O /Z Zºº (/, - -
Z/? %/ %//,
zº
!. A y z -
º%, ///- 7.%,” /
º
- 49%. (/%/
2///~/.
- // // z’ 2
-z-z-z-z-z-z-z// ”” º/Zºº & %,
Zſº/.



Tire Bººkrºm.”
TR _
D 5
3 a
~o. 12, 2
M E M O IRS
OF
THOMAS, EARL OF AILESBURY
Tſ
ſi：
|-
ĖË
ſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſ
|
№.
|№];
Alf PTHurt
Pub. by JAMEs SMITH,
B E D S.
H O U G H T O N H O U S E,
As originally erected 1616, by the Countess of Pembroke, '' Sidney's Sister, &c.
From Elevations in the possession of Lord Holland, and from the Ruins by R. C. Stratfold.









MEMOIRS
THOMAS, EARL OF AILESBURY
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF
in quo Volumes
VOLUME I
PRINTED For
ºf 33 orburgūr Club
WESTMINSTER ‘. .
NICHOLS AND SONS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET ..."
MDCCCXC
MEM () IRS
OF
THOMAS, EARL OF AILESBURY
Qſì) : * orburgiſt Club

S. A. R. LE DUC D’AUMALE.
DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, K.T.
MARQUIS OF LOTHIAN, K.T.
MARQUIS OF BATH.
MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, K.G.
EARL OF DERBY, K.G.
EARL COWPER, K.G.
EARL OF CRAWFORD.
EARL OF ROSEBERY.
EARL OF CARNARVON.
EARL BEAUCHAMP.
EARL OF CAWDOR.
LORD ZOUCHE.
LoRD Houghton.
LORD COLERIDGE.
LORD BRABOURNE.
RT. HON. ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR.
HON. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
SIR WILLIAM REYNELL ANSON, BART.
W. A. TYSSEN-AMHERST, ESQ.
Qſì), 33 orburglje (Tlub,
MDCCCXC.
THE EARL OF POWIS,
PRESIDENT.
|
REV. WILLIAM EDWARD BUCKLEY, Vice-President.
CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ.
RICHARD COPLEY CHRISTIE, ESQ.
CHARLES ISAAC ELTON, ESQ.
JOHN EVANS, ESQ.
GEORGE BRISCOE EYRE, ESQ.
THOMAS GAISFORD, ESQ.
HENRY HUCKS GIBBS, ESQ. Treasurer.
ALBAN GEORGE HENRY GIBBS, ESQ.
RoberT STAYNER HOLFORD, ESQ.
ALFRED HENRY HUTH, ESQ.
JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR LOVEDAY, ESQ.
JOHN MALCOLM, ESQ.
JOHN COLE NICHOLL, ESQ.
EDWARD JAMES STANLEY, ESQ.
SIMON WATSON TAYLOR, ESQ.
REW, EDWARD TINDAL TURNER,
VICTOR WILLIAM BATES WAN DE WEYER, ESQ.
W. ALDIS WRIGHT, ESQ.
265(S2, i.




1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
2
7.
.
10.
1812. PRESIDENT.
1. GEORGE JOHN, EARL SPENCER. 3, 41.
WILLIAM SPENCER, DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE. 24.
GEORGE SPENCER CHURCHILL, MARQUIS OF BLANDFORD.
1817. DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. 34.
GEORGE GRAN WILLE LEVESON GOWER, EARL GOWER. 19.
1833. MARQUIS OF STAFFORD.
1833. DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.
GEORGE HOWARD, VISCOUNT MORPETH. 33.
1825. EARL OF CARLISLE.
JOHN CHARLES SPENCER, WISCOUNT ALTHORP. S.
1834. EARL SPENCER.
SIR MARK MASTERMAN SYKES, BART. 16, 36.
SIR SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES, BART. 9, 35.
WILLIAM BENTHAM, ESQ. 22.
WILLIAM BOLLAND, ESQ. 1.
1829. SIR WILLIAM BOILAND. KNT.
JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 4, 12.
REV. WILLIAM HOLWELL CAR.R. 10.
1812.
1812.
11.
12.
The figures after each name refer to the Catalogue of Books presented by the several Members of the Club.

1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1812.
1816.
1819.
1822.
1822.
1822.
1823.
1827.
1828.
1830.
1831.
1834.
1834.
1834.
13.
14,
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
44.
JOHN DENT, ESQ. 23.
REV. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN. 18.
REV. HENRY DRURY. 13, 3%
FRANCIS FREELING, ESQ. 5,
1828. SIR FRANCIS FREELING, BART.
GEORGE HENRY FREELING, ESQ. 6, 7, 88.
1836. SIR GEORGE HENRY FREELING, BART.
Joseph HASLEwooD, ESQ. 28.
RICHARD HEBER, ESQ. -2.
REV. THOMAS CUTHBERT HEBER.
GEORGE ISTED, ESQ. 29. -
ROBERT LANG, ESQ. 14.
JOSEPH LITTLEDALE, ESQ. 31.
1824. SIR JOSEPH LITTLEDALE, KNT. 60.
JAMES HEYWOOD MARKLAND, ESQ. 21.
John DELAFIELD PHELPS, ESQ. 15.
THOMAS PONTON, ESQ. 25.
PEREGRINE TOWNELEY, ESQ. 32.
EDWARD VERNON UTTERSON, ESQ. 27, 51.
ROGER WILBRAHAM, ESQ. 17.
REW. JAMES WILLIAM DODD. 11.
EDWARD LITTLEDALE, ESQ. 20.
GEORGE HIBBERT, ESQ. 26.
SIR ALEXANDER BOSWELL, BART.
GEORGE WATSON TAYLOR, ESQ. 44.
JOHN ARTHUR LLOYD, ESQ. 39.
WENERABLE ARCHDEACON WRANGHAM. 40.
THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY. -
1827. SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 45.
HON. AND REW. GEORGE NEWILLE GRENVILLE, 47.
1846. DEAN OF WINDSOR. . -
EDWARD HERBERT, WISCOUNT CLIVE. 50.
1839. EARL OF POWIS.
JOHN FREDERICK, EARL OF CAWDOR. 48.
REV. EDWARD CRAVEN HAWTREY, D.D. 49.
1853. PRovoST OF ETON.
SIR STEPHEN RICHARD GLYNNE, BART. 54.
BENJAMIN BARNARD, ESQ. 56.
WENERABLE ARCHDEACON BUTLER, D.D.
1836. SAMUEL, LORD BISHOP OF LICHFIELD. 53
1835. PRESIDENT.
1835.
1836.
1836.
1836.
1836.
1837.
1838.
1838.
1839.
1839.
1839.
1839.
1840.
1841.
1842.
1842.
1844.
1844.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1846.
1846.
1847.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
EDWARD HERBERT, WISCOUNT CLIVE. 50.
1839. EARL OF POWIS.
WALTER FRANCIS, DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH AND QUEENSBERRY. 71, 90
RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD FRANCIS EGERTON.
1846. EARL OF ELLESMERE.
ARCHIBALD ACHESON, WISCOUNT ACHESON.
1849. EARL OF GOSFORD.
BERIAH. BOTFIELD, ESQ. 57.
HENRY HALLAM, ESQ.
PHILIP HENRY STANHOPE, VISCOUNT MAHON.
1855. EARL STAN HOPE.
GEORGE JOHN, LORD VERNON.
REV. PHILIP BLISS, D.C.L. 63.
RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR JAMES PARKE, KNT.
1856. LORD WENSLEYDALE.
REV. BULKELEY BANDINEL, D.D. 63.
WILLIAM HENRY MILLER, ESQ.
EVELYN PHILIP SHIRLEY, ESQ. 66.
EDWARD JAMES HERBERT, VISCOUNT CLIVE.
1848. EARL OF POWIS. 73.
DAVID DUNDAS, ESQ.
1847. SIR DAVID DUNDAS, KNT.
JOHN EARL BROWNLOW.
HONOURABLE HUGH CHOLMONDELEY.
1855. LORD DELAMERE. 77.
SIR ROBERT HARRY INGLIS, BART.
ALEXANDER JAMES BERESFORD HOPE, ESQ.
REV. HENRY WELLESLEY. r
1847. PRINCIPAL OF NEW INN HALL, OXFORD.
ANDREW RUTHERFURD, ESQ.
1851. LORD RUTHERFURD.
HON. ROBERT CURZON, JUN. 87.
GEORGE TOMLINE, ESQ. 68.
WILLIAM STIRLING, ESQ.
1866. SIR WILLIAM STIRLING MAXWELL, BART.
FRANCIS HENRY DICKINSON, ESQ.
1848 PRESIDENT.
1848.
1848.
1849
1849.
1849.
1851.
1853.
1854.
1855.
1856.
1857.
1858.
1861.
1863.
1864.
WALTER FRANCIS, DUKE OF BUCOLEUCH AND QUEENSBERRY, K.G. 71, 90
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
NATHANIEL BLAND, ESQ. .
REV. WILLIAM EDWARD BUCKLEY. 83.
REW. JOHN STUART HIPPISLEY HORNER.
HIS EXCELLENCY MONSIEUR WAN DE WEYER.
MELVII.LE PORTAL, ESQ.
ROBERT STAYNER HOLFORD, ESQ. 78.
PAUL BUTIER, ESQ. 99.
EDWARD HULSE, ESQ.
1855. SIR EDWARD HULSE, BART.
CHARLES TOWNELEY, ESQ. -
WILLIAM ALEX. ANTH. ARCH. DUKE OF HAMILTON AND BRANDON.
HENRY HOWARD MOLYNEUX, EARL OF CARNARWON.
SIR JOHN BENN WALSH, BART.
1868. LORD ORMATHWAITE.
ADRIAN JOHN HOPE, ESQ.
RALPH NEWILLE GRENVILLE, ESQ.
SIR JOHN SIMEON, BART.
SIR JAMES SHAW WILLES, KNT.
GEORGE GRAN WILLE FRANCIS, EARL OF ELLESMERE,
WILLIAM SCHOMBERG ROBERT, MARQUIS OF LOTHIAN. 97.
FREDERICK TEMPLE, LORD DUFFERIN.
1872. EARL OF DUFFERIN.
SIMON WATSON TAYLOR, ESQ. 89.
THOMAS GAISFORD, ESQ.
JOHN FREDERICK VAUGHAN, EARL CAWDoR.
GRAN WILLE LEVESON GOWER, ESQ.
HENRY HUCKS GIBBS, ESQ. 85.
RICHARD MONCKTON, LORD HOUGHTON.
CHRISTOPHER SYKES, ESQ.
REW. HENRY OCTAVIUS COXE.
REW. WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK.
REV. CHARLES HENRY HARTSHORNE.
JOHN COLE NICHOLL, ESQ.
GEORGE BRISCOE EYRE, ESQ.
JOHN BENJAMIN HEATH, BARON HEATH. 101.
HENRY HUTH, ESQ.
HENRY BRADSHAW, ESQ.
FREDERICK, EARL BEAUCHAMP. 93.
1866.
1867.
1868.
98.
99.
100.
101.
102.
103.
104.
105.
KIRKMAN DANIEL, HODGSON, ESQ.
CHARLES WYNNE FINCH, ESQ.,
1870.
HENRY SALUSBURY MILMAN, ESQ.
1871.
1872
1875.
1876
1877.
1879.
1880.
1883.
1884.
1886.
1887.
1889.
108.
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131.
132.
133.
134.
135.
136.
137.
138.
139.
140.
141.
EDWARD JAMES STANLEY, ESQ.
R.E.W. EDWARD TIN DAL TURNER.
SCHOMBERG HENRY, MARQUIS OF LOTHIAN.
JOHN ALEXANDER, MARQUIS OF BATH. 108.
JOHN DUKE, LORD COLERIDGE.
VICTOR WILLIAM BATES WAN DE WEYER, ESQ.
HENRY ARTHUR BRIGHT, ESQ.. 104.
ALBAN GEORGE HENRY GIBBS, ESQ. 112.
REV. WILLIAM HEPWORTH THOMPSON, D.D.
JOHN LUDOWIC LINDSAY, LORD LINDSAY.
1880. EARL OF CRAWFORD.
ROBERT NATHANIEL CECIL GEORGE, LORD ZOUCHE.
ROBERT AMADEUS HEATH, BARON HEATH.
ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR, ESQ.
JOHN MALCOLM, ESQ. 114.
WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT, ESQ.
SIR WILLIAM REYNELL ANSON, BART.
- 1881. WARDEN OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD.
FREDERIC OUWRY, ESQ.. 107.
JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR LOVEDAY, ESQ. 121,
ALFRED HENRY HUTH, ESQ. 118.
CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ. 116.
1884, PRESIDENT,
EDWARD JAMES, EARL OF POWIS. 73, 115.
HIS EXCELLENCY HON. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
ROBERT ARTHUR TALBOT, MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, K.G.
ARCHIBALD PHILIP, EARL OF ROSEBERY.
RIGHT HON. SIR STAFFORD HENRY NORTHCOTE, BART., G.C.B.
1885. EARL OF IDDESLEIGH. 117.
SAMUEL CHRISTIE-MILLER, ESQ.
S. A. R. LE DUC D’AUMALE.
WILL, HEN. WALT., DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH AND QUEENSBERRY, K.T.
EDWARD HUGESSEN, LORD BRABOURNE.
ROBERT OFFLEY ASHBURTON, LORD HOUGHTON.
FRANCIS THOMAS DE GREY, EARL COWPER, K.G.,
WILLIAM AMHURST TYSSEN-AMHERST, ESQ.
EDWARD HENRY, EARL OF DERBY, K.G.
RICHARD COPLEY CHRISTIE, ESQ.
CHARLES ISAAC ELTON, ESQ., Q.C.
JOHN EVANS, ESQ.
$opburgſjº Club.
CATALOGUE OF THE BOOKS
PRESENTED TO
AND PRINTED BY THE CLUB.
LONDON
MDCCCXC.
********xae）， º. ：-） :*---*
CATALOGUE.
1. Certaine Bokes of VIRGILES Aenaeis, turned into English Meter.
By the Right Honorable Lorde, HENRY EARLE OF SURREY.
WILLIAM BOLLAND, ESQ. 1814.
2. Caltha Poetarum; or, The Bumble Bee. By T. CUTwoDE, Esq.
RICHARD HEBER, ESQ. 1815.
3. The Three First Books of OVID de Tristibus, Translated into
English. By THOMAS CHURCHYARDE.
EARL SPENCER, PRESIDENT. 1816.
4. Poems. By RICHARD BARNFIELD.
JAMEs BosWELL, Esq. 1816.
5. DOLARNEY’s Primerose or the First part of the Passionate
Hermit.
SIR FRANCIS FREELING, BART. 1816.
6. La Contenance de la Table, 12mo.
GEORGE HENRY FREELING, ESQ. 1816.
7. Newes from Scotland, declaring the Damnable Life of Doctor
Fian, a notable Sorcerer, who was burned at Edenbrough in
Ianuarie last 1591.
GEORGE HENRY FREELING, ESQ. 1816.
8. A proper new Interlude of the World and the Child, otherwise
called Mundus et Infans.
WISCOUNT ALTHORP. 1817.
9. HAGTHORPE Revived; or Select Specimens of a Forgotten Poet.
SIR SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES, BART. 1817.
4.
10. Istoria novellamente ritrovata di due nobili Amanti, &c. da
LUIGI PORTO.
REV. WILLIAM BIOLWELL CARR. 1817.
11. The Funeralles of King Edward the Sixt.
REv. JAMES WILLIAM DoDD. 1817.
12. A Roxburghe Garland, 12mo.
gº JAMES BosWELL, Esq. 1817.
13. Cock Lorell’s Boat, a Fragment from the original in the British
Museum.
REV. HENRY DRURY. 1817.
14. Le Livre du Faucon.
ROBERT LANG, Esq. 1817.
15. The Glutton's Feaver. By THOMAS BANCROFT.
- JoHN DELAFIELD PHELPs, ESQ. 1817.
16. The Chorle and the Birde.
SIR MARK MASTERMAN SYKES, BART. 1818.
17. Daiphantus, or the Passions of Love. By ANTONY SCOLOKER.
ROGER WILBRAHAM, ESQ. 1818.
18. The Complaint of a Lover's Life.
Controversy between a Lover and a Jay.
REV. THOMAS FROGNALL I)IBDIN, WICE PRESIDENT. 1818.
19 Balades and other Poems. By JoHN Gower. Printed from
the original Manuscript in the Library of the Marquis of
Stafford, at Trentham. -
EARL GOWER. 1818.
20 Diana; or the excellent conceitful Sonnets of H. C., supposed
to have been printed either in 1592 or 1594.
EDWARD LITTLEDALE, ESQ. 1818.
21. Chester Mysteries. De Deluvio Noe. De Occisione Innocen-
tium.
JAMES HEYWOOD MARKLAND. 1818.
5
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
3O.
Ceremonial at the Marriage of Mary Queen of Scotts with
the Dauphin of France.
WILLIAM BENTHAM, ESQ. 1818.
The Solempnities and Triumphes doon and made at the
Spousells and Marriage of the King's Daughter the Ladye
Marye to the Prynce of Castile, Archduke of Austrige.
JOHN DENT, ESQ. 1818.
The Life of St. Ursula.
Guiscard and Sigismund.
T}UKE OF DEVONSHIRE. 1818.
Le Morte Arthur. The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Du Lake.
THOMAS PoNTON, ESQ. 1819.
Six Bookes of Metamorphoseos in whyche ben conteyned the
Fables of OvyDE. Translated out of Frensshe into Englysshe
by WILLIAM CAXTON. Printed from a Manuscript in the
Library of Mr. Secretary Pepys, in the College of St. Mar
Magdalen, in the University of Cambridge. .
GEORGE HIBBERT, ESQ. 1819.
Cheuelere Assigne.
EDWARD VERNON UTTERSON, ESQ. 1820.
Two Interludes: Jack Jugler and Thersytes.
JOSEPH HASLEWOOD, ESQ. 1820.
The New Notborune Mayd. The Boke of Mayd Emlyn.
GEORGE ISTED, ESQ. 1820.
The Book of Life; a Bibliographical Melody.
Dedicated to the Roxburghe Club by RICHARD THOMSON.
8V.O. 1820.
31. Magnyfycence: an Interlude. By JoHN SKELTON, Poet Laureat
to Henry VIII.
Jose PH LITTLEDALE, ESQ. 1821.
6
32. Judicium, a Pageant. Extracted from the Towneley Manu-
script of Ancient Mysteries.
PEREGRINE EDWARD TOWNELEY, Esq. 1822.
33. An Elegiacal Poem, on the Death of Thomas Lord Grey, of
Wilton. By RoBERT MARSTON. From a Manuscript in the
Library of The Right Honourable Thomas Grenville.
WISCOUNT MORPETH. 1822.
34. Selections from the Works of THOMAS RAVENSCROFT ; a
Musical Composer of the time of King James the First.
t DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. 1822.
35. LALII PEREGRINI Oratio in Obitum Torquati Tassi. Editio
secunda.
f SIR SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES, BART. 1822.
36. The Hors, the Shepe, and the Ghoos. -
SIR MARK MASTERMAN SYKES, BART. 1822.
37. The Metrical Life of Saint Robert of Knaresborough.
- REV. HENRY DRURY. 1824.
38. Informacón for Pylgrymes unto the Holy Londe. From a
rare Tract in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates,
Edinburgh.
- GEORGE HENRY FREELING, Esq. 1824.
39. The Cuck-Queanes and Cuckolds Errants or the Bearing Down
the Inne, a Comaedie. The Faery Pastorall or Forrest of
Elues. By W P , Esq. *
JoHN ARTHUR LLOYD, ESQ. 1824.
40. The Garden Plot, an Allegorical Poem, inscribed to Queen
Elizabeth. By HENRY GOLDINGHAM. From an unpublished
Manuscript of the Harleian Collection in the British Museum.
To which are added some account of the Author; also a reprint
of his Masques performed before the Queen at Norwich on
Thursday, August 21, 1578.
WENERABLE ARCHDEACON WRANGHAM. 1825.
7.
41. La Rotta de Franceiosi a Terroana novamente facta.
La Rotta de Scocesi.
EARL SPENCER, PRESIDENT. 1825.
42. Nouvelle Edition d'un Poeme sur la Journée de Guinegate.
Presented by the MARQUIs DE FORTIA. 1825.
43. Zuléima, par C. PICHLER. 12mo. -
Presented by H. DE CHATEAUGIRON. 1825.
44. Poems written in English, by CHARLEs, DUKE OF ORLEANs,
during his Captivity in England after the Battle of Azincourt.
GEORGE WATSON TAYLOR, Esq. 1827.
45. Proceedings in the Court Martial held upon John, Master
of Sinclair, Captain-Lieutenant in Preston’s Regiment, for
the Murder of Ensign Schaw of the same Regiment, and
Captain Schaw, of the Royals, 17 October, 1708; with Corre-
spondence respecting that Transaction.
SIR. WALTER SCOTT, BART. 1828.
46. The Ancient English Romance of Havelok the Dane; accom-
panied by the French Text: with an Introduction, Notes, and
a Glossary. By FREDERIC MADDEN, ESQ.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1828.
47. GAUFRIDI ARTHURII MoMEMUTHENSIs Archidiaconi, postea
vero Episcopi Asaphensis, de Vita et Vaticiniis Merlini Cali-
donii, Carmen Heroicum.
HON. and REV. G. NEVILLE GRENVILLE. 1830.
48. The Ancient English Romance of William and the Werwolf;
edited from an unique copy in King's College Library, Cam-
bridge; with an Introduction and Glossary. By FREDERIC
MADDEN, Esq.
EARL CAWDOR. 1832.
8
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
* 55.
The Private Diary of WILLIAM, first EARL CowPER, Lord
Chancellor of England.
REV. EDWARD CRAVEN HAWTREY. 1833.
The Lyvys of Seyntes; translated into Englys be a Doctour
of Dyuynite clepyd OSBERN BOKENAM, frer Austyn of the
Convent of Stocklare.
WISCOUNT CLIVE, PRESIDENT. 1835.
A Little Boke of Ballads.
Dedicated to the Club by E. W. UTTERSON, ESQ. 1836.
The Love of Wales to their Soueraigne Prince, expressed in a
true Relation of the Solemnity held at Ludlow, in the Countie
of Salop, upon the fourth of November last past, Anno Domini
1616, being the day of the Creation of the high and mighty
Charles, Prince of Wales, and Earle of Chester, in his Maiesties
Palace of White-Hall.
Presented by the HoNou RABLE R. H. CLIVE. 1837.
Sidneiana, being a collection of Fragments relative to Sir
Philip Sidney, Knight, and his immediate Connexions.
d EISHOP OF LICHFIELD. 1837.
The Owl and the Nightingale, a Poem of the Twelfth
Century. Now first printed from Manuscripts in the Cottonian
Library, and at Jesus College, Oxford; with an Introduction
and Glossary. Edited by JosłPHUS STEVENSON, ESQ.
SIR STEPHEN RICHARD GLYNNE, BART. 1838.
The Old English Version of the Gesta Romanorum: edited
for the first time from Manuscripts in the British Museum
and University Library, Cambridge, with an Introduction and
Notes, by SIR FREDERIC MADDEN, K.H.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1838.
9
56.
58.
59.
Illustrations of Ancient State and Chivalry, from MSS. pre-
served in the Ashmolean Museum, with an Appendix.
BENJAMIN BARNARD, ESQ. 1840.
. Manners and Household Expenses of England in the Thir-
teenth and Fifteenth Centuries, illustrated by original Records.
I. Household Roll of Eleanor Countess of Leicester, A.D.
1265. II. Accounts of the Executors of Eleanor Queen Consort
of Edward I. A.D. 1291. III. Accounts and Memoranda of Sir
John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, A.D. 1462 to A.D. 1471.
BERLAH. BotRIELD, Esq. 1841.
The Black Prince, an Historical Poem, written in French, by
CHANDos HERALD ; with a Translation and Notes by the Rev.
HENRY OCTAVIUS COXE, M.A.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1842.
The Decline of the last Stuarts. Extracts from the Despatches
of British Envoys to the Secretary of State.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1843.
60. Vox Populi Vox Dei, a Complaynt of the Comons against
Taxes. Presented according to the Direction of the late
* 61.
62.
RIGHT HON. SIR. Joseph LITTLEDALE, KNT. 1843.
Household Books of John Duke of Norfolk and Thomas Earl
of Surrey; temp. 1481–1490. From the original Manuscripts
in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, London. Edited
by J. PAYNE COLLIER, Esq., F.S.A.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1844.
Three Collections of English Poetry of the latter part of the
Sixteenth Century. +
Presented by the DUKE of NoFTHUMBERLAND, K.G. 1845.
10
63.
Historical Papers, Part I. Castra Regia, a Treatise on the Suc-
cession to the Crown of England, addressed to Queen Elizabeth
by RoGER EDwARDs, Esq., in 1568. Novissima Straffordii,
Some account of the Proceedings against, and Demeanor of,
Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, both before and during
his Trial, as well as at his Execution; written in Latin by
ABRAHAM WRIGHT, Vicar of Okeham, in Rutlandshire. The
same (endeauord) in English by JAMES WRIGHT, Barrister
at Law.
REV. PHILIP BLIss, D.C.L., and REV. BULKELEY BANDINEL. 1846.
64.
66.
Correspondence of SIR HENRY UNTON, KNT., Ambassador
from Queen Elizabeth to Henry IV. King of France, in the years
MDXCI. and MDXCII. From the originals and authentic
copies in the State Paper Office, the British Museum, and the
Bodleian Library. Edited by the REv. JoséPH STEVENSON, M.A.
- PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1847.
. La Vraie Cronicque d’Escoce. Pretensions des Anglois à la
Couronne de France. Diplome de Jacques VI. Roi de la
Grande Bretagne. Drawn from the Burgundian Library by
Major Robert Anstruther. -
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1847.
The Sherley Brothers, an Historical Memoir of the Lives of
Sir Thomas Sherley, Sir Anthony Sherley, and Sir Robert
Sherley, Knights, by one of the same House. Edited and
Presented by -
EvKLYN PHILIP SHIRLEY, Esq. 1848.
. The Alliterative Romance of Alexander. From the unique
Manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum. Edited by the REv.
Joseph STEVENSON, M.A.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1849.
11
× 68.
*69.
‘70.
71.
74.
Letters and Dispatches from SIR HENRY WOTTON to James
the First and his Ministers, in the years MDCXVII—XX
Printed from the originals in the Library of Eton College.
GEORGE TOMLINE, ESQ. 1850.
Poema quod dicitur Vox Clamantis, necnon Chronica
Tripartita, auctore JoHANNE Gower, nunc primum edidit
H. O. CoxE, M.A. •. PRINTED FOR THE CLUB, 1850.
Five Old Plays. Edited from Copies, either unique or of great
rarity, by J. PAYNE COLLIER, ESQ., F.S.A.
* PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1851.
The Romaunce of the Sowdone of Babylone and of Ferumbras
his Sone who conquerede Rome.
THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, PRESIDENT. 1854.
. The Ayenbite of Inwyt. From the Autograph MS. in the
British Museum. Edited by the REv. Joseph STEVENSON, M.A.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1855.
. John de Garlande, de Triumphis Ecclesiae Libri Oeto. A Latin
Poem of the Thirteenth Century. Edited, from the unique
Manuscript in the British Museum, by THOMAS WRIGHT,
Esq., M.A., F.S.A., Hon. M.R.S.L., &c. &c.
- EARL OF POWIS. 1856.
Poems by MICHAEL DRAYTON. From the earliest and rarest
Editions, or from Copies entirely unique. Edited, with
Notes and Illustrations, and a new Memoir of the Author,
by J. PAYNE COLLIER, Esq., F.S.A.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1856.
. Literary Remains of KING EDWARD THE SIXTH. In Two
Volumes. Edited from his Autograph Manuscripts, with
Historical Notes and a Biographical Memoir, by JoHN Gough
NICHOLs, F.S.A. -
- - PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1857.
12
* 76.
The Itineraries of WILLIAM WEy, Fellow of Eton College, to
Jerusalem, A.D. 1458 and A.D. 1462; and to Saint James of
77.
78.
Compostella, A.D. 1456. From the Original MS. in the
Bodleian Library.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1857.
The Boke of Noblesse; Addressed to King Edward the Fourth
on his Invasion of France in 1475. With an Introduction by
JoBIN GOUGH NICHOLs, F.S.A.
LORD DELAMERE. 1860.
Songs and Ballads, with other Short Poems, chiefly of the
Reign of Philip and Mary. Edited, from a Manuscript in the
Ashmolean Museum, by THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ., M.A., F.S.A.,
&c. &c. - . -
ROBERT S. HoLFORD, Esq. 1860.
. De Regimine Principum, a Poem by THOMAS OCCLEVE,
written in the Reign of Henry IV. Edited for the first time
by THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ., M.A., F.S.A., &c. &c.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1860.
80. The History of the Holy Graal; partly in English Verse
Y81.
by Henry Lonelich Skynner, and wholly in French Prose by
Sires Robiers de Borron. In two volumes. Edited, from MSS.
in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and the
British Museum, by FREDERICK J. FURNIVALL, Esq., M.A.,
Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1861 AND 1863.
Roberd of Brunne's Handlyng Synne, written A.D. 1203; with
the French Treatise on which it is founded, Le Manuel des
Pechie; by William of Waddington. From MSS. in the British
Museum and Bodleian Libraries. Edited by FREDERICK. J.
FURNIVALL, Esq., M.A. .
|PRINTED FOR THE CLUB, 1862.
13
'82.
83.
‘84.
‘85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
’90.
The Old English Version of Parton.ope of Blois, Edited for
the first time from MSS. in University College Library and
the Bodleian at Oxford, by the REv. W. E. BUCKLEY, M.A.,
Rector of Middleton Cheney, and formerly Fellow of Brasenose
College.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1862.
Philosophaster, Comoedia; Poemata, auctore Roberto Burtono,
S. Th. B., Democrito Juniore, Ex AEde Christi Oxon.
REV. WILLIAM EDWARD BUCKLEY. 1862.
La Queste del Saint Graal. In the French Prose of Maistres
Gautiers Map, or Walter Map. Edited by FREDERICK J.
FURNIVALL, Esq., M.A., Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1864.
A Royal Historie of the excellent Knight Generides. e
º HENRY HUCKs GIBBs, Esq. 1865.
The Copy-Book of Sir Amias Poulet’s Letters, written during
his Embassy in France, A.D. 1577.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1866.
The Bokes of Nurture and Kervynge.
. HoN. RoBERT CURZON. 1867.
A Map of the Holy Land, illustrating Wey's Itineraries.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1867.
Historia Quatuor Regum Angliae, authore Johanne Herdo.
SIMON WATson TAYLOR, Esq. 1868.
Letters of Patrick Ruthven, Earl of Forth and Brentford
1615–1662. DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, PRESIDENT. 1868.
. The Pilgrimage of the Lyf of the Manhode, from the French of
Guillaume de Deguileville. PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1869.
. Correspondence of Colonel N. Hooke, 1703–1707. Vol. I.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1870–1.
14
93. Liber Regalis; seu ordo Consecrandi Regem et Reginam.
: EARL BEAUCHAMP. 1870.
’94. Le Mystère de Saint Louis, Roi de France.
- * PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1871,
’95. Correspondence of Colonel N. Hooke, 1703–1707. Vol. II.
- PRINTED FOR THE CLUB, 1871.
96. The History of the Most Noble Knight Plasidas, and other
Pieces, from the Pepysian Library.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1873.
'97. Florian and Florete, a Metrical Romance.
MARQUIs of LOTHIAN. 1873.
'98. A Fragment of Partonope of Blois, from a Manuscript at Wale
Royal. PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1873.
99. The Legend of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton.
- I’AUL BUTLER, ESQ. 1874.
VIOO. Correspondence of the First Earl of Ancram and the Third
Earl of Lothian. 1616–1687. 2 Wols.
MARQUIs of LOTHIAN. 1875.
* 101. The History of Grisild the Second.
BARON HEATH. 1875.
^102. The Complete Poems of Richard Barnfield.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1876.
103. The Apocalypse of St. John, from an Early English Manu-
script. PRINTED FOR THE CLUB, 1876.
104. Poems from Sir Kenelm Digby’s Papers. -
HENRY ARTHUR BRIGHT, Esq. 1877.
105. Cephalus and Procris, by THOMAs Edwards.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB. 1880–2.
15
106, Sir John Harington on the Succession to the Crown, 1602.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB.
107. Print of Sir John Harington.
FREDERIG OUVRy, Esq.
1880.
1881.
108. An Inquisition of the Manors of Glastonbury Abbey, 1189.
MARQUIS OF BATH.
^109. The Lamport Garland. PRINTED FOR THE CLUB.
110. The Kings Prophecie, by BISHOP HALL.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB.
111. Caxton's Quatuor Sermones.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB.
Tl2. The Life of St. Katherine of Alexandria.
ALBAN G. H. GIBBs, ESQ.
113. The Beaumont Papers. PRINTED FOR THE CLUB.
114. Les Miracles de la Vierge, JOHN MALCOLM, ESQ.
115. Croftus, sive de Hibernia Liber.
EARL OF PoWIS, PRESIDENT.
116. Basilicon Doron, 1599. CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ.
1882.
1882.
1883.
1883.
1884.
1884
1885.
1887.
1887.
117. The Triumphes of Petrarch, translated by Henry Parker,
Lord Morley, 1554. - EARL OF IDDESLEIGH. 1887.
y^
118. The Miroure of Man’s Salvacionne.
ALFRED Eſ. HUTH, ESQ.
T19. The Buke of John Maundevill.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB.
120. Stuart Papers.
PRINTED FOR THE CLUB.
121. Diary of a Tour in 1732 by John Loveday of Caversham.
JOHN E. T. LOVEDAY, ESQ.
1888.
1889.
1889.
1890.
These Papers were placed at the disposal of
THE PRESIDENT for Publication
By ERNEST, THIRD MARQUIS OF AILESBURY.
POWIS.
1890. -
PR E FA C E:
THE circumstances under which these Memoirs were placed at the
disposal of the Roxburghe Club having been stated in the notice on the
preceding page it remains for me to add a few particulars relating to
their publication.
Our President having intimated a wish to the Marquis of Ailesbury
that they should be submitted to me for inspection, I received the follow-
ing letter from his Lordship :- -
“6, St. GeoRGE's PLAce, KNIGHTSBRIDGE, S.W.
August 5th, 1885.
“The Marquis of Ailesbury presents his Compliments to the Rev. W. E. Buckley,
and, encouraged by his friend Earl Powis, sends in a box a manuscript
copy of private memoirs in his possession of Thomas Earl of Ailesbury
and Elgin of the time of the Reigns of Charles the 2nd, James the
2nd, and William and Mary up to the time of Queen Anne. This
is with a view to publication in some form or other, or of a portion of
them. The manuscript has been carefully copied from the original,
which is most difficult to decipher, and Lord Ailesbury would be much
gratified if the Rev. Mr. Buckley would at his leisure read the manu-
script and favor Lord Ailesbury with his opinion of it. The key of the
box is now enclosed herewith, and the box itself, containing the 12 vols.
of manuscript, will be forwarded by first train.”
The box contained twelve small quarto note books of rather more
than one hundred pages each, being a well-written transcript from the
original manuscript. There was, therefore, no difficulty in reading the
4–3 b
viii Preface.
Memoirs; and, though they are written in a desultory manner, and in a
style occasionally irregular, the contents appear to be authentic, and give
information on many details relating to the Royal Family and English
history at a most interesting period, the later years of King Charles II.,
and the reigns of James II., William and Mary, and Queen Anne.
Besides this, owing to the long exile of Lord Ailesbury and his
residence in Belgium, the latter pages of the Memoirs are full of inter-
esting particulars of foreign life and personages ; and again, from his
intimacy with the Dukes of Marlborough and Ormond, successively in
command of the British troops in the Netherlands, he was admitted to
head quarters, and records many minute circumstances connected with
the several campaigns against the marshals of Louis XIV.
In consequence of my having reported favourably of the value of
these Memoirs it was decided that they should be printed by the
Roxburghe Club as one of their regular publications, and I was requested
to superintend the work while at the press.
The transcript appears to have been executed with great care, and
a few lacunae which were left here and there, chiefly of names, were
filled up in pencil either by the copyist on a second reading, or by the
late Marquis himself. Some brief notes were also made in the margins,
and, acting upon this precedent, I have added a few others where there
seemed likely to be ambiguity, or a reference was necessary. No attempt
has been made to alter the language, or correct solecisms; but even
where the construction of a sentence is grammatically incorrect the
writer's meaning is not difficult to discover. The Earl refers to his
method of writing in divers passages which are here brought together.
- “I know my incapacity to far that I had never set pen to paper but at the
earnest request of my dear Son the Lord Bruce, and I began it to gratify
him about Christmas 1728.”
“These undigested remarks were begun at the reiterated request of my
nearest relations and best friends in my native Country as of several
persons of this Country, where I have resided upwards of thirty
Preface. ix
years, viz. they commencing in the month of December 1728 at
Bruxelles.” (p. 3.) - - .
“The same began forty years complete after my royal master's being walked out
of his three kingdoms.” (p. 226.) - -
“And let it be remarked that to the writing of this in the beginning of 1729,
just forty years.” (p. 238.)
“He (George Porter) lived untill the summer of 1728 - " " even about the
time of the writing of this.” (p. 369.)
“I may give this tract the title of indigested notions, being well convinced of my
incapacity, besides having not one paper by me for to furnish matter.
Lord Bruce knows well besides my little talent. God Almighty hath
given me a good memory, and by the strength of that I have sub-
mitted to the importunity of my friends. I desire that it may be
observed that I stick not to years consecutively, but as matter occurs to
me of things passed in that year, and which may never be known but by
me, and I engage for the truth of what I set down without favour or
affection, or partiality, and on the other hand without rancour towards
an adverse party.” (pp. 3, 4.)
“The following is also premature, and out of due order, which fault, if it may
be laid to me as such, I conceived in the preamble of these miscellanies,
or whatever you please to term [them], for as to a historian, I renounce
the appellation, being ignorant and illiterate, having not had recourse to
one author to furnish me with matter, but all out of the strength of
memory.” (p. 22.) -
“I own that breaking into years, and into one so far distant as this as to point
of time, is a very great error, but it must be considered, as I have hinted
at and too often, that I have nothing to help my memory save some
notes I took on Oats's conviction.” (pp. 301, 302.)
“All this is very irregular, and would not be pardonable in one that would pass
for an historian, but I disown that character; I write for my own
satisfaction, and let this pass for a sort of a diary and nothing else, and
it is written without favour or affection on the one hand, and without
malice on the other; and to supply for defects I make it up in some
measure by bringing to light what else you would never know, because
historians flatter, and most often write for bread.” (pp. 243, 244.)
§ 2
Preface.
“If hereafter I remember any particular things of my own knowledge, that I
have forgot for want of notes, I shall bring them in by way of appendix
as regular as possible, and with an exact sincerity, and, as I said, I shall
not touch on matters you will find in annals, unless that by what I have
heard or read of formerly, that those authors generally had falsely repre-
sented matters that had passed, either wilfully, or to flatter, or through
want of true information, and my only design by this treatise is to set all
things in a true light, and where errors have been committed in
government I have set them down as impartially. It is true I only
touched upon articles of the highest consequence, others of more trivial
matters might have been let alone, but they were not what I call
essentials.” (pp. 311, 312.)
“The transactions from about December 1695, to the end of Hilary Term
169% will be very tedious for to read, but useful and agreeable to those
that love truth, and what I insert is all authentic and sincere, and what
follows I defy any man to relate, although all that were alive then were
now in being. Besides God Almighty hath endowed me with a wonderſul
memory, and, as I said before, save notes I took at Oats's trial, I had no
minutes by me to furnish me with matter. All my help was (and that
after I began this paper) to take short notes of what passed each year.
However I have not right placed all as to point of time and year, but in
the main that signifies little, as long as all is faithfully recited, and that I
answer for.” (p. 358.)
“I have been tedious and very anticipating as usual and to finish I was obliged
to stray from year to year consecutively, as I have but too often
done for to finish a period, and where I trace a man's character to his
end so as not to mention him any more in ensuing years.” (p. 515.)
“Although this what follows is much out of due order, yet it being a con-
nection give me leave to place it here for to end this subject matter.”
(p. 532.) -
“I am sensible that three parts in four of casual things that happened are
more proper for a discourse by a fireside, but I write for my own
satisfaction, and stick more to matters of fact, both as to public as well as
private occasions, than to eloquence and chosen words.” (p. 378.)
“There is so much of domestic occurrences in this narrative and so many, as like-
Preface. xi
wise matters in many places of so little moment, that I am obliged to repeat
what I hinted at more than once, that these sheets were wrote for the
satisfaction of my son, and for no other intent. So the best title I can
give it is a Domestic DIARY ; for the sincere part I answer. At a great
feast very ill dressed one finds some dishes that relish amongst a quantity
of very ill ones, and the comparison I make is true and just. I have an
upright meaning in all I set forth, and if I displease any I am heartily
sorry for it. Having not a scrap of paper by me for to refresh my
memory, I may have omitted many things, and if they come into my
mind it may serve by way of an appendix.” (pp. 713, 714.)
He disclaims any recourse to notes and papers, and for ordinary
events refers to the annals, and writers of the period, of most of whom he
seems to have entertained a contemptuous opinion for their partisan spirit,
venality, and indifference to truth. Bishop Burnet, the first volume
of whose Memoirs of His Own Time was printed in the year 1724,
comes several times under animadversion, nor does Lord Ailesbury
express a very high opinion of Lord Clarendon, whom he does not
mention by name, but alludes to as “the noble historian.”
Though himself a strong partisan of the exiled family, the Memoirs
leave an impression on the mind that the noble Earl was a thoroughly
honest, fearless, and truthful man, “nothing extenuating nor setting
down aught in malice,” but to the best of his judgment dispensing
praise or blame impartially. The Memoirs end with the year 1728,
and it seems that Lord Ailesbury, although he had obtained a Privy Seal
on May 29th, 1709 (see p. 616,) to authorise his return to England,
continued to reside abroad till 1741, the year of his death, which is thus
recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine : “The Earl of Ailesbury and
Elgin, at Brussels, aged 93, and succeeded by Lord Bruce, his only son.”
Beyond this brief notice there seems to be no mention in any
printed English works of the later years of Lord Ailesbury's life, nor so
far as I can ascertain are there any MS. documents or letters in the
possession of the family from which particulars of that period can be
xii Preface.
gleaned. But as he married a Belgian lady of rank and fortune it
appeared not improbable that some information might be obtainable from
foreign sources, and as the Roxburghe Club fortunately numbers among
its members Mr. Victor Van de Weyer, the son of the late Belgian
Minister to this country, I consulted him, and he very kindly wrote to
his cousin M. Charles Donnay de Casteau upon the subject. The
result was most satisfactory, for that gentleman having laid my enquiries
before M. Alphonse Wauters, of the Administration Communale de
Bruxelles, Archives Department, and author of several important works *
on the history of Bruxelles and its environs, he was favoured with the
following letter :-
* BRUxELLEs,
* le 15 Mai, 1891.
* MoNSIEUR, -
44 Je m' impresse de répondre a votre lettre en date de Mardi dernier. Thomas
Bruce comte d'Ailesbury épousa en secondes noces Charlotte Jacqueline
d'Argenteau fille unique de Louis Conrad d'Argenteau, Comte d'Esneux,
et de Marie Gilberte de Locquenghien, dame héritière de Melsbroeck.
Cette dame mourut en 17Io n'ayant laissé de son mariage qu'une fille,
Marie Thérèse Charlotte Bruce, qui mourut avant son père en 1736, et
porta l'héritage de Locquenghien et en particulier la baronnie de
Melsbroeck à Maximilien Emmanuel, prince de Horries (Voir pour ces
· details une histoire des environs de Bruxelles, p. I II à I'I5).
" Le Comte d'Ailesbury et sa seconde femme, la Comtesse d'Esneux 'ont été
enterrés dans l'église des Brigittines à Bruxelles (V. Abbé Mann,
Histoire de Bruxelles, p. II à '6o). Mais leur monument sepulchral
n'existe plus, et j'en ai vainement cherché des restes conjointement avec
le consul de la Grand Bretagne à Bruxelles il y a quelques années.
Leur demeure se trouvait sur la place du Grand Sablon, dont elle
occupait le côté supérieur, celui qui est adossé à l'église. Le 9 Mars
173o la ville accorda à Lord Bruce la franchise des accises établies sur les
* Histoire civile, politique et monumentale àe la Ville de Bruxelles, par Alexandre
Henne et Alphonse Wauters, Archiviste de la Ville. Bruxelles, 1845, 3 vols,'8vo. ;
Histoire des'Environs de Bruxelles. Bruxelles 1852-1855, 3 vols, 8vo.
Preface. xiii
quatres especes des consommations, le vin, la bière, la viande et la farine,
ce en consideration de ce qu'il etait le seul de sa qualité demeurant à
Bruxelles, et de ce que en trente deux ans de residence, c'est à dire depuis
1698, il y avait depensé plus de deux millions de florins (Henne et
Wauters, Histoire de Bruxelles, &5'ra, p. 415). De son côté il se trouvait .
, si bien chez nous qu'il offrit aux magistrats d'élever une fontaine à ses
frais sur la place du Grand Sablon. Sa proposition ayant été recue avec
reconnaissance, il commanda au sculpteur Jacques Bergé un groupe en
marbre representant Minerve assise. Après sa mort, arrivée en I74I,
cette statue fut executée, placée en 1751, on la voit encore au même
· endroit. L'inscription nous dit que Bruce la fit élever * hospitio apud
· Bruxelles xL annis usus jucundo et salubri* (Histoire de Bruxelles, &5'ra.,
p. 4I4) après avoir passé sa vie 4o ans à Bruxelles avec joie et santé.
Voila des détails sur l'exactitude desquels vous pouvez compter. Je ne
sai ou vous en trouveriez d'autres sur le Comte, qui parait avoir vécu dans
l'obscurité et la retraite la plus complete. -
* Agreez, Monsieur, mes salutations empressées,
* ALPHoNsE WAUTERs.
* RUE DE SPA, 22."
Since this letter was forwarded to me I have had an opportunity of
consulting the works of M. Wauters, from which I append some
extracts in illustration of his communication, both in reference to Lord
Ailesbury, and his son-in-law the Prince of Hornes.
" Le Grand Sablon portait autrefois le nom de Marché aux Chevaux. Au
· milieu du Sablon il y avait un étang dit Le Marais au Sable (Zavelpoel),
qui fut comblé par suite d'une resolution du magistrat du I5 Août,
1615. En 1661, on construisit sur son emplacement une fontaine.
Cette fontaine a été remplacée par un monument, témoignage de la
gratitude d'un etranger qui a voulu laisser à la postérité le souvenir de
l'hospitalité qu'il reçut des Bruxellois. Lord Bruce, Comte d'Aylesbury,
pair d'Angleterre, qui forcé d'émigrer à cause de ses opinions, s'était retiré
en Belgique, fut si heureux de l'accueil qu'on lui avait fait à Bruxelles et
des bons soins qui l'avaient entouré dans ses longues et douleureuses
maladies, qu'il offrit au magistrat d'élever une fontaine au Sablon. Sa
xiv
Areface.
proposition ayant été regue avec reconnaissance, il commanda au sculpteur
Jacques Bergé un groupe en marbre qui représenterait Minerve assise
et tenant un médaillon avec les portraits de Marie Thérèse et de Frangois
Ier, ayant à sa droite une Renommée et a sa gauche l'Escaut. Le prix de
cette oeuvre fut fixé à 5,ooo florins (I 5 Aoüt, 1741). Par un codicille
daté du 12 Octobre 1741, il ordonna de placer sur le piédestal ses armes
et une inscription commémorative. Ses dernières, volontés furent
exécutées par son héritier dont le fondé de pouvoir, l*avocat Dillon, traita
avec Bergé. Moyennant 4,o63 florins, celui-ci s'engagea à élever le
piédestal, à le revétir de quatre panneaux de marbre blanc de Gènes,
les deux grands offrant les armes du lord et les deux autres
des inscriptions, et à ajouter au groupe primitif un troisième gènie
tenant la lance et l'égide de Minerve (3o Octobre, I75o). Le
groupe et les autres ornements furent placés le 4. Novembre, 1751. Sur
le piédestal, qui a I 2 pieds de hauteur, on lit, d'un cöté: Thomas Bruce
Com. Aylesb. M. Brit. Par.. hospitio apud Bruxellas xL annis usus jucundo
et salubri, de suo poni testamento jussit anno MDccxL ; et de l'autre : Undecim
vero post annos, pace ubique terrarum firmata, joannes Bruce hæres erigi
curavit, Francisco Lotharingo Rom. Imperium et Maria Theresia Caroli
vi. F. regna paterna fortiter vindicata feliciter et gloriose tenentibus,
Carolo Loth. Belgii gub., inscriptions composées par Roderique de Cologne,
conseiller intime du duc Charles de Lorraine. En I 797, au milieu de
l'effervescence ánti-aristocratique, les statues furent momentanement
enlevées, et l*on couvrit les armoiries et les inscriptions du piédestal. Le
lord Aylesbury, à qui la ville accorda, le 9 Mars I 73o, franchise des
accises établies sur les quatre espèces de consommation, * en consideration
de ce qu'il etait le seul de sa qualité demeurant à Bruxelles et de ce qu'en
32 ans de résidence il y avait dépensé plus de 2,ooo,ooo de florins,'
occupait, au haut du Sablon, un vaste hôtel que lui avait apporté en
mariage l'héritière des Locquenghein, et qui avait successivement appartenu
à Christophe Castillanos, comptador du roi, à Benédict ou Benoit Char-
reton, sire de Chassey, et à Charles de Loequenghien, Seigneur de
Melsbroeck. L'hotel d*Aylesbury passa ensuite aux de Hornes et aux
princes de Salm ; a la fin du siècle dernier, il était occupé par l'envoyé de
Hollande**—Histoire de la Wille de Bruxelles par Alexandre Henne et
Alphonse Wauters, Archiviste-de la Ville. Bruxelles 1845, 3 vols 8vo.,
iii. 4I3-4I5.
Preface. xv
" Lorsque l'Espagne eut replacé nos provinces sous le joug, les souverains
s'efforcèrent, par tous les moyens possibles, de relever l'aristocratie. Dans
ce but, ils multiplièrent les titres de noblesse et les distinctions de toute
espèce. C'est alors qu'on vit se multiplier les seigneuries titrées, qui
auparavant n'existaient pas. Des lettres patentes erigèrent successivement
les principautés . . .. de Hornes ou Yssche (1677) I. Lxx.º-Wautersº
| Histoire des Environs de Bruxelles, 1855.
" Marie Gisberte de Locquenghien, qui mourut en 173I : cette dame n'eut de
son mari, Louis Conrad d'Argenteau, comte d'Esneux, qu'une fille,
Charlotte Jacqueline, morte en I7Io, après avoir épousé Thomas Bruce,
Comte d'Ailesbury, pair de Grand-Bretagne, mort en I74I, à qui
Bruxelles doit la fontaine du Sablon. L'unique enfant du Comte, Marie
Thérèse Charlotte Bruce, (r.* du 13 Octobre, 1751) succéda dans la
baronnie à son aïeule, et mourut avant son père en 1736 ; elle avait pris
pour époux Maximilien Emmanuel, troisième prince de Hornes. Ses
filles : Marie Thérèse Josèphe, qui devint, par alliance, princesse de Salm
Kyrbourg, et Elisabeth Philippine Claude, qui épousa le prince de Stolberg,
relevèrent Melsbroeck le 26 Juillet, 1737. (Vol. iii. 115.)
" Maximilien Emmanuel mourut, le dernier de sa branche, le 11 Janvier, 1763. De
ses trois femmes Marie Charlotte Bruce, Comtesse d'Aylesbury, baronne
de Melbroeck, la seule lui donna des enfants, deux filles.º (Vol. iii.
497, 8.)—Wauters' Histoire des Environs de Bruxelles, 1855.
To these may be added the following extracts from the " History of
Bruxelles " by the Abbe Mann :-
Le comte D'Aylesbury, pair de la Grande-Bretagne, s'étant retiré à Bruxelles
vers le commencement de ce siècle, y mourut le 16 Décembre 1741, &
ordonna par son testament de construire une belle fontaine au milieu du
Grand-Sablon, comme un monument de reconnaissance du long &
agréable sejour qu'il avoit fait dans l'hôtel qui borne cette place du
côté de l'église. Cet ouvrage ayant été achevé, on posa, le 4 Novembre
de cette année, les statues & autres ornemens, qui le décorent, & qui
avoient été faits par Jacques Bergé, célèbre sculpteur & statuaire de
Bruxelles, mort le 16 Novembre, 1756.º (Vol. i., part i., p. 241.)
* Registre aux adhéritances, local register of transfer of land in MS.
C
xvi Preface.
" Places du Sablon (Grande &5 Petite). La Place du Grand-Sablon est vaste &
bien percée; au milieu se trouve la belle Fontaine que le Comte d'Aylesbury,
par son testament, chargea son héritier d'y faire constuire. Voyez l'année
175I, de la première partie. Cette fontaine est ornée d'un groupe de
marbre blanc de Gênes ; on y voit Minerve assise tenant un médaillon,
sur lequel sont, en demi reliefs, les portraits de l'Empereur Français &
de l'Imperatrice-Reine Marie-Thérèse, à la droite est la Renommée,
& à sa gauche l'Escaut, sous la forme d'un génie ; un troisième génie
tient l'égide & la lance de la déesse. Ce groupe est posé sur un piédestal
élevé de 13 pieds : sur les deux faces de ce piédestal sont sculptées les
Armoiries du Lord Aylesbury, avec cette inscription au dessous, Fuimus ;
ces Armoiries sont appuyées sur deux têtes de Mascaron, qui vomissent
de l'eau. Les deux autres côtés du piédestal sont ornés d'inscriptions. Ce
beau monument a été exécute par Jacques Bergé, d'après les dessins du
Comte de Calemberg. En face de cette fontaine & à l'extrémité de la
place vers l'Eglise du Sablon, est l'Hôtel que le Lord Aylesbury avoit
habité jusqu'à sa mort, & qui a été occupé ensuite par le General Chanclos,
& dernièrement par le Ministre de la Hollande. (Vol ii., part ii.,
pp. 2Io, 2I I.)
* Brigittines, Couvent de Religieuses, fondé en 1619, & supprimé en 1784.
Elles suivoient la règle de St. Augustin, leur Abbesse étoit élective ;
leur Eglise fut brulée lors du bombardement en 1695, & rétablie depuis ;
l'autel étoit beau. Le Comte d'Aylesbury, dont il est parlé sous l'année
175I, de la première partie, fut enterré dans cette Eglise, auprès de sa
2° épouse, Dame Charlotte d'Argenteau, Comtesse d'Esneux.* (Vol, ii.
part ii., pp. 6o, 6I.) Abrégé de l' Histoire Ecclesiastique Civile et Naturelle
de la Ville de Bruxelles et de ses Environs; par M. l'Abbe Mann. Bruxelles,
1785, 8°, 2 vol. en trois parties. Année 1751.
M. Wauters in his letter says * j'en ai vainement cherché des restes "
(of Lord and Lady Ailesbury,) but bearing in mind the mention in the
Memoirs at p. 435, of the burial of the first Lady Ailesbury at Mauldenin
Bedfordshire, I wrote to the Rector, the Rev. H. Cobbe, and at his invitation
visited that parish. In the churchyard at the north side of the church there is
a large mausoleum in which are the coffins of many members of the Bruce
Preface, xvii
family, and among them “two Urns containing the hearts of Thomas
Earl of Ailesbury and his second Lady.” The time at my disposal not
allowing me to wait for opening the mausoleum I transcribed from a
plan of the interior, in the possession of the Rector, showing the arrange-
ment of the coffins, so much as concerned the second Earl.
MAUSOLEUM AT MAULDEN.
No. 4. Diana Wife of
Robert Earl of Ailesbury
died 8th April 1689.
No. 5. Robert Earl of Ailesbury
died 20th October 1685
Aged 59 years.
No. 6. Elizabeth wife of
Thomas Earl of Ailesbury
died 12 January 169%
Aged 41 years.
Also Two Urns containing
The hearts of Thomas Earl
of Ailesbury & his 2nd Lady.
A summary of his life is here added from Doyle's Official Baronage,
Vol. I. p. 16, followed by some extracts from the Parish Registers of
Maulden, Ampthill, and Houghton Conquest, taken from a work on
Bedfordshire, entitled Genealogia Bedfordiensis, by Mr. F. A. Blaydes, for
the knowledge and use of which I am indebted to Mr. Cobbe.
“1685. Thomas Bruce, 6th son of Robert: Earl of Ailesbury, Viscount Bruce of
Ampthill, and Baron Bruce of Whorlton & Skelton; Earl of Elgin &
Baron Bruce of Kinloss, in Scotland.
Born 1655.
St. Lord Bruce, 1663–1685.
M.P. Marlborough, 1679–1681.
M.P. co. Wilts, 1685–1686.
Page of Honour to King James II. at his coronation, April 23, 1685.
C 2
xviii Preface.
Succeeds as 2nd Earl of Ailesbury, Oct. 23, 1685.
Hereditary High Steward of the Honour of Ampthill.
Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James II., Oct 28, 1685–1688.
Lord Lieut. of the Counties of Bedford and Huntingdon, Nov. 26, 1685 to
. Dec. 23, 1688. - - -
M. (1) Elizabeth, dau: of Henry, Lord Beauchamp, Oct. 30, 1676.
(D. Jan. I2, 1697.) *
(2) Charlotte, Countess of Sannu.
(D. July 23, 1710.)
Died Sept. 16, 1741.”*
His death is thus briefly recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine.
“The Earl of Ailesbury and Elgin at Brussels, aged 93, and succeeded by Lord
Bruce, his only son.” -
His descendants by his first wife inherited the English honours and
estates as recorded in the Peerages.
By the second wife he was the great grandfather of the wife of
Prince Charles Edward Stuart. *
Thomas Bruce=Charlotte, Countess of Sannu.
2nd Earl of
Ailesbury,
Charlotte Marie-PPrince of Hornes.

| . º
Elizabeth Phillippina-T-Prince Gustavus Adolphus of
- T Stolberg Guedern.
Louisa Maximiliana=Prince Charles Edward Stuart,
grandson of King James II.
* In the margin there is a woodcut portrait of the Earl, after F. Harrewyn, and
this note, “ 1704. ‘Very tall,f fair complexioned.’ J. Macky, Characters, p. 98.”
f see Memoirs, p. 326. “The Prince said I was the tallest man he had ever seen.”
Preface. xix.
MAULDEN.
1652. Feb. 17. Bruce, Robert, s. of Robert, Lord, bur.
Mar. 7. Bruce, Christina, d. of Robert, Lord, bur.
1654. May 3. Elgin, Alice, the Countis of Oxford, bur.
1661. Nov. 19. Bruce, Charles, s. of Robert, Lord, bur.
1662. Mar. 21. Bruce, Edward, s. of Robert, Lord, bur.
1663. Dec. 31. Elgin, The Right Hon. Thomas, Earl of, bur.
1664. Apr. 18. Elgin, Henry, s. of Robert, Earl of, bur.
1669. May 31. Aylesbrough, Barnard, s. of Right Hon., Robert, Earl of bur.
1685. July 22. Bruce, Mr. Robert, son of the Right Hon. Lord Thomas
- Bruce, bur. cº ... • , - -
Oct. 26. Allsbury, The Right Hon. Robert, Earl of, bur.
1688. Apr. 12. Ailsbery, The Right Hon. Diana, Countis Dowinger of, bur.
1696-7. Jan. 27. Ailesbery, The Right Hon. Elizabeth, Countess of, departed
this life y” 12 of January and was bur.
1698. Apr. 5. Bruce, Lady Mary, d. of y" Right Hon. Thomas, Earl of
Ailsbery, bur. -
AMPTHILL.
1666. Sep. 3. Ailsbury, Barnard, s. of the Right Hon. The Earle of, bapt.
1671. Nov. 16. Rosse-Shirly. John, Lord, sonn to John, Earle of Rutland,
was married to the Lady Diana, d. to Robert, Earle of
Ailsbury, in the Chappell of the said Earles House in Ampt-
hill Parke, according to License so directed November 16,
An. Dom. 1671 to Stephen Penton” his Lordshipps Chap-
layne.
1685-6. Feb. 11. Bagnell-Bruce, Nicholas, Esq., was married to yº right
Hon’ble ye Lady Anne Sharlatt, d. to the right Hon’able
Robert. Earle of Ailsbury [and to yº Lady Diana, Countis
Dowager].
1698. Apr. 5. Bruce, the Hon’ble ye Lady Mary, bur. at Maulden.
1677. Jan. 9. Rowles-Bruce, John, Esq., yº eldest son to [Sº John] Rowles,
was m. to ye Lady Christian, d. to yº Earle of Ailsbury.
* Penton, Stephen, New College, Oxford; B.A., May 5, 1663; M.A., Jan. 17, 1666.
xx Preface.
HOUGHTON CONQUEST.
1656. Feb. 12. Bruce [ ] d. of the Right Hon’ble Thomas Lord Bruce,
deceased the 12th of Febr. Ann. Dom. 1656.
- During my stay at Maulden I was enabled by the kindness of Mr.
Cobbe to visit the ruined seat of the Earls of Ailesbury, so often
mentioned in the Memoirs as “Ampthill Park,” and a description of
which is here subjoined : -
“Houghton Park, otherwise Dame Ellensbury Park, was occupied in the early
part of King James’s reign by Sir Edmund Conquest, as keeper. In
1615 he made over his interest in it to Matthew Lister and Leonard
Welstead, trustees for the celebrated Mary Countess of Pembroke,
‘Sidney's Sister, Pembroke's mother,' who, holding the park under the
Crown in her widowhood, built a splendid mansion, of which the shell
now remains. In 1630 Houghton Park was granted in fee to Lord
Bruce, and was for a considerable time the country-seat of his de-
scendants, who were Earls of Elgin and Aylesbury. Here the celebrated
Christian Countess of Devonshire spent three years in retirement at the
house of her brother the Earl of Elgin, after the battle of Worcester in
1651, “lightening,' as the author of her life observes, “her griefs and her
expences.” But even in this retirement her ardent loyalty exposed her to
some risks; a troop of horse being ordered to fetch her from hence up to
London, at the time that the Countess of Carlisle was imprisoned in the
Tower; but she escaped the danger by a bribe bestowed on one of the
Council of State. In 1738 John, third Duke of Bedford, purchased
Houghton Park, with the Manor of Dame Ellensbury, of the Earl of
Aylesbury; and in 1801, in consequence of an exchange with John the
fourth Duke, they both became the property of the Earl of Ossory.
Houghton Park house was fitted up by the Marquis of Tavistock, father
of Francis the fifth Duke of Bedford, who resided there till his
untimely death in 1767; after which it was for a short time occupied by
Preface. xxi
Lord Ossory as tenant; it has never since been inhabited. In 1794 it
was unroofed and reduced to a shell by Francis Duke of Bedford, and
most of the materials were used in building the Swan Inn at Bedford.
Fuller and some other writers have called this mansion Ampthill House.
It must be observed that in his time there was no capital mansion in
Ampthill Park, and that part of Houghton Park House stands within the
parish of Ampthill. On the North front of this house was a lozenge
shield with the arms and quarterings of Sydney, and an Earl's coronet:
on the South front there still remain on the frieze various monograms of
the families of Sydney and Dudley. The ruins of the house stand on an
elevated spot at the end of an avenue, which reaches into the vale of
Bedford.” Lysons' Bedfordshire, p. 96, quoted in Nichols's Progresses
of King james I., vol. i., p. 521., ed. 1828. “Much of the Kings
time in this visit (July 1605) was occupied by field sports, for which the
Parkes of Houghton and Ampthill were admirably adapted.” Nichols,
i., 521. The coloured print inserted, as a Frontispiece, in this volume
will show what this splendid mansion was in its perfect state.
Recollecting, and warned by, the maxim of the late venerable President
of Magdalen, Dr. Routh, “Verify your references,” I felt bound before
these Memoirs were issued by the Roxburghe Club to endeavour to
compare them with the original MS., as they were printed from a copy
only. This was the more necessary as they deal with a troubled period
of our history, about which there are great differences of opinion, and
also because they contain many statements of fact and characters of men,
not in harmony with those expressed by some who are regarded as
authorities. The difficulty was to ascertain where the original MS. was
to be found, and then whether I might be permitted to have it for
collation. Presuming that it might be most probably at Savernake, I
availed myself of the offer of a young lady then staying with us on her
way to visit Lady Mabel Brudenell-Bruce, to convey my wishes to her,
and to ask whether she could obtain from any of her relatives the desired
information and permission. That Lady Mabel's intervention was pro-
ductive of no result does not diminish her kindness, nor that of the
xxii Preface.
members of the family to whom she addressed her enquiries on my
behalf. Disappointed in my first attempt, and not knowing to whom to
apply next, the happy accident of my being in London and at the
Athenaeum Club, and thus in close proximity to his residence, induced
me to call on Lord Charles Bruce at 77, Pall Mall (who I am glad to
say has now become a member of the Roxburghe Club), and he, though
not able to speak positively about the MS., gave me two suggestions, on
both of which I acted. He recommended me to call in the first instance
on the family solicitors, Messrs. Norton and Fletcher, who at my request
looked through their catalogue of the documents in the muniment room
at Savernake, but this having been compiled for professional use com—
prised only papers of a legal character. His second suggestion proved
successful, for on writing to Lord Frederick Brudenell-Bruce at Wolfhall
Manor, Wilts., he not only informed me that the MS. was at Savernake,
but obtained from the Trustees permission for me to have it for such a
period as should be sufficient for collation. This occupied about a
fortnight, and confirmed the testimony of the Marquis of Ailesbury in
his note to me, that it was “carefully copied,” though, much to my
regret, I saw at once that the spelling had been modernised throughout.
This, of course, does not affect the sense, but it is, in my judgment, a
mistake, and lessens the value of the work as an evidence of the state of
the language, and, in some degree, of the extent of culture, not only of
the writer but of society generally, at the time of its composition.
The collation established first the fidelity of the transcript, proving
that the original text had not been tampered with by omissions, additions,
or alterations. - *
- Secondly, that the lacunae left by the copyist, and afterwards filled
up in pencil, either by himself or by the late Marquis of Ailesbury, had
been correctly filled up. &
Thirdly, it enabled me to correct a few misreadings of the transcriber,
the most important of which are stated below.
Preface.
xxiii
Pages of the
printed text.
2
47
127
I 30
206
267
424
485
5OO
514.
566
577
583
'600
617
618
652
654
701
7Io
7II
Transcript.
quarto writer
garter waiter
warned (or wormed). .
(that is the Prime Minister)
and through Sittingbourne.
at the Duke of Leicester’s,
Toll-Yard
Dominions . • O
Calcott © e
Albanio . © © ©
Carnrall . © e O
He Swede tº º ©
South Lien . . .
bungler (in note qy. Burgher)
Grey . . . .
Grey
Attenbury © ©
Dr Houghton . . wº
ribbon . © e
balls and traineurs . O
Two lines omitted after
“judicatures º'
Original Ms.
... of Mechlin, Bruxelles, Gant,
In two cases the copyist had corrected the errors of the original
MS., viz. by substituting at pages
quarter waiter.
quarter waiter.
wormed.
not in the original MS.
towards Sittingbourne.
at the old of Leicester’s.”
Tilt-yard.
Dominicans.
calculle.
Alberoni.
Carnwall (carnival).
He a Swede.
South Lieu (Sout Leeuwe).
bungler.
Gregg.
Gregg.
Atterbury.
Dº Hough now.
ruban.
bells and traineurs.
Mons, &c., who have salaries
and quit their Judicatures.
663. “rife" for “ripe.”
678. “bon homme '' for “bonne homme.”
* That is “at the old Earl of Leicester's.”
The two last letters of the word
“old” looked like a capital D, and the copyist therefore wrote “Duke of Leicester's.”
But as there never was such a title I conjectured that “Leinster” might be intended, as
that title was conferred in 1693 on Meinhardt Schomberg, third Duke of Schomberg, son
and heir of Frederick, the first Duke, the celebrated Marshal.
at p. 267, is briefly corrected in the Index.
d
My note to this effect
xxiv. Preface.
The following words may be noted as peculiar in themselves, or in
the meaning attached to them by Lord Ailesbury in his Memoirs:
AMMODIATE, to farm out the revenues of a province (p. 708).
AMMGDIATRA, such farming out. (ibid.) Spanish, Mohatra, the selling high
- - what is bought low. Mohatrar, to buy under price and
sell above, whence Mohatron, an extortioner. These
words are not in the “New English Dictionary.”
ANCIENTcy (p. 520), antiquity, oldness,. In the N.E.D., but said to be
obsolete. Other forms, ancienty, ancientry.
ARTIFICIAL (p. 121), “artful, cunning, deceitful, displaying artifice (said of
men and their actions) obsolete,” N.E.D.
AscRIBE (p. 5), to register, or enroll, act as a secretary.
BRIGUE (p. 679), “to intrigue, to obtain by underhand methods. Chiefly
Scotch, 16th to 18th century,” N.E.D. . .
BUBBLE (p. 661), “one who is or may be bubbled, a dupe, obsolete,” N.E.D.
..y, The verb “to bubble” is used also, (p. 645).
CALCULL (p. 5oo), The lacuna left on this page should be filled in with the
word “calcull,” which is in the original MS. It is now
obsolete, but was in use in the 17th century, and as late as
1754. Its modern equivalent is “ calculation.” See, the
N.E.D. in voce. . . . . . .
DEAD-WARRANT (pp. 50, 96, 141, 145, 279), now generally “Death-
. . . Warrant; ” but it is used by Smollett, Hist, of England,
chap. vii., vol. i., 472, ed. 1823, and by Macaulay, iv.,
255, ed. 1855, probably from the newspapers of the time,
I7oo, April 13, 20. The passages in the Memoirs are
important as showing that the warrants were signed by
the King, and in the last by the Queen. See Notes and
Queries, 2nd Series, viii., 423, 523; 7th Series, vi. 308,
474, 515; vii., 52, 97, for a discussion upon this question,
chiefly however on the modern practice. - -
DEROUT (pp. 509, 591), not in the English Dictionaries. “French: Déroute,
- -- rout, defeat. Old French: desroute, from Latin disrupta,
r -
* . . ;
Preface. xxv
from disrumpere, to break up an army in battle,” Brachet,
- . . . Etymol. Dict. - - -
EAse to (p. 647). I consider this to be meant for one word, “ease-to,” like
“lean-to,” a penthouse, East. (Halliwell) “A shed, or
low building attached to, and supported by, a larger build-
ing.” (Baker, Northants Glossary), now admitted into
Ogilvie's Imperial Dictionary. Lord Ailesbury as a Bed-
fordshire man would be familiar with this word, and
formed “ease-to” on the same principle; “There are
no convents for both sexes, and no Knights of Malta,
which are so great an “ease-to” in Roman Catholic
countries.” - . *
FIRMrry (p. 51), Firmness, resolution. This form, retained in “Infirmity,”
- is pronounced “rare" by Latham in his edition of John-
son's Dictionary. The only authority quoted for it is
Chillingworth, Religion of Protestants, part i. chap. vi.,
§ 7, vol. ii., p. 329, ed. Oxford, 1838. “The strength
and firmity of my assent must rise and fall with the
apparent credibility of the object.” Lord Ailesbury applies
it to the moral strength of Lord Stafford.
FoR. This preposition is used before the infinitive mood, as p. 1, line 5, “for
to jog on with "; p. 2, l. 8, “for to enjoy long”; and
throughout. So in S. Luke, vii., 24, “what went ye out
- into the wilderness for to see : *
Most. This word is used for “very,” as “most well,” pp. 129,559,588, 591,
684, 7or ; “most great,” p. 701 ; “most young,” p. 655;
“most near,” “most soon.”
Musty (p. 691), sullen, dull. Addison uses it similarly.
PARson (p. 160). This word is used correctly by Lord Ailesbury as equivalent
to Rector: “Mr. Pomfret, Parson of Luton.” Nowadays
it is used of ministers of any denomination very improperly,
and often applied by politicians to the clergy, i.8ptatucós
PLUM (pp. 499,634). “The sum of £100,000 is so called, and though this
usage is comparatively modern, no instance has occurred
d 2
Preface.
that will explain the origin of it.” Richardson, Dictionary,
who quotes Addison as the earliest authority, but Lord
Ailesbury, though writing in 1728, seems to carry the
word back to the Revolution. “Those that had nothing
at the Revolution had the reputation of being worth one
hundred and others two hundred thousand pounds. The
first sum was christened one plum, and the last two; and
all this out of the spoil of the kingdom.” And on p. 634,
“In King William's time, when the tally trade alone
brought in to some a hundred thousand pounds, which
they then called a plum.” Is the word taken from the
nursery rhyme about Jack Horner, or, as Dr. Brewer
conjectures, from “pluma,” which in Spanish means
both plumage and wealth Hence “tiene pluma: he
has feathered his nest.”
suspection (p. 648), suspicion. In Ogilvie's Dictionary, marked obsolete;
in Richardson's with quotations from The Romaunt of
the Rose, and Gascoigne. Not in Latham's Johnson.
On a map of Des Cartes’ system in Seller's Atlas Caelestis,
it is used as equivalent to “Inspection.”
Turry (p. 504), “adorned with tufts; growing in tufts; ” applied to
natural objects. “Both in the tufty frith [wood] and
in the mossy fell.” Drayton Polyolbion, song xvii.
“Where tufty daisies nod at every gale.” W. Browne,
Britannia’s Pastorals i., song v.; and in this sense Latham
calls it rare. But Lord Ailesbury uses it in a con-
temptuous sense of the Earl of Portland’s equipage when
he was Ambassador at Paris, “when he had above two
hundred pounds per day allowance and yet made a tufty
Dutch equipage; ” as if it were tawdry, fine, and showy,
without taste or elegance, having an excess of showy
ornament without grace.
WHIFLING (P. 43), “moving inconstantly, shifting.” “A whifling fop.”
L’Estrange, quoted by Latham. Halliwell gives it as a
Lincolnshire word, “uncertain.”
Preface. xxvii
Besides single words there are some few old sayings in the Memoirs
which may deserve notice, as Lord Ailesbury's use of them is an evidence
of their currency in his day. Such are the following :
Page 342. “Bob.” “But many poetasters intruded themselves, and others
not so pleasing to him [the old Earl of Leicester]; he suffered
them, but loved little their company, and would give them what
in common English they called “a dry bob.” The N. E. D. in
voce, vol. i., p. 958: “Fig. A rap over the knuckles; a rap
with the tongue; a sharp rebuke.” Among other quotations is
one from Shakespere, As you like it, ii., vii., 55. See also Nares's
Glossary, Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
Page 691. “Bold English.” “I was firmly resolved had he said a word to
me of that matter, I would have spoke (as we in our country
term it) bold English.” We now say “plain English.” See the.
- N. E. D., vol. iii., p. 180, § 4. .
Page 509. “Cat in pan,” “I know not one family but what seemed zealous,
although five years after many ‘turned cat in pan,' and were as
fierce the other way.” See the N. E. D., vol. ii., 167. “Origin
unknown.” The suggestion that “cat” was orginally “cate”
does not agree with the history of that word. “To change one's
position, to change sides from motives of interest, &c.” The
earliest quotation in this sense is 1622, the latest, 1816, Scott,
Old Mortality, xxxv. For conjectures as to the origin of the
saying see Nares, Brewer, Notes and Queries, 1st ser, xii., 268,
374, 415; 3rd ser, iii., 144, 191, iv., 17; 5th ser, viii., 148,
I54, ix. 417; Gent's. Mag., xxiv., 67, 212, B(xxii., pt. i., 228,
308, 429, 627.
Page 389. “Burnt the candle on both ends,” applied to Sir John Fenwick
and his wife, the daughter of the Earl of Carlisle, “neither he nor
she taking any care of their affaires, he bought a standard in the
Life-guards, and lived in town, and they burnt their candle on
both ends . . . and he sold his estate.”
Page 336. “Castles in the air.” “Nothing in their brain but what they
xxviii
Preface.
term in French, des Chateaux en Espagne, or, if you love English
words best, castles in the air.”
Page 660. “Cost the provinces sauce.” I have not met with another
instance of this phrase. Latham quotes from Sir Ph. Sidney,
“The bitter sauce of the sport was that we had our honours for
ever lost.” -
Pages 456,563. “Court holy water.” “Monsieur Dichvelt told me that he
was very sorry (Court holy water) that he could not come to my
house.” “My poor wife that knew better let fall some tears, on
which my Lord Marlborough said somewhat obligingly, but what
was taken for ‘Court holy water, the expression in French
when Ministers say what they do not think to perform.” See
Nares, who quotes from Le Roux the French phrase, “Peau
bénite de la Cour.”
Page 305. “The elder brother of the Cockscombs.” “They were heard by
their Counsel, the two greatest blockheads of the robe, Sir Edward
Ward, Attorney General there, and Sir Salathiel Lovel, the elder
brother of the Cockscombs, and Recorder of London.” I added a
note to this passage that the meaning might be “serjeants of the
coif,” as Sir S. Lovel was made King's Serjeant in 1695. The
word however occurs again on p. 343. “Then he exclaimed
against all those who doubted of the true birth of the pretended
Prince of Wales. They are fools and cockscombs that deny that.”
Hence a question arises whether the phrase be not used in an
uncomplimentary sense in the former passage. The N. E. D.
does not give under “ cockscombs ” or “coif” any passage
showing that the former of these words was applied to Serjeants-
at-Law. Douce, in his Illustrations of Shakspeare, accounts for
the origin of the term, vol. ii. pp. 317,318. “A hood resembling
a monk's cowl, which at a very early period it was certainly
designed to imitate, covered the head entirely, and fell down over
part of the breast and shoulders. It was sometimes decorated
with asses ears, or else terminated in the neck and head of a cock,
a fashion as old as the fourteenth century. It often had the comb
or crest only of the animal, whence the term cocks-comb, or coxcomb,
Preface. - xxix
was afterwards used to denote any silly upstart.” Douce also
gives several plates which illustrate his account. *
Page 413. “Dead men tell no tales,”
Page 66. “Gold ball.” “That Lord (Shaftesbury) laid a design at this same
- time, also to give a gold ball on Greenwich Heath, as a prize for
the seamen and watermen and rabble, not doubting but on such
a tumultuous meeting he might make up a little army of rebels.”
What this may mean, I have not been able to discover. There
is a play by Chapman and Shirley, entitled “The Ball,” in the
fifth act of which there is a masque, when “A golden Ball
descends, then enter Venus and Cupid,” the former of whom
says:– + .
“These are all
Met in honour of my Ball,
Which Paris gave on Ida hill;”
this was followed by a dance, and a banquet.
“Ladies and gentlemen, now a banquet waits you,
Be pleas'd to accept, "twill give you breath, and then,
Renew our revels, and to the Ball again.” (End of the play.)
Gifford in the note prefixed to the play says, “The gilded, or
golden Ball, from which the piece takes its name, was probably
worn as an ornament, and mark of authority by the presiding
beauty of the entertainment. We have here the first rude
specimen of what are now termed “ Subscription Balls.”
If Lord Shaftesbury’s “gold ball ” were a dance or hop on
the heath, we must understand the word “prize,” as a treat or
reward for former support, and not as a piece of metal to be
competed for, and awarded to the winner.
Page 595. “Head to head; " French, téte à tête.
Page 650. “Look one way and row another.” “Certain it was that in her
court [Queen Anne's] there were persons that looked one way
and rowed another.” * -
Page 656. “ Norfolk Attorney.” “He was a man of consummate parts, and
. . had been bred a lawyer, and no Norfolk Attorney ever came up
to his reach as to disputing inch by inch.”
xxx Preface.
“In the 33rd year of Henry VI. (1455), an Act was
passed limiting the number of attorneys to two in Norwich
and six in each of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.
Long before this, the term ‘Norfolk barator” had become
proverbial, and when Sampson, a native of Norfolk, was a
candidate for the office of Abbot at Bury St. Edmund's, some
of his opponents exclaimed, “Ut a baratoribus de Norfolchia
nos conservare digneris te rogamus.” The Act of Henry VI.
does not appear to have done much towards removing the
nuisance, as we find it again alluded to by Camden in his
Britannia; and lastly, in Fuller's Worthies allusion is made to
the litigious character of the Norfolk people.” Notes and
Queries, 3rd Series, ix., 539. t
Page 573. “Saw not his nose end.”
Page 621. “Nuts for Mr. Harley.” “Revolution doctrine they would support,
and damn that of passive obedience. This was nuts for Mr.
Harley, who expressed himself to the Queen in these terms, &c.”
Dr. Brewer says, “A great pleasure, a fine treat. Nuts
among the Romans made a standing dish at dessert.” In Notes
and Queries, 4th Ser., v., 198, there is a quotation from an
Arabic work in which Saladin at a Council says, “Truly, that
opportunity is at hand, which we desire to seize. Truly a good
portion hath descended from on high. Let us then praise God
for the nuts he has given us to crack.” If Saladin’s saying became
current, it might have taken the form now familiar to us.
Page 649. “When two rogues fall out, their master then is like to know the
truth.”
Page 395. “Over the left shoulder.” “I gave him to understand some time
* . after the high obligations over the left shoulder that I had to
him.” -
Page 571. To lift up the shoulders. “I wrote to my Lord on the Danube,
and his answer was much in the clouds, and I that knew him so
perfectly imagined that on writing he lifted up his shoulders
when he knew he answered not to the satisfaction of him that
asked.” • * •
fºreface. xxxi
Page 405. “A man will play at small game rather than let out.”
Page 645, “To save their bacon.” “In the Cevennes multitudes of Protes-
tants lived, and many pretended to be Roman Catholics to save,
what in English they call, their bacon.”
The N.E.D., vol. i., 617, has “To save one’s bacon, to
escape injury to one's body, to keep oneself from harm.” The
earliest passage quoted is from “The Weesils” 1691, i., 5. “No,
they'l conclude I do't to save my bacon.” Dr. Brewer also has
“to escape castigation,” bacon being the outside portion of the
back and sides of pork, and thus of man. He also suggests that
it may have been from the care taken to protect the stores of
bacon from the dogs about the house. The saying is probably
much older than the first recorded example of it in writing.
Page 372, “To swear through a two-inch board.” “He went through thick
and thin, and, according to an old English phrase, swore through
a two-inch board.”
Page 450. “To tell tales out of school.” “These youthful intrigues made
the King uneasy, and he feared his telling tales out of school &c.”
Page 24. “Underspur leathers.” “He (Lord Shaftesbury) not only exposed
his spleen and inveterate malice in the Lord's house, but likewise
was, underhand, the fomenter in the House of Commons by his
virulent underspur leathers.” 174. “Sir Nicholas Butler had his
underspur leathers in all the counties in England.” Lastly,
636. “’tis very true that the son of one wine merchant, and the
nephew of another, Mr. Matthew Prior, had a great share in the
peace, and then as underspur leathers, for after, Mr. Prior was in
eminent posts of trust in negotiations.”
Nares says, “Under-spur-leather, an underling, a subservient
person. A quaint metaphor.” He offers no explanation, but
quotes an instance of it. “A design was publickly set on foot to
dissolve the church into numberless clans and clubs; and to
degrade priests into meer tenders or under-spur-leathers to those
clans and clubs.” J. Johnson Unbloody Sacrifice, Pref. p. xxx.
or p. 22, ed. 1847. He thinks that Swift also has it. The
note on p. 24 is too far-fetched, and may be withdrawn. The
62
xxxii Preface.
metaphor seems to be that the spur is that which actually sets the
horse in motion, but this could not act without the leathers
required for fastening it on the boot, and they may therefore be
looked on as secondary, inferior, causes of it. Compare “under-
strapper.” - *
Page 686. “Welsh nephew.” “The Marquis d’Aiseau was nephew to my
last wife, or what they call in English, Welsh nephew, and in
France, à la mode de Bretagne.”
See Notes and Queries, 7th Ser., vi., 515. “Neveu (nièce)
a la mode de Bretagne are used of the children (male and female
respectively) of one's own first cousins (male and female). The
words niz and nizez mean not only nephew and niece, but also
the child (male or female) of one's own first cousin, (male or
female).” F. Chance.
Page 505. “He did nothing, and returned in a few months, and according to
an old English saying, he went up the hill, and so down again.”
There is also the form :— *
“The King of France with forty thousand men
Marched up a hill, and then marched down again.”
Page 576. “Had a windmill in her head, like her husband.” So in Shirley's
play, “The Ball,” Act ii., sc. iii., 28: -
“Lue: I am abus’d else; nay, I do love
One that has windmills in his head,
Projects and proclamations.”
Seeing that Lord Ailesbury had spent thirty years at Brussels, and
had married a Belgian lady, it is noteworthy that he makes use of so
few foreign words, especially as Louis XIV. had complimented him on
“having retained so well the French language” (p. 332), and this prior
to his exile. The following are the most remarkable among those in
the Memoirs.
Page 521. Ambigu, “repas ou l’on sert à la fois les viandes et le dessert.”
Littré.
Page 708. Ammodiatra ; see p. xxiv., supra.
Preface. xxxiii
Page 685. Audiencier, “or Secretary of State for those countries.” “Grand
audiencier, officier de la chancellerie chargé des rapports.” Littré.
Page 596. Bicogues, “that is, small places.” “Bicoque, place mal fortifiée.
Petite ville. Maison chétive. Bas-lat bichocha, bicoca, bicocha
- de l'ital. bicocca, petit chateau situé sur une hauteur.” Littré.
Page 336. “Chateaux en Espagne, projet en l'air, réves chimeriques.”
Littré.
Page 610. Cotillon general, “He [Count La Mothe] was one of those that
had the nickname of a ‘cotillon general,” or of the petticoat in
great favour, his mother being governess of the children of
France.” “Général du cotillon, s'est dit, dans le xviii” siècle,
par plaisanterie, des généraux faits par l’influence de la maitresse
du roi.” Littré. - -
Page 554. “Gasconade.” “M. Berniere had the humour (no good one)
of bragging; what they call in France, Gasconade.” “Gascon-
nade, langage de Gascon, fanfaronnade, wanterie outrée.” Littré.
Page 552. “Jubelaire.” “M. Dachy had a brigade of carabineers which
was taken from him, being, as they term, Jubelaire ; with us,
Invalides.” Littré says, “Jubilaire. Qui appartient au jubilé,”
but does not mention it as a military term. Our word
“Invalid,” as in the “Invalid Battalion,” is equivalent to veteran,
as stated by James in his Military Dictionary, 1810.
Page 285. Nonpère. “To regulate trials for treason the Crown nominates a
number of thirty, under or over, nonpere, by reason to have a
casting voice.” “Non-pair, qui n'est pas pair, qui est impair.
Etym. Non et pair.” Littré. The fullest account of this word
and its use is given by Professor Skeat in his Etymological
Dictionary under the word “Umpire,” which has lost its initial n,
being in middle English, nompere. Tyrwhitt shews in his
Glossary to Chaucer that the Latin impar was sometimes used
in the sense of arbitrator, and rightly suggests a connection with
the modern French nonpair, odd. Thus the umpire is the odd
man—the third man—called in to settle a dispute between
two others. : - -
Page 554. Petit Maitre. Littré under Maitre, § 23, gives the origin of this
€ 2.
.xxxiv.
Preface.
Page 554.
Page 6
Page 678.
Page 611.
Page 701.
Page.7or.
term, “durant la Fronde,” and its subsequent use, “Fig. et
familièrement, jeune homme qui a de la recherche dans sa parure
et un ton avantageux avec les femmes.”
Pierrans. “As soon as my groom brought the horses to an inn
the footguards, to whom they give the name of Pierrans by irony,
the greatest thieves in the country, stole one of my holster caps
very richly embroidered.” This word is not in the Philologie
comparée sur l’Argot, by Francisque Michel, Paris, 1856, nor in
Barrère's Argot and Slang, London, 1887. Both have “Pier, an
old word, to drink.” Pierrans may be drunkards.
. “Le Roi s'avisera,” the formula for the sovereign refusing his
assent to a Bill,
“Eliman site.” “The Germans, although generally heavy, they have
often a good heart, and they never rise from table without
drinking our health, which in German they term ‘Eliman site ; "
that is, “once a ſriend and always a friend.’”
I can give no explanation of these two words.
“A great Imperial Regiment of Thungen.” To this is added at foot
of page, qy. Thuringen. But as on p. 547 mention is made of a
General Thungen, the regiment may have derived its name
from him.
Subricht, 703 and 704 Sutricht. I was unable to determine in the
original MS. which was the correct reading, and printed what
seemed to be the writing in each place where the word occurred.
Lord Ailesbury says “I found not one Nobleman of the country,
and only two or three ladies that had the Sutricht, which I will
explain after.” On p. 703. “I come now to what they call
the Sutricht. When the Archduchess came, being as alone save
her own ladies, she ordered the Grande Maitresse to write a note
to eight or nine ladies, that they might come to Court when they
thought fit, that is without asking, and these ladies so privileged
may come at noon as well as night,” and on p. 704, “when she
goes to supper, the ladies of the Sutricht follow, her through her
apartment, but the other ladies not.”
I do not find the word in Hilpert’s Dictionary. It seems to
Preface. XXXV
be like the French entrée, “Ancien terme de la cour; privilége
attaché à certain rangs et à certaines charges, d’entrer a certaines
heures dans la chambre du roi.” Littré.
Page 704. “The general of Arms, the Marechal Zumiungen,” and again,
p. 7 Io, “the Marechal de Zumiungen, a German General of
Arms.” I have no means of determining which of these is the
correct form, or whether it is a name or a title.
The original MS. is in folio containing about 900 pages; measuring
13% inches × 9; 3 inches thick. Bound in red morocco, with end
papers and fly leaves of marbled paper of a pattern common at that
period, gold tooling inside the covers; and with a narrow border and
ornamental corners in gold outside, lettered on a green label “MEMOIRs of
THOMAS EARL of AILESBURY,” and beneath this label, on the leather
itself, “WRITTEN By HIMSELF.” -
It was thought desirable to add the engraving of Houghton House,
called by Lord Ailesbury, p. 352, “my house at Ampthill.”
The Index was compiled in the first instance by my nephew, Mr.
Eric Rede Buckley, B.A. of St. John's College, Oxford, and afterwards
was revised and enlarged by myself, as from the irregular mode in which
the Memoirs are written, a full Index seemed to be necessary.
In conclusion I have the pleasure of recording my thanks to those
members of the Ailesbury family, and others, who have been mentioned
in the preceeding pages, for their courtesy in forwarding my inquiries on
several points; to whose names I must especially add those of our late
President, the Earl of Powis, and our Treasurer Mr. Gibbs, for their
counsel and help on many occasions while the work was passing through
the Press.
It is a less pleasing duty to present my apologies for the delay which
has retarded the issue of these volumes, though this delay has been pro-
ductive of much information, and has ensured the verification of the text
by collation with the original MS.
W. E. BUCKLEY.
Middleton Cheney, November, 1891.
NOTES ON LORD AILESBURY's MEMOIRS.
By HIs GRANDsoN.
Copied from Strips inserted in the Original MS.
The following memoranda were written on separate strips of
paper and inserted in the Original MS. at the several pages
indicated in the margin, apparently by the grandson.
They may serve as a table of contents, showing the passages
which he thought most important, in which judgment he is
probably right.
A reference to the Index in the Printed Volumes will enable
a reader to find any of these passages, as the figures in the margin
refer to the Original MS.
Drt
MEMOIRS OF THO’ EARL OF AILESBURY.
WRITTEN BY HIMself.
N.B.-All or most of these are fair copied.
My dear Grandfather calls this Manuscript, in the last page of it,
A Domestic DIARY.
PAGE of ORIGINAL Ms.
14. Characters of Lords Arlington and Lauderdale, and others of the Cabal.
58. Account of the Bill for excluding the Duke of York from the Succession.
92. Account of Duke of Monmouth.
xxxviii Notes on Lord Ailesbury's Memoirs.
PAGE.
93.
IO4.
I 32.
I44.
I5O.
I54.
I56.
164.
166.
178.
182.
186.
I92.
Account of Pepys. -
Winter 1683. Hard Frost. 1684, F eb. 2, King Charles II.'s death and
character. King James’s prosperous beginning of reign.
Robert, Lord Ailesbury's appointment as Uhâmberlain.
Duke of Monmouth’s execution. -
Death of Robert, Earl of Ailesbury, end of October, 1685.
Lord Ailesbury's transaction with Father Petres.
Earl of Shrewsbury had money of Father Petres. James II.'s character.
Traits in this and following sheet.
Lord Delamere's Trial. Anecdote of Algernon Sidney as Mr. Barberai of
Montpelier told, of implacable spirit.
Trial of Titus Oats for Perjury (seven pages).
Affairs in Ireland. : - 3. -
Judges consulted whether King could, as his just Perogative, dispense with
Laws.
Archbishop Sandcroft's character.
Anecdote of Dr. Sharp, Dean of Norwich. Mr. Pomfret preaching before
Chief Justice Jefferies. Dr. Frampton, Bishop of Gloucester, “Their
idols were made of silver and gold,” a most excellent orthodox submissive
sermon. King James's declaration about Bishops.
. Causes of dismission of Lord Lieutenants of Bucks, Wilts, &c. Questions
Printed Text
p. 163.
P. Text,
p. I 89.
Passage
crossed out
p. 189.
2OO.
206.
228.
234.
244.
254.'
264.
put. Lord Ailesbury at King's desire resigned Lieutenancy of Cambridge-
shire. Motley Council on Questions, -
Anecdote of Mons. Bonrepos offering King James 30,000 men. Lord Ailes-
bury's refusal to turn out Deputy Lieutenants, and steps in consequence.
A Mr. Farmer's appointment as President of Magdalen. Lord Ailesbury's
advice to King James on it. King's Proclamation sent to Bishops to
dispense with Penal Laws. Queen brought to bed.
Birth of James II.'s son. Archbishop not at birth—in confinement.
King's journey to Salisbury, and intended one to Warminster, where he was
to have been given up. Lord Ailesbury's manner of living at Brussels.
Lord Ailesbury's conversation with King James before he went away.
Dord Ailesbury proposing to Council to invite King James back.
Lord Ailesbury's interview with King at Feversham,
King left London 2nd time. His character.
Notes on Lord Ailesbury's Memoirs. xxxix
PAGE.
272.
282.
288.
296.
3OO.
3I4.
324.
326.
34O.
342.
348.
358.
370.
374.
382.
King's speech to Lord Ailesbury on leaving kingdom from Rochester.
Lord Ailesbury's declaration in House of Lords about reasons for King James
leaving his kingdom.
Lord Ailesbury taking oaths to King William.
Private anecdote of Lord Churchill and Marshall Schomberg and Earl of
Shrewsbury. Lord Ailesbury's services to King James. ... "
King James landing in Ireland.
1690. Lord Ailesbury was near taken at Weybridge. Went about in
disguise in London and at Hayes near Uxbridge. Account of interview
with Lord Nottingham. Lord Ailesbury's speech to him on parting.
King James's character for bravery. King William at Badminton. Chaplain
prayed only for King. -
Lord Ailesbury's civilities from King William and going to Court on it
invites King to Weybridge. Expedition of French to Ireland under
Lauzun.
Visit to Duchess of Marlborough at St. Albans.
Story of Lord Nottingham. Fuller, who pretended he could prove who was
mother of Prince of Wales and of King William (in following page).
Bill to regulate Trials for Treason. King William came to House of Lords
in debate. -
Lord Ailesbury concealed not knowing whether he was in the Proclamation.
His wife went to let Princess of Denmark know that King James was
coming over. •
Lord Ailesbury's settled principle. Earl of Middleton Secretary of State again.
Lord Ailesbury's declaration about Peerage. The ministers to him about Sir
Thos. Powis.
Lord Ailesbury's principle if King James had been restored. His Queen
4.IO.
4.I 2.
delivered of a Princess Lord Huntingdon on summons going to attend lying
in, and committed to the Tower. Plan with Sir Ralph Delaval and Admiral
Killigrew to forward King James's landing, and Lord Ailesbury concealed
at Hants near Romney Io days, and went over to Boulogne.
Lord Ailesbury's conversation with King James about Declaration.
Lord Ailesbury's audience of French King Lewis XIV. His behaviour,
Two hours and a half with him. What Lewis declared about Lord Ailes-
bury to King James.
f
Printed Text
P. 235.
Printed Text
P. 292.
xl
PAGE.
42O.
426.
45O.
454.
460.
484.
498.
508.
5 I4.
522.
536.
554.
568.
576.
584.
594.
628.
686,
696.
7 IQ.
742.
Motes on Lord Ailesbury's Memoirs.
Lord Ailesbury's journey back from St. Germaines, and his illness on his
feturn. - -
Lord Ailesbury resolved to enter no more into what might bring him to his end.
Assassination of King William intended, which King James detested.
Lord Ailesbury’s annuity to Porter. George Porter.
Lord Ailesbury advised by a Lady in the Mall to make his escape, and his
being taken into custody. -
Scheme of Earl Peterborough ; by Lady Mary Fenwick against the Duke of
Marlborough, which Lord Ailesbury would not come into.
Anecdote to [of] Mrs. Braeegirdle and Lord Berkeley.
Lord Ailesbury's quitting the Tower.
Death of Lady Ailesbury.
Chief Justice Holt declaration to King William about Lord Ailesbury's bail,
and proceeding in King's Bench, and following Papers.
Lord Ailesbury's arrival at Ampthill, and Pages backwards, account of his
Release, &c., and forwards of Lord Brudenell and his nephew, Duke of
Shrewsbury, Sir Humphrey Winch, friend to Chief Justice Holt.
Passing of Act that sent Lord Ailesbury abroad, as appears (by following
sheets).
State of Lord Ailesbury's series of sufferings.
Lord Ailesbury, hopes giving him of Privy Seal to return to England.
Lord Ailesbury's second wife, character, and steps to their marrying.
Waters near Tournay efficacious in gravel and stone.
Queen Anne made allowance to Pretender.
Mr. Beecher's return to England. Lord Ailesbury being taken prisoner in
suburbs of Liege by eight carbineers.
Lord Ailesbury's interview, near Maestricht, with Duke of Marlborough
after the death of his Grace's son. - -
Conference with Duke of Marlborough at Aix, 1703.
Lord Ailesbury eommanded by King Charles II., by letter from Secretary
Jenkins, to convene Mayor and Magistrates at Marlborough, who were
required to turn out of Corporation the famous Isaac Burgess for seditious
preaching. *
1704. Lady Ailesbury with child of Princess Horn, and delivered September
30, at Aix la Chapelle.
AVotes on Lord Ailesbury's Memoirs. . xli
PAGE.
726.
730.
732.
738.
748.
750.
752.
756.
760.
764.
776.
778.
780.
788.
796.
Lord Ailesbury's lameness and cure at Aix.
Lord Cadogan went to England, and returned.
Interview with Duke of Marlborough at and near Tirlemont. -
Interview at Liege with Duke of Marlborough: account of Battle of
Ramillies, nine long leagues from Liege. ºr
Lord Ailesbury had liberty to go from Liege to Bruxelles, after affair of
Ramillies. -
Lord Ailesbury's return to Bruxelles.
Lord Ailesbury's application to Lord Treasurer Godolphin to return home.
Duke of Marlborough's entry into Bruxelles.
Interview with Duke of Marlborough. Character of Lord Griffin—and
Lord Ailesbury's account of what the Duke of Marlborough said on return
from England, and his inviting Lord Ailesbury to meet the Elector of
Hanover at dinner at his little table.
Account of Lady Ailesbury.
Lord Ailesbury in Bruxelles—at Liege, and Duke of Marlborough in winter,
1708, at Bruxelles. Lord Ailesbury's application to Lord Godolphin for
leave to return to England, and he was supposed to be included in Act of
Grace of 1708; but it did not repeal Act which obliged Lord Ailesbury to
leave England, 1698. A Privy Seal was to pass May 29, 1709.
Lord Ailesbury's Extracts from Political Sermons from 1660 to 1687. Duke
of Marlborough at Brussels, 1709. Lord Ailesbury's letter to Queen
Anne about return to England. He went to Aix, where he had violent
pain from stone, and otherwise ill. He brought away nine stones at a time,
and one of them as big as a little olive stone.
Lady Ailesbury's death, July 1710, after eight days' burning fever. Inter-
view with Duke of Marlborough.
Lord Ailesbury's correspondence with Duke of Marlborough and conversation
with him.
Lord Ailesbury's conversation with Duke of Marlborough about carrying on
war in Spain, &c.
Lord Ailesbury's prudence in public company.
812. Lord Ailesbury's submissive message to Kings George I. and II. and decla-
ration of his principles to kings resident at Bruxelles. Message from
Bishop Atterbury.
xlii
Wotes on Lord Ailesbury's Memoirs.
PAGE.
818.
824.
826.
828.
838.
848.
86o.
864.
872.
882.
886.
Lord Ailesbury's lawsuit at Bruxelles 1714. Character of Prince Eugene
and the Marquis de Prie.
Lord Ailesbury, May, 1718, resolved to go to Paris to those that had cured
him in 1713.
"Character of Cardinal Fleury.
Duke of Orleans as Regent dismissed young Kings Governor Willeroy, &c.
Account of Mr. John Law, and of Lord Ailesbury's residence at Paris.
His conversation with Lord Stanhope at Paris, 1718, and account of
Mississippi project and application to Mr. Law, and not returning his visit
at Bruxelles.
Anecdote of his mother’s £5,000 India Stock.
Proposal of marriage from Prince de Hornes whilst at Mons, and Lord
Ailesbury's notification of it through his noble friend and neighbours'
godson, Lord Carteret, to King of England; his answer to it.
Lord Ailesbury's humanity hurt at Marquis de Pries inattention to poor
petitioners, and about Mr. Knight cashier to the South Sea Company
bribing the Marquis to let him make his escape from castle at Antwerp.
Lord Ailesbury's punctuality in payments. Visconti Prime Minister to
Archduchess.
Archduchess's distinction of Lord Ailesbury, and his kissing her hand. His
dress on gala days. *
Archduchess's Establishment. She was full of goodness and piety, charitable
to the last degree.
Message from King George a little before he died, and from King George II.
through Mr. Bruce, who by means of Lord Townshend, Secretary of State,
had audience of them.
CORRIGENDA.
Page 380, l. 16, for “joyful, at other times)” read “joyful,) at other times.
, 505, l. Io, , “Mr. Price ’’ , “Mr. Prior.”
,, 654, l. Io, ,, “Dr. Houghton, ,, “Dr. Hough, now.”
, 691, l. 12, ,, “knight” , “Knight.”
In Index, Ampthill Park, for 293 read 292.
Eliman site, , 672 , 678.
Head to Head, , 575 , 595.
Thungen, , 61 , 61 I.
MEMOIRS
OF
THOMAS, EARL OF AILESBURY,
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
DURING the course of my time, I never knew one who might
be called perfect, although endowed with great parts, learning and
admirable good sense ; I utterly disclaim to any of the three
talents : God Almighty endowed me with common reason and
understanding for to jog on with in the world, and as for learning,
my good Father was too indulgent and never permitted me to go
to the Schools and after to the University, and he, dividing his
time between his study and sports, he allowed me too much of the
latter, which naturally pleased me much in those tender years, the
most proper time for to inure young persons : and when I became
sensible of the error that was committed, I was sent to Paris to do
my exercises, and not long after I was married, when I seriously
reflected on all past errors committed. It grieved me much that I
had so mis-spent my time, and at an age proper to improve myself
with literature. And that not being reprievable,” my chief study
was to examine myself what I could ever be good for and what not,
which made me resolve to be assiduous at Court, where learning
was not in any lustre, and young men are inclined to vanity more
or less; and then I thought a Court the finest way of living
* Qy. “retrievable,” or “repairable.” .
VOL. I. -- B
Education
neglected.
Sent to
Paris.
At Court.
2 Memoirs of
A favourite
with the
King.
His opinion
of Ministers
after 1688,
possible, but I was, in some course of years after, much of a
contrary opinion.
The good king, my Royal Master, often was pleased to
distinguish me far beyond my age, and I was never at rest until I
was placed near that incomparable prince, and he was pleased to
tell me that my coming into his service would be most acceptable
to him also, and I soon found it was so in reality. But God knows
I was but too happy for to enjoy long that unspeakable pleasure,
and on his death all my joy in a Court was cut off. However, in
that small course of years, and by the good instructions of the king,
I understood the world a little. In that reign I cannot say that
persons in places of high consequence were ill chosen, and most or
all did the king honour as to their parts. It lessened somewhat in
the next reign, but after the Revolution, I declare, and on my
conscience, that the highest employments (where learning and
experience were absolutely necessary) were given to those that
were most unworthy of them in all respects ; and to make it evident
that I set out the truth, two of the props of the States General,
many years after and of themselves exploded in the highest manner
the false choice that had been made generally speaking. I knew
them all personally, and very many I hint at were, in my opinion,
not proper for their parts or (their quality excepted) for anything
above a quarto writer.” As to the Admiralty the nation Smarted
sufficiently for it, and I knew then so perfectly well the false steps
committed there, that I could confute in many places Mr.
Burchell'sf plausible tract. - -
The question is, who was most to blame as to the un-
warrantable dispositions of employment, the giver, or them that
accepted, a great mark they did not rightly understand themselves.
I include Ireland also, and Scotland ought not to be forgotten in
some measure. God be praised, I envied none, for I took a resolu-
tion not to accept of any station, although I had been asked.
* Qy. “Quarter waiter.” see p. 47. f Burchett's.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3
Reflecting on all this confirmed me more in this opinion, that
every one should well examine themselves what they are good
for and what not, and that hath been my constant practice. And I
know my incapacity so far much that I had never set pen to paper
but at the earnest request of my Dear Son, the Lord Bruce, and I
began it to gratify him about Christmas 1728.
These undigested remarks were begun at the reiterated request
of my nearest relations and best friends in my native country as of
several persons of this country where I have resided upwards of
thirty years, viz. they commencing in the month of December 1728
at Bruxelles.
It has been always my study to examine what I was capable of
and what not, which made me ever highly reflect on those who
accepted of employments they were in no ways proper for; I mean
as to the management of the Treasury, the Admiralty, the office
of Secretary of State, Ambassades, and the governing of the King-
dom of Ireland; all which employments I have seen executed in
my time by persons little capable, to say no more, and our affairs
at home and abroad ever suffered highly by their insufficiency. In
one year I remember that the Lord High Admiral (although a
person else of merit and parts) could not go to sea by reason that
the pitch and tar was so offensive to his stomach: A President of
the Council of no parts or experience and by stuttering could not
pronounce well one word plain: A First Commissioner of the
Treasury that could not tell ten, and a Secretary of State that
could neither write nor read, by way of speaking. In the course of
several reigns I have known the Admiralty managed by seven or
nine, and not one of the number had ever been at sea.
I may give this tract the title of indigested notions, being well
convinced of my incapacity, besides having not one paper by me
for to furnish matter. Lord Bruce knows well besides my little
talent. God Almighty hath given me a good memory, and by the
B 2
4 Memoirs of
Memoirs
not written
COI). SCCUl-
tively.
Lord
Clarendon.
Earl and
Countess
of Derby.
strength of that I have submitted to the importunity of my friends.
I desire that it may be observed that I stick not to years consecu-
tively, but as matter occurs to me of things passed in that year, and
which may never be known but by me; and I engage for the truth
of what I set down, without favour or affection, or partiality, and
on the other hand without rancour towards an adverse party. I
read over and over the history of the Noble Historian as they term
him, and, had I been of another temper, the reading of those
volumes would have put me out of conceit of boasting of ones self
and of not doing justice to each that merited better treatment—
the Royalists for their valour and constancy, so many losing their
lives and fortunes in stoutly adhering to their Royal King and
Martyr, and their survivors adhered as firmly to my Royal King
and Master Charles the Second after that execrable murther, and
between that and his Majesty's entering into England with a Scotch
army, never ceased to do what in them lay to advance his interest,
and several great noblemen and others suffered death for the same,
and their estates sequestered. After that unhappy overthrow at
Worcester in 1651, the good God preserved our good King in a
most miraculous manner as history affords, but I beg leave to bring
in here and set it in a true light the steady and generous and loyal
conduct of that great Earl of Derby and the Countess, that Heroine
Lady of the family of the noble house of La Tremouille. That
great Lord lived like a sovereign prince in his country, and was
one of the first that repaired to the King on his setting up his
Standard at Nottingham, and his Majesty well knowing the great and
undoubted interest he had in the counties of Lancaster, Cheshire,
and parts adjacent, the King sent him, to those counties for to raise
a regiment, and successively others also; and although by ill advice
they were given to others to command, which he no doubt resented
it inwardly, but his noble and loyal heart was such that he never
manifested it, but stuck to his Majesty and cause to the last. His
Thomas, Earl of Ailesöury. 5
castle at Lathom was for those times held strong, or rather not to be
taken but by cannon. That great Lady raised a regiment, and the
officers were all men of interest and courage, and she herself
ascribed at all councils of war, and when in want of ball she made
use of all the lead of the castle, and, in a word, what by cannon
and firearms or sallies at two several sieges there were above 4,000
of the rebels killed and they forced to raise the siege ; and she
held out the castle until his Majesty Charles the first sent her an
order to deliver it up, soon after the battle of Naseby and his
majesty sold by the Scotch unto the Parliament. This noble Earl
having then a great estate, and some leading men in the parliament
as Glyn Maynard and Trevor casting a covetous eye on part of it,
obliged that Lord to part with a great share of it for a very
inconsiderable sum, perhaps not the fourth part of the value, if
not, that he should be dispossesséd of those lands without a penny
equivalent. One of those Manors, and a very great one, I saw
when the late King James in his progress went from Chester to
Holywell, by name Hardebry or Harpenden,* now in the possession
of the family of Glin. In 1651, on the King's entrance with that
mongrel Scotch army into England, and being as it might be
expected overthrown, the Earl of Derby, who brought what force
he could, begged of his Majesty that he might accompany him in
his concealed flight, which the King declined, he having put him
solely under the care of the Lord Willmot. This unhappy but
noble Lord endeavoured to make his retreat homewards. He was
taken in Wigan Lane and most barbarously murdered by a pre-
tended court martial, his Estate confiscated or rather sequestered,
and-from that time to the King's joyful and happy restoration that
noble lady and children lived, as one may term it, on the charity
of friends, in the Isle of Man for the most part. On the Restoration
that noble lady presented a bill to the Parliament for to be
* Hawarden.
6 Memoirs of
restored to those lands her lord was obliged to divest himself of
by force, she rendering that sum which her lord had received.
This Bill passed the two houses unanimously, and the Commons
agreeing with the Lords, the whole house, save the Speaker and a
few to attend him, went up with the bill to do it honour, and the
King after having given his consent by the mouth of the Clerk to
all save this, the Clerk pronounced Le Roy s'avisera, on which I
“Whigism.”
Lord Biron.
have been told that the two houses fetched a deep sigh. The
noble Lord's deceased actions, and those of his incomparable
consort are justly stated in our histories of that rebellion, and
therefore I beg pardon for inserting here what is so well known
and better executed ; my design by this is to set out in a true light
the source of what was termed in years following “Whigism,” and
it really sprung by degrees from the discontent of noble families and
of many good families of the first gentry in the Counties whose
ancestors were sequestered, decimated and what not on account of
their steadfast loyalties, and so many losing their lives also. I have
been told that the brave Lord Biron and five sons lost their lives in
several actions. The Estate almost wasted and I never heard that the
heir was ever countenanced ; and there were hundreds more that
had the same fate amongst the nobility and gentry, many of whose
children were obliged to take service in noblemen's houses. In
our family particularly, the whole house of Rollingsley were
received on that account. The noble historian could never give
the Earl of Derby scarce one good word in his history, and
crowned his dislike at the restoration towards my lord his son and
my lady his mother in advising my good King and master to give
the negative to that just bill, and so unpopular an action in that
happy and joyful conjuncture and for why? To favour Serjeants
Maynard and Glin, &c., who came to that Lord's part of estate so
unjustly and inhumanly. This is but one particular case, but his maxim
in general was, and such he gave as advice, that his Majesty must
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 7
reward his enemies to sweeten them, for that his friends were so
by a settled principle, and that their loyalty could not be shaken.
Besides in England he gave proofs of his bad counsel in Scotland,
and for brevity I will name but one instance which may serve for
the rest. That brave and loyal General Lesley was laid aside, when
one general of the same name, that had done as many base actions
in favour of the rebellion as that other had done good ones, was
not only gratified but also advanced in titles. What follows was
fatal, and hath proved so eminently to the whole kingdom, (viz.)
The choice he made of a consort for the good king, a virtuous
princess, but so disagreeable in many respects not fit to mention,
and then had attained twenty-five years which, for a Portuguese, is
equal to one of forty in our climate. The reason was plain ; the
historian's daughter was married to the heir presumptive of the crown,
and her" ambition was to have the crown on the head of her”
grandchildren, which after happened but ended on the deaths of
her” two grand-daughters. The-Threae—being—deelared-vaeant-ir
Bºråk—APBS#é++3+3+éS—#H-6 seehā.f.
The part that the historian had in the sale of Dunkirk I am
afraid was justly fixed on him. I mention his fall now because I do
not stick to years or annals. I have been told that besides ill
counsels and malversations laid to his charge, which I hope was
unjustly, he set up to be a governor as well as a Minister and with
an air of authority, as many governors and governesses in private
families doth the like after the young persons are come to mature
age and married. In fine he durst not stand the test and died in
exile as Rouen in Normandy after seven years banishment. It is
true my good king and master was of an amorous inclination chiefly
owing to a separation of beds; some that took the liberty to
represent it in a soft and gentle manner were not ill received, he
* Read “his.” f Crossed out in original.
Queen
Catherine.




8 Memoirs of
Dr. Framp-
tCIl.
Dr. Burnet.
sº
Sir Bul-
strode Whit-
lock.
General
Monk.
being of that good and gracious temper; but I have been told that
he sent a resenting message to Dr. Frampton, one of his Chaplains
in waiting and since Bishop of Gloucester and deprived in 1689 for
not taking the Oaths to King William. His message was thus, on
a sermon preached before him, “Tell Dr. Frampton that I am not
“ angry for to be told of my faults, but I would have it done in a
“gentlemanlike manner.”
And what Dr. Burnet brags of in the history of his own time,
in relation to such good advice, is all false, to my knowledge; and
if he was alive I could confute him, as to the greatest part of that
tract; and as to what relates to the transactions at Court, and to
many of the vile characters he hath pointed out, God forgive him.
I knew but too well what my two good kings and masters told me
relating to him and his character.
I did not personally know Sir Bulstrode Whitlock, who was one
of the best of those that had been employed by the rebellious
republick and lived with high respect towards the king and his
government until about the year 1673 at Chilton in Wiltshire. A
nephew of his served my father, and me the same, as steward of
our lands, and he hath often told me how his Uncle regretted the
distance of his residence from that of my father's, who knew him
well before the restoration, and for a most moderate man in his
way or rather more polite than the rest. He told his nephew
in these words, “I covet nothing more than to have a conversation
“with your master. I could tell many things most curious
“ and exact, and how little many persons advanced to honours
and preferments on the restoration (on pretence of their having
advanced it) deserved them ; for to my knowledge,” said he, “they
offered that noble and great General Monk to set up for himself on
“a visionary pedigree laid before him, and that great and prudent Gen-
“eral detesting it, they then would oblige him to bring in the King
chained and fettered ; that is, with such restraints and conditions
{ {
(
(
( {
( {
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 9
“more proper for a Doge of Venice to accept than for a king
“adorned with regal power and due authority ; and that great man
“sent them away with scorn, to his eternal honour, and which
“ought to be paid to his memory.” He was of an ancient gentle-
man's family, in the County of Devon, and lineally descended from
heirs female, of noble extraction. In the service he began well,
but being close in the Tower, the Earl of Leicester, and the Lord
Lisle, his son, obtained his liberty on ill conditions, but he satisfied
himself in some measure by not being in any action personally
against the king. At last he was so fortunate as to command in
Scotland, from whence he marched to London to deliver his
country from tyranny and slavery. He was naturally of heavy
parts and illiterate, having been trained up from his tender years in
military service, but he supplied that by a good judgement, and
secret to the last degree, and most cautious in all his undertakings.
Some hackney scribblers for bread, and yelping curs, have en-
deavoured to blacken his memory as if his designs were first for
himself, which is notoriously false. Then they play the Casuists,
reflecting on his oath and asseveration against a kingly government.
He saw all at stake, and his country under the highest tyranny, and
he hoped the good God would pardon him since his main and
indeed only design was to restore the Lord's anointed and to rescue
his enslaved country.
I find in the annals of several small risings in the City of
London and parts adjacent, quelled on the spot, they were wholly
owing to enthusiasts and dregs of officers, Independents, and
Anabaptists, the remains of Cromwell's officers.
The king enjoyed a peaceful number of years, and his subjects
most happy under his benign government, without land taxes, &c.,
unless it was to man out his fleet to bring an aspiring Common-
wealth to reason. Some little murmurs there were in Parliament
relating to the disposition of moneys out of the Treasury, and on
VOL. I. C
IO Memoirs of
establishing the hearth money, a mere trifle in comparison of what
sprang up after the resolution in 1688, to the time of the
commencing of these lines. And in 1688 or 1689, the duty on
hearths was repealed as a sugar-plum to sweeten, and in lieu of it
four shillings in the pound laid on land, and before that we paid not
one shilling upon land, and I must make an observation in due
place on what the late King James the Second gave me in his
instructions in the Parliament he called on his coming to the
Crown. History affords what passed from 1660 to 1670 in relation
to yearly occurrences and sea fights, where the Duke of York
gained immortal honour, and had done more, but for pretended
orders Mr. Henry Brounhard gave in the name of the duke when
he went to take his rest, fatigued after a bloody battle, and to the
honour of our nation. In the battle of 1665, a most noble lord, the
Earl of Falmouth, was killed, who was become the king's favourite,
a man of a noble and generous temper; and in his closet was found
a list of all lords and gentlemen that had suffered during the grand
rebellion, and those living, and the successors of others, were set
down as objects of the king's favour and advancement. One finds
rarely such a one in any Court. In 1670, the king's journey to
Dover* for to have an interview with his beloved sister the Duchess
of Orleans, gave cause of many discourses, and indeed with some
specious grounds, and as I am sincere, I cannot be silent on that
head, although it relates to a king whose death I lament to this very
hour, not only for the public good of our then happy country, we
living then in a golden age, but likewise for myself in particular,
* A secret treaty was concluded in May 1670, at Dover, at an interview between
Charles and his sister Henrietta, the Duchess of Orleans. It provided that Charles
should announce his Conversion, and that in case of any disturbance arising from such
a step, he should be supported by a French Army and a French subsidy.—Green, Hist.
of Engl. People, vol. iii., 395.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. II
who had the honour of his high favour and in his confidence. I
was in that year in my very young days, but bred up by a good father
of a noble English spirit, ready to lay down his life for his king,
but at the same time a true patriot, and manifested it greatly in
parliament in opposition to pernicious projects of double-dealing
ministers, retaining at the same time a most dutiful behaviour
towards his sovereign, who highly esteemed him, but was kept
back from rewarding him by most false representations, which no
ways affected him, having a plentiful fortune and great family, and
the pleasures of the country and his studies amusing him much
more than a court life could do during the intervals of parliaments;
and during the sessions he continually employed himself, and with
no small pains, to look over precedents and records for to furnish
matter in the debates; and to his eternal honour, he was always
bent to support the prerogative of the crown, jointly with the good
of his country, and the latter was little to the taste of time-serving
ministers, who then had the good king's ear too much. To return,
my father often lamented, and before me, then so young (but
endowed with a good memory) the pernicious counsels those ill-
designing men gave the king, and they one and all were in the
French interest and which afflicted so much my good friend Sir
William Temple, as may be seen in his memoirs. That minister
having had the mortification to see the triple league broken which
he had so dexterously brought to perfection. The course of the
Exchequer stopped to the ruin of so many and Widows and
Orphelins, and the order given to Sir Rob. Holms to attack the
Dutch Smyrna F leet before the War against them was proclaimed,
and in order to animate the nation against the Dutch they employed
(at least the Duke of Lauderdale) one Dr. Stubbs of Warwick to
write a treatise to support what they had advised the king to.
They took the poor man from a good practice in physick and then
slighted him, and which turned his brain. I am not certain, but I
Robert, Earl
of Ailesbury.
C 2
I 2 Memoirs of
The Dutch
Republic.
The Cabal.
Clifford.
do believe that it was at that time that Mr. Dryden was employed
to compose the tragedy of Amboyna, where the Dutch exercised
unheard of cruelties towards our factors there (more like barbarians
than Christians), and chased us from thence. Permit me here to
set down my mind as to that aspiring republick. It is certainly
our interest to preserve them, but to keep them in their bounds, and
not permit them to give laws to crowned heads as they have done
notoriously. The old antipathy between England and France,
and the aspiring spirit of Lewis the fourteenth, were just grounds
for our nation to be in a condition to keep a true balance in
Europe, but in relation to our trade, it is our interest also to
keep down that republick. And living at Bruxelles and from 1702
to 1706 at Liege and Aix-la-Chapelle and going often to visit the
Duke of Marlborough at his camp in that neighbourhood, I found
an implacable animosity between our troops and those of the
Dutch ; and once on occasion of a forage the two nations had
come to a bloody quarrel, had not that well-tempered general put
a stop to it with this expression, “The Dutch troops are in the
wrong, but for reasons I will have you put up the affront.”
Pardon this digression, it being to close up what related to that
republick; and certainly it is the interest of England to have
always a jealous [watch]* over their encroaches. Witness besides
their taking from us the pepper trade, and they are often so
overstocked that they are forced to throw in the sea some, even to
half, of that spice.
To return to our evil Counsellors, they were five in number,
and were then termed a Cabal, in allusion to Clifford, Ashley,
Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. The first, of a haughty
and aspiring spirit and kept to his point; two years after, on
refusing to take the test, he resigned his staff of Treasurer and
* “Watch” omitted in original.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I3
retired into Devonshire, his native country, and died very soon
after. Ashley, afterwards Shaftesbury, as hot and fiery as the
former, showed it plainly in his speech as Lord Chancellor where he
sets out the reasons for entering into the war, and as a finishing
stroke he ends with these words “Delenda est Carthago,” and
afterwards he ended his days in Holland as hereafter. The seals
were soon taken from him and given to Sir Heneage Finch after
Earl of Nottingham. The discarded one sets up for a true patriot
with the basest reflections possible in Parliament on the good king,
who was pleased to tell me some years after, that this new patriot
was the first promoter of those evil counsels—the very words of the
king in speaking to me. I shall hereafter have more occasion to
Ashley.
mention him, little to his honour, God forgive him. The Duke of Bucking-
Buckingham was flashy and vain, without judgement, and would
rather lose his friend (nay the King) than his jest. He turned all
serious matters into ridicule, and 'twas he that fetched that French
lady over. Afterwards by his untimed jests and indiscretions he
lost the king's favour and then set up for a patriot; living in such a
disordered manner as in upwards of twenty years he ate up 426,000
yearly, and 440,000 debt besides. Arlington was as much dipped
in those evil counsels as any of them, he was of a proud and haughty
temper, and afterwards sided with the malcontents, not out of any
principle but out of an antipathy he had towards Sir Th. Osborne,
Earl of Danby and Lord Treasurer. From Secretary of State he
was made Lord Chamberlain of the Household; he was not turned
out for reasons of state, but slighted by the King, and he pretended
infirmities and kept to his lodgings at court to the death of my good
master, who honoured me with the place of Gentleman of the
Bedchamber in ordinary, for there were several in extraordinary,
and the Lord Chamberlain was long before he could be prevailed
with to tender me the Oath, so little did he exercise his employment;
and yet the good king would not turn him out, which he certainly
ham.
Arlin gton.
I4 - Memoirs of
Lauderdale.
aał-White—Staff—er—that—eft-peed—Steward.” He was not of any birth
and began in the character of a clerk in the office, and was after in
negociations in Spain, and had experience enough, but he was
excessive[ly] proud and vain, pretending that the patch he wore on
his nose was to cover a pretended wound he had received at the
time of the rebellion ; and withal he had a very pedantick carriage
of a true penman. The Lord Lauderdale, from the very beginning
of the rebellion, was one of the most zealous in that bad and horrid
cause. I cannot well tell the time of his conversion. I guess it
must have been at on the horrid murther of that excellent king, for
certain it is that this lord came into England with his Majesty King
Charles the Second at the head of that miserable army in 1651, and
being taken prisoner was kept close at Windsor or elsewhere until
the most happy restoration in 1660. This lord was of a most extra-
ordinary composition, he had learning and endowed with a great
memory, as disagreeable in his conversation as was his person, his
head was towards that of a Saracen fiery face, and his tongue too
big for his mouth, and his pronunciation high Scotch, no highlander
like him, uttering bald jests for wit, and repeating good ones of others,
and ever spoiled them in relating them, which delighted the good
king much. He loved few but for his interest, but hated mortally;
and chiefly that noble and good patriot the Duke of Ormond, insomuch
that on his being asked one day why he hated so much the Earl of
Ailesbury, he replied that he was a friend to the Duke of Ormond;
and yet in my presence this minister I am describing gushed out tears
for joy at my father's going to visit him and for the first time in his
disgrace. I am sorry to say it, but he was of a most abject spirit
when kept down. The king was quite weary of him and he owed
his being kept in for some years by reason that the king would not
* Crossed out in original.




Zhomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I5
}
have laws prescribed to him by the House of Commons, who
addressed often to have that minister removed, who in minute
matters as well as great ones was grown burthensome to him.
Besides tiring the king with his bald jests, he was continually
putting his fingers into the king's snuffbox, which obliged him to
order one to be made which he wore with a string on his wrist,
and did not open, but the snuff came out by shaking. The king
did some of his court honour to dine or sup with them, and a
select company, agreeable to his pleasant and witty humour. This
lord, although not invited, ever intruded himself. A Courtier
Lord, or other whose name I have forgot, desired of the king to do
him that honour, which he accepted, “but" said he “we shall be
pestered with such a one.” The inviter replied “If your majesty
“will give way to it, I have invented a means to disgust him so at
“my house that your majesty, no doubt, for ever after will be freed
“from him.” That person ordered a double sillibub glass, and it
was concerted that the king, after having drunk plentifully, should
ask the master of the house for a sillibub to refresh him ; and by a
token the king knew which of the two to take, and commending it
greatly, the Duke Lauderdale, for such was his title then, took the
double glass in his hand, he having a great share of confidence
(very natural to one of his country) and drinking the other half
which was prepared with horse urine, swore that no person had
such a taste as his majesty. In some little time it worked as it was
natural, and the king perceiving it, cried out, “My lord Lauderdale
is sick,” and they carried him away, and the king was never
troubled more with him on such diverting occasions. This is very
minute and little to the purpose, but I mentioned it for to set in a
true light the defects and weaknesses of a person else of great parts
in council ; but what were his counsels Most pernicious to the
king and kingdoms, and to his native country in a most especial
manner. That kingdom from king James the first's accession to
I6 Memoirs of
Hamilton.
the Crown of England had the misfortune to be governed by one
Scotch minister good or bad, unless when parliaments were called,
and for that occasion when by the rules of the country and the
poverty of the kingdom the Sessions of parliament were greatly
limited, to save the expense of supporting the high Commissioner.
to represent the king's person. If this duke did not execute that
high employment it was much the same thing for he nominated the
person, and I am sorry to say that this kingdom was very unhappy
under his administration, or those named by him, and I am very
well persuaded that a great part by artifice was kept from the king's
ear. There was indeed a contrary party headed by Duke Hamilton,
who and his companions no doubt represented to the king the
burthen they lay under, but the king knew men beyond any
sovereign prince, although people imagined that his pleasures were
his only thoughts; and by that great knowledge he easily per-
ceived that Duke Hamilton's representations were only grounded
out of self interest, and that he blasted his adversary with the
hopes of governing all himself—he and his creatures—and that
did my lord Lauderdale more good than can be imagined. The
former Duke was represented to the king as the most popular
man in the kingdom amongst those of the Kirk, he being also
of that communion by principle, but in England went for
forms sake to Church. This duke, a cunning man for his own
interest (and else his parts indifferent), and perceiving that the good
king loved to live at ease, he laid before him the great discontents
of the Highlanders, with all his apprehension that they would come
down into the plains in a foolish and hostile manner; and that he saw
no means to quell them but by distributing money to the chiefs.
I was credibly informed that the sum put into his hands for that
intent was seldom less than ten thousand pounds sterling, and this
so frequently in a compass of years, that I have heard by friends at
Court, the duke before mentioned put those sums into his own
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 17
pocket to near the value of one hundred thousand pounds, and it
was plain to the world that he was, after the happy restoration,
master of a very moderate estate ; paternally he had very little,
and of the house of Douglas, but assumed the name of Hamilton by
his marriage with the daughter and heiress of Hamilton, Duke of
Hamilton. These private gifts of the king to that duke, for the
pretended uses before mentioned, must necessarily have been distri-
buted either out of the exchequer or from the keeper of the privy
purse by way of secret service. - -
The most secret and most weighty matters of State come to
light by the babbling of a false brother of the Cabinet or by an
under Secretary; and this before related as to the dispositions of
those sums came to my knowledge more naturally, it passing
through many hands, and I was then well assured that the High-
landers received no part of those sums, or a small matter to a chief
of those mutineers, at least as represented by that duke to the king.
At last by the arbitrary conduct of those that had the management
of affairs in that unhappy kingdom, a small and short rebellion
broke out, but was soon quashed, they being totally routed and
dispersed at Bothwell Bridge in 1679. -
It hath been always laid to the charge of those of the high
Church of England, and the supporters of Episcopacy, that they
were inclined to favour and support a more despotic government or,
as the discontented termed, arbitrary; but by what I have read no
such tyranny was ever exercised in our kingdom as by [the] long
parliament of 1640. And who were they but Presbyterians the
chief then mixed with Independents and Anabaptists, &c. And we
know well how the former grew more moderate, because they were
thrusted out of power by Cromwell and his adherents, and so they
gave themselves the names of “Moderate Presbyterians” and
“Secluded Members.” A great and loyal nobleman, the ancient
Earl of Northampton, said in my presence a very great truth—that
VOL. I. f D sº
I8 Memoirs of
Lauderdale
and Hamil-
ton.
Queens-
berry.
Argyll.
it was the Presbyterians who killed the king, meaning his pre-
rogative, and raising an army against the Lord's anointed, and it
was the Independents that killed Charles Stuart, alluding to the
horrid and execrable murder of that great and excellent king.
To return to those two dukes, him of Lauderdale, whatever he
pretended, was of what in Scotland they call the Kirk, and we in
England the most virulent of Presbyterians, and he sucked it in with
his milk. And the other duke was, in plain English, a rank
Presbyterian, and yet no two were so inclined as they were to
govern in their turns to a haughty and despotic government. And
to show the truth of this assertion, that unhappy kingdom, after
those two dukes were laid aside, had the good fortune to be
governed under the king by the Earl, after Duke of Queensberry,
grandfather to the present Duke, a person endowed with all
excellent qualities and most polite and affable, and of good parts,
and had a most winning way to engage persons into the true
interest of the Crown and the good of his country, a great asserter
of the just regal authority and of then the Episcopal government
of that kingdom, so fatally abolished after. One may say that the
kingdom of Scotland had not been so happy since 1604, and at the
same time there was due liberty to dissenters that lived peaceably
and respectfully towards the government. He by his wise, prudent,
and gentle conduct brought the kingdom into such a temper, that
he prepared the way for his Royal Highness the Duke of York,
who was soon after desired by the king his brother to represent
him in that kingdom, and where in full parliament they acknow-
ledged his Royal Highness as the only and lawful heir to the
Crown after the demise of the king, for want of lawful issue. It is
true that the then Earl of Argyll made scruple to take the oath
, then prescribed unless he might interpret it in his own sense, and
fearing a most just and legal pursuit he escaped into Holland, and
ended his days on a scaffold in 1688, of which more hereafter.”
1685
* See p. 62.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I9
After long and unavoidable digressions, I come to finish the Ashley.
character of the Lord Ashley, one of the five of the Cabal to the
year 1672, that he was dismissed the Court, having done my best to
describe that of the other four. In the time of the Rebellion he
was styled Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, he began by sticking to the
king's interest, and according to his duty until he was disappointed
of the government of Weymouth, then vacant and in his native
county; the disappointment of which made him change sides, which
made it evident that he had no fund of loyalty or principles. He
was a busy man towards the close of the republick, and of the
Council of State Committee of Safety, &c., and our noble historian,
if you will believe him, sets him out as a great instrument towards
the most happy restoration, but I have reason to believe that Sir
Bulstrode Whitlock knew otherways;” that he, being of a great
discernment, perceived well that the republic was on their last legs,
and so went in to that great general's measures, that most happily
brought in the king. I cannot aver what follows, but by what
gathered from one and the other; he was one that endeavoured to
dazzle the eyes of that great man so as to set up for himself, and
that not succeding he laboured hard to engage the General to bring
in the King by conditions which that great man rejected with indig-
nation to his eternal honour; be it as it will, he was in the his-
torian's list of those to be advanced to titles of honour, vide Dug-
dale's Baronage, . The author or compiler, a most worthy man,
but credulous, and had but, above heraldry, heavy understanding,
but it is to be supposed he transcribed the preambles of Patents
and for both sexes, which else would have been in him fulsome
flattery. It is known that Sir Orlando Bridgman, a person of great Bridgman.
merit and loyalty, had the great seal delivered to him on the fall of
the Earl of Clarendon, and he filled that great station with applause.
* Otherwise.
D 2
2O - Memoirs of
~
His habitual infirmities was the pretext to take the seals from him,
but indeed it was more to gratify the high and great ambition of his
successor, my Lord Ashley then, and afterwards created Earl. He
had the seals about three years more or less, and for good decrees
a great man, and he pretended they were taken from him because
he would not enter into the Court measures; and afterwards flew
in the King's face, even reproaching him those unadvised steps, viz.
the shutting up the exchequer, the breaking the triple league, and
attacking the Dutch Smyrna Fleet before the war was declared. The
King, with some natural warmth, turned sharp with these words :
“I wonder at your impudence: you know that you were one of the
“first that gave me the advice in Cabinet.” And so I leave this
turbulent person until the year 1677 or 1678, save what I have
gathered from good hands in my own country, and since in discourse
with ingenious * persons, lovers of universal history, and one or two
that had been in England. On discourse with two great men in
this country we fell on the character of this lord, and the reasons
of his disgrace in 1673, when the seals were given to the late Earl
of Nottingham ; and one particular, and most understanding the
Character of history of our times, was positive that this lord had it in his head to
Charles II.
make the king absolute ; a temptation that few princes could
resist. But the good king, as I hinted before, knew men better
than any that hath reigned over us, and when he gave himself time
to think, no man ever judged better of men and things; and there-
fore he not entering into the pernicious advice of this turbulent
and fiery person was the real cause of his disgrace. I was then
young, and in France, but on my return I had this following from
my father who lived nobly on his own purse, and had dinners on
set days for noble guests ; and this before-mentioned lord
imagining my father was a discontented lord (as himself), because
he ever voted against the pernicious projects of the former Cabal,
* Qy. Ingenuous.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 2 I
—this lord, the Duke of Monmouth, the first Earl of Carlisle, and
others whose names I have forgot, came continually to my father's,
and at a distance and by little and little would have brought him
into fears and jealousies, and the dangers that might arise from a
successor to the king of a contrary religion to what was established.
Give me leave to use the following expression—that noble subject,
and good patriot besides, told them plainly that he had nothing to
say to them on such a subject so odious to him ; and he from that
* day was quit of them, save the Duke of Monmouth, who was ever
to us both a noble and good friend, and in his highest misfortune
Duke of
Monmouth.
I rendered him a most signal service, as hereafter. By this it is .
evident how early they began,—twelve years before the unhappy
death (and to the nation) of my good and royal master, and which
loss I have in my memory fresh to this day.
Some will have it that the said Chancellor resigned the seals of his
own accord, and that was little to his honour if what they allege be true,
that he was enraged that the king would not be guided by him in order
to make him despotic. I cannot say that the king mentioned this
directly to me in his last years when I had the honour to be in his
favour, but so much he said (and that after the parliament at Oxford
was abruptly and most seasonably dissolved after eight days sitting)
“I will have no more parliaments unless it be for some necessary
“acts to be passed that are temporary only, or to make new ones
“for the general good of the nation, for, God be praised, my affairs
“are in so good a posture that I have no occasion to ask for
“Supplies.” Adding that he hoped in a small course of years (and
when he died he had not attained 55 years) “I shall be able to pay
“the banker's debts which I have so much at heart, and God
“forgive those that advised me to shut up the exchequer, and if
“God gives me life I hope to pay some at least of the king my
“father's debts.”* Adding “I will have a stock of money in my
“cabinet,” naming a hundred thousand pounds: and I am informed
* See p. 92.
Charles II.
on Parlia-
Iments.
22 Memoirs of
Saying of
Charles II.
Burnet.
Charles II.
kindness to
Lord A.
Anecdote of
KingGharles'
last Sunday
night. -
that at his death, which was so sudden, there was found in a strong
box sixty or seventy thousand guineas. He gave me to understand
that he had counsellors that, to flatter him, gave him notions how
to set up to govern at his will. “Nonsense,” replied he, “A king
“of England that is not a slave to five hundred kings” (meaning the
lower house) “is great enough.” And the then French Ambassador,
Monsieur Barillon, said openly, that the king of England was the
greatest and most happy of all kings according to law. Vanity and,
which is worse, erring from truth may be applied to me by those
that these remarks may displease, and that they may compare me
to that false and vain relater, Burnet. I may term him so by
reason that I can give him the lie as to the greater part of his
more modern remarks and reflections. For as to Church
matters and politics of them times, I refer it to learned historians
and divines of the orthodox Church of England. The difference
between that vain author and myself is, that he falsely brags of his
reprehending that good king for his way of living, and that gracious
prince of himself rather owned to me of his own accord, several
false steps he had made by ill and pernicious counsel and ill
examples, with these words : “You are young, and I will breed you
“up and instruct you for my service, and principally” said he
“learn to keep a secret, and on the trust I have in you as to that
“good maxim I will inure you,” and he gave me signal proofs of
the confidence he had in me, and the affection he bore me not-
withstanding my young years, and of consequence of no experience.
The following is also premature and out of due order, which
fault, if it may be laid to me as such, I conceived in the preamble
of these miscellanies or whatever you please to term, for as to a
historian, I renounce the appellation, being ignorant and illiterate,
having not had recourse to one author to furnish me with matter,
but all out of the strength of memory. The last night I had the
honour to serve the king at table as Gentleman of his Bedchamber,
my father attended, which he rarely did, his house being at great
7)homas, Earl of Ailesbury. 23
distance from the Court. On his appearing, the king told him,
“My lord, you make me blush whenever I see you, for whom I
“have done nothing for in recompense for your constant adherence
“to me and mine, but,” continued he, “your son is now near my
“person, and I will make it up to him and he shall never quit me
“as long as I live.” He was never known to be in so good
humour in all his life as then, and retiring to his chamber at the
usual hour, according to custom he went to ease himself, and he
stayed long generally, he being there free from company, and loved
to discourse, nobody having entrance but the lord and groom of
the bedchamber in waiting, and I desired of him there to bestow a
colours in the guards to a relation of mine. He answered with an
endearing and gracious countenance, “Trouble me not with trifles.
“The Colonel will be most glad to oblige you therein.” I may
say that the expression was, “but too glad.” And afterwards he
entertained me with the description of that noble Castle and his
favourite one that he was building at Winchester. “My Lord,”
said he, “I do not remember that I ever saw you there.” I
answered to what he thought to the purpose. “I have perceived
“your modesty and respectful deportment on many occasions.
“Modesty,” said he, “must triumph sooner or later, and when it
“doth not it is the fault of the sovereign.” And added that when
he went next he would order the Groom of the Stole, the Earl of
Bath, to put me into waiting, although it was not my turn, that he
might shew me what he had done there, ending with this fatal
expression, “I shall be most happy this week, for my building will
“be covered with lead.” This was Sunday night, and the Saturday
following he was embalmed.* God have mercy on his soul | Let
me end this with one just and true remark: he wanted not money,
he was free from Parliaments that so greatly disturbed him, the
succession was settled in the due line, he had a good ministry, he
was out of intrigues with France, and to my knowledge although a
* See p. 87.
*
1673.
24 Memoirs of
French lady and the Ambassador of that crown were seemingly
well, I was at Court I may say seemingly, and he gave no
countenance to loose and buffooning persons that flourished so and
none else in former years. In fine his heart was set to live at
ease, and that his subjects might live under their own vine and
fig-tree ; but the good God thought us not worthy of those
blessings. His will be done And from the decease of the best.
of kings and masters I lost all joy save in my domestic establish-
ment, the good God having bestowed on me all temporal blessings,
which was a high comfort to one that was under the most extreme
affliction ; and to this moment I have it but too fresh in memory.
To return to the time of the disgrace of our hotheaded
Chancellor. He from that day set all his irons to the fire for to
give proofs of his inveterate malice towards the King and our
happy establishment, in the first place upbraiding the King openly
for putting in execution what he was the author of and the
proposer in cabinet; he not only exposed his spleen and inveterate
malice in the Lords' house, but likewise was, underhand, the
fomenter in the house of Commons by his virulent underspur"
leathers. The addresses to the King to remove evil counsellors,
as they were termed, were by his means, and all debates that
tended to discontents, &c., were by his advice. And the same in
the House of Lords. About this time, more or less, the king
thought fit, for reasons of state, to prorogue the parliament for
fifteen months, which he and his adherents, the Duke of Buckingham,
Earl of Salisbury, and the lord Wharton, aggravated with all
warmth, and the first with vehement and virulent expressions, as
that prorogation was contrary to the laws that related to Parlia-
ments. The four lords were sent to the Tower, and refusing to
make any submission, they were detained a considerable time,
* Nares in his Glossary says, “under-spur-leathers, underlings, a quaint meta-
phor;” which he does not explain. Bailey in his Dictionary, ed. 3, 1726, has “Under-
spore, to heave up by putting a pole or leaver underneath.” Underspore occurs in
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 3465. “Leavers” (levers) for “leathers” is intelligible.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. $ 25
submitting at last. One action of his was most sensible to me, as
knowing the infinite love and affection the king bore towards the
Duke of Monmouth, and my good noble friend besides. It was
this lord that debauched that good duke and by little and little he was
so invoked by pernicious advice, that he made popular progresses
into several parts of the kingdom to shew himself, and I make no
question but the adviser had put into the head of that duke to set
up for himself at the demise of the King ; and considering what
ensued in 1685, I am not out of the way in my conjecture. And
some years before the King's death, it was given out that Sir
Gilbert Gerard (who disowned it) had in his keeping in a black
box, a sort of parchment or writing as a contract of marriage
between the King, during his exile, and Mrs. Barton,” mother to
the Duke of Monmouth.f On which the King summoned the
Privy Council, where he declared solemnly and on the faith of a
king, that he was never married to any person save to Catherine of
Portugal, his queen. And the lords of the Council, as witnesses,
went in a body to the King's Bench in Westminster Hall, where
the King's declaration in Council was registered, in presence of
those lords as witnesses. -
I beg of the reader to reflect on what I have before mentioned,
when the Earl of Shaftesbury and this unhappy duke came so
frequently to my ſather's on the disgrace of the former. Give me
leave to entertain you with what I call a farce, but a very true
OIl62, .
This lord I have treated of, and on so many heads, was cer-
tainly a man of great natural and acquired parts, and might have
been of a great support to his king and country, had not an
unmeasured ambition blinded him ; but he had besides as great a
stock of vanity as ever, and more than can be expressed.
* Or Barlow. -
f Macaulay says Lucy Walters was the mother of Monmouth.
VOL. I. E
Anecdote
about Lord
Shaftesbury.
26 Memoirs of
On the death of a king of Poland, predecessor as I take it to
King John Sobjeski, this great man told it in all company that the
Republic had sent to invite him to take the Crown. On which
some wags formed his pretended majesty's household. I read the
list, but mislaid it, and I only remember two of the family and of
the lowest degree of servants;–Mr. George Bridges, and Mr.
William Bridgman, two lusty men were appointed as chairmen to
this visionary king, by the names of Bridgeski and Bridgmaniski.
His officers of state and household consisted of some of our dis-
contented nobility and gentry; and a man of so great head piece
was turned into a jest, proceeding all from vanity, and almost
ended his days with notions of the same nature, for when he was
formenting rebellion in 1682, he imagined he could dethrone with
his ten thousand brisk lads, he conceived he had at his disposal in
the city. More of that hereafter; we leave him thus, and his
continued busy head until the breaking out of a pretended plot in
1678, wherein there was not one word of truth, but all of his
contriving and his adherents. Aº
Most men are so partial to themselves that they will not allow
others to be impartial, say what one can to convince them to the
contrary; and I am well appraised that I shall be thought one of
those. But by whom 2 The successors of those (there being so
few living that was ever in King James' time) that were so violent
and inveterate towards their Sovereign King Charles and King
James II., and have sucked in with their milk that base doctrine
which was termed, and especially at Dr. Sacheverell's trial, revolution
doctrine, damning the principle of passive obedience and that one
may dethrone one's Sovereign at pleasure. To return, it is my
opinion that ever since the Reformation in England, the zealots of
the Roman Catholic communion and principally amongst the
churchmen, caballed continually at Rome and elsewhere to
promote their religion; but I cannot believe that any man of
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 27
honour ever ambitioned to have it brought about by murthering or
dethroning their lawful king. I had Mr. Coleman's character from
my worthy friend Colonel Edward Cook, so esteemed by my good
king and master. He accidentally knew him, and at a relations of
his, of a contrary religion to this person, he told me that he did
believe there was not a man in the world that had vanity like him,
and that he bragged before him how continued a correspondence
he had, but did not say of what nature. Not long before the
breaking out of what they called a plot, he, returning out of
Warwickshire and lying at Woborn Town in Bedfordshire near
my house,” he went to see that noble seat and Gardens of the then
Earl of Bedford, and being as lavish as vain he gratified the
gardener, (whom I knew to be a pragmatical rascal) far beyond his
character, telling him he looked well to his garden, which that
rascal falsely interpreted “Pray look well to my garden" which
ever after ran in the head of that good but unfortunate Lord
Russell the son and heir (and always imposed upon by the Earl of
Shaftesbury) that he imagined that that Abbeyland would be taken
away in case the Duke of York succeeded to the Crown; and being
in the House of Commons with him, he expressed with great
warmth the imminent danger the nation was in if the Duke of York
should succeed the king his brother; that he was a prince implac-
able and that never forgot injuries, “And therefore ” said he “we
must push forward, and not be as Lot's wife;” concluding by
asking leave to bring in a bill to exclude the Duke of York from
the succession of the Crown.
To return: I own that Mr. Coleman's papers were of a per-
nicious nature, and I do not wonder that he underwent the hand of
justice. As he was the Duchess of York's secretary, it was com-
monly believed that that princess and the Duke were privy to them,
Coleman.
but I knew better from one and the other afterwards; and I have
* Ampthill Park.
E 2
28 Memoirs of
1678.
Coleman.
been informed that he was lessened in their good will, insomuch
that he might have been dismissed their service in a short time,
and it was his vain deportment that lost him his credit, and the
duke [and] duchess left him to the law. - *
For argument sake, suppose that vile fellow Oats' evidence
was true, how could it be thought that the Duke of York should be
in a plot against himself, for an army was to be raised against both
brothers and my Lord Bellasis General, and they brought in my
poor Lord Stafford, who, I believe on my conscience, would have
trembled at the sight of a naked sword, I know him so well.
In the month of August 1678 pretended treason came out, and
oath made that four ruffians in frocks, all gentlemen and men of
character, were to murder the King at Windsor. I remember one
of them by name, Mr. Lanallin of Ireland, a gentleman of worth.
The Earl of Danby, Lord Treasurer, was first minister, and by his
wrong advice, the pretended plot was laid before the Parliament,
which brought on him, presently, his disgrace and loss of that emi-
nent employment, and, although he was my good friend, I cannot
but say that he made a very false step. I respect the constitution
of parliaments, but permit me to say, one house or the other,
especially that of the Commons, consists of so vast a number, and
of the greater part of inexperienced persons, whereas, a thing of
that high nature should rather have been committed to a competent
number of both houses, endowed with parts, integrity, experience,
and secrecy. And I wonder more at the unadvised step that
minister made, by reason he had great and excellent parts, and,
besides, to my knowledge, believed not one word, nor would have
hanged a dog on such horrid evidence, or rather no evidence, as I
will plainly show hereafter. - -
But as to Coleman's papers, he had the same sense of them as
I have before related, and as my particular opinion also. This false
step of his, although so seemingly popular, hindered not his being
Zhomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 29
impeached and sent to the Tower, where he lay unto the Spring
1682, as likewise the Lord Bellasis, Powis, and Arundel of Wardour.
The Lord Petres died in the Tower and the Lord Stafford exe-
cuted. They chose him of them all to bring to trial, knowing him
to be a timorous man, and hoping that to save his life he would
confess whatever they would have him do; but he died gloriously,
as hereafter.
The credulous all over the kingdoms were terrified and
affrighted with armies landing, of pilgrims, black bills, armies under
ground and what not. The Countess of Shaftesbury had always in
her muff little pocket pistols, loaden, to defend her from the papists,
being instructed by her lord, and most timorous ladies followed her
fashion. I was the only one that received advantage. The old
Countess of Southampton, my wife's aunt, and who had 41,000
a-year rent-charge on my wife's estate, died in very few months
after her rest being disquieted and she in a panic feared that her
throat should be cut by the papists, and the Countess of Shaftes-
bury and she were inseparable.
I am now entering on a subject the truth of which will never
be known, and that how Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey” came to that
fatal end. The annals of those times informs that such a murther
was committed, and of a sentinel deposed that a Sedan was carried
privately out of Somerset House. The inventor of this sham plot
studied how to produce witnesses to swear to all he desired, and
had a troop of ragamuffins at his elbow, and , by their evidence,
three lay persons of the Chapel and Court gate were executed,
persevering to the last moment their innocence, and one at least
was not a Papist. The good king that had a penetrating judge-
ment, never believed one word of all their plot, but dissembled it
and some thinks too much, but when that audacious villain, Oats,
would have brought the Queen into their plot, that roused the King
* Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey.
3O Memoirs of
Story of Mr.
John Arnold,
168o.
out of a sort of state lethargy and (he) resented it highly, with high
expressions of tenderness and affection towards her Majesty.
Those that are abandoned by God Almighty, what are they not
capable of ! And why could not that gentleman end his days by
their hands: they valued not the life of a diligent magistrate no
more than that of a beast for to compass their bloody ends. And
to show what men can do that are abandoned by the Almighty, I will
set in a true light a remarkable passage that never yet happened.
Mr. John Arnold, of Lannyhangell, or some name very like to
it, of Monmouthshire, served in parliament what they called the
long parliament dissolved in 1678, and I was witness of his violent
and virulent temper, and no doubt a pensioner to the contriver of
this plot, ever snarling against the ministry, and his Lord
Lieutenant and Lord President of Wales, the Duke of Beaufort,
who was at last obliged to pursue him for scandal, and the jury
brought in the fine ten thousand pounds, which would have been
remitted on the spot on a submission, but he chose rather imprison-
ment. This vile fellow perceiving that about the year 1680, that
this forged plot was sinking, that the eyes of the nation began to be
opened, he passed a razor over his throat, enough to bleed, and lay
in that condition on the ground in Jackanapes Alley leading to
Chancery Lane, a great passage for people on foot especially. The
first that espied him took compassion and asked him the circum-
stances, he answered that one Giles, an Irish Papist, had committed
that fact, and on the strictest search after that man, it was proved
on oath that the said Giles was that very day in Gloucester or
thereabouts, and that he had not been in London for some time.
This I know to be true to a tittle. l
This hot headed Justice, as he was in Monmouthshire, married
Mr. William Cook's daughter, of Highnow, in that county, a worthy
gentleman of a plentiful estate, and so little addicted to the Court
that he was what they called of the country part, and gave credit
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3 I
to the plot, until his eyes were opened; and this villany of his
son-in-law contributed chiefly towards it. To conclude this, you
find one magistrate murdered by God knows who, and another laid
hands on himself to carry on those base designs, and by these
wicked artifices, the whole kingdom, I mean the foolish and un-
thinking part, believed all as gospel; and I will give instance of
the folly and credulity that possessed so many. I returning in
1680 from France with my wife on occasion of my health, the king
was pleased to send me a yacht to Dieppe, and what with my
family pretty large, and passengers I charitably received in, our
provisions, occasioned by a long calm, were exhausted, and being
in the road of Hastings, I went on shore to refresh myself, and
ordered fresh provisions to be bought. The Mayor of the town
was master of the Inn I went to, and very naturally I asked him
“What News f" He with a grave countenance told me there was
sad news. I cried out, “Lord, is the King dead?” He made
slight of that in comparison to what he told me, that the Lord
Castlemaine and Sir George Wachman were acquitted. I replied,
“No doubt they were not guilty.” “O my lord,” replied he, “if
“they had not been guilty they never have had their trial.” I
told him I was sorry the king had not a wiser magistrate to repre-
sent him. This serves for to let you know the same credulous
humour ran through the whole nation.
In Michaelmas term, 1678, on the false oaths of Titus Oats and
other miscreants, several Jesuits (vide the trials), priests, and lay-
men had their trials, found guilty and executed. By the rigour of
the law, those in Romish orders might have suffered on that
account, but our gentle government very scarcely exercised their
power, but these suffered for being engaged in the plot as they
called it. The party then had Scroggs for Chief Justice of
England, according to their hearts wish, and he swaggered an
Conversa-
tion with
Mayor of .
Hastings,
I68o.
d Chief
Justice
brow-beat all that contradicted him ; and the young gentlemen Scroggs.
32 * Memoirs of
that came from the College of St. Omers to invalidate Oats' testi-
mony (as hereafter in due place) thought themselves happy to get
out of Westminster Hall alive, the mob were so enraged, and
protected by the Chief Justice. The annals may inform you what
numbers suffered, and at the place of Justice and before protested
their innocence before the face of God their creator. It is alleged
that the Pope gives dispensations even for to lie at the point of
death for to carry on the cause of religion. For my part, I should
return the Pope with indignation any such dispense, and in reality
'tis all a fiction for to amuse unthinking people.
Coleman had his trial, I think, first of all, and his own papers
cast him.
Amongst the seculars, Mr. Lanherne, the lawyer, was univers-
ally pitied. He was an eminent practitioner and an honest man,
as I have been informed by persons of both religions, for he was
employed by all opinions as is practised to this day. I look into
no books and precedents, but I very well remember that it was
urged by the witnesses, and Oats at the head, that the patents to
my Lord Bellasis as General, and others, were delivered to them in
Mr. Lanherne's study; * and it was proved at Oats' trial (where he
was convicted of notorious perjuries, and I present and have all the
notes I took by me) that he was at St. Omers for all the time he said
he was in England, and at all the consults, unless it was for two days
for to go to Watten, two or three leagues from St. Omers.f Mr.
Lanherne drew the tears of all good people; his life was offered,
but on what conditions 2 To perjure himself before man, and
chiefly before God. “Death,” said he, “I thank God, doth not
“affrighten, knowing my innocency, and that God will have mercy
“on me. If I live, it will be with infamy for being perjured; if I
“die, I leave a poor widow and numerous family. God's will be
“ done ! My only trust is in the mercy of God.”
Papal dis-
pensation.
Mr. Lan-
hern.
* See p. Ko, f See p. 52.
P. 5 p. 5
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 33
I leave to common history the progress of the winter of 1678,
for I relate now only what is to my own knowledge, and by
memory. I have mentioned before, that the Earl of Danby was
impeached and lay so many years in the Tower, but separate from
the care of the Romish Lords, the three survivors of which and the
Earl of Danby they would neither bring to their trials, nor suffer
them to be bailed, by reason they were impeached by Parliament,
and the Judges were threatened, so durst not do their duty; and
according to the law of the land the convention that brought in
the king and turned into a parliament after, continued until this
winter of 1678, and then the king thought fit to dissolve them for
sundry and great reasons of state, and writs were issued out to elect
a new one for to sit on or about February, 1673. It was generally
said then, by well-wishers to the king's true interest and the good
of the nation, that his Majesty and his ministers were out in their
politics, to break such a parliament without any real prospect that
the new one should be chosen in a calm and legal temper. The
giddy part of the nation, believing all as Gospel what those vile
instruments and their hireling perjured fellows gave out, and on
oath, and by their artifices the elections went generally to their
wish. The County of Bedford, before the breaking out of this
pretended plot, desired my father, their Lord Lieutenant, that they
Inight choose me upon the first vacancy; and none happening until
that parliament was dissolved, they on that occasion renewed their
desire, on which I offered myself, and they basely betrayed us by
the instigation of my Lord Russell; that party giving out that my
1678. Dis-
solution of
Parliament.
Lord B.'s
disappoint-
ment in the
Election,
1679.
father was one that did not give credit to their plot. The elections over,
the kingdom went much in the same way, and very few worthy men
were elected unless some that had such an interest in Boroughs
that they could not be kept out. I had the same at the towns of
Marlborough, Great Bedwyn, and Ludgershall, and I kept no place
for myself in any of these places, depending on the word and
VOL. I. F
34 Memoirs of
1679. Duke
of York in
Low Coun-
tries.
honour of a County that had received such great obligations from
my father for 18 years” he had then been Lord Lieutenant. The
Parliament began with violence, and all their spleen was bent
against the Duke, the heir presumptive to the Crown; and the
King, hoping that his abscence might somewhat abate their fire, he
prevailed on his royal brother to retire out of the kingdom; and
after seeing his daughter the Princess of Orange in Holland, he
went to Bruxelles and resided there much of the year 1679 at the
Prince of Horne's home, grandfather to my present son-in-law, and
where I had the honour to wait on him some time after.
The debates ran so high and warm in both houses, that the
king found himself under all the uneasiness imaginable that 'twas
a pity to see him, so great a part of the nobility and even of his
own household striking into that factious party, and so many there
were besides of so timorous a nature that they durst not exert what
in their conscience they thought just and upright; the king's
natural 'son and favourite heading that party like a true Absalom
fomented by the little Achitophel.f My good friend Sir William
Temple was truly in the interest of the Crown and the lawful
succession, but, like a man of wit and parts, did it with so even a
hand that the other party still retained some regard for him, and
'twas he that contrived a means to stop a breach of an old house
ready to fall, and that was, by advising the king to dissolve his
privy council, a body that was generally so odious to the faction,
and to bring in a certain number of both houses, with a very few of
the old ones, either what they called more moderate, or some that
were like cyphers and only in that body by virtue of the places they
held. Sir William Temple knew affairs too well for to imagine that
this project was so solid a one, but as a necessary prop, and to gain
time, arguing that these lords and gentlemen could not fly in the
Achitophel.
Sir W. Tem-
ple's project.
* Qy. I9 years. f See Dryden's Poem.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 35
king's face openly as they did until called to council, and he knew
well the king's mind so as that the new council should sit only for
form sake, and was not to be let into any one secret of State. Those
of the council reformed were highly dejected, being ignorant of the
state reason for which it was put in execution, and this was the
first time that the good king spoke to me some natural obliging
things, as of course to others as well as me, and suitable to my
young years. On this alteration he told me “Your father looked
“out of humour when in my presence.” I seemed astonished and
told him so. “O,” said the king, “I am sure he would die at my
“feet, I know him so well. Doth he imagine I left him out because
“I did not love him? He was to be left out because I do love
“him.” Adding “God's fish! they have put a set of men about
“me, but they shall know nothing; and this keep to yourself.” The
annals will inform you who they were; I remember some of the
chief, viz the Duke of Monmouth, Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Essex,
Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Roberts after Earl of Radnor, &c.
Of the Commons House, the Lord Russell, Lord Cavendish,
Sir Henry Capel, &c.
Twenty as I take it of both houses of new ones, and ten others
by their employments.
I pretend not any regularity in such matters, by reason I go all
on strength of memory, and to relate things that perhaps might else
never come to light; historians set out matters in better language
and in a correct style, and I leave all formalities to them, and what
passed in that sessions of Parliament. Not being a member, as I
mentioned before, I do not remember what trials there were at the
King's Bench and Old Bailey, nor who were executed. If I
mistake not, the Upper House put the Commons in mind of the
Lords in the Tower; their business was only to keep them close,
and terrify the Judges so as they durst not bail them; and as they were
impeached by Parliament no inferior court ought to meddle therein.
New Privy
Council.
Conversa-
tion with
Charles II. -
K.Ch. dis-
like of new
Privy Coun-
cil.
F 2
36 Memoirs of
1679. Ld. B.
at Spa.
About June 1679 my very ill state of health obliged me by
advice to take the Spa waters, and I attended on their Royal
Highnesses at Brussels,” and the same on my return, and being still
Duke of
York shows
Ld. B. copy
of Bill of
Fxclusion.
Sir Win.
Jones.
Sir Allen
Apsley.
worse, the Duke on sitting down to supper, told me that I was not
in a condition to stay out the meal, and that he would give me a
paper to read in the Duchess' chamber. It was no less a subject
than the copy of the bill brought into the House of Commons to
exclude James Duke of York from inheriting the crown of England
&c. I had just read it over when the Duke and Duchess came in
from the table. He asking me what I thought of it, my answer was
short but true ; that no doubt he that drew it had in view his royal
highness' service. He could not so dissemble his countenance so
far as to hinder one from perceiving there was some mystery, and
which I discovered afterwards. Sir William Jones had been
Attorney General to the Duke and by him preferred to the same
employment to the king; he afterwards striking in as deep as any
one into that violent party, he was dismissed the king's service and
then came into all the most violent measures. He was a man of
excellent parts and learning in the laws, a courteous and fine speaker,
and with good manners, and died soon after at Mr. Hampden's in the
country, having unfortunately a bed there that was moist. I
esteemed his death as a loss, for I was pretty well assured that he
grew weary of that restless party, and well perceived that they acted
in all things more out of revenge than principle. No man had a
more clear head, and of a polite behaviour. He was most intimate
with Sir Allen Apsley, treasurer to his Royal Highness, and had been
fellow servants. Their intimacy lasted to the last, and Sir Allen did
not attend the Duke into Bruxelles, by reason he was to manage his
interest in court and Parliament, and it was by him that Sir William
drew the bill of exclusion in so violent a strait,f that he was well
* Bruxelles. e f Qy. strain.
• Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 37,
assured that the House of Peers would never pass it, as it proved
afterwards. Towards Christmas 168o" the Duke had despatches of
the last importance for to put into the king's hands; on which he
told me I would do him a great service by being the bearer, but
ordered me to stay the time I designed, saying graciously, “You are
“most welcome to me and the duchess, and we interest ourselves
“too much as to what concerns you for to desire of you to make
“more expedition than your health permits,” and absolutely forbad
me to go beyond the ordinary course of travelling. I arrived
happily at London and going to wait on the King at Whitehall, I
was struck at seeing how in a gallery so slightly attended he
received me in a most gracious manner; those about him looking
on me as a monster come out of the woods. I followed him by
order towards his bedchamber, the door of which they shut against
me. The King, as I heard, was never seen in such a passion, asking
with a most fierce countenance (very rare for him) why I was not
let in. He told me that he was glad his brother had chose so good
and trusty a person to bring those despatches to him, with most
kind and endearing enquiries after the Duke and Duchess, and how
sorry he was that I had found no more benefit by the waters.
This solitary manner I found the King in, puts me in mind of
some verses in manuscript that went about then—
Thus have I seen a king at chess,
His rooks and knights withdrawn,
His queen and bishops in distress,
Shifting about, growing less and less,
With here and there a pawn.
It is very certain that never was a Court seen of such a com-
position, and a melancholy sight for a true good subject to see, and
* This must mean Xmas of 1679 or the beginning of 1680 (Xmas O. S. would then
fall in 168o according to New Style).
1680. Jan.
Ld. B.
Teturns to
London.
Interview
with Charles
II.
38 - Memoirs of
Card. Maza-
rin’s fear of
Cromwell.
even in the bed chamber of Lords and Grooms there were but very
few that the King could confide in, and none but those of the close
Cabinet (and the number very small) that understood the King's
meaning of taking into his Privy Council those that were the chief
instruments of bringing in the Bill of exclusion. And the Duke of
Monmouth of so obliging a behaviour that he won the hearts of
many, and they imagined that by little and little the King would be
weaned from that natural affection he bore towards the Duke his
brother. And the French Lady and the Ambassador Barillon of
that Crown were secretly the greatest enemies of his Royal High-
ness. The latter no doubt had his instructions, it being so well
known that the French, out of policy, ever were fishing in troubled
waters. In the time of the Rebellion, and in the years of action in
the field, several Ambassadors, as Count Harcourt, &c., came over
on an honourable commission in appearance, but all ever ended
quite contrary to that good King's hopes and expectation. It is
true in the usurper's time great court was made to him by Monsieur
Bordeaux, and others. For this last, more is to be said in its
defence than for the former; for after the horrid murther of the
King, Cromwell became so powerful and with such a tyrannick
temper that the French (I mean the Cardinal) became as afraid of
him as were the Dutch after the destroying of most their ships in
revenge for their most Christian behaviour towards our unhappy
exiled King. So far I do them due justice, and as all kings and
princes act more out of policy than friendship, I will pass by
more gently the King and the Duke of York being obliged to
remove out of France.
But to return. It is known to very few why the King of
France, or French King, picked out of his whole kingdom a French
Huguenot and his son for to send them with secret commissions
into England, and at the same time that he was persecuting the
Huguenots. I will tell you the reason. The old Earl of
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 39
Southampton” and Lord Treasurer married first the Marquis de
Ruvigny's sister, the protector at Court of the Huguenots, and this
Marquis and his son, since Earl of Galloway, were both sent
Ambassadors jointly or separately. And why were those chosen P
Because the son was so near of kindred to my Lady Vaughan, my
Lord Russell's lady; and by affinity he was the same to other great
but highly discontented families. I speak plain English. There
were as many reasons for the King to send father and son out of
the kingdom as he did the Spanish Ambassador Don Barnardo de
Salinas, and the Spanish Consul Fonscia, and that in twice twenty-
four hours, for secretly fomenting the members of parliament
against the government. Monsieur de Ruvigny's son, Lord
Galloway, was Colonel of Horse and in good esteem and, had he
continued, would have been a great general, but his father took
him from the war to the ministry; afterwards he was made General
in Spain, and that was the reason the army under his command, at
Almanza, was totally defeated. A Gascoine said well because a
Frenchman commanded the English army, and an Englishman, the
Duke of Berwick, commanded the French one. The father was
a most worthy and intimate friend of our families, a plain man with
good parts and sincerity, and left his country for his conscience.
And I admire that virtue, and I most earnestly hope that all good
people would judge the same of me, for I declare solemnly that
that was always my rule to govern myself by, and if others have a
contrary opinion of me, I pray God to forgive them. My Lord
Galloway, the son, was a fine courtly gentleman, but much after the
modern French fashion, and was not much more of a statesman
than he was a general.
To return to our most solitary sovereign, surrounded with
above three parts in four of those that were not only caballing to
exclude his brother, but himself also, if he would not come up to
* Thomas Wriothesley, K.G. ob. 1667.
Earl of
Galloway.
Battle of
Almanza.
4O * Memoirs of
their miscreant and insatiable measures. But, God be praised, he
was endowed with a great temper of mind, and of king-craft, and
knew men to a hair (it had to have been wished that his brother
had enjoyed that most useful talent) and usually said “Give them
“but rope enough, and they will hang themselves.” The Parlia-
ment was prorogued in June or thereabouts 1679, and soon after
my return from Bruxelles a new one was called, on which the King
directed me to go into Bedfordshire, to make an interest for to
have good members chosen. I represented to him the impossibility
by reason that my Lord Russell, one of his new Council, would
certainly oppose my father's interest and mine. He replied, “Do
“what you can, but, for your comfort, I shall not long be troubled
“with him and his party, for I tell them nothing, and it will not be
“long before we shall part.” And indeed soon after, they all
desired leave to retire from the Board, allegeing that attending the
Council was prejudicial to their affairs. The King's answer to them
all was the same, “With all my heart.”
Not long before this, about Bartholomew tide, the king fell ill,
and we knew after that it was his first fit of apoplexy. But all was
false as to man” being found asleep in the king's chair, and that of
Dr. Short. There happened that all the physicians were absent;
that eminent Dr. Short was in the town by accident as the king
was informed, and giving orders to have him sent for forthwith, one
answered, that he was a papist and not proper to assist him in that
dangerous condition. I knew afterwards the tart and witty sallies
of the prince, who had a most excellent talent that way, and he
being surrounded with the Duke of Monmouth and his precious
new council and their adherents, made him the more sharp. They
thought then all their own, and no doubt gaped after the king's
death, since they would have him expire rather than to have the
assistance of that worthy and able physician, for so he was well
1680. New
Parliament.
The King's
fit of
apoplexy.
* Qy. men.
*
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 4 I
known to deserve that character. But the joy these lords were in
was what they term in French courtefoie, for the Earl of Fever-
sham (to his honour) was gentleman of the bedchamber and Capi-
taine of the Duke of York's life-guards, and not only about the
king as his servant, but also to watch the duke's interest in his
absence, sent an express so privately, and with that expedition, and
God favouring the winds, that within the fourth day of the king's
illness his royal highness arrived at Windsor from Bruxelles. One
party was as thunderstruck as the other as greatly rejoiced, and I
had the honour to be of that number. The joy the king was in was .
inexpressible, and that of the Duke reciprocal, and to find also the
king his brother out of all danger, and their tender embraces
brought tears out of joy from all well-wishers to the Crown and the
lawful succession. The others were slighted every day more and
more; they, as the king foresaw, desired leave to retire from
Council, that is the Privy one, where no matters of any conse-
quence were debated but as the king pleases. I must in this place
do justice to my Lord Roberts, since Earl of Radnor, that he served
the king eminently, and was created Earl for the same deservedly.
He was one of that body brought in when the old Privy Council
was dissolved, in the Spring of this year, and deservedly made Lord
Lord
Roberts.
President. The Duke of Ormond's high merits, and his great and Duke of
signal services performed by him during the rebellion, as all his-
torians have set forth, made it impossible for that party to eclipse
him, and he was a great support to the king in Cabinet, and by his
employment as Lord Steward was one not left out on the forming
of the new Privy Council.
The Earl of Arlington, the same as Lord Chamberlain, I wish
I could say as much of him as of the other, but to do him justice I
believe he then stood firm to his Royal Highness as to the succes-
sion. Mr. Secretary Jenkins was a man of high worth and probity;
VOL. I. G
Ormond.
Earl of
Arlington.
Secretary
Jenkins.
42 . Memoirs of
Lord
Halifax.
Earl of
Nottingham.
Mr. Daniel
Finch.
Sir Edward
Seymour.
he was bred up a Doctor of Civil and Canon law, and exercised
the great employments that can be given in the prerogative office
and High Court of Admiralty, and was plenipotentiary at the peace
of Nimeguen jointly with Sir William Temple, and after most
worthily advanced to the office of Secretary, and during his being
there, and for several years, that office was never so well supplied;
and several foreign ministers always rendered him that justice. He
was but heavy in his way of discourse, and uttering his sentiments
in Council, and in the House of Commons, but he had a most solid
judgment, unwearied in business, and a man of strict and high
loyalty. My Lord Viscount Halifax, after Earl and Marquis, had
been drawn into the opposite party, but being a man of high wit and
penetrating judgement, discerned what that party aimed at, and
soon forsook them, and did the king and the duke high and im-
portant services after in Parliament and in Council; Sir William
Temple the same, and Mr. Lawrence Hyde, since Earl of Roches-
ter, as also Mr. Godolphin, since Earl. My Lord Chancellor Nott-
ingham was steady in his loyalty, but of so timorous a temper that
out of fear he voted my Lord Stafford guilty, and was High
Steward for that occasion; and he after, more than once (and so
did many others, men of conscience), told my father that he was
happy in not assisting in shedding innocent blood. His son, Mr.
Daniel Finch, did the king and the duke great service, but he was
not of the Council as all the others were, who were of great sup-
port to his majesty during the short reign of that new Privy Council.
Sir Edward Seymour also rendered great service; he had a great
parliamentary understanding, and governed the House, when
Speaker, for so many years. He was of a bold, enterprising temper
(I mean in Council), not learned, and I know not whether he
understood any tongue but his own, and wholly incapable therefore
of foreign affairs. By his interest he brought in the Earl of Con-
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 43
way to be Secretary of State, in the room of the Earl of Sunder-
land, about this time for good reasons of State. This new Secretary
had not the experience of the other, but well supplied that by a
great and steady loyalty. If I have forgot any that deserved
praise, I ask pardon to their memory, and mine fails me as to such
omitted. - º &
His Majesty being well recovered, his Royal highness returned
to Bruxelles, and after a short stay came into England with his
Duchess, and in November following the same year, 1679, their
royal highnesses, at the King's desire, went to Edinburgh, and
kept their Court and were most joyfully received, and I may say
generally. - -
Oats' plot began to lose ground daily, and would have done
more if an officious, whifling Justice of the Peace had been absent
at that time, by name Sir William Waller, son to that rebel
general. Oats was always hovering in the lobby before the
Council Chamber, and Waller the same. It happening one day
about noon that Colonel Edward Cook, that worthy subject and
great friend of my family, alighted off his horse at the court gate
from a morning's journey, and came into the lobby and wrote a
note to my father, then in council, to give him notice of his being
there. Sir William knew the Colonel and saluted him, on which
Sir W.
Waller.
Col. Edward
Cook.
Oats took Sir William in a corner, and upbraiding him for
embracing a Jesuit and one that he knew to be such whilst he was
at St. Omers, the Knight replied, “You are certainly mad, for this
“person is Colonel Edward Cook, so well known and beloved by
“the King and by all the Nobility,” and that it was known that he
never had been out of the kingdom, but once in Ireland, where he
was a Commissioner. The King laughed heartily when it was
told him, and wished that the justice (a prop besides of the villain
Oats) had been far enough off. “For,” said the King, “how we
“should have laughed for to see honest Ned Cook” (so he termed
G 2
44 Memoirs of
Lord B. goes
to Mont-
pelier.
Reports on
the Canal
from Cette
to Bordeaux.
him) “brought in for a Jesuit.” Which made the King more
angry was, that if he had been really brought in to be examined, it
would have opened the eyes of many well meaning persons that
were too credulous and timorous, and led by the nose by those
hellish contrivers. -
The parliament called about August this year, 1679, was prorogued
from time to time until the winter, 1680, of which more hereafter. Some
days after the Duke's departure for Scotland, I went to Montpelier
with my family, and in Spring to the waters of Bourbon, and
returned about August. I had orders from the King to visit the
situation and port of Cette on the Mediterranean some leagues
from Montpelier, I having then some small knowledge in the
Mathematics; the French making a port there and a canal to
lead to Toulouse and Bordeaux and so into the Ocean, made
the King very jealous that it might much prejudice our trade, and
the King let fall a word or two like a king of England. I
perceiving that he had that port much at heart, I did my best to
obtain a true information by dropping a piece of gold into a
discarded clerk's hand of the works, a fellow of good sense as well
as experience, and I obtained a small draught. In short, after
seven or eight hundred men working several months to clear the
port of the sand, one or two stormy days and nights filled the
port again, by lying exposed to the Gulf of Lyons. They had
endeavoured to carry on a wall into the Sea to turn away the .
sand, but to no purpose, and he convinced me that no vessel of
burthen could ever mount from the port upwards to join the river
of Garonne. They might indeed unload merchandises, and put
them into flat-bottom boats, and that was all. The undertaker,
Mr. Rickett, by cheating the King, raised his family; and several
million of livres hath been given in a long series of years by the
Procurator of Languedoc for that project. The King, at my
return, was pleased to be highly satisfied with the report I made.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 45
During my absence little occurred as I do remember. Their
plot began to go out like the snuff of a candle, on which they had
a new project to fill the heads of a giddy and unthinking people,
supported in each county by some hot headed and busy Justice of
the Peace, and that was to get hands to petitions to the King for
the sitting of Parliament ; and several were carried up with
thousands of hands to some of them, and perhaps not twenty really
set their own hands. When that for Wiltshire was on foot, they
came to Michael Wise, the Organist of Salisbury Cathedral, and a
tenant of mine, and who had a great deal of wit and good humour,
and presenting the petition to him for to sign, he answered, “I
“understand nothing but music, and if you please I will set a tune
“to it, and that is all I can do for your service.” And the Parlia-
ment sitting some months after, it was with difficulty that this man
got off well, in so fiery a temper the House of Commons was in
then. To make it public to the nation the King's displeasure, and
to put a stop to these riotous proceedings, his Majesty ordered a
proclamation to be published against what was certainly contrary to
the laws and constitution, it being the King's inherent right to
convene, and prorogue, and dissolve Parliaments, there being then
no triennial act in force as since. And this Parliament was
actually called, but for great reasons of state prorogued from time
to time for somewhat more than a year. On this proclamation,
several well affected places corporate addressed to the King
setting forth their abhorrence of such tumultuous and unwarrant-
able petitions, and as I take it is against the law for to exceed the
number of sixteen to sign or present a petition.
The Parliament met in November 1680. The Commons,
pursuant to their secret caballing, chose Mr. William Williams for
their speaker, a lawyer of competent learning, but of a fiery and
vicious temper, and subservient to that party, and pliant to them as
a spaniel dog. And we had (for I was then in that house for the
Petitions.
Wiltshire
Petition.
Proclama-
tion.
October
W.Williams,
Speaker.
46 Memoirs of
Mr. John
Arnold.
Mr. John
Colt.
Mr. Cress-
well Levintz.
Sir Francis
North.
Sir George
Jeffries.
first time) several members, hot and impudent, as underlings to
those that had as much malice in their hearts, but their good
understanding made them put others on their journey work, and
they like young hounds over ran the others until they were out of
breath, and gave way to the wiser ones to take the prey: but,
God be thanked, the latter were over-reached at the last.
It is impossible for me, acting all by the strength of memory,
to have in mind all the names of those underlings, but two of them
especially I have so fresh an idea of them as, if I was a painter, I
could draw their pictures. Mr. John Arnold, of Monmouthshire,
afterwards called “cut-throat Arnold,” and Mr. John Colt, of
Herefordshire ; and I know not which was the most noisy and
impudent and ignorant besides. They, and some others like them,
had their part given them, and the first work was to call to accompt
those (who) had a hand in issuing out the aforesaid proclamation,
and those that promoted afterwards those addresses by way of
abhorrence. They began with Mr. Cresswell Levintz, a grave and
consummate lawyer, then Attorney General, and at their bar he
was ill used and reviled for doing his duty. I cannot say he was
put into the Serjeant-of-Arms' hand, but I was witness that he was
treated in a most scurrilous manner, and contrary to the dignity of
his eminent employment under the King. The next person was
Sir Francis North, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who
had his share, and they treated him more like a common barator
than a great and wise man and of noble extraction.
Sir George Jeffries, Recorder of London, was the next, but
with him they had to do with one that could not be out of count-
enance. As to these three (and perhaps there were others) they
being no members of their house, it is certain that their being
examined was without precedent, and that they had no power so to
do. I will not dispute what they can do towards their own mem-
bers, two of which they treated most coarsely, and expelled them
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 47
their house for the part they had in these counter addresses viz.
Mr. Wilkins, under steward of Westminster, and Sir Robert Carr,
member for Bristol. Those that were sent for from many places
in the kingdom, and out of the cities of London and Westminster,
were without number (and no one of their body) and then put into
the hands of their Serjeant Topham, a good fellow and a loyal man,
but ill natured and covetous, and it became a saying, “To him
Topham,” for he was glad to get all into his net. He extorted from
them greatly for an ill bed, and for their diet as if they were to
have all of the best, and scarce had they to suffice nature, especially
at supper, some say from November to February following at the
dissolution of the parliament; and then he was obliged to open his
doors the very moment, for fear of being sued for so much an hour,
and several in calmer days brought their actions against him and he
was forced to compound with them. The hard and cruel usage
towards one is more fresh in my memory, by reason that my Lord
Scudamore, a noble and worthy member that sat by me, gave me
the true accompt of that matter; he being of the County of
Hereford and present at the town of that name. Mr. Jeremiah
Bubb, a garter” waiter to the king, had some words with that hot-
headed Mr. Colt before named, and he being very foul mouthed,
natural to him, Mr. Bubb bid him draw his sword, but he being
more tongue-stout, the other told him if he would not, he would
run him through. Some charitable person separated them, and
Mr. Bubb, finding him to be a worthless coward, never pursued
him after. But Mr. Colt complained of this as a breach of privilege,
and told the house in my hearing that as he was retired against the
wall to ease himself, Mr. Bubb came to him with his naked sword,
and would have stuck him to the wall. If this be Commons House
Law, their members may kill whom they please, and no one that is
* Qy. “Quarter.”
Serjeant
Topham.
Mr. J. Bubb.
48 Memoirs of
Mr. Treby.
The Exclu-
sion Bill.
not a member may defend himself, ſor fear of being in Topham's
hands; and even Mr. Bubb was detained several months. This is
but a sketch of the rest that was done there, and I have been the
longer, being willing to give you a true idea of the actions of those
that were crying out for religion, liberty and property. They were
not contented with having above two thirds of the house of their
own faction, but all honest men must be turned out on being
petitioned against, and a very great number of towns corporate,
where the Scot and Lot men have no right to vote, lost their
privileges of hundreds of years standing, and their creatures elected
by the commonalty were all voted duly elected. In this I may be
accused of ingratitude, for the town of Marlborough, for which I
served, was the only Corporation that preserved their most ancient
and undoubted privileges. Several of the most grave and expe-
rienced members retained for my father (and myself) some
respectful regard, as being long acquainted, and the chairman of
the Committee of Privileges.
Mr. Treby, who died Chief Justice, was always obliging to me,
and besides, I being then for the prohibition of Irish cattle, I had
great credit with the Northern and Western members in so great
numbers, and the members for Wales. And on the report of the
Chairman there was but one gentleman that spoke, and the house
without a question confirmed the resolution of the Committee.
Not long after the sessions was opened, my Lord Russell, as I take
it by leave, brought in the bill for to exclude James Duke of York
from inheriting the Imperial Crown of this realm. On the second
reading, the question was put by the Speaker, and the Ayes were
most numerous and with some clamour; the Noes so weak that
the Speaker declared for the former. We were not a dozen that
durst cry out, and as a young inexperienced member, out of zeal,
I insisted that the house should divide, and tellers on each side
appointed. I own it was not so much out of little experience, as
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. g 49
that I had a mind that all against the exclusion should be known,
but, by Sir William Temple's entreaty, I desisted. I believe if the
house had been divided, there would have been about a hundred
anti-exclusioners. That bill went on in its due course without any
opposition, and the member that carried it to the Lords was greatly
attended by the zealots. All the lords at far distance came up to
town, and, to the eternal honour of the bishops, not one was absent,
unless one that was bedridden. -
The Lords received, of course, the bill, and on the first
reading nothing was said, but all referred to the day it was to be
committed. The debates were solemn and long on both sides, and
after past eleven at night it was thrown out by a majority of thirty
voices, not only to the great joy of the king but of all good subjects.
I remember it struck twelve at night when we sat down to dinner
as one may call it at the Earl of Conway's of state.
This disappointment struck the other party to the heart, and
they afterwards made their restless and ill humour appear in all
things.
The king asked a supply to relieve and support Tangier, then
in danger, and all went in the negative and with all ill manners.
The Lord Stafford's trial came on in Westminster Hall and a
Committee of Commons were his prosecutors. It consisted of
several Lords and Gentlemen and Lawyers of the house as
managers. The king present, but in a box with curtains for
fashion sake. The Lord High Steward representing the king
sitting in an elevated great chair, the bearer of the white staff on
one side. That high office was executed by the Lord Chancellor
Finch Baron of Daintrea,” a person of loyal principles but timorous
to the last degree, and one way that brought on him credulity he
giving his voice last, and that the prisoner was guilty; and, as I
said before, he repented it heartily afterwards. The trial went
on sedately and lasted some days. They chose that poor Lord out
* Daventry.
VOL. I. H
Trial of
Lord Staf-
ford.
5o Memoirs of
from the rest, hoping that by his timorous temper that he would
own what he knew not for to save his life, but, to the admiration
of all that were for Justice, and that knew his temper so well, he
behaved himself with courage and respect withal, and above all he
defended himself much better than men of courage and more
literature than he had could have done. His perfect innocency
appeared in all his actions and expressions, having no lawyer to
assist him but as to points of law. I was young and very inexperi-
enced, however I had that discernment as to think the law very
hard towards prisoners accused for high treason, which made me
so great a stickler in an intermitting reign for to obtain an Act to
regulate trials for treason, both for the Lords as well as for the
Commons. I must own that never such defective and rascally
witnesses were ever brought against a prisoner, and as for Oats'
testimony especially, it being notoriously proved afterwards (and in
my presence by accident) that he was not in England at the time
he pretended to be, and at the delivery of Patents and Commissions
in Mr. Lanherne's the lawyer's chamber.”
The House of Peers then were of three compositions—those
that brought in that Lord not guilty, a second of too credulous a
temper and timid withal, and the third those that contrived this
plot, and others that blindly followed through an obsequious
temper. In fine, die he must. The King was very uneasy when it
came to sign the deadt warrant, and did it with the last reluctancy,
and it was with the highest difficulty that it was obtained : but the
timorous part of the King's Council over-ruled the rest. It is
evident that the King was greatly imposed on by such cowardly
Counsellors; and it was so little expected by many of those they
termed the “guilty lords,” that one, then the Earl of Anglesey and
Lord Privy Seal, asked of the King and as in a manner upbraiding
him. The King took him up roundly as he deserved, “And why,
“my lord,” said he, “did you give your vote against that lord?”
* See p. 32. t See p. 96, death warrant.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. & 5 I
My Lord Privy Seal did not abound in modesty and good manners,
yet, however, he went away greatly out of countenance.
The sentence by the law is hanging and quartering for high
treason, but the King out of grace and favour can undoubtedly
remit that rigour, and there are examples without number of that
kind. However, my poor Lord Russell, that went headlong into
his party, in my hearing disputed that power of remitting ; and yet
two years and a half after, his lady and family solicited the like
favour for that unfortunate lord, who from himself would not apply
to the King by petition or message.
My Lord Stafford, after the sentence passed submitted to it
with great presence of mind and respect towards the lords, and in
so mild and good a manner as brought tears from very many, and of
the spectators on the scaffold erected. He had a competent time
for to prepare himself for death, and from the sentence to the dying
moment appealing to the great God of Heaven as witness of his
innocency. He passed the night before execution in fasting and
praying ; those about him obliged him to take some repose for to
fortify himself, and to take some distilled water before he went out,
alleging and that if by prayer and fasting he might faint on the
scaffold, that the spectators would say that it was out of fear and
terror. And I was told by many that were present, that no person
ever died with such resignation and Christian temper in all respects,
and what was so little expected as to his firmity and presence of
mind, and that person to me added this, “I cannot believe that he
“was guilty,” although he had been as credulous as any one here-
tofore as to that contrived plot. I end as I began in relation to this
matter; that ever since the Reformation, zealots have been con-
triving a change in religion. I am of opinion also that Coleman's
papers were an evident proof of it, but as (to) Oats and others their
testimony, I regarded them no more than the barking of a dog.
And as to Oats particularly, I have had it from sundry gentlemen edu-
H 2
52 - Memoirs of
cated at St. Omers, and who were on their oath at Oats' conviction (as
I was) that the miserable wretch, God forgive him I never stirred from
St. Omers but two days of that time he swore he had been in England,
and that was to go to a Noviciate, two leagues from St. Omers.”
The King was made to believe by the timorous part of his
council, that on the execution of my Lord Stafford, the House
of Commons would be brought into a more calm temper, but I
was witness that was much to the contrary, and one day particu-
larly the house was in such a flame, that we sat until midnight,
every hot member desiring to vent his spleen against the govern-
ment; I will not say the King, but am at liberty to think what I
please. I had no experience, but, God be praised, I had common
sense and penetration. Since by the constitution they could not
attack the head, they vented their spleen against some ministers,
and of the King's household, and on the conclusion towards
midnight, it was resolved by a majority to address to the King
that he would be pleased to remove the Earl of Clarendon,
Viscount Halifax, Earl Feversham, and Sir Edward Seymour from
his council and presence; perhaps there were more included, the
questions were severally put for each. The debates were most
warm and fierce, and no reflections were forgotten. Those that
stuck to the King and his government gave proofs of their
capacity as well as zeal. I came in the number of the latter.
Very soon after, the more crafty ones foresaw a prorogation and
dissolution thereupon. They premeditated all their warm heads
could invent, and, pursuant to that restless disposition, they made
several declaratory votes, most disrespectful to the King.
I refer to the Journals.
I remember one : That whoever should advance to the king
any sums by way of anticipation should be declared enemies to the
kingdom and obstructers of sitting of Parliament.
- * See p. 32.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 53
Those Lords and others addressed against were also declared
enemies to the kingdom. My memory serves me not to enter into
more particulars, only this, that just before the black rod came to
summon the Speaker and the House to attend the King at the
Lords' House, many declarative votes passed as violent as can be
represented, and I was pretty well informed that had the black
rod come sooner, they would have kept the Speaker by force in
the chair until those resolutions had passed. It had been no hard
matter, since Mr. William Williams was a perfect tool of theirs.
The Commons House attending, the parliament was prorogued
and after some days dissolved and a new one summoned to meet at
Oxford. This was in January 1684.
Endeavours were used in the Kingdom to get moderate persons
elected. In Bedfordshire it was not in my father's power nor mine
to bring it up near to a majority of votes. The Russell faction
was like a Spring tide at full moon. I never thought of being a
Candidate, nor would I accept it in 1685, on the good king's death,
for then the eyes of the nation were sufficiently opened, and
although I absolutely refused to be one of their Knights. However
they chose the two gentlemen we set up, and the same for the
town of Bedford, at the issuing out of the writs to elect the
parliament summoned to Oxford. I succeeded at Marlborough,
for which town I served in that parliament dissolved, and no
faction could ever prevail there, and I had the like success at
Great Bedwin and Ludgershall.
I did what I could, and I had two motives : to gratify the
king's desire, following the dictates of my conscience at the same
time, viz. to support the Crown, and to secure the succession in
the lawful line; but I well knew that it would signify nothing in
the main, as I found well at Oxford. That parliament, if possible,
was filled with more fiery members and their adherents than were
in that dissolved. Between the issuing out of the writs and the
New Parlia-
IIle Int.
54 Memoirs of
Meeting at
Oxford.
The Court
kept at
Christ
Church.
viz. the
Lords. .
meeting at Oxford, there were petitions presented to the King,
one at least signed by the Duke of Monmouth, Earls of Essex,
Clare, &c., sixteen in all and peers, the tenor of which I refer to
authors. The contents are naturally out of my memory, but I
think they desired a parliament at Westminster, and signified their
fears and apprehensions, and it was industriously given out that
at Oxford they should be awed by troops and papists, and I do
not believe that amongst the guards, horse and foot, and the Royal
regiment of Horse called Oxfords,” there was one of that persuasion.
As to Officers, I am very certain ; and if there were here and
there one foot soldier or trooper, it was not known. What
irritated them to the last degree was the wise counsel given to the
King, to canton the troops of his household in towns and villages
round Oxford, and it was well known that most of the factions of
Lords and Commons came well armed, and kept their horses for
them and their servants; whereas those that stuck by the king in
parliament sent most of their equipage home. The town being
small, we kept but two horses for the coach, and a pad or two for
to ride out to take the air, stabling besides being very scarce.
As I remember, the day for opening the Parliament was a day
or two after Lady Day 1681, and on a Monday. We came from
our country seat on the Saturday, and we waited on the king at our
arrival at Christ Church, where he kept his Court, and we were
received in a most gracious manner.
On Sunday his Majesty kept chapel in the Cathedral, which is
within that college, the master of which is always Dean. The
peers and their sons went to Divine Service at St. Mary's, where
the Vice-Chancellor and heads of houses frequent. The Lords
were placed in a large gallery, and there it was that I saw that
which gave me great scandal, that in the house of God the rancour
went so far that they would not sit promiscuously but separated
* p. 118, “The Earl of Oxford's Royal Regiment of Horse.”
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 55
from us in God's church. The next day, Monday, the king came
to the House, and the Commons being sent for, they were directed
to choose a speaker; I was not present, since I knew nothing could
be transacted save taking the Oaths, and that being done by alpha-
bet it was not my turn until next day, serving for a town in the
county of Wilts. So I took that opportunity to ride out of town,
and on the bridge I met the Duke of Monmouth, with thousands
after him, on horseback and on foot, with great cries of joy; my
Lord Grey of Wark, since Earl of Tankerville, on his right, and Sir
Thomas Armstrong on his left. That duke came towards me, and
saluted me tenderly, to the great astonishment of those next him,
and I was so with him to almost his very last. On Tuesday the
Commons presented their Speaker, Mr. Williams, Recorder of
Chester. The king knew that it was to no purpose to reject him,
and being approved, he began his speech in a most insolent manner,
“May it please your Majesty: As a mark that the House of Com-
mons are not given to change, they have made choice of me for
their Speaker, &c.” or words to the same effect. And he spoke
very true (contrary to his usual custom) for the next day, Wednes-
day, the Lord Russell, as I take it, was the member that desired
leave to bring in a bill to exclude James Duke of York from
inheriting the Imperial Crown of this Realm. It was the same day,
as I take it, that Mr. Secretary Jenkins, that worthy and laborious
minister, had like to have been sent to prison for refusing to carry
up a message to the Lords, of a most disagreeable nature, in regard
to the king and his regal authority, and therefore the king's secre-
tary, of all persons, ought not to have been the messenger, and as I
believe without example. As far as I can charge my memory, he
escaped that shame by the prudence of some of the wiser and more
calm heads of the party. There was a conflict of jurisdiction
between the Crown and the Parliament relating to a very unworthy
man, Sir Edward Fitzharris, that was condemned after at the King's
Exclusion
Bill.
56 Memoirs of
Cabinet
Council at
Merton Col-
lege.
Bench bar, and execution passed on him, and the Commons pre-
tended that an inferior court could and ought not to take cognizance,
and they made a declaratory vote by way of threatening the Judges.
The Royal party wisely made no opposition as to bringing in
the Bill, knowing well that it would have the same fate as the
preceding one. So the Bill was read once, but those that managed
the affairs of the Crown offered to the House (what the King knew
would not be accepted, and rather to blind them than otherwise)
certain expedients, as, to give the Parliament power to name great
officers civil and military, &c., in case the Duke of York should
come to inherit the Crown, and in fine, to make him a Doge of
Venice rather than a king. I was one of the young raw members
that dreaded these expedients more than the Bill, not perceiving
the King's politics, of which he was a great master. But, God be
praised, the party were so violent, God had blinded them in so great
a measure, that they would have all or nothing. The Monday
following the octave of the opening the Session was appointed for
the Bill to be read a second time in order to be committed. On
Sunday in the afternoon, the King kept a Cabinet Council at
Merton College, where the Lord Chancellor Nottingham lodged,
and who was a little indisposed, where the dissolution of the Parlia-
ment was resolved on, and where there was not one false or
babbling member. And secretly in the night the King's coaches
were sent one good stage, and some horse guards that were
quartered, out of the town. On Monday pretty early, I went to
take the air on horseback with the Savoy Ambassador, Count
Pertingue, since Marquis de Prie, that governed so many years the
Austrian Netherlands. I was unwilling to go far from the town in
order to attend the House. About eleven, I went to Christchurch,
the Parliament sitting in great rooms within the precincts of the
College : I met a friend of mine that told me the King was sitting
on his throne and with his robes and crown, and for the more
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. -. 57
secrecy the Peers had no notice given them to put on their robes.
I went into the House by the door next the canopy, and the King
gave me a most gracious smile, and I never saw him with such a
cheerful countenance. .
The King expected the Speaker and the Commons. I retired
into the corner at the end of the Bishop's Bench next the bar,
although according to forms as a member I ought to have been
without the bar. The door by which the Speaker was to enter was
very straight, and three steps to come down, which prolonged the
time much, and they got in besides with great difficulty. The
Speaker came to the bar with my Lord Russell on his right and my
Lord Cavendish on his left. The crowd was such, and the noise so
loud, that the first Serjeant-at-Arms cried out three times, “Silence
“in the King's name.”
The King ordered my Lord Chancellor Finch to do his duty;
on which he declared, in the usual manner, it was the King's
pleasure that this Parliament should be dissolved. I was witness
of the dreadful faces of the members, and the loud sighs. I went
up the House to attend the King at the putting off his robes, and
with a most pleasing and cheerful countenance he touched me on
the shoulder with this expression, “I am now a better man than
“you were a quarter of an hour since ; you had better have one
king than five hundred : " and bid us all go to our own houses
and there stay until further orders. In appearance he dined in
public, and with music, as the other days, but 'twas a breakfast
rather; sitting a very short time, and retiring into a room, he went
privately down a back stairs, and stepped into Sir Edward
Seymour's coach (and there was not so much as one in
his own livery or guards) and arrived at Windsor that night
in his own coach, and with guards that were posted on the
road, and the next Monday he came to Whitehall. It was
reasonably thought that the Session of Parliament might last
VOL. I. I
Dissolution
of the Par-
liament.
58 * Memoirs of
Addresses to
the King.
some time, and I amongst others were furnishing our lodgings in
several colleges. That party of the faction returned sooner,
having kept their horses, and, as it was said, arms; but those they
called Royalists, and especially those that came from the remotest
counties, were obliged to stay some of them three weeks more or
less, until their horses arrived. We came to our country seat the next
day by reason we were so near Oxford. Not many days after, the
king issued out a most gracious declaration, setting out the ill treat-
ment he had found, and the just reasons for that dissolution; but
added that that should not hinder him from calling of Parliaments,
when he found it might be for his interest and the good of the
kingdom. The king's messengers were sent into all the counties of
the kingdom, and principality of Wales, and that declaration met
with so general an applause that for about a month after, and
which lasted upwards of three more, the king accepted with a most
joyful and gracious countenance addresses of thanks expressed in the
most dutiful manner from every individual county, city and town
corporate. I attended the Court at Windsor that Summer, and
was eye-witness of the mutual satisfaction between the king and
his subjects; and very many great tables were kept on purpose
daily for to entertain all the gentlemen that brought up the
addresses; and particularly I remember, that when my father
came with the gentlemen of Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire,
there were near thirty, and of the chief of the counties. To these
there were no setting of hands as was practised by the ringleaders of
those tumultuous petitions in 1679 and 168o for the demanding the
sitting of the Parliament, but now all strove who should sign first,
and those of the highest quality and others of a second degree.
And what ought to be well remarked, that those counties, cities,
and towns corporate that had sent such fiery members to the two
last parliaments were generally the first that sent up these addresses
of thanks, and in the most dutiful and respectful style, which
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 59
------,
ment of the members they had sent. It is true that few or none of
those late members signed those addresses, nor did any one attend
the Lords Lieutenants that carried them up, unless some few well
meaning gentlemen that had been gulled by that party, and they
became to have their eyes opened, and I sat in the two parliaments
with many what they called violent Whigs then, whose families
came after into the measures of the party called Tory. But in the
time I am describing the loyal party had the name given them of
“Yorkists,” and very properly so termed, by reason they stood so
firm to the lawful succession in favour of the true presumptive heir
to the Crown, James Duke of York, brother to his sacred majesty.
Before I proceed as to the rest of the year 1681, give me leave
to set down my thoughts, although very undigested, in relation to
the temper of the nation and the temper of Parliaments, and that no
judgement can be made of the former by what is concluded in one
House, or in the other, or in both.
The Parliament that had sat from 1660 to the latter end of
1678 was filled with landed men for the far greater part, and 'tis my
opinion that the nation is ever safe when the Counties, Cities &c.
are represented by men of substance and natives of the County from
whence they come, and never safe when 'tis otherwise. Indeed
their heads at last turned round by the devilish artifices of that
Achitophel and adherents who made them to believe that their
throats were to be cut by Irish papists and what not as before
mentioned. Nevertheless there were near half of that House of
Commons that retained their senses, but not being able to come up
to a majority, the King was obliged to dissolve them, and the two
ensuing parliaments were chosen contrary to the genius of a great
part of the men of most worth in their several Counties. But the
fomenters of what they called a plot carried all before them ; and
for why? Because the common unthinking people have a voice
“Yorkists.”
Lord Bruce's
opinion upon
Parliaments.
I 2
6o Memoirs of
equal to a man of the best estate. I mean such as have but forty
shillings per annum, and many have it not, but make it up by kissing
the book as they call it, and not sensible of their being perjured. I
do not pretend to find fault with that constitution, but I may lament
it; and 'tis well known what a difference there is between forty
shillings now, and what that sum was four hundred years and more
since ; and 'tis but enough for fire brands to be sent into the
Counties with the noise of a popish plot, for to have the votes of an
unthinking rabble. And the same in Cities and Boroughs where all
have votes that doth not receive alms, which gives way to the
bringing in Citizens—monied men but without estate—and all
worthy and landed men are jostled to make room for purse-proud
cockneys, and for officers of the army, agents of regiments, Direc-
tors of the Bank, South Sea, and East India Company, their clerks,
cashiers &c. These come down with bags of gold, and if an honest
country gentleman pretends to oppose, he ruins himself and family;
and in my time I have seen a multitude of families so ruined.
There was a great contest between a Minister of State deceased
and one that governed the purse, which was the most thrifty way
for to gain the members. Him deceased was for gaining them after
being elected, and him living persisted that it was the surest way to
corrupt the electors. g - - - -
There was seemingly a good act made, that each knight should
have five hundred pounds a year in the County where he stood,
and so much if he stood for city or borough; but all that is eluded
as well as restrictions for the more impartial electing of members.
Few years since a gentleman of quality stood for knight for
Lincolnshire, and took his oath he had five hundred pounds per
annum in that county; and it was perceived by all, that in taking
the oath he trembled and became pale as ashes. It was a custom
and is since, to convey over farms and tenements for the time with
giving a defeasance, but the good God is forgotten on such occasions,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 6I
and He is the only searcher of hearts. To conclude this long
digression and little regular:—My native county is that of Bedford.
They send two Knights and two Burgesses only. For argument
sake these four may be gained. Can that be called the temper of
that county, filled with so many worthy and rich gentlemen of
quality, and of the second form, and rich yeomen that may be of a
contrary sentiment to their four members? And judge the same
throughout the kingdom over. This is much out of order, and
anticipating, but it proceeded on occasion of those dutiful and
unanimous addresses from counties, cities, and towns corporate, the
greater part of which had elected such members for those two fiery
parliaments; and their addressing so voluntarily I take to be a true
mark that they were not contented with the behaviour of their late
members, and they gave signal proofs of that at the time of the
elections for the Parliament called in 1685, after the decease of
our most good and gracious king Charles the Second.
His Royal Highness the Duke kept his court still at Edinburgh,
and a parliament being called this Summer of 1681, he took on
him, for the king his brother's service and consequently for his
own, the character of High Commissioner. That loyal kingdom
took it for so great an honour, that they agreed to all he could
think of or proposed, and those that had the honour to be of the
close council in cabinet exerted themselves in the most high
manner with all judgement and secrecy, and my noble friend the
Earl of Queensberry, afterwards Marquis and Duke, was at the
head under his Royal Highness. All matters proposed in Parlia-
ment were applauded by the Lords and Commons, for there until
the union so fatal to that most ancient kingdom the Lords and
Commons sat together. Towards the latter end of the Summer,
the king, as he did often, diverted himself by going down the river
in his yacht, attended by the rest, and, by the care of his officers
and board of green cloth, all meals were as well served as if at
Duke of
York at
Edinburgh.
62 - Memoirs of
The King's
excursion
down the
Thames.
Whitehall, and convenient beds for those that had the honour
to attend. - . • ' ' .
I was not until very few years after of the Court, but, however,
the King was pleased to name me for to attend him, and I had
place in his coach to London; Sir Philip Howard, Captain of the
Life Guard in waiting, not being permitted by reason he was not
a Peer or Earl's eldest son. The King went in his barge to Green-
wich, and, stepping into his yacht, he told Mr. Theodore Randa, the
Page of the bedchamber or back stairs in waiting, that I was young
and lazy, and ordered him to get me one of the best beds under
his. We sailed, as I take it, to the Nore, and so to Chatham; and
it cannot be expressed the satisfaction we had by eating twice that
day with the King, who was all mirth, and of the most pleasing
conversation : and if we played at any game he would come and
sit by us. We lay at anchor one of the nights near the Nore, and
early in the morning the King went on board the “Tiger,” com-
manded by the elder brother of this Lord Berkeley, who was
going into the Mediterranean against the pirates with a squadron.
The King there half an hour, received an express from Scotland
with news that gave him such joy that he sent a gentleman usher
to awaken me, and ordered me to come to him forthwith, where I
found Colonel Oglethorpe, that brought the joyful news of his
Royal Highness being recognized by Parliament as the lawful and
presumptive heir to his majesty, and one may say unanimously.
'Tis true the Parliament framed an oath for all persons to take,
but the Earl of Argyll, solely as I think, refused it unless he could
interpret it according to his sense; and to avoid going to prison he
escaped into Holland, and was outlawed, and returned in 1685 to
seek his grave.*
Not having looked over one book or paper of any kind to
furnish me with matter, it is impossible for me to be exact as to
* See pp. 18, 71.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 63
point of time, but, as I take it, their Royal Highnesses came from
Scotland by way of a visit, for 'tis well known that the Duke at least
returned by sea in 1682 as hereafter. Sie-Jek *
rº Aſ a rºc a & Jº is sº ſº * * * * * L_º * * *_i º
ºn ºf CT. J. T. Sº Vº ºr ſº ºf tº 1 : C Kºy Tº ſy % ºf & O ſº T. Twº
Al
year-easujag." This Winter, the King being informed that the Earl
of Shaftesbury was deeply dipped in intrigues against the King and
Government, he got such light and proofs against him, as that the
King's Attorney preferred an information against him before the
Grand Jury at the Old Bailey; but the Sheriffs there being of a
factious and fiery temper, the Grand Jury would not find the
information, with the usual expression, “Ignoramus.” The mob
was prepared, and they gave great shouts of joy, and assaulted the
King's witnesses so that they were endangered of their lives, and
narrowly escaped by taking refuge at the Savoy, where a battalion
of the Foot Guards or more were generally quartered, the mob
crying, “Popish Irish witnesses.” - - -
Whether that lord had the information presented against him
for what follows or not I am not certain, and whether another
information was presented for the heinous crime following, but
this I am certain of, that I relate the matter as it was, and as if it
had passed but some days since. The king having just reasons to
suspect that this lord that was unwearied in his contrivances,
commanded Mr. Francis Gwinne and Mr. William Blathwayt, the
chief secretaries under the Earl of Conway, Secretary of State,
and I being continually with him as my friend and kinsman, I
came to the greater knowledge of this matter. These two
gentlemen went by orders signed by the King to Thanet House
in Aldersgate Street, where that lord resided. On strict search
Intrigues of
the Earl of
Shaftesbury.
they found nothing of consequence, save a large folio book stuffed
with receipts of all sorts for kitchen, still-house, and for curing
diseases of horses, &c. These gentlemen retired for to make their
.. S. tº - e tº
* Crossed out in original.




64 - Memoirs of
Sir John
Moore, Lord
Mayor.
A Club
formed.
report, but one of them, and as I take it, Mr. Gwinne, who had a
more quick discernment, told the other that they should be received
ill at Court, and persuaded the other to go back again ; and looking
over the book from one end to the other, they found the kingdom
numbered, and by alphabet, and of consequence the County of
Bedford led the dance. The two parties were distinguished “Men
worthy,” and “Worthy Men”; the former, worthy to be hanged,
and the latter, he described as men of worth according to his
sentiments. My father and myself had the honour to be of the
former rank and at the head. -
This book I saw, and this I affirm notwithstanding Sheriffs Pilkin-
ton's and Shute's Grand Juries persisted in their terms of Ignoramus;
and the king was so far from having justice done, that not only his
witnesses were insulted, but likewise his learned Counsel-at-law. This
awakened the lethargy the City seemed to be in, and the worthy Alder-
men, Common Councilmen and eminent Citizens, true to their king and
their Country, began to bestir themselves in their several wards;
and by providence Sir John Moore, that brave and worthy Alder-
man, was elected Lord Mayor for the rest of that year and the
ensuing one, and his first action after being sworn into that office
was the Spring of all that happened so prosperously for the good of
the king and kingdom, that vast and populous and rich metropolis
being regarded as the head of the body. I mean his asserting the
right of the Chair; and taking a gilt cup of wine he drank to that
loyal person Mr. Dudley North as one of the Sheriffs to be elected
on Midsummer Day 1682. There was also a club erected at the
Warder within Ludgate, which at first was composed but of twelve
persons, of which I was one, but excused from coming always as
the others did, they naming a deputy for me. Sir John Moore
could not come himself, it being within the precincts of the city.
This Club gathered like a snowball in very few weeks. The Duke
of Ormond, my father, and a great number of the Nobility came in
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 65
to us, and I saw one night near three hundred in several rooms, the
greater part of the Aldermen, the Recorder, Sir John Holt since
Lord Chief Justice, and all rich and worthy traders, and all without
noise or excess, no one being obliged to drink more than what they
put into their own glass.’ This, I may affirm, did great service, and
was a means to suppress the riotous faction that had reigned but
too long; each one exerting themselves in their several wards gave
rise to the election of those worthy and loyal sheriffs the mid-
summer following. -
The bringing in a quo warrants" against the Charter made great
noise, and I own they are not things to be done by a pique or
rashly. The matter was calmly debated, and had never been
resolved on if the city could have been brought into a better
temper; but the Earl of Shaftesbury and his party absolutely led them
by the nose, and the King's legal and royal authority was despised
by them, and they brought that innovation on themselves. Not
but that, on my conscience, I believe there is not a corporation in
England but have forfeited their privileges, what by extortions,
false weights and measures, &c. I wish there had been no occasion
for those steps the Court took then, but I aver at the same time,
the King did it in a manner, as it is termed on unhappy occasions,
se defendendi, and I knew that those were his sentiments at that
time, he often expressing himself in this manner, and in my hearing.
As “I will maintain my prerogative so it shall be in its just bound;
“on the other hand I will not have my subjects give me the law.”
This winter of 1681 and the beginning of 1682, the Lords of
the faction and their adherents had contrived unlawful and factious
meetings, but 'tis impossible to give particulars. It was known
nevertheless afterwards, that the Duke of Monmouth complained
heavily against the Earl of Shaftesbury's violent projects, adding
that they would ruin them all. That Earl, notwithstanding he had
* Qy. “a Quo warranto.” Hume, Ch. lxix., says, “A writof quo warranto was issued
against the City in 1683.”
VOL. I. - K
Writ of
“Quo war-
ranto.”
66 - Memoirs of
a violence in his temper, yet, it was well known, he had a great
capacity, and he perceived well that he could not long subsist, if
impartial Grand Juries came once to be impanelled; so he went on
headlong le tout pour le tout as it is expressed in French; and, not-
withstanding his great parts and experience, he had most vain
notions, and did really fancy that with his ten thousand brisk boys"
as he called them, that he pretended was at his disposal in the city,
that he could overcome the King and his Government at will and
pleasure, and it was upon that most vain assurance that made him
so impatient, he on one side loudly exclaimed against the Duke of
Monmouth's slackness, and the Duke complained as much of the
Earl's hot head and rashness. The good God blinded them both,
and to Him alone we must ascribe the King's preservation, the
kingdom's, and all good and loyal subjects'. That Lord laid a
design at this same time also, to give a gold ball on Greenwich
Heath, as a prize for the seamen and watermen and rabble, not
doubting but on such a tumultuous meeting he might make up a
little army of rebels:—a comical metamorphosis from High
Chancellor to turn Jack Cade. If any author that wrote by authority
hath set out more particulars, I refer you to him, for I cannot re-
member any other passages by the strength of memory, and I may
perhaps err as to this and that year, but sure I am I relate the
truth, without partiality on the one hand, and rancour on the other.
The spring of 1682 afforded many occurrences of note. If I
err not in point of time, it was about Aprilt that his Royal Highness
the Duke returned to Scotland by sea. I attended him in his
barge to Greenwich and Woolwich, and was to go to Scotland also,
but, by the great mercy of God, I was so indisposed as to prevent
that voyage. The Duke mounted the “Gloucester” frigate at the
Nore, and Captain Gunman, a Dane by birth and Captain of the
“Mary'' yacht, was appointed to sail just before the man of war,
The Duke of
York returns
to Scotland.
* P. 26, “brisk lads.”
f He left Windsor on May 3. Clarke's Life of James II, vol. i., 730.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 67
for to sound when necessary, and to give signals; for want of which
the Duke's ship struck on a sand named the Lemmonore,” and in a
very short time she sunk. The Duke went into the “Shallop”
calling out for Churchill, he being so greatly in his favour. Many
think his Highness was afterwards very ill rewarded and I say no
more. The Earl of Roxborought and the Lord O'Brien, &c., were
drowned, and I know that the family of the first, at least, resents it
highly to this day. I cannot commend that partiality. It might be
done without thought, and not for want of good will towards noble
persons that were drowned, and indeed very few escaped, unless
those that could swim well. There were about four in the
“Shallop’’ besides the Duke next the stern. A bold saucy fellow
Tho. Jewry, a foot-huntsman, had the address to get into the
“Shallop,” and lay under where the Duke sat, and it was imagined
that some baggage had been thrust in, but they perceiving him at
last, the mariners would have thrown him into the sea ; but the
Duke forbad them saying he was a Christian,—a very pious and
christian thought but ill interpreted. Colonel Griffin (Lord after-
wards) sat in a porthole his legs in the sea, and had soon suffered
the same ill fate but for an old servant of his, bottleman to the
Duke, that had a rope tied about his waist, and bade his old master
take hold of that, and he was thus preserved by that man that swam
perfectly. Sir Charles Scarborough, the Duke's first physician,
escaped on a plank, and perhaps some few others. Captain
Gunmani was put to a Council of War, and deservedly made
incapable of ever serving the King, and merited death had there
been law for it; he was brutal and positive, and certainly this
melancholy wreck was owing to him. No one knew him better
* Lemon and Oar. Rapin. “Lemon (and) Oar in Yarmouth Road.” Clarke's Liſe
of James II., vol. i., 73o. f Roxburghe.
f K. James II. says, “Captain Ayres, the Pilot (who was try’d and condemned
afterwards).” Clarke's Life, i., 730. -
Wreck of the
Gloucester.
K 2
68 Memoirs of
Voyage to
Antwerp.
Lord Danby
and other
Lords bailed.
than myself, for he had transported my family several times, and
myself in particular twice, and in one sea passage I might have
been lost by his perverseness. s
In the Summer 1679, the Duke being then at Bruxelles, the
king ordered me Gunman's yacht, the “Mary,” and we sailed up to
Antwerp—the first time, and one may say the last, that ever an
English Yacht ventured up the Schelde. At Flushing we took a
Pilot, and the Captain perceiving him to be drunk, but for me he
had in a passion thrown him overboard. From Flushing to
Antwerp we sounded continually, by reason of the moving sands,
and the navigation spoiled by the Dutch for to impoverish the
trading to Antwerp. Sometimes we had deep water, sometimes
hardly two fathoms, which the yachts draw at the shallows, the
water troubled,” and of a yellow colour. He was a seaman, and I
not; but my eyes were better than his, and I, giving my opinion as
to steering, he swore a bloody oath with some rude expressions.
On which I told him very fiercely that I would not be drowned
through his obstinacy and folly, and that if he persisted, I would
confine him in the bilboes, and put his mate in his room, and that I
would answer it to the king and the duke, Lord High Admiral in
petto, but, for reasons, the king had it executed by Commission.
On the captain's submission, I never reported what had passed. I
wish I had, for then perhaps he had not been appointed after to
convey the Duke to Scotland. This digression is occasioned for to
make plain that the loss of the “Gloucester,” and so many
Christians in the ship, was totally occasioned by the obstinacy and
wilful head of this Gunman. . - l
If I am not out as to point of time, it was in this Spring that
the Judges were directed by the King, according to the laws of the
land, to bail the Earl of Danby late Lord Treasurer of England, the
Earl of Powis, the Lord Arundel of Wardour, and the Lord Bellasis,
* Qy. bubbled.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 69
all whom had lain in the Tower since October or November 1678.
They were all impeached by parliament, the first for high crimes
and misdemeanours, the others for pretended high treason, on the
testimony of Mr. Oats, that styled himself D.D., and that he had
passed his degrees of Doctor of Divinity at Salamanca; and 'twas
well known that he had never been in Spain. Lord V. Stafford, as
before, was executed, and the Lord Petre died in the Tower.
Those Lords never failed to make their application in due season
for to be admitted to bail, but answer was made them that, having
been impeached by parliament, that it was not in the power of an
inferior court to take cognizance. .
At last the four lords were admitted to bail at the King's Bench,
and all the chief nobility of England offered of themselves to be
their sureties, and I never saw Westminster Hall with such a
number of noble persons. • 2-
b] | ! b] - tº , # .* -
Being apprehensive that I might mistake as to point of time, I
looked over a sort of Chronology, and I find that the Lords in the
Tower were not bailed until Hilary term 168}, and the intolerable
whole year. Pa—a
had—eerałałłed. So those innocent Lords lay four years and a half,
whereas those that were continually sowing sedition and faction,
& L. º. º. I dº º ſº in Lºg º ºx º' Yºº & º tº
hardship they lay under was greater still by one
* Crossed out in original. - f Crossed out in original.





7o Memoirs of
Lord Bruce's
second son
born.
The King's
second fit of
apoplexy.
cried out against the King and his Government if they were detained
but for so many, months, threatening Anathema Maranatha, and the
king as little spared as his ministers. My worthy friend Sir William
Temple could not escape censure, notwithstanding his ingenious and
useful tracts he published, by reason that he so often mentioned
himself and family therein. But my case is different. I am neither
learned, nor was I ever bred up to public affairs, and those particu-
larly of the Crown, and my chiefest aim is to inform the nation of
several particular and remarkable transactions most falsely related,
and with all partiality, and very many things herein contained were
never known ; and, considering the length of years, there is scarce
any one but myself alive that lived in that time, the transactions of
which I am setting forth that passed then. -
The 29th of May 1682, God blessed me with a second son,
now my only one and heir. The king being at Windsor, my
father went out after the birth to the king's rising, who perceiving
he had a more cheerful countenance than usual, his majesty took
notice of it. My father laid it on that most happy day, and of the
king's most glorious restoration. “I know my lord your great and
“good heart towards me and the Crown, but is there nothing else
“that causes it?” My father saying he had a grandson born that
morning, the king replied, “And my Godson; God's fish !” (an
habitual expression) “there is another chip of the old block.” All
things were preparing to receive the king, who unfortunately fell
ill, and, as I am informed, it was his second apoplectic fit:—the
first about September 1679 as before mentioned—it was not so
violent as to be divulged. He persisted in his resolution to honour
the christening in person, which he was pleased to say would give
him such satisfaction, and to us the honour we so ambitioned; but
I had more at heart the king's preservation, who was so dear to us.
So I applied myself [to] his chief physicians, begging of them to
persuade his majesty to appoint one to represent him. One of the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 71
first physicians imparting to him what I had represented, I was greatly
rewarded with more tender marks of thanks. His majesty named
my cousin the Earl of Conway, Secretary of State, who assisted at
the christening, under a canopy, in the chapel of St. John's; the
Duke of Beaufort* the other Godfather, and that noble lady, the
late Duchess of Somerset of the House of Percy, was Godmother.
Midsummer of this year 1682, both parties in the city bestirred
themselves. My worthy friend and that good subject Sir William
Pritchard, exerted his undoubted right of the chair, and by that
party a worthy citizen, Mr. Box, was set up for the other Sheriff;
but he preferring to pay his fine, choice was made of Mr. Rich of
Southwark. Messrs. Papillon and Dubois, instruments of that
turbulent lord so often mentioned, insisted that they were legally
chosen, my Lord Mayor on his side persisting for the others; they
went away and entered their protestation. Messrs. North and
Rich were declared sheriffs. This great but happy disappointment
was like the axe laid to the root of the tree, which soon after fell to
the ground. The adverse party, supported by their head, committed
many outrages and even riots; and about fifteen were legally con-
victed and fined, and my Lord Grey of Wark at the head of the
list, whose names are in the annals. The turbulent Lord worked
night and day to put the nation in a flame, and to raise a rebellion,
and, knowing well that his reign would be out at Michaelmas, it
was for that reason he pushed on with that violence, and in such a
measure, as that I know the Duke of Monmouth reproached him,
saying that his hot head and airy notions would be the ruin of them
all; as indeed it happened in the sequel. ×
The 28th of September, in the night, that lord so often men-
tioned went down the river, and sailed for Holland, to lay his
bones soon after in that Republic, which he would have destroyed,
or at least recommended it in his speech to the two Houses when
Lord Chancellor. I lived then in York Buildings, and from my
The Chris–
tening.
Elec tion of
Sheriffs.
* Then Marquis of Worcester, created Duke of Beaufort by patent, Dec. 2, 1682.
Earl of
Shaftesbury
retires to
Holland.
72 Memoirs of
Arrest of the
Lord Mayor.
Plot against
the King, and
the Duke.
window, on Michaelmas Day, I saw the Duke of Monmouth, the
Lord Grey of Wark, and Sir Thomas Armstrong alighting into the
house of Mr. Marshall the tailor, where Mr. Robert Ferguson
lodged, much about the hour that Messrs. North and Rich were
sworn sheriffs at Westminster in the usual forms.
This that follows should have been inserted at the cross x
above. - .
The Lord Mayor, by his steady and loyal behaviour, had
incurred the hatred of those malignants who had the impudence to
employ one Brown, an attorney, whom I knew to be a vile barator,
for to arrest my Lord Mayor on a feigned action, and he was de-
tained some hours in one of the comptoirs until bail came to relieve
him; an impudent action and without precedent. The party being
thus defeated, one principal head in his grave, and factious juries
out of date, it was resolved, as the last resource, to cut off the king
and his royal brother. Three lords I specially lamented that were
drawn in, being led by the nose by lewd and beggarly fellows of no
religion or morals, particularly Sir Thomas Armstrong, Julius John-
son, Robert Ferguson, West the lawyer, &c. whose names you will
find in the history of the plot, set out by that ingenious and worthy
prelate Doctor Sprat Bishop of Rochester, and published by the
king's special command; and as to the greater persons involved, I
know that all the prelate sets out is true to a tittle. To repeat, I was
grieved to see the Duke of Monmouth my noble friend," the Earl of
Essex my wife's uncle, a most ingenious and sweet tempered man
as ever lived, and my neighbour my Lord Russell, who, as to his
good qualities, justly died with this character—the best of husbands,
of fathers, of sons, and of masters—I wish I could have gone on
farther, to see those noble lords, guided and gulled by a lewd bully
and gamester, by a profligate parson, by a fanatic teacher, and by a
hot-headed paltry barrister, and others, pettifogger barrators, malt-
sters, and other fanatics of mean trades. The good Duke of Mon-
* So on pp. 2 I, II 2.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury, 73
mouth complained often and bitterly of the hot brain of that lord,
dead in Holland, and now he leaped out of the frying-pan into the
fire. I cannot but do that justice to his memory, as to believe he
did not design directly the murder of his king and father; those that
swayed him so entirely were too cunning for to propose such a thing
to him abruptly, and he had not discernment enough to dive into
their horrid and bloody designs; and I believe the other lords could
never have any wicked thought. A council of six was established,
and God Almighty blinded them so far as to let my Lord Howard
of Escrick into that select number, whose character and morals
were so well known. The meeting at Mr. Sheppard's, the wine
merchant, was certain. My poor Lord Russell pretended it was to
taste some sherry, but I think it was proved, without all question,
that Sir Thomas Armstrong was named, and of himself offered, to
go and view how the king's guards were posted about the Court,
and my Lord Russell offered to go to Taunton. I am no lawyer,
and only understand common sense; however, I may affirm that to
view the king's guards and how they were posted, and to offer to go
to a most populous and then disaffected town, could not be inter-
preted otherwise than an overt act, viz. levying war. A person
declaring that he will kill the king is certainly high treason, although
the crime not put in execution. .
It was debated amongst those inferior miscreants, in what
manner the king should be killed. One time it was resolved in
Covent Garden under Bedford Garden wall; a bull feast was
thought on, and to have the King and Duke invited ; that being
laid aside, the final resolution was to put it in execution at the
Rye House, belonging to Rumbold the Maltster, one of the
conspirators. The King's return from Newmarket was always on
a Saturday; the Rye House is just beyond Hoddesden, where the
last relay of horses and guards attended the king's arrival, and his
VOL. I. - L
The Rye
House.
74 * Memoirs of
majesty loving to go fast on the road, the guards, at the latter end
of a stage, trained behind and kept not in a body. At the House
there is much water and causeway round, and the way not straight
on, but much turning, so that place was designed, and a load of
hay was to be placed for to make a stop, and the King's postilion
Lord Russell
sent to the
Tower.
D. of Mon-
mouth and
was to be shot, and then they were to shoot into the coach, and a
horseman was to be despatched to London on a swift horse by
Hackney Marsh, and the man to cry out that the King and Duke
were murdered by the papists. The good God that protects His
Anointed so permitted it that, by a sudden fire, the king's house at
Newmarket and most of the town was burnt on the Tuesday, and
his majesty arrived in London the next day. The Lord's Holy
Name be praised I refer to the most Reverend Author as to
what ensued, as well as to all particulars before the return, for in
that my memory fails me. I come now to what I had from Mr.
Secretary Jenkins in relation to Keeling, a fanatic dyer as I take
it. This man, so full of remorse and disquiet of mind, that the
secretary, a most worthy and moral man, could not believe men
could be so wicked, and the countenance of the former made the
Secretary imagine that all was visionary, and that he had not slept
well, and not right in his senses. For his justification he desired
that Bourn, as I take it, a brewer in Queen Street, might be sent
for, and he so agreeing with the other, the Secretary was fully
satisfied with Keeling's informations. My Lord Russell soon after
was brought from his house called Southampton to Whitehall, and
on examination was sent to the Tower. Very few days after,
Colonel Oglethorp, an officer of the life guards, was sent
with a party to Cashiobury. He found the Earl of Essex in
his garden, who received him in a most courteous and calm
manner, and gave him some of his good fruit to taste, and came
with him as sedately to London as he used to do on other occasions.
The Duke of Monmouth, My Lord Grey of Wark, Sir Thomas
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. “. 75
Armstrong and Mr. Robert Ferguson were put into a proclamation,
and a reward offered, &c. - 3. .
My father being in France with his family, and I attending the
king at his levee, and coming too late, I found him in the privy
garden setting his watch at the sun dial. He, taking me at some
distance from his attendants, ordered me to go forthwith into
Bedfordshire, for to surprise and take into custody by his warrant
James, so he called the Duke of Monmouth, who was at my Lady
Wentworth's at Toddington, and that I should take the government
of that County by his verbal order until my father's return.
I was young and much a novice at Court; however my
objections, although frivolous, were so pleasing to the King that he
never forgot it, and I perceived it well by his endearing countenance,
and which never ceased until his last moments. I knew the
passion he had for that lord, and that he consented to his being
put into the proclamation with such ill company against his
natural inclination. So I told the King I was, and would be ever,
ready to obey his orders, but represented (what I knew fallacious)
that the house was surrounded with vast ponds, and that there
others pro-
claimed.
were many vaults underground by which he might escape, and that
if I raised a Militia-troop he would hear of it and make his escape.
This so charmed him that I never saw him so full of joy, on which
he replied, “Well, come to me another time for further orders”;
and he never spoke to me more on the subject. w
Sorry am I to explain what follows, for the respect I had for
that lord, and the affection for the lady, and one of the best friends
I ever had besides; but it hath been too well known for to be
esteemed a secret intrigue. The Duke of Monmouth, as all knew,
was married to the Duchess still living at the writing of this in the
Spring 1729. She is of the House of Scott in Scotland, and a vast
heiress and the Duke who" by her father's dispositions was obliged
* * Qy. omit “who.”
Intrigue of
the D. of
Monmouth
and Lady
Henrietta
Wentworth.
L 2 &
76 Memoirs of
by marriage to take the surname of Scott. The Duke was young
and amorous and of a charming countenance, and as I understood
then, there never was any disgust that became public as to his
amours in general, and how this intrigue began I am as little able
to inform you. At last they were both as infatuated, and imagined
themselves man and wife, although the Duchess was alive, and two
sons at least, and one now living, and the son of the eldest deceased
by the name of Earl of Dalkeith, and will be Duke of Buccleuch
after his mother. The poor duke alleged a pretence, very airy and
absurd, that he was married so very young that he did not know
what he was a doing, and that my poor Lady Henrietta Wentworth
he regarded as his wife before God; and she was as visionary on
her side. I respect her memory so, that I am sorry I cannot justify
these unheard of steps, but on the contrary. Be it as it will, her
mother was much more highly to blame to countenance one or the
other in that way or commerce of living together. That unfortu-
nate good lady was proposed some years before for a wife for me;
I greatly esteemed and loved her, but her fortune not being clear
and proportionable to what my father expected, out of duty to so
good a father, I laid aside all thoughts, but my esteem I\could not
blot out so soon ; and, God be praised, I was reserved for a more
happy fate in marriage. A noble peer of the same name, and
friend of mine, very many years after fell into discourse with me
relating to his cousin, and agreed with me that had his cousin been
bred up by a discreet and good mother, that she would have made
a perfect good wife. The Duke lived there upwards of six months,
and after he surrendered himself, the mother sent for me, and
would have obliged me to go to the King to let him know that she
would take her oath that she had never set eye on the Duke of
Monmouth the whole time he lay concealed; and fell on me with
fury, saying that it was I that had told the King ; when in reality
that Duke informed the King, and acknowledged the great obliga-
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 77
tions he had to mé, owning that I could have taken him out of his
bed at that Lady's house without his making any resistance, and
when the mother was so furious, her daughter whispered me in the
ear insinuating that she was perfectly satisfied with my conduct.
This unfortunate lady I cannot forget, which hath made me so
tedious in relating this affair, and even in those days was not known
to any but to the king, the Duke of Monmouth and myself. More
in its proper place.
My unfortunate neighbour the Lord Russell had, about June
this year 1683, his trial at the Old Bailey. At his going out of the
Tower in order to it, the Earl of Essex was leaning on a cushion at
his window, and the two lords saluted each other most friendlily.
The jury was far from being packed, which was so notorious the
years before. I knew the foreman, as I take it Mr. Martin, and
Mr. Brough of Cheapside, and they assured me that they and the
rest had never any dependence on the Court, nor the rest neither;
the pannelling consisting of citizens of all parts of the town, and
that they came with a firm resolution to act as good Christians
fearing God; that the evidence was so clear, that they before God
believed the unhappy prisoner guilty, at least of misprision of
treason, but however, had it been practicable, they would have
gone in a body for to have supplicated the king for mercy. It was
laid on the Duke of York, but I know that he stood a neuter, and
rather inclined to mercy; and I know so many instances as to
his temper of mind in relation to blood, that in some cases well
known to me then, he pardoned if one may term it so to a vice.
No family that were not related, had so deep a sense of the mis-
fortune of this lord as mine had, and the old Earl his father was
ever after most sensible of it, and we lived after together more
neighbourly. It was whispered about, whether with good grounds
or not I cannot say, that money was offered to a certain Lady, and
that she being too exorbitant, and the party not coming up to her
Trial of the
Lord Russell.
78 Memoirs of
sum, made her so vindictive. I lay little stress on this rumour, but
it is certain that the noble prisoner would never ask to have the
rigour of the sentence mitigated. I mentioned that, before my
Lord Stafford's execution, he declared in parliament, in my
presence, that it was not in the power of the Crown. His Lady
and family however asked it, and I know very well that the King
designed it, had it not been requested. As to the place, manner,
and form of the execution, I refer to the annals. I wish most
heartily that he had given more satisfaction to those great and
learned divines that attended there. \
Death of the About the latter end of the trial, the unfortunate Earl of Essex
#: being informed of the danger his good friend was in, he seemingly
received it with his usual good temper, and soon after asked very
coldly for a razor for to cut his nails, and he being accustomed so
to do, gave no manner of suspicion. He went into a small closet
more long than large, and staying, as they imagined, too long, his
servant, looked in by a hole, and perceiving nothing but the wall of
the closet, he burst the door open, and found his lord at the left
hand of the door, dead and wallowing in blood; and perceiving the
razor, flung it out of the window, and a rascally fellow, one
Holland, happening to go by at the moment, came in as a base
witness, as in due time. The news coming to his afflicted and
noble lady, she was overcome with grief, but not surprised. Doctor
Goodman, one of the King's Chaplains, Rector of Hadham and
formerly my Lord's Chaplain, came to tender his respects. The
poor lady with her hands lifted up cried out, “O, Doctor what
“hopes can there be for a person that laid violent hands on him-
“self?” Sir Henry Capel (since lord) his brother, waited on the
King, and was so weak as to ask leave to go into mourning for his
brother. The King in a despising way rather muttered out, “You
“may do as you please,” and yet this Sir Henry, five years after,
laid the murther on the King and Duke of York, as hereafter.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 79
This unfortunate Lord married the Earl of Northumberland's
daughter. History affords us great instances of the height and
pride of the noble family of the Percies, and of many untimely
deaths in that house. This, what follows, I had from my father,
and he from the deceased Earl. This Earl of Northumberland, at
table told his son, my Lord Percy, “I had a good grandfather, and,
“Jocelyn" (the name of his son) “when you have need of me I
“will be as good a father.” This Lord's grandfather was in the
Tower, and condemned ; and in the morning he was to be
executed, they found him dead in his bed and a brace of bullets in
his belly. The Earl of Essex magnified to my father that great and
heroic expression as he termed it; my father on his part vilified it
as much, and told him he was sorry that the son to the Lord Capel,
so great a support to the Church as well as to the Crown for which
he died, could have such abandoned sentiments as to a future state.
The poor Lord replied “O, my good Lord, I perceive you are
“priest-ridden. All that is nothing but priest-craft, &c.” His noble
afflicted dowager was very well appraised of this ; and give me
leave to jump over some few years, which error I have committed
too often, but for much the same reason, that I may end here an
account of this tragical discourse. At the convention called 168},
some lord, whose name I have forgot, moved at the instigation of
Sir Henry Capel, That a Committee might be appointed to enquire
into the murther of the Earl of Essex, and my Lady Dowager well
knowing that Sir Henry would by false miscreant witnesses lay it
on his late Majesty Charles the Second and upon the unfortunate
king James the Second then retired or rather drove out of his
kingdoms, that noble lady's answer to a peer and a prelate chosen
out to persuade her to discover what she knew to be false, she
bowed to them very gravely, “My Lords, as a peer and a prelate I
“respect you, but as to this matter I have nothing to say to you.”
I think the persons were my Lord Wharton, and Burnet, Bishop of
Sarum, a rare casuist. #
Committee
of Enquiry.
8o Memoirs of
D. of Mon-
mouth at
Todding-
ton, in dis-
guise.
The Committee was named, and all of a knot, and they sat in
my Lord Privy Seal's chamber adjoining. It is known that Lords
not named have the same admittance ; they may debate but have
no voices. I, for the honour and memory of my dear king and
master deceased, and for my unfortunate king and master then out
of the kingdom, I never failed attending the Committee, and
happening to ask those villains of witnesses, one Holland and I
think Blaney the other, some cramp but pertinent questions, the
Committee broke up, and the Chairman making report to the
House that it was impossible to proceed, unless the lords of the
committee named had power to sit where they pleased, and the
doors shut; which is most unparliamentary and unheard of. How-
ever, power was given, and they sat at Bedford House, and God
knows what passed there. Near nine months after this permission,
the winter session began; I would not propose the thing myself, by
reason I would live neighbourly with the Earl of Bedford ; but a
friend of mine rose up, and with some warmth complained of their
unparliamentary proceedings, that the Committee had sat nine
months without making a report, and humbly moved that it might
be dissolved, and it was voted that it should never be again put in
practice. But God knows in a sequel of parliaments it was revived
for to take away my life. There were in this Spring and Summer
and Autumn 1683 many others convicted and executed on full
evidence, which the annals set out at large.
My Father being returned from France, he took the diversions
of the Summer season. One stag I remember ran into my Lady
Wentworth's park at Toddington, which never happened before,
and he swam the great ponds. I was accidently thrown out, and
in a lane beyond the park I saw a tall man in a country habit
opening a gate for me. I took no notice, but, casting my eye,
perceived it was the Duke of Monmouth who was so indiscreetly
mingled with the crowd at the death of the stag very soon after.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 8 I
All those ceremonies practised by huntsmen last pretty long, and
I grew impatient, fearing my father might come to know him, for
he had been obliged to have seized him as being a Privy Councillor
and Lord Lieutenant; to prevent which I kept him in continual
discourse that he might not look about, insomuch that he told me
that I had taken a large morning's draught. That lady, the mother,
for the first time invited us to dinner, and, not long after, a second
time, which she had never done before; in all appearance on
purpose for a blind. To me at least she could not impose. It is a
noble house, and few subjects hath such a one, but she would never
permit us to see the apartments above. Not long after, a lady of
my acquaintance that lived in a hamlet in the parish of Toddington
—a very large one—was invited to dinner by my Lady Wentworth
after church service, and that lady told me that the mother very
unadvisedly carried her into her daughter's chamber, who was
dressing herself, and she saw a gentleman sitting in a great chair by
the fireside, my lady the daughter with some warmth reproaching
her mother's indiscretion. •
The Duke of Monmouth negotiated his peace so well (and
which to my knowledge was no difficult task) that by concert he
was to come in the dusk of the evening to Mrs. Croft's lodgings in
Whitehall, where the king used to go often, and, as I take it, she
had been governess to that Duke. He prostrated himself at the
king's feet, and melted his tender heart, and he forgave his beloved
child who begged one favour besides his good graces, that he might
not be made use of as a witness; but after protesting his innocency
as to any design against the life and person of the king. He
declared frankly that my Lord Howard of Escrick's evidence against
my Lord Russell was literally true, as likewise that of Colonel
Rumsey's, and Mr. Sheppard, and indeed named others that were
equally guilty, and I remember especially the poor late [Earl] of
Essex, the other late of Salisbury. For as to them two, the king
VOL. I. M
His recon-
ciliation to
the King.
82 Memoirs of
Signs a de-
claration
about the
Plot.
told me three hours after, that I had two relations that lost nothing
by the deaths of their fathers, and named to me particularly those
two Earls. . The latter died of a fever some months before and
unmolested. After this secret conference at Mrs. Croft's, an ancient
maiden lady, the king ordered the Duke of Monmouth to come to
the Secretaries the usual hour of Cabinet Council, but on being
called in to behave himself as if it had been his first appearance
pursuant to the proclamation. Retiring from Mrs. Croft's wrapped
up in a cloak, Colonel Griffin (since Lord) espied him in a passage,
and went up to the king hastily and out of breath and told him the
Duke of Monmouth was in the court, and that if guards were sent
they might easily take him. The king answered, with a disdainful
look, “You are a fool; James is at Brussels.” He was never in
the king's graces, but after that officiousness he could never bear
the sight of him.
The Duke of Monmouth, according to his instructions, repaired
to Mr. Secretary's Office at the usual hour, and sent in word that
he was there to lay himself at the king's feet. The Lords of the
Cabinet retired into another room, and the duke in question
prostrated himself and was graciously lifted up after repeating what
he said at the first interview, and then the king gave him leave to
kiss the Duke his brother's hand. His Royal Highness embraced
him most tenderly, and assured him of his favour. The King,
before parting, ordered the Duke of Monmouth to sign what he
had declared as to the validity of the witnesses, and what else he
had declared to the King, which accordingly he did and which I
aver; and it was given to the Earl of Halifax, reputed then the
first minister. The King and Duke came thence to the Queen's
circle as usual before supper time : I was at cards with the Queen,
and the King touched me on the shoulder and ordered me to give
my cards to another. He took me in a corner of the room and his
royal highness with him, where after saying many gracious things as
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 83
to my late conduct as regarded the Duke of Monmouth. and which
he would never forget, he proceeded saying that James had
surrendered himself, and that he was fully satisfied with the pro-
found submissions both to his brother as well as himself, and that
he had granted him his request that he might not be obliged to be
a witness, that he had confirmed my Lord Escrick's testimonies in
the Courts, and that the prisoners in the Tower must of con-
sequence be bailed, there being but one witness against them. I
remember the names of some, Mr. Trenchard, Mr. Charlton, and
Major Wildman, &c. He told me I had two relations that were
happy by their father's death—the Earls of Salisbury and Essex.
The former died in this year of an accidental distemper. If I
mistake not, he began with what the Duke of Monmouth expressed
the obligations he had to me, and owned all I recited heretofore as
to the facility in surprising him, his being at Toddington all the
time, and of his being disguised the day of the hunting, &c., and
the King concluded, “Take your father with you tomorrow
“morning, and go and see him for he hath a true love and esteem
“for you and your family.” And we were received accordingly.
I was eye witness of what the enemies to his Royal Highness
could never believe. They represented him to be implacable, and
of an obdurate heart. 'Twas his Royal Highness that introduced
that Duke the next day to the Queen, and the Duchess, and to all
persons of the first note at both those Courts, and I never saw him
in so pleasant a humour. This unfortunate great lord was most
charming both as to his person and engaging behaviour; a fine
courtier, but of a most poor understanding as to cabinet and
politics, and gave himself wholly up to flatterers and knaves by
consequence. His free and ample declarations as to the validity
of the witnesses, and by consequence of the plot, enraged the
factious party to the highest degree, and the relations of those that
had suffered, and they set all on work to obtain of that lord a sort
M 2
84 Memoirs of
The declara-
tion given
back to the
Duke.
He retires
into Holland.
of recantation. Many there were employed : Sir Thomas Arm-
strong, that escaped to Holland and was afterwards surprised by
Mr. Chadleigh,” the King's Envoy, and executed at London, no
doubt had his share by letters in giving him pernicious counsel.
Two of his emissaries, and who were destitute of morals, went into
all the coffee houses, where they boldly gave the king and his royal
brother the lie, and even in the royal coffee house, near Whitehall,
and a gentleman of worth and of the King's Privy Chamber, Sir
John Elwes, was an ear witness, and attested it in his Royal High-
ness' closet in my presence. The persons were Sir James Forbes,
a Scotchman of little morals, and Mr. Anthony Row, that had been
gentleman of the horse to the unfortunate Duke, and a man of very
loose principles. These with others (I remember not their names)
declared that the Duke of Monmouth had confessed nothing, nor
had he signed such a paper, and 'twas nothing but state policy to
impose on the nation a protestant plot, and by that means to take
away the lives of so many noble and worthy patriots and asserters
of the Protestant Church, because they had so bravely opposed a
popish successor coming to the Crown.
The poor duke gave in to all this, and went to the Earl of
Halifax for to desire that the paper he had signed might be restored
to him, and that not being granted the first time, he repeated his
request so often, that the King ordered that minister with great
warmth to restore the paper, and to bid him to go to This is
authentic, and of my certain knowledge. The king was never
known to be in such a passion. Accordingly that Duke retired
into Holland, and from thence to Bruxelles with that unfortunate
lady, where I leave him until another occasion. I shall have to
mention him, and much to my sorrow. Soon after, I was sworn
gentleman of the Bedchamber in ordinary, upon a vacancy, which
was a high favour, at least five being in extraordinary, and in
expectance. The employment the most desirable, but what pleased
* Qy. Chudleigh, see p. 96.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 85
me more was the king's most gracious and kind demonstration,
“I am quit of one I cared little for, and now I have one that I
“love, and you shall see it by the effects.” But God knows the
nation (and I may say myself) was not worthy to enjoy so gracious
and good a king much longer. -
As to all common occurrences in and out of Council, it is not
my business to relate, nor do I remember anything of note, and
also I confine myself to those things that were not known publicly,
or to set in a true light the imperfections and partialities of grave
or common authors. The latter hath described the rigour of this
Winter of 1683-4. It lasted thirteen weeks, and the sea was frozen
for two miles from the shore, and we had no correspondence from
abroad. However the snow lying continually, the harvest after was
most plentiful, and the Spring and the fruits more forward than
usual by near three weeks, by reason that in March we had no frost
nor cold winds. There were fairs and taverns on the Thames, and
the lawyers came to and from Westminster in coach on the Thames.
The thaw began at two in the morning, and out of the king's bed-
chamber windows we saw a waterman in the middle of the river in
his boat, and 'tis positively asserted that ice sinks not, and in most
places the heaps of ice were twenty feet high, and not like a pond
and still water occasioned by the tide. -
We breathed nothing but peace and happiness, and God knows
this was the last year (1684) of our enjoying my good and great
king and master. I entered into my last week of waiting, Monday
at noon (the usual day) the 26th January 1684. The king was
was accustomed to walk twice in the day, in the park or Arlington
Garden adjoining, unless very ill weather prevented it, and that for
his health, he using no other exercise, and he did eat very plenti-
fully even at supper; but in his latter years he had no private
meals, and he drank only for his thirst. It happened that he had
a small sore on one heel which hindered him that week from
Winter of
1683-4.
Particulars
of the King's
private life.
86 Memoirs of
Ominous in-
cident.
walking, and he took the air in a caleche, and I had the honour
to attend him. On Sunday I desired my father that he would
attend the king's supper, which he seldom or never did, by reason
he lived at so great a distance from Court, at St. John's, Clerkenwell.
The king immediately spoke to him, “It is a great wonder, my
“lord, for to see you at this hour, but I know very well the
“reason I never see you; but I am ashanied that I have
“not given you more marks of my favour. But I will make it
“up to your son; he is now about me, and we shall never part.”
It is not to be expressed the transport of joy my father
was in, and the old courtiers assured me that they never saw
the king so well, nor in so good a humour. He did eat with
an excellent stomach, and one thing very hard of digestion—a
goose egg if not two. He had an habitual custom to go after meals
to the Duchess of Portsmouth's for to amuse himself with the
company that ate there, for of late years it was only with that
intent, and I have good reasons to believe that he was seeking by
degrees to have her to retire. After I had supped I found him
there, and in the most charming humour possible, and most said it
exceeded whatever they had seen before. When we came to the
district of the bedchamber, I by my office was to light him to the
bedchamber door, and giving the candle to the page of the back-
stairs it went out, although a very large wax candle and without
any wind. The page of the back stairs was more superstitious, for
he looked on me shaking his head. As soon as he had put on his
night-gown, he went to ease himself, and often more out of custom
than by necessity, by reason nobody could come in there but the
gentleman and groom in waiting; and there he laughed and was
most merry and diverting : I holding the candle and the groom of
the bedchamber, Mr. Henry Killigrew, who had always some
amusing buffoonery in his head, and he held some paper. I having
a poor relation that came after to be Earl of Kincardine, I desired
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 87
a colours for him in the Royal Scotch Regiment of Dumbarton.
The King answered, “Do not trouble me with such trifles. The
“Colonel will be most glad to oblige you in that.” The King was
a great lover of hawking, and being charmed with the beautiful
country about Winchester, he had some time before ordered the
old ruins of the castle there to be levelled, and he purchased many
houses round it, and bought ground for to rhake a garden and a
park, and it was brought to that perfection as hereafter shall be
mentioned. “My Lord,” said he, “I do not remember that I ever
“saw you there.” I answered modestly that my study was never to
intrude myself as many others doth. He replied and with his usual
expression, “Gods fish I modesty must sooner or later be rewarded,
“ and when 'tis otherwise, ’tis the fault of the sovereign and not of
“the subject.” A great, good and noble expression from the
mouth of a great king. “I will order John ” (a familiar word for
the Earl of Bath, Groom of the Stole, who was with the king when
a boy), “to put you into waiting the first time I go thither, and
“although it be not your turn, that I may show you the place I
“delight so in ; and I shall be so happy this week as to have my
“house covered with lead.” And God knows the Saturday
following he was put into his coffin.”
The King always lying in his own bedchamber, we had a bed
placed each night to be near him, and when the page of the back
stairs lighted us from the room where we undressed, on his retiring
we shut up the door on the inside with a brass knob, and so went
to bed. Several circumstances made the lodging very uneasy, the
great grate being filled with Scotch coal that burnt all night, a
dozen dogs that came to our bed, and several pendulums that
struck at the half quarter, and all not going alike, it was a continual
chiming. The King being constantly used to it, it was habitual. I
sleeping but indifferently, perceived that the King turned himself
sometimes, not usual for him ; he always called in the morning of
* See p. 23.
88 - Memoirs of
Alarming
symptom.
himself; I heard his voice but discovered not any imperfection.
We had the liberty to go to his bedside in the morning before any-
body came in, and might entertain him with discourse at pleasure,
and ask of him anything. Unfortunately a certain modesty
possessed me, and besides we had his ear whenever we pleased.
So I arose and turned back the brass knob, and the under ones
came in to make the fire, and I retired to dress myself in our
IOOIII].
Passing by in the next room to the bedchamber, I found there
the physicians and chirurgeons that attended to visit his heel. Mr.
Robert Howard, a Groom of the bedchamber, came to me and
asked me how the king had slept, and if quietly. I told him that
he had turned sometimes. “Lord l’” said he, “that is an ill mark,
“ and contrary to his custom;” and then told me that at rising he
could not, or would not, say one word, that he was as pale as ashes,
and gone to his private closet. On which I came away presently
and sent in Mr. Chiffins, the first page of the back stairs and keeper
of his closet, for to beg of him to come to his chamber, for a more
bitter morning I never felt, and he only in his nightgown. Mr. .
Chiffins telling me he minded not what he said, I sent him in again
(for no other had that liberty), on which he came out pale and wan,
and had not the liberty of his tongue, for the Earl of Craven,
Colonel of the foot guards, being there to take the word, he showed
him the paper where the days of the month were set down with the
word; and others spoke to him, but he answered nothing. It being
shaving day, his barber told him all was ready. He always sat with
Third fit of
apoplexy.
his knees against the window, and the barber having fixed the linen
on one side, went behind the chair to do the same on the other, and
I, standing close to the chair, he fell into my arms in the most
violent fit of apoplexy. Doctor King, that had been a chirurgeon,
happened to be in the room of his own accord, the rest having
retired before. I asked him if he had any lancets, and he replying
he had, I ordered him to bleed, the king without delay, which he
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. * , 89
did; and, perceiving the blood, I went to fetch the Duke of York,
who came so on the instant that he had one shoe and one slipper.
At my return with the Duke the king was in bed, and in a pretty
good state, and going on the contrary side where the Duke was, he
perceiving me, took me fast by the hand, saying “I see you love me
dying as well as living,” and thanked me heartily for the orders I
gave Doctor King (who was knighted for that service) to bleed him,
as also for sending Mr Chiffins to persuade him to come out of his
closet; and then told me that he found himself not well, and that
he went to take some of his drops commonly called then the
“King's Drops,” and that he walked about hoping to be better, but
on my solicitations he came down, for there were three or four
steps coming out of the closet, and he said that coming down his
head turned round and he was in danger of falling. I have been so
prolix in this account, by reason that it hath been so maliciously
and with that malignine industry spread about, that the king had
been poisoned; and those inventing devils would have brought me
into the knowledge of it; and on the Monday the king was seem-
ingly recovered by that bleeding. The whole town and city sung
my praises for being the sole instrument by the orders I gave Dr.
King, so little must one regard what they call the cry of the people.
The Queen came forthwith to the King, and her concern and
deportment was beyond what I can describe. He continued so
well on Tuesday, the next day, that the messengers were sent into
every County for to carry the happy news; but God knows the joy was
not lasting, for on Wednesday in the evening he fell into a cold
Sweat, and the physicians declared that he was in imminent danger.
On Thursday, that great and pious prelate, Sandcroft, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops in town came to offer him
their spiritual service. The Archbishop was of a timid temper and
had a low voice, and Bishop Ken the contrary, and like to a
nightingale for the sweetness of it, so he was desired by the rest to
Seemingly
better.
VOL. I. . - N
The Arch-
bishop and
Bishops in
attendance.
90 - Memoirs of
persuade the king to hearken to them. The king thanked them
very much, and told them that it was time enough or somewhat to
that purpose, and modestly waived them, which was in my hearing.
On Friday the 6th, having been much fatigued, I came not until
about ten, knowing that there was no hopes. About eight that
morning his Royal Highness by a back stair brought in Father
;... Huddlestone that had contributed to save the King at Boscobel
brought in. after the fatal battle of Worcester in 1657, and by his industry was
hid in the oak tree, and under the boards of the Altar where he
said mass, at the house of the Pendrells, and for which reason
when priests, &c., were on emergencies banished London, he was
always excepted, and the Pendrells and their successors have been
to this day eased in the taxes, although Roman Catholic people
and poor enough. -
As soon as the king saw the father come in, he cried out,
“You that saved my body is now come to save my soul.” This is
literally true on a Christian.* I have my opinions to myself, but I
hate a lie and to impose. The King made a general confession
with a most true hearty and sincere repentance, weeping and
bewailing his sins, and he received what is styled all the rites of
The King's the Church, and like a true and hearty penitent, and just at high
death. water and full moon at noon he expired ; and although I bore, and
according to my duty, all high duty and respect towards his royal
successor, I must say that thus ended my happy days at a Court,
and to this hour I bewail my loss, and that of the three kingdoms.
God's will be done on earth as in heaven .
I offered myself on the minute to perform my duty, which
brought floods of tears, to watch that royal body, and to order
what was necessary on the occasion, so could not be present at the
proclaiming our Royal Sovereign James the second, which was
performed about two that afternoon in the usual forms. The
King was pleased after to tell me that he ought to praise my zeal
* Meaning, “as I am a Christian,” “on a Christian's oath,” or some such phrase.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 9I
and the respect I bore to the memory of my deceased king and
master, and the next day the Earl of Bath, Groom of the Stole,
and Gentlemen of the Bedchamber, and Master of the Robes, &c.,
went in a body to condole and to compliment the King, and when
the Earl of Bath had ended, the King was pleased to take me into
his closet, and there told me that I wanted no person to solicit in
my behalf for he was too well apprised of what I merited from
him. It is well known that upon the demise of a king all
employments are become void, and because justice should be duly
administered, a proclamation is forthwith issued out to empower all
persons to execute their employments until further orders; but
that reached not to the precincts of the bedchamber, the new
king being served by those that he had when Duke of York.
I was young and entered not into the politics and intrigues of the
Court, and so went on on the common faith. I am not so vain as
to think myself capable of giving the character of the great king
deceased equal to what he merited. Many hath taken that task on
them, and according to my poor sense they acquitted themselves
very ill. I am no flatterer on one hand nor reviler on the other, so
shall endeavour [to] set out all with impartiality. The king was
born May 29th 1630; he was not above twelve when the king his
father set up his standard at Nottingham. -
At that age the Prince of Wales no doubt had preceptors, but
at an age so young as he was, it is no wonder if what little he might
know at that age might soon slip out of his memory; and from that
time to his joyful restoration, I question whether he had profited by
reading. His shifting about from place to place according to
emergencies took up his thoughts, and before the king his father's
death he had a small court and Councillors put to him for to give
their advice, and after that horrid murder he was obliged to secure
himself in France, and then to Holland, and so into Scotland, where
he was crowned, and then marched to Worcester with that mongrel
Character of
K.Charles II.
N 2
92 Memoirs of
His natural
parts.
His mar-
riage.
Finances.
Scotch Army, and, miraculously escaping, he returned to France,
and the Cardinal removing him from thence, he went to Cologne,
and so to the Spanish Low Countries, and at the Pyrenean Peace he
went thither to solicit the Spanish protection, and soon after he
joyfully possessed his three kingdoms. So it cannot be imagined
that he could have time to set himself to more useful studies, for to
attain which a person ought to be well settled and his mind at ease,
which I believe never happened to him from the age of ten or
twelve years. Natural parts he had in a great measure, he loved
mirth, but when it was time to think, no man spoke better, and
judged the like. His great misfortune was the disproportionable
match the Chancellor made for him, and he being young and
amorous, greedy Courtiers for their interest were but too officious
in assisting him in his amours in too great measure, God knows.
Before his last days of sickness, and one may say years, he became
highly sensible of his mis-spent time and of his extravagancies in all
respects, and he greatly lamented it. And as [to] what related to his
exchequer or finances, he began to put all in great order. He was
pleased to tell me in 1684, that at Easter 1685 he should be able to
pay the Civil list and the arrears. It is understood that the Guards
and Garrison and the Navy were duly paid. And that if God gave
him life, his next study would be in a very short time to pay the
Bankers' debts, “Which, God knows,” replied the king, “lies so
“much at my heart, and God forgive those vile persons that were
“the cause of that false step I made, to give it no worse a term.”
He went on, “If I once accomplish that, I shall be most happy;
“ and after that, by degrees,” said he, “I will take into consideration
“ the most crying debts of that glorious martyr the King my
“father.” I cannot repeat every individual word, but this is the
substance of what he told me, and ended that he knew but too well
what it was to want money. “I will have by me a hundred
“ thousand guineas in my strong box;'' and I have been told there
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 93
was found there at his death about sixty thousand pounds. He read
as I have been told at his leisure hours, and I do believe it, for on
occasions he talked well on all subjects, more like a gentleman than
a learned pedant; and I do not believe he understood any language
than that of the French. The Holy Scriptures he had read and
reasoned most well on them, but always lamented that common and
ignorant persons were allowed to read them, and that this liberty
was the rise of all our sects, each interpreting according to their
vile notions, and to accomplish their horrid wickednesses. For
murther they could cite Samuel for hewing to pieces Agag, not
allowing it was by God's command, and so throw out the scripture.
The king had a private oratory, when he went not in public to the
chapel, where the king used to see the maids of honour and other
young persons laugh outright to hear the Chaplain in waiting read
at evening service some chapters of Saint Paul's Epistles relating to
marriage and constancy; * and I was eye witness.
No Prince was ever so diverting and amusing as the King was
at his levee and coucher, in the Queen's withdrawing room twice
the day, at meals the same, and indeed on all occasions. And in
reciting he was never known to relate the same thing. So affable,
that in the galleries and park he would pull off his hat to the
meanest; gave great libities to others to discourse, and as he was
so affable on one hand, he could take on Majesty on the other, and
I believe was the first and the last king that could have his bed-
chamber door open, Lindeed with thick curtains of velvet to break
the wind. In my hearing one told met that persons would thrustin;
“I would willingly see that,” said the king; and one Sir Thomas
Vernon happening to come in soon after, the King's countenance
only made him go out faster than he came in, and I never saw a
poor gentleman so ashamed. I mention this small occurrence that,
* Qy. “continency.” t Qy, him.
His reading.
His wit, and
good
humour.
94 Memoirs of
His Court.
although by the king's connivance many men of assurance and of a
buffooning humour made the king wink often at their forwardness
because they made him laugh for the present, yet, when he would, he
could keep up majesty to the height by his great countenance, for
he could not say a hard word to any one, and if that was of absolute
necessity, it was executed by another. His Court was splendid,
and all high employments, and of the Queen's court the same, were
possessed by persons of the highest rank, and fine courtiers
generally speaking; and what you call the offices of the Crown
were in the hands of such as were thought fit to be of the cabinet
(not so numerous as now), which indeed was kept up also in the
next reign, but not after. Amongst the Grooms of the bedchamber,
there were ancient persons that had served the king his father and
himself after, which he continued through justice and equity for
their long and faithful services, and that was all their merit; but
the king could divert himself with different geniuses. He was
asked one day how it was possible for him so to divert himself with
persons of so limited sense and understanding. He replied merrily,
that the blunders or bulls of some made him laugh as well as the
good sayings of others. Some years before his death he minded
much the true merit, and had he lived, his court had been in much
more lustre, and more union. Many were become as infatuated
and as they grew older their zeal decreased, and many because
they were Whigs at heart, but they called themselves trimmers.
And give me leave to use that great Minister the Marquis of
Halifax's own words. A person in discourse with him told him he
was neither Tory nor Whig. He replied, “Then you [are] a
rascal.” 'Tis so much according to my sense, that to the hour I
am writing this I continue the same, and I give you my judgement
thereon. An honest Whig born so, and that dies the same, am I
to revile him 2 God forbid He thought himself in the right, and
never swerved. I call him an honest man for that reason. And
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 95
the same of a Tory. But my beasts are modern Whigs and
modern Tories, who swerve from what they were bred up to, for
to get employments and to sell their country. I saw a modern
Peer, very few years since, for the sake of a great pension and a
higher title, not only sit in Council and the Cabinet, but went
headlong to ensnare by cunning questions persons dipped in the
same cause wherein he had been as deep in as any person, and
which is a noted truth.
To return; our late good king loved to discourse and com-
municate himself on all occasions. I coming to Court, and hearing
that the king was at Arlington Garden, I went thither, and
there being some wind, he went down from the terrace, his usual
walk, to a little bowling green surrounded with little woods, and
coming in at the latter end of his discourse, in which he was setting
out to the life the true character of trimmers (and scarce were
there any other that I saw about him). For a blind he told me
aloud, “My Lord, come hither. You must carry a message from me
“to your father.” And retiring farther off, all he had to say was
this, “Did you ever see such guilty and hanging faces as they made
“when I was drawing their pictures?” He soon after ordered
several to sell their employments, and named the persons they were
to sell to, and for what sum; and, had he lived, he had made a
thorough purge in his Court. He had three getlemen of his bed-
chamber that were suspended (The Earls of Suffolk, Manchester,
and Macclesfield) for some few years before; he hated to come
to extremities, but he found that by his lenity he could never come
to his ends. Mr. Baptist May, formerly much in his favour, and
keeper of his privy purse, was in a manner suspended. The king
was so gracious and great in his expressions, that it was a saying
that he could send away a person better pleased at receiving
nothing, than those in the good king his father's time that had
requests granted them; so different was father and son in their
His grac-
iousness.
96 Memoirs of
His King-
craft.
Lover of
Mechanics.
humour and carriage. The king was accused, by people that could
speak well of nobody, for to be a great dissembler. I own it in one
respect, but it was never to do an ill action. When Lords and
Commons of note came to his Court, that was always in parliament
what they call vulgarly against the Court or Ministry interest, he
received such at his levee or circle on a Sunday noon, or at other
times, with great grace, talking to each according to their genius;
and he knew everybody and their talent. (Quite different from later
practice, and the beginning of a late reign. Poor Mr. Aldworth,
a member for Windsor, was asked how he durst be so bold as to
come to Court; and all his crime was being a tory. The poor man,
not being able to suffer an insult, was killed by Mr. Chudleigh the
aggressor; and I was told that the king was very sorry, for the
aggressor did it of his own head.) When persons addressed to be
preferred, or to have petitions granted, the king answered so
graciously, without coming to particulars, that they went away
pleased for the present, and this was interpreted dissembling.
He was a great master of King-craft, and I wish to God that
his Royal father and brother had been endowed with the same
talent, and for the same motives. Our ancestors had seen better
days and we that outlived them. They were certainly most admir-
able princes in their several ways. To my knowledge the king
believed not one word of what was called Oats' plot, It may be
asked, why did he sign dead warrants thereupon; The nation, by
wicked artifices of a discarded minister, was then half distracted,
and God knows what would have been the consequences of denying
what they called for then,-Justice; and the king used to say,
“Let the blood lie on them that condemned them, for God knows,”
said he, “I sign with tears in my eyes.”
The King was a great lover of mechanics, and amused himself
in his laboratory, where Doctor Williams was his chemist and the
maker of those excellent drops commonly called the king's. I
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 97
know not whether it was given down to posterity, at least those
sold now are called so. I have heard that the Commissioners of
the Navy that are raised often to the post from able ship carpenters
have said, and Sir Henry Johnson the same, that no one understood
the theory of that art better than the King, and by his directions,
and which were put in practice, the building of ships of war were
improved to the last nicety. In fine, the King was of a high and
quick apprehension, and capable of improving himself in all things
becoming a king, and that had no ambition but the good of his
subjects; and had God Almighty blessed him with the usual
number of years, the nation had flowed with milk and honey. And
he had that expression to my knowledge, “I would have everyone
“live under his own vine and fig-tree. Give me my just pro-
“rogative, and for subsidies, I will never ask more, unless I and
“the nation should be so unhappy as to have a war on our hands,
“ and that at most may be one summer's business at sea.” For then
we had no generals for to march themselves at the head of super-
fluous armies, nor had we one penny raised on a land tax. The
hearth money was cried out on, insomuch that the promoter of that
in parliament had a nick name given him, Sir Chimney Pooll. And
we knew not what was so many shillings in the pound, which
commenced from the beginning of 1689, the time of that glorious
Revolution as they termed it, and hath continued to this hour, the
latter end of 1728, with about sixty millions sterling of debt, and
all for the life of a man so taxed that, by a moderate computation,
a man that in 1688 could spend one hundred per annum and keep
within compass, is understood shall not now have sixty pounds
yearly, what by the taxes on land and on all commodities and
eatables, &c. -
To return :—My good and gracious king and master, Charles
the Second, and the best that ever reigned over us, died in peace
and glory, and the Lord God have mercy on his soul.
VOI. I. O
98 Memoirs of
Accession of
His Royal brother, King James the Second, succeeded, as it
* Jºe" " hath been said, February the sixth according to the old style 1684,
Earl of
Rochester.
with an inward as well as outward joy, and I cannot give a greater
proof of it than by unanimous and great and wise choice the
kingdom made at the elections for the parliament that commenced
in April 1685. Such a landed parliament was never seen, and I lay
it down as a settled maxim that our nation can never be safe, unless
the kingdom be represented in the Commons House by men of
substance in land, and no person (although all then in being were
living now) can assure it to you as I can, by reason I had every
individual member in my eye on occasion of a commission the king
gave me which I shall explain soon, not loving to exaggerate. It
is to be understood that in the county of Cornwall, and in the
Cinque Ports, and other seaports where there are docks, those
recommended by the Crown are generally preferred, and there
generally speaking persons of known worth and for their services
were elected, and stock jobbers, and traders of the East Indies,
South Sea, and Bank, with their Clerks, Cashiers, &c., were not
then known, that now make a great part of the House of Commons,
with a vast number of officers civil and military that have not one
shilling in land.
The King began his reign most prosperously, and, agreeable to
what he promised my father some years before, who represented to
him then that he never would be happy if he gave in to counsels
that were destruction to the constitution of England; and that was
always my sentiment, and 'tis the same to this moment, whatever
cruel usage I met with in a former reign, which obliged me to leave
my dear native country to avoid the tyranny of Dutch ministers.
The Earl of Rochester and Lord Treasurer, whose sister was
the king's first consort, was certainly at the head of the cabinet, and
I must do him all justice (more than he did to me) as to attribute
the king's wise measures to that minister, and all went on then
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 99
prosperously and well. The king's spiritual guide, Father Mansuet,
a Lorrainer by birth, of the order of Saint Francis, was a person of
great modesty as well as devotion, and one of the best of the men
of his order, and never meddled in any temporal concerns. I knew
him particularly, and his sentiments; and his constant advice to
the king was most salutary for his (welfare) and that of the
kingdom, and he died at Bruxelles, at his convent, many years
after, with the like sentiments, as his nephew of the same order of
the Capucins told me.
Writs were issued out in February, and the parliament met at
the forty days end as usual. The Coronation of the king and
queen of the house of Modena was solemnized with the utmost
magnificence, and with as high acclamations, and nothing could
exceed the one or the other. A costly honour was conferred on
me to be one of the young Lords that bore up the train; and that
was all I had after the king's death, notwithstanding the king told
me I wanted no person to solicit for me ; and I was excluded at
the king's forming of his bedchamber by the Earl of Rochester's
means. He was a man of excessive passion, haughty in prosperity,
and no man more humble in adversity. My mother-in-law, the
Duchess of Beaufort, who was always adverse to me, influenced
her brother-in-law, the Earl of Clarendon, eldest brother to this
minister, a man of very mean parts, but had credit with his brother.
On my expostulating with the latter, to whom the king had referred
me, he poorly let fall a weak (but revengeful) word for a minister.
“My Lord, you have a difference with the Duchess of Beaufort.”
I sharply replied, “My Lord, what is it to the king's business,
“although the Duchess were your mother ?” On which I clapped
on my hat, and turned my back; but my principles were rooted in
me so as not to swerve from my duty : and, to please the king, I
made, jointly with myself, that minister's nephew, my Lord Corn-
bury, knight of the shire of Wiltshire, although his family was so
O 2 tº º tº _ _ ]
Parliament
summoned.
|
Ailesbury in-
fluence in
three coun-
ties.
Meeting of
Members of
Parliament.
IOO Memoirs of
originally hated there, and my purse, was pretty well emptied, else
I had come off according to the custom of that united county for
my share of a dinner after at Salisbury.
In Wiltshire, I made a great number of members by an entire
interest. The counties of Bedford and Huntingdon, where my
father was Lord Lieutenant, offered me to represent them, which I
declined. Those two counties sent but eight members, and all
were chosen at my father's recommendation, and all were
gentlemen of the counties. In the former there was opposition,
but our interest carried it clear from that of the Russells, so
triumphant in the late troublesome times. The gentry were
generally for us : a great mark of the eyes of the nation being well
opened, and so it appeared by the choice throughout the kingdom
and principality of Wales.
Some days before the parliament was to meet, the king sent
for me, and after a little preamble he told me, “You being not of
“the Court” (at which I made a low serious bow) “it will be more
“in your power to render me a most effectual service in the
“House.” I answered, if it was of any difficulty he would put it
into very ill hands, by reason of my youth and want of experience.
The king replied, “I know you will execute it very well,” and that
I was only to be the proposer, and his ministers and others, more
experienced persons, were to support my propositions at the com-
mittee of subsidies. He went on and told me that my father and I
were so well known to the generality of the kingdom, that he
would take it most kindly if I would endeavour to get a general
meeting of the members, which I did effectually, and there were
upwards of two hundred and fifty that met me at the Fountain
Tavern in the Strand. The great room was more like a large
gallery with little rooms adjoining, where I had friends of ingenuity
and parts to drink a glass of wine with those that minded more the
liquor than business. There never was such an appearance in any
* ...?) , *, * ,
• * * * *J - )
9, v M •] v.
º •), sº
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. IOI
age, consisting of the prime lords that were Commons, and the top
gentry of each county. The substance of what I had in command
to communicate to them was this —That the king, on report made
to him by me, was overjoyed that the ensuing House would be
filled with knights, citizens, and burgesses of known loyalty, birth
and affection towards his person and government, and that perhaps
there never was a body of members of such quality and estate that
ever sat in that House ; that his majesty could not say he deserved
more than did his dear brother the king deceased, but this he could
say, that having ventured his life so often for the honour of the
nation, that he hoped they would put him in the same condition as
the king his brother had been in as to his revenue, and that it
might be for life, else he should be very unwilling to accept it.
No message from the Crown was ever so received in any
reign, and by a general joy in the countenance of each, it was easily
to be perceived that the king's desire and their hearts went together.
I cannot charge my memory, but as I take it, it was that great and
loyal and wealthy commoner Colonel Strangeways, Knight for Dor-
setshire (and in a manner hereditary in his family), that spoke in
the name of the rest much to this purpose: “My Lord, we are not
“here in a full body as we shall be in a very few days, but I am
“persuaded that those not yet arrived will concur with us. We
“desire you, my Lord, to assure his Majesty that our lives and
“fortunes we lay at his feet, and that we shall be most ready, when
“the parliament meets, to give the king proofs of what we desire
“your Lordship to assure the king of that our design is to grant
“to his Majesty his revenue for life as the king his royal brother
( { had.”
And I having proposed to them Sir John Trevor for Speaker, Sir John
revor for
and Sir Christopher Musgrave for Chairman of the Committee of Spºr.
Privileges, they readily consented to that also, and made all good
in the sequel. The reception I found at Court was gracious, and
IO2 Memoirs of
The King's
zeal for the
Navy.
Mr. Samuel
Pepys.
that was all I had for such a signal service ; however, I never
resented it, but, on the contrary, persisted in doing my duty and
according to my engagement, and I never knew what it was to act
for interest, but out of an inherent principle. I laid it on the
Treasurer, who pursued me after to a vengeance, jointly with his
poor headed brother the Lord Privy Seal, whose sister the king
married and was his first Duchess; but they were soon warned [or
“wormed "] out on pretence of a state politic, and the Treasurer
was kept down also, and for the same reason, in the time of King
William and Queen Mary, and after in Queen Anne's time. They
lived in a more human age than that after the death of King Edward
the fourth, when his Queen's relations were sacrificed.
I am obliged in this place to give you a short character of my
unfortunate but good king and afterwards master. His heart and
soul was set on the flourishing condition of the Navy, with this
English expression, “Our Fleet is our bulwarks, and therefore each
“true patriot ought to wish the prosperity of it.” He had been
Lord High Admiral since the glorious Restoration, he wanted no
council to assist him as was practised afterwards, he had only one
under him, my good and ancient friend Mr. Samuel Pepys (and
England never produced such another in his station), Secretary to
the Lord Admiral; and the Duke of York, when he laid down that
employment by the king his brother's desire in 1678, Mr. Pepys was
unfortunately laid aside also, and one Brisben, a tool in comparison
of the other, succeeded, and instead of Lord High Admiral, the
king put it into Commission and appointed seven or nine to execute,
and not one that understood the least of the theory part, or had
ever seen a ship of war; all members of the House of Commons or
the greater part. All things in the Navy succeeded accordingly.
The first thing they did was to contract with Sir Henry Johnson
and other Shipbuilders at Blackwall, to build thirty men of war or
thereabouts of the second and third rates, and as all contracts by
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - IO3
the great are dangerous, so it happened in very few years, for scarce
two of the thirty kept sound, but were eaten by the worm, and they
were obliged to repair some and neglect the others as useless after
so vast a charge. These Commissions were often altered as to
change of names, but the proverb was supported, “From the frying
“pan into the fire.” After the Duke of York, then so called,
arrived from Scotland, he entered again into that high and im-
portant employment for the nation, and Mr. Pepys acted solely
under him, and it was then that they began to repair those ships
built by contract, and by little and little the Navy was put into
admirable order. On the king's death, his royal brother that suc-
ceeded continued his unwearied care to keep the Navy in its high
lustre, and Mr. Pepys had the sole administration under him, and
all went prosperously accordingly.
To return ; the King had a true English spirit, and I knew well
that the French lady and her creature, the French Ambassador,
Monsieur Barillon, were looked on very coldly. The former left
soon the kingdom, and the latter had not the least influence. The
king could never forget their intrigues with the Duke of Monmouth
the time he was obliged to live at Bruxelles and in Scotland. The
King, even when Duke, when he saw the East India Company or
other at an ebb, he would put in a good sum to revive the Stocks.
Trade he had much at heart, and his topic was, liberty of conscience
and many hands at work in trade ; and that made him receive all
the French Huguenots that were so inhumanly used and obliged to
come out of France, and in my hearing exclaimed against the King
his brother of France's severity. He gave them fifteen hundred
pounds out of his privy purse, and ordered Letters Patent to be
issued out forthwith, in order to make a collection throughout the
kingdom, Wales &c.; not to be collected in the churches, but the
churchwardens to go from house to house individually, so that no
dissenters of any kind whatsoever should escape. And sorry am I
For Trade.
French
Huguenots
received.
IO4 Memoirs of
qy. 1649.
The King too
dependent
On SOIſle OIl C
Minister.
to say, and with truth, how he was rewarded, for at the revolution
and after, not one in a hundred but would have gone as willingly to
see their king on a scaffold as those miscreant rebels did on the
3oth of January, 1648. I knew some few worthy persons of the
refugees that lamented this as much then as I can do now.
The king had a good judgement, but was diffident of it, which
made him to resort to a minister's advice (I wish it had been in the
plural) and the king his brother knew his humour but too well, and
told me once that he would follow his brother of France's politics,
to make use of more than one as he did by Colbert and Louvois
who were like fire and water; adding “Gods fish I when rogues fall
“out, the master is like then to know the truth.” Our good king
could never be brought to that, and generally speaking one solely
possessed his ear, and it was so to his last, and that good queen his
daughter was the same, and it descended hereditarily from King
James the first. As I said, the four or five first monuhs went on
prosperously, which we must owe to the Treasurer and to the
Capuchins in private (however he used me that is not to the
purpose). A very statesman, and that is all I can say for him, was
working by little and little to root out the Treasurer, and, by the means
of a priest, came to his ends about August 1685. More of that here-
after ; and I beg pardon for these frequent digressions, and truly
they are unavoidable, and especially since I write all by strength of
memory. Many more occurrences may have happened, but my
ambition being to give you nothing but what I am sure is authentic,
I may have passed by many things. It may be urged that I name
myself and family too frequently, but I repeat what I hinted at
before, that I pretend not to be a historian nor chronologist, and I
mention myself only where it is to introduce matters that passed
between the two kings and myself. *
The day before the parliament was to meet, the king sent to
find me out, and I went to court, and I found him walking on the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. IO5
Terrace at Arlington Garden, where, taking me aside, he told me that
he had forgot when he gave me my instructions for to tell me that
he would not have one farthing laid on land. “That,” said he
(and like a true English king) “is the last resource if God Almighty
“should afflict us with a war.” For until 1689 we had never
heard of a land-tax unless it was to man out a great fleet, and that
most rarely. “Lay it,” said he, “on Luxury, as chocolate, tea,
“coffee, East Indian commodities as not necessary for the life of
“man, and " (with warmth) “on wine;” (for he was a most sober
prince). “Who obliges people to make themselves drunk? But
“if they will drink, let them pay for it.”
The House sat next day or day after, and when the king sent
down the Commons to their House, my proposition was unani-
mously received, and Sir John Trevor was chosen Speaker. Some
old members could not be kept out, as Mr. Wharton, since Lord,
and Mr. Hampden, Mr. Boscowen, and a handful more, but they
were too wise for to endeavour to stop the torrent. Sir Edward
Seymour was discontented because he was not made use of, Sir
Thomas Clarges the same, and one of them letting fall a sour word,
there was a general murmur, and they were hissed; I own freely
very unparliamentarily truly, but so it happened, and the members
vied who should be more forward in granting what could be asked
for, to maintain the King and the Crown; I mean noblemen's sons
of great Estates, and commons the like, that had not, or that wanted
not, pensions. On my disgrace, I flung up my instructions, and 'tis
not possible for me to remember particulars; besides the journals
of the House explain that on the demise of a king, tonnage and
poundage are ever given, the Customs, Exise and the hearth money,
then, as I said, high duties on superfluities, wines, East India
goods, etc. At last to make up the yearly revenue, which was to
be seventeen hundred thousand pounds, more or less, duties were
laid on West India Merchandise, and from our own plantations;
VOL. I. P
His view on
taxation.
Sir John
Trevor,
Speaker.
Ioé Memoirs of
Tax pro-
posed on new
foundations.
and finding, by Mr. Alderman Crump, of Bristol, the most noted
trader to these Isles, and of others, that the over rating them would
be of fatal consequence, I proposed the laying a tax yearly on new
foundations—that is, on houses built since the year 1660, on ground
granted from the Crown etc. I had this notion from what I had
heard for years past from men that understood perfectly the good
of our nation. They termed it that the head was too big for the
body, that the Counties were dispeopled by lazy and idle persons
leaving the plough and cart for to run to London and there to take
little and idle ale-houses, and much more to this purpose. Be it
understood that I regarded old ground-rents on the same footing as
lands and tenements in the Country; so I kept up still to the
command the king laid on me (but God knows the two brothers
took it otherwise). On this proposition of mine, Sir Thomas
Clarges, that was brother in law to that great Duke (and restorer)
of Albemarle, who had his whole estate almost on new foundations
as a reward for his services, he fell on me furiously, and said that it
was a very young notion, on which I was called up, and I owned
that it came from a young mouth. However I defied that reverend
old gentleman to give me one good reason against it, unless that he
was to pay well, since his estate chiefly came from donations of the
Crown; and he replied not one word, but went out of the House
foaming at mouth, and repaired to the Earl of Clarendon, and he to
his brother the Treasurer, with what Sir Thomas told him, that
the king's affairs would be ruined by young heads in the House.
In fine, I went to wait on the king to justify myself, and that what
I had done was the sense of the substantial part of the House, and
that a tax on new foundations was not regarded as a land-tax; but
the king was so prepossessed that he turned short, and in two days
did the same for the third time; on which I told one, and God
forgive me, with an oath, that it was too much. I retired, and
went not to Court for some few months, and then in a manner sent
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. Io'7
for. But in the House I agreed to all the resolutions taken in the
grand Committee of Subsidies, out of honour and respect to the
Crown. But the American trade suffered much, which I would
have eased by my proposition. • * • ,
The Navy was taken such care of, that four hundred thousand
pounds yearly was appropriated for that service, and, there being
no war, Mr. Pepys, under the king, put the ships and docks in the
greatest order beyond what can be expressed. The Mediterranean
trade was well secured, and the pirates kept down, and all with so
great economy that I was credibly informed that at the time of the
Revolution there was near a million in value in the dock yards, in
the Tower and other places ; that in magazines of all sorts for the
use of the Navy, building of ships, &c., the king was a perfect
economist and not of a giving temper. Not only his guards and
garrisons were paid exactly, but his household each quarter, and all
tradesmen whatsoever that furnished the King's and the Queen's
Court.
Towards the latter end of the Sessions, the Mayor of Lyme, in
Dorsetshire, and his mace-bearer, came up post to give the King an
account, and on oath, that the Duke of Monmouth was landed
there with about eighty persons of all sorts: that he proclaimed
himself king, and [was] owned so by all his adherents. The King
ordered him to attend the two houses. At the Lord's bar he was
sworn, but at the Commons, a Justice of the Peace for Westminster
tendered the Mayor and [his] companion the oath in the Speaker's
chamber, the Commons having no right so to do. On the Mayor's
and Macebearer's declaration on oath, I was sent up to the Lords
to desire that their Lordships would be pleased to sit for some
convenient time longer, and at my return a short bill of very few
lines was presented to the House, and it was read on the spot the
second time, not committed, engrossed and read the third time,
and all in the space of an hour, and carried up to the Lords for
The Navy.
Landing of
the D. of
Monmouth.
P 2
Io8 Memoirs of
their concurrence, and their Lordships read the Bill to attaint
James, Duke of Monmouth, &c. I just stepped out of the House,
so as that the Speaker might name some other person to carry up
the Bill. I abhorred the Duke's presumption as much as any one,
but I was glad that another carried it up, I loving the Duke so
much as my King's natural son, but not as my own king and
sovereign. That Duke's declaration was filled with invectives
against the King, as one may see on record, becoming a madman,
and it grieved me to the heart; but he being a weak person he was
led away by enthusiastic villains, and by others behind the curtain
who never had quiet of mind until he was taken off. He declared
all rebels that sat in parliament after the first of June, he landing in
May 1685, and, although the Sessions was expiring, yet the King
would not prorogue for that reason, until about the fifteenth of June
more or less. In this place I will only mention that all persons of
the highest quality that were loyal offered their service and to raise
Regiments of Horse and Foot, and no advanced age excepted; so
I thought that being young, my discontent would go too far (the
King being thus exposed) if I did not offer myself. I addressed
myself to the Chancellor, and an independent troop was given me,
the King declaring he would raise no more regiments, but not
granted with good grace. I had my commission, and the chief
secretaries or clerks being my friends, by a dash of a pen I was the
eldest Captain of the army although I was fifteen days after the
others; and I was according to custom to kiss the King's hand,
which I did not-nor after to congratulate the King on the defeat
of the Duke of Monmouth, nor on the death of my dearest eldest
son the head of our house, nor on leaving the town on my excessive
melancholy. In this mournful condition at my father's in the
country, about ten days after, they brought me word that Mr.
Atterbury, the King's messenger, was arrived, and asked to speak
with me, being sent for that purpose only. I own I was under all
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - Io9
melancholy thoughts imaginable, reasoning what could be his
errand, and I could never get the two brothers out of my mind, and
concluded he was to take me prisoner for having contemned the
King; but going towards the stair-head I asked him his business,
and he with a cheerful countenance telling me he had a letter for
me, I began to recover myself, for messengers instructions are
never sealed. The letter was from the Earl of Feversham that
commanded in chief under the King, for to let me know that the
King had disbanded my troop, but that I might have one in a regi-
ment, which I resolved not to accept, or indeed never to ask any
thing, which I made good as by the sequel, but my father
absolutely laid his commands on me, and I was forced to submit
to so good a father. -
So I resolved to go to London next morning, and at noon I
was more confirmed as to going. For the the ordinary letters
coming in, we had the news of the Earl of Arlington's (the Lord
Chamberlain) being at the point of death. My father even in the
late king's time had the promise of the first vacancy of that of Lord
Steward of the Household or Lord Chamberlain, and I managed all
that, for he had no natural inclination to come in the Court at those
years. On the road towards London I received the congratulations
of a great number of Lords and Gentlemen that were retiring into
the country for the Summer, on the tranquility that was then. I
came to Whitehall at the king's usual hour of undressing, and,
although he was very much tired, he took me into a corner, and
after kissing his hand, he told me that he had not seen me since my
son's death, and how heartily sorry he was at my great loss.
Adding, “when your family loses, the Crown doth the same.” The
King his brother, that had words at will, could not have said more :
and added, “For to give you demonstration of the true affection I
“have for you and your family, I have withstood the most importu-
“nate solicitations that ever were made, and I was resolved no
Robert, Earl
of Ailesbury
made Lord
Chamber-
lain.
1 IO Memoirs of
“person but your father should succeed my Lord Arlington. Send
“for him immediately to town, and go to the secretary's office for a
“warrant to press post horses in case of need.” The next morning,
Tuesday, I waited on the king at his rising, and he was pleased to
direct his discourse to me, and one might perceive goodness by his
gracious countenance towards me. He asked me if my father was
arrived. I answered that if my page that I sent post was arrived at
that hour it was all he could do ; and I absented myself until
Wednesday Noon to acquaint the King that I expected my father
at four in the afternoon, which pleased him. At four I went to my
father's house at St. John's, and my page arrived at the moment
with a letter to inform me he could not come to town so soon. I
sent an express forthwith to the country to let him know that the
king was to dine at Windsor the next day, Thursday, and that
positively he must repair thither, and my express had my orders to
send the relays on the Windsor road. The king arriving at
Windsor after having marked out a camp on Hounslow, he asked
me if my father was arrived, and, telling him he was not, he ordered
me to send on to stop dinner, which is scarce credible, but I avow
the truth of it, this being a thing so much out of the common way.
I sent nobody down, and the king was angry; dinner was set on
the table. On the occasion of marking a camp, the nobility and
persons qualified had the honour to eat with him. fhis following
I also aver, else ought not to be credited. The Duke of Grafton
by his title being at the king's right hand, he directed him to sit
wide from him, which indeed he had reason not to take in good
part, and besides he was the more out of humour by reason he
aspired at the Lord Chamberlain's place which his father in law had;
and that my father by the place could only be at the head of the
Earls. He came in about the middle of dinner, and at his entrance
the king held up his hands and told him he was welcome, and after
having kissed the king's hand, he ordered him to sit by him, which
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I I I
my father waived with all earnestness. After dinner the king
retired into his closet and ordered us two to come in, and he put
the white staff into my father's hands with an embrace, and this
gracious addition, “I never bestowed an employment with so good
a heart.” God knows my father enjoyed it but three months, as
hereafter. -
In what relates to myself only, I have been very particular and
tedious, and I ask pardon; but my chief aim by it is to set out the
misfortune of kings that are not suffered to act according to their
own reason and natural inclination, and I was the sacrifice, and at
the mercy of an implacable hatred the Duchess of Beaufort (God
forgive, her) had against me. She blew up her brother in law the
Earl of Clarendon, and he his brother the Treasurer, and by what
the king told me after my father's death, it was plain and evident.
I begged a private audience in his closet, where I humbly beseeched
his majesty for to tell me for what reason I was disgraced, after the
eminent services (and so I may well call them) I had rendered him
in the House. I added “Pray, Sir, what did the two brothers say
“of me to your majesty”? “It was not the two brothers”; which
he repeated four times during the discourse, on which I said, “Pray
“let us not name the two brothers any more, but tell me, I beseech
“you, what was told to your Majesty to my prejudice.” “Why,”
said he, “you would have brought in a bill" (which I let drop on
the Duke of Monmouth's landing) “to the prejudice of your
“children.” For I think he was the first and last king that was nice
in giving the consent to private bills, and often he would send for
the parties before him for a mutual consent. I replied, “Your
“Majesty must needs remember that, on the opening of the Ses-
“sions, I begged of you to order my good friend Mr. Pepys, sole
“Secretary of the Admiralty, to read and examine the bill, and to
“make you, Sir, his report.” “That is true,” said he. I had a
copy of the bill and abstract, and a printed one, which I offered
II 2 Memoirs of
Duke of
Monmouth's
proceedings.
him. “No,” said he, “tell me the contents.” And finding thereby
that there was no land to be sold, no wood cut, nor any waste to be
committed, with some emotion, “Lord,” said he, “how people can
“represent to me such falsities” . And he retired into his closet
after saying many gracious things, and ending, was so good as to say
he was sorry for what was past. It is naturally to be believed that
the beginning of my disgrace was on the account of my proposing a
tax on new foundations, as before, but, in lieu of it, overcharging
our American trade was so detrimental, that the Treasurer could
not withstand the clamours of the merchants trading to those parts,
and so could not be able to inflame the king longer against me,
and so trumped up my bringing in a bill as before set forth, and I
knew by one that the king was of opinion afterwards that the taxing
of new foundations ought to have been preferable to that on the
American plantations. g
I think this the most proper place to bring to a conclusion the
most melancholy and tragical end of my noble and unfortunate
friend the Duke of Monmouth. Upon his receiving his paper
signed by him by which he confessed and confirmed the plot in
1683, and the validity of my Lord Howard of Escrick's testimony
which I read, the king was so incensed at his repeated demands
for to have his paper again, that he ordered him forthwith to leave
the kingdom. He retired to Holland, and during his stay there
was received by the Prince of Orange in a manner that gave great
disgust to the king. He repaired thence to Bruxelles with that
unfortunate lady whom I, lament to this hour, and they hired one
of the best houses that was to be let, and outwardly lived as man
and wife. The Marquis of Grana was then Govenor of the Low
Countries, a man of wit, but of great passion, and what follows I
had from my late noble friend the Countess Dowager of Egmont,
then wife to the Marquis, who told the Duke, “My Lord, we are
“old friends and have served together, make me your confessor and
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. II3
“tell me if that lady be your wife.” He affirming it, the Marquis
sent his daughter the now Duchess Dowager of Archolt and Arens-
berg for to visit that lady, the Gouvernante of the Low Countries
making no visits unless to persons of note, on death, marriage, and
lyings in. The Marquis on enquiry, and no doubt informed by
Sir Richard Bulstrode, the King's Resident, that she was not his
wife, he reproached the Duke, and took him by the button. “My
“Lord,” said he, “you have deceived me, and whenever I am
“recalled from this station I will cut your throat or you shall
“mine.” I am sorry to say that this poor duke was at a ball the
night of that day the news of my king and master's death arrived
here, which gave great scandal. Some time after this, the king
sent directions to his resident, to desire that the Marquis of Grana
would send the Duke of Monmouth out of the Spanish territories,
and it was accordingly done; and the Duke had twenty-four hours
given him, and the lady two or three days' respite at the request of
a Spanish officer and my great friend after, Don Valera, who had
been much in England, and a great admirer of our nation and of
the ladies, agreeable to the romantic humour of that nation. This
Spaniard accompanied my Lady Henrietta to Antwerp, and provided
a ball for her, and as the music was striking up, she retired, saying
she would come into the room in a moment. The Duke of Mon-
mouth lay hid in that town, and he sent her a note to inform her
that tide served, and she stepped down a back stair, and left poor
Don Valera the jest of the Company. In Holland he conferred
with the Earl of Argyll and the fugitives of Great Britain. The
Earl and he so concerted matters, as that he sailed for Scotland for
to make a diversion, but, before, exacted from the Duke a solemn
vow and promise that he would not take any other title on him
than Protector of England. The Duke had a long and serious
conference with the Prince of Orange. A page, by whose means
I had this, attended without. And from the Prince he went to my
VOL. I. Q
Earl of
Argyll.
II.4 Memoirs of
Lady Henrietta's, and from thence embarked for that temerarious
and foolish expedition, agreeable to his very weak head; and he
accomplished his folly by discovering to the Prince of Orange his
whole design, and to one that he knew had the same aspiring
thoughts, which he put in practice three years after, not as a
deliverer, as he was termed, but to have the Crown set on his head.
As soon as the Duke left the Prince, the latter sent away forthwith
to England Monsieur Bentinck, his favourite, (since Earl of Port-
land) to acquaint the king (not out of affection, but to have the
Duke sacrificed, who was his rival, and personally much more
beloved in the nation generally) with the Duke's design, and
offering his Majesty to come over, and to command his army
against the Duke. The king, that was more jealous of the Prince
than of the Duke by reason that the former had a legitimate title
in case of failure of a Prince of Wales, thanked the Prince most
heartily, but declined his coming over, hoping that the Duke might
be overthrown by the help of his own General and troops, although
then the number was most moderate.
To convince how jealous the King was of the Prince, he con-
sidered for some time whether he should demand of the States
General the six British regiments in their pay, and which regiments
by stipulation they were obliged to send over on the king's demand
in case of an invasion. The regiments landed, and I saw them
march to Hyde Park to a review, and one had seldom seen such a
fine body of men, and for experienced officers the same; but what
the king apprehended most, was the officers all preferred and raised
by the Prince. They were quartered well, but the king hesitated
whether he should order or not their march to the West, for the
reasons aforesaid. This Spring of 1685 there came over a French
Marquis of Lieutenant General, the Marquis of Ronchevolle, who retired from
* the service on disgust and dispute between the Minister of War
(the Monsieur de Louvois) and himself. He was a great friend of
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. II 5
our family and a man of worth. He finding that the king had no
general in Scotland of any service, he offered the king to go down
to Scotland to be about the Duke of Gordon, who nominally com-
manded in chief; else little proper. The king expressed towards
the French General how infinitely he was obliged to him, and,
taking post, he met at the first stage, Waltham Cross, an express
from Scotland with the news of my Lord of Argyll's utter defeat,
and was actually at the arrival of that express executed. The
French Marquis the king embraced and told him he brought him
good luck. The other on this desired he might go a volunteer
under the Earl of Feversham, a worthy man, but of no great head
or very great experience. The Marquis set out, and at Hounslow
changing horses, Colonel Oglethorp, knighted that day, was there
changing horses and coming from the Earl of Feversham with the
news of the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth. I happened that day
to dine in family at Kew Green, where lived Sir Henry Capel, my
wife's uncle, and at my return I saw the six regiments come from
Holland camped on a little heath or waste ground by Brentford on
their march towards the West; for the king had deferred their
march as long as he could, possibly little relying on them as before
mentioned. They were honourably recompensed and sent back, to
the king's great joy, as I was told, for it was then that I was under
a cloud; however that abated not my zeal toward the service of the
king and my country, and by my means he had the first notice of
secret cabals and goings about of the most notorious disaffected
persons of the county of Somerset. The deputy Lieutenants being
assembled at Ilminster, a factious and populous town, on informa-
tion given them, they sent up privately Mr. Clark, a most worthy
divine and minister of that great borough, and directed him to
acquaint me with what he was charged with. I not going to Court,
I wrote to the Secretary of State; not him that was working him-
self in by degrees to be Prime Minister. That person was intro-
Defeat of
Argyll.
Defeat of the
D. of Mon-
mouth.
Q 2
II6 Memoirs of
Mr. Rob.
Ferguson.
duced to the king, who received him very graciously and greatly
thanked, and by him the Deputy Lieutenants the same. The poor
man in few days took his leave of me, and during dinner his face
was like a dead man's. I persuaded him to stay, and even at my
house, but could not prevail. He told me he had a very fanatic
congregation, and that it was his duty that called on him to follow
his function, and in a few days I heard that the poor man was
found murthered in a field adjoining to that town. Very few days
after that, the Mayor of Lyme in Dorsetshire, as I said before,
arrived in town. I repeat that the Earl of Argyll had obtained a
promise by way of vow from the Duke of Monmouth, that he would
take no other title than that of Protector, but Mr. Robert Ferguson,
that noted plotter in two reigns, swayed him absolutely; he was
fanatic chaplain to preach to the mob and Mr. Hook (afterwards a
Colonel reformed in the French service after the revolution in
1688) was termed Chaplain of the Church of England for form sake.
That I may not trouble you any more, then, in this place with this
melancholy end that befel the poor misguided Duke, give me leave
in this very place to inform you of what was never known but by
me, and I had it five years after, more or less, from the fountain
head of troubled water, Mr. Robert Ferguson, who entirely swayed
that Duke, and it was by his persuasion he took upon him the title
of king; and these were his reasons.
“The Church of England,” said he, “are, as to monarchy, of
“an unthinking and giddy constitution, and so addicted to the
“Crown that, set a Crown on a post, they will fall down and
“worship it.” Adding “that if Oliver Cromwell could have come
“up to his ambition and to be crowned, many lords and gentlemen
“ that set so much value on themselves at the restoration would
“have taken the oaths and have submitted to the Tyrant and King
“in possession.” And these reasons made the poor Duke style
himself King, and the mob proclaimed him as such on landing.
He went on telling me that the Duke being just at the mouth of the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I 17
Harbour of Lyme, and lying on quilts on the deck in that fine
season about sunrise, he touched his shoulder to perceive if he was
awake. The Duke cried out, “Who are you ?” “Your humble
“servant and slave, Ferguson.” He had a very canting way with
him. He asked of the Duke one favour, who thought it had been
for himself. The other replied, “No, Sir ; it is for your Majesty's
“service,” viz., That he would not bestow any title, employment,
or garter, until that by the grace of God he should set foot
peaceably at Whitehall. “Why?” said the Duke. The other
replied, “All people more or less are filled with vanity, and fancy
“themselves capable and worthy,” and that “thirty persons might
“ aspire to the same reward, and if granted to one, you sent away
“the rest discontented.” “Your reasons are good,” said the Duke,
“but with an exception to one.” The other, a sly and cunning
plotter and rebel, said, “It is not fit for such a worm as I am to
“enter into your Majesty's secrets.” The Duke answered that he
could trust him, and plainly told him that he had promised to be
Prime Minister and Secretary the same person who then was at
Court dignified with the same employment; and Ferguson ended
with “This is true before the living God l’’
The Duke had with him a distant relation of mine, Mr.
Fletcher, of Saltoun, of Scotland, a brave and ingenious man, but
of a head never to be at quiet. At landing he fell out with Mr.
Dare, goldsmith, of Taunton, and Captain of the populace fighting
on horseback ; and the latter was killed on the spot; and the
Duke of Monmouth was obliged to send him on board, and he was
driven to Bilbao, in Spain, and retired to Holland, and came over
with the Prince of Orange, in 1688; had his estate restored to him,
and afterwards flew out again, but it went no farther than his
tongue, and in the parliament of Scotland he was always a
malcontent. No doubt my Lord Grey of Wark came over with
the Duke, his whole number consisted but of eighty persons, my
Fletcher, of
Saltoun.
II.8 . Memoirs of
wife's tenants holding on three lives, the custom of the country. I
asked, after I had returned to Court, of the King the confiscations
of my tenants who had the good will to rebel. I asked one or two
in that year, in Somersetshire, why they did not join the Duke.
They told me they should have been madmen, since he landed but
with a handful of men. The unfortunate lady came from Holland
some months after to England, and I saw her after the Duke's
execution in a most lamentable condition of health.
jºins. The King's forces were not numerous—two regiments of Foot
© Guards, three troops of Horse Guards, the Earl of Oxford's Royal
Regiment of Horse,” my Lord Churchill's of Dragoons, that fine
Scotch Royal Regiment of Dumbarton, so known heretofore in
France by the name of Douglas Kirke's Tangier Regiment, the
Marine Regiment of Sir Charles Littleton, the Holland of the Earl
of Mulgrave, soon after Oglethorpes, and the Queen's Regiment,
commanded by Colonel Trelawney. It is understood that a
sufficient guard of horse and foot were to remain in town for the
safety of the King's person, the Tower of London, and our sea
chief fortresses. The Earl of Feversham commanded in chief in
the west the little army, if one may so term it. The Militia of
Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Wiltshire, Cornwall, and
Somersetshire, and Gloucestershire, these especially were all in
their several bodies, and the noblemen, the Lord Lieutenants, at
the head of each. Their hearts and inclinations were good
certainly, else I lay little stress upon any but regular and well
disciplined troops. The annals give you a most particular account,
and I cannot by strength of memory. It was said, as I remember,
that the King's forces ran risk of being surprised, but all happily
ended. The Duke's Horse could not well be relied on, it
consisting chiefly of mares and horses feeding in the moors and
pastures, and no wonder that the great fire might put them into
* p. 54, “The Royal Regiment of Horse called Oxford's.”
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. II9
confusion. My Lord Grey of Wark was his general of the horse,
and there were two reasons given for the derout of the horse, one
as I have set out here above, and the other, of a nice nature, that
my Lord Grey would be revenged on the Duke on account of
certain amours, and what did not look well on that Lord's side was,
that in the winter he became an evidence in open Court at certain
trials : that is matter of fact; for the rest I leave it as I found it.
By the providence of the Almighty, this poor Duke was
entirely put to the rout, but had it not been in that total manner,
and if he could have possessed himself of Bristol and the river
Severn, he might have given the King's small body of men work
enough. He took immediately the flight, and being closely pursued
he was found in Hampshire, as I take it, sitting in a dry ditch eating
of peas out of the field adjoining, and, as I remember, was brought
before the late Lord Lumley since Earl of Scarborough, and was
conducted to Lambeth by a party of horse, and from thence brought
over by water to the privy stairs at Whitehall; and I, coming from
the city by water, unfortunately landed at the same moment, and
saw him led up the other stairs on Westminster side, lean and pale,
and with a disconsolate physiognomy, with soldiers with pistols in
their hands. The Yeomen of the guard were posted, and I got
behind one of them that he should not perceive me, and I wished
heartily and often since that I had not seen him, for I could never
get him out of my mind for years, I so loved him personally. Mr.
Chiffins, the king's keeper of his closet, had his lodgings near the
stairs adjoining the King's privy lodgings under his great one, and
thence he was brought before the King, and, as I remember, the
Queen Dowager was present, and our growing Minister. The Duke
prostrated himself at their Majesties' feet, with a flood of tears and
With all marks of true repentance, beseeching the king for the love
of God to save his life, that he might sacrifice the rest of his days
to his service; insomuch that the King's heart was melted, and had
The Duke of
Monmouth
taken
prisoner.
Brought to
London.
qy. there.
I2O Memoirs of
Executed.
it not been for that Minister who certainly had tossed over in the
room of the Duke had he been pardoned. The topic that minister
went on was certainly a true one, that there could not be two kings,
and the minister finding the king's heart melted, he told his majesty
he ought not to converse with traitors. So he was sent to the
Tower, and in forty hours after was executed, by virtue of the bill
of attainder, on Thursday the 6th of July, the day my dearest son
died, and 'tis by that the day is so fresh in my memory. The king
sent Dr. Turner, Bishop of Ely and some of his chaplains (Dr.
Tillotson one) to assist him on the scaffold, and if he desired by
name any other orthodox Divine, no doubt it was granted to him.
The Bishop and the Divines laboured hard to put him in mind of
eternity and set before him the heinous crime of rebellion, but, sorry
I am to say it, he gave no satisfaction to any. He desired my Lord
Bishop of Ely to carry the poor Lady Henrietta, whom he called
his wife before God to his last, some small matter wrapped up in a
paper. The Bishop acquainted the King with it, and was unwilling
to go, but did by the king's direction. The poor lady swooned
away, and being come to herself told my Lord, “Good God! had
“ that poor man nothing to think of but of me?” And what was in
the paper was a charm; he was so weak as to have many found about
him at his death. Thus died ignominiously the finest nobleman eyes
ever saw as to his exterior, and that was all, save that he was of the
most courteous and polite behaviour that can be expressed. He
had served in the French army as Lieutenant General, and he was
brave and a good officer. It is imagined that he left children by
that unfortunate lady, who died soon after, for Sir Robert Howard
of the Berkshire line, Sir William Smith of Buckinghamshire, and
Edward Northey, Esq. of the Temple had the management of the
Estate at Toddington in Bedfordshire and the rest of the Estate for
some years, and after that, my Lady Baroness of Lovelace, the
Dowager Aunt to the deceased lady, had possession as heir at law,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 121
and her grandchild, Mrs. Lovelace, on deſault of issue male of her
father, became heiress, and she marrying Sir Henry Johnson, the
only daughter by them came to be heiress, and she marrying the
present Earl of Strafford, no doubt but Toddington &c., will be
enjoyed by that lord of the same name of Wentworth.
The army the King raised on this invasion was fine and
splendid this summer on Hounslow Heath, and I believe the King
had in his pay sixteen thousand men in England. I was neither of
the Court, or a spectator, this summer of 1685. I had a troop, as I
said before, and in the old Earl of Peterborough's Regiment, the
first after the Royal Regiments. I was one week in quarters at
Reading with the said Earl, in order to prepare to pass before the
King in review at Maidenhead Common, near Windsor, and our
regiment did not camp that summer after the review. I retired to
my father's, in the country, until after his death, so I can give no
account of transactions at Court, nor do I remember anything
remarkable that might have been told me by others, save that the
King's ear was now possessed by the artificial” secretary, and his
tool Father Peters. The Earl of Rochester was still Treasurer,
but not in the secrets of the Cabinet:--I do not mean by that,
Cabinet Council.
Not long after the execution of the Duke of Monmouth, the
King ordered to be issued out a Commission of Oyer and Terminer,
in order to bring the rebels to justice. The chief in the Com-
mission was Sir George Jeffries, Chief Justice of England, a man of
great and fiery passion, and did more ill things out of his natural
temper, which was insufferable, than out of a design to render the
King odious, and who was innocent of what follows, and he after-
wards protested to me that he abhorred what had passed in that
Commission, I knew the King's temper too well for to give my
advice, but it was at my tongue's end, viz., “Your Majesty ought to
“turn out the Justice and Mr. Percy Kirke, and that will show to
* Artful, so used by Clarendon. This meaning now obsolete.
VOL. I. R -
The Army.
Trial of the
rebels.
Sir G. Jeffe-
ries. -
I 22 Memoirs of
Col. Kirke.
Mr. Pollex-
fen.
Loder.
Bribes.
Mr. Pri- .*
deaux.
Mr. Stroude.
Mr. Battes-
combe.
“the world your true abhorrence.” It was most prudent to send a
body of Dragoons to secure the Judges, who certainly might have
been exposed in doing their duty ; but the choice of Colonel Kirke
to command was the misfortune; as also the choice Sir Robert
Sawyer, the King's Attorney, made of Mr. Pollexfen, an ill-natured,
surly, but great lawyer. Sir Robert Sawyer was by his place over-
whelmed with business of the Crown, and he had leave given him
to name a deputy for this Commission, and he had a tool or
substitute he employed to examine the poor and most of them
illiterate prisoners. His name was Loder, Deputy Clerk of the
Assizes for the Western Circuit, and whom I knew well to be a
very rascal. This fellow, by Mr. Pollexfen's orders, went in to the
prisons, and made the poor people believe that they had nothing
to save their lives but by pleading guilty, on which each strove who
should be the first; and Jeffries swore that all that were guilty
should be hanged, and, as I have been told, he passed sentence on
eight hundred in one day. Be it understood that these were poor
rebels, and the rich escaped. In Somersetshire, I remember but
the names of two ; Mr. Prideaux, who gave the Justice twelve or
fifteen thousand pounds, and Mr. William Stroude gave a con-
siderable sum, and so did many more, the names forgot by me. In
Dorsetshire, one Mr. Battescomb, a gentleman and minor of
seventeen years old, was drawn in by a rascally guardian. He by
a friend addressed to me. The King was most favourably inclined
to pardon him. I told him, “Sir, if the Chief Justice should know
“I intercede, hanged he will be certainly.” And so he was, for
not applying to him with a present. I valuing myself on truth and
sincerity, I cannot hide matter of fact, and the rather because all
was done unknown to the King, and who was sensibly troubled for
what had happened. When the Judges came to Crookherne where
there was great execution done, a young woman, I think daughter
to an inn holder, fell down on her knees before Colonel Kirke with
a flood of tears, begging that he would be a means to save her
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I23
father's life; he promised, on condition she would yield herself to
him. She consented, hoping to save her father's life by it, and she,
getting out of bed in the morning, saw her father hanged on the
sign post. And when he was in his jovial and drinking humour, he
ordered the trumpeters to sound, and to hang some prisoners before
him on drinking his healths, and I knew well after that he did it -
designedly for to render the King odious in the eyes of his subjects.
He took the highest liberties of all kinds ever man did, and had no
sense of religion, which makes me bring in naturally a very
audacious expression of his. The King said, “Kirke, you do not
“much mind religion, and why cannot you be of mine, as well as
“of another?” He replied, “Sir, I am very sorry for to be pre-
“engaged.” “To whom 7” He replied that when he had the
honour to command at Tangier, as Governor, he promised the King
of Morocco that if ever he changed his religion he would become a
Mahometan. To conclude, he died at Bruxelles eaten up alive with
vermin, the year of the battle of Steinkirk; * and Pollexfen, who was
made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas after the Revolution, died
choked with his blood in the throat. The just judgments of God
are unsearchable and past finding out. *
As I said, I was in the country, and not being inquisitive,
which humour I retain to this hour, I knew nothing that passed at
Court, Towards the latter end of October, this year 1865, my
father, whose presence was necessary at Court as Lord Chamber-
lain of the Household, obtained for the second time a respite of
some days for to divert himself at his home in the Country. He
left the town as I was told (the 16th of October) very melancholy;
however his Falconers met him on the road, he taking great
pleasure at that sport, and passing by the church where is the
sepulchre of the family, he told his steward, in the coach with him,
“There is my habitation.” The Saturday he hunted and hawked
* A.D. 1692.
Death of
Col. Kirke.
Mr. Pollex-
fen. -
R 2
I24 Memoirs of
Death of
Robert, Earl
of Ailesbury.
Earl of Sun-
derland.
Thomas,
Earl of Ailes-
bury, made
Lord Lieu-
tenant.
in the afternoon, and in the evening returning home he ordered his
Master Falconer to prepare all for Monday morning; but God
knows I found death in his face. He rested ill that night, and the
physic he took not operating, and falling into a lethargy, I sent an
express in all haste to fetch his physician, and the next morning
I sent for Sir Charles Scarborough, his friend and the king's physi-
cian, who arrived Tuesday morning, an hour before he became
speechless. One and the other could judge nothing by his pulse,
which was sedate enough. I came to his bedside to ask him that
if he had forgot anything, by will or otherwise, (although I knew
well that my mother was to be his executrix) he had but to com-
mand me. He took me fast by the hand, and, thanking me, said,
“Dear Son, you will see melancholy days; God be thanked I
“shall not.” And in a moment after he became speechless, and so
continued twelve hours, and expired without having had any signs
of fever, and no agony, but his face and body some hours after as
black as ink. Thus died the best subject, patriot, husband, father
and master that ever lived. -
I could have only resort to conjectures; formerly he spoke to
the king, when Duke of York, with great freedom, and always well
received, so now I doubt he had not met with that gracious reception,
for at this time the close Cabinet minister, and his tool Petres,
triumphed absolutely. I sent up by an express the Gold Key
without letter or request, as I always resolved, but my Lord
Mulgrave's servant, that dogged my father from London and lay
privately in the Town, arrived before mine by two hours, which to
me was nothing, that would not pretend. Very soon after I
received a letter from my Lord Treasurer Rochester, to condole
with me, and to impart that the King had ordered that I should
succeed my father as Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Bedford,
Huntingdon, and Cambridge, and desired I would come to Town as
soon as I could with decency; and I think I had a letter from my
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I 25
Lord Chancellor Jeffries. A very few days after, one Mr. Whitfield,
who had been my father's secretary and an aspirer at the Secretary's
office, came down express to me with a warrant for to be gentleman
of the Bedchamber (which I preferred far before the other employ-
ment, reduced so since King Charles’ death, and continual waiting
required) in the room of the Earl of Mulgrave now Lord Chamber-
lain, and his Majesty's warrant being countersigned by my Lord
Middleton, the other Secretary of State, and the favourite Secretary
engrossing all to himself, and the other served in a manner as in
forma pauperis. I asked Mr. Whitfield (after Treasurer to the
Marines and father in law to the Earl of Islay) the reason of it; and
he told me that the other Secretary was utterly against me, not only
as to the place of Lord Chamberlain, but also as to . that of
the Bedchamber, but that my Lord Treasurer used all his
endeavours to obtain the first for me, and, that failing, spoke to the
King for the latter, with some warmth no doubt to repair for what
was past.
Now I begin to enter upon the first wrong measure the good
king took, not but that I think it very hard that persons of merit
and service, and for the services of their ancestors, should be
excluded because they dissented in principles of religion ; but the
law was against them, and I always laid it down for a maxim that a
dispensing power in the Crown might be of the last ill consequence,
and tending to subvert the fundamental laws of the kingdom. That
which gave a handle, although a poor one, but no doubt the
Chancellor Jeffries made his use of it, was this ; there were some
laws of little consequence infringed on by the King's giving a non-
obstante, viz., that a High Sheriff might be continued for a second
year, and that a judge might go his own circuit, both contrary to
acts then in being and perhaps still. I anticipate, but 'tis to the
purpose. Few years after Sir Robert Atkins,” Lord Chief Baron,
declared in the House that the Crown had no power whatsoever.
* See p. 151.
and Gentle-
man of the
Bedcham-
ber.
Dispensing
power.
Sir Robert
Atkins.
I 26 Memoirs of
The King's
Speech.
Lord Bella-
sis.
I answered, “How comes it to pass, my Lord, that you go the
“Oxford Circuit, where the County of Gloucester is included, and
“your native one 7 " I confirm what I said before : however, I
am of opinion that the Crown may dispense during the interval of
parliaments when 'tis for the general good of the kingdom, in case
of a famine, or sickness amongst cattle, and then in that case, corn
and cattle may justly be brought in and afterwards confirmed at
the sitting of the next parliament.
The king from the first raising of his troops, on the invasion
downwards, had given commissions to about eighty persons that
were Roman Catholics, and most men of condition and of known
worth. This made a great noise, and now it was that the Secretary
and his shadow began to lay the axe to the tree, by framing the
king's speech so contrary to the sense of the old and landed Roman
Catholics. Perhaps I may not repeat the very words, but refer you
to the annals. Let no man take exceptions at what I have done and
I will stand by it. The two Houses were in a deep melancholy.
That very evening, according to custom, I went to visit my worthy
friend and kinsman the Lord Bellasis, who seldom stirred out,
being so infirm in his limbs. There were some lords and gentle-
men of great substance of the same persuasion. My Lord Bel-
lasis, who was in a great chair, took me by the hand saying,
“My dear Lord, who could be the framer of this speech I date
“my ruin and that of all of my persuasion from this day.” This is
true on my honour; and from that time downwards he expressed
all grief and sorrow. The House of Commons, notwithstanding,
retained their loyal and good humour, and seriously debated
amongst themselves what was to be done, so as not to depart from
essentials. And they resolved upon an humble address to be laid
before the king, filled with the most dutiful expressions, and to lay
before his Majesty three expedients: First that his Majesty would
be pleased to give them the names of such persons as he desired
might be exempted from taking the test; and, if not, that he would,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. • I 27
without naming, fix on a certain number limited; if not that they might
know the yearly value for the Salaries of such persons, and that they
would provide a fund for that purpose, which would be more
advantageous to each person for to receive their wages according
to their station, and do no service for it. The Speaker and the
House presented themselves to the King in the usual forms; in the
presence, the King in a great chair, the Lord Chamberlain desired
me to bear the sword. The House came in with a cheerful
countenance, but went away with as sad a one, and some with
tears, and all with sighs. The King's answer being, “What I have
“done I will stand by.” I was so struck, that, the sword being
heavy, I could scarce keep it up. The King demanded by his
ministers in the House, now much alienated, a subsidy for the
subsistence of the Army, and they not agreeing to all that was
asked, they were prorogued, and afterwards dissolved; and we
had no more during the king's being in the kingdom.
As to the character of the Prime Minister and Secretary, pen
cannot describe worse of him than he deserved. He was displaced
in about 1678 or 1679, for being in the Interest against the legal
succession. What the Duke of Monmouth told Ferguson what
related to him was true; viz. what he (that is, the Prime Minister)
told Sir John Cochrane at his country seat, the latter taking the
road from Scotland to London, and who dined with me the next
day. Sir John walking with him in the garden, and talking most
seriously, he asked how it was possible for a person of his great parts
and experience for to have given his master, King James, such
pernicious counsels, and the executing of which brought on the
King all his misfortunes, and the loss of his Kingdoms. He replied
with a sneer, that but for those counsels the Prince of Orange had
never landed and succeeded. On which Sir John told me that he
was struck dumb and with abhorrence. To make this good, he
permitted his Lady, cousin to Mr. Henry Sidney the Earl of
Earl of Sun-
derland.
‘I 28 Memoirs of
Influence of
Father
Petres.
His avarice.
Case of Sir
B. E. Wray.
Leicester's brother and close agent (to say no more) to the Prince of
Orange, for to take copies in the night of all secret resolutions taken
in the closet each day, and this I know to be true. It is plain and
evident he had nothing in view but the King's ruin, and the thing
shewed itself manifestly after. Had he been of a weak and credulous
temper, one might have said, “God forgive him, he knew not better.”
He running headlong into all, he made Father Petres his tool, who
was not as they say in anywise learned; but this I know, he was
filled with vanity and great passions, and, as to state affairs a perfect
novice, and resembled little most of his order, where there are
generally many crafty, and wise, and intriguing men. The Secretary
pushing on all, and so pleasing to the Father, it tending naturally as
he thought to propagate his religion, whereby he shewed himself a
false politician in that as in all other of his actions. The Father
told the King, “This man must certainly be of the Romish religion
“in his heart; put him to it, and if he refuses to enter into our
“Communion, he must be a man that looks one way and rows
“another;” which was so in reality; and if the Father had been a
Statesman, he might easily have perceived it, but for talent he had
none, and he, being full of vanity, he hoisted up his main sail, but
lost his ship for want of ballast. Besides propagating his religion
as his poor head conceived, there was mammon besides in the case.
I can give one instance, matter of fact, and I have been morally
assured of the truth of the other. The family of Wray in Lincoln-
shire married into the Cecil family of Salisbury, and of consequence
allied at some distance to my mother. There had been a good
estate in the family, but by degrees all wasted, and the Baronetship
fell to a young gentleman of the name, whose father, Mr. Edward
Wray, was well esteemed by the king when Duke of York, and had
embraced the Romish religion. The Aunt to this young gentle-
man, a good friend of mine, begged of me to endeavour to advance
her nephew the Baronet, without one shilling save his pay of one
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I 29
that rode in the Life Guard. I spoke to the king earnestly to
bestow a Cornet Standard on him, since so many were preferred
that were, like him, not qualified by the laws, and added that if his
Majesty would permit him to travel a year for to improve him, and
that if the pay would not be sufficient, I and the rest of his relations
would make it up. The King answered, “being in the Guards was
“a very good school.” I replied “Yes, Sir, in time of war and
“action; else it was a nursery for all sort of debauchery and vice.”
“Well,” said he, “speak to Father Petres.” I own I was struck
with amazement; go I must, or abandon the young man.
The father received me with great respect (and I do not
remember I ever was but that time at his lodgings in Court, those
the King had when Duke of York) as indeed towards me he ever
was polite, more than I could be towards him. “My Lord,” said
he, “I am a most unfortunate person by not being able to serve
“you in this matter, not only as you come by the king's order, but
“likewise on the respect I bear to you,” urging that he was pre-
engaged. I left him civilly, but coldly, and I had this so to heart,
that I was resolved to dive into the pre-engagement; and who
should this standard be given to, but to young Monsieur Foubert,
a French Huguenot, and whose father retired from France on
Monsieur
Foubert.
account of his religion, and set up the Academy again in London,
which he was obliged to quit in Paris. I knew the father most
well when I was of another Academy at Paris,” and the son, now
Major Foubert, I had a kindness for, and wished him well, but not
the Standard I had in view to have. To end this, it was morally
sure that he gave five hundred guineas. Great sums this Father
must have, or a person of high worth must have been a notorious liar.
The then Earl of Shrewsbury being turned out of his regiment
of horse, for reasons hereafter, he was so sensibly touched, that, by
degrees, his discontent carried him so far as to enter into negocia-
* See p. 1.
VOL. I. S
Earl of
Shrewsbury.
130 Memoirs of
Fourth
troop of
Life Guards.
Lord Dover.
tions with the Prince of Orange, and towards the time the fruit
was ripe, he went into Holland, and came over with the Prince.
He, imagining that there might be great obstacles, and perhaps the
Prince might not succeed, and then that he should be attainted and
his estate confiscated, he took up on his estate thirty thousand
pounds, that so he might not want bread in case of failure, and I
was then morally assured by a person of probity, that this thirty
thousand pounds was Father Petres' money, put out, as 'tis a
common custom, under the name of other persons. The late Duke
of Marlborough did the like, and many more. I know that on the
Prince's succeeding and being declared king, the Earl before
mentioned had but one view by being Secretary of State, and that
was to get that sum again to redeem the Estate, which he effected;
for on a King's coming to the Crown, the Secretary of State
(especially the first) gets prodigiously the first year, all employ-
ments whatsoever, Civil and Military, &c. ceasing, and all must be
renewed.
What follows, sets out to the life in what hands my good but
unhappy master was in, and which he did not perceive. I had a
little share about this time in endeavouring to tell him truth, but
with little success, as hereafter. The King created a fourth troop
of Life Guards, and his project was to have the gentlemen troopers
of Roman Catholics, out of charity towards poor country gentlemen
of that persuasion charged with children, and not able to put them
into the world. The Captain, my Lord Dover, whom the King
loved, and so he was blinded, that lord a Roman Catholic, but the
other officers were half one and half the other, even to subalterns.
A country gentleman whose name I have forgot, and charged with
a great family, begged of the King a place in the troop for his son.
“Why do you not go,” said the King, “to my Lord Dover?” He
replied, that he had been there, and that Mr. Mollins, his secretary,
told him he was to give fifty guineas. “You are a fool,” said the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I3 I
King; “My Lord Dover takes no money.” Those the King loved
had no faults. The poor man was dashed, and ready to sink
into the ground. The King was a most good and worthy Prince,
but had the misfortune on occasions when he was angry, to be
snappish for the moment, and wholly resembling his royal father.
The King perceiving that the poor gentleman was still there, and
as if he had a mind to speak, “You have somewhat to say,” he bid.
him go on, on which the poor dejected gentleman took a little
courage, and said, “I believe your majesty thinks that the troop is
“filled with Roman Catholics.” “Aye,” said he, “and there are
“no others.” To end, the gentleman took courage, and told the
King that above half of the troops were French Huguenots, and it
was actually so; for if a Turk had come, the fifty guineas had been
acceptable to that Lord the Captain. I, knowing these particulars
to be plain truth, I have been longer on the subject, to make it
evident to you that the good King was in the worst of hands of all
kinds : those that actually betrayed him, and others that designed
it not, but did the King equal harm. I own that this troop so con-
stituted was not agreeable to the law ; the King was ill thought on
by many for it, and yet his charitable design was frustrated by
persons filled with avarice, &c., and sacrificed their King for gold ;
and a Prince that had all moral virtues, and (lay aside his dignity)
I do affirm he was the most honest and sincere man I ever knew, a
great and good Englishman, and a high protector of trade, and had
nothing so much at heart as the strength and glory of the Fleet and
Navy; and it was never in so high a pitch, nor in so great lustre,
as during the time of his administration, not only when Duke of
York, but the same after his coming to the Crown, until he was
obliged to retire out of the nation.
In fine, he wanted for nothing but the talent of his Royal
Brother, who certainly was a great master of that art called king
craft, and no one knew men better, and this good king less. In
Character of
K. James II.
S 2
I 32 Memoirs of
former days he had been very amorous, and more out of a natural
temper than for the genteel part of making love, which he was
much a stranger to. He was at last truly sensible of that error, and
became a hearty penitent, which certainly was most agreeable to
God. It is certain that kings ought to be good Christians as well
as their subjects, and the more because they ought to give good
example to them. God forbid that I should have anything to say
against devotion, or serving our Creator, but a king who hath three
kingdoms to govern, cannot have all those leisure hours that sub-
jects enjoy, and too much of his time was taken up at holy exercises,
all which, as I said, was praiseworthy before God, but took up so
great a part of his time, that public affairs of the Crown and nation
suffered greatly, and gave too much occasion for crafty statesmen
to accomplish their villanous projects. And to contradict plainly
what virulent and factious persons laid to the king's charge, and
when he was Duke of York, as if he was of an implacable and
never-forgiving temper, this winter of 168; furnished two great
instances of his having been most wrongfully accused. The one
shewed evidently his great clemency; the other his great nicety in
matters of blood. Charles Lord Brandon, son to the Earl of Mac-
clesfield, (who then was fled the kingdom and outlawed) was deeply
engaged with the late Duke of Monmouth (not personally in his
army), and thereupon was committed to the Tower, and soon after
was tried at the King's Bench bar, and legally convicted capitally.
His Lady, although at variance with her Lord, most humanly” laid
herself at the Queen's feet, and her Majesty interceded so effectually,
that the king granted him a most generous and free pardon, as also,
two years after, he gave him a commission to raise a regiment of
horse, and was one of the finest in the Army; and I must do justice
to that lord’s memory, that he never swerved from his duty, not
even at the Prince of Orange's landing, although his father came
Lord Bran-
don.
* Qy. humanely.
Zhomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I33
over with the Prince, and in the Army with him, the Lord Churchill
then having the modelling of the troops after the Prince was settled
in London, and the King gone into France.
The first step he made was to disband my Lord Brandon's
regiment, which so inflamed the father (of a haughty spirit) that he
told the other these words following:—“By God, my Lord, this is
“a fine treatment after all my sufferings I’’ The other replied,
“My Lord, your son had not given any signs of zeal towards the
“Prince, and by not bringing in his regiment as others did.” The
aforesaid Earl on this flew into the highest passion. “My Lord,”
said he, “if my son had done such a base action, after having had
“his life given him so graciously, I would have been the first that
“would have shot him in the head. Hark you, my Lord ; I have
“been a rebel for so acting against the King, but, by God, my
“Lord, I never was a Tr .” The Duke of Leeds, the Earl of
Peterborough, and others used the same words on different
occasions, and the said Duke on his death-bed declared that, next
to the offending the good God, nothing troubled him more than the
great share he had in that revolution.
About the same time, my cousin my Lord Delamere, a person
of an implacable spirit against the King and the Crown, and of a
most sour temper of mind, had notice given him to prepare for his
trial before a Jury of Peers; for then out of Parliament a peer was
tried in that manner, according to the law then subsisting. The
said Lord was greatly involved, and one of the chief adherents of
the Duke of Monmouth, or rather his cause, for he was not in his
army. The Lords were named, and Westminster Hall prepared as
usual on such occasions. The King told me he would not name
me for one, hoping that I would not imagine he suspected me by
reason of the near kindred between me and the prisoner, but that
he imagined it would not be an agreeable thing to sit on blood,
unless by duty in a full house of Peers. I gave him many thanks,
Trial of
Lord Dela-
In CTC.
I34 - Memoirs of
and assured him of my great acknowledgements, although that Lord
and I were on the worst terms imaginable, as his majesty knew ;
yet, however, I was much pleased, and that on such a great
judicature, the most noble in Europe, I would never answer but to
God Almighty, the searcher of hearts, for my proceedings there,
yet, however, I should be ready to do my duty towards my King if
justice was on his side, and that was ever and will be my maxim,
and to my last. Some few days before the trial, the King told me
he had convoked his learned council of the long robe, who on strict
examination had discovered that Saxton, one of the two witnesses,
was found defective in one particular of his evidence, and although
against the other witness they could find no exception, yet it was
their opinion, that if a witness was faulty in one article it might be
supposed he was in the rest. Besides it hath been, at least in my
time, a maxim laid down by the Peers, that it was better that
twenty lords guilty might be acquitted, rather than one innocent
man should perish. On the whole matter the King told me that
my cousin would come off. I answered as I thought proper, and as
a good subject, that he ought to be extolled for his great niceness
in matters of blood. I added, “Why then, Sir, will you bring that
“lord to his trial 7” He answered that all was ready for it, and at
a great but usual expense, but his main reason was to convince his
subjects that he had named persons that would not find a man
guilty—right or wrong ; and the number of peers—upwards of
thirty—consisted of all the officers of his household, and army, and
Lord Lieutenants. I was the only one, and of the Bedchamber,
that was not of that body, and so I attended the King in his box,
and the Queen, who were there as incog., and where the dinner was
brought to him ; for at trials there is no throne, but the High
Steward is in a great chair, elevated, with the white staff, supported
by one of his gentlemen. The night before, my Lord Delamere,
the prisoner, sent me a subpoena, and I imagined I was to be called
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - I35
forth, so towards the end of the trial I told the King it was better
for me to go down into the Court than to be called for by the crier
out of his box, and I heard no more of that matter. I suppose had
he found himself in danger he would, as most prisoners do, call on
men of honour to testify what they knew as to his life and conversa-
tion. God knows if that had happened I could have said nothing
to purpose, for he and I were of so different principles in all
respects, that we seldom or never conversed together. Even his
good father that married my mother's sister, and was well known
by the name of Sir George Booth, expressed to me, years before,
the trouble that his son's conduct gave him; for although at Court
he was not well thought on, especially by the Ministry in the late
reign, yet I knew him to be not only a most worthy man, but a
good subject besides. But ministers love none but those that are
to them like spaniel dogs. -
The Chancellor Jeffries, who was High Steward for that day as
customary, kept himself better than usual in bounds as to his tongue,
however he launched out sometimes. The trial was as formal as if
he had been to be condemned, and the two witnesses gave their
evidence sedately. The prisoner, if I mistake not, in his plottings
went by another name, that of Smith as I take it. That is not
material. The whole body concluded Mr. Smith guilty at least,
after a trial of six hours or more. The High Steward, with the list
of the Lords in his hand, began with the last in rank, which was my
Lord Butler of Weston, the Duke of Ormond's brother. In the
usual manner he began, “Charles Lord Butler of Weston, is Henry
“Lord Delamere guilty or not guilty?” The other, laying his hand
on his breast, answered “Not Guilty.” And the rest said the same
in their turns. There happened a thing extraordinary enough in its
nature. Henry Earl of Peterborough, Groom of the Stole, a man
of a hot and fiery temper, rising up said the same as did the rest of
the lords, but then whispered his next neighbour in the ear, “Guilty,
I36 - Memoirs of
“by God!” And indeed the whole number of lords was of the
same sentiment, but, as I said, men of honour and conscience could
proceed no otherwise by the strict rules of the law. Returning to
the King in the box, “Well, my Lord, your cousin escaped narrowly;
“he may see how fair a trial he hath had, and, by the grace of God,
“I shall never be for taking away the life of the least of my subjects
“by indirect ways, and they shall have as fair a game for their lives
“ as your cousin hath had ; and this depend on, and tell it to all as
“you have occasion.” x
. ... I remember great clamours there were relating to the executing
sº Colonel Algernon Sidney. It was well known how he behaved
himself during the time of Cromwell and after his death, and when
he had the mortification to see the King happily restored, he was not
able to live under a happy ald monarchical government, but lived
shifting about in Republican governments for the most part. Being
at Montpelier he had like to have killed Mr. Barberai, my physician
after, and who told it me there; and for what? Because a medicine
he had taken by his order had not operated to his mind I mention
this one particular, but I knew from many of what an implacable
spirit he was of, and towards kingly government, most of all. His
first entrance into England after the restoration was to lay a foun-
dation for a second Commonwealth, and he was in all the close
councils of 1682 and 1683, and of that of ’6. It was he that
recommended that vile fellow Aaron Smith as a proper person to
go and confer with the most rebellious heads in Scotland, vide Dr.
Spratt the Bishop of Rochester's relation of the plot, and all
contained therein was authentic. I have no trials by me, and I
refer you to them, but I do very well remember that he suffered for
a treatise found in his closet, all of his own handwriting, and Messrs.
Cock and Cary, his goldsmiths, made oath that it must have been all
wrote by him, they having letters and notes under his hand of the
very same handwriting. He pretended it was wrote only out of
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I37
curiosity, and always kept in his closet, and no person ever saw it
but himself. In fine, it was a notorious libel against the King and
Kingly government, and by way of answer to Sir Robert Filmer, a
most loyal and worthy author. Great clamours were made, but, on
my conscience, they were without grounds, and I have been told
that the Jury consisted of men of worth and gravity. They cried
out also against the execution of Mr. Cornish and others, with as
little reason. Those executed were most legally convicted for the
greatest crimes, next to those against God Almighty, for endeav-
ouring to overturn our most happy constitution, and the dethroning
our Kings; and some even convicted for to have endeavoured the
murthering our late King, and also his Royal successor; and justice
being done on them by due course was so cried out against, but we
that were to be hanged by Alphabet, as it was found in my Lord
Shaftesbury's book where the nation was numbered, would have
been just and legal, our heinous crimes were for supporting the
King and his Royal Authority and the Constitution in Church and
State. - . - -
I have omitted in its due place the trial of Titus Oats, who
was most legally convicted of the greatest perjuries that can be
expressed by pen, and, with submission, I think that our laws are
most defective as to that heinous crime, so odious in all other
Countries, and even in the Kingdom of Scotland, that, at least
before the union, perjured persons were subject to the same death
as those executed on their false evidence, which in French they
term la Loi de talion. I think the trial was in 168}. With us,
perjured persons come to justice, but the sentence laid on them is a
poor satisfaction given to the heirs of those executed. I was at the
King's Bench on business, and, being in the court, I was invited by the
Judges to sit with them on the Bench. The trial I came about was
put off by motion, and so, very accidentally, but most lucky was I
there, for my particular satisfaction. I heard the whole trial of
VOL. I. T
Trial of
Titus Oats.
138 Memoirs of
Conduct of
Jeffries.
Oats on several indictments for notorious and wilful perjury, and
the Judges having pen and ink by them, the Clerk of the Crown
gave me some paper, and I took short notes of all the chief particu-
lars, and I have them by me at this hour. Knowing well the Chief
Justice Jeffries' unlimited passion, I expected he would show
himself in his true colours, but I was greatly surprised at his good
temper, and the more because such impudent and reviling expressions
never came from the mouth of man as Oats uttered. He was
convicted on two indictments, vide the trial on record, and the
printed trial, if any exemplaries * be yet extant. On his most false
and scandalous evidence, Ireland, the Provincial of the Jesuits, was
put to death in the most unjust manner that can be expressed. I
neither knew him, nor the great numbers of others condemned
and executed. By the strictness of the penal laws they might have
suffered for being in the orders of the Church of Rome, but that
hath been very seldom practised unless crimes of State were proved
against them besides. I heard of this particular Father, that at his
trial he behaved himself with great calmness and respect, and his
conduct after condemnation, the time he lived in prison after, the
same, and at his execution his behaviour was such, and so submissive,
as melted the hearts of those that were very far from being of his
persuasion. *
As I said, Oats was tried on two indictments. At Mr. Ireland's
trial he swore that he met the former at the Consult at the White
Horse Tavern in the Strand, as I take it on April 24th, 1678, and
that he handed from chamber to chamber the resolutions, and that
Ireland was present and subdivided themselves. A notorious perjury;
for it was proved by a cloud of witnesses that Oats was at St. Omers,
and never stirred from thence from Christmas 1677 to the latter end
of June 1678, unless one night he lay out going to Watten, where is
what they call a Novitiate of the Jesuits, two leagues from St.
Omers. It was asked by the Judges, how they could swear to a
* Copies.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I39
negative and two days. It was answered, that they could for
several reasons. In the first place, those gentlemen brought over
with them a copy of the College entries as to persons that lies out
of the College, the day they go out and the day they come, and
this copy was attested by the Mayor and magistrates of St. Omers,
and the Seal of the Town put to it. In the next place, Oats not
being yet a Novice of their order, he could not eat at the table, but
ate by himself, and that he being the jest of the Refectory, if ever
he was missing a moment they would cry out for “Sampson Lucy;”
and he read, as by their registers, all April and May 1678, and he
read in the Sodality also each Sunday, and that is also entered in
their books. Mr. Foster, that had been on the Jury at Ireland's
trial, swears that by the notes he took then, that Oats deposed that
he was at the Consult with Ireland, April 24th 1678, and carried
the resolution from chamber to chamber to murther the King, to
be signed by Ireland, Whitbread, Fenwick, and others afterwards
executed. Mr. Offilsley swore that Oats did not come over with
him into England, although the latter swore he did, and that he
actually left Oats at St. Omers. They were schoolfellows. Mr.
Burnaby swears that he walked in the garden at St. Omers with
Oats the 2nd May, new Style, and the day before the prisoner
swore himself at the White Horse Consult, and Burnaby saw him
in the Rhetoric Room, and again the 28th of April, and from that
time to the 20th of June, 1678. Mr. Conway swears that Oats came
to St. Omers Christmas 1677 and stirred not from thence until June
following.
Mr. Pool, Mr. Thornton, Mr. Haggerston, Mr. Beeston, Mr.
Smith, Mr. Price, Mr. Doddington, Mr. Gerrard, and also the Lord
Gerard of Bromley, Mr. Morgan a student although not a Roman
Catholic, Mr. Arundel, Messrs. Turberville two brothers, Mr.
Clavering, Mr. Copley, Mr Cook, Mr. Wright, and others, all
young gentlemen, and one a Peer of the realm, swore to the same
T 2
I4O Memoirs of
purpose, one on one particular, and the rest on others, but all as to
the main, swore positively as to Oats not stirring from Christmas
1677 to June 1678, and these gentlemen were sons of the best
families in their several Counties, and those, or most of them, came
over at the trials of those convicted and executed on Oats' false
evidence, but that blood-sucker, Chief Justice Scroggs, rejected
them all with such passion as that they could scarce get out of
Westminster in safety, the mob rising upon them and crying, “Away
“with them that slander the Saviour of the Nation”; which I
remember very well, being accidentally in the Hall. At this time
of the conviction they were from twenty to twenty-five years of
age, and gave their evidence with great sedateness. There were
many other witnesses, persons inn-holders of London and West-
minster of both religions, besides Mr. Foster, one empanelled on
Mr. Ireland's trial as before, but I will not repeat what they gave
in; what I have already set forth being sufficient. -
He called several great Noblemen and persons of worth to
testify what they knew of him, and as to his credit, and how his
evidence had been received, &c., and not one Lord or other had
one word to say in his behalf. They came there as subpoenaed.
The Chief Justice summed up with more sedateness than I expected
from one I knew so well, and (loving to do every one justice) he
was quite another man that day, than ever I knew him before or
after. He represented to the Jury, all men of substance and good
reputation, that if what Oats had sworn to as relating to the Consult
at the White Horse Tavern in April 1678 had been true, that then
now there had been forty-seven persons notoriously perjured, and
fifteen of them Protestants. And I do repeat and declare it also
before God, that the prisoner had the most just and fairest trial that
ever had been in any Court of Justice. His impudent deportment
was without example, and, on my conscience, no such scandalous
perjury was ever so clearly detected. The Chief Justice on summ-
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I4 I
ing up also said these words, “that the King laid as much to heart
“the signing of the dead warrant for the executing the Lord
“Stafford, as ever the King his father had done on signing the same
“for the execution of the Earl of Strafford.” The former suffered
death on the evidence of Oats, so clearly convicted for the most
notorious perjuries, and of that of Bedlow, who had been convicted
likewise, but his death intervened, and he left this world without the
least remorse. - - .*
The second indictment preferred against Oats was, for wilfully
perjuring himself on the trial of the aforesaid Mr. Ireland, where
Oats swore that he had been at a treasonable consult with the
prisoner the latter end of August, at the Horse Shoe Tavern, if I
mistake not; and, by what follows, it is evident that he was
notoriously perjured, for, by a cloud of witnesses, it was made
manifest that the prisoner had not been in London from the first
days of August 1678 to the middle of September. Mr. Herriot,
foreman of Mr. Ireland's Jury, deposed that, at the trial, Oats
swore that Mr. Ireland took leave of him between the 8th and I2th
of August 1678 in Russell Street. Waterhouse swears that, at the
trial, Oats said it was the 12th. Chief Justice Scroggs asked, “Are
“you sure of it f° Oats replied, it was between the 8th and 12th.
Mr. Foster hereinbefore mentioned, and of Ireland's Jury,
makes oath that Oats deposed that the prisoner was in town the
latter end of August or the beginning of September, and that
Ireland proved that he was not then in town. Mrs. Ireland, the
mother, swore her son went out of London, August 3rd, and that
he returned not until September 14th. She was at her son's trial
to prove this, but the Court would not permit her to speak. It was
proved that he went to see Madame Dormer, near Boscobel, in
Staffordshire, the 2nd September, and that the said lady, hearing
afterwards what Oats had sworn at Ireland's trial as to the 2nd of
September, she sent a person at her own charges to London for to
Second
indictment
against Oats.
I42 Memoirs of
lay this matter before his majesty, and that Mr. Ireland was
absolutely at her house that very day; humbly beseeching his
majesty that witnesses might be brought to London, that execution
might be respited, in order to have a second trial if it was
practicable ; but he was executed few days after.
My Lord Aston swears that Mr. Ireland came to his house at
Standen, in Hertfordshire, Saturday the 3rd August. Note that
the Lord Aston’s servant, a clerk of the kitchen, as I take it, kept
constantly a diary, and so knew where his Lord was, and what
company came to him. That Lord set out Monday the 5th with
Mr. Ireland (that was Chaplain and Confessor), and lay at St.
Albans, where they met Sir John Southcott, and that they arrived
August the 8th at that Lord's house at Tixall, in Staffordshire, his
native county, and of all England, for its moderate extent, the most
filled with nobility and gentry of both religions, and the most given
to country sports and diversions, and those of one religion and the
other were most neighbourly, and my Lord Aston attended by Mr.
Ireland, was at all sporting meetings, and, by the clear evidence of
one or the other, it was proved in Court by persons of chief note of
the county and others, that my Lord Aston and Mr. Ireland were
in that county from their first arrival August the 8th to their
leaving Staffordshire the 8th or 9th of September.
What follows in the evidence Sir John Southcott gave in my
hearing also, and this out of my notes. He begins with a recital of
a small journey my Lord Aston and he undertook to Chester, Holy-
well, &c., with the names of the Inns where they lay, and added,
“Mr. Ireland always with us,” and that after their return, about
the 9th or Ioth of September, they set out southwards towards
Kingston, Mr. Ireland with them, who sold his horse also there.
They passed by Coventry, Banbury, and Agmondesham, and the
Saturday after, the 14th or 15th September, on a Saturday,” Mr.
* Superfluous.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I 43
Ireland went to London. So it was proved by numbers of persons
of worth and honour, that Mr. Ireland had not been in London
from August 3rd to September the I5th, and the pretended
treasonable consult Oats swore at the trial was the latter end of
August. I forgot that Mr. Southcott, Sir John's brother, confirmed
the testimony of his brother. There were besides, a vast number
of gentlemen of worth, honour and estate, and of both religions,
that gave in their evidence as to Mr. Ireland's being always with
my Lord Aston, and what else they knew as to the matter in ques-
tion ; and there never was such an appearance at any tribunal, and
all at their own costs and charges, unless some persons of lesser
note. I do declare as if I was on oath and before God, that I
believe there never was such signal proof of an unparalleled and
notorious perjury.
The prisoner, as before, called many noble Lords, and Judges,
and Gentlemen, but not one could say anything that did him the
least good. Some pleaded want of memory, some this, some that.
Notwithstanding to my knowledge they were great supporters to
him in both Houses. The Earl of Huntingdon owned he had been
too credulous (and I am almost sure he was one of the guilty Lords
at the Lord Stafford's trial), but that now he was convinced that
the prisoner was one of the worst and most perjured of men.
The Chancellor summed up all, and to repeat, with a temper
not suitable to his natural one, and for which he edified one for that
time. I am pretty well assured the Jury did not retire from the
bar, and they were all men of reputation in their wards and
parishes.
The hot-headed discarded minister* was dead that was the
instructor and contriver of all, but there wanted not creatures of
his still living, that endeavoured to exclaim against the sentence as
barbarous, &c., but to execute near thirty persons on his false
evidence, they praised and approved of it. By the sentence he was
* The Earl of Shaftesbury.
I44 Memoirs of
Sentence
upon Oats.
to be divested of his Church habit, to stand in the pillory and to be
whipped such times in the year”. At the Revolution, he put on
his habit again, with his Doctor's scarf as having passed his degrees
at Salamanca, although he had never been in Spain. He had the
impudence to go to Lambeth, to Archbishop Tillotson, and that
prelate was so weak as to admit him to his table, and, the King and
Queen's health going about, he impudently cried, “My Lord, I will
“see first what King William and Queen Mary will do for me
“before I drink their healths.” He at that time brought in a peti-
tion to the House of Lords, to pray that, by a writ of error, the
judgment against him might be reversed ; and he styling himself
Titus Oats, D.D., I moved that the petition might be given him
back, by reason that when King Charles the second granted him a
pardon (to enable him to murther so many persons) he was styled
Titus Oats, clerk; and he refusing to alter the petition, it was
rejected. He lived scorned and hated by all good men, and I think
he was in the King's Bench, and that there he married a Lady
Baltinglass, a heap of flesh and brandy, and that before he died he
turned Anabaptist teacher. e
I will end this subject with a short repetition, that Coleman's
papers showed sufficiently that the author would have done his
utmost in favour of his religion in conjunction with Father Chair,
and that ever since the Reformation there hath been endeavours of
that kind, and that there will be ever hot-headed and indiscreet
priests, but for what was called Oats' plot, God knows not one that
was executed upon it, great or small, was anywise guilty according
to the evidence given against them in open Court. If any of them
had been tampering secretly, in order to propagate their religion,
that is unknown to the public. I insist upon the evidence given in
open Court at their trials. You may look back and see the nicety
of the King and the Peers at my Lord Delamere's trial, where there
* To be whipped twice, to be imprisoned during life, and to be pilloried five times
every year. Hume, ch. lxx.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 145
was one plain evidence whose name I have not in memory, and
Saxton positive, save as to one point, and not the most material
one. And Ireland had not one good witness that swore against
him, and the survivor Oats was convicted of two most notorious
perjuries on each indictment. This being matter of fact, how can
any reasonable man believe one article that Oats swore to at all
those trials, and where execution followed. I am very well
appraised that I shall be strangely ill thought of by the successors
of those and their party that were involved in all that related
to what they call Oats' plot, and of the plot that burst out in 1683.
As to the former, many Lords and others went blindly into that
matter, and I may say the most part giving credit to the reality of
the plot, and not imagining persons could be so wicked as to suborn
so many vile wretches as were made use of to perjure themselves so
grossly and so openly, and to my knowledge the greater part of
those they called the guilty Lords, that voted my Lord Stafford
guilty, such repented heartily of their too great credulity. And
here, as I think, I repeat again that the Earl of Anglesey, Lord
Privy Seal, asked the King with some earnestness how his Majesty
could sign the dead warrant;” on which the King upbraided him
with a stern countenance, and added, “Why then did you, my Lord,
“bring in that innocent Lord guilty 2 ”
And as to the plot of 1683, the King was pleased to tell me
word for word what the Duke of Monmouth voluntarily confessed,
and what he set his hand to, averring the truth of the plot, and
particularly that my Lord Howard of Escrick's evidence was all
sincere and true, as likewise that of Colonel Rumsey, and Mr.
Sheppard the wine merchant; and I was not the only one that
suspected that Lord's evidence, by reason of the little or no
reputation he had, for sundry and good reasons.
As I said before, setting out some occurrences of greater or
* P. 50.
VOL. I. . U
I46 Memoirs of
Ascendancy
of Sunder-
land and
Petres.
lesser note that happened in 1685, I took notice that all matters
went prosperously until the two Cabinet Ministers, the Lay and
the Church man, got the entire ascendant. The name of plural I
liked well, for generally two in high power seldom agree; as in the
time of Lewis the fourteenth of France, those two great men,
Louvois and Colbert, ever being one against the other, and which
my good King and master Charles the second told me often he
would take the example, with these words, “When rogues fall out,
“ then the master is like to know the truth;” and by the same
politic maxim that the same King rather fomented underhand than
otherwise the two parties of Whig and Tory. Now, to my sorrow
do I speak it, that the two close Cabinet Ministers, the Lay and the
Church man, were but as one. The former began to lay his plan to
ruin and betray the King, the other, for to carry on his Church cause
and his pocket, struck in with pleasure into all the false counsels the
other gave, and Mr. Petres had not a head to penetrate and perceive
what the other aimed at, and seeing the latter entered into all for to
ruin the Church established, he told the King that certainly he must
be a Roman Catholic in his heart, and that it was proper for his
Majesty to put him to it, or dismiss him; and happy it had been that the
latter had come to pass, but the Minister having the alternative given
him, he came, as I am told, with a lighted taper in his hand, and
asked at the chapel door to be admitted into the bosom of the
church of Rome. I suppose that this was done in a manner
privately, for he did not publicly go to mass, save in the King's
closet, as many did by their employments, and not otherwise, for
this is certain, that Mr. Petres had a power from Rome to celebrate
two masses in one day, one for this Minister, and the other for
the new Lord Chamberlain, by reason these two persons would not
be seen by each other at the office, and each served their distinct
Mass. And at the Revolution each one that lived then knew the
contrary steps they made, the former retiring into Holland (out of
a pretended fear, as being by policy excluded in the Act of pardon)
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - I47
he went into the English Church at Rotterdam, or other town, with
a Bible under his arm, and the other went to the Church of England
Chapel the first Sunday after.. My unfortunate King and Master
was retiring towards France, but stopped at Feversham, and the
lords and ladies made themselves very merry at his entrance. This
Lord told the King that if his Majesty would procure the repeal of
the test, that then he would declare openly. I beg to add one thing
more, and by anticipation also, that the King asked me if my Lord
Chamberlain had been at the Chapel since his leaving London. I
saying “Yes,” he replied that Mr. Petres had ill luck with his con-
verts, he meaning also the Minister hereabove mentioned. To
return; the two before specified, ruling all, the Kingdom of Ireland
came in question; and they thought fit to blast the reputation of that
most worthy and great Duke of Ormond, and who from his young
days to his death had never swerved. So he was to be laid aside,
and they made choice of the Earl of Clarendon, who was poor in
purse as well as in spirit, and they hoped he would be a tool of
theirs, but they were disappointed so much, that he was scarce
settled there but as soon recalled, and Colonel Talbot, afterwards
Earl and Duke of Tyrconnel, was made Lord Deputy. He was a
particular friend of mine, as to common conversation and living in
the world, so I knew him perfectly well, and of consequence that
he was of all men the most improper person for to be thus dignified.
Indeed he was: in Ireland when the Earl of Clarendon governed,
but the latter was but the shadow, and even then began to shew
himself by degrees, but after he went on with a high hand.
Amongst others, many of quality. I have forgot, he turned out
only because they differed with him in religion, was one, Captain
Brooks, that had a troop of horse, and in the kingdom at that time
was equal to a pretty good Estate, whose father and family were
ever approved. Loyalists, and in the time of the rebellion in
England, I endeavoured to serve him, but it was in vain. The
D. of Or-
mond dis-
placed.
Tyrconnell
made Lord
Deputy.
Captain
Brooks.
U 2
148 Memoirs of
King was well apprised of my sincerity, as well as services, and he
from time to time would ask me what they said (as the word is) in
the world. I answered that I begged his majesty's pardon, for
when I took the liberty to tell him the truth, he seemed to be in
some passion, and with this expression, “None are so blind as those
“that will not see.” I told him that I inherited from my father
what I was proud of, to be a good subject, but no flatterer. He
urging me, I told him that recalling the Earl of Clarendon on his
just taking possession alarmed greatly that Kingdom. I represented
then, that it had been the maxim of his predecessors never to
appoint a Lord Deputy, or a Lord Lieutenant, a native of the
Kingdom, with exception to the Duke of Ormond, (born and bred
in England) but his high and great qualities, and vast services in
the most perilous times, made the Kingdom of England always glad
whenever he had that high station. I went on, “But Sir, your
“Majesty hath not only appointed an Irishman, a Roman Catholic,
“but what sort of one? Descended from a family that was involved
“in the rebellion of 1640. If your majesty will have a Roman
“Catholic, take an English one, with an English Estate, and an
“English heart.” And I named my worthy friend and kinsman, the
Lord Bellasis. “He is,” said the King, “so afflicted with the gout
“that he cannot travel.” Then I named the Earl of Powis, and
the Lord Arundel of Wardour. He excepted against them two,
one as a very weak head, and the other also ancient. I told him
that a good Secretary of State, and a good Privy Council, might
supply for these infirmities. Talbot must be the man, so I concluded
with what was pathetic enough, and somewhat prophetical, if I may
use that word. “Sir, your Majesty's, or rather your Lord Deputy's
“turning out Captain Brooks, for no offence but for being of a
“contrary opinion in religion, and many more besides him, alarms
“your Kingdom to that high degree, that I apprehend with reason,
“ that all Protestant merchants, will retire by degrees from the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I49
“chief trading towns to Holland, Hamburgh, Lubeck, etc.” (which
actually very many did after) “and that, for want of trade, the duties
“on customs must greatly diminish, and whereas that Kingdom of
“Ireland usually supplied your majesty with thirty or forty thousand
“pounds yearly, after the paying the civil and military list, I am
“afraid you will be obliged to send as much from England to
“supply.” I concluded, this loss would not be felt on the sudden,
but certainly in a year, more or less, it would manifest itself. And
not above six months after, the Commissioners of the revenue, of
both religions, sent over heavy complaints and remonstranges, and
Mr. Thomas Sheridan in particular, a friend of mine, zealous in his
religion, and put in by the Lord Deputy, and he was at the head
of these representations, and about a year the Lord Deputy was
sent for over, and the Commissioners, to make good their alle-
gations.
I was on horseback by the King, and in waiting, when the Lord
Deputy met the King out of Shrewsbury, where he was making his
entrance, and the king received him in the most cold manner I ever
saw, and, as I take it, he came not to the Court at Shrewsbury, but
ordered to attend at Chester, where the King arrived two days after.
And the day following, Sunday, the King heard the complaints of
the Commissioners, and the Lord Deputy's defence, and we that
attended in the Bedchamber concluded he would have been
dismissed; but, to our great surprise, the matter was hushed up,
and he returned to Ireland victorious. At whose door I laid this,
you may easily guess at. The person I have so often described,
and not to his honour, engrossed all matters during that progress, as
well as before and after, to the utter grief of us that were good
patriots as well as good subjects.
This what relates to the Deputy's coming to Shrewsbury is
anticipated, which I could not well avoid, being desirous to finish
this melancholy narrative, and so not to touch on that subject more;
I5o Memoirs of
Dispensing
power.
for my representation was in 1686, and the King's progress was in
August 1687. . . .
As I said in relating as to what happened in 1685, that the
King's Army was encamped at Hounslow Heath, and that body was
in great lustre in all respects. What the King's designs were I was
not informed of, but this I know, that instead of being a security to
him, many chief officers so empoisoned the others, that in process of
time they were the instruments of all the King's misfortunes. ... Most
subalterns and private men continued firm to the King. More of
that hereafter. In the year 1686 the army was encamped in all
respects in the same manner as the year before, the King visiting
the camp twice at least in each week, and he was always nobly
entertained, and the Queen often, by men of rank in their turns.
This year 1686 was fatal, for a pernicious principle that was infused
into the King, and the Chancellor Jefferies being at the head of the
long robe, the two close cabinet Councillors committed the affairs
that ensued into his hands, as a man they could confide in, not so
much, I verily believe that it was that Chancellor's real principle,
but he knew well that if he did not comply, that the Great Seal
would be put into another hand; so he went headlong, and if he
offered to give reasons contrary to that minister's despotic notions,
he would treat him as an underling and that once in my presence,
and his tame silence made me despise him. This Commission put
into his hands was to induce the Judges to give their opinions that
the King's power of dispensing with laws was his just prerogative.
The Chancellor no doubt gave all assurance that it was his opinion,
else he had been turned out. He, pursuant to his orders, convoked
the Judges. I cannot say they were unanimous as to the negative,
but I may say the most worthy of them for parts and integrity
received their quietus. That great Judge and complete gentleman,
Sir Thomas Jones, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, at the head
of them, and one that had served the King when Duke of York, in
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I5 I
the most nice times when he was the first Justice in the King's
Bench; but the Chancellor hated him mortally, and that was his
crime, for Sir Edward Atkins, my worthy friend also, was astonished
when he was to be Chief Baron, he having given his opinion to the
Chancellor in the negative also, and, as I have been told, that others
preferred could not be brought to come into that sentiment. My
opinion is, that it was impossible to find twelve Judges that would
betray the laws of the land in such a base manner, so to fill up the
number the Chancellor made the King and that secret Cabal believe
that such and such would comply; and he took such as he loved
most or hated least. What gave some colour in favour of the dis-
pensing power was this. The Chancellor's topic was (or a dissimu-
lated one at least) that the kings had dispensed with laws esteemed
in our age of little consequence, and why could not the king dispense
then with others by the same prerogative? As, for example,
Sheriffs of Counties had been continued by a non obstante. Judges
went frequently the circuit, and heard causes in their native county,
also by a non obstante, and perhaps there are some few others of
the like nature. My private sentiments at that time, and the same
to this hour were thus: if the King can dispense with the laws at
his pleasure, Westminster Hall may be shut up, and the Statute
Book burnt; but withal I am of opinion that a King, by consent of
his Council or a Senatus Concilium convoked for that purpose, may
dispense until the next Sessions of Parliament, with any Act or
Acts that forbids the importation of Corn, Cattle, &c. in a time that
threatens dearth, and where it is for the general good and ease of
his subjects, and not otherwise. This is common sense, for Lawyer
I am not. I had a warm dispute two or three years after this—
after the Revolution—with old Sir Robert Atkins,” that had been
Chief Baron, and at this time Speaker of the House of Peers, no
Chancellor being then named. He gave his opinion that a King
* P. 125.
I 52 Memoirs of
cannot dispense in any case whatsoever. I answered him in few
words: “If that, Sir, be your opinion, how could you in conscience
“accept of so frequently a non obstante for to empower you to go the
“Oxford Circuit, and of consequence sit and determine causes in the
“city of Gloucester, your native County?” He answered me like a
person that had little to say for himself, and so I left the old flatterer.
Offices filled In order to ruin the King more and more by degrees, they
with Roman * > tº º tº
Catholics, obliged him to make Romish Judges, and one of them—Milton–
that had not common sense, and such to go on the benches
throughout the kingdom. And to add, many Deputy Lieutenants
and Justices of the Peace were put into commission, and in my
hearing, the worthy gentleman Sir William Goring, of Sussex,
QPiniºn of reproached his friends of the same religion for their folly and
the old ſº tº * o te e
Catholics. vanity, adding, “You will ruin us all by it.” There were others of
his opinion whose names are not in my memory. This Sir William
went with the King as a volunteer to Salisbury, and afterwards
retired, lived, and died in his native county beloved and esteemed
by both religions generally, and I knew many lords and great
number of gentlemen of the Roman Catholics that lamented, crying
Of the out, “These measures will ruin us all.” The Pope's Nuncio Dada
Nuncio: (afterwards Cardinal) my very good friend, discoursed with me as
often as he saw me on the same subject, and above all Don Pedro
and the de Ronquillo, the Spanish Ambassador, my most intimate friend,
*: as and we frequented each other so often, and mutually greatly
lamented these pernicious counsels given to the King by a cunning
dissembler, and by a hot-headed, ignorant Churchman. The one
to make way for what happened two years after by his means and
false counsel, and the other had nothing in view but a Cardinal's
Cap, which he never could have obtained, for Innocent the eleventh
disapproved all that was done here, and, much more, the sending
my Lord Castlemaine Ambassador to Rome, and what is said of his
cold reception at Rome is all true. The Popes have a little silver
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - I53
bell on the table, a warning to those that the Pope dismisses, and
that lord very often had scarce begun his discourse but the bell
rung. To my certain knowledge the Nuncio did all he could
possible to stave off his public audience, and he represented the ill
consequences, insomuch that the minister once if not oftener gave
him very hard words. In the character he was in before, and in lay
habit and sword, he might have been there twenty years, and not
one word would have been said. My turn of waiting as Gentleman
of the Bedchamber was that week he was to have audience, which
I avoided by desiring the Duke of Somerset to make an exchange
of weeks. It is true the Nuncio was to have a duke to introduce,
and the lord was warned, and on his refusal he was turned out
of his regiment of Royal Dragoons, and the Duke of Grafton
conducted that minister to his audience. This was my maxim, not
to make one step against my conscience, on the other hand to be
silent and to keep my place in Court as long as I could, for to do
good if possible and to keep the Earl of Peterborough from the
Lieutenancies I enjoyed. He was designed if I had quitted—a
man of personal honour, but hot, and fiery, and giddy, although of
an advanced age. When they complimented his lady by way of
trouble that her lord and she were of two different communions,
she replied, “My Lord hath not changed, but he hath found a
“religion ; ” and when the Churchwardens of St. Margaret's,
Westminster, asked his lordship if they might dispose of his pew in
the church, “No, no,” said he, “one doth not know what may
“happen.” However, he died in the same opinion he had
embraced, few years after the Revolution, and edified much those
that were about him.
Give me leave to insert here, although out of due time and
place, what related to me on this subject. The Queen, and even
when she was Duchess of York, was ever pleased to honour me with
her protection, and with distinction. A great lady most well in her
VOL. I. X
I54 Memoirs of
The Queen's favour told me that the Queen often spoke of me with all the regard
wish for the
conversion
of Lord
Ailesbury.
Archbishop
Sandcroft.
Dr. Spratt,
Bishop of
Rochester.
possible, and how joyful she should be if I would have my eyes
opened as to matters of religion, and that it would give her the
highest satisfaction, and that the King and she would stop at nothing
that might be for my interest and as I could wish for. My answer
was most respectful and grateful, in the best words I could invent.
I added that, suppose I was convinced, the generality of the nation
would not interpret it any other way but that I did it out of interest
and ambition. So I heard no more of it. God be praised, during
the whole course of my life I never did one action but according to
a principle of conscience, as I was to answer it before God, and to
this hour I respect all the most orthodox and primitive clergymen
of the Church of England—what I call the old Church of England,
and strenuous copiers of that unparalleled, original, and heroic great
prelate, and my dear friend, Dr. Sandcroft, Archbishop of Canter-
bury; put into the Tower by the King, and one year after turned
out of his Archbishopric, contrary to the Canons, and I saw him in
a little lodging after, with one servant, with a more cheerful coun-
tenance than when he was advanced from Dean of St. Paul's, and
he, embracing me tenderly, told me, “My good and dear Lord, I
“give you a thousand thanks for your tender concern for me, and I
“am assured that my present condition touches you more than it
“doth me. I reckon this the best and most happy part of my
“life.” His Grace was raised and esteemed for his great learning,
modesty, and piety, and not for his pedigree, being born of honest
parents only, and lived a year or more in the County of Suffolk, his
natal air, and had about forty pounds per annum left him by his
parents. And here I must add what that great and pious prelate
told Dr. Spratt, Bishop of Rochester, a man of worth, but loved
hospitality beyond his purse. His bishopric was one of the meanest,
and he had the Deanery of Westminster as an addition, but no great
one. When the King by ill and pernicious counsel set up the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - I55
Ecclesiastical Commission, the Archbishop was the first of the
number, but he would never act. This Bishop accepted, and I
really believe as he said, that he went in with a good design to do
what in him lay to hinder violent actions. At last he either foresaw
a change, or that his eyes were opened. In fine, he retired and
went to Lambeth to wait on the Archbishop, and to give his reasons
as above mentioned. His Grace answered and prophetically, “My
“dear brother I will tell you the reason; you cannot live on forty
“ pounds a year as I can.” To conclude, that great prelate kept a
most noble table, and the chief nobility, bishops, and others fre-
quented it most often, and myself in particular, and he never ate
but of one little dish set by him, either roast or boiled mutton, what
in the college they call a portion, and although he drank to each
person, it never went beyond the quantity of a small wine-glass. I
knew from the late King that he raised him by reason of his great
worth, piety, and modesty, but I knew it was said that he seeming,
and as he really was, of a soft disposition, it was imagined he was
advanced for to be made a tool of, and he shewed by his future
actions that those that imagined that were much mistaken in him.
He had no ready money, his charities were greatly extensive, and
the liberalities at his gate beyond whatever had been there. And
during the six months' time he had given him for to take the Oaths
or not, he lived as nobly and charitably as before. Many zealous
and other unthinking persons blamed him for this nicety, but why?
Because they had not a clear conscience like him. He satisfied his
own without obliging others. To them that came for his advice, he
told them what his sentiments were, but added, “Dear Brethren,
“follow the dictates of your own conscience, and all with the fear
of God.” Whereas Dr. Sherlock, Dean of St. Paul's, did not only pr. Sher-
refuse taking the Oaths to King William and Queen Mary, but lock.
thundered out damnation against those that did; but his Eve
tempted him soon after, and he left them all in the lurch.
X 2
I56 - Memoirs of
Unmarried It ought to be observed that the Archbishops of Canterburry
Wºr were chosen out of those great men that were not clogged with
of Canter- wives and children. Those great prelates were esteemed as
bury. Patriarchs, and the successor to my noble friend, Dr. Tillotson,
was the first married Archbishop, as I take it, since the Reformation.
And 'tis remarkable that Archbishops and Bishops on putting their
arms on coaches and buttery for the table etc., the arms of the
bishopric are first put, and then his own, but nothing of the wife's;
and more, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the first in rank after the
princes of the blood, and if he hath a wife she is called (and naming
one) Mrs. Tillotson. &
Archbishop This succeeding Archbishop was accused of several opinions
"*" not only little orthodox, but, if it was true, little like a good
Christian, but I am apt to believe he was wrongfully accused. He
was my very old acquaintance, and I regarded him as a humane,
facetious, and fine gentleman, and charitable; for at his death he
left nothing, and before his being a prelate he had vast preferment,
but never had the cure of souls, which indeed stuck with me most,
for that was visible. His numerous and excellent sermons are in
print, and there is no occasion to say anything in their praise. He
had so natural a modesty that he could not be prevailed on to
speak in the House, but judged most well, for he often desired of
me to sit by him to inform him of the rules of the House. He was
of a most humane nature, and shewed it evidently in one case, in
favour of a poor woman condemned to be burnt on base and false
evidence, notwithstanding that incomparable and learned Judge,
Chief Justice Holt, informed the Jury that he did not believe one
word that the witnesses had deposed, and she was detained until
. King William's death, after twelve years imprisonment. The
accusation against her was coining. She was a woman that uuder-
stood Greek and Latin, and had an art to make seals of mixed
metal, and for that she had crucibles, and painted well. The
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I57
Archbishop was continually soliciting the King for her pardon,
and not prevailing, he told me the words he used;—“I come to
“your Majesty as a Confessor, not as a Counsellor, and permit me
“to say, if your Majesty cannot forgive, how can [you] expect the
“pardon of God?” That admirable Judge, knowing that the
reprieve would be out next morning, and she had had at least
thirty, he went to Kensington at four in the morning, for the King
was to go that day to Portsmouth. He, wondering to see the
Judge at that hour, asked him the reason. He replied “To do, Sir,
“a Christian act. Your Majesty doth not design that the woman
“should be executed, and if you do not sign a reprieve, she must be
“burnt at ten of the clock.” The King ordered him to draw up
one, and it being sine die, she was free from execution; and more
of this great and upright Judge in due place, for this is greatly by
anticipation, but came naturally in giving the character of the
Archbishop, wrongly placed also, but it came in at the end of the
character of that ever renowned Archbishop Sandcroft, of pious
memory.
In order to turn out the Lord Treasurer Rochester, the Winter
1686 the King was advised by the same persons to put that lord to
it, by persuading him to come into the Roman Communion, although
they well knew that he never would, and divines on both sides
were appointed to argue the matter before his lordship, and he
persisting, the King was advised (and that was their aim) to ask of
him the staff for which he had a pension of four thousand pounds
per annum, and on the Post Office, and that Lord behaved him also
with great duty and respect. His brother's place of Lord Privy
Seal was given to the Lord Arundel of Wardour, and the Treasury
into the hands of five persons, and, to my wonder, the Lord Bellasis
accepted to be at the head. For his health was so bad, and to my
knowledge he desired nothing but to live at ease and quiet, having
Chief Justice
Holt. *
Earl of
Rochester
turned out
of office.
I 58 - Memoirs of
Ecclesiasti-
cal Commis-
sion.
Dr. Sharp,
Dean of
Norwich.
so plentiful an estate and but four daughters to inherit. These
preferments, for good reasons, gave me disquiet, but much more
what follows:– - - -
The creating an Ecclesiastical Commission, which for divers
weighty reasons in other reigns had been abolished and never to be
reassumed. The Lord Archbishop was at the head, but he would
never act, and the Treasurer aforesaid the same, so that the Lord
Chancellor Jeffries presided, and was always to be of the quorum.
I doubt many hot and irregular things were transacted there, and I
cannot call any to mind save the most essential and most fatal to
the good King, as follows:– -
My old friend Dr. Sharp, Dean of Norwich, and Vicar of St.
Giles' in the Fields, London, had one expression in a sermon of his
there that I wish he had omitted. Mr. Dean, after having seriously
considered that it had been better that he had never used that
expression, went to Court with a most dutiful petition, humbly to
beg the King's pardon, which the Minister and Secretary would not
receive, and sent him away with scorn. The Dean repeated the
same other times, but he could never be admitted to the King's
presence. In fine, Dr. Compton, the Bishop of London, received
commands from the King under his sign manual for to suspend the
Dean. The Bishop humbly represented that it was not in his
power until the Dean had been cited in due forms to his Court and
there to receive judgment, but that in the meantime he would order
and direct the Dean not to preach at his church or anywhere else
until the King's pleasure should be known. This was not to the
mind of our Minister and adherents, so that the Lords of the
Ecclesiastical Commission were ordered to cite before them the
Bishop of London, to know why he had not obeyed the King's
commands. The Bishop, having consulted able lawyers, demurred
to the jurisdiction of that Court, and persisting in it, his Lordship
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I59
was deprived ab officio, and two or three Bishops were named to
exercise spiritual jurisdiction. This in few words : Annals of that
time give you all particulars. -
I can on this occasion give you a high instance of the King's
forgiving temper, and by which you may see that he was hurried
into all unadvised measures by base council. In the Queen's bed-
chamber after supper, we of the Bedchamber, and my Lord Dover
as Captain of the Life Guards, had admittance. That lord being
full of discourse, although not much to the purpose, amongst other
things upon preaching and said truth as to that, that the pulpits in
London were filled with great and eminent preachers, and that he
had much inclination to hear one of the most famed ones. The
King said, “You had better not.” I let a word drop to this
purpose, that if the subject of the sermon was not on controversy,
good preachers of one religion or the other were alike as to the
pleasing the ear, and that if my Lord Dover had so great a mind to
hear one, I begged that I might name the preacher, beseeching the
King to grant my request, and then I took the occasion to repre-
sent to him Mr. Dean's great sorrow for having offended him, and
that he had been several times at Court for to make his submission,
and that the Secretary [and] Minister always rejected him with
slight. “Are you sure of it?” replied the King. I said it was so
on my honour. And the Good Friday being approaching, I pro-
posed that the Dean might preach at the Royal Chapel on that day,
asserting that the Bishop of Rochester, Doctor Spratt, who
preached always on that day as Dean of Westminster, would be
most ready to consent, he having preached so many years on that
subject, and that a fresh orator could explain himself best on that
great and holy subject. So as to Mr. Dean, Dr. Sharp, all ended,
and he was restored and waited again as Chaplain in Ordinary, but
the Bishop of London's suspension stood in the same state. It
ought to be understood before I leave this point, that the King was
Forgiving
temper of
the King.
Dr. Sharp
restored.
\
16o Memoirs of
not displeased (so as to come to a censure) that the Divines
supported the true doctrine of the Church of England, but that the
Dean had let fall a word or two of reflection in the exposing of the
real presence in the Sacrament, which he wished after that he had
not done it. It was a misfortune then, and even practised to this
time, that the preachers take not the Gospel of the day for their
text, and as they run post from their text, they may as well, if
occasion be, bring into their discourse what may be proper for to
assert the doctrine of the Church. Give me leave to give you two
instances for to make good what I have said as to texts. Soon
after the death of King Charles the Second, Feb. 6th (the Lent
Assizes of course were soon after), my Lord Chief Justice Jeffries
went the Norfolk Circuit. One Mr. Abbott, the High Sheriff for the
County of Bedford, desired Mr. Pomfret, Parson of Luton and that
had been Chaplain to my father, for to preach as customary before
the Judges and prisoners. The text was on the subject of Shadrack,
Mesheck, and Abednego, that would not bow their knee, &c. The
Chief Justice rose up in a passion, and his puisne Judge, as he told
me, thought he would have plucked the preacher out of the pulpit,
and on persuasions moderated him, and he added that if the
preacher had taken his text out [of the Epistle] of Saint Paul to the
Romans he could not [have] made a sermon so apt to the occasion,
for 'tis my opinion that at Paul’s Cross, the old expression, that
they ought to preach up loyalty and obedience, and, before Kings,
to explain to them that they ought to be as nursing fathers and
nursing mothers, and Mr. Pomfret fled from his text, and uttered all
loyalty and obedience. .
To return: the Judge was impatient (as fiery at the first) to
embrace the preacher coming down the steps, thanking him for his
loyal and good sermon, ordering him to print it and to dedicate it
to him, and took him to dinner, and I fear the bottle went too fast.
The Bishop of Gloucester, Dr. Frampton (an old Chaplain of
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I6 I
my family), ran into the same error, but came off not so well, but
tolerably as being supported by me, that was present at the sermon.
The words of his text were “Their idols were made of silver and
gold,” &c. I saw one that sat among the Choristers that ran imme-
diately, and no doubt was the person that incensed the king, and the
rascal had heard nothing but the text, and I never heard that
Bishop preach a more excellent, orthodox, and submissive sermon.
On my waiting on the king, he stepped towards me with these
words, “Your old Chaplain hath preached a fine sermon.” I replied
that I saw a man that ran out of the chapel as soon as the text was
pronounced, and that I begged of his majesty to regard that man, if
he was the person or any other, the same as a villain and a flatterer;
adding that the Bishop deserved much more his thanks than his ill
will, for that a better sermon in all respects was never preached
there or anywhere else, and that he might trust to me. In fine,
such fellows were posted in all churches, nor did they report what
was preached, but what was not; which is the character of all spies
and knaves. I do own that these and some other precedent occur-
rences and others in the sequel may seem of little or no moment,
but my aim by it is to repeat in what wretched hands that good and
well meaning king was, and by little and little they brought on him
his entire ruin; and the chief was too cunning for to let slip any-
thing that might breed a jealousy between the king and the chief
pillars of the Established Church, and so contrary it was to the
king's natural genius, that I have heard him say over and over, and
to me in particular, that to be a happy king he ought to cherish
those that had stood by him in the worst of times, and that he owed
in so great measure the flinging out of the Bill of Exclusion in the
winter of 1680 to the bench of those brave and good Bishops, and
that was true. So to come to his ends, the minister invented
matters to propose to those worthy prelates, what he knew in his
conscience they could not comply with, unless they betrayed their
VOL. I. Y
Dr. Framp-
ton, Bishop
of Glouces-
ter.
I62 Memoirs of
Church, and the liberty of Parliaments, and what I have set forth,
and am to do in the following sheets.
I do represent all without favour or affection, and as if I was
to answer for it before the great Tribunal. In the year 1687, our
Unfortu: Minister and his adherents put a most damnable project in execution,
- ...Ӥ. and by means of which the King's Court was greatly and soon
ter. purged, and many officers in the Army were dismissed, some of
eminent qualities. Very many of the Lords Lieutenants of counties,
and generally speaking all the deputy Lieutenants and Justices, were
removed. All those employments were enjoyed until then by the
persons most devoted to the Crown and the Established Church.
The accursed project was thus:— they framed three questions to
be proposed by the King as to his Court and Army, etc., and the
Lords Lieutenants in their several counties, and those that refused
were dismissed, and I name two by reason that it regarded me.
I being offered the Lieutenancy of Buckinghamshire in the room of
the Earl of Bridgewater, and that of Wiltshire in the room of the
Earl of Pembroke, I asked if those Lords were dead. I would accept
of the latter, I having so great an estate there, but I desired to be
excused as to accept on those conditions; I expected every day to
be examined, but we of the Bedchamber, my Lord Dartmouth,
Master of the Horse and Ordnance, and some few others, were, as
Questions to we found in the sequel, exempted. The three questions were, as to
*P*P*. Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the peace and officers not peers,
- Ist. If you are chosen a member of Parliament, will you give
your vote for to repeal the penal laws and test? -
2nd. If you are not chosen, will you give your vote for them
that will consent to repeal those Acts? •
3rd. Will you live neighbourly and friendly with those of a
contrary opinion to you in religion?
As to peers the questions were framed as to persons that come
to Parliament by birth. -
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 163
The old Lords Lieutenants and the new ones repaired forth-
with into the Counties, and many with more warmth than judgment
and were little welcomed at their return, for the negative was given
almost unanimously, save as to the third question, and those very
few that disagreed to this last were snarling persons of very little
character; and I remember that one, Mr. Pocklington, an obscure
lawyer and Justice of the Peace for the County of Huntingdon, and
since raised to be a Judge in Ireland, and little worthy, was so
impertinent that I turned him out of my chamber. On the other
hand, those very few that complied in my district were persons
very low in fortune, and of little credit in their County. I was the
only one that was indulged as to going on purpose into the country.
I pretended that I had business of the last importance, and that
besides in a few days the chief gentlemen of the Counties of
Bedford and Huntingdon (for at the King's desire I had resigned
the Lieutenancy of Cambridgeshire into his hands) must necessarily
be in town, they being returned on two special Juries. The King
answered me and in a very gracious manner, “I leave that to you
“for to do what you think best.” t
At the arrival of these gentlemen, the Deputy Lieutenants and
Justices of the Peace, I convened them to my house, distinctly
I prepared a list, and with three columns for the three questions.
I told them that it was by the King's command that they met there,
that as on one hand I pretended not to persuade, so on the other
not to dissuade, but that I left each to go according to the dictates
of honour and conscience, and as good subjects withal; and that by
reason I might mistake what each answered by failure of memory,
I desired that they would put their answers in writing by each their
names, in the list that lay before them; and not one agreed to the
first and second questions, and to the third Pocklington only
dissented, as before mentioned.
Better weather happening, I went to my house in Bedfordshire
Conduct of
Lord Ailes.
bury.
~.
* ,
s-
**T --
Y 2
164 Memoirs of
for to divert myself for a few days, and I sent my messenger of the
Militia with an invitation to those of Bedfordshire that had not been
in town, for to dine with me. Them that could come I took the
same method with as with those in London, and those that could
not, sent me their answers in writing, and generally all to the same
purport. A most worthy friend of mine, and of my family, Mr.
Dochran, gave me his answer in these terms; “My Lord, I pray you
“to assure the King that, if I am chosen a member, my resolution
“shall be to come into the House absolutely with a most loyal,
“temper, and no wise prepossessed, and that my intentions are to act
“in every sense according to honour and conscience, hoping that
“ the King can never be able to ask anything but what I can cheer-
“fully concur with.” And more of this in the sequel. There were
some few others that answered in some measure to this purpose. I
sent my messenger into the County of Huntingdon with letters only
to those that had not been in London, and their answers were
generally the same as to the negative to the two first questions. I
was not in haste to return to Town, and I came only on the eve of
my going into waiting as Gentleman of the Bedchamber. Soon
after, I was summoned to a sort of Cabinet Council of the most
motley composition that ever sat together. It being in the King's
name, I thought he would have been present, or else I had sent my
papers by my secretary to the secretary of the Secretary of State
and Prime Minister. I had a chair set for me by the table; on one
side sat the Chancellor Jeffries, the Prime Minister and Secretary,
and Father Petres his tool; on the other side the Earl of Powis,
the Earl Castlemaine, and Sir Nicholas Butler, that had been a
stocking merchant, and a bankrupt—a man that had wit and sense,
but else of little or no morals, and had publicly changed his religion,
and the year after on the Revolution turned again as did the Prime
Minister, who asked me for my papers, and on reading them shewed
great warmth, or rather peevishness, with these words, “My Lord,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. l I65
“this is a fine report l” I answered firmly, “it was what was given
“to me,” and added, “My Lord, I thought the King would have
“been present, else I had sent you my report by my secretary.”
On going up to the King, I resented my reception greatly, and even
I told him that I imagined that his majesty would have been present,
or else I would not have obeyed the summons. Before I conclude,
I must not forget how the two Lords, Powis and Castlemaine were
treated by the Minister, only for their approving the answer of Mr.
Dochran before mentioned. The Minister adding that the answer
was impertinent, and almost said those were the same that approved
of it. The Chancellor began somewhat to the same purport as the
two Lords had said, but he tamely drew in his tongue, for which I
despised him if possible more than before. By this you may see
the old Roman Catholics were the most moderate, and indeed they
were on all occasions, especially those of good estates and of the
best judgments. And in this place I must do justice to the Nuncio
Dada, since Cardinal, and he having a great regard for me, he
frequently conversed with me in a lamenting tone, and he was
much contrary so as to appear in public and introduced as Nuncio
as he was to the Ambassade sent to Rome. The Chief Commission
my Lord Castlemaine had was to obtain a Cardinal's cap for Father
Petres, and I know also that it was much against his will that he
went to my Lord Mayor's feast in public habit, and was met at
Temple Bar by the two Sheriffs to conduct him to Guildhall, and I
being there, he discoursed with me on that subject. .
As to Pope Innocent the Eleventh,” had he been only against
the Embassy out of policy, I wholly concurred as to that, but not
the treating an ambassador of a great monarch as if he had been a
little serving man. That Pope had been in the military service, a
man most illiterate, and most violently passionate, and had a mortal
hatred towards Lewis the Fourteenth, and he never could be
• Livio Odescalchi.
Pope Inno-
cent XI.
I66 Memoirs of
The three
questions.
persuaded otherwise than that the King was entirely at the
disposition of France, and in a firm league with him. His Majesty
was pleased to tell me that the Pope was entirely misinformed, and
that he was in league with no prince whatsoever, nor would he come
into any alliance, but to stand neuter, so as to be a mediator on
occasion. And to give you a signal proof, Monsieur de Bonrepaux
told me that when he came in 1688 to offer the King thirty
thousand men against the Prince of Orange, he was highly surprised
at the King's refusal. Indeed our minister had infused that popular
notion into the King for to betray him, and he was found out when
too late, and turned out. In the year 1687, Colonel Sidney, since
Earl of Romney, and creature to the Prince of Orange, went to
Rome as out of curiosity and as a lover of pictures, &c., but I had
it from undoubted hands that he had most frequent private audiences
of that inflexible Pope. I add what is much out of order, but to
finish this subject. Many years after, I visiting Monsieur Dichvels,
at Bruxelles, one of the best heads for Embassies the Dutch had,
seeing the picture of that Pope aforesaid in his chamber, I seeming
surprised, he told me that he was regarded by him as a Protestant
Pope. This is true that the Pope and the Emperor Leopold, out
of revenge that the King would not enter into his Grand Alliance,
were the promoters of the ruin of my king and master.
To leave this digression, pertinent enough as I conceive, I
return to the finishing that melancholy article of the three ques-
tions. Soon after I had made my report, I received a letter from
the king, countersigned by that Minister and Secretary, to direct
me to name new Deputy Lieutenants, all my old ones being super-
seded, as in all other counties. I gave in the list of those so laid
aside. The Minister in a great passion asked me my meaning, and
if I laughed at the king (indeed he did to a witness). I told him I
wished that others were in his true interest as myself, and to shew I
was, I gave in that list, because I knew no others that I could
answer for; for ’tis the Lord Lieutenant that signs the Commissions.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 167
As to the Justices of the Peace, that is the province of the Lord
Chancellor, who ought to consult, however, with the Lords
Lieutenants. We parted as may be imagined heated reciprocally,
but I told him before separating that if the King commanded me to
make new ones I would obey him, so that it was under his sign
manual. Going into the country, I received expresses three or four
times with orders to make such and such Deputy Lieutenants,
signed by the King. I sent the Commissions to the new ones by
the messenger, and to each a letter to this purpose, “Sir, I send
“you by the King's command, and under his signet, a Commission
“ of Deputy Lieutenant ; notwithstanding I desire that we may live
“for the future together as we have done formerly.” For no one
of the new ones had ever set foot in my house, nor in the time of
my father, and thus it continued between us. And indeed not one
of them was worthy of the honour done to them by the King. I
expected every hour to be turned out, and I was full weary. I
know the Minister urged it, but the King knew me too well for to
lay me aside, and I was so noted for my steadiness to the kingly
government, that had I been turned out, many [that] I concerted
with, and that I kept steady, would have surrendered, and I
promised them that when it was not possible to serve any longer,
that we would concert together; and in relating the occurrences
of the following year, I can give you a great instance for to
convince that I set down matter of fact. -
The next traitorous and pernicious counsel given to the king
laid the axe to the tree, and that following to the root. Dr. Clark,
president of St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, was more known
to me by his great and excellent character. His death was the
news of the day I arrived in town for to enter into waiting, and
after supper in the Queen's chamber, the discourse being dry, I
mentioned the death of that worthy person. The King answered,
“he was an honest man, but,” says he, “I have named one to
Appoint-
ment of Pre-
sident of
Magdalen
College,
Oxford.
I68 Memoirs of
Mr. Farmer.
Dr. Hough.
Dr. Parker.
Mr. Char-
nock.
“succeed him, that will repair for that loss.” I asking his name,
he answered “Mr. Farmer,” and so I was well satisfied until I had
discoursed with one in my house of that University, who soon
turned my joy into lamentation; he informing me that he had been
expelled the University of Cambridge for debauchery, and that he
was dead drunk at Banbury, when the news came there of his being
nominated President of that noble College. The fellows, as in the
annals, elected Dr. Hough, whom I knew but too well, and but for
those two worthy persons Dr. Aldridge and Dr. Smith of Christ-
church, this pretended bully for the liberties and privileges had
submitted at Court although on the revolution he obtained a
bishopric for that pretended service. As to vices, God knows I
accuse him not of, but insincerity is a great blot. These vile con-
trivers could not support Farmer, so Parker Bishop of Oxford was
named, but the fellows, save one or two, persisted and supported
their due rights, but smiths were sent for, and the doors broken
open, and afterwards visitors were sent down of no great character,
and I am sorry to say that all they did was wrong. The annals
relate all at length, but too partially, and with too much warmth,
but in the main they err not. It is so many years since that I read
over this matter, that I can only remember the substance. One Mr.
Robert Charnock, a young brother of one of the chief gentlemen's
families of Bedfordshire, and of a worthy stock, changed his religion
and was made vice president. He was of a dark temper, but had
sense, and he went into all that was inspired into him by the con-
trivers, and for which I could never bear well the sight of him,
although the Dutch faction seven years after would have it that I
had sent him into France for succours of troops. At the beginning
of this melancholy and fatal transaction, I desired to speak to the
king, and he carried me into his closet, where I had liberty to dis-
course with him at leisure. I humbly (bending my knee) begged
of him to have that whole matter reported to him by sincere and
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I69
impartial persons, and that I was assured that his Majesty would
then order a Noli prosequi, “for believe me, Sir, on my honour and
“conscience, you are grossly imposed on”; and I put him in mind
of the disingenuous character they gave of Mr. Farmer. Finding
that the King persisted, I humbly besought him not to touch the
freehold of the clergy, for that priests of all religions were the same
as to matter of interest, and if you pinch them they will return it
fourfold—as it was found in the sequel. I added, “Sir, if you will
“have a Romish College, found one, although it will be against the
“laws, rather than take the bread out of the mouths of the others in
“possession.” Adding that ready money I had none, but although
I should borrow it of a hundred persons, I would lay a thousand
pounds at his feet for to contribute to a new foundation;* but to my
grief I found my representations to little purpose. And now to
come to the finishing stroke. The Bishops must be the victims.
It is well known that the penal laws were equally in force against
the Fanatics as well as against the Roman Catholics. It is true that
the King, even when Duke of York, ever preached up liberty of
conscience, but it must be supposed that his aim was to have it by
repeal by Act of Parliament, but now it was basely infused into him
that he might dispense with those laws by his Royal Prerogative,
and accordingly a proclamation was issued out to that purpose, and
the Bishops were required to send into their dioceses, and to order
each parson, vicar, &c., to read that proclamation from the pulpit.
I think one Bishop obeyed, but I desire to forget his name. The
prelates then in town were, the truly great Archbishop Sandcroft
at his palace at Lambeth, the Doctors Turner Bishop of Ely, White
Bishop of Peterborough, Lake Bishop of Chichester, Ken Bishop
of Bath and Wells, Sir Jonathan Trelawney Bishop of Exeter, and
* See Lord Ailesbury's Letter to Mr. Leigh of Addlestrop, in European Magazine,
xxvii. p. 22, and “Magdalen College and King James ii.” by Dr. Bloxam. Oxford His-
torical Society, 1886. -
VOL. I. Z \
Advice of
Lord Ailes-
bury
Proclama-
tion for
Toleration.
Ordered to
be read by
the clergy.
The seven
Bishops.
I7o Memoirs of
Lloyd Bishop of St. Asaph, the old prophet and not to be com-
pared to the others. These seven waited on the king, and in the
most submissive and respectful manner represented to him the grief
and trouble they were in, that they could not send forth that pro-
clamation into their dioceses, it being directly against the Act of
Parliament, but that if his Majesty should think fit in an ensuing
one, to bring in a bill for to ease the dissenters, that they would
hear the debates with all temper, and not as persons prepossessed,
and that in the mean time they would act as heretofore, and like to
their predecessors, that is to connive. They were dismissed with
Sent to the
Tower.
Birth of the
Prince of
Wales.
Rejoicings
at the ac-
quittal of
the seven
Bishops.
some emotion; the King acquainting the Council that the Bishops
had affronted him, the Lords signed a warrant for to send the
Archbishop and the six Bishops to the Tower, and by water for
more privacy. Notwithstanding, the Thames was covered with
boats filled, and lighters on the river the same, and thousands of
spectators were on their knees for to ask their blessing, and the
same when they were carried to Westminster Hall in order to
their trial.
In the meantime the Queen was delivered of the Prince of
Wales, and that very night I asked leave to go to Tunbridge for my
health, but indeed it was to be out of the way, foreseeing that at the
trial most of the nobility would come to the King's Bench to do
honour to the Bishops. My heart was for them, but having the
honour to be of the King's Bedchamber, I thought it more decent
for to absent from the town. I left a servant well horsed in
London, and he finding a fresh one at the “Bull in the Bush’’
about halfway, and my express rode that thirty-three miles in two
hours and a half. That decided nothing as to my private judgment,
and in an hour afterwards, Southborough and all the hamlet round
the Wells filled with guests for the waters, was like one continued
fire. The army was then encamped on Hounslow for the fourth
summer, and the King, as I was told, hearing great cries, the Earl
of Feversham who commanded under the King in chief, was sent to
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 17t
know what was the matter, and the joy throughout the camp was
inexpressible ; in the city and suburbs of London the same, and
throughout the kingdom as intelligence arrived. The indictment
was high misdemeanour. The trial was not indecent. The Jury
consisted of men of worth, Sir Roger Langley foreman, a great
friend of mine, Mr. Auditor Dove was another, the rest I have
forgot. The Judges, according to their real sentiments, were
tending towards the Bishops, and two were turned out after. Sir
Robert Wright, Chief Justice of that Bench, I made a Puisne
Baron of the Exchequer in King Charles the Second's reign, but I
absolutely refused to recommend him to the high and great dignity
proper for the best lawyer in the kingdom, and he was very far
from having that talent, but the prevailing party carried it for him.
He behaved himself with modesty, and for want of talent his head
turned round, and he had the misfortune to displease both sides.
Sir Thomas Powis, the Attorney General, was humane enough, and
was a fine gentleman of the Long Robe, but you will be surprised
when I tell you the man that pursued the Bishops with ill language
enough, and with as little manners; Mr. William Williams, then
made Solicitor General. That great pretended patriot who was
Speaker of the last Westminster Parliament in King Charles the
Second's reign, and of that convoked soon after at Oxford, when he
told the King, for to shew his Majesty that the parliament was not
given to change, they had made choice of him again for their
Speaker. But it was evident now that he did not mean himself.”
In fine he concurred and went into all the most violent measures
agreeable to his new station, in order to suppress the pillars of the
Established Church, and the drift of those preceding parliaments
was in reality to drive out the Bishops' Bench from the House of
Peers. So one may say that our time serving Solicitor General in
one sense was not given to change. Besides the illegality of this
* That is, as to changing, see p. 45.
Sir Thomas
Powis.
Mr. W.
Williams.
Z 2.
172 Memoirs of
The Primate
not present.
Scandalous
calumnies.
Remark of
the King.
trial, it fell out unluckily that the Primate and Metropolitan of all
England was under confinement, and not present at the Queen's
labour, he being the first in precedency after the princes of the
blood Royal, more out of decency and custom than that there was
any obligation. Do not imagine that I think it necessary to support
the legality of that undoubted birth, and I may say that none but
knaves invented that calumny, and fools that came into that vile and
ridiculous belief. The Prince and Princess of Orange sent over
forthwith Monsieur Julestein, afterward Earl of Rochford, to con-
gratulate their Majesties, and by their Royal Highnesses' command,
the Prince of Wales was publicly prayed for in their chapel. The
Queen was delivered at full time, and Sir Charles Scarborough the
first Physician and a friend of mine, told me from time to time that
in all probability it might be some days in the beginning of June.
Her Majesty often commended her lodgings at St. James's
preferable to them at Whitehall, the latter more beautiful, but not
so convenient, and with less noise. And what woman is there but
comes sometimes sooner sometimes later than their reckoning? It
happened to be on Trinity Sunday, a Communion day, and all
persons that had any devotion were naturally at Church. I was at
St. Anne's when the news was brought to my lady Viscountess
Preston. The scandalous things vile people invented, and that
fools blindly swallowed, is not worth the enlarging on; as, a child's
being brought into the bed in a warming pan, &c. So I leave that
and them to their deserved wretched destiny, for God is the
supporter only of such that fear Him and act uprightly and godlily,
and there never was a King and Queen that had more truly the fear
of God before their eyes. They had rather, as it was thought, an
over zeal, but pious Christians they were in all respects. The King
at least, if not both, in my presence said afterwards that “those vile
“forgers of iniquity must certainly think that we do not believe in
“God, to imagine we could be such wicked and hellish impostors.”
From the month of November until few days before the delivery, I
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I73
had the honour to play at cards with the Queen every night, and I
greatly observed her countenance, and very frequently from a most
cheerful one and quick eye she turned as pale as ashes, and was
obliged to go into her bed chamber; a thing so customary to all
Testimony
of Lord
Ailesbury.
women in that condition. A cushion might thicken, if the Queen,
had not had the fear of God before her eyes, but for the physiognomy,
I defy anyone to counterfeit it. The Queen Dowager was sent for
in all haste, but she found the Queen delivered, and sat by her bed-
side; her ladies and others not in strict waiting came forthwith, and
the lords of the council, particularly the Chancellor Jeffries in his
testimony some months after, declared that he was by the feet of
the bed, and saw the child brought out of the bed, and carried into
a room adjoining, and added a little grossly, that he was like a child
just come out of the womb. The Earl of Middleton, Secretary of
State, in his preamble excused his great curiosity by reason that he
had heard vile expressions in relation to the doubts of the Queen's
being with child, and for that reason, that lord said he went nearer
the bed than, through respect, he ought to have done, and confirmed
the same as the Chancellor had deposed before, but more politely.
Other lords and ladies, gentlemen, and others, gave in their testi-
mony with great gravity and veracity. I was summoned to appear
at that examination in the Council Chamber, as one of the body of
Peers as likewise the Privy Council. The Judges, the Lord Mayor
&c., were also convoked. I must own that in my opinion it was
below the King, and that it signified little, for all persons of honour
and conscience and that were good subjects, firmly believed the
reality of the birth, and for the rest they believed it as well as we;
I mean amongst the best heads of them. But their aim, by lying
and slandering, was to blacken the King and Queen, and to make
them odious to the eyes of an unthinking people, as if the Prince and
Princess of Orange were frustrated as to the succession, by jobbing
a suppositious" prince on them, and his being afterwards called the
* Supposititious.
y
The Lord
Chancellor.
The Earl of
Middleton.
I74 Memoirs of
pretended prince, it was not by reason of the suspicion that he was
not born of the Queen, but because they did not own the King his
father any longer their sovereign. And in the sequel, that good
and great Queen Anne gave him the name by proclamation &c. of
“The Pretender,” she being Queen in possession, but inwardly
respected him as legitimate son to her royal father King James, and
the Queen her mother in law. More on this subject when I come
to the Revolution, and afterwards. I omitted one thing that had
Absence of relation to the birth. Some time before, the Princess Anne of
ºntº Denmark, since Queen, desired leave to go to the Bath for her
health, and there is not one alive that can unfold the mystery, save
a great lady then so near about her. It was she and my Lady
Fitzharding, whose husband and the lord of the former went into
the Prince of Orange's army from the King's camp at Salisbury. I
say it was those ladies and adherents that persuaded the princess to
absent herself, that she might not be an eye witness of the birth of
her brother, and so they industriously, and by a malign spirit, made
credulous persons believe that the Princess of Denmark was sent to
the Bath by the King. I taxed the former lady few years after for
being the author of another action of the princess', very irregular
and disobedient, and she would justify herself on laying it on the
other. -
In pursuing the two lamentable and unadvised steps, the
seizing of St. Mary Magdalen College, and the imprisoning and
trial of the Bishops, I omitted one thing that was greatly prejudicial
Purging the to the King, and that was the purging of the Corporations great and
º small, expelling all loyal and good subjects, and that were entirely
in his Majesty's interest, and in the worst of times when he was
Duke of York, and after when he came to the Crown. I will not
assure it to you, but I was informed that Sir Nicholas Butler was
charged with that commission, and that he had his under-spur-
leathers” in all the counties of England, which in little resembled
* P. 24. See Nares's Glossary, in voce.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I75
much to the Major-Generals the usurper Cromwell sent into all the
Counties to put in and put out all at pleasure, and with a power not
unlike that of the Intendents of Provinces in France. It was my
lot to have a broken fanatic shoemaker, one Roberts, whom I never
saw, that purged the Corporation of Bedford, and no doubt gave in
the names of the new Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace
that were much of his temper and opinions in religion. As to
Roman Catholics, there was not one in the County save Mr. Conquest
who lived obscurely. I shall return to this in due time. The City
of London was the chief sacrifice, and no doubt but in the annals
you will find the names of those unparalleled magistrates turned out
and of those wholly unworthy that were restored, and that had been
left out on the new charter. At the head of the former were those
two pillars for Church and Monarchy, Sir John Moore, and Sir
William Pritchard, who was the author of the overthrow of factious
and seditious riots, and was the cause of the flight into Holland of
that turbulent Earl who died there so soon after. There were seven
or eight more turned out, and the same number restored and made
anew, and all of the fanatic spawn, and they could pick out nobody
for Lord Mayor for 1687 and 1688 but Sir John Shorter, who had
uttered out in time past most vile expressions against the King when
Duke of York, as if the City of London had been burnt by his
orders, &c. And this Lord Mayor's feast the King must honour
with his presence, and the first he had been at since he sat on the
thronel It was the first that I had seen, I mean at Guildhall, and
at table, and now by virtue of my place at Court. When the King
came within Temple Bar, the Lord Mayor performed the usual
ceremonies, which took up some short space, and the convoy of
coaches stopped necessarily. I took notice to a Lord in my coach
what sneaking faces most of the livery-men of the Companies had,
that lined the streets. “Can you wonder at it,” said that Lord,
“all the jolly, genteel citizens are turned out, and all sneaking
City of
London.
176 Memoirs of
“fanatics put into their places.” At Temple Bar the $ Royal
Artillery Company attended, accoutred with all magnificence
possible, to march by the King, who when Duke of York was
Captain General, and that renowned magistrate, Sir William
Pritchard, President under him, and Sir James Smith Vice Presi-
dent, alderman also. On this stupendous overthrow of the loyal
party, Sir William and Sir James were excluded from being Aldermen,
as also from their employment in the Artillery Company, and some
crop-eared fellows succeeded them. However, those loyal knights and
others begged of his Majesty that they might march in the company
as volunteers with the musketon theirshoulder,which they actually did.
At the Guildhall, those worthy Aldermen excluded were looked
on as scally” sheep. I took compassion on them, and as indeed they
were all my good friends, and I stretch my memory to name them
all; Sir John Moore, Sir William Pritchard, Sir James Smith, Sir
Jonathan Raymond, Sir Peter Paravicini, Sir Peter Vanderputt,
Alderman Lucy, none of the least, and some few more. These
truly worthy, and loyal and discarded magistrates I presented to
the King and named each. The King gave them his hand to kiss,
and with a most smiling face said gracious things to every one, and
called Sir James Smith his old fellow fox hunter. I let fall a word
that I hoped to see them restored by his Majesty. This feast was
magnificent as usual, but to me it was a very melancholy one. As
I mentioned before, all the cities and towns corporate were regu-
lated in the like manner, and as I said I was become very insignifi-
cant in the Counties where I was Lord Lieutenant. At last, growing
melancholy, and fearing it might give me my death, after perhaps a
violent fever, I absolutely resolved to lay down, and taking leave
of my mother, who lived with me at Ampthill, she knowing I used
to be in the country the Summer and Autumn months, and by the
King's leave unless for my week in waiting once in two months,
The ex-
cluded
Aldermen.
* Scall, a leprous scab. Levit. iii. 30. “It is a dry scall, a leprosy in the head.”
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 177
her words were these, “I suspect you have some design in your
“head, for I have perceived you have been long melancholy.
“For God's sake consider well, and succeed to your father's firmness
“to the Crown as well as to his estate.”
In fine, I told her that to continue longer would be my death. Lord Ailes-
She said no more, save giving me her blessing with her prayers to ...i.
God to direct me for the best, and I sat out for Windsor on a Commission.
Saturday, and stayed but two nights there, and I carried my Com-
missions and Patents to make a surrender. I pitched upon the
only person at Court I could confide in, the Lord Dartmouth,
Master of the Horse and Ordnance, and soon after Admiral of the
Fleet. Sunday I invited myself to dine with him, and begged of
him that he would ask nobody to eat with, but persons he could be
free with after table. For Sundays were Cabinet Council days, and
the Lord Chancellor and others of that body coming from London
to attend were always invited by those that kept tables. It was
very late before we went to table, and we sat pretty long. At
rising, he took me into his closet, and there I opened my design to
him, at which he had some emotion. “My dear Lord,” said he, “if Earl of Dart-
“you give up, I fear so many more will do the same, that the King mouth dis-
“will be very destitute of good Englishmen as well as good suades him.
“subjects, and for the love of God lay aside your rash design. I
“can affirm to you that I have had very lately a long conference
“with the King, who assured me that all should be put on the old
“bottom very soon.” I replied that I knew that he had assured
another to the same purpose, and begged his excuse for not taking
his advice, and I went upstairs and into the great bedchamber
where there was a great number of the nobility and others that
came generally on the Sundays, either to Council, or to make their
Court. That took up some time, talking to one or the other, and
then I went into a room between the former and the closet, called
in the late King's time the little bedchamber, and where he always
VOL. I. 2 A
178 Memoirs of
Interview
with the
King.
Retains his
position.
lodged. The King had a custom to have a little table by the closet
door with his wax lights and snuffers, and very soon after, it growing
duskish, he came out to take in the lights himself. He perceiving
me (and I was pretty well assured he expected to find me there for
reasons hereafter) he told me he would come out again presently,
which he did soon, and ordered me to shut the door next to the
great bedchamber, and after praising me for my constant attach-
ment to him in the worst of times and since he was King, to my
great surprise (and perhaps it was the first time that ever he opened
himself to one not in his Councils) he told me he would let me
into a secret that he had not communicated to his Cabinet Council,
under oath of secresy, which I firmly assuring him of, he then told
me that according to all advices he had received from the Hague
and from Paris, that those great armaments in Holland for sea and
land must certainly be designed against him, and that he was well
assured that I would stand by him. I fell on my knees, assuring
him of the same, and to the last drop of my blood, that my brothers
were under my mother's care, but, however, I could answer for her
and them, and that that was the whole extent of our family, that since
it was and ought not to be divulged, I could not by any public
action as yet render him any service, but that I would obey his
orders, and that this being a secret to be kept inviolably, I could
make no step until I knew his pleasure, and he dismissed me with
all marks of grace, favour, and attention. I need not say that I
carried home my commissions, &c., and at my return my mother
asked me what I had done. I replied that the King had given me
most gracious words, and that I had not the heart to put my
design in execution. •
I esteem this of the King's preventing me one of the happy
moments of my life, for had I given up, the King in the first place
might have suspected that I was associated with those that deserted
him, and little to their honour. I never knew who had prompted
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 179
the King to this unusual discovering of Cabinet secrets, he imagin-
ing that those out of Council were not capable to give him advice.
I must imagine it was my Lord Dartmouth, whose lodgings were
just over against the door that led into the King's private rooms
under his upper ones, and that it was he that went to the king at
my parting from him, and not satisfied with his reasons, in order to
dissuade me from my resolution. Be as it will, it was a happy
thing for me, who would have certainly been unjustly accused, and
wrongfully, of having had some correspondence with those that had
such vile designs in their heads. The only person that I could
perceive that attempted me, was the Duke of Ormond, my brother
in law, or rather, we had married two sisters of the half blood.
That great Duke his grandfather died about July 1688 at Kingston
in Dorsetshire, at a seat for hawking that he had taken a lease of.
The King gave this young Duke the Garter, but kept in his hands
the place of Lord Steward of the Household, which the grandfather
had enjoyed twenty-eight years. The young Lord Drumlanrig (who
swerved from the principles of his father the Duke of Queensbury),
who lived some years after, absolutely swayed the Duke of Ormond
in conjunction with General Kirk, Trelawney and others that for-
sook him not. I being at Windsor on or about the month of
August, and in waiting, we had in common a very indifferent
chamber for to set each our field bed in for that week only. The
Duke of Ormond, with a thoughtful and discontented countenance,
asked me if I would give him a bottle of wine in my chamber, which
surprised me, knowing that he never drank between meals, but then
plentifully, and I not, nor between dinner and supper. We went
up, and I sent to the king's cellar for wine. Besides us two, there
were my Lord Drumlanrig and the Marquis of Worcester, son to
the Duke of Beaufort, and halſ brother to my wife, and Mr. Thomas
Maulle groom of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Denmark, and
ensign of the Yeoman of the Guard, and one that by accidents had
t 2 A 2
The Duke
of Ormond
wishes to
bring him
over to the
Orange
party.
I8o Memoirs of
Defection of
officials.
Sir John
Laniere.
made his fortune by my means. The wine was only the pretext,
and but one glass went round. The Duke of Ormond took Mr.
Maulle to the window, speaking low, and what I heard was from
Mr. Maulle's mouth, “No, my lord”; and repeating it. I knew
afterwards by my lord of Worcester that the Duke of Ormond
asked his advice whether he might put me into the secret. That
gentleman I knew at Montpelier, and he was in our company so
many years after with familiarity, and of consequence was well
acquainted with my steady principles, and that I could not change
kings as one doth a suit of clothes. He answered that Duke,
“My Lord, I am wholly against your communicating anything to
“this lord” (meaning me) “and you will put him besides into the
“greatest struggle imaginable between his loyalty on one hand and
“his honour on the other, and I know his family too well not to
“believe that the former will entirely sway him.” I knew this from
my Lord Worcester, who in a heat went into the Prince of
Orange, passed by his father's house and furnished himself with
horses, very disagreeable and mortifying much the Duke of Beaufort,
and he joined the Prince at Exeter, and came to London with a
repenting heart after one day's appearance there.
What follows might have given me more light, but I could not
imagine that persons that had such eminent employments, civil and
military, could betray their benefactor and King and master. My
mother, permitting me to place my brothers where I thought fit,
and to serve as Volunteers, I chose the Queen's Royal Regiment of
Horse commanded by an old friend of mine Sir John Laniere, and
he being a general officer, my good friend my Lord Dartmouth's
brother, Colonel William Legg, commanded. At my mother's
desire, I asked Sir John what my brothers were to provide to be
decent, but according to their birth. He replied with a sneer,
“nothing but a good warm cloak and a pair of boots on Salisbury
“Plain;” an answer more suitable to have been given to a common
trooper, but he knew why, being entirely in the secret. This
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I81
opened not my eyes neither, nor a third as follows: My wife about
seven months gone with child of my daughter Cardigan, and the
Duchess of Ormond taking pity of her, begged of her lord that she
might be put into the secret, on condition she solemnly swore that
she would not reveal it to any person whatsoever, which she faith-
fully observed, and her heart of consequence was at ease; that is,
that there would not be a blow struck. My wife, and for to do
wrong to no others, was certainly the honour of her sex, and the
most best and tender of wives, and on sundry occasions in course of
years was troubled when I was to be absent from her, but on my
taking leave for to go with the King to Salisbury against the Prince
of Orange, and perhaps that I might never see her more, she seemed
as little concerned as if I was to have gone to my country house or
elsewhere for some days. I being to go in the King's coach towards
Salisbury, as being in waiting, the Earl of Peterborough, contrary to
all custom, and as Groom of the Stole, pretended to break into our
weeks, which I would not yield to, so went home and sent an express
to Windsor where the King lay that night, with my reasons that I
could not repair to him as Gentleman of the Bedchamber, but as a
volunteer. He sent me his commands to come when I thought fit.
The decision of that affair I must defer, for to relate what happened
in the country. About the month of October, I received several
expresses from Court with directions in the first place to restore all
my old deputy Lieutenants, and to supersede the new ones; And
the same in Huntingdonshire, to restore all persons in the Corpora-
tions that had been turned out; and that the Lord Chancellor had
directions to consult me relating to a new Commission for the
Justices of the Peace, and other orders that I have forgot. As to
the County of Huntingdon, I have forgot also if the old Deputy
Lieutenants made any scruple, I think not; but of those for the
County of Bedford, I summoned them to dinner, and they all
appeared to the number of ten or eleven, all of the prime gentry,
Lady Ailes-
bury.
Breach of
Court Rules
by the Earl
oſ Peter-
borough.
Order to re-
store the old
Deputy
Lieutenants.
I82 Memoirs of
Earl of Bed-
ford made
Lord Lieu-
tenant.
and what were most valuable, and who were close friends to me, and
I the same towards them. - -
After dinner I took them into my closet, and communicated to
them my orders under the King's hand. They one and all desired
I would be pleased to excuse them, on which with some little
emotion, but no passion, I represented to them my firmness in their
behalf by giving again their names, although by the King's rule,
they and all in other counties were to be laid aside. I added,
“Pray Gentlemen retire into another room, call for what you will
“please to drink, consider well of it, and let me have your
“company again as soon as you have consulted each.” So, like to
a Jury, they retired, and in a short space Mr. Leigh, uncle to the
Lord of that name, spoke in the name of the rest, that they were
most infinitely sensible of the great obligations they had to me, and
for that reason, and for my sake only, they were willing to accept
of new Commissions ; but declared withal that they would never
serve under any other Lord Lieutenant. And they made it good,
for not one of them was ever in Commission after, for in few
months the Earl of Bedford succeeded me, a graceful old noble-
man, and his outside was all. He always had lived to himself, and
his company in the summers were only his relations from London,
or else when” and sometimes some lords and gentlemen, lovers of
bowling and cards, for about a week, but few or none of the
country gentlemen ever went thither. He kept a good house for
eating amongst themselves but no hospitality, and it had been
better for our purses if our family had done the like. This lord
had no interest in the county but what was called a Presbyterian
one, he went to the Parish [Ch.] on Sunday morning, but had a
Presbyterian Chaplain, and no common prayer in his chapel, so
what little interest he had was amongst that sect, and much
augmented amongst the meaner sort by the execution of my poor
* Qy, where.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 183
Lord Russell his son. Those that they called moderate men
amongst the second sort, gentlemen and yeomen, and farmers,
were little addicted to monarchy, and they imagined that our family
were too much for the Crown, and I will give you a great instance.
When I lived in the country and no more Lord Lieutenant, I did,
by dint of polling at the Election for the County, carry it for one
knight, and perhaps might have carried it for both, but that the
Earl of Bedford being my neighbour, and we then reconciled, I
would not appear against his son Mr. Russell, desiring more to live
as good neighbours than to have a vote more or less in the House ;
and I have often bewailed that senseless and withal expensive
animosities have been to the ruin of so many great and good
families. In the counties of Wilts, and Warwick, and generally
in that of Oxford, the gentlemen agree beforehand, and they only
meet at the place of election for form sake. I found the same
temper in this County on another occasion after my being delivered
out of the Tower and jaws of our Dutch Minister in 1697, and that
in due place. All this is rambling out of the common road, but
going by memory 'tis impossible to write correct.
As soon as I had settled all in the Country by virtue of the
King's Commands, I went to London, where I found matters were
become very serious and melancholy, for it had been for some time
evident that the Fleet and Army in Holland were in great readi-
ness. At last the good King had his eyes opened, and that fatal
Minister was found out by him and dismissed, and the Lord Viscount
Preston appointed Secretary of State, and the Earl of Middleton
became first Secretary, although both are called principal Secre-
taries of State. The first hath the Southern Province, then held to
be of the most importance, and the other had the Northern.
Monsieur de Bonrepaux,” as before mentioned, came over on a
secret and most important Commission, viz. to offer the King a
powerful army to resist that of the Prince of Orange. Indeed the
- * P. I66.
*
Earl of Sun-
derland dis-
missed.
184 Memoirs of
Mr. Skelton.
Bold mea-
sures sug-
gested to the
King.
Kings Own had been sufficient, but that some chief officers had
corrupted them, so that on a great part at least the King could not
have depended. The Minister before mentioned was in the bottom
of this, and to accomplish his ends in favour of the Prince of
Orange, it was by his advice that Monsieur de Bonrepaux' offer in
the name of his master was declined, and which I had from him.
Mr. Skelter,” a great friend of mine, had been long in Holland, little
to the Prince of Orange's inclination. I cannot say that he was a
consummate Minister, but he was a diligent and faithful one, and
had great resolution. He was then sent to France where he
industriously got good and solid information, and without staying
for orders he came to London; it is true against the common
method, but he thinking the King his master's interests all lay at
stake, he passed over that formality, and on his arrival he was, by
advice of our Minister (after discarded) sent to the Tower;
but the mystery of iniquity blazing out, and no doubt by Mr.
Skelton's vigilance, the Minister was discarded, and Mr. Skelton
made Commandant of that important fortress where he had been a
prisoner so short a time before—rather few days.
The discontents were so visible, and more the approaching
invasion and the conspirators for one may so call them were so
hardy and indiscreet, thinking all sure, that the eyes at Court began
to be open, and the King ought to have made a bold stroke. The
Earl of Feversham and myself separately were on our knees humbly
begging of him to clap up seven or eight of the heads of them, and
with the most humble submission I ventured to name the Prince of
Denmark, the Dukes of Ormond and Grafton, Lord Churchill, Mr.
Kirk, Mr. Trelawney, &c., but as it was found, and fatally, that the
King could not resolve, and if he had in all probability his army
would have stood by him, and the Duke of Grafton was empoisoning
the fleet under my Lord Dartmouth. One thing was observed, and
related to me, that when the King was viewing his horses in Hyde
* Qy. Skelton.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 185
Park and their accoutrements, a lord stood by, and he that was the
great general afterwards, was seen to laugh and to loll out his
tongue andſhis is true. ae-King—sºmehed—#he-Bisheps, and—#hey-did
º E & Jº Jº º … ſ.
UT IP TT T. ſ. º ſº ºf C.
The fleet was got ready under the command of the Lord
Dartmouth, who unfortunately commanded Captains of men of war,
and particularly the Lord Berkely, that infused strange notions into
the seamen, and a great part of the Commanders of ships. It was
not known then, whether the Prince would sail to the Northward,
or to the Southward, and my Lord Dartmouth had his station
appointed him called the Gun Fleet, which was thought at a Coun-
cil of Marine to be the most proper place to ride in, and it unfor-
tunately fell out to be the contrary; for whilst the Admiral was
hemmed in by violent weather, the Prince of Orange sailed on a
lee shore through the Flemish Road, and the French one, and so
through the Channel without the least accident, whilst my Lord
Dartmouth was struggling with hard weather, and when he could
get out, the Prince was out of reach, and Admiral Hubert,t since
Earl of Torrington, sailed the Dutch Fleet, and one raised from a
most private country gentleman and younger brother, by the King
when Duke of York, and afterwards was Master of the Robes to
The Fleet.
detained at
Gun Fleet.
Violent
weather.
the King, and who always distinguished him, and he that had no
religion covered all this over with a cloak of zeal for religion. In
my presence in the Bedchamber, the Earl of Mulgrave, Lord
* Crossed out in original, as the meeting took place after the King's return from
Salisbury.
f Qy. Herbert.
VOL. I. 2 B


186 Memoirs of
Prince of
Orange lands
at Torbay.
Chamberlain, fell foul on the Lord Dartmouth's conduct. I
answered him as pertinently as I could, and the King coming out
of his closet I told that lord I left the rest to his Majesty, to whom
I acquainted what was in dispute. The King said my Lord Dart-
mouth had done his duty, and added, turning to that lord, “My
“Lord, when you have anything to say or to except against, you
“ had better do it to his face than behind his back.”
About the time that the hard weather permitted not my Lord
Dartmouth to get out of Gunfleet, and to anchor at Beechy on the
Sussex Coast, advice came that the Prince of Orange was landed
at Torbay in Devonshire. It is generally thought that, in spite of
the aforesaid Admiral, the fleet would not have stuck firm to the
King. Many suspected my Lord Dartmouth, but I am very well
assured that those did him great wrong. I speak like one that ever
acted on a principle of honour and conscience, and not to judge
wrong of one's neighbour, and especially without just grounds, and
by surmises. That Lord was generous and poor and the pension
he had after was an act of generosity, and not for what he had
done for the Prince, but for what he had not done; that is, that his
fleet did not obstruct, by reason of the storms, the landing of the
invading army. The Prince was landed so many days before one
person joined him, that he was resolving to go back to Holland.
At last the Lord Colchester, Mr. Thomas Wharton and others
arrived in his camp; this being literally true what could not have
been done if there had been but ten thousand French, not one
third of what was offered. The chief contents of the Prince's
declaration was contrary to his natural belief, I mean as to the
legitimacy of the Prince of Wales, and I had it from a most
unquestionable hand that he firmly believed that birth, but out of
policy he was obliged to give way to the current of those times,
and in time and place I will endeavour to make good my assertion.
As I remember, there was a second declaration, full of fire and
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 187
threatenings, and 'twas generally thought that it came out of the
brain of that firebrand Burnet, who aspired at being a great prelate,
and had forgot his oath never to wear lawn sleeves, but he dis-
pensed with that by wearing sleeves of another denomination. The
King on this landing prepared to go down to Salisbury, and after
having taken his adieu of the Queen and of the Princess Anne of
Denmark, he parted for to lie at Windsor. Whilst the King was
with the latter, I told the Lord Livingston, Captain of the Scotch
troop of Life Guards, and in waiting, that each of us would leave
our dispute for the place in the coach to the King's determination.
My Lord Peterborough persisting, and by the rules there could be
but one gentleman of the Bedchamber in the coach, the Captain of
the Life Guards, which made four with the King and Prince of
Denmark. But if the Master of the Horse had been there (he
commanded the fleet) the Captain of the Life Guards had been
obliged to go in the second coach, and the reason is thus: The
Captains of the Life Guards heretofore rode on horseback by the
boot of the King's coach, but the Duke of Monmouth procured that
change for himself, and consequently for the others; so this being
a novelty the gentleman of the Bedchamber hath the rank of the
other in the coach.
The King in trouble at parting, and his thoughts full, there
was no time to argue, and gave it in favour of my Lord Levestein.
I returned home to my house. My wife seemed pleased, but was
nowise elated, for the reason aforementioned. I sent my page
forthwith post to Windsor, with a letter for the Secretary of State,
representing matter of fact, and that I was ready at an hour's
warning to repair to Salisbury as a Volunteer, and not otherwise.
My brothers were at Windsor in the Bedchamber with the Prince
of Denmark, &c., who asked what that letter was. The Secretary
informing him of the contents, he said a man had enough to do for
to have a dispute with my Lord Peterborough, who would exercise
Dispute as to
place in the
King's
Coach.
2 B 2
188 Memoirs of
The King
departed for
Salisbury.
The King's
nose bleed-
ing.
no function, but would intrude for to have a place in the Coach.
At last the King ordered him to perform the duties. The King
directed the Secretary of State to let me know that he expected me
at Salisbury at my leisure. The King parted on Saturday November
17, 1688, and arrived at Salisbury the Monday following, and I of
consequence the Tuesday, wet to the skin and half starved, not
finding either meat or bread on the road, by the concourse of troops
and passengers. The Duke of Ormond desired me not to take my
coach, by reason I should always have a place in his, and we being
the only two not military, he or I should go by turns in the King's
coach, but God be praised he did not let me into his secrets. The
King lay at the Bishop's, and I had my lodgings just by, at a Pre-
bend's, and after having well eaten, I went to Court, and on the top
of the great stair all the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber came and
embraced me with a thousand thanks for my firmity in the support
or our undoubted privilege. The King was in his bedchamber in a
great chair, his nose having bled for some time, and the moment I
arrived they put a cold key on the back of his neck, and all was
over, but he was directed not to sup, but to take some broth. He
desired the Prince of Denmark to go to supper, and to take the
lords with him, the King keeping a great table. I staying, he
asked me why I did not go to supper; I telling him that I had
eaten on my arrival, “That is true,” replied he, “shut the door;”
and I was only with him; “Tell me the matter that is between you
“ and my Lord Peterborough.” After reciting it, he was pleased
to say that no man but him was capable of acting in that manner.
I added, “If your Majesty approves of my conduct, I have entire
“satisfaction.” He answered that he was. The Page of the
backstairs in waiting told me that I would do well to offer to lie in
the King's bedchamber for the King's service, for that the Earl
of Peterborough coughed in the nights like a broken winded horse;
for that reason only I offered it, but the King answered, “I sleep
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 189
“well and do not hear him.” The King was just and equitable,
but not gracious towards me as he used to be, and the reason of that
in due place. -
This bleeding from the nose was the hand of God, else the
King had gone next morning, Wednesday, for to shew himself at
the head of his army at Warminster; and it was designed by a
general, that made so much noise in the world afterwards, and his
adherents, for to have delivered him up to the Prince of Orange ;
and the King being persuaded by his physicians to compose himself
for a day or two, he sent the Earl of Feversham, the immediate
General under him, who was directed to declare in the King's
name, that those that desired to go over to the Prince might have
passports, and that this he had orders to acquaint them with in the
King's name. There was on it a very dry acclamation, but no one
desired a passport, for they were resolved to go without one. I
beg of the reader to give entire credit particularly to these last
fifteen lines”, for all is on my own certain knowledge. I write not
for bread and employments, like to the hackney scribblers, I
discharge my conscience by imparting the truth without favour,
affection, or malice as a party man. Hive—ia—a-sert—eſ—retreat,
* These fifteen lines commence at the top of the page.
Providential.



190 Memoirs of
The King's
return to
London.
B - BHFE ae—Earl—eſ—Feversham's—speeeh—#e—Éhe-A+Bay.”
That Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we passed melancholy
enough. Scouts, out of good will and affection or such that were
instructed by the deserting party, came in continually with what
they had dreamt, or others instructed, but one and the other were
grossly mistaken as to the Prince's near approach, for, as to
marching, he did, but perhaps fifty miles farther off the King's
army than they related. In fine, Saturday morning November 24,
1688, the King prepared to return to London. Early that
morning, the Duke of Grafton, the Lord Churchill, Lieutenant
General, Captain of the third troop of Life Guards, Gentleman of
the Bedchamber, thought fit to go to the Prince without resigning
his employments, that had been more in form, although a very
bad one,—as also the Lord Fitzharding, Colonel of Dragoons
Royal, and the former Colonel of the first regiment of Guards.
I rising late, and nobody informing me of what had passed, I
went innocently to the Prince of Denmark's levee, surrounded with
those that had desertion in their heads. Their sour physiognomies
made me wish myself further off, and I instantly retired and went
to Court, and the flight of those lords was there all the discourse. I
sent the Page of the Backstairs in Waiting (a new week beginning)
to ask the Earl of Peterborough what he designed. He held up
his stick at him, and swore by God that he would go in the King's
coach. So at the King's going away after dinner for to lie at
Andover, I took horse another road by the way of Reading, for
better conveniency of lodging, and was wet through almost from
thence to London. When the King went into the coach, he asked
for the Prince of Denmark. He sent word that he would follow
his Majesty, who ordered one to tell him he would not go without
* Crossed through in original.




Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I9 I
him, so he was obliged to obey. At Andover, at sitting down to
supper, the King ordered one to acquaint the Prince that he was at
table; and soon after, the King was informed that the Prince and
the Duke of Ormond were slipped out of town, and indeed to join
the Prince of Orange. There were some others that accompanied
them, but I remember the names of none (not being present) but
that of Sir George Hewitt, Lieutenant to the second troop of Life
Guards, commanded by the Duke of Northumberland. I arrived
at London Monday at noon, and after dinner I went to Court, and
immediately after the King arrived, the Earl of Peterborough (who
had not spoken to me at Salisbury and refused me the bow) came
to tell me he would put the King in my hands, that is, to come into
waiting. I told him that I was tired with my journey, and had
suffered much by rain and riding all the way, and that I should not
recover myself until Saturday. So I made him wait his fortnight
entire, to his great mortification, and to learn him more manners
for the future, and not to break into the week of another. As soon
as the news came to town, and to the Court of the Princess Anne
of Denmark no doubt in the first place, the Ladies Churchill and
Fitzharding obliged her to rise out of her bed in the night, and to
fly away in nightgown and slippers, making her to believe that the
Queen (the King being not then arrived from Salisbury just at that
day) would send her to the Tower; and, attended by the revenge-
ful Bishop of London, Doctor Compton, with sword and boots,
they arrived at Lowton in Essex, near London, at the house of Mr.
John Wroth, a blustering County Justice and a gentleman grazier;
from thence to Copt Hall in Essex, to the Earl of Dorset's, and
through Hertfordshire to Hitchin, a market town, and refreshing in
an inn and also brewhouse, they sat in a cart, saying that but for
their flight it might have been their lot; and all this invented by
those ladies to inflame that good Princess against the Queen, and
consequently the King.
Flight of the
Princess
Anne.
I92 - Memoirs of
This particular I had by a neighbouring gentleman, and he
from Mr. Draper, an eminent attorney of that town, and an ear
witness. From thence they went to Harrs”, two miles from my
house in Bedfordshire, to the house of the late Lord Carteret, and
from thence to Nottingham. My brothers, returning with the King
from Salisbury, took post for to wait on my mother, who lived with
me at Ampthill. Sir John Elwes, who was repairing to Notting-
ham, seeing my brothers riding post and overtaking him, he
reported at his arrival that they went down with orders, by the
King's command, for to seize on the Princess in her passing Bed-
fordshire. This was so credited at Nottingham, that a Bedford-
shire lady happening to be there by accident, she was forbid that
Court on that accompt; she took my part, and persisting that the
report was without ground. I had an opportunity some time after
to convince their Royal Highnesses that it was a scandalous report,
and they both assured me how well they were satisfied with me.
I owned to them that, if the King had given me such orders, I
would not have refused, but that I would have ordered it so that it
should never have taken effect. As I said before, the King arrived
in town on a Monday, and that I relieved the Earl of Peterborough
the Saturday following, and I remember I waited my week entire,
and the Duke of Northumberland, made Gentleman of the Bed-
chamber in the Duke of Ormond's place, relieved me. So it was
fifteen days that the King was in London before he retired for the
first time. In this interval the King convened the Archbishops
and Bishops in town, and they did not part with mutual satisfaction;
and afterwards the nobility that were Peers were summoned to
what they called in Poland a Senatus Concilium. I was present,
but little edified, and some were much out of humour and peevish.
I remember that the Earl of Clarendon behaved himself like a
* Qy. Hawnes.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I93
pedagogue towards a pupil, and he went away next day to join the
Prince of Orange. The old Earl of Oxford the same, with a hand-
some present, he being poor, that the King had given him to go to
his Lieutenancy of Essex, to promote his interest there. Then the
King sent three Commissioners for to expostulate with the Prince,
viz., the Marquis of Halifax, the Earl of Nottingham, and the Lord
Godolphin. The Sunday at midnight, the King thought fit to send
the Queen and the Prince to France. The latter was but six
months old. The crossing the water to Lambeth was dangerous
enough, a storm blowing, and from thence they went in a coach
and embarked at" for France. The Comte de Lauzun was then
actually in London only for his own curiosity, and attended the
Queen, of whom more hereafter. That Monday the King was most
thoughtful, and all the day and evening, save for meals and those
short ones, he gave audience to one and the other in a room by his
bedchamber. I attended all the time, save for to eat, and more to
sustain nature rather than through appetite. In the afternoon Mr.
Charles Bertie, brother to the old Earl of Lindsay, Lord Grand
Chamberlain of England, had a long conference with me in the
bedchamber, the King being in his inward room. He was sent to
me by several chief officers of the army that stuck to the King, for
to assure me, and I was to do the same to the King, that they
would have ready at twenty-four hours warning, between three and
four thousand horse ready to march with him wherever he would
command them, consisting of the Life Guards and Grenadiers, the
Earl of Oxford's Royal Regiment, Sir John Laniers', the Earl of
Salisbury's, and the Lord Brandon's Guards, and others; although
the Earl of Oxford, Sir John Lanier, and the Lord Churchill, were
gone off, commanders of two of the regiments and one troop of
guards, concluding, “This, my Lord, the King my depend on,” and
that if a body of foot could be thought necessary, the Regiments of
* Gravesend.
VOL. I. 2 C
The Queen
and Prince
Sent to
France.
I94 - Memoirs of
Interview
with the
King.
The King's
arrange-
ment for
flight.
Guards and others were all inclinable, although many officers of
one or the other were either gone off, or ready to do it, for of both
horse and foot the common men were well inclined to the King's
service, and most of the lower rank of officers, some general officers,
Colonels, &c., the same. !
The King (and his royal brother also) knew my custom, which
was to be heard last, and at leisure, and therefore by both I was
always most courteously received, which maxim I learnt by seeing
so many that would be heard out of time, when the Kings were in
haste to go into their closet, and scarce minded what was said to
them, and this rule of mine was so well approved of, that both
Kings, if they were not at leisure, would smilingly tell me that they
were in haste, and would after of themselves ask me if I had any-
thing to say to them. I perfectly followed my maxim on this
melancholy day and evening, and I may add night, for just as the
clock struck twelve, Sir Stephen Fox, then a Lord of the Treasury,
came out from the King, who then took me into his private closet,
with these words, “I know you love to be heard at leisure, and
“’twas for that reason I did not call for you into my ante-closet
“until all was over with others;” and then went up the steps into
his closet, and ordered me to shut the door, and that he would hear
me out. And what follows is as true as particular, and I will relate
it in as few words as the nature of the thing can permit. I being
well informed that the King was to go away after my separating
from him, I fell on my knees with tears, humbly beseeching him
not to think of going. He answered, “That is a Coffee House
“report; and why can you imagine it?” I replied, “For the love
“of God, Sir, why will you hide it from me, that knows that your
“horses are now actually at Lambeth, and that you are to ride on
“Bay Ailesbury, that Sir Edward Halles is there to attend you,
“Mr. Ralph Sheldon your Equerry, La Badie page of the back
“stairs, and Dick Smith your Groom.” This I found startled him,
and no doubt was the rise of what follows. After still persisting,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I9 s
and refusing me his hand at parting, as I knew he would, but he
said “no,” but in a manner he begged the question, viz:— “If I
“should go, who can wonder after the treatment I have found?
“My daughter hath deserted me, my army also, and him that I
“raised from nothing the same, on whom I heaped all favours; and
“if such betrays me, what can I expect from those I have done so
“little for? I knew not who to speak to or who to trust; some
“would have persuaded me that you was a confederate with them,
“but I could not believe it.” I replied, “It was no doubt when
“your Majesty was at Salisbury, where you did me so great justice
“in relation to the dispute I had with the Earl of Peterborough,
“but at the same time, and during that short stay, I had in no
“manner a gracious look from you.” To return, I told him that I
had in Commission from many of the chief officers and others of his
army, for to assure him that they would bring that body of horse
before mentioned, that would stand by him to the last drop of their
blood. “To what purpose?” said he. I then went on, “The
“Princess your daughter, Sir, is at Nottingham, the concourse
“there seems great, but of what do they consist on ? Ladies that
“tore your daughter from you, and some discontented, lords and
“gentlemen, as the Earl of Devonshire, and others; but as to the
“nobility round there, and gentry, great part to my knowledge
“repaired there out of fear that their houses might be burnt and
“plundered if they stayed at home, and for troops and arms they
“have none. I beseech your Majesty, for the love of God, that
“you would put yourself at the head of that body of horse, and
“march to Nottingham. The door must either be shut or open,
“your daughter will receive you or she will not. If the latter, and
“that she retires perhaps towards Oxford, all will cry out on her;
“if she doth stay to receive your Majesty, you will be able to treat
“honourably with the Prince of Orange. If not, Sir, march to
“York, where the Earl of Danby is with his broomsticks and
His reasons
ſor it,
Lord Ailes-
bury's against
1t.
2 C 2
I96 Memoirs of
Conversa-
tion with the
Earl of
Danby.
“whishtail militia, and some raw bubbles he has drawn in, who will
“all run away, and then, Sir, secure Berwick, and march into
“Scotland, and on my word that kingdom will be entirely yours,
“ and I will sacrifice my all, and will never leave you, and my name
“is well known there.” t
I beg leave to insert these very lines following, by way of
justifying my advice. The Earl of Danby, at my return from
Rochester, told me that he heard I had given the King the advice
before mentioned (not from me that it ever came to light) with
these words, “Was the Devil in you, and what did you mean by
“ it?” I replied, “To knock you in the head in the first place if
“you had resisted.” “Your most humble servant, and good friend
“ and kinsman is much obliged to you.”
I answered that I sucked in with my milk a principle I can
never swerve from, to stand by my king with my life and fortune;
that I lamented many things that had been transacted as much as he,
but that I could never resolve to resist my sovereign, adding,
“Pray, my Lord, what course would you have taken, had we
marched to York?” “What course?” replied he, “to submit
“ourselves, and to crave his pardon.” And in the year 1693 I
obtained it when I was at St. Germains; and I end this with that
Lord's last words:—“Next to the having offended so much the
“good God, nothing ever lay so much at my heart as what I had
“done against that good King James the Second, who indeed was
“misguided, but else a most admirable and good King.” And at
Dr. Sacheverell's trial, he owned that what he had done was
rebellion, in discourse with lords that asked him how he could be
for the non-resistance doctrine. “Very well,” said he, “for I was
“a rebel when I resisted King James.” To finish this melancholy
conference, I humbly besought the King to stay, at least until he
had heard from his three Lords Commissioners that were sent by
him to the Prince of Orange, whom they joined at Hungerford;
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I97
and again humbly beseeching him to give me his hand to kiss. He
told me he would speak to me in the morning, and so with tears I
retired. In the Guard Chamber I met the Earl of Middleton, and
I asked him what news from the Commissioners. If I remember
well, his answer was neither good nor bad. No doubt he made his
report to the King, but this I am sure, he was not long with him, for
the footman I left at the bottom of the private stairs came to me in The King
half an hour, and told me that the King was gone. It is needless to fled.
insert what a melancholy night I passed. About nine, the old Duke
of Hamilton (who pretended to be another sort of man than he
proved afterwards, and contrary to the protestations he made when
I was sent down to Feversham, and that I would answer for him to
the King, and he breaking his word I would never speak to him
from that time) came to my bedside to condole with me, and at the
same time to tell me that the Lords of the Council and the nobility Council held
in town would at ten assemble themselves at Guildhall, there to “”
concert matters for the good of the public, by reason the King was
gone without leaving any commission for to constitute Regents to
govern in his name. I think we repaired into the city together, and
my Lord Mayor assigned us the Council-room for to sit in. That
great and good Archbishop of Canterbury, Sandcroft, took me in a
corner, and told me that he confided chiefly in me, that he was
sensible that many violent things would be in agitation, and that we
might join together with each of our friends to keep all to a moder-
ation, and begging that he might not be put into the chair, and pro-
posed to me the Earl of Rochester, and he accordingly presided.
Our body was a most mixed constitution. The Archbishop and
myself had not many that were wholly united to us in all respects;
some were over hot in their discourses, although they were of the
Council to the King, and in household employments. Others that
never were employed were of an angry temper for that reason, and
most of which had corresponded with the Prince of Orange in
198 Memoirs of
Mr. Skelton
Lieutenant
of the Tower
deposed.
Holland. In fine, little was done; and the meeting was rather to
be acknowledged by the Lord Mayor, &c., by reason that the King
had left no regents. The violent party proposed a letter to be
drawn for to invite the Prince to town, and three lords were named
to carry it. The Archbishop told me that if we did not sign we
should be marked out, and I consented but with a heavy heart. I
own it, as also that I would never have done, had the King left a
regency. The Viscount Newport (the most violent and waspish of
all, although he had had the white staff of Comptroller and Treasurer
of the Household almost since 1660, and of the Privy Council, and
advanced in title, and countenanced always by the Kings Charles
and James the Second) exerted himself, little agreeable to gratitude
or honour, and, I may add, allegiance a subject owes to his King.
The said lord proposed that the Lieutenant or Commander in Chief
of the Tower, then Mr. Skelton, should be sent for in order to give
him his instructions, and word being brought that he was not there,
that lord cried, “There is a fine Governor, not to be at his post on
“such a conjuncture I” I asked him if he was confined to his post,
and that he could go out when he pleased on condition he lay there
at night, unless he had leave to the contrary, and my opinion was,
that in this conjuncture he had swerved from his duty, if he had not
gone to Whitehall for to know the orders he might naturally have
received there. That lord in a haughty manner (and he was the
proudest possible) cried out, “I see you are his friend.” “I am
“so, my Lord, but if I were not, I am for doing all men justice
“ that merit it.” Notice was brought that Mr. Skelton was in the
next room ; I foreseeing his downfall, I desired that he might not
be called in, that he might fall gently. “No,” said that lord, “I
“will see his face, and how he behaves himself in adversity, and
“for to humble him that was so proud in prosperity.” He was
called in, and behaved himself with great respect and submission,
but nowise dejected, and gave the true and solid reason for having
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. I99
been at Whitehall in that conjuncture, notice being brought to him
that the King was retired. I acquainted the lords that there was
a peer of the realm captain in garrison in the town, my Lord Lucas,
who bore the title without any estate, that he was of a noble extrac-
Lord Lucas
appointed.
tion, and his family had been famous in the time of the rebellion,
&c., and that I-thought they could not do better than to put the
keys into his hands ; and accordingly he had them, and found
means after to be confirmed in that eminent post. I remark in the
first place I was nowise acquainted with that lord, nor had never
spoke to him, and he rewarded well after the Earl of Clarendon
and myself. The former, when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, gave
him a company of foot out of charity, and on the same motive I
procured him that great post, and no prisoners were ever so ill
used by him as we two were, God forgive him.
Towards four in the afternoon, my Lord Mayor, Sir John
Chapman if I remember well, gave us a noble dinner, and with all
marks of esteem; and on our return there were in the streets
bonfires. Before parting, we agreed to meet next morning at ten,
Wednesday, at the Council chamber at Whitehall. I came rather
before the time, and the Archbishop the same by agreement. I do
not remember anything that passed, and we adjourned until three
in the afternoon. The adverse lords to us were peevish, and indeed
they did not know well themselves what they would have. One
proposed to seal up the King's Closet, and we opposed it, not
knowing that all papers of state, &c., were secured. Then they
proposed to have the general officers called in for to receive their
instructions; but none appeared or would obey save Colonel
Villiers, after Lord Viscount Grandison, and some few more inferior
ones. These received orders from the hot lords (we others being
mutually silent) for to plant cannon in the Park, Charing Cross, at
the entrance into Piccadilly from Hyde Park side, and other proper
places, that the foot guards should stand by their arms in St. James'
Meeting of
the Council
at Whitehall.
Plans for
defence of
London.
2OO Memoirs of
Illumina-
tion.
Alarm about
the Irish.
At Ampt-
hill.
Another
Council
held.
Park, and the horse guards the same, and all London with powder
and ball. And then we retired each to our homes. What follows
no history can afford an example, and some weeks after, the old
Marshall of Schomberg my kinsman and good friend, owned to me
that it cost him out of his own pocket eight hundred pounds ster-
ling. About twelve or one in the morning, Thursday, I was
awakened out of a dead sleep by the noise of drums, trumpets, and
kettle drums. On rising, my servant came in, and he told me that
they were bawling before my house because it was not illuminated,
for that the Irish were cutting all the throats of the Protestants. I
ordered them to illuminate, but not to suffer any one to come into
my chamber, that I might take my rest. The reason of the expense
the Marshall was at was, that the same idle and barbarous report
was all over the kingdom, that night at twelve. I will give you
but one instance, which may serve for all. At Ampthill town near
my house, the alarm was the same, and the inhabitants barricaded
the five entrances into the town and by overthrowing of carts; and
messengers on horseback came crying out from Bedford, Luton,
Dunstable, and Owborne, that those towns were all set on fire by
the Irish Papists; and people were so senseless and affrighted that
they could not perceive that there was no fire in the air, for the
furthest of these towns was but eight miles from Ampthill. Note
that the number of Roman Catholics was not twelve hundred in the
whole army, and these lurked and hid themselves out of fear, and
afterwards the officers and soldiers went into the Emperor's service.
To return, notwithstanding the order I gave not to have my
sleep interrupted, Mr. Cox, the door-keeper of the Council-chamber,
said he had orders to speak to me, and told me the lords were
assembled (at one) and expected my attendance. My answer was
that I would attend them at ten, the usual hour, and that I preferred
my rest before anything else. The good Archbishop took me into
a corner, and told me that he hoped I had slept as well as he had,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 2OI
and that he had been summoned also; and the prelate living at
Lambeth, he was to have crossed the river in that bitter season for
storms and rain. But we knew too well for to be gulled by a pack
of knaves that invented, and fools that gave in to it. The Arch-
bishop, before we took our places, told me he believed the king
was stopped at Feversham, a creek by the sea, but the person, a
joiner of Canterbury, had it from another. He was called in, but
this being by hearsay, he could not take his oath. By agreement
with that prelate, we came half an hour before three, the usual hour,
and his Grace and I being alone for a little time, he told me that
the King was certainly stopped at Feversham, and that a seaman of
that town had been with him to inform him that he knew the King,
having been formerly a mariner in the Royal Sovereign, the ship
the King mounted at such a sea fight when he was Duke of York,
and that the King had permitted him to kiss his hand, and that on
his own good will and charges he was come to town on purpose.
On the Archbishop's report of this, the man was called in, and
made an oath of what he had related, and after he withdrew, to my
great astonishment, there was a silence of a good quarter of an hour
each looking on the other.
. As for the adverse lords, their looks were enough for to betray
their hearts, and I must in this place inform you that Mr. Napleton
of Feversham, and Mayor, and who stopped the King, fell mad, and
was so for few years on Dr. Burnet's telling him after, when he
applied to him for to be rewarded, “Mr. Napleton, how can you
The King
stopped at
Feversham.
The Council
silent.
“expect a reward for doing an action that might have spoilt all our .
“measures?” -
To return, I imagine that those of our party expected that the
Earl of Middleton, Secretary of State, ought to have broken the
silence, but God knows he was not the man at heart, and that many
imagined; and I wish I could forget what I knew of him after. At
last, with some indignation, I rose up exclaiming in as civil a manner
VOL. I. 2 D
Earl of Mid-
dleton says
nothing.
262 Memoirs of
Advice of
Lord Ailes-
bury.
Deputation
to the King.;
Dec. I4,
I688.
as my temper suffered me against so long a silence, and in very few
words I told their lordships that I thought the only step we could
take was humbly to desire of his majesty to return to his Court.
My Lord Middleton thought fit to second my motion, and the Board
nominated me, as Gentleman of the Bedchamber, the Earl of Mid-
dleton as Secretary of State, the Earl of Feversham as Captain of
the Life Guard, and the Earl of Yarmouth as Treasurer of the
Household, (the place of Lord Steward being vacant) for to repair
to the King. It is worth observing, why not the Earl of Mulgrave,
Lord Chamberlain of the Household, who, and his officers under
him, ought to take care of the King's lodgings in journeys, but there
were two substantial reasons. In the first place, he had never
appeared amongst us, and in the next, on the King's going, although
he was in the Kingdom, he thought fit, in order to make his peace
elsewhere, to break his white staff as the great officers do at the
burial of the King, and in five days, at the King's return, he took
up his staff again. The officers of the Robes and Greencloth were
ordered down, and the coaches and saddle horses, and two hundred
and forty Life Guards, with the Earl of Feversham and the rest of
the officers. I was directed to wait on the King forthwith with the
humble request beforementioned, and to acquaint him that all the
others above mentioned would follow as soon as possible. I went
home to fit myself so as to go on horseback for more expedition,
and returned to the lords, who gave me a passport so worded that
I threw it on the table with passion, declaring that I would go
without one.
Another was drawn not much better. I took it in a very
slighting way, and told them that God Almighty would protect
those that did their duty. I went in my coach and six horses to
Kent Street end, and was stopped continually by clamorous watch-
and-ward men. Such a night was hardly known for rain, wind, and
darkness—Thursday, December the fourteenth 1688. One of my
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. f 2O3
grooms rode before with links fastened together, which blew out
frequently. At Deptford Bridge we made our way through the
watch and mob, and the same at Welling. But at Dartford there
was at least two thousand got together, and I was forced to submit
Stopped at
Dartford.
and to go into an Inn, where after two hours reasoning with persons
that had no reason, they were willing to let me pursue my journey;
but the constable, an honest man, told me that I should run great
danger in the night time, especially for that the way was filled with
plundering mob, and he begged of me to go to his house, and that
he would give me a clean bed; and when I came there I found his
wife had been a servant out of our family. It is true I refreshed
myself, but for sleep I had none, by a continued shouting, most
being in drink also, and the alarm bell or tocsin continually going.
About five Friday morning I heard no more noise, and the reason
was that the Earl of Feversham ordering a hundred and twenty of
the horse-guards to be the vanguard of the rest under the command
of Sir John Fenwick the Lieutenant, news was brought that they
were near the town, on which all the mob dissipated. The Guards
made there a halt, and I sent to Sir John Fenwick to give me an
escort, and I had twelve horse Grenadiers with a corporal. I set
out by six before the break of day, I came to a level ground by
Gadd's Hill, and a post boy followed by two gentlemen passed me,
and clapping spurs to my horse I came up to them, and found one
to be Monsieur la Neuville, a Frenchman by birth, but was sent
over to England in the name of King Sobjeski of Poland to com-
pliment the King and Queen on the birth of the Prince. He, on
my asking him, telling me that he was going to Feversham, I told
him I could not give way to that, considering in what hands the
King was in there, and that I had the direction of this journey; and
finding he would not understand reason, I ordered the Corporal to
give me an orderly man, and I directed him to arrive at the post
house at Rochester at least as soon as that gentleman, with orders
Monsieur La
Neuville.
2 D 2
2O4 Memoirs of
Rochester
Bridge.
Father
Sabran.
in the King's name to give out no horses until I arrived. The
orderly man performed that part of his duty, but he was never heard
of more. When I came to Rochester Bridge, I found many work-
men beginning to cut down the wooden arch. I, asking them for
what reason, they answered surlily, to hinder the Irish Papists from
cutting their throats, and of their wives and children, for that all
Dartford was on fire, and the streets ran with blood. I asking
them who had told them so, they said, a Gravesend tide coachman,
and a man in red that came from Dartford, who deserted and never
heard of after. I inquired after them in order to have them
punished, but to no purpose. Had I come an hour later, the arch
had been made useless.
When I came to the post house, Monsieur la Neuville com-
plained to me that they would not give him horses. I told him
that it was by my orders; as for his going to Feversham, he should
not; but if he would go to Canterbury, and so to Dover to embark,
I would give him letters by way of certificate to the Mayors of
those two towns that he was a foreign minister and to be respected
as such, praying them to be aiding and assisting him ; and he
seemed at least pretty well pacified. In discoursing with this
gentleman, I cast my eyes on his pretended servant in a Polish
habit, and found him to be Father Sabran, a Jesuit house-chaplain
to my Lady of Powis, and nominal one to the prince, where I had
seen him. I told him positively he should not go forward but back
to London, and he would run no risk, it was only those that were
, going out of the kingdom, and that the mob at Canterbury was up,
and he would run great danger if any one should know the nominal
title he had. It came to pass that word was brought me that he
was put into prison, but the next day at the King's arrival at
Rochester, he ordered me to send to the gaoler to release him. I
heard no more of the Envoyer, so I suppose that my letters to the
The Nuncio two Mayors were respected. In Canterbury, the Nuncio Dada was
Dada.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 2O5
a sort of a prisoner, but he soon after embarked at Dover. But
the Earls of Salisbury and Peterborough remained, and after that
the King went to France, they were brought to the Tower where
they lay some time. From the post house I went to speak with
Mr. Mayor, just over the way. I found the good old man half dead
with fear, in night gown and night cap. He told me he had not
been in bed for three nights for fear of having his throat cut by
Irish papists. On assuring him that those reports were all forged
lies to turn the heads of the people and to alienate their hearts
from the King, I obliged him to take his rest ; and he ordered his
daughter, that had more sense and penetration, to provide me some
Alarm at
Rochester.
breakfast, of which I stood in great need, having not eaten for near
twenty hours. During this small preparation, Captain Mohun, the
commanding officer of the Earl of Bath's regiment, and Captain
Rawleigh came to me to receive orders, finding that the town had
been in an uproar since Wednesday night alarm. I told them that
I had no power to order anything, but was ready to give them my
advice, and they executed it on the spot by sending their drummers
throughout all the quarters, and before I got out of town the regi-
ment stood to their arms in the Cathedral Churchyard loaden with
powder and ball. I added that they should offend none, unless
they were so. The Town Clerk repaired to me, telling me he had
been in a continual apprehension of a rising. I had printed copies
of orders the lords assembled at Whitehall had issued out for the
public tranquility, signed by all, and I desired the Town Clerk to
read this to the people, and to declare in my name that had signed,
that all was in a perfect calm at London, and that each might
safely go home to bed, and that I was going to wait on the King at
Feversham to accompany him to London ; on which there were
great acclamations of joy, and after their loyal and dutiful
expressions, I came in for my share. I cannot say enough in praise
of the goodness of our populace, and of the contrary of them in
Quieted.
206 Memoirs of
Holland and Flanders, and I should have been very sorry to have
been amongst them as I was now surrounded with my countrymen;
for with these 'tis like a fire of straw—soon lighted and as soon
quenched; but God knows 'tis much altered at the writing of this,
for in my time a murther was scarce heard of by robbers, and most
seldom on other occasions.
Chatham To return ; in passing through Chatham and through Sitting-
ºins. bourne, the women were crying at their doors on each side, with
their children by them, choosing rather to be murthered there than
in their beds. I went towards them on one side, and Colonel
James Graham, Keeper of the King's Privy Purse, on the other, to
give them all assurance, and that all was quiet. At the end of
Chatham, Mr. Gregory Clark of the Cheique at the Dockyard
Sir Phineas brought me a compliment from Sir Phineas Pett, an old friend of
Pett. mine and Commissioner of the Navy, to implore my assistance.
He had a fever on him, and in bed, but almost stifled with heat, his
chamber being filled with sea mob crying out for arms to defend
them against the Irish papists, and that London, Dartford, &c.,
were on fire, and blood running in the streets. For quiet sake he
had given all the arms he had, and those that had none would not
leave his room. At entering, I thought the chamber like a furnace,
but a very offensive one for ill smells. I cried out, “Honest
“friends, I am come with good news; pray go into the yard, and
“you all shall be satisfied.” Poor Sir Phineas took me by the
hand, and told me that he owed his life to me. His fever was not
a very malignant one or dangerous, but he was quite stifled with
the heat and ill scent, I went down and desired Mr. Gregory to
get up on a piece of timber to read the same printed orders as that
the Town Clerk had read before, which pleased them that they all
flung up their hats and caps, and being on horseback I fell back-
wards, but favourably.
The ship that sets the watch at night, fired for joy, and was
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 2O7
answered in a moment from the Forts and Sheerness. When I
came to Rainham, as I take it, at least the next village, they were
all up in arms and crying out, for they had heard the noise at the
Dockyard, and the firing as before, and they imagined that the Irish
Rainham.
were doing execution between that and Sittingbourne. I slept a
little as I rode, and awaking, I found myself surrounded with a
dozen militia soldiers for to carry me before their Colonel, who lay
at the post house. I assured them that if they would not retire I
would break their heads and their Colonel's also. The latter sent
for me, he being sick as he said, but others that he was drunk in
bed. I sent him a message he deserved for his temerity. Here I
took post horses for more expedition. In the time they were
saddling them, Mr. Chadwick, son in law to Dr. Tillotson, came in
from Feversham. I did not know him, but Colonel Graham well,
because the former had often hunted with the King stag and fox.
We knew after that he was sent from the Deputy Lieutenants
(a pack of —) to their favourite lords in London, for to know in
what manner they should send the King prisoner to London. I
made such expedition throughout, that from eight in the morning I
accomplished all before mentioned, and yet came to Feversham
before one,—thirty eight miles. At arriving, the Deputy Lieu-
tenants sent to me to come before them, and I sent them a message
as they merited for their temerity. The Lord Lieutenant, the Earl
of Winchelsea, that had married my wife's Aunt, overtook me going
towards the house of Mr. Napleton where the King lay, and took
no notice of my message to the Deputy Lieutenants where he was
with them when I sent them my answer. He was not an ill
meaning man in the main, but timorous and poor, and he hoped
perhaps to gain by the change of government.
What follows must necessarily be inserted, and I choose to do
it in this place before I come to my interviews with the King.
As I said, his Majesty crossed the river half an hour after I
Lord Ailes-
bury arrives
at Fever-
sham.
208 - Memoirs of
The King's
flight on
Dec. Io.
retired out of his closet, Tuesday, after one in the morning, the Ioth
December, and got on horseback at Lambeth, attended by Sir
Edward Halles and the others before mentioned.
The Road from London to Rochester was to be necessarily
avoided, so they took their private road towards Farnborough,
Chiselhurst, and left Madams Court Hill on the right, and Maid-
stone the same, and refreshed at the Wool Pack on Pickinton
Heath, not far from Maidstone, and so between Rochester and
Sittingbourne they crossed that great road and came to a Creek on
the River, the name of the place I have forgot, and there they
agreed with a master of a vessel who was to carry the King to
Dunkirk, Calais, or Boulogne or what seaport they could first
arrive at, and that vessel having no merchandise or ballast to keep
it trim, and the tide falling, they were in a manner stranded, and
the people flocked about, and it being given out that the King was
Father Petres, a man with a long pole would have knocked him
down, but Mr. Platt, an honest Inn Keeper at Canterbury and
Ensign in the Militia, received the blow by his industry on his arm.
I kept him several years in my house under another name, and the
late good Queen Anne gave him a pension when she came to the
Crown, when she took off that unjustly given to Titus Oats and
George Porter, the false evidence against me and others. Sir
Edward Halles, Mr. Sheldon the Equerry, La Badie the Page of
the Back Stairs, were put into prison. They carried the King to
Mr. Napleton's, who very unworthily read the Prince of Orange's
Declaration under his window, but repented of it heartily after, and
being recovered of his frenzies or madness, I gave him ill sort of
countenance whenever I happened to see him at Tunbridge Wells.
The King being thus destitute, and no person to serve him, Doctor
St. Johns, a most worthy man and civil lawyer, came from his
house near to that place and offered his service and lay in the
King's room until I came, and Mr. Platt above mentioned served
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 209
him in the nature of Page of the Back Stairs, and he helped to
dress him. In the house there was a pretty large hall before the
parlour, and that was filled with seamen that were there night and
day. The Deputy Lieutenants imagined they were the King's
gaolers, but on my arrival they told me the quite contrary. The
Earl of Winchelsea, as I said, conducted me to the house. I
passed the hall through all those seamen, and entered into the
parlour, The King was sitting in a great chair, his hat on, and his
beard being much grown, and resembled the picture of his royal
father at the pretended High Court of Justice. He rose up to
meet me; I bent my knee, not being able to kneel by reason of my
jack-boots. He took me to the window with an air of displeasure,
indeed quite contrary to what I expected, and said, “You were
“all Kings when I left London.” I could not dissemble, but spoke
my mind in these terms, “Sir, I expected another sort of welcome
“after the great dangers I ran last night by repairing to you.” “I
“know,” said the King, “you meant well as to your particular.” I
replied, “It is certainly so, and give me leave to tell your majesty
“that your going away without leaving a Commission of Regency,
“but for our care and vigilance the city of London might have
“been in ashes ; but the Lord Mayor and city respecting us, all
“was kept in a calm.” His countenance became more serene, and
he then told me he was glad to see me, and sorry for the danger I
had run, and then told me that the Deputy Lieutenants were so
saucy that morning as to ask him reason why he had sent letters
sealed to London. The room was filled with men, women, and
children, and talking as if they had been at a market, but I silenced
them, and particularly Mr. Day, the chirurgeon, who frequented
Tunbridge Wells, and I knew that honest man, and he and the
Vicar of the Parish and the Schoolmaster mustered up near thirty
guineas out of their own, and he had all I had, about twenty five
more, else he had not a shilling, they having plundered him of all.
VOL. I. 2 E
Conduct of
the seamen.
Lord Ailes-
bury's inter-
view with
the King.
2 IO - Memoirs of
Sir Basil
Dixwell.
Dinner being ready, I asked him if he would be served with cere-
mony. He said, yes, if I could hold it out, for fatigued I was very
much. I giving him the wet napkin on the knees by the help of
the arm of the great chair, I found the people bore more respect.
The bread he had eaten there was so heavy that Platt was forced
to toast it to render it less heavy, and the wine he drank was as bad
in proportion. I observed his shoulders moved much : I asked
him if he was indisposed. He told me, “No ; but I hope you can
“give me a clean shirt; ” for they had left him nothing but what
was on his back when they seized him, and neither nightgown, cap,
or slippers. About the middle of dinner, Mr. Tomlinson, the
yeoman of the Robes, and others under him appeared.
I know not who were more rejoiced, the King or them, and
the latter gushed out their tears for joy to see their King and
master. He told me smilingly, “I can now give you a shirt.” As
soon as dinner was ended he ordered me to go and eat, and empty
I was to the last degree, but my appetite was lost. During the
short time I was at dinner, the King went into the Hall to take
leave of those faithful seamen that had lain there night and day.
“Honest friends,” said the King, “You will not know me
“presently.” And indeed after shaving and dressing, and with a
good periwig, he had not the same countenance. I asked those
trusty sailors for what reason they had been so diligent. Their
answer was, “My lord, that no one should touch so much as a hair
“of the King's head; ” and those wicked Deputy Lieutenants
would have every one believe that the King was their prisoner;--
indeed he had been, if those gentlemen could have governed—to
their eternal shame. As to their names, that can I omit, save as to
one who was a perfect tool and employed as such. The King sent
for me, and I found Sir Basil Dixwell (the same that asked the
reason the King sent letters sealed by the post) who came from
the rest to let him know that, if the Earl of Feversham came down
* A
‘’’ ov, -z ‘ſ
* J *}
- 2 . . ." v ) , , )
, , "," , , , s: , . ")
s ) º'
** */
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 2 I l
to this town with the guards, that they would not answer for his
Majesty's person. I own I was in a great passion. “Is it for you,
“Sir Basil, to give yourself airs now, as well as in the morning
“relating to letters sent that were sealed 7 Remember, Sir Basil,
“your grandfather sat in the pretended High Court of Justice, and
“the King out of grace and favour towards your grandmother of
“the loyal name of Peyton, gave to her the estate that was so
“legally forfeited, and which forfeitures were given to the King
“when Duke of York.” The King whispered to me, “He
“deserves all this, but refrain your passion for the present.”
As to the degree of parentage on the mother's side I may
perhaps err in that, but in this I have been assured of, that it was
for the sake of the Peyton line that the Dixwells were restored to
their forfeited estate, and Sir Basil going out of the room, and the
King suspecting he would go to Sittingbourne, he despatched Mr.
Carleton the Harbinger of the Court, that attended me from
London, with a bit of paper rafled * up and to this purpose, “My
“Lord Feversham, believe not one word Sir Basil Dixwell may
“tell you.” X That ungrateful knight came to Sittingbourne
perhaps before or after Mr. Carleton. On the reading of the paper
and what Sir Basil said, that lord was in the greatest consternation
imaginable, and he being a person of no great penetration (else full
of honour and bravery) he called a sort of council of war, many
× This following ought to be placed at the cross.
About six in the evening the same day I arrived, a great many
lords of the Bedchamber and officers of the Court and the Green
Cloth arrived, and there was the form of a court, and his saddle
horses arrived also. .
* “Rafled,” = crumpled or folded. To raff up, to put up roughly.
2 E 2
2 I 2 Memoirs of
Orders
issued by
the Earl of
Feversham.
Sir William
Rook.
officers being with him as Volunteers, besides them that com-
manded the Escort under him, and there it was resolved to com-
mand the Regiment of Bath to march from Rochester, and he sent
the Constables to all the inhabitants that were not obliged to give
quarter, for to desire them for the King's service to receive each
such a number, and he ordered the buying of straw, fuel, cheese,
butter, and bread, and brandy, for to lodge and refresh the poor
soldiers; it being a miserable time for foot to march. After that
he sent Captain Rider, his Aide de Camp, to the king for farther
orders. Mr. Rider arrived about one Saturday morning the 14th
December. I lay near the king's bed, and he ordered me to rise
for to give my advice, which was to this purpose, that the horse
guards had marched from midnight on Thursday to Friday night,
forty miles in that sad weather, and that to march them to this place
would be the ruin of the horses; that, if I durst make use of that
expression, that I would answer for the safety of his person; that
his Majesty would order my Lord Feversham to repair there with
his officers, volunteers and all the servants well mounted and
armed; and these with my Lord Feversham arrived about eight, to
the number of near a hundred; on the sight of which one of the
troops of Militia ran away, and we heard no more of them. This
silly, malign, and busy knight had the impudence to ask of the
King what post he was to have in the march with his troop of
Militia, that was not yet run away as the other. The King slight-
ingly said, “You may go or go not as you please, but as for your
“post I know of none due”; and that troop also took to their heels
before we set out. 'Tis to be supposed that I had orders to set Sir
Edward Halles, and the others in prison with him, at liberty, but
they had had orders to retire out of the town.
Before I quit this subject, I must in honour and conscience do
justice to the memory of Sir William Rook, a Deputy Lieutenant,
and father to that George who behaved himself, and he singly, with
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 2 I 3
all firmity and loyalty towards the King, but he was but one clean
one amongst so many scabby time-servers. The King rewarded
well those loyal seamen that had guarded him in the Hall so many
days and nights, and set out Saturday morning on horseback towards
Rochester, where he lay on a rising ground out of Sittingbourn next
to Feversham. The Horse Guards to the number of one hundred
and twenty were drawn up in a single line, and I coming a little
before the King, they begged of me to intercede that they might
give demonstrations of joy on the King's arrival, although as they
owned it was not military. I rejoined the King with this request;
my Lord Feversham was against it, but the King gave way to it,
and I went to acquaint them that the King consented, and I was by
them on the rising ground as the King passed by, and 'tis not to be
expressed the joy those faithful Guards were in, the tears for joy
running down their faces, and these were part of those I had
answered for that would have stood by the King and have marched
with him wherever he had commanded; and remark, that the
common men in the whole army were generally firm, most or all
of the subaltern officers, and a fair greater part of the others, and
if the King had taken my advice to clap up about a dozen as here-
before mentioned, his army had, generally speaking, stuck by him.
The King lay Saturday night the 14th December 1688 at Sir
Richard Head's house in Rochester. From thence he sent the
Earl of Feversham to the Prince of Orange with a polite and
friendly compliment, set aside some necessary and most natural
expostulations, and for a reward the said Earl was sent prisoner to
Windsor Castle on pretence that he had disbanded the Army, and
what he did was by his King's and Sovereign's express order. The
Earl lay there for some time. The Prince of Orange, waiting on
the Queen Dowager, asked her if she played always at Basset. She
answered until it was interrupted by my Lord Feversham's absence,
Fidelity of
the guards
and com-
mon soldiers.
Dec. 14,
I688.
2I4 . Memoirs of
Dec. 15,
I688.
The King's
approach to
London.
Passes
through the
city.
Joy of the
people.
who kept the bank, and the next day that Earl was released. On
Sunday, I5th, about noon, the King arrived at Dartford on horseback,
and just before the entrance a fresh escort of Life Guards of one
hundred and twenty relieved those that had escorted the King from
Sittingbourne, and their expressions of joy were like to those before
mentioned.
After dinner the King went in his body-coach, and others
attended. I had the honour, by my place, there being no master
of the horse present, for to sit by the King, and, as I take it, the
Earl of Middleton and the Lord Viscount Preston, the two Secre-
taries of State, sat next the horses. Vast numbers of persons out
of the City and suburbs came out on horseback, and the road filled
with spectators on foot with faces of joy. Blackheath was covered
with gentlemen and citizens on horseback, and two eminent mer-
chants came to the coach-side for to beg of me to beseech the King
to pass through the City, and that he would be a witness of the
joyful acclamations of his subjects.
The King at first was averse, and said he would go by Lambeth,
where the barges stayed for him. I importuning him very much to
gratify his City of London, I at last prevailed, and Mr. Collins, the
messenger riding by the coach to attend orders, and being on my
side, I directed him to go to Lambeth and discharge the attendance
of the Barges. Kent Street is an obscure and poor one, but from
St. George's, Southwark, to Whitehall, a long march, there was
scarce room for the coaches to pass through, and the balconies and
windows besides were thronged, with loud acclamations beyond
whatever was heard of, and which was the cause that the Tuesday
after, the 17th, the King and we that attended him were in great
danger on shooting the Bridge at low water. In fine, the joy was
so great and general, that if there had been any foreigners in the
streets and subjects to a despotic King or Commonwealth whose
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 2 I 5
subjects more fears than loves their superiors, they would imagine
that they had been all mad; and this I was an eye and an ear
witness of.
The King with great difficulty alighted at Somerset House to
pay a visit to the Queen Dowager, and it was as difficult for him to
get in again into his coach. On my waiting on him into his Bed-
chamber, I desired leave to go home to refresh myself. He
ordered me to say obliging things from him to my wife, and that he
was sorry I had been so long from her, adding, “You will be here
“to wait at Supper.” For the Prince of Orange was at Zion, by Prince of
Brentford, and too near the Court for to have it much thronged. º at
Before I went home, he directed me to bring Mr. Zulestein to an
audience, who was sent by the Prince to desire the King not to
come to London, but he, hearing that the King was to come to town
by Lambeth and Camberwell, he missed of him. When I brought
him into the Bedchamber, I found not the King, and asking where
he was, they told me that the famous Lord Chamberlain, Earl of Earl of Mui-
Mulgrave (that had broke his staff on the King's leaving London, *
and that took it up again this evening), had taken him into the
inner room ; and I will here relate what was the subject of his
discourse, which I had from the King's own mouth after. He
began with a dark preamble, and beating the bush so long, that at
last the King said, “My Lord, I am in haste for to give an
“audience, tell me in short what you would be at.” He began to
praise himself for what he ought to have been ashamed of, that in
all things he readily complied, and perhaps in some matters beyond
the usual bounds, and that if his Majesty did not distinguish such, it
would be a great discouragement for to put such on an equal level
with those that had been lukewarm. “My Lord,” repeated the
King, “what would you desire of me?” He replied, “To be made His self-
“a Marquis.” “Good God I" said the King, “What a time you seeking.
“take to ask a thing of that nature. I am just arrived, and all in
2 I6 Memoirs of , ſº
M. Zules-
tein.
Dutch
Guards
brought to
London.
“disorder, nor do I know if I have a Secretary or any one in the
“office.” On which that lord presented to the King a warrant,
ready drawn by himself, for the King to sign. Just on this
moment (as the King told me after) I pushed open the door, and
that lord having his back towards it he wanted but little to fall on
the ground, and I only heard these words, “I will not do it : I
“cannot do it.”
Monsieur Zulestein had his audience, not to his satisfaction,
since the King was actually in his palace. I lay by the King that
night, and he was of so sedate a temper that he slept well, and I
wished I could have done the same. All the next day, Monday,
was a melancholy one, and the King in continual conferences with
one or the other. He dined and supped in public, but all conversa-
tion was dry. I left not the bedchamber save to eat, and that not
at home as I could have wished, because I would not leave the
King but when he was in his private closet. That afternoon news
was brought that the Dutch Blue regiment of Foot Guards were
come to town from Brentford, of which the General Comte de
Solmes was Colonel. In the Pall Mall, and I think at the Lord
Delamere's house, there were a number of Lords and others met
there to concert all which follows. About twelve at night, Comte
Solmes enquired for the Lord of the Bedchamber in waiting, and I
went out to him; he made no preamble nor anything like a compli-
ment, but told me he must speak to the King. Contrary to my
temper, I was also as cold towards him, and I told him I would
acquaint the King ; and going to the private closet door, with my
key I scratched as customary, but imagining that the King did not
hear, and that he was at his prayers in an oratory he had under his
closet, with my heel I made some noise; on which the King came
to the door and bade me come in. I told him I had not been so
bold for to have made such a noise upon my accompt, but that the
Comte de Solmes asked to speak with him from the Prince of
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. * - 217
Orange. (I was told after that if I had stayed a little longer, that
General, enraged and impatient, swore he knew a way to speak to
the King, with other words very disrespectful.) The King ordered
me to bring him into the Bedchamber and the Earl of Craven also,
Colonel of the second regiment of Foot Guards, and Lieutenant
General. In short, that Count's Commission was to take possession
of all the Royal posts at Whitehall, Somerset House, and St.
James', and at midnight the Dutch Guards were posted in all these
places, and the King's Guards dismissed and treated like a pack of
rogues; and Count Solmes in silence was pushed to the degree as
to clap sentinels at the door below the King's privy stairs. All
this seemed to me so stupendous that I had good advice in my
head to give to the King, but neither time nor circumstances per-
mitted, and I went in to bed in the King's chamber inconsolable,
and I can say that I was only between the sheets, for as for rest I
had none, and besides it had been but a short slumber, for between
The King's
Guards dis-
missed.
one and two Tuesday morning, the 17th December, the Earl of Dec. 17,
Middleton was lighted in by a Page of the Backstairs, for to
acquaint the King that there were three Lords that desired to speak
to him from the Prince of Orange; viz., the Marquis of Halifax,
the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the Lord Delamere my hopeful cousin,
who asked my Lord Middleton who I was. The message was to
this effect, that the Prince of Orange desired that the King would
go to Ham on Thames, a seat of the Duchess of Lauderdale's. The
King said that she was in Scotland, and that the house was cold,
and moist, and uninhabited, and he chose rather to go to Rochester.
They answered they were tied up by their instructions, but that
they would bring an answer at eight that morning, which
accordingly they did. ' -
The Earl of Shrewsbury was named to be the first of the Com-
mission, but he declining, a Marquis was necessary for precedence.
The Earl had a soft and genteel way of speaking, and was so in his
VOL. I. - 2 F
1688.
Message
from the
Prince of
Orange.
218 Memoirs of
The King
retires by
Water to
Rochester.
Patrick
Lamb the
King's cook.
ways, and the King told me that he treated him gentleman-like.
On granting that Rochester should be the place to retire to, the
hour was named that morning, and by water to Gravesend and not
through the city, for they feared an insurrection there in behalf of
the king who was so joyfully received but the Sunday evening
before. All the loyal nobility and others, and the foreign ministers,
came to pay their last respects. The King told me “I am sure you
“will not quit me.” I answered with the highest respect, and with
tears in my eyes, “Sir, I will die first.” And such a melancholy
farewell was never seen.
At eleven the King was in his barge with twelve oars, and
others of eight attended, and on the Dutch side oars were provided
for eighty of the foot guards, four in a boat, and for the officers.
The shooting of the bridge was hideous, and to myself I offered up
many prayers to God Almighty, and with this consolation only, that
if I perished it was for a righteous cause, and not forsaking my
King and Sovereign in his bitter afflictions. His calmness of
temper and entire resignation can never be paralleled; and this
proceeded not from any stupidness or defects in body and mind.
He was far from having quick parts, but he had a good judgment.
He had given himself up heretofore to a certain pleasure, and was
now, and had been for some years, a true and hearty penitent, and
he was the best and most honest of men, and a most good and
gracious King; and had he been less devout it had been better for
us, and, I may add, had he not been too credulous. And, not to
dwell longer on this melancholy subject, he lost his crown by the
means of a fool and a knave. An hour after our great escape on
shooting the bridge, Patrick Lamb, his master cook, asked him if
he would eat. He was surprised at the question, by reason that in
the barges there is no sort of conveniency, nor any place to make a
fire; however that expert man gave the King an excellent meal,
and we had the honour to eat with him as we were placed in the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. g 219
barge according to employments and rank. The Officer that com-
manded the Dutch foot Guards was Colonel Wycke, one of the
eldest captains; he was nephew to the late Sir Peter Lely the
famous painter. He was a worthy and polite officer, and before
embarking he made many excuses for the employment they had
given him, he being the most grateful person possible towards his
Majesty and his royal brother the King, for all the grace and
favours his uncle had received from their Majesties. The King
looked smilingly on him, and told him he did his duty, and he
wished all his own had done the like. This brave officer by merit
arrived to be Lieutenant General, &c., and was killed at the battle
..of Malplaquet near Mons. During the meal, the King ordered
Patrick Lamb to give the Colonel, in a boat next the barge, a dish
of meat and with bottles of wine. The Earl of Arran (after Duke
of Hamilton) mumbled out pretty low, “Rather throw him into the
“Thames " The King warmly replied, “My Lord, you are a
“good subject, but a very bad Christian; he is a man of honour
“and doth his duty.”
The King lodged at a lawyer's house, as I take it, at Gravesend,
and slept well and I not; besides I apprehended the ill consequences
of lying on a wet floor, for the King's chamber had been washed
but few hours before, and ’twas besides a most wet season. In the
morning, Wednesday, I found that all persons booted that came to
the levee at the King's boots brought in. I made my excuses, and
that truly, my head was too full of thoughts on leaving London in
that melancholy manner for to think of anything, and besides, I
knew not the King's design for to ride to Rochester. The King
ordered me to go in his body coach, and being all alone and drowsy,
I endeavoured to sleep, but was soon awakened by the King's
Coachman's bloody oaths; and I told him. that if he continued I
would go in the second coach. He begged my pardon and promised
fair, but very soon after I was awakened again out of a little slum-
Colonel
Wycke.
The King
slept at
Gravesend.
Dec. 18,
I688, rides
to Roches-
ter.
Lord Ailes-
bury goes in
the coach.
2 F 2
220 - Memoirs of
Dixie the
coachman
SWCarS.
The King at
Rochester.
Dec. 19,
I688.
ber by that man's repeated oaths and whipping his horses, crying
out “God damn Father Petres 1" I said to him, “Dixie, what harm
“ hath he done you?” “Damn him 1" he replied again, “but for
“him we had not been here.” He spoke so much truth that I had
not the force to chide him, only praying him to forbear his oaths.
The King arrived at Rochester about noon, and lay at Sir Richard
Head's, an indifferent good house. Over against there was a foot-
guard, and one of horse, Captain Dorp having marched thither with
sixty of the Regiment of horse Cuirassiers commanded by Monsieur
Bentinck, the prime favourite to the Prince, with an old Lieutenant
and Mr. Sayer the Cornet, one of the King's subjects, and King
Charles the second had raised the family out of the kitchen, and I
knew one brother, Vice Chamberlain to the Queen Dowager, and
another in a good employment, and all turned ungrateful to the last
degree, even to spit out their venom. The next morning, Thursday,
the King heard mass in the presence-chamber, and the greatest part
of the soldiers and troopers assisted, and the old Lieutenant of
Horse; and the King perceiving him after, asked him what religion
he was of, and whether it was not out of curiosity. “By your
“leave, Sir,” and, drawing out his sword, told him, that was his
religion, and he would fight for those that paid him well. The
King answered, “You are an honest man, and it had been well for
“me that all in my army had been endowed with your good prin-
“ciples of honour.” And the King spoke after with great goodness
to Colonel Wycke, who had a Commission to command both the
Horse and Foot, and the King praised the memory of his Uncle
Sir Peter Lely. And he spoke very affably to Captain Dorp, but
the Cornet Sayer had the grace not to appear before the King.
The King went on with the Colonel, and told him that in his whole
army of eighteen thousand men he believed that he had not a
thousand Roman Catholics, “and your army, much inferior, hath
“two thirds of my religion so cried out against.” The reason is
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 22 I
known, that most of the States subjects are employed in the Fleet,
and even of them a great part Roman Catholics, and for the army,
they raise them as they can get them. In the Regency, and in the
civil government and employments, no one can be but of the
reformed religion, but as to general officers and lower, the difference
in religion debars them not. The King on looking on the old Lieu-
tenant more and more, told him, “I am sure I have seen you
“formerly.” He replied that he had had the honour to serve
under his Majesty when Duke of York at the Battle of Dunkirk in
1659, or 1658, twenty nine years before, when the King served as
Lieutenant General of the Spanish Horse, when that town was
taken by the French and put into the hands of General Morgan,
General for the English Republic there, and which place was sold after
by the unwarrantable advice of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon.
To return, that afternoon of the Wednesday, the King, and we
of consequence, passed in a very melancholy way. By the King's
order the Officer of the Green Cloth afforded me a competent table
for to entertain those that attended the King in a chamber allotted
for me, but I lay in the Bedchamber. The King had reason to be
melancholy, but he bore it all with a most Christian temper, and
slept well; he was often at his devotions, and wrote pretty much.
At intervals he did me the honour to discourse with me, and some-
times in the day with those persons of quality that attended his stay
there, but the number very limited, and even these Lords of the
Bedchamber, Secretary of State, and Captain of the Life Guard,
and two or three General Officers. One of the afternoon, the mails
of France, Italy, &c. arrived, several together, and the King gave
me in charge the employment, with the Secretary of State (I should
have named him first by reason of his function) to open the mails,
and to take out all public letters addressed to the Foreign Ministers
and to the Secretaries of State, and all Merchants' letters. Where
we found under those covers letters that did not belong to trade,
Arrival of
Foreign
mails.
222 . . . . Memoirs of
Lord Falk-
land's maxim
as Secretary
of State.
sealing up the covers to the Merchants with their bills, &c., and
the others were sent by an express to the persons for whom they
were designed. In short, no letters went forward in the mail but
those that belonged to the Merchants, and private letters of family
business only. I did it by command, and because the conjuncture
absolutely required it, else in my own nature I would have followed
the excellent maxim of that great man Lucius Viscount of Falkland,
who refused the seals of Secretary of State until the King Charles
the first would exempt him from opening of letters, although he
acknowledged that on emergent occasions it was absolutely necessary,
and it was granted him, also an exemption from sending persons
(after Burleigh's and Walsingham's pattern) especially for to go
into taverns and alehouses, &c., for to ensnare unthinking people,
Saturday -
Dec. 2 I,
I688.
Duke of
Berwick.
Letter ex-
press from
London.
and then afterwards to come in evidence against them.
I remember nothing that passed after until Saturday towards
the evening the 21st December 1688 (save that I passed my time
in a profound melancholy, and all that comforted me was the King's
taking, his natural rest so well, although with me it was not the
same). The evening of that day the Duke of Berwick arrived
from London with four or five blank passports, and he was in
conference for some time with the King. After the King's supper,
that lord supped with me, the Earl of Arran, since Duke of Hamil-
ton, Gentleman of the Bedchamber, as also were the Earls of
Lichfield and Dumbarton, the Earl of Middleton, Secretary of
State, the Major Generals Sackville and Fenwick, and one or two
more. Whilst we were at Supper the King received an express
from London, from one of the lords that was admitted into Councils
that the Prince of Orange held, with his advice that the King would
not be safe iſ he stayed in the realm, and that this day (St. Thomas)
the Common Council was chosen as usual. The Prince sent them
word not to take the usual oaths to the King. Some imagined
after, that this was done by concurrence with the Prince, as if the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. * 223
King's resting in the Kingdom obstructed his designs, and that was
plain enough by Dr. Burnet's answer to Mr. Napleton of Feversham,
that solicited for a reward for having stopped the King; and a man
must have been of a very weak discernment not to have compre-
hended that the Prince came over for the three Crowns, and not to
redress grievances as it was given out, and my greatest crime
afterwards was for having expressed myself to that purpose; for
I stuck to my point to the last, and had done the same had I been
single, by entering my protest to all. - -
I never was in a sea fight, nor a battle, or siege; one or the
other might have greatly amazed me and at the first time no doubt,
and I think none but brutes love that sport, as the French say
Real designs
of the P. of
Orange.
par gaieté de coeur, but in this conjuncture I am treating, my heart
was so disposed that I would have sacrificed my life and have
suffered all extremities for to have secured my King and Master his
kingdoms, out of a real principle of honour and conscience and
justice, for, God knows, save good and gracious words sometimes, I
never had a shilling from the King, save three years pension of six
hundred pounds per annum as Gentleman of the Bedchamber; and
I knew that Court so well, that if ever I could have perfected, in
conjunction with others, the firm establishment of the King, my
design was to have retreated to my country house, and to be
entirely independent of a Court.
To return, towards the end of our supper, the King sent for
the Earl of Middleton. I never knew what passed between them,
but this, that he returned not to us, but went to his lodgings in
town. The King then sent for me, and I desired one of the Lords
to do the honours. The King ordering me to shut the door, he
began thus, “You have on all occasions (and in the worst of times)
“stuck so firmly by me, that on my part I ought to study your
“security as well as my own, and therefore you shall not this night
“lie in my bedchamber, but I will direct my Lord Dumbarton to
The King's
forethought
for Lord
Ailesbury.
224 - Memoirs of
“supply your place, for I will not have you think of attending me.
“He hath nothing to lose, and he is to follow me. I know that if
“you be in my chamber in the night, that when you come to
“London you will be examined as to all particulars.” He also
added, that I could besides do him more service in one day by
being on the spot, than I could in years if I was out of the king-
dom; and directed me to go to the Prince of Orange's Court,
“for I can entirely trust you,” and ended this preamble by direct-
ing me, and he was pleased to request it of me, that I would confer
with such of the lords, spiritual and temporal, that I thought fit,
and in execution of which I did him, I may say, signal service.
..., Next he came to the point, and recited the substance of the letter
he had received, going on, “If I do not retire, I shall certainly be
“sent to the Tower, and no King ever went out of that place but
“to his grave. It is a cruel thing for a subject for to be driven out
“of his native Country,” (my case Io years after) “much more for
“a King to be driven out of his three kingdoms. I call God to
“witness I had no design of retiring. For your own sake I do not
“tell to what place I go, but you, more than another, may guess
“where.” (To my knowledge, some time before, he had proposed
to Don Pedro Ronquillo for to go to Brussels, when he retired
near a fortnight before, and that Ambassador plainly told him that
his master was not in a condition to protect him there. The empty
purse of that King was the chief obstacle). “I declare to you that
“I retire for the security of my person, and I shall always be in a
“readiness to return, when my subjects eyes may be opened. All
“you keep together, and live in unity, for my good. And my
“Roman Catholic Officers, &c., I have directed them to retire and
“live quietly.” After a small pause, he looking steadfastly on me,
“Can you advise me to stay?”
No doubt he had in mind my former persuasions when he
retired some few days before, after my parting from him. I told
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 225
him, “Sir, this is a matter of the most nice, nature, that I will not
“take on me to give you any advice, nor be so presumptuous.”
After which I kissed his hand, and weeping, he was pleased to
embrace me tenderly, as in French A Dieu, and he ordered me to
let in the company, as at a Couchee as usual. It was the custom
when they were taking off his stockings for to go into bed, for the
company to retire, so I gave the signal, and he was pleased to give
me the last A Dieu, and he dressed himself again, and by a back
door in the garden, he went to the vessel ready to transport him,
but losing the tide, and the wind turning, he lay at anchor, as well
as I can remember, twenty four hours. I believe the reason of his
dissembling his going away was, that he did not know what private
instructions Colonel Wycke might have received, but I am very
well assured he had none, and had the King gone away openly, he
had met with no obstruction; but considering the treatment he had
found, I less wonder at his precaution. I lay in a room adjoining
for form sake, for rest I had little, and much less by my Lord
Dumbarton's coming into my room continually lamenting, for I
suppose he went not into the bed I had lain in near the King's
person. At daybreak Sunday, the twenty second, he came to my
room again, for to acquaint me that the King had left a letter on
the table, sealed and addressed to the Earl of Middleton, Secretary
of State. I sent forthwith to that lord to repair to the bedchamber,
and he opened it in our presence. The chief contents were much
to the same purpose as to the reasons he had given me the night
before for his retiring. By the said letter, he directed that Colonel
Wycke and Captain Dorp should have each a ‘hundred guineas
given them, and eighty to the old Lieutenant of Horse; but sorry
am I to say that those generous and kind presents were never paid
them, and the royal giver turned into ridicule, terming his letter as
to a last will and testament. We set out soon after, in several
coaches, and dined at Dartford, and our conversation in coach as
VOL. I. 2 G.
The King
goes on
board the
vessel wait-
ing for him.
Dec. 22,
I688.
The King's
letter to the
Earl of Mid-
dleton.
Lord Ailes-
bury returns
to London.
226 Memoirs of
Conduct of
the Earl of
Middleton
and Dr.
Frasier.
End of Lord
Ailesbury's
personal
narrative.
Begun in
1728.
well as at dinner was equal to that which might have been at the
King's funeral. Indeed two persons that sat at table, by each were
never seen to be so merry, which gave the rest great scandal. They
were the Secretary of State, and Doctor Frasier the physician, but
rather the Jester; the late King Charles nominated him for the
sake of his father, that loyal and able person Sir Alexander, who
was physician to King Charles the Martyr during the rebellion, and
afterward to his royal son. This unworthy son, never sparing God
Almighty in his jests, was enough for me to abhor him, if I had had
no other reason for to despise him. He, few years after, fell mad,
not out of remorse God knows. It had been better for my
unfortunate King and master that the Earl had been in the same
condition. This lord turned all men and all things into a jest; I
will insert but one passage. A learned Dr. of the Sorbonne that
endeavoured to bring him over to his church (which happened
afterwards), “My Lord,” said the Doctor, “how is it possible that
“you, that believe in the holy and undivided Trinity, cannot
“comprehend the real presence?” He replied, “Pray, Sir, who
“told you that I believed in the Trinity?” On which the Doctor,
making him a grave bow, retired. I hope in God that he made just
repentance at his death. - *
I have now finished all that lay under my own knowledge, and
I make all apology for having been so prolix, and for having
inserted too many trivial matters. The nature of the subject is
unheard of, and without parallel, I may affirm ; and I was willing
to give you, and most faithfully, the whole narrative, and all by
memory as indeed the rest of this treatise is. The same begun
forty years complete after my royal master's being walked out of
his three kingdoms. I shall endeavour in the sequel to be as
impartial as heretofore, and you will find by a passage hereafter
that I would never serve on the ſensuing foot, and so what I shall
insert proceeded not from envy, nor had I ever malice in my heart,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 227
and, God be praised, I cannot be reproached of one or the other
damnable vice; and, as I hinted at before, a retirement from Court
was my ambition.
Pursuant to the King's command I waited on the Prince of Lord Ailes-
Orange, at St. James', and he received [me] most courteously, and I
knew after that he esteemed me in his heart, and as little those that
had deserted their royal master, but, to come to his ends, he made
use of them, and of others afterwards, to weaken the Jacobite
party. He was pleased to invite me to dinner, and I being the
first in rank that day, and sitting by him, he entertained me the
most part of the time with discourse, very much for one that was
naturally taciturn ; insomuch that a spectator, a neighbour of mine
in Bedfordshire, came down with the news that no doubt I should
be a great man at that Court. And after dinner, Sir Henry Fire-
brass that had been Clerk of the Kitchen to the King's Charles the
first and second and James the second, desired of me that I would
speak to the Prince in his behalf. I smilingly told that old worthy
person, “Sir, if you design to succeed in your pretensions, do not
“employ me.” I cannot praise the politeness of his chief favourite,
Monsieur Bentinck, since Earl of Portland, who I imagine had then
an eye on my estate as I shall relate hereafter. I went to visit
him at his apartment next to that of the Prince, and he denied him-
self twice, although I knew he was in his room. The third time,
being in the Prince's drawing-room at noon and not seeing the
favourite there, I went to his side, and his servant told me his
master was with the Prince. I told him that was false, and Captain
Dorp, whom I knew at Rochester, being there, I requested of him
to tell Monsieur Bentinck that I had been there three times, and
that by God it should be for the last time, and we never spoke to
each other after ; a grave bow might pass from one to the other.
And to give you a specimen of his pride and self interestedness,
I relate what Sir Jonathan Trelawney, the Bishop of Bristol, told
- 2 G 2
bury waits
on the
Prince of
Orange.
Sir H. Fire-
brass.
M. Ben-
tinck.
His charac-
ter.
228 Memoirs of
His beha-
viour to Mr.
Cary.
Convention
summoned.
me; when the Prince of Orange landed at Torbay, and had his
quarters at Tor Abbey, at Mr. Cary's, Monsieur Bentinck was
lodged and well entertained at one Mr. Chichester's, and at parting,
after thanking his landlord very much, desired him that he would
come and see him whenever his business called him to London.
That gentleman, not long after arriving in London, went to
Hampton Court and to M. Bentinck's lodgings (perhaps he might
then be Earl of Portland), who sent him out word that he was busy,
and besides did not know who he was. This honest gentleman
being piqued very much, studied a revenge and succeeded
admirably. He returned to Hampton Court, and enquired for the
favourite's Secretary, and to him he imparted a pretended secret,
that he had somewhat to propose to his master that might be three
thousand guineas in his way, and that the Secretary should have five
hundred guineas. This reviving the spirits of master and servant,
the gentleman was called in and embraced, with a thousand excuses
for what was last past, pretending that he was with the Prince—
now King—and asked him what there was for his service. The
gentleman merrily told him that he asked nothing, but that he found
that this pretended project was the only way to get him admittance,
and at parting told him, “My Lord, whenever you leave the king-
“dom, I shall treat you at my house with a much better heart than
“I did at your coming into it.” This last is premature, but I was
willing to give you a true character of this insatiable favourite.
Mr. Chichester told this to the Bishop, his countryman, and he to
me personally. z
The Prince took on him the government, and all went in his
name by way of regency. He summoned a convention, and, as in
the usual form, they could not meet until the end of forty days
after the date of the writs; and Mr. Jephson officiated as Secretary
until he was declared King in conjunction with the Princess, his
Consort, by the style of King William and Queen Mary, as history
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 229
affords. In the convention some were for one thing and some for
another, and I refer you to the Journals for all that is out of my head.
I made use of this interval of forty days for to confer singly
with a great number of Lords spiritual and temporal such as I knew
that wanted to be rightly instructed, and these were endowed with
all honour and conscience. I can affirm, on my honour, that they
gave me satisfaction, each giving me many thanks for having repre-
sented to them all in its true light, and of which many were before
ignorant as to what passed in relation to the King's second and last
retiring. One Bishop especially I despaired of convincing, and the
more because I was of his diocese of Lincoln, and he by name
Doctor Barlow. Sir Joseph Williamson that had been Secretary
of State was in his youth Servitor in Queen's College, Oxford, to
this Doctor Barlow, and when he came to be Secretary of State, he
in a manner and by way of gratitude, obliged the Doctor to accept
a Bishopric, and which he never aspired, to. It is incongruous to
say that a Bishop of the Church of England should be against
prelacy, but so it was ; he being a downright Calvinist. He lived
indeed in the diocese at Bagdon,” in Huntingdonshire, far from
Lincoln, and he was Bishop many years, but never saw his Church,
nor did he ever visit the diocese, nor did he exercise any other
spiritual function. I represented this to my noble friend the Arch-
bishop Sandcroft, in the year 1687, and by his advice and direction
I laid this before the King, who was pleased to direct the Arch-
bishop to deprive the said Bishop for a time ab officio, and Doctor
White, Bishop of Peterborough was empowered in due form for to
visit, confirm, &c., in the room of the other. This quiet good man
was overjoyed, and both the Bishop of Peterborough and myself
were thanked over and over by the deprived Bishop, which greatly
astonished us, for we expected another sort of reception. To
return, I was at least four hours in conference with this Bishop,
* Buckden.
Conference
of Lord
Ailesbury
with other
Lords.
Dr. Barlow,
the Bishop
of Lincoln.
23O Memoirs of
Division in
the House
of Lords.
How
managed.
and I parted from him most highly satisfied, and he made all good
in the House of Lords, and most strenuously opposed the question
whether King James had abdicated and deserted, and very likely he
was one of the fifty-four lords that entered their protest. We were
about sixty that were against the vote that the King had abdicated,
but some very few there were that did not enter their protest. On
the first question, we carried it by one voice or two, on which the
Lord Mordaunt, after Earl of Monmouth and Peterborough, made
a great noise according to custom, and gave out as if the Militia
should be placed in the Palace Yard, which intimidated some weak
hearts that did not appear when the main question was put. I
cannot charge my memory, but as I remember we lost the main
question but by one voice, and at numbering the House with
another lord of the prevailing party, I understood by one that
the Earl of Faulconberg, and Crew, Bishop of Durham, retired
between the hanging and the door next to the Bishops' room.
'Tis a custom on dividing the House, to prevent mistakes, that
those lords that would attain to any novelty (and this was one of
the highest nature) that such lords on the question should go
without the bar, and that after the lords within were counted, that
then a teller of each side should be at the entrance at the bar, and
count as the lords passed in one by one. There happened to be
somewhat in dispute that lasted near a quarter of an hour, and
having my back to the bar, I heard our late famous Lord Chamber-
lains voice (the Earl of Mulgrave) amongst the lords that supported
the abdication. On which I turned and wished him joy for to see
him without the bar. The prevailing party sent for him out of bed,
with some secret threats that else he should be excepted out of the
Act of Grace that was to pass after the Prince of Orange was
declared King, and which passed after accordingly. This famous
lord had not heard one word of the debate, a thing without example.
His absence that day, as he pretended, was indisposition, but we
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 23 I
were not such fools as to believe him, at least myself and others
that knew him perfectly well. I omitted one thing that happened
to me the day this convention met. The old Earl of Lindesay my
good friend, and the Duke of Grafton, and some others, came to
acquaint me, before the sitting of the House, that they were well
informed that the other party had a design to interrogate me as to
the particulars of the King's going away from Rochester, and that
their view was to ensnare me by cross questions, &c., and they
advised me not to answer to any one question; and I rendered them
all due thanks. They judged right, and I was called upon to relate
all the particulars. My answer was that I knew none, but referred
them to the King's letter I gave into the Earl of Middleton's
hands, herebefore specified.* His Lordship was summoned but
would not appear, which action in him I abhorred, by reason that
this letter was so moving that it would have touched the hearts of
many lords that were not possessed with novelty and changing of
Kings, although they had nowise approved of the steps the King
had made for two years past. I have seen, many years since, in
hackney historians' narrations setting out the particulars of the
King's going away, his being taken at Feversham, his return to
London, his going to Rochester, and retiring from them all, mixed
with falsities and absurd accounts. In particular, that the King
gave again four hundred guineas taken about him in the vessel.
Indeed he was plundered of all he had, and they gave him no
occasion to show his generosity. The same author recites falsely
in many places as to what passed in the Lords House on the debates
and on putting the questions. I do not pretend to give you any
account here, but refer you to the journals, which is a register, and
it is not possible by memory to give you any true satisfaction. This
particular following was so essential as to myself that I remember
it as if it had happened but yesterday.
* P. 225.
Caution
given to
Lord Ailes-
bury.
Errors in
many
printed
narratives.
232 i Memoirs of
Lord Ailes-
bury no
speaker in
Parliament.
Earl of Cla-
rendon.
Earl of
Rochester.
Earl of
Notting-
ham.
Earl of
Pembroke.
The speaking in so great and honourable an assembly was
never my genius, and a timidity ever overawed me, yet I furnished
others that had that talent with subject matters to enlarge on, and
which were well accepted of; each lord that spoke in that House
exerted his talents—some with great force, some with less. The
Earl of Clarendon, to the surprise of all save myself (he having
communicated to me some time before his repentance) spoke much
and somewhat in a peevish strain, and incensed the Prince of Orange,
the more for his having gone into and so soon leaving him. It was
inferred that his changing of sides proceeded from his having been
refused the Lieutenancy of Ireland, which was the height of his
ambition, and his low purse required it besides very much; but as
a Christian one ought to turn things to the most favourable sense.
He subsisted after by a pension that Queen Anne, that was his
Niece, gave him most generously, for his estate, and a considerable
one by his second lady, were charged with debts to the full value.
The Earl of Rochester, who had parts and experience in Parliament,
exerted himself most well, but with too much passion,-a vice that
had possessed him to the last degree—insomuch that at the end of
his debates on trivial matters in comparison to this in question he
ended always in heat, although little opposed. The Earl of Notting-
ham spoke long, but most lawyer-like, and had too much of his
father, who spared no sex in his pleadings at the bar, before he was
promoted to be High Chancellor, insomuch that, as to my own
particular, he little edified me. w
I was the last of men that could enter into the principle of
what they called “revolution doctrine,” but I ever studied during
the whole course of my life to comport myself like a gentleman and
man of honour. The Earl of Pembroke, with whom I had been in
conference, had a behaviour like a great and generous nobleman,
and I really believe he had no view in prospect, and when he
accepted of an employment afterwards, he gave me this reason,
what our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ answered when
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 233
they came to tempt him, “Render unto Caesar,” &c. That most
worthy lord and my good friend and kinsman the Earl of Chester-
field, with whom I had a conference of several hours, in giving his
reasons why he could not enter into that resolution that the King
had either abdicated or deserted, gave for one main one that he had
been convinced to the contrary on a conference he had had with a
noble lord of this house. He was required to name that lord, and
I, finding that good man with blood in his face and in great per-
plexity, I cried out, “Name me, my Lord!” on which I was called
up. I delivered not my reasons with elocution, but with much
truth and sincerity, and, as I said, I loved not to speak in public.
In fine, it being by necessity, I did my best, much to this purpose;
that I had the honour to entertain the King with my humble repre-
sentations in order to detain him from going from his Court, which
I have set out at large heretofore, and after hearing my reasons
most patiently, bemoaned himself with these words, “What would
“you have me do? My children hath abandoned me” (this I left
out through the respect I had for the Princess of Denmark), “my
“army hath deserted me, those that I raised from nothing hath
“done the same, what can I expect from those I have done little
“ or nothing for?” Then I proceeded to what he was pleased to
tell me at his going away from Rochester, but only these words for
brevity, “I call God to witness that I go not on my own motive,
“but if I stay in the kingdom I am very well informed of my des-
“tiny, and that no King ever came out of the Tower but to his
“grave,” and this I having had from the mouth of a Prince endowed
with all kingly virtues, “You must give me leave, my Lords, to
“enter my dissent in case the vote be carried against us.” I cannot,
nor will not, say that I added any more, but this I know, that on
some occasion I made it known that the Prince of Orange came
not over to redress grievances, but for to set the Crown on his own
head, and but that he knew he might be shipwrecked in his designs,
VOL. I. - 2 H
The Earl of
Chester-
field.
Lord Ailes-
bury's ac-
count of the
King's de-
parture.
His opinion
of the Prince
of Orange.
234 Memoirs of
Burnet's
Treatise
burnt.
The Arch-
bishop and
Bishops de-
prived.
The oath.
Bishops of
Bristol and
St. Asaph
took the oath.
Bishops of
Norwich and
Gloucester
deprived.
he had certainly proposed for to be King by his own right, that is
by conquest; and 'tis well known that - Burnet's treatise to
prove that was burnt by the hand of the hangman. Our Bishops
had more good will towards their sovereign; their eloquence and
their stout behaviour ought to be recorded, and in perpetual re-
membrance, to their honour and glory. And the noble Arch-
bishop and Bishops were deprived of all in six months following, on
their refusing to take the oaths, and what was indeed but like to
what they call a Garrison Oath. It was necessary to frame an
Oath to be taken, all others being abolished, save the declaration
as to the test. The Earl of Nottingham desired Doctor White
Bishop of Peterborough to frame one, which was approved of, and
I was by when that Prelate gave it to the Earl of Nottingham in the
House with these words, “I have obeyed your commands; after all
“I regard it like a plate of cucumbers dressed with oil and vinegar,
“ and yet fit for nothing but to throw out of the window, and as for
“my part, I cannot nor will not take it.”
Of the seven Bishops sent to the Tower, June 1688 (the Arch-
bishop one), Sir Jonathan Trelawney, Bishop of Bristol, took the
oaths, and the old prophet, Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, the
same, but the former was with us at the vote whether the King had
abdicated or not ; and to add to the other five, Doctor Lloyd my
worthy friend and Bishop of Norwich was deprived, and Doctor
Frampton, Bishop of Gloucester; these two were not in town
when the others were sent to the Tower. There were other noble
lords that spoke during that high debate, but in reality their names
are not in my memory, and I ask their pardon if any be still living,
but I believe not. And as for those that entered their protest,
their names are on the record, to the number of fifty-four. Some
few lords as well inclined as the others did not subscribe to the
protestation. Many hackney scribblers have published in print the
proceedings before and at the King's retiring, and what passed in
Thomas, Earl of A tlesbury. 235
the Convention. I looked them out soon after they were
published, but I, found them crammed with errors, and spite, and
malice. One thing that related to the Church Service was extra-
ordinary enough. It is well known that, save for the King, they
cannot pray in the churches for any of the Royal Family without
an order from the sovereign in council. That being, the King was
at St. Germains about Christmas 1688, and until King William and
Queen Mary were proclaimed February the 15th following, King
James, and the Queen, and the Prince, were prayed for, even in
the Chapel Royal at Whitehall, and if any parsons, vicars, &c.,
omitted it, it was out of an over zeal, and not by order, since none
could give any counter orders. Queen Mary arrived from
Holland, but some few days before she was declared Queen in
conjunction with King William, the House of Peers in a body
kissed their hands, and no doubt the Commons the same. Between
the King's going away and the King William and Queen Mary
being proclaimed, my old friend Don Pedro Ronquillo, the Spanish
Ambassador, who had resided here many years, sent an express to
Madrid for to receive his instructions, and went not to Court until
the return of the Courier only for form sake, and he used to come
and sit with me by the fireside continually ; and he being a man of
great capacity, his company was very useful to me. At length he
proposed to me that I would accept of going into Spain, preferable
to all others, he knowing full well the zeal my father had shewn in
favour of Spain, and on all occasions, and I not less suitable to my
years, and as for the rest he would take all on himself, and that I
should not make one step towards it. My answer was plain and
sincere, and after giving him many thanks for the justice he did me,
I told him I had many reasons. In the first place, that the air of
that country would be very prejudicial to my health ; secondly,
that I would not leave my home and to spend my own money to
boot, that the letters the noble Earl of Sandwich wrote to the
Prayers for
the Royal
Family re-
tained for
awhile.
Queen
Mary's
arrival.
The Spanish
Ambassa-
dor's pro-
posal,
declined by
Lord Ailes-
bury.
2 H 2
236 Memoirs of
Lords of the Treasury and to the Secretaries of State there” repre-
senting his poverty, and that he had not credit for a shilling at
Madrid for want of the payment of his allowances, and all to no
purpose, on which he drew bills on his son and his steward of his
lands which were protested for want of wherewithal to satisfy those
bills drawn from Madrid, and 'twas the more cruel by reason of
that signal service he had done the King, by declaring for his
majesty in conjunction with General Monk, Duke of Albemarle,
the former being then Admiral of the Commonwealth Fleet. And
my third and last reason was the chief and not to be surmounted,
that I would accept of no employment whatsoever.
And much about this time I had a short conference with Mr.
Lord Ailes- Henry Sidney, since Earl of Romney, a favourite of King William,
º ...i. if he had one of our nation. This discourse was during the debates
in the convention. This gentleman and I had always a fair esteem
the one for the other, and were formerly fellow servants in my
good King's time Charles the Second, and he master of his robes.
I begged of him to assure the Prince (for he was so then) that if I
should act in the House of Lords contrary to his sense and interest
that he would not imagine that it was through ill will or want of
respect, for that in the House of Lords I answered only to God
Almighty for my actions there, and that he would assure his
Highness that if he was in the same state as King James my Master
was in then, that I would do the same in favour of His Highness,
that I desired nothing nor would accept during the life of the King
James and his son the Prince, and if they should come to die that
then the Prince perhaps would not think me worthy of his favour
if I should be then ambitious, and that I believed I never should,
my natural temper leading me to live a country life and independent.
I knew from this gentleman and others that the Prince esteemed
* Qy. then.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 237
me much more than those he had advanced for their leaving their
old King and Master, and I had signal proofs of it on several
occasions, and from Queen Mary to the highest degree. I took the
Oath which I termed before like to a Garrison one, for it was my
opinion that he, being declared King (although I did in Parliament
do all that lay in my power to obstruct it) he was to protect the
Kingdom, and that those that desired protection ought to take some
oath. Those that did not take the oaths did perfectly well, because
in their conscience they thought they could not, and because they
could not be absolved from the oath they had taken to King James;
and some on that King's death in 1700 took the oaths, thinking
themselves absolved by his demise; others did not, as regarding
the Prince his son King by the death of his father. Besides the
Archbishop of great memory, and the six Bishops, there were some
noble lords that did not take the oaths, as my worthy two friends
and kinsmen the Earls of Exeter and Chesterfield; and the Earls
of Clarendon and Lichfield. It might be thought that I took the
oaths to save the paying of double taxes. God knows my heart,
self interest never swayed me; besides I should have lost nothing
by so paying, for I would have reduced my yearly expenses in
proportion, and I should have had the satisfaction to have lived a
more retired life; and had not King James resided in France, my
design was to have lived at Montpelier (my favourite air) in the
Winters, and in a cooler climate in the Summers, and with a very
small family and at very little expense, all there being so cheap,
and no foreign country but that was agreeable to me then.
I finish this subject with my remarks on our state we were in
during my two Kings' and Masters' time, which happy days we
never saw after. The lands and tenements paid not one shilling,
there was a duty which was called hearth money, and which was
cried out on by some peevish persons; and at the Revolution, and
in the Convention, that twopenny tax in comparison to what followed
Takes the
oath.
Nonjuring
Earls.
Taxation.
238 . Memoirs of
Land Tax.
Increase of
duties,
*
and debt.
was cried out on as arbitrary and unheard of, and four shillings in
the pound land tax was tamely swallowed by those revolution
gentlemen, and they bragged of their great achievement in easing
the Kingdom of that insufferable tax on chimneys, and how they
eased the Kingdom of that excessive burthen. And let it be
remarked that to the writing of this in the beginning of 1729, just
forty years, the continued tax on land never ceased, and for the
greater part by far of those forty years three shillings in the pound
hath been the least that hath been imposed, besides capitations,
duties on windows (far exceeding that on the hearths), on births,
and burials. -
I paid in the space of eighteen months thirteen hundred
pounds on the death of my wife, the birth of the daughter she died
in childbed of, and on the death of the said child. The subsidies
given in process of years amounted to five, six, and more millions
sterling per annum, to complete which, duties were laid on beer,
malt, leather, hides, soap, candles, and what not, even to dice and
cards, that was of the least consequence, because one might abstain
from play. These were not acts as temporary for few years, but
for years near a hundred, and such necessity there was for money,
that rich persons made advances, and to that excess, that those
duties were allotted to those that had lent the money, so that my
grandchild could scarce see the expiration of the term of years.
And for two hundred years backwards, all the Kings and Queens
that reigned had not, all put together, near those sums that were
granted in King William's reign, and yet at his death the exchequer
debt was sixteen millions and a half sterling, and at Queen Anne's
death the debt was thirty-three millions, and in 1728 the debt was
computed at fifty-three millions. Sir Robert Walpole pretends
that some millions are paid off by schemes as the Sinking Fund, &c.
Mr. William Pulteney avers the contrary. Time must show who
is in the right; one is in possession, and the other is accused of
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 239
thirsting after coming in the place of the former. It is indifferent
to me whether either or neither; I only observe this, that the
course of exchequer is become as unintelligible and intricate (and
all that artificially) as Greek and Hebrew are to those that under-
stand not one word of those languages. This is an intrusion not
pardonable, skipping over forty years by advance, but being on the
fountain head of our taxes on land, never heard of before, what fol-
lowed came in insensibly, and not to be touched on from the year
1689 downwards.
To return to the beginning of the reign of King William and
Queen Mary. The Earl of Shrewsbury was made Secretary of
State, more to reimburse him of thirty thousand pounds he had
charged his Estate with on his repairing to the Prince of Orange in
the Summer 1688, than for any real attachment he had to that
Court. It is well known that all Patents and Commissions what-
soever are renewable on a King's coming to the Crown, and I
really believe he re-imbursed himself, all passing at his office.
I remember very well, although I was but a youth, that there
was a rumour in the House of Commons as if on the part of the
ministry it would be proposed to lay an imposition by way of
stamping the paper, and no more than one farthing the sheet was
ever thought on, which made such an uproar in town and country,
that when Sir Edward Seymour, Speaker of the House of Commons
went to sit in the chair, he found a pair of wooden shoes, and, I
think, canvas breeches, in allusion to the hardships the poor French
subjects lay under by exorbitant taxes; and it was one Mr. Ayliffe
that had put those shoes there, or one by his order, and I think he
was the same person that was hanged for being in the Duke of
Monmouth's rebellion or with my Lord Argyll in Scotland. This
tax of a farthing was trumpeted all the Kingdom over, and now we
are quiet as lambs with two sixpenny and three sixpenny stamps,
and for several uses, as to presentations of livings and certain
Earl of
Shrewsbury
made Secre-
tary of State.
Stamp duty.
Wooden
shoes put in
the Speaker's
Chair.
24O Memoirs of
King Wil-
liam intent
on military
matters,
ignorant of
Finance.
grants, there are stamps of forty shillings, and some of five pounds,
if I may mistake not as to the latter; but I believe it is so. I
respect crowned heads, and the memory of those deceased. What
King or Queen ever reigned that had not evil counsellors? King
William was to secure the Crown that was put on his head by all
ways and means, and he had the powerful Crown of France to
contend with, and therefore he was obliged to have a vast army,
and a great fleet to support himself, and those that would have him
for King were obliged to stand by him; but it was mortifying
enough for us that legally opposed him at the Convention, not only
to lose our King, but to pay so dearly for to maintain him in
possession. Had all been done with thrift and integrity, it had not
cost much more than the half. That King had nothing in his head
in the Winter but making treaties with princes for their troops, and
what with being at the Hague before they entered into the field,
and after the campaign was ended for to concert for the year
following, he was scarce three months in England for many years;
and although he had an excellent judgment in Councils where
military matters were transacted, he had a poor head for what
related to Exchequer affairs. He was grave, and spoke little, and
therefore they would have him to be a wise man, and God knows
he knew little as to the state of the Kingdom and Finances, and
those employed in the latter knew it but too well, and they made
fortunes accordingly. One heavy knavery was what they brought
Peculation.
in deficiences, as for example, I name at all hazards the Winter
1690 and Spring 1691, the Parliament might give in all five millions
sterling, perhaps more. The Winter after, those special gentlemen
of the Treasury, by those in the House of Commons, informed the
House that those five millions made net four; then instead of five
millions for the ensuing year, six must necessarily be given for to
make good the deficiency of the year before, and so on from year
to year.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 24 I
In granting of subsidies, there were clauses for appropriations, Earl of Ra-
so much for the Army, so much for the fleet, and so on. The Earl nelagh's
of Ranelagh, the Paymaster, had vast sums that came into his hand
and appropriated for that use only, diverted great sums by the misappro-
King's order for his own use, and God knows where it went; but P*
after the King's death, it was found that twenty two millions.
stirling was not accounted for by the Lord the Paymaster, that is
no account was stated. He resigned his office, was expelled the resignation.
House, and so that matter fell. The other knavery was as gross,
and of fatal consequence. The Paymaster General, as it hath been
said, diverting the money for the army, the Generals and down-
wards were not paid, and the soldiers had subsistence, but not
cleared.
The Spring coming on, Mr. Blathwayt, Secretary of the War,
by the King's order, had it published in the Gazette that all officers
were to be in Flanders at their posts by such a day on pain of being
broken. The poor officers represented that they had not a shilling,
and that they could not obey. On this they gave them Tallies, and Issue of
I will give you one instance which will serve for all. One I knew, *
had one hundred pounds given him, and that only in part: he went
to negociate it, and could get but sixty pounds, forty per cent. loss. their depre-
Sir Stephen Fox sold a great part of his land to have ready money, “”
and he had a goldsmith in or near Hungerford Market, I have
forgot his name, that was his broker, and Sir Stephen, having vast Sir Stephen
sums for that purpose, got” prodigiously, for he, being of the Fox.
Treasury, knew well how to make valid his tallies. The famous
Sir John Germaine followed the same vocation, and many others Sir John
whose names are out of mind. Mr. Stephen Evans, afterwards Germaine.
knighted unworthily, was a poor boy in the goldsmith's shop, and Mr. Stephen
at the Revolution went of errands for his master; and in a small ºvanº.
number of years he was reputed to be worth two hundred thousand
VOL. I. 2 I
242 Memoirs of
Duke of
Savoy
deserts the
Allies, joins
with France.
The Admi-
ralty at fault.
Losses at
SČae
pounds, but as ill got money never thrives, he broke afterwards and
by grasping at too much. To this end, the Duke of Savoy, one of
our confederates, had yearly subsidies given to him at so much per
month ; the President de Tour, his minister, and whom I knew
well, was paid by tallies, he knowing very well what they gave him
but pretended not ; “What do you give me Gentlemen, -a fagot
“to warm me 7 God be praised, my master gives me all
“necessaries:” with an air of disdain. He had a great deal of
quickness, and very satirical. On the report he made to his master,
and that in negociating these tallies (for he must take them or have
nothing) he lost forty per cent, the Duke his master, and a prince
that regarded nothing but his own interest, immediately he made
underhand his peace with France, and had the command of the
army of the latter; and a day or two before he was at the head of
the army of the allies. This is matter of fact. It would be endless
to enumerate all the mal-administrations then committed, and I can
give no better a name to these actions than that they were cut-
throat ones, by starving especially the poor officers that were daily
on their duties and risking their lives, and they had but little more
than half-pay. The common sort and others, a giddy and un-
thinking people, were made to believe how rich the nation was
become by this happy revolution, as they termed it, when, God
knows, all was in confusion ; and the westward trade ruined also
by the supineness and ignorance of our fresh water Lords of the
Admiralty,+not one of then that had ever been at sea, but con-
sisted of lords and gentlemen of both Houses, whose voices were
gained for the sake of their pensions, and God knows what numbers
of men of war were taken by the French, and merchant ships from
all nations coming home loaden, besides two rich East India Ships
homeward bound and taken in the Channel. A friend of mine,
Captain Gifford, commanded one of them, and he assured me that
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 243
the vast loss of these ships was wholly owing by negligence of the
Admiralty. In fine, if I recited here all the mis-managements by
sea and in the kingdom, one quire of paper would not suffice.
What I have inserted you may depend on the truth of all, and let it
not be imagined that I write out of envy or passion; as to the
former it bespeaks itself, since I would take no employment what-
soever, and for asking perhaps I had not been refused; and as to
passion, of all vices I never was guilty of that, during the whole
course of my life, and I only value myself for having a sincere
heart, and that ever lived genteelly with persons of all sorts of
principles in Church and State, when I believed that they went on
a principle of honour and conscience ; and for those I thought did
not, I avoided and despised them. Men may be in the wrong, but
may by education and example think themselves in the right, and
such I pity; but to repeat what I may have hinted before, my
aversion is the modern Whigs and modern Tories. There is still
living a certain ancient Lord that comes into my mind on this
occasion, that hath changed like the wind in outward appearance,
but still was Tory at heart, but pretends otherwise, in order to
prefer his younger sons, but scarce gives them a shilling out of his
own pocket, and some of them are much supported out of the
moderate purse of the elder brother, a fine and worthy gentleman,
in employment, and by a principle. This lord hath set his affections
on a worthy young lady, and so far is he from having the consent of
the father, that I am told that the latter hath put it into his will
that, although the son should marry this lady after his death, that
even then he shall be ipso facto disinherited. - -
All this is very irregular, and would not be pardonable in one
that would pass for an historian, but I disown that character; I
write for my own satisfaction, and let this pass for a sort of a diary
and nothing else, and it is written without favour or affection on the
one hand, and without malice on the other; and to supply for
General mis-
manage-
IſlentS.
Nature of
these Me-
moirs.
2 I 2
244 Memoirs of
The Army.
Marechal
Schomberg
nominally
General.
defects, I make it up in some measure by bringing to light what
else you would never know, because historians flatter, and most
often write for bread.
It is more than time to return to what may have happened
after that King William and Queen Mary were proclaimed. The
forming of the Army was all at my Lord Churchill's disposition, and
no one ever knew but myself of what follows. That ever renowned
and brave gentleman the Marechal of Schomberg, was nominally
General, and that was all. His mother or wife was a Dudley, and
related to us. He had been an old friend of my father's, and
presents of wines and of horses often passed between them, and
letters of great friendship. On his arrival in London with the
Prince, I visited him most frequently, and sat with him in the
evenings, he being generally afflicted with the gout, and he lay in
St. James's, in the apartments of the Benedictine Monks that had
been of the Queen's chapel. One that had been my page being
reformed on the breaking of the regiment, I asked of the Marechal
a colours for him in his regiment of Royal Scotch, late Dumbarton's,
and in France by the name of Dowglass. He assured me that it
was not in his power, which I took for a slight, and I went to him
no more. f
After some time, he sent one Monsieur Blanchard, a French
Huguenot that had been Secretary of Ambassade to the old
Marquis of Ruvigny and to his son since Earl Galloway." The
message was this, that he was not able to stir abroad, else he would
have come to me. I went that day, and found him in his great
chair, and after compliments had passed, he desired me for to see
that the door was shut close, and sitting near to him he began,
“My dear Lord, can you imagine I could have so little heart as to
“refuse you such a trifle Had you asked me for a Company, you
* Qy. Galway.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 245
“should have had it if it had been in my power, and God knows it
“is not. Assure me on your honour and conscience that you will
“not speak to any one whatsoever of what I am going to tell you
“until I am dead, and I will let you into the secret. The Army is
" now modelling, and all done in the Prince's Closet” (he was not
then King). “My Lord Churchill proposes all, I am sent for as to
“say the General consents, and Monsieur Bentinck is the Secretary
“for to write all.” The latter aforesaid, enemy to the Marechal
and a creature of Comte Solmes, and between them two the Mare-
Lord Chur-
chill really.
chal got his death by his own fault and being in despair about
fifteen months after as to his actions in the field in so many different
nations. History doth him justice. He was now eighty years of
age, tall and proper, of a most affable behaviour, and as fine a
courtier as he was a soldier. The harvest my Lord Churchill made
by this was vast, for all was sold. Colonel Selwin of the Foot
Guards, and of little merit and service, obtained a regiment, and
Governor of Tilbury, &c., and his footman told one of mine that
his master gave him at twice a purse of a thousand guineas to hold
for him until his master entered into that lord's lodgings at the
Cockpit; and he said also that two different days the commands he
had given him, as before mentioned, were public. About one year
and a half after, that lord's lady told me as I was walking with her
alone in her garden at St. Alban's, “Lord” (a common word with
her) “they keep such a noise at our wealth. I do assure you that
“it doth not exceed seventy thousand pounds, and what will that
“come to when laid out in land, and besides we have a son and five
“daughters to provide for.” Note, that in the year 1728 she
offered to the Crown seven hundred thousand pounds at three per
cent, and what she and her eldest daughter the Duchess of Marl-
borough had then was near double that sum in land and money.
The Earl of Shrewsbury, as I mentioned before, had mortgaged his
Commis-
sion, &c. sold.
Amount of
his fortune.
246 ** Memoirs of
Earl of
Shrewsbury;
his profits.
Estate for about thirty thousand pounds just before he went in 1688
into Holland to join the Prince of Orange. -
His ambition now was to have an employment for to re-imburse
himself and to clear his Estate; so he pitched on the only one
capable of that, viz., First Secretary of State, the profits of which
are immense on a King's coming to the Crown, by reason that all
patents, commissions, and in fine all to which the King puts his
signet, the Secretary of State hath five guineas, and all was
countersigned by him only, so within that year it was computed
that he had reimbursed himself; and that was his only view,
for I know a lady he was in love with most desperately hinted
to me that he would not be long in the Court. Before King
James had taken away his regiment, no nobleman in England was
more addicted to his service, and I have good grounds to believe
he had afterwards a remorse. He had a weakness towards the sex,
and especially when he had drank, but I believe, whether drunk or
sober, he was not sorry that the lady communicated to me the next
morning what she had drawn from him, and to convince you how
little he cared how things went, I will give you a solid circumstance.
My Lady Lisburne, My Lady Pulteney, that lord and I, had made a
party for to go to Weybridge to the Countess of Dorchester's,
formerly Mrs. Sedley. That lord desired I would come to his
house about nine, and to take chocolate, and so to take up the two
ladies. Before we went out of his house, the door-keeper of the
office brought in a velvet bag with great quantities of letters, the
foreign mails, and several coming in at one time. The man took
them out of the bag and laid them on a table in that lord's chamber,
on which I told him I supposed that he could not go along with us.
He, with a smiling countenance, asked me what should hinder him.
I pointing to the heap of letters, he replied, “What is that to
me 2 I never read or write a letter.” I asking him who did, he
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 247
told me that Mr. William Bridgeman, the first secretary in his office,
read all the letters and reported to him the material contents, on
which he drew what answers were requisite, and then he set his
name to them and, in ending, “that is all I do.” When he had
reimbursed himself and quitted, and that beautiful and good young
lady died of the small pox soon after, I knew no more what passed
in cabinet. What came to my knowledge after, was by strength of .
money, for I own plainly that then, and for four years after, I did
all I could in order to get the King and my Master reinstated in
his Kingdom by a revolution, and not by fire and sword, as here-
after. The Earl of Nottingham was made Secretary of State of the
Northern Province, then the least considerable, and during that
year at least he got nothing by countersigning, all going to the
other, but he plodded on mechanically, like himself.
The Earl of Danby, since Duke of Leeds, was made President
of the Council, and the Marquis of Halifax, Lord Privy Seal.
These two latter had been great sticklers and speakers in all the
debates when the question was whether King James had abdicated
and deserted, and they were and with warmth for the affirmative.
These three lords acted with all warmth in the execution of
their respective business, but they having been all violent Tories in
their time, all care was taken to bring the King to have a jealousy
of them, and they were sufficiently mortified in debates in the
House, Council, &c., insomuch (and judging by myself) that I
despised them for the little heart they had in continuing in their
employments. And by the ignorance and negligence of our fresh
water Admiral, as I hinted before, great numbers of men of war and
merchant-ships were taken, and it must be laid on my Lord Not-
tingham, as if he underhand gave notice to the French the stations
men of war were to cruise in, and of the numbers, and of the small
craft they were to convoy. In comparison to Secretaries before
and after him, he played the clerk as well as the chief, and he often
Earl of
Danby.
Marquis of
Halifax.
Earl of
Nottingham.
248 Memoirs of
Earl of Sun-
derland re-
turns to
England.
1689.
King James
landed in
Ireland.
Duke of
Ormond.
told me that he never ate until he had finished in the office in
parliament time, and that he was obliged to go to Kensington (a
house the King had purchased of that lord by reason he could not
bear the smoke of the sea-coal in London) for to have the King to
sign, and although fasting, he stayed often one or two hours before
the King came out, who was in Council with his Dutch favourites.
By this time or near it, our late famous Prime Minister had purged
himself in Holland, and being absolved by the Calvinist casuists,
returned to England, although for form sake he had been excepted
in the act of grace. It is true that this lord did not appear at
Court, but was privately brought to the King, and from that time
influenced all. And the three lords before specified were repre-
sented as persons that looked one way and rowed another, and by
degrees they were contemptuously laid aside one by one, and little
to their honour, at least in my opinion. In this Spring 1689, news
was brought that King James was landed in Ireland, and actually at
Kilkenny, at the Duke of Ormond's noble seat. The friendship
that there had been between his noble grandfather and father and
mine, and that his lady was my wife's half sister, I was willing to
open his eyes if possible, but in such a manner that the King could
not be incensed against me, for I knew very well that he would be
informed of all by the zealous Lord Drumlanrig (after the death
of his worthy father Duke of Queensberry) and that first lord
governed the Duke of Ormond, and I believed was then in his
closet when I was received in his chamber, and very coldly, for the
court had given him warning of me and the Earl of Rochester. I
began by telling him that he had received me very coldly, and not
like a near kinsman and friend, and that I was sure that the person
that had an entire ascendant over him was actually in his closet,
and afterwards I knew that he was there. I went on by informing
him that King James was actually at Kilkenny and master of his
estate; that my advice was that he should resign his troop of life-
|
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 249
guards and retire to Kingston, in Dorsetshire, having a small term
by a lease the Duke his grandfather took not yet expired; adding,
“You must live, my Lord, on credit, or by pawn of jewels if you
“have any, for rents you can receive none. Dismiss three parts of
“your family, and live at Kingston until you see how affairs will go
“in Ireland. If for King James, that will be a means to make your
“peace for what is past ; if King William succeeds, your acres will
“always be found.” And I finished by telling him that I knew
very well what I had said to him would be known at Court in an
hour, and that I valued it not. This made so little impression, that
for near seven years we spoke not to each other. .
I dined often with his lady, my sister in law, who had a great
esteem for her sister and me. Once by accident he came in and
dined with his wife, and he never spoke to me nor drank my health
and I rose from table before the rest of the company. Give me
leave to make a comparison. The Earl of Essex that had raised
an army (and the only person that could do it) against his King
and Sovereign Charles the first of blessed memory, had frequent
advice to lay down his command, not only from the King but by
many of his old friends in the Royal army, and particularly after
Edge Hill, he going to visit that loyal and valiant Earl of
Northampton, who on dying conjured him to throw himself at
the King's feet; and those about the General enticed him away,
for fear his heart should be melted. It is well known in history,
that in process of time that General was cooped up in a sort of
peninsula in Cornwall. The King sent my Lord Beauchamp, my
wife's father, a fine young youth (and nephew to that General)
with his governor, a man of parts, with politeness, for to endeavour
to persuade that Earl to enter into his duty, with a royal promise
that all past actions should be forgiven. He dismissed them very
coldly, and escaped by sea to London, and [was] dismissed by the
parliament, which so stomached that proud heart with a poor head
VOL. I. 2 K
Earl of
Essex.
250 Memoirs of
Message of
King James
to Scotland.
Lord Mel-
ford un-
popular
there.
that in the year 1646 he, meeting my father on the road in Essex,
the latter coming from Leighs, the Earl of Warwick's seat, he
saluted him most kindly with these words, “My young lord, the
“time may come that we may be better friends,” or words to this
very effect; and soon after the General died and it was with reason
suspected by poison. More of this Duke hereafter. *
King James on his arrival in Ireland sent an express to Scot-
land; I think his name was Mr. Crane, one of his servants, with a
letter to the Convention, and the style was very far from being
gracious and sweet, and to cut his own throat (the expression is a
little harsh) he could find out nobody to countersign but my Lord
Melford, a person abominated in that kingdom, and, notwithstanding
the adverse party carried their point in the Convention but by one
voice, and even after if the valiant Viscount of Dundee had not
been killed at Killicrankie, King James might have been secure of
that kingdom; for at that time, by a most considerable and secret
friend of mine, I understood perfectly the constitution and the
sentiments of that country. This countersigning by my Lord Mel-
ford coming to my knowledge, I despatched a friend of mine to St.
Germains, humbly to lay before the Queen the wrong step the King
had made, and to beg that if the King designed to go to Scotland,
that my Lord Melford might not attend him thither; adding to the
Queen, “Your Majesty reads history, and be pleased to look over
“that of Scotlaad, and there you will find how many had suffered
“cruel deaths that were obnoxious to the prevalent faction.” And
although that the King did not go to that kingdom, that he would
send away forthwith that hated lord, with his countenance, and a
pension to subsist on, on condition he might not be about his
Majesty. I went still further by accusing that lord of his being the
cause that Londonderry had not been subdued, which might have
been effected if due care had been taken, and the want of that post
was the loss by degrees of the whole kingdom. I accused him also
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 25 I
of having advised the calling of a parliament, the breaking of the
Act of Settlement, and the advising that proclamation by which
English ladies that had Irish jointures, and minors of both sexes of
that kingdom, were also attainted. Had it affected only those that
had taken arms, it had not been so cried out on. The Queen from
St. Germains imparted all this to the King. The King's answer
was, that he that had given him those evil counsels was dead, and
could not answer for having so done. For the Lord Lieutenant
Tyrconnel died about that time. My lord Melford was however
sent away, and to Rome, and he managed King James' interest at
the election of Pope Alexander the eighth (Ottobuoni) after
the death of Monsieur Dykvelt's Protestant Pope, Innocent the
Eleventh. { -
King James, to speak naturally as affairs stood between him
and his parliament, was a cypher rather than their King. Sir John
Southwell that had taken arms relented, and by the means of the
Earl of Seaforth obtained a pardon, and that Earl went to Sir
Richard Nagle Attorney General, as also Speaker of the House
of Commons, for to impart to him the King's pleasure, and he very
saucily told that lord that the King had not power to pardon ;
and that unfortunate Prince found other mortifications from the
Assembly that consisted of very undigested brains peculiar to that
nation. That Prince being in all appearance so powerful, King
William thought it high time to put a stop to his career, and
despatched away my great and noble friend the old Marechal
(and then Duke of) Schomberg; and his enemies the Comte de
Marechal
Schomberg
Sent to
Solmes, and Bentinck, now Earl of Portland, were the chief Ireland.
promoters in order to sacrifice him. The poor Duke in obedience
went to Chester, imagining that all due care had been taken, but
when he came there he found little done, on which he sent an
express to court, with heavy complaints that he found nothing His com-
prepared for such an expedition, or rather anything to purpose. plaints.
2 K 2
252 Memoirs of
On which my Lord Portland went post to Chester with a sort
of reprimand, and ordering that unfortunate old and great General
to embark forthwith. He obeyed with the last reluctancy, and
Lands. arrived at Carrickfergus with a twopenny body of men and artillery
and scarce any carriages, or in French affults and no train horses
but what were hired. After one day's march, he was forced to
make a halt and send back the horses to Carrickfergus to fetch
more cannon &c., and at the second stage the same, and it was
Penelope's web. At last with great industry and pains, and his
3. heart almost broken, he took that important post of Dundalk,
a low moist ground under great hills, and there he was entrenched
the whole Summer, losing a great part by far of his men by the
bloody flux &c., and the stench was insufferable ; but he bore
all this like an old crafty general. Sir Edward Deering, my
Lord Hewit, and others, came to let him know they were not
there to have their arms across. The Marechal was a man free
from passion, but knew how to be obeyed, and told them with
a soft voice “Gentlemen, I observe you always come to me in
“ the afternoon,” meaning by that they had been playing the good
fellow ; “pray when you have anything to say to me, come fasting.
“But let me tell you that if you continue in this way of mur-
#ºr. “muring, I know what I have to do.” Mr. William Harbord,
... " Commissary General and of the Privy Council, was with him
generally, and as a friend besides, and this I had from him. Mr.
Shales was his deputy, and they inferred by these delays that the
latter was a Jacobite in his heart, and I think he was turned out.
Mr. Harbord added that the Marechal told him, “Sir, you are
“under my orders as well as the rest, but I regard you as my
“friend, and you, having the honour to be one of the Prince's
“Council, I will reason with you. Pray take this perspective
“glass, and then give me your opinion.” That gentleman per-
ceived King James with his blue ribbon riding about the ranks,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. a 53
and his army in all appearance numerous and in excellent order,
and also the troopers well mounted. The Marechal went on,
“Now, Mr. Harbord, you see the reason I cannot quit my post,
“ and we are in a manner but with a handful of men in comparison
“of the other army. Here I will stay. What hinders me besides
“advancing to the enemy, hinders them the same from attacking
“of me, the defiles being lined with cannon; so here I will rest,
“ and will surmount all difficulties. The great rains come in
“generally in this country about Bartholomew-tide, and then the
“Irish army must of necessity go into quarters, and then we shall
“have another year for it.” And for this great action he was
reproached by letters, and still more at his return to London. I
know nothing that relates to military affairs but as I am guided by
common sense, but I was told then by men of experience that the
Marechal, during the whole course of his service, never shewed
himself so great a general as he did this Summer by doing of
nothing, that is by inaction; and what he foretold came to pass,
and the armies went into quarters. The rest until the Summer
of 1690. My memory permits me not to give you an account
of the proceedings at Dublin that Autumn, Winter, and Spring
of 1690, but I know that King James repented often the calling
of the parliament, who behaved themselves rudely enough, because
that King James would not do all things that those poor and violent
heads had in their little brains; and in their nature, amongst the
lesser sort especially, they are bloody and cruel, and of little under-
standing, save the nobility and gentry that had foreign education;
and amongst them there were men of great worth and moderation,
but still firm to their point, and swerved not from what they had
assured that king of, and so many of them lost their all for ever,
and many suffered, besides, long imprisonment.
After the throne was declared vacant by a very inconsiderable
majority, King William and Queen Mary, newly arrived from
Armies go
into winter
quarters.
254 . Memoirs of
Coronation.
Bishops
deprived.
Dr. Lloyd,
Bishop of
St. Asaph.
“The Old
Prophet.”
The
Countess of
Dorchestcr.
Holland, were proclaimed and crowned with the usual ceremonies.
I own I did not attend, making a great difference between sub-
mitting to a government and laying my finger on the crown on the
King's head; wide the ceremony of the coronation in print. To-
wards the Autumn of this, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sandcroft,
Dr. Turner, Dr. Frampton, Dr. Lake, Dr. Ken, Dr. Lloyd, and
Dr. White, Bishops of Ely, Gloucester, Chichester, Bath and Wells,
Norwich, and Peterborough, were deprived; and, as the most
learned Canonists then in being said, it was contrary to the Canons.
Six months' time having been given them for to take their resolu-
tion, an ancient Bishop, Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, could not
forgive his having been sent to the Tower with his brethen the pre-
ceding year, and made a very good natured motion in the House,
that, by six months Lunary months were meant, and not Calendar
ones. No doubt he expected to succeed and to have a better
bishoprick, that made him cavil at fourteen days, and that was all
the difference. This was the Bishop that, by his visionary prophe-
cies, they gave him the name of the Old Prophet. These seven
most renowned Bishops withdrew with great temper of mind, com-
mitting themselves to God Almighty, and, but for charitable noble-
men, three or four might have starved; and those that had a small
support, served only to suffice nature, and yet their adversaries could
not give them a good word. In the Summer, I was invited by the
Countess of Dorchester to her house at Weybridge, and she
expected me at the usual time of dining, and of a Sunday: and my
way lying by Hampton Court, I went up to the Court. The King
received me at that time coldly enough, the proper officer (for
Kings never know who is named) told me I was to carry the sword
before the King and Queen, which I did with all respect and
decency. It being communion day for the Queen, and the service
and sermon long (the King retiring after the sermon) I was obliged
to stay until all was over, and delivering the sword at returning to
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 255
the aforesaid officer that had put it into my hand, I made the best
of my way, and it was two of the clock at least when I arrived at
that Lady's, who was of a choleric temper; and telling her the
reason, she replied, “Did not you wish the sword in his body ?”
I sharply reprehended her, and added that, in Parliament I had
done all that lay in my power to keep him from the Crown, but
that now I must submit as others. Besides as a Christian, and
having the fear of God before my eyes, I held it a most damnable
sin even to hope it, and much more the putting of it in execution.
More of this in the Spring 1696. The year after, I hired that
lady's house at Weybridge by a lease in the usual form, and about
two years and a half after, she endeavouring to encroach on me
contrary to the tenor of the lease, and giving me ungenteel lan-
guage, I made her go in all haste out of the garden, of which she
had a key, living at a little house near the great one, and she being
a person of a violent spirit she bade me go to my King
James; and that she would make King William spit on me. And
on the expiration of my lease I employed an attorney to treat with
her underhand for to have the house for another year, as if he took
it for a merchant in London, and at half the rent I had given her.
Whether this man betrayed me as by naming me, or that she
suspected it was for me, she sent to Sir Edward Seymour a letter
to this purpose: after naming me she went on, “Let him cease
“vexing and tormenting me, for, before God, if he doth not, I will
“tell the King that he wished the sword in his guts when he had
“carried it before him to church at Hampton Court”; turning
her words on me. I happened to visit Sir Edward Seymour
just on the delivery of this letter, and met Gargrave, her page, going
down the stairs, Sir Edward on the top, on my joining him, told
me, “There is a breakfast for you, my Lord, very hard of digestion.”
At my coming home, I put all into writing what had passed between
us when I came from Hampton Court and had made her stay dinner
Her saying,
and her gº
turning it on
Lord Ailes—
bury,
who wrote
down all the
circum-
Stan CCS.
256 s Memoirs of
Lord
Albemarle.
1690.
Admiral
the Earl of
Torrington,
so long, and in due form and signed, and as if I was to make
oath of it. However I could never imagine that she had done what
she said she would, but, God forgive her, I am afraid she did, for
soon after, King William's graciousness towards me on several
occasions turned afterwards into a personal hatred.
Amongst other papers I brought over to Bruxelles with me,
this was one, and seven years after that King's death, looking over
some papers, I found this ; and until then I did not know it was
there. My Lord Albemarle being here with his family in winter
quarters, I shewed it to him, begging that he would tell me plainly
whether he thought, or knew, that the King was ever informed of
this by that lady. He on giving me the paper again a day or two
after, I repeated it again, aye, or no, and he gave me no answer.
I have been but too long on this subject, so little tending to the
publick, but I thought it necessary, this having been the source of
all my vexations and misfortunes, which I overcame by little and
little, by the great assistance and mercy of God. I have been
forced to bring into so many years a fault I have committed too
often, but I could scarce do otherwise, being desirous to continue
and end a particular in one place, rather than to mention the same
thing over again year by year. The beginning of 1690, the Earl of
Shrewsbury resigned the Seals as I knew he designed, and the Earl
of Nottingham came into the Southern Province, and there was
such chopping and changing at Court that I have really forgot who
had the Northern Province, perhaps Mr. John Trenchard. This
year was fertile for subject matter, and I will do my best for to put
all into order, but if I should place anything wrong, it will be no
wonder, since I have no notes or papers to ease my memory; and
give me leave to finish one head before I come to another, although
they may interfere as to point of time. An indifferent sort of
Fleet, was put to sea under the command of Admiral Herbert Earl
of Torrington, a person I as little esteemed as most others did, he
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 257
being of a most proud and haughty temper. He having received
true advices of the condition of the French Fleet commanded by
Monsieur de Tourville, he represented to the Queen, by the
Secretary of State and fhe Lords of the Admiralty, that the Fleet
under his command would not be sufficient to keep up to that of
the French, by reason he had so few three-decked ships in com-
parison of the other, and he was rather reprehended than gratified,
and had no addition of ships sent to him. Some would have it,
which I believed not, that the Earl of Nottingham was glad that
our fleet was so weak as to the bulk of our ships. My opinion was
that it proceeded from the ignorance and stupidity of our fresh-
water Admiralty. In fine, our Fleet was beat, and the Dutch loss
was the chiefest of several men of war. Mr. William Harbord
was sent to Holland, to make excuses to the States and to give
assurance that the Admiral should be tried forthwith, and so he
was ; and, by the by, that humane casuist Burnet, Bishop of Salis-
bury, wrote letters to several captains that were of the Council of
War, to let them know that they must find the Admiral guilty for
to give satisfaction to the Dutch ; and private orders were sent to
have him executed at the yard-arm an hour after condemnation.
Just before the trial, meeting with an old friend of mine, an ancient
Admiral Sir Richard Haddock Comptroller of the Navy at that
time, he told me thus, “My Lord, of all men living I love my Lord
“Torrington the least, yet I must do him that justice as to affirm
“that by his conduct he saved our fleet; for after the action, and it
“being night, he let down his anchors, by which the French had
“overshot him, and out of reach.” The Council of War consisted
of a President and twenty-six Captains of men-of-war, and not one
were for finding him guilty. The Jacobites on this were much
elated, imagining that after this success the French would embark
an army for to land in favour of King James, which had they done,
they would have succeeded certainly, and the Revolutioners were
voL. I. 2 L
defeated by
the French,
tried,
acquitted.
Elation
of the
Jacobites.
258 Memoirs of
Mr. R.
Harnage.
The French
Admiral.
Warrants
against the
suspected.
Lord Ailes-
bury one.
so damped, that in coffee-houses and other places they began to
excuse themselves, and particularly to one Mr. Richard Harnage a
- Linen-draper that I employed to go to those places, and it was
whilst I lay hid, being in the proclamation, and three days after
they turned him out—I mean the same people. On the news of
the battle on the Boyne in Ireland, and of King James being as
fled towards Dublin, even the Duke of Bolton told me that I loved
Ring James too well, and in the same breath “I love him also,”
and why? He had sent his Steward Robison to Whitehall
for to enquire if the French Army was landed. I overheard
Robison say “My Lord they laughed at me at the office
when I asked that question.” My Lord said “God be thanked
Robison.” In fine, the whole town was for few days like that
Lord. - -
Monsieur de Tourville did nothing but coast about, and some
few houses by the seaside were burnt, and some fishing boats
destroyed, and such like. On the first news of the French Fleet
being on the coast, a Council was summoned, and warrants were
signed for to take up those that were suspected, and a proclamation
issued out with the names against whom warrants had been signed.
I lived then at Weybridge. I had an under Secretary in the office
that was to give me due notice of anything that might regard me,
and he was to address himself to a certain lady that was little
suspected. The latter sent me an express, and had he come in
due time I should have been in London in the night, for to have
lain concealed there. About seven in the morning I was ready to
get on horseback, but by good fortune the horses were not bridled,
on which I went to awake the Countess of Dorchester, else if I
had gone out on coming to the stables, I had been taken before I
had got out of the town. Soon after I went to that lady's, Mr.
Paine a Serjeant of Arms, and Williamson, a messenger who was
known to my groom, he having served my father, who made
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 259
Williamson a messenger when Lord Chamberlain,” arrived. On
this the groom did not take out the horses, and those men came
into the house, and being very hot weather, they were enticed into
the buttery on being told I slept, and generally until after eight.
In the meantime my steward came with my horses to that
lady's, and I rode away, but not to London until dark.
Mr. Harnage provided me a neat lodging in Berkeley Street,
from whence I wrote to the Lord President, the Duke of Leeds
then or after, to let him know that I would surrender myself in
He lives in
conceal-
In CIlt
case they would permit me to bail, and that I absconded only to
prevent going to the Tower in that hot season, about 27th June
more or less, and receiving no answer, I disguised myself in the
town in a Church habit, and in the country with a brown periwig
and eyebrows black, and I went to Mrs. Harnage's to Hayes on
the Uxbridge Road, where she lived in Summer with her children,
where I was with all convenience and satisfaction. I went twice
in disguise to Weybridge, and the last time on my return, a violent
flash of lighting flung my horse backward, and I was much hurt
and all alone, insomuch that I was forced to lie two hours on dirty
straw by the hogs. Getting up with much difficulty, and great
pain and anguish, I arrived at Mrs. Harnage's, and by bleeding, and
taking inwardly the powder of Irish slate, in about a week I was
pretty well recovered. Mrs. Harnage was a Roman Catholic, but
well beloved by her neighbours, and especially the minister of the
parish visited her frequently ; and he asking who I was, she
answered a friend of hers—a physician of London, and I was in a
continual fear during the six days I stayed after, that the minister
or any of his parish should fall sick. ! -
In fine I returned to my old quarters in Berkeley Street. To
* His father, Robert, the first Earl of Ailesbury, was Lord Chamberlain to James
the Second, but only for three months, when he died in office. His portrait by Sir
Peter Lely, with his wand and gold key of office, is in the dining-room at Sevenoaks.
at Hayes.
In Berkeley
Street. *
2 L 2
26o Memoirs of
Offers to
surrender
on bail.
recite all particulars and accidents would be too tedious, and soon
after, Mr. Harnage (that day being closed his general hour) brought
me word that one Major Philpott, newly come from St. Germains,
had orders to come to me. He brought him the next evening at
ten, and after having delivered to me several gracious remembrances
from King James and the Queen, I asked him what day he parted
from them, and he told me that it was about six weeks past, and
that he came by Mons and Brussels, and so to Holland. I then
enquired of him what he might have heard as to numbers of troops
that might have been drawn into Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, &c.,
in order to embark in the French Fleet then hovering over our
coasts, and he having heard nothing of all this, I sent to my wife,
who lodged in Dover Street, to come to me, and the very same
night; and I desired of her to go the next day to the Countess of
Derby, Groom of the Stole to the Queen, for to acquaint her
Majesty that I desired nothing more than to surrender myself-on
condition that I might not be sent to the Tower, and that I had
hid myself for no other reason but to avoid being shut up in that
hot season especially. For I had reason to believe there would be
no French embarked, and as much reason to infer that, as long as
those jealousies lasted, I should be clapped up close, and I was far
from taking it ill that a warrant was issued against me, for on
emergencies it is most rational for a government to secure itself,
but according to forms and law.
More of that when I recite my dialogue between the Earl of
Nottingham and myself. I had relations at Court, and near ones,
and they were all against me. The Earl of Nottingham, considering
our long acquaintance and some service I had rendered him,
might have been pitched on, but he had so little courage that he
durst not be a friend, so my wife addressed herself to that humane
nobleman the Earl of Dorset Lord Chamberlain (there had been
a coldness between our families, so I rarely conversed with him)
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 261
and to another Lord, the Earl of Peterborough, whom I had
conversed less with, but I knew he had by starts great notions of
generosity; and they both assured my wife that they would do all
they could to serve me, and of themselves offered to be my bail.
The Countess of Derby told my wife from the Queen, that she
would make no bargains, but that if I would surrender myself, I
should be treated with all distinction, and the excellent Princess,
of pious memory, made all good, and even beyond what ever was
practised before or ever will be hereafter. - º, .
The next day being Sunday, a Cabinet Council afternoon in
my two Kings' time, I imagined that it was the most proper time
to go to the Secretary's office. It was one of the hottest days
possible, and by reason any boy in the street might have called out
for to stop me, my name being in the proclamation, I went in a
The Queen's
anSWer.
Lord Ailes-
bury goes
to the
Secretary's
office.
Sedans with the curtains drawn, and the heat overcame me so that
I could scarce recover myself. The door-keeper of the Cabinet
Council chamber at the office I remembered in former reigns, and
the poor man was transported, and went fast over the Park to
fetch the Earl of Nottingham, who lived in Cleveland Court. In
some competent time he arrived, and we were in the Cabinet
Council chamber, talking and bantering each other for near two
hours, there being no Council on Sundays. I would not yield to
him, nor he to me, as who was the best lover of their country and
so forth. -
At last he said he must send me to the Tower, on which I told
him that I came out on the public faith, and on the Queen's
declaring (the King was in Ireland) I should be treated with all
distinction ; and what could be worse than going to the Tower
On which he demanded my parole for to appear when called for,
but, on parting, I surprised him by taking out a copy of the warrant
for to seize me, shewing him his own name with about a dozen
others, and desiring him to meet me at Westminster Hall. He smiled,
Dialogue
with Earl
of Notting-
ham.
262 Memoirs of
Bill of
Indemnity.
Duke of
Devon.
and said I was very bold for a prisoner, I told him I was none,
nor could be, if honour was prevalent. He understood my meaning,
and asked me why I would attack him singly. I answered that
but he, being a consummate one, he should pay for the rest ; and
then I asked where were his witnesses, for without them no one can
be taken up for high treason, but well for suspicion; and I read to
him the words “high treason” in that copy. We parted fairly and
civilly, but, to keep to my rule, I will finish this point before I begin
another, although I skip over five months at least.
The first day of the Sessions of Parliament, about November,
a bill was brought in to indemnify the Lords of the Council for
having signed warrants for to arrest persons for high treason &c.,
and the bill passed the assent very soon, and all the Lords of the
Council rose up, as is customary, and bowing to the King by way
of thanks; after which my Lord Nottingham said he defied me
now. I only added, “My Lord, let us not part without a text of
“Scripture, ‘Sin no more, lest a worse harm come to you.’”
The Earl of Dorset, as I said, and the Earl of Peterborough,
offering to be two of my bail, I was resolved to hear what my near
cousin the Duke of Devon Lord Steward would say, although he
and I were far from being friends, on family account, besides for
others reasons, although my father and I had rendered him eminent
services in his father's time, who was rather his bailiff or receiver,
and having a vast Estate and living moderately, he heaped up
whilst the son spent as fast, and, but for privilege of Parliament,
he had been clapped up several times: and at our persuasions we
obtained of the father at least sixty thousand pounds in course of
years, representing the shame it would be to have his son so
disgraced. But the father finding no hopes of his becoming
reasonable as to his unaccountable expenses, he entailed the Estate,
and made his son but Tenant for life, and vested the Estate in my
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 263
father and myself and five more ; and the lord in question could
not make any settlements, on the marriage of his son or otherwise,
without our consents by signing and sealing, and I being become
the survivor, at the request of this Duke I surrendered all that was
vested in me, by advice of Counsel, on or about 1716, which I
executed at Bruxelles.
He received me more coldly than can be expressed. I told
him that my Lord Chamberlain of himself offered to be my bail.
With his cold way and soft speaking, “If my Lord Chamberlain be
“one, I must be one also. But, coming to Whitehall, I understood
“that the Queen had intimated that it was not proper for any of
“the Prince's Council to be bail for any one.” I finding that I
was to provide City bail, I went into London for that purpose, and
just as I was sitting down to dinner, one of the Messengers of State
brought me word that the Queen expected my attendance before
the Council Board. I repaired forthwith. Arriving in the Clerk's
room by the Council Chamber, my good Lord Chamberlain came
out to me for to express the trouble he was in that he could not be
one of my bail, with all politeness and sweetness of temper. I was
called in, and all the lords stood up (and so until I went out) and
the Lord President the Earl of Danby, or perhaps Marquis
Caermarthen, then told me that the Queen was sorry that dinner
was on the table so soon, for that she had designed to tell me
herself what she commanded him to do in her absence. That she
took most kindly my surrendering myself, and that only one that
had, and that it was her express command that I should be treated
with all distinction. After this, the Lord President called out to
my Lord Chief Justice Holt, one of the Board, “My Lord, you
“have heard what I have told this noble lord by the Queen's
“special command ;” and added “My Lord, you are only to take
“bail for form sake.”
I asked the Chief Justice the hour. He leaving it to me, I
Members of
the Council
could not
be bail.
Chief
Justice Holt
to take bail
for form's
sake.
264 - Memoirs of
Amount of
recogni-
Z3. Il CC,
Sends his
thanks to
the Queen.
named four that afternoon. I made my bow and had great returns,
and from the greater part with agreeable countenances, save my
cousin's, God forgive him, and one or two more, for I was curious
in observing. About three, rising from table, Mr. Auditor Dove,
a great friend of mine, sent me word that he and a vast number of
friends were staying for me at the Rainbow Coffee House by the
Temple, each desiring to be my bail. I stopped there to return them
my hearty thanks, I having had four that offered themselves in the
morning. Thence I went to Serjeant's Inn, Chancery Lane, to my
Lord Chief Justice's, who received me most kindly, even tenderly,
and expressed the joy he was in that the Qneen's commands were
so agreeable to his sense, and how mortified he should have been
had he received other orders. - &
Instead of several thousands of pounds, most often to ten, and
as much for each of the bail to enter into, I entered into recogni-
zance only for two hundred pounds, and my bail each one hundred
pounds. That over, the Chief Justice and I embraced each other
heartily, and at parting he stopped me with these words, “My
“noble Lord, I have forgot one thing for your service ; I ought to
“give you a certificate, for I imagine you may go to your Country
“seat speedily, and on the road they may not know that you are
“at liberty.” And in two days after, going through Luton in
Bedfordshire, the Master of the Bell Inn, who had taken much of
my money, ran about to incite his neighbours to stop me, and they
all cried shame. -
The evening that I was bailed, I sent my wife to the Countess
of Derby, Groom of the Stole (sister to the present Duke of
Ormond) to beg of her to return my most dutiful thanks to Her
Majesty, and how mortified I was that persons under bail were
looked on as a sort of prisoners, and that I could not pay my duty
in person. The Queen's answer was in these very words, “Tell
“my Lady of Ailesbury that I love to do good to all persons as far
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 265
“as I can, but more especially to her husband and his family, whom
“I knew so well in my youngest years” (for my mother was a
favourite of the Duchess of York her mother, and a sister of mine
and myself went with our mother to her Court, and we were much
about the age of that good and incomparable Queen, and played as
young children together) “and therefore, for his sake, I will break
“through the common forms, and direct him to come at four to-
“morrow afternoon.” She received me even beyond herself, and
repeated what she had directed the Countess of Derby to tell me
by my wife the day before. The days being long and hot, she
played at basset until towards seven, and with a most smiling
countenance said, “My Lord, you play at Basset?” I answered
that I had used to play, but that prisoners were poor. She guessed
well what I meant (and it must be imagined how little I expected
that honour and distinction) and pointing to my Lord Colchester,
and Mr. Maulle that kept the bank (and formerly we were partners),
“Your old friends hath money at your service.” And the Countess
of Derby sitting by the Queen, that lady bade me sit by her, and
the Queen from time to time was so gracious as to ask me many
questions relating to myself and family, and how unpleasant a life I
led during the time I absconded, &c. You may imagine the surprise
all were in, and much more those that came in after, and particularly
our famous Earl of Mulgrave, who would not believe it, and being
of all persons the most short sighted, he looked on me with all
earnestness before he would believe it, and indeed it was scarce
credible; for two days before the Sunday I was liable to be stopped
by any in the streets, as my name was in the proclamation, and for
high treason, as my Lord Nottingham, that great lawyer, was pleased
to set his hand to.
In relating the occurrences of 1690, I shall have sufficient
matter to continue the praises of that incomparable Queen, for her
great judgment as well as for her compassion. About May, as I
VOL. I. 2 M
Received by
the Queen
very gra-
ciously.
266 Memoirs of
King
William in
Ireland.
take it, King William set out for Ireland; his landing place I have
forgot, but he must have been in the north part, nor do I pretend to
give you any particulars of actions or sieges, but shall come to the
main point in few words; and 'tis impossible besides to do otherwise.
Battle of the
Boyne.
Duke of
Schomberg
killed.
Irish army
ran away.
King James's
military
Care C.I.
/
Both armies were in a condition not to despise each other on
outward appearance, but, on proof, the difference between them
was, that one made good their boasted bravery, and the Irish one
gave ground at the first firing. I think it was before the passage of
the Boyne that the renowned Marechal Duke of Schomberg was
killed, and sought it out of despair for having been reproached for
his necessary inactivity the year preceding at Dundalk, a sad end
for so great a man, and at his years—eighty-two. If I mistake not,
eighty chosen men were sent from King James' army on the forlorn
hope, and that great Marechal wilfully exposed himself, and was cut
in pieces. I ask pardon if this be not exactly related, but in the
main I am right. I had this at the first from my friend, M. Bur-
sciere, that General's chirurgeon then. In a word, the Irish army
ran away, and particularly the Regiment of Fitzjames, whom King
James his father had made Duke of Albemarle, and not above four
men of that body stuck by their Colonel. The courage of King
James was called in question. King William was known to be a
prince of great valour, and I dare answer that if his army had run
away as the other did, he would have taken the same course King
James did. The latter was with the King his father at twelve years
of age, then making head against the rebels, and, although so young,
he gave proofs of having a true martial spirit. And after the
murther of his father, he was put into the hands of the Earl of
Northumberland, and by the means of one Bampfield he escaped into
Holland, and joined the Queen his mother, and his brother King
Charles the Second. Being militarily inclined, he served under
Marechal de Turenne with high applause (and he ever called that
Marechal his governor, and for his sake he so highly advanced the
nephew, my Lord Duras and after Earl of Feversham) and I think
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 267
he was Lieutenant-General in that service. Some few years after,
the Cardinal Mazarin intimated to the King and to his brother, the
Prince in question, for to leave the realm, and being in the Austrian
Netherlands, this Prince had the post of Lieutenant-General, and he
behaved himself with all bravery at the battle of Dunkirk in 1658,
and that town was taken after, and put by the French into the hands
of General Morgan, Commander in Chief of the English Auxiliary
Forces of Cromwell's. After the glorious and happy restoration,
he was Lord High Admiral of England, and in all sea engagements
that were most bloody he commanded with an intrepidity not to be
paralleled, and, to my knowledge, the Duke of Monmouth and
many others that afterwards were his greatest enemies ever rendered
him due justice and in my presence, and even when that King was
retired to St. Germain's, and particularly once at the Duke of
Leicester's,” my neighbour at dinner and I at table, and which was
two or three years after the Battle of the Boyne, and this was sup-
ported by Brig: Edward Matthews, a late creature of the Duke of
Monmouth. In one sea engagement his first Captain of his ship Sir
John Cox was killed at his feet, and the brains of that person flew
on the Duke of York's face, and one that was present told me that
he calmly wiped his face with his handkerchief with these words,
“He was a brave and an honest man, and I pity his wife and
“children, for he had a numerous family.” What I relate is
literally true, and no doubt many other of his brave actions never
came to my knowledge. To conclude, how is it possible that a
Prince endowed with so much bravery could become the quite
contrary In England his chiefs of the army betrayed him, and in
Ireland his army took to their heels. On retiring, and very wisely,
he said he would never put himself again at the head of an Irish
army. It is certain that in foreign countries the Irish soldiers have
behaved themselves most bravely, and for instance at the Battle of
* Leinster. Meinhardt Schomberg created Duke of Leinster in the Peerage of
Ireland, 1690.
2 M 2.
Irish brave
in foreign
service.
268 Memoirs of
Landen,” and at Cremorne*; but they could never stand head to head
against the English. I cannot determine the reason. It doth not
proceed from want of hatred that is certain, and in reality they are
treated in all respects like to a conquered people. It is wonderful,
but true, that the English hate the Irish, and they are quits with
them; and 'tis the same between the English and Scotch, as also
between the Scotch and Irish. So it is but too true that we English
love no nation but our own, and God knows if that be even true
considering the animosities and factions amongst ourselves. King
James retired to France, and King William not being able to take
Limerick this year, instead of landing at Holyhead he was drove
into Bristol Channel and lay at the Duke of Beaufort's at Bad-
minton in his way to London. The reception was noble but not
satisfactory. In the Chapel that Lord's Chaplain praying only for
the King, without name, he asked to go to the Chapel, suspecting
as I imagine. Soon after, I had a proof that the King had a fair
esteem for me, and when it was otherwise I laid it wholly on the
Dutch favourites who had ever an eye on my estate, but, God be
praised, they could never attain to it. -
My residence being at Weybridge, I came to London with my
wife, and for a very few days, and arriving at Putney, the King's
groom would not suffer my Coach to enter into the ferry boat
although there were three ready. It was Smith, that attended the
King James to the ship side near Feversham. I told him that he
was grown proud, serving a new King. He begged my pardon,
alleging that he was threatened to be dismissed in the morning
when the King passed to go to Hampton Court, for that the three
ferry boats were not ready, and in a moment the King and Queen
arrived, on which I retired on the Strand at some distance, and
National
antipathies.
King James
retired to
France.
King
William’s
politeness to
Lord Ailes-
bury.
The ferry
at Putney.
* See p. 290. July 29, 1693, when Sarsfield was slain. The famous rescue of
Cremona, January, 1702. See “Sketch of the Irish Brigade, Appendix to National
and Historical Ballads, by T. Davis, Dublin,” and “O’Connor, Military History of the
Irish Nation.”
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 269
*
although it grew duskish, the King asked the Ferryman if I was
not in that coach, and why I stayed there. The Ferryman telling
him the reason, “That is very hard. I order you to bring over
“my Lord and Lady at the first return.” For there were nine
coaches, great numbers on horseback, the horseguards, and I
expected to stay two hours until all was over, and a very wet night
and dark. A lifeguardsman called to my coachman to drive
forward, and I asking him the reason, he said it was by the King's
Command, and going over with the same ferryman, I asked how the
King came to know who was in the coach. The man answered as
I have mentioned before. I had not been at Court for near one
year, and I considered that after this it was incumbent on me for to
go, but to mention nothing of what had passed. I kissed his hand,
and he was gracious, and of himself asked me from what place I
came yesterday; and telling him from Weybridge, “They tell me
that it is a fine place.” I answered that his presence there would
add much to the beauty of it. He said, “I should be glad to go.”
I told him the greatest inconvenience was passing the ferry (Putney
being the shortest way and best road) but that I never passed the
river so agreeably as I did last night, on which he smiled and said
he was very glad of it, and then told me he would present me to
the Queen. I need not mention with what grace she received me.
It being on a Sunday, and chapel time, the proper officer gave me Lord Ailes-
the sword to carry. The Jacobites had the liberty of St. James' º: St.
Park (and often they made ill use of it) and they were soon all in Chapel.
an uproar imagining I was turned courtier. To satisfy those loyal -
but unthinking persons, I generally came when the King and Queen
were actually at chapel, for the Lord that carries the sword going
to church brings it back.
This sunshine also lasted not long, and when on the King's ...'
part he became cold and dry, I then retired by little and little. I º
guess that it was about this time that our old minister, that had
been left out of the Act of Grace and had been absolved by the
27o - Memoirs of
Military
preparations
in France.
Monsieur
Lauzun.
dºw
Consistory in Holland, came into the secret closet. The Cabinet
Council had been too public, there being nine or ten persons at
least of that body. It might be sooner, it might be later, for his
works were deeds of darkness, and so we without doors could not
well know the just time. More of him hereafter, and on several
occasions, and in several years. About this time, preparations in
France were on the Anvil in order to have a good Army in Ireland
in the Spring of 1693, to relieve if possible the Kingdom. The
great Louvois' designs were good in favour of King James, but that
unfortunate prince overturned all by an entire and groundless
friendship he had for Monsieur Lauzun, a man of no service or
merit either in Cabinet or Camp. About the year 1670 he was the
chief favourite of Louis the fourteenth, to the astonishment, as I
have been told, of the Court and Kingdom, and he carried himself
so insolently that he had not one friend there, and for aspiring
(some say they were married) to marry Mademoiselle de Mont-
pensier the King's Cousin he was sent to Poynerall and kept close
prisoner some years. The great minister of the Finance, Monsieur
Fouquet, had been there for some years before, under the most
close of confinement also. How and in what manner the former
got to the Chamber of the latter is not certain; most said it was by
the chimney, and that was most probable. In fine M. Fouquet not
knowing that he had been brought in a prisoner, thought it had
been his ghost, and in relating his amour with Madlle. Montpensier
so nearly allied to the King, he then concluded he was clapped up
as a madman. And nobody could serve King James' turn but this
shuttlecock. He was indeed Lieutenant General, but made so in
the time of his high favour, at a Camp made to please the reigning
mistress there, but he never had smelt the powder. This gentleman
happened to accompany the Queen and the Prince to France, and by
mere accident and not otherwise contributing, for which at King James'
request he was made a Duke of France, and had the Garter given him.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 271
After the Peace of Riswick, my Lord Portland was sent Caustic
Ambassador Extraordinary to France, and the first person that went . of
to see him was this Duke and Knight of the Garter. Comte Gramont, Gramont.
that had always good and pleasant sallies, was asked by this Duke if *
he had been at the English Ambassador's. He replied, he stayed
going until the King had made him a Duke, and that the King
of England (for so he called King James) had given him the
garter. e -
I having notice of this unhappy resolution, I wrote to King
James beseeching him most humbly to lay aside that thought, and
to take any body living to command the French Army in Ireland -
on condition he was protected by Monsieur Louvois; but I could The French
not prevail, and all went accordingly in 1691 in Ireland,-Limerick ; IIl
taken, the French defeated at Aghrim, and the whole Kingdom 1691.
reduced; for M. Louvois, to revenge himself, sent not half of
whatsoever he would have done if his brother in law Souvray had
commanded in chief. The annals give you an account of sieges,
battles &c. and of the French retiring with the remains. To finish
this subject, although it happened not just after these failings in
Ireland yet I bring it in here to conclude. I had a hard game to
play, being surrounded with well-meaning persons in the main, but
most of them hot heads and empty ones as their purses were,
which made them furious and impatient, and imagining that, by raw
advices sent over, King James must be restored when they had
imagined that it would be. - -
I was not so credulous, always laying it down for a maxim that Lord Ailes-
without a strong fleet that never could be compassed, and even "Y" "
that by great secrecy, an early surprise in the Spring, and so forth ;
but to keep them patient I was forced to wink at all, and in reality
they were as well pleased with their empty projects as children are
of rattles and whistles. *
I will give you one instance of their disunion in thoughts.
272 Memoirs of
Differences
among the
Jacobites.
Parties—
Middle-
tonian—
Melfordian.
Mr. Maloni, a pretty young man, then an ensign in the Irish Guards
in France, and he that afterwards made so great a figure in Spain
in the Earl of Peterborough's time there. He being to go over to
his post in France desired one to bring him to me (and the only
time I saw him). I had nothing to say to him, but wished him a
good journey. I only asked him how many he had seen, for their
names I coveted not to know. He saying they were upwards of
twenty, I smiled on asking him how many of those joined in the
same notions, for I could give them no other demonstration.
He, with a smile also, replied they were almost all of different
opinions. On this I wrote humbly to beg that all scribbling might
be forbidden, and that nothing should be received in writing but
what was drawn up in form or method by one or two persons to be
named. Writing being thus forbidden (but the order little
observed) all was laid on me, for then Parties began to spring in
England ;-the Middleton and Melford one, and for the Military,
Fenwick and Sackville; the two latter striving who was the eldest
Major General by commission. At first I kept a friendship for the
latter, and he ate often at my house, and we were together in other
places, but he was naturally most peevish, and passionate, and
proud, and poor; perhaps that made those vices increase on him.
He influenced entirely the Earl of Lichfield, a worthy man and of
good temper, and we were most intimate, but his good nature and
temper made him too credulous, and Mr. Sackville having an
ascendant over him, made him break off entirely with me and never
after did I see one or the other, no not when I came out of the
Tower when the whole Town generally came to condole and
congratulate. And for why? This Earl had always in his head at
King James' return to be made Lord Chamberlain, and he was
made to believe by that Major General that I was his competitor,
when, God knows, it was the least of my thoughts, that employ-
ment or any other whatsoever. More of that in its proper place.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 273
Mr. Sackville infused other things, and he fomented also by
Captain David Lloyd, bred to Sea and Groom of the Bed-chamber
to King James, the very picture of Captain Surly in the Comedy
of Sir Courtly Nice. He was a great runner to and fro, and I was
most credibly informed that once he went from my Lord Marl-
borough and Admiral Russell, and I know that at his return he did
alight at the house of the latter, and was carried into his closet in
the presence of Captain Priestman and Captain Matthew Aylmer
(creatures of the Admiral) and other sub officers. And a little
before, the two last told it as news of the town, that Lloyd was in
France, and he coming in soon after, the old Admiral said, “See
Captain
David Lloyd.
“Gentlemen, how you are mistaken.” This Lloyd, as I said, went
often over, but the secret was to be kept from me, to my great
satisfaction. When he arrived at St. Germains, King James used
to ask him if he had seen me and he saying “No,”—“What in the
“name of God, do you come over without imparting it to my best
“friend ?”
This incensed Lloyd more and more against me, also Sackville,
and of consequence my Lord Lichfield, and it grieved me for to see
all these ambitious persons make court for employments as if King
James had been in Whitehall. Sir John Fenwick was, on his side,
as flashy : his temper was most good, but his headpiece not of the
best, as will be seen hereafter. My Lord Forbes now Earl of
Granard, a man of high honour and worth, was a great friend of
Sir John Fenwick's, my Lord Montgomery also, and some few
others, and they were called Melfordians and the others Middle-
tonians and to these were added Colonel James Graham that had
been privy purse to King James, Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, and
Sir Charles Orby. I, keeping a fair friendship with John Fenwick,
I could not escape being thought a party man. I have hinted
formerly that by my means my Lord Melford was sent from Ireland,
and so to Rome, where he was now actually, and to keep him there
VOL. I. 2 N
Sir J. Fen- -
wick.
274 Memoirs of
or anywhere else distant from the King, I exhibited articles, and
added convincing reasons, for keeping him distant from St. Germains;
and I fully instructed Mr. Cockburn, a Scotch Gentleman of good
parts, that was taken at Sea coming from Ireland, and by my Lord
Nottingham I procured his liberty, or by exchange which I have
forgot. This gentlemen had not his discharge with such expedition
so as it gave time to Sir Adam Blair to arrive in London with
commands that Dr. Lloyd, the deprived Bishop of Norwich (my
only intimate friend) and myself should keep well with my Lord
Melford, for that being without a Secretary of State for to confer
with the French Court, he was obliged to call that lord from Rome
to his Court; and I will give you two reasons how that King
came to be without one. About one year since, more or less, I
represented to him that he had nobody of any weight to confer with
the French Ministers, and that his affairs there were neglected by
consequence. On which he left it to me for to choose and to send
him over a person proper for that employment. This Commission
was difficult and most nice, by reason that a person of parts with
an estate to lose would hardly be induced to run all risks and to
ruin his family, and after mature deliberation I went to Twicken-
ham Park, to the old Earl of Cardigan's, father-in-law to the Earl
of Middleton, and that lord being then there, and after dinner we
conferred alone in the garden, and I laid open to him the commands
I had received. - - .
He received my proposition very coldly, and in the main
alleging that sooner or later my Lord Melford would come from
Rome and would be at the head, and that he could not submit to
be less than he was at the revolution—the First Secretary of State
—and that he preferred far a pension. This choice of mine of this
lord proceeded more from the necessity of having one than from the
great opinion I had of him, and time showed that I was not mistaken
in the man. However my thoughts being not known to him or any
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 275
one else; it was evident that I would not be of any party but for
him that served his master best, and which I told after on occasion
his own lady. I found after, her husband had the same thoughts of
me as those poor-headed people had here before mentioned, which
was very unjust in him after the generous offer I made to him and
by way of preference, but I found after that our old minister that
acted all behind the curtain at Court and like a mole, began to see
secretly my Lord Middleton, and began to play his pranks over
again. On my Lord Middleton's utterly refusing to go, I made no
further steps after having made report.
Some time after, Colonel Graham told me that his brother, my
Lord Preston, was coming to town in order to go to St. Germains
and to be there Secretary of State, and that he would not fail to
take his leave of me. I returned the compliment with politeness,
but I knew well that it was only that he might say at St. Germains
that he had seen me, for that party knew well, as I have mentioned
before in treating on Mr. David Lloyd, that persons that came
thither without having seen me were not so well received, and it
brought such an envy on me that I represented to King James,
begging that he would let fall words as if he suspected me rather
than to praise me, for his Court had many pensioners to England
amongst them. Towards the arrival of this lord to London, his
brother Graham told me that he wanted two hundred guineas.
Knowing well the hot head of this person, and that his party
were needy, restless, and impatient, I was fearful that some base
action might have been proposed to them, which was put in practice
the Spring of 1693, although prevented. I told him that I never
advanced money unless I knew well how it was to be laid out, but
that if it was for my Lord Preston's journey and for nothing else,
he should have the money on condition he would give a note to re-
pay me so soon as he was in a condition. He answered me with
warmth, and with an oath heavy enough, that his brother was not
Lord
Preston.
2 N 2
276 Memoirs of
reduced to that as yet, and I in a very slighting manner told him I
had nothing to say to him. This was a Gasconade, for my Lord
Meetings of,
the Middle-
ton Cabal.
Preston was in a low condition. On this, to my great satisfaction,
I did not see him, and all their secret meetings and cabals they
were as industrious to hide from me as if I had been a favourite at
Kensington Court, which diverted me more than the best comedy
acted on the stage. .
The Lords Feversham, Weymouth, Dartmouth, and some
others and myself used to eat often together, and, the days being
short, I always took my leave of them towards the dusk of the
evening, telling them smilingly that I would not hinder their ren-
dezvous; and they would have me to believe they knew not what
I meant by that expression. The conferences were kept at Mr.
Rigby’s, Mercer, at the Seven Stars, in the Piazza, Covent Garden,
adjoining to Bedford Terrace wall; he was father-in-law to Mr.
Ashton who was to be of the Journey, an honest man and he died
so, else filled with too much vanity. I cannot say who were the
rest, but I have good reason to believe that besides those Lords,
Dr. Turner Bishop of Ely deprived, and Mr. Penn the Quaker were
of that meeting, and some others of the Middleton Cabal.
A miserable wretch, a cousin of mine, a younger son of the
old Lord Delamere, got knowledge of these meetings, by what
accident I know not, and gave notice to Court (very ungentleman-
like) of all, and he was ordered to get what intelligence he could.
He had also found out that a quaker woman of Wapping had gone
in and out from Mr. Rigby's. This woman was dogged, and her
steps were watched, and this was the woman that my Lord Preston
had hired a vessel of for to convey them. On this Captain Billop,
that commanded the man of war the “Suffolk,” had the Reach
allotted to him for his station, and orders to visit all vessels what-
soever that sailed down. The task was easy enough, for my
worthless cousin (nobly born and became a court spy) had given
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 277
to Captain Billop all signs and tokens, and the vessel sailing by him
he ordered the master to throw his anchor, and he went on board
and opened the hatches, for there was no deck, and found my Lord
Preston, Mr. John Ashton, and Mr. Edward Elliott a captain of a
man of war in King James's time and had been his page. On this
surprise, my Lord Preston put into the hands of Mr. Ashton his
bundles of papers, which cost the poor man his life. These three
were put into Newgate. This Lord's trial began first, his papers
and letters he carried were all read, and I am sorry to say that he
was his own murtherer, and a more poor conduct was never heard
of than that of this Lord.
One of the letters was from the Countess of Dorchester to
King James, reciting the pretty things her young daughter my
Lady Catherine Darnley said (since Countess of Anglesey, and
after Duchess of Buckinghamshire). He set out the inclinations
of this and that County.
The gentry of one was good, and the lesser sort the contrary;
that the Duke of Ormond was highly discontented that he had not
the first regiment of Lifeguards; that Sir Edward Seymour says
Mr. James Porter betrays your Majesty; and a great deal of such
stuff. My Lord Preston was an honest man, but no knower of men,
Lord Preston
and others
taken.
Letters and
their con-
tentS.
and was plausible towards all to an equality, and he was thought
more flattering than sincere, and I have no opinion of those that
carries an equal deportment towards all. I enlarge more on this
last particular, for to make my sentiments known on this head.
There is an old but good and useful proverb, “You must eat a
“peck of salt with a man before you can rightly know him.”
Insincerity by us formerly was ever laid on the French, but that
nation may well return it, and deservedly, on us. -
When I was in England I never relied on any one until years
of proof, whether of one sex or the other, and it hath been the
same with me since my being in the Low Countries for thirty-one
278 Memoirs of
Lord
Preston over
fond of the
bottle.
Tried—
found guilty.
His life
spared.
Mr. Ashton
condemned.
years past, and in this course of years I never found of friends but
one gentleman of quality and one lady that I entirely confided in,
but by an outward behaviour I am, God be thanked, in fair esteem
with all. Pardon this digression. The unfortunate lord above
mentioned had good learning and tolerable parts, but given so much
to the bottle that it dulled much the good understanding that God
had endowed him with. From the nature of the thing, and the
poor conduct withal, a good defence could not be expected, and the
Jury soon brought him in guilty. He was a peer of Scotland,-
King James had sent him a patent for to be an English Viscount
from St. Germains, but being summoned to the Lord's Bar he durst
not insist on it. And in Newgate the bottle never was from him,
and Sir George Fletcher, his father-in-law, and Doctor Wake, his
late Chaplain and since Archbishop of Canterbury, did far from well
in conducting him at late hours to Kensington, and being in drink
he said whatever they desired, and the next morning being cool he
knew scarce where he had been, and denied all. At last, not so
much for his sake as that of hungry courtiers, his life was spared,
but his estate for his life fell into the hands of those horse-leeches
(and when I was in the Tower I feared, with reason, that more than
death, my estate being entailed); and I was told that in the few
years he lived after, he had sometimes not common neccessaries.
He studied much and drank equally, but what was the worst in him,
he never declared to the Court and Jury that the papers found
about Mr. Ashton were all his, and the subject matter unknown to
the latter also, who had parts and cunning. And it is certain that,
but for papers seized about them, no one of them would have been
in the least danger, no not to be tried as matters stood then. Poor
Mr. Ashton was tried, and condemned, and only for the papers of
my Lord Preston found about him. I am told that he behaved
himself much like a gentleman (whether he was one born I know
not), and declared he could not die with a safe conscience until he
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 279
had justified Captain Edward Elliott, that he was a young man that
had been captain of a man of war, and that being out of employment
and low in purse, he desired only a passage in the vessel for to seek
his bread in a foreign country. This being most humanely repre-
sented to the King by my Lord Lovelace, Captain of the Band of
Pensioners and others, Mr. Elliott was honourably discharged, and
without trial. The King going soon over to the army, the signing
of the dead warrant to execute Mr. Ashton fell to the Queen's
share, who lamented it highly, for she had personally known the
Mr. Elliott
discharged.
prisoner when he was Clerk of her father's council when Duke of
York, and had been bred up by Lieutenant General Warden,
Treasurer of the Household, which latter and Sir John Warden his
son were in fair esteem with the Queen. I may observe that this
execution was one the most irregular of any during that King's
reign, which was far from being bloody, and I must render his
memory that justice. For those that would have assassinated him
in February 169% owned their bloody design, at least could not
palliate it. What follows I lay wholly the saddle on the right
horse. . Since Oats' time, when false evidences swarmed, this reign
exceeded that if possible, and the Secretary's office swarmed with
them, because the hungry Dutch aspired at all our estates, the rich
as well as the poor ones, and to either wise the glory and honour of
Queen Anne's reign on the death of her brother-in-law, those rogues
were all kicked out of doors, Oats' pension taken from him, as also
that which the miserable George Porter, false evidence against me
enjoyed, and one given to that honest Platt that saved her father's
life at Feversham by receiving the blow on his arm which might
have knocked the King her father down. I have wrongly placed
one transaction at Court of great moment. King William and
Queen Mary perceiving that my Lady Marlborough swayed entirely
their sister the Princess Anne, of Denmark, they did what they
could to get her removed, but in vain. It coming to my knowledge,
The Dutch
eager for the
confiscated
€StateS.
Lady Marl-
borough.
28o Memoirs of
Lord Ailes-
bury's con-
ference with
her.
I went early one Sunday morning (having the day before intimated
it by a signal of not going to Church) to St. Albans, and I had a
conference of two hours with that lady in the garden. On one head
I spoke pretty plain, that I perceived that there was a cloud hanging
over her head, and that she ought to endeavour to dissipate it, and
talking of some things that had passed irregularly on the revolution,
as the hurrying away of the Princess out of her bed at midnight.
She laid that and other things on the Lady Fitzharding. Then I
said that I had a point of the highest moment in my head, but that
the matter was not yet ripe but might be soon, and I ended thus,
“I speak, Madam, to a person of great sense and high penetration ;
“you may well guess, Madam, my meaning.” I designed to have
dined with her, but unfortunately my Lady Fitzharding and my
Lord Godolphin (the first she hated, and both my enemies, and she
knew it) had sent one in the morning early to give her notice of
their design to come there towards noon. I found her uneasy; to
avoid the sun we sat under the stone arches adjoining the house; in
this disorder she asked me if I would drink any sack, for her design
was to dismiss me, and with reason ; and soon after, they brought
her word that the company was coming out of the coach, and she
in great perplexity told me that, next where I sat there was a door
that let out into a little back yard, “See if you can open it;" and
persons in apprehension are more strong at that time, for it was a
door very seldom opened, and the lock and key rusty and with cob-
webs. By the help of the bottom of my coat I opened the door,
and the key broke in my hand, and I retired into that little yard
behind the fagots, and walked up to my Inn, and told the Mistress
that, company being come in, they would dine too late for me to
go to my country house that night; for I had told her my design of
dining with that lady. - .
In the Winter of this year 1691, the King and Queen told the
Princess that she must part with my Lady Marlborough, and they
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 281
not being gratified, the Princess and Prince George were forbid the
Court and Town, the latter for the time. They went to Zion, a
house of the Duke of Somerset's. I had audience of them, and I
offered them my house at Ampthill, by reason of great Parks and
Woods which would divert the Prince, and the air most good, and
that of Zion indifferent. They both received me with great attention
and goodness, and the Princess with many thanks told me that her
affairs required her being near London, else she would have accepted
of my offer with pleasure. - • ‘
Having no minutes by me to furnish me, and also as to point
of time, I have omitted one thing of singular moment, and so it be
known and affirmed which I do, it is of little consequence which” it
be put in its right method. One Fuller, son to a butcher at
Gravesend, was advanced by the Marchioness of Powis to be her
Page as a reward for his being become a bigot now converted
Roman Catholic. This unparalleled villain and incorrigible (the
words in the vote passed against him some time after in the House
of Commons), this rogue insinuated such lies at St. Germains that
it was credited there that he was a gentleman of a good estate, and
that if he might have leave to go into England he would sell his
estate and distribute part to the Generals Cannon and Buchan
The Princess
and Prince
George
retire from
the Court.
Fuller.
(these were in the Highlands in Scotland and endeavouring to
serve King James there) and the rest as his Majesty should order.
One Captain Crone came over with him, who, believing all he said,
opened himself too far, and told him who he was sent to, and, as I
take it, he shewed also commissions signed but a blank for the
names. In the instructions, he was to have conferred with Allen
and Shirley, two borrowed names, and on occasion I wrote by the
former, and Lieutenant General Warden by the latter, but God be
praised, neither he nor I ever saw that man, occasioned by Fuller,
. - * whether.
VOL. I. 2 O
Captain
Crone.
282 Memoirs of
Fuller’s
story about
Mrs. Grey
and Prince
of Wales.
” knights of the post.” "
who was acquainted with one Cornelius Hatcliffe, that was thought
to be his real father, and one Kitchingman, both of Kent, and
Fuller brought this silly Crone to these two wretches, who
took on them the names of Allen and Shirley, and he, swallowing
the bait, told them all he was charged with, and Crone was tried
and condemned, but pardoned after, and I imagining for what
reason, I employed one Ebenezer Jones, formerly a Major under
the Duke of Monmouth at Sedgemoor, for to inveigle him into
France on pretence to take possession of a troop of Dragoons that
was bestowed on him. To come to the main point, Fuller came to
Court and offered to discover that Mrs. Grey was the real mother
of whom they called now the pretended Prince of Wales, and
pretended to name the Convent where she was put in by order of
the King of France, and added there was coming over Lieutenant
Haye and Ensign Delaval for to confirm this testimony. This was
known publicly, and nothing coming of it, some time after I asked
my Lord Nottingham, Secretary of State (whom very often I set
down at Whitehall in my way coming from the House of Lords),
if Haye and Delaval- were arrived, and that if their proofs
were undeniable I should by degrees have my eyes opened as to
that birth: I set down his very answer, “Pox on you, we cannot
“make any false steps but you must be reproaching of us.” Fuller
went on headlong, and presented cartloads of petitions to the King
in-Councils, and to both Houses. ... I should have said they were
printed ones to be given to all persons, and I can aver to you who
were the obstructers, -those that managed the King's affairs in
both Houses; and for this reason, that the King chose rather to let
the matterfall, and undecided, than that Fuller and the two others -
(but they never appeared) should be convicted of perjury, and if so,
"several expressions on his landing in England would have been
contradicted by their conviction; and I knew very well that the
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. te 283
Nº.
King in his heart never doubted of that birth, and knowing that my
cousin the Earl of Essex, Gentleman of his Bedchamber, had a
print of the Prince, and well done, he desired to see it, and these
were his words, “About the mouth, he is most like to my uncle
“King Charles, and his eye most like to his mother's.” And
when I saw him at St. Germains at 8 years of age. I found that
description true. A list of all the cheats this Fuller committed
were without number, and many of them most ingeniously
invented. . . . -
After the House of Commons' just and severe vote he was
clapped up on executions, &c., and by his age then, he may very
well be there at this day, and for many years to come. Much about
this Winter, the King had gained one of the Governors of a special
Fort at Dunkirk, I think that of Risbank. The Lord Marlborough
was in the secret, and the matter came to light, and it was said that
he owned it to his lady, and she to her sister my Lady Tyrconnel,
Lady of the Bedchamber at St. Germains. The particulars I have
forgot, but this is certain, that my Lord Marlborough was sent to
the Tower, and the Captain of the Fort at Dunkirk was executed.
I cannot say that my Lord Shrewsbury had any part of this, but
likely, if he was come in again into Court, for it was like a Tertian
ague with him, sometimes, in employment, at other times, out on
pretence of infirmity, and one.time he was obliged to take the seals
and threatened if he refused them; but I am apt to believe
that now he was not of the Court, for...reasons I shall give
hereafter. . . . . . . . . . . - . . . . .
In the course of this year, towards the latter end, all being lost
for King James in Ireland, a thought came into my head, and which
I communicated to no one living but the person I sent over, Mr.
Winchop, a genteel and worthy clergyman; a late Prebend of York
or some other church, and that would not take the Oaths, and he
had a competent knowledge of the French language. I gave him
The King's
belief as to
the Prince
of Wales.
Scheme
about
Dunkirk.
Mr. Win-
chop.
2 O 2
284 tº . Memoirs of
Lord Ailes-
bury's in-
structions.
his instructions in writing to get by heart, and then directed him to
burn them, and that as soon as he arrived in France that he should
put my instructions into writing again; and in this place I inform
you that in all business I never spoke but to one at a time, and I
never mentioned to any one what I had said to another, by which I
kept out of trouble, and to add I never had in my possession any
paper that might rise up against me, and when I was sent to the
Tower years after, I had not occasion to destroy one single piece of
paper, for I foresaw my going to the Tower 4 days before.
To return, my instructions I gave to Mr. Winchop were as
followeth :—You are to take all necessary precautions so as to
arrive at Versailles with all secresy, Calais and Boulogne are filled
with spies, and do not make acquaintance with any of your country-
men, that is of the three Kingdoms. You are not to speak with any
one of the Court of St. Germains, no, not with the King and Queen.
You are to set foot straight at Versailles, and there you are to
desire to be admitted into the presence of the Marquis de Louvois,
and not to stir from the one until you return for England, and then
not to have one line of written hand. -
The paper he gave to the Marquis de Louvois was to this
effect —that I, by name, greatly lamented the wrong step King
James had made, by not accepting his brother in law for to have
commanded the troops that were sent to Ireland, and that I had
repeated my instances that he would not think of any other person
than Monsieur de Souvray, and that it was with great sorrow of
mind that my advice was not taken, and that I could answer for so
many others of my acquaintance that they were of my opinion; but
as to this commission given to the bearer, for weighty reasons was
known to no one but myself, nor was it to be known to any one at
St. Germains that I had sent the bearer to him. And the proposal
was this :—humbly to desire him to forget what was past as if it had
never happened, and that if he would embrace King James' interest
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 285
for the time to come, with all his power at his court, that I stood
engaged, and would be bound body for body, that his brother the
Archbishop of Rheims should certainly have a Cardinal's Cap ; for
I knew that Pope Ottobuoni would refuse nothing in reason that
could be asked of him. I knew Mons. Louvois very well, and that
no man (set aside his great abilities) had more vanity, and I entered
entirely into his blind side. It is not to be expressed how Mr.
Winchop was caressed and treated dinner and supper in his
chamber, the best of his apartment at Versailles, and at parting
embracing him, much conjured him to assure me of his true and
hearty thanks, and of the esteem he had for me, adding, Sir, pray
assure that lord that sent you over, that all past actions should be
by him forgotten, and that his whole study for the future should be
for King James' service, and this thing, Sir, you may depend on.
It was not my business to consider the little worth of his brother,
and it was nothing to me if a Cardinal more or less was in the
Consistory that merited it not. I stuck to my point, but God
knows to little purpose, for that great minister died very soon after,
some suspected it was by poison; and his son Barbesieux, knowing
nothing of what passed between his father and myself, was ever a
bitter enemy to King James' interest. He succeeded his father,
but had not his talents, and, being extremely debauched, lived but
few years; and to shew his spite, he was the occasion that very
many thousands of Irish were broke on the Treaty of Riswick, a
great piece of dis-service he did his master, and only to satisfy his
revenge. The King was too prodigal in giving titles to Dutchmen
and others not natives, that we began to look about us, not knowing
where it would end. So I consulted the Earl of Rochester, and he
others, in order to bring in a bill for to regulate trials for treason,
and what most particularly regarded us was, that out of the sessions
of Parliament, the Crown nominates a number of thirty, under or
over, nonpere, by reason to have a casting voice, and, as I said,
Too many
titles given
to the Dutch.
286 Memoirs of
. Bill brought
in to obviate
this.
Tacked to
the money
bill.
Dutch lords came in so thick, and the crown not being limited, it
was a melancholy prospect for us English Peers. So, it was
proposed, and leave was given, to bring in such a bill, and where it
was to be enacted that, on the trial of Peers all; should be present,
although there was no session of Parliament. And many other
excellent clauses there were, that prisoners should have Counsel to
plead for them from first to last (for before, Counsel was only
allotted for to argue points of law and nothing else, and God knows
how many prisoners of small parts and little sense' have been
worried out of their lives). Witnesses for the prisoners were by
this Act to be on Oath, and, not being so before as the law stood,
they were always cried out against as persons that would say any-
thing to save the life of the prisoner, right or 'wrong, as also that the
person so to be tried should have a copy of the indictment ten days
before the trial. As to the copy of the Jury I am not certain, it is
not in my memory. I cannot name the sessions when the King
refused to pass this Act, and twice it was recited, which made us
most industrious to bring in the Bill for the third time ; and having
reason to suspect that this third Bill might have the same fate as the
others, we stretched a point and, I may say, much against my will,
for I was always for giving the Crown its just prerogatives, and even
in this reign more often than many great lords that were in high
employments at Court, but we thinking all our lives at the mercy
of base Counsel and Dutch Lords mingled with English ones that
would sell their birthright for a mess of pottage, this being for our
all, made us exert ourselves and stretch a point, which was by
tacking this bill to the money bill.
The King came to the House in hopes to awe many lords, and,
contrary to the custom of the two former Kings, he 'sat under the
throne, which was never seen before, at least in my time, and
ancient lords assured me that it was without example. When the
King is with his robes that is understood. He sat pensively with
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 287
his hat almost over his eyes, and seemed much out of humour.
Many experienced lords and that spoke well exerted themselves,
and none with more vigour and better grace than the Duke” of
Shrewsbury, reciting all the great advantages the subjects would
obtain by this bill, and added that he knew lords present that in
former reigns would have even given their right hand for to have
obtained then such a bill, and that he could not but wonder to see
them now of so contrary a sentiment, and that little became true
Englishmen. And reciting all the advantages that would accrue to
the subject by this bill, he ended with that of having a copy of the
indictment ten days before the trial. He then (going to sit down)
clapped on his hat with warmth, and looking towards the throne,
ended with these words, “I am sure poor Mr. Ashton could not
“obtain that request he made for it.” . This is authentic, and I aver
it that was present. - * + . . . .
... So the King not being able to go over to his army without
the subsidies, he was forced to pass that bill tacked to the other;
and I had the honour to be instrumental in all this, for I spared
Passed.
nothing but my lungs, for, as I have hinted before, it was not my
talent, speaking in the House, occasioned by a natural timidity
which I could never overcome. The said Duke, to whom I have
rendered all justice, could never be forgiven by the Dutch, and yet
he was Secretary of State about the year 1694 or 1695, and actually
so I69; when I was sent to the Tower, and I have reason to
remember it very well. It was very difficult for to penetrate into
the real sentiments of that Lord, and, as I said before, no noble-
man or other seemed to be more dutiful and respectful towards
King James and his government, but that unfortunate King taking
away his regiment of Horse from him on his refusing to comply
with the three unhappy questions, at least the two first, this Lord
* . • 2. Earl. The Dukedom of Shrewsbury was created 1694.
Düke of
Shrewsbury.
288 - Memoirs of
Duke of
Ormond.
took it so to heart that from that time he kept correspondence with
the then Prince of Orange. The plausible topic was the appre-
hension that the Church and laws established were in danger. I
will not aver it, but I have great reasons to believe he afterwards
repented inwardly what he had done, and his heart was only bent
on re-imbursing himself, as he actually did and then quitted, as I
said heretofore. He outwardly respected the King, or rather the
throne, for personally he neither loved the King nor his Dutch
favourites. They had always a jealousy of him, by reason of his
nearest relations of a contrary religion, and of which he was born
and bred in, until he came to riper years. His behaviour was
affable and his countenance shewed it, and particularly towards me
when he was Secretary and minister; I was constantly for the first
years in company where he was, and I received from him all marks
of friendship, for he was of a humane and most generous temper,
and towards me at the time when my nearest relations that were of
the Court scarce gave me a bow. When he was in the Court or out
of it, it was the same thing to him, he had always an English spirit,
and had no foreign one, which made the Dutch ever against him.
If he had in view (and I believe he had) a change of government, I
am confident it was founded on a principle. At length he, striking
in with our old minister, who did all he could to bring me in with
him, and I declining it, this lord in question began to be very cool
towards me, as I will show in due order. -
In the last summer 1691, at the Camp of Beaumont, between
the rivers Sambre and the Meuse, Colonel John Halles, that had
been page to the noble Earl of Ossory, the Duke of Ormond's
father, had a conference after dinner in the Orchard with the Duke
the son of his old master, who promised the Colonel that he would
serve only until the end of the Campaign, perceiving plainly that
they only made a stalking-horse of him. And it was become a
proverb, If you employ the Duke of Ormond to speak for you, you
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 289
will never obtain anything. Besides, his highest ambition was to
be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he being highly in debt, and he
was in hopes of reimbursing a great part by that high station. I
knew well the King's reasons, by a friend to whom the King said,
“He left King James on a discontent, and why may he not do the
“same towards me 7” He imagined one thing that was not true,
that I influenced him, and I finding the contrary I employed Colonel
Halles. But as to the Earl of Rochester whom the King suspected
and to have an influence towards this lord, that was true, and he
was advertised to avoid us two. The King's Camp being at the
Abbey of Park near Louvain, this Lord greatly attended, (as he
was always, and more like a king than a subject, and his table so
crowded that a friend of mine told me that it was scarce possible to .
find a place there) went to the English Nuns at Louvain, and they
receiving him very coldly, he went to the Irish Dominicans. The
Prior there was a man of quality, that is of a noble name in Ireland,
and he took the Prior aside, and with little policy desired his com-
pany to go to another walk. A young friar was with the Prior, and
that young man being a near relation to the Earl of Clare of Ireland,
and the Duke perhaps not knowing him to be so, told him that
he might stay with them, for out of respect and modesty he was
going to retire, and then this lord expressed himself in a manner
as showed plainly what he had at heart. This I had from the said
young Friar at this time, grown in years now, and he being a man
of worth and modesty, I gave the more credit to him. In fine, on
his return to England, it was known that he designed to retire. On
which his sister, the Countess of Derby, Groom of the Stole to the
Queen, argued much with him for to dissuade him, and at another
time brought him, as I was told, fifteen hundred guineas for to pre-
pare for his equipage for the ensuing Campaign. This I have been
assured of for a certain truth, but I give it not on my own know-
ledge, nor the precedent ones, save that I set on Colonel Halles.
VOL. I. 2 P
Designed
to retire.
290 Memoirs of
Wounded at
Landen.
His gene-
rosity.
I691.
Projected
invasion of
England.
It is certain he was at his post next Spring, and I think the Camp
was at Park Abbey. The battle of Landen, so fatal to the allies,
ensued soon after, where that lord was thought to be mortally
wounded by a bayonet entering down from between his shoulders,
and I believe it was after the action, for I was told he would not
accept of quarter, but a valet de chambre of one in the French
Army, knowing him by sight, told him in broken English, “My
“Lord Duke you shall have quarter;” and he was transported to
Namur, where the Comte de Guiscard, the French Governor, took
all possible care of him, sending to the army for the most able
chirurgeons, the most famous in Europe, and in some competent
time he was cured. I was told that the King sending him five
thousand guineas, that this generous lord, by Comte Guiscard's
leave, sent the whole sum to be distributed to the English Officers
and Soldiers that were prisoners, which gave him immortal honour,
and even lasts to this day by tradition from one to the other.
To finish this relation relating to the Duke of Ormond, I have
broke into the Summer of 1692, so I return to the latter end of the
Winter 1691. My Lord Melford being now the Prime Minister at
St. Germains, he transacted with the ministers of France an affair of
the highest importance in favour of his master, and with as great
secresy and industry, and it was the sole action of his life that did
him great honour. A Fleet was prepared, and a competent army.
The first was commanded by Monsieur Tourville; the name of the
General of the Forces I have forgot; and all was ready at Cher-
bourg, when the English Court scarce had any true intelligence,
and King James was at that town for to embark. Monsieur de
Tourville's orders were, to attack the English Fleet before the
Dutch one could join, but the wind coming full east, and which
continued near six weeks. The English, before that juncture, was
certainly the weakest, and principally as to numbers of bulky ships,
so preferable in a line of battle, for our fresh-water Admirals had
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury, 29 I
taken a resolution to take all wrong steps. I rather suspected their
ignorance than anything else, besides their little or rather no
experience. One rule made at Court was the chief occasion of
many misfortunes that arrived, not only in fleets to guard our coasts,
but likewise those squadrons to secure our trade in Europe and
America; for, as I take it, in the latter, either there or at the
return of the squadron, four Captains were shot to death by a judg-
ment at a Court Martial, for not having done their duty. And the
reason that these and other unfit persons were made captains of men
of war was, that King James, when he was Duke of York and High
Admiral and that after he came to the Crown, all the most able sea
commanders from the highest to the lowest were promoted by that
King, and the most considerable ones stood firm in appearance, and
so being suspected were laid aside, and they were obliged to
advance Captains of merchants' ships that might understand naviga-
tion, but were not men of courage and fit for action. The Admirals
Russell and Herbert flying into Holland to the Prince, out of
disgust more than on a principle, had some that entirely depended
on them, and especially the former, for the latter loved nobody and
it was well returned on him. There was scarce one flag officer that
was trusted, only Captains, viz., Ashby, Priestman, Matt Aylmer,
my Lord Berkeley, Shovel, and some few more ; and many
Lieutenants were made Captains that were angry that they had not
been advanced before. -
To return : I had no knowledge of this intended invasion,
having made it my request not to be gratified with secrets of that
nature, the success of which depended on silence, for to act but not
to talk, and I knew but too well the babbling spirit of the greater
part of the Jacobites, and, which was worse if possible, their envious
temper. I employed a creature of mine, not known so to be by
them, for to give me an account in what consisted their preparation,
and, to give them their due, he lost no time, and by calculation I
This not
made known
to Lord
Ailesbury.
2 P 2
292 Memoirs of
He con-
cealed him-
self in Lon-
don.
Lady Ailes-
bury visits
the Princess
Anne.
found that near five thousand men well mounted could appear at
very few days warning, for besides persons independent, great
numbers of the Life Guards, and troopers in regiments, would have
joined at an hour's warning. It was what I wondered at often, that
the government stood so long silent, for I was some few weeks in
town before I went into the country, which I had not done but that
by the course of the moon I perceived that the wind would not
alter very soon, but after a few days an express came down, sent
from that lady hinted at before, she receiving intimation from my
friend, a clerk in the office, that warrants were signed, but he could
not find I was of the number to be taken up. º
However I took horse immediately, by a road through Hamp-
stead and Watford to avoid meeting a messenger if I had gone the
usual road by St. Albans and Barnet. At St. Giles' Pound I found
my steward, Mr. Beecher, who conducted me to Madam Maynard's
in Soho Square; she was of the family of the Strodes of Devon-
shire, and nowise suspected, being widow to Mr. Joseph Maynard,
and daughter-in-law to old Serjeant Maynard, that great lawyer and
stickler on the revolution. I was well lodged and entertained, and
she had only two maid servants that she confided in. That night
late, to my surprise, my wife came in from Ampthill, a long journey
and not very well in health, especially for to rise so early next
morning. -
The Princess of Denmark being then at Zion, my wife came
there about ten, to the surprise of the Princess in bed. She sent
all out of the chamber, and bade her sit by her bedside, and very
patiently heard all out, to this purpose—Madam, my husband is
obliged to keep close in this conjuncture, and so directed me to
wait on your Royal Highness, to let you know that he would be
very sorry that you should be one of the last for to know that the
King your father, if wind permit, might very well be in twenty-four
hours in the kingdom, and with an army to support him that might
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 293
debark in a very few days, and that in case the English and French
Fleets should engage, that the King her father might sail over to
Torbay with the transports, and that I begged of her Royal High-
ness to take this into her serious consideration, adding that upwards
of five thousand men well horsed, and good officers, would be ready
to escort her, and that persons by my order had visited all the fords
on the Thames so as not to be obliged to pass over any bridges
that might be well guarded. My wife of herself added, “Your
“Highness may please to consider that you exerted yourself to go
“in a manner against the King your father when in the kingdom;
“why may not you as well get on horseback (the usual expression)
“for to restore him to what you assisted in taking away from him,
“ and by which glorious action you will repair for what you did in
“time past.” She was very attentive and seemed melancholy and
pensive, and fetching a sigh, “Well, Madam, tell your Lord that
“I am ready to do what he can advise me to ;” and then with a
smile dismissed my wife, who suspecting that those persons sent out
would listen at the door, begged of her Highness to speak with a
low voice.
To return to the morning after I arrived at Madam Maynard's.
I was awakened early by noise, and being drowsy and the bed
pretty low, my right hand being out and near the floor, I heard a
woman crying out Proclamation. I started up suddenly, and tore
off by a rusty nail one of the nails of my finger, which put me into
great pain for near three weeks, and disturbing my rest. I was
most of the time feverish, but not to hinder me going into the
country soon. Finding I was not in the proclamation, I sent one
Mr. Powell that kept my Courts in the West, and well acquainted
with Sir Edward Seymour my kinsman, then of the Cabinet Council,
for to know what I was to trust to, for I suspected that my name
was left out that so I might not conceal myself, and that then they
might take me up at pleasure. He had a haughty way of deport-
Proclama-
tion issued,
294 -- . Memoirs of
Lord Ailes-
bury goes to
Ampthill.
ment and speaking, “Tell your Lord he is too curious. I cannot
“reveal secrets, but that he may go where he pleases.” I thought
him not sincere enough for to confide absolutely in, and few days
after, the house where I lay being not five hundred yards from St.
Giles' Pound, by the back door of the lady's house my groom
stayed for me, and I got on horseback, and taking by Bushy Heath
and leaving St. Albans on the right, I came to my country house
that night without coming into any part of the common road.
I ordered them to lock all the gates in my park, there being
stiles for persons on foot, and that a person on horseback, and to be
relieved, should be on an eminence to bring word if any person on
horseback that might be suspected made his way towards the park,
that so I might retire in the woods, and so by cross ways to London.
I was there from Saturday night until Thursday morning early, the
20th of May. As I was told after, the bricklayers that were
building a wall told my servants that I had always my nose in the
air. It was very true, for I watched the weather-cocks continually.
My groom that I trusted in was ordered to sleep in the daytime and
to watch in the night, day then coming in very early, and that
Thursday morning about three, he came into my chamber and swore
heartily in telling me the wind was changed, and I was very soon
on horseback, and taking a road leaving the ordinary one on the
right I dined at Hatfield, and so through Enfield Chase, and by
Tottenham, and Newington, I arrived at the dusk of evening, and
went to my old quarters that Thursday night. On the Saturday
following, early in the morning, I heard somewhat like bells, for at
St. Giles' Church there was then but one bell to advertise church-
time, &c., and knocking, one of the maids came up, and she told me
that news was come that the French Fleet was beaten and many
ships burnt ; on which, in the afternoon, I appeared and went to
my wife's lodgings, after having given Mrs. Maynard hearty thanks
with a recompense to her servants.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 295
The wind continuing always at east, and the Court of France
judging well that the English and Dutch Fleets must necessarily ‘’’
have joined, sent second orders to Monsieur de Tourville. Either
that advice-boat was taken by the English, or that the master of the
vessel could not find out the French Admiral, but so it was that
that Thursday morning when I left the country and, as I take it, the
20th of May, Monsieur de Tourville by his old orders attacked the
two fleets, and in fine, was beaten. I cannot charge my memory
with particulars, and I refer also to authentic annalists, but this I
remember, it was said openly and our Admiral Russell blamed for
it, that is anchoring the fleet, by which the French got away; and,
if I mistake not, a great part of their fleet ventured over the Race
of Alderney, and very unexpectedly, even owned by themselves,
they got into St. Malo's, to their own surprise. The after game
repaired for this false step of our Admiral, and, as I take it, Sir
M. de Tour-
ville.
French
fleet beaten.
Got to St.
Malo’s.
Ralph Delaval was commanded to endeavour to burn the great
ships got into harbour, and, as I remember, fifteen or thereabouts
were actually burnt, but nothing of this owing to our Admiral save
the orders he gave to Sir Ralph Delaval. It is true indeed that
from that time the French fleet was never in such a condition as
they were in before this misfortune of theirs. It was said that
Captain Carter had been gained by them, but at most he com-
manded but a squadron, and, besides, was killed at the beginning.
I may mistake as to particulars through length of time and by my
ignorance as to sea affairs, but I think as to the main I have not
erred. Monsieur de Tourville had the good fortune to serve a
King that judged not by success, as amongst the Turks, and God
knows too much practised in Christian governments to my know-
ledge, and he was made a Marechal. In the Winter, the House of
Commons examined Sir John Ashby, a Vice-Admiral, and others,
but the Russell party prevailed, and by a majority it was voted that
Ships burnt
there.
Admiral
Russell's
conduct
Admiral Russell had behaved himself with courage, fidelity, and questioned.
296 . Memoirs of
Speech of
the Duke of
Leeds.
Lord Ailes-
bury calls on
the Princess
Anne.
conduct. The Commons sent to the Lords for their concurrence,
and after a short silence (and I was present) the Duke of Leeds
opposed the desire the Commons had made. In short to this
purpose,_-that he concurred as to courage and fidelity, but begged
leave to dissent as to conduct. He, looking towards the Earl of
Torrington, went on, “My Lords, if I take the part of that noble
“Lord in my eye” (for in the House the naming of a Lord is never
practised) “it cannot be thought I can do it through partiality, since
“there never was any friendship between us, rather the contrary,
“but by doing his Lordship justice by affirming that he saved our
“fleet in 1690 by anchoring after the battle, so I do affirm that the
“Honourable Admiral in question by anchoring deprived us of an
“entire victory, the French profiting by that false step of his, and
“had time to retire into their harbours.” And that the burning
of those great ships was not owing to the Admiral more than by the
orders he had given a Vice Admiral, and, as I take it, Sir Ralph
Delaval was the person. -
I cannot charge my memory as to say whether the Duke of
Leeds was out-voted on the question. When I affirm you may
confide in me; and when I am not clear on a point I mention
always, “as I believe” or, “as I have heard.”. To finish what
related to this sea engagement I have broke into far of the year
I692, and I return to what related to the Princess Anne of Den-
mark after the news of the victory at sea. Few days after, I went
to Zion, and was received graciously by their Royal Highnesses.
My conference was with the Princess, who had much ado to get rid
of her ladies and women, most of them spies over her, and particu-
larly one Mrs. Farthing, since Fielding, a waspish ill natured
creature. In very few words I told her highness that the face
of affairs was much altered since that my wife had the honour to
impart to her a message from me. She answered, “Yes, greatly;”
and with a melancholy face. I added that in this unhappy conjunc-
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 297.
ture for the King her father, I thought nothing would comfort him
more than a tender line from her. She answered with a low voice
and fetching a sigh, “It is not a proper time for you and I to talk
“of that matter any farther; ” and she gave me a gracious look at
parting. To own freely, the matter was very nice, and her hand-
writing might have been intercepted in spite of all care that would
have been taken to have had it safely delivered. And to make an end
of all that related to the late intended invasion, the precautions
that were taken at Court in Council was the first step that openly
was known, and, as I said in the preceding pages, that Sir Edward
Seymour sent me word that I might go where I pleased. I knew
not then the reason, and so I lay concealed until all was over, and
'twas not until after the death” of that incomparable Queen (whose
pious memory I must ever respect, and the same to my last moment)
that I knew the cause of my name having been left out of the
proclamation, and it grieved me the more, fearing that the good
Queen might have thought me ungrateful, a crime I was never
guilty of, and it had been more unpardonable in me therefore for
to have forgot the high obligation I had to that great and good
Princess. z
Soon after the nation had suffered that great loss, being in
much company at dinner at my Lord 'Ferrers', that death was
lamented generally, and we having been before very merry, and as
sober, I begged that we might turn off that melancholy subject.
Lord Ailes-
bury's name
left out of
the Procla-
mation.
A noble lord that sat by me and that had been of the Cabinet at
the time before mentioned, took me aside after dinner, praising the
grief I was in, adding, “Nobody was more in her favour than you,
“ and I knew it on several occasions; and perhaps,” said he, “you
“do not know that it was the Queen that would not permit your
“name to be inserted in the proclamation, and I will tell you the
“particulars which I know will be very pleasing to you and as
“indeed it qught to have been.” On the first notice that the
• * , * Dec. 28, 1694.
VOL. I. 2 Q
By order of
the Queen.
298 - Memoirs of
French Fleet was ready and preparing to sail, a Cabinet Council.
was held, and the Queen present. She asking the advice of the
Board what first steps were to be taken, the signing of warrants
was first proposed, and the list of persons to be taken up was
presented to her, and my name at the head. On which, her Majesty
was graciously pleased to say I had been sufficiently made uneasy
two years before, and for nothing; and for that reason my name
should be struck out, and ordered them to have the names of
suspected persons read that had not been in trouble in 1670. The
first Secretary of State (in whose office the Cabinet Council is
generally held, and no doubt it was the Earl of Nottingham) said that
they had orders from the King, then in Flanders at the Army. The
Queen with warmth said, “My Lord, shew me your orders.” On
which the Secretary of State replied, “Madam, we have received
“orders to clap up a certain number.” On which she laughed, and
with life and judgment added, “I thought persons were to be
“taken up for crimes, and not to Imake up numbers as they empanel
“jurymen.” So other names of persons were presented to her,
and finding at the top, Robert of Scarsdale,” “Stop there, my Lord.
“Since you will have your number, put in that Lord's name instead
“of my Lord Ailesbury's, and if titles please you, there is an Earl
“for an Earl. What is sauce for one is sauce for another.”
My Lord Nottingham (the person no doubt that appeared so
much to be my back friend, and cousin german to this Lord in
question) said to the Queen that there was nothing against my Lord
Scarsdale. “Just as much "replied that great Princess, “as against
“my Lord Ailesbury, and I will have it so.” I may err as the
saying is to “ifs" and “ands,” but I give you the true and literal
sense of that noble and generous lord who was then actually
present. My Lord Nottingham was of this dinner (but not then of
the Court) and on my setting out the just praises of that incom-
parable Queen deceased some short time before, he with a formal
Earl of Scars-
dale's name
inserted
instead.
* Succeeded as 3rd Earl of Scarsdale, Jan. 27, 1681.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 299
sneer told me that I thought she had one fault (he meaning as to
the King her father). I warmly replied, “My Lord I esteemed her
“as a princess that had no fault;” and I had reason to render her
memory that justice. She as a good wife (whether she had suitable
returns I question much) submitted patiently, but had her anxieties
of mind continually on her, and I knew very well that Doctor
Tillotson, and Burnet no doubt thrust his nose in as a forward and
Casuist, and infused into her texts of scripture adapted to their
purpose, as, husband and wife are but one flesh, so may quit father
and mother, &c. She was wise and prudent, and well foresaw
fatal consequences that might have attended her in case of a refusal,
so outwardly she submitted, but God knows what she suffered
inwardly and to a high degree, but she was prudent, and her
conduct the same, and endued with all noble qualities both towards
God in the first place, and towards man; for her humanity was
without example, and if her blessed memory required it, I think I
could set out her character, although I have no learning, that
would edify more than that did which was compiled by a very poor
head both as to Church and State, and when he was promoted it
was commonly said that they had advanced a good parish priest
(for that was all he was good for) to make the worst of Arch-
bishops; for the see of Canterbury was never filled so unworthily
since the first institution, and I do not scruple to say that it was
Doctor Thomas Tennison that, without sense or judgment, arrived
to that high station. Permit me to finish (although out of course
of time or years, a crime I have too often committed) a discourse I
had with our noted famed Minister, that began to shew himself
pretty publicly for to be at the head of affairs, without public
character. I addressed to him in favour of a prisoner before
mentioned, whose life my Lord Chief Justice Holt saved. The
great and good Englishman, my Lord Chief Justice Holt, was
obliged to condemn her, the Jury against his advice and directions
finding her guilty, but laboured always to save her, and of himself
went to Court at four in the morning, the King setting out for
2 Q 2
Character of
the Queen.
Tillotson’s
and Burnet's
casuistry.
|
Archbishop
Tennison.
3OO Memoirs of
His dispo-
sition.
Portsmouth, for she was else to have been executed that day at
the usual hour, and the King ordering him to prepare a further
reprieve. And that equitable Judge making it sine die, she had
then no occasion for any further reprieve. And I desiring our
Prime Minister behind the curtain to join with the most noted
of the Court that had interceded for her enlargement, he desired
me to speak to our modern Archbishop, who giving me a sort
of a childish answer and reporting it to this Minister, he
in a natural peevish tone said he was a fool. “Pray my
“Lord,” replied I, “why then did you make him Archbishop?”
He with between a sneer and a smile told me that was not my
business. In reality they advanced him for what he really was, a
very tool. He lived many years despised by all people of one
party or the other that had good sense. He was cruel in his nature,
not only in the House of Peers but in Cabinet Council on exami-
nations, and was at the head of the Prelates that voted in cases of
blood, unknown to that time, on pretence that Sir John Fenwick
was not tried before the Peers. That is true, but he died by virtue
of a bill of attainder, and without witnesses produced, and those
Prelates gave their vote for that bill. And after, on a great and
serious debate relating to a bill of great importance, he stood up
and said it was a very good bill, (he spoke naturally a most country-
like language, having been the son of a farmer of the Isle of Ely)
for my Lord Summers" had told him as much.
During the treaty of partition to divide the Spanish Monarchy,
even during the life of King Charles the second of Spain, the
Elector of Bavaria's son was to have succeeded to the Crown, so
that the Elector did whatever King William could desire of him,
and at that King's request, by Mr. Hill his envoye at Bruxelles, my
gentleman of the horse was taken out of my house at Bruxelles,
and forcibly carried into England against the direct laws of Bra-
bant. And at his coming to London he was put into a messenger's
His dialect.
* Spelt “Sommers, Somers, Somers.” Signs his name “Somers C.” J. E. Doyle,
*aronage.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3OI
hands, and being examined at the Cabinet, this poor Prelate told
him that he looked like a rogue. The prisoner replied modestly
that he was sorry that his countenance did not please his Grace,
who fell into a passion, and bid him hold his tongue, and that they
would make dice of his bones. The other replied that his Grace
might play at dice as much as he pleased, but that he should never
play with any made of his bones. The Elector was reprimanded
severely by the King of Spain, and the gentleman was soon set at
liberty. A peer of the realm that had wit and no religion, was in
the good graces of this prelate, they being much of the same violent
temper in the House and Council-board, and after a slight dis-
temper this prelate congratulated him in these words, “My noble
“Lord, for God's sake take care of your health, for such pillars of
the Church are not to be had easily,” and without a reply that Lord
turned about laughing and putting out his tongue at him. -
To conclude this long and tedious subject, this Bishop was
greatly neglected, and for some years before the Queen's death he
was not summoned to Council, and he stirred not from Lambeth
and pretended infirmity, but on the morning early of that excellent
Queen's death, the news being brought to him, he told his servant
that he would rise instantly, for that he found himself fine and well,
and ordered that the master should get ready his barge, and he was
never seen with so cheerful a countenance, and, landing at White-
hall Stairs, he met a twopenny poet" whose head was as empty of
religion as his pockets were of money, telling him, “Master Steel,
“this is a great and a glorious day,” and that he took it for a good
omen for to have met at landing so good and great a pillar of the
Church. And so let us leave him, and God have mercy on his soul.
I own that breaking into years, and into one so far distant as
this as to point of time, is a very great error, but it must be con-
sidered, as I have hinted at and too often, that I have nothing to
* Steel wrote a “Poem on the Funeral of Queen Mary, 1695.”
His rude-
Il CSS,
Who is
meant?
Steel, Sir
Richard.
3O2 Memoirs of
Burnet's
History of
his Own
Times un-
trustworthy.
1692.
help my memory, save some notes I took on Oats's conviction, and
if I should look over any of our modern hackney writers that wrote
for bread, or out of spleen and malice towards the former govern-
ments, I should be so far provoked at their base and insincere pen,
that I should be obliged to write volumes for to confute them.
Doctor Burnet had certainly learning and wit I knew but too well.
And as to the history of his own times, I could give him the lie as
many times as there are pages in his book. As to Church affairs I
am not able to controvert, but what I had from my father and
others since I may say, that you may confide as little as to those
affairs as you can to the secular passages.
To return to the Summer 1692, after the burning of the French
ships at La Hogue, I remember nothing that passed until towards
the winter, and then I have subject matter enough, and I am the
only person living that can give you what you call as to painting,
the original, so far preferable before copies, and, what is still worse,
The Scotch
Nobility's
Club in
London.
Lord Ailes-
bury refuses
to join them.
false copies; and I value myself only for being rigidly sincere, and
for never having swerved from a settled principle. I sucked it in
with my milk, and shall continue the same to my last moment. I
am not able to tell you the time that our Minister behind the
curtain and my Lord Middleton were linked together, for they
worked like moles underground; but I guess it might be begun on
my Lord Melford's return to St. Germains, and that he was re-
instated Secretary of State. Much about this time the Scotch
nobility, that seemed not well pleased with the Court measures,
kept a club in London, and the old Marquis of Athole solicited me
hard and very often for to be of their society; my answer, that I
would be of no club and especially of theirs. And he asking me
the reason, I told him that they had false brethren amongst them,
and that there were the three persons that had carried themselves
with all bitterness and malice against King James in the Parliament
of 1689, and that the three that brought up the Crown to King
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3O3
William were of that Society as thinking they had not been re-
warded according as they expected, viz. the Earl (since Marquis) of
Annandale, my Lord Ross, and Sir James Montgomery of Skel-
morley; and that I would never trust anyone that changed his prin-
ciples for want of reward, and that I was very well assured that one
of the body went every night late to Kensington to inform of what
was passed that day. The latter of the three was come into a close
league with our Minister and my Lord Middleton. In spite of all
I could do or say, that party would have it that I was a Melfordian.
I refer to what I have related heretofore as to my being the person
that got him removed out of Ireland, and to have him kept at
Rome, or anywhere else, so he was not at St. Germains. There
was a strict friendship between me and my Lord Brudenell” and
Lady, and I was almost every morning when in town with that
lady, who was employed by her brother in law, my Lord Middle-
ton, and he by the Minister, for to make a friendship between me
and Sir James Montgomery, but all in vain. -
In the meantime, and 'twas about December 1692, that our
Minister and at the House of Lords reproached me with his usual
drawling tone that I was become very fier and that I looked on
nobody. I replied “My Lord, I may retort it on you,” and with
my fingers numbered the years since he had spoken to me, that was
since 1688. “Lord” (his usual word) “you are grown so peevish
“there is no speaking to you. Prithee, prithee, lay aside all that,
“and come amongst us. My Lady Pulteney complains you have
“quite abandoned her house for so many years past.” I replied
that that lady was now become too great for me. “I assure you
“she will be most glad to see you, and pray come this evening and
Friendship
with Lord
and Lady
Brudenell.
Dec. 1692.
Lord Sun-
derland
makes over-
tures to Lord
Ailesbury.
“sup with us.” I could not well get off, and I went. The lady of Supper at
the house outdid herself as to her part, and her company the same.
There were our Minister, the Duke of Shrewsbury, my Lord
* Died v. p. 1698; his wife was Frances da. of Thomas (Savile) Earl of Sussex.
She d. June 1695.
Lady Pul-
teney's.
3O4. Memoirs of
Profuse Civil
List.
Cofferer of
the House-
hold.
Increase of
the Peerage.
Godolphin, my Lord Romney, and Sir Thomas Felton—the two
latter certainly not in any secret. During the play I sat most of
the time by the fire with Mr. Henry Guy, a substantial good friend
of the house, and Secretary of the Treasury, and we being old
friends in the former reigns, we continued the same, and talking
over many things, he owned to me that King Charles the Second in
his most profuse time spent not on the Civil List far to what the
present King did. It is known that out of the Exchequer issues
out all the payments, which I may compare to the great reservoir
of New River water at Islington, and from thence distributed by
pipes into all the streets of London. w
He told me every particular issuing out, but I do not well
remember save one branch, and that was what was annually paid
into the Cofferers of the Household's office. In King Charles' time
it was eighty thousand pounds, and now one hundred and thirty-five
thousand pounds, and by the Computation all the other branches
were in proportion. The cards money generally defrayed the
supper, and what we had heretofore, and now this night was neat
and good, and we were very merry at supper, and all most obliging
to me, and as to my Lord Romney, he and I had been always on
the best footing imaginable, without sinister designs, and he was
much of a gentleman and like a man of quality, or rather like a
man of good qualities, for God knows the peerage in these my days
are strangely degenerated, and I had rather trust a poor honest
cobbler than a great part of my brethren. And the peerage also is
become so cheap and despicable by such unwarrantable promotion
and in such numbers besides, that I insert what I have publicly
declared that if I had no succession, and that it was in my power
to do it, I would resign up my title and live as a single gentleman, and
I would make up in lieu of greatness by a sincerity and moral
deportment. As before, the lady of the house thanked much the
lord that brought me thither, and after we were on good terms.
That Lord desired me once after to meet him there, and I have
, Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3O5
forgot whether I complied. I thought once enough, for I perceived
by this sudden change of the minister that he had some designs,
although I could not penetrate then into the true reason. What
follows was of a most particular nature. The Company of Apothe-
caries presented a petition for leave to bring in a bill to exempt
them from all parish employments, by reason that they attended
the sick by night as well as by day. Our body that had any good
sense or reason inclined to the bill, but the Lord Mayor and Alder-
men, Common Council, &c., opposed this bill, and they were heard
by their Counsel, the two greatest blockheads of the robe, Sir
Edward Ward Attorney General then, and Sir Salathiel Lovel the
elder brother of the Cockscombs", and Recorder of London. And
the Counsel for the Apothecaries were those two ingenious and
learned lawyers Sir Thomas Powis who had been Attorney General
Petition of
the Apothe-
caries' Com-
pany.
1693-1695.
1692-1708.
1687.
to King James, and Sir Bartholomew Shoarst that was Recorder of 1688-1692.
London. The two latter not only pleaded like able lawyers, but
with a great deal of good humour and mirth playing upon their
log-headed brethren, which pleased our Minister so much, and
directing his discourse to me, “They are two sots; but what say
“you to our Attorney General and our Recorder of London?” in
allusion to the time he was minister when those two ingenious
persons were in employment. I own I was as struck dumb, con-
sidering the person that spoke this to me, and how he had acted,
and what he [had] done. Perhaps the same day, our two first dukes
by creation spoke much and to little purpose, and being by this
Minister and my Lord Godolphin, I could not forbear laughing,
and the first told the latter that I laughed at all they did, and he is
not in the wrong. Very soon after, happening to be as usual with
my Lady Brudenell, she desired me not to go away, for that she
only went into her closet to change linen, and calling out pretty
loud said, “Mr. Watson, pray come in,” he being in an outward
* Is this meant for “Serjeants of the Coif.” f Generally spelt “Shower.”
VOL. I. 2 R
306 Memoirs of
Lord Mel-
ſord depre-
ciated
as hindering
King James's
restoration.
room, and by her contrivance, which I did not forget for a con-
siderable time. I had never seen this remarkable Knight* to my
knowledge, however I told him that I supposed it was him. He
made no compliments nor preambles, but came presently to his
point, which was to blacken my Lord Melford to the life. My
answer was, it was happy for him that the Lord in question was not
my relation or particular friend. He was not used to be put out of
countenance, and he went on assuring me that if my Lord Melford
was sent away from Court, King James would be restored in six
weeks, at which I laughed in his face, and parted from him very
slightingly. . . . - -
On report he made no doubt to my Lord Middleton, and he to
the Minister whom I saw every day in the House and the other
scarce never but by mere accident, that Minister spoke to me no
more, nor scarce looked the way I was, and told a friend of mine
that he did not know what to make of me, that I was one thing this
day and the contrary on another. I desired that friend to tell him
that it was not my character in the least, but that he judged of me
by himself. However matters happened so after, that he durst not
be my enemy. To repeat what hath been mentioned before, all my
Lord Melford's enemies would have it that I was his close friend,
and to end this matter for a time, I was the person that got him out
of the Court again for this reason. Addressing myself to King
James by letter, I used these words, “Your new Minister and his
“adherents assures that your Majesty would be restored in six
“weeks if my Lord Melford be removed. It is now, Sir, above a
“year since your new minister is with you, and I do not perceive
“any likelihood of your return. They lay it on my Lord Melford's
“being still about you. For God's sake, Sir, send him to Orleans,
“Rome, or some other good town and with a competent pension
“for to live on, and then in process of time you may tell them
Lord Ailes-
bury's letter
to King
James.
* Sir James Montgomery, see p. 328.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3O7
ºf
“‘Gentlemen, I have gratified you,” (for he was sent away)
“‘and yet I do not find my return more approaching than it
“‘was before.’” . . . -
I take rash judging to be a most heinous crime before God,
and the matter is of a nice nature, but I hope God will forgive me
if I say neither the great Minister in London nor him at St. Germains
ever intended what they made that unhappy King to believe, unless
he would divest himself of all, suitable to what the parliament
would have extorted from the King's father. When I was in France
the Spring after, I did according to my sincere temper represent to
King James (asking pardon for it) that it was my humble opinion
that his return was for the farthest of their designs. I see him
struck; “Why so?” said he. I answered “that they never durst
“look your Majesty in the face, being conscious of what they had
“done against you. Perhaps, Sir, they may have an eye on the
“Prince your son, who was but just born when they had played their
“pranks.” . . . .
To return, Sir James Montgomery was to be the fore-runner
of my Lord Middleton. He had seen a great number of persons
that foolishly confided in him, which no doubt had taken air by the
indiscretion of our babbling plotters, which was always natural to
them, and we swarmed with politic would-be's of the female sex
also. In fine, Sir James was taken up (some said by his con-
trivance, but that I know not), and Mr. Kitson the Messenger had
*
him in custody near Soho Square, and with two constables at the
door. One Doctor Welwood, a Scotchman and a known author,
and inveterate against King James and his party, made him a visit,
and Sir James cried out, “Doctor, this is hard usage towards a
Sir James
Mont-
gomery,
taken up.
Doctor Wel-
wood.
“person that was coming into you again.” This being known to
the party, and a numerous one, they set all their engines to work,
and laid their heads together, and also joined their purses, and
glittering gold did the work. The two sentinels were gained, and
2 R 2
~\
Prince and
Princess of
Denmark
return to
London.
Whist the
game then
in vogue.
Exchange of
Prisoners.
308 Memoirs of
went off with Sir Theophilus Oglethorp, who hurried away Sir
James, and as the former told me himself that he was resolved to
make him away if he had resisted in the least; with this expression,
“Dead men tell no tales.” I guessed he believed that I was
embarked with Sir James that made him tell me this, but he was
much mistaken. However, I assured him of secresy on my part.
But I gave notice of what had passed with Doctor Welwood, but
that good King was ever credulous and principally when it was for
his immediate service, so a lodging was given him at the Castle at
St. Germains, and not long after was choked with his blood.
Before I go on farther on this subject, and which will be of some
length necessarily, I am to tell you that the Prince and Princess of
Denmark were at liberty to live in London, and removing from
Zion they took Berkeley house in Picadilly in this Autumn and
Winter and Spring 1692 and 1693. I attended on them often, no
persons of the Court and flatterers out of it durst go thither. The
Duke of Shrewsbury, then out of the Court, went thither
constantly. Some few generous spirited ladies, but very few in
number, waited on them : but to play there was only us two, and
the game was whist with honours, in vogue at that time. This
Winter of 1692 was a busy time with our Minister and my Lord
Middleton, but God knows what passed between them, and I have
reason to believe my Lord Shrewsbury was close with them, for
reasons hereafter.
During the war in Ireland in 1690, as I take it, two general
officers, subjects to Great Britain but Major Generals in the French
Army, were taken prisoners, and lay some years in the Tower
(Major General Maxwell and Major General Dorrington) and they
being my old friends and acquaintances, I went often to see them.
Major General Maxwell, husband then to the Duchess Dowager of
Norfolk, had obtained this year 1692 leave to treat for an exchange.
He telling it me, I did the same to the Earl of Nottingham, Secre-
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 309
tary of State, and I proposed to him to have three English prisoners
in France released for the Major General (viz. Mr. North detained
at Marseilles just as he was embarking for Turkey by an unhand-
some trick, to say no worse of it. Mr. Hampden who had a nephew
at Aleppo jealous of Mr. North's outshining him there, and Mr.
Hampden gave Mr. North letters for his Nephew, filled with news.
The others were Mr. Goddard of Ogbourne in Wiltshire, son-in-law
to the steward of my lands there, an Academist at Angers, and Mr.
Vanbrook* the famous poet since, who composed in the Bastille his
most ingenious play “The Provoked Wife.” He was in a dungeon
a considerable time, but the Queen at St. Germains procured him
the ordinary liberty of the prison), during which treaty Major
General Maxwell had his liberty and remained in London until the
Spring following. He struck in with my Lord Middleton, and
proved very ungrateful to me, God forgive him. He talked much
and often little to the purpose, subject enough to great speakers.
He told a friend of mine so as it should come round to me,
that he would advise me and my friends to sit still and quiet, for
that affairs were in other hands, and that it was only in the power
of private friends to serve King James, and this was during the
great Consults hatching under ground, and my Lord Middleton
went over less than in a month. He did go indeed in concert with
our Minister and his friends, but to make him the more welcome,
he named many that had given him no commission, as by name the
old Duke of Leeds, who protested to me in 1695 in Wimbledon
Garden that I was the first man he had opened himself to, and
singly to me.
In the month of February, 1693, we had for a week weather
like summer, with sunshine and no frost. I was in town without
my family, and, lodging in St. James’ Street, I frequented the Mall
in the Park and stayed there every day until past three, and my
Lord Middleton there for the most part, and walked with me
* Sir John Vanbrugh.
1693.
Fine weather
in February.
3IO Memoirs of
The Earl of
Middleton
goes to St.
Germains.
Duke of
Marl-
borough
sent to the
Tower.
Plot against
the Bishop
of Roches-
ter.
several hours in that time, talking of ordinary things and occurrences,
and in a day or two after the bird was flown and full freighted, and
with rotten merchandise, and said, not one word to me of his design.
This made good Mr. Maxwell's words, and I knew since that of all
persons living I was the man that was to know nothing of his
journey, for which he was sufficiently reproached at his arrival at
St. Germains. I interpret this only as a high piece of ingratitude
in him, after that laying aside all former coldnesses... I was the
man that proposed to him to go over as Secretary of State so long
before, else I was exceedingly rejoiced that he communicated
nothing of his designs to me, for I had as little an opinion of him as
I had of the Minister and partners from whom he went. As I said,
I was forced to keep fair with my flashy companions so as not to
give them any discontent or occasion of jealousy, but I laid it down
as a settled maxim that King James could never be restored and as
a free King without a fleet superior to ours, and even with that the
work must have been done by stratagems. But I always kept firm
to my settled principle that, as the King should come free, so on
the other hand for to govern in Church and State according to the
fundamental laws of the land. And as my Lord Middleton kept all
from me, I did the same towards him from first to last, but what I
would say to a street porter. The year 1692 not being closed, it is
still time to acquaint you with some passages that happened in the
Spring. The Duke of Marlborough was sent to the Tower, and
bailed afterwards, but never returned into great favour (and perhaps
seemingly then) until the King was in a manner necessitated to
make use of his services, for at heart he never esteemed him. At
this time, or near it, Doctor Spratt, Bishop of Rochester, had like
to come into great trouble by the villany of one Young and another.”
The former, as I take it, got admittance into the Prelate's country
palace at Bromley in Kent, on pretence of going into orders or some-
what of that nature, and there he put into a flower pot in a chimney,
* Stephen Blackhead, see Bishop of Rochester’s “Relation, &c.,” 1692.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3II
a sort of association, and then went to Court to inform. On which
Mr. Dines, one of the Clerks of the Council, was sent with a
messenger to seize the Bishop, and they found the forged paper in
the flower pot, but on examination those knaves were detected,
and, as I remember, the Duke of Marlborough's name was foisted
into that pretended association. . . . . . . . . -
About April 1692, the Queen at St. Germains being near her
time, King James wrote letters circular to all those that had been
of his Privy Council, to my Lord Mayor of London, as I take it,
at least to some Aldermen, and their wives, requiring them all to
repair to St. Germains to assist at the delivery of the Queen, and
soon after she was delivered of a princess, who lived to be a person
of great hopes and worth, and died at about eighteen. All these
persons carried their letters to the Secretary of State. The Earl
of Huntingdon being in the Country, he very weakly wrote to the
Earl of Nottingham for to procure him a passport for to go over.
The former answered the letter in general terms, and that it was
the Queen's pleasure he should come to town. In going to my
Country house I met that lord between Barnet and St. Albans, he
on horseback, and coming to my coach side he told me what he
was going to London for. I answered him, “for to be sent to the
“Tower,” and I advised him to lie close ; on the contrary he took
a lodging in a public place, and the next morning was sent to the
Tower, but soon after I was one of his bail, at his request. If
hereafter I remember any particular things of my own knowledge
that I have forgot for want of notes, I shall bring them in by way
of appendixias regular as possible, and with an exact sincerity, and,
as I said, I shall not touch on matters you will find in annals unless
that, by what I have heard or read of formerly, that those authors
generally had falsely represented matters that had passed, either
wilfully, or to flatter, or through want of true information, and my
only design by this treatise is to set all things in a true light, and
Birth of a
Princess at
St. Ger-
mains.
Earl of
Hunting-
don
sent to the
Tower.
Nature of
these Me-
moirs. e
3I 2 Memoirs of
Admiral
Russell laid
aside.
A Commis-
sion of three
Admirals.
Sir Cloudes-
ley Shovel.
Anecdote
about him.
where errors have been committed in government, I have set them
down as impartially. It is true I only touched upon articles of the
highest consequence, others of more trivial matters might have
been let alone, but they were not what I call essentials.
In this Winter of 1692, as one party before mentioned were
working to deceive my Royal unfortunate master, so was I en-
deavouring to serve him essentially, and no one person was privy
to it but him I treated with, for in what may be styled business I
never spoke but to one at a time, and I took care that no line of
my hand could ever be produced against me. The King laid aside
Admiral Russell, for the current year at least, and if I may say, he
made a very wrong step by appointing by commission three
Admirals to command the Fleet for 1693, viz. Admirals Killigrew,
Delaval, and Shovel. The former and his father &c. had obliga-
tions to King Charles and King James, and preserved a high
respect for the latter, although he served in the Fleet since the
Revolution. Sir Ralph Delaval, save great obligations more than
in common form, respected King James and did not abandon him,
and Killigrew the same, on the said Revolution. Sir Cloudesley
Shovel was raised from a cabin boy, and that low spirit remained
in him, and was brutish and positive, but brave withal, but he had
what you call a stupid courage, and would go to the mouth of a
cannon without knowing for what reason. I will give you one
instance of his being nothing of a gentleman, nor endowed with an
honourable character.
In 1689 King James was on the quay or mole of Dublin. An
English squadron came opposite, and I think commanded by
Shovel, at least a Captain in the squadron, I believe the former.
They making fire from those ships, the King was humbly desired to
retire out of the reach of cannon shot. He being naturally
courageous (and that I will never depart from) and accustomed to
sea fire, he would not be persuaded, and with great goodness added
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3I3
“I know that Shovel is there, and I am sure he is not capable of
“firing a gun against me.” -
The good King was as much mistaken in him as he was in so
many others, for fire he did, and a cannon-ball grazed the ground
most near to where the King stood with a perspective-glass in his
hand. This is matter of fact. -
To come close to the point, I happened to be acquainted by
accident with one Mrs. Mannock, wife to a linen draper over against
Durham Yard in the Strand, and one day I met there with Mr.
his name I have forgot, a young clergyman born in my county,
Bedfordshire, and he happened to be Chaplain to Sir Ralph
Delaval, that is of the ship he commanded in 1692. I asked him
after the Admiral's health, adding that we had been formerly great
friends, but since the Revolution I had seen him rarely, and that by
accident. He told me that he had heard Sir Ralph often speak
of me with high respect. Meet we did soon after, but, to say
sincerely, I have forgot where it was for the first time; I think at
Mrs. Mannock's, and that she left us together. Our conferences
after were at his house in Westminster, in Berkeley Row as I think
they call it, and near a place they call the Bowling Alley. I
remember very well that I left my hackney coach in Petty France,
and from thence I went to him in the dark. I cannot say we came
to the point on our first meeting, and I think our time then was
spent in renewing our ancient friendship, and telling him how sorry
I was that he and I should be of two different opinions. On which
he gave me a most pleasing smile, and silently took me fast by the
hand. I thought that enough for the first time, and I am pretty
confident nothing more passed between us, and on parting we
agreed on another meeting, the day, and the hour, and always in
the dark, and I ever without a footman, leaving my hackney coach
as before, and perhaps I might pay the man off. \
VOL. I. 2 S
Conference
of Lord
Ailesbury
with Sir R.
' Delaval.
3I4 Memoirs of
Point agreed
upon.
At Sir Ralph's there was but one servant appeared, a maid,
and the greater part of that sex were Jacobites, whether persons
of virtue or otherwise. Sir Ralph had lived upwards of fifteen
years with a gentlewoman of a known name, and sister to a captain
then in the first regiment of guards, a great friend of mine, and
this gentlewoman being poor, was first seduced by the Admiral,
but, as I said, they had lived together a great number of years and
before man as man and wife ; for my Lady Delaval was living, and
I think they were married after her death. This gentlewoman was
a great Jacobite, and no doubt did all she could to persuade Sir
Ralph to be the same, and I am confident, and it cannot be presumed
otherwise but, that she knew who I was that came so in secret;
and no doubt imagining there was somewhat on the anvil, she took
her time to imbibe such sentiments into him as I could wish, but I
saw her not, that is she was never present, nor was any other
person, and I am confident that her brother, Colonel — of
the footguards, had a great share in keeping his sister's friend firm,
At last I came to the point, and, after some ifs and ands, I found
him well disposed, and I desired that he would work up Admiral
Killigrew, the first on the Commission (and this: the second) for
that I will only treat with him personally, and I made that a
standing rule. He promised me he would, and that there should
be but those two together. At last he told me from Admiral
Killigrew that he entered into what we had agreed on, and that if
Shovel would not consent on board (for he was to know nothing
but on the moment) that they, being two to one, he knew what to
do in that case. Sir Ralph and I concerted this, and it was put
into writing and in proper heads, that when the Admirals were on
board in order to sail, that the first in Commission was to declare
that he had orders to sail to such a station two hundred leagues at
sea, and then he was to open his instructions; as also we resolved
not to be too expeditious in sailing, and to lose time at the arriving
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3I 5
at that station, to spin out the time so as to give the French time
to land King James out of the Cannon of Portsmouth.
The time was limited how long they should be crossing with
the Fleet, and what time King James should go on shore, and the
King of France should furnish him with ten thousand men, and all,
or most, of the British Nation in French pay. At last all was
agreed on ; I have forgot the day of the month, but I took leave of
Sir Ralph Delaval late on Wednesday night before Easter, but that
great festival being moveable, it is not possible for me to be exact.
I had two days to order my private business, and I wrote a dozen
of letters or more to my wife, sealed, and superscribed, and of
different dates, and franked them with my name, it being within the
time of privilege of Parliament which is not regarded if the person
be out of the Kingdom that franks them. I guessed that I should
be absent for a month, and my valet de chambre and groom that
was to lie in Kent and Sussex, but never two nights in the same
place, were to post my letters at the next post house for London.
On Easter Eve I took leave of my wife and gave out I was
going into Wiltshire, and at Hyde Park Corner I struck down to
the new buildings by Stafford House, where lodged a discreet friend
of mine that was close and secret, and a friend to Sir Ralph Delaval,
who, knowing I was to go away on Saturday, he desired I would
call on my friend Mr. Richard Morley, for that perhaps he might
desire to see me again before I went away; so I was obliged to
stay at Mr. Morley's until past nine, and my horses and servants
went to an Inn, and where I went on foot to Sir Ralph's and alone.
I ordered my servants to go over the ferry, and to stay for me at
Lambeth. I received my last instructions, and went over the river
about eleven in a pair of oars, and I was forced to reward well the
waterman, being so late. I arrived at Dartford about one, and went
into bed for two hours, and some few miles on this side Rochester I
dismissed my servants, and a guide stayed for me, and I contrived
|
Force sup-
plied by King
of France.
Lord Ailes-
bury sets out
for France.
Slept at
Dartford.
2 S 2
316 - Memoirs of
to pass through Rochester, where I was well known, just at eleven,
the time I knew all people would be at church, it being Easter Day,
and I saw not the face of anyone but idle fellows; and about ten at
night, or later, I arrived at Farmer Hunt's, two musket shot off
Romney town, and the house by the sea side. It was always
necessary for any one that looked better than a common countryman
to go into Romney Marsh or come out of it, to pass after it was
dusk. There I met Mr. Birkenhead whom I used to employ to go
into France on most frequent occasions, and it was he that conducted
persons to and from France, and all letters to and fro he had the
care of, and for this correspondence there was a boat of Calais
consisting of a Master, William Gill, and twenty good seamen well
armed, and on pursuits they made use of their oars like as in a
galley. This boat, commonly called an owler,” brought to Farmer
Hunt's contraband goods, as wrought silk, and with gold and silver
ribbons, &c., and in return they transported to France wool prin-
cipally. This corresponding trade besides lasted all the war, for
owlers as to merchandise were always in action, and ever will.
It was thought very strange that this boat was never taken, and the
reason to me was plain, I being not ignorant that the government
of England, having swarms of spies at St. Germains, they received
the greatest advantage by this ship running to and fro, and I would
not have given a shilling for all the scribbling Jacobites wrote to
the Court of St. Germains, for if twenty wrote, as many had different
notions. Indeed as to carry over passengers it was of ill conse-
quence also, for many light headed persons had a great itch for to
carry over their idle and indigested imaginations, and to make their
Court, and ask employments, if they had but dreamt in the night
that King James was coming over. On a most extraordinary and
emergent occasion a passage might have been secured, that owling
Arrived at
Farmer
Hunt's.
Mr. Birken-
head.
Smuggling.
* “A smuggler.” Kennett says “those who transport wool into France contrary
to the prohibition are called owlers.”—Halliwell.
-
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 317
boat coming in generally twice the week with commodities, and I
proposed once that nobody should be permitted to have a passage
without a particular licence.
On my arrival at this farmer's by Romney, Mr. Birkenhead
told me that Major Holmes, a Scotchman, was arrived from France
an hour before, and that the boat was returned, and asked me if I
would see him, which I then declined. Afterwards he told me that
my horse ought not to stay in the Marsh, by reason of accoutrements
and the horse of some price, and desired that Major Holmes might
get upon him immediately, which he did without stopping, and by
computation that horse had gone about ninety miles, most of the
Weald of Kent from Dartford to Romney and back to Rochester,
without lying down; which makes our horses so sought after in
foreign countries. At my arrival, almost fasting, passing by Roch-
ester and daring not to eat there, and from thence I met with no
place where there was any meat, all my regale was the remainder
of a piece of roast beef, and the same Monday, for that sturdy knave
the Landlord and his scraping wife made me to believe that such as
them durst not fetch meat from Romney unless it was of a great
holiday, for fear the butcher should suspect he had people in his
house. But being a great farmer and grazier he ought to have had
all things a barn yard could contain, and he, having a great stock
of sheep, he might kill one on occasions, and besides he had store
of lambs. I am the more particular for reasons as hereafter. My
bed and sheets were tolerable, and I was forced to do what God
knows poor people practice but too often, to sleep much not to
think of an empty belly. I lay there ten nights and had not a meal
of meat, bad butter, cheese worse, salt water beer; he had a runlet
of thin gut wine from Calais, and sour, so I was forced to boil it;
once or twice a fisherman brought some small flounders dressed
with base butter; once he gave me a cat instead of a rabbit; in
Major
Holmes.
Stays ten
nights at
Farmer
Hunt's.
Miserable
fare.
318 Memoirs of
fine I suffered more than I can express, and yet I gave him ten
guineas for my diet. - - - * . . . ;
Besides I was in a continued alarm, and once the King's
searchers came there to look for contraband goods, but the fellow
made them drunk, and they did not at least visit my chamber. . I
had no window that opened, and there being a little haycock in the
orchard, and a ladder by, I went up and there took air, but on the
sight of any passenger to and fro on the Strand I was obliged to
retire. In fine, this condition I was in from Sunday night to
Tuesday seven night, and as I was just fallen asleep, William Gill
came in with twenty men, armed with pistols to secure his retreat
to the ship that was at anchor, and as in a pond, for Lydd Point
kept the sea calm when the wind was at West and North. The
Master was a fat greasy fellow, yet the joy I was in at his arrival
made me embrace him heartily. Before I conclude, I must inform
you that Hunt had been absent three days, and he said it was to
fetch an honest gentleman that was to go to France, but named him
not; and I was resolved at the upshot that he should not go with
me, and I saw him not, and he lodged him at a warrener's not far
off. In this interim Major Holmes returned from London. Hunt,
who did not know who I was, said, “Sir, you had better discover
“yourself to him, and then he will be obliged to secresy, and he is
“a most honest gentleman; ” and God knows the former at heart
quite contrary. It was generally thought that since 1688, he had
got three thousand pounds, what with guests at so dear a price and
starving them, as also by the running * of goods, and we found
after, that gain was his god, for, besides that, he came in a witness
against me. He told Birkenhead that he would not be hanged for
any B — in Christendom. It was on Birkenhead's telling him
that he must send up carefully the brass plate of the Prince's
picture for to stamp cuts.
Escapes
detection.
* Or receiving.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 3I9
Major Holmes and myself had time enough to discourse of
many things, but I never let him into anything I was charged with,
that is by memory, which I refreshed at the seaside as I lay in
bed at Boulogne. I then put it into writing, but the major let me
into all. In the first place that this was the eighth time of his
passing and re-passing, that is, he made four journeys into England,
that he was charged with a scheme of a declaration, and he freely
owned to me, desiring all secrecy, that at London he addressed
himself to our famous minister so often mentioned, and that there
were others with him in the perusing, but I remember not the name
of any other but the Duke of Shrewsbury. And that the occasion
of his going to and fro was from alterations made at London and to
be approved at St. Germains, and he on his fourth time being in
England all was settled and delivered to one Darby, a printer, who
was tried, condemned, and executed, for that my Lord Chief Justice
Treby was the first in Commission of Oyer and Terminer, and of
course Sir Robert Marsham, since Lord Romney, a friend of his,
told him that he was a bold man, “For consider,” said he, “times
“may turn, and then what will become of you?” The Chief Justice
smilingly said, “My good friend, I thank you, but do not trouble
“yourself for me. I have King James's pardon in my pocket; ”
and shewed him that King's declaration answered paragraph by
paragraph by order, and then all may have them without danger.
And indeed it was a declaration which, according to the French
style, one may call sans pareil. That King did not only pardon
what was past at the Revolution and since, but what was to come
after his landing, and God knows that was then in the air
absolutely, for the Commission I was charged with had not yet
passed the sea. I stood in no admiration, considering the persons
Major Holmes was to address to. . . . . . .
To return, Hunt told me it was time to embark, and the dis-
tance towards the sea very inconsiderable, in going into the chaloupe
Conversa-
tion with
Holmes.
Negotia-
tions be-
tween Lon-
don and St.
Germains.
Embarks.
32O Memoirs of
Simson, alias
Jones, a spy.
Arrives at
Boulogne.
At Berry.
Abbeville.
Clermont.
he told me that I was to go alone. I did what they desired. The
chaloupe returned to fetch Major Holmes. I was standing on the
deck, and so near the shore that I heard one cry out, “God damn
“you, if you enter into the boat I will shoot you dead l’” That
person retired, and Holmes joining me, swore with great passion
that Hunt was a villain, and had contrived to have that arch spy
(and a triple one as it was said) Simson, alias Jones, for to go over
with me. We arrived at Boulogne in few hours, for that cut is
much shorter than between Calais and Romney, and besides, the
former town was always famed for a nest of spies. We saw
privateers at a distance, but we took to our oars. My arrival at
Boulogne was on Wednesday morning, and refreshing myself in bed
some hours, and eating with a great appetite after having been sick
at sea, I set out and came about twelve leagues post to a place
called Berry, what with a most narrow saddle and ill horses. I
took up there my rest, and desired Major Holmes, who was more
used to fatigue, for to go to St. Germains, and he arrived the next
evening with the news that I designed to be there the day after the
Friday, and from Berry I was all alone and not much at my ease,
for robbers then there were like ours now in England, so basely
degenerated from what they were heretofore.
Passing by Abbeville, and going to the noted inn for to eat
and drink well, the Landlady, a prattling woman, would have me
to be a Monsieur my Lord (a usual word for all, and in all foreign
countries that knows not the signification of what is my Lord), and
she told me she would send to acquaint Father Petres and my Lady
Abergavenny that I was come, and they being the two persons I
desired to avoid each in their busy headed sphere, I assured her if
she sent for them I would take care that at my arrival at Court she
should be sent for up in custody. There and at Clermont I found
good old wine, and what was sour elsewhere by reason that the last
vintage had been so bad, and I was obliged to burn it. The base
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - . 321
saddles and ill horses I could scarce bear, and I lay on the straw to
refresh me for some time at each stage. And about Clermont I
escaped drowning most narrowly, by the fault of the post-boy, who
to avoid one quarter of an hour more, and to pass by a mill dam
where there were boards to go over on foot. He kept the common
road, and I swam for about a thousand yards length, and the stream
strong. My horse was little for my stature, but, by good fortune,
he was full of fire and nerves, and by sight seemed to be of a better
breed than usual. I arrived at St. Denis about two in the afternoon
on the Friday, and might have been at St. Germains in two hours,
but I designed to have come there on the dusk for good reasons,
but, far from that, I had to do with an old hostess at the post-house
of a devilish and, besides, covetous temper, that she hoping I
should lie there, and so I did, for until sun setting I could not get
into a chaise I obliged her to furnish me with. Just at sun setting
I parted, and instead of a good postilion, she gave me a young boy,
that overset me just without the town of St. Denis, in great ruts.
The boy was incapable of giving me help, and, besides, I was to
have gone all that way in the dark, on the brink almost of the River
Seine. So I got out, and ordered the boy to stay there. The
thunder and lightning was incrédible, the latter running on the
plain of St. Denis like artificial fire, and, it raining in proportion, I
was sufficiently wet, and from the next cottage I sent to the post-
mistress to order one to heave up the chase, and to be brought
back to the post-house, where I went also when the rain was
abated; but it renewed after again with the same violence. But
this base hostess got but little by me, for I was so hot with this
great walk, and a most sultry time also, that I went into a bed
without supping, and had ordered nothing for want of appetite.
For sleep I had none, the lightning and thunder, and after the
exhalations enlightened the room. As I knew after, the King had
sent Major Holmes (who after was my constant conductor) very
VOL. I. 2 T
Escapes
#. drown-
ing.
At St. Denis.
Violent
storm of
thunder and
lightning.
322 - Memoirs of
Arrives at
St. Ger–
mains.
Interview
with Lord
Melford.
many times to the Lady's house where I was to lodge, for to
enquire after me, and he was very uneasy for fear of accidents, the
lady not less, and she watched, and the spit went all night, that I
might eat at my arrival. At two, the bell rang for the Monks of
that great Abbey just by to go to Mattins, and it was four before I
could get in the chaise, that malicious devil of a woman giving the
postilion that guided me six horses to dress before she would
permit him to get upon horseback. He guided me well and fast,
I take it is six leagues, and just at six I arrived, and saw no one
face that I knew, or who knew me. And when I met the Court
grooms, coachmen, &c., going to water, I put my handkerchief on
my nose as if I made use of it. The lady had not been gone to
bed but a quarter of an hour before, despairing. She soon came
down to me and offered me to eat, but I only took a glass of wine
and some bread, and I slept in a very good bed until noon. The
lady's purse was suitable to a person that attended a Court in exile;’
besides her good heart. She was neatly lodged, and only with two
maids, and French, which made more at ease. At noon Major
Holmes came to ask me if I would see my Lord Melford, which I
agreed to, but that I would see no other person. That lord and I
had ever carried it most fair in England, and all that I had to say
ever against him was, his presence about the King, which was so
contrary to his service; for people had taken an aversion to him,
and far more than against those that had betrayed him. Sincere he
was towards his master, and when he did not serve him efficaciously,
'twas not for want of good will, and as to that I must ever do justice
to his memory. He was a pretty plausible gentleman and had
flights of fancy, adorned a Court well enough, but in Cabinet he
was not true steel, which proceeded only from not being endowed
with a true consummate head for politics. His style was easy, but
too notional. In a word, he did one great state action, and it was
just that he should have the glory of it, and if he did no other that
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 323
came up to that, perhaps it never lay in his power. That action
was his treaty with the French Ministers, in so secret and
efficacious a manner, that the French fleet in 1692 was ready to
sail, if wind had permitted, before the Court at London had due
notice. I received that lord with great marks of esteem, and on
his side it was the same, and we agreed that the hour for my going
to Court should be at three that afternoon, Whitsunday eve. In
France the Queen always went into retreat for some days before,
and on, the four grand Festivals of the year at the Royal Abbey of
Chaillot, by Paris, where the Queen Dowager, Mother to Kings
Charles and James, lies buried; and I think she founded it, and
this Queen lies there buried also. The King had sent in the
morning for one Mr. Bynion, that followed his master's fate, and
had the good fortune, as may be supposed, to be less uneasy as to
purse than most were, and he having a sedan and French chairmen,
the Queen borrowed it of him during my stay, or at least for such
hours as I was to attend at the Castle, and the Queen ordered to
have curtains fixed.
Major Holmes went before to the Castle, and stayed for me at
A sedan pro-
vided for
him.
the foot of a private stairs that led to the Queen's closet. Coming
into the great court there was more curiosity than reason; nobody
could discern me, but I could distinguish persons a little, and I saw
Madame Macdonnell,” a creature of my Lord Middleton's and an
impertinent intriguer; and she stared hard, but to little purpose,
and that night she was brought to bed, and I was heartily glad of it.
Entering into the body of the House I was to pass a gallery, even
to the ground, and winding about as round a tower. When I
passed by the lodgings which I knew after to be Mr. Vice Cham-
berlain Porter's (uncle to my false witness) by order as I was told,
I found a load of wood that stopped the passage. I ordered the
* Qy. Macdonald.
2 T 2
324 Memoirs of
The Court
filled with
spies.
The King
and Queen
receive him
most gra-
ciously.
The Queen
aged in ap-
pearance.
men to set down the sedan, and there I was resolved to stay.
Major Holmes finding that I did not come to the stairs, he came to
my chair, and finding the wood that stopped me, bade the Vice
Chamberlain's man to lay it aside, so as that the chair might pass, and
the fellow muttering, “Do it quickly, or by God I will break your
“head and your master's also if he thinks himself offended.” So a
passage was made, and this was ordered on purpose, hoping that I
should come out of the sedan for to be exposed to view, and that
Court was filled with curious persons, and knaves, and spies, and
the former as dangerous as the latter, but not designedly. On
arriving into the Bedchamber, both their Majesties received me in
a most distinguished manner. The King's heart might be equal to
that of the Queen, but she had a more gracious way of expressing
herself, and she soon added what was most endearing, and I remem-
ber it with all gratitude to this day. “My Lord, no person can be
“in more joy than I am in for to see you, but I tremble when I
“consider the danger you will run at your return.” And the
manner of expressing herself was so genteel also, that it was diffi-
cult for me to answer with words suitable to hers, but I did my
best, concluding that God Almighty always protected those that
acted with an upright heart and that called upon him for his bless-
ings, which I did daily. The Queen putting on no red I own I was
struck when I first saw her and she perceived it and with a sigh
replied “Afflictions alter people fast.” For she had not then ac-
complished her thirty-sixth year, being born the 25th September
1657, the King the 14th of October 1633, and he was in his sixtieth
year. He bore his age well enough, being more phlegmatic, and
taking his rest well, which to my knowledge he did the same when
he was turned out of his kingdoms. The King gave me soon a
bitter pill to swallow, and down with it I must, or return to Eng-
land as I came. I knew his temper but too well, and when once he
had taken an impression, the best reasons could never shake him;
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. - 325
and I had not the heart to do what certainly I had done if he had
been reigning in England, that is, to quit my employments and retire
to my own home. As I said on former occasions, my Lord Melford
was not to my heart's wish save as to his sincerity and fidelity, and
no one could ever reproach him for want of that, and I made good
a common maxim, that if I cannot have what I would, I will take
up with what I can have, and so as I confided in him as he was a
man of honour and true fidelity, I suspected the others as much.
My Lord Middleton, that went into France loaden with instruc-
tions from our old Minister and partners, and that, since his being
there, did nothing but in concert with them, and I gave you a plain
proof from the mouth of Major Holmes, who carried the declara-
tion, or draft, to that minister four times to correct whatever he
pleased. I knew besides that the abovesaid lord had an aversion
towards me, without knowing for what reason, and he loved his
jests so much, that if he spared God was the question, but for man
nobody escaped him, and it hath been my maxim from years of dis-
cretion never to trust a man that doth not put his entire confidence
into God our Creator and Redeemer.
And as for the other Minister I was to see, he was doubting,
positive, and peevish; Mr. Carroll, afterwards made Lord there, for
why I know not, he was a Roman Catholic but a grand bigot, and I
have always found such persons of both sexes and of both religions
the most troublesome in affairs of the world, and that fancied that
they only had merit before God, and ever presumptuous and vain-
glorious. I told the King that I never obeyed with so much re-
luctancy, that hitherto no one that knew me had seen me but my
Lord Melford, the lady at whose house I lodged, and Major Holmes
whom I could confide in ; and that out of St. Germains I would see
only the King of France, and no one minister or other, save that
honest man and that I knew, Monsieur Bontemps, keeper of that
King's closet, who was necessarily to introduce me; and that if ever
Lord Mel-
ford.
Lord Mid-
dleton.
Bigots in
religion most
troublesome
in affairs of
the world.
326 Memoirs of
The Prince
sent for.
Ordered to
kiss Lord
Ailesbury,
who was
very tall and
thus dis-
covered.
Comte de
Crossi Col-
bert.
my being in France came to be known in England, I would lay it
on those two ministers that his Majesty imposed on me. In that
conference I did not see them. I was near three hours with them,
answering all questions of less moment of matters they desired to
be informed of, and before I went away they sent for the Prince,
who had not just accomplished his eighth year, being born June
Ioth, 1688. The King ordered me to go behind the curtains in the
alcove, that I might not be seen at the opening the door of the
bedchamber to let the Prince in. He was for his age a lovely
child, from the nose upwards all of the Queen, and the lower part
and the mouth resembling his uncle my Royal master. The King
ordered me to kiss his hand (else in his presence not permitted)
and then ordered the Prince to kiss and embrace me. I retiring to
the alcove again, the Prince went out, and all in the ante-chamber
came flocking about him, and Mr. David Lloyd at the head, as
Holmes told me, a snarling creature of my Lord Middleton, and he
principally, and others, asked the Prince who was in the chamber.
The poor child answered he did not know him, but that he believed
I must be some one of consequence, because the King had ordered
him to kiss and embrace him, and that I was the tallest man he had
ever seen, on which Mr. David Lloyd (and the rest concurred)
swore then that it must be myself that the Prince had seen.
As I take it, on another audience my instructions were read in
the presence of those two Councillors imposed on me, or that the
King having them perhaps he might himself communicate them at
the juncture ; it is really out of my memory. But this I am
morally assured of, that my Lord Middleton transacted all that I
was entrusted with by the Admiral Delaval, and by him by Admiral
Killigrew, the first in the Commission. And give me leave to tell
you my reasons. The Comte de Crossi Colbert (brother to that
late great Minister) was Secretary for the Foreign Affairs, and of
consequence my commission was to be canvassed there ; he was
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 327
dull and stupid enough, but being brother to that great Minister
and favourite, he was named Ambassador for England. I was then
but a very young boy, but I had it from my father, that his Lady
understood the business best, and that she did all with the Secretary
of Ambassade, and I saw her several times after, and even in 1718,
and, although very old, she retained her great sense and vigour of
mind. _-
This same person was afterwards plenipotentiary at several
treaties, and always thought unworthy, still he was supported even
to his death. The King, his master, a great discerner, gave him
always able Secretaries of Ambassades, and Secretaries and chief
clerks in the office, and in my time the chief under him was the
Abbé de Renedault, a member of what we call the Royal Society.
He had quickness, wit, and parts, but I had reason to regard him as
a true canary bird. It is well known that moneys issued out for
secret service in all Courts is never brought to account, and even
our Commissions authorized by Act of Parliament for to state the
public accounts can never ask any more questions after those they
Abbé de
Renedault.
Secret ser-
vice money.
summon before them declare that such a sum or sums were
delivered out for secret service, and God knows that during the
course of years since 1688 what quantities of millions sterling hath
been sunk on that head. In the beginning of King William's reign the
Earl of Romney, then Secretary of State, owned to me that he was
forced to pay out of his own pocket rewards to private emissaries
for intelligence, and then all things went accordingly, and I have
reason to believe that it continued so at least until after that great
fleet was equipped in France at Cherbourg and La Hogue in 1692,
and ready to sail before the Queen and Council had received any
certain account; and I have also reason to believe that the torrent
of money for secret service had its rise as to gross sums from 1692.
And what I affirm as to the aforesaid Abbé de Renedault I was
morally assured of, that he had a lumping pension from England,
328 Memoirs of
and he was so embarked in my Lord Middleton's bottom, that he
gave himself up entirely into what they called then the Middletonian
Party, and a creature of that Lord's, and that first Secretary to
Colbert Crossies,” sent a very silly Irish physician named Noland
into England to their faction there. He desired to see me, and
Mr. Birkenhead having informed me of the character of the person
and of his empty head, I stood on my guard, and I got from him,
but he nothing from me, and the sight of him once was more than
enough for me, and he blundered out what I made good use of
afterwards. He was far from having the brains of Sir James
Montgomery, but I found that he would have persuaded me to
much the same that knight had let fall to me on the first and the
last time I had seen him at my Lady Brudenell's,t that the return of
the King must be transacted by secret friends, and not by avowed
ones, and he citing for this the Abbé de Renedault, I made good
use of it hereafter, and I sent him away little edified, and I took
such measures that, very soon after, a letter from the Abbot to this
wiseacre fell into my hands, and where the Abbot most basely and
falsely represented me and my worthy and most intimate friend Dr.
Lloyd, the deprived Bishop of Norwich, the same; that the latter
had nothing in his head but to be Archbishop of Canterbury at
King James' return, and that we both acted for self interest only,
and that I aimed to be at the top as to temporals. But let us end
this long digression for to come to the point, and at the closing I
will recite the very words of the King of France as to my particular
character.
I left off to make way for this digression, useful enough for to
let you into my Lord Middleton's designs and of his partners' in the
Court of Kensington, viz., that the King James could not be
restored but by them, and, as I said, that lord traversed me in all,
Dr. Noland.
Misrepre-
sentation of
Bp. Lloyd's
and Lord
Ailesbury's
notions.
Lord Mid-
dleton's de-
signs.
* Croissy, gy, variations in spelling. f Pp. 305, 306.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 329
and ’twas my foreseeing this, and for other most weighty reasons, Political
I resisted so long the seeing him and his tool old Carril.” You }. giv.
will find that the Christian King's objections seemed solid, but
I knew after that his great precautions arose from what Renedault
infused into Colbert Croissy. That King supported King James
nobly and friendly, so praiseworthy; but I question whether
politics did not prevail. I mean that this King thought England
not impoverished enough as yet, and that King James if once
restored might on emergencies of state be in a condition to make
head against him, as a King governing a Kingdom that in all ages
were ready to join heartily into a war against the Crown. These
reflections made me resolve to sit quiet from the King of France’s
declining to come into my propositions. The night before I had LordMid-
audience at Versailles, the King sent my Lord Middleton to the *
house where I lodged, with the original declaration. The house with Lord
tº sº tº º o e Ailesbury
was indifferent good, with very plain but neat furniture, and some
candles being set up, he at coming in, with a sneer said that I was
as easy as at my own home. I answered him smartly and
pertinently enough, besides he mortally hated the lady at whose
house I lodged. I was loth to shock the King too much, else I
had it at my tongue's end for to tell him that nothing could put me
so much at ease as to see his counsels and his confederates con-
founded; but at Court an hour after I was not behindhand with
him. We sitting down, he told me that he was ordered by the
King to bring me the original declaration with a red satin ribbon, about the
and that I would give my advice on it. I replied “Advice, my “"“”
“Lord It hath been printed in London a fortnight since, and I
“doubt not but that the printer is hanged by this time or will be
“soon.” I gave it him again without reading, passing a court
compliment on the King, saying, “I must submit to what the King
“thinks fit to do.” When he found that the declaration was cried
* Caryl, Carroll, p. 325. See Dict of National Biography, vol. ix. -
VOL. I. 2 U . -
33O . Memoirs of
His opinion
about it.
out against, and the wrong timing it also, this Lord would have laid
the load and the odium on my Lord Melford, who was not
concerned in it one way or other (but strenuously opposed it) and
this I knew from Holmes that carried it over. On his leaving me,
I went as usual in the sedan to Court; present the King, my Lords
Melford and Middleton, Mr. Carril,” and myself. The King asked
what my opinion was of the declaration. I respectfully answered
that there was little occasion of giving my opinion, since the
declaration was printed some time since in London, and the printer
was or would be soon hanged. (Darby in Bartholomew Close).
The King was a little stunned, and much more on my question, viz.,
“Is your Majesty ready to go over with a competent force to
“support it?” The King had a short dry way. “Over ? Over ? you
“know the contrary.” Then I went on, “Sir, I never read in
“history of a declaration set forth and published until that King or
“Prince was ready to support it either by a legitimate right or a
“usurping one.” -
I perceiving the King greatly silent, I went on “Well, Sir,
“what is done cannot be retrieved. Give me the original declara-
“tion, and I will carry it on board the Fleet, that so the Admirals
“may accept and declare for you; but I will not go without my
“Lord Middleton, your Secretary of State and the composer of it,
“ and he can assure the Admirals, viva voce, that he saw your
“Majesty sign it.”
My Lord Middleton was ready to sink down, fearing the King
would enter into my proposition on one hand, and imagining that
I spoke what I thought, and far from it well knowing it was imprac-
ticable. My Lord Middleton recovering a little, said to the King
what in reality were my thoughts, but I was even with him most
sufficiently for his jeer at coming into my lodgings that very evening.
I never saw him after, and I wish I never had before, nor the King
* Caryl.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 33 I
and Queen also, for he was as fatal to them after their going out of Fatal results
England as his great friend and colleague, our noted minister, was § y
On "S
before, and by whose false counsel that good King lost his three Counsel.
Crowns. Give me leave to observe that had my negotiations with
the Admirals been communicated to the King from me in London,
and that I had assured him of a total success, in that case a pre-
paring a declaration had been the right thing, and to be sent over
when the King was embarking at Brest with a competent army to
secure his person on landing in England. But my negociations
were solely between Admiral Delaval and myself, and the former
treated solely with Admiral Killigrew, and nothing of this was
known until myself in person communicated it at my first audience Lord Ailes-
at St. Germains. The same afternoon, my Lord Melford was sent iºn
to Versailles to concert with the King of France in relation to the the King of
private audience I was to have the next day, and that King gave France.
his necessary orders to Monsieur Bontemps, the keeper of his closet
and a most honest and secret man, and my Lord Melford and he
agreed as to time and place, and hour, and Major Holmes was
directed to get an ordinary but close chaise for two persons, and we
set out about three, and arrived, and were seen by nobody.
At the outward gate he went to fetch me a sedan, for in that
any one may come into the first court, and the chairmen brought
me into a little sort of a hall in M. Bontemps' lodgings under the
king's apartments, and after the audience I was reconducted in the
same manner, and seen by nobody. I omitted one thing, which
was, that my Lord Melford carried to that King a copy of my in-
structions from the Admirals, which I had composed by memory at
Boulogne at my landing. I stayed in Mons: Bontemps' closet Details of
Q e o e tº the Court
a short time, he going up his usual private back stairs for to .
know the King's pleasure, who gave orders to have the passage
cleared and the room shut where I was to pass to his closet, as it
is called, but very spacious, and where he holds his Cabinet
2 U 2
332 Memoirs of
Characteris-
tics of Louis
XIV.
Council. I was never good at set speeches (nor at writing neitner,
beyond what they call plain sense). I endeavoured however to
outdo myself, but in composing by memory in a little room near,
where I was obliged to stay until all the rooms were cleared of
people, I could make nothing of it, and so resolved to speak
naturally what I conceived to be proper on the occasion. I was
so fortunate as what I said was approved of, and the King asked
me how I had retained so well the French language. I should
have mentioned that at entrance I was to make two bows at
distance, and the third and lower at just approaching, for foreigners
kiss not the hand. At my entrance, the King rose out of his great
chair at the upper end of the table where he keeps the Cabinet
Council (but no one was present at my desire which my Lord
Melford had intimated from me, and I was entirely gratified,
although not at St. Germains, as I said before, at large) and came
to the corner of the table, on which he rested his hand. His
smiles and bowing graciously with his head were most affable, and,
to say the truth, no King whatever came up to that pitch, and his
deportment generally was the same, and with great air of Majesty.
And he was a Prince that entered into all affairs with the greatest
nicety and good judgment until his latter years (for he lived twenty-
one years after) and then Madame de Maintenon had an entire
ascendant, and he was informed of nothing but what she thought
fit to have communicated to him, especially when affairs went not
well, as after the battle of Hocksted and the succeeding campaigns,
for until that battle all went for him with wind and tide. He
having read over sedately my instructions given to him by my Lord
Melford the day before, the first thing he asked was, if I desired
the map of the coasts. I answered that for myself I wanted them
not, and that it was imagined in England that his Majesty knew but
too well our situation. On which he smiled and, with a gracious
look, told me that I was no flatterer. I replied that I had never
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 333
flattered my own Kings, and that I would observe the same rule as
towards him. He was pleased to say that I had an honourable
character.
My instructions were, that on notice given by me that if what
I was charged with by Admiral Delaval should be accepted of in
all due form, that then Admiral Killigrew in conjunction with
Admiral Delaval (Shovel was to be kept ignorant) would sail two
or three hundred leagues Westward, on pretence that he was not
to open a secret commission he pretended to have, until the Fleet
came to such a degree ; and this for to give time for the French
Squadron to convey over King James with a competent number
of troops of his own Country in French pay, a body not to terrify,
but to support the King until the well affected to him should
come and join him (and for the common soldiers and troopers and
quantities of more inferior officers I entirely depended on, and on
some of a higher rank) and the Fleet to anchor out of the cannon
The pro-
posed plan
for the
Admirals.
reach of the fortress of Portsmouth—I think it was Ports Down
or some such name. -
This King had fresh in memory the destruction of his fifteen
ships the year before, and he asked me how I could be more
assured of these Admirals than he was the preceding year of Rear
Admiral Carter. I replied that the latter was killed soon after the
fight began, and if he was true to his word he lived not to perform
it. Besides he was but a Rear Admiral (and I am not positive
he was that) and although his design might be to make good his
promise, it might perhaps not have been in his power; but that I
came from them that commanded the Fleet in chief, and if they
said they had instructions to do this or that, it was not in the power
of inferiors to dispute it. He then came to his point, and told me
that he durst not venture his squadron in the Sleeve, in French La
Manche d'Angleterre. “For,” said he, “if I come to Portsmouth
“in the place you mention, and that the Admirals betray their
Admiral
Carter.
Opinion of
Louis XIV.
334 Memoirs of
Discourse
with the
King on
general
topics.
“word, then they may come foundering on me with a West or
“South-West wind, and I shall be cooped up, and my fleet must
“be absolutely destroyed, and the King my brother, and the troops,
“made a prey of. But if you can prevail with the Admirals to
“come to Portsmouth on pretence of wanting beer, water, &c.,
“ then my squadron shall carry over the King my brother with
“such a number of troops as you mentioned, with cannon, arms, &c.,
“for to land him at Torbay. And then, in case the Admirals
“should falsify their words, that then the same wind that brings
“them up to my fleet, will be good for their return to Brest.” I
told him that the Fleet's coming to Portsmouth was not practicable,
since they were victualled &c. for the Summer. Admiral Delaval,
before my leaving England, directed me how I should give him
notice whether their propositions were accepted of at Versailles,
and he left Captain Rigby, that commanded the -, in such a
station on our coast so as to receive my letter for the said Admiral,
and which was delivered, and so the Admirals pursued their orders
they had from the Admiralty and, in fine, they did nothing that
Summer, and were questioned for it in the House of Commons,
but they came off well. Indeed they dallied out much of their
time, expecting to hear from me, and they did not well know what
to say for themselves for that time they had lost at the beginning
of their setting out, and I believe it was Sir Cloudesley Shovel that
blowed the coals. This digression is occasioned by the design I
have to finish all that regarded my instructions, and the conduct
of the Admirals, and here to finish it. -
To return; my discourse with this King after his final determin-
ation was more general, and I represented to him the fatal con-
sequences and obstacles that would arise if ever he designed to
settle the King on his throne by fire and sword, which in good
English would be termed a conquest, and that on that foot I could
never treat with his Majesty, if it was required of me. I added that
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 335
his Majesty was esteemed and respected as a great King by men of
honour, but that amongst the generality in England his name was
nowise in reputation. I spoke it in French, and therefore I explain
it more pathetically in that language, Son nom n'etait pas en bon
odeur parmi le peuple. I added that if he restored the King as I
had proposed, I could have answered for the success, but if other-
wise great numbers of well meaning men would change their minds,
by the apprehension of being conquered by French troops. The
King smiled and repeated again, “I see you are a plain speaker,
“ and no flatterer: and there is great reason in what you have said.”
Stirring one of my feet, the King perceiving it, said, “You are not
“in haste 7" I answering that it was my duty to stay or go as he
commanded, he went on talking of other subjects for near an hour
after, and I was with him two hours and a half, and then bowing
his head in the most gracious manner, and wishing me a happy
return and free from all dangers, I retired in the usual manner, and
as customary at private audiences. I omitted one thing which I let
fall, as in French, sans faire semblance de rien, that is my dis-
interestedness in my whole proceedings without the least view or
prospect for my own particular interest, and I gave a true idea of
those that had nothing in view but for themselves, and that I knew
none that had preceded me that were charged with anything
material or substantial; and the King said there had been but too
many such. I returned to St. Germains in the same manner as I
went from thence to Versailles.
The next day the King told me that the King of France had
expressed himself in relation to me, which made me very proud.
These were his words, “This Lord is the first man of quality with a
“great estate that hath repaired to you; the first man that came
“over about an affair of the most high importance; and the first
“that never asked anything for himself.” And I may affirm that
not one that came over before me or after me but 'twas for their
Return to
St. Ger-
mains.
What Louis
XIV.
thought of
Lord
Ailesbury.
336 Memoirs of
Last au-
dience of
King James
and the
Queen.
Departure
from St.
Germains.
Abbeville.
Attack of
fever.
Duke
d’Aumont.
interest, and nothing in their brain but what they term in French
des Chateaux en Espagne or, if you love English words best, castles
in the air.
Many of our travelling fops, at their return, out of affectedness,
speak half English and half French. I make use of the latter when
I think they are more expressive.
My last audience of the King and Queen ought to have been
most agreeable to me (the Queen especially that had words more at
will), they brought tears in my eyes. The King outdid himself on
that occasion also, and our separation was sad enough. And a sad
sight for to see a King of Great Britain and Ireland the subject of
what may be termed alms. The Queen was pleased to add, “I
“shall not be at ease until I hear that you are landed and that you
“ have escaped all dangers, and pray take care to let us hear from
“you as soon as it is possible.” By their orders my Lord Melford
wrote to Calais to have William Gill's boat come from Calais to
Boulogne to transport me over, and that lord giving me his post-
chaise for my ease, and as much wine of all sorts (no good being to
be found on the Road) as the chaise could carry, I set out with all
precaution, in an afternoon, and went four posts and all alone.
Next day with some diligence I reached Abbeville, but it was ten
at night, and until two in the morning I could not get into the town
although I declared that I was a courier from Court; they pre-
tended that they could not find the Town Mayor. The wind blew
fresh from the sea few leagues off, and that I believe was the rise
of my fever. I was not above two hours in bed, by the great noise
of drums and trumpets at four, the Duke d'Aumont first gentleman
of the Bedchamber and governor of Boulogne and of the county
lying there going to his government, as all Governors of Maritime
provinces were accustomed to do in time of war. Two posts from
Abbeville I found the said Duke, who did not know me, nor I him,
although we had long corresponded by message, by the means of
an English goldsmith that lived at Boulogne. I knew who he was
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 337
by the master of the post-house, an Englishman by birth. This
man told the Duke I was English, and that was all he knew of me.
The Duke told me that we should see each other next morning.
I dined at Montreuil, and arrived at Boulogne early in the
afternoon, and at my inn in the upper town (all strangers lying
generally in the lower, more full of noise and company) near the
Government or Governor's House I began to find myself ill, and
took a refreshing remedy, but I slept very indifferently. The next
morning I was treating with one Marguillier, an owling master of a
vessel also, William Gill not being arrived from Calais according to
order. Just concluding, William Gill came into my room, and then
I thanked the other.
I went to the Duke d'Aumont's they bringing me word he was
arrived, and I was with him two hours, and he received me with all
tenderness and esteem, when I told him who I was. The Lieu-
tenant Governor came in, but the Duke did not tell him who I was,
only that he esteemed me as his dear friend. At going away he
would have conducted me, but I would not suffer it, by reason that,
being very plainly clothed in all respects, I might pass as a Courier,
but if he conducted me it would give jealousy, for in his great room
by the closet there were the Bishop of the place, the nobility,
gentry of the county, and the chapter and magistrates in a body, to
compliment the Duke on his arrival, who directed Monsieur Colam-
bert, the Lieutenant Governor, to take care of me. When we came
into the yard he ran fiercely against a man and turned him round
very adroitly that he should not well perceive me, and directed the
Mayor of the town to attend me, and I knew by the latter that who
should this man be but Simson, alias Jones, the triple spy, that it
seems William Gill had brought over from Hunt's, the landlord by
Romney, where he had been since, Holmes threatened to shoot
him if he set foot in the boat when I was going over to France.
By this it is evident that Simson was well known by the French as
VOL. I. 2 X.
Montreuil.
Interview
with the
Duke at
Boulogne.
Simson the
Spy.
338 Memoirs of
Incidents of
the return
voyage.
well as at St. Germains and as well at the Court at London, and
therefore I was not out of the way when I gave him the name of
a triple spy. -
On getting the secret out of Sir John Jermaine,” with whom I
was frequently and ate often at his house, and I took the time
when he was as drunk as possible, and I was not much in a better
state. To return, the Mayor of the town carried me to a public
house near the place I was to take boat to join the ship, my fever
still increasing. - -
We sailed about two in the afternoon and cast our anchor half
sea over, and I was in a miserable condition in lying on the hulk
without boards, and no quilt or any other sort of bedding or pillow,
the seamen broiling their mackerel, with the stench by smoking
under my nose the worst of tobacco, and having eaten nothing, my
fever taking away my appetite, I ran in danger of my life, but it
pleased God that I was not sea-sick, else with straining I might
have broke a vein.
About six we weighed anchor for to gain the shore of Romney
at the dusk, for that is the soonest any vessel of that nature dares
approach the coast. About sun setting we espied a little English
privateer of six guns, called the Child's-play, a prize taken from the
French. She lay at anchor for to secure that coast, and to obstruct
the Owling trade. The master, William Gill, told me that he
must return to his own Coast, and that he would not lose his ship
for me or anybody whatsoever, and so returned to Ambleteuse
between Calais and Boulogne, a place that deserved not the name
of a sea-port, and only small fisher-boats could get in there. I
went on shore to a miserable public house for fishermen, however
I was obliged to lie on a nasty bed, the fever increasing so that I
was not able to hold up my head. I had not eaten of two days,
and had I found any victuals I could not have got it down. I had
* Germaine, p. 361.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 339
still a bottle or two of my Lord Melford's wine, and I burnt some,
and with base coarse sugar I seasoned it and swallowed two or
three spoonfuls. -
About four in the afternoon we set sail for half sea over again;
the whole not above three leagues, and but four from Boulogne to
Romney. When we came on the dusk, or a little before, we
espied the Child's-play again, and the master resolved to go back
to his coast again, notwithstanding my entreaties even on my knees,
but he was inflexible. But the good God ordered it so as that
Marguilliers' trading boat, in which as I said I was to go over,
followed us. As we espied her at our stern, the master of the
Child's-play did the same, and seeing two masts, and not knowing
what to make of us, he weighed anchor and sailed with a fresh and
fair gale towards Dover, and I landed and went to Hunt's house in
a most weak condition. -
My great resignation to the will of God was what only kept up
my spirits, and I had in a most wonderful manner his divine pro-
tection, and my escape on landing was unheard of.
Brigadier Edward Matthews' Royal Regiment of Dragoons
had very lately been ordered to march to the Coast, to quarter in
small towns and villages for to annoy and dissipate this secret
trade, and to patrol constantly. No doubt they were drinking and
idling on the happy moment I arrived on shore. A tolerable good
bed and clean sheets overjoyed me, but God knows I rested not
all night, slumbering sometimes, but most unquietly. I had a
craving false appetite, but could get down nothing, and happy it
was for me, for my fever was too high for to venture on flesh meat,
for as for broth or spoon meats I could get none, and I lived on
boiled beer, and that I could scarce get down, it was so unpalatable.
I was there near twenty-four hours, and the landlord gave me a
horse, but lame, which tired me still more, and a guide, and I rode
in this sad condition twenty-five miles in the night and about three
Arrival at
Hunt's
house.
Escape from
Royal
Dragoons.
Fever still
high.
2 X 2
34o Memoirs of
Arrival at
Sandy Lane.
Meeting for
bowls.
Drinking.
*
Arrival at
Rochester.
Met with
Mr. Birken-
head.
hours a-day early in the morning, suffering more than can be
expressed, and each mile I thought a journey. I stopped now and
then, and took a spoonful or two of boiled beer very coarsely
seasoned, and I arrived at Sandy Lane, at a public house, and
almost a single one. The Landlord, Tucker, I knew by reputation,
and to be most secret. My bed was indifferent good, but I could
have no rest. I desired an apothecary, but he lived two miles off,
at a small market town I think called Lenham. A messenger on
horseback returned soon with the Apothecary, who by order
brought what was necessary for a refreshing remedy (with in-
different cordials as generally those little Apothecaries have), but
my body was so burnt that I had little or no effect until they
were repeated, and for nourishment I could take none—broth in
such places being not known, nor had he anything for to make
water gruel with. And here by an accident which happens weekly,
I was forced to stay until the evening, the neighbouring gentlemen
and some clergy meeting there to dine and bowl, and where
drinking is never forgot. As I was in bed I could see all on the
Green, and what they did, and in the afternoon I saw little
difference between the laity and the clergy, some lying drunk, and
others bowling over them, which helped to pass my weary time
away.
When the company got on horseback, and some put on a bed
in the house, I got on horseback, and between that place and
Rochester, at the Wool Pack on Pickington Heath near Maidstone,
I fell from my horse in a swoon. They put me on a bed, and they
rubbed my temples with some brandy, and I made a shift to come
to the Crown in Rochester, a noted Inn, as also for the Landlord
and Lady, Mr. and Mrs. Crosse, to be persons to be confided in
entirely, and there by accident I met with my trusty Mr. Birken-
head. I was lodged to my wish, and I had the advice of a very
able doctor who gave me excellent cordials, and my heart was
much revived. They gave me good broth, and I swallowed a few
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 34I
Asparagus, and by other familiar remedies I slept tolerably. Mrs.
Crosse made me excellent water gruel—he provided me with a
good coach and four horses, the gruel was put into bottles, and
they lent me a silver poringer, and I set out the next morning,
taking some gruel warmed from time to time, and I arrived at St.
George's in Southwark in the afternoon, where I dismissed Mr.
Birkenhead and the coach, and took a hackney, and changed
coaches at least six times for a blind. On London Bridge there
being a stop, I espied at an apothecary's shop written with great
letters “New Milk Water.” I called a boy at the shop door to
bring me some, and he going back to fetch a cup, I opened the
quart bottle and drank it all up. So much fire being in my
body, this for a time did me great good, and so I endured with
more ease the length of the way. At St. Andrew's Holborn I
took the last coach I made use of, and ordered the man to go
into Lisle Street, which was the passage to my stable yard, I
living at the house next Leicester House, where this King George
the Second lived when he retired from Court. The coachman
knocking hard, my dearest wife suspected (but knew nothing nor
where I had been), and came to me at alighting, and seeing my
ghastly countenance she fell into a swoon. They put me into bed
immediately, and Doctor Brown my physician was sent for, and per-
haps another, but I was not sensible of anything, nor do I remember
anything, but, as I was told, I was three weeks between despair and
hopes. All these small particulars are little necessary to anybody
but myself, but I writing for my own satisfaction, it may be forgiven.
I have omitted one thing, that at Rochester I sent a message
to Captain Rigby according to what Sir Ralph Delaval and I
concerted heretofore, so as Mr. Birkenhead that carried it, nor
Captain Rigby, could comprehend anything, but the message was
delivered to Sir Ralph who, in conjunction with the others, spun
out that Summer, for which, as I have said, they were questioned
in the House of Commons, and were honourably acquitted, at least
Precautions.
“ New Milk
Water.”
Arrival at
his own
house.
Message to
Captain
Rigby.
342 Memoirs of
Earl of
Leicester.
by a majority. We were in the fine season of the year, and I
recovered the sooner, and, when I was able, I took the air in my
coach twice the day. The old Earl of Leicester was a most infirm
man, and particular besides in all his ways, neither making or
receiving a visit, and for his health was, morning and afternoon, in
his coach for air, yet however as to me he outdid himself, and sent
frequently to enquire after my health, my house and his almost
adjoining, and desired me that when I was able I would come and
dine with him, for before my journey, and for some years past, I
seldom failed on the Saturdays, a day he dedicated to his own
humour as free from Lords and others of the Court, for naturally
he was addicted to none, and as to principles of government, they
were suitable to those of his brother deceased, Mr. Algernon
Sidney. So he loved to be at ease, and not to talk of anything
that related to State affairs and politics, and two of his most
constant guests on the Saturdays were Mr. Dryden and Mr.
Wicherley, professed Jacobites, but their company pleased him.
But many poetasters intruded themselves, and others not so
pleasing to him ; he suffered them, but loved little their company,
and would give them what in common English they called a dry
bob. A near kinsman of mine, Colonel Philip Howard of Berk-
shire, was one that discomposed him much, being a great talker
of nothing, and always of the times which were that lord's aversion,
and when my kinsman's tongue ran, that lord in his soft way of
expressing himself cried out, “Mr. Howard, you are for high
“games; all my ambition is to play at one and thirty bon ace.””
And he was forced continually to cut him short.
The first time I dined there after my recovery, I found my
Mr. Dryden,
Mr. Wicher-
ley.
“A dry
bob.”
Colonel
Philip
Howard.
His conver-
sation on
politics.
* Bone-Ace. “The bone is one half of the stake, the other remaining for the
game. The Ace of Diamonds is Bone-Ace, and wins all other cards whatever, after-
wards the nearest to one and thirty wins.” Cotton's Complete Gamester, Lond, 1682.
Singer on Playing Cards, Lond., 1816, p. 342.
- ºn & sº sº see rºº
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 343
unwelcome cousin there, who was then full freighted with subject
matter, he being not yet quite recovered from his fright imagining
that King James would support his declaration and make a descent
in England; and I being present, I suppose what he said should
be by me remembered. He began on the subject matter of the
bravery of King James in so many sea-engagements (which he
ought not to have touched on, for it was commonly said that he,
Mr. Howard, ran down into the hull of the ship). My Lord
Leicester said nothing but, “Thanks to the declaration, Mr.
Howard.” Then he exclaimed against all those that doubted of
the true birth of the pretended Prince of Wales—“They are fools
and cockscombs that dispute that/" The Lord of the house
repeated again, “Thanks to the declaration, Mr. Howard.”
Brigadier Edward Matthews being present, agreed with Mr.
Howard (but not out of fear) as to the bravery of King James
in those engagements, and cited the late Duke of Monmouth, his
patron, for his author, and who had assured him that there was
not a man of more valour to his knowledge, as having been eye
witness. What followed touched me home, but Colonel Matthews
was and had always been my friend, and I am well assured that
it came from him only through the fulness of rancour he had against
those that advised and promoted the march of his regiment, or part
of it, to the sea side, and he let out a heavy curse on them, pretend-
ing that his horses were poisoned with salt water. “Could they
“think,” said he, “that it is in the art of man to prevent that Owl-
“ing trade, since from the nobility downwards to the most mean of
“ those maritime counties over against France, all contrive in it
“more or less, by reason that their wool goes off at so vast a rate,
“ and passengers will even take that opportunity of going to and fro?”
As much as I could judge of myself I carried it out with some
assurance, although I was never good at it. The discourse fell,
and mirth ensued, and the more because my cousin decamped.
Brigadier
Matthews.
344 Memoirs of
Lord Ailes—
bury retires
from active
politics.
Restlessness
of the
Jacobites.
I never pretended to be a poet, nor anything like it, and I
will explain how that day came to my lot. My Lord of Leicester,
some few years before, sent to me, and once at Penshurst, whither
I went to see him from Tunbridge Wells, asked me himself why...I
never came to dine with him. I told him smilingly that he had
always the Ministers of the Court with him, and at other times
Poets, and I not pretending to the character of one or the other, I
knew not what day to come, and he named Saturdays, and that I
should always see some of my friends that day, and named Mr.
Dryden and Mr. Wicherley. I now come to my quietus, for on
the King of France’s declining to enter into my proposals, I
resolved that I would enter no more into what might bring me to
my last end, and for nothing. For Irepeat again, that it was a solid
maxim with me that King James could never be restored without
a superior fleet, or a squadron fitted out by surprise, as that was in
1692. But when I thought to take my rest, I had then the most
unquiet days. The party called Jacobites could never be quiet,
and so flashy that if they did but dream that King James was
coming over, they imagined it when they awakened ; and because
I would not enter into their vain schemes, they grew jealous of me,
and swore they did not know what to make of me, as a secret
friend of mine told me, that I employed to frequent them, and a
most honest and secret person. Sir John Fenwick especially came
to that height that, God forgive him for it, he dictated for above
two hours when we were in the Tower, and the Duke of Devon-
shire, my so near kinsman, was the scribe, and in that relation he
exposed all I had said or done for seven years before. More of
that in due time. I kept as fair as I could with them, and
dissimulated what my secret friend had told me, and I ate with
them, but after my return from France in 1693 I never entered
into what they call an overt act, although I was sent to the Tower
three years after, and for what is hard to be guessed. I must here
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 345
stop, for I am running out of the bounds; in time and place I will
set out all in its true colours.
It was towards the latter end of May 1693 that I returned to May, 1693.
London from France, and I was all the month of June in
gathering my strength, and then I went to my country seat. I
cannot remember anything worth taking notice of, and what passed
in the Winter and Spring is out of my memory, of 1694, and the Dec. 1694.
same until towards December, the time we lost the glory of her Death of
sex—the Queen. She was a Princess perfect in all respects, and the Queen.
the most able pen is not sufficient to set out her just praises. My
loss was not to be repaired.
My misfortunes, and cruel hard usage, soon followed, which
had never succeeded by the artifice of the hungry Dutch, had God
Almighty prolonged her days, as naturally might have been
expected; she being at her death about the age of thirty-two years. Aged 32.
The Princess Anne of Denmark in course was to have been chief The funeral.
mourner, but being then not far from her time, she could not iºns.
perform that last duty. The Kings of Arms declared that then my
wife was entitled to perform that part, as being the head of the
Suffolk line, and descending from Mary Queen Dowager of France,
youngest sister to King Henry the Eighth. But my wife was in
the same condition as the Princess of Denmark, and could not
have attended, but according to all justice it ought to have been
offered her, and not being summoned, I would not attend according
to my rank of peerage. At the Funeral the Duchess of Somerset
was named as the first Duchess after the Duchess of Norfolk; she
was excluded for reasons. It is to be observed that my wife was
heir general, and the Duke of Somerset who is now living is but
of the younger branch, and he inherited nothing but the title.
The exceptions taken by the Earls of Clarendon and Rochester
and which hindered their attending were, if I may be permitted to
say, frivolous enough. They pretended that the Arms of Hyde
VOL. I. 2 Y
346 Memoirs of
Heraldic
rules for
subjects
married to
the blood
royal.
Major.
General
Maxwell.
(p. 308.)
Curious
superstition.
Three chief
ministers.
should have been painted in the common form of heraldry on the
bannerolles. It is well known that when Kings and Princesses of
the blood make an alliance with a subject, their arms are not put
into the Royal Escutcheon, nor did ever the late Duchess of York
call the Lord Chancellor Clarendon father, nor did ever the late
King James call the Earls of Clarendon and Rochester brothers,
nor the Princesses Mary and Anne term them as Uncles. Indeed
the late Chancellor, when he wrote letters of advice to the late
Duchess in relation to her changing her religion, made use of the
style of Daughter, which in truth he ought not to have done. I
omitted one thing I should have inserted ; after my return from
France, as soon as I grew sensible by the abatement of my fever,
I was told that Major General Maxwell (whom I got exchanged
as before, and who proved so ungrateful to me) was still in London
on frivolous pretexts in outward appearance, but in reality he was
known to be continually in secret with our great Minister behind
the curtain, transacting between this Minister and my Lord Middle-
ton, and I have great reasons to believe that the latter had given
Maxwell notice that I had been in France, for when they told
him I was so ill, he made slight of it, to the person that told it me,
adding that a long beard altered a man's countenance very much.
He was ordered by the French Court to repair to his post, and
was at the battle of Staffarda,” as I take it, in Piemont, and at the
same time the Duchess dowager of Norfolk, his wife, died at
Sheffield in Yorkshire; on which they gave notice to her husband,
and they wondered they never received an answer, and her body
was not interred until a good time after, when the news came that
the Major General was dead also ; and the foolish country people
would have it that her coffin moved about the room.
I am not certain whether I have hinted in my remarks of
some years past that King William had advanced three persons of
* 17 August, 1690.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 347
quality and parts to eminent stations, viz., the Marquis of Halifax
Lord Privy Seal, the Earl of Danby President of the Council
(since Marquis, and after Duke of Leeds), and the Earl of Notting-
ham to be Secretary of State ; and all three seemed to outvie each
other in zeal and assiduity. The latter, to my knowledge, was
more diligent and laborious than the common clerks, and with
as much ability as pedantry, and yet one party at Court could
never give him a good word, nor would they believe otherwise but
that he acted a dull part, and as by ignorance of the Admiralty we
lost numbers of men of war in their several stations, so that party
would have it that this Secretary underhand gave intelligence what
ships and what numbers of ships were ordered for this and that
post or station, when indeed in those times the French outwitted
us, and their Fleet was in much better order than ours. In
this following particular they could never come up to us, nor
never will be able, that is, in the line of battle, but for squadrons,
and ship against ship, they ever did their duty. Their Commanders
of Men of War are for the greater part men of quality that have
honour as well as courage, and filled with officers of all ranks besides
the Captain and Lieutenants as with us; and as for our Commanders,
three parts of four are upstarts or raised from Cabin-boys.
The Earl
of Notting-
ham.
As to the Earl of Nottingham and the Duke of Leeds, King -
James had such an opinion of them that, when for good reasons I
obtained their pardon when I was at St. Germains, the King told
me on granting it to them that he never swallowed a more bitter
pill, and why? Because our great minister in England, and my
Lord Middleton, hated them. The former I believe knows not to
this hour that I ever obtained it, or had asked it. For the latter
he received the assurance from me with the highest respect and
gratitude, even bending on his knee as if the King had granted it in
person. My Lord Middleton made the King believe that he and
the Duke understood each other well, but I had it asseverated by
The Duke
of Leeds.
2 Y 2
348 Memoirs of
The Mar-
quis of
Halifax.
Proposed
income for
the Princess
Anne.
him on his honour that I was the first person that he had opened
his thoughts to. As to the time that the Marquis of Halifax and
Earl of Nottingham were dismissed the Court, I am not able to say,
nor who succeeded them. By a circumstance I remember well that
he was not Secretary at the Queen's death, December, 1694; for
the other, tis quite out of my memory, but not how they were tossed
about and teased in Parliament by the instigation of our great
minister, and they had such coarse treatment that I despised them
to the last degree for suffering it, and both of them having so great
and plentiful an income.
The Marquis had a vast share of wit and life, but made a
jest of all, and often spared not what was sacred, so I had no
intercourse with him. The Duke of Leeds' fortune came not up
to the two others, yet I declare that, if I had been in their situa-
tion, I would have chosen rather to have bought my table in
Wales or other most cheap place than to have suffered what they
did from the party opposite to them—the Whigs.
After the Queen's death, I had a most fortunate thought that
came into my head, that turned so greatly in favour of the Princess
Anne of Denmark, and communicating it to several of both houses,
it was by the interest we had in both that it came to be happily
perfected, but with the diminution of twenty thousand pounds per
annum. That House of Commons that sat in 1694 and I695 was
not like the preceding and the following ones. More of that
in due place. In fine, the proposition was, that the Princess
should have, independent of the King, seventy thousand pounds
yearly for to support her and the Prince and family. The King
by his ministers finding he could not stem that flood of tide, he
sent to treat with the Princess, and she for to be easy and quiet
accepted of fifty thousand pounds yearly by quarterly payments;
and she being satisfied, we submitted. She most gratefully
remembered it until the winter 1703,-that winter that my Lords
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 349
Marlborough and Godolphin came into the Whig interest. More
of that hereafter. -
I now come to the Spring, 1695. The exit of the Duke of
Leeds you will find no doubt in the histories or annals of those
times. I have a confused idea of it, as to the common forms and
proceedings, but I can give the authentic reason for its having been
levelled against him, not so much to detect bribery as to get him
out of the Court. The case of Sir John Trevor, the Speaker, who
was expelled the House for receiving one thousand guineas to
promote the Orphans bill, was foreign to this. The East India
Company solicited a new Charter, and certainly Sir Thomas Cook,
Sir Basil Firebrace, and others, dissipated great sums for serving
secretly that Company, and there were secret Committees of both
Houses appointed to dive into that management, and none named
but mortal enemies to the Duke of Leeds; and our great minister
governed the helm, but secretly. The two knights and others
made some discoveries as I remember, but this is certain, that they
were sent to the Tower, as also Mr. Bates, a creature of the Duke
of Leeds, and his crime was, that he had taken from one of the
knights or others of the East India Company five * hundred guineas
for to keep that lord firm to them, and sent to the Tower; and my
Lord was accused also for having received one hundred thousand
guineas, and that it passed through the hands of one Roberti a
foreigner, and his valet de chambre, who was summoned to appear,
but he fled the Kingdom. This lord often after protested solemnly
to me that he had never touched a shilling of that money. In fine,
my Lord was impeached by the Commons, and it was lodged at
the Lords' House, and their design (I mean the Commons) was to
have him rot in the Tower, and not to make good their accusation;
as the House of Commons did towards the Lord in 1678 & 1679,
and he lay near five years in prison.
* Or eight. Five is the right reading. See Smollett's History, chap. v., § iv.
1695.
Cases of
bribery.
Sir John
Trevor.
Duke of
Leeds.
Mr. Bates.
35O . Memoirs of
Impeach-
ment of the
Duke of
Leeds.
Thrown out.
The King was to go soon to the Army in Flanders, and the
Parliament of consequence to separate. On the natural apprehension
this lord had of lying in the Tower at least until Winter, he
humbly entreated of their lordships that a day may be fixed for his
trial, or that he might be discharged of that impeachment. It was
said our great Minister treated with him underhand, promising him
that if he would retire from Court and resign his place of President
of the Council, that all should go well with him. This I cannot
aver, but am pretty confident of it. But it is certain that he
desired all his friends of the Lords' House to appear, and their
Lordships sending to the Commons to make good their accusation
that so the Lords might name the day for the trial. The Commons
having taken no notice of the Lords' message, and the King
intending to go to Holland the next day or very soon, after a
short debate the impeachment was thrown out by a great majority.
What confirmed me greatly in the opinion I had of a secret
management was, the great dinner that Lord gave, and at several
Character of
the Duchess
of Leeds.
tables in rooms adjoining to the Lord's house, for great preparations
must have been made beforehand, for he knew his good destiny
but at noon. I was at one of the tables, and the dinner was
magnificent. I own the flight of Roberti gave great suspicions, but
this must be said, that this lord was most unfortunate in a wife,
nobly born and sister to the then Earl of Lindesay, Lord Grand
Chamberlain hereditary of England. She had certainly great
defects in her brain. I have heard for certain that at the siege of
Abinton she was in the coach with her near relations taking the
air out of town, and that a bullet killed Mr. Edward Sackville
brother to an Earl of Dorset, dropping dead upon or near her that
was next the horses, and that in good English her brain was
disturbed ever after by that natural fright. She was always
dressed in a very odd manner, and in my time with a forehead
cloth. Most frequently she had fits of raving, and her passions
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 35 I
were unlimited, and I have been often witness of it. But the
worst part of her was the itch she had for to meddle with public
affairs, and it was the admiration of all that her lord permitted it,
who had many faults (and who hath none 7) but his abilities were
well known. - • .
Eve was seduced, and histories are filled with the characters
of wives that ruined their husbands that were in the Ministry.
A fatal instance I can cite, and in my first wife's family. The
Duchess of Somerset, wife to the Duke of Somerset uncle to
King Edward the Sixth, who was the original cause of that lord's
losing his head, and her ambition also was without bounds.
My Lord Seymour of Sudley had married the Queen dowager of
Henry the eighth, and the Duchess of Somerset would not yield
place to her because she was wife to the elder brother. This was
but a trifle in common appearance, but it proved fatal to the two
brothers that were cemented before, and had that strict friendship
continued, Dudley could never have come to his bloody ends.
To return, I have in my time known instances where wives
have taken money, and the husbands the most free from corruption.
After the asseveration of this lord in question, and to me in
particular, as I am a Christian I ought to believe he was innocent,
but for his lady I knew her to be most capable of taking whatever
could be offered. It was commonly said, and I believe with good
grounds, that my Lady Henrietta Hyde, afterwards Countess of
Rochester, did great prejudice to her Lord when minister and at
the head of the Treasury in two reigns. It is to be understood
that this Lord in question resigned his place of President of the
Council, and retiring to his fine Seat at Wimbledon by Putney
Heath, I went to congratulate him, but at the same time reproach-
ing him not a little for his tameness (what I privately meant, lowness
of spirit) in not resigning long before, considering how uneasy his
life had been ever since he had enjoyed that eminent employment,
Wives that
ruined their
husbands.
Duchess of
Somerset.
Countess of
Rochester.
352 - Memoirs of
Supremacy
of Lord
Sunderland.
Follies of the
Jacobites.
Beginning
of Lord
Ailesbury's
misfortunes.
Mr. Char-
nock.
through the envy and malice of our great Minister, who was now
quit of this Duke and the two other Ministers, the Marquis of
Halifax and the Earl of Nottingham ; and our Minister now
governed solely in the King's Closet, for he had no employment
at Court, nor was he of the Cabinet Council, and the false step he
made after by accepting the white staff of Lord Chamberlain I shall
set out in due place. -
In the preceding years of 1693 and 1694 I mentioned that,
after my return from France, and on my recovery, I thought of
nothing but of diverting myself, yet I had great alloys by the
indiscretions of the Jacobite party, whose heads were ever filled
with chimeras, and noise, and nonsense. And although I did what
I could to get rid of them, by riding in the Spring to see fine seats
in Surrey, and about the Thames, and after by retiring to my house
at Ampthill, yet however the spring of all my misfortunes arose
about June 1695, occasioned by a foolish complaisance; and when
I thought of it after, and to the very moment I write this, in April
1729, I cannot forbear knocking my forehead. f
I set out in due place that one Mr. Charnock, a fellow of St.
Mary Magdalen College, who, to ingratiate himself and to get
preferment, changed his religion, and was made Vice President
unworthily, and I could never endure the sight of him, and he
heavily complained of my coldness and reservedness towards him.
And I would never see him at my house, nor ever spoke to him on
passing by me, save a grave bow. His grandfather, Sir Robert
Charnock, a deputy Lieutenant of the County of Bedford, was one
of my father's best friends, and merited it, and his successors Sir
St. John Charnock, Sir Villiers, and Sir Pinsent Charnock, were
successively Deputy Lieutenants under us, and most good neigh-
bours; and therefore this Mr. Charnock resented my indifferency
for him the more. He had, as I was told, a good share of under-
standing and wit, and moderate good learning, and never men
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 353
defended so well a base cause as he did at his trial, about nine
months after. Whether he was in orders of the Church of England
I know not, but one must naturally believe he had entered into
them, for in the two Universities a fellow of a College at the year's
end after his election * is obliged to take priest's orders or quit his
fellowship; and that is the reason we have so many loose clergy-
men, that have not a true vocation, and yet must submit or lose his
fellowship, and then perhaps his all. There are fellowships, but
very few in number, for those that take to the vocation of Physic
or to the civil law. Whether he was, or not, signified little, for
turning Roman Catholic and not entering into the orders of the
Church of Rome de novo, by the rules of the Church his prior
orders are out of doors, and thus it must have happened with
Mr. Charnock, for being a poor grumbling Jacobite and younger
brother, and most poor, picking his teeth at Will's Coffee House
with Major General Sackville, a professed snarler, he hunted for
bread, and at last married a Spanish woman at Cadiz or Seville,
widow to Mr. Price of the Herefordshire family, and who died a
merchant at one of those towns, but in fine, he had caught a
Tartar, the only English word for a person entrapped. He was
naturally of a dark, close temper, and this misfortune made that
humour increase, and being in want, he resolved at last to seek his
fortune at St. Germains, and my Lord Powis being there Lord
Chamberlain, he sent a friend of his, a sober discreet man as I
imagined, and really, save drinking, he passed for a man of solidity
and gravity, and esteemed in his County of Hertford, and in the
office of which he was ; and one of the six clerks in Chancery, by
name Sir William Perkins, came for to beg of me to have a more
favourable opinion of him, and that I would procure of my Lord
Montgomery, son to my Lord Powis, that he might wait on him
His wife.
“Caught a
Tartar .”
Seeks intro-
duction
through
Lord
before he went to St. Germains. I desired Sir William to bring Aile:buſy to
Lord Mont-
him to dinner the next day, and that I would engage my Lord gomery.
* This is not quite correct.
VOL. I. 2 Z
354 Memoirs of
Montgomery to meet him at my house. Sir William, who loved
the bottle, desired we might meet at a public house, and I was so
foolishly complying as to consent, and he pitched on a house by
St. James's, a tavern, but a poor one, and kept by one Mrs.
Mountjoys, a woman as I found for to be of a very moderate
reputation, and the few that served were of her sex. I know of
none that were to be present but Sir John Fenwick; my Lord
Montgomery that is understood. The latter on the spot excused
himself on pretence of business; I wished heartily that I had done
the same. Bad wine, I suppose there was sufficient in the house,
and for eating she sent to fetch provisions after we arrived. Sir
John Fenwick brought Mr. Peter Cook with him, son to Sir Miles,
a Master of Chancery and younger brother to Mr. Cook of Higham
of Gloucestershire and to late Colonel Edward Cook, that worthy
man, and so beloved by King Charles. This Mr. Peter Cook had
a zeal beyond knowledge. He was like the humourous Lieutenant*
in the play, that loved the King so well, and I could never be
quiet for him, and thrusting himself on me. Those that knew me
but little, imagined he had great interest with me, not knowing
that several times I sent him away when I was sitting down to
dinner, and my wife, and my succeeding one (for that ghost
appeared to me at Brussells on my leaving England) asked me
several times how I could use a poor man so coarsely. And Sir
William Perkins brought thither, unknown to me, that monster of a
man, George Porter. More of him hereafter. I was enraged to
the last degree, and at table, with a miserable dinner, I scarce
opened my lips. The mistress of the house passing for what I have
hinted at, and Mr. Peter Cook for a devotee, we placed that
mixture at the upper end of the table, and that made me laugh ;
and the woman and her maids were in the room as long as I
stayed, and this was all our discourse.
Dinner at
Mrs.
Mountjoys’.
The
company.
George
Porter.
* Beaumont and Fletcher. The Humorous Lieutenant, Act iv., Scene vi. ; Act
v., Scene ii.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 355
I went away very soon, and Mr. Charnock accompanied me to
my Coach or Chair, begging of me for the love of God that I
would procure my Lord Montgomery to dine in some place to be
appointed, that he might see him before his going away, for his
chief aim was to see that lord, that he might recommend him to
his father the Lord Chamberlain. I told him that I would acquaint
that Lord. We dined soon after at a tavern in Leadenhall Street,
where there were two or three that had not been at the first dinner,
whose faces were unknown to me; I knew after one to be Sir John
Friend. I should have mentioned before, that I came to my Lord
Montgomery's to take him up. He told me he could not go,
because he was to be at three at Mr. Burdett's the Lawyer's
Chambers at Gray's Inn, and was to meet there my Lady Went-
worth, mother to the late unfortunate my Lady Henrietta. I told
him that if he would not go, I would return home to dinner, for it
was for him that this second dinner was contrived, and that he
could not meet until four at Mr. Burdett's. As I said, the company
displeased me and him also, and the ill dinner the same. As long
as we stayed, there was nothing but ordinary discourse, and the
master of the house continually going in and out, and his waiters
pretty numerous waited the whole time.
When the chimes went for three and a half at the Exchange,
I rose up, and that lord also. In going out we met Mr. Goodman
the player on the stairs; as I remember I heard that some of the
company stayed until four in the morning. What they did I know
Dinner at a
tavern in
Leadenhall
Street,
Mr. Good-
man, the
player.
not, but no doubt the bottle went round. Sir John Fenwick’
declared at his death on the scaffold his innocence, and I am bound
as a Christian to believe that a man on dying would not lie nor
equivocate. I set my Lord Montgomery down at Mr. Burdett's,
who shewing him his watch told him that he was most exact to his
hour, but withal that he was melancholy. He answered that he
had been with ill company, and had had a very bad dinner, and
added that I was as dis-satisfied as he. This following is in one
2 Z 2
356 Memoirs of
respect out of time, but pertinent enough. Porter and Goodman
swore at the trials of Mr. Cook and others, that we two were
present, and that it was at six of the clock, as I do remember, that
at the first dinner at Leadenhall Street nothing being resolved on,
a second was appointed at Mrs. Mountjoys' (and the first dinner
was at the latter's), and that there was a third at Bow Street, which
might be, but I was not there, I was too disgusted at the others.
Also Mr. Goodman swore, as I take it by the trials I read so very
many years since, to both dinners, and he was not at Mrs. Mount-
joys'. From setting down my Lord Montgomery at Mr. Burdett's,
I went to Lincoln's Inn, and stayed some time at Mr. Penton's
Chambers, one of my Chancery Counsel; then to the play-house
hard by, and it being before five, the usual time of beginning,
I discoursed with Mr. Bettertin until the curtain was drawn up,
and then sent my footman to Leicester Fields for my Coach, and
after airing at Hyde Park, I went home to supper, and stirred out
no more. All this my footman was ready to make oath to when
required, and Mr. Burdett as to my Lord Montgomery's being set
down by me just at four at Gray's Inn.
It is remarkable enough that Mr. Charnock should be sent
over by us, and that the same person should return without giving
us (at least me, for I can answer for nobody but myself) of the
good or bad success of the commission Porter and Goodman swore
he was charged with. Some time after his return I met him by
accident at Mr. Jones' Chambers, as I take it, in Lincoln's Inn, and
all that passed between him and I in Mr. Jones' presence was that
I was sorry that he could “ have succeeded in his pretensions of
getting into that Court, and to my remembrance I never saw his
face more, either in company, or passing in the street. I was so
heart-sick at all I have related, that I resolved to divert myself,
False evi-
dence of
Porter and
Goodman.
Plays began
at five
o'clock.
Mr. Better-
tin.
Mr. Char-
nock on his
return
once met
with Lord
Ailesbury.
* Qy. could not
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 357
and I passed two months and a half at Tunbridge Wells, and only
for that intent; and God be praised I saw not the face there of
any of our plotting messengers.
I omitted in due place one thing most remarkable, and
enough to confound all false evidence, that I, that laid it down
as a settled maxim that King James could never be restored
without a superior fleet and a competent Army besides, that
I should send Charnock with the offer on my part of two thousand
men to help to conquer our great and potent kingdom, without
one ship that I had the disposition of, and I knew not of one man
that was 'listed for this service. 'Tis below me to write, and the
reader to look over, the multitude of vain schemes and imaginations
of those hinted at before, and it would fill a volume. Most had
fidelity as well as zeal, but ambition triumphed most. One evening
I was sitting at Sir John Fenwick's, as I take it, on an accidental
visit, and for no other intent, and there came several of those flashy
gentlemen. I was sitting talking by the fireside of common occur-
rences with my Lord Brudenell, and the others were dividing the
employments amongst them at King James's return. I told them,
“Gentlemen, there is an old proverb, “take the bear, and then
“‘divide the skin.'” They gave this place to one, another to
another, and they called out to me to know what I would choose.
I answered, “Nothing ! But if I was of your dispositions, I would
“do as children that play at tables without dice, and choose the
“best casts. Give me a place that requires no attendance at
“Court, but that brings a great income, and all transacted by
“Secretaries and Clerks, as, for example, Auditor of the Ex-
“chequer (or paymaster of the Army).”
And near two years after, in Sir John Fenwick's confession in
the Tower taken by the Duke of Devonshire, this particular is
inserted, that I was to be Auditor of the Exchequer, which made
good sport in the House of Commons, all laughing at Sir Robert
Lord Ailes-
bury's set-
tled maxim
about restor-
ing King
James.
Jacobites
schemes for
offices.
Old proverb.
Lord Ailes-
bury's
remark.
358 Memoirs of
Diversions
at Tun-
bridge.
Remarks as
to his
Memoirs.
Sentiments
of the two
Houses of
Parliament.
Howard of Berkshire my cousin, then actually in possession of that
office. For brevity I only cite this, for I know of a hundred vain
imaginations of the kind. Sir John Fenwick was to be governor
of the Isle of Wight, another this, another that. To return to
Tunbridge. Since my afflictions on the King my master's leaving
the kingdom, nothing revived my spirits more than the diversions
and good air of that place, and the good company. The Duke of
Norfolk and I gave balls in the afternoon at the bowling-greens.
I drank no waters, nor did my wife. She was much esteemed by
the ladies, and there were no factions amongst that sex, and that
was very rare, for generally those foolish divisions spoiled all
mirth. Dinners went round, and no talk of Kings and govern-
ments. I lived comfortably after my return to Ampthill for above
two months, but all this satisfaction was too great for to have a
long continuance, and a true emblem of this transitory world. I
came to town my usual time, about the beginning of November,
and then ended all joy and satisfaction; and the transactions from
about December 1695 to the end of Hilary Term 169% will be
very tedious for to read, but useful and agreeable to those that
love truth, and what I insert is all authentic and sincere, and what
follows I defy any man to relate, although all that were alive then
were now in being. Besides, God Almighty hath endowed me
with a wonderful memory, and, as I said before, save notes I took
at Oats' trial, I had no minutes by me to furnish me with matter.
All my help was (and that after I began this paper) to take short
notes of what passed each year. However I believe I have not
right-placed all as to point of time and year, but in the main that
signifies little, as long as all is faithfully recited, and that I answer
for. I ought to let you into the sentiments the two houses were
in, great numbers of which were highly disgusted. The three
lords, late Ministers, being as free men in the House, increased
the number of those dis-satisfied. The Duke of Shrewsbury,
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 359
although now Secretary of State, was little in the interest of the
Court, and I was told, as a great secret, that they designed a
deputation to be carried by one single person to St. Germains.
The House of Commons, that is the majority, had refused to
abjure, and during the vacancy of the session in this Summer of
I695 and towards the Winter, they had meetings sometimes at one
house and then at another's, most Commoners. They met usually
at the late Earl of Arlington's, at Lindesay House by the Palace
Yard, and to carry it better on they played at cards and tables, no
supper, but a small matter to relish the wine. Sir Edward Seymour,
and his brother Putman Seymour, Mr. John How, Sir Chr. Mus-
grave, Mr. Heneage Finch, since Earl of Ailesford, Sir Simon
Harcourt (the most zealous of all there) and others to the number
of thirty Commoners, had entered into a sort of Association and,
as I take it, under Oath of secrecy. However some babbler
(perhaps innocently, and in drink no doubt) came out with it, and
by which I came to know their plan. One of the thirty was my
uncle, Mr. John Grey of Stamford, brother to my mother, who I
ever took to be a downright Whig as all his family was, but he had
been so by a principle and not by ambition, and he enjoyed a
plentiful estate as having been adopted by a Cousin of that name,
of Enfield in Staffordshire, and 'tis his successor that is now Earl
of Stamford. N
. This gentleman was a plain but a downright honest man,
and truly convinced that he had been in a wrong way, and was
deluded in former parliaments by Mr. Hampden and Boscowen
and others, that had been asserters of liberty and freedom of speech
in parliament, but were hurried into others' measures through
ambition of being great and rich. The Harleys, Foleys, the
Winningtons, Harcourts, Mr. John How, and many others were
born and bred Whigs, and by principle, and yet came into the
same sentiments as those of my uncle. He one day came with
Association
of Thirty.
Mr. John
Grey.
360 Memoirs of
Policy of
the Thirty.
design to visit me, and he began to open his mind, but at a
distance. He owned to me that he had been carried away blindly
by those I mentioned before, and others, that they only kept to
their name but not to their old character, and ended with these
words “My dear Lord, for God's sake advise the Jacobites to be
“once wise if they can, and to be silent, and not talk of the
present temper of our house.” And taking me by the hand
assured me that if I could thus prevail, they would walk him out
of the kingdom (meaning King William) and these were his very
words. wº
These thirty were resolved to stick close to each other,
and not to give subsidies for to carry on the war; they had each
of them more or less friends in the House that would stand by them
in all they had resolved on, and Sir Edward Seymour especially
governed the Western Members in a great measure, styling them
his West Saxons; And they were resolved that if any of their
body were sent to the Tower, they would all take the same fate.
That preparations were making in France was evident, and I may
insert naturally in this place that when I was at St. Germains I
represented in a most lively manner to King James that those
frivolous disputes between Sir John Fenwick and Major General
Sackville about precedency had spoiled all in 1692 if he had
landed then, and I added that when ever he was in a condition to
make any attempt, that in the first place I might not be acquainted
with it, adding that great and inviolable secrecy was one of the
main points, that I knew but too well the babbling there would
be over a bottle, and that if the secret came out, he might lay it
on one as well as on the other; but I begged that, whilst the fruit
was ripening, that he would send over one of a higher post, so as
the person sent might put to reason him of the two Major Generals
that was found to be in the wrong, which was executed as here-
after.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 361
In December 1695 and January following, Mr. Birkenhead,
who had been under my orders until my return from France, at
which time I lay still and quiet, came daily to me in town
however by way of gratitude, and would let fall a word now and
then. He being these months after missing, at his return I asked
him where he had been, although I might guess. He told me he
had been at Romney to conduct to town this and that gentleman,
but I remember the name of none but Mr. Francis Stafford, and so
I believe he made ten or twelve journeys, and, as well as I can
remember, there were thirty more or less that arrived from France
in this manner. Brigadier Berkeley was another.
The rise of that barbarous design of murdering King William
was doubtless contriving then, but those miserable wretches, as I
verily believe, knew not of the design of an invasion, but entered
into it rashly and unadvisedly, and those thirty that came over,
although not thoroughly enlightened, perceived certainly that they
were sent over to serve their king.
At last Mr. Birkenhead told me, contrary to the orders he had
received, that the Duke of Berwick was arrived that morning, but
that he was not to see me, and so desired I would keep it to
myself. -
After the rising of the House, I dined at Locket's, a famous
eating house then, with my Lord of Essex, Sir John Germaine,”
great courtiers and others, and a very mixed company. After
dinner I received a note from the deprived Bishop of Norwich,
Dr. Lloyd, entreating me to repair to him forthwith. I burnt the
note and pretended it was from a lawyer in the Temple, and
going alone, and taking three or four different hackney coaches, I
arrived at Hogsden Square as far as there was pavement, and I
went on foot to the Bishop's, who lived near Hogsden Gardens for
* Jermaine, p. 338.
VOL. I. 3 A
Mr. Birken-
head jour-
nies to and
from France.
Design
against life
of King
William.
Duke of
Berwick
visits
London.
Dinner at
Locket's.
Dr. Lloyd.
362 Memoirs of
cheapness of rent. After compliments, he told me that there was
one come from St. Germains. “You know it, I suppose;” and I
saying, “no,” he smiled and did not believe me, but then he shewed
me five or six lines under King James's hand to this purpose,
“You are to consult with those you think fit, and to take their
“advice in order to my service.” Without studying what to
answer I told him, “My Lord, pray desire that the King would
“cause to be laid before him that part of the History or Chronicle
“that related to the Earl of Richmond (King Henry the Seventh
“afterwards) when he was in Brittany preparing to sail for
“England, and let them lay their finger on the rashness of Stafford
“Duke of Buckingham, who took arms when actually the Earl of
“Richmond was not then so much as embarked, and for which
“that great Lord was beheaded.”
“My Lord,” said the Bishop, “one would think that you and
“I had consulted together, for I have the very same thoughts as
“you.”
I concluded, “My Lord, there is nothing to be done. Let
“us lie quiet and let God govern all.” And so we parted as usual,
like true and good friends. I verily believed then that the Duke
was then in another room there.
About supper time Mr. Birkenhead, as customary, came to
me, and I having got some good intelligence, I told him that I
knew that the Duke of Berwick was in town (separate from
what he told me in the morning) and I conjured him * not
to make slight of my advice, which was, to leave the town by
midnight at farthest, and retire to France, or else certainly he
would be discovered. He took my advice, and no doubt the
Bishop had given him the same, and left London at the hour,
He and Lord
Ailesbury
agree in
opinion.
Advise the
Duke of
Berwick to
leave at
On CC,
* That is, the Duke.
Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury. 363
and at two in the morning his lodging was broke open, but He just
the bird was flown. He met Colonel Parker at Tucker's at ..."
Sandey Lane coming to London, and they both returned to
Calais from Hunt's house by Romney, as I was told after by
Birkenhead.
END OF VOL. I.
&NIV. or Michko AN,
MAY 8 1914
WESTMINSTER: PRINTED BY NICHOLS AND SONS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET.