring James II. s 
 reign to a speedy close, and di^^ert the English 
 crown from the direct male line of the Stuarts. 
 
 King James was quickly and easily replaced 
 by his daughter Mary and her soldier-husband, 
 William, Prince of Orange. 
 
 Richard Newdigate outlived this reign also, 
 and it was in Queen Anne's time, under the rule 
 
A SOUIRE IN THE STUART DAYS i 
 
 of the last of the Stuarts who sat on the throne 
 of England, that he died in 1710. In his sixty- 
 six years of existence he had passed under the 
 varied sway of three Stuart Kings and two 
 Queens, with the further experience of a Lord 
 Protector and Dutch King Consort as rulers of 
 his country. It is not surprising that for thirty - 
 five years of that stirring period he employed 
 professional newsmen to supply him with letters 
 from London three or four times a week, retailing 
 current events and the topics of interest of the 
 moment. 
 
 Young Richard from his earliest years must 
 have had a lively impression of the critical times 
 in which he lived, owing to his fathers public 
 position as a judge of some renown in the time of 
 
 Cromwell 
 
 The Richard Newdegate^ of the Common- 
 wealth was the younger son of Sir John New- 
 dieate and An*ie Fitton his wife.- He was born 
 
 ^ The Judge spelt his name with an e in accordance with the 
 practice of ancient members of the family. His son Richard, on 
 the other hand, followed the example of his grandfather Sir John, 
 and spelt his surname with an L 
 
 - The history of Anne and Mary Fitton has been told in Gossip 
 froj/i a Miinimeiit Room, David Nutt, Long Acre. 
 
4 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 in 1602, received his education at Oxford, and 
 after being- called to the Bar at Gray's Inn he 
 quickly made a name for himself in the pro- 
 fession of the law. In 1632 he married Julian, 
 daughter of Sir Francis Leigh of Newnham 
 
 o o 
 
 Regis, and sister of the first and last Earl of 
 Chichester of that name. On the death of his 
 elder brother John, Richard Newdegate succeeded 
 to the family estates in Warwickshire, but did not 
 abandon the profession which was bringing him 
 fortune and distinction. 
 
 After being employed as counsel in one or 
 two State trials he was raised to the dignity of 
 Serjeant, and the same year he was further 
 elevated to the judicial bench with Pepys and 
 VVyndham_. This was after Cromwell became 
 Lord Protecton At first all three of the newly 
 m_ade Judges declined the honour, and on being 
 summoned into the Protector's presence expressed 
 doubts as to his title, and scruples as to whether 
 they could execute the law under him. Where- 
 upon Cromwell is reported to have replied in 
 anger : ' If you gentlemen of the red robe will 
 not execute the law, my red coats shall.* From 
 fear of what might occur to the State or them- 
 
A SOUIRE IN THE STUART DAYS 5 
 
 selves they are said to have very wisely ex- 
 claimed one and all : ' Make us Judges ; we will 
 with pleasure be Judges.' 
 
 Oliver Cromwell, the lately-made Lord Pro- 
 tector, was a distant connection of Judge Newde- 
 gate's through the Hampdens, but they never 
 seem to have been on more than formal terms 
 of acquaintanceship. There is only one letter 
 from Cromw^ell at Arbury, which is addressed to 
 John Newdigate, the Judge*s elder brother. It 
 is dated from Huntingdon on April i, 1631, and 
 is of no special interest except as coming from a 
 man who was afterwards of such fateful import- 
 ance to his country. 
 
 The outside sheet bears the following docket 
 in the handwriting of the Judge s son Richard : 
 
 ' Oliver Cromwell, That Wicked, Successfull 
 Rebell, his letter to my uncle J. N. No Busi- 
 nesse but about Hawkes, but I keep it to shew 
 his hand and Stile.' 
 
 For the latter reason it is given here : 
 ^Sr. 
 
 * I must with all thankfulnesse acknow- 
 ledge the curtesye you have intended me in 
 keepinge this hawke soe longe to your noe small 
 trouble, and although I have noe interest in hir. 
 
6 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 yet if ever it fall in my way, I shalbe ready to 
 doe you service in the like or any other kinde. 
 I doe confesse I have neglected you in that I 
 have received two letters from you without send- 
 ing you any answer, but I trust you will pass by 
 it and accept of my true and reasonable excuse. 
 This poore man the owner of the hawke, whoe, 
 livinge in the same towne with me, made use of 
 my vannells, I did daly expect to have sooner 
 returned from his journey then he did, which was 
 the cause whie I protracted time and deferred to 
 send unto you, until I might make him the mes- 
 singer, whoe was best able to give an account, 
 as also fittest to fetch hir, I myself being utterly 
 destitute of a falconer att the present, and not 
 having any man whom I durst venture to carrie 
 a hawke of that kinde soe farre. This is all I 
 can apologise. I beseech you command me and 
 I shall rest 
 
 ' Your Servant 
 
 ' Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 ' My Cosin Cromwell of Gray's Inn was the 
 First what told me of hir.' 
 
 Cromwell as a private individual writing a 
 civil letter to a distant cousin was a very different 
 person from the Lord Protector using threatening 
 language to the newly created Justice of the Court 
 of King s Bench. 
 
 Judge Newdegate proved too honest and in- 
 
A SOUIRE IN THE STUART DAYS 7 
 
 dependent to retain his office for any length of 
 time. He was presiding at the York assizes 
 when the Earls of Bellasis and Dumfries, with 
 Colonel Halsey and other Royalists, were tried 
 before him for levying war against the Protector. 
 Judge Newdegate observed that ' although by 
 25 Edward III. it was high treason to levy war 
 against the King, he knew of no statute to extend 
 this to a Lord Protector,' and accordingly directed 
 the jury to acquit the prisoners. In consequence 
 he was deprived of his place on May i, 1655, 
 ' not observing the Protector's pleasure in all 
 his commands.' He was nevertheless restored 
 to the Bench later and advanced to the post 
 of Chief Justice, but he again ceased to act 
 when Charles II. made his triumphal entry into 
 London and the Commonwealth Judges were 
 considered as suspended. 
 
 Thus far we have the bare facts of Judge 
 Newdegate's career under Cromwell as related 
 in history. Au amplified account is recorded 
 in a much-thumbed paper amongst the Arbury 
 manuscripts. 
 
 After Charles II. was restored to the throne 
 of his ancestors, the knowledge that the ci-devant 
 
8 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Judge had twice taken the oaths and been 
 elevated to the Bench by the Protector naturally 
 excited a prejudice against him in high quarters. 
 The paper mentioned above appears to have been 
 drawn up to explain away as far as possible the 
 doubtful position of a Royalist at heart, who had 
 nevertheless accepted high office under Cromwell. 
 
 It is entitled ' Apol. Pat. 1650-1-2/ and runs 
 as follows : 
 
 ' Mr. Serjeant Newdegate, being in good 
 practice in the Chancery, was envied by some of 
 his Fellow Pleaders, who thinking his Profit a 
 hindrance to their own, contrived (as is conceived) 
 his promotion to a Judge's place in Oliver's time, 
 in order to which he was called Serjeant. But 
 'twas so ordered that he was (though in Oliver's 
 time) sworn true to the King : (had it been 
 examined 'twas resolved on, that the excuse to 
 Oliver should have been, the Clerk being drunk 
 mistook, and read the old form.) This done 
 Oliver proceeded to make him a Judge, which 
 to avoid he made use of all the interest and 
 friends he had. But that way failing he being 
 sent for, excused it to Oliver himself, by saying 
 he was most unfit, for he had an over nice and 
 scrupulous conscience, which would make him 
 check at those things which others possibly would 
 not boggle at, and therefore he desired to be 
 excused, and absolutely refused to be a Judge. 
 
A SQUIRE IN THE STUART DAYS 9 
 
 Oliver fawningly replied that he had always 
 fought for liberty of Conscience and therefore 
 should not deny it to any, though much meaner 
 than Sergeant Newdegate. Whereupon the 
 Serjeant entreated further Time of consideration, 
 which obtained, he advised with his friends of the 
 Royal suffering Party who persuaded him that 
 he had now an opportunity of doing his King 
 more service than (this neglected) he could ever 
 hope for. For he might countenance the Royal 
 Party if he durst undergo Oliver's displeasure. 
 This motive made him do that which all the 
 Profit in the World should never have persuaded 
 him to, — to be one of the Tyrant's Judges — a 
 thing so hateful, that no Torture could have 
 forced him to it. Yet this he undertook when his 
 Ma^'^' service was concerned, and he did the King 
 at that time more service than all the Kingdom 
 besides. As for the other Judges, all of them 
 except the Lord Chief Justice Hales that now 
 is, did as Oliver desired ; that is, in their several 
 Circuits condemned those of the Loyal Party that 
 came before them. Whereas this Serj^ in the 
 Northern Circuit, in spite of Olivers direction, 
 troop of Horse, and Solicitor sent to overawe 
 him, boldly acquitted those Gallant Gentlemen, 
 who there had endeavoured to restore his Ma^'% 
 when in all parts of England else, the Loyal 
 Gentlemen concerned in that Rising were put 
 to death, as the gallant Penruddock etc. And 
 that all Persons might abhor the Tyrant he 
 publickly declared that though many Acts of 
 Parliament made it Treason to Levy arms 
 
lo CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 against the King-, none made it so to Levy 
 .arms against the Protector. When he came 
 up to Town, (for he resolved he would not 
 fly for it, having used that caution which the 
 iniquity of the times required) he was sent for to 
 OHver, who stormed at him and told him he was 
 not fit to be a Judge ; to which he answered with 
 all meekness (as it concerned him having to do 
 with a blood-thirsty Tyrant) I told your High- 
 ness so before," and so laid his Commission at his 
 feet. But Oliver flung away from him, and He, 
 that all the world might see the confidence his 
 integrity created in him, and how little he valued 
 the Usurper's anger, the next day pleaded at the 
 Bar in Westminster Hall. And shortly after 
 when the unjust sentence passed against Sir 
 Henry Slingsby and Dr. Huet, advised the then 
 Sheriff of London not to put it in execution by 
 any means. Cromwell resolved to be revenged 
 on him, but carried it cunningly, so put him in 
 Judge again with a Compliment. But he had 
 got an Act passed in his Mock Parliament to 
 make levying war against him Treason. The 
 Serj^ hov/ever, resolved to stick to his Loyal 
 principles, whatever came of it. But it happened 
 the Tyrant died before he had an opportunity to 
 work his revenge. So that till the Committee of 
 Safeties time, after S' George B ^ business, 
 
 the Serjeant had not occasion to show his zeal 
 to the King s cause. But then many Gentlemen 
 being committed, the Serjeant freed them by 
 granting Habeas Corpus at that very time in West- 
 
 ' Hole in paper. 
 
A SOUIRE IN THP: STUART DAYS ii 
 
 minster Hall, when that Juncta of Tyrants sat in 
 Wallingford House, and from thence sent several 
 officers of the Army with messages to stop his 
 proceedings. But when any offered to speak he 
 commanded his Tipstaves to lay them by the 
 heels for disturbing the Court, for which when 
 he should have been punished, General Monk 
 coming up, put an end to their proceedings. 
 And about 2 or 3 months before the Happy 
 coming in of his Sacred Ma'^^ Glyn was turned 
 out, and the Serjeant made Chief Justice of 
 England. After which he laboured with all his 
 might to withstand Glyn's and S^ John's oppo- 
 sition in the House against the Royal Interest. 
 And with the close consultation which he had a 
 nights which occasioned him many a walk in the 
 street that cold spring, he caught so great a cold 
 that occasioned his following sickness, which had 
 like to have sent him with a Nunc Dimittis to 
 his grave. For he just made shift to see his 
 King ride in, but had not strength to wait upon 
 him. 'Twas reported in Westminster Hall that 
 he was dead, and some made use of that Report. 
 His House was often the Sanctuary of distressed 
 Cavaliers, as his Grace of Canterbury and others 
 well knew.' 
 
 A little more information concerning the 
 curious episode of Judge Newdegate's passing 
 tenure of the post of Chief Justice is to be 
 gleaned from a paper in his son's handwriting, 
 labelled 'Vindication of the 1st S' R. N. from 
 
IZ 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 bein<4- one of Oliver's Knights.' After recapitu- 
 lating much the same story as above, Richard 
 Newdieate ooes on to state that when his father 
 
 ' fell into so great Sickness that for 3 months his 
 life was despaired of, Dr. Sheldon, Elect of 
 London and Clerk oth' Closet, came from White- 
 hall every day to pray by him, and 'twas reported 
 in Westminster Hall at his first Sickening that 
 he was Dead, which report a certain Lord Chan- 
 cellor [Earl of Clarendon] took advantage of, and 
 put Foster in his place.' 
 
 It was at this time (1660) that the late Judge 
 was returned M.P. for Tamworth, and although 
 he was deposed from the Bench, a writ was 
 issued to confirm him in the degree of the coif. 
 Henceforward he was known as Mr. Serjeant 
 Newdegate, and he resumed his former practice 
 at the Bar. 
 
 The same success as before attended him in 
 his profession, and so absorbing did he find the 
 claims of his legal calling that, as soon as his 
 eldest son Richard came of age, he made over to 
 him. his Warwickshire estates in the following 
 terms : 
 
 ' I will settle ' (writes the Serjeant) * all my 
 Warwickshire Land in possession on my son for 
 
A SQUIRE IN THE STUART DAYS 13 
 
 life for his present maintenance, the better to 
 enable him to live at Arbury, which amounts to 
 the yearly sum of 1550/. p. an. and better. 
 
 ' I will settle for Joynture of the Person with 
 whom He shall marry, the Manor house, Manor 
 and Demesne Lands of Astley, to the value of 
 400/. p. an. . . 
 
 The requisite ' Person ' in the last paragraph 
 was soon forthcoming. On December 21, 1665, 
 young Richard was married to Mary, daughter 
 of Sir Edward Bagot of Blithfield, Staffordshire. 
 The bride of twenty — a year her husband's junior 
 — not only came of good lineage, but was endowed 
 with sterling qualities of heart and head which 
 rendered the marriage a happy one. 
 
 When the young couple were establishing 
 themselves at Arbury, an inventory was drawn 
 up of ' the Household Goods Mr. Serjeant N. 
 left with his son in March 1666.' The furnishing 
 of one chamber may be quoted to show how 
 heavy and elabo**ate, not to say stuffy, were the 
 contents of a bedroom in those un-hygienic days. 
 
 ' /// the great Chamber : 
 
 ' The chamber hung with five pieces of 
 Landskipp hangings, a very large Bedstead with 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 embroidered curtains and valence of broad cloth, 
 lined with carnation coloured sarcenet and seven 
 plumes of feathers on the bed tester, two em- 
 broidered carpets, two armed chairs, four stools 
 embroidered, suitable to the bed, a Down bed 
 and bolster with striped ticks, a feather bolster 
 at the head, and a wool bolster at the foot, a 
 holland quilt, three down pillows and carnation 
 coloured quilt, a red rug, three white blankets, 
 and a yellow blanket under the bed. A looking 
 glass embroidered with gold, and another looking 
 glass, six flower pots, two stands and a hanging- 
 shelf all gilt, a pair of brass andirons, a pair of 
 creepers with brass knobs, brass fire shovel and 
 tongs, a picture over the chimney. Carpets round 
 the bed, five sweet bags, snuffers, two branches, 
 etc/ 
 
 It may be added that the sanitary arrange- 
 njients were deplorable, and even barbarous, in 
 comparison with the above grandeur. 
 
 The young squire of Arbury, third surviving 
 son in a family of eleven children, had been edu- 
 cated at Christ Church, Oxford, and was admitted 
 to Gray s Inn at an early age, but seems never 
 to have prosecuted his studies in the law. We 
 must now picture him as a landed proprietor, 
 settled down to the management of his estates, 
 barely of age, yet independent, sanguine, and full 
 
A SOUIRE IN THE STUART DAYS 15 
 
 of energy. He faces his responsibilities by the 
 institution of an account-book of formidable 
 dimensions, bound in vellum. Here he enters 
 confidential remarks concerning himself and 
 others, with his various experiences, besides 
 doubtful attempts at accurately keeping the 
 figures for which account-books are primarily 
 intended. 
 
 He begins generously by announcing his in- 
 tention of benefiting his successors, and with this 
 view he carefully enters the names and extent of 
 the various holdings on the estate, whilst he con- 
 gratulates himself more than once on the discovery 
 that ' Arbury Lordshipp pays neither Great nor 
 Small Tithe.' 
 
 ' The Particulars of my Estate ' (he continues) 
 ' being set down, it seems expedient to me as 
 well for my own, as for the benefit of Posterity 
 to set down punctually the Best and Readiest 
 way to deal with tenants (who often are Backward 
 in paying their IV^nt and sometimes very cross). 
 Therefore since God is so merciful to rne as to 
 spare the life of my Father, which is the greatest 
 Advantage to me in the world, whatever Advice 
 I have from his, my own, or any other Experience, 
 I will here lay down by way of Precept, not 
 daring to trust my Memory in so material a 
 Business. 
 
i6 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' I. Never stay with any tenant above six 
 months whatever pretence he hath to persuade 
 forbearance, for he who can t pay one Rent, can't 
 pay two together. But if as sometimes it happens, 
 there should be an extraordinary occasion, rather 
 lend a tenant so much without interest, to be paid 
 three months after upon a penal bond. 
 
 ' 2. Never take a severe course with any one 
 before demand, though the agreement may be to 
 have rent paid without demand ; and if they 
 promise to pay within a competent time, forbear 
 so long to see if they keep faith (provided but 
 one Rent be due) but if once any break promise, 
 trust them no more.' 
 
 For a time the above and other simple rules 
 seem to have answered, and all went smoothly 
 under the new landlord. He sums up more than 
 one early rent-day with the remark : * All paid 
 but John King, and I forgive him because very 
 Poor.' But the general axiom that tenants 
 can be ' sometimes very cross ' is proved ere long 
 by one George Newton, who makes noisy and 
 preposterous claims at a rent audit. ' To avoid 
 Wrangling and Clamour,' writes the Squire, 
 ' I submit, but shall mark him for a Black 
 Sheep.' 
 
 At the end of a couple of years we come 
 
A SOUIRE IN THE STUART DAYS 17 
 
 Upon the following warning note inserted in 
 Latin : 
 
 ' Soli Deo gloria, sed cum ad banc paginam 
 perveneris 
 
 ' Cave, mi Fili, ne glorieris ; nam tantum 
 Villicus es, ergo/ 
 
 Soon after we find the services of a bailiff are 
 dispensed with for a time, but the accounts are 
 not rendered clearer thereby. 
 
 ' Query ' (writes Richard), ' how comes this 
 to be but 189/. 95". 7^., when the last was 
 194/. 9^". 7^. ? ' 
 
 * Mem. I find that Mich. Swift imposed upon 
 me.' 
 
 A few pages later he makes an attempt to 
 balance his debit and credit accounts, with the 
 result (on paper) of a satisfactory balance in hand. 
 ' 'Tis false,' writes the amateur bookkeeper. ' 1 
 have not so much by a great deal.' 
 
 Even in these early days Richard Newdigate 
 betrayed a tendency to lavish expenditure which 
 increased as he grew older. A list has been 
 kept of all that was consumed in the Christmas 
 festivities of 1668-9, which shows the liberality of 
 the housekeeping. 
 
 c 
 
1 8 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 A Note of what hath been spent in the twelve 
 
 Dairymaid 
 140 pounds of butter 
 
 Beer 
 
 17 Hogsheads of Beer 
 3 Hogsheads of Ale 
 1 Barrel of March Beer 
 
 days, 1668, Xmas. 
 
 By the Cook 
 
 2 Beefes 
 6 Muttons 
 6 Veales 
 18 Turkeys 
 50 Geese 
 16 Ducks 
 42 Capons 
 
 2 Pullets 
 
 3 Chickin 
 3 Pigs 
 
 I Swan 
 
 I pay Bird [Peacock ?] 
 
 100 Rabbits 
 
 100 strike of wheat 
 
 A similar list of almost identical quantities 
 enumerates the Christmas gifts of the same date. 
 
 But these were minor extravagances, though 
 scarcely wise for a man who had still only a 
 limited income. Richard Newdigate had gran- 
 diose ideas in whatever he undertook, and he 
 early began to embellish and improve his house 
 and grounds on a scale which must have involved 
 him in considerable expense. 
 
 The Serjeant, labouring ac his profession in 
 London, writes a note of warning to his son not 
 to undertake too many improvements at the same 
 
A SQUIRE IN THE STUART DAYS 19 
 
 time. 'I hear talk,' he adds reprovingly, ' of images 
 on your stable and carvings in your chapel.' 
 
 The last indictment was correct. The chapel 
 (afterwards consecrated by Archbishop Sheldon) 
 was being profusely decorated on walls and ceiling 
 with wreaths of flowers and festoons of fruit, 
 executed by skilled workmen from the designs of 
 Grinling Gibbons. 
 
 The report of ' images ' on the stable was 
 a libel, unless the large stone coat of arms above 
 the centre doorway, planned by Sir Christopher 
 Wren, could have been so miscalled. The stable 
 itself was a work of art-~-the* New Stable as it 
 was then named. And now, after nearly two 
 hundred and thirty years, Richard Newdigate's 
 stable, with its long gabled facade, brown-tiled 
 roof, leaded windows, mellowed brickwork, and 
 handsome stone copings, is a joy to all who 
 appreciate a fine* specimen of architecture in the 
 time of the Renaissance. 
 
 It is recorded how the foundation stone was 
 ceremoniously laid by a Lady Rouse, and as 
 the walls began to rise up they evidenced the 
 squire s love of horseflesh in the ample accom- 
 modation he was providing for his stud. 
 
 c ? 
 
20 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 When we consider how dependent a country 
 establishment must have been on its stables for 
 communication with the outside world, we can 
 understand the liberality of the scale on which the 
 new building was planned. Young horses bred 
 and broken on the estate would help to fill it, and 
 Richard, who prided himself on his skill in horse- 
 manship, had to take his share in the art of 
 rough-riding. Then again the ponderous coaches 
 and heavy unmetalled country roads made great 
 demands on the number of draught-horses required, 
 necessitating the services of four stout animals at 
 a time for even ordinary occasions. The Arbury 
 coach and team were not unfrequently on loan. 
 The Duke of Ormond is helped in this way on 
 his road to Ireland, and the same favour is granted 
 to country neighbours to take them up to London. 
 
 With this sketch of a country gentleman's 
 duties and interests after the Restoration, we 
 must leave the son for a time to follow the fortunes 
 of his father in Chancery Lane. No less busy 
 was the Serjeant plodding at his profession and 
 adding yearly to his fortune, little thinking how 
 short a time it would suffice for the larger needs 
 of his successor, 
 
21 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 A KING S TARDY RECOGNITION 
 
 One of the chief objects of Serjeant Newdegate s 
 persevering labour must have been attained when 
 at seventy-three years of age he was able to 
 buy back the old family property of Harefield 
 in Middlesex, which, with the exception of the 
 manor of Brackenbury, had been in other hands 
 for nearly a century. It was in Elizabeth's 
 reign — 1586 — that the Serjeant's grandfather, 
 John Newdegate, exchanged Harefield for Arbury 
 with Sir Edmor?d Anderson. 
 
 Fifteen years before the repurchase of the 
 Middlesex manor, its mansion-house had been 
 burnt to the ground, a catastrophe said to have 
 been caused by the carelessness of the witty Sir 
 Charles Sedley, who was amusing himself by read- 
 ing in bed. In its place Serjeant Newdegate 
 prepared a modest residence for his occasional use 
 
22 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 and as an eventual dower-house. For the 
 remainder of his active life he seems to have 
 preferred to spend the greater part of the year, 
 when not on circuit, between Chancery Lane 
 and his house in Holborn known as ' The Leaden 
 Porch; 
 
 It must be noted to Serjeant Newdegate's 
 credit that his honourable a.nd successful career 
 after the Restoration was entirely independent 
 of Court favour. It was not until 1677 that 
 we hear of any effort being made to obtain for 
 him some tang^ible recognition of the services 
 he had rendered as a Commonwealth Judge to 
 certain Royalists and the cause they represented. 
 A movement w^as then set on foot bv some of 
 those who had profited by his courage and in- 
 dependence. 
 
 Colonel Halsey, whose life had been spared 
 with others at the memorable York assizes, took 
 the initiative in the matter. He was energetically 
 aided by Sir Nicholas Armorer and Lord Grandi- 
 son. The tw^o latter, being personeil friends of the 
 Serjeant's, were able to approach his son Richard 
 in the first instance with a view of ascertaining 
 what form of recognition would be most accept- 
 
A KING'S TARDY RECOGNITION 23 
 
 able to the recipient and his family. The intricate 
 progress of the negotiations is best described by 
 contemporary letters, aided by Richard's caustic 
 comments upon their contents, carefully noted on 
 each cover. The first action considered indis- 
 pensable on the part of the candidate for royal 
 favour was his formal attendance at Court. After 
 due preparation of the kingly mind, the Serjeant, 
 escorted by his three friends, was taken to wait 
 upon Charles II. at Whitehall. Sir Nicholas 
 Armorer s account of the interview is addressed 
 to Richard Newdigate, under date June 2, 1677. 
 
 ' S*" Yesterday morning we waited upon your 
 Father to Whitehall. The King received him in 
 the Bedchamber with a Cheerful Countenance, and 
 gave him thanks for his kindness to his Friends 
 in the worst of times, and in particular to James 
 Halsey, who ha^ informed him of it. M' Serjeant 
 made little reply, I suppose thinking the King 
 would have said more, which is not his way, unless 
 something be returned to his first offer to the 
 matter ; but it will have all the effects you and he 
 can desire, and had now as you directed me. But 
 had my advice been followed as I discoursed the 
 matter with you, I am still of the opinion it had 
 been better ; your own [objection i^] and seconded 
 by your Brother stopped all our reasons, neverthe- 
 less all is as well, for in the first Place, all in the 
 
24 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Bed Chamber took notice of his being there and 
 the King's cheerful going to him, and enquired 
 from my L"^ Grandison and M' Halsey and myself, 
 the Reasons of his coming, and since it is gone 
 about amongst us. My L"^ Grandison went with 
 M' Halsey and me to my good Lord of Ormond 
 and told his Grace what we had been about, who 
 wished he had been there to have made one. He 
 knows your family and had a great value for your 
 father Bagot,^ and will take a time when my 
 L"^ Grandison is by to speak to the King of Both. 
 
 ' As to the warrant we thought not fit to men- 
 tion it yesterday, but you need not doubt I think, 
 but it shall be sent as you direct, and in the best 
 manner and the kindest that can be proposed, and 
 by such a person as may be acceptable. 
 
 ' You owe more to my L"^ of Ormond's expres- 
 sions then I will mention, but thatfor another time. 
 Your friend of Ossory knows not a word of all this, 
 but shall when you please, and I am sure he will 
 be glad of it. I hope you will see them as they 
 pass Coventry, if they go that way ; but my L"^ 
 Duke talks of going by Derbyshire to see my L"^ 
 of Devonshire, but of that you shall know. My 
 service to my daughter ^ and all your fireside from 
 ( gr faithful humble servant 
 ' Nic. Armorer.' 
 
 The negotiations begun in so promising a 
 manner were not altogether in accordance with 
 
 ' Sir Edward Bagot, father of Richard Nevvdigate's wife. 
 - Synonymous with god-daughter in those days. 
 
A KING'S TARDY RECOGNITION 25 
 
 Richard Newdigate's desires. He has docketed 
 the letter with these words : 
 
 ' S"^ N. Armorer, that my Father had been with 
 the King, which letter shows that he intended 
 otherwise than I did. He offered to make my 
 Father an Irish Viscount, which I was utterly 
 against, and desired to have him Chief Justice, 
 but they put him off by making him a baronet.' 
 
 The contents of Sir Nicholas Armorer s letter 
 having been notified to the Serjeant, he writes in 
 reply : 
 
 ' Sonne, I had both y' letters ; by the first we 
 were glad to hear of your safe coming home, and 
 the other met me here, the contents v/hereof, not 
 to seek for and yet not to refuse the favour if 
 freely bestowed, suits well with my own fancy ; 
 but if otherwise, I should be sorry to be censured 
 and accounted to buy what was discoursed on. 
 I pray God direct us in all our ways. So with 
 my best blessing to y'' wife and children I am 
 ' very loving father 
 
 ' Ri. Newdegate. 
 
 ' 14 June 1677.' 
 
 After a week had passed by with no further 
 sign of action in the matter, the Serjeant writes 
 again in veiled and bitter terms of his doubts and 
 disappointment. 
 
26 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' 21 June 1677 
 
 ' Sonne, 1 had y'" 18'^ June and hear 
 nothing at all of what you mentioned formerly. 
 So that by what you heard mentioned of ingrati- 
 tude, and by what observation and every day's 
 experience speaks, its plain that kind words are 
 made use of to prepare for the advantage of those 
 that have favour, as incident to their places ; and 
 if it should be had, none would believe it was had 
 otherwise than by the common way of purchase, 
 which, how unfit it is to be done, and how much 
 he that should gain it would be censured and up- 
 braided, and ranked amongst others that buy titles 
 to their families and have none considerable before 
 from their ancestors, and thereby declare their 
 pride and ambition, may easily be judged. The 
 prejudice for acting in ill times can never be taken 
 notice of nor mentioned but without [also mention- 
 ing] the refusal to comply in the Country [York] 
 which caused a displacing. The publick acting 
 upon the Court for the releasing so many that were 
 in great danger, which occasioned displeasure, 
 declares sufficiently loyalty, not without resolution, 
 which M"" H. fully expressed himself. . . . 
 
 ' If you write to S"* N. A. I pray you to give 
 him many thanks and H. for their favour when 
 I attended, and that you hope thereby any 
 suspicion of dissatisfaction is cleared, and that you 
 know was all I desired, being in years ^ and thereby 
 incapable of such service that formerly might have 
 been done, or what else you think on to that 
 effect ..." 
 
 ^ He was 75 years old. 
 
A KING'S TARDY RECOGNITION 27 
 
 The son, as usual, dockets the letter with his 
 own remarks upon its contents : 
 
 ' Fearing should be thought Pride, vindicating 
 his character from the imputation of disaffection, 
 all he meant in waiting upon the King, which he 
 mentions in another letter, and says he waited 
 upon his Ma'^^ with N. A. and Mr. H. and 
 L"^ Grandison, and that the King thanked him 
 for his services and said little more ; that he [the 
 King] was making himself ready, put on his 
 wig, and they attended till he went out/ 
 
 On the 23rd more decisive news came through 
 Sir Nicholas Armorer to Richard Newdigate. The 
 former writes from ' Endfield Chase' as follows : 
 
 ' I came hither this night to take the fresh 
 air, and repose myself after the trouble and noise 
 of the Town T'hich I have been in ever since I 
 see you ; which is as much satisfaction to me, 
 though a poor man, as to a rich usurer to count 
 his gold. 
 
 ' I can now tell you your Father's warrant is 
 signed by his Mat'^ and in such manner as you 
 will find few I fancy has been done before, as you 
 will see by the new copy which I send you here 
 inclosed. Your Father's merit was so repre- 
 sented to the King yesterday by my L'^ of 
 Ormond in the privy garden, many persons of 
 the best quality being present, that your family 
 can never thank him enough, his Grace being no 
 
28 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 stranger to the Bagot family, though so to yours ; 
 yet took our words for the character we gave him 
 of both Father and the son, who I hope will 
 never discount him nor us that have undertaken 
 in your Names. Your other commissions I 
 shall look after, and because of my being out 
 of the way many times. Col. Halsey has the 
 warrant and has paid the Fees, which ordinary 
 is but £6 // 5 // o yet for the good grace of the 
 Business there is ^lo paid in all in the office of 
 the secretary. Though they could demand but the 
 ordinary fees, yet in the office we of the Court 
 do the same in such cases, to be the welcomer 
 when we come next, and who knows but you 
 may upon a better occasion before we die ? 
 
 ' And now since you and I have ever dealt 
 like frank Friends, I am desired by Colonel Halsey 
 to let you know that since the Baronet was a 
 new proposal, and differing from what was 
 desired from us when the treaty begun, he thinks 
 it but reasonable and just that he may expect 
 the value of a Warrant, as is usual in such cases, 
 and more now, by that warrants are not granted 
 of late as they have been . . . ' 
 
 This barefaced proposal for substantial reward 
 on the part of Colonel Halsey was not very 
 creditable, especially if one recalls how he owed 
 his life to the Serjeant. The pretext made use 
 of, namely, because a baronetcy had been substi- 
 tuted for the post of Chief Justice, was little 
 
A KING'S TARDY RECOGNITION 29 
 
 likely to please Richard Newdigate. He makes 
 this clear in his note on the outer sheet of the 
 letter. 
 
 '23''^ June 1677. Armorer to me, 
 
 wherein he owns that making my Father a 
 Baronet was a New Proposal, as indeed it was, 
 for I ne er thought of it, but he fob'd ^ me off with 
 it, and here sends down a Copy of the Warrant, 
 and mentions my taking a Commission (he means 
 as a Deputy Lieutenant, which he indeed spoke 
 of, which I do not in the least desire . . .).'^ 
 Whereas Col. Halsey who owes his life to 
 my Father freely offered his Service towards 
 getting my Father his place as Chief Justice, 
 which Gen^ Monk and the Parliament had con- 
 ferred upon my Father in March before the King 
 came in, and which the Earl of Clarendon put 
 Foster into upon report that my Father was 
 dead, 24 Aprii 1660.' 
 
 But it was too late to murmur at an unde- 
 sired Baronetcy, or at Col. Halsey s unworthy 
 greed for pelf, when Sir Nicholas Armorer's 
 letter enclosed a copy of the Warrant already 
 sanctioned by the King. This paper is w^orth 
 transcribing, if only to show how lucrative to 
 
 ^ You must not think to fob off our disgraces with a tale. 
 
 Cor2ola?zus, act i, sc. i. 
 The rest of the sentence has been erased. 
 
30 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Charles II. was the ordinary exercise of the 
 royal prerogative in the creation of baronets. 
 
 ' Copy of Warrant, 
 
 ' Our Will and pleasure is that you prepare 
 a bill for our Royal signature to pass our great 
 •^.eal, containing a grant of the Dignity of a 
 Baronet of our Kingdom of England to our 
 trusty and well-beloved Richard Newdegate, 
 vSerjeant at Law (which said dignity w^e are 
 pleased to confer upon him in consideration 
 of several good services by him performed 
 to us and our faithful subjects in the time of 
 Usurpation) and to the Heirs Male of his body 
 lawfully begotten, with all Rights, Priveleges, 
 Precedencies, and Preheminencies unto the said 
 Dignity belonging. 
 
 ' And whereas there are certain services that 
 ought to be performed, or sums of money that 
 ought to be paid in our Exchequer by the said 
 R^ N. in respect of the said services, which for 
 the consideration aforesaid we are graciously 
 pleased to remit, Our will and pleasure is that 
 you likewise prepare a discharge from us unto 
 the said R. N. of and from all services that ought 
 to be performed, or sums of money that ought 
 to be paid by him for and in respect of the said 
 services, in consideration of the said Dignity, 
 wherein you are to insert such Clauses as may 
 make the said discharge full and effectual, and a 
 particular Non-Obstante of our letters of Privy 
 Seal directing the application of the sum of 
 
A KING'S TARDY RECOGNITION 31 
 
 twenty thousand pounds that shall first accrue to 
 us by the creation of Baronets to the use of our 
 great Wardrobe. And for so doing, this shall 
 be your Warrant. Given at our Court at 
 Whitehall the 22nd day of June 1677 in the 
 nine and twentieth year of our reign. 
 By his Ma^^^'^ Command 
 
 H. Coventry. 
 * To our Attorney or Solicitor General.' 
 
 The tidings of the coming warrant had reached 
 the Serjeant in London. He writes to his son 
 concerning it on the same date as that of Sir 
 Nicholas Armorer s letter to Richard Newdigate 
 enclosing the above copy. 
 
 * 23rd June, 1677. 
 
 ' Sonne, just now my Lord Grandison 
 told me that* at the Duke of Ormonds request 
 the K. was pleased to give order for a warrant 
 for that I feared, and that it is in Sir N. A. his 
 hands. What engagements you have made, I 
 know not, but its iit to carry on this business 
 with as much prudence as may be. Therefore 
 in ordering it I wish you not to do anything more 
 without my privity for publishing it or otherwise. 
 When the warrant comes I will take order con- 
 cerning it. If you have promised, its fit to be 
 just, but I doubt gain and gratuities are expected, 
 which you must bring the family that prest it on. 
 l am in haste and therefore only send you all my 
 best blessing. . . 
 
32 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The warrant containing the King s directions 
 in the matter was only the first step towards a 
 Patent of Baronetcy, and the experienced old 
 lawyer was well aware of the hindrances that 
 might arise before it was granted. He waits 
 another few days, and then^ hearing nothing further 
 concerning that he ' feared ' and yet would have 
 been grieved to lose, faute de mieux, he writes 
 again to his son as the go-between, on the 28th 
 of the same month : 
 
 ' Sonne, I writ you w^ord on Saturday of what 
 my Grandison told me in reference to what 
 S"^ N. A. promoted, that it now proceeded so far 
 that a warrant was gained, of which I have heard 
 no more. Only my Lord again told me that he 
 did believe S' N. had given you notice thereof. 
 I know there must be much care taken in pro- 
 ceeding to have it perfected, the name and rank 
 exprest, and a 2nd grant to be had to discharge 
 the 1000/. every Bt is to pay, and warrants from 
 the Lord Treasurer, Privy Seal, from the Attorney 
 General etc. etc. If things be not effectually 
 done an after clap may come out of the Exche- 
 quer. . . . 
 
 ' I again earnestly desire that nothing may be 
 done for publishing that favour and gaining the 
 Patent without my privity and direction. I would 
 avoid being censured as much as I could, and 
 public notice will be taken soon enough. 
 
A KING'S TARDY RECOGNITION 33 
 
 * Our Circuit will begin to go towards War- 
 wickshire this day three weeks. . . 
 
 Yet one more letter before the Serjeant s fears 
 and doubts were set at rest : 
 
 * 30 June 1677. 
 
 ' Sonne, I had y' letter. . . . For the 
 other concerning S' N. A. and the K. I hear 
 nothing at all more than what I writ. Therefore 
 I apprehend its expected applications should be 
 made by plausible language before some effectual 
 progress will be made to gain the warrant, or 
 some other proceedings to shew the greater kind- 
 ness or to merit the more thanks ; but its rare to 
 have such persons lay out money and be at the 
 trouble of soliciting in so many places without 
 assurance of being reimbursed with advantage. 
 Therefore 3»*nce things are thus, perhaps you may 
 do well to write to S'' N. and to give him thanks, 
 you having heard it by my Lord G. his report, 
 how ready he and the K. appeared, and how 
 graciously and freely the K.'s pleasure was de- 
 clared, and withal to desire him particularly to 
 inform you by Letter what is done, and what is 
 to be done in reference to fees and otherwise 
 completing, concerning which the directions shall 
 be given as you hear from him. 
 
 ' . . . Send your letter enclosed to me. I will 
 send with it, and he shall wait upon him for 
 answer. ... If there be any stop you will know 
 thereby, and so both you and I be upon a cer- 
 tainty. . . / 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The Serjeant's wary sug-gestions for oiling 
 and expediting the wheels of action set in motion 
 on his behalf were doubtless necessary adjuncts 
 to Court favour in the self-interested and corrupt 
 days following the Restoration. There were still 
 some weeks of suspense to be endured before the 
 patent was officially signed, sealed, and delivered. 
 
 On July 24, 1677, the Cromwellian Judge and 
 ephemeral Chief Justice — once again a Serjeant- 
 at-law in full practice — was created Sir Richard 
 Newdegate, Baronet, with special remission of 
 the usual fees. The recipient of these tardily 
 bestowed honours did not long survive his King's 
 act of recognition. Fifteen months later he died, 
 on October 14, 1678, in the seventy-seventh year 
 of his age. 
 
 In the next few chapters extracts will be given 
 from the news-letters received by the second Sir 
 Richard Newdigate with more or less regularity 
 from 1675 to of ^^f^- They have 
 
 been selected mainly to illustrate the manners 
 and morals of the period, amidst which lived a 
 man of complex character— half Cavalier, half 
 Puritan, wholly Protestant, a scholar, country 
 gentleman, and county member. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 CHARLES II. AND HIS PARLIAMENT 
 
 When the news-letters to Richard Newdigate 
 begin in 1675, the squire of Arbury was biding 
 his time until an opportunity should occur to 
 enable him to come forward as a candidate to 
 represent his county at Westminster. 
 
 No general election had taken place since 
 May 1 66 1, when Charles II. summoned his first 
 Parliament after his Restoration. At that time 
 the loyalty of his subjects was at its height. 
 After the lapse of some years he had good 
 reason to doubt whether a longer acquaintance 
 with himself in his public and private capacity 
 had not tended to weaken the first warmth of 
 the nation's feelings towards the restored royal 
 line. 
 
 In such a case an appeal to the country was 
 
 D 2 
 
36 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 likely to result in the return of a less amenable 
 House of Commons than in the first instance. 
 Hitherto, and for a few more years, Charles was 
 able to evade the experiment. He continued 
 to govern in defiance of precedent with the same 
 representatives of the nation (always excepting 
 chance vacancies) from 1661 to 1679, keeping 
 them under discipline by constant and unexpected 
 prorogations. 
 
 When Parliament met after one of these 
 recesses in April 1675, there was more than 
 ordinary anxiety to hear the King's opening speech 
 from the throne. The newsmen give their usual 
 summary of its delivery, whilst on a separate page 
 is found what at first sight appears to be the 
 actual text of its contents. After a careful perusal 
 it becomes evident that it is a skit or lampoon 
 on the expected royal speech. Not even Charles, 
 with all his reckless audacity, could have ventured 
 to address his two Houses of Parliament in terms 
 of such mingled ribaldry, sarcasm, and brazen 
 frankness. 
 
 The text of this effusion is here given, with 
 one or two necessary excisions. It does not 
 seem to be generally known, although it has been 
 
CHARLES II. AND HIS PARLIAMENT 37 
 
 printed by Grosart in his edition of Andrew 
 Marveirs works. 
 
 The author of the parody (Andrew Marvell) 
 issued it anonymously, and when the House met, 
 copies were found upon the floor. Probably no 
 one was more amused by its perusal than Charles 
 himself. 
 
 ' My Lords and Gentlemen, 
 
 * I told you last meeting that the Winter 
 was the fittest time of business, and in truth I 
 thought it so till my Lord Treasurer [Earl of 
 Danby] assured me that the spring is the fittest 
 time for salads and subsidies. I hope therefore 
 this April will not prove so unnatural as not to 
 afford plenty of both. Some of you may perhaps 
 think it dai^gerous to make me too rich, but do 
 not fear it. I promise you faithfully (whatever 
 you give) I will take care to want, for the truth of 
 which you may rely on the word of a King. 
 
 * My Lords and Gentlemen, 
 
 ' I can bear my own straits with patience, 
 but my Lord Treasurer doth protest that the 
 revenue, as it now stands, is too little for us both ; 
 one of us must pinch for it, if you do not help us 
 out. I must speak freely to you. I am under 
 
 ^ It is also to be found in the 1726 edition of Marvell's works. 
 The wording is not identical with the version now given, and the 
 reviser for the press has deprived the text of some of the familiar, 
 colloquial style of the contemporary MS. There are besides one 
 or two obvious misprints in proper names. 
 
38 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 incumbrances ... I have a pretty good estate I 
 must confess, but Ods fish, here is my Lord 
 Treasurer can tell you that all the monies designed 
 for the summer's Guards [Ships] must of neces- 
 sity be applied for the next year's Cradles and 
 Swaddling Clothes. What then shall we do for 
 ships ? I only hint that to you. That's your busi- 
 ness, not mine. I lived ten years abroad without 
 ships, and was never in better health in my life. 
 But how well you can live without them, you had 
 best try. I leave it to yourselves to judge, and 
 therefore only mention it. I do not intend to 
 insist upon that. 
 
 * There is another thing which I must press 
 most earnestly, which is this. It seems a good 
 part of my Revenue will fail in two or three years, 
 except you will please to continue it. Why did 
 you give me so much, except you resolve to give 
 on ? The nation hates you already for giving so 
 much. I will hate you now if you do not give me 
 more, so that your Interest obliges you to stick to 
 me or you will not have a friend left in England. 
 
 ' On the other side if you continue the revenue 
 as desired I shall be able to perform those great 
 things for your religion and liberty which I have 
 long had in my thoughts, but can not effect it 
 without this establishment 
 
 ' Wherefore look to it If you do not make 
 me rich enough to undo you, it shall be at your 
 door. For my part I can with a clear conscience 
 say I have done my best and shall leave the rest 
 to my successors. But that I may gain your 
 good opinion the best way is to acquaint you 
 
CHARLES II. AND HIS PARLIAMENT 39 
 
 what I have done to deserve it out of my Royal 
 care for your religion and property. 
 
 ' For the first my late proclamation is the true 
 picture of my mind. He that cannot (as in a 
 glass) see my zeal for the Church of England 
 doth not deserve any other satisfaction, for I 
 declare him wilful, abominable and not good. 
 You may perhaps cry, how comes this sudden 
 change ? To that I reply in a word : I am a 
 Changeling.^ That I think a full answer. But to 
 convince men yet further that I mean as I say, 
 there are these arguments : 
 
 ' I St. I tell you so, and you know I never broke 
 ]iiy word. 
 
 ' 2nd. My Lord Treasurer says so, and he 
 never told a lie in his life. 
 
 *3rcl. My Lord Lauderdale will undertake 
 for me, and I should be loth by any act of mine 
 to forfeit tlfo Credit he has with you. 
 
 ' If you desire more Instances of my Zeal 
 1 have them for you. For example I have 
 converted all my natural sons from popery. . . . 
 It would do your hearts good to hear how prettily 
 little George^ can read already in the Psalter. 
 They are all fine children, God bless them, and so 
 like me in their understandings. 
 
 ' But as I was saying, I have to please you 
 given a pension to the favourite, my Lord 
 Lauderdale, not so much that I thought he 
 wanted it as I know you would take it kindly. I 
 
 ^ Given to change. 
 
 ^ Son of the Duchess of Cleveland, afterwards created Duke of 
 Northumberland. 
 
40 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 have made Carwell a Duchess/ and married her 
 sister to my Lord Pembroke. I have made 
 Crew Bishop of Durham. I have at my Brother s 
 request sent my Lord Inchiquin to settle the 
 Protestant religion at Tangier ; and at the first 
 word of my Lady Portsmouth I preferred Bride- 
 oake^' to be Bishop of Chichester. I do not know 
 what factious men would have, but this I am sure 
 of, that none of my predecessors did ever anything 
 like this to gain the good will of their subjects. 
 So much for religion. 
 
 ' Now as to your property. My behaviour to 
 the Bankers and letting of the Customs to my 
 Lord John and partners, take for public 
 instances, and the proceedings about IVP' Hide 
 and Emerton ^ for a private one ; and such con- 
 vincing evidences that it will be needless to 
 mention anything more of it. 
 
 ' I must now acquaint you that by my Lord 
 Treasurer s advice I have made a Considerable 
 retrenchment in my Expenses in Candles and 
 Charcoal, and do not intend to stick there, but 
 with your help to look into the like embezzlement 
 of mxy kitchen stuff, of which (by the way) on my 
 conscience neither my Lord Treasurer nor my 
 Lord Lauderdale are guilty ; but if you should 
 
 1 Duchess of Portsmouth. 
 
 - This name is given as Bradcock in the MS., and as Prideaux 
 in the 1726 edition. It must have been Brideoake, who succeeded 
 Gunning as Bishop of Chichester. Evelyn notes in his Diary on 
 March 20, 1676 : * Dr. Brideoak, Bishop of Chichester, preached ; 
 a mean discourse for a Bishop.' 
 
 ^ See Chapter XI. 
 
CHARLES II. AND HIS PARLIAMENT 41 
 
 find them dabbling in that business, I tell you 
 plainly I leave them to you, for I would not have 
 the world think I am a man to be cheated. 
 ' My Lords and Gentlemen, 
 
 ' I would have you believe of me as you 
 always found me, and I solemnly profess that 
 whatever you give me it shall be managed with 
 the same thrift, trust, conduct, prudence, and 
 sincerity that I have ever practised since my 
 happy Restoration/ 
 
 The irony of the allusions to ' my Lord 
 / Lauderdale ' in the above document is the more 
 striking when we recall a vote passed by the 
 Commons in the previous session. It was to 
 request the King ' to remove the Duke of 
 Lauderdale for ever from his person and council 
 as a dangerous and suspected person.' This vote 
 was again brought forward and carried in the 
 present sitting of Parliament. 
 
 The reference to 'Carwell,' as the English 
 people called the French siren, Louise de Que- 
 rouaille, was equally audacious. We find her 
 described in contemporary history as ' the 
 enamouring and intriguing Duchess of Ports- 
 mouth, object of the King's Affection and the 
 Nation's Hatred.' 
 
 The news-letters of this date retail how she 
 
42 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 had been appointed ' Groom of the Stole to the 
 Queen/ Poor Queen, what had she not to 
 endure ! The extravagance of the Duchess and 
 the state she kept up became more and more 
 scandalous. After one of her occasional visits to 
 her native country the newsmen write : 
 
 ' The Duchess of Portsmouth is in greater 
 state than even She has brought over three 
 coaches and six horses, and she hath fifty attend- 
 ants and ten grooms/ 
 
 Her sisters marriage to Lord Pembroke is 
 mentioned in a letter from Lord Desmond^ to 
 Richard Newdigate in this year. He writes from 
 London to return thanks for the loan of his neigh- 
 bour s coach and horses for the journey thither. 
 The item of gossip is in a postscript. ' The Duchess 
 of Portsmouth's sister is to be married to my Lord 
 Pembroke ; the King gives ,/^8,ooo with her.' 
 
 The bride-elect had little cause to thank the 
 King for his promotion of this marriage, Lord 
 Pembroke being a man of a turbulent and violent 
 disposition. He was tried before his peers for 
 manslaughter, and only escaped punishment by 
 * pleading his peerage and so was discharged/ 
 
 ^ Better known as Earl of Denbigh. 
 
CHARLES II. AND HIS PARLIAMENT 43 
 
 Soon after he is again reported to have killed a 
 man and two horses, when he fled the country 
 for a time. 
 
 The retrenchments hinted at in one of the 
 paragraphs of the King's speech had become a 
 matter of necessity owing to Charles's prodigality. 
 They were carried out to some extent in the 
 course of time, but not at the King's expense. 
 
 ' Yesterday at Council his Mat^ was pleased 
 to approve of the retrenchments which had been 
 made by the committee of the Lords, viz. : that 
 all board wages and diet and half of all pensions 
 and salaries, except those to the Judges, shall be 
 taken off for fifteen months to come, commencing 
 from the first of the Instant. The whole re- 
 trenchment, its said, does amount to ;^30o,ooo.' 
 
 It was after the second short session of Parlia- 
 ment in the autumn of the year 1675 that Charles 
 scandalised the nation and the two houses of 
 Parliament by a prorogation which lasted fifteen 
 months. On their re-assembling in February 
 1677, the Duke of Buckingham attempted to 
 prove that the Parliament had been dissolved 
 by the last prorogation, in accordance with the 
 ancient laws of England, which decreed that a 
 Parliament must be held * once a year and oftener 
 
44 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 if need be.' He added, with the coarse humour 
 of the times, that ' Acts of Parliament were not 
 like women, the worse for being old/ He was 
 supported in his bold assertion of the dissolution 
 by the Earls of Salisbury and Shaftesbury and 
 Lord Wharton. 
 
 They were all four sent to the Tower, where 
 they held out stubbornly for some months. They 
 were occasionally allowed out on various pre- 
 tences by royal permission, probably to enhance 
 their desire for freedom. Lord Salisbury was 
 granted his liberty during the month of June 
 because 'his lady was ready to lie down.' At the 
 end of the month the expected event had not 
 taken place, and he was granted a further ticket 
 of leave, but before July was over he had 
 willingly made his submission, as did Lord 
 Wharton. The Duke of Buckingham followed 
 suit before the second week in August, and Lord 
 Shaftesbury alone remained obdurate for thirteen 
 months. Then he too gave in, and after making 
 his submission he had to beg pardon on his knees 
 at the bar of the House of Lords 'not only for 
 his fault, but also for his obstinacy in being so 
 long in acknowledging it.' 
 
CHARLES II. AND HIS PARLIAMENT 45 
 
 In the year 1678 Charles made use of an 
 alarm of a war with France to acquire fresh 
 subsidies, which were voted with unusual liberality 
 by his confiding Parliament. The threatened war 
 came to nought, but the King spent the money in 
 advance and found difficulty in extorting fresh 
 funds from the Commons when in the next 
 Parliament they talked openly of the ' pretended 
 war ' with France. 
 
 The English officers who had been serving in 
 the French army were recalled, and the country 
 was put to great expense by the raising of fresh 
 regiments ^for the expected war. 
 
 ' The French King ' (write the newsmen) 
 ' has offered that whatever English officers shall 
 stay in his service, they shall be advanced ; upon 
 which some Captains who resolved to stay are 
 made Colonels. But tis said they will be hanged 
 in Effigy for their disloyalty.' 
 
 Fortunately for Charles, the revelations of 
 Titus Oates concerning the supposed Popish plot 
 came in opportunely to revive the affection of the 
 nation for their King. His life was too valuable 
 for the Protestant cause to be lightly esteemed, 
 and his many delinquencies were forgotten in 
 anxiety for his safety. 
 
46 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Lord Massareene/ Richard Newdigate's first 
 cousin, writing to him from Antrim Castle in 
 Ireland, in reply to the announcement of the 
 Serjeant's death, says in reference to the plot 
 and its consequences : 
 
 * ... I am among the real mourners for my 
 dear Uncle, and much reckoned upon the satisfac- 
 tion of seeing him this winter, if the horrid design 
 (discovered in England and suspected to have its 
 influence here also) had not made it necessary to 
 stay at home, as well in relation to the country 
 where our interest lies as to our numerous family. 
 I have indeed been much obliged to my friends 
 in England, who till the tenth of this month 
 (December 1678) have sent me all passages both 
 in the Parliament and at Court during this session ; 
 with the late Act and Test against Popish 
 members, y^ votes & journals of both Houses, as 
 well as y^ preparations for impeachments etc. . . . 
 So that after your receipt of this I hope you will 
 once a week allow me what is new, to which you 
 have these encouragements, viz^ : the speedy 
 access of yours of the 9th, the dexterity in the use 
 of your pen, and the hearty welcome your letters 
 find upon every occasion.* 
 
 ^ Sir John Skeffington, 2nd Viscount Massareene, was the 
 eldest son of Sir Richard Skeffington, Kt., and Anne, his wife, 
 youngest daughter of Sir John Newdigate. Sir John Skeffington 
 succeeded his father-in-law. Sir John Clotworthy, as 2nd Viscount 
 Massareene, the peerage having been conferred by Charles II. with 
 especial remainder to Sir John Skeffington in default of male issue. 
 
CHARLES IL AND HIS PARLIAMENT 47 
 
 (To this request Richard replies by a docket on 
 the letter : ' Desires me to write to him once a 
 week, which I can't do.') Lord Massareene con- 
 tinues : 
 
 ' The last London Gazette is filled, I see, with 
 news from Dublin, and I need not repeat the 
 proclamations there recited. But since what is 
 extant there we have news of a plot against the 
 life of the D. of Ormond our L'^ Lieut., 
 which was in some sort designed by certain 
 Priests, w^ho were dealing with a young man in 
 Dublin to be gotten into the Duke's service for 
 the better accom.plishment of this evil design. 
 My time is little of late at my own disposal, being 
 swallowed up in the enquiry after the Romish 
 Clergy and catechising the Priests of that persua- 
 sion whether they are of the secular or the 
 Regular Clergy, our Proclamations for imprison- 
 ment reaching only the latter sort ; in so much 
 as all our parish-popish-priests avowedly stay 
 amongst us, and the Regular remain also in 
 Masquerade as we suspect, there being few or 
 none removed beyond sea, altho' our pro- 
 clamations required them to be gone by or before 
 the 20th of November. The Romanists were 
 also by another proclamation to give up their 
 fire-arms by a day prefixt ; which they forebore, 
 and now upon search very few or none can be 
 taken. We have our alarms here, as we hear in 
 England have been in Birmingham, Walsall, and 
 other country-towns ; so that we are constantly 
 
48 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 upon our watch, and this Castle [of Antrim] is 
 pretty strong, being- never taken in the Rebellion 
 that was in Ireland in 164 1. ... I write this 
 so fast that I fear it will scarce be legrible, beino- 
 interrupted several tunes since I began it, and 
 whilst I am making up this I am finishing other 
 dispatches to my L'^ and Council upon 
 occasion of late orders from them for revival 
 and settlement of the Militia in these parts, 
 which since 1666 hath been almost languishing, 
 having seldom met and by time rendered un- 
 serviceable almost ; many officers dead and arms 
 un-fixt. This is much of my case in this great 
 county of Antrim, especially since the Earl of 
 Donegall, the Governor of the County, died about 
 six weeks agone ; a cousin German of my wife, 
 and he hath left me a Trustee ; his son is an 
 infant. I had also, as Governor of the adjoining 
 County of Londonderry, the charge in my Lord 
 Essex's government, and since it is renewed by 
 my Commission under my Lord Duke of 
 Ormond ; so that my hands are full, and you will 
 excuse me for this haste. . . 
 
 The news-letters to Richard Newdigate now 
 give constant reports of an impending proroga- 
 tion, which was most unpopular in the country. 
 ''Tis not convenient,* the writers say, *to express 
 what the discourses of people are concerning the 
 prorogation/ 
 
 Lord Massareene writes again in February 
 
CHARLES II. AND HIS PARLIAMENT 49 
 
 1679, at this critical time both for England and 
 Ireland : 
 
 ' I thank you for your news, which I see was 
 agreeable with divers other narratives ; but in a 
 few hours after yours was dated, the Councils at 
 Court were much altered and the Proclamation 
 emitted the 24th for dissolving our Long Par- 
 lem^ and calling another against March 4th after 
 it was once resolved otherwise. These things are 
 supra nos. The scene of the Plot and the persons 
 most notorious (now proscribed) are late of Staf- 
 fordshire I see ; and for some months past I 
 apprehended there was mischief hatching in that 
 neighbourhood and suspected all the Rumors 
 there were fiot smoke without fire. I am much 
 more sorry for my neighbour at Tixell ^ than 
 my L"^ Stafford, altho' the age of the latter might 
 have given him better precepts, and the education 
 of the other (under a most worthy Parent, my old 
 L^ Aston, who always honoured us of our family 
 with a great respect) might have principled him 
 otherwise both in his transactions and responsalls 
 touching this affair ; in which he seems most 
 Liable to be taxed with a failure in his Prudentialls 
 as well as his Allegiance, and the truth is, no other 
 can be said of any man, who fails in the Latter. 
 But this miscarriage has grossly exposed him, and 
 seldom any who are versed in Red-letters, but 
 have their Lesson much better than (it seems) he 
 had . . . ; 
 
 ^ Lord Aston. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The sudden decision for the dissolution of 
 Parliament was duly announced by the newsmen : 
 
 ' The Clerk of the petty bag ' (they write) ' is 
 making out writs for new elections and Mes- 
 sengers ai'e to carry the writs to the several 
 corporations, which doth a little moderate people s 
 discourse as to the sudden dissolution of Parlia- 
 ment.' 
 
 The Parliament of 1661 had at last come to 
 an end, after a protracted existence of nearly 
 eighteen, years. With its departure in_to the 
 region of history there came an opportunity for 
 Sir Richard Newdigate to endeavour to satisfy 
 his ambition to join the turbulent assemblage at 
 Westminster. He was not slow in taking advan- 
 tage of it, and came forward as one of five 
 candidates who proposed to contest the county 
 of Warwick. 
 
 The sequel is not to be found among Sir 
 Richard's own papers or letters, but is graphically 
 described by Sir William Dugdale in his published 
 correspondence. He writes from Blythe Hall on 
 February 15, 1679, and relates that : 
 
 ' We have much ado about our Election of 
 Knights for this County. From Tuesday last 
 (which was the County Day) till Thursday night 
 
CHARLES IL AND HIS PARLIAMENT 51 
 
 they were polling for it, and have adjourned to sit 
 in every particular hundred to finish the polling-. 
 One M'" Stratford stands against all the Gentlemen 
 of quality in the County, having the vote of all 
 the Presbyterian and fanatic party. The others 
 which stand are Sir Edw'^ Boughton, Sir New- 
 digate (son of the Serjeant), and M'' Burdet, son 
 to Sir Francis Burdet/ 
 
 The result is given by Sir William Dugdale 
 as follows : 
 
 * Sir Edw'^ Boughton and Mn Burdet 2031 votes 
 
 Mr. Stratford i>344 1, 
 
 Mr. Marriot . . . . . 927 „ 
 Sir R"^ New<Ligate 300, but allowed . 500 „ ' 
 
 We must leave the disappointed candidate at 
 the bottom of the poll and turn again to the 
 news-letters for such information respecting 
 Charles IL and his Court as the writers were 
 able to obtain from second-hand sources. 
 
52 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 
 
 At this period of the reign of Charles II. the 
 Enghsh Court was at the height of its splendour, 
 laxity, and extravagance. The King s mercenary 
 and loveless marriage to Catherine, Infanta of 
 Portugal, in 1661, had been no curb on his roving 
 and volatile attachments. The Queen is described 
 by Smollett as 'a virtuous princess, but possessing 
 no personal attractions.' Pepys says, ' Tho' she be 
 not very charmJng, yet she hath a good, modest, 
 and innocent look which is pleasing/ Evelyn is 
 more flattering in his description : ' Tho' low of 
 stature, she (the Queen) was prettily shaped, lan- 
 guishing and excellent eyes, her teeth wronging 
 her mouth by sticking a little too far out, for the 
 rest lovely enough.' 
 
 The Queen's handsom_e dowry of three hundred 
 thousand pounds (in addition to the fortress of 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 53 
 
 Tangier in Africa and Bombay in the East Indies) 
 had been but a drop in the ocean of Charles's 
 reckless expenditure. The King's chief difficulty 
 in life seems to have been how to devise methods 
 for obtaining funds to satisfy his love of, so-called, 
 pleasure. It speaks much for Charles II.'s per- 
 sonal attractiveness that he was able to retain 
 the attachment and allegiance of those about him 
 in spite of his selfishness and duplicity. 
 
 James, Duke of York, was not so popular. 
 His second marriage to a Roman Catholic princess 
 had been strongly opposed by the extreme 
 Protestant party in Parliament, though in vain. 
 After Mary of Modena had become Duchess 
 of York, the suspicions of the nation were con- 
 firmed, and James openly acknowledged himself 
 to be a member of the Church of Rome. 
 
 James, Duke of Monmouth, Charles's eldest 
 natural son by Lucy Walters, was as great a 
 favourite with the nation at large as his uncle was 
 unpopular. His good looks, easy manners, and 
 natural bravery combined to attract the populace 
 and rivet the affections of those about him. * That 
 pretty spark ' is how Evelyn describes him when 
 he made his acquaintance some years before as 
 
54 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 James Crofts. There were many amongst Mon- 
 mouth's following who would gladly have believed 
 in the authenticity of the report often revived, that 
 Charles had been privately married to Lucy 
 Walters before this son's birth. The King, who 
 remained loyal to his brother to the end in spite of 
 the suspicion and dislike he roused amongst the 
 English people, was obliged at length to issue a 
 formal proclamation denying that he (Charles) had 
 ever been married to any but his present Queen. 
 
 In October 1677 the news-letters announce 
 with jubilation the marriage which had just been 
 arranged between William, Prince of Orange, and 
 the Duke of York's eldest daughter. 
 
 ' Oct. 23. — This post will perhaps surprise you 
 with the happy news of the marriage between the 
 Lady Mary, his Royal Highness's eldest daughter, 
 and the Prince of Orange, declared yesterday 
 morning . . . You will believe that the rejoicing 
 in London by ringing of bells, bonfires etc. was 
 great, and so I will not pretend to particularize 
 thereupon . . . After so great a piece of news I 
 will not entertain you with any of so small im- 
 portance as is that we receive from abroad at this 
 time.' 
 
 The bridegroom elect had come over nominally 
 to arrange the terms of a treaty with his royal 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 55 
 
 uncle, whilst the secretly projected marriage was 
 to be the reward and seal of the compact. 
 William was too wary to enter into business 
 matters until he had made acquaintance with the 
 fifteen-year-old girl who was destined to be his 
 bride. ' The Lady Mary's ' attractions were such 
 that he lost no time in completing the double 
 arrangement, and the marriage took place twelve 
 days later on the Prince s birthday, November 
 the 4'\ 
 
 ' Nov, 8.— The happy event of the Lady Marie's 
 marriage is now completed, for on Sunday, about 
 9 at night, she was married to the Prince of Orange 
 privately in her Bedchamber by the Bishop of 
 London in the presence of the King, their Royal 
 Highnesses and some Lords and Ladies of the 
 Chiefest quality. The next morning his Highness 
 presented her with a Necklace and a very rich 
 Jewel valued at Between twenty and thirty 
 thousand pounds Sterling.' 
 
 Prince William, having won his bride and 
 signed the treaty, was in haste to return to his own 
 country, but the elements combined to hinder his 
 departure, just as eleven years later they en- 
 dangered and deferred his memorable landing on 
 England's shores when summoned to supplant his 
 father-in-law on the British throne. 
 
56 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 'Nov. 19. — On Thursday, being the Queen's 
 birthday, there was a Ball, and the next morning- 
 early the P. and P"" of Orange parted from hence 
 in order to their embarking on the yachts which 
 attended them about Gravesend, whither his 
 Mat^' and his Royal Highness accompanied them, 
 but the wind is so contrary, that they are not able 
 to o:et out of the River. 
 
 ' Nov, 23. — This morning arrived one for fresh 
 provisions for the P. of Orange, whom he left at 
 anchor near Sheerness. 
 
 'Nov. 24. — His Mat^' having on Thursday in 
 the evening sent down a gentleman to invite the P. 
 of Orange to return hither with the Princess till the 
 weather is more favourable, he returned hither in 
 the evening, having left their Highnesses about 
 12 o'clock that day two miles from Canterbury, 
 whither they were going, and where they purposed 
 to continue till the weather could permit them to 
 pursue their voyage. 
 
 'Nov. 29.— On Tuesday night the Earl of 
 Ossory returned hither and gave the King an 
 account that the day before the Prince of Orange, 
 being in great Impatience to see himself thus de- 
 tained by the weather, parted from Canterbury 
 to Margate, the wind being more favourable than 
 before ; and there he embarked with the Princess 
 on the Mountague, commanded by Sir Jo. 
 Holmes ; and on Monday about four in the after- 
 noon went to sea. But the wind changing again 
 the Mountague was forced to return to Margate, 
 from whence they put to sea again yesterday, the 
 yachts being come up with them , . / 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 
 
 It seems tolerably certain that Richard 
 Newdigate had some personal experience of Court 
 life soon after his father s recognition by the King. 
 It may be remembered how Sir Nicholas Armorer 
 sought to excuse his over-liberality in the matte/ 
 of fees in the Secretary's office on the occasion of 
 the warrant for a baronetcy, by stating that ' we 
 of the Court do the same in such cases, to be the 
 welcomer when we come next.' He goes on to 
 say : * And who knows but you may upon a better 
 occasion before we die ? ' 
 
 The opportunity came quickly, as we learn 
 from a document signed by one ' Marmaduke 
 Darly ' ^ and dated 2"^ April 1678. 
 
 It formally certifies that 
 
 * by Virtue of a Warrant Directed unto mee from 
 the Right Hon^^' Henry, Earl of Arlington, Lord 
 Chamberlain of his Most Hon^^" Houshould, 
 
 dated the first day of xAprill 1678, I have Sworne 
 and admitted Richard Newdigate Esq'^'' In the 
 Place and Quallity of One of the Gentlemen of his 
 M3,&' Most Hon^^" Privy [or Bed] Chamber in 
 Ordinary to Enjoy the Same Place with all the 
 Rights, Perquisites, Priveledges, and Prehemen- 
 encies Thereunto belonging, In testimony whereof 
 
 ^ The signature is in the trembhng characters of old age and in 
 a different hand from that of the rest of the document. 
 
58 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 I have hereunto sett my hand this Second day of 
 
 Aprill 1678 and in the 30'^ Yeareof the Reigneof 
 
 our most Gracious Souvereigne Lord King 
 
 Charles the Second. , ,^ 
 
 ' Marmaduke Darly. 
 
 Before the end of the year we find mention 
 of an ' adventure ' that has befallen Richard at 
 Whitehall. He writes an account of it to Lord 
 Massareene in the same letter which announces 
 the death of his father, the Serjeant, in the 
 month of October. It must therefore have taken 
 place either just before or immediately after 
 that event, and about six months later than his 
 appointment. Unfortunately we have not the 
 chief actor s account of what happened when the 
 fracas took place. Lord Massareene^s comments 
 upon the news are as follows : 
 
 ' I heard of your adventure with y^ Spaniard ^ 
 as well as your Re-encounter at Whitehall upon 
 the occasion, and I think it was Sir Nich' Armorer 
 who did me the favour in the Castle of Dublin to 
 impart what Sir Walter Bagot^ wrote. . . . My 
 advice should not have been for Martiall under- 
 takings in those circumstances. The service due 
 to one's Prince needs no recompense, because it is 
 indeed a duty. But it is neither duty nor service, — 
 
 1 Probably the Spanish ambassador, who is spoken of elsewhere 
 as 'the Spaniard.' ^ Richard Newdigate's brother-in-law. 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 59 
 
 I am sure it is not an obligation, — if from the 
 prince it does not gain acceptance.' 
 
 In a subsequent letter Lord Massareene again 
 alludes to the subject and gives his cousin sensible 
 advice. ' If I were worthy to advise you I would 
 not have you take further notice of, nor in any 
 way nourish those Resentments with some of the 
 Court you mentioned in one of yours, because 
 a man's gain in such a case might not far exceed 
 what is gotten by going to Law with a . . ' 
 
 It is evident from these quotations that 
 Richard Newdigate s ' adventure ' had led to 
 strained relations with the Court, and probably 
 ended his career once and for all as a disciple 
 of Polonius. This abrupt termination came as a 
 blessing in disguise to a man who was far too 
 irascible, outspoken, and unpliable by nature to 
 have been fitted for the life of a courtier under 
 Charles II. The episode is so far interesting 
 that it sheds light on the ex-courtier s personal 
 acquaintance with Monmouth, and explains the 
 prominence given by the newsmen to all matters 
 concerning that insubordinate member of Charles's 
 Court. 
 
 1 Left blank. 
 
6o CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 At this time the rivalry between the Dukes of 
 York and Monmouth was causing increasing 
 vexation and inconvenience to the King. The 
 man who represented the Protestant cause at 
 Court had a large following in the country and 
 was the darling of the populace. On the other 
 hand, the public outcry against James's succession 
 to the British throne on account of his open 
 adhesion to the Church of Rome was becoming 
 too acute to be ignored. Before the new Parlia- 
 ment met the King deemed it expedient to 
 request his brother to absent himself from Eng- 
 land. This he did in the following words : 
 
 ' Dear Brother, I have already given you my 
 reasons at large why I would have you absent 
 yourself for some time beyond the seas. As I am 
 truly sorry for the occasion, so you may be sure 
 that I shall never desire it longer than it will 
 be absolutely necessary both for your good and 
 my security. In the meantime I think it proper 
 to give it you under my hand that I expect 
 this compliance from you, desiring it may be as 
 soon as conveniently you can. You may easily 
 believe with w^hat trouble I write this to you, 
 there being nothing I am more sensible of than 
 the constant kindness you have had for me, and I 
 hope you will be so just as to be as well assured 
 that no absence nor anything else can ever change 
 me from being truly and kindly Y'^ C. R.' 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 61 
 
 The Duke obeyed this royal command, and 
 for some time he and the Duchess, with ' the Lady 
 Anne' and her half-sister 'the Lady Isabella,' 
 remained quietly at Brussels. 
 
 Meanwhile the newsmen 00 on chroniclino 
 
 o o 
 
 passing events at Court, such as the return of the 
 Duchess of Cleveland from the Continent, when 
 
 * tis said the occasion of her coming over is about 
 the marriage ^f her son the Duke of Grafton with 
 the Earl of Arlington's daughter. These young 
 persons being contracted about four years since, 
 and the Duke being fourteen years old and the 
 young lady twelve, they must declare their 
 consent' 
 
 Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, was no 
 longer first favourite with the King. Never- 
 theless, being of a domineering and masterful 
 disposition, she could still elicit favours from him. 
 Three out of the six dukedoms Charles bestowed 
 on his sons with the bar sinister fell lo the share 
 of her children. 
 
 A little later in this year we have minute 
 accounts of a sharp attack of illness which befell 
 the King. 
 
 ' His Mat^ having been a Hawking in Buck- 
 inghamshire returned to Windsor, and walking 
 
62 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 part of the way in his boots it put him in a great 
 heat, so that at his coming to Windsor he found 
 himself afflicted with a pain at his stomach, which 
 with some cold he had that day taken, took away 
 his stomach so that he eat not Supper and was 
 that Night very restless.' 
 
 The next day his physicians recommended 
 bleeding, which the King wisely refused, but 
 accepted a dose of manna from them and grew 
 better for a time. Then his fever returned, and 
 three doctors were sent for from London ' to 
 attend iiis Mat' at Windsor/ Again the pre- 
 scription was bleeding, and this time the King 
 submitted to his physicians' orders. 
 
 'At eight o'clock/ we are told, 'his Mat^' 
 vomited two or three times, but was very cheer- 
 ful . There is a great resort of Lords and 
 great persons, but the Lord Chamberlain is 
 ordered to admit but few, the King's Bedchamber 
 being so little that the Company is offensive to 
 him; 
 
 The royal edict is not surprising, especially when 
 we remember that the King's favourite dogs, 
 with their young families, usually shared his 
 bedroom. 
 
 Charles's distemper did not leave him for a 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 63 
 
 few days longer, when, thanks to the 'Jesuit's 
 powder ' quinquina 'J and his naturally fine con- 
 stitution, he recovered. Dr. Michelthwaite, one 
 of the three physicians sent for from London, was 
 knighted forthwith. 
 
 The immediate result of this sharp attack 
 of illness was the return of the Duke of York, 
 who had been summoned to Windsor when the 
 King's life wa* judged to be in danger. James's 
 star being again in the ascendant, we find as a 
 natural consequence that the Duke of Monm.outh 
 was speedily out of favour. 
 
 ' Yesterday, very strange and surprising news 
 came from Windsor, that his Mat^ was pleased to 
 order the Duke of Monmouth to depart the three 
 kingdoms, the reasons whereof are so variously 
 reported that we forbear to give account thereof 
 as yet. The Duke hath already begun to pack 
 up his goods at Windsor and at the Cockpit, 
 in order, as it is said, to go to Hamburgh, a yacht 
 being prepared for that purpose. His Mat^' hath 
 likewise taken away all his commissions. Yet its 
 hoped before his departure some mitigation may 
 be found through the intercession of some great 
 persons, the said Duke being gone this morning 
 to Windsor, some say by order of his Mat^. 
 What the issue will be is much expected. The 
 people are generally troubled at it.' 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 And three days later : 
 
 ' The discourse of the Town hath been these 
 five days upon the Duke of Monmouth in relation 
 to the circumstances he lies under at present, 
 with which the people seem generally concerned, 
 w^ishing him all the Happiness that may be ; and 
 indeed he seems now more popular than 
 formerly. 
 
 'Various are the Reports concerning him. 
 That which seems to come nearest the Truth 
 is that his Mat^ had information that in his late 
 sickness, divers persons had conference with that 
 Duke upon matters (which he seemed to indulge) 
 much displeasing him.' 
 
 This mysterious innuendo probably refers to 
 the rumoured legitimacy of Monmouth and his 
 consequent right of succession to the throne. 
 
 The reports of his speedy departure were 
 followed by the announcement of the Duke of 
 York's talked-of expatriation : 
 
 ' 'Tis said his R. Highness will soon follow, 
 but will not go before him \t.e. Monmouth]. 
 
 ' Upon false news that came from Windsor on 
 Sunday night that the D. of Monmouth was not 
 to go beyond sea, the bells of Margaret's rung, 
 and bonfires were made. 'Tis said the D. of 
 Monmouth s offices will be executed by deputies, 
 he having little else besides his Duchess's estate 
 in Scotland to support him.' 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 65 
 
 The Duchess of Monmouth was Lady Anne 
 Scott, heiress of the Buccleuchs. At the time of 
 her marriage she was reported to be * the finest 
 and richest lady at the Court/ Evelyn goes 
 deeper and says * she is one of the wisest and 
 craftiest of her sex, and has much wit/ 
 
 It was finally decided that Monmouth should 
 go to Utrecht, where a house of Prince Rupert s 
 was placed at his disposal. 
 
 Meanwhile it seems surprising that 
 
 ' the D. of Monmouth is frequently with his Mat^ 
 and there appears countenanced as formerly, by 
 which 'tis supposed his Mat^ is not so much 
 displeased as he is rendered by some to be, but 
 rather some reason of state, which to the wisdom 
 of his Mat^' seems convenient to commend his 
 withdrawing at present ; and on Wednesday next 
 he goes for Utrecht in Holland, the Place 
 formerly mentioned being thought not so con- 
 venient/ 
 
 On September 28 we find that 
 
 'yesterday the D. of Monmouth paid his willing 
 obedience to his Mat^"" commands in Retiring 
 beyond Seas. After dinner he took leave of 
 most persons of honour at Court, viz. of the 
 Duke of York and Prince Rupert (between him 
 and the latter was expressed great Reality of 
 Love), and was attended with about a hundred 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 gentlemen to take leave of his Mat^ who was 
 then in ArHngton Gardens ; and approaching on 
 his bended knee his Mat^ most affectionately 
 Embraced and Kissed him, demonstrating all 
 possible Kindness of a Royal Father and the 
 Duke no less of a princely son. Last of all he 
 took leave of his Duchess, his Mat^ not suffering 
 her or her Children to accompany him/ 
 
 It is also noteworthy that 
 
 * Mr. Oates complimented Monmouth at his 
 departure with the expression that he carried 
 with him the hearts of above a hundred thousand 
 of his Mat^'^ Protestant subjects, wishing him a 
 healthful and prosperous voyage and praying a 
 safe return.' 
 
 The Duchess of Monmouth had not submitted 
 to the King's decree of separation without a scene. 
 
 ' 'Tis said that on Monday before the D. of 
 Monmouth's departure the Duchess went to his 
 Mat^' to know of him whether she might go along 
 with the duke. His Mat^ said she should not go. 
 The duchess breaking out into a passion said she 
 would go with him or to her birthright, at which 
 the King being angry said You shall not go." 
 So she went home, and its said she is sick and 
 keeps her bed on his Mat^^ displeasure.' 
 
 The morning after Monmouth's departure the 
 Duke of York left Greenwich on board his yacht, 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 67 
 
 his destination being Brussels. He was back 
 again in less than a fortnight, ostensibly in order 
 to proceed to Scotland with his family. 
 
 Whilst he tarried in London he was invited 
 to dinner by the Artillery Company, of which he 
 was president. This produced some outspoken 
 opposition, and placards were posted on the gates 
 of Merchant Taylors' Hall setting forth the 
 following : 
 
 ' Whosoever doth accompany the Duke of 
 York to dinner at Merchant Taylors' Hall shall 
 be looked upon by all true Protestants as no other 
 than an Enemy by the King and Kingdom, and 
 the Betrayers of the Priveleges of the Parliament 
 of England and the Just Rights and Interests of 
 this Hon^^^ City : 
 
 ' And care shall be taken for procuring a list 
 of those that dine with him, that the Papists in 
 Masquerade may be known from true Protestants, 
 and the nation informed of her private enemies 
 in public under the abominable name of a Yorkist.' 
 
 In spite of this threatening language, 
 
 ' those of the Artillery Company who met at 
 Guildhall marched into Bow Street in Cheapside 
 and there heard a sermon, and from thence were 
 led by the Lord Ossory, Lord Feversham, 
 Colonel Legg, S"* Robert Holmes, S' Richard 
 Low, S' Jo : Chapman, Major Horne and Captain 
 Hudson, stewards for this year to the said hall, to 
 
 F 2 
 
68 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 whence came the Duke of York attended by the 
 Duke of Lauderdale etc/ 
 
 The news-writer takes care to add later : 
 
 * His R. Highness had not the former Respect 
 of the people either coming or going/ 
 
 Soon afterwards the Duke of York began to 
 make the long-talked-of start for Scotland. 
 On his road thither 
 
 *its said that his R. Highness being in a Gentle- 
 mans house perceived in the pane of a Glass 
 Window these words written with a diamond, 
 which is affirmed to be done by King Charles 
 the First 
 
 Errors in time may be redrest ; 
 The shortest Errors are the Best.' 
 
 Also 
 
 * 'Tis said his Mat^ hath sent a severe check to 
 the Lord Mayor of York for not receiving his 
 Brother as became him/ 
 
 The Duke of York being once settled in 
 Edinburgh, and Monmouth far away in Utrecht, 
 Charles must have felt relieved of much cause for 
 discomfort. He was now fully restored to health, 
 to the joy of his loyal subjects, as proved by the 
 following paragraph : 
 
 ' His Mat^ blessed be God, is in very good 
 health, and walked yesterday to Fulham with 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 69 
 
 some few attendants ; thence in the common 
 ferry-boat crossed over to Putney ; thence to 
 Ham to the Duke of Lauderdale's house, where 
 he stayed a very little time ; thence to Hampton 
 Court to dinner, and thence back again in the 
 afternoon to Whitehall, where the Council sat.' 
 
 After two months' banishment Monmouth 
 returned to England, a proceeding which, unless 
 tacitly sanctioned by the King, would seem to 
 have been a daring measure on his part. 
 
 ' Last Thursday afternoon the D. of Mon- 
 mouth arrived, and notwithstanding his intended 
 secresy it was known early next morning. The 
 Bellman Belching out his Welcome raised many 
 people, who immediately made Bonfires and Ring- 
 ing of Bells etc., the City of London and suburlDs 
 doing the same last night. But the multitude 
 were very violent and rude, stopping passengers 
 in coaches and on foot, some of them of great 
 quality, not suffering them to pass till they had 
 cried God save the King and the Duke of 
 Monmouth," which hath given his Mat^' great 
 offence.' 
 
 In the following February the Duke of York 
 was back again, and his adherents strove to 
 welcome him in the same public manner. 
 
 * 'Tis said the D. of Lauderdale hath allowed 
 ^^150 for preparing two bonfires to be erected by 
 the same person that made the late famous ones 
 
70 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 in Leicester fields, and hath ordered four Hogs- 
 heads of Wine for standers-by.' 
 
 This was beforehand. After the Duke's 
 actual arrival 
 
 * there were many Bonfires on Tuesday night 
 made in and about the City for J oy of his R. 
 Highnesses arrival, one of which was in Essex 
 Buildings in the Strand at a Frenchman's door, 
 where some Gentlemen being with him in his 
 balcony, they with loud acclamations and Hats 
 flourished cried God save the D. of York ! '' 
 The young fry about the fire being only boys of 
 ten or twelve years of age, some of them cried, 
 God bless the D. of Monmouth also ! " Where- 
 upon the Gentlemen came down and drew their 
 swords and made the Boys fly. But a little after 
 some lusty fellows came down to the fire, who 
 broke their swords and beat them soundly and 
 broke the windows of the house. The Constables 
 coming to secure the peace seized the first 
 Abettors for drawing swords and committed 
 them to prison, from whence they were released 
 next morning.' 
 
 Charles and his Court little heeded the 
 disturbed state of public feeling, but ran their 
 usual course of dissipation ; adjourning periodi- 
 cally to Newmarket as was their wont. 
 
 Here we are told that the ci-devant actress 
 ' Madam ' Gwyn is said 
 
CHRONICLES OF THE COURT 71 
 
 *to wager very highly at Races and Cockpits, 
 and one morning in a frolic she clothed herself 
 in man's apparel with a Horseman's Coat etc. 
 and meeting the King salutes him, at which his 
 Mat^ and Court were very pleased.' 
 
 In the next letter we read that ' Madam 
 Gwyn hath received much damage from the fall 
 of a horse.' But she was soon to the fore aofain. 
 
 On another occasion ' M' Henry Wharton is 
 forbid the Court for having run through one of 
 Madam Gwyn's horses, who drove too near 
 him/ 
 
 It was in August 1679 that Nell Gwyn's 
 mother came to an untimely end, being ' found 
 drowned in a ditch near the Noah houses by 
 Chelsea, and last night was privately buried in 
 St. Margaret's.' 
 
 The madcap Nelly has been described by 
 Burnet as ' that indiscreetest and wildest creature 
 that ever was at Court.' 
 
 Her extravagance was unbounded. She is 
 said to have had ^60,000 from the King in 
 four years. Yet she was popular with the nation 
 and retained the royal favour to the end, as 
 evidenced by the ' Do not forget poor Nelly ' of 
 Charles's dying bed 
 
72 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ROUGH MANNERS AND BARBAROUS DEEDS 
 
 The deep potations and high living indulged in by 
 high and low at this era may have been in some 
 measure answerable for the hot tempers and 
 frequent feuds which are to be found recorded in 
 Charles IL's reign. The practice of duelling 
 amongst the upper classes became so common, on 
 the slightest pretext, that at length the King 
 found it necessary to issue special decrees to 
 check the loss of life, which was increasing to an 
 alarming extent. 
 
 The following extract may be quoted as an 
 example of readiness to take offence : 
 
 * The Lord Grey, looking on some guns in 
 a Gunsmith's shop, saw an odd kind of gun 
 and asked what cockscomb's fancy it was. The 
 Gunsmith answered the Duke of Albemarle had 
 bespoke it, and when his Lordship had gone, 
 went and told the Duke that the Lord Grey 
 had called him cockscomb. Upon which the 
 
ROUGH MANNERS & BARBAROUS DEEDS 73 
 
 Duke sent a challenge to his Lordship, and they 
 fought yesterday morn at Totnam Court, when 
 Colonel Godfrey, the Lord's second, disarming 
 Sir Walter Clergis, the Dukes second, they 
 parted their principals.' 
 
 A few days later the sequel to this affair is 
 given : 
 
 * The King was very angry at the Duel 
 between the Duke of Albemarle, etc., but being- 
 informed that the Lord Grey did not speak 
 the words designedly upon the Duke, sent for 
 'em, and made 'em friends, but said he was sorry 
 to see those that should be patterns of keeping the 
 Laws, break 'em under his nose.' 
 
 Occasionally measures of a less sanguinary 
 type were adopted to obtain redress for supposed 
 grievances. Colonel Howard's method is original 
 and is recorded at length by the new\smen : 
 
 In 1675 '^^^ House being informed of a 
 difference like to arise between my Lord Caven- 
 dish, Thomas Mores, and Colonel Thomas 
 Howard, upon a paper or letter found in the Pall 
 Mall, Col. Howard is ordered to be sent for 
 to M"" Speaker, and such persons as shall own the 
 paper, to be committed to the Serjeant at Arms.' 
 
 Colonel Howard's enumeration of his griev- 
 ances, intended to be made public by this simple 
 device of leaving a letter, unaddressed, in a public 
 
74 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 thoroughfare, is given in full with its involved 
 grammar : 
 
 ' The late severity against Roman 
 Catholics having forbidden me the ambition to 
 any place or pretension at Court, and the severe 
 usage of the gout making me unfit to appear 
 in any company but where I am well acquainted, 
 besides a most sensible loss of my poor Brother 
 John, killed at the battle of Strasburg, I resolved 
 not only in person but thought to retire from 
 all temptations this world will give me, and 
 to spend the rest of my days in such domestic 
 and private content, as a man of these principles 
 and of some seeing hopes, in an honest retreat. 
 
 ' But it happened by a certain, though unjust 
 and malicious accident, that I am awakened from 
 the quiet and repose I hoped for ; and find 
 myself engaged by the nearest ties of friendship 
 and honour (and obligations I have always 
 esteemed dearer than my life) to let some un- 
 worthy and base people see that I am yet alive. 
 
 ' Not long since in St. James' Park the Lord 
 Cavendish and S' Thomas Mores (two bold and 
 busy members), upon the news of the Frenches 
 retreat over the Rhine, where many English were 
 reported to be killed (whose lives amongst all 
 honest men were much regretted), these incen- 
 diaries, with a most plausible temper of such 
 worthy patriots, openly declared that it was but a 
 just end to such as went against any Vote of 
 Parliament. 
 
ROUGH MANNERS & BARBAROUS DEEDS 75 
 
 ' With all respect of that honourable House, this 
 cankered and malicious saying will neither deserve 
 the thanks of that House (it being false as to my 
 brother, who went by his Mat^' command at the 
 head of his Company before the Vote was in 
 force) or the approbation of any honest men. 
 But of it I will not trouble myself or others to let 
 you see by an exact Character how these two 
 worthy, unbiassed Senators ought to be credited. 
 
 * Next October^ will produce such efforts of 
 their care and capacity of securing property and 
 Religion in a Christian, humane way, That I 
 believe I shall be called to the Bar to answer 
 these Slanders (as they will call them) ; yet 
 I doubt they will not, for though an ill orator, 1 
 shall most surely prove what I write. As for any 
 other way of revenge, I do not apprehend it, 
 for men that are given to spit blood seldom 
 draw it. 
 
 ' S"", I have troubled you too long with my just 
 resentment, but knowing the show that you have 
 always taken in my concerns, I must beg of you 
 that you will in S^ James' Park, in the Mall, dis- 
 pose these papers, it being all the way that 
 is left to do right to the dead. And 1 assure you 
 I will not do you the ill office of dispersing 
 a libel, for I will sign the copy with all my titles. 
 * Thomas How^ard of 
 
 ' Richmond and Carlisle. 
 
 ' From Ashtead in Surrey, August 30, 1675.' 
 
 ^ At the meeting of Parliament, 
 
76 
 
 CAVAIJER AND PURITAN 
 
 This tirade against ' two bold and busy 
 members ' had its expected effect, and as soon as 
 the House met Colonel Howard was called to the 
 Bar, and having attended, was committed to the 
 Tower for his ' breach of privilege.' 
 
 The poor victim of gout and injured feeling 
 was not long detained. Ten days later * Colonel 
 Howard is ordered to be discharged, and to 
 attend the Speaker with Lord Cavendish and Sir 
 Thomas Mores, who is desired to reconcile them/ 
 
 During the latter years of Charles H. s reign 
 the news-letters abound with episodes, sometimes 
 comic but more often tragic, brought about by 
 the heavy drinking which then prevailed. 
 
 ' Last Friday Esq'^ Barney, who murdered 
 Captain Bedingfield at Norwich, was executed 
 there. He behaved himself very penitently, and 
 exhorted all Gentlemen to avoid the profanation 
 of the Sabbath by immoderate drinking etc., of 
 which he confessed he had been too Guilty ; that 
 the Justice of God had overtaken him ; desiring 
 all that then saw him, or should hear of him, to 
 take warning and break off such Courses, which 
 otherwise would end in the destruction both of 
 soul and body without the Infinite Mercy of God.' 
 
 In the same year the newsmen write : 
 
 'The Lord Digby Gerrard of Bromley and 
 
ROUGH MANNERS & BARBAROUS DEEDS 77 
 
 two other Gentlemen came to the Rose Tavern 
 in Covent Garden about twelve at night, who 
 had been hard drinking, and called for a dish of 
 Buttered Eggs and Mulled Sack, which they eat 
 and drank and soon fell asleep in several places 
 in the room. The first awaking missed the Lord 
 Gerrard, and calling the drawer they looked and 
 found him dead and fallen under the table. The 
 Coroner's Inquest found it that he died of suffoca- 
 tion.' 
 
 On one occasion when Charles and his Court 
 were sojourning at Winchester, 
 
 ' Sir Roger Dallison of Lincolnshire having in 
 his Wine dangerously wounded an Innocent 
 Country fellow, and being carried before the 
 Mayor of Winchester for the same, gave the 
 Mayor two boxes on the ear, and was by his 
 Mat^'^ command committed to the dungeon. 
 
 * Scarce a da,y passes' (write the newsmen) 
 but there is killing or wounding in one part of 
 other of the Town, which 'tis thought will sharpen 
 the Edge of the Law against present offenders.' 
 
 We are told incidentally how 
 
 * a gentleman this evening was brought by a 
 Coach to the Castle Tavern door in Fleet Street, 
 who going into the house before he had satisfied 
 the Coachman, he called on the gentleman for his 
 money, who instead thereof killed him and is 
 committed to prison.' 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Again : 
 
 * Last ni^hi Captain Brampstone and Mr. 
 Wiseman, iwo Gentlemen of Essex related, were 
 at the Lion Tavern in Fetter Lane, and a 
 difference arising the Latter was killed by one 
 Mortal Wound of which he immediately died, and 
 Captain Brampstone went from him in a manner 
 distracted.' 
 
 When the antagonistic parties in the State 
 mvented the names of Whig and Tory, as mutual 
 terms of opprobrium, the hot bloods on either side 
 had a ready and plausible pretext for starting a 
 brawl. 
 
 * On Sunday night the Lord Kingston and 
 Lord Hunsdon, with Captain Billingslyand about 
 twel\ e more, went from Wills' Coffee House to 
 Peter's in Covent Garden to affront the Whigs, 
 where they looked about the Room and cried 
 
 D the Whigs for Rogues etc." But 
 
 nobody speaking to them, they took hold of one 
 Party, a Tailor, as he was going and asked him 
 whether he was a Whig or a Tory, and he crying 
 '* a Whig ! " they burnt his periwig, and Billingsly 
 kicked him downstairs, of which he threatens to 
 complain to the Council' 
 
 Before long the King found it necessary to 
 issue an order to 
 
 * all his Mat^'"' oificers of the guard that they 
 
ROUGH MANNERS k BARBAROUS DEEDS 79 
 
 upbraid no man with the appellation of Whig or 
 cause any quarrelling about that affair.' 
 
 In these days it seems strange to recall the 
 chains which were drawn across the streets of 
 London by night for the better security of foot 
 passengers. 
 
 The lighting made use of only served to 
 make darkness visible, although we are told that 
 
 ' a project of Lights (being two Sockets of Glass 
 in form of a lanthorn) was set up in Cornhill and 
 is intended to burn very brightly all the night, 
 which if approved of, two persons will undertake 
 to furnish the whole city over at a farthing a light.' 
 
 No wonder it was hazardous to be out after 
 dark in the less frequented parts of London. A 
 Mr. Mowbray, who had come up as one of the 
 witnesses against Sir Thomas Gascoigne etc., had 
 a narrow escape. 
 
 'He complained,' write the newsmen, ' and 
 made proof that on Tuesday night, going over the 
 fields in the Rain to his lodgings, he observed a 
 person to follow hard after, which he judged to be 
 to shun the Rain, who, stepping before him, turned 
 upon him with a dagger in so violent a manner 
 that he fell down dead as the assassinator might 
 suppose ; but he, being crooked, wore a pair of 
 
8o 
 
 CAVAIJhR AND PURITAN 
 
 sicel bodies, which defended him from the weapon, 
 and ci strange providence saved his Hfe.' 
 
 In France ihey employed more subtle methods 
 when desirous of getting rid of superfluous and 
 inconvenient lives. The discovery of the whole- 
 seile poisonings carried on by the notorious 
 Madame Brinvilliers had not prevented others 
 from following in her steps. A Madame La 
 Voisine seems to have been even more diabolic 
 in her devices than her predecessor. 
 
 'The Gazette informs us/ we read, 'that 
 many of the most considerable persons in France 
 are Imprisoned about Empoisoning, and its said 
 the Duke of Luxemburg is also accused for having 
 made a Contract with the devil that he should be 
 invulnerable in the War and be always in favour 
 with his prince and that all the Ladies he touched 
 should be in Love with him. 
 
 ' The Chamber of Justice at Paris continues 
 to make a great enquiry after the Poisoners, and 
 besides those formerly mentioned, many others 
 of great quality are seized, and there are warrants 
 out for eighty more ; and the king declares none 
 shall be pardoned that are guilty. Of these 
 poisoners there are most strange and unheard 
 of things discovered . . . Madame La Voisine 
 hath confessed, she hath destroyed 2,700 Children, 
 and baked 400 in Ovens. 
 
ROUGH MANNERS & BARBAROUS DEEDS 8i 
 
 A month later the Paris letters relate how 
 ' Madame La Voisine was executed according to 
 her sentence. Before she was brought to the 
 stake they stripped her to her shift, and made 
 her do penance at the Church of Notre Dame. 
 Never did a flagitious person appear so en- 
 couraged at her sentence, and she kept her 
 Resolution till she came within sight of the pile 
 of wood that was made to burn her. But that 
 struck her with such terror and amazement that 
 she not only quitted that Resolution, but laid 
 fast hold on the Sledge on which she was drawn, 
 so that five persons could hardly unloose her. 
 She had her flesh plucked from several parts 
 of her body and was afterwards burnt. She gave 
 terrible shrieks. She did not discharge any of 
 those persons she had accused, but instead thereof 
 accused her own son and daughter, and one 
 Madame Priannoy (now in custody) to be more 
 skilled in that damnable Art ; and there was found 
 in Madame Priannoy*s Chamber eight pounds 
 of arsenic and sixty phials prepared for several 
 sorts of poisons, and two large books of Receipts 
 how to make the Poisonings. 
 
 'They write from Paris that the French King is 
 under great Apprehension of his receiving poison 
 from some hand or other, the belief whereof hath 
 very much seized on him, even to a melancholy 
 disquiet. Some are of opinion that his Treasure 
 is much exhausted, and that he will fall on the 
 Republic of Genoa, who are rich in money and 
 poor in people for defence, so may be willing 
 to purchase their quiet.' 
 
 G 
 
CAVALTKR AND PURITAN 
 
 Fortunately for England, our ancestors were 
 not disposed to go in for wholesale murders in so 
 base and secret a fashion. If they wished to rid 
 themselves of those who incommoded them, they 
 were apt to do the deed openly, though often in a 
 brutil manner. 
 
 Human life was lightly esteemed in those 
 days, not only by those who were ready to risk 
 their own existence, and cut short the lives of 
 others, for any paltry innuendo that roused their 
 wrath, but we also find the death penalty inflicted 
 by the laws of England for offences that could in 
 no way justify so terrible a sentence. 
 
 ' Six men and women were executed this last 
 week for Clipping, &c.,' write the newsmen again 
 and again. 
 
 The death penalty itself had various forms of 
 hideousness, which civilisation and mercy have 
 long since made impossible. 
 
 ' A woman is to be burnt for killing her 
 husband, &c.' 
 
 This barbarous mode of execution for women 
 was carried out as late as 1789, when it was inflicted 
 upon Christian Murphy for coining. Mercifully 
 the victim was almost invariably strangled by 
 
ROUGH MANNERS k BARBAROUS DEEDS 83 
 
 the executioner before the flames could reach 
 her. 
 
 ' A Frenchman indicted for Burglary,' write 
 the newsmen, ' refusing to plead, was sentenced to 
 be pressed to death/ 
 
 The explanation of this cruel form of torture 
 is to be found under the name of ' peine forte 
 et dure' in our English statutes. Any person 
 who died under its infliction could will his estates 
 and property as he chose, whilst if he were found 
 guilty of the crime of which he was accused, they 
 would be forfeited to the Crown. As a rule the 
 torture was so great that the prisoner was forced 
 to plead before death came to his relief. The 
 * pressing to death ' was carried out by laying 
 heavy weights on the bare body of the accused, 
 who was laid on the hard floor with his arms and 
 legs extended and fastened to the four corners 
 of the room. It was a prolonged ordeal, the 
 weights being increased slowly to allow of the 
 prisoner s submission being forced from him with- 
 out endangering life too soon. Sometimes as 
 much as four hundred weight was laid on the 
 victim before this end was attained. 
 
 The numerous public executions were ren- 
 
84 CAVALIKR AND PURITAN 
 
 dered more terrible by many attendant horrors 
 accompanied by the brutaHty of an ever-present 
 crowd. ( )ur ancestors were surely constituted of 
 toucrher fibres than their more highly civilised 
 descendants. It must have needed nerves of 
 steel to support the prolonged ordeal preceding 
 a public execution, with its climax in the in- 
 evitably expected ' dying speech ' and possible 
 confession, delivered in presence of the grim 
 instruments of death, inexorably awaiting its 
 conclusion. 
 
 There was a certain professional thief, John 
 Wolfe by name, the narration of whose deeds of 
 skill and daring, related by himself with callous 
 indifference at the foot of the gallows, evidently 
 inspired the newsmen with misapplied admiration. 
 
 'On Saturday last,' they write, 'John Wolfe, 
 the notorious pickpocket, was drawn to his 
 Execution, at which place he made a remarkable 
 confession, the substance of which we think 
 not impertinent to insert. He confessed that he 
 had picked most of the pockets of the Nobility of 
 this Kingdom, and that he has done it at St. 
 James's Chapel in the time of receiving the 
 Sacrament, and at the House of Commons and 
 Lords* He confessed he picked one of the 
 Ambassador's pockets in the presence chamber. 
 
ROUGH MANNERS & BARBAROUS DEEDS 85 
 
 and also the pockets of all the Bishops of England, 
 and that he had done the same to the several 
 Judges, he never missing a circuit these seven 
 years, which occasioned his getting twelve good 
 watches at one time. He confessed he used to 
 take an excursion into Ireland in the Vacation, 
 and that he picked forty-six pockets at Dublin in 
 two days, insomuch that he was forced to set 
 a mark on them, that he might not attempt 
 the same twice. Lastly he confessed that nothing 
 troubled him except that he was to die for taking 
 only 33^". 6d, out of a pocket at Philmarke fair in 
 Wiltshire, and that the money was returned 
 again to the owner.' 
 
 Another miscreant, who was doomed to suffer 
 for crimes of a far deeper dye than the above, 
 nearly turned the tables on the hangman in the 
 well-known style of the Punch and Judy show. 
 
 ' On Wednesday last two execrable villains 
 convicted last Hertford Assizes for ravishing, 
 robbing and murdering a mealman s wife of 
 Barnet, were there hanged in chains, and while 
 the Executioner was busy in fastening the Rope 
 on the Gibbet, Bungy, one of the malefactors, 
 unloosing his hands with his teeth, took off the 
 rope from his own neck and dexterously put it 
 over the Executioner's head, got astride on the 
 Gibbet, thrust away the Ladder, and had certainly 
 hanged him had not the Rope been somewhat 
 entangled in one part of his hat, which occasioned 
 
86 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 him to drop through ; and it was well nigh an 
 hour (he defending himself from their assaults) 
 before he ccnild be got down and executed.' 
 
 In .mother paragraph the newsmen enlighten 
 us as to the origin of the term 'blackguard,' 
 w hen retailing some acts of dare-devilry on the 
 pari of the ' human boy ' of the period : 
 
 • This last week, some idle, dirty boys that lie 
 cibout the Horse Guards and Mews and Ride 
 horses to water (commonly called the black 
 guard) held a sessions, and there arraigned four 
 of their Company Representing three Lords in 
 the Tower. And he out of the Tower was 
 brought to Trial and condemned to die. So 
 they took that Boy that represented that Lord 
 and hanged him up. But a Coachman coming in 
 and laying about him with his whip, they all Ran 
 away, forgetting to cut him down. So the boy 
 was hanged indeed almost to death, but some say 
 he is recovered.* 
 
 One of the ' Lords ' so disastrously represented 
 by the black-guard troop was Lord Bellasis, 
 ' who is,' say the newsmen, 
 
 ' still in the Tower and there is like to continue, 
 there being not yet any warrant to the Lieut, of 
 the Tower for his delivery, the Lord President 
 being, as some say, so politick-ally troubled with 
 the Gout that he could not come to Council last 
 Thursday, nor sign a warrant elsewhere.' 
 
ROUGH MANNERS & BARBAROUS DEEDS 87 
 
 Another prisoner who had to remain for some 
 years in this aristocratic place of durance was 
 Lord Danby, the late Lord Treasurer. 
 
 There is a mention of him in a letter from 
 Lord Massareene to his cousin Richard at 
 Arbury. The Irish Viscount, having left his 
 castle of Antrim for London in 1679, is able to 
 send town news to his friends, instead of plead- 
 ing for the same. The passage is as follows : 
 
 ' The King returned safe [from Newmarket] 
 thanks be to God, and the story of several Pistols 
 found in Lord Danby's lodgings in the Tower is 
 so various and unintelligible I do not write it, 
 nor yet a chat about the town for a greater 
 discovery of the old Popish design. These are 
 not matured nor formed yet into a narrative fit 
 for any one's Pen.' 
 
88 CAVALIKR AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AND PERSECUTION 
 
 It would be ineffectual to attempt to give a reflec- 
 tion of the manner of life and bias of thought in 
 the time of the Restoration without devoting a 
 few pages to the religious intolerance and cruelty 
 which then pervaded Christian England. This 
 was evidenced by the treatment meted out to all 
 denominations differing in creed or form from the 
 State religion of our national Church. 
 
 Politics were almost inseparably bound up with 
 the profession of faith. Whatever Charles II.'s 
 own tenets may have been — if he had any — he 
 was a firm supporter of the Church of England 
 from motives of self-interest alone. Its adherents 
 represented the royalist cause. For this reason 
 the test of the Church's most solemn Sacrament 
 was enforced on those who held public offices, or 
 served the State, to ensure their being members 
 
RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY & PERSECUTION 89 
 
 of the national Church and loyal subjects of the 
 King. 
 
 Some extracts from the news-letters will illus- 
 trate the bitterness and severity exhibited in 
 the persecution of the Papists, Non-conformists, 
 Presbyterians, and Quakers alike : 
 
 ' His Mat^ on Friday last was pleased to order 
 his Attorney General to draw up a Proclamation 
 to be suddenly issued for the Banishment of all 
 Seminary Priests and Jesuits, and all others that 
 having taken orders from the See of Rome, 
 are his Mat^^ natural born subjects, who are 
 to depart the Realm by March 10 next under 
 severe penalties. 
 
 ' Receivers are appointed for receiving the 
 penalties upon Romish Recusants in the several 
 counties. Upon proclaiming his Mat^'^ declara- 
 tion against Non-conformists at Canterbury, the 
 Mayor and Justices did Immediately issue out 
 Warrants to the Constables of the respective 
 wards to suppress the meetings, which proved so 
 effectual that none but the Quakers presumed to 
 disobey. 
 
 ' His Mat^ expressly declared that whatever 
 Justices of the Peace are wanting in their duties 
 to execute the laws against Recusants of all kinds, 
 according to what we told you in our last, he will 
 give orders that they be forthwith turned out 
 of their commission. 
 
 1678. ' For the Ridding of Papists out of the 
 fleet the officers and soldiers at the Spithead near 
 
90 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Portsmouth were all ordered to receive the Sacra- 
 ment aboard on the 2ist. 
 
 ' On Sunday last several of the King's mes- 
 sengers, and 'tis said Sir Wm. Waller was with 
 them, went to the French ambassador's house, his 
 Excellency being with his Mat^ at Windsor, and 
 about eleven or twelve noon, demanded of the 
 porter to go into the Chapel, where they were 
 then at Mass, to search for some English popish 
 l)riests and other English that were at Mass. 
 But notice being given several of the Ambassador's 
 servants stood upon their guard with drawn 
 swords and swore they should not enter neither 
 the house nor chapel ; if they did be it at their 
 perils, which was thought not convenient to do, 
 but to wait some other opportunity. 
 
 ' In the afternoon S' Wm. Waller, with the 
 assistance of Watermen and Constables, seized 
 on several boats with passengers, to the number 
 of above sixty persons, and made them pay 
 five shillings apiece for transgressing the Lord*s 
 Day, according to the late Act of Parliament, 
 which happened well for the poor of Westminster 
 parish, amongst whom it was distributed. 
 
 1679. ' Last Monday another Priest was exe- 
 cuted at Denbigh, who carried himself with that 
 obstinacy that being brought to the place of exe- 
 cution he showed neither Humanity, Christianity 
 nor Charity. What motions were necessary in 
 order to his suffering they were constrained to 
 force him into, he not willingly moving hand or 
 foot towards it, saying he would not be accessory 
 to his own death. When the Executioner had 
 
RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY & PERSECUTION 91 
 
 put the halter about his neck the Sheriff de- 
 manded if he had anything to say. Why," 
 saith he, ''you will not hang me, sure." The 
 Sheriff answered, '' You must suffer as the law 
 hath appointed," Upon which he cried out The 
 D . . . 1 take you all," which were his last words/ 
 
 In Scotland the Presbyterian, or so-called 
 
 fanatic, party were quite as severely handled 
 
 in their turn. Their practice of holding field 
 
 conventicles, in defiance of the laws against this 
 
 manner of assembling themselves together, was 
 
 regarded as endangering peace and order. When 
 
 their meetings increased in numbers they were 
 
 put down by force, but not even the severest 
 
 penalties were of avail to check this form of their 
 
 religious zeal. 
 
 ' Fourscore Scots ' [we learn] * came in a ship 
 from Edinburgh into the river Thames to be sold 
 for Barbadoes as slaves. Several shipmasters 
 refused to carry them because they said they went 
 against their wills, and for no other reason than 
 for meeting in a field and there praying together. 
 So one Griffith, who bought them, finding himself 
 at a loss, happened to say that if he had but part 
 of his money again he would not meddle with 
 them. So a purse was made for a Collection and 
 as much money obtained as Griffith desired to 
 have. So the Scotch ship that brought them 
 let them go ashore. Some are gone to friends 
 
92 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 and some to other places to subsist till they can 
 return to Scotland.' 
 
 At length the barbarous murder of Archbishop 
 Sharpe near St. Andrews brought matters to a 
 climax. A great field conventicle near Glasgow 
 was strong enough to defy the authorities. The 
 troops sent against these misguided fanatics by the 
 Duke of Lauderdale retired without dispersing 
 them, alleging that their numbers were too great. 
 
 At this crisis the King sent off the Duke of 
 Monmouth to collect troops on the road and put 
 down the rebellion. The enemy were found 
 encamped at Hamilton near Glasgow. The news- 
 men give a graphic account of the fight which 
 ensued, known as that of Bothwell Bridge : 
 
 ' On Saturday last about twelve o'clock the 
 General gave order to march towards the enemy, 
 who lay encamped in Hamilton park, which is 
 twelve miles in circuit, and compassed with a 
 high stone wall enclosing the Town of Hamilton 
 and a castle the Residence of that Duke. 
 
 ' The river Clyde runs within a mile of the 
 Park, and over it is a bridge called Bothwell, 
 which bridge was a strong pass guarded by the 
 Rebels with a wall breast high at either end. 
 
 ' The Duke came before the bridge about 
 half an hour after sun-rising, and drew up all his 
 horses upon the side of a hill that lay opposite 
 
RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY & PERSECUTION 93 
 
 to the bridge, and at the Rear of his horse threw 
 up an entrenchment, where he placed four pieces 
 of cannon. 
 
 * The Rebels sent the Duke a petition, which 
 he refused to read unless they would lay down 
 their arms. They replied they would not unless 
 he would grant them what they desired in their 
 declaration. But yet the Duke marched towards 
 them with the White flag, but they answered him 
 with the Red and first began to fire upon the 
 King's party with two Cannons, one of which 
 was bigger than any of the Kings. But they 
 wanting skill to mount them, one of them [the 
 cannon-balls ? ] flew into the Air, and the other 
 grazed on the ground and only damaged our 
 Army with the dust. 
 
 * But the King s horse drawing off, the King s 
 cannon played upon them and killed two horse- 
 men on the bridge. Upon which they began to 
 fly, disordering their foot, whom they left to the 
 fury of the enemy, who killed seven hundred of 
 them upon the place. The rest of them fled into 
 Hamilton woods, which the King's army encom- 
 passing, have taken twelve hundred and sixty 
 prisoners, amongst whom is a Minister, Mr. John 
 Kid, who was got into a pond up to his Chin, 
 and desired they would spare his life, for he was 
 a minister. Upon which they pulled him out by 
 the hair, finding about him only three shillings 
 and a bible with his own annotations, which is 
 sent up to the King. 
 
 ' The prisoners are all brought to Edinburgh, 
 having been first stripped by the soldiers.' 
 
94 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Some weeks later we find that 'eight hundred 
 of the Rebels ' were pardoned and set free, whilst 
 ' four hundred were to be transported.' Of the 
 latter, two hundred were lost at sea on their way 
 to Virginia. 
 
 The unfortunate John Kid and another 
 minister of the name of Lenox were reserved for 
 a worse fate. They had been ' sorely wounded 
 in the fight,' and yet 
 
 ' were both exquisitely tormented with the Boot 
 to force them to discover something yet unknown, 
 but they could extort nothing from them. The 
 first (Kid), having his legs broke w4th it, hath 
 contracted a violent fever, and the second is 
 almost dead.' 
 
 The torture of the Boot, still tolerated in 
 Scotland at that time, was so terrible to witness, 
 that Burnet says : 
 
 ' The Council, in whose presence it is done, 
 almost all offer to run away. . . . The sight is so 
 dreadful that, without an order restraining such a 
 number to stay, the board would be forsaken.' 
 
 The number of fanatics that lost their lives 
 at Bothwell Bridge proved to be far greater 
 than was at first suspected. A couple of months 
 afterwards it was announced from Scotland that 
 
RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY & PERSECUTION 95 
 
 ' the people about Hamilton had gotten a 
 distemper much like the Plague, which is imputed 
 to the stench of the dead bodies slain thereabouts 
 in the late Rebellion, when many of the Wounded 
 crept into the corn, and when it was reaped they 
 found them lying in a Nauseous manner, and 
 besides many were not well buried. They add 
 that the number slain was much more than we 
 had account of, there being Reckoned seventeen 
 hundred and forty-five dead bodies.' 
 
 The Duke of Monmouth's victory was 
 effectual in checking these large and dangerous 
 meetings of the Presbyterian party in Scotland. 
 Two years later ' Duke Hamilton ' appealed on 
 their behalf, ' pressing that an Act against the 
 Papists might be passed by itself, and the Act 
 against the fanatics might be explained, and not 
 the Presbyterians compelled, for if they were, it 
 would greatly weaken the Protestant interest in 
 the Kingdom.' . . . But the [Scotch] Bishops 
 urged that they might be compelled . . . alleging 
 that ' there was less danger from the Roman 
 Catholics than the Presbyterians, the one being- 
 bad in doctrine, the other worse in practices, 
 which hath plainly appeared this forty years.' 
 
 Of all the sects and denominations called upon 
 to suffer for conscience' sake in Charles II. 's reign 
 
96 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 the Quakers seem to have been pre-eminent in 
 the steadfastness and defiance of their resistance, 
 and suffered accordingly 
 
 'We have advice from Bristol of the great 
 number of dissenters daily committed there, inso- 
 much that their Newgate is not able to contain 
 them, there being eighty-six Quakers and fifty- 
 two Presbyterians committed there, so that they 
 are necessitated almost to be put one upon 
 another, there being twenty-six in one Room. 
 In 1683 * The Quakers are extreme stubborn. 
 Their Meeting House in Grace Church Street 
 being kept shut, they in great numbers resorted 
 thither in the street, bringing forms, chairs etc., and 
 one beginning to speak he was taken away either 
 by the Constables or Soldiers, but immediately his 
 Room was supplied by another and so succes- 
 sively, and some were committed. 
 
 * From Ireland they tell us, dated July 26th, 
 of one Gideon Zank, the great Bell Wether of 
 Wexford, who at the assizes the week before 
 was found guilty of Subornation and Perjury and 
 fined 40s. This was a great Mortification to the 
 Party, that so eminent a Leader should be found 
 in so foul a fault. But the best of Them have 
 their failings, and this did not hinder, but that on 
 the 24th he with some fellow-labourers held forth 
 in Dublin from nine in the morning till four after- 
 noon, it being kept as a day of humiliation 
 among them, which usually bodes mischief ; this 
 Party fasting having, as is well observed, been 
 
RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY k PERSECUTION 97 
 
 commonly made use of to whet their appetite to 
 Rebellion. . . . 
 
 * And of the same Batch are the obstinate 
 Conventicles. . . . The Hearers indeed are 
 mostly Women, and therefore not so roughly 
 handled. But yet they are of great danger. 
 When Eve was tempted, she gave Adam the 
 apple. . . . 'Twere better for them and the 
 whole Kingdom that they would do as about 
 forty or fifty did on the 4th at Southampton ; set 
 sail for Pennsylvania. There they may find those 
 like themselves, and exercise one with another 
 with the greatest freedom.' 
 
 Even Mr. Penn, who was doing so much for 
 the colonisation and prosperity of his fellow- 
 countrymen in America, did not escape the 
 clutches of the law during a passing visit to 
 England. He had come over to contest Lord 
 Baltimore's claim to a portion of the ground he 
 had marked out for building the city of Phila- 
 delphia, part of which was already constructed 
 
 * Mr. Penn the quaker, being proprietor and 
 Governor of Pennsylvania, is lately come over 
 about the difference with Lord Baltimore, and 
 was last Sunday at a Conventicle in Westminster, 
 where he was seized and carried before a Justice, 
 and paying the 20/. as the Speaker, he was 
 discharged.' 
 
 Another well-known name appears in the 
 
98 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 news-letters as subject to frequent fines and 
 imprisonments. It is that of Richard Baxter, the 
 eminent nonconformist divine. He escaped, at 
 this date, better than many others, having power- 
 ful friends readv to ransom his goods when 
 seized in payment of the heavy fines inflicted 
 upon him. He did not always, however, escape 
 imprisonment. On one occasion, when he was 
 undergoing one of his periodical seizures by the 
 myrmidons of the law, 
 
 ' on a warrant from Sir James Butler upon the 
 Corporation, oath was made by Dr. Cox that it 
 would endanger his life to keep him in prison, 
 being extremely sick. His Mat^ therefore has 
 been pleased to recall the said warrant with the 
 expression that he delighteth not in the death of 
 his subjects.' 
 
 Others were not so fortunate. 
 
 ' One Mr. Raphson, a dissenting minister in 
 Newgate, died last Thursday of a burning 
 fever, which is very predominate among those 
 prisoners.' 
 
 At times the rabble would interfere on behalf 
 
 of their favourite ministers, and cause a riot 
 
 which could only be quelled by military force. 
 
 ' Yesterday, the goods of one Partridge, a 
 non-conformist preacher in Middlesex, were by 
 
RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY & PERSECUTION 99 
 
 Hilton the Grand Informer seized upon, which 
 caused such a Rabble that two files of Musque- 
 teers were forced to be sent for from Whitehall 
 to preserve quietness.' 
 
 * Yesterday one Powell, a Blasphemous Mug- 
 gletonian ^ fellow, was sentenced to stand in the 
 pillory before the palace-gate on Monday next 
 and to pay 200 Marks to the King and to give 
 security for his good behaviour for the future. 
 But as soon as sentence was passed he very 
 strangely got out of Court and made his Escape 
 from all the Marshalls/ 
 
 A lapse in regular attendance at the parish 
 church was actionable, and if continued for any 
 length of time it rendered the absentee liable to 
 excommunication. 
 
 ' Yesterday at the King s Bench bar a motion 
 was made that whereas there were some proceed- 
 ings in that Court against the Countess of 
 Anglesey for not going to Church : That she 
 might have farther time to plead, and the Court 
 gave till the latter end of this term. . . . ' 
 
 * The Spiritual Court is busy sending forth 
 their Citations in order to excommunicate several 
 persons for not receiving the blessed Sacrament 
 as before, and for absenting themselves from the 
 parish Church.' 
 
 ^ The so-called followers of a tailor named Ludovic Muggleton, 
 who, with his associate Reeves, asserted that they were the two last 
 witnesses of God mentioned in the Revelation 
 
 H 2 
 
100 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Mr. Rosswell, a dissenting minister, was 
 hardly dealt with towards the end of Charles II/s 
 reign. He was accused and condemned, on paltry 
 and insufficient evidence, of having spoken against 
 the Kingf in a sermon. When he heard the 
 verdict ' he lift up his hands and eyes, saying 
 '*God have mercy upon this jury!"' He was 
 doomed to suffer the extreme penalty of the law 
 for so-called high treason.^ 
 
 But enough has been quoted to show how 
 narrow were the recognised limits of a loyalist s 
 creed in those days, and how wide-spread was 
 the conviction that, to ensure the safety of the 
 State, all forms of religious faith except that of our 
 national Church must be doomed to undergo the 
 fiery ordeal of persecution. 
 
 ^ The sentence was so obviously unjust that it was not carried 
 out.— -Hume. 
 
lOI 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE TERRORS OF THE PILLORY 
 
 The punishment of the pillory was a sentence 
 much in vogue when the property of the accused 
 was insufficient for the extortion of a satisfactory 
 fine. This latter penalty in many cases seems to 
 have gone to enrich the King, and probably the 
 alternative of the physical ordeal helped to elicit 
 the truth as to the prisoner s private means. 
 
 The following instance will show what paltry 
 errors had to be expiated by this often severe 
 trial of endurance. 
 
 When Charles II. s ' effigy' was about to be 
 set up at Windsor a foolish attorney, named 
 Edward Harris, was convicted of having said to 
 his companions ' Let s go see that Little Comical 
 Fellow on Horseback.' For this frivolous 
 remark he was sentenced ' to stand in the pillory 
 at Windsor, Abingdon, Reading, and Newbury, 
 
I02 CAVALIKR AND PURITAN 
 
 and hncd twenty Nobles, being of a mean 
 Estate.' 
 
 When the trade of an informer was en- 
 couraged and rendered profitable, a word spoken 
 in haste or an irresponsible remark proved suffi- 
 cient to excite suspicion and imperil life as well 
 as fortune. The case of Mn Cawdron, steward 
 to the Earl of Essex, may be cited as an example 
 of the danger of an incautious observation, if 
 maliciously reported. 
 
 Mr. Cawdron was tried for high misde- 
 meanour because it was asserted he had said : 
 
 * That he should say if the King had not 
 been a Papist he would have passed the Bill of 
 Exclusion as also the bill for visiting Protestant 
 dissenters. 
 
 ' And another time upon the election of 
 Papillion and Dubois : ^ That in Oliver s time 
 there was no such stir, but every man could sleep 
 quietly under his own Vine, and that he hoped 
 ere long to see such times again. 
 
 'The former part Mr. Fox, a blacksmith, 
 witnessed alone, which had been treason if two 
 witnesses ; the latter part the said Fox and one 
 Fisher witnessed. 
 
 ' Mr. Cawdron pleaded they were persons of 
 
 ' When the City and the King were in opposition in regard to 
 the election of sheriffs. 
 
THE TERRORS OF THE PILLORY 103 
 
 ill fame and did it out of Malice for not suffering: 
 them to become Tenants of his Lord, and 
 brought one Salisbury to prove that F'ox was 
 suborned, which he made not good, and the Jury- 
 returned in a quarter of an hour and found him 
 guilty. 
 
 ' Then Mr. Attorney moved for judgment 
 against Mr. Cawdron. . . . 
 
 * Mr. Cawdron told the Court he had a large 
 and sickly Family and nothing to support them 
 but his wages. That Mr. Fox had done him a 
 great deal of wrong and was a very ill man. 
 Judge Wilkins asked what estate he had. 
 Mr. Williams [his counsel] answered his estate was 
 a wife and six or seven children. Then," said 
 my Lord, ''we must make the fine the less and 
 the corporal punishment the greater," and ordered 
 he should come up on Saturday for Judgment.' 
 
 Accordingly, on the last day of the term 
 Mr. Cawdron was brought up to receive his 
 sentence, but having made an affidavit that ' he 
 was descended of ancient and loyal family, and 
 that when he was Mayor of Waterford he refused 
 the orders sent for proclaiming Oliver Cromwell 
 Protector,' he was let off with a comparatively 
 light sentence. In consideration of his ' large 
 and sickly family ' he was fined only ^loo, but was 
 sentenced to stand twice in the pillory, and find 
 securities for his good behaviour during life. 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The pillory was so often inflicted for minor 
 offences that one is apt to overlook the dangerous 
 ordeal it mi^ht become. During the hour-long 
 exposure in a public thoroughfare, there was 
 hazard to both life and limb, should the victim 
 chance to be unpopular with the rabble. The 
 guard in attendance was often quite insufficient 
 for the protection of the prisoner from the ill- 
 usage of the mob, or ' mobile,' as it was then 
 called. An unfortunate man of the name of 
 Giles had an especially hard tirtie of it when 
 undergoing this punishment. 
 
 ' Yesterday Giles stood in the pillory in 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, and was so much mauled 
 that the blood ran down in several places, but 
 having one smart blow upon the leg he jumped 
 off the Pillory before half the hour was out, and 
 ran away to Newgate, being guarded only by the 
 crowd, the officers running away for fear of being- 
 hurt by the stones that were thrown at him. He 
 stands to-morrow at Gray's Inn Gate, and on 
 Saturday at the Maypole.' 
 
 The ill-used Giles was so much injured as to 
 be rendered unable to appear again for a month. 
 It seems difficult to understand how he managed 
 to jump down from the pillory and run away 
 
THE TERRORS OF THE PILLORY 105 
 
 unless it was with the connivance of his guards, 
 in order to ensure their own escape from the 
 shower of stones and other missiles aimed at their 
 prisoner. According to Johnsons Dictionary,' 
 the pillory was ' a frame erected on a pillar and 
 made with holes and folding boards through 
 which the heads and hands of criminals are put.' 
 
 When Giles had recovered and was able to 
 stand at Gray's Inn Gate, arrangements were 
 made for him to have a guard, ' if possible, strong- 
 enough to secure him from being used as formerly.' 
 
 How he fared we are not told, but a week 
 later he was in a fit condition to stand for the 
 third time in the pillory at the Maypole, when 
 
 ' it being the last time, the people were resolved 
 to take their leave of him by pelting him, but did 
 him no great harm, he being secured by armour 
 and his legs wrapt about with straw ; and after 
 an hour was carried to Newgate in the coach in 
 which he came, being guarded backwards and 
 forwards by avast number of watchmen.' 
 
 Women were also condemned to undergo 
 this punishment, and fared quite as badly if they 
 had been unlucky enough to incur the dislike of 
 the populace. 
 
 ^- Folio edition, 175s. 
 
io6 CAVALIER AND l^URITAN 
 
 There was a certain ' Madam Cellier,' de- 
 scribed by Burnet as ' a Popish midwife who had 
 a great share of wit and was abandoned to lewd- 
 ness/ who, in combination with Dangerfield and 
 others, concocted what was known as the ' Meal 
 Tub Plot.' 
 
 When their forgeries were discovered and the 
 conspirators brought to trial, Mrs. Cellier was in 
 the first instance allowed bail. She employed 
 her liberty in printing an account of the affair 
 in which she was implicated, and in her 
 ' Narrative ' brought accusations against so many 
 persons of note that she was again seized and 
 imprisoned. 
 
 In the words of the news-writer : 
 
 * Mrs. Cellier got bail, which being tendered to 
 the Council they accepted, and she told the Council 
 that she will print her book, let them do what 
 they can, for she knows the worst on't.' 
 
 Whereupon, a fortnight later, it is not surpris- 
 ing to learn that 
 
 'two Indictments being preferred against Mrs. 
 Cellier, one for subornation, the other for 
 publishing her book, the bills were found. 
 Upon which Sir Phill. Matthews moved that 
 
THE TERRORS OF THE PILLORY 107 
 
 she might be taken up privately, and accord- 
 ingly, by a Constable's diligence, she was seized 
 yesterday at her own house before she could 
 have notice that the Bills were found, and she 
 was immediately brought into the old Bailey, 
 where she had notice that she was to be tried 
 to-day, though Judge Dolben was for having it 
 put it off till next Sessions. But the Lord 
 Mayor telling Baron Weston that the Coachman 
 (who Mrs. Cellier saith in her Narrative declared 
 to her that he was tortured, and afterwards was 
 offered money to say he took up Sir Edmondbury 
 Godfrey in Somerset House before Bedloes 
 discovery) had been with him, and declared on 
 oath to the contrary, and that she offered him 
 money if he would say so ; and that he asking 
 her why she would put that into her narrative she 
 answered because she had a mind to it." 
 
 ' Upon which Baron Weston said that 
 publishing her narrative was an indictable act; 
 she needed no time, and so ordered her Trial 
 to come on this day at two o'clock. The Con- 
 stable is bound to prosecute her, she having given 
 him two of her books when he seized her.' 
 
 Two days -later, on September 13, Mrs. 
 Cellier was 
 
 ' sentenced by the Recorder, who came to town 
 but that morning. She stands on Wednesday 
 come sennight at the Maypole, on Thursday at 
 Charing Cross, and on Saturday at Co vent 
 Garden, her books being to be burnt before 
 
io8 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 her : and is to stay in Prison till her ;^500 fine 
 is paid. 
 
 ' Yesterday,' write the newsmen on the i6th, 
 six Gentlewomen presented a Petition to his 
 Mat- to forgive Mrs. Cellier the Punishment of 
 the Pillory (she having said she would rather be 
 hanged than endure it), but his Mat^ gave no 
 answer. 
 
 ' Its said the Earl of Shaftesbury intends to 
 arrest her upon scandalum magnat: , and that an 
 Indictment of High Treason is preparing against 
 next Term, and that she hath a Coat of Armour 
 making to defend her against the Injury of the 
 Pillory. 
 
 On the 1 8th of September * Mrs. Cellier, 
 desiring to have her punishment soon over, stood 
 this day in the pillory at the Maypole, it being 
 one o'clock before she came on (the usual time 
 being twelve) ; where having stood awhile, with 
 a blow from some of the crowd she fell down out 
 of policy, thinking that by it she might be per- 
 mitted to lie upon the pillory her time out ; but 
 upon the cries of the people she was raised and 
 stood about half an hour, after which she was 
 conveyed to Newgate in the coach she came in, 
 the people throwing at her all the while. Several 
 were seized for throwing at her, both on the 
 pillory and by the way, but the multitude rescued 
 them ; and the under sheriff riding into St. 
 Clement's Churchyard after some that threw, with 
 his sword drawn, had like to have spoiled himself 
 and his horse with the stones that lie for building 
 the church. She was armed cap-a-pie under her 
 
THE TERRORS OF THE PH^LORY 109 
 
 clothes, and had a board in her hand made on 
 purpose to defend her on the pillory. 
 
 ' When the officers went this morning to fetch 
 her out of Newgate, she out of dread cried out 
 she was in labour, but it prevailed not. 
 
 ' One stone struck her hood off when she was 
 on the pillory, which discovered her Iron cap 
 covered with leather, and she had {notwithstand- 
 ing her pretended weakness) the courage to take 
 up several stones thrown at her and put them in 
 her pocket, as also her foot-boy, who stood under 
 the pillory, by her order did the same, to show 
 some persons, hoping by that, 'tis thought, that 
 she may have the two other standings forgiven. 
 But its believed this will not do, and that she will 
 stand on Tuesday and Thursday ' 
 
 Mrs. Celliers craftiness was of no avail. 
 Before the next standing came off she tried to 
 work on the King s feelings by sending him some 
 of the biggest stones that were thrown at her, 
 with a petition 
 
 desiring his Mat^ to forgive her standing any 
 more in the pillory, since she v/as in danger of her 
 life. But it prevailed not, she having stood this 
 day [Sept. 23] in Covent Garden, where many 
 stones, turnips etc. were thrown at her. She fell 
 down once or twice, but being raised again, the 
 pillory was over-turned, and she and two men 
 thrown down. But they afterwards setting it up 
 she stood a quarter of an hour and then was con- 
 
no CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 veyed in the coach thro' Holborn to Newgate, an 
 empty coach i^oing- before her to hinder the people 
 from knowing which coach she was in. Two or 
 three were taken up for throwing at her, but soon 
 rescued. She stands again on Monday at Charing 
 Cross. 
 
 Mrs. CelHer's next appeal was to the Lord 
 Mayor. She pleaded her bruises ' as a reason 
 against her appearing, and petitioned that she 
 might not stand on Monday.' 
 
 This time she was successful, having obtained 
 
 " two able Chirurgeons to make affidavit that her 
 bruises were so great, that her life was endangered 
 if she went as yet abroad. Her standing is there- 
 fore respited until further orders.' 
 
 She was not too ill to be able to intrigue for 
 her release. 
 
 * She hath by a friend offered Alderman Ellis 
 (bailiff of the Duchy of Lancaster), who is to have 
 her fine, ;z^^300 in gold in composition for her 
 1,000; but its thought he is so honest a man 
 that he will not bate a farthing.' 
 
 From the above it would seem that Mrs. 
 Cellier's fine had been doubled since her sentence, 
 when it was stated to have been ^500. She did 
 not succeed in corrupting the honest alderman, 
 and the amount of her fine, which represented a 
 
THE TERRORS OF THE PILLORY iii 
 
 much larger sum in those days, ensured her con- 
 tinued imprisonment. 
 
 Mrs. Cellier s temper did not improve during 
 her incarceration. On October 5 it is reported 
 that * she fell foul upon a Gentlewoman who came 
 to see her this week in Newgate, saying she was 
 not to be made a show of 
 
 Two days later she v/as taken before the 
 Council 
 
 * in company with Mr. Lestrange, Mr. Sharkey, 
 Mr. Tongue, his father, and Dr. Oates, where 
 several Material things were discovered, and 
 many hard words passed between Dr. Oates 
 and Mr. Tongue. Mrs. Cellier feigned herself 
 sick and fell down and sw^ooned in the Council 
 Chamber, but was soon discovered, and re-con- 
 veyed with Mr. Tongue to Newgate. To-morrow 
 Mrs. Cellier stands in the pillory at Charing Cross.' 
 
 The wily Mrs. Cellier did not appear. She still 
 
 * pleaded her bruises ' and managed to defer her 
 last standing until October 22, when she under- 
 went the final ordeal at Charing Cross. The night 
 before * she wrote a letter to the Sheriff to take 
 care of her, for she heard there were loads of 
 stone and Brick-bats laid thereabouts to be 
 thrown at hen' 
 
112 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Mrs. Cellier survived the brickbats, and 
 remained in prison for more than two years. 
 
 But when the Duke of York's influence became 
 all-powerful at Court after the discovery of the 
 Rye- House Plot, the Roman Catholics profited 
 accordingly. 
 
 In November 1683 Mrs. Cellier was 'admitted 
 to bail to make out a writ of error upon a Judg- 
 ment formerly brought against her. . . / 
 
 We have seen how dangerous a punishment 
 the pillory could become when its victims were 
 objects of disapproval to the mob. On the other 
 hand, should the culprit or his crime chance to find 
 favour in the eyes of the populace, their feeling 
 was shown in an opposite fashion. 
 
 A certain Mr. Cuffe had ^.hot aMr. Culliford 
 in the back, but without killing him, and for 
 this crime was sentenced to stand in the pillory 
 near the Custom House. Why the sympathy of 
 the crowd should have been on behalf of the per- 
 petrator of this dastardly act remains unexplained. 
 We learn by the mention of the wounded man*s 
 occupation that he was a Commissioner of the 
 Revenue, and the crime may have been a bar- 
 barous method of resisting an impost of the 
 
THE TERRORS OF THE PILLORY 113 
 
 Customs, which would be likely to enlist the 
 sympathy of a lawless rabble. 
 
 ' This day Cuffe, who shot Mr. Culliford, stood 
 in the Pillory before the Customs house, having 
 a good guard over him, but instead of being pelted 
 with Rotten Oranges etc. the Carmen, porters etc. 
 from the Wharf thereabouts came and gave him a 
 great deal of money. Some were taken and carried 
 before Sir Jo. Ruck worth, who its said made 
 mittimus-es for their commitment to Bridewell, 
 but the Rabble grew so numerous that the Sheriffs 
 were forced to send for more help for fear of a 
 Rescue. 
 
 ' Esq'^ Culliford, being well recovered, designs 
 to set forward for Ireland on Monday next as one 
 of the Commissioners of his Mat^^ Revenues in 
 that Kingdom.' 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER VHI 
 
 SIR KICJIAKD NEWDIGATE's DIARY 
 
 For the next few pages we turn aside from the 
 turmoil of public life under Charles II. to follow 
 the fortunes of Richard Newdigate and some of 
 his friends. The death of the elder Sir Richard, 
 his son's mysterious ' adventure ' at Court, and 
 his subsequent futile attempt to enter Parlia- 
 ment were events comprised within a period of 
 three months. Before the next six months were 
 over, the disappointed candidate must have been 
 partially consoled for his defeat, when the Parlia- 
 ment for which he had stood came to a premature 
 end. 
 
 The Commons began by falling out with the 
 King respecting their choice of a Speeiker. 
 When Charles refused to ratify their election of 
 Mr. Seymour Xo the Chair, they expostulated 
 with a ' Mumble Representation ' etc. The only 
 
SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE'S DIARY 115 
 
 reply they received from the King is given as 
 follows : ' " Return to your house, lose no more 
 time, do as I have directed you," and so ^ibruptly 
 broke off.' 
 
 Charles's autocratic will triumphed as a matter 
 of course ; but when the Commons, with con- 
 scientious but inconvenient zeal, brought in a bill 
 * to disable the Duke of York from inheriting the 
 Crown of the Realm,' followed by the impeach- 
 ment of the Lord Treasurer, the King fell back 
 upon his last resource and summarily prorogued 
 the Parliament before the end of May. 
 
 ' The prorogation of the Parliament,' write the 
 newsmen, ' wrought as great a consternation in 
 the most considerable Inhabitants in and about 
 London as hath been known of a long time.' 
 
 The prorogation was followed by a dissolu- 
 tion in July, and this short-lived Parliament, ever 
 memorable for having passed the Habeas Corpus 
 Bill, ceased to exist. 
 
 In spite of the ' consternation ' and forebod- 
 ings of evil caused by the King's action, social 
 life went on as gaily as before. Marrying and 
 giving in marriage took place as usual, the active 
 agents in the compact being, as a rule, the 
 
lib CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 parents oi ilic young couple who were to be 
 mated for weal or woe. 
 
 Lord Massareene, writing to Sir Richard from 
 Antrim, tries to enlist his aid in arranging suitable 
 niatclies for his unmarried son and daughter in 
 the following letter : 
 
 ' I am not out of hopes that I may w^ait on 
 you within a short time, and next week probably 
 begin a journey with my son to Dublin, and so 
 take shipping to England ; designing to stay 
 awhile in Cheshire, Lancashire, and Staffordshire, 
 before I come to Arbury. My relation to Lanca- 
 shire now, by my eldest Daughter s marriage to 
 Sir Chas. Hoghton of Hoghton Tower, making 
 it needful, I call there to see my Son-in-law and 
 that Estate, wherein my dear Uncle Newdegate*s 
 advice was available in the Settlement. And as 
 in this and many more cases he always allowed 
 me his governing counsel, so I shall miserably 
 want it and him whenever I pass by Holbourne 
 and Chancery Lane ; and it is very grievous to 
 me to reflect on that Loss where my gain was so 
 visible to the degree of a paternal concern which 
 cannot be Paralleled. I would be well satisfied if 
 it might please God that my 2""^ Daughter (now 
 marriageable) were also disposed in England, and 
 to that end would give a competent Portion to a 
 Gent, fitly qualified ; and if my uncle had lived 
 1 am sure he would have assisted me in this ; 
 And when I come over I shall need all my 
 friends' hel]) to find out one, as also a fit match for 
 
 I 
 
SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE'S DIARY ii^ 
 
 my son, now past nineteen. And altho' we hear 
 of many great fortunes, yet a Person of real 
 worth is most rare and very valuable in our eyes. 
 
 ' However, because my Eldest Daughter's 
 portion was five thousand (p'^),and this I intend 
 no less than four (it may be more if I meet with 
 a man and an estate to my mind). It will be 
 needful as well as prudent to get a good fortune, 
 as well as a virtuous woman, for my Son ; and 
 therefore I have mentioned my thoughts to you, 
 not at all doubting but your concern for your 
 Relations will be argument sufficient for obtaining 
 your Advice, as anything may occur of probable 
 advantage to us from your numerous acquaint- 
 ance. . . . And some who have competent 
 Estates will be of your opinion perhaps in valu- 
 ing a Lady not the worse for being bred far from 
 Court. And were it not my own, I could say 
 much as to the expectancy from my 2"^ daughter 
 if one who values sobriety should be recom- 
 mended in that Relation.' 
 
 The machinations of parents in those days 
 
 who strove to forestall Heaven in arranging 
 
 matches for their offspring were sometimes 
 
 crowned with success. More often they were 
 
 failures. Lord Massareene had a fortunate 
 
 experience. His only surviving son, Clotworthy 
 
 Skeffington, fell genuinely in love with a young 
 
 lady who was possessed of every attraction for 
 
 both father and son. 
 
ii8 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Lord Massareene writes from Pall Mall in 
 August 1679 to excuse himself for not having 
 paid a visit to Arbury : 
 
 ' but there being a Treaty for my son now begun 
 with the Parents and friends of a deserving 
 young Lady, for whom my son has a kindness, 
 I am bound to wait the issue of it. It is a 
 daughter of Sir E"^. Hungerford s, who we have a 
 good character of, and her person is lovely, her 
 fortune large, and the antiquity of the family un- 
 exceptionable — having been Peers from Hen. 2^. 
 to the time of Hen. 8^^, when, for loving one of 
 the King s misses, he was attainted as the Story 
 is ; and this Sir E^. is Knight of the Bath. Our 
 difficulty is with the Parents ; and what may arise 
 from the young lady we are neither willing to 
 suppose nor judge them insuperable. The 
 friends are not at all averse as we find, but the 
 way of our treaty concerning the usual perquisites 
 has not been furthered by the managers of the 
 conference. The lady has a right to a fortune of 
 above fifteen thousand pounds as we are informed ; 
 has many valuable Jewels, but is herself the 
 chief. I shall let you know their progress. 
 This only keeps us here ; and if she go into the 
 Country to her fathers house, which was 
 designed before this commenced, we are like to 
 follow the Powerful Attracts of this sweet Lady, 
 before we visit friends in your parts. We met 
 her sometimes at friends houses and at Church 
 (which began the acquaintance), and now we visit 
 her daily at her own apartments, and when we 
 
SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE'S DIARY 119 
 
 miss her at home we run to M'. Lilly's J where she 
 lately was and left her shadow, which at the first 
 was the better countenanced by my calling there 
 sometimes to sit as you commanded me. But 
 now we need not such coverings. We adventure 
 to view the original and pretend an interest in the 
 well disposing of the Copy, which M". Lilly has 
 done very like. 
 
 * The large Canvas you, it seems, were pleased 
 to direct to be provided might hold our Dread 
 Sovereign, and nothing Mr. Lilly and I can con- 
 trive to fill it with but my Parliament Robes, 
 which in all ages do not alter in their fashion, 
 nor in the least differ from those the Viscounts 
 wear here. The fairer sex has so consumed Mr. 
 Lilly's time of Late, that till Tuesday next I 
 cannot expect he will have done anything con- 
 siderable, and indeed, if I had advised, the least 
 Canvas might have served this purpose. I wish 
 my dear Uncle had been drawn by a good hand, 
 that I might have gotten a copy. I hear you 
 have my Aunt, and I shall get a copy of it by 
 your allowance.' 
 
 This desirable marriage was brought to a 
 successful issue the following March, when Rachel 
 Hungerford became Mrs. Skefifington, and in 
 after years Viscountess Massareene. 
 
 The announcement is duly made to Richard 
 Newdigate : 
 
 ^ Better known as Sir Peter Lely. 
 
120 CAVALIER AND PURITAN • 
 
 ' I havr. wanted time or I had not so long 
 omitted the enquiry after my Lady's health and 
 y'-. But the marriage of my Son on Thursday 
 last and a blood-shot eye, and the difficulties of 
 the Treaty which were previous, as well as our 
 remove to another house, made me unable to 
 write till now ; and I hope in God it will prove 
 a happy Union. I desired Sir E"^. Hungerford 
 that I might have my pretty daughter-in-law 
 home to me, and he granted it. So, till we go 
 towards Ireland (I hope in less than a month), 
 we are to stay here, and we intend to visit you 
 and my Lady at Arbury on our way towards 
 Ireland. 
 
 ' Here is little news but of the apprentices' 
 design, which has been examined at the Council 
 and before some Justices of Peace, and I think 
 Popery is the bottom of the design, divers of the 
 Boys (which were engaged) being Papists, and 
 there are other Latent causes and effects which 
 I fear are not yet discoverable.' 
 
 Two months after the date of this letter, in 
 May 1680, we find the earliest portion of Richard 
 Newdigate's Diary that has been preserved. It 
 gives a lively account of certain difficulties which 
 had arisen in connection with the incumbency of 
 Harefield, with the result that an unseemly tussle 
 took place after the squire of Arbury had come 
 to his Middlesex property to assert his rights as 
 
SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE'S DIARY 121 
 
 patron of a living which carried with it special 
 powers as ' a peculiar.' 
 
 It seems that a certain Mr. Davis considered 
 himself in lawful possession of the living, and 
 refused to be ousted in favour of the substitute 
 appointed by Sir Richard. 
 
 The diary commences after the writer's 
 arrival at the Manor House at Harefield, occupied 
 by his widowed mother, Julian, Lady Newdegate : 
 
 ' May 29, Saturday. — To 9 o'clock lay abed, 
 accompanied with good thoughts and many con- 
 trivances. Dressed. Put my things to rights. 
 One o clock, dined. Aguish, and out of order. 
 Lay down on my bed. Discoursed my mother 
 and others, of whom Hill the little Tailor of 
 Harfield was one, from whom (as he told me 
 himself) Mr. Davis had exacted eleven shillings 
 for a licence. Prayers, Bed. 
 
 'May 30, Sunday. — Dressed, prepared for 
 the Sacrament. Went to Church, having before 
 desired Mr. Sclater to officiate. But there Mr. 
 Davis was perkt up into the Desk, who put me 
 into a great Passion, for when I told him I had 
 discharged him from that Place, he told me 'twas 
 his duty to go on till he had a legal Discharge. 
 
 ' Well," said I, since you are here you may, 
 to avoid Disturbance ith' Church, read Prayers, 
 and the Gentleman I have appointed shall preach." 
 
 ' Sir," says he, I intend to pray and preach 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 too, and administer the Sacrament according to 
 my Duty." 
 
 ' I answered, 'Twill ill befit you to administer 
 and consequently to receive the ^Sacrament after 
 two such notorious lies as you told. First, that 
 you would perfectly acquiesce in my Commands, 
 and that you wished I might find no more Dis- 
 turbance when I came to turn out the Clerk than 
 I should from you ; and the other that you never 
 said you would keep in Curate in spite of me, 
 which you denied though the Bishop of Gloucester 
 affirmed it to your face, that you told it him." 
 
 ' Very good," replies the Welchman, and read 
 prayers, and as soon as ever he had done, pulled 
 off his surplice and prepared to go into the pulpit. 
 
 * But I at this instant winked upon Mr. 
 Sclater and spoke to Mr. Davis before the 
 Psalm began, which turned his head about, so as 
 he did not see Mr. Sclater, who just then went 
 into the Pulpit. 
 
 ' That which I said to him was : I thought 
 to have paid you fully for the time past, but now 
 get it and take it." 
 
 ' Very good. Sir," said he. 
 
 ' Upon Mr. Sclater s ascent into the pulpit, 
 Mr. Dobbins, a life-guards man (who with this 
 Davis had contrived to assist Loftus to obtain 
 Harfield from my father^), went out of the Church 
 and returned no more. 
 
 ' I, during the Sermon, ordered my man to 
 take the Surplice away from before Davis, which 
 
 ' This refers to a prolonged lawsuit between the Serjeant and 
 Mr. Loftus concerning the Harefield estate after its purchase in 1675. 
 
SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE'S DIARY 123 
 
 he did and gave it to the Clerk, who foolishly after 
 Sermon gave it again to Davis ; upon which I 
 took it away with my own hands and gave it to 
 the Clerk again with a frown ; who then gave it to 
 Mr. Sclater, who put it on and proceeded to ad- 
 minister ; upon which Davis went out. I also, 
 being so much discomposed, went out. 
 
 * One o'clock, dined. I sent Rob^ Johnson and 
 Abel Speakman to let Mr. Davis know that if he 
 would come to-morrow at 8 o'clock I would pay 
 him to that time for officiating, which he refused, 
 saying he was to go to London. 
 
 ' Four o'clock. Having ordered the Church 
 doors to be locked that Davis might not again 
 get in, I was railed at by Dobbins in these terms, 
 viz. : What is the reason that we are locked out 
 of the Church ? This is a fanatic trick, like Mr. 
 Baxter, turning out an honest man and putting in 
 another. 'Tis time to leave the Church i' faith ! " 
 
 ' To which I replied, That you did in the 
 morning. Sir," and so went into the Church, where 
 Mr. Sclater being got into the Desk, Davis came 
 and said : 
 
 * Do you officiate for me to-day Sir ? " 
 
 ' No," replied Mr. Sclater, I officiate for 
 Sir Richard N.," and so went on, and Davis went 
 to a seat, sweating tho' as pale as death and in a 
 great agony.' 
 
 On the following Tuesday Sir Richard left 
 Harefield to return to Arbury, where he con- 
 tinues the daily record of his occupations as a 
 country squire. 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' I unc lo. — Lay abed, havino- been much dis- 
 turbed in the night of Attleborough teams, whom 
 I desired to fetch Coping stone, and diey went 
 all night. Finished transcribing my Diary, and 
 with Lely the little roan horse, to whom I gave the 
 Egg Drink prescribed by Du Gray, which proved 
 too strong for him and killed him upon taking 
 it. . . . 
 
 'June I Sunday. — Making ready to go to 
 church. Drove myself and failed exceedingly 
 with my young horses ; the ways are so very ill. 
 At Church. Came home well, but by the Coach 
 house failed for an hour and a half by Dodson s 
 restiveness. Four o'clock, dined. Five o'clock, 
 Prayers and homily. Six o'clock shaving and 
 walked out. Eight o'clock, prayers ; undressed.' 
 
 Next day Sir Richard started for London on 
 
 his way to Harefield. 
 
 'June 14. — Sleptbut ill to eleven o'clock [p.m.]. 
 One o'clock, made ready to go. Mounted before 
 half- past two and rode to Northampton. Took 
 Coach and came to Mr. Montague's house at 
 Horton by seven. Dined late there and detained 
 till almost four o'clock. Got to Dunstable by ten. 
 To bed there at Dr. Crawley's, the Crown being 
 full. 
 
 'June 1 5. — To eight o'clock slept. By four got 
 to London. Stayed ith' Three Cups till a lodging 
 was got. A roving eye. Removed to that lodging, 
 viz. Mr. Cleaver s, a grocer in old Southampton 
 buildings. Putting my things in order and sent 
 out several ways. 
 
SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE'S DIARY 125 
 
 'J tine 16. — To eight dressed. Forbore break- 
 fast, having much to do. Trifling. Went to the 
 Lord Massareene's, who had invited me to Dinner. 
 Stayed there three hours before he came in. Had 
 a perfect cold fit of an Ague at three o'clock. 
 His Lordship came in and I drank a good draught 
 of Sack, which with the help of Clothes that I had 
 laid upon me, my Cold fit turned to a hot lit, but 
 I could eat nothing. After some repose I went 
 to Dr. Lower. He ordered me a Pearl Julep and 
 some powder to provoke to sweat ; but I came 
 home by five, got to bed and slept heartily and 
 sweat before the things came.* . . . 
 
 A day or two later Sir Richard continued his 
 journey to Harefield, where we find him prepared 
 to renew the Sunday fray. 
 
 'June 19. — In the Evening I talked to Mr. 
 Sclater and the Minister of Harfield, Mr. Osbas- 
 ton.^ I desired them to pray with me. I re- 
 ceived News that Dobbins was sworn Church- 
 warden, and I gave order what should be done 
 next day to John, my Mother s Coachman. 
 
 'June 20, Sunday, — Rose at seven. Took a 
 potion. Directed Tho. Green my Butler to bring 
 in the books and Surplice, and to stay himself in 
 or about the Church to obviate Dobbins if he 
 should offer to break open the Doors as he 
 threatened he would. The second Peel rung, but 
 first a Woman and two Girls came (sent, we 
 believe, by Dobbins) to desire to see the Church, 
 
 ^ Appointed by Sir Richard in place of Mr. Davis. 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 which was denied, and The. Green and the Clerk 
 discreetly answered they should see enough of that 
 anon. 
 
 'At ten o'clock John the Coachman, as I 
 ordered him, shut himself into the Desk, and Tho. 
 Green into the Pulpit, each with a wing in his 
 hand, to make each place clean, and after the 
 second Peel was done the Doors (as usual) were 
 set open. 
 
 ' Dobbins and Davis, seeing nobody in the 
 Church but olci Goodman Wingfield in Bracken- 
 bury seat, who observed all these Passages, w^ent 
 in, and Davis in great haste opened the reading 
 Desk Door, upon which up started John the 
 Coachman with Wing in hand. 
 
 ' What make you here said Davis. 
 
 ' What make you here, Sir ? said John. 
 
 ' Upon which the Welchman was ready to 
 fall down, but Dobbins coming to his assistance, 
 Tho. Green feared they would displace John and 
 came to help him. 
 
 ' In the meantime Dobbins got possession of 
 the pulpit, to Tho. Green's great trouble, who 
 got on the stairs, as near him as he could. 
 
 ' But Davis soon after desiring to speak with 
 him, both went to consult out of the church, and 
 so Tho. Green got possession again. 
 
 ' Dobbins presently returned with one Robin- 
 son his kinsman and two Ploughmen of his, whom 
 he took by the arms and placed near the Pulpit. 
 By this time in came the new Minister, Mr. 
 Osbaston, whom Davis discharged, shewing him 
 the Bishop of London's licence to him (Davis) 
 
SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATE'S DIARY 127 
 
 to preach at Harfield. But my brother Tom 
 and Mr. Sclater desired him to go on. Upon 
 which he read Prayers. But as he was going 
 into the Pulpit Dobbins came out towards him, 
 till Abel Speakman the Keeper stopped him by 
 pulling him by the arm, and desired him to make 
 no Disturbance in the Church. Dobbins here- 
 upon said he was struck and went out. Davis 
 stayed to hear a better sermon than ever he him- 
 self had preached. 
 
 ' In the afternoon neither of them was heard of 
 ' The relation of this, with some reading and 
 prayer and giving orders, spent all the Day. My 
 Mothers care and Mrs. Beal's of me has been 
 very great. The Lord reward them ! ' 
 
 Here ends the record of the struggle for the 
 possession of pulpit and reading-desk by one of 
 the principal actors in the tragi-comic scene. 
 A few years later, in 1686, Sir Richard does not 
 seem to have come off successfully when he 
 again fell out with the incumbent of his parish. 
 This time we have no diary with the patron's own 
 account of his action in the matter. Lord 
 Massareene, writing from far-away Ireland, has 
 had his curiosity excited by a mention of the 
 occurrence in the public papers. He promptly 
 asks for particulars : 
 
 * I perceive by our Public news-letters you 
 
128 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 have been troubled by the Minister or curate of 
 Harefield, for which I was much concerned. 
 But your letter expressing nothing of this kind 
 I hope there is not much in the matter, and that 
 you will easily encounter the malice of such as 
 may attempt to trouble you, which, as I heard the 
 Case, did arise from one that did eat of your 
 Bread, which I had not mentioned, but that I 
 was curious to know the Truth, when so near a 
 Relation was spoken of to be cited to the Eccle- 
 siastical High Court/ ^ 
 
 The fiery-tempered Sir Richard, so easily 
 roused and quick to act, lived unfortunately in 
 an age when irreverence was both common and 
 uncensured. Men of higher religious pretensions 
 than himself had come into collision within the 
 walls of a sacred edifice. 
 
 ' The Bishop of Chichester,' write the news- 
 men, ' having struck his Chancellor in Chichester 
 Church, they were both summoned before the 
 Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, where they had 
 a hearing last Monday, but the business was left 
 undetermined/ 
 
 ^ Sir Richard had a final passage of arms with the Ecclesiastical 
 authorities in 1690-1, when he was victorious. On this occasion 
 he obtained a verdict ' against the Bishop of London and others 
 concerning the Peculiar of Harefield, when it hath been proved 
 upon record for 500 years past that no Ecclesiastical Court hath 
 any jurisdiction here, but the Lord of this Manor. 
 
129 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 SIR Richard's first parliamentary experience 
 
 The Parliament that was allowed so short a spell 
 of existence in 1679 had, amongst other difficult 
 questions brought before it, ^ to take into Con- 
 sideration the Sad Condition of the Kingdom 
 in relation to the forces that remain unpaid.' 
 
 When the King had appealed for aid to enter 
 upon *the pretended war with France,' the 
 Commons had responded with unusual liberality. 
 They voted large supplies, and additional regi- 
 ments were raised. The scare of a French war 
 passed away, but the troops could neither be 
 paid nor disbanded, as no money was forthcoming 
 to wipe out the arrears owing to the men. Un- 
 pleasant inquiries followed as to the expenditure 
 of the public funds, but no satisfactory ex- 
 planation could be elicited. The Lord Treasurer 
 was impeached and sent to the Tower, where he 
 remained untried for five years. 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The provision for the Navy was in no better 
 pHght. Amongst those who had to answer to a 
 charge of embezzlement was our old friend 
 Samuel Pepys, the Diarist He was accused, 
 with Sir Anthony Deane, of being implicated in 
 the unaccountable disappearance of the subsidies 
 voted for the Navy. 
 
 Evelyn relates how he dined with Pepys twice 
 this summer during the latter s imprisonment in 
 the Tower. On the second occasion the guest, 
 with commendable forethought, sent his dinner 
 beforehand in the shape of a piece of venison. 
 
 In spite of the grave reflections on the honesty 
 of the two naval officials, the newsmen tell us 
 that in July, when the writs for the new Parlia- 
 ment were out, ' Sir Anthony Deane and Mr. 
 Pepys make their interest to be chosen again for 
 Harwich by means of the Head Builder there, 
 but all Rational men blame them for it.' 
 
 Pepys was not wanting in effrontery. A few 
 weeks later, when released but still under a cloud, 
 he ventured into the royal presence with the follow- 
 ing results. 
 
 ' Mn Samuel Pepys was at Windsor to kiss his 
 Mat^ hand, who was told by the Lord Chamber- 
 
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE 131 
 
 Iain he wondered he should presume to come to 
 Court before he had cleared himself, being charged 
 with Treason ; who replied that he doubted not 
 next Term when his Trial comes on to make his 
 Innocency appear as clear as the Sun at noonday, 
 and so parted. But by favour of some Courtiers 
 he was brought into his Mat^ ^ presence, who turned 
 from him with a frown, showing his great dislike 
 at his appearing there/ 
 
 When the country was again plunged into the 
 turmoil of a general election. Sir Richard Newdi- 
 gate deemed it unadvisable to tempt his fate a 
 second time within the year. Owing to the un- 
 ruliness of his tongue in the heat of party contest, 
 he had already started an irreconcilable feud with 
 his neighbour and former friend. Lord Denbigh. 
 Elections were rough and perilous ordeals in 
 Charles II. s time, and another stormy encounter 
 mJght well be avoided for a time. 
 
 The newsmen give a specimen of what was 
 going on at this juncture in other parts : 
 
 * The poll of Essex ended not well yesterday 
 noon. It was a mighty Election in point of 
 Numbers, and several Mischiefs had like to have 
 happened. One Mr. Turner was so rude that he 
 struck Col. Mildmay [the successful candidate] on 
 the face and pulled him by the Nose, giving him 
 very 111 language. . . 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 But in spite of nose-pulling and other evil deeds 
 the country returned a new Parliament on much 
 the same lines as before. For a time the King- 
 staved off inconvenient discussions by constant 
 [prorogations, which caused discontent in the 
 constituencies, followed by openly expressed indig- 
 nation. Petitions for the assembling of Parlia- 
 ment were rapidly signed and sent up to be 
 delivered to Charles in person. 
 
 'Yesterday [Jan^' 23, 1680] the Essex petition 
 was presented by Sir Gower Barrington and six 
 others all kneeling. The number of subscriptions 
 was computed to be fifty thousand. 
 
 ' His Mat^ demanded whether it came from the 
 Grand Jury, and being told the contrary, said it 
 was not then from the County of Essex. 
 
 'They answered it was from the Lords, Knights, 
 Gentlemen Freeholders and Inhabitants of Essex. 
 
 ' His Mat^ told them he was sorry to see so 
 many Gentlemen concerned in such a petition, and 
 told Col. Mildmay it was the old Business of 1641, 
 and asked him if he had not forgot it. He 
 answered that he had not, and hoped his Mat^ 
 could not forget the year 1660, when their petition 
 was the cause of his Restoration. Upon which 
 his Mat^ went away not well pleased. 
 
 ' In the afternoon was another petition pre- 
 sented from Berkshire by the Lord Lovelace, and 
 his Mat^' answer was that when he came to 
 
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE 133 
 
 Windsor his friends and he would compose the 
 difference with a pot of ale.' 
 
 When at length Parliament was allowed to 
 meet in October 1680, the Commons started afresh 
 on the bill of exclusion, but it was thrown out when 
 taken up to the House of Lords. Charles was 
 present during the debate, both dining and sup- 
 ping in the House. ^ 
 
 Before the end of the year the public and 
 pathetic trial of old Lord Stafford took place, after 
 a prolonged imprisonment. He was condemned 
 for high treason, with the usual barbarous sen- 
 tence to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, but ' by 
 the King's favour ' he was allowed to die by ' the 
 executioner's axe.' 
 
 ' On Thursday night ' (write the newsmen on 
 December 24) ' Sherifif Bethell went to the Lord 
 Stafford to know if he had any directions to give 
 about his execution, which would be on Wednes- 
 day next. And his Lordship desired he might 
 
 ^ When Charles 11. made his first unexpected appearance 
 during a debate in the House of Lords it had a startling effect 
 upon the assembled Peers. ' It is true,' writes Andrew Marvell in 
 1670, *that this has been done long ago, but it is now so old that 
 it is new, and so disused, that at any other but so bewitched a Time 
 as this it would have been looked on as a high Usurpation and 
 Breach of Privilege. . . The Lords soon got used to the King's 
 presence, for Charles * continued his Session among them saying 
 it was better than going to a play.' 
 
134 CAVALIER ANJ) PURITAN 
 
 have a large stage ; that it be hung with black ; 
 that he might be buried in his clothes ; and that 
 there might be no hollowing [shouting] at his 
 Execution. The three first the Sheriff promised 
 him, and that he would endeavour the last/ 
 
 History tells us that Lord Stafford's 
 
 ' age, submission, and dignity so worked on the 
 populace who came to witness his execution that 
 in spite of his being an abhorred Papist they 
 listened quietly to his speech and cried aloud, 
 We believe you, my Lord ! God bless you, my 
 Lord ! " ' ^ 
 
 A note in Sir Richard Newdigate's hand- 
 writing, on the margin of the printed Narrative of 
 Lord Stafford's Trial and Execution, relates how 
 
 ' Lord Stafford's last speech was printed before 
 his Execution, as 'tis thought, thro' the Covetous^ 
 ness of his Lordship's Valet de Chambre, who 
 got a Copy and sold it to a Stationer, who, that 
 he might be sure of gain, printed it before the 
 Execution, so that some of the Copies sold under 
 the Scaffold while his Lordship suffered.' 
 
 A month later, in January 1681, the newsmen 
 announce that 
 
 ' The point so long in dispute is at last decided, 
 the Parliament being dissolved, and a new one to 
 be called to sit at Oxford, the 21'^ of March next.' 
 
 Sinoilett. 
 
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE 135 
 
 They also tell us of the Earl of Salisbury's 
 strong disapproval of the King's high-handed dis- 
 missal of his Parliament, and of how 
 
 ' he besought his Mat^ to grant him the favour of 
 releasing him from any farther attendance at 
 Council, to which his Mat^ answered **he never 
 granted anything more readily in his life."' 
 
 The King s intention of summoning his next 
 Parliament to meet at Oxford roused feelings 
 of distrust and insecurity throughout the country. 
 The City of London was naturally opposed to so 
 conspicuous an evidence of want of confidence in 
 the capital. Monmouth himself headed those who 
 presented a petition against this unpopular change 
 in the seat of government. The expense, more- 
 over, of such a move would cost the country dear. 
 
 All means were tried to shake the King's 
 determination, and even the hysterical dreams of 
 a country maiden were deemed worthy of notice : 
 
 ' There is a discourse of a vision appearing to 
 Eliz. Freeman of Hatfield, charging her to go to 
 the King and tell him that the Royal Blood 
 will be poisoned the 15^^ of May, and to bid him 
 not remove the Parliament to Oxford and that 
 she made affidavit before Sir Jos. Jourdain of 
 it, which is believed only a sham.' 
 
136 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 In spite of the disbelief reported by the news- 
 men, the 'Hatfield maid' was twice summoned 
 before the King to repeat her story. The second 
 time the combined wisdom of Charles and his 
 Council arrived at a decision to give no heed to 
 the warnings of the would-be prophetess. Accord- 
 ingly, ' she was advised to go home and repent 
 her of her Melancholy delusions.' 
 
 When it was known that the King was 
 inflexible in his purpose of holding the new 
 Parliament at Oxford, no little perturbation was 
 caused thereby in the ancient seat of learning. 
 The Common Council began by voting that 
 ' no soldier shall be quartered within the City./ 
 
 The King sent timely word that he desired to 
 have ' Corpus Christi, Christ Church, and Univer- 
 sity for his appointment/ and that 'he would send 
 the Lord Chamberlain down to prepare them.' 
 
 As a natural consequence, 'all the Students of 
 Oxford under the degree of Master of Arts are 
 ordered to retire to their friends to make room for 
 the Court.' 
 
 Meanwhile the electoral fray was going on 
 throughout the country. Sir Richard Newdigate s 
 opportunity had come again, and this time he 
 
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE 137 
 
 took advantage of it. On March 5 the newsmen 
 notify, amongst other returns, that ' Sir Richard 
 Newdigate and Esq''^ Marriot are chosen Knights 
 of the Shire for the County of Warwick.' 
 
 On the same date * His Grace the Duke of 
 Monmouth starts for Oxford with several lords.' 
 
 On March 15 they announce that 
 
 * This day they write from Oxford to his 
 Mat^ at Windsor to acquaint him that the Inn- 
 keepers of that City are unwilling, and do utterly 
 deny to Quarter any of his Mat^' guards either 
 foot or horse, and humbly pray his Mat^ to dispose 
 of them other ways.' 
 
 The fear of tumults was prevalent amongst 
 the authorities. 
 
 * We have advice from Oxford that the Vice- 
 Chancellor hath issued forth his order or, to give 
 it you in the University term,. Programa — prohibit- 
 ing all Scholars from frequenting Taverns, Ale- 
 Houses and Coffee-Houses during his Mat^' resi- 
 dence there, upon penalty of being entered into 
 the Black book ; which observed, will prevent all 
 manner of disputes which may accidentally hap- 
 pen betwixt the Scholars and the members of 
 Parliament.' 
 
 In evidence of the excited state of feeling 
 at this time, we are told of an accident which 
 
138 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 befell ' a new pile of Stone Buildings near the 
 Convocation House,' where the Commons were 
 to sit. The new building, ' intended for a Library 
 of Chemistry,' was to have had part of it utilised 
 for a Coffee- House during the sitting of Parliament, 
 but at this juncture ' it fell flat to the ground, but 
 did no one any harm Had it stood a few days 
 longer,' sagely observe the newsmen, ' it might 
 have crushed some members of Parliament by its 
 fall, and it would have been no easy matter to 
 persuade it was not done by Treachery/ 
 
 The stormy atmosphere which preceded the 
 meeting of the Parliament at Oxford led to 
 suspicion and precaution on the part of those 
 newly elected. 
 
 ' When the members assembled at Oxford,' 
 says Smollett, 'both sides were armed and 
 attended by their friends and adherents, as if they 
 expected an immediate rupture.' 
 
 Sir Richard Newdigate had come up with the 
 rest and was lodged in University College. The 
 special favour of a small chamber having been 
 assigned him is emphasised by the information 
 that ' we (the authorities) have had to refuse one 
 or two knights from Yorkshire to make room/ 
 
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE 139 
 
 The crush was so great that Sir Richard's servant 
 had to share an apartment with the attendants 
 of two other members. 
 
 The news-letters are now addressed to Lady 
 Newdigate, but being still written from London 
 their intelligence is somewhat belated. 
 
 The King and Queen had arrived at Oxford, 
 attended by the Court, and the Parliament met 
 for the first time on March 21 to choose their 
 Speaker. 
 
 Three days later the newsmen report that ' its 
 thought the Parliament will sit for some time. 
 The Commons have done swearing [in], and 
 by the next post you may expect votes.' 
 
 This letter is franked on the outside by Sir 
 Richard, but in more irregular characters than 
 those of his ordinary firm clear signature. Some 
 unkind doubter has written against it : ' This is 
 neither his hand nor seal' 
 
 Meanwhile, the new House of Commons, 
 unschooled and undaunted by past experience, 
 was recklessly hurrying on to its untimely fate. 
 
 All the former subjects of contention were 
 started afresh with renewed zeal. In addition 
 to the Exclusion Bill and the demand for 
 
HO CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 judgment against Lord Danby, the Commons 
 found a new bone of contention with the House 
 of Lords in the impeachment of Fitz-Harris for 
 having been privy to the Popish plot. 
 
 The end came suddenly, and is announced by 
 the newsmen in the curtest of terms : 
 
 ' Yesterday [March 28] the King sent for the 
 House of Commons to the Lords House and 
 dissolved the Parliament.' 
 
 Such promptness and decision were hardly to 
 be expected from the easy-going King. 
 
 ' Very suddenly and not very decently/ says 
 Burnet, ' he, the King, came to the House of 
 Lords, the Crown being carried between his feet 
 in a sedan chair. And he put on his robes in 
 haste, without any previous notice, and called up 
 the Commons and dissolved the Parliament, and 
 went with such haste to Windsor that it looked as if 
 he was afraid of the crowds this meeting had 
 brought to Oxford.' 
 
 The newsmen describe the sensation caused 
 by this unexpected crisis in the collegiate city : 
 
 ' Here are various discourses concerning the 
 dissolution of Parliament, as to the Consternation 
 of the Inhabitants of Oxford, who had made 
 provision for three months, and the very hour the 
 
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE 
 
 Parliament was dissolved it was discoursed they 
 would sit till August.' 
 
 Thus ended the week-old Parliament. With 
 its demise there could be no more franks for Sir 
 Richard, or opportunities for his undoubtedly 
 pugnacious character to assert itself, rightly or 
 wrongly, in the councils of the nation. Perhaps 
 it was as well for him personally that no longer 
 time was allowed him for action at the present 
 juncture. There is sufficient evidence of his 
 being in communication with Monmouth at this 
 critical period. A single letter of the Duke's has 
 been preserved, which speaks for itself The 
 date of the month is not given, but the year is 
 written in the old style, 1685, which limits its 
 possibilities to the period between January i 
 and March 26 in this year 1681. We know that 
 Monmouth and Sir Richard were both at Oxford 
 for the meeting of Parliament. The letter is dated 
 ' Sunday morning ' and has been sent by hand. 
 The superscription is merely ' For Sir Richard 
 Newdigate.' It may therefore be safely con- 
 cluded that it was despatched on Sunday, March 
 20, the day before the Parliament met at Oxford. 
 The contents, beautifully written, are as follows : 
 
]42 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' S' / if you will doe me the favour either to 
 dine with me, or lett me see you att Three in the 
 afternoon att my Lodgings, I shall give you your 
 papers, and the best satisfaction I can as to our 
 present condition ; tho' the account of that may 
 be uncertain, nothing is more certain than that 
 I am^ S', 
 
 ' Your most humble and faithful Servant, 
 
 ' Monmouth. 
 
 * Sunday morning i68y/ 
 
 After reading this note none can doubt that 
 Sir Richard's sympathies were with Monmouth 
 and the Protestant cause which he represented, 
 although he never became one of his open and 
 active adherents. Still, there is no knowing into 
 what dangerous courses the ex-member s life might 
 not have been diverted had he remained for any 
 length of time under the influence of Monm.outh's 
 attractive personality. 
 
 As it was, Sir Richard returned to his home 
 straightway, whilst the only apparent result of 
 his two election contests was the feud before 
 mentioned between his neighbour, Lord Denbigh, 
 and himself. 
 
 Lady Newdigate had tried to throw oil upon 
 the troubled waters in a letter to Lady Denbigh. 
 She received the following reply : 
 
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIENCE 143 
 
 ' Madam, You cannot be more troubled than 1 
 have been for the difference between our husbands, 
 and had it been in my power it should long since 
 have been at an end, but after vSir Richard at the 
 election gave my Lord very rough and uncivil 
 words, he never expressed any remorse for it, 
 but persisted to oppose my Lord at the election 
 at Coventry, where he had nothing to do, which 
 heightened the breach. Had Sir Richard after 
 the first heat made any application to my Lord, 
 and owned (as the stoutest gentleman in the 
 world might have done) that his present passion 
 forced some expressions from him which he was 
 sorry for, my Lord would have quickly been 
 reconciled, for everybody that knows him will 
 own he is the best-natured man in the world ; but 
 he is also very high in honour and therefore could 
 not but resent public affronts, so that as things 
 now stand, except Sir Richard begins to give 
 some opportunity for a reconciliation, I know not 
 how it can be brought to pass, tho' nobody wishes 
 it more, or would be readier to endeavour it than 
 ' Yn La: humble Servant, 
 
 ' M. Denbigh/ 
 
 The breach remained unclosed in spite of the 
 ladies' efforts, each of whom loyally espoused her 
 husband s cause. At the election for the Oxford 
 Parliament 'fresh fuel' was * added to the flame,' 
 as we learn from Lady Denbigh's last letter on 
 the subject : 
 
144 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 'You do me justice, Madam, in believing that 
 I have been always sorry for the difference that 
 has happened between my Lord and S' Richard, 
 and I should be very ready to promote a recon- 
 ciliation if I knew how, but the way y' Ladyship 
 directs is not in my power, for my Lord never 
 went yet to any 'Sizes since I knew him, nor 
 does he delight in such Meetings, so 'twill be 
 impossible for me to put him upon it. Time, I 
 hope, may efface what is past, if no new subject 
 be given for unkindness. But my Lord was 
 credibly informed that at the past elections, 
 S' Richard, to lessen my Lords interest in the 
 country [county], publicly bid them remember my 
 Lord voted not guilty in my Lord Stafford's 
 business, which exasperated my Lord very much ; 
 for what he did according as his conscience and 
 honour directed him ought not to be mentioned 
 with reproach. This I repeat to your Ladyship 
 only that you may know that there is fresh fuel 
 added to the flame, else it could not have lasted 
 so long. But these things force a separation 
 between you and I, yet I am not the less 
 ' Yr. La: humble servant 
 
 ' M. Denbigh/ 
 
 Whilst Charles IL's subjects were having their 
 private feuds over the excited state of politics in 
 the country, the King himself was setting all 
 precedent at defiance. Henceforth he ruled 
 without a Parliament as an absolute monarch. 
 
H5 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE LADY OGLE's MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 
 
 Sir Richard Newdigate has preserved amongst 
 his correspondence a packet of letters from his 
 cousin Elizabeth, Countess of Northumberland. 
 She was the daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, 
 Earl of Southampton, by his second wife Eliza- 
 beth, daughter of Sir Francis Leigh, who became 
 Earl of Chichester/ Rachel, Lady Russell, was 
 an elder daughter of Lord Southampton's by his 
 first wife, and in one of her published ' Letters ' 
 she laments the premature death of her half-sister 
 Elizabeth in 1690, after she had become Countess 
 of Montague by her second husband's elevation 
 to the peerage. 
 
 Lady Montague s first husband was Josceline, 
 eleventh and last Earl of Northumberland, of the 
 old family of the Percys. 
 
 ^ Lord Chichester's youngest daughter was Mary, Viscountess 
 Grandison, 
 
 L 
 
146 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Pepys, that practised critic of feminine charms, 
 saw her in 1669, as ' Lady Piercy/ and speaks of 
 her as ' a beautifullady indeed/ Evelyn, writing 
 of her fourteen years later, calls her 'the most 
 beautiful Countess of Northumberland/ 
 
 This fair lady was left a widow early in life 
 with one little daughter, and soon after married 
 Ralph, son of Edward Lord Montague, by 
 whom she had four younger children. She 
 retained her title of Countess of Northumberland 
 until her second husband was created Earl of 
 Montague by William and Mary, whose cause he 
 had warmly espoused. Later he was advanced 
 to a dukedom by Queen Anne, which title be- 
 came extinct on the death of the second Duke 
 in the next generation. 
 
 After Lady Northumberland's second marriage 
 she resided for a time in Paris, where Mr 
 Montague held the post of Minister, and, having 
 property of her own in Warwickshire, she corre- 
 sponded with her cousin at Arbury concerning 
 various matters of busine^ss. In June 1676 she 
 writes to him in regard to the imposition of the 
 Trophy Tax,'^ which she objected to pay : 
 
 ^ Possibly the £yopoo voted in 1675 to defray the expenses of 
 a public funeral for Charles I.'s remciins, ' For more Page^.n,tvy, 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 
 
 ' I am very sorry to find by yours which I 
 received the last night that the Gentlemen of the 
 County, which you write me word did resolve 
 to refuse paying the tax, have altered their minds, 
 it being in my opinion a very unreasonable thing 
 to consent to anything of that nature that is 
 not raised Legally. But I think it is in vain 
 to stand out such a thing alone, therefore Mr. 
 Mountague and I do think it best to do as the 
 rest of you do, and if you are all resolved to pay it 
 we will submit and do so too ; for in these general 
 cases I know no remedy. My service, pray, to 
 your Lady. Mr. Mountague is an humble servant 
 to you both, etc' 
 
 Another letter relates to a curious privilege 
 connected with the Peerage in former days : 
 
 ' I did some time since receive a letter from 
 you concerning the Qualifying a Man as my 
 Chaplain which I did not then know whether 
 I could do ; but upon enquiry they tell me by the 
 Statute of 21 of Henry the Eighth, the thirteenth 
 amongst the provisos, I have liberty as a Countess 
 that have married under a Baron to make Chap- 
 writes Marvell in one of his caustic letters, ' the old King's statue 
 on Horseback, of Brass, was bought and is to be set up at Charing 
 Cross. . . . The old King's Body was to be taken up to make a 
 perfect Resurrection of Loyalty, and to be re-interred with great 
 Magnificence ; but that sleeps.' The statue was set up by Lord 
 Danby, whilst Charles IL, unhindered by filial scruples, appro- 
 priated the country's vote for his private uses. See also Nofes and 
 Queries^ vol. iv. p. 414. 
 
148 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 lains the same as if 1 were a Widow. Therefore 
 I have here sent you a quahfication to put in what 
 name you please, and am very glad of this or any 
 other opportunity of serving you.' 
 
 At the date of the last letter of the packet, 
 January 23, 1679, Mr. Montague had got into 
 trouble with the King and Council. He was 
 nominally accused of having had unauthorised and 
 private interviews with the Pope's Nuncio in 
 Paris : 
 
 ' I am very sensible/ writes Lady Northumber- 
 land, ' of the favour and concern you are pleased to 
 show to me and to Mr. Mountague in this business. 
 I do not at all doubt that great person being very 
 much exasperated, and I confess it was from thence 
 that my apprehensions were so great when I first 
 heard of his being taken. But I am much more 
 at ease since it was carried last night, that he 
 could not be sent in custody without the King had 
 something more to lay to his charge than has yet 
 appeared. Upon which his Mat^ thought fit to 
 send an order to the Mayor of Dover to release 
 him, and to Mr. Mountague to come and appear 
 before him, and this upon his Allegiance, which I 
 do not doubt but he will obey, and if there be 
 nothing unjust or illegal used against him, I am in 
 no apprehension of his coming off but with honour 
 to himself and satisfaction to his friends. 
 
 ' Your desiring to have an account of this 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 
 
 affair is the only excuse I shall make for troubling 
 you with this long letter from 
 
 ' Y"" most faithful Cousin and humble Servant, 
 
 ' E. Northumberland.' 
 
 Lord Massareene, writing at this juncture to his 
 cousin Richard, comments on the state of affairs, 
 tidings of which had reached him in Ireland : 
 
 * Will my old schoolfellow at Westminster, 
 Mr. Ralph Montague, be elected again at North- 
 ampton, or elsewhere ? and will his case now (in 
 the intrigue he managed at his first sitting in the 
 House) be tolerably guided during the vacancy of 
 Parliament ? It was an ill wind that put him into 
 the hands of the Mayor of Dover in a time of 
 such a recess. I am troubled anything should 
 rufBe the most serene thoughts of that delicate 
 Lady of his you mention, whom I had the honour to 
 observe in the late Treasurer Southampton's time, 
 when such passages as are now extant were not to 
 be found about that office ; and I conclude Danby 
 is not more likely to go ambassador into Spain 
 (altho' it be so still reported) than that Mr. 
 Mountague will go again into France — the one 
 being under the King's displeasure, and the other 
 under the same, yet I think out of the reach of a 
 late Impeachment.' 
 
 The writer was justified in surmising that Mr. 
 Montague would not be hardly treated. The 
 
150 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 King had quite as much reason to be anxious 
 to shield him from trial as in the case of Lord 
 Danby. Both were too fully cognisant of the 
 bribes offered by Louis and accepted by Charles 
 to have been safe subjects for public trial without 
 the revelation of facts that would have injured the 
 Kings credit with the nation. Mr. Montague 
 escaped better than did Lord Danby, who was 
 impeached chiefly on the evidence of two letters 
 brought forward by his quondam ally in his own 
 defence. Both weathered the crisis ultimately, 
 and lived to be created Dukes in a later reign. 
 
 Only once does Lady Northumberland in her 
 letters refer to her sole surviving child by her 
 first husband, and then merely in a postscript, 
 when she was about seven years old. * My little 
 daughter ' (she writes), ' I bless God, is very well at 
 this time.' 
 
 Yet this last of the Percys was a personage of 
 great importance in the eyes of the world. On 
 her father's death, the child Elizabeth at four 
 years old became in her own right Baroness Percy, 
 Poynings, Fitz-Payne, Bryan and Latimer, with 
 estates to correspond to her titles. She was too 
 desirable a prize to remain long unmated. At 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 
 
 thirteen years of age she was married to Henry 
 Earl of Ogle, the young son of Henry Cavendish, 
 second Duke of Newcastle. At the time of the 
 formal ceremony, in November 1679, the boy 
 bridegroom assumed the name of Percy in right of 
 this alliance. A year later he died, leaving a 
 maiden widow aged fourteen. 
 
 The newsmen take great interest in the after- 
 career of * the Lady Ogle,' probably incited 
 thereto by Sir Richard's kinsmanship to her 
 mother and herself. Rumours soon became rife 
 concerning the young widow's future, and two or 
 three months after she was free to marry again 
 reports of fresh wooers began to arise. 
 
 Under the date of February 1, i68i, we read 
 this item of news : * Tis said Prince Hanover 
 Courts the Lady Ogle.' 
 
 Now ' Prince Hanover' (afterwards George I.) 
 was in England ostensibly as a suitor for the hand 
 of Princess Anne, and although this projected royal 
 alliance came to nought, and the rumour of Prince 
 George's attentions to the young widow was mere 
 tittle-tattle, it serves to prove the importance 
 attached to the position of ' the Lady Ogle.' 
 
 Another announcement quickly follows the 
 
152 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 above : * Esq'*" Thynn is to be married to the 
 Lady Ogle/ 
 
 ' Esquire Thynn ' was the son of Sir Thomas 
 Thynne of Longleat, Wilts. It is said that he 
 had lately come into 10,000 a year by the death 
 of an uncle, and therefore was not a needy fortune- 
 hunter. Nevertheless there must have been 
 blameworthy action on his part, as shown by an 
 entry in Evelyns Diary on November 15, 1681. 
 
 ' I dined ' (he writes) ' with the Earl of Essex, 
 who after dinner, in his study, where we were alone, 
 related to me how much he had been scandalised 
 and injured in the report of his being privy to 
 the marriage of his Lady s niece, the rich young 
 widow of the late Lord Ogle, sole daughter of the 
 Earl of Northumberland, shewing me a letter of 
 Mr. Thynn's excusing himself for not communi- 
 cating his marriage to his Lordship. He ac- 
 quainted me also with the whole story of that 
 unfortunate lady's being betrayed by her grand- 
 mother, the Countess of Northumberland, and 
 Colonel Bret for money ; and that tho' upon the 
 importunity of the Duke of Monmouth he had 
 delivered to the grandmother a particular of the 
 jointure, which Mr. Thynn pretended he would 
 settle on the lady, yet he wholly discouraged the 
 proceeding as by no means a competent match for 
 one that both by birth and fortune might have 
 pretended to the greatest prince in Xtendom. 
 That he also proposed the Earl of Kingston or 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 
 
 the Lord Cranborne, but was by no means for 
 Mr. Thynn.' 
 
 The marriage into which the girl widow had 
 been betrayed by her own relations had been a 
 private one. Mr. Thynne, in haste to ensure his 
 rights to the lady's large fortune, was contented 
 with the formal ceremony at an early date, and was 
 not to claim his wife until her year of widowhood 
 had come to an end. Before this time came round, 
 in November 1 68 1 , the unfortunate bride was doing 
 her utmost to free herself from the unwelcome ties 
 which had been imposed upon her by undue in- 
 fluence. Fortunately she found friends outside 
 her own family in Sir William and Lady Temple 
 — the latter so well known to us as Dorothy 
 Osborne. 
 
 The news-letters tell us how she evaded her 
 impending fate, with Lady Temple's active assist- 
 ance : 
 
 ' On Wednesday last the Lady Ogle and Sir 
 W"" Temple s Lady went to the Exchange, and 
 leaving coach at the fore door went out at the 
 back door, and by Morn got to the Downs, where 
 Mr. Sidney put them on board a yacht he had 
 provided for them, which sailed for Holland. She 
 went away to avoid Mr. Thynn, whom she some- 
 
154 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 time since married. . . . 'Tis said the Marriage 
 will be made void and that she's designed for the 
 Duchess of Cleveland's son, who is newly made 
 Earl of Northumberland. Mr. Thynn is gone to 
 take possession of her estate.' 
 
 The mercenary bridegroom, having lost his 
 wife, did not intend to abandon his claims upon 
 her property without a struggle : 
 
 ' Mr. Thynn hath feed six Councillors in each 
 Court to settle him in the Lady Ogle's estate.' 
 
 Two months later, in January 1682, 
 
 ' Sir G. Jeffries moved at the Kings Bench bar 
 against Mr. Thynn touching the Lady Ogle, and 
 the counsel of Mr. Thynn moved a petition 
 to stop the proceedings of the Delegates, and 
 answer was returned that that Court was dilatory 
 enough.' 
 
 Lady Ogle's friends were not idle, and, in 
 accordance with the lax principles of the time, at- 
 tempts were made to influence in her favour 
 those Delegates who were to decide on the legal 
 claims of her marriage. The Bishop of Rochester 
 told Evelyn that 
 
 * he had been treated by Sir W"" Temple, fore- 
 seeing that he might be a delegate in the concern 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 155 
 
 of my Lady Ogle, now likely to come in con- 
 troversy upon her marriage with Mr. Thynn.' 
 
 Whilst all this intriguing was going on, the 
 object of it remained in Holland, where we are 
 told : ' The Prince of Orange hath several times 
 visited the Lady Ogle.' 
 
 Soon fresh suitors were talked of, although 
 the Delegates maintained their reputation for 
 dilatoriness. One of the former was Mr. 
 Sidney, who had assisted in the lady's escape. 
 
 ' This day Mr. Sidney embarked for Holland to 
 bring over the Lady Ogle, and 'tis said he will 
 venture to marry her.' 
 
 We next hear of a far more unscrupulous and 
 dangerous aspirant to the girl widow and her 
 wealth. 
 
 Count Carl John Konigsmark (or Conings- 
 mark, as he is called in the news-letters) was a 
 good-looking adventurer and soldier of fortune, 
 a Swede by birth, but much in favour at the 
 Court of France. He has been erroneously con- 
 fused by Walpole and others with his younger 
 brother, Count Philip Christopher Konigsmark, 
 who a few years later was accused of an intrigue 
 with the Electress Sophia Dorothea, mother of 
 
156 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 George II. Carl John, the elder brother, gained 
 his notoriety in England by a crime with which he 
 was charged in connection with his ambition to 
 replace Mr. Thynne as the lawful possessor of 
 the young heiress and her estates. He had 
 already begun to pay his court to her in Holland. 
 
 ' As Count Coningsmark was going to the 
 Hague to make pretensions to the Lady Ogle, 
 he was assaulted by some English, hired, 'tis 
 supposed, to hinder his going to her, but he killing 
 two or three on the place, the first fled.' 
 
 A fortnight later he arrived in England with 
 the undoubted intention of getting rid of the 
 chief obstacle to his ambition, and of freeing the 
 object of his addresses once and for all from any 
 previous matrimonial bonds. 
 
 ' On Sunday night, Mr. Thynn, coming thro' 
 the Pall Mall in his coach (out of which the Duke 
 of Monmouth had not alighted above a quarter 
 of an hour) was shot, five bullets being lodged in 
 his belly. The person was on horseback who 
 shot him, and two more with him, but they rid 
 for it. Mr. Thynn was carried into a house and 
 lay till seven next morn ; and before he died he 
 did make a will and gave his fine horses to the 
 D. of Monmouth. The King upon hearing of it, 
 sent by the diligence of the D. of M. to tell him 
 how much he was concerned. 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 
 
 ' The assassinates were this morn taken, and 
 being carried before the Council proved to be a 
 Swedish Captain, a Polander and a German, 
 all Coimt Coningsmark's soldiers.' 
 
 The names of these hired assassins were 
 Christopher Vratz, George Boroski, and John 
 Stern. At their examination 
 
 * they owned the fact, and two of them said they 
 did it by the Counts order, but the Captain 
 (Vratz) said that he had challenged Mr. Thynn, 
 and he refusing it, he therefore was resolved to 
 murder him according to the Custom of his 
 Country. They were all committed to Newgate.' 
 
 The next day ' the Swedish ambassador in- 
 formed the Council that Count Coningsmark had 
 been in England three weeks ; that he had supped 
 with him on Sunday night ; that one of the 
 Count's gentlemen had asked the Ambassador 
 whether, if Mr. Thynn was removed, his master 
 might not marry the Lady Ogle according to the 
 law of England." ' 
 
 In consequence of this information orders 
 were sent to all the ports ' that no suspicious 
 person shall depart the Kingdom.' 
 
 The Count evaded justice until 
 
 ' a Master of a Swedish vessel sent to inform 
 the Duke of Monmouth that he had been 
 offered ^200 to carry over Count Coningsmark 
 
158 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 to his own country, and that he was in hiding at 
 a Swede's house near Erith.' 
 
 On the Sunday following the Swede's house 
 was visited by the myrmidons of the law, when 
 the man confessed on pressure 
 
 ' that the Count was just gone down to Graves- 
 end in a sculler disguised in a poor habit, in 
 order to go on board. Upon which they posted 
 thither, and having stood half an hour on the 
 bridge, the boat came in and the Count was 
 without much difficulty seized and brought to 
 Whitehall; 
 
 At his examination the Count averred his 
 innocence, even declaring ' that had the Captain 
 come into Swedeland he would have surrendered 
 him to justice for so barbarous a fact/ 
 
 Nevertheless he w^as committed to Newgate, 
 *and being concerned at the place the Lord 
 Chief Justice told him there was lodging fit for 
 any Lord in England.' 
 
 Incriminating evidence soon began to come in. 
 
 ' The Master of the vessel that brought the 
 Polander o'er saith that he received him from 
 Count Coningsmark's man. A person informs 
 that being sent with a letter to the Captain from 
 the Count, he bid him carry the Polander to him 
 as an answer. The Count came immediately 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 
 
 from the Lady Ogle hither, and left his page 
 with her/ 
 
 The trial took place without delay, when 
 
 * they all pleaded not guilty. The chief witness 
 against the Count was his boy, taken the other 
 day, who said his master and the three aforesaid 
 were together the Saturday night before the 
 murder ; that the Polander lay in the house with 
 the Count ; that on the Sunday morning the 
 Polander was fitted with boots, Coat and an 
 Execution sword ; that the Count asked him if it 
 was usual for men to ride on horseback here on 
 Sundays ; that the Captain came to the Count 
 about half an hour after the murder and the boy 
 was sent out of the way ; and most of the things 
 in my former letter were proved against him. 
 
 * The Count made an excellent defence to the 
 Court in French.' 
 
 The instigator s faithful but misguided tools ad- 
 hered to the old pretext of a challenge which had 
 been refused, but they added that *the Polander, 
 misunderstanding, had fired the fatal shot.' They 
 all maintained that the Count knew nothing of it. 
 
 * The Lord Chief Justice summed up the 
 evidence impartially . . . and in a quarter of an 
 hour the Jury brought the Count in not guilty, 
 and the rest guilty, who received sentence ; and 
 the Count gave ^2,000 security to answer an 
 appeal, if brought, and so went to supper, which 
 
i6o cavalip:r and puritan 
 
 in the morning he had appointed to be made 
 ready.' 
 
 The three hired assassins were condemned 
 to the gallows. In less than a month from the 
 date of the murder, they suffered for their crime on 
 the spot where it had been committed. 
 
 Captain Vratz remained hard and impenitent 
 to the end. He may have hoped for mercy even 
 at the last moment. After his sentence we are 
 told that 
 
 ' the people about the Captain flatter him that if 
 the gentlewoman who yesterday petitioned the 
 King all in white satin for his life, and was 
 refused, will beg him at the Gallows, he may be 
 saved, for he lives merrily.' 
 
 Evelyn says : * Vrats told a friend of mine, who 
 accompanied him to the gallows and gave him 
 some advice, that he did not value dying of a 
 rush, and hoped and believed God would deal 
 with him like a gentleman. ... He went to 
 execution like an undaunted hero, as one that had 
 done a friendly office for that base coward 
 Count Coningsmark, who had hopes to marry 
 his [Mr. Thynne's] widow, the rich Lady Ogle, 
 and was acquitted by a corrupt jury, and so got 
 away.' 
 
 The two subordinates, Stern and Boroski, 
 confessed their crime with penitence. The 
 former is said to have 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 
 
 ' written a book in high dutch relating how the 
 Captain hired them both and shewed them a 
 letter from the Count promising five hundred 
 crowns reward to whoever should murder 
 Mr. Thynn/ 
 
 Boroski had his orders to obey the Captain in 
 this matter direct from the Count, 
 
 ' who told him that he should be paid for his 
 pains, which was all. the inducement he had to 
 commit the murder, he having never seen 
 Mr. Thynn; 
 
 The chief criminal had left the country before 
 the execution took place : 
 
 ' Yesterday (March 3^"^.) the Count went with 
 the Duchess of Portsmouth to Deptford, where 
 they went on board the Mary yacht for France/ 
 
 Only a month later he is reported to have 
 been at Calais for several days, and 
 
 * 'tis said he came over hither on Sunday last 
 incognito, but will appear splendidly when his 
 equipage arrives, and make Love to the Lady 
 Ogle, who hitherto seems averse to having him/ 
 
 The Lady Ogle's antipathy was not sur- 
 prising. Fortunately there was a better fate in 
 store for the twice- widowed girl. 
 
 M 
 
i62 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 On May 24 the newsmen write : *Tis said 
 the Duke of Somerset is to marry the Lady 
 Ogle; 
 
 A week later the marriage had taken place : 
 
 v'Tis said the Lady Ogle was last night married 
 to the Duke of Somerset, Count Coningsmark 
 having quitted his claim and gone to Holland.' 
 
 The newsmen were rightly informed. Charles, 
 Duke of Somerset, had lately succeeded to the 
 dukedom on the death of his brother, who was 
 murdered in Italy. He was born on August 12, 
 1662, and consequently was not yet twenty when 
 he was married to Elizabeth, Countess of Ogle, 
 on May 30, 1682. Of the bride it has been justly 
 remarked that she was three times a wife before 
 she was seventeen. 
 
 Her name still flits through the pages of the 
 news-letters. 
 
 Ten days after her marriage * S' Thos. Evelyn 
 nobly treated the Duke and Duchess of Somer- 
 set.' 
 
 In August the poor young bride was * taken 
 sick with the smallpox ' and was in much danger. 
 ' But we hear she is in a hopeful way of recovery, 
 tho' reported dead/ 
 
MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURES 163 
 
 In the following March the newsmen announce 
 in grandiloquent terms that 
 
 ' the late Lady Ogle, now the Duchess of 
 Somerset, was on Thursday evening last, to the 
 great joy of that family, delivered of an heir or 
 Earl of Hertford, which by the Capitulations of 
 Marriage is to assume the name of Percy instead 
 of Seymour.' 
 
 This welcome infant only survived his birth 
 six months, but in November 1684 a second son 
 was born, who lived to succeed to his father's and 
 mother's titles and estates. 
 
 Elizabeth, Duchess of Somerset, became the 
 mother of thirteen children, but none of her male 
 descendants survived the second generation. 
 On her death in 1722 her son Algernon took his 
 seat in the House of Peers as Lord Percy.' After 
 he succeeded his father as Duke of Somerset, 
 the titles of Baron Warkworth and Earl of 
 Northumberland were granted him by George II. 
 In default of male issue there was a special 
 
 ^ Charles, Duke of Somerset, married secondly Lady Charlotte 
 Finch, daughter of the Earl of Winchilsea. We gain an insight 
 into the domestic relations of the twice-married Duke from the 
 recorded anecdote illustrating the proud aloofness of his nature. 
 When his second wife once ventured to attract his attention by 
 tapping him on the shoulder with her fan, he rebuked her with the 
 crushing remark : ' My first Duchess, who was a Percy, never took 
 such a liberty as that ! ' 
 
 M 2 
 
i64 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 remainder to Sir Hugh Smithson, who had 
 married his daughter Elizabeth. Accordingly, on 
 the death of his father-in-law, Sir Hugh Smithson 
 succeeded to these last titles, and took the name 
 of Percy in right of his wife Elizabeth, grand- 
 daughter of ' the Lady Ogle/ 
 
 Count Coningsmark, who had spread his toils 
 so boldly to capture the young heiress, and who 
 had not hesitated to instigate a dastardly murder 
 in pursuance of his object, apparently escaped 
 scot-free. In England his reputation was by no 
 means cleared. When he waited upon the 
 Duchess of Modena at Calais as she was on her 
 way to England in June of the same year, we are 
 told that he was * coldly received/ Nevertheless, 
 a few days later, when he returned to Paris, he 
 had tangible proof of the French king's favour, 
 for Louis XIV, ' hath given him the Prince of 
 Furstenberg s regiment, as also a body of horse/ 
 
 Carl John, Count Coningsmark, is said to 
 have died in 1686 of a pleurisy brought on by 
 exposure in the last of the many warlike enter- 
 prises to which his life had been devoted. 
 
i65 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 AMBASSADORS AND THEIR ECCENTRICITIES 
 
 Ambassadors at the Court of Charles II. were 
 troublesome people to deal with. They stood 
 upon their dignity, were punctilious as to eti- 
 quette, and would not abate a jot or tittle of the 
 ceremonial honours they conceived to be their 
 due. 
 
 We learn from the news-letters that when the 
 Bantam ambassador had been introduced to the 
 King s presence by a nobleman of the rank of an 
 Earl, one of the European ambassadors sent a 
 message to say that he must in consequence be 
 presented by a peer of higher degree. Charles II. 
 got out of the difficulty with his usual adroitness, 
 and sent back word to the complainant that though 
 he must be introduced by an Earl it should be by 
 one who had the Garter. 
 
i66 CAVAIJER AND PURITAN 
 
 The Russian ambassador was equally sensitive 
 as to his rights : 
 
 ' The Muscovia Ambassador last Sunday re- 
 fused to go to the Greek Church, because he 
 thought the King's coach which was assigned him 
 not good enough ; upon which notice being given 
 to S' Stephen Fox he sent to his Excellency to bear 
 with it that time and he should have a better on the 
 Morrow. But never a Coach being assigned for 
 his Priests (S^ Stephen Fox not knowing that 
 they went with him) his Excellency would not let 
 them go in a Hackney Coach, so that had not a 
 Gent, coming up obliged them with his Coach, 
 their devotion would have been spoiled/ 
 
 Evelyn, in his Diary, ranks the ambassadors 
 from Bantam, Morocco, and Muscovia in the same 
 category, as more or less barbarians. He calls 
 them * exoticks,' and says the Russian ambassador 
 had the worst manners of the three. He might 
 have included the ambassador from Sweden in this 
 low class, if we may judge of him by an anecdote 
 in the news-letters. 
 
 ' The Swedish ambassador was lately arrested 
 for ^200 by one Mr. Battersby and Mr. Pierre 
 the King's surgeon, for cure of a distemper, and 
 he complaining to the Council, the plaintiffs were 
 sent for to the Council and by the King ordered 
 to discharge [the Amb'] and beg his pardon, which 
 
AMBASSADORS k THEIR ECCENTRICITIES 167 
 
 they accordingly did ; but he rung Mr. Battersby's 
 nose almost off.' 
 
 The death of the Bantam ambassador s cook 
 whilst in England gave some trouble, ' the Church- 
 wardens refusing permission for his burial at Hide 
 Park Corner, until Mr. Secretary Jenkins warrant 
 had been obtained. The funeral ceremony then 
 took place after their way.' 
 
 Of all the ' exoticks ' who came to England 
 none excited so much interest as the Envoy from 
 Morocco. Pie was sent over to settle a peace 
 between his Emperor and Charles II,, and the pre- 
 sents he brought with him v/ere lions and ostriches. 
 The Morocco ambassador and his retinue had their 
 first audience with the King in January 1682, when 
 they all appeared in the picturesque attire of 
 their own country. One member of the suite was 
 a renegade Englishman of the name of Jonas. He 
 was so much valued by the Emperor that there 
 was a special proviso for his safe return to 
 Morocco. 
 
 As they went to their audience the manners of 
 our own countrymen were not at all creditable, 
 ' a gent, spitting in one of the attendants' faces, for 
 which he is committed.' 
 
i68 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 On arriving at Whitehall Gate the ambassador 
 was desired to alight, whereupon he was angry, 
 ' but being told that the coaches of none but the 
 royal family drive in, he was satisfied.' 
 
 At the audience which ensued Evelyn says : 
 
 * the concourse and tumults of the people were in- 
 tolerable, so as the officers could keep no order, 
 which these strangers were astonished at, at first, 
 there being nothing so regular, exact, and per- 
 formed with such silence as in all these public 
 occasions in their country, and indeed over all the 
 Turkish dominions/ 
 
 Under this polish of outward gravity there 
 lurked the barbarian element which was only con- 
 cealed, not suppressed. 
 
 'This morning (Jan""^ 14) the D. of Monmouth 
 and other persons of quality waited on the Amb^ 
 A servant having offended him he threatened to 
 cut off his head, but some English gentlemen 
 interposing he was reconciled to him, and this 
 afternoon he went to the Kings playhouse/ 
 
 ' On Saturday a Minister of the Church of 
 England going to see the Morocco Amb"^ he seized 
 him, saying he had been one of his slaves and 
 escaped from him, and 'tis said he will not let him 
 go under three hundred dollars ransom.' 
 
 These Moors had one accomplishment which 
 excited much admiration in Court circles. Their 
 
AMBASSADORS & THEIR ECCENTRICITIES 169 
 
 skill in horsemanship, whilst throwing and catch- 
 ing their spears etc., was reported to the King, 
 
 * who, being informed of the agility of the Amb' 
 and attendants in riding, desired his Excellency 
 will provide him with a sight of it next week, 
 which he hath promised/ 
 
 Before this exhibition for royalty took place, 
 the Ambassador and his following 
 
 'exercised before the King's horse in Hide Park 
 and charged and discharged their guns in two or 
 three minutes, with other extraordinary actions ; 
 upon report of which the King hath given the 
 Amb"" leave to hunt and kill what deer he 
 pleases/ 
 
 The picturesque Moor was much feted by 
 ' persons of quality/ One night he supped with 
 the Duchess of Portsmouth, ' the King being 
 there,' and ' the Amb' much wondered at the 
 room of glass where he saw himself in a hundred 
 places/ 
 
 When treated by the nobility it is reported 
 that ' he eats sparingly and drinks nothing but 
 milk and water/ The 'renegado,' on the other 
 hand, ' was damnably drunk at Windsor one 
 night, notwithstanding their law forbids wine/ 
 
 As time goes on the ambassador is taken to see 
 
170 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 the various sights of the town. One day he is at 
 the King's Chapel, and * extremely pleased with 
 the music' Another afternoon he goes to see the 
 play, ' Rollo, Duke of Normandy,' at the Kings 
 playhouse, and the next day he is taken to the 
 bear garden, where six bears fought on a side. 
 
 A month after the Envoys first audience 
 with the King the treaty he was sent to arrange 
 was ratified, and a copy ordered to be sent to the 
 Emperor of Morocco. 
 
 The ambassador's mission having been satis- 
 factorily fulfilled, he stayed on to enjoy himself, 
 and the newsmen report that ' he is daily 
 treated by persons of quality, the particulars too 
 tedious to mention.' 
 
 When the Court adjourned to Newmarket he 
 went with them, and there ' he and his Company 
 exercised to Admiration on Newmarket Heath.' 
 
 ' Since his coming from Newmarket several 
 persons of great Quality have been to wait on 
 him, to whom he several times declared that he 
 could not imagine there could have been half the 
 pleasure in England, much less the Nobleness 
 and Generosities as he found at Newmarket ; 
 adding that he thought his Royal Highness 
 [D. of York] the completest prince in the universe. 
 So that he declared that nothing now remained 
 
AMBASSADORS & THEIR ECCP:NTRICITIES 171 
 
 for him but to buy a quantity of English goods 
 and then to return to his own Country, intending 
 to blazon the greatness of the English Court 
 throughout the world.' 
 
 It was not until the end of June that the 
 Morocco Ambassador went to Windsor ' to re- 
 ceive his audience of leave, the King having 
 presented him with three hundred firelocks.' 
 
 Before his final departure a difficulty arose 
 between the ' renegado ' and the ambassador. 
 The former had taken advantage of his stay in 
 England to marry an English wife and was 
 anxious to carry her back with him. To this the 
 ambassador objected, with the following results : 
 
 ' A quarrel arose between the Amb"" and his 
 Secretary, but the difference being reconciled, the 
 Secretary is gone on board with most of his 
 goods, but the Renegado who was the cause of 
 the aforesaid difference hath recalled his goods, 
 and on Thursday night went away from the 
 Ambassador, and on Friday was with Judge 
 Raymund's warrant taken in Sheer Lane with 
 his English wife. He, before the Judge, pro- 
 duced a sheet of paper written on three sides of 
 motives to induce him to return Christian, sent 
 him by an unknown hand. He said his senti- 
 ments were agreeable to them, and that he was 
 sorry he had lived twenty-two years in Darkness 
 and was resolved to be a Christian tho' he was 
 
172 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 hanged. The Judge sent him to Secretary 
 Jenkins, who committed him to the Gate house, 
 and this day he was examined by the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury and re-committed till the King 
 comes to town. The Amb"^ saith he dares not 
 return without him for fear his master in a fury 
 should cut off his head and ruin his family. He 
 accused him of robbing him of ^loo and Jewels, 
 but the Renegado said the ;^ioo was his own, 
 the King having given it him.' 
 
 The newsmen pursue the history of this grave 
 
 fracas a day or two later : 
 
 'Secretary Jenkins having surrendered the 
 Renegado to the Ambassador, Articles were 
 drawn up between them whereby the Amb'' pro- 
 mised him pardon and life, but in heat of dis- 
 course the Renegado threw the Articles at the 
 Amb' and ran down stairs and got into a hackney 
 coach. The Amb'' following, dragged him there- 
 out, who swore and stormed that he would not 
 go, tearing his garments and desiring rather to 
 be executed here than to be boiled in oil in 
 Barbary, and used such expressions that the 
 Amb'' drew out his scimetar to cut off his head 
 in good earnest, but was prevented through the 
 Interposition of some there present. The reason 
 of his trying to escape is thought rather to be 
 his desire to stay here with his wife (whom the 
 Amb' refused to let go along with him) than for reli- 
 gion. The Amb^ hath since consented that she, her 
 father and mother shall go to Tangier, and he will 
 settle them there.' 
 
AMBASSADORS & THEIR ECCENTRICITIES 17;^ 
 
 The ambassador, being still afraid of losing 
 his slippery prey, had him confined in a room 
 under a file of musketeers, 
 
 ' and about two of the clock Sunday morning they 
 all went down the River in order to go on Ship- 
 board for Morocco . . . The Renegado saith 
 he expects to be boiled in oil there, notwithstanding 
 the Amb"^' fair promises/ 
 
 The unfortunate Jonas, carried off against his 
 will, proved a dangerous passenger. Three 
 weeks later 
 
 ' the Admiralty received a letter from on board 
 the Woolwich frigate, being off at sea, which gives 
 an account of how the Secretary to the Morocco 
 AmV when in London combined with the Rene- 
 gado to murder the said Amb'^ while on board. 
 But just before the design was to be executed 
 they were discovered and the Captain had clapped 
 them both into irons and put them in the hold.' 
 
 It seems surprising that, with such murderous 
 feelings on both sides, the ambassador and the 
 renegade should have arrived alive at their 
 destination. Yet such was the case, and the 
 interested newsmen do not fail to give an account 
 of their reception in Morocco after the tidings 
 reached England. 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' By a letter from Colonel Kirke, governor of 
 Tangier, we understand that the Morocco Amb' 
 who went from hence, upon his arrival at Fez, 
 found that the Emperor was gone several miles up 
 the Country at the head of his Army to quell his 
 Enemies, who made head against him ; his Brother 
 espousing that Interest. The said Amb' here- 
 upon sent one of the chiefest of his retinue before 
 him to give the said Amb'' account of his 
 Embassy in England; who stating the matter 
 before the Emperor and relating the difference 
 which happened between the Amb' and two of his 
 servants whilst in England, the Emperor, being 
 incensed, ordered the Amb' and the said servants 
 to be brought before him in Chains, in which pos- 
 ture the ambassador gave a particular account of 
 his whole Embassy, for which the Emperor was 
 extremely pleased, but gave him a Check as 
 representing his person and not striking off his 
 Slaves' heads upon their offending him so far 
 distant. He then knocked off his fetters and, 
 embracing him, said that he would inviolably 
 observe the peace with England, and for the 
 great service he had done in that affair bid him 
 ask what he would within his dominions and 
 it should be granted. To which the ambassa- 
 dor readily answered that he humbly begged but 
 one thing, that he would be pleased to pardon 
 his two Enemies the Secretary of the Embassy 
 and the Renegado, which the Emperor did 
 accordingly.' 
 
 After this magnanimous request all ought to 
 
AMBASSADORS & THEIR ECCENTRICITIES 175 
 
 have ended well, both for England and the rene- 
 gado. But a month later news came that the 
 ambassador was not only in dire disgrace with 
 the Emperor, but 
 
 ' had received one hundred blows with a Cudgel ; 
 together with those Barbarians taking and confis- 
 cating our ships having agreed only a Cessation 
 at sea for four months, two of which are already 
 expired ; which gives his Mat^ a great dissatisfac- 
 tion, insomuch that a Committee for Tangier sits 
 every day to consider of sending supplies both of 
 men and money/ 
 
 Five months after this announcement better 
 news came through ' a Bombay merchant who had 
 arrived from Tangier and gone for Windsor.' He 
 reports that 
 
 * the Emperor will make good the Peace agreed 
 at Land but not at Sea without a new Treaty, but 
 has promised that in case our Men of War will 
 not attack any of theirs, our Merchants shall be 
 free from Molestation until an Express Carrier 
 comes from England. That Jonas the Renegado 
 is in favour, as also the Ambassador, as much as 
 ever ; that the Report of killing his Wife and 
 receiving a hundred Blows are altogether ficti- 
 tious, but Certain that he was tied to a Mule's 
 Tail to be Dragged to Pieces ; but the Emperor s 
 displeasure was Chiefly against him for visiting 
 his Wives.' 
 
176 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The final fate of the ambassador and the 
 renegado remains unreported. The King was 
 becoming thoroughly weary of the endless trouble 
 and expense caused by the possession of Tangier. 
 The constant warfare with the Moors had cost 
 England dear in men and money. For some 
 years past a large number of English prisoners had 
 been employed as slaves by their captors, until re- 
 deemed on exorbitant terms. Many were still 
 awaiting, with the heart-sickness of hope deferred, 
 the promised means that failed to come and set 
 them free. 
 
 * The Ransom for the Redemption of the 
 English captives' (write the newsmen in 1680) 
 ' will come to a vast sum, and the poorest Wretch 
 is valued in Algiers at £50 sterling and some at 
 ;^50o sterling.' 
 
 More than a year afterwards they report that 
 
 'the wives of the Algiers slaves taken since '78 
 were yesterday at Council and soliciting to have 
 their husbands inserted in the list to be redeemed, 
 but the Stock of Money will not hold out.' 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1683 Charles 
 sent a fleet, commanded by Lord Dartmouth, to 
 
AMBASSADORS & THEIR ECCENTRICITIES 177 
 
 bring away the inhabitants and demolish the har- 
 bour with its fortifications. 
 
 In this manner he disembarrassed himself of 
 so troublesome a portion of his wife's dowry, and 
 accomplished what the old historians call ' the 
 Slighting of Tangier/ 
 
178 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 SOME DARING WOOERS 
 
 In the lawless days of which we are writing fair 
 ladies endowed with large fortunes ran many a risk, 
 were they maids or widows, until safely appro- 
 priated in the matrimonial market. 
 
 *A few days since,' write the newsmen in 
 February 1680, ' five men and a woman went hence 
 in a coach and coming to the old Lady Tirrell's 
 in Buckinghamshire about seven in the evening, 
 the men pretended they had a warrant from the 
 Lords of the Council to search the house for a 
 Priest. The old lady, knowing the house free 
 from such vermin, suspected them, and demanded 
 why they came without a constable, and desiring 
 to see their warrant, they began to exercise the 
 usual Violence of Robbers. But one of the 
 servants rung the House bell, which brought in 
 the Neighbours who seized on them before they 
 had done much Mischief, and they were all com- 
 mitted to Aylesbury Gaol. 
 
 'March 6. — 'Tis said of the persons that made 
 the Attempt at Lady Tirrells that it was not to 
 Rob her as was said, but one of them under- 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS 
 
 standing that one of the Lady Tirrell's daughters 
 had a considerable fortune and fearing to accom- 
 pHsh his design by ordinary means, did endeavour 
 to have carried her away under some crafty 
 pretence, and to have married her. But 'tis 
 thought they will be severely dealt with at their 
 Trial at Assizes ; and the rather for so mis- 
 employing the Chief Justice s Warrant. 
 
 'March i8. — The Judges are arrived at 
 Aylesbury, and the fifteen persons that made the 
 Attempt at the Lady TirrelFs are to be tried, 
 and the Lady came in attended by above forty 
 horse to prosecute them. 
 
 ' March 20. — At Aylesbury Assizes were in- 
 dicted Mr. Roger Langleyand twelve others . . . 
 'Tis said they were indicted for burglary, but the 
 Grand Jury found the Bill only a Riot. Upon 
 which they Traversed the Indictment till next 
 Assizes.' 
 
 In the case just quoted the presumed object 
 of the ' Riot ' failed, but there are other instances 
 where bold and needy young sparks, undeterred 
 by the risks entailed, succeeded in carrying off 
 the well-endowed object of their rejected addresses, 
 hoping thus to succeed when all legitimate arts 
 of persuasion had been tried in vain. 
 
 There was a ' Madam Synderfin/ ^ the wealthy 
 widow of a counsellor of the Temple, who went 
 
 ^ Probably Syderfin or Siderfin. 
 
 N 2 
 
160 CAVALir^R AND PURITAN 
 
 through much tribulation before she escaped from 
 
 the clutches of an ardent wooer. 
 
 ' Captain Clifford having made love to Mrs. 
 Synderfin (widow of a Counsellor of the Temple 
 and worth ^100,000) and being refused, the 
 Captain with Captain Sarsfield, Mr. Lassalls, 
 Purcell and Makarty and seven more Irish 
 papists, met her in her Coach with Mrs. Wren 
 and her daughter, and a maid, on Hounslow 
 Heath going to Windsor and made the Coach- 
 man drive two hundred yards out of the way, 
 where forcing her into a hackney coach, hit her 
 head against it, which put her into a swound." 
 However they carried her to the water side and 
 carried her down the river in the Lord Mordant's 
 pinnace. On Sunday Captain Cliffords man 
 and Mr. Brabson's were taken and committed 
 to the Marshalsea, tho' Colonel Dungan would 
 have been their bail ; and 'tis said that Captain 
 Sarsfield and Purcell are since taken.' 
 
 This was a case in which the King was in- 
 duced to intervene, 
 
 ' sending to all his Ambassadors in foreign 
 Countries that if Mrs. Synderfin came thither 
 they should send her hither, and we hear they 
 have carried her into Calais.' 
 
 Before the unfortunate prisoner had started for 
 this place her captors had 
 
 ' sent a woman to persuade her to marry Captain 
 Clifford ; but she desired the woman to carry 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS i8i 
 
 her ring to her uncle Gee in Fetter Lane and 
 tell him how she was used and that she would 
 never marry the Captain ; that her honour was 
 safe ; that she expected to be murdered ; and to 
 desire him to use all means possible to rescue 
 her. The woman went accordingly ; after which 
 they put her into the Pinnace and sailed to 
 Calais, where Landing, some of the Company 
 enquired for Count Coningsmark, which alarmed 
 the town, they thinking that somebody was come 
 to fight the Count/ 
 
 It was only a few months after the murder of 
 Mr. Thynne by the emissaries of the Count, which 
 explains the stir caused by the enquiry for him. 
 On this occasion his co-operation was required 
 to assist Captain Clifford in his illicit enterprise. 
 The King s order for the lady's release speedily 
 followed her arrival ; whereupon 
 
 * Madam Synderfin gave five pound apiece to the 
 messengers who brought the letters to the 
 Governor of Calais to send her over hither. 
 She is expected next week.' 
 
 A day or two after this announcement it is 
 reported 
 
 * that Captain Clifford is incognito in town and 
 that the relations of Madame Synderfin missed 
 but three hours of catching him.' 
 
i82 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 As soon as the rescued lady arrived in England 
 she went to the Chief Justice 
 
 ' for a warrant to take up Captain Clifford, not- 
 withstanding she at Calais contracted herself to 
 him in the presence of Count Coningsmark and a 
 public notary, she saying that he forced her to it/ 
 
 Captain Clifford was still at large, and able 
 to strike terror into the widow's heart by giving 
 out that ' whoever marries Mrs. Synderfin shall 
 be murdered/ *A Gent/ had already begun to 
 court her, and ' he having been challenged, her 
 friends intend to petition the King for leave to 
 apprehend any person guilty as aforesaid/ 
 
 A month later this disturber of Mrs. Syn- 
 derfin s peace was discovered, seized, and com- 
 mitted to the King s Bench, from whence he was 
 transferred to the Fleet Prison. 
 
 The bold lover languished in jail for nearly 
 two years, when we hear of him again. 
 
 ' One Captain Clifford who was convicted and 
 fined ;^i,ooo to the King and ^1,500 damages 
 recovered against him by Madam Synderfin for 
 forcibly stealing away the said Lady with intent 
 to constrain her to Marriage, being prisoner in 
 the Fleet, yesterday divers Gents came under 
 pretence to see him, who attending them to the 
 door, they knocked down the Turnkey and con- 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS ,83 
 
 veyed the prisoner to the Water side, where 
 taking boat he is not since heard of.' 
 
 Another victim of a similar adventure, in the 
 
 next year, was EHzabeth, daughter and co-heir 
 
 of the sixth Lord Chandos, and widow of Edward, 
 
 Lord Herbert of Cherbury. 
 
 * Sunday last the Lady Herbert of Cherbury, 
 widow of the elder Brother of the now Lord of 
 that Title, was hurried away in a Coach in like 
 manner as the Lady Synderfin, and 'tis generally 
 said by one of the persons, viz. Captain Sarsfield, 
 who was acting in her concern. The persons 
 designing this adventure cut the traces, and having 
 one Sir John Parsons Coach ready behind, desired 
 the said Lady since she met w^ith that disaster 
 to take the benefit thereof ; which the Lady 
 innocently doing, they hurried her away into 
 the Country, and kept her all night, and would 
 have obliged her to marriage, which she 
 resolutely denying, they returned her back to 
 London and set her down ; who immediately got 
 the Lord Chief Justice's warrant for Sir John 
 Parsons, Sarsfield etc. Which the said Captain 
 Sarsfield understanding, went to her lodging and 
 either dissembling Love or frenzy took forth a 
 Penknife and opening his breast slashed his skin, 
 and then stabbed himself therewith, at which the 
 Blood gushed out extremely before her presence 
 and he was carried aw^ay, but is not yet dead. 
 But 'tis thought he will scarce recover, he refusing 
 to have his wounds dressed.' 
 
184 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The wily captain had good reason to conceal 
 the depth of his wounds. They were soon healed, 
 whilst he escaped the punishment he richly de- 
 served. Before long he gave tangible proof that 
 he was alive and well again. 
 
 * Saturday last Captain Sarsfield, who was lately 
 engaged in the attempt upon the Lady Herbert, 
 assisted therein by one Sir John Parsons, his inti- 
 mate acquaintance, made a Challenge to Sir John, 
 tho' upon a very slight occasion of not returning 
 back a writing which the said Captain Sarsfield, 
 at the time of his being wounded, gave him for 
 his Indemnification ; and they fought without 
 seconds behind Montague House. Sir John had 
 the advantage in the field, but they were both 
 carried off so dangerously wounded, being each 
 run thro' the body, that their lives are both in 
 danger.' 
 
 The newsmen being apt to exaggerate the 
 tragical results of these adventures, we may hope 
 that Captain Sarsfield and his quondam friend 
 survived their injuries and lived to be reconciled. 
 
 Lady Herbert of Cherbury, having escaped 
 from the toils of the snarer, subsequently married 
 twice. Her second husband was William, Earl of 
 Inchiquin ; and her third venture in matrimony 
 was with Charles, Lord Howard of Escrick, 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS 185 
 
 There are other instances of the trials of 
 heiresses, when they failed to be satisfied with 
 the choice made for them in early youth by their 
 parents and guardians, especially when others 
 appeared upon the scene who were more attractive 
 to their maturer eyes. 
 
 It may be recollected that, in Charles II. s sup- 
 posititious speech to his Parliament in 1675, he 
 takes credit to himself for his ' behaviour ' in 
 regard to the proceedings about ' Mrs. Hide and 
 Emerton.' In spite of royal interference this case 
 remained unsettled until 1683. 
 
 Mrs. Bridget Hyde was the only daughter and 
 heir of Sir Thomas Hyde of North Mymms in 
 the county of Hertford, and appears to have been 
 married early in life to a Mr. Emerton. The 
 proceedings mentioned above were started in 
 order to release her from the ties of a marriage 
 which she repudiated. The why or wherefore of 
 this action would seem to have been so entirely 
 a matter of public knowledge that the newsmen 
 enter into no particulars to enlighten us. 
 
 The case was being tried before a large and 
 distinguished body of Delegates, and allusion is 
 often made to their dilatory measures. In the 
 
1 86 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 course of time another name is added to the first 
 two, and the case develops into that of ' Mrs. 
 Bridget Hyde, alias Emerton, alias Dunblayne.' 
 Lord Dunblayne or Dumblaine was the eldest 
 son of the Earl of Danby, and aspired to replace 
 Mr. Emerton in the possession of the lady and 
 her estates. Mrs. Bridget Hyde, tired of waiting 
 for the tardy decision of the Delegates, and fear- 
 ing lest it should be given against her emanci- 
 pation, took the law into her own hands and 
 bestowed herself upon another husband. This 
 bold step she concealed from all until her liberty 
 was jeopardised by the impending judgment of 
 the Delegates. 
 
 1682. — 'Yesterday morning (March 12) the 
 delegates met to give sentence in Emerton's cause, 
 and about ten o'clock the Lord Dunblayne came 
 in with Mrs. Hide and she sent in a note to the 
 Court, who sent for 'em both in, also Mr. Emerton, 
 when the Lord Dunblayne and she declared they 
 were married ; upon which they ordered her to 
 be delivered into the custody of Dr. Dove of 
 Bride's till sentence be given, which is believed will 
 be on Friday for Mr. Emerton, to which time the 
 Court adjourned. The Earl of Danby sent a 
 letter to the Delegates saying that he knew not of 
 the marriage until this morn. About nine days 
 after the marriage Mrs. Hide came to the Lord 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS 
 
 187 
 
 Clarendon and told him that he should have a 
 kindness for his family for name's sake, and 
 desired him to be her guardian. My Lord told 
 her he must speak with the Lord Danby first ; 
 with whom discoursing after, Lord Danby told 
 him that he was sensible he had done her cause 
 much harm and would meddle with it no more. 
 So his Lordship was willing to be her guardian, 
 and designing her for his son, he hath followed 
 the business vigorously.' 
 
 Mrs. Hyde had been clever enough to conceal 
 her marriage from Lord Clarendon as well as from 
 her father-in-law, or the former would not have 
 taken up her cause with so much zeal, hoping evi- 
 dently to be rewarded by obtaining her fortune 
 for his own son. 
 
 The Delegates met again for one of their un- 
 satisfactory sittings in July, when 
 
 ' most of them were for giving sentence ('tis 
 thought in favour of Emerton), but four or five 
 going away the rest arose and departed with- 
 out adjournment and the Learned say the com- 
 mission is at an end, and the former sentence in 
 his favour must stand.' 
 
 The case still dragged on from month to month 
 until at length a complication arose which puzzled 
 the lawyers, but finally brought matters to a crisis 
 and decided the case. 
 
1 88 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 In March 1683 
 
 * M'' Bridget Hide, alias Emerton, alias 
 Dunblayne, who has given so often occasion to 
 be mentioned by reason of the long depending 
 cause before the Delegates as yet undetermined, 
 was on Saturday last brought to bed of a son, 
 which administers the subject of discourse by 
 reason it admits of various interpretations as to 
 the nature of the thing, in case the Judges' 
 Delegates on the 30^^ of next month give 
 sentence for Emerton ; and the learned in 
 the law say that then M"^ Emerton, notwith- 
 standing 'tis apparent to be the Child of the 
 Lord Dunblayne, must father the same, and will 
 thereby become Tenant by the Courtesy/ 
 
 This was a climax beyond human endurance. 
 Fortunately for Lord Dunblayne, he found a 
 golden key by which he was able to unfasten his 
 rival's claims and retain possession of his wife 
 and son. 
 
 * Am credibly informed ' (writes the newsman) 
 ' that the Earl of Dunblayne, who married 
 M'' Hyde, alias Emerton, is now upon treaty 
 with M'^ Emerton to compromise and agree the 
 so long depending Cause, which, if fame may be 
 credited, is to give the said Gent ^20,000 to quit 
 his pretensions to the Lady and Estate, which 
 otherwise will come to a Judgment to-morrow/ 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS 189 
 
 This proposal was accepted, and M r. E merlon 
 undertook 
 
 * for ever to acquit his pretensions both to the 
 Lady and Estate, and in consideration thereof 
 was to receive the sum of twenty thousand 
 Guineas together with reasonable charge he has 
 been at in that Suit, which 'tis said will amount 
 to five thousand more ; and also be indemnified 
 from the Devastation and Ravage he has made 
 by falling Timber upon the Estate. And on 
 Thursday last he had the twenty thousand 
 guineas paid him, with security for the rest ; and 
 the Judges' Delegates, meeting yesterday after a 
 short stay to subscribe the sentence, entered the 
 Sentence in the name of M'' Bridget Hyde to 
 vacate the marriage, taking no cognizance of 
 Lord Dunblayne as not being before them.' 
 
 There were nineteen Delegates present, all of 
 high degree. Ten signed the sentence, whilst 
 nine refused to sanction it. This majority of one 
 brought the long-contested case to an end. Mr. 
 Emerton's pretensions to the lady and her estates 
 having become of marketable value, we hear 
 no more of Mrs. Bridget Hyde and her aliases. 
 
 Evelyn mentions having met this somewhat 
 notorious lady a few months later, when he was 
 dining with her father-in-law, Lord Danby, then a 
 prisoner in the Tower : 
 
1 90 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' Here ' (he writes) ' I saluted the Lord Dun- 
 blaine's wife, who before had been married to 
 Emerton, and about whom there was that scan- 
 dalous business before the delegates.' 
 
 Lady Dunblayne outlived her husband, 
 who succeeded his father as Duke of Leeds. 
 Their second surviving son, Peregrine Hyde, in 
 due course became the third Duke. 
 
 Some years later than the period we have 
 been discussing, a bold lover invaded the sacred 
 precincts of Sir Richard Newdigate's own roof-tree 
 and married clandestinely one of his daughters. 
 It may not be out of place here to give the 
 respective parents' version of the romantic 
 episode, although forestalling the date when it 
 actually occurred. 
 
 It was in 1695 ^^^^ Sir Richard's third 
 daughter, Frances, aged eighteen, married secretly 
 and without her father s consent Sir Charles 
 Sedley, Knight, the illegitimate son of Sir 
 Charles Sedley, Bart. It was purely a love- 
 match, for the bride, far from being an heiress, 
 was one of seven daughters, and entirely de- 
 pendent for means on her father s good will. It 
 cannot be called a runaway match, for the 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS 
 
 marriage took place on July 8, and len days lau r 
 the bride was still under her father s roof. 
 
 The ill-considered action was revealed in the 
 first instance to the elder Sir Charles Sedley by the 
 young bridegroom with a view of enlisting his 
 services as mediator with Sir Richard, whose 
 easily roused wrath was justly feared. Sir 
 Charles Sedley, senior, like the astute man of the 
 world that he was, wisely made use of a mutual 
 friend as a go-between, with the object of so 
 far appeasing Sir Richards indignation, when 
 apprised of the deception, as to induce him to 
 take into consideration the future means of sub- 
 sistence of the impecunious young couple. 
 
 The friend to whom this task was entrusted 
 was Sir Thomas Rowe, and the letter he received 
 from Sir Charles Sedley was passed on to Sir 
 Richard and endorsed by him ' i8 July 1695. 
 Sir C. S. senior to S' Tho. Rowe about his Son's 
 marrying Frank without his or my Consent.' It 
 runs as follows : 
 
 ' Since I saw you my Lord Chamberlain 
 came to me and truly surprised me with the news 
 of my sons being actually married to M'' Frances 
 
192 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Newdigate. It is a matter that ought to be more 
 considered of and not thus transacted without the 
 privity and consent of parents. I was very angry 
 with my son for his proceeding in that manner 
 with such precipitation — not that I have not all 
 the value imaginable for the young lady and for 
 the Character all the world gives S' Richard 
 Newdigate of a very honorable, worthy and 
 judicious person. But I think (as perhaps he 
 may) that the young couple ought not to have 
 gone so far, but have waited for our Consent, 
 upon whom their well-being so much depends. 
 After his many Submissions I have forgiven my 
 Son, and shall do all I can to make the young 
 couple easy. I hope, S', you will do them both 
 good offices with S' Richard and make this 
 discovery to him with all the alleviating circum- 
 stances so rash an action will admit of. I know 
 this is too much trouble to impose on you upon so 
 slender an acquaintance, but necessity must be 
 my excuse, having not the good fortune to know 
 any person who is like to see S' Richard suddenly 
 but yourself. 
 
 ' Y' most faithful humble servant, 
 
 ' Charles Sedley.' 
 
 This letter is followed by another from the 
 same writer, addressed direct to Sir Richard. It 
 is undated, but from the tone of it we may gather 
 that Sir Thomas Rowe's embassage had been 
 fairly successful. 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS 
 
 ' I am sorry your Daughter continues 
 so ill, having a nearer concern in her now then 
 I expected so suddenly. Since my last to you 
 My Lord Chamberlain told me my son and the 
 young lady were actually married. I confess it 
 surprised me, and I was very angry that he did 
 not wait yours as well as my consent in a matter of 
 such importance to us all. I believe he chose to 
 break it to me by my Lord rather than tell it to 
 me himself, concluding the great Value I have 
 for my Lord could not but much abate my resent- 
 ment, especially when he became his advocate. 
 As soon after as possible I writ to Sir Thomas 
 Rowe to entreat him to represent the whole 
 matter to you in the best circumstances so rash 
 an action would admit of. I had not curiosity 
 enough to enquire into my Son's motives, nor 
 can I dwell with pleasure on the arguments till I 
 receive your Judgment and apprehensions of it, 
 which I hope will be the same with mine : which 
 are, since it is now past remedy, that we should 
 transact together for the ease and comfort of the 
 young couple, and mutually endeavour to satisfy 
 each other as well as their reasonable expectations. 
 If the young lady's condition of health will bear 
 such a Journey, we think here that change of air, 
 together with the help of our London doctors, 
 might further her recovery. But you, S", are the 
 best and properest Judge. 
 
 * Your most faithful and humble Servant, 
 
 ' Charles Sedley. 
 
 ' Give my blessing to my Daughter, and 
 
 o 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 service to all the rest of your i^ood Family, if 
 vou think fit.' 
 
 Meanwhile the chief culprit in the matter had 
 also been approaching Sir Richard and bespeak- 
 ing the aid of the same mediator, Sir Thomas 
 Rowe. From the date of his letter he must have 
 forestalled his father in opening negotiations for 
 forgiveness. It is possible that his overtures 
 were repulsed with the outspokenness and vigour 
 of speech characteristic of Sir Richard, and it 
 was then his father s services had to be called 
 into play. 
 
 His letter is docketed ' Sir C. S. junior, his 
 excuse for marrying Frank without my Consent/ 
 'S^ 
 
 ' Had not my illness prevented my 
 writing I had before presented my humble duty 
 and thanks for your great kindness to me, and 
 begged your pardon for my presumption in marry- 
 ing your daughter without acquainting you with it. 
 I hope I shall always carry myself with that great 
 Submission and duty, you will easily pardon a 
 fault my infinite passion for your daughter made 
 me Commit. I shall be at Banbury next Friday 
 night and there S'^ Thomas Rowe will do me the 
 favour to meet me, and he will wait on you with 
 ' Y'^ most dutiful and obedient Son, 
 
 * Charles Sedley, 
 'Tuesday i6^^ J^ly» 1695.' 
 
SOME DARING WOOERS 
 
 195 
 
 Possibly the illness of both the wrong-doers 
 had softened Sir Richard's heart, for the young 
 couple were soon forgiven ; but when it came to 
 an arrangement of settlements between the two 
 fathers much wrangling ensued over the customary 
 * perquisitts ' etc. 
 
 More than a year after the marriage Sir 
 Richard makes the following entry in his account- 
 book : 
 
 'Nov, T696. — Paid my daughter Sedley s maid 
 £\, Sir Ch. Sedley refuses to pay her upon 
 pretence that I will not pay my Daughter's 
 Portion. Whereas the true case is this ; young 
 Sir Chas. married my daughter Frank without 
 my consent, as was acknowledged both by his 
 Father and him (see their letters in Walnut 
 Scritoire drawer, F. for Frank). Yet I am willing 
 to pay ^5,000 and assign him a thousand p^ Debt, 
 if he will make a settlement, viz. Stand to his 
 Word, for he said he would not give sixpence 
 from his Son. Now I desire to have two-thirds 
 of his estate settled, viz. ^2,000 per an., but he 
 will settle but one. The Base usage I have had 
 makes me resolve not to pay the Portion this 
 two years ; viz: the Father threatening me, the 
 Mother and Son slandering me and my Children, 
 and the Son threatening to put a spoke in Phills ^ 
 Ipart, and accordingly traducing us all.' 
 
 ^ Sir Richard's eldest daughter, Amphillis. 
 
 o 2 
 
igb CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 In spite of these angry words peace reigned 
 between the two families in after years, although 
 it was some time before Sir Richard satisfied the 
 elder Sir Charles Sedley in his money arrange- 
 ments towards the subsistence of the over-hasty 
 young people who loved * not wisely, but too well/ 
 
197 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A FAMILY INTERLUDE 
 
 After Sir Richard had been baulked a second time 
 in his attempt to enter the arena of public life by 
 King Charleses abrupt dissolution of the week- 
 old Parliament at Oxford, he had to concentrate 
 his energies upon home and country interests. 
 This he seems to have done with the alertness of 
 brain and action that characterised him. Where 
 he failed was in lack of prudence and forethought 
 in the conduct of his affairs 
 
 His family was increasing year by year, finally 
 reaching the goodly number of fifteen, eight of 
 whom were sons and seven daughters. In spite 
 of the self-evident demands upon his means in 
 the present and future, thrift and good manage- 
 ment appear to have been wanting. Yet his 
 account-books and diary abound in economical 
 axioms and devices. 
 
198 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Amongst the latter we find that he institutes 
 an effective system of ' Forfeitures ' or fines 
 in his household, which he imposes arbitrarily 
 for a diversity of faults of commission and 
 omission. 
 
 The following record- of domestic peccadilloes, 
 with the penalties adjudged to the culprits, will 
 serve as an example of this high-handed mode of 
 procedure : 
 
 ' Nan Newton, for breakinga Tea pot in PhilFs 
 Chamber, 25. (yd. 
 
 ' Ri. Knight, for Pride and Slighting, 2s. 6d. 
 
 ' W"" Hetherington, for not being ready to go 
 to Church three Sundays, i^d. 
 
 ' Tho. Birdall, for being at Nuneaton from 
 morning till night, 55. 
 
 ' Cook dead drunk, lo^. 
 
 ' Betty Air and Sarah Hasledine 2S. 6d, apiece 
 for going to Coton [Church] when I ordered 
 them to go to Astley. This Hester shall have 
 because she obeyed. 
 
 And so on. 
 
 Sir Richard devotes whole pages in his vellum- 
 bound account-books to household affairs. Ap- 
 parently he engages all the servants. He also 
 pays their wages, and makes confidential entries 
 concerning them, such as the following : 
 
A FAMILY INTERLUDE 
 
 ' Anne Jennings, Cook-maid, 8'^ of Oct. she 
 came. She ran away the 25'^ of Oct., but stole 
 nothing, only is, and was formerly, distracted. 
 
 ' George Mutton, a Scribe, £10 per an. Came 
 Wednesday 3'"^ Dec. Went away Dec. 1 1 , prov- 
 ing no Scribe. 
 
 ' Anne Adams, to be Washmaid at Lady Day. 
 She went away the 2g'^ of July for being wanton 
 and careless. She lost five pair of Sheets and 
 five pillowbeers,^ for which my wife made her 
 pay ^i. 
 
 ' Hired Charles Golding, a new Cook, at ^16 a 
 year. Took fish to try his workmanship. 
 
 ' Me7n, Send to Blithfield for a Brewer and 
 Dairy Maid, and to Redburn for a good Drudging 
 Wench.^ 
 
 On one page is a list of servants' faults noted 
 down presumably for the infliction of fines when 
 pay-day comes round. One or two specimens are 
 here given : 
 
 ' W"" Wheeler, Cook. Good if less given to 
 drink. 
 
 * Tho. Moseley. His faults are innumerable. 
 ' Obadiah Keys. Crossness on 4^^ Nov. At the 
 Church carelessness.' 
 
 The difficult post of butler at Arbury was 
 sometimes held by a man and sometimes by a 
 woman servant. 
 
 ^ Pillow-slips or covers. 
 
200 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The dowager Lady Newdegate, writing to 
 * Dear Dicke ' from Harefield, gives him some 
 advice on this subject : 
 
 ' I wish you a good one,' she says ; ' you had 
 need of one that hath experience. But I think 
 it were far better for a woman to keep the Wine/ 
 
 In the same letter she expresses a wish that 
 he may have * good markets for his oxen, for beefe 
 is now at the dearest, but one with another it is 
 three pence halfepeny a pound/ 
 
 The news-letters mention the vast difference 
 there was at one time in the price of corn etc. in 
 England and Scotland in 1684 : 
 
 ' The Middle price of Corn here is Wheat 365. 
 per quarter, Rye 25^., Barley 20s.y Oats 13^". 6^., 
 pease 405*., and beans 395-. per quarter. 
 
 ' They write from Scotland that Corn is very 
 cheap there ; our English quarter of the best 
 Wheat is sold for J2s. 6dy Barley at Ss., and 
 Oats ys.' 
 
 But even though English prices might be high 
 and tenants prosperous, Sir Richard's account- 
 books do not convey satisfactory impressions of 
 the results from his * many contrivances ' to im- 
 prove his income. 
 
A FAMILY INTERLUDE 
 
 201 
 
 Before long he is obliged to confess that 
 
 ' Whereas 1 have assigned ^40 a year for 
 Charitable uses (besides the Poor which I set on 
 work and the bread I give at the Door), i.e. ^10 a 
 quarter, which I have set down in this book so 
 dedicate : Of which I have for want of money been 
 forced to make use of the greatest part, which 
 has happened to be set down again when paid, 
 and therefore, I conceive, has put rrie out in these 
 accounts.' 
 
 A year later he notes, ' I have a parcel of 
 debts upon bond, which I fear are desperate.' 
 
 In the fragments of Sir Richard's diary we find 
 the same hints of trouble about money matters : 
 
 * 1682, Arbury. — With my Wife examining 
 and writing out three months (of the several sums 
 paid) out of the Diary of my own great Book, that 
 I may see which way my Money is gone.' 
 
 Other extracts of the same date will tend to 
 show with what candour and simplicity the diarist 
 notes down his thoughts and actions : 
 
 'May I. — Extremely troubled with the tooth- 
 ache, which upon my prayers went away. Entered 
 the birth and christening of Betty [his sixth 
 daughter]. Went with my Wife to Chapel to her 
 Churching. Backed the five-year-old Grey 
 Gelding which I call Ophthene, and rode to the 
 
202 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 several grounds and woods upon him. Gave God 
 thanks for preserving me, tho' I think my method 
 to be very safe. Prayed and slept soundly, I thank 
 God. 
 
 ' October 6. — This day I fasted as a revenge 
 upon myself for sin, and pray'd fervently tho' 
 little. . . . Troubled with toothache, cured with 
 sack. 
 
 * Sunday i ^th, — Spent indifferent well. . . . 
 
 * Tuesday ijtL — Took the Great Parlor lock 
 in sunder and with great difficulty set it together 
 again, having made it clean. . . . With the boys 
 and Wyat [their tutor] who dined here to-day. 
 Reckoning with M' Wyat. . . . 
 
 ' Thursday igtL — Finished my reckoning with 
 Wyat and desired him henceforth to gather 
 the Fish I give him, in which I will assist him. 
 Received R. Beighton's rent of J. Parker, who is 
 as ill a Bayly as he is a Friend. Ordered him to 
 give my Coton Tenants notice to pay their rents 
 on the 2'''^ of Nov. next, and to come hither 
 on the i^^ to borrow, if any of them wanted 
 money. . . . ' 
 
 The home education of Sir Richard Newdi- 
 gate's sons was carried on by the long-suffering 
 Mr. Wyat aforesaid.^ As they grew old enough, 
 three, at least, went on to Winchester, and 
 
 ' Mr. W^yat was formerly precentor of Lincoln, which post he 
 resigned, and retired to Nuneaton. He died under Sir Richard's 
 roof in i686, and a tablet has been erected to his memory in the 
 chancel of Astley Church. 
 
A FAMILY INTERLUDE 203 
 
 Walter, John, and Francis were all admitted to 
 Grays Inn at or before sixteen years of age. 
 John alone ultimately made a profession of the 
 law. Francis, the youngest, went into the army 
 in the time of Queen Anne, and Walter, poor lad, 
 died at Winchester in 1686. His brother had to 
 break the sad tidings to his father, which he does 
 in a short and pathetic letter, labelled ' Jack's 
 account of Wat s death at Winton.' 
 
 ' Honored Father 
 
 ' This is to acquaint you with the sad 
 news of the Death of my Dear Brother, who died 
 yesterday. He lay in great pain and misery from 8 
 in the morning till 9 at night, and then very 
 patiently Departed this life. He called to the 
 nurse for some cordial, and she took him up in 
 her arms to give him some cordial, and he fell 
 away in her arms. Pray present my humble 
 Duty to my Mother and Grandmother, and love 
 to my Sisters concludes this from 
 ' Honored Father, 
 
 Your most Dutyfull and obedient Son, 
 ' John Newdigate. 
 
 * Winton, 24.'^' August 1686.' 
 
 Walter Newdigate was buried at Winchester, 
 where his epitaph may be read in the College 
 Cloisters at this day. 
 
204 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 To return from this digression to earlier 
 events, we find a letter from Lord Massareene 
 in the spring of 1682, asking for his cousins 
 help in the matter of rescuing two family por- 
 traits, painted by Sir Peter Lely, from the hands 
 of his executors. 
 
 Sir Peter had died unexpectedly at the end of 
 1 680, and it would seem rather late in the day for 
 Lord Massareene to begin to feel anxiety for the 
 recovery of the portraits which had been left un- 
 claimed. 
 
 He writes from his Irish home, Antrim 
 Castle, on April 27 1682 : 
 
 ' . . . And now must desire your favour in looking 
 after two Pieces of Sir Peter Lilly's Painting — 
 one of my Daughter Skefifington, perfectly 
 finished, in a fine frame, and fully paid for ; 
 another of my Son Skeffington, neither quite 
 finished nor at all paid for ; the third a Copy of 
 that Picture,^ for which I am assured you paid 
 much beyond the value. These being all left 
 with S' Peter Lilly when we left London, and in 
 S'' Peter's hands when he died, I am quickened 
 to call for them by what I see in the London 
 Gazette (a few weeks since), whereby all S"" 
 Peter s Collections are exposed to be sold by the 
 
 ^ A full-length portrait of Lord Massareene in his peer's robeSj 
 painted for Sir R. Newdigate, and now at Arbury. 
 
A FAMILY INTERLUDE 205 
 
 Candle ^ (which use to be seen in better Lights). 
 Not that I fear any will either over-value these I 
 mention or dispute the property, but lest they be 
 cast into some dirty Corner or behind the Door, 
 and perhaps fall into hands that may not know 
 the proprietors. If you please therefore to let 
 them be put into any place of your appointment 
 and become security that I will pay what is due 
 thereupon ; which for the copy at length is as much 
 as you agreed for, if it be well finished. For my 
 Son s, if it were quite finished, there was once 
 ;^40 (p^) demanded for that size ; all which I 
 leave to your care and kindness, and hereby 
 promise in one month's time after your letter 
 giving notice that you have received the said 
 three pictures, I shall pay what you find reason- 
 able and shall agree with the Executors of S' 
 Peter Lilly on behalf of. Dear S\ 
 
 ' Y"^ most afifec^*^ kinsman and most grateful 
 servant, 
 
 Massareene/ 
 
 Eventually ;^6o was paid for the two pictures, 
 one being the original portrait of Clotworthy 
 Skeffington, and the other a copy of Lord 
 Massareene's full-length now at Arbury. The 
 third portrait, of Rachel Skeffington, had already 
 been paid for. 
 
 Lord Massareene has to write again more 
 than once to u rge Sir Richard to bestir himself 
 
 ^ A sale by auction carried out by ' inch of candle.' 
 
2o6 cavalip:r and puritan 
 
 in the matter of the pictures, which did not come 
 into his possession for two years or more. He 
 also begs his cousin to take measures to have two 
 more copies made of the full-length portrait of 
 himself (which he evidently covets) in order to 
 give one to each of his married daughters. The 
 younger one had now also left the parental roof 
 and become the wife of the eldest son of Sir Oliver 
 St. George in Ireland. 
 
 The delay in the delivery of the pictures in 
 the first instance seems to have been owing to 
 Lord Massareene s lack of punctuality in sending 
 the promised payment, but in his next letters he 
 is so much taken up with horse-racing near 
 Dublin that he has no thought to spare for other 
 matters. 
 
 Writing from Dublin on November 8, 1683, 
 he says : 
 
 ' My son Skeffington and I put in two Stone 
 Horses of our own breed to run for a Plate of ^40 
 near this town, being a four mile course. Nine 
 horses did run for it and four of them English 
 Horses, one of which was my L"^ Derby's famous 
 horse Collier, who came in third, my son's second, 
 and mine first ; which gave great Reputation to 
 our Breed and carried the plate to Antrim, where 
 I hope it will abide. I bought Collier the same 
 
A FAMILY INTERLUDE 
 
 207 
 
 night after the Race was over, and have sent him 
 into the Country to be kept against Spring, which 
 time we propose to have a hundred pound plate 
 run for near this town, and against which time 
 three or four top- Horses are designed to be 
 brought from New-market to beat our Horses ; 
 who now easily gained the Plate that was run 
 for the 18'^ of Oct. in the sight of the L"^ Deputy 
 and many thousands of spectators, and more 
 coaches and Ladys than I ever saw at a horse- 
 match ; from whom our horses had many good 
 wishes beforehand, and acclamations after we 
 won the plate, which was a great Bason and 
 Candlesticks . . . ' 
 
 Lord Massareene, full of his present success, 
 and with plans for further victories on the turf, 
 makes no reference to the troubled state of 
 English society, where at this time many of its 
 chief members were objects of suspicion, whilst 
 other persons of note were undergoing impeach- 
 ment, trial, and execution for high treason. 
 
 The cause and results of this upheaval of 
 society will be told in the next chapter. 
 
2o8 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY 
 
 The Rye- House or Protestant plot, as we all 
 know, was revealed by informers some three 
 months after the date when its design was to 
 have been carried out. Charles II/s premature 
 return to London from Newmarket, owing to the 
 conflagration which had broken out in the town, 
 is supposed to have frustrated the plans of the 
 conspirators, who were to have lain in wait for him 
 with murderous intentions on his road homeward. 
 
 The fire which baffled the plans of the would- 
 be assassins was, according to the newsmen, 
 ' kindled by one of the Black Guard,' with the 
 result that ' half the town was consumed in the 
 space of an hour, the houses being principally 
 of thatch.' 
 
 Charles remained in happy ignorance of the 
 danger he had escaped for the moment. When 
 
SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY 209 
 
 the revelation took place the commotion it ex- 
 cited extended far and wide. The conspiracy 
 was said to include the names of some of exalted 
 station. The Duke of Monmouth was naturally 
 accused of being a principal in this so-called 
 Protestant plot. A proclamation was issued for 
 his capture, but he remained in hiding, probably 
 through royal connivance, whilst some of his 
 most powerful adherents, less fortunate than he, 
 were brought to trial and executed. 
 
 This was a period of some danger and difficulty 
 for the newsmen. 
 
 ' Tuesday ' (writes Sir Richard's scribe on 
 June 14) 'being the time that Judgment was 
 given against the Charter of London, I had well 
 nigh finished my Letters, when an order came 
 from the Lord Mayor into my house and seized 
 all the said Letters together, which my Wife and 
 Servants say 'twas done to divers others besides, 
 which prevented that Post's transmitting you 
 the proceedings of yesterday, which you must 
 excuse, as also this slender information at present/ 
 
 The writer was probably unaware that two 
 days previously one Josiah Keeling, a citizen, 
 moved as he alleged by feelings of remorse, had 
 revealed the Rye- House Plot and its ramifications 
 to the King and Council. 
 
210 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 The trial and execution of Lord Russell 
 speedily followed. The newsmen fill many pages 
 with particulars of the accusation, defence, and 
 judgment of one who inspired universal respect 
 and sympathy. 
 
 On the scaffold the condemned man professed 
 
 * in the words of a Dying Man that he knew of no 
 plot against the King's life or Government.' 
 'But,' he continued, ' I have now done with this 
 World and am going to a better. I forgive all 
 the World heartily, and I thank God I die in 
 Charity with all men, and I wish all sincere 
 Protestants may love one another and not make 
 way for Popery by their aninipsities. I pray God 
 forgive them and continue the Protestant Religion 
 amongst them, that it may flourish as long as the 
 Sun and Moon endure . . . ' ^ 
 
 The executioner bungled his task in a horrible 
 manner. ' It took three strokes with the axe . . . 
 and then a knife to make an end of the work . . . 
 which was a dreadful exit.' 
 
 Another of Monmouth's prominent followers, 
 Lord Grey, was more fortunate. He escaped 
 justice by liberally entertaining his guard on the 
 way to the Tower. 
 
 1 ' Last Speech and Behaviour of Wilhain, Lord Russell, 1683.' 
 
SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY 211 
 
 * Serjeant Deerham was ordered to guard his 
 Lordship to the Tower, whom his Lordship pre- 
 vailing upon to drink they continued doing the 
 same till next morning early, when Mr. Deerham 
 called for a hackney coach to drive to the Tower 
 without any guard but himself. Being there 
 arrived, Mr. Deerham fast asleep, his lordship 
 left him in the Coach, took water and escaped, 
 and is not since heard of Which his Mat^ 
 having notice of, was so displeased at the 
 Negligence of the Officer that he caused him to 
 be committed to the Tower, and, we are told, is 
 put into the hole, where he may have leisure to 
 repent his indiscretion.' 
 
 The King thought it necessary at this juncture 
 to pay special attention to the members of his 
 household. 
 
 ' It is told that his Mat^" intends to make a 
 Regulation in the officers of his household, some 
 of them being Whiggishly inclined, and hath 
 already begun with his Cooks.' 
 
 In November another follower of Monmouth's 
 was condemned to death : 
 
 'On the 28'^^ Mr. Algernon Sidney was 
 brought to the King's Bench Bar, where he 
 received the Sentence of a Traitor, to be hanged 
 drawn, and quartered. He made ^ many frivolous 
 exceptions; none that bore weight. One was 
 that his Jury were mean men, whereas he him- 
 
212 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 self had excepted against thirtyfive Knights and 
 Esquires and called out tradesmen, who yet are 
 of good estates and expectation and every way 
 qualified by Law for that affair. 
 
 ' On the December Mr. Sidney paid his 
 debt to the Law. He went sturdily to the 
 Scaffold and there gave a sealed Paper to the 
 Sheriff. The Sheriff asked him what he would 
 have done with it ? He said if he did not like it 
 he should give it him again. He kneeled so long 
 as one might fancy he said the Lord's Prayer ; 
 then arose and pulled off his Coat and disposed 
 it, and having fixed his Neck to the Block bid 
 the Sheriff see his office performed. This is the 
 length of what he said on the Scaffold. The 
 Executioners took off his head with one stroke. 
 
 ' December 20. — In the present Enquiry of the 
 Town (since that Mr. Sidney spoke so little on 
 the scaffold) what he said in his paper, which 
 whatever others may give out I can find to be no 
 more than some sentiments he conceives of 
 hardship in the proceeding against him, but no 
 word whether Guilty or not guilty, so that to do 
 the dead no wrong, if he did not come up to the 
 height of that which some call Christian, to make 
 a full, satisfactory Confession, he must be said to 
 have died like a Gentleman, in that he would not 
 Justify himself in an ill action.' 
 
 If we now leave the news-letters, with the 
 tragic occurrences they have to chronicle as the 
 result of the revelations of the informers of the 
 
SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY 213 
 
 Rye-House Plot, and return to the first discovery 
 of the conspiracy in the preceding June, we 
 shall find how far-reaching was its disturbing 
 influence. 
 
 An outlying ripple reached Warwickshire and 
 ruffled the surface of Sir Richard Newdigate's 
 pastoral life at Arbury. Probably the outspoken 
 baronet was already an object of suspicion to the 
 Popish party. We have had evidence of his 
 personal acquaintance with Monmouth and of his 
 having received * papers ' from him, whilst his 
 firm hold on Protestantism must have been well 
 known amongst his friends and neighbours, for 
 he was not the man to have repressed in silence 
 all expression of his principles and sympathies. 
 For the better understanding of the events which 
 follow it must not be forgotten that on June 12 
 Josiah Keeling, the informer, unbosomed himself 
 of the alleged Protestant plot to the Duke of 
 Albemarle and Sir Leoline Jenkins. On the 14th 
 the news- writer reported the invasion of his house 
 by the myrmidons of the Lord Mayor, and also 
 informed Sir Richard that such letters as were 
 lying ready for despatch were seized, including one 
 for himself 
 
214 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Meanwhile the squire of Arbury continues the 
 chronicle of his usually uneventful life as follows : 
 
 1683. \fuve 2^, — Rose, retired to my Study ; 
 looked out a Window a quarter of an hour at their ^ 
 vaulting in the great Hall. Corrected all the 
 Errata in Dr. Hall's Heaven upon Earth, which 
 held me aquarter of an hour. Examined part of the 
 Work Book; read over and titled twenty letters. 
 
 'June 27. — Walked about all the afternoon, 
 overlooking my Husbandry and other Works. 
 Supped, was pleasant with the Children, but very 
 weary. . . . 
 
 'June 28.— Rose at five. Prayed, dressed, 
 took horse at six ; went to wait upon the Lord 
 Leigh at Stoneleigh Bowling Green, but overtook 
 him before I came to Bed worth, and providen- 
 tially, to my great satisfaction met with Mr. Smith 
 in the Lord Leigh's Company, who had desired 
 me to meet him at Long Itchenton, which I had 
 consented to, but had sent him word of some 
 business which prevented me^ and afterward I 
 ne'er thought of it. So it went off on my side, 
 but now we appointed to meet this day sen- 
 night at two of the clock at Itchenton. Then I 
 went with Lord Leigh to Coventry and sent 
 George for the letters, which I read as I came 
 back. . . . 
 
 'June 29. — Was disturbed with my Wife's 
 pains at three. Lay awake till six. Slept, or 
 rather slumbered, till nine. 
 
 ^ Probably his boys with their tutor. 
 
SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY 215 
 
 'July I, Sunday, — Rose before nine. Dressed. 
 Resisted a temptation in thought. Ten o'clock, 
 went to Chapel.^ 
 
 * While the Psalm was singing the Door was 
 opened, and Johnson, whom I sent to see who was 
 there, brought word that the Cook saw a party of 
 horse riding about the yard. Upon which I, 
 doubtful whether they were Thieves or not, went 
 out to see, and when I saw one of the King's 
 Trumpeters and several Soldiers presenting their 
 Pistols as ready for a Storm, I resolved, thinking 
 they looked for me, to go into the Chapel again ; 
 where I was no sooner seated but Johnson brought 
 me word that 'twas Captain Lucy, our present 
 High Sheriff, who enquired for me, but hearing I 
 was at Chapel, said he would stay till I had done. 
 But I sent Johnson again to invite him in, upon 
 which he came in, attended by Ensign Knotsford, 
 Captain Cave, Quartermaster Conisby, and three 
 others. 
 
 ' I revolved in my mind what should occasion 
 their coming. Sometimes I thought they came 
 to search for arms. But then, thought I, why so 
 many ? why so armed themselves ? Possibly they 
 have some order to secure my Person. If so, I 
 will desire the favors of a good many of my Books 
 to prison with me. 
 
 ' While I thought this my old Distemper, a 
 Dizziness in my head, came upon me, for which I 
 did privately eat two bits of Orange. 
 
 * I thought the Sermon long. When Service 
 was ended, and as soon as Captain Lucy had 
 
 ^ The chapel at Arbury is in the house. 
 
2i6 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 saluted my Wife and Daughters, I accosted him 
 thus : 
 
 ' What Commands have you for me, Sir ? " 
 
 * To which he answered : Sir, I must beg 
 your Pardon that I have not waited upon you 
 before I come on such an Errand." 
 
 * Sir," said I, you must obey your Orders/' 
 ' ''To tell you the truth, Sir," said he, there 
 was an Information given that two wagon loads of 
 arms came down to your house, upon which our 
 Noble Lord Lieutenant could do no less than issue 
 out his Orders that your house should be searched, 
 which is the Occasion of our coming, for I desired 
 to come myself that it might be done with all 
 civility imaginable/' 
 
 * Sir,'' said I, I have an Armory, but 'tis, I 
 fear, so ill kept that I shall be ashamed Soldiers 
 should see it." 
 
 * Upon which I had them taken up thither and 
 into several parts of the house, farther than they 
 would have gone, who desired me only upon my 
 Word and Honor to give an account what arms I 
 had, and that I would deliver them up, if the Lord 
 Lieutenant desired them. 
 
 * The arms which I had were nine suits of 
 Armor and one silk Armor [a suit of steel armour 
 concealed by a covering of silk], eight old Mus- 
 quets, one fowling piece, three birding guns, four 
 old Swords, three Militia swords, five swords left 
 by the Sheriff's men with their Belts and Javelins, 
 five old cases of Pistols, three militia cases of 
 Pistols, two pair for myself, two for my men, and 
 one pair of pocket pistols. At this time I had 
 
SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARRURY 217 
 
 two pair more ; one Brackenbury ' Militia Pistols, 
 and one that I gave Dicky. ISfote, — I find but 
 two horses in Warwickshire, and I did find one in 
 Leicestershire. 
 
 ' They told me that they were to search several 
 other houses, viz: Mr. Stratford's and Mr. Coton's 
 etc' 
 
 Mr. Stratford, it may be remembered, was the 
 candidate for Parliament in 1679, who 'stood 
 against all the Gentlemen of quality in the County, 
 having the Vote of all the Presbyterian and fanatic 
 party/ He was unsuccessful, but it is not sur- 
 prising that his house was liable to suspicion. 
 Sir Richard continues : 
 
 ' I invited them to Dinner and gave their 
 Soldiers some Ale and Victuals, and they com- 
 mended this Seat, and Captain Lucy invited me 
 and my Wife to Charlecote, and told me that he 
 was confident that neither my Person nor anything 
 else of mine was dangerous to the Government. 
 
 * To which I replied, Tis not my Interest to 
 be an Innovator," and so we parted. 
 
 ' I walked out with my Wife and then went to 
 Chapel. Afterwards I wrote to the Earl of Con- 
 way. Supped. Was discomposed. Prayers. 
 Read Holy Dying. Slept ill, for I was vexed to 
 be taken for a Malcontent, which thou, O God, 
 knowest that I am far from. 
 
 A part of the family property at Harefield in Middlesex. 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' July 2, — -Rose at ten. Wrote to the Earl of 
 Conway another Copy, disHking that written last 
 night. Walked with my Wife and the Children. . . . 
 Kept up till eleven by writing my letter fair to 
 the Earl of Conway, and till one by my Wife's 
 illness, who had her pains of Childbed come upon 
 her ; so I sent for two Mid wives and cleared the 
 lying-in Chamber of my surveying papers. I 
 ordered Johnson to go to-morrow morning to the 
 Earl of Conway with my letter and a list of my 
 arms and an old list in 1672. Went to bed and 
 slept till nine of the clock. 
 
 'July 3. — Got dressed by twelve. Dined ; 
 Bowled three rubbers ; walked ; was listless and 
 weary. Wrote a little of this. Discoursed my 
 Wife. Eat fruit and drank Aqua-mirabilis, about 
 eight spoonfuls.' 
 
 The newsmen, writing on the same date as the 
 above, report that ' all our discourse now is who 
 are seized and who are committed.' In this state 
 of public excitement it was natural that Sir 
 Richard's appeal to the Lord Lieutenant should 
 be disregarded, and that he was required to give 
 up a large portion of his arms. 
 
 'July 14. — Delivered some of my arms to Mr. 
 Maund, Captain Lucy's Corporal, who w^as very 
 civil and left me five Suits of Armor, cases of 
 pistols and swords, and gave me a Note for what 
 he took. 
 
SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY 219 
 
 * I wrote a letter to Captain Lucy, but when I 
 found that they took my Drum, I wrote another 
 letter to him for it again. This held me till 
 dinner with Mr. Wyat. After dinner I delivered 
 the rest of my Arms to two other Soldiers. 
 Was vexed to be thus disarmed. Supped. Re- 
 ceived a News letter and one from Mr. Clark to 
 give me notice of a Scandal at Barnet. Received 
 one from the Bishop of Oxon by Mr. Scot and 
 read an Oxford News-letter which he brouorht to 
 shew me that a wagon load of Musquets, 
 Blunderbusses and Pistols, were taken from me, 
 which I heard, by a letter from my Cousin Ofifley 
 to my aunt Skrymsher, was got into Cheshire, 
 and by Mr. Wyat from Mr. Osbaston was got 
 into Northamptonshire. Received my Drum 
 again. ^ Played at draughts and won. Prayed 
 heartily for my Wife who is in labor.' 
 
 Sir Richard's seventh daughter, Juliana, was 
 born the following morning, July 15. 
 
 y uly 2 1 .—Read a Chapter, 3""^ Deut. Reflected 
 upon Moses' Meekness and Resignation, which I 
 desire to imitate, and if my own heart do not 
 much deceive me I am very willing to die. Began 
 to go on with my Will, but seeing John Keen I 
 went to him and was contriving for the Chains to 
 the Bars. 
 
 'July 24. — Looked about my Business i' th' 
 Yard. At four came up, put my papers in order ; 
 those about seizing my Arms into the uppermost 
 
 ^ The drum is still at Arbury and sounded daily for meals. 
 
220 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Drawer on the left hand the Hall window. Then 
 wrote this and slept. To ten o'clock killing a Bat. 
 Heard that my sister Parker and her daughter-in- 
 law the Lady Parker were come, yet did not rise. 
 
 'J^tly 28. — Rose half an hour after five. 
 Dressed. At seven o'clock christened Juliana, 
 my seventh Daughter. Read the News-letter. 
 Was extremely out of Humor at the base reports 
 that are raised of me. Dined with our Company. 
 Betook myself to my prayers. Then walked in 
 the Garden with the Ladies and eat fruit. 
 
 'July 29. — Sunday. Slept till after eight. 
 Dressed, read a little of Seraphick Love, for I 
 would fain stir up my Love to God. At Chapel. 
 Dined with my Wife and all the children. At 
 Chapel. Eat Melon, then went into the Garden 
 with my sister and Mr. Wyat. Eat Apricots and 
 Nutmeg Peaches. Was vextas yesterday. Supped. 
 Read Lord Russell's speech. Prayed. Read 
 Government o' th' Tongue. Uncharitable truths. 
 
 'July 30. — Waked at five, being disturbed by 
 the Pewets flying in the Buttery Chamber. Wrote 
 to my Sister and a resenting letter to the Lord 
 Conway. W as extremely angry at some disturb- 
 ance which I met with in the house. Retired to 
 my prayers. Was better. Read the 8^^ of 
 Deuteronomy. Ordered the coach to be got 
 ready. Seriously wished myself in another World, 
 for life is very troublesome. 
 
 'August 4. — Wrote an answer about the late 
 Scandals of my Arms. Then went to John Wal- 
 dron (the Dull) and directed him about my Stable. 
 I was violent angry to-day upon a small occasion. 
 
SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY 221 
 
 ' AiLgitst 5, Stmday. — Waked at seven. 
 Read Sermon on Love and Dr. Taylor on Holy 
 Dying. Lay abed half an hour after eight. Was 
 in excellent temper. Eat a Crust and drank water. 
 At Chapel listless and v^eary. Reached out my 
 silk Armor (v^hile I think of it) to shew Mr. Wyat. 
 Dined, Sent Gervase to give thirty of Bedworth 
 Poor who are not served 30'. Went into the 
 Garden and eat (rather) too much fruit with Dick. 
 Gathered some for my Aunt and Cousin and the 
 Girls, to whom I gave sparingly. At Chapel, 
 Drowsy, which I shook off. 
 
 \\ have these three days abstained from 
 eating one grain of Salt with my meat, which is 
 very insipid, especially roast venison, without it. 
 Merit, I pretend to none ; but, O God, sanctify the 
 means I use to preserve myself from sin, that I 
 be made capable of the Atonement wrought by 
 my blessed Saviour, for whose sake I hope to 
 become a member (though unworthy) of the 
 Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 'August 14. — Lay abed to eight. Went to 
 the New Way ; directed Sander Knight how to 
 mend it. Dined. Went to Sleep awhile. Was 
 cross with my Dear Wife. Went with her in the 
 Coach up the New Way. . . . ' 
 
 Here we leave vSir Richard, for a time, 
 honestly recording each day's aspirations and 
 struggles to do right with his many failures ; 
 emblematic of poor human nature from the 
 beginning until now. 
 
222 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 WIG AND GOWN 
 
 The news-letters being addressed to a man who 
 had been admitted to Grays Inn in his youth, 
 whilst his father had risen to distinction in the 
 law, they contain many allusions to passing 
 events connected with the Inns of Court, and 
 members of the legal profession. 
 
 In 1677 we learn how the Middle Temple 
 was burnt out in a night, with the exception of 
 the Hall, ' that is to say Vine Court, Pump 
 Court, Elm Court, Hare Court, Essex Court, 
 and part of Fig-tree Court/ 
 
 ' The Devil Tavern was twice on fire, but 
 with much labour was preserved ; which if it had 
 taken fire, would much have endangered all the 
 Timber Buildings in Fleet Street near the Bar, 
 considering how the wind blew with a continued 
 blast without intermission. 
 
 ' Yet in the Temple the fire burnt both ways, 
 and came back from Pump Court, where it first 
 
WIG AND GOWN 
 
 223 
 
 began, as far as the Cloisters near the Temple 
 Hall and Church, both which were once on fire, 
 but with great industry were put out again. The 
 hall was somewhat damnified, but the Church is 
 not in the least spoiled, and the lane leading 
 towards it stands well 
 
 ' There was a great want of water, by reason 
 the Thames was frozen and the Ice driven to the 
 Temple Shore, that no water could be had there, 
 and though the pipes in Fleet Street were broken 
 up, yet by reason of the great frost they afforded 
 little water, so that they were forced to make use 
 of above a hundred barrels of Beer out of the 
 Temple cellars and Devil Tavern to supply the 
 engines.' 
 
 Other paragraphs give certain particulars 
 of the special ceremonies ordained for newly 
 made Serjeants-at-Law before they were admitted 
 to the full privileges of their position. 
 
 'This day (Jan. 21, 1684) the sixteen new 
 Serjeants met in their Inns of Court and as by 
 Custom had 5' in a Purse delivered to them with 
 a Speech. 
 
 * Those of Grays Inn were told that their 
 happiness was that no Protestant dissenting 
 Brethren were among them. 
 
 Those of the Temple were told that Learning 
 procured Riches, but only Loyalty Honour. 
 
 * After which, having' their Coifs and Gowns 
 put on them at Serjeant's Inn, they marched 
 
224 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 along the streets to Westminster, preceded by 
 above a hundred persons in party-coloured 
 coats, and the students of their society. 
 
 ' When they came to Westminster all the 
 Judges descended into the Common Pleas Court, 
 where they heard each Serjeant Count and Plead 
 in French, and then each delivered the Judges 
 and other Serjeants a gold Ring with the motto : 
 A Deo Rex\ a Rege Lex. 
 
 * After which was a splendid entertainment.' * 
 
 On one occasion Lord Justice Scroggs is re- 
 ported to have expressed anxiety lest the newly 
 created Serjeants-at-Law should fail to live up 
 to the dignity of their office, by practising undue 
 thrift or economy. 
 
 ' Yesterday the eleven new Serjeants at 
 Law appeared at the Court of Chancery. The 
 Lord Scroggs told them they must be careful of 
 their state and not come four in a hackney coach 
 to Westminster for twelve pence, nor in a sculler 
 for three pence.' 
 
 Lord Scroggs's own sense of dignity does not 
 seem to have been of a high order. When he 
 was informed that ' a Barrister at Law had been 
 observed taking notes at several Trials and after- 
 wards giving them to be printed, he declared 
 that if any barrister used such things he would 
 pull his gown over his head.* 
 
WIG AND GOV/N 225 
 
 The public would at times openly express 
 their want of faith in the justice meted out by 
 courts of law in Charles II/s reign. Lampoons 
 were written and even printed on doubtful sen- 
 tences, though always at considerable personal 
 risk to both author and publisher. 
 
 Sir George Wakeman, the Queen's physician, 
 was tried in 1680 for being concerned in the 
 Popish plot revealed by Titus Oates. He was 
 acquitted on insufficient evidence to convict him, 
 and the Protestant party maintained that judge 
 and jury had been corrupted. 
 
 A Mr. Henry Cave, ' author of the Weekly 
 Packet of Advice from Rome,' was tried at 
 Guildhall and found guilty of having published a 
 lampoon on the judgment in this case. 
 
 * There is lately found out by an experienced 
 Physician A wonder working Plaster, truly 
 Catholick, in operation, somewhat of kin to the 
 Jesuit s Powder but more effectual. The virtues 
 of it are strong and various ; it will make Justice 
 deaf as well as blind ; take out spots of the 
 deepest treason more cleverly than Castle soap ^ 
 doth common stains. It miraculously exalts and 
 purifies the Eyesight, and makes people behold 
 nothing but Innocence in the Blackest Male- 
 
 1 Castile soap. 
 
 Q 
 
226 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 factor ... It is a mighty cordial for a declining 
 cause, and in a word, makes fools wise men, and 
 wise men fools, and both knaves. The colour of 
 this precious Balsam is bright and dazzling, and 
 beingapplied privately to the fist infallibly performs 
 all the said cures and many others : probatttmest' 
 
 There was no freedom of the press in the latter 
 
 part of Charles I I.'s time, as frequently exemplified 
 
 in the news-letters : 
 
 ' You may remember ' (writes the intelligencer) 
 ' that some months since, one Browne was com- 
 mitted to the Tower for dispersing scandalous 
 Papers and Pamphlets, and that he came out 
 upon a Habeas Corpus. This term he was 
 brought to his trial and was found guilty of having 
 dispersed a Libel entitled the long Parliament 
 dissolved.'' And on Tuesday last he received his 
 sentence, which was that he should be fined 1,000 
 Marks and continue a Prisoner until the same 
 was paid ; and that he should be disabled for 
 seven years from practising in any Court as an 
 Attorney, which he is by profession.' 
 
 Even women were not exempt from punishment 
 
 on this score : 
 
 ' Mrs. Anne Brewster is sent to Newgate for 
 unlicensed pamphlets till she give security for 
 her good behaviour for a year.' 
 
 As a last example I will quote how ' on the 
 29th one Thomas Parkhurst was committed to 
 
WIG AND GOWN 
 
 227 
 
 the Gate House for printing an unlicensed book 
 called 'A friendly debate between Satan and 
 Sherlock/ ^ 
 
 The name of the notorious Lord Jeffreys 
 often appears in the news-letters. He it was, we 
 may recall, to whom Charles II. gave a ring off 
 his own finger soon after the execution of Sir 
 Thomas Armstrong, one of Monmouth's devoted 
 servants. After the discovery of the Rye-House 
 Plot Sir Thomas was outlawed, but eventually 
 taken at Leyden and brought to London. Here 
 he was condemned to death by Judge Jeffreys 
 without being allowed the formality of a trial. 
 
 * Last Sunday,' relate the newsmen, ' the 
 Lord Chief Justice Jeffries being at Windsor his 
 Mat^ told him he was very well satisfied with his 
 Conduct ; bidding him to continue to preserve 
 him and the laws, and gave his Lordship a 
 diamond ring from ofThis own finger.' 
 
 This was the ring afterwards spoken of as * the 
 Lord Chief Justice's bloodstone.' 
 
 The junior dwellers in the Temple were a 
 wild and rollicking set, quite in keeping with the 
 times. At the New Year of 1683 their revels 
 
 1 Dr. Sherlock was afterwards Dean of St. Paul's. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 passed all bounds, not without some encourage- 
 ment from the Court, and their final suppression 
 was effected with difficulty. 
 
 * The Young Students of the Middle Temple 
 having chosen one Thomas Montgomery for 
 their Comptroller (the Government of the Society 
 these Holidays being devolved upon them) they 
 repaired to Whitehall on New Year s Day in 
 extraordinary grandeur and state, attended by 
 forty Halberdiers in new Liverys which they 
 clothed, being conducted thither in eighteen 
 Noblemen's Coaches, most with six Horses, and 
 were very well received, one of them delivering 
 himself to his Mat^ in a speech expressing their 
 abundant loyalty, wishing his Mat^ a happy new 
 year with the continuance of many others, which 
 Ceremony being performed together with his R. 
 Highness, they made an invitation to most of the 
 great Men to accompany them to dinner, which 
 the Duke of Ormond, Marquess Halifax with 
 divers others did them the Honour to accept/ 
 
 A week later we read that on 
 
 ' vSaturday last both the Societies of the Temple 
 having dined together, about six in the evening 
 summoned their Guards and each party divided 
 to collect and gather in five shillings of every 
 neighbouring house, a Custom they pretend for 
 some hundreds of years ; and by reason the same 
 had not been performed for some considerable 
 time the affair was very novel and surprising, 
 especially upon the executing thereof For their 
 
WIG AND GOWN 
 
 229 
 
 Guards, being armed with Halberd and half pike, 
 marched in a warlike posture, driving all before 
 them, and at what house soever they had not 
 immediately the money they demanded, finding- 
 the door shut, they first gave a signal by blowing 
 their horn and then broke open the said house, 
 levying their pleasure, and thus they continued 
 till two o'clock Sunday morning, which by reason 
 of that early time the people in their beds were 
 mightily affrightened. Some, not knowing the 
 occasion, cried out **Arm, arm ! " and Constables 
 that came to disturb them in this procedure were 
 by them seized and put into the stocks. And it 
 looked like the Emblem of a Massacre or the 
 plundering of a Conquered City, several opposing 
 them with Spits and other weapons. And 'twas 
 a great Providence that little hurt was done, 
 and being loaded with Money and booty they 
 returned. 
 
 ' The next evening, the Sunday, they held a 
 great Mask or ball of dancing, which continued 
 till Monday morning; and thus our young 
 Students revel night and day, tho' many sober 
 people are extremely against it.' 
 
 These wild revellers, anticipating the con- 
 sequences of their riotous proceedings, summoned 
 a (so-called) Parliament of their members in the 
 Middle Temple, when the following Resolution 
 was passed : 
 
 * Whereas several vexatious suits are, or are 
 intended to be, commenced against the Gentlemen 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 of this Society for a pretended Riotous Levying 
 of Rents which by Ancient Custom, time out of 
 mind, hath been gathered at twelfth day at night 
 yearly, when they have kept a public Xmas : 
 
 ' Resolved by the said Assembly in full Parlia- 
 ment assembled, 
 
 ' That whatsoever Councillor at Law, Attorney 
 or Solicitor, shall or may be concerned in 
 prosecuting any of the Gentlemen or Servants of 
 this Society on account of the said pretended 
 Riot, shall be judged and upon all occasions 
 treated as an enemy or betrayer of the honour 
 and privelege of the Inns of Court, and that the 
 Concurrence of the other Societies of Law be 
 desired herein. 
 
 ' (Signed) T. Trevour/ 
 
 Regardless of the consequences, these mad- 
 caps renewed their revels on the following Sunday 
 evening, when 
 
 ' about the hours of seven and eight was held a 
 second Ball or Masquerade by the young 
 Students of the Middle Temple, and had extra- 
 ordinary Resort of many great personages of 
 both sexes. But notwithstanding they had before 
 closed their Gates the Rabble began to get head 
 upon them and a disturbance ensued ; but notice 
 being given to Whitehall some of his Mat^^ horse 
 and foot guards were sent for their Relief, who 
 prevented any farther disorders.' 
 
 Again, a week later, when there was no 
 
WIG AND GOWN 
 
 231 
 
 longer a pretence for Christmas laxity, they 
 continued their pranks : 
 
 * Saturday last being Essoines Day ^ before the 
 Term, which should have concluded the Revelling 
 of the young Students in the Temple of both 
 Societies, the Middle Temple youths acquiesced, 
 but the junior house continued their accustomed 
 Game-ing. Whereupon the Benchers and the 
 Grave Seniors of that Inn, accompanied with Mr. 
 Attorney and Mr. Solicitor General, went to the 
 Hall and desired them to clear the house, for that 
 their time was expired, ordering some servants to 
 obey their commands, which they performing were 
 prevented by the young men, and Mr. Attorney 
 General with his followers driven away with a 
 hollow. 
 
 * Whereupon they returned to their Sport and 
 put all these servants into the Tower, alias the 
 Stocks, for obeying the Benchers, where they 
 continued all night, and the next morning being 
 Sunday they discharged them thereout, burning 
 them in their hand (which they so call pouring 
 water into their sleeve till such times as it runs 
 out of their Shoes), and were resolved to hold a 
 Ball on Sunday, having provided all necessaries.' 
 
 This was rank rebellion, and necessitated the 
 
 intervention of a higher authority : 
 
 *0n Sunday the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton, 
 having knowledge of the same, came from his 
 
 ^ The day for granting excuses to those who were unable to 
 obey summonses by reason of sickness or other cause of absence. 
 
232 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 dinner with the Benchers and demanded entrance 
 into the hall or Garrison, which some of the Guard, 
 mistrusting their cause, gave him Admittance, who 
 immediately commanded the Comptroller to sur- 
 render his staff and be disarmed together with his 
 Guard, and that all the Chairs set ready for a 
 Ball be turned out and the usual tables set up, 
 which was done, and the Benchers put into 
 possession, who sent for their dinner and dined 
 there. 
 
 ' And Mr. Attorney, having wrote a letter to 
 Court of these proceedings, had an answer thereto 
 from Mr. Secretary Jenkins that his Master gave 
 no Countenance to the same, having given Orders 
 that none of the Court do come to their Ball on 
 Sunday, leaving the matter wholly to the decision 
 of the Benchers who were at present Governors 
 of that Society. 
 
 ' And thus ended their Christmas gambols/ 
 
^33 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE GREAT FROST OF I 683 -4 
 
 The frost which began in December 1683 ^^^^ 
 lasted until the following February is graphically 
 described in the news-letters as day by day it in- 
 creased in intensity. 
 
 Before the end of the year the Thames had 
 become frozen over to such a degree that attempts 
 were made ' to foot it over/ though without suc- 
 cess. 
 
 ' A Wherry with some passengers upon urgent 
 occasion, endeavouring to get over, advanced to 
 the middle, and were there, by the flakes of Ice 
 that drove one upon another, overwhelmed and 
 lost.^ 
 
 Two days later : 
 
 ' some thousands of people walk in a Beaten path 
 from near the Bridge to Whitehall, though few 
 attempt to foot it across, being forewarned by the 
 loss of divers lads who perished in that under- 
 taking. Several poor watermen have erected on 
 
234 CAVALTKR AND PURITAN 
 
 the Ice booths and stalls in nature of a fair, where 
 the people flock through the vanity to discourse in 
 future of it.' 
 
 On January 5, * a Coach and six horses drove 
 over the Thames for a wager.' 
 
 On the 8th ' whole streets of Booths are built 
 on the Thames, and thousands of people are con- 
 tinually walking thereon.' 
 
 As the Thames had now become a thorough- 
 fare, its lack of lights made it a service of danger 
 to cross after dark. 
 
 ' Several persons going over the Ice in the 
 night from Westminster market were set upon 
 and robbed near Lambeth, and two Gentlemen, 
 quarrelling thereon, fought a Duel and one was 
 dangerously wounded/ 
 
 In the middle of January 
 
 * a kind, gentle thaw began and lasted two days, 
 so that all the Booths etc. had to be pulled down 
 from off the Ice on the Thames, where coaches 
 had been driving to and fro, and people gave con- 
 siderably to ride in them. 
 
 * On Sunday morning, the Wind returning to 
 its Cold Corner, we had a hard frost, which ren- 
 dered the streets extreme slippery, and yesterday 
 the people returned to their sports on the Thames, 
 though several paid their Lives for their curiosity, 
 frequently dropping in.' 
 
THE GREAT FROST OF 1683 4 235 
 
 On January 19, it is reported 
 
 ' that this frost will hold till March, and one hath 
 undertaken for a wager to build a house two or 
 three stories high on the Ice, and lie a night in 
 it, and pull it down again himself before the frost 
 is gone. 
 
 ' Tis said his Mat^ hath ordered a I.andskip 
 to be drawn of the Thames as at present frozen 
 over, with the booths, people, and coaches thereon. 
 
 ' On Sunday we had an express of the Prince 
 of Orange s arrival, having escaped great danger 
 of shipwreck on our Coast, a great Flake of Ice 
 lying over against Deal seven miles long and one 
 mile broad. Its uncertain what he comes about, 
 but must conclude its in Relation to the dismal 
 condition of the Spanish Netherlands by the 
 French, and the sharpness of the season, thousands 
 of them starving, and more would if they were not 
 clothed by the Dutch.' 
 
 On January 23, 
 
 ' a Bull was baited on the Thames, and on it are 
 many streets erected with several names, and 
 many sorts of commodities ; and Coaches ply as 
 frequently as Boats did before.' 
 
 On the 26th, 
 
 ' one Captain Edwards of the Trained Bands 
 exercised his Company on the Ice of the Thames, 
 and conducted them thereon from the Three 
 Crowns to the Temple Stairs.' 
 
236 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Amongst other unusual results of so prolonged 
 a frost it is noted that 
 
 ' one of Squire Herbert's family in Buckingham- 
 shire did this frost shoot an Eagle preying upon a 
 Dove, which is thought rare in England/ 
 
 Reports at this time from the Continent show 
 that the sufferings caused by the severity of the 
 frost were greater than in England : 
 
 ' Our last account from foreign parts was by a 
 gentleman from Hamburg, who says that the 
 Weather is favourable with us to what it is there, 
 for that they relieve their sentinels every hour, 
 and yet found two of their soldiers frozen stiff, 
 leaning against the fortifications. They tell us 
 also of a Ship in so much distress in the Ice that 
 they cast lots which should be first sacrificed to 
 appease the others' hunger, and its certain that 
 many ships will be in want, as not being able to 
 put into port/ 
 
 After seven days more had passed, 
 
 ' the ship formerly mentioned to be surrounded 
 among the Ice in the Downs still continues with- 
 out any succour, and its feared that her men are 
 perished, none of them for three days being per- 
 ceived on the deck.' 
 
 About the same date it is reported that 
 
 'passengers at Dover designed for France, and 
 those at Harwich for Holland, are all returned 
 
THE GREAT FROST OF 1683-4 
 
 back, there being no possibility to get over. Yet 
 a person at Dover, having extraordinary occasions, 
 has agreed with four Seamen to adventure with 
 a small open boat by Rowing where they find 
 water, and then to draw it over the Ice ; but its 
 thought a Rash attempt and a hundred to one if 
 they do not miscarry.' 
 
 Sir Richard Newdigate does not seem to have 
 had implicit faith in the sensational items of news 
 supplied by the intelligencers, and when writing to 
 a correspondent in London he asks for confirma- 
 tion on one or two points. The reply is as 
 follows :~ 
 
 ' As to the business about Coaches upon the 
 Thames, there is forty of a day, and they carry 
 people from the Temple Stairs over the water to 
 the Barge houses, or straight up the Thames as 
 far as Whitehall or Westminster, Foxhall or 
 Lambeth, going as frequently between these places 
 as in Holborn. There is also Sledges with Horses 
 which go galloping upon the Thames. Also a 
 kind of Sledge Chair which people, which skate, 
 drive before them at a great Rate. There is a 
 perfect Street quite Cross the Thames at Temple 
 stairs. . . . All the booths have fire in them and 
 sell Ale and Brandy and Gingerbread and Cakes 
 in abundance ; also several sorts of Earthenware. 
 All these I have seen. . . 
 
 The same correspondent, Thomas Dodd by 
 
238 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 name, writes again three days later to describe 
 the streets with rows of booths 
 
 ' which sell all manner of things, Soldiers, 
 Bartholomew's fair, and also printing presses. 
 And there are Music Booths and Wine Booths 
 which bear ale and brandy, and a much greater 
 concourse of people than at Bartholomew s fair. 
 This day (Feb'^ 2""^) over against Whitehall was 
 a whole Ox roasted on the Thames, and meat 
 is roasted at the fire in many of the booths . . , 
 the like scarce ever known.' 
 
 In spite of the continuous merry-making on 
 the Thames the prolonged frost caused much 
 suffering amongst the poor. 
 
 ' Coals ' (say the newsmen) ' are by the bushel 
 a fourth part the price of meal for bread. But 
 though the Weather be so extremely rigorous, 
 Charity, God be praised, is not so cold as to 
 suffer the more indigent to increase the bills of 
 mortality. And though the last week's bill had 
 one in it starved," it is to be admired that there 
 were no more in so great and populous a city, 
 when the like account has been found in a mild 
 and moderate season.' 
 
 There was a rumour that, owing to the diffi- 
 culty experienced in breaking through the hard- 
 bound ground, the dead had to be deposited in 
 charnel-houses, to await burial. 
 
THE GREAT FROST OF 1683-4 239 
 
 The newsmen were bidden to make inquiry 
 on this point, and report that they can only hear 
 of one or two being brought for burial before the 
 graves were quite ready. 
 
 ' They were then set by in such places till they 
 were digged deeper, which takes up more than 
 ordinary time, as being wrought a great part with 
 a Chisel and not without a great deal of Labour 
 and difficulty/ 
 
 The watermen on the Thames found a cause 
 of complaint in their loss of trade, owing to the 
 transformation of their liquid right of way into a 
 solid and public thoroughfare. They tried 
 
 ' to claim a prerogative above others to Erect 
 their booths on the Thames ; but many trades- 
 men take the liberty to build them stalls where 
 the streets are more crowded than Bartholomew 
 fair, and the Roads as passable for Carts and 
 Coaches as on the firm land. But Mr. Water 
 Bailiff exacts of them Toll and Ice Rent and 
 forces them to pay. But the Watermen opposed 
 it as being free of the River, saying though they 
 could not Row thereon, they might build or Ride 
 thereon, and its adjudged for them.' 
 
 Encouraged, but not satisfied by this favour, 
 
 ' the Watermen on the Ice presented the Court 
 of Aldermen with a petition against the plying of 
 Coaches thereon.' 
 
240 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 This was on February 5 : ' but ' (write the 
 newsmen) 
 
 ' yesterday we had a welcome Thaw which has 
 forced the Booths to be removed, and put an 
 end to the aforesaid Controversy/ 
 
 ' God be praised' (they add on February 7), 
 * the kind and gentle thaw still continues/ 
 • . • • • • 
 
 It would be interesting to know how the 
 inhabitants of Arbury and its neighbourhood had 
 stood the Arctic winter, but unfortunately there 
 are no fragments of Sir Richard's diary of this 
 date. 
 
 The extraordinary and prolonged frost must 
 have caused anxious moments to Sir Richard, 
 who had a reputation in the county for his know- 
 ledge of arboriculture and horticulture, and for the 
 skill with which he cultivated the fresh specimens 
 he was constantly adding to his gardens and 
 plantations. 
 
 He has preserved letters from his friends and 
 neighbours thanking him for his ever-ready 
 advice and the gifts of seeds and plants which he 
 seems to have dispensed lavishly far and near. 
 Sir William Temple writes from Sheen to thank 
 him for a contribution to his garden, and Lord 
 
THE GREAT FROST OF 1683-4 
 
 Massareene continually pleads for novelties where- 
 with to beautify his Irish demesne. 
 
 * My health is impaired of late ' (writes the 
 latter from Antrim), * and my greatest entertain- 
 ment is Planting, in which I saw you were curious, 
 and your nurseries fully stored. I therefore 
 desire a Paper of seeds of your greens of all your 
 best and most curious kinds, — -at least of your 
 Pines, firs and other sort of trees with which 
 you are well stocked, and so am I. But because 
 your kinds are very different from ours, I beg 
 some more variety from you, with your advice to 
 sow and raise them, and the best season etc' 
 
 Another time he makes a special request for 
 * Spanish jasmine,' and makes arrangements for 
 its transit in pots through his son Clotworthy 
 Skeffington, who lived at Fisherwick in Stafford- 
 shire. 
 
 The seeds and the advice were duly sent, but 
 the result proved unsatisfactory. Two years 
 later Lord Massareene writes to ask for a further 
 supply on account of his lack of success in raising 
 the expected plants. He goes on to drag in an 
 inconsequent allusion to Oxford in order to em- 
 phasise the fact that other people's gifts of seeds 
 have not led to disappointment 
 
242 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' None of the seeds ' (he writes) ' that you 
 sent add to our plantations, because they do not 
 come up. I am glad your son has had Oxford 
 education, from which place my cousin Will 
 Bunbury of Brasenose College sends me seeds 
 which have come up, and I do not despair if you 
 mal^e another favourable essay.' 
 
 Lord Massareene s frankness in casting the 
 blame upon the seeds that would not come up, and 
 not upon the difference of soil or mode of treat- 
 ment, would rather appeal to Sir Richard's love 
 of candour than be likely to affront him. 
 
 When one of his friends, Sir Willoughby 
 Aston, of Aston in Cheshire, wrote him an extra- 
 vagant letter of thanks for the hospitality he had 
 received at Arbury during a short visit, his blunt 
 outspoken host labelled the well-meant effusion, 
 * Sir W. A.'s ingenious but most abominable 
 complementall letter/ ^ 
 
 ^ This ' complementall ' gentleman had a family of twenty-one 
 children by his wife Mary, daughter of John Offley, Esq., of 
 Madeley Manor, Staffordshire. Eight sons and thirteen daughters 
 made up the number. Sir Willoughby died in 1702, 
 
243 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SUNDRY ITEMS OF NEWS 
 
 In 1683 there was an attempt to start the Spanish 
 Sport of bull-fighting in England. Fortunately 
 the experiment ended in a fiasco ; not from any 
 tender-heartedness in the spectators, but from a 
 lack of combativeness on the part of the bull. The 
 newsmen recount the event in their usual quaint 
 language : 
 
 * In the Artillery Yard by Red Lion Fields is 
 preparing a great number of Scaffolds, in which 
 place will be performed (scarce ever before in 
 England) the Spanish way of worrying Bulls 
 with men on Horseback and foot, which Pastime 
 they tell us will continue for a fortnight.' 
 
 This was written in the beginning of June, 
 but the long-expected fighting with bulls on 
 horseback did not come off until July 30, when 
 
 ' a liberty was granted to the Spanish Cavalier to 
 shew the dexterity of his Exercise against the 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Bull. The place for the spectators had been some 
 time erected, and now, the Horses having been led 
 about the Streets like Bears to draw in Company, 
 about three in the afternoon they began the Show. 
 
 ' The Cavalier appeared well mounted in a care- 
 less posture with a Cloak about him and a short 
 spear in his hand, and then the Bull was let loose. 
 
 ' The Bull (not so fierce as those in Spain, but 
 yet sufficiently taught) neglected the Don, who 
 thereupon provoked him several times with his 
 spear. The Bull did not yet turn to account, and 
 so the Don with his spear gave little satisfaction. 
 Out then springs a nimble Portuguese, who on 
 foot attacks the Bull, vaults upon his back and be- 
 strides him, and the Bull could no sooner acquit 
 himself of him than he was up again ; and this 
 indeed gave some Diversion. 
 
 * But this was not the thing the people looked 
 for ; they thought to have seen at least an horse 
 or a man killed outright. But being bereft of 
 their expectation, as having not mischief enough 
 for their money, the rabble grew Couraged and 
 fell upon pulling down the scaffold, and having 
 destroyed a great part of it, carried away the Bull 
 and so the Show ended.' 
 
 Amongst the current events retailed in the 
 news-letters we find an interesting mention of the 
 re-discovery of the medicinal spring afterwards 
 known as Sadler s Wells. 
 
 'Jufy 17, 1684. — In the time of popery, on the 
 South side of the road fit: the hither end of Islington 
 
SUNDRY ITEMS OF NEWS 
 
 was a well which was had in very great esteem 
 for its medicinal qualities even to Adoration, which 
 soon after the Reformation was covered and by- 
 success of time wholly forgotten. 
 
 ' Last year the well was again discovered and 
 by its curious carving enquired after, and many 
 eminent physicians have tried the Water by 
 Rules of Art and say it is as Medicinable as any, 
 and comes the nearest in operation to that of 
 Tunbridge ; and its now commonly visited by two 
 hundred in amorning. 
 
 ' Attgust 9. — Six people have contracted with 
 Mr. Sadler (in whose Garden the much visited 
 Water at Islington is) for ^600 fine and ^300 
 per an. during his lease, which is twenty years.' 
 
 During this summer an event of interest to the 
 populace took place in the arrival of a rhinoceros, 
 apparently the first that had reached the shores of 
 England alive. 
 
 ' On board one of the East India ships is come 
 a Rhinoceros valued at ^2,000 at the Custom 
 house, and will be sold next week by inch of 
 Candle.' 
 
 Accordingly, on the day fixed, the rhinoceros 
 was put up to auction in the customary manner 
 by the burning of a candle measured off inch by 
 inch, and was purchased for ^2,320 by Mr. 
 Langley, ' one of those that bought Mr. Sadler's 
 
246 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Well at Islington, and in a day two will be seen in 
 Bartholomew Fair.' 
 
 The enterprising Mr. Langley (possibly the 
 same man who created a riot at Lady TirrelFs 
 with the object of carrying off her daughter^) 
 proved unable to raise so large a sum. He con- 
 sequently lost the rhinoceros and forfeited the 
 ^500 he had to pay beforehand. 
 
 ' This evening the Owners procured a Warrant 
 from Sir James Smith and carried away Mr. 
 Langley and afterwards put up the beast for sale 
 again by Inch of Candle for ^2,000, but no person 
 bid a farthing ; so lies upon their hands/ 
 
 After a time the interest in the depreciated 
 animal revived, and it became a source of profit 
 to its owners. 
 
 ' The Rhinoceros is much visited at twelve 
 pence apiece, and two shillings those that ride 
 him. They get fifteen pound a day.' 
 
 The news-letters give us some quaint illustra- 
 tions of the intensity of political antagonism in the 
 latter part of Charles II/s reign. 
 
 1 See p. 178. 
 
SUNDRY ITEMS OF NEWS 247 
 
 There was a certain Mr. Samuel Mearne, 
 Master of the Stationers' Company, 
 
 ' who departed this Hfe after several days' indis- 
 position of a violent Fever. He was very loath to 
 leave at this Season because the Whigs, he said, 
 would impute it a Judgement as being a Zea ous 
 persecutor of them.' 
 
 He was not far wrong in believing he would 
 afford his political enemies a mark for their malice. 
 On another occasion, when JusticeBalch Throaster 
 in Spitalfields died suddenly in his chair, we are 
 told that *the Whigs believe it a Judgment upon 
 him for designing to be sharp upon their meetings. 
 But,' adds the news-writer, * he was a fat, corpulent 
 man, and this disaster may be naturally incident 
 to him, which God deliver us all from ! ' 
 
 The Whigs were naturally antagonistic to the 
 Duke of York and his following, and betrayed this 
 feeling in dubious ways. 
 
 The episode of the loss of the ' Gloucester ' had 
 not added lustre to the Duke's name. Reflec- 
 tions were made on the haste with which James 
 had saved himself by putting off in his pinnace 
 with some of his suite and his favourite dogs, whilst 
 
248 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 the ship went down with a hundred and fifty 
 souls on board. 
 
 Amongst those who perished was Lord 
 O'Brien, and the newsmen relate that 
 
 * his page, being saved from drowning, offers to 
 swear that his Lord, being on a chest in the sea, 
 cried out to some of the watermen that were in 
 the Barge, if they would save his life he would 
 give 'em ^500, and some answered, Let him 
 alone ; he's not worth 500 pence." ' 
 
 When the Duke arrived in London on his 
 return journey from Scotland he found a paper 
 affixed to St. James's Palace on which was written, 
 
 * They that are born to be hanged shall never be 
 drowned.' 
 
 The Duchess had accompanied the Duke from 
 Scotland in order that her expected infant should 
 be born at St. James's. The Whigs openly pro- 
 fessed their disbelief in the cause which brought 
 her to England. 
 
 'The Duchess of Modena' (say the news- 
 letters) ' is expected here in Whitsun week, and 
 will stay till her daughter the Duchess of York is 
 brought to bed ; tho' they talk as if she was not 
 with child ; of which the Duke being informed 
 said, May be their Parsons told 'em so last 
 Sunday." ' 
 
SUNDRY ITEMS OF NEWS 
 
 The hoped-for prince was a princess after 
 all. ' The Lady Charlotta Maria ' lived but a few- 
 months, like so many of the Duke of York's 
 children, and was buried privately in Westminster 
 Abbey. 
 
 It was while the Duchess of Modena was 
 in England for this event that ' Mr. Dryden ' 
 went to wait upon her, ' but she refused seeing 
 him.^ 
 
 This poet s name often appears in the news- 
 letters. On one occasion they report how 
 
 ' Mr. Jo. Dryden, the poet, was set upon in Covent 
 Garden by three persons, who have so grievously 
 maimed him that his life is in much danger. Its 
 said it was done by some gentlemen whom he had 
 in verse reflected upon.' 
 
 In July 1682, 
 
 ' a play having been made by Mr. Dryden termed 
 The Duke of Guise," it being supposed to Level 
 at the vilifying the Duke of Monmouth and many 
 other Protestants, great interest was made for the 
 acting thereof, but coming to the knowledge of his 
 Mat^ the same was forbid ; for though his Ma'^'' 
 pleasure is to be dissatisfied and angry with the 
 Duke of Monmouth, yet he is not willing that 
 others should abuse him, out of a natural affection 
 for him.' 
 
250 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Four months later ' Mr. Dryden ' succeeded in 
 having his play produced : 
 
 'This day (November 18) was acted a play 
 called The Duke of Guise," by Mr. Dryden. It 
 was formerly forbid as reflecting upon the Duke of 
 Monmouth, but by the application of the author is 
 now allowed to be acted.' 
 
 Possibly the King's feelings towards his 
 troublesome son had undergone some change in 
 the interval, for Monmouth was in fresh disgrace. 
 He had been perambulating the country at the 
 head of a band of followers, and at some of the chief 
 country towns his advent had been welcomed 
 with much stir and excitement. This could not 
 have been agreeable to the Duke of York or to 
 the King, and it was deemed necessary to put a 
 summary stop to these doubtful proceedings. 
 
 Monmouth was seized at Lichfield, whilst 
 dining with the gentlemen of his suite, and brought 
 to Whitehall to be examined, but afterwards he 
 was admitted to bail. 
 
 Amongst the complaints brought against him 
 we find one concerning a certain 
 
 ' Parson Fogg, who preached before the Duke and 
 is much complained of for inserting in his prayer 
 
SUNDRY ITEMS OF NEWS 251 
 
 James D. of Monmouth after the Kiny instead of 
 James D. of York, and forgetting to pray for the 
 Queen.' 
 
 These and other audacities were condoned for 
 the time being by the King, and Monmouth 
 escaped the punishment he deserved. The next 
 year the discovery of the Rye-House Plot had, as 
 we know, far more serious consequences for the 
 Duke and his adherents. 
 
 Whilst Monmouth fled the country his followers 
 suffered for their leader's undisguised ambition, 
 and even those who were but passive sympathisers 
 with his cause had, like Sir Richard Newdigate, 
 to undergo the humiliation of having their homes 
 invaded to search for, and deprive them of, their 
 arms. 
 
 Whilst Monmouth was in banishment and the 
 Duke of York s influence in the ascendant at 
 Court, Lord Churchill's martial instincts helped to 
 quicken royal interest in the standing army. A 
 general muster was talked of at Blackheath, which 
 caused some excitem.ent in September 1684, 
 
 ' Great preparations are making for the general 
 muster at Blackheath. The officers and soldiers 
 are to be in new Habits etc. and its said Lord 
 
252 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Churchill's regiment of dragoons will appear in 
 most excellent order and discipline. 
 
 'Sept. 25. — Its discoursed that at the Muster 
 at Blackheath the Prince [George of Denmark] will 
 be made General ; the D. of Albemarle, the E. of 
 Oxford, Earl of Craven and Earl of Feversham 
 Lieut.-Generals ; and the Lord Campbell Major- 
 General 
 
 * Sept, 30.— The Ground at Blackheath being 
 found inconvenient, the Muster to-morrow is ap- 
 pointed on Putney Heath. 
 
 ' Oct. 2. — ^ Yesterday m^ marched into Putney 
 Heath his Mat^'^ Regiment of foot ; his Royal 
 Highnesses ; the Earl of Craven s and the Earl of 
 Dumbarton's ; the Life Guards of horse ; two 
 companies of Grenadiers on horseback ; the Earl 
 of Oxford s regiment of horse and the Lord 
 Churchill's of dragoons. They were drawn up 
 four deep and in one line, which made a front of a 
 mile and a half ; six thousand men the most that 
 were in arms. Every Regiment was exercised 
 before the King, and that by beat of drum, to the 
 great satisfaction of his Mat^ Royal Highness etc. 
 
 ' The day proving thick and rainy prevented 
 much of what was designed. About 2 o'clock his 
 Mat^ withdrew and dined in a Tent, and the Regi- 
 ments marched to their Respective Quarters. So 
 the day ended without making General, Lieuts.- 
 General, or Major-General.' 
 
 The newsmen relate an amusing episode con- 
 cerning the Prince of Orange at this date, illus- 
 trative of his high-handed dealings with the States 
 
SUNDRY ITEMS OF NEWS 
 
 if they baulked his military ardour when striving 
 to combat the designs of the French king : 
 
 * October 9, 1684. — They write that the Prince 
 of Orange is gone from the Hague to Soesike, 
 and being to go through Amsterdam, the Magis- 
 trates, having notice of it, gave orders for prepar- 
 ing a very splendid dinner for him and were got 
 ready to receive him. But to show his dissatis- 
 faction to their former proceedings he caused the 
 Coachman to drive full trot through the City. 
 But the Burgomasters ran after the Coach and 
 with much ado the Coach stopped, and one of the 
 Burgomasters making a speech to the end afore- 
 said, the Prince slightingly told them he was in 
 a haste, and so left them.' 
 
 The little tiff between William of Orange and 
 the town of Amsterdam arose from a private 
 pique caused by the opposition of the civil 
 authorities to the Prince s desire to enter into a 
 new war rather than let Luxemburg fall into the 
 hands of the French. 
 
 We can picture to ourselves the chagrin of 
 the Burgomasters, who, anxious to propitiate 
 the offended Prince, had started upon their un- 
 dignified pursuit probably burdened with their 
 robes of state, but had to return through the pub- 
 lic streets weary, snubbed, and unforgiven. 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 
 
 At the epoch to which the news-letters have 
 brought us, Charles II.'s span of life, with its 
 many errors and lost opportunities, was nearing 
 its close. 
 
 After the Duke of York's final return from 
 Scotland, his power over the indolent and 
 pleasure-loving King increased month by month 
 until it became almost tyrannical. Yet with the 
 people James's popularity was no greater than 
 before, except with a certain party. At the same 
 time it seems probable that the revelations of 
 the Rye- House Plot had not only the effect of 
 strengthening the nation's sense of the value of 
 the King's life, but, owing to this heightened 
 feeling of loyalty, of indirectly confirming the 
 Duke of York's position at Court. 
 
 No pne was better aware of James's unpopu- 
 
THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 255 
 
 larity than Charles himself, as exemplitied in his 
 well-known retort to his brother s entreaty that 
 he would pay more attention to his personal 
 safety : * Tilly- vally, James ; there be none so silly 
 as to shoot me to make you King ! ' 
 
 It was during the summer that was darkened 
 by the discovery of the Rye-House Plot that an 
 event of hopeful import to the royal house was 
 brought to a successful conclusion. 
 
 The marriage of Princess Anne to a Protestant 
 prince excited general approbation, and created a 
 renewed interest in the Duke of York and his 
 family as the next successors to the throne. 
 
 The preparations for the coming ceremony 
 helped to distract men s minds from the prosecu- 
 tions for treason that were going on. Whilst 
 execution followed execution amongst Mon- 
 mouth's adherents, marriage bells were ringing, 
 and the Court and country were holding festivities 
 in honour of the arrival of Prince George of 
 Denmark as a consort for the Lady Anne. 
 
 As long as the Duchess of York had no son 
 and the Princess of Orange remained childless, 
 the Duke of York's only surviving unmarried 
 daughter was a personage of considerable import- 
 
256 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ance amongst royal alliances. It seems surprising 
 that Princess Anne, with such expectations, should 
 have reached the unusually mature age of eighteen 
 and be still unmarried. It is true that more than 
 one foreign prince of the Protestant religion had 
 been talked of as a suitor for her hand, but the 
 onlv one who seems to have been a serious 
 pretender for this honour was Prince George of 
 Hanover. He, as we know, after some stay in 
 England, returned home in obedience, it is said, 
 to his fathers summons, in order to marry a 
 German princess. 
 
 Then followed a period when the Lady Anne, 
 unhampered by the presence of an official wooer, 
 was free to amuse herself with the attentions of 
 any one within the Court circle who might be bold 
 enough to aspire to a princess of so much import- 
 ance to the royal line. 
 
 Such an aspirant actually made his appearance, 
 as the scandalised news-writers relate in cautious 
 terms. On November 7, 1682, they write : 
 
 * We have had for some days a flying report that 
 the Earl of Mulgrave was forbid the Court, which 
 I forbore to speak of till there was a Certainty, 
 and now I find that his Mat^ and Royal Highness 
 
THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 2 
 
 are much displeased with him relating to a Letter 
 between his Lordship and Lady Anne, intimating 
 too near an address to her ; for which, being 
 privately considered of, the Lord Chamberlain 
 had orders last night to bid his Lordship provide 
 other Lodging than in Whitehall ; and some say 
 all his places are taken from him, but that as yet 
 being no certainty shall forbear to mention.' 
 
 After two days they report further : 
 
 * It is now certainly confirmed that the Earl 
 of Mulgrave has so mightily incurred his Mat^ ' 
 and Royal Highness s displeasure that his Lord- 
 ship is not only banished from Whitehall and 
 
 Jam.es's, but also displaced from his great 
 offices and Commands. His Governorship of 
 Hull is conferred on the Lord Windsor ; his Lord 
 Lieutenantship of the East Riding of Yorkshire 
 given to the Marquis Halifax ; his chief command 
 of one of the King s Regiments of Guards be- 
 stowed on the Lord Chesterfield, and his Hon^^^ 
 Office of one of the Lords of his Mat^' Bed- 
 chamber granted to the Earl of Feversham ; and 
 'tis thought that he will be in perpetual disfavour. 
 
 ' Some people talk very harshly of the affair, 
 reflecting too Censoriously on the Honour of the 
 Lady Anne ; but I am well assured that the 
 Princess of her own accord discovered his Lord 
 ship's intentions by showing a letter which she 
 received to her father, his Royal Highness.' 
 
 Lord Mulgrave's punishment, in the loss of all 
 his lucrative appointments, with banishment from 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Court, would seem a heavy penalty to pay for a 
 passing devotion to the Kings niece in those days 
 of rampant and unlawful courtship. 
 
 The rash lover did not remain in ' perpetual 
 disfavour,' as expected by the newsmen. Soon 
 after James's accession Lord Mulgrave was made 
 Lord Chamberlain, and in the next reign he was 
 raised to be Marquis of Normanby. When 
 Anne came to the throne, she in her turn distin- 
 guished her old lover by creating him Duke of 
 Buckingham. 
 
 Lord Mulgrave quickly recovered from this 
 episode of slighted love, and subsequently married 
 three times. His last choice, being a natural 
 daughter of James 11.,^ gave herself royal airs on 
 the strength of her parentage, after she became 
 Duchess of Buckingham. 
 
 This touch of romance in Princess Anne's 
 life probably hastened the royal decision for her 
 marriage. The country favoured the choice of 
 Prince George of Denmark as a suitor, not only 
 because he was a Protestant prince, but also as 
 one likely to make his home in England. His 
 
 ' Her mother was Catherine, the only child of Sir Charles 
 Sedley, Bart, by his wife Catherine, daughter of John Savage, 
 First Earl Rivers. 
 
THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 2 
 
 arrival was awaited with general interest, and the 
 newsman, writing in May, 1683, takes credit to 
 himself for early information on this point : 
 
 ' Although little of certainty has been lately 
 known of the coming of Prince George from 
 Denmark, I am very credibly advised that on 
 Wednesday two Bucks were killed in St. James's 
 Park, which -are potting up with other choice 
 provisions to be sent aboard of several yachts 
 which within a day or two sail for Gluckstadt 
 on the River Elbe, where they take in the Prince 
 to transport him for England.' 
 
 It was not until six weeks more had elapsed 
 that the bridegroom elect arrived in the month of 
 July. After his ceremonial visit to the King and 
 Queen he went to St. James's to make acquaint- 
 ance with his intended wife. Here, we are told, 
 ' he played at Cards with Lady Anne, discoursing 
 in the French language.' 
 
 The stolid Prince must have been sadly 
 hampered in his short courtship by his ignorance 
 of his bride's native tongue. As to his French, 
 ' he spake it but ill,' says Evelyn. 
 
 A week later the marriage took place, and 
 
 ' all that night the Bells etc. loudly proclaimed the 
 people's Joy, and the next day the whole Court 
 
 s 2 
 
26o CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 appeared very splendid, and the Nobility etc. 
 paid their Compliments of Congratulation.' 
 
 Whilst the Duke of York and his family were 
 profiting by this last turn of Fortune s wheel, the 
 Duke of Monmouth remained an exile on the 
 Continent and outwardly in disgrace with the 
 King. He had taken refuge in Holland, where 
 he was cordially received by the Prince of 
 Orange. Indeed, so warm was Monmouth's 
 reception that ' no man,' say the news-letters, 'is 
 more respected by him (W"' of Orange) than 
 he, who eats, drinks, hunts, and does everything 
 but sleep with him.' 
 
 We know from subsequent revelations that 
 the King in reality w^as gratified by the Prince of 
 Orange's kindness to Monmouth, and during the 
 period of his seeming disgrace was secretly in 
 constant communication with his erring son. 
 But Charles was such ' a master in the art of 
 dissimulation ' that he was able effectually to 
 conceal this private understanding from the Duke 
 of York and the nation. For this end he went 
 out of his way to express his displeasure at the 
 favour shown to Monmouth at the Hague, as we 
 read under the deite of October 14, 1684. 
 
THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 261 
 
 ' Mr. Chudleigh, his Mat^'^ Envoy, is arrived 
 at the Hague. He passed by the Prince of 
 Orange without showing him any Respect, 
 having such orders, the Prince having disgusted 
 his Mat^' for his Extraordinary Caressing of the 
 Duke of Monmouth, who is now at the Hague, 
 and will reside there, the Prince having given him 
 a house that was his grandmother s, that is fitting 
 for him.' 
 
 In December there was a report that Mon- 
 mouth had come secretly to England and kissed 
 the King's hand. Whether true or not it could 
 be safely denied, as the Duke reappeared in 
 Holland immediately. 
 
 History tells us how, at this time, Charles 
 was growing weary of his brother's tyrannical 
 yoke, and had even been heard to say that ' in 
 order to make himself easy for the rest of his life 
 he was determined to send away the Duke of 
 York and recall the Duke of Monmouth.' 
 
 The latter, in his private notebook, taken 
 from his pocket after his capture in the next 
 reign, fully confirms the impending crisis. One 
 or two short extracts are here given: ^ 
 
 1685. 'January 5. — I received a letter from 
 L. marked by 29 [the King] in the margin, to 
 
 ^ ^^\\\Qodi^ Memoirs, 1701. 
 
262 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 trust entirely to to ; and that in Feb'- I should 
 certainly have leave to return. That matters 
 were concerted towards it, and that 39 [Duke of 
 York] had no suspicion, notwithstanding of my 
 reception here. 
 
 ' February 3. — A letter from L. that my busi- 
 ness was almost as well as done, but must be so 
 sudden as not to leave room for 39's party to 
 counterplot. That it is probable he would choose 
 Scotland rather than Flanders or this country, 
 which was all one to 29.' 
 
 Thus man proposes. . . . Three days later 
 all was changed by the King s unexpected death. 
 The tidings reached Monmouth on February 16 : 
 
 'The sad news of his death by L. O CRUEL 
 FATE!' 
 
 It was indeed a cruel fate that deprived poor 
 Monmouth of his most powerful friend at Court, 
 and of the only restraining influence that could 
 have kept him from the rash enterprise which a 
 few months later cost him his life. 
 
 As for the news-letters at this time, there is 
 an ominous gap in their sequence for more than 
 thirteen months. The year 1685, with all its 
 momentous events, remains unrecorded amongst 
 Sir Richard Newdigate s manuscript papers. 
 
 Charles 11. 's sudden illness on Monday 
 
THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 263 
 
 February 2, ending in his death four da) s later ; 
 James's accession to the throne ; the subsequent 
 risings in Scotland and England, headed respect- 
 ively by the Earl of Argyle and the Duke of 
 Monmouth ; their speedy suppression ; the cap- 
 ture of the two leaders, followed by their death 
 upon the scaffold : all contemporary reference 
 to these events has disappeared from Arbury. 
 
 It was probably due to necessary precaution 
 that no news-letters were preserved at this period 
 of overwhelming interest to Protestant England. 
 Sir Richard Newdigate, with his pronounced 
 opinions and well-known championship of the 
 form of faith upheld by Monmouth, could hardly 
 have escaped being a marked man at the time of 
 the risings in England and Scotland. Suspicion 
 was rife on all sides, and Sir Richard, warned by 
 previous experience, may have had reason to fear 
 a raid upon his papers after having undergone 
 the ordeal of a search for arms. Otherwise we 
 cannot suppose that he voluntarily dispensed with 
 a source of intelligence which was afterwards 
 resumed and continued for many years to come. 
 
 When James II. had been a year upon the 
 throne, Lord Massareene makes a passing allusion 
 
264 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 to the vital occurrences of the last few months 
 in one of his letters. 
 
 Writing from Dublin on January 29, 1686, he 
 says : 
 
 * I hope all things now are in great quietness 
 and tiranquility with you after this summer's 
 trouble ; of which we had a part by Argile s 
 rebellion in Scotland, that was very near us. 
 But we had the King's Army quartered in and 
 about our Estate and did enjoy much Peace, 
 Blessed be God, as we do at this hour.' 
 
 In November of the same year he makes a 
 similar report, but ends with some words of signi- 
 ficant and prophetic import : 
 
 ' We enjoy peace and plenty here ' (he writes), 
 ' having also had many Soldiers Quartered 
 amongst us and a great Change in the Army 
 here : and some are /u// of fears! 
 
 When the news-letters begin again we find 
 gaps in their order still recurring, and they are 
 written with too much caution to be as entertaining 
 as in Charles II. 's time. 
 
 In 1688 there is an interregnum of some 
 months. In this last year of James II. *s reign we 
 are left in ignorance of the newsmen's version of 
 the crisis that was impending. They give us no 
 
THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 265 
 
 subtle indications of the slumberous discontent 
 which was shortly to be roused into action, and 
 would put an end to the tenure of the British 
 crown by kings of the House of Stuart. 
 
 Nor have we any record of the unwelcomed 
 advent of a Prince of Wales, followed by the 
 openly expressed disbelief in the genuineness of 
 the royal babe. 
 
 It was not until October 1688, when William 
 of Orange had landed with a small following, to be 
 rapidly increased in his progress towards London, 
 that the news-letters recommence their regular 
 course of intelligence. 
 
 They give us James's speech to his Parliament 
 
 when he was on the eve of starting to join his 
 
 army in order to meet the son-in-law whose hostile 
 
 arrival imperilled his possession of the throne. It 
 
 begins as follows : 
 
 ' My Lords, I am v/ell assured my kingdoms 
 are intended to be invaded, and am resolved to go 
 in person, and knowing that Bullets make no dis- 
 tinction, I think good to settle the succession, 
 and assure you, on the word of a King, that the 
 Prince of Wales is my son. . . 
 
 It would be only recapitulating ancient history 
 to transcribe the further progress of events, ending 
 
266 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 in the speedy and, at first, tranquil replacement 
 of King James by William and Mary. 
 
 The Queen and Prince of Wales, with Father 
 Peters ^ disguised in woman's clothes, were the first 
 to flee for refuge to France. Before the end of 
 the year the King had followed them and met 
 with a warm welcome at the Court of Louis XIV. 
 The throne was declared vacant by this action on 
 the part of King James, and consequently rendered 
 free for a successor. 
 
 'The Prince of Orange' (we read) 'hath in 
 print desired all such as were members of Parlia- 
 ment in the time of Charles 11. etc., etc., to attend 
 him to-morrow at St. James's.' 
 
 This summons to those who belonged to the 
 seven days' Oxford Parliament in Charles's reign 
 was attended by about two hundred members, 
 among whom we may be sure was Sir Richard 
 Newdigate if he had chanced to be within reach of 
 so short a notice. In any case, when the elections 
 came off in January 1689, he was again chosen to 
 represent his county in Parliament, with the pro- 
 spect of sharing in the councils of the nation amid 
 more congenial influences than before. 
 
 ^ Father Petre or Peters, confessor to James II. 
 
THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 7G7 
 
 Lord Massareene, writing from Antrim to con- 
 gratulate his cousin, takes the opportunity to 
 impress upon him the parlous state of Ireland at 
 this juncture, and of his own neighbourhood in 
 particular. 
 
 *8 Fed. i68g,~~Y'' from Westminster 1 re- 
 ceived and at the same time saw your name in the 
 Gazette, one of the representatives for the great 
 County of Warwick. And I am glad one of mine 
 was received when yours of the 26th of Jan'^. 
 was written, which you say gave you a true 
 Account of Ireland. And so it was, I assure you, 
 although different representations of our case was 
 before you. The Rapines, assaults, robberies and 
 outrages of the Papists committed daily upon the 
 Protestants increase, from which some of the Pro- 
 testants defend themselves, among whom your 
 friends here are interested, as by the Commission 
 of Array is lawful for their defence. But are called 
 by the Papists Rebels and Traitors for self- 
 preservation. And some of them have been 
 assaulted by the new-raised Irish Army, which is 
 very numerous. Some prisoners have been taken, 
 some blood shed, and if succour from England 
 do not speedily come, these outrages and the 
 effusion of more blood must come upon us. The 
 delay raises our enemies' pride to an intolerable 
 height, with the French King's promises of aid to 
 the Irish, which they expect before any come 
 from England ; and two thousand a month ago 
 from you (when it was first proposed and assured 
 
268 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 we should have relief) had done as much as ten 
 thousand will now do. I really fear that the next 
 intelligence from Ireland will be that the Army in 
 a Body may fall upon the Protestants, who resolve 
 to defend the Protestant Religion, the Laws and 
 their lives, and so have associated some weeks 
 ago ; which is called Treason by the Papists. 
 
 ' Read and improve this all you may. It is 
 but a faint character of our sad and miserable case, 
 from which thousands are by flight delivered. 
 But your friends stay with their many Protestant 
 neighbours under God's protection in the north of 
 Ireland, to which part we are told that few are 
 designed to come from England in comparison of 
 those greater numbers designed for other parts of 
 Ireland.' 
 
 Lord Massareene was only too correct in his 
 gloomy prognostications. Unfortunate Ireland 
 was destined to be the battle-field on which the 
 rival claims of Kings James II. and William III. 
 were to be fought out in a sanguinary warfare, 
 embittered by the religious element imported into 
 it, and by the presence of five thousand French 
 troops, sent by Louis XI V. to assist the last of the 
 Stuart Kings. 
 
 The unfortunate babe who was borne away 
 with such haste and secrecy from his native shores, 
 to be received with open arms at the (j^ourt of 
 
THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS 269 
 
 France, became the innocent cause of this struggle 
 by sea and by land, for the throne which his 
 father was said to have forsaken and abdicated, 
 when he too sought an asylum with the French 
 king. 
 
 If there had been no Prince of Wales, James 
 might have acquiesced more easily in the decision 
 of the nation who had preferred his son-in-law to 
 himself. In such a case it would have only been 
 forestalling by a few years the natural succession 
 of his eldest daughter to the British throne. But 
 with the claims of a long-desired son to fight for, 
 the case was different, and His Most Christian 
 Majesty of France was only too willing to foment 
 and support any cause of strife with his old enemy 
 the Prince of Orange. 
 
 For a time all went peacefully except in Ire- 
 land, where storm-clouds were gathering. 
 
 1689. — ' On the 13'^' of F^eb'^ ' (write the news- 
 men) ' both Houses came to the banquetting house, 
 and about eleven the Prince and Princess of 
 Orange came hand in hand, and an officer read 
 the proceedings of both Houses, and the Prince in 
 a short speech signified their acceptance [of the 
 crown], adding he should endeavour to his utmost 
 to discharge the trust reposed in him and protect 
 the Protestant religion and Laws, and was Re- 
 
270 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 solved to pursue no counsels but theirs : at which 
 was a mighty shout. . . . 
 
 ' Also at their proclaiming were such shouts 
 as were scarce ever heard. . . .' 
 
 Two days later : 
 
 ' both Houses being assembled it was expected the 
 King would come to the House of Lords, so that 
 the Peers caused their Robes to be brought, but 
 his Mat^ sent them a Message that they would 
 adjourn till Monday. 'Tis said the Reason was 
 that the Robes which the King desired were not 
 found in the Wardrobe, and that new ones must 
 first be made.' 
 
 By February i8, this necessary adjunct for 
 imparting dignity to the insignificant bodily pre- 
 sence of the new King was supplied, and William 
 HL, coming to the Lords' House, sent for the 
 Commons and made his first royal speech to the 
 combined Houses of Parliament. 
 
271 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 
 
 When Lord Massareene last wrote to Sir Richard 
 Newdigate, he was urging on the newly elected 
 M.P. the absolute necessity of speedy succour for 
 Ireland in the shape of troops from England, 
 before worse things befell them. 
 
 He wrote no more from Antrim, and his next 
 letter to his cousin is written far from the home 
 he had improved and beautified, and of which it 
 was his boast some years before that ' this Castle 
 is pretty strong, being never taken in the Rebel- 
 lion that was in Ireland in 1641.' The tale of his 
 misfortunes will be best told by himself in his 
 letter with the following address. 
 
 ' For S'' Richard Neivdigate, Bart,, a Member oj 
 Parliament, 
 
 * To be left at the door of the House of CojuinunSy 
 Westminster, London. 
 
 ' Near Durham, 21 April, 1689. 
 ' I presume you may have heard from others 
 How difficult it was forme, my wife and family to 
 
272 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 get out of the merciless hands of Tyrconnells 
 Popish Army ; who on Saturday the 1 6^^' of March 
 seized our House at Antrim, our Plate, stock of 
 furniture, and my whole Estate as I have cause to 
 fear; and since James his coming to Ireland 
 (which I knew not of when we left Home but the 
 1 of March) we hear of a Proclamation, requiring 
 all to Return to Ireland or forfeit their Estates, 
 and Tyrconnell excepted me and my Son before 
 from all mercy by a Printed Proclamation ; so that 
 it was time to come away the 1 5^^ of March, when 
 his Army was within 14 miles of us, and came to 
 our house next day ; in which interval my Steward 
 and Servants buried the plate, which the Irish 
 army soon found and said it was forfeited to the 
 King. 
 
 * We came to the city of Derry and thence by 
 Sea to Greenock in Scotland and to Edinborough 
 and the Duke of Hamilton and other Nobles were 
 very civil to us, the rather because I had the first 
 discovery made me of about fifty letters sent from 
 
 James at Dublin in Ireland, to raise great 
 troubles in Scotland and the north of England, 
 whereof Duke Hamilton sent King William 
 notice by transmitting the Papers his Grace had 
 from me on that notable occasion, which thing is 
 made plain by other circumstances concurring ; 
 besides fifty Letters and instructions, a Declara- 
 tion, and two letters all in K^' James's own Hand 
 to that effect, some of which I did See and Read. 
 
 ' And L"^ Balcarres and Sir John Trevenick 
 and others are seized upon this discovery ; which 
 by this time is more perfectly known at White- 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 2- 
 
 hall by what is further transmitted. I met Protes- 
 tant horse and foot between Berwick, Newcastle, 
 and Durham, by which places we passed with our 
 women and five Small Children in two Hackney 
 Coaches gotten at Edinborough. And we are 
 going to Hoghton Tower to see my daughter and 
 children there, before I can go to Arbury, iMsher- 
 wick, or London ; which journey is very tedious 
 already and like to be more so, — cross Durham, 
 Yorkshire, and Lancashire, as I have this post 
 written to S' Charles Hoghton, directed as this is, 
 that he and you may tell my Son, or write him 
 word, if you know where he is. For he went from 
 us in a Man of War, bound for Chester, and since 
 we have not heard from him, which troubles us ; 
 and he wants his Health, as we fear. 
 
 * Thus you see how we are scattered and the 
 Protestant interest of Ireland ruined, all but 
 Londonderry City as I fear. And I cannot express 
 the Hardships and Wants to which the Protestants 
 were reduced before I left Ireland ; some women 
 since ravished, and men condemned to be 
 hanged, drawn and quartered, and some so used, 
 Tyrconnell pretending all were Traitors that did 
 not join with him, or do join with King William, 
 or did take Arms to defend themselves against his 
 Rude Army, and a Rabble of Irish Men, Women 
 and boys, all Armed with Half Pikes and dag- 
 gers, going before and following the Irish Army. 
 Besides all this, his promises by letters to me and 
 messages just before he sent his Army fully shew 
 his designs against me and my Son, and to ruin all 
 the Protestants, even under the pretence of 
 
 T 
 
274 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 securing them from violence, which I can evince 
 too plainly. 
 
 *The present expectation is of an Irish Army 
 o invade Scotland and disturb England, in order 
 to which, things were much ripened, I do assure 
 you, if the late discovery do not prevent it and 
 the effusion of Blood by the Army of thirty thou- 
 sand Irish now in Pay, which the said James 
 owns he hath, and I read it in his letters on that 
 Subject. 
 
 ' I am etc. 
 
 ' P.S.S. — Duke Gordon held out Edinborough 
 Casde when I left that town Tuesday last, and I 
 heard and saw his Cannon Play. 
 
 * Tyrconnell is made a Duke by K" James. 
 
 ' Excuse Hasty Writing in a bad Inn and ill 
 Paper.' 
 
 Lord Massareene s next letter is written from 
 Fisherwick, the Skeffington property in Stafford- 
 shire. His Irish estates had been sequestered by 
 King James, and for the next three years were 
 alienated from their rightful owner. 
 
 ^8 May, 1689. 
 
 ' I wrote to you on my way from Ireland, and 
 now the Letters which my Friends may send me 
 may probably find their way ; which before, for 
 three or four months past, miscarried by the 
 Lord Tyrconneirs malice at the Protestants and 
 at me and my family particularly ; for which in 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 2 
 
 due time He will be considered, when Ireland is 
 reduced to the Protestant setdement and Crown 
 of England ; from which many think it is now 
 forcibly torn and Ravished by an alienation to the 
 French Crown, and livery and seizen thereof given 
 upon K^' James s late access thither with many 
 French officers ; which was unexpected. And so 
 was the failure of aid expected by the Protestants 
 upon many promises, and more particularly by 
 the Faithful Assurances thereof, given in King 
 William and Queen Mary their declaration, date 
 22 Feb. f|; which was the cause of my family's 
 stay so long in Ireland, till with difficulty we 
 escaped with our children, and had our Lives for a 
 Prey. But our Plate, Stock, furniture and Lands 
 are seized by the Popish Army, and our excellent 
 House, so furnished for forty years past, and with 
 conveniences of all sorts, made an Irish garrison 
 the day after we left it. By this means my 
 sufferings are more than any Protestant in the 
 King s dominions. And my charge also in remov- 
 ing our family through Scotland and the north of 
 England, having left my wife and part of the 
 family at Hoghton Tower, Lancashire, and part 
 came here last Saturday, where I stay to refresh 
 myself, sojourning with my Lady Rouse here. 
 
 ' I know not when I may come to London, and 
 I am sorry to see so many delays in the aid for 
 Ireland, and such fears of Troubles in Scodand 
 and England, which is too apparent. I hear litdc 
 news, and if anything be afforded from my Rela- 
 tions, directed hither near Lichfield, It will be a 
 favour to, Dear S^ etc. etc' 
 
 T 2 
 
276 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 When next we hear of Lord Massareene he is 
 established in London, and is in a position to give 
 news to his cousin, now at Arbury, instead of 
 demanding it from him. 
 
 * Pallmall, 10 Sept. 1689. 
 
 . . We have no News but that Duke 
 Schomberg since he took Carrick-fergus is going 
 forwards towards DubHn, whence the Irish Army 
 is meeting him, as the Letters from his Grace 
 yesterday imported, which were received when I 
 was at Hampton Court. We hear to-day that 
 Mentz is taken by storm, which may make the 
 French king somewhat lower. The great News 
 in Town is about a Plot for which thirty or forty 
 are imprisoned, among which are three or four 
 Ladies, but I do not find much in it' 
 
 In a letter about this date from Sir Charles 
 Sedley, Bart., he complains of King Williams 
 partiality for Hampton Court, so that only those 
 whose places allow them to keep six horses can 
 wait upon him. 
 
 In October 1689 Lord Massareene writes 
 again from Pall Mall : 
 
 ' I have not had a line from you of late. The 
 news to-day is that the King comes to Hampton 
 Court to-night from New-market, and that the 
 French fleet are out and have taken one of our 
 Ships. Things are not right ; there are some mis- 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 277 
 
 carriages. We know nothing of Action between 
 the Armys in Ireland, but what the last Gazette 
 informed you. I stay here and shall observe 
 what the Parliament does at meeting. Some of 
 the Lords and other prisoners in the Tower are 
 like to be released before the Habeas Corpus 
 Bill expires. . . . ' 
 
 After the meeting of Parliament Lord Massa- 
 reene writes to urge Sir Richard to come up 
 without loss of time. 
 
 ' 24 Oct. 1689. — • • • This may perhaps be in 
 vain if you be come from Arbury, and it is time 
 you were at Westminster, and all Honest Men. 
 The Printed Votes I will not repeat, but the 
 Vote to-day for giving the King a vigorous assist- 
 ance, and a full one for reducing Ireland and 
 opposing the French King, did take very well, 
 and the House was calm and unanimous. 
 
 ' I fear thousands are sick in Schomberg's 
 Camp, and all are going into Winter Quarters 
 without action, which is the best of this French 
 expedition. 
 
 * I believe King James's Army is distempered 
 also, and decamping. Some letters say they 
 follow one another. 
 
 ' The prisoners in the Tower will be some of 
 them released, and others put upon strict bail, 
 but that thing is before a Committee with other 
 matters. 
 
 ' My L^ Griffen is absconded two days ago 
 
278 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 upon a discovery made that a Cook ol his was 
 sending letters of dangerous Consequence, which 
 will make a great noise. . . . ' 
 
 We get no more Irish news from Lord 
 Massareene. He is obliged to remain in England 
 until, William III. having subdued his foes and 
 restored peace and quietness to unfortunate 
 Ireland, the sequestered property at Antrim is 
 restored to its lawful owner. This did not take 
 place until 1692. 
 
 In the meanwhile the French and English 
 fleets, with the Dutch as our allies, were carrying 
 on the conflict within view of England's southern 
 shores. An old family friend of Sir Richard s, 
 Mr. John Scott by name, who lived in the Isle 
 of Wight, was able to describe the manoeuvres 
 of the rival fleets by his personal view of their 
 proceedings immediately preceding the victory 
 of the French on June 30, 1690. His letter helps 
 one to realise how entirely dependent the battle- 
 ships of that day were upon wind and weather for 
 opportunities of coming into action. 
 
 Mr. Scott writes from Norwood near Cowes, 
 and begins his letter, which retails the events of 
 several days, on June 28, 1690: 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 2 
 
 ' S\ I had ere this paid my respects to you, 
 but that I was unwilling to interrupt your business 
 without something of news to communicate to 
 you, and therefore we of the Island being now, 
 as it were, the centre of news and the subject of 
 most people s discourse, by reason of the vicinity 
 of the French fleet, I think this the most proper 
 time to do it, both to impart to you what we have 
 seen, and to assure you that we of the Island are 
 still alive, in good health and cheerful in despite 
 of Monsieurs. 
 
 *On Sunday the 22''^ inst. at four in the after- 
 noon the French fleet was discovered off our 
 Western Hills coming with a full gale (the wind 
 at W.) towards us, upon which our Island was 
 alarmed and got to arms. I was surprised with 
 it at 12 o'clock at night. I arose, gave out my 
 arms, returned to bed, and my wife and I slept 
 well. An express was immediately sent by Sir 
 W"" Stephens, our Lieut. Governor, to Sir R. 
 Holmes our Governor, then at London, and 
 another to Admiral Herbert^ riding with our fleet 
 off St. Helen s point, which latter returned an- 
 swer, ' That he would weigh speedily, and did not 
 doubt but to give the French such a welcome as 
 should make each true Englishman glad.' 
 
 ' By Monday morning the 23'"^ the French 
 were got up to the back or South part of our 
 Island, but the wind chopping about to the east- 
 ward they could make no more way, but cast 
 anchor about three hours' sail from our Fleet. 
 That afternoon I had the curiosity to go and 
 view the French, which from our hills I did 
 
 * Earl of Torrington. 
 
28o 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 distinctly, they being within two or three Leagues 
 of our shore, divided into three Squadrons. 
 
 ' From the same place and at the same time 
 I saw our fleet at Helen's, who had cleared 
 their ships of cabins, boxes, and other impediments 
 to fight ; had weighed and were standing out, but 
 the wind veering they could not get out that 
 night. 
 
 ' Tuesday the 24^^' by 8 in the morning, I saw 
 our fleet under Sail (wind N.E.) and standing 
 eastwards from the French, who were then within 
 two hours. This we wondered at, but afterwards 
 found out the mystery, for about 1 1 we heard 
 several guns from aboard and in the afternoon 
 more, the meaning of which was, that at 1 1 they 
 had descried a squadron of Dutch which at 
 3 post meridiem joined them to the number of 
 fifteen capital ships, besides fire-ships, together 
 with the Lyon, a 3^"^ rate of our own. So that 
 now we consisted of sixty-six capital ships, most 
 of them 2"^, or 3'"^ rates,— stout ships and well 
 manned, besides fire-ships and tenders. This 
 day (24^^) our Governor, Sir R. Holmes, arrived 
 in the Island post from London, In the evening 
 the French, having manned out two long Boats, 
 made towards our shore, but seeing a company of 
 militia foot ready to salute them, they tacked and 
 got home. Their intent was, as we imagine, to 
 borrow some of our sheep. But about 1 1 at 
 night a boat came ashore with a woman and two 
 boys, English. They had been taken out of a 
 boat oflf Weymouth on Sunday by the French 
 and had their Liberty granted them on condition 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 281 
 
 they would carry a Letter from S' W"' Jennings 
 (who hath a flag in the French fleet) to Admiral 
 Herbert, which they undertook ; but being at 
 Liberty made our Island and delivered the Letter 
 to the Governor, who has sent it to the Queen.' 
 The contents were that K. James had found 
 himself in an error as to his treatment of Adm' 
 Herbert ; but if the Admiral would return to his 
 Allegiance he, the said Sir W'"" Jennings, had a 
 pardon ready sealed for him, with an assurance 
 that K. James would maintain him in his post of 
 Honour." 
 
 ' The same offer was made in it to all the 
 Commanders and Soldiers in our fleet. 
 
 ' Sir W'"^ Jennings asked the two boys on Sun- 
 day as to the number of our fleet, who answered 
 eighty or ninety Sail. Sir W"" angrily replied ''It 
 was a lie, for there were but thirty English and 
 twelve Dutch ships, and that they would be with 
 them on Monday." And indeed his account was 
 partly true, for there came no more of Capital 
 Ships from the Downs, they having been joined by 
 eight more from Spithead, which he knew not. 
 
 'Wednesday morning, 25'^', it was hazy at sea 
 so that we could see nothing, but the haze clear- 
 ing up about 1 1 a clock we found the two fleets 
 within three hours of each other (Wind W.), the 
 English in a line, the French without order. 
 But about one, the Wind springing N.E., our 
 fleet made all the sail they could to come up 
 with the French, and the French (who were 
 
 ^ Queen Mary was reigning alone, her consort having taken 
 the field in Ireland at the head of his troops. 
 
282 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 drawn up then in a line from W. and by N. to 
 South, as ours were from N.E. to S.) seemed to 
 make towards them, insomuch that about 3 the 
 two points or vanguards were come up within a 
 league, or half-hour, of each other, and it was 
 expected that the fight would begin. But the 
 wind on a sudden slackening, the French took 
 the advantage and bore away with the tide 
 Westward, and ours could not fetch them. All 
 this afternoon we had a distinct view of each fleet, 
 and I told ^ them twenty times over and could 
 count no more than no of the French, whereas 
 ours were 100. 
 
 ' On the 26^^ for want of wind to stem the 
 tide, both fleets were got more Easterly, and 
 both made what Sail they could to get the Wind, 
 which was then S.E., and about 5 in the Evening 
 the Scouts were engaged, but the wind being 
 eddy, the bodys did not come up. 
 
 ' On the 27^^' (wind E.) there was so much 
 haze at Sea all day that we could not discover 
 them, and we suppose they are now over towards 
 the French coasts, S.E. Doubtless the design 
 was to have surprised our fleet and burnt them in 
 harbour before the Dutch came up, and in all 
 probability they had done it, had not God's 
 providence protected us by a sudden change of 
 the wind on Monday morning. We have both 
 foot and horse coming into the Island to guard us, 
 and do not doubt but by God s blessing to main- 
 tain our own. . . . 
 
 ' Your very humble servant, 
 
 ' John Scott. 
 
 ^ Counted. 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 283 
 
 It was two days after the date of this letter, 
 on June 30, that the hostile fleets which had 
 remained so long within sight of each other came 
 into collision, with disastrous results for the 
 English, but the chief sufferers were our Dutch 
 allies. 
 
 The English fleet was commanded by Lord 
 Torrington, and his mismanagement was con- 
 sidered so flagrant that he was in consequence 
 committed a prisoner to the Tower. He was 
 ultimately tried by court-martial and acquitted, 
 but was dismissed the service by King William. 
 
 Mr. Scott's next letter refers to this defeat, 
 and is written from Oxford on July 15. He 
 begins by explaining how he and his family 
 deemed it prudent and necessary to leave their 
 island home after the victory of the French. 
 
 "... Since my last,' he writes, ' which I 
 suppose you received at Arbury, we have not 
 seen the French fleet off" the Island, but have 
 heard of them more than we desired. We lost 
 the Anne, a 3'"^. rate, in the engagement, but the 
 Dutch lost eleven, which were all sunk and burnt, 
 being indeed shamefully deserted by ours, and I 
 very much wonder that the French did not 
 pursue the victory farther, they not having lost 
 (that we are sure of) one ship. There is indeed 
 
284 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 talk that one of their flags was sunk, but I do 
 not find that there is any certainty of it. 
 
 ' The day after the fight a Squadron of ours 
 of eleven men of war were coming from Plymouth 
 to join our fleet, and were got up as far as the 
 back of our Island, but the Mary Galley meeting 
 them and speaking with them, they immediately 
 tacked and made all the speed they could to the 
 Westward again, and are now at Plymouth, 
 whither also is come Sir Cloudesley Shovell with 
 four more, but how they will join our fleet I know 
 not, the French lying almost the whole Seas 
 over from Bullogn Bay to our Coasts. The 
 French are also increased since the fight, being 
 joined by fifteen Galleys and six large Capitals, 
 which passed by our Island the last week. 
 
 ' Last Friday night D' Clutterbuck s ^ house 
 at Southampton was Searched by the Mayor etc. 
 of Southampton by order from the Queen and 
 Council. The business was a Letter which was 
 intercepted, directed from Sir William Jennings 
 (now in the French fleet) to the D', mentioning a 
 Letter which a quarter of a year ago Sir W"' 
 Jennings had writt to the D' acquainting him 
 with their success over our fleet, and resolutions to 
 re-establish James, persuading him etc. to 
 return to their [his] duty. The Doctor designs for 
 London this week to purge himself as to the Latter 
 Letter ; he urgeth that he knoweth nothing of it, 
 and as to the former that Sir W"' Jennings is 
 related to him, and it contained only matter of 
 
 ^ A Doctor of Divinity and an old friend and correspondent of 
 the Newdigate family. 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 285 
 
 compliment ; and I do not suspect the D', but I 
 pray God preserve us from treachery amongst 
 our Selves, v^hich is the only means to defeat the 
 designs of the Enemy.' 
 
 Before leaving these contemporary accounts 
 of the struggle which was going on between King- 
 James and King William for the British crown, 
 it may be advisable to transcribe one more of Mr. 
 Scott s letters, though its date is four years laten 
 France was still our open foe, and it relates the 
 defeat of our gallant forces in an attempted land- 
 ing near Brest, mainly owing to an ill-conceived 
 plan of attack, and a lack of common prudence 
 beforehand. 
 
 ' Norwood, Isle of Wight, June 22, 1694. 
 
 ' . . . . The forces returned from Brest are all 
 now ashore and encamped in this Island, and the 
 Squadron which brought them back now rides at 
 S^ Helen s to the number of thirty sail of Capital 
 Ships, commanded by my Lord Berkeley. 
 
 * The account which the Gazette gave of that 
 action was a little too favourable, for I have been 
 in company with Several officers and others who 
 had a share in it, and they do all confess that we 
 lost above a thousand men with little or no loss to 
 the Enemy. The occasion of the ill Success was 
 doubtless treachery at home, for the Enemy, as 
 they declare, had intelligence of the design seven 
 
286 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 weeks before ; insomuch that they had particu- 
 larly fortified that place where our Commission 
 was to land, and were strongly entrenched about 
 the bay to the number of 25,000 horse and foot, 
 and had our whole body landed (as they had done 
 had not the Enemy been too hasty) they had been 
 cut off to a man, 
 
 ' Another prejudice was the Straitness of the 
 Commission, which was positively to land in that 
 bay, as the Enemy well knew. And a third was 
 the inconvenience of the place of landing, it being 
 a narrow beach under a high Cliff, so that Several 
 of our men fell by the very Stones thrown down 
 from the precipice. Nor was the Cliff to be 
 ascended but by narrow defiles, which being so 
 strongly guarded made the thing impracticable, 
 so that in half an hour s time our men were glad 
 to retreat to their boats, which yet they could not 
 recover but by Swimming, the Ebb having 
 carried them off, so that very few who landed 
 came off. 
 
 ' The Generals hard fate precipitated him, for 
 as my Lord Cutts our Governor (who now com- 
 mands the forces here) relates it, it was agreed 
 in a Council of War, which was held immediately 
 before, that the L"^ Cutts with the Grenadiers 
 should first make the shore to discover the works, 
 with the posture of the Enemy, and that General 
 Talmash should follow with the body as he saw 
 occasion. 
 
 ' Accordingly my L"^ Cutts with the Grenadiers 
 were got into the Well boats and were making 
 for the shore, when on a sudden General Talmash, 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 287 
 
 contrary to that result, comes off in his barge, 
 outwent the Well boats, and was the first man 
 that landed, sending to my L"^ Cutts to stop. 
 
 * His wound was not thought mortal, being in 
 the fleshy part of the thigh, without any fracture, 
 and I saw a Letter from a Gentleman at Plymouth 
 who was with him half an hour before he died, 
 and then thought him in no danger. But his 
 wound, being searched soon after, was found gan- 
 grened, and he presently died upon the opening 
 of it, almost in the operation. 
 
 ' We do not hear of any further design upon 
 the French coasts, and it is believed that these 
 men here with us, which are in all about five 
 thousand, will, after some refreshment, be sent for 
 Flanders. , . / 
 
 This letter has been docketed by Sir Richard 
 with this trenchant remark : 
 
 * Mr. Scot s account of the failure of our 
 Fleet at Brest, and of General Talmash's Death. 
 
 * 'Tis easy to impute Rashness to the Dead, to 
 excuse the Cowardice of the Living.' 
 
 It was not until the Peace of Ryswick was con- 
 cluded m 1697 that King James recognised how 
 hopeless were his claims to the British throne in 
 his own person, whatever the future might have 
 in store for the son who arrived so inopportunely. 
 
 We must now leave public affairs to follow the 
 
288 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 fortunes of one of King William's faithful subjects 
 and supporters in the person of Sir Richard 
 Newdigate, M.P. 
 
 His career as a knight of the shire for 
 Warwickshire was not long-lived. When King 
 William summoned his second Parliament in 
 February 1690, Sir Richard and his colleague Sir 
 John Burgoine met with a vigorous opposition 
 from rival candidates, Messrs Andrew Archer 
 and William Bromley. The heat of party contest 
 was not likely to have languished in Sir Richard's 
 vicinity. During the polling a free fight took 
 place between the partisans on either side, in 
 which the ex-members became involved. Sir 
 Richard seems to have been the more severely 
 handled of the two, and was denied the after- 
 consolation of victory, for both he and his 
 colleague lost the election. 
 
 On April 2, 1690, a petition was presented to 
 the new Parliament by the freeholders of the 
 county of Warwick, setting forth : 
 
 ' That at the last Election for two Knights of 
 the said County to serve in Parliament, Sir 
 John Burgoine and Sir Richard Newdigate were 
 fairly chosen ; but the High Sheriff, to frustrate 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN 289 
 
 such Election, suffered divers Abuses and Irregu- 
 larities to be committed thereat ; not only in the 
 beating and wounding several Persons who camct 
 to Poll for Sir John Burgoine and Sir Richard 
 Newdigate, but serving them so likewise even to 
 the Hazard of Sir Richard s life : and after such 
 discouraging Practices used, the said Sheriff hath 
 returned Andrew Archer and William Bromley, 
 Esq'^^ in prejudice to the Petitioners : and praying 
 the Consideration of the House and Relief in the 
 Premises : and that Sir John Burgoine and Sir 
 Richard Newdigate may be restored to their 
 Places in this House.' ^ 
 
 This petition was referred to the Committee 
 of Privileges and Elections, which was apt to 
 take an unconscionable time in deciding the many 
 disputed cases brought before it. 
 
 Sir Richard's name appears no more on the 
 Roll of Members. It must therefore be taken for 
 granted that the High Sheriff's adverse decision 
 was confirmed. There is no record of his standing 
 again. Probably domestic cares and an impaired 
 income combined to render him unwilling to 
 contest a fifth election. From this date onward 
 the scope of Sir Richard's energies had to be 
 limited to the narrower and safer sphere of 
 private life. 
 
 ^ Journals of the House of Commons. 
 
 U 
 
290 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 
 
 In 1692 Sir Richard Newdigate had to undergo an 
 irreparable loss in the death of his wife Mary, who 
 had been the mother of fifteen children. Deprived 
 of her beneficial influence, it becomes evident that 
 the widower s hastiness of temper and tendency 
 to extravagance increased, though the primary 
 result seems to have been renewed energy in 
 starting colossal account-books with virtuous 
 resolutions for controlling minute details. 
 
 ' There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth ; 
 and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, 
 but it tendeth to poverty,' quotes Sir Richard 
 from Proverbs, and begins a new coal ledger with 
 this text for a heading. But not being endowed 
 with the wisdom of Solomon, the scattering and 
 the withholding were so arranged as only to lead 
 to a diminished income. 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 
 
 Mary, Lady Newdigate, was buried at Hare- 
 field, where a beautiful monument by Grinling 
 Gibbons has been erected to her memory. 
 
 The sculptor's letter of acknowledgment for 
 the payment of his work is remarkable for the 
 eccentricity of its spelling, even in those days of 
 originality and independence in the art of writing 
 the English language. The last sentence of his 
 letter may be quoted as a specimen, though it 
 makes one doubt whether Gibbons did not em- 
 ploy an amanuensis for all except the carefully 
 written signature, which is in his well-known 
 regular characters : 
 
 ' I holp all things will pleas You wen You see 
 it for I indevered it as much as in me lais, but If 
 you should mislick enny thing, You may be 
 shoer to Comand 
 
 ' S*", Your ombell and obegent sarvant 
 
 * Grinling Gibbons.' 
 
 It was after his wife s death that Sir Richard 
 began to devote a separate page in his general 
 account-book to the expenses of each of his seven 
 daughters, headed by their respective names : 
 Mrs. Amphillis, Mrs. Mary, Mrs. Frances, Mrs. 
 Anne, Mrs. Jane, Mrs. Elizabeth, and Mrs. 
 
 U 2 
 
292 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Juliana ; known in everyday life as Phill, Moll, 
 Frank, Nan, Jinny, Betty, and July. 
 
 The burden of the household management 
 fell upon the eldest daughter Amphillis, though 
 strictly under her father s supervision. 
 
 ' Mem. — I now order my Daughter Phill to 
 receive no money of the rents but of any but 
 myself, who will pay her duly quarterly. I like- 
 wise order her to pay duly for whatsoever she 
 has, without running in debt, upon pain of my 
 utmost displeasure. I likewise order her to pay 
 all postage of letters that come to her, and all 
 carriage of goods, as each of my Children shall, 
 except it be upon my own business ' 
 
 In the pages devoted to the younger children 
 there is a particular account of their clothes, and 
 the specified outfit (caps and aprons included) of 
 those among the girls who went to school. It is 
 satisfactory to note that for many years there was 
 a ' Nurse Ebburn * in the wages list who could 
 look after the motherless young ones. She also 
 did much knitting of stockings for the family 
 generally, with wool that had been grown, spun, 
 and * coloured ' on the estate. 
 
 The master of the house is equally careful in 
 taking stock of his own wardrobe. Under the 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 293 
 
 head of ' Socks ' he notes that ' 3-^- pair are worn 
 out and are to be unravelled. One Sock, which is 
 too little for me, I give to my daughter Jinny.' 
 
 Sir Richard was somewhat extravagant in 
 the matter of ' Periwigs.' He makes out a list 
 of those he had in stock one year as follows : 
 
 ' Perritqttes 
 
 ' To wear abroad in winter . . 2 
 
 ' To wear in cold weather visiting . i 
 
 ' For winter at home ith' house . i 
 
 * For Summer abroad . . .2 
 
 ' For Summer at home ith' house . i 
 
 ' For London . . . . .3 
 
 10 
 
 ' I find but nine, which are more than enough 
 at one time.' 
 
 We learn the value of the flowing wigs of the 
 period from an earlier entry : 
 
 ' At the Warwick Assizes, merely upon the 
 Sheriffs account, ix, occasioned by my waiting 
 upon him, Jo. Perkins lost my Peruke there, which 
 cost 30'/ 
 
 ' A Penny saved is a Penny got, ergo v, infra' 
 interpolates Sir Richard in the middle of his 
 
294 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 accounts, and then follows a note of one or more 
 minor economies such as the following : 
 
 ' Delivered Moll a pair of Snuffers and a 
 Saveall for herself, which if lost she is to pay for/ 
 
 Sir Richard made his own ink, which proved 
 an excellent concoction, if we may judge from its 
 permanence and blackness after two hundred 
 years : 
 
 ' Put 8 ounces of Galls to steep for Ink in rain 
 water ' (he writes) ' which I had sent for with 
 2 ounces of Copperas to them and 4 ounces of 
 Gum Arabic, which is the just Proportion ; but 
 afterwards I found a little above 4 ounces more 
 of Galls, therefore I send for this Copperas 
 (i ounce more). The Receipt is to steep the 
 Galls ten days, stirring them every day ; then put 
 in the Copperas and stir it for a day or two. 
 Then put in the Gum, and hang it for some time 
 in a leather Bottle behind a door that is often 
 opened ; a week will do, but a fortnight is better. 
 It needs no boiling.' 
 
 The successful maker of ink was much 
 troubled by his inability to control the large con- 
 sumption of beer in his household : 
 
 'Dec, '93. — The Brewer tells me just now that 
 we spend under a hogshead and a half of small 
 Beer a week. 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 295 
 
 'Mem. — My Family shall still be lessened, 
 consequently the expense.' 
 
 At this time he was acting upon his mother's 
 advice, and had given the charge of his wine and 
 beer to a female butler ; but it appears there was 
 no diminution in the quantity consumed. As 
 time goes on, he has recourse to other devices 
 for discovering to whom the blame should be 
 imputed. 
 
 ' To Moll Porter for four months, i6\ To her 
 at going off ^i^^ o^^ q!\ which she ill deserves, having 
 been very careless ; but according to the Proverb, 
 * Set a Knave to catch a Knave,' and having a 
 great desire to know who my Secret Drinkers 
 are that devour so vast a quantity of Ale, I 
 have given intimation (tho' I gave no positive 
 Promise) that I would give forty shillings to 
 any one that would and could make a P^ull and 
 Clear Discovery ; which she has done of some, 
 with some undeniable circumstances. Therefore 
 I intend if I live, and I would have my Son, if 
 I do not, give her 20 shillings more at Candlemas 
 1696 ; provided she does not (as so many ill 
 Servants do) rail at the Family after she is gone 
 away.' 
 
 Sir Richards own daughters had to submit 
 to fines if they chanced to cross their fathei's 
 
296 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 pleasure, as exemplified in an episode that oc- 
 curred at Christmas 1694. 
 
 The customary festivities were probably 
 heightened by the presence of Dick Newdigate 
 with his newly married wife, Sara, daughter of 
 Sir Cecil Bisshopp Bart. The eldest son's 
 choice had been entirely to his fathers satis- 
 faction, but after a short married life of fifteen 
 months Sara Newdigate was taken away at the 
 birth of her still-born son. 
 
 On this, the first Christmas after their union, 
 the young couple were joining in the amusements 
 of that season of good cheer, when an insignificant 
 action on the part of one of the daughters of the 
 house rufifled Sir Richards quick temper and 
 possibly damped the hilarity of the party : 
 
 * To Alice Hoggs i'- out of Frank's annuity, 
 because Frank was so cross and ill-natured as to 
 hinder Alice her profit (whom I have put into 
 the butler s place) by not permitting her to bring 
 Clean Cards, but requiring foul ones, that Brother 
 Lambert Bagot, my Son and Daughter N., Phill 
 and She might play at Brag, whereby they 
 hindered us from playing at Post and Pair. Upon 
 this account I now give Alice 2'- out of Phill's 
 and Frank's annuity, i'* each. 
 
 ' Christmas comes but once a year.' 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 297 
 
 It is difficult to divine how it came to pass that 
 the thriftiness of Mistress Frances, in choosing to 
 make use of soiled cards instead of new ones for 
 the game of Brag, should have interfered with her 
 father's wish to play at Post and Pair, — whatever 
 that game may be. No doubt this %as the real 
 cause of offence, and the proverbial reference to 
 Christmas, so dear to prodigal souls, is dragged in 
 as an excuse for unnecessary extravagance. 
 
 If we can judge from stray cards and packs of 
 cards still at Arbury, the sisters' economy was 
 commendable. One pack, at least, dates from 
 the time of Charles II. The kings, queens, and 
 knaves are represented by the crowned heads and 
 lesser rulers of foreign States, whilst below may 
 be read various items of historical and geographi- 
 cal interest in accordance with the limited know- 
 ledge of the day. The remaining cards of each 
 suit are equally instructive, and all have the pips 
 coloured by hand in red or black at one corner. 1 1 
 need hardly be mentioned that Charles's strongly 
 marked features, illuminated by a sardonic smile, 
 represent the King of Hearts, whilst Tangier is 
 still numbered amongst England's possessions 
 abroad. 
 
298 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 In handling these cards of long ago one is 
 tempted to ask if, perchance, they can be the same 
 pack the young bride may have shuffled on this, 
 the last Christmas she was to spend on earth. 
 And the mutinous Frank, who, before many months 
 were over, fed taken the bit between her teeth 
 and started off on an independent career with 
 young Sir Charles Sedley, did she win or lose at 
 the game of Brag ? 
 
 Not even the sons who had attained manhood 
 and independence were exempted from their 
 fathers autocratic rule. John, now twenty-four 
 years of age, was a member of the bar, with cham- 
 bers of his own at Gray's Inn. Sir Richard often 
 made use of him professionally in dealing with 
 tenants and others. But here also he would allow 
 of no tendency to dictation, or any implied 
 superiority, on the part of one who was after all 
 but a child in his father's estimation. 
 
 A page in one of the account-books is devoted 
 
 to the following purpose : 
 
 '6 Dec. 1696. — I will this day enter my son 
 John s Faults here, which I tell him of to make 
 him humble. I pray God assist me to do all the 
 good I can to him and the rest of my Dear 
 Children. 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 
 
 ' I. In superscribing a Letter to Lady Vis- 
 countess Massareene he omitted directing it to 
 Dublin, which letter therefore miscarried. 
 
 ' 2. Jack forgot to send to Tedingworth to 
 Mr. Hewet, had not I remembered it.' 
 
 The rest of the page is blank. Either Jack 
 failed to profit by this method of abasing his 
 pride, or no more lapses of memory could be 
 brought against him. 
 
 The ' Lady Viscountess Massareene ' who 
 missed her letter through John s carelessness must 
 have been Rachel, wife of Clotworthy Skefifington, 
 who had lately succeeded his father as third Vis- 
 count. It was in 1695 ^^at Sir Richard lost his 
 cousin and constant correspondent, Lord Massa- 
 reene. He had been failing in health for a year 
 or two before he was forced to flee from Ireland, 
 with the loss and ruin of his home at Antrim. 
 
 ' I frequently want Health/ he writes in one 
 of his letters, ' yet Hunt sometimes with Slow 
 Hounds.' The hardships and anxiety of mind he 
 had had to undergo on his flight through Scotland 
 and England must have sorely tried an ailing 
 man. He survived these troubles and had been 
 reinstated at Antrim for two or three years before 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 he died. His latest letter to Sir Richard is written 
 in February 1695. he alludes to Dick 
 
 Newdigate's marriage, which had been duly an- 
 nounced to him. 
 
 ' The last letter I writ was in return to my 
 Cozen Ri. Newdigate, wishing him joy in his nup- 
 tials, wherewith he favoured me so far in general 
 as to acquaint me that your near relation and cor- 
 dial respect can never be forgotten. But my poor, 
 solitary condition now renders me unfit for busi 
 ness or much converse, since the death of my 
 Excellent, dear wife. 
 
 ' My state of health, by grief as well as care 
 and some old distempers, makes me think of my 
 great change among these Publick and Family 
 changes I have seen of late. That of the good 
 Queen's ^ and good Archbishop of Canterbury's ^ 
 removal were deep strokes so near one another, 
 and I observe much compliment, and wish a firm, 
 good understanding between Kensington and 
 Barkly House ; and her highness the P. Anne a 
 good hour, who I hear is with child and past her 
 wonted time of miscarriage. A great Court is (no 
 doubt) where she is. 
 
 ' My Son and Daughter George removed 
 with your pretty god-daughter to their own habi- 
 tation near a hundred Miles distant, when my Wife 
 was pretty well. So that I am solitary, not knowing 
 much of my Son's affairs in London ; but hearing 
 
 ^ Queen Mary died in December 1694. 
 Archbishop Tillotson. 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 
 
 the Small Pox is in town and Country and very 
 Fatal to divers, as it was to our Admirable Queen. 
 
 ' I enquire after the welfare of you and all your 
 good Family, whose happiness and prosperity is 
 so much prayed for and earnestly desired by S' 
 Your faithful servant and most affec^^^ kinsman, 
 
 ' Massareene/ 
 
 The allusion in the above letter to a hoped-for 
 good understanding between Kensington and 
 Berkeley House refers to the coolness which had 
 arisen between the royal sisters before Queen 
 Marys death. The shock of the unexpected 
 bereavement brought about a better feeling be- 
 tween the two establishments of King William 
 and Princess Anne. 
 
 To return to the autocrat in his own home. 
 It should be noted that occasionally he varied his 
 system of judgments and punishments with the 
 more lenient device of rewards as an encourage- 
 ment to do well. 
 
 For instance, ' To my three Daughters because 
 they came to Prayers, three shillings.' 
 
 A still more characteristic example is the 
 following : 
 
 ' To Tom Cooper, who worked hard after I 
 broke his head, 2s, 6d.' 
 
302 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Money matters were increasingly a source of 
 trouble to Sir Richard year by year, and we learn 
 from his diary that his active brain was ever at 
 work to devise means to lessen his encumbrances. 
 
 1697. 'Feb, 22. — I have chalked out away this 
 day for getting 1,000, and by turning along 
 Griff Lane southward, and not compassing the 
 Beristeads North and East, I shall save ^100 
 elsewhere. Note, — I have in this Book given very 
 many hints of vast improvements by floating, 
 which I could, but dare not, put in practice, 
 because of the baseness of our Commissioners, 
 who seek to raise me in Tax. 
 
 * Thursday, 24. — Lay long in bed, having slept 
 ill, but projected to get £\ by making Mr. B. and 
 Jos. Nut pay for Spring Kidding this year ; 
 and to get ^9 more by making W"" Nock pay 
 ^10 per an., who nows pay but £1, Read a 
 Sermon to-day. 
 
 ' Thursday, March, — Lay Long in bed 
 sweating off a Cold and ruminating upon my 
 affairs.' 
 
 Sir Richard's private worries did not prevent 
 his taking a keen interest in home politics and 
 foreign affairs, more especially in regard to 
 France — a country for which he had a special 
 distrust and dislike. 
 
 A M. de Souligne, a French refugee in 
 England, had lately written and published a work 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 303 
 
 entitled ' The Devastation of France demon- 
 strated/ The name alone would have attracted 
 Sir Richard, but the contents he found so interest- 
 ing that he took some pains to ascertain the 
 authenticity of the facts stated in the book. 
 
 Communication with the author took place 
 through John Newdigate at Gray's Inn, and M. 
 de Souligne was requested to write direct to Sir 
 Richard to set his doubts at rest. The letter he 
 sends in answer is remarkable for its excellent 
 writing and good English.^ It is too lengthy to 
 quote, but begins thus : 
 
 ' S^ I had the honour to see the Squire John 
 Newdigate at Gray's Inn, who told me that your 
 Honour had been well pleased with my Book, and 
 since that I received a Letter from him wherein 
 he tells me that your Honour desires that I should 
 give him an account how I came by the know- 
 ledge of what I have printed concerning that 
 subject. . . / 
 
 M. de Souligne having explained at s6me 
 
 length how intimate was his acquaintance with 
 
 people and places in his native land, goes on to say : 
 
 * Although I have composed that Book in 
 English, it was not without great pains, the English 
 
 1 Only once does he leave the safe path of dictionary English 
 when he hopes that ' 3^our Honour will be able to read my gibridge,' 
 i.e. gibberish. 
 
304 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 tongue being not very familiar to me, and then I 
 had an ingenious Englishman, who corrected all 
 the faults, or the most part. . . 
 
 Sir Richard's desire to prove with his own 
 eyes that the desolation of France was as great 
 as M. de Souligne stated, impelled him to embark 
 upon a journey which in those days was an 
 arduous undertaking. 
 
 His friend Gregory King the Herald, or 
 ' Rouge Dragon ' as he sometimes styles himself, 
 gives a description of the difficulties of travel on 
 the Continent a few years previously. He also 
 lays stress on the inconvenience caused by the 
 adoption of the Old or New Style in the matter of 
 dates, which varied as he crossed the frontier 
 dividing one small principality from another. 
 
 Writing from Cologne on December 20, 1692 
 
 (Old Style), he begins : 
 
 ;Hon^Sir, 
 
 * Travailing night and day in very uneasy 
 Wagons and for the last half of the way hither in 
 open ones, I got well to this place Jast night, 
 where I am with my Colleague, S"^ Will Dunton 
 Colt, the King s Envoy to the Princes of Bruns- 
 wick and Lunenburg. The Duke of Zell had 
 the Order of the Garter sent him to the Hague 
 last Spring was Twelvemonth, and the Duke of 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 
 
 Hanover, who is his young Brother, is now Uitely 
 made an Electoral Prince, having received the 
 Electoral Cap and Dignity by Proxy at Vienna, 
 from the Emperor s hands, the 9^^' Instant, It being 
 consented to by four of the seven Voices of the 
 College of Electors, But not by the other Colleges, 
 who, as the manner is, have entered their Protest 
 against it. 
 
 ' In a few days we set forward together from 
 hence towards Dresden by the way of Leipsic, the 
 famous University, and the greatest Mart in 
 Germany, in the Territories of the Elector of Saxe, 
 to whom we carry the Order/ We shall have two 
 Xmas's this year, for I was on Christmas Day, 
 New Stile, at Bentheim, a free Prince of the 
 Empire, but Roman Catholick ; and next Sunday 
 we shall be in the Lunenberg Territories, where 
 they keep the Old Stile ; Though in the Bishopric 
 of Osnaburg, which belongs to this New Elector 
 [of Hanover], they have the New Stile. 
 
 ' Religions agree here much better than in 
 England. The same Church will serve a Roman 
 Catholick in the morning, and a Lutheran in the 
 afternoon. And as for Property, it is all Ad 
 Libitum Principis. But it makes the people 
 poor. 
 
 * Commands have drawn this trouble 
 upon you from. 
 
 ' most obedient Serv^ 
 
 ' Gregory King.' 
 
 At the time when Sir Richard was inspired 
 
 1 The Garter. 
 
 X 
 
3o6 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 with the desire to investigate the internal con- 
 dition of France from his own point of view, 
 his home party was much reduced in numbers. 
 
 Four out of his eight sons had died early, and 
 three out of his seven daughters had left their 
 father s roof for homes of their own. 
 
 Frank s venture as Lady Sedley has already 
 been reported. Her elder sister Moll had 
 married William Stephens, of Barton in the Isle 
 of Wight, and Nan, a younger one, was Mrs. 
 Venables of Woodcote in Hampshire. As long 
 as the others remained unmarried they had 
 always a second home open to them with their 
 aunt Mrs. Pole, of Radbourne in Derbyshire. 
 
 The youngest daughter but one, Betty, aged 
 seventeen, was selected to accompany her father 
 and eldest brother Dick on their expedition to 
 France. 
 
 Their suite consisted of two men and a 
 woman servant, known respectively as Henry or 
 Harry Haines, Jack Royl, and Frances or Frank 
 Coles. 
 
 Harry Haines had been originally engaged as 
 footman, but was afterwards promoted to the post 
 of coachman, in which Ccipacity he was an 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 307 
 
 important factor on the journey, Sir Richard 
 providing his own means of conveyance by taking 
 his coach and three horses. 
 
 Jack Royl came to Arbury as ' Brewer and 
 Baker,' but later became a house servant and 
 helper in the stables. His name appears fre- 
 quently in the list of ' Forfeitures ' for carelessness 
 and forgetfulness. 
 
 Frances Coles must have had a post of some 
 responsibility in the household, though her par- 
 ticular duties are unspecified. A few months after 
 the travellers returned from France her master 
 notes down that he has * given her warning to go 
 three months hence, for having only a loin of 
 small mutton and two dishes of Broth for twenty 
 three people.' 
 
 The justly incensed host probably relented 
 before the culprit's day of grace came to an end, 
 provided she sinned no more as a niggardly 
 housekeeper, which could have ill accorded with 
 her master's turn for prodigality. 
 
 The pages of the diary containing the account 
 of the expedition to France have been left intact, 
 this family enterprise being a rare experience in 
 those stay-at-home days. The writer heads his 
 
3o8 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 paper with the ambitious title of ' A Tour in 
 France/ although his travels only extended to 
 Paris and back. 
 
 The route, with all the necessary arrangements, 
 was left to the originator of the tour. His design 
 being to start from the Isle of Wight, a convenient 
 meeting-place was readily found in the house at 
 Barton belonging to Mr. Stephens, Sir Richard's 
 son-in-law. Hence the travellers proposed to 
 take boat to France, and, once safely landed, 
 proceed with their own coach and horses by road 
 to Paris. This was a slow mode of progression. 
 The party started by sea on July 13 and returned 
 to England on August 10. During these four 
 weeks the journey to and fro occupied all but 
 seven days which were spent in Paris. 
 
 Sir Richard notes down his preparations for 
 the undertaking with his customary minuteness : 
 
 1699. 'Friday, Jtme ^otL — Designing, if it 
 please God, for France very speedily, I will now 
 enter all my Transactions in this Diary. Did 
 not sleep well. Rose at eleven. Put up my 
 things ; got away at six, rode to Greenford, there 
 took Coach, but Jo. Nash had almost tired my 
 horses. Came to London by ten. Treated them 
 with Lobsters and Steaks. 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 
 
 ' Saturday, July i. — Rose late. Paid Bills that 
 were left unpaid before, and had my Jewels 
 valued. Treated with Sir Charles Sedley to 
 have Harfield Park etc. Jack prepared writings, 
 which signified nothing. 
 
 ' Szmday 2nd, — Heard two very good Sermons 
 at Gray's Inn Chapel. Dined privately. Then 
 with D' Gibbons visited the Sick, i.e. Jack's 
 Laundress. 
 
 ' Monday '^rd. — Trusted M' Stepney with my 
 nine oval Cornelians to get them set. {Mem, — 
 
 Gregory King, the Herald, recommended him 
 and knows where he lives.) Finished with Sir 
 Charles Sedley. Paid more bills. Was disturbed 
 till near one by young people in the walks. 
 Bought a Gelding.' 
 
 Whilst in London Sir Richard did not forget 
 to furnish his servants with new liveries, suitable 
 and creditable for his equipage in a foreign 
 land : 
 
 'July 3. — Newton is to make a Stuff Coat 
 and Breeches for Jack Royl and Harry Haines, 
 faced with black and strong black buttons, for 
 £\ \os, od, to come down on Wednesday^ by 
 the Uxbridge Coach, else I am not to have 
 them. 
 
 ' To Frank Coles ' he gives ' in paid wages 
 and to buy clothes, £6,' 
 
 ^ The next day but one. 
 
3IO CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 As usual with the squire of Arbury, there 
 was always a difficulty about the ready money 
 when extra demands were made upon his purse : 
 
 ' Drew out a Bill ' (he notes in his accounts) 
 ' on J. Hill to pay my son Stephens ^30. John 
 Hill, like a Villain that he is, refused to pay my 
 Note. Turn him off,' adds the angry landlord, 
 'root him out of Harfield. . . 
 
 It was on Tuesday, July 4, that Sir Richard 
 left London for Harefield, as told in his diary. 
 
 * Tuesday 4.i(/z,~Kose not till nine. Discoursed 
 several. Putting up my things. One Trunk to 
 go to Southampton, and the rest to Harfield ; all 
 which I trusted to Laurence Smith to send. 
 This held me till after eight [p.m.]. Then rode 
 to Acton. As I went by S^ Giles's the hand 
 stood at nine. Was cruelly galled. 
 
 * Wednesday 5M. — Rose a little before eleven. 
 Counted my Money. Read in D' Taylor, being 
 out of humor. 
 
 ' Thursday 6//^.— Rose at four, designing to 
 look out my things and to do much business, but 
 played the fool, made myself Drowsy. Gave 
 orders, continued out of humor. Abstained, 
 blessed be Almighty God. Read part of the 
 description of France. Put up my things, rode 
 out. . . . 
 
 'Friday ytL — I put Berionds bill of 
 
 Credit for £200 payable at Paris, and Laurence 
 
AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME 511 
 
 Smith s note for £150 payable to S' Hele Hook, 
 and ^41 13^. od, in ore, in the Coach box 
 wooden seat ; ^58 6^. gd. in the little Trunk, 
 and left ys. od. in hand with M' KiniL;" and 
 Fuller/ 
 
 The necessary preparations now completed, 
 Sir Richard was ready to start the next day on 
 the first stage of the journey which was to lead to 
 a ' Tour in France/ 
 
312 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 A TOUR IN FRANCE 
 
 Sir Richard's account of his foreign experiences 
 jotted down at the time give a fresh and lively- 
 description of the impressions made upon his 
 insular mind by the differences in the manners 
 and customs of the two nations. His narration 
 begins when he left Harefielcl betimes on Satur- 
 day morning : 
 
 'July ?>tL — Rose at five, got out by seven. 
 Rode to Bagshot. Baited. Took Coach. {Mem. — 
 Jack Royl rode away Tempest against my order.) 
 Drove to Farnham, ten miles. Then to Alton, 
 seven miles. Drove to Woodcote,^ eight miles. 
 Went forty-four miles to-day. Was very weary 
 and dry, and drank too much. Went to bed at 
 twelve. 
 
 ' Sunday gtk. — Went to church twice. Walked 
 in Woodcot Grove. 
 
 1 The home of his daughter, Mrs. Venables, who was away in 
 the Isle of Wight. 
 
A TOUR IN FRANCE 
 
 313 
 
 'Monday lotk, — Rose at six and went to 
 Winton. Paid for FrankJ Spoke to the Warden, 
 who dined abroad. Dined with Dr. Harris the 
 Bursar and Mr. Thistlethwaite. V^iewed Wat's 
 monument. Went to Southampton. There found 
 Parker without, and in the Yard of the Inn my 
 dear son Dick, my Son Stephens, his brother 
 Hodges, his Cousin Newland and Mr. Scot, all 
 waiting for my arrival. Walked, with all but 
 Parker (whom I sent to the Key) and Captain 
 Newland, to Dr. Clutterbuck. Found him and 
 his Wife perfect Cripples. Stayed with them three 
 quarters of an hour, and at the Key half an hour. 
 Embarked my Coach in a Hoy and then myself 
 on the Governor s yacht. West of Calshot Castle 
 got into the long Boat ; was tost, being rowed by 
 four hands six mile and a half Walked from 
 Cowes, where we landed (having drunk a glass of 
 Canary at Captain Newland's), half a mile. There 
 we met the welcome Coach. Found at Barton 
 four of my dear Daughters ; Moll [Mrs. Stephens], 
 Nan [Mrs. Venables] that are married, and Betty 
 and July. Hasted to bed. 
 
 ' Tuesday iitk. — Took four Quarts of Posset 
 Drink. ... At four afternoon eat boiled loin of 
 Mutton, then drank burnt Wine, yet continued 
 unwell. So discoursing several, spent this day. 
 
 ' Wednesday i2tk. — Very hot. Rose pretty 
 early. Agreed with Captain Radzee for his Yacht 
 and with Thos. Harly and Wm. Cook for their 
 
 1 Sir Richard's youngest son, a boy at Winchester. It seems 
 a confusing family arrangement that a daughter Frances and a son 
 Francis should both have been known as Frank, but so it was. 
 
314 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Hoy (which is called the Success of Cowes) to 
 carry our horses and Coach. Returned to Dinner 
 and spent the rest of the day with our Company. 
 
 * Thursday i^tk, — Rose at three. Rode to 
 East Cowes, ferryed over; went thro' West 
 Cowes to Radzee's, boarded the yacht, saw how my 
 goods were stowed, went on board the Successe, 
 prevented their spoiling the carriage of my 
 Chariot, which they would have knocked to pieces. 
 Stowed her aboard the Yacht, Slinged my three 
 horses on board. Returned to Barton. Gave 
 my Daughter Mary a Breast Jewel (Diamond) 
 worth ^40, and my Daughter Nan a Diamond 
 Locket worth £16, Gave little W"" Stephens a 
 half Jacobus, and little Dick Sedley a quarter 
 Carolus. Yesterday gave the servants half Crowns 
 apiece. Breakfasted, and embarked first on the 
 Hoy, to which Cap^^ Radzee had returned the 
 Carriage of the Coach, which I required him to 
 take aboard his Yacht again. But he said he could 
 not Then I went and fetched my goods from 
 aboard him, and sending back Nan and July, my 
 son Stephens and Scot, who were on board, 
 we set sail in the Hoy and got against South Sea 
 Castle that night. Lay rough. All were sick 
 but Dick and I. Next day were becalmed. 
 Could not lose sight oth' Island. Lay rough 
 again. About two ith' morning a North East gale 
 blew fresh and sent us forward. I wrote to my 
 Daughter Stephens, and sent my Son Stephens a 
 Key as follows. . . 
 
 It is unnecessary to give this ' key,' which was 
 
A TOUR IN FRANCE 315 
 
 composed of a long list of alternative words for 
 the proper names and political terms that were 
 likely to enter into Sir Richard's correspondence, 
 should he wish to write as fully and frankly as was 
 his custom. By this means he hoped to baffle the 
 subtle machinations of the French people, whom 
 he regarded with a deep-rooted mistrust both 
 generally and individually. 
 
 As a matter of fact he wrote but one letter 
 home during his tour, which had to do duty for 
 all his correspondents, and, possibly to his disap- 
 pointment, he found the precautionary measure 
 of a ' key ' quite unnecessary. 
 
 After two days and nights of much discomfort 
 on a stormy sea, the little company of six arrived 
 within reach of Cherbourg on the French coast. 
 The appearance of the 'hoy' with its unknown 
 freight caused no litde excitement in the inhabit- 
 ants of the town. Sir Richard, as usual, is 
 found equal to all emergencies, and nothing seems 
 to escape his ' roving ' and observant eye. 
 
 ' Saturday, i ^th About 4 ith' afternoon 
 landed at Chirburgh, being a Port where the *'Sun," 
 the great French ship, was fired [burnt]. The 
 Sea shore had hundreds of people upon it, it being 
 their S' Jamess Day. When they saw the 
 
3i6 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 English colors they drew near our boat, and the 
 third man we met with addressed us in very good 
 English. He was a Merchant of that place, knew 
 our swearing Seaman, Abraham, his name John 
 Baily, but entitled Cobizon, from a Village he 
 possesses of that Name. He led us to Made- 
 moiselle du Val's house, the Sun, where there 
 were Stone Steps as to our Steeples, no boarded 
 Floors but bricked, two Beds in a Room, no 
 blankets under, but first a Great Mattress of Straw, 
 then a small thin Feather-bed, and then a large 
 Quilt, then a Blanket and Counterpane, round 
 Bolster, no Pillows. 
 
 * Mr. Cobizon advised me to wait upon the 
 Commissary, who is their only Governor, the Sieur 
 Menevill. He was very Civil. Then we went 
 to the Inn, and Mr. Cobizon undertook to finish 
 all with the Master of the Vessel, Mr. Harly. 
 But I had a mind to go on board our Ship, where 
 I found the Custom house Officers and many 
 people on board, and hundreds on shore to see the 
 Sight. 
 
 * After two hours spent in shewing all our 
 goods to the Custom house officers, who were 
 very strict but very civil, we slung our Horses and 
 Coach ashore and put it together, and four men 
 carried our Goods in great Handbarrows. The 
 Coach was accompanied by the multitude into 
 town, who had (as Mr Cobizon said) ne er seen 
 a Coach before, and I was forced to take it off the 
 Wheels and carry it into a Bachelor Merchant 
 (Mr. Bousselaer) his Yard, to have it safe. 
 Otherwise it had been torn in pieces and those 
 
A TOUR IN FRANCE 
 
 kept as Relics by the people. This held ine lill 
 near eleven. 
 
 ' In the meantime I went to bespeak Sijp[)er, 
 but could have no flesh ; they durst not dress it. 
 'Twas Saturday, a Fish day, and tho' to break 
 the seventh Comandment is venial, eating Flesh 
 is a mortal Sin. Nor could we have fish ; Mrs. 1 )u 
 Vail said 'twas all gone. But I spied Crabs, of 
 which she bought six for three pence, and we got 
 Thornback and made a pretty good Supper. 
 Prayed and went to bed after twelve, I having 
 read myself half asleep and then went to bed. 
 After my first sleep I slept heartily, I thank God, 
 till after eight' 
 
 Sir Richard here, in dating his diary, overleai)s 
 ten days and adopts the New Style. At the end 
 of his tour, when he regains English ground, he 
 as suddenly changes back again. It will therefore 
 be less confusing to adhere to the Old Style as 
 before. 
 
 ' Sttnday, i6tk Jttly\ — Rose at eight, put things 
 in order, which held us long. Prayed and read in 
 Dr. Taylor to my Family. Then went to Dinner, 
 or Supper rather, at four o'clock, soon after which 
 Mr. Cobizon came, and quickly after him the 
 Governor, who invited us to his house, offered to 
 shew us the Town, and walked about with us. 
 Then we paid for our Horses ^5 sterling in their 
 money, ix. each new Lewis D'Or goes for 
 £\ 35". 4^/., which with us is eighteen shillings. So 
 
3i8 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 vast a difference there is between French and 
 EngHsh money. 
 
 ' Then I got Mr. Cook, who has two shares 
 of the Successe, and Abraham our swearing Sea- 
 man, to help fetch the Chariot from Mr. Bousse- 
 laer (to whose maid I gave an EngHsh shilling) 
 and got it on Wheels. Then went to bed at 
 twelve. 
 
 'Monday lytL — Rose at five. Having paid 
 fifteen Guineas to Mr. W'"" Cook of Cowes for our 
 passage (for Harly would not come at me, ex- 
 pecting the whole that Radzee should have had) 
 took his acquittance and gave Abraham eight 
 shillings, Harry Harly two and sixpence, and Mat 
 Cook, a boy of fifteen, and Tom Harly, a Boy of 
 nine year old, twelve pence apiece sterling, and 
 got our things loaded by Gabriel Vischer, who is 
 to carry them to Paris for three pence a pound 
 and to shew us the way. 
 
 ' Mr. Cobizon said we had eighty leagues to 
 Paris, two hundred and forty miles. 
 
 ' Having paid Mrs. Du Val, the Hostess at 
 the Sun in Chirburgh, I walked to the Town end. 
 We left Chirburgh and went a bare and stony 
 way up a Mountain, I having got the footboard 
 well fastened and bought some spare nails. Then 
 thro' a Vast long Wood in which was a glass house 
 and multitudes of Bilberry s which we breakfasted 
 on. At length we came to a Market town, very 
 old and ruinous and very poor. Here we dined 
 on Eggs. Found officers oth' Army very civil to 
 us, who said we must go thro* Grandville and said 
 we had two hundred miles to Paris. 
 
A TOUR IN FRANCE 
 
 319 
 
 ' We overtook a Merchant who said we had 
 four Leagues to the Sea and two Leagues thro' it, 
 and that we might pass it if we made haste. So 
 we travelled together about half a League, and 
 then he left us, and we, enquiring, heard 'twas 
 impossible to pass the Sea this night, so travelled 
 slowly, our horses being weary, resolving to lie at 
 Burgh S^ Mary, short of the Sea. 
 
 * But he (the Merchant), overtaking us again, 
 said we might pass well enough, upon which we 
 went in, I thinking that if the Sea came upon us I 
 could gallop the Chariot to land. But it seems 
 we were to cross the Channel and were forced to 
 drive six miles in it, half a mile an hour. They 
 called to me (in the box) to make haste, but I was 
 forced to give breath or should not have held out, 
 which one of my horses (Brabant) did to the last 
 and drew us out and saved our lives, tho' his 
 fellow would not draw at all. The Sea came into 
 the Coach. 
 
 ' Mr. Bretagne, merchant of Bajeux, who led us 
 into Danger, stuck to us in it and held the 
 Coach ; and after I had given thanks to God for 
 this great deliverance, he sent Betty a basket of 
 good Cherries and fine flowers. 
 
 ' Tuesday i^tk. — Left Burgh S^ Clement about 
 nine. Baited at la Vret, then passed Bajeux and 
 drove to Caen with much difficulty. It is a large 
 and Noble City, and has men in it whereof we have 
 seen few since we left Chirburgh. We lay at La 
 Place Royale, in that part of the town which they 
 call Place Royale. 
 
 * Wednesday 19//^.— Rested at Caen, and with 
 
320 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Mr. I'Abbe. Procurator Regius, saw all that was 
 remarkable there. 
 
 ' Thursday 20tk. — Baited at Chriesonvill. Lay 
 at Lisieux, a Bishop's See. 
 
 ' Friday 2isL — Left Lisieux at half after eleven 
 o'clock. Did not bait. Came to la Riviere 
 Tibputelle by half an hour after four. 'Tisa deep 
 swift River, and where we lay there is a very 
 good Inn. 
 
 ' Saturday 22nd. — Left half an hour after ten. 
 Went to Rue Manderoit de Jean. Baited there 
 and spent two Livres and four sous. 'Tis four 
 Leagues North West of Evreux in Normandy. 
 The reckoning was for beans 6d,, new gathered 
 Cherries 4^., Cider 3^<2?'., bread j\.\d,, horses 14 
 sous ; total 2 livres 4 sous. Went that night to 
 Evreux. Lay at Lion d'Or. 
 
 ' Stmday 2'^rd, — Miserably spent in this Popish 
 country ; yet prayed and read a Sermon to my 
 small Family. Then, in compliance to my dear 
 Children, visited the Churches, viz. a monastery 
 of the Jacobins and a Nunnery of the Ursulines, 
 and viewed that City (Evreux), which stands in 
 a bottom as Lisieux doth ; both upon fine Rivers. 
 Paid our reckoning. 
 
 * Monday 24M. — Left Evreux, which the 
 French pronounce Ivre, at seven o'clock, and 
 went to Mantes, a Bishop's See also, in the Isle 
 of France. 
 
 ' And now we have left Normandy, being out 
 of it about three miles, I will give some account 
 of it. 
 
 ' The Country is mostly Rocky, rich seemingly 
 
A TOUR IN FRANCE 
 
 321 
 
 and enclosed at Chirburgh, but miserably poor, 
 depopulated and uninhabited all the way we have 
 gone, which is a hundred and seventy two and a 
 half miles. The first three mile is bare rocky 
 way, then about seven miles through woods full 
 of Bilberries but no Timber ; all the rest Common 
 fields, yet with many Apples and Pears. Most of 
 the way from Valogn is extremely good till we 
 came south east of Chriesonvill, but very naught 
 near Lisieux. They take great pains and are at 
 vast charge in making Causeways and mending 
 their ways, which seem better than they are, being 
 great Stones covered with Dust. 
 
 ' The great towns are very thin of People. The 
 Corn is generally very good. They plow with 
 Wheel-plows and fallow by bits and patches, where 
 I believe it would not bear Corn without. Their 
 upper rooms are bricked upon boards, but in poor 
 Inns are floored with earth above Stairs. Pillows, 
 Basins and, in some places, Warming pans they 
 are strangers to. 
 
 'At Chirburgh, Hay, Oats and Straw were 
 one shilling a night, but elsewhere 20"^^ and 2^^. 
 Fran9ois. Wine at Chirburgh was 1 1"^ a Chopin, 
 a measure a little bigger than a Quart. At 
 Valogn 'twas 2d^. In short all things are very 
 reasonable, did not the Hostesses (for we met 
 with few men) exact intolerably, as at Lisieux the 
 Landlady asked thirty-five Sous for a lean Duck, 
 and I went out and bought of a She Butcher a 
 good shoulder of Mutton for twelve Sous and a 
 tolerable Shoulder of Veal for six Sous. But 
 
 ^ When Sir Richard writes pence he means sous. 
 
 Y 
 
322 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 being now come to the Cheval Blanch or White 
 Horse at Mantes, a pretty Inn, plaister-floored, we 
 met with a good deal of Company. 
 
 ' By the Vineyards (of which there are some, 
 but very few in Normandy) and Cherry trees 'tis 
 evident we are in another Country. Their 
 Husbandry is very Indiscreet. They draw with 
 huge Hames, which stand up like Horns, and 
 their Geares are sheep or lamb skins with the 
 Wool on. Their Carriages are drawn double 
 (which is very well), but their wheels play loose 
 on the Axle-tree and make very wide Ruts, 
 Their highways have no ditches, but their 
 Crosses to shew the way are extremely useful. 
 They use Mules much. Asses more ; Wooden 
 shoes much, and Straw hats for Boys, many of 
 whom lace their hats with a bit of Straw. 
 
 ' Tttesday 2^ik. — Left Mantes before eight. 
 Passed over the Seine thro' the Vineyards and 
 Cherry Orchards (which all lie open) thro' Passy, 
 Meulan, Poissy and several other Towns to 
 S^ Germains, a fine Town where we baited, 
 having paid our Carrier Gabriell Vischer three 
 new Lewis d'Ors, one crown, one half-crown, 
 and one fifteen penny piece for three hundred 
 and twenty pounds at 3"^ a pound.' 
 
 Sir Richard had now safely brought his party 
 within easy reach of Paris. An average of more 
 than twenty-eight miles a day as far as Mantes 
 Vv^ould seem a creditable performance for a heavily 
 
A TOUR IN FRANCE 323 
 
 laden coach drawn by a pair of horses on bad 
 roads, with only two days' rest out of eight. The 
 hardest day's journey was yet to come, for owing 
 to lack of accommodation at St. Germain the 
 party had to accomplish the distance from Mantes 
 to Paris in one day. 
 
 'At Germains,' continues Sir Richard, 'we 
 could get no rooms, all being taken up by K. 
 Lewis's Guards. So after a very great shower 
 we drove to Paris, having passed some Stage 
 Coaches all driven by a Coachman sitting on one 
 horse and driving four— sometimes six — without 
 a Postillion. Another sort of Travelling we saw, 
 which is a Calash drawn by one horse within 
 Thills, and another which the Coachman rides on 
 and draws also by a Spring tree. In Paris we 
 were at a loss for lodging till we met with an 
 Englishman, newly arrived, but one who spoke 
 French well. He enquired out an Inn (which 
 are scarce in Paris) and I gave him sixpence. 
 But Fortune threw us upon the Hotel Bezier, an 
 excellent creditable lodging. There we reposed 
 this night. 
 
 * Wednesday 26tk, — Rose at six o' Clock. Got 
 ready by eight. Enquired out another lodging. 
 Then agreed here, where they first asked a 
 hundred Crowils, that is three hundred livres a 
 month, and would set only by the month. But 
 putting up all my things, I brought them to take 
 forty-five livres by the week, and told them I 
 would give it only for one week. Then went to 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 CAVALIER AND PURH^AN 
 
 the Porte of Conference and had all our things 
 searched, and five pair of Stockings of Betty's, 
 because never worn, were seized on, and I left an 
 old Lewis d'Or and g-ot the rest of the thino^s 
 away. Then went with Betty to the Cours de 
 la Reine, the Hide Park of France. Came home 
 to Dinner. Looked o'er my things in the After- 
 noon, then took a walk to Jaques' Street, 
 where the Booksellers live; bought a map of 
 France, which cost forty pence ; a map of Paris 
 cost as much, and a Book of the fine houses cost 
 forty livres ; only had a quire of paper thrown in. 
 Looked o'er half the Book ; prayed and went to 
 bed at eleven. 
 
 ' Thursday 2jth. — Unwell. Rose at nine. 
 Went upon my accounts, which, with beginning 
 to make a Table to the French Book of Maps, 
 held me till near five, with Prayers and Dinner.- 
 And now resolve to write to my Friends in 
 England whom I have promised.' 
 
 Here follows a list of the names of relations 
 and friends at home, with the addition of one in 
 France, ' M. I'Abbe at Caen.' 
 
 ' To the English I will write thus : 
 ' " S\ According to my promise This is to 
 acquaint you that I thank God we are landed 
 safe in France at la Hogue by Chirburgh in 
 Normandy, where the great French Ship the 
 Sun was burnt, within a hundred yards of 
 whose Ruins we landed. Upon seeing English 
 colors Multitudes came out, and the Slinging my 
 
A TOUR IN FRANCE 
 
 325 
 
 Horses and Coach ashore (an unusual Sight) was 
 very pleasing to them. The third man we met, 
 a French merchant, accosted us in very good 
 English, and the Commissary or Governor, the 
 Sieur Menevill, was extreme obliging to us ; 
 offered us to lie in his house and eat at his Table, 
 which, with many thanks, I refused. Things 
 are very cheap, the people look healthy and well 
 and are numerous, and the merchant aforesaid 
 affirmed that both the Port and Country are two 
 thirds richer by reason of the war. I must needs 
 say, if the rest of France prove like this, all the 
 Storeys we have heard will prove false. 'Tis far 
 from Desolate. 
 
 ' I am, S', Yours . . . 
 ' ''Chirburgh, July, new stile. 
 ' They say we are 240 Mile from Paris." ' 
 
 What hidden purpose Sir Richard may have 
 had in post-dating his letter from Cherbourg, when 
 he was writing ten days later from Paris, can only 
 be surmised. Probably by pre-arrangement with 
 his correspondents at home he, in this way, hoped 
 by English cunning to frustrate some imaginary 
 evil design to be brought about by the French 
 guilefulness in which he so firmly believed. 
 
 Sir Richard economised labour and postage 
 by sending the above epistle to his man of business 
 
326 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 at Harefielcl to be copied and despatched to his 
 expectant friends. 
 
 * This I desire Laurence Smith to get tran- 
 scribed and to direct them as follows . . . and I 
 will pay for writing ten letters. 
 
 ' Went out in a Coach to the Greve ; saw the 
 Bastille and Town house [Hotel de Ville] and 
 Place Royale, St. Anthoin and St. Denis Street. 
 Came back by the Post House over Pont Neuf. 
 JVoi(e. — The Seine doth not Ebb and flow like the 
 Thames at London ; nor is there any going by 
 Boat upon it. I gave the Coachman two livres 
 for an hour and a half. Came home, supped, and 
 went to bed. Let Newton, the new Coach Gelding, 
 blood. 
 
 ' Saturday 28M. — Went to Versailles. Saw 
 that House and Garden and Fountains. Prodi- 
 gious fine. **At tu Provincia ploras." Were 
 much obliged to the Marquess and Marchioness 
 D'Angeau. 
 
 * Sunday 2gtk. — Rose early. Read to my 
 Family, ''To make Religion one's Business." 
 Dined at three. Sent my son and Frank Coles 
 with our Goods to the Cook's Shop by the Inn. 
 In the meantime took a Hackney Coach and 
 shewed Betty FEglise de Notre Dame, Hotel 
 and Jardin de Luxembourg, and TEglise de 
 St. Eustache ; and then supped at the Kind Cook's 
 Shop. Had a Dish of Steaks for twenty pence, 
 and four pigeons for thirty-two pence, very well 
 dressed. Came home, prayed, and went to bed. 
 
A TOUR IN FRANCE 
 
 3^7 
 
 ' Monday 2>otk, — Waked before four. Rose 
 to call Jack Royl and met him on the Stairs. 
 Wrote this in my bed : 
 
 ^ To Steal poor Lorraine, one day's time was Given ; 
 The Cheat of Burgundy required Seven ; 
 In a Month's Time the Dutch were bought and sold, 
 Frighted by Armys, Conquered by Gold. 
 At this Rate what will a whole Year produce 
 To leave this perjured K. without Excuse ? 
 A Day of Retribution sure will Come 
 When all his Wicked Facts will justly have their Doom." 
 
 'Note. — Jack Royl said he saw three French- 
 men led Drunk yesterday.' 
 
 Sir Richard's long enforced reticence having 
 found a vent in the above tirade, it may be observed 
 how he further consoles himself by noting that 
 Frenchmen can transgress in the same way as his 
 own countrymen. He goes on to describe how 
 he made the most of their last day in Paris : 
 
 * Carried our Company to Le Convent de 
 Femme Honorable De Val du Grace ^ and to 
 another Nunnery where we saw their Fopperies 
 and approached too near. Bought English bottled 
 Ale at sixteen pence a quart. Dined. Received 
 twenty one new Lewis d'Ors and two Crowns 
 and fifteen-pence pieces and threepence of Mr. 
 Couteuils for £20 sterling, allowing eleven and 
 
 ^ Femmes Honorables du Val de Grace. 
 
328 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 threepence for the return. Weighed the Gold and 
 found it all too light, but especially one piece eight 
 grains, and another eleven grains too light. 
 Shewed Dick Notre Dame Church, where the 
 Virgin Mary and our Saviour are in two places 
 Blackamores. Then went to a Play, the Cheat of 
 Scapin, and for thirty six pence apiece were in 
 the uppermost Gallery but one/ 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 The week in Paris had come to an end, without 
 extravagant cost, thanks to Sir Richard's close 
 bargaining with 'mine host' of his inn. The 
 leader of the party began to make the necessary 
 preparations for departure, and but narrowly 
 escaped unforeseen delay owing to the illness of 
 his son, Dick, and the servant, Henry Haines. 
 
 In the multitude of small cares which fell to 
 his lot as guide and manager, combined with the 
 attempt to fluctuate from the old to the new style 
 in the matter of dates. Sir Richard ends by losing 
 a day of the month on the return journey. As, 
 however, the days of the week continue to follow 
 each other consecutively, the oversight is of no 
 real importance, and we pass with the writer 
 from July 30 to August i : 
 
 * Tuesday, ist Aitgust, — Put up most of my 
 things last night. Gave Henry, who is very ill, a 
 
330 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Cordial then, as I am about to do now. Disturbed 
 bv Lodorers o'er head last nioht till eleven, and 
 waked about two, and kept awake with excessive 
 rain, and I o'er slept myself till eight. Then 
 looked out money, beside the rate for this 
 week's lodging, which is forty-five livres, equal 
 to ^3 .15.0. It turned out as follows : 
 
 Lodging 
 
 45 
 
 livres 
 
 Horsemeat . 
 
 27 
 
 > > 
 
 Diet 
 
 46 
 
 ,, 8 sous 
 
 Doctor 
 
 6 
 
 
 Servants 
 
 2 
 
 
 Gave Mr. Helbieg, 
 
 0 
 
 T 2 
 
 ' Dick was extremely ill, could not endure of 
 his bed. Gave him in water twenty drops of 
 Spirit of Hartshorn and some Aqua Mirabilis 
 after it. Sent for the Due d'Orleans' Doctor and 
 gave him half a Crown, which the Master of the 
 house said was their constant fee, for which he 
 was very thankful. I gave Dick some Elixir 
 Salutis ; shewed the Doctor that, which he tasted, 
 and said 'twas excellent, and that he had had a 
 great deal of it out of England. He much dis- 
 suaded Dick from the Journey, saying 'twas very 
 dangerous, and he would undertake to cure him in 
 twenty four hours. 
 
 ' Betty showed him the spots which broke out 
 on her neck and face, which he said was only heat 
 of Blood. He advised her to take Syrup of 
 Violets and Water for her drink, which I approved 
 on, and he sent a very little (thirty pence price) 
 and a Cordial for Dick which he said would cure 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 him in three hours (forty sous, or pence, price). 
 'Twas small Cinnamon water a little sweetened, 
 which Dick carried in his pocket, and the horse 
 stumbled and broke it. He likewise sent three 
 Limons (lemons) eighteen pence price. His Son, 
 a genteel young man, brought them, whom I paid, 
 and he craved something to drink, so I gave him 
 sixpence and compliments, and for that he was 
 very thankful. The Doctor dehorted ^ Soup. 
 Dick desired it and I advised it, and he eat a 
 good deal of Soup made with Cabbage, and two 
 poached eggs. 
 
 ■ This drove us off till five o'clock, but then 
 we left Paris and went thro' S^ Dennis, and three 
 or four other large Villages, but thin of people. 
 Got before eleven to Beaumont, which they pro- 
 nounce Bomon. Found a good Inn, la Grosse 
 Tete, and got to bed before one, after hearty and, 
 I hope, sincere Prayer. 
 
 * The way was good to S^ Denis, six mile. 
 Afterwards a broken Causeway for about eight 
 miles, and then a miserable ill way, the last three 
 mile a Causeway. 
 
 ' The Country we came through to-day was 
 like Normandy, most common field, and about 
 Paris vast flats of Asparagus and some of Cabbage. 
 East of S^ Denis there are many cherry trees and 
 Walnuts, and in some places vast numbers of 
 Cerinth trees, which they call le Grosell rouge " 
 (Red gooseberries). We came by a fine house, 
 Mr. Tourminey's, Treasurer of France. Bomon 
 
 1 Dissuaded or advised against. (^Johnson's Dictioimry.) 
 
332 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 stands upon the river Oyse, which flows from the 
 Seine/ 
 
 It will be observed that our travellers were 
 returning by another route in order to complete 
 their * tour in France/ This time their point of 
 re-embarkation was to be Calais, and so to Dover. 
 
 * Wednesday, 2nd August, — Dick has slept 
 heartily, I thank God, and he and Harry are much 
 better, but Harry is not yet cured. Spent some 
 time, about an hour, studying the French grammar. 
 Wrote out twenty-five Adverbs, reducing the 
 English into an Alphabet. 
 
 * Left Beaumont about two o'clock. Went to- 
 night to Beauvais. Got in about nine. This is 
 a Noble Town, pretty full of people ; has many 
 Churches and a spacious Market-place, and has a 
 trade of making Cloath or Stuff. It has several 
 good Inns. We lay at one of the worst, ' le petit 
 Cerf,' which is in the Fauxburgh. The Town 
 stands upon the river Tergin,^ which comes out of 
 the Oyse. 
 
 ' Here my Company left the great Map of 
 France which cost two livres.' 
 
 The energetic leader of the party, having found 
 time to study the language of the country on his 
 homeward route, begins to exhibit his acquire- 
 ments by writing the days of the week in French 
 as long as he remains on foreign ground, 
 
 1 Th^rain. 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 'Jeudi'^. — We left Beauvais about ten and went 
 this night to Poix. We had a stormy day and 
 much ill way, which grievously fatigued our horses. 
 We were much beholden to two French Gentle- 
 men who passed by us and slacked their pace and 
 stayed a good while where two ways parted to 
 shew us the right way ; for here are no Crosses 
 to direct the way as in Normandy and I'lsle de 
 France. We came in about eleven, being provi- 
 dentially guided to hit the right way. 
 
 ' Vendredi 4. — This day we dined at Iran, a 
 small village, where I saw eight good horses carry- 
 ing to King Lewis, and went to-night to Abbeville. 
 About a league off it two French gents in one of 
 their Chariots with two wheels, but a very good 
 horse, overtook us and strove to drive by, but our 
 horses out-galloped them. This City of Abbeville 
 has thirteen parishes and seven hundred and forty 
 houses, which is but fifty seven houses to a 
 Parish ; so miserably 'tis lessened from what it 
 was. The Children of the Villages ran by the 
 Coach and shouted out the Hymn to the blessed 
 Virgin and then begged. We lay at le Sieur de 
 Brabant, an unreasonable dear Inn. 
 
 ' Samedi 5. — Strong work was made to-day in 
 the Popish Churches, it being the Assumption of 
 the blessed Virgin. The Priests have their rich 
 Copes on, the inferior Clergy their Surplices, and 
 after high Mass the Boys went singing about the 
 Church, the singing men followed, each with a 
 Wax Taper lighted in his hand, two and two, and 
 then one carrying a large Crucifix. After came 
 seven of the Superior Clergy two and two, and 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 one at last. They went down the middle of the 
 Church singing, and the Women followed. 
 
 ' The like procession we met with in the street, 
 four men carrying their Idolatrous Trumpery 
 under a Canopy. We gave way with our Coach, 
 and all being bare we were so too. Then we pro- 
 ceeded on our journey. Dined at Bernay, where 
 we had Sole and Place and sweetmeats, but a 
 sorry reckoning. It raining and being four o'clock 
 I would have stayed all night, but my Son and 
 Daughter were desirous to go, so we went to 
 Montreuil and got thither in pretty good time, I 
 thank God. Lay au Renard, a reasonable Inn. 
 
 * Dimmiche 6.— Spent in too much altercation. 
 A very wet day. 
 
 ' Ltmdi 7. — I would have stayed, but Dick and 
 Betty desired to go. So we set out at four, it 
 raining very hard. Harry drove us a League and 
 then up a hill w^as staled, and with much ado I 
 drew the Coach backward to a Village where we 
 hired a Team to draw us to Front, which they did 
 with much difficulty. We were all extremely wet, 
 and Harry relapsed. 
 
 ' Mardi 8. — A young Marquess who came in 
 his Calash, and his Gent in a Stage Coach alone, 
 baited at our Inn, and the Marquess ran up in his 
 embroidered Coat with Silver, and was very 
 obliging ; and we unloaded the Chariot of the 
 heavy wooden box and two livery Coats, and then 
 I undertook to drive our weary horses and dined 
 nowhere, but got to Boulogne, couchant au le Roy 
 de Angleterre (the head of Charles the P^) 
 
 ' This town [Boulogne] has been very strong. 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 335 
 
 'Tis a Sea port. Betty walking was shut up with 
 a watery Ditch, to go over which Dick, by my 
 consent, horsed her on Tempest ; and she would 
 not ride but aside, and so the horse threw her into 
 the Ditch. Falling, she modestly secured her 
 Cloaths, and putting her feet in hot water avoided 
 Cold. I gave Henry Elixir Salutis, but he is 
 very ill. 
 
 ' Merer edi 9. — We put sick Harry and Frank 
 Coles into the Stage Coach, a very uneasy place, 
 for which I gave ten shillings, ^md baited at 
 Marchis, where we had good Beef roasted, but a 
 very unreasonable reckoning. From hence went 
 to Calais. We were stopped at the Port civilly 
 and asked where we lodged, which we told them, 
 '*au Dragon d'Or," and then we passed. 
 
 * And now we are bidding adieu to France, I 
 will recount what I observed. 
 
 ' The Countrys I have seen (except part of 
 Normandy) are very barren and ill husbanded, 
 tho' in some parts there is excellent Corn, but 
 few labourers to get it in, so that much must be 
 shed. The Causeways are generally well kept, 
 but the roads miserably. 
 
 ' Normandy, Tlsle de France and Picardy, all 
 that I have yet seen of France, are very hilly, 
 and I yet saw no place where the water was 
 turned off ; but Cascades and Torrents do run 
 down their Hills, which renders them [the roads] 
 very uneven. There are very few enclosures ; 
 most of France is in vast great Fields and little 
 Meadowing, which makes Hay very dear, six- 
 pence a bundle ; and for want of Pasture their 
 
336 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 meat is generally lean. Their people are mise- 
 rable poor, but very proud and lazy and insolent, 
 but easily curbed and much in awe. 
 
 ' A loaded Cart gives way to any Coach. 
 They are miserable silly Carters. They draw 
 double with Ropes without any Art, have vast 
 high hames, and, instead of harness. Sheepskins 
 with their Wool on, and Clothes o er their Bodys ; 
 and in Paris and Caen and several other places 
 both Coach and Saddle Horses have Caparisons 
 of Net Work. Most of their Coach horses draw 
 wagons with their harness, the Coachman sitting 
 in a box. We saw a Wagon loaded with Corn 
 o erturned to-day. 
 
 ' The preventing of Duels and of Robberys ; 
 the moderate F'ees of Lawyers and Physicians ; 
 the strict discipline among the Soldiers and all 
 officers ; the repairing the Causeways admirable 
 well about Paris ; and the shewing the Highways 
 by posts ; and their horses drawing double ; and 
 their Great Civility to Strangers, are eight things 
 very commendable. 
 
 ' But their Superstition, Nastiness, Supineness, 
 Swearing, Sabbath-breaking (even Acting Plays, 
 Carting, Buying and Selling on Sundays) ; Exact- 
 ing on Strangers ; their hanging up the Dove 
 which they call le Saint Esprit, and an Old Man 
 which they call le Providence (God Almighty) ; 
 their neglect of their Highways, but more of their 
 Liberty and Property, shews the Proverb to be 
 true. That the French King is Asinorum Rex.' 
 
 This climax reached, Sir Richard returns at 
 
HOMEWARD ROUND 
 
 once to his diary, taking up the thread of his 
 relation from where he left it for this digression, 
 at the Dragon d'Or in Calais : 
 
 * We gave in our Names, the Marquess 
 Spinola, a young Italian, being here at the 
 Dragon d'Or. I got my things paid for there 
 (forty-three livres and a penny) ; got Harry to 
 our Inn, had a Chirurgeon to him, who was against 
 letting him blood to-night ; paid off his quarters 
 and Jack Royl's ; gave a shilling to the Coach- 
 man, eightpence to the Postillion, prayed, and 
 went to bed. 
 
 ' Jeudi lo. — This morning we looked o'er our 
 things and treated with Captain Gibson about 
 our Passage. After Dinner we went with him to 
 the Dominican Nunnery, where we discoursed 
 with the Lady Abbess and a Nun. And the 
 Lady Abbess played upon a base violl and sang 
 a very good base, and two Nuns sang an excellent 
 treble. So they entertained us about an hour 
 and a half. 
 
 * M"^" Knight (now at London), formerly 
 Courtesan ... is a great Benefactor to this 
 Nunnery, and mightily esteemed by them. 
 
 ' Spent much of this day with Harry, who is in 
 a burning Fever ; had him let blood twice, once 
 early ith' morning, again late at night. . . . We 
 proceeded by D^ Renards advice, a skilful, 
 learned man, talks latin fluently. I gave him 
 three fees of two and sixpence, i.e, thirty six 
 Sous, and he ordered him an infusion of Almonds 
 
 z 
 
338 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 etc., which being taken every two hours procured 
 Sleep, and wholly got off his Fever. 
 
 * We got our goods searched and plombed ; 
 that is a packthread braided, after they are tied 
 with it, and stamped with lead ; a very good way, 
 but chargeable. The Coach and three horses 
 and goods cost two new Lewis d'Ors and some 
 Silver. Got the goods stowed on board and the 
 Coach embarked ; had a hundred people about us 
 pretending t6 help. Went back, viewed the 
 great church built by our Popish Queen Mary, 
 Henry 8^^' Daughter, and bought Sweetmeats 
 and Sugar. Supped and went to bed. 
 
 ' Vendredi ii. — Waked before two. Could 
 not sleep, rose at five, got ready, found Harry s 
 Fever gone. At seven Captain Gibson brought 
 us the good news that the Wind stood fair. 
 Ordered my horses aboard. Went to the Bene- 
 dictine Nunnery, put aside the Curtain and saw 
 them at prayers. The habit of the Dominican 
 Nuns is fine white flannel and a black hood or 
 veil over it, and the habit of the Benedictines is 
 all black, only white linen about their Necks 
 under their black Vails. 
 
 ' Then we put up our things into parcels and 
 I got three plumbed and two went without plumb- 
 ing, and I got them passed and went with them 
 and Harry aboard in a large French boat with 
 eight oars and a Sail. In the meantime Dick 
 w^ith great difficulty got the Mayor s pass for our 
 bodys, wherein the Master of Dragon d'Or basely 
 failed us. 
 
 * When I had left Harry aboard in a Cabin I 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 went back and found Betty in a boat with three 
 English women and a Priest, into which I went, 
 and the French Watermen demanded une Pistole, 
 eighteen shillings sterling, for carrying me and 
 Harry. The Priest and Captain said I should 
 have agreed with them beforehand, but I gave 
 them half a Guinea and one shilling, for which 
 they were thankful. Paid un Ecu and five sous 
 for embarking the horses, and gave four shillings, 
 English, to four that carried the goods, and so 
 got off, Dick and Frank Coles and Jack Royl 
 coming with the Italians. 
 
 * And so we got, thanks be to God, safe on 
 board our Packet boat, a pretty Vessel, forty-five 
 Tun ; can carry ten Guns. Our Company was 
 the Marquess Spinola and a Knight of Malta and 
 one Man each, all four Italians ; a German Count 
 and an ancient man with him, both Alemains ; 
 one Mr. Wilson that lives at St. Edmondsbury ; 
 and my six and the four ^ afore-mentioned. 
 
 ' Betty and Frank Coles sat in my Chariot 
 with the Hood against the Main Mast, but were 
 soon sick and retired into the Captain's Cabin ; 
 and my being with them while they vomited so 
 frequently turned my stomach too and made me 
 vomit, for I had not time to breakfast on Shore. 
 So, being very hungry, I eat some of the Priest's 
 Neat's Tongue, which had been kept too long, and 
 drank three or four glasses of the Captain's wine, 
 and eat many Sweetmeats, all which came up 
 again. . . . 
 
 * We saw the English white rocks before we 
 
 ^ The three Englishwomen and the priest. 
 
 z 2 
 
CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 went on board, and in four hours and a half, left 
 our Vessel, and got into a boat at Dover. 
 
 ' Calais is a fine Town, nobly fortified both by 
 land and sea, and thronged with people, taking in 
 the Soldiery. The Risban, and the other Fort in 
 the Sea, and the Key are very well contrived to 
 defend the Ships from Tempests and Enemies. 
 
 * Dover Harbor, Town and Castle (miserably 
 out of repair) are scandalously mean. 
 
 ' We lay at the Post house, an unreasonable 
 Inn, and had our goods searched by Mr. Byfield, 
 a very civil officer. W e paid thirty shillings apiece 
 for Transport of our Coach and Horses, and thirty 
 three shillings for six passengers, and I presented 
 the Captain one Guinea, the Seamen five shillings, 
 and Mr. Smith, the pilot, two and sixpence for the 
 Cabin Harry lay in ; and borrowed £2 of Frank 
 Coles, and one Guinea and a Lewis d'Or of 
 Betty. 
 
 ' Mem. — I had taken a Chamber with two beds 
 for Dick and me, and the Italians entered it ; so I 
 readily told them 'twas at their Service. We had 
 a most unreasonable reckoning, six shillings de- 
 manded for a frigacy " of chicken. 
 
 ' I was overjoyed when we were drawing near 
 England and was too lightsome and too brisk on 
 board. Mr. Macqueen, a cunning Scotchman, 
 the minister of Dover, having heard of me, 
 addressed to me and walked with me to the Castle, 
 of which the Earl of Romney is Governor, and Sir 
 Barill Dixwell Deputy Governor, which last place 
 is worth £^00 per ann. to him. He keeps thirty 
 fallow Deer within the walls. We saw the great 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 Gun called Queen Elizabeth s pocket pistol 'Tis 
 twenty four foot long, a curious Gun presented to 
 her by the States of Holland. I promised Cap- 
 tain Gibson , Mr. Macqueen, and Mr. Byfield that 
 I would promote the making a good Harbor, re- 
 pairing the Castle, and establishing Plumbing as 
 they do at Calais, as much as I could. Prayed and 
 went to bed. 
 
 ' Sattcrday i2tk, — Was waked soon after one. 
 Slept no more. Soon after three they rose. I 
 hired a horse, and took a place for Frank Coles 
 and put Harry into the Coach for the first Stage. 
 Taught the Marquess and Knight of Malta a little 
 English. He (the Knight) tells me the Duke of 
 Berwick is a brother of their order. Took leave 
 of them. Sent Dick with my goods and to get 
 my horses cleared, and went to bed again. 
 
 * Got out about two, went to Canterbury. Lay 
 at the Red Lyon, I think, Mr. John Wilsons I am 
 sure ; an obliging man, where we were very well 
 used. Shaved. Saw the Flying Coach come in 
 before eight to-day from London with five Women, 
 four of whom walked about the Court for an hour, 
 desiring a fresh Coach to carry them to Deal, but 
 could get none. They offered to pay extraordi- 
 nary, said they were promised . . 
 
 We must hope that the curiosity excited by 
 these ladies and their eager desire to reach Deal 
 was satisfied. For us the mystery remains un- 
 solved. The narrator had reached the bottom of 
 
342 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 a page, his little ' tour in France ' was at an end, 
 and the destroyer of the diary brings to a summary 
 close any further inconsequent prattle upon paper 
 by the writer. 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 END OF THE DIARY AND THE DIARIST 
 
 The last decade of Sir Richards life contrasts 
 unfavourably with the brightness of its opening 
 phase. An element of gloom pervades the scanty 
 records that can be found of the declining years of 
 an existence which began with such hopeful augu 
 ries of a happy and honourable career. 
 
 Soon after the expedition to France a cloud 
 began to arise between Sir Richard and his eldest 
 son, probably caused by the former s reckless ex- 
 penditure. On a slip of paper dated June 4, 1 700, 
 we read : * Plagued with a cross-grained letter 
 of my son Dick s.' 
 
 Money troubles were no doubt at the bottom 
 of the threatened rupture between father and son. 
 Sir Richard, as usual, attributes wholesale blame 
 to those who acted for him as his agents, and 
 sums up his opinion of their individual worth as 
 men of business in energetic terms : 
 
344 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 ' 6 Atc£: 1700. — Me7n. When I was in France 
 last year my Agents were intolerable Remiss. 
 They paid off nothing. Mr. Beal now not 
 employed. . J. Merry, Remiss. But 'Honest' J. 
 King of Itchentonand Nat. Hayward of Harfield, 
 arrant Knaves ! * 
 
 A new account-book a year later has this sen- 
 tence on its title-page : 
 
 'This begins at Lady Day 1701, which con- 
 tains the most uncomfortable Part of my Life.' 
 
 The clouds thicken as time goes on. In 
 1702 Sir Richard is in London on business, as he 
 tells us in his diary : 
 
 ^ Tuesday y June — Rose before seven. 
 Waited for M'. Carter and Sam Sheepy, who 
 both promised to come at seven of the Clock this 
 morning, but neither of them came, and M^ Young 
 promised to come by eight, but came not till after 
 ten. But one, M'. Newdigate, Son (as he said) 
 to one M'. Rawleigh Newdigate in Ireland, came, 
 and I ordered Wall to call for some Ale for him, 
 and Wall went out to the Alehouse with him and 
 stayed an hour. I do not intend to begin an 
 acquaintance with the young man (tho' Genteel 
 and promising), but my business is so great that, 
 except upon account of business, I'm resolved 
 neither to give nor receive visits.' 
 
 The next entry, a month later, sheds an 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 
 
 ominous light on the engrossing affairs which had 
 brought Sir Richard to London. It would seem 
 that measures had been taken by ' my son Dick ' 
 to curtail his fathers power of independent action. 
 It is sad to think of the dissensions which had 
 arisen between Sir Richard and the ' Dicky ' with 
 whom he had played bowls and eaten too much 
 fruit in bygone days ; whilst only three years 
 before it was still ' my dear Son Dick ' during the 
 tour in France. 
 
 As the days pass on the diarist reveals the 
 depression of mind these family troubles were 
 causing him : 
 
 'J^fy — After many attempts found Jack. 
 Discoursed him. Appointed to meet him at his 
 Chamber, but attended long at the Attorney- 
 General's, and at last went with him (M'. 
 Hutchinson accompanying us) to Lord Keeper, 
 who declared he believed me to be as right in my 
 wits as he was, but that the Evidence was so 
 full against me that he could do no less than he 
 did, nor can do no more than he has done. Then 
 
 Attorney told him he was pressed to confess 
 or traverse, and desired his Lordship's advice. To 
 which he replied, I am not to tell you, M'. 
 Attorney, what to do in this or any other case. 
 You know the Law too well to need an Instructor." 
 
 ' And so we parted. Then I lost two and a 
 
346 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 half hours in a vain treaty with Jack at M' 
 Serjeant Selby's, M' Web being by. Weary I 
 came home and went to bed. 
 
 ' Tuesday, \/^th July. — [Arbury.] Lay long in 
 bed, and in the afternoon put some of my things 
 in order and enquired after my Coal pits, and eat 
 too much fruit. Found many things much out of 
 order. 
 
 ' Thursday, i6tk July. — Received a Letter 
 from my Attorney at London, that he had sent 
 down a Special Bailiff to take my son Dick. 
 Sent to, but did not see the Fellow, and ordered 
 him to follow the Directions he received.' 
 
 We are left in ignorance as to what happened 
 at this crisis, but before the end of the year the 
 father and son were again in personal communica- 
 tion respecting the sale of part of the family 
 property. In November Sir Richard had come 
 to London, partly on this business and partly with 
 a view to fresh extravagance by planning the 
 erection of a family mansion at Harefield : 
 
 ' Monday, 2^rd Nov. — Sending for M"" Haly 
 about Long Itchenton Tithe, and discoursing 
 Mat. Lowndes about the House at Harfield, and 
 with Dick, my Cousin Palmer, and that Stubborn, 
 Silly Creature Frank, ^ who went away without 
 taking leave while we were talking. 
 
 'Friday, 2ytk Nov. — Rose at six, went to 
 
 ^ His youngest son. 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 347 
 
 Fetter Lane. . . . Then discoursed old Cheny, 
 who will build all Harfield House except Columns 
 for a Frontispiece and Timber, for £ \ 500, eighty 
 six foot long in front, fifty four foot deep, and 
 forty foot high ; and 1,000 more will furnish it 
 nobly, barring Pictures/ 
 
 In the margin of this last entry the writer's 
 reproachful successor has added : ' Planning 
 house at Harefield and ^55,000 in debt ! * 
 
 Meanwhile Sir Richard was at work to rid 
 himself of this heavy burden at any sacrifice : 
 
 ' Thursday, "^rd Dec. — Treated with M' 
 Haly about Long Itchenton Tithe. Promised, 
 because the Writings were not ready, to give him 
 ten shillings to pay his Coach hire up to-morrow. 
 Then got the Writings and finished with Jack. 
 And Whereas I rose this Morning ;^55,ooo 
 in debt, I shall go to bed without owing more 
 than -z^4,ooo, and towards that I have ^3,000 of 
 the assignment, which will carry perpetual Interest 
 three years hence. Blessed be God's holy Name.' 
 
 In the buoyancy of spirit conferred by his release 
 from so heavy a debt, Sir Richard completely 
 ignores the alienation of family property by which 
 this peace of mind had been obtained. 
 
 In the following year — 1703 — Dick Newdi- 
 gate, now thirty-five years of age, was meditating 
 a second marriage, and the necessary negotiations 
 
348 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 for a settlement led to some confidential entries 
 on the subject, in his father s discursive style, in 
 his ledger of that date : 
 
 * As to the former settlements I made upon 
 my Son,' writes Sir Richard, 'that doth not 
 concern any other Family. . . . However, to 
 make my Son easy, I would settle upon him a 
 thousand pounds a year ... he quitting all Rever- 
 sions ; and let him marry whom he will, so I have 
 the Portion. 
 
 ' But since my Death hath been so much 
 desired I will part with no Reversions. If my 
 Son returns to his Duty and Filial Affection, I 
 design him ^3,000 per an. 
 
 'Since I wrote this my Son R. N. has been 
 so base to me that now I will have the Portion.' 
 
 About this time the writer appears to have 
 begun to entertain matrimonial views on his own 
 account. 
 
 With a seeming incongruity of time and place, 
 he makes use of a new account-book to enter the 
 following Latin quotation upon the title-page, 
 with an explanatory heading : 
 ' On AN OLD Man, who having had two Wives 
 
 BEFORE, IN HIS OLD AGE MARRIED A THIRD. 
 
 ^ Terna mihi Varijs ducta est setatibus Uxor : 
 Haec Juveni, Ilia Viro, Tertia Nupta Seni ; 
 Prima est propter Opus teneris mihi ducta sub annis, 
 Altera propter Opes, Tertia propter Opem.' 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 349 
 
 Sir Richard attempts a translation, but finds a 
 difficulty in what he calls the ' clincher,' i,e, the 
 play upon the words ' Opus, Opes, Opem.' 
 
 It was in 1704 that the squire of Arbury, now 
 on the verge of sixty, forestalled his son in a 
 second marriage by wedding Henrietta, daughter 
 of Captain Thomas Wigginton of Ham, co. 
 Surrey. The ceremony took place on May 2 of 
 that year. Sir Richard's next entry in his diary 
 is a curious one for a bridegroom of three days' 
 standing: 
 
 ' May ^tL — Was exceeding melancholy. At 
 three o'Clock this afternoon am threescore year 
 old. Went to Serjeant Selby. 
 
 * Saturday^ 6th May.—B^g^n to take my Pills 
 today. Took four. . . . 
 
 ' Tuesday, gtk May, — -Wrote to Sir Walter 
 Bagot ^ that I was married. Would give him 
 account how it came about ere long. And a 
 How D'You to Son Stephens in answer to his.' 
 
 This apparently hasty action on the part of 
 the older man may have precipitated the younger 
 Richard's second marriage. On June 27 in the 
 same year he followed his father s example and 
 took to wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Roger 
 
 ^ Brother to his first wife. 
 
350 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Twisden, Bart, with whom he had a happy 
 married life of twenty three years. ^ 
 
 Another year elapses before we get fresh 
 tidinofs of the elder brideo^room : 
 
 ' 1705. Saturday, May ^fL — Now I am sixty 
 one years old. 
 
 'May i6tL — Went to Warwick Election, 
 where Captain Lucy , . . [words illegible] kept 
 from me all his second votes, upon which I threw 
 in all my Interest to Sir John Shugborough and 
 Sir J. Mordaunt.' 
 
 It was in this year that Sir Richard lost his son 
 John, who died unmarried. In August his fifth 
 daughter, ' Jinny,' left the parental roof and a step- 
 mother s rule, to marry a Mr. Samuel Boys of 
 Hawkhurst, Kent. 
 
 In an undated letter about a year later she 
 takes time by the forelock and writes to bespeak 
 her father s services as godfather to her expected 
 infant. 
 
 The letter is worth transcribing for its out- 
 spoken frankness, tempered with the respectful 
 humility demanded by an awe-inspiring parent : 
 
 ^ Sir Richard, 3rd baronet, died in 1727. Only one of his seven 
 sons hved to attain his majority. The youngest, afterwards Sir 
 Roger Newdigate, 5th and last baronet, lived to be eighty-seven, 
 and died in 1806. 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 351 
 ' Hawkhurst, March 7. 
 
 ' Hon^ Father, 
 
 ' I'm extremely concerned to hear of your 
 great indisposition, which puts me out of hope of 
 so great a favour as to see you here. I now ex- 
 pect to be laid in my Bed every hour. I there- 
 fore humbly ask you the favour of you S' (if you 
 design us that great favour as to stand) to appoint 
 your deputy, because it will be greatly to our 
 inconvenience to put off y"" Christening, except we 
 could have the honour of your Company, for 
 which we would put ourselves to any strait what 
 ever. Other ways please to give your order what 
 you'll allow, and your commands shall be strictly 
 observed. I've been very ill of the ''yallow 
 janders " this two months and above, and am yet ; 
 tho' I thank God I'm much better than I have 
 been and make shift to keep about my house, the 
 more because of the malicious report the world 
 has raised of your misfortune in being confined 
 with the gout, which I take care to tell all I see, 
 in hope to convince these parts that your illness is 
 not anything of melancholy, which I am informed 
 is much reported in London. 
 
 ' Please to excuse this and accept Mr. Boys 
 and my humble duty, and believe me, 
 
 * Your dutyfull daughter 
 
 ' Jane Boys. 
 
 ' Mr. Boys and I join in humble service to your 
 lady.' 
 
 The report of Sir Richard's increasing infirmi- 
 ties was correct, but in the earlier part of 1 706 
 
352 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 he was in London with his wife, as we learn from 
 his accounts : 
 
 ' Feb. 1706. — 
 
 At a Play with Henny ... 85". 6d, 
 To Henny to buy things. . £2. 2s. od. 
 
 The price of tea at that date is incidentally 
 revealed to us on another page : 
 
 ' Repaid Henny's Mother for 2lb. of Tea 
 
 In November Sir Richard reports badly of 
 himself, v/hilst the usually firm handwriting is 
 changed to trembling characters : 
 
 * Sunday \oth. — Very lame, not at Church. 
 Had Prayers at home. ... 
 
 ' Wednesday I'^th. — Discoursed Mr. J. Palmer, 
 who says my Distemper (whereat Lm much 
 afiflicted) is the Gout. ... 
 
 * Sunday ijtk. — Walked and found my Gout, 
 I thank God, wearing off, tho' I slept ill to-night. 
 Took the air this fine morning with Henny in the 
 Coach. 
 
 ' Tuesday igth. — Was very ill. 
 
 ' Wednesday 20th. — Was very ill. . . . Received 
 a long foolish letter from Mr. Watts. Prepared 
 for Henny to write to Mrs. Eliz. Way an answer 
 to her Father s impertinent letter.* 
 
 This ends the last scrap of the diary that has 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 353 
 
 been preserved, although, from the docket on the 
 outside of the miscellaneous bundle of papers, it 
 appears to have been continued until 1709. 
 
 In 1708 Sir Richard's sixth daughter, Betty 
 (of the Tour in France), made what the family 
 evidently thought a mesalliance when she became 
 Mrs. Abraham Meure, but she survived her 
 marriage only two years. 
 
 In this year we find two opposite pages in Sir 
 Richard's current account-book, on which he con- 
 trasts the settlements for ' My Son's Wives 
 Jointer 'and 'My dear Henny's Jointer.' That 
 of the former was the more liberal, probably owing 
 to the exigencies of an entailed estate. 
 
 But even Henny did not always remain in 
 favour. At some later period a pen-stroke has 
 been drawn through the tender prefix of 'My 
 Dear ' on the page which recounts the securities 
 for her modest jointure. 
 
 Sir Richard was not called upon to endure his 
 physical ills, his melancholy, his family worries 
 and money troubles much longer. The end came 
 on January 4, 1 7 10. 
 
 It must be admitted with regret that he passed 
 away unreconciled to his family, as evidenced by 
 
 A A 
 
3S4 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 the terms of his will. At the time of his death 
 only three of his sons were alive. They were 
 Richard, his successor ; Gilbert, a chronic invalid, 
 who lived and died unmarried ; and Francis, the 
 youngest, from whom the present family is de- 
 scended. 
 
 Sir Richard's will was characteristic of the 
 man. It is dated September 2, 1708. Renames 
 as his executors his wife, Henrietta, and his son- 
 in-law, William Stephens. Both renounced the 
 executorship, and administration was granted to 
 his eldest son and successor as the third baronet. 
 
 The testator gives directions for his burial at 
 Astley, near Arbury. This request was not com- 
 plied with. His remains were taken to Harefield, 
 to be buried in the family vault near to his first 
 wife. 
 
 The will goes on to give minute directions in 
 regard to the conduct of his funeral. He is not 
 to lie in state, nor to be buried in a coffin covered 
 with velvet ; much less to be embalmed or 
 wiapped in ' sear cloth.' The hearse is to be hired 
 from Coventry or Warwick, and to be followed 
 by his own coach. 
 
 No guests are to be invited but any one liking 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 355 
 
 to come is to be made welcome. Burnt claret, 
 mild sack, and biscuits are to be provided for the 
 company within ; bread and ale for those without ; 
 burnt beer for the tenants' wives and ale for 
 themselves. Four parish officers are to be in 
 attendance to prevent disturbance, and to put 
 disorderly people in the stocks. 
 
 He then, alas ! emphasises his alienation from 
 nis family in the following words : 
 
 ' Whereas my son Richard (whom I have lately 
 tryed before divers persons of quality) has been 
 most disobedient and ungrateful, and still con- 
 tinues my inveterate and implacable enemy, 
 although I have offered to pardon him, and made 
 other offers of great advantage to him ; and 
 whereas my daughters and my son Francis have 
 all joined with him in his hellish contrivances, I 
 leave them nothing, but I leave all my real and 
 personal property to my son-in-law William 
 Stephens, and my wife Henrietta.' 
 
 As the said Henrietta and William Stephens 
 renounced probate, it may be safe to surmise that 
 Sir Richard's will was not one that could be 
 carried out legally. 
 
 If we can judge by the favour shown to 
 *Henny* in her husband's last testament, she 
 must have retained her hold upon the affections 
 
 A A * 
 
356 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 of her elderly spouse until the end ; but it would 
 seem evident that her influence was not exactly 
 beneficial to her predecessor s children. 
 
 Henrietta, Lady Newdigate, is credited with 
 having added three children to Sir Richard's 
 already numerous family. They probably died 
 in infancy, as no trace of them remains. Their 
 mother married again, with indecorous haste, three 
 months after she became a widow, and found time 
 and opportunity for a third husband before she 
 departed this life in 1739, 
 
 * * * * * * 
 
 Sir Richard Newdigate s immediate successors 
 may have had just cause to be sorely tried by his 
 careless aptitude for squandering and mortgaging 
 the family property. After two hundred years his 
 later descendants can condone his extravagance 
 in gratitude to him for the refined and artistic 
 taste which inspired him to employ a Wren, a 
 Lely, and a Grinling Gibbons in beautifying his 
 home for posterity. 
 
 His own portrait, admirably painted by Sir 
 Peter Lely, gives us a presentment of the man in 
 the flowing curls, steel armour, and lace cravat of 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 357 
 
 Charles II/s time. His large heavy-lidded eyes, 
 long aquiline nose, and the refined lines of his 
 mouth combine to impart a sense of dignity and 
 attractiveness to his outward personality. 
 
 I would crave indulgence for yet a word in 
 palliation of the seeming inconsistencies in the re- 
 corded actions of a man who had undoubtedly a 
 high standard of religious faith. 
 
 Much that is blameworthy may be partially 
 excused by the influences of the era in which he 
 lived. When drinking, quarrelling, and duelling 
 were events of daily occurrence among the upper 
 classes ; when party spirit and prejudice narrowed 
 the religious point of view ; when irreverence was 
 but too common in regard to the most sacred 
 subjects, — some extenuation may be pleaded for 
 Sir Richard's self-indulgence and uncontrollable 
 temper ; for the bigotry and harsh judgments he 
 sometimes exhibits ; and for the familiarity with 
 which he flaunts his gratitude to the Almighty for 
 the result of deeds which were not always praise- 
 worthy. 
 
 We may at any rate admire his straightforward 
 honesty and the outspoken candour with which 
 he confesses his faults and failings. It is more 
 
358 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 than probable that he himself, towards the close 
 of his life, was the destroyer of the bulk of these 
 too confidential records in his diary, fearing lest 
 they should fall under the criticism of unsympa- 
 thetic and captious successors. 
 
 But even those whom he bans so severely in 
 his last will and testament could hardly have 
 avoided feeling sympathy with him in his struggles 
 to overcome temptations and act up to his ideal 
 of right, or fail to admire his simple and childlike 
 faith in the efficacy of prayer to his F'ather in 
 heaven. 
 
 In addition to the diary he has left some 
 closely written manuscript books of devotional 
 meditations, which must have cost him much time 
 and earnest thought. A short prayer in his 
 handwriting is entitled * For Patience,' the virtue 
 he so much needed* In it he prays to have his 
 * unbridled nature stayed this day and ever from 
 all discontentedness of mind, and doubtings, fears, 
 murmurings, and furious actions/ 
 
 Can these struggles, prayers, and aspirations 
 have been in vain ? Surely not. We may hope 
 and believe that ' through the tender mercy of our 
 God ' light was given him ere the end, as he ' sat 
 
END OF DIARY AND DIARIST 359 
 
 in darkness and the shadow of death,' and that he 
 forgave as he would be forgiven. 
 
 Sir Richard Newdigate, we may trust, now 
 rests in peace, released from the burden of this 
 mortal coil and freed for ever from the trials and 
 temptations of the life below, which at times he 
 found * very troublesome/ 
 
 ****** 
 
 ^ Heaven vvaxeth old, and all the spheres above 
 
 Shall one day faint and their swift motion stay, 
 And Time itself in time shall cease to move ; 
 Only the Soul survives and lives for aye.' 
 
INDEX 
 
 Albemarle, Duke of, 72, 73, 
 252 
 
 Ambassador from Bantam, 165, 
 
 166, 167 
 from Morocco, 166-176 
 from Muscovia, 166 
 from Sweden, 157, 166 
 Anderson, Sir Edmond, 21 
 Anglesea, Countess of, 99 
 Anne, Princess, 61, 151, 255- 
 
 260, 300, 301 
 Anne, Queen, 2, 293 
 Archer, Andrew, 288, 289 
 Argyie, Earl of, 263, 264 
 Arlington, Earl of, 57, 61 
 Armorer, Sir Nicholas, 22-38, 
 
 57, 53 
 
 Armstrong, Sir Thomas, 227 
 
 Aston, Lord, 49 
 
 Aston, Sir Willoughby, 242 
 
 Bagot, Sir Edward, 13, 24 
 Bagot, Lambert, 296 
 Bagot, Sir Walter, 58, 349 
 Balcarres, Lord, 272 
 Baltimore, Lord, 97 
 Bantam Ambassador, see Am- 
 bassadors 
 
 j Barney, Esq., 76 
 
 1 Barrington, Sir Gower, 132 
 
 i Battersby, Mr., 166, 167 
 
 Baxter, Richard, 98, 123 
 
 Bedingfield, Captain, 76 
 
 Bedloe, 107 
 
 Bellasis, Earl of, 7, 86 
 
 Berkeley, Lord, 285 
 
 Bethell, Sheriff, 133 
 
 Billingsly, Captain, 78 
 
 Black Guard, 86, 208 
 
 Boroski, George, 156 160 
 
 Bothwell Bridge, 92-95 
 
 Boughton, Sir Edward, 50, 
 51 
 
 Brampstone, Captain, 78 
 Bret, Colonel, 152 
 Brewster, Mrs. Anne, 226 
 Brideoake, Bishop ot Chiches- 
 ter, 40 
 Brinvilliers, Madame, 80 
 Bromley, William, 288, 289 
 ' Browne, one, 226 
 I Buckingham, Duke of, 43, 44 
 I Buckingham, Catherine, 
 j Duchess of, see Sedlcy, Cathe- 
 rine 
 
 I Bull-fight, 243, 244 
 1 Bunbury, Will, 242 
 
362 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Bungy, the murderer, 85, 86 
 Bu relet, Mr., 50, 5 i 
 Fvjrgoine, Sir John, 2 88, 289 
 Butler, Sir James, 98 
 
 Calais, 337-340 
 Campbell, Lord, 252 
 Carwell, see Portsmouth, 
 
 Duchess of 
 Catherine, Queen, 52, 54, 56, 
 
 139 
 
 Cave, Henry, 225 
 
 Cavendish, Lord, y^-J^ 
 
 Cawdron, Mr., 102, 103 
 
 Cellier, Mrs., 106-112 
 
 Charles L, i, 68, 334 
 
 Charles IL,, 2, 7, 23, 24, 30-34, 
 35-45, 52-73, 76-78, 88-90, 
 92, 93, 95, 9S, loi, 102, 108, 
 109, 114, 115, 129-133, 135- 
 140, 144, 147-149, 166-172, 
 176, 177, 185, 211, 225-228, 
 232, 235, 249-252, 254-263 
 
 Charlotta Maria, Princess, 249 
 
 Cherbourg, 315-317, 321, 324, 
 325 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord, 257 
 Chichester, Bishop of, 128, see 
 
 also Brideoake 
 Chichester, Earl of, 4, 145 
 Chudleigh, Mr., 261 
 Churchill, Lord, 251, 252 
 Clarendon, Earl of, 12, 187 
 Clergis, Sir Walter, 73 
 Cleveland, Duchess of, 39, 61, 
 
 153 
 
 Clifford, Captain, 180-183 
 Clotworthy, Sir John, 46 
 Clutterbuck, Dr., 285, 313 
 
 ' Coles, Frances or P^-ank, 306. 
 
 I 307, 309, 335, 339, 34 J 
 Colt, Sir William Dunton, 304 
 Coningsmark, Count, 155 161, 
 
 163, 164, 181, 182 
 Conwa}', Earl of, 217, 218, 220 
 Cranborne, Earl of, 152 
 Craven, Earl of, 252 
 Crewe, Bishop of Durham, 40 
 Crofts, James, see Monmouth, 
 Duke of 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, i, 3-12, 102, 
 103 
 
 Cuffe, Esq., 112, 1 13 
 Culliford, Esq., 112, 113 
 Cutts, Lord, 286, 287 
 
 Dallison, Sir Roger, 77 
 Danby, Earl of, 37, 87, 139, 149, 
 
 186, 187, 189 
 Dangerfield, 106 
 Darly, Marmaduke, 57 
 Dartmouth, Earl of, 176 
 Davis, Rev.—, 1 21-123, 126, 127 
 Deane, Sir Anthony, 130 
 Deerham, Serjeant, 211 
 Denbigh, Earl of, 42, 131, 142- 
 
 144 
 
 Denbigh, Countess of, 142-144 
 Denmark, Prince George of, 
 
 252, 255, 258-260 
 Derby, Earl of, 206 
 Desmond, Earl oiySec Denbigh 
 De Souligne, 302-304 
 Dixvvell, Sir Barill, 340 
 Dobbins the life-guardsman, 
 
 122, 123, 125-127 
 Dolben, Judge, 107 
 Donegall, Earl of, 48 
 
INDEX 
 
 363 
 
 Dryden, John, 249, 250 
 Dumbarton, Earl of, 252 
 Dunriblaine, Lord, 186-190 
 
 Edwards, Captain, 235 
 Eilis, Alderman, no 
 Emerton, Mr., 40, 1 85-- 189 
 Essex, Earl of, 48, 102, 152 
 Evelyn, Sir Thomas, 162 
 
 Feversham, Earl of, 67, 252, 
 257 
 
 Fitton, Anne, 3 
 
 Fitz Harris, 140 
 
 Fogg, Parson, 250 
 
 Foster, Chief Justice, 12, 29 
 
 Fox, Sir Stephen, 166 
 
 Freeman, Elizabeth, 135 
 
 Gascoigne, Sir Thomas, 79 
 George II., 155 
 Gerrard, Lord Digby, 76, 77 
 Gibbons, GrinHng, 19, 291, 356 
 Giles, 104, 105 
 
 * Gloucester,' the wreck of the, 
 
 247, 248 
 Glyn, Chief Justice, 1 1 
 Godfrey, Colonel, 73 
 Godfrey, Sir Edmund Berry, 107 
 Gordon, Duke of, 274 
 Grafton, Duke of, 61 
 Grandison, Lord, 22, 24, 27, 31- 
 
 33 
 
 Grandison, Lady, 145 
 Grey, Lord, 72,73, 210 
 Griffen, Lord, 277 
 Griffith, one, 91 
 
 ' Guise, Duke of,' Drydcn's Play, 
 
 249, 250 
 Gwyn, Nell, 70, 71 
 
 Haines, Henry, 306, 309, 329, 
 
 332, 334, 335» 337, 33^, 34 1 
 Hales, Chief Justice, 9 
 Halifax, Marquis of, 228, 257 
 Halsey, Colonel, 7, 22 24, 26 29 
 Hanover, Duke of, 305 
 Hanover, Prince George of, 151, 
 256 
 
 Hamilton, Duke of, 92, 95, 272 
 
 Harris, Edward, loi 
 
 Herbert, Admiral, 279, 281 ; see 
 
 Torrington 
 Herbert of Cherbury, Lady, 183, 
 
 184 
 
 Herbert, Squire, 236 
 Hilton, the informer, 99 
 Hoghton, Sir Charles, 116, 273 
 Holmes, Sir Jo., 56 
 Holmes, Sir Ro., 67, 279, 280 
 Horne, Major, 67 
 Howard of Escrick, Lord, 184 
 Howard, Colonel Thomas, 73- 
 76 
 
 Hudson, Captain, 67 
 Huet, Dr., 9 
 
 Hungerford, Sir Edward, 118, 
 120 
 
 Hungerford, Rachel, see Skeff- 
 
 ington 
 Hunsdon, Lord, 78 
 Hyde, Mrs. Bridget, 40, 185-190 
 
 INCHIQUIN, Lord, 40, 184 
 Isabella, the Lady, 61 
 
364 
 
 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 James II., 2, 263-266, 268, 272, 
 274, 275, 277, 281, 284, 285, 
 287 ; see also York, Duke of 
 Jeffreys, Judge, 154, 227 
 Jenkins, Secretary, 167, 172 
 Jennings, Sir William, 281, 284 
 Jesuit's powder, 63, 225 
 Jonas, the Renegade, 167, 169, 
 171-176 
 
 Keeling, Josiah, 209, 212 
 Kid, Rev. John, 93, 94 
 King, Gregory, 304, 305, 309 
 Kingston, Lord, 78, 154 
 Kirke, Colonel, 174 
 Konigsmark, Count Carl John, 
 
 see Coningsmark 
 Konigsmark, Count Philip 
 
 Christopher, 155 
 
 Langley, Roger, 179, 245, 246 
 Lauderdale, Duke of, 39-41, 68, 
 69, 92 
 
 La Voisine, Madame, 80, 81 
 Leeds, Peregrine, Duke of, 190 
 Legge, Colonel, 67 
 Leigh, Sir Francis, see Chiches- 
 ter 
 
 Leigh, Lord, 213, 214 
 Lely, Sir Peter, 119, 204-206, 
 356 
 
 Lenox, Rev. Mr., 94 
 
 Lestrange, Mr., in 
 
 Loftus, Mr., 122 
 
 Louis XI V\, 45, 81, 149, 164, 
 
 266-269, 276, 317, 333, 336 
 Lovelace, Lord, 1 32 
 Low, Sir Richard, 67 
 
 Lucy, Captain, 21 5 217, 219, 
 
 350 
 
 Luxemburg, Duke of, 80 
 
 Marriot, Mr., 51, 136 
 Marvell, Andrew, 37, 133, 147 
 Mary, the Lady, see Princess of 
 
 Orange 
 Mary, Queen, 281, 300, 301 
 Mary of Modena, Queen, 266 ; 
 
 see also York, Duchess of 
 Massareene, Lord, 46-49, 87, 
 1 16-120, 125, 127, 128, 148, 
 149, 203-207, 241, 242, 263, 
 264, 267, 268, 271-278, 299- 
 301 
 
 Matthews, Sir PhilL, 106 
 Mearne, Mr. Samuel, 247 
 Michelthwaite, Dr., 63 
 Mildmay, Colonel, 131, 132 
 Modena, Duchess of, 163, 248, 
 249 
 
 Monk, General, 11 
 Monmouth, Duke of, 53, 54, 59, 
 
 63-70, 92, 93» 95, 135, 137, 
 141, 142, 152, 156, 157, 168, 
 209-211, 249-251, 260-263 
 Monmouth, Duchess of, 64, 65, 
 66 
 
 Montague, Countess of, see 
 
 Northumberland 
 Montague, Earl and Duke of, 
 
 see Montague, Mr. 
 Montague, Mr., 124, 145-150 
 Montgomery, Thomas, 228 
 Mordaunt, Sir J., 350 
 Mores, Sir Thomas, 73-76 
 Morocco Ambassador, see Am- 
 bassadors 
 
INDEX 
 
 365 
 
 Morocco, Emperor of, 170, 174, 
 175 
 
 Mowbray, Mr., 79 
 Muggleton, Ludovic, 99 
 Mulgrave, Earl of, 256-258 
 Murphy, Christian, 82 
 Muscovia Ambassador, see Am- 
 bassadors 
 
 Newdegate, Juhan, Lady, 4, 
 121, 200 
 
 Newdegate, Sir Richard, first 
 Bart., i*^^ Newdegate, Serjeant 
 Newdegate, Serjeant, 3-14, 18, 
 
 21-34, 46, 114, 116 
 Newdigate, AmphiUis or Phill, 
 195, 292, 296 
 
 Anne or Nan, 306, 313. 
 Elizabeth, Lady, 349, 350 
 Elizabeth or Betty, 201, 
 306, 313, 324, 326, 330, 
 
 334, 335, 353 
 Frances or Frank, 194-196, 
 
 296, 297, 298, 306 
 Francis or Frank, 202, 203, 
 
 3^3, 346, 354 
 Gilbert, 354 
 
 Henrietta, Lady, 349, 352, 
 
 353, 354-356 
 Jane or Jinny, 293, 350, 351 
 John, 4, 5 
 
 John or Jack, 202, 203, 
 298, 299, 303, 309, 345, 
 346, 347, 350 
 
 Sir John, 3 
 
 Juliana or July, 219, 220, 
 
 313,314 
 Mary, Lady, 13, 139, 201, 
 
 214, 221, 290, 291 
 Mary or Moll, 294, 306, 313 
 
 Newdigate iconf.) : 
 
 Rawlcigh, 344 
 
 Sir Richard, second Bart., 
 13, 12 26, 22-34, 35, 
 45 51, 57-59, 114 128, 
 131, 134, 136, 138 144, 
 145 15^, 190-207, 213- 
 221, 237, 240-242, 262, 
 263, 266, 271-289, 290 
 359 
 
 Richard or Dick, afterwards 
 third Bart., 217, 221, 296, 
 306, 313, 328-332, 334, 
 335, 338 341, 343, 345 
 
 Sir Roger, 350 
 
 Sara, 296, 298 
 
 Walter or Wat, 202, 203, 
 313 
 
 Northumberland, Dowager 
 
 Countess of, 152 
 Northumberland, Elizabeth, 
 
 Countess of, 145-150 
 Northumberland, George, Duke 
 
 of, 39, 153 
 Northumberland, Josceline, 
 Earl of, 145, 152 
 
 Gates, Titus, 45, 66, in, 225 
 G'Brien, Lord, 248 
 Ogle, the Lady, 150-158, 161 - 
 163 
 
 Ogle, Earl of, 150, 152 
 Orange, Prince of, 2, 54-56, 
 
 154, 235, 252, 253, 260, 261, 
 
 265, 266, 269 ; sec also 
 
 William in. 
 Orange, Princess of, 2, 54-56, 
 
 255, 266, 269 ; see also Queen 
 
 Mary 
 
366 CAVALIER AND PURITAN 
 
 Ormond, Diikc of, 20, 24, 27, 
 
 34, 47, 4S, 228 
 Osbaston, Rev. Mr., 218 
 Ossory, Earl of, 24, 56, 67 
 Oxford, Earl of, 252 
 
 Papillion, Mr., 102 
 
 Paris, 323-331 
 
 Parker, Lady and Mrs., 219 
 
 Parkhurst, Thomas, 4 
 
 Parsons, Sir John, 183, 184 
 
 Partridge, Rev. Mr., 98 
 
 Pembroke, Countess of, 39, 42 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of, 40, 42 
 
 Penn, William, 97 
 
 Penmddock, 9 
 
 Pepys, Judge, 4 
 
 Pepys, Samuel, 52, 130, 131 
 
 Pet re, Father, 266 
 
 Pierre, Mr., 166 
 
 Pole, Mrs. (of Radbourne), 306 
 
 Portsmouth, Duchess of, 40, 41, 
 
 42, 161, 169 
 Powell, the Muggletonian, 99 
 Priannoy, Madame, 81 
 Prince of Wales, 265, 266, 269 
 
 QUEROUAILLE, Louise de, see 
 Portsmouth, Duchess of 
 
 Raphson, Rev. Mr., 98 
 Romney, Earl of, 340 
 Rosswell, Rev. Mr., 100 
 Rouse, Lady, 19, 275 
 Rowe, Sir Thomas, 191-194 
 Royi, Jack, 306, 307, 309, 312, 
 327 
 
 Ruckvvorth, Sir Joseph, 113 
 Rupert, Prince, 63 
 Russell, Lord, 210, 220 
 Russell, Rachel, Lady, 145 
 
 Sadler's Wells, 244, 245 
 St. George, Sir Oliver, 206, 30-3 
 St. John, Lord, 40 
 SaHsbury, Earl of, 44, 134 
 Sarsfield, Captain, 180, 183, 184 
 Saxe, Elector of, 305 
 Schomberg, Duke, 276, 277 
 Sclater, Rev. Mr., 121-123, 125, 
 127 
 
 Scott, Mr. John, 218, 278-287, 
 
 313, 314 
 Scroggs, Lord, 224 
 Sedley, Catherine, 258 
 Sedley, Sir Charles, Bart., 21, 
 
 190-196, 276, 309 
 Sedley, Sir Charles, Knight, 
 
 190-196 
 Selby, Serjeant, 346, 349 
 Shaftesbury, Earl of, 44, loS 
 Sharkey, Mr., iii 
 Sharpe, Archbishop, 92 
 Sheldon, Archbishop, 12, 19 
 Sherlock, Dr., 227 
 Shovell, Sir Cloudesley, 284 
 Shugborough, Sir John, 350 
 Sidney, Algernon, 153, 155, 211, 
 
 212 
 
 Skeffington, Clotvvorthy, 117- 
 119, 206, 241, 273 
 
 Skeffmgton, Sir John, see Vis- 
 count Massareene 
 
 Skeffington, Rachel, 11S -120, 
 299 
 
 Slingsby, Sir Henry, 10 
 
INDEX 
 
 367 
 
 Smith, Laurence, 310, 326 
 Sniithson, Sir Hugh, 163 
 Somerset, Algernon, Duke of, 
 
 ■63 
 
 Somerset, Charles, Duke of, 
 161-163 
 
 Somerset, Duchess of, see Lady 
 Ogle 
 
 Sophia Dorothea, 155 
 Southampton, Earl of, 145, 149 
 Spinola, Marquess of, 337, 339 - 
 341 
 
 Stephens, Sir William, 279 
 Stephens, William (his son), 
 
 306, 308, 310, 313, 314, 349, 
 
 354, 355 
 
 Stern, Lieutenant John, 156-160 
 Stratford, Mr., 50, $1, 217 
 Swedish Ambassador, 157, 166 
 Syderfin, Madam, 179-183 
 
 Talmash, General, 286, 287 
 Tangier, 40, 53, 175-^77 
 Temple, Dorothy, Lady, 153 
 Temple, Sir William, 153, 154, 
 240 
 
 Throaster, Justice Balch, 247 
 Thynne, Mn, 152, 157, 160, 181 
 Tillotson, Archbishop, 300 
 Tirrell, Lady, 178, 179 
 Tongue, Mr., 11 1 
 Torrington, Lord, 283 ; see 
 
 Herbert, Admiral 
 Trevenick, Sir John, 272 
 Trevour, T., 230 
 I'vvisden, Sir Roger, 350 
 
 I Tyrconneil, Earl of, 272 271 
 i Vkatz, C.'iptain Chrisioplicr, 
 156 160 
 
 ; Wakkman, Sir C^cirgc, 225 
 
 j Wales, Prince of, 265, 266, 263, 
 I 269 
 
 I Waller, Sir William, 90 
 
 i Walters, Lucy, 53, 34 
 
 ' Weston, Baron, 107 
 
 ; Wharton, Henry, 71 
 
 I Wharton, Lord, 44 
 
 I Wilkins, Judge, 103 
 
 William III., 268, 270, 272, 273, 
 ! 276, 277, 278, 283, 285, 283, 
 I 301 ; see also Orange, Prince 
 
 i Windsor, Lord, 237 
 
 ! Wiseman, Mr., 78 
 
 i Wolfe, John, 84, 83 
 
 I Wren, Sir Christopher, 19, 356 
 
 Wyat, Mr., 202, 219-221 
 
 Wyndham, Judge, 4 
 
 York, Duke of, 53, 59, 60, 63- 
 70, 112, 170, 247-252, 234, 
 262 ; see also James H. 
 
 York, Duchess of, 53, 248, 233 ; 
 see also Mary of Modcna, 
 Queen 
 
 Zank, Gideon, 96 
 Zell, Duke of, 304 
 
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